The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-11-25
Letter from the West.

CHARLES CITY. Floyd County, Iowa,
November 10Th, 1871.
MIR. ED1ToR:-The West has been so
often "done,' that it seems impossible to
write anything new, but l make you few
notes, and you may "prent EN- = if they
are of sufficient interest.
passed over the Baltimore & Ohio Rail
road by daylight, stopping the first pight
at Grafton. Some idea may be formed of
the business of this Road, when tell you
that at one point we met and passed ten
heavy trains of coal, and all day long there
was a constant succession of coal, coal,
coal. The passenger business is light
We had not more than two cars at any
time between Baltimore and Cincinnati,
and these not half full of people. This is
not fast route, hence, l suppose the few
passengers; but for grand scenery it is
unsurpassed, and this was made still grander
in the neighborhood CT Cumberland, by
the fires in the mountains; at dozen
places we saw zigzag line Of fire, miles
in length, running like great devouring
snake from base to summit. About fifty
miles east of the Ohio River, we enter the
oil region of West Virginia, and near
Petroleum we saw the celebrated burning
spring. Six years ago, some prospectors
started to sink shaft, but the gas soon
put stop to their work, and a match being
applied, a jet of flame shot out, and has
been burning ever since. The flame, as we
saw it, was about six feet high and, say,
twice the size of an ordinary stovepipe.-
Here, of course, the land is barren, but
near Grafton we saw patches of winter
wheat, and in the valleys the cattle and
sheep Craze nearly all winter. The land,
1 should judge, is much like our section in
quality; the steepest hill-sides never wash,
but you can have slight idea of the labor
of farming such land. Some years ago,
passing through the northern part of Ohio,
l wondered where her fertile land was, and
so wondered as this time passed through
the south, until l came to the Sciota Val
ley. There saw big Sassafras Neck
rich, level, we'll watered,-in short, farm
er's paradise. The crops, however, have
been shortened by the dry summer. Gin
cinnati we saw under cloud. The damp,
heavy atmosphere beat down the filthy
smoke from the bituminous coal, and
although the blocks are smaller even than
New York, you could scarcely see from
street to street. The Ohio is low, and only
indeed, the days of boating on the wes-
tern rivers are among the things of the
past Muscatine, on the Mississippi, was
the objective point, of our journey, SO far
ten thousand inhabitants, and although a
busy, driving place, lacks many of the fea-
lures of western city. 1t is settled mainly
by Connecticut Yankees and Pennsylvania
time to time, few of the very best class
of Germans from Fatherland, and there is
an air of refinement and culture about the
people and their houses, which is in striking
western cities. On Sunday walked around
and about the whole city. There was not
beer saloon open; there was not drunken
man on the street; there was Sabbath
to me. There are in the city seventeen
churches, and fully half Of these are Ger
man. The Methodists have two houses of
worship-one a German church. l went
into the Sunday-school The singing was
very fine, and they have everything needed
for successful teaching, but good brother
Torbert would have been shocked at the
want of order. l thought if he had this
better order, or the good old man would be
so shocked he would leave them. Musca-
tine has four large saw mills; one of them
turns out six hundred thousand feet of
lumber, fifty Thousand shingles per week,
with lath, pickets, posts, &c, in proper
ton. At the grain elevator, they told me
they had handled, since June, about two
hundred thousand bushels of potatoes with
corn, wheat and oats in proportion. One
hog packing establishment butchers and
packs a thousand hogs a day in the season.
This, Mr.. Editor, is little town of ten
thousand people. Only about five times
larger than Elkton, with not the advan-
tages of railroad possessed by many other
towns in the West. One begins to get an
idea of the greatness of this country, when
he gets West. Twas surprised to find pota-
toes as high here as at home,-indeed, they
sell. in small quantities, at about sixty cts;
they 60 mostly South. Corn, at Musea-
tive, is thirty five cents, and hogs three
and half per hundred, live weight.
Yesterday l started to go to st. Paul,
but found | could not make it in the time
l have allotted to my trip, and have turned
aside to go over to Chickasaw county, where
the sisters of Major Ben Ricketts, own some
land. This part of Iowa is filling up very
rapidly. Comparatively little unbroken
prairie is left; it sells from three to fifteen
dollars per acre. Here corn is fifteen cts.
per bushel. Many of the farmers feed their