244 AMEEIOAI^ AGEIOULTUEIST. [June, 
How I Found my Prairie Home. 
R. G. NEWTON. 
I cannot say positively whether my own incli¬ 
nations, or the advice of tliat kind-hearted old phi¬ 
losopher, long since gone to his home beyond the 
western skies, caused me in the winter of 188-, to 
dispose of my home and immovables, and come 
West. Living in one of the pleasantest villages of 
Southern New York, with a good little home all 
paid for, a good trade, and plenty of work, you 
may ask why I left all this to come out on the prai¬ 
ries. I had worked fifteen years in the dust and 
noise of a large planing mill, and all I had to show 
for it was that house and Idt, which was bought at 
the time real estate was booming. My wife and I 
had denied ourselves many pleasures to get what 
we had together, and the prospect for coming 
years was not a pleasing one. We might be spared 
to live many years, my wages would give us tlie 
necessaries of life, but little or none for the future, 
when I might not be able to work. In looking 
around me, 1 could find many men that old age 
was crowding out of the ranks, but they had in 
their best days been as good mechanics as any of 
us, and among them all but very few (and they 
were the ones who had come in when the country 
was new and the town just started), that had saved 
anything in their years of toil. After many sleep¬ 
less nights, I made up my mind to do what so 
many had done before, break off with everything 
connected with that kind of life, and on the prairies 
of the great West start anew. I did so, and here 
we are. 
I left New York State in the winter, and went 
into the Red River Valley of Dakota, where I had a 
brother in the hotel business. The next question 
ivas, where should 1 locate ? I had a good oppor¬ 
tunity to see and talk with parties, who had visited 
many different parts of the Territory. Just then 
the Devil’s Lake country was having a “ boom 
there was the Mouse River country, and many 
other localities open to settlers, but I wanted to 
build my future home where I could raise a variety 
of field crops, corn especially, and not live without 
Fig. 3.— CROSS-SECTION OF THE CELLAR. 
a garden. I decided to have a look at the country 
between the Jim River and the Missouri. So in 
the middle of March, with between two and three 
feet of snow on the ground, I started. In three 
days 1 was in Aberdeen, and passed the last snow¬ 
bank in the cuts through the hills in Grant County. 
At Aberdeen I found the “ booming ” point was 
on the Missouri River, but as it necessitated a ride 
of a hundred miles over the prairies (with one stop¬ 
ping place), in an open or lumber wagon, and dur¬ 
ing March weather, it vvas not what I wanted. I 
went to the Huron district, getting what infor¬ 
mation I could, started on the road towards Pierre, 
and stopping at St. Lawrence, found a team just 
starting north with two young men, who were 
going up there to iocate. Joining them, we rode 
about forty-five miles almost due north, getting to 
our destination about seven o’clock. After supper, 
I made arrangements with a “ locator ” to be on 
hand early in the morning with a team, and show 
me some of the unoccupied land near the town, 
which was just starting. 
After this I was shown to 
my sleeping-place, which 
was half of one end of a 
bunk, twelve feet long, ac¬ 
commodating four, with 
one just like it built above. 
Morning came, and getting 
up, I counted twenty-three 
lodgers in that room, about 
eighteen by twenty feet 
square. When going down 
stairs, I had to step over 
two or three persons who 
were still snoring, under 
buffalo robes, coats, and 
any other covering obtaina¬ 
ble. After breakfast came 
the driver, who took me over several claims; I went 
back to the hotel, and at nine o’clock, the stage 
running to the nearest rail road point came up, 
and off we went. I decided on my way down to 
enter my filing on the first claim we went over. 
I went to Huron Monday, but could not get my 
filing made out until it was too late to get it in 
that day, but 1 was on hand the next morning with 
many others. I found the piece was not taken, my 
entry was accepted, and I started again for the 
North, intending to spend the summer with my 
brother, and come on to my claim in the fall, 
which, by making a Homestead entry, I was en¬ 
abled to do. 
LOCATIHO THE HOUSE AND STABLES. 
Claim shanties are usually built on the point 
nearest to the adjoining town, but many other 
parts of the farm may be much better for building- 
sites. Shelter from the winds, of which those 
from the north-west are the most prevalent, is very 
desirable. Locate the house and stables within 
easy access to water. By digging deep enough, 
well-water will be reached almost anywhere. If 
the well is necessarily located some distance from 
the house, you can erect a wind-mill, lay a few rods 
of iron pipe and have a steady supply of water at 
the bam and house. 
In Central Dakota the land is sufficiently undu¬ 
lating to afford sometimes a choice of several lo¬ 
cations on a quarter section. A rise of the ground 
of fifteen to twenty-five feet will shut off the 
heavy winds, and by placing the buildings at the 
foot or a little way up the rise, and planting the 
top to evergreens, mixed with other trees, you will 
not feel the winds at all. The advantages a hill¬ 
side offers for a cellar are not to be overlooked. 
By digging down a little way, you can then ex¬ 
cavate directly into the hill, making a hall or cut¬ 
ting about four feet wide, and as long as desired. 
By digging out bins at the side, roots and other 
crops may be secured from frost. Fig. 1 shows a 
dwelling, with a cellar dug into fl hillside, The 
side excavations are at a, a, a, and a ventilator, b, 
rises from the main part. Fig. 3 is a cross-section 
of the underground cellar, a, showing the side 
bins, 6, b. The floor plan of the cellar is given in 
fig. 3. The hard subsoil makes such a cellar easily 
constructed, and by leaving a space of solid earth 
between each bin of two or three feet, you will not 
require to use a .stone in the whole construction. 
It will require a good, tight door at the entrance of 
the gallery from the cellar, and it may be necessary' 
to provide for ventilation, which can be done by 
digging one or more holes from the top of the hill 
down into the gallery. Cover the ventilating shaft 
tightly with a large box, not easily overturned. 
The top should be built to shed the rain, and holes 
a foot across cut in the sides and covered with 
wire cloth, to keep out vermin. If the roof ex¬ 
tends over the sides considerably, and the holes are 
close under the roof, but little rain will beat in. 
This box can be removed, if necessary, after freez¬ 
ing weather sets in, and a board covered over the 
hole, with some earth thrown on it to keep it in 
place, but if there is much thickness of earth over 
the cedar, it may be better to leave the ventilator 
open. This cannot be done in many parts of 
Northern Dakota, as the water would fill the cellar 
the first winter. 
Cider-Making Without a Press—Diffusion. 
The method of extracting sugar from the beet 
root by dissolving it out with water, or diffusion, 
as it is called, has been applied to cider making in 
some districts of France. As the method is very 
simple and is practicable on a small scale, some of 
our readers may -wish to make a trial of it. A cask 
or keg of any convenient size has a false bottom in 
which are numerous holes, and is raised a few 
inches above the real bottom. The apples are 
ground, and packed in the cask on the false bottom, 
first placing a coarse cloth over it. At the top of 
the apples is a follower. Water is poured in suffi¬ 
cient to cover the apples, and the whole allowed to 
stand for twenty-four or thirty-six hours. At the 
end of the proper time the liquid is drawn off 
through a spigot in the cask near the bottom. Wa¬ 
ter is again added, allowed to stand and drawn 
off; this is repeated once more, making in all, 
three diffusions. The resulting liquids are mixed 
together and treated like new cider made in the 
usual way. If not rich enough sugar may be ad-, 
ded. By this method cider may be made without 
expense for press or mill, as the latter, though 
convenient, is not necessary, as the apples may be 
brought to a pulp by pounding them in a barrel or 
strong tight box. This process leaves the pomace 
in better condition than that from the press, wheth¬ 
er to feed to the pigs or to add to the manure heap. 
Salmon Fresh from Oregon. 
The latest immigrant is the Oregon Salmon. 
There has been inaugurated the past spriug a 
system of shipping in regular cars, the world- 
famed salmon of the Columbia River, to the 
Eastern markets. The “ Chinnoo’is ” salmon is a 
stranger at the East; the “steel-heads,” that are 
not considered choice on the Pacific Coast, are the 
only salmon from the Western States that have 
reached eastern markets. The “Chinnook” does 
not commence running until the middle of April. 
The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are 
mammoth enterprises to-day. There are fifty large 
canneries between Astoria, at the mouth of the 
Columbia, and the Cascades above Portland. Three 
average salmon fill four dozen cans, each holding 
a pound ; there are forty-eight cans in a case. 
When this industry began, in 1866, a case of salmon 
cost sixteen dollars ; to-day, the current price is 
four dollars. There are two thousand boats, includ¬ 
ing a dozen steam-tenders,employed in this business- 
alone on the Columbia River. A new impetus will 
be given to the industry by the new enterprise of 
shipping the fresh salmon to the Eastern States. 
Fig. 1.— A PRAIRIE HOUSE WITH HILLSIDE CELLAR. 
