The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, February 23, 1925, Page 6

PAGE SIX How Big Is North Dakota? North Dakota is a big state, having 70,000 square miles of land,—more acres of land than New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massa- chusetts combined, which states have a popula- tion of 18,774,000. North Dakota has a popula- tion of 700,000. Lands considered as untillable in North Da- kota would be regarded in New England, eastern and southern states as agricultural land of high quality. Many foreign countries would rejoice and deem themselves rich in possessing the land which we in North Dakota regard as waste and unproduetive territory. North Dakota has 45,000,000 acres of arable land; enough good land to make a farm of 169 acres for 281,250 home owners. North Dakota has 29,090,000 acres in farms, of which 18,000,000 are under cult jon,—more ares under the plow than the states of Ore- gon, Washington and California combined. in North Dakota the average acreage per farm is 440; in the middle West states east of us it is 105. We have a high class of citizenry, and a great public and higher edueational em. We have everything that a prospective settler seeks or can desire; everything necessary to a contented, progressive people. A Coming Corn State. North Dakota produced 17,000,000 bushels of corn in 1919 and 35,000,000 in 1923. It is safe to say that within fifteen years North Dakota will grow to be one of the great corn preducing states of this country. North Dakota leads all states in the production of No. 1 Hard wheat, flax and winter rye; it is second in barley and third in oats. Diversification Under Way. Under intelligent diversification the farmers of North Dakota will no longer have all their eggs in one basket. They will continue to produce, but more consistently, the state’s great output in all! grain production. The acreage will be much less but each acre will bring more dollars because more bushels. All grain will be better in qual- ity; dockage reduced to the lowest level and the soils fertility conserved. In 1917 North Dakota produced 290,000 hogs. The production for 1924 was 640,000. North Dakota is producing as good a mileh cow as New York, Wisconsin or Minnesota and, population considered, doing it more rapidly. In 1918 the value of dairy products was $18,000,000; in 1924 it was $39,000,000. North Dakota can and is producing as good a steer, hog, horse, and sheep upon its rich, low- level value land, and can round them up for mar- ket as cheaply, with its corn, alfalfa, and sweet clover, as can Iowa or Illinois upon their high- level value land. North Dakota is soon to be one of the greatest poultry states. The past year we sold, under a conservative estimate, $1,500,000 worth of tur- keys, and because of special quality they sold at top prices in the markets of Chicago, Boston and New York. In 1918 poultry products amounted to $2,712,000; the estimated value of poultry products in 1924 was $10,500,000. North Dakota is unsurpassed as a great potato and vegetable state, as to size, variety and ease of production. The North Dakota potato is eagerly sought*by Eastern consumers and south- ern potato growers for seed. North Dakota is one of the leading sweet clover and alfalfa states, both for feed and seed. In 1918 the acreage in sweet clover and alfalfa was 50,000; in 1924 it was 370,000. North Dakota produces all of her agricultural products with the season’s rainfall, without irri- gation, innoculation of soil, or a single ounce of fertilizer. Honey and Honey Bee. “North Dakota wili soon be the leading bee state, both in quality: and quantity of production. In 1920 the state had 708 hives of bees. This year we have 14,000 hives, and the estimated production for 1924 was 1,900,000 Ibs. The North Dakota Bureau of Crops Estimates shows in 1922 a pro- THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE. - North Dakota’s Answer to Years of Misrepresentation Bismarck, North Dakota A duction of 157 Ibs. to the hive, which was the highest of any state in the Union. Why this rapid development .in produetion and quality? The answer is, acres and acres of sweet clover; the Jong, warm, sunshiny days-&nd the ‘short. cool nights. The long days giving Jonger hours for bee work, and the short, cool nights prepici- tating, in largest quantity, the nectar in the clover blossoms. Soil Unsurpassed. Our soil is easily and quickly put into crop con- dition. It is rich and highly productive. | We have the best agricultural climate; plenty of pure water; enough lakes and rivers; ample rainfall and abundant sunshine. We have three trans¢on- tinental lines, and their numerous branches, cob- webbing the state in all directions, therefore ex- cellent transportation facilities. North Dakota’s soil, measured by what it can do and is doing, as to quantity, ‘quality and va- riety of agricultural production, is the best and cheapest land in this or any other country. The Government Bureau of Soils, Department of Agri- culture makes this very terse and suggestive statement regarding the character of soil in the several states.of the Union. In making com- parison we select four of the great outstanding, agricultural states, namely Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. Minnesota—Forest soils, lighi in color, low in humas, fair amount of minerals; Illinois—Soil dark in color, rich, needs drainage; Iowa—Soil dark, well drained, productive; North Dakota — Soil black, continuous, highly produc- tive. By the way of illustrating the ease with which our raw land can be brought under production, a new settler coming ‘to North Dakota with five good horses and gang plow can begin the break. ing of his 160 acres of virgin soil amid the song of the meadow lark and the chirp of the ground squirrel; he can put in ten acres of eorn for for- age and fifty acres of flax, during the proper. seed- ing season, and continue the breaking operation up to the middle of July, with his holdings then all under the plow. At the harvest season he can garner into his granary his first crop before the meadow fark has winged his way South or the ground squirrel has hibernated for the winter. North Dakota Young in Years. When North Dakota became a state in 1889, Indiana as a state was seventy-five years old; IIli- nois seven-one; Michigan fifty-two; Iowa forty- three; Wisconsin forty-one; Minnesota thirty-one and Nebraska twenty-two. All these states of the middle West have had from one to three gen- erations the start of us, yet it can be said that the youthfulness of our state has not prevented ” us from taking a high place, both in general prog- ress and in the volume and value of. agricultural production. 5 With a vast acreage yet to feel the: plowshare in 1924 we produced in value on our farms $418,- 557,749; the largest agricultural per capital value. $633, and the largest average farm value, $5,884, of any state in the Union, measured by population and number of farms. " One ofthe big, new and proper questions of these days is: “What can a state or country do for humanity?” North Dakota’s very satisfac- tory answer to that question is, “We produce a greater quantity of human food, both for Home and worldwide consumption, than any state of like numbers in the world.” Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin have nearly reach- ed the, zenith of their agricultural production; while North Dakota is still in the early dawn of her great productive possibilities, Home Ownership, : North Dakota has more people owning their own homes than any other state in the Union; 653 out of each 1,000 in North Dakota, own the homes they live in, while the percentage of home owners for the entire country is 450 pet 1,000.’ North Dakota has ‘more automobiles, accord- ing to its population, than any other state in the Union,—115,000 or oné for every six people. No Fuel Problem. North Dakota has six hundred billion tons of high grade lignite coal. The greatest deposit of a (Copies of this Page for distribu otimtpnamatiinanie se + + atbers ean-be hed-in, Poster-Form ar i i 5,000 or 1,000 lots, Special: Price continuous stretch of coal in any one locality in the world; greater than the combined coal de- posits of England, France and Germany, the great coal producing and industrial nations of Europe, with a population of 116,000,000.. We have enough coal to warm every home, turn every wheel in every’ factory in this country for 200 years and still barely scratch the surface of this special gift of God to the people.of North Da- kota. The day cannot be far distant when this coal, long patiently waiting the magic touch of organized capital, will. produce the ‘cheapest elec- tricity the world knows, and shoot: it hundreds of miles away for heat, power and light. What is needed ?—vision, enterprise, organization and capital. Pasar t ‘ Character of North Dakota People. After all is said and‘ done it is not land, wealth or numbers, but rather the type and character of a people, that best determines the right of that people for their “place in the sun.” Measured by that standard North Dakota has nothing to fear. She can face the future, erect, self-poised and un- afraid. i Of the state’s total population 515,000 were born in this country: Of this number 305,00C were born in North Dakota. As to the early pio- neer settlers the middle West contributed 68,000; the New England states 6,000; the eastern states 9,000 and the southern states 4,000. Each sent of the best they had. Regarding the character and type of the foreign population, the British Isles and.her colonies contributed 8,000;. the Scandinavian races 54,000; Germans and Rus- sians of German strain, 45,000; Holland, Belgium and France 1,400. In all North Dakota there isn’t,enough scum from humanity’s melting ‘pot to make a typical, pioneer village. North Da- kota’s citizenry is as sound as hér No. 1 Hard: wheat, and as clean as the air they breathe. Fortunate, indeed, was it for North Dakota, and for all generations to come, that the very early pigneers brought. with them a deep and abiding faith in the great fundamental principles of law,. order, society, home, church and school. ¢Upon these, as the firm foundation, they erected the superstructure of the new state. Because of that fact North Dakota is today, above every- thing clse, a state of law, order, homes, churches and schools. Sd ibbihth Md 204 Hurtful Misrepresentation. Hurtful misrepresentation regarding Notth Dakota has gone out for years, through the press of the state east of us,'until it-has become a-fixed hahit, since it was. nobody's business to offset’ it with the truth. There is no pafticular ‘reason Why a snowstorm in this state becomes ‘a North Dakota blizzard, rather than -a Minnesota, New Yerk or New, England blizzard,:nor why a. thun- dér. shower accompanied by ‘some wind; should be a: North Dakota cyclone, rather t! ‘a Kaneas, Ohio, Missouri ‘or Illinois tornado.-:-As a matter of fact .all the states in the same latitude east of us to the Ohio River, have, more snow fall:thani does North Dakota. It is algo true ‘that eben prairie country, as is outé, frée: from: f we forests, is far lé4s liable to have desttuctive storms, than is a state‘with forest lahidséApe. ‘Why The Sunshine State? | | North Dakota .is. pre-eminently ‘the state ‘of, sunshine as reflected by the health “and vigor of its ‘people. The average number of deys of ih sunshine per _year is. 158}:'slightlysbloudy.::108; cloudy. 99... During’ the growing end maturing months of May, June, July and August, North Da- kota adds to the calendar ‘fourteen ‘days of sun- shine, of seven hours each; mote than Tows, ‘Ili- nois; Indiana and other tates in,that- latittude. This ‘intensive sunshine ‘in: the growing: season yall crops}! 4 24) makes for rapid Tantoring Ang higher .quality ‘ih- ; ‘March, April.and, 3/10ths above; for the summer: mi July. and. August, .69'4/10ths" abov iis, June, ‘or the fall Bankers and ato 208-401 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1925 months, September, October and November, 44 6/10ths; for the winter months, December, Jan- uary and February, it is 10 2/10ths above. The average number of days between late killing frost in the spring and early killing frost in the fall is 185. The average period of late frost iv May 10th; the average period of early frost is September 21st. The average rainfall from April, inclusive of October, is 17.48 inches. All this rain falls during the growing season: Much has been: said about North Dakota: being a wind-swept state. The average rate of wind per hour, covering a period of 25 years, at Huron, South Dakota, is 11-6/10ths miles; Minneapolis and St. Paul, 11-8/10ths; Chicago, 15-1/10th and North Dakota, 9-7/10ths. ; A woman born and raised in this state went to Ohio for a visit, and when asked if she were en- joying the winter there, said:- “No, I have-never suffered so with cold in my life. The wind here goes through you. In North Dakota it goes by you.” This, I may add, is the universal experi- ence of North Dakotans, who have gone to spend a few winter months with friends and relatives in some middle West of eastern state. Value of Farm Preperty. The value of farm property in North Dakota is as follows: farm land. $1,279,313,627; farm buildings, $209,207,868; implements and machin- ery, $114,186,865; live stock on farms, $137,034,- 635. The per cent of outstanding mortgages against farm lands and buildings is but 20%. Education. ° North Dakota is justly proud of her system bf education, measured from the district and con- _solidated schools on our prairies to that of the State University at Grand Forks, and the Agri- cultural College at’ Fargo. We spend an- nually $12,800,000 for our common and high schools, and $2,900,000 biennially ‘for our eight higher institutions offearning. North Dakota has less than 1% of illiteracy. Fruits, Flowers and Birds. North Dakota is slowly but steadily increasing its fruit production.. Apples, crabapples, plums. strawberries, currants and: gooseberries,;—many varieties of each are grown successfully: The wild flowers of North Dakota are every- where in endless variety and beauty, increasing as the summer, advances. ‘The Pascal flower, vio- let, wild rose, tiger lily; goldenrod and spiderwort, are but a few of the many native to the state. Thousands of birds, 858 different species, make North Dakota thei? habitat fromyearly March to November. Of the:many song birds we ‘mention the following: meadow lark, robin, plover, ‘Ten- nessee warbler, brown thrush, Baltimore Oriole, Western Vespér sparrow, black-headed grosheak, lark-bunting, Sprague’s piput and willow thrush. i Good Roads. a North Dakota will.in the natural order of time have one of the finest systems of hard surface roads, and do it at less expense, of any state east or west of us. Our inexhaustibld supply of scoria will play -a big: part inthis development. Scoria does not pocket or corrugate'as does gravel. Sco- tia,-like all burnt clay, remains free from ruts and keeps practically dry in the wettest weather. Every. state and ‘community has its advantages andAisadvantages, yet it'is my contention that if you were to sttike a fair average-of both these for any State in the Union, comparing economic, social’ ~¢ditcational and climatic conditions, the result would in all cases be to the advantage of North Dakota: ::** aaicals iy oF ecard 2 He is'a wise’man who, when the outlook may seem depressing, the ‘road rough and. the hills steep, pauses’ to rest awhile on his journey, takes stock and counts his blessings one’ by one. ' North Dakota‘‘secks and desires settlers of a good tlass. - The statt is still in.the making. “Op portunities ‘are unequalled for the man of intefi- génce, industry and courage to come, make a home and be one of ‘us. ‘To all'such we offer kindly © and sincere welcome. -We_ have room for’ thou- Sands. It is an opportune time. Why not now? REL ts Se ar