pale at ies 
A olae BACKWARD: 166 
cipline and punishment should be meted out for their 
misdeeds, for with many of this class the emotion of 
pity find no vent and the braidings of conscience a sen- 
sation unknown. 
In the onward move of the tide of Western emigra- 
tion, when North Dakota was reached, the prevailing 
opinion—even among the best informed—was that the 
land lying to the west of Red River Valley was of 
value for its wild grasses only, for even the great depos- 
its of lignite on the Missouri had not entered into their 
calculations as of being of any commercial value at 
that time. But the old saw ‘‘live and learn” was fully 
verified to those who have lived within the present bound- 
daries of North Dakota since 1870, that the western 
part of the State does not have to depend wholly upon 
the value of its wild grasses for the prosperity of its 
people, ‘ 
But in the decade of the seventies, but little use of 
the land west of the James or Dakota River by land 
owners and the widely scattered residents of the rivers 
and creeks was thought of, save for its pastoral value. 
It was then the stock raising industry became the lead- 
ing feature in the development of the western part of 
North Dakota. At the start in—imitating the surround- 
ings of a military post—ample provender and shelter 
was provided for the cattle and work horses but the 
hardy Indian breeds were allowed to ‘‘rustle,” to which 
they had been used to, and no hardship attached while 
the prairies remained unburned. 
But during a few mild and comparativly snowless 
winters, cattle came through without much hay being 
