THE FARM LAND 39 



land must have sufficient water, it must be fertile, there must 

 be a market at hand for its products. In the United States 

 today most of the land which has these three assets is already 

 occupied. The greater part of the unoccupied lands is value' 

 less for farming because it lacks enough water or fertility. 

 Water can sometimes be supplied and to a certain extent so 

 can fertility. But the cost of supplying these is frequently so 

 great that it more than outweighs the value of the crops pro' 

 duced. 



In the 1860's there was plenty of free land that had water 

 and fertility but that lacked nearby markets. If a market could 

 be found for potential products of the great untouched prai' 

 ries and ranges of the West, they could support thousands of 

 people. To bring that market to this area the railroads were 

 being built as fast as Irish laborers and Chinese coolies could 

 spike down the tracks. However, the fact that the railroads 

 were opening up great areas of land did not keep the price of 

 land down. Prospects of waving grain fields in the midst of 

 virgin prairies excited the people so that they were willing 

 to pay higher and higher prices. New land could not be opened 

 up fast enough to meet the demand. For the speculators, these 

 high prices were like so much honey to a swarm of flies. They 

 scrambled for everything they could get. 



A reporter of the Dubuque (Iowa) Daily Republic told 

 just how much of a scramble this was. "Since the last issue 

 of the Democrat, a great excitement has prevailed throughout 

 our town. At 6 o'clock, Saturday evening, many of our promi' 

 nent citizens seated themselves at the door of the Land Office, 

 that they might secure, in season, the door for the Monday 

 morning following. Before break of day on Sunday morning, 

 some fifty had gathered upon the steps and registered their 

 names in a book. This little band continued to hold its own till 

 afternoon, when many more were added. Evening came and 

 still larger numbers gathered. . . . 



