Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-03-13

mers three are physicians; two are journal
lists two clergymen Mr.. Sprague is manu-
facturer Mr.. Chandler merchant; Mr.: Ames
an army officer; Mr.. Clayton civil engineer;
Mr.. Jones miner Pinchback waiter, and
Messrs. Buckingham, Caldwell, 1. w. Ferry,
Gilbert and West, engaged in general busl-
ness. Senators Gordon, Ransom and Alcorn
were Generals in the Confederate army dur
ing the war. Messrs Alcorn, Anthony, Bore
man, Brownlow, Buckingham, Clayton, Fen
ton, Hamlin, L. NJ. Morrill,, Morton, Ramsey,
Sprague, Oglesby and Stevenson, have in the
past been Governors oftheir respective States.
Correspondence of the Yorkville Enquirer.
LETTER FROM MINNESOTA.
ST.. PAUL, March 6, 1878.
This is a cold country, but am not sure
but the people get along better, live more
comforta bly, and have more money, than at
points farther south. Money and provisions
are both plenty here. And why should they
not be? The winters, to be sure, are very long
and severe, but the soil is good and will pro-
duce more wheat perhaps than the same ex-
tent of territory in any other section of the
Union. There s'always market tor wheat
and this is the source of wealth in Minnesota.
Take as example, the farm Of Mr.. Dalrymple,
near this city. He has farm of two thou
sand acres, and the following are his receipts
and expenses in the matter of last years crop.
His land lost him in 1864, $3.50 an acre, but
is now worth $40 an acre. This is his expense
account for last year: Fall blowing, 1000
acres, 50 An acre, $4,000; seed wheat, Ii
bushel per acre, at $500 per bushel, $4,000;
sowing and narrowing, rs cents an acre, $500;
cutting, binding and shocking, $3.50 an acre,
$4,000; Hauling, threshing, &c, $500 an
acre, $4,000. Total expense of crop, $4,000.
His receipts from this crop were forty-four
thousand bushels of wheat, which he sold for
one dollar and five cents bushel, bringing
forty-six thousand two hundred dollars. De-
duct the expense, and he has net profit OF
twenty-six thousand seven hundred dollars
for the years crop, and last year was fair
average. How this will compare with the
profits of cotton raising in South Carolina the
reader can best judge. During seven years
Mr. Dalrymple has not experienced failure
ofcrop, and the average net profit per year
per acre has been ten dollars
1t is no uncommon thing here for land to
bring thirty-fve and forty bushels of wheat
to the acre. The average, the State over, is
some twenty-six bushels. Corn does not do
so we'll, but more than enough is raised for
home consumption. Barley and rye do we'll.
So does buckwheat Of Irish potatoes there
is no limit. 1t is, indeed, fruitful country
for the substantials of life. If it was not for
the terrible winters, Minnesota would soon
become one of the first States of the Union.
The increase in wealth has been constant and
rapid, amounting to about fifteen millions of
dollars year upon the tax books. Take the
adjoining county, of which the thriving town
of Minneapolis is the county seat. In 1862
the taxable property amounted to little over
two millions of dollars. Last year it had
risen to very near nine millions! At this
rate it will not take the frontier State of Min
nesota long to come up to front rank.
St. Paul is another instance of rapid growth
and increase in wealth. In 1888 the popula-
ton was 8. In 1S47, so. In 1850, $40. In
1855, 44OO. In 1860, 10000. In 1865,
1920. In 1870, 22,SOO. In 1872, $4,000.
This is pretty healthy growth, and indicates
that people can thrive even in terribly
cold climate. Indeed, I don't know but cold
climate is best as wealth-producer, as it
makes man stir around lively. He cannot
comfortably sit around on street corners whit
tling dry goods boxes, as is so much the Gus
tom in more genial climes.
There are ten railroads coming in here, all
the work of the past fifteen years. There
are now FIVE more railroads projected. Min
nesota already has more than her share Of
railroads, but she continues to add to them at
the rate of seven or eight hundred miles year.
Eighty daily trains come into and 60 out of
the city every twenty-four hours. This, with
about seven hundred steamboat arrivals and
departures during the navigable season, gives
the city hum of life and activity which Wis
tors from the South and East are but little
prepared to witness. We do not look for such
grand and rapid development at point so
far north. You must bear in mind that it is
less than two hundred miles from here to the
British American line. Minnesota is as far
north as the northern extremity of Maine.
But it is so cold that with all the development
and rapid increase in wealth, I should not
want to spend my days here. There is little
satisfaction in spending ones life where the
earth is locked in the fetters of ice six months
in the year, and where it is not an unusual cir
cumstance for the thermometer to indicate
thirty-6ve and forty degrees below zero. You
of the sunny south, where the mercury scarce
ly ever touches zero, can have but a faint idea
of the intensity of cold which forces down
the mercury so low. There has been weather
here this winter that would kill man, in Or
binary clothing, in one hour, if exposed to it.
The deaths, all from cold, in Minnesota, the
last three months will amount well up toward
two hundred. MEMO.
GRANTS SECOND TERN.