THE KING OF THE NORTHLAND. 



THERE are few people who recognize the true king of 

 the Northern cut-over lands. Truly he must be a 

 strong ruler who withholds these lands from settle- 

 ment decade after decade and laughs at the efforts of the 

 landmen and immigration to fill them with prosperous farm- 

 ers. 



Some, crazed by the yellow journals, attribute the control 

 of the lands to the trusts who want to keep the land unpop- 

 ulated that they may carry out their nefarious plans in peace. 

 Others take the opposite side and lay the blame upon a short- 

 sighted state policy which taxes the cut-over land to such 

 a degree that one cannot profitably hold on to it. Still others 

 lay it onto the climate, the inefficiency of fire protection, the 

 distance from a suitable market, the quality ot the soil and 

 a dozen other causes. 



The Stump King Laughs. 



In the meanwhile the true king laughs silently and holds 

 his hold. For truly the ruler of the Northland is the big pine 

 stump. Land men from time immemorial have belittled his 

 power, have vainly tried to persuade us that he did not exist; 

 have tried, all too successfully in some instances, to explain 

 how easily he can be driven from the country, and have, in 

 their city offices, devised all kinds of unworkable ways of 

 decreasing the cost of deposing him. And yet he laughs and 

 holds his hold. 



Prairies are all Settled. 



Had the Northland been a prairie all the other obstacles 

 would have been overcome and the country settled up as has 

 teen the case wherever the prairie exists. Lack of a market 



