River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-07-21


his successful efforts to name this new
Alabama town River Falls, also. We
feel it an honor thus to be remem-
bered, and tender our most cordial
greetings from our home near the
great lakes of the North, to yours, cit.
liens of our namesake, near the great
gulf Of the South. We pledge you
amity and good will, and invoke abun-
dant prosperity, not only in wealth
and population, but those more intrin-
sic qualities which adorn the heads
and hearts of men foundationed by
the Golden rule. 0.S.
RIVER FAILS. CovINGroN Co., Ala,
July 5, 1920. Strait. Esq. River
Falls, WiS.-MY DEAR FRIEND: Your
letter and papers were received long
since. You will see by the map on
the other side that we have River
Falls here. l named the town and it
is certainly entitled to the name.
There is one site with a fall of over
fifty feet, with water sufficient to
make an average of three hundred
horse power annually. Then there
are others with less fall, ranging from
II feet to 20. Two of them will have
at least two hundred horse power each
and eight others that will range from
twenty horse power to one hundred.
There are only two improved, so you
will see that this town was entitled to
the name, as yours was, by virtue of
its water power. But your namesake
here has the advantage in the immen-
sity of said power, and there are vast
pine forests all around and up these
rivers and their tributaries, with hun
dreds of thousands of acres that have
never been disturbed which can float
down stream to the mills here. Then
this pine is not all the valuable timber
we have. There are localities where
vast amounts of oak, poplar, hickory,
ash, gum, beach, elm, Eastwood and
cypress can be had, and these locali-
ties are near these rivers above here.
Furniture factories would pay we'll
here; so would factories for the man.
ufacture of farm implements, wagons,
buggies, carts, etc. There is no cold
or ice to interrupt water supply in
winter, and no place on this green
earth where people can live so cheap
ly, and | am sure there is no locality
where they can enjoy better health.
l wish you could see Stephen, the
writer. l feel as young as did thirty
years ago. / can walk forty miles in
a day. If the walking is good next
summer suppose some of you meet
me at the Big Show at Chicago. But
if you would expect to keep up with
me in making the rounds you had bet
ter come down here this fall and spend
the winter in recuperating your
Health and strength. 1t would add
many years to the lives of thousands
of good people in that country if they
only spent the winters here. There
aye parties in Indiana trying to work
up from fifty to one hundred families
to come here and spend the winters
| proposed to give them
the lots il they would build cottages,
houses to cost from $3.50 to $500 OF
more, according to the size of their
families. / will do the same for col
ony from your section. The cost of
living here would be enough cheaper
than there to pay the transportation
both ways by coming in large colonies.
only wish you could have seen my
garden from the first OF March to jan
uary first. But | should have said the
entire year, as masy of the vegetables
grow all winter, such as turnips, cab.
bage, collards, celery and others. In
this section you could see eight toma-
toes fill peck measure heaping full
Truck farming pays, as they go on the
northern market, when they have
none, at high prices. From two to
four hundred dollars per acre is fire.
quently realized on land that cost
from five to ten dollars per acre.
This certainly is the best poor mans
country on earth. He will get rich in
spite of laziness, if his wife is indus
trious, as they can coin money raising
chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks.
There is not plant that grows south
but what pays twice the profit for the
labor performed than any products
raised north, and the same can be said
of stock raising. This is the intelli-
gent, educated, industrious and skilled
farmers paradise. There is wealthy
man in Chicago who stands ready with
ample money to kill and barbecue
from five to ten thousand fat cattle,
sheep, kids and pigs per day and ship
daily to all the cities in the south and
most of them in che north. 1t has
been proven by tests that by proper
wrapping meat will keep from eight
to ten days in the hottest weather
before showing any signs of decay,
and this without the use of ice. 1t
could reach you from here easily on
time. Barbecued meat is relished by
everybody and it is decidedly the
healthiest way to cook meat of any
kind. This calls for northern farmers
that know how to raise, fatten and
take care of stock. Thousands of
them could do well here. We have
the resources here to make a city of
fifty to one hundred thousand popula-
ton or over. This cheap and lasting
water power must bring cotton and
woollen factories as we'll as those in.
dustries that use mostly wood. There
is party in Johnson county, Indiana,
getting ready to start canning fac
tory at this place. This will enable
men with small capital to come and
engage in raising fruits and vegeta-
bles. Now is the time to invest here,
whether it be in town lots, farming
lands, timber or water power. The
low prices prevailing now will multi
ply in value many times in a few
years. In coming here you will come
to Montgomery, the capital of the
state-a beautiful and growing city.
From there you will go to Troy and
thence here. This location has advan.
tage of being at the gateway of deep
water navigation on the Gulf whose
commercial destiny is yet in its in
fancy. Pensacola and Mobile will in
few years count their population by
hundreds of thousands.