Arizona silver belt. [volume] (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.) 1878-19??, 1886-10-16
rHlNK aEFoRE aoLNa Mgs I.
Tho Trials md rrivations % 70 sIen
who Make UP Honiesteads.


who Take up IIonesteads.
Clearwater lNeb,l COR New York sun
| 40 not wish TO discourage any one
who wants to come west to get a home,
for home Is one of the grandest Of
earthly blessings; but every man ought
10 think IL over well before selling
home in the east TO come west to get
moro land, as those say who come
here when asked why they loft a good
home TO emigrate 70 this desolate
country. Any uninhabited prairie Is
tlesolatc, and II a man wants q home
stead he must go to an uuinhahited
country, for vacant land Is becoming
ecafce,
Hundreds arrive here with less than
s! 90 Some weather the financial storm,
and become we'll 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 $40
acres OF land, and no team or farming
implements, nothing but large family
of small children to support 10 eonu.
try where few men can afford to hire
help.
Eastern folks know little Of the pri.
yations Of western life, Those who
came TO Nebraska twelve or fifteen
years ago understand It in all It's phases
They we're besieged by grasshoppers for
four or FIVE years, and for variety there
were prairie fires, hail storms aud biz
yards. The last named are the most
numerous and dreadful Of all storms in
this part of the west
The ono great evil here is tho scarcity
OF wood and coal A very little timber
grows on the largest streams, owned ty
q few lucky individuals, who ask
enormous prices for miserable green
cottonwood, which makes very poor
fuel. IL man wants 4 load Of willow
brush or a small pole no must buy it,
Coal is shipped into the state, aud
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 Arctie-like winters.
Another trouble in newly settled re-
gions is poor crops and lack of fruit,
You sometimes meet persons, born and
raised here, who never saw an orchard
in bloom or an apple on a tree. Apples
are shipped from the east, aud when
the farmer goes 10 town, il no possibly
can, he buys 5 or 10 cents worth to take
home to the children. SO most of them
know what apples are whCn 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 10 associate with his
neighbor, IL he has one. The homestead
law Is a boon TO many poor men who
come here for homes. 1t is q hard
country TO live in, and, il buying land
were added TO the many other expenses,
nine-tenths OF those who come would
never have homes
There has been 50 much said and
written about the beautiful west that
hundreds and even thousands have keen
induced to sell all they possess and
come west Little DO they know of its
priyations 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
ers and their wives arc so over
worked that they seldom 60 to church
or visit the neighbors, and in winter
they are content 10 stay in the house by
the fire, safe from tho bowling blasts Of
this treeleSs desert II VIII not always
be treeless desert, for ten acres out Of
every $40 are being planted in trees.
The farmers only recreation is when
necessity compels them TO 20 to town to
sell their produce and DO some shop
ping. This is a gala day. The has-
hand dons his best overalls and clean
shirt, and the wife puts on neat look
ing calico dress and plain hat, and
they are ready.
In the older counties Of the state folks
live like white folks. Tho time win
probably come when the homestaaders
In the new counties can live comfort.
ably.