Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-10-06

ppiltd TO unload We Grai and down
thinner they I'D picked tap Ia keep
their families lrOw treeZ'ug. Thank
for unp. no range EVER crught me in
those days. iiunr : eaderr were not
muIts'r ed or hUuuItd bV government
spies. Charg Ing them with Diet aching
the continuity Of continual residence
By absence from their claims Il few
days looking for grub The govern
ment IN these years Ct pra>SlOpperS
did not distribute a pOuId Uf food or
dry goods ar boots or shoes. The only
time it did a little was ia the spring
Of 1881 when the great tlOr q wiped out
IA buildings Of different kinds, my
home with the rest. in uue day. For
a month some relief was given by the
government. The stock interests were
not affected in the least during those
years. Eggs were from six to ten
cents per dozen, butter from eight to
ten cents, the best Of steak from ten
TO twelve, bacon and hams eight to
ten cents, and it was not EN- balmed
either.
A number of homcsteaderS went
back to Mas but very few lost their
homesteads by 50 doing. The LEADER
says homeSteaderS from Europe had
no friends to help them. They did
not need any. they had come from
codutrics where conditions were much
worse than in Dik"td, aid graSshup-
perS never faxed them. one Russian
family Of ten picked up the heads Of
fallen wheat Che hopptrs cut of the
straw about four inches below the
heads on 10 acres Of ground thresh-
ed it out, and sold the farmer his
seed wheat the next spring for 50 per
buShel. ! have just come back from
Keister, 80 miles vest Of Mason City,
To-, Oh the Northwestern My obser-
walton leads me o conclude that Mas
got all she can do 10 take care of her
self. The combined vote of the seven
counties referred to by The LEADER
at that tine was about $500.
Yes, we played ball. The Vermillion
nine went 10 Sioux Falls overland.
John l.. Jolley was our captain. We
defeated their crack nine. of whom
ex-senator Pettigrew and Melvin
Grigsby were members, That night |
dOmiciled with the senator on his
pre-em ptiOn south of town. Just
think Of 1.-THE lion and the lamb w.
ing down together, John Stephenson,
spoken of by The LEADER. might
have been a member of the nine, as
he seems to have been Il baseball
crank in those days. lie managed to
get something besides water. Wonder
what it was If. | remember rightly,
Sioux Falls had about 100 Inhabitants.
There is no comparison between those
times aud what We are up against
now. That episode OF hopper times
in the early los (there were no hop
pers in rs and &c, as The LEADER
says don't deserve a single passing
notice as compared to the present
condition Of the hOmeSteaders. AS be-
fore stated, the stock interest was
not affected at that time, but the
. " "SDlNlh IA IAN
ota is the stock interest. 1t is fair to
state that in 80 days rs per cent Of
stock of all kinds west OF the Missouri
will be shipped ont. AS far as crops
are concerned, they are very near a
total failure. Let us meet this con
dition Of affairs, and do 1t at once.
The rains are helping some, but
something else is needed.
(Note by the Editor of the LEADERD
The above is in the main correct,
but Mr.. Bower Is mistaken about the
grasshoppers in 1875 and 1876. There
were millions OF them in Lincoln
county, and as to government supplies
a Lieutenant OF 18th U. S. Infantry
distributed a great quantity of bacon,
flour, clothing and shoes In Lincoln
county, but we have no knowledge of
what was done in other counties.