R. M. Pollock

Robert Middleton Pollock, also known as R. M. Pollock, was the son of James Pollock and Evaline Halstead. In 1879, he completed his study of law and passed the examination for the Wisconsin Bar.

He had heard of the new country to the west, and the fact that the Northern Pacific Railroad went there; so he planned to go to Fargo, North Dakota seeking a place to live.

He said that when he got to Fargo it was the worst looking, most unattractive place he ever saw. There was a great deal of traffic on the Red River between Fargo and Winnipeg and Fargo was more a "river town" than anything else. Every other store front was a saloon. It had rained and the impossible gumbo mud which makes up the Red River Valley a rich agricultural area, was very deep. He was quite discouraged and considered returning to Racine, Wisconsin. The railroad was built, at that time, as far as Second Siding. It was later named Casselton, and is twenty miles (32 km) west of Fargo. Before deciding not to stay, Robert Pollock decided to go look at that place. He saw a community of tents, sod houses only a few houses were built in the usual manor. A sign on the tent indicated that it was a restaurant, and he went in it to get some dinner. Being a new man in town, they asked him who he was and what he did; he allowed that he was a lawyer from Wisconsin.

In about a year and a half he had established himself, bought a lot, and built a house. He arrived in the early summer of 1879; he returned to Racine at the end of 1881 to be married.

He was elected as Speaker of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in 1901. He was a Republican from the 9th district. Having returned to North Dakota while Dakota was a territory and later when the Dakotas were admitted as states he was very active in politics. He sat in the Constitutional Convention in 1889. He was the author of the prohibition clause in that constitution. He served in the legislature in the seventh (7) session, January 8 - March 8, 1901. He was Speaker of the House in that session.

References

* Pollock, Hewsion; "A Memoir of the Robert Middleton Pollock Family" 1968.