davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

him, and to making himself com
Portable wherever he may choose to
stop, he spreads his mats on the
floor of the train, and so finds
Inconvenience or impatience in a two
hours wait for train.
With the first light of day we were
off on the run to the capital city. A
number of japanese soldiers were
taken aboard as guards, for we were
in a country where brigands abound.
owing to the sloWness of the train, it
is an easy matter for a band of out
laws to board it, relieve the passen-
gers of their personal effects, and
then slip away to their mountain
haunts, or to places of refuge on the
distant plains. At times they board
a train at the station and at suit
able time pass through the cars rob
bing as they go. and then hasten
away to some protected place. To
guard against this the soldiers fully
armed pass back and forth through
the coaches spying out suspicious
characters. One or two guards ac-
company the ticket inspector through
the train as many natives fail to pro-
vide themselves with tickets, and,
when asked to pay, insist on free
passage, with the result that forcible
election is necessary.
Leaving the foothill region we pass
out upon an extensively rolling plain
on which village communities and
japanese stations come and go in
monotonous regularity.
AS the imperial government of
Japan controls the South Manchurian
railroad, the Jananese monopolize sta
ton sites thereby gaining a decided
advantage commercially over the
Chinese. Livestock and farm pro-
ducts make up the bulk Of the road s
limited traffic
In the clear atmosphere of those
northern skies village communities
may be seen far distant upon the
plain. Scattered houses are nowhere
found but all life dwells behind the
city walls of stone or fire burned or
sun-dried brick.
Long before Mukden is reached one
may see across the intervening ex-
panse of gently rolling land that ap-
pears to be a hill of very regular
formation rising just above the no.
rizon, while towering over all are
seemingly dome-shaped structures.
But as the train bears one nearer to
this distant scene, one realizes that
the object of his interest is the high
wall that encloses the ancient seat of
the Manchu dynasty, and that the
dome-like structures are the temples
Of the ancestral deities.
When the sun was dropping low
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

the land we roll into the town of
Tsao-ho the halfway station between
An-tung hsien and Mukden.
Here the train stops for the night.
All passengers go forth in search of a
nights rest which may be had at
either Chinese or Japanese inns. Hav-
ing a desire to become acquainted
with the customs of the country, the
writer and his travelling companion,
japanese interpreter of Chinese and
English, went to a native inn KOtow-
ing porters conducted us through
unlighted ways and dangerous roads
to a singlestoried structure and into
a room crowded with noisy Chinese
and japanese. AS the orientals carry
their tea sets for every occasion, those
present were hurrying about prepar-
ing for themselves their dinner of rice,
eggs and tea. AS the writer was the
only white man present and not be-
ing of the initiated ones, he was given
attention in which several servants
were employed, as it is difficult for
one to help himself, being for
eigner, so careful are the Chinese in
attending to ones wants.
Soon we were seated on our mats
welding chopsticks in the disposing of
Tea is drunk before, during and after
meals. In fact a tea-set is an in
dispensable part of the travelling eff
fects of a Chinaman.
After an hours talk by means of
an interpreter with a chosen few, we
were conducted to our room where -
we were to spend the night. The
only piece of furniture in evidence
was the charcoal burner. The bed is
fixture, or part of the archtec-
tural plan of the building. 1t is a
raised platform along the side of the
room, or in many cases along both
sides. 1t is covered with a mat
woven from stalks of corn or millet.
Beneath is furnace fire which keeps
the floor of the bed uncomfortabl bly,
hot. Whatever bedding one may need
one must provide for himself
Long before the light of day the
Chinese are abroad preparing to re-
sumo the journey which the previous
night interrupted. Having disposed of
breakfast wanting in variety but
sufficient in quantity, we went to
train one hour ahead of the time
scheduled for starting with a view of
getting seat for the trying trip of
80 miles to Mukden through 10 or Il
hours Of travel. But with all our in
dustry we were doomed to ride the
platform as the Chinese had gone be-
fore us and had filled the seats and
aisles to overflowing. AS the native is
accustomed to carrying his bed with
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

ed valleys facing the Pacific in Cal
ifornia, the germ of the sequoia still
remained and here they took their
place among the smaller fry of less
promising time and lowered in lonely
solemnity above them.
The claim of being the eldest thing
alive in the world is unquestionably
correct when made with reference to
the big trees. The age of these
giants has been established beyond
the shadow of a doubt. The growth
of a tree each season is marked by
a ring and when the tree has been
cut down it is merely the simple mat
ter of counting the rings to determine
the age. Much ring counting has been
done in connection with these great
trees and their ages have been found
to range from 1,500 years for the
young fellows hardly coming to mans
estate to 5000 for those that may be-
gin to take on the veneration of
competent old age.
The oldest of these trees began to
push its shoot forward at about the
time that Adam was stirring about
the Garden of Eden. From the stand
point of many of these trees that are
now standing, William the Conqueror
was a man who lived but last week
and Washington crossed the Dele
ware but yesterday. The short-lived
fellow denizens of the forest that re-
main but 200 years have passed away
beneath the branches of the big trees
as an annual crop disappears beneath
the branches of sycamore
The bigness of the big trees is
thing that tits hard to grasp readily,
for the mere figures carry no definite
idea. The biggest of them are 400 feet
high. That means that if the Flatiron
building were placed alongside one of
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

there being prepared on earthen
stoves.
Money changers lined the waysde,
and gambling stands We're numerously
evident
One-storied structures met our eye
everywhere. Big red posters in Chin
ese characters broke the monotony of
gray walls of mud. Temples here and
there rose above the architectural
plain and gave relief to the eye in
it's otherwise endless range of thatched
roofs. The hour for our departure
having arrived, we went to the Jap
anese station of the South Man
churian railroad and boarded the
waiting train.
The very appearance of that train
spelt hardships for us. Instead, of
railroad in the usual meaning of the
term one meets with line of ties and
rails, that would fail utterly in it's
comparison with the logging roads of
the western part of the United States.
Rails of extremely light weight laid
on small ties placed far apart, the
gauge being less than three feet The
engine was a diminutive type of
forgotten days. capable of drawing a
train Of 10 cars. The passenger cars
were perhaps 20 feet in length and
in width with a height barely suf-
ficient to enable one to stand erect
within.
The best passage obtainable is ad-
vertised as third class. But as mat
ter of fact any classification is a gross
abuse of language. But perhaps we
may be more lenient in our judgment
when we learn that the road was
built to meet military necessity in
the days of the Russo-Japanese
struggle. That it was built to carry
freight and not passengers.
The station bell rings and we are
moving out on our 1S9 mile run of
two days, as the speed averages but
about 10 miles per hour, and as the
hours of running are those of day
light. Besides the Chinese public to
whom the road caters does not take
kindly to travel by night. and further
the dangers attending such a road
renders stopping at night imperative.
Our first stop is at the Chinese sta
tion of the same city we are leaving.
Here an assemblage of Cinnamon
with their bundles bedding and bags
has been waiting our coming. 1t is
we'll for the few foreigners aboard
that they secured seats at the Japa-
nese station, for the chaotic rush for
seats by the Chinese when the train
stopped was such that their patience,
if not their personal appearance would
have suffered greatly Once the seats
which run full length OF the cars
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

grove in Calaveras county The for
mer is the larger of the two groves,
but the latter is the more accessible
and contains the more famous trees.
The two groves are separated but a
few miles. They are on the direct line
of travel from San Francisco to Yo-
semitic park and are the furthest north
of all the big trees and the nearest
to civilization and direct lines of
travel.
These groves were formerly owned
by Robert B. Whteside, a prominent
lumberman of Duluth, MINI. Under
the arrangement made with the gov
ernment no money changes hands,
but Mr.. Whiteside is permitted to cut
from the national forests the amount
of timber that is found to be stand
ing on the lands that he releases.
This, however, will run into con-
siderable amounts, for it has been
figured that in one of the biggest of
the forest monarchs there is as much
timber as upon 20 acres of average
timberland. In the Calaveras grove
there are 10 giants that measure 25
feet or more in diameter while fig
uring in all those that could be
classed as big trees there are 93. In
the South grove there are in all 1880
sequoias the lumber feet of which
must be replaced.
The rarity of these big trees is the
thing that makes them of primary
importance. There are in California
10 isolated groves all along the west
slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains
and in a narrow strip below San
Francisco. They grow at an elevation
of from 1000 to 5000 feet above the
sea level and in sections in which the
ordinary forest trees flourish. In this
very limited area grow all of these
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25
(By P. c. Hays.)


On the morning after our arrival
in Shin-gi-shu on the northern bound
airy of Korea, we went to the land
ing on the Yalu river and boarded
a Chinese junk which carried us to
the Manchurian shore. The trip across
the stream was made at one of the
widest places. and required consider
able time and labor on the part OF
the oarsmen on account of the force
of the vast volumes of waters sea-
ward borne. In the light of the ad-
vancing morning the opposite shore
could be dimly seen with it's fringe
of houses in which the natives were
awakening to the life and toll of the
day.
Once ashore we found ourselves on
the border of vast extent of en-
pire which constitutes one of the de-
Tendencies of the middle kingdom.
Manchuria is bounded on the north by
the inhospitable stretches of Siberia;
on the east by the Russian province
of Amur and Korea; on the south
by the Yalu river and the gulf of
Picheli; and on the west by the dreary
reaches of Mongola's desert sands.
The country has range of latitude
from 3S to SO degrees north, and one
of longitude from 11S to 1876 degrees
east. Great diversity of climate is
found in passing from the boundary
line of Siberia on the north to the
seaboard in the south. From the
mountains on the west to those on
the east and from the Amur river
to that of the Yalu on the south
there are gradations of surface from
the mountainous elevations through
the hills, and great expanses of un-
dulating plains to the alluvial deposits
of the coastal plain on the Yellow sea.
Within this extent of land there
live and toll in various occupations
1900, 900 Chinese and Manchus. AS
we had an hour or two at our dis
posal before we were to take the
train for our 1S9 mile run to Mukden,
we availed ourselves of the opportun-
ity to stroll about the Chinese city
of An-tung-hsien. AS the walled city
usually offers the greatest attrac-
tions we soon were passing through
tortuous lanes and filthy byways. The
great markets, so characteristic of
oriental life, were thronged with those
who had come in from the farms and
gardens, as we'll as those who We're
making the usual purchases of the
day for consumption in the homes of
the city.
Public eating houses open to the
sky were swarming with those eager
for their morning meal which was
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

prietor conducted the writer to an
apartment prepared for foreign guests.
After removing liberal supply of
desert sand, and being satisfied that
all bones were intact, the call for
dinner was heard.
AS the writer had travelled for sew
eral days without the opportunity to
sit down to an European table, he
was glad to return to the custom OF
his kind to partake of a meal a la
Americana.
After dinner a tour of the walled
city was in order. Leaving the inn
and passing through tortuous and
dirty lanes one soon arrives at the
city gates. These are guarded by
Chinese policemen who are armed
with muskets and rifles which are of
models of forgotten days. Once inside
the walls one find himself in an in
closure where life literally swarms
in narrow dusty streets, dark lanes.
and one-storied shops, Chinese Ian
terms dimly burning cast a pale glow
over all, bullock carts, rikshas, sedan
chairs, and palanquins come and go
with the tumult and the shouting of
the attendants who seek to clear the
way.
a trip into the outer city beyond
reveals dark ways where street lights
are unknown: but Instead men pass
along carrying lanterns as they GO
The poor light does not guide the
light traveller free from the dangers of
collision, so a continuous shouting
in tones diverse, but in all mournful.
By mingling with the throng one has
conjured up for him a graveyard
scene where ghoulish and ghost-like
figures come and go making the night
hideous with their cries as they wend
their way along.
Not being able to determine the
lay of the land by night, the writer
made his way with no little difficulty
through the darkness back to the inn.
The next day the walled city was
again the first objective point of in
terest. Having arrived early at the
entrance of the city a few minutes
wait for the gates to open was neces-
sary. But soon ponderous hinges be-
gan to creak, and a mass of wood and
iron parted in the middle and two
great gates swung back to the walls
as perhaps they have swung for a
thousand of years. Waiting crowds
inside and out began TO stream
through the great arched ways of the
bastion and the main wall. The
writer assembled the great flight of
stone steps, that leads to the top of
the wall, and from there up into the
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

"/HEN congress passed, near the
w close of Roosevelt's admins
tration, the bill which pro-
vides for the control of the lands on
which grow the big trees of Cali
fornia, it saved from destruction the
greatest curiosity of the world and
thereby performed notable service
to humanity.
Of all the things that live upon the
earth the Sequoa is the largest, the
Oldest, the thing that stands most ex-
clusively in a class by itself, the thing
that is nearest extinction and the
thing upon which this country has
the most absolute monopoly. In the
face of these remarkable conditions it
was being allowed to go into the
hands of private owners to whom it
was timber to be sawed up into
boards. Much of it had been sacri-
ficed in this way. Many of the other
monarchs of the forest were being
sacrificed that showmen might profit
by their wonders. They were steadily
disappearing.
1t took nine years to get the bill
through congress which places in the
national forest the Calaveras timber
lands, which lands contain the great
est of the big trees, those that are
most readily accessible and those
owned by lumbermen and consequent
ly in greatest danger of being sawed
up into boards and shingles. The
activity of lobby made up from 500
women of the California club finally
forced Speaker Cannon to allow the
bill to come out of committee and it
was Immediately passed.
The land acquired by the provisions
of the present bill amounts to 1000
acres comprising South Grove, in
Tuolumne count, and the Calaveras
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

trees that now exist in the world.
The sequoias are survivors of
geologic era long since passed and
are the only living remnant of it
now in existence. The tertiary per-
od was one in which the vegetation
of the earth was so luxurant, so
rapid in growth and so heavy that
there is nothing now existant that
compares with it. At that time the
section of the world on which we live
was much warmer than it is now,
probably because of a different plac-
ing with relation of the SUM- All that
section of North America that is
about the Arctic circle was covered
with such timber as now exists no.
where on the earth. The big trees
were the individual members that
went to make up those forests, but
with them was a correspondingly lux
urious growth Of all other kinds of
vegetation. 1t was in these times
that the world was putting away in
that came from these luxurious
groWths and it was then that such
monsters as the mastodon tramped
abroad.
Then later the climate began to
change and finally the glaciers came
down from the north and crowded the
vegetation farther and farther south.
The temperatures in such ATTITUDES
as that in which we live grew much
older than they are now and the
forms of vegetable life We're largely
exterminated. When the severe tenn
peratures retreated northward again
it seemed that the big trees had been
crowded out in all sections of Europe,
Asia and North America, in all of
which continents geologic remains of
them are still found. In a few protec-
The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25

Continued on Page Twelve.)
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05

low the possibilities for securing In
formation to pass without taking ad-
vantage of them?
Does not the lost information of the
past answer at least In part the
question what are we here for?
The man without IN education is
almost sure, during an ordinary life
time, to see an opportunity which
would have been open to him had
he taken advantage of his oppor-
tunity to secure an education when
he was young, which thru the lack
of it is closed to him forever. He
may have become proficient In his
work, he may have been painstakins
he may have taken every advantage
open to him in middle and later life,
only to see some one Of less prof.
cheney and less energy and less nat
ural ability step into the position
which naturally would have been
his own, simply because his compel
itor has been given an education In
his youth.
It is a sad sight to see man Of
forty realize that this * his, ,situa-
ton, that the time Is past when It
would be possible for him to acquire
an education, even II he should be
situated so that he could then attend
school and take course of study.
It Is the duty Of every young
man to learn to express himself the
best that he can possibly do. It Is a
satisfaction to be able to say what
you want to say in conversation. In
as2roup eof men, or In public hall.
and to be able to think while you
talk This is one Of the things which
an education enables tho average
young man to do.
No matter how you are situated
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05

you will frequently be among groups
of people who want to organize and
do business as body or an organ
ization and it is nice thing to be
SO that you can be of service to them
and mold the organization, at least
in the proportion which it is your
natural right to do. If you under
stand the rules which govern such
organization, if you understand par
liamentary practice, if you know
what to do as chairman, If you know
how to draft constitution and bylaws
suitable for public organizations you
will be in a position to take advan-
tage Of the points which ! have
Just named, to influence the organ
ization far more than is your right
measured by your personal and
natural interests, and II yu do It
fairly and squarely, your co-workers
will thank you for the service.
I understand that you have had
some organization Of your own
school body since you have been in
this short term Of school, which is
an indication that this Is in part
what you were here for. With 3
longer experience In school, you
could add greatly to your experience
Of this sort and to your satisfaction
from the practice Of 1t during the
balance of your life.
hope the answer to the question
which have raised which 10 in
every mans mind, will be to accu-
smulate wisdom, to learn what other
men have found out from study, ex-
perience, and observation, to be ..
satisfaction to ourselves, and of ser
vice to the community 4 which You
live and to the world at large.
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05
TELL YOUR FRIENDS

Write to your friends in the east
and tell them of this great country
of ours. Think of the hundreds and
Of people just merely ex-
listing on rented farms in the east
where we out here on the broad
prairies are reveling in plenty. There
IL far more land here than the peo-
pie who are here now can work and
crop; thousands upon thousands 81
aefss are layiag IDLE Which woalA
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05
N. D. CATTLE TOP THE MARKET
Grade erefords Raised in Sutsman County Bring $500 per cwt
at st. Paul...Were Finished on Durum
Alfalfa and Corn.

long horned Texas cattle were ship
ped from this state is thing of the
past and stock growers are beginz
ming to see the wisdom of putting on
the market prime cattle, well bred,
with the least possible amount of
weight. The animals were finished
In eight months, five of them on full
feed, with durum wheat, alfalfa and
corn. The farmer who fattens cattle
to this point and gees 81 hundred
for them gets good pay for his corn
and feed stuff, and it has often and
truly been said that 1t costs no more
to feed up a prime animal than. q
scrub.
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05

The sale Of bunch Of grade Here
ford cattle at st. Paul for 81 hun
dred, the top price Of the market
attention from the stock
men down there and is of interest
in this state inasmuch as they were
raised in stutsman county and show
the results of intelligent breeding
and scientific feeding. The animals
weighed something over 1900 pounds
each and at 81 a hundred brought
the owner something like $50 each
net. This is pretty good record
and shows what can be done with
good breeding and the shipping of
fat cattle. The time when the rangy
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05

produce millions were their men to
cultivate the soil. Juts as soon AZ
we get together and tell our friends
In the east OF the possibilities here
Just 50 much sooner will they come
westward and settle up the country.
We need more good farmers here and
BY concerted effort on the part OF
those who are now. here We will get
them.-nohall Tribune. q
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05
RYE AND BARLEY IN THE Shock
Some Of the Early Fields Ripe and Have Been Cu-ran is
Fast Misunderstanding TO Stand il way Of Bumper Crop

Considerable rye and barley have
been cut and are now In the shock
Three miles north of the city, a
large field of barley stands in the
shock. The season is considered
quite early. The early wheat is near
ly filled and the later grains are COM
ing along very fast. The straw Is not as
long as it gave promise of being ear
ly in the season, but this does not
The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-08-05

make the yield any the less. In talk.
Ing with our farmer friends, we
have estimates all the way of fifteen
to thirty bushels of wheat per acre
ana 1t Is quite certain that the aver
age will be eighteen or twenty. This
VIII be enough, at the present prices
to give nearly every farmer an oppo}.
eun1ty to clean up" this year, and
buy diamond or two besides.