Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1880-12-09
Correspondence Gallipolis Joprnsl.
Our Western Country.
BY E. A. STONE.


mission / wish to place before yo
numerous and, generally, intellge
readers some facts concerning Of
western country, which l have, in pa
at least, learned since leaving so
! Gallia."
Since my recollection-and by I'll
way am but boy yeti was thougl
that when family emigrated to eiths
of the States of Illinois or Iowa. the
had gone to the "Far, Far, West" Th
neighbors and friends with sorrowfr
faces and hearts, oh how sad gathere
at the "Old Homestead" to say the la,
Goodbye, and wish them God speed o
their perilous journey.
What was then considered the ''Fa
West," is to-day the central portion @
our great commonwealth. Then Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Michiga
were considered the great grain an
stock producing sections Of the nation
West of Illinois and Iowa all was
blank-the home of the 'Red Man
and wild beast.
Since that time, California, Oregon
Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado
have been added rs States of the Union
and now. while the masses of th'
people in the older States are thinking
| but little about it; before the might.
car of human progress, the Indian and
the buffalo, the wild horse and wilder
game, are fleeing in dismay, with theil
despairing faces turned toward the
setting sun.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana ani
Michigan are no more considered the
| grain growing and stock producing
| sections of our commonwealth. During
! the months of October and November
| 1879, there were received and reshipped
at the City of Omaha, Nebraska, alone
that were raised in the States and Ter
| ritories west of that city 62 ,046, 80:
pounds of beef cattle. The receipts al
the same point for the years 1873 and
1879 were 12l,000 and l57 $50 head
respectively. 81 ...t
Going still farther west, take the ex.
treme northwestern portion of the
United States, Washington Territory,
and we find that in the eastern portion
of that Territory alone. being that
portion bordering on the Columbia
River, there were produced In 1879,
l 800, ,000 bushels OF wheat, while cattle
and sheep, numbered by the thousand,
roam at will over her boundles prairies.
Then take Oregon-twin sister of
Washington, though now advanced to
the degree of State, and we find that
during the same year-l879-she pro-
duced 5,25l ,l02 bushels of wheat, 2, $685.
0S6 of oats, 2s9, ,70S of barley, 1850, ,002
lbs of wool, and l ,555, ,29s lbs of butter,
and had 276,4 ,446 head of cattle and
70, ,966 head of horses.
Then take the States of Colorado and
Nevada, and Territories Of Wyoming.
Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and
New Mexico, and leaving out of the
account all the cereals they produce, and
the almost countless thousands of horses,
cattle and sheep, the sales of which
amount to millions of dollars annually,
and 90 into those sections where huge
mountains rear their hoary heads above
the clouds, and there the sound of the
pick and the shovel in the hands of the
hardy miner will greet your ears. while
he digs the very heart and vitals from
out those giant mountains built by the
Architect Divine, in search OF silver
and gold.
Ever and anon, as you wind your
way along the narrow valleys, or up
the echoing canyon are to be found the
ECuuCliOu WOE ms anu
stamp mills, all laundering away both
day and night; while their fires drive
away the darkness, and light with their
lurid glare, mountain, valley and cam
yOn alike.
have not the figures at hand to give
the annual gross yield of the precious
metals in the Western States and Terri
tories, but know that they are simply
enormous, the little State of Nevada
alone yielding during the six years
ending January lst, 1873, $176, ,734, $50;
while the city of Omaha, during the
year 1879, received base metal and ore,
amounting to 3,249 car loads as freight,
$34, 1865 in gold bullion and coin,
and $l5,936, ,S43 in silver bullion and
coin, and all received by one railroad
the Union Pacific.
What country, who can compre-
hend its magnitude and its resources.
The figures that mark Its progress are
like those through which the dis
tances which separate planets and stars |
are measured. We can foot them up
and pronounce them correct, but to
say we comprehend them we cannot.
repeat "What country" In eight |
short weeks, Immediately after harvest,
there were shipped from the different
part of the I'm ted States over 80, ,000, 600 |
of bushels of corn and wheat, to supply |
the European markets with bread stuff. |
and Of this vast amount about three
fOurths or say thirty-five millions of
bushels. were raised in what we used
to call our "Western Country"
During the last fiscal year, the mints |
of the Nation have coined $84 $40, IA, |
nearly all of which has been dug from |
out the mountains and valleys of our
Western country, and during the same |
period of time 10,000,000 fresh acres
have been added to the farming lands
of the West, and turned upside down |
by husbandman's plow.
Go to any of the principal Railway |
Stations In the West and you will find |
all is life and animation. Trains arriv-
ing daily, almost hourly. All heavily |
laden with the different products OF the |
different sections of our country.
Capitalists, millionaire mine owners,
sharps, railway magnates and cattle |
kings, everything and everybody in
rush.
Take the city of Denver, Colorado, as
an instance of what Is being done In |
that newly fedged State. The town |
has sprung almost at single bound |
from a frontier settlement of a few
Inhabitants, to metropolitan |
city of 35, 600, In which, reliable author |
ity says, Two millions of dollars are |
being expended in the erection of build |
lngs during the present season; while
away up at the head waters of the Rio |
Grande, Durango, a new "Magic City,"
stretches forth her young right hand
to greet Dillon at the terminus of the |
Utah and Northern r. R. in Montana,
ninety miles northeast from where |
am now writing, and at the very head
waters of the Missouri. In each of
these cities twenty thousand dollars |
were paid for lots before they had been
offered one whole forenoon.
Soon all this vast, rich and fertile |
country can be reached in few days,
from any point in the Eastern States,
by rail.
In a few years it will be dotted by
farms and farm houses, the homes of
the now boys and girls of the East.