86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



in fact, not quite up in style to that of Abraham the great 

 ranchman of the East ; but you know ' man wants but little 

 here below, nor wants that little long.' But you give me a 

 call in July next year, and you will find me in style. I am 

 going to have my mother and sister here then. Before 

 they come I shall tear this shack down and build a new 

 one, — a nice one with two rooms; am bound it shall have 

 every modern convenience, if it costs me fifty dollars. 

 I am bound that they shall have a good time here, and see 

 the West as it is, and its people as they are. We will have 

 all the people of the county here, and we will have a social 

 time." 



"Mr. C, how large is this county?" "I don't know 

 exactly, but I think about as large as the State of Vermont." 

 "How many inhabitants in it?" "I don't know of any 

 fixed inhahitants but the section gang at the railroad, but 

 there are some scattered around ; a squad of cavalry comes 

 along occasionally, and there may be one then.", " I doubt 

 not, Mr. C, your mother will be delighted to meet your 

 friends and neighbors, and to see the country in which her 

 son has pitched his tent." " I don't know about that, but I 

 know she will be delighted to see me, and I shall to see her ; 

 and the beaus won't be so thick but that I can have that 

 sister of mine to myself for a time ; and for the rest I don't 

 care." 



Mr. C. entertained us on the fat of the land, and appar- 

 ently regretted our departure ; and we left wdth the impres- 

 sion that the next time we raml)led that way, not a track 

 of the scholar and ranchman would be found in the Bad 

 Lands, but we should learn that he, and what capital he had 

 saved from that which he brought from the East, had gone 

 back there, and the country left to grow up without him. 



But now the scene changes ; we are running west on 

 the North-western Railroad in the south-western part of 

 Minnesota, and near the Dakota and the Iowa line. We are 

 in a region famous for its wide-spreading prairies and good 

 quality of soil. The horizon is far, far away in all direc- 

 tions, and the view unobstructed. Along the track side are 

 occasional reaches of turned sod or stubble. From the 

 moving train it is difficult to clearly distinguish human 



