The place where Burlington is located was settled in the spring of 1883 and in July of the same year it had the distinction of having the only store west of Creel City, north of Bismarck, south of Regina, Saskatchewan, and east of Fort Buford. In April of 1885 Ward County was organized and Burlington was made the county seat.

In November of 1885, the Ward County Commission was formed. L.S. Foot, as register of deeds and county clerk, kept his records in his dugout and Micheal Muir kept the treasury under a flat stone in his cellar. Jim Johnson was appointed clerk of the United States Court by Judge Francis and held his office in the first log house erected in Burlington. Sheriff A.T. Tracy was appointed in December of that year.

A petition was presented to the Board of County Commissioners in 1888 for the removal of the county seat from Burlington to Minot and a regular county seat fight was lined up. On one side were the settlers north and west of Gasmann Coulee voting for Burlington and those south and east for Minot. It looked favorable for Burlington to keep the county seat. That was until the Great Northern Railroad stepped into the game and sent out instructions to John Smith, roadmaster of the Montana division of Great Northern, to whom their plans were communicated. Minot was ready to do most anything to get the county seat.

One of first moves was to have a voting precinct located at Lonetree, which had only three actual settlers in that vicinity and who had belonged to the Burlington precinct. There were not enough people to organize and open polls, making it look as though they would be able to stop Minot’s attempt. John Smith asked for a day or two to prove there were more settlers than that.

During one evening, an old boarding car was set out at Lonetree and in the morning the agent at Lonetree appeared before the board, together with John Smith, who said that while he was working for the Great Northern, he was his own boss. He appeared before the board as a citizen of Minot and offered to file an affidavit that an office had been established in Lonetree and that there was an operator and station agent and a helper located there.

The petition was granted, and the precinct was established. That precinct was to furnish whatever votes were necessary for Minot. The story goes that on the morning of the election, E. Ashly Mears, P.A. Havervold, C. E. Gregory and Smith boarded the train waiting to take them and a couple of trusted clerks to Lonetree, together with 10 gallons of booze and a small satchel full of silver dollars. Hon. C. E. Gregory was to look after the legal end of the proceedings.

Soon the arrival of a surface gang working near Williston appeared at the polls. Smith delivered the voter’s tickets. Mears was so interested in the election that he did not want any laboring man to lose a cent by voting for Minot, so each one received two dollars. Havervold, who was in charge of the booze, gave each man a drink or two.

When the tickets in favor of Minot were deposited, the boys received another drink to show their appreciation. As soon as they had voted, their train pulled out on the main track and another gang from Glasgow, Montana, pulled in and went through the same performance.

While the Minot representatives could not drink with all of them, they manfully stayed by the ship and if anyone made an inquiry as their right to vote in another state, they were told that the law officer was there and for them to ask him. He was to see that Burlington did not do any bulldozing here and told them Burlington was against the Great Northern. Nothing more needed to be said.

When 146 votes had been cast, they decided they had enough votes. For out of 146 votes, 143 were sure to be in favor of Minot. A consultation was held, and they began to consider what was the best way to make this appear somewhat respectable. Smith proposed to arrest three Icelanders for attempting illegal voting, claiming that they could not give them away as they did not speak or understand English. With all their illegal votes, Burlington was only 34 votes behind.

These facts came out in the case of Tracy vs. Coleman. Tracy, running for re-election for Ward County sheriff, was the Burlington candidate and Eugene Coleman, a former territorial marshal, was the Minot candidate. Tracy received three votes at Lonetree and Coleman received 143, the same as Minot. The precinct of Lonetree was thrown out by the court and the case was decided in favor of Tracy. He served as sheriff from 1890 to 1894.

Source: Taken in part from the Business Bulletin and published in The Ward County Independent on Feb.19, 1920.