The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-08-27
NO CAUSE FOR
PESSIMISM IN
TWO DAK0TAS
w. b. MacMahOn, Editor Of
Zenith Writes ]. Nj. Devine
Story of Auto Trip
SEES STATE FIRST HAND
Travels 900 Miles Through
Vast Sweep of Waving
Grain Impressed with Soil

IL IS necessary 10 see NOrLh DakOta
to appreciate the vastness and rich
ness Of the state. This is the con-
clusion of w. B. MacMahon, associate
editor. The Zenith Magazine, Duluth.
who has written to J. M. Devine.
Commissioner of immigration, his
Impressions of the state. Mr.. Mac
Mahon travelled over a large part Of
North Dakota with a party Of Duluth
business men, seeing the state for
the first time.
His letter to MIR. Devine follows:
August 10th. 1924.
]. NJ. Devine,
Commissioner Of immigration.
Bismarck, No. Oak.
My dear Mr.. Devine:
l am in receipt Of your kind favor
Of August 18th. Thanks for the in
formation pertaining to your state,
and to your states fine agricultural
effort. We of Zenith always have
found in you prolific source Of in
formation regarding your North Da-
kota; in fact all Of that which we
have been able to pass along to our
readers has been obtained from you,
and for this good service we now
thank you once again.
/ have just completed an automo-
bile sightseeing tour of North Da-
kota, that proved to be an eye-open-
er to me. I entered North Dakota
from Glenwood, Minnesota. drove
from there to Fargo. Mapleton, Cas-
selton, Wheatland. Enderlin. Valley
City, Sanborn. Eckleson, Spiritwood,
Pingree, Edmunds, Darlington, Har-
vey, Drake into Minot: from Minot
to Drake, Anamoose. Minnewaukan,
Devils Lake, Lakota, Grand Forks.
over the river into Minnesota and on
back to Duluth. Roughly speaking
l travelled 900 miles in North Dakota.
over a period of eight days. Specifi-
cally I saw, felt and visioned more
than my previously warped mental
picture Of North Dakota could as
simulate, adjust and classify in or
derly manner.
| saw wheat heading up into big
kernels, healthy and good crop ex
pected; rye was onderful-best in
years-and farmers were cutting it;
barley very good; flax-"We have
the best flax in years and more of
it," farmers said: durum wheat ex-
cellent; potato fields blooming and
looking good. If l run to superla-
tives, remember that received su-
perlative shattering Of my imagina-
sn<,, 0e ,l~,,t n,1,
looked like before actually beholding
it for the first time in all it's wide.
fertile goodness.
What He Saw
Outsiders, who speak with criti-
cism Of North Dakota, have not seen
North Dakota-certainly not what
saw. They have not put their hands
as ! have done--into the rich, deep,
black earth, stretching practically
unbroken from the southeastern sec
tion of the state to Minot and then
east to Grand Forks; they have not
felt the warm, bright sunshine fall
ing on a thousand miles of waving
grain, nor breathed the invigorating,
health giving air of the vast prairies.
They have not seen the modern and
beautiful schools, both of town and
farm, which are the visible reason
for North Dakota's low per centage
Of illiteracy, namely, one and one
half per cent. What is true of the
country and high schools is also
true of the character of the buildings
at the seven higher institutions Of
learning. 1t cannot be possible,
either, that critics met-as l met-a
highly intelligent and progressive
class of just fine folks, in city and
in country; people who have abso-
Lutte faith in themselves and in their
state and what that state is capable
of doing, and will do. The critics
must have gone through at nightin
closed pullman berth-and then lis
tened to the dour tale of a pessimist
in the smoking compartment. To see
North Dakota, 60 out and look at it
from the inside. In other words we
did not see that great state from
the rear end of an observation car.
The state is too big and far reach
ing for snapshot exposure deductions.
Let me illustrate: as l have stated
before we travelled 900 miles and all
of it in the east and middle western
section. We never reached the Great
Missouri Valley Slope in the western
part, which extends North to South
two hundred and ten miles and from
East to West one hundred and twen-
ty-six miles. This is the section made
famous by the big ranches and the
cow boy; of Fort Lincoln and Custer;
of Sitting Bull and John Grass, the
great Sioux Chiefs, but now broken
up into thousands of small farms
where beef stock, dairy cows and corn
dot the landscape, so I am told by
those reliably informed as to that
No Fuel Problem
There can never be fuel problem
in North Dakota. Why? Because,
in this extreme western section, 20,-
600 square miles are underlaid with
six hundred billion tons of coal,
enough to keep every home in this
country warm for hundred years.
In the part we traversed We saw
homes Of ten and dozen rooms, with
big barns twice that size; herds of
pure bred Holstein, Guernsey and
Jersey cows, or of fine grade cows
over which run pure bred sire. We
were surprised and delighted with
the number and excellence of the
farm horses we saw in use. We saw
fContinued On nape 6\