History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 75

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

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For twelve years ending with 1914 inclusive South Dakota produced more . wcalth per capita than any other state. No wonder the people were prosperous and therefore happy in spite of hot winds, lack of rain and dry plains. By September, 1914, the state had 77,644 farms. During the five growing months this year --- April to August inclusive, South Dakota had an average rainfall of 17.47 inches, which was about the same as Ohio, Illinois, New York and other states. In 1898 the bank deposits were $10,104,185; in 1913 they were $93,341,935.

At the Mitchell corn palace show the management gave the public a new palace of concrete in 1914. It was aimed to make it large enough for the immense crowds that came to see the exhibit and the other attractions. The state fair at Huron was a great success this year. The Monday's attendance was the greatest for the first day in this history of the fair. On that day the auto- mobile races were held on the half-mile track; the same races were continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, the prizes on the latter amounting to $2,800. The next day nearly $3,000 was paid. The live stock and agricultural products exhibits were larger than ever before. Spink County won first award for the best agricultural display; Ferauld won second prize. Wednesday was political day, when politicians blushed and blossomed and gladdened all hearts.

Owing to the just complaints of the Indians nearly all the rest of the range cattle in the state were shipped out in the fall of 1914. Roaming at large they had done great damage to the crops of the Indians. In August one company on the Cheyenne Reservation shipped out 119 cars of 21 head each for which they received $110 per head in Chicago. Another Cheyenne company shipped 123 cars or 2,583 head ; they received $280,130 for the lot in Chicago.

In November, 1914, a general quarantine to prevent the importation of cattle infected with the foot and mouth disease into this state was ordered, to be enforced until further notice. The disease had not appeared here, but the step was ordered as a precaution.

In October, 1914, the agricultural college announced the following short courses: Cream testers' course, December 14th to 18th; farm and home short

A SOUTH DAKOTA AUTOMOBILE TURNING OVER 1614 FEET OF VIRGIN SOIL

HEREFORD CATTLE

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

course, January Ist to IIth; traction engineering, January 12th to June 4th ; three months' creamery course, January 12th to April Ist; automobile course, May 24th to June Ist. Under the farm and home course the schedule for men was-hog cholera, live stock, soils and crops, poultry culture, farm dairying, trees and fruits, conferences and lectures, and the schedule for women was-home prob- lems, household dairying, floriculture and home gardening, poultry culture, dem- onstrations in cooking, sewing, conferences and lectures, home life day, etc.

The official report of the deposits in national and state banks in this state on September 12, 1914, was as follows :

Banks

Bank Deposits $6,031,946.53

Individ'l Deps'ts $32,931,327.24

Total

National Banks

State Banks

2,316,521.51

55,790,836.70

$38,963,273.77 58,107,358.21

Total, 1914

$8,348,468.04

$88,722,163.94

$97,070,631.98

Total, 1913

5,747,902.91

87,594,032.27

93,341,935.18

Increase, 1914

$2,600,565.13

$1,128,131.67

$3,728,696.80

Notwithstanding the large cash reserve a spirit of extreme conservatism pre- vailed and the people were slow to undertake new enterprises.

The table of productions for 1914 below is, as far as the returns are provided by the Federal Department of Agriculture, the official figures of that department. The remainder are from the best available sources, compiled by the Depart- ment of History. The values are prices paid producers determined by the De- partment of Agriculture.

Wheat, 33,075,000 bushels.

$32,267,000

Corn, 75,504,000 bushels .

47,567,000

Oats, 44,165,000 bushels.

16,782,000

Barley, 20,723,000 bushels

10,154,000

Rye, 401,000 bushels.

276,000

Flaxseed, 2,550,000 bushels.

3,500,000

Potatoes, 5,580,000 bushels

4,838,000

Alfalfa and clover seed.

1,218,000

Total reported by Department of Agriculture.

$116,611,000

Vegetables and fruits

$ 2,000,000

Hay, 3,216,900 tons.

19,623,000

Dairy products

6,925,000

Poultry products

7,630,000

Livestock

50,059,000

Wool and hides

1,125.000

Minerals

8,200,000

Total reported by Department of History.

$95,562,000

Grand total of soil and mine productions for 1914.

.$212,173,000

The Scotty Phillip buffalo herd was sold in 1915 for the sum of over two hun- dred thousand dollars, of which $10,000 was paid down. There were 400 head and the ranch lands went with the herd. They were taken by a company with headquarters at Minneapolis. Stafford B. Somers, of that city, and two St. Paul

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

men, with Herman Sonnenschein and Hazel Phillips, compose the list of incorporators.

"In 1881 I planted upon my ranch at the mouth of Redwater, in Butte County, the first alfalfa seed brought to the Territory of Dakota. I had observed the plant growing in Bear River Valley in Utah, where it was known as lucerne. I purchased the seed at Salt Lake City through Capt. Thomas Russell, of Dead- wood, the agent of the Union Pacific Company. It came to Cheyenne on the Union Pacific, and from there to Deadwood by coach. It was planted in June and a seed crop was raised that year, some of which was kept on the ranch and the rest disposed of by giving it to any of the few settlers in the valleys who wished to test the plant on their places. It was some of this seed that Tom Jones of Big Bottom got. In 1882 we had three cuttings; in 1883 we also got three cuttings. In 1884 we again let the crop go to seed and had it threshed by Andrew Snyder, a well known farmer of the Belle Fourche Valley. We retained enough of the seed to put in thirty additional acres, giving the rest to anyone who wanted to get a start in alfalfa. This was the parent seed of the hardy alfalfa grown in the Deadwood and Belle Fourche valleys to this date. Many of the farmers have kept their fields intact since 1884 and 1885, as neither freezing nor drouth seemed to affect this strain of alfalfa. Anyone interested can see today on the Bullock Ranch at Belle Fourche a field that has produced not less than three cuttings a year since it was sown over thirty years ago."-(Capt. Seth Bullock, in press, 1915.)

Early in 1915 there came to the secretary of agriculture at Washington hun- dreds of letters from the wives and daughters of farmers all over the country complaining of the hardships and privations they were forced to endure. "From forty-four of the states," the department says, "came letters in which the writers expressed the belief that the lot of the farm women was made unnecessarily hard because men on the farm were thoughtless, uninformed, or stubborn about pro- viding measures that will better the conditions of their wives and daughters. The hurden of many of the letters dealing with men's duty is that the farmer is very ready to purchase modern field machinery or improvements which will make the farm home a pleasanter place of abode or a more convenient workshop for the women. Some seem to think that farm animals have more attention given to their needs than do the women. Others complain of the fact that they never handle any ready money and are allowed no freedom in purchases, and so are blocked from improving the conveniences, sanitation, and esthetic quality of their homes. Several note the fact of the close connection between the home and the business and seem to think that the need for money making or desire for money causes the home end of the farm to be slighted in expenditures. In practically all of these letters the suggestion is made that the men need education and information that will give them the point of view that home improvement is a necessity rather than a luxury, which may well be postponed indefinitely.

"On the other hand, in the section of this report which deals with financial conditions, many wives write that their husbands are entirely considerate and wish earnestly to lessen the drudgery of their wives and to provide them with comforts. They simply cannot make enough money, these women write, to do more than provide the necessities. This condition they attribute to high interest and the low price the farmer gets for what he raises.

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

"A Michigan woman writing on this subject, said: 'The farm is run for the benefit of the farm and not the family. Of what use is it to buy more land to raise more corn to feed more hogs to get more money to buy more land.'

"Many expressed the belief that, although the home and farm were really a part of the same business, the man did not feel that his wife as a worker was entitled to a share of the cash secured by the general farm operations. Some said that the women did not have the actual handling of the profits resulting from their own specialized work with chickens, in the garden, or in the handling of milk and butter. Several stated that there should be some definite system of division of income and urged that, if they had the spending of the money, they would use it for improvement of their homes and the installation of drudgery- saving devices.

"One hundred and seventy-two writers, representing forty states, urged that the department, through printed material, lectures, or a bureau especially estab- lished for the purpose, instruct the women on the farm how to care for their sick, prevent contagion, improve hygienic conditions, and introduce proper sani- tary measures on the farm. Some of the mothers seem to envy their city sisters because they have ready access to the advice of physicians, charging small office fees, and can attend lectures given by trained nurses and educators on the care and rearing of children. Letters from all over the country dwell upon the impor- tance of education in the common schools in agriculture and home economics. Under the present system, many writers say, the schools educate the young not for their life work, but away from it. There is, it is said, in many sections no vocational training, nothing to make the pupil interested in or contented with his or her life upon the farm. In particular the establishment of agricultural high schools in rural districts is generally urged."

A dairy, silo and hog cholera train was run by the South Dakota State Col- lege over the Chicago & North-Western and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul rail- way lines in March, 1915. This train visited only those towns not reached by two former trains, and operated under the combined auspices of the state college, State Dairymen's Association, State Bureau of Immigration, and the two railroad companies. The train consisted of exhibit car, stock car, flat demonstration car, lecture car, and living car for the staff. Demonstrations and discussions covered dairying, milking machines and other utensils, silos and silage, hog cholera and the farmer's opportunity in South Dakota. Special speakers were Ellwood C. Perisho, president of the state college; C. Larsen, professor dairy husbandry, and Dr. C. C. Lipp, veterinarian, at state college; Prof. F. W. Merrill, of Fargo, N. D .; A. P. Ryger, secretary of State Dairyman's Association ; and Charles McCaffree, state commissioner of immigration.

In the spring of 1915 many counties of the state prepared to take advantage of the new law on agricultural extension. The bill was introduced by Senator Lincoln and passed both houses with but three dissenting votes. The law accepts the appropriation of the Government ; makes a state appropriation of $25,000 and $30,000 for the biennial period of 1915 to 1917 for carrying on the work in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture ; provides for state and county organization and for short courses in the counties to take the place of farmers' institutes and makes full provision for conducting extension work under the supervision of the agricultural college. By May a score or more of counties were well organized under the law and were at work.

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

In the spring of 1915 the Board of Immigration decided to make an exhibit of South Dakota agricultural products at the exposition at San Francisco. A desirable section, comprising sixty feet of wall space between the east entrances of the Agricultural Building, was offered by the management. A shipment was made and the exhibit used by the Department of Immigration at other shows along with other new material to be collected was used. Grains were entered in the agricultural contest and the display was kept there during the remainder of the fair where visitors could see it and make their headquarters.

Sportsmen of Western South Dakota have found rabbit hunting on a large scale profitable as well as exciting. Tons of rabbits have been shipped by them to eastern markets where they commanded fair prices. It is estimated that five thousand rabbits were shipped from Owanka alone during the winter of 1914-15, and larger shipments were made from other towns. Single shipments of 1,000 rabbits are not unknown.

Farmers of South Dakota sowed a larger quantity of Marquis wheat in 1915 than ever before, the previous year having proved beyond all possible doubt that this is the hardiest wheat for this state that has yet come to light. Marquis wheat ranks with Blue Stem and Fife wheat on the market, being a hard wheat of excellent milling qualities. Farming experts declare it is the most profitable spring wheat for the farmer of South Dakota to raise. It matures from ten days to two weeks earlier than Blue Stem, a week earlier than Velvet Chaff and yields more than either of these varieties under good conditions or hardships. Besides, Marquis wheat has no beards. During the year 1914 it ran against blight in Iowa and withstood it better than Velvet Chaff. It experienced drouth in South Dakota and proved a better crop than Blue Stem. In North Dakota it encountered black rust, showing up better than Scotch Fife.

In the spring of 1915 ten or more South Dakota counties planned to take advantage of the funds available under the provisions of the agricultural exten- sion bill introduced in the last Legislature by Sen. Isaac Lincoln of Brown County. Representatives from the following counties met at the state college to confer with President Perisho, W. A. Lloyd of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and the county agents and other extension men already at work in this state: Brown, Butte, Davison, Day, Clark, Douglas, Hanson, Lyman, Min- nehaha and Sanborn.

At the annual convention of the South Dakota Veterinarian Association, held in Sioux Falls in July, 1915, there was a large attendance from all parts of the state. Important action was taken concerning animal diseases, particularly with reference to the exclusion of animal epidemics from the state limits. The next place of meeting was selected as Sioux Falls. The following officers were elected for the coming year: President, Dr. H. A. Hartwick, Madison; vice president, Dr. J. F. Lindsay, Milbank; secretary-treasurer, Dr. A. W. Allen, Watertown.

In July, 1915, the Live Stock Sanitary Board issued a restrictive order pro- hibiting the sale of hog cholera virus by manufacturers or persons in the state to any but those who had legal permit to use it. The right of use depended upon their experience, study and training in the use of the virus. The serum, it was stated, was a comparatively small article to use but the virus was dangerous and once handled improperly would result in spreading the disease.

537

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

That South Dakota was the most prosperous state in the Union compared with the population was proved by the figures of 1915. There were within the state in round numbers eighty thousand farmers who owned an average of 300 acres each and had property amounting to more than sixteen thousand dollars each. This made the state the wealthiest in the Union per capita. This great progress was not alone due to agriculture. It contained vast tracts of prairie land which produced bountiful crops of corn, wheat, alfalfa and other grains, while the Hills and the mountains were rich with gold, silver, marble, coal and timber. The western half was unsurpassed as a grazing country, possessing as it did, immense areas covered with nutritious native grasses. The state never really began to prosper until the people took up diversified farming, which for many years before had been urged upon them by the agricultural college, the experiment stations and the United States Department of Agriculture. Corn and live stock were forced to the front by this pressure until they succeeded wheat, although this was near the center of the famous hard wheat belt. The official report of the production of grain, live stock, hay and minerals did not include coal, timber, vegetables, manufactures and various other items. The wheat product was valued at over $35,000,000 in 1913; corn product at nearly $39,000,000; live stock production at nearly $54,000,000; hay surplus at over $17,000,000; min- erals and stone at $8,500,000. Few states can show such rapid industrial advance as South Dakota did from 1897 to 1915. The growth of bank deposits were in round number $10,000,000. In 1913 they were $93,000,000. Such an advance in less than fifteen years was almost unprecedented. All this resulted from the natural resources.

By the middle of July, 1915, six progressive counties were duly organized for agricultural extension work, the counties and agents being as follows: Coding- ton, A. W. Palm; Spink, E. W. Hall; Beadle, C. B. Gurslee; Clark, L. V. Aus- man ; Douglas, C. E. Bird ; and Day, Samuel Sloan. At this time five or six more counties contemplated immediate organization. It was presumed that before they should be ready the limited funds appropriated for such extension work by the Legislature would have been exhausted.

For many years previous to a short time before 1915 the state at harvest time was nearly always short of help to harvest the crop. Often as much as five dol- lars per day had been paid for harvest hands. During those years the call would be sent out and hundreds of laborers would be brought to the state to help during harvest time. By 1913 an important change had been made in this practice. The farmers themselves, through organization and co-operative movements, assisted by a limited number of laborers from abroad, managed to harvest their own crops without serious loss or delay. In 1915 Commissioner Charles McCaffree stated that 5,000 additional laborers in the state would be sufficient to harvest the crop. Many had thought the state would require 25,000 additional helpers.

In 1915 farming conditions in South Dakota were unusually promising. Gen- eral county agent work, short course work in counties not organized under the agricultural extension act, boys' and girls' clubs for competitive work in the home and on the farm; domestic science by the girls and crop growing by the boys, were never more active nor useful. The dairy and silo development at this time was very great even in the western part. Gordon Wrundlett, agent of the Gov- ernment to carry out the provisions of the Smith-Lever act in South Dakota, was

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

sustained at Brookings and put in operation the new requirements. By July the counties of Lawrence, Codington, Day, Spink, Beadle, Douglas, Hughes and Clark had completed organizations and were entitled to a portion of the funds.

By the last of July, 1915, the following seventeen counties had applied for exhibit space at the state fair and exposition at Huron: Bennett, Davison, Fall River, Hyde, Haakon, Hand, Jerauld, Lawrence, Mellette, McCook, Minnehaha, Pennington, Stanly, Sully, Turner, Ziebach and Spink. This was the biggest early showing in the history of the fair. Spink County was barred from prizes, because it had won first honors the year before. Previous winners were Hanson County in 1907-8-9, Clark County in 1910, Brookings County in 1911-12, Kings- bury in 1913, and Spink County in 1914.

In the summer of 1915 the State Board of Agriculture purchased a large concrete exhibition building on the state fair grounds and laid plans to remodel the structure for a mammoth educational display building. The structure con- tained 3,600 square feet of floor space. The plans for the educational display at the exposition of 1915 at Huron were under the superintendence of B. E. Meyers, of Redfield.

In June, 1915, the Custer office of the National Forestry Service completed the largest task of reforestation ever undertaken in the Black Hills in one season. It succeeded in replanting an extensive area in the Roubais district, which had recently been swept by a destructive forest fire. The forestry service succeeded in covering approximately two thousand acres by direct seeding and in addition planted 85,000 trees.

The South Dakota exhibit at the Panama Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, 1915, was installed by Immigration Commissioner McCaffree and the exhibit was placed in charge of W. C. Lusk of Yankton. There was some delay in getting the exhibit placed, and the judging was completed before all the exhibits were located and united. On its showing of corn, grains and grasses, South Dakota was given a gold medal. The exhibitors were given certificates and their names were announced.

In July, 1915, Germany, then in the throes of the terrible war, announced that it was self-supporting as to food supplies. This was conceded at the time even by Great Britain, yet three-fourths of the German farms were less than twenty acres in extent and the population of the country was about sixty-five million. Only one farm in eight in the United States is less than twenty acres in size. Less than one-third of the population of the United States is engaged in tilling the soil. German agricultural efficiency showed how far this country is from land hunger and starvation, but Germany had intensive farming and this country had not. Not one farmer in ten in 1915 practiced intensive farming to any considerable extent. Instead of being reduced in size the farms apparently in the United States were being increased. Land holders secured more land and tenant farming was becoming astonishingly great in 1915. The time will come when, under the law, no man will be permitted to own more land than he can cultivate.

In July, 1915, the banks of South Dakota were in excellent condition. The deposits in the state banks amounted to $57,909,277.63, and in the national banks to $36,567,949.77. Of the total about $3,000,000 was an increase over the deposits of March 4, 1915. The total of the deposits in the national banks in

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

round numbers was $4,000,000 more than it was at the same time in 1914. The state banks showed a reserve of 29.26 per cent for the date of March 4th.

By July 1, 1915, the registration of automobiles in South Dakota numbered 22.700. This represented an expenditure of about $1,000,000. In addition there were registered 1,500 motorcycles and 524 dealers had taken out licenses to sell these various vehicles. Beginning July Ist the annual license fee on auto- mobiles was dropped from $6 to $3 and the fee on motorcycles was dropped to $1.

In August, 1915, the South Dakota Packing & Shipping Company, with headquarters at Watertown, was incorporated by F. S. Lawrence of Minne- apolis, John C. Stein, John R. Michaels and J. J. Purcell of Watertown. The capital stock was fixed at $1,000,000. The company proposed to begin opera- tions on a large scale within a short time.

Formerly the farmers' institutes were conducted under the superintendence of the State Agricultural College. Later each county had its special farmers' institute. In 1915 the work of the institutes was changed to a considerable extent, and became in effect a short course study. For the year ending June 30, 1916, the State Legislature appropriated $25,000 for short course work, and $30,000 for the following year. This sum was augmented by Government funds amounting to a little over $16,000 annually. Under the law, organized counties received the salaries and actual expenses of a county agent. In July, 1915, six counties were thus organized and were employing county agents. For the purpose of conducting short courses in the unorganized counties the sum of $13,500 was reserved. It had been found that the two and four-day courses were the most efficient and popular, and therefore it was planned by the Board of Regents and Professor Randlett, the state leader, to hold as many short courses as the funds would allow. F. W. Dwight, president of the Board of Regents, said in July, 1915: "The people having in charge the short courses would appreciate the assistance of the farmers' organizations, the commercial clubs and the various committees where these short courses will be held, in order that they may be successful and the largest amount of good possible may result therefrom." The work of the farmers' institutes was provided for under the head of agricultural courses. The law made it the duty of the state director of the agricultural extension work to require at least a four days better farming school or demonstration course; then any one, two, or three days meeting which he might deem necessary to be held every year in each county of the state where there was no county agricultural agent. He was authorized to draft from the county agents, subject to the approval of the United States Department of Agriculture, those needed to assist in conducting such agricultural courses. They were required to co-operate with any special experts provided by the state director. This work was designed to take the place of work heretofore conducted by farmers' institutes. In counties where no provision had been made for a county agriculture agent, the county commissioners thereof were authorized to appropriate any sum, not to exceed $300, as might be needed for co-operation with the state director in the management of demonstration courses and other meetings conducted by him in such county.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 75

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146