Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-01-08

brothers of Republican antecedents
will see their folly and come back to
their good old party, and we will re-
ceive you with outstretched arms.
Yours truly, A. M.
Our City as Seen by Eastern Eyes.
Mr.. w. A. Wcart, of New jersey, a
few weeks since, while here to pay the
last sad tribute Of affection to his de-
ceased brother, the late J. NJ. Wcart,
took some notes of our city, its insti-
tutions and business, and on his re-
turn thus records his impressions in
the HopewelI On. j. Heraid..
Twenty years ago Independence
consisted of six dwellings; to-day it
has population of three thousand
inhabitants. Our visit was sad one,
to attend the funeral of brother
After the funeral rites were perform
ed, we looked around to see the place
and its surroundings. We found it Il
very pretty, thrifty, busy place, with
well laid out streets, goo sidewalks,
and Main street the busy portion of
the town, with beautiful stores, the
buildings being three stories, built of
brick and all the same height, which
added very much to their appearance,
| and the windows were as attractive
in appearance rs the best portions of
the business center IN the city of
Trenton.
The place contains two Banks, two
Newspapers, five Churches-Prcsby-
terrain, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopa-
liam and Roman Catholic-two pub
lie school buildings, both very large
and very handsome, being three and
four stories high, Court House--In-
dependence being the county seat
and all of the public buildings of
splendid architectural design.
1t was our privilege to attend the
Presbyterian church, Sabbath morn
ing, and we heard good sermon, by
the pastor, Rev. Phelps. l would
make n special mention Of the sing
ing by the choir of that church, as it
was of no ordinary character. The
voluntary at the Introductory part of
the service was admirably rendered,
as well as the hymns, and great cred
it must be given Dir. Whitney, the
leader, for the proficiency to which
he has brought the choir; and also
Mrs. Currier, the soprano singer,
whose voice is very fine. In the
evening we attended the same church
and listened to an address on Tenn
perance, by Mrs. Foster, of Clinton,
Iowa, who was thoroughly convers-
ant with her subject, and spoke for
one hour to a crowded house in a
mastery manner, full of pathos and
true to the letter, and made Il happy
hit on the political parties for the
bait held out for the German vote.
Another prominent feature of this
place is the -four mill on the Wapsi-
pinicon. We were shown through
the establishment by one of the pro-
prietors, Mr.. Boggs, very familiar
name to us, and in order that the
readers of the Herald may have some
idea of the size of a Western mill, l
will give the dimensions: length ia
feet, width go feet, height lo7 feet,
and cost 100000. Its capacity for
storing is immense, grain of all kinds
is bought, corn principally on the
ear, some with the husks on. They
have patent process for grinding
flour by which the middlings are
made into the highest grade of
flour.
One day with our old friend Mr.. y.
Stout, formerly Of New Jersey, we
rode out on the prairie seven miles
south of the town, to the farm of
Jared S. Weart, formerly of Hope
well. His farm contains ls5 acres
Of excellent prairie land, with good
stream Of water running through, Il
good comfortable house. granary, and
good horse and cattle sheds, which
his neighbors thought he was foolish
in providing, but we conclude they
did not understand political economy
or they would have done likewise
We spent very pleasant day, and
on our return home saw one of the
pioneers of the prairie, q wolf, which
crossed the road a little way ahead of
lis, and when about forty yards off,
sat down and took a survey of us, rs
much as much as to say, "Fm mon
arch of all l survey"
We next visited the stock farm of
Mr.. +. Cobb, who settled there TWEEN
ty years ago. We found him very
pleasant, practical man, and he took
great pleasure in showing us around.
Our first look was at his dwelling
house and barn, on three acre lot,
in corporation limits, which were
built in the best manner.
The next point was one of his
stock yards, where go head of four
year-old steers were feeding for mar
ket this winter. His plan for feeding
is corn on the ear, or snapped" as
he terms it, breaking the cob from
the stalk with the husk on, and when
the cattle were done feeding, 40 hogs
were let in to clean up the refuse, SO
there was nothing lost. He next took
us to stock yard No. 9, which was
new building, 200 feet long and 26
wide, which was boarded up tight,
with sliding doors, and in which he
stored 1876 head of three-year-olds,
and so no storm or wind could touch
them. The water trough was inside
the building, and supplied by we'll
with windmill to do the pumping,
which furnishes full supply Of wa
ter all the time.
The range of this lot of cattle was
forty acre field, in which he had
corn, and plants with corn every
year, and which gave him this year
60 bushels of shelled corn to the acre.
The other three fields containing 40
acres each, was in grass and all now
ed, giving two tons to the acre, ma
king 240 tons of hay, which would
feed the 200 head Of cattle through