1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Through Western Minnesota to Dakota. 
Valuable Information for Those Seeking 
Western Homes. 
Two years ago, at large expense, the American Agri¬ 
culturist presented an extended view of all the cheap 
lands for sale in the West, from Manitoba on the north 
to the Indian Territory on the south. One of the editors 
of this paper visited all the land grants of importance, 
also vast tracts of Government lands, and gave to the 
readers of the American Agriculturist the results of his 
observations in thirteen columns. The great array of 
facts and statistics therein presented decided thousands 
of people upon the localities they should select in 
moving West. 
Where shall we go West, 
We now, with the October issue of the American Agri¬ 
culturist, commence a series of articles describing the 
regions of country which are now most desirable for those 
of our readers seeking Western homes. We begin with 
Western Minn, and Dakota, for just now this region is 
having a great boom, and we have large numbers of in¬ 
quiries regarding it. The largest tide of emigration 
westward during this season has followed this line (see 
map, next page); the majority of the people comprising 
it have pushed right on through Western Iowa and Min¬ 
nesota, going direct to Dakota, until, it is estimated, 
there are now, (in Sept. 1883,) in the Territory, nearly four 
hundred thousand people; three hundred thousand below 
latitude 46% and the others north of it. During the 
forty days from the middle of March until the last of 
April, this year, over eighty thousand men, women, and 
children, bound for Dakota, came from Chicago over the 
route we have taken, as seen on the accompanying map. 
The rush of emigration has been remarkable, so much 
so as to excite apprehensions lest there may be consid¬ 
erable suffering this winter, as there was during the ear¬ 
lier years of Kansas and Nebraska. 
This tide of emigration Dakota-ward has continued all 
this year, the people pushing on beyond the termini of 
the railroads, as far as the forks of the Cheyenne River, 
locating right and left, taking possession of the fer¬ 
tile prairies, under Preemption and Timber Tree Acts 
and other Government provisions for the benefit of those 
desiring free lands. While hundreds of thousands of 
acres have thus been acquired, the opportunity is still 
presented to readers of the American Agriculturist, to 
acquire rich farm lands in Dakota Territory. We re¬ 
peat the advice, however, so often given in these col¬ 
umns, viz : Not to come unless you have sufficient 
funds to maintain you for some time after arriving in 
this new country. To come unprepared is to invite 
sufffering, and perhaps actual want. If there are several 
people in a community who would like to remove to 
Dakota, it would be well for them to club together and 
pay the expenses of one of their number to come out in 
advance, and inspect these Government lands, and re¬ 
port to them. The distance from Chicago to Elkton, 
t' e first place in Dakota west of the Minnesota line, is 
five hundred and seventy-three miles. Trains run 
regularly, two hundred and eight miles further on 
through Dakota, to Pierre, making in all seven hun¬ 
dred and eighty-one miles from Chicago. We have space 
only for these general observations. Naturally the rail¬ 
road authorities will willingly furnish you all information 
about these Government lands in Dakota, inasmuch as 
the settling up of the Territory makes traffic for the 
• 0 - 
railroads. They are pushing their roads across the 
Territory, and of course desire to attract settlers. 
Thus much to all those who wish to secure free lands. 
Those who wish to settle close to the railroads, and 
have the wherewith to make a payment on railroad 
lands, can secure such land both in South-Western Min¬ 
nesota and in the Dakota counties bordering on the Min¬ 
nesota line. In a subsequent paper we may allude to the 
region and the lands through which the Northern Pacific 
Railroad runs. 
Cheap Lands in Minnesota and. Dakota. 
The two remaining railroads extending into Dakota, 
which received land warrants, viz., the Milwaukee & St. 
Paul and the Chicago & Northwestern, have pursued 
diverse lines of policy in disposing of their various tracts 
of land, lying in Iowa, Minnesota, and Dakota. The 
first corporation, being desirous to turn its lands into 
ready money, disposed of them in large blocks. For ex¬ 
ample, Englishmen (the Close Brothers) purchased them 
by the hundred thousand acres in Northwestern Iowa, 
where there is now a very large English settlement, 
which will be described in a future number of the Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist. One after another of these large 
blocks have been disposed of until, not long ago, this 
railroad company placed all that remained, nearly one 
hundred and fifty thousand acres, with the banking house 
of Frederiksen, Hansen & Drummond, of Chicago, who 
tell us that they have disposed of all these lands, with the 
exception of forty-three thousand acres, which lie in a 
body in Southwestern Minnesota, close to the Iowa line. 
The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, pur¬ 
suing an opposite policy, has held on to its lands, selling 
them out acre by acre as far as possible to actual set¬ 
tlers. As a consequence, while the rival Milwaukee & 
St. Paul road has now no lands for sale, the Chicago & 
Northwestern has seven hundred thousand acres to dis¬ 
pose of, located in Redwood, Cottonwood, Murray, Lyon, 
Lincoln, Yellow Medicine, and Lac-Qui-Parle counties, 
Southwestern Minnesota, and in Brookings, Deuel, Grant, 
Coddington, and Hamlin counties, Eastern Dakota. Not¬ 
withstanding the general advance in the prices of West¬ 
ern lands, the Chicago & Northwestern has not advanced 
the prices of these lands, doubtless in accordance with 
its policy of attracting settlers so as to make business 
for the road. These lands, now mainly confined to 
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