THE BONANZA FARMS. 53 



prepared for immediate cultivation under similar con- 

 ditions. Among those farthest west may be men- 

 tioned one at the Eighth Siding, 83 miles from Fargo, 

 the farm of Adams & Kussell, with 700 acres in grain. 

 At the Thirteenth Siding, 143 miles west, the Troy 

 farm, owned by Van Dusen, of Troy, New York, with 

 ] ,400 acres now broken for next year. At the Four- 

 teenth Siding, 151 miles west, the farm owned by 

 Steele, of Milwaukee, of 5,120 acres, with 750 acres 

 in grain, and 1,200 acres of new land broken. At the 

 Seventeenth Siding, 181 miles west, the Clark form, 

 owned by capitalists in Philadelphia, who are said to 

 hold vast tracts, with 500 acres in grain and 1,000 

 acres of new land broken. These farms I saw from 

 the cars, and inquiries informed me that for miles 

 upon either side of the road, similar farms and work" 

 were to be seen. 



The small farmers and their shanties in that region 

 were not numerous ; but so far as I could learn the,ir 

 condition was not relatively better nor worse than in 

 other sections. 



In Minnesota, as in Dakota and Kansas, a large 

 portion of the residents of the towns, especially on the 

 lines of the railroads, with the officers, conductors, en- 

 gineers, and other employes of the roads, were gener- 

 ally adventurers in agriculture ; holding and cultivat- 

 ing by contracts, shares, or otherwise such lands as 

 they could obtain and work. 



I found that in most places, from Brainerd, Minne- 

 sota, to Bismarck, Dakota, in all the great region 

 where wheat is grown so abundantly and cheaply, first 

 class flour, such as was made from the quality of grain 



