Morris tribune., 1883-05-23
A few of-th<> reasons why
Persons seeking homes
in the West ~: Guild
settle within her
borders.
Adv; ntagcS OF both Ola
and new counties hCr-t>
to be found.

and Stevens county in particular to
people seeking new homes in the
west. We now repeat some of the
more important points. Future
settlers can not help understanding
the force of the facts here presented
and acting as contemplation of them
would indicate. The fertility of these
lands is unquestionable. With proper
cultivation they will produce as pro-
fitable crops of any of the cereals, root
crops or grasses and are peculiarly
adapted to diversified farming. Prices
are so ridiculously low that people
who do not know the causes which
have produced them are apt to declare
the hands worthless when they hear
4. 3,w figures quoted. Large guam
si,ie~ ii public Ian, Yet yt'ns;;it,o u..~'ri.
So long as these Lands are in the
market the price of oth:.r lands can
not rise above them. Here is one
reason for low prices. Another is to be
found in the improvidence and eN-
travagcnce of many of the early sett-
lcr~.
In every new country some of the
first settlers are not practical farmers
and dot succeed. They are broken
down tradesmen, perhaps persons
who by laZyness or some other cause
have failed i'll older portions Of the
country, who by purchasing twice the
machinery needed, by trying to own
and cultivate areas too great for their
means, or other gross mismanage-
ment, fail and suddenly find them
selves upon mortgaged farms even
under the most favorable circumstan-
ces and i'll the most favored localities.
Some of the mortgages have already
been forciosed and the capitalists who
now own the farms are offering them
at cost. Nothing can be cheaper that
is of such unquestionably good
quality. Not long since the Pioneer
Press contained very sensi-
BILE editorial upon this subject:
There are no cheaper lands in the
United States to-day than those to be
had in the agricultural portions of
Minnesota. The settler who pushes
on to the frontier has certain burdens
before him which he cannot escape.
He must bear tie Eardships tina are
everywhere the lot of the pioneer. He
must subjugate a soil untried, and
content himself with the rudest accom-
modations. He must take his share
of the expense of local organization,
and contribute his part to the neces-
sary public improvements. He must |
locate himself with what advantage |
he can with reference to lines of COM
munication that connect him with the |
large centers of population, and must |
give up from his pEofits the cost of |
transportation. If he is penniless |
man, relying ly on his own right |
arm and the bounty of the homestead |
act; if he is a capitalist of large resour-
ceS, desiring to operate upon a magni-
ficent scale, or if he has an appetite
for the struggle that these conditions
involve, he cannot do a wiser thing.
But if ne is simply a practical farmer,
possessed of a small capital which he
is anxious so to invest as to give him
the largest returns, it will be well for
him To think second time before he
turns his back upon the broad acres of
and seeks virgin fields
where successive years of wheat rails
ing exclusively will, as he believes,
raise him most quickly to comfort or
affiuence. Let us see what advantages
and opportunities there are to tempt |
such a man to make his home in Min
nesota.
In tile first place, there is abundant
room for him. OF public lands vast
quantities yet remain. There are yet
unsoId 691 .63S acres of school lands,
appraised at $3,316,020, and about
| GOO, 900 acres not yet appraised. Of
and agricultural college grants, 72,3l6 |
acres have still to be disposed of. Of /
the internal improvement Lands there
remain PSI ,259 acres, valued at 81 $780,
$50, and 81 ,331 acres not yet appraised.
Leaving out of the computation all
swamp lands, here is magnificent
domain ready to be distributed among
an agricultural people, and large tracts
of it are being sold from time to time.
The finest farming lends, in the midst ,
Of settled communities, convenient to
schools, churches, post offices and
railroad lines, may be had at cost {
which is scarcely above that paid I
willingly hundreds of r. lies farther
west. The terms on which they may
be acquired are most favorable. But &
The public land is far from being the (
only source from which the farming
population that ought to flow in upon :
like tide may draw the 8
and that it needs for cultivation. Still
arger quantities are held by private :
persons, at prices which bring them
rs easily within the reach of the pur-
chaser as are the acres of the farther a
West. The price of land in Minnesota,
and which has no superior In the
whole United States, land favOrably q
)osal of products, is almost ridicu-
ously low. The total acreage of inn
proved lands in the State which are 81
ssessed at less than IS per acre, and q
ould therefore be bought at less than
10 per acre, is / ,565, 073. The amount
f unimproved land within the same o
Units is 6, 100, 403 acres. Farms beau q
fully located and already cultivated :.
)r many years can be bought at this =
cure. It is probably not too sweep
lg a general statenenttO say that, a,
Inside of incorporated towns and vii
lges and of lands enjoying some ex- :,
optional advantage of location, the v
I'll of Minnesota suited for agricult- OF
raj pursuits is held at from SIS to $25
n acre, with some few exceptions go
g beyond the latter figure, but with to
e vast nEijority fixed much nearer In
e former Are these or are they not 1;
cap lands
The only reason why such ques- an
IN should ever be asked is because n
.mers became convinced some years