Editing Bismarck, North Dakota (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Bismarck, North Dakota}}
For thousands of years, various [[indigenous peoples]] inhabited present-day central North Dakota. The historic [[Mandan]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] tribe occupied the area long before Europeans arrived. The [[Hidatsa language|Hidatsa]] name for Bismarck is ''mirahacii arumaaguash'' ("Place of the tall willows");<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Hidatsa Lessons Vocab2
| work = Hidatsa Language Program
| access-date = July 17, 2012
| url = http://www.neiu.edu/~linguist/hidatsa_lessons_vocab2.html#villages_dwellings_and_towns_i
| url-status = dead
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130606135144/http://www.neiu.edu/~linguist/hidatsa_lessons_vocab2.html#villages_dwellings_and_towns_i
| archive-date = June 6, 2013
}}</ref> the [[Arikara language|Arikara]] name is ''ituhtaáwe [itUhtaáwe].''<ref>{{Cite web
| title = AISRI Dictionary Database Search-- Arikara. Prototype version
| access-date = July 8, 2012
| url = http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=dakota&database=arika&srchtype=OR&sortlang=Indian&sndformat=mp3&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140702153549/http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=dakota&database=arika&srchtype=OR&sortlang=Indian&sndformat=mp3&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search
| archive-date = July 2, 2014
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

In 1872, European Americans founded a settlement at what was then called Missouri Crossing, so named because the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] crossed the river there on their exploration of the land acquired by the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1804–06. It had been an area of Mandan settlement. Later, the new town was called Edwinton, after Edwin Ferry Johnson, engineer-in-chief for the [[Northern Pacific Railway]]. Its construction of railroads in the territory attracted workers and settlers.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/memoirofedwinfer00phil |title=Memoir of Edwin Ferry Johnson : civil engineer |date=1880 |publisher=Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co. |others=New York Public Library}}</ref>

In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railway renamed the city Bismarck in honor of [[German Empire|German]] chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]]. Railroad officials hoped to attract [[German Americans|German settlers]] to the area and German investment in the railroad.<ref name=officialhistory>{{cite web|url=http://www.bismarck.org/index.aspx?NID=642 |title=Bismarck City Portrait |access-date=September 19, 2010 |publisher=City of Bismarck |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120140825/http://bismarck.org/index.aspx?NID=642 |archive-date=November 20, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is the only U.S. state capital named for a foreign statesman. The discovery of gold in the nearby [[Black Hills]] of [[South Dakota]] the following year was a great impetus for growth. Thousands of miners came to the area, encroaching on what the [[Lakota people|Lakota]] considered sacred territory, leading to heightened tensions with [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].

Bismarck became a freight-shipping center on the "Custer Route" from the [[Black Hills]].<ref name="officialhistory" /> In 1879, the first recorded tornado in North Dakota history smashed a steamship into the Missouri River's bank near Bismarck, causing major damage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=William |title=North Dakota Tornadoes Twisters & Cyclones |publisher=Valley Star Publications |year=2024 |isbn=979-8-89480-378-4 |location=Dickinson, ND |publication-date=2024 |pages=59}}</ref>

In 1883, the Bismarck was designated as the [[Capital city|capital]] of the [[Dakota Territory]] in place of [[Yankton, South Dakota]], and in 1889, as the [[Lists of capitals|state capital]] of the new state of [[North Dakota]].<ref name=":0" />