Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 100, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1909 — HOME FROM TRIP IN BIG HORN BASIN'. [ARTICLE]

HOME FROM TRIP IN BIG HORN BASIN'.

Delos Thompson Returns From Two Weeks’ Trip At Expense of a Chicago Bonding Co. Delos Thompson, cashier of the State Bank of Rensselaer, returned Wednesday afternoon from a delightful two weeks’ trip to Wyoming, made in comp Any with 19 other gentlemen from Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Eighteen of the party were bankers and all took the trip at the expense of a Chicago bonding company. They traveled in a special train and were shown every courtesy imaginable. An irrigation company has just opened up a great area of land in the Big Horn Basin, in Wyoming, and the land is being placed on the market. The Chicago bonding company has bonds for sale, and the gentlemen composing the party were invited to look over the country, but were in no manner obliged to invest in any of the securities. A part of the trip consisted of a drive through the basin of 350 miles, made in wagons. In this way the party -was enabled to see the great development of the country since irrigation was begun and to realize the wonderful possibilities of irrigated lands. Without irrigation the soil is barren, but when watered it is the most fertile soil in the world. Mr. Thompson’s desk at the bank is adorned with heads of oats and wheat and a few potatoes that are wonderful and that could not be produced in any but the very best soil. He states that the vegetation has a greenness that shows every condition of perfect health and that many men have become ridh on small tracts of land. The water right of Wyoming is protected by both state and government law, and he believes that the investor in that country is certain to reap a great harvest within a few years. Near Basin, Wyo., are three former Jasper county people, all of whom have become wealthy and who are delighted with the climate, the crops, the opportunity and the healthfulness of the country. They are, Paris Daugherty, of Ten Sleep; Sanford Halstead, of Worland, and John May, also of Worland. “It was a revelation,” said Mr. Thompson, “to see what marvelous crops are being raised and to understand more about this irrigated land, and I found every moment of my trip not only enjoyable but profitable from an educational standpoint.”