Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1900-07-26

string to learn of the future pOssibii-
ties Of the country, longing for days
ride over the broad expanse that
stretched out before us, in company
with nine others, most all desiring to
buy lands, we left Watertown, under
the guidance of one of the genial rep
resentatives of Lund's Land Agency,
early one bright, clear, refreshing and
bracing morning. We passed out ov-
er the gently rolling country, travel
ling roads as we'll worked, in as good
condition and as much travelled as
the roads that lead into our towns in
Iowa. When we were out ten
miles we found the roads travelled as
our roads are travelled that don't lead
direct to town. Here and there we
found quarter section for sale in it's
wild state-nO breaking, no improve
ments, just as it had been before the
hand of man had touched it with his
magic wand and turned it into beau
tiful harvest field of waving, golden
grain. But most of the land was oc-
cupied by growing crops and every
thing bore evidence that the onward
march of civilization had long since
begun and all that was left for the
settler of to-day was to SOW the seed,
then reap the golden harvest of plenty,
enjoying while so doing the influence
of GOOD society, free public schools
long since established and other social
relations that have gone hand in hand
with the onward march of progress.
/ After drive of some thirty miles we
found ourselves at Henry, thriving
town of about four hundred people,
situated about twenty miles from
WatertOwn. We fed our teams, ate
our dinners and at once went to the
creamery, where we found one of the
reasons why the farmer is prosperous
and happy. Last month they paid
out to the patrons of the creamery
S260O.OO. The books showed that they
received daily average of $1,000
pounds of milk last year. The price
received for their butter equalled that
received here for creamery butter.
We visited an implement house to
look over the machinery and to learn
what we could Of crop prospects and
such other information as we might
possibly gain.
We found two young menwho had
just purchased headers, that had gone
up there this last spring from Sac
county, Iowa They We're well pleased
with the country and said they had as
4 good prospect for wheat and oats as
they had in Iowa and that their corn
was good in every sense. Having
seen poor pieces of grain on one side
of the road and bountitul crops on the
other, we asked them how they ac-
counted for the different crop condi-
tions and if they attributed it to diff
ference in the soil. They said, There
is no difference in soil to speak of, it
all being g dark sandy loan with a
clay sub soil, equally productive un-
der like circumstances or being farmed
in the same manner. We have gone
ahead and put in our grain the same
as in Iowa, cultivating the soil as we
always have, while many of the farm
ers practice stumbling their grain in;
that is, burn off the stupble and drill
their grain in, and in some instances
continue that manner of sowing for
three and four years without blowing
the ground" A man from Illinois
remarked that T" a man so lazy as that
at once informed the Illinois man
that there was not lazy man in the
whole country, that everyone worked
hard, but that sowing grain without
breaking up the ground had become a
custom, but owing to the early spring
being quite dry, grain sown in that
manner has not done we'll, while land
properly cared for would yield an av-
erage crop.
1 After dinner we started northward
from Henry passing over country
not so level as we had traversed dur
ing the forenoon but gently rolling.
The territory covered during the after
noon was not so well settled as what
we had seen during the morning
hours, there being fine pieces of prairie
ranging in price from $1,000 to $500
an acre, while the improved farms
, could not be had for less than about
$l7.00 to $1,000 while some places with
better improvements could not be
bought for $500. We passed by many
farms that had been broken up this
year and sowed in flax that gave
promise of a good paying crop. AS we
returned to town we passed by Will
son Burnside's farm of half section
that he purchased through j. +. Luse
this last spring. 1t Is beautiful
tract of land, gently rolling, and had
he farm, in Audubon county
of the exact quality of soil, laying eX-
actly the same, he could command
Il 5000 an acre easily; and owing to the
rapidity of the settling and improving
of that countryw are safe in saying
that his land, there, will command
the above price on the open market in
ten years. We saw the farm that
Robert Rutherford purchased recently
through J. f. Luse, though at a hall
miles distance.
Il We arrived at Watertown in time
for supper with an appetite that made
us eat with relish.
We had as we'll say that as we re.
turned to town, the writer was the
only person in the crowd that did not
own or had not selected piece of land
for home or an investment.
The next morning we arose and
breakfasted early and by the time the
farmers went to work whistling merry
tunes and thinking of the happy days
in store for them, we were on our
way northward, passing over road
where the farms on either side
We're well improved and gave every
evidence that the occupants were pros.
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