The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1888-02-03
~SOuTHwEsTERN DAKOTA.
A Brief Description of her Natural
Advantages and Agricultural
Resources.

A Brief Description Of her Natural
Advantages and Agricultural
Resources.
A local paper raises the relevan.
p"int that the papers and people of the
Black Hills make. a grave mistake in
advertising anu developing her mineral
resources to the exclusion or neglect of
her agricultural advantages, writes the
Black Hills::correspondcnt Of the Omaha
Herald from Rapid City. Considered
either as to their natural advantages in
relation to markets, the agricultural
lands IN and around the Black Hills
would be peculiarly attractive to farm
ers were the facts made known: and it
Is rather surprising that the energetic
residents ola country so favored slonld
not give more attention to this most
promising of future sources of pros
perity. But there is no one To boom
the farm lan@s. liz territorial inn
migration bureau has evidently never
caught on to the fact Of farming being
even possible in the southwestern
counties. No railroad has any land
grant herein and so is lost the aid &C
these liberal and imaginative adver-
tisers and emigration agents: and
the attention of private spectators is
altogether absorbed in the moro at
t~ractive and slittcring promises of
mineral wealth. The columns of the
Herald are therefore Invoked for The
nonce to set forth to the world feots
regarding our farm lands. which. it is
believed, the reader will concede to be
without a parallel in any other part Of
the public domain:
First-Natural advantages: The
agricultural lands of tile Hills consist
of those in the mountain parks and of
those i'll the foot hills and p~rairics
stretching indefinitely away in every
direction from the rocky uplift. The
soil of all these consists of the dciritus
from the various geological formations
that make up the uplift: its chief COM
ponents are slick from the granite and
sandstone. aluminium from the red
beds" and various forms Of lime from
the cretacious. mingled with various
chemical elements from the deeper
strata. Entirely surrounding the
Black Hills is Il belt of red beds" and
gypsum. These have contributed large
" to the wash that makes the lower
levels extraordinarily fertile and strong:
and as the process is still going On con-
SANITY. the lasting character of The
fertility is assured as long as man
shall till these square miles. The land
plaster which the eastern farmer so
la%borously primes his corn and potatoes
with ly the spoonful is here mixed ten
feet deep with the soil and is still sown
broadcast over the wheat and corniieIGs
bv every wind that blows, by every
rain that falls and by every one of the
streams that flow ont from the mount
ains to the plains. Thus the soil of the
Black Hills lisa compost of the elements
OF an ordinary prairie, of The rich al
luvials of river bottoms and the lime
stones that have made the Blue Grass
regions of Kentucky famous. Thereis
more precipitation than in ordinary
Eralrie country, owing to the influence
of the mountains as cloud arresters and
breakers and because of the meeting of
contrary currents of ain around these
elevations. The hygrometric observ-
ations Of the signal service show several
inches greater average rain or @
fall in this area than in eastern Dakota
and western Nebraska and Kansas.
Besides this source of moisture the en-.
tire area around the Hills is abundant.
ly watered by the forty odd living
streams which fetch their sources from
the abysms and recesses Of the hills.
The country is one of the hest watereC
IN the union-a rare circumstance i,
the western farm lands.
With these advantages of f~crtil;t,
/. and moisture, the resultant crops. $,
far as cultivation has been attempted
are to correspond to what might be cx.
rectel. Statistics might be given o
the yield within recent wears. bu'
reports Of crops in the west have com.
to be regarded as rivaling fish storie:
III other sections. Any inquiring frienc
can upon application get them dull,
verified before a notary public. Their.
are four Touring mills in the Hills sup
piled with wheat from Dakota valleys
the land is famous for oats and grass
and within two years has come to The
front as a corn producer. anaall veae.
tables outgrow the inventive facultie.
of local photographers. The beautiful
mountain parks within the Hills de
serve special mention. They affort
famous pasturage, the rich soil ant
abundant water stimulating a rel
growth Of grass and the shelter Of th,
mountains and woods making then
good feed all the year around. 1t wa:
the sight Of these grassy platearx tina
impelled Clusters scout. Buffalo Joe. /,
exclaim, "Here is gold from the gras
roots down; more gold frem the gras
roots up Add to the water suppl,
the contiguity of abundant fuel il
miles of virgin forests of the adiacen
hills, and you have another Of tn
peculiar advantages that the Blac
Hills farmer has over his fellow @
other parts Of the west.
Second-Market: If the Black Hill
farmer were, as is not the case, upo
lands no more fertile, we'll watered an
timbered than those Of other parts @
the west, he would have an immeasu,
able advantage in the contiguity of
high-priced, near by. cash market. III
mineral development of the Hills wi
always give him that best of all custom
the miner. Everything that ii
farm or range produces can be carrie
or driven by the producer to marke
no middleman scalps the product, T,
railroad or carrier takes toll; the pr