The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1904-09-10
Continued from First Page.

IT not deStuctlOn, tossing Its taWn,,
name as it sweeps before it mil
lions Of tons of earth, cutting on
icy channels and building up hey
lands miles and miles in extent
Some day it may be possible to pu
in a great dam Il couple Of mile
wide at one Or two points wher
the river is confined between higl
sandstone bluffs; but this would b.
work which, while it would ere
ate a great empire of its own, would
make the Nile Dam with it's twenty
tive millions of cost, sink into com
parative significance.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO-DAY.
But there are other means OF
making the Missouri contribute tc
American prosperity. Your cor
respondent was fortunate enough
to make a trip some hundred miles
up the river Oh Il steamer, piloted
by n Of the old-time river kings,
Capt. Grant Marsh, famous as a
pilot and river explorer under Gus.
ter. Forsythc, Sheridan, Miles and
an important factor in many In
dian expeditions. There was little
IN common in my uneventful trip
and In such a Il as when Captain
Marsh brought back to Bismarck
the first news of the dreadful Gus
ter massacre, which made twenty
six widows Of army officers sta
toned at TT. Lincoln, just across
the river, and brought likewise a
score of wounded soldiers from Re-
nos detached troops. The Sioux
have had their passing, and ranch
ers and farmers may lwell and till
without fear Of swift humiliation
from marauding braves. But from
the pilot house Of the little steamer
L could discern. iii the not far fu-
ture. Il development along the Mis-
souri,, which would work a yet
greatcr change than that of the
past decade. For hundreds Of miles
the river is cncompassd by steep,
bluffs from 200 to $50 feet high,
and from two 10 three miles apart.
Between these. the river winds. Il
stream OF from Il quarter to a half
mile wide gradually changing it's
course from side to side. but form
ing great areas Of bench" lands.
twenty, thirty and fifty feet high
hundreds and thousands of acres Of
surprisingly fertile soil, needing
only irrigation. And the watering
of this land turns out to be among
she easiest of projects.
RICH COAL BEDS FOR PUMPING,
In every bluff Of the Missouri
showed a coal vein of. from 6 inches
to - feet in thickness; in fact.
enormous areas in North Dakota
are underlain with splendid Ignite
coal, worth at the mine only a dol
lar 1t ton. There you have it. The
water Of the Missouri, a limitless,
ceaseless supply, just above it land
made by centuries of river sedi-
ment and Immediately at hand, one
of the cheapest known fuels to
pump the water onto the land. 1t
does not take an engineer to see
the feasibility and cheapness Of
this undertaking.
But why. l asked myself, had it
not been done: Why had not the
farmers themselves put in wind
mills and small pumps: Was there
after all, some unsurmoulitablc OBJ
s%tacle? No. Talks with d few Of
them showed them us ignorant OF
irrigation and its simplicity as are
the farmers OF Vermont. In fact.
they were rainfall" farmers, and
they spoke Of irrigation as a mys-
terious and complicated process.
UNCLE SAM TO PUMP THE MISSOURI.
My return to Bismarck justified
my conclusions. l found two gov
eminent engineers even then inves-
tigating the problem, and far be-
yond supplying the great areas of
lower benches, they propose to ele-
vate the water a hundred and pos