The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-24
Farmers Of High-Priced Areas
Coming to See Northern
Wisconsin Lands.
LOW PRICES OF
LAND EXPLAINED
Lumber Concerns Refused to Sell
Mineral Reservations Have
Hurt in the Past.
BY w, A. Otis.

Special Correspondence.
Marinette, Wis, Oct. 21st, l905-It
Is gratifying to note the increasing
tendency on the part of the farmers liv
ing in the high-priced land sections to
drop their prejudice against the ter
ritories that are not thickly populated.
OF course prejudice emanates from the
lack of knowledge of true conditions
The continuous publicity given to the
northwest for the past ten years, and
more especially the past two years, Is
beginning to have it's effect as an edu-
Gator.
I met a man on the Chicago & North
Western train the other day who was
on his way back home from a. tour OF
inspection of northern Wisconsin, LANDS.
He was one Of the men who was broad
minded about this new country before
he came to see it, but even so. he was
about as surprised q man as | ever
talked to. He had lived his entire life
time in country which was we'll set
tied when he was born. He had read
from time to time about the severely
cold winters Of the northwest and
about the vast areas Of what he con-
sidered timber waste in the states Of
Wisconsin and Minnesota. He had
gained the impression that because Of
The enormous amount Of pine timber
in the northern half of Wisconsin, that
the soil must necessarily be altogether
too sandy for the successful pursuit of
agriculture.
It is not surprising therefore that he
was surprised when he found potatoes
better than he had ever seen raised in
Ohio; berries that for size, quantity
per acre and luciousness far excelled
anything that Ohio ever thought of
raising; wheat, oats, barley and rye
the equal of anything he had ever
heard of being raised anywhere; entire
fields devoted to the raising of the
sugar beet and netting their owners
$50 per acre. And all this in a coun,
try where the farmer does not have tc
go more than five miles from his home
during the open hunting season to shoot
a buck deer that will weigh 800 pounds
In country where the farmer ha!
flowing across his farm a river filled
with speckled brook trout.
to his home town and tells his neigh
bors what he has seen, the story will
seem exaggerated, but if this man tells
the whole story of his experiences i
will not be an exaggeration Of the pos
sibilities and beauties of northern Wis
consin.
Even among those W no are no longe
prejudiiced against this new country
there is still prevalent a certain sus
4 -picion. They cannot understand VIII,
lands which will produce what north
ern Wisconsin lands are producing, cal
be bought almost for the price they pa,
4 for renting land in the locality wher
they live This is not a hard point t
explain 80 far as northern Wisconsin
is concerned. It must be remembere
that the greater proportion of tn
northern half Of the state has bee
owned or controlled by large lumberin
concerns and these companies woul
not sell their lands until they had take
from it the timber that they considere
valuable for lumber. Then there wa
great deal of excitement thruout tn
northern part of the state for numbe
Of years brought on by the statement
Of mining engineers to the effect tina
all Of northern Wisconsin lands wer
a underlaid by enormous deposits of col
per said to be vastly superior in qua
ity to that of the northern penninsu]
of Michigan. This copper excitemer
precipitated demand by the large Ian
owners that clause reserving miner,
rights be included in all their deed
Very naturally, any man who is buyin
piece of land would not have reese
walton of any kind in his deed. TIL
kept a great many people from buyin
however. The mineral reservation
+ practically all done away with now ar
the people are focking into northel
Wisconsin and making their selection
before the prices advance
eco thou and do likewise