, 1885-09-02
n.lnk BEFORE eoria wesr.
THIS Trials and %rrivatioa- OF Poor sIsr
Who Take IN Hrniesteads.


Who Take Up H,mesteads.
clearwater ,Neb.} cor-New York sun
| do not wish to discourage any one
who wants to come west to get n home.
for n homo is one Of the grandest of
earthly blessings; but every man ought
to think it over well before selling n
home in the cast TO come west to get
more land, as those say who come
here when asked why they left a good
home to cmigratc 10 this desolate
country. Any uniuhabited prairie is
desolate, aud II a man van a home
stead he must 20 TO an un~inhabited
country. for vacant land is becoming
scarce.
Hundreds arrive here with less than
500. Some weather the financial storm,
and become well to do the remainder
are lost in a sea Of hard times and
debts The majority of homesteaders
are poor. You may say that they are
land poor, because a man often has 80
acres OF land, and no team or farming
implements. nothing but 4 large family
of small children to support in q coun-
try where few men can afford TO hire
help.
Eastern folks know little of the pri-
vations OF western life. Those who
came TO Nebraska twelve or fifteen
years ago understand 1t in all its phases
They were bcsieged by grasshoppers for
four or We years, and for variety there
were prairie fires, hail storms and biz
sards. The last named arc the most
numerous and dreadful of all storms in
this part OF the west.
The one great evil here is the scarcity
Of wood and coal. A very little timber
grows OF the largest streams. owned by
n few lucky individuals, who ask
enormous prices for miserable green
cottonwood, which makes very poor
fuel. If a man wants n load of willow
brush or a small pole he must buy it.
Coal is shipped into the state, and
ranges from So to $40 per ton, 1t is
very expensive to the homesteader.
whose purse is often empty, and whose
winters are long and severe. The only
cheap fuel is hay and corn stalks, and
hundreds of families have nothing else
to burn in our Arctic-likc winters.
Another trouble in newly settled re-
gions IS poor crops and lack of fruit.
You sometimes inset persons, born and
raised here, who never saw an orchard
in bloom or an apple on q tree. Apples
are shipped from the cast, and when
AAAi 81 tAAi kR'o W wv u II lI INVN-ALlH
can, he buys 3 or 10 cents worth to take
home to the children. So most Of them
know what apples are whtn they see
them.
There are a few advantages along
with the many disadvantages. Almost
everybody has a home of his own, and
all are on an equality, because the most
of them are poor, and no one thinks
himself too good to associate with his
~neighbor, if he has one. The homestead
law is a boon to many poor men who
come here for homes. 1t is n hard
country to live in, and, if buying land
were added to the many other expenses,
nine tenths of those who come would
never have homes.
There has been so much said and
written about the beautiful west that
hundreds and even thousands have leen
induced TO sell all they possess and
come west. Little do they know of its
privations. Men become bankrupt
from numerous expenses, great and
small, on a new farm, and women
grow old and haggard from incessant
work and loneliness. In summer, farm
efs and their wives are so over
worked that they seldom go to church
or visit the neighbors, and in winter
they are content to stay in the house by
the fire, safe from the bowling blasts Of
this ~treeless desert. 1t will not always
be a %treeless desert, for ten acres out OF
every $40 are being planted in trees,
The farmers only recreation is whe
necessity compcls them to 20 to town to
sell their produce and do some shop
ping. This is a gala day. The hus-
band dons his hest overalls and clean
shirt, and the wife puts on a neat-look-
ing calico dress and a plain hat, and
they are ready.
In the older counties of the state folks
live like white folks. The time will
probably come when the homesteaders
in the new counties can live comfort
ably.