Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-07
THE DAkoTAs TODAY.
Promises and Prospects of South Da-
kota Interestingly Set Forth.

When the writer first travelled thru
South Dakota in 1884 the country was
rapidly filling up: towns We're being
exploited and doomed railroad hotels
were being built, and everywhere there
was a cosmopolitan. hurrying popula-
ton. Good farm housese were scarce,
but the sod houses were numerous.
roomy and comfortable, and the people
seemed to be happy. hopeful, and
everywhere prosperity prevailed. over
ali this there came a change.
First. the historical blizzard of
think it was 'S6-left thousands of peo-
pie crippled for life and hopelessly de-
spondent; this, aside from the death
roll. Then came successive years OF
drouth, until the very name OF Dakota
meant nothing but suffering. poverty
and failure. During all this time peo-
pie deliberately closed their eyes to the
fact that there was in South Dakota
a large body of rich and fertile land,
lying along the Big Sioux and the Mis-
souri, rivers. that could not be sur
passed in fertility and where the labor
of the husbandman never went unre-
warded.
Riding over these rich bottoms and
the years of calamity; a,most forgets
that there is still a large area where
the sweat of the toiler must turn to
tears. 1t is unfortunate that the mag
niticent plains of buffalo grass in cen-
trail and northern South Dakota were
ever turned by the plow. They would
have yielded wealth aud happiness in
their virgin condition. But that part
or South Dakota that has always
yielded return is now richer and bet
ter than ever. Comfortable houses and
great barns are on every side, while
smart towns. with large stocks and
good banking facilities. are found all
along the lines of railway. The day OF
the boomer in South Dakota is over as
well as the opportunity of the shyster
banker, whose only capital was his sta
tionery. to take 5 per cent month.
There is, perhaps, no richer body of
land on earth than that thru which the
Milwaukee road runs from Sioux City
to the Platte. The great bottom lands
lying west of Sioux City will not be as
profitable in 1903 as usual for the rea-
son that the excessive rainfall has kept
thousands of acres under water and 1T
was impossible to plant ;hem. This is
not true of all these bottom lands, nor
Of most of them. 1t is only very linn
tied area after all that must lie fallow.
One sees magnificent fields of oats and
wheat in wholly unexpected places, and
while on one side of the track the land
is not planted. on the other side, Where
the elevation is perhaps six inches
higher, great cornfields, thrifty and
clean and of an almost black green
ness, are belly high to the horses. Much
of it has been laid by, and in the other
fields the cultivators are busy in giving
them the finishing touches. Between
Vermillion and Yankton one sees the
most idle acres. After leaving Yank-
ton, up on the upland, the scene
changes. Never was there more mag
nificent promise. Waving fields of
small grain. reaching to the average
mans shirt stud. heavy and dark and
well filled can not now meet with any
imaginable calamity. The corn, too.
gives promise of the greatest yield ever
secured in this part of the state, but
corn is crop that is never out Of dan
ger till Aug. l.
While on the bottoms one sees corn
belly high and other fields not over six
inches high. on the uplands the crop is
even and fine. All the way from Yank-