The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-11-06
VAST IMPORTANCE
OF IRRIGATION
How It Will Help and What Means
Are Possible.

remarkable Growth OF the Northwest. as
SHOWN In an Address of President j. j.
Hila at Irrigation Congress---Theory of
successful Farming and Mutual De-
pcndence Of Farmers and T~ransporta-
ton Lines.
at Bismark, Oct. 81, a new irriga-
S'on congress, primarily a state organi-
zaNon, u indirectly affecting the en-
TIRE northwest, was formed. Mr..
James J.. Hill addressed the conven.
ton as follows:
Gentlemen OF the convention and I
MSat omit the ladies, who have been
g iG enough to come-It is always a
within my ya pow glsh me EVERY to do on5 sny.hiRg
that offers. Itself. that VIII viii a Sapp9rsan thy
Of ta'e eha Of the country. and particularly
p1eas9re' and must confess to a soft
Spot IN my heart for North Dakota, to
S fere anyt Of tb,s soW Nfats f%SSst a the in.
my NY me nave been given to the develop
1he1t Oh the Northwest, n the few years
cnat may pc ~ left to me I hope to see a
Tad since we started thirty wears ago.
!. Is thirty,three years ago since I first
crossed the Red river. At that time there
nearest settler was at the old Wooden
stockade at .Pomme de Terre, a place
Kept as q frontier state station 81 a
man and MS Wife by the name of Burns.
MY hrst trip down the valley was made
behind three dogs, and one Of them was
q yellow dog: Qaughter.) At thai time
! was not sure that 1 would ever live
70 see the country occupied, but within
TWO years. when the snow was gone,
aor waeon ai hs@ c the th valley ley saw where
the grass. which grew in the ruts
was a foot higher thar the average prai-
RE Grass; and knew the A..7ighty, in
his WISDOM, had made it for q good
Some of the people who came in those
wagons are here today, and 1 cannot let
much pleasure it gives me to meet the
old friends-men who We're on the from
tier in the time when the country was
hard to get forward / am glad to see
that your lines. have fallen in pleasant
places, and While new friends and new
acqualntarces are good, We old people
are apt to turn to those whom we knew
then-back to the friends of that time
W e. ai Ice t = str.gg,es we had then.
nave. now. Now YOU LAY grown in ma
terial wealth-faster than you know.
n. North .rru ID Dakota Ii1a j, VIII VI never be e state to
tries of the country. You nave no iron,
n don't know what you have that
good substitute for straw. It makes a
warm fire, a great deal better than notha
ing, but when it comes to the question
OF ma Ak Ghi iron ian ana steel or the higher
tie to look for from that direction. You
can, m Iact, and We hope you will, de-
and things that can be made under a
roof without much expense.
North Dakota's Wealth in the Soil.
But your great sources of wealth are
and always will be in the soil. Your soil
that never wears out, but which culti-
in future years. All the wealth in the
the farm, the forest, the mine or the sea.
NOW you have got your share of good
soil and your farms are productive. and
you have made a degree Of progress that
is not surpassed by that of any state in
the Union.
-! question If any other state In the
Union has ever equaIed i. llApplause.)
You must look to your agricultural inter
s soana take beoe eIre s of 5hs thsm take &c s sahoo IF a shs
train them in the great work OF farming,
the science Of agriculture.
Advantages ao pseee Of II go 5os e MGtia more M,r SHAM than the
farm. TO be BRIEF and in order that
might be correct I have had a record pre-
and these figures are ali from the railway
and commercial reports. so that they are
of olti ;a.a In 1889 49, we 4 had ! 1907 TO- niles nj 5ao Ct
5.5ss miles. In 1852 We had 1$7 locomo.
tiyes; in 1892 we had s27, and n in 1903,
63a. OF OBJ pas scr cars ,o u 1 ls We We had aa9d
1857; in 1905, %, 7si. Now here is the
material growth Oh oao the Northwest: In
in 1903 we hauled 49, las, 900 tons, or 1900
per cent in twenty-one years. Now, the
of freight hauled. In 1882 these rec
.o,1e xryoro not Iya,,t nd T oo,,nNf Give fIa
figures. In 1892 the tons hauled one mile
were 997. 900. 600; in 1903, $3.50, 600, 900, or
400 per cent in ten years; and the import
in 1882 our rate for carrying a ton of
freight. that is the average rate over the
y Wa %ss l ne, 100 an niles e ,1s Ma5 + ss;sa. * In ce 1Sss
is one-third of what the rate was
tWenty-one years g In doing that;
the company received the anne average
ton OF freight 100 miles in 1903 as IN 1882
ifi freight Mpui earnings during the ss0, past year. ns
while actual collections were $50, 915, 900;
decrease through reduction in freight
s.That means that if the rate of twenty
one years had been in force, you would
not have lived here; You could not have
waiting the soil and paying us for carry
ing it to market. It would have been
impossible. The reduction in freight rates
mas USSu -dpouL W iASAC1Sih6
the volume of traffic: that is. we have
created new traffic by making it possible
for men to cultivate the soil and raise
crops which we carry to market.
''You have so many stations on the
lines OF the Great Northern. I do not
know about the other lines in the state,
although believe I an charged with
owning about all the railroads north of
ST, Louis But / have been busy all the
time trying to take care OF our owii
1t used to be a rare occasion that
any station would exceed in revenue in
any year 500. 900. Now there are SO
many in North Dakota that I cannot
count them without referring to a book.
/ can count them Off in Minnesota, how
ever: you stop at Anoka when you get
of the Twin Cities coming down the
Fergus Falls division, then Elk River. st.
Cloud. Alexandria, Evansville, then Stew
and then st. Vincent, and only re-
have the two last reached $780,
600 a year.
But now here In North Dakota you
have done yourselves proud To give an
of the growth, I will try and be
brief. At Aneta-it is only a few years
since the track. was extended there. our
business last year was s141.000. Hatton
Sl55, 600, N~orthwood $4,000 Fargo SELL
900, Grand Forks $685., 900. Now to CONE
pare Grand Forks with the big cities.
Forks produced over a quarter Of the en-
tire revenue of Minneapolis proper, Graf
ton 100000. Neche $33s4, coo. Now I am