Dakota Diary 11 - Visit to the Druggist

June 16th, 1883

Because we had been feeling so bad about Tom Thumb’s death, we decided not to go to see the druggist, Mr. Dunn, that day. We asked if we could have room service for our supper and went to bed early. The letter Mr. Lounsberry had given us was from Mr. Bennett and enclosed money for two of our articles.

The next day, there was a note awaiting us at the front desk. George was very pleased to see us and pointed it out.

“Colonel Lounsberry brought that in for you, he did.”

We thanked him, and took the note over to a table to read it privately.

Mrs. Lounsberry and I would be pleased if you girls could join us for dinner on Saturday, the 24th of
June, if that would suit you. We live at 503 Mandan Street. We plan to invite some of the people who knew your father to be there, so you can meet them. Dress informally. Come about 6. Dinner will be at 6.30. (We eat earlier than you people in the east are probably used to, but that is the custom here.)

We wrote a quick reply to him, that we would be pleased to come to the meal with them, and asked George to take it over to the Tribune office. We gave him a 10 cent tip, which he looked very pleased about.

Being Saturday, we couldn't go to the bank to pay in our check for $100 from Mr. Bennett, and also the one for $20 for the two articles that we had sent him about the Wild West show. He obviously had not yet had my article about Chicago.

But we still wanted to make direct contact with Mr. Dunn before then and chances were that he would be working on a Saturday. Keeping in mind the directions for Mr. Dunn’s store, we set out to walk two blocks north and then over to the east - taking in all the interesting buildings we saw along the route. We went by the Custer Hotel, and although it looked somewhat plusher than the one we were staying in, I was not unhappy in our choice.

When we got to the drugstore, we asked at the counter if we could speak to Mr. Dunn. I think he had already heard that we were in town, no doubt from Colonel Lounsberry, and he rushed over to shake our hands most effusively.

“How nice to meet Mark’s daughters. We knew that he had family, of course. He came to see us regularly, and talked a lot about you girls. I think that you both have a likeness of him about you.”

We said that others had said the same. But then I thought it was necessary for us to put the awkward question that we had come to ask him, to him, straight away, and not in front of the many guests who would be at the dinner with us.

“Mr. Dunn, do you know a Mr. Watson, a druggist from La Crosse?”

“I'm not sure. The name sounds vaguely familiar. Why?”

“Well he told our grandmother that you had some things that belonged to our Pa and that you wanted to hand them over to the family, but you didn’t know where we were. Anyway, after Mr. Watson told her that, she says she wrote to you, saying where we were living, but she never heard from you or got any of our Pa’s things. Did you get her letter?”

“No, I certainly did not. I expect, if she did write it, that it must have been lost in the mail. But anyway, there was nothing of any significance left from your father.”

“But there was something.”

“Well, I can’t say for certain what it was, if anything. I rather resent the way you girls are attacking me as if I was trying to keep your father’s things from you. I can assure you, that if we possessed any of his belongings, I would very happily turn them over to you, now that we know who you are. As I said, we never did get any letter from your grandmother, nor from anybody else. Colonel Lounsberry didn’t know where you were either.”

“Well, I am very sorry if I was rude. But I felt I must put the case to you as strongly as I could. But if there was nothing left, then there is nothing more for it. We are very disappointed, as we have come on this long journey partly because we were sure there was something here for us. But anyway, it was nice meeting you.”

“Oh, well, you won’t be able to dismiss me from your lives quite as easily as that. My wife, Christine, and I are invited to the party that Colonel Lounsberry is giving for you girls next Saturday. So I will see you then. And in the meantime, I will see if my wife can remember anything that she
has heard pertaining to things of your Pa’s.”

“Thank you. Mr. Dunn. We will see you again next Saturday. Good bye for now.”

“What do you girls intend to do to entertain yourselves today?”

“We hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Well, I suggest you go down to the temporary state capitol building on Main Street. They have
diagrams there for our planned new capitol building, and lots of information about the sights of Bismarck. We have a new park here too, just opened. And you might well find some bargains in our
stores.”

“Thank you again. We'll try the Capitol Building. I want to know all about it.”

“Good bye for now.”

So we left the store.

“I think he was lying.”

“So do I. He talked fast, and he was sweating.”

“Well it is a very hot day, and maybe he always talks fast.”

“But he looked shifty. And I am sure there is more to the story than he's telling us. Maybe his wife will be more forthcoming. I wonder why, if there is something, that they wouldn't want to let us know about it.”

“Well, if they tried to keep us from having it, they would now be embarrassed at being found out.
But maybe they did have something and just threw it away. They wouldn’t want to admit to that either. But I agree with you that there is more to this story than meets the eye.”

Across the street from the Bank was the building that had been pointed out to us as the temporary
capitol building. It was necessary, because as of this year, Bismarck was the recognized capitol of Dakota Territory, taking it away from Yankton, which had that title for the last 20 years. I was sure
there must have been a lot of politicking that went on for that decision to be made. And, with my journalistic instinct, I thought there was probably a story in there somewhere.

We were made welcome in the building, and shown the sketch of what the new building would be
like. Work had already started on it, and they anticipated that it would be ready for occupancy by the end of next year.

“I wonder if I could ask you a few questions about Bismarck being the new capitol,” I asked the
woman at the desk.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll help you if I can.”

“Well, I really want to know how Yankton felt about being replaced, and what other places were considered, and what sort of criterion was used for the choice, and who made the choice?”

“Wow, that's a lot of questions, but I'll do my best to help you. Now, as far as the first question goes, Yankton is not happy about the situation. They hoped they could continue. And if, as we expect, Dakota territory is divided into two states in not too distant a future, then, I expect they will have the capitol of that region back again.

“Now as to which other cities asked for the job - well there were quite a few of them. In the north
part, only Bismarck made a big play for it, but Jamestown and Fargo would have taken it if it had been offered to them.”

“Well, it’s just as well with an attitude like that, that it wasn’t,” said Cora Sue.

“And in the south, as well as Yankton, Pierre wanted it, and so did Huron, Mitchell and
Chamberlain.”

“Now as to what the criterion was, well, there were two things necessary. One was that the city had
to donate sufficient land for a reasonable capitol building. And the second one was relating to money to develop a capitol city.”

“And Bismarck gave more land and more money than the others?”

“That’s right. And as far as your question about who made the decision, well
it was nine commissioners appointed by the Governor, who you know is, Nehemiah G. Ordway."

“So how did they go about making their decision?”

“They met in Yankton. The city was determined not to give up the capitol without a struggle. But I am afraid that there was a bit of a legal but slightly naughty thing they did. Because they were expecting trouble if the vote didn’t go the way of the Yanktonians, they decided to charter a special train, leaving Sioux City, April 3rd at 3 a.m. The commissioned coach was dimly lighted as the train pulled into the city limits of Yankton. The meeting was quickly called to order, officers were chosen, and the meeting adjourned until that afternoon in Yankton. The commissioners had satisfied the law, having met, organized and adjourned in Yankton.”

“That was really underhanded.”

“Well, perhaps it was. Anyway, the commission decided that they would make the rounds of several
towns, and that they should be entertained in each. The bill that the Governor had passed stated that they were to accept an offer of not less than $100,000 and 160 acres of land on which the capitol was to be built.”

“And how much was the winning amount?”

“Bismarck offered $100,000 and 320 acres of land, and that was the best bid received.”

She showed us the plans for the new building.  “You girls should take a walk up 4th Street, and you'll see where it's going to be. Quite a high vantage point.” (pictured above - with proposed Capitol in top centre)

“When do they expect for it to be finished and to have the dedication ceremony?”

“Well, the cornerstone will be laid on the 5th of September. We are planning to have this coincide with the railway completion and the opening the bridge, when the President of the northern
Pacific Railway will be here for the “gold spike” ceremony. We expect General Grant, and
various senators, governors and mayors.  We will be quite busy that week, I'm sure.”

“Well, I wish you luck with it. And thank you for giving us such interesting information.”

“Good bye girls. Enjoy your stay in Bismarck.”

We went back to our hotel after that, to have a cool drink. George was at the desk.

“You ladies had a visitor. She left a message.”

Not having any idea of who might have called, we eagerly tore open the envelope.

 

Dear Misses Kellogg,

News travels fast in a small town, and I was so pleased to hear that Mark’s daughters had arrived here. I knew your father well, and would love to meet you and tell you all about what we did together.
If you get this message why don’t you come to our house for lunch on Sunday? It isn’t far - just up the street a few blocks - on 3rd Street and Thayer. It’s a big white clapboarded house with a front porch - and we have painted the door green - which makes it a bit different from our neighbors.

Yours sincerely,

Linda Slaughter

p.s. I am a school teacher and my husband is a doctor.