USA > South Dakota > History of Dakota Territory, volume III > Part 30
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portion. It is likely that after Mitchell's disastrous blunder in attempting to throttle a Hughes County display at the corn palace, the knockers down there will know better than to try to keep this Belle Fourche exhibition car outside the city limits. It is equally likely, however, that the consummate liars who declared the Hughes County exhibit to be a fraud will attempt to discredit this west of the Missouri display in one way or another. In the meantime they have not undertaken to secure that $1,000 forfeit which Pierre has deposited as a guaranty that her exhibit at Mitchell was absolutely and wholly and entirely as repre- sented."-Pierre Press Bureau, 1904.
"By the middle of December (1904) Mitchell will have a beautiful granite building all completed ready for the reception of the Legislature in January, a building especially designed for a temporary capitol building and ample in dimensions for all purposes for years to come. It will have separate halls for both branches of the Legislature, governor's rooms, committee rooms, Supreme Court chambers, offices for the state officials and roomy fire proof vaults for all the state records and the Supreme Court library. The use of this magnificent build- ing is donated to the state free of charge until the people feel able to erect a state house of their own. If Pierre is successful in retaining the capital, it promises its citizens for their contributions a $1,000,000 capitol building at once. There's where the expense comes in. * * * The total amount of state taxes expended by the state auditor for 1902 was $656,315.71. Of this amount the counties east of the Missouri River pay all but $70,000. The vast area of the state lying west of the Missouri outside of the Black Hills, pays less than $15,000 of state taxes-and the state has been settled for thirty years. The territory within one hundred miles of Mitchell alone pays an annual tax of $456,156.36, or over 70 per cent of the state total."-Mitchell Republican, October 23, 1904.
"This is not a railroad fight. Were it simply a contest between the Milwaukee and the Northwestern for commercial supremacy the News would certainly take off its coat for the Milwaukee. But the latter has been led into this thing against its own good judgment. Then again it is all the same to the Milwaukee whether it earns a dollar at Aberdeen, or at Mitchell, or at Chamberlain, or at Sioux Falls, or at Sioux City. Mitchell bases its capital campaign on the promise that the northern and western portions of the state are no good. No conscientious South Dakotan having knowledge of the facts and with due regard for the value of his own land and the 200,000 acres of indemnity and endowment land owned by the state, can afford to endorse this contention. Over and above everything are the interests of the whole state and of distinct localities. The Milwaukee will prosper with the development of the whole state of South Dakota."-Aberdeen News, October 31, 1904.
"Pierre is in the corn belt, potato belt, rain belt and fruit belt, and Mitchell is jealous about it. South Dakota is your state. All of your state is good. A vote for Pierre is a vote for your whole state."-Pierre circular, 1904.
"If the capital should be removed on the claim made by Mitchell that the west two-thirds of the state is unfit for agricultural purposes, removal would be an endorsement of Mitchell's claim and a warning to the homeseeker not to settle in that section of the state where most of the state lands are situated. The result would be that the locality where the state lands are would not be settled or developed and the state would realize nothing from these lands. Every citizen Vol. III-14
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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE
has an interest in the result of the campaign. Mitchell's hope of success lies in her ability to undermine the confidence of the voters in the west two-thirds of the state."-Letter, Pierre Board of Trade, 1904.
"It is not true that Western South Dakota is not capable of development. No richer country can be found in the Northwest than that section lying west of the Missouri River in this state. Its soil unsurpassingly fertile, as fine samples of grain and grasses and vegetables can be shown from this section as from the James River Valley. Stock raising has been the chief industry up to date because of its profitableness and the inadequate railroad facilities. The time was when Eastern and Southeastern South Dakota was a stock range. All that Mitchell has said or can say derogatory to Western South Dakota has been said about the James River Valley ; about the Sioux and Vermillion River valleys ; about North- western Iowa; about the entire West. The entire West and Northwest has been built up in opposition to the 'knocker.'"-Pierre circular, 1904.
"People would think that an ambitious, hustling town like Mitchell would be too proud to aspire to become the capital of a state of which at least half is barren, desolate and fit only for the prairie dogs such as the Mitchell newspapers claim the western half of South Dakota is."-Aberdeen News, October 22, 1904.
"When this law was enacted and it became known to those seeking homes, such a tide of immigration set in as had not been seen in the State of South Dakota since the early 'Sos and the wave of immigration has been growing higher and higher every year since. So eager are the homesteaders for the land that they push fifty, sixty and even seventy miles beyond railroad points in order to get a quarter section of this land. The men who do this are farmers from Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Eastern South Dakota, men who know good land and what a good farming country is. This fact alone gives the lie to the calumnies uttered against the country. At the present rate of settle- ment the entire area of this vast reservation country will within a few years be appropriated by homeseekers."-Pierre circular, 1904.
"When in 1889 the Great Sioux Reservation stood like a Chinese wall barring the onward steps of progress-when the commission headed by General Crook came to a standstill in its work of securing the votes of the Indians and defeat stared it in the face, Pierre came to its rescue and furnished the means which made it possible to proceed with the work. Pierre and Rapid City some years ago joined hands to secure the building of a railroad from Aberdeen to Rapid City and today have a plant consisting of grade, right of way and terminals, which could not be duplicated for less than $500,000. Aberdeen and other cities encouraged and helped on the work." Pierre circular, 1904.
Generally the Black Hills continued to favor Pierre for the capital site. The Black Hills Press said, "What has Pierre done-what are her sins of omission or commission that she must needs be deprived of the capital? Fourteen years ago the state occupied a building which ever since has served the purpose of a capitol. It has served the purpose thus far. That the state has not erected a grand and stately capitol building is not the fault of Pierre, nor does it weaken her in the estimation of fair minded men to decry and belittle the building which she years ago gave the state and which was thankfully accepted. To find fault now with the state house is like 'looking a gift horse in the mouth.' The argu- ment advanced by Mitchell that Pierre is not the place for the capital because
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of the unsettled conditions of the country west of the former city is the rankest kind of an insult to the hundreds and hundreds of hard working and prosperous ranchers who have settled up this country."-Whitewood Plaindealer.
"Even if Mitchell is more accessible, which it is not, the ordinary farmer, stockman, business man and mechanic cares not a whit about it. They have no call to go to the capital and hence are not concerned over its relocation."-Black Hills Press, Sturgis.
"The Hills people favor Pierre, there is no question about that. They know that the Northwestern road will roll cars into the Hills just as soon, if not sooner, than the Milwaukee, as Pierre is much nearer to the Hills than Mitchell. They see no reason why the capital should be removed; they see nothing to be gained by moving."-Black Hills Union, Rapid City. "The capital is where it should be and at the rate the country between Pierre and the Black Hills is settling it will ere long be near the center of population as it is now the geographical center." -Buffalo Gap Republican. "Butte County wants the capital to remain at Pierre. The population west of the Missouri in ten years will be greater than the east. This is one reason why the capital should remain at Pierre."-Belle Fourche Bee. "The people of the Black Hills have waited long for a railroad across the reser- vation and may wait longer, but it is certain that when the railroads are convinced that there is money in it they will build across and not before. When the country is settled the logical place for the capital is at Pierre."-Hot Springs Times- Herald. "The whole capital removal proposition is ridiculous."-Northwest Post, Belle Fourche. "We believe that the people of the Hills are heartily tired of these capital removal spasms and are satisfied that whenever the country between Pierre and the Black Hills becomes more thickly settled a road will be built from Pierre to Deadwood."-Central City Register. "The talk that the Milwaukee will build if the capital is moved to Mitchell, is ridiculous. If the Milwaukee builds Pierre will still be the most convenient point for the Black Hills people. If the Northwestern builds Pierre will still be the most convenient point for the Black Hills people. Should a railroad with headquarters in Florida decide to build a line from the Missouri River to the Hills, Pierre would still be the nearest to the Hills. No railroad is going to spend millions of dollars just because the capital of South Dakota may be located at Pierre or Mitchell. The railroads are not doing business on love. And if the Milwaukee builds it will be to acquire new territory ; and if the Northwestern builds it will be to dispute honors with the Milwaukee. It is purely a matter of dollars and cents. It is but natural that the Black Hills people should desire that the capital should remain at Pierre, railroad or no railroad."-Lead Call. "An item has been going the rounds of the press headed 'Butte County for Pierre.' That isn't anything so very strange for all the Black Hills counties are evidently for Pierre. If some newspaper should have the temerity to run an item declaring any Hills County for Mitchell it would really be something of a sensation."-Hot Springs Star. "It is clear from the indications that the voters are going to consider the benefits of the capital location to the state as a whole rather than to any certain locality." -Custer Chronicle.
From the middle of October until election day in November eight regular passenger trains and two specials ran into Mitchell daily loaded with passengers. The number of trains which entered Pierre was not so numerous, but it was
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stated that that city had secured 20,000 free passes for its visitors. Both cities ended their campaign in a blaze of mingled dejection and hopefulness, of lies and prayers, of abuse and laudation.
"Vote Tuesday to place the capital within range of the people. It has been in the center of the cattle range long enough. The people use the capital of the state; the cattle do not. A great range country as exists west of Pierre is not subject to the same large settlement that the agricultural portion is. East, north and south of Wolsey live the people who pay the taxes and who comprise 75 per cent of the population of the state."-Mitchell Republican, November 5, 1904.
Mitchell said in October that Pierre had spent $100,000 for the railroad grade between Aberdeen and Pierre; that the project had fallen through because Aber- deen had not done its share of the work; that Pierre now owned the grade and right of way ; that Pierre's object was to secure Aberdeen's support in the capital contest ; that with this railroad and with the capital at Pierre not only Aberdeen but the whole northwestern part of the state both east and west of the Missouri would be far better situated than with the capital at Mitchell; and that therefore Aberdeen supported Pierre. Mitchell backers also contended that Huron had confidently expected to be the city selected by the legislative caucus to oppose Pierre; that when it was defeated by Mitchell it absolutely abrogated its tri- city agreement ; that this course was taken because Huron knew that if the capital were once located at Mitchell its chance to secure the prize would be gone forever while if it were retained at Pierre another opportunity to secure it might occur and that Huron felt piqued because of its defeat by Mitchell in the caucus and was thus partly instigated by revenge.
"At one time the City of Pierre owed bondholders, at the face value of the bonds, something like six hundred thousand dollars. Of this amount about one hundred thousand dollars was expended upon the railroad grade between Aber- deen and Pierre. The bonds were held by wealthy speculators, who purchased them at a discount. The panic of 1893 threw the financial world into confusion. In the year 1901 an agreement was made between the City of Pierre and the bondholders by which the entire issue of $600,000 of bonds was surrendered and destroyed and new bonds to the amount of $242,000 were issued in full of all obligations. Today Pierre's bonded indebtedness is less than two hundred thou- sand dollars. This indebtedness can in no manner be made alien upon the state's property at Pierre. Title to the twenty acres of land was never vested in the City of Pierre. It was the property of the Northwestern Company and was deeded to the state by the railroad company in 1890. The City of Pierre is today in the best financial condition of any city in the State of South Dakota thanks to her natural gas wells. The net income of the City of Pierre from the sale of natural gas and water to its citizens, after deducting all expenses, more than pays the interest on her bonds."-Aberdeen News, November 4, 1904.
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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE
OFFICERS: JOHN SUTHERLAND President P. F. McCLURE Vice President GEORGE W. LUMLEY Secretary C. B. BILLINGHURST Treasurer
Pierre Board of Trade
Capital Committee
A. W. EWERT J. L. LOCKHART I. W. GOODNER
R. W. STEWART THOS. H. AYERS B. A. CUMMINS
J. E. MALLERY WILSON L. SHUNK C. C. BENNETT
Pierre, South Dakota, Nov. 1, '04.
Mitakoda :---
Pierre otonwe itancan kte cin he hecetu. Mokoce icokaya wanka. Minisose iwiyohpeyata wicasa ota ayapi. Pierre dehan otonwe itancan wanka. He yujujupica sni. Waunkanhejapi sni, nakas. Wicohande tanka-woskate heca sni.
Pierre etanhan mazacanku wiyohoeyata kagapi kta. Pierre en dehan tipi oitancan qa unpica wan yuhapi.
Mitchell ekta iyawaja sni. Otonwe itancan dehan yujujupi qa ekta ehdepi iyececa sni. Heconpi kinhan wahpaye kajujupi (taxes) wankan ayapi kte.
Heconpi kinhan woonspe makoce tanka tehan wiyopeyapi kte sni-woonspe makoce kin ota wiyohpeyata wankanakas.
Mitchell otonwe ehan maka wiyopiyapi na wicasa tonana wijidiciyapi cinpi. Pierre otonwe itancan kte kansu iyohpeya po.
Yours truly,
John Sutherland.
This letter is in the Sioux tongue and was sent out by the Pierre Board of Trade to secure for Pierre the support of the Indians in the capital contest of 1904.
"We the undersigned voters, property holders and citizens of Beadle County interested in the future welfare of our great State of South Dakota as a whole, view with regret and emphatically resent the apparent attempt to discredit and disparage some portions of this great state in the hope of sectional and personal gain thereby. If, as has been and is asserted and sent broadcast over the whole country by the campaign committee of Mitchell, the central half of our state is practically a desert, it would be an absurdity to place the capital west of Water- town, Sioux Falls or Yankton. If it is necessary in order to move the capital from Pierre to Mitchell to declare that at least one-half of our great state is å barren waste, then if for no other reason, should we as citizens of a great state who are vitally interested in its general welfare emphatically denounce such methods, and we believe that the best interests of this country and of every man who owns a foot of land within its borders will be fully conserved by the reten- tion of the state capital at Pierre, because it will help develop the country west of us and thereby help us and thereby promote the ultimate extension of our railways to the Black Hills, and we cannot afford to serve notice on the outside world that the country west of us is useless and worthless. Therefore let us work for the good of the whole state. All has its usefulness and it will not be long before it will be sought after and made to yield support to a great and pros- perous people."
This was signed by many citizens of Beadle County and was the expression of a mass meeting held at Huron just before the November, 1904, election, when the capital contest was to be decided.
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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE
VOTE ON THE CAPITAL CONTEST, 1904
County
Mitchell
Pierre
Counties
Mitchell
Pierre
Aurora
925
174
Hyde
I8
578
Beadle
35I
2,15I
Jerauld
476
389
Brown
1,200
2,861
Kingsbury
556
1,794
Brookings
630
2,249
Lake
1,147
1,078
Bon Homme
1,455
954
Lawrence
1,625
4,109
Brule
1,012
317
Lincoln
1,814
1,256
Buffalo
62
133
Lyman
295
1,021
Butte
194
940
McCook
1,430
638
Campbell
205
619
McPherson
380
520
Charles Mix
1,532
1,103
Marshall
465
992
Clark
596
1,292
Miner
698
741
Clay
1,076
1,159
Minnehaha
2,761
3,195
Codington
491
1,956
Moody
800
1,146
Custer
102
678
Meade
213
903
Davison
2,305
89
Pennington
309
1,257
Day
1,278
1,590
Potter
45
775
Deuel
431
1,217
Roberts
1,176
1,848
Douglas
I,II3
232
Sanborn
1,006
355
Edmunds
460
702
Stanley
61
861
Fall River
II4
929
Spink
958
1,877
Faulk
118
832
Sully
IO
438
Grant
705
1,167
Turner
1,629
1,386
Gregory
318
655
Union
1,494
1,137
Hamlin
842
1,074
Walworth
235
609
Hand
150
1,271
Yankton
1,216
1,561
Hanson
1,167
162
Hughes
13
1,324
Total
41,155
58,617
Hutchison
1,943
277
Pierre's majority
17,462
The joy at Pierre over the news of victory was intense and almost ecstatic. The people of the proud little city could scarcely hold themselves within the bounds of prudent and moderate demonstration. The battle had been waged with the Pierre pluck, determination and ambition, but the cost cut no figure compared with the results. Soon all settled down to bind up the wounds and to resume the happy days of progress and prosperity which had preceded the cam- paign of intrigue, bitterness and recrimination.
MITCHELL, S. D., November 9, 1904.
Hon. John Sutherland,
Pierre, S. D.
I wish to congratulate you on your magnificent victory in the face of great obstacles. Pierre is entitled to the capital forever.
H. L. BRAS.
PIERRE, S. D., November 9, 1904.
Hon. H. L. Bras,
Mitchell, S. D.
I thank you for your generous congratulations. You made a good fight, but sentiment proved to be against you.
JOHN SUTHERLAND.
Pierre laid its success in a large measure to three things: (1) The army of voluntary workers in the field; (2) the voluntary help and friendship of the Chi-
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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE
cago & Northwestern Railway Company, and especially of Alexander Johnson ; (3) the hard work and able speeches made almost daily at the statehouse by John L. Lockhart.
"Mitchell started into the campaign with an idea that it would be something like a pink tea or a Sunday school picnic. Pierre knew better from experience, and Mitchell does now."-Capital Journal, November 9, 1904.
"For weeks the people of South Dakota have been enjoying a holiday. Rail- road passes have been as free as Dakota ozone itself. The capital will remain in the center of the state where it belongs and where the people of South Dakota have now thrice said it should be. As soon as the wounds received in the heat of conflict are healed Mitchell will acknowledge that all parts of the state are mighty good places in which to live-infinitely superior to any other region on earth. And in time even Mitchell will admit that Pierre after all is the proper location for the capital of a state possessing the richness of soil and the even dis- tribution of population that South Dakota is sure to have ere many years roll · by."-Aberdeen News, November 9, 1904.
"During several weeks before election the Milwaukee and Northwestern railroads in South Dakota were crowded with passenger traffic. Not only were the regular trains compelled to run a large number of extra coaches, but extra trains, crowded to the limit, were every day features during the capital cam- paign."-Aberdeen News, November II, 1904.
"Mitchell has called a public meeting for the purpose of having the way to 'skin Pierre in progress and prosperity' and 'become the leading city of the Jim River Valley and the state regardless of the capital location. That is the proper South Dakota spirit."-Aberdeen News, November 14, 1904.
"The Pierre Free Press predicts that within two years the capital city will have at least two new railroads and one or two lines will extend west of the river."-Aberdeen News, November 15, 1904.
After the election had determined that Pierre should retain the capital Mitchell at once took the position that owing to the treachery of Huron and other cities of the James River Valley, which had pledged it their support, that city would thereafter oppose any further action for capital removal. This stand was taken to defeat Huron's future aspirations. But Huron denied such hopes or expectations. It was said at this time that Mitchell's debt was $159,000 in addition to $25,000 in school bonds. The Aberdeen News declared Mitchell's debt to be almost four hundred thousand dollars. The city took its defeat phil- osophically and at once proceeded to make the most of the advertising it had received. But the citizens could not readily forgive Sioux Falls for giving Pierre a large majority. The business men of Mitchell were so incensed that they determined to boycott that city and really did so for a while, depriving it of thousands of dollars worth of trade. They said, "If Sioux Falls likes Pierre so well let it go there for its business. We want nothing more to do with the village."
On the night of the election the citizens of Mitchell-men and women-gath- ered at the new city hall to hear the returns. Women were well represented, because their societies had worked unceasingly in relays during the strenuous fall campaign and all were nearly worn out. It was estimated that through their efforts the city had fed nearly or quite one hundred thousand persons during
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the campaign. Chairman Bras of the compaign committee was present. Every movement was dramatic in the extreme. The whole city held its breath and anxiously listened for the expected and hoped-for cry of victory. But as the unwelcome returns were received showing Pierre ahead hearts sank at first, but later became buoyant with confidence and self reliance amid the wreck and con- fusion of defeat. A large mass meeting was called and it was determined that, as the city would be greatly benefited by the advertising in spite of defeat, a new, greater and grander city should be then and there founded. The city had spent, it was admitted, over one hundred thousand dollars in the contest, but more than that amount had been left there by visitors. Then they had the splendid city hall, better hotels, finer residences-in fact every heartbeat of the city was keyed to a higher standard of harmonions action and advancement. All of this, it was determined, should be retained, angmented, dignified and ennobled. "Greater Mitchell !" was the shout.
"Whether Pierre is convenient or inconvenient, it has a firm grip on the seat of government. The inability of the people to unite upon a choice of a suc- cessor is Pierre's safeguard."-Sioux Falls Press, November 16, 1904.
"Jealousy on the part of other cities in the state, a feeling in other quarters that Pierre had won the capital by two hard-fought contests, and a sympathy widespread for a town badly debt-ridden and with practically nothing to sustain it but the seat of government, defeated Mitchell's aspiration to be the capital of South Dakota last Tuesday by a large majority. However, the fact that Mitchell was able to muster over forty thousand votes out of less than one hundred thon- sand shows how widespread and extensive is the dissatisfaction of South Da- kotans with the present location of their seat of government. Mitchell put up a fair and honest campaign, untainted by bribery, the illegitimate use of money or abuse and slander. We are willing to leave time to demonstrate whether the hundred or more newspapers wrote the truth of the possibilities of Pierre's ever becoming as near the center of population and as convenient of access as Mitchell is. Had Mitchell had $100,000, or a sum approaching it, at the begin- ning of the campaign-a quarter of the sum expended by Pierre in 1890-there would have been a different story to write. Not one dollar has been spent in the campaign that came from the sale of bonds, all reports to the contrary not- withstanding. The disposition to let the capital stay where it is unless Mitchell was willing 'to put up' liberally was one of the hardest factors to contend with. Mitchell declined to do anything of that sort. Harry L. Bras managed the Mitchell campaign; he it was who defeated the Huron and Redfield committees two years before in the Legislature. No fault can be found with his manage- ment of the campaign. The Mitchell people put up a square and manly contest, because she had nothing to lose and much to gain. Pierre had everything to lose and nothing to gain. The prestige and advertising that Mitchell has received, to say nothing of the 40,000 votes cast for her, is worth all the fight cost and more."-Kimball Graphic after election, November, 1904.
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