The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1868-07-03
Correspondence Of the Porysburg Journal.
LETTER FROM NEBRASKA.


- NORTH BRND, NEBR AsKA, June s, 1868.
EDIT, JOURNAL: In compliance with your
request, after mouths residence in and survey
of this delightful country, take my pen in
hand" rs Juvenile letter writer's usually say, TO
write you description Of the same and to give
you my opinion Of its fertility, advantages, futur,
greatness, ETC., etc.
Coming west from Chicago MS you lnOw, you
s1ou enter the gallant young State of Iowa, and
as YOU glide along over hill and dale rcgaling
the vision on the graniy magnificent rolling
prairie landscapes, covered with apparently ever
living verdure, here and there dotted over with
comfortable farm-houses and luxuriaut fields ol
growing grain, you are irrcsistibly impressed
with the appropriateness of the name Iowa" :"
which was given it by its aboriginal inhabitants
account Of its being "teauiul country
This feeling is so forcibe that u c cmgrant can
hmd resist he temptation to stop and lect him
a home before reaching the Missouri River, more
ftniliarly known out here as the " Big Muddy"
But, Mr.. Editor, my motto in life has been when
| Put my hand to the plow to never look back, -
and thercforI pressed forward to this young and
rapidly growing State of Nebraska.
Arriving at Omaha, the metropolis and initial
point Of the State, was struck with wonder and
astonislment at the city-likc appearance of the
town Indeed, when we reflect that but fifteen
years ago the only habitation on the ground where
now rests this splendid young city of fifteen or
eighteen thousand inhabitants, was a camp of the
Omaha tribe of Indians, and then take turn
through the broad and handsome streets, aud
view its present numerous palacc-like residences
metropolitan hotels and capacous commercial and
hua Lr,E A.
strides of the Western " Star of Empire.'' Really
the business capacity of some of the wholesale
houses in Omaha would 90 credit to similar estab-
lishments in old. Atlantic cities, where American
commerce had its birth. ""
But, Mr.. Editor, it you want to sec the glory
the crownng beauty of creative power--come to
the Platte Valley. Leaving Omaha, either nv
rail or wheel you traverse country in every re
spect similar to that you have just left in Iowa a
beautifu rolling prairie, for n distance of about
twenty-five miles. Here you cross the Elk Horn
River and are at once ushored into one of the
greatest most productive and magnificent vallies
in the world, capable within itself of subsistinr
an entire empire.
Platte River, from which the valley takes its
name, is "A wide, shallow stream, railing along at
the rate OF about six miles an hour over an inter
nnabe bed of quicksand and of very little ac-
count in and of Itself, ail0rdiug 10 navigation and
very few fish, but vast deal of trouble in cross-
ing But the Platte Valley, for hundred miles
or moro, west of the Missouri is the finest grazing
and farming country, perhaps, all things e0nsid-
cred, any where To be found east of the Rocky
Mountains, on the American Continent. am
aware, Mr.. Editor that this is saying great deal,
and IT may tax your credence rather more than
il can lear, but if you don't believe it, all have
to say is, ccme and see for yourself
This valley is principally on the north side Of
the River, which hugs closely to the range of !
high bluffs that overhang its southern bank, an
has an average width of from eight to ten miles
The surface is almost an even plain inclining 10 |
the east, with the fall Of the Irer at the rate nf
about six feet TO the mile. The soil is a rich, |
sandy loam, with just enough cllyey substance in
lis composition to produce the finest wheat in the
greatest abundance, and yet just right for com and
vegetables OF every description, and rests, like |
the river, upor bed of quicksand
On the south side of the river, the range of
b!uS rises TO the hight of about seventy five feet
beyond which the country rolls of into hill and
dale similar To that at Iowa. North OF the valley
at the point North Dend) from which write, the |
bluff rises by very gradual slope to the hight of
about fifty feet to table OF splendid lands nbont
twenty miles long and from two to three in width,
which gently descends TO Maple Creek small |
stream running parallel with the Platte River, |
and about ten miles to the north of it, This |
skirt of land month ago nearly all vacant
but now there is hardly "vacant eighty" to be |
found on it, so rapid is the immigration hther. |
You would be astonished at the amount Of land 4
that has been taken up here this season so far,
in prescriptions and homesteads, if could give
you the figures, which cannot.
The Union Pacific Rapad passes right up
through this splendid valley, along the north ern
margin of the river for distance Of three or four
hundred miles. The North Bend Depot stands
Mi.hin less than fifty PAGES Of my writing esk,
- tne north, while the Platte River, quite mile
IN Mla'h, rolls along, scarcely twice az far from
me- ON the south. This Raiiroad h nna nj tho
handsomest In the United States and hcars nast
ihs place daily eight or ten very heavy trains
North Bend is city in its swaddGn0S' strus-
gfing against heavy odds for greatness and
Fenown, which are yet in the hopeful future. II Is
MS pretty site for a town as can be found in tl'e
valley, at which lots be had at from twenty
Eve 10 three hundred dollars each and but few Of
them are occupied with buildings as yet, there is
plenty OF room Tor all who desire 10 possess ihem
selves Of pleasant home.