The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1909-01-15
Faces for the Home steader.

| folk land winners along with other
lucky enough to draw Trip county
farms.
"A Few Facts for Homes eaders" is
the title of an article in the Lamro
journal, the only newspaper in Trip
county. The Journal says:
Among the things that home.
steader wants to know about are the
necessary tools to work with the kind
of plants that should be grown the
first years, and what are the neces.
sary buildings. There is bound to be
more or less difference of opinion and
perhaps what would do for one would
not do for another. From the limited
knowledge the editor has, he CLEANS
the following facts which may be Of
interest to the homesteaders.
Lumber VS.. Sod.
The first thing atCer the home.
steader has filed and picked out his
quarter is to get settled The improve
mcnts or necessary buildings he will
have to put up will depend to a large
extent on his means. If one is looking
for economy of time and money, the
quickest, hoalthiest and most ecOnomi-
cal buildings are frame buildings. Not
OIlN lOl IOullttu luOulnS ItSlutHI'
but also for five years. Sod houses are
the only other buildings practicable
outside of lumber, as cement is out
of the question on account of there
being no good building sand or gravel
in the county. There is sand in the
county, plenty of it. but so far none
has been found that is fit for building
purposes.
The Sod House.
The sod house is quickly con
structed depending to a great extent
on the cost of labor and the cost of
the doors windows and roofs. EX.
perts could put up a house in lnree or
four days for a man and his wife to
live in, but generally from two to
three weeks can be figured on. Their
one great advantage lies in the fact
that the sod house is a warm winter
house, but its disadvantages are many
Mice and ground squirrels find it a
fine nesting place and in damp
weather they are damp and unhealthy
besides needing considerable repair.
ing all the time. In the spring the
condition of the sod and weather may
prove uufayOrable and make the cost
of erecting a sod house more than a
frame one. \ good shack l0Xl2, eight
feet high to the ceiling can be OBJ
tanned for about SIPS. A cheaper
shack might be made from shiplap
2X4s and plenty of tar and rosin paper
4 barn that would house four head OF
stock can be built for about 500, and
altogether $3.50 will about cover the
necessary improvements in the way OF
buildings the first year
Cost of Wells.
Water can be obtained from depths
ranging from six to twenty-five feet
in any part of the county There are
no wells in the county that are known
to be any deeper than twenty-five feet
The cost of sinking a well is seventy
five cents a foot. A windmill costs all
the way from $50 to SIS and a water
tank all the way from $l5 to $25. 1he
soil is easily penetrated on account
of there being clay Subsoil and then
sand and gravel.
"The best land is in the northern
and central part of the county. There
will be plenty of Indian land to lease
and rent at from fifteen to twenty-five
cents an acre. The Indians will UNI
doubtedly sell their land in this
county as fast as they can get patents
or deeds to their land. Write to the
land offices here for further informa-
ton.
Expense of Flowing.
1T costs $3.50 to $500 an acre to
get sod plowed, The main reliance
will be horses. Plows pulled by gaso-
line and steam will be used, but they
have to have plenty of land to pillow
and the soil cannot be too wet.
THE main means for transportation
will be by means of big freight
wagons, while quicker service will be
furnished by automobiles and buggies.
lC may seem strange, but a railroad
does not always mean prosperity to a
community. 1t has been the eXper-
fence in localities west of here that
during the freighting period before
the railroads came in they witnessed
their greatest prosperity. For some
reason or another there is great de-
mand for all the farm products and
the prices of the local market are as
high and even higher than the eastern
markets The railroad is bound to
come, but it is not such a necessary
thing as people think it is. The rail
road, even if it starts in the spring,
will not be doing business for at least
year
Committing.
Committing is paying all the money
into the government that is required
to pay for the land, and living on the
land fourteen months; also to erect
buildings and till some of the land
in order to show that the homesteader
intends to make the land his home.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS are where the
homesteader has filed but has failed
to put up a building or live on the
land during six months Immediately
following the filing. The law gives a
homesteader six months to get on his
quarter, and if nothing is done by that
time, then the homesteader loses all
right to the land which reyerts to the
government again, and then anybody
can file on il. There will be no re-
linquishments in this county until after
the first of September, 1909.
The necessary farm implements are
a pillow, harrow, disc, corn planter, cul-
tivator seeder and binder.
Trip Crops.
SOD corn is the principal crop as it
prepares the land for small grain,