Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1913-11-06
THE LAKES NEAR M'HENRY
A Hunters ResOrt-NOtes on Hunt.
ing and Farm Life.

the most noted duck and chicken
shooting localities in the central part
of North Dakota, and formerly was
also considered fine hunting ground
for geese, but with the settlement Of
the country, the drying up of many
of the small ponds, and the increase
of the hunting population, satisfac-
tory bags of game are only had in
the early part Of the season. The
birds in the many lakes and ponds
of this part of the state are shot at
so frequently that they have become
wild and wary, and it takes the most
skillful hunter with patience, decoys
and an unerring aim to get a big bag
of game.
McHenry is4a aytypical North Dako-
ia town, busy tnsthe fall of the year
as a rule, and being situated in the
midst of numerous lakes the whole
population, both rural and town has
the hunting fever. It is contagi-
Gus disease, apparently, for every
body talks hunting, and it is said
that even farmers will leave their
plows on certain days of the fall to
go after the festive duck and goose,
and that business men of the town
will close earlier and open up later
in order to spend few more hours
in this health giving and absorbing
pastime that seems natural to most
men. If a flock of geese alight in
an adjoining township and feed in
the same field for a couple Of days,
somebody in the town knows it and
organizes campaign against the
migratory visitors, who may chance
to come back to the same feeding
place again. McHenry boasts of
some of the best shots and the most
successful hunters in the state, and
there are a number of good fellows
in the town who will give stranger
a square deal. 4-.
The town of McHenry this year is
rather quiet in a business way, ow-
ing principally to the fact that the
crop tributary to the town was not
as large as usual. Sufficient rain
failed to come at the right time, and
as the soil is slightly sandy. requir-
ing an abundance of moisture, the
yield this year was below the aver
cage. At one time McHenry was
known as the largest fax shipping
point in the world, and also was for
time one of the largest wheat ship
ping points in the United States.
This was before the Great Northern
railroad built it's Fargo-Surrey line
across the state, paralleling the 500
line and cutting of, by the newt
towns that sprang into existence
along the road, much of the busi-
ness that formerly went to the older
towns. McHenry, Binford, and
other N. P. towns on the, Sanborn
branch have suffered from this cause
as we'll as all the towns along the
500 main line in this state.
The Great Northern road has
fine equipment, with neat and COM
plete stations at convenient ddstanc-
es. In North Dakota a railroad
company can absolutely count on the
trade of a farmer going to the near
est market place. It is case OF
short haul vs.. long haul, and the
snort haul wins every time. The
new towns on the G. N. extension are
beginning to feel as If they were on
a main line, especially when the new
fast mail trains to the coast start
running, which will be early In No
vember. The road bed is of the best
construction and the new track as
good as can be made, while many OF
the crossings are overhead crossings
substantial and safe for both trafic
on the public highway and by rail.
In visiting numebr Of the farm
ers it is seen that many are going
into corn growing, and that the boys
and girls are taking a big interest In
this work. The result is that more
hogs and cattle are found on the
farms than in the early days when
nobody raised anything but grain.
The prizes offered by the state and
county for seed corn have been the
means of saving q good deal Of early
maturing corn, this year, and 1t is
practically certainty that a larger
yield and better quality of matured
corn will be had next season than
ever was known before.
A number of steam plows have
been working in this vicinity this
fall. but there are many bitches and
delays and few farmers seem to
know just how to run them success
fnllv for any lenRth of time. It 10