The City of Mitchell and the Country Tributary Thereto

Mitchell, 1887. 8vo, wraps, 82 pp. Tears to wraps, partially disbound, contents very good, good overall. Good. An unrecorded promotional book written about the city of Mitchell four years after its founding and near the end of the Dakota Boom. The introduction states “No apology is needed for the publication at this point of a pamphlet setting forth the advantages of this city and the country tributary thereto… The east is overcrowded with people… the west presents the opposite condition. Business opportunities are plenty. A little money goes a great ways…” The book is illustrated with woodcut illustrations of the scenes and businesses of Mitchell, and a map on the rear wrap shows the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway, for which Mitchell provides a junction of two of the branches. We find no record of this book, which overall provides insight into the city’s early history and more broadly is an excellent example of promotional literature of the Dakotas in the period just before statehood.