Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-01-23
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! We NAnt 70 ny TO our farmer
friends and, for that matter, to every
body visiting 4Ottumwa, for business
oftlsAsuts, 70 10 and see our water
power, and st the same time take {
View Of the water-works Of the city
|now,fn successful operation.
This water power has finally been
stained by the most persistent and
findefatigable labor and large ex.
pendituro Of means, by enterprising
citizens. It has been . hard struggle
and good deal Of the time carried
on under gloomy circumstances.
This great water power enterprise
is now solidly and permanently on
its feet. About one hundred thou
sand dollars, from first to last, have
been invested in II. 1t 10 practically
under the management Of 8. L. Wiley,
of Greenfield, sachusetts, . prac-
tical water power man, and also, q
practical manufacturer. He knows
what good water power is, and af-
ter looking over this Of ours, simply
indicated that he had knowledge of
Of mighty good thing, when be saw
Il. He has already investsd . large
amount Of money in the work and
will invest In the NEXT three years, .
great deal more.
Now we want to give our opinion
about the future Of this great enter
prise. 1t is now just In its infancy,
yet that infancy demonstrates the
one thing, that the power is there and
that 1t is at least three times O. cheap
as steam power. This cheap power
is sure to be the means Of securing to
US extensive manufactures.
We may be accounted visionary,
and II so, it will not be the first time
that we have been 80 adjudged, but
we want to remark now that the man
don't live among us to-day who can
fully estimate the wonderful growth
and prosperity that this wster power
Is to give to this city in the next If
teen years. Five years will SO edu-
cate us that we may be able to catch
a glimpse of what the future may do,
but now it cannot be fully realized
by any one, and ninety-nine-hun-
dredths Of our people have very little
conception Of 1t. @A
Ottumwa II magaificently situated
for becoming manufacturing mart
Of national importance. The reasons
for this are: We have already ex-
cellent railroad facilities and with
our rapid growth 4 certainty of in
creased facilities. We have abun-
dance of stone and stone coal; the
Des Moines valley above and below
lis, is stocked with excellent timber.
good for many kinds OF msnufactur-
ing, which is something rare in our
prairie country; we are surrounded
by magnificent and quite densly
populated farming community and
lastly, as commercial city, there is
none nearer than rs miles of us which
at all reaches our standard and conse-
quently the reputation of the place is
now far in advance Of oil cities who
can compete with us for the traffic of
. vast local trade, and in a wholesale
line onr merchants now cover . ter
ritory with their trade, commensu-
rate with the state, at least, wherein
they successfully compete with all
others.
1t is not too much to confidently
look for the employment, in this city,
within ten years, of half million
dollars of capital in manufacturing,
and this turning out yearly, three mil
lion dollars worth of manufactured
articles.
Some may say this is an extrava-
CANT counting Of chickens before they
are hstched. In reply we say we are
willing to risk our guess in the mat
ter and have full faith in its verifica-
ton.
Farmers of Wapello county should
our predictions prove true, You, IS
we'll as those of US in the city, will
reap great benefit from this pros
perity. Many of the articles you use
in agriculture you will get at home
and the hands employed will be fed
by the products of your farms. In
other words, the farmers Of this coun-
ty as producers, and the citizens who
make many of the articles the far.
mers buy, will be brought together
as neighbors and tens Of Thousands
Of dollars yearly paid out for trans
portation will be saved. Go and
take q survey of our water power,
now, and then bear in mind what we
now say Of Its future and treasure it
up, looking for the yerifcation or the
contradiction Of what we have said
above as to what acM be ten years
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