The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-10-30
RURAL NOTES.
What Our Reporter Saw and Thought
During aJaunt Through the Country.

There are three fractional townships
in Blue Earth county, besides the town
of South Bend, which is scarcely more
than three-fourths survey size. The
three referred to are, Cambria, Lime
and jamestown, the former lying i'm the
northwest corner OF the county, and the
latter one in the northeast corner, with
Lime directly west, between il and the
tains 4 village, but Jamestown, which
contains the incipient town of Madison
Lake, Of which we made mention i'm n
former article.
Last week we travelled through Lime
and jamestown, and when Squared OFF,
for a mental resume of all that was seen,
after the Jaunt was complete, the first
conclusion that appeared upon the dial
plate OF our mental perpiscacity was,
that these two townships contain a great
or number of sparkling lakes, large
marshes and crooked roads than any
other section of equal extent i'm the
county. This is not said i'm a spirit of
disparagement, for these are not indica-
tons of worthlessness, but on the other
hand bespeak a high quality of tillable
soil. Lime is more varied in its features
than jamestown, taking in, as il does,
q portion Of the Minnesota river bottom,
In which the soil Is sandy and the tim
Der sparse. The center portion of the
town, from north to south, is badly brOk-
en- with hills and ravines, and the east
ern half is excellent farming land, thick
ly settled with thrifty farmers. About
one half Of the land IL cleared, and the
remainder is well stocked with varities
Of native timber. jamestown is more
regular In relief, but not, by any means,
what is commonly called 'ffat." There
is not 30 large a portion of the town
cleared OF the forest as i'm Lime, but
there are a large number of farmers who
have a goodly number of acres under
tillage, and are prospecting nicely. The
proportion OF the territory which is oc.
cupied by lakes, can be approximately
comprehended when we state that Lime
contains Lake Vita and u large portion
of Eagle Lake, and Jamestown contains
= lakes Albert, Long, GIllfllan, Duck
: ballantyne and George, besides q small
fraction OF Washington and the northern
end of famous Madison, Those named
Will probably cover an area of ten square
miles, while the attendant marshes anC
numerous smaller lakes which bear M
!. names will cover fully half as mucl
more. When we consider that the two
( towns contain but q trIfle over thirty-si>
square miles the proportion is plainl,
tseen. The marshy portion of thes,
towns are not, however, utter wastes. bu
. are nearly all accessible, and large Ulan
: Titles OF hay are gathered from them.
The population of these two precinct
~ as striking az any other of thei
features, the town of Lime being settle,
Almost exclusively by Germans. Will,
i lis eastern neighbor is the habitation O
, an almost exclusive Irish populace
, which all will agree is about as distinc
q divergence in national make up n
could be well devised. Both national
8 tiles are industrious, thorough-eoin
people, however, and the general an
pearance of the farm surrounding
wherever we went, indicates that thei
O labors during the years past have bee
well rewarded. In jamestown Their
has been n drawback to the farmers
prosperity, which most of the settlers il
the lumber have not had to meet, that il
J. not having a wood market near enoupI
to make it profitable to manufacture
their timber into marketable form
many of them having simply cut it dow
o and burned 1t entire. But We forese
an eradication of this obstacle i'm tn
opening Of the Cannon Valley road
which will provide an outlet neare
e home. Messrs. Allyn 4 fuller, of Mad
son Lake village, have opened II WOO
v market already in connection with thei
e other business, q matter which the IN,
mers must certainly appreciate, an,
y profit by.
The nature of the residences i'm thi
locality elected constant attention also
In Lime at least eight-tenths of thes
: are built of brick, and all roomy an
q we'll planned. Why it should be thu
e In a district of country where materis
If for frame structures is SO easily procure
was a query to our mind, and we pro
pounded an Interrogatory to that effe,
to n of the venerable sons of "Fadel
landt," and he replied with the questio
-"why not?" Then he went on 10 ca
n plain that brick is the cheaper in tn
long run for various reasons, giving tn
fact that weather has less effect upon il
. He cited n instance of a neighbor VIII
!. had just expended 500 for painting hi
frame buildings, which is a periodics
occurrence, and in a few years this lter
alone will double the cost of the same
G We stood instructed and enlight
ened, knowing that the granger kne,
what he was talking about, or suppose,
he did. In Jamestown the buildings ar
not all Of 20 substantial q nature, OWN
TO the fact that the distance is too grea
to haul brick and lime, while lumbe
Il can be had for little money, or logs ca,
be hewn to a suitable state with muc'
less expense. Both the towns are rich
fertile regions and are just in the ascend
= ant of development, and being unde
the hands of hardy, determined foreign
d ers, must eventually present as well-to
do a commonwealth as any other pan
G of the county. In the matter of school
q and churches they are not any benin,
neighboring towns, which shows tina
they fully realize the truth, that tn
worth and wealth of any community i
invariably commensurate with thei
moral and intellectual status.