The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-08-06
STEARNS COUNTY.
AMONG THE REAPERs, !
STEARNS Co. July 9th 1874

sTEARNs Co., July 18th, 1874. J
EDITOR JoURNAL.-In my last commune
cation l promised to send some more items
to the leading paper of the State, and since
lts appearance in its ne,u dress feel bound
TO redeem my pledge. Leaving Sank Gen.
tire in its prosperity, took the mail route
which runs in south-westerly course to
Benson on the St. Paul & Pacific railway.
After leaving the valley of the Sank river,
struck the most beautiful rolling prairie
Imaginable, with soil UNSURPASSED in
stearns county and perhaps in the State
For the first six miles the country is rather
sparsely settled owing to the land belong
ing to spectators. On nearing the
TOWNSHIP OF RAYMOND
different aspect presents itself to view.
Nearly every available quarter section is
taken by homesteaders and is under cult
walton. Farms we'll fenced, good roads,
waving fields of grain and comfortable hous-
es greet the eye Nine miles out brings us
to Raymond P. O. and the home of Mr.. L.
B. Raymond. Learning that he was a
Yankee, l was induced to stop and ask few
questions concerning the growth of this
community. found him in the harvest
held driving reaper cutting fax, of which
ne has AZ acres. He says this is his first
raising Of this plant, and that he is no Judge
OF its productiveness in comparison with
wheat, but its wonderful growth this year
must make it paying crop. He has 1875
acres in crop this year-85 being in wheat.
lie tells me that his three sons and himself
intend to do their harvesting, with dauph-
ter, IA years old, to occasionally drive the
reaper.
Eight years since this was an
UNBRoKEN, UN1NHAB1rED PRAIRIE.
Then Mr.. Raymond, with ten of his neigh
bors, left the soldiers in the stockade at
Sank Centre and located here, and most of
them remain and hope soon to reap the
benefit of their early privations. The town
numbers over 400 inhabitants mostly Amer
leans. Two churches or meeting houses
and four school houses comprise the public
buildings. One thing notice here which
aids much in identifying the surroundings
OF these prairie homes, and that is the cul-
tivation Of shade and ornamental trees. a.
thing many settlers neglect, but which all
might have. noticed grove of poplars
in Mr.. Raymond's yard some ii feet high,
only four years from the seed.
l found the people mostly
REPUBLICAN CHANGERS.
Mr.. Raymond says he has been identified
with the Wing and Republican parties for
IS years and still sails under the FLAG. He
says there are wrongs in the party that will
need rlghting or the ship will pass into the
hands OF new owners, but he has no faith
that the Changers will right it, for he thinks
they are adopting the evils they intended to
eradicate.
The farmers in this section are somewhat
excited just now by the discovery of the
BLIGHT IN THE WHEAT.
Its effects are plainly to be seen in riding
by the fields. Instead of the golden color
which healthy wheat presents in ripening, it
has pale, whitish appearance, resem-
bling the work of chinch bugs. Barley and
early-sown oats are all right but late-sown
oats are going the same as wheat.
How extensive the damage will prove to be
will be learned by those who are so fortu-
nate as to be readers of The JOURNAL.
TRAVELLER.