The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-11-26
EMIGRATION To IOWA.

The crops of Iowa this year have not
turned out by any means so large as was
anticipated about harvest time, yet the yield
has been sufficient to greatly relieve the
wants of the people, to assist materially in
rescuing them from debt, and to enable
them to enjoy plenty till the gathering Of
another seasons crops. We have as u
State and people passed through the revul-
sons of 1878 admirably, and have before
US now as bright a prospect as any Western
State, or as any State in the Union, perhaps.
Unhealthy or crazy speculation has departed
from our midst, and that fever no longer
prevails which two years ago here fixed
such prices upon all lands over the State as
to turn aside the poorer classes Of emigra-
ton to other places, and converted thou
sands of farmers from hard workers of the
soil to land spectators. The prices of
property in city and country, rs we stated
Saturday, are becoming readjuStcd ard ut a
healthy standard. At their present prices.
lands and town lots are at that standard
which permits of their gradual increase with
the filing up and cultivation of the country.
and The increase in the population of cities.
This is as it should be, and the change
has been affected with real disaster to but
comparatively few persons, and with lasting
benefits to ull our interests as State and
people.
The present condition of things in Iowa
offers remarkable inducements for emigra-
ton. We need not here depict even to the
stranger the rich, beautiful and we'll water
ed lands which nuke up Iowa, nor dwell
upon the healthinesS of this country. 1t is
" ell SHOWN wherever Iowa is known, that
no State in the Union surpasses her in fer
tility of soil. nor in any of the natural ad-
yantages which are demanded for the pro-
duction of immense Agricultural wealth.
Every product of Northern cline grows
here abundantly. Our large and small
grains are grown with less labor than East
ern farmers can conceive as being absolutely
necessary to produce even light results-yet
of the abundance Of our tul! crops the pen
can scarcely do justice. Nowhere else IN
the Union will the same labor produce
greater results. Statistics, have proven
that Iowa ranks the second or third State
in health. We turn from these things which
should rec >mmend Iowa to the particular
attention of every man in the East design
ing to emigrate Westward, and especially
farmers, to the present condition of things
always the first looked at.
The price of land in Iowa is low enough
to invite emigration. With few hundred
dollars thu emigrant may in the interior
provide himself with as much land as he
can cultivate, with a certainty that his
property will be annually increasing in value
aside from the increased value his labor
and improvcme nts may produce. There
has not been better time for purchasing
farming lands in Iowa, or town lots either
for that matter, for many years than at
present. That there will never be so good
time in all the future, may readily b.
seen. The price of lands cannot get any
lower than they now are, in view of the late
harvest, and the gradual Frightening up of
the prospects of cur people. already COM
menccd Many who were ready and desi-
rous TO sell last spring and winter. dscour-
aged by the past failures Of crops and the
"hard times" are now permanently settled
with no intention Of selling out or leaving.
The legal necessity for selling has passed,
except in a few isolated cases. Yet there
are thousands and tens Of thousands of
acres of as choice lands as ever the sun
warmed, now in the market, but rapidly be-
ing taken up wherever there is easy access
tie points of supply and demand. These
lands are particularly inviting TO the emf
grant, not only on account of their fertility
and other natural advantages, but from
the really low prices at which they are
held.
This year the emigration to Iowa has
been far larger than might have been cal
culated or than any one had anticipated
Almost daily, emigrant wagons are passing
through our city on their way t. the inte-
rior. If such is the state of things this
year, when the emigration Westward has
been 50 comparatively small. and two sue
ccs>ive failures or partial failures of crops
in Iowa had discouraged emigration to this
State, what may we not expect uert year
And what may we not expect 10 the way of
proportionatc rise in the price of lands as
the result of this emigration? Most GER
tainly this is the time to purchase either
town or country property. But We have
other inducements TO offer in future articles.
-Darenport Gazette.