The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1876-06-30
The Wheat Belt.

IL Is always darkest Oe1Ore daY
breaks, and the gloom is but the
harbinger Of the morning light.
And when we look at the gloom
which is naturally cast over the
countenance of our business men
III consequence OF the recent ice
embargo and the unusu | lateness
of Il He season as a result thereof, we
turn to the brilliant prospects which
are tc change 'the winter Of our
disc0ntent into a glorious summer"
Of reasonable hopetulness.
That providence which placed the
head OF Lake SugerIor at the cen
tre OF the continent, and gave en-
ergetic men the wisdom and the
vim to build great railroad into
the centre Of a bountiful wheat
bearing region-is not going 10
permit this inter-ocean and these
great prairies to be desoIate, for
the necessities Of mankind require
one as the means Of transportation,
and the other as the food bearing
field which must supply the wants
of the coming generation.
In 1873 the first plow turned the
virgin soil, as an agricultural imple-
ment, in Cass County, Dakota-the
land west of the Red River on the
line Of the Northern Pacific Rail
road. Now the black SD checkers
the green praries IN all directions
with fields soon to be golden in
color with the ample wealth of It's
production.
Among the numerous wheat
fields few specimens might be
shown as an index Of the determi-
nation of the pioneers to establish
The Wheat Belt Of the Red River
Valley, as the grain field of the
world One field when comp eted
VIII coz tain 10, $50 acres This en-
terprlse has as joint owners George
w. Cass, of New York, B9niamln
p. Cheney, Of Boston, and Oliver
Dalrymple, Of St. Paul. In June,
875, 1886 acres were broken as a
commencement. This spring it
was seeded with No. l Minnesota
Spring wheat, which will probably
yield % 1900 bushels. 1t is the IN
tenlion Of these parties to break
two sections each year, and 1t will
not 0e long before this mammoth
field cf JO,86O acres will have waiv-
ing in the air sea of golden grain.
John Dunlop, who owns 10000
acres, broke up 800 acres last year,
which was seeded this year. Ed
ward Morris has a farm adjoining
Dunlop's. He has $50 acres of
wheat III, and will break up 1000
acres more this season. There are
numerous others unnecessary to
name, who own in gross I5l, 700
acres intended for cultivation, and
out of wh ch 1900 acres are already
growing crops this year.
In clay County, in Minnesota,
Charlemagne Tower, of PhiIadel-
phia, owns $4,000 acres, Ct which
5000 acres near Glyndon, are now
under the plow. Another has 1000
soon to go in wheat; another 1000
III wneat and so with smaller farms.
These tillers of the soil have
great inducements for their enter
prise, and among the chief are.
FtrSt-That in an experience of
ten years they have found that the
best quality and the largest yield of
spring wheat is produced north of
SD parallel and west of the Mis-
sisslppi river.
Secondhand especially adapt
ed to the culture, in a climate indis-
I pensably necessary to it, can onl y
be got IN Minnesota and Dakota in
large bodies on favorable terms,
averaging five dollars per acre.
Ihtrd.-Farming to wheat exclu-
sively admits of larger economies,
as the labor and expenses are group
ed into half year for the grain is
thrashed and marketed immedia-
tely.
| Fowth.-For there is a constant
demand for No. l hard of this dis
trict 10 mix with inferior grade OF
Iowa, llilonois, Wisconsin and ln-
diana wheats.
FUth.-That millers coneede
that Minnesota hard wheatis harder
and stronger than any other; that
it has more gluten, makes more
"middllngs," and that t is the best
, -four tor family use that is grown i'll
the world
The extent of this vast wheat re-
, gion IS seventyive miles wide and
tour hundred miles long, and the
soil seems inexhaustible thus giving
! this valley the preference over the
wheat fields OF America.