626 



NORTH DAKOTA. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, John Miller, 

 Republican; Lieutenant- Governor, Alfred Dick- 

 ey ; Secretary of State, John Flittie ; Auditor, 

 John P. Bray ; Treasurer, L. E. Booker ; Attor- 

 nev-General, 'George F. Goodwin; Superintend- 

 ent of Public Instruction, William Mitchell, 

 who died on March 10 and was succeeded by W. 

 J. Clapp ; Insurance Commissioner, A. L. Gary ; 

 Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor, H. T. 

 Helgesen; Railroad Commissioners, F. S. Un- 

 derhill, David Bartlett, George S. Montgomery . 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Guy C. H. 

 Corliss ; Associate Justices, Alfred Wallin and 

 J. N. Bartholomew. 



Population. The following table shows the 

 population of the State by counties, as deter- 

 mined by the national census of this year, com- 

 pared with the population in 1880 of Dakota coun- 

 ties that are now included in the State limits : 



* No returns. t Decrense. 



$ Unorganized, formerly part of Boreman county, Dakota. 



Finances. The State debt consists of Terri- 

 torial liabilities amounting to $559,807.46, which 

 the State has agreed to assume, and of $150,000 



in bonds, issued this year to supply deficiencies, 

 making the total $689,807.46. The revenue de- 

 ficiency bonds bear 4 per cent, interest, and were 

 sold at a premium of $17,425. The State debt 

 is limited by the Constitution to $200,000, in ad- 

 dition to the Territorial liabilities assumed. The 

 Legislature this year authorized the issue of 4- 

 per-cent. refunding bonds, the proceeds of which 

 should be used to retire such Territorial bonds 

 as were subject to call and bore a higher rate of 

 interest than 4 per cent. Under this authority 

 a call was made for $50,000 of 6-per-cent. bonds 

 issued for the Penitentiary at Bismarck, and 

 $68,000 of 6-per-cent. bonds issued for addition- 

 al buildings for the North Dakota Hospital for 

 the Insane, for the payment of which $113,000 

 of thirty-year 4-per-cent. bonds, dated May 25, 

 1890, were sold at a premium of $10,555. Of 

 the bonded indebtedness, $118,600 bears interest 

 at 6 per cent., $83,507.46 at 5 per cent., $332,000 

 at 4i per cent., and $155,700 at 4 per cent. 



Although the surplus in the treasury during 

 the year was several times nearly exhausted, all 

 warrants have been paid at presentation, and by 

 rigorous economy the financial disasters that 

 threatened the new State have been averted. 



Settlement with South Dakota. The com- 

 missioners appointed on the part of North Da- 

 kota to act with commissioners from South Da- 

 kota, in effecting an adjustment of Territorial 

 liabilities between the two States, reached a set- 

 tlement late in the year which was approved by 

 the Governor of each State. It fixes the indebt- 

 edness of South Dakota to North Dakota at 

 $64,141.46. Of this amount, $46,500 is the sum 

 agreed upon by the Constitutional Convention as 

 a settlement of liabilities incurred prior to March 

 8, 1889, and the remainder, $17,641.46, is the 

 amount agreed upon by the joint commission as 

 due in adjustment of liabilities accruing after 

 that date up to the time of settlement. When 

 the Territory was divided there were Territorial 

 warrants outstanding against it to the amount 

 of $150,000. The terms of section 22 of the 

 joint agreement of the Constitutional Conven- 

 tion provides that " the payment from South 

 Dakota to North Dakota shall be made by South 

 Dakota assuming North Dakota's share of cur- 

 rent liabilities at the time of final adjustment 

 to the extent of South Dakota's indebtedness to 

 North Dakota." The final agreement, therefore, 

 provides that by the payment of $16,983.54 by 

 North Dakota to South Dakota, this being the dif- 

 ference between North Dakota's, share of the Ter- 

 ritorial warrants with accrued interest to date of 

 settlement and the amount due from South Da- 

 kota, the latter shall assume the Territorial war- 

 rants with interest, amounting to $162,250. 



Valuations. The total assessed valuation of 

 the State for 1890 was $88,203,044, of which the 

 value of real estate was $65,181,177, and of per- 

 sonal estate $23,021,857. The increase in valua- 

 tion of real estate over the figures for 1889 is 

 $15,765.670, and of personal estate $5,579,937; 

 total increase, $21,345,607. The/area of land as- 

 sessed in 1890 exceeds that assessed in 1889 by 

 2,468,837 acres. Nearly all this increase is caused 

 by the assessment of the surveyed lands of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which had 

 been exempt from taxation by the terms of the 

 gross-earnings law of 1889, allowing the railroad 



