The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-03-13


country will assemble in Poplar to ben
eft by Uncle Sans last great distribu-
ton of farm land. It will be a home
stead crush rather than a rush. The
picturesque race of former day that
marked the throwing open of govern
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 a 800 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 signal they be-
gan a rush that was one Of the most
thrilling sights in the modern west
Oklahoma was settled in that way It
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 fleet trotters or gallop-
ing bronchos. He who reached the
goal first staked out the best claim.
Those who followed took the leavings.
For the majority, including PRACTICAL
ly all those who travelled afoot, moth
ing was left.
Million and a Third Acres.
1t is no small section Uncle Sam will
give away in Montana this spring
nothing less than 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 2O,OOO.OOO bushels of
grain to the nations annual production. :
There are 2,O6S,G93 acres in the Fort
Peck tract. but the interior department
has allotted 723.G93 to the Mandans
and Sioux now settled there, leaving
1,345,OO0 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 $500 acres.
In twenty-four months the land has
been improved. without irrigation and
with little rain. to the point where flax
els to the acre. wheat twenty to twen-
ty-five and oats sixty to eightyfve.
Tract Could Supply Nation.
Professor Thomas Shaw, agricultural
expert, is authority for the belief that
the million and 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 farmer in recent
years.
ION the suppositon that the unoccu-
pied land were devoted to the growing
of wheat on the summer fallow plan,"
said Professor Shaw short time ago
after visit of inspection to the reser-
walton, (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 19.312,500 bushels.
''If this land were entirely devoted
to the growing Of barley on the sum-
mer fallow plan the yield would be
3O,9OOOOO 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
the immensely Of the possible produc-
ton of this fertile tract Of land" the
professor continued. ION the suppo-
sition that one-fourth Of the entire
acreage were devoted to the growing
of fodder corn the yield at the mod
crate estimate Of two and half tons
per acre of cured fodder would amount
to S4O,625 TONS If winter wheat were
drilled in the fodder at the proper sea-