Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-07-18
WHOLE NO. 212S.
"BOOMTOWN."
The FurOre for Land Specializing In ths
Northwest Graphically DelIneatcd.

The FurOre for Land Specializing in tn .
Northwest Graphically Delineated.
The great northwest is entered
through the gateway of st. Paul. There
the traveller first hears of Boomtown,
the "Portals of the Sunset" the ga
vorite of Fortune" the Seem of the
Great Golden Northwest" the 'Love.
liest Spot in the Land of Light" tho
"Pluclly Pioneers Paradise upon the
Productive Prairies" Not only are the
allurements and advantages of Boom
town advertised in alliterative prose, but
the real-estate man also drops into
poetry, and relates how the place ha;
grown.
In prospectus this city is the focus of
all railroads that are ever to be built,
the future capital of the future state,
the garden spot of the farmer, the sani-
tarium of the invalid, the speculator' S
paradise, the land of golden grain,
where the wheat grows in forests and
the oats in impenetrable jungles. Should
our arrival in st. Paul be opportune
we learn that an auction sale of Boom
town lots is one of the entertainments
of the evening, and we are sadly lack
ing in the tourists proverbial enterprise
if we do not attend Bands of music
inviting us to the scene, play lively
tunes calculated to intoXicate the buyer
and loosen the strings of his purse.
Like spies sent out by Mos TO report
upon the land of Canaan, and who re
turned bearing between item that ia
nous bunch of grapes from the brook
Eshcol, the Boomtown syndicate have
also brought with them the products of
their land, and challenge Canaan itself
to show an equal display Of No. hard
wheat, tastefully arranged in sheaf and
jar; enormous potatoes, each one din
ner in itself; and luscious fruit, which,
however, owing to the undeveloped
state of the country, is yet in a state Of
papier mache.
The sales are made by that most To-
quacious of auctioneers, the marquis
of Mud" who has fairly earned his hon
orable title. lie exhorts the people to
catch on to the BOomtown boom, which
has surely set in to stay. Then, with
the sensitiveness of the true boomer,
he corrects himself, and says that this
is not a boom at all, but healthy and
regular growth. The people catch on.
In the fever Of the moment, those buy
lots who never bought before. Somo
buy in confidence, and some in fun
Some think that kind of a lottery as
good as any other, and some invest for
the privilege which it gives them of oc-
casionally putting on the air of cap
italist, and referring, in careless tones
to their real estate in Boomtown
They buy for that satisfaction which
the mere possession of property gives.
Where lives the man who has not
bought a dog or dressing-gown, an
opera-house or newspaper, for similar
reasons?
Having purchased his lot, the travel
er feels a natural desire to look at it,
and proudly stand upon the base of his
pyramid of dirt, whose apex is at the
centre of the earth, three or four thous-
and miles away. Since Boomtown is
an inland city, and the climate, he has
been led to believe, is just wet en- ough
for the farmer and just dry enough for
the consumptive, he is greatly shocked
to find that his destination is surround
ed by a waste of waters. Only the re-
peated assurance that this is an eXcep-
tionally moist spring restores confidence
to his soul. The steamboat upon which
he has crossed the prairie unloads its
passengers at the veranda of the second
story of the hotel; and when, on the
following day, the investor starts out in
a row-boat to hunt up his real estate,
he finds that he has unwittingly sailed
across it as he came into town. The
exact location of his lot, however, can
not be determined without diving-bell
The corner-stakes, which were only
waist-high, are under water, and he
hears the surveyor, who is his pilot on
this occasion, mutter to his assistant
that it will be necessary to make his
pegs as high as lamp-posts hereafter.
AtIonfjc MOtnbJU