Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-09-26
DAKOTA INFORMATION.
observations of Gov. Mellctte OH His Trip
Across thcl Icscrvatton-Survcy of the
Same-News in Brief,

Observations of Gov. Mellctte OH His Tri p
Across tllcl IescrvatiOn-Survcy of the
Same--News in Brief,
Gov. Mellettc and party have returned
from weeks trip through the reserva-
ton country west of the river. Regard
ing the country the governor said: II
have not time to tell you much about it,,
but will say l saw a splendid country
| and think good deal of it, too. Bar
| ring going thirty-siX hours without food
enjoyed the trip immensely. There is
no better stock country in the world,
| Judging from what we saw. visited a
| number of ranchmen on both the Chey-
cnnc rivers and saw their stock, and it is
| in prime condition. l would rather have
thousand good COWS out there than
have the best Office in the country. l
have a bunch of cattle on my farm in
Coddington county, and have made ar
engagements to place them with Scotty
Phillips. There is short buffalo grass
growing all over out there which is very
nutritious, besides an abundance of
bunch grass, alkali grass and other
grasses l am not familiar with, but the
ranchmen say all these grasses possess
lattening proprictics and their stock is a
living example of it. We found water
in abundance; excellent water, too.
! There may be places where water is
scarce, but there was plenty where we
| WENT" Referring to the question of or
ganizing Nowlin and Stoling counties,
the governor stated he had the matter
under advsement. The governors face
was badly scratched, the wagon having
upset and spilled the whole party out
while crossing bad places.
Survey of the Reservation.
f. w. Pettigrew has about completed
his contract of surveying seventeen
townships of land west of Fort Pierre.
Mr.. Pcttigrcw's will be the first contract
| finished, and even then filings cannot be
| placed until couple of months later.
| or until the maps and data are returned
| from Washington to the Pierre land
Office. Mr.. Pettigrew states that he
| finds the land first class agricultural,
| and in his report to the general land
office is rating it as such. While there
are good many ''squattors" on these
| townships, not so much of the land has
| been taken as would have been the ease
| had settlers been able to make filings:
| but there is increased inquiry from diff
| fcrcnt parts of the country regarding
| homesteads west of the river. time of
filing, etc, and it is more than likely
that these comparatively free homes will
be taken as soon as filings can be made
on the land. Prominent Scandinavians
here have been corresponding with their
friends i'm the east and the prospect is
| now good for a large colony of Swcdcs
to locate somewhere out on Bad river.
There is a small settlement of these peo-
| pie in Hughes county, and they have
| raised pretty good crops every year, and
seem to be prospecting, never complain
ing about the country. If a colony of
several thousand of these frugal people
| can be induced to settle on the lands
west of the river. it will mean much to-
wards the speedy development of that
part of the state.
Crop Reports From Wolsey and Vicinity.
The cold wave of Friday night put a
stop to growing vegetation. Ice formed
almost one-fonrth of an inch thick.
the thermometer registering 26 degrees.
The damage, however, is very light. as
almost everything had dried up before.
| spring and fires are almost daily oc-
| currcnce. Thrashing is about half fin
ished. so that something like safe esti-
mate can be made of the yield Wheat
about bushels; oats 20; barley IA, and
flax almost total failure. Corn only
about to 10 bushels, although a few
| fields will yield 25 bushels. Potatoes a
very light crop, many farmers being
compelled to buy potatoes for their own
use. Prospects are now that they will
be legal tender by planting time. Hay
is abundant, which, with the great
amount of corn fodder, will be ample to
carry the stock through until spring.
Taking all in all farmers are in much
better circumstances than at this time
last year, because of better prices of all
farm products.
Pensions Granted
Original-John McMurty. Washington
lncrease-Franklin Tccts. Lakeside:
Thomas Baker, Crcsbard; Nelson Gard
| ner. Aberdeen:. Thomas T.. Vought, ELK