Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-02-24
NEW HOMES IN NORTHWEST
Montana Offers Much Inducement to
Men of Small Means.
VIRGIN SECTION BEING TAPPED
Line of the Milwaukee Extension
Runs Through Region that is
Fertile and Promises Much
to the Farmer.

Declaring that never again will Uncle
Sam offer such princely domains for the
entryman's choice" than the new lands in
Montana, to be thrown open for settlement
May l, L. A. Huffman, writing from Miles
City, Mont, advises the renter in the older
states to investigate the new domain and
get in on the ground floor, for he who
decides quickly and gets in line at the
Miles City OF Terry land offices, or drives
his stake in one of these new towns. stands
to win the big prizes" The Chicago, Mil
waukee & st. Paul Railway company is
pushing work on an extension into the new
country to be thrown open for settlement,
working from both ends. and but fifty
miles of track laying remain.
The writer calls attention to the fact
that not many years ago the western bor-
derland of Nebraska. Iowa and Minnesota
presented merely a ragged fringe OF newly
made farms, but that in a half dozen years
S5o.o0O entrymen took up homes in the
Dakotas. Such. he prophesies. will be the
case in the new lands. and opines that be-
fore the close of the year the claim shanty
will dot the prairie on all sides.
Nowhere in the United States under like
conditions, upon a like solid area of plow-
able, black loan. in a like space Of time,
accommodated, confesses Mr.. Huffman but
he paints a picture even more pleasing
than that presented by the land of the
Sioux Of thirty years ago.
Grain Fields of the Future.
The new lands are characterized as the
grain fields of the future, the statement
being made that everywhere now men are
awakening to the fact that where sage
brush two or three feet in height grows.
densely- luxuriant unirrigated, rye, speltz
and particularly wheat will grow If the
simple methods of cultivation now no
longer experimental, but proven, are used.
'These gray-green sage brush uplands are
to be the grain fields Of the near future"
says Mr. Huffman. In support of this
claim he cites a number of instances where
poor mechanics from the eastern states
have gone to the country bordering on the
lands to be opened and have done more
than we'll, working for themselves in the
Free open air
Montana has an abundance Of coal, from
Ignite to the best steam fuel known, and
the writer states that for a mile in the
Cabin creek brakes one may drive a wagon
alongside ten-foot bank and help himself
to fuel at almost no expense of stripping
This sort of coal crop is found along the
st. Pauls extension. all the way from
Dakota to Musselshell. There is also con=
siderable timber in some portions of the
new lands
The statement IS made that all roads
point toward Marmarth. the first division
point on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St
Paul west of Miles City. The new town
is scheduled to become the seat of the new
county of Hamilton. and the writer of the
descriptive article about the new country
advises the homeseeker to first take look
at the country near there before looking
elsewhere. Not one claim in fifty is taken
in the Marmarth region.