The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-03-24
THE PROSPERITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA
State Is a Wealth Producer Of the First northumberland
kaaae..es. Within the Reach Of All.

William e. Curtis, the famous CORE
spondent Of the Chicago Record-Her-
aid. visited South Dakota, and this is
what he wrote after a careful investi-
cation of conditions:
South Dakota has been picking up
In various ways, and no longer has any
poverty-stricken farming population.
The people have prospered abundant
ly for several years. They have learn
ed the soil and the best crops to plant
and how to handle them and not state
in the Union is doing better. The de-
velopment of South Dakota may best
be estimated by the sale of agricul-
tural implements and machinery, wag-
ons and carriages, pianos and organs,
and by the erection of new houses by
the farmers. Recent travellers who
have passed through that state say
on almost every farm, and when you
go to town on Saturday he says that
the streets are lined with new car
riages and wagons These are the best
barometers of the agricultural condi-
ton of a country"
South Dakota bears the distinction
of producing, year after year, more
wealth per capita than n state in the
Union. The production of cereals, po-
tatoes, hay, fodder, live stock, butter,
eggs, poultry, minerals and other prod
ucts for the last three years has av-
eraged nearly $120,0OO,0 900 annually.
Estimating the population, as given
by the last census, at 401 900, the per
capita production is v $500.
The actual per capita production IN
1901 by the most conservative esti-
mates was 1884. Counting the popula-
ton at four and one-half persons to a
family, it would give the sum of ST.
278 as the average earning for the
head of each family or household.
1t Is small wonder then that South
Dakota is the most talked of state be-
tween the two oceans. a young, hus-
Ting commonwealth that has lived
down all that was ever said against it
and that, very little. To-day the
state ranks with the great agricultural
states of Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Ne
braska and Minnesota, with the added
prestige of the great Black Hills min
ing district, the richest one hundred
square miles in the world" The Black
Hills alone will turn out $40, 900, 900 of
gold this year..
This is not bad for a side issue, is
1t?
Mr.. Hill's Opinion.
"The years are not many before ev-
Northwest that will raise corr will sell
for 500 an acre" This is the spoken
opinion Of James J. Hill, the great
railway magnate of the Northwest, of
whom it may be truthfully said, No
man ever had a cleared foresight of
the future of the far West.
At first thought 800 an acre for
North Dakota farm land seems vision
airy, but it has already come. Within
the past year farms in the southeast
|ern part of the state have sold for over
800 an acre. while deals have been
many for the large farms at prices
close to $75 and 500 an acre. 1t is
|only a dozen years since the best corn
land in Iowa was selling as low as $35
an acre. To-day such lands are hard
to find at 500 an acre.
"The Last West"
Did you eve think how rapidly the
United States as a whole is growing;
|of the enormous immigration coming
every month, year in and year out, to
our shores; of the constant pushing
and %crowding and fight for place in
the Over-pOpulated communities of the
East? What is to become of all these
people, unless it means the gradual
and sure expansion of the agricultural
resources of the nation?
And where is the land to be had?
There is only so much land. There
rs no way Of making any more of it.
|Of that remaining fit for agricultural
lis little to be obtained which is within
the reach of men of moderate means.
IL the government ever undertakes to
reclaim the arid lands by irrigation, it
means from $40 to $50 an acre to the
purchaser. The lands of Western Kan
|sas and western Nebraska have been
gone W and over and settled and re-
settled, and found wanting for general
farming purpC Jes.
Cheapest and Best.
-
South Dakota lands at present prices
are the cheapest lands for general
farming and stock raising on the face
|of the earth. Comprising, as the state
does, more than 10000 square miles
and $4,000, 900 acres, there are lands in
the greatest quantity to suit all classes
and at prices ranging from IS to 500
an acre. The price depends largely
upon location, Improvements and near
mess to railroads, and whether in the
newer or older settled portions Of the
state. There is no difficulty in secur-
ling Just the kind Of a farm or a ranch
that you have in mind, while to the
investor the state presents opportuni-