BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
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 HOMESTEADS 
 
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 :a DAKOTA WHEAT HELD 
 
 NORTH WESTERN LINE 
 
 
 TO 
 
 '.RES 
 
 IRRIGATED NON-IRRIGATED LAND 
 PRAIRIE-TIMBER LANDS 
 
Business 
 Opportunities 
 
 The territory along the North Western Line is 
 growing at a rate never before known. 
 
 There are business openings by the score in 
 hundreds of thriving towns and cities. 
 
 The Industrial Department of the Chi- 
 cago & North Western Ry. has recently 
 made a systematic canvass of conditions in 
 these business towns, and we desire 
 to place the information resulting 
 therefrom at your disposal if you 
 are looking for a new loca- 
 tion for any business or 
 profession. 
 
 Manufacturing 
 
 Manufacturers who contemplate the 
 establishment of new business or manufacturing 
 enterprises in the west should write us for in- 
 formation about the advantages offered in hun- 
 dreds of western towns and cities, where there is 
 a fine water power and an abundance of 
 natural resources timber, coal, iron, cop- 
 per and zinc, building stone, material for 
 Portland cement, and other natural re- 
 sources situated practically at the fac- 
 tory door. 
 
 A happy combination of nearby markets, ideal labor conditions 
 and unparalleled natural resources has made the world-wide reputation 
 of the manufacturing towns of the 
 
 Chicago & North Western 
 Railway 
 
 FULL INFORMATION ON REQUEST 
 
 GEO. BONNELL, 
 
 Industrial Aeent, Chicago, 111. 
 
A Typical Western Farmstead. 
 
 THE WONDERFUL WEST 
 
 So great in extent, so rich in natural 
 resources, and so vigorous and healthful 
 in climate is the region which lies west and 
 northwest of Chicago that it forces itself 
 to-day upon the attention of all who seek 
 to better their condition. . 
 
 It is the land were opportunity ranks 
 supreme, where poverty gives way to pros- 
 perity and where a fair degree of energy 
 repays a man generously. 
 
 Great advancement has been made in this 
 western country since the days of the 
 frontier, in all lines of agricultural, com- 
 mercial and social life. 
 
 The pioneer of twenty-five years ago 
 finds himself to-day surrounded by smiling 
 acres and possessed of means to enjoy 
 luxuries which a generation ago were 
 unknown. 
 
 His barns are overflowing, his crops and 
 live stock bring prices that are at the top 
 
 of the market, and his land has increased 
 in value until to-day it represents to the 
 average farmer what may be termed a 
 small fortune. 
 
 Universities, colleges, libraries, public 
 schools and churches all show the pros- 
 perous condition which surrounds them; 
 and the achievements which have been 
 made in education, science, and the arts 
 have placed the northwestern common- 
 wealths in a position high in the world of 
 advancement. 
 
 All these desirable things have meant 
 hard work and patient endurance of the 
 life of the pioneer ; but never in the history 
 of the world has such endurance and 
 patience shown results so rich and certain. 
 
 Nowhere in the world can a man starting 
 in life, and with little or no money in his 
 possession, insure so completely for him- 
 self a competence for his later years, 
 
 KOFO1D GIFT 198 
 
The Raising Of Hogs Is An 
 
 and an assured position for himself and 
 family. 
 
 It is no longer necessary for a man to 
 take his family into an isolated community, 
 where near neighbors are unknown and 
 schools, churches and the conveniences of 
 life are lacking; nor is it necessary for him 
 to make a long and arduous journey to 
 reach his new home. 
 
 The North Western Line, with a vast net- 
 work of main travel arteries and their 
 branches, brings practically every com- 
 munity in nine northwestern states 
 Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, 
 North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, 
 Nebraska and Wyoming, into immediate 
 touch with the world. 
 
 Important Western Industry. 
 
 There are 10,000 miles of railway in this 
 comprehensive system, reaching 2,000 
 cities, towns and villages, and by traffic 
 arrangements with its connecting lines, 
 bringing practically every point wesi and 
 northwest of Chicago into direct touch with 
 that city. 
 
 Freight shipments are handled with dis- 
 patch, consigned through to any one of 
 9,500 stations, located on 62,000 miles of 
 railway. This is about one-eighth of the 
 entire railway mileage of the world and 
 one-fourth of the railway mileage of the 
 United States. 
 
 The simultaneous growth of the North- 
 west and of the lines which comprise The 
 North Western Line is due to the coop- 
 eration of the railway 
 and its patrons by which 
 communities have risen 
 to a prosperity that is 
 participated in by the 
 patron and railway 
 alike. 
 
 It is to the oppor- 
 tunities offered in such 
 communities as this, sit- 
 uated on the Chicago & 
 North Western Railway, 
 that this book calls 
 the attention of the 
 reader. 
 
 An Ideal Sheep Region. 
 
A Northern Wisconsin Dairy Herd. 
 
 Northern Wisconsin and the Upper 
 Peninsula of Michigan 
 
 Through all the years of the nation's 
 growth, the tide of immigration has swept . 
 westward to the Pacific, sweeping aside the 
 rich and fertile district of the north, to be 
 left for later development. So it is that 
 to-day northern Wisconsin and the Upper 
 Peninsula of Michigan offer cheap lands, an 
 ideal climate and markets directly at hand. 
 
 The dairying and farming lands which 
 make up the southern portion of this 
 region are to-day the seat of a prosperous 
 and ideal American rural life ; while further 
 north are the vast forests of pine and 
 hardwood which have made the two states 
 famous, and where only a night's ride from 
 Chicago, millions of acres are offered as 
 homes for the people, at prices ranging 
 from ^$7 to $12 per acre. 
 
 There are two distinct kinds of land : 
 
 i. The cutover land from which the 
 timber has been taken. 
 
 2. The original hardwood forest. 
 
 It is true that considerable work is 
 necessary in order to clear these wooded 
 lands and prepare them for the first crop; 
 but it is also true that in the process of 
 doing so, timber products are secured that 
 will practically pay for the work, and 
 advantages are found that are surpassed 
 nowhere in the United States. 
 
 What are these advantages? 
 
 1. The means of building a shelter 
 a home are ready to hand an axe and a 
 pair of strong hands. 
 
 2. The soil is productive of every crop 
 known to the temperate region, and in 
 bounteous quantities. 
 
 3. The climate, year in and year out, is 
 the best for health and strength in the world. 
 
 4. Winter employment can be had at 
 good wages at nearby mills and lumber 
 camps. 
 
A Typical Northern Wisconsin Lumber Town. 
 
 Through the heart of the region, Jthe 
 various trunk lines and branches of The 
 North Western Line radiate, with close 
 connection between the settler and the 
 hundreds of cities and towns which here 
 find raw material for their manufacturing 
 interests. Several new lines have been 
 recently opened which pass directly through 
 splendid timber districts that are being 
 developed into farm lands. 
 
 Saw mills, planing mills and pulp wood 
 manufacturers furnish a market for hard- 
 wood products as the settler clears his 
 land, and many towns and cities offer a 
 market for his crops. This market is near 
 at home and affords a ready sale of produce 
 at the highest prices, as well as means of 
 social intercourse. 
 
 The question of home building on these 
 hardwood lands and cutover lands is totally 
 different from the home-making proposition 
 as it obtains on the prairies. 
 
 The comparative advantages of the two 
 will always be an open question, but, for 
 the average man, with a family to support 
 and with capital that is but meager, there 
 is probably more security, less worry and 
 more contentment in building his home 
 in the timber country. 
 
 The average settler placed on a quarter- 
 section of these lands will, we assume, own 
 
 his own team of horses or oxen, one or two 
 cows, a few hogs and sheep, and the usual 
 number of barn fowls. He comes to his 
 new home with enough money to make 
 his first payment on his land and with a 
 few dollars left to assist in building. He 
 will find on his land raw material for his 
 permanent improvements, and may thus 
 establish a house, barn, etc., with the least 
 possible cash outlay. In fact, with his 
 own labor, a man can build a log house 
 here with an actual expenditure of from 
 $5 to $50 that will be far more comfortable 
 than can be imagined by those who have 
 not tried it. Then if he has settled on a 
 piece of cutover land, much of it will be 
 easy to clear; thirty days will put five 
 acres in shape for crop, and thus the task 
 of farm-making begins. Five or ten acres 
 can be added each year until the entire 
 farm is under cultivation. 
 
 In the winter the farmer may seek 
 employment with his team in the lumber 
 camps, barking camps, tanneries, planing 
 mills and stave-heading mills, where he will 
 always find his services in demand; or he 
 may cut and haul ties and posts from his 
 own land. 
 
 In this region there are over 1,200 beau- 
 tiful lakes, and innumerable streams. It 
 is the natural home of the brook trout 
 
As Beautiful Farming Country as One Can Hope to See. 
 
 the black bass, muskallunge, pike and 
 pickerel. 
 
 Deer are abundant in the forests, fish 
 are plentiful in the lakes and streams, and 
 the region is a natural playground for all 
 small game. For the settler, this adds vast 
 opportunities for delightful days of recrea- 
 tion in the woods or on the water, and for 
 welcome additions to the housewife's bill 
 of fare. 
 
 CLIMATE 
 
 The annual rainfall is about 36 inches 
 and, tempered as the region is by large 
 bodies of water, the rainfall is remarkably 
 regular, producing green fields, large second 
 crops of clover and grasses and abundance 
 of pasturage. 
 
 During the winter the snow protects the 
 ground and guards the soil against hard 
 freezing. The danger of early frost rapidly 
 disappears with the clearing of large areas 
 and the resultant warming of the soil. 
 
 With the approach of May the south 
 winds come soft and odor-laden, and there 
 sets in a season of continual delight, with 
 clear beautiful days, weeks and months of 
 fine weather. The wind no longer chills, 
 the balmy air enwraps one like a mantle, 
 the sun looks warmly down, the ozone- 
 freighted air tingles the nostrils it is a 
 joy to live. 
 
 As soon as the snow is off the ground the 
 arbutus creeps forth and the graceful 
 anemone raises its head, followed closely 
 
 by the blue violet. Along the low wet 
 reaches, the marsh-marigolds appear with 
 the earliest birds. Dandelions and butter- 
 cups, white and red clover are seen every- 
 where. The woods are filled with the 
 delicate bluebell. Old roads are lined with 
 wild roses, while the fleur-de-lis peeps forth 
 from every sedgy nook. This growth of 
 timber and wildflowers is one of Nature's 
 guaranties of the fertility of the soil. 
 
 As the season advances the earth fairly 
 bursts with life. The air is laden with the 
 honey fragrance of blooming linden and 
 nodding clover. The forest resounds with 
 music from a thousand feathery throats 
 for every song bird finds here a summer 
 home. October comes, and with it the 
 frosts of the autumn. Gorgeous are the 
 woods in their dress of red and gold and 
 brown; the crimson of the maple and the 
 yellow of the birch blending in graceful 
 harmony with the clear azure of the sky. 
 
 The sun sinks the season lingers the 
 frosts creep slowly on, baffled by the warm 
 winds from the lakes a gray mist gathers 
 in the sky a wind breathes from the north 
 feathery flakes drift down through the 
 air and the winter is at hand, a winter 
 of exhilarating cold, of snow and ice, 
 fraught with a thousand varied charms. 
 
 The climate of northern Wisconsin and 
 Michigan is remarkable for the following 
 advantages : 
 
The Oats Yield is Always Heavy. 
 
 i In its almost entire freedom from 
 spring frosts and summer droughts. 
 
 2. In the salubrity and dryness of the 
 air. 
 
 3. In the uniformity of the temperature 
 of its winters. 
 
 4. In its absolute freedom from all 
 malarial tendencies. 
 
 THE SOIL 
 
 The soil ranges from a light sand to a 
 heavy red clay, the greater portion of it 
 being sandy loam and clayey loam, fertile 
 and easily worked. One of the peculiari- 
 ties of the soil is that wide variance is 
 shown within limited areas and a single 
 township may show red clay, clayey loam, 
 sandy loam and sand and swamp soil. 
 
 One should under no circumstances buy 
 land without first examining every acre of 
 it, for this peninsular district varies in 
 character of soil to such a degree that the 
 character of any given quarter section is no 
 guarantee of the character of its neighbor. 
 
 CROPS 
 
 Everything that can be grown in the 
 prairie regions, and more, can be grown 
 here. Wheat, rye, buckwheat and oats, 
 when sown among the stumps in a newly 
 
 cleared field, reach the very limit of yield. 
 The tame grasses, clover and timothy, 
 seem indigenous to the soil. Wherever 
 the seed happens to fall it takes root and 
 will not be exterminated. Through the 
 woods, along the "tote roads" of the lum- 
 berman, in fact wherever man has been, 
 are found luxuriant stands of clover, timo- 
 thy and blue grass. 
 
 In the production of what is known as 
 "garden truck," the soil seems fairly to 
 outdo itself. Potatoes, turnips, onions, 
 carrots, cabbage and all the family of table 
 delicacies yield here as nowhere else. 
 
 Wisconsin is one of the greatest potato 
 producing states in the Union. The soil is 
 peculiarly adapted to the growth of pota- 
 toes and the climatic conditions seem to 
 insure large crops, the yield being from 150 
 to 600 bushels per acre. 
 
 Large potato warehouses are maintained 
 at convenient shipping centers along The 
 North Western Line. Special equipment 
 is furnished and fast schedules maintained 
 for the transportation of the crop to the 
 market. 
 
 Oats, rye and barley return a large and 
 sure crop of fine grain, and the yield of 
 field peas is extremely large and valuable 
 for dairy food. Rye is used to a consider- 
 able extent for pasturage as well as for the 
 grain. 
 
 In Many Parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, There are Consid- 
 erable Areas Where the Grasses and Tender Shrubs 
 Form Excellent Pasturage for the Dairy Herd. 
 
' soil and conditions in^Northern Wis- 
 consin and Michigan are especially adapted 
 to the growing of the sugar beet and large 
 factories are now in operation at Janes- 
 ville, Menominee, Mich., Madison, Wis., and 
 other points. This is not only one of the 
 most profitable farm crops that can be 
 raised, but the deep plowing and close 
 cultivation that it requires leave the soil 
 in an ideal condition for raising extremely 
 large crops of grain. 
 
 Alfalfa has also proven a profitable crop 
 and much of it is being converted into pork 
 in a most profitable manner. It is a 
 remarkable fact that a case of hog cholera 
 has never been known in this region. 
 
 SHEEP 
 
 It is also an ideal sheep region. Red 
 clover, alsike, blue grass and timothy are as 
 luxuriant as they are common. Two advan- 
 tages are claimed for the .region: First, 
 that clover never fails to grow where it is 
 sown; and second, that it never winter- 
 kills. There is a certainty of clover 
 meadows, abundant "root crops, climate and 
 supply of pure water, which make it possible 
 to ; jproduce sheep to the best advantage. 
 
 Sheep drink from a pint to two or three 
 quarts of water each, daily, and no animal 
 demands a more certain or purer supply. 
 The numerous springs and running brooks 
 
 All the Hardy Fruits do well. 
 
 In Horthern Wisconsin. 
 
 insure a generous water supply throughout 
 the year. 
 
 The steady cold of the winter improves 
 the fibre and increases the length and 
 density of the fleece. The wool has more 
 "yolk" than the southern product, giving* 
 it greater weight and consequently more 
 value. 
 
 So far as sheep culture has gone, no 
 disease has been found in this northern 
 country, the cool climate seeming to elimi- 
 nate the diseases common to the herds 
 farther south. Sleet, slush and mud in 
 winter the curse of the flocks in the 
 Middle States are quite unknown here. 
 
 ADVANTAGES SUMMED UP 
 
 Many considerations enter into the 
 problem of selecting a place to make one's 
 home. 
 
 The essentials to health and prosperity 
 must attain a high average in order to 
 satisfy the requirements. 
 
 A few of the advantages of this great 
 northern district may be as follows : 
 
 There is abundant water supply, rapid 
 gravelly streams and clear lakes. Pure 
 well water can be had at a depth of from 
 ten to forty feet below the surface. 
 
 Good roads are rapidly being opened in 
 
Northern Wisconsin's Big Winter Industry. 
 
 all parts of the country. The lumberman 
 left a legacy of carefully constructed roads 
 in every county where he operated logging 
 roads; and the business management of 
 county affairs maintains these and looks 
 well to the comfort and convenience of the 
 farmer in all public affairs. 
 
 Schools and churches are well established, 
 the taxes are low, and the local govern- 
 ment efficient. 
 
 The University of Wisconsin ranks per- 
 haps as high as any institution in the 
 world, particularly in connection with the 
 experimental work it has accomplished 
 along the lines in which the farmers are 
 most directly interested. The results have 
 been highly practical. 
 
 One of the most interesting features of 
 the work to-day is the organization of hun- 
 dreds of farmers throughout the state, all 
 of whom are engaged in making experi- 
 ments of the most practical character, the 
 results of which are placed at the disposal 
 of the University for public use. 
 
 The settler must not overlook the very 
 
 great advantage offered in this timber 
 region of free building material, free fuel, 
 sure crops, timber products that will pro- 
 vide an immediate source of revenue, excel- 
 lent profits from small crops, diversity of 
 crops, proximity to the best markets and 
 last, but by no means least, the best of 
 educational and social advantages. 
 
 The exceptionally complete railway ser- 
 vice must also be taken into consideration. 
 The North Western Line places this land 
 within a night's ride of the great cities of 
 Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, 
 Duluth, Superior, Marquette and other 
 cities. 
 
 To-day the settler reaches his new home 
 with the greatest ease. The settler of a 
 few years ago had to drive into the new 
 country with his covered wagon, his 
 worldly goods and his live stock, over roads 
 cut through the forest. He had to ford 
 streams and dodge Indians, camping at 
 night and pushing forward over the dreary 
 miles by day. Now his family and belong- 
 ings reach their new home by rail, and they 
 
 10 
 
Sugar Beets, Oats and Corn, 
 
 are in close communication with the world 
 by means of the railway, the daily news- 
 paper, rural mail delivery and the tele- 
 phone. 
 
 FACTS TO CONSIDER 
 
 The average rainfall of this region. 
 
 Truck farming is very profitable in this 
 section, with good home markets. 
 
 The best place in America to raise horses, 
 mules, cattle, sheep and hogs. 
 
 Cereal crops average more bushels per 
 
 Near Menominee, Mich. 
 
 acre than in any other northern state. 
 This may be said particularly of oats, the 
 average yield being from sixty to eighty 
 bushels per acre. 
 
 No swamps in this section no malaria, 
 no catarrh, no chills, no fever, no cyclones, 
 no hail or destructive storms. 
 
 Lumbering and manufacturing interests 
 offer ample employment at good wages, 
 both winter and summer. 
 
 Every stick of wood from your place can 
 be sold at nearby markets. 
 
 A Typical Wisconsin Stock Farm. 
 11 
 
A Northern Wisconsin 
 
 A. D. Campbell, Commissioner of 
 Immigration for Wisconsin, writes in the 
 Chicago Evening Post regarding the advan- 
 tages to settlers in the northern portion of 
 his state as follows : 
 
 "Wisconsin has 10,000,000 acres of rich, 
 hardwood timber lands, surrounded by the 
 best of markets, with ample rainfall dis- 
 tributed through the season to produce 
 maximum crops, with splendid climate and 
 the purest of water, where crops are not 
 penalized by a long-distance freight rate, 
 or supplies burdened by the natural conse- 
 quences of isolation. 
 
 "What will these lands produce? 
 
 "All the cereals in abundance, clover pas- 
 tures and meadows such as are seldom 
 seen, corn as high as sixty bushels an acre, 
 potatoes of the best quality at from 150 to 
 200 bushels an acre and even more, root 
 crops in surprising proportions, sugar beets 
 bring from $60 to over $100 an acre, to- 
 bacco at $100 to $200 and more an acre, 
 peas at from $25 to $75 an acre delivered 
 in the straw at the canning factory. 
 
 Meadow (near Ingalls, Mich.). 
 
 "They will produce also all the small 
 fruits in abundance, in some sections 
 apples up to $300 an acre, cherries upward 
 of $500 an acre. 
 
 "This land, with the large timber cut off, 
 may be purchased, close to live and grow- 
 ing towns, in the very midst of a splendid 
 market, at from $10 to $20 an acre. 
 
 "And inexpensive modern machinery will 
 clear this land quickly : instance the Wau- 
 kesha Canning Company clearing 140 acres 
 this year and the partial clearing of 600 
 acres more, to be completed next year, 
 
 "Many Illinois farmers have said to the 
 writer that they could not raise on their 
 $200 land as fine clover, timothy, barley, 
 oats, squash, potatoes and apples as was 
 taken from this area to the Illinois state 
 fair this year. 
 
 "To cultivate this magnificent area 
 requires no expert knowledge in engineer- 
 ing or agriculture; to locate on it necessi- 
 tates no expensive trekking to distant 
 points, nor is the settler isolated from cities, 
 extensive markets, universities and col- 
 leges." 
 12 
 
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 t 
 
 Lines under Construction 
 
 County Map of South Dakota, Showing Lines of The Chicago & North Western, 
 
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 Spring view 
 
 re, Rapid City & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Rys. 
 
A Corn Field in Tripp County, S. D., on the Recently Opened Rosebud Lands. 
 
 South Dakota 
 
 In South Dakota the new settler will find 
 a wide range of conditions. The great size 
 of the state (200 miles by 400 miles) makes 
 an extensive range of climate, and the com- 
 monwealth may be divided into three dis- 
 tinct geographical sections, each of which 
 varies from the others in many essentials. 
 
 That portion of the state which lies east of 
 the Missouri River is a populous, pros- 
 perous, heavy crop-producing country, 
 throughout which are scattered towns and 
 cities of importance. The entire region is 
 covered with a network of railway lines, 
 furnishing high class service. The land is 
 worth from $15 to $50 per acre, the most of 
 it being well improved. 
 
 West of the Missouri River is the great 
 Cheyenne Range country, famous since the 
 earliest days of the Indian for pasturage 
 that is not surpassed anywhere. The 
 original buffalo grass and wheat grass cure 
 on the stem like grain. The free range is 
 extensive, and the water supply is abun- 
 
 dant. The shipping facilities place the 
 region at all times in touch with the great 
 live stock markets of Chicago, Sioux City, 
 South Omaha and South St. Paul. 
 
 West of Pierre, the capital of the state, 
 thousands of settlers have come into the 
 newly opened district tributary to the 
 P. R. C. & N. W. Ry., recently built from 
 Pierre westward to the Black Hills; and 
 there is land for many more and oppor- 
 tunities for good business openings in the 
 new towns along the line. 
 
 The construction of other new lines in 
 South Dakota is being Worked out by the 
 North Western and the development of 
 agricultural interests is remarkably swift. 
 
 There yet remains considerable Govern- 
 ment land to be had in South Dakota under 
 the United States Homestead Laws, and 
 the value of this public land has been added 
 to by the improvements made by the 
 thousands who have availed themselves of 
 the opportunity to thus secure homes. The 
 
 13 
 
recent opening of the greater portion of the 
 Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Reser- 
 vations to settlement has added fresh 
 impetus to the growth of the western por- 
 tion of the state. 
 
 It is a fact conceded by the best author- 
 ities that this open range country west of 
 the Missouri River has a greater rainfall, 
 richer soil, milder winters, more pleasant 
 summers and natural resources of greater 
 extent than are available in portions of 
 Europe in which 100,000,000 people dwell 
 and where farm lands are worth from $100 
 to $800 per acre. 
 
 There is no state in the Union which 
 presents such an array of attractive oppor- 
 tunities for home-building, and safe in- 
 vestments with satisfactory returns. The 
 undeveloped resources of South Dakota are 
 incalculable, and, comparatively speaking, 
 they have scarcely been touched. 
 
 The state has approximately an area of 
 50,000,000 acres, practically all of it 
 fertile. Only 23,000,000 acres have been 
 entered and patented, so that there are yet 
 several millions of acres of public lands. 
 Five years' residence will secure a patent 
 to 1 60 acres, and the entryman may com- 
 mute his entry after fourteen months of 
 bona-fide residence by paying the appraised 
 value of the land, as adjusted by the 
 Department of the Interior. 
 
 While there is yet much land to be 
 homesteaded, it is being rapidly entered, 
 and the growing scarcity of desirable fertile 
 land that may yet be purchased at reason- 
 able prices, and the crowded population of the 
 middle and eastern states have precipitated 
 a tremendous influx of settlers. Naturally 
 land in the more thickly settled parts of the 
 state has increased in value. Some tracts 
 are being sold for $90 per acre, and hun- 
 dreds of tracts readily sell at $75 per acre. 
 
 This land is easily tilled, is generally 
 level or slightly rolling, and will produce 
 crops as large, and with less labor, than 
 much land that is being sold in states far- 
 ther east for $100 or $125 per acre. 
 
 In addition to the many facilities for 
 home-building and money-making, South 
 Dakota offers numerous other advantages. 
 Churches of every denomination are estab- 
 lished, the public schools are not excelled 
 by those of any commonwealth, and the 
 railroads connect all parts of the state with 
 over 4,000 miles of first-class service. 
 
 THE BLACK HILLS 
 
 In the southwestern portion of the state 
 is the Black Hills district. This region, 
 thrown up in the midst of the plains by 
 some giant upheaval of past ages, occupies 
 an area about 60 miles wide and 100 miles 
 long. It has an altitude of about 3,500 
 feet and is remarkably rich in gold, silver 
 
 Construction of the Big Belle Fourche Reservoir. 
 14 
 
Raised Near Gregory, in the Rosebud Country. 
 
 and other minerals, well timbered, well 
 watered and possesses a climate of such 
 bracing and invigorating quality as to 
 extend its fame through all parts of the 
 world. 
 
 In fact, in addition to its mining inter- 
 ests, the Black Hills region is noted as a 
 great natural sanitarium, where the pure 
 air and a happy combination of right alti- 
 tudes with medicinal waters join to make 
 especially advantageous conditions for the 
 healthseeker. 
 
 Surrounding the Black Hills on the 
 north, east and south are the prairie lands 
 whose succulent grasses have made them 
 especially suitable for the grazing of cattle, 
 spreading out to such an extent that their 
 
 outer rim encloses an area greater than that 
 of Great Britain, Germany and France, 
 and where the pasturage has been famous 
 since the days when herds of buffalo and 
 wandering tribes of Sioux were the only 
 inhabitants. 
 
 THE BELLE FOURCHE IRRIGATION 
 PROJECT 
 
 In the beautiful Belle Fourche Valley, 
 adjacent to and north of the Black Hills 
 district, the Government is completing an 
 irrigation project, by means of which 100,- 
 ooo acres of land will at an early date be 
 supplied with water. 
 
 The Belle Fourche River and its tribu- 
 taries supply the water for the project, it 
 being stored in a vast lake or reservoir 
 from which the lands are to be supplied by 
 the gravity system. So positive is the 
 certainty of water supply and so marked 
 is the simplicity of the engineering plans, 
 that the cost of the project has been 
 reduced to a point where the settler buys 
 his lands and water rights at an unusual 
 advantage. 
 
 WHAT WILL IT COST? 
 
 These lands partly belong to the public 
 domain and partly are deeded lands. 
 The public lands can be secured under the 
 terms of the United States Homestead 
 
 In the Rosebud Country, Near Bonesteel, S. D. 
 15 
 
Government Dam and Reservoir at Belle Fourche. 
 
 Laws. These require a continuous residence 
 of. five years to' secure title. The average 
 irrigable area on these homesteads is 
 eighty acres; and in addition to this, there 
 is considerable bench-land in connection 
 with that which is under the ditch, that 
 can be used for pasturage and for raising 
 rough feed for stock. 
 
 The cost of water for lands under the 
 project will be about $30 per acre, divided 
 into ten annual payments, or about $3.00 
 per acre per year, without interest, and 
 represents only the actual cost to the 
 Government of the irrigation plant. The 
 first payment becomes due in the fall after 
 the water has been delivered for the crop. 
 In the case of lands belonging to the 
 Government, this includes the total cost of 
 title to the land and perpetual water rights. 
 A maintenance and operation charge of 
 40 or 50 cents per acre is also necessary. 
 
 The lands, when in cultivation, will 
 probably be easily worth $75 to $100 per 
 acre, and the crops produced will no doubt 
 pay good interest on this amount. It is an 
 excellent chance for a man to secure a home 
 and pay for it from the crops he produces. 
 
 A settler here would require about $1,000 
 in cash, one or two teams, a cow, farm imple- 
 ments, etc., as a basis for getting started. 
 
 One thousand farms are ready for settle- 
 ment at the present time, and 12,000 acres 
 of land are under water for the first time 
 this year. The remainder of the land will 
 
 be supplied with water privileges as rap- 
 idly as the work progresses, there being a 
 total of 100,000 acres irrigable. 
 
 Inquiry concerning lands, how to acquire 
 them, crops and other facts relating to this 
 section of country, should be addressed to 
 the Secretary of the Belle Fourche Valley 
 Water Users' Association, Belle Fourche, 
 S. D. 
 
 A NEW CITY 
 
 A new town is to be laid out by the 
 Government in the midst of the irrigated 
 district; and here, as well as in towns 
 already located, there are rare opportuni- 
 ties for the merchant to establish a trade 
 before the region fills up. The merchant 
 and professional man will here have the 
 advantage of those unusual opportunities 
 for success which always exist when com- 
 munities are new and growing rapidly. 
 
 "WHAT CROPS WILL GROW 
 
 On one piece of irrigated land in the 
 Black Hills region which has been under 
 cultivation for fifteen years, the crop has 
 never run less than 40 bushels of oats per acre 
 and has produced as high as 100 bushels; 
 the land produces 30 bushels of wheat per 
 acre without irrigation. 
 
 Alfalfa, potatoes, sugar beets, hardy 
 fruits and garden truck are grown profit- 
 ably. Wheat grass, the native hay, sells 
 for a high price for this country is one of 
 the greatest cattle ranges in the world. 
 
 16 
 
A South 
 
 This proposed irrigated valley will also 
 create a new industry that of winter 
 feeding of cattle and sheep, summer pas- 
 tured on the nearby free and open range 
 an industry that will make this section a 
 rival of the most prosperous regions of the 
 West. It is surrounded by a vast range 
 country to the north, east and west, that 
 affords pasturage for herds of cattle and 
 large bunches of sheep, and the advantages 
 of this free range in connection with an 
 irrigated country are of inestimable value. 
 
 In other irrigated regions stock is not 
 only wintered on alfalfa and grain, but 
 wintered and fattened on sugar-beet pulp 
 from the factories, which has proven a 
 
 Dakota Harvest. 
 
 cheap feed. The chances that a beet-sugar 
 factory will be built in this territory in the 
 next year or two are extremely good, as 
 capitalists have reported favorably on the 
 proposition. 
 
 The housewife can grow her garden and 
 flowers. Insect pests are unusually few in 
 number, and there has never been a loss 
 from grasshoppers or other insect visita- 
 tions. 
 
 The valley is a natural artesian basin. 
 Flowing water of the finest quality is 
 secured at a depth of from 500 to 1,500 feet. 
 NEARBY MARKETS 
 
 Belle Fourche has the advantage of most 
 districts that are being opened to irrigation 
 
 On a Government Homestead 
 
 17 
 
Street Scene A Typical Nebraska Town. 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 In 1904 Congress passed an act known as 
 the Kinkaid Bill, under the terms of which 
 large tracts of public lands in northwestern 
 Nebraska, reached by the line of the 
 Chicago & North Western Railway, were 
 thrown open to settlement. The principal 
 feature of the Kinkaid Bill is that the 
 applicant may, in the territory named, 
 make entry under the homestead laws of 
 640 acres (one square mile), instead of 160 
 acres of land. The purpose of this is to 
 enable the homesteader to use his land 
 profitably for grazing purposes. 
 
 There are large quantities of these 
 unallotted public lands in Nebraska, situ- 
 ated in the northern part of the state, 
 through which the Chicago & North 
 Western Railway passes directly. The 
 lands affected have been open to the 
 homesteader in lots of 160 acres for many 
 years, but have not been heretofore taken 
 up to any great extent because of the fact 
 that a quarter-section is not sufficient to 
 use profitably for cattle-raising purposes. 
 
 The rainfall in this part of the state is 
 not sufficient for successful farming except 
 by the advanced methods of scientific dry 
 farming, and it is on this account that the 
 
 Kinkaid Bill has been passed, with the 
 result that a Nebraska cattle ranch, one mile 
 square, absolutely free, is the offer which the 
 Government makes to every man or head of a 
 family in the United States. 
 
 From the 8,500,000 acres of these lands, 
 anyone desiring to become possessor of a 
 section of grazing land should have no 
 trouble in finding a tract suitable to his 
 taste, and now that the practical merits of 
 dry-farming methods have become estab- 
 lished clearly, the value of these lands for 
 agricultural purposes has become much 
 greater than ever before. 
 
 As an example of the quality of the 
 lands, Rock County actually ships more 
 hay to market via The North Western 
 Line from the town of Newport than is 
 shipped to market from any other one 
 point anywhere in the world ; while one of 
 the finest potato-raising districts in the 
 West has its shipping center at Gordon, in 
 Sheridan County. 
 
 Such towns as O'Neill, Long Pine, Valen- 
 tine, Rushville, Chadron, and Lusk are 
 well equipped ' with stores, banks, schools 
 and churches, and the whole region is well 
 populated. 
 
 20 
 
V"M^E ri \ " /<>' "fiSl^tZ" 
 d VFl aywooK-=4 rtis I "X 
 
 V* '. - - X _ \ . _ '-TP! 
 
 FRO NUT 1| E R 
 
 f%^^^ >'*7r' 
 
 i -^^'b W^ C 4 
 nau. '-fc -Air|5fir^ 
 
 SCALES. 
 
 Statute Miles, 38=1 Inch. 
 
 60 70 
 
 Kilometres, 61= I Inch. 
 
 6 10 20 au <0 50 60 70 80 90 100 
 
 JiM,d.M.:Nlli 4 Co.'Dw Hi 14 Mauof Nebruka; 
 ( ht. 189J. byUaa^ Mci<all>aUo. Cuyyright, lln/i), by Hand, McXallj t Co. 
 
 County Map of Nebraska, Showing Lines of the Chicago & IS 
 
h Western Ry. and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Ry. 
 
One Source of Nebraska's Wealth. 
 
 Public Lands in Nebraska in counties reached 
 by the North Western Line, that are subject to 
 settlement under the homestead laws under the 
 Kinkaid bill: 
 
 Holt, 12,000 acres. Boyd, 700 acres 
 
 Rock, 4,000 acres. Brown, 81,452 acres. 
 
 KeyaPaha, 38, 040 acres. Cherry, 1,015,582 acres. 
 Sheridan, 164,286 acres. Dawes, 9,000 acres. 
 Sioux, 417,620 acres. 
 
 You can make your filing at Valentine or 
 O'Neill at any time, these points being 
 reached by the direct train service of the 
 Chicago & North Western Railway, from 
 Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Omaha, 
 Sioux City, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth 
 and all points west and northwest. 
 
 Every man or unmarried woman, over 
 the age of 21; every married man under 
 the age of 21; every widow, every minor 
 orphan child of a deceased soldier, or any 
 person who is the head of a family by 
 adoption of a minor child, not already 
 owning more than 160 acres of land and 
 who is a citizen of the United States, may 
 homestead 640 acres of this land, for the 
 same fee charged by the Government for 
 1 60 acres in other states. The amount of 
 this fee is $14. 
 
 A man, for instance, with three sons and 
 two unmarried daughters (all past the age 
 of 21 years} may take up six sections, 3,840 
 acres of this land, in a compact body, making 
 a first-class cattle ranch, which will cost 
 them nothing but the required residence 
 of five years. Should he wish to receive 
 his deed before the end of five years, he may, 
 at the end of fourteen months, pay $1.25 per 
 acre and receive his deed. 
 
 THE KINKAID BILL LANDS 
 
 The healthful climate, the well-endowed 
 system of public schools, the growing 
 towns and prosperous farms, and the 
 steady increase in transportation facilities 
 and in values of land, make Nebraska's 
 future well worth careful examination by 
 the man who, with small capital, desires 
 to establish himself, to make a home for his 
 family, to secure an education for his chil- 
 dren and to make certain a competence 
 for the days to come. 
 
 That portion of the state in which are 
 found the lands that are available under the 
 terms of the Kinkaid Bill is, as has been 
 said elsewhere in this book, hardly avail- 
 able for agricultural purposes except in a 
 
 21 
 
Nebraska Cattle. 
 
 very limited degree, the rainfall being 
 insufficient. Irrigation is being practiced 
 to an extent, but irrigable lands are not 
 open for settlement under the provisions 
 of the act referred to. 
 
 Stock-raising, therefore, is the principal 
 industry. There is no finer grazing land in 
 the world than that found on the uplands 
 of western Nebraska, the buffalo grass 
 affording excellent pasturage from early 
 in the spring to late autumn and through a 
 large portion of the winter months, and 
 with enough of the qualities of grain to 
 serve as a fattener to a degree that is not 
 possible with any other known pasturage. 
 
 In addition to the stock-raising industry, 
 hay is produced in large quantities, and a 
 great part of the region is open to the 
 successful culture of alfalfa. 
 
 The acreage of this latter product is 
 growing yearly, both in the valleys where 
 the plant sustains itself from the sub- 
 terranean waters which underlie the greater 
 part of the state, and under the still more 
 favorable conditions of irrigation. 
 
 The dairying interests of northwestern 
 Nebraska are commanding increased atten- 
 tion also, creameries being established at 
 important points on the railway, and thus 
 creating a convenient market for all the 
 cream that can be produced. 
 
 The school system of Nebraska is estab- 
 lished on a most desirable basis (the state 
 shows the lowest percentage of illiteracy) ; 
 the school funds being based on the wise 
 provisions of the early settlers, by which a 
 liberal allotment was made of public lands 
 for school purposes. These lands have 
 grown in value with the growth of the 
 state and thus created a liberal educational 
 fund. 
 
 Churches, too, are numerous and flour- 
 ishing. 
 
 There are several live and typical western 
 towns situated in the counties affected by 
 the provisions of the Kinkaid Bill along 
 the line of the Chicago & North Western 
 Railway, including O'Neill, Bassett, Ains- 
 worth, Valentine, Rushville, Chadron and 
 Harrison. 
 
 In these and other towns along the lines 
 of the Chicago & North Western Railway, 
 good business opportunities are offered to 
 the merchant, mechanic, farmer, laborer 
 and professional man, opportunities which 
 will largely increase with the growth of 
 the country and the opening of the public 
 lands now taking place. 
 
 The former United States Land Receiver 
 at O'Neill says regarding the lands tribu- 
 tary to these towns, that are available for 
 homesteading' under the Kinkaid Act: 
 
 22 
 
A Group of Nebraska Yearlings That Brings Handsome Profits. 
 
 "Generally speaking, these lands are first- 
 class grazing lands. In my judgment most 
 any of the lands available in my district 
 are worth at least $5 per acre for grazing 
 purposes. If a man will go at it right I am 
 satisfied there arc sections available that 
 can be made to care for more than one hun- 
 dred head of cattle the year around. That 
 is, small tracts can be had that will produce 
 oats, millet and other rough feed for the 
 winter, while the cattle will graze from eight 
 to nine months of the year." 
 
 Nebraska is essentially an agricultural 
 state and its development along agricul- 
 tural lines has been and continues to be 
 very rapid. 
 
 Hand in hand with this agricultural 
 growth, its towns and cities are growing in 
 wealth and population to an equal degree. 
 As an instance of this, the census of 1900 
 shows that the largest increase in popula- 
 tion in the United States was in South 
 Omaha, where the percentage of increase 
 for ten years was 222.5 P er cen t- Omaha, 
 Fremont, Lincoln, Norfolk and a score of 
 other cities located on the Chicago & 
 North Western Railway, also show a 
 healthy growth each year that places the 
 Nebraska farmer within easy reach of the 
 best markets for his products. Nebraska 
 produces a quarter of a billion bushels of 
 
 corn every year, with an average yield for 
 twenty-one years of 30 bushels per acre; and 
 50,000,000 bushels of wheat, with an in- 
 creasing acreage devoted to this crop each 
 year. 
 
 The live stock from the range finds 
 ready market at South Omaha, the third 
 largest meat-packing and live stock market 
 in the United States, Sioux City, where 
 large yards and packing houses are also 
 located, and at Chicago, all of which are 
 reached by the fast stock trains of The 
 North Western Line. But the agricultural- 
 ist's greatest attention at present is given 
 to those diversified features such as the 
 development of the rapidly growing dairy 
 industry, features of western agricultural 
 progress that are bringing to the farmer and 
 merchant an increase in land values and 
 general prosperity that is unprecedented. 
 
 THE NORTH WESTERN LINE 
 
 Across the state, the lines of the Chicago 
 & North Western Railway from Omaha, 
 and from a point opposite Sioux City, 
 converge with the line from the Missouri 
 River near Blair, and extend along the 
 Elkhorn and Niobrara valleys to its western 
 boundary. A comparatively recent exten- 
 sion of The North Western Line reaches 
 north from Norfolk to Dallas on the 
 
A Ranch Scene Near Phillip, S. D. On 
 
 THE NEW LINE, PIERRE TO RAPID CITY, A 
 
 The Pierre, Rapid City & North Western Railway from Pierre, across the Missouri River, through the ra,t 
 
 at Pierre and the present Black Hills line of that system at Rapid City. 
 This new line, 165 miles long, opens up a new region that contains hundreds of square miles of agricultural 
 
 has led to rapid development, giving Pierre, the state's capital and Ft. Pierre, across the river, and the a 
 It connects Lead, Deadwood and the mining district of the Black Hills, Belle Fourche to the north and Hot i5 
 
 'than ever before the Lake Superior Iron and Copper country and the hardwood forests of Wisconsin ana 
 
 and western halves of the state of South Dakota. 
 It is a fact conceded by the best authorities that this open range country west of the Missouri River has a gie 
 
 available in portions of Europe in which 100,000,000 people dwell and where farm lands are worth froi 
 Towns have grown up rapidly along this new line and thousands of settlers have already -flocked into the disi 
 
 for establishing business in the towns. Regarding these opportunities, full information will be sent to-c 
 
 
 On a 
 
 The first shipment of western live stock to the Chicago market was a sled load of hogs picked up on the pro' 
 
 Western Railway (in 1848}. 
 
 To-day the Union Stock Yards of Chicago have a capacity of 100,000 head per day, and the value of the livt 
 The stock farms and grazing districts of the West are placed in direct communication with the markets of Chi 
 Large feeding yards and terminals contiguous to the city are maintained by The North Western Line for the 
 
 24 
 
'ierre, Rapid City & North Western Ry. 
 
 OSS THE RANGE COUNTRY OF SOUTH DAKOTA 
 
 untry of South Dakota to Rapid City, forms a direct link between the Chicago & North Western Railway 
 
 '. grazing land, which is thus placed in immediate connection with the outside world. This connection 
 
 y west of these cities an impetus beyond anything that has ever been done for this region. 
 
 gs on the south, with Pierre, Mankato, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluih; it brings into closer touch 
 
 hthern Michigan with the range country west of the Missouri River, and more closely than ever the eastern 
 
 I 
 
 Rainfall, richer soil, milder winters, many pleasant summers and natural resources of greater extent than are 
 
 I oo to $800 per acre. 
 
 ; \and made homestead entries. There is land here for many thousands and remarkably good opportunities 
 
 \ie upon application to the Industrial Agent of the Chicago & North Western Railway. 
 
 \ 
 
 :1 Range. 
 
 ?n miles out of town and brought to Chicago on a construction train of what is now the Chicago & North 
 
 k received in the Chicago market amounts to over $350,000,000 per year. 
 
 , South Omaha, Sioux City and other points by the fast stock trains of the Chicago & North Western Railway. 
 t mmodation of the shippers. 
 
Sorghum Field on a Government Irrigation Project. 
 
 eastern boundary of the Rosebud Indian 
 Reservation in South Dakota, while shorter 
 lines extend northward to Wynot, Crofton 
 and Bloomfield. South of the Platte 
 River three diverging lines extend from 
 Fremont to Lincoln, Seward, Geneva, 
 Superior, David City, York and Hastings, 
 so that the Chicago & North Western 
 Railway system traverses the entire length 
 of the state from east to west, and also its 
 breadth from the northern to the southern 
 
 state line, providing direct communication 
 between the entire northern portion of the 
 state and Omaha, Council Bluffs, Kansas 
 City, Sioux City, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, 
 St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, Chicago and 
 the East. 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS 
 
 Opportunity to Work. 
 Opportunity to Earn a Competence. 
 Opportunity to Educate your Family. 
 
 Threshing Scene near Crawford, Neb. This Farm Contains 1,280 Acres 
 of Deep, Black Soil No Crop Failures Good Water. 
 
 26 
 
A Field of Broom Grass, Northwestern Nebraska. 
 
 To the man, who, under the adverse 
 conditions of high prices for land, high 
 taxes and heavy interest rates, finds the 
 burdens of farming in the East undesirable; 
 to the man who desires that his children 
 shall find opportunity to establish them- 
 
 selves in the world; to the farmer who 
 desires to secure fertile lands cheaply, or to 
 the merchant who is seeking for a new 
 opening in the west, the possibility of 
 obtaining a new home is a question of 
 untold importance. 
 
 Wheatfield Five Miles North of Rushville, Neb. 
 27 
 
Birds Eye View of Douglas. The Wyoming State Fair is Held Here Each Year. 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 Agriculture in Wyoming is developing 
 rapidly along three separate lines of growth : 
 
 1. The active growth of the movement 
 for scientific dry farming, coupled with the 
 opportunity to secure 320 acres of govern- 
 ment homestead lands under the Mondell 
 Act. 
 
 2. The irrigation of extensive tracts by 
 private enterprise under the provisions of 
 the Carey Act. 
 
 3. The opening of lands to irrigation by 
 the United States Reclamation Service. 
 
 The successful experimentations in dry 
 farming all along the line of the Chicago 
 & North Western and the Wyoming & 
 North Western Railways, from the Ne- 
 braska-Wyoming line, through Douglas 
 and Casper, west across the center of the 
 state, exemplifies the first classification. 
 
 The work of the Wyoming Central Irri- 
 gation Company, in the Wind River 
 Valley, with headquarters at Shoshoni and 
 Riverton, and the North Platte Valley 
 irrigation project at Douglas, are exam- 
 ples of the second classification; and ttu, 
 government work on the Pathfinder dai . 
 and the North Platte government proje , 
 is an example of the third class. 
 
 There are numerous examples of exten- 
 sive progress in agriculture throughout 
 the state. At Lusk and Manville there 
 is considerable farming activity; and at 
 Careyhurst, Judge Carey has made a mar- 
 velous development of extensive tracts of 
 
 land and has several thousand acres of very 
 rich alfalfa lands under cultivation, watered] 
 by a: private irrigation system. 
 
 At Jireh a movement of considerable 
 importance is being made for the estab- 
 lishment of a large colony of eastern people, 
 and a great deal has also been done at this 
 point in the development of dry farming. 
 
 At Lander, the western terminus of The 
 North Western Line, several small moun- 
 tain streams are made use of for irrigating 
 the village gardens and in the immediate 
 vicinity of the town are several successfully 
 conducted farms, raising fruits and alfalfa. 
 Thousands of cattle are fed here every 
 winter, and there are still thousands of 
 acres of bench lands and some of the 
 valley land that can be irrigated to advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes and 
 sugar beets, under the scientific method of 
 cultivation called "Dry Farming," or with 
 the aid of irrigation, are successful crops. 
 
 The Wyoming uplands make excellent 
 paying land for sheep, cattle and horses. 
 Last year the state ranked second in the 
 Union in wool production, there being 
 6,000,000 sheep in the state, valued at 
 $8,000,000. 
 
 The cattle industry is also extensive, and 
 a profitable and growing industry is the 
 breeding of high grade horses, the horse 
 raised in these altitudes being remarkable 
 for his strength and endurance. 
 
 28 
 
ir 
 
County Map of Wyominer, Showine Lines of The Chicago & 
 
'IT 
 
 Kilometre., SO 1 loch. 
 Q 5 10 20 :<0 40 50 60 it) 80 90 100 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 trth Western Rv. and The Wvomin^ & North Western Rv. 
 
A Wyoming Herd. 
 
 There are many farms in Wyoming on 
 which are raised 30 to 40 bushels of wheat, 
 40 to 60 bushels of oats (the large yield 
 being due in great degree to the fact that 
 the grain weighs very heavy), and 200 
 bushels of potatoes to the acre, while two 
 or three crops of alfalfa are easily produced, 
 cutting one or two tons each crop, and hay 
 that runs about two tons per acre. 
 
 The climate is much more equable than 
 that of similar latitudes in the East. The : . 
 air is always pure and dry, with abunda^ 
 sunshine. The heat is never intense. J|| 
 the hottest summer weather it is cool ili^' 
 the shade, and the nights are always c$6kr<- 
 The air in winter is clear and bracing; 
 in fact, the dry exhilarating air serves as a 
 tonic that makes for health and happiness 
 here in a way that is unknown under the 
 duller skies of the East and South. As a 
 place in which to recover health and 
 strength, Wyoming constitutes one big 
 sanitarium. 
 
 320 ACRES OF GOVERNMENT LAND 
 FREE TO THE HOMESTEADER 
 
 Congress has enacted a law known as the 
 Mondell Act, under the terms of which 
 large tracts of public lands in the state of 
 Wyoming which are reached by the lines of 
 the Chicago & North Western Railway and 
 Wyoming & North Western Railway di- 
 rect from Chicago and the East, have 
 been thrown open to settlement under 
 special conditions. 
 
 The principal feature of this act is that 
 the homesteader may make entry of twice 
 the usual amount of acreage, as it permits 
 
 him to secure 320 acres, instead of the 
 usual 1 60 acres. The purpose of this is 
 to enable him to use his lands profitablv 
 for grazing purposes and for scientific dry 
 farming. 
 
 There are large quantities of unallotted 
 public lands in Wyoming, The North 
 Western Line passing directly through them 
 and providing facilities for shipment of 
 stock and grain to market and for the 
 transportation of passengers on fast trains 
 to Omaha, Sioux City, Des Moines, St. 
 Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth and Chicago. 
 
 The Secretary of the Interior has desig- 
 nated approximately 150 townships, trib- 
 utary to The North Western Line and 
 extending from the Nebraska and Wyo- 
 ming state line on the east, through Con- 
 verse and Natrona counties, to Natrona 
 station, on the west. 
 
 These lands are non-mineral and have 
 been designated by the Secretary of the 
 Interior as not being susceptible of irri- 
 gation. 
 
 Entry under the Mondell Act may be. 
 made at the United States Land Office at 
 Douglas, Wyo. The usual proofs and 
 affidavits must be supplied as required by 
 the United States Homestead Laws. At 
 the time of making final proofs under the 
 Mondell Act, the entryman shall also prove 
 by two credible witnesses that at least one- 
 eighth of the area embraced in his entry 
 was continuously cultivated to agricul- 
 tural crops, other than native grasses, 
 beginning with the second year'; of the 
 entry, and that at least one-fourth' of the 
 
 29 
 
Fruits Do Well in Wyoming. 
 
 area has been continuously cultivated, 
 beginning with the third year of entry. 
 
 The advantages the Mondell Act offers 
 to the seeker for a new home are especially 
 attractive when taken in connection with 
 the rapid advance being made in the sci- 
 ence of dry farming and the practical 
 results now being produced under dry- 
 farming methods when properly applied. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC DRY FARMING 
 
 To the farmer who is seeking a new home 
 in this region of great opportunities, the 
 science of so-called dry farming is an 
 important one, and a definition of its 
 meaning and a description of the methods 
 of planting and cultivation that it involves 
 is of much interest. 
 
 A proper definition of the term "dry 
 farming" is the scientific cultivation of 
 crops under a limited rainfall and without 
 irrigation. 
 
 The basis of dry farming is the estab- 
 lishment in the soil of a natural reservoir 
 of moisture. In some localities enough 
 water can thus be conserved by careful 
 methods of cultivation to make a crop 
 every year. In other localities two years 
 rainfall should be preserved. With a 
 precipitation of fifteen to twenty-four 
 inches of annual rainfall, many farmers in 
 high altitudes are cropping annually. 
 
 The development of the regions of the 
 West, where so-called "dry farming" must 
 be depended upon, will place millions of 
 acres of land that is now worthless, under 
 cultivation, and will furnish homes for 
 many times the present agricultural popu- 
 lation of the United States. 
 
 Land recently worth no more than 50 
 cents an acre has, by means of the unusual 
 advance in dry-farming methods, risen to 
 an active market value of $25. 
 
 The area of tillable lands in the United 
 States not yet turned to cultivation is com- 
 paratively small, and with the present 
 heavy demands for land, it is especially the 
 part of good judgment that the dry-farming 
 districts be investigated by those who con- 
 
 Breaking Ground on a Wyoming Ranch. 
 
 31 
 
Dry-Grown Turkey 
 
 template getting a home under the free 
 homestead laws. 
 
 By the successful use of scientific soil- 
 culture methods, 200,000,000 acres of arable 
 land can be added to the nation's agricultural 
 wealth . 
 
 The dry-farming methods recommended 
 for Wyoming have been successfully prac- 
 ticed on the Pacific Coast for more than a 
 generation, with modifications to suit 
 different conditions of soil, climate and 
 rainfall. The farmer simply divides % his 
 land into two portions, on one-half raising 
 crops, the other half being summer-fal- 
 lowed. By this method, which is easily 
 understood and carried out, the farmer has 
 
 Red Wheat. 
 
 a long season instead of a short one, and 
 drives his work instead of being driven by 
 it. Crops are produced by "this method 
 when the seasons are dryer than usual and 
 one big crop is raised with one plowing, 
 one seeding, several cultivations, practi- 
 cally two years' moisture, and one har- 
 vesting. 
 
 The plowing must be deep. Old ground 
 should be plowed eight or nine inches 
 deep, and it is always better to plow in the 
 fall if possible, in order that the ground 
 may absorb the winter's moisture, the sod 
 become decomposed, and the soil suffi- 
 ciently compacted to form a good seed bed 
 for spring planting. All spring and sum- 
 
 The Broad Fertile Valley of the Big Wind River. 
 32 
 
Flock of 3,000 Sheep 
 
 mer plowing should be thoroughly har- 
 rowed the same day it is plowed. Harrow 
 (and drill as well) at right angles to the 
 way in which the winds blow, the object 
 being to prevent the land from drifting, 
 to hold the snow which falls on the plowed 
 ground or winter grain, and to prevent the 
 particles of soil or snow being carried along 
 the furrows. 
 
 Winter grain should be sown early, spring 
 grain as early as the ground can be put in 
 good condition, and all danger of hard 
 freezing is past, for the earlier it is sown the 
 greater is its chance of stooling. Another 
 thing of vital importance is to see that the 
 seeds are planted properly. 
 
 in Natrona County. 
 
 The experience of the most intelligent 
 and up-to-date farmers shows that by 
 sowing thirty to forty pounds of wheat per 
 acre in the fall, better results will be ob- 
 tained than with more. 
 
 The press drill is one of the essential 
 implements for the dry farmer. It sows 
 the grain in proper shape and to the right 
 depth, pressing the soil around the seed, 
 which insures germination, making a gain 
 of a week or ten days. The man who sows 
 alfalfa broadcast puts in from- twenty to 
 forty pounds of seed per acre when if he 
 uses a press drill, ten to twelve pounds of 
 seed will be sufficient. 
 
 Thoroughbred Cattle on the Carey Ranch, Near Careyhurst, Wyo. 
 
A Fine Field of Dry-grown Wheat. 
 
 The soil mulch is a most important 
 factor, for by it moisture is conserved. 
 The summer-fallow ground should be in 
 small lumps, care being taken not to get 
 it too fine. The object of cultivating the 
 summer-fallowed soil is to prevent the 
 formation of a crust. 
 
 The soil mulch must also be maintained 
 on the land which is raising the crop. 
 There are a large number of farmers who 
 are afraid of harrowing their grain for fear 
 of tearing it out. The man who once 
 harrows with a good team and sharp har- 
 row teeth will not only have no cause to 
 regret it, but will see that it is always done 
 in the future. Alfalfa and grass meadows 
 should be thoroughly disked. 
 
 Where rainfall comes during the summer, 
 disking the stubble after harvesting grain is 
 also important. After harvesting potatoes 
 or sugar beets the drag-harrow should be 
 used to break up the lumps and re-establish 
 the soil mulch. 
 
 As for equipment needed, dry farming 
 requires some things absolutely, if the dry 
 farmer would make his business profitable. 
 
 He should have four or six horses, a three- 
 section drag-harrow, a 2-12 or 1 4-inch 
 gang plow, a good disc-harrow (the discs 
 should not be larger than fourteen inches), 
 an Acme harrow for maintaining soil 
 mulch, one or two good cultivators and a 
 press drill. The latter is one of the essen- 
 tials, and may be either of the "shoe" or 
 the "disc" type. The latter has some 
 advantages where there is much stubble or 
 refuse, but on well-prepared summer- fal- 
 low ground the shoe drill, with press wheels 
 following to firmly pack the seed, probably 
 does the best work. 
 
 The best paying dry farms are those in 
 which a system of cropping and feeding 
 stock is followed; and where the crops are 
 fed to stock at the farm, there is practically 
 no loss of fertility. 
 
 THE CAREY LAND ACT 
 
 Under the provisions of the act of Con- 
 gress, known as the Carey Act, the State of 
 Wyoming has segregated forty-three tracts 
 of land, aggregating nearly 750,000 acres, 
 granted to it by the Federal Government, 
 
 35 
 
to be reclaimed by means of irrigation. 
 In addition to the 320 acres of land allowed 
 by the Government under the Mondell 
 Act, the homesteader may also file upon 
 1 60 acres under the Carey Act, providing 
 that he purchase a water right from the 
 association or company constructing a 
 canal for the reclamation of the land, at 
 a cost of from $10 to $40 per acre, depend- 
 ing upon location. Not more than one- 
 quarter of the purchase price can be 
 required in advance, the remainder being 
 payable in ten equal installments, with 
 interest at from 6 to 8 per cent per year. 
 The settler has the privilege of paying all 
 in cash if he so desires, or paying in full at 
 the time fixed for any partial payment. 
 Parties desiring to take up homesteads 
 under this act are requested to write to the 
 Commissioner of Public Lands, Cheyenne, 
 Wyo., for full details. 
 
 THE NORTH PLATTE VALLEY 
 PROJECT 
 
 One or two systems of irrigation are 
 being established under the Carey Act 
 which are especially worthy of notice. At 
 Douglas the North Platte Valley irrigation 
 project is irrigating, with water from the 
 
 North Platte River and its tributaries, land 
 that is rich and undulating and produces 
 excellent alfalfa, sugar beets, grain, pota- 
 toes and all root crops. They have about 
 28,000 acres under water at present, and 
 their plans include development of a total of 
 96,000 acres. None of the 4and in this 
 project is more than ten miles from 
 Douglas, a city of 2,000 population, with 
 good schools, churches and modern con- 
 veniences, such as electric lights, sewerage 
 and water. 
 
 The company has constructed sixteen 
 miles of canal and the reservoir of their 
 gravity system has a capacity of 40,000 
 acre-feet of water, the largest re-enforced 
 steel concrete dam in the world. 
 
 The lands lay adjacent to the National 
 Gas Pipe Line extension from the Gas 
 Belt to Douglas. 
 
 There are two shipping points on the 
 Chicago & North Western Railway. 
 
 This is a great sheep raising country, 
 and lambs can be fed here much more 
 cheaply than by shipping them elsewhere, 
 as immediate results can be obtained from 
 feeding, without the shrinkage occasioned 
 by shipping young lambs. They are taken 
 
 Wyoming Apples, Grown with Irrigation 
 36 
 
Threshing Scene, near Douglas, Wyo. 
 
 instead directly from their range and from 
 the mothers, to the feed lots, where they 
 can be finished for market in one hundred 
 days. 
 
 THE FETTERMAN CANAL, 
 DOUGLAS, WYO. 
 
 Another extensive enterprise is the canal 
 constructed to cover some 6,000 acres of 
 land west of Douglas, including lands in 
 what is known as the "Old Fort Fetterman 
 Reservation." A large canal has been 
 constructed at a cost of over $80,000, and 
 is ready to deliver water. The land under 
 this canal is mostly in private ownership, 
 and under the control of Mr. John Morton 
 of Douglas, Wyo., who will, during the 
 present season, put over i ,000 acres in crops. 
 The land is generally level and very fertile. 
 The Chicago & North Western Railway 
 passes through the tract. 
 
 WIND RIVER RESERVATION 
 
 By act of Congress of March 3, 1905, 
 part of the Shoshone or Wind River 
 Reservation was opened for settlement 
 under the Homestead Act in July, 1906. 
 The portion ceded to the Government and 
 opened for settlement embraces the land 
 lying north and east of the Big Wind River, 
 
 and it lies at an elevation of from 4,300 to 
 6,000 feet. 
 
 Nearly 300,000 acres of this virgin land 
 can be irrigated from the Big Wind River, 
 one of the sources of the Missouri River, 
 with 2,000 square miles of timbered moun- 
 tains and their vast snow banks; and with 
 lakes and reservoirs holding 300,000 acre- 
 feet of water, as the source of water supply. 
 
 This forms the basis for one of the biggest 
 plans for irrigation ever undertaken. 
 
 The Wyoming Central Irrigation Com- 
 pany is under contract with the State to 
 build a canal system covering all the lands 
 which can be irrigated. Water rights, 
 together with a proportionate interest in 
 the canals and reservoirs, are sold at $30 
 per acre on ten years' time, payable $3.00 
 per acre down and balance in ten equal 
 annual payments, with 6 per cent interest. 
 When the water rights have been sold, the 
 system will be turned over to the -manage- 
 ment of the settlers under the canal. 
 
 Tributary to these irrigable lands is a 
 vast area of grazing lands, 200 miles 
 square, where 500,000 sheep and 100,000 
 cattle can be grazed, which can all be 
 fattened for market on the products of the 
 farms in this tract. This farming district 
 
 37 
 
is surrounded by mineral districts con- 
 taining coal, copper, oil, gold, building 
 stone, marble, shale suitable for Portland 
 cement manufacture, limestone and brick 
 shales. The thriving towns of Shoshoni 
 and Riverton are at present the market 
 places, and the land under the first lateral 
 constructed by the company, amounting to 
 some 15,000 acres, has been filed upon, as 
 well as many thousands of acres for which 
 laterals have not yet been constructed. 
 There are thousands of acres of valuable 
 land open for settlement, and to the 
 settler who has capital to enable him to 
 clear and crop the land there is an unusually 
 good chance to develop an irrigated farm 
 that will make a splendid home and insure 
 
 him an income for the remainder of his 
 days. 
 
 The settlers here have the benefit of 
 results obtained from an experimental 
 farm established by the company for 
 investigation 1 as to the value of various 
 crops, character of soil and best methods 
 of irrigation. 
 
 Small grains, alfalfa and potatoes are the 
 principal crops. 
 
 On that part of the reservation retained 
 by the Indians, the Government, under the 
 efficient direction of Major Wadsworth, 
 has completed a series of irrigation ditches, 
 by means of which 60,000 acres of irrigated 
 Indian lands are open to lease by white 
 settlers on easy terms. 
 
 38 
 
UNITED STATES HOMESTEAD LAWS 
 Who is permitted to secure a Homestead? 
 
 A synopsis of what steps are necessary in order to secure a 
 western farm from the U. S. Government. 
 
 Under the present provisions of the 
 United States Homestead Laws any man or 
 unmarried woman, twenty-one years of 
 age, who is a citizen of the United States 
 or has declared an intention of becoming 
 such, may take a homestead. In addition 
 to the above, any man or woman who has 
 not yet reached the age of twenty-one years 
 may, if the head of a family, take up 
 a homestead; but any person who owns 
 more than 160 acres, or who has heretofore 
 exercised the homesteading right, is de- 
 barred from these privileges (except as 
 especially provided in the Mondell Act). 
 
 "What is a Homestead? 
 
 Any of the persons named above has the 
 right to settle upon and acquire unappro- 
 priated public lands not to exceed 160 
 acres ( 320 acres under the Mondell act 
 640 acres under the Kinkaid act,) and the 
 land so taken is called a homestead. 
 
 United States Land Offices 
 Land districts have been established in 
 certain states and territories, each district 
 subject to the supervision of a United 
 States Land Office. At each such office is a 
 "Register" and a "Receiver," each of them 
 public officials who superintend the home- 
 steading or other disposal of public lands. 
 
 How to Secure a Homestead 
 
 The applicant is required to file an appli- 
 cation on a form furnished by the United 
 States Land Office, describing the land it is 
 proposed to pre-empt. This is called "filing 
 the homestead entry." 
 
 Certain fees, amounting to a sum of 
 from $6 to $14, must be paid at this time. 
 
 Having fulfilled the requirements of the 
 law regarding residence for five years, the 
 applicant presents evidence to that effect, 
 and pays certain fees, which amount to 
 from $8 to $22. This is called "proving 
 
 up," or making final proof, and if the appli- 
 cant has complied with all the requirements 
 of the law, the Government gives him title 
 to the land; this title being known as a 
 government "patent." 
 
 How to File Entry on the Land 
 
 The applicant must appear personally 
 at the local land office to make entry. 
 
 How long the Homesteader must 
 live on the Land 
 
 Residence must be begun within six 
 months after the date on which the entry 
 is made, and continued with cultivation 
 until a patent has been earned by five 
 years' residence and cultivation and the 
 payment of the installments annually. 
 A residence elsewhere for more than six 
 months at any one time is considered by 
 the Government as an abandonment of 
 the entry, and the homesteader's rights are 
 forfeited. 
 
 The homesteader may, however, secure 
 title to the land by living on it fourteen 
 months and at the end of that period 
 making final payment of all amounts due 
 thereon, including a certain sum for com- 
 mutation, usually 50 cents per acre. 
 
 Soldiers and Sailors 
 
 A soldier, sailor or marine of the Civil 
 War, Philippine War, or Cuban War, may 
 have the time of his service deducted from 
 the five years' residence required. 
 
 After such soldiers, sailors, their widows 
 or minor orphan children have actually 
 resided on the land for twelve months, they 
 can claim credit for the period of the 
 soldiers' military service on the remaining 
 four years' residence required by the law. 
 For instance, if such service amounted to 
 four years, only one year's residence will 
 be required ; if it amounted to three years, 
 two years' residence will be required, and 
 
 39 
 
so on; but there must be one year's actual 
 residence, regardless of the length of the 
 military service. 
 
 Persons not qualified to make 
 
 Homestead Entry 
 
 The following persons are not qualified 
 to make homestead entry: 
 
 1. A married woman, unless she has 
 been deserted or abandoned by her hus- 
 band, or unless her husband is incapaci- 
 tated by disease or otherwise from earning 
 a support for his family, and she is the head 
 and main support of the family. 
 
 2 . One not a citizen of the United States 
 and who has not declared his intention to 
 become such. 
 
 3. One under twenty-one years of age, 
 not the head of a family. 
 
 4. One who is the proprietor of more 
 than 1 60 acres of land in any state or terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Homesteads Not Saleable 
 Do not attempt to buy out a homesteader 
 without keeping in view the fact that he 
 can give you no title as against the United 
 States. If you purchase a relinquishment 
 of his claim it must run to the United 
 States. 
 
 Entries and filings for the purpose of 
 holding the land for speculation are illegal 
 and fraudulent; and the sale of relin- 
 quishments is also illegal. 
 
 Veiws on the North Platte Government Irrigation Project. Showing Diversion Canal and Entrance to Tunnel 
 
 40 
 
Extracts from Letters by W. E. Curtis 
 
 Reprinted from the Chicago Record-Herald 
 
 Irrigation System Over 1,000 Miles Long Built 
 at Belle Fourche 
 
 William 
 
 SETTLERS OF A NEW TYPE 
 
 E. Curtis Finds Farmers Instead 
 Prospectors Entering Country 
 
 of 
 
 BELLE FOURCHE, S. D.. July 30, 1909 The most east- 
 erly of the irrigation works under construction by the 
 Federal Government to reclaim the arid lands of the west 
 is on the Belle Fourche River, just north of the Black Hills, 
 in Butte and Meade counties, South Dakota. You know 
 that several years ago Congress passed an act providing 
 that the proceeds of the future sales of public lands 
 should be used as working capital for the perpetual 
 construction of reservoirs and irrigating ditches to reclaim 
 the desert lands of the west which otherwise would be 
 available for nothing but pastures. In other words, the 
 money is to be reinvested perpetually until the arid belt is 
 made susceptible of agriculture. As fast as each of the 
 thirteen projects now under construction is completed the. 
 irrigated land will be sold to actual settlers at a price that will 
 cover the cost of the plant, and when all of the land is taken 
 up and paid for, the irrigation works will be turned over by 
 the Government to a co-operative company organized by 
 the purchasers. 
 
 The proceeds of the sale of irrigated lands is deposited 
 in a special fund in the treasury for the construction of other 
 projects for which surveys have been made in all the arid 
 states and more than a hundred reservoir sites reserved. 
 As fast as the money is available each of these in turn will 
 be utilized. The projects that have been planned and are 
 already under construction will add to the arable area of the 
 United States about 32,000,000 acres, or about 400,000 
 farms of eighty acres each. 
 
 The Belle Fourche project will irrigate about 1,500 
 farms, or about 100,000 acres an area of 15 by 4 miles, 
 more or less. Of this area about one-half belongs to private 
 parties, homesteaders and other settlers who have previously 
 taken up government lands; about 5,000 acres belong to the 
 State of South Dakota, being school sections, and the remain- 
 ing 50,000 acres belong to the Government and is being 
 rapidly taken up in tracts of forty and eighty acres, which 
 are the farm units, and are about as much irrigated land as 
 one family can cultivate. Settlers are required to pay a 
 filing fee of $7 and actually live on the land for five years, 
 paying $30 an acre for their water rights in installments of 
 10 per cent each year. 
 
 The state land is offered for sale at $10 an acre plus the 
 proportionate cost of the irrigation system, which is collected 
 by the general Government. Private lands are being offered 
 from $10 to $20 an acre, according to location and improve- 
 ments, and they also are taxed $3 an acre for ten successive 
 years to pay for the water rights. About 15,000 acres are 
 already under irrigation and about 60 per cent of the land 
 has been taken up, most of it in tracts of eighty acres, by 
 actual farmers, who have been renting in Iowa, Illinois, Wis- 
 consin and Missouri, and have come out here so that they 
 may secure farms of their own. 
 
 Everybody here tells me that no man should attempt 
 to run a farm without at least $ 1,000 working capital to 
 start with, as there are so many expenses before harvesting 
 the first crop. Many of the new settlers are the sons of 
 
 farmers in the central states, and several of their daughters 
 have come out here also. 
 
 The Belle Fourche irrigation system consists of about 
 1,000 miles of ditches, including 100 miles of main canals, 
 twenty to forty feet wide, and from five to ten feet deep, 
 and about 700 miles of laterals from four to six feet wide 
 a nd two feet deep. These ditches will be fed from an artifi- 
 cial lake twelve miles long, an average of three miles wide and 
 115 feet deep at its deepest, part. It is a peculiar shaped 
 body of water owing to the configuration of the ground, and 
 there will be several islands caused by high knolls. 
 
 This reservoir is created by the construction of a dam ^ 
 between two hills 5, sou feet (or 220 feet more than a mile) 
 long, and 115 feet high. It is built of earth, 500 feet thick 
 at the base and 20 feet thick at the top. 
 
 The dam is twelve miles from the flourishing little town 
 of Belle Fourche, and the water which feeds it is taken from 
 the river about two miles from the city through a sluice into 
 which it is conducted by a diverting dam. The lake will 
 contain about 8,712,000,000 cubic feet of water, which is 
 equivalent to a body of water covering 200,000 acres of land 
 one foot deep. 
 
 The United States Government has an experimental 
 farm in Butte County, a short distance from the reservoir, 
 and has reserved several additional quarter-sections for 
 similar purposes within the irrigated area. The average 
 elevation is 2,800 feet above the level of the sea, the atmos- 
 phere is dry, with an annual precipitation of only seven or 
 eight inches; the soil is a clay loam and sandy loam, exceed- 
 ingly fertile and free from alkali. It is especially favorable 
 for fruits and berries, potatoes, beets, turnips and other 
 root crops, and for alfalfa and hay. There is an almost 
 unlimited market for all of these things in the mining camps 
 and the towns of the Black Hills, and the Chicago & North 
 Western Railroad furnishes an outlet to markets eastward. 
 
 Ever since the Black Hills were opened Belle Fouche 
 has been an important center of the cattle industry and 
 for several years was the largest live stock shipping point 
 in the United States. The average shipments are about 
 75,000 head of cattle, 100,000 head of sheep and 1,500,000 
 pounds of wool per year. The cattle ranches have been 
 very largely cut up into farms, for the land is becoming 
 too valuable for grazing, especially since the irrigation 
 projects were decided upon. Already there are thousands 
 of acres of alfalfa growing on what were ranges only a few 
 years ago, and all the cereals except corn have been pro- 
 duced by dry farming in the neighborhood, although the 
 farmers will soon have plenty of water. 
 
 The class of people who are coming into the Black Hills 
 country now are very different in character and disposition 
 from the early settlers. The tide of immigration is quite 
 as strong as it was -during the first few years after the gold 
 discoveries, but the emigrants of to-day are farmers instead 
 of prospectors and they expect to make their fortunes with 
 the plow and harrow rather than with the miner's pick and 
 shovel. The western part of Nebraska and the eastern and 
 southern part of South Dakota, where the soil is capable of 
 producing good crops under the so-called dry-farming system, 
 are being rapidly taken up by filing new homesteads, and 
 also by buying out "relinquishments" that is, the farms of 
 homesteaders who have failed or are dissatisfied or have 
 become restless for any reason and have decided to move 
 on. Many of the original locators were not practical farmers 1 
 many more lacked the energy and the patience to succeed in 
 "dry farming"; but the demand for land has increased so 
 much that they are now able to sell claims of 160 acres 
 which cost them nothing, all the way from $500 to $1,500, 
 according to their locations and the character of the soil. 
 The character of the people that have been coming into 
 this country is indicated very plainly by the homes and 
 
churches and schools we see in the towns. The people of the 
 Black Hills boast a great deal about their schoolhouses, and 
 with good reason. There is a great deal of rivalry in that 
 line. No community in the country or in the world, for that 
 matter, has better buildings, more competent teachers or a 
 higher standard of instruction. They tell me here that the 
 certificates of the high schools in nearly every town in the 
 Black Hills are accepted by eastern colleges as equivalent 
 to an examination for admission. There is a compulsory 
 education law which is strictly enforced. * 
 
 A school of mines at Rapid City has a high reputation 
 and furnishes an opportunity for the young men of the Black 
 Hills to qualify themselves for the most profitable profession 
 in this part of the country. There are three buildings of 
 pressed brick with sandstone trimmings, surrounded by a 
 campus of ten acres, one of them being devoted to mining 
 and metallurgy, another to chemistry and a third to physics 
 -and engineering. They are all equipped with modern labora- 
 tories and apparatus, and in the mining department is a 
 miniature reduction plant, with a small smelter, an ore 
 roaster, a stamp mill and cyanide works, where the students 
 can obtain practical experience. The mining course covers 
 three years. The course of physics and engineering four 
 years, and the graduates of the institution have given it 
 a most excellent reputation. 
 
 There wasn't much use for churches in the Black Hills 
 a few years ago, although a religious organization was formed 
 by the Congregationalists in the fall of 1876, the first year that 
 the country was opened to settlement, and they built a house 
 of worship in 1877. The Methodists and the Catholics came 
 in 1877, and now all of the denominations are represented 
 and religious worship and Sunday schools are quite as numer- 
 ous as they are in Massachusetts or Connecticut, and are as 
 well attended. ****** 
 
 New Dry Farm Law Held Boon to "West 
 
 Homesteader Allowed to Enter 320 Acres by 
 Recent Act of Congress. 
 
 CROPS EVERY OTHER YEAR 
 
 William E. Curtis Explains Need of Accumula- 
 tion of Moisture Two Seasons. 
 
 LUSK, WYO., July 31,1900 "Dry farming" is a term 
 applied to the thorough and scientific cultivation of the soil 
 of the semi-arid region between the Missouri River and the 
 Rocky Mountains, where the rainfall is less than eighteen 
 inches annually. The public lands, where there is moisture 
 enough for ordinary farming, have practically all been taken 
 up, but there is still an enormous area of unoccupied public 
 domain which, until recent years, was considered worthless 
 except for pasture. But patience, intelligence and industry 
 have been able to produce from that dry soil crops of grain 
 and vegetables equal in quantity, and many think superior in 
 quality, to those produced either by ordinary methods of 
 cultivation or by irrigation. Indeed, it is contended, that 
 all of the products of dry farming, particularly early potatoes 
 and grain, have a higher value in nutriment because they 
 contain less moisture than those grown either under an 
 abundant rainfall or irrigation. 
 
 Thousands and tens of thousands of land-hungry people, 
 chiefly the overflow of the agricultural states of the central 
 west, are going out 'into the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, 
 Colorado, Utah, and other sections of the semi-arid belt 
 entering homesteads or buying lands and establishing homes, 
 and taking their chances for success in dry farming. Most 
 of them succeed; many fail. The reasons for success and 
 for failure are equally apparent, and men of experience can 
 explain the causes in every case. 
 
 The land laws of the United States were amended at the 
 recent session of Congress, so that a homesteader can now 
 enter 320 acres of dry land, instead of 160 acres as before, 
 because all authorities agree that it is difficult if not impos- 
 sible for any farmer to make a living upon less, the funda- 
 mental principle of that method which brings success being 
 to cultivate the soil thoroughly every year, and to crop it 
 every other year, That is, to allow the moisture of two 
 successive years to become absorbed in the soil before the 
 seed is planted. 
 
 Doctors differ on every subject. There is ro point 
 upon which everybody agrees. There is a difference of 
 opinion even as to the way of salvation; and the authorities 
 on agricultural science vary somewhat in their recommenda- 
 tions, but there is certainly no lack of instruction, and the 
 dry farmer who fails cannot shift the responsibility upon 
 other shoulders than his own. The educational wsrk that 
 is now going on among the farmers of the United States is so 
 complete and comprehensive that it would seem impossible 
 that anyone should go wrong. The Agricultural Depart- 
 ment at Washington under that grand old Scotchman, 
 James Wilson, has done more to educate and improve the 
 states than all other forces combined, and has not failed to 
 furnish instruction and admonition upon every question 
 that can possibly arise in the experience of the American 
 farmer. In every state there is a board of agriculture to 
 supplement the work of the National Government; there 
 are organizations state, county and township of farmers 
 that concern themselves with every branch of the industry; 
 there are national organizations which hold conventions 
 annually and oftener. ***** 
 
 Farmers' institutes everywhere in this section are 
 making a specialty of dry farming; the Agricultural Depart- 
 ment at Washington has several experimental stations in 
 each arid state, at which a great work is being carried on. 
 The hundreds of agricultural papers publish results which 
 have been accomplished and furnish information, instruction 
 and advice. The railways which run through dry-farming 
 territory have special agents traveling about delivering 
 lectures to the public and visiting the farmers privately in 
 order to encourage them in their work and to insure good 
 crops as far as possible, and I met on the cars to-day Dr. 
 E. W. Hunt, formerly professor in the University of 
 Nebraska, who is spending his entire time traveling from 
 village to village and from farm to farm in this part of 
 the country teaching the people how to get the best results 
 from their soil and their labor. 
 
 "I don't like the term 'dry farming,' " said Dr. Hunt. 
 "It frightens people off and has cost us many valuable 
 settlers. It ought to be called 'common sense farming,' 
 'sensible farming,' 'scientific farming,' or by any other form 
 of expression that can be found to describe a faithful observ- 
 ance of the laws of nature which is necessary to cultivate 
 wet ground as well as dry ground. 
 
 "In western Nebraska we have an annual average of 
 seventeen inches rainfall and 75 per cent of it comes in the 
 growing season. That is enough to mature any crop if 
 taken care of properly; and the best method is for a farmer 
 to divide his land in two parts, cultivating the soil that he 
 wants to plant thoroughly every year, but allowing one-half 
 to lie fallow every alternate year in order that the moisture 
 of the two seasons may accumulate. 
 
 "In the second place, by deep plowing in the fall, to 
 create a water-holding reservoir under the surface, and in 
 the spring to prevent evaporation by shallow surface culti- 
 vation. The soil should be covered with a pulverized dust 
 to be kept loose with harrows, and after the plants begin to 
 show, the ground between the rows should be continually 
 cultivated to keep down the weeds and allow the moisture 
 to reach the roots. 
 
 "As one goes farther west the moisture becomes less 
 and less and methods of cultivation have to be modified 
 accordingly, but the main point is for every farmer to find 
 out the natural laws governing the territory in which he 
 lives and to work in harmony with them. The great trouble, 
 
 42 
 
however, is that so many farmers have their own ideas and 
 theories and insist upon working them out regardless of the 
 experience and the knowledge of others. Many insist upon 
 farming on horseback or in a sulky; others farm by the moon; 
 some of the farms are too large and the owners put on a 
 hundred acres the labor and attention that they should put 
 on twenty-five. In my travels about this country I find 
 many farmers who are trying to farm 300 acres with the 
 labor and equipment that would be required for fifty." 
 
 "How much land should a dry farmer have?" I asked. 
 
 "Not an acre less than a half-section, which is 320 
 acres, and that is sufficient for one man with all the help 
 he can get in the present state of the labor market. And 
 we must come to farms of that size in this section and care- 
 ful, thorough, intelligent tillage or this country will not 
 prosper. 
 
 "Ultimately the wealth of this section of the country 
 will come from cows and hogs butter and poultry. The 
 man who sells butter fat off a farm takes nothing from it, but 
 a dds to it all the time; and the most profitable use that can 
 be made of corn, alfalfa and other products of this zone i s 
 to consume them where they grow and ship them to market 
 in the shape of pork. 
 
 "The land in western Nebraska is now in the hands of 
 large holders, who are offering it for sale all the way from 
 $10 to $45 an acre. Good enough land can be bought from 
 $10 to $20 an acre on easy terms, but every purchaser 
 should buy not less than 320 acres, keeping one-half for pas- 
 ture and putting the rest under the plow. He will make 
 his best money by sending cream to the creameries and feed- 
 ing his skimmed milk to his pigs, mixed with corn and alfalfa. 
 The demand for butter fat is unlimited, and it never sells 
 less than 20 cents a pound, while there is an equal demand 
 for poultry and eggs. There is no regular market organized 
 for either in this section of the state, but both are shipped 
 to Omaha and Denver and as far as Seattle. Those cities 
 will absorb all the chickens and eggs we can raise. This 
 climate and altitude are especially adapted for poultry. 
 We are not troubled with the diseases and the vermin that 
 are found elsewhere." 
 
 H. B. Card of Manville, Wyo., has been living in this 
 locality thirty-one years and has been dry farming for 
 fifteen years, and when I asked him about his experience 
 he said: 
 
 "Dry farming out here is very much like ordinary 
 farming back in the states where they 'summer fallow' 
 that is, plant every other year, but cultivate every year. 
 We harrow three or four times a year and plow as deep as 
 we can, keeping the soil pulverized and covering the sur- 
 face with a 'dust blanket" to conserve the rainfall, which 
 will average fifteen or sixteen inches annually and usually 
 comes in April, May and June, when we need it most. 
 
 "This rain, instead of running off as it would from a 
 roof, is absorbed by the soil and held in an underground 
 reservoir created by deep plowing and held by a strata of 
 hard earth, which hasn't been disturbed by the plow and 
 is water-tight. During the growing period the roots of the 
 plant reach down to this moisture and suck it up, and there 
 is always enough there for turkey-red wheat, oats, barley, 
 rye, alfalfa, brome grass, potatoes and other root vegetables. 
 No section of the country that I know, wet or dry, rainfall 
 or irrigation, can beat our potatoes or our oats." 
 
 "How much land should a man want?" 
 
 "A successful dry farmer must have double the area 
 required for ordinary farming: 
 
 "i. Because there is a great deal of waste land in. this 
 arid region that cannot be cultivated at all. 
 
 "2. He can't crop but one-half of the good land at 
 any time. 
 
 "3. A wise farmer will raise cattle and horses in con- 
 nection with cultivating the soil and must have pasture 
 for them. 
 
 "No man can succeed in farming in this part of the 
 country on less than 320 acres. That is necessary to make 
 a living. 
 
 "Immigrants are coming into this section very rapidly. 
 Five hundred homesteads were filed last year in the vicinity 
 of Lusk, which is one of the first stations on the North 
 Western Railway west of the Wyoming boundary. They 
 are nearly all from Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska, with a few 
 from Missouri and Illinois. Many of them are sons of 
 farmers from those states who have come out here to start 
 for themselves. There is a sprinkling of clerks and mechanics, 
 "A percentage of the immigrants will be dissatisfied be- 
 cause they are not practical farmers," continued Mr. Card. 
 Others fail because they are lazy or indifferent. You 
 cannot make it too plain or too emphatic that dry farming 
 is a business that requires the highest degree of patience, 
 labor, industry and intelligence, and it is a public duty to 
 warn everybody who is not supplied with that sort of capital 
 to go into some other business. WILLIAM E. CURTIS. 
 
 Wyoming to Provide Farms for 1,000,000 
 
 Fifty Irrigation Projects, Under Way, Will 
 Dethrone King of Sagebrush 
 
 U. S. AIDS IN RECLAMATION 
 
 The area of Wyoming is 62,000,000 acres, and 
 approximately 40,000,000 is grazing land, which cannot be 
 cultivated with profit either by dry farming or irrigation. 
 The forest reserves include 9,000,000 acres. About 6,000,000 
 acres can be irrigated and about as much more can profitably 
 be farmed without artificial moisture by dry farming. The 
 limits have been approximately established by the United 
 States Weather Bureau. Wherever the average annual 
 rainfall exceeds ten inches and sagebrush will grow, it is 
 possible, by cultivating the soil thoroughly every year and 
 planting crops every other year, to raise grain, potatoes, 
 alfalfa, field peas and other staples suitable to this climate, 
 except corn, where the altitude is not higher than 7,000 feet 
 above the sea. 
 
 No state except Idaho has undertaken the redemption 
 of its arid land with such energy and intelligence as Wyo- 
 ming, and more than fifty different companies and individuals 
 are now engaged in building irrigation systems which ought 
 to provide homes for twice the present population of the 
 state. The Government of the United States is spending 
 millions of dollars on several large works, a portion of which 
 have been completed, and the state Government, under an 
 act of Congress introduced by J. M. Carey of Cheyenne, 
 when he represented Wyoming in the United States -Senate, 
 has entered into contracts with private corporations for the 
 redemption of nearly 2,000,000 acres of arid lands, which it 
 has been permitted to segregate for development and settle- 
 ment. Fully 800,000 acres are in actual process of recla- 
 mation under the Carey Act in Wyoming at the present time. 
 And if you want to know more about it, write to the 
 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., for Bulletin 
 No. 205, prepared by Clarence T. Johnston, state 
 engineer under the direction of Samuel Fortier, chief 
 of irrigation investigations. Or you can write to Robert T. 
 Fuller, commissioner of public lands, Cheyenne, Wyo., fora 
 copy of his recent report. 
 
 Mr. Fuller kindly explained to me the process of acquir- 
 ing lands under the Carey Act, as follows: 
 
 "The company proposing such developments first makes 
 a survey and plans for the work which are inspected and 
 must be approved by the state engineer; and are submitted 
 with an application to the "state board of land commissioners, 
 
 43 
 
which is composed of the governor, the secretary of state and 
 the superintendent of public instruction. The application 
 must describe the lands that are to be irrigated, the prices to 
 be charged for water rights, the form of contract to be used 
 and other particulars. If the state board approves of the 
 application, it is submitted with recommendations to the 
 general land office at Washington, where, upon the approval 
 of the Secretary of Interior, the lands designated are with- 
 drawn from entry and placed in control of the state. 
 
 "The work of constructing the irrigation plant is done 
 under the inspection of the state engineer, who requires a 
 system of canals or reservoirs sufficient in capacity to furnish 
 water for the reclamation of the segregated lands, which are 
 then sold to actual settlers at a specified price, based upon 
 the cost of construction of the project, but not to exceed 
 $50 per acre. This maximum price is allowed for expensive 
 construction of the first class. Any form of construction 
 might be made expensive, but if it is not made of concrete 
 and steel, it would not be considered first class. Small 
 canals of a co-operative nature have sold water for Carey act 
 lands as low as $10 per acre in parts of the state remote from 
 the railroad. 
 
 "The company is not allowed to require more than one- 
 fourth of the price in advance, but may take such lesser 
 amount as the settler may be able to pay satisfactory to the 
 company, with interest not to exceed 8 per cent per annum, 
 and usually 6 per cent. All of the works are carried on under 
 the inspection of the state engineer, who requires specifica- 
 tions as to construction in advance, which must be approved 
 by him before the state will enter into contract. 
 
 "Sales of land to settlers are also conducted under the 
 supervision of the commissioner of public lands, so that the 
 settler is protected as securely as he is under the reclamation 
 act of the National Government. 
 
 "The state land board requires as a condition of a con- 
 tract that the company shall not accept money from settlers 
 for water rights until their project is completed, unless the 
 contracts, the money paid thereon and other evidences of 
 indebtedness are deposited in escrow in some bank to be 
 agreed upon, there to be held until the water contracted for 
 is ready for delivery. Every precaution is taken by the 
 state authorities to protect the settler." 
 
 "How much of the 2,000,000 acres has been taken up 
 under the Carey Act?" I asked. 
 
 "A little over 1,000,000 acres have been applied for, by 
 about fifty different companies. Some of them have been 
 foreign, but the state now requires that all contracting com- 
 panies shall be incorporated under the laws of Wyoming." 
 
 The irrigation map of Wyoming is covered with dark 
 Spots showing the lands that have been withdrawn from 
 settlement for this purpose and sooner or later will be opened 
 to settlement with plenty of water for every kind of crop or 
 
 fruit. The rivers of Wyoming are large and numerous 
 enough to furnish an abundant supply of moisture for all 
 the land that can possibly be cultivated, while the construc- 
 tion of storage works and reservoirs will prevent the terrible 
 waste of water and the destructive floods that occur every 
 spring when the mountain snows are suddenly exposed to 
 the hot sun. When these works are completed, the floods 
 will not only be restrained from committing the damage 
 that has occurred annually, but the water will be available 
 during the dry months when it is needed for the crops. 
 * * ***** 
 
 C. W. Williams, state commissioner of immigration, 
 is now at Lander making a tour of all the counties for the 
 purpose of informing himself as to conditions and resources, 
 so that he may intelligently perform the duties of his office, 
 which has been newly created. 
 
 "There has never been any serious attempt on the part 
 of the authorities of Wyoming to induce immigration," said 
 Mr. Williams. "There has been a bureau of immigration, 
 consisting of three officials, but they never gave much atten- 
 tion to the subject until three months ago, when they 
 appointed me a commissioner with an allowance for printing 
 and advertising and authorized me to visit all parts of the 
 state to inform myself so that I can give information and 
 advice." 
 
 "The mineral resources of the state have a great variety, 
 and their development hasn't yet been begun. We have 
 thousands of square miles of mineral country that has never 
 been explored. We have mountains of iron, beds of coal, 
 petroleum, asphaltum, asbestos and all of the precious 
 metals, while prospectors are constantly discovering new 
 metals that we do not know anything about. 
 
 "In agriculture we can raise anything but cotton and 
 corn. Wheat and other grains, alfalfa and hay, potatoes 
 and other root crops, fruits of all kinds and berries will grow 
 both under dry farming and irrigation, and there are now 
 about fifty reclamation projects under the Federal Govern- 
 ment and the Carey Act, already in progress, that will sus- 
 tain a million or more people whom we are inviting to come 
 and take free homes." 
 
 "How are you going to induce them to come?" 
 
 "By making known the advantages of Wyoming," 
 said Mr. Williams. "I am preparing a book that will describe 
 the varied resources of the state and the methods by which 
 a newcomer can obtain a farm and a home. We will also 
 publish sectional pamphlets covering the several counties of 
 the state with their different conditions and resources and 
 the opportunities they offer for settlers. We will have a 
 pamphlet describing the workings of the Carey Act for 
 investors as well as for homeseekers. We are preparing 
 mineral reports also and will set up an exhibit showing the 
 resources of the state to be sent as an object lesson." 
 
 WILLIAM E. CURTIS. 
 
 The Men Who Have Tried It 
 
 What They Say of the West 
 
 Testimonials from Men Who Have 
 Made Money on South Dakota Farms 
 
 Am one of the old timers in the Elm Springs country. 
 I disced my wheat for eight years straight, and have har- 
 vested over twenty bushels to the acre as an average. Cli- 
 mate is fine, water fine, and the country suits me to perfec- 
 tion. For the benefit of the newcomer seeking a home, I 
 will say, "Get a South Dakota farm, and stay with it." 
 
 JOHN ASHEIM. 
 Elm Springs, South Dakota. 
 
 BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. 
 
 I have farmed this year for the first time under the new 
 Belle Fourche project and can demonstrate practically the 
 correctness of my firm belief in the great agricultural possi- 
 bilities of irrigated lands in western South Dakota. Oats 
 that will make 80 bu. with one irrigation and corn and pota- 
 toes looking fine after six weeks of steady drouth (so far as 
 rainfall is concerned) can be seen on my ranch, demonstrating 
 conclusively that the most sanguine expectations of settlers 
 will be realized and that $100 land is no dream of the future 
 for this district, for we can get big interest on that valuation 
 the first year of irrigating. DR. F. E. TOWNSEND. 
 
 44 
 
As a renter on 160 acres of irrigated land in the Belle 
 Fourche valley within one mile of three of the present gov- 
 ernment ditches, I have raised garden truck enough to pay 
 all my living expenses and hired help, while putting up -five 
 hundred ions of hay and caring for the usual acreage of corn 
 and potatoes. I received ore-half of the crop and paid one- 
 half of the water rent of $75, or $37-5 for my share. I 
 hauled some of the hay directly fr om the windrow to market 
 getting $10 per ton. The hay stacked in the field with 
 machinery was sold in the stack to cattlemen for $5 
 per ton, or baled and sold in the mining camps at $10 to $13 
 
 per ton, during the winter season. 
 
 J. H. WILKINSON. 
 
 I came to Butte County in 1883 without means and 
 hired out to work on a farm. In 1889 I bought a farm of 
 1 60 acres under the Red water canal upon which I have since 
 resided. I have found that all kinds of crops do remark- 
 ably well under irrigation. I have a good orchard in bearing 
 for many years, the trees being loaded to the ground with 
 fruit this year. I am also engaged in raising stock and run 
 them on the range during the summer season. My farm is 
 located near the government irrigation project. 
 
 WM. MATTHEW. 
 
 SNOMA, S. D., Aug. 14, 1908. 
 
 I have land under the government ditch, also under the 
 Redwater canal. I have farmed under the Redwater canal 
 for the past fifteen years and never had a crop failure. I am 
 engaged in farming and stock-raising. I have never grown 
 less than 40 bushels of oats per acre, and from that up to 
 100 bushels per acre. My wheat this year without irrigation 
 will go 30 bushels an acre and my wheat partly under 
 irrigation will average 30 bushels per acre. Any man 
 willing to work will have no difficulty in making a success 
 of farming under irrigation. 
 
 HANS GRIMSBO. 
 
 I am in receipt of your letter, asking me to send you the 
 number of acres that I have sown to alfalfa and the returns 
 from my alfalfa crop the past season. The same is given 
 below. 
 
 Total number of acres sown to alfalfa, 30. 
 
 Number of acres harvested for seed, 22. 
 
 I harvested 180 bushels alfalfa seed, sold at 
 
 $6 per bushel $1,080.00 
 
 Cut 70 tons from first cutting, worth $8 per ton 560 . oo 
 
 Total amount $1,640.00 
 
 An average return per acre of $74.55. 
 
 From one tract of 5 acres I harvested 60 bushels. 
 Viewfield, South Dakota. H. >C. JUDSON. 
 
 I have resided on my homestead in Stanley County three 
 years; have grown nearly everything in the way of crops and 
 vegetables that they grow anywhere else with good success 
 blue stem wheat yielding 15 bushels per acre on sod, 
 potatoes, 125 bushels per acre, second year. Am milking 
 from fifteen to twenty cows; which, in my opinion, every- 
 body on this side of the Missouri River should do. We have 
 daily mail, 'phone in the house, and think we're about as 
 well off as anybody on earth. 
 
 J. P. PETERSEN. 
 Midland, South Dakota. 
 
 I came to South Dakota in 1880, from Earlville, 111., 
 and settled in Spink County after making a filing on a home- 
 stead. I had sixteen dollars in cash; with this capital I 
 commenced farming. I have been engaged in general farm- 
 ing and stock-raising. I consider that I have been successful, 
 asftl now own a well-improved farm a mile from Redfield' 
 South Dakota, which I would not sell for less than $72,000. 
 I could not sell at this price, but I consider it is worth that 
 amount to me, and I could not invest in any other state and 
 do as well. The receipts from my share of the crop raised 
 this year and last have been $10,000, the majority of the 
 land being rented. I consider South Dakota the best country 
 I have ever been in to make money in farming, stock-raising 
 and feeding. I have made good money every year of the 25 
 years_I^have lived here. I consider that the $i$o-acre land 
 
 in Illinois is not worth two acres of our lands and Spink 
 County land should sell at $75 or $80 to reach its real value. 
 I am, yours very truly, 
 
 AUGUST BRUELL. 
 
 When in March, twenty-two years ago, I landed in Pierre 
 I had one round dollar in cash, and the rest of my property 
 was a carload of tools, old horses, vegetables, worth, alto- 
 gether, say a couple of hundred dollars. My first move was 
 to sell a bushel of onions I had along, increasing my ready 
 money to two dollars and a half. We have had good success 
 in South Dakota; we have nine quarter- sections of land in 
 SullyJCounty, watered and well improved, worth $21,600. 
 This is mighty good country for mixed farming and for 
 stock-raising. 
 Pierre, South Dakota. NORVAL BLAIR. 
 
 I came to Dakota in 1883, with $5 in my pocket and no 
 farm experience. I have done very well. Last year I sold 
 184 steers, receiving for them $8,648. I have 1,900 acres 
 fenced. I had about 5 on tons of hay and millet to begin 
 the winter and enough cattle and horses to eat it, and^I.do 
 not owe a dollar. i.Very truly yours, 
 
 Blunt, South Dakota. JIM RYAN. 
 
 Dry-Farming Testimonials from Wyo- 
 ming Farmers 
 
 The following testimonials not only show what kind of 
 crops are being produced by those who have made use of 
 dry-farming methods, but they also indicate, to a certain 
 extent, the methods that have proven most successful. 
 
 A. Christian, Sr., Converse County: Has been farming 
 twenty years on 250 acres, the rain coming mostly in May, 
 and the annual amount averaging 12.76 inches, while in May 
 alone 8.6 inches of rain fell. Plows in spring as deeply as 
 possible, using four-horse plows and harrows entirely, seeding 
 with heavy press drills. His yields have been: wheat, 18 
 bushels; oats, 30; barley, 28; potatoes, 75 to 200 bushels, 
 with spelt and alfalfa grown for hay. 
 
 P. G. Christensen, Weston County: Has been engaged 
 in dry farming thirteen years, on 125 acres. Rainfall about 
 ten inches, which come mostly in May and June. Plows in 
 spring eight inches, using the John Deere stag plow, disc 
 harrow and drag harrow, rollers, and broadcast seeder. 
 Has grown oats, wheat, barley, potatoes and garden vege- 
 tables. Yields not recorded. Considers dry farming profit- 
 able and that the farm should contain 320 acres. Regards 
 the heavy snows of winter as the most beneficial agency in 
 dry farming. 
 
 Harry Henderson, Secretary Board of Trade Commission, 
 Cheyenne, Laramie County: Has been farming three years 
 on thirty to sixty acres. Rainfall comes mostly in May, 
 June and July, averaging 10.33 inches. Plows both fall and 
 spring, six to nine inches deep, using disc and smoothing 
 harrow, and disc drill, and harrows the growing crop twice. 
 Yields have been as high as 53 bushels of barley and 33 
 bushels of wheat. Estimates average yield of barley to be 
 25 bushels, and wheat 17. Mr. Henderson would recom- 
 mend a crop every alternate year, and regards intelligence 
 as the most important agency in producing good crops. 
 He thinks the farm ought to be at least 320 acres. 
 
 F. B. Hamlin, Lusk, Wyo. Thirteen years ago I came 
 to my present home with my family from Iowa. I now have 
 720 acres of land all paid for, besides 2 5. head of horses, 24 
 head of registered Shorthorn cattle, wagons, machinery, etc. 
 
 I broke twenty acres the first year and raised 22 bushels 
 of oats per acre from the sod. I have increased my plow 
 land and have this year 250 acres in crop. Had a fair crop 
 each year; never a failure. Raised one year over 7,000 
 bushels of oats. My oats have averaged 30 to 50 bushels per 
 acre for the thirteen years without any irrigation whatever. 
 I have never attempted the so-called dry farming, but have 
 used the same method as in Iowa. 
 
 I consider farming a safe and profitable investment. 
 Timothy and alfalfa both do well. I would not take less 
 
 45 
 
than $23,000 for my property; my improvements I consider 
 worth $6,000. One year my plow land brought me $20 per 
 acre. We can produce more dollars per acre one year with 
 another than the average Iowa farmer. 
 
 From the State Geologist 
 
 CHEYENNE, WYO., June 6, 1909. 
 
 GENTLEMEN In reply to your inquiry I wish to say that the 
 land tributary to Lusk, Wyo., is underlaid with a soft white 
 rock known as Tursary. This rock is spongy, forming a 
 reservoir which holds moisture, and as the soil above dries, 
 it will draw from beneath. 
 
 The soil is largely made up of the decomposition of this 
 rock and decayed vegetable matter. In general it might 
 be classed as a sandy loam. 
 
 The Pleasant Ridge and Manville sections have been 
 farmed for more than a score of years and I have never heard 
 of a failure in either place. The soil conditions must be the 
 same as Lusk, as it is formed from the same source. 
 
 I have been here for five years and there has been no 
 question as to their being plenty of rain and snow to assure 
 a crop. 
 
 I do not believe there is any better land in the west than 
 the land set aside by the Government of the United States 
 under the 32o-acre act. Farming methods followed around 
 this section have been largely the same as in Nebraska; I 
 believe if the scientific methods of Dr. Cooke were followed 
 by the farmers, the farmers would be greatly benefited and 
 there would be no danger of any year being too dry for the 
 production of a crop. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 EDWIN HALL, State Geologist. 
 
 Testimonials from Well-to-do Farmers 
 of Nebraska Who Started with Small 
 Capital and Soon Gained Compe- 
 tence and Wealth 
 
 RUSHVILLE, NEB. 
 
 I came to Sheridan County from Wisconsin in 1889 
 My capital did not exceed $20 on arriving here. I now 
 have 1,280 acres of land, located four miles southeast of 
 Rushville, which I value at $20 per acre; 150 head of live 
 stock and all the equipment necessary to carry on my busi 
 ness in first-class shape. For the past nine years, I have 
 "raised splendid crops; wheat from 20 bushels per acre up- 
 ward; rye from 16 to 35 bushels per acre; corn from 15 to 
 40 bushels per acre; potatoes from 75 to 250 bushels per 
 acre and all other crops proportionate. One year my 
 potatoes netted me $87 per acre and I know of no place 
 where a man can make money faster or easier than farming 
 in Sheridan County. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 NED STAMPER. 
 
 GORDON, NEB. 
 
 All that I can say for myself is that I came to Sheridan 
 County in December, 1884. I had a team, wagon and 
 harness, and 16 cents in money when I arrived. I raised 
 potatoes and got a few head of cows. 
 
 I now own 2,240 acres of land and 370 head of cattle. 
 I purpose to raise from 2,000 to 3,000 bushels of potatoes 
 every year. My income from farming and stock-raising 
 has been from $2,800 to $4,200 for the past four years. I 
 can make more money off 160 acres in Sheridan County 
 raising potatoes than any farmer in the corn belt of Iowa or 
 Missouri can make on an equal number af acres that cost 
 him $50 per acre. 
 
 Here you can buy potato land for $10 per acre and one 
 man and four horses will tend sixty acres of potatoes up to 
 digging time. 
 
 I will answer any letters that are written me by men 
 who wish to improve their condition and are willing to work. 
 
 A. L. DAVIS. 
 
 RUSHVILLE, NEB. 
 
 Replying to your letter of the 26th inst., would say I 
 moved to Sheridan County, Nebraska, in 1890, and at that 
 
 time was possessed of nothing except the ability to work. I 
 now own 1,360 acres of as fine land as there is in the state, 
 300 head of cattle, 27 head of good horses, $500 worth of 
 machinery. For the past six years I have raised from 
 3,000 to 4,000 bushels per year, besides much other produce- 
 Last year I raised 5,000 bushels of potatoes, 1,500 bushels 
 of wheat, 1,500 bushels of oats, besides $600 worth of other 
 stuff. I would not now take $30,000 for what I now own 
 in Sheridan County, Nebraska. I live eighteen miles north 
 of Rushville. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 NICHOLAS LEHMAN. 
 
 ATKINSON, NEB. 
 
 I have been engaged exclusively in Holt County for 
 five years and can truthfully say that for diversified farming 
 I think this is the best county in the state. 
 
 The water is exceptionally fine and can be procured at 
 from ten to thirty feet according to location in the county. 
 The dairy business is fast becoming one of the chief interests 
 and a man with 160 acres of land and ten cows is independent 
 so far as living expenses are concerned. 
 
 I am located seven miles northeast of Atkinson, a 
 pushing little town of one thousand people. This town and 
 community do a large volume of business and its transpor- 
 tation facilities are well looked after by the C. & N. W. Ry. 
 Stock loaded here in the evening will reach Omaha in time 
 for the morning market. 
 
 Land can still be bought at very low prices considering 
 the many advantages which it offers. M 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 THOMAS J. WILBURN. 
 
 My seven years' experience of diversified farming and 
 stock-raising in Holt County, Nebraska. 
 
 I have been a resident of Nebraska since 1896 and 
 during all this time have been engaged or interested in 
 farming and stock-raising. Grains of all kinds can be 
 successfully raised here. I have raised fair crops of corn, 
 wheat, oats, rye, spelt and of tame grasses, alfalfa, brome 
 grass and clover. I have 20 acres of alfalfa that was sowed 
 four years ago. After the first year it has produced fair 
 crops of hay, the last year the first cutting made about 25 
 tons of hay, worth $8 per ton; $200. The second crop I let 
 go to seed. It threshed out 38 bushels of good seed, worth 
 $9 per bushel, $342; 20 tons of fodder or threshed hay, 
 worth at least $2 per ton for feed, $40. Total value of hay 
 and seed from 20 acres, $582. 
 
 I have 40 acres of alfalfa that was sowed in 1905 and 
 1906. Twenty acres I use for hog pasture. I expect to 
 sow 100 acres more in the next few years. I also threshed 
 450 bushels of millet seed from 20 acres and 50 bushels of 
 brome grass seed from 10 acres. 
 
 I have had good success raising hogs here, for the last 
 four years. I have sold from $ 1,000 to $1,500 worth each 
 year. Hogs keep free from disease and lice and are thrifty 
 and fatten fast when put on full feed. Hogs are quick 
 money makers. 
 
 All kinds of fruit can be successfully grown here. We 
 have raised an abundance of strawberries, currants, goose- 
 berries and cherries. I have over 600 fruit trees planted, 
 500 of which were planted the last two years. Last year 
 we raised about four bushels of peaches, from trees planted 
 four years ago. Those trees are full of blossom buds and if 
 they will not winter kill, will produce a large crop this year. 
 There are many men that could come to Holt County, buy 
 some of the good cheap lands and own a good and comfort- 
 able home and have it paid for in a few years. The same 
 care and work that is done on farms in other prosperous 
 states, will produce good crops here. 
 
 JACOB ROCKE. 
 
 GORDON, NEB. 
 
 In answer to your request to make a statement as to 
 my success in northwestern Nebraska during the last few 
 years, I submit the following facts: I find by referring to 
 my list of receipts for the past three years I have sold $5,337 
 worth of farm produce (in this I have not included any 
 sa\es of live stock). During this time I have farmed an 
 
 46 
 
averag? of 240 acres, a large part of which has been devoted 
 to raising forage crops for cattle. My principal income 
 has been from potatoes, but have, of course, raised corn and 
 wheat besides. I wish to speak particularly of a field of 
 potatoes which I raised last year. I bought enough new 
 seed to plant five acres and gave it particular attention. 
 Last fall I marketed from five acres a few pounds more than 
 1,200 bushels, besides saving enough seed of that variety 
 for this year's planting. My potatoes all sold for from 30 to 
 38 cents per bushel direct from the field. I have always 
 invested my surplus cash in land and cattle, and now own 
 960 acres of land, 120 head of cattle, 12 good work horses and 
 all the farming implements, wagons and carriage necessary 
 to run a farm. When I struck Gordon,. Neb., six years ago, 
 I might say I did not have a dollar. , 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 CHARLES ROBERTS. 
 
 Testimonials from Those who Have 
 
 Made a Success on Wisconsin 
 
 and North Michigan Farms 
 
 John G. Bachhuber, Juneau, Wis.: In June, 1900, I 
 purchased! from the Chicago & North Western Railway, 
 some land in Forrest County near Wabeno, Wis. I have 
 seen a great deal of timber land in Wisconsin, but none 
 that can compare with the hardwood timber along the line 
 of the railway from Gillett north. I am well satisfied and 
 believe it a good investment. 
 
 C. F. Waller, Columbia, Wis. : I came to Wisconsin from 
 Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois, in the fall of 1901, 
 and bought 120 acres of wild land, not a square rod of which 
 had been cleared, for which I paid $12.50 per acre. 
 
 During the five years I have been here, I have cleared 
 and put under cultivation 70 acres of the wild land, built a 
 good house, a good log barn with stable room for 26 head of 
 cattle and four horses. I have 22 head of cattle, 4 horses, 
 a full equipment of farm machinery of all kinds, and all paid 
 for but the farm. If I can do as well for the next two years 
 as I have the past five, I will have my farm fully paid for. 
 I have had several offers for my farm but I would not want 
 to sell as I can raise as good crops here as I can in Illinois 
 where they ask from $100 to $125 an acre. I will be glad 
 at any time to show my home to anyone who may be looking 
 for a place in which to make a home and can heartily recom- 
 mend Wisconsin to any who wants a home of their own. 
 
 James Tooley, Eagle River: I own a farm of 176 
 acres three and one-half miles from Eagle River. I have 
 60 acres under cultivation and 80 cleared. Have lived on 
 my farm for the last six years, and for the last three the 
 average yearly crops were as follows: Oats, 50 bushels per 
 acre; hay, i tons per acre, potatoes, 300 bushels and ruta- 
 bagas, 1,000 bushels. Wheat is also a good crop, producing 
 about 30 bushels to the acre. The soil is partly clay, loam 
 and partly sand loam. 
 
 Mike Lillund, Conover, Wis.: I bought 80 acres herein, 
 July, 1902, and moved on my land with my family the 
 following year, and built a house, barn and other buildings. 
 The land is what is known as cut-over land, with some 
 hardwood timber remaining. I am able to raise all the 
 different crops that are raised anywhere in the state, with 
 the exception of corn, and I believe I will be able to raise 
 that if I get the right variety to plant. I am well satisfied 
 with my location as the climate is very agreeable. This 
 locality is very favorable for the small farmer, from the fact 
 that he can always find plenty of work in the mills and 
 lumber camps both summer and winter, at the time when 
 he is not busy on the farm. We have good roads and are 
 only three miles from the railroad station. 
 
 J. A^Pearce, jMarinette, Wis.: I have a farm of 120 
 acres, which I bought three years ago. The first year I 
 went on this land I started in the first day of April and 
 cleared enough land so that I raised 600 bushels of potatoes 
 and enough corn to feed a team and a cow the following 
 
 winter, besides vegetables enough for ourselves. I now 
 have a clearing of 50 acres and have raised small grain and 
 vegetables of all kinds, and find that they all do well. 
 
 Any man that will come here with energy and ambition 
 can make himself a home, and in a short time will become 
 independent. There is always lots of work to be had in 
 the winter time, and in fact all the year round. This is a 
 very healthy climate and we have the finest water that a 
 person could ask for. 
 
 Alfred Brandow, Antigo, Wis.: Before coming here I 
 was a farm renter in Winnebago County, Wis., but becoming 
 tired of working for other people I resolved to go to some 
 place where I could get a foothold on cheap land and work 
 out a farm of my own. I had just $250 when I came here 
 and bought 80 acres of timber land in Section 35, Township 
 31, Range 10, and my farm to-day is worth $3,000 and is all 
 paid for. I have had considerable experience in farming 
 and I never saw soil that would average better than this. 
 I have raised oats that run 6iJ bushels to the acre. Hay 
 runs i J- tons and potatoes 200 bushels to the acre. I have 
 raised winter rye that harvested 27 bushels to the acre. 
 
 The city of Antigo furnishes us a first-class market for 
 all of our wood, logs, bark, and farm and garden products. 
 We get good water at from ten to twenty feet deep. We 
 have no difficulty in raising all the hay and grain we require 
 for feed in [winter, and our grazing land is exceptionally good 
 
 My experience is that dairying and stock-raising is 
 unusually successful in this country. Our winters are cold t 
 but we have the shelter of the timber, so that stock does not 
 suffer in the least. 
 
 J. W. Tilden, Wausau, Wis.: Marathon County is 
 unquestionably one of the finest farming sections in this 
 state, and this means much, as it has become an established 
 fact that Wisconsin with her diversity of products is one of 
 the very best in the Union. 
 
 I came here five years ago and purchased a farm of 200 
 acres. I find that the hay crop especially, per acre, far 
 exceeds the yield in the southern part of the state. Timothy 
 and white clover seem to spring into existence bountifully 
 whenever a road or any kind of an opening is cut through 
 the woods. Another advantage is that we have the wood 
 products, which bring us good returns for our labor in the 
 winter. The timber is principally hardwood, which means 
 good soil. 
 
 It seems to me that a man looking for a farm as a home 
 has far greater opportunities here than in older settled 
 countries, as he will reap the benefits of t the". increase in the 
 price of land which is as sure to follow as the day follows 
 night. 
 
 This country is well watered, climate healthful, good 
 roads, good schools, and with the city of Wausau, of 14,000 
 population, as a trade center, no better opportunities are 
 offered anywhere. 
 
 K. C/Dayis, Principal, School of Agriculture, Menomonie 
 Wis.: Northwestern Wisconsin is well adapted to sheep- 
 raising. The climate it especially favorable, as are also 
 other conditions. The country is broken and hilly, with 
 timber furnishing abundant shade. Throughout Dunn 
 County a good many farmers keep sheep successfully. 
 The grass and clover grow so well here that there is no lack 
 of feed, and the numerous springs through this section 
 furnish a'.very fine water supply. 
 
 This section of the state is pre-eminently an agricultural 
 region. It is suited to diversified farming and that is what 
 is being carried on to a great extent. 
 
 Dairying is a rapidly growing industry in Dunn County. 
 And with the dairying has come greater interest in pure- 
 bred stock. Many farmers are culling out their herds with 
 a view to keeping better stock and are getting in the pure 
 blood. 
 
 Hog-raising is also a very profitable branch of stock- 
 raising. Those who have gone into the business find they 
 can make as much profit from hogs as from the dairy cows. 
 
 47 
 
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FULL INFORMATION 
 
 Concerning Rates, Routes, Checking of Baggage, etc., can be had upon 
 
 application to any of the Representatives of The North "Western 
 
 Line whose names are shown below 
 
 ANTIGO, Wis. M. W. HOLLISTER, Traveling Agent. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS 300 Washington Street J. E. BRITTAIN, General Agent. 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 301 Main Street (Ellicott Square) H. B. LOUCKS, JR., General Agent. 
 
 BOONE, IOWA A. J. CHEESEMAN, Traveling Agent. 
 
 CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA M. H. RIZER, Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 CHADRON, NEB. E. R. BUTLER, Traveling Agent. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL. 212 Clark Street, City Ticket Office H. A. GROSS. General Agent Passenger 
 
 Department. 
 
 215 Jackson Boulevard J. L. FERGUSON, Assistant General Passenger and Ticket Agent; 
 
 CLINTON MCCULLOUGH, Traveling Agent. 
 
 CINCINNATI, 01110436 Walnut Street N. M. BREEZE, General Agent. 
 CLEVELAND, OHIO 239 Superior Avenue N. W. A. F. CLEVELAND, General Agent. 
 COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA 522 Broadway, City Ticket Office J. C. MITCHE., City Passenger and 
 
 Freight Agent. 
 
 DEADWOOD, S. D. E. E. BENJAMIN, General Agent. 
 
 DENVER, COLO. 80 1 Seventeenth Street T. S. RATTLE General Agent. 
 DBS MOINES, IOWA 602 Walnut Street, City Ticket Office C. F. MILEY, General Agent. 
 DETROIT, MICH. 17 Campus Martius -W. H. GUERIN, General Agent Passenger Department. 
 DULUTH, MINN. 302 West Superior Street, City Ticket Office A. M. FENTON, District Freight 
 
 and Passenger Agent; GEO. M. SMITH, General Agent. 
 GREEN BAY, Wis. E. B. DALY, Traveling Agent. 
 
 HOUGHTON, MICH. Douglas House Block C. E. WEBB, General Agent. 
 HURON, S. D. B. F. FARRELL, Traveling Agent. 
 
 KANSAS CITY, Mo. 823 Main .Street JAMES J. LIVINGSTON, Traveling Agent. 
 LINCOLN, NEB. 1024 "O" Street, City Ticket Office -R W. McGiNNis, General Agent. 
 Los ANGELES, CAL. 603 South Spring Street C. A. THURSTON, General Agent. 
 MADISON Wis. A. L. FISHER, Traveling Agent. 
 MANKATO, MINN. H. J. WAGEN, Traveling Agent. 
 MILWAUKEE. Wis. gg Wisconsin Street, City Ticket Office CHARLES THOMPSON, General Agent; 
 
 E. M. GULBRANSEN, City Passenger Agent. 
 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 600 Nicollet Avenue, City Ticket Office J A. O'BRIEN, General Agent 
 
 Passenger Department. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY 461 Broadway R. M. JOHNSON, General Agent. 
 OMAHA, NEB. 1401 and 1403 Farnam Street, City Ticket Office GEORGE F. WEST, General 
 
 Agent Passenger Department. 
 
 1201 Farnam Street S. F. MILLER, General Freight and Passenger Agent NEBRASKA 
 
 & WYOMING DIVISIONS. 
 
 PEORIA, ILL. 333 Main Street, City Ticket Office F. L. STAYNER, General Agent. 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1020 Chestnut Street ORNO M. BROWN, General Agent. 
 PIERRE, S. D.- F. E. DONEGAN, Traveling Agent. 
 
 PITTSBURG, PA. 504 Smithfield Street A. Q. TALLANT, General Agent. 
 PORTLAND, ORE. 102 Third Street R. V. HOLDER, General Agent. 
 ST. Louis, Mo. 311 North Ninth Street GEO. F. BRIGHAM, JR., General Agent. 
 ST. PAUL, MINN. 3g6 Robert Street (Ryan Hotel), City Ticket Office E. A. WHITAKER, City 
 
 Ticket Agent. 
 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 38 West Second South Street (Atlas Building) C. A. Walker, 
 
 General Agent. 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 878 Market Street (Flood Building) R. R. RITCHIE, General Agent, 
 
 Pacific Coast. 
 
 SEATTLE, WASH. 7 20 Second Avenue F. W. PARKER, General Agent 
 
 Sioux City, IOWA Security Bank Building, City Ticket Office M. M. BETZNER, General Agent. 
 SPOKANE, WASH. 423 Riverside Avenue -H. S. COLLINS, General Agent. 
 SUPERIOR, Wis. -815 Tower Avenue, City Ticket Office G. H. KIRK, General Agent. 
 TACOMA, WASH. Bankers' Trust Building A. S. NASH Traveling Agent. 
 TORONTO, ONT. 2 East King Street -B. H. BENNETT, General Agent. 
 WINNIPEG, MAN. 205 McDermott Avenue GEO. A. LEE, General Agent. 
 WINONA, MINN. A. C. JOHNSON, General Agent. 
 
 W. B. KNISKERN, C. A. CAIRNS, 
 
 Passenger Traffic Manager. General Passenger and Ticket Agent. 
 
 GENERAL OFFICES: 215 Jackson Boulevard.. CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 A 902-OQ-(XM)