Not because he was dissatisfied with his job on the Tribune, this writer in 1886, always thinking of bettering his condition, accepted the foremanship of a somewhat imposing Cavalier job printing plant at Yankton, Dakota Territory, and moved to that little city with his family and established a new home. The Cavalier Company did quite a large amount of book work, consisting of Supreme Court Reports, large briefs and territorial printing. (South Dakota was as yet a part of Dakota Territory, and Yankton still the capital.) Our conditions in the Cavalier plant were generally quite pleasant. The help, aside from the foreman, was composed of from 12 to 15 girls, or young ladies, who set all the type by hand and part of them were used to feed the platen presses and the small cylinder.

There were those on the force who objected to some of the rulings and methods of the foreman and decided to get rid of the boss, even if they had to peddle false statements to the head of the concern. Being warned by his friends, the writer handed in his resignation and ended his work with that company after only a few months.

There seemed to be little trouble in landing new jobs in those early days, and the next day after leaving the Cavalier outfit, the writer found himself at the head of the mechanical department of the Yankton Herald, a Democratic weekly, published by Taylor & Sargent, the latter being the editor and publisher and Taylor holding the political position of Surveyor General of Dakota Territory.

Conditions were pleasant enough here, as the editor seldom paid much attention to the paper, except on publication day - Thursday. He seemed to have a lot of things to occupy his time outside. What it was, this writer knoweth not, but rumor had it that friend Sargent greatly enjoyed the “flowing bowl” and found congenial companions to take up his time elsewhere.

However, when he made his appearance each Thursday, the paper was generally well along toward publication and the “forms” all but closed. Sargent would usually tell us that he had a few items to go in the paper and the last page had to be opened up and re-arranged to accommodate his last minute contribution. Sargent was an economical fellow in many ways, one of which was to economize on paper. He wrote a beautiful, fine lady’s hand, would split open some old used envelopes and write his copy on the inside of the envelopes. It was really astonishing how much copy he could get on each of those envelopes, and he had no idea, nor did he seem to care, how much he disarranged or delayed the newspaper at this late hour, when there was a fixed deadline for mailing the paper. But that apparently did not concern him. The whole force, consisting generally of two printers and the apprentice, were put to work to rush this last contribution into type and into such vacant spots in the page that could be found. The writer frequently protested and begged the boss to get his news in earlier in order to avoid missing the mails; but week after week he persisted in the habit, until this writer, in disgust, resigned his job.

Having previously been offered the job foremanship of the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan, I accepted it at once. This new position, while it did not promise a princely salary, gave this writer an opportunity to branch out in the trade and get the experience he wished for greatly. This department was the largest and most complete of any in the Dakota Territory. Nothing was too big or too small to handle here. There was a full fledged pressman and several platen press feeders, besides a utility man who prepared and cut the paper stock, etc. A lot of Territorial printing was handled on the big cylinder, keeping it busy ten hours a day. Much smaller jobs were handled on the three platen presses, as not only the state and county work, the printing for Yankton College, the high and grade schools and the large amount furnished by many business concerns. Four regular printers were employed regularly, besides the foreman. The plant was located in a large basement, with ample room for its varied departments and activities. Power was generated by a big water motor supplied from big artesian wells lately sunk in the hills west of Yankton. It was cool and comfortable in summer and well heated in winter.