Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1907-02-28
BOON IN WESTERN LANDS
Some of the Reasons for the Steady
Advance in farm Land In the
West. Better TiIIaee.

Western land has increased in val
ue during the past seven years at the
greastest rate 10 history. 1t is selling
now at higher prices than even in
the .Other "boom' OF the sos. Not
only is this true in the we'll tested
farming lands Of the older settled Sec
tions of the Mississippi Valley, but
it is as marked on the high plains,"
where depression in realty values
reached unexampled depths few
years ago, says Charles NJ. Harger in
the Review Of Reviews.
For instance: The receiver of a
bankrupt land and loan company
tried in vain to secure so cents an
acre for large tracts Of western Kan
sas land; now you would be foI tunate
to get the same land for less than $40
an acre. Settlers who went West in
prairie schooners in the early sos and
left in the middle 9Os tried to induce
eastern holders of mortgages to sur
render the evidences of debt in
change for deeds. Failing, they
packed their goods and departed-to
Oklahoma or the Northwest.
"We could have had possession of
200 farms merely by assuming the
mortgage eight years ago." said the
manager Of loan company. CHOW
those farms are worth $1,000 each
above the mortgages-and they have
paid 4 gooo profit every year since
the offers we're made"
The economic effect on the Middle
West from this "boom'' in land val
ue is attracting attention from the
financial world. To be sure, the
Westerner decries the word "boom. {"
He declares that it is merely "a
healthy growth.' But when value
of a farm doubles in twenty four
months and is readily sold on the
market at the new figure without
any increase In its plGuCuyiUL an4,
without added improvements it can
scarcely be the more conservative
term.
The Government has issued q bull
letin giving some statistics from Off
cial sources for the years l900-l905.
The Western States are given the
largest increase from an average OF
Sl3. % TO Sl8 55, though the South
Central group is close second. Wy
oming leads in the percentage of in
crease, showing a gain.in farm values
of 8l.3 per cent in the past five years;
Oklahoma, 1911; North Dakota 70.6;
Illinois 37.4; Iowa, 29.4: Kansas.
54.7; Nebraska, "a; Missouri, AZ;
Oregon, Al; Colorado, 81. f.
Compare these percentages with an
average for the whole country Of 32
per cent advance. The highest val
ues given by the report are in Him
ois, ,Sel. 80 an acre, yet farms in Him
ois sell every day for $3.50 an acre.
Iowa is but second, with s69.o9 per
acre but good farms are scarce at
such figures. So with the lands OF the
Middle West; the sales OF $40 and
even $50 an acre as far west as the
sixth principal meridian, which cuts
Kansas and Nebraska midway east
and west, are common. Land is
sought with an eagerness that seem
ed impossible. less than half decade
ago.
These figures given for the 6ve-year
period ending January /, 1905, may
be increased fully Is per cent for the
past two years. The movement OF
real estate values has been more pro-
nounced during that period than in
any biennium preceding.
For three years speculation in land
has been one OF the Vests enthusi-
astic deyotions. To buy farm for
50, 500 and sell it in three months for
IS, 900 is as good as Wall street. Yet
it has not been the old timer who
has made the money. He has been
through the COS and was afraid to
venture deeply. The newcomers-the
men who had seen land values rise IN
Illinois and Ohio-bought the cheap
lands and reaped the benefit. They
are the ones who have been gamers
from the boom.
The new conditions are vastly diff
ferent, and upon them are based the
belief Of Western fnanciers that this
land "boom'' will never collapse as
did the one Of two decades ago. Sew
eral things contribute to this argu-
ment, and they are worthy Of oonsid.
Grafton from the Eastern investor,
interested in securities based direct
ly or indirectly on the eastern real
state conditions.
The West has learned much about
it's possibilities In the past decade,
The agricultural colleges, the expert
ment farD, the ''soe6 sssa" trains,