The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1911-09-21
INQUIRIES ARE POURING IN.

1t is becoming daily more evident
that those who think the extremely
light registration for homesteads in
the Fort Berthold reservation in North
Dakota is any sort of criterion as to
what the registration for Mellette and
Bennett county, S. d., lands will be
are in line for a big surprise says a
dispatch from Gregory.
Seventy-eight mail sacks full of let
tiers addressed to Judge James w.
Witten, superintendent of homestead
openings, have accumulated and are
now stacked up in the United States
land office in Gregory awaiting the
appearance Of the judge, who will ar
rive within the next two weeks. At
the close of the Fort Berthold regis
tration Judge Witten stated that at
thai time he had already received
more inquiries regarding this Rose
bud opening than he had regarding
IliC dho lihdos Ills ID plC-
sumed to be due to the fact that the
Rosebud lands are in the corn belt
and are famous for their prolific crops
of that staple cereal, while the Fort
Berthold lands are adapted only to
the raising of small grain.
In addition to the mail accumulated
for Judge Witten, the secretary Of the
Gregory Commercial club reports he
has already answered inquiries from
over 10000 prospective homesteaders.
The inquiries began coming by the
dozen a month ago, and the volume
has steadily increased until from 300
to 500 are now being received daily,
and the number is still steadily in
creasing day by day. Gregory being
the United States land office city and
the headquarters of the opening
October 2, and the place where the
drawing will take place on October
"a, three days after the close of the
registration, no doubt more inquiries
are being sen there than to any other
registration points. 1t is fair to as
sumo thai the total of inquiries re-
ceived at the three other registration
points is as large as in Gregory, and
a careful estimate based on these
figures make it appear that Judge Wit
ten is quite conservative in placing his
estimate of the number who will reg
lister at $4,000. At the opening of
Trip county three years ago about
$4,000 asked information at the vari-
Gus points before the registration, and
yet the registration reached a total of
1860.
w. ]. Durand, of Minneapolis, spe-
cial agent for the Western Union Tele-
graph company, arrived at Gregory
this week and successfully negotiated
with the notarial association for space
for a telegraph office in the registra-
ton building. Mr.. Durand stated that
he would install a four-wire service
and have four operators on duty all
the time TO handle the news for the
daily papers and various press associa-
tons.
Through the Commercial club Judge
Witten has reserved a building direct
ly across the street from the registra-
ton building as his headquarters, and
by means of a special telephone wire
will be able to direct the registration
at the other registration points while
remaining II PERSONAL charge at Greg
DRY.
An innovation which is expected to
win admiration of eastern visitors at
the opening will be a great corn palace,
which is now in process of erection.
The building has a frontage OF seven
ty-fve feet near the United States land
office and will be embellished with