CHAPTER LXXIII

IN THE NEW CENTURY. 

	Just a hasty review of the events of the last three years, for it is too early to write the history of these later days. 

	The legislature elected in the fall of 1900 convened in January and promptly and with the unanimous vote of the Republicans elected Robert J. Gamble as the successor of Senator Pettigrew.

	Among its more conspicuous acts were the creation of the office of food and dairy commissioner, the department of history and the endowment of the Northern Normal and Industrial School at Aberdeen.  New buildings were pro-vided for the Agricultural College, University, Springfield-Normal, Insane Asylum, School for Feeble Minded and Blind School.  A hot fight for the submission of a proposition to remove the capital to Mitchell failed in the senate, having passed the house. The appropriations for the bieiinial period reached the sum of thirteen hundred thousand dollars, an indication of the growth of the state. The legislature established the department of law at the State University. It also provided for the revision of the laws and Governor Herreid selected Bartlett Tripp, Gideon C. Moody and James M. Brown to perform this duty.

	The harvest was all that could be desired. A prolonged heated spell came in July which caused great alarm, but the crop came through surprisingly well.

	A great impulse was given to the boring of artesian wells this season by new methods. Most of the new wells were of small bore, one and a half to two inches.

	On the Fourth of July, at Deadwood, a celebration of the first quarter of a century of Black Hills settlement was arranged.

	During this season the Sault Railway extended its line into the northern portion of Campbell county, and the towns of Herreid, Artas and Pollock were founded.

	The National Farmers' Congress assembled in Sioux Falls the first week of October.

	Hanson county's fine courthouse burned on Octoher 5th.

	Gov. Gilbert A. Pierce died on February 15th, aged sixty-five years.  He never resided in South Dakota, but was governor of Dakota territory from July 1, 1884, to February 1, 1887. He was a capable, clean man and a good officer.

	Annie D. Tallent, the first white woman to enter the Black Hills, and the author of an interesting history of that section of the state, died on February 17th.

	On July 1st Senator James H. Kyle died at his home in Aberdeen.  He was forty-seven years of age.  Governor Herreid, on July 9th, appointed Senator Alfred B. Kittredge to the vacancy.

	1901 was another good year in South Dakota history.

	1902 was uneventful in every way.  It was remarkable only as an exceedingly cold season, frost falling every month except July. A killing frost fell on the 21st of June and again on the 13th of August.  Wheat proved an excellent crop, but corn was of little value.  Nevertheless, the aggregate value of the year's productions were greater than in any prior year. There was a vast deal of building and the demand for land approached the boom stage. Values were greatly appreciated during the year and the sales were enormous.

	Governor Herreid and Congressmen Burke and Martin were re-elected by vastly increased majorities and the legislature contained but twelve Democratic members.  The Populist party disappeared in this campaign.

	On December 17th the Northern Normal School building at Aberdeen, then nearing completion, was burned. It was immediately rebuilt.

	John L. Pyle, attorney general of South Dakota, died February 21st.  He was in the best sense a self-made man, a native of Ohio, forty-two years of age.

	On March 1st L. C. Taylor, state auditor from statehood until 1903, died from apoplexy at his office in Alexandria.  He was in his fifty-fifth year.

	1903 was still an improvement upon its predecessor in the value of the state's productions. Crops of all kinds were excellent and the prosperity of the people continued without abatement.  The legislature re-elected Senator Kittredge by a unanimous Republican vote, the Democratic vote being cast for John A. Bowler. Nineteen hundred thousand dollars were appropriated for the biennial period.  Each of the state institutions except the reform school received new buildings.  The proposition to remove the capital from Pierre to Mitchell was submitted to the people to be voted upon at the election to be held in November, 1904.  The revised codes were adopted.  The state fair was permanently located at Huron and the permanent camp of the state militia at Lake Kampeska.

	It is forty-five years since that day in July, 859, when the Yankton treaty was ratified and the homeseekers thronging the Nebraska shore flocked over the Missouri to find fortune "on this side of Jordan." Forty-five eventful years have passed and many of the immigrants of 1859 are still with us, witnesses to the development of Dakota from the day of its birth, to testify to its healthfulness, salubrity and productiveness. Loyal Dakotans they are, every one of them, bringing to the younger generation impressive lessons of steadfastness of purpose, courage, endurance and, too, of the rewards Dakota reserves for the faithful.

	The way up through these forty-five years has not all been sunny, but the bright days have dominated.  The little handful of settlers sprinkled along the shores of the Missouri have expanded into a half million souls. Material things have developed until a billion dollars' worth of property is possessed by the South Dakotans. Churches, schools and colleges are convenient to every section and are the chief source of pride to our people. Homes of abounding comfort are the inheritance of whoever will possess them and health and happiness are universal.  Surely 'tis a goodly land and a goodly people.