New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-02-20
IOWANPRAIRIE NOTES
Editorial CorrsspDssnss Of he ~ 7. 1fisuns-
Iowa CIR. Feb. 3,

than any other new State, have DOT said, and shall
not say; for its prairies often too fla. and wide
and often too wet while it Is defeien, in timber and
in running water. But, after every proper deduction
hss been made Illinois remains the leading State of the
NORTHWEST, and ths, wherein Food may Be produced
mot easily and abundan'ly.
Yet Iowa, as observed in winter rambles between
the Mississippi and her capita, ustifes in her na,ural
resources and alur. the superaves of her eulo
gets. Though her prairies far excel her tmbered
lands in area and her timber where it exists IS
often .csnty and scrubby, yet her surface is often
rogy ana rolling che has in consequence more springs
with more and larger streams than Illinois, and judge
that her settlers are less commonly scourged and
parslyzed by agnes. Yes, Iowa is noble state; but
with che bad extensive "pneries' on navigable
stream $ in her center, ike Wisconsin.
Almost every one here who isn't getting drunk IS
getting rch thinks he is. The soh here has so Of
ten doubled in market value that almost every one who
came in more than three years agp and bought land
row counts himself at least the high road 10 wealth
Many quarter section which was bought for 500
stree 1850 is now held at 500 10 - goo per 0t-said
lot containing, perhaps, an eighth of an acre. Ot
course, this is true only Of village and embryo city
property but there is very much unfenced, uubroken
prsnic which never had anything done upon to en-
nance lis value, now held at $40 to $50 per acre;
while timbeIed ira range still higher And the har-
vests usually grown wherever the land has been fairly
bIck, and TILED seem to justify these prices.
STILL the picture has its shades. Laod speculation,
as nee Of these rapid enhancements OF price,
has become an epidemic which attacks all aud will
vet ruin thousands The bubble viii be sweled till it
bursts A crash in Europe on the seaboard--a
failure of crops or any great disaster, causing con-
traction of credit and general collection Of debts, may
collapse at any moment There is many operator
who now counts bis wealth by hundreds of thousands
and confidently expects soon to reckon it by millions,
who will find himsef bankrupt before ten years roll
around unless ain much mistaken.
The more | see of land speculation, where its raw
ages are most general the less like it. Here men are
esgery srosppg all the landhey can possibly purchase
paying exorbitant usury, putting of needy creditors
living crow ded in wretched hus, and letting taeir oh
dron grow up in ignorance in order that they may
clutch more land. l conversed today with Thrifty,
sensible farmer who in sixteen years ago, when
there were not three settlers in his township and took
I'd choice location which he has lived TIL few
months ago, when he was obliged to sell 1t and r.
move to the nearest village, in order to educate his
children; monopoly Of lands all around him, IN part by
norresdeuts, having deprived HIM Of all school priv
ieges Another pioneer no came out fifteen years
ago and has since acquired property worth fifteen
or twenty Il ousand dollars, said conpassonatelyto
his poor brother who has ju,t joined him from New
York-.'If YOU had come out when did, you might
"by this time have been as well Of as am "Yei,'
LIED the other; "but would not swap Estates with
"von. and have nv children better educated than
"sours are
talked to-day with an intelligent, thrifty Irshman,
whose account of himself is worth noting. Five years
ago last April he landed 10 New-YoIk with some four
hundred and thirty dollars in his pocket. He hung
about the city for six months, looking vany for EN-
poyment, until his money was all gone, some twenty
dollars excepted. Winter was now just ahesd and nc
concluded as bis last chance, to put out for the West
and was ST.. down in Toledo with the total Of ten
cents remsinipg. He Immediately got hold Of spade,
wberewith he earned dollar day till he could do
better. Soon he was employed about freight depot,
and before year had rolled around, he was earning
$50 per month, and pocketing the money at each
month md. When he had thus accumulated little
capital he pushed on across the Mississippi and is now
the clear owner Of FIVE hundred and fifty Of good
Iowa lard lying between the Capital and the Msss-
sippi am sorry to add that he was on the way to
Davenport to close bargain for another tract of aad
Everybody complains that too many spectators,
law yers DO tors merchants &C., coming in; with
too few farmers and mechanics and everybody is az
gravating the dstemper thus complained Of. Whose
ever buys a lot of land that he does not personally
need in the expectation that some one else will soon
buy it Of him at advance is doing what tends to I'M
settle the public mind, iname the spirit of speculation
and discourage patient industry. Ii seems sorry
BURNERS to grow potatoes or com, or work out for a
dollar per day, where men are making their thousands
by buying lots day and selling them the next at
ten TO fifty per cent. advance. Hence, am not sur
prsed by complaints that vegetables are scarce in this
infant city, and dearer than in New-lork, though
Thousands Of of cb, unbroken prairie lie within
crcui. Of ten miles. Spring Wheat sells here at So TO
80 cents and is produced in ABUNDANCE Indian Corn is
worth fifty cents per bushel, but this is extraordinary
Meats range from 20 to 10 per cent below the prices
current in New-York. Wood is worth - to 8 per
cord Houseent very high, and all kinds OF Labor bear
good prices; for work is abundant and workers rela
lively scarce But for the Railroads now ia progress
and soOn to be carried across the State there
would be- backset in land speculation ere long and
in spite OF the general thrift and active demand for
labor there viii be large emigration to Kansas and
Nebraska next Spring.
As to this city, could conscentiousy praise il if
did not think the prices Of comer-Ots already quits
high enough. Its location is good one-inferor only
to that OF Madison, Wisconsin-with the Iowa River
Oh one side, and handsome bluffs afording eligible
cites for dwellings. The ground is uneven, but not
too much So and it calculated to be permanently
healthy The buildings wisely Tor luckily scat
tered over large area giving the place striking re-
semtloDce to GAINESVILLE WIS., three years ago, or
Warrington City in 1880. suppose there are from
Eve to thousand people here, but the casual OBJ
server would hardly suspect the number to exceed two
thousand All these Western towns denEolY