Super excited to find this ribbon, and managed to acquire it by trading a couple of other ribbons I was not attached to. And today this new item for my collection arrived, a Watertown for State Capital Ribbon. I believe this is from the first – the 1889 Temporary Capital fight – where Watertown placed third after Pierre and Huron. Watertown was in the 1890 Capital fight, but only briefly.
And here it is with my other “non-Pierre” contenders:
If anyone ever comes across a South Dakota Capital fight ribbon or similar item, drop me a note, as this is on my permanent want list.
The manner in which Yankton politicians are depicted in the Deadwood series is .. seems .. plausible.
As always, I get a charge out of these artifacts. Thank you for posting about them!
Neat item.
Granted that state capitals aren’t always geographically central in their states (such as Cheyenne, Wyoming), but it seems like the case for Watertown was always a bit of a stretch. One can understand why Mitchell and Huron were the main competitors to Pierre.