St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-27

years old will take a like amount. In
this way families will absorb entire
sections of land. Each family will lso
be nucleus around which other Dunk
ards will settle. In a few generations
the big farms willsbe divided and sub
divided among the children, until final
ly no more land will remain, and an
other exodus will be necessary.
The choice of North Dakota by the
Dunkards was due largely to the Iali-
ty of the soil and climate, and to lie
efforts of the Great Northern road. The
road does not own any of the laid.
The object 1t has in view is the get
tlement of the country expecting re-
turns later in the freight carrying 5usi-
ness. Max Bass has control OF Ills
branch of the roads business. He says
the road offers liberal terms to emil
grants because it understands 1T VIII
get ample returns in the years to come.
The country into which the al
grants are being taken is along the line
of the Great Northern road in rail-,
Steele, Grand Forks, Nelson, Ramsey
and Towner counties. They will be
scattered over 100 miles. of territory,
considered among the best in North
Dakota. Mayville and Clifford are tie
central points in Trail county. The
Grand Forks county Dunkard ENTER
where the Great Northern took the
Worlds Fair commissioners in 1898, to
show them the great wheat crop and
sixty-fiVe self-binderS cutting wheat
in a single field. a
At Lakota. in Nelson county, several
families will be left. Some are ;.oing
to Cando. Towner county, alread
large Dunkard center. Ramsey county
is the big objective point for the ma
jority. Devils Lake is on its southern
border and smaller lakes and creeks
water it's surface. The Dunkard owns
are Devils Lake. Grand Harbor, enn
and Church's Ferry. A few minor
towns will receive large single fan les.
WHO THE DUNKARDS ARE.
The peculiar, or rather the plain
ness of the garb worn by these peo-
pie attracted attention, and, although
they appeared to be foreigners, they
were all American born. with ances-
try running back before the days of
the Revolutionary war. They are Bl-
BILE Christians, and still adhere to the
early tenets of the founders Of their
church in regard to plain dress and
living. The Wesley brothers were as
strict in their requirements in their
day as are the German Baptist breth-
rem of today, but the Methodists have
rather departed from the bylaws laid
down and observed in the first years
of their church in the matter of plain
apparel.
The German Baptist brethren, as
they term themselves, have member
ship in this country Of over 100000
They are an agricultural people, and, by
settlement together in communities of
their own, have been able to adhere
more closely to their religious ideas
and practices. They take the Bible
as their guide and rule of faith. The
Lords supper is observed as full
meal, as it was by Christ and the di-
ciples, and they practice baptism and
feet washing. They believe in and
send their children to the public
ton with other religious sects. They
are very temperate in their habits; no
one engaging in the liquor business
is allowed to belong to the church,
and the use of tobacco is discouraged.
They are good oitizehs, and not clan
nish to the extent Of not being neigh
borly with neighbors.
They are not communists in any
sense Of the word. They believe in
the incentive of individual effort, and
in enjoying the fruits of their own
personal industry. They are. American
citizens Of the best type, who have re-
manned steadfast to early religious
training and practices
The history of this movement, the
largest and most important known to
the Northwest for several years, was
inaugurated by the Great Northern in
1898, when Max Bass, the popular i'm
migration agent of the company, took
a party Of Indiana Dunkards to North
Dakota to spy out the land. They
visited various localities, and finally
decided to locate in the Turtle mount
ain region in the vicinity of Cando.
A few remained over winter, while
others returned home to get their af-
fairs in shape so that they could
remove in the spring Of 1894; this they