Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-07-20
House Hunting in Cedar Falls.

We have tried the pleasures of tene-
ment seeking in Cedar Falls, and
we are satisfied that houses Is
sca'ce," or people is plenty" or both,
if you please. o, We who banter for a
dwelling in some dilapidated or super.
animated town, where houses are more
numerous than people, so that, like
Diogenes, you must hight q candle to
find man among the deserted dwell
lings-ye know not the rich and rae,
excitement of house-hunt here, in q
live Western city like this, where sew
enteen tenants lodge handily IN 10 by
IL garnet, and three families find com
Portable quarters in leaky wood-shed,
with an extensive boarding house open
ed close by in q broken-down barn.
Japheth in search of a father, or Celebs
in search of a wife, is no touch to
Newcome. in search of q home! w
Worn out with a six-hour, fourteen
mile race, we halt before an unfinished
building, and hail specimen Of hu.
manity astride the ridge:
"Good friend, whose house is this ?"
at is supposed to be mine!"
" Can it be hired ?" ...-
"No, SIR! it was let before there
was a board on it, for fifty dollars a
room, and there are seven new appli-
cants after it every day."
We see that it is vain to look at any
building which has taken shape above
the floor timbers; so we push on, and
next address foundation wall:
'" Is this to be your house," .. a.
1.-THE same!" t. ...-....-...
" Shall you occupy it yourself?" S.
-e." Dittov'
What house shall you leave?'
NORTHEAST corner of that hem
house yonder." . ... ... .. ..
What is the rent you pay there ?'
Twelve dollars per month, and
ten dollars extra to buy the ladder up
to it, which is private property"
Can't / engage the place after you:"
mot much! five men bid OH it the
day they saw me first strike shovel
here, and Judge got it for forty dol
lars bonus, and paying the rent six
months ahead"
1t is now plain to US, that there is no
hope three hours after the ground is
broke. So we next lay chase to man
whom we see starting off at 6 o'clock
next morning, with spade in his
hand: .s.# aa#
"Halloo! ncighbor."
Exactly" .... .....
Are yon going to build house ?"
$50 they say"
"FQr your own usc?"
Yes, if can hold on to it,"
What of your present tenement ~
90! that was engaged a month ago,
TO a man from Vermont, who found out
that talked of buying, lot, with a
view to building some time or othern
Such las been our search repeated
at nousacn. Fellow citizens, do not
he hyper-critical, if you find our vener-
able hoot-soles (or even our long cult
tivated patience) worn somewhat thin.
But every thing human has fnale,-
aud tlais morning we are the happy pos
SCISSOR of Il two hundred dollar lease OF
a - we will not say what, for fear
the landlord might he iis our hair.
You see, We finally made love with
the inhabitant OF n cow-pen, persuading
him to emigrate over to -, where
he can hire three-story brick for the
same price. fprobably the t'ichinosis
panic had its effect upon him, as a
srunting porker sleeps OH the other side
Of his slab partition.) Thereupon we
induced another party to take the
premises thus vacated, on account of
The low rent, so keeping him back from
4 little tenement we l,ad our eye upon.
We next found a citizen all settled
loWn for three months in q decent
house, with somewhat elevated price
Of course,) who consented to save rent
by moving to the little tenement So
by bonus paid in hand, we secured
The transfer, = and we consider our
selves made. e
Such, distant and inexperienced
'eslcr, is the keen and far-resching
method Of a hoUse-hunt in Cedar Falls,
, live city OF the West. For the bene-
it of the large emigration coming in,
We would add, what we learn from
good authority, that there il one house
eft, and that one hundred aud fifty
more new tcncsments are about to be
'uit. So come to the Metropolis; you
ire welcome, all! i