Litchfield enquirer., 1881-11-17
WESTERN CORRESPONDENCE.

WESTERN CUhhESkuN
 (q Ep ENQ.-You have doubtless read some accounts of the Great Fall Rise of ih- Missis- sippi River, something altogether unprecedent- ed for this season. and with the exception uf the 80 food, of any season. :. The damages are estimated. by the millions, principally from the overflowcd lands of Southern Hi nois though the damage to the low lands all
 up and down the river. mostly in Lay. corn and potatoes, aggregate DO small item. Bot tom hay" has advanced in price from $6 |" $l5 a ton. The destruction of hay is reckon ed by the tens of thousands of tons. The
 luinhermen are the next heaviest lnosers. and nearly all kinds of manufacturing in cities on weeks. River-men report seeing farmers pick ing corn from skifs and reaching down into the water for the ears, others in high-tos rubber boots digging p'atoes under water. which ought to hay. co.ne out clean at least
 The St. Louis 6 St. Paul railroad suspend ed operations from Savannah to R ,ck Island.
 a section of ab,ut 6J miles. in.luding that ,rion where a train ran into 6 swollen
 stream and so many were drowned during the
 hi ,h water, last year. Aa all the while We
 were having such rains you were suffering even more from droutn. heard man say
 that it rained 29 days in succession up North.
 The damage to the wheat crop up there is es- timated at about one-tEird, ill the great wheat growing sections of Minnesota and DekOta
 If these extraordinary disturbances of the clements are due to ''sun spots," will you
 Goshen correspondent please tell us how the sun manages to divide us of into districts, g.. as to give us such opposite weather at the same time; it isa puzzler to me. And yet
 we do seem to have most extraordinary wealth of late. Itis either too cold or too hot too wei
 or too dry. Last year we had snow storm in this State on the 10th of October that blocked
 the railroads and wagon roads for days. and
 winter set in in dead earnest the 18th NOvem- ter, blocking some roads for weeks and months
 "ith no let up, so that farmers could not work
 their lands till the 1st of May. And then it
 came on '.hotter'n blazers" the mercury
 standing in. tho 90's for weeks, and running up to 106 Q for variety fit is due to suu spots
 we shalt be glad when ''old Sop concludes t.,
 give us a rest" ...-, ..r.-.-<. <.,,#i ,.i ..-
 Notwithstanding, the country seems to be enjoying season of extraordinary prosperity.
 Most everything is 'booming'' out here in the
 West; manufacturing and railroad building unprecedented, wagess high and laborers
 scarce; the crnos yielding better than was anticipated, and bringing larger prices I useti to write you as all indication of returning prosperity that clearing-out sales in Chicago,
 reached up into the twenty millions per week,
 gain of nearly one-thrd over the preceding year. This fall it reached SOtnillions in one day, of course that was phenomenal aud owing to corner in the grain market. tut it shows in sonie measure to what extent business has
 IF a,ua- Cns of our ii..,beri.,eu D. ,yCc. Jne Litch6eId County man of whom I recently
 made mentlon). in communication to daily paper a few days since, estimated that the lumber interests here could have disposed of 10 more car loads day for 300 days of the
 last year if the railroads could have furnished the cars. .'Ss'a i p. '> t''' Well, we have met the enemy again in the
 political field, they are ours 60, 600 majority
 in an ''of year" we think is doing pretty well.
 Tue Chicago Times, half democratic sheet,
 advises the democrats of this state to disband
 and retire to the shades. We had close run,
 however, in our county I had arranged to go to Chicago. The train time was minutes before nine, the polls opened at nlne. l was l sorry ;o lose my vote, but met two Dem ocrats at the depot also going to Chicago, and con- cluded it was fair ''pair" at any rate. At 8:55 the train was not in sight, the minutes rolled by, nine o'clock, no train and the polls only three blocks away, dare risk it An express wagon stood hard sy i; the temptation was too great, off started, got about half
 way and heard the whistle blow, but blood
 was up, putting the horse into run, and pas sing my vote through window. got back
 just in time to catch the train and had some fun over my democratic neighbors. It turned out that we carried the county by just two votes. Some time ago you may remember predicted that K asson of our state would be heard from when Speaker of the next House
 was elected. We shall soon see.