Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1883-1884, 1883-04-13
HOW THEY TALK.
A Venerable Gentleman Reasons
With the Readers of his Local
Paper Oh the subject of
Dakota.
winsted Conn, Herald Correspondence.

Winsted Conn.> Herald Correspondence.
Dakota Territory seems to he the
promised land.' At present elmigra-
ton tlq to it is remarkable. The Rev. Chas.
w. Shelton, formerly of Birmingham,
Conn.,. one of the nine of the theological
class III Yale College. who pledged tiem-
selves to go to Dakota, located at Dell
Rapids, southern part of the territory
IS III this state raising funds for 4 college
in Yankton. He says it was estimated
one thousand emigrants per day came
INTO the territory during last summer and
fall, and he thinks it a low estimate.
He attests to the adoption of the soil and
climate for raising wheat of the best
quality, and other cereals. There are
two articles in the Congregationalist, of
the ed inst, highly commencing Dakota
for health and it's products, more espec-
Tally the northern portion, recommends
ing it to all farmers who are seeking a
home. One writer says: Dakota in
thirty years will probably stand among
the foremost of the United States. His
expectation is based on the fact that it is
the strong and energetic men who seek
it, and are fashioning the foundation" ;"
No doubt the climate is delightful in
summer, the winters cold, but they claim
they do not feel it with the mercury
twenty degrees below zero as at zero in
subject to such changes. Such has been
the statement of persons who have spent
winters up at Lake Superior
y friend of the writer moved from st.
Clair, Michigan, in April, 1851, to Coop
erstOwn, North Dakota. forty miles north
OF the Northern Poetic II. r.; took up
ltO acres i'll his own name. and 100 i'm his
daughters name: built Il house. About
the 1st of January received IL very long
letter from him and will quote some Of
his statements, which will show how they
progress out west: s'There was one
house and barn in the town only, and no
settlement nearer than twenty miles.
Now | am surrounded by nice farms
with comfortable dwellings and at our
fall election nearly four hundred votes
were cast, and the town is made the
county seat of the new county of Griggs.
When came here there We're not over
fifty voters in the county; last fall over
eight hundred and fifty were polled. I
plowed about two hundred acres the first
year and put into wheat and oats last
spring. and harvested three thousand
bushels of the best quality of wheat and
two thousand of oats, worth Is cts. per
busl,el for seed or feed. Wheat a dollar
at the railroad. A railroad is built with
in twenty miles and will be finished this
year from the Northern Pacific II. Il.
A plenty of land can he pre-empted for
the office fees. or bought of the railroad
or private individuals, but the most de-
silable is rising, and rapid salesare being
made, In this locality wheat yields from
twenty to forty bushels and oats forty
or fifty on turf. or sixty to eighty per
acre if plowed the fall before. Thecoun-
ty buildings, Il large hotel and school
house, are to be built this spring coming.
Two banks are to be established here"
In /: subsequent letter he sent me
diagram for Il city, with avenues and
streets sufficient for a population of ten
Thousand. The first house built only
two years ago. lie speaks highly of the
climate. have the first number OF the
Courier, of eight pages.
filled with advertisements and creditable |
matter, Jan. 2G last.
n farmer there can realize returns for |
his labor at once; quite different from
many of Connecticut emigrants who |
went west to occupy the Western Re- !
serve and other places; the land covered /
with heavy timber; We're obliged to cut
down enough to build Il house, and slave
4 generation before he had Il good farm,
but since the west is open to emigrants,
farms have been opened to them ready
Tor the plow.
$50 west was Horace Greeley's in
Young men will do well to
need it and grow up with the country.
OBSERVER.
Waterbury, Feb q, 1883.