Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-03-06
GREAT RUSH For Lawn
Tvs hundred Thousand New peor,s
Expected In Sonth nnLat.

pScteu IN south Dakota
SOUR k is land-crazy, and 200
wv mmlgrant are to be brought into
the state this year. South Dakota was
iand-crazy once before, but the delirium
Is the wilder now, because II took so
iong TO recover from the first cxcesses.
ihat the railroads are committed t.
the task of bringing in the 200, 900 would
be inferred from the fact that a land
company affiliated with the Chicago.
milwaukee & st. Paul has. since Ian. l,
acquired 2S.600 acres in Northern South
Lakota-in the northern part, because
the southern part took It's fight last
year. Five other parties. following in
the wake of the railroad, have bought,
In six weeks, &C, 400 acres.
The people in the sos lost their crops
because there vas no water from above.
n farmers of 1900 began watering
their fields from below by artesian
wells. Last year South Dakota had the
best crop west OF the Mississippi.
There wasn't any particular advance
In land prices until 1898. 1t could be
picked up almost anywhere in the state
Tor 30 per acre. This is the way it ad-
vanced, in averages. for the state:
Year. pr;c,
to"o'''' a. 80. ............. 500
.""1'''' ''.' ...'.. ....... -. 500
I9VV''.' -. '... .............. 10. 20
ASol' .... -...... 800. 1900
And this yea the average is expected
to pass the $40 mark.
Before 1898, so, 900 acres of land was
a big total for the State of South Dako-
Ia. Since then it has looked like this:
Year. Acres,
IoSe''.. $500. .............. 0 10000
1879. ..... 300, 900
isoo. -. &C.. ............... 1000 900
1871. ....... .... 0-.......... 1000, 90
A few big stakes were made in South
Dakota land deals last year. MIR. Ed
munds of Yankton bought an S,000-acre
n W years ago for $50 900. When
he sold the last quarter-section last
year he was 5000 richer. The Adams
u Floete company of Chicago turned
sixty manifestations twice, and made
500, 900.
South Dakotans who came to the state
in the sos haven't forgotten the exodus
But they say II won't happen again.
They say the people have learned that
To do with South Dakota. This is what
they mean:
In five months last yea 81 to 131
craameries in South Dakota paid S452,-
AGA for some SO, $4,000 gallons of milk;
so the 131 must have done a 1901 bust
$500. - 90 mn mn 300. 100, IE.
was not a dairy in the state, nor .
cheese press.
The farmers found South Dakota was
made to grow range cattle. Cattle
sheds are a curiosity. In the range
country, where the cattle of a single
ranch Craze by thousands on as many
acres. there are two kinds of grass, the
buffalo and the alkali. The buffalo
grows in knots. 1t curls up like fine eX-
celsior in the fall and cures On the
ground. The cattle go roofing for the
feed in winter and turn up fat In the
spring.
Then the farmers found that South
Dakota was not so sure a wheat coun-
try. When two-thirds of the 23.5 inches
of rain comes in June. July and Au-
gust. 1t is not wise to try to make
wheat grow through the cold, dry, win
tes. But, as 1t was, South Dakota grew
q, 600, 600 bushels of wheat in l9Oo-ninth
in the United States.
The men who IRE moving to South
Dakota now have money. They are tile
sons and %grandsons of men who went
early to Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and the
younger generation moves west. They
come with money to put up their bull
ings. build their fences, plant their trees
and buy their implements. They VIII
keep on coming, for there are 1000 600
acres of rich ranch land west OF the
Missouri-the land of the buffalo grass
to be had for so cents per acre from
the government. When the $4,000 acres
of the Rosebud Indian reservation-land
worth from 1000 to $1,000 per quarter
is opened in accordance with the treaty
there will be 5000 claimants to rush Tor
the land.