The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1861-03-20
Correspondence OF the Times.
WHITEWATER Wisconsin,
Mach OH 1Qe1

HlTEWATER w fScOnSln,
March sth., 1861.
Dear Col. 1T has been some time since
have written to you and now apologize
for the neglect. Whether you or the many
readers Of the Times have thereby lost q
treat or escaped an infliction may never be
known.
Spring, (by the Almanac is with U.S.
But instead Of those genial airs the poets
tell of, we get nothing but blows, and they
are often like the blows of Tom the fighter
last night, as T. W. Brown, Of the
Chief would say, ''it blowed and blowed,
and then it yanked." To-day it seems
more like that balmy season We often read
Of and some Of US we'll remember. Every
body seems delighted with the weather now
The huge drifts Of snow are gone, the
thick ice has given way in the brooks, and
the noisy floods Of cold ana orten uncieal
water, spread themselves roaring and
splashing in the bright shunshine. Muffs
and overcoats are laid aside and the very
vault of Heaven with the feect clouds, the
reddened moon and the glittering stars
look tempting we feel that we have re-
newcd claim OH life and that that life has
many charms in store for us. We look
abroad upon the new swelling buds Of the
leaf1ess trees; upon the green grass just
pecping from the late frozen and still dirty
soil, and the brightest pictures Of by gone
days burst upon our Imagination; with
scenes of pleasure in woods, in valleys
secluded, or on hill tops basking in the
sun or by The brooks or rivers weedy
brink. Youth is upon US again, We arc
happy as Of yore, the weight Of weary
years, of sleepl,ss nights and drcary days
has suddenly dropped from our shoulders
We feel that with the full advent Of spring
we have renewed lease Of life, its joys,
its memories and ambitions.
This town of three thousand people has
not let the late winter season pass entirely
barren Of interest and incident, nor has
it been idle and regardless Of what is to
be our future rank among the towns OF
Wisconsin. Our manufactures are now
in full work, especially Esterly's Reaper
works and Winchester, Dewolf & Co.'S
Plow factory. Little do passengers on the
cars. whirling through our beautiful town,
even dream Of the large amount Of busi.
ness done by these two dingylooking es-
Adjustments; Of the vast quantities of their
manufactured articles daily sent abroad to
all parts Of the North Western States
Could you but spare time to stop over a
day or two on some Of your hurried trips
to Milwaukee and look through either of
these establishments and see the order and
dispatch which pcrvades the work, and the
many curious and yet simple appliances for
perfecting the details of these manufacto-
ries, and then see the superior quality OF
~ IL $,,~, oln IL
well repay you for the trouble.
Iprcsumc no better machine for harvest.
ing grain or moving grass is now made or
used in the United States than Esterly' s
Reaper & Mower No better timber can
be got than he puts into them, and no man
so well as George Esterly, veteran in
rsaper building, knows just what consti-
tutes perfect machine. A very large num-
Der Of these machines are now being put
up for the coming harvest, and yet it has
thus far been impossible to supply the de.
mands. The Reaper-~orks, proper, cover
space Of about three acres, and with it's
two hundred skilled and brawny laborers
remind one Of teeming hive of cyclops
and genii. A horsepower engine with
its giant pulse gives life AMI motion to the
almost intermnable labyrinth Of machinery
including the fan which roars necessarily
while it blows the fires in the twenty glow.
ing forges and mets the iron in the great
cupolas ready for the moulders and the
great punching and shearing machine, it
self weighing some twelve tons and capable
of ripping off the largest bar Of iron with
perfect ease. And then the machines for
turning wood and turning iron; for drilling,
boring. planning, saving, morticing, grind
ing and polishing, all in one continual whirl
and all under the immediate control and su-
pervi>ion Of one man; these taken together
form picture worth an hours study. This
establishment uses up annually nearly five
thousand dollars worth of ash and other
seasoned lumber, over one hundred tons
Of wrought iron and steel, about one hun
dred and fifty tons of castings, over two
thousand dollars worth Of bolts, and over
thousand dollars worth Of paints, oils and
varnishss.
Winchester, De Wolf & Co.'S plow fac
tory uses up annually about 100 tons of
wrought iron, l2o tons of steel, IT'S tons of
cast iron, so tons of bolts and nuts, $500
worth Of paints, oils and varnishes, and
over 100000 feet of lumber. The above
works though by no means equal to the
Novelty works Of N. Y. City, are pretty
good beginning for western country town.
We have half dozen other manufactures
here and though none Of them equal these
two, yet in the aggregate they add much to
the wealth and business interests Of the
place.
In my next l will give you some items in
regard to our system of schools; our pro-
gress in establishing first class college
here, and-till then-good-b
Truly yours.