The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-07-13
1orA 10 mAro.


Anthony ~ a point ofinterest, II doing
business on Its reputation.
Leaving st. Paul ut o'clock in the
afteenoon the following morning -ands
Us at Jamestown, Dakota, 400 miles
west. A broken, uneven prairie
stretching on all aides without break
to the horizon. Not q tree nor shrub
of any kind, not a sign Of stream,
only here and there email lake,
sometimes with fiat alkali frosted
banks, sometimes ffinged with flags
the home of the wild geese and ducks
OF many varieties who come here to
rear their broods and spend the sum-
mer months.
Occasionally we see . squatter's
habitation, usually a little frame build
ing, q cow-pen, q straw-covered shed
for stable, an old wagon, a few acres
of plowed ground and boy on a pony
herding few COWS in q neighboring
valley. Fences there are none. In
In some places they are blowing for
wheat, Of which the spring variety
alone il raised. No attention seems to
be given to corn.
Bismarck the capital Of Dakota is .
handsome town Of probably four thous-
and inhabitants. The Capitol build.
ing, only one wing Of which il finish.
ed, is of light colored brick and looks
very much like . Kansas schoolhouse.
Here the Northern Pacific crosses the
Missouri river on lofty iron bridge,
built in 1881. Two or three small riv-
er steamers lay apparently deserted, at
the wharf below the bridge.
Three miles west of Bismarck and
fully a. handsome q place, is Mandon,
with $500 people. 1t 10 a division
headquarters Of the N. p. road A
cinnamon bear tied to . stake in the
depot grounds furnished amusement
for the passengers during a short stay,
and q few Sioux Indians rs vicious and
worthless looking a. the bear, took the
attention Of the "Downeasters." Here
watches are set back one hour from
Central to Mountain time.
On again over . seemingly endless
expanse Of prairie grown less bunny
but with less vegetation. Squatter's
adobes are few and tar between. The
soil looks like q mixture Of clay and
ashes. Indiscribably dreary and DESC
late. the country seems only fit for a
play ground for the furious winter
winds that howl over its barren wastes
from October to May.
Out of the alkali deserts into the hills
and hummocks 81 the Bad Lands. I
have often wondered what the Bad
Lands were like, and as I look out oyer
them from the Car window rs write,
I imagine they were once great plains
of alkali ashes and that some giant,
disguised with their worthlessness
conceived the idea of dumping there,
all these unsightly hills Of sand and
gravel and yellow clay. And he prob.
ably did it with . pitchfork. Mounds
generally circular in form, ranging
from 20 to 800 feet in height-scarred
and broken where great slabs have
fallen of, leaving perpendicular wall
from the base to the summit-tumbled
into and over each other in the widest
confusion and all a. bare of vegetation
and Is incapable Of producing it - the
ash heap in our back alley.
On second thought I abandon the
giant theory and conclude that the
top of these hills was once the level of
the country and that the fires that are
said to have been burning for ages in
the underlying coal beds, have UNDER
mined and the surface has caved in
until it assumed its present fantastic
form. Certainly it il not the result OF
volcanic or glacial action. There has
been no upheaval or displacement-
only . wasting or falling away.
And there are actually people living
In this desolate region. Occasionally
We see an adobe or dugout, with wom-
en- and children wandering in and out,
Is wretched and hopeless looking as the
country itself.
1t il said that q few years ago an
English dude, guileless scion of nobil.
ity, who had married . fortune and .
New York girl, came out here to show
bis father-in-law how to make money.
He established packing house on the
Little Missouri river in the heart Of the
Bad Lands, put up fine brick buildings
with all the machinery and parapher-
MALTA complete, and was going to sup
ply the meat markets Of the world
with dressed meat. shipped in refriger-
ator cars from the cattle ranges of Da-
kota. As q starter he bought from .
cattle company their entire "brand,"
vaguely estimated to represent fifty
thousand head Of cattle, on the range.
It Planned out four or five thousand
head. The father-in-law quit and the
scheme collapsed. The buildings are
still there-the cattle houses and the
Embellishments comfortable residence-I
but the Englishman is gone, 30 is .
million and q half Of father-in-law's
money. There are no distinct lines
marking the boundaries of the Bad
TAnds The N. p. road runs through