The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-09-04

''TRIELL now open this meetin' with pra'r
EW Brother Mercer, viii you lead in pra'F?'
w The people while Mayor Mercer
asked the Lord to bless the gathering.
The audience typical of the dwellers on the
second mountain" (which not mountain at ALL
but only the second elevation from the level of the
river, eighty miles away. They were uncouth peo-
pie Their long dog-skin oyereoats their high COON
skin caps their uncombed hair and shaggy boards all
told Of their hardy toilsome pioneer life Fifteen
years ago that rapidly growing and rich section
OF Dakota lay deserted by all save the roaring biz
zard, the wolves and the deer-lay all unconscious
OF the majestic power in its womb 20 yield No I hard
wheat which at Liverpool grades above all other
wheat in the world
The presence OF these people in that hall of the
proud and new court house at Lansing was TO hear
DANIEL Minds give out his scheme of railroad build
ing At the end of the prayer the man who had called
Tor 1t rose from his knees (he a Methodist) and
began to talk in embarrassed. hating manner.
There was something peculiarly attractive in his way
OF speaking. There glistened in his eye as he stood
before the people that night winsOmeness a cour-
age and hope which the dullest felt. He was tall
with small head and eyes; his hair was reddish
brown. and his slight mustache which clustered
around his mouth. of the color. Awkward
~, alphabetically and with strange smile he said
Il s'pOse yuh want tub know what I've got tub say
about, this plan to build a railroad Well it
seems kinder funny fer to stand up here and try
tur talk tub yuh. Anany of yuh, reckon, think my
place is cleanin out MOody's stable y | useto do
seven and eight years ago. Law me- of course can't
make speech but can tell yuh in plain way what
is the Lords will regardin this road fer b'Iieve that
the lord has called me tub this work
'Huh know, / guess, that we've he'd purity hard
times the last few years OF course we amt ez bad
OF ez the states, and u long e. this land Will
raise = good wheat y it does now and n much of it.
We'll git along But amt dom Y we'll as we useto
when wheat was high. Now, | don't look fer any
more dollar wheat stiddy. I don't know why Some
say it's silver and say it's terf but il seems
tub me that with all this wild land bein plowed up
and sowed in wheat can't expect anything but
more wheat and lower prices And the only thing we
can do 1T to keep down expenses and lower what it
costs to produce the wheat
Now one big why YOU and me hey sinh
little left after the crop is sold is the big slice the
railroad takes of it, The Great Mogul charges us
jest eZ much fer haulin ont stuff tur Duluth y he did
ten years ago, when wheat was worth a dollar a
bushel.
An this high charge works two ways Yuh know
we complain good deal at the way the stores stick
1t onto us in the way of prices Well Brother Mercer
showed me freight bill the other day ON some hard
ware and 1T was awful 1t explained tub me why he
mad tuh charge sub much for his goods
Now you fellers know all this and tell yuh the
only way fer tub get relief is fer us tub build road
ourselves up tub Duluth Twont help us al all To git
IN another road here of the same kind 2 this one
Ihey We got both roads at Gardner and they amt
any better off,
Il got our school teacher at Hanning tub draw, =
map fer me, and here it is. Yuh see both these Da
kota roads sway way down TO the south a hundred
and more miles out of their way to Duluth WHY
don't they run straight? Here I've drawed line
across from this town of Lansing straight tub Du-
luth' over land where grade would cost most nuth-
IN and hundred miles could be saved This roads
goln' tuh be built some day The only question &c
whether were goin' tub build it for our own benefit
or let some eastern felers build it fer theirs saw
we can build that road. and I'll tell yuh how"
Daniel Minds had always been odd In his youth