Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-10-08
A WOMAN ON A HOMESTEAD.

A WOMAN ON A HOMESTEAD.
The advantages and the difficulties
of life on homestead in new coun-
try have been frequently and var
iously set forth. In the past eight
Or ten years there has been a great
influx of settlers to the western part
of the state and the story Of their
homemaking has been often told.
But settlers of the period through
which we have just come have had
fewer of the difficulties of tanning the
prairies and cultivating the land than
were experienced by the pioneers OF
twenty-five or thirty years ago. The
country is well served by railroads.
Rates are lower and traffic accommo->
dations better. Interest rates are
lower. Business institutions are bet
ter established and credits are cas-
Ter. The homesteaders of recent years
have had the benefit of the agricul-
tural experiments of quarter of
century. They know more of seed
selection and of plant diseases. They
know what grass and fodder crops
are best adapted to differing soil and
conditions. In a hundred and one
ways the life of the homesteader of
the past ten years is far easier than
that of the homesteadier of twenty
five years ago.
This is not to say that there are
no hardships to be encountered and
overcome today. There is plenty of
hard work for the settlers who come
with not much money but plenty
of capacity for hard work, to create
a home on the prairies. But, with
careful cultivation, economy and en-
ergy; the reward is sure. There are
thousands of contented and prosper
GUS farmers in the western part of
the state today who have earned
their homes, raised their families,
educated their children and put by
comfortable sums for old age, from
the products of the soil.
A woman in the eastern part of the
state who writes a letter telling her
friends of her experiences on home
stead, probably reflects the life of
good many settlers:
Will you kindly allow me little
space in which to answer the enquir-
les of many friends as to how we
like living on claim" or homestead
in western North Dakota?
It would be impossible for me to
answer each separately, and will here
say. I established my residence on
the claim last April by building a
shanty or shack of good dimensions,
I moved my family and goods there,
also a COW, pony and chickens, got
ten acres broken and seeded to fax
and then went to town to earn the
money necessary for their mainten-
ance.
We are all contented and satisfied
with life on the prairie; as for myself,
well, the burdens and cares seem to
have vanished and feel light heart
ed Whether it Is the air or the eli
mate that makes one feel SO good, I
know not, or perhaps it 4; the knowl-
edge that house rent, water, fuel and
light bills are things of the past.
Again it may be the feeling of owner
ship or possession which is a great !
stimulant.
With 100 acres of ones own, coal
for the digging, fence posts and wood
also fruit in the Bad Lands if you
wish to go after them, plenty of grass
for the animals and good water, one
has not much to worry about.
You can build house of sod, plas-
ter it with gumbo and native lime"
tint the walls with a chalk material
found in the Buttes, and If you don't
mind a little trouble or work, you can
dry the red or yellow clay found also
In the hills and make paint for the
floors. There is sod house and
store at Fayette that has bath room
with hot and cold water, telephone
and postofice, thirty mnes from a
railroad. ,&s, /
Crops have been fine for several
years. Wheat Is running from twen-
ty-three to thirty-lve bushels per
acre. "A woman farmer got thirty
I'VE bushels per acre on fifteen acres.
Oats yield from sixty-five to seventy
nine bushels per acre, and fax from
twelve and one-half to fifteen.
There are not many free home
isteads left, but good ACCOMPLISHMENTS
can be had. Land can be bought on
reasonable terms, and you who are
waiting for the whistle, just wake |
up, get out Of the rut, come and be