Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-08-29
Letter from st. Louis.
Sd. LoUIs aug. 2Oth, l87l

llluSo W SfNu buS buoiCSb VI us |
though seldom to me, think once
more Of much that / have seen since
leaving the old Green Mountain State
that l would like to tell, and you per-
haps TO hear, would time permit. La
two long letters not half was told
about Missouri that might have been,
but another State is in my thoughts
to-day and it would be very pleasant
once more to spend few weeks in
Iowa. That State more than this
will interest Vermont readers for
many of us have friends there. In
deed that State is largely filed with
New England men while those sons of
toll neither sought nor were cordially
received in old slave territory. After
a year spent in more level distri cts
eastern Iowa almost reminds me of
home, for though not mountainous it
is full of steep little hills and bluffs.
Burlington seems as if map had
been made for city in level land in
regular squares and then houses and
streets made over the bluffs and
ravines to fit it. Hills have been cut
thirty feet in grading streets and the
hollows are yet not filled and are
often so deep that no team and few
foot passengers cross til EN- save by
going around.
Much of this hilly part of Eastern
Iowa is timber land. Riding out from
Burlington / was a little surprised at
the way an old farmer spoke Of the
timber land and those as fools who
settled in the timber when prairie
could be had. 1t is generally thought
better to buy timber for buildings &C.,
than to have the trouble and expense
of clearing land. l enjoyed being in
the timber land along the lower part
Des MoineS river, as well, because it
was beautiful place as because visit
ing friends that went years ago from
Lunenburg. This river seemed to
me little like the Connecticut be-
tween Guildhall and the head of
Fifteen mile Falls. 1t is perhaps
scarcely so wide, is not so deep for
il is forded through the summer con-
stantly, so the ferry boats do not run,
but its current is much swifter than
the Connecticut except in very high
water.
In this the western river usually
differs from those of New England, as
we would naturally expect, running
through q less mountainous, rocky
land, their channels are wider and
smoother and less full CT great rocks,
giving smooth rapid flow, even
where there is little fall. We do
not realize how much the rocks check
the force of our streams, and in how
many ways they help the farmer,
while that they also make him extra
work is evident enough. Here every
creek and river is deep beneath the
surface Of the fields, in track it has
cut for itself, and if tie land contains
any ledge or rock at all it is apt to
form one steep bank of the river.
Clearing the timber land in Iowa,
as | saw it, would be little labor COM
pared to removing a New England
forest. Much Of the way it is small
trees and very far apart, so the grass
grows among them, and on the bot
tom lands OF where trees are thick and
large, they are tall and straight with
little underground. Our evergreens
are not found save rarely as shade
trees set out in door yards. Spruce,
half the settlers, save from the East,
would not know, end pine much the
same. was appealed to to know if
a peculiar knotty tree found there,
wasn't cedar. FIT was (and it was
of a kindred race 1t must have
changed since leaving the mountains,
very much, for it almost as much re-
sembled the hemlock. Further West,
along the line of the B. & M. r. R..
the Southern r. II. line across the
: State, the land becomes constantly
: more level, and timber more scarce
Coal is found all along to within fifty
miles of Omaha.
AT Red Oak stay of nearly two
: weeks showed something of the ways
: of life and farming there. Not more
| than half the land there is yet settled
) the rest is held by spectators at Il
, TO 20 dollars an acre, according t(
how the owner feels about selling; of
) ten that best located is the cheapest
E On the open prairie are pastured hun
| drcds Of cattle, largely texans, brough
4 there to fat. A boy OH pony drives
1 around among them to keep then
: from scattering, and in that land 0
e no stone, the only thing a COW o
c steer breads is a man on horsebacl
l. with a pitohfork or dog. Very littl
S hay is made, and that wild hay, 81
: cattle pick living most Of the winter
T. save occasionally an ear of corr
Il thrown them, and if they can get a
G any good pile of food they come oftel