The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-05-31

4
How is the Great West Peopledq
Few of the great movements ol
I the present age are better illustra;
tive Of "the power of the Press" than
the wonderful Peopling of the West
ern portion of our great continent,
especially those regions which Law
beyond the Mississippi River.
Step by step the course of civil
zation and settlement advanced to-
ward the Mississippi; but for a con
siderable time this seemed to be a
barrier to further progress. A few,
however, hardy adventures, crossed
from time to time; some to remain,
others to return and tell their stories.
too large almost for comprehension
or belief.
The census returns of the United
States show that there, were never in
the world. such marYels of rise and
progress as are exhibited in the plain
facts there shown concerning some
Of the recent towns and cities of this
region, which have grown up, as it
were in night, almost like that
magic city Of the Arabian story.
And how has this come to pass?
Those wonderful men, editors, re-
porters, travellers and newspaper cor
respondents, who see and hear of
everything, who make a note of
things and print them, too, have filed
the land with pleasing narratives of
the West in all its natural greatness.
Shrewd business men, who read
the papers, were quick to see the
chances for business in all its variety
and extent which were sure to arise
from the peopling of such a region.
Railroads are projected and built,
the great river is bridged, enterprise
IS ready and ever pressing on; towns,
villages and cities spring up trade
and traffic follow; a school-house.
church and newspaper are among
the first essentials; and so the tide
sweeps on.
The lands offered for sale along
the various lines of railroad have
naturally proved most attractive to
settlers, Government has wisely al
ded these enterprises by granting of
her lands to Corporations who have
had the pluck and energy to build
Roads through her as yet undevelop-
ed fields, and which have been held
for generations at a mere nominal
price, failing the while to find pur
chasers or development for lack of
means of transportation. She has,
In many instances, given alternate
sections along the lines of these
Roads, on either side, and by this
seeming liberality has made the re-
naming portion quickly available,
for it also a greater than
that of the whole before the gener-
Gus gift.
Published reports state the Bur
lington and Missouri River Railroad
Co., whose trunk line of 47O miles
extends from Burlington on the Mis-
'sissippi River, across the entire State
of Iowa, and through that rich por-
ton Of Southern Nebraska border
ing upon the Platte River, to Fort
Kearney, where it makes a junction
with the Union Pacific Railroad for
through traffic to the Pacific Coast.
have sold during the last two wears
362,326 acres of land, for something
over three and a half millions of
dollars-nearly all of it to actual
settlers, and if report be true, they
have never asked a may to buy!
1t is true that their lands are ex-
ceedingly beautiful and fertile, and
present attractions and advantages
of locality, soil and climate, which
are essential in the estimation of
farmers, probably unsurpassed by
any region in the world; but it is
mainly by the printers art that the
world has come to know it, and in
addition to cultivated fields, trade, |
manufactures, arts, science, and all
the attendants of refinement and
luxury which enterprise can intro
duce and thrift maintain, are follow
ing rapidly the march of settlement.
Now call it advertising or what
we will, this peOpling of the West,
and the great business traffic of the
West, is simply a legitimate result
of putting facts before the people.
IT II