The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-15 00:00:00

WESTERN CORRESPONDENCE.

Our New Possessions at the North-west—Progress
of the Pacific Railroad—The Spring Tide of
Emigration.
Messrs. Editors,—Hereafter you can do as you
please about heading my letters " Western Corre-
spondence," for since I last wrote the " Universal
Yankee Nation" has taken a mighty stride towards
sunset and the North Pole. There is no longer a
Russian America ; Brother Jonathan's suspenders,
as England has already learned, lap over Behring's
Straits. If we cannot, with John Bull, boast of
dominions on which the sun never sets, we can
boast of those on which that orb rarely rises—in the
winter, at least. It is but a short trip from the Missis-
sippi to Cape Cod ; but from this great river to Point
Barrow it is very much of an " undertaking."
That Point, by the way, faces the North Pole, and
is already suggested as a summer resort for the
excitable Yankee who wishes to cool off. It is the
most northerly point which we own, but the
Yankee is at home anywhere, and can go farther
into the hyperborean regions if he wishes to, and
the polar bears raise no objections—no paws.
" Come to think of it," his grizzly majesty does
not easily frighten our brother, who feels as the
Spartans did, that it is no death to die, but to
run away—from accidental dangers. As long
as ice forms in the streams of the farthest
North-west for the markets of China, East India,
Mexico, and South America; so long as the furred
seal, sea otter, river otter, the sable, the black, red
and silvery foxes, &c., are found up north, so long
will Yankee pluck face the perils of the arctic
climate and the arctic beasts of prey. Iron, copper,
and gold are found in our new patch of land, and
they will tempt the Yankee in bear-skin mittens
and overcoat, and seal-skin overalls. On the western
coast the soil is said to produce a good quality of
barley, and also turnips, radishes, lettuce, and
even cabbages—so the Dutchman can go there
and raise his own saur kraut. Well, the 41st
Congress will have its member from Furiaud,
and Butler and Bingham may live to see from the
territories of Sitka, Alaska, &c., grizzly repre-
sentatives who can beat them in growling.
I write from the shore of the Mississippi, sixty
miles south of Dubuque, on the line of the Pacific
Railroad. Here a bridge spans the " Father of
Waters," and men and cattle go over in cars dry shod.
You buy your ticket here for a point three hun-
dred miles beyond Omaha; and during the twenty-
four hours which it takes to cross lowa and make
the three hundred miles in Nebraska, the road has
progressed two miles. Twelve miles a week, or
about fifty miles per month, this road is advancing
across the land of the bison. The smell of prairie
fires, five hundred miles away, is in the garments
.of pa Wingers who here shoot to the eastward, It

is but a few years since the iron horse found his
way to the eastern shore of this great river ; to-day
he is snorting over the broad plains more than three
hundred miles west of the Missouri. All along his
track little towns are springing up, and a belt of the
prairies is being dotted with humble farm-houses ;
settlersfrom the East and from the old World are
pouring in, and the " spring tide" of Yankee, Teu-
tonic, and Scandinavian enterprise was never
higher. It is a solemn business to contemplate the
growth of this nation, and with every emigrant
train that bears to the westward, I feel like send-
ing up a prayer to Almighty God that Ills Spirit
will leaven the heterogeneous lump of humanity
that is accumulating in the valleys of the Mis-
souri, the Oregon, and the river 3 of the extreme
North-west, emptying into the polar seas.— Watch-
man and Reflector.

THE FAVOURABLE CROP PROSPECTS.

The accounts published in the western papers of
the promise of the growing wheat crop confirm the
reports from the agricultural bureau at Washing-
ton, and indicate that the approaching harvest will
'be one of unusual abundance and excellence. The
late and wet spring has proved less injurious to the
winter sown wheat than to almost any other crop,
and while it has retarded and strengthened growth,
only pleasant and warm weather for the next
month is needed to bring forward the grain
to maturity with great rapidity. The spring
wheat and corn have been less favoured, and the
prospects for the success of these crops are more
uncertain. Should the hoped-for change in the
weather take place soon, it is not yet, however,
too late to replace much of the seed that has spoiled
since planting, and start again with better hopes of
success. The intelligence from the farmers and
wheat growers has already exerted an influence on
the speculators' market, which mainly serves the
public demand, and prices have taken a perceptible
downward tendency. The certainty of the receipts
of the advance of -the new crop within six weeks
has compelled the speculators to offer their surplus
stock as fast as it could be done with safety in order
to secure themselves against greater losses to come.
At Springfield, 111., flour declined $2 per barrel, and
wheat 45 cents per bushel in ten days recently, and
the same causes which wrought that change are
likely to effect still greater. The entire matter of the
unusual scarcity and dearth of wheat and flour in
the Western markets seems to have been greatly
exaggerated, and the stories of famine promoted, for
the exclusive benefit of the speculators. The re-
ports of the recent receipt of California flour at
Chicago grew wholly out of the fact that a few
sacks were sent to that city as a curiosity, and not
at all because of any deficiency in the supply at
that market. A comparison with last year's
figures shows the balance to be on the other side en-
tirely, and the amount of flour in store at Chicago
last week was 25,000 barrels more than at the corre-
sponding time a year since. The speculators have
maintained the" corner" on breadstuffs longer than
they expected, and with very decided success. The ag-
gregate of the crop last year was unusually small, and
they have derived the full advantage of its scarcity.
The western millers now are buying only the wheat
necessary to satisfy the immediate wants of their
customers, so as to be ready to take hold of the new
crop as soon as it comes in. In New England as
well as elsewhere the prospect for the farmers is
excellent. The spring planting has been delayed
by the rains, and some seeds that were put in too
early have rotted in the ground and must be
planted over again ; but the rains have been just
the thing for grass, which is our great staple, and
the hay crop this year will make the husbandmen
laugh. It is not too late to plant yet, however,
and with an unusually favourable season corn and the
ordinary root crops will have ample time to mature.
Apple trees are not blossoming as full as it was
hoped and expected they would. Last year was the
" bearing year," and though the blossoms dropped
off largely without perfecting fruit, so that it was
not an abundant apple year, the trees decline to
make up the deficiency entirely this season. There
will be a fair crop of apples, judging from the re-
ports of the blossoming, but nothing more. With
this exception the accounts of the fruit prospects
from all parts of the country are the best for many
years. Pear and cherry trees are setting a heavy
burden of fruit, grapes look promising, and even
the coy and grasping peach-growers of Delaware
and New Jersey acknowledge that the buds have
not been killed, and that the yield is going to be
unprecedented. We are also to have a share of
this delicious fruit in New England this season,
after an interregnum of many years, and in New
York State and at the West there will likewise be
a good many peaches raised. The smaller fruits
and berries also promise to be abundant and good.
Strawberries arc already coming into market from
the South, and the home product will be much
larger than usual. The season will be at its height
in about three weeks, and our mouth already waters
in anticipation. The entire business interests and
prosperity of the country seem to be hinged in an
unusual manner upon the incoming harvests, which
are looked to to bring relief from the present famine
prices of breadstuffs and provisions, and, through
the trade which they will create, restore in some
measure confidence and activity to business and
enterprise, and it is fortunate indeed, or rather
should we ',not say it is providential, that there is
promise of such abundance on every hand.—Spring-
field Weekly Republican.