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Portrait of James B. Power (129.3.3)
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James B. Power was born in New York and educated in Massachusetts. He studied civil engineering, and he served as surveyor and civil engineer for several railroads. He was deputy state treasurer for the state of Minnesota for four years. In the 1880s he worked for the Northern Pacific Railway as chief clerk, and he later became land commissioner. He aided in securing land from the Northern Pacific Railway for Island Park in Fargo. Later, he was also land commissioner for the Great Northern Railway, where he was instrumental in selling and allotting up to the thousands of acres to bonanza farmers in the Red River Valley. He retired in 1886 and settled on a farm in Richland County, where he developed purebred livestock.
Power was appointed by the Governor to the NDAC Board of Trustees. In 1893 the Stockbridge administration was terminated at NDAC, and Power, along with H. R. Miller, was accused of misappropriation of funds. The two were charged with using the college as a market for goods from their own farms, and they were removed and replaced by Governor Shortridge. However, a court decision held that the original members of the Board were entitled to hold their positions until the end of their term in 1895. During the last two years of his term, Power was acting president of NDAC. Power resigned on June 25, 1895. |
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James B. Power – biographical information
Annual Reports to the Department of Interior, Bureau of Education regarding the condition, progress, and statistics of NDAC, May 1894.
Correspondence to President Power in support of the appointment of John B. Shepperd as professor of agriculture, September 1893. |
