Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-01-11

at nfsC SlSat appears Evil. WAAoii SAo"
ed in the light o~freason, has redeem
ing or mitigating circumstances con-
nected with it--This 1 put forward as
a general remark, as applicable to
Dakota in its apparently defective
fuel and timber culture supply, as in
other particulars; having immediate
relation to our material existances.
Ny next effort will be to show that
the absence of timber in Dakota, as
the term timber in its various rela-
tons, and conditions, as understood
in any timbered state, is not such a
terrible defect and calamity as some
persons at first view may imagine, hav-
ing compensating, or %redeeming Cir
cumstances connected with it, which
in opinion of candid and ex
perienced persons here, are
equivalent, OF nearly so, to the oft
times Objectionable, excessive, and
superaous, even superabundance of
timber in the dense woodland districts
of Michigan. Its forests, 1 mean
natural forests, would be desirable
here, their absence is compensated
for by a far reaching, smooth, rich
prairie, already cleared for the pillow,
and transition from raw, unhabital
prairie. to improved grain fields, is
something marvellous, and waving
fields, of golden grain, greet the eye
at harvest time, where but a few
months previous the wild wolf, the
badger and other denizens of the
prairies had their homes. 1 cannot il
lustrste this particular feature of the
| gument, better than by relating brief
ly an. incident of my personal
experience in Dakota. 1 do this,
not in the spirit of Boosting,
but simply as a matter of fact. Any
man with a little of what
is called in modern p%arlance, sand in
his mental makeup, could have, under
similar conditions, accomplished as
much. On the Oath day of May, 1881,
I arrived in Huron, Beadle county,
d. T., then a little unpretentious
hamlet, now a proud and progress
ing city, whose future career can not
be anything bat glorious, with its
present noble men and women to
foster and promote it. Three days
afterwards I selected a homestead
claim, and sent my filings to the
Mitchell land office, and then I re-
ceived assurance of a right to begin
operations from the land office.
The fifth day of June had come, and
on that day 1 set two plows to work,
turning over the crude prairie sod,
and in three days I had twelve acres
plowed and planted. My planting
comprised corn, potatoes, beans, etc.
in fact all the usual varieties of vege-
tables grown in the North, and West
and without any cultivation whatever.
When harvest time came, I had a
most bounteous return for my toll,
and now, to the point. What back
woodsman, in the primitive forests of
Michigan, though possessed of the
strength of Hercules, and sinews of
steel, would assume to be able to &C
complish a similar result there? Let
the forest t%oilers, now in premature
timeless graves answer.
Your state for many years after it's
first settlement, even was encountered
with a massive, dense, and %superfous
growth of timber, entailing upon him
who essayed to make a home in its
Businesses, for wife and children, in
describable h%ardships, and overtaxing
toil,as your respondent can we'll at
test. This was the case even if health
was retained. If not, how doubly in
tensified vas the task; and in the
malarious districts physical debility
largely prevailed. Again, if we have
no logs with which to construct or.
duroy roadways over quagmires, we
do not need them, as we have a
charmingly we'll drained country and
we are not troubled much with slush
and mud. Sand enters into the COM
position of our soil in such a happy
proportion as to form, for the most
part. roads as hard and reliable al
your turnpikes. If we have no rails
with which to enclose little patches
of ground which you cali fields, we
have no particular need of them, as
we have a wise and effective herd law
which will protect one acre, or five
thousand or more from encroachment
by stock. If we have no timber or
lumber trees growing here, we have
1Sro1 o-1 ,,o,