Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-09-27

Pierre, s. D., Sept. Sin darkest Al
RIGA. the far cast and . few Other parts
of the inhabitable globe the march Of
progress has been noted BY Il double
advent. described with due respect to
the regiSionist and the commercials
as: First the missionary and then the
whisky"
In the rich region which was once the
northwest and whose trade center has
always been and still is Minneapolis,
civilization, rs ii has advanced by the
traditional leaps me bounds, has had
its trail blazcl by MO agencies, the
railroad and the townsite man.
Sometimes the railroad. in the ab-
stract form of Il preliminary survey,
precedes the townsite man.: in other
cases the surveying party may march
into camp at night to find the town
site IA awaiting it. In either event
railroad and townsite man wori; to he
common end of paving the way for
that permanent settlement which
makes territories III of the wilderness
II states out of territories. The
country is the cause of the railroad and
the railroad is the cause of the town
site man. Out of their joint endeavor
come the smiling villages which dot
the map of every new region of COM
mercial activity.
Townsite Man Changes.
Inc tOWIslte mar is one OF tne types
incidental to the westward march OF
empire in the United States and while
individuals resembling him may be
found in other countries il is in North
America. between the Mississippi and
the Pacific coast, that he tlourishes and
has been most successful.
In the early days of transcontincntal
lines he appeared as a Spectator pure
and simple. The speculative tovn.ite
man was Il prominent figure in The de
v%eiopnlent of California. 1t was his
business to go ahead of the line, lay
out his towns, sell his lots at auction,
take what he could get for those not
salablc at fancy figures. pocket his
handsome profits and depart for green
err fields and pastures new. leaving the
new town to get along as fate and fo--
tune might dictate.
The modern town. or village. Is rot
built in this way. and il is because the
creative" toWnsite man has replaced
the '~speculative' thai new sections
suffer no blight from the creation of
hasty II ill-advised center of popula-
tion. The romance of the west had
been reduced TO prosaic facts and fig
ures in the past decade and the he'll
to~-breakfast' cowboy has found him
self crowded out by the sober, Flooding
iarrner-and the man who makes the
towns to which the farmer brings his
trade. From this change in conditions
arise; the story of the modern town.
The Genesis of a Town.
When n railroad decides upon enter
ing new territory there naturally arises
the question: Where shall we place
the stationS?"
Although it is the general belief that
a railroad builds between different cen
tiers of settlement. This is very rarely
the case. especially in the western
country. In fact. many little villages
nave already learned to their SORROW
that the railroad is bigger than the
people, as represented by various VIII
lage councils. and that in penetrating
new regions it goes whittier it Wills, re-
gardleSS of the pioneers in civic or
ganizationos. 1t is generally the case
that while an inland town or village
may be located entirely to it's own sat
isfaction. such location does not ac-
cord either with the general plans of
the railroad magnates or the judgment
of the man in charge Of the survey,
and the inland village is passed by on
the other side.
The Townsite Man Is 1t.
Nearly all the big railroad systems
IN the west now have u regularly or
ganized and operated "townsite de-
partment,' which is brought into the
case and consulted as to the location
Va 'N7 sCoii - llt 61ltCIdl ul-
rection of the new line is determined
upon. The railroads townsite man
travels over the proposed right of way,
making q careful study OF the topog-
raphy of the lam and of its natural
1t is he who decides where
future cities can live and have their
being.
AS Il general proposition. now towns
are located about ten miles apart, es-
pecially along lines which penetrate
such territory as that found in North
Dakota now tn" most fruitful field for
the townsite man: After the matter of
distance is settled there remains to be
considered the question of grade. for
it costs money to stop and start a
train. and. if possible. a station should
be located on a straight stretch of
level track where there will be no
''stalling."
Town Ready to Oily"
The location of a new town Is the
decision Of expert intelligence. and so
much n matter of keen interest to pro-
spective citizens of the same tina in
man cases the townsite man finds in
the neighborhood of the city whose
foundations he is about to lay a full
grown little village with banks. stores.
aloon and other appurtenances to
complex civili2ation-all ready to take
wheels and fly" to the INN aGiate
vicinity of the depot"
1t is usually only a few days between
the departure of the railroad surveying
party and the arrival of the townsite
surveying crew. Having found where
h switches are to be and the station
will be located, the townsitc surveyors
first locate the sites for grain elevators
and lumber yards-for grain is the biz
product OF the new northwest and lum-
Der. is the first essential in building a
town. and ii is desirable that every-
thing be ready for business before the
railroad arrives.
The prelinlinaries out of the way. the
townsite surveying party proceeds to
lay out the embryo city along certain
liked lines. In the modern townsite
plat there is q plaza, rarely larger than
an ordinary block, about which the
business houses are to be built. Some
times there are two of these omen
spaces. The first is usually within a
quarter of a mile Of the railroad sta
ton. while the second is another quar-
ter of a mile away. Nearly all the new
in the northern country are laid
out north Of tine railroad track, 10 the
end that they may constitute snow
sheds and protection to the railroad
from :be wirtc- storms.
After lavir & mad n plat OF the town
and properly si.lAcd 1t out. 4 date is