The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-02
RICHNESS 0 TIE NEST.
AIDED BY INTELLIGENT INDUSTRY
HAS BUILT UP THE
COUNTRY
DILIGENCE HAS IT'S REWARD
Railroads Doing YeOman Service in
Developing South Dakota, In
Which They Have Sympathy of
Business Men and Farmers.

Oub III Ten Tie correspondence 1IOIu
South Dakota to outside newspapers be-
gins with the statement that the farmers
are doing well now because they have
learned of early mistakes and have
adapted their operations to the peculiar
tiles of the country: This has been the
stock statement Of space writer's for
years. and has become so familiar that
it gives the native South Dakotan that
tired feeling when he runs across it.
Outsiders are no doubt tired of it also,
or ought to be, for it really never was
distinctive news 4S sEss::s 81 ~ - l'
The experience Of agriculture in this
state from infancy to maturity, to use
an apt expression, has been in no wise
different from what has obtained every
where else in our great country with
| the Westward progress. 1t was true
Of the pioneers of the Ohio valley, and
if we had any new country to develop
the same story could be told to the end.
But there is no use telling it any more.
About fifty years ago, before 1t dawned
upon the people what an immense va
riety of country they were blessed with
it might have puzzled them to explain
why every 100 miles further West did not
reveal the identical characteristics of soil
and climate that were left behind. But
full realization of the richness and ex-
tent of the West soon caused agricultural
surprises and problems to be accepted
as a matter of fact That has been the
case for great many years.
NEEDED NO GUARDIAN.
The South Dakota farmer did not
come here needing a guardian, neither
did he do anything foolish. He simply
worked hard, as he expected to do, from
the outset, and as all pioneers expect
to do everywhere, and the present mag
nificent results are simply the outcome
of the faithful labor. Mistakes were
merely incidental, and just as inevitable
as they are in every line of human en-
deavor from one end of the country to
the other. We all succeed, If at all,
in spite of our own blunders, and the
South Dakota farmer commenced bust
ness expecting to make few, no doubt
He does not need to expect excuses,
nor is there any necessity of calling at
tention to early hardships in season and
out Of season as a distinctive feature of
South Dakota agriculture
But what has been accomplished on the
farmers during the past two decades?
A few specific instances will serve to IL
! lustrate the general result. Twenty years
ago Jens Frandsen, a Dane, came to
entire possessions then consisted of
span of mules lumber wagon, a plow,
a drag and $25 in cash Today he owns
544 acres Of land, all fenced, about 100
head of blooded Hereford cattle, large
number of hogs and plenty of horses. lie
has all the necessary modern farm ma
chinery and fine barns and sheds. His
home is a pretty two-story brick, and
his children indulge in carriages and
bicycles At a moderate estimate Mr..
Frandsen is worth SOS, coo today. Not one
man in 10000 In the cities could start
out penniless and save that much In
twenty years by honest work. Another
instance noted near KimbaH, snort
distance this side of Chamberlain, can
be cited
A farmer named Geppert located there
twenty years ago, penniless, and took
to stock raising. To man without
capital the process is necessarily laborl-
Gus at the start, and for many years
A few days ago Mr.. Geppert sold his
ranch of 1900 acres for $4,000, and his
stock and personal property for $6,OO'
more, and with his family went to the
Paris exposition. A total of $4,000, be-
sides what was deposited in bank, is not
bad for a man starting under such condi
! lions.
ALL TELL SAME STORY.
/ 1t is needless to cite more instances, as
they all tell about the same story OF
substantial reward for hard work. Most
| of the farmers of the state We're very
! young men when they came, hundreds oil
| them under forty-five years old, and are
| in. financial circumstances which enaple
| them to take life easy.
The railroads are doing yeoman service
! in developing the state. AS has been the
case everywhere in the West, the locomo-
| tive has pushed ahead, side by side with
! the sod shanty, and it sometimes has ar
rived before the sod shanty. owing
| largely to it's fortunate location, but still
! quite as much to enterprise, born of abid-
| ing faith in the country, the Chicago &
! Northwestern has been able to accom-
plish more than any other road. 1t enters
| the state at Elkton, after traversing the
! entire width of Minnesota in a nearly
/ straight line, and keeps on through the
! center of South Dakota to Pierre. Num-
! erous feeders, or branch lines, en- route,
| enable it to care for a vast amount of
territory, and notwithstand ng It's large
| opera lions. there was less complaint reg s.
| tered against it in the old days of ex-
| IRENE anti-railroad agitation than against
any other line then operating.
The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Val
| ley Is one Of the pioneer roads that has
done its share In developing the state,
/ tapping the Black Hills by way Of Ne
| braska The people of South Dakota seem
to be greatly interested in the plans OF
! the Northwestern road, for the reason
| that it now has three lines started across
| the state from the Eastern border, eQui-
| distant from each other, the Northern
route reaching from Gary to Gettysburg,
| the Central from Elkton to Pierre, and
the Southern from Valley Springs to
Mitchell, while cutting across all three is
! line from Cakes, N. D., to Yankton, S.
| D. That the present terminals of the
East and West lines located less than
| half way across, will remain such very
! long no one believes, nor Is 1t probable
that the lines will be made to converge.
! That would mean a waste, and the pres
ent day railroading has got economy
down to a science. If the routes are ex.
tended in a straight line, as is probably
the intention, it will mean more railroad
i mileage in South Dakota belonging to d
Single company than any other state In
the union possesses or Is likely to pos
sess.
RAILROAD LINES EXTENDING.
Thus It will be seen that in South Da-
kota the transportation problem is as
good as solved already. 1t speaks we'll for
the foresight of the railroad managers
now that all industrial inactivity is at al
end in the state, that they are able to
point to their own complete and modern
equipment as fully equal to all demands
1t is good picture of industrial harmony
and its possibilities. 1t would be hard tC
find another state in which the farmers
the business men and the railroads have
worked together so closely or have kept
abreast of each other so well. It Is need
less to say that South Dakota is destined
to be one of the greatest wealth producine