The Dickinson press., 1899-05-13
Conditions Which Forced the Bonanza Farmers Out of
the Business-Monopoly that Met a Deserved Fate
Individual Holdings the Life of the State.

In order to fully understand how it '
was possible to get together such large
holdings Of farming lands, known as q
the "bonanza FARMS" in North Dakota,
It will be necessary to date their possi-
bility from the United States land |
grant made to the Northern Pacific ,
Hallway company, Of every alternate /
section of the public lands within O /,
Of forty miles from the main
,.ne, from Superior (the United States
courts date decision as the
eastern terminaD to its western ter.
minal.
1t was provided that, whereas, sec
sixteen Q6) and thirty-six (36)
were reserved for the purpose of Great
ing q public school fund, the interest
thereon only to be used. Hence, the
railway company's grant. covered all
the even-numbered sections within this
eighty (SW mile belt, with the right to
locate as much land from an indemnity
belt, ten QO 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 ono
were considered tirst-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
q 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 one OF
the causes Of the panic Of that year.
Many of tho people of the East be-
lieved that the lands covered by
grart, which was security for h
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.
lieyed 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 anu
caution many Of the heavy bondho!ders
had faith, appeared upon b scene;
about the same time the Northern Pa
cifc Railroad company was reorgan.
lied; 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 newly-organized company
graciously offered to sell the lands at
IS an acre, and accept preferred stock
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 were secured at
from 40 to so cents an acre, int work
was begun in earnest to establish bon
ANA farms.
Talking with the bookkeeper Of the
Dalrymple farms near Casselton, IN
1881, he Informed me that the farms
had averaged twenty-five bushels OF
wheat per acre every season since they
were oDened 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
hands by sections, corner to corner, the
next thing to be done was to secure
the even-numbered sections, which
they did by buying out the settlers on
the even-numbered sections, and thus
enabled many who came tie the terri:
tory poor, to move a little further back
and secure a homestead and tree-clain
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 W &c
count upon a good financial basis.
1t is fair to assume that there are
very few large farms in the state bu
owe their existence to the conditions
stated above. While wheat could b.
produced on the new lands at an aver
age yield Of from II to 20 bushels pc
acre, and the average of 20 cents pc
bushel maintained, everything wen
we'll, ~ SuAAS a. lin " -
years ago, when the price fell to 3S t
As cents per bushel; it was durin;
these times that ever the 'bonanz
farmers" began to become alarmed, fo
they soon found that at 45 cents pc
bushel for wheat, considering the ave.
age yield for a decade was less tina
twelve bushels per acre. eve Shout
the lands have been given to then
they could not afford to work the1
while wheat remained so low.
1t was about this time that the "bo1
anza farmers" began to go out Of bus
ness, by selling off their lands in qua;
ter and half sections, on the crop-pa.
ment plan, or any other way to realiz
from them a fair consideration for the
Investments; for it must be borne
mind that it is very expensive to earn
on a large farm with all hired help.
It may be that the low price