Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-12-20

suV' unlieo
Estimated weight Of iron for nails,
hsh-bars, bolts and spikes, 100
tons per mile ,SoV,uVV VOis
Railroad cars lKeiy 10 be built
during 1850, l25,OOO eonsuming4
tons per .-......' oVV,OVV 'oils
Ten per cent for repairs Of old cars
100. OOO now In existeneel....-.... lbO,9OO tons
1Otal............... N"i.9
The above, it will be seen, does not
include iron for locomotives.
WHERE tue MOTIVE POWER COMES FROM.
These figures may appear almost
startling to such portion OF the public
as have not had an adequate idea of the
wonderful growth OF the country, but
one has not far to look for the most sub
stantial and satisfactory reasons Tor
them. From the land Office reports il
can be ascertained that during the ten
wears closing June so, 1879, the govern
ment sold for cash 81 600, go acres OF
land, besides large tracts under the
Homestead act. Mr.. Robert 7. Porter,
a careful collector OF facts and figures,
writing in a recent number OF the hter-
NATIONAL Rerieir upon this subject, says:
''The present immigration, especially,
perhaps, in Minnesota, is unparalleled
i'm the history of any OF the States, and
it is accompanied by a demand for rail-
road and public land unprecedented.
The offices OF the Northern Pacific, St
Paul and Sioux City and other rail-
roads with lands 10 dispose OF, are
daily crowded with applicants for the
purchase OF the new wheat lands in the
Dakota region, while the government is
literally besieged with claimants und-r
the homestead and pre-emptlon laws IN
q manner surprising all previous expert
ence, even OF the great immigration
West from 1886 10 1857. During the
three months ending November 80.
1874. the different land offices OF the
United States government in Minnie
sofa disposed Of 429, 40 acres. The
reilroad companies sold IN the same
time $50, l36 acres OF land in Minnesota
and Dakota. In all over a million acres
OF land were appropriated to actual set
Element in the two Red river States in
these three months, and most OF it in
the immediate water shed OF that river.
The general summary for the quarter
ending March 81, 1873, IN the district OF
Minnesota alone showed a sale OF POO,
S7l acres. In 1871 there was scarcely
settlement along the route Of the North
ern Pacific road either in Dakota or the
Red river valley. Within the past year
or two all this is changed. The district
it travels is now enlivened by tine influx
Of settlers whose houses, stores, schools,
churches and other appliances OF civil
lzed life are dotting the surface in all di-
rections, and during the past year a
Quarter of a million OF acres OF land
have been opened for cultivation, and
sixtv-fve thousand souls have been
brought into the country, to which hum
dreds are being added every day
When il is borne in mind that the
above picture, faithfflly drawn and
amply cOrroborat d ir m o h r sourC 60
might be extended more than ten times
ID cover other regions which present
similar scenes Of change and busy in
dustFy where there was lately but the
silent forest and prairie, the magnitude
of The railroad operations Tor 1880 will
not, after all, appear SO much marvel,
but will become readily Ineligible rs a
response to the actual requirements OF
an active and numerous industrial pOpu-
latiOn.