St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-26

county, connecting it directly with st.
Paul and Minneapolis on the north,
Omaha on the west, st. Louis on the
south and Chicago on he east, and
through these marts to every part OF the
country.
ii PRINCIPAL TOWNS
are Cresco, Bonair, Lime Springs and
Chester, on the Chicago, Milwaukee &
st. Paul railroad, and Riceville and
Elma, on the Chicago, st. Paul & Kan
sas City railroad; while off from the
railroads are a number of settlements
of more OF less Importance, containing
churches, schools. stores, mills, shops,
postofficeS. etc.-FlOrenceVllle, Vernon
Springs, Saratoga, Lourdes, Protovin-
the roads from which lead to CreScO, as
all roads used to lead to Rome. Your
correspondent may visit these towns
some time and write them up for you as
they deserve.
Unimproved land ranges in value
from IS to S12 per acre-all of it good
| and much of it choice. Improved farms
| run from S12 to $40 per acre, according
to the improvements. There are some
farms that cannot be bought for $50 an
acre. Why the low prices? Simply be-
| cause the railroads, which have been
the pioneers of Western territories,
have advertised and doomed those vast
| empires to the west of us. Many have
learned too late of the grand country
they have lost. But the tide is turning,
and homeseekers are catching on" to
our lands, so cheap in price but so val
liable in quality and in their proximity
to markets. schools and churches. The
population of Howard county is not far
from 1900, and there is every prob
ability that IL will be doubled in the
next decade.
CRESCO.
Creseo, the county seat of Howard
county, is situated on the Iowa & Min
nesota division of the Chicago, MilWau-
kee Sc st. Paul railroad. ten miles south
of Minnesota. Its population is about
1900, or over. Its site is a beautiful
prairie, and it is the center of a fair and
fertile farming country. A number Of
thrifty little towns are tributary to it.
1t has one of the best graded and high
schools in the noble state of Iowa,
which, according to the United States
| census of 1880, had the least percentage
of illiteracy of any state in the Union.
Nine teachers are employed. with Prof.
E. G. Cooley as principal. The school
house is a large tw0-Story brick build
| ing. noted more for its dimensions than
Its beauty, on a commanding site On the
eastern outskirts of the city. The ell
rollment of pupils the past year was
1876.
A parochial school of a high order is
conducted by Sisters of Charity, under
the supervision of Rev. M. A. Mccarthy,
the pastor of the Catholic church. Its
enrolment was about 100. Cresco is
well
SUPPLIED WITH CHURCHES
to minister to the spiritual wants of the
people. There are:
The Baptist; pulpit supplied at pres
ent by Rev. G. E. Brown.
The Congregational: Rev. Alex S.
Mcconnell pastor.
The Methodist; Rev. F. NJ. Coleman
pastor.
The Episcopal, at present without a
rector.
The German Lutheran: Rev. E. N.
lehman pastor.
The Catholic; Rev. M. A. Mccarthy
pastor.
All the above have neat edifices. In
addition to their church building the
Catholics have a parsonage, two school
buildings and a home for the Sisters in
their spacious grounds.
The Norwegian Lutherans hold serv-
ices in a hall, and the German Evan