The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-01-27
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What Was seen by the Way:

Wa are permitted TO- take The following
sxtzaots from . private letter written by
Mr.: F. H. Dam toa geutlemsuiu THU city. It
y dated q Ban Francisco, Jan. l2tht:, =,
CATER month Of drifting around, I
have arrived It hi. place. LOOKED thru
many Of the larger places and m.nufactur-
ing towns in Wisconsin, Michigan,
Indiana aid Illinois. L 4 found
no place where the people did, not
complain of hard times, and i'd nany pla-
CO they had good reason p !; for ID nearly
every one l found, about ons-half Of the
mechanics and working classes out Of en-,
ploynsnt, and the remainder x more In
dustrioas ones At work for what thty could
get. ! talked with , great many skilled
.workmen Of most every trade, and many of
them were getting le.s than 81 90 PER day.
They call it hard times, and tho parties
who employ them also talk hard times
In Chicago \ few seem 70 be making mon
~, but there 10 the same cry ofhatd times.
l have seen whole cities, three timnes the
size Of St. Cloud, that seemed to be doing
nothing whatever in the way Of building
or improvements. All the laboripg popu-
lation seemed to be without work, where
there was plenty to do in sight, in: the way
Of repairing fences, roofs and walks and in
painting, to have employed thousand
men for year. Whole towns appeared to
he ready-made and for sale. have en-
deavored to ind, out all I could in, regard
to the business and advantages Of the pla.
ces through which I have passed, and Of
the hopes of their people, and in not one
single instance have found 4 locality that
did not have its disadvantages. ..,..,,
"ThePlattsr Valley would b a
splendid place to make large farm in, il
it had timber for ,fencss and building pur-
poses, but all the timber for hundreds Of
miles would scarcely keep St. Cloqd in fl.
el for one winter, to say nothing Of fencing.
There are few farms At 6rst along the
railrosd, but there are no building, Q,
fences. The cattle ne all .herded. II
looks lonesome to SO such broad expanse
Of country unsettled The fuel comes ia
this part Of the valley from the we.t dis:
tancs Of 800 miles, and costs $12 to "a ps,
ton for soft coal. talked with our herde,
who had charge Of $1,000 hs.d:of cattle in
the valley Of the North Platte. Cattle
raising seems 70 b, quite :: business, but
he told me that It would soon. b oyerdone;
~ the ranges were getting poor very fast.
'The towns along the road which attain
to such pretentions are nearly al 'shanty'
towns. There are . few good buildings in
some of the larger ones
"At Cheyenne there il good deal o.
Black Hills fever, and hundred or more
persons leave every week for Gustav City.
There are seven companies of troops here
but the government is doing nothing t.
prevent the gold-seekers from going.
\ 1.-THE weather is very pleasant
Grass is about six inches high, while tree.
of the evergreen variety; such as live oak,
and several kinds of shrubs, make tn.
country look very inviting to = Northern
man. As soon ~ 1 look around here,
shall go south, then up north and return
going to Carson and Virginia City, Ne
vada."