The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1867-08-15

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Correspondence Of the G Courier
DEAR CoURIER:
Thinking you nigh
be interested in a sketch Of the coun
try, crops, &c, Of Western Iowa and
Northern. Missouri, and having q
spare moment, propose TO use it, in
hastily giving you such information
as we gathered while con the wing
Having been furnished with a fine
2:40 team and the necessary traps
for travelling, we left the beautiful
city ofDes Moines, and struck sbee
line" for thepleasant village ofIndia
'nola, the county seat of Warren Co.
The face Of the country from Dea
Moines to 1ndianola is greatly rolling,
with rich soil OF 4 sandy nature and
almost the entire distance we'll cult.
waited. and dotted with large commo,
dious farm houses, we'll painted and
havingthe appearance Of an old and
thickly settled country. Crops along
this routeare unusually good, more
especially the wheat crops. India
Ia is fine village situated on high
prairie, with population of 1a0Oto
1400. A very fine large Court House
is now being erected on Public Square
which, when completed will be one
Of the best in the State. The base
ment is already built Of a superior
quality OF stone which is found in
abundance near the town. The up
per portions of the building will be
brick except tho corners, which will
be cnt stone. The contract was let
at s45, 900, very cheap for the style.
A fine College is to be erected soon,
near the present Seminary, which
will be an ornament to the place.
contains a goodly number
of good business houses, and three
hotels. Those who travel through.
there, and enjoy good grub, /" done
upin good style, will stop at the
National, kept by friend Babb. Hav-
ing stopped allotted time we struck
outagain in a Southwesterly direc-
tion for Oceola, county seat Clark
county. The country on this route
is rather sparsely settled, especially
the Southern portion of Warren Co.;
which is generally very rolling prai-
rie. The wheat crop is good. corn
moderately good. Oceola contains a
population Of 1000 to 1900, and will
perhaps become a much larger place
when the citizens learn to ask
reasonable prices for Z corner
lots" The B. 4 NJ. Z. K. pass Is.
es through the town in snch a
manner as to do great injury to a
large amount Of PROPERTY. It is ex-
pected that the road will be compile
tod to this place late the present fall.
But ponies are rested and gay as ever
and we must travel, ard here we go
south to Leon, Decatur Co. A large
portion of this county is very broken
but very heavily timbered, and the
county generally is. thickly settled,
Thccrops are unusually good. Perhaps
the finest wheat we have seen in our
travels was in this county, and
praties = too large to undertake to
demolish except BY hungry Irishmen.
Leon has population of about 1000
and is good trading point, has sew
eral churches and q good two story
brick school house, formerly presided
over by Prof Hastings, of Ottumwa.
At this place we provided ourself
with one Of aColts," best and started
for the country noted for bushwh hack,
err, but after travelling the longest
40 miles we ever saw, and seeing
nary bushwhacker, we concluded to
stow " away our Six Shooter and play.
we didn't have any. Well here we
are at last, ii the aCity Of Rethany,.
not the oriental Bethany, but the
County Seat Of Harrison County,
Mo. This town is situated in the
timber and is anything but q desira-
BILE location being extremely rough
and broken. Population 800, more
oricss including dogs, Of which therc
seems to be a goodiy number There
is not that regard paid tho Sabbath
day that we wonld like to see, but it
seems to be q day upon which the
youth Of tho country gather together
in town and expect to have. a good
time generally. On the druggists
signs yon may read s'sDrugs, Medi-
cines, de-" The s&c.. is in great de
maMd in this country and although
sold bv sdruggistsis By no means a
ssdrug.'a This county is extremely
radical and almost everybody has.
beer in the service. In the North
cast corner Of tho public square is
erected 4 monument mounted with a
GA FOUNDER shell, and the following
inscription, "REBEL PILL present
ed to Harrison County by w. T. Fos-.
ter, u. Nosman, W. Grcno, and eight.
cen others, Of Merrills Horse sent
from Memphis, Tenn, March f5 1866"
II . man were to shout for JEFF Davis
here, he would not be likely to get
away alive. "A few weeks ago q
rebel came to this neighborhnod to