The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-01
PROSPERITY is PRESENT.
SETTLERS HAVE ~ COMFORTABLE
HOMES AND wELE-sToCkED
'is FARMS.o -~,t-f-
REDS BECOMING CIVILIZED.
4 ~ D. /
Have Their Lands sin SeyeraItv
0 Which They Cultivate In 7-f'
sar,T Their Way,
Special Correspondence Of the G,oho

full change has come over this land
since 1t was opened for settlement four
years ago-the coming spring. Aththat
time not a house was visible over all
the vast prairie, except at rare inter-
walls an Indian log hut, the roof sod
ded over and covered with a thick
growth of dry grass and weeds. Very
rarely, however. were the Indian houses
built where they could be seen as YOU
rode across the prairies. Most of them
being nestled in the ravines, or below
the bluffs bordering the lakes %, and
coulees, in close proximity to a spring
of pure water and sheltered by groves
Of trees.
At the time Of the opening, April Is,
1892, the distant Coteaux hills were
white with snow. At the present writ
ing they are also white, as we'll as the
entire landscape. which as been so
since the 29th of October, this being the
earliest winter I ever experienced in
any country. For the past twenty days
the sun has hid his face and the fierce
winds of a Dakota winter have swept
across our once fair land, driving before
them drifts and clouds of constantly
changing snow. ,-oa
Preceding, including and following
election, this, the longest continued
storm period for years might be taken
as a dark omen for the new admins
tration, or it might De, the Northwest
mourns over the defeat of her most
promising son.
This reservation, largely included in
the county of Roberts, consists of fine
agricultural land. At the time of it's
opening it was vast 9prairie covered
except where swept by fire, with a
dry, carpet of the nutritious, self-cur-
ing buffalo grasses, for which the Da-
kotas are famous. One who had not
seen the country since 1892 would
scarcely recognize it in the now we'll
titled farms, most of which contain
substantial buildings, the necessary
farming implements, and a fair begin
ming in stock and groves, with wind
mills here and there. The country mas
made surprising growth considering
the exceptionally hard times which
have been with us ever since we took
up the land. Those who came here
with a little extra cash were forced to
part with it the first year in nearly
every instance, as hay was then over
$50 Fer ton, and other commodities pro-
portionally high. The fair to good CT ops
we have, had every year has enabled
the earnest, energetic farmer to get a
foothold in spite of the exceedingly low
prices paid for all farm produce The
part Of the reservation in Roberts ccun-
fNr Of xry1a;A T l.
viz, Harmon and Bryant townships,
borders on Lake Traverse and lies in
the extreme head Of that far-fame
region of great crops and no failures"
the Red river valley. The physical
features of this section are very in
teresting. These two townships are,
except on the side bounded by the
lake, encircled by deep bluff-bordered
ravine or coulee, and both ends of this
cOulee terminate in the Lake Traverse
basin. Many years ago this land must
have been an island. The height Of
land also extends through here in a
northwesterly and southeasterly direc-
ton between Lake Traverse and Big
Stone lake, these lakes being now over
a mile apart, but thirty years ago
they were. one continuous sheet, COW
ering much of the land where the town
of Browns Valley, MINI, now stands.
The soil in this town, as we'll as that
in the coulee bottoms, is in places,
largely composed of shells in various
stages Of disentegration.
The vegetation Of that part of the
country OF, which L speak differs con-
siderably from that Of other portions
of the state, many plants being found
here that are Indigenous to more
southern and easternI states, having, it
appears, followed UP the rivers and
lakes. In fact, this. part Of the state
is a Xeritable paradise. for the botan-
list, as every search is replete with sur
prises in the way Of new specimens
Although wooded only along the riv
ers and spring bordered bluffs these
small patches of timber display a va
riety Of trees, shrubs and wood plants
that fairly rivals the. forests Of other
states.
Animal life, too, is well represented,
and especially do the timbered portions
throng with a great and varied assert
ment Of birds, while the prairies, lakes
and rivers are also we'll populated with
their especial species. The Sisseton
and Wahpeton tribes of Sioux were al
lowed by the government to choose
from their vast hunting grounds that
part they liked best as a reward for
their answering loyalty to the whites
during the troublous times in the early
Sos, They choose this reservation, as
they considered it contained the rich
est grasses, the best wooded raYines,
springfield streams, and lakes well