In 1858 the Dakota Land Company sent out from St. Paul to Sioux
Falls a newspaper editor named Samuel J. Albright, a printer named
J. W. Barnes, and a printing press which Albright later insisted was
the original Goodhue press (see above, p. 68), despite conflicting
accounts of its history. If his testimony is correct, the same press
introduced printing in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. It appears
to have been first used at Sioux Falls to print a small election
notice dated September 20, 1858; in the following summer, it was used
to print South Dakota's first newspaper, _The Democrat_.[124]
Establishment of the Territory of Dakota in 1861 attracted a second
Dakota press to the new Territorial capital at Yankton. The earliest
Dakota, or South Dakota, printing in the Library of Congress is from
the newspaper associated with that press, _The Dakotian_, first
published on June 6, 1861, by Frank M. Ziebach and William Freney
of Sioux City, Iowa. The Library's earliest holding is the 13th
number, which is dated April 1, 1862, and exhibits the paper's motto:
"'Let all the Ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and
Truth's.'--_Wolsey._" This number follows upon a transfer of the
editorship and proprietorship to Josiah C. Trask of Kansas, who
announces,
We have secured the interest which Mr. ZIEBACH, the former
publisher of this paper, held in the office, and have made
extensive additions for book work, &c.--We are now engaged
in executing the incidental printing of the Legislative
Assembly of this Territory under peculiar disadvantages;
yet we believe it will compare favorably with the work of
many older Territories. We are prepared to execute any
style of printing to the satisfaction of patrons.
By using fine print, Trask was able to present much material in this
four-page issue. Among its contents are the text of the Governor's
message to the first Territorial legislature and several U.S. laws
passed by the first session of the 37th Congress. The lead editorial,
"What We Mean to Do," contains the following statement of policy
regarding the Civil War:
At present, there is no room for disagreement in politics.
So far as our knowledge extends, all parties join heartily
in an indorsement of the truly patriotic and conservative
course adopted by the President in the management of
this war. He is not a patriot who will allow any slight
disagreement te [sic] turn him from a straightforward
opposition to the ambitious men who are now heading a
Rebellion to destroy the fairest Government ever known.
Until this war is ended by a suppression of the Rebellion,
unless a change is forced upon us, we shall walk with men
of ALL parties, in an earnest, honest purpose to do what we
can to strengthen the arms of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in whatever
acts he may deem best for the people who have called him to
his present proud position. In this determination we feel
that all our patrons will sustain us.
The editorial concludes with an appeal to support the paper:
Few persons can know the expense and care requisite for
a publication like this so far West. We feel that our
Territory cannot support more than one or two papers. One
of these must be at the Capital, and we shall endeavor
to make this one worthy the support of all. We expect to
receive pecuniary encouragement from men of all parties and
all parts. After a few weeks, when we are better acquainted
and our paper is better known, we shall ask for the
assistance which will be due us from those whom we labor to
benefit.
A Library of Congress bound volume contains an incomplete but
substantial run of _The Dakotian_ from April 1, 1862, to December 17,
1864, without any marks of provenance. In addition the Library owns
a file of South Dakota's third newspaper, _The Dakota Republican_,
beginning with volume 1, number 31, published at Vermillion on April
5, 1862. This newspaper has for its motto "Our Country If Right, If
Wrong, God Forgive, But Our Country Still!" The Library's issue of
April 12, 1862, is inscribed "Wm H James"--this would be William
Hartford James of Dakota City, Nebr., who served as Acting Governor
of Nebraska in 1871-1872--and some of its 1868 and 1869 issues are
inscribed "Dept of State." All of these papers are accounted for
in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_
(1901).
[Illustration: (_The Dakotian_)]
From the year 1862 the Library also possesses four books printed at
Yankton all bearing the imprint of Josiah C. Trask, Public Printer:
_Council Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of
Dakota, to which is Prefixed a List of the Members and Officers of
the Council, With Their Residence, Post-Office Address, Occupation,
Age, &c._; _House Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory
of Dakota, to which is Prefixed a List of the Members and Officers
of the House_ ...; _General Laws, and Memorials and Resolutions
of the Territory of Dakota, Passed at the First Session of the
Legislative Assembly, Commenced at the Town of Yankton, March 17, and
Concluded May 15, 1862. To Which are Prefixed a Brief Description
of the Territory and its Government, the Constitution of the United
States, the Declaration of Independence, and the Act of Organizing
the Territory_; and _Private Laws of the Territory of Dakota, Passed
at the First Session of the Legislative Assembly_....[125] Single
copies of the Council and House journals were in the Library by
1877. The Library has four copies of the _General Laws_ and _Private
Laws_, bound together as issued; two copies are probably 19th-century
accessions, the third came from the Department of Interior in 1900,
and the fourth was transferred from an unspecified Government agency
in 1925.
[Footnote 124: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _The Beginnings of the Press
in South Dakota_ (Iowa City, Iowa, 1933). On the disputed history of
the Goodhue press, see M. W. Berthel, _Horns of Thunder_ (St. Paul,
1948), p. 26, note 3.]
[Footnote 125: These are nos. 7, 9, 4, and 5, respectively, in Albert
H. Allen's _Dakota Imprints 1858-1889_ (New York, 1947).]