Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-05
Tho New Town Of soot,and-,t. Location,
Appearance and Prospeets-The In.
tervsning Country.

s.se,, '7N7s4 -Eo
When mercury is coquetting with zero
and the unfettered winds are leaving the
banana belt about Biamarck and travelling
with undue haste to reach the regions Of hog
and hominy,, . stage ride over the prairies
of Dakota has nothing in itakin to the lux
urious comforts Of the traditional journey to
paradisal regions on "Gowery beds Of e.ae."
On the contrary, it is quite to the contrary.
But it is not the intention in this connection
to refer to the personal experiences of the
writer in a ride from Yankton to Fireeteel
and Mitchell-the ambitious young city Of
great expectations-but simply to give q
brief description of the condition and pros.
poets of the towns and settlements in the
great Jim river valley.
The trip between. the points named
in one of the comfortable stages
of Brinkerhotf & Jordon's we'll
appointed and properly conducted line is
made with as much celebrity and comfort as
can be enjoyed on a midwinter ride over the
prairies Of Dakota. The most disagreeable
part of the Journey is the commencement.
which is made by routing the passenger out
of bed at the unreasonable hour of half past
two in the morning and compelling him to
ride sixteen miles in the dingy, dismal
hours before daylight without breakfast.
But, figuratively speaking, just as 'jocund
morn stood tip-toe On the misty mountains
height" the first relay is reached at the
house of A. s. Dunning. the Nasty Of Les
tervilie postodice, where a substantial
breakfast puts the traveller in better humor
with himself and his surroundings, and even
enables him to emile at the course humor
and threadbare yarns of a veteran
commercial traveller. Daylight hav-
ing arrived when the journey
Is resumed, the many new settlements and
substantial Improvements made within the
past few years are brought to view. In
every direction over the gently undulating
prairie, and in close proximity to each
other, are to be seen comfortable farm
houses, good barns and sheds. broad fields
of plowed ground, and everywhere good
sized flocks of we'll conditioned cattle.
These subsist mainly by browsing upon
the prairie, and their universal good and
sleek condition satisfactorily attests the
nutritious quality of the prairie grass, even
in winter time, and the superiority of Da-
kota as q stock raising country. A great
many cattle in the valley are kept through
the winter without shelter and with very
little food except what they pick up on the
prairie, yet a lean ,scrawny animal is seldom
seen. With scarcely an exception they are
in good flesh and full of life.
len miles beyond Dunning's
the substantial and hospitable home of Gen.
c. T. Campbell is reached, where we left
the stage for the purpose of spending a day
"doing" the new railroad town of north
eastern Bon Homme county. The new
town is located on the level prairie. about
half a mile northwest of Gen. Campbell 9
house, which was the original and for many
years the only Scotland. 1t occupies a beauti-
full and commanding site, and its implanted
newness is all the evidence required to show
that the place that now knows it was a few
months ago an open houseless prairie. The
town contains at present some twenty five or
thirty buildings, in addition to the
depot and other structures erected by the
company, and the several lines of
mercantile business are represented by men
IF apparent enterprise, while the %inevita-
Bile saloon is found with sufficient fire..
luency to meet all the demands for bever.
lges which both cheer and lntoxicate. The
portion of the towDsite, as orig
nally laid out, is owned bY the railroad
company, the pioneer settlers Of that por-
ion of tue valley-Gen. Campbell and
John Stafford-holding the balance. The
and occupied BY the town. eighty acres,
the west Lhalf of Mr.. Stafford's farm,|
was donated to the railroad company
" the citizens, they accepting it and
to build q station thereon provid-
ID the east eighty Of Nj. stafford's land
would not be transformed into town lots
md sold as such unit, the company had
hree years in which to dispose of their
'wn lots. Scotland is the centre Of the
oldest settled section Of the Jim river val
ey. What 10 known as the Canadian settle.
nent. embracing among it's members q large
'roportion who came here with
means, lie 10 the
of the new town.,
o that it starts out with q we'll settled aud
productive surrounding country, and is in
his respect unlike most new towns, which
ave to wait until the tributary country
8 settled to gain a living traffic.
Scotland started out with Il vigorous
E "a IT. -. = +. NHL - We U