Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-01-10
INQUIRIES AND ANSWERS.
North Missouri s its Resources
LETTER FROM col. AsPER.

| received a letter from BENAJAH AUSTIN,
ESQ.,, of Trumbull County, making in
uuiries of ne, upon which to determine
whether a change to Missouri, would be
favorable to a Western Reserve farmer.
His inquiries are put in the form of ques-
tions, and can be readily answered. In
asmuch as many are feeling anxious to
learn something of this country, as l
Judge from what Mr.. Austin says in this
letter, as well as from numerous visits L
have received by my Northen Ohio
friends during the year just closed, and
the many letters of inquiry which l have
received, l will ask you to publish this
letter as q reply to Mr.. A, so that all may
Judge for themselves the advantages to
be gained by a change to this great free
state.
The questions of Mr.. A, are numbered,
and for convenience, and the better I'M
d~erstanding of them, l will give his ques-
tons with my reply Immediately under
each.
LIST. Is it safe in Missouri for settlers (?
Mr.. A. says many people are of ''opinion
that it is very unsafe to settle in Missouri
at this time"
answer, it is as safe for life and prop
erty as in Trumbull County. l do not
think there is as much crime committed
here as in northern Ohio. l have only
known of two murders In a year n oc-
curing in this town on the 4th of Sept,
over a whisky trial, and another in Cald-
well Co, recently. The last one was an
old matter of difficulty. and revenge was
sought by taking life. l have known OF
two heavy robberies-for n of which 1t
has been my duty to prosecute the offend
ers, and at our last term one of the par
ties was convicted, after q five days trial.
Grand Juries are very active and thor
ough in ferreting out offenders, and when
men are declared guilty they are sure OF
punishment. l have sometimes thought
Juries convicted too easily, and that the
danger was in the punishment of lnno-
cent men.
Since l have been here, over a year, l
have travelled over a large extent OF coun'
try-into Grundy, Mercer. Putnam, Linn,
Harrison, Davies, Caldwell and Carroll
Counties, on business, besides trips on
the Railway,-going at all times, day OIL
night, rarely going armed, and l have
never found the time when l saw, or had
the least reason to apprehend danger
Indeed, l have remarked, in seeing So
much crime reported in the Cleveland
Herald, that there was much more dan
ger to life and property in Ohio than here
Mr.. j. R. Fell, of Fowler, settled II
this County, thirteen miles North East o
this town, in the spring of 1864. H'
saws he has never seen cause to b
afraid since he has been here.
ID. Is not that portion of Missouri
where you are located, subjected to lont
alternated spells of wet and dry wealth
err? Or to protracted drouths followed
by excessive wet weather, so as to inter
fere with the growth Of crops, very ma
terially?
Answer: There are no extremes o
drouth or wet weather, which follow eacl
other, so as to materially interfere witt
crops; but there are dry and wet seasons
T in which, Of course, crops do not do a
well as in seasonswhen PaIn is more even
Iy distributed. Seasons of extreme droutl
or extreme wet, are about seven year
apart. The rainy seasons have come res
ularly every seven years, as reported b
> the earliest settlers, and, usually, tn
, season Immediately preceding the we
one. is a season of extreme drouth. Il
l 1864 the season was extremely dry, Will
! 1865 has been extremely wet.
In 1864 the small grains suffered some
what. but the Corn was a full averag
, crop. l have had farmers whose state
: ments are entirely reliable, tell me tina
! they saw fields of corn which yielde
l from so to 100 bushels to the acre. Thi
too was grown on the highest, and dryes
of Prairie soil.
During this year the Corn crop ha
been q full average, altho' during th
working season there was so much raj
/, that it could not be worked as 1t shoui
l have been: some fields received one pillow
ing, while others received none. M
Giazin. formerly of Cuyahoga County, o
had a large field which he thought, an
with reason too, would yield n hun
dred bushels to the acre. Mr.. Masor
: formerly of Hiram, Portage County, raj
ed about so acres, which would averag
over so bushels to the acre. Mr..
: Rider. formerly of Hiram, and of th
: Mecca Oil Refinery, cultivated over 10
acres. which averaged over so bushels
shelled corn to the acre. These are result
by Ohio farmers in u extremely We
season.
The soil here is such that in dry season
if well worked, drouth cannot inJure tn
crops. 1t will endure much greater e7
, tremes of drouth and wet than any 9TH
soil 1 have yet seen. =,
No man having a due reguard to h
best interests, can, for a moment, hes
! tate on account of drouth or wet season
|, Sd. Is there any change in the price
. land?
{ Answer: Yes-and upward. Ian
has raised at least fifty per cent within
/, wear. Improved farms eligibly situated
! reasonably near railway stations, and bu
mess centres. can yet be bought at price
, ranging from $500 to $1,000 per acre
| The prices vary according to the location
numbers of acres and character of in
~proyeUnents. The improvements are gel
> orally very Indifferent.
Unimproyed lands alsoYary: prices rat
. from $500 to $500 per acre. Near tn
town. and near the rail road, the pric
per acre, is from $1,000 to $500 per acr,
This is for Prairie, but timber is niue
> higher. North forty or fifty miles, pleI
, tv can be bought for $500. l have 81
: acres in Caldwell County, sig miles frol
! the rail road, and eight from the count
! seat. which | will sell for 5000 per acr,
J It is. good land, with living water, an
a limestone quarry on it every foot
tillable, and it is only n and a ha
miles from heavy timber. / could haJ
bought thousands of acres a year ago, ft
: $3.50 per acre.
This will give you some idea Of pric,
and their upward tendency.
4th. What are the chances for ba
! gains in buying land?
{ Ans: In specializing bargains, none
but every acre bought at the prices no
a ruling, would be a bargain-fve yea
: will see every acre more than double
! price.
/; 5th. What is the character of the pc
! ulation?
u Aan: Mostly good.
9th. Is there much immigration
your country and what is lis character ?
Ans: The first part of the question
answer in the affirmative. There b
, been a large immigration here the la
re season. and much more is expected IL