The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-01-08
"I'm a lonely traveller here"
West Virginia Is my home.


"rm lonely traveller here"
West Virginia Is my home.
Travelling in the East Is like reading the
daily paper after every one else has read 1t.
Were specie our currency now, l should
think Ringgold well named. The people
are making money, and are not caring
whether emigration comes or not. In the
centre of the Grand River country, consid-
sidering It's varied advantages, equal to
any, and ahead Of most, the settler can
put down on any spot and not be further
than three miles from timber, oran hours
ride from post office,
The greatest advantage ut present, coz,
sidering or taken in connection with the
above, Is cheapness Of land.
The money Is made in stock; so much
pasturagc, and although the winters are
comparatively long, hay is TO be had for
the cutting, and in the spring for three to
five dollars per ton; and corn easily raised
make the winter but little feared. While
immense herds roam over the rolling prai-
ric, many u square mile has not had the
pressure Of foot the present season. Do
not imagine this to be an unsettled region
nor TINT Il is always going to remain q
vast pasturage, as houses arc going up like
magic all over the prairie. Emigrants are
much like sheep, when one goes all follow.
Many spots In Iowa, and even in Illinois,
they have passed by, and in the latter, l
think, some Of the finest parts Of the State.
Preachers and spectators have more in
Guencc in leading or guiding emigration
than any other class.
The Eastern ihrmer, particularly he Of
West Virginia, when he leaves that hilly
paradise Of bubbling springs, which burst
forth from every five acre lotto come
"out West" need not expect to find homo
again. Yet 1t Is wonderful as well as
amusing how men talk themselves into an
accommodation to circumstance nces-onG
man declaring he would give fifty dollars
to have an only spring OFF his place,
"would rather have the ground than be
bothered with the spring" Another
would not live In country which pro-
duced Fall wheat. He preferred Spring
wheat, better bread, healthier. Another
wished his farm was all sloughs, richer
soil, more grass. If anything suits an
Eastern farmer tits an abundance OF spring
water, a golden field Of Fall wheat and
canned peaches; and he avoids sloughs.
We have heard Of an individual, although
his existence Is somewat mythical, who
would rather rule In avery bad region,
than serve in a better country. 1t Is
generally supposed he could not help him
self We smile at the persistence Of such
characters, yet do not exactly admire
them.
A sparkling spring changing into u bab-
bling, brook Is almost unknown among the
great western prairtes, ground soap Is q
better name.
Except among the blufs, where ones
car Is attracted now and then by the sound
of the water-the murky grass-stained
fluid goes creeping through and over the
mud at the bottom Of winding Chasm
worn into the black soil from ten to fifty
feet. This fed by long swamps running
out into tho prairiO, sOflGned In name by
calling 1t Slough" and again "draw;"
but soft enough In character to render
them in many cases impossible for man
and beast the greater part Of the year.
This part Of Iowa spoken Of, Is compare.
lively free of the latter; parts Of Missouri
more so-troubling only In wet weather.
Yet Southern Iowa boasts Of It's fine water
digging from fifteen TO thirty feet,
Springs scarcely as many as there are
counties.
Mount Ayr Is thought to be well named,
situated rs Il Is on high prairie; yet not
more airy than Thousand other prairies Of
the West Alegend Of the place has it
| If that can be called so which only dates
back half score Of years-that being for
merly spelled Mount Air, a citizen Of the
place, Of rather a literary turn, one day
ioerusinp Burns came across Ayr From
this spranC change In the photography Of
his native yillage-and the subsequent
naming Of the county seat Of Union on the
north In memory Of that stream apostro-
plli2ed as
"FlOw gently sweet Anon"
Passing into Missouri through the coun-
ties Of Worth, Harrison, Gentry, De kalb,
Andrew, Buchanan, to the Missouri river,
the corn looked better and better, being
further advanced before the delugc set In.
Part Of this is on the noted Platte pur.
chase, and Is thought, In fertility Of soil
and fruit raising, cannot be eXcelled. AL
though much still remains unsettled, yet
portions Of It have been settled for over
thirty years, The farms sklrtlng along
the timber, if any part, Is unhealthy.
With tho Virginia worin.fence, apple
orchards, and smooth timothy meadows,