(502 JOHNSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 



runs parallel with the Great Nemaha, about ten miles north of 

 the same. These streams furnish water power for mills, which 

 are located all along the two, being from four to ten miles 

 apart. Their numerous tributaries thoroughly drain the 

 country and furnish an abundance of pure water for stock. 

 Those farms that have not running water, can get it in abund- 

 ance by digging from twenty to sixty feet. I think the wells 

 average about thirty-five feet. This country has good natural 

 advantages, only requiring capital and labor to fully develop 

 the same. Both the table and bottom lands along the numer- 

 ous streams are fertile. The land is undulating, but not hilly, 

 and so well drained that there is no stagnant water to poison 

 the atmosphere. We have plenty of good limestone rock in 

 quarries, suitable for building and walling wells, and timber is 

 more plenty than it Avas at the beginning of settlements. All 

 the streams have more or less timber along their banks, and 

 nearly every settler has raised a grove. 



The uncultivated prairies are covered in Spring and 

 Summer with a fine coat of nutritious grasses, that afford pas- 

 ture for the numerous herds of cattle, sheep and horses. Our 

 crops of all kinds, have been good for five years in succession. 



Tecumseh, is a town of about one thousand inhabitants, 

 and is a city of considerable business importance, having five 

 churches. Our public school system is good ; we have two 

 sections of land set apart for school purposes in every township, 

 and a good school fund. Our climate is good, growing season 

 long, and Winter mild ; we have a few cold days, with mercury 

 down to ten and sometimes fifteen below zero, but such weather 

 does not last long. Ou the whole, our Winters are agreeable 

 for man and beast, because they are generally dry. Spring 

 usually opens early ; we sow Spring wheat in February and 

 March, and alwa3-s plant corn by the middle of April. Our 

 Autumns are pleasant, and Winters hardly ever set in until 

 the middle of December. Number of inches of rainfall for four 

 successive years : 1876,25.95; 1877,34.27; 1878,27.54; 1879, 

 28.95. 



This country, with its favorable climate, is well adapted for 



