New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-03-03
SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION.

! S1NiEHII1t COLONiId IAVN'
We hold in high regard the men and women
who pioneered the settlement and cultivation
of our country by civilized people. They
| plunged into the primitive forests with very
! little means-Oftener under than over 800 to
each couple, including their coarse and scaniy
Clothing--and built themselves rude log cabins,
and cut down and burned GOTTEN while still
green) the great, tall trees, and dug up the
cold earth for sccd-bed, and, little by little,
dug their way out into sunshine and civillza-
ton The man often planted and hOcd and
/ harvested with his rifle standing against q con-
venient stump ready to be clutchcd and fired
at the first cracking of dry twig under
the stealthy footstcp of a prowling savage
Often. he has taken bag of grain on his
shoulder and stepped OFF twenty miles to Il
crist-mill. too happy if he could afford TO bring
back with it some cheap toy for his child or
the humblest luxury for his WIFE Thus strug-
| Cling on without team or capital, or neigh
bOrs we estimate that every acre Of clearing
| has cost the average pioneer months faith
/ full work, and that, in the average, twenty
! years have been diligently, faithfully given to
/ digging a farm out of the wilderness and
making Of it a farmers homestead.
! Since the Railroad era, this term may have
| been somewhat shortened, but not much. If
| he locates judiciOusly the pioneer finds neigh
bors, a doctor, a store, mills &c, planted near
/ him much sooner than of old. Still, it is Il
| rugged, arduOus task to make u Christian home
out of either dense forest or bleak prairie to
/ this day He who "sticks his stake far
enough from settlements to find Homestead
"landn must not expect 10 see brcb-yard,
blacksmit's shop, saw-mll, eriSt-mill, wheel
wright, &c, in his neighborhoOd very soon.
He must usually spend "a large share of his
time in road-malung, yet travel for twenty
years on tracks that give "a hOrSc-team enough
10 do in drawing half a tun twenty miles per
day.
But the new idea OF Industrial Colonies
/ transforms all this. Let one hundred or more
| families resolve to settle together, and they
may surround themselves with the comforts OF
civilized life in fewer months than the years
required to achieve like results under the old
| system. Instead Of each pioneer travelling in
quest of fit location, two or three Of the
ablest are chosen for this important task, and,
on their report, the purchase is made with the
money contributed by each for the common ben
eft of all. 1t is their joint property until they
U
One Thousand heads of families and single
persons unite to purchase Twenty Thousand
acres, costing 100000 to $2O0,OO0 according 10
its location. This land may be in Territory,
a new State, or an old one: we believe lands
NAV be bought "a cheap, all things considered,
in Virginia or the CarOlinas as in Colorado or
Texas-timber and water-p0wer beng esti-
mated at their true value, while Coal and
Ores are secured in addition if they do not
considerably enhance the price
Now let tho whole tract he carefully sur-
veyed by one who knows his business let
village of $40 to $50 acres be laid out where
a railroad station water power the proximity
| of timber or of coal, or some other natural
advantage, shall dictate. Around the village
plot, lay off larger allOtmcnts of two to twelve
/ acres for the homes of merchants and others
who choose to live out of the village but do
not expect to devote themselves wholly to
/ farming. Then divide the residue into tracts
of not exceeding forty acres, every one
/ being at liberty to buy so many az
/ he will pay for. Reserve literally for park,
churches and other public purposes, and put
mp every lot for sale to the highest bid
der, whether member or mott making suit
hplo SllpuldllOu5 lOI It's Improvement III lew
buyers appear at the first sale, stop it after
these have been supplied, and try again and
again as more members shall have arrived, OF
other settlers come in, until all is disposed of.
Let any certificate of payment to the capital
stock or original purchase fund be received as
cash IN payment for any lot purchased, with
| liberal allowance of interest
! OF course, the above il but one ont of many
ways of attaining the same end while there
will at the outset be privatiOns and hardshiDs
to face in the scarcity of haldtatiOns. &c. &c.
But, on the plan here rudely outlined. n tbou
sand persons may combine their means TO
seek out and buy 100000 worth of real estate.
have it properly laid ont and apportion il
among themselves by public sale so "a 10
provide themselves with homesteads far more
cheaply and expeditously than could other
wise be done Each mechanic would find
ample employment in satisfying the needs
of his fellow cOlOnists, even though no
others should see fit to visit his shop
mills. professional men, &c, would come i'm Of
| themselves; the farmer wOnld find all he
! needed in the colony, instead OF having TO
! travel weary miles in search of it; the land
would be worth at least double its cost from
the day on which its settlement by colony
was resolved on Indians and wild beasts
would be Of no account; and every Industrious
frugal family would vanquiah the inevitable
I I. LAT in -tpufl Of