Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-09-17
GOVERNOR OF
SQUATTERS IS
SERIOUSLY ILL,
Aged Pioneer, Famed Thru
out Entire Country as war
Veteran, is Dying.

the most prominent characters in the
state, will be of interest to raousailds
Of people in the state. Hannafin is
known as the "Squatter Governor. Of
ical position by pioneers of the state
who for years gathered each year. for
legislative assembly as members Of
the third house. One year he meet
ing was held in Grand Forks, and the
event is still remembered by many old
residents.
Friend of Notables.
Bismarck, n. D.. Sept. I'm a
Bismarck hospital are being written
the closing chapters in the life Of Dem
mis- Hannafin, "Squatter Governor Of
North Dakota, friend of Sherman.
Grant. Sheridan, Custer and Logan
a man whose story reads like an epic
of the northwest.
For the first time in the seventy
two years which he a been fight
ing a mans batt1es-he began to
fight when he was 10-"Dinnie" a
given up and gone to a hospital, and
he realizes and his friends know the
end is near.
Probably no character whom the
west has produced is more generally
known or has more friends among
notables of the nation thar Dennis
Hannafin. Born in ireland March Is,
1886, at the age of 10 Hannafn en-
igrated with his parents to America.
His father died at sea n when
his mother reached Buffalo with her
children little Dennis was the man
of the family. He blacked boots, sold
newspapers and hired out to farmers
to earn money for the family, sav-
ing enough meanwhile to acquire q
common school education.
Came West at 10.
He was 1b when he went west and
started to work on the Illinois Cen
trail right-of-way. July IA, 1862, he
enlisted at Amboy, III, with the sev--
enty-fffth Illinois infantry, and Mo-
vember 2 OF that year he was COM
missioned a lieutenant for conspic-
uous bravery at the battle of Perry
vile. He was wounded at Crab Or
chard, n was in the thick of the
fight at Stone River, with the pio-
neer brigade commanded by James
st. Clair Morton, supporting the Chiz
Gag Board Of Trade battery. He
helped build the fortifcations at
Murfreesboro, and went with Sher-
man on his march to the sea.
Mustered out at Chicago at the end
Of the war, the pushing of the Union
Pacific through the western desert
called him, and he became a famou
character OF the company's at Chey-
enne, Laramie, P~romontory Point, and
other frontier points. When the
Union Pacific was finished he came
to the Northern Pacific at N. P.
Junction, in 1870, was one of the first
white men to stake out a claim in
he first few to locate on the present
site Of Bismarck in 1872.
Beats Them t. 1t.
Hannafln was at Moorhead when he
learned that a party of st. Paul capt.
tuiists was en- route to the proposed
junction of the Northern Pacific with
the Missouri to establish a town. He
interested some pioneer associates
John J.. .JackInan, still a resident of
Bismarck:;G George G. Sanborn, later
Of FargSSJ ohm n. Richards, Tecently
on the 5Chicago board of trade, and
William Woods, late of Los Angeles.
They beat the st. Paul party to the
river by several days, pre-empted all
Of the land along the banks of the
Missouri. and when the latter reached
their goal they found the Moorhead
men in possession. As a result Bis
marck is located a mile east instead
of on the banks Ct the river. John
J. jackson remain in possession of
his land. Hannafin claimed eighty
acres which now is in the, heart Of
Bisnarck's finest residential section,
and which had he held on to it, would
lave made him a millionaire. Dennis
didn't hold on. He was a Spectator,
with the oid-time western gambling
instinct. Scores of times he was on
h verge of making a fortune, and
IS often the will o. the wisp eluded
him.
Never oet>Interest.
Hannafin, from the day Of his ar
rival on the site of the town which
was to become the capital of Dakota
territory, and later of North Dakota,
never lost his interest in the coming
city. His adventurous spirit frequent
~ In those early days, long before
the Northern Pacific had pushed on
past the river, carried him westward
into Indian country.
In September. 1873, he. with John
Warn, Jack Kale and Jesse Mccoy,
typical frontiersmen. crossed the riv-
er, fought a battle with hostile Sioux
on the bluffs now occupied by the
city of Mandan, drove the Indians
\ back, and forged on to the Green
river, where, near the present site
of Dickinson, they took possession Of
a coal mine, built Fort Hannafn and
held It for two weeks against daily
sattacks of large bands Of Indians. dis
fda1ning military aid. John Warn re-
{matned entrenched in this outpost
tseven years. and military authorities
shave declared 1t one of the strongest
fearthworks they yer had known.
Law Too Tame.
At Bismarck's first election Han
Esaafn was elected county, auditor, a
post which he declined because he
had not then been admitted to the
Thar. At the first term of court held
Fin Mandan, Hannafin became a full
Pledged barrister, but the law did not
prove exciting enough for him, and
the devoted little time to practice. In
those early days he frequently tramp
ed from Bismarck to Fargo, and even
to st. Paul. In 1874 he walked from
Sioux City, Iowa, to Elk Point, now
in South Dakota. to attend a Demo-
cratic convention. Hancock, often
declared Dennie, would have been
president had he taken my advice"
With the removal Of the territorial
fcapital from Yankton to Bismarck In
1888, Hannafin became a famous
~5character in the life OF Dakota terri
kt0ry, and from that date to this he
khaS been active In politics, always &
Enotable figure at Legislative sessions,
friend OF governors and Of men
3who made governors. He BELONGED
ITO the same era which produced Alex
Esa1der Mckenzie, and In his passing
fthe northwest will lose a landmark
The price Of beer has not advanced
but probably will with the opening Of
the bowling