The Red Cloud chief., 1882-01-12
xvs Valley.
Valley Co, Neb. Dec. %. ISL.

Mr.. E%nIToR:-I left I~navale on the
20th, struck north for this place. After
crossing the Blue in the north part OF
Franklin county | discovered An i'm
provcment In the crops in the south
ern part Of kearney county, iy the
stacks Of straw IL seems As If the whole
or about all of the whole country VA.
devoted to small grain. And As |
neared the Platte river, I struck the
sand bills. \ three miles drive
through those hills satisfied me, that
brought me 10 Lowell, the town look
cd like something OF the past, the
poorest town that | have ever seer in
Nebraska. crossed the river To- Glib
bon eight miles north, Gihbon i, a
lovely railroad town.
The country for miles to the north
looked thrifty, all OF the farmers or the
most Of them are well to do, or il
seems So by what they have around
them. On north from Gibbon about
eight miles, We struck what the sC:-
tiers call the hills, they are well
named, | thought j; was where the
Great Southwest about played out.
| travelled one half day and only got
about six miles north on my course,
then turned west fourteen miles. over
as handsome a country a. al he seen
in any part Of Ncb. Fine farms, fine
houses, all small grain or the most of
it. Hardly any stock and very few
hogs. This brought me at tie south
fork of the Loup river. Seven miles
farther north brought me TO the Bca-
yer, a stream somewhat larger than
Thompson creek.
At RivertOn between the later men
toned points the country is some
what similar as it is on Indian creek,
or Farmers creek, very rolling and
sparscly settled.
From the Beaver to the middle fork
vi ti't i>p'' li'ci III al idii i'isiIiS
prairie country, no small creeks. Du-
tame seventeen miles north Of the
middle fork. is somewhat larger than
the Republican river, with bottom
lands from five to eight miles wide.
and Il richer bottom OF land | don't
think is west of the Great Muddy.
This brings us To Loup City, Il very
neat little town, located near the
bluffs. The road north to Valley
county is all very rough and bad.
Sherman county seems TO bc iSOla-
ted us far aS can he in the west, as far
as market Is concerned. LOup City
is fifty miles from kearney, fifty miles
from Grand Island, Yet they have n
good country, they have got n good
crop, farmers tell me that the average
cor crop is fifty Bushels to the acre.
One farmer told me his corn crop
Wen ninty bushels per acre, another
eighty bushel per acre. Wheat aver
ages eighteen bu.hcl per acre. Pota-
toes two hundred bushel per acre.
Corn at Loup City is worth 81 cts,
per hushcl. \ brother Of the noted l..
7. Olive, is at Loup City, and Ii i'll
Valley county, buying corn to feed
cattle he has at Loup City and near
there. He has ten thousand head OF
cattle, two thousand Of which he is
feeding for market. The other, he is
roughinS through the winter.
There is Il firm feeding ten thousand
sheep ut Loup City. for the spring
market. Yet with all this corn, there
is no more hogs here than is used by
the farmers.
After looking the thing over and
considering the markets and the
prices OF goods there and at Red
Cloud-and | will say here, that at no
town north on the X. r., do find
goods as cheap as at Red Cloud. And
| think that the people of Webster
county are as well off with one fourth
OF a crop, as they are here with a full
crop. don't think they had better
come north to do better, yet if any
one has no home there, here is a
chance to get one.
If this does not find a place in your
waste basket, you will again hear from
Valley county. JOHN HARVEY.