The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-05-12
FROM NORTH DAKOTA
w. e. Pirkins, of North Dakota, Now
In City. an Old Resident of Iowa,
Tells What he Knows of q Great
Country,
New Rockford, N. D.

New Rockford, N. D.
Editor Register:
Having been asked by so many men
in Illinois If cattle can be raised sue
cessfully in North Dakota 1 will write
short letter for your paper so all may
have a chance to near about as good a
cattle. sheep and horse country as there
is in the world We don't feed on an
average more than hundred DAYS in a
year, and great many winters not
more than sixty days. 1 have known
five winters in the sixteen years that l
have lived in North Dokota when no
feed was required other than the native
grass, the cattle running out all winter
and doing better than they do in Iowa
on hay and stalk fields.
Now, for horses, they will live on
range four winters out of five, and do
we'll without shelter, or any feed but
the range grass which l find far better
than blue grass, as it seems to help
them stand the cold. All stock do bet
ter after the grass ripens in the fall,
and my experience is that they make
larger gains in October than in June.
The grass cures on the ground before
frost, and having little rain after Sep
TENDER it retains all it's nutriment
through the winter, and the snow does
not injure it as it does in more south
ern climates All the snow is gener-
ally gone by the middle of March, and
the stock in fair condition to start out
onto the range. -.
AS for sheep raising, l have tried it
and found that my profits were as much
for the same amount of money invested
as a cousin of mine, who has a sheep
ranch in Texas. The percentage of
increase and weight in the north fully
pays for extra feed and shelter.
Hay can be put in stack in large
meadows for twenty five cents a ton,
and it costs twenty-five cents a ton to
feed it out Two tons will feed year
old steer through the longest winter
Practical men who have raised cattle
and sheep in this North Dakota have
assured me that they have made, under
all circumstances, from % to so per
cent on all money invested, it being
possible to raise steer to the age of
three years at cost of $40.
There is plenty of government land
in central and western North Dakota,
and the Northern Pacific railroad
owns every alternate section forty
miles on each side of their right of way.
This land can be bought for from So 90
to $500 an acre on ten years time at six
per cent, Most of this land is good
farming land we'll watered, and fine
for grazing, besides being able to raise
all kinds of small grain and vegetables,
The Missouri slope country has less
snow than the country farther east,
where live. In Central and Western
North Dakota cattle run out all winter,
the country offering good shelter and
good feed, the percentage of loss being
very small The Northern Pacific road
runs through this land. and they will
ran excursions through this country
this spring, on the first and third Tues
days of each month, furnishing tourist
sleepers and stop-over privileges at all
points north and west of st Paul. For
further information | would advise all
men who care to see this country to
write F w. Wilsey, Eastern Land
Agent, Northern Pacific Ry., st. Paul,
Mimi.
l do not write this to boom the coun-
try, but simply to answer questions in
the easiest manner. W. E. PIRKINs.