Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1891-12-03

pOsure,an in most cases are preventable.
The women folks of the sound region are
bitter enemies of the weather IN winter.
They declare their skirts are always be.
draggled and dirty, their feet wet, and
that their bangs will not stay y'curled. In.
door life is with them gloomy, dark
sided affair. The sun does not shine into
windows and make the bird sing in his
cage.The ladies have long list Of charges
against the winter weather, and the alle-
cations appear to stand unrefuted.
The emigrants from North Dakota
have been mostly from the farm houses
of the pralries: During the last few
years. work in building the cities and
towns of tho coast has employed nearly
all who were willing to work with hands.
Now that time is over and the cities and
towns are built and the man who was a
farmer in Dakota Is hustling for land, or
any kind of work for that matter. The
Sound country is not an agricultural
region, and the farmer who has left good
cleared land in the east is at loss where
to locate. A cabin in the woods is east
ly put up, but the only means of support
there is logging. Years are necessary to
clear few acres, and there are no ad-
vantages of schools and society in the
timber. At present IN the towns good
prices are paid for vegetables, but as
soon as people turn attention. to raising
garden truck it will be as cheap and
profitless as It's abundance will make it.
The hop crop is at present the staple
product with the coast farmer. It's sue
cess and profit, auctuate. One year the
aphia insect does greater ravages than
all the early frosts in the North Dakota
wheat fields. This year the hop louse
was so prevalent that much of the crop is
below grade and a loss to owners. The
price too has not been what was antici-
pated. The hop vine is not certain
source of revenue by any means, although
many of the earlier settlers have made
money In the business. There IS
considerable expense attached to
its gathering A dry house or
kiln is necessary, and the picking of
the crop. while at present done largely
by Indians who come from out of the
woods and mountains for that purpose,
is also expensive. Baling, pressing and
other preparations all entail outlay and
knowledge of the business, SO the cele-
brated hop crop of the coast has it's dis
advantages as we'll as its reputation as q
money maker.
West Of the Cascade range there is
little stock raised. Meat is high in price
and often not of the best quality.
Dressed cattle. hogs and sheep are
shipped in from the east. There are no
large grass areas for raising stock. This
is one Of the greatest drawbacks to the
and is an almost lnsurmountable
one to success in general farming. A few
lean cattle and an occasional small flock
of sheep are seen browsing in the brush
or standing beside some pool of water.
Hay is one Of the most profitable crops
hay grown on acre patches
and that fact alone shows the absence of
range for stock.
These conditions are what at present
exist. In the next century, when the
forests are felled, the hillsides cultivated
and the bottom land drained and utilized,
it will be garden spot for many thous-
ands of people who will be content on
small farms, and proud oftheir fertile and
reliable soil. But the country is as yet a
dense forest and no one looking for
cheap lands to engage in farming for a
living, would tackle the task OF clearing
soil that Ia worth far less than it
costs to cut down the huge trees and
burn away the centuries growth OF brush.
The average price for clearing an acre on
the Sound runs from 800 to $15O, and
rs lumber is at present very cheap there,
this cost Is about prohibitory
The Washington man will tell you
frankly that his is not an agricultural
country. and snch it is not. IN the true
sense of the term. But then the Wash
ington man will begin at once to tell
you something else about his state and
will compel attention. There are other
resources, and many Of them, that are
certain sources of wealth, but these re-
quire capital to develop, and large CAPT.
tai, too. Hence it is that the monied
men of the east have turned their atten-
tion to the Puget Sound. that invest
ments have been made there in many
points tha: while at present are not as
paying as was hoped, Will end in profit.
Towns and cities have been overbuilt IN
way never seen III the boom days
Of Dakota. Millions Of money ar.
planted in Tacoma. Spokane, Seattle,
Port Townsend, Whatcom. Fairhaven.
Anacortes, and half hundred ''ports OF
entry" and havens of enterprise. Busi-
ness there has been so brisk in years past
that the presenc reaction, just beginning,
is hardly to be sustained. Men are out
of work who have always had it. Bonds
of towns and cities are no longer issued
for improvements and the people begin
to realize that now the payment Of their
obligations commences. The fun and
the fireworks are over, and settleme Mt
of debts begins.
The Alert will, in another issue, have
something to say about the real resources
OF Washington, it's cities, it's present de-
velopment, it's future prospects, and
about aOme Of the former North D8kOtA