Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1851-10-27
WHOLE NUMBER 334

coun'ry for anything like the same money.
The State and Country are more indebted
to the citizens cf yeur county for this road
thus rrosperously promising, by Ear, than to
any ether district. Let me here sny, that
this rond, from IFS ince p'ion 10 its ccm pleticn.
in progress and general fnancisl management
will be reg rdel as model road for cenir- s
ry TO cone; and it has already divert ed The
general travel from Cincinnati from its course,
through your village. By these means your
county is acquiring prominence no wheIo
else in our country enjoyed. By it your pro-
ducts can Le taken in few hours to the Laka
or River, AID IN few more to the ciey Of
New York. From these p-nminent exam
Piles OF enterprise, Ski and management,
new spirit and feeling must be given to agri-
cultu al pursuits, for examples are contagious,
whether good or bad. Others are in progress
of great Importance. During the prrsen,
year, think America will have one half Of
all the ,aronds in tie world. and in all PR b.
ability in six. more than oil the world beside.
In all the British Provinces, there is only
twenty-five miles. In South, America thirty.
In SPUN only sixty. All the Amerc anslm-
provemenis by railroads have kee1 made since
1929. Pla roads, or the road f the farm,
er, is Of but recent dnte. The fist, l hink
built in the world WAS in 1886, in Canada,
since which, they have ,pread extensively ia
New York and Ohio. They are but limbs
for rail roads, They are coLf:.ed to North
Arer,ca While rail roads add 10 the gem
ernl wealth ef a country, pl, nix re ads add to
individual wealth where they pass Between
intermediate stations upon railway, plask
road is preferable to the farmer, tecause he
can take his produce upon it to the sta ion.-
They are the most natural and simple rond il
the cou"try, FIR our county. They are but
an improvement upon our old causey (com-
monty cal Ell causeway,) and they were the
hest an most durable Of any of our pioneer
+ ads. 1have Travelled upon this class of roads
over twenty years, that remained ga'J AMI
are now g. cd. | know of no rna for this
level country, of tie cost f this, as valuable
for the farmer. 1t can be BULL by the hrn-
ers themselves, for fr,m Twelve TO ff' cen bun.
dred dLllurs mile. And believe il u'd
be rs good an investment, by the iise Of Erms
and facility for transporting produce, if not
dollar vas paid in tolls, as most that are made
But these stocks ale good, and among the
best. All these chains Of improvement are
but so many channels to facilitate the fnrn or
in dispoaing Of his products and obtaining his
fabrics, ard they have been the mears. and
are becoming more so, Of furnishing a ready
market for al we have to 8; are.
This road, like others, should be m idc with
skill, and in the mos substantial manner; a
track IF tliiry-ive feet or more should be
poughed up deep, and bed made for the
plank so low as not 10 be affected by the sun.
The p.anks should not be over six inches wide;
and good pike made by the side ofthe plank.
| Where is there more desirable spot for
| farmer ON earth til N the Western Reserve,
as a residence? 1t is almost entirely sur
rounded by navigable waters and railroads,
and interspersed in many directions by tho
same roads and all others. Possessing soil
and climate for heal h and fertility equal to
any other, governed by laws equal to any 9TH
er people, peopled by Inhabitants for morality.
intelligence and enterprise equal to any 9TH
err in the same continuous extent, and posses
sing religious and civil liberty as broad as con-
stitutions can devise and maintain.
All this has been acquired in little over
| fifty years, and yet it is still comparatively
new; it has not more than reached its meiid-
ian. Your roads, colleges, schools and church,
es-your manufactures, farms, buildings.
stock and impliments of husbandry. are to bs
built, enlarged Or improved. Your farms up
on an average, now worth twenty doll"rs or
more an acre, can and will be made worth
fifty. Your fields, upon an average not now
producing more than twenty five bushels Of
grain 10 the acre, can Q made to produce for
ty. Roads already made, and 10 progress,
and in prospect, are much increasing the val
ue of your farms, but other agents should and
must be at work. Timber generally is fast
becoming an important article, and should re-
ceive the attention Of al! farmers. In my ad-
dress at Trumbul!, spoke at some length up
I
on steam mills, but the subject is so impc rtant
will enlarge, but not repeat but little. Since
that time, have conversed with the owners
of some Of oui mills, (for we have four within
three and half miles of the center of Can
ield,) and find their advantage and profit even
more than had stated. The mill at ihecen-
ter of Garfield was built five or six years since,
and at more expense than those now built;
but it has more than paid oil expenses, and
for itself, and timber has not been very con-
venient. Another of these mills induced
some young men TO build last spring. 1t cost
between twelve and fourteen hundred dollars.
1t began business in May, and one Of the own
ers informed me they had expended only fifty
cents in repairs, and that thu mill will defray
and pay for itself this year, as they had been
doing since they began. Another of ihese
mills has been in operation nearly two years,
and would rather have its nett profits than
any single fi,m in the township. The other