Morning journal and courier., 1882-09-26
CORRESPONDENCE.

! Ladies-The James River V alley.
 ABERDEEN, Minnesota, Sept 10. To the Editor of the JOURNAL COURIER:
 l In crossing Minnesota from St. Paul to
 the boundary of Dakota one is struck by the | ''scrubby" appearance of things. The grain fields are small, the country broken by innu- merable knolls, odd looking humps and fre- | quent patches of thick, short timber. The
 farm houses and buildings, for country settled as long as this has been, are not cred | itable, and from New England standpoint
 not even comfortable. Perhaps this estimate
 is unjust, for the fertile plains, covered by
 immense stretches of golden grain, along the Dakota line of the Northern Pacific were still lingering in my mind and may have un- | consciously formed the standard of compari-
 son. One practice of the Chicago Milkau
 kee and St. Paul railroad is most commenda-
 ble and worthy of imitation elsewhere. It
 is to allow generous half hour for meals on
 all trains at the proper hour and to have ! such supervision the restaurant that ! travellers may be sure of good meal at l re asonable price. We dined most comforta-
 ply in the neat and tasteful little depot at
 Bird Island, not standing at counter or perched upon high stool, but seated at a
 table like civilized beings.
 1 AS we near Granite Falls, which might | from it's appearance be Massachusetts will l lage. the first glimpse of the beautiful wind ing Minnesota river is obtained and for some | time it is continually disappearing only to ! leappear when least expected. The train
 rushes past rich-looking bottom lands and l small meadows at first only sprinkled with l small boulders. but steadily increasing until
 about Big Stone City the abundance of gran I ite lodges and boulders suggests New Hamp- shire. This place is at the southern end of l 8 lake of the same name, from which the l Minnesota river flows. In the spring it ] makes 8 vast difference here to drop of l water whether the wind chances to blow ] from the north or from the south, for at that l season a small stream connects the northern end of Big Stone Lake with Lake Traverse l and here is the divide. If the drop is driven I southward it eventually reaches the sunny, 1 tropical Gulf of Mexico and perhaps washes l away the brilliant corals floats it's part of ] some waif from an overhanging orange tree. l But if the wind blows northward it's course ] is down the Red River of the North to the 1 icebergs of Arctic seas.
 l Shortly after leaving supper and Milbank I darkness comes on and leaves no resource I but ones fellow passengers. Most promi- 1 nent among them by reason of strength of 1 lung is the woman from Pennsylvania, who l informs everyone that she has t'been to spend l the day with my man." that they have been l out here since spring, etc., offers to buy 1 quarter section near her place for one of the passengers, and winds up her discourse, be- 1 fore disappearing into the darkness at sta tionless spot near her home, with ''They l don't no western kintry kech me, of warn't 1 here now" Michigan pioneer tells inter
 esting stories of the changes during the 1 thirty nine years he has been there, and 1 thinks it may be well enough for 'the boys"
 to strike out for themselves in Dakota as he l did in Michigan. but for himself he will stay | at home. An attractive lady, who is coming
 out to meet her husband, seems little trem- 1 ulous at the prospect of starting home so l far away and speaks yearningly of lakes and ! woods. There is worn out city man who is l coming out to regain, if possible, his health l on the farm he hopes to get. Indeed, nearly
 every one seems to be looking for land, most | of them as settlers but some for speculation. l The class of people who come here and set | tie is surprisingly good. Many of them have l sold farms in Michigan and Wisconsin to
 come to this more fertile and productive re- zion.
 1 In the meantime we have passed over the l 'Coteans," a range of hills 1,2OO feet high, and at midnight at Aberdeen, the end l of the line westward. A year ago last June | there was no Aberdeen. Now, with popu
 lation of 800, it is the largest place in Brown l county and the recognized center of trade. | It was the offspring of the Chicago, Milwau- kee and St. Paul railroad, and in the future it promises to remain railroad town. From | it there are now north and south branches
 running to Ellendale and Ashton, with the
 prospect of having them continued to the
 Northern Pacific and the through line of the
 St. Paul road some 13O miles south. The
 Chicago and Northwestern also runs through
 this place and now has depot here. It was
 8 surprise that this concession was made, as
 these two roads are mortal enemies and re- fuse to help one another's towns along by
 running into them. One of the common ! i,r fc icf foro roi1r &ol h
 cate it's own towns Buying the land around
 proposed depot it cuts it up into town |, l lots and realizes 8 considerable amount ot
 money from the sales. Should any mis
 guided man refuse to sell the land about the proposed depot, in the hope that he might
 himself make the money from town lots, the , railroad company simply passes by and places it's depot where it can buy the land. Not in
 frequently, to have the depot placed near hi i property the owner gives 40 acres of hi 16O and gains by the increased value of wha f. l he still has. Then as soon as the towI |, amounts to anything the adjoining lands ar | surveyed and laid out into town lots-th ) l whole being known as So and Sos ''addl 9 tion." With energy and tact man can real a | 8 rich harvest from an addition" Some
 thing over six months ago Mir. F. H. Hager ty came to Aberdeen with almost nothing ex 6 cept the confidence of some capitalists an @ purchased the land east of the town cuttin a it up into town tots. By his good judgmen
 and nerve in paying price that was the
 large he has within the last five months sol
 about $75, ,OOO worth of lots, and at the sam g time made himself independent. To mak ,f his part of the town attractive he has give v lots to two churches, block to the lare . l high school soon to be erected, and othe Ie wise shown himself to be a public spirite i'd citizen. One cannot sleep and make tow se lot project a success, but he must advertis n, extensively and be continually on the Qui 0t
 to make his portion of the town the most d eS sirable Besides the firm of "Hagerty G. Pierce bankers" |" there are two private banl ye in town to attend to the money interests 1 the almost innumerable land agents her :, ] There are two weekly newspapers, sever a' hotels stores of all kinds, an elevator, al oe the browning glory of all an artesian we Il At least that was what the inhabitants expec n ed it to be, but, up to the present time
 has poured forth volumes of water so full s- sand as to be useless, they do not speak m enthusiastically of it as formerly. The bo ,n ing occupied about five months and at |. depth of SSO feet the water began to flo,
 but the drill was kept at work until $40 fe 'h was reached, when the flow of water was 1T f. mense and flooded portion of the town. Ia increased from 30 gallons per minute in u 10 first twenty-four hours to 200 gallons, and -0 one time subsequently, was estimated st 1,2 r. gallons per minute. The water is soft with ry temperature of 6So and has remarkable ele " tric properties. Could any method of clea
 ing it of the fine grey sand which fills it
 devised it would be most useful, as the wat
 supply of Aberdeen is poor. This we'll al ry another thirty miles east of this place we 10 bored by the railroad company to furnii .e, their engines water and cost about $6,O ao apiece. This is matter of considerable 1T j. portance to people settling here, as whi nd there is such reserve water supply the ba need be no fear of permanent drought. l .s an outlay of $4,0OO Git is said that futu ID ones can be bored for that amount) the fs 7,- mers of any district can obtain well sui in cient to irrigate large tract of country al w. the individual expense would be small. T T, two wells already drilled passed through t H. same strata, most of them being clay sht 'm and fine grey sandstone, showing there s. that this whole region can be drilled sucoe