Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1856-06-05
Iowa and Ohio.

We can well remember the time when Ohio
was lookedsppon By Eastern people as the Ca
naan OF the West, and the tide of emigration
from NewseEnglaad, Pennsylvania and New
York, set IN one nnbrokeu current tewarasits
fertile fields. Compared with the barren bills
of New England and with the more desolate
regions Of Northern New. YORK, Ohio was a.
land Of promise, and to the a1-icuhurist land
ofparadise. The emigration, however was slow,
compared with the emigration now !; the convey
ance was mostly by land carriages, the distance
great, and the journey long and tedious. The
State covered an immense surface of country.
the land r:ch,. the original growth of timber
large, and to settle, clear and fully develops
it, will be the work of centuries Not SO with
Iowa. Here is young State about the size OF
Ohio, with debris of soil richer and deeper.
1t is cleared and ready for the pIow, and has
on its surface the vegetable manure Of eyes
rottiig in the sun. 1t is reached by railroads
and water courses, so as to make it easy of ac-
cess by the endgrant. 1t is prairie State,
but more than any other State of its kind is
pentfully interspersed with rivers and rnulets,
and with groves and forest trees Its crown
ing glory, however, is the cheapness of its
lands.
We may talk about banks tariffs, free trade,
churches, schools, colleges, and our republican
institutions generally, but there is no iustitu-
ton in this country, or any other, like land at
ten shaiings an acrei This, more than all its
facilities beside, is what is making Iowa Just
now the omuium gatherum of the world. Land
ntrnsically worth $50 per acre for agricultural
purposes, is here obtained from Government for
ten shillings, and from spectators at two,
five A m iS hetf off
here with mere presumption right and without
dollar in money, than with title deed to a
farm in New England provided he is farmer
by Procession, and means to live by the sweat
of his own brow The eastern agr.culturists
who have been all their lives scrapil,g the cob
bic hills with grub hoes, to little account, have
just found out that their energy and industry
have been sadly misapplicd, and that it is u
matter of great gain, absolutely demonstrated.
to even gre array their farms in the East, and
| pay their money for farms West.
Although more lands were sold by Govern
mcnt, in Iowa, last year, than in any and all
the States besides, there is now every prospect
that the emigration to that State the coming
year will far exceed the last, or what has ever
been before. 1t is said by those who know,
that by next Fall there will not be quarter
section left unentcred that is fit for use, pro-
vlded the government agents can do the bust
ness OF entry and transfer. Every part of the
State seems settling at once, and the people
are lighting down upon it, there being conpar-
ativcly not any waste lands in the State
| What "a change will here be wrought in an
incredibly short space of time The actual set
tiers are practical farmers, independent in cir
cu1nstances, having sold out their possessions
east, and having no occasion to use their sur
plus funds to any great amount in the purchase
of their farms West
They build their domcils and dive into the
SOL for that wealth, which with the least possible
labor is sure to come A very few years, and
Iowa will be the richest agricultural State in
the Un'on-the grain growing beef raising
vegetable garden of the world.