Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-07-19
Aqritult
shall Farmers Emigrate?

shall Farmers Emigrate!
The emigration to-day is a very differ ent
thing from the emigration of fifty AM hun
dred years ago, that peopled W estern New
York and the States that border upon the
great lakes. Then the rule was solitary re
moval end sngle-handed fight with forces
OF nature. The Yankee struck out into the
wilderness with his ak and saddle-bags, felled
the forest, built his log cabin, girdled trees
and planted his first crop Of Indian corn
alone. The second season ne might think
of a horse and human companonshIp, If he
could induce a woman to leave civilization and
brave the terrOrs OF the wilderness. There
was great suffering for years from insufficient
shelter and clothing, from disease and home
sickness, from the loss Of school and church
privileges, and the MANTLE ills of trans
planting a fiimi Y into a new country. All
this is a matter of history or romance,
and we read of frontier life IN well warmed
parlUrs. The children and grandchildren of
these pioneers emi crate almost exclusively IN
colonies, and take with them almost every
convenience Of CIVILIZED life. hundred or
more families, representing almost every.de
partment Of industry and professional life,
are transplanted 10 a week from the hills of
Of New England TO the praries of Kansas or
the slopes Of the Rocky Mountains. 1t IS
comparatively easy work to the last depot
on the Pacific Railroad ; there IS a little
roughing of it from this point to the new
settlement, but the committee have anticI pa
ted 50 many of the new corners that they
soon find temporary accommodations. ami after
lew weeks are fairly Installed III a new
home. Crops are put in the first season, and
needed supplies are forwarded from the near
est settlement at less than Eastern prices.
The whole affair has only been prolonged
picnic, and the younger portion Of the party,
at least, would not object to another re-
mOval. They are mostly quartered in log
houses or tight frame dwellings, but these
will answer a good purpose until the second
or third crop is sold, when they will have
the means Of building more permanent abodes.
They have around them at early date al
most every convenience they left behind them
with Frightening prospects for the future.
The church and school house immedI-
ately provided for, the pastor and teacher
have come along with them. Public worship
is hardly interrupted, for a Sabbath, and the
boys and girls have ONLY short vacation
from their studies in f tstern schools. The
carpenter Is there to frame the house, and
every item of building material not found
upon the spot is sent up from the depot, with
about the same facility as IN the east. The
blacksmith is there to shoe the horses, and
set the WagOn-tire, and mend the broken /,
tool The merchant is there with his dry
goods and grocer .es, and the old stores are 4
no sooner gone from the trunk, than they .
are replenished from the corporation build .
ing, or from the establishment Of some enter /
prising Yankee, who cOntrIves TO undersell \
them. The doctor has put out his shingle .
before the first child is sick, and it is not far
TO the depot where the apothecary has already
established himself with a choice assortment
of drugs. The shoemaker unstraps his kit
OF tools the next day after his arrival, and
as soon be can extemporize bench you
will hear the familiar tap of his hammer.
The dentist will be on hand Just as soon as
there is spare shanty To let, and the or
chards that went untTimmed and unscraped /
in the older States, Will be dug out, scraped,
filled, polished and sweetened, I'd the great I.
10Y of their owners, and all their friends In 4
a very short time the new settlement Will be .
rounded into shape streets laid out, planted /
with trees, bordered with sidewalks, the (
architect will be called in to plan the new
church, school house, court house and other /
public buildings, and the place will be one /
of hundred candidates for the capital OF a
new State, and if 1t fail TO get it, it will not
be from want of any Dragging about its un-
paralleled advantages.
The substantial advant yes of emigrating
by colonies 50 great that we are not sur
Prlsed that most people prefer this method.
The selection Of location made by intellI-
attend TO the business and who have a strong
personal motive to do the best thing possible
for themselves and their neighbors. The
members of the colony get their one or two
sections OF land at government prices or less,
and the moment the colony is located and
settled, these lands begin to appreciate in
value. For all the purposes of a livelihood,
of supporting and educating "A family, they
are more valuable than the same number of
in he fprr no * rirb
and will bear cropping for years without
much manure. There is no more trouble
about house rent and subssrenc the two
lite ms that hang so heavy upon the poor in
other communities With health and iu- !
dustry any one is sure of a competence in
these new colonies in very few years. The
land bought for dollar or two an acre is in
creased in value ten fold, and becomes SO
much capital to do business with there or
elsewhere. The FIVE hundred dollars invest
ed becomes five or ten THOUSAND, while it pays
fOl family expenses. These advantages are
offered in almost all the new States, and
multitudes are hOcking thither to finO new
humes. The farmer who is harrasse with
debt, and continually struggling for subsIs-
tence on the worn out soils Of the eastern
States, has a cheering prospect open before
him In these colonies.
If he can do better for himself and his fam
lily, why should he not 90 where land is
cheaper, and his labor will procure more of
the necessaries of life? If the trouble is IN
his character, if be is idle and dlssipated, of
course change of place will not help him.
But there are multitudes Of people with good
habits, who hardly live in the older States.
They would thrive in a new home IN the
west. Let them seek it Country Gentle
man.