1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
71 
When, Where, and How to Pro- 
cure Western Farm Homes. 
Being the Results of the Observations 
of one of the Editors of the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist, who has just 
completed a 5000-Mile Tour, in 
Securing Information for the Read¬ 
ers of this Journal. 
Do not go West with a family, unless you have 
enough money to make a fair start. 
Do not borrow money,to go West. The majority 
of those we have met in their Western homes, who 
have failed, have been those who came on borrowed 
money,or without enough funds to ensure a send-off. 
After reading this article, select such region as 
you think you will like best. People generally pre¬ 
fer to keep in the same latitude they have lived in. 
Go in the spring and get acclimated. 
Take as little baggage and as few heirlooms as 
possible. They cost money for freight and in ad¬ 
dition are apt to be an encumbrance in anew home. 
Provide yourself with a small collection of good 
hooks for the family; and before going renew your 
subscription to the American Agriculturist. It will 
be just as serviceable in the new home as in the old. 
If you are able to do so, you better first go out 
and explore before taking your family with you. 
Do not attempt to explore too much. We have 
met people beyond the Missouri River who had 
visited nearly all the Land Grants, and the more 
they had travelled, the more unsettled they were 
as to where they should locate. 
Decide upon your climate and locality, and then 
select your land. If you wait too long, you are 
apt to become very much unsettled. 
Do not go West if you have a sick family. Change 
of climate may benefit them, but it is not worth 
while to take the chances. 
Do not go West expecting not to be homesick, 
for your mountain scenery, your forests and your 
streams which present such a contrast to the mo¬ 
notony of endless prairies. It may be very lonely at 
first, but you will soon plant your own trees, 
have pleasant surroundings, and near neighbors. 
Do not go expecting to become rich immediately. 
Several years of good crops may be required to 
place you in easy circumstances. 
If you are a clerk on a small salary in the city, 
and have a few hundred dollars ahead, give up your 
clerkship, and strike for the western lands. There 
is no very great amount of experience required 
in cultivating these prairies. 
If you have abundance of money, settle on the 
lands in the near West. If your funds are com¬ 
paratively limited, go on still further, where as 
good lands can be purchased at lower figures. 
What is known as the Homestead Law, gives to a 
settler, on condition of permanent improvement 
and continued residence for five years, 80 acres of 
land within the limits, or 160 acres of land outside 
of the railroad limits. The only costs to him are 
those of the Land Office, which do not exceed $20 
for every 160 acres. Honorably discharged soldiers 
are allowed to select their 160 acres within the rail¬ 
road limits. 
The Preemption Law permits any citizen, or per¬ 
son who has declared his intention of becoming 
such, to locate 160 acres of land within railroad 
limits at $2.50 per acre, or outside of railroad lim¬ 
its at $1.25 per acre ; the only conditions are that 
he shall make permanent improvements and reside 
for one year on the property. 
The Timber Culture Law gives to any citizen of the 
United States, or one who declares his intention of 
becoming such, 160 acres, either within or without 
the limits of the railroad, on condition that he plants 
one-sixteenth of the land with trees, and cultivates 
the same for eight years. Laws in Minnesota, Ne¬ 
braska, Dakota, and other Western States and Ter¬ 
ritories, make additional inducements to settlers to 
plant trees, in the way of paying money direct to 
the settlers at so much per acre, or in reducing the 
amount of their taxes. 
But the great bulk of desirable government lands 
lying within the limits of railroad Grants have been 
taken possession of under the Homestead, Preemp¬ 
tion, and Timber Culture Acts. It is better to buy 
land within a few miles of arailroad, than to procure 
lands without cost under Government Acts, located 
a considerable distauce from railroads. The saving 
of horseflesh in drawing produce to market, will 
generally, in a short time, make up more than the 
difference So then, as a general rule, those who 
desire to locate in the West or far West, should 
purchase lands from the Railroads in preference 
to Homesteading or Preempting them. The terms 
of the Railroads are generally moderate, and they 
hold out special inducements to immigrants. What 
they desire is population. Some of the managers 
of these Railroad Grants have told us that they 
would be glad to give their lands away, if, by so do¬ 
ing, they could secure a good class of population. 
It is the increased business for their roads growing 
out of this increased population which they are 
working for. 
Chicago and Northwestern Lands. 
The Chicago and Northwestern railroad system, 
which is rapidly covering the North-west and Far 
West, embraces some large tracts of land in the 
Grants originally given to roads now constituting 
divisions of this great network of over three thou¬ 
sand miles of track. One Grant comprised mainly 
of timber lands lies in Wisconsin and Northern 
Michigan, and is reached from Chicago by the Mil¬ 
waukee, Green Bay and Marquette division of the 
road. It originally embraced 788,000 acres in Michi¬ 
gan and 397,000 in Wisconsin, making a total of 
1,185,000 acres. Of this amount 202,000 acres have 
so far been disposed of in Michigan, and 67,900 
acres in Wisconsin, making a total of 269,900 acres. 
This leaves to be sold 586,000 acres in Michigan, 
and 329,100 in Wisconsin, a total of 915,100 acres. 
There were sold during the 18 months ending 
last November, 100,000 acres in Michigan, and 
17,000 in Wisconsin. Those lands comprised in 
the Michigan and Wisconsin Grant of the Chicago 
and Northwestern being valued almost mainly for 
the timber, have a wide range of prices, from 25 
cents to $50 per acre; still good farming land, 
heavily timbered with maple, beech, etc., can be 
purchased from the Company for from $2.50 to $5 
per acre. Persons of very smad means, who are 
unable to buy prairie farming lands, and wait a year 
or more for crops, can advantageously settle upon 
these woodlands, inasmuch as the timber, for which 
there is a ready market, affords them an immediate 
livelihood. They can forthwith begin the work 
of felling the forests of pine and other valuable 
timber. These forests skirt the railroad for miles, 
and we derived not a little pleasure in riding 
through them on an engine. 
The great and attractive Grant of the Chicago 
and Nortwestem comprises a stretch of beautiful 
prairie country, lying upon both sides of the Wi¬ 
nona and St. Peter division, extending across the 
width of Southern Minnesota into Dakota, through 
what is known as the Wheat Belt of America. The 
strip of land in which they are embraced, is about 
one hundred and fifty miles long, and some 
forty miles wide. It begins near Sleepy Eye, 
forty-four miles west of St. Peter, and ex¬ 
tends in a north-westerly direction, taking in 
the whole or portions of Brown, Cottonwood, 
Redwood, Murray, Lyon, Lincoln, Yellow 
Medicine, Lac Qui Parle Counties, Minn., and 
Brookings, Deuel, Grant, Codington, and 
Hamlin Cos., Dakota. The original Grant con¬ 
sisted of 1,751,000 acres. During the eighteen 
months ending in November last, 182,582 
acres were sold. The total amount of acres 
sold up to the present time is 720,024, leav¬ 
ing a balance in the market of 1,030,976 acres. 
Before starting for these lands, go to the 
Northwestern Depot in Chicago, and confer 
with Dr. W. H. Stennett, Gen’l Passenger 
Agent, and Charles E. Simmons, Land Com¬ 
missioner, who will furnish you with all the 
desired information regarding the best modes 
of reaching the lands, the price per acre, etc., 
and sell you “ Explorer’s ” tickets to various 
points in Minnesota and Dakota. On our 
tour of inspection we took the train which 
leaves Chicago at nine o’clock in the evening, 
and arrives at Sleepy Eye, a distance of 479 
miles, at six o’clock p. m. the next day. 
There is a second train, leaving Chicago at 
ten o’clock a. m., and reaching Sleepy Eye at 
ten the next morning. Round tiip tickets, 
and low fares generally,are given to those who 
desire to visit the lands. Within four years’ 
time over 300,000 acres have been sold to ac¬ 
tual settlers, who are now the owners of 
farms and homes of their own. In response 
to a note, sent 6ince our trip through the re¬ 
gion, Mr.Simmons writes : “Our cheaper lands 
are at the west end of the Winona and St. 
Peter branch, and are equal in quality to the higher 
priced lands further east. Taking the land together, 
they range in price from $2 to $8, the average now 
being probably about $4 to $4.50 ; this average is 
of course changing with every sale made.” The 
titles to all these lands come in direct line from the 
General Government and are without dispute. The 
soil is loamy, varies from two to five feet in depth, 
is well watered, and produces wheat,corn, flax, oats, 
rye, barley, buckwheat, and root crops generally. 
These lands likewise hold out inducements for 
stock farming and dairying operations. Further¬ 
more, the railroad markets are close at hand and 
fuel i3 procured at moderate prices. 
Iowa Railroad Company’s Lands. 
The original amounts of lands included in the 
Grants under the control of this Company were 
1,713,529 acres. 1,322,422 acres were sold up to Dec. 
last year (1881), of which about 800,000 acres were 
sold during 1881—mostly to actual farmers, in aver¬ 
age lots of 160 acres. These lands lie in the north¬ 
west corner of Iowa. The lots on hand for sale 
are located principally in Ida, Crawford, Monona, 
and Woodbury Counties, on the line of the Chicago 
and Northwestern Railroad ; and in Buena Vista, 
Cherokee, Plymouth, and Sioux counties, on the 
line of the Illinois Central Railroad. Explorer’s 
tickets can be purchased at the Company’s office in 
Chicago, and at the main stations on the Chicago 
and Northwestern and the Illinois Central Railroads. 
SCENE IN THE IOWA-MINNESOTA LAKE REGION. 
