Worcester daily spy., 1854-03-10


that flows into the Missouri, near Council
Bluff, which the French call the Platte, and
which is SO designated on the maps. On the
northeast flows the Missouri; on the west
are the Rocky Mountains, which separate it
from Utah; and south it comes down to 36
deg. 80 min. 1t is from 200 to $50 miles
from north to south, and runs back from Mis-
souri,, 240 miles; and has almost half million
square miles of territory. 1t is one of the
finest lands that the sun shines on in all his
course through the heavens. Its location, its
climate, its soil, its vegetable productions, and
its mineral wealth, all invite the free pioneers
and the hardy laborers.
The rivers running through it are numer-
Gus, serving as highways from the upper
country, and offering an easy transportation
to the corn and wheat-the hemp and tobacco
the coal and the iron-the timber and the
stone-in fine, for the products of its fields
that would feed the world-the wealth of its
mines, just coming to light, and the building
materials that everywhere abound. The Mis-
souri, is navigable nearly all the year, for
first class steamboats,; the Kansas for two
hundred miles is navigable for boats; and the
beautiful Platte, and numerous smaller
streams abundantly supply it with water.
For two hundred miles west Of Missouri,
the soil is a deep black loan, in richness
equalling any portion of the United States,
and capable of supporting great population.
| For grain country the lands of Ohio and
| Michigan are as far behind this as New Eng
| land is behind them; and within twenty years
| flour will come down the Missouri river for
expectation to all parts of the world, in such
| Quantities as we have never dreamed of. Ma
ture has been for ages garnering up her fer
| tiliZing properties there, and from one period
| to another, through untold times, gathering
strength that she might pour abundance into
| the barns of the first settlers. The valley Of
| the Platte for two hundred and fifty miles, is
exceedingly fertile; and the ridges between
| the Arkansas and Kansas and the Kansas and
| Platte-especially the latter-are capable of
| yielding immense crops. For the last hun
| dred miles towards the mountains the land is
less desirable, but all through it are charming
| valleys, where labor would obtain an easy and
a fair reward As the higher region is dry and
| covered throughout with buffalo grass, for
| wool growing it is particularly adapted.
The climate is as inviting to the settler as
the soil. The weather is less changeable than
on the Atlantic slope, and the winters COM
mencing in December terminate before March;
while the winds that sweep down from the
Rocky Mountains carry health and yigor to
all the living creation.
No part of our country is of greater impor-
tance i'll itself than Nebraska nor is there
any section that requires, or would have
more rapid settlement To Utah, New Mexi-
co, California and Oregon, there are now pass
ing and repassing from fifty to hundred
thousand persons annually. Great numbers
Of these persons would settle on the way, if
the country was open to settlers and especially
would this be the case, if the Pacific Railroad
should take the middle route. The settle
lnents would soon extend all along the great
thoroughfares, and the advantages arising
therefrom would be very great. There may at
present be something like thousand white
inhabitants The principal part of these are
at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri river,
and are officers, soldiers, mechanics, teamsters
and farmers, connected with the army
Most of the lands in the eastern section are
Indian reservations; and here are the rem
nants of twenty eight distinct tribes, most of
them removed from the northwest, under the
act Of Congress in 1880, for the extinguisn-
ment of the titles to their native soil, Since
that day they have been undisturbed in their
new homes, though they have made but slight
advancement in civilized life, and many of
them have almost entirely wasted away, and
now cultivate but a small portion of their
lands. as, for instance, the Delawares who
own 2,200,00 acres, do not cultivate l000.-
Our pledge to them was, that they should be
undisturbed forever. But when that pledge
was made California was not settled, and the
overland emigration had not commenced and
it IS not now possible to prevent the invasion
of the country by the whites. If the bill,
therefore, does not pass, and they remain,
constantly will they be in contact with the
whites, and constantly will their numbers
diminish. If the bill should pass, second
removal will be their destruction.
We might wish the fate of the Indian to be
ditferent-butit it is irrevocable; we may mourn
to have them blotted out from among the peo-
pies, but it is unavoidable. The Providence
of God brings about unexpected events, and
one comes and another goes by his will; nor
could we wish the progress of the world staid
for race irreclaimably lost in heathenism,
and capable only Of learning the vices Of civ
ilization. Who would say that the State of
Name should never be settled because a few
Penobscot Indians yet exist, who might lay
claim to it 7 No more should the great states
OF the north be lost from such a consider
alton. The government has done, and will
do, all that it can for their comfort. 1t will
purchase lands which are worthless to them,
and which they cannot retain of themselves
Mr.. Manypenny, Indian Commissioner, was
last year sent to negotiate with them. He
held councils with tribes numbering only H.
3S4 persons, owning %, ,220, ,4SO acres of land
Other tribes, numbering IL ,597 persons, own
ing 1880, 200 acres, were not visited. Most
of them are ready to sell and remove further
towards the setting SUM- and while the terri
tory is thus opened to the white man, they
will for time be beyond trouble from immi-
grants. Nee6,vyport Herald.