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About The Alliance herald. (Alliance, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1902-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1916)
Never Had A Boom and Never Had A Setback W r t d d d IN THE HEART OF AN IRRIGATED EMPIRE OP WONDERFUL FERTILITY. NEVER HAD A "BOOM" HENCE PRICES OF CITY PROPERTY AND SURROUNDING FARMS ARE NOT INFLAT ED. NEVER HAD A SETBACK AND NEVER CAN HAVE, BECAUSE ITS PROSPERITY IS BASED UPON THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY WHICH IS SURE OF MAGNIFICENT CROPS EVERY YEAR AND WHICH IS DEVELOPING AS RAPIDLY AS THE CITY IS GROWING. READ THE FACTS PRESENTED HEREWITH, THEN COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. THE TOWN AND ITS PEOPLE A Onter of Iluhtue and Boclal Ac Uvltlea, Fin Location and a Good Clans of Citizens GOOD ritOSPEOTtt POIl FUTUItK As boosters the business men of Mitchell are not given to making ex travagant claims to attract people of speculative turn of mind and get them to Invest in real estate at in flated prices. Altho they are glad to let the outside of the world know of their splendid advantages, their en terprise tends more toward helping to construct good roads and other wise co-operating with the farmers of the surrounding country; and making Improvements in town that will be for the comfort of Its citizens and the convenience f those who trade with them. A community din ner once each week, at which busi ness men and farmers meet and dis cuss matters of interest to all. Is a feature of the business and social life of the community that older and Jarger towns might do well to copy. When the great Pathfinder dam and government irrigation project in Wyoming and Nebraska was started, Mitchell, Nebraska, was selected as the headquarters and the offices of the United States Reclamation Serv ice were located here, a fact that speaks well for the splendid location of this city. Mitchell is the permanent location of the annual fair of the Agricultur al and Fair Association of Scotts piuff county, the most populous and most rapidly developing county of western Nebraska. Its location In the geographical center of a rich Irrigated counlry, with other natural advantages, are elements that are favorable to a steady and subHtantlMl growth. The city has four chnrch buildings, has five organised religious denomina tions, fine graded schools and a new three-story high school building, a modern opera house, large alfalfa meal mill and electric lighting plant, superior water works plant and vol unteer fire department, a modern sewer system, has a large and up-to- date grain elevator, ample stock yards, fair grounds with half-mile speedway and new buildings in grove adjoining the city, has the county fair, two substantial banks whose combined deposits reach half a mil lion, has a first class hotel, the larg eBt department store in the state out side of a few of the larger citleB, a number of lodges and fraternity or ganizations, one of the best military bands in Nebraska, and has fifty bus iness houses and offices whose stocks and equipments are seldom equaled In a city of twice Mitchell's present population. Beyond this, Mitchell's business men are progressive and wide awake to the fact that the city is KrowlnK. Loyalty of the sur rounding farmers to Mitchell aud it Interests is a strong element in favor of the city's growth, as all look with interest to Mitchell's schools, church es and society, as well as to its com menial, manufacturing and shipping Industries. The Mitchell mill, which has been operated under the capable manage ment of W. D. Linden, has a capacity of grinding seventy-two tons a day snd employs fifteen iople. Were it possible to run at full capacity con-; tinuously the mill could grind 26,-j' 280 tons per year. It furnishes a home market for a home product j paying the highest market price for both material and labor. The output is shipped to manufacturers of molas- I ses feed at East St. Louis, Kansas x City and other points. In addition to i the milling business the company generates and supplies the city elec tric lights, maintaining a modern light plant of DO K. W. generator ca nacltv. The liuht service is excellent and the plant has sutticient capacity J to supply the city for years to come, j The machinery of the mill and the electric light dynamo are run by a Fairbanks-Morse na producinic en gine, the plant manufacturing its own ket, and grown on the highest lrri-, gas from coal. A separating boiler , gated land In Nebraska. Officers of receives the gas and smoke from the the company are: W. D. Linden, '. - - -i .. v -v J v- . . rii'' , : .; -v. A ' - ' '. '... " . '' v. :r "ix Ur''-):H- K - .T'" - -: ..'.- ... :.-'' .-..:...,- - : .t,1J-;''f . yi. r v; ...... ?";..-.;:.. : - ::nv-v'' .y- .. rr-Mv ! -;-:;; ;,5' , . IN THE HEART OF N. P. VALLEY MltchelL a Leading Town That Nev er Had an Inflated Boom aad Will Never Dave Setback 4 ' RECLAMATION HEADQUAKTHRS Scene in Mitchell Ditch, Showing; A bur.dant Water Supply for Irrigation furnace, and after panning through water it Is forced from the pumping tank to the engine. A valuable bi- product. coal tar, which is produced by this process, Is run to an outside vat where it is barrelled for the trade. Alfalfa meal, as It leaves the cutting and grinding muchine. i blown to the top floor of the factory. from whence it is lowered through chutes to the Backers at the rate of three tons an hour. Here it is put up in 100-pound sacks and loaded on the cars on the company's private siding. The company, which is incorporat ed with a capital stock of .", immi. Is a member of the National Alfalfa Millers' Association and has won a reputation of supplying the purest and the cleaneBt product on the mar- president and manager; A. L. Moon, secretary, and Jas. T. Whitehead treasurer. Manager Linden was for merly of Hastings, operated the mil! at North Platte, and after it was de stroyed by fire, he reorganized this company three years ago and after a lively struggle put it on a paying bas is and created a wide-spread demand for the Mitchell mill's superior pro duct. The alfalfa mill brings busi ness to Mitchell from all surround ing tenltory, and adds substantially to the wealth and commercial im portance of the community. Nebraska west of Grand Island. M. H. Quivey, who was at one time en ijairod in the mercantile business in Alliance and is one of the bst known men in watr-rn Nebraska, is presi- being Interested in public enterprises and doing his part to promote them. Two enterprising and reliable real estate firms occupy a necessary and useful position in helping investors dent and manager, ably assisted by ito find desirable proierty that may be Miss Hose C. Trnmble, secretary. I for sale and in finding purchasers for Mitchell's two banks are Institu tions of which any city might be proud. With ample capital, supple mented wilh the deposits of numer ous and prosperous customers, they meet tho banking needs of the town and community In a very satisfactory manner. J. T. Whitehead, cashier of the Mitchell State Bank, is presi dent of the Water Users' Association There are other Mitchell enterrls- and well known thruout the Valley. es that pare deserving of special men tion, among which we find the mam moth department store of the Mitch ell Mercantile Company, having the largest establishment of the kind in H. O. Eastman, cashier of the First National Bank of Mitchell, besides successfully conducting the affairs of the Institution of which he has the management, has iho reputation of those who have land that wish to sell. The advertising cards of these firms, Martin Rristol and Spencer & Mc C;i7ree, may be found on the oppo site page. The Mitchell Index is the name of the local newspaper, which is edited and published by H. A. Mark. ' It 1b one of the leading papers of western Nebraska. Besides giving its read ers each week a large quota of local news of a general nature and con tributed items from the surrounding country, it publishes an exceptionally large amount of information relative to irri.nntion matters. I S-r' It. -J ' 7 ' v ' . - i . f . ' -r ifc,. x'.-.. ' ' .- Nf.'"-"-:. ..: j -. . .. -i. ... .. . . ,0 2-;; ' v .1 L Putting W:t:r or. t'j3 V e Soil of the North Platte Valley With the fertile. Irrigated fields oa and near the Nebraska-Wyoming state line to the west, and reaching up to the outskirts of the towa; with practically the same stretch of country extending east to the Sootts- bluff sugar factory; with Datch Flats, a broad expanse of irrigated country under the government ditch, stretch ing out to the north; and with that famous garden spot known as Mitch ell Valley Just across the river to tha south, MITCHELL, may correctly b said to be in the heart of the heart of the irrigated country of the North Platte Valley. It is the boast of the prosperoas business men of this live city that tt has never had a boom and never a setback. Persons who have seen, the boom of new towns without a devel oped country to sustain them, ana their subsequent collapse, know how important a matter this is. A glanoa at the cuts in this paper of rich irri- j gated fields and irrigation canals, with their ample flow of water, wlM ! prove to any one familiar with irrl- gatlon that the permanent prosperity j of Mitchell is assured,, when tha amount of land that can be Irrigate withia the patronizing territory ( the town is taken into consideratioa. Immediately after the construction of the Guernsey extension of the Bar- llngton railway along the North Platte river in western Nebraska ana- eastern Wyoming in the year 1901 a dozen new towns sprung simultane ously into existence. That was th year Mitchell waB placed on the may. a live town that has never stopped growing, has never hud a boom or a backset. Mitchell Valley Mitchell Valley, the vast sectiaa of rich land lying across the rlvar just south of the city, has long beam recognized as the garden spot of tha North Platte Valley., for long befora the lands north of the river were ka their present state of cultivation Mitchell Valley had many prosperoas farms and ranches and a post oCsaa which was subsequently moved to ths present site of Mitchell, and thus giv ing the new town its name. Now that this valley's irrigated territory is about to be extended by the gov ernment's new irrigation project it will naturally follow that Mitchell's favorable location will give to this city the greatest benefits arising from increase of population and traffic. The diversity of industries and va riety of crops grown around Mitchell obviates the possibility of Its erne being dependent upon the success at any one crop or a special industry af any sort. Primarily a cattle coun try, the pasture lands beyond the ir rigation belt still produce herds af cattle aud droves of sheep that at th close of the grazing season are now quickly fattened for the world's mar kets on the thousands of acres of al falfa, beet tops and pulp, and other feed produced in the irrigated valley. At present sugar beets and alfalfa culture are bringing tho greatest re turns to farmers, although all ceri als, potatoes, fruit and garden staf are successfully produced. Fruit cul ture and dairy farming will show greater activity as the country grows older. Dutch Flats Dutch Flats is another remarkable piece of country tributary to Mitch ell, lying north and northwest of the town. It is not bottom land but a low table, having a fertile, sandy loam, well adapted to the growing 0 alfalfa, sugar beets and potatoes, as well as small grain and corn. Taa extent of this stretch of irrigataa country, ander the government pro ject, is the surprise of all who visit j it for the irst time.