The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-04-27
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC.
Tho Towns and Country--Laree Farms
Good soil--Room for Immigrants.

Good soil--Room for Immigrants.
ST. PAUL, A pril oath. 1876.
ED1roR JouRNAL.- Having just re-
turned from trip westward I thought som.
Of the many readers Of your paper nigh
be interested in hearing something of tn.
prospects and appearances of the country
along the line of the Northern Paei6.
railroad. My journey extended from 81
Paul to Fargo, in Dakota Territory. Ny
observations from the N. p. Junction L
beyond Brainerd were not of the most f.
vorable kind. Suffice it TO say that there
are plenty Of lakes and marshes, tamsra@
swamps and pine ridges. The open land
begins between New York Mills and Per.
ham, and is interpreted with oak open.
ings. Timber seems to be plenty in THU
locality. Perham is situated on the wes1
bank of the Otter Tail river. The land i,
level and tolerably good for agricultural
purposes. Next comes Frasee City, where
one Of your former citizens (Mr. Frazee) i,
doing very fourishing business. Thscou
try between Frazee City and Detroit il billy
and broken, out is good farming land. De.
troit is about the handsomest village on
the route, and contains nearly five hundred
Inhabitants. The land is good, with plen.
ty of water and timber. West of Detroit
the country becomes more and more open,
until one sees nothing but continuance OF
level plains. There are some large farms
opened near Lake Park station. The Min
nesota Land Company of Holland, repre-
sented by Mr.. Engelbronner, has two
thousand five hundred acres to put into
small grain; and Mr.. Garfield, of Ver-
mont, has about thirteen hundred acres,
and was putting it in at the rate ofS0 acres
per day. A Mr.. VanBlessenjen has about
one thousand acres, 7 or miles north east
Of Haw'ey. There are great many 9TH
ers who have small patches Of = few hun
dred acres. Muskoda, Al miles west of
Hawley, is situated in the center of Clay
county and is destined to become quite an
important village. 1t has good agricul-
tural country all around it, and stream Of
water that can be utilized for milling DUR
poses. From this point 4 person has
quite an extended view over the country,
Georgetown; Glyndon, Moorehead and
Fargo being in sight. Georgetown is dis
tant about rs miles and Fargo Fl miles.
From Muskoda to Fargo the land is very
level and tho acres are large but ~ far
AZ soil is concerned it cannot be beaten in
America. The country is settling up rap
idly, but there is plenty of room for emil
grafton and will be for several years 10
come. The prospects for those who wish to
make grain raising a specially are very
good; for the land is naturally adapted to
wheat, and the price at Moorehead and
Fargo is only about five cents less per
bushel than it is at St. Paul.
The steamers were to begin running on
Red river this week. The ice is all gone
and there is plenty of water for navigation.
There is but very little difference between
the time of seeding in the Red river valley
and this part of Minnesota. Cass county,
Dakota, contains a very rich agricul-
tural country. Mr.. Dalrymple has farm
of twelve hundred and eighty-two acres to
put in grain, and intends to have two thous-
and acres more broken this season. There
are others who are also opening large
farms in this section, whose names I did
not learn. F. MS.