The Dickinson press., 1891-08-29
STARK COUNTY AS OTHERS SEE IT.
Henry Wizards Mistake; Irrigation
Considered; General HazeM's
Great Nunder,

CiIlSlllluII, uliu ilitilN UtlitNc Vlal
the more anomalous method of only
encouraging friends and old acquain-
tances to come and settle here has
had much to- do With making this
county what IL is socially, morally.
and educationally.
Had the tide Of emigration of lsS2
and 1883 continued until now where
would such men us Caldwell and
Underhill. and Lepper. and Reissbeck,
and Henderson. and Elmer, and Slack,
and Cryne, and Lee. and the Gus
kellys, and Beisigls, and Iams, and
Merry, and Powers. and Mathews,
and Phillips, and Fisher Bros, and
scores of others have found pas
ture for their herds and tlocks, that
have been steadily increasing, and
nearly doubling their wealth every
year and practically coming gold out
of thousands of acres of our open
range grasses.
Many of these men have already
found out, that neither big wheat
fields, however productive, nor
mammoth potatoes, nor cabbages, or
any other farm products, can he
grown. harvested, and marketed, with
as little labor, and with such
remunerative results and absolute
certainty as beef and mutton and
wool. But, to thinking men, it is be-
coming IL subject of legitimate in
quiry whether .he present favorable
conditions will long remain us they
are.
The large amount of No. | hard
wheat being shipped out of Western
Dakota, year after year, and the con.
stantly increasing train-loads of fat
cattle, and horses, and sheep, and
wool; are beginning to awaken public
curiosity abroad.
They Are now, even in quarters
where this county has been most mis-
represented, beginning to say among
themselves, "its queer how those fell
lows out i'm Stark county get along so
well: No appeals for aid have even
been sent out from there, and
there are not many that want to sell
out there. 1t must be they have
tumbled onto the philosophers stone
that will turn even grasshoppers into
goldi for while farmers here are not
even holding their own, those fellows
are all getting rich out there"
Others who have been out to visit
friends here some years ago,
while here, earnestly entrcated their
resident friends To get out of this
god.forsaken country Just as soon us
you can before you are scalped."
Now they write back as follows: ~
III sorry ! refused to go out with you
and look at that country when ] was
there; but ! actually thought, from
what ! saw of its rugged features
along the railway, that the whole
country was not wen good enough
for Sioux Indians. But | am
coming out again soon. and want you
to go out with Inc, upon your vast
lmdulatilly pralrlcS, and show me
whele ! can get Il few sections of grain
land for my boys, and where | can
find open range for Il thousand or two
of sheep, horses and cattle.
They % tell me, who know, that
between your five rivers that trav.
crse the state from west to east paral-
lei with each other, and only 80 to ~
miles apart, that there are vast areas
OF lovely farming country, Astounding
i'll living springs of pure water. Then
too, we now know that Sitting Bull is
dead; and the boys and | are no long.
Ell afraid of being scalped. and we are
now actually thinking of moving out
there. Then too, we are reasoning
over the matter and have arri we'd at
this conclusion: That naturally
enough, the great Sioux tribe-the
most aggressive and powerful of all
the western Indians-would have
selected and held the very best terri
tory there was in the Wild West.
Chen too. quiet us everything was
when we ere there, we were aston.
lslled to learn that Sitting Bulls camp
where he was killed last winter. WAS
so very near your place. only 10 miles
away.
We have learned from yourself. and
others that all the country lying
between your rivers, or most of it
a he irrigated with river water by
stapping your rivers near their sources
and conveying the water along down
your water sheds. and that many OF
your natural depressions along on tho
tops Of your water sheds and natural
clay sub-soil ridges, all descending east
ward, of course, the same as your riy'
ers; can easily be converted into i'm.
mense reservoirs, these practically
forming chains of lakes from which
you can draw water by small bitches
for purposes of irrigation ut your pleas
IRE. if it is ever needed. | have seer
the wonderful benefits of irrigation
elsewhere and | like that Topographic
cal view of your country l nov have,
and can see that it is a Safeguard
against the contingencies OF droutll
and famine, that had formerly given
us much onccrn for your welfare.
This thing can he done, and | he.
lieve it will be done very soon.
There are millions i'm it. f@. ypul
country. and il viii make the n. p
company the richest railroad on earth