Buchanan County bulletin and guardian., 1867-09-20
THE COLLEG

A correspondent Of the .State Reg
is,er writes as follows concerning the
State Agricultural College 10 Story
county:
"The College Building from where
we stood on the railroad hi.l, was a
most splendid looking structure, and
as we gradually drew nearer, it began
TO expaLd and grow more colossal
and comely in appearance. Situated
on high prairie bluf-a short dis
tance, probably half mile from the
nearest tiniber--it rests on com
manding eminence, which brings IN
der the direct eye Of the viewer, a
magnificent view Of lovely county.
for distance Of twenty-five to thirty
miles around When the tower is
complete, the view from its top will
be one of the very finest in the eoun-
try. The building is now nearly up
to the roof-some forty or fifty work
men being engaged upon it. The
brick masons are now at rect, 40 they
are out OF brick. The building is 64x
GA feet on the ground. To travel
around the base you have to ''foot it''
at distance Of six hundred and for
ty feet. One million five hundred
thousand brick have already been
put in the structure, and nearly one
hundred thousand more will be re-
quired. These brick were all manu-
featured upon the ground. The house
rests on wall Of stone, which WAS
brought from Anamosa, Jones coun-
tv. The wall is laid up 10 what is
called the '.coursed rul bed style.
There i. cellar underneath the north
half--ten fee, deep. THIS portion is
to be devoted TO kitchen purposes.
dc. The buildin5 is six stories high
counting the cellar and the story
made by the French roof. All the
floors are double. with mortar filing
The front is to the east. At each
corner Of the front rises a tower
one of them (at the southeast) to be
los feet high, There will be two
spiral siairways running from bottom
to top. There is one large lecture
room-the remainder Of the rooms
are mostly small ones, designed for
students use. Altogether theie are
one hundred and ten apartments. The
dome in the center is "a feet high.
The skeleton part of this is almost
done. and clambering up LADDERS. shut
ting our eyes, aud whistling to keep
our courage up. five Of US made the
journey to It's top and were we'll re-
paid for the trouble. The view from
there was grander than we have time
to describe here.
"All the work for the building is
being done upon the ground. A
steam planning mill is in full headway
cutting aad carving up the work such
as mouldings, &c"
OF the college farm, under the sup.
ervi>ion OF Hon. H. u. Thomas, the
Farmer legislator Of this county, the
writer saws:
.Under the guidance of Hon. III
N. Thomson, the Superintendent Of
the Farm, we took stroll over the
plantation. 1t is composed Of 64C
acres-about leo Of which.are cover
ed with timber. There is every vari
ETY. OF soil, from the gravel peak Il
the mueky loan Of the richest soil
I The North western Railroad run:
almost directly through the farm. The
farm house is a solid brick structur,
large IN size and Pennsylyania-liks
in appearance. Mr.. Graves is a.
present the farmer, and is gentle
man of much intelligence and genial
Z ity. We saw all the tine stock, bu
haven't space to tell anything abou
them.
We found Mr.. Thomson Kind ant
an entertaining host, and to him ant
Mr.. Graves, and the good hearted
''woms n-tolAs,n our party is indebted
for 50 generous welcome and Z
good dinner. For our part We
showed our appreciation by oul
works" then: we again thank them
for their hospitality, here"