The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-02-15

note, were opened the Dwight farm
in Richland county, under the an
agement of John Miller, our first gov
ernor, and the great Cooper farm in
Barnes county of $4,000 acres.
In this list I have given the prin-
cipal bonanza farms opened in the
three years following Cookies failure;
hundreds of smaller ones were also
IN operation. The reputation OF North
Dakota as the banner wheat state of
the union vas established. The total
sales Of the company's lands to Nov.
80, 1880, were 2,S51,314 acres, bringing
IN the snug little sum of $11,637, 1881.
Then accepting an offer from Mr..
Hill to take charge of the land de-
partment of his road, my ten years
service with the Northern Pacific end
ed. They had been ten years of hard.
strenuous work: many days and weeks
Of anxious thought and ~sleepless
nights; discouragements which often
made n feel that 1t was a foolish
waste of time and energy to continue
what seemed a hopeless task, but
final results compensated for all.
The failure of Jay Cooke brought
ruin and distress to many, but out
of the ruins has been built a new
empire, well named, "The Land OF
Golden Grain"
Following the reorganization Oh
the Northern Pacific in 1879 and its
extension westward, came the build
ing of the Hill lines through the
northern counties; then the 500 line
in its ~northwesterly course: the Mil.
waukee and the northwestern roads
with their extensions; until, today, the
entire state has become accessible tc
settlers and in every part Of It we
find thousands OF happy, prosperous
people with their we'll titled, money.
making farms; thriving towns anC
villages; all an ~outgrowth of what
only a few years ago., seemed an ir.
reparable disaster.
1t is a wonderful history Of rapid
development, progress and acquired
wealth in an ~unoccupied country, un,
equalled by any state in the union
practically all in less than forty years
half the span Of a mans life, bu
barely a day in the life Of a state.
/ cannot refrain from c~ontrastin,
the appearance of the Dakota prai
RE as l first saw it in 1870 with wha
1T is today. Then, as far as the ey
could reach, was a vast field of way
ing green, shimmering in tn,
sunlight; not a sign of LIVING
thing on the great unbroken plain
not a sound except that of the whis
pering wind as it passed over the rip
ping sea of grass-it was an opel
solitude sweeping into unlimited space
the green blending into the blue O
the western sky. 1t was a great dea,
space awaiting the occupancy of MAJ
to give it life-the possibilities of it
future only imaginative. 1t was NOR
like looking out on a great glimmer
ing emerald sea, than on a land whicl
some day might be teeming with in
dustries.
Today, from the same point of view
We see fine homes of prosperous farm
ers, surrounded with groves of beau
} tiful trees; great barns, the vast field
of waving grain, herds of fine cattl,
the schoolhouse, the church, the cities
towns and villages, lines Of railway
telegraph and telephone.
The silence of the first days is nov
t broken by the click Of the harveste,
/ the hum Of the threshing machine, tn
rustic of the corr leaves, the sound q
{ the school and the church bells, tn
roar of the great trains on their wa
to the markets laden with the produc
{ of the farms, the music of the sing