Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-12-13
LETTER FROM DAKOTA.

Editor Monitor The spring of
1880 opened late with much rain, caus-
ing considerable delay in planting. and
in sowing the immense crop of wheat
for which the ground had been prepared
the previous fall. The sowing was fin
ished, however. before the middle of
May. and very favorable weather made
rapid and heavy growth, and a ripen-
ed crop some days earlier than usual.
With slight delay in the beginning of
harvest on account of rain, the grain
was gathered quickly. and in good con-
dition. The crop proved immense, and
the call for harvesting machinery was
so great that manufacturers could not
supply the demand. A name familiar
to Vermonters is as familiar here, and
that is Walter A. Wood, who builds the
celebrated twine binding harvesting
machine, which walks around a field
! cutting wide swath, cutting, raklng,
and binding the grain, with twine, and
depositing the bundles in row behind
the machine. The machine cuts from
Is to 20 acres day. Reports from
this section as to the yield of grain per
acre, are usually from the great farmers,
who cultivate thousands of acres, and
who for various causes do not get so
large yield per acre as the smaller
farms. The yield from the Grandin
farm this year was 26 bushels an acre,
while some pieces yielded 35 bushels.
As the cost of raising wheat is not over
thirty-6ve cents bushel, and the sale
price from rs cents upward, it is easy
to see that there is much profit in grow
ing wheat here.
saw it recently stated in the Mon
1ToR that no crop could be raised from
the broken prairie here, the first year;
this is mistake. have seen good
crop of wheat grown the present season
on prairie broken in the fall of 1879,
and 200 bushels of potatoes on the first
years plowing is not an unusual crop.
This is done where the seed is dropped
in the furrow, and the sod turned over
upon it. On field of 20 acres, near
Tower City an average of 81 bushels of
oats was raised to the acre. 1t is a
very easy thing for man to raise a
large crop of grain and vegetables, the
first year from his land-amply enough
to carry him through the first winter.
The report that the majority of Da-
kota farmers are broken down Eestern
farmers is mistake, one-half of the
farmers here are young men who have
come here where land is cheap to build
them home, and fortune; one-fourth
of the population is foreign, who have
come directly from European countries
bringing some means, and habits of
economy and industry. Some who are
: here have been unsuccessful in other
lands, but they are energetic and ex-
perienced men who are able here to
triumph over the i'll luck that has fol-
lowed them elsewhere.
Eastern capitalists have great conf
dence in the future productiveness and
prosperity of this region, as is shown by
| the eagerness minlfested to invest money
: in these lands. and in the various rail-
3 roads projected through this part of the
4 country. Eight years ago the Northern
4 Pacific crossed the Minnesota line.
Since then there has been a period of
t depression, when under ordinary cir
: cumstanees it has been next to impos-
: sible to build railroad, and yet this
q road has spanned this broad territory
t and reached Montana. In few years
or months the road will cross the cont
It nent. The country west of the Missouri
n River is rich il every mineral deposit,
,. wonderfully SO, and is one of the best in
/ the country for grazing purposes, as
Is we'll as general farming.
r. Helena, Montana. large and -four
n ishing city on the Missouri, to which
no railroad has extended, is said to con
b tain schools, churches, and all the nee
sr essities of respectable city. What j
a. will be when it has the advantage o
ot railroads, is easily to be imagined. L
Is truly wonderful, how western town
r. and cities increase in numbers and il
OF wealth. The Northern Pacific R. r
b. has brilliant prospect before it, an,
as it is now sure of being soon built.
rs will open great opportunities to the en-
as terprising men who first make thei
no pitches alone its line.
us Some one has written disparagingly i
as regard to the healthfulness Of this cl
lv mate. There is some sickness here, du
A it may be to malarial causes, as IN a
rs new countries, but most sickness is o.
lst casioned by the exposures to which PEI
He pie must be subjected in coming to
ws new home, where they must wait son
NO months for the building of homes. an
for the getting of those things needed els
nd where to make people comfortable an
,ry healthful.
We do not wish to represent th
averuthinn In this naw territnru Ia G