News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-10-07
From the West.
FARGO, D. T., Sept. %, 1856

| brought US to MinneSOta'S rival cities
| st. Paul and Minneapolis, the pride
not only of Minnesota but of all this
country. These cities, each with a pop
ulation of over 100000, with their ele
CANT residences, magnificent and sub
stantially built business blocks ano
hotels, the finest on the continent, are
rightfully the wonder of all who come
here not already acquainted with theil
marvellous growth. This growth not
only evidences the possibilities of Amer
lean energy but points to the almost un'
| limited resources of the country north
and west, to which st. Paul and Mime
apOlis must now and ever look for the
measure of their prosperity.
From Minneapolis we are carried Ovel
the St. 2. M. & M. r. R., through the
famous Park Region" of Minnesota
This is region of land broken by gent
ly rising hillockS not exceeding so OF
IS feet in height, covered here and there
by growth of oak and other trees and in.
tersperSed so thickly with lake and lake
let that you hardly lose sight of one or
your left, as the train moves along, be-
| fore another appears on your right. The
Park Region is truly beautiful and
not wholly unlike Vermont.
At Dalton station in the town OF
Tumuli, Otter Tail, Co., Mimi, l left the
train for few days visit with Osgood
Mcfarland and family and Mrs. e. M.
Fullington and her sons Osgood and Gin
ton, whom our LamOille County people
will remember. They are very pleas
antly located within a mile of each other
ON the shores of Ten Mile Lake, a beau
tiful sheet of water, some three miles
across with circumference of fifteen OF
twenty miles. Hunting and fishing are
excellent and remind me of the stories
told of Vermont in the early times,
which always seemed very much like
fish stories. What 1 may say about the
hunting and fishing here / have seen.
g McFarland's ON Ten Mile Lake is
quite a resort for sportsmen, parties
coming from Chicago, Cincinnati, st.
Louis and elsewhere for few days or
weeks recreation. While | was there a
party of three, one gentleman and two
ladies, went out for days fishing
and returned atsnight with upwards of
IS lbs of as fine bass and pickerel as you
ever saw, and it is no unusual thing for
huntsman to bring in so or more ducks
as the result of a days shooting. The
only feature about this that | would
criticiSe is the wanton destruction
of fish and game for mere sport. Bush
els of fish and numbers of ducks are
taken and buried or fed to the hogs.
This course will soon reduce the sport
to the Vermont standard to say nothing
of the matter in its moral aspect.
The next point reached is Fargo, the
much doomed city of Dakota. The
boom has left Fargo and she mourns
but not like one without hope. Her
population now is about 1900, only $500
less than in booming times, and this
population is healthy one. The trouble
with Fargo is one common to all west
ern cities. The zeal of the town
led it to outgrow the development of the
country. She must now wait and see
some of her property for while unpro-
ductive, awaiting the growth of the
country to bring it into requiSition
This in my Judgment will surely happen.
Fargo may look with confidence upon
her location and the great and naturally
rich country round about her for her
material upbuilding.
While there is much fine country in
Minnesota and Dakota outside of the
Red River Valley, this valley, heading
on Lake Traverse and reaching breadth
OF about fifty miles at Fargo, excels
any thing that l have seen in broad
acres and fertility of soil. The soil is a
rich black loan from two to three feet
deep yielding a crop of wheat this year
averaging from 20 to 80 bushels per acre,
and this notwithstanding the excessive
dry weather which has materially less
ened the yield elsewhere. Good land
here in the valley is held and finds sale
at from SIS to $50 per acre according to
location. A drive of fifteen or twenty
miles out of Fargo shows one as fine
farm buildings as anywhere in Vermont,
and this is seen wherever the country
has been settled sufficient length of
time. The main crops are wheat, oats,
barley, rye and flax, taking precedence
about IN the order named. Potatoes are
grown in sufficient quantities to supply
the home market. Occasionally is seen
small patch of corn but not in any
amount. Most garden vegetables are
raised, growing on this soil to prodig-
IouS size. Many farmers have of late
engaged more or less extensively in
stock raising and one may see as fine
horses and cattle here as in the East.
The natural prairie grass growing on
the lowlandS is cut for hay upon which
both cattle and horses thrive.
The climate is peculiar to this inland
region. am told that owing to the ex-
IRENE dryness of the atmosphere. tenn
perature ranging as low as 40 or so de-
greeS below zero is not as tedious as
much higher temperature with damp
ness. The wind common to a level
country like this is one of the most dis
agreeable features of the climate. 1t
blows the greater part of the time, but
seldom strongly enough to do any mate
rial damage. This is above the cyclone
belt.
Next after the home comes the school
house. They are seen here and there
throughout the country and in point of
construction and finish are far superior,
| am sorry to say, to the average school
house in Hyde Park. Am glad for the
western school house but very sorry for
the eastern.
Such is the country in this section as
| see it and learn of it. 1t is destined
to be prosperous. l see no other way.
1t has OF course its advantages and dis
advantages. 1t has the disadvantage of
rigorous climate that makes mixed
FARMING to the extent followed in the
East impossible. The grains named
above and flax are grown with success,
but wheat is and Will continue to be the
great staple. A short crop of wheat or
a low price must bring hard times to
the pioneer farmer, such as is not expe-
rienced in Vermont. The introduction
OF stock raising will, however, if sue
ceSsful as 1t promises to be, largely COM
pensate for the short range of farm
products. 1t has the advantages of
cheap homes on rich and virgin soil.
You ask for my advice to the young
man, thinking, perhaps, that. from my
having had the = western fever" quite
severely several times, it would be the
same as his who said g Go West, young
man" 1t is with some restrictions
To the young man, who has nothing in
particular to tie him to the East and
who must with his own hands carve out
for himself home and a competence,
should say by all means, go West. -
LII he goes and hopes for success he
must go with his coat off, for it takes
muscle to raise wheat and courageous
indomitable work to push ones s2lf to
the front In the professions already
with young men as bright as |
he is and who make competition fuII |
sharper than in the East. If there be a !
man who has an eye single to money |
here is the place to make it. |
Ii there be man who is willing to |
trade share of the home happiness and |
home comforts enjoyed in Vermont for |
the chance of becoming rich more quick |
ly he can make the exchange on the front |
Ter. But to the young man Ormiddle aged
man who is fairly off in the East, who
can have or has the farm or business of
his fathers, working which he can Sc
cure competence by honest toll. | |
should say most emphatically, 'Stay
East" He is well enough off where he
is. For him to go West is to sacrifice
the untold blessings of home and GER
talnty, though small, for the hardships
of the frontier and an uncertainty. |
= Let well enough alone" Is a pretty |
wise saying though trite.
Very truly,
III. NJ. MCFARLAND.