The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-01

Ing speech by Mr.. diversion Of VII
liston:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men: The subject assigned to me-
The Development of Northwestern
North Dakota is such broad one that
books might be written about 1t, so that
In short talk can only cover very
small portion Of the subject. With so
many branches of development, all Of
which are interesting, the problem Is
to make a selection of topics that may
interest you as bankers and business
men and give you some idea of the con-
dition which while they are familiar to
us in our part Of the state may still
be practically unknown to you
To some OF the older members of my
audience who came here from other
states and have watched conditions the
story of the development OF northwest
ern North Lakota may seem to be re-
petition of the development of eastern
North Dakota and even of Wisconsin.
Iowa and Minnesota.
Those of you who have made study
of the history of the settlement of the
United States know that settlement
started first on the shores of the ocean.
Later the more adventurous settlers
followed the rivers inland and estab-
lished their homes on their banks, still
later going through the mountains and
mountain passes in the great Appal-
achian system and settling along the
valleys Of the Ohio river, then later on
down to the Mississippi and up and
down the tributaries of that river.
Northwestern North Dakotas first set
Element came in the same way. Lewis
and Clark went up the Missouri river
and stopped at number of points in
what is now Williams county, consider
ably over a hundred years ago.
Their book is a very interesting one
Our first real settlers came in the same
way. They came on steamboats, from
st. Louis or later from what was then
the terminal of the Northern Pacific
line at Bismarck
Hunters Were First.
The people who came first were hunt
ers and adventurous people from the
east on their way to or from the mines
in Montana, with some laborers and
wood choppers who cut wood along
the river to supply the government
boats which at that time carried all
the traffic from the head of navigation
at Fort Benton to st. Louis.
Forts were established at different
points along the river as a protection
from the Indians who oftentimes com
mitted depredations and attacked the
people who were coming into the coun-
try. One of the first references that
have heard of loan on chattel secur-
ity was made in about 1870 when
banker from Beulah Ia, made loan
on some horses near Fort Union In
Williams county. These horses were
carried off by the Indians and the
banker came out to look up his security
and asked the authorities at the fort to
have the Indians. return the horses to
him because he had a chattel mortgage
on them
Needless to say the horses were not
returned. was interested this spring
in looking up my claims to become all
member Of the Sons OF the American
Revolution to f1nd that the first refer
ence about my great great grandfather.
who fought for a number of years in
the revolution. was an application for
an abatement of taxes made by him
and q number Of others on account of
Indian depredations along the Con- |
necticut river in which considerable
property was destroyed. so we see that
Indian depredations were common In
new settlements and that applications |
for abatement Of taxes are not new
thing in this country.
Old Fort Union.
Fort Union was established at the |
junction Of the Yellowstone and Mis-
souri, rivers. The name of this fort |
was afterwards changed to Fort Bu-
ford and the site moved a couple OF /
miles. These forts had to have meat
and while the hunters at first shot /
plenty Of buffalo, deer and antelope, I
1t was necessary later to have beef, so .
we find the early settlers raising cattle.
They thought little or nothing of
cropptng the lands and so selected /
places near the rivers and water
courses that were rough and Afforded
natural protection for their stock
which ran at large.
So we find that the early settlers
selected what was really the poorest
land from an agricultural standpoint.
Settlers who came in later, after the
railroads, at first settled near the rail-
roads. Usually railroads do not go
through the best agricultural country,
following water courses where there
is very little grade.
\
few years later and who settled back
from the railroad, on the fine. high
prairie lands, to fully demonstrate what
northwestern North Dakota could do
IN the way of raising paying crops.
When went to Williston all of the
vegetables grown in the country, all the
oats used for feed, were raised on
three or four irrigated farms in the
county and hauled from twelve to
thirty or forty miles to the Williston
market, where they brought eastern
prices with the freight added. Stock
men bought potatoes from the east and
SIS we now know, no better potatoes
can be grown in the country than
sthose which are grown In northwestern
North Dakota. These same stockmen
also used condensed milk, even though
they might have hundreds and even
thousands OF cattle and there is a great
deal of truth in the statement that the \,
stoctmen and cowboys would not do
anything that they could not do on
horseback
These stockmen told the settlers
what they then considered the truth
that anyone trying to farm without
irrigation In northwestern North Da-
kota would starve to death. Our farm
ing operations for the past ten years
have conclusively proved the contrary
Many Of you will remember that
when you were studying geography at
school all the northwestern part OF
North Dakota was included in the area
known as "the great American desert. =