The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-09-04

= :. !. -.--ssss
President worst il back from his
vacation tri9 to the coast and the A,
X. r. exposition. He went via. the
G. r railway, through the heart Of
the. wheat fields OF western Canada,
where magnificent crops abound this
year, through mountains where for
three hundred miles snow capped
peaks were never out OF sight, and
where farming land never was to be
seens through scenery equal to that of
the Alps to Vancouver, one Of the
great cities OF the Pacific coast.
or the conditions In Canada, he
says that the wheat region is of such
extent that one cannot appreciate 1t
until 1t is seen, but that the constant
danger OF a frost is present TO keep the
farmer on the anxious seat from seed
time to harvest. At Banff, Glacier.
and other points the party stopped
to view the scenery. Through the
mountains and beyond them there is
little timber to be seen from the right
OF way. In fact, he assured the writer,
that in all the round trip OF over three
Thousand miles, scarcely no timber
worth the having was to be seen.
Naturally the accessible timber is
first to be removed, but what there is
now lies at a considerable distance
back from the railway, especially in
the United States
Night fell as the train struck the
levels near Vancouver, and the party
did not see the surrounding country.
Here is q splendid port and a great
and growing city, one OF the best
places In the entire west for the in
vestment of money. in the opinion of
President Worst
OF Seattle and the exposition little
was said. Much Of the city Of Seattle
Is built out far from the business CEN
ter, and gives the town the appear
ance OF mushroom growth. 1t covers
more ground than the city Of New
York, and while it's growth must con-
tinue until In time 1t ranks with the
great cities OF the world, years could
be spent In developing what is already
plated out, before it became neces-
sary to extend the present boundaries
or the built-up area.
Around Seattle the soil, save where
1t is irrigated, gave little promise of
value, and the same holds true and
to larger degree, as you so toward
Portland, Ore. This latter city, situ-
ated on the lower Columbia, seems
destined to gather TO itself the trade
of the Island Empire, since down the
course Of that river the roads leading
from Spokane and the tributary coun-
/ try have a practically water level path
to market, while every bushel of grain
hauled to Seattle from that region has
to be lifted over the mountains. But
the people OF Seattle say that they
have the push, the people, and the
money and that they are going to
| have the trade. 1t remains to be seen.
Through Idaho, for three hundred
mt4es, the train runs amid fields of
sage brush reaching away on either
hand to the horizon. Farther east
ward to the north Of the Snake, the
sixth largest river in the United
States, here and there a settlers shack
stands out against the skyline, or
town, it's streets bare of the ever-re-
current sage brush. stands lonesome
save for the tents that here and there
take the place of buildings. The set
tier tells you that when the waters of
the Snake are lifted to the prairie level
the desert will blossom as the rose!
and you can well believe him, having
seen what irrigation can do in the
coast region, but at the same time you
are a bit doubtful as to the ultimate
cost Of the b1ossoming.
Crossing over into Utah you come to
a land where the waters have been
long used for irrigation. and the val
leys yield abundantly, while under the
foothills, above the bitches, watered
| - x4f@saa 80 en-
from the mountain slopes, dry farm
ing is successfully carried on.
Through Colorado. amid mountains
naked of all verdure save on an oc-
casional shrub OF cIuInp OF grass, the
road carries YOU at last to Denver, the
best biIt, and altogether the best city
of the trip. Denver, by the way, Is
| DID, and it's age has lent 1t solidity of
growth, strength, beauty.
Down from Denver, coming east
ward, are the valleys where the melon
and the cantaloupe grow, and the APP
| pie is in it's prime at this season of
the year The Nebraska prairies,
where twenty five years ago the sage
brush stood alone. are dotted with
homes. And so back at last through
wheat fields, through farms where
stock is coming TO the fore, to the VAL
ley of the Red, and the little city Of
Fargo.
The land hunger that possesses the
people, now that they realize that the
public domain 10 exhausted, is evident
everywhere. Everywhere people are
talking land-always land. They are
paying boom prices for it. They are
taking chances that they can i'll AFFORD,
to get a home before the homes to be
obtained freely are no more. But in
the opinion of President Worst, unless
man has a very fortunate location
in the irrigated districts he Is better
off in North Dakota than he would be
anywhere In the west the father west.
and he is better Off In Fargo than he
is in the city of the coast. If one Ii
looking for business advantages they
: are today to be found at home rather
than In the new and booming regions
of the west. And the thousands are
surging and elbowing to possess the
2 dry lands, when better land, obtained
Y at less final cost, still Is to be had II
abundance all over our northwest.
ShePperd 10 Back.
Dean and Mrs. Shepperd are also
new arrivals from the west Theil
itenerary included much the sam,
! ground covered by the president, al,