Hand County press. (Miller, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1893, 1882-11-29
A Strangers view.
From q letter to tho Ao,I,

From letter to the Auder
son. Ind.) Herald, written b,
Will Burke, we take the follow
ing extracts:
y l-took the train at Rad.
field, on the branch the G.. and
N. w. running north aud soutl
TO Huron, in Beadle county. ol
which 1 will write in my next
letter. There | hal a pleasant
surprise, meeting two Of Ander,
sons young attorneys. Frank p.
Foster and Philip Corbett. /
first saw MIR. Foster, and WAS IN
vited tn accsmpauy him.to Hand
county, which | did, after some
hesitation. Arriving at Miller,
! found that Foster and Corbett
had IN office in the Vanderbilt
hotel, doing good business To-
eating parties, loaning money
etc, etc.
4 X 4 4
l fnl that Hsud county is
one aunong the best counties in
Dakota. Miller is to be the
county SCAT, and 10 the only
town of importance between
3 unron aud Fort Pierre. Il Is
situated between the celebrated
Washington ani Rec hills, where
ia to be found springs OF pure
and sparkling water. Here is
semi-mOuntain0uB scenery not
found any where else in the ter
ritory. Miller is the gate city
between these hills north aud
south, by reason of It's geograph-
zeal position. TIE Milwaukee
railroad will be built IN the near
future, SO they can reach Bis
marck from points on.this route.
Two surveys have already been
made.
| find the young town of Mil
Ter booming with business and
plenty of room for more. The
proprietors open the way ana
hold out inducements to build.
ers, offering lots upon which to
build and carry on all kinds OF
business for the west. The coun-
ty will in time afford an exten-
sire field for sll branches OF bus
mess. 1t is thirty miles VIDE
aud torty-eIght miles long, in
closing prairie lands, rolling dis
tricts, creek and bottom lands,
broken aud gulch lands, and
equally fertile throughout; out
of which may be had for the ask
ing soldiers claims, tree claims,
homestead and pre-emption
claims. This county was thrown
open to sett!ers less than year
ago, and over nine hundred are
already taken. Fanr thousand
farms are yet to be had, aud are
being taken up very fast. Un.
Gle Sam will soon give away all
his farms in the county, at the
rate they are going. l have
seen some claims already sell tor
S100 to $500. The man who
comes first will be first served.
There WAS never better advice
given than that given by llor-
ace Greeley when he said, $50
west, young man; go vest
Miller AMI sous took this adj
vice and located IN Hand county
aud founded the present little
city bearing their name, i'll July
1881, which will be the county
seat Nov. l, 1882. The town was
named in honor of Henry Miller.
father OF w. IL. and L. j. Mil
ler, formerly of Audubon. Iowa.
The town now has twelve stores
four saloons, three hotels, two
lumber yards and one coal yard.
1t was started Abril l, 1882, ac-
cordlng to survey aud declara-
ton. 1t now has two weekly aud
one daily newspapers. The daily
was first Issued Oct. 10, and l
had the honor of obtaining one
of them. The Vanderbilt hotel
was lately erected, built 4Ox50
and was opened Sept. 2. and the
grst night had eighty two lodg-
era, and has been running so
since. The guests have to sleep
on the floor of nights. The
other hotels are equally as well
patronized. Considerable inter-
est has been manifested over
the finding of stone coal within
six miles of thls place, and the
claim cannot be bought for $6,-
900. The shaft sunk is only
fourteen feet and the prospect.
ing is gong on with more and
more eagerness.
Last Saturday l was taken to
Major CampbeIl's cattle farm,
southwest seven or eight miles,
on the Rec hills. | was accom-,
panied by Foster, whom | men.
toned before. The hills afford
beautiful sights. The Wessing-
ton / did not get to see, but
learned that DR.. Burr, of Ander-
son. has a very fine farm and