Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-30
YHE ODESSA FRAUD,

A Devils Lake Town Site Bubble Pretty
Thoroughly Pricked.
HOW THE BOOMERS WORK 1T, I
And Take in the Gudgeons Who Are !
Anxiousto be Plucked. !
To the Editor of the Globe: ,
GRAND FORKS, D. T., Dec. 16, 1SS2.-Per- s
NIT me through your valuable paper, to 6
call the attention of your readers to one of {
the most nefarious TOWNSHIP schemes in t
Northern Dakota, at present being adver- i
tised to too easily deceived public. You {
have probably heard of the famous Odessa
on DEVILS lake, a prospective townsite
which has lately been extensively adver- .
tised in this northern country through the
columns of the local papers and also to a ]
certain extent through the Pioneer Press.
In view of the fact that the lots in said
TOWNSHIP are going to be placed on Il
market in your own city and Minneap' -.
as soon as the Grand Forks public
discovered that they have been too 90
duped "a fact which by this time is 800
thoroughly known,) feel It my to"s
ventilate the scheme as far a. w
through your vauable columns poSe1".o
the fall it became known tn I"i.y III
Geo. II. Walsh, the present ~ ~io A1ou'
Der of the Dakota council. 1eaHIIs i1Sn
LaMoure, equally famous vac non- 'uu
mont mart he has taken ir IVA cHS PaoAAt-
as we'll as his cultivated -DaHo'a poh'ics:
ponnh1;con convent;l speech before the
NJ n NJ Towner n at this city, the
thrnnoh tho aid Of the Missourian who,
,uaT;ans heat II few influential Nor
o "ug Id 70 the % regularly nominated
Trail county { Ia" 1900 "a '1 asn. .u .!om
and whose ma 4orinS me lass campaign,
w. :oa" srs as the party who imported
.A4s lgroes to the Elk valley farms
~. f. RpOse of proving up pre-emp-
Dr. W the incorpOrators Of the said
4;on 1ey Farming company, in connee-
az. 18th Messrs. Eshelman l. Griggs,, had
- I'd themselves for the purpose of es-
y fishing townsite on Devils lake in
T.. takota, scheme which promised to be
Y Gghly remunerative to the participants
THEREIN.
Al The prospective townsite, was of course,
~ going to be the county seat of Ramsey
~ county, Dakota, \ and to induce the
= too credible public to believe that this Was
of really the intention, two Of the Originators
ed of the scheme, Messrs. W aldron and Towner,
to made strenuous efforts to be elected TO tho
#. coming Dakota legislature. The Hen.
1g Mr.. Towner, however, has a number of
"a "a pre-emptors on a tract of land situated on
10 the Larimore extension, about twelve miles
he northwest of Stump lake, and this, in con-
a nection with the fact that Mr.. Towner
n seemed decidedly too anxious to 60 to the
a legislature, came near spelling the scheme
g! of the incorpOrstors. Mr.. Walsh conceived
as the idea that Mr.. TOwner's endeayors were
o. not entirely. disinterested, but that the
he scheme was to have the county seat of the
of future county established on Mr.. Towner's
u land ON the Larimore extension, and Just
az before the election Mr.. Walsh who, though
u: a regularly nominated Republican candi-
OF OF date for the Dakota council, up to this
" time tacitly had been supporting Towner,
a came to the front and denounced, ,Towner
=. as lone who intended to divide the county,
10 Ia scheme by the way which Mr.. Walsh
40 himself fondly cherishes. It was, how.
he ever. too late, and Mr.. Towner was elected
be lby majority of some 800 throughout the
or legislative district. Since the election
Il. lmatters have. however, been serene, and
10 the Odessa scheme seems at present to alb
sorb the attention of the two antagonistic
interests. 49,.
'n A. z. johnson, the emigration commits
n sioner of the Manitoba road, cuts another
al rather unenviable figure in the affair. To
I'll the unwary he represents the Manitoba
It. road and Jim Hill, and this indicates con-
clusively that the road will make Odessa
-, their headquarters for the western divis-
ion. Let us, however, Mr.. Editor for q
a' minute look at the facts in the case. The
~ grading of the Manitoba road is at present
ie about seven miles north of Stump lake.
be If continued on direct line
e. towards Devils Lake, it would reach
Odessa. To reach Odessa the road would
'e have to diverge from the surveyed line in a
% southwesterly direction, and traverse the
n alkali swamps surrounding Odessa. Ac.
ne cording to the surveyed plat of the town
in site, the objective point seems to be Fort
Totten.
D. Now, Mr.. Editor, if you can solve the
=. conundrum, what object the Manitoba
8 railway would gain by tTavsrsing the whsle
y length OF the Indian reservation ON the
oil south side Of Devils lake, think yel
70 would certainly confer a great favor on
ht your readers and the prospective spes1-
. lators in Odessa town lots. The whole
tseheme il branded on its face - one sim
d. liar to the Harrisburg, on the Stump
:, lake, scheme, some Of the originaters Of
which are now a. ssalsusly booming the
Odessa townsits ss they ever before ad-
n vocated Harrisburg. These are the men.
10 Mr.. Editor, Who at present occupy the
prominent social and political positions
IL in the northern country. Who 30 sfectual-
m IL, mp to this date. have brought the fair
name of Dakota and ito Inhabitants into
disreprte in the eastern states, for whom
no scheme is too serdid, if it will only
serve their own pscunisry interests.
1t need not tell you that there 10 not the
slightest prospect for a railroad at Odessa.
n That when the lots are all sold out Tor as
lie nearly as they can beg the syndicate" will
of turn their anxious eyes in another direc-
10 ton toward some similar scheme by which
% they can effectually rope in the too con-
fdinp public To us who live in proximity