The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-08-05
At PIERRE LODGE
Doane Robinson Sends Breezy Letter
From S~equestered Nook

ITO" S0QOSStcTcu tNOOk
am spending the week at Pierre
Lodge, in the Rapid canyon, and am
Impressed with the fact that when a
South Dakotan's information is not
exac he generally makes A sufficient
allowance to cover all contingencies.
Every native of whom l have ineui, ed
has told me Harvey peak is mo! e than
5000 feet nigh, although the geologic
al survey long ago deterined it to be-
1926 and the fact has been widely
published. l have taken the opportun
1ty to make barometric measurements
OF a lot Of elevations which en- ,oy
local celebrity for altitudenous pro-
portions and find in almost every case
the true height to be exaggerated by
from 500 to 1900 feet. Tamaha, for
instance, is 1850, instead Of $500.
The big Belle Fourche irrigation
project is drawing to a finish alter
five years of active construction work,
in which the highest earth dam on
earth has been constructed and vast
concrete works erected. In the end a
hundred thousand acres of good land
will be irrigated from it and a dense
population and intensive cultivation
will be the features of the tract. There
are a half dozen other possible pro-
jects in the state which the go ern-
ment engineers have ~prOspeCted, and
there is a total of perhaps half a
million acres susceptible Of ~irriea-
ton in the state. The Little MissCui,
the Grand, and Moreau, Rapid creek,
Castle creek and several other streams
debouching from the Black Hills each
afford water and physical opportunity
for projects varying in extent from
five thousand t twenty thousand
acres.
The Hills have suffered more from
the June drouth than any region l
have seen. The fertile mountain
parks that last year yielded the most
tremendous crops-twenty-hve-brshel
wheat-head high grasses and other
crops according are now parched aud
dry, the meadows so bare of grass
that to use a familiar extravaganza OF
fifteen years ago, "a farmer has to
take along a bale Of old hay to prime
his mower with before he can get a
sWath started"
There are, however, but few Of the
inhabitants of the region who depend
upon lllt sui lol q hN'iilicoh,
of the mountaineers being engaged IN
mining, wood cutting and like o cupa-
lions, and when crops fail all Of them
can resort to like occupations to
bridge over to a more prosperous agri-
cultural year.
Rapid Creek has a hundred miles OF
tr]out-bearing course and | take 1t has
something like a hundred fishermen
to the mile, consequently the fish have
become exceedingly wise and the
tricks they resort to in the endeavor
to determine whether there is a hook
under every fly would make tales
worthy the most proficient nature
fakir. Perhaps it is enough to say that
they are ION to the ways OF men,
In a recent letter w. f. Curtis in
terestingly describes the German col
ony in South Russia. More than 11,OCO
immigrants from this colony are eiti-
zens of South Dakota, and they arr
most excellent citizens, too. Ire at
that they have preserved all OF the
best characteristics and traditions OF
the Germans through more than a
century of expatriation among a
dominating people of entirely differ
ent characteristics is the best testl-
mony 10 their strength OF character.
While they utterly refused to assimll-
ate with the Russians they speedily
adopt American methods and inter
marry with our people, and the sec
ond generation are genuinely Amerl-
can, which proves that circum tances
alter cases. While in Russia the
hold themselves aloof from civil ar
fairs. here they taken an active ana
influential interest.
Rapid City has a new enterprise
this year in the shape of a sand-lime
brick plant which is making a mag
niicent product. Chiefly the state has
hitherto been dependent upon import
atoms Of a fine building brick suit
able for facing good buildings, but
the new proposition bids fair to sup
ply the demand for this article.