Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1881-11-04
Letter from Dakota.
ABERDEEN, DAKOTA Territory, I,
October "a 1881

tct0DtT ~ 1901
Ed GRAPHIC 1t was raining at
o'clock one morning at kirksville: at
o'clock the next morning. at st. Paul
Minnesota. it still rained. Everywhere
was mud, and the air was darkenec
with fog and clouds.
There is railroad running directl,
west from st. Paul, and in u II hours
ride we reach the Big Stone Lake, or
the edge Of Dakota Territory. A few
hours more, and over the Coteau hills
we reacl. sunshine-clear. beautiful
weather This is the James River val.
ley, the great valley of the northwest
iii length over $50 miles, and in width
from 10 to $50 miles Imagine a BASIN
enclosed by bluffs and hills 1000 feet in
height, extending $50 miles from north
to south, ana from Jamestown, on the
Northern Pacific railroad. to Huron on
the south, where at each point the bluffs
narrow, and widening out at midway
to. $50 miles. with Aberdeen in the CEN
ter. and you have the future empire of
the northwest before You.
Ii seems TO have been but very re-
Gently that this vast extent Of Prairie
Valley lands has been known to the
emigrant.
Three hundred miles from st. Paul and
100 miles east of the Missouri river it
has always remained terra iUcognito,
excepting to the Indian and buffalo,
until the past Il or 18 months. 1t has
now become the great battlefield of two
powerful railroad corporations striving
for the control of the future traffic of
tins fertile region. The Chicago, Mil
waukee IL st. Paul Railroad Company
have the past summer pushed their line
directly west to this point from st
Paul, and this company has also built a
line running north and south up the
valley, forming a junction at Aberdeen.
Now the Chicago & Northwestern
road comes swinging up from the south
east across this great fertile plain, and
crosses one-half mile east of the above.
junction, and pushes northward parallel
with the other road, and toward some
point on the Northern Pacific.
This extensive valley Is, as l have
stated, fertile, the soil everywhere from
two and a half to four feet in depth
and covered with the most nutritious
of all grasses the buffalo grass. Ex-
cepting the brown willows which skirt
the river and smaller streams. the val
ley in this vicinity is without timber.
We can On clear day distinctly see
the Corteau Hills, 65 to 20 miles distant
to the southeast. and the Cotine Hills to
the northwest the same distance away.
But 1t is only at times that the outlines
of these hills are visible.
Contrary to expectation, we find there
has been no snow, but few freezes, and
generally leautiful autumn weather,
It's said that even last winter the
storms were not so severe as in Mime
sofa.
As to productions, it is hardly time
yet to form correct estimate. Scarcely
any of the settlers have been here more
than one or two years, but thus far it
has been demonstrated that corn will
be raised 80 to 40 bushels to the acre,
and wheat. barley, oats, potatoes, etc,
in abundance.
Aberdeen, situated in the center of
this grand basin, with the junction Of
three railroads already completed
promises to be the great trade center of
the valley-in fact of the whole Dakota
Territory. Two months old, with 400
population, with no railroad grants Of
land and Government land IN sight of
the town in every direction, there is in