In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railway renamed the city to Bismarck, in honor of German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. It is the only US state capital named for a foreign statesman. Railroad officials hoped to attract German immigrant settlers to the area and German investment in the railroad. The discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills of South Dakota the following year was a greater impetus for growth. Thousands of miners came to the area, encroaching on what the Lakota considered sacred territory and leading to heightened tensions with the Native Americans. Bismarck became a freight-shipping center on the "Custer Route" from the Black Hills. In 1883 Bismarck was designated as the capital of the Dakota Territory, and in 1889 as the state capital of the new state of North Dakota.