Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-01-14
From the Boston Gazette, l.t
A Glimpse at the West.

A correspondent, at Muscatine, Iowa,
native to Boston, but whose love for the West
admits of no hankering after the tiesh-pots Of
our Egypt, beyond reverental desire to see
the old folks at home, and to shake hands
with old friends, gives US incidentally, in a
business letter, the following concerning that
still somewhat mysterious region, the far-west
He thus speaks of Muscatine
"It would be utterly impossible for you to
| form any idea of Iowa without first seeing the
Porkopslis of the State. Even now (the ther-
mometer ten below zero) the fumes of fat
come "gently DER me stealing We are not
dead it is all mistake; not 'bursted,' more
especially in this section of Iowa, and have
! withstood the crisis without single failure
to my knowledge; and at the present time
our merchants are doing twice the amount OF
business they were doing last year. Musca-
| tine, which, perhaps, you have never hardly
heard spoken of, is city of ten thousand
inhabitants, situated thirty miles nearer the
interior of the State than any point on the
Mississippi River city that has prospered,
and gone ahead as fast as the country around
| it, and to-day is reaping the reward of good
healthy growth. We have one Boston pork
packing establishment, that of Leland & Co.,
which will pack twenty-five thousand hogs
| the present season; another packing house,
S. 0. Buffers, Xill pack as many more.
| "The engraving of Muscatne, which you no
doubt noticed ip Frank Lesle's Pictorial, a
few weeks ago, looks more like the comet than
this city, and the artist (excusc the term)
must have been looking at some city not yet
| built, or drawing sight-drafts on his imagina-
! ton. The iron-horse has extended his step
| to Washington, some forty miles from Musca-
| tine, west, during the last eighteen months,
which is the present terminus Of the Mississ-
| ippi and Missouri Railroad, and we feel san
guine that the road will be extended to Oska-
loosa before the close Of another year. There
! is road building, known as the Upton
Branch of the Muscatine Road, running north
distance of fifteen miles from Wilton, which
we hope to finish and have in running order
by July next, connecting with the Upton and
Anamosa road, getting the Cedar Valley trade,
which naturally belongs to us.
"What is needed in Muscatinc is good
wholesale dry goods house, and the fortunate
man that starts business of that kind here
will do well. We have a number of jobbing-
houses of the kind, but none exclusive
know of no better chance for any practical
business man than this. Tlss Mvcr has about
CiOSeu Hay lSdlloil llds stoPfoN lo WIZ PASoeA'
Business will revive throughout the the great
west after another crop, and the beneficial
effects, both to the western merchant as well
as his eastern creditors, will no doubt be a
good practical lesson, as it formerly only
required funds enough to get to New York Or
Boston to obtain good credit.
"Muscatinc has twelve churches, three
public and one high school, and number OF
private and priusary schools. There are three
good hour-mills, and number of saw-mllls,
one of which is probably the largest and best
constructed in the west. Hotels are plenty,
but the best one is the Mason House, where
the travelling public can always depend upon
the best the market affords.
81 have found this very healthy locality,
and in regard to fever and ague, which |
expected to have Immediately upon my arrival,
and had prepared myself with number OF
sure cures for the same, have been happily
disappointed, and have not to date experienced
any of the delightful sensations which many
of my friends east had portrayed to me, and
have seen very few cases during my two years
residence in this city,