The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-11-08
Where Shall 1 go West?
BY PROF. j. u. BUTLER.

| BY PROF. j. ID. BUTLER.
The best thing in the west for farmer
is farm. He wants one not far north, whcr,
his stock in winter will eat up all he cal
raise in summer; and not far south, where
heats are fatal to health, or at least, to pluck
! He wants prairies, which are farms ready
| for the pillow, and where he can raise sOdCUr
forthwith He wants rolling praries whicl
are sclfdraincd, and so tree from swampS auC
agues. He wants a soil that has been PROVED
fertile, alike in wheat and corn, and that II
u situation favorable TO stock, sheep and irult
| He wants a soil where mud roads are moi
muddy. He wants 10 be near competing
markets and railroads, 50 that he can buy
supplies cheapest, sell products dearest, ano
transport them at lowest rates. He wants t.
be near worlds highway where his acres
must increase in value with a growth as
ceaseless as that Of interest, He wants TO be
near mechanics, as well as a physician
school and church--in order that while going
west he may avoid the hardships and barbar.
! isms Of going out. He wants q farm in such
a felicity OF position as cheap as lie can buy
| il.
Such boon is as far rs the moon beyond
! the hopes OF poor men every where, except
/ in the west, but il is there within their reach,
and nowhere so notably as in southern Ne
! braska.
Farms combining the above mdhtioned
advantages have there been already secured
for nothing by $4,000 homesteaders who filed
their claims in the United States land office
in Lincoln, the capitol of Nebraska. They
have been secured by an equal number Of
pre-emptors at the same office on paying at
most, $3.50 per acre. They have been secured
on terms considered more desirable by 1900
purchasers Of farms from the Burlington and
Missouri River Railroad Company, at their
office in Lincoln These terms are eXtraOr-
binary, such as ten years credit six per cen,
interest, no payment OF principal till the end
of four years, twenty per cent. thrown of
from land prices as premium for prompt
cultivation, free passes for land buyers, half
rates for their freight etc.
But what drawbacks arr there from such
an opportunity? The only one worth
mentioning is the lack of timber. This lack
was not felt till recently, as the first settlers
found all streams skirtcd with trees. 1t was
long feared but turns out after all bugbCar,
and more of bug than bear
As To houses many new JOmerS build such
as suffice them for time, each with two loads
of lumber, costing about $40, while 50 far
prepared for use that every man can make
his own dwelling. Those who wish 10 use
their spades--buying doors and windows a,
the nearest statiOn,-hOuses warmer and
cooler than can De made of lumber, and which
those who have tried both like best
Regarding fuel, all fears are groundlcss.
Wood and coal are nowhere dear rs com.
pared with their price in the old states. But
corn is much burned from choice. Settlers
from Ohio testify that they find il easier in
Nebraska 10 raise corn enough to feed their
fires than il used TO be % cut down trees IN
a wood lot and prepare them for the stove.
Those who have uiCd both must know best
Whether, then, "a man would homestead,
pre- mpt OF purchase, let him he sure that
now is the time, and southern Nebraska is
the place for him. His time is now. because
the best chances are rapidly snapped up, and
the b. x NJ. terms are in part limited 10 the
present year. Nebraska is his place; because
nowhere are there so many attractions and so
few undesirable. The south of Nebraska
was always preferred because cr its mildcr
climate, and after las, winters experience
is sought with double reason.
The road thithcr, often called The Burling-
ton route starts from Chicago via ;ac c. &
Il Q.-inijials worthy 10 Doe interpreted Cheap
nst Best and Quickest name nf good omen
and which Is also provcrhially the safest IN
the west or out of IT, llp, thcn, ior Npblaska!
the best new home for every man WHO leaves
his old one. Nebraska FOX farmer, farmer,
for Nebraska,