The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1913-01-21
A Round Trip Of 100 to $50 Miles
Necessary to Get Supplies From
: Thief River Falls.
FREIGHT EQUALS FIRST COST
II Eighty Cents Hundred in Winter
and 800 in Summertime
Wanted to Bemidji.

w. B. Stewart, superintendent of
schools of this county, has returned
from a trip into the country north
west Of the Red Lakes. Mr.. Stewart
was: gone for week inspecting the
schools in that section and reports a
country that lacks only developing
to make 1t one of the most prosper
GUS sections in the state. :
Mr.. Stewart covered the towns Of
Stevenson, Hamre, ,Benville and
Spruce Grove going in fifty miles to
GrYgla from Thief River Falls by
stage and making the rest of the trip
by team. Thief River Falls is the
nearest railroad station and all sup
plies for these inland villages of Ger
mantown, Grygla, Jelle, Thorhault,
Malcolm and Carmel have to be haul
ed by tote team a distance Of from
twenty-five to seventy-five miles.
"'The people in this section of the
country, said Mr.. Stewart yesterday,
"are a hard working, patient class
and are all good farmers. The coun-
try lies ON the western edge of the
timber. line SO that while It is hat.
and comparatively open, there are.
many groves of poplar and hard wood
which serve as excellent wind breaks
for the farm homesteads and stock. :
"There are miles of country as level
az a table on which nothing must be
removed but brush before it can be
farmed. Several farmers have as
much as forty acres cleared in one
field, the work having been done with
a traction engine and brush pillow. TO
show that much grain is actually
raised. there are twelve or thirteen
threshing rigs in that country and
one of them threshed between. so 900
and $4,000 bushels last fall. @
A Railroad Badly Needed. ~
II talked with many men on my
trip" continued Mr.. Stewart" and
everyone of them wants a railroad
connection with Bemidji. They not
only want direct route to the coun-
ty seat but they say that Thief River
Falls is being: supplied by hundreds
Of other farmers and that Bemidji is
q Comparatively free market. Furth-
ermore, their produce would be sold
at home and more people brought in
to assist in the paying of taxes :,
A railroad is being built out fifty
miles from Thief River Falls but &C.
cording to Mr.. Stewart, the farmers
In Beltrami county are not enthus-
iastic over the plan. They want a
road built around the west end of the
Red Lakes so that the grass lands at
the outlet will be opened up also.
Their main need of a railroad lies in
the fact that at present the haul from
Thief River Falls is so far that tote
rates at times are more than the
original cost of the merchandise. T.
Z Second Cost More Than First.
yy"Just to show what they are up
against" said Mr.. Stewart, .''they
gave me the following facts: y
: Carmel is fifty miles from Thief
River. Flour costs eighty cents more
per hundred in Carmel than in Thief
River. It costs $40 to make around
trip from Carmel to Thief River. It
cost 500 to bring threshdng en-
CINE from Thief River to Carmel. In
the summer, it costs $500 per 100 to
ret freight to Carmel. A barrel OF
salt costs more in Carmel than its
first cost in Thief River Falls. One
ton Of hard coal costs SIS.
,;"They gave me the following facts
OH freight hauls into that country:
ask car loads of -four per year are
used by the Grygla and Carmel store
: They also use one and one-half cars
! OF sugar, one-half car of nails and
:. wire, and one car of salt. They ship
ped out 100 cars Of cattle last sum-
mer.
THAT the country is prosperous is
shown by the facts that these people
have $50 miles OF telephone, there
ARE several automobiles, there are ten
small saw mills, and creamery at
Grygla. On quarter section near
Carmel, Lilewald brothers raised 81
500 bushels Of grain last season.
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