Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-06-21
Letter from 0'Brien County, Iowa
description Of the Countrywide
vantages of Emigration,

~
Grant and ADJOINING conn,ies hriaf
description OF O'Brien county. Iowa.
hoping you will think il worthy Of
notice.
OBrlen county ia, aa seen unon
tho map, the second from the north
and west lines Of the State is bound I
ed on the north by Osceola, east IN |
Clay, south by Cherokee and west |
by Sioux counties, and contains six
teen Congressional townships, and
36s, $40 acres OF land. The county
was organized in 1866 The surface
of the county is generally rolling,
but not considered Lilly except
along the streams it is little bluffy.
Ponds do not exist here as in some
other counties Of the State, anu parts
of Wisconsin. The general lay Of
this county, and oil northwestern
Iowa, is most beautiful. The soil is
very rich and from two TO four feet
in depth ; is black and loamy. There
is some gravel in the subsoil which is
very soft, 80 much 80 that it is easily
pulverized with the hand it also
| adds to the richness of the SOIL
There is annually z luxuriant crop
Of wild grass, of tho species generally
known as blue joint The produc-
tions ere about the same as those Of
Grant county. The county is well
watered, but not with springs there
being but few in the county. The
Little Sioux river crosses the south
east corner. Henry creek rises in the
northeast part and waters three
townships, and Waterman and Mill
1 creeks water the center and southern
portions. Floyd river rises in the
northern part of the county, which
has a number of small streams rnn-
ming into it there are many other
creeks that afford fine stock water.
There are also beautiful lakes here,
but they are not numerous. The
timber is scattering along the streams
and consists of the kinds found in
most parts of Wisconsin, although
timber is scarce and this is almost
one vast prairie region.
This section has been estimated by
goologists to be the most fertile por-
ton Of the State. The limited supply
of timber has retarded the settlement
Of this and other counties of north
western Iowa. But railroad pros
poets, with one almost completed
and two more projected, are causing
eastern people to immigrate in large
numbers, and settle in this and adj
joining counties. Men can be seen
daily canvassing the prairie in search
of homes. each with the expression
on his lips, 81 never saw more
beautiful country in all my life. -
Keep II before the people who intend
coming west by-and-by, that of 3d.
600, 900 acres which Iowa contains,
80, 1000, 600 have been bought up the
last thirty years hence it is indub-
table among the 5000, 600 acres, good
and bad, which remain, all will be
occupied in very short time, SO that
laggard immigrants must go farther
and fare worse. If any person is
content to take up land short dis.
lance from settlements, they may
still find o homestead in Iowa. Next
year, however, they will be too late.
Land can be procured yot in this
county for about twenty or twenty
five cents per acre, but it IS going
very fast; soon there will DO none
left to be bought st any reasonable
figures. People should not come
here entirely destitute, as some have
to brave the trials and privations of
pioneer life. Men with means at
their command possess, OF course,
here as elsewhere, great advantages.
There is no question that money can
be handled to better advantage in a
new and thriving country than in
the older settlements Of the East.
There are opened here a thousand
avenues into which capital can be
profitably turned and as it promotes
the growth and development of the
State, it adds each day to the securi-
ty of the investment. We find CAPT
talists seeking investments here for
their money, and giving new life and
vigor to many useful enterprises that
else would have fingered and Ian
guished.
Iowa is not destitute of manufac
lures. Indeed, its products of that
nature in 1868 were appraised al
} Sl6,000,000. Its coal fields are twice
as extensive as those of Pennsylvania
covering twentyfourlthousand,s square
miles. In 1868 the number of bushels
turned out was moro than six mil.
lions. But Iowa is by way of emf.
hence the agricultural State. The
Iowa farm produce during 1868 was
valued at almost seventy millions.
The population of Iowa is mainly
composed Of Amer cans, Germans and
Irish but almost every nationality
10 represented, especially in the
northwest. All appear to be honest,
Industrious farmers. No county is
more healthy than O'Brien, / will
venture to say, for there is none of
those low, muddy frog ponds in it,
found in counties east of the Missouri
slope its inhabitants are not afflicted
with bilious or intermittent diseases
OF any kind pure and excellent wa
ter is found in almost any locality,
at a depth of from fifteen to twenty
feet. Large numbers Of beaver,
mink, otter, muskrat and other ami
mails, priced for their furs, arc found
hero also there arc seen occasionally
the lynx, wildcat, wolf fox, racoon.
and badger deer and TX are plenty,
and few buffalo find their way
across the prairie.
All who anticipate coming West
to seek cheap homes, must come soon,
for the Government lands are being
taken very fast. The settlers here
are almost all radical republicans.
The democratic party is not known
yet in OBrien county, but we give
all cordial invitation to come and
settle with us; for settlers are what
we want In all this northwestern
Iowa. There is much more ] wish
l - L. 1. !