Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1874-05-08
gellulrs falls Times,
BELLOWS FALLS, MAY s, 1874.
Letter From Minnesota.

MoNTEvIDEo, CHIPPEWA Co.,
Minnesota, April 18th, 1874
Mr.. EDITOR 1t is twelve long year
since my feet have trod my native hill
in old Rockingham, among which / wa
born and nurtured, and yet all thes
years have not effaced them from m,
memory. Those rugged hills and pleas
ant valleys, checkered all over with vii
lages, and farms with their improved
lands, buildings, orchards and timberet
lands, are clearly delineated before my
minds eye. and / seem to see them al
most as plainly as when bade farewell
to home and friends to seek my fortune
in the far West. The people, too, | re
member, although among them there
have been many, many changes. Many
have passed away from earth. Many
have emigrated to other parts and many
have outgrOwn my remembrance.
Thinking that perhaps my old friend:
and neighbors might still hold me in re-
membrance, and might be interested in
hearing of me and of this far North.
western country where | have located, ]
undertake the task of giving them such
information through the columns of your
paper.
Three years ago, when | first took up
my abode in this place, it was strictly a
frontier country, there being but few set.
tiers west of us, brit the tide of emigra.
tion is ever moving westward, and now
we are ranked among the old settlements
the country to the west having been par.
TALLY settled as far as the state line and
even beyond.
Our county lies on the north, or,
rather northeast side of the Minnesota
river, extending up and down the river
about forty miles and coutains about
sixteen townships, each six miles square.
1t is mostly prairie. A belt of timber
along the Minnesota and Chippewa Riv-
ers, containing seven or eight thousand
acres, constitutes our only native supply
of fuel, fencing and building material,
with the exception of here and there
small pieces of timber scattered over the
prairie along the borders of the lakes.
Most of our building material and fenc-
ing are supplied from the vast pineries
which cover the northern part of the
state.
We have one of the finest wheat and
vegetable soils in the world, being a
deep, rich calcareous loan ON a clay
subsoil. Nearly every foot of land ex-
cept the bluffs along the rivers is tilla-
bic. There is no waste land.
Nearly one half of the land in the
county is owned by railroad corporations
under grant.
All available lands along the river
and for ten miles back are taken under
the homestead or pre- emption laws.
Farther back than that there is still
government land to be had.
Ii is wonderful to see, how, within
very short period Of time, this wild, un-
inhabited prairie (uninhabited except by
the blood thirsty Sioux, has been settled
and subdued and turned from wilder
ness into garden, by the superior intel.
ligence and industry of the white man.
Where but short time ago these wide
prairies we're nothing but sea of wild
grapes, they are now thickly dotted with
the houses or huts of the settlers.
| say huts-many of the habitations
of our Norwegian farmers can hardly
claim the dignity of so high a name |
They are more properly hovels-being
simply square holes cut into the sides of
knolls, with timbers erected over them |
for rafters and the whole covered over |
with the dirt excavsted from the living
apartments, being thatched first with |
straw to prevent the dirt from falling
through. And some of our American
ettlers, even, live in these gopher holes.
There are many large farms under
cultivation already, in this county, con-
aiming from fifty to one hundred acres
If plowed lands, and some even more.
This county will SOW, this year, about
EN- thousand acres of wheat. Wheat is
'ur staple product, being the only one
which can be turned Immediately into
ash, by hauling it to the nearest rail-
oad station. More anon.
JAY EMMEss.