Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-08-09
NEBRASKA.
A New Coaafry and .SeW settlements =
ne Hish. Black Sota and Ita
TeemisE PrOduetions, Efe-
From an Occasional Correspondent

From an Occasional JorrespOndent.l
HASTINGS. NEBRASKA, August 8,
4 1874 "A Memphian sees here many
novel sights aud experiences some
new sensations. This town sits quietly
down upon the face Of a broad, open.
upland prairie. It Is on the "divide"
/ between the Platte and Republican riv-
ers. There is no timber in sight. On
the streams timber may be found, ffom
ten to twenty miles away; bur in sight
shere is nothing but the high, open,
I rolling prairie, as far as the eye can
/ reach. The air is clear, dry, and seems
radfied, so that al increased sense Of
I distance Is given to distant Objects
Even the moon and stars at night seem
/ farther from the earth than they do at
/ the east. ALI these circumstances COM
( bine to produce the impression that one
! is here away on top Of al the earth, the
/ sense OF which Is heightened by the
| sparse occupation of Z e soil by the in
/ habitauts For this IS q new country.
I 1t has been settled only two years. The
] s'oldest iRhAbitant" points out to you
/ the oldest and the next oldest house,
1 built two years ago, in this little city,
/ Just made city, which now claims If
/ teen hundred inhabitants; and shows
/ you where, less than two years ago, be
I struck out . new road over the then
! traeklass pTairies. Now the public roads
pass at Tight-angles along Uncle Sans
Z section-lines, and the hard-working farm
/ ers are putting up their small cottages
and stables, and in every township the
I common scnOOlhouse rears It's modest
/ head, and invites the daily atten-
/ dance of the eh ldren of the immi-
I grant and the settler. But there are
/ no fences. No one has yet had time to
I build fence. Even in this little city,
/ with its two or three churches, its fine
I two-story sehooIhouse, its weekly news
paper, its two railroad stations, and its
/ dozen of merchants who club together
and buy and ship their goods from the
east by the carload, there are not six
fenced or enclosed lots. AL the little
towns on these broad prsiries appear in
4 the distance like ltoy-bouses set down
upon a lawn. The farms are only
worked by four or five plowed furrows;
and the laws permit cattle to go at large,
! but they must be under the herdsman's
I charge. This is destined 10 be 3
[ splendid agricultural region. The soil is
rich black loan, ttuo and one hall feet
? thick. | have never visited 3 region
where farming seems so easy business.
At this early day farmers are deriving
GOOD revenue from their toll. 1t is the
/ harvest time, and the wheat and oats,
lie very first crop on these prairits, are
E0w in process Of reaping, stOcsing and
J-eshing. Machines do the work, and
lh1 "Marsh harvester" is the fayorite
aper. Toe yield of grain is good for
Inc first time. But the corn crop has
l been this year ruined by the festive
grasshopper, which has come and done
its work, stayed here nine days, and is
now gone. The nine days wonder will
be twelve months disaster to many
poor farmer, for the corn which, when /
came here two weeks ago, was growing
grand!y, now presents nothing
out rows OF eornstalks. The raw
ages OF this pest, this worse
than Egyptian plague, are 50 won
derful as to be almost astounding. In
many places the gardens are completely
devastated. But the farmers try to be
lieve that like scOurge may never visit
them again, which is probable; aud the
sturdy pioneer sOes 20 town, buys on
credit lield-moweI and hOrse-rake
and goes at once TO cutting hay on the
unOccupied part of the prairie, hoping
TO pay for his machines this year and
have hay to feed his stock during the
/ long wiuteT, in place Of the fodder the
scouFge has destroyed. In the winters
| the horses AID cattle are sheltered in
stables built out Of the heavy prairie sod,
which is warm enough for their co nfort
and solid enough 10 resist the gales that
often sweep across the pEairies. Two
railroads here furnish facilities for travel
and for shipping products to eastern
markets, and it would seem that grain Is
raised here so eheaply that the great ex-
/ pense Of reaching q market will bear
/ less heavily on the pr ducer. The Bur-
/ liDgton and Missouri river railroad in
/ Nebraska, an eXl ensIOl Of the Chicago,
/ Burlington and Quincy railroad in Illi-
nOis, runs from Omaha and PlattsmOuth
I westward through Lincoln, tie capital
of the State, and from this point to a
| junction with the Union Pacific at Kear-
ney, forty miles west of here. The St.
/ Joseph and Denver railroad runs from
| St. Joseph nOrthwestwsrily to this
I point, whence its cars will run over the
other road to Kearney; md now thffd
road has been graded, from Grand Island
on the Union Pacific southwark to this
point, whence it will some day be ex-
tended to southern Kansas and Arkan-
sas. This is progress in the west; and
all this new and wonderful region, and
these many avenues Of freight and
travel, could be reached from Memphis
by the construction of our road to Kan
sas City. P.