The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-08-11
THE NEW NORTHWEST.
The Dakota Wheat REGION
The Bad Lands and the
Yellowstone Country.
FirA Paper: +. Y. .smalIey: Century Magazine
(CoNTISUED.)

Fhst Paper: +. y. S,nalIey: Century Magdzin
(coSTNUED.)
Travelling westward on the railway, 20
notice toward evening that all the grade
tend downward, and about six o'clock 20
emerge from the Coteaus and see in the di.
lance the broad, brown food of the Missouri
bordered by the usual fringe Of COTTONWOOD
trees that marks the course Of all the larg
streams In the far West. On shelf abov
the bottom lands sits Bismarck, blotch o
black streets and mean little houses on tn
landscape. Nearer acquaintance with th,
town does not give much better impression
than Is made by the first view from the ca
windows. II Is called on the circulars of the
real estate agents the Banner City" and the
"Bride Of Fortune" but 1t has little to show
the tourist, save the glorious views from its
hills. 1t Is prosperous place, however, de.
cent and orderly as frontier towns 90, and
can boast of good hotel, a pretty little
Episcopal church, free reading room, and
Chamber of Commerce. 1t may have $500
inhabitants, living upon the railroad, the
Government and the trade of the upper
Missouri, which employs dozen steamboats,.
Only lately has anybody thought of farming,
although the place is six years old. In the
first stage OF the growth of a frontier town,
the Inhabitants all try to live By speculation,
or whisky-selling, or office holding, or sell.
Ing goods at exorbitant prices, or, If by hard
work, II must be some kind that has spice
OF adventure In IL. A man will crawl mile
In the snow with the mercury at 20 below
zero TO kill buffalo, but he will not plow
field or dig cellar. He will drive a mule
team across the plains in storm and dust,
sleep on the ground, eat hard tack and jerked
buffalo meat, or he will carry the mail over
bleak snow wastes in the dead of winter, but
no wages will tempt him to hoe potatoes.
Later comes the period Of substantial growth
when the driftwood Of gamblers, liquor sell
lers and desperadoes seeks farther frontier,
and the farmers and mechanics come In.
Bismarck is Just entering on this second
stage Of progress. The fertility of the Co.
teau lands back of II Is Its best dependence
for the future. There are no valley lands
proper along the Missouri, save the bottoms,
which are subject to overflow. On one side
or tho other the high, grassy bluffs come close
to the waters edge, and opposite, beyond the
line Of cottonwoods, Is always a stretch of
from half mile TO two miles Of fiat, rich
bottom, valuable chiefly for the natural hay
crop.
Bismarck has "boomer" He Is hired by
the Chamber Of Commerce, at good salary,
to ride upon the trains east Of Fargo and
talk to emigrants about the advantages of
settling near the Banner City. In a word,
he Is drummer for his town. When was
there he had not started on his mission, and
found him blowing a field for oats on the
only farm within sight Of the town. He was
. member of the Territorial Legislature, he
said, and he demonstrated his capacity for
the business of booming by fifteen minutes
of intelligent conversation on the capacity Of
the soil of Burleigh County, and Its sttrac-
tions TO the people who by the pillow would
thrive. lie was evidently what they call in
Dakota "rustler." To say that man Is .
rustler Is the highest Endorsement Dakotan
can give. IL means that he is pushing, ener
getic, smart and successful. The word and
Its derivatives have many shades of mean
Ing. To rustic around Is to bestir ones self
In business way. "What are You going to
do In Mandan pr asked one man of another
in Bismarck saloon. "Oh, I'll rustic around |
and pick up something" which meant that |
he would look about for a good business
opening. "Rustle the things off that table," |
means clear the table In a hurry. To do a |
rustling business Is TO carry on an active
trade. The word was coined by the Montana
herdsmen TO describe the action of cattle
brushing the snow from the roots of tile |
bunch grass with their noses.
The mode of settlement and farming on
he plains Of Dakota Is by no means the nest
70 promote comfortable living or TO develop
! high type Of character. It isthe American
lystem Of isolated farm houses. Drearily
ISOLATED, indeed, are the little bare dwellings
hat dot the wide prairies and rolling plateux.
only In the summer season can the farmers
move about to see each other or to visit the
Tillages with any pleasure, and then they are
90 busy with their crops to leave home.
The frost In the spring and the fall rains
make the roads rivers Of black wax, and In
he winter there Is the danger Of the bliz-
ard. How much more agreeable life would
70 for them II they borrowed the custom OF
he peasantry Of Continental Europe and
uilt their dwellings In groups, forming lit
10 hamlets ut intervals Of three or four miles
each with Its church and SCHOOL, Two
stand In the way of this evident
the habit of American farm
rs to live upon the tracts they cultivate, and
be United States homestead and pre-emp-
lon laws, which require actual residence
pom the particular quarter-section claimed.
'erhaps, In the course Of time, after the Da-
ota settlers have obtained their titles from ,
he Government, the manifest advantages Of
oming together in groups Of families for So
ial pleasures and for protection Of their ,
ONES by barriers Of trees against the fierce
finds, win lead them to adopt the village
node Of life, copying from the Swiss rural
ommunes the system of owning pasture
ange and timber tract In common. The
arm industry Of the region being almost ex-
lusively the raising Of wheat, Is peculiarly
dapted for village farming. The farmer
as no need to live In the midst of his grain
eld, and IS he threshes his crop where he
ARRESTS It, and usually hauls the grain to the
abroad at once, he requires no barns or
The village could build gran
ny for the use Of all Us inhabitants, and
hus the wheat could be held to await favor
Ible changes In the market. The care of
'attle would be lighter labor, for COM
NON Enclosure would answerfor all the stock
" the community; or II there were open
country for herding, single herdsman could
ook after the animals and protect the grow
ne grain.
AT Bismarck the Missouri In crossed nm |