of their almost fabulous yields of wheat--some of them two or three
townships in extent. They are gone now, but the size of the farms today
still startles those familiar with agriculture in other States, for
many holdings run as high as 10,000 acres, and the average for the
whole State is 463 acres, as against the United States average of 154.8
acres.
Ordinarily the rainfall is sufficient to bring crops of high value,
despite the fact that in the western two-thirds of the State
it is not abundant. In occasional years the moisture is poorly
distributed, resulting in lessened cash values. About twice in a
century the dry-land farming area of the United States, of which
the western two-thirds of this State is a part, is subject to major
drought conditions. At such times farming is difficult and in places
impossible--without irrigation. In the drought of the 1880's there were
few people in North Dakota to suffer. It took the recent major drought
which began in 1929 to impress not only upon North Dakotans, but upon
the Federal Government as well, the necessity for reliance in part upon
irrigation, utilizing the waters that flow so abundantly through the
State--and out of it.
More than a thousand dams are contemplated in the Works Progress
Administration program for the State. Many have already been completed,
and steps are being taken to divert the waters of the Missouri River
into the James and Sheyenne Rivers, and to utilize waters in western
tributaries of the Missouri.
Fortunately, North Dakota has never had a land boom. The result is that
prices of agricultural land are low, and with the returning rains it
is likely that the State will experience a new wave of confidence and
prosperity.
Naturally, in a State where 87 percent of the land is devoted to
agricultural pursuits, farm conditions are of paramount importance to
almost every person. Directly dependent upon the soil are the farm
residents who compose 53.6 percent of North Dakota's population.
Directly dependent upon the wealth of the farmer are the 28.6
percent who live in small rural towns, and, almost as directly, the
17.9 percent who compose the urban population. Of the urban group,
approximately one-third are employed in the processing of agricultural
products.
The same general boundaries that divide the State topographically
also designate the three agricultural belts. The Red River Valley and
Drift Prairie are combined in what is known as the black-earth belt,
the Coteau du Missouri constitutes the farming-grazing belt, and the
Missouri Slope is the grazing-forage belt.
In the black-earth belt the farms are usually small, averaging less
than 400 acres in extent. Here the average annual rainfall varies from
18 to 24 inches, 6 to 8 inches of which falls during the months of May
and June, when it is most valuable to small grains.
The black-earth region was the first part of North Dakota to be
settled. Furs were the object of the earliest white settlers there,
but the value of agricultural pursuits was by no means overlooked
even during that early period. Alexander Henry, Jr., the fur trader
who foresaw that the Red River Valley would be good agricultural land
if the transportation problem could be solved, tells in his diary of
planting a garden as early as 1800 at his trading post at the mouth of
the Pembina River, where he raised carrots, cabbages, beets, potatoes,
and other vegetables. Nor was he free from the evils which beset the
modern farmer: his crop was highly satisfactory for several years, but
in 1808 everything was eaten by the grasshoppers which swarmed across
the land. Henry's agrarian ventures were secondary to his fur trading,
however, and it was not until the friends of Charles Cavileer settled
at Pembina in 1851 that a permanent agricultural colony was established
in the State. An earlier settlement by the Selkirkers of Canada in
1812 had been short-lived. When the Cavileer colony arrived, however,
the Selkirk colonists, now established at Fort Douglas, Winnipeg, not
only provided Cavileer himself with a bride but also supplied his
people with seed wheat, oats, barley, and field peas--an invaluable
contribution.
For almost 20 years the little settlement at Pembina was the only
farming community in the State. Dakota Territory had been opened to
settlement January 1, 1863, and free lands were offered to anyone over
21 years of age who would cultivate and improve his 160-acre homestead,
and live on it 5 years. If he wished, he could also obtain a tree claim
of 160 acres.
Ten acres of this quarter-section had to be planted in trees, and
proof, substantiated by two reliable witnesses, that the trees had
been growing for eight years was necessary before the settler could
obtain clear title to the claim. The acquisition of tree claims was
sometimes hindered by the perpetration of a cruel hoax on newcomers.
One of a group of unprincipled men, interested in money rather than
in settlement of the land, and unable or unwilling to file claims,
would approach a new settler and offer him a "deal" on a piece of
land, ostensibly planted as a tree claim, with the little green tree
shoots already appearing above the ground. The settler would pay a
substantial sum for the advantage of having trees already planted, and
in good faith would file on the claim, only to find later in the year
that instead of a 10-acre grove he had an excellent but over-abundant
crop of turnips. Notwithstanding such discouragements, many fine groves
were planted which have not only added greatly to the beauty of the Red
River Valley and central North Dakota, but have been invaluable as a
protection against soil erosion.
A third tract of 160 acres could be secured under the preemption laws
which permitted the settler to locate on land before or after it was
surveyed, file declaration of intent to purchase, and pay for the
land within 18 months after filing, at the rate of $2.50 an acre for
railroad property or $1.25 for any other land. Additional land could
be obtained by buying up grants to soldiers in the United States Army.
Military land warrants could be purchased for a nominal price, often as
low as 50 cents an acre.
At first, despite the ease of obtaining land, there was no great influx
of settlers into the new land. The Nation was in the grip of the
Civil War, and Indian troubles in the West not only discouraged new
settlement but frightened out many who had already made their homes
there. Writers who had visited the Territory depicted it as "a land of
blizzards and Indians, drought and grasshoppers."
Moreover, homesteading in the northern part of the Territory was
complicated by the fact that the nearest land office was at Vermilion,
400 miles away, a long and perilous trip in the day of the oxcart and
dogsled. The only surveyed land was in the vicinity of Pembina. Here in
1868 Joseph Rolette, pioneer fur trader and settler, filed the first
homestead in North Dakota, the only one before 1870. In 1871 a few more
claims were filed, but it was not until 1885 that settlement increased
to any great extent. During that year so many "took up" land that
Dakota Territory became known as "the land of the free and the home of
the boomer ... free homesteaders and town site boomers."
The extension of the Northern Pacific across the Red River into North
Dakota was partly responsible for this sudden increase in population.
Immigrants found it easier to reach the lands which the Government
offered them. The Northern Pacific had been given by Government grant
alternate sections of land for a distance of 20 miles on each side
of its right-of-way. The land between these sections was opened to
homesteading; and since the free lands were just as desirable as
its own, the railroad could find no market for its property. It was
decided, therefore, that the only way to profit on its investment was
to encourage settlement, so that there would be an increased need of
transportation in and out of the new country. In lieu of its stocks,
which had slumped in the panic of 1873, the road sold some of its
enterprising stockholders large portions of its land grants for 40 and
50 cents an acre. Among those persuaded to invest were G. W. Cass,
B. P. Cheney, and Oliver Dalrymple. The three formed a company and
placed their 12,000 acres, in the vicinity of Fargo, under Dalrymple's
management. Thus was formed the first bonanza farm, initiating an
important era in the agricultural history of North Dakota.
The chief purpose of the early bonanza farms was to demonstrate on a
spectacular scale the potential wealth of the Red River Valley. The
farms ranged in size from 3,000 acres to the 65,000-acre Grandin farm
which covered more than 100 sections of land. Wheat was the sole crop.
All operations were conducted on a large scale, with dozens of the most
up-to-date farm machines working on the various divisions of the farms
simultaneously, and huge crews of a hundred or more employed during
the harvest season. Tales of the bumper crops were soon spread by the
transient harvest "hands," and visitors and home seekers came from far
and wide to see whether the stories of the fabulous crops were actually
true.
Two new inventions added to the success of the wheat-raising bonanza
farms. The first of these was the purifier, which made it possible to
produce a superior grade of white flour from spring wheat. The second
was a roller simplifying the milling of hard wheat, with the result
that this grain was placed at a premium. In a single year, the value of
the farms was raised from the original 40 and 50 cents to $5 an acre,
and by 1906 the lands were worth from $30 to $40.
Because they raised a single crop, the managers of the bonanza farms
found it easy to systematize and mechanize their work. The newest farm
machines were common in this newly settled area long before they were
introduced in the older States.
Eastern syndicates usually owned the bonanza farms, and resident
managers were engaged to supervise the work. As long as only wheat was
raised, the system was ideal. With the introduction of other crops,
however, difficulties arose, principally because stockholders could
not agree on a plan of operation. Almost all of the large farms were
eventually broken into smaller plots and sold to the immigrants and
easterners whom they had attracted to the West. Today, 51,149 of the
84,606 farms in the State are operated by their owners, 33,122 by
tenants, and only 335 by managers.
Thousands who were attracted by the success of the bonanza farms
and the low railroad rates came west to take up land, and were
aided in their preparation by the _Emigrant's Guide_, published by
the Commissioner of Immigration for Dakota Territory in 1870. This
contained not only such valuable information as data on the land laws,
farming methods, and transportation facilities, but also freight rates
and a list of prices of staple commodities to indicate supplies which
should be brought from the East and those which could be as cheaply
purchased in the new land. Tea was one of the most expensive of pioneer
commodities, ranging in price from $1.25 and $2 a pound. Sugar was also
high--from 12 to 16 cents a pound. For light, the homesteader had a
choice of candles at 25 cents a pound or coal oil at 80 cents a gallon.
Furniture, too, could be purchased by those who did not wish to carry
it across the prairies from their eastern homes. Extension tables sold
for $2 a foot, washstands cost from $4.50 to $10. Ox yokes were $3, a
double harness $45. So many homesteading necessities could be purchased
at the pioneer settlements that after reading Dakota newspapers of this
period a North Carolina editor announced that "the people are fully up
to the highest notch of civilization."
As the lands of the Red River Valley and the Drift Plain were occupied,
settlers were forced to go farther west into the farming-grazing belt
of the Missouri Coteau. Influenced by the fortunes being made in wheat
in the eastern part of the State, they too became wheat farmers. But
although the soil of the Missouri Coteau is almost as rich as that
farther east, it does not have the same advantageous rainfall during
the growing season; and while it produced successfully, it did not have
the spectacular production of the bonanza farms in the black-earth area.
Today, the farms in this region are somewhat larger than those of
the more easterly belt, being from 450 to 600 acres in size, but
the relative production is lower. Although grain farming still
predominates, ideally the farming-grazing region is, especially in dry
years, a livestock section.
To the west of this central region lies the Missouri Slope, which
constitutes the grazing-forage belt. Originally the farms here were
much smaller than those in other parts of the State--with the repeal in
1891 of tree claim and preemption laws, homesteaders were limited to
160 acres of free land. For a few years the settlers on the Missouri
Slope were able to file on desert claims, receiving one section at
$1.25 an acre with the understanding that they would improve the land
by irrigation; but so many people throughout the arid regions of the
United States filed on such claims fraudulently that the act was
finally amended to include the requirement that at least $3 an acre
must be spent for irrigation.
Despite this land limitation, many new settlers came to western
North Dakota during the "back to the land" movement from 1900 to
1910. Besides the farmers who took up free land, there were many
school teachers, laborers, and business and professional persons who
followed that method, or took a commuted homestead by filing on land,
staying there 14 months, and paying the Government $1.25 an acre. In
this region, where it is estimated that 30 percent of the land is
not suitable for cultivation, it was inevitable that many of these
inexperienced persons should settle on worthless property. Experienced
ranchers and farmers realized that only large farms could be operated
profitably, and purchased homesteads from dissatisfied settlers. In
this manner the size of farms increased, until now they run to 800
acres or more.
The most fertile soil of the western region is in the valley of the
Missouri. It was here that Verendrye, Lewis and Clark, Catlin, and
other early explorers found the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara women
carefully cultivating their neat fields of corn, beans, squash,
pumpkin, melons, and sunflowers.
Lack of rainfall is the chief drawback to successful agriculture in the
grazing-forage belt; but with irrigation, field crops can be raised
dependably. The value of irrigation has been demonstrated by the
success of the 20,319 acres immediately west of the Yellowstone River
in western North Dakota, an area irrigated by the Bureau of Reclamation
project of 1906. Similar projects are proposed in the basins of the
Knife, Heart, and Grand Rivers.
The grazing-forage belt as a whole, however, is not well suited to
agriculture. Texas cattlemen, driving their herds through western
Dakota to furnish beef for frontier military posts, saw its true value
as a cattle country. The nutritive grasses and natural shelters make
this an ideal cattle-raising section.
Among the earliest ranchers were the Deffenbach brothers, who opened a
ranch in the extreme southwestern corner of the present State in 1878.
Others soon followed, including soldiers who had finished their period
of enlistment in the western Army posts and were eager to settle in
the new land. Ranching of cattle and sheep became the industry of the
western part of the State. As the natural range showed inroads of the
new industry, dry-farming was introduced, the chief crops being forage
for winter feed.
The land in the three North Dakota farm belts is still used primarily
for the purpose for which it was settled. The leading spring wheat
State, North Dakota is second only to Kansas in the total wheat
production of an average year. Hard spring wheat, particularly marquis
and ceres, is an important crop, commanding a premium on the market
because of high gluten content. Three-fourths of the Nation's durum, a
hardy wheat used in the making of macaroni, is raised here. During the
period of 1924-33, North Dakota wheat production averaged 78,737,682
bushels a year. The State leads in rye and flax, and is outranked only
by Minnesota in barley production. In production of grain seeds and
cereal crops, respectively, the United States Department of Agriculture
ranks North Dakota third and seventh.
Like the gold of the wheat, the blue of the flax flower has been part
of the North Dakota picture since pioneer days. First planted for an
immediate cash income, flax has proved an ideal secondary crop because
it extends the seeding and harvesting periods, and since 1900 it has
been an established part of the cropping system of the North Central
States. One-half of the flax acreage in the United States is planted
in North Dakota. As early as 1890, the State produced 458,117 bushels.
By 1900, the figure was raised to 13,478,283 bushels, and the 10-year
annual average for 1924-33 was 5,081,157 bushels.
Winter rye is extensively planted because of the protection it affords
against erosion after a wet autumn. During the five years from 1927 to
1931, an average of 1,196,000 bushels was harvested in North Dakota.
A need for more feed crops for the cattle raised in the State has led
to increased production of barley, oats, and emmer, grains which are
used locally for feed. About 85 percent of the yield of barley is
consumed by hogs and lambs. Barley is also useful as a clean-up crop in
the control of annual weeds. The average annual production for 1924-33
was 27,227,284 bushels.
The same desire for an immediate cash crop which was the incentive
to raise flax on the pioneer farms was largely responsible for the
introduction of potatoes and sugar beets. Potatoes had almost always
been raised for local consumption, but no effort was made to produce
them in commercial quantities. Then a few enterprising farmers in
the Red River Valley planted large acreages, and were successful in
marketing the crops outside the State. Because of their high flavor,
mealiness, and large uniform size, these northern potatoes command a
premium on the market. One warehouse specializes in the shipping of
hand-picked, wrapped potatoes, packed like apples or oranges, for sale
to railways and other markets demanding fancy-grade potatoes. It is,
however, for their seed value that North Dakota potatoes are noted.
Their low fiber content makes them ideal seed stock, and under Federal
and State supervision they are certified for this purpose. In 1934
North Dakota produced 6,140,254 bushels of seed potatoes. Exports that
year totaled 8,390 carloads.
Experimentation showed that the soil which was good for northern
potatoes was also excellent for sugar beets. The first crop of beets
large enough to be listed in statistics for the State was 24,474 tons,
harvested in 1924. By 1929 the tonnage had increased to 59,104. This
is one crop which showed an increased production even in the dry year
of 1934, when production totaled 82,304 tons, and beets were raised on
13,466 acres on 485 farms. When the industry was first introduced, most
of the labor was performed by Mexicans. Under contract to beet farmers,
trainloads of these people came north each spring. Not only did they
work for very low wages, but they also developed a quality of work
rarely equaled by white beet workers. The cultivation and weeding of
sugar beets is done almost entirely by hand, a long tedious process in
the blazing sun, which the Mexican worker seemed to mind not at all. In
the fall, most of them would pack their families into second-hand cars
purchased with their summer earnings, and return south. Difficulties
of these workers in adjusting themselves to northern modes of living
discouraged the use of Mexican labor, however, and today only a few of
the larger farms still employ it. Most of the work is now carried on
by local labor, often by school children. In driving through the Red
River Valley, one can tell the farms on which sugar beets are a crop
of many years' standing, for scarcely one of these is without an old
tar-paper shack, a cook car remodeled into a house, or some other crude
dwelling which was once the home of a family of Mexicans. In otherwise
well-kept farmyards, where the buildings are comparatively modern,
these laborers' dwellings are very decrepit and out-of-place.
Although not a cash crop like potatoes and beets, corn has become
increasingly valuable in North Dakota. This is especially true in the
southeastern part of the State, which is the hog-raising area of North
Dakota. During the five-year period of 1927-31, the average annual corn
production was 20,200,000 bushels. Only in rare instances does North
Dakota corn reach the cash markets. It is not husked as in many of
the Corn Belt States; instead, the hogs and sometimes the cattle are
permitted to feed directly on the stocks in the field. This is known as
the "hogging down" method of harvesting corn. About one-half the crop
is cut annually for winter fodder.
Other feed crops are also important on the North Dakota farm. Many
hay and pasture crops, especially red clover and alfalfa, can be
successfully grown in the Red River Valley. In the western sections,
alfalfa is raised for seed. Timothy and brome grass are also valuable
grass crops in the eastern area.
In 1914 sweet clover was cultivated only on demonstration farms;
but by 1929 an average of more than half a million acres was being
seeded annually. Each year production of seed increased, reaching a
high of 171,600 bushels in 1933. Sweet clover replaces nitrogen and
other essential elements in soil which has been badly depleted by
overproduction of wheat. One remarkable feature of this crop is its
immunity to disease and insect pests.
Sheep are found generally throughout the State, although the northern
part of the Red River Valley and the southwestern corner of the
Missouri Slope have proved the best sheep-raising land. The animals
were brought into the State when ranching first began here, and in 1933
there were 706,000 head of sheep and lambs shipped out of the State and
15,000 slaughtered locally. In 1935 North Dakota ranked twenty-second
in the number of sheep on farms and ranges.
A true picture of cattle-raising in North Dakota can scarcely be gained
from present conditions. The native grasses of the western part of
the State were unable to withstand the heat and insects of recent dry
years. As an emergency measure, thousands of cattle were shipped from
western ranches to farms in the eastern and central part of the State,
and even to other sections of the country where sufficient feed was
available to carry them through the winter. The number of cattle and
calves was reduced from 1,835,000 in 1934 to 1,157,000 in 1935. The
decrease in milk cows, since they are raised in the less arid sections
of the State, has been much less than that in beef cattle. In 1934
there were 620,000 milk cows, while in 1935 the number was 596,000--a
drop of only 24,000. Thus, despite reverses, North Dakota was able to
maintain a position as twenty-first in the Nation in the cattle census
of 1935.
Although rarely conducted as an independent enterprise, poultry-raising
has had perhaps the greatest increase of any farm industry. Some type
of fowl is raised on approximately 89 percent of the farms of the
State. In 1929 North Dakota was listed second in the production of
turkeys, twenty-fifth in poultry and eggs, thirteenth in ducks, and
fourteenth in geese.
Poultry organizations are active in the State. The North Dakota State
Poultry Association has held annual shows since 1895, the All-American
Turkey Show is held annually in Grand Forks, and there are numerous
regional and county organizations. The North Dakota Farmers Union
maintains a poultry cooperative at Williston. North Dakota is second
only to Texas in supplying turkeys for the Thanksgiving and Christmas
tables of the Nation.