Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-10
FREE LAND WILL Be DRAWN
80 Says Editor from Bonestesl Of, Rosebud
Agency Opening.
DRAWING WILL OCCUR IN SEPTEMBER
Extension of EIkhorn Road. which
Taps Territory to BE Settled
.RyLn he Finished ins Time
for Opening.

Laying the steel on the verdigris ex-
tension of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Mis-
souri, Valley railroad began Monday morning
at the Verdigris end. The tract Of agency
land in Gregory county, South Dakota, at
the erminus OF this Lew line, will not be
opened by the government for homesteads
till the Elkhorn has Its line completed to
Bonesteel and is ready TO carry the pas
senger business connected with the rush.
The section to be opened aggregates 416,0O0
acres, or 1900 free homes of 100 acres each.
The chance system will be used, and Bone
steel will be the location OF the drawing.
The Elkhorn road expects to make $1,000
900 out OF this opening, enough to cover
half the expense of its new extension from
Verdigris to the scene. AS near as can
be said at present the opening Will be on
September 20, or within a few days Of that
time. The Elkhorn expects TO be in COM
pleted condition for service shortly after
September l. Three new towns are now
building in Boyd county, Neb., as a result
OF the new line being located on 1t.
These ten new facts were gathered Monday
morning from ID. w. Forbes Of Bonesteel,
editor OF the Gregory County Pilot and OF
the Homesteader's Guide. Mr.. Forbes ar
rived in Omaha from his home and was in
conference with Elkhorn officials much OF
the day. He is intimately familiar with the
situation in Gregory county, and with the
status at Washington Of the plan to open
the portion OF the Rosebud reservation.
Everything waits on the new railroad"
said Mr.. Forbes. LAS soon as that is fin
1shed the drawing will come of. 1t will
certainly be in September, probably Sep
TENDER p.
Boom in Two Counties.
'You cannot imagine what a great effect
of new inhabitants and neighbors has had
upon both Gregory and Boyd counties. In
Boyd county three new towns are being
built. The first one west of Niobrara is
Monowi, six and a half miles east of Lynch.
Next comes Bristow, between Lynch and
Spencer. Then there is Anoka, two and a
half miles north of Butte. This 1. the new
station required because the new line could
not get into Butte owing 70 its elevation.
That gives a town in every township from
Niobrars clear TO Bonesteel, the terminus,
and two in some.
Further illustration Of the spur to up
building which this line has been may be
found in Bonesteel itself more strongly than
anywhere else. AS soon as 1t was decided
to end the line there building began. The
result is that 200 buildings have been
erected in the last two months, and that
while we had 100 inhabitants three months
ago we have 600 now.
1.-THE Elkhorn has now bought it's ter
minal grounds there, twenty-six acres, for
which the road paid 500 an acre. Its
grading is completed for forty-seven miles
Of the sixty-nine and the track laying, which
began this morning, will be carried on at
the rate of a mile a day. So it is plain
that the line itself will be finished before
September. What will delay some is the
bridge across the Niobrara, but that will
be built as fast as a bridge can be. The
road has doubled up its force and now has
all of 600 men working on the extension"