The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1904-02-06
IOWA AND THE DAko1As.

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to turn his attention to. The poor
boy without education came to the
state partly by rail and partly on
foot, with sometimes only a few
cents in his pocket to try to make
himself home. It was only an
experiment: very few had faith in
the wilds beyond the Mississippi
river. 1t was with great caution
these adventures selected their
lands. The timber claims were
given preference, as the prairie
lands were thought surely to be
nothing more than barren wastes.
Gradually wiser men with broader
views took up and bought up these
prairies. Today Iowa is considered
one. of the richest states.
Many of those who were strong
est in the belief that the country
west Of the Mississippi was worth
less could have left their posterity
many acres Of the rich and valua-
BILE land which would have meant
to them afiuence and position.
We have the men with us today
who started amidst the hardships
of the '40s.. He worked for small
wages until he could buy small
piece Of land. In those days they
rode sometimes forty miles to a
mill and drove their hogs ten miles
to a market. Now we see the man
whp went through all these trials
rich in the land which is now worth
and selling every day at from $50
to 500, and sometimes $15O per
acre. It seems like a fable, but in
reality it is the most prosaic ac-
count we, who know, can give Of it.
These Iowans who have grown
u, within the past twenty OF thirty
years, grated with the experience
of their fathers, who haYe watched
the growth and development of the
country, drawing their conclusions
from the past, have great faith in
the development of the country
north and west. Iowa money is
being poured into the Dakotas and
Minnesota fearlessly.
There are three reasons why the
Dakotas have a great future. The
first is that many people have dis
covered that these states have good
deep soil and rich as that of any
state in the union, that they are
banner states for wheat, oats and
hay; therefore they offer the great.
est inducements tor the raising of
cattle The poor man can buy
himself 16O acres of land, begin
with small herd of cattle. pasture
them on land which he can rent
very cheaply, feed them in winter
on hay which he made, also on land
rented for a song. The only out
put of money which need be made
in raising his cattle, is that needed
for a long shed to be used in winter.
IF he exercises patience, econo-
my and tick-to-it-iveness, his herd
will increase from year to year and
enable him to enrich himself in the
country's land. This is the only
road to success the farmer has in
any country, and there are many
living examples of success attained
in this way. Secondly, the culti-
vation of crops, the making of
groves, and the building of homes
and the many changes which ad-
vancing civilization brings, tend to
make more even climate, the win
ters now being not SO severe as
those of earlier times in Iowa.
Through the growing months of
the last few years to our knowledge
the weather in these states has been
practically the same as our proven
states.
Now, finally, when all these con-
ditions are SO good, and as men
have to work, with an ever increas-
ing population Of these United
States, with all the clerkships and
offices in cities filled to overtlowing
will the people not crowd out into
this land, which offers them much
freedom to work for themselves
and opportunity Western Pro-
gress: