The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-08-08
KILLING PRAIRIE DOGS
GOVERNMENT TAKES UP THEIR
DETERMINATION IN HAAk.
ON COUNTY

lu0 gov Z IIlGLt lis Jdh6U uD the
work Of prairie dog determination in
Haakon county and has a force Of men
in that county systematically working
along this line. The man makes a
survey Of the county, locating all the
dog towns" and plating them. The
main force is supplied with a camping
outfit and stays out in the field, NOV
ing from one town to the next. Each
town is checked off as fast as il is
gone over, the work beginning on the
west line Of the county and carried
east. Poisoned oats is the bait used.
and the work is said to be success
fully carried out. The dog towns
cover thousands of acres of the west
river country, which do not produce
anything while the dogs are allowed
to work. But when the pests are Grad
icated their underground ~burrowing
acts the same as SubsOiling, and when
the fields are cultivated the work in
the subsoil which has been done in the
course Of years by the prairie dogs
helps IN the prOductiveness of the soil.
That scores of criminals, some Of
them OF the most desperate character
have invaded South Dakota with the
influx Of harvest hands, is indicated
by the frequent robberies, which are
taking place in the farming communi-
ties and in the smaller towns Of the
state, and hOldups occurring on freight
trains entering the state. Honest har-
vest hands, who have money with
them, which they have earned in other
states to the south, invariably are the
victims Of these holdups.
Burdock is a new town. A postoffice
has been opened and the Burlington
railroad has designated it as a station.
Potash will make Burdock. A large
company already is busy installing ma
chinery IN a site six miles from the
postOffice. Burdock is fifteen miles
from Edgemont in the extreme south.
western portion Of the state. 1t is on
approximately the same location as
was the old tOwnsite Of Argentine, at
which the postoffice was closed some
time ago..
North Dakota and South Dakota will
harvest their greatest corn crop this
year, according to government reports,
and the three states are rapidly creep
ing up on the records of the older corn
states. The government estimate OF
213, 2G3 600 bushels for the three states
this year will be passed, grainmen said,
because Of the recent excellent corn
weather. The corn r will be greater
thar the wheat yield, the crop report
says.
Oil excitement has struck Custer
county. At Fairburn the Midwest and
Ohio, two Of the largest oil companies
operating in the west, have leased sew
e:al thousand acres of land in the
vicinity and bought a large number of
vacant lots in the town. They are pre-
pairing to sink a test well in the next
thirty days. Biologists pronounce the
indications good for oil in that vicinity.
A man out looking over the crop sit
patiOn in Suliy equity found one farm
er who had purchased a location in
that county this spring and put sixty
acres in flax. The crop looks good for
ten bushels to the acre, and at the
present market price will more than
pay for the land with the first years
crop, and leave a good margin Of profit
for the seasons work.
A forest fire which started in the
state park and game preserve LEI
Custer consumed about 1000, 900 feet
OF logs and swept over about four sec
tons of land, doing serious damage to
young timber and ~shrubbery along |
French creek and destroying part OF
the range for the wild game nov in
the park.
Reports show that dry and hot
weather is affecting the South Dakota
corn crop, we'll titled fields showing
the effects much less than fields which
had become and were not properly cul-
tiYated. Rains within q few days would
restore corn to it's former excellent
condition.
Ten prisoners from the Sioux Falls
pe~nitentiary were sent under guard to
Lieut.. o. w. Boun, OF Redfeld, to do
road work in the state game preserve
near Custer, Black Hills. They will
not complete their work there until
late in the fall.
The state board OF charities and
corrections has purchased 1891 acres
Of land between the state hospital and
the city of Yankton, for the use of the
hospital. A price of $40 an acre was
paid.
The National Geographic society has
officially sanctioned the change in the
name of Sheep mountain, near Dead
wood, to Mt. Theodore Roosevelt, and
that hereafter it will be marked on all
maps by it's new name.
Bonds are being issued for the erec-
ton Of a $1E, 900 school building at
Buffalo Gap, the old building having
been condemned by the state author
tiles as unsafe for school purposes.
Wild fruit is reported in abundance
in the vicinity of Pierre, on account OF
heavy rains early in the season.