The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1886-10-08
Dakota,s Growth.


Commissioner Dunlap estimates that the in
crease Of population for this whole Territory
for the year ending June 80, was $1,000. Mr..
Dunlap is very careful collector of statistics,
and figures from his Office are entitled to
great deal of credence. Stil the Press can
scarcely believe that the actual increase for the
period named was as great as he estimates.
During the year l8S3-the year of Dakotas
great boom-the highest estimate made placed
the number of rev comers at 125OOO. But
during that year thero was regular rush.
For several months the trains were crowded,
aud the companies even ran special Dakota
trains At one time the sale of Immigrant
tickets to the territory was limited and even
suspended, as the railroad managers saw that
tions 80 fast that no accommodations could be
found for then. But while people have been
steadily coming to Dakota since then, there has
been no rush such as would make this increase
probable. Still, Dakota has been settling up,
and the extent Of country Is 80 large and the
avenues Of approach arc so numerous, that
thousands might come and their advent attract
little attention. Many have pushed their way
into the Black Hills, into the northwest por-
ton of south Dakota and iato the newer Sec
tions Of north Dakota while thousands have
settled In various parts of the older sections,
including, Of course, the very Oldest parts Of
the southeast corner. There has been no
boom, but a steady growth, both in the country
and in the towns. The history of the past
year is likely to be the history Of the succeed
ing years, at least until the great Sioux reser-
vation shall have been opened. Then we may
look for short, sharp, energetic boom west
OF the river, and following that the regular,
steady growth Of so many thousands yearly.
Iowa Is not considered a thickly settled state,
but to-day, Iowa, with one-third the area of
Dakota, has population of 1000, 900 souls.
With this in mind, and with the natural re-
sources Of Dakota and her rapidly expanding
railway systems before ub, it is by no means
difficult to see that it will not be many years
before the territory will have population
equal TO that Of Iowa and the other neighbor-
ing states.-Stour Falls Press.
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In speaking with Edward Connelly, who
lives north Of Breckenridge on the Minnesota
side, this week, lie said to us that the summer
Of 1858 here was dryer than the present sea-
son. The soldiers stationed at Abercrombie
that year cut and hauled their hay for their
stock from the head Of Lake Traverse, making
distance Of some 80 miles, the whole prairie
grass nearor by being dead in July. That
season the lake near Mansion, in Wilkin county,
was dry, and men dug down eight feet in the
center Of 1t hunting for water and found nsne.
This season there is yet a good deal Of water in
the lake. And that year there was not drop
of water anywhere in the Wild Rice, now there
Is water there, so that men may not imagine,
as we have been doing, that this present scarcity
OF water on the prairie is the most remarkable
ever seen here. There are districts in Dakota
where everything is burned up this season;
where prairie fires burned in July, but such is
not the case In this section. Mr.. Connolly does
not claim to be prophet, but he looks for a
| severe winter.-Wa1.,eton Times.