The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-09-01
ACROSS THE COUNTRY BY RAIL.

rivers, and Lincoln creek How through
this county. TIE population of Sew
ard county is about 5000. The lands
here are very fertile, and generally
level, with slope enough, however, to
make draining easy. Denton, situate
on the line o: Rail Road, is a fiourishing
village, Seward, place of perhaps 500
inhabitants, is the county seat, and is
situate on the Midland Pacific RR.
Crete, in Saline county, is the most
important town west of Lincoln ON the
line of this road. 1t is place of one
thousand inhabitants, situate on the
Blue River at the junction of the Bea-
tricc branch rail road with the b. &
n. That this town will be one of much
Importance in the near future there
can be no doubt. 1t is destined to
be a great manufacturing point, as
the Blue here furnishes an immense
amount of water power, and its valley,
settled as it will shortly be, with an
energetic and numerous population
demanding the products of the facto-
ries in exchange for the products of the
soil, cannot but insure its success.
Salem county now has population of
more than 5000, an increase of over
one hundred per cent. since 1870.
There are extensive lime stone quar-
ries in this county. The country at
Beatrice, and along the branch of the
road, is the finest in Nebraska, if not
in the West. Indeed, this whole Blue
River country is unsurpassed i'll rich
ness and beauty.
Fillmore county is composed of fer
tile table lands, and rich bottom lands
in the valleys. Fairmont is beauti-
full village of eight hundred people,
among the number is a native of Han
cock, William Strother, who is one of
the editors of the FairIpont EapOsitOr.
Will tells me that he is entirely pleased
with the country, and speaks with en-
Fairmont and Fillmore county. L do
not wonder at his pride in his new
home, for it certainly is splendid
country, and his town is one of the
best business places on the road.
Harvard, in Clay Iounty is a new
prosperous village, in II fine prairie
country. | met few Buckeyes here,
who expressed their satisfaction with
the country.
The greater portion Of the lands in
Adams county are of tlo choicest farm
ing kinds, and ready market is had at
the flourishing villages of Hastings and
Juniata, the latter of which is the coun-
try town. Hastings is at the junction
of st. 10 & Denver, with the b. & III.
route This county furnishes but a
specimen of the rapidity with which
this part of Nebraska is settling up.
In 1870 the population of this county
was nineteen, now it is over 5000.
After passing Kenesaw and several,
new villages, we arrive at the Platte
again. Much, very much of the coun-
try for the last fifty or sixty miles is
new, and awaits the enterprising pio-
neer. In the way of buildings the set
tiers can get along reasonably we'll for
a year or two, with the most primitive
kind. Indeed, u Nebraska stable usu-
ally consists of stake driven in the
ground, to which one end of a rope is
attached. The horse is stabbed by ty-
ing the other end of the rope around
his leg. The building of dwelling
houses is not SO expensive rs one would
imagine, as lumber can be had almost
as cheaply along the line OF this road
as at points farther East.
Here we are at the sight of old Ft.
Kearney, not many years since one of
the frontier military posts, but now
dismantled end removed, and sur
rounded by the home of the peaceful
settler. Only few years ago all this
broad beautiful valley was the home
of the Indian and the buffalo, no white
man but the trader ventured here.
This, the scene OF many a bloody con-
fiict between the different Indian
tribes, aye, and between the whites
and Indians. This beautiful day, as
we contemplate the scene, it is one of
peaceful quiet. The hum of industry
only is heard. The iron horse with his
train of coaches laden with happy
travellers, or the rich products of the
country passes swiftly by, and the
husbandman and his family enjoy in
peace the fruits of their labor. and
none daFo .noiest or make them
afraid In this beautiful region, and
with this bracing atmosphere, one can
not but teel exhilarated, and conse-
quently proud that he is an American
citizen, proud of his country, proud of
its extent, beauty and wealth, and one
can excuse our Yankee prediction of
Boosting of our country, after having
once contemplated its extent. In ga
ziDg upon the site of The old Fort, /
could not but recall the days of 40, the
days of the gold fever l we'll remem-
ber when it was announced that the
gold seekers from Findlay had arrived
at Ft- Kearney on the Platte river, we
thought they had got clear beyond
even the reach of civilization. That
they had got so far West, it was doubt
tul whether they would ever be able to
find their way back Our imaginations
had coniured up all kinds of hardships
and dangers in that far off West, and
no doubt many longing wish for a re-
turn, went back from the heart of the
weary eInigrant, as he contemplated
the almost Unreasonable distance be.