The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-08-08
Iowa.

dress recently Qellyof0Q Ue1O10 sa0 Aouu6
Mems Literary Association Of Davenport,
Iowa, By Gro. B. SArorsr. Wseory from
the Read Estate Register:
SIT is about twenty years since first stood
on this spot where our prosperous young
city now rises and expands. There were
then about dozen houses in the place.
There were great misgivings whether i
could ever be city. It was tho day Of
small things. 1t used to take thirteen days
to 20 from here to Boston, q journey which
we now accomplish in fifty four hours. The
staging from the other side Of the river to
Chicago was almost as formidable an I'M
dertaking, at certain periods, as voyage
across the Atlantic. What wonderful
changes and improvements have few short
wears produced. We are connected by an
iron hand with the Atlantic, and with the
great lakes. We have bridged the Missis-
sippi: and on and on still farther West, We
are out rolling our iron ribbons over the
| prairies, till the prospect is not far remote
Of our touching the Missouri, and clasping
the soil Of Nebraska. Thence through the
passes of the Rocky Mountains to the Pa
ciic will not be a hard accomplishments
Our children, or our childrens children, will
see the cars come in from the West laden
with Asiatic prouduce; with teas and silks
from China; with coffee and Indigo from
Java; with spices frhm Ceylon; and precious
fabrics from Japan.
| The position Of Iowa in relation to these
momentous changes and improvements, with
which the future is big, is intellectually i'm
portant. Situated almost midway be-
| tween the Atlantic and Pacific she combines
soil of marvellous fertility with climate
remarkable for its salubrity, and terrific
rial surface as grateful to the eye Of the
lover of the beautiful as to the more prac-
teal vision Of the farmer. High and dry
above the river level her prairies undulate
| with graceful variety, presenting little OF
that fatness which we see in other Western
States. No wonder Black Hawk sighed on
abandoning these beautiful scenes, and pro-
nounced Iowa the garden spot Of the West
ern cline. The emigrating population from
other States and countries would seem to be
of the old warriors opinion. have not
| compared statistics lately, but may ven
ture to assert that the immigration into Iowa
is considerably larger than that into any
other State or Territory. In looking over
some old pamphlets few days since came
across one published in New York, in 1881
| from which make this extract:
He who seeks a support in Illinois, lndi-
ana. or Missouri, has either to cross the
Allegheny Mountains by land, or upon leav-
ing the Atlantic, to ascend the North river
to Albany, and there change his baggage
from the sloop to the canal boat, and fol-
low its dilatory progress to Buffalo. There
he changes again to the steamboat on Lake
Erie for Cleveland, and then crosses thro'
Ohio two hundred miles by land, to- the
river. Descending it, he comes to the State
containing the land he proposes to settle
on. He lands on its shores, and following
its miry roads into the interior as far as
they extend, he is then obliged to abandon
all vehicles Of transportation, and those tri-
fling articles of comfort he had brought
thus far, and with his pack on his back,
and his wife and children at his heels, he
travels on foot, not only beyond all settle
ments, but far beyond all places where
speedy settlements had been anticipated by
the speculator in public lands. Thus
alone, in the midst of the deepest forest, he
hears the hundred echoes Of his axe upon
his log house tree, uncertain whether white
man or savage will be startled by its
sound. There for years he waits the pro-
gress of civilization, wanting everything
else but corn, which he offers at twelve,
and sometimes at ten cents bushel, before
he can find purchaser. Incidence and ig-
norance are thus often induced. and intern
perance and misery, their necessary atten-
dants, follow in their train.'
If this was true picture then, how
changed it is now-what facilities the emf
grant possesses-a through ticket can be OBJ
tanned in any important town in the East,
and in fifty-four hours the bearer is landed
on the West bank of the Father of Waters
with all his family and furniture, oftimes
at the very spot he desires settling on, ana
upon which the habitation of temperance
and industry is soon to be erected. All ar
cles of household furniture, which he
brought with him, and which the early set
tier had to leave behind, or abandon in the
his new dwelling, and from their pleasant
associations are almost worshipped as were
the household gods of the heather. No
sturdy forest here for months defies the axe,
but smiling prairies invite the plough. Here
no humble prices reduce the stimulus to
labor, but the reward of industry is SO am
pie as to furnish the greatest incentive to
exertion. We have heard recently from the
East voice Of Cracking and monition in
regard to our rapid growth. We PIE told
that it cannot be healthy; that everybody
is buying land, and expecting to make mon
ey by its rise, without any expendit. Of
labor, that all our farmers are getting to be
spectators, that there is much more land
than is wanted, and that the present high
range of prices is not consistent with the
healthy operation Of those laws regulating
demand and supply, which prevail in Older
and more stable communities. We are told
that the bottom must crumble out of these
speeulations; and that great crisis and
| revulsion may be expected. We are not
surprised that our Eastern friends sitting in
their counting houses, and insurance Of
fees, should indulge in such ideas as these.
! Nor are such ideas without certain ele-
ment of truth. Undoubtedly one mischiev.
Gus effect Of our splendid growth is to slacken
the hands, and enervate the hearts of labor
The holder Of few acres sees his land
working so we'll for him itself, that the
temptation to inertness on his part is very
great. But the indolent and neglectful must
soon find themselves in minority in re.
Slou llhc tIIiS, anu suTrOunueu Will dctlV1-
ties like those with which our ears are fill.
ed. We are on the spot, and see the char
acter of that immigration which is filling UP
our State cannot share in these misgivings
of reaction and ruin.
| We see that our growth is legitimate
one, and though there is much that we could
wish remedied, yet that our body polite
promises to work itself free of all diseases
that threatens to impart it.. We have rea.
son to feel grateful and exult in view of on,
amazing prosperity, and its prospective in.
crease. We have reason to cxult in thu
singular fertility, the superior physical ad.
Fvantages, the healthfulnsss and beauty oil
our young State.
New USE FOR THE PREss-The ladies
nowadays, are using newspapers at 2;
cents a hundred fo- the manufacture oil
bustles. To manufacture the hustle, the,
take tape and put it between the leaves Of
several newspapers, then s'gather" the
newspapers at the top and tie the tape
around them. The lower parts of the pa.
pers Of course are irregular, and wher