IN the first twelve years of statehood North Dakota was represented in the Lower House of Congress by a single Representative, and for the first Congress of the new century Dickey County had the honor of furnishing this representative in the person of Honorable Thomas Frank Marshall of Oakes, the government surveyor for much of this region, and a man who had taken a prominent part in the county affairs. In 1900 Mr. Marshall was elected to Congress, and when in 1902 the state was given two representatives he was returned as one with Mr. B. F. Spaulding as his colleague.  From 1904 to 1908 Mr. Marshall served with Mr. A. J. Gronna as the other representative. In 1908 he was a candidate for the United States Senate but through a combination of circumstances his majority in the Primary election in June did not win him the election in November as the choice of the people, so he never served in the upper house of Congress.

Among his many services of public nature an outstanding instance is his securing the Carnegie Loan for the construction of the administration building at the State School at Ellendale. This school was badly cramped for room in its one building which served as shop, laboratories and all class rooms, for it had a rapidly growing enrollment, and there were no funds available with which to build. President Hicks of the school took up the matter of a loan through Congressman Marshall, and as the Congressman was quite well acquainted with Mr. Andrew Carnegie, he and Mr. Hicks put the matter before Mr. Carnegie and asked for a loan. The entire circumstances were explained to Mr. Carnegie including the uncertain legal aspects as well as the needs of the boys and girls who were seeking the practical type of education given by the school. The great capitalist was not in the loaning business although he had given many libraries to towns on certain conditions, but he evidently decided to break his practice and make the loan as his friend requested. $35,000.00 was secured by this loan, for seven five-thousand-dollar bonds running for twenty years at four percent. With this money the administration building at the school was constructed and christened Carnegie Hall, although Marshall Hall would have been much more appropriate.

The Empire Builder did not confine his activities in the transportation business to railroads alone.  Mr. Hill saw great possibilities in the Oriental trade and great advantage to his railroad to have a fleet of great ocean freighters to ply from Seattle to the Orient.   He built two great freighters and named them the "Minnesota" and the "North Dakota".   For the christening of these boats he chose a young woman from the state from whom the boat was named.   For the North Dakota girl he chose Miss Mary Belle Flemington of Ellendale, the daughter of one of the pioneers of the new state and a native by birth.  The christening took place at the ship yards in New York and Miss Flemington was given every attention to make her trip a pleasant one.   It was a great experience for a girl raised in a little village on a Dakota prairie to be taken to a fairy land of sky-scrapers and wonders of the greatest metropolis.  Her genuine interest and western directness won her esteem and deference, and the ceremony was duly and well performed in the presence of a great assembly of interested people.   The ship served some years in the oriental trade but met a disastrous fate on the rocks of the Asiatic coast.

Within the twenty years of the agreement of Mr. Hill with the Milwaukee not to build west of that line, the Soo had put its line across the county from east to west and a line to Ashley and Pollock farther west.  However, Mr. Hill had not forgotten his impression from his experience and surveys in the hills of the Shimmin neighborhood, so in 1905 the Great Northern was extended west from Ellendale fourteen miles and the new town of Forbes was located as its terminal. Another shipping place was located at Peril's Spur five miles out of Ellendale, on Section 18-129-63.  Before the Great Northern extension to Forbes the Northern Pacific had built its Wadena-Milnor line into Oakes from the east. On this line the flag stop of Janet was located in Dickey county. These extensions completed the building of railroads in the county and the history of twenty-five years of railroad building since the first grading was done on the line through Ellendale.

The battlefield of Whitestone Hills was forgotten for twenty years or more. Then one day a settler out in that neighborhood came in with a load of bones to sell, among which he had found some that looked to him like human bones. This led to investigation and upon inquiry from the War Department it was decided that the old battle field had been located.  Several interested parties visited the place of the finding of these human bones. Several articles of the soldiers' accoutrements were found and the place identified beyond a doubt. Some of the pioneers thought the place ought to be marked and fitting tribute paid to those who were killed there.  Notice of these findings was brought to the attention of the Governor of North Dakota who asked a commission to make further investigation.  Through the National Tribune this commission was able to find some of the survivors of the fight. Later two of the surviving members of the troops who took part in the fight visited the field and helped locate the position of the troops and the burial places of the dead.

Congressman Marshall presented a bill to grant the battlefield to the State of North Dakota as a memorial park. This bill passed and the four quarter sections which include the battlefield and the burial places of the dead were given for a park. In order to secure funds to improve the park another bill was passed authorizing the sale of some of the land, and all but sixty-eight acres was sold for this purpose. The legislature authorized the Governor to appoint a commission, and Theodore Northrop, E. R. Kennedy and H. F. Eaton were appointed by Governor Sarles as that commission.  Through their efforts a granite monument was erected on the high hill by the "Whitestone", surmounted by the statue of a bugler facing the burial mounds of the dead soldiers, sounding taps for his comrades. The remains of the soldiers were brought up to the hill around the monument, and the monument was dedicated in October 1909. This dedication drew a large assemblage of people, including two of the surviving soldiers and some Indian chiefs. Speeches were made by Governor Burke of North Dakota and Governor Carroll of Iowa, by Hon. Thomas F. Marshall, E. R. Kennedy and some of the Indian Chiefs.

In a thunder storm in July 1922 the monument was struck by lightning and the figure of the bugler thrown off and broken. The Legislature of 1923 appropriated 3500.00 to have it repaired and made it an emergency measure.  Governor Nestos appointed State Senator T. J. Kelsh, Mrs. Mary Fleming-ton Strand and W. E. Dickinson as a commission to have the monument repaired- The repairs were made and plans were laid for a celebration of the restored monument but weather conditions did not permit this celebration to be held. By a bill introduced by Senator Kelsh in this same legislative assembly the care and custody of the park was vested in the State Historical Society of North Dakota as trustee for the State.

The old Court House built in the early days became inadequate for the offices and business of a large county. A wing for vault room had been built on and several extensive repairs had been made, but by 1910 it had become evident that a new building was necessary. At this time there were other ambitious towns in the county and while the location of the county seat was not up for a vote, a number of the people of other parts of the county were not in favor of a bond issue and quite a strenuous campaign was necessary to get the bonds for building. The vote carried and in 1911 and 1912 a beautiful structure on a plan which has been adopted by some eighteen counties in North Dakota was erected on a new site in the north part of the city. In 1915 the county commissioners succeeded in clearing the block of the last dwelling house and the county now has one of the prettiest court-houses and grounds to be found in the state. The finding of a good well of water in the building and means for using it under pressure has enabled the caretaker to make the grounds a beauty spot.

The county was supposed to have passed out of the time of any great variety of wild animals, but in 1913 a moose was captured alive in Van Meter township.   Mr. Harry E. Miller, mayor of Ellendale, found a young cow moose out south of Silverleaf.   He ran it down to the Maple River west of the Wilson place where it was caught with ropes by the help of some men summoned for the purpose.   It was brought to Ellendale in a butcher's crate and was kept in the Townsend livery barn.  As this was not thought a good place to keep her a high fence was built about a yard at the barn a block west of the hard-water well and she was given the run of the premises.   She was fed on twigs and hay and seemed quite willing to be seen except that she was not friendly to children.  She was finally given to the park board of Little Falls, Minnesota, and was shipped there by train, where she lived a few years as a part of their zoo.

About 1913 some of the enterprising farmers of the county had concluded that it would be very much worth while to have a county agent.  The Better Farming association had awakened many people of the state to the possibilities of diversified farming, so wishing to have the benefit of the best knowledge and help, a petition was presented to the county com-missioners and proper steps taken to secure a county agent.   The county was fortunate in the man sent them, as W. B. Richards from the Agricultural College was the man chosen, probably the man with the best training and best judgment on live-stock that the state has ever had in the work of the county agent.   Mr. Richards served the county for several years, and with J. C. Hoke, also a former instructor at the Agricultural College, as manager of the Baldwin Farms, Dickey county received an excellent start in high class live-stock and was for a few years the banner county for the production of hogs.

In 1914 a thorough soil survey of Dickey county was made by the U. S.  Department of Agriculture with the North Dakota Experiment Station co-operating.   The department contributed the services of three men and the Experiment Station five men for this work.  A complete survey of every quarter section of land was made, specimens of the soil were sent in for analysis at the chemical laboratory and the adaptability of the land to different farm crops was studied.   The soils were classified in ten series, including twenty-eight different types.   The results of this survey were published as Bulletin No. 121 of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, and a soil map of the county showing the different kinds of soils in color was included, the map drawn to a scale of one inch to the mile, so that the characteristics of every quarter section can be readily learned.  When the World War broke out in Europe on August 1, 1914, the people of Dickey County were somewhat uncertain as to what this event might mean to this country and especially to people so far away from the seat of trouble, but when the true character of the war became known the sentiment of the people crystallized into a determination to back the Government to the utmost. The story of the great work done and the services freely devoted to winning the war is told in another chapter.   The county made a priceless contribution to the war and has suffered severely from the deflation that followed in the days of reconstruction.

The hard times that seem to be the lot of the people has not kept them from progressing in education and the construction of good roads. The schools of the county were never so well attended nor so well taught. Improvement all along the line is the order of the times. In road building three state highways have been established across the county. Number 1 continues a similar road at the state line one mile west of the range line of fifty-nine and sixty, running north five miles and east three miles through Ludden, then directly across the county through the city of Oakes to the LaMoure county line. This highway is graveled except the first five miles.  State Highway No. 4 crosses the county directly north and south one mile west of the range line between ranges sixty-two and sixty-three, passing through Ellendale on its way from Sioux City, Iowa, to Jamestown and on to Brandon, Manitoba. It is graveled across the county and for nearly all its length. Highway No. 11 comes into the county directly east of Oakes, joins Number 1 in Oakes and follows it through Ludden and continues west to Ellendale, then through the hills to McIntosh county and on to meet Federal Highway 83 at Hull in Emmons county. This highway is graveled from the east to Ellendale and will soon be graveled farther west. A county road west of Oakes, one from No. 11 through Fullerton, one from Forbes through Merricourt with a branch into the hills and to Kulm, and one from No. 4 through Monango to the Merricourt road, with some other shorter lines constitute a network of better roads for the people of the county.  The Political History of Dickey County is a matter of which everyone can be proud, owing largely to the high grade of intelligence of the voters.  From the beginning in 1882 to the present there has never been a case of incompetence or delinquency among the officers who were chosen to positions of trust in county or school affairs. Our county representatives in the Constitutional Convention were very able men, and our county commissioners and other county officers have shown rare judgment and ability.  Our representatives in the Legislature have ranked with the best in the state, and our school  Superintendents have upheld the standards of education so that we rank second to none in educational matters.

Like all communities among the Northwestern states the majority of the voters are of liberal Republican leaning, although the Democratic Party was always watchful and well organized, and political contests were always waged right up to the time of election day and were never decided until the votes were all counted. No county in the state has had cleaner politics, with a tendency to reckon efficiency above party affiliations. The people of the county have had the advantages of being on the main line of travel, so that many able statesmen and speakers have addressed the voters on questions of public interest, among the visitors of world-wide fame have been President Roosevelt, President Taft, William Jennings Bryan, Governor Hanna and other governors, and many of other rank.

The mode of political procedure in the selection of county officers was by the township caucus and county convention system. Each town would hold a meeting and select delegates to the county convention, and the county meeting would choose their candidates to be voted upon for the county offices at the ensuing election. The candidates then began a canvass for support, which was carried on in a most thorough manner and into every precinct and neighborhood.

This was really a good thing, for the voters were mostly strangers to each other, having recently moved from the more distant states or from Canada, and it gave people a chance to see and talk with their different candidates.   All this added to the expense of the campaign, as "treating" of the voters was allowed.   The campaign was conducted by horses and spring wagon as a means of travel, and it was a rapidly moving candidate who could do more than a township in a day.   The people liked to see a campaign year come, as it changed the monotony of farm life and gave them something to talk about.   Many amusing things happened during these early campaigns.   "Elder" Memory, who lived near Fullerton, disapproved of the practice and said that if any candidate came to see him he would not vote for him, but would vote for his opponent, providing that the other man kept away, but if both came he would leave that place on his ticket blank.   One time when he came to the polls he could vote for only one man, and that a much detested Democrat who had thought he stood no chance for election and had stayed at home.

Sometimes a candidate having the gift of public speaking carried on what was called a "school house campaign", notably Hon. J. W. Stevens and Benj. Porter.  These meetings were held in the evenings at the several school houses over the county, and were well attended.   Candidates were not limited by law as to campaign expenses and often contributed heavily to the party funds, which money was used for hiring bands, printing and post-age, expenses of public speakers and other legitimate expenses. Our political contests were conducted on lines of party principle, and votes were solicited on the grounds of personal friendship, but the voters were above the corruption that has been the scandal and disgrace of so many older settled communities.  The Populist Movement in the 90's gained much headway in the county owing to the unsettled conditions and unsatisfactory regulations governing commerce and industry, but as remedial legislation was passed at Washington and Bismarck the movement had no further reason for existence, and people lined up again with the old national parties. The movement was really a crusade for righting conditions and was in no sense a revolution.

The Dickey County members of the Constitutional Convention led the fight against the Louisiana Lottery, especially Dr. L. D. Bartlett, and also aligned themselves with the temperance people on the side of prohibition. At the first state election, when the question of the state constitution was voted on and the prohibition clause was to be voted on separately, the Republican County Executive Committee headed by Hon. A. T. Cole and Hon. George Rose had their tickets printed with only "For Prohibition," so that all who voted a straight Republican ticket endorsed Section 217 of Article 20. The vote on this question in the county was: For Prohibition, 966 votes; Against Prohibition, 537 votes.

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