The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1903-11-06
VAST IMPORTANCE
OF IRRIGATION
How 1t Will Help and What Means
Are Possible.
Remarkable Growth of the Northw est, as
Shown In an Address of President j. j.
Hill at Irrigation Congress---Theory of
Successful Farming and Mutual De-
pendence of Farmers and Transporta-
ton Lines.

At Bismark, Oct. 81, new irriga-
don congress, primarily state organi-
cation, but indirectly affecting the en-
tire northwest, was formed~ Mr..
James j. Hill addressed the conven-
ton as follows:
Gentlemen Of the convention and I
won't omit the ladies, who have been
good enough to come-It is always.
pleasant duty with me to do anything
within my on every MY
interests OF the country, and particularly
of the Northwest. But it is a particular
pleasure, and / must confess to soft
spot in my heart for North Dakota, to
do anything towards furthering the in.
terests of this state. The best years OF
my life have been given to the develop
ment Of the Northwest, and the few years
that may be left to me hope to see a
continuance of the growth that you have
had since We started thirty years ago:
crossed the Red river. At that time there
were two houses in the valley, and the
nearest settler was at the old WOODEN
stockade at Pomme de Terre, place
kept as a frontier state station by
man and his wife by the name of Burns.
My first trip down the valley was made
a yellow dog. (Laughter.) At that time
was not sure that l would ever live
to see the country occupied. but within
two years, when the. snow was gone,
coming across the valley, I saw where
a wagon had cut the sod pulverized it.
ana sh s gds %h iSan grew m e nra
RE grass, and l knew the Almighty, in
His wisdom, had made it for a good
Some of the people who came in those
wagons are here today. and cannot let
the occasion, pass without saying now
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
new-when every one had to struggle
hnr6f 70 ernf fnrxU AVID oil n
that your lines have fallen in pleasant
places, and while new friends and new
acquaintances are good, we old people ,lt,
then-back TO the friends of that time
and go over the struggles we had then.
we mad less to 90 do Win hane them ed th Ia r we
terial wealth-faster than you know.
North Dakota will never be state to
tries of the country. You have no iron,
and l don't know what you have that
would make iron. Your native coal is
warm fire, a great deal better than moth
ing, but when it comes to the question
of making iron and steel, or the higher
tie to look for from that direction. You
can, in fact, and We hope you will, de-
velop the manufacture of wooden goods
and things that can be made under
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 that never wears out, but Which culti-
waited, will enrich the state and country
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
l will say to you before am done that
you have made a degree of progress that
is not surpassed by that of any state in
the Union.
Union has. ever equaled it. ,(Applause.)
You must look to your agricultural inter
ests, take care OF them, take caro- Of the
train them In the great work Of farming,
the science of agriculture.
mo place in the world will show the
advantages of good earth more than the
farm. To be brief and in order that l
might be correct l have had record pre-
and these figures are all from the railway
and commercial reports, so that they are
official In 1882 we had 1,OO7 miles of
5.59S miles In 1852 we had 1877 locomo,
tives; in 1892 we had 1927, and in 1908,
637. OF passenger cars in 1882 We had
cas- in ISL 3 ten ears ate in issa
1867; in 1903, 2S,7S1. Now here is the
material growth Of the Northwest. In
in 1903 we hauled 16,14S,000 tons, or 1900
per cent in twenty-one years. Now, the
tons of freight hauled. In 1882 these rec
figures. In 1892 the tons hauled one mile
were 997,000,O 200; in 1903, 1850, 000,0 600, or
400 per cent in ten years; and the import
ant things to you: and to us as well.
in 1882 our rate for carrying a ton Of
freight. that is the average rate over the
whole line 100 miles, was s251. In 1892
which is one-third of what the rate was
twenty -one years ago. In doing that;
this result has been been brought about; had
rate per ton per mile, or for carrying
ton Of freight 100 miles in 1898 as in 1882
freight earnings during the '' past year,
while actual collections were $50, 915, 900;
a decrease through reduction in freight
rates of $59, 904, 875.
THAT means that If the rate Of twenty
not have lived here; you could not have
waiting the Soil and paying us for carry
ing it to market 1t would have been
impossible. The reduction in freight rates
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,
owning about all the railroads north of
ST. Louis. But Il have been busy all the
time trying to take care of our own
lines. 1t used to be rare occasion that
any station would exceed in revenue in
any year 100000. 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
out of the Twin Cities coming down the
Fergus Falls division, then Elk River, st.
Cloud, Alexandria, Evansville, then Stew
ems and then st. Vincent, and only re-
Gently have the two last reached $780,
600 a year.
But now here in North Dakota you
have done yourselves proud. To give an
idea 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 Sal, 900, Hatton
$155,000 Northwood s125, 000 Fargo SILL
900, Grand Forks $595.000. Now to COM
pare Grand Forks with the big cities
take Minneapolis, $2,250,000. Grand
Forks produced over a quarter Of the en-
tire revenue of Minneapolis proper, Graf
ton 100000, Neche 1884 600. Now I am
going out into the new country, Larimore
and 1 will go north on the branch line
where there is nothing but local BUSH
ness. no through or transcontinental traf-
fic, only the local train running up and
back. two trains day most Of the time
$4,000, Park River $4,000, Edinburg
$50, 600, Milton $92, 900, Osnabrock-many
CT you do not know where it is-S1O5, 900,
Langdon $157,000, Dresden from $4,000
to SOS. 900 in four years, Wales from So 0GO
to $4,000 in four years, .Lakota from
$91 900 to $133, 900, Bartlett from SIG, 900
to 500, 900, Crazy from $4,000 to $4,000
Devils Lake from 1882, 900 to 1928, 900, and
S72 of this N fro IL