Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-03

to give 10 It's business section an air of
solidity and established character not OBJ
tainable otherwise. It's rows of handsome
stone buildings are a fitting indication of
the character OF the stocks within the
stores and Of the enterprise Of the men
who W them. and its two banks with av-
erage deposits of over a third Of a million
dollars bespeak the prosperity OF it's citi-
zene generally. There are electric lights
which have been in use for a number OF
years and the capacity OF the water power
plant which supplies them is taxed to the
utmost.
Valentine is the home Of the United
States land office, where thousands Of
homemakers have made and completed
their contracts with a beneficent govern
ment, and also OF the weather bureau
office, which is IN charge Of a trained OBJ
server. There are four churches, the larg-
est of them built OF stone, each Of them
with a comfortable parsonage and all Of
them out of debt There is a large public
rest room; there is a splendid fraternal
lodge hall; there is a good opera house and
the imposing court house of Cherry county.
The school building is the largest and best
arranged in this section Of the state.
On every hand are to be seen newly
RAAAANNA NANNst AAAAANe Va e NlAAG NdAho
and other improvements, all mans handl-
work, but neither has nature herself failed
to do her part in making Valentine a pleas
ant place to live. The town is beautifully
situated on a broad plateau within q curve
of the Niobrara river, which flows on the
south and east, while on the north rise
the high bluffs which o~verhang the canyon
of the beautiful M~innechaduza. Man has
assisted and improved upon nature and the
result is both a pleasure and a surprise to
those who have not seen the capital of the
so-called sandhills, with its enterprising
busines men and its ~hospitable citizens
equally interested in everything that will
assist in general education.
OF Cherry county comparatively little is
known by the outside world. Tha such a
county exists is a matter of common knowl-
edge. but with present day conditions in
the county few are familiar. Twenty years
ago this vast territory was not the civ
ilized county It is today. The white man
who went there to live looked for a life
of rough work and danger, but the very
fact that the homesteader from the east
faced the uncertainty Of these days to
enjoy the certainty of prosperity is its
greatest testimony. Perhaps the most re-
markable Characteristic of this county is
that it is one of the Few counties where
the farmer and stockman are living side
by side.
Lands are low in price. Many good quar-
Ter sections of land out from three TO eight
miles from Valentine can be purchased for
from IS to SIS per acre.
No prophet could foretell the events of
the last few years and their results. For
more than twenty years the cattleman and
the homesteader nave been occupying the
middle part Of this county, but they have
just begun to learn how to use 1t, how TO
enrich themselves from it, how to enjoy it,
how really to feel the mastery over It. New
generations are coming on the stage, new
enterprises are being developed, new ter
ritory is being opened through the adapt
ing Of now farming methods to the exist
ing conditions. 1t is ar unending process
sion Of homeseekers and homebuilders and
II continues today with as regular a move
ment as 1t possessed ten years ago. 1t Is