Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-05
SOUTHERN DAKOTA.

Crops the Upper Missouri Bottonss-
Fckteness of the Great Rirer--Heary
Hdtns and High WGter---Railrecds
Reaching ont in the Territories and gore
Wanted--The Capital of Dakota {, Flour
ishing City.
YANk1oN, Dakota, June 1, 1s7s.-For two
weeks rain has been moistening this upper
country. Almost daily showers have pelted
the earth with more or less severity. If
vegetation could talk it would now be clam
oring for season of rest and little mora
sunshine. Grass and small grains cover the
pralrles like carpet, but corn huneers for
brighter skies and the genial rays of the sun
On the broad bottoms of the Missouri. be-
tween Sioux City and this place. are some
| marvellous fields of wheat, three feet in HEIGHT.
dark and dense, with the heads lust
beginning to peer out. Pieces of rye stand
six feet tall, with their long, graceful heads
bending to the breeze like forest of Young
balm of-glleads. Corn in the warm, sandy
soil OF these valleys is more advanced than
| In other places on the higher lands, and the
grasses and small grains look more rank and
forward. Cattle, of which there are large
numbers on both sides of this great river,
are In their element, reveling in the succu-
culent grasses up to their eyes.
| lhe treacherous river, with its vast mix
ture of mud, and sand, and water, is still at
Its old tricks, cutting away the yielding al
| iuvlum, changing its channel, forming sand
bars, making islands, destroying beau
ftlful farms and swallowing up
tens of thousands of acres of timber and
prairie lands, leaving portions of Dakota on
the Nebraska side: in other places turning
! some of Nebraska over to Dakota, making
| alternate swaps for Iowa and Nebraska, Mis-
| souri, and Kansas, and where the terms ale
not agreeable she crumbles up the acres,
gathers them in and takes them down with
| her, rocks, timber, houses and lands in one
| grand buryal blent. short distance above
| Sioux City some of the track of the Dakota
Southern was cut away. but trains were not
delayed, for workmen Immediately made a
new track further back from the river,
and passengers We're carried to and fro on
schedule time. At Sioux City the
river is encroaching upon her vested
| rights and some of her leyee
| Is tumbling into the vortex with
a reasonable prospect of few structures 60
| ing the same way. The old river needs rip
rapping from Dan to Beersheba and then
perhaps she wouldn't behave herself
! 4ankton Is growing place of about four
thousand people. 1t is the capital of Dako-
ia, the entrepot for large scope Of this up
per country, enjoys the advantages of steam
| boat navigation in summer and railroad
| communication all the year. The town is
located on beautiful plateau fifty feet above
| high water mark. The streets are broad and
regular, the buildings are Of wood and
! brick, and there is an air of thrift in and
| around that creates a favorable impression
on the stranger within her gates.
| Back of her extends u broad
scope of beautiful country, and in
front rolls the turbid river three fourths of
milo wide, and mushy with earth and sand
Nebraska comes up to the opposite shore,
and stages are run from that point out into
her great interior, also up the river, on
that side, to various places in this Territory.
The valley of the James-which stream flows
into the Missouri near this place-is one of
the most beautiful in the West, and for
agricultural purposes it can hardly be sur
passed anywhere. The country is settling
up fast all over this part of Dakota, and on
the other side III Nebraska thrifty settle
ments dot the prairies, and broad fields of
grain stretch away on every hand. For a
place of its size, Iankton does q large
amount of business. 1t has become the
military headquarters for many of the posts
on these upper waters, and the grain and
goods handled and the flour manufactured, the
land office, the territorial seat of government,
and the broad scope of good country tribu-
tary are advantages that cannot be ignored.
The place supports already goodly number
of substantial business men. and there are 10
signs of decay in any of the various trade
branches.
These people are looking rather wistfully
in the direction of Sioux Falls, in hopes of
an early extension Of that road to the river
at this point. They seem to talk as if they
were ready to give the enterprise proper en-
couragement. The intervening country
needs railroad to open it up, and all
around is vast region that is timberless,
without lumber, and is being rapidly settled
upon. Minnesota can furnish that
great staple; let her keep pushing
on with her iron highways, establishing
closer commercial relations with the terrific
ries of the Northwest, developing the latent
wealth that SAUNDERS there exchanging COM
modltles and reaping the rewards that ar,
sure to follow. To casual observer it looks
as if this was about the place for the Worth.
ington and Sioux Falls railroad TO strike thu
Missouri River. What commercial revolu-
tons the future may bring about of course
no one can foretell. A railroad due west
from Sioux Falls TO Rockport Oh tie James
river, thence down that stream to Yankton,
might not be a bad idea. At any rate, it will
do well enough to dream about and speculate
over until that valley is made accessible By
rail from some point. G.. L. HALr.