Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-07-19
MAKING A NEW WEST

1 ''Sdby fC oSo " aS
| still very much the matter with
Kansas and other Western States
Wichita and Fargo were hanging
perilously near the edge of the exist
ing rain-belt. The Antelope as well
as the Buffalo were still furnishing
excellent sport for the hunters. But
today they are farming the Buffalo
range of the Dakotas, and the broad
wheat fields have driven the Antelope
beyond the former frontier.
Out in Wyoming and Montana is
going on today one of the last of the
big land rushes that will be possible
in The west. Billings is at present a
regular western boom town and the
fact cannot be disguised. Here are
gathered the land hungry home
seekers from every part of the country.
The man from down east with some
capital and much confidence in here
and it it quite likely that he will need
both. He is in new country and will
have to learn new ways. His bank
account will save him much hardship
and will ward off the privations the
boomer OF olden days had to undergo
before he conquered the prairie. You
can recognize him when he rides into
Billings because he wears a white
shirt ana rides in rubber tired buggy.
His wife is a college graduate, who
has trained voice and who knows
the inS and outs of giving pink tea.
Up to the present time she thinks the
west is too nice for anything.
This white Shirted eastern farmer
and his up-to-date wife are new factors
in pioneering, and it remains to be
seen whether they will have the stay
ing qualities of their less polished but
more courageous predecessors. Going
west in Pullman car, is different
proposition from making the trip in a
''prairie schooner" and living in sod
house for years after getting there.
The new comers will probably use
their heads more than their hands.
and it has been pretty clearly shown
that in farming as in everything else
little head work goes as far as a
whole lot of heavy lifting.
The Indian has the center of the
stage, as he has the best land. The
civilization that is crowding around
him isa novelty. He is learning new
and expensive ways. Before the
whites came into the reservation cases
Of drunkenness among the Indians
were very rare, but they are becoming
frequent enough now. Although the
government has been his staunch and
true friend the best that poor Lo can
expect is to be the defeated one in the
great game that is being played around
him. Although the white man gi yes
him money for his birthright, it
quickly finds its way back to the giver.
The Lord of yesterday is the pensioner
of today and will be the absent one of
tomorrow.
Two hundred thousand American
farmers, able young men have stepped
! across the border and gone to the far
north west. The tracks of the Red
river cart and the dog trayois oyer the
old frozen hunting ground of the far
Northwest will soon disappear. If we
want west today we must make one.
The old trappers of the Rockies
who have followed the Beaver in his
aimless wondering into the most
glorious empire of adventuring the
world ever saw, have come down out
of the mountains and they frankly
admit that the world has come to an
Exploration. They have travelled all
the old trails, how dear to them only
the mountain goer may know. They
have said good bye to the west, they
have shaken hands with the noun.
tainS and the rivers and said good bye
to them.
The destiny of the west was through
some plan to which you and / cannot
add, and from which we cannot sub
tract. This feeling of sadness thai
the trappers felt when they said good
bye to their wilderness-it was mo-
laccident, it meant something. Tha
lgreat drama of humanity was no
written TO fail. Can there be a nev