In 1883, the Bismarck Tribune reported on the desire for a telephone link between Bismarck and Mandan, stating: “these are days when expedition and dispatch are needed. Life is too short to be flittered away at a stage coach pace, and a telephone between the two cities is what we need.” A charter was already held for a telephone system in Bismarck, and it was predicted that a telephone system would soon connect the two cities, as well as Fort Lincoln. However, the first telephone system in Bismarck didn’t come until two years later, in 1885, when St. Alexius Hospital set up phone connections with drug stores and town doctors.