Mexico weekly ledger., 1880-02-12
4 Beautiful Land Under December Skies.

The westward movement continues
with undated interest and volume.
From the dense populations OF the older
American States and Provinces, the
British Islands, Western, Northern and
Central Europe, the surplus wealth OF
muscle, brain, heart, experience n
gold flows with steady increasing tide,
westward with the march Of empire.
Free homes and farms In Kansas, Ne
braska, Minnesota, and Dakota; cheap
railway lands In all the new prairie
States; the cotton fields and v~astreaches
Of pastoral land In Texas; the wheat
and corn fields and Unreasonable graz
ing grounds of Kansas and Nebraska;
the iiiimitable natural wheat fields Of
Minnesota, Dakota and Manitoba, and
the nmitless wealth Of the mining re-
gions beyond, have become a positive
aud irrasistihle attraction to millions,
who, impelled by want, avarice, ambition,
or the higher aims and impulses, are
finding their way to the modern immi-
grants Utopia, beyond the Mississippi.
Not one liz five hundred of all the anxious,
restless, reslstless throng that are NOV
ing westward, ever seriously thing Of
settling In Missouri. With all its wealth
of native resource, softness and equa-
bility Of climate, charms Of landscape
and unequaled advantage Of position, 1t
Is as much q terra ~iacognatG to the aver
age immigrant as the shores OF the Polar
Sea. And yet 1t cannot be denied that
NORTHERN MISSOURI
offers greater advantage of location, ell
mate, topography snil, agricultural re-
sources, cheap transportation, COM
meree, social and Intellectual amen1ty,
and all that goes to make up Easy, ra-
tional, enjoyable and Independent hui
man living, than any Of the regions to-
ward which tie eye and heart of the
immigrant turns to-day with hopeful
longing. Half d dozen years OF constant
travel over the great West, have made
the writer somewhat familiar with the
advantages, resources and drawbacks
of each and all the new States between
the Mississippi and the mountains, and
he viii do no Injustice to the natural
wealth, splendor and promise of the
New West by pronouncing Northern Mis-
souri, the richest and NEST desirable
field for settlement ana Investment now
open to men OF energy, experience,
practical talent and fair means. In
proof of this statement, l am pleased to
give the readers of the COMMERCIAL
ADVERTISER a fair and faithful sketch of
AUDRAIN COUNTY
] write Of this county with me more
pleasure because, OF late, there Is a grow
Ing desire among Eastern and Northern
people for accurate and reliable infor-
nation cocerning Northern Missouri and
because 1t Is In most respects q typical
county. 1t Is n of the newer coun-
ties OF Northeastern Missouri, its earliest
settlement only dating back to 1929 and
It's formal organization to 1886. 1t has
an area of 690d square miiss-441, 927
acres-not on hundred acres of arhich
G be condemned rs unavailable or
waste land. It has too.
Az ADMIRABLE LOCATION
on the summit OF the great divide" or
water shed, between the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers, with a near elevation
of $50 feet above the tides, is bounded on
the east by Pike and Montgomery coun-
ties; on the south by Montgomery,
Galloway and Boone Counties; on the
vest by Boone and Randolph counties;
OF the north by Monroe and Rails coun.
ties and In conjunction with the coun-
ties named, makes up one of the most
beautiful and productive agricultural re.
gioDs between the two oceans. It is In
the latitude of Cincinnati and Washing.
ton 2 has the same
MILD AND EQUABLE CLIMATE
that has given fame to Maryland ant
Northern Virginia FOR agreeable ant
ever temperature. It Is the happy mear
between the extremes of southern hea
and humidity and northern bleaknesi
the fair medium of temperature tina
0tCaa tho hfOhact atyoror On IF hno1fh anf
development to men and animals, tn,
widest range to agricultural production
and the most versatile and powerful
natural aids to Independent and enjoy
able living. The typical winter begin
with the holidays, ends with March ant
ts mild, dry and open, with slight an,
transient SHOWS. The summer Is lonI
and genial with breezy days and cool
resttul nights.
THE FAC OF TIE COUNTRY
liz fair and attractive, beyond the powe
OF my poor English to describe. In tn
central and eastern portions of tn
county, at the summit level, are broa
reaches of open plain or prairie lant
from whose margin the country dips wit
graceful incline, outward and downward
In sympathy with the %diverging watel
courses that dow down through grove
and green, grassy glades, intervals al
fringes of timber. and pretty, low-lyint
winding valleys, to where they are los
In the larger streams and forests. Hef
and there along these larger stream
may be seen a range of low hills, wit
occasional out-croppings of the lime roc
into wild, weird, picturesque forms, bt
the general aspect of the landscape
peaceful and pastoral, and from eve
IT, -&or hN~ n
magnificent natural park, to whose n,
tive charms the hands of man have adde
q Thousand graces of art In grain-flel
orchard, homestead, hedgerow and law
The
TIMBER SUPPLY
is alike ample and admirable. Fully
. per cent Of the county Is covered wi
groves OF, oak and larger forests OF GA
hickory, ash, elm, maple, hackbelr
sycamore, cottonwood, walnut and Ill
den. Fine white and burr oak and wa
nut timber for commercial use are
good supply. Every township is w
supplied with fencing and building tin
Der, and the local markets are We
stocked with hard and soft woods at I
ana So per cord. .
THE WATER SUPPLY
40 OQudA w dl pTo60uL dllu
needs Of the county. Salt River, Young
Hickory, Culver, Sanders, Loutre, Sew
Mile, GedAr, Sailing, Skull Lick, Lie
Littlebyls Elm. Five Nile, Goodwate
Little Skull Lick, Beaver Dam, Long 81
Short creeks, and Long, Johns, Haz'
Fish. Mayes, Possun, Big, Brushy al
Pisgah branches, with numerous spring
living wells and artificial ponds give
iull supply Of pure and wholesoi
water to every portion Of the county.
THE GOAL MEASURES
OF the county are among its commando
resources. There are good grounds
Che popular belief that the whole cou
ty IL underlald with coal. The o,
groupings along the larger streams a
- ravines, and the very superficial exp
rattons made, disclose bright, well
fined veins, Is to so Inches thick, viii
are easily worked by stripping" a
drifting. The supply is a1nple enou
to meet the local demand for centur
and the quality among the finest OF |
soft bitnmfnous coels, The local M
kets are fully supplied at $3.50 per ton
tfsi LIME STONE
Of free stratiication and Of exceIl
quality for building purposes is found
es inexhaustible squarriea at o0nveni
polnts throughout the county.
u 81 .aIE THE soM
h generally q dark alluviaL from tve