Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-02-24
BETTER THAN THEORY
THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE OF A
FORMER IOWA RENTER ON THE
MISSOURI SLOPE BEGINNING
WITH A LARGE FAMILY AND
500.

A5L ALI
MISSOURI SLOPE BEGINNING
WITH A LARGE FAMILY AND
500.
The actual accomplishment of deeds,
the true banking" test upon which
to plan and build. The progress Of
one means the progressiveness Of the
entire country \
The single incident of a bent and
broken down renter from Iowa can
be repeated with greater success and
profit by thousands of others.
The case in mind vas of a gentleman
whose capital was very limited, whose
health had been impaired by years of
arduous labor, for the ph~ilanthropica1
landlord of Iowa, who after the
clouded experiences that fall to thous-
ands of honest, industriaus men find
the rainbow's end receding and driven
by the forced conclusions that once a
''renter" he would continue so all his
LILY AC uuduO IuC z IldC OOulC
choked with uncertainties and perplex-
titles. Landing at Bismarck in the
early spring of 1900 with but one hum
dred dollars in his pocket, he made a
trip of twenty-five miles by wagon to
the quarter section he had selected as
a homestead. With a wife in poor
health, a family of small children on
his hands. it took + to do it, but
it paid.
He left his family under the hos
pitable shelter Of a neal neighbor and
proceeded to make a home. Though
old and nearly worn out with years of
hard toll for Others, every sod turned
over %gladdened his heart with the
thought that if it yielded it would
yield for him.
The first work was on the turning
over of the unbroken prairies and with
poor horses and no money he. could
spare to buy feed it was slow work,
but forty acres was made black by the
laying over and exposure of the dark
loan and was seeded down with fax,
which had been kindly loaned to him.
After the crop was in he proceeded
to erect an abode for himself and fam
lily; adroit with small tools, as are
most of our practical men, he soon had
a shelter for his family thrown up, it
is true, in haste and not habitable for
winter, but the warm spring days had
come and the long summer and fall
was before him for making cozier his
conditions. Much of the summer
was spent in building pastures and
framing a shelter. for his horses and
cows. The fall came and gave him as
all falls do in this country, many days
of work in harvest and with t%hreshing
machine, and when they came to his
little piece of fax it turned out for him
a small fortune in his eyes, S1l@ BUSH
els per acre, at 81 Is a bushel. He
had earned during the fall enough to
buy the necessary provisions for the
winter; his 40 acres of flax yielded
him a working capital of 1925, more
money than he had seen at one time
in all the years he had rented in Iowa.
Before the cold weather had set in he
had sOdded UP his shell house and
stuffed the frame barn with straw and
manure and was ready to hibernate
for the winter. coy, comfortable and
happy; for though it was not imposing
it was grand, for he felt free and in
dependent and was growing to have
some se1f-respect.
The winter was passed not unpleas-
antly for it was an open n and as
he had been deluded by the false re
ports that have their origin other than
the source from which they should
come was looking for the bogy Dakota
billiards, he was tortured only by the
fear Of them and as the winter wore
away and they failed to materialize he
concluded somebody had been lying
to the detriment of the country.
The following spring 40 acres more
was turned over to sun and rain and
yielded again to his entire satisfaction.
The 40 acres broken the first season
was put into wheat and the new break
ing into flax again. After his crop
was in, work again was offered him at
fair wages and the second fall found
him rich with 300 bushels Of wheat and
between 800 and 400 bushels Of fax,
all his own and no "divvy," when the
land owner got the meat and the lab
orer got the chaff.
This is al actual circumstance that
can be youched for and shows very
plainly the wealth that will come to
this great state by the sons of toll.
The quarter section that this
IoWan selected for a homestead and
had broken and cropped to such com
plete Satisfaction to himself, was moi