Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-04-12
FROM NEBRASKA.

hENDALvILLE Ia, April ). 1856.
MARIUs r. ROBINSON SIR-IIaving received a
communication from Mr.. Clark of Nebraska with
t liberty to have it published, and thinking that
perhaps it might be interesting to some of your
numerous readers, l send it to you. IF you publish
it you will oblige a friend.
II. r. BENJAMIN.
Omaha N. T., Feb. 20, $50.
, II. r. BENJAMGN Esq. Dear Sir-Governor
lizard has just handed me your letter making
certain inquiries regarding our Territory, with a
request that / would answer it which | an happy
to do, and will proceed in the order you gave
them.
1st.sThe soil; Is it sandy or clay? Is it good for
wheat, and is it good plough land ?
Ans. 1t is sandy loan with clay subsoil, and of
! the best character for wheat. Winter wheat has
not been tried sufficiently however to test the effect
of our winter seasons upon it. 1t is exec lien
plough land.
End. Timber; Is there much that can be had and
what are the kinds ? Can Timber be had adjoining
Prairie, and is the Land we'll watered
Ans. There is plenty for all practical purposes.
Oak, Walnut, Hickory, Ash, Elm, Eastwood and
Cottonwood are the principal kinds. Timber can
be had adjacent to, or near by good Prairie claims.
The land is we'll watered.
Sd. Stock Had we better bring them with US
or can we get them there, and is the country good
for cattle2
Ans. Gring all your stock with you, 70. that
commodity is high here, and there is no better
grazing country in the world. Cattle winter well
here on the bushes which are abundant on the
Missouri bottoms. After this extraordinary severe
winter, cattle are looking fine.
4th. Climate list healthy.and how cold has it
been the present winter. Your streams,-are
they rapid or slow. Is the country level, Or
broken about the Capitol?
Ans. The climate is acknowledged by all to be
very superior for the health of the human family
and indeed / cannot find words sufficiently ex.
pressive Of my admiration of it. l have spent
nearly a year in the Territory, and would say that
| never have found, nor do l believe that there is
a more healthful climate on the face Of the globe.
This is said to have been an extraordinary cold
winter by the old inhabitants. For five or six
weeks, the thermometer stood from 100 to 24O
below 0. Our streams are ,ery rapid. The land
around the Capitol is q medium neither level nor
very broken.
5th. Have you land offices there, and will there
be chances in the Spring to buy ten or twelve
hundred acres of land in a body?
Ans. One land Office is already opened at this
place and we expect to have others in The Territory
soon. The land is now under survey, and will
not be in market before the coming fall, l think,
when there will be abundant opportunities to enter
any quantities in a body. Up to that time, we are
"Squatter Sovereigns," and entitled by the laws of
Congress, and of the Territory, to preempt, or buy
the particular prices of land upon which we have,
or may, settle on previous TO that time.
9th. Will settlers be secure from Indian depre-
%dations, or will there be danger of loosing lives or
property by them, are they very hostile ?
Ans. The Indians are not hostile nor do con-
ceive any danger of lives or property by them. 1t
is the nature of the race to steal but they are now
so far removed from the whites and are so well
guarded by government troops, that there can be
no danger of losing property by their hands.
Z. What chances are there for schools and school
teachers. lawyers, doctors, mechanics and trades
men?
Ans. There is a east opening for schools but
few in the Territory as yet. School teachers rather
scarce, though there are some very good female
teachers here. Lawyers and Doctors, are in the
greatest abundance, yet there are good openings
for the first class of either. Mechanics and trades
men are Uery much canted. Mechanics of all
kinds are in great demand and command wages
from $3.50 to $500 per day of ten hours.
8th. How will it be aoout provisions another
summer?
Ans. Provisions are plenty now, and will be, /
think hereafter, as a great deal will be raised this
Flour is worth $3.50 per hundred Pork
S 5000, Beef $40, Sugar Q to 12c per h., Coffee l23
to IA c., tea so C. to 81, wheat l,50, corn 80 C. pota.
Soc, and other things in proportion.
9th. Is there lumber to build, are there saw and
grist-mills, and is there good chances to build !
-
Ans. Lumber, l think will be plenty here this S
season. There are some mills in the Territory, of !
both kinds but a great want for more, and it is r
the best business a man can go into for making a
money. r
In conclusion I would say, that I am an Indian :.
ian by birth, and spent the greater portion of my G
life in the northern part of that State, and have a
taken great interest in responding, at the request $
of our worthy Governor, to you queries, in regard :
to our infant Territory and have given you truthful a
in general terms. 4
l have selected as my location, after q pretty !
examination of the country a portion of =
the site of old Fort Calhoun, at which place there c
is a aattering prospect of a sizable town of that "
name, and which is the seat of Justice of the "
country adjoining this, on the North. In that +"
there are the best opportunities now remain
ing in the Territory for making desirable claims of a
and prairie, and a more lovable spot, | APP CT
prehend, cannot be found in the Western World. n
shall be glad to see you and all of your company Z,
IF which you speak, when you arrive here and will "a
great pleasure in giving you any further infor, d.