Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1873-01-22
THE CHRONICLE.
WHAT A FORMER BRISTOL MAN
SAYS ABOUT NEBRASKA.
GIBBoN, Buffalo Co., Neb., /
Januaiy II, 1878. !


January u, 1878. !
ED. CHRONICLE:-How do the poor
shivering, freezing, snow-bound souls
down in Trumbull and adjoining
counties get along, anyhow? L sup
pose if 1 were to tell them that to-day
we were sitting with outside doors
open, no fire, and then rather too
warm, and the mercury 81 on the
north side of the house and "a on the
south side, and that we had not one
inch of snow on the ground at one
time all this winter, they would cry
out with one accord, that's too thin +"
yet, nevertheless, it is true. There
is sufficient snow at Omaha for sleigh
ing, but we have seen a few flakes on
ly, and people make no calculations
for any. There is not a sled or sleigh
in this county I; but the people living
in the east are slow to believe facts,
when presented, concerning Nebras-
ka. Now, if some persons who "sigh
Cor the leeks and garlics of Egypt" "
and who are so home sick that they
never see, with impartial eyes, things
as they are, write, which they often
do, all sorts of impossible stuff, then
they can believe without once looking
at the Inconsistency of the story.
When we were discussing the ques.
ton of going west, We found many
friends who tried to dissuade us, al
leging as reasons, that we would GER
tainly freeze in this prairie country,
for " Tom, Dick and Harry" had all
written home that more than fifty of
their neighbors had frozen to death.
That occasionally some careless per
sons get frost-bitten, we will not dt ny ,
for the temptation to travel when the
sun is shining out in all his splendOr,
and everything in nature looks like a
summer day is very great, and people
sometimes thoughtlessly start out to
travel twenty or thirty miles, leaving
their wrappings st home, and the
weather changes to severe cold and no
houses near, when the party must suf-
fer for being so foolhardy. But if the
same caution and foresight were exer-
cised here in Nebraska as in the East,
no more casualties resulting from cold
would be manifest here than there.
We have now been in this State long
enough to have seen its worst phases,
and feel like reiterating what we have
often said-that we never have seen so
fair county in a state of nature, or
a country where the poor man could
so soon acquire home surrounded by
all the comforts ofan old settled eoun-
Try. And here, too, the man of mod
crate means can find a place where he
can quadruple his capital in five years.
time; and for men of capital there are
openings where fortunes can be made
in few years. that would astonish
his own expectations.
Let some man come to this town,
where he can get water powers for the
asking, and erect a starch factory, and
my word for it he would coin money.
L know Ofno factory of that kind west
of the State of New York. aud here is
all the great west for a market, with
corn and potatoes cheap as dirt"
An opinion has pretty generally pre-
vailed that the lands in Nebraska
south of the Platte were altogether
preferable to those lying north but
of late people have got to looking fur
ther, and their pains have resulted in
their finding out that the best half of
our State, both in soil and water is
that portion lying north of the Platte.
Water is much easier obtained, and is
of much better quality. This opinion,
in great measure, has been created
by the wonderful amount of putting
and blowing" done by the B. & NJ
River R. R. Co. They have induced
to buy much of their land, at
prices ranging from six to fifteen dol
lars per acre; when, in fact, better
land could be bought of the U. P. R
r. Co. at from three to SIX dollars per
acre, and upon easier terms.
Now that our portion of the State
is beginning to be appreciated, the
tide of emigration is setting in this
direction, and ere long the most avail
able lands will be taken up. Had the
q. P. R. R. Co. used printers ink in
such profusion, and kept live corps
of travelling agents in the field, their
lands would long since have been sold
or at least a much larger portion.
Towns are springing up all along the
line of the U. P. R. R., and the set
tiers are of the right sort. Then again,
friends, I say, come west. You will
live longer, die richer, and shine
brighter than you will by staying in
Ohio. II. D. NILES.