DAKOTA. 



217 



Columbns's Remains. The mortal remains of 

 Christopher Columbus were removed from the 

 cathedral of Havana, where they had hitherto 

 found a resting-place, to the city of his birth, 



Genoa, on board the Italian man-of-war, Mat- 

 teo Brazza, on July 2, in charge of Monsignore 

 Cocio, the Papal Internuntius in Brazil, and 

 buried with great ecclesiastical pomp. 



DAKOTA. Territorial Government. The follow- 

 ing were the Territorial officers during the 

 year: Governor, Gilbert A. Pierce, Republi- 

 can, succeeded by Louis K. Church. Democrat ; 

 Secretary, M. L. McUormack; Treasurer, J. 

 W. Raymond; Auditor, E. W. Cald well, suc- 

 ceeded by James A. Ward ; Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, A. S. Jones, succeeded by 

 Eugene A. Dye ; Attorney- General, George 

 Rice, succeeded by C. F. Templeton ; Com- 

 missioner of Immigration, Lauren Dunlap, 

 succeeded by P. F. McClure; Chief-Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, Bartlett Tripp ; Associate- 

 Justices, Charles M. Thomas, William H. Fran- 

 cis, William B. McConnell, Cornelius S. Palmer, 

 Louis K. Church, succeeded by James Spencer. 



Legislative Session. The Seventeenth Territo- 

 rial Assembly convened on January 11, and re- 

 mained in session two months. One hundred 

 and thirty-five new laws, and twelve joint reso- 

 lutions, were passed. The most important 

 measures were the appropriation bills, the lo- 

 cal-option law, and the law submitting the 

 question of division of the Territory to a vote of 

 the people. In the matter of appropriations, the 

 session has been criticised for its extravagance. 

 The total appropriations were $1,530,718, as 

 against $705,000 in 1885. The local-option 

 bill provides that on petition of one third of 

 the legal voters of any county, an election shall 

 be held at the time of any general election, to 

 determine whether prohibition or license shall 

 prevail in that county. Under this law, at the 

 November election, a large majority of the 

 counties declared tor prohibition. Another act 

 of this Legislature authorizes the acceptance of 

 the partially - constructed Capitol building at 

 Bismarck. When the Territorial capital was 

 removed to Bismarck, in 1883, that city gave 

 320 acres of land, and agreed to erect a suita- 

 ble structure within that area ; but as accepted, 

 the building is without the north and south 

 wings originally planned, and the Territory as- 

 sumes about 70,000 of unpaid bills incurred in 

 the construction. It is provided that these 

 bills be paid by a sale of the adjoining lots 

 given by the city. Other acts of the session 

 were : 



Creating two agricultural districts, and providing 

 for a board of agriculture for each district. There 

 had been one board for the whole Territory pre- 

 viously. 



To provide for the construction and maintenance of 

 artesian wells, appointing a well - commissioner for 

 each county, and prescribing his duties and regulating 

 the assessment and collection of taxes for such wells. 



Creating the office of county auditor. 



Authorizing incorporated boards of education or 

 school districts to refund outstanding indebtedness ; 

 also giving cities and counties like authority. 



Permitting cities and municipal corporations to issue 

 bonds for erecting school ana other public buildings, 

 and for other public improvements. 



Permitting the construction of bridges over navi- 

 gable rivers, and providing the manner for paying for 

 them. 



To suppress and prevent the spread of contagious 

 or infectious diseases among domestic animals, and 

 creating the office of State Veterinary Surgeon. 



To appropriate, for the support of fire departments 

 of each city, town, or village a part of the tax paid by 

 fire-insurance companies upon premiums received in 

 any such town, city, or village. 



Regulating the manner of ingress and egress of 

 public buildings. 



To allow the establishment of free libraries and 

 reading-rooms by towns or cities, upon the approval 

 of a majority of the electors voting upon the question, 

 and authorizing a tax-levy for their support. 



Increasing the annual license-fee for the sale of 

 liquors, and fixing it at sums from $500 to f 1,000. It 

 was from $200 to $500 previously. 



Protecting the use of irrigating ditches. 



Declaring that woman snail retain the same legal 

 existence and personality after as before marriage. 



To regulate the practice of pharmacy, the licensing 

 of persons to carry on such practice, and the sale of 

 poisons in the Territory. 



To create the office of public examiner, and divid- 

 ing the Territory into two examiners' districts. These 

 officials are directed to exercise a constant supervision 

 over the books and financial accounts of the several 

 public, educational, charitable, penal, and reformatory 

 institutions of the Territory, and are invested with 

 large powers to investigate the general management 

 of the institutions. 



To regulate grain-warehouses, and the inspection, 

 weighing, and handling of grain, and defining the 

 duties of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission in 

 relation thereto. 



Raising the age of consent from ten to fourteen 

 years. 



Providing the manner for assessing the stocks and 

 shares of banks and bank associations, and collecting 

 tax for the same. 



Creating liens on the crops of persons buying seed 

 on credit, and providing for filing and foreclosing the 

 same. 



Creating a new Capitol Commission, to have control 

 of the Capitol and grounds, and to superintend the 

 sale of certain lands given to the State and held for 

 the benefit of the public-building fund. 



To create Pierce and Church counties, and to de- 

 tine the boundaries of certain other counties. 



Population. The Territory has had another 

 year of wonderful growth in population. The 

 building westward, through the northern coun- 

 ties of Dakota, of the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and 

 Manitoba Railroad, and the construction by this 

 and the Northern Pacific Railway companies 

 of numerous north and south feeders, has 

 turned a great tide of immigration toward the 

 agricultural and stock lands of the Mouse river, 

 Turtle mountains, Devil's lake, and other re- 

 gions. This, together with the largest crop 

 ever harvested in many sections of Northern 

 Dakota, have made it almost impossible to keep 



