The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-05-17
Nj arietta. Iowa.
MARIETTA, Iowa, April 26th, 1856
lr. Fditor-N hen last saw you | pro-

| missed to give you some items IN relation to
Iowa. | have neglected to fulfil my promise
for various reasons until now, but desiring
that you should know something more Of
the land of the "HawkEyc," and that
others Gf you see fit to publish this letter.
may partake Of the same knowledge, | will
briefly give you some OF my experience IN
this lovely land.
| Having been resident Of the state more
than year, and having Travelled extensively
III it, believe my chances for observation
have been pretty good, and give you the
results Of some of my observations. Iowa,
or the central, northern and eastern part o!
! il is, in my humble opinion, one of the best
! portions of our "Great West" Central
! Iowa, consisting of Powheshck, Jasper,
/ Polk, Boone, Story, Hardin, Grundy, Ia
ma, and last though not least, my own
beautiful Marshall county, is beautifully di-
/ versitied with prairie and timber, the face OF
| the country all undulating, and in many
| places so much so as almost to entitle 1t to
the name Of hily country, but there is no
| part of it that will not bountifully repay the
husbandman for his light toll in su6duing it.
Marshall county is in the geographical centre
OF the state, and the proposed Iowa Central
Air Line railroad will run through il, giving
/ US facilities for exporting our surplus produce
! and bringing merchandise. The Iowa river
runs through the central part of the county,
entering in the northwest and leaving it in
the southeast part of the county, and by its
mcandering course, waters one of the finest
portions Of land it has ever been my fortune
to see. There are on the southwest side Of
the Iowa, in this county, Honey Creek, Nj
nerYa, with its three branches, Lynn Creek,
and Timber Creek with their two branches.
On the other side of the river is Asher
| Creek. The above streams are all improved
with mills, and still there is almost an unl-
mted water power uniWproved.
In addition to the above the above there
are numerous minor streams all through the
/ country, that are Of incalculable advantage
to the farming interests. These streams are
all fed by springs and are pure and sweet
/ The towns in this county are Marietta, Mar
shall, Lafayette, Bangor, and lie Grand
I There are others laid out that will in short
time probably be filled with busy and enter
prising mert hants and mechanics. Marietta
is situated three miles north OF the geo
graphical centre Of the county, and uuques-
tionably in the business centre but an ef-
fort has been making ever since the seat OF
justice was located here, TO remove the
county seat to Marshall, and at an election
held on the first Monday III April, vote
was <lskcn, the dear people deciGel by Z
large majority to let the county seat remain
where it was, and where they thought il
ought 10 he. The population OF the three
towns Of Marietta, Marshall, and Lafayette
is about equal, but the growth of Marietta
has been retarded by the unjustifable efforts
of some OF the citizens OF Marshall, through
which town the travel must pass from IoHa
City TO Fort Dodye, and the northern and
northwestern counties, before arriving al
this place. kmig'ants seeking homes in this
county usually wish TO sye the coua,y seat
and when they arrive IN the town Of Mar
shall they are land il has been 50 for wears
told That that is the county seat, and point
ing to a two story cabinet shop on one cor
T ner OF the grand plaza, grayey the truth
loving hsrsha'll.rs viii say, .'tacre's the
court house" Now be It lnowa. that the
aforesaid cabinet shop is owucIau occupied
by the indjyidua. who has held Tort wears
, past the office OF county treasurer and re.
cordcr, but whose Office Las always beer
, here by and according 10 'gy and whose dG
ties have always been done by deputy
Again, that Marietta Is in low Hat bottom
, overiiowcd every spring by the Iowa river
which Is so far from being true that it need,
hut casual glance II our situation TO con
vince the most Skcptjcal observer that it ne
, yer was overflowci since Noah's time. anC
never will be till the bow of promise disap
, pears from the skies. But such tales have
had their effects in frightening the tmid
and there are now residing in Marshall, per
sons who do not hesitate to say that they
were induced to locate there by the infiuenc,
oi the aboyf ta!es-pure tales of fiction, al
of them.
There are also efforts made to convinc,
people in the eastern states that the grea
~ fva h., IL 81
, east side of that river. That is positively ar
, impracticable route, as may be seen bv :
glance at the map of Iowa. The only rout
that can be Travelled with comfort is from
''the city to Marengo, Indantown, LIE
grand. Marshall, Marietta and Bangor, o
crossing the river at this place 2,
through Lafayette TO Edora, in Hardin Co.
or the extensive and beautiful prairies o
Grundy county. The emigration to Hardin
Story and Webster counties nearly all passe
! through this county, and it is mportan
that persons intending to visit this delightful
country should be advised OF the swindl
that is often practised on them by intereste,
: parties in the eastern part of the state, VIII
will send a traveller to an Inheard of plac
a for the sake Of giving his patronage to SOM
whippcr snapper of 4 landlord, who, per
haps agrees to give him his reckoning whel
he comes that way himself, for his laudabl
and truly valuable services. Again, tina
= great monopoly, the Western Stage Compa
: ny, use every effort to divert the travel from
: this route, because they have a line c
stages, for which Uncle Sam pays then
bountifuly, running from Iowa City to For
Des Moines, and from Fort Des Moiues t
Fort Dodge, through Boonsborough and lie
Z mer. The agents of that immense power
D among whom is Dick Loundsberry, will tel
{ people going to any of the interior countie
i that Newton, in Jasper county, is the near
C est point to Marshall and Hardin, while For
Des Moines is their nearest point to Webste
and Story. Indeed, one of our citizens VIII
:. was recently at the city was accosted by on
! of those accommodating gentlemen and ask
Il ed where he was going. Informing the gen
{ tlemanly runner that his destination was E
dora, in Hardin, he was told that his onl
d chance of getting there was to 60 to tn
u "Fort" Oes Moines) by stage, and theme
: by hack or some other way to Eldora, dis
tant few miles, but our friend, who had
better knowledge than he had, informed bin
= that from Fort Des Moines to Eldora wa
C nearly as far as from Iowa City to the sam
:, place. My space is exhausted or might Ell
d Tighten you further. Yours truly,
n AMIcUs.
- Com CoBs AND CoTToS SEEDs.-A numbe
! of gentlemen in various parts of the countr
II are engaged in making experiments in agr
4 cultural chemistry, and several interestin
- reports have just been received. One fror
c Dr. Charles Il. jackson, Of Boston, VIII
had analyzed the corn cob acQuaintS th