Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 25

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago, G.A.Ogle
Number of Pages: 1432

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and Oregon. The great steel bridge built by this road over the Missouri river, at Bismarck, was erected at a cost to exceed a million dollars, and is a fine piece of architectural skill. The Northern Pacific has many important connections and branches in North Dakota. Among these are the Red river and Winnipeg branch from the state line to the inter- national boundary line, with a length of ninety-six miles; the Fergus Falls branch from the state line to Milnor, forty-two miles long ; branch from Fair- view to Bayne, about fourteen miles; Fargo and Southwestern Fargo to Edgeley, one hundred and eight miles; branch from Jamestown to LaMoure, forty-eight miles ; Valley Junction to Oakes, fifteen miles ; Sanborn to Cooperstown, thirty-seven miles ; Jamestown to Leeds, one hundred and seven miles, and Carrington to Sykestown, thirteen miles. The length of the main line within the state is three hundred and seventy-seven miles, making a grand total of 870.42 miles in North Dakota.

THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD.

At the time of the failure of the great banking house of Jay Cooke & Company in 1873, and the consequent bankruptcy of the Northern Pacific Rail- road a part of that system formerly known as the St. Paul & Pacific, as is shown by the preceding history of the Northern Pacific was involved in difficulties with its bondholders and encumbered by a large mortgage. It was at the time in the hands of J. P. Farley, who had been appointed by the court as receiver. A syn- dicate, who fully recognized the magnificent possi- bilities of the road, was formed through the able tactics of James J. Hill, of St. Paul, which pur- chased the whole property. Mr. Hill, on having his attention called to it, had gone to work to investigate the financial condition of the road, and soon was master of the subject in all its details. He early enlisted the support of his friend, Norman W. Kitt- son, a man who was at one time, identified with North Dakota. Soon Mr. Hill induced capitalists to join in his plan of acquiring and developing the bankrupt St. Paul & Pacific, and the property was purchased and reorganized under the name of St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroad Com- pany. Of the new corporation, George Stevens, of Montreal, was chosen president, and James J. Hill, general manager. August 22, 1882, Mr. Hill was elected president of the magnificent system which he has since built up so phenomenally. His eleva- tion to the head of the company came as a just rec-

ognition of his practical primacy in the administra- tion of the road from its inception.

Work on the transcontinental line was com- menced in 1879, and in 1880 the Red river of the North was crossed and the iron horse made its ap- pearance in Grand Forks. It stayed not but with onward steps it kept on striding across land and water, hill and dale, across the many rivers, the Rocky and other ranges of mountains onward until its forward progress was stopped by the Pacific ocean. It girdled more than half a continent with its iron bands, from the shores of Lake Superior and the banks of the Mississippi to the salt waves of the Pacific. The trackage of the road, whose name has been changed to that of the Great Northern, is the largest of any in North Dakota. In it and its for- tunes the northern part of the state are most directly interested, as most of that portion is tributary to it. In the development of that part of the state the Great Northern has been one of the most important fac- tors. From Grand Forks westward runs the main line, traversing in its course the following principal towns and county seats : Larimore, Lakota, Devil's Lake, Church's Ferry, Rugby, Towner, Minot and Williston. Among its principal branches within the state are the one from Grand Forks to Fargo; one from Wahpeton to Hope; one from Larimore to Everest; one from Larimore to Langdon; from Grand Forks to Pembina and Rosenfield, where it makes connection with the Canadian Pacific; from Grafton to Cavalier ; from Tintah Junction to Ellen- dale; from Rutland to Aberdeen; Church's Ferry to St. John's and others. The road is finely con- structed and handsomely equipped and takes equal rank with any of the great transcontinental lines. Not satisfied with the trade of one continent, the Great Northern is reaching out for the commerce of Asia. Vessels of a noble type and extraordinary tonnage are being built to be run between the terminus of the railroad on the western coast and oriental ports, and soon the fabrics and productions of "Cathay , and Cipango," as the world once called China and Japan, will be carried to their European consumer across the plains of North Dakota. Within the boundaries of the state there are 1,116.15 miles of track of this great railway, divided as follows: State line to Ellendale; Rutland to South Dakota line, 10.45 miles; Minnesota state line to Grand Forks, 75.35 miles; Grand Forks to the boundary line, 80.94 miles ; Grafton to Walhalla, 47.84 miles ; state line to Wahpeton, 6.02 miles; Minnesota state line to Larimore, via Portland, 134.45 miles; Cas-

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selton to Portland Junction, 47.03 miles ; Ripon to Hope, 29.50 miles ; state line to Minot, 206.79 miles ; Park river junction to Hannah, 94.94 miles; Ruby Junction to Bottineau, 38.66 miles; Church's Ferry to St. John's, 55.21 miles; Addison to Rita, 11.78 miles ; Minnesota state line to Alton, 9.83 miles ; Minot to Montana state line, 144.15 miles, and Hope to Aneta, 28.07 miles.

MINNEAPOLIS, ST. PAUL & SAULT SAINTE MARIE RAILROAD.

This rapidly growing road is another that is per- forming a very important part in the upbuilding and development of the young state. In about 1886 this line, thien known as the Minneapolis & Pacific, ex- tended their Minnesota division across the boundary line at Fairmount, Richland county, and constructed a line westward to Ransom, in Sargent county. In 1887 this was extended some fifty-nine miles farther west to Monango, Dickey county, so that by the end of that year the road had about eighty-eight miles of main track in the state. This line was shortly after extended northwesterly to Braddock, making a total mileage of this division of one hundred and eighty-eight miles. In the 'gos the same company whose name had been changed to Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Sainte Marie Railroad, constructed a fine line of road from Hankinson, Richland county, to Portal, Ward county, on the international boun- dary line, and beyond where it connects with the Ca- nadian Pacific road. This road cuts the state diag- onally across, passing through the countics of Ward, McHenry, Wells, Foster, Stutsman, Barnes, Cass, Ransom and Richland. It thus intersects some of the finest territory in the state, and is largely interested in its growth. This company, which was formed by the consolidation of several roads in 1886, when the Minneapolis & Pacific Railway, the Aberdeen, Bis- marck & Northwestern Railroad and the Minneap- lis & St. Croix Railroad Companies were joined in one company, and afterward united with the Min- neapolis, Sault Sainte Marie & Atlantic railroad, and assumed the name by which it is at present known. It has a total mileage of track within the state of North Dakota of 465.36 miles. One line,

reaching from the Minnesota state line to Portal, has a length of 360.82 miles and the other, from Hankinson to Kulm, 104.54 miles.

CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD.

This, one of the greatest railroad systems in the United States, has as yet but little mileage with the state of North Dakota, its representative line being confined to fifteen miles of track from the south boundary line to Oakes, where it connects with the Northern Pacific and the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste Marie Railroad. In the near future new lines by this great corporation will be con- structed, and do their part in developing the country.

CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL RAILROAD.

This great corporation has, also, several short lines within the boundaries of North Dakota, the principal being what is known as the Fargo line, which runs from Ortonville, Minnesota, to the city of Fargo. This is a distance of one hundred and eighteen miles, of which about seventy are within the boundaries of this state. Blackmer, Fairmount, Tyler, Glenora, Wahpeton, Woodhull, Abercrombie, Enloe, Christine, Lithia, Hickson, Wild Rice, Saund- ers and Fargo, are the stations on this division. Two branches from the south cross the southern border of North Dakota, one running to Harlem, Sargent, county ; the other through Ellendale to Edgeley, in La Moure county.

CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, & ST. PAUL RAILROAD.

The great corporation that operates over six thousand miles of railroad within the United States, has a small amount of trackage within the state. One branch from Andover to Harlem, 17.20 miles ; 69.40 miles of the branch from Ortonville. Min- nesota, to Fargo; 31.61 miles of the branch from Mitchell. South Dakota; in all 118.21 miles of track represent at the present the sum total of this road's holdings in the state. Other lines are projected and beyond doubt will be completed in the near future.

CHAPTER XIII.

AGRICULTURE; AGRICULTURAL AND LIVE STOCK STATISTICS; ASSESSED VALUATION OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY BY COUNTIES, ETC.

Agriculture has been from the beginning of time the true basis of the wealth of nations. The producer, the individual who causes the earth to yield its pro- ducts for the needs and necessities of man, is a ben- efactor and a potent instrument in adding to the riches of his country. In the passage of time from the days "when Adam delved and Eve span" there have been many changes throughout the world, but through it all agriculture has always held the front rank as mighty developer of a country. The people of North Dakota, a majority of whom are engaged in the pursuits of farming life, have largely aided in demonstrating this fact. The marvelous growth of the products of its soil, millions of dollars in value have been added each year to the national wealth. In products of the field, garden and pasture, North Dakota must always take pre-eminence, with future high rank in manufacturing. The output of her products in the past years has had a marked effect upon the commerce of the world. It has turned the eyes of rich and poor in astonishment and wonder to this constant increase and development. A large proportion of the state is susceptible of cultivation. Of this a large part still is open for settlement and offers homes to the enterprising agriculturists of every clime. For the location of these, as yet, unde- veloped acres the reader is referred farther on ir this chapter.

The lands east of the Missouri river range in

value from the government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for a pre-emption, to five dollars to ten dollars for lands proved up, but with- out special improvement and considered wild lands. To begin farming in either North or South Dakota. without means is not a round of pleasure; but thou- sands have succeeded-those blessed with character.,. industry and endurance. The climate is one of the: healthiest on the planet ; the prairies are ideal land. to men whose fathers grew old in clearing away trees: and stumps. The chances were never better than now for energetic men to open up farms. Land is still vacant, in sight of moving trains and close to markets. North Dakota is destined largely to be a region of small farmers. The day when men can skim over large areas is practically past. In- tensive, and not extensive, farming will be the method of the future, when every acre will be sub- jected to use and in diversified form.

The raising of grain in North Dakota will never be abandoned, because the conditions her favor the production of the finest wheat in the world, the heaviest oats, the brightest barley and the oiliest flax ; and in the near future the agriculturist will produce everything on his farm, except groceries and clothing. The industrious and persistent man who will, can become independent. His experience during first years, if he starts without means, will be no fairy existence, but in the brilliant sunshine:

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and stimulating atmosphere much can be endured and accomplished.

The people of the great territory feel proud of their accomplishments. No equal agricultural pop- ulation will show a greater, quicker and more sub- stantial development in material and moral things- schools, churches, banks, benevolent institutions, railroads, etc .- and fewer criminals and incompe- tents, and they unselfishly urge the landless poor of the older states-and of foreign lands to come and share the pleasant facilities and aid in getting more.

Wheat is Dakota's principal agricultural product and will undoubtedly ever remain her chief staple, owing to the extremely favorable conditions which prevail within the territory for raising the best quality of wheat at the lowest possible cost per bushel. The report of the bureau of chemistry of the United States department of agriculture, 1884, contains the result of an analysis of 2.759 specimens of wheat, among which were included samples from every state in the Union, and many foreign countries. The chemist, says that the determination of the albu- minoids, in connection with the size and condition of the wheat, settle, so far as a chemical and physical examination can succeed, the peculiarities and rel- ative values of the samples submitted.

The result of the analysis is to establish the fact by national investigation that in the two most im- portant desiderata, dryness and richness in album- inoids, Dakoa wheat ranks the best of any grown on American soil, and probably averages the best of all the world.

The report goes on to say, "The Dakotas are all extremely rich in albuminoids, one containing as high as 18.03 per cent, which is the richest ever an- alyzed in the United States. These experiments by the national government prove two facts: That a bushel of Dakota wheat flour will make more bread than the same quantity of wheat raised in any other state or territory of the Union, and that the bread made from Dakota wheat flour contains more gluten and other of the materials which nourish and build up the human body, than bread made from any other kind."

The average percentage of albuminoids in the wheats of all the United States and British America is 12.15. In Dakota the average percentage is 14.95, leading every state and territory. The average per- centage of dryness of the wheats of the United States and British America is 10.16. In this respect Da- kota also leads every competitor with an average per-

centage of only 8.84 of water in the composition of wheat grown on her soil.

In speaking of the comparative cost of raising the great staple, wheat, in North Dakota and else- where, Hon. J. R. Dodge, the statistician of the de- partment of agriculture at Washington, in his report for 1885, says: "While India is the principal com- petitor of the United States in the world's markets, hier importance as a competitor is greatly overrated. The occurrence of a famine year would reduce to zero her exports. So fixed are the industrial usages of the people that great enlargement of the wheat area is next to an impossibility ; there has been no mate- rial increase as a result of the exportation of the sur- plus of the last ten years. The extension of railroad mileage has facilitated the shipping of the surplus of good years, which would otherwise have been pitted to eke out subsistence in famine years. It might not be fair to say that these shipments have produced no effect; if any, it has been very small. The exports of ten years include nearly all the sum of India's record of exportation, and would scarcely equal the crop of an average year. A ten per cent. surplus that cannot be depended on in a crop half as large as ours, cannot take the place of our sur- plus, which is more than half as large as the India crop."

He is also authority for the statement that while the cost of production under favorable circumstances, and in the best localities of India, may be thirty- five to forty cents per bushel, wheat can rarely be brought to the principal markets and sold for less than sixty cents.

Consul-general Mattson, at Calcutta, says that the native of India can afford to sell his wheat at the nearest market place, if within a day's journey of his home, for fifty to sixty cents per bushel; but when it does not bring that price, or very near it, he either consumes his small supply, or stores it in a hole under the ground until a more favorable time shall come.

English wheat-growers claim that it costs about forty dollars an acre to grow wheat in England, and that they must get from forty to forty-five shillings a quarter, or from one dollar and nine cents to one dollar and thirty-six cents a bushel for their grain to make the growing of it profitable.

Dakota has the soil, the climate and every advan- tage in her favor as a competitor for supplying Eng- land, the great wheat market of the world, with bread, and whenever our intelligent, thinking farm- ers grasp the situation and till their lands as do the

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farmers of Europe, or even the farmers of the older settled areas of our own country, we shall at once attain, and forever maintain the prestige of wheat producers of the globe.

If the Dakota farmer can afford to raise wheat under the general haphazard style of farming, which brings him only a third of the yield, the land ought to and would produce with skillful manage- ment, with a reckless investment in farm machinery and an utter disregard of caring for it after it has been purchased, as has characterized operations in other states, and with no thought of husbanding his crops for a favorable market, but, acting in concert with all his neighbors, he throws the entire season's yield, as soon as threshed, on the hands of the grain speculator, which, as a matter of course, affects the markets disastrously-and still compete with the pauper-labor of India and the careful, painstaking farmer of Europe, what wealth and prosperity is in store for this same farmer when he shall, by means of scientific agriculture, double the yields of his fields ; when he shall act judiciously in creating in- debtedness and sensibly in housing his machinery; when he shall provide a storage-house for his grain and compel the grain buyer to seek him instead of putting himself entirely within the power of the ele- vators as now, and, last of all, when he shall diver- sify his crop and combine stock-raising, dairying and the other valuable adjuncts of farming with his yearly wheat ventures.

The yield of wheat in England is from twenty- six to twenty-eight bushels per acre; in France, twenty-four-about twice as much as the yield in the United States. And why? The answer is obvi- ous-this high yield is the sole result of science, and thrift, applied to farming operations. The natural fertility of the soil does not necessarily control the yield of a country. No where on the globe is there a wheat growing soil to compete with that of the Red river valley-and yet the poor, worn out lands of some of the Eastern states are caused, through skilled effort, to bring forth heavier crops than this favored spot.

But the prospects are bright that North Dakota, with her resources but very partially developed, and but a infinitismal part of her area sown to grain, has even now taken rank far ahead of the famous wheat- growing states of the Union, and leads all compet- itors in the quality of the grain produced and the cost of production. The eventualities of the near future, when the millions of acres of vacant land are peo- pled, and add their product to augment the terri-

tory's grand total; when farmers apply lessons of science and economy to the operations of agriculture, and when the completion of the net-work of rail- roads now projected give the product of the most distant farm an outlet through the lakes to the sea- board at one-fourth the present cost of transporta- tion, cannot fill the mind with a single hope of wealth, grandeur and prosperity for Dakota which will not be realized.

Dakota's prairies will furnish the bread supply of the nation ; the best article at the lowest price.

In Indian corn, or, to be more precise, maize, one of the most important crops of the United States, its average exceeding that of all other cereals, with a yield nearly double that of any other grain, North Dakota, as yet, does not take a high rank. The cultivation of corn, however, has not been attempted on a generous scale, although it produces the small hard or flint corn with success and large yield. Owing, however, to the greater success with the smaller grains, North Dakota has not shown so much advance in the raising of maize.

South Dakota has established a reputation for its excellent quality of corn and its adaptability of climate and soil for its production. The success of corn-growing in Dakota is shown in the yield of various years: In 1860 it was 20,269 bushels; in 1870 it was 133,140 bushels; in 1880 it was 200,864 bushels; in 1885 it was 7,800,593 bushels; in 1888 it was 19,068,680 bushels; in 1889 it was 22,832,073 bushels, of which quantity a little over 1,000,000 was grown in North Dakota, the total exceeding that of twenty other states. The crop matures without damage from frost or ravages from insects, and farmers declare that the yield, condition, aver- age and profit is better than in any other part of the country in which they have had experience. Of the quality of corn raised in Dakota, the same is true as has been said of the quality of our wheat. It is extremely rich in albuminoids and nitrogen (the nourishing properties), and in this respect is above the average corn grown in the east and the general average of the composition of American corn.

The production of flax in North Dakota is barely in its infancy as compared with the interest that will be devoted to this crop in the future, when capital shall have built up in the territory manu- factories to utilize the seed and the fiber. At pres- ent, owing to a lack of such industries, it is grown principally for the seed, and the fiber or straw is burned or wasted, and the fiber, too, being equal

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to that grown in Ireland, from which the best linens are made. Flax and sod corn are usually the first crops raised on new land. They can be sown on freshly turned sod with a reasonable assurance of a good yield under any circumstances. Flax is one of the best subduers that can be grown on the sod, and places the ground in excellent condition for working the next season, for any kind of a crop. Planted in this way it yields, ordinarily, from seven to fifteen bushels per acre, and in many instances a single crop has paid for the land, in addition to the cost of breaking and planting. As a profitable "sod crop" it is a real godsend to the new settler. If he can turn over forty acres of sod prior to, say, the 20th of June, or even later, he can confidently rely on ten bushels an acre, of the value of say $400, and can make the seed in one hundred days from the time when he unlimbers his plow on the prairie. The flax crop in the territory in 1879 amounted to 26,757 bushels; in 1885 to 2,916,983 bushels, and in 1889 to 3,288,115 bushels. Facts and figures as to the amount of flax grown in North Dakota in these recent years are either mis- leading or entirely lacking, and the government census of 1900 will be the only safe guide. Suffice to say that the state does its fair share in the rais- ing of this money-producing cereal.

The amount of seed produced elsewhere in the United States than as stated above is so small as not to be taken into account by statisticians. It is shown that North Dakota produces over one-quar- ter of the entire product, and that Dakota and Min- nesota together more than one-half of all the seed raised in the country. Projects looking to the building up of flax mills, paper and cordage manu- factories-efforts which are certain to succeed sooner of later because of the profit which must ensue to the farmer in raising the crop could he find a market at home for the seed and straw. For the immense quantities of linseed oil, paints, oil-cake, straw-paper, cloth, twine (especially that which is used for binding the wheat crop), and other arti- cles manufactured from flax, annually consumed in North Dakota, its people now pay a tribute to other regions which is justly due the people of their state. The introduction of flax mills will add a new source of wealth to North Dakota, and furnish a wonderful impetus to the growing, by our farm- ers, of one of the most profitable crops.

Oats, nextafter wheat in the total yield and value, is the prominent crop. Its use as human food is extending the North Dakota article, as well as all

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Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 25

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago, G.A.Ogle Number of Pages: 1432

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago, G.A.Ogle
Number of Pages: 1432