Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-28

| used at the present time, for grazing is per-
mitted upon them without restraint, and
thus they furnish sustenance to vast num-
Der OF sheep, cattle and horses, but the area
OF good grazing land belonging to the public
domain is in some localities being rapidly
diminished by overstocking and too close
grazing.
Public Land in wyoming.
| Wyoming contains about 40 OBS 600 acres OF
public land open to settlement besides S,216,-
643 acres reserved for various purposes. OF
the latter amount, 1,s97,OO0 acres are in the
| Yellowstone National park almost an equal
amount is in the Wind River Indian reser-
walton and 3,241, 760 acres are devoted to for
estry.
The vacant public land is valuable chiefly
for grazing and timber, and in many places
for coal oil and other mineral products; but
there are vast areas which need only irriga-
tion to transform them into very productive
farms. The water supply is fairly abundant
and we'll distributed, and is estimated to be
sufficient to reclaim 1900 900 acres The
| principal streams available for this purpose
are the North Platte river and its tributaries
| in the southeast, the Green in the southwest
| the head waters OF the Cheyenne in the
northeast and the Big Horn and Powder riv-
ers, which rise in the central part OF the
state and flow northward into Montana
I
| be reclaimed without great expense by small
bitches, but as these places are more than
! 5000 feet above the sea level hay Is almost
the only important crop that can be depended
upon to mature there. The better lands can
! be reclaimed only by means of reservoirs
and large canals, requiring considerable capi-
| tai; but in the Big Horn basin and elsewhere
there are large tracts of public land so sit
uated that the expense OF reclamation would
1 ha NV nn me ha 1ae lori
tural land in the state is said to be that ly
ing along the Platte river and along the
| northern border east of the Big Horn noun
tains In nearly all cases the bitches thus
| far constructed water only the bottom lands
near the rivers, leaving the upper bench
lands, where the soil is even better, to be
reclaimed by more extensive works in the
| future.
The tillable lands OF Wyoming lie from
| $500 to 1000 feet more above sea level.
| higher on the whole than the agricultural
| land OF any other state. There are high
mountain ranges in the north and west and
| a few peaks near the southern mountain
boundary. The climate has been found to
| be well adapted to the cultivation of cereals
| and grasses, while the raising of hardy fruits
| Is also becoming an important Industry.
| There is a lack Of railroad facilities in the
! central and northwestern part of Wyoming.
but the Union Pacific railroad traverses the
southern part of the state, while the eastern
part is served by the Northwestern and Bur-
lngton systems and by local lines and the
Oregon Short Line enters the southwestern
corner.
In North Dakota.
The amount of vacant public land In
| North Dakota, 20,574,000 acres, is nearly
| equal to the amount which has been ap-
propriated. There are also more than 3OOO,-
| 900 acres in Indian reservations Most OF
| the western half of the state still belongs
| to the public domain, but in the eastern
| half the amount of public land diminishes
rapidly, and in the valleys of the James and
| Red rivers, where dry farming is most sue
cessful there is hardly any left. In the
| western part of the state, where irrigation
| is most needed, there are only limited areas
| in which water can be easily secured. The
Missouri river is so far below the surface
of the arabic land and has so slight fall
that it's waters can be diverted only with
difficulty and at great expense. Some OF
the Missouris lesser tributaries, however,
especially the short streams flowing from
the north, may be made available for irriga-
tion by the construction of storage reser-
voirs East of the Missouri river the main
dependence is upon artesian wells, which
are already in use throughout a large terri
tory for various purposes, and which prom
ise to be of great Importance in agriculture.
In time much of the public land along the
Missouri south of Bismarck will probably
be watered in this manner.
The vacant public land is at present OF
value chiefly for grazing, but 1t is very |
fertile for the most part and wherever lrri-
CATION is practicable can be made to produce |
abundant crops of wheat and other cereals. !
hardy fruits, etc, as well as forage crops |
There is little timber in the Turtle noun
tain region in the extreme north and de- |
posts of Ignite coal are found throughout |
nearly all the western half Of the state.
The public lands in the western part of
the state are crossed by the two northern |
transcontinental railways running nearly |
east and west, and diagonally by the Min |
neapolis, st. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie rail-
way.
South Dakota. |
There are 2,7S4 900 acres of vacant public
land in South Dakota, besides the greater
part of the Black Hills forest reserve and
a number of large and small Indian reserva- |
tions making the total amount of public |
land little less than half the area OF the |
state. There Is comparatively little public |
land left east of the Missouri river, though |
there are few counties which have none at |
all, and there is little land open to settle
ment Immediately west of the Missouri, ex-
cept in Stanley county, because the river is
bordered most of the way by Indian reserva-
tions. In the southeastern corner of the
state are several small tracts of swampy
grazing land, amounting in the case of
Charles Mix county to some thousands OF
acres Most of the appropriated land in the |
western part of the state is along the |
Cheyenne river and the streams which flow |
into its southern fork from the Black Hills |
and the largest areas of vacant land are in
the northwestern corner, in the Bad Lands !
of the southwest and between the Cheyenne /
and White rivers. 1t Is thought that by |
water storage and the use Of artesian wells
at least 100000 acres of South Dakota |
lands can be irrigated. There is an ex-
tensive and remarkable artesian well area
east of the Missouri and recent investiga-
tions make 1t seem probable that this area
extends also into the public lands of the
western and northwestern portions of the
state, in which case the estimate OF the |
irrigable area will need to be considerably