The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-07-01
THE GREAT WEST.
Resources of the Lands Beyond the Mis-
sissippi.

Ihe United StateS is as yer cOmpara
lively in its infancy. Heretofore popu'
lation has been confined to the eastern
portion of the continent, even though j,
is much of it rough and unproductive
The richer portion, the central, was hid
away until now. Men travelled over it.
and said it was desert or valueless
Grasshoppers swarmed from it, and men
said people never can live there; but
they are living there, and thousands more
are coming. Some of the land that was
called worthless may now be bought for
five dollars per acre, other for twenty-five
dollars, and there is considerable call for
it. For example, the demand this year
for lands in tue Red River Valley of the
North has been unprecedented. In
April the st. Paul, Minneapolis g. Man
itoba Railroad Company sold 81, ,401
acres; and since January l, 1880, this
company has sold 11S ,O39 acres, the ave.
rage price being four dollars and seventy
three cents per acre. Undoubtedly,
other land-g grant roads have sold in the
same proportion.
1t may be asked if there is much of
this land. Looking from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific we see an area 2 4-l0
times as large as all that part of the
Union east Of that river to the Atlantic.
This great West would make thirty-seyen
States as large as Illinois, which was
once called large State. When this
western territory is as densely populated
as Illinois was in 1870 even, it will have
over ninety-six million people, whereas
it now has only one-fifth our population.
Surely there is much land yet to be pos
sessed, of the very best sort, too-some
of it.
An observing traveller in western Ne
braska recently said: "The land here
was trodden down hard by the buffalo
and herds of cattle roaming over it. So
that when rain fell it did not penetrate
below the dry sod; but as soon as the
land is broken up, and the soil pulver-
lied on the surface, the rain vets down
in some places fifteen feet" If this be
true, we may expect that all these vast
grazing areas will be cut up into farms,
and owned by the industrious people who
come to the agricultural States to make
themselves homes. This same gentle
man said: "Some idea of the rush of
emigrants to Nebraska this year could be
gathered from the fact that on the first
week Of March, 1879, the Chicago, Bur
lington & Quincy Railroad took sixty
three car loads Of emigrants into Ne.
braska at Plattsmouth !; while on the
first week of March, 1880, the same COM
pany took 169 car loads of emigrants
into the State at the same place" This
is only repetition of what is being done
on all the trunk lines from St. Louis to
Duluth.
What are the possibilities of this great
land? 1t is the land of bread. Take
Illinois and Iowa-the former has 95,-
462, 400 acres, the latter 81, 22S,8O0. In
one year Illinois produced 2S3,081 800
bushels Of corn, 25, ,S29,026 of wheat, and
&c, $40, ,146 of oats; and both States pro-
duced 519 9,332,772 bushels of corn, wheat
and oats. Minnesota has So, $50
acres, and of this Al 100000 arabic land.
In one year, with one-tenth of this forty
million acres under the plow, its soil pro.
duced 81, ,475,000 bushels of wheat, 15,-
775,O00 of corn, and 9,500,000 of oats.
making Sc, ,250, 900 in all; when the full
capacity of the State is called for, it can
produce half billion bushels. But
west of her is Dakota, almost three times
as large as Illinois, and from present
prospects will surpass even Minnesota as
q wheat-growing State; and west Of
Dakota is Montana, having 100000
acres, Il give round numbers of these
16,0O0,0O0 are agricultural; 3S,000,000
grazing; 100000 timber; 100000
mineral /; 22,000,000 mountains-so it is
said. Her grazing and agricultural areas
are one-half larger than Illinois. Mr.
Sargent, general manager of the North
ern Pacific Railroad, says the cattle in
some of these valleys Craze all the winter,
and fatten all the time. The specimens
of wheat raised, he says, are much
larger berry than even the Red River
wheat, yet this vast empire has hardly
been taken into account; very likely, as
soon as the Northern Pacific is completed
it will attract immigration. Then the
other great territories must have each
their attractions. To this great land the
millions are coming from the over
crowded countries of the Old World.
Unquestionably, the richest farming,
grazing and mineral lands on the CONT
nent are in that part of the Union
between the Mississippi and the Pacific.