Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1895-08-29
THE REAL SOUTH.

the union there is an opportunity
for industrious men to become
prosperous, but the country ex-
tends over such a vast area that
the conditions of successful indus
try vary greatly. During the
past year the people of the north
west have heard a good deal
about the advantages of other
sections of the country and an
especial effort has been made to
get the dissatisfied northern farm
er to go south. One of the most
promising colonization projects
contemplated the settlement of
northern veterans of the war on
the lands in Georgia. Recently
a Harrison county man went
down there and made a personal
examination of the lands selected
for this purpose and wrote his
impressions for the Woodbine
Twiner. He stated that he and
his family had paid for four
shares of stock in the colonization
company and had subscribed for
other shares and did not feel like
going down there without first
seeing the country. In his letter
to the Woodbine Twiner he
wrote:
cannot understand how any man of
intelligence enough to farm in any
country can go down there and ex-
anime the soil OF that section and then
say the top soil is from six to fourteen
inches deep. know better. l defy
any man to show any such thing. I
carried spade or shovel and examined
the soilin everyfeld, and in the woods
in dozens of different places, and could
not find a single place whore the soil
in its natural state was over four
inches deep. Where the people had
fertilized the fields and gardens for a
number of years the top soil as it is
called, is not over five inches deep.
Talk about the soil being a "black,
sandy loam," from six to fourteen
inches deep! They know better, or
they must own they never examined
it. One of the first locating COM
mittee'' took a sample of the soil homo
with him to show his people. Do you
think he told them where he got his
samp.eG can; he took it from ---'s
garden! would like to ask his neigh
bors il he brought them sample ol
the sand that lay four or five inches
under the surface? Had he gone deep.
er he would have found layer of pure
sand atleast eighteen inches deep, and
in some places the sand is three fee,
deep.
! This is but small part of the
Woodbine mans arraignment o1
the colony scheme. In reference
to the timber advertised rs Slime
growth of native hard pine," he
writes that the standing trees are
worthless for lumber or railroad
ties. Regarding the water which
is said to be nice soft water, he
writes that he could not find q
we'll in the country with vein Of
water supplying it. The water
is surface drainage through the
sand and clay subsoil, but the ma.
tives will not drink it. Regard.
ing fruit he found, out that there
are fruit failures there as we'll as
elsewhere. In summing up he
wrote:
The managers of the colony seem te
| have faculty of binding their follow
ers to the fact that the soil is absolute
ly worthless until built up by fertiliz
ing, and every farm or orchard they
show you is owned or operated by rich
men, who do not care how much cash
they put into their orchards, just Sc
they advertise their land.
This is severe on a much ad-
vertised colonization scheme, o,
rather on number of them, al
having the purpose of disposing
of cheap southern land to indus
trious northern people. It may
be that there is something spite
full in the report of the Woodbint
man, but certain it is that per
sons, whether old soldiers o,
young farmers, will do well t.
make personal Investigation o
any new country to which the,
contemplate going before fnall,