

NORTH DAKOTA. 



515 



pliances. To the circulars sent to 54 creameries and 

 cheese factories only 23 responded, and of these 10 

 had suspended operations. Two licenses for the sale 

 of oleomargarine were held within the State during 

 the fiscal year. The number of tons of coal mined 

 in the 43 mines operated was reported as 35,742 : 

 number of men employed, 151 ; wages paid, $8,644. 

 The total number of farms reported was 31,653 ; 

 acres under cultivation, 5,587,849 ; total number of 

 acres in crops, 5,337,173 : total product of wheat, 

 35,758,346 bushels; of oats, 11,490,888 bushels; 

 acres of oats sown, 638,929 ; total product of barley, 

 3,655,942 bushels; acres of barley sown, 231,896; 

 total product of flax, 1,956,205 bushels ; acres sown, 

 399,900; rye, 281,876 bushels; sown, 27,750 acres; 

 corn, 479,804 bushels ; acres planted, 57,829 ; pota- 

 toes, 1,711,820 bushels; acres planted, 22,395. 



Live Stock. The total number of horses of all 

 ages was reported as 216,519, assessed value $6,- 

 814,918; number of mules, 3,862, value $143,904; 

 cattle, 280,011, value $3,547,743; sheep, 267,050, 

 value $396,767; swine, 78,010, value $146,270; to- 

 tal valuation of all live stock, $11,079,805. 



Land Sales and Loans. There are 2,580,480 

 acres of common-school lands in the State, not in- 

 cluding the 500,000 acres granted by the United 

 States for the benefit of public institutions. Of 

 these school lands, 32,420 acres were sold, for which 

 the first payment was $463,480, and the second 

 payment $305.000 ; interest received on deferred 

 payments, $174,365 ; total revenue, $942,845. About 

 20,000 acres a month have been taken up by settlers 

 distributed over the whole district. On 'Dec. 31, 

 1897, there was in the permanent school fund, under 

 a provision of the farm-loan law, the sum of $250,- 

 000, about $60,000 of which was deposited in sus- 

 pended banks and unavailable for immediate use. 

 Since the land law went into effect there have been 

 applications for farm loans aggregating $167,265 ; 

 of this sum $20,250 has been withdrawn or refused, 

 and $110,615 has been invested in farm loans dur- 

 ing the year. The sales of land in January of the 

 present year amounted to $245,000, as against $78,- 

 000 in January, 1897. In February there were sold 

 $175,000, against $58,000 last year. Hay permits 

 on the common-school lands were sold to the amount 

 of $4,560.50, and on institution lands to the amount 

 of $1,474.25. 



Immigration. The increase in the population 

 of the State is steady and continual. Of the 33,000 

 skilled laborers that came to this country during 

 the past year, 70 emigrated to this State ; of the 

 16,243 farmers, this State had 360 ; of the 52,000 

 unskilled laborers of all nationalities, North Dakota 

 had 262. The Great Northern Railroad brought 

 1,800 Dunkards to the settlements in the Turtle 

 mountain country. 



Teterinary. The work of the veterinary de- 

 partment showed the use of mallein as a diagnostic 

 agent in detecting glanders, the use of tuberculin 

 for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, and the use of 

 blackleg vaccine for the prevention of blackleg in 

 cattle. The 3,000 doses of blackleg vaccine admin- 

 istered gave excellent results; not a single animal 

 suffering from the disease and vaccinated was lost, 

 though non-injected animals in the same herd died. 



Rabies. The first outbreak of hydrophobia in 



the State began Aug. 1, when a shepherd dog bit 



several cattle in the vicinity of Bartlett. On Aug. 



20 several animals developed signs of rabies, and 



. were destroyed. Two human beings were bitten by 



! the dog, but took Pasteur treatment and suffered 



no discomfort. 



Tornado. On July 22 a tornado struck the town 

 of Minot, demolished 17 buildings, and injured sev- 

 eral people. The hail following destroyed about 

 '0 acres of grain in the vicinity of Casselton. 



Pier Moved. The east pier of the Northern 

 Pacific bridge at Bismarck was moved to new 

 foundations, May 29. The solid mass of granite, 

 weighing more than 9,000,000 pounds, quivered, 

 trembled, slid forward a distance of 2 feet 9 inches 

 in less than a minute, and rested safely on its new 

 base. The work of preparation for its removal 

 occupied eight months. 



Fire. On Aug. 8 a disastrous fire visited Bis- 

 marck and destroyed much property. The North- 

 ern Pacific granted a free rate for the transportation 

 of building material, and the burned section was 

 rapidly rebuilt. 



Indians. There are about 1,500 Indians on the 

 Fort Trotten reservation, 400 of whom hold land 

 from the Government. The State's Constitution 

 provides that Indians shall become residents when 

 they have severed tribal relations, and have taken 

 land in severally from the Government. Accord- 

 ing to a decision of the Supreme Court, 300 of 

 these Indians who hold Government land are citi- 

 zens of Benson County and as such are entitled to 

 vote and to be treated in every way as full residents 

 of the county. 



Yellowstone Park. The number of tourists vis- 

 iting the park from June 1 to Aug. 20 was 720. On 

 Aug. 14 six of the transportation company's coaches 

 and one United States wagon were held up by two 

 well-armed, masked highwaymen, who obtained 

 $500 in plunder. The robbers were arrested Aug. 

 29. The estimated number of buffalo in the park 

 was 24. The coyotes were numerous and killed 75 

 from a herd of 500 antelopes that ventured on the 

 slopes of Mount Everts. 



Wolf Tax. The number of wolves killed, accord- 

 ing to registered certificates, 'was 8,000 ; amount of 

 bounty, $24,000. The amount of wolf tax to be 

 collected from the counties was $9,000. 



Military. For the expenses in connection with 

 the mobilization of State troops a statement has 

 been prepared giving the amount of officers' pay as 

 $867 ; of rejected soldiers, $675.95 ; band, mileage, 

 and per diem, $263.20; for equipment of men, $2,- 

 096.86 ; for subsistence, $3,296.52 ; total, $10,021.18. 



The organized strength of North Dakota, April 

 1, 1898, as given by the Adju-tant General, was : 

 Officers, 54 ; enlisted men, 498 ; number of men 

 unorganized but available for military duty, 19,937. 

 The entire National Guard volunteered their serv- 

 ices at the call of the President, but only 8 of the 

 infantry companies could be accepted. The troops 

 ordered from Fort Yates belonged to an historic 

 organization. The Second Regiment, dating its 

 birth from the days of the Continental army, with 

 Gen. Washington in command, has seen service in 

 all the wars, and has had among its officers many 

 generals. 



Prohibitory Law. One of the ways by which 

 the prohibitory law has been evaded was by the 

 shipment of packages of beer or liquor C. 0. D. 

 Many of these packages were shipped to fictitious 

 addresses. One such package was not called for 

 and finally was delivered to a man who paid the 

 charge. When opened the package was found to 

 contain alcohol. The case was taken up .by the 

 Prohibitionists, and the railroad agent was arrested 

 for violating the law. The agent claimed ignorance 

 of the contents of the package, but the judge charged 

 the jury that "every person or corporation who as- 

 sumes to act for another as its agent in the trans- 

 mission of intoxicating liquors, and who receives 

 the same by the method known as packages C. O. D., 

 is bound to know, at his peril, the contents of such 

 package." The jury found the agent guilty. 



Decisions. The Supreme Court, at its April 

 session, decided that failure to file a chattel mort- 

 gage does not render it void as against the mort- 



