Year: 1874

PLATTsMoUTH, NEB., Jan. 10, IA.


In my former letter gave you kind
of rambling description of Nebraska, as
to soil and timber In this will aim to
give you some more of the advantages,
and some of the disadvantages, to NOV
ing here, for you must remember that
for the last two years the immigration to
this State has been enormous, and Ohio
is furnishing her full share, and your
own immediate vicinity is well represent
ed in this State.


A poor mani mean, such as can leave
Ohio with $1,000 to $4,000, is very foolish
to stay in Ohio, when with that amount
of money he could homestead 160 acres
of land here that with the same culture
will produce in wheat or corn at least
double what it will in Ohio; and if he
wants to raise stock he can do so with
one half less expense than in Ohio, as
from May to October all it costs to keep
cattle is the pay to herder, which is so
cents to 81 90 per month per head. Gen
orally in the country the farmer sets his
boy to watching his cattle, and perhaps
also two or three of the neighbors' stock;
for there are no fences in this part of the
State except corral into which the cat
tie are driven and kept over night, and
in the morning the cattle are driven TO
the prairie, where they feed all day, and
in the evening are again corralled, and
so on. The same is done with all other
stock unless the man owns only few
head, in which case he drives stake or
iron pin in the ground, ties; his animal to
it by means of long rope, and when the
grass is all eaten within reach a new pas
ture is made by drawing the stake and
moving to another place. So you see it
costs but little to keep cattle in grass sea-
son, and as hay is only worth on the av-
erage about So. 80 to $400 per ton it real
ly costs but little to keep them in the
winter season. Lack of shelter is the
worst feature. These prairie winds are
very searching when they come from the
north and northwest as they frequently
do, and when there is no timber to break
the winds, and no barns, cattle suffer ter
ribly in these cold blasts but fortunately
they seldom last more than twenty-four
hours at a time. Our farmers make a
good shed out of brush and prairie grass
closing up the north and west but where
there is nothing for snow to lodge against,
these winds carry it along until it settles
in a hollow or ravine, or finds a fence,
bushes, or any other object, and soon
drifts in large heaps, and thus for short
time makes the stock quite uncomforta-
BILE; yet stock suffers less here running
out, taking the winter altogether, than
in Ohio.


Sheep with sheds to shelter them from
these cold storms must do well in this
dry climate, as it must be conducive to
health Hogs do well, as they are easiest
sheltered of any stock But few of the
farmers have built barns in Nebraska
yet as timber is SO scarce. No one pass
ing through Nebraska, seeing the sod
walls covered with praire hay, would ev-
er suspect that he was looking at Ne
braska stable for cattle and horses, and
yet many of the houses are built in the
same way and of the same material, for
many poor men have come Nebraska,
built their sod houses and lived more
comfortable than the pioneers of Ohio in
their cabins. Eastern Nebraska has all
been taken up either by homesteaders,
pre-emption, or got into the hands of
spectators, so that to get a homestead
now one must go back well on to 200
miles from the Missouri river, and as you
near the Rocky Mountains the land gets
poorer, so that after you get back 200
miles good land is not so plenty, as there
are vast tracts there of poor sandy land
yet there are also large tracts of good
rich land. L have been here about I6
months, and have been over Eastern,
Southern and Middle Nebraska, and as
far west as Kearney junction, and if
were coming west to farm l would come
to Cincinnati, take the c.. B. q @. route
to Plattsmouth, and then buy either so
or 100 acres of the B. lS NJ. Railroad
lands. If l had the money to spare L
would pay for it; if l did not, would
buy it on ten years credit, and use my
money in showing my farm for
wheat crop. The reason why | would do
this is because their lands are cheap, as
they sell at from 81 to $l2 per acre, ow-
ing to their nearness to railroad, and