Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-01-02
THE paA'R,Es OF DAKOTA.
a Pleasing Description Of the Chief Fea.
ture OF Our Western Country.
Mrs. Wilkes in the New covenan;

ture OfOu Western COuStry.
Mrs. Wilkes in the New Covenant.
| have always spoken slightly of the prai.
ries have always echoed tue commonplace
remarks about their b%arreuness and monot-
ony. When I came to Dakota from the
mountains of Colorado 1 felt a good deal as
my little boy did. who. looking about him
in a bewildered way, exclaimed "Why
mamma. don't they have any hills here
where can the sun Get with no mountains "a
go behind" Now, for six months l have
teen upon the prairies driving, over them
constantly; since March there has hardly
been a week that l have not driven from
10 to 20 miles and l had come to know, as
it often happens 10 other matters, that 1t
was only my superficial knowledge of the
prairies that made my opinion disparaging.
A Il It prairie! I should as SOON speak of y
fiat ocean. Without hills. yet gently undu.
Lifting waves of land, andlyou, each moment,
seem to be upon the top most one, the
grouad slOping to the horizon, in every
dlrectlon-always changing; meyer twice
alike.
Igrew to like them in the early spring,
when the dead, yellow grass-ields were the
only relief from the burnt wastes and great
spaces of black, plowed earth. In the early
summer, when great stretches Of green
fields, far as the eye could reach, made them
beautiful, | learned to love them, but when
after a few weeks absence l returned to
mud one ocean OF waving grain, the green
turning to gold, and long, luxuriant grass
flllng out the spaces between the corn and
wheat fields, | swore eternal allegiance
harvest days. when the beautiful
shoovou uaro ~,<hn>o1 .rA%lo- .l--I
BILE fields were dotted with shocks that would
have delighted m, arti,t's eye, and still the
grass was waving above them, gathesinp
brown and yellow tints each day. And
such sunsets as We had those harvests DAYS!
and the enchanted hour following them.
when the after-glow left a dim, tinted lieht
upon the field! 1 expected when autumn
came to miss the woods, but one September
day l rode..twenty miles, over these plains
to find that the brightness of the woods vas
not to be compared whit b wealth ofcolor
these prairies reveal. The grasses wersrieh,
brown and yellow, each long waving leaf
shaded most delicately--among them white,
purple n yellow asters grow--great masses
Of color. At times the horse seemed tread
ing on . Persian carpet. NGroops of stacks
relieved the eye, aud now and then we pass.
ed the new houses of the settlers, more pic
turesque than comfortable as yet. Sod huts,
most ofthem with grass and flowers growing
on their sides; and near, the straw sheds
50 much less ugly than a respectable barn.
Now and then we passed a wooden house.
but too little paint and too many stacks and
sheds near to make them any bl.mish on the
rich beauty Of the landscape.
Nowhere, as on the prairie, do you get 30
near the sky; nowhere do you lave such
-sky.scapes, shall / say?-such cloud effects,
But are you tired Of the prairies? Before
leave them let me tell you that the unbrok.
en- wild prairie, with its beauty, is fast pass
ing away. Every year more aud more acres
Of grass are being buried by the pillow. Fer.
tile fields are springing uplike magic. The
farmers are setting out trees, and, in spite Of
prairie-6res and: grasshopper-, there are
many god groves observation-disclosures
most Of them. And what brave trees these
cottonwood. are; how they struggle to live
and how they are abused! 1 have nevel
spoken slightinglv Of them since l saw then
make a barren, sandy town on tho plain
beautiful with their shade. While anothe,
tree is getting ready to grow, they will fur
nish shade and shelter. l measured sprout
six feet long oi this summers growth.
am interested in noticing how tenacious
ly people stick to their own latitude. tn
majority of the people l meet here are fror
Wisconsin aud Minnesota, the second EN-
grafton from New Englsnd. On a journe
We took last week Ne stopped one night at
farm house. The wife said, on inquirinl