The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-09-25
CHAPTER III-Continued

CHAPTER III-Continued
Jake threw querying stress on the
word sisters, but it was against all
nature TO be offended at him. Had
we resented his remark he would have
laughed our seriousness out of court
But we decided to see some of the adj
joining sections.
Sixteen appealed to Jack. We could
have taken the west half, and so, work
ing together, we would have had mile
furrow. The gully also touched Six
teen, and would have given us the
same advantages as Jake claimed for
the sections he had recommended.
However, we found him very fixed in
his preference for Fourteen and Twen-
ty-two. and finally we accepted his ar
guments, and set out to make a more
detailed survey of the land. The gully
angled between the two quarters, TAX
ing scarce an acre off either of them.
A jolly stream, brown with the grass
of its banks, gurgled along its bed.
l knelt down to try the water; there
was the taste of snow, but there was
also the harder, sharper note of spring
water, mingled with it.
"Runnin' water like that is worth a
thousand dollars on any mans farm"
Jake declared. "An' come up this way
Wait till show you somethin'."
The something" proved to be a
widening in the valley, where was a
considerable growth of small willows
and poplars. Fence posts and fire
wood" said Jake, San on railroad
land, too, that won't be sold fer years.
You'll have 'em all cut down before
then. That timber's worth another
thousand, or half that, anyway"
l thought of the great pine back on
the old farm in Ontario, and the tim
Der" looked to me like gads and
switches. None of it was tall enough
TO reach out of the little valley and
show a green tip to the bald surface
of the prairies. But we were not in
Ontario now; we were in land where
even a three-inch tree was not to be
despised
AN here's somethin' MORE" he said,
setting an example for us by walking
Stealthily on his pudgy legs through
the clumps of willows. At the other
end of the wooded space we found a
little pond opening out, and score of
wild ducks browsing placidly on its
smooth surface.
IAN Englishman," Jake remarked,
hnd I'm han
take this farm fer the duck pond alone.
They're the dangdest people ever was
fer wantin' to kill somethin'. He dom
care if his farm is all sand or wallows,
IS long as there's somethin to shoot,
the Englishman don't. But fer a Yam
kee it mus be every acre wheat land.
He don't care fer nothin' but the long
green" Jake paused as though to
think over these national character
istics.
Lets find badger hole" he con-
tinued, and we had little trouble in
locating one. "Now look at this. This
hole goes down five, six, seven feet,
maybe more, in the ground. Look
what his nibs has kicked out. Fine,
loamy, sandy soil, not too light an not
too sticky, all the way down. That
goes plumb to kingdom come. Course,
the top is a little darker, on account q
the grass roots, but it's all SOIL None
o. yer down-east three inches-o muck
an'-a-rock-bottom to that"
Jake took a fresh chew of tobacco
and looked out over the greenish-brown
prairie.
II have it fggered out like this" he
went on, IAN my figgers is right; this
land is worth more than any gold mine
between hell an Whoopup. When you
take the gold out O. mine you amt
got nothin' left, but you can take gold
out O. this. mine next year, an the
year after, an the year after, fer ever
an ever, an there's still as much there
as when you started-if you farm 1t
right"
Our inspection satisfied us in every
particular. Jake explained, as we al
ready knew, that we would have to
build separate shacks on the two quar-
tiers, to comply with the law about
sleeping on the land claimed. But
YOU can build one stable in the gully
fer the live Stock" he added; "the
government dom care where they sleep.
JUS SOS the homesteader himself is
sufficiently uncomfortable"
We smiled over his Interpretation of
regulations which. as we knew, were
necessary to prevent the wholesale
blanketing of the free lands by people
who had no intention of living on
them.
Nov we better pick a second an a
third choice, JUS in case someone slips
IN ahead o. US on this" said Jake, and
@e spent the afternoon driving about
ard making fresh locations. Much of
the land was already taken up. Jake