The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-07
MARCH OF AN ARMY
ON NORTH DAKOTA
Already the Invasion Of Home
seekers Has Begun, Allured by
the Cheap Lands and opportun-
tiles for Wealth in the State.
AMAZING DEVELOPMENT
DURING THE PAST DECADE
Towns springing Up with Magical
Rapidity, Railways Pushing
Their Branch Lines and Prairles
Becoming Vast Wheat Fields.
nv HERBERT

The spring tide of immigration to North
Dakota has already begun 10 be sure
the movement so far this year has been
slight But the season has only opened
and in q few weeks more the hood OF
homeseekers will have swelled into thou
sands and the railways running into the
state will be taxed to their capacities
to take care Of the men and women
with their household goods and live stock,
who are going to start new homes on the
virgin prairies Of the state.
There was a time when the great flood
of immigra ton to North Dakota con-
sisted Of the hardy Scandinavians, prin-
cipally, with smattering Of other Euro
pean races and a few Americans from the
older settled states. Today these con-
ditions are reversed. In the last eleven
years over 10000 immigrants have been
taken into North Dakota from the states
of the central West and the East. There
must be some strong inducement to lead
men and women to break away from the
old surroundings and to venture into
new country with which they are I'M
familiar They are all Americans and
with the natural American pride in the
sections of the country where they were
AAe~S
been sufficient to draw them to the
boundless West?
Land Land, and the desire for homes
of their own and homes for their chill
dren. Land, with the abundant crops
that are raised with the slightest effort
on the prolific soil Of North Dakota and
which will soon raise men from compare
tive poverty to wealth and independence
The men who were pioneers In this move
how hoo yNva Nf thnir
cess, or have visited their old homes In
person and given visible evidence of 1t,
and the leaven thus placed in thousands
of western and eastern communities Is
now working
In travelling through N9rth a. Dakota
have been impressed with the atmos-
where met With. The air is surcharged
with it. Every man with the disposition
and the energy to work knows that 1t
as Gey
to start with, so much the better, because
fortunes multiply here with a rapidity
that would be satisfactory to ever.
Rockefeller or Carnegie. But even If
man has nothing, the same opportunities
are there waiting for him to garner them.
Land Plentiful and Cheap.
that can yet be obtained under the home
stead laws. and it is to these lands that nat
Years ea f has gra oH The new Settlers
have taken up their habitations miles
away from any railway line, and as they
section after section Of land, until their
farms have numbered thousands Of acres.
But even where lands have to be bought,
the thy ba nae ii 4ht
older settled states as to be Insignificant
I was talking with one husky young
farmer whom I met up there and who IS
the owner Of over 100 acres of land
all under cultivation, and whose yearly in
come runs up into the thousands Of dol
lars. He has built himself fine house
fence in it, has fine blooded stock
owns one of the latest makes Of auto
mobiles, and is an enthusiast about his
state, which he declares is destined tt
become the greatest in the entire North
west
''All that possess" he said, as we sa
on the porch of his house after dinner
p result Of ten ten years. work. NY home wal
in Iowa and father had good farm the1
and was counted a prosperous man. Bu
there was a big family Of us; and Whe1
/ was twenty-one I figured it out tina
there was no chance for me at home.
could not buy land there, for land wa
worth 500 an acre ana more 10 and ma =
knew how to farm. and that was all
"a man came to our section one da!
and circulars were distributed all aroun'
to give an address at the schoolhous
about North Dakota and the opportunitie
1t offered farmers. I went to that meet
stead for nothing. Father said the chanc
was worth taking and gave me 500 t
start out with.
II came here filed on my claim, an
then went to work for the man VIII
owned the adjoining one. After work1n
for two years I went to work for myse
1 had put up. Ny first years crop 6
wheat put me on easy street. I bough
the adjoining quarter. section Of Ian
that year and have added to my holding
crop failure.
Pleasure Follows the Work.
d9nt have to york tSa n so hard now
and I with the children generally tax
and F take fe tab Next n ans wn f
are gong sx to TAKE trip po to Cuba o
the common. All about me are men wi
have made just such a beginning, ar
they are all wealthy today: I tell yo
this is the land Of PROMISE
The railroads that traverse North d.
kota are responsible for the amazing d.
xeopment Of the state in J.; recent year
have been conducting extensive buildir
operations in the shape OF branch line
that serve as feeders to the parent stem
In many cases these branches have BET
pushed fifty and sixty miles into count
that was apparently nothing but brow
and unproductive prairie. But as IA
as the roads were constructed, and ev'
sometimes in advance Of the track la
ers, towns have sprung up Today Nor
towns, and the lands adjacent to the
are being taken up rapidly.
In the history Of most western cor
quantities, the first business to be esta
1ished is the saloon. They don't ha
saloons in North Dakota as the sta
Is prohibition Here the first business
generally bank, and the second is ;
wheat. And some Of these little towns
only a few weeks existence do an emo
nous business. In one place that
visited the railroad office was in a b
car that had been run onto a sidin
and here the agent and telegraph operat
combined had headquarters. :
In the Nations cranary.
''Much business here?" inquired, mo
as a matter of conversation than an
thing else. There were only a half doz
or 50 Of houses In the town, althou
pretty fair for a new beginner"
responded. you see, the road or
opened up business here two weeks as
but in that time have taken and shipp
was 0.000." :ra 49, .sEec..S :
And then my attention was taken
the scores of big wagons with four hors
front Of the elevator waiting their chan
to unload wheat, and others that we
coming over the prairie roads to TOW
1t was all cash to the farmers, for
fast as they received the elevators che
Of measure they would go to the lit
bank and get their money:
And then I realized that was
he ora of fhn limit Not