Chauncey L. Wood Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1557-1558 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	HON. CHAUNCEY L. WOOD, of Rapid City, was born on April 20, 1851, 
in Jones county, Iowa, and there received his early education, meanwhile 
working with his father on the farm. He continued his scholastic 
training at Cornell College at Mount Vernon, and secured his 
professional preparation at the Iowa State University, where he was 
graduated from the law department in 1875. After his graduation he 
remained on the farm one year, and in 1877 began the practice of law at 
Anamosa, the county seat of his native county. In April, 1878, he 
arrived at Rapid City in this state, and there met Hon. J. W. Nowlin, a 
member of his class who had come to the Black Hills in 1877, and who was 
afterward the first circuit judge in this part of the state. They formed 
a partnership for the practice of law and opened an office in Rapid 
City. The firm was very successful and rose rapidly to prominence, the 
partnership continuing until Mr. Nowlin was elected judge of the seventh 
circuit court of South Dakota in the fall of 1889. After that Mr. Wood 
practiced alone for some time, then formed a partnership with C. J. 
Ruell which lasted twelve years. Since February, 1902, Mr. Wood has 
again been alone in professional work and has built up an extensive and 
representative practice in all departments of the law. He has been 
connected in a leading way with many of the most important cases that 
have been tried in this section of the country and has won high 
distinction as an able and adroit trial lawyer, an eloquent and 
effective advocate, and a jurist of great learning and breadth of view. 
He practices in the United States court also and has considerable 
business before that tribunal. From 1895 to 1900 he was special 
assistant United States attorney, and as such had full control of all 
timber cases in which the interests of the government were involved. As 
a member of the territorial constitutional convention in 1883 he 
displayed a wide and accurate knowledge of affairs and great power in 
presenting and enforcing his views; and as a member of the convention 
that met in 1889 and formulated the present state constitution, he was 
of great service to his county and the state at large in securing the 
insertion of wise provisions in the organic law and the elimination of 
unwise ones therefrom. Being an ardent Democrat in political faith and 
warmly devoted to the welfare of his party, Mr. Wood has never shirked a 
duty in connection with its progress and vitality. In 1893 he led the 
forlorn hope of his party as its candidate for judge of the state 
supreme court after having made a similar race the year before as a 
candidate for the United States house of representatives, he being the 
most prominent man in the party in this portion of the state. He was. 
however, elected mayor of Rapid City in 1894 and again in 1899, and in 
1898 was chosen state’s attorney for Pennington county. In this position 
he has had some remarkable cases to try, and in conducting them has so 
borne himself that all the opposers have been wary of him. One of the 
most celebrated cases with which he has been connected was that of the 
Jacob Reid Heirs v. the Holy Terror Mining Company in 1895, which he 
conducted to a successful conclusion for his side and received as his 
fee two-ninths of the stock of the company. In addition to his 
professional interests Mr. Wood has extensive cattle properties in 
Wyoming and considerable real estate of value in Rapid City, the latter 
comprising both business and residence property; and he also has real 
estate in Seattle, Washington. He is an active member of the Masonic 
order and stands high in its councils, having served as worshipful 
master of his lodge at Rapid City and held other offices of importance.