Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-10-07
was Settled in Early Eighties
by Catholic Colonization
Society.
observation-disclosures OF This
Country by sturdy Irish
Pioneers.
NOW HEALTHY And WEALTHY

James ]. Martin, of this city, who
has been spending some time In the
Great West, sends the Kentucky
Irish American the following inter-
esting letter from Greeley, Neb.,
where the Irish are both numerous
and prosperous:
In view of the organization OF a
Catholic Colonization Society some
time ago, and of the back to the
farm" movement which has been ex-
plotted in the magazines for year
or SO past, 1 thought a few facts rela-
tive to this country might be OF
interest to your readers. Greeley
county was settled in the early
eighties by the Catholic Colonization
Association of the United States, with
headquarters in Chicago. A great
many of these early settlers came
from New York City, although other
large cities were we'll represented.
Kentucky and Pennsylvania also
furnished some of the pioneers. The
conditions that faced the emigrants
in those days were of the hardest.
Coming from their Eastern homes
they were landed at st. Paul, thirty
or forty miles from the homesteads
they had bought. The remainder Of
the journey was accomplished by
wagon, after buying the necessaries
to start housekeeping on a small
scale. When they arrived at their
farms they, in truth, had all the
world before them to make living
in, for the farms and improve
ments" we're just as they emerged
from the bottom of the sea some
millions or so of years previously.
The prospect, as they viewed 1t then,
was hardly one to please, for 1t con-
sisted of an unvarying succession of
hills and wales, in some places badly
cut up by canyons and gullies, with
never a clump of trees or brush to
break the monotony of the scene.
These pioneers, however, were
made of the same stern material as
the early settlers of Kentucky and
they faced the labor before them with
a brave spirit. There were dug-outs
to be erected for houses and barns;
the ground had to be broken for
the reception of the crops; wells had
to be dug and windmills to be put up.
The matter of fencing the quarter
and half sections came later,
boundary lines being rather vague in
the colony's early days. The land
was as rich as the land of Canaan,
though the flow Of milk and honey
did not come for years afterward.
The crops raised were immense, but
there was a very inadequate return
for farm products in those days, the
low prices and the long haul to mar
ket initiating against a monetary
remuneration. The farmers, how
ever, raised enough on their lands
to provide a good living and there
was never any real distress until the
dry year of 1894. This year, II
appears, was a complete failure, and
is used here as a chronological land
mark, Just as the night OF the big
wind" is in Ireland. Some of the
settlers quit that year, disposing OF
their farms as they best could, and
returned East. The great majority
stuck 1t out, some of them probably
for the good reason that they had
not the wherewith for transportation
for themselves and families. The
year 1894 was the only year In the
history of the colony in which
there was a complete crop failure,
and the other years have been as a
rule years OF plenty, and now the
average Greeley citizen could stand
two or three crop failures without
seriously inconveniencing him. This
thing of a complete crop failure
hardly figures among the proba-
billties, no dependence being placed
on single crop nowadays. The soil
here seems to be of such character
as to be able to Withstand any
amount OF drought. and while other
sections Of the country have suf-
fered greatly this year Greeley county
Twill have a fair corn crop despite the
adverse conditions.
Nearly all the farmers who came
here in the infancy of the c lony and
many of those who came later have
accumulated sufficiency OF the
worlds goods five figures being
necessary to express their wealth In
money, and In some cases II takes
six. The rent OF farms In this county
is remarkably cheap. when the value
of the land is taken into considera-
ltion and the prices at which the farm
products, hogs, cattle, milk, butter
and eggs can be sold. A man who
knows anything at all about farming
could not, In my opinion, come to a
better locality, even though he Is
not in a position TO buy farm.
Although originally a Catholic col
Iony and settled principally by Irish
land the descendants OF Irish, Greeley
lcounty Is now quite cosmopolitan,
comprising among its inhabitents
IGermans, Russians. Poles, f3o-
Ihemlans. swedes, English and Scotch.
l0reeley. the county seat, Is a neat,
| attractive little town OF about so,
pabifanis. II has Cathohc
rch. costing s35. 900. the pastor
which Is Father Flanagan. a
a.. 4.