Until 1883, Grant County extended north to the south end of Lake Traverse and to the Sisseton Reservation line. When Roberts County was created, Governor Ordway appointed Major Crissey, the Sisseton Agent, Frederick Dittes, and Reuben E. Hall to organize it. Dittes lived south of the Little Minnesota, and at his house the county was organized on August 6, 1883. There, Travare was platted and on August 27 named county seat, with the courthouse near Dittes's home. The Wilmot Journal served as the official county newspaper, but Wilmot had a railroad, a more central location, and a strong desire to be county seat. In 1884, new commissioners were elected and a bitter county seat contest followed. Travare then had its own newspaper, the Dakota Sun, and the editors attacked each other. The legality of the courthouse contest was disputable, and Judge Smith twice denied Wilmot's suit for possession. After the second court victory, Travare's guards celebrated too well and neglected their duty, and a sleigh load of Wilmotians led by one German took the county safe and records to Wilmot. In 1885, the territorial legislature, in an afterthought to an act bounding Richland County, removed the matter from the court by declaring Wilmot the county seat, and Travare wasted away. Today, only a few rocks and a hole in the ground where the courthouse stood remain.