538 



NORTH DAKOTA. 



limits the State Examiner to the investigation of 

 financial affairs ; but owing to the fact that rumors 

 have been afloat charging that immoralities have 

 been practiced at the asylum, opportunity was 

 given to the witnesses to testify as to their knowl- 

 edge in reference thereto, but no evidence was 

 given which in the least reflected upon the char- 

 acter of the employees of the institution." 



The Examiner found that the evidence proved 

 that one of the trustees had been interested in the 

 asylum coal contract, and he was indicted, but the 

 indictment was quashed in April on a technicality. 



The Penitentiary. The maximum number of 

 prisoners at the Penitentiary during the year was 

 124, and the average the first half was 118. The 

 average number of days' works by each prisoner for 

 the first year was 239|, and for the eight months 

 ending June 30 last, 133-79. Eighteen prisoners 

 had been pardoned up to June 30, 1896. The esti- 

 mate for the coming biennial period for mainte- 

 nance is $50,800, which is $7.360 higher than that 

 for the one just past, but certain items not covered 

 in the appropriation for the past two years were 

 stricken out of the old bill by executive veto. 



Under the, present law it is provided that all 

 except life convicts who have no infractions of 

 rules recorded against them at the end of the first 

 month are entitled to a diminution of two days 

 from their terms ; at the end of the second month 

 under the same conditions, four days from that 

 month ; at the end of the third month, six days ; 

 and six days from each month thereafter when they 

 shall have no infraction of rules accorded against 

 them. The maximum of good-time allowance, un- 

 der the law, is sixty-six days from a year's sen- 

 tence. 



Reform School. The Reform School in South 

 Dakota had in 1895 18 inmates sent from this State, 

 and in 1896 23. The aggregate cost for these con- 

 victs was $5,752. A valuable tract of land has 

 been given to this State for a reform school on con- 

 dition that the school building be completed within 

 a specified time. 



Banks. The Second National Bank of Grand 

 Forks suspended on the last day of the year, on ac- 

 count of heavy withdrawal of deposits and the im- 

 possibility of realizing upon its assets. Immedi- 

 ately following the failure of the National Bank of 

 Illinois and the Bank of Minnesota this bank sus- 

 tained a shrinkage of $40,000, while its deposits 

 amounted to about $17,000 during the fourteen 

 days preceding the suspension. 



In a report made in March it appeared that the 

 31 national banks of the State had total resources 

 of ss.809.797, of which loans and discounts were 

 $5.544,702, and reserve $1,033,770. $279,435 being 

 gold. The deposits were $5,205,617, and the aver- 

 age reserve held was 20-5 per cent. 



Industries and Products. The wheat yield of 

 the State was given as 25.295,340 bushels. In 1895 

 it was 61,057,710, that being an extraordinary year 

 in this respect. 



The cattle shipments from the western ranges of 

 the State, which amounted to 431.000 head in 1895, 

 were estimated to have fallen off 37 per cent, in 

 1896. The wool clip of 1895 was over 2,000,000 

 pounds. 



The average of the agricultural products in 1895. 

 on an estimate attributed to the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, was $339 per capita, which is $43 

 more than that of Iowa. 



An experiment for growing tea has been success- 

 fully tried by a colony of 20 Russian families in 

 Mercer County. The variety grown is Asiatic Rus- 

 sian tea, and the quality is said to be much better 

 than the black tea sold" by merchants. The seed 

 was brought from Russia. 



There were at the beginning of 1895, according 

 to a statement of the Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 7 cheese factories in the State, manufacturing 

 74.092 pounds of cheese, and 2 creameries, produ- 

 cing 2.200 pounds of butter. At the close of ls<)5 

 there were 26 cheese factories, producing 412.!)4<> 

 pounds of cheese, and 16 creameries, producing 

 336.943 pounds of butter, an increase over 1894 of 

 338,844 pounds of cheese and 334,743 pounds of 

 butter. Add to this the increase of butter and 

 cheese made in families, and the total increase for 

 the year is 746,766 pounds of butter and 341,048 

 pounds of cheese. The average price received lias 

 been 8'1 cents for cheese and 15-2 cents for butter. 

 The total receipts in 1895 from factory-made 

 cheese were $33,448.62, and from creamery' butter 

 $51,215.83. 



The increased value of cows in the State, owing 

 to the presence of creameries and cheese factories, 

 averages $4.30, making a total of $411.946.10 easl 

 of Missouri river. The wealth of the State was in- 

 creased by the dairy industry $1,499,468.80 in ist)5. 



Public Lands. The report of the State Land 

 Commissioner includes some figures showing tin- 

 wealth of the State in land grants. The total 

 grant of the Government to the different institu- 

 tions is 668.080 acres, of which 650,491 acres have 

 been selected and 515.528 acres patented. The 

 school-land leasing for 1896 exceeded any of the 

 past four years. The report includes a statement 

 of all receipts from the beginning of Statehood to 

 June 30, 1896, which shows the total acreage sold 

 to be 130,302-67, the total purchase price. $2,308.- 

 279.22. Of this there has been received about 

 $530,000 principal and $429.000 interest, Rentals 

 brought in $250,000, and hay permits $12,000. 



The Fort Lincoln military reservation, about 

 25,000 acres, was opened for settlement this year. 

 The price varies from $1 to $5 an acre, to be paid 

 in five years. 



Immigration. In April 20 colonies of Duri- 

 kards, from 6 States, emigrated to North Dakota. 

 They numbered 1,500 persons, and occupied, with 

 their belongings, 4 trains of 20 passenger coaches 

 and 102 freight cars. This is the second exodus of 

 Dunkards from the East to North Dakota in the 

 past three years. They come from old colonies, 

 which have been sending out members to the West 

 for half a century. The object of the movement is 

 to possess more land. The country into which the 

 emigrants are taken is along the line of the Great 

 Northern Road in Trail!, Steele, Grand Forks, Nel- 

 son. Ramsey, and Towner Counties. 



The Northern Pacific, also, has begun to bring in 

 colonies. The first large number brought in by 

 this road, consisting of 6 carloads of people, arrived 

 in April. Their home will be southward from the 

 colonies established by the Great Northern, in Fos- 

 ter County. The railroad company has been en- 

 abled to furnish them with land by a recent deci- 

 sion giving it the right to throw open several large 

 tracts to settlers. 



A State immigration convention was held in 

 January, and nearly all the counties have local 

 organizations for the same purpose. 



Health Statistics. From the reports made to 

 the State Superintendent of Health, it appears that 

 the death rate of the State is among the lowest in 

 the L T nion less than 11 per 1.000. 



Divorces. Said a local newspaper in January: 

 " A canvass of the hotels and boarding houses in 

 Fargo shows that there are about 150 members in 

 the local divorce colony. This means from $3.000 

 to $5.000 a month for "the hotel men of the city. 

 It also means from $5,000 to $10,000 for the local 

 attorneys. In addition to these expenditures, the 

 stores receive directly, perhaps, $2,000 a month in 



