Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1884, 1881-10-07
BEYOND THNf: .uESSOTEI.
What Curtiss, Of the Chicago Enten~
Ocean, Has to Say.
IChicago Inter-Ccean, Oct. 81

General Custer and the Seventh cavalry
! across Dakota from. the Great Missouri.
to the Missouri River; Ir, on the wav to-
the Black Hills. The. route was over a
painless prairie, and cur march was
guided by the know}edge Of Indian
scoutes, and the finger of the compass.
Yesterday I went over the same country
in a, parlor car, and SAW line Of thriv-
ing. little villages, some of them located,
it is,.aid, on the very spots where we
made our camps. We noted then the
beauty and fertility Of she country, and
wondered how many years would pass be-
fore the aggressive settler made this para
disc his home.
Here we are now, active and numerous.
and before another seven years passes
away there will be thousands of inhabit',
ants where there were none.
THE sURRENDEK;oR SITTING BULL
andi the extension Of: the Northern Pa,-
cifc railroad have opened up this counr-
try for settlement, and it IS now not only
safe, but easy of access.
A. bridge that will cost 100000 and,
wiN be finished in two years will span
the trecherous Missouri from Bismarck
to. Mandan, bustlins little town that was
started last fall, and noW contains 1900
irshabitants. 1t is one of the brightest
most thriving towns in the west, and in
few years Bismarck must look for rival
of formidable proportions. The specula
tive fever is raging, as is the case all
along the line, and town lots arc being
bought be men who tow years hence
will sell them for q hundred times their
present value.
The division of the road was opensd
for traffic less than two months ago, amd
the surrender of the hostile Sioux makes
it as safe for settlers as the central conn-
ties eff Illinois.
THE PRICE OF LANDS
in this section is about half what it is
east Of tho Missouri, and the soil is Just
as good. The terms of sale offered by the
railroad for the lands east of Bismarck is
$4 an acre, and the preferred stock Of the.
company is taken in exchange At par:
West of the Missouri the prlce is only
$3.50 an acre, and the terms OF. sale are
the same, and of the mostliberal eharac-
ter. Only eAe-sixth cash is required, the
balance being divided into six. annual
payments with per cont interest. A re-
bate of Is per cent: Of the price is offered
on all lands broken within two years from
the time of purchase. Every alternate
section is government land, and can be
secured under the homestead, pre-emp1ion
and timber culture acts.
have beon doing a problem lin arith-
metic to see what man with $4,000 can
do. There are hundreds of farmers in the
central states, working hard upon small
farms of twenty-five, or fifty, or 100 acres,
and raisin: just enough produce, with
economical management, and the old
womans help, to make both ends meet,
and send tho boys to school. Suppose one
of these men,
AN OHIO MAN FOR INSTANCE,
has fifty acre farm. Let him sell it for
$50 an acre, and come to pleasant Valley,
thirty miles east of this place. with $4,000
cash. He can buy 1900 acres of land, at
$3.50 an acre, paying one-sixth cash, and
by breaking half of it the first year and
the other half the next, he can reduce the
price of his farm ne-quarter, from S., ,2O0t to
$4,000 He will have to pay $3.50 down
and the expenses of removal, including
his teams, cows, farming implements, and
household effects, will cost him $3.50. He
can build comfortable house for $3.50,
and have an equal SUM left to carry
him through the year, and buy his seed.
This fall he will plow 1000 acres, and
next spring plant it to wheat. His crop
will be about twenty bushels to the acre,
and will cost him, in the shape OF extra
help in plowing, seeding and harvesting
about $6 an acre His wheat can be sold
at Bismarck for not less than $1.25
bushel, 10 that At the end of the first year
he will have net profit Of $4,000. The
next year, if he plows the other 1000
acres, the profit will be doubled.
A DELIGHTFUL P0BLKM.
This is a delightful problem for the
hard working farmerto contemplate, and
is the more agreeable because in nine in
.,,4 - ;4>r, 10 fruo
Somebody will ask if l know any one
with this experience. Not here, but east
tho of Missouri there are hundreds who