Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-11-08
LETTER FROM DAKOTA.
FARGO, D. T., Oct. 26, 1880.

io" Iopi0o, "hi0A no'0 SoW0 W Ill Ho-
tice since left Vermont to journey in
the so-called Land of Promise" the
New Northwest.
No true New Highlander can travel
from Montreal to Detroit, without feel
ing a thrill of honest pride as he COM
pares the thrift and industry, which he
has been accustomed to see at home,
with the general appearance af inactivity
and Incidence so manifest throughout
the Dominion of Canada. This appear
ance Of constitutional WEAKNESS contin-
ues all along the Grand Trunk Railroad
to Port Huron, and one is forced to be
lieve that the average canadian requires
much less to satisfy the cravings of his
ambition, Gf, indeed, he has any, than
the native born Yankee and before he
reaches Chicago he has a much higher
appreciation of home and home indus
tries, than when he started. Journey
ing on from Chicago in a northwesterly
direction, one notices a continual i'm
provement in the appearance of farms
and crops. In southern Wisconsin and
southeastern Minnesota the corn crop
is small, and crops of all kinds have
been greatly injured by the severe hail
storms that swept over all this region
a few months ago. These wind and
hail storms are the pest of the western
country and do more damage to property
than all other causes combined What
in Vermont we should consider hurri-
cane, here people take no notice of
whatever it is only when it blows
them off the sidewalk, removes the roofs
from buildings and dashes the water
out of ponds and rivers, accompanied
with hail or snow, that they mind it,
and even these, which they call billiards,
are so common that they never turn out
for them or put off important engage
ments, unless they are unusually severe.
! In western Minnesota and eastern
Dakota; in the valley of the Red River
of the North, there is marked improve
ment both in the quality of the soil and
its productions; it is here that the larg-
est yields of wheat are realized, (from
20 to 35 bushels per acre. while pota-
toes, turnips, and, in fact most all kinds
of farm products grow profusely and
with but little cultivation. This valley
is about 25O miles long in Dakota,
and from so to l75 miles in breadth,
offering the finest agricultural prospect
in the Northwest. Nearly all of the
arabic lands in the vicinity of the North
ern Pacific Railroad and its branches
have been secured by emigrants under
homestead or presumption grants from
government, at an expense in cases o.
| presumption, of from Sl.25 to $3.50 PEI
acre, according to their proximity t.
5 railroad indemnity limits; each pre-
emption OF homestead claimant securing
100 acres, or one quarter section. Thes,
y claimants after proving up and paying
: government, receive clean title a
e good as a government bond. Moneye,
D parties in the East are doing an exten
: sive business loaning money to thes
:. farmers to pay government for land
n taking first mortgage on the LAM
S at one-third its trne value, mortgage
d bearing interest at from 10 to II pc
5. cent semi-annualIy, making one of tn
IT safest and most profitable investment
in the country. Farming has its up
1t and downs, here the same as in Vermont
g and the conditions of success are tn
j. same. The first year the land has
P be plowed in the spring and back ST
N in the fall, and no crop is realized unit
$. the second year. 1t is during the fir!
T. year that the clouds of adversely hove
er thick around the horizon of the hu
s, bandman; in addition to his ordinar
&c farm labor he is trying manfully to g
ne used to the water, which is full of aka
or and decayed vegetable matter and tast
Id like soap suds; be must draw his woo
be and lumber from the railroad, from te
IS, to forty miles, as there is no lumb
ny here except little here and there upt
'st the borders of streams. His wood cos
a him Sc per cord aud his lumber $l5 p
to thousand at the railroad. While he
nix endeavoring to keep up his spirits
DIS anticipation of next years success sor
an of his family are taken with the nal
by rial fever, and by the time the fiji
he blizzard comes he has good mind to
1T homesick. and when winter fairly st
DIS in and mercury runs down to 40 or
degrees below zero, he succumbs, de
od up and hates himself until spring.
i'd. he lives through the first winter and
mt strength enough left to get in his whe
The in the spring. he usually prospers a
ers in after years reaps the sure and inev
ok able results of patient industry a
me frugality, and is considered successful
au- The great number of the farm,
full here are men who have made beg
ate ming in the East and owing to mism;
ads agement or i'll luck. have failed a
bic come here to begin life anew T.
re- class usually pro6t by the lesson RI