St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-01-27
Grundy County.

A correspondent of the Davenport
Gazette, over the signature of &c. F.
B." and dating from "Melrose Farm,
Grundy County, Iowa." writes as fol-
lows with regard to the purchase Of
farmers produce in that region
This season there is a demand for all our
produce. for ready cash. MOI is this demand
caused by the scarcity Of the supply. But II
is a foreign demand. We have men here from
New York, Ohio and Illinois, buying hogs,
cattle, corn, oats, wheat, etc AT preSeht
there is considerable fever here in the cattle
trade. And those of us who read the New
York Tribune, Cincinnati Gazette, Chicago
Press. etc, do not exactly understand the
SPURS that incitc them. For instance, they
are paving here two and a half cents T. H.
gross for what commercial editors call s~cdttdwdS
cattle, and then pay % cents cash for corn at
the cribs, and haul it themselves. Now, II
the newspapers are reliable as an index OF the
prices, these men must bc "A little crazy. l'S
not only here and there a man, but they are
here buying up everything. Can you, MI
Editor, tell us what is III the WIND.
The same is the case with corn. They are
buving up all the corn at % cents per bushel
to feed to hogs next summer. And they are
paving here S4, 90 gross for fat hogs. To sus-
tain these figures they must take them to a
better market than the prices in your paper
indicate at Davenport. Good wheat new Is
worth here about So cents. This price is sus.
tanned 10y the demand northwest of us. And
we have q considerable surplus. From all
these facts, we begin the year with a much
brighter sky than one year ago.
The above statements arc literally
correct. Upon the occasion OF our re
cent trip to Des Moincs we passed
through Grundy County, going and
coming, and we found, that purchasers
were all through that Ggion buying
up almost everything " h the farmer
has to spare. The cattle and hogs
fit to slaughter are driven at once to
Iowa City, where they are put on
board the cars and sent to New York
market. Those animals which arc
thin in flesh are also bought up, but
are put up and fattened on grain
which is bought in the vicinity, wher
they also are sent forward to market
This activity in the purchase ant
sale of beef and pork appeared t.
prevail all through central Iowa, an'
the farmers appeared to be much elea
ted on account of the good prices the.
were obtaining. There a be IL
doubt in the mind of a sensible man
of industrious habits, that farming i
Iowa will pay better than mining a
Pixies Peak. Still we have som
~loafers here who do nothing, but liv
upon the industry of others, and tn
sooner they 60 to Pixies Peak the be
ter, for it is quite likely that Their
: they will be compelled to work o
: starve.
u Grundy county is nearly all prairie
;, and probably comprises as fertile
, level and handsome land as can |
found in the State. There are son
{ very enterprising and excellent poop
there, but they are now suffering s
y verely on account Of the wofully ba
{ County Judge system which prevail
5 in this State. The Judge of that cou
u tv has issued warrants to the amour
. of about $4,000 and run away, lea
= ing the county, which is sparsely pop
u lated with new settlers, to liquida
it's indebtedness as best it can. a
a that the people of the county have
). show for their heavy amount of del
II is a miserable shell for a court hous
Il scarcely worth $4,000.
When in Grundy County, we toe
> dinner at the hotel of +. 5. Cole, Est
and were most Hospitality receive
e and entertained. Here, away OH Il
c broad prairie, in the interior of low
we found a highly intelligent and c
II cellent family, recently from Alban
II n. Y. One of Gilbert & Co.'S be
Is Boston pianos embellished the sittir
IS room, whence their daughter, Miss Eft
u Cole, an accomplished music tcache
e gave US music that carried US back
n the scenes of former days. The cour
&c sizes shown us by this family after
X cold and cherries ride of twenty mi
s. across the prairie, was as refreshi
u as some of the bright GASES in
desert are represented to be to orien
al travellers.