The first person from North Dakota to receive a presidential pardon, reducing a prison sentence, was a former lawman and arguably the most politically powerful man in the state.

When Alexander McKenzie received a pardon from President McKinley in May 1901, he had served three months of a 12-month prison sentence for two counts of contempt of court.

McKenzie first came to what is now North Dakota in 1873 as part of the construction crew working on the Northern Pacific Railroad. When the Burleigh County sheriff drowned in the Missouri River the next year, McKenzie was appointed to replace him and was re-elected every two years for the next 12 years.

While serving as sheriff of Burleigh County, he was also deputy U.S. marshal under James Burdick of South Dakota and, later, John Raymond of Fargo.

While McKenzie was sheriff in the wild days of early Bismarck, the Northern Pacific officials realized they had a man who had the power to do much of their bidding in the political arena. He was chosen as the political agent for the railroad in northern Dakota and came to represent the powerful interests of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

When the railroad pushed into Montana in the 1880s, he also exerted political clout there.

McKenzie realized that, to accomplish what he wanted, it was imperative to have certain people elected or appointed to key political positions.

He established a machine that would make and break the political careers of many office seekers in Dakota Territory and, later, North Dakota.

McKenzie saw a new opportunity in the 1890s, with the Alaskan gold rush. Scandinavians, many of them Lapland reindeer herders, began coming into Alaska to look for gold in the later part of the decade. When gold was discovered around the town of Nome, many staked claims and found mines that were rich with this valuable ore.

Some people became jealous and believed it was not fair that aliens could come to Alaska and become wealthy on what they found in this American territory. However, the Scandinavians were protected by an act of 1884 which stated that they had the right to own, reap benefits from and sell their land in Alaska.

To access the mines and obtain the gold from them, McKenzie realized that he needed to have the law changed.

To get the Alaskan law changed, Senate Bill 3919 was introduced on March 1, 1900.

One senator then moved to eliminate the provision allowing aliens to hold claims and permitted "relocation by jumpers ready to act" in what became known as the "Hansbrough Amendment."

When this amendment failed passage, a watered-down version was passed, but it did not deny aliens the right to own or to sell mines. Undaunted, McKenzie decided to act on his own.

Through his connections, he got President McKinley to appoint his cronies to key political positions in Alaska's new First District, which included Nome and the gold claims McKenzie coveted.

To make certain he had his ducks in a row, McKenzie established the Alaska Gold Mining Co. with an authorized stock of $15 million. He then made arrangements with a law firm in Nome to represent his claims jumpers and pay for the titles of the claims with stock from his company.

McKenzie and the other appointed henchmen arrived in Nome on July 21, 1900.

Three days later, in a hotel room, papers were signed authorizing the claims jumping and appointing McKenzie as receiver, with instructions to take immediate possession of all the contents of the mines.

The miners had no warning when McKenzie and his men showed up with wagons and a writ.

The mine owners' attorneys filed an appeal to the federal court in San Francisco. Judge William Morrow ordered McKenzie to desist from any further proceedings and instructed them to return the gold, but they ignored the order.

On Oct. 1, the court found out that McKenzie had refused to obey the order and sent two marshals to Nome to enforce Morrow's instructions. Again, he ignored the judge and resisted the marshals.

The marshals then called upon the Army at Fort Davis, and soldiers broke open McKenzie's safe deposit boxes in the bank, extracted the gold and returned it to the mine owners.

McKenzie was arrested, taken by boat to San Francisco and tried on Feb. 11, 1901.

He was found guilty of two counts of contempt of court and sentenced to one year in Alameda Prison, just outside of Oakland, Calif.

McKenzie's powerful friends rallied to his support and, when President McKinley visited San Francisco in May 1901, McKenzie was granted a pardon.

The reason given for the pardon was McKenzie's ill health. He did have diabetes, but he was quite spry and hearty at the time of his release.

According to Angus Frasier, an old time friend of McKenzie's, he was released from prison because he threatened to publicly involve the U.S. president for his actions in the scheme if he was not released.

(In last week's article about Jay Haynes, a couple of mentions were made of the Great Northern Railroad. It should have read Northern Pacific Railroad. Written by Curt Eriksmoen and edited by Jan Eriksmoen. Reach the Eriksmoens at cjeriksmoen@;cableone.net.)