Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-02-11

then That timber's worth anothe
thousand, or half that. anyway"
! thought Of the great pine back o.
the old farm In Ontario. and the "tim
ber' looked to me like gads an
switches. None of It was tall enoug
to reach out OF the little valley an
show q green tip to the bald surfac
OF the prairies. But we were not 4
Ontario now; we were In a land wher
even three-inch tree was not to b
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 othe
end Of the wooded space we found |
little pond opening out. and a score o
wild ducks browsing placidly on it
smooth surface.
IAN Englishman.r Jake remarked
when we had turned back, "woult
take this farm fer the duck pond alone
They're the dangdest people ever wa.
fer wantfn' to kill somethin'. He don
care If his farm Is all sand or wallows
e long as there's somethin' to shoot
the Englishman don't. But fer Yam
kee 1t mus be every acre wheat land
He don't care fer nothin' but the long
green" Jake paused as though tt
think over these national character
istics.
Lets find badger hole" he con
dnued, 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 little darker, on account O.
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 fresh chew of tobacco
and looked out over the greenish-brown
prairie.
II have it figgered out like this" he
went on, "an' my figgers is right; this
land is worth more than any gold mine
between hell an Whoopup. When you
take the gold out O. a 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
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
of the free lands by people
who had no intention Of living on
them.
"Now we better pick second an
third choice, JUS in case someone slips
In ahead O. US on this" said Jake, and
we spent the afternoon driving about
and making fresh locations. Much of
the land was already taken up, Jake
told US. and although there were as yet
no signs of settlement we would see
great change by fall.
We camped on Fourteen that night
and Jack and were filed with plans
for our shacks and our stable. The
,hacks would be up on the prairie level,
on opposite sides of the gully, in full
view of each other, and about hun
bred yards apart. The stable would
be in the gully, close to the road al
owance, sheltered from the winds, and
to water. The crossing of
The stream was passable, but would
stand Improvement.
Early in the morning we started
pack, and after three full days in the
democrat we found ourselves one eve
hing swinging up the now strangely
familiar streets of Regina. The raw
prairie city of 1904 already almost
seemed like home. We were like trav-
.lers returning from strange lands to
genes of old recollections. We had
,een away just seven days, but in that
lime we had swung far out into the
Universe; we had drunk Of the air of
Gods new creation; we had been
strangely conscious of the company of
,ur souls.
In the morning we went with Jake
o the land office; Fourteen and TWEEN
y-two in the township where we had
lecid9d to locate were still open, and
We had no difficulty in filing our claims.
We returned to the stable with Jake
What's the damage?" Jack de-
handed.
Jake expectorated profusely, spread 1
lis feet, and scratched his head
Seven times seven is forty-nine; fifty
ollars fer locatin' makes ninety-nine;
guess she's ninety-nine. boys; gosh
am it. we nigh. have made it hun
red"
We paid him the ninety-nine and
ack threw in another. "We'll D,mke
! an even hundred" he said. Come
nj and see MS when YOU get a chance