More history revisited along the James River Valley
LaMoure County courthouse once was in Grand Rapids
BY JOY POWERS

On our trip up the Scenic Back Roads Project we’ll travel from the Toy Farmer into LaMoure, the county seat for the past 115 years, to a building built 91 years ago, to the LaMoure County Courthouse.

Grand Rapids had been the obvious choice for the county seat, because at the time it was the only town in LaMoure County. Once the town of LaMoure was platted, it began to grow fast, and soon was larger than Grand Rapids.

It was during the summer of 1884 that petitions were started in LaMoure asking the county commissioners to vote on the question of where the county seat should be located. Although LaMoure had a railroad, the people in Grand Rapids argued that most of county’s population was closer to them, along with the fact they had just completed building a courthouse.

The petition lacked the required signatures, however, and the commissioners rejected the petition. The territorial council of 1885 met soon after and passed a law enabling the voters of LaMoure County to make the decision for the county seat by vote in 1886.

LaMoure won the election and was declared the permanent county seat by 86 votes. The residents of Grand Rapids were very disappointed. Four days after the election, the county commissioners met and passed the resolution making LaMoure the official county seat. They ordered the county officials to move all the county records from Grand Rapids to the town hall in LaMoure, which the county had leased for use as the courthouse.

Struggling to maintain Grand Rapids as the county seat, several people went before a Judge in Jamestown trying to get an injunction to prevent the removal of the county records from the Grand Rapids Courthouse. When they were successful and the injunction was issued, Al Franks, of Grand Rapids, started back for home with his team of horses.

When LaMoure heard what the people of Grand Rapids were trying to do, they began making their own plans to get those records moved. Jack Ellis, chairman of the board of county commissioners, began to organize a group of men together to go to Grand Rapids and seize the records to bring them to LaMoure. They had heard from Grand Rapids that they would be met with a fight if they made any attempts to remove those records.

During the middle of the night, eighteen men headed to Grand Rapids with two drays, two lumber wagons, and a few buggies to retrieve the county records. It was midnight when the men reached the Grand Rapids courthouse and found it brightly lit and tightly locked with approximately 20 men armed with guns guarding the records. Commissioner Ellis demanded they be allowed inside the courthouse. When the demand was refused, they used a scantling as a battering ram to break the courthouse door down.

Sheriff Jim Stoddard ordered the Grand Rapids men to leave. Commissioner Ellis told the men they were there by order of the commissioners and they intended to carry out those orders no matter what the consequences. When they finally gained entrance into the treasurer’s office, they saw fourteen guns lying across the counter and a man behind each gun. The LaMoure men were ordered to work and slowly, the county records were loaded onto the wagons to be taken back to LaMoure. With no sign of Al Franks, who had become lost on the trail in the darkness, the Grand Rapids men began to disappear one by one. By morning everything was loaded onto the wagons and the men headed back to LaMoure. They were enjoying breakfast at the hotel in LaMoure, when Al Franks arrived that morning to serve the injunction to stop the removal of the records from Grand Rapids, all too late.

The Judge ordered that the court records be returned to Grand Rapids until a court hearing could be held. It wasn’t long after that, and the records were returned to LaMoure where they remain to this day in the courthouse of the LaMoure County seat.

The first official courthouse for LaMoure County after the records were removed from Grand Rapids was in the LaMoure city hall, later moving to an old bank building. That building and the entire business district of LaMoure were destroyed by fire in 1894. The LaMoure County Courthouse then leased space at the Lloyd Bank building for their offices.

In 1907, LaMoure County put aside funds to erect a new courthouse. E.P. Wells donated the site for the courthouse and the county advertised for bids. The contract was awarded to a company in Aberdeen, South Dakota for $100,000. The county offices were moved into the new LaMoure County courthouse in 1910 and have remained there ever since.

Let us continue now, going west out of LaMoure where the Red Wing River Boat rests. A boat filled with history and stories that if could talk, would tell us its tales of the excursions down the James River.

During 1886, the people that had settled the James River Valley were trying to determine if the James River was a navigable river. Many people said it was not, but steamboat operators argued saying they were all ready navigating it and objected strongly to bridges being built without a draw.

In 1909 Mr. A. H. Alexanderson was working in Dickey and LaMoure counties doing carpenter work. His interest in boating gave him the idea of building a boat on the James River. The original boat plans were to be eleven feet wide at the bottom, 16 feet wide at the top, and sixty-one feet long. However, due to the bridges that had been built along the James River the dimensions were changed.

Alexanderson began the construction by laying the keel. Before the boat became too heavy to be moved, it was hauled to the south bank of Bear Creek approximately a mile and a half north of Oakes. The young builder had spent much time and over $3000.00 on its construction. When money ran short, Alexander would hire out, earning more money to continue his work on the boat. At one point he built a wire fence around the boat and posted a sign saying, "No Trespassing Allowed." Several young boys broke through the fence and Alexander angrily told them if they wished to investigate, they would have to pay 50 cents apiece.

With the help of nearby farmers, in July 1910 the boat was slid into the water on Bear Creek. Near mid-July, 1910 the boat was launched. The "Wander Land" floated down Bear Creek and into the James River, where it was first put into commission in June 1912. Five excursions from west of Oakes were run that year along with some excursions from LaMoure and other points.

The River Boat was an exciting novelty and attracted much attention. The "Wander Land" was built for use as a pleasure boat and many people came to take a novelty ride down the James River on the "Wander Land." On August 24, 1912 Captain Alexanderson wrote a postcard to Carl Holen, of Grand Rapids. The postcard which contains a one-cent stamp has a photograph of the "Wander Land" riding down the James River on the front. The backside written in Captain Alexanderson’s handwriting, reads as follows, "Dear Sir: I will send you a postal of my steamboat which was taken Aug. 11. I had fifty people on the boat at that run. I will run my boat at Lamoure tomorrow Aug 25. If you com down bring this card with you which means a free fair. I suppose you will remember from last winter. Yours I am, A.H. Alexanderson." During the summer of 1912, the James River was low and only a few excursions could be made. Captain A. H. Alexanderson used the "Wander Land" as his home both in 1912 and 1913.

On July 4, 1914, the Wander Land made its final trip doing an excursion of fourteen miles in an hour and a half. That night the boat was taken back to the starting point, about five miles south of LaMoure, where it was later pulled up onto shore and dismantled so the materials could be used for other things. This was the end of the Wander Land.

Captain A. H. Alexanderson built another boat south of LaMoure in 1914 and named it "The Red Wing." It was a smaller boat than the "Wander Land" and was run on the James River during 1915 and 1916. Construction of bridges and low water along the James River was making it near impossible to navigate by riverboat. In 1916, "The Red Wing" was taken down river to Columbia and was still in service there in 1925. "The Red Wing" was eventually brought back to Fullerton, North Dakota and docked in Capt. Alexanderson’s yard and at one point served as his home.

Capt. A. H. Alexanderson died in December 1961 at the age of 81. His estate brought "The Red Wing" to the city of LaMoure where it rests near the James River, its home. In 1971, a restoration project was started for "The Red Wing." The riverboat now rests near the James River, where it had once found it’s home gliding smoothly along the waters holding within itself a part of in the history of the James River Valley.

Across the highway from "The Red Wing" lies the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) Dam and Park on the west side of LaMoure.

The CCC took advantage of the need to put unemployed young men to work along with a need to conserve our Nation’s natural resources. The CCC was founded in 1933 and during the program’s nine years, the Federal Government employed over 3 million men on conservation projects across the United States. The CCC Co. #2760 built the dam across the James River in 1934, just west of LaMoure.

However, this area fell into disrepair during World War II, filling with weeds and a bare trail. In the late 1950’s, the Soil Conservation District took it over as a project to make it a usable facility once again.

In later years the Wildlife Club of LaMoure took over the park and hired the City Park to help maintain this area. A private property owner now owns the land and he, in turn, leases the land back to a group of people that oversee and maintain the park.

In the early 1990’s the dam wings needed to be reconstructed when they broke and water ran everywhere. This was done by efforts from the State Game & Fish Department, the State Water Commission, and the LaMoure County Water Resource Board.

The fishing has been great from this dam and along the banks. Walleye, northern pike, catfish, bullheads and carp stock this great little fishing spot. Some can even remember when the water would get low and people from the western half of the county would come to fish for the carp and leave with tubs of them.

Follow along in our next series as we visit the Omega Tower and onto the Downing Bonanza Farm northeast of LaMoure.