The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-05-30
THE MINNESOTA PIONEER
st. PAUL, hlinnesota,
Thursday Morning, May 50, 1850.
ACRIcrLrrHf IN MINNESOTA


that Minnesota could boast of any spon-
famous productions of the sell. We
nave never said that wheat could be
Graded, fifty bushels TO the acre, where
no wheat had been sown, that roiunteer
crops Of corn could be harvested, and
that Irish potatoes could be found grow
ing wild here, three hundred bushels to
the acre, and whole sections Of land
covered with garden sauce, prairies
yellow with wild pumpkins, and that ten
thousand roasted pigs with carving
knives and forks stuck in their haunch-
IS were running about squealing to be
eaten. We have never represented that
people who have houses to build in our
village, were sitting amongst their piles
Of lumber, anxiously looking for the ar
rival Of an army Of men, protesting
TO be carpenters, strangers from aiar,
whom they might set instantly at work
here at house building, at So per dav
and rcast beef; or that VIC were a band
Of communists, who would undertake TO
feed the whole hungry world; nor that
proprietors of village property would
hurry down to the boats and say. to
every stranger, my dear sir, come up
nj kaI b.. 6
ner town lots at your own price, to be
paid for at your own convenience and
if you want any assistance call upon me !;
labor is plenty here, work is light and
wages high; OF if you prefer TO hold an
office, name what Office you would pre-
fer. Our encouragement to come has
always been predicated upon the idea
that those who come here, are willing
and able 10 work. Have we ever de-
scribed Minnesota as paradise for loaf
ers, retreat for pensioners upon the
toll of others' On the contrary, we
always represented that men, here,
would get enough Of the primeval
curse, enough of thorns and briars,
enough of cold, and enough of heat; but
with honest toll, enough Of bread, of
clothing, and Of the comforts of life; and
of that richest Of blessings that ever
Heaven bestowed upon man, good, Wig
orous health, such as all the coined and
uncoined gold Of California cannot buy.
We have said and do say that our
territory richly yields, if cultivated, all
the products Of the north temperate
zone; that our second rate lands are
much superior to the best lands Of the
middle and eastern states; that in the
production Of ak that Is usually cult
waited in gardens, including melons, the
soil of our village or Of St. Anthony, is
not surpassed by the most luxuriant gar
dens of Long Island; that any given
number Of men, Of equal strength and
skill, can go to work upon our prairies
and produce in any given year, not only
greater cash results, but even a greater
number of bushels of any produce suited
TO the temperate zone, or gre alter num-
Der of tons Of hay than the same number
of men can produce upon the latest
plains Of the Wabash or in the very kid
neys Ct the American bottoms.
To accomplish this takes some capital
and much labor. What that is valuable
is accomplished without labor? Who
levelled the forests of Ohio tree by tree :
Men, men, we want men; we want pro-
ducers who expect to labor. We have
plenty of land, good land, within half a
days ride of any of our villages, at gov
ernmcnt prices; and land even nearer,
by paying the first purchaser a profit
for it. And why quarrel with the man
who came before you and made choice
location, if he does want to make some
thing by selling his land' Would not
you, or you, have done the same thing
Ifyou see horse worth 500 offered in
market for $50, and buy the horse, has
your neighbor who wants to buy that
horse to work, right to insist upon
your selling him for $50, so that he and
not yo,t shall have all the profits of a
good bargain;
What is So. 90 or S. 90 an acre for a
beautiful piece of ground lying between
our fiourishing town and the equally
prosperous village ofSt. Anthony You
may buy 40 acres of such land for SIS
per acre, hire it plowed, hire it fenced,
seed it, and pay for all ofthe expense OF
cultivating and harvesting upon it, a
E single crop of potatoes; and with me-
dunn crOp Vol, will clear the purcha CO.