Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1885-11-06
WALwoRTH COUNTY.
A Prosperous Missouri River Settle
mcnt Which Needs Only a Railroad
to Boom it-Characteristics of the
County and its People.

v AhhS = WHY " thA OI0
to Room it-CharactcristIcs of the
County and its People.
Correspondence Press and DakotdidR.
Possible some of the many readers of
the Press and Dakotaian are interested
IN central Dakota affairs. [ Will devote
this letter to Walworth county matters,
and at some future time.pay my respects
to counties adjacent. When / first
knew Walworth, there were, according
to o ensus taken for the purpose of OBJ
tanning q county organization. forty
families. That was in March, 1883. One
of your fellow townsmen was appointed
one of the commissioners and as long as
he remained in the comfy was chairman
of the board. That gentleman has since
been appointed receiver OF the land Of
fee at North Platte, Nebraska, and many
letters of congratulations have been sent
to him from this county. His son, the
late Oliver Shannon, IT., was register of
deeds for two years. But Walworth now
contains q population OF fourteen hum
dred. Five hundred votes were cast at
the last general election. The first boom
was occasioned by the landing of two
large stocks of lumber late in the spring
OF 'S3, One stock was owned by O. E.
Reed, now Of Aberdeen, and the other by
the Wilcox lumber company, of Yapkton.
Both, stocks were laid down on the bank
of the river about a mile and a half
above LIE Beau's wood yard; after the
landing of the lumber the town of LIE
Beau grew rapidly, as did also another
settlement near LeBeau's cabin, which
was named South LeBeau, now Scran-
ton. A tract of land lying between the
two did not prosper so well. Scranton,
which has a very handsome location, be-
came. by the authority Of the county
the general election in 'S4, when
by q majority vote it was re-
moved to Bangor, a town started
after the election, in the centre
of the county. This town, although
the youngest, is perhaps now the largest,
1t contains, among other buildings, q
peat court house, situated in the center
of a nine acre square. This fall, q two
room school house, costing $4,000 was
erected. Bangor is located in the very
heart of the finest agricultural land, il
was ever my good fortune to behold.
The town has two serious drawbacks
the absence of water, there being nc
we'll on the townsite, and the fact that
it's owner persists in holding his lots at
two, sthree and four hundred dollars,
Notwithstanding this, it continues to
grow, and is destined to became o -four.
lshing little place.
Reigstadt, situated on the Missouri
river, opposite Grand river, is the Oldest
settlement, and is inhabited wholly by
Norwegian farmers.
Theodore, the name of Rtill another
town, is in the southeastern corner oil
the county, in close proximity to the rip
ping waves of Swan lake, a lake, by the
way, about which, last summer, several
tons of good hay, were put into the
stack.
This completes the list of inhabited
towns. T say inhabited, because there
are several located on the books of the
county clerk. They are what might be
termed, "present in the spirit, but absent
IN the flesh" towns.
Portions of the county are admirably
adapted to stock raising; and several
large stock ralsers are counted among
its residents, prominent among whom
are the Kennedy Bros. They have 6
fine ranch on the river at the mouth Of
Oak creek, where they winter from three
to six hundred head. Ordinarily, hay
is not fed until February LIST.
The northern townships of the
county have an abundance Of wstel
and raise grass that will make
two to four tons of hay to The
acre. Much of this land is still va,
cant. A curiosity may be seen in wha'
is called the sand hills; a long range o
hills near the line between Walwortt
and Campbell, composed entirely of ar
excellent quality of sand, valuable to the
mason and to the future railroad, when
ever it gets ready to help develop thiI
magnificent region.
The central and southern parts o
Walworth are better for farming thar
cattle raising, and many really exceilen'
farms are already opened up. Th,
) average yield of wheat I have beef
!. informed, was twenty-one bushels to tn
acre and cats forty. Oats now sell
"right at home" for twenty-five cents
, wheat seventy to eight, potatoes twenty
Eve.
: Law suits are frequent but unimpor
tant. Lawyers are plentiful, and justice
of the peace are only outnumbered b.
the notaries public.
& I am reminded of o case in one of on
: iustice courts, which 1 witnessed q fe,
months ago. The trouble was about
g pitchfork. The court kept a store an
peddled out canned goods and justic
al one and the same time. He was bul
lily engaged playing cards with . loc,
: celebrity by the name of Mike, when tb
interested parties entered the store. Th
sheriff intimated that it was time I