This colony, situated in Nobles County, in the southwestern portion of
the State, close to the State line of Iowa, on the Luverne and Sioux
Falls branch of the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad, was opened in
September, 1877.
Before going into details in regard to the colony we will give some
extracts from an article (lately published) treating of southwestern
Minnesota, where, as we have stated, St. Adrian colony is located.
"Southwestern Minnesota has made rapid progress in stock raising. As
capital increases, and the utility and profit of stock raising become
better understood by the farmer, we shall see fine flocks and herds, in
addition to the fields of waving grain, and our rich prairies teeming
with the life they can so amply sustain. The abundance of clear, sweet
water, dry atmosphere, its elevation, rich pasturage, freedom from
disease, and direct and ready access to all the prominent markets, unite
to make Minnesota the paradise of stock raisers. Good hay can be put in
the stack in Southwestern Minnesota for $1.25 per ton. It can be secured
without other expense than cutting, and with very little labor, enough
can be made for the maintenance of a large amount of stock.
* * * * *
"This section has been settled but seven years, yet it is already
teeming with a population of wide-awake, industrious people, whose
fields are evidences of the innate wealth of the region. The soil of
Southwestern Minnesota is adapted to the successful cultivation of
grain, and so celebrated has its grain producing qualities become, that
capitalists have put their money into large tracts of land, and have now
immense fields under cultivation, and their investments have proven
extremely profitable. There are farms of 600, 1,000 and 2,000 acres, all
producing Minnesota's great staple, wheat. Every year, as the success of
these investments becomes known, new and large farms are opening.
* * * * *
"Southwestern Minnesota is on the move, and to those who wish to locate
in a thriving, driving, pushing, growing country, no locality on the
green earth promises more faithfully, and none will redeem its pledges
with greater pride to the wide-awake, stirring husbandman. The very
soil teams with wealth, and the air is laden with the most precious
gifts of health."
Making allowance for the rather high coloring of the above extracts, its
facts are correct. Southwestern Minnesota has many advantages for stock
raising, its soil is good, none better. Stock raising has been carried
on successfully there to the advantage of a great many poor settlers,
and men of wealth have opened large grain farms in this section of the
State; the largest of these farms adjoins the colony lands of St.
Adrian.
Of the 70,000 acres of railroad land which Bishop Ireland holds the
control of for colony purposes, 22,000 acres have been sold to settlers.
The colony lands adjoin the railroad town of Adrian. A little over a
year ago it had three houses, now it is one of the brightest, liveliest,
most bustling little burgs in Southwestern Minnesota. But, as in the
case of Graceville, we will let a resident of St. Adrian speak for the
town and colony. The following is an extract from a letter which we
received the other day from the Rev. C. J. Knauf, the pastor in charge
of the St. Adrian colony.
Father Knauf resides in the town of Adrian--where immigrants, bound for
the colony, leave the train--and takes an active part in locating
immigrants. Father Knauf writes:
"The village of Adrian consisted of three houses when I came here,
September 20, 1877, one year and three months ago to-morrow; now there
are 68 houses in the village. We have three hotels, one restaurant (no
beer,) three lumber yards, one steam feed mill, four general stores, one
drug, two hardware stores, one jewelry store, one barber shop, one large
livery stable, two furniture dealers, four dealers in farming machinery,
one shoe maker, one tailor, three blacksmiths, one carpenter shop, four
wheat and produce buyers; a public school house, costing $1,800; a
Catholic Church, well finished, and the pastor's house, the latter
costing $1,840.
"I sold, up to date, 22,000 acres of land. Thousands of acres were
broken last season. I was the first Catholic to arrive here: now we have
sixty Catholic families in the colony. Next spring we will have 160
Catholic families, for a great many bought farms last year, had breaking
done--some broke extensively, others moderately--and will move on, with
their families, to their new farms, next spring, in time to put in their
first crop."
In explanation of that portion of Father Knauf's letter which speaks of
parties who have purchased farms in the colony but who have not moved on
to them as yet, we will say, that since the Bureau, at the solicitation
of many correspondents, agreed to have land selected and contracts made
out for persons anxious to secure land in some one of our colonies, and
yet unable, from one cause or another, to come on immediately; a great
many have adopted this mode to get land.
We find from Father Knauf's letter that he has on his books the names of
one hundred families who have secured land in St. Adrian colony, and
will move on to their new homes next spring, so that he is looking
forward to very lively times.
There is also coming out to St. Adrian Colony in the spring a
brave-hearted little lady from Brooklyn, N. Y., to get in her first
crop, and put up her first farm house. She was on here last summer,
spent a month or so at St. Adrian, bought 270 acres of land, left money
to pay for the breaking of 200 acres, and will come on to settle in the
spring. She has no doubt but that she will make the venture pay, and
prefers to make the trial rather than have her money bearing small
interest in the East.
Lands sell in the colony from $5 to $7.50 per acre. A discount of 20 per
cent. from these prices is allowed for cash. The conditions for time
contracts are as follows: At time of purchase, one-tenth of principal
and interest on unpaid principal; second year, interest only; third year
one-fourth of remaining principal and interest on unpaid principal; same
for three ensuing years: after the expiration of which the full price of
the land is paid.
As an instance, showing the value set on land in this part of Minnesota,
we will state, that school lands, sold last spring, at public sale, in
the neighborhood of St. Adrian, brought from $7.50 to $17 per acre: the
price obtained heretofore having been $5 per acre.
On stepping from the train at St. Adrian, last summer, one witnessed a
scene of bustle and activity similar to those frequently described by
writers in sketches of Western life in new settlements, with some
important exceptions, for neither in Adrian nor in any of the towns
under the control of the Catholic Bureau, can there be found rowdies,
nor the saloons that vomit them forth. This fact may take from the
dramatic effect of such sketches, but it is the anchor of family unity
and love, the harbinger of prosperity.
The town of Adrian is 197 miles from St. Paul. A daily train from St.
Paul to Sioux Falls, D. T., passes through it; it has also railroad
communication with Sioux City, Iowa.
The lands of the colony are first-class, both for agriculture and stock
raising: and to those of fair capital we strongly recommend St. Adrian
Colony.
The colonists are German and Irish Catholics.