The Dickinson press., 1884-10-25
Life on the Prairies.

AS VA WIZ L ANAA ACSs
Farm life on the Northwestern
prairies looks rather bare and lone
some to a newcomer from a wooded
and hilly country. The great strech-
es OF featureless, billowy plain pro-
duce desolate feeling at first. The
settler soon grows attached to his
surroundings, however. Somehow
OF other he feels himself more of a
man when his eye sweeps over the
wide landscape than he did when his
view was shut i'll and limited to a
few hundred acres. His house is a
landmark, visible for several miles.
The trees he plants soon make a
green wall against the horizon. His
straw stacks are as conspicuous as the
pyramids of Egypt. There is a sense
of freedom and largeness such as one
has at sea. Nature appears to be
working OH a grand scale.
When he comes to know the prai-
ries better the settler finds they are
not featureless or monotonous. They
are dotted with ponds and lakes, each
of which has it's individual character.
The streams are skirted by trees and
often run through deep, narrow val
leys, between grassy, buttress-like
hills. From early May till late Octo-
ber the whole country is a flower gar
den. There is never failure of the
crop of blossoms. In fact there is a
succession of crops, and a prodigal
lavishness of beauty goes on all the
growing season.
The land is so easily titled that af.
ter the sod is once broken farming is
light work. No stumps or stones
check the straight course of the plow.
The brown mold looks so rich that it
seems to say, "Come, SOW and reap.
and enjoy the fairness of the land"
Everything grows rapidly. Nature
seems conscious of the fact that the
warm season is short and that q long
winter is coming. She hurries the
crops along with her warm winds and
long, sunny days. Five months cover
the entire period of seed-time and
harvest. The rest of the year is the
farmer leisure time. Besides at
tending to his stock and providing
fuel for his house he has little to do.
The winters are long and cold, but
except for two OF three severe storms
of wind and snow, called "blizzards,'
the weather is bright, the air is dry
and the climate invigorating. There
are three months ut least of Sleigh
ing and everything goes on runners.
Outdoor movement goes on just us
much us in warmer latitudes. There
is a crispness and snap in the air that
inspires to activity. People are live
ly and merry, and much given to
sleigh-ride parties, to dances, to even
ing entertainments in the towns, and
to I'LL manner of pleasant sociability.
There has been no time for social
divisions and cliques to form, or for
prejudices and enmities to spring up.
and everybody is on good terms with
all the world. Kind neighborly SER
vices are exchanged, and good fellow
ship is the rule. There are no seri-
Gus hardships to endure, because set
tlement in prairie countries never
gets very far away from railroad,
and a railroad brings the comforts
of life within reach. Privations are
borne, it is true, but they are not the
outgrowth of the conditions of the
country but rather of the condition
of the people who courageously en-
deavor to make homes on govern
lnent land without money to put up
buildings, or buy stock and imple.
ments, or even to provide food while
their crops are growing. They strug-
gle along, borrowing money at high
interest, and working for neighbors
to get the means of subsistence.
Settlers who have money enough to
open and work farms can live as com
fortably in Dakota as in Illinois.