Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-04-19

lIFH
In the great homestead movemhe'
batween 1850 and 1885, the prairles OF
the northern part of the territory ~"
included in South Dakota was 81
great that the center OF popula'ioi
which had been practically stationary
in the southeastern part of the state
for years, wher the 1885 census was
taken had moved about nifty miles w.
ward the north and west. since 'n"l
time the enter has fingered ABOUT LIZ
north west corner OF Miner coun.s,
when the next census is taken in 1917
the movement west from mat locatiol
is likely to be as radical as WAS lhal
to the north\ a quarter OF a century
before, Especially will this be so II
the great Belle Fourche irrigation
project is far enough along oetore tna'
date to allow filings under the lrrlsa-
ton act. That tract alone VIII prlis
thousands of people to the state. lha''
coupled with the homestead move
ment west of the river, Will De d SUI
nrise even to hat part of the state
along the eastern line, as well as u
the country farther east. That move
TlenI IS even SlSdA'l Gh' "fi
It has been for the past two years.
the most unique park IN
the state or northwest has Just been
laid out at a point q snort dls'ahce
ortheas of the Yankton agency. IL
consists of twenty acres, and was 40
mated to the Indians of this reserVa-
ton by the government for park pur-
noses. The Yankton tribe of Sioux
Indians is composed of eight dlf1erent
branches or bands, and each of them
has been assigned a portion or the
park, which has been surveyed INTO
eight equal parts. Through the park
is a large central avenue, running the
entire length of the park. steps TOT
the ornamentation of the round al
ready have been taken. A large mon
ument which recently was ordered
will occupy a place in the park as a
memorial to the ancient chiefs OF the
Yankton Sioux Tribe. Competition be-
tween the eight different bands to
have their particular section of the
park surpass in beauty the other sec
tons will be very strong, and largely
because of this the park is certain to
become one of the most beautiful i'll
the state.
While the figures of the filings on
homestead lands in he Rapid City Of
flee for last year are not at mana,
they, in connection with the cures
from Pierre and Chamberlain, would
probably show that 100000 acres OF
the government domain were filed up
on for the year 1906. This figures or
Pierre and Chamberlain show 1,102,-
129 acres taken, covered by 6, $50 Ill
ings, of which 3,613 were in the
Chamberlain office and 2,926 in the
Pierre office. This area has all been
taken in the western half of the state,
which will show a heavy increase of
population by such settlement. h
figures for the Pierre office show not
quite so many filings for the first
quarter his year as for the same pc
Rod last year, but the January filings
were held down by the severe weather.
which prevented the homesteaders
coming. The first quarter of 19O6
showed 62s filings, and those for the
first quarter of 1907 only reached 497.
Besides these Il few declaratory state
ments have taken more of the land out
of the filing list.
Since the ice has melted in the
various lakes which are scattered
throughout South Dakota it has been
discovered that thousands upon thou
| sands Of fish in the smaller lakes of
the state were killed by the excessive
| cold the latter part of January and
fore part of February. The smaller
bodies of water, it appears from recent
developments, froze clear to the bot
tom, thus putting an end to the lives
Of the fish. AS an Illustration, persons
who recently have visited Crow lake,
a small body of water in Aurora coun-
ity. report hat vast quantities of dead
fish now are to be seen along the
shores. There are said to be actually
carloads of the dead fish along the
banks. A curious feature in this par
,~ticular case is that until the ice melt
ed and the dead fish were discovered
it was not known that there were any
ish at all in the k
The business of the Pierre postoffice
has grown nearly $4,000 the past year,
bringing the receipts up to S14,00
With the same rate of increase of the
past few months holding for the rest
of the year the total for the next year
will be close to $4,000, and with all
the business ahead, in sight for Pierre
the increase is more likely to be great
er than less.
The state lane department is send
ing out lists of the lands east of the
river which will be offered this year
to secure capitol building funds. They
are located in the counties of Hyde,
Mcpherson, Edmunds, Faux, Potter,
Hand and Sully. The appraisal board
will be out in a short time fixing min
imum prices on the tracts, which will
be offered in May.
Articles of incorporation ave been
fled for the First State bank of Sinai,
Bookings county. with a capital of
$4,000. incorporates, Hogan Ho-
ganson, C. Halverson, Ole Stiner and
others OF Arlington.
The supreme court recently dismiss
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