260 



DAKOTA. 



Territory at $320,000,000. The following table 

 shows some details of the assessment : 



The total tax levy for the year was 3 mills 

 on the dollar. 



Education. There are two systems of com- 

 mon schools in the Territory. Fifteen coun- 

 ties are operated under a district system, by 

 which the people retain the burden of admin- 

 istration in their own hands or delegate it to a 

 school board of three members in each school 

 district, who are chosen annually. Seventy- 

 one counties are operated under a township 

 system, in which the chief authority is vested 

 in a township school board made up of direct- 

 ors, one from each school district of the town- 

 ship, elected annually by the people. Besides 

 these, the city and graded schools are operated 

 under general and special laws, while the vari- 

 ous State institutions for higher and special 

 education are operated under special acts, and, 

 as a rule, are independent of the general sys- 

 tem of schools. 



The University of Dakota, at Vermilion, has 

 20 instructors, and an attendance of more than 

 300 pupils. During the year a dormitory for 

 young women and an east wing to the main 

 building were constructed, at a cost of $25,000. 

 The University of North Dakota, of more re- 

 cent origin, has instructed 98 pupils during the 

 past school year, an increase of 23 over the pre- 

 ceding year. A dormitory building, for which 

 the Legislature of 1887 appropriated $20,000, 

 was completed and occupied early in 1888. 

 The university buildings sustained considera- 

 ble damage through a storm, in June, 1887. At 

 the Agricultural College, in Brookings, 228 pu- 

 pils were enrolled during the school year, and 

 in June the first class was graduated. A dor- 

 mitory for women was erected during the year 

 out of the appropriation by the last Legislature 

 for that purpose. The Normal School at Mad- 

 ison had about 150 students during the year, 

 and that at Spearfish 104. Appropriations 

 by the last Legislature enabled additions to be 

 made to the school-buildings at both of these 

 institutions. The Legislature also made an ap- 

 propriation for paying the tuition of classes of 

 teachers or intending teachers in several of the 

 denominational and private schools of the Ter- 

 ritory, thus enabling many teachers to improve 

 themselves without the expense of a long jour- 

 ney. The law provided that ten of these insti- 

 tutions may be designated by the Territorial 

 board of education, and each may have a class 

 of from ten to twenty-five members, whose 

 tuition will be paid by the Territory upon or- 



der from the Territorial board, at the rate of 

 $1 a week. During the year eight institutions 

 have had classes on these conditions. A total 

 sum of $3,906.22 has been paid these schools 

 for this work. 



The School of Mines, at Eapid City, created 

 by the Legislature of 1885, completed its first 

 year in June, having enrolled 48 students. The 

 corps of instruction embraces four professors 

 and two assistants. This school is also charged 

 with the duty of surveying and investigating 

 the mineral resources of the Territory, espe- 

 cially in the Black Hills, and during the year 

 it published a valuable report upon the tin- 

 deposits in that region. 



Charities and Prisons. The Hospital for the 

 Insane at Yankton secured an appropriation of 

 $92,500 from the last Legislature, for the pur- 

 pose of enlarging its capacity by the construc- 

 tion of two additional wings to the main build- 

 ing. But charges of irregularity were made 

 against the trustees of the institution; the 

 Governor, in September, 1887, after an exami- 

 nation by the Public Examiner, suspended from 

 their duties a majority of the members of the 

 board, and, after further examinations, on No- 

 vember 2 removed the members so suspended 

 for official misconduct and neglect of duty. As 

 the remainder of the board then resigned, the 

 Governor appointed an entirely new board of 

 five members, who proceeded to construct the 

 additions. In consequence of this difficulty the 

 work was scarcely completed at the close of 

 the present year. The removed members of 

 the Beard of Trustees took legal proceedings 

 to test the power of the Governor to make such 

 removals, but the decision was adverse to them. 

 The number of patients at this hospital during 

 the year was nearly 200. At the North Da- 

 kota Hospital there were 178, an increase of 

 31 over the previous year. At the School for 

 Deaf Mutes, at Sioux Falls, there were 44 pu- 

 pils during the year, which is the largest at- 

 tendance in its history. A workshop and other 

 buildings have been constructed. 



The Penitentiary at Sioux Falls contained 

 92 convicts on July 1, an increase of 10 in one 

 year. The total number confined during the 

 year was 128. Since December, 1882, the date 

 of its opening, the institution has received 325 

 prisoners, and released 233. At the Bismarck 

 Penitentiary there were about 50 prisoners on 

 July 1. Extensions have been made to the 

 prison-building by the construction of a south 

 wing. By an uct of the last Legislature $30,- 

 000 was appropriated for buildings for a reform 

 school at Plankinton, and this sum was ex- 

 pended in constructing and furnishing a build- 

 ing of four stories, with out-buildings, which 

 were ready for occupancy in August. Up to 

 October 1, however, no persons had been placed 

 under the care of the institution. 



Railroad Construction. The total railroad mile- 

 age in the Territory on January 1 was 4,207 

 miles. There were completed, or to be com- 

 pleted during the building season of 1888, the 



