Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-04-15
into ITS INHERITANCE
Missouri Slope and West Missouri
Country Coming into its Well
Earned Inheritance.
Healthy Growth Of the Section Of the
State and Good Demand For
Farming Lanes.
All Glasses Share in the General Pros
perity Of the Western Part of
the State.

After many years the Missouri slope
and the western portion of the state
of North Dakota is coming into its
inheritance. The mushroom groWths
and the mutations of boom days have
given way to a steady and substan-
tial improvement in general conditions,
the present year promising to see more
development than any year for the
past decade Or more. Hardly a train
over the Northern Pacific but bears
la~nd-seekers into this section of the
state. nearly all of whom make pur-
chases. Where five or six years ago
there were thousands of acres of partly
improved farming lands to be picked
up at 50 and So In acre, today there is
little land to be had at any fair figure,
nearly all of it being bought up, either
by actual settlers, or by investors who
are holding it for better prices. East
of the Missouri river the Northern
Pacific has closed out all its land
holdings to land corporations, which
are stiffening the prices every few
months. West of the river, much of
the railroad land has been bought by
syndicates, which have entered upon
a plan for settlement by farmers and
stockmen. Within the past few
months half a dozen land companies
have been organized to deal in land by
thousands and hundreds of thousands
of acres. These land companies have
found the business highly profitable.
They have taken the tide of human
events at the flood, and cleared up for
tunes in a few months from the hun
ger of eastern farmers and land own
ers for more land in the northwest.
Nearly twenty years ago there was
a boom in real estate property values
in Bismarck and the surrounding coun-
try, but it was no such healthy growth
as at present. Then it was city prop
erty. and not farming and stock rails
ing lands that were in demand. Some
Of the prices paid for real property in
Bismarck were almost fabulous.
Blocks Of unimproved and outlying
lots sold for $4,000 to $4,000. Quar-
ter sections of land lying miles from
the business center of a city of 5000
people sold for $4,000, the purchasers
intending to plat it, and sell it again
in town lots. The location of the
capitol at Bismarck caused an unpre-
cedented rise in values, as unhealthy
as it was short lived. 1t has taken
twenty years for the Missouri slope to
recover from the effects of the capitol
boom of 1883.
Principal among the features of de-
velopment in the western part of North
Dakota this year will be the work tc
be done by railroads. 1t is practically
settled that the 500 will build from
Braddock in Emmons county to Bis.
J marck this season. The officials O.
!, the 500 have promised the completion
t of the Bismarck extension if the citi
zens of the city would furnish right O
way and terminal facilities in Bis
marck~ The citizens of the city hav'
taken steps to carry out their share O
: the agreement and the terminals will
be ready for the 500. Ties and ma
l terials have already been shipped b.
the 500 to Braddock, and Chief En-
= gineer Green of the road made an over
land trip over the grade a few day
= ago. to see what work would be neces
q sary. The work will begin this mont
Or next and the road is to be irone'
t into the city by the first of Septembe
: next, The completion of this road viii
afford Bismarck and the s%urroundin
country competitive freight rates, an
will afford a north and south connec
ton with the Bismarck, Washburn an
Great Falls road, which has opened u
and settled a rich farming and stoc
country. 1t will be an important com
petitor of the Northern Pacific in tn
S stock regions in the western part {
the state. for a ferry will be operate
at Washburn, and cattle may be shiI
n ped across the river there, and ma
y. keted via the Washburn and 500 road
The 500 also carry the Ignite coal frol
the Burleigh county coal fields int
the country along it's line. The Wasl
burn road, which was built into a CON
p%aratively new and unsettled countr
a few years ago, is now a payin
t, property, and does a large grain bus
Is ness, operating in connection with
1T line of steamers which tap the farm
h ing in Mercer county and or the We
er side of the river. ~
re The Northern Pacific will retalia
by cutting into 500 business, and m;
terials are being shipped for The b
s. ginning Of work on the extension fro
Or Mckenzie southwark through Emmo1
sr county to the Missouri river. Til