SOLON ROBINSON, 1849 335 



one might "go further and fare worse." And for a farmer 

 to leave this part of the State, with a view to better his 

 condition as a mere cultivator of the soil, shows to me 

 that he is in great want of proper information of all that 

 is necessary in a country to make it a desirable one for 

 the emigrant. It is true that we have a surpassing rich 

 soil in all the North Western States, but it is also true 

 that some of the best farmers in the State of Illinois and 

 Indiana, are fifty to an hundred miles from any market 

 for grain, and the owners are at this moment engaged in 

 hauling their crop that distance, over a muddy, (if not 

 frozen,) road, while thousands of others, particularly in 

 Missouri and Iowa, are entirely beyond the reach of any 

 market. 



It is but a few years ago that wheat in the central 

 counties of Indiana, was an unsaleable commodity at 

 twenty-five cents a bushel, and I venture to say that I 

 can now buy corn for half that sum in Indiana, Illinois 

 and Missouri. The average price of wheat at Chicago, 

 the greatest wheat market in the world for buying direct 

 from the farmer, for the last ten years, will not exceed 

 sixty cents a bushel, and the average distance that it is 

 hauled in wagons will exceed thirty miles ; while the aver- 

 age yield per acre, counting all that is sown or lost by 

 blight or other disaster, will not exceed ten bushels per 

 acre. 



But the Western soil, particularly the great prairie 

 region and upon all the river bottoms, is incalculably fer- 

 tile, and generally cheap ; at least the immense tracts of 

 government land can be bought at a low price, and that 

 is what induces emigration. As a Western man it may 

 be said that I should encourage this. My writings for 

 years will prove that I have not, i. e. indiscriminate emi- 

 gi'ation. Why should I? I have no great interest to 

 serve. I own no great tracts of land, and I am no aspirant 

 for ofl^ce-seeking popularity. I have enjoyed the charac- 

 ter of a philanthropist. I would maintain it. I would 

 persuade men to be contented with their present homes, 



