St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-06-16
Hints for Those Who Think Of
Going West.

Hints for EhOSe VINO THINK OF
Going West.
A correspondent of the Great Bar
ringtOn Courier, writing from Ration,
New Mexico, says
Severalinquiries have been addressed
to me 10y people i'll the East, relative
to emigrating to the southwest, and
there seems to be such il general inter
est in the matter that will say few
words about it here. Eastern people
seem to look upon Kansas as the mod
ern promised land. That is Il prairie
state, remarkably healthy for the West,
and with very fertile soil, excepting
the alkali desert in the western part.
Crops, when the farmer can succeed III
making them grow, are very prolific.
But have seen hundreds of men who
have tried life in Kansas for few
years, and left in anger and disgust.
Business and the professions are over
crowded throughout the state, and the
emigrant from the East must become ii
farmer. He must do his work in IA
sitting dust raised by the great and
perpetual winds that blow across the
state. Indeed, the grain is often blown
out of the soil before it can take root
Even if the seed succeeds i'll getting a
start in growth, it has to confront dis
couraging difficulties, for, if the season
is not too dry, it is too wet, or too hot,
or too cold, or too wet and cold, or too
dry and hot, or too cold and dry, or
the winds are too heavy, or the grass
hOppers eat up the crop, or the chinch
bugs devOur it and finally in this
lottery scheme, if there is IL fine season
without any drawbacks, and the crops
are IL success, they are usually worth
50 little that the remuneration for the
labor is small, and the corn, for in
stance, is used for fuel. The native of
New England who comes to Kansas,
leaves its culture, fine schools, comforts
of life, beautiful cities and towns, his
kind and intelligent friends, and his
sure, though perhaps unOstentatiOus
living there, for IL chance i'll a lottery,
for a life of much less healthy enjoy
ment, for poorer schools, and for assO-
citation with men who will deal less
hOnOrably with him. 1t has repeatedly
come to my notice that eastern boys i'll
this country look upon Kansas and
Indiana boys as simple minded, as in
deed men must be if they have always
lived in IA corn-tield If, reader, not
withstanding this, you would like to
! spend the remainder of your years i'll
Kansas, come there and live two years
on trial. If you are out of sympathy
with the East, it is possible to suit yOu
in Kansas, Just as You would be better
suited anywhere out of the East. But
don't bring your wife and children un-
| til you find IA place where yOu know by
actual experience that you and they
can live cOntentedly, whether in Kan
sas or elsewhere.
In the agricultural part of Texas
anywhere below the ''Panhandle"-yOu
will find Il country much less desirable
than Kansas, and the question is set
tied when You learn that you will al
ways he sick with malarial diseases
while yOu live there. Avoid that cOun-
try as You would pestilence.
In the "Panhandle" of Texas, Colora-
do, New Mexico and Arizona, is a fine
grazing and mining country, unsuita
BILE for agriculture. A man with small
capital has better chances there to
make money, and rapidly, too, than in
any agricultural country. Go to al
most any town, especially to some new
one full of excitement, and yOu can
| make IA fortune with little capital by
starting liquor and gambling saloon
combined, with a concert and dance
hall. | am giving information here,
not advice. A boarding house or a
store are the next best chances. But
for "dead sure thing" to make for
tune, stOck-raising pays at least thirty
five per cent, and the risks are small.
If the business is new to you, work two
or three years on IA COW ranch, and you
will have no trouble to make start
with small capital. Two men can
combine their capital and do still better.
have in mind ranchman near the
ConchOs river in this territory, who
came here nine years ago with 800.
4 He worked on IA ranch for wages for
three years, then borrowed money and
started IA ranch of his own. Now his
ranch and stock are worth S20,O 900, free
of debt. If he had had the capital to
use free of interest-twenty yfour pei
, cent-he would now be worth at least
, S50,0OO. But, once in this country, to
make money by raising cattle you must
expect to stay here for IA lifetime. YOu
must stay ten years at least, and 10y
that time you will become so attached
f to the method of living here, rough as
it is, that you will not return to the
East and besides, your manners sc
uncouth, and yourself so behind the
times, that yOur sensibility will not
permit you to enter civilized society
! agaiu