CHAPTER XXIII. 



DES MOINES TO OMAHA. 



(S>\\t Quubre^ a\\b jFiftg-sctientl) JDiig. 



B^ci s House, 

 ADfcL, Iowa, 

 Octooer 15, 1876. 



EFT Des Moines with pleasant thoughts 

 of the cordial reception I had met with, 

 and pursuing my way westward over the 

 prairies, reached this village in the even- 

 ing after a twenty-five miles' ride over a 

 section of the countrv striiving-lv beauti- 

 ful. The soil of the prairie, I am every- 

 where informed, is almost invariably of 

 the most productive character. No other 

 State, in short, has finer facilities for growing all the 

 cereals of the temperate zone than Iowa. 



Adel is the county-seat of Dallas County, situated on 

 the Raccoon River — generally called the ^' Coon." At 

 the period of my visit the village had a population of 

 less than one thousand, and although agriculture is 

 the leading industry, considerable attention is given 

 to manufacturing. The prairie land in the vicinity 

 was, as yet, sparsely settled, but every inducement was 



(429) 



