Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-02-07
SOME ANSWERS
TO Inquiries About the Devils
Lake Region,

10 inquiries ABOUT n Devils
Lake Region.
The following is from. the pages of the
pamphlet just issued from this office:
What people want to know is fire.
quently lost in the superlatives and adj
i~ectives used in telling them. In this
little work we have aimed to give facts
III words that become the subjects under
consideration; and especially have we
c~ndeavored to conquer the inclination,
characteristic of Dakota writer's, to ex-
aggcrate. "Good wine needs no bush'
is an adage that should be remembered
by every n who writes of North Da-
kota. A good country needs no boom.
Taking the hundreds of letters we have
received from those seeking information
concerning the Devils Lake Region, and
we have an array of questions that
would tax the patience and ingenuity of
a dozen men to answer them. Among
the first questions in these letters is this:
How near is your city Devils Lake,
to vacant government land?
The reply to this question has been:
Government land can lie had within ten
miles of this city in some directions; in
others the land is all taken for forty miles
away.
Question-What is the character CT
your soil?
Answer-A black loan, slightly sandy,
from n to three feet thick, and over
lying a thick layer of clay that holds
water like cement. See page Is.
Q.-Is there any timber?
A.-Thousands Of acres of oak, ash.
elm and poplar. The north shores Of
Devils lake and other lesser bodies Of
water are we'll wooded, and Turtle noun
tain, Is miles northwest of here, is COW
cred with a fine growth Of tim
Der. See pages 4 and 81.
Q.-What are your railroad facilities?
A.-This is the western terminus of
the st. Paul, Minneapolis d Manitoba
road, making Devils Lake the gateway
to the vast region north to the Manitoba
line and west and northwest to the Tur-
tie mountain and the Mouse river. See
page IL.
Q.-What kind Of weather do you have
in winter? Is it cold?
A.-Pages Is and II will give you the
official figures for three years past. But
YOU must remember that, although these
figures indicate a low temperature dur
ing portions of the winter, a change of
the thermometer from 100 above zero to
100 or even 250 below is scarcely percept-
ible, owing to the extreme dryness of
the atmosphere. We shall not uttempt
to convince the reader of the truth of this
statement; only those who nave passed q
winter in Dakota know the fact to be us
stated. The stories told Of the vast num-
Der of people who freeze to death acre
are simply ISLANDERS put forth by south
eastern agents to divert immigration
from North Dakota. The cases of freez-
ing to death here are confined exclu-
sively to those persons who have either
neglected the proper care for their own
comfort or have imbibed too freely of
liquor and gone into the cold and fallen
asleep under the influence of ''the enemy
of mankind" A three years residence
in North Dakota has convinced the
writer that there is less suffering here
from cold than in Wisconsin, Illinois,
Michigan, Indiana or Ohio, and the rec
ord shows that, in proportion to popula-
ton, the.deaths from frost are fewer in
North Dakota than in either of the states
named.
els North Dakota a healthy coun-
tryf
A.-Read pages 9, 10 and 1.-THE opin-
ion and experience of a medical man.
See also page %, the statements of O. B.
Corset, banker of this city, and L. Grant,
builder.
Q.-What is fuel worth?
A.-Good wood retails at $3.50 to 81 per
cord, and plenty of it.
Q.-Have you schools and churches?
A.-Devils Lake has a fine public
school building with two teachers and
about 70 pupils. There is also a private
school we'll ~patronized. In the line of
churches we have the Presbyterian, the
Methodist and the Catholic, all in a
ASAAA SoAAAAtAOus VII lulS SuD10CI
the Hon. II. W.. Hill, townsite agent,
says: 1.-THE country is fast settling up
with an Intelligent and energetic class of
people who come to stay, and who are
united in advancing not only the mate
rial interests of the country, but are de-
termined hat its social, moral and edu-
catlonal interests shall not be neglected.
Public schools have already been estab-
'ished, which are mainly supported
without special property taxation by a
fund derived from licenses and fines un-
der the liberal statutes of the Territory
OF Dakota. Besides this, the United
States government has granted two SEQ
ions OF land In every township for the
support Of the public common schools
OF the Territory. Churches haye been