The Republican journal., 1900-06-07
FROM DAKOTA TO OREGON.
Correspondence of The Journal. ]

Ipswich is sparcely settled, slightly
rolling, and rather stony. From lp-
IPSWICH to Aberdeen it is less rolling
nearly level, with depressions filled with
water this Sd day of May, 1900. The
land is free from stone. Most of the
houses are a mile or more from the
railroad. The few farmers cultivate
large fields, but there is vast acreage
of prairie for stock. We saw at least
800 head of cattle in one herd. We
reached Aberdeen about sunset and
started for Minneapolis two hours
later.
Brownton was the first station seen
| the next morning The country is thick
| ly settled We see many trees which
were apparently planted. Some fields
of grain are green and some are just
sown. We see patches of prairie, grain
and trees in all directions. The coun-
try is very flat. There are some patches
of natural forest along creeks and wet
places At Glencoe are many two
story buildings surrounded by trees
higher than the buildings. The trees on
both sides of the street come nearly
together overhead The machine
shop, churches and elevators are sur
rounded by widely scattered suburbs.
Plum trees are in bloom. Natural and
artificial forests evidently supply the
country with fuel We see large piles
| of cord wood at Plato. The original oak
and elm forest is now mostly cleared.
At Chanhassen the country is rolling,
almost billy
| Much of the country is covered with
small forest trees, the large trees hav-
| ing been cut off. Some pretty ponds of
water are interspersed among the beau
tiful hills sprinkled with juniper trees.
At Hopkins we see the threshing ma
chimes of the Minnesota Machine Go.
and stacks of old iron, electric ears,
houses widely scattered. and parallel
tracks. We pass houses larger and
thicker: Interior Elevator Co.. Nicollett
coy dwellings adorned by trees.
We left st. Paul via Northern Pacific
at @ \. NJ. Farm houses are neat and
coy. The soil evidently produces fair
crops. but it is UTILIZED and the fields
look bare at this season of the year.
/ The surface Of the country is divided
between wheat fields and scrubhy oak.
Many large buildings are scattered
among the oaks at st. Cloud. There
are large piles of cord wood at every
station. Possibly the people lave Sc
cured the means to provide themselves
with comfortable homes more from
their cord wood than from the products
of the soil. Frazer is filled with cord
wood and railroad ties. The scrubby
oak gradually disappears. and by the
time we reach Glyndon we are fairly
among the wheat fields of the Red river
valley, which is one vast expanse of
wheat fields through Fargo, Casselton,
Wheatland and Tower City, with their
vast grain elevators.
Valley City is on he Sheyenne The
Normal School buildings here are stu
ated at the foot of lofty cliff towering
far above the loftiest spire of the build
ings. There are many large trees along
the river 1t comes dark before we get
over the height of land between the
Sheyenne and James Rivers. Saturday
morning. May 5th we are in the bad |
lands near Glendive. The bad lands
are covered with hills some OF them
one OF two hundred feet high. Their
sides present al appearance OF river
bank which is continually crumbling
into the water The soil is evidently
too strongly alkal to grass over. We
see fine school buildings about a mile
from Miles City. Some bluffs along the |
river look like~the bad lands Scrubby |
evergreens are thickly scattered over
some of the bluffs. There are some !
large trees along the river and some
willow, poplar and cotton wood.
We stopped in Butte, Mont, Satur-
day evening, after passing through the
most stony and desolate region of the
Rocky Mountains. Some huge stones |
seemed to be so nicely balanced that a
man could start them to rolling down
the mountain side. Some trestles We're
so high that the houses below looked |
very small, and delicate women prefer /
red to sleep rather than view such rug
ged scenery. AS we approached Butte
in the evening the fires of the smelters
presented the appearance of numerous
flames just bursting from the roofs of
buildings, and the children said the
electric lights looked like pasture full
of stars. Butte is sustained by the
copper mines, which are situated far
up the mountain side, and the city is
spread out at the foot of the hill where
the gigantic buildings constructed for
operating the silver mines are rotting
to the ground.
We left Butte Monday evening and
awoke Tuesday morning among the
evergreen mountains near Hope. Idaho.
We picked wild strawberry blossoms