Towner County, ND, Hansboro Pioneer Newspaper published April 1, 1908 - May 31, 1908 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ The following news items and articles are all transcribed from the Hansboro Pioneer newspaper. The items included in this file were published between April 1, 1908 and May 31, 1908. North Dakota State Historical Society microfilm numbers 08392 Transcribed May, 2000 by: Mary Lindbo, mjlindbo@msn.com Note: when searching for names in this text, I recommend using various spellings of a surname. I noticed during the transcription that some names were not spelled the same throughout. Since many of the names were not familiar to me, I typed them exactly as they were published. (c) 2000 Mary Lindbo April 2, 1908 LOCAL NEWS About a dozen local Masons attended the meeting at Rolla Tuesday evening. Walter Gailfus expects to move his family out to the farm this week. M.E. VanOrder will move this week to the house formerly occupied by W.A. Hooser and family. Dr. Hamilton will occupy the Gailfus residence during the summer until he builds his new residence. The ducks and geese are reported to be flocking by the thousands to the southern part of the state. Better not come up here for a while. They might get their feet wet and catch cold. Robert McKee and family moved this week to the Miller farm near town and Bob will have plenty of chance to exhibit his skill in garden raising, etc., during spare hours this summer. Mr. and Mrs. H.D. Stark have rented the Moore residence and will move their household effects into it for the summer where they be at home to friends. W.A. Hooser and family left today for Egeland where they will visit for a few days. W.A. and brother Arthur will then leave for the west to look up a new location. They expect to settle in Idaho. Their many friends wish them well in their new location wherever that may be. Those who attended the Masonic meeting at Rolla Tuesday were rather surprised and inconvenienced by the storm which struck this section that evening. The roads were made so heavy that a number thought it best to stay in Rolla until the storm abated. The Hansboro Concert Band expect to give an entertainment in the near future, the proceeds to be used in maintaining the band until such time as it can be put on a paying basis from outside sources. The program will be varied and consist of music, both vocal and instrumental, literary selections, and will be concluded by a performance in "Black Art" something new in this vicinity. Did you notice how much like a lamb was the exit of the month of March? That lamb must have had hydrophobia. The weather is exceedingly like spring today - warm and pleasant - a marked change from yesterday. Rev. Palmer expects to leave in a few days for Iowa where he will make his residence in the future. Mr. Palmer and wife have made many friends here during their short residence in this city who will wish them well in their new home. A large crowd was in attendance at the M.E. Church to witness the "Japanese Wedding" and concert given Wednesday evening. The receipts were most gratifying. The program was excellent and all well satisfied with the entertainment and the social session held at the conclusion of the same. April 9, 1908 LOCAL NEWS The county commissioners are in session this week. The rattle of the coal paid is a thing of the past - we hope. Mrs. A. Messer visited in Grand Forks the last of the week. Jay Wills has severed his connections with the John D. Gruber Co. Marcus Kessler has engaged with Z.T. Kreiger for the season. Editor C.H. Browne has been out of town this week on business. Andy Taylor came over from Rolla the first of the week on business. The band concert has been postponed until after seeding operations are completed. Walter Frantzen the genial Sarles butcher was in the city shaking hands with friends. Sheriff James Taylor was a Hansboro visitor the fore part of the week on official business. A.H. Clickard of Springfield, Illinois arrived this week and has accepting a position with the Pioneer. Farmers state that the fields have not been in better condition for seeding for years past that is the case this season. Geo. N. Brown, the bonanza farmer from Bryan was in town Friday. He says he will put in a larger crop this year and is not daunted by the failure last year. Owing to various causes we neglected to mention last week the farewell party given by the people of Hansboro and vicinity for W.A. Hooser and wife. The party occurred at the Opera House Monday evening and was well attended about 75 people being present. Dancing and games were the amusements and all enjoyed themselves until a late hour. A sumptuous lunch was served at midnight. At the conclusion of the party the crowd with one accord, wished Mr. Hooser and his good wife every success in their new home. It was a most enjoyable affair for all in attendance. ELLISON JOTTINGS Jake Rizner recently sold a fine span of colts to a party near Clyde for the neat sum of $300. Chas. Wells and Joe Burkholder attended the Farmer's Telephone meeting that was held at Cando recently. Ira Zigler moved his family down from the Turtle Mountains last week where they will spend the summer on the farm. Miss Iva Hinkle who has been spending the past several months attending school at Austin, Minnesota, returned last week to again resume her work as school marm. There will be a program rendered at the Ellison Church on East Sunday by the little folks. Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Miller were over Sunday visitors at the home of John Watson near Clyde. Messrs. and Mesdames J.F. and Roy Santman Sundayed in week ago at the George Heller home. Dan Hoover from near Elsberry was a Saturday caller in the Ellison vicinity. Luther Rimel and wife leave this week for Idaho where they will make their future home. Mr. and Mrs. Rimel have made many friends during their sojourn in this community and is hoped that prosperity may be theirs in their new home. ANTWERP ANECDOTES Tobe Martin and wife arrived from Glasgow, Montana this week. Tobe is going to ship his horses out there this coming week and try Montana farming. The two-year-old infant of Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Eckert, just here from Russia, died last week of consumption and was buried in the Dash cemetery. Jim Martin and wife moved Saturday to the Edwards farm which Mr. Martin intends farming this year. Some cousins of L. Dingman are recent arrivals from Michigan looking for work. Mrs. E. Barker has been sick the past week. Dr. Underwood of Sarles is in attendance. John Brooks has leased G.H.B. Johnson's farm for one year and has moved in. Mr. Johnson intends going to his claim in Canada the first of May. Art Davis is busy these days trying his new manure spreader he recently bought in Sarles. Mrs. Messer of Hansboro was the guest of Mrs. Barker and Sarles friends a few days last week. April 16, 1908 LOCAL NEWS J.V. Harrison, the Rock Lake artist, is taking a few views of Hansboro and vicinity. The boom of firearms is heard in the land as the festive hunter pursues his quest of the game. Mr. and Mrs. John Wilson and daughter Bertha left Tuesday for a visit with Cando relatives and friends. Master Robert Knight, son of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Knight has been on the sick list for the past two weeks. George Wilson, our genial liveryman made a hurry up trip to Cando the first of the week with some legal documents. Dr. J.S. Hamilton left Saturday for Cando to he present at the dedication of the new Presbyterian Church at that place. An excellent time is reported. Charles Tribble and family are enjoying a visit from his cousin Mr. Tribble of Cleveland, Ohio. C.A. Weeden and family have been enjoying a visit from the Rev. Jr. Jephcett, of Fessenden, North Dakota for the past two weeks. Commissioner John W. Pound returned from the county seat the last of the week where he attended the meeting of the board. And now Deputy Sheriff McDonald has gone and done it. A report from Cando is to the effect that he was happily married. We congratulate. Sam Brown is quite ill this week. A short time ago while setting up some machinery he scraped his hand on a bolt, but thought nothing of the occurrence. Last Thursday his arm began to swell and it is feared that blood poisoning will set in and that he may lose the arm. Every possible precaution is being exercised to guard against this and it is hoped that the doctor will be successful in keeping it in check. Baseball enthusiasm is beginning and the boys are getting in shape to put a winning team this year. It is hoped that when the team is organized for the year that it will be composed of home talent exclusively and accept challenges only from teams of a like line-up. Let baseball this year be clean, not a gambling game with a lot of hired men to "throw the game" if the opposition offers them enough money. We want baseball. April 30, 1908 Bert Fellows, who for the past two years has been the trainer in C.J. Lord's stables at Cando, met his death in an accident in the railroad yards at Devils Lake yesterday afternoon. Mr. Fellows was in charge of a car of fancy stock which Mr. Lord was having shipped to the Savage Stables at the Twin Cities. The car had been "set out" and when the car was being "picked up" by a switch engine, he was standing in the door of the car. The impact caused the car door to go violently shut and so quickly that he was unable to get out of the way. He was immediately taken to Mercy Hospital where he expired in a few hours. His skull was crushed. The funeral will be held in Cando Saturday. Mr. Fellows is an old resident of the county, having farmed southwest of Cando for over ten years. May 7, 1908 LOCAL NEWS Mrs. Elmer Barker of Antwerp was in Hansboro shopping the last of the week. D.A. Blackburn is happy over the arrival of his new hunting dog which arrived Saturday from Huron, South Dakota. Dr. Burdick was the sender. Rev. Palmer and wife leave this week for Winnipeg where they will make their future homes. A host of friends wish them well in their new location. The Pioneer is to keep them posted on Hansboro happenings. Rev. and Mrs. J.W. Kensit drove from Walhalla arriving in our little city Wednesday to visit for a few days. They are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Weeden. May 14, 1908 D.A. Blackburn made a business trip to Devils Lake the middle of last week. Ye scribe and wife visited with Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Buttz at Minot during the convention. Mrs. D.A. Blackburn returned the last of the week from a visit with relatives and friends on the Canadian side. Jules Beaudoin the new bandleader from Crocus came up Friday and gave the boys a rehearsal. Born to Mr. and Mrs. R.A. McKinstry of Bryan last week a baby boy. All doing well. Miss Ruth Olson is visiting this week with her sister, Mrs. B.L. Thomas of this city. E.E. McDougall has returned from his visit with friends at Lakota and will open up the Farmers Elevator (??-unable to read microfilm) to note his return. Fred Grove shipped a carload of cattle from here to South St. Paul the first of the week. During the rain storm Monday morning, lightning struck a residence at Webster and it was burned to the ground. Rev. J.W. Kensit, formerly pastor at this place but now stationed at Walhalla, occupied the pulpit here Sunday. A cleaver discourse is reported by those in attendance. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Dave Farrell of Bryan Township on Wednesday, May 13, a girl baby. Mother and baby reported to be doing nicely. Dave threatens to put in another quarter section for the benefit of the new baby, the first girl. May 21, 1908 A FEW FACTS OF INTEREST CONCERNING TOWNER COUNTY Why Towner County is the Place for the Eastern Laborer, Renter or Investor Towner County is located in the northeastern quarter of the state. The greatest dimension of the county is from north to south, measuring forty-three and a half miles, while its width from east to west is 24 miles. It has an area of 1,032 square miles or 660,480 acres. Its contour is almost level in southern half and slightly rolling to the north. It was first opened for settlement in 1883 under the homestead and other similar federal enactments. All the land has been taken up or settled, except the following: Upon the organization of the state in 1889, sections sixteen and thirty-six of each township were given to the state and set aside to create a school fund and money derived from the sale of such lands is set aside as a permanent school fund. Also under the Enabling Act, when the state was admitted to the Union, there was set aside and given to the state, the following lands for the purposes named. For the school mines, 40,000 acres; for the reform school, 40,000 acres; for the deaf and dumb asylum, 40,000 acres; for the agricultural college, 40,000 acres; for the state university, 40,000 acres; for the state normal school, 80,000 acres; for the state capitol, 50,000 acres; and for such other educational and charitable purposes as the legislature may determine, 170,000 acres; in all 500,000 acres. In the apportionment or selection of such lands there was withdrawn from settlement and set aside for the above named purpose, in Towner County, over 80,000 acres, of that amount at this date a little more than half remains in the possession of the state and is the only land available. Such land is sold at stated intervals, generally in the fall months, at public auction to the highest bidder at not less than ten dollars per acre. Towner County offers now the greatest inducements to the toilers of the congested centers with little hope of their putting away sufficient to care for them in old age; to the young man, anxious to get a foothold or a place where he has fair show; to the man who rents a farm and gives his time and labor for the benefit of others. Land prices are comparatively low and farms can be purchased on easy payments. There is of record in this county, where the purchase price was paid by the first crop. The soil is a dark loam with a sub-soil unsurpassed for wheat and other small grain. Wheat, oats, barley, flax, rye and speltz are the principal grain crops, but we are not alone dependent on our grain crop. Of late years the farmers are turning their attention more to diversified farming, stock raising, dairying, poultry raising, etc. The prosperous farmer has his car load of stock to turn off in the fall, later his hogs to ship. Poultry, butter and eggs are shipped east and west. Several car loads of draft horses, the farmers' surplus, have been shipped this spring. Co-operative creameries are being organized over the county. There is within a radius of twenty miles now, eight creameries and one cheese factory. We grow the finest potatoes in the world. North Dakota potatoes are shipped all over the United States. Florida and Texas use North Dakota potatoes exclusively for seed. Towner County at the Lewis and Clark exposition, or worlds fair at Portland, Oregon, received a gold medal for the finest potatoes and a grand prize for the greatest variety and finest collection of grasses. A gold medal for the greatest variety and finest collection of wild grasses gathered from one single quarter section, twenty varieties. Also god medals on the following: hard fife wheat, blue stem wheat, oats, flax, clover and red top. At the worlds fair, St. Louis, Missouri we received similar prizes. You will begin to ponder now and ask where is this Towner County and well you may. No matter where you are, anywhere in the United States, get in a crowd, ask the question, there will be someone to tell you our fame is world wide and why? We never sleep, we keep hammering, we are enthusiastic, we are satisfied. We have got a good thing and we know it. We want you to know it: want you to come and participate; you will not be disappointed. Fifty-four elevators, with a capacity of 1,791,000 bushels are required to handle the golden grain and sixteen towns with as many more sidings, furnish a ready market. Five national banks and seven state banks with $1,250,000 in deposits handle the farmer's income, while 230 miles of rural telephone lines and rural free delivery puts him in immediate touch with the business centers. The educational system of the state is as far advanced as that of any of our sister states, and Towner County is in the fore with ninety-three public schools, one first class high school and 2,355 school children. Twenty-sic churches attend to the spiritual welfare of the people and indicate the strong moral tone which dominates the atmosphere of the community. Yield and value of Towner County's crop of 1906: Wheat. No of bushels - 2,545,155 Value of Wheat - $2,545.155 Flax, no. of bushels - 454,792 Value of flax - $454.792 Oats, no. of bushels - 1,141,699 Value of oats - $570,849 Barley, no. of bushels - 489,293 Value of barley - $342,506 Rye, no. of bushels - 1,650 Value of rye - $1,155 Corn, no. of bushels - 1,510 Value of corn - $750 Potatoes, no. of bushels - 41,510 Value of potatoes - $33,208 Total no. of bushels - 4,675,609 Total Values - $4,048,414 The real valuation of assessable property in the county (does not include unsold school and institution lands): Real Estate - $12,705,692 Personal property - $3,721,548 Railway property - $2,537.702 Telegraph property - $15,088 Express property - $11,268 Telephone property - $18,682 Total $19,009,920 Climate conditions are nearly perfect. Abundant rainfall, the long days of summer maturing the latest crops in less than four months. The atmosphere is dry and devoid of any humidity during the winter months and therefore it never penetrates and chills as does the damp atmosphere of the Southern and Atlantic states. The Autumn lingers and is very delightful season, generally prolonged far into December. Set cold days rarely come until after the holidays. The Winter breaks in March, usually, and is followed by the warm sunny days of summer. Seeding and farm operatoins generally begin the latter part of March or early in April. There is no agricultural district in which a farmer of small means is able to start more advantageously than in Towner County. Improved farms can be purchased reasonably and on easy terms. To the farmer or the investor buy a Towner County farm, the center of the vast fertile spot of North Dakota it will not only prove a safe investment or a good home but will pay a large rate of interest and double in value before long. Five hundred thousand dollars worth of chickens and eggs were sold in 1905. HANSBORO AND VICINITY A Short Description of Its Advantages and Opportunities Foremost among all the new towns which the extension of the Farmers Railroad caused to spring into existence is the town of Hansboro, the terminus of the road. Hansboro, is located, geographically a little west of the center of the county, east and west, and within three and one-half miles of the north line, which is likewise the Canadian boundary line. Nature has provided kindly for the people of the town and surrounding country the town possessing excellent natural drainage, deliciously pure water being obtained by sinking a well to the depth of only about thirty to forty feet, and the quality of the soil is the beset in the entire county and as good as will be found in the state anywhere. The farmers surrounding the town are a prosperous lot and happy as larks and well they may be, for surely no class of people are more independent than they. Well can they afford to be so, for the soil yearly brings them in bountiful harvests of all manner of grains, their cattle and horses thrive and grow fat on the right luxuriant grasses and with good markets, close at hand, excellent school and church facilities, why should they not be happy and content and independent too. Hansboro is also within easy access of some of the finest lakes that ever gladdened the eye of the sportsman and angler. These lakes abound with fish and water fowl and when the busy season is past and the tired master of the homes wishes to take a little rest and recreation, can anyone suggest anything more pleasant than to hie away to one of these lakes, there to enjoy the cool shade or the fishing, boating, bathing or in season to hunt the feathered game, duck, geese and brant in these, their haunts. The country around the town is, too, the home of the prairie chicken and grouse. These, the finest game bids extant, are indeed abundant, and hunters come from all over the United States to enjoy the sport and the feeding grounds for the ducks and geese fairly swarm with them in the fall and spring, affording the finest kind of sport. Hansboro has a daily passenger train and mail service and the down trains make the best of connections with the Great Northern mail line trains in both directions. The matter of schools and churches is one that every homeseeker takes into consideration when he changes or contemplates changing location. In the matter of churches Hansboro has one fine edifice with a talented and efficient pastor in charge and another church will be built during the summer. As regards to schools, the Hansboro school building is one of the finest in the county and this part of the state. The building was completed last year at the cost of $12,000 and is modern in every respect in matter of ventilation and heat. Four rooms are now operated under the best teachers that can be procured. It is operated under what is termed the consolidated plan, i.e., a number of school districts were consolidated for the support of the one good school. The out of town pupils are taken to and from school daily by comfortable rigs provided and used exclusively for that purpose. Hansboro has several up-to-date stores and business places and the people from many miles around come to this town to take advantage of the many bargains offered by our merchants. The merchants are progressive and public spirited and invite competition from either outside towns or the mail order houses, asserting that they will not only meet the prices of these outside concerns, but will go it one better. What Hansboro has: Hotel Livery Stable Blacksmith and machine shop Two contractors and builders Post office Two banks Tin shop Drug store Confectionery store Millinery store Newspaper and job printing plant Two pool halls Opera house Lumber yards Three hardware stores Three machinery firms Four coal yards Barber shop Laundry Two general stores Meat market $6,000 Church $12,000 School house Furniture store Two dray lines Physician and surgeon There are numerous lines which are still open and not overdone, a few of which are enumerated below: Restaurant Lawyer Dentist Flour mill Tow mill Cement block works Brick yard Hotel Carpenters Masons Laborers And a few hundred more of the best people on earth. If you are interested and want to change location to one of the best towns in the country, where by the investment of a few hundred dollars you can make a comfortable living by engaging in some business in the town, by all means come to Hansboro. WHAT NORTH DAKOTA HAS TO OFFER TO THE HOMESEEKER A Concise Statement of Facts of More than Passing Interest to Homeseekers All of our leading citizens recognize the purpose of the annual meeting and the importance they are to the people of the state. You are here to teach your fellow man what you already know and are putting into practice. The resultant benefits are well understood and appreciated. It is the farms of others was well as your own that you are seeking to bring to that state of cultivation and that will make them equal if not superior to the farms of other states. It is sometimes difficult to overcome ancient prejudices but today the spirit of progress and enterprise, growth and development is stirring the souls, thrilling the hearts and electrifying the minds of the American people. In all this vast era, where the manifestation of the nation's genius and greatness is amazing the world, no part of it is more willing or more capable of contributing, even beyond its proportionate share to the national glory - intellectually, morally and materially - than the great and rapidly growing state of North Dakota. Farmers Have A Duty While comparatively new and its resources only partly developed, it yet possesses a people that are keen, resourceful and indomitable, North Dakota is forging fast ahead and is destined to take its place at the head of the column of progressive states. In all this great northwest no state is prouder of its gallant and glorious past or more certain of its brilliant future. Its soil is productive, its variety of product matchless and its mineral wealth marvelous. It rests with men like you to stir the hearts and fire the minds of the people to greater exertions, greater efforts and nobler achievements. It is with you to aid and assist our people with these great changes and to encourage them to still greater efforts. With its great developed resources making it possible for the pursuit of almost every line of industry known to the civilized world, with an unlimited market for its products, made possible through increased railroad facilities and a promised waterway in the near future, affording a still greater outlet, North Dakota offers a multitude of advantages for commercial enterprise and is destined to expand and become of greater importance each year. Within its broad expanse of over seventy million of acres there is found every variety of soil from the rich and fertile valleys to the huge buttes where lignite coal is found in abundance. Its mineral resources have not yet been developed, but await the delving pick of the miner. There are vast beds of brick and pottery clays which rest only to be brought forth by the hand of enterprise. No state offers more or better opportunities for the industrial homeseeker or careful investor than the state of North Dakota. Resources of the State When the Creator made North Dakota, he made it great and stocked it with strong points; made it a veritable store house of good things wherein could be found in abundance everything conducive to the health and comfort of man and beast. There are twenty-five thousand square miles of lignite coal; hundreds of acres underlaid with clay for the manufacturing of brick; tons and tons of material for the construction of homes and buildings. Scratch the soil and the finest crops spring up; thrust a shrub in the earth and it bears fruit; dig into the side of the hills and they yield up their stores of that which makes home comfortable during the long winter months; turn loose your cattle upon the broad prairie and they fatten up on the nutritious native grasses. In the western part of the state the farmers go out with their mowers in the summer time and cut tons upon tons of excellent native hay. Nature intended North Dakota for a great stock center. Where do you find better cattle, horses, sheep or hogs? Where is there a region better adopted for dairy purposes? We know all these things and appreciate them and it is with a glow of satisfaction that we repeat them and we sometimes wonder why the people of other states do not come, see and partake of the good things which we North Dakotans have to offer them. But the people of other states are beginning to learn of these facts, are acquiring knowledge of our treasures and are making preparations to come and enjoy with us the good things which the Almighty has provided. Investors and homeseekers are becoming acquainted with these facts and are coming on almost every train that crosses the North Dakota line. Importance of Forestry to the Prosperity of North Dakota By Governor John Burke North Dakota is first, and above everything else, an agricultural state. Farming is no longer an experiment in any part of the state. It is an assured and successful fact. The early pioneers came here with but little money. It was necessary for them to raise products that would bring quick returns and because of this they engaged in wheat farming and kept raising wheat until they discovered that their rich soil would not produce the same wheat crops that it did when it was first broken. This set our farmers to thinking and they concluded that if they were to continue farming, it would be necessary for them to diversify. The began experimenting with cattle and horses, timothy and clover and creameries and they soon learned that they could raise about anything in this state that could be raised anywhere else and began diversifying and sowing the land to tame grass. The grass root would in a little while restore in the soil the quality that produces wheat. Upon the question of diversified farming, the farmers of this state are wide-awake and united. They hold farmers' institutes where men, learned in agriculture, deliver lectures on how to preserve the fertility of the soil, the best modern system of rotation of crops, dairying and stock raising. The farmers take great interest in those institutes, and North Dakota is today an agricultural state of diversified farming. Considering, however, the great influence of trees and forests in conserving the moisture, we have not paid enough attention to tree culture in this state. However, a movement is under way to establish a national forest reserve in the territory known as the "Bad Lands". This is a large strip of territory running through the western part of the state into South Dakota. There was at one time a dense growth of cedar and pine and other timber along the Little Missouri River which flows through this territory. There is still a great deal of timber there. If the government should make it a national forest reserve and replant the portions that have been denuded of timber, it would, in a little while, be invaluable to the state I breaking the hot winds, in producing and conserving moisture in the country, and at the same time it would be an incentive to every farmer to plant a grove of trees on his farm, so that in a few years the prairies of North Dakota would be dotted with artificial groves and forests, serving as wind breaks, producing rain falls, conserving the moisture and making the state one of the most prosperous in the nation. GOV. JOHN BURKE'S SPEECH At the Waterways Convention at Memphis, Tennessee The following, taken from the Commercial Appeal, published at Memphis, Tennessee, gives Governor Burke's speech in detail delivered at the Waterways Convention which is said to be one of the greatest gatherings in the history of the South. The speech is well worth perusal, as it was one of the best delivered there, and a good send-off for North Dakota. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am very glad that the president called your attention to the fact that North Dakota is on the map. I have been profoundly impressed on my trip down the Mississippi River with the different governors with the information I have received from them in reference to the growth and development of the states of the Mississippi valley. I have learned from them some wonderful things. We have some big men and women in North Dakota, but speaking about giants, every man, woman and child that I have seen on this trip is a fourteen footer from the gulf to the lakes. I thought possibly on this trip that I would learn some new geography, too, because I heard the distinguished governor from Illinois talking about the great states of Aurora, Peoria, Chicago and Illinois and when he was making his speech before this convention last evening when he waved his magic wand and drew a picture of the growth of the great city of Chicago, it seemed to me that I could see it creeping out and out, farther and farther down the Mississippi until it finally reached one of its tentacles across the Mississippi River and swallowed the great city of St. Louis. And then I wonder as I gazed upon that picture what was to become of the great state of Illinois and was it to be swallowed up, too and it ought what a pity it was to lose such a splendid agricultural country in the building of a city. On this trip I have heard Governor Folk talk about Missouri and you heard him yesterday afternoon tell about the great storehouses of wealth to be found in that great commonwealth. I have heard Governor Hoch of Kansas tell about the great prosperity and growth of his state, and Governor Sheldon of Nebraska and I have heard Gov. Cummins of Iowa say that Iowa was the greatest state in the Union. Well, my friends, Iowa is not my home, Illinois is not my home, Missouri and Kansas and these other states, I do not claim any of them as home, but they are a part of my country and I rejoice with them in the glory of their achievements. I do not know anything about the great emigration from Iowa into Illinois that Governor Deneen talked about, but I know about the great emigration from Illinois and from Iowa and from Missouri and from Kansas and Nebraska into North Dakota. And I take it that it must conclusively follow that North Dakota must be the best state, or else they would stay home and you know it. Now, my friends, upon this subject of the benefit of the deep waterways to the northwest: I want you to understand me here and now that, even if it were not for the benefit of the Northwest, if it is for the benefit of my country, I am in favor of it. And it will be a great benefit to our country. THE HEAT OF OUR WINTER Up in North Dakota where I live, the Northwest is 'way up in Canada and 'way up in Canada, North Dakota is 'way down south. I was in a customs office on the border between North Dakota and Manitoba some time ago, when a gentleman reporting in, remarked to the custom official, "I have traveled around a great deal but this is the furthest south I have ever been in my life before." He returned the following day. Possibly he feared that he could not endure the heat of our winters. I mention this simply to call your attention to what Governor Cummins said last night in his speech about the great Mississippi valley being the richest grain country in the entire world. I mention this to call your attention to the fact that north and west of us lies a great agricultural country with which we are now competing in the markets of the world. A country which, unlike ours, has no great natural highway except by Hudson's Bay, the outlet to which is too near the north pole to be visible to be feasible. And, my friends, a country which can never compete with ours so long as our transportation is governed by lake and river commerce. We already have railroad connections with the lakes at Duluth and the great railroad centers, St. Paul and Minneapolis, but in an agricultural country, in the fall of the year, after the crop is taken off, the frugal farmer wants to put the land in condition for the next year's crop, and while he is doing that and before he is ready to market his grain, navigation on the Great Lakes is closed and so he does not get the benefit of the lake navigation, but with this deep waterway from Chicago to the gulf, why, that channel could be kept open, the narrow channel by the movement of the boats and because it is farther south it could be kept open and would be a great benefit to the people of the Northwest. Now, my friends, it is not true that every governor who has appeared before you, that every speaker who has appeared before you, even the President of the United States, has told you that the railroads of this country could no longer handle the business of the country? Now, what is the reason? Why, the reason is plain: Our growth and our development, our commercial, our agricultural, and commercial industries, have developed faster than the railroads. What are we to do in the premises? Which one of you are willing to see the great commercial industries of this country stand still until the railroads catch up? Why, I do not know, my friends. We have been growing and developing so fast in our state that we have had little time for considering projects of this kind. But you, my Missouri friends, do you think that the Missourians who have come to North Dakota - you, my friends - do you think that the men from Illinois and Iowa and from Kansas and Nebraska who have come alone upon prairies with no friends but their hands and no capital but their labor, have made it to blossom as the rose, do you believe that those men are willing that the great industries of the state shall stand still until railroad development overtakes the developments in our line? No, my friends, I do not believe that the patriotic people of this country, when they thoroughly understand what this movement means, will stand in the way of the accomplishment of your designs. I believe that the Yankee genius and the yankee push will solve the problem and I believe that the patriotism of the American people will give them the opportunity. I do not know just where the Northwest begins from Memphis, so I hardly know where to commence talking about the Northwest; but if that term includes the great state of Iowa, bounded upon one side by the Mississippi and upon the other by the mighty Missouri, surely no argument is necessary to convince any one the advantages it would be to her commercially to have those rivers navigated. And then, again, another difficulty might be solved, because if improvements on the Missouri River were such as to keep old Missouri in bounds, then the electors on election day would know on its boundary whether they were in Iowa voting for Cummings or in Nebraska voting for Bryan. There is one river that we have that does not appear on the map, in fact, that is true of a good many of the rivers of North Dakota. Why, we have a river that flows down from Canada some sixty or seventy miles and then, apparently disgusted with the neglect and the indifference of the American people, it turns around and flows back into Canada. RED RIVER VALLEY EASILIY FIXED Then we have the great Red River of the North. It does not look very big upon the map, it is there, but I have seen it twenty miles wide. It thaws out in the spring of the year at the southern end and then the waters start to flow north and it runs out over the top of the ice and out over the country and because the banks are higher than the surrounding country there is the Red River Valley sometimes submerged in water. Very little expense would turn the Red River of the North into the Minnesota River and down into the Mississippi and thus give us a waterway from North Dakota down to New Orleans. And again, a very little labor and expense would turn the Red Lake River that joins the Red River at Grand Forks into a chain of lakes that would connect us with the great shipping points at Duluth. NORTH DAKOTA'S MIGHTY RIVER In North Dakota we have a mighty river - the Missouri - of course, we are interested in the Missouri River but we up in North Dakota understand that if we are to have river improvement we can only get it by a broad, comprehensive, liberal, unselfish policy, not in the interest of any stream, not in the interest of any state, but in the interest of the navigation and the transportation problem of the nation. We understand that, but if we could have some little improvement on the Missouri River for local traffic, at the present. The Missouri River is a sand stream worse than the Mississippi and the result is that there is a bank on one side and a sandbar on the other. You cannot land your boat on the sandbar, you dare to land opposite the bank because the bank is sand and is liable to fall over on your boat and sink it. And so, if the United States government could spare from this great project that you have in hand here, an appropriation to fix us some permanent shipping and terminal points we would be satisfied for the present. Of course, we want the Missouri improvement, but we are willing, if it is in the interest of the nation, that the improvement of the Missouri River should begin at New Orleans, and then as far north as we can possibly need it. I do not know what depth of a channel may be necessary. I know nothing about that; it is a question of engineering, but I want to see the channel deepened so that the ocean liners can go to Chicago and taken the products of the Mississippi valley down the Mississippi and on to the markets of the world. And if it will take a fourteen foot channel to do that, then I am in favor of the fourteen foot channel. Now, my friends, the Northwest cannot wait long of the completion of this project. We cannot stop raising wheat and oats and corn and other cereals. We cannot let our coal be in the hills longer. We will not wait long for the completion of this project. North Dakota is the only state in the Union that has today a farmers' railroad from the northern boundary of North Dakota down through the very heart of the greatest grain growing country in the work, to Galveston and to the sea. For myself, I believe that the country is big enough and great enough and rich enough to maintain and to operate both routes, and the operation of both would insure cheap transportation over each. NORTH DAKOTA'S PROSPERITY I have said little about the material growth and prosperity of my own state. If I do so it is not because I want to be boastful, but because I am actuated simply by the purpose of trying to show you how necessary it is for us to have transportation that will take out to the markets of the world the products that we produce to bring us the necessities that we require. We produce a much in our state that we do not need, and that must seek a market outside the state and we need so much that we do not produce that we must have shipped in from outside the state. Oh, they will say we are too progressive to want to have it come by water than not at all. Why my friends my experience with local freight at least is a good deal like the system that a postmaster had who we appointed in a new position recently established. The patrons had not been receiving any mail and so there was a report sent in to the post office department and an inspector was sent there and he said to the post master: "The people are complaining about not getting any mail. Is it true that no mail comes here?" "Oh no. There is lots of mail comes here. There it is in that sack over there, but the sack is not half full yet." Now, that has been my experience with local freight and if we have got to wait until the sack is full it might just as well come by water. LASTING IMPLEMENTS NECESSARY Now, as to the improvements, my friends, which are to be made. I believe that if any improvements are to be made that is should be improvements which are permanent and lasting. As we came down the Mississippi River I notice where the government had made some improvements, the water had washed them out and there was no longer anything there to tell of the work that had been done. I am not in favor of that kind of improvement. I do not believe that my people would be in favor of that kind of improvement, but they would want improvements that would last as long as we need it. Like the fellow said to his wife. When the first baby was born they bought a baby buggy and after they had raised some ten or twelve children the mother came to him one day and said, "Father, we must have a new baby buggy." And he said, "All right. I knew that wasn't a good one when you got it. Here is some money. Go and get one now that will last as long as we need it." Now that is the kind of improvement that I want to see on the Mississippi. I want to see the members of congress make an appropriation and give it to the Deep Waterways commission and say to them: "Make improvements on that river that will last as long as we need them." I have said that I had said nothing much about the prosperity and growth of North Dakota. The fact that there is such an emigration from these states represented by these distinguished gentlemen to whom I have called attention ought to be proof positive of our material growth and prosperity. But if you go with me into North Dakota you would see a sea of golden grain bowing and nodding you a welcome as it waved in the glorious sunshine of a perfect day. I can show you the most comprehensive and best educational system or at least as good as any educational system in the country. The president spoke about conserving the forests of the land. Twenty years ago in our constitutional convention we made provisions for the preservation of what we had and the planting of more by the establishing of a school of forestry in our state, the only one in the nation. OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS In addition to that, we have our agricultural college. It is impossible to escape an education in our state. We have a great university, an agricultural college, a school for the deaf and dumb, a school for the blind, a school for the feeble minded, a school for manual training, two great normal schools, a school for science and a reform school. So you will see that we have educational institutions for all kinds of people, and, if the distinguished gentlemen from Iowa and Illinois appear I would only tell them to send their people along, we have got room for them and we have educational institutions for all kinds of people that they have in their states. If you would go with me across the Missouri River, I would show you the farmers shoveling coal out of the side of the hill into their wagons; I would show you great mountains of the finest clay in the world to make pottery and pressed brick; I could take you up into the Pembina Mountains and show you there our great cement mines. There is another side to this. It has been said that the great railway lines in this country run east and west and that the traffic has always been east and west and it always will be. It always has been, but it need not necessarily always be. One of the great difficulties with transportation today lies in the fact that these great lines do run east and west and because of this, there is a great congestion in the eastern and central terminals that stops business and can only be relieved by turning a goodly portion of the traffic south. If it can be done, is there any reason why it should not be done? This is our country just as much as the New York coast, New Orleans and St. Louis and Memphis are in our country and they should be our commercial centers just as much as the great terminals in the east. And then there is another side to it yet. All the governors who have come down the Mississippi River perhaps have thought of it. Heretofore, we have stayed at home too much. I believe that every governor who came down the Mississippi will be benefited by the trip and be broadened and always be a broader and a more liberal and a better man on account of it. And if it has that influence upon us, don't you think that it would be better for you down here in the south to get better acquainted with us up north? After you do you will find that we are not such bad fellows after all. And I would like to see the time come when the great Mississippi River and the Missouri River might be a means of communication between the people of the south. I would like to see the time come when the commercial and fraternal relations which grow out of the traffic which is to come between the people of the north and the people of the south will obliterate all state lines and when we will be in fact one country, one nation, one people, under one flag, now and for all time. BACK TO THE FARM Agriculture, in some of its phases, appeals to the young man of brain and muscle in a way at once attractive and full of promise of health, with plenty all along the way and a more than probable competency by the time he reaches middle life. The era in which the boy, disgusted with what was called "farming" hastened to leave the farm as soon as he was old enough and engage for a living in anything that was offered about town, has passed or is rapidly passing in many of the states that have become prosperous through agriculture. For this change and the wholesome spirit that it has wrought, the national department of agriculture, working through agricultural experiments and schools, is largely responsible. Under the old regime, the farmer's boy was thought to be sufficiently education if he had spent three months of the year in the district school between the ages of 8 and 14 years, under the present regime, the farmer's boy, if he is to become a farmer, needs and gets special training in the state agricultural college. Passing thence, after a course of four years, he is able to overcome handicaps of soil and climate, to make profitable dairying, fruit growing, stock raising, sheep husbandry, grain farming or whatever branch of growing things in which he specializes with its by-products. Moreover, he is able to enjoy and does enjoy his work not infrequently becoming an enthusiast in a certain line, and an authority widely quoted among men of the same vocation. The North Dakota agricultural college is doing a work that will be widely felt in the next decade, a work that has, indeed, already been evident in the advance made in stock raising and the rotation of crops, that for many years and up to the past few years, relatively speaking, were left to the haphazard methods of the former era. Experimental work along these and other lines is made extremely interesting to students and the results are very gratifying. It is said that about eighty percent of the students of the Iowa agricultural college go back to the farms after graduation - not to sink themselves in the soil that they may wring a bare living from it as did their ancestors there and elsewhere, but to rise above it through knowing how to make it pay. The more we have of this "return to the farm" by young men and young women educated in our agricultural colleges the better for the state and the nation. So generous is the soil of North Dakota that only intelligent effort properly applied is necessary to make our cultivated fields redouble their abundance and turn thousands of acres of waste places into fields of green and gold. We want more people of the farming class; we want more farmers' sons to take the agricultural course in the state agricultural college and more farmers' boys to stick to the farm, except when they leave it for instruction in their vocation and more graduates to return to the farm - not necessarily the old farm, but to farming, in order that North Dakota may maintain her place at the head of the agricultural states of the great northwest. FRUIT RAISING IN NORTH DAKOTA It would be interesting to know the number of farmers in the northwest who grow enough of the various small fruit to supply their own families, also the proportion who fail to do so. If small fruit could not be grown, its absence on the farm would afford room for neither surprise or concern. If great, great difficulty was found in growing them, or if they could be grown with only partial success then the condition would not be surprising. The truth is, there is not a farm in the northwest on which small fruit can not be grown in abundance and without any great effort. Among the small fruits every farmer should grow may be mentioned, strawberries, red raspberries and currants. There are also many native fruits which are very valuable. Apples and plums should and could also be grown. The fruit should be provided with a shelter belt. It is not necessary to defer the planting of the fruit until the wind break has any great start as the wind break will grow the most rapidly. Protection should be given on at least two sides, those sides from which the prevailing winds come during the summer. THE COOPERATIVE METHOD A Few Reasons Why the Farmers Should Adopt It. A Plan That Will Work Both Ways. The organized capitalists such as the International Harvester Co., use the cooperation method of regulating the price of machinery, they eliminate competition entirely and prohibit overstocking the market with their goods. They are in a position to set the price on their manufactured articles and demand it, and who pays them their price? The farmer. We say the farmer because he consumes 90 percent of the manufactured goods sold on the market by the International Harvester Company. Few people are aware of the far reaching resources of this gigantic trust, which was organized in 1902. There were at that time about ten separate companies engaged in the manufacturing of farming machinery. At that time and effort was made to consolidate them. The effort was finally successful and eight of the constituent companies went into the international Harvester Company trust which was organized under the laws of the state of New Jersey, with a capital of $120,000,00 about the same time there was organized the International Harvester Company of America with a capital of $1,000,000 under the laws of the state of Wisconsin by the same men. The stock of the smaller company being held by the large one. It was clearly the purpose of this combination to evade the federal law by having the manufacturing company organized under the laws of one state and distributing or selling company organized under the laws of another state. At the time this monopoly was created, the average price of a self binder to a farmer in this part of the state was from $90 to $105. Today the machine costs the farmer from $125 to $145 and we understand the monopoly is to put the price up to about $150 for an eight foot binder the present year. The International Harvester Company obtained control and a monopoly over most ingredients entering into the manufacture of binding twine and that is not all, monopoly of the harness business and the control over several manufacturing establishments devoted to the making of gasoline engines, cream separators, as well as other necessary articles that the farmer must buy. All these articles are advanced in keeping with the price that the trust has put on its Harvesting Machinery. In North Dakota we produce over $100,000,000 worth of grain every year. The farmers are obliged to purchase nearly 10,000 binders every year and with the advance in price for binders since 1902 from $90 to $125 and $145, it can easily be calculated the amount of tribute that the farmers must pay to this monopoly. It is the purpose of the International Harvester Company to secure control of every implement the farmer will have to buy to carry on his business, including wagons, buggies and plows. Mr. Farmer, is it not reasonable to suppose that if organization to cooperate will work so satisfactorily for the International Harvester Company, it can be made to work for your interest if you will do as the monopoly has done, organize and stick together. It will cost the farmer a small fraction to become organized compared to what it cost the International Harvester Company and the capital of the International Harvester Company is but a drop in the bucket compared to the power and wealth in the hands of the farmer, if they will cooperate. RAMSEY COUNTY A Summarized Enumeration of the Advancement and Development Made in this County in the Last Quarter of a Century Ramsey County was in 1881 Indian country, opened in 1882 to the homeseeker. Today it is covered with magnificent farms, villages and cities. It is almost beyond belief that such progress has been made in such a short time. Ramsey County was organized in 1883, and on January 25 of that year the board of commissioners, composed of D.W. Ensign, E.V. Barton and T.C. Saunders, held their first meeting. That it is in truth the garden spot of North Dakota needs but a day's drive over the country around the beautiful to see varied crops, the browsing cattle, the fine dwellings, the large farm buildings, the school houses and the churches to verify. Extending along the southern boundary for forty miles is that beautiful body of water known as Devils Lake, which has many beautiful bays and timber-lined shores. Through the center of the county is a series of fresh water lakes and coulees, the home of the wild goose. The hunter's paradise. Real estate in Ramsey County is quite rapidly increasing in value, but is not at all commensurate with the income of the soil. Diversified farming is the order of the day, as it has been found that the variety of product that can be raised is unlimited. The use of the steam traction and the gang plow, the large wheat drill, the wide harrow, the self binder, the header and the self-feeding threshing rig are used to perfection. Wheat is the great staple, but barley, oats, speltz, flax and all kinds of vegetables are grown. Creameries are located at Devils Lake, Penn, Churches Ferry, Starkweather, Lawton and Crary and mostly operated on the cooperative plan by resident farmers. The Great Northern main line to the Pacific coast runs through Ramsey County from east to west, with a branch from Lakota which runs north to Brocket, Lawton, Edmore and Hamden all Ramsey County towns. From Devils Lake the Farmers' railroad runs north through the county touching Sweetwater, Webster, Starkweather, Garske and Newville, thence into Cavalier and Towner Counties through Olmstead, Crocus, Rock Lake, Ellsbury and Hansboro, which is located near the Canadian border. The climate is healthful and many of the diseases from which men and animals suffer are unknown here. Ramsey County has, besides a high school at Devils Lake, 115 common and graded schools, including several large consolidated schools. There are within the limits of the county thirty-five churches of all denominations and there are no better people on earth. THE CITY OF DEVILS LAKE A Short Rehearsal of the Many Advantages Offered to Prospective Settlers. Its Brilliant Future. Devils Lake is the county seat of Ramsey County, an empire of 735,000 acres of magnificent land for general farming purposes. Its present population is about 3,780 and is increasing rapidly. By the end of another year the population will be over 5,000 if the present rate of increase keeps up, and there is no reason why it should not. The geographical location of Devils Lake is such that its future is assured. Devils Lake is destined to be the chief city in Ramsey County and the section of the state in which it is located. The free land, which make Ramsey County the mecca of the farmer from the east, has all passed away, there being only 200 acres of government land left in the county. The present year will see over $500,000 spent within the city limits in improvements. A government building will be erected this year at a cost of $125,000. The construction of the Aneta branch of the Great Northern has been the means of bringing Devils Lake some forty miles nearer Fargo and the twin cities. A twenty-five stall round house, a $50,000 depot, machine shops the largest in the state and employing 400 men, all show what Mr. J.J. Hill and the Great Northern people think of Devils Lake and further shows their confidence in the future greatness of the city. That the "Soo" officials have a similar opinion of Devils Lake and are making every effort possible to effect an entrance into the city and to run through the country tributary. It is safe to say that within two years other railroad developments will place Devils Lake in a prominent position from a railroad point of view. Watch Devils Lake grow for it is as certain as the sun rises. The Great Northern will put in several miles of additional yards this summer to care for the immense business that centers here. The present receipts are $350,000 a year and will be increased to $500,000 with the improvements now being made. Money and business talk and no city of its size in the state is doing the business that is being done right now in Devils Lake. The bank deposits are close to the million mark, all home money and all made here. The receipts of the post office the past year averaged $1,000 a month or $12,000 for the year. Devils Lake has six elevators with a capacity of 200,000 bushels of grain. It is impossible to find a vacant house or place of business today, though there are over fifty houses in process of construction. The city has a light, water and telephone plant, installed at a cost of $100,000 and would be a credit to a city of 10,000 people. The Great Northern has run a ten-inch pipeline to Freshwater Lake, six miles distant, and the city will be supplied with additional water facilities. This pipeline cost $50,000 and is another proof of the high value the railroads put on Devils Lake as a city where the business is done. Devils Lake is one of the terminals of the Farmers' Grain & Shipping Company, which owns and successfully operates sixty-five miles of railroad to Hansboro, in northern Towner County. This railroad was built by the farmers of Towner and Ramsey Counties and represent an investment of $700,000. It is the only road of its kind in the world and is a standing monument to the enterprise, progressive spirit and faith of the people who put it through. Last year between two and three million bushels of wheat were hauled over the road and thence to the eastern markets. The State School for the Deaf with property valued at $80,000 is also located in Devils Lake. It is an institution which is constantly growing and which in time will be the home of several hundred students. The city contains an excellent hospital, erected at an expenditure of $40,000 and the United States land office for the district is also located here. A government weather bureau has also been established in a building costing $10,000. Devils Lake is also a summer resort of a great number of the people of the state, being connected by rail with the beautiful grounds of the Chautauqua association and the state military reservation. They are only five miles distant and are reached in a ride of twenty minutes. The beauty of these grounds situated on the shores of Devils Lake, which has a shoreline of 300 miles, must be seen to be appreciated, 10,000 people often congregate at a time at this resort to enjoy the bathing, boating and entertainments prepared by the association. The association has an auditorium which seats 4,000 people and which is said to be the fourth largest building of its kind in the United States. The grounds are covered with cottages ranging in cost from $300 to $1,500 each. Devils Lake has one of the finest flour mills in the state. It was built practically by farmers and is operated under their direction. The association has a capital stock of $50,000, half of which has been spent in building and equipping the mill. It has been a success from the start and is turning out flour second to none. A fine plant for manufacturing brick and cement blocks is enjoying a good business, the flour mill, city hall, a two-story business block 50x100 and a number of fine residences being built of their material. The city has miles of sewer and cement walks. Its residence streets are lined on either side by thrifty trees and everywhere are the evidences of prosperity manifest. The city has excellent school and churches, there being five of the latter and the Catholics have just completed a magnificent one at an expense of $45,000. Devils Lake wants more people and will extend a hearty welcome to all seeking new location believing that there are good openings here for many enterprises. There are exceptional opening for wholesale houses, as the territory is ample and the rates a such as to place wholesalers are such as to place wholesalers here on an equal basis with completion further away. The city has a commercial club with a membership of over one hundred and the secretary will be glad to answer any inquiries. ROCK LAKE A Few Reasons Why Homeseekers Can Find No Better Place to Locate Than on the Farmers Line. What Rock Lake Offers Three years ago in Towner County there was a vast stretch of country northeast of Cando which was undeveloped and which was from ten to forty miles from a market. The country was well settled and had many resources which were recognized by the builders of the Farmers railroad (the farmers themselves). In view of these conditions it was considered advisable to extend the railroad from Starkweather, then the terminus of the road, to a point near the Canadian boundary in order to get this business and to help the farmers and the country in general. Accordingly this was done, towns sprang up as if by magic, and all this vast territory of rich farmers and lands was put on a par with the more fortunate towns at that time in the western part of the county which had railroad facilities and which at that time were getting all the trade from this territory. Realizing the opportunities offered, tradesmen of all professions and business flocked to these new towns and in the course of a few months nearly every line of business was represented. It is a remarkable fact that in nearly every case the different lines represented were put on a paying basis at once and have so continued from that date to this. There are still some openings left for enterprising men and women in the different towns, and to such the Pioneer wishes to say, come and look the situations over and decide for yourself; we know if you will do this that you will stay and be one of us, for there is no country under the face of the sun where a person with a limited capital can do so well and make money faster than in Towner County, North Dakota. The village of Rock Lake, North Dakota (population 250), is located on the Farmers' Railroad in Towner County, sixteen miles south of the Canadian line. It is within five miles of the geographical center of the county, situate on the banks of Rock Lake. This village is noted for its hospitality and industry. It is a beautiful, well built town, neither too large nor too small, and is located on a lake which is likewise neither too large nor too small for boating, fishing and pleasurable purposes. This lake is fifteen miles long, varies in width from 300 feet to one-half mile. It is a fresh water lake, contains in season pike, pickerel and a few other varieties of fish - is the sportsman's' paradise in the hunting season. This body of water also affords recreation and diversion to the denizens of Rock Lake, and is utilized as well for stockwater, bathing, boating and a host of other purposes. The land around this body of water is of the richest kind, laying level and in some places slightly rolling, just enough sand in the soil to make it nicely tillable. The products grown on this land consists of wheat, oats, barley, flax, alfalfa, brome grass, corn, potatoes of the finest and a large variety of vegetables. Back to the village, we will say that it contains four large elevators, splendid depot, section house, two general stores, two hardware stores, two lumber yards, three farm machinery establishments, one twenty-one room hotel, one thirteen room hotel with large livery barn attached, one large stone livery and sale stable (the largest in the county), one newspaper and job office, one drug store, one barber shop, two photograph galleries, one restaurant, one M.E. Church, one school, post office, one pool hall and soft drinks establishment, one large blacksmith shop and a wood shop. The village is incorporated and is ably financed; not owing a dollar in the world. As we said before, the Rock Lake people are quite hospitable and perfectly civil in every way. They are fond of amusements and never fail to turn out to a show or a ball game. They also like horse racing, boat racing, foot racing and many other kinds of amusements in the summer time. It is true of both town and country that there are no very poor nor very rich people in either. By industry and frugality, and through the graces of a smiling fortune, they manage to live comfortably and keep a few dollars ahead for a rainy day. Health - Ah! Here is where the Rock Lake country shines. There is no healthier country under God's canopy, as there are no local causes for sickness. The people, old and young, are uniformly robust and wherever you see an assemblage this fact is noticeable. The village of Rock Lake is now two and one-half years old and has not yet started a grave yard. A thrifty man can get land here almost on his own terms. There are several ways to get hold of a good farm. The first way is to rent it on shares, or buy it on the crop payment plan, or buy it from the state, one-fifth cash and balance on twenty years time at 6 percent. Tributary to the Farmers Railway are 300,000 acres of land subject to purchase all of which is yet new and unturned. A parting word to the man of small means, to the young man whose muscle is his capital, to the renter or the man who farms on shares as well as the man of means, we desire to say, come to North Dakota - you will find your chances for success multiplied over anything you have ever experienced elsewhere. There is no land left in this section subject to homestead, but it is only necessary that you have a little money and the ability to work and push things along. Energy counts about double in this country. VILLAGE OF BISBEE The Most Flourishing Town in Towner County It is situated in section one, Township 159, Range sixty-eight west, Towner County. It was named after Col. Bisbee, one of the first settlers of Towner County who at one time represented this county in the State Senate. The town was first started when the Great Northern built a branch from Churchs Ferry to St. John and a few settlers came to the vicinity of Bisbee at that time. Its principal growth dates from 1897 when a large number of settlers came from other states and practically all the remaining government land open to entry was taken up at that time. Since then the town as well as the surrounding country has enjoyed a steady and continuous growth as is plainly shown by the appearance of the town and the comfortable farm buildings with which the vicinity of Bisbee is dotted. During the last few years the wheat line of the Soo Railroad from Thief River Falls to Kenmare has been built through Bisbee while the branch of the Great Northern has been extended to Brandon, Manitoba, which gives Bisbee better railroad facilities than any other town in this part of the state and for this reason it offers some of the best opportunities for the location of industries of various kind. Bisbee is located in the heart of the best agricultural district of the state while stock raising and dairying is also being carried on extensively. The soil is a rich black loam with clay subsoil and is as productive as any can be found. The Bisbee school building is a model structure and is equipped with up-to-date fixtures as well as a library. The school is under the supervision of Prof. R.T. Muir, assisted by an able corps of teachers and the educational facilities of Bisbee are as good as that of any town of its size in the state. Bisbee has a population of nearly 600 and as business port it has few equals in this part of the state, its businesses having an immense trade. Bisbee has nine grain elevators, a number of general merchandise stores, agricultural implement houses and hotels. Among the latter, the Columbia Hotel deserves special mention, it being one of the best hotels between Grand Forks and Minot. It is heated with steam and lighted with acetylene gas and offers the best kind of accommodations for the traveling public. The Catholic, Presbyterian and Norwegian Lutheran denominations all have good churches here. Bisbee has two banks with a combined capital and surplus of over $40,000. Bisbee has some of the best stores in the state and among them may be mentioned the S. J. Ley Department Store, the general stores of C.H. Olson & Co., I.A. Hendrickson & Co., J.K. Aanes as well as the hardware stores of the Schmidt-Hanson & Co. and I.J. Leonard. It pays to do your trading at Bisbee as the merchants carry a large and well assorted stock of goods and you will find them anxious to please. You will feel more at home in Bisbee than at any other place and the motto of the businessmen of Bisbee is "A square deal to all." Bisbee has a splendid hall and opera house, the second story of which is used for lodge rooms. The hall has a large seating capacity. On account of its large hall and excellent hotel and railroad facilities, Bisbee is one of the best places for public gatherings of every kind. The fraternities are also well represented in Bisbee, the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen and Maccabees, with their kindred ladies' societies, all have flourishing organizations here. Two physicians, being Dr. A. Ottedal and Dr. A.W. Swenson, both of whom enjoy a large practice are located in Bisbee, while Burgess & Wold, successors to E.P. Eiment, have one of the most complete and handsome drug stores in this part of the state. The Bisbee Gazette, a weekly newspaper, is published at Bisbee, Mr. J.M. Gores being the publisher. The paper has a large circulation and is well supported by the business men of the city. Bisbee also has an active Commercial Club with a membership composed of at least forty of the business men of the town and it is accomplishing a great deal of good for the town and surrounding country. The country tributary to Bisbee is gently rolling, the soil being excellent and highly productive. There is still room for a large number of settlers and land can be purchased at prices ranging from $20 to $30 per acre. Bisbee has a number of active real estate dealers among them being The Haskamp-Thien Land Company, S.A. Eastling and Houska & McFarlane, the latter firm being also practicing attorneys. Among the farmers around Bisbee who have resided in this vicinity for some time and who can show substantial evidences of the productiveness of the soil may be mentioned the following: John Kelly, Theo. Gores, Paul Krick, George Klier, George Gerard, Andrew Gerrard, P.J. Wibe, Chris Moen, Martin Wibe, Ole Lien, E.T. Oakland, Lars Berg, Martin Nelson, John Halling, John Anderson and scores of others who can be referred to and who will substantiate what has been said in these columns. What Bisbee still needs is: Flouring Mill Brickyard Tow Mill An more actual settlers to purchase some of the land which is now being held by non-residents or parties not actively engaged in farming. The farmer in the east who has boys growing up for whom he wishes to provide a piece of land for them to settle down on will find some of the best opportunities offered in the vicinity of Bisbee. SOME BUSINESS FIRMS HASKAMP-THIEN LAND CO. This is a corporation with a paid up capital of $60,000 and the company deals extensively in farm lands and town lots. Mr. Henry Thien who has resided here since 1897, was formerly cashier of the Bank of America and secretary and treasurer of the Haskamp-Thien Co., which company operated the largest lumber yard and hardware store in the state. All of these interests have been disposed of and he now devotes his entire attention to the real estate business as secretary and treasurer of the above company. S.A. EASTLING Who is also actively engaged in the real estate business came here six years ago after a residence of seventeen years in Slayton, Minnesota. Before settling in Bisbee he traveled extensively in this country and Canada but became convinced that Bisbee offered better opportunities than any other locality which he had investigated. Mr. Eastling is a self made man, a hard and energetic worker and his success is entirely due to his own efforts. SCHMIDT-HANSON CO. Of which company Wm. J. Schmidt and S.H Hanson are the owners came here in the spring of 1907, succeeding to the hardware business of The Haskamp Thien Co. They are young men who are experts in their line. The firm just recently completed a large contract for a steam heating plant in Kenmare. They carry a complete stock of hardware and a customer is assured of good treatment by dealing with them. S.J. LEY DEPARTMENT STORE S.J. Ley came from Stearns County, Minnesota, (where he was born and raised) to Bisbee, North Dakota in the spring of 1898 and engaged in the general mercantile business with H.J. Haskamp taking an active part in the management of the business up until the spring of 1906 when Mr. Ley bought Mr. Haskamp's interest in the business, which through careful management and careful attention has grown to be one of the largest businesses of its kind in the Village of Bisbee. His sales last year were $40,000 and doing a credit business, though a panic last fall collected over seventy-five percent of his outstanding accounts. This goes to show that Bisbee and vicinity is made up of good industrious, substantial people, with whom it is a pleasure to transact business. STATE BANK OF AMERICA The State Bank of America was organized last fall to buy out the old Bank of America owned by the Haskamp-Thien Co. The new organization simply bought the building, fixtures and good will of the old institution and organized a new bank increasing the capital from $5,000 to $12,500 with the intention of increasing the capital again on the first of January 1909 to $20,000 or $25,000, if necessary. C.J. Lord is president, G.H. Condy is vice president, C.F. Nelson is cashier, C.R. Shipman is assistant cashier. The new bank is meeting with the success which its able management deserves. Its chief aim is to handle all business entrusted to it in such a manner as to make it a pleasure to deal there. VILLAGE OF PERTH A Few Facts Concerning the Flourishing and Prosperous Village Perth is located in the northwestern part of the county in one of the most fertile districts imaginable. There is no town in the state where the businessmen pull together better for the best interests of the town and surrounding country than that of Perth. The country surrounding is well settled by prosperous farmers and the territory from which trade is drawn by the merchants of this busy little town is embraced in a circle of about fifteen miles in diameter. The town is situated in an excellent location, insuring good drainage and plenty of good water within a short depth is proof against the outbreak of diseases. Among the businesses represented in Perth are: two banks, three generals stores, barber shop, drug store, hardware store, machinery stores, grocery and confectionery store, feed mill, grain elevators, two blacksmith shops, livery stable, pool hall, opera house, hotel, lumber yard, meat market and real estate offices. The city is the home of several of the prominent men of the county, among them being the Hon. Sam Adams, Hon. Ketil Stensrud, John E. Nelson, Walter Viel, John Mullett (the genial post master) and R.G. Mosher. There is considerable state, school and private land in the vicinity of Perth which can be purchased at a very reasonable figure, the prices ranging from $18 to $40 per acre according to location and improvements. Perth has long since passed the Pioneer stage of existence and an excellent graded school under the charge of competent teachers assures the younger generation an excellent start on the road to an education. There are several churches to supply the spiritual comfort to the religiously inclined and the "homeseeker" will look a considerable time before they will find a nicer town to settle in than Perth, Towner County, North Dakota. Write to either of the above named real estate men for further particulars. It will pay you. Do it now! CANDO, NORTH DAKOTA The Metropolis of Towner County in the Heart of the "Big Coulee Country" Cando, the county seat of Towner County, North Dakota, is a city of 2,000 inhabitants. It is one of the cleanest and most up-to-date towns in the state and is in the center of one of the best agricultural districts in the entire northwest. The population is made up almost entirely of Americans who hail from nearly every state in the Union. The progressiveness of Cando is evident to anyone who has visited the city. Among the various improvements of a public nature to be noted are the following: an excellent water works system, which supplies the town with pure water for drinking purposes and affords ample protection in case of fire. The water is obtained from two wells so situated as to be free from all contamination. Cando has several miles of granitoid walks and the remaining board walks are fast disappearing to give place to the newer kind. Cando boasts of one of the finest court houses in the state, which is surrounded by attractive and well kept grounds. There are six church edifices in the city being the Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, German Baptist, Catholic and Congregational. All these churches have an active membership, which tends to raise the moral tone of Cando to the position which it occupies. In this connection it might be said that there is no town in the state where there is a more rigid enforcement of the prohibition law than in Cando. There isn't a "blind pig" in the place. The public schools of Cando are of the first order. The high school ranks as a first grade high school and has an able superintendent in the person of H.A. Tewell, while the grammar school maintains the same degree of efficiency. As a primary grain market Cando is unexcelled, having eight large elevators. In addition to this the reconstruction of the Cando Flour Mill is contemplated by Mr. Louis Giere. Among the other civic improvements which might be enumerated are the public library, electric light plant, telephone exchange and creamery. Cando businessmen are organized into an active Commercial Club with seventy-five members, who are constantly looking out for the interest of the town. Under the auspices of the club a band was organized during the winter months and a band park is now being laid out where it is planned to give band concerts once a week during the summer months. The Club fathered one of the best, if not the best, Farmers' Institutes ever held in this state. If there is anything you would like to know about the city of Cando or the openings in business lines, write the secretary of the Commercial Club, Cando, North Dakota. TOWNER COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA The Sportsman's Paradise No other county in the state or territory of the same extent in the United States furnishes a greater variety of game in season than Towner County, North Dakota. The upland, marsh and lake shooting is unexcelled. The unsold school and institution lands (unbroken prairie) make ideal nesting and breeding grounds for the upland game birds, prairie chickens, grouse, curlew, plover, etc. The lakes, sloughs and pounds furnish nesting places for the great variety of waterfowls, ducks, geese, crane, snipe, etc. The shooting season opens September first. At that time the extensive grain fields are all cut, making unlimited feeding grounds for the countless thousands of ducks and geese. After two or three weeks of the open season with the prairie chicken and grouse the sportsman's attention is diverted and directed to the waterfowl; the great variety; the close proximity; the ease of access with little discomforts, making the shooting simply ideal. As to variety it would take an expert to name them, the more numerous of the duck family are the Canvasback, redhead, pintail, widgeon, gadwall, teal, Bluebill, etc. Of the wild geese frequenting our lakes and feeding grounds, there is the large Canada goose; the white or snow goose and several varieties of the brant family. The duck shooting is principally around the shores of the lakes and ponds over decoys and pass shooting. The goose shooting from the latter part of September until late in November cannot be excelled. Sportsmen from all over the United States visit our county to participate in the fall shooting. Strict laws govern the shooting and protection of all game and fish in the state. No shooting is allowed before sunrise, or after sunset. No sink boxes or floating batteries can be used, the laws also govern the bag limit, etc. The abundance of game and healthful climate has been an important factor in the settling up of our state and country by a sturdy, intelligent and high class of farmers, business and professional men. And the half is not yet told. After the spring work is done, the farmer, the merchant and others with their families hie away to the lakes for their summer outing. In the shade of the trees surrounding the beautiful lakes within a few hours drive of the village of Hansboro. The ladies and children participate in the boating, fishing and bathing, gather wild flowers, wild strawberries, etc. The principal diversion is boating and fishing. And right here we wish you to understand that what we are about to relate is no "fish story" and if you are from Missouri, visit us and we will "show you". Our lakes contain originally pickerel and the gamey muskel-lunge in weight from eight to thirty pounds. And for several years, each year we have received from the bureau of fisheries at Washington, D.C., fish for stocking purposes, and our lakes now contain the following varieties: Oswego or small bass, land locked salmon, rainbow, brook and german brown trout, croppie, Bream and Perch. Last season black bass were caught weighing as high as five and one-half pounds; Perch from one to two pounds each. The shores of the lakes with the summer homes of the farmer, business and professional men. The lakes are dotted with craft of all kinds, sail boats, motor boats, row boats, canoes and dug outs. Not only one lake, but hundreds. A visit will not suffice. Arrange to locate in the state. Head for Towner County. Buy your ticket to Hansboro, the terminus of the Farmers Railroad, the only railroad in the United States built, owned, controlled and run by a company of farmers. Buy a farm and enjoy a long life of prosperity and happiness. THE MAN WHO RENTS He gives his time and labor for the benefit of others, when in Towner County, North Dakota he can obtain land at lower prices which will more than pay $10.00 an acre net if sown to flax, oats, wheat or corn. Are you living on a rented farm back east? Have you teams and farming implements? By all means come to Towner County and get a farm of your own and in a few years' time you can become worth more money than you can make in a lifetime where you are now. The improvements you make on a farm will be your own. All farmers with large families and moderate means can do better in this county than in any other region in the United States. Those who have a mortgaged home east would do better to sell and come to Towner County and buy anew on what they can save out of the wreck. Any young farmer who controls from $500 to $1,000 can grow into independence here. Those who have stock and machinery, but no land, can come here and rent a farm and buy a home from the profits of the first season. One crop will often pay for the land and many instances can be cited in this county where this is the case. The industrious and sober men are the aristocrats of the state. They became the men of wealth and affluence. The only classes here are the thrifty and the shiftless. The state is controlled by the former. Why should people spend time and energy on worn-out land when they can come to Towner County and find rich and fertile land at a comparatively small price. HON. A.M. POWELL From the early beginning of Devils Lake, North Dakota in 1883, Albert M. Powell, generally known as "The Pioneer" land and insurance man, has been prominently and honorably identified all these years and his ever increasing patronage in his several lines of general insurance, farms and city homes, and farm and city loans is the very beset evidence that he has uniformly given "the square deal" to one and all. He has been a liberal advertiser and an indefatigable worker in securing for Ramsey County and Devils Lake, new and sturdy settlers and investors in her fertile acres; and has been successful also in the handling of Devils Lake city property which feature he is now making quite a leading specialty alike, for home builders and non-resident investors. Farm and city loans aggregating many thousands have been negotiated by loan agent Powell with equal satisfaction to the eastern capitalist and the local borrower. If you have a few hundred dollars to spare toward the purchase of a farm or to loan out on and improved Ramsey County farm at seven percent interest or on improved Devils Lake business or dwelling properties at eight percent net to you. The publisher of the Pioneer guarantees you satisfactory treatment at Mr. Powell's hands. FACTS AND FIGURES Prove North Dakota Prosperity No country in the world produces such nutritious natural grasses as North Dakota. Tame grasses are productive crops and each year hundreds of acres are added to the total acreage. The assessed valuation for 1906, it is estimated, will approximate $250,000,000; actual valuation, $1,250,000,000. Bear in mind that the average first year's crop usually pays for the land on which it is grown. Notwithstanding the enormous increase of population there is still over 102 acres for every man, woman and child living in this state. More than a hundred years ago Lewis and Clark would have been compelled to return east but for the corn they obtained from the Indians on the Missouri River. North Dakota has always produced corn. The population of North Dakota last year was 440,000. This year it will be 500,000. Providence in its wisdom underlaid the great portion of the land in the western part of the state with a fuel which is free for the digging. The value of North Dakota farm products in 1905 aggregated about $150,000,000 or an average of nearly $3,000 to the farm. North Dakota is really the center of North America and is at the head of the most fertile valley in the world. LOCAL NEWS Howard Geary came up from Cando the first of the week to work for George N. Brown. Ye scribe, wife and little son Maurice returned Monday from a visit with friends and relatives at Minot. N.O. Sather come up from Maza last week to look over the prospects on his large farm northeast from here. R.E. Rognas, the Rolla merchant, was in Hansboro on business the first of the week and the Pioneer acknowledges a pleasant call. Fred Chard, cashier of the State Bank of Rolla was a Hansboro business visitor Monday, and called into the Pioneer office for a few minutes to see if we were still alive and in need of "tobacco". To prove the excellence of their product, Elmer T. Judd called on the Pioneer man this week and left us a couple of pounds of Cando creamery butter. To say it is fine expresses it mildly. Good butter is one half the meal, so to speak, and we certainly appreciate the favor and can say from experience that the product of the Cando creamery is all right. The Pioneer acknowledges the receipt of a season ticket to the Chautauqua assembly at Devils Lake and we will certainly avail ourselves of the opportunity to spend a few pleasant days in the Satanic City. There is no more pleasant place in the state for one to go to spend a few days in recreation that at the Devils Lake Chautauqua. The annual school election in Rosedale school district will be held Tuesday, June 2, at the school house in Hansboro at 2 o'clock p.m. This year there are only two officers to be elected, one director and a treasurer. Now it is up to the voters to turn out, vote and demonstrate their choice. This selection is just as important as a general election to the voters of his vicinity and all voters should take advantage of their right of franchise. Turn out and vote. Miss Lydia Geyer, the talented and successful school mistress of Armourdale, was visiting friends in Hansboro last week. A.B. Converse returned this week from his vacation trip, which has occupied the last six weeks of his time. The trip certainly must have agreed with him for he looks much better than when we saw him last. Ed Jones, the gentlemanly conductor on this branch for the past year is again at his place in charge of the train. Last week, Jack Lannin, a former conductor was in charge and it was feared by many that Jones had quit his position and would not have charge of the fun. This proves not to be the case, however, and his many friends on the entire line will be pleased to hear that he has again taken charge. The past week has been a record breaker in the matter of rainfall. Good showers fell on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday it is estimated two inches of "fog" precipitated. We have a government weather bureau within a couple of miles of this place, but up to this time have never received a report for publication nor have we any way of knowing that the instrument has been installed. We would like very much to publish the report and if the observer can find time to get them to us we would be very glad to give them prominence. J.O. Carter and family came in from their farm in Bryan Monday to take advantage of the bargains offered by our merchants. Mr. Carter states that the amount of water that fell in their neighborhood during the storm Sunday evening would indicate a cloudburst. "Jerry" had his plans made to climb a tree and signal for the ark to get him when the rain ceased - just in time. He was looking for a pair of wading pants in order to inspect his crop, but was unable to find a pair to suit him. He swears that the republican administration is at fault for the over supply of water and that he will vote for Bryan. May 28, 1908 LOCAL NEWS C.E. Blackorby made a business trip down the line Monday. J.J. McCanna of Cando was looking after his interests in Hansboro Wednesday. A.W. Mikkelson, assistant manager of the F.G. & S. Co. was a business caller in Hansboro Tuesday. The Pioneer received a pleasant call. John A. Reese, I.J. Reese and Z.T. Krieger and wife were called to Edmore Friday on account of the death of Mrs. Alderson, wife of the late Captain Thomas Alderson. Hansboro is making preparations for a Fourth of July celebration. There is no reasons why we should not have a good celebration and if we all pull together it is assured. The Hansboro ball team played their first game Sunday. The game was played between local teams and was more for practice than the honors. Hansboro should have a good team this year and without any doubt will at least the outlook is very good. The band was among the attendants. Julius Beaudoin, wife and little son, of Crocus, were Hansboro Visitors over Sunday. The Yeoman dance Friday night was a very pleasant event. Everyone present had a good time. Mrs. F.H. Murdick and daughters, Miss Villia and Edna, and Misses Haas and Sorenson spent Saturday in Cando. They report a fine time. George Walker, the genial blacksmith and family attended the celebration at Homefield, Manitoba Monday. The pupils of the intermediate department of the Hansboro school, who have been neither absent nor tardy during the month ending May 22, are as follows: Reuel Sande, Bennie Diggins, Clare Wills, Aletha Weeden and Irma Johnson. ROCK LAKE ANECDOTES Mr. John V. Fielder was called to Devils Lake to be with his wife who is quite sick in the hospital. Their many friends wish for Mrs. Fielder's speedy recovery. Joseph Linngren the popular depot agent visited Newville friends Sunday. Joe came back early Monday morning looking very sleepy. The new parsonage is being thoroughly renovated. It looks as though our esteemed pastor will be very comfortable for a bachelor. Rev. Lean and Dr. Balfour returned last Friday after an extended tour in Canada. The trip was made in Roy's automobile. Both of our liverymen have added to their equipment during the past week. New horses and buggies indicate their faith in Rock Lake. Boating parties on the lake are quite popular these moonlight nights. The Rock Lake base ball club has organized. Claude Elsberry will manage the team and take care of the gate receipts. ELLSBERRY ECHOES Seeding is a thing of the past, except flax and a little barley. Lee Arnold and son and Mrs. R.T. Elsberry have been on the sick list the past week, but are improving at this writing. C.M. Wisley and Geo. Hoff went to Rolla Saturday. C.E. Shoemaker went to Rock Lake one day last week. Quite a number attended church and the baptizing at this place Sunday. Samuel Emswiler is home from his trip down the line where he has been taking orders for clothing for some time. H.M. Butler is helping E. Elsberry to finish seeding. J.B. Blackorby has one of his teams at Hansboro, helping his uncle to finish up his spring work.