Marshall Hapgood caught the public’s attention by filing the first finance report ever in a campaign for Vermont governor on this day in 1910.

Marshall Hapgood was well-known in Vermont as a lumber mill owner and a conservationist. Hapgood, of Peru, believed that the only way to preserve wilderness was the creation of state-owned land. For this reason, and to make a little noise, Hapgood donated the summit of Bromley Mountain to Vermont.

He hoped the attention would help his political aspirations. Hapgood’s report showed expenditures of $103, but it wouldn’t be enough to become governor.

Photo courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.