Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-07-17
Viii the DakOtas Go Dry Again?
BY Prof. Thomas Shaw.

6.
The following address was deliver
ed at the Farmers Institute at Chau-
tauqua by Prof. Thomas Shaw of
Minneapolis, and formerly of the
North Dakota agricultural college.
Will the Dakotas Become Dry Again?
This question to the people of Da-
kota should be one Of transcendent1
interest and Importance. 1t forced
itself upon my mind when coming
down from Cando to Churches Ferry
in North Dakota. The previous
evening an intelligent farmer att
Perth, when discussing the dry sea-
son toward the close of the eighties
said, eastward from the railroad be-
low Cando was a lake bottom which
in one of those dry years had produc-
ed an enormous crop of barley. This
crop was large enough to start the
man on the highway toward accumu-
lated wealth. He went on to say that
the next year the same man grew
another crop and harvested the bar
ley. He took in threshing machine
and engine to thresh it. Rains came
in so much that the crop had to be
abandoned. The threshing machine
and engine are at the bottom of the
lake, submerged until this day. That
lake now covers an expanse of many
acres Thus different has been the
amount of water in the lakes during
successive periods since the first set
1 tlement of Dakota.
Farms That Were Abandoned.
During those dry years which in
some localities followed each other in
some degree in succession, and which
were more or less interspersed with
frosts that destroyed the crop, many
of the farmers in some parts of North
Dakota moved away, abandoned vir-
tually everything that they had. This
proved singularly adverse to the set
Element of North Dakota. 1t threw it
backward more than a decade. It
was not isolated settlers who moved
out. In some places the settlers vir-
tually abandoned areas scattered
| more or less eastward from James
town. The story of some of those
1 settlers is pathetic indeed. Some Of
them brought considerable means
with them. They walked out on foot
in some instances after having brave
\ ly fought for two or three years
against the odds of drought and
frost. It seemed as though the ele.
ments had made common cause
y against them. One man who remain
) ed in a certain locality told me thai
: had it not been for the. bounty or
gophers during two of those years
he does not know how he would have
: furnished bread to his family. Tha
l man is now owner Of good building
: and Of three quarter sections o
land.
Hot Winds in South Dakota. :
: During some of those eventful year
=: some parts of South Dakota west
: ward toward the MISSOURI river suf
: fered even more than North Dakota
In addition to dry weather came no
winds. These hot winds, though fel
in some, parts of North Dakota wer
! not so destructive as in South Da
: kota. A man now living in MINES
1 ota who lived in central South Dako
ia, told me his experience durin'
8 those trying years. I know his wore
is not to be doubted. He said tina
4 some seasons the crops were stricken
a with drouth, but other seasons whel
the moisture was enough, the no
winds withered the crops in some in
4 stances within a week or so of ma
turity. The moisture in those year
4 of whitening had been enough. TIL
grain crops up to the time mentione
q were full Of promise, and yet thos
simoons from the southwest so CON
pIetely withered them that they Wer
8 never cut. Thus quickly was tn
a hope of the husbandman cut doWr
d Here also in considerable areas me
4 lost all they had, and the land wa
q allowed to revert to its former wild
8 ness. The effect upon future settle
81 ment in South Dakota was even mod
q disastrous than in North Dakota.
q Reinstatement of Abandoned Land
What has happened since thos
lands have been abandoned? VIII!
q the lands have been again settle
upon Almost ever foot of availabl
q land in North Dakota is now in th
81 hands Of private owners. Much of
s. has been settled upon. The whist
4 of the plowman is heard ever ives
4 ward from the Missouri to Montan
in North Dakota, and from legions {
Il happy homes the glad song OF a
b abundant harvest completed goes u
Il every year from grateful hearts.