Power, James Buel

James Buel Power (August 20, 1833 - December 16, 1912) was a draughtsman and land commissioner active in Minnesota and North Dakota in the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Stockport, New York, Power moved around New York and New England in his youth, working as a ticket clerk on the New York and Erie Railway. In 1851, he began working in the Civil Engineering Department of the St. Louis and Pacific Railroad. After a brief stint in Missouri, Power returned to New York to work as head engineer on the Susquehanna division of the New York and Erie Railway. In 1857, Power married Helen Amelia Buckhout, with whom he would have five children. Soon afterwards, the newlyweds moved to the frontier, settling in Janesville, Minnesota, where Power worked as Chief of the Land Office in the Auditor's Office of Minnesota, and then St. Paul in 1862, when he became Deputy State Treasurer. In 1867, Power was appointed Chief Draftsman in the U.S. Surveyor's Office in St. Paul and in 1871 he was appointed the first Land Commissioner of the Northern Pacific Railway, becoming the General Agent for the Minnesota and Dakota division in 1873. With the Northern Pacific, Power was a major promoter of the purchase of land for the bonanza farms in the Red River Valley following the 1873 depression. He himself bought a large 6,000 acre plot he dubbed the Helendale Stock Farm (a small community within Helendale later being called Power after his family). In 1881, Power became Land Commissioner of the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba (Great Northern) Railway and then briefly worked as the Secretary and Treasurer of the South St. Paul Stockyards in 1885 before retiring. Considered an expert on agricultural and land issues in the territory (state from 1889), Power was appointed to several important positions with the Board of Agriculture, State Board of Public Lands, and the North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University, where his papers are kept), of which he was President from 1893 to 1895. Afterwards, he served in the North Dakota House of Representatives. Power traveled back and forth regularly between his farm in North Dakota and St. Paul, dying at the former and being buried in the latter.