The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1911-12-29
GOV. VESSEY TELLS
OF OPPORTUNITIES

western GOVernOTS Oh buSli OAlp III "
ugh the eastern states and in telling
the people of those states about the
OPPORTUNITIES in South Dakota said:
In attempting to forecast and reau
the history of the worlds future, we
observe that one very important and
pregnant word stands out saliently
and prominently on its horizon-that
word is opportunity, and at this time it
is our desire and our mission to bring
to the people of the eastern section of
our country a fuller and more thorough
knowledge and more complete realiz-
alton OF the opportunities actually ex-
isting and abounding in the great
states of the northwest and especially
South Dakota.
AS state we are yet young and 1t
is but comparatively few years since
the territory was regarded by the old
'er settled portions. in vague and re-
mote manner, as an uninhabited waste
and barren expance, uniformed, crude
raw, completely undeveloped.
Within the very recent past, this IL
lusion has been most effectually dis
PEELED, the truth has been and contin-
ues to be unfolded,, and today South
Dakota with her wonderful soil, her
splendid farms, her rapidly growing
towns, her amazing progress and her
present infinite resources takes her
rightful place in the foremost rank of
the states of the nation.
To properly treat the opportunities
presented in South Dakota and the
remarkable progress made within the
last few years would require an arti-
Gle of very exhaustive length, hence
we will here attempt nothing but
most rapid impressionistic sketch, iu-
dicatiye of what has been done by the
settler in the past and Of what the
newcomer, the home-seeker, can eX-
pect of the future.
There is in South Dakota an espe-
eially fine opportunity for the cUlti-
walton and growth of potatoes, and it
is worthy to note by the farmers that
every year the state is secured by
buyers from the southern markets,
seeking South Dakota tubers for seed
purposes. Farmers within the state
are growing distinct varieties OF pota-
toes and are able to dispose of them
tor more per bushel for southern seed
purposes than the farmers of the cen
tral states can procure for their pro-
duct for any purpose.
The waterpower in South Dakota
are numerous and the opportunities
are great for installations of power
producing plants, for the lighting OF
towns and other concerns, and are
even now attracting unto themselves
the deserved attention of men and
capital that will later utilize them to
the greatest advantage.
The waterpower opportunities along
the Cheyenne, Big Sioux, Missouri,
Vermillion, and other rivers, and es-
pecially in the Black Hills, where the
streams have very rapid descent,
are so many, both large and small,
and in comparison with the potential
possibilities so entirely unutilized,
that this aggregate is indeed remark.
able and the full significance of this
condition is being impressed upon not
only tbe citizenship of the state but
upon the eastern engineers and lay
men as WELL
In western South Dakota water has
been used for irrigation purposes for
quite some time, and while the necessi-
ty for irrigation is not so great as in
some of the states farther west, there
are numerous farms and raches along
the base of the Black Hills. Also var
ious private irrigation works alon the
Missouri, Bad and Cheyenne rivers,
are under construction or nearing
completion and still Others are pro-
iected. Those that were operative
during the past season vindicated
themselves by immense crop yields
and many successful agriculturists are
fortifying themselves against and oc-
casional unfavorable season by irriga-
tion bitches.
The federal government has COM
pleted mammoth irrigation project
near the city of Belle Fourche, in the
county of Butte, embracing a total
area of, and destined TO furnish water
to one hundred thousand acres oi
land. This work has given very de-
cided impetus to irrigation enterprises
in the state.
Our state owns at this time 2,437 ,74e
acres of common school lands, given
by the federal government. The stat
ute provides that none OF these lands
can be sold~for less than 5000 PEI
acre, and at the present time MAJOR
portion is worth from forty to sixty
dollars per acre. In fact, the ayeragt
price received per acre for all lands