Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-06-22

sient employment after long search
es, but was more fortunate than
some. The times are little better
here to-day than then, and all hands
are patiently waiting for people
from the east with money to come
this way. All parts of the east have
been flooded with gilt edge stories of
this wonderful region, but sum them
all up and what do they amount to?
We have an unexcelled climate and
some high priced land, but no mon
ey, and we want eastern people with
money to come here and buy. No
men without means are wanted.
Enough of that kind are now here.
No man wants to come here unless
his eyes are wide open, for they'll
skin him sure if he does. Let me
relate an instance where a fine
scheme failed. One year ago last
winter more rain fell in this valley
than has been known since go. The
country was wet as it had not been
for years, and large tract of
''slick" land, so called because it
gets about as hard as concrete
pavement, was soaked up so it could
be plowed. About $400 was ex-
pended in blowing it so it would pre-
sent a more attractive appearance
when the "eastern sucker" arrived,
but owing to washouts and other
causes he didn't get here, and all the
labor was lost. But it showed how
willing they are to take advantage of
man in this semi-tropical climate,
who doesn't know the country or its
pecnliarities. Such land is WORTH
less, still the owners are ready and
anxious to sell it. We can do moth
ing here without irrigation, and wa
ter is scarce and expensive most of
the time. If man comes here to
start vineyard he can figure on
paying from 500 to $3.50 per acre
for land with nothing on it, and he
must wait three years after putting
out his cuttings before he gets any
profitable returns. If he starts an
orchard he must wait for five years
and even longer. If he has only the
means to buy and build with. he
must figure on working out by the
day to get his living and buy feed
for his team, and if he don't get dis
couraged before he gets anything
from his own land, he will be re-
markably patient. If man with
plenty of money wants to come here
to enjoy the climate, we'll and good,
but man with small means had bet
ter look elsewhere.
Greeley's advice at the time he
gave it was all right, but times have
changed and the best lands of the
west are now taken up in the hands
of railroad corporations or specula-
tors. English capitalists own thou
sands of acres which they are hold
ing for speculation, and cattle rings
have absorbed enormous tracts and
even fenced in government lands to
the injury of settlers with small
means. I have been in the town of
Greeley, Colorado, which is settled
with York state people, and it is
country where irrigation is necessa-
ry. There is an irrigating ditch or
canal which passes through the town
that is 20 miles long, and it was
built by English capital. The owners
of the ditch are a monopoly of
course and every one who buys land
along that ditch must pay them for
water. The climate in that part of
Colorado is milder than that of York
state, and that is about all the rea-
son one can give for preferrlng a
place of residence there. Money is
made no easier and labor is just as
hard. The enjoyment of life is quite
consideration with some people,
but after the novelty of change has
worn off, western life becomes rather
humdrum, and the mind naturally
drifts back to old scenes and asso-
ciates. Greeley said, $50 West,
Young Man." and he was the one to
go, if any, for as you said, after
certain age no man can change his
location and mode of life without be-
ing dissatisfied. You and l still re-
member the story of Jonathan Met
calf and some others who went west.
I have often wished some Vermont
people could come west and see what
a sheep herder goes through. Every
day the year around, he takes his
band of sheep and goes out at early
morn and remains until sundown. He
walks and sits around with little or
nothing to do, eats his cold lunch and
goes to his lonely cabin, where there
is nothing to divert his mind from
one months end to another. He Of
ten goes insane, and suicides have
been known among them. Ignorant
Mexicans as rule follow that busl-
ness, for no man with developed
mind could stand it long. In Colora-
do 1 met the son of James Wick, the
horticulturist, who was herdlng sheep
at $25 per month to make raise, but
he sent home for money and didn't
follow it long. Just think of it No
Sunday, no holidays, no leisure, no
recreation. While man remains So
cial being such life is a burden. A
person in the east who reads about
the festive cow boy has little idea
what an existence he leads, and could
such a one see him and his mode of
life I am certain no desire to change