USA > South Dakota > Who's who in South Dakota, Vol. III > Part 2
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"With many a stiff thwack, many a bang, Hard crabtree and old iron rang; While none that saw them could divine To which side conquest would incline."
HIS EARLY YEARS
The son of a pioneer Minnesota family, that among other hardships had to clear a large part of the farm of trees and stumps, Charley's childhood days were spent amid scenes of hard work and industry. When not at school he was given practical lessons in the actual work of conducting a farm. Carrying wood and water, doing chores
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morning and night, driving teams in the field, binding sheaves of grain after the old self-rake reaper, in the field before daylight picking corn out of the snow bare-handed, were all experiences which were not always agreeable, yet taught him endurance and how to meet and overcome obstacles.
He lived on the home farm until past nine- teen years of age when he removed to Sioux Falls and enrolled in his brother's Business College.
"Chris," as he is familiarly called by his associates, pursued his studies, but attending school in town and living at a boarding house was a decided contrast to the busy life he had formerly led; so it was but a short time until he was seeking and obtained work to do while attending school. One winter he took care of a furnace in a down-town office build- ing, and also attended to the collection of current bills for some of the physicians in the city. With something to do, town life was more attractive, and after the comple- tion of his school work, he took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1893.
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While reading law, and for a year after his admission to the bar, he was employed in law offices in his home city. In those days, law offices handled a large number of de- linquent claims, and Charley spent considera- ble time on the road collecting. He traveled over the larger portion of the State and in this work evidenced the result of his earlier training, in that no matter as to the weather, if a trip had been planned for a certain day, weather conditions were never allowed t interfere. As a natural consequence, many weary hours were spent on the road con- tending with mud in the spring, heat and dust in the summer, and facing the cold and chilly blasts of the winter season. This work also had other disagreeable features, owing to the disputes and contentions between the real parties to the transaction. It frequently required the exercise of real diplomacy to avoid personal encounters. On only two oc- casions in connection with this work did he get into personal conflict. Once was when an irate debtor sought a new way of liquid- ating his indebtedness, by deliberately tear- ing into small pieces a note that Chris pre-
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sented to him for payment. This was a prac- tice Christopherson felt must be suppressed at once, and without any formal declaration, a fight was in progress. When truce was declared, the debtor signed a statement acknowledging destruction of the note and a promise to pay on a certain day, - a promise he punctually observed. The second in- stance was when Charley was engaged in discussion with a certain debtor over a claim, he suddenly observed the debtor's wife ap- proaching him with a hatchet so large that it resembled a broad-axe, and with which she threatened to end Charley's career then and there. Chris escaped with his life, and with- out being carved with the axe, for when he left he carried the axe away. It has since done duty in his household in the preparation of kindling wood, and for such peaceful pur- pose has been found very useful.
Barring the two foregoing instances, Chris managed to avoid any personal difficulty in his work on the road by holding to the theory that he was not out to quarrel with the debt- ors, but to get adjustments ; also that a debt- or who for any reason, was unable to pay,
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when pressed for payment, had some reason for being irritated. So he took no particular note of their outbursts of anger, but after a free expression, on their part, concerning collectors, lawyers and the law generally, the business in hand was discussed, and they usually parted with a good understanding, if not always as friends. His work in this line brought him in contact with all manner of people, and his observation from such expe- rience is that the great majority of the people are honest and desirous of meeting their ob- ligations, but frequently are prevented from so doing by circumstances which they cannot avoid.
"PROMPT ATTENTION TO BUSINESS"
In March, 1894, Charley opened an office of his own in Sioux Falls and early adopted the motto, "Prompt Attention to Business," which for many years appeared on his busi- ness stationery. However, after many years of close attention to business, when he be- came a candidate for office and began to de- vote time to political campaigns, the above motto was omitted. The reason is obvious. Later he formed a law partnership, and the
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firm is now Christopherson, Melquist & Davenport.
"While lawyers have more sober sense, Than t' argue at their own expense, But make their best advantages Of others' quarrels, like the Swiss, And out of foreign controversies, By aiding both sides, fill their purses : But have no interest in the cause For which they engage and wage the laws, Nor further prospect than their pay, Whether they lose or win the day." - BUTLER
NEVER IDLE
While many years have elapsed since Charley left the home farm in Minnesota, he never lost interest in the great and basic in- dustry of Agriculture, and as a side line or rather a recreation, he has purchased unim- proved land and spent time and means in im- proving the same; planting trees, drilling wells, erecting buildings, and generally mak- ing the place an attractive rural home. A number of farms in the State, so improved by Chris, are now the comfortable homes and productive farms of the present owners.
Charley never acquired the habit of idling, and so among other activities he has given
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of his time to the public. For ten years he served as a member of the Board of Educa- tion of his home city, for three years Presi- dent of the Board, and for many years was an active worker in the various fraternal or- ders of which he is a member, and which work and association was in itself a study of human nature.
POLITICAL LIFE
Until 1912, Charley had not sought political preferment; but in that year he be- came a candidate in the Republican primary election for the office of Representative in the State Legislature. Having once concluded to seek the nomination, he displayed in his political activities the same determination and industry that has characterized his pre- vious work and we find him canvassing the country in the interest of his candidacy and in the fall engaging in the general campaign for the Republican ticket.
He secured the nomination in the primary and was elected a member of the lower house, serving through the stormy and contentious session of 1913. This was the last session of our legislature at which a United States
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Senator was chosen, and a very bitter con- test developed over that election; and it has been said by those familiar with our legisla- tive history that this was one of the most personal and bitter sessions ever held in the history of our State.
Charley was returned from his county to the next session, was chosen in the Republi- can caucus as the Speaker of the House, and at the opening session was elected Speaker of the 14th Legislative Session of our State. As the presiding officer of this session, he had the confidence, good will and earnest sup- port of the entire membership of the House. In his work as Speaker he also adhered to his motto, "Prompt Attention to Busi- ness," which is evidenced by the fact that on the evening before the day of final adjourn- ment, the House calendar was cleared, - a feat it is said never before accomplished in the legislative history of our State.
He was nominated for Congress by the Republicans of the 1st District, in the pri- mary election in 1918, and is now serving his first term in that legislative body. In 1920 ho was re-elected.
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PERSONAL
Mr. Christopherson was united in mar- riage to Miss Abbie M. Deyoe on November 30, 1897. To their union two children were born, - a daughter and a son. In 1916, the Messenger of Death stole quietly into their happy home and carried the daughter away.
FRANK J. CORY
FRANK J. CORY
EDITOR WATERTOWN DAILY NEWS
When we speak of journalism in America, our minds promptly revert to Ben Franklin and the Saturday Evening Post. Then we jump forward to Nathan Hale who bought the year-old Boston Daily Advertiser during the third year of the War of 1812 and pub- lished it until the third year of the Civil War - a period of fifty years. And correlatively we think of James Gordon Bennett, founder of the New York Herald; of Horace Greeley, who established the New York Tribune; of Charles Dana, editor of the New York Sun; of Henry Raymond, who launched the New York Times; of William Curtis, the world- renowned correspondent; and of George Childs, editor of the Home Weekly.
When we confine our vision to our own state, the names of our pioneer editors come rapidly upon the pages of memory: Kings- bury, Bowen, McLeod, Halladay, Roberts, Day, Longstaff, Bonham, Gossage, Hackett,
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Nash, Sanders, Dowdell, Stanley, Downey, Willy, Conklin, and a number of others. Then we pause and look ! and there, in bold relief, stands the name of F. J. Cory, editor of the Watertown Daily News. With him we are now to deal for a few brief paragraphs.
CAREER
Perhaps we can get a clearer view of him by unraveling his life from the beginning. He was born on a farm near Palmyra, Wis- consin, January 22, 1859. Here he spent his boyhood - doing farm-boy work and attend- ing rural schools in the winter, until he was nine years of age. Then the family moved to Iowa and settled on a farm twelve miles southwest of New Hampton. Again, he at- tended country school for several winter terms. However, when he was eighteen, he secured a certificate and taught school for two terms.
When he attained his majority, in 1880, he came to Dakota, and settled at Brookings, where he did newspaper work for two years for Miles and Skinner, on the Valley News.
But, in 1882, he went to Redfield and be- came employed by Miles as City Editor on the
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Redfield Journal - now the Journal-Ob- server. The next year he bought a half in- terest in the plant, and the year following he purchased the other half.
Money was scarce, as all those who passed through the early days in Dakota will freely attest. Interest rates were fabulous. There was no law limiting them, and conscience was either dead or had taken a vacation.
Cory borrowed $720 to complete his trans- action. He paid 3 per cent a month (36 per cent a year) on it for the first six months. By that time he had paid off $420 of the prin- cipal, out of the earnings of the shop. On the remaining $300 he paid 2 per cent a month, until he liquidated it six months later.
POWER OF THE PRESS
In 1886, Cory took in Herbert Geddes as his partner. Geddes was a good newspaper man and Cory entrusted the plant to him while he took a trip through the western states.
Before starting, he told the political lead- ers in Spink County that if they nominated certain men for office in 1888, while he was away, he would bolt the ticket when he got
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back. They nominated the "forbidden" men. Cory bolted. A red-hot political fight ensued. The young editor was fearless. He dipped his editorial pen in acid. His denunciations attracted the attention of the whole state. There were nine papers being published in Spink County at the time. Eight of them supported the regular ticket. Cory opposed it. He and his friends put up a ticket of their own. Election day came ! Cory elected every man on his reform ticket, by majorities ranging from 400 to 900.
His success scared the old county bosses. They had learned in the hard school of ex- perience that their young editor was not to be trifled with. It was necessary for them to make peace with him; and so they offered him a seat in the state senate in the campaign of 1890. He accepted, and was elected.
CHANGES LOCATION
Cory sold the Journal in 1891 to Geddes and A. W. Ransom. Then he returned to Iowa where he spent nearly two years. In 1893, Geddes and Ransom sold the Redfield Journal and bought the Watertown Daily News. They invited Cory to return to
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Dakota and become editor of their paper. He did so. They purchased Colonel Lyon's Weekly Opinion, consolidated the plants, and changed the name of the paper to the Water- town Public Opinion.
In 1898, President Mckinley appointed Mr. Cory postmaster at Watertown. He was reappointed by President Roosevelt, holding the office, all told, nearly nine years. During this period he continued his editorial work ; in fact he edited Public Opinon for fifteen years. He made it a vital factor in the politi- cal life of the state. The "sparks" from his pen were reproduced by all the big dailies of the west.
Cory, meanwhile, had purchased Geddes' interest in the paper. In 1908, he and Ransom sold the plant to Bancroft and Way.
He went to Colorado in 1909, and remained for five years. Upon his return in 1914, he and Ransom became associated in the pub- lication of the Saturday News - a weekly paper which had been launched at Water- town. The next year Cory took over the en- tire management, - Mr. Ransom removing to Mitchell; and in 1918, he converted the
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paper into the Daily News, which he still publishes.
"Only a newspaper! quick read, quick lost,
Who sums the treasure that it carries hence? Torn, trampled under foot, who counts thy cost? Star-eyed intelligence."
MARY CLEMMER
Mr. Cory is one of the ablest editorial writers in the west. He possesses a natural diction that is very inviting. His vocabulary is large, and his range of detailed knowledge is far above the average. He is a student with a student's mind; an editor with an editor's heart.
"Of all the arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well." SHEFFIELD
Then, too, Editor Cory believes in keeping a newspaper cn a high plane. He never gets into a "fight" unless the conditions which provoke it are very abnormal. He likes a good news story, and he demands that his reporters get the FACTS.
Warren G. Harding, when he purchased the Marion (Ohio) Star, a decade ago, gave a list of instructions to his reporters, which,
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were one to read them and not know their author, he might readily presume they fell from the pen of Frank J. Cory. They repre- sent the latter's sentiments and are typical of his style. They follow :
"Remember there are two sides to every ques- tion. Get both. Be truthful. Get the facts. Mistakes are inevitable but strive for accuracy. I would rather have one story exactly right than a hundred half wrong. Be decent, be fair, be generous. Boost, don't knock. There's good in everybody. Bring out the good in everybody and never needlessly hurt the feelings of any- body. In reporting a political gathering give the facts; tell the story, as it is, not as you would like to have it. Treat all parties alike. If there is any politics to be played we will play it in our editorial columns. Treat all religious matters reverently. If it can possibly be avoid- ed never bring ignominy to an innocent man or child in telling of the misdeeds or misfortune of a relative. Don't wait to be asked but do it without the asking and above all be clean and never let a dirty word or suggestive story get into type. I want this paper so conducted that it can go into any home without destroying the innocence of any child."
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"I shot an arrow into the air; It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow in its flight.
"I breathed a song into the air; It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song?
"Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend." LONGFELLOW
OTHER RELATIONSHIPS
Mr. Cory was united in marriage, in 1895, to Miss Agnes Dilts, of Watertown, - a lady of Scotch-Canadian stock. They attend the Christian Science church, and Mr. Cory is a member of the Elks and of the United Workmen.
N. B. - Just as we were locking up our forms to go to press, Editor Cory lost his entire plant at Watertown, by fire. Regrets! - THE PUBLISHERS.
ROBERT EMMETT DOWDELL IN SEARCH OF GOLD
On the 2nd day of April, 1877, a ruddy- faced stripling, nineteen years of age, climbed down from an overland freighter,
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consisting of 135 wagons drawn by mules and horses, and set his feet in the throbbing gold-seekers' city of Deadwood. He was of good character, high courage, and ambitious to see the "fabled golden West." His name was Robert Emmett Dowdell, one of our Dakota pioneers.
In Iowa, as an ambitious lad, he had per- haps heard them sing :
"There's a country famed in story, As you've oftentimes been told, 'Tis a land of mighty rivers Running over sands of gold."
At any rate he was lured to the Black Hills by stories of Gold, of Adventure, and of Promise.
"Your peaks are beautiful, ye (rich Black Hills) ! In the soft light of these serenest skies; From the broad highland region, black with pines, Fair as the hills of Paradise they rise, Bathed in the tint Peruvian slaves behold In rosy flushes in the virgin gold." WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
"Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold, Molten, graven, hammer'd and roll'd; Heavy to get, and light to hold; Hoarded, barter'd, bought, and sold,
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Stolen, borrow'd, squander'd, doled; (Lored) by the young, (and) hugg'd by the old To the very verge of the churchyard mould; Price of many a crime untold; Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!"
HOOD
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Robert E. Dowdell was born on a farm near Ogdensburg, in St. Lawrence County, New York, December 15, 1857. When his father returned from the Civil War in 1864, the family immediately went west and set- tled on a farm near Dubuque, Iowa. Several years later they purchased and removed to a farm in Harding County, near Iowa Falls. Here Robert continued his farm labors until he grew to young manhood.
His educational preparation for life was limited to the winter terms in rural schools in New York and Iowa. However, he was a born mathematician, as his successful dealings in the business world in after life disclose.
YOUNG MANHOOD
Wholly devoid of fear, he left the old farm in Harding County in 1877, and started west for the hazardous Indian haunts of the Black
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Hills, in pursuit of Gold. He went by train as far as Yankton- the end of the only railroad in the Territory, at that time. Here were being fitted out many mule, horse, and ox freighting outfits, among which were those belonging to the following: Welch and Walpoole, Volin brothers, John Dillon, and others whose names are familiar to Terri- torial pioneers.
The private outfit (a well fitted prairie schooner) drawn by a span of mules in which Mr. Dowdell and his boyhood chum, John Dershem, made the trip, lost its identity in the above group.
They had many startling experiences, for the large, muscular, Sioux Indians were hos- tile in the extreme. En route they helped to bury four boys who had been scalped by the Indians. In one grove on the bank of an unnamed creek (now known as "Dead Man's Creek") they laid them to rest.
When they arrived at Deadwood, they found an inflated mountain city, wide open, with saloons, gambling houses and resorts of all kinds. It was filled with some desperate characters. Wild Bill had been killed; but
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young Dowdell lived to witness the execution of his slayer, Jack McCall, who was brought to justice and hanged according to law at Yankton, the old territorial capital. Calam- ity Jane still held sway, and was both to be admired and feared.
Placer mining proved a failure. It was evident to the more thoughtful that the great bulk of the precious metal lay deep in the quartz foundation, - just as the large
Homestake Mining Company has since proven. However, Wheeler Brothers did take 1,900 pounds of gold dust out of the bed of Deadwood creek, and a trio of negroes, in "Niggers Gulch," also made a handsome find.
Dowdell and his partner, John Dershem, a lad one year his junior, decided from the beginning, that the chances for success in placer mining were not good, and so they filed a "squatter's right" on a small tract in what is now known as "Centennial Prairie," a portion of which extended up the mountain gulch where pine timber was abundant. They broke a small piece of ground and planted it to potatoes - the first ones ever planted in that region.
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Their "ranch" was two miles from old Crook City, and not far from the present town of Whitewood. During the summer of '77 more than a score of scalpless people were buried at Crook City, a majority of which Mr. Dowdell helped to lay away. The vic- tims were all men, except one. A woman, in company with her brother and husband, was murdered on Willow Creek on the Bis- marck Trail.
But young Dowdell was no tenderfoot, and these bloody scenes and the drunken carou- sals and almost nightly murders that took place in Deadwood stirred no fear in him. He was clean of habit, - never having tasted liquor or tobacco in his life.
One thing that helped Dowdell and Der- shem to succeed was the fact that they set to work and felled the trees on their claim. They built charcoal pits and converted the rough part of this timber into charcoal which found a ready sale among the blacksmiths in the mining camps, at $1.00 per bushel. A saw-mill company, named Powers & Ander- son, from Three Rivers, Michigan, freighted a saw-mill into the region and set it up near
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the Dowdell-Dershem ranch. The young wood-choppers sold their sawlogs to this firm and then began to work for them in the saw- mill. The income from their toil was a surer asset than "panning dirt."
The placer mining bubble bursted. People left the gulches, and Dowdell, in 1879, took charge of the home farm in Harding County, Iowa. But the memory of Dakota was ever uppermost in his mind; and as he plowed and planted in the undulating fields of the old Iowa farm, he longed for the rich virgin soil in the Valley of the James River, in which in 1881 he staked his second claim, this time a homestead.
ENTERS NEWSPAPER FIELD
Dowdell remained on his homestead in Sanborn County until 1889, when he went to Chicago, and for two years engaged in the real estate business. In October, 1891, he purchased the Sanborn County Advocate, at Artesian, this state, and took possession of it in January following. He published the Advocate for twenty-two years, making it a power in the political life of Sanborn County.
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His first newspaper experience was ac- quired in the Black Hills. While there he acted as correspondent for the Iowa Falls Sentinel.
He was elected President of the South Dakota Press Association in 1907, and of the National Editorial Association in 1910.
REAL ESTATE
After returning from Chicago to Dakota in 1892, he continued in the real estate busi- ness, establishing the Dowdell Land Agency in connection with his newspaper work. After disposing of the Advocate, he devoted most of his time to his land business. He has recently, with his sons, Ray and Milton, established an office in Mitchell, S. D., and is today a large land-holder in the state of his adoption. It is generally conceded that no man has brought more loaded immigrant cars and actual settlers to South Dakota than he.
In 1910, himself and partner, B. H. Millard, purchased the Rodee ranch, a tract of land extending southward from the village of Forestburg, about three miles on each side of the James River, containing
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1,960 acres. Out of this tract they developed the now popular Ruskin Park. On this land is more than 200 acres of ash, elm, and hackberry timber.
This is one of the most picturesque places in Dakota. Nature outdid herself to make it ideal. The winding stream which mirrors the trees, the splendid opportunities for bathing, boating, and fishing, the rapids, the springs, and the huge trees, are all the handi- work of nature herself. The owners have built in the park one of the very best mile dirt automobile speedways in the United States. The park is only a few miles from the center of population in South Dakota, and as many as 15,000 people and 4,700 automobiles have entered it on a single day.
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