The Tupelo journal., 1905-12-15

will cross the reservation in an east and
west line to Wyoming and a junction
there with the Chamberlain extension
to and beyond the Black Hills.
Therefore there now has begun the
transformation of that great western
half of South Dakota from Nebraska to
North Dakota and from the Missouri
river to the Wyoming and Montana
lines which so long has been "the cattle
range"
Little has been known, except to the
cattleman and the sheepman, Of this
great region of prairie butte, valley
and river course. 1t was first mapped as
part of the Great American DESERT" Of
which so much already has been trans
formed by the entrance of the railroads
and the multitudes of pioneers they al
ways bring and usually precede. Nearly
all of the region is certain to be settled
upon and put to use.
In the valleys where the cattleman
now cuts hay for winter feeding and
where the coyote skulks among the
homes of prairie dogs, farm homes or
towns and cities are sure to stand with
in a decade. There are scores of wide
valleys for which storage waters for ir-
rigation can be secured; hundreds OF
thousands of rich acres which the hand
of nan can make enormously prOduc-
tive and already this work is well under
way.
Next year storage waters will be
turned upon 5000 acres of land north of
the Black Hills. The following year 3d.
900 acres will be irrigable. In 1908 no
less than 80, 000 acres and probably more
will receive at the will of their owners
all the water needed for any kind of
farming or gardening. The soil is rich
and deep and a great irregular tract is
certain 'to blossom as the rose"
This project is in charge of the
United States government and $4,000, 900
will be expended in the storage of waters
from Grow creek in a great lake, the out
lets of which are now being damned.
The engineer in charge is Raymond
F. Walters.
1t has been found in the irrigated
Spearfsh valley inclosed within the
Black Hills at their northwestern ex-
tremity that all crops. including apples
and prunes, grow prolifically in the soil
and climatic conditions prevailing in the
region which is to be irrigated by the
Belle rourche project"
Other similar projects will be under
taken as o as this great first one is in
operation. These have received great
encouragement from the railroads, all
material being transported at half rates,
as it is certain the result of the irriga-
ton projects will be an increase Of popu-
lation of tens of thousands of people.
This encouragement is in accord with
the policy which has prompted the rail-
roads to send out good road specials
and 'seed specials"-trains with lee
turers on board to aid the farmers in
their knowledge of how to make money.
However momentous in the history of
Dakota are the extensions now under
construction and proposed by the Chi
cage & Northwestern and the Chicago,
Milwaukee q st. Paul railways as re-
CARDS wealth and population, one can
not accept the inevitable change with
out lament for the free, whole-hearted,
daredevil days of the cattleman's SUI
premacy. The cowboy of the stage type
is hard to find even now. There still are
a few "cow punchers" who cling to the
traditional "chaps" and spurs, but there
is no Colt in a holster on either hip.
There still are, however, hundreds of
COW punchers of a less dangerously
equipped type, quite as fearless Of man
or horse as the cowboy Of other and
more lawless days. They had a life Of