Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-11-28
NORTHERN DAKOTA MATrERs.

CNOteD Oh u snOTC Talk Win r. h. De1aEO q
About Railroads. Settlements. Coal and
Whest-The Northern Pacific Branches.
Hon. e. e. Delano, who has charge of
! construction of the Northern Pacific branch
lines in Dakota, was cornered by reporter
for short talk yesterday, and questioned
about the prospects of railroad building in
northern Dakota next year.
MIR. Delano stated that the Northern Pa
oific company had decided upon the early
| building of three branches in northern Da-
| kota. The Casselton branch, partly bnilt,
| is to be extended northwesterly next season
toward Turtle Mountain. The engineers
are at work locating the Fargo
| Southwest branch, and will locate it to the
! Jim river at point fifty or sixty miles
| southwark from Jamestown. This part of the
| line, from Fargo to Jim river, will be con-
structed next year. The jamestown branch,
from Jamestown to Mouse river, is being
| surveyed and the work of construction will
| be begun as soon as the line can be definite
ly located. They have all got to be built and
built early to keep up with the progress of
| settlements.
The government surveyors who havesbeen
| running their lines in the western half of
| Grand Forks county and west of there, the
| latter part of the season, found squatters
everywhere, some with land broken and
cropped this year, but many more with land
broken and ready for seeding next year.
The Canadians, turned back faom the Mani
| toba side by the operations of the
| Dominion land system, are settling in large
| numbers in the rurtle mountain country,
and in lesser numbers southwark
| fn Davil,c I,oH opd for %bo
river. There would be larger movement
of settlers into the Mouse river country were
| it not for the impression that that region is
dangerously near the haunts of the hostile
| Sioux who have their refuge over the border.
The Mouse River branch, besides travers-
ing a magnificent prairie country, will pene-
trate the coal fields, which ere said to extend
from the southern bank of the Mouse river
| two or three hundred miles north. The coal,
80 far as developed, is soft liguite, similar
to that found west of the Missouri. It is a
good fuel, which can certainly be used by
| and answers all the purposes of residents of
| northern Dakota and can probably be used
for locomotives. It is In use daily on the
Northern Pacific engines, but mixed with
harder and heavier coal There is no trouble
in burning it end no lack OF heat producing
| qualities in the coal. The only
trouble in using it on locomo-
tiyes is because il is SO light,
like pine. that the strong draft draws it fairly
out of the fire box, where it chokes and goes
out. But the railroad has sent three car
loads of is to the Baldwin locomotive works
at Patterson, N. j., where experiments are
to be tried with it in the Wootin fire box,
which is successfully used in England for
burning light coal and peat. If the Wootin
fire box answers the purpose the Northern
Pacific will have Wootin fire boxes on lis
Dakota and Yellowstone divisions. If it does
| not a proper fire box will be invented. This
coal burns all to ashes, as fine IS good
cigar burns. 1t is pure coal and can be
used for stationary engines and in cooking
and heating stones without requiring any
new Inventions.
| What are the farmers up there doing with
their wheat9 They are bringing it to the
railroads as fast as they can. All through
were busy at that. The thresh-
ers were kept at work, but
there ia good deal of grain yet to be
| tbreshed. There is no snow on the ground,
but the roads are smooth and they can haul
big loads. There is an immense amount of
wheat to come out this winter, enough to fill
up every storehouse and elevator. The new
settlers have SO far stored theirs as best they
could, many of them piling it in their houses.
Out on the Casselton branch sacks have
been furnished them, but not enough for
| Immediate sacking of all their grain. At the
end of the branch track an enclosure has
been made on the ground by pilipg up
sacked wheat, about six feet deep, eight
| feet wide and 200 or 800 feet long, and
farmers were bringing in their grain and
emptying it into this pen, which is covered
with tarpaulins and boards to shelter the
grain from dust and SNOW when it comes.