The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-05
A BURST BOOM.
Caution to People Who May Contemplate
Emigrating to Dakota.


Chicago Journal.
Notwithstanding that the emigration to
Dakota this spring has been so great that
some of the lines of railroad leading thither
have been absolutely blockaded, the Chicago
Journal has lifted its voice against the
expediency of the exodus especially
from the State of Illinois The story OF
Dakota has been in some respects altogether
too highly colored; the emigration business
has been overworked; the excitement is about
over, and now comes the relapse. Dakota
is no doubt good place for wheat
growing purposes, and is just the
place for the poor foreigner from Sweden
or Norway, or any other cold country in Eu-
rope to settle in, but the climate is too severe
for a man who has been reared anywhere
south of the fortieth parallel of latitude. As
matter OF courtesy on the part OF the geog-
raphers Dakota is placed in the temperate
zone but when wells twenty feet deep are
frozen over, and winter sets in about the LIST
OF October, with GOODNESS that defies the
registry of Fahreheit, and continues until
May, it might as we'll be called cold section
of country.
From letter written to the Aledo Qll.)
Record by Mr.. Thomas S Sharpe, who has
been a resident of Hutchinson county, d. T.,
for the past five years. some facts may be
gathered that will enlighten those who are
contemplating settling in that Territory.
We quote some extracts from Mr.. Sharpe's
letter:
Persons east will do well to accept with CAP
tion the reports about Dakota. They appear
mostly written by persons who have never
raised crop or seen one raised. North Dakota
is a wheat region. South Dakota is not, and be-
tween is de6atable land l have lived here five
years q homestead There is plenty of good
water, but more bad, and some have dug several
wells before they hit palatable water. A man
can raise timber very easily; orcharding has
been tried and determined,
have not seen a crop of wheat of twenty
five bushels per acre; have asked old settlers,
and they have not. Last year the Department
at fourteen bushels. This rather light,
but the crop was the best in five years. Forty
bushels Of oats and thirty-tive Of corn are
good crops, and it takes five acres
Of prairie to pasture a steer through
summer Flax is our main market crop, and is
last running land devoted to it, Many who I'M
dertook sheep farming have given IL up. tCaJtle
business is the most profitable business at pres
ept, and the men who run threshing machines
grow poor at iu.
There is a heavy immigration TO this Terri
tory, and much of il of a land grabbing nature.
mortgage or sell for 1900 to $500, then leave
Dakota or repeat the game making a net gain
OF perhaps 5000 for the six months is the pro-
Rramme by thousands And many an honest
poineer takes his claim, tolls to make u home,
and in year or two finds himself almost iso-
lated from neighbors and debarred from the
blessings of society.
II grasshoppers or a failure of crops occur
this year, there will be bigger stampede than
followed Moses of old.
Any one intending to come to Dakota Terri
tory ought to be prepared to accept the regular
hardships of pioneer life. Don't build your
hopes on enormous crops. Every dollar you
earn here is well earned The busiest man in
south Dakota is Shylock. His grip is on some
quarter more of nearly every section, and
five years will see thousands of farms in his
hands
1t seems from the above that Dakota is not
the land of promise, flowing with milk and
honey, which many people have been led to
believe, and Mr.. Sharpe's represen tations are
abundantly corroborated by Others The
man who leaves Illinois for Dakota is going
away from home, land don't you forget it,