The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-04-11
Our Colony.

the compass. For several months
project has been on foot in our midst
originated and carried forward through
the exertion and enterprise of Hon
Jno. G. Hall. The whole plan woult
have been laid before our readers Ions
ere this, had not the seal of secrecy
been placed on our pen until sucf
time as the fruit Of the plan was ripe
for the plucking. We will briefly
state the object and plan of the scheme
as we understand it. Mr.. Hall has
several thousand acres of land lying
west of this village in the section be.
tween the mouth of Island run and q
point near the Reed farm on the
Brookville road. 1t is proposed to lay
this land off into twenty acre plots,
and to give actual settlers one of these
under certain conditions, and two of
the plots to be reserved by the owner,
and so on alternately; twenty acres
given away and forty acres reserved.
Several communications have ap-
peared in the Welt Bote, a German
paper, of extensive circulation, pub
lished at Allentown, this State, in re-
ply to which more than an hundred
letters have been received from differ
ent sections of the country. In reply to
those letters a circular was printed in
German, and sent to each applicant.
The circular giving fair account of
the county, as the kind of land, wood,
water, ETC., found here, it further set
forth that this was not land of milk
and honey, but that stout heart with
a few hundred dollars to back it
would undoubtedly enable a man to
make for himself home in the woods.
The Surveyors are at work now lay
ing off the land, and in q few weeks
we may expect several families to
come here ready to make a pleasant
valley, busy with active energy, where
now isa silent forest. The settlement
was intended, in the mind of its pat
ron, to be one composed of Germans,
as they are admitted to be an indus
trious, frugal, and patient class, and
these qualifications, are certainly
needed to Carve homes out of, and sup
port families in the primeval forest.
Several of those intending to come
have been already on the land spoken
of, and express themselves as we'll
pleased with the land and are anxious
to come as soon as the chance is given
them to locate their place. Of those
nearly all have few hundred
dollars which is undoubtedly neces-
sary to have when starting in this
kind of an enterprise, and in fact none
others than those having sufficient
money to start with are encouraged.
The pine, popular, and hemlock tim
ber, together with the hemlock bark,
are reserved by the owner, and the set
tiers paid by the day for cutting the
timber and peeling the bark thus CIV
Ingt them an opportunity to earn
money to help them along. Two men
from Pittsburgh have signified their
Intention of purchasing the forty acres
besides the twenty acres they
get gratis, thus showing that they, at
east, are in earnest about the matter. |
The Messrs. Hyde have agreed to furn-
sh the lumber, necessary for building,
o those desiring it, taking claim on
he land as security, and giving long
ime for the payment of the debt thus
incurred. We predict that this enter
'rise will in the course of few years
1--WE us, what is much needed, in view
If the fact that our forests are being
aid low, our hemlock bark becoming
carce, and all our natural resources,
ailing us, hardy, industrious and
prosperous class of farmers who will |
id, year by year, to the wealth and
liability of our county. This land
With proper. treatment, will yield
lmost anything that you may wish,
orn, potatoes, wheat, buckwheat,
vegetables etc. And certainly no
ounty is more naturally adapted to
razing than this, and the production
butter and cheese, articles which
will for all time command a liberal
ash price in the markets of the world.
here is no natural reason why Elk
ounty butter should not become as
as Chautauqua or Orange
oh g., af, |
'ill be another enterprise which will
blow an abundance of milk as natur-
lily as the night follows the day.
'hese things will give us a stable ex-
'tence, and a steady supply of money,
'hich will not depend so much on
ncertanties as do hemlock boards
nd square timber. There is no fear,
) many have tried to argue, of race
f paupers being foisted on the town
nip, but instead valuable class of
'ugal, industrious citizens. Rev. I.
reneman has been of great service to
he enterprise in helping to receive
nd answer communications etc., and
'e will here state that in no other
tanner is he an interested party. AS
he work progresses we will lay before
ur readers, from time to time the de-
ills and the measure ofprogress.
The Four Rules.
ash Payment I lived up to have !
made Wanamaker &
One Price Brown the LARG-