Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-04-08

except the western portion OF B,liinsS
Whit h is occupied by the Pyramid Park, or
bad Lands" region.
The country through which the North
ern Pacific passes has in IL O great many
streams and small lakes, and scarcely any
svamps or marshes.
Timber o. Somewhat Scarce
but the immense supply in the adjoin-
ing State of Minnesota and its cheapneas
there, prevent the deficiency of Dakota ia
this article being q serious drawback to its
settlement The policy of the government
in allowing citizens to acquire land by the
culture of timber will no doubt produce
bensficent results to the Territory. both 10
increasing the lumber supply and promot-
ing rain fall, we'll known effect Of tree
planting.
have heretofore written of the land Of
Dsksta mainly rs i have seen it IN passing
along the railroad and in driving short
distances about the towns where | have
Isrried. What / may write hereafter IN
this letter will be in part statements
which were made TO me by other parsons
and shall be as truthful in giving inform
alton as I was careful in gathering It,
Many people from our section are settled
out here and many more are coming, and
| do not wish to have any "tendersoot'
charge up any OF his misfortanes to my
mi>siatenents.
Dakeia's Area.
Comparatively few people living ia the
East have an ADEQUATE idea of the imman-
sity of the New Northwest. Very fe even
of people who are well educated aud who
consider themselves welI-informed realize
what a large farm Uncle Sans children
have out here. Tell an ordinarily intelli-
-. Nf
100 square miles and he will accept the
because he does not stop to think
what the figures mean, Tell him though
combined areas of Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut New York,
New Jersey, Delaware and more than half
Of Pennsylvania, and he will look as il he
thought you were fool or that you took
HIM for one, and yet the statement would
be literally true. 1t astonishsd me when
| heard il, and, like the Quaker whose
had added into his accounts of
profits the year of our Lord which stood as
4 date at the top of the balance sheet, |
keep figuring il over and over again, and it
Comes out right every time, but still the re-
suit seems impossible. Dakota has an
average length from north south OF about
"A miles, and breadth of about SO. The
name Dakota is an Indian word meaning
allied or leagued, and has a reference to the
Sioux tribes Indian reserya-
tons take up about $4,000 square miles,
two ifths of the territory. vi this the
Sioux hold in all 10000 square miles. The
bulk Of the reservation area, that occupied
Ov the SiOux'S, is in the southwest portion
OF Dakota, north and east OF the Black HILLS
and west of the Missouri river. The Arika-
-ees, eros Ventres and Mandans hold
large area in the northwest portion OF Da-
kOta next TO Montana most of it south OF
the Missouri river. Then there is small
reservation south of Minni-wakan or Devils
AXE in the northwest, and there is the
Si>SetOn and WarpetO reservation, about as
big as a good sized county. at the east near
tie lead waters of the Red river.
General character OF the Country In
Dakota.
The surface north aud east OF the Mis-.
souri, river is rolling prairie for the most
part. There are many streams and lakes
and but few swampS and marshes; one au.
thOrity says none. Over the plateaus and
prairies are scattered isolated buttes. some
Of them as much as 500 feet high, but there
are nothing in the territory which could
properly be termed mountains. The Black
most important elevations. There are ex-
lensiye forests OF pine and other useful tim
Der in the Black Hills region, and in nesrly
all sections of Dakota there is enough tim
Der for the ordinary demands OF the set
tiers: that is, for fire wood or a mud.
plaStered log shanty. A common way of
getting frame house is TO nave it made in
Minnesota and shipped out by rail all ready
to put together. The northeast part of
the Territory is drained by the Red river
of the North and its tributaries. This
river has bed not much wider than that of
Wheeling Greek, and TO one who has been &C
customed TO gazing on the majestic Ohio it
seems ode that the Red River of the North
should be called river at all, let alone
that it should leave name so much
broader than itself. We have better river
on Twelfth street, in Wheeling, after
bard rain than either the Red or the James
rivers at the present time. The latter gen.
orally goes when there is any water in it,
by the playful diminutiye of the "Jim
River" which suits il better than the more
iignitied name Of James River. The Red
river is deep, although narrow, and is nav
gable for small steamboats, and grain
barges lin single iilel from Winnipeg, in
Manitoba, a city of 80 900 inhabitan, to a.
few miles south Of Fargo, a distance of
over 26O miles. The James river rises in
the third tier Of counties, from the
north boundary line OF Dakota,
ana flows d little east OF south through
eastern Dakota TO the Missouri river at the
southern boundary, distance OF probably
IF jamestown t"JimtowD") loves to tell the
;isiror, with the Western fondneSs for
that the Jim river is the
Longest UnnaYIgable River
n the world Dakota is remarkable for
he great number OF lakes in the eastern
Iali of its territory. The Mini-Wakan, or
DEVILS Lake, is the largest, covering more
han 80, 600 acres.
wrote rather slightingly OF the narrow
less of the Red river, aud it should be
tated that this stream is not always TO be
lespised on that account. Last spring it
,ot on high and spread over the valley
though for the most part at
eSs than drowning depths. Its waters ex-
ended as far in some places as twenty
niles away from the usual bed OF the
tream and seriously lnterfered with the
,lanting of the crops. A farmer near Far
o explained the cause of the overflow in
his way: You see the river runs the
wrong way; it runs north. Now, as the
now melts down here sooner than it does
art first. The ice is thus apt to form
orges and the damned stream | amt
strangely spreads over all crea.
ion" The Missouri river is fine, broad
tream, with a rather swift current in parts
# the territory. 1t is Manageable through
nut it's course in Dakota and for over three
hundred miles in Montana. Considerable
teamboat traffic is carried on upon 1t all
II the way from near st. Louis, Missouri,
yhere il flows into the Mississippi, to Fort
3entou, Montana, but ITS shifting bed and
and bars are great source Of annoyance
o steamboatmen.
With regard to the soil in Dakota general
V il may be safely pronounced to be very
,Ood, although there are among the west
I'm and more unsettled parts Of the Terri
DRY areas of stony land, too much broken
or agriculture, and soil that is too sandy,
md there are smaller tracts Of such land
wen in the eastern part OF the terito-
Y. Taken as a whole, Dakota is magnl-
icent wheat country, and will in the course
IF few years yet more astoaish the world
oy the immense quantity of its production
han il has already astonished it by the
luality Of its wheat. In whatever section
1f Dakota the soil has been cultivated, it
has produced good returns, and in two
weeks sojourn in the Territory, during
which time have been daily and almost
hourly in conversation with farmers,