348 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



To Western Emigrants. 



[Albany Cultivator, 10:37-38; Feb., 1843] 



[December 9, 1842] 



Messrs. Eds. of the Cultivator — Everything con- 

 nected with the subject of emigration to the west, has 

 become interesting to a vast number of your eastern 

 readers. Enquiries have become so numerous that I 

 propose to answer publicly, the following questions, 

 which, with a great many others have been made to me, 

 and which I now select from a file of letters, a good deal 

 bigger than "a piece of chalk." 



I select promiscuously as they come up : 



1st. "What is the price of land ; can any be bought at 

 government price?" The price of government land is 

 $1,25, payable in specie or treasury notes, at the Land 

 Office in the District where the land lies — a District is 

 from 50 to 80 miles square. The purchaser receives a 

 certificate of purchase, and afterwards obtains a patent 

 from the President. In this section of the state, there 

 is much prairie land now subject to entry, and some tim- 

 ber land, though the best timber is generally taken up, 

 and is held from $2 to $10 an acre. 



Many tracts of improved land can now be bought for 

 less money than the cost of making the improvements; 

 because men are in debt and cannot pay without selling 

 their farms. 



"Please give me some of the prices of stock?" 



Cash prices are low: Horses $40 to $90; six yr. old 

 Oxen, $35 to $50 ; four yr. old, $25 to $35 a yoke ; three 

 yr. old Steers, $6 to $10, each ; two yr. old, $5 to $7 ; one 

 yr. old, 3 to $5; Calves, $1,25 to $2; Cows, $6 to $10; 

 Sheep, common, $1,25 to $1,75; Hogs, Landpike variety, 

 are so cheap that stealing them is no longer petit lar- 

 ceny; Hogs, Berkshire, and other improved breeds, "just 

 as you can light of chaps," at prices to correspond with 

 the present price of pork, which is from $1 to $1,70 pr. 

 cwt. ; Turkeys, 20c. each; Hens cannot be sold by the 



