The Dickinson press., 1902-10-11
Western North Dakota.

WV tN~e y ~~gNON~e
THREE NORTH DAKOTA COUN-
TIES WITH BRIGHT FUTURES
AS WELL AS SOLID ACHIEVE
MENTS.
Minneapolis Journal: North Dakota
is a great cattle state and will be a 6 great
er. 1t has now about 100000 head of
horned cattle, 100000 horses $4,000
sheep and $4,000 swine. These are to-
day worth s5o,ooo,ooo.
The state has two distinct cattle coun-
tries. One in the eastern and north
western part Of the state where the cat
tie are raised in conjunction with gener-
al farming, or as an incident thereto.
AS you go west this shades into the gen.
uinc cattle ranch, where what agricul-
ture there may be is incidental to cattle
raising. The whole western half or two
thirds OF the state had, until recent years,
been more of a cattle country than any
thing else. But the solid ranks of the
advancing farmers now extend up to
and beyond the IoI meridian so that
now the great bulk of the cattle country
lies west of that meridian both north and
south of the Missouri river. Dickinson,
the county seat of Stark county, is the
seat of the cattle raising business in
southwestern North Dakota. Another
Cattle center is Medora, county seat Of
Billings county, where the Marquis de
Mores, the brilliant and eccentric
Frenchman who afterwards was mur-
dered by the Touracgs in Tunis, held
forth in his extravagant fashion for some
years.
This southwestern part of the state in
cludes the 5000 or 5000 square miles
that make up the Bad Lands. Neverthe.
less. these counties of Stark, Billings
and Hettinger contain some of the finest
grass lands in the world. That the Bad
Lands are not so vetv bad may be gath.
cred from the fact that over 100000 head
OF cattle feed within this very region
While in Minneapolis last winter Ernest
Seton-Thompson, the traveller, natural
list and author-lecturer, stated that in his
opinion the soil is in places verv rich
and productive, SC that considerable
areas may be proftably cultivated. Blu
tor the stock raising, nature in no othel
part of the world has designed suct
ideal conditions. He is confident tina
the Bad Lands will take a leading par
in making North Dakota one of tn,
greatest livestock sections in the world
Already from $1,000 to 10000 head O
beef cattle are yearly shipped from tn
Bad Lands herd and as many more e
from the Stark county herds, bordering
on the east.
The Kind Of natural stock food that il
to be found in Stark, Billings and Het
finger counties may be inferred from
what Professor Waldron, OF the state ag
ricultural college says about the grasse
OF North Dakota:
"North Dakota has a grass area O
100000 acres, capable of producing
each year as much beef as is represented
by 100000 3-year-old steers, allowing
twenty-five acres to each animal. Thes,
yoked together would make an OK team
500 miles long, thus giving an idea O
the immense productiveness of our pas
lures. Over the whole region the aver
age rainfall is seventeen inches, in thi
respect being superior to most of tn
other grazing lands in the United States
ut is probably we'll known to most O
you that a plant does none of its worl
in the dark, that all of its active process
SEES in taking the simple elements in ma
ture and reducing them to the form O