344 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



my neighbors has been within a week past, and actually- 

 perished, and that too, in November, in latitude 41i/2°- 

 He was on a "trip to mill," and got lost on a large prairie 

 on the night of the 16th inst., and perished in one of the 

 most severe storms ever known at this season, since the 

 country was settled. 



Little do you know in your "thick settlements," what 

 the pioneers of these "new settlements" have to endure. 

 Not that there is much danger of being "taken by a 

 bear," as the only one that ever ventured into "these 

 diggings," fell a victim to my rifle. As to my "taking 

 to politics," I cannot tell what may happen, as I have 

 known many instances of insanity, "about these days." 

 You will have received "late information from the prai- 

 ries," before this, which will tell you that the fire of im- 

 provement is spreading. The staple commodity of the 

 prairies has always been wheat ; and the price heretofore 

 has been so high, that the cultivators have entirely over- 

 looked the necessity of providing, while they may, for a 

 different state of things; consequently the great reduc- 

 tion in price has fallen heavily upon this region. It will 

 not now command over 38 cents in the Chicago market, 

 and although under the operation of some of the beau- 

 tiful theories of our politicians, coarse wool is equally 

 depressed, yet when you take into consideration that a 

 vast amount of wheat has this season been hauled into 

 Chicago from 100 to 200 miles, the difference in trans- 

 portation is so great as to appear at the first glance, 

 vastly in favor of wool. 



But I would not wish to be understood as advising the 

 prairie farmer to turn his attention to wool alone. I 

 stated some facts in my communication in the November 

 number of your paper, 1 for the purpose of showing East- 

 ern men what can be done with a little capital on the 

 Western prairies, in sheep business, unconnected with 

 any other branch of farming. The farmers in general 



1 Ante, 326-29. 



