Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-10-24
WEALTH.

DAKOTA'S WEALTH.
Rer. Henry Coleman Tells What lie SatU
and Heard While on q Vssit to Dakota.
milwaukee Republican-Sentinel.
After enjoying a t~wo-days' visit with the
members of the Minnesota conference, a
most loyal, genial and noble body of min
ist ers, doing a grand work putting the
rocks of peace, prosperity and permanence
into the great temple of liberty, on Mon
day morning last I took the Chicago &
Northwestern train, westward-bound. On.
IN, triumphantly sped the mighty engine,
proud of its achievements, for it has Gre
ated a nation in a day. A granger was
cursing the railroads as great monopolies,
impoverishing, d~efrauding- and robbing
the helpless people. =.
"Where do you reside?" said a quiet
traveller.
"Forty-fve miles west of Winona; have
lived there twenty years."
"How many loads of grain could you at
first market in a day."
"Loads! It took four days to take
one load"
"And what did you get?"
"Fifty cents for wheat, less the hotel
bills"
SHOW many days to market a load
now?"
"Days! I take four loads a day."
"What are your hotel expenses?"
"My-what do you mean? I do not go
to the hotel"
"What do you receive for wheat?"
Generally ST..
"How much was your land worth when
you drove to Winona?"
"Five dollars"
allow much now?"
"Fifty dollars"
"Yet railroads are impoverishing the
people?"
The granger hung his head and muttered
that they were a good thing to curse. But
for the railroads these arteries of CONNER
cial life, the settlement of this vast plain
stretching nearly 500 miles from the Mis-
sissippi to the Missouri would be we'll
nigh impossible. Muscle power cannot
haul grain and merchandise $50 miles and
leave the farmer a margin for his toll.
Either he must set up the loom in his cabin
and the forge in his yard, or wait till the
factories of civilization are built within
reach. But the railroad invites to the rich
acres of this broad plain, which stretches
through the continent from the Arctic ice
hills almost to the gulf of Mexico. The
paupered peasant Of Europe and the ener-
getic Yankee is here, ambitious towns,
with churches and school houses, dot this
wide expanse and the traveller is almost
never out of sight of the squatter's hut.
Nor are these noble founders of the new
empire lonely, for as they rise in the morn
ing they can, with signal, if not with voice,
salute neighbors on every side. Already
one must retire from two to ten miles from
the railroad to secure land of Uncle Sam.
The rush IS marvellous. AS I passed
through Huron, a new town, supporting
| two daily papers and six churches, q crowd
thronged the depot and filed the cars. A
new land Office had been opened that Mon
day morning. As early as the previous
Friday night parties had planted them
selves by the door of the little 1Ox12 build
ing and remained there sixty-fve hours.
Some twelve persons watched out Sunday
night, cut by the piercing north winds, and
as many as $50 land-seekers crowded
around the little shed, when its door was
opened, and applied for 100000 acres.
Last spring a white-headed, long, grey
bearded clergyman from one of Wiscon-
sins city pulpits found his way to Redield.
where several Rock county cititizens have
found homes, purchased a claim, put up q
shanty and sent up some of his family to
occupy it while he continued his city work.
Now $1,000 would not purchase his land.
A clergyman from Michigan rested from
his labors for a year and came up here to
secure a home for his old age. Two cler-
gymen from Ohio were there to secure
land. One professor in an Eastern SEM
mary has 600 acres near De Smet, and DR..
G.. M. Steele secured a "foot of land' and
more there last December. Some Chicago
ladies were OF the train returning for the
winter, expecting to permanently occupy
their new possessions In the spring. AT
Huron 1 met Mr.. Hammond, formerly
station freight agent of the old La Crosse
depot, Milwaukee. Two years ago ne
went up to Redfeid, poor in health and
with a sickly wife. He is vigorous, and
his wife has not seen a sick day in the ter
ritory. Last year he raised 1,200 bushels
OF wheat, 1900 of oats, besides large crops
Of corn and potatoes. Enterprising girls
could easily make claims, get good wages
at housework near by, and in six months
"prove up" and get $500 for their land
This road is no further north than Osh.
kosh, Wis, and the soil is strong, raising
everything that Wisconsin Will produce
The population is almost exclusively Amer
lean and the society excellent. Rev. 1. S
Leavitt, of Edgerton, visited a brother al
Redfeld last Sunday, and preached to FIVE
graduates of Indiana Asbury university
j. A. Owen, Esq. an alumnius of Lawrence
university, and for some years an attorney
in Chicago, is now doing a thriving bust
ness at De Smet. Scores of settlers have
located there through his influence. Da
kota has a grand future, and were it no
for partisan strife and the Eastern jealousy
of the growing power of the West, thu
southern part of the territory would b.
created into q state before three month";
expires. HENRY COLMAN.
,,BuchGpaiba."
Quick, complete cure, all annoying Kidney
Bladder..and Urinary Diseases. 81. Druggists