The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-16 00:00:00

THE ROYAL HOSPITAL for DISEASES of
the CHAST, City-road.—The wards for in-patients
aro constantly full, those for out-patients crowded daily.
FUNDS greatly needed.
CHARLES L. KEMP, Secretary.

PRICE
43
STAMPED, bd.

CENI'RES.—No. 11.

COUNTRY AROUND OMAHA.
(Front the Anglo- American Times.)

A letter just published by Mr. Joseph Nelson,
aldressed to the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, thus
alludes to this district :

"About half acroas the United States of America, be-
tween the 13th and 233 degrees of longitude west from
Washington, and 37th and 47th degrees of latitude north,
there is a square portion of territory containing about
360,000 spare miles. It comprises the whole of the State
of lowa, and a great portion of the States of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Illinois, and Kansa,, and the territories of Ne
braska and Dacotah ; it embraces Ihe whole of the Mis-
sissippi River and its tributaries above St. Louis, and the
main portion of the Missouri and its tributaries. The
Union Pacilic Railway runs through its centre from east
to west. It is tapped by the head waters of Lake Su-
perior, and it will compriSe within its boundaries the
eastern terminus of the North Pacific Railway, now under
construction. Its iron, coal, copper, and lead mines aro
the richest and most extensive in the world. On Lake
Superior there are now 62 copper mining companies, and
100 great iron mines under working:, and It blast furnaces
in operation. The annual shipment of ores from the mines
now averages 12,000 tans of pure native copper and
500,000 tons of iron, the iron ore containing no less than
70 per cent. of pure iron. Its prairies, whether for the pro-
duction of grain or the grazing of cattle, aro unequalled
on the American continent. Its timber lands are the most
extensive and valuable of any now remaining in the Nor- '
thern States. Its main productions are easily accessible
to water-carriage to the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, and innumerable railways intersect it in every
way. Its climate is genial, healthy, and invigorating, and
the region is capable of absorbing and giving employment
to thirty millions of people in addition to its present
population."

Mr. Nelson is personally and professionally well
qualified by thirty years work in Canada and the
United States to give an opinion on the subject.
It will be seen that he masses the States con-
stituting the three centres wo desire to treat of
separately. The first is Wisconsin and Minnesota,
of which St. Paul is the centre; the second is lowa
and Nebraska, of which Omaha is the centre ; the
third is Missouri and Kansas, of which Kansas City
is the centre. Of these we will first take the middle
district, as in former articles in this paper Minne-
sota and Kansas were each discussed. It is to be
regretted that the end of the decade now closing
leaves us without the advantage of the late and
full reports which, now compiling, will presently
pour out of Washington, and we are therefore un-
able to give reliable figures showing the actual
population and progress of the different States up
to this date. The natural features of the country
are, however, the same yesterday, to-day, and to-
morrow. Both lowa and Nebraska are parts of the
vast territory purchased from Franca in 1803,
known as Louisiana. The former occupies a magni-
ficent area between the rivers Mississippi and Mis-
souri, stretching 300 miles between them, the
breadth being 208, containing a surface of 55,045
square miles, equal to 35,228,800 acres. Accord-
ing to the Land Commissioner's Report for 1867 of
these 11,571,722 acres have been sold, 291,038 are
entered under the Homestead law, with nearly
14,000,000 acres given for military services, which,
with other grants, left unappropriated on June 30,
1867, 3,113,464 acres. Nebraska extends from the
Missouri River, lowa being the western boundary,
412 miles at its broadest part, decreasing to 310 ;
the extreme width is 208 miles, narrowing to 138
miles. Its area is 75,905 square miles; or 98,636,800
acres. Of these the Land Commissioner reports as
sold 205,475, entered under the Homestead Act
708,545, given away for military services 1,428,758,
with other grants, leaving a residue unappropri-
ated of 42,523,627 acres. lowa is an undulating
State, of great natural beauty, though the surface
nowhere rises into mountains. Generally the land
is rolling prairie intersected by timber-skirted
rivers, the banks often of calcareous bluffs rising as
high as 130 feet. Gra.;•sy plains and verdant groves
add to the loveliness of the landscape in the South,
beaut ful streams being found everywhere ;- but in
the North the elevations are bolder and more abrupt,
though never attaining the dignity of mountains.
The scenery, nevertheleasAs'atriking, the hills and
mounds being as a rule crowned with fine oak forests,
while the rivers, often assuming a savage wildness,
rush over rocky ledges towards the lower plains.
While well wooded to the north and south, the cha-
racteristic of the prairies is absence of timber,
though here and there are hazel thickets and sassaf-
ras shrubs. In the flower season portions of the
plains burst forth with abrilliant garniture of honey-
suckles, jessamine, wild roses, and violets. Most of
the country is of this bare prairie description, though
the streams and timber have been distributed by
Nature as if desirous of meeting man's necessities.
The English emigrant cannot understand the value
of this until he has experienced the want. Eng-
land is a garden to an American eye in its rich and
minute cultivation. The labour of centuries of an
overflowing population has made it what it is ; but
the emigrant cannot disabuse himself of the notion
that nature has done this. To see what untouched
nature did for Great Britain the inhabitant of to-
day must look with the eyes of Julius Caesar, but
he may go to a much later period, and read the cele-
brated chapter on the condition of the country
in Macauley's History. Could he behold at the
same moment the untouched portions of lowa as they
are now, and of Great Britain centuries ago, he
would see how charmingly nature has provided for
man's immediate wants in the former compared
with the latter. In lowa he would find vast
reaches of grassy country whereon to feed his
stock, wood and water being amply supplied by
the numerous streams lined along their banks
with timber, some of considerable magnitude. The
largest flow into the Mississippi, that is, have a
south-easterly course. Indeed those which flow
west into the Missouri are mere creeks, and he
who cannot see the reason has not read our article
of last week with attention. lowa is to the west
of the Alississippi ; hence it is on the slope—scarcely
perceptible, it is true--but still on the rise from the
great river backwards to the Rocky Mountains.
and of course the water will flow with this incline.
The finest tributary of the Mississippi above the
Illinois is the lowa, which descends from the table
lands of Minnesota, as do the large parallel streams
of which the Des Moines is the principal, being navi-
gable for 200 miles when the water is favourable.
'The lowa and the Wapsipinicon run through rich
valleys a course of 200 miles, and the Skunk a dis-
tance of 150, much of the country through which
it passes being heavily timbered. The lowa is na-
vigable for steamboats to lowa City, which is to-
wards the eastern boundary of the State, 80 miles
from Its mouth, and, cutting through the northern
districts, all help to open out the splendid oak forests
for which the State, is famous. lowa City, once
the capital, is embowered in beautiful groves, sur-
rounded by wide fertile plains. It has a population
of 6,000, with the State University and other insti-
tutions of learning. But the capital has been trans-
ferred to Des Moines, well towards the centre of the
State, of which the population some years ago,
7,000, has, we believe, greatly increased. Steam-
boats can navigate the river for 200 miles from
the entrance into the Mississippi. Around the
city there is plenty of timber and coal, with
abundance of water power. Railroads intersect,
and the emigrant bound to Omaha will proba-
bly pass through Des Moines as well as lowa
City, though there is a more northern road.
This State, which perhaps ranks after Ohio in
natural beauty, is underlaid by limestone. The
northern section belongs to the great drift depostt,
which distinguishes Minnesota, and in parts the
prairies are thickly covered with boulders some of
immense dimensions. A coal bed extends for 200
miles in the direction of the valley of the Des
Moines. In parts the beds are 100 feet thick, lying
near the surface and easily worked, the area being
not less than 20,000 square miles. There are lead,
zinc, and copper deposits. The timber, besides the
oak forests, consists of ash, elm, white maple, poplar

iFF-4
and walnut. Dubuque is the Cell, 440'
region, of which 3,256,9701b5. were sh. in tx
It is the largest city in lowa, having coigleraay
over 20,000 inhabitants. As no State has a smal!ec
proportion of inferior land, the increase in agricul-
tural development and population has lately been on
a marked scale. The first settlement was 2.1'
at Dubuque by Frenchmen in 1686, who then built a
fort, and commenced trade with the Indians. From
1804 to 1821 it was a part of Missouri. territory,
when it .was added to Alichigan,then to Wisconsin.
L~ finally, in June, 1838, it was erected into a terri-
tory, and in 1846 was admitted into the Union. In-

dependent of Dubuque, the first white settlement
was in 1833, yet in 1840 the population numbere
43,112; in 1850, 192,214 ; in 1860, 671,913; what it
is at present we fear to say, but the Commissioner of
Public Lands puts it down in his report of 1867 at

1,000,000, and it is now far in excen of that num-
ber. In the &each from 1850 to 1860 the increase
in the value of lands and implem ants

short of sevenfold, the live slo.±. increasing in
the same ratio, while the advance in the cereals,
in tobacco, sugar, hay, and molasses was still

greater. In orchards and market gardens the in-
crease averaged fifteen fold, and the Commissioner
certifies, although not having the advantage of the
figures of the census, to the maintenance of this in-
crease, more especially in wool growing. In manu-
factures there were 1,939 establishments, with a
capital of $7,247,130, in 1860. The raw material
cost $8,612,259, labour $1,922,457 ; the produce
was valued at $13,971,325, the profits being 47 per
cent. on the capital invested. The Land Commis-
sioner says the completion of the railroad system
will make Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River,
opposite Omaha—the eastern terminus of the Paci-
fic Railroad—the point of intersection of four
extensive lines connecting with the railways of
all the North-Western States. The nature of

ie country renders the construction of such

lines-easy and inexpensive. Council Bluffs has
been connected -with Omaha by a bridge across thy;
Missouri, and the system alluded to by the Com-
missioner has been completed, the Pacific Railway
itself now being opened to Sacramento. Here we
reach one of the three great emigration centres, but
we find it impossible to give even the barest out-
line of the country on the other side to the west in
the limits of an article. Next week we will tell
how the emigrant is to reach this centre from New
York, the time, and the cost ; but we cannot con-

elude our remarks On lowa without saying some-
thing of its climate. The winters are frequently
prolonged into April, ice covering the rivers from
December to the end of March. Then there
is a rapid change, and the peach immedi-
ately bursts into bloom. The summers arc

charming, the air being dry and bracing ; in-
deed, throughout the year, especially on the prairies.
There are no sudden and injurious variations of
temperature. The country is free from epidemics,

and pulmonary diseases are rare. Periodical breezes
blow with regularity over the prairies. In the
north the lands are inferior, the lower grounds being
wet or marshy, or filled with numerous ponds, and

entirely destitute of timber. The emigrant will see
that nearly all available lands of lowa have been
appropriated ; indeed, if he glances at a good map,

and remarks how well situated the State is, he will

notbe surprised that theland should have been rapidly
taken up, and that an unknown district should,

within the lifetime of a young man, have grown

nto a populous and powerful State, with it 3 steam-

boats, railroads, cities, manufactures, agriculture,
Legislature, and all the paraphernalia of a State,
we may add now wholly free from debt. Thil

progress Nebraska cannot effect, for that State, as
we shall next week show, is greatly inferior in

natural advantages to lowa, for the country north
of the Platte does not improve, but, on the con-

,rary, deteriorates, and even more to the West as
he Rocky Mountains are neared.

Fifty million envelopes are sold annually, and stamped
with the crest and address from upwards of 35,000 steel dies, at
Parkins and Gotto's, who make no charge for stamping or cement-
ing, and, having only one price, undertake to supply the nobility
and gentry with every description of writing paper and envelopes
of the best and most fashionable kind, at extraordinarily low
charges. Monograms, crest, or address dies cut at less than half
price. Coloured stamping reduced from 2s. to ls. per 100. Arms,
monograms, and crests emblazoned. GO stompers, die sinkers,
and engravers being kept upon the premises. all orders are exe-
cuted with great despatch. Dance programmes, invitations, at
home notes, MSS. books, return thanks, bordered and overland
papers, dish, dessert, and bouquet papers, and every description
of fancy and household stationery. Parkins and Giotto, mane
acturing stationers, 240.0. 45, Oxford-street, W
BUDGET de MISCELLANEOUS.—It costs $200,000
per week to bury the dead of New York. —The Vermont
Legislature has passed a bill holding liquor dealers re-
sponsible for the damage to person or property done by
those obtaining liquors of them.—The principal hotel at
Sacramento goes by the name of the Golden Fleece in
San Francisco.—The Secretary of War has ordered the
discontinuance of the United States Arsenal at Baton
Rouge.—A Convention of Southern and Western steam-
boat men is proposed at St. Louis to secure Congressional
legislation in furtherance of navigation interests, and for
the better protection of the lives of passengers.— New
York is io have another "Delmonico's" farther up town.
—Brazil has lost 150,000 men in her four years' war with
Paraguay.—ln Cincinnati, 50 years ago, the proprietor of
the pork-slaughtering houses considered the curing of 50
pigs a good day's work, and the killing was done
with a rifle.—Now, a single establishment will kill and put
up 2;000 head daily.—Wisconsin has a now State Capital
at Madison, costing $531,000.—At Machias, Maine, the up-
heaval of vastquantities of water, mud, and stones to the
distance of many feet, with a furious rushing noise, has
occurred a number of times during the summer, and once
as Into as a month ago.—lt takes $330 of Haytien money
to buy a cigar. —A Number Oao Chinese wife in San
Francisco is valued at $5OO.—Six oxen drew the Cardiff
giant to Syracuse, and he in return draws two thousand
spectators daily.—Boston is to pay $7,630,698 taxes fur this
sear, nearly a million and a half more than last year.—
The " mining share bubble" has burst in California. Min-
ing stocks have depreciated $5,000,000 during a few
months past.—The Philadelphia Ledger thus summarizes
a long I, ndon law report—breach of pro mise—servant
woman of 53 against gouty old man of 77—promise given
19 'pars ago—damages $250.• -It is proposed to put into
Now York Central Park busts of all the American Presi-
dents.—There are 200 lines of telo3raph converging at
New York, and 75 telegraph offices scattered over the
city, giving employment to 250 operators.—The Commis-
sioner of Customs, in his annual report, just completed,
will show that smuggling on the Northern frontier has
wan materially suppressed during the year just closing,
and that the contraband trade in spirits has entirely
ceased.—The celebrated " Gurney Horse," said to be 5
years old, died at Alexandria, Licking county, Ohio, a
short time since. He was exhibited at a State Agiicultura
Fair in 1852—seventeen years ago—and was then quite
grey.—Compotition has reduced the price of telegraphing
ton words between New York and Chicago from $2.05 to
$1.25 within the week that the Pacific and Atlantic lino
has been operating agaiust tlkWesternynion.—Here is

the way live Yankees settle in the West: A man recently
arrived in a town in Minnesota, bought a lot, built a
house, and set up house-keeping within the space of
forty-eight hours, and had a son and heir born to him
before the first meal was eaten in the house.—Thera is a
miners' union in Great Britain numbering 60,000 man. Its
president, Alexander Dl'Donald, is now, or was recently,
in California, for the purpose of examining into the oppor-
tunities it offers for English mining emigrants.--Six hun-
dred packages of tea were forwarded by railroad from
San Francisco to New York on Nov. 25.—A1l the movo-
able ordnance property will be transferred to such points
as the Chief of Ordnance may designate. After the build-
ings are vacated by the Ordnance Department they will be
transferred to the custody of the Quartermaster's Depart-
ment for the use of the troops.—A German scientific jour-
nal recommends laundresses to use hyposulphite of soda in
place of common washing soda. It does not injure the
fabric in any way, and at the same time exerts some
bleaching action, which greatly improves the app-arance
of linens and calicoes.—The new building of the Young
Men's Christian Association, at New York, one of the
finest iu the city, was dedicated on Thursday, December
2.—A Wisconsin paper gives an account of the capture is
northern Montana of "an animal of a species wholly un-
known to naturalistP, which is claimed by some to be a rvlie
of the mastodon." This marvellous creature is only two
years old, but stands 7 feet high.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY.---bT• JOHN'S COLLEGE.-
The Casberd Scholarship, open to all undergraduate mem
bers of St. John's College not on any foundation, has been
adjudged to Mr. Walter E. Matthew, Exhibitioner of the
same society.

BREAKFAST.— EPPs'S COCOA.— GRATEFUL AND COM-
FORTING.-The very agreeable character of this prepara-
tion has rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Sei
Gazette remarks :—" The singular suczess which Mr. Epps
attained by his homcsopathic preparatioa of cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. By a
thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the
operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful ap-
plication of the fine properties of well selected cocoa, Mr.
Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doc-
tors bills." Made simply with boiling water or milk.
Sold only in tin-lined packets, labelled JA24.ES Errs and
Co., Honiceopathio Chemists, London.