rotmraw BISMARCK DAILY TRIBUNE

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There are communities that wlrn a lit t le is Hai t i concerning them it is

but a start , and it Ih sometimes hard to stop the discussion at the right point. Mott, . North Dakota, is one.

Elgin is a new town on the Mott

branch of the Northern Pacific rt>

cently opened up, and like another Elgin is entering the line for good

butter. Elgin is a town which offers

great advantages in ihe line of stock-

raising and dairying, and although new has made considerable? advance-

met toward becoming an important factor in the development of Morton county, ' ihe entire line of ihe new Mott branch presents some splendid

opportunities for the shelter and homo maker as well as the investor.

This region has been known for sev­eral years as one of great ferti l i ty

and amost, i l l imitable possibili t ies, hut

only lately has the country been open­

ed lu such a way as to make It con­venient for settlers to secure supplies

and market their crops. Previous to

the completing of tho railroads

through southern Morton and Hettin­

ger counties the farmers had to haul their grain from thirty-five to (1ft.v

miles to railroad and liaul their sup­

plies back with them. The early set­tlers here secured the cream of the

land, but there was enough land left When the railroad came through to

let those following secure splendid

values at very reasonable cost. Even yet there are not enough people in

the country along this l ine, and Elgin

offers good land values at low figures,

Affording at tho same time tho ad­vantages of a good l ive up-todate town

with good markets, schools, churches and commercial enterprises. The

greatest need of the country is people

to take care of the natural resources

and develop the best there is.

Elgin has at the present t ime: Two

banks, the Elgin State Bank and the

First State Bank of E'gin; a machine

of these communities, and when all the truth !s merely set before the dis­

interested he attributes it all to en­thusiasm and often retains his old ideas. The way to really convince this sort of person is to take him to

I Mott and let. him see for himself. I i l is first impression will he what i t has been for all people who liavo gone to Mott—an inward feeling that this is a place to be, a place where enthusiasm Is second nature andean-not he restated, for the place has the wherewithal to make good any

i show that i t may bring to the front. The appearance of Mott is very

picturesque, the town being built in Ihe ferti le valley of the Cannon Ball.

' Th" buildings ai 'e all painted white, 1 and the place has an apearance ol' . newness and freshness and freedom i that is hard to describe. The loca-i t ion of the town is on a number of

hills overlooking the river, tho ground rising gently to the east and the north. The new branch line of the Northern Pacific runs into tho place from the east, and the Chicago, .vfilwauK^e and Pugot. Sound has its : tatlbn to the south. The.ie two roads were completed to this point in the tall of V.HO, and the same seasoii saw the shipment out of t l ie place of hundreds of cars of grain. Tho ad­vent of the railroads meant the open­ing of one of the garden spots of the state, as was proven in tho fact that

in October lftlO; more than sixty car­loads of grain ' .were shiped out of Mott over thd( Milwaukee alone,

, while the shipments over the North-l 'acific were •. (proportionately

heavy, the amount going up to more than four hundred and fifty cars for the season, which was known as a poor year for the state;

Hut Mott 's greatest pride is her wonderful new high school which was built at ar. expense of more than $45,000. Thij building was erected on an eminence to the east of the business section of the town and stands as a monument to the high standard of educational ideas of the citizens of the place, and shows to the strange* arriving at the town the great 'advantage to bo offered to tho rising generation of Mott in tho ; educational l ine. The building Is an | architectural achievement and snows,

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a spirit of progresiveness which is further displayed in the course of study taught in the school. This edi­fice was erected in l 'JIl by'the Mott Construction Company, John Ulberg, and Joe Berry, builders, and was oc­cupied last year. It is complete in every detail even to the patent •door appliances for automatically opening tne doors in case of a rush during a fire. Particular attention has been paid to the heating, l ighting and ven­tilating of the school, a complete f.xn system of ventilating naving been in­stalled. The heating is by steam, and tho school has its !oWn system of waterworks and sewer system. There are gymnasium, domestic scienco room, manual training department, and commodious auditorium, the au­ditorium having a seating capacity of l ive hundred persons. This year the) hoard is endeavoring to make thg course a four-year course, and as soon as posible the school will ho classed as among the state agricul­tural high schools. Professor VV. H. ^ott is the present nriucips.]. r .nd without any boast Mott can assume any people settl ing there of educa­tional advantages for their children which are not to be surpassed by any town of many times its size either east, or west.

The moral atmosphere of the place Is very clear, and' there are In tho majority, or i t might be said, almost whollv an English speaking class of cit izens in the community. Tho ciiurchi 'H are weil repn sent oil in th^ town, and one is not separated from civilization while here.

The finances of the territory ai '"

looked after by the First State Hank, the First . National Hank and the («er-man State Hank. Hack of these banks are the most reliable men of the sec­tion.

There a r e several commercial or­ganizations in the town doing a la,rge business and their trade extends over a considerable territory. There are several general stores, exclusive hardware stores, dry goods and groc­ery stores, meat shops, barber shops, land ofiiccs, lawyers, drug stores, garages, l ivery stables, millinery stores, elevators and others. •

Mott is well supplied with hotels, and among the hotels is one which claims without dispute the position of foremost among the hotels of small towns of the northwest, some people being so enthusiastic as to class It the best hotel between tho Twin Cities and the coast. However tho Hotel Hrown is far ahead of what! one would expect to see in a town of this size, having cost several thou­sand dollars tor i ts completion. Ev­ery detail has been looked to in this hotel for the convenience of, i ts pa-irons, from the equipment of tho rooms to the table. The rooms havo ,?us l ights and are also wired for electricity. There is hot and cold running water in every room, the* water coming from an artesian well and is pure and good io drink.

The water supply of a town is one of the most important feaures of the place, and herein Mott has a wonder­ful advantage over many otiie: ' towns. Splendid water is to be had

in the neighborhood from steadily flowing artesion wells cf .reasonable depth, and the water is not of such character as to require one to he­roine accustomed to It before being appreciated. The citizens of the town have taken advantage of this

character of the region to put in wa­ter systems for communities, some of the residences in the eastern part of the town having an individual sys-tern of their own.

Stock raising is a very profitable business in this region, as the land is very ferti le an I produces a won­derful growth of grass for grazing and hay purposes. Il 'eing located in a very well watered valley as it is good crops of grain, fruits and vege­tables can be grown to profit while the industry of dairying will no doubt become one of great importance in the near future.

Hy a town the outlying community is to be judged, for upon tho country round about, the town depends for l is support. The town is but the bus<» of supplies and the shipping point, for the country surrounding, and tak­ing this as an index to the country about Mott i t is safe to say that it. i s a g o o d c o u n t r y t o s e t t l e i n . T h e air of the town itself is one of jir; ) S . p e r i l y , a n d e v e r y y e a r a n d e v e r y month sees some new improvement ' undertaken. At the present t ime the citizens are undertaking a grading ot ' the streets which means an eight-loot, cut in places, entirely removing large knolls and fil l ing to the level some of the lower ground. No matter what t h e s e a s o n a n d n o m a t t e r w h a t t h e occasion Mott is always ready to speak up for l l i t t inger county, and her views are always favorable. The business establishments are safe and

I sound and well founded and Mott is I not suffering from the effects of a

boom, but is making 'a rapid and sure I progress as her resources are becom­ing better known.

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shop, garage, two livery barns, three Gei man-Lutheran churches, one for

Hie settlers from Iowa, one for the settlers from Missouri, and one for

the settlers from Wisconsin; two ele­vators, three lumber yards, two cafes,

one hotel five general stores two hdard ware stores two rtieat markets five

implement dealers one drug store, one

creamery and a doctor. The town has

a good high school erected at a cost of something like $5,000, there toeing

in the building four rooms and a base­ment, and employing four teachers for the course. I t must be said that a

school is the first thing after the ele­vator in this country, and while grain growing is of considerable importance

the people do not overlook the fact that ti le educaton of the younger gen­

eration is of vastly greater import­

ance, and even before the harvest the

school is considered, whjle in the set­tlements of Germans the church is

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put under way at the time or before

the elevator or school- The latter

fact is shown by the churches of El­gin, and along with their religious and educational views these people have

combined their ideas for darying, and

have established in the town a cream­

ery. i f Elgin is a community where there

Is considerable diversity of crops,

and it is a place where the farmers

and others have well proven that North Dakota soil , climate and rain-fail will produce anything which can

be grown in our western states oi

central states. The soil is of great fer. i i l i ty and life, and is easily maintain cd in cultivation. There is a state ex

perimenlal farm located at Elgin anc

in the experimental work and demon stration it has accomplished much,

besides the farmers in tha communit;

hava taken a good In^rest in follow ing the work. an example of tL-

interest taken in various crops an

viie extent to -which the farmers ii this loca'i ty will go In their effort1

September 3rd of this season note was

made of a farmer who war, in Elgii

celling a wagon-tod of v/atcr-meloiu at five cents each, melons v/hich he

bad grown on hio iC'Wn land, and tlicy

were of fine quality and flavor. On the experimental fi rm were radis 'her

of good quality mlore than eighteen

inches in length, 4 while boots were showing surprisingly. Well. All kinds

of garden vegetables wore found growing hare as thoy can toe grown

any place in thus stale "with reasonable

care and attention. Alfalfa makes a splendid showing-in tho region about

Elgin, and the corn does , well- Pota­toes are a profitable crop and bring quick returns. TonvaLoes also pay

good profits for the investment, and

the same may be said of all the gard­

en (products.

But Elgin's greatest asset is tho

creamery, for this is the index to tl io

future of the town. This creamery was not started until the month of

April of this year. During tha month

of April less than two thousanc

pounds of butter were made at the place. During May the product had

climbed to 4.8.">4 pounds, and in June

reached the figure of 7,323 pounds, while for the month of July the out­put was almost 10,000 pounds, This

is certainly a very rapid increase for

so new an enterprise, and the figures

themselves are the best evidence that

can be produced to prove the quality

of the output. The churn has a capac­

ity of 2,400 pounds of cream or nine

undnvl rounds' of butter ' . . Tfle; *$]$>• nltht la-lufloa a - dhc. aontinuoud'fr^ciz-

j e r , Y 5 i t U ? a : c a p a c i t y ' ' o f . f o r t y ( " $ p r hour. At the present t ime more than two hundred, people are shipping cream to H.gin.

The 'condition:; which make dairy­ing of such paying character a**e the r.c 'h land 'which can be secured r at such reasonable figures, the splendid territory for grazing, and the rain­fall which is sufficient ' to make the growing of all staple crops a com­parative surety, so that less feed has to be ship,>od in than In many other localit ies.

Good water i3 to be had in the reg­ion at a depth oi about thirty or forty feet, and the wells are lasting, The feature of good water is one that, can­not be overlooked in the selection of a place for stock-raising and dairy­ing. Nowhere is there to be had bet­ter water at a smaller outlay, all t i l ings considered than will be found along this line of the Mott branch.-

The crops about Elgin are excep­tionally fine this year, and oats and wheat especially are making such a showing as has seldom been seen any place. Grain tanning Is very profit­able but when combined with live­stock and dairying- i t is doubly so. 'mproveincnts at Elgin are being nade each year along the line of farming, as we"! as along the com­mercial and •Industrial lilies. With a onderful rich, deep soil , pleniful

ranfall , i l l imitable resources, and jarnest industry on the part of the esidents of the community Elgin is

rapidly making for herself a place in the records of the towns of the northwest, and in u very few years the shipments of creamery products and livestock from this point will force attention to this section. Al­ready there is being contemplated the building of a new line from one of the main railroad systems into the territory and with the coming of the naw road, and the advantages t.o be offered .toy the two lines including the one now entering the town, there will be a more rapid settl ing j in the

i town and surrounding country.

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