NORTH DAKOTA. 



567 



NORTH DAKOTA, a Northwestern State, ad- 

 mitted to the Union Nov. 3, 1889; area, 70,795 

 square miles. The population in 1890 was 182,- 

 719. Capital, Bismarck. 



Government. The State officers during the 

 year were as follow: Governor, Frederick B. 

 Fancher; Lieutenant Governer, J. M. Devine; 

 Secretary of State, Fred Falley; Treasurer, D. W. 

 Driscoll; Auditor, A. N. Carlblom; Attorney- 

 General, J. F. Cowan; Adjutant General, Elliott 

 S. Miller; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 J. G. Halland; Commissioner of Insurance, George 

 W. Harrison ; Commissioner of Agriculture, H. U. 

 Thomas; Bank Examiner, H. A. Langlie; Rail- 

 road Commissioners, Luke L. Walton, John Si- 

 mons, Henry Erickson; Chief Justice, J. M. 

 Bartholomew; Board of Dental Examiners, R. 

 B. Foster, H. L. Starling, H. S. Sowles, D. B. Mc- 

 Lean; Land Commissioner, Hugh J. Watt, re- 

 signed Aug. 5, 1899, followed by D. J, Laxdal; 

 Superintendent of Irrigation and Forestry, W. 

 W. Barrett; Oil Inspector, P. B. Wickham all 

 Republicans. 



Finances. The condition of State funds, Jan. 

 1, was (total, $169,890.80) as follows: Overdraft 

 on general fund, $1 1,923. 16; bond interest fund, 

 $10,994.16; permanent school fund, $69,939.57; 

 endowment for agricultural college, $60; State 

 tuition funds (fines and taxes), $42,040.95; wolf 

 bounty fund, $1,374.87 ; Graf ton School for Feeble- 

 Minded, $27,894.56; Capitol building fund, $487.- 

 27; trust fund, $1,100.25; school-district bonds, 

 permanent school fund, $601,700; State bonds, 

 $10,000;- securities for State land loans, $113,705; 

 State funds in suspended banks, $55,000; total 

 indebtedness of the State, $800,000, of which 

 $600,000 is upon State institutions and real estate 

 and $200,000 represents the bonded indebtedness 

 of the State. The State Treasurer took up $22,- 

 000 of 4-per-cent. bonds, maturing ten years hence, 

 because the money lay idle in the treasury. The 

 total valuation of property in the State, as equal- 

 ized by the State Board, was: Real property, $72,- 

 010,059; personal property, $24,641,156; railroads, 

 $16,985,084. The tax levy was fixed at 3.8 mills, 

 and for bond interest 0.5 of a mill. The wolf 

 bounty tax was 0.2 mill. 



Banks. The report of the 23 national banks 

 on Feb. 4, 1899, showed a decrease in total re- 

 sources since Dec. 1, 1898, of $581,794; in loans 

 and discounts of $7,240; in cash reserve, $321,- 

 090, of which gold holdings increased $19,020; 

 deposits decreased $394,235; average reserve held 

 decreased from 35.40 to 31.71. The State Ex- 

 aminer reported the July loans and discounts as 

 $4,529,548.07; total resources of the 106 State 

 banks, $6,991.379.49; capital stock paid in, $1,- 

 258,250; surplus fund, $164,022.25; certificates of 

 deposit, $2,138,955.43; bills payable, $151,112.30. 

 The amount on hand, as reported Dec. 2, was 

 $6,225,491; loans and discounts, $5,467,909; aver- 

 age reserve held, 23.28. 



Insurance. The total of fire risks written in 

 the State in 1899 was $26,500,000; the total pre- 

 miums received, $543,000; and the total losses in- 

 curred, $382,000.' 



The total life insurance written was $2,500,000 

 T}y the fixed premium life companies and $625,000 

 by the assessment companies ; the total premiums 

 received, $366,000 by the fixed premium com- 

 panies and $44,000 by the assessment companies. 

 The total life insurance in force at the close of 

 the year in the State was $13,800,000 by the 

 fixed life companies and $3,600,000 by the assess- 

 ment companies. The total of losses incurred was 

 $105,700 in the fixed premium companies and 

 $33,000 in the assessment companies. 



Forestry. The North Dakota State Sylvaton 

 Society has for its prime object the enlistment 

 of school children in the subject of forestry. It 

 has furnished millions of forest seed arid some 

 seedlings to the schools for the pupils to plant 

 on or near Arbor Day in the school ground H, and 

 also at the home places in the village and city 

 lots and on the farms in the country districts. 

 North Dakota has 460,000 acres of native woods, 

 and about 40,000 acres of domestic trees, with 

 50 varieties of trees and 20 kinds of wild fruit, 

 all natives of its own woods. 



Land Sales. The Land Commissioner reported 

 an area of 19,928,030 acres, of which 12,091,904 

 had been surveyed. The survey for the present 

 covered 2,260,000 acres. During the past two 

 years 29,247 acres of land have been selected for 

 State institutions. The business transacted at 

 the Bismarck land office between July 1, 1898, and 

 June 30, 1899, was as follows: Cash entries, 87, 

 comprising 2,981.85 acres; homestead entries, 

 1,099, of 169,785.91 acres; final entries, 246, of 

 38,430.27 acres; final tree-claim entries, 23,216.16 

 acres; total fees and commissions, $27,501.68, on 

 a total of 234,414.19 acres. 



Decisions. The Supreme Court holds that the 

 cashier, without authority from the directors spe- 

 cifically, could not bind a bank. 



A person was convicted of having stolen wheat 

 from a granary, his method of abstracting it 

 being by boring an auger hole in the floor and 

 securing the grain that ran through. The judge 

 held that this did not constitute a burglarious 

 entrance into the building, but the Supreme Court 

 held that the crime as committed was burglary. 



Curfew Law. The city of Bismarck passed 

 the following ordinance on April 13: It shall be 

 unlawful for any person under sixteen years of 

 age to be or loiter upon the public streets between 

 the hours of 9 o'clock p. M. and 5 o'clock A. M. 

 from- the 1st day of March to the 30th day of 

 April; between the hours of 10 o'clock P.M. and 

 5 o'clock A.M. from the 1st day of May to the 

 31st day of August; between the hours of 9 

 o'clock P. M. and 5 o'clock A. M. from the 1st day 

 of September to the 30th day of November; be- 

 tween the hours of 8 o'clock p. M. and 5 o'clock 

 A.M. from the first day of December to the last 

 day of February. The ordinance makes certain 

 proper exceptions. 



Live Stock. For 1899 the number of horses re- 

 ported was 175,131, value about $6,000,000; milch 

 cows, 171,073, value $4,892,000; other cattle, 252,- 

 640, value $6,528,000; sheep, 359,721, value $1,- 

 014,000; swine, 111,959, value $250,000. 



Charity and Correction. The number of pa- 

 tients admitted to the insane asylum in the past 

 two years was 225; died, 68; discharged, 140. 



The convicts at the Penitentiary farmed more 

 than 1,100 acres; built a new barn, also a fac- 

 tory and power house for the twine plant; made 

 1,750,000 of brick, and hauled them from the 

 yards to the Penitentiary grounds. There were 

 34 of the convicts engaged in brickmaking. The 

 last Legislature appropriated $150,000 to be used 

 in building the twine plant on the Penitentiary 

 grounds ; the work is to be done by convict labor. 



Military. Alt the end of a year's service in the 

 Philippines the North Dakota regiment showed 

 623 men out of 660 sent into service. The sol- 

 diers were mustered out Sept. 25, and each man 

 was paid $200, the amount due for his services to 

 Sept. 25, two months' extra pay, clothing allow- 

 ance, and travel fees. The last Legislature ap- 

 propriated $2,500 for the regiment in the Philip- 

 pines, but the fund was brought back to this 

 country intact, and $1,784 was paid for tourist 



