Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1879-05-15

n1nG Sketch OF Mann.
moth Fields.
The Great Farms Opening Up West ol
the Red River Valley-Pitls-
DurGh and PhiladeI.
phia Million.
aires.
[Bsmarck Correspondence, St. Paul Pioneer Press
A general talk with Land Commissioner
Power, of the Nortern Pacific, develops some
very interesting facts. He can excite the at.
tention of a man who never saw a farm.
What he has seen along the line Of the Nor.
thern Pacific sounds like a romance. Beg
ging men on their own terms to take the land
where Dalrymple farm now lays was an ex-
tinctly. He made two trips to New York be-
fore he could persuade Mr. Cass and others
of the directory what the Red River Valley
could do. Mr. Cass consented only in the
interest of the road, and not out of it. He
would try the experiment, and if successful
would permit the lands to pass out of his
hands at Government price. He made his
experiment and surrendered his lands: One
success led to hundreds of others and estab-
lished national reputation for the
WHEAT LANDS OF DAKOTA.
The Fargo district is not the limit of the
wheat-producing country. 1t reaches to Bis
marck and beyond. To prove this fact Chas.
Clarke, millionaire of Pittsburgh, VIM.
Thaw.a director of the Pennsylvania Central,
and Frank Semple, an officer of that railway,
have purchased some sixty thousand acres at
seventeenth siding, thirteen miles east of Bis
marck. The station has been named Clarke.
MIR. Clarke is breaking up four sections, and
intends to begin with wheat field of that
dimensions. He will follow up his first sue
cess indefinitely. His will and financial abil-
ity are ready to give Dakota one of the great
est
FARMS IN THE WORLD
Three stations further east w. F. Steele,
of Milwaukee, has five hundred acres ready
for crop. His farm at present embraces
thirty-five hundred acres. 1t is said that
Alexander Mitchell is interested in this tract.
At the next station Qhirteenth siding), Presi-
dent Wright bought his first section, and with
several Philadelphia friends owns five or six
sections. East of this siding, John Vandu-
zen. of Milwaukee, has two thousand acres
under plow, Mr.. Vanduzen is in earnest,
and promises to be one of the biggest farmers
in the Northwest At the tenth siding, DR..
Higbee, of st. Paul, and Superintendent
Towne, of the Northern Pacific, have twenty
five hundred acres.
AT JAMESTOWN
Richard Floyd. of Altoona, Pa, has over
five hundred acres ready for cultivation. He
b., ~ R1co
s. Co., "a Philadelphia syndicate), have
thousands of acres in the neighborhood of the
halfway station between Bismarck and Far
60. They will put in eight hundred acres of
wheat this spring. 81. F. Williams, of Lake
City, Minn has several hundred acres in that
vicinity. One of the most important men in
Green Bay, Wisconsin. AT his old home he
was very prominent man. aud is illustrating
his influences in the splendid batch of immi-
grants he is now getting around him. Barnes
county is settling up rapidly with email farm
ers In this county Charlemange Tower, of
Philadelphia, director of the Northern Pa
cifc, owned thirty thousand acres, but he is
selling it out at government prices and on
long time. -.... .. B.
AVERAGE SIZE OF FARMS.
farms on the Northern Pacific is five hun
dred acres. This average includes the Gran
din farm of sixty thousand. Grandin Bros.
paid 50 10 an acre for their tract. Their
bonds were taken in settlement with Jay
Cooke, and cost them 20 cents on the dollar.
The land was given them in 1854 at So, pay
able in bonds. Mr.. Grandin says his invest
ment is proving the most successful of his
life. His two wheat crops have averaged
twenty and twenty-four bushels per acre,
whereas he only figured on sixteen bushel.
AR. POWER ...-5r j .*.s.1
has no doubt about the capacity of this end
of the Northern Pacific for producing wheat
He says it will come on us before We are
aware of it. The local demand for overland
has employed our teams in the
past. Those who have farmed have taken
advantage of the local request for oats and
vegetables and therefore ignored wheat. A
few large wheat experiments and decline
in the transportation interests will direct cap
ital and labor in the same direction that the
Red River Valley is bent. Bismarck is near
er a wheat craze than most people think.
To illustrate the inquiry for Northern fa-
ci6c lands, Mr. Power tells me that he has
one clerk constantly employed in folding
printed matter liz wrappers and addressing
them. This man d work is in reply to per-
sons asking for information. Every paper
sent out la S center shot. It is read. / believe
Mr.. Powers raethod of reaching the people is
as good as any land commissioners in the
United States. 4ANOAN.
S1NoR Simon's unlucky experience with
Widow Oliver, the Senators have become ex-
ceedingly cautious. Several have established