Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-04-03


cherries, peaches and the smaller fruits
flourish wherever tried, and promise
soon to disperse the last vestige Of
desert from the minds of the people,
Long and anxiously have the enter
prising skeptics watched the expert
mental growth of industry and COM
pensating rewards in Nebraska, and
most fully have they been rewarded
By actual demonstration she has
proven Ler equality with the best, and
superiority over the majority of her
sister States, and If she comes boldly
to the front and asserts all her virtues,
and claims all that belongs to her, re-
member the prejudiced fields she has
won, and how, unaided she surmount-
ed the mountains of preconceived opin-
ions arrayed against her. Her climate
is mild compared with those Of more
eastern countries. During the past
winter the hardest ever known west Of
the Mississippi, Nebraska enjoyed
winter superior in all respects to any
winter 1 have experienced in Belmont
County, during the last ten years.
Mercury went to 150 below zero for our
coolest at Hastings, and remained there
but five hours. Having spent the
winter here and observed closely, /
speak understandingly, not a damp
chilling day, during the winter, and
from older settlers, I learn that it is
very unusual to have wet day dur
ing the winter quarter of the year. l
WAS here during the summer also, and
mean what say when 1 assert thatw
had more rain fall from June until
October, than is usual in Ohio during
the same period. Vegetation was
bountifully supplied with moisture
during the season, and from reliable
parties whose observations extend over
a dozen years or more, L learn that such
is the rule. One exception only men,
toned during that period. This is pre-
emin-ntly prairie State, and any one
coming expecting to find timber, is
doomed to disappointment; along the
streams, skirts of timber are found but
not in sufficient abundance to furnish
building, and material with which to
improve farms. The supply is ample
however to supply fuel until the settler
arranges for business, and is able to get
coal and lumber from our Railroads.
AS if to add additional opportunities,
numerous beds of coal have been dis
covered in various parts of the country
and companies are already forming to
work them, which will secure to our
citizens the only unpossessed blessing
designed for the well being OF man.-
In many places surface water is scarce
which would seem an objection; ad-
mitting it, we turn to the remedy the
Prairie Augur, and this skillfully used
for two days brings it cold and pure
from its inexaustible reservoir eighty
ora hundred feet beneath, whilst we
have no surface water at Hastings, we
have in lieu thereof the healthiest
country, have ever seen. During the
year have spent, I fail to remember
one sickly person from local cause.-
We have two competing lines of Rail-
road the Burlington and Mo. River,
and St. Joe and Denver City r. R.,
while we have third under contract,
known as the Grand Island, Hastings
and Republican Valley. This road is
deemed the most important of any and
had $500, 600 capital secured before its
books were opened. By common con-
cent Hastings is to be the future city Of
the West. By this Railroad connec-
tion, we are brought to the metropolis
OF the Southwest, while the pineries
of Wyoming and Montana are made
accessible, seemingly natures wise
provision.
But 1 am becoming frightened, lest
my tedious letter grow to fatal dimen-
sions, and feel too, that the work de-
signed is but partially accomplished.
A look at the map will define the local
ity of which 1 speak, and add some
thing to the brevity of what follows.
I will only mention, therefore, that
Hastings is in the centre of Adams
county, one hundred and fifty miles
west of the Missouri River. The B. &
M. Railroad is recognized as one of the
finest in the world, rivaling in impor-
tance the famous U. P; those rival
routes run parallel for a distance Of
nearly one hundred and eighty miles
crossing at Kearney City on the Platte
River. The st. Joe & D. G. r. r. Is
designed to unite the traffic of the
northwest and the extreme southeast,
while the last projected, the Grand
Island, Hastings and Republican VAL
ley, connecting as it does with st.
Louis and the Gulf trades from a sys-
tenn Of inland and overland commerce,
whose centre we claim, second to none
in the West. During the winter some
fourteen buildings have been erected
at Hastings, and at this writing more
than as many more are in course Of
construction and under contract. The
clang of hatchets and saws, the digging
of cellars, and distribution of lumber
over the hundred acres now plotted,
tell Enthusiastically our future. We are
in daily receipt ofadding menbels, and
before the spring months have grown
into summer, we shall scarcely be
known by those with whom we are now
familiar. Yes, soldiers, there are still
unoccupied lands within advantageous
proximity. Hundreds of thousands of