282 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Not. 5, 1885. 



THE TACHTINQ SEASON OF 1883. 

 T^HE safe arrival of Genesta at Portsmouth on Oct. 28, 

 after a quick and successful passage, marks the ending 

 of a most exciting year in American yachting, as well as the 

 conclusion of the best effort that England has yet made for 

 the capture of the America's Cup. At 9 A. M. on Oct. 28 

 Genesta sailed into Portsmouth with three winning flags fly- 

 ing, indicative of the three cups she won here, having made 

 the passage in 19 days 19 hours, remarkably good time for a 

 yacht of her size. The voyage was a stormy one, plenty of 

 bad weather and head winds; but in spite of all she made 

 some excellent runs. On the first day she covered only 99 

 miles, but later on her runs were 312, 338 and 340 miles. 

 Her time has been surpassed, in 1889. Sappho ran from 

 Sandy Hook lightship to Queenstown in 13d. 9h. 36m. ; in 

 1866 Henrietta went to Cowes in 13d. 21h. 55m., with Vesta 

 and Pleetwing a few hours later; in 1868 Sappho made the 

 run in 14 days to Cowes, and again, 1873, in 18 days. 

 Dauntless in 1869 went to Queenstown in 13d. 17h. 6m., and 

 in 1873 Faustine made the same run in 18 days. America's 

 time to Havre was 31 days, and in 1851 Silvie made the same 

 port in 16ij. 13h. In 1863 the schooner Gipsey went from 

 New York to Queenstown in 19 days, and in 1866 the Alice 

 went from Boston to Cowes in the same time. Compared 

 with these, nearly all of Ihem much larger vessels, Genesta's 

 performance is very good as regards time, while of her be- 

 havior Captain Saunders, her navigator, speaks in the high- 

 est terms, praising especially her dryness. For a time on 

 Oct. 14 she was hove to, following which were head winds 

 and bad weather, but no accidi^nt occurred except that the 

 mate injured his ankl*^ in lowering the trysail. Before this 

 Genesta is safely at Wivenhoe, and with her laying up ends 

 a season that has been a most exciting one to American 

 yachtsraFn. 



Not the IPHst imr>ortant fact of the year's yachting is the 

 first passage across the Atlantic of a modern lead mine, and 

 the entire disappearance of the ill-omened auguries and 

 general doubt witu which the performance has been awaited 

 on this side. First came Gtnesta, with 70 tons on her keel 

 and no beam in particular, making a safe and speedy 

 passage, and settling the question of her seagoing qualities. 

 Following her came Stranger, a smaller yacht, and then 

 little Clara, only 20 tons and of 9 ft. beam, but carrying her 

 racing spars boldly across the Atlantic. In beam, displace- 

 ment, ballast, rig and speed she is in the top list of extreme 

 cutters, her powers as a racer are generally acknowledged, 

 and now she has fully proved what this type of boat can do 

 as an ocean cruiser. The safe and speedy voyages of these 

 three settle forever the doubts and assertions that have been 

 current as to the buoyancy and seagoing powers of the 

 narrow, heavily ballasted type of British cutter, and prove 

 they are no less suited to off-shore cruising than to the 

 modern regatta course. 



In most departments of yachting the year has been a nota- 

 ble one; in steam the Herreshofi;s have brought out their 

 usual annual surprise, this year in the shape of a marvelously 

 fast launch of the torpedo type, undoubtedly the fastest 

 steam vessel yet built in America. This year has seen the 

 first really successful races of steam j^achts yet run in Ameri- 

 can waters, and an increased interest in this phase of yacht- 

 ing. No marked improvement in engines or appurtenances 

 is to be recorded, but the sport is now under the protection 

 of an active and enterprising club, and the general standard 

 of excellence among steam yachts, once low enough, is 

 gradually improving. 



This year has also witnessed a revival in the grand old 

 sport of schooner racing, and there has really been quite a 

 rivalry among half a dozen yachts, most Eastern. Fortuna, 

 Gitana, America and Mohican have made matters lively in 

 Boston waters, the former being the first on the list of 

 American schooners in 1885. About New York but little 

 has been done. Montauk and Grayling have been the lead- 

 ing, almost the only boats, and the honors for the year go to 

 the latter. Again the old America has sent up her racing 

 flag, but those who still admire the old craft can only regret 

 it, as she has added no new laurels. 



The story of the sloop racing would be a short one were 

 it not for the international contest for the America's Cup. 

 Again a British yacht has challenged, we have built two 

 yachts to meet her, one of which has not been successful, 

 while the other hag added another to the long list of Ameri- 

 can names that adorn the old trophy. The subject is too 

 extensive a one for a hurried review and deserves lime and 

 space in the near future. 



Leaving these races out of the count, the sloops have made 

 but a poor showing. The early races found but three sloops 

 in the larger classes, the trial races only one, and the final 

 outside race only Gracie came lo give battle to the visiting 

 challenger, the rest kept bravely out of the way. 



The chief interest among the cutters centers in the two 

 new arrivals, Stranger and Clara, the former as yet having 

 given no earnest of a successful career here, while Clara has 

 started in bravely by outsailing her class and nearly saving 

 time on Gracie in the only race open to her this season smce 

 her arrival. 



In the smaller classes the sport has been fairly good, the 

 most encoun ging feature being the rapidly increasing iutere-.t 

 that men are taking in yachtint', and the higher standards 

 and more liberal views prevailing among yachtsmen gener- 

 ally. Racing has been no more lively, in fact some of the 

 slasses baye not filled as ia former years, but tb«r« ar« more 



yadits, especially of smaller tonnage, built each year ; more 

 amateur sailors enlisted, and a general desire is manifested 

 for improved boats and for a better knowledge of principles. 

 On the whole the year has been a most instructive and 

 encouraging one for American yachtsmen, one that has 

 added its full share in the development and extension of the 

 sport. 



ffrom a Special Correspondent.] 

 TEW GBANABT OF THE WORLD. 



SO it has been called, this northern land of lakes and for- 

 ests and broad prairies. And the appellation is not 

 altogether fanciful. Visit Minneapolis and inspect its flour- 

 ing mills, inquire as to their number and the capacity of 

 each, and you will find that the annual product of flour f rcMn 

 this source is enough to supply the world with bread — for a 

 while at least. These mills can turn out thirty thousand 

 barrels of flour per day, when running on full time, and at 

 this rate their product for a year would supply one-quarter 

 of the population of the United States with the bread which 

 they annually consume. It may be taken for granted that 

 these mills have not been established hei'e without some 

 good reason. The great water power of the Falls of St. 

 Anthony is usually alleged as the cause of the growth of this 

 tremendous industry, but that alone would not be enough to 

 have brought it into existence and to have raised it to its 

 present proportions. The true cause is that the whole vast 

 country from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, all 

 through Minnesota, Dakota and Montana, is a wheat-pro- 

 ducing country, all of the product of which is tributary to 

 the city where these mills are located 



"We have all heard of the Red River wheat fields, and 

 their enormous f< rlility and productiveness, but all do not 

 know that far beyond the Red River, and reaching nearly to 

 the Rocky Mountains, there is land which without irrigation 

 now produces excellent wheat, and which in the near future 

 is destined to become even more proiluctive than it is a* 

 present. It is stated that the climate of the western country 

 is constantly being modified by the changes wrought by 

 human agency. And this statement is true. The annual 

 precipitation is far greater now in regions recently occupied 

 tnan it was when the settlers first came into the country. 

 Thus people say, roughly, that "the railroad brings rain," 

 and in a sense they are right. The railroad brings settlers, 

 who cultivate the soil and plant trees. The crops which 

 they grow and the trees which they plant serve as so many 

 pumps, which, by means of their millions on millions of tiny 

 roots suck up from the subsoil the water which lies hidden 

 there, out of reach, and then, by means of their leaves set 

 free this water in the atmosphere, where it is again con- 

 densed and falls upon the earth in the form of rain or dew. 

 These influences, constantly at work, cannot fail to exercise 

 a most important influence on the climate of any region. 

 The water which exists within any given area— to say noth- 

 ing of what is brought by aerial currents from the ocean 

 or from great lakes— is used over and over again, and the 

 result 18 twice as much rain, a climate which once was dry 

 now moist and damp, great increase in the growth of all 

 vegetation, and an ability to raise crops in localities where 

 formerly the seed would scarcely germinate, or if it did 

 sprout, the plant withered early in the summer. 



All this corresponds with experience. There was a time 

 —and it is within the memory of people who are yet young 

 — when it was thought impossible to grow crops as far West 

 as Wood River, in eastern Central Nebraska. To-day that is 

 the greatest corn country in all that corn-producing State, and 

 the farming belt is creeping steadily toward the mountains. 

 Each year the homesteaders push a little further westward, 

 and break up the prairie where the year before the range 

 cattle browsed undisturbed save at the season of the round- 

 ups, and to-day the traveler can see on the border line be- 

 tween Nebraska and Wyoming sod corn growing on the 

 hillsides where a few years ago the oldest settlers would 

 have told him nothing would grow but the grass of the 

 prairie. 



Such changes bafliie the predictions of the most experi- 

 enced Western men. We see regions, once mere deserts, 

 change by rapid steps into districts as desirable for farming 

 as our most fertile States, and time has in a hundred in- 

 stances given the he to people who used to say that such and 

 such a county would never be settled up. All this gives 

 rich promise for the future of that portion of the West 

 which has in the past been noted for its aridity, for it has 

 been most clearly established that water is the only requisite 

 to make fruitful any soil on the plains or in the mountains. 

 On th.e lower lands, where the nights are not too cold and 

 the summers are long, any crops may be grown which can 

 be produced in Iowa or Illinois. Higher up in the mount- 

 ains, wheat, oats, barley and root crops yield an abundant 

 harvest to the farmer. 



This is a long digression, but it seemed necessary to show 

 what is to be the future of the country once spoken of as the 

 "Great American Desert." 



This is preeminently the land for the poor man. but only 

 for the poor man who ia willing to work hard. He can raise 

 enough to support his family, and if he has a few cows their 

 increase will in the course of a few years make him well-to 

 do. I spent a night a short time since in the cabin of a set- 

 tler, who with his wife and four children had located about 

 forty miles from the railroad. He had ten cows, a team of 

 horses and a mowing maahine. Prom the cows his wife 



made enough butter to pay the living expenses of the 

 family. He puts up hay for the stock in summer and 

 then hires himself out to neighbors at good wages. His 

 calves and colts were in fine condition, and everything 

 pointed to a most comfortable future for this sturdy, 

 energetic settler. 



Who can tell how many families there may not be scat, 

 tered over the broad West, who from similar small beginnings 

 have attained by industry and thrift a competence, or even 

 wealth. 



The great wheat lands of the Red River valley are presum- 

 ably all settled up by this time. It is here that those 

 enormous farms are located which extend further than the 

 eye can reach, and upon which in harvest time an army of 

 laborers are employed. One of the largest of these belongs 

 to a firm of which Mr. Oliver Dalrymple is the chief. They 

 own about 75,000 acres or 117 square miles. i 



Not the least remarkable feature of this vast wheat country 

 is the rapidity with which it has been developed. The 

 transformation from wilderness to grain fields has all been 

 wrought within a brief period of ten years. There is but one 

 agent to accomplish such a work — the railroad. It wiU be 

 readily understood that until the building of the Northern 

 Pacific Railway all this country was inaccessible, and that 

 the settler or farmer, if he located in this region, could not 

 get his products to a market. There were, to be sure, a few 

 cattle raised in Western Montana fifteen years ago, and these 

 were for the most part driven to the ranges to the southeast 

 and then sold, but of purely agricultural products no more 

 were raised than could be consumed by the settlers. The 

 completion of the great northern highway from ocean to 

 ocean, speedily changed all this, and settlers have swarmed 

 in at a rate which seems almost incredible to those who have 

 not visited the region since the railroid was in operation. 

 The Northern Pacific Company have pursued a wise and 

 liberal policy in selling their lands and have thus attracted 

 settlers in great numbers. The consequt-nce is that they 

 have this year between 70,000 and 80,000 beeves to transport, 

 besides an amount of wheat which it will severely tax the 

 road to handle. The yield of wheat— in Dakota especially— 

 is said to be much larger than last year, and extra prepar- 

 ations must be made to care for it. Besides this, it is reported 

 that vast quantities of wheat are to be shipped east from 

 Washingtrn Territory over this road instead of going by sea 

 from Portland. The Northern Pacific has made low rates 

 from points in Washington eastward, so low, in fact, as to 

 assure the farmers of that country better prices for their 

 wheat than they would be likely to receive by shipping it 

 west. Besides this transportation from points directly on the 

 Hne of the Northern Pacific, that road has made arrange- 

 ments for practically draining the whole Territory. A 8t. 

 Paul paper referiing to this says: 



It (s now proposed that barges be built on the Snake River to carry 

 the wheat delivered at points on that stream, to Ainsworth, whence 

 it will be taken by rail to Duluth at the same rate charged from i 

 Cheney and other points In Washington Territory this side of there. 

 Heretofore all this wheat has gone West, a great deal of it being 

 shipped direct to Europe from the Pacific slope. For several years 

 past, however, this has not proved a paying business, and just at 

 present grain shippers are not only willing but anxious to ship East_ 

 The Portland Oregoni-an of recent date discusses this question at 

 considerable length. Eegarding the shipping of wheat direct to 

 Europe, it says: 



"At particular times there have been good profits, and at other 

 times prodieious losses. The conditions of the trade here make it 

 a very hazardous business. Distance from the market Is so great as 

 to defeat all calculation as to what prices may be by the time cargoes 

 arrive. To ship wheat from Pacific ports to Europe is little else than 

 a gambling enterprise, and during some years past the 'luck' has run 

 constantly against the shipper. His grain has arrived at its destina- 

 tion to meet a steadily falling market, upon which prices for some 

 time past have been lower 1 han at any former time for a century. It 

 is no secret that during the last two or three years shippers of grain 

 and flour nave been 'hui-t' severely." 



As has been said, the Red River wheat lands are for the 

 most part occupied, but all over the plains from the Missouri 

 River westward there is railroad and government land in 

 abundance which only awaits the settler's plow to become as 

 productive as that which is now being successfully farmed. 

 All through Western Minnesota and Dakota the railroad 

 passes through what seems almost like a continuous farm. 

 The broad fields of yellow wheat, a part of it now fallen 

 before the reaper, stretch away as far as the eye can reach. 

 Now and then an extensive field is reached in which thrifty 

 oats nod their tasseled heads in the passing breeze, and near 

 each dwelling the darker green of the potatoes, dotted with 

 purple and white blossoms, bear witness to the varied capa- 

 bilities of the soil. In one or two places patches of sod corn 

 were growing, and very good corn it was, too, notvrithstand- 

 ing the general opinion that the climate is too cold and the 

 summers too short for com. 



Everywhere the bottoms and bluflfs are now clothed with a 

 vegetation more luxuriant than that of bygone years. In 

 Western Dakota wheat now grows without irrigation on 

 hills that ten years since supported only the scantiest growth 

 of herbage. The bad lands of the Little Missouri, too, have 

 lost their character. Formerly they were literally bad lands 

 — mauvaises term— on which nothing grew save an occa- 

 sional greasewood bush, or here and there a mat of cactus. 

 Now the term has lost its applicability. A short growth of 

 nutritious verdure clothes their slopes, and seen in the slant- 

 ing rays of the western sun, they are ho longer gray, harsh 

 and forbidding, but look like the terraced bluffs of fertile 

 Iowa, softly green, like crumpled velvet. 



AVBDSTl, 1885. 



