The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1870-02-17
WRITTEN FOR rae ENTERPRISE.
THE FAR WEST.
Information for Emigrants.

and families, I deem it the duty of every
man to aid all such with whatever informa-
ton he may have acquired by his own
personal observation, for nothing else
should be relied upon in giving advice to
friends relative to any new country.
1t should be like the common court tes-
timony of our eountry-hear-say testimo-
ny should be rejected. 1t too frequently
occurs that you hear a person speaking Of
some new country, aud from his cOnversa-
ton you would think his account of mat
ters was altogether satisfactory; but when
you question him more closely he has new
or, perhaps, been West of the Mississippi
River, aud is merely relating what he has
heard others say relative to the country in
question.
Now, in the first place, my advice would
be to all men moving West, before taking
their families there, to first visit the coun-
try and see and know the facts and sur
roundings of the same for themselves, and
then they will be better able to understand
the whole thing, and if they conclude to
move to the county they have examined,
they will generally be better satisfied with
what they have done.
What | propose in this communication
is not to advise men to move to the coun-
ty I propose to recommend, but merely to
state facts only as | understand them to
be from my own observation, and to re-
commend all who have a desire to move
West to visit the country and know for
themselves as to whether | have given
a plain and unvarnished statement relative
to the same or not. 1t should be the de-
sire of every person moving West to To-
cate himself and family in a country, first;
where they will have good health. Sc,
condly, where they will have a rich and
fertile soil; and thirdly, where they can
have a fine market for all their surplus
produced upon their lands, for all are rea-
dy to admit that without these three great
essentials a country is not worth living in
nor living for.
Perhaps the reader is ready to say, that,
eff | only knew where l could combine
these great advantages I would get ready
to start with my family at once" | am
candid in what | say when l claim all
these prerequisites for a great country
from the Platt Purchase lying in the N.
w. part of Missouri. I have travelled
over this portion of the State three differ
ent times, and have thoroughly investigat-
ed these things. While doing so | was
convinced that a more healthy country does
not exist upon the American continent.
First, the air is pure and free from any
malarious influences usually caused from
warmth, moisture and vegetable decay, so
frequently found in many of the Western
States as we'll as in this State, causing
chills and fever and other bilious diseases.
| have travelled through this country dur
ing every month of the year from March
to the last of July, when the whole coun-
try, (as last summer for example} was
flooded with heavy rains, many times ex-
tending my rides until late at night, at
which time the air is most susceptible to
this peculiar influence and have at such
times tried to detect this peculiar stencil
in the air when moistened by the dews at
night and have never been able to do 50
in the least, even when in close proximity
to large creeks and rivers. My attention
was so fOrcibly impressed with this fact
that | made special inquiry among the
Physicians of the country, many of whom
have practiced their profession for twenty
years in that country, and they invariably
give me the same statement in this matter,
viz: that they seldom have chills and fever
or any of that class of diseases in their
practice, which they explain by saying
that there is no stagnant water in that
country to produce such diseases, the coun-
try being high and sufficiently ROLLING to
keep all such nicely drained, leaving moth
ing to create such diseases. | know of no
part of this whole North Western portion
of Missouri, known as the Platt Purchase
that is at all subject to the poisonous in
Auences caused by malaria which so much
affiicts other portions of the country west
of the Mississippi river, and which so just
ly deters many men from moving to the
west with their families.
What signifies the rich soil of Illinois
or Texas, where neither yourself nor fami-
ly can have any rest from chills and fever,
the Plat Purchase is not only free from
chills and fever but ii also comes nearer
being exempted from general and severe
epidemics than any country | have ever
seen. In searching out causes for general
sickness while in that country, | found
none except such as accidentally occurs in
any country. The water is limestone, pure
cold and clear and in the greatest album
dance, found most commonly under ground
from fifteen to twenty-five feet from the
surface, there being no scarcity and never
fails during drouths, but remains in the
greatest abundance, cold and pure. There
is no trouble to get water any where, nei~
ther in timber nor prairie, even on the
highest and most rolling grounds.
There are springs plenty in this coun-
try but they are generally found with a
superficial channel and tastes slightly
warm and unpleasant. Some of the finest
springs | ever saw in any country |. saw
while in North Western Missouri, but
they are the exeetions and not the general
rule. The spring water Of this country ia
used for stock water, they all afford small
branch which runs nicely through the
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