Exhibit 99

Release Date:                                Daniel Landguth
                                             Chairman, President and CEO
September 9, 1994                            
                                             Barbara Thirstrup
                                             Manager of Governmental
                                             and Public Affairs

Rapid City, S.D.--Black Hills Corporation, operating its electric utility
as Black Hills Power and Light Company, announced today that it has entered
into a ten-year contract with Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.  Beginning
January 1, 1997, BHC will supply electric power and energy for all of MDU's
electric service requirements for its Sheridan, Wyoming service territory. 
The contract is subject to the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.

      In announcing the new contract, Dan Landguth, BHC's CEO, stated:
      
           Customers of both MDU and BHC will benefit from this
           contract.  Because MDU awarded the contract through
           extensive open competitive proposals, MDU is purchasing
           the power for its Sheridan area customers at the lowest
           available market-based rates. 

           BHC benefits as well, as the sale will increase the
           company's revenues an estimated $90 million over the
           ten-year contract period.  This is significant for both
           customers and shareholders of BHC.  Because of the
           sale, a lower rate increase than had previously been
           estimated will be required in late 1995 when BHC
           completes the Neil Simpson Unit No. 2, an 80 megawatt
           coal-fired electric generating plant now under
           construction near Gillette, Wyoming.

           For BHC shareholders, the sale will allow the company
           to operate more efficiently and will position the
           company to be more competitive in an emerging open
           wholesale power market.

           BHC and MDU further mutually benefit because of their
           agreement to share equal ownership in a new combustion
           turbine. The turbine will be constructed at such time
           that BHP's system will require a new peaking resource. 
           By building the turbine together, both companies
           receive the benefits of lower unit costs from a turbine
           that will be larger than either company could justify
           on its own.


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