Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-08-09
Correspondence Fssex County Herald.
Letter From the West.
NUMBER SIX.

L nave written ABOUT the lands, /
crops, ETC., and will now give my
views about emigrating West.
In the first place, one must expect
to find things different from the East
in many particulars. The society is a
mixture of all nations, Irish, Ger
mans, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians,
Scotch, &c. Their customs and man
ner OF living are very different from
those praticed in the East. The Nor
weglans, most of them, live in sod
houses, built with sod cut about eight
inches wide and any length convenient
for use. The roofs are built of sods,
also. have seen flowers, weeds and
grass growing on the roofs of houses
built in this way. The Scotch, Irish
and Germans are the old settlers, and
very many of them are we'll off, have
very good houses and raise stock and
hogs for market. There are also q
good many farmers here from Wiscon-
sin and Pennsylvania, and very few
from the New England States.
Good land can be bought here for
from four to eight dollars per acre,
according To location. All home
steads in this County are taken up ex-
cept some 40-acre homesteads, and
they are called too small to settle.
Most of the lands in this part of the
State are owned by spectators and
railroad corporations. Very many of
them were bought about the time j..
S. Clarke, of Lunenburg, bought his
land in Iowa. The Clarke lands lie
in the southwestern part of the State,
and are called very valuable.
There has been large sale of cat
tie IN this township within the last
two weeks. Lot Loughlin and James
A Tobin sold two hundred three-year-
old steers, that they wintered, for $3S
each, amounting to $1,000; larger
number have been sold by other par
ties at trifte higher figures. These
cattle go to the south part of the State
f and to Illinois to be wintered and fit
, ted for market. These farmers &c
north into Minnesota to buy two
year-old steers TO winter.
Cattle raising is good business
here as it costs little or nothing tc
: summer them, and not much more to
winter, as they cut their hay, stack i
= and draw it to their sheds to be fed il
winter. ! can get an hundred ton,
b of good hay put up in stacks within
two miles of town, for two dollars pc
ton.
The village of Emmetsburg is stu
+ ted on the bottom lands, near th
+; river, where is saw-mill and grist
= mill. The village alone contains nin'
n stores, two hotels, three lawyers OF
c fees, two newspapers, two meat mar
o kets, one drug store, one tin shop, tw
e beer saloons, one barber shop, lum
:. Der yard, and bank. This is not
National Bank, but is run as privat
n banking house by two gentlemen fror
ii Illinois, as is customary in the West
!; How much bottom there is in thu
i house don't know, but, Judging frol
1t the TOPS, it is not deep.
S, see by looking over my scribbln
Sc that have got off the track l startc
! out on. Now about going West:
n was young man, from 81 to A
lie years of age, and had made up IN
re mind to get my living by farming
Us and had a wife that was willing to Ell
= dure her share of the Hardships an
n. privations of frontier life, certainl
as would not delve among the rocks
a. New England, provided ! could g
'N here with money enough to buy
acres of land, team and one co,
and put up small house that wouI
make the ell to a better one when
r. got able to build larger. 1t is of i
if. use for poor man to come here,
lr- there are enough of such here alreat
81 foreigners that can be hired for S:
. per month. The poor are very muc
on poorer here than with us, as it is IL
as thickly settled, consequently n
90 as much demand for labor. Meth
ed would | advise man with a zoo
IS comfortable farm, with good bull
ISL ings, and not in debt TO sell and mo
~ West, unless he has large family
=, boys that he wants to benefit by t
~. change, as it would take him lol
y: time to get rs well off as he was Ea:
'ry There are two men in Scotlau
m by name of Blair and Gowry, th
81. own 10000 acres of land in the Sta