St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-06-18
A Trip to Mason CITY.

n lIIp W MdSUH Olty.
Pretty, pretty, pretty! was the oft
involuntary ejaculation of our heart
and lips as we travelled across the
prairies Of Floyd and Ccrro Gordo
counties during the past week. Those
beautiful and lovely savannas that
spread their broad cxpansc between
the Cedar and Shell Rock rivers. be-
tween the Shell Rock and Lime Creek,
between Lime Creek and Clear Lake,
present the most enchanting landscape
scenes we ever bcheld. Not that they
excite the organs Of sublimity like
the mountain scenery of New Hamp,
shire or Vermont, but they are so qui.
ct and peaceful, and present such a
finished aspect as to impress the be-
holder with the idea that nature has
there exertcd herself to create para
disc for man. In the formation of the
prairies nature must indeed have been
in her happiest mood, for in viewing
them there is no such feeling of awe
as is sure to arise on beholding crag-
gcd mountain cliffs which appear to
have been caused by some violent and
terrible convulsion. These latter
scenes appear grand and wonderful,
and excite the organs of sublimity,
but, to Use contradictory term, they
are always painfully pleasing.
The monotony of a western prairie
is sometimes complained of by travel,
lars, but not so with us, At this time
of year, especially, yiiss-+th4ssEs is an album;
dance of food for reflection and di
version to the prairie traveller Tc
witness the luxuriant grass waving
to and fro in the gentle wind--to note
the innumerable and variegated flow.
crs which exhale their sweet odors and
give fragrance to the breezc-to be-
hold numerous hocks and herds quiet
ly grazing upon interminable pasture
lands-to see here and there an i'm
provcmcnt" commenced, often log
house away out on the prairie, though
oftener in close proximity to some
lovely grove or belt of heavy timber,
where a neat log cabin has just been
erected, fences are being constructed
breaking" done, seed put into the
soil for the first time since the world
began-thesc and much more than
these excite admiration and induce
silent praises to ascend continually
from nature up to natures God
Call at one of those log shanties,
and you are welcomed in by a youth
full and tidy wife ; it may be cherub
babe is in her arms or is innocently
prattling upon the floor ask whence
she came, and she will tell you, from
Connecticut or Maine, that her hus-
band had obtained from government
quarter section of land there, that
their farm was already worth ten dol
lars an acre, though it cost them but
a dollar and quarter one year ago.
Ask if she is not homcsick and if she
did not almost freeze during the past
winter, and she will deny it all. "Oh,
no. she will say, eve had such a
hard time at the East, and now my
husband is doing so well | mean to
help him get rich and then we will en-
joy ourselves" A remote habitation
and the cold winds of winter have no
terror for hearts like hers, and when
summer comes they are all forgotten
and lost in bright anticipation of the
future.
Our whole-souled friend, Lonson
Corey, Esq, of Bradford, called the
other day with his buggy and five
hundred dollar ponies, and took us in,
not as strangers are sometimes taken
in," but for a ride through the country
we have named. From St. Charles
we passed across the prairie about
eight miles to Ripley, near Flood
Creek, the bed of which stream is now
dry. Thence we proceeded through
the Flood Creek timber and across the
prairie about six miles to Rockford.
Rockford is new town, situated ON
the beautiful plateau in the fork form
cd by the junction of the Shell Rock
and Lime rivers. The town was plat
ted about one year ago, and the beau
ty of the place has attracted thither
a considerable number of settlers.
The town proprietors are John Platt,
E. G. Bowdoin, S. p. Britain, d. NJ.
Bemis, Willard L. Bowdoin, and Geo.
Wyatt. The latter gentleman is at
torney for the company. A saw mill,
propelled by water power, was put in
operation by the company the latter
part OF last season, and at the present
time the Messrs. Chapman, recently