Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-06-14
Letter From W. s. Ingham.
Miles City, Mont, June 3, O

tiies' it is something like five hun
dred miles from Canton TO Miles City,
but when one must take the general
lire of travel it is necessary to pay
the railroads for something near nine
hundred miles to get between the two
points. But this will soon be remed-
led as work on the Chicago q Milwau-
kee road is being pushed in South Da-
kOta and Montana, and 1t will not be
long before that road will have line
running from Aberdeen to Miles City,
which the latter town by the way,
bids fair to be one of the very best in
Montana already having population
of $500. Nestled as it is between the
picturesque hills of the Yellowstone
and Tongue rivers, one OF the Oldest
| towns of this mountain state its cltl-
Zens believe that the future for 1t is
one of the brightest. The coming of
them ilwaukee will be hailed with glad
ness by those who for years have lived
here ever at the mercy of the North
eTn Pacific.
| Once you have gotten out of
where the N. p. has competition then
| you are at it's mercy and Of that bene-
| ticent quality it has not bit. When
you cross the line from North Dakota
to Montana then rates begin to go up
| in the air, and the worst part OF that
| is they never came down again. To
get small article from one point OF
Montana to another costs really more
| than the article is worth, no matter
what it may be. The express COM
panies vie with the freight company
in keeping up the prices. AS an ex-
ample. When 1 had my typewriter
shipped from Canton here it cost me
just $6. 10 express. Whether the ex-
press man knew there was no use OF
charging more, was the reason that
he placed that figure as the limit, we
have no means of knowing, but sure
it was had the price been much great
er the company would have had one
| first class type writing machine on its
hands. Everything is high in Mon
tana, even the mountains raise their
rugged heads to high heaven as If in
protest at the extortinate figures
which are asked for the necessities of
life.
Take fruit for instance. Any kind
of box Of strawberries is sold at 80
cents, while good ones are marked at
40 cents and find ready sale at that
| figure. Milk is ten cents quart and
| that too in the land of the best COWS
er example any kind of a soft drink is
| fifteen cents or two for two ''bitS.'
There are something like twenty sa-
looms in this town, and beer sells at
| fifteen cents glass or two drinks for
a quarter. In passing, it may be
truthfully said that l have practiced
rigid tetotalism since striking Mon
tana. The gait was just little bit
| too swift for South DakOtan. For
South Dakotan 1 still am in spite of
the fact that | may spend the sum
mer at Miles City. For | have filed
on splendid claim in Butte county.
1t is located on the North Fork OF the
Grand River, and is as good piece OF
land as there is in the county. This
of course goes as a fact, for who ever
heard of homesteader who did not
have the "best' claim? Good water,
other than the running stream, may
be bad at depth Of ten feet, and a
splendid coal mine is but three miles
and which assures sufficient supply
of fuel to keep the 'chider" from
suffering the coming winter when
they will of necessity be on the home
stead. And by the way, if any OF my
Lincoln county friends feel that they
want claim in Butte county, it is
about time that they were getting to
quarters will soon be gone, even if
that has not already happened. The
Milwaukee building through that sec
tion. combined with the fact that it
is one of the best counties west Of the
Missouri river, explains its rapid Set
tlement. eft we only get plenty OF
rain" is the only "ifr when talking of
the coming value of the land
| Some of your readers may be inter-
ested in knowing why | am at Miles
City and what | am doing: Some
years ago A. B. Clarke, one of the pio-
neers of this section saw that there
was a great opportunity for establish
ing market at this point for the sale
was noted. He did so, the market
grew until he had yards covering near
~ twenty acres of ground. They are
the largest yards in the world outside
of the very large cities and are said to
be the largest yards owned by a priv
ate individual in any portion of the
U. S. Mr.. Clarke died the first of
April and my elder brother, G. B.
Ingham, was induced to take charge
of the sale business here, and / was
engaged by him to do the office work,
attend to the advertising and look
after the correspondence. The first
sale of the season will be held on June
II, Is, 10 20 and at that time we ex-
p6CU W nave III Sdlc III Ullc IlClSlDO
hood of 1000 horses of all classes, and
there wiz be buyers from every point
in the country. Never sale passes
that there are not buyers here from
New York, Florida and all intermedi-
ate points. / speak of this to show
the magnitude of the business. Cat
tie and sheep are also entering into
the scheme, and it is expected that
we will sell not less that 100000 head
of sheep and 10000 head of cattle dur-
the season besides something over
20, 900 head Of horses. Miles City is
strictly horse, cattle and sheep
market and hence the success of the
venture. Sales, always by auction,
are held every month. Canton people
would be amazed at the magnitude of
the enterprise.
Speaking again of prices here, it is
only necessary to say that houses OF
| five rooms rent here at $25 per month,
store buildings similar to the Corner
Drug Store at Canton will bring some
| thing like S125 per month, and all
rents in proportion. All gam bling is
shut out in this state. That is, open
gambling, but all saloons have chairs
and card tables, and to one who is ac-
quainted with the South Dakota laws
governing this class of places it GER
| tainly seems rather "tough" order.
We will say, however, that the people
as class seem to be inclined to obey
the laws, and conduct themselves
properly, as matter of fact there are
some of the finest people we have ever
met here in Montana. This is sup
| c,l fr,h hn mn nj 10 yyno r