The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1904-09-02
|WMhERS|NFT. TOTTEN LAND[0TTERY.
Names of First Hundred Who Drew Lucky Numbers
MANY North Dakota Men Are Lucky.

promptly at Wednesday morn
ing, Commissioner Richards, of the
general land Office, assisted by the as
sociate judges, James Twanley, of
Grand Forks and Judge Wakely, of
Omaha, started the drawing for the
last of Uncle Sans 1904 lotteries.
TEo armory hall, where the drawing
took place, was we'll filled with anx-
ious people all excited over the lot
terry for land.
The armory hall is quite a large
building and used as an opera house,
hall and armory combined, and on the
stage the drawing took place. Here
the judges mentioned, with their
large force of clerks, stenographers
On one side. and several newspaper
representatives on the other, were 10.
Gated.
AS Howard Maher, aged 10, and
frankie Prosser, aged IA, the two boys
selected by the officials to draw the
names from the wheel, prepared to
draw number one, there was the great
est excitement, which seemed to grow
more intense as each fraction of
second passed until the envelope was
examined by the officials, stamped No.
l. opened and the name of the winner
read. The excitement died down
somewhat after the announcement of
the first name, but it again seemed
TO grow more and more intense as peo-
pie recovered from the shock they
received at not being number one. Z,
For some time before the first name
was drawn. the wheel was turned and
turned and the 15,076 envelopes con.
tined therein well "churned" before
the boys began to draw the names that
are now being read throughout the
country by anxious "homeseekers."
Several petitions have been sent in
to the secretary of the interior asking
for the location of townsites at diff
ferent places on the reservation, and
the winner of the first claim. should
he locate near one of the townsites
that are sure to be located on the res
ervation will have claim worth in
the neighborhood of $4,000.
Should he prefer a good piece of
farming land. rather than to wait un-
Ill ne is'iin a position to dispose of
town lots, many claims that are worth
$4,000 can be. had. -.
Some claims are worth much less
than this. as some of the land has
small timber on it. but most of the
land is worth from SIS toaS2O an acre.
Six hundred names are all that will
be drawn the first Gay, ard these it is
expected will be all that is needed to
cover the winners. There are a: few
less than that number of homesteads
on the reservation, but as: experience
has taught the @. .cials- that some per-
sons will not respond when the filing
commences, to complete their entries.
the additional names are drawn.
Immediately. after the drawing
about twenty-five persons started to
send out notices by mail to the win
ners, and then all the other 15,O76
names in the. wheel will be drawn
out during the coming several days,
and the persons. who registered all.
notified just What number they hap
pened to get, for each one of the en-.
velopes down to the very last will be
drawn and numbered and notices sent
to each person. This is done so that
each person: who registered will know
that he was given fair treatment, and
that his name was in the wheel and
given the same chance of being drawn
first as the rest of the envelopes.
The names of the first hundred are
as follows: ~
!: Bruce G: Warren, Forest River,
% N. D. ~; ~. -
Alexander o. *Rindahl, Rindahl,
MINI. ~.-
John r. Milne, Herman, Mimi.
Carl Anderson, Washburn, Wis.
James Crenin. Thompson, N. D.
Thorvald L. Quanrud, Meckinock,
N. D.
Anders Granum.. Fargo, N. D.
William Kelly, Braham, MINI.
: W. E Delay, Grand Forks, N. D.
Alfred Thompson, Elbow Lake,
Minn.
Ole "A. Knudson, Park River, N. D.
Mathews o. Lebacken, Reynolds,
N. d.
Michael Temple. Mimic, N. D.