12 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R , 



Jl'l.Y 15. t840. 



WANDERliNGS IN 'JHE WEST IN 1839. 

 No.VlH. 

 (Concluded.) 



hands llirouijh wlioni they must pass ; tind it is only 

 tlie great staples tliat can be sold at all, for the va- 

 rious liltle things that are profitable to raise fur a 



with the all-absorbing object of aicuumlating prop- 

 erty. 



'I hose things will nndoubl-odly be changed in 



In the thick timber bottoms along the Illinois to a distant one :— thns, to use a familiar phrase, 

 river ami in the swamps of Indiana, there are groat , ..nny way you can fix it" the west must sufter a 

 numbers of wild hogs, which are occasionally hunt- j prea't inconvenience from the want of a market, 

 cd, and many are taken, but they arc hardly worth | which goes far to balance the greater fertility of 

 the killii^g. 



Sheep are not very common, on account of the 

 wolves, but in some parts of Ohio there are con- 

 siderable flocks, and there are a few in Illinois. — 

 The high rolling prairies make excellentsheep pas- 

 tures, and they thrive exctedingly nell there. 



handy marki^t, will not pay for the transportation : time, and the western country will improve nmch 



faster than the Atlantic country has done; — but at 



her soil. 



best a long period will be required before the mor- 

 al, intellectual and social advantages of the west 

 will be e(iual to what ihey are in the east. 



The common buildings in the west are lo" cab- 



The population of the western States is of a ins, which are built by locking logs together and 



1 filling the crevii:es with splinters and clay. On trie 



mixed and heterogeneous character : the immi- 

 grants are from all the States and of almost every ; inside the logs are iisunlly hewn off: the chimney 

 nation, and there is little union among them. The j projects the whole siz^ from one end of the house, 

 sonthern portion is chiefly settled by pc pie from laiid the fire-place is built of stones, if they can be 

 There is no finer mutton to be found ill the world the more southern Slates, and are generally de- I procured : if not, of timber lined with a thick coat 

 perhaps, than in Illinois. iSheep husbandry might nominated " Iloosiers"— a nick-name, which par- j of clay : single floors of boards or rough planks 

 bo made very profitable there. : ticularly appertains to the inhabitants of Indiana ; complete the finishing of the dwelling. These 



The wild animals most common are deer, wolves the northern portion has a majority of New England cabins are comfortably warm but rathe'r inconve- 

 of two kind.s, the grey wolf and the prairie wolf, , and New York people, who are styled " Yankees '" I nient habitations. A good cabin costs about one 

 foxes, badgers, rabbits, otters and squirrels : bears ^ f ijg nianners and customs of the two classes are '• hundred lUdlars. After a time these caliins are ex- 

 different, and there is mutual jealousy between I changed for Iramed or brick houses, the cost of 

 them Besides these two classes there art; many which is greater than the cost of similar houses in 



are seldom seen 



Of birds there are wild turkies, in the forest coun- 

 try, partridges, which are generally called pheas- 

 ants, quails, called also partridges; grous, or prairie 

 hens, cranes, snipes, larks, parroqnets — very beau 

 tiful birds with white bellies, black wings, and 

 head and neck a briglit scariet ; and a few other 



foreigners, especially Irish and Germans — the lat- 

 ter generally settled in little communities by them- 

 selves or in connection with the descendants of 

 Germans from the middle States; and although 

 these different races live peaceably with each oth- 



many parts of New England. 



One of the greatest inconveniences of houses in 

 Indiana and Illinois is, the want of good cellars ; 

 as there are very few localities high and dry e- 

 non;ihto have a dry cellar, and it is very difficult 

 small birds, besides water fowl, which are plenty : or, there is little of that harmony 'and kindly feel- to drain them; hence there are virry few houses 

 at particular seasons. , i„g which exists among the people of New Eng- itheie which have any cellar at all. 



The lakes and streams are well stocked with j land ; and a long period must elapse before the i What great advantages are to be realised by emi- 

 fish of various kinds, and many of large size. j whole population^ w.ll become assimilated and melt- ] grating to the west ? 



From these lists it will be seen- iliat sportsmen ed down into one homogeneous mass. Good soci- 

 have fine opportunities for the ejsercise of skill in ety may be found in the west, even in the newest 



their various art 



The people of the western States suffer great 

 inconvenience from the want of ready markets for 



settlements, but it must be selected. 



The laws anil institutiims of the western States, 

 excepting Missouri, are copied in a gieat measure 



their produce. Notwithstanding the noble lakes from those of New York and New England. Ohio 



and rivers, the numerous canals and railroads wiiicli 

 have been, and are being constnicti.'d, intersecting 

 the country in all directions, still a great portion 

 of the country does and always will suffer in this 

 respect. The west is destined to be an agricultu- 

 ral and not a manufacturing country. Almost all 



is especially a Yankee State. The more western 

 .States differ more from us. Towns and parishes 

 are scarcely recognised in law. TJie corporations 

 which are denominated towns, have powers and 

 privileges unlike the towns with us. Almost all 

 municipal affairs are managed by the county ofti- 



branches of manufactures are carried on by means j ^^'■''' '''^ """"^ important of whom are the county 



of water power or are greatly facilitated by Its aid, I '^""""'^"'""'''■■■' "'"' s'l^'''^' "h" ^"^ periodically 



and the west has but a small share of water power, lel'-ctcd by the people. 



not more than sufficient to drive the saw mills and | Public schools are provided for with some degree 



flour mills necessary for the country ; hence no 

 large communities of consumers of agricultural 

 produce can grow up in the country, except in the 

 cities, and these can never bo so numerous as lo 

 consume a large amount compared to what will be 

 produced ; therefore the great staples only can be 

 carried to market, and these to a great distance, to 

 be exchanged for the various manufactures of other 

 countries and the produce of other climates, and 

 must seek a market chiefly at the Atlantic cities 

 and New (Jrleans. Improve the internal commu- 

 nications as much as they may, a canal or a rail- 

 road cannot be made to every man's door, nor 

 through every town nor every county, and the lar 



of liberality. The government has appropriated 

 one section in each surveyed township, that is one 

 thirlysixth part of all the public lands, for the use 

 of schools, and the States have established other 

 funds, for the same purpose; but the people are 

 generally unable to contribute much individually, 

 and a great many do not properly estimate the im- 

 portance of educating their children. — teachers 

 who are competent are with difficulty obtained, and 

 consequently the facilities for education are indif- 

 ferent. Tlivre are a few persons who are intcrest- 



The emigrant who has a capital may obtain good 

 land at a very cheap rate, and the rise of property 

 will eventually make him rich; in the mean time 

 if he is industrious, he may have an abundance of 

 substantial food, indeed most of the necessaries of 

 life; and he may have them too for one half the 

 labor that would be necessary to obtain them at 

 the east; but the luxuries, comprising many things 

 which ho has been accustomed to all his life, and 

 which most people esteem as almost necessary to 

 the comfort of life, are not easily obtained. 



Excejjt the opportunity which is aflbrded to the 

 man who has a capital to become rich by specula- 

 tion, I know of no important advantage to be gain- 

 ed by emigrating to the west. Mechanics and la- 

 borers havs no better opportunities there than at 

 the east. Merchants and professional men, if they 

 are talented and active, will almost always obtain 

 wealtli and honors in the west, and such men will 

 succeed any where ; and men who are wanting in 

 talent and activity, will always be losers by going 

 away from their connections and friends. It is al- 

 most a, proverb in the west, that one wno has not 

 the "g'o ahead" in him will never succeed. 



I do not conclude that it would be better for alt 

 to remain v.- he re they are, A young man who has 

 a little money but not enough to give hi:n a start 



ed in the cau.^e and who tell us that in a few years ! in life, and who has in addition, strong hands and 



they will have good schools, and that the means of 

 education will be abundantly sufficient to satisfy 



gest part of the produce must be transported aeon- ' '''*> wants of tiie rominunily, and in (Jhio a great 

 siderable distance to any of these improvements, ideal has been done; hut in general these advanta- 



anu thence a long and expoiisiv.' route to the ulti- 

 mate market, and when we consider the vast extent 

 of fo'tile country to he cultivated, and the enormous 

 amount of produce, we readily see that prices must 

 be low, anil deducting the cost of transportation, 

 the fanner's profits must-be small, and the prices 

 of manufactured and foreign goods must be hii'h, 

 exactly in proportion to the low prices of his own 

 produce, and fiom the same causes — the cost of 

 transportation and the commissions of the many 



ges exist mainly in the future prospect; and in the 

 mean time the present rising generation will grow 

 up in compaiative ignorance. 



a light heart, will do well to emigrate, if he will 

 avoid whiskey and gambling, and attend to his own 

 business. 



A man who has a family of boys to provide for 

 and who may have been unfortunati-, but can yet 

 save something from the wreck of his property, 

 will find it advantageous to emigrate to the new 



The means of obtaining general inlormation are j scttlen.onts in the west, where l:o can begin anew 

 limited ; the public journals are nearly all of them I with a prospect of success. But a young man, 

 ill-conducted concerns, containing little which is whether a farmer, a tradesman, a merchant or a 

 calculated to improve the tastes or the morals of I professional man, who can enter life with a tolera- 



thcir readers ; — libraries and literary societies are 

 rare, and the conversition of the people of tlie west 

 is almost wholly upon tangible subjects connected 



ble prospect of acquiring a competence, and of sup- 

 porting a family in his own neighborhood, and the 

 man who is settled in life and in comfortable cir- 



