The Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society was established in 1854 to foster the emigration to Kansas and Nebraska Territories of settlers who would the counteract the emigration from the neighboring slave- holding State of Missouri and thus be able to secure the entry of these Territories into the Union as Free States. The Society financed the establishment and defense of Lawrence, Kansas, as the destination of the emigrants and the center from which their settlement would proceed. In order to attain the most rapid buildup of population possible, the Society arranged with German Emigrant companies for the transport and settlement of the Territories with forty-eighters who might otherwise have settled in Wisconsin. Lawrence and its surrounding communities still retain this original bi-partite character of New England and German heritage.
We thank the Kansas Collection of Spencer Research Library of the University of Kansas for providing the photocopies from which this presentation was prepared, and Alec Miller, Graham Pendreigh, and David Volmut for their preparation of the electronic document.
NEBRASKA AND KANSAS
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS
EMIGRANT AID SOCIETY
WITH THE
ACT OF INCORPORATION
AND OTHER DOCUMENTS
BOSTON
PUBLISHED FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS EMIGRANT AID CO.
1854
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Page 1.
CHARTER
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS EMIGRANT AID CO.
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COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
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In the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-four
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE MASSACHUSETTS EMIGRANT AID COMPANY.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECT. 1. Benjamin C. Clark, Isaac Livermore, Isaac Davis, William G. Bates, Stephen C. Phillips, Charles G. Hazewell, Alexander H. Bullock, Henry Wilson, James S. Whitney, Samuel E. Sewall, Samuel G. Howe, James Holland, Moses Kimball, James D. Green, Francis W. Bird, Otis Clapp, Anson Burlingame, Eli Thayer, and Otis Rich, their associates, successors, and assigns, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the Massachusetts Immigrant Aid Company for the purpose of assisting emigrants to settle in the West; and, for this purpose, they have all the powers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in the thirty-eighth and forty-fourth chapters of the Revised Statutes.
Sect. 2. The capital stock of the corporation shall not exceed five millions of dollars. Said capital stock may be invested in real and personal estate: provided, the said corporation shall not hold real estate in this Commonwealth to an amount exceeding twenty thousand dollars.
Sect. 3. The capital stock of said corporation shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each ; but no more than four dollars on the share shall be assessed during the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and no more than ten dollars on the share shall be assessed in any one year thereafter.
Sect. 4. At all meetings of the stockholders, each stockholder shall be entitled to cast one vote for each share held by him: provided that no stockholder shall be entitled to cast more than fifty votes on shares held by himself, nor more than fifty votes by proxy.
Sect. 5. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.
=>The Corporation of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company met at the State House, in Boston, May 4th, according to notice, and accepted the foregoing Charter. A Committee was appointed to report a plan of organization and system of operations. The Committee consisted of Eli Thayer, Alexander H. Bullock, and E. E. Hale, of Worcester, Richard Hildreth and Otis Clapp, of Boston, who submitted the following Report, relating to the plan of operations, at an adjourned meeting, held in Boston, May 12th.
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REPORT.
The objects of this Corporation are apparent in its name.
The immense emigration to America from Europe introduces into our ports a very large number of persons eager to pass westward. The fertility of our western regions, and the cheapness of the public lands, induce many of the native born citizens of the old States also to emigrate thither. At the present time public and social considerations of the gravest character render it desirable to settle the territories west of Missouri and Iowa; and these considerations are largely increasing westward emigration.
The foreign arrivals in America, last year, were 400,777. In the same year, the emigration to Western States, of Americans and foreigners, must have amounted to much more than 200,000 persons. The emigration thither this year will be larger still. And from the older Western States large numbers are removing into new territory.
Persons who are familiar with the course of movement of this large annual throng of emigrants, know that under the arrangements now existing they suffer at every turn. The frauds practiced upon them by “runners” and other agents of transporting lines in the State of New York, amount to a stupendous system of knavery; which has not been broken up even by the patient endeavors of the State officers, and by very stringent legislation. The complete ignorance as to our customs in which the foreign emigrant finds himself, and in more than half the foreign emigration, his complete ignorance of our language, subjects him to every fraud, and to constant accident. It is in the face of every conceivable inconvenience, that the country receives every year four hundred thousand foreigners into its sea-ports, and sends the larger portion of them to its Western Country.
The inconveniences and dangers to health to which the pioneer is subject who goes out alone or with his family, only in making a new settlement, are familiar to every American.
The Emigrant Aid Company has been incorporated to protect emigrants, as far as may be, from such inconvenience. Its
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duty is to organize emigration to the West and bring it into a system. This duty, which should have been attempted long ago, is particularly essential now, in the critical position of the Western territories.
The legislature has granted a charter, with a capital sufficient for these purposes. This capital is not to exceed $5,000,00. In no single year are assessments to a larger amount than ten per cent to be called for. The corporators believe that if the Company be organized at once, as soon as the subscription to the stock amounts to $1,000,000, the annual income to be derived from that amount, and the subsequent subscriptions, may be so appropriated as to render most essential service to the emigrants; to plant a free State in Kansas, to the lasting advantage of the country; and to return a very handsome profit to the stockholders upon their investment.
1. The emigrant suffers whenever he goes alone into his new home. He suffers from the frauds of others – from his own ignorance of the system of travel; and of the country where he settles; and, again, from his want of support from neighbors – which results in the impossibility of any combined assistance, or of any division of labor.
The Emigrant Aid Society will relieve him from all these embarrassments, by sending out emigrants in companies, and establishing them in considerable numbers. They will locate these where they please on arrival in their new home, and receive from government their titles. The company propose to carry them to their homes more cheaply than they could other- wise go – to enable them to establish themselves with the least inconvenience, and to provide the most important prime necessities of a new colony. It will provide shelter and food at the lowest prices after the arrival of emigrants, while they make the arrangements necessary for their new homes. It will render all the assistance which the information of its agents can give.
And, by establishing emigrants in large numbers in the territories, it will give them the power of using; at once those social influences which radiate from the church, the school, and the press, in the organization and development of a community.
For these purposes, it is recommended, 1st, that the directors contract immediately with some one of the competing lines of travel for the conveyance of 20,000 persons from Massachusetts, to that place in the West which the Directors shall select for their first settlement.
It is believed that passage may be obtained, in so large a con-
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tract, at half the price paid by individuals. We recommend that emigrants receive the full advantage of this diminution of price, and that they be forwarded in companies of two hundred, as they apply, at these reduced rates of travel.
2. It is recommended that at such points as the Directors select for places of settlement, they shall at once construct a hoarding house or receiving house – in which three hundred persons may receive temporary accommodation on their arrival, – and that the number of such houses be enlarged as necessity may dictate. The new comers or their families may thus be provided for, in the necessary interval which elapses while they are making their selection of a location.
3. It is recommended that the Directors procure and send forward steam saw mills, grist mills, and such other machines as shall be of constant service in a new settlement, – which cannot however be purchased or carried out conveniently by individual settlers. These machines may be leased or run by the company’s agents. At the same time, it is desirable that a printing press be sent out, and a weekly newspaper established. This would be the organ of the company’s agents: – would extend information regarding its settlement, and be from the very first an index of that love of freedom and of good morals, which it is to be hoped may characterize the State now to be formed.
4. It is recommended that the Company’s agents locate, and take up for the Company’s benefit the sections of land in which the boarding houses and mills are located, – and no others. And further, that whenever the Territory shall be organized as a Free State, the Directors shall dispose of all its interests there, replace by the sales the money laid out, declare a dividend to the Stockholders; – and 5th. That they then select a new field, and make similar arrangements for the settlement and organization of another Free State of this Union.
II. With the advantages attained by such a system of effort, the territory selected as the scene of operations, would, it is believed, at once fill up with free inhabitants. There is reason to suppose that several thousand men of New England origin propose to emigrate under the auspices of some such arrangement this very summer. Of the whole emigration from Europe – amounting to some 400,000 persons, there can be no difficulty in inducing thirty or forty thousand to take the same direction. Applications from German agents have already been made to members of the Company. We have also intimations in corres-
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pondence from the free States of the West, of a wide spread desire there among those who know what it is to settle a new country to pass on, if such an organization can be made into that now thrown open. An Emigrant Company of those intending to go has been formed in Worcester County, and others in other States.
In view of the establishment by such agencies of a new Free State in that magnificent region, it is unnecessary to dwell in detail on the advantages which this enterprise holds out to the country at large.
It determines in the right way the institutions of the unsettled Territories, in less time than the discussion of them has required in Congress. It opens to those who are in want in the Eastern States, a home and a competence, without the suffering hitherto incident to emigration. For the Company is the pioneer; – and provides, before the settler arrives, the conveniences which he first requires. Such a removal of an over-crowded population, is one of the greatest advantages to Eastern cities. Again, the enterprise opens commercial advantages to the commercial States, just in proportion to the population which it creates, of free men who furnish a market to our manufactures and imports. Whether the new line of States shall be Free States or Slave States, is a question deeply interesting to those who are to provide the manufactures for their consumption. Especially will it prove an advantage to Massachusetts, if she create the new state by her foresight – supply the first necessities to its inhabitants- and open, in the outset, communications between their homes and her ports and factories.
In return for these advantages, which the Company’s rapid and simple effort affords to the emigrant and to the country, it its stockholders receive that satisfaction ranked by Lord Bacon among the very highest, of becoming founders of States (See Mr. Everett’s Speech on the Nebraska Bill), and, more than this, – States which are prosperous and free. They secure satisfaction by an investment which promises large returns at no distant day.
Under the plan proposed, it will be but two or three years before the Company can dispose of its property in the territory first occupied – and reimburse itself for its first expenses. At that time, – in a State of 70,000 inhabitants, it will possess several reservations of 640 acres each, – on which its boarding houses and mills stand, – and the churches and school-houses
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which it has rendered necessary. From these centres will the settlements of the State have radiated. In other words, these points will then be the large commercial positions of the new State. If there were only one such; – its value, after the region should be so far peopled, would make a very large dividend to the company that sold it, besides restoring its original capital, with which to enable it to attempt the same adventure elsewhere.
It is to be remembered that all accounts agree that the region of Kansas is the most desirable part of America now open to the emigrant. It is accessible in four days of continuous travel from Boston. Its crops are very bountiful, its soil being well adapted to the staples of Virginia and Kentucky and especially to the growing of hemp. In its eastern section, the woodland and prairie-land intermix in proportions very well adapted for the purposes of the settler. Its mineral resources, especially its coal, in the central and Western parts, are inexhaustible. A steamboat is already plying on the Kansas River, and the Ter- ritory has uninterrupted steamboat communication with New Orleans, and all the tributaries of the Mississippi river. All the overland emigration to California and Oregon, by any of the easier routes,passes of necessity through its limits. Whatever roads are built westward must of necessity begin in its territory. For it is here that the emigrant leaves the Missouri River. Of late years the demand for provisions and breadstuffs made by emigrants proceeding to California, has given to the inhabitants of the neighboring parts of Missouri a market as at good rates as they could have found in the Union.
It is impossible that such a region should not fill up rapidly. The Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company promises to give confidence to settlers, by giving system to emigration. By dispelling the fears that Kansas will be a Slave State, – the Company will remove the only bar which now hinders its occupation by free settlers. lt is to be hoped that similar companies will be formed in other Free States. The enterprise is of that character, that for those who first enter it, the more competition, the better.
It is recommended that the first settlement made by the Directors, shall receive the name of that city in this Commonwealth that shall have subscribed most liberally to the capital stock of the company, in proportion to its last decennial valuation; and that the second settlement be named from the city next in order so subscribing.
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It is recommended that a meeting of the Stockholders be called on the first Wednesday in June, to organize the Company for one year; and that the corporators, at this time, make a temporary organization, with power to obtain subscriptions to the stock and make any preliminary necessary arrangements.
ELI THAYER,
for the committee.
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NEBRASKA AND KANSAS
by one who has been there
The following letters, descriptive of some portions of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, copied from the Worcester “Spy”, are said to be from the pen of DR. CHARLES ROBINSON, of Fitchburg, who visited those territories in 1849.
NUMBER 1.
In the “Spy,” some time since, I noticed a call, anonymously signed, for a meeting of persons interested in the settlement of the proposed new territories of Kansas and Nebraska, to be held at the City Hall in Worcester. Having spent several weeks on the eastern border of those territories, as well as through their entire length in 1849, and believing them to be the very garden of the earth, for situation and fertility of soil, I am deeply interested for their future condition; and, as I am often questioned upon the subject, I propose to pen a brief, general description of the country for your column.
The situation of this territory, as all are aware, is in the very heart of the country, it being about 2000 miles from its eastern boundary to the Atlantic at Boston: and also the same distance to the Pacific Ocean. It is connected with the finest commercial emporiums of the West and South, by the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers, and thence to every State, and important city in the Union, by Steamboat or Railroad communication. The great Pacific Railroad, will undoubtedly pass through this whole territory, thus opening a more direct route to California, and Oregon, as well as make one of the links in the great chain of steam communication that is soon to girdle the whole earth. When this road is built, and a line of Steamships established between San Francisco, and China, it will be the great thorough- fare for the commerce of Europe, and the United States, with Asia, as well as between the Atlantic and Pacific States. So far, then, from being out of the world, as some seem to suppose,
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Nebraska is geographically in the center of the most important country on the globe, and will soon be so, politically and com- mercially, if saved, from that curse of all commerce and poli- tics, slavery. The soil of Nebraska, for the most part, is unsurpassed for richness and depth, by any in the world. True, in some parts, as near the mountains, and some other places, it is thin and sandy, but for hundreds of miles from the Missouri State line, not an acre of waste or poor land was to be seen on our route. The land is gently rolling, thus giving an endless variety to the scenery, as well as ridding the country of all low marshes, swamps, and stagnant pools of water, so productive of malaria and disease. Lest it should be thought that this is written for effect at the present time, and, therefore, the representation too strong, I will quote this subject, a line my journal written on the spot, in April, 1849, after visiting the Wyandott tribe of Indians in this territory, as follows: “The land they occupy is immensely rich and very beautiful. All this region, both the Indian territory and this side of the Kansas river, (in Missouri,) is superior to any I ever saw for cultivation, and if it were occupied by New England society, I would never think of visiting California.” The soil is not only rich, but watered. Not only are the clouds more prodigal of their treasures that at Salt Lake Valley, and in California, during the summer season, but streams of pure water are to be found, at short intervals, in every direction. These streams are almost invariably skirted with timber, in the eastern portion of the territory, and can afford water power in abundance, for every kind of manufactures.
Of the climate, scenery, &c.; &c.;, I may say something here- after, as well as give some quotations from my journal, kept while travelling through the territory in question, should you think this worth publishing.
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NUMBER 2.
Agreeably to my promise, I will say a word of the climate, scenery, &c.;, of the proposed new territories of Nebraska and Kansas. This vast tract of country, extending, as it does, as far south as the southern borders of Virginia and Kentucky, and as far north as the northern portion of the Canadas, must of course, have a variety of climates; but it is of that portion lying in the latitude of Ohio and southern New York, I propose to speak. In this latitude, the climate is agreeably mild and
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healthy, not subject to extremes, either of heat or cold. In summer, although the thermometer may stand at eighty or a hundred degrees, the heat is not oppressive, owing to a gentle breeze, that rises in the early part of the day, and continues till late in the afternoon. This breeze is nearly as regular in its appearance as are the trade winds on the Pacific coast, and is as pure and healthful; hence, whatever damps, fogs, or noxious gases, of any kind, may have been generated during the night, they are early displaced by the wholesome air for the distant snow-capped mountains. It is, doubtless, owing to this free circulation of the air, that the cholera,- which proves so fatal in the heavy wooded bottoms of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, whenever that disease visits this country – seldom or never seeks its victims in the open prairies of this territory. Such was the case in l849, and also in 1835, according to the testimony of a missionary at Council Bluffs, in that year. The climate of Nebraska varies, not only in the different latitudes, but also in the different altitudes. While on its eastern borders no frost can be found, and the grass is from three to nine inches in height the first of May, on its western, near the “South Pass” of the Rocky Mountains, ice in abundance may be found in the middle of June, and on the mountain tops are perpetual snows.
The scenery of this territory is as varied as the climate. The monotonous level of the river bottoms, the beautiful rolling prairies, the picturesque bluffs of the Platte, the grand and stately piles of granite on the sweet Water, and the sublime heights of the Rocky Mountains, afford sufficient variety to feast a lover of Nature a lifetime. There is probably no other country, of the same extent, that contains so much variety and beauty of scenery as this, neither is there any country that has scenery like it in many of its characteristics. The scenery of the Platte, in the vicinity of Scott’s Bluffs, stands unrivalled, and unapproached, even in picturesque. It is not only sui generis, unlike every other in character, but surpassingly beau- tiful. Rev. Samuel Parker, in describing the bluffs on the Platte, says: “Many of them are very high, with perpendicu- lar sides, and in every imaginable form. Some appeared like strong fortifications, with high citadels: some like stately edifices, with lofty towers; I had never before seen anything like them of clay formation. And what adds to their beauty is, that the clay of which they composed is nearly white. Such is the smoothness, and regularity, and whiteness of the perpendicular sides and offsets, and such the regularity of their straight and
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curved lines, that one can hardly believe that they are not the work of art.” This is but a very imperfect outline of the background of the picture that extends for miles, while the Platte, with its and rich bottom, constitutes the foreground. But, though the lovers of nature and the beautiful, while Time shall last, will bow in adoration at this shrine, and the curious and fashionable shall make it their resort, yet, few of the emigrants of this generation will make it their home. The scenery that most attracts such men is found nearer, in the eastern portion of this territory, where the deep virgin soil of the rolling prairie invites the plough and spade. To give some idea of this scenery, I will quote my impressions, as they were pencilled, while traveling through the territory, south of the Kansas River.
May 11th. Our course, to-day, has been over the rolling prairie, and we passed along without difficulty. The prairie seems to be an endless succession of rolls, with a smooth, green surface, dotted all over with most beautiful flowers. The soil is of the most rich and fertile character, with no waste land. The feelings that come over a person, as he first views this immense ocean of land, are indescribable. As far as the eye can reach, he sees nothing but a beautiful green carpet, save here and there perhaps a cluster of trees; he hears nothing but the feathered songsters of the air, and he feels nothing but a solemn awe in view of this infinite display of creative power.
13th. Turned out this morning at 4 o’clock, to watch the cattle. Went upon a high roll of land where I had an extensive and enchanting of this, seemingly, boundless and ever varying prairie. The sun is rising out of this sea of land in the east, a line of timber skirts Cedar Creek to the N.E., also Spoon Creek to the N.W., while still further on, in the same direction, is seen a thick fog, marking the course of the Kansas river. All is still save the grazing of the cattle, and the concert of birds, which is composed of a great variety of songsters. The cooing of the prairie hens, heard in every direction, constitutes the base; of loud cawing of the crows. the tenor; the fine sweet voices of the ground and small birds, the treble; and a noise as of distant wild geese, the alto.
23rd. Passed a beautiful little creek of pure, cold water, about 12 M., where we found a newly made grave. Ascended a high bluff near the creek, where I had a most delightful view of the country to a great distance. I was reminded of the view of the Connecticut River Valley from Mt. Holyoke. There is this
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There is this difference, however; while one is circumscribed by hills and forests, the other is illimitable in extent, and stretches from the rising to the setting sun; and while one is striped and checked with cornfields and meadows like a carpet, the other is capable of being checked as numerously with States and nations.
At some distance north of our routes, Mr. Parker describes the country as follows:
“For about twenty-five miles since we crossed the Elkhorn, and between this river and the Platte, which are about ten miles apart, there is not a single hill. It is rich bottom land, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. No country could be more inviting to the farmer, with only one exception — the want of woodland. The latitude is sufficiently high to be healthy; and as the climate grows warmer as we travel west until we approach the snow-topped mountains, there is a degree of mildness not experienced east of the Allegheny mountains. The time will come, and probably is not far distant, when this country will be covered with a dense population. Then this amazing extent of most fertile land will not continue to be the wandering ground of a few thousand Indians, with only a very few acres under cultivation; nor will millions of tons of grass grow up to rot upon the ground, or to be burned up with the fire enkindled to sweep over the prairie, to disencumber it of its spontaneous burden. The herds of buffalo that once fattened on these meadows are gone, and the deer that once cropped the grass have disappeared, and the antelope have fled away, and shall solitude reign here until the end of time? No; here shall be heard the din of business, and the church-going bell shall be heard far and wide. The question is , by whom shall this region of country be inhabited ? It is plain that the Indians, under their present circumstances, will never multiply and fill this land. They must be brought under the influence of civilization and Christianity, or they will continue to melt away, until nothing will remain of them but relics found in museums and some historical records.”
This was written in 1835, and Mr. Parker’s predictions seem about to be fulfilled, and this garden of Eden is about to be re- occupied by the descendants of Adam; and God grant that they may remember that all the nations that dwell upon all the face of the earth are made of one blood.
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NUMBER 3
I propose in this letter to show why, in my judgment, the ter-
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ritories of Nebraska and Kansas offer greater inducements to the emigrant than most, if not all other localities in the West. There is, however, one objections to some parts of this territory, and that is the scarcity of wood. The fires that annually sweep over the prairies prevent the growth of timber, except along the river courses, where the grass does not become sufficiently dry to burn readily. But this objection does not apply with much force, so far as the present is concerned, for in many places there is a sufficiency for at least one generation of settlers, and ample provision can be made for the future, by planting forests and protecting them from fires. Besides, coal has been known to exist in this region for a long time, as well as in Missouri, where Hinton says it is found in “immense strata.” With beds of coal within and around it, Nebraska can afford to have its soil devoted to wheatfields and pastures, since it is to become a part of the great granary of the world.
One advantage that Nebraska has over other places in the West, in addition to those before named, is its market. The best market for the West is California. That state, while its mines continue, which will be at least a century, will depend chiefly, for articles of consumption, upon its neighbors; for unless flour should bring from fifteen to twenty dollars a barrel, it will not pay to raise it, where wages are from three to five dollars a day. As soon as the Pacific Railroad is completed, California will be almost wholly supplied with breadstuffs from the Western States and Territories this side of the Rocky Mountains; and, as this territory is nearer than any other grain-growing territory or State, of course it will have the advantage accordingly. — When we take into consideration what the population of California is soon to be — that San Francisco is soon to be one of the great centres of commerce, and contain a population exceeding that of the whole State at present, some just estimate of its value as a market may be made. It is well known that the shipping of flour from the Atlantic cities to california is a losing business generally; in the first place, because of the great distance, and consequent high freights; and, in the second, because probably one-half of all that is sent gets damaged, hence all purchasers are suspicious of American flour, and it must be sold, the best of it below the market price of good flour. Consequently, Chile can afford to raise wheat to supply this market, although paying a tariff of twenty percent, I thinks, ad valorem. Nebraska soil can raise as much wheat to the acre as that of Chile, or any other country, and when the railroad shall
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be built, the freight to San Francisco will be as low; and, with the disadvantage of the twenty per cent. duty, Chili will be driven from the market, leaving the Nebraska farmer far ahead of all competitors. Even at the present time, the market for flour, on the borders of this territory, is equal to almost any in the West, on account of the annual emigration to California, across the country; and when the ground is broken on the Pacific Railroad, and thousands of workmen are scattered along its course, it will be still better. In 1849, flour at Salt Lake Valley was twenty cents a pound, and other things in proportion; and, although this was probably an unusual price, yet there is no fear for want of a market, so long as the emigration continues. Beside the Missouri river, and the railroad across that State, afford ready access to St. Louis, Cincinnati, New Orleans, &c.;, for any excess over the demand at home.
Also, for stock raising, what State or country can compete with Nebraska? There is no limit to the pasturage, and every man may keep his thousands of cattle, without encroaching upon his neighbor. Cattle, in the more Southern portion of the territory, will winter themselves in the open prairie, and fatten themselves during the summer. The market for live stock is better even than for grain, as thousands every year, are driven from the Western States, by the over-land route to California, where I am informed by a gentleman who returned from that State in December last, oxen bring from $200 to $400, a yoke, and other cattle in proportion. The wild cattle of Northern California having been nearly all slaughtered, the States east of the Rocky Mountains are relied upon, chiefly, to supply the markets of that State; hence there is and will be a better market in Nebraska and Kansas, for all kinds of cattle, than in Ohio or any other Western State.
Another reason why this territory is the most desirable for emigrants is that the land is not, like much of the valuable land of the West, in the hands of speculators. While in the States, the settler must take an undescribable location, and far removed from any settlement, or pay an exorbitant price for his land, in Nebraska the most desirable situations can be had at the Government price. No sooner is a settlement made in the vicinity of this territory, than that the land is worth from ten to fifty dollars an acre, and, of course, if not taken by the actual settlers, it is by speculators, and hence the desirableness of emigrants going in companies, or under the auspices of a company in order that land may be secured in a settlement, at the first cost.