Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-06-14
farmers Department.


THE UNlMPRovED LANDS OF NORTHERN PENN
sYINANIA.-lt is q matter of great surprise
that while the most energetic and petSevering
efforts have been, and are still being made to
direct the attention of farmers and others to
the agricultural value of the unimproved lands
of the Western States so little has ever been
said or done in behalf of the millions of acres
in Pennsylvania which have not only never
been turned by the plowshare, but of the very
existence of which large proportion of oul
people appear to be wholly ignorant. 1t is
impossible to conceive that anything like a
correct idea of the character of the vast body
of uncultiyated lands lying in the Northern
tier of Counties in Pennsylvania, can be pos
scsscd Iy the community in general or Ger
tainIv, the sound of the axe, the song of the
plowman and the busy hum of industry would
long since have been heard, when now the 81
lcncc Of the wilderness reigns Year after
year we witness the departure from our midst
of thousands of our most industrious and ener-
getic farmers, men and women, whose enter
prising spirit leads them to abandon the homes
of their fathers to seek in the far west the am
pie reward which is almost certain to follow
their well directed efforts. 1t is to these men
and women that the western states owe their
greatness. They have fellcd the forests, sub
dued the prairics, built and populated towns
and cities, and constructed railroads and ca
nails, until what was less there forty years ago,
an immense wilderness is now one of the most
fourishing sections of our country, or of the
world The eye of the enterprising and reso-
lutte young man is almost instinctively turned
to this great region and when new home is
sought, the west with its thousand inducements
rarely fails to win new inhabitant The
tolls and hardships incident to western life
have no terrors for him. With confident
and cheerful spirit he enters upen his labors !;
and as if obstacles were only fresh incentive
TO eXertion, struggles onward until he is re-
warded with the success he so richly deserves
But while it is pleasant to contemplate this
triumph of men over difficulties which but
few years since seemed almost insurmountable.
and while we should congratulate our western
friends upon the unparalleled growth of their
country in population, refinement and wealth,
it becomes question how far we are justfa-
bic in permitting so large a number of our
farmers to leave the state, carrying with them
their wealth and energy, without single en-
deavor on our part to direct their attention to
lands equally cheap and fertile-as easily cul-
tivated and certainly more convenient to the
best markets which are now lying useless with
in our own borders The Counties of Brad
ford, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Toga, Potter,
Lycoming, Warren, Elk, M'Kean, Forrest,
Clinton and several others abound in immense
tracts of unmproved lands, which, if the ag-
ricultural value had been properly understood
twenty years ago, would now be settled with
q portion at least of the men whose labor and
wealth have contributed so largely to the
growth of the west Had the agricultural
and mineral wealth of these lands been clearly
demonstrated, it is not reasonable to suppose
that men would travel one or TWO Thousand
miles in search of home, when their object
could have been as fully accomplished, and at
no greater expenditure of toll and money, with
i'll less than ene-tenth that distance "With
the hope of awakening feeling of interest in
behalf of this long neglected portion of our
State, and with the additional hope that the
effect will be supported by those who have iu-
huence, we propose presenting few facts to
substantiate the position assumed, viz, that
there are millions of acres of unimproved lands
in Pennsylvania which can be purchased as
cheaply, and brought into cultivation as profit
ably, as any of tho lands of the Western States"
In furtherance of this object, we will be
much pleased to receive from persons residing
in any of the Counties named, or from those
familiar with their character, any facts which
will serve to throw light upon the agricultu-
ra mineral or numbering value of these lands.
Farm Journal.