Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1892 — CORN BELT EXPOSITION [ARTICLE]

CORN BELT EXPOSITION

TO BE HELD AT MITCHELL SOUTH DAKOTA. The Exposition Will be One of Great Credit to the State—Will Hold From September 28 to October 6 Twentyone Counties to be Represented. The Corn Palace. South Dakota Is one of those state* in the country which is at the present on the top wave of prosperity and her residents, with the object of calling the attention of her sister states to her unbounded resources and her richness in agricultural way have decided on the holding of a Corn Belt Exposition In Mitchell from September 28 to October 6, 1892. The exposition is to be held in a Corn Palace building which atthis time is nearly completed. The building will be a large and expensive one and all the various tasty features of architectural skill are being employed to make the exterior very attractive. The interior is su£3elently large to accommodate several thousand people while seated, besides the various exhibits from the twenty-one counties in the Corn Belt of the state, and all the mineral exhibits of gold, silver, tin, lead, etc., from the Black Hills. While the exposition is expected to benefit the entire state yet only those counties lying within the Corn Belt district will have charge of the exposition. The Corn Belt region is known as the twenty-one counties situated in the south-eastern portion of the state. It is here that corn is successfully raised and of such quality and quantity as to rival that grown in more southerly states. This is the spot in the state where the famers have grown wealthy from tho annual sale or turning off of vast quantities of cattle and hogs. Diversified farming here Is the rule and the farmers are in consequence successful in their pursuits. The Corn Belt is the oldest settled and most prosperous part of the state. A crop failuio has scarcely ever been known and with the pride brought about by success the residents of the Corn Belt are endeavoring by this Exposition to show her resources in an attractive manner, and to rid from the minds of Easterners the idea that South Dakota is a place where only blizzards, drouths, Indians, and destitute people abound. In this land of bright sunshiny weather genuine blizzards are as rare as in the East, drouths have never effected the Corn Belt, Indians are as scarce as on the streets of Chicago, and the farmers are housed in substantial homes, their stock in roomy barns, and the residents of the state will be found to be of an intelligent class. Americans by birth in an overwhelming majority, they are mostly educated. Theyare proud of their state and they ini tend that tho rest of the world shall, know it as they know it. In that par n of the state north and west of theCor 0 Belt region the farmers a few years ag were subjected to the discouragement, incident to a new country and to pio" neers. The southeastern part of the state was more slowly settled than the rest of the state, and the residents were farming successfully at the time of the great influx of immigration into the rest of the state in the early eighties. The people who then came to seeure Dakota laud were far different from the present class of residents. Those who came then were brought here with the expectation of securing land without making it their home. The majority of the fertile acres of tho bioad prairies of the state were taken up by this class. Many never tilled their land at all and of those that did do any farming done it in such a careless bap-hazard way that when any set back was brought about through crop failure they failed to withstand the storm and left the country. The experienced farmers among those who first came stayed, the inexperienced and thriftless class was weeded out, and their places afterward taken by the better element and to-day without exception the .farmers of tho state are of the right class and are working their way towards a sure enough success. The great crop yields of 1891 have been, take the state as a whole, repeated the present season. Conservative estimates place the wheat crop at 55,000,000 bushels, the corn crop at 25,000,000 bushels, and the oat crop at 60,000,000 bushels. The effects of these magnificent yields has been to install a spirit of enthusiasm into the people of the state and a spirit of enterprise which is showing Itself in all directions in increased business activity. From an assessed valuation of 647.701,000, in 1882 the state has prospered to such an extent that the assessed valuation this year is $137,373,761, an increase of 300 per cent. This part of the Northwest which was once considered ‘‘away out West,” is but 500 miles from the World’s Fair City and can be reached by a twelve hour ride from that place. Proximity to large markets is therefore clearly shown. Investments by eastern parties will be made to a large extent in the next few years. Nearly every other section of the country has been boomed by investors, in fact, South Dakota is about the only section of the country where the effect of ‘booming’ is not shown, and capitalists are bound in a very short time to becomr convinced that the avenue for rich investments have surely opened in this state. Louth Dakota expects in the future to have the only Corn Palaces in the Northwest. The celebrated Corn Palaces of Kioux City attracted the attention of the entire country to that city, and yet Sioux City's prosperity can be attributed to a great extent to the hogs and cattlo raised on South Dakota soil and fed on South Dakota corn. The present Corn Belt Exposition will be one of great credit to the state. It is no small affair but of such magnitude the visitors wonder when they view the building now going up at the size of the undertaking. The Exposition is directly under the management of the citizens of Mitchell who have assumed all the costs of the undertaking, but the prominent residents and real estate men of all the counties in the Corn Belt are at work to make the Exposition a great success. Among the attractions which are offered besides the beautiful palace decorations are the daily concerts of the lowa State Band, a musical organization of fifty pieces, and the doings of political days when Republican, Democratic and Farmers’ Alliance speakers of national repute will deliver addresses, besides others now being arranged for. The interiot of the building will be lit by myriads of electric lights and will resemble a palace in every sense of the word. The force of, 150 decorator* under the charge of Prof. Rohe, who bad supervision of the decorations of the New Orleans Exposition for several years has commenced work on the building. The Exposition is a big undertaking and reflects great credit on tho city where it is to be held and upon the residents of the Corn Belt as well.

The extent of the influence a lake may exercise upon climate is illustrated by the statement of M. Forel that the Quantity of heat accumulated by Lake Leman during the summer is equivalent to that which would be given out by the burning of 51,000,000 tons of coal A railroad Wain carrying this coal Would be 18.000 kilometers long, or nearly the length of the earth’s inertdan from polo to pole.