Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-12-01

With the Fruits and Flowers Of Enlisht ened
Progress A Comprehensive View Of the
Progress of Half Century-The Locomo.
tive the Pathfinder Of Modern Civilization
The West Is Unique in Its Thrift and
Prosperity.
From Special Correspondent.
On trip over the Northern Pacific
railroad we are impressed with the
fact that the West has written another
large page in history. Again the sea.
sons have run their course, the harvest
is passed. The smoke of the thresher
engine is fast fading from the North
ern horizon. Nearly the last bundle
OF wheat is being fed to the thrcsher's
mouth, the last measure tossed in the
grain bin. The enormous crop is on
its way to the markets of the world.
From Minnesota and the Dakotas,
from the middle West and the inland
empire of the far Northwest the wheat
like tidal wave is rolling toward the
rising sun.
The West was not won by the trap.
per, the scout or the buffalo hunter,
but by the plow, the harvester and
the steam thresher. The most of us
may nibble our toast in peace without
botbering ourselves over where it came
from or how.
The Red River marks the beginning
OF the great Dakota wheat belt where
the pioneer is asserting his mastery
over the prairie and exacting from it
the tribute of golden grain which
means sustenance for the hungry.
Ont here all things center on wheat
and for good reasons. As the millions
OF the earth increase, the cry for bread
is rising higher all the while and those
who can answer it will become rich.
Far to the west filmy blue fringe of
timber marks the course of the Red
River whose silent waters move ever
onward to the mysterious north. Far
as the eye can see to the north and
south stretches the level field aud un.
broken view.
The locomotive has become the
pathfinder OF modern civilization. But
fifty years ago the three Red River
Valley members of the Minnesota Ter
ritorial Legislature came down from
Pembiue to the capital at st. Paul in
q dog sledge, making the trip of three
hundred miles in sixteen days. As
late as 1862, on the very day that the
first locomotive whistle was heard in
st. Paul, Red River caravan of forty
OK carts, loaded with fifteen thousand
dollars worth of furs, Indian mecca.
sins and dried buffalo tongue from
Pembine, arrived q. st. Paul. West
OF the Missouri river, after traversing
q rolling prairie country, the unique
region known as Pyramid Park is
reached. This is all Indian country.
Here in the early days the Ojibwsy,
Dakota and Sioux fought each other.
A large part of the country is given
over to Indian reservations.
The white man is gradually en-.
croaching on the red mans reserve,
done under the form of the law it can.
not be prevented. Already the trolley
reaches to the reservation gate, and
the time is not far off when the clang
OF the motorman's warning will echo
through the wigwam of the red man.
To forecast the ultimate fate of the
Sioux nation of Indians is not in our
province. Oil and water as readily
mix as do the Indian and civilization.
1t may seem incredible, but there is
decided element Of rest in travelling
through this western -country. No
one will regret the days spent in cross.
ing the plains and desert when the
mountains are reached and the Pa.
cific coast is not far away. One goes
to sleep in desert and wakes up in q
garden. On the trip from St. Paul to
Puget Sound one gets the extremes of
the country, extremes Of climate, hab-
its of life and civilization. Natures
wonder book has been unfolded. The
history OF the past and the promise of
the future have been read as an open
page, for old and new combine in this
far western land. The footprints OF
the pioneers are not yet Lost, the traces
OF the Red men are not all wiped
away, the future OF America is pictured
in the life of the miner and the COW.
boy, the farmer and the business man,
the explorer and the surveyor.
1t is in the west that the old and
the new America unite. The trans.
formation of the arid districts is really
an interesting sight. Along the rail.
road right-of-way the ground is
parcbed and brown, but just beyond
the barb wire fence the little stream of
life.giving fluid has caused the seem.
ing miracle and the green carpet of
meadow stretches over the floor OF the
desert.
The telephone pole and the rural
mail box have begun their invasion of
the sage brush. The coyote and the
jack rabbit are still retresting. There
is no waiting for the annual rain.
fall in this country. Man has passed
the point where he waits upou
the tardy and uncertain moveme nts