Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-23
EpFroaIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
ST. PAUL, MINI, May %.

Luk0 III NAO
Montana, along the line Of the North
eru Pacific Railroad, and having now
reached an atmosphere sufficiently far
removed from the magnetic influences
ofthe persuasive agents for the sale OF
town lots and farm lands, to feel mat
can render an impartial Judgment ON
what I saw and heard, l will try TO
n to you my impressions Of this
far-awsy country.
Approaching the line Of Northern Da-
kota nom st. Paul, the traveller strikes
the rich valley ofthe Red-River-oEthe-
North-famed world wide for its Won
derous crops of the flintiest and whitest
of wheat produced anywhere upon the
globe. Here the Red River forms the
boundary line between Minnesota and
Dakota, its valley broadening to the
North until ID becomes a vast plain on
the British line. Tens Of thousands
of people are pouring into
this valley from the Northern
and middle States, from Canada, and
from Europe. The majority Of those
from Canada and Europe pass on down
into Manitoba, where there exists a
land and town-lot craze equal in inten-
sity to that which raj riot in the most
prosperous oil regions of Pennsylvania
and West Virginia several years ago. A
number Of men with a little cash and
an abundance Of cheek and business
shrewdness have made large fortunes in
a few months, dealing in real estate in
and around WinnePeg, Manitoba; and
the same may be said of several loeaE-
ties within Uncle Sans possessions. L
cannot convey TO you an adequate idea
ofthe rush to this great wheat-growing
section and of the frenzy that has seized
the people in regard to it in many parts
of this country and in Northern Europe.
Immense trains Of cars follow each
other in rapid succession, carrying thou
sands and tens of thousands of human
beings-old, middle aged and young,
male and female, mothers with babies
in their arms and numerous children
scarcely removed from the milking
period of babyhOod, fathers in the vigOr
of manhood, grandfathers and grand
mothers lettering on their stalls
with their household goods, and
their household gods, all in
eager haste to reach this land of
promise-al patiently bearing the inf
mite hardships of the journey. For, are
they not promised a rich reward-the
possession of a land even richerthan the
land which flowed with milk and
honey? The world never sIw the like
before. Even the exodus of the Chill
dren of Israel bore no comparison to it.
A million souls left the shores Of Eu-
last year; more than another million
are coming this year: and still another
million from the States are joining the
great throng to reap rich harvests in
the Territories.
This wheat-belt, which is superla-
lively the wheat land of the world, is
not bounded by narrow limits, but in
its area can be grown bread to feed all
the billions of inhabitants of the globe!
Why, but a patch here and there
is yet under cultivation, yet the
mills of Minneapolis alone turned
twenty millions of bushels of
this grain into flour last year-and
this was but a speck of the entire pro-
duct. Reader, can you comprehend
these wonderful figures-these millions
upon milliOns-the magnitude of the
possibilities Ofthis Golden Northwest"
confess when think of what | have
seen of these lands and try to imagine
what lies beyond my sight on the right
and on the left, and what all this will be
in a few years when the swarming mil
lions have peOpled them, and with
strong arms have conquered and turned
them into a veritable garden; when this
deep, black loan, with its sub-stratum
of lime clay, shall all have been tickled
with the plow-share and made to pro-
dueethe golden grains; when great herds
ofcattle numbering ten thousand, fifty
thousand, a hundred thousand eaeh-as
some already dO-are seen feeding and
fattening on these plains;-I confess, 1
say, when l think of all this and try to
comprehend ii, my mind becOmes dazed.
To cOnfine myself to the two terrific
rieS, and to speak of them in n general
way, l will designate North Dakota rs
the Garden of Eden for wheat producers,
and Montana a the cattle-raiser5 Para
disc. Dakota will be divided into two
States. jamestown will be the Capital
of North Dakota. 1t is situated on the
North Pacific railroad, and several other
railroads will soon place it within easy
reach of all parts Of the Territory. The
town is charmingly located, in adelight-
full cove, on the rolling second-bottom
Of the James river, and protected by a
rim of high, undulating prairies. 1t is
well-built and cleanly, has a thrifty,
solid and business-like look, is largely
settled by PennsylTanians, and has q
weli-settled and well-tilled country sur
rounding it. 1t has good church build
ings and school houses, and its people
are moral, intelligent and enterprising.
II has none OF the characteristics of q
Western frontier town, except thrift and
push, but has the culture, solidity and
morality Of the typical Pennsylvania
county seat. jamestown has three
BankS-two of them National-two
newspapers-one of them daily-good
hotels, one of them owned by q young
Mr.. Doolittle, whose father, the Rev.
Mr.. DoOlittle,l lived fora time on Wheel
ing Island about the years '6S and '6+.
He came here but a short time ago,
like most of the citizens of the place,
with but a few dollars. Heisnow MAX
ing more money than q Wheeling nail