VOL. XXIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JULY 21,1888.
NO. 29
THE
NOBTH-WEST   AND   ITS   EE-
SOUBGES-NO. 4.
Northern Dakota and Montana.
Editorial Correspondence by J. B. C.
A bright  day of  June, with nearly 19
hours of daylight out of the 24, found our
party ready'for the trip west from Grand
Forks, across northern Dakota and Montana to  Helena, nearly  900 miles.   Allusion has already  been  made to Grand
Forks and its  surrounding* on  our trip
north, but as it is a kind of  "hub" in this
country and of its railways, one naturally, and necessarily returns here to make a
new start.   Its  thrifty surrounding agri-
culture,brightand intelligent people make
it a good cheery place to start from to any
point—of course we  mean any point on
this planet—for no  one  would  want to
leave Grand Porks for  any other.   And
That a day!   The  fact is, the  party is so
in the habit of waiting for dark to  go to
bed, they get but  little sleep  between 10
o'clock at night and 2 o'clock in the morning, the extent of the nights here in June.
Bat four hours must suffice, and it does.
We have before stated that it was pretty
hard to tell where the  Red  river valley
ceased and the table lands began, so far as
the growing crops  are  concerned.   The
land-are more  undulating a hundred or
two miles west from the valley propor,but
they Beem quite as  productive, and while
that valley still claims to be the "granary
o' the world," it  must soon share the
honors with these rich,gently sloping and
productive lands,hundreds of miles to the
vest.  But little difference, if any, can be
seen in the growth and vigor of the wheat,
oats and other crops.   The wheat growing
on the great 35,000 acre  Dalrymple farm
J'nst west of Fargo, and that on the 14,000
»cre farm of the Elk Valley Farming Co.,
atlarimore,  Dakota,  looked  about  the
same.   The latter is  beautifully  undulating, sloping to the west and south. The
company has $200,000 invested in agriculture and fine stock, excellent houses and
learns,    They   have  several  tenants  to
whom they rent for half the crop, paying
hall the cost of threshing the grain.  They
• ll'We 100 mules on this farm, and use gang
Plows, to which  they attach  four mules.
The plowing is all don9 in the fall season.
The broadc a*_t  seeders are here also being
bearded for the  press drill, described in
ay last week's  letter, and  it is claimed
'hat a half bushel less seed with this drill
S'Vea !°ur to five bushels more wheat per
Wr8-  Farm  hands here are paid $25 per
■sonth and boarded from April to Novem-
<*-■. and $20 for the other part of the year.
un this farm  they have for  the past sev-
"~ yeats averaged about 19 bushels whet t
Per acre.   In this  country, at  least, the
*rS9 farmers are a blessing to poor men.
* number of the  latter said  to us that
vey came here without anything, and the
e*n!i*-they received on  theso big  farms
^abled them to  obtain from the govern-
the      8n<* ky purchase, good  farms for
Ab!?)? 1VM and homes Ior thelr families.
small *USt ^ remembered that these
aufarmaot ieo to 300 acres atemulti
si n&"»Pidly-   The bonanza farmer will
bulk t the e*xcoPtion here, so  far as the
De^!graln growing is concerned.
'ally tlf I'ike is the name ot a wondor-
•»est f 8 younE city nearly 100 miles
-romth"! Qrand Forks'tekingitsname
shore u! ge lake nP°n wlio8e northern
•Wcni! ,niU- Here aho are very rich
Toe lair, l8nds' raPldlv ^Proving.
"--les wm Tme S0 mUea lonB and 5 to 15
let. -mY e in P^es, and without an out-
lake .Z. Wat6r U *l'ghtly salt, and the
ttweaT1 Dds in th0 finest game fish.
bythenT"?b°at ridewas provided for
*« ^J!!0ple'andona side-wheel steamer
etc. As showing the rapid growth of this
election since 1882, when the first house
was built, we give the following facts obtained here:
Population ol county „ „..      6,100
Assessed taxable property. 12,000,000
Number of school buildings  56
Amount paid for support of schools     (25,843
Acres timber land ln coanty '      1-5,000
Conservative estimate of wheat marketed ln
1887. 8,000,000
Towner is 76 miles farther west,and in a
good deal newer country. Here the party
were taken in carriages a number of miles
into the country from the railroad to several big stook ranches, notable among
which is that of Coutts Majoribanks, a
son of Lord Tweedmeuth, of i England, a
brother of the Countess of Aberdeen, also
a relative of the Baroness Burdett Coutts,
of England. He has several sections of
land in a cattle ranoh, and also has many
fine horses. This young Englishmen has
been here three years, and with a fair annual remittance from abroad, we should
think could make ends meet in a pretty
comfortable manner, with his numerous
surroundings and employes.   It is purely
Aflaifc-aSg*-*-
this country that is seen. Very few old
people are met. Young and middle aged
people are here, and their faces bear intelligent expression, and their bearing in all
respects betokens industry, courage and
endurance.. The party met with a hearty
reception at Minot, and were taken into
the surrounding country in carriages by
the people. In this immediate .vicinity
are the finest grazing lands, and rich valleys for general agriculture.
And now a long run of 278 miles brings
us to Glasgow, Montana, on the Milk
river. The town is new and unpretentious, only a few months old, with a few
log cabins, and more cloth tents, and like
all such places, is made up largely of adventurers, the saloons exceeding in number all the other houses and tents, the
cow boys being their chief customers. The
railroad only reached here last fall, and
the settlements in the country are few,
though here and there for the past three
hundred miles only the settlers shack and
the little wooden houses of the claim
squatters vary the monotony of the pretty
valleys  and  undulating   prairies.     The
Coal is abundant here for hundreds ot
miles, and it is in reach of lumber and
timber and not a great distance from the
deposits of precious metals, whose mining
population will afford a good home market some day not far off, for the agricultural surplus. This is beyond the line
where the surplus agricultural products
will go east long, for the mineral regions
here will diversify Industry, and the
mining, manufacturing and commercial
populations,as in our symmetrical civilization in the older States, will demand the
surplus.
DEVIL'S L&KE, DAKOTA,
a bachelor's home-not a woman about the I shack is a tenement
ranch.   One with experience ought tol
make money  on  such a ranch, for the
abc
"•ek£ty8pent several hours
"'•He    RT...     14-     _.
s* and its
surveying
surroundings,   fishing,
grazing is good about eight months of the
year we are told, the grass being very nutritious. The cattle and horses were looking in good condition. In the hot season
the grass cures, uncut on the ground, and
stock fatten on it. Itis a pretty good
place to stow away an English "lubbsr,
and his "staying qualities," all things
considered, are praiseworthy, for he is
contented, and has not left this region in
three years. The ranch of Mr. E. a.
Thursby, near here, is stocked with Foiled
Ingus cattle, and grades, some 200 head
being now on the ranch. The cattle are
in fine condition.   _ ' .
Minot, Dakota, 50 miles further west, is
a year and a half old town, situated on
the Mouse river. The town and country
about it are growing and develop ng,quite
rapidly, the former having some 1 200 people!There hi a spirit of enterprise seen
Tall  hands.   And,  by the way, in
al-
made above grounQ
with sod, usually, and covered with, the
same material, or wild grass, and it lasts
two or three years, till the productions
of the soil enable the farmer to build a
wooden house, and a better, one. In this
long run Fort Bufort Is passed, just over
the line in Dakota, and on the north bank
of the Missouri river, opposite the moujh
of the Yellowstone. It is here .where our
road first touches the Missouri river, and
we run up its north bank over 200 miles,
amidst some very pretty country. At
Glasgow we get the first view of the Little Rocky and Bear Taw mountains, to
theweit and south some 00 miles. We
are on a higher altitude, and the air is
lighter; one sees things 60 miles with a
clearer vision here than he does in the region of Indianapolis 10 miles. For a long
distance our route lay along Milk river
and up its valley, comprising some very
rich and inviting country, which is destined at no distant day to become the
homes of a dense and thriving population
Wool Growing in Lower Mississippi.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
As I was once a reader of your valuable
paper, I take the liberty of addressing my
numerous friends of Indiana,and the "West
on a subject of interest to the wool growers of Indiana. I have been located here
in Jackson county for a little over two
years, and have made the country my
constant study. And the wool industry I
finds, leads all other Industries. In the
first place, this coast country is the home
of the sheep, and we have millions of acres
of cheap and vacant land; free pasturage
for 500 sheep where we have one to eat the
grass that grows on our native wild land
This country sent the wool to London at
the great fair in 1875, which took the first
prize on American wool, and it gave great
encouragement to the wool growers of
this country, but, as the war came on, all
that industry was broken np. But people, are now beginning to grow wool ngain,
and the flock masters tell me they clear
from 40 to 75 per cent on their investment.
The sheep in this'adistrict all run In common, and are never fed or cared for any
more than the dec r or buffalo are on the
plains. Our flocks range from 50 to 5,000
head, but a man owning 3,000 head has bis
sheep scattered over a territory of 20 or 30
miles. The sheep are all marked, and
from the lit to the 10;h of April the entire
country goes on a "round up," and the
sheep aro "corraled" and divided. Kidman selects his sheep by his recorded ear
mark, then drives them home, shears,
marks and trims the lambs, turns tbem
loose, gives them a kick, and sajs: "go
thon good and faithful servant and do
likewise, you have made me from 40 to 75
per cent, and I will call on you next April.
I have boen trjing to educate the people
here on wool growing and show them that
with the care taken in tho North, we could
as easily clear 100 per cent as what they
make with their ship shod management;
but our natives are slow tot ake hoi 1 of new
ideas and pn f.r to keep on in the old rut
—but western men are beginning to come
in and purchase cheap rauches and bring
their sheep here from Kansas ;but our western men will provide shelter for their stock
and will make money by so doing, and
will improve the breed and increase the
quality of wool and mutton. It has been
demonstrated that the improved breeds
will do well here. I have met many intelligent wool growers in the South who all
coincide with me, but say they do so and
so without any labor or care and why
should they trouble about doing any better? Th6clipbrought22J4to24cts.,_n this
county in the dirt this year. Tue horse
and mule raising will be a grand industry for our western men to engage in
here on a large scale. I know of several
ranches for sale here of 10 to 20,000 acres
that can be fenced with three to four miles
of fence; as fine grass land as can be found
in any country. Sheep and cattle live the
year round on the' native grass of the
country.    , William Sigerson.
Ocean Springs, Miss.
 ■  ♦ .	
Miles Robe, aged 19, died near Rogers-
v.lls, on the 12th, of milk sickness. His
father aflllcted, with the same disease, is in
a critical condition. Great alarm is felt
in the neighborhood.