Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1911-12-23
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA! /!
Ranks Highest in Wealth per Capita
Of any State--Wonderful
Resources.

| AhO iouoWiuk 10 Iuo duurcSS VI mdJO
Robert Mann Woods delivered befor
the National Irrigation Congress, re
Gently In session in Chicago.
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND DELEGATES:
South Dakota, although one of tn,
newest States in the Union is one of tn,
best. Best in her people, best in bel
laws, best in her opportunities for thu
poor, best in her finances. She has NJ
rich men and no poor men, yet she
ranks highest of any State in the Unior
in her wealth per capita. Best in hel
educational advantages. Less than two
per cent of her people are illiterate. We
have $l0,0OO,OOO in our school fund, and
we have 2,500000 acres of school land
which we are selling at an average OF
$50 per acre, which will make our school
fund $l33,000,000. We challenge COM
parison with any other State. We will
not only give every child in South Da.
kota common school and high school
education, but we will give every one
of them a university education free OF
charge.
One hundred miles square of the
Black Hills, where live, is the richest
hundred square miles in the world-in
gold, silver, copper, anthony, mica, tin
and gypsum. This five thousand feet
uplift is the most picturesque and mag
niticent scenery imaginable. Its beauty
and grandeur have never been sur
passed.
Here Harvey heaves up his form to the sky
And the Needles through azure quilts heaven
ward ply.
There the sylvan Lakes foam DER the mountain
cloud spills
And Spearfsh's deep canyon with wild beauty
thrills.
Here the caves open up their vast caverns Of
gloom,
The stalactites hang over each satyrs tomb
The boiling hot flood springs in many place
And the quartz clasps the virgin gold in tight
embrace.
Geology finds every fruit of its hands
Rare rubies shine forth from our ore-laden
sands
And rich guches yield precious metals galore;
Where we only touch wealthy natures great
store
/ say to you, that Paradise, itself, is
not more than half a mile from this
favored region-in this direction (pont-
upward) and every man in South Da-
kota can get there if be will walk
straight.
In spite of the great tracts of land
which the general government has
thrown open from our Indian Reserva-
tions, South Dakota has still million
acres of land subject to homestead en-
try, and what we want, what we must
have is the cooperation of this National
Irrigation Congress in such amendment
to the Carey Act or the passage OF the
Newland bill, as will give us reasona-
BILE time to pay for irrigation works and
and bitches.
We have 25 or more splendid loca-
tions now waiting this Act and for the
capital to complete the work. Locations
that will irrigate $4,000 to 250OOO acres
each. The Government is building one
at Belle Fourche, which will be splendid.
But we want them at many other places.
For instance, like the one over at Rapid
City, not so miles from where l live,
where the farmers have planned one
for their own use.
Here the limpd waters of Rapid Creek
come tumbling down the guIch-like
the water came down at Lodore-clear,
pure, the sweetest water ever drank,
enough and to spare, and it will not only
irrigate every acre in that scheme, but
will forthwith light and heat and power,
and pay dividend of 10 per cent, and
may be double that sum in perpetuity.
But what the farmers want is the capi-
tai to complete the work-and the secur-
ity they offer is the farms in one of the
most fruitful valleys in South Dakota.
What we want in South Dakota is the
water-we have the soil, the sunshine
and the grace of God.