DAKOTA.Da-kō´ta.

So called from a tribe of Indians of the same name.

First permanent white settlements made by Lord Selkirk at Pembina, 1812; organized as a Territory, 1861; first legislature at Yankton, March, 1862.

Area, 149,100 square miles; average length, 450 miles; breadth, 350 miles; ranks in size next to Texas and California. General elevation, 1,000 to 2,500 feet; Red river frontage, about 250 miles; the Missouri navigable throughout the Territory. Number counties, 136.

Temperature at Bismarck: winter, 4° to 27°; summer, 63° to 71°. Climate dry, and cold not so penetrating as in moister regions further east. Rainfall at Fort Randall, 17 inches; 73 per cent. of year's rain falls in spring and summer.

Fargo, the metropolis of Northern Dakota, an enterprising city, does a large business; has gas, electric lights, and street railway. Bismarck, capital, rapidly developing into an important business centre. Yankton, chief town of the south. Land offices at Fargo, Bismarck, Huron, Deadwood, Yankton, Mitchell, Aberdeen, Watertown and Grand Forks. Railway mileage, 1870, 65; 1884, 2,494. The Northern Pacific has a mileage of 375, crossing the northern central portion from Fargo through Bismarck in an almost direct westerly line through the Territory.

Salaries of State Officers.
Governor $2,600
Secr'y of Terri'y 1,800
Treasurer 2,000
Auditor 1,000
Supt. Pub. Inst. 1,500
Chief Justice 3,000
5 Asso. Justices 3,000
Senators,
Representatives

 $4 a day;
mileage, 20c.
10 Indian Agents 1,000 to 2,200
Surveyor Gen. 2,500
Chief Clerk. 1,800
Chf. Draftsman 1,500
Assistant" 1,200
Col. Int. Rev. 2,750
4 Dep. Colls. 1,600

Presidential P. O.
Aberdeen $1,900
Bismarck 2,200
Deadwood 1,800
Fargo 2,700
Grafton 1,600
Grand Forks 2,300
Huron 2,300
Jamestown 2,000
Mitchell 1,700
Pierre 1,800
Sioux Falls 2,200
Wahpeton 1,600
Watertown 1,700
Yankton 1,900
5 Post Offices 1,500
5"" 1,400
3"" 1,300
16"" 1,200 to 1,000

Finest wheat-growing country on the continent; corn crop, 1884, 13,950,000 bu.; oats, 11,812,000; wheat, 22,330,000 bu.; 2,800,000 bu. reported as freighted over Northern Pacific in four months of 1883, 76 per cent. being of best grade. Oats yield 50 to 75 bu. per acre; potatoes yield well and are of great size. Nutritious grasses at all seasons and abundant water offer remarkable advantages for stock raising; wool growing an important industry; climate especially favorable for sheep. Ranks fourth in gold, and ninth in silver; latest reported gold product, $4,123,081; mineral wealth centred in Black Hills; coal found in workable quantities west of the Missouri.