Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-05-25
THE DEMOCRAT.
Mineral Point, Friday, May rs, 1883.
Geo. Crawford. Robt. M. Crawford,
EDITORS AND PRoPRIEToRs.
DAKOTA AS IT is.

The Dakota fever is slowly dying
out, and those who return from that
much-advertised section of the north
west do not by any means admit that
the land there is all that is claimed for
it. Experienced farmers speak with
great caution of the soil, while those
who have had no experience whatever
in farming, and who hardly know a
husking peg from a harvester, or
threshing machine from pitch-fork,
| talk glibly of the ethereal mildness of
the climate, the wonderful fertility of
the soil, and much more, learned by
rote from the numerous land adver-
Using circulars. We frequently re-
ceive letters for publication praising
| beyond all measure "the land of Da-
kota," and representing it as the para
| disc of the west. We know many of
these correspondents to be honest in
what they write, but believe them to
be infatuated. We would willingly
| publish their contributions did we not
believe that the side of the question
which they present has had ample
hearing, and that the free putting
W hich has been given to many parts Of
the west. and especially to Dakota, has
brought on the fever with which 50
m any have been and still are afflicted.
While, as we have said, very many
W no write home from Dakota are hon
est and endeavor to tell the truth about
the country and the climate, there are
others who indulge in colossal lying
about everything they write. They
have gone there to make money and are
not particular about the means they
employ to attain this end.
A few years ago when the grasshop-
per plague prevailed in many parts of
the west, a young man wrote home
from town in south eastern Dakota to
friends in the east, giving truthful
account of the state of affairs in his
section of the country. He described
lCtthOLIb DIlLLlIu1 anu ollI LiIctO IllC
grasshoppers had devoured the grow
ing grain for miles and miles around
him, and in short, he did not paint the
condition of the country in as bright
colors as many of his neighbors would
have wished. His letters were pub
lished in an eastern paper and sent
back to his western home. He had
written nothing but the truth about
the country, notwithstanding the con-
trary reports published in nearly every
western newspaper. He was charged
with "libeling" the country, and it was
made 50 hot for him that he was glad
to leave the town in which he resided.
But we have not heard of any great
bodily harm being done to the cores
pondent who wrote to US last winter
from Dakota, that the very lowest
point which the thermometer had
reached in that territory during the
winter was twenty degrees below zero,
and when it is twenty degrees below
zero out here you don't feel cold.' Had
the former CORES pendent written af
ter the manner of the latter referred
to, instead Of being driven out of town
he would have been classed as most
enterprising citizen.
There is undoubtedly large tracts of
good land in Dakota, but those who
contemplate leaving the fertile fields of
southwestern Wisconsin, before doing
50 will do well to carefully investigate
the claims which the west has to pre-
sent, and rot place confidence in any
free pulling or overdrawn pictures by
interested persons.