Alexander Madill Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1568-1569 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	An engraving and the signature of Alex Madill face page 1568.


	ALEXANDER MADILL was born in Ogdensburgh, St. Lawrence county, New 
York, on January 29, 1843. He was reared to agricultural pursuits in his 
native county, attended the public schools at intervals during his 
minority, and at the age of twenty-three left New York and went to 
Waupaca county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the lumber business. 
After remaining in the latter state until the spring of 1877, Mr. Madill 
came to South Dakota and during the greater part of the next year and a 
half devoted his attention to prospecting in the Black Hills, with 
Deadwood as his headquarters. In the fall of 1878 he went to Custer City 
and began prospecting on French creek but the following year changed his 
location to the site of the present city of Keystone, where he purchased 
a number of mining claims, which have since increased in value. In 1880, 
with Dr. Hope, he located the Bullion mine, in which Benjamin Mitchell 
subsequently acquired an interest, Mr. Madill and the latter gentleman 
being principal owners of the property at the present time. This mine, 
which is bonded to eastern capitalists, shows great value and promises, 
when fully developed, to become one of the largest and richest mining 
properties in the Black Hills. 

	In addition to the above, Mr. Madill has located a number of other 
valuable claims in different parts of the country, several of which he 
sold at liberal prices, and he was also interested for some time in the 
Ida Florence mine, a mine of great promise, which he helped promote and 
develop. Mr. Madill lived at Keystone until the spring of 1891, when he 
came to Squaw creek and took up his present ranch, five miles from 
Hermosa, where, in addition to looking after his mining interests, he 
has since been engaged in farming and stock raising. He has a fine place 
which is admirably suited to agriculture and grazing, and has spared 
neither pains nor expense in developing and improving the property and 
providing his family with the conveniences and comforts and not a few of 
the luxuries of life. Mr. Madill is one of the progressive men of the 
Black Hills and manifests commendable zeal in whatever makes for the 
growth and development of this section of the state. Always a staunch 
Republican, he persistently refused to accept office from his party 
until the fall of 1900, when he was induced, much against his will, to 
consent to run for the legislature. His election followed as a matter of 
course and he represented the county in a very creditable manner, 
proving an able and indefatigable worker for the interests of his 
constituency. and earning an honorable reputation as a law maker. In all 
that constitutes intelligent and aggressive citizenship, Mr. Madill is 
easily the peer of any of his contemporaries and as a kind and obliging 
neighbor, with the good of his fellow men at heart; he enjoys the esteem 
and confidence not only of the community in which he resides, but of the 
people of the county as well. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
at Keystone, and in addition thereto gives his support to all public and 
private benevolences, being charitable and ever ready to assist the 
deserving poor wherever they may be found. 

	On January 20, 1873, Mr. Madill was united in marriage with Miss 
Emma Kelley, a native of Maine, but at that time living in Waupaca 
county, Wisconsin, where the ceremony took place. Five children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Madill, namely: George, Gertrude, Roy; Earl 
and Olive.