The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-10-31

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the best answer to the question that
was either handed or mailed TO Us
before November l. Up to the pres
ent time we have not received
single reply TO the question, and
therefore we must come to the con-
clusion that there is absolutely
nothing the matter with Wood.
Wood has one of the most ideal To-
cations for town or city in this part
of the state, 1t has good water and
as soon as the town grows sufficiently
to incorporate and undertake muni-
cipal Improvements as an incorporat-
ed town there is no doubt but what
we will be able to supply the residents
of Wood with good pure soft water,
as good as can be found in the state,
from springs not far distant from this
town. Wood is located i'm the very
heart of what is destined TO be one Of
the greatest agricultural and dairy
centerS in the state All it needs is
intelligent development, and this is
now in the making.
The town has not been doomed, in
fact, if anything, it is behind tie
country in natural development, and
there is a cause for this. The town
was plated by the Wood Townsite
Company in 1911 and from the start
there was a real good, live inland
town built up here. Then came
sort of depression when the great
European war broke out in 1914, and
up until this year practically all Of
the inland towns either stood still or
! went backwards. Wood did neither
but more than held it's own:
The people who came here in 1912
and 1913 were led to believe that this
country would be supplied with raj
road facilities within very reason.
able time--at least within year, btIs
the great war came and railroad ex-
tensions everywhere ceased-With the
exception of the battle fronts in war
torn Europe. In fact railroads were
torn up both here and in Canada to
supply material to build these war
railroads in Europe. We firmly be-
lieve that had the great war not
broken out in 1914, that Wood and
this part of Mellette county would
have had railroad long before this
and this country would have developed
much faster than it has. But after
the war broke out thinking people
realized that there would be nothing
done in the way of railroad building
until the war was over, at least. To.
make matters still worse, in 1917 the
government took over the railroads
and they have been SO bungled by
mismansgement since the inception
Of government control, that there was
no hope of railroad extension as long
as the present control lasted How
ever, there is a ray of hope appearing
I'm the distance, and this condition
may change. 1t is reported, on what
seems to be pretty authentic author
ity, that the government will return
the railroads TO their owners January
l, 1920. Labor conditions i'm this
country at present are in terrible
mess, and it is hard to tell just what
they will be in l920-they may be bet
ter and they may be worse. Then,
too, all kinds of materials are un-
reasonably high, and these two con-
ditions may delay the building of the
much. needed railroad still longer, but
we look for some active move along
this line before long, once the gov
ernment returns the railroads TO their
rightful owners.
There is another condition, and pe-s
haps the most serious of all, that is
retarding the growth of Wood. La
1913 the townsite company stopped
paying taxes on their town lots, as
did many private individuals who
owned lots in these small inland
towns, and as result the lots were
sold for taxes and the county has been
carrying them on their books ever
since, not receiving cent of revenue
from these lots i'm the way Of taxes.
This condition prevailed In all the
small towns in this section. About a
year ago the three-year period for re-
demption expired, and in the spring
Of 1918 c. K. Kell, then states attorney
; for Mellette county, began proceedings
to take tax title to all the town lots
that had been bid in by the county
for taxes. Papers were served on the
Western Townsite Co, and the titles
TO their lots were finally cleared by
some sort Of compromise method
But some who probably had an axe to
grind, began to yell graft" and
brought pressure to bear on the com.
missioners, and Mr. Kell desisted from
proceeding farther. AS no papers
! were ever served on the Wood Town