Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-06-02
That Homesteader.

ana narOSnlpS OF Ine western nome
steader, intended evidently to discour-
age the western homeseeker. One of
these articles appeared recently in a
local paper, and was signed, "a. D.. "
Owner of Need-more Ranch, Grand
view, Idaho.
He hits the nail on the head in the
says: 'There are great many people
who have altogether wrong idea about
this demonstrating, and public land bust
ness" In another place he says: "Peo-
pie are lured out there with the hope of
getting something for nothing" This
is probably true. The woods are full
of just such people. They are easily
caught. They take the fly" in all
kinds of weather. Any "get-rich-
quick" bate attracts them, whether it
is coffee or banana plantations or a
homestead on a sage brush desert in
Idaho, and when they are hooked, "
they squirm like an eel.
Real demonstrating has never been
considered very attractive mode of
life, but it is that grand army of pio-
neers or hOmesteaders. that has made
and developed the great agricultural
resources of our country, at every stage
of its history; whether it was in the
early settlements of New England and
the middle Atlantic states, the country
bordering on the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi valley, the prairie states
beyond the Missouri, or the arid and
semi-arid regions of the great North
west and Pacific coast.
Go and look at some of the garden
spots of the arid regions of the West.
Grand Junction and Palisade, of Colo
rado; Brigham City, Provo and SPRING
vile in Utah; Yackama Valley in Wash
ington; Hood River in Oregon and the
Blue Lakes, in the Snake River canyon,
in Idaho, they are known almost the
world over for the quality of their
fruit. And these have all been re-
claimed by the homesteader, but it was
by no means an attractive pastime.
demonstrating has never been con-
sidered ''snap," and it is no less so
today, than it was fifty years ago.
The man who spends five years on 100
acres of land, and then gets patent to
it, signed by his "Uncle Samuel" has
not got his land for nothing, you may
/ hnc of hot ltr+ !
! foot of it.
But really, demonstrating in this
country, is thing of the past. The
land that is open to demonstrating, that
is of any value, is practically all gone.
| Only small tracts here and there. that
have the promise of water for irriga-
ton, from the government, are open to
homestead entry; except some dry
farm land, in limited amounts, subject
to entry under the Enlarged Homestead
act, which allows bonifide residents of
the state to take up 800 acres, but does
not require residence on the land.
These are the only lands open to home
stealing today, that are worth the eff
fort.
There are, of course, millions of acres
of land in the West that can be home
steaded, under conditions that tally al
most exactly with those set forth in
the article entitled 1.-THE Homesteader's
Dark View" But it is difficult to be-
lieve that any person in his right mind
would go out and settle down in the
brush, and there remain, as he saws.
waiting for something" and what
they are waiting for nobody knows. :"
The writer further says; "These barren
plains have existed for thousands of
years. and will be the same in a thou
sand years from now" Certainly there
must be something lacking in people
who would attempt to make a home in
country with no brighter future be-
fore it than this, but then it is the
same old story of those who are trying
to get something for nothing
Now Mr.. A. d. of the Need-more
Ranch, the author of the "Home-
steader's Dark View" is indeed to be
pitied, but there seems to be no one to
blame but himself, for with his ex-
tensive travel in Oregon, Montana and
Idaho, and residence in Washington.
which he claims, it is very strange that,
after all his western experience, he
should select home in the desert. from
80 to 70 miles from the nearest neigh
Dor, and there bemoan his fate, and
with the philosophy of a stole, take
his medicine like little man."
With all the opportunities with which
these states abound, if he has not Sc
cured an irrigated farm in one of those