St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-01-02


effort. by the frequent. kind rcmcm
DranceS of our eastern friends. whose
gifts have helped us out of many an ex
tremc emergency. That He who no
tees even the giving of Il cup of water
in his name. will abundautly reward
them. Is our earnest prayer.
Three years since, except Il few set
tiers along the Blue River, which touch
es the northern portion of Fillmore
county. there were no settlers. This
county has an area of so square miles
-l6 townships, each Il miles square.
Each township is composed of 81 Sec
tiOns, one mile square. OF these 81
sections. two, Nos. Ii and b, are school
lands, the balance of even numbered
,PctiOns are government lands. open To
entry under the Homestead and Pre-
cmptiUn acts. The odd numbered zee
tiuu> are included i'll the grant To the
Burlington y Missouri River X. r..
hich traverScS the whole width of the
County, being an extension of the
Chicago, Burlington X Quincy k. H..
and forming Il Junction with the | nion
Pacific Il. X. at kearnI Junction. This
leaves Ii sections subject to entry.
Every section i taken, mostly 10y Sol
dier$ under the Homestead Act, each
soldier occupying section-lGO acres.
This gives four settlers To each section
and i'll some instances where citizens
have availcd themselves of the Home
stead Act. taking III acres. the number
of residents on IL section Is Increased ::
besides. quite AN amount of X. k. land
is bought and occupied. This gives us
comparatively Il thickly settled COM
munitv.
\ great number of school houses
have been built III the County and Ill
districts where there is no school house.
schools are held III private houses.
The standard of schools III Nebraska l.
quite up 10 yours of Vermont. In
Fairmont. the principal town III the
County. there has been erected Il Tine
school huiding at Il cost of S5Nm. At
Exeter. one costing $1,000; and several
in the County costing from 1000 Ia
$500. There are only tW" church
buildings now erected both at Far
mont one Presbyterian and ole Meth
odist. In other localities. services are
held in the school houses. Almost eV-
cry mcighhorhood has religious services
ON the sabbath. including sunday
school. This leads me To notice our
de,tituti"n III the ''ay OF hymn books
sunday school music books. and litcra-
tune. and religious reading generally
In my own family We are abundantlv
supplied our sisters Mrs. Johnson and
Nj. Clement. sending us regularly
The Advance. Evangelist, Messenger.
Youth, Companion. The sabbath
school with which we are connected
has received large packages of sab
bath school papers from the Barnet
:. S.-thr Gate> y. \. >. :. ais" - cop
les monthly of "lIeavcnll Iidiug>
through She hcnrvnlcucc ot my broth
cr. Phinca> stevens. of Illinois. Our
Pastor receives Il copy of the Advance
from Mrs. DR.. Newell, 50 | make M
complaint of personal dc>titutl"n. hut
uur County :. ;. Convention. develop
ed the fact that Il great number "f our
schools and ncighborhonds are without
thc>, valuable helps.
Every farmer has, now under cultiva-
tiuu from ~ to 100 acres. y lalgc
amount nf heat was raised the past
season. of which several hundred car
loads have already been shipped t"
Chicago. OF corn, hardly think the
supply will meet the home demand,
Our soil is very fertile, the surface of
the country slightly rolling, climate
unsurpassed. There has been no lack
of rain for maturing crops since ouI
residence in the State. We have had
some fearful winter storms, but then
severity WAS the most kecnly felt from
the lack of proper shelter for man ami
beast.
very much regret that when you
passed over the Great American Dcs-
ert" last year, YOU had not taken the
Burlington x Missouri, instead of the
Union Pacific route. think your
views of the future of Nebraska would
have been quite different.
\ very large proportion of ouI set
tiers heing soldiers, they are measure
bly, fitted by army experience to with
stand the exposure and privation incl
dent to ii pioneer life. Most of them
having been ground i'll the mill of adj
verSity. are cheerful in every eXtremi-
ty. with the expectation that when we
get our farms under cultivation. We
shall have Il surplus for market, and
every dollar above expenses, we can
add in improvements to our farms, III
stead of paying interest on debts.
While am not desirOus of depopu-
lating Vermont, there are large num-
Der of my comrades in the arm, and
other old associates, whom | am conf
dent would he greatly benefited hy
locating in Nebraska. if they can brace
themselves to endure for Il few years
the hardships of frontiersman. II
there are any in Caledonia County who
have friends battling for life i'll the FaI
West, would say to them, follow the