Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-01-17
The Place for Land-SeckerS.

EDITOR TRlBUNE: Having received
numerous inquiries of late in regard to the
settlement of Slaughter, l ask leave to
reply through the TRIBUNE.
The reader | am sure will pardon a
depression at the outset, not to ':adorn nv
tale" but to point the moral" came
to Bismarck, then known as Camp Greedy,
afterward Camp Hancock, in 1872 with nv
husband DR.. Slaughter, who was post
surgeon. During that summer l contrib
uted to the st. Paul Press, now the st. Paul
Pioneer Press, a series of letters descrip-
tive of this country, foretelling that che
Northern Pacific railroad would one day
be built to the Missouri river, and that a
great city would rise at the "crossing,"
("Otter crossing" being the FIRST military
name of our station), and prophesying that
the surrounding country would one day be
settled upon and cultivated.
These enthusiastic pen pictures of what
was then generally regarded us an impOs-
Slbllity. brought me no credit as a prophet,
and several old army friends, officers of
the highest RANK and standing, felt it to be
their duty to seriously demonstrate with
me for sending out such delusive reports
in regard to what was then a solitary. UNI
productive waste; but they all lived to buy
corner lots in Bismarck.
Slaughter, where the first settlement was
made some seven years ago, is located in
the center of a rich agricultural region
every quarter section OF government land
being improved and occupied by substan-
tial farmers. The finest crops of grain and
vegetables that can be grown anywhere in
the world, are produced here, this region
being noted for the fine quality of wheat
grown, while the whole country is one vast
store house of Ignite, the underlying strata
of coal lying at different depths, cropping
out in places on the surface, and again be-
ing found at depths of from twenty to sixty
feet, the quality improving usually with
the depth. q
Slaughter is twenty-five miles northeast
of Bismarck, and twelve miles east of the
Missouri river-just east of what is known
as the "high .prairie"-and lying in a mag
niticent valley, unequalled for fertility of
soil and beauty of landscape. In this val
ley the surveyed lines of two railroads
have their ~crOssinQ-One a branch of the
to Bismarck; the other a branch of the
Manitoba from Minot to near Menoken:
while still another branch to have its term
mus here, is projected from Winnipeg to
draw on our eXhaustless supplies of fuel.
With the completion of any n of these
UlduCutS Vic uop6lOpWeuG OF Cne young
city will be rapid and sure, the cheap and
abundant fuel being a sufficient guaranty
of continued prosperity, and in accordance
with the well-known principle Of CONNER
cial science that where coal abounds, man
u%facturing interests will sooner or later be
developed, l may safely predict that
Slaughter will n day take its rank
among the manufacturing cities of the
| west.
Slaughter lis the terminus of the star
route established by congress in 1885 and
is supplied with mail from Bismarck.
There is an excellent school, an elegant
school house, a good Sunday school and a
1Ourishing congregation Of the Swedish
Lutheran church, who expect to build q
new church next season. Excellent water
abounds; there are several lakes neal by;
the grazing Is uneXcelled anywhere and
the hay crop is unfailing.
There is an efficient township organiza-
tiOn-board of supervisors, school board,
ETC., n all work together tremendously
to promote the higher interests of the COM
munity. In consequence Slaughter is q
grand, a splendid community of moral.
temperate and industrious people, whose
inf uence for good is being felt throughout
the entire county, I am therefore very
proud of the locality that bears my name.
Since all the land in the vicinity Of
Slaughter is taken, l can only refer my in
quirers to the Bismarck land Office, as there
is still land unoccupied in the morgan
lied township lying a few miles north of
us, In township 14S, range "a. Burleigh
county. LINDA W. SLAUGHTER.