Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-11-26
DUNKARDS IN DAKOTA.
A Unique Class of People Find
Comfortable Homes in the
Great PrairieS.

Great Prairies.
The counties of Eddy and Foster, in
North Dakota, possess a particular inter
| est from the fact that they have become,
during the past two years, a great field
| for settlement by colonies of Dunkards,
| who came from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio
and other states to make new homes
upon the North Dakota prairies. The
Dunkards are nearly all farmers, and
| very good farmers. too. They pay their
| to the processes of law. They do not,
as rule. take part in politics, but they
| usually vote at national elections where
| the questions at issue are such as inter-
| est them profoundly.
The movement for settlement OF
| large colonies of these excellent people
| in North Dakota originated with the
| railroad companies operating lines in
! that state. 1t was taken up with inter-
est in a number of large Dunkard COM
| munities, and delegates were sent out to
examine the land and report upon it's fer
tility, upon the climate. and upon the
transportation and school facilities. The
| favorable reports of these delegates led
large number of families to sell out
| their farms and migrate to the new lands
of the Northwest. They in turn sent
back good accounts to their relatives and
| neighbors. and the result was a still larg-
err movement of colonization.
| The Dunkards found in North Dakota
all the advantage of cheap lands which
beleelgs to a new country, and, at the
| same time, the many advantages of rail
| ways, towns, schools, churches and roads
which belong to region of long-estab-
lished settlement They were not slow
to see the opportunity afforded them for
opening farms on good prairieland that
| could be bought for So to S. an acre, and
in many localities could be obtained from
| the United States government at only
the small cost of the lard-office fees re-
| CURED by the homestead law, Undoubt..
these people. already established and
prosperous. will lead to a further move
ment of their co-religionists the ensuing
spring and summer. The people of North
Dakota are giving q cordial welcome to
the Dunkards. They recognize their
wealth. They are honest, Industrious
and thrifty They build good houses
and cultivate their lands carefully. They
know how to take care of cattle and
sheep. They know the economic value
of gardens of vegetables and small
| fruits. They conscientiOusly pay their
debts, go to church every Sunday, and
send their children, to school. They
have, in fact, all the good qualities of the
best class of agricultural settlers.
1t was n memorable occasion. that
| called these sturdy settlers together in
| Darlington, North Dakota. on the 9th
of September 1896. Scarce half a year
had elapsed since a hundred or more
| families. comprising about 500 souls, left
| their old homes in Eastern states to set
| tie on the fertile lands which lie contlgu-
GUS to the Northern Pacific railway in
But thew had been six months of prog
| ress Homes had been built. broad
| fields placed under cultivation, and. side
| by side with these evidences of material
| prosperity was the prompt construction
| of q church-wherein they might assem-
| giving to the God they worshiped.
| Beautiful in it's very simplicity. the LITTLE
church about which they gathered and
| in which they reverently assembled,
stood as a sign before heaven and unto
| men. 1t was a token of faith-of faith
| the faith of a people who desired moth
! ing better than to earn their bread by
| the sweat of their brows and to live at
peace with the whole world.
In one respect at least Dunkards re-
| semble bees. viz: They colonize TO-
country can afford them all a good living,
and then. when it becomes too narrow for
| them, they swarm, and the younger gen.
Grafton makes new beginning in some
| less thickly-populated locality. This
swarming process is now in full blast in
many parts, of Illinois, Indiana. ONO
| and other states even further east, and
| of the lands of promise selected for fu-
| ture operations, none seems to be meet
| ing with greater favor than North Da-
| kota, as is witnessed by the steady
| stream that has been filtering through
| st. Paul in that direction for some time
| past This is not an evidence that North
| Dakota is a better state than those to the
! immediate east of it's borders, but it has
| more available land open for settlement
| undar such conditions as render it de-
sirable place for a new colony.
| At first the stream went north to the
free government land around Devils lake
and that region, but latterly the tide has
| turned further to the south. and the
country where the Northern Pacific and
| the 500 intersect has been receiving a
| considerable impetus owing to the fact
| that it has the additional boon of rail-
road competition. while in no other re-
| spect does it come behind the most ia.
vored portions of the state. The soil
| of course is practically the same. and
whatever difference there may be in eli
mate is naturally in favor of the more
southern location, while in the matter
| of land available for settlement it is
| eminent land open for settlement, and
| as many farms awaiting tenants on the
temperament plan as any other part OF
| North Dakota. while the recent placing
on the market of a large tract of railroad
land in the Northern Pacific indemnity
belt. afforded that company the oppor-
tunity for which it was looking, to take a
hand in this business, and it at once EN-
| braced this chance by setting aside three
townships of land for the exclusive use
of the brethren, and further than this
| the offer was made that when certain
number of families settled in given
locality, a donation of $500 would be
made towards the erection of a church
of their own belief. The soil has proved
more fertile than anything they had ever
dreamed of, the ease with which farming
| is carried on has almost taken their
breath away, and the climate, so abso-
lutely pure and free from all traces OF
| malaria, has given a new zest to living.
The term "Dunkard'' is applied to q
sect of German American Baptists said
to have been founded at Schwarzenau
in Westphalia. by Alexander Mack in
| 17OS. The name is derived from their
| manner of baptism-by trine immersion
| They were driven from Germany in
| 1889, and crossed the ocean and set.
tied in Pennsylvania-sub in
| Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia and
other states. Properly speaking, they
ought always to be referred to as Ger
man Baptists; but owing to their meth.