Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-12-31
FROM GEO. w. LATIN
Fallon, Nevada, Dec, IL, 100

write the paper about this country
after | had been here, so will now
comply with their request. We ar
rived here just two months ago with
out any mishaps of consequence, al
though our car was delayed for sever
al days and we had tedious wait for
our household goods The long trip
was broken in the middle by our stop.
ping over with relatives in western
Nebraska for few days, SO the ride
OH the train was not 50 long as it
would otherwise have been. We
reached here Oct. 18th and went
directly out to our homestead mile
and half from town. There is a
family on every eighty acres in this
tract SO we found plenty of neighbors,
and they were all very friendly and
willing to make us comfortable until
our furniture came.
The people here are from every
state in the union but mostly from
the Pacific coast. There are quite a
number of retired business and pro
fessional men who are ',getting back
to the land" for reasons of health, SO
our coming does not cause much COM
ment. There are still few home
steads open for settlement and some
for sale by parties who have found
the task of putting land under irriga
tion greater than they expected. We
have not done much on our land as
yet for it took us month to recover
from the strain of moving, and then
we had to purchase a team and tools
and find out how to 60 about the
work. We have cleared the brush
from ten acres and hired neighbor
who has had experience to- level it for
us. He had only succeeded in level
ling one acre when the ground froze
enough to interfere with further work
1t took twenty-five dollars worth of
work to level that acre, but it was one
of the worst and / expect tn get the
balance for twenty dollars or less per
acre. There is very little sage brush
here, but most of the brush is what
is called greasewood, which is hard,
brittle and thorny shrub, growing
from four to six feet high and form
ing clumps which have held the drift
ing dust until some of them are solid
mouds of dirt and brush six or seven
feet in height All Of these must be
spread on the low places and the en-
tire ground made as level as floor in
order to irrigate the ground as it
should be. When this work is done
it makes farm that is as good to
look at as well kept garden. Seed.
ed in alfalfa such land will produce
over fifty dollars per acre annually
and of course those who own them
will not sell for less than $4,000 per
acre. All kinds of grain give good
yields and fruit and garden vegetables
are raised that are the equal of any
thing that can be grown anywhere.
There was no crop put in on our place
last spring but there is about an acre
and half in garden fenced with
woven wire to keep out the rabbits,
and the people of whom we purchas.
ed had the garden cultivated. They
raised over three hundred bushels of
potatoes and several hundred bushels
of sugar beets, besides all the usual
gariiaties Of garden for family family use.
There is good start with apple, pear,
peach, cherry. plum and prune trees;
also currants, gooseberries, straw
berries, dewberries and grapes; so we
are in hopes of having all the fruit
needed in two or three years at the
farthest. This climate is not warm
enough for anything but hardy fruits
that will stand freezing winters, but
for such kinds it seems well suited
The thermometer seldom goes down
to zero bat there is about six weeks
when ii freezes nearly every night in
winter. The days are bright and
warm even then SO that farm work is
done in the field all winter Old
residents say this winter is exception
al in the fact that there was more rain
than usual this fall so that the ground
is wet enough to freeze and SO stop
work for the forenoons. We do not
expect to get more than twenty acres