Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/201

Rh and northern Dakota, and capital removal was much discussed. The legislature of 1882 provided that the governor should appoint a capital commission, to consist of nine persons, who were to go out and locate the territorial capital at a point in the territory where they could do so upon the best terms. They were to secure not less than one hundred and sixty acres of land and a sufficient amount of money to build a creditable capitol. Many towns in both northern and southern Dakota competed in this contest, but northern Dakota won the prize and the capital was located at Bismarck. Yankton, of course, gave up the capital reluctantly and made a hard fight for its retention. Southern Dakota was much more populous than northern Dakota, and had the larger delegation in the legislature; and the leaders were determined to remove the territorial capital back into southern Dakota at the next session. Pierre, Huron, and Mitchell were leading candidates for the honor, and in each session of the legislature of the territory, except the last one, the matter was vigorously fought, but without success, because the southern Dakota men could not all agree upon one town.

The question of the location of a temporary capital for the state of South Dakota was submitted to the people with the constitution of 1885; Huron and Pierre, Alexandria and Chamberlain, were competing candidates. Huron was successful, and the session of the provisional legislature, which elected Colonel Moody and Judge Edgerton United States senators, was convened there in December of 1885.