Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-10-24
Red River VALLEY.

| Red River valley.
The land had peculiar billowy as
pect except that the outlines of the
land-waves were round as Hebe's arm,
and as charming. But soon we came
to descent of an hundred and fifty
feet, along which thickly lay the bould-
ers which the ice had driven in shore,
and there, dim in the evening, and as
level, and as boundless to the vision Us
the ancient waters which once covered
it, lay the far-famed soil of the Red
River Valley. The Severn River, at q
period geologically recent, cut through
the northeastern barriers of the waters
of the former great Winnipeg Sea and
drained it to its present dimensions.
The sun went down as we reached
Moorhead and Fargo, one town with o
divided name, each half-town and half
name separated from the other by the
Red Rivera thriving town of about
1000 inhabitants, and the ireliest town
1 ever saw. The depots were as crowd
ed as any in Chicago-the broad plat
form packed with people-tourists, emf
grants, harvesters, and all sorts. After
inspecting the towns we returned to the
hospitable Bismarck, and were run of
upon o side track, when sleep came
down amid the cadences of mosquito
serenade. But the little black pirates,
peeping through the wire screens of
the Bismarck's windows, had to take it
out as does the Chicago tramp. and be
satisfied with merely reading the lunch
signs. "Wee GU wee GU wee 90, "
yelled one fellow, with spots on his
wings, as he poked his bill-of-fare
through mesh of the screen, I'll
take fresh Chicago editor for my sup.
per-rare-we-oo-we e-ou." l thought
I would go out for little stroll after
nightfall, but had not gone fifty feet
before l altered my plans, made rush
for the Bismarck's platform, slapped
around to drive the winged dragons
back temporarily, and then lodged in
as suddenly as festive wood-chuck.
Those prairie mosquitoes are land birds.
The pillow will settle them, to all gene.
rations.
| Next morning we were run out by O
special locomotive to that famous fifteen
thousand acre wheat-feld, belonging to
Dalrymple, Cheney Il Co. Make this
wheat-ield mile wide, and it would
be twenty-one miles long On our
way We passed wheat-feld stated to
contain 1000 acres, which belongs to a
son of our friend, Jesse L. Williams,
of Fort Wayne, Ind. We guess the
wheat crop of the Williams farm at
25, 900 bushels. We are sure it will go
over twenty bushels to the acre, but
doubt the number of acres stated by q
bystander. But in regard to the Dial
rymple farm we have the figures exact.
Oliver Dalrymple Il Co. own $4,000
acres of Red River lands. OF these, 25,-
600 acres lie at Cassleton, on both sides
of the railroad, and of this lot $4,000
acres, comprising the big wheat-feld, > are
under cultivation. Next year another
section of 5000 acres will be added to
the cultivated area. The other sc, 900
acres are thirty miles further down the
valley-north-on the Red River. OF
this 5000 acres are now in harvest,
making the total harvest of the firm
%, 900 acres. They estimate their crop
at not less than 100000 bushels. At
present they employ 125 self-binding
reapers of the Mccormick and the
Wood patents. 400 men, 500 horses and
mules, 25 steam threshers, and harrows,
plows, seeders, etc., by the cords.
We were met at Cassleton by pro-
cession of carriages and conveyed to q
100 acre field of barley, where steam
threshers were at work. The only Pc
culiarity is that the engines are driven
with straw as the only fuel, and are
large, requiring two band-cutters, on
the Jump, to keep one of them supplied
with sheaves. The straw IS fed to the
furnace by an arrangement exactly like
an ordinary chop.feed straw-cutter, ex-
cept that the feeding cylinders have
teeth, and there are no knives. The
feed motion is driven by steam belt.
Only about one-sixth of the straw
threshed is consumed in furnishing the
power.
Next we were driven to section of
wheat exactly mile square. Twenty
five Wood reapers and binders had
been assigned to it, four of them were
on the sick-list, but twenty-one of them
came in one long phalanx in grand
style, cutting swath 16S feet in width.
A commander of the column and his
lieutenant were each mounted on spir-
tied horses and went cantering and ca
vorting up and down the column, the
former giving orders, and the latter
looking after such machines as were
troubled with the phthisics--for the
Wood machines acted exactly as they
were described to have acted by the
London Times, which conduct lost them
the Royal medal. Whenever one went
wrong it was driven out of the rank
and the lieutenant galloped up and
exerted himself to have it ready to fall
in at the rear of the column. It was
an impressive sight. Here were the
ancient war.chariots armed with glitter
ing blades, but which were cutting
down the ripe wheat instead of Staying
men. The grand procession passed,
and following them came a company of
fOrty-two shockers," also under com.
mand of a man on horseback, who put
the sheaves in hooded shocks, as they
do in most of the Western States.
There are many smaller farms of
from 1GO to GAO acres, and these will be
the rule, and these great aggregations
of land the exception hereafter.
The bed of the old lake which con-