Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-06-28
THURSDAY. IUNE 2e. 1856.

- 20
~ VI eennenes - nlping the public.-
tiof Of several more lettsfs fsa the pen Of L. C.
Colzass. We command 4hen = we'll written and
LETrER raos MINNESOTA.
ST. PAUL, Feb. II, 1856.
There ore various inducements, doubtless, that
operate in drawing the swarming multitudes to
MinDesOta. Yhe great mssss 4 bsiievsy re'ir6u
enced mainly by the hope of pleasant, bealthful,
and quiet homes, contented II they may but OBJ
tain moderate abundance for themselves and
children. A large Class, however, are very In
tent on some monied speculations, which they
datter themselves will end in vast and Sudden
wealth. And~it is very certain that those Who
have ample means for speculation can easily
multiply it here into an almost unlimited fortune.
Loaning money at extravagant rates of interest,
entering land at government prices, or buying of
individuals and then disposipg of these lands at
greatly advanced rates, or if still retaining them,
their intrinsic value SO increasing, has made
many men among US rich in this worlds goods.
In country SO rapidly filling up with inhabi-
tants, the value of real estate must rise in cor
responding ratio. Lands in our principal towns
will now sell, as u general thing for ten times az
much as the same would three years since. Land
jobbers here will drive bargains by which they
clear five hundred, thousand, or ten thousand
dollars in IA few months. One of them entered,
last April, some fifteen thousand acres of Gov
ernmcnt land about fourteen miles from St. Paul.
at 81 ;25 per acre. Eight months after he con-
cluded a sale of five thousand acres of the same,
for the purposes of colony at S. per acre, max
ing, as YOU will perceive, a nice little profit. /
give you this instance, which is but one AMONG
Thousands, merely to show you what these specu-
lators are doing. Operations of this kind are
constantly transpiring either on larger or small
Ter scale, yielding very great profit in a short
time. Hence multitude of sharpers are in our
midst with eyes wide open, watching for the
main chance. So rife is the spirit of speculation
that it must in some instances, at least, retard
the interests of the country; as where large
tracts of land are entered and held too hirh for
actual settlers to purchase. This tends to keep
actual residents from the soil, and the land re-
mains 'unimproyed, AMI contiguous portions far
less valuable. -s-.,z s
What We need in Minnesota is men to cult.
vate the coil. No business in reach of the mass
es pays so we'll. All farmin, produce finds a
quick market at high price, and must continue
to do so for long time to come. Hence her
rich lands are valuable, and are increasing in
| value. Spectators und erstand this, and eager
ly grasp all within their reach, and are quite
sure to make a fortune out of it.
good cliim in almost any part of the terri
tory, with the improvements which an indusrri-
, Gus man might make upon it with but very tri-
| ling means to begin with, would in the course
of three OF four years readily bring from fifteen
hundred to twenty-five hundred dollars, as it
might be more or less favoraby located. After the
first year family can be wei! supported from it,
and ut the expiration of the above named periodit
would have become a home with which but few
would willingly part. There are still vast guam
titles of land opened to settlers. Not, it
is true, in the immediate vicinity of st. Paul or
any other of the older towns still it is land of
the first quality, and such is the rapid progress
of things, that it will soon be very valuable.
Towns are springing up, markets opening and
business centering, SO that no one will long be
beyond their reach. The Cannon River country,
tho Zombro, the Minnesota or ST. Peter, the Up-
per Mississippi, with aumcrabl. intervening
ponts,all furnish openings for any amount of cx-
callcnt claims. Bat settlers should not come ex-
pecting beau ideal of farm. The most they can
expect is its great clcments-a rich soil, plenty
of good wood ana water. And if they will go
back little ans exercise patience in exploring
the country, they may find these in combna-
ton that will make as fine farms as the world
| 81 n ~ -, of fha
hit persons coming here should exercise lite
leisure in procuring location. 1t would be no
disadvantage to a were be to spend six months
or even year here before so doing. He might
hire out, work at trade rent farm, and in
the mean time, be learning the ways of u new
country, which would be OF Immense service, be-
come better satisfied rs to the more favorable
points of settlement, and discover openings for
lucrative Investments to any extent his means
might allow. In this time he would become full
iy satisfied that if man could not succeed here
he could not anywhere. To farmers, merchants,
and mechanics think the inducements are dou-
bic 20 what they arc in the older States. be.
Iievc u IN IN Of any enterprise once here, could
do better without anything to start with than he
could do East with the pretty little sum of-say
] five hundred dollars.
! think it quite advisable for our eastern pco-
pie coming here, who have the means to do 80, to
| purchase farms or claims that have some i'm
provements upon them. They may thus locate
| themselves better to their own minds, and, in
the mean time, escape great amount Of incon-
yenience, priyation and discouragements, incident
to making claim themselves, that is, provided
they can forego the poetry of doing the thing
themselves. For, Mr.. Editor, notwithstanding
the " shades and hardships," and suffcrings Of an
emigrants life, there is little poetry after all,
to the husband and wife who settle down upon
the rich wild lands of our Western world
Though in getting up the little hut, in fencing
the first garden plot or field, they saw days of
scarcity, and were DISCONNECTED by the weather
in their rude dwelling, and their hearts almost
failed them from exposure and fatigue, still they
were making them home, they were doing it
themselves, and they felt in it an untold interest
and satisfaction. The demand upon their invcn-
tive powers taught them how much they could
do, and there is charm gathers around doing
under such circumstances, and they enjoy doing
and what they have done, as they could not if
others had done it, Ard, as in other years, years
Of plenty, they rehearse the scenes through which
they passed, scenes it may be of trials and hard
ships, the eye brightcns and nelts as it rests on