Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-05-12

was loSSlblc W Scl toSctucI SuSl AhiSC
holdings Of farming lands, known as
the "bOnanza FARMS in North Dakota,
It will be necessary to date their posi-
bility from the United States land
grant made to the Northern Pacific
hallway company, Of every alternate
section Of the public lands within a
distance Of forty miles from the main
Enc, from Superior uhe United States
supreme courts date decision as the
eastern tcrminaD to its western ter.
ninal.
1t was provided that, whereas, sec.
tions sixteen 0G) and thirty-siX 3G)
were reserved for the purpose of Great
Ing a public school fund, the interest
thereon only to be used. Hence. the
railway company'S grant. covered all
the cvrn-numbcrcd sections within this
eighty $50 mile belt. with the right to
locate as much land from an indemnity
belt, ten QW miles wide and next to
the forty-mile limit, on each side Of
their main line, as the settlers upon the
public lands had taken up before the
railroad grant had been made to the
company.
Messrs. Jay Cooke & Co., who were
the financial managers of the company,
failed, after having sold a great guam
tity Of the bonds of the company, to
push the road through; these bonds
were considered 1irst-class as an in
vestment by thousands Of people in the
Eastern states, even many school.
mArms and old maids investing in
them. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in
a lecture delivered in st. Paul during
the winter of 1877, declared that this
failure of the Northern Pacific Rail.
road company ruined many Of the East
ern people, and he believed was n of
the causes Of the panic of that year.
Many of tho people of the East be-
Nevcd that the lands covered by the
grant, which was security for the
bonds, was a part Of the great Amer.
lean Desert which men who are now
sixty heard so much about when boys
at school. Hence, these lands were be.
lieved by many to be worthless, and
the bonds tumbled in the market in
proportion to what might be realized
from them in other directions; they
even sold as low as from Is to II cents
on the dollar. About this time Oliver
Dalrymple. in whose judgment and
caution many Of the heavy bondholders
had faith, appeared upon the scene;
about the same time the Northern Pa.
cifc Railroad company was reorgan-
ized; but the bonds had been bought
up by the knowing ones, who knew
something Of the true value of the
lands in the Red River valley. So,
when the rewly-organized company
graciously offered to sell the lands at
~ mn oa,.a ov1 n0anrf p,pnfnrrsnG c$n0lS
bonds of the company in payment at
the face value Of the bonds, the men
who were posted were on hand with
their bonds and a list Of the lands they
preferred. In this way hundreds Of
thousands Of acres of the best Red
River Valley lands We're secured ut
from 40 to so cents an acre, and work
was begun in earnest to establish bon.
ANA farms.
Talking with the bookkeeper Of tho
Oalrymple farms near Casselton, in
1881, he informed me that the farms
mad averaged twenty-five bushels Of
wheat per acre every season since they
were opened for cultivation. 1t was
this news Of the success Of wheat-rais-
Ing on these farms which led to the
stampede for the Red River valley by
homesteaders and land SPECTATORS,
and made Fargo the gateway of the
new territory, a veritable beehive Of
activity and enterprise.
Having secured the odd-numbered
sections, which brought their acquired
lands by sections. corner to corner the
next thing to be done was to secure
the cven-numbered sections, which
they did by buying out the settlers on
the even-numbered sections, and thus
tory poor, to move a little further back
and secure a homestead and tree-claim
near together, with money enough t.
support their families and provide stock
to break up the land, build a house
and begin farming on their own ac-
count upon a good financial basis.
1t Is fair to assume that there are
very few large farms in the state but
owe their existence to the conditions
stated above. While wheat could be
produced on the new lands ut an aver
age yield of from II to 20 bushels per
acre, and the average of 70 cents per
bushel maintained. everything went
we'll; but there came n time, n few
years ago, when the price fell to 3S to
45 cents per bushel: it was during
these times that even the "bonanza
farmers" began to become alarmed, for
they soon found that at As cents per
bushel for wheat, considering the aver
age yield for a decade was less than
twelve bushels per acre. even should
the lands have been given to them,
they could not afford to work them
while wheat remained so low.
1t was about this time that the "bon-
ANA farmers began to 60 out Of bust
ness, by selling off their lands in qual-
ter and half sections, on the pay.
ment plan, or any other way to realize
from them a fair consideration for their
Investments; for it must be borne in
mind that It is very expensive to carry
on a large farm with all hired help.
It may he that the low price of