The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1910-08-10

f
several miles down the river there
| is succession of boulders, rugged
cliffs, waterfalls, etc.. that / never
saw equalled outside of Colorado.
The inhabitants of Redwood Falls
need not 90 west for picturesque
scenery, for a FIVE minute walk from
| its business center lands one in a
canyon with majestic granite walls
towering a hundred and fifty feet
or more. and leaving him lost to the
world. | wandered mile or more
down this beautiful river one even
ing and at sudden bend in this SER
pentine stream came upon the Elec-
trio Light & Power Co.'s station.
Then I learned that the beautiful
lake and dam were commercialized,
for f1ume carries water to the sta
ton, where big turbines turn the
dynamos. The water has fall of
seyenty feet and direct drop of
forty-five feet, and the turbines are
capable of developing 1000 horse
power. The wheels never stop, and
electricity is produced at mimi
mum. The three-wire system is
used, and several towns in the coun-
ty are supplied with light and power
from this plant.
Our drive back to Tracy was pro-
ductiye of nothing different from
the drive from Marshall to Redwood
Falls. Just great stretches Of wheat.
oats, corn, rye, barley and flax.
Nearly every farm home has grove,
and the land is not monotonously
level, but just rolling enough to
shed the water into lakes without
washing the soil. The soil in this
section contains a small portion Of
sand which makes it pulyerize easily.
The dust mulch in the corn fields,
which is a hobby with Wallace's
Farmer, is not hard to obtain. But
the experience Of those who have
gone from here is that one has to
use a different grade of plows from
that used in the Marion county soil.
The Iowa pillow will not scour, and
plows specially adapted must be
procured.
There was one thing that | had
read about in advertising circulars
which | made point to investigate,
and that was the flowing wells. /
made inquiries and found that there
were five good ones within radius
of five miles of Lanham' s farm, and
visited every one Of them. They
run in depth from It's to 200 feet,
and cost about 81 per foot to COM
plete them. The water is much
colder than that of surface wells
and generally contains less lime. To
see this sparkling water pouring
forth in an endless stream looked
good to me, and | thought how it
would be appreciated by Marion
county farmer who had big bunch
of thirsty stock to water at time
when there was no wind to run his
pump. These we'll flow from six to
eight gallons per minute, depending
on the size of the casing.
Marion county has furnished a
good many farmers to Redwood
county, and Lanham and I made it
| a point to call on nearly all of them.
AS we returned to Tracy we stopped
for day with John Fulmer. John
is farming Lanham's quarter section
and is doing well. Lanham's land
lies six miles northeast of Tracy. is
a splendid farm, and Mr.. and Mrs.
FuImer are SO pleased with their ex-
perience so far that the chances Of
their ever returning are very re-
mote. We enjoyed visit that will
long be remembered. S. 5. Phelps,
who went from Attica a year ago,
has splendid 8O-acre farm inside
the corporation of Tracy. The inn
provements are far above the aver
age. 1t cost him something over
800 per acre. The man he bought
Of moved to Nebraska. but returned
this spring and tried to dislodge
Phelps by offering him $500 above
the purchase price and to pay for
the improvements he (Phelps) had
made. But it was no use and the