Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-04-13
LETTER FROM DAKOTA.
EUenddle, March %, 'St


Editor of the Monitor Having for
merly been subscriber TO your es-
timable paper before leaving my old
home in Greensboro, and wishing to
renew my allegiance, herewith en-
close $500, for which please send
me the MONITOR for one year and
three months as per your ad. !; and
thinking that perhaps short letter,
telling something of this country and
of my experience here might not
be uninteresting to some of your
readers, / venture to write few
lines.
/ left the green hills of old Yer
mont in the spring of '82, and in
company with few friends travelled
westward, and having reached Min
nesota we heard of the famous ''Jim.
river country" in central Dakota,
and of the wonderful tide, of temigra.
tion that was setting in for the then
almost unknown, but now celebrated
James river valley. Well, we con-
cluded that was the place to strike.
So we proceeded westward over the
Hastings and Dakota division of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul rail-
way to Aberdeen, thence north to
the end of the track at Glendale,
Dickey Co. The railroad had been
built late in the fall of 81, but pre-
vious to the spring of 'S2 there had
not been dozen permanent settlers
in Dickory county. At the time we
landed in Glendale the town had
just been laid out, and with the ex-
ception of a few shantles serving as
stores, and two or three tents as ho-
tells and lodging houses, there was
nothing to distinguish the town from
the wide rolling prairies stretching
away on every hand as far as the eye
could reach. Of course the first
thing to be done was to secure some
of Uncle Sans land, and having To-
Gated our claims, which we got with
in a short distance of town, we pro-
ceeded to erect ''seven by nine"
shanty on them, and commenced
sholding down the claim" as the
saying goes. This we continued to
do with commendable perseverance
for six months when we proved up
and secured title to some of the fin
est land that the sun ever shown on.
Meanwhile the county was fast filling
up with settlers and the town of Ell
lendale rapidly growing in size and
Importance. Being situated at the
end of the railroad and controlling
the trade of fertile region of coun-
try extending for forty miles on all
sides, it possessed natural advant-
ages which were destined soon to lift
it into prominence among the
young and growing cities of Dakota.
1t is now nearly three years since I
first landed in Glendale, and in that
short time 1 have seen it grow from
nothing to town of over one thou
sand inhabitants to be the county
seat of Dickey Co., with new
court house costing nearly $4,000 ;
a fine school house costing $4,000 !;
with three churches, two papers, two
elevators with capacity of $4,000
bushels. that have handled this year
100000 bushels of wheat besides
other cereals; two good hotels and
number of smaller boarding hous-
es, two banks, six general stores,
five blacksmith shops, and all other
branches of trade are represented. In
the meantime the county has been
well settled up and now there are but
few vacant claims in the whole coun-
ty; and where but few years ago
the Sioux Indians disputed possess
sion alone with the buffalo and ante
lope, now rise the settlers buildings.
and in summer vast fields of golden
grain wave over the trail of the buff
falo and the camping ground of the
Indians. The past winter has been
remarkably free from bad storms.
We have not had a blizzard this win
ter and not over six inches of snow
at one time. The first half of March
was very fine and considerable work
was done on the land, and there was
a little wheat sowed the last two
weeks have been somewhat colder,
but pleasant and no snow. The
principle crop here is wheat, but all
kinds of grain do well and vegetables
grow to perfection. Stock raising
is yearly growing in Importance and
will, eventually, become the leading
industry. The climate here is very
healthy, the air being dry, pure and
bracing; the winters are cold, but
for the most part pleasant. and the
summers are delightful. Long sun
shiny days, with tie ever cool even
ings and nights, make living pleas
ure. But / shall never lose my love
for the old 'sGreen Mountain State,"
and hope to sometime return and
make my home within its borders.
Yet / shall never regret leaving it
for season to seek my fortune on
the fertile prairies of the far-famed
Gland of the Dakotas."
Fl. w. GILLIs.
MIRROR LAKE.
/