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BEMIDJI, BELTRAMI COUNTY AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA. orous clay subsoil which penetrates, in some places, to the astonishing depth of eighteen feet? And pray, where will you find, outside of Minnesota, land to compare with Bel- trami county land, either for productive possibilities or remunerative results? ‘We answer, nowhere. As the question -magnifies before us, as indeed it must before all who give the problem their earnest thought, the farm lands of this county are likened unto the everglades of Florida or the dense forests of the extreme northwest—which are in- calculably rich in rare wocds and timber, but which, up to a few years ago, compara- tively speaking, were never given the con- sideration their value demanded. Beltrami county farm land has never been estimated at its true worth. Even the farmers who have earned a competence in this county have but recently awakened- to the inordinate value of the lands with- in their domain. Every farmer in the coun- ty is and always has been prosperous, whether he be a renter or owner, and this fact perhaps explains why the average Beltrami county farmer has never exerted himself to ascertain or speculate upon the true worth of his holdings. Coming here, as most of our farmers did, with but a small or nominal sum of money, they were blessed with bounteous crops, and they never weighed the question whether their prosperity was derived from their methods of farming or whether the beneficient hand of Dame Ixature had been instrumental in enriching them. This being conceded, the average farmer in Beltrami county re- mained in the same old groove until the agricultural richness of even his own piece of land forced itself upon him, and today there is not a farmer in the country who can lay claim to a more fertile and prolific piece of land than is to be found in Bel- trami county. Thug it is that we come be- fore the farming world and request that they investigate Beltrami county before deciding to take up land elsewhere. THE SOIL. Is a rich and exceedingly fertile dark loam. The subsoil is clay, retaining moisture, the whole formation comprising a goil which . withstands drouth or excessive wet in a remarkable degree, and produces abundant crops of Wheat, Flax, Oats, Rye, and all Crops of Grain and Vegetables of all kinds. Corn is raised to quite an extent and the same matures in ample season. NATURAL ADVANTAGES. This is convenient to consuming markets. Duluth and Superior, with 150,000 popula- tion are 180 miles to the east; St. Paul and Minneapolis with 500,000 population are 230 miles to the south and the broad farm prairies of Minnesota and Dakota lie at our door to the west. The markets of the northwest are the very best, as they are reached by numerous railroads with lines running direct. TO RENTERS. Why do you rent? You can have a farm of your own in a few years. Why give the best years of your life to working for some- one else?. Why pay yearly for living on someone’s farm as much as will buy a farm? Do you want to work during your whole life and give the lion’s share of your harvest to others? Are you not tired of moving from farm to farm until you have plowed, planted, and cultivated the whole vicinity and yet not own enough of this earth to be buried in when you die? Or do you want a farm, a spot to raise your cattle and pigs on, and harvests which will be your own? You can have it at low prices and on easy terms. You can be independent in a few years, TO YOUNG MEN. Are you married or single? Well, it doesn’t make a particle of dif- ference. Beltrami county offers you the most in- ductive chances you will ever bump against. Here we have water, and timber—a world of both—skirted by railroads representing both branch and transcontinental lines, ex- haustive notice of which will be found in the city article of this edition. The Great Northwest has for years been the Mecca for young home-seekers, owing to its unlimited resources in the way of farm- ing, cattle raising, water power, timber and mineral wealth. Today development is still in its incipiency, and there are mil- lions of promising openings for the young people who will vie with the elder who have already earned a competence in this beneficent sphere. The Pioneer does not attempt, in this article, to elaborate upon the multitudinous openings offered to the newcomers to Beltrami county, but it does most em- phatically declare that the young man or couple who decide to make their home here, will not be disappointed, nor fall short of their most ardent realizations. Here we have a healthful and invigorating climate, work for all, an annual golden harvest, an abundance of timber which means cheap fuel and comfort when the Hoar Frost is thick upon the window pane; where scenery and good fishing and hunt- ing are to be had to surfeit; where the people are congenial and law-abiding, sub- stantial, generous and progressive; where every known agricultural product will be- come vigorous and give a commensurate vield, and, in short, as we have hereto- fore iasserted, a land that will well war- rant investigation. Today is the accepted hour for decision for the young man. Procrastination is the thief of time, and is relentless in its doings and everdoings. The young man who fails to avail himself of a glowing future has only himself to blame. We are not going to have two crops of land. Get a home before it is exhaused. Settle in Beltrami county. Before you conclude to settle, come and look over the field. It won’t cost much and may prove a windfall to you.. Our lands in Beltrami county, Minnesota. lie from one to seven miles from new, thriving towns. A large number of people in your own and neighboring counties were out last year and secured tractis.of these valuable and prcductive lands. If you want a tract of land where Wheat No. 1 hard can be raised year after year, without exhausting the boundless fertility of the soil, or where two or three crops of flax or wheat will pay for your land, this is the place and now is the time, DIVERSIFIED FARMING. The farmers of Beltrami county who have always devoted their fields to cereals are rapidly awakening to the importance and profit of diversified farmers. Hundreds of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana farmers are coming into this sec- tion and “MAKING GOOD.” It is well known that diversified farming insures the tiller of the soil at least good return, every year, to predict that this system of farm- ing, coming gradually into vogue as it has, will prove the general within a compara- tively short time. Land can be purchased in this county from $5.00 to $25.00 per acre, according to improvements and location as to mar- kets. To the man who has devoted his life to either farming or the raising of live stock. the import of these figures are plain. They prove beyond doubt that the soil of Bel- trami county will produce anything which will flourish in a temperate zone, and that the yield which rewards the husband- man is enriching and unfailing. FARM HOME OF DR. BLAKESLEE, On Cut-Over Land, One Mile West of Bemidji. ‘ : E