Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-11-17
AUDUBON SHELLEY
TALKS OF SOUTH DAKOTA
Giving A Good Description OF His
Trip AS Far West AS Pierre
On The Missouri River.

Os ANS NAtSSoott NtNChs
am just starting for few DAYS
outing in South Dakota and will iot
down a few items along the way which
may be of interest to some Republican
readers. These little observations are
written en- route and are as nearly
correct as / can make them 1t is now
sunrise and we are entering Monona
county, this state. / notice that the
corn is standing nicely here, but aside
from that feature the country is not so
attractive as Audubon county. 1t is
rough here and the woods with their
variegated colors are beautiful at this
season.
At Rodney the great hay district
begins-lands which L should Judge
were rich but not sufficiently drained
for corn. Although the season has been
dry notice that the Monona- Woodbury.
drainage ditch has considerable water
in it, but on account of its great length
and slight fall it does not do the service
which was expected it would. Abundant
water in the ditch now at the close of
this abnormally dry season indicates q
pretty wet district in that part of the
state. l see winter wheat so high that
it waves as the wind blows through, vet
it is not killed by frost though this is
the middle of October
! Here in Sioux City l see number of
Indians mingling with the whites and
one is led to think of the great change
which has taken place since less than
fifty years ago when the Indian was in
full glory in this region. In 1904 when
Lewis and Clark made their expedition
| to the Pacific one of their men named
Floyd died and was buried on high
bluff of the Missouri river. This is
now known as Floyd's Bluff and little
stream at its base is called Floyd River.
| This bluff as seen from the train in the
eastern part of Sioux City is a matter
of interest to students of Iowa history.
Leaving Iowa we are now running
along the Missouri river and old settlers
say that it is the lowest it has been for
twenty years or longer. Along the
Missouri valley l notice magnificent
| fields of corn and in one field | see three
settings of grain, and this small field
too. There is much threshing to be
done in the valley yet. Little value is
placed on straw for now see two large
stacks burning. We are again entering
hay country and count sixty stacks
| of it from my Car window. Near
| Letcherville l notice seven straw piles
close together which would indicate
good yield of grain. North of Woon-
socket the tumble weeds, the burned
prairie, and the absence of schoolhouses,
fences and worked roads ect. gives one
good idea of pioneer days in our own
county. West of Miller the drought
has been especially felt this year and
has resulted in much injury to the corn
crop, but the pastures, hay lands and
grain fields have not suffered to quite
such an extent.
Arriving at Pierre find it to be a
beautiful city entirely surrounded by
rough prairie country. 1t has the new
state Capitol just erected at a cost of
over million dollars and very finely
finished and furnished but not so large
as Iowa's state Capitol. In addition to
this Pierre is now erecting new school
building, a $500 church, quarter
million hotel and at one time ia new
buildings were being erected. Still
further it has magnificent depot and
a new railroad bridge across the
Missouri, or almost new, as both the
depot and the bridge were erected
during the past year. have been
talking with a farmer who has Just
| arrived in town with a load of hay and
on inquiry find it weighs $500 pounds
net. He mows this hay about twenty
miles north of Pierre and about the.
only cost is his work. The hay from
one of these quarters will net about
ninety dollars and furnish some pasture
in addition While this is not very
| big return, it must be kept in mind
that it is taken from cheap land.
| Off to the north of Pierre great herd
of cattle ranges in the summer time and
this presents a peculiar situation;
ranging herd and state capital not
even separated by SO much as wire
fence. Bnt the condition is attractive
to me and / enjoy it very much. This
is Monday, October II and very fine
day so we are crossing the river by
train and are going out to the buffalo
ranch which contains three hundred
buffaloes, the worlds largest herd.
/ They are in a fourteen thousand acre
pasture now and will have an additional
run this winter. Sixty buffalo calves
were raised this year and in the pasture
is at least one buffalo which was cap
tured. in 1880 and is now over thirty
years old. / saw over one hundred head
of the herd, the balance being back in
| the hills. Having satisfied our curiosity
\ we are now returning to Pierre and off
1 to the west can see the old Deadwood
| trail which was made historic by the
bandit of pioneer days. Having now
reached Fit. Pierre we are now crossing
the Missouri in a launch. There are no
large boats running this year on account
of the unusually low water. What
great change since the days of Buffalo
Bill when good sized inland steamer
carried passengers and their horses and
did scouting work far above hereo the
old Yellowstone river. But they are
working on the Missouri today and
when the river rises to its normal con-
dition again. it will doubtless do
freighting and carry passengers as of
old. The dream of the people of Pierre
is when East Pierre and the main city
and also Fit Pierre are connected by
street cars, and when the vessel again
winds its way up and down the river
thus affording an additional mode of
transportation to both passengers and
freight. At any rate Pierre and the
Coyote state have our best wishes