Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-19

corning this much inflated bubble, Da-
kota. The writer concludes his article
by stating that Dakota in general is a
cold, barren region, fit only for the
dwelling place OF %Norwegians Or row
Ing Indians, but no place for Ameri-
cans, and advises them to remain con-
tented ntheir peaceful Eastern homes.
IN harper's School Geography, series
OF 1872, page 81, you may find a brief
description of this Territory, which
fully corroborates the ahovestatemehts,
and the Harpers ought to know, for
don't they publish A Journal Of Civili-
zation? do hope the Eastern press
Will continue in the good work until
this delusive bubble in thoroughly
pricked. For the life of me [ can't see
anything about this country to make
people go crazy over it like they are do
ing. The whole surface is covered
with 1t sort Of stunted grass, in some
places not much v e a foot high, and
tit for nothing under the sun but for
stock to eat. And the soil is nothing
but a sandy loan from four to eight
feet deep, and underlaid with Il porous
sort of subsoil strongly impregtated
with lime, gypsum and such stuff that
denotes sterility.
y While it is true we never had any of
your ''sly cdons' or Jimmie Canes" we
have terrible "blizzards." have actu-
ally known of a blizzard blowing the
hat off a 1ian's head and carrying it us
much as FIVE rods before he could re-
cover it. Also, there are the savage
beasts that roam over the prairie, stich
as the badger; coyote, the gopher. and
the vicious prairie dog; and make it
very unsafe to be caught out without
being thoroughly armed and equipped
There are. H. hundred and one other fea-
lures connected with this country' that
should Warn the weary pilgrim that
this is not the haven OF his desires; yet
thousands still continue to come anu
persist in staying. and the longer they
stay the ctazier they seem to become.
2 think the origin of the silly crazt
cain be traced to an ~eccentic old fellow.
Familiarity khown as "'Uncle SAM" who
: formerly owned all. the real estate in
this and several adjoining. Territories,
! and who, in order toAunldad, offered to
} sell any person 800 acres on from hveto
5 eight years time, without any interests.
5 and take the principal out in work
This was a most unfortunate proceed
ing, and thousands and tens OF thous-
ands OF honest, intelligent and indus
trious people have been deluded into
accepting this most ungenerous offer.
The experience of your correspondent
l is similar to that of thousands of other
! poor dupes. / was doing a splendid
business in Ohio, the best business III
! fact in the town. At least that was
I what my friends would tel! me when
5 came into trade, and then they would
say. "Just mark 1t down FOR a few days
Now ! might have renamed in Ohio
and had hosts Of friends just as long as
2 e mad a dollars worth of goods to sell
'on tick" 1t was hard to sever those
ties of friendship, amounting as they
did in some cases from five to fifty dol
lars each; but I braced myself for the
effort, and am now in Dakota l ar
rived early in the season, but found
very little accommodation for gentle.
! men, and had to haul lumber, ETC., fol-
my house and other buildings nearly
: twenty miles, and it took until the first
of June to get to housekeeping; hence
e my experience is somewhat limited;
l but it is sufficient to demonstrate the
l utter uselessness of this as an agricul:
. tural country. 1 planted a few acres
1 Of sod corn which averaged ,onlysabout
forty bushels to the acre. My potatoes
were little scrawny things, the largest
S not weighing much over two pounds
l raised a wagon load Of melons, but
J they were very little bits Of things, only
weighing from fifteen totwenty pounds
y each. My cucumber crop was tolerable
S fair, but l mistook them for squashes
y and did not discover the mistake until
f they began to ripeh, and then they were
unfit fer use. My pumpkin crop was
an entire failure, not that they would
grow, but the tarnel cattle would stick
y up their noses at them and scaAper of
and eat buffalo grass in preference
t which every Eastern editor and college
t. professor knows is not fit to be eaten
by thoroughbred stock and should be
eaten only by the heather buffalo.
But the most miserable failure was
ii bean, 1 had often read ii, Eastern
papers that Dakota wouldn't. rails,
beans, and l ought to have known bet
tet, yet l was fool enough 70 SOW fou,
r quarts Of the white navy variety OF
fresh broken soil and narrowed then