On March 25, 1909, all unclaimed government land in the Gregory County portion of the reservation was placed on sale at the local land office in Gregory.  Approximately 50,000 acres suitable principally for grazing purposes were offered at not less than $1 per acre in tracts not exceeding 640 acres.  Previously the minimum bid was $2.50 per acre.

As settlers established homesteads west of the Missouri River, those who established towns hoped that their site would be on the railroad when it was constructed.  That was not the case for Lamro which was located a short distance southwest of Winner.  The railroad missed Lamro by about two miles and Winner was established on the railroad.

A bitter fight for supremacy ensued which lasted until the advent of the grading for the railroad which resulted in Lamro’s undoing.  Although it had been chosen as the county seat, more than thirty of Lamro’s original fifty buildings had been moved through the snow by February of 1910 to Winner.  The Norfolk Weekly News-Journal on February 4, 1910 reported:  “Winner will have the railroad while Lamro will be out on the prairie.”

Early in the 1911 legislative session, Gregory County representatives went to Pierre and asked that the legislature enact a “practical county seat removal” law.  What they wanted was a law which allowed towns to compete in the fight for the county seat in the Primary Election; however, only the two receiving the most votes would appear on the ballot for the General Election in November.

H.B. No. 152 was approved on March 7, 1911. It would eliminate all contestants save the two leaders and the location of the court house would finally be decided. It was really a very simple solution; nevertheless, it would be another six years and five months before the county records were removed from Fairfax.

After the 1911 legislative session ended, voters filed four referendum petitions that related to matters which some citizens deemed to be unpopular measures.  They would be voted on in the 1912 General Election.  The county seat location law was one of those petitions.

Being referred back to the voters was the equivalent of the nullification of the law.  This caused a strong feeling of resentment against Fairfax and a movement was considered to select several towns and form a coalition against the Fairfax supporters.

Back in March of 1911, the citizens of especially Gregory and Charles Mix counties felt that a simple and fair solution had been proposed by the legislature.  Both counties had suffered from numerous county seat fights since they were organized.  Because of the number of towns fighting for the court house, no challenger was ever able to receive a majority of the votes cast.  The court house always stayed at the current location.

In Gregory County, petitions were presented to the county commissioners that Burke be listed on the General Election ballot as the site of the new court house.  The commissioners did not wait for petitions from any other locations.  They followed along the railway and placed on the ballot Fairfax, Bonesteel, St. Charles, Herrick, Burke, Gregory, and Dallas.  With seven towns listed on the 1912 November ballot, none received a majority of the votes.  Burke was fifty-nine votes short so the court house remained in Fairfax.

The 1912 General Election ballot also asked the citizens of the county to either support or oppose the county seat location law which was passed by the legislature in March of 1911.  Many in the county were still angry and resented the Fairfax supporters for the Initiated Referendum which referred the county seat location law back to the voters.

Seventy-two percent of the Gregory County voters approved the Initiative Referendum county seat location law in 1912.  Statewide, the voters supported it by sixty-five percent.

It was in 1910 that the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader did not have much confidence in either the Initiative and Referendum process or the citizens of this state on some issues.   The 1910 General Election ballot had six amendments to the constitution and four referred laws which the voters could either approve or reject.

That summer, state and county officials were frantically working on the form that would become of the 1910 Official General Election Ballot.  Estimates were that because of the explanation which was required for the amendments and referred laws, the ballot would be eight feet long.  One South Dakota paper reported:  “It will take at least two hours to read over the ballots and the voter is allowed but five minutes in the voting both so it behooves him to familiarize himself with the measures in advance.”

These ten ballot issues in 1910 prompted the Argus-Leader to “regretfully and apologetically” admit that Oregon had made a very good showing in the use of the initiative and referendum just as South Dakota had made a very poor showing.  According to the Argus, the state was one whose citizens are too ignorant to pass intelligently on four referred laws and six amendments.

Later, the Turner County Herald in Hurley came to the defense of the voters and state by writing: “We hope that Brother Day will never again become a party to an assault on the good name of the state in behalf of the saloon keepers and brewers.”

The 1910 Oregon ballot contained three referendums which gave the cities and towns exclusive power to license, regulate, control, suppress, or prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors within their municipality.  All three referendums were overwhelming defeated.

 

Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory-Times Advocate on February 3, 2021