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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1883)
May, 1883. 1 1 8 THE WEST SHORE. Mandan is ihe north almost twice that distance. headquarters of the Missouri division and is a city subsiantially built of brick, enjoying a large trade an.l having a daily ncwsp.ix.r. It divides with llisrnarrk, its rival on the opposite side of the river, the advantages of the steamer trade of the upper Missouri, and has tributary to it a large n-clion of farming and grazing lands, which are Iwing rapidly settled upon. Machine and car thorn and a round house are among the improve ments located here by the company. We now cross the magnificent iron bridge which spans the Missouri. It is 1,450 feet long and consists of three spans of 403 feet each, resting on granite piers ami two end spans of lljfeet. The struct ure cost alHiut $1,000,000, and was opened for traffic Oclolm 21, iSSj. On the east bank, two miles from the bridge, is the city of IIISMARiK. When it was first decided to cross the river here, in 1X72, it was conceived that this must be place of importance as the connecting point be tween the railtoad and steamers on the upper Missouri, and that its dominant position would cause a aiL'e city to sprint up. A town was therefore laid out and named F.dwinton, a title which was soon after changed to Bismarck in honor of the German Chancellor, whose letter acknowledging the honor, with fac simile of his autograph, is appended : Berlin, May lolh, 1X73, Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the re ceipl of your letter of the 2S1I1 of hist month, enclosing a c ipy of a resolution of the Hoard of I lireclors of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com pany to the ellrct that the town at the crossing of the Missouri river by that road shall lie named llisuurck. I l-g you will be good enough to convey to the gentlemen on lienali of whom you write my sincere thanks lor k Mattering a comph nirnl, and to assure them that I am very grateful for the terms in which they speak of the services 1 have liecn able to do to my country and to those Interests which are common to all nations. Ac cept, together with my liesl wishes for the pios- peniy 01 your unueriaKing, inc assurance ol my distinguished consideration. cultural lands. From Bismarck to of a JAMESTOWN, Dakota, river, a distance hundred miles, the road runs through fertile up land prairies where the government and railroad lands are rapidly being settled upon for miles on both sides ol the line. On the way we pass through three small but prosperous towns, Steele, Dawson and Eldredge, all of which are sur rounded by many productive farms ; also several embryo villages that will develop ere long into thriving trade centers. The James river valley is fertile, and is already well settled by an industri- class of people. From Jamestown, the To Samcm Wii.kf.son, F.su,., .W.rtry ,f tht .ithtfH I'dcifr AWr.sii CVwMxr, AVw Yrk. The city is bring substantially built ol brick and has a daily p.ix-i, national banks, and a population of j.ooa The trade of the upper Missouri and the Yellowstone is extensive, the shipments by tlrtmrr in iSSj lieing J7.4S1.141 pounds of firighl. It is confidently expected thai several other railroads will give it connection with the teitilory in all directions namely a branch leading noilh to the Mouse river and Saskatchewan countties ; a branch to the Canadian Pacific al Winnipeg; a line to the BLck Hills; and extensions of Uth the Chicago and Northwestern and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul. Some, l not all, of these especial ions will no doubt soon be trained. In Ilurlrigh county, in which the city i situate.1, tl ere are 500,000 acres of good larminj lands subject to entry under the home wean, pre-emption and timlict-ciiltuie laws and this land district embraces 50,000 square miles, twsuly all of thick is excellent grating and ajri. county seat and commercial center, an enterpns inc town of about 1.200 people, a branch road is lieing extended northward to Devil's lake and the Mouse river region, passing through a fine agricultural section, the upper part of which is comparatively unsettled, but towards which many immigrants are now turning. It is already completed to Carrington, a distance of forty- three miles. For the fifty miles between James town and VALLEY CITY, on Sheyenne river, the road runs through an other stretch of magnificent upland prairie, dotted with many small lakes, well-tilled farms border ing the line the entire distance. On the way we pass several towns that are springing up in the most advantageous locations, and the general ap pearance of thrift and prosperity indicates that we are entering the older and more thickly set tled portion of the territory. A short distance from the road, on either side, are large areas of vacant land yet open to occupation. The Valley City & Turtle Mountain railroad is a projected line, to run from the south end of Barnes county, through this place, and up the vallr) of the Sheymne lo Turtle mountain, a distance of 150 miles. We are now in the basin of the RED RIVER OF THE NORTH, the great stream which carries the waters' of a large area of Dakota and Minnesota, lying be tween the Missouri on the west and the headwaters of the Mississippi on the east, into Lake Winne peg and thence by Nelson liver into Hudson bay. This makes the third great system of water courses we have encountered since leaving Port land, one draining into the Pacific, one into the Gulf of Mexico and one into the icy waters of Hudson bay. For nearly a century agriculture has lieen carried on along this stream, near its mouth, mil, on its great associate, the Saskatche wan, where colonies were planted by the En glish and Canadian fur companies as a base of supplies for their frontier posts. The growth of tnese colonics and their dessolation in the war be tween the rival companies, forms one of the m. interesting chapters in the frontier annals of America. Ked river valley proper extends north and south at least 250 miles, and from thirty to' "fly mile, east and west. The surface is level and the soil black alluvium, from eighteen to thirty. inches deep, resting on a tenaciou. clay ubsod For the production of wheat, oat., l. h. buckwheat, rye, potatoes and garden veg Mes U is unexcelled by any equal are. on the w r nm Valley City to TOWER CITY 'bu, fifteen miles. Thi, is . town of .d. po-lh. wbstantUHy built, having . newspaper, and enjoying a large trade with the surrounding country. Six miles farther is New Buffalo, and ten miles beyond that is Wheatland, both of them towns of importance, supported by the thickly-settled farming country surrounding them. Seven miles lrom Wlicalland, after cross. ing the line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and and Manitoba road, we enter CASSELTON, situated on a small tributary of Maple river, a confluent of the Sheyenne a few miles above iu junction with Red river. We are now in the Red river valley proper, having descended somewhat from the higher prairie lands, and are in the re gion of the great " bonanza farms," where the first successful experiments were made in raising wheat in Dakota on a large scale. Near Cassel ton is the famous Cass-Cheney-Dalrymple farm. In 1882 there were 214,309 acres of land under cultivation in the Red river valley, in Cass county, of which 178,035 were in wheat, produc ing 3,500,000 bushels. From Casselton a branch line is under construction through the lower Red river region. It is already built to Newburg, about fifty miles north, and will be extended to Winnipeg. Several branches will reach out from this line into the most fertile sections of the Red river basin. From this point, with several small towns intervening, it is but twenty miles to FAROO, situated on the west bank of the Red River of the North itself. This is the dominant city of the valley and the most populous and prosperous in the territory. It contains a population of over 10,000, and has: all the features of a large city, including fine brick mercantile buildings, ele vators, mills, warehouses, gas-works, water works, electric lights, fire department, chamber of commerce, daily papers, handsome residences, and commodious churches, school houses and hotels. The Fargo and Southwestern road is be ing constructed towards Grand Rapids, on James river below Jamestown, and. has already pene trated to Lisbon at the second crossing of the Sheyenne. The Fargo Southern is projected to pass south through Wahpeton and continue up Red river. One division of the St. Paul, Minne apolis and Manitoba road crosses the river at Fargo and runs down the valley on the west side of the stream to Winnepeg. Fargo promises to lie the great railroad center and metropolis of this whole region. MOORHEAD lies on the opposite side of the stream, in Minne sota, the river forming the boundary line 1 tween that state and Dakota. Were it not for this fact the two places would be one city, they practically are so far as business and loca tion are concerned, being united by bridges across the stream. The St. P. M. & M. road enters Moorhead from the southeast before crossing to Fargo. The city is substantially built and divides with its rival the trade of this region- For the first time since we stepped on board the Northern Pacific train at Wallula we have come within the limits of a slate. For more than 1,400 miles we have been running through a series of territories, just waking into a life n1 activity that will, in a few years, transform the into full-grown states. At G LYNDON, nine miles further, we cross another division the St Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba roan,