Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-05-22
How They Live in Dakota and What
Kind CT Country 1t is.
Medsry, BrooSings Co., D. t., May s, 1879.
Ed. GRANT Co. HERALD.

Kind CT Country 1t is.
| Medsry, BrooSings Co., D. T., May s, 1879.
Ed. GRANT Co. HERALD:
As the superiority of Kansas and
Nebraska over Wisconsin as agrica!.
tnral States has been 80 anly writ
ten up for the HERALD ana NOT 8
line 10 favor of the Territory Of Da
kota in its columns. [ conclude 10
write few notes and ii you have
space and consider them worthy Of
publication: you may give them for
what they are worth, to the readers
your paper. l came out here last
last Fall to look at the countrv-
struck the Ter. and Big Sioux vi.
ley west from Luverne, Nina; pass
ed through MiDpehaha ard Moody
counties into Brookings county.
Crops were good and the surface of
the country and quality of the soil
along the valley suited me so well
that | selected claim Roar the
north line of Moody county. @rbe
citizens of this Territory do not
claim as general thing thai this
country is the finest under the sua,
or that it is perfect in all respects,
though We have some of the SAN
guine ones here who express them.
selves satisfied and to use their own
language 'have settled here to stay
The Sioux Valley, from Sioux Fails
mp to Medary Gas far north as |
have been) is certainly very foe
and beautiful country, with no
sloughs and very little waste land,
as little, | think, as can be found in
the same area in Kansas or Nebras.
ka, or any western State or Terri
tory. The soil is dark loan and
when subdued is very ight,so much
so that it is difficult 10 get piows
that will scour. Winter and Sp,ing
wheat, rye, oats aud barley, aud
vegetables of all kinds do rema~ka.
bly, well here AMI god crops of
corn of the earlier varieties are
grown Southeast D.kota il
not SIS good a grass country as
Southern MINES ,ta or Northeast
ern Iowa for the simple reason that
it has no sloughs aud very littls
marshy land, though good grass
grows on the bottom land aud on
the lower prairie land more than.
enough to supply the present de-
maud and of very good quality, as
stock winter well on it and cows
give fair quantity of milk when
literally fed. | have lately pur-
chased and am milking two that
were MIXED all wlnter and ted only
on hay, that give ten quarts each
daily. Spring opens and seeding
commences earlier here than in
Wisconsin. On leaving Wisconsin
about the 9Th of March with mud
and snow on the ground it was
quite surprise to find the roads
we'll settled and see the farmers
sowing wheat, and right here
word about the roads. As there
are no long and steep hills here and
roads are very smooth, from 80 to
80 hundred is considered a load for
an ordinary team and so miles with.
out a load days drive. / have
driven that distance a num ber of
times with lum Der wagon and re-
turned with a load in about one and
half days time. Aside from the
rivers and streams that are located
on the maps there is very little ruo-
ming water, but there is plenty of
water under the ground which car
DO reached by little labor in dig
ing. IL is found at depth OF about
Z or 10 feet on the bottom lands
and from ten TO forty feet on the
prairies; good, cold, clear water bat
very hard, A deficiency of timber
exist here to degree, as it doss in
other sections of the West. There
is considerable timber growing
along the Sioux river, principally
Elm, with some Ash, blackberry
and Willow which can be bought at
forty or ftty dollars per aero or at
about dollar load If the opin-
ions of the oldest settlers can be re-
lied upon the climate Of Dakota for
healthiness ranks high. MaIarial
diseases are unknown here and ow-
ing to the light, dry, pure atmos-
phere, cases of pulmonary affections
are generally relieved and not in
frequently cured. ln relation to
schools and schoolhouses outside of
the villages and towns are rather
scattering bat the work of organic.
ing districts has commenced in earn
est this spring and it is not intend
ed to let the youth of Dakota grow
up in ignorance. At present we
cannot in this loc4lity boast of r.
road nearer than fifty miles at Sioux
Falls or Candy, Minn., but iu Sic
course of few months the counties
of Brookings and Moody expect to
have that deficiency supplied. The
Chicago and Nor hwestern II r.
Company have made a survey
west from Tracy, Mimi, through
Brookings county TO point west
of the Sioux river and the grading
has already commenced. The South
ern Minnesota will extend their line
as far west as Flandresu, the county
seat of Moody county, by the first
of October next, so reliable authori-
ty says. Judging from the number
Of prairie schooners daily in view
we are receiving our full share of
of the Westward emigration. Hous-
es are thrown together with re.
narkahle dispatch and a large pro-
portion of them respectable frame
ones too. Already we can count
from our claim above forty dwelling
houses and claim shanties.