Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-01-15
Copyright 1895 by Frank G. Carpenter

Omahu, Jan. IA. 1SpS.-The Trans
Mississippi exposition which is to open
here in June win show development
of our western country which win be a
surprise to the rest Of the United
| States. During the last two months
have visited all the big cities between
| Boston and Denver and I find more
money and push in the West than ever
before There is undoubtedly a revi-
val of business. The hotels are full
everywhere. l find 1t hard TO get good
Accommodations on the sleeping cars,
and the army of commercial travellers
is greater than ever before. was told
| in ST. Paul that the Jobbers there had
never done so much business as they
are now doing. The Chicago merchants
are expecting u heavy spring trade.
and at Omaha. Denver and Kansas
City have found the people alive and
most of them making money. The
basis of the prosperity has been the
big crops. Here in Nebraska Senator
Chas. F. Henderson tells me 600
| bushels of wheat We're produced last
| year. and the corn crop now on hand
amounts to something like 500. 600
bushels. Senator Henderson says that
the agricultural products of this state
last year will foot up something like
| $500, 900. 600, or capital value of 5000
per family. In this he includes the
packing products, of which there is an
enormous amount in Nebraska. He
tells me that the farmers are learning
| how to use their crops. They do not
sell their corn, as they did in the past,
but manufacture 1t into pork by feed
ing it, so that they get big price per
bushel for it. 1 was told in Denver that
the banks had more money than they
| knew what to do with. Senator Man
| derson says that the bank deposits here
in Omaha will approximate s2O,00O,0Oo,
| and / learn that a similar condition
exists in Minneapolis and st. Paul.
NEW INDUSTRIES IN THE WEST.
Until within a few years the West has
relied on its corn, wheat and meat to
| pay the greater part of Its expenses.
| Now the farmers are diversifying their
| crops. An immense amount of money
Is going into sugar beets in Nebraska,
i Utah and Colorado. There is great
sugar beet factory at Grand Island and
another at Norfolk, in this state. which
are producing thousands of tons of
| sugar every year. Claus Spreckles has
| established immense factories in Cali
| fornia, and the sugar makers believe
| the day Will soon come when we will
make out of beets the hundred million
| dollars worth of sugar which we no-s
| import from other countries. / am told
that we have better land for raising
| such sugar than can be found in Eu-
| rope, and that factories will soon be
| established in many parts OF the Uni
| ted States. The beet sugar industry
will be shown at the exposition. An
| other industry which promises to be
worth much to Kansas and Nebraska
| is the utilization of the pith of the corn
stalk for various manufacturing pur
| poses. They are now making "a paste
| board something like linoleum out of
this pith. 1t is used for other things,
| and there are factories which make
from it packing to be placed between
| the outer and inner walls of our war
vessels. This cornstalk pith sucks up
water like sponge 1t swels the mo-
| ment the water touches 1t, and hole
made by n cannon ball will be soon
corked up by the swelling produced by
| the water flowing in
THE GREAT WEST.
| l found Senator Henderson at the
general offices Of the Burlington rail-
road He is, you know. the counsel
| for this system west of the Missouri
river, ana he has l do not know how
many thousands OF miles of road under
| him, including connections with all
I
thoroughly posted on the condition of
| the West, and during the chat he gave
me some striking figures showing the
status of the trans Mississippi region.
| Said he:
"The people of the East do not UNI
derstand ps. They have no conception
| of the extent of the western country
nor of the business we do here. / be-
| lieve New York and Boston are the
most provincial cities of the United
/ tnta anI hot nt1F will hn
| an eye opener to the rest of the coun
try Think of It, More than one-fourth
| of all the people of the United States
live west of the Mississippi. We have
about twenty million people and we are
| by no means so poor as Is commonly
| supposed. The assessed valuation of
the property held by the trans Missis-
| sippi states aggregate more than six
| billion dollars. This valuation In not
more than one-fourth of the actual
value, so that we have all told real
and personal property worth at least
twenty billion dollars an average Of
one thousand dollars per capita. We
are fast becoming great manufac
turing section. Missouri Kansas, Me-
| braska Colorado, Utah, California, Or
egon and WASHINGTON are rapidly
| growing as manufacturing states. SO
| that the products of our factories and
mills now amount tn more than a bill
| lion dollars year"
RICH FARMERS BEYOND THE
| MISSISSIPPI.
"Your chief products are, however,
| Agricultural. are they not?"
"'rhey are both agricultural and min
eral, but the agricultural far exceeds
| the mineral. Our corn crop is nnnu-. i
| ally worth over two numbered million
| dollars. 1t exceeds The annual gold
| output of the world hy number of
millions. Our wheat crop amounts to
something like 800, 600 600 bushels year
and we make about st50,000,0l9 worth
OF hay every year. The packing in
terests are very large. I'he center of
the packing industry IS moving west
ward. Omaha, Kansas City and st.
Joseph now kill enormous quantities of
live stock and new packing houses are
being built here ana also at st. Joseph. |
''As to minerals. the West produces
800, 900 worth OF gold and silver a
year. and its production of copper and
other minerals amounts to more than |
that sum. Why, some OF the richest |
coal fields OF the country are In the |
West, Colorado claims to have more
coal than Pennsylvania. There IL coal |
in Montana and Utah. and we produce |
now something like 20,O00.0o0 ton an |
nually In the trans Mississippi states |
We have good Iron. and there will be |
great manufacturing centers in some |
OF the western sections in the future" |
THE FARM MORTGAGES.