Loop City Northwestern
J. W. I3URLEIGH, Publisher.
LOUP CITY - V NEBRASKA
A NEW SCHOOL NEEDED.
The Wright brothers are quoted as
saying that they will build an aero
plane for |7,500 for anybody who
wants one. Now that they have dem
onstrated so thoroughly the fine quali
ties of their machine—its great speed
and its birdlike ability to rise and sink
while sweeping over hills and valleys,
there must be a number of adventur
ous spirits who would like to own one.
The automobilists, whose recreation is
interfered with by bad roads and by
other vehicles would like to try the
smooth and vacant pathways of the i
air, to fly as the bird flies, and float
over the ponds or lakes instead of
having to travel around them. There ■
is a practical difficulty as yet, says the j
Chicago Tribune. No one can buy with
the machine the skill to operate it,
and there are no aeroplane chauffeurs
nor is there any one to teach them.
Orville Wright is going abroad to in
terest foreign governments in the
American invention. His brother will
teach some army officers how to han
dle the aeroplane the government has i
bought of him. After having attended
to that he will devote himself to the
business of aeroplane construction.
Along with that should go the estab
lishment of a school where a capable
aviator could give instruction to eager
pupiis.
And now come dispatches from
Winnipeg announcing that the yield of
wheat in the prairie provinces of Can
ada this year will reach 130,000,000
bushels. In the World Almanac for
1909 the whole wheat crop of Canada
for 1907 is stated to have been 96,
606,000 bushels. This caused some
doubt to be expressed as to the au
thenticity of extracts from a United
State's consul’s reports as to the in
crease of wheat production in the
northwest provinces which were pub
lished during the excitement attend
ing the recent wheat corner. The in
crease of wheat production in the
Canadian northwest has been almost
sufficient to stagger belief. It will be
a great blessing to the crowded cities
of the earth whose cry goes up for
bread.
The Russian ministry of commerce
has prepared an elaborate plan provid
ing for the general improvement of all
the seaports of the empire at a cost of
$110,896,237. The amounts which it is
planned to expend at Baltic ports ag
gregate $14,011,862. This is a large
amount of money, but Russia will get
more in return for it than if she were
to spend it all in the race for naval
supremacy. Navies can be obtained
fast enough when nations are prosper
ous; and the only way in which pros
perity can be secured is by enterprise
such as that indicated in the deter
mination to give Russia seaports that
will accommodate the commerce of
the world.
The announcement from Norway
that an electrician of that country has
devised a storage battery which solves
the problem that Thomas A. Edison
has been attacking assiduously for
some years past may compel Mr. Edi
son to bring out the battery whose
invention he announced a short time
ago. Inventive genius is working
along the same lines, and it would not
be surprising were the storage bat
ter to come out with several promo
ters, as did the telephone.
The other day a Pennsylvania man
bought a despised mongrel for one dol
lar, and his friends made great sport
of him for the investment. The sec
ond night the dog was in the house it
awakened the family and saved four
persons from being burned to death,
and the man has collected $1,200 in
surance. Not so bad a cur.
The gay and festive mosquito is
holding high carnival with his family
and friends over the failure of his
proposed extermination. And it is a
gory carnival, in which the best blood
of Baltimore has attested the fact of
human sacrifices as a part •** U;o cele
bration.
They are holding a national roque
tournament at Norwich, Conn. Of
course you know what roque is. No?
Well, roque is croquet revised up
ward.
That lady who shot her husband be
cause he overworked the graphophone
is not without sympathizers.
Los Angeles is kicking about aero
nauts who scatter things about on
roofs and beads. Peevish town, that.
A Baltimore shoemaker has just
married his seventh wife. Here’s hop
ing that he may stick to his last.
One of the funniest things is the lat
ter-day doubt of Britannia whether
she really does rule the waves.
France will start at once growing
heroes to get tlie money.
The balloon, the airship, the aero
plane and now the gyroscope show
that by any other name man has not
yet fully succeeded in flying.
There is no punishment too severe
for a miscreant who attempts to
wreck a trolley car loaded with pleas
ure-seekers on a holiday.
Public opinion is moving so rapidly
that Persia's new shah may have to
get along with one wife when he mar
ries.
W/V/Afe
cA GA/IVS 7
, __. COPYR./cmt, 1009. -- iv.a Mrr£«Jo/v
_^_
ASHINGTOX.—In the war de
partment in Washington is a
letter written by Lieut. Gen.
Nelson A. Miles in praise of the
deeds of five enlisted men. Gen.
.Miles’ letter is written as sim
ply as becomes a soldier, but it
is a pulse-stirring epistle. It is
probable that no
where else in authen
tic- history can there be found an ac
count of a battle won by a force of
men when the odds against them
were 25 to 1. In no story which can
be told concerning the people of the
plains is there to be found a tale of
greater heroism than that shown by
a little contingent of enlisted men of
the Sixth United States cavalry down
near the Red river in Texas, in the
summer of the year 1S74. The Sixth
cavalry has-had a fighting history, but
this particular story shines blight in
its pages.
The Comanches, the Cheyennes and
the Kiowas were on the warpath and
were leaving a red trail all along the
borders of western Kansas. General,
then colonel. Nelson A. Miles, was or
dered to take the field against the sav
ages. His expedition fitted out at
Fort Dodge and then struck for the
far frontier. The combined bands of
Indians learned that the troops were
on their trail and they fled south to
the Red river, of Texas, hotly pursued
by two troops of the Sixth cavalry,
commanded by Captains Biddle and
Compton.
On the bluffs ot the Tule river the
allied braves made a stand. There were GOO war
riors, all told, and they were the finest of the
mounted plains Indians. The meager forces of
the Sixth, under the leadership of their officers,
charged straight at the heart of a force that
should have been overwhelming. The reds broke
and fled "over the bluffs and through the deep
precipitous canyons and out on to the staked
plain of Texas.”
It became imperatively necessary that couriers
should be sent from the detachment of the Sixth
to Camp Supply in the Indian Territory. Rein
bicod. There is no
doubt that they killed
more than double their
number, besides those
they wounded. The sim
ple recital of the deeds
of the five soldiers and
the; mention of the odds
against which they
fought, how the wound:
ed defended the dying
and the dying aided the
wounded by exposure
to fresh wounds after
the power of action
was gone—these alone
present a scene of cool
courage, heroism and
self-sacrifice which du
ty as well as inclina
they were the besieged, and subse
quent events proved that he was
not in error.
Suddenly the Utes took to shel
ter behind the rocks which were
scattered in the open. They had
lost one man from the fire of the
besieged. They were afraid to
charge, knowing that to sweep up
that slope, even with only two
rifles covering it, meant death for
several of their band.
Hall led his men to a position on
the flank of the savages and sent
in four shots. The bullets were the
first notice that the reds had that
they had two parties to deal with.
They changed their position again
in a twinkling, and located them
selves so that they were under cov
er from both directions, but they
sent a volley in the face of the lit
tle detachment that had ridden in
to the rescue.
To charge the enemy with his
three men meant certain death to
Hall and his troopers. The lieuten
forcements were needed and it was necessary as
■well, to inform the troops at a distance that bands
of hostiles had broken away from the main body
and must be met and cheeked.
The whole country was swarming with Indians
and the trip to Camp Supply was one that was
deemed almost certain death for the couriers who
would attempt to make the ride. The command
ing officer of the forces in the field asked for
volunteers and Sergt. Zacharias T. Woodall of
I Troop stepped forward and said that he was
ready to go. His example was followed by every
man in the two troops, and that day cowardice
hung its head.
The ranking captain chose Woodall, and then
picked out four men to accompany him on the
ride across the Indian-infested wilderness. The
five cavalrymen went northward under the star
light. At the dawn of the first day they pitched
their dog tents in a little hollow and started to
make the morning cup of coffee.
When full day was come they saw circling on
the horizon a swarm of Cheyennes. The eye of
the sergeant told him from the movements of the
Indians that they knew' of the presence of the
troopers and that their circle formation was for
the purpose ot gradually closing in to the killing.
Sergt. Woodall and his tour men chose a place
near their bivouac which offered some slight ad
vantage for the purposes of defense. There they
waited with carbines advanced, while the red cor
don closed in its lines. The Cheyennes charged,
and while charging sent a volley into the little
prairie stronghold. Five carbines made answer,
and five Cheyenne ponies carried their dead or
wounded riders out of range, tor in that day
mounted Indians went into battle tied to their
horses.
Behind the little rampart Sergt. iVoodall lay
sorely wounded and one man was dying. Let.
the letter of C.en. Miles tell the rest of the story.
"From early morning to dark, outnumbered 2d
to l, under an almost constant fire and at such
a short range that they sometimes used their pis
tols, retaining the last charge to prevent capture
and torture, this little party of five defended their
lives and the person of their dying comrade, with
out food, and their only drink the rainwater that
they collected in a pool, mingled with their own
tion prompt us to
recognize, but which
we cannot fitly hon
or.”
When night came
down over the Texas
prairie the Chey
ennes counted their
dead and their
wounded and then
fled terror-stricken,
overcome by the val
or oi live Auiciiuau
soldiers. Heroism was the order in the old plains’
days.
In the White River valley of Colorado a de
tachment of troops was surrounded by Utes, and
for four days the soldiers, starving and thirsting,
made a heroic defense against the swarming reds.
Relief came from Fort D. A. Russell, whence Col.
Wesley Merritt led a force to the rescue in one
of the greatest and quickest rides of army his
tory.
After Merritt’s legion had thrashed and scat
tered the Utes it was supposed that none of the
savages was left in the valley. Lieut. Weir of the
Ordnance corps, a son of the professor of draw
ing at the Military academy, was on a visit to the
west, and was in the camp of the Fifth cavalry.
A tenderfoot named Paul Hume had wandered
out to the camp to look over the scene of the
great light. He knew Weir and he suggested a
deer hunt. 1
The ordnance officer agreed to accompany him
and off they started after having received a warn
ing not to wander too far afield. The hunters,
eager for the chase, went farther than they
thought, and soon they changed from hunters to
hunted.
A young lieutenant of the Fifth cavalry, Will
iam H. Hall, now stationed in Washington with
the rank of brigadier general, was ordered to take
a party of three men with him and to make a
reconnoissance, for it suddenly became the
thought of the commanding officer that there
might be savages lurking about. Hall and his
men struck into the foothills and circled the coun- .
try for miles. In the middle of the afternoon they
heard firing to the right and front. It was rap
id and sharp, and Hall led his men straight
whence it came.
Rounding a point of rocks the troopers saw at
a little distance across an open place in the hills
a band of Utes in war paint and feathers. There
were 35 of the reds, all told, and they were firing
as fast as they could load and pull trigger in the
direction of a small natural fortification of boul
ders a quarter way up the face of a cliff.
From the rocks came a return fire so feeble
that Hall knew there could not be more than two
men behind the place of defense. In a trice he
thought cf Weir and Hume, and he believed that
ant thought quickly. He believed that if Weir and ■
Hume could reach him,#that the party of six, to
gether, might make a retreat back to the camp,
holding the pursuing reds in check. It was a des
perate chance, but better than staying where they
were to starve and thirst or to be surprised and
killed in a night rush of the savages.
Weir and Hume heard the shots of the troopers
and knew that help, though it was feeble, was at
hand. They saw the hovering smoke of the car
bines, and thus located exactly the position of the
troops. They started to do what Hall thought they
would do. They made a dash for some rocks 20
yards nearer their comrades than were those be
hind which they were hiding.
The cavalry lieutenant knew that the path of
Weir and Hume would be bullet spattered all the
way, and that if they escaped being killed it would
be because of a miracle. Then this stripling lieu
tenant did something besides think. The instant
that Weir and his comrade made their break from
cover, Hall stood straight up and presented himself
a fair and shining mark for the Ute bullets.
The reds crashed a volley at him, ignoring Weir
and Hume. The shots struck all around Hall, ma
king a framework of spatters on the rock at his
back, but he was unhurt, and Weir and his comrade
were behind shelter at the end of the first stage
of their journey.
Hall dropped back to shelter and then in a mo
ment, after Weir and Hume had a chance to draw
breath for their second dash, he stood up once
more, daring the death that seemed certain. The
hunted ones struck for the next spot that offered
shelter the instant that the Ute rifles spat their
volley at the man who was willing to make of him
self a sacrifice that others might live. Hall came
through the second ordeal of fire unhurt, and once
more he dropped back to shelter to prepare for
the third trial with fate.
The Ute chieftain was alive by this time to the
situation. He ordered his braves to fire, the one
half at Hall and the other half at the two who
were now to run death’s gantlet.
Hall stood up. Weir and Hume dashed out. The
reds divided their fire. Hall stood unhurt. Weir
and Hume dropped dead within ten yards of the
man who would have died for them.
Hall led his men back over the track that they
had come, holding the Utes at bay. Aid came near
the end of the perilous trail. Lieut. Hall is now in
the military secretary’s department at Washing
ton with the rank of a brigadier general. His men
told the story of that day in the White River val
ley, and a bit of bronze representing the medal ol
honor is worn by the veteran in recognition of a
deed done for his fellows.
A woman never gets old enough not to think
it isn't a shame for a woman who is as old as
somebody else to dress the youthful way she
does.—New York Press.
WESTERN SOD HOUSES
A Feature of Canadian Prairie Life
Which Does Not Always
Mean Poverty.
If you read that a family lives in a
sod house you may conclude that pov
erty compels it. But this is not true
on the Canadian prairies, where sod
houses are the advance agent or pros
perity.
The homesteader who obtains a
slice of that rich wheat land doesn’t
wait to build a regular house before
starting to grab riches from the soil.
Even if he were minded to build one,
he would have difficulty in doing it,
for there is no timber handy. So it
is better to wait until the locomotive
catches up.
If you start out from any of the
towns which are springing up almost
over night in the fertile stretches of
Saskatchewan or Alberta you will
strike, first, well-ordered farms and
substantial houses. But if you get
away ten miles or more the sod
houses will begin to appear.
It is not unusual to see signs of
luxury about these sod houses. They
are comfortable abiding places, cool
in summer and warm in winter.
How to Make a Farmer.
The foundation stone of a nation’s
success is revealed in an article in
All Ireland Review. A friend of the
author was in Denmark, and was as
tonished at the amount of wealth got
out of so poor a country by dairies
and by farming.
"So doubt," said he to ? well-edu
cated Dane, "the children are in
structed in the schools as to dairying
and farming.’’
"They are not," said the Dane, "but
they are taught the old Danish po
ems (sagas) in the schools. That
makes good Danes of the children,
and then they become good farmers.”
—Youth's Companion.
»
WESTERN CANADA
During the early days in the pe
riod of the growth of the grain crop in
Western Canada, as well as throughout
the ripening and garnering period,
there is yearly growing an increasing
interest throughout the United States,
as to the results when harvest is com
pleted. These mean much to the thou
sands of Americans who have made
their homes in some of the three Prov
inces that form that vast agricultural
domain, and are of considerable interest
to the friends they have left behind.
The year 1909 is no disappointment
The crops of wheat, oats and barley
have been harvested and it is now
safe to speak of results. Careful es
timates place the yield of spring wheat
parts of the world the production or
wheat is diminishing today; but as it
diminishes Canada's will increase;
therefore, is safe to predict that in a
few' years from now a large part of th*
world will be looking to western Car:
ada for its wheat supply, and esp. •
cially will the United States. In many
parts of western Canada it is possible
to have a hundred-mile square ot
wheat, without a break. A w riter says:
“We were driven west and north of
Moose Jaw through 20 miles of dead
ripe wheat, acres of stocks and weil
worked summer-fallows. One of these
fields would yield 40 bushel- to the
acre, and another man had oats that
would yield 90 or 100 bushels to the
acre. In this district wheat will aver
age 30 to 35 bushels. The conditions
A Central Canada Farmer Finishing Cutting His 70-Acre Field of Wheat
at 50 bushels per acre, winter wheat at
over 40 bushels, and oats exceed 50
bushels per acre. Barley also has
proved an abundant yield. What will
attract the reading public mere than
volumes of figures will be the fact that
those who have been induced through
the influence of the Government to ac
cept of 160 acres of free grant land;
or, by the persuasion of friends to
ieave their home State of Dakota, Min
nesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, In
diana, Ohio, Nebraska or the other
States from which people have gone,
have done well. Financially, they are
in a better position than many of them
ever expected to be, and in the mat
ter of health, in social conditions, they
have lost nothing.
One person who has just returned
were never better and throughout the
district the people are assured of a
most prosperous year.”
It would be unfair to close this ar
ticle without quoting trom an expert
crop-correspondent regarding the tv. o
Battlefords in Central Saskatchewan,
j on the line of the Canadian Northern
j Railway. Writing on August ISth of
this year, he says:
‘•It is necessary to drive about six or
seven miles out of the town of North
; Battleford in order to see the best
1 crops of the district This morning I
was driven about 20 miles to th»
north and west of the town and in all
! the drive did not see a poor crop. I
: saw one wheat crop which the owner
: estimates will yield 40 bushels per
j acre, and I believe it.”
from a trip through
the Lethbridge Dis
trict, where winter
wheat has a strong
hold with farmers,
says:
"We saw some mag
nificent sights. The
crops were, in fact, all
that could be desired.”
In a few years from
now these great plains
over whose breadth for
years roved
hundreds of Town
thousands of School
herds of cat- House
County
School
House
City Church
in Central
Canada
He then crossed the Sas
katchewan river to the South
town, or Battieford proper,
and continues his report:
“Conditions around the old
town are as good if not bet
ter than those to the north
tie, following the millions of buffalo
that once grazed their grasses, will
be a solid grain, field covering a
territory of over 30.000 square miles,
and very little of it but what will yet
be worth from $40 to $G0 per acre. Al
ready the homestead and pre emption
lands are being well filled.
In the district of Calgary, south, east
and north, which comprises Nanton,
High River and other equally impor
tant districts, a correspondent of the
Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press
says: (Aug. 21) "The grain in this
district is going to make some money
for the fanners this year. All the
crop is now crowding along and is good
on both irrigated and unirrigated lands.”
There are to be found those who
speak of a "pioneering” life in west
ern Canada, but as one man said, “if
ot the river. This district has much
the best wheat crop prospect of any
I have inspected this year, consid
ering sample and yield. The weath
er conditions for the whole season
have been ideal and the result is what
might easily be termed a bumper crop.
A sample sheaf brought in from the
farm of George Truscott was shown
to me which spoke for itself. This
farmer is said to have sixty acres
which will yield 45 bushels per acre
In stating an average for the dis
trict of South Battleford I would say
that the wheat will yield 36 bushels
per acre. The oats will yield about
45 and barley 35 bushels per acre.”
A correspondent summing up a trip
over the Canadian Northern Railway,
from Dauphin to Battleford, says:
"As I inspected the crops in the va
A Specimen Group of Elevators That May Be Seen in
Many Towns in Central Canada
mis is pioneering 1 aon t lor me me
of me see what our forefathers had
to complain of." He didn't know,
though, for the pioneering of iis fore
fathers was discomfort and hardship.
The opening up and development of
western Canada, with its railroad lines
to carry one to almost the uttermost
part of it, the telegraph line to flash
the news to the outside world, the tel
ephone to talk to one's neighbor, the
daily and weekly mail service which
brings and carries letters to the
friends in distant parts; the schools
headed by college-bred and highly cer
tificated teachers; the churches
manned by brilliant divines; the clubs;
the social and festive life; what is
there about any of this to give to the
man who goes there to make his home
the credit of being a pioneer ? Noth
ing! He might as* well be in any of
the old middle-west States. In other
| nous aisiricis i iounu tne larmers and
other citizens without exceptior
filled with expectant enthusiasm over
this year’s prospects. Xo district was
found which could not boast of fields
of 35 bushels per acre wheat, or 50 tc
60 bushels per acre oats, and of 40
bushels per acre of barley.'
It is not an unusual thing in many
parts of western Canada for a farmer
to have 10,000 to 30,000 bushels of
wheat. In the Rouleau district it is
said that there are several farmers
who will have 20,000 bushels of oats
any many fields will return one hun
dred bushels to the acre.
It takes an army of men to handle
theWestern Canada crop, and it is es
timated that 30,000 people have been
brought in this year to assist in the
great undertaking; there being excur
sions from the outside world nearly
I every day for the past six weeks.
Too Rapid.
She—Why do you call your chauf
feur a leaky vessel? Does he gossip
about the fun you have on your mo
toring parties?
He—No; but I am always bailing
the fellow out.
A Contrary Course.
"Here's Jimmy’s doctor said he
must get away from business and
have more fresh air.”
“Well?”
“How is he going to get fresh air in
a salt sea trip?”
csig Price for an Orchid.
Three hundred dollars was recently
paid in Colombia for a single plant of
a rare orchid. The natives, in order
to expedite the collection of these or
chids, fell the trees on which they
grow, and then strip them of these
floral parasites.
Reassurance.
“Look here! Didn’t I tell you not
to come around here begging again?’’
“Yes’m; but I thought dat I’d drop
around an’ ask you if you reallv
meant it.’’ *
