Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/117

This page has been validated.
A CAMPAIGN THAT FAILED
111

The high hopes of these people are revealed in the following extracts from the report of the Dakota Land Company for 1859. After describing in detail its several town sites, "Renshaw, at the mouth of the upper Percee; Medary, the county seat of Midway County; Flandreau, the county seat of Rock County; Sioux Falls City, established seat of government of Big Sioux County and the recognized capital of the territory, at the falls of the Big Sioux, the head of navigation on that river, and terminus of the transit railroad west; Eminija, county seat of Vermilion County, at the mouth of the Split Rock River and Pipestone Creek, on the Big Sioux, thirteen miles below the Falls, and at the more practicable head of navigation for large steamers; Commerce City, situated at the great bend of the Sioux on the Dakota side, halfway between Sioux Falls City and the Missouri, coal and timber plenty, at a point to which steamers of any class may ply at any stage of water," the report goes on to say that their men "have planted the flag of the Dakota Land Company on each valuable site from the mouth of the Sioux to old Fort Lookout on the Missouri, and on the James, Vermilion, and Wanari rivers. There are more than two thousand miles of navigable waters bordering and within the ceded portions of Dakota and this company has already secured the most desirable centers for trade and commerce and governmental organization on all these rivers."

A new election was held in the fall of 1859, and Judge Jefferson P. Kidder was sent to Congress as territorial delegate. A new legislature was chosen and Judge W. W. Brookings was made governor. But a change now