Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1908-11-20
YHEN the railroad builders

4 A
II }AQ1}, to the Pacific coast but
" ~ rather anticipating the de-
"a velopment Of an agricul.
tural empire which must
have arteries of steel, they were
quickly followed by the same class
Of hardy settlers that had moved
westward since the early days.
Through the generations that move
ment has proceeded, slowly at first
but ever increasing in speed and
volume. Over the Alleghenies, among
the woodland and meadow stretches
Of Ohio and Indiana, across the
prairies of Illinois and Iowa,
through the Wisconsin and Min.
nesota forests to the valleys OF Da-
kota and on to Puget sound. The de-
scendants of New Englanders have al
ways been noticeable in the advancing
tide of home makers and fortune-build-
ers along those parallels OF latitude.
Thanksgiving day as an annual No
vember celebration marked by family
reunions and :feasting is one Of the
good things that have persisted among
transplanted New England customs. 1t
Is now a national event, most gener.
ally honored. And the distinguishing
feature Of this feastday is the trag-
edy of that royal fowl, the turkey.
In the first years of the SOS two
great rival railroad companies were
Fastening to secure for themselves in
eastern Dakota the rich fields of a
traffic yet to come into being. Both
had entered the wonderfully fertile
James river valley from the east, and
as one turned its line northward from
Huron the other turned southwark
from Aberdeen, and the near approach
OF winter and the close of active oper-
atoms found the two competing con-
struction camps only few miles
apart. With the advance Of the rail-
roads or a little preceding them had
come settlers upon the government do
main, and though farmers and wheat
raisers were in the van, such nomad-
ic and adventurous spirits as land
agents and townsite boomers, traders
and newspaper men could be discovered
even more easily. Early in Novem-
Der work upon the railroad lines halt
ed, and the builders retired to await
the opening of spring. At the terni-
nus of each road little settlement
had sprung up, less than half-dozen
structures marking the site Of what
was hoped to be and already was her
aided as the metropolis of the valley.
Upon such situation steadily but
surely crept the Thursday which the
president of the United States had
chosen ali the annual day of thanks.
giving, and at the distance of only one
short week the fact suddenly daWned
upon the clustered intelligence Of
these two Dakota towns that there was
not q turkey in the great Jim val.
ley north of Sioux Falls. and that 80
miles; of wind-swept prairie lay be.
tween more hopeful field of possible
supply at Watertown, near the Mime
sofa boundary. There is material for
a volume of adventure in the account
of the two rival expeditions dispatched
yet with all secrecy on
a Journey of hundred and sixty miles
for fowls to furnish forth Thanks
giving dinner, but this story must omit
the details. One party returned hilari'
ously successful with the three tur-
keys that eloquence, strategy and mon
ey combined were able to procure IN
WATERFOWL; the other, downcast, de-
iected, and pessimistic, came back
enpty.handed. -
To emphasize their victory the sue
cessful town announced prize turkey |
shoot lat which all but Redf1eld marks
men we're barred), a turkey dinner at
the hotel, and grand ball in the rail-
road warehouse. This was calculated
to make it's rival, Ashton. either swell
with rage to bursting or wither away
in reimbursement and despair
The fateful day arrived, gray Day
with the first flakes of snow in the