The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-02-05
PROSPECTING IN TIE WEST.
ny A FARMERS son.

| vicinity OF SHaIleb City, 1o"a, "h'.e ~
mercury ranged from twenty to thirty
eight degrees below zero, we were pun
| cd out for Nebraska with two engines IN
! front. and sometimes the third was called
10 tie rear of the trains TO push up
grade Of snow and ice. During my stay
at this place did not see one vehicle on
wheels Wagons aud all are run on
| runners" on the sleigh order, and when
tie roads are once travelled over by tue
/ teams they can travel with more ease,
| and pull more on these "runners" than
on wheels The teams soon become
white nearly all over with frost, caused
by their breath" freezing on them.
Aaou. the towns and telegraph wires the
! iingling Of the sleigh bells and hum.
ming Eoiian harp like sound Of tie
wires, soun becomes monotinOus. When
the mercury is twenty or more degrees
below zero, and the wind is blowing
| through half dozen wires, it makes O
music that can be heard some fifty or
more yards away. The universal fashion
| here i'm houses il to have the roOms very
small and tight, and where they are not
underluid with masonry, stable manure
or other litter is piled up several feet
high all around the house to prevent the
cold winds and snow from blowing under
the house. Iowa is strong Republican
State, and Charles City and Floyd C"un.
ty is their stronghold but see new
| Democratic paper has Just started here
| with q stout support, and there /, a
rapidly growing crop of Democrats,
with daily increasing strength. was
very cordially received and Hospitality
entertained here. Democratic national
success seems to lend rnchnntment to
the songs Of praise of the bamy South,
anal we were agreeahly surprised to learn
that the course of immigration from
these parts was directed more to the
South than to any other point
At Sioux City, near the corner of Iowa,
Dakota and Nebraska, we found very
little snow and much more pleasant
weather. Sioux City is what might he
called the head of the great Missouri
river valley-the Egypt Of America for
corn. This valley is several hundred
miles long, and from seven to twenty five
miles wile and saw several large farms
that averaged over one hundred bushels
Of corn per acre this year, and forty
bushels is given in as the minimum pei
| acre for the poorer titled lands nf this
valley. At Sioux City cora in the ear
was worth more than shcIied corn, on
account of getting the cobs 10 burn fol
| fuel. In many places in the interior ol
Nebraska i: is economy To burn corn in
preference to other fuel, though the
average American is hard to convince
that this is true economy, even in ex'
extreme cases but assure you that i,
is economy. 4 halfbushel of corn in
the ear burnt Ia good stove wil cook 8
| good dinner, and at less cost in some
places than wood or coal. Living in 8
sod house in Nebraska, and burning corn
to keep one warm and cook with, has q
thrilling and uncivilized air about it
though we have seen people live in
houses with less comfort and happiness
than these pioneers.
! All through the States of Nebraska
and Kansas are to be seen thousands o.
acres of corn now first February, 1885,
standing in the fields, just as it grows
They shuck the corn and leave both
shuck aud fodder on the stalk, and place
the corn in long pens oe criLs eight o,
zen feet vide, and about as high. About
',ne-haif of these cribs have no cover
and the corn is left exposed to weather
and piliage-but corn here is not worth
enough to steal. The yields of corn ir
eastern Nebraska aud eastern Kansas
runs from twenty-five to one hundred
hushelsp per acre. This sounds "big rich, >
until you count UP at the ruling prices
delivered ut the elevator in the ear, which
ranges from eighteen to twenty -four cents
per bushel, or from - to $24 per acre
All through this section of country are
farmers that have gone in debt for land
or machinery, and perhaps both, that are
now in distressing circumstances, not
withstanding the fact that their crop,
were never better. The prices for grain
arc so low they are not able to shake of
the mortgages. 1t is clear that there il
no money in growing grain in the west
The only prosperous farmers are those
who are engaged in breeding fine imp7ov.
ed stock. This stock sells high and will
bear long transportation. In the West, as
every where else, the producers of chean
grain and scrub stock are dependent on
a local market, and the grower of im.
proved seed'crops and improved stock
have the world as market. For illus.
tration, it takes nearly two bushels OF
Western corn to pay the freight on one
bushel to our State; or it will take three
scrub horses to pay the freight on one
from tho West here, and the freight on q
highbred horse is only one iifth to one.
tenth his selling value to any point South
or East. Western Iowa, Nebraska
Kansas and southwest Missouri are the
most desirable, richest and prettiest parl
] of the West, but these sections have thei,
faults, such as hot and cold winds
droughts, scarcity of fuel and bad watel
to drink. The Missouri Valley is dotted
with thriving towns, among them Omaha