321] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 43 



What we learn from the facts in these latter columns simply 

 confirms our former ideas of the condition prevailing in the 

 various years. We need only add to the summary given 

 above the remark that farming in this township seems to 

 have been at its best in the middle part of the period that 

 has elapsed since colonization began. After the drawbacks 

 attending the first settlement were past, the prosperity of 

 the settlers was at its highest point, and in the later years, 

 while the older settlers have in the main increased their 

 wealth, but at a much slower rate than before, yet those who 

 have come in as purchasers from the older settlers have, 

 almost without exception, fallen behind rather than gained 

 in their net wealth. 



LAND VALUES. 



When Harrison township was first settled, land in limited 

 quantities could be purchased from the government' by actual 

 settlers for $2.50 an acre. At the same time the Union 

 Pacific Railroad was asking $4 an acre for its lands. As the 

 government land was all so quickly taken, and as sales were 

 made by the railroad company at its own prices, we can con- 

 sider the actual value of the lands from 1872 to 1874 to have 

 been about $4 an acre. During the two or three years fol- 

 lowing 1874 there was absolutely no sale for farming land, but 

 after immigration began again in 1878, the railroad price may 

 be considered as indicative of the actual marketable value of 

 the lands. In '78 and '79, $5 and $6 per acre were the cur- 

 rent prices. From 1880 to 1884 land of the average quality 

 brought from $6 to $8 per acre. These were the prices, of 

 course, for unimproved land sold on long time and easy 

 terms. A settler who wished to sell for cash would get very 

 much less, unless the improvements represented a substan- 

 tial sum. With the exception of two or three years prior to 

 1891 or '92, land has, since 1880, steadily increased in value, 

 though usually it has been of rather slow sale, because owners 

 have habitually asked prices for it above what purchasers 

 were willing to pay. At the present time, land with good 



