The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1908-02-13
PEERLESS, NORTH DAKOTA
An Excellent Descriptive Article From
the Pen Of Com. Gilbreath Of
the N. D. Farmer.

Aue SloIy VI NO1lu DonoIo - IA0
story of a state new, yet wealthy
both in developed and undeveloped
resources. 1t is story of a state
wrested from the unbroken prairie
barely more than third of centu-
ry ago, and yet leading the world in
its production of hard wheat, flax,
beef and the products that come
from the SOIL 1t is state rich in
things accomplished and yet richer
things accomplished and yet richer
state of much individual wealth, per
capita annual production larger than
that of the majority of its sister states
and it's wealth is so well distributed
that there are no millionaires and no
paupers. Within the past few years
it has added by the hundreds of
thousands to it's population and yet
the resources of the state far from
being at their fullest, have scarcely
been drawn upon.
1t would require far more than the
space of a single article to describe
the state, or dwell at any length up
on it's soil, it's climate its productive
ness or it's offerings to the home
steader. 1t is state in which dis
ease and ill-health are reduced to
the minimum. 1t has no large cities
or congested centers. It's climate is
invigorating and health giving. Its
air is crisp and celebrating. It's sum-
mers are cool and tempered with the
mild climate of it's zone. Its growing
season is ample for the production OF
the finest of grain, the most succu-
lent and firm of vegetables and the
fattening of a superior grade of cat
tie and sheep. It's autumns are long
and afford ample time for the gather
ing of the harvest and the preparing
of the soil by the blowing, for the
harvest of another year. Its owners
are characterized by a dry, crisp
atmosphere that is far less objection
able than the damp, chilling climate
Of the eastern states. In the present
year the autumn season has been one
long Indian summer; from September
until this writing-when the weather
is warm and clear altogether delight
full, when the wheat and grain has
been threshed and stored, the soil pre-
pared for the coming spring and the
peculiar haze of Indian summer hangs
over the landscape and lends every
scene its own peculiar charm.
North Dakota affords opportunity
for a variety of occupations along the
AGRICULTURAL line. There is the Red
River valley, lying along the eastern
part of the state, where for miles and
miles the land is level as floor, and
in summer season resembles an
ocean of wheat-waves of a great sea
of grain that extends from Wahpeton
on the south to Pembina on the north
and from the Red River westward for
a distance of many miles. Board a
train at Wahpeton and travel all night
and all day and the journey is through
an almost unbroken field. In the sum-
mer season the green of the fields IS
delightful, refreshing view and as
the grain turns to gold in the fall
there is material for the lines of the
poet or the pencil of the artist beyond
the power of prose and description.
Later the hum of the harvesters in the
fields, the shocks covering thousands
of miles and the music of the thresher
with chaff flying from a thousand
spouts and grain flowing down and
ready for the bread of the world. The
Red River valley this year produced
it's usual large crop, and the prices
at which it was sold guarantee hap
piness and prosperity to the farmer
fortunate enough to be possessed OF
a heritage of fertile acres.
The central part of the state Is
higher, little more rolling land the
yields of grain have ben gratifying
Towns by the dozen boast of their
five and six and ten elevators, with
capacities that vary from 10000 to
$4,000 bushels, and the grain market
ed at some towns of only a few peO-
pie aggregate a million or more BUSH
els. At the price of wheat this year,
about dollar bushel at the eleva-
tors, means another golden stream
of wealth pouring into the channels
Of trade and opportunity everywhere
for the business man to reap profit
from his wares. Trains half mile