Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-02-28

as z&45N0d6MNaEE
The dry farming congress, which re-
Gently met at Salt Lake City, Utah,
made provisions for extending Its
membership beyond the appointments
to the annual meetings of h congress,
and provided for the publication and
distribution of pamphlets and litera-
lure covering the methods and results
Of such farming. They provided for
an affiliated membership which is to
include annual members, who Will pc
expected to pay an annual membership
fee Of one dollar. and life memberships
which will require a payment OF ten
dollars. Any Of the affiliated members
Who come into the organization under
these terms will be fully accredited 70
any sessions Of the congress-, n Will
receive all the circulars and pamphleIs
printed covering the work Of dry farm
ing. h literature will be a valuable
reference for any farmer who is work
ing in the northwest, and Will heip
the Dakotas to the extent of thousands
of dollars annually, as has been shown
by the application of the TO
the dryer sections of western
and eastern Colorado. State Engineer
Samuel II. Lea, Of Pierre, is one OF the
members of the executive committee
of the national organization, n Will
supply anyone who desires to secure
this literature with all the necessary
information as to the methods OF be-
coming members of the organization
or securing the literature.
The movement which has been in
augurated by the newspapers OF Pierre
and many of the newspapers of tanley
county for the preservation of Whal
is known as the old Black Hills trail,
which passes through this region, does
not meet with the approval of the
homesteaders Who have taken lands
along the old trail. Those who want
the trail preserved even went so far
as to write the war department a,
Washington for the purpose Of ascer-
tanning If it was not a trail legally
established by Col. Fred Grant in
1876. No record Of the trail was
found on the records of the wal de-
partment. The homesteaders who arr
opposing the preservation of the trail
declare that none of those behind the
movement have and which Is diagon-
ally traversed by the old trail, or they
| would "sing another song" The home-
| steaders whose land is traversed by
the old trail further declare that If 1t
was preserved they would be compell-
| ed to move some of their bAlildings,
which in many cases now are con-
| structed directly over the trail, and
this would put them to consideT able
| expensa. OF the several thousand
homesteaders who have land along
| the trail between Fort Pierre and
| Rapid City, not one favors the project
| of preserving the old trail.
The county division question prom
Uses to keep several of the counties west
of the river stirred during the coming
year. Up in Butte county the town Of
Lennon wants to carve a county sea
out of the southeast corner of Butte
in which as the only railroad town
they expect to be the county seat, ever
if they do have their existence with
the state line as n of their STREETS
The people of Meadow, a new irrlanc
town about 80 miles south OF Lennon
lin q mass meeting have declared
against any county division scheme fol
the present year, n take the position
that it is better to wait until some
thing more definite is known as to de
velopment. Grand River, west o
Lennon, takes practically the sam
view of the situation. About CAM
Crook they are in favor of division
If the county is cat into three parts
with one Of them the Jog" thu
line between ranges nine and ten, will
the rest Of the county cut through tn,
I oo.ko~ 90 81 ~ "a n xr,acf M q Ifno a onfho
new county in the northeast corner o:
the state. and leave the southwest par
of the present county remaining a:
Butte. With these diverse views, i
will be hard tomake much progress
The report of the bureau Of vital sta
tistics of the state on naturalization:
for 1907 shows that 1857 foreigners
took out their papers of intention OF
becoming citizens. Most of these came
from northern Europe. the scandi.
navian countries leading with 636
Germans were e. In the list with
1853, and German Russians numbered
1876. The British subjects to ask fol
citizenship numbered Is. The res
we're from Austria and southern Eu.
rope. Two hundred and ffty-six fina
citizen certificates were taken oNt fol-
the yea and as in the applications
the Scandinavian countries held the
lead, Norway, Sweden and Denmark
all showing good lists, with England
and Germany showing about the same
lumber
The liquor license question seems to
have stopped several OF the efforts OF
townships west of the. river to get civil
organizations. While the county com.
Imissfoners granted petite MS asking fol
the privilege Of organization, when II
came to voting upon the question OF
Organization itself the ,ense issue was
made the important one, and the vot-
ers refused to sanction such a move
for the explicit purpose of shutting out
any chance of a saloon getting a foot
hold. With the townships out on the
frontier taking such a position on the
liquor license, the generally accepted
eastern view that every man In the
west is addicted to the habit will have
TO be changed to meet the chan;
conditions which exist.
The reports from farmers who come
into Pierre from the country about in
aicate that the acreage Of prairie brok-
en- this yea will be practically loo
nor cont ne tho tofo1 az far hroIor