The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-06-26
SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1926

The value of the 1925 mixed farming
products was $139,1l2,O0O. Thus
have the plains of the pioneer nour-
ished the tiller of the soil.
Dairying q Big Item
The dairy COW ruminates on the
ground once paved by the buffalo.
Throughout the state there is a great
interest in pure bred herds. The
Agricultural College, the agricultural
development department Of the rail-
roads, the agricultural committee Of
the North Dakota Bankers Associa-
ton and other agencies are sponsor
ing the marked trend toward better
livestock. Businessmen and farmers
have joined hands in North Dakota
to work out their problems. And it
pays. Last year the value Of the
states dairy products was $46,l44,-
600. The total received for butter
fat alone was $10,5OO,OOO.
Because North Dakota farm lands
sell at about one-fourth the cost
Of farm lands in midwest states.
and with the average income per
farm for the past five years $4,275.56,
the people Of North Dakota are con
fident of their states future. An
influx Of new settlers is at hand.
They are seeking homes in the state
where the annual per capita produc-
ton in agricultural products for the
past four years was $5l5.89, the high
est of any state in the Union. This
year North Dakota created state
wide association and financed 1t with
100000 to advertise North Dakota,
seeking more settlers.
About $4,000 square miles in what
was once the Indian country now
are known to be underlaid with
Ignite. The field Is twice as> large
as the coal area Of Pennsylvania. It
is estimated that North Dakota coal
beds contain 6OO,0OO,0OO,O 900 tons of
Ignite. Farmers i'm western North
! Dakota now mine coal on their own
farms on land where the pioneer
suffered for lack of fuel. Almost
2 ,OOO. 900 tons were mined last year.
The industry is still in its infancy,
waiting to be converted into light,
power, gas, oils and tars, as we'll as
the briqucttes which rival anthracite.
The network Of wires carrying cleo
trio current from power plants ut
the mines to scores Of communities is
gadually being extended to cover the
entire state.
Close to this inexhaustible supply
of cheap fuel are various kinds Of
clay extensively used for fire brick
and pressed brick, and also suitable
for pottery Although still largely
confined to the industries Of agricul-
ture and cattle raising North Dako-
ta's natural resources give promise
of an industrial future.
Fine School System
The first schools were in log huts
"a long step away from the ATT
consolidated schools, the 5,742 grade
schools and 1856 state high schools.
and such institutions Of higher learn
ing as the State University at Grand
Forks, the Agricultural College at
Fargo, the normal schools at Minot,
Valley City, Mayville, Dickinson, and
Glendale, the School of Forestry at
Bottineau and the State School of
Science at Wahpcton.
The state ranks second lowest in
illiteracy in the country with only
three per cent of the people unable
to read and write.
Over the trackless plains of fifty
years ago now arc 1000 miles Of good
roads and 6,528 miles of railroad.
In the country which once knew
the travels and the bullock team
Lnere are now loU,nU auLOInoDlieS,
more in proportion to the population
than any state in the Union. Where
business began with a few water
front shacks now are 100 national
banks and GOO state banks and trust
companies.
To Review Development
Tomorrow the people Of North Da-
kota will gather amid the ruins OF
the fort that was Clusters base 50
years ago and review the develop
ment of great commonwealth-all
crowded into the lifetime of persons
still living here. Speakers will tell
the younger men and women who are
there that the task which the Indian
fighter and pioneer have laid on the
present generation is not finished.
They will be reminded that their
children and their children's children,
never forgetting their debt to the
past, must take up the torch of pro-
gress apd render service to those yet
to come that is as necessary as the
service given the North Dakota of
today by the men who fell in the bat
tie Of the Little Big Horn so years
ago.