218 



DAKOTA. 



pace with the development going on in the 

 districts named. A few of the more westerly 

 counties, having scarcely a single inhabitant 

 at the beginning of the year, are now well 

 populated with thrifty farmers and residents of 

 towns that have grown up in a day. Accord- 

 ing to the Federal census, in 1860 Dakota had 

 a population of 4,837; in 1870, of 14,181; in 

 1880, of 135,177; in 1885, as shown by the 

 Territorial census, 415,610. At the close of 

 1887, careful estimates show over 600,000. 



Land Ownership. The entire area of Dakota 

 is 96,596,480 acres. Of this, 26,847,105 acres 

 are contained within Indian reservations; about 

 7,000,000 acres were granted by the Govern- 

 ment to aid in the construction of the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad ; 3,000,000 acres are set aside 

 for support of schools ; and, according to com- 

 putations made from the records and plat- 

 books of the several land districts, there had 

 been disposed of, up to June 30, 1887, 35,937,- 

 930 acres under the general land laws, leaving 

 a vacant area open to settlement at this time 

 (not deducting the small area of unsurveyed 

 lands held by squatters) of 23,811,445 acres. 

 As an area equal to 2,067,281 acres was taken 

 up by the filing of entries during the year end- 

 ing June 30, 1887, the time when all the va- 

 cant land will be settled can be computed. 



Finances. The total bonded indebtedness of 

 the Territory is $1,098,800, bearing from 4 to 

 6 per cent, interest, all of it incurred in the 

 construction of public institutions. Of this 

 amount $530,100, or nearly half, was author- 

 ized and incurred by the Legislature of this 

 year for improvements and additions to the 

 already crowded benevolent and penal institu- 

 tions. For the Insane Hospital at Yankton, 

 $92,500 in bonds was authorized; for the 

 Deaf-Mute School at Sioux Falls, $23,000 ; for 

 the University of Grand Forks, $20,000 ; for 

 the University of Vermilion, $30,000 : for the 

 Penitentiary at Sioux Falls, $14,300 ; for the 

 Penitentiary at Bismarck, $29,000; for the 

 Agricultural College at Brookings $54.500; 

 for the Insane Hospital at Jamestown, $153,- 

 000 ; for the Normal School at Madison, $35,- 

 800; for the School of Mines at Rapid City, 

 $23,000 ; for the Reform School at Plankinton, 

 $30,000 ; and for the Normal School at Spear- 

 fish, $25,000. At the same time the 6-per-cent. 

 5-20 bonds of 1881, amounting to $90,000, 

 were refunded at 4 per cent. Bids for these 

 bonds were received and opened May 30. The 

 highest bid was par and - 52 per cent, premi- 

 um. Five sixths of the bonds issued and sold 

 bore 4| per cent, interest ; the balance 5 per 

 cent., most of them subject to an option clause, 

 reserving the right to redeem in five and ten 

 years. This is the first time in the history of 

 the country that a Territorial bond has sold 

 for less than 5 per cent. 



The total assessment of property in the Ter- 

 ritory in 1885 amounted to $106,499,549 ; in 

 1886, to $132,542,703; and in 1887, to $157,- 

 084,365. The per cent, of increase in valua- 



tion in 1887 was not as large as in previous 

 years, owing to the assessments being made 

 ut a lower valuation ; yet the increase in 

 acreage was much larger, being nearly 40 per 

 cent. This extraordinary increase is due in 

 part to the rapid growth of the Territory, and 

 in part to the assessment of several million 

 acres of land owned by the railway corpora- 

 tions, which had heretofore escaped taxation. 

 The Legislature of 1883 provided for the taxa- 

 tion of railroads upon their " gross earnings," 

 and all property of such corporations has here- 

 tofore been held exempt under -the " gross- 

 earnings law." The average local levy for all 

 purposes for 1885 was 3 mills, for 1886 it was 

 2-4 mills, and for 1887 it was 2-9 mills. 



Railroads. At the beginning of this year the 

 total number of miles of road operated in the 

 Territory was 3,491. During the year over 

 700 miles of new road were completed, mak- 

 ing a total of about 4,200 miles. Of these new 

 constructions, the most important are on the 

 Northern Pacific from Grand Forks to Pem- 

 bina, 95 miles, on the St. Paul, Minneapolis, 

 and Manitoba from Minot, west IhO miles, 

 and on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul 

 from Bristol to Lake Preston, 75 miles. 



Education. Duiing 1879, only 25 per cent, 

 of the school population were in regular at- 

 tendance. The per cent, in 1883 increased to 

 87, while in 1887 there were 53 per cent, at- 

 tending every day for the whole term of 112 

 days. In this respect Dakota leads nearly all 

 of the States. 



Taxation for the support of common schools 

 is of four kinds: 1. The county clerk at the 

 time of making the annual assessment, levies a 

 tax of $1 npon each elector; 2. At the same 

 time he levies an additional tax of two mills 

 upon each dollar of taxable property in the 

 county, and the fund raised by these two he 

 divides among the townships in proportion to 

 the children of school-age resident thereof ; 3. 

 A township tax not exceeding 3 per cent, of 

 the taxable property of the township is levied 

 by the township board for the support of the 

 schools of the township; 4. The patrons of 

 any given school may meet in what is known 

 as a subdistrict meeting and vote an additional 

 tax upon their own property for the support of 

 the school of their own subdistrict. The law 

 of 1887 has made considerable change in the 

 organization and administration of the school 

 system of the Territory. The general super- 

 vision and control of public instruction is 

 vested in a Territorial Board of Education con- 

 sisting of three members appointed by the 

 Governor. The Territory has established two 

 universities, one at Vermilion, having 193 

 students by the last report, and one at Grand 

 Forks, recently established, having 75 pupils; 

 a State normal school at Madison, having 174 

 pupils : a territorial normal school, with 104 

 pupils; an agricultural college, with 256 pu- 

 pils ; and a school of mines, opened this year. 

 The private universities and academies are 



