The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1906-05-04
GETTING .THE
RIGHT OF way
John satterlund Tells Of Trip Along
the New 500 Extension for the
Purpose OF Getting the Right Of
Way.

through Mclean county will be COM
pleted this year and John Satterlund,
who made. trip along the proposed
lines recently for the purpose of getting
right of way for the road, gives the
Leader the following statement regard
ing his trip:
"Our trip began at Valley City, TAX
ing the main line of the road to Mar
tin, in the northeast corner of Mclean
county. The main line of the 500
crosses Mclean county for about six
miles. Martin is located in fine val
ley and is thriving town with four.
elevators, churches, good business blocks
and is alive and up-to-date. The town
is surrounded by fine farming land and
it is interesting to note that the sod
shanties of former years have given
away to good frame houses and large
red barns, which dot the prairies every
where. 1t is pleasing to see the inn
provements that have been made and
tell more eloquently than words Of the
q growing prosperity sof Mclean county
4 Hon. Henry Bartz accompanied me
on ,the trip,proving pleasant andvalu-
able companion. Our first stop after leav-
ing Martin was at Drake, which is the
junction of the roads on the Drake Gar
rison extension At Drake we met the
proprietor of the townsite, MIR. Drake,
who is a capable and energetic gentle
man, a good business man. and pleas
ant gentleman to meet. He is the god
father of the town Of Drake, which is
full of men and teams, awaiting the
signal to. begin work on the extension
of the road. All is life and hustle at
Drake and all the hotels are full. The
towfrsis we'll located, with fine farming
country surrounding it, and many of the
. farmers have their entire quarter Sec
ton under cultivation. They have
raised good crops and are prosperous
everywhere. The town of Drake is OF
the boom and no doubt will be the divi-'
sion point orGtlle 500 line. The Soc
company owns lnlf ths toWnsite and will
leave nothing ufidone for the prosperity
of the town. Drake has many live bust
ness men, good buildings, two large
hotels The towns needs a goodNlixe
banker, one who is not skinner land
anybody wishing to start bank where
! there is every prospect of successful
business should write to Mr.. Drake, the
owner of the townsite.
Drake is a fine opening for invest
n,ents of any kind, as the Soo road,
never fails to build a,p the towns o1, its
line by every, means, possible. 4,
From Drake we proceeded southwest
10 interview the farmers along the line
For the first six or seven miles there
is mixed settlement of Americans
Germans and Scandinavians. We. met
many fine people, all Of them reasonable
and fair to, do business with. For the.
next six miles we struck a genuine
; Russian settlement. located there within
the last ten years. Starting with sod
houses and buildings, they have nearly
all becpmegprosperous aud frame houses
and Substantial Stone basement barns
have efeplaeed the sod buildings. About
80 per cent of the land is under cult
''vss 'vss'tiion ana an were busy seeding. Ev
erybody was working, down to the small
.-el,iAdren;- and girls Of twelve-to fiftecr,-
years. of age were often seen riding
i ploW ands doing Is good work as =
ina5,: III The gfehis are clean sand mice
looking, stone ali gathered from the
land and spiiedsassu sreadiy to 90 into
the basement of some substantial farm
building Speaking of the price Of land
in this vicinity, as soon as fifteen acres
lis broken and under cultivation the land
is held at $500 a quarter and from
that up to $4,000, according TO the
buildings erected. Those who have not
seen how rapidly the prairies are being
developed into good farms would be
surprised at the change that has taken.
place in this locality All the farmers
have good buildings. fine horses and
modern machinery and all are happy to
see the advent Of the sSoo-the peoples,
road.
This Russian settlement extends to
7 the Wintermg river. twelve miles frcn,
Drake in so,,thwestcriy direction. The
new road strikes Mclean county in sec
ton 4-l5O-77, and then runs in a west
erly direction for forty-6ve miles, rum
ning through the northern tier Of town
ships in Mclean county. with the ex-s
aception Of few miles which run
through Mel Henry county. going around
the Dog Den hills.
Afters crossing Winterer river we
come TO ! Jewish settlement for three