The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1906-04-13
SHOSHON| IS ON THE BOOM
o. q. WALKER TELLS OF HuMMiNo
CONDITIONS.
NOW is TIME TO GET INTO IT

Country is Full OF People All OF the
Time--Where They are From No
One Knows -- OIL Well Is Struck
Near Powder River.
In letter to Dr Maclny Of this city
q, II. walker writing from Casper,
Wyomng says "Evcrything up here
is lively and the country full of people
coming and going | can't tell where
they come from. but they come and
30 continually. This country ls going
to be hummer for several years and
now is the time to Gct into II.
1--WE put down II well at Powder
river 1900 feet and water flows out of
the top. There were strong indiCn.
tiOns of oil and had II not been that
the company wanted water we would
have gone down another 100 feet and
struck oil. am thinking of Ming an
oil claim on II. The road will be com.
plctcd to ShoshOni before June l."
The land of profitable opportunity
still lies open to the homCstcadcr
The western frontier IL rapidly dis.
appearing, but the homCstCadcr and
settler still finds Nn occasional oppor.
unity to pick up quarter section of
government land. One of the last
chances of this kind will be given by
Uncle Sam when the Wind River or
Shoshono Indian reservation lands are
thrown open to the hOmCstcadCrs some
time this summer.
This tract of something over mil.
lion acres Is situated in central Wyom-
ing, just east of the Jackson Hole coun.
try and the Yellowstone park forest
reserve.
In the mountains, elk bear, deer and
other wild game have been most abun-
dant, II has been without railroad ia
ciltios in the past, but the Wyoming
a. Northwestern railway Is now rap
idly laying rails across Wyoming from
Casper, the present terminus of the
Northwestern line, to Shoshoni, the
new town which has sprung up since
the reservation opening has been an.
valley one of the richest spots in Wy
oming, where numerous small irrigat.
ed farms produce forty to forty-flve
bushels of wheat, two hundred bush
els of potatoes, and sixty bushels oats
to the acre.
This new line of railway opens up
millions of acres of sheep and cattle
range, where the rich buffalo grass
and gramma grass make the best pas.
turage on earth, curing like grain, so
that stock will fatten on It in the fall.
The new line passes through VOL
shipping points in the world, and will
be completed to Shoshoni within the
next sixty days or less.
Shoshoni Is two and one-half miles
from the reservation border, and here
and at Lander the government will
probably establish land Offices for reg.
istration when the Indian lands are
thrown open.
The reservation has been inhabited
by a docile, law-abiding people, who
are engaged in farming in a small way.
The most of them have taken up land
by allotment, preparatory to abandon.
ing the reservation, and the govern.
ment is encouraging the leasing of
these Indian farms, which are very
choice lands, to white farmers.
The state of Wyoming controls the
waters of Wind river and Little Wind
river, and the state engineers are max.
ing surveys and preparing for irriga-
tion projects under state supervision,
by which a large proportion of the
reservation will be placed under water
and thereby made very valuable. Ag.
riculture here without irrigation is
practically out of the question, and
such lands as do not come under the
proposed ditch will be used for grazing
lands, for which purpose they are
without superior
If the state builds the irrigation ca.
nails now proposed, it will give an Op-