Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1883-09-22
TIE NEW NORTH WEST.


EXPLORATIONS ALONG OUR NOR
THERN BORDER-NOT ALTOGETH-
Err A s'HowLING Wilderness
SOMETHING ABOUT THE CoUN-
TRY, ITS PEOPLE, GROWTH, AND
PROSPECTS.
Special Correspondents.
BISMARCK, D. T., Sept. 18th,
1SS3.-The eyes of the world have of
late been fixed upon Dakota as one
of the chief reliances of millions up,
on millions of that surplus popula-
ton who are constantly chasing
after the star of the empire. The ex-
treme fertility of soil; the infnitude
to lakes, rivers, and streams that
afford an abundance of the clearest
and purest Whitewater that even
exceeds in all its qualities that for
which Minnesota has become re,
nowned; belts of timber comprising
hickory, oak, walnut, Eastwood.
maple, pine and cedar, all seeming
to be exactly adjusted geographical
ly to the wants and necessities of
the settlers of the boundless prairie,
there would seem to be everything
to induce the immigrant hither to
make this his everlasting abiding
place-and he is coming. He is
coming by train and by prairie
schooner, and by any and every con.
ceivable means of transportation
that pioneer ingenuity can devise.
He is coming in such numbers that
he adds $4,000 to her population
every twelvemonth, and from the
handful of people who were here
when your correspondent first visited
the Territory in 1878, she can now
boast of population greater by far
than either Colorado, Delaware,
Florida, Nevada, Hregon, Rhode
Island, Vermont or New Hamp,
shire. That is the way a Western
State grows. This population is
composed of the ambitious portion
of those who have met discourage
ment in agricultural pursuits where
there was no agriculture to pursue,
as in sterile New England, whose
horny handed yeomanry make up a
portion Of the best stock of this new
country. And New York and Penn
sylvania have forwarded their
thousands who have been accustom,
ed for generation to the vicissi-
tudes of farming upon less fertile
soil. Wheat growing Canada pours
her tens of thousands upon us,
armed with the experiences and
armored with the acclimation that
welcomes the coolest of the northern
billiards..
What the population OF Dakota
will be at the time of the next cen.
sus, no human being can surmise,
because there is no basis for calcu-
lation. The towns that spring up as
if by magic ON every hand, become
populous cities ere one can make up
his mind whether it were prudent to
invest in the chances for its future.
Everywhere the newspaper, and the
bank, and the church, and the
schoolhouse, and the railroad, and
the telegraph. and all the indications
of American civilization are being
instituted, and the vast region COM
prising what is known as Southern
Eakota presents every indication of
an old settled State. The exhibits
of the grand, vegetable, and other
products of Dakota made by the
Northern Pacific Railroad from
year to year at the Chicago EXPOSE
ton, form one Of the most extraor-
binary attractions for the public eye,
for there are stalks Of corn thirty
feet in height; wheat whose kernels
are marvel Of plumpness and pro.
ductiveness; squashes that kick the
beam at $50 pounds each potatoes,
such as no one ever was either as to
size or quality, which are yielding a
thousand bushels to the acre, and so
on without end as to the miraculous
power of this new and virgin soil.
The Territory may be said to be
practically exempt from every spec
les of malarious influence, and the
percentage Of mortality shows the
best bill of health to be found this