Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1900-03-01
GOVERNMENT LAND
Only a Few Years Left Before
All Good Farm Land Is
Taken.
Rapid Changes In rs Years
ReCaIled-Future Titles
Must Be
BY Purchase, To the Disad.
vantage of the Poor
Man.

Rapidly disappearing government
land is the subjact OF an interesting ar.
tlce from q Mlnnewaukan correspond.
ent:
"In the struggle for competency or
bare livelihood" be says, "our people
have hitherto always had before them
the privilege of taking government land.
To the mere wage Garner or young farm
or bred to the trade in the more or less
crowded eastern or middle states, this
has presented itself as an attractive op-
portunity, while to the discouraged,
unfortunate or hopeless, it has at least
offered itself as last resort.
"In making the experiment, hundreds
have, Of course. failed. Here and there
desolate picture is presented Of hope.
full young couple installed IN the merest
shsnty on q lonely claim, struggling
with rude frontier conditions, pinching
and saving to acquire the necessary
stock and machinery, oppressed by ored-
itors, sometimes threatened with fore
closure, the children born to them
growing up in hap-hazard fashion, faith
er and mother wearing out their ener-
gies in tie best years of their lives in q
weary struggle with ways and means,
only to meet defeat in the end. Such
Instances are familiar to every observer
who has passed bis life in any OF the
great western or north western states.
But other things being equal, tho diff
oulties have generally been inherent in
the individual. On the other hand, ont
of similar beginnings but with, perhaps,
better Judgment. greater physical endur-
anoe, industry, persistence, or what not,
thousands OF men have attained lnde-
pendence for themselves and families
and have developed myriad of agricul-
tural estates, both great and small, that
for income and possibilities are not sur
passed anywhere in the world.
"But the end Of our great public do
main, adapted by nature to grain pro.
ductlon, Is now IN sight. It is true
there still remain some comparatively
small tracts OF good land yet to be svsil
able to homestead entry. but these are
mostly included within Indian reeervs
tions not yet thrown open, and exper-
ience has proved how quickly these are
absorbed when once the signal is given
that admits the Write settler"
The disappearance OF government
land has baen rapid N the northwest
where the last good land remains. The
writer says:
I'm 1860 the rich improved lands Of
southern minnesota were unstable at
murh over $40 per acre, because CT the
proximity of free government lands
within days ride. In 1870, unim-
proved lands in so fertile section as
the central part Of northern Iowa went
begging at s. per acre because OF the
five miles away and practically un-
touched Spirit Lake region only sur
veved.
I'm 1876, cultivated quarter sec
ton in such productive counties OF Min
nesota as kandiyohl was but dou btful
security for loan OF $500 because 100
miles to the west we're millions Of acres
o. the best soil awaiting the pre-emptor
or homestesder, while in 1885 the wave
OF homeseekers reached out beyond the
Aberdeen district in South Dakota and
the Devils Lake district IN North De-
kota, where hundreds of quarters were
being taken daily, and remote through
these farms then appeared, they have
become salable today at prices ranging
from 80 to $40 per acre, and their
owners, realizing that the day OF free
lands is practically a thing OF the past.
ure. For, indeed. when the last home
stead fling Is offered IN the northwest
corner OF the wheat area Of Minnesota
and North Dakota-an event distant by
q matter Of only year or two-a new
situation Is upon US and thereafter he
who acquires at market value, must do
so by purchase alone and this must
mean seriousI disadvantage to a gen
GRAFTON now coming upon the scene and
looking for an opening.
"As a realization Of the situation has
come to the people OF the northwest,
there has followed a noticeable stiffen-
ing in the prices OF lands. Where ff-
teen years ago, land was considered but
q dou btful asset, and where transfer
was rare, at any figure. today it changes
hands readily at $40 to 500 per acre, and
the loan companies that once came to