Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-06-10
WEALTH FOR THOSE WHO
STAYED.

WEALTH FOR THOSE WHO
STAYED.
In some comments upon the sub
stantial growth of North Dakota and
the establishment of stable values
for land, DR.. Coe of Portland, Ore,
formerly resident of Mandan,
talks entertainingly Of conditions,
both in North Dakota and Oregon.
OF conditions that existed in this
state when he knew it best twenty
i've or thirty years ago, DR.. Coe said
In Grand Forks a few days ago:
Zone needs to take some time go
INK about the country to fully appre-
ciate the wonderful advancement this
North Dakota has made In the past
twenty years. One who has been nv-
ing here continuously can scarcely
appreciate the change as 1t now ap-
pears to me. I we'll remember
time when Ward county was thought
to be only good for grazing purposes
and yet today she is doing more
wheat raising than any other Sec
ton of the state. Lands In Nelson
county went begging at one dollar
IN acre. Land around Devils Lake,
Towne and Rugby had hard trouble
to ind buyers at one dollar an acre,
while now a quarter section Will
bring from four to six thousand dol
lars. Take it down in Morton county
After having paid taxes on a piece
of land, there for ten years, de-
clined to pay the taxes and made
present of the land to friend This
piece of land I understand has re-
Gently sold for forty dollars an acre.
"To have said that the land west
OF Mandan was farm land when
went there, would have made the
speaker a fit subject for Jamestown,
IN the minds of those who heard the
statement. Today that country Is
full Of big elevators and wheat rails
Ing is one Of its greatest INDUSTRIES
In speaking of similar experiences
In Oregon, DR.. Coe recalled parti-
cu1ar case in which the trials OF the
pioneer settlers we're wildly set
forth. The case was that Of John
Spargur, former resident Of North
Dakota, who became interested in an
irrigation project in Oregon sixteen
years ago. or his experiences DR..
Coe says:
'He and his associates con-
structed the Maxwell ditch and after
experiences which we're altogether
unpleasant they practically walked
out of the country having disposed
Of their enterprise for a mere song.
It was in the days when wheat was
selling in the great wheat belts of
Oregon and Washington for thirty
cents a bushel. The panic was on
and this was the newest pioneer re-
zion in the country. and worst of all,
the people here who were all new
corners, felt the bitter pangs of pi-
oneering poverty.
'sThe farmers were unable to Dor
row the money to buy sacks in which
to put their grain. All the wheat of
Oregon Is sacked and stored in ware
houses instead Of high elevators as
In North Dakota. In three"fourths !
OF the fields of the gerat Umatilla |
country wheat belt, country which |
today raises one per cent Of all the
wheat raised in the United States
and OF the Pa1ouse country, Wash |
ington, that other greatest wheat
section Of the Pacific northwest. the |
grain was left standing in the fields. !
The people who had located In that |
section left the country. II they could |
get out, but many of them were not |
20 fortunately situated for the cur !
rent funds as Mr.. Spargur was, and
had to remain. These men. who,
against their will, stayed in that re-
9f0a, are practically all rich. Lands |
that were selling for fifty cents an |
acre and no buyer, today are selling |
from seventy-ive to two hundred |
and nifty dollars an acre, and. every |
thing is being raised there today |
that can be raised anywhere outside |
Of the tropics.:. 4
Mr.. Spargur took homestead in |
section ten, In the lower Umatilla
region. In disgust he abandoned the |
land and was glad to get out with his !
life. Today on this section of land
81 located the thriving little city Of |
HoTmfston, which is but two years |
old, but r. being built through SUBJ |
seantia1 irrigation surrounding It,
which 10 In the hands Of the United |
States government. There ~ |
thirty to forty brick and concrete |
.buildinEs, as well as the usual COM
3pletment In OF town OF that size, and |
over one thousand people are living |
In this city. The improvements be- |
inE estimated at . quarter Of mill
Hon OF dollars. Without doubt the
land and improvements today, which |
llr. Spargur abandoned, are worth |
5nOk less than half d million dollars.
~ re-, his brother and associates |
svned many sections Of land In this |