Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1877-12-22

Saturday Evening, December 22, 1877
FUEL FOR PRAIRIE FARMERS.
solution OF the Problem In Dakota by
the Russian Inamigrants.
fankton correspondence New York Tribune.
Throughout the immense areas Of the
prairie portion of the Union, the fuel ques.
tton is one of paramount importance. Ths
scanty supply Of fuel derived BY the first
settlers from the fringes of forests along
the streams has been or soon will be Ok.
hsusted; and the question how to warm
the farmers kitchen and boil the pot for
years to come, is In great many localities
fraught with anxious thought. Those
struggling to win home and its common.
ist adornments hardly like to nav out their
hard cash for coal, with It's enormous freight
charges; and raising timber to burn 10 q
slow process, especially where. a. in these
far western wilds, the annual prairie fire
will now and then invade the best protected
timber patch, and kill of at one breath the
growth of years. Cord-wood is growing
more expensive, and the loss of the settlers
time and labor In hauling 1t q dis.ancs Of
from five to forty miles, d has often been
done. Is too great tax to bear.
The true solution Of the problem came to
Dakota with the swarms Of Russia immi-
grants, or German colonists born and bred
in Russia. They have all, and their an.
cestors before them, inhabited grassy prai.
ries or "steppes," as immense Is extent, a
treeless and bare of timber, and a. bleak in
winter, - those of the northwest. They
come here and know how to 20 to work to
make snug and comfortable homes by their
own practical industry and economy. They
Say they don't care for..the grasshoppers
they had the Asiatic breed in immense
swarms at home, each hopper two or three
times Is large as our little species. Thev
know how to resist and circunvent then
as we'll as any people do. Neither do thev
seem to care if there is no firevood within
fifty miles of their Claims" Lors and
lumber to build the walls of their houses are
of no great importance to them. either
What is their substitute? It is what they
find on every acre ofland-prarie grass and
prairie soil.
| lhave seen young Russian couple, newly
arrived on their claim, working like beavers
in the fine autumn weather, to build thei,
humble home. They had bought COW, .
yoke Of oxen, a wagon. provisions, some
boards, doors and windows, and plow, Al
| Yankton, on their arrival from Russia ther
hauled the load TO their claim and lived
in their wagon till the house was built
Peter selects house.site BY low swalt
where the tall grass shows the rich blacl
soil below cuts the turf of an area of twent,
feet square with his plow, and removes &
digs vater-hole near BY, then yokes hi
oxen to the wagon and goes around on tn,
higher swells gathering boulders of conven
lent size for his walls. Meanwhile, Katrin,
is not idle. She throws pals of water o,
the bare turfiess spot, cuts armfuls of Ion,
tough grass to scatter over it, then leads he
COW by the rope around and around and acros
it till their feet have made mass of thicl
deep mud. Fre'h quantity of water ar,
added, and grass enough to give tenacity t,
the mass. Then Peter, a stoue.ms.on anG
Katrina, ~ his slender" lay up the walls O
stone and mortar. thick and solid enough t,
Withstand the storms of the next ten years
The roof, door and windows are added, anc
their war cottage has cost them next Il
nothing.
But how about their fuels Prairie gras'
again comes to their rescue When Rus
| su .sA"J p'ePsAes toi COlu WeatQeT. t0ey
provide . large supply Of the coarse, rnl
growth of the swsles. But this would :,
. wretched sort of fuel to burn loosely in ,
common stove. It needs Russian stovl
and special preparation for burning. Pete
and Katrina do not buy an iron cook stove
They build In the centre Of their house !,
large sort or stove, oven, and range com.
bined, of the same stone work and mud
mortar as before described. This edifice
In the house of large family, Is about 81,
or eight feet square, and is fearfully anG
wonderfully made. 1t has several compart
ments. The Are-box, where the grass il
burned, IS capacious, and twice dav i.
stuffed with grass, twisted into compacl
twists. Very little air being supplied, i
burns slowly, and requires renewing at lonf
intervals; but the stone structure gives ou
heat enough to warm the house abundsntly
There are other compartments in the stove
for baking and cooking, and on top of th,
whole is capital hot place to sleep in ,
cold night. Then when the wintry storm!
lay an embargo on all tsaming and travel
the boys only have to 60 to the convenien
hay.ricks for an unfailipg supply of goot
fuel, which has cost nothing but labor; snt
the cost in labor has been far less to mel
and teams than that Of cutting and hauling
wood, even when close at hand.
The hand labor needful to twist up th,
hay into proper form is not much, but q
usual, Yankee ingenuity has provided ma
chimes for doing It much better and easier
and Yankton is the place where this enter
prise centres at present. A cheap littl,
crank apparatus, costing four or five dollar
At retail, will enable any two farmer boys o
ten to fifteen years TO twist up solid bolts O.
skeins of hay, about the size Of sticks o
stove wood, which can be burned with
good results in any common cook.stove; ane
hundreds Of families, American q we'll a
Russian, now find them invaluable aids {.
exc out the scanty wood pile when far dis
tant from timber. In the coolest weathe
these machines may save from actual fresz
ing, while in the summer months they furn
ish suitable fuel for culinary uss. There
are also hsy-steves invented, where the ha,
is burned on the principle Of slow cumbus
ton, as in the Russian practice, the fire bo,
containing quite = quantity Of hay Tight,
AZ =. n 4