The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-10-07

| yet be fosnd. They are almost uniformly tim
DrIsss the ', Counties Of AIpena cheboysan
| Montmorency, Otsego, and Pressure ISLE some
$4,000 acres remain unentered. chiefly in Mont
morency and Presque Isle counties About an
equal area remains vacant in tho Reed City
district, which comprises all that portion OF the
| State bordering on Lake Michigan. Tho vacant
lands of this district are pine plains, with usu-
| ally n sandy SOIL They include 900 acres on
Bots Blanc Island. Emmett County possesses
the largest area Scattering bodies Of land of
good quality are also found in the East Saginaw
district, which comprises all that portion OF
| Michigan south OF the Straits OF Mackinac not
included in the above-named districts. The
| Marquette district covers the entire peninsula
very large portion of which is still open TO
| settlers.
Besides the lands named Michigan has, scat
tered through all her counties, 10000 acres of
| State land designated swamp, but including
| all kinds of land, 2S5, 900 acres OF school, and
125, 900 acres of college land.
The southern portion of Wisconsin offers no
opportunities worth mentioning to the home
steader. A few remote or undesirable quarter
sections only may be found in the Lacrosse
district ut the west, and IL the Menasha district
| at the east.
Throughout the Eau Claire district which in
| cludes townships 25 TO 40 north, and ranges
east to IL west, scattering tracts Of vacant
land Of good quality and available location, the
largest areas being in Chippewa County. Farther
west and north lies the Falls of the st. Croix
district, in which in townships IS to 40, ranges
| II TO 20 west are found immense bodies of I'M
occupied land. In ranges l6 to 20 the soil is
"A
ranges it is heavier and richer The lighter
soil under proper treatment makes good
farms. The timber is pine and hardwood mix
| ed. There remains about 100, 600 acres OF land
| subject TO entry in the Wausau district. 1t is
| mainly hardwood land, and lies chiefly in the
border counties north and east OF Wausau. To
the north the lands grow broken ana less de-
sirable. The largest bodies of public land yet
| vacant in Wisconsin are found in the Bayfield,
district, which comprises the exh eme northwest,
ern portion of the State-a section of no especial
charms for the farmer as whole, but several
small areas of very excellent farming land
await settlement
Wisconsin holds about 100 900 acres OF unsold
| school lands, and SOC, coo acres of swamp land
These lands can be bought for 80 cents to sl.25
per acre.
Minnesota still contains about 5000 900 acres
| of Government land. In the Worthington and
| Tracy districts, which include strip sixty
| miles wide off the entire southern end of the
| State, there are no unoccupied lands A third
! belt thirty miles wide, Immediately north of
! the two described, forms the Redwood Falls
| District, in the extreme western portion of
| which II few remote bodies of good prairie land
are yet subject to entry There is no vacant
] land in the Benson District. and not more than
1000 acres yet remain untaken in Grant and
| Wilkins Counties in the Fergus Falls district.
The Crookston district embraces about 900, 900
acres in Kittson, Marshall Polk, Norman, Clay.
| Becker, and Beltrami, and n part OF Otter Tail
| counties. In Becker County is 100000 acres
| Of hardwood land In Beltrami County the
vacant area is timbered with pine, and in
| kittson and Marshall it is brush prairie.
| Throughout the district the soil is black
| vegetable loan, with sandy subsoil Between
$50 900 and IT'S 900 acres yet invite settlement in
| the counties of Isanti and Mile Laos, and
| part of Pine. Kanabec, Sherburn, and Aitkin in
! the Taylors Falls district. 1t is timbered and
fertile. Nearly 1000 OOO acres, part OF which
| is as yet unsurveyed, are open to settlement in
| the Duluth district in the counties of Cook,
Lake, st. Louis, and Carlton, and parts of
| Aitkin and Itaska, Only about one-fourth OF
this area is available for settlement the re-
| mainder being mineral in character, and COW
cred with forests of pine. The St. Cloud dis
| trict comprises parts of Itaska and Aitkn, all
OF Cass, and portions OF the counties south,
aud contains some 100000 acres OF land open
| TO free entry. About one-third of this area is
| good agricultural land.
The State owns about 100000 acres OF educa-
tional and internal-improvement" lands.
| The Government lands OF Iowa are exhausted.
| Neither has the State any land. The northern
and northwestern counties hold considerable
tracts of school land
Except in the southeast Government lands arc
| found in greater or lesser areas throughout Ne
braska South Of the Platte River and east OF
the counties of Hamilton, Clay and Nuckols
there is practically no remaining free land.
| West of this, in Phelps and kearney Counties,
in the Bloomington district, are small areas OF
unoccupied sandhills.
In the McCook district-which includes the
western two-thrds of Frontier and all of Red
| Willow, Hayes, Hitchcock, Chase and Dundy
| Counties-about 10000 acres of fair farming
| territory yet vacant
North OF the last-named section is the North
| Platte district, comprising the counties of
/ Cheyenne, X eth, Lincoln, half of Dawson and
|
the last four counties. Twothirds OF this en-
! tire district is open to homestead settlement.
! It is good grazing settlement, and available
! for farming purposes. The rainfall is scant.
! The counties of Sioux and Cherry form the
| Valentine district, which presents varied
| landscape of sandhils, prairies, tableland, and
valleys. Half of the entire district is avail
able for agriculture. At the west the soil is
! Il rich loess. The middle section is not desir-
able. Four-ffths of the district, or about $780,
| 600 acres, is open to homesteaders Tim
Der is in fair supply. East OF this lies the Ne
| ligh district, in which Keya Paha, Brown, Holt,
! Wheeler, Boone, and Loup Counties afford a
| vast area for settlement. Its soil is medium,
and the section is not without attractions. Ex-
| tending south OF the counties last named to the
Platte River is the Grand Island district,
! in which there is considerable land for free en-
| try. 1t is fair farming country
Sections IL and SO of each township in the
State, or one-eighteenth of its entire area, We're
! reserved for school purposes. OF this, l,25O,0
| acres are yet unsold,
Between Is, 000, 900 and TO- 600 90 acres of land
| suitable for agriculture are open to settle
! ment in Dakota, nine-tenths OF which are situa-
| ted at the north. Twenty-six million acres
| more are tied up in Indian reservations The
! lands in the southeastern portion, comprising
/ the Yankton, Mitchell, and Watertown dis
| tricts, have all been taken except some iso-
| lated and inferior tracts In the Huron dis
| trict small areas of vacant land are found in
| Hand, Hyde, SuIly, Faulk and Potter coun-
| ties, aggregpting about $4,000 acres of prairie
land, about half of which is good farming
land. The remainder is rough. The Fargo
|
the. east, but in the western counties of
| Dickeyl- and LaMoure, the eastern part
| Of Stutman and Foster, and the west
ern part of Griggs some considerable areas re-
main subject to settlement. Scattered through
the Grand Forks district in the northeastern
corner of Dakota, are IA few unoccupied tracts,
but except in Cavalier County and the town
| ships bordering il upon the east, the areas are
small and are not regarded as desirable Three
! quarters of million acres of vacant land invite
settlement in Edmunds Walworth, Mcpherson,
| Campbell, and the south tier of townships in
| Emmons, Dickey, and Mcintosh Counties, which
| together form the Aberdeen district. This il
the famous Jim River Valley" section. The
| lands remaining vacant are prairie, and
rated rs average in quality. They are occa-
sionally broken by barren hills. Benson, DE
Smet, McHenry, seven townships Of Cavalier,
Rolette. Bothineau. and half of Wynne
County form the Devils Lake district,
which embraces 5000, 900 acres, about one-third
! of which has been taken up, leaving 100000
acres open for settlement Half Of this is
| arabic land. The remainder is mountainous
| Stretching across the Missouri River from the
| western lines of the Devils Lake and Fargo
districts, and extending north from line
| drawn east and west twelve miles south Of the
| south lines of Hottinger County, is the great
Bismarck district, in which are about ~ 100, OOD
acres of vacant government lands. Much of
this area is still unsurveyed The settlements
are along the line Of the Missouri Pacific Road
and on the Mississippi River, but others are
springing up throughout the district. Every
county offers free homes, In some places