St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-09
WHAT THEY ARE DOING
TOWARD SETTLING UP THE
COUNTRY ALONG THE
ROAD.
TALKS WITH THE CHIEFS
OF These Departm ments-Fnrmers
Pushing Westward From the
Old States.

The appropriateness of the express
sion so often heard, doing a land
office business, is forcibly brought
to the mind of the visitor to the
suite of offices on the seventh floor
of the New York Life building, where
the Northern Pacific railroad has es-
tablished its land department. Ev-
erybody has the appearance of be-
ing exceedingly busy. Huge piles of
letters waiting to be answered lie
upon the desks of the various Off
cialS' while the clicking of the many
+ypewriters is the only sound to
break the silence. Edward Hopper,
the land agent, put aside his work
long enough to furnish the G o
with a few interesting particulars
concerning the volume of business
which is being daily transacted in
his department..
The sales since May have been
larger than for any year since 1890,
and in a majority of cases are for
small tracts of from 40 TO 100 acres,
sold to actual settlers who till the
soil, build up the territory and bring
traffic to the road said Mr.. Kop-
per. LAS a rule the demand for land
drops off with the approach of win
ter months, but probably on account
of the open weather which has
marked the last few weeks the ac-
tivity has shown very little decrease.
Most of the settlement has been in
the western-central portion of the
state, embracing Norman, Clay, OF
ter Tail, Becker, Hubbard, Wad5na
and even Aitken, Cass and Grow
Wing counties.
The original grant to the road in
cludes the lands in a belt that crosses
the entire state and extends twenty
miles on either side of the right of
way, and an additional grant of an
equal amount was made, from which
the road is supposed to make up any
losses it has suffered in the primary
grant by reason of Indian and mill
tary reservations.
Within the past few months the
government has issued a large num-
Der of patents to the road in this
indemnity belt, and this fact alone
adds materially to the business Of
the department in the way of a large
increase in the number of inquiries.
The land department. works hand in
hand with the immigration depart
ment, and together the volume of
business transacted makes the por-
tion Of the road represented in this
building one of the most important
in the service"
a visit was paid to General Immi-
grafton Agent G. w. Mott, who has
made this particular business the
study of his life.
For the last year or two immi-
grafton business has. been almost
entirely domestic, the foreign busi-
ness having fallen off probably on
account of the times, which prevent
settlers from sending funds across
the water to bring their friends and
relatives to this land of plenty" said
Mr.. Mott. People at present are
coming to Minnesota and Dakota
from Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. They
are young men who have been rent
ing farms in other states, but are
finding that they can own their
farms and save the profits instead of
yielding them to landlords. They are
easily convinced of the advantages
to be derived from tilling virgin soil.
Lately a goodly number of settlers
have started for Washington from
Michigan and Southern Illinois,
doubtless attracted by the very ex-
cellent fruit exhibit made at the
worlds fair in Chicago. The state
of Washington was very we'll repre-
sented, and in a most practical, eff
fective manner.
THAT reminds me to say that this
talk of ice palaces and snow balls
which has been going on here lately
has materially diminished the inter-
est taken in this state by outsiders
For years there was a decided senti-
ment for Minnesota in the middle
Western states, as a result of the
notion that blizzards belonged in
New York and not here, but now
some thoughtless persons insist on
talking about icicles and other frigid
matters that frighten people. would
suggest something like a grand har-
vest carnival to be held in October,
when Minnesota and Dakota could
get together and teach the world a
lesson, and incidentally display a
diversified collection of the greatest
products ever brought to one point" >"