The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-03-14

staged for the last time. Thousands Of
women and men from all parts OF the
country will assemble in Poplar to ben
eft by Uncle Sans last great distribu-
ton Of farm land. 1t will be home
stead crush rather than rush. The
picturesque race of former day that
marked the throwing open of govhrn-
ment land to settlers has given way
to the more prosaic method Of draw
ing lots. He who draws No. 1 is en-
titled to the first selection Of $50 acre
allotment. the winner of the second
ballot gets the next choice, and SO it
goes until all the land has been award
ed to the lucky ones among the contest
ants, for there will be several times
more applicants than farms.
There will be excitement a-plenty in
spite Of the new manner Of distribu-
ton. Success will depend not on fleet
ness, but on luck Under the former
system the prospective homesteaders
were lined up, and at Il signal they be-
gan a rush that was one Of the most
thrilling sights in the modern west,
Oklahoma was settled In that way. 1t
was race assuredly to the swift.
Men on horseback-yes, men and wom-
en-spurred their mounts to distance
others who sat in buckboards or farm
wagons behind feet trotters or gallop-
Ing bronchos. He who reached the
goal nrst staked out the best claim.
Those who followed took the leavings.
For the majority, including practical.
" all those who travelled afoot, moth.
ing was left.
Million and Third Acres.
1t is no small section Uncle Sam will
give away in Montana this spring
nothing less than a million and third
acres. The tract is the major part Of
the big Fort Peck Indian reservation
at Poplar. Wise men in Washington
have decided that Poor Lo has had
the place to himself long enough. They
think he will be better off with a few
thousand white neighbors, and they
also deem it time to lower the cost of
living for the hundred million or so of
palefaces sprinkled over the United
States. 1t is figured the necessaries of
life will be made little cheaper by
opening the reservation to homestead
ers, since the quick agricultural devel
opment that is sure to follow is ex-
pected to add 20,0O0OO0 bushels Of
grain to the nations annual production.
There are 206S,693 acres in the Fort
Peck tract, but the interior department
has allotted 723,693 to the Mandans
and Sioux now settled there, leaving
1,345 900 acres to be taken up by the
descendants of the pilgrim fathers and
other immigrants. 1t is about the rich
est land in the dry farming region, as
is proved by the results obtained in the
$500 acres now under cultivation.
Two years ago the whole tract was
bare prairie, and even last year the
cultivated area was only 1,500 acres.
I In twenty-four months the land has
been improved. without irrigation and
with little rain, to the point where fax
has run eighteen to twenty-six bush
els to the acre, wheat twenty to twen-
ty-fve and oats sixty to eighty-fve.
Tract Could Supply Nation.
Professor Thomas Shaw, agricultural
expert, is authority for the belief that
the million and a third acres to be
given to white men will grow enough
grain to feed a nation. The big yield
thus far is a result of cultivation by
Indians alone. What the harvest will
be when palefaces get busy with the
soil makes interesting reckoning. That
it will be far greater than the redskins
best achievement is certain, although
it must be admitted that Lo has made
fine progress as a farmer in recent
years.
"On the supposition that the unoccu-
pied land were devoted to the growing
of wheat on the summer fallow plan"
said Professor Shaw a short time ago
after a visit of inspection to the reser-
vation, (WHICH would mean that one
half the area would be in crop at one
time, and on the further supposition
that the wheat would yield twenty-five
bushels per acre, which is a moderate
estimate for yields on land thus pre-
pared, the aggregate production would
be 19,312.5OO bushels.
"If this land were entirely devoted
to the growing of barley on the sum
mer fallow plan the yield would be
3O,900,OO0 bushels, as barley grown on
such land should average forty bush
els per acre. If the entire area were
devoted to the growing Of oats on the
same lines the total production would
be 3S,625, 900 bushels, as fifty bushels
per acre would not be an extravagant
estimate for land thus farmed.
"There is another way of showing
fhe immensity Of the possible produc
ton OF this fertile tract of land" the
professor continued. "On the suppo
sition that one-fourth OF the entire
acreage were devoted to the growing
of fodder corn the yield at the mod