Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1883-1884, 1884-01-25
ABOUT DAKOTA.
Truth Tersely Told by w. II.
Whidden in a Letter to the
Halifax On. 81 Christian
3. Messenger.
CoopERsTowN, u. T., Dec. 81 's2.

some erroneous statements in that arti-
Gle about Dakota" III your issue of
December 10Th copied from the New
York Examiner.
Having lived in North Dakota nine
months. arriving in Sanborn, Barnes Co.
OH the 2Ath OF last March and four weeks
later moving with my family to Coopers-
town, Griggs county. the present termi-
nus of the SanbOrn, COoperstowm Il
Turtle Mountain II. II, claim to know
something about the climate, resources
OF the country, social life OF the people,
etc, etc.
AS to this being a far off region it
may seem 50 to some people who live i'll
some other far away land. Some people
here think Nova Scotia out Of the world
Il do not: My native land love thee
still. Bostonlans claim their boston as
the Hub of the Universe, but heard
| Joseph Cook deliver lecture. three
years ago and he placed the centre of
civilization OH this Western Continent
at /; point Il little west OF Chicago, and
as, westward, the tide Of empire takes
its way Dakota must be nearer that
point 10 day than Nova Scotia, and,
with the present tide OF emigration
pressing on Dakotaward that point will
soon be within her borders.
The railway and telegraph lines have
annihilated distances so that to-day We
have 10 foreign shores. no far-otf lands.
Taking the train tnis afternoon at our
depot reaching Sanborn in time IL take
a palace car Last over the Northern
Pacific, l reach st. Paul at seven to-
morrow, a. m.. Chicago in fifteen hours,
Boston in about thirty, and be with YOU
III Halifax within five days providing
the trains through Maine, New Bruins
wick or Nova Scotia are not ow-bound;
OF can wish you ''llappy New Year."
which will reach you betOvei it leaves me.
The climate, according TO "a writer III
the Aroostock (Ale.l Tunes, is beyond
the endurance OF man unless he adopts
the habits OF the EsquimallX. Strange
that such false statements ever get into
print. Strange that so many people
leave good, comfortable homes iii the
and take up with the habits of an Es-
quimallx. We are living in the upper
part OF Il two-story buiiulng (tlle lower
part being used as Il STOREY built after
The fashion Ut wooden structures in the
east with the exception of it not being
plastered. We have suffered nothing
from extreme cold yet, and the tler
Mometer has registered 80 below zero
more than once, and we have nothing
lo lear even should it run down to 50,
that being us coldas it ever gets. Wei
Il cook stove and *SteWart burner No.
/ 4, using wood most OF the time tu heat
d surface .GAi6 divided into SIN apart
melts. Last April and May for the
want of proper sized glass we lived in
tins building three weeks with only half
our complement OF windows in, and the
place where they should have been all
n1r
and still 10 cold rain was driven i'll upon
us, neither did a tornado carry Oft the
roof. We only put up our storm Will
dows last week, and have just three
months and a half in which to use them
To the time next spring when we slept
with open windows last spring.
We have had less cold weather and
more even temperature, more clOudleSS
days and brighter nights than you i'll
Ola Nova Scotia can give a record of in
same length Of time, OF everI experience
cd there. The first seeder went over the
ground covering III the golden grain the
second week i'll April and the last fur
row was turned the 10th of November.
lis true that the surface OF the land
III some OF the best tanning regions is
flat and there are no stones nor timber,
and in some sections it may be inter-
SPS4oeu Will ooSo anu u!dlo oilSS. Auc
bOgS and marshes are easily converted
into the best meadow and hay lands and
will III time become more valuable than
the present rich rolling prailies. Stones
are not needed. either tor the foullda-
tions OF buildings, cellar walls OF wells;
we could use them if here, but their alb
sence costs less than their presence, and
the same may be said OF timber All
the timber and lumber wanted for build
ing purposes is brought in 10y rail from
the wooded lands east, in Minnesota and
Wisconsin, and sold at reasonable rates.
Ii the land is not worth more vastly
more, us it is, all ready for the ploW,
than were it covered with stones and
Wond, and people had to cut and dig and
delve for halt a life time before they
take oil their first crops; it the land is
not worth more. will some person rise
and explain.
Our grandfathers in Nova Scotia and
Maine had toput up with infinitely more
lla' dshipS and inconveniences when the
country was first being settled than any
one has yet experienced in Dakota. or
ever will. Water is not SO hard but i
what it can be used, and in many places
is soft. l struck Il vein OF as good water
as anyone need want ut a depth of 26
feet, and the water has stood ten feet
deep ever since. and at this time sup
plies over 50 head of stock. and is never
lowered more than SIX inches, neither
has it frozen, and it is not covered even
with a horse blanket.
The writer from Sanborn ought to re-
linquish his $50 acres back to the gov-
eminent to whom it rightly belongsas it !
was never intended to give the quarter
sections Of the golden Northwest to men !
who onght TO be at home with their
mammas. AS he ought to consider it !
worth but little, he can easily dispose Of .
it by placing the matter in the hands of !
some responsible land agent at Sanborn,