42 LETTERS FKOM THE BACKWOODS. 



central region of New York ; but I would divest it of 

 the romance of dreamers, and the falsehoods of land 

 speculators. If settlers could have picked out their 

 own farms at Long Lake, and clustered around the 

 lower extremity, they might have done well; but 

 these lands, which are tolerably fair, speculators have 

 retained, selling the poorer portions at a low price to 

 tempt buyers. It is in contemplation to drive a rail- 

 road through this entire region, reaching from Lake 

 Champlain to Bonville near Kome. This, though 

 ruinous to the stockholders, would be of great advan- 

 tage to the land, by bringing whatever it could pro- 

 duce near market. I would like to see this desolate 

 country settled ; but it never will be till the west is 

 all occupied. An overplus population will subdue it, 

 nothing else. Crowding may drive farmers here, but 

 no gentler means. Say what men will, it is an aw- 

 fully rough, cold, and forbidding country to the farm- 

 er. The Swiss from the Alps, or the Scotch from 

 the Highlands, might pitch their abodes here, and 

 stay — necessity alone will keep the rest; and when 

 this forest-covered territory shall '^support a million 

 of people,'' the State of New York will show a census 

 equal to that of the whole Union at present. As I 

 have said, I would not discourage a single man from 

 doing his part towards subduing this region ; but I 

 would that every one should know precisely what he 

 has to expect. Still I should not have made these re- 

 marks, had not some statements of mine been contra- 

 dicted, and I often been questioned as to their truth. 

 Many have wondered that I did not maintain what I 



