The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-08-23
A TRAVELLERS NOTES.

Zip 10 the state OF NED, having tner6
met many former residents of this coun-
ty, and believing that many more look
with an eager or doubling mind to-
ward this beautiful land, few lines
from my pen will probably prove ac-
ceptable to your readers. A trip across
the country affords very entertaining
subject to the essayest who loves to
string out carefully balanced sentences,
but to the average reader descriptive
essay is more fulsome than political
harangue delivered in the slang of the
street. Therefore we shall have to curb
our prediction in order to endeavor to
suit the capacities and tastes of our
readers. Although IN our efforts to
select from the mass crowding upon us
we may leave the reader with very
vague idea of what we have witnessed
or else involuntarily convince him that
our observation was limited and our
attention Indifferent.
On reaching Omaha the first impress
i've sight was that of large group of
emigrants setting out for the far west.
All had recently arrived from abroad and
were composed of Chinese whose stolid
appearance, oblique eyes, and peculiar
habit can not fail to leave an impression;
OF Germans and Italians, not the most
intelligent of these classes of emigrants,
but those whose rags reveal their poverty
and whose manners display their ignor-
ance. Indeed the observer anxious for
the moral and intellectual welfare of
America can see but little to fatter him
IN this wave of ignorance and poverty
that breaks on our shores. The land of
the free, the haven of the oppressed, is
retarding its own progress by its free
admission of the worst elements of pau
perism and ignorance that the Old
World affords.
Taking the y. P, ride over ninety
five miles of beautiful, fertile, we'll
developed country, brought us to Lin
coin, city beautifully located, growing
rapidly and having several railroads d.
verging from it, yet not wholly godlike,
inasmuch as its streets are sometimes
muddy and its most noted scientist and
college professor recently committed
forgery to the amount of several thous-
and dollars.
From Lincoln to Falls City a slow ride
in freight over ninty-two miles reveals
to the eye country which is beieg
rapidly developed and which as a farming
country is said to be unsurpassed east
of the Rocky Mountains. Evidence of
its growth and of the density of its
settlement may be furnished by the fact
that in the ninty-two miles of railroad
there are fifteen villages and cities each
excelling or equaling in size, location
and Importance what may be found in
corresponding distance in the older
settled parts of Wisconsin. All Of east
ern Nebraska is equally we'll settled,
there being no vacant lands and no i'm.
proved lands to be purchased for less
than $40 to $50 per acre.
With deep, rich soil, healthy eli
mate, good railroad communications and
a class of farmers who have tried farming
in other States, the country since the
disappearance of the plague has devel-
oped with wonderful rapidity. Removed
the probability of the return of the
grasshopper and the farmer will surren-
der his title to his lands for no equal
quantity In any other state. A typical
eastern Nebraska farm is two hundred
acres of cultivated land with trimmed
hedge fences; a large grove surrounding
the house to give shelter in storms, to
afford shade in heat and to give an
attractive appearance at all times; great
field of corn and here and there field of
small grain which removes the monotony
of great corn fields.
Corn yields from so to 80 bushels per
acre and sells at from 20 to 60 cts. per
bushel, its price depends on the season
and the prospects of new crop. Corn
is now worth about 25c. bushel. The
chief object in raising corn is not for
market but to feed hogs which are kept
ready for market every day in the year.
Small grains can be raised as abund.
antly as in Wisconsin, but are generally
inferior in quality, and at present wheat
is worth only 70 cts. per bushel.
Travel is rendered easy by the sur
passing hardness and smoothness of the
roads which have never received any
attention since the original survey except
when it was necessary to build a bridge
over a stream. 1t is safe to assert that
there are to be found the best natural
roads in the world.
Fuel there, as In most prairie lands,
is not obtained from forests, there being
a total lack of a natural growth of trees
except along the small streams and of an
extensive growth except along the large
streams. Corn cobs constitute the chief
article of fuel. How desirable wood is
may be judged from the fact it can be
purchased at three dollars per cord, and
is then used only for brief spell in
winter.
Education is in backward state, if
we are to give evidence to the statements
of men who have left Manitowoc and
who if they are sorry for anything, mourn
over the fact that their children possess
not one-fifth the advantages they could
have possessed in the place of their
birth. Schools are by no means scarce,
it is the quality of the instruction, the
inability of the teachers, the indifference
of the authorities, and probably too, the
system of labor, that render the condi-
ton deplorable in the eyes of thinking
people. We sincerely advise all who
love to quaff the foaming beverage, to
snip the sparkling wine. or to swallow
some of the best, not to travel through
the country with the expectation of