The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1902-04-25
EoF many years we have believed Jim
IND talked for drainage. in that !locality.

assSAaNt uuos1y ySdsS We navS OSucvSO vlI
md talked for drainage, in that slocality
The Red river, the Iceland coulee, the
Carlisle coulee are the natural, parable
Hat1r- courses. Each has high bank.
thM prevent water draining into them.
The coulees lose themselves too soon to
dralna the land farther sonth. Main
chsnnels through the alkali belt to con-
meet with these coulees to make them
longer north and south, and deep ditch
east and west from the Red river, to the
Carlisle coulee on every section line
would furnish the main drains and each
farm could then have somewhere to
drain its own surplus water, and with it
the alkali.
We have before us government pub
lication on alkali lands, which gives ia
sort OF negative proof of our position.
Out in Montana, in the Yellowstone
Valley, where little or no rain falls, big
irrigation scheme was started and the
valley was made to produce crops abun-
dainty. In later years the land was
abandoned because of alkali. The water
from the irrigation ditch had soaked the
soluble salts from the ground and
evaporated, leaving the surface poisoned
with the alkali. The pamphlet says the
only cure is to drain the water away in
stead of letting it dry away.
| nnr fhcsnrx &c f,xtl,o~ \
fact that almost as fast as the drains and
bitches made in the better lands and
more thickly settled locations adjoining,
reach these lands, Just so fast people are
going in and opening up farms on what
was supposed to be untillable land, and
we know of many instances where men
have gone in on these lands and to-day
have as good farms as anybody-by the
use of Intelligence, energy and drainage.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty with
these lands is that they have been largely
abandoned by real farmers, or in many
cases by men who took them from the
government just to get a loan from a
mortgage company. In order to get
drainage it is necessary to have people;
but in this case, in order to have people
we must have drainage. AS we said all
around the borders the people are grad
dually working inwards and at the pres
ent rate of progress it will not be many
years when this locality will be as thickly
populated as any other part of the
county.
Our own experience is that constant
working Of alkali spots alone works out
the alkali.s Our chief difficulty in earlier
years was that wheat grew rank in a
good year, but failed to ripen before the
early frost. Later years wheat has
| ripened as soon as elsewhere Barley
and oats have always grown we'll without
single failure, and in opening up new
farm in the locality we would advise
making these the bulk OF the first crops.
In conclusion, we believe that the al
kali lands, SO called, are. valuable, be-
cause they are convenient to market, be-
cause they can be reclaimed, and when
reclaimed will be the richest soil DOS
sible.
On the other hand it would be a
difficult task for man to go into the
middle of this district, away from neigh
bors and watercourses and attempt to
grow crops without drainage, or to at
tempt to drain without assistance, though
we have seen men make quite a success
of even this.
OF course, we do not claim an alkali
farm to be as valuable as prairie farm
without alkali. Neither, as we under
stand. does anyone, either seller or pur-
chaser. But in our opinion. man can
go on the worst piece of alkali in the
district spoken of, and work it out, and
work it up into tillable, productive soil
at much less expense of money and
hard labor than to go into timber
country and make clearing, not to say
anything of the quality of the farm after
it is opened to cultivation. And we
would prefer to take our chances on one
Of these alkali farms. with its advantages
of market school. etc., rather than a
homestead forty miles from railroad
and twics as far from tree.