as handsome upland as one could wish to see 
rich, fertile and easily tilled. The cattle in. 
terests have increased largely recently, the 
grade is being improved by the importation 
of the best breeds both for dairy and beef. 
The land about the city is most productive 
and generally well settled, corn, oats, barley, 
rye, broom corn and some wheat are raised, 
besides fine potatoes and other root crops. 
There is a renewed interest being now taken 
in sheep culture, mostly fattening for market, 
and it is estimated that 75,000 head will be 
brought into the county this season. Wild 
land sells from $ 10 to $30 oer acre and im¬ 
proved farms at from $13.50 to $35 per acre. 
In regard to the prospects for the present 
season a few words from the Omaha Herald 
seem appropriate. “The skies are bright for 
Nebraska; even corn is to return a full har¬ 
vest unless alt signs upon which men rely 
fail. Frequent cultivation will hasten the 
maturity and increase the yield of such fields 
as are backward and every effort should be 
made by farmers to press their work. Small 
grains are nearly out of danger. The pros¬ 
pects of our Nebraska harvests are full of 
bright promise and there can be no mistake 
about it. " 
butter, eggs and poultry. All are doing an 
extensive jobbing trade, while others are be¬ 
ginning to reach out with similar intentions. 
The wholesale trade of this little city for the 
year ending July 1,1883, is estimated at 3,000,- 
000, while the entire commercial business will 
approximate $3,500,000. The municipal 
government is good and there is no city debt 
of any character. 
There are four banks having combined 
deposits of $600,000 and a volume of business 
for the past year estimated at $3,000,000. The 
Board of Trade is an organization having 
among its members all of the best business 
men in the city. There is a volunteer Fire 
Department, with a hand and a chemical en¬ 
gine and a hook-aud-ladder out-fit. There are 
also to be found a telephone exchange of some 
50 members, an efficient local press represented 
by the Fremont Herald, daily and weekly, in 
its twelfth year; the Fremont Tribune, week¬ 
ly; the Sunday-school Magazine monthly. 
We found organizations of A. F. and A. M. 
Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, I O. O F. 
Lodge and Knights of Honor. The per¬ 
manent improvements for the past year in 
Fremont foot up over $200,000. There are 
many handsome business blocks. A court¬ 
house and jail valued at $20,000; an opera 
house with accessories, $8,000; a post office 
block, $18,000; two good brick hotels, both of 
which are building additions to accommodate 
THE STORY OF STONY BROOK FARM. 
FREMONT, NEBRASKA 
Pride of the Platte and Elkhorn Val 
leys. Its tributary interests—Crop 
prospects and substantial 
Growth. 
CHAPTER VUT. 
(Continued from page 553.) 
After a time Jonkins began to perceive the 
hopeless condition of bis charge, and resolved 
to care for him until in time he could procure 
relief for him. No word of the accident had 
reached the world outside of the camp at 
Wild Goose Lake, and no explanation of his 
absence, except that he had been killed in the 
storm, was surmised at Ironbnrg. Jonkins 
and the injured man went about their trap¬ 
ping and hunting together, and no hunter 
could have been more acute or sagacious than 
Barley Merritt. What to do about the mat¬ 
ter greatly troubled Jonkins. Knowing 
nothing about the affairs of Barley, he took 
no steps to make the accident known to bis 
friends; besides he dreaded to be the bearer 
of the evil news. Late in the following Sum¬ 
mer the two men happened to pass, in pursuit 
of a wounded deer, through the mass of brush 
and limbs in which Barley had been struck 
do wn. Here Barley picked up, without recogniz¬ 
ing it, a leather wallet which he gave to Jon¬ 
kins. In it were money and letters belonging 
to Barley. No explanation Jonkins could make 
could induce Barley to accept the wallet as 
his or to have anything to do with it. The 
latter merely shook his head sadly, as if re¬ 
gretting bis inability to comprehend. On 
perusal of the letters Jonkins readily under¬ 
stood the position of Barley’s affairs; but 
what to do he was at a loss to dec de. 
Finally he concluded to write to his brother, 
from whom he had parted twenty-five years 
before, and who, for aught he knew, might 
be dead and buried years ago. 
“I’ll risk it anyhow,” thought he. And 
hunting up among bis old possessions, unused 
for all these years, paper and pens—ink was 
long since dried up and vanished—and making 
ink from oak-bark boiled with the iron mud 
from his spring, he wrote to his brother Jabez 
a full account of Barley Merritt’s accident 
and present condition. He enclosed money 
for Mrs. Merritt’s uses and needs, which, how¬ 
ever, he enjoined his brother to get to her in 
such a way that the source of it should not be 
known or suspected. 
This letter he carried to Ironburg, and wait¬ 
ing in the woods until far into the night, he 
dropped it into the post-office, with money to 
pay the postage tied to it. Then he returned 
to the woods, and, wrapped in his blanket, he 
laid and slept at the foot of a tree until day¬ 
light, when he wended his way homeward. 
“ It’s a shot in the dark, but it is well aimed 
and may bit after all. I hope it may,” said 
MESSRS. HOLMES AND SWEETLAND. 
fSpeelal Correspondents of the Rubai. New-Yorker. 1 
It has been onr pleasure to give in a previous 
letter to our many thousand readers an idea 
of the general features of interest to be found 
in Northeastern Nebraska, and it Is not only 
just, but equally pleasant to follow that 
article by a brief review of the principal city 
of the region, informing all impartially of the 
energy, enterprise and thrift evinced by the 
active business men of this city, and the 
results. 
Fremont is situated in the extreme eastern 
portion of Dodge County. It is 47 miles from 
Omaha and 37 from Missouri Valley, Iowa. 
It is located upm the first really suitable site 
west of Omaha in the FJatte Valley, and occu¬ 
pies a level plateau near the junction of the 
Elkhorn with the Platte River. The city was 
laid out in 1857 and from that time to 1866 it 
was only what, might, be termed a village. In 
1868 the Sioux City and Pacific R.R. was com¬ 
pleted to this point, and has since been ex¬ 
tended to Fort Niobrara, a distance of over 
250 mile 3 to the northwest, peuetrating a rich 
and productive territory which now offers its 
annual tribute in trade and produce. 
Since that time the growth of the city, 
while it had not been of tbe wonderful or re¬ 
markable order, has been unusually rapid and 
of such a superior character that no fears have 
ever been entertained of a relap e and conse¬ 
quent depreciation of property. Among the 
galaxy of handsome cities which dot the 
plains and valleys of Nebraska none would 
elicit more admiration from the tourist or 
would-be resident, or capture the fancy of the 
artist sooner than Fremont with its handsome 
public square, its wide streets well-shaded and 
with good sidewalks, its numerou- private 
dwellings with their extensive grounds, amid 
which may be seen swings, fountains, croquets, 
hammocks, etc., its various business edifices, 
many of them of brick aud substantially as 
well as elegantly finished, and its evident 
metropolitan propensities. 
The interestof education is one commanding 
marked attention, and this city has ju3t reason 
to be proud of the elegant buildings which 
have been provided for the purpose, the 
general excellence of the grounds and the re¬ 
markably efficient manner in which the edu¬ 
cational interests have been and are con¬ 
ducted. 
It is a proud boast of Fremont that no better 
schools can be found iu the State. There are 
four school buildings—three of brick and one 
of wood—costing, with property, over $35,000. 
Liberal, well-educated and pains taking in¬ 
structors constitute the corps of teachers so 
that the present high status can be maintained 
and the rising generation of the city and of 
the surrounding country may reap the bene¬ 
fits. In selecting a home in the West, as 
many thousand Eastern people are doing this 
year, either for themselves or their children, 
there is no point of greater importance or 
none to be more carefully considered and 
weighed than education; for “the child is 
father of the man.” 
Co-existent with scholastic improvement 
may ever be found abundance of opportunity 
for religious observances. This city has seven 
church edifices, all supplied with spiritual 
guides. They are neat, well built in fine loca¬ 
tions, and may be estimated at a value of 
$30,000. They comprise the following de¬ 
nominations: Methodist-Episcopal, Congrega¬ 
tionalism Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, 
Catholic, and German Lutheran. Besides 
these are found the Y. M. C. A. and the W. 
C. T. U. 
The location of Fremont with its various 
railway outlets, is such that, like the hub in a 
wheel, it has become the distributing center 
for a large radius of the surrounding country. 
The Union Pacific Railway reaches the East 
via Omaha, and brings the Western market 
for grain, produce, etc., within easy reach. 
The Sioux City aud Pacific Railway connects 
with various lines running east and, also en¬ 
ables jobbers to share in the large and rapid¬ 
ly increasing trade of the Northwest, and 
there is every probability of a road being 
ompletcd in the near future from Fremont to 
Lincoln,thus uniting them with the South and 
Southwest. 
We were surprised to find in a city of 4,000 
or so, which by census only reached some¬ 
thing over 3,000 In 1880, so many jobbing 
houses. There are two extensive and exclu¬ 
sive wholesale grocery houses each occupying 
a large brick store, one hardware, one dry 
goods, one hides, leather and pelts, one har¬ 
ass, one cigar (exclusive,) one liquors, one 
David Landreth & Sons, Philadelphia, 
Pa.— A work of 40 pages on the Value and 
A Plantation Scene — Hoeing Cotton.—Fig. £85. 
the increasing demand; three lumber yards; 
two brick yards, and numerous manufactur¬ 
ing interests, the most prominent of which is 
the Fremont Creamery and Cheese Factory. 
This enterprise, wbi-h has been inaugurated 
and conducted entirely by the use of home 
capital, is an honor to the city and a source of 
profit not only to the stockholders but to every 
farmer who locates within its radius. The 
building is of brick, three stories high, con¬ 
veniently arranged with latest and most im. 
proved machinery. It is equipped with a 
“twenty-horse” engine, a “thirty-horse” boiler 
and has feed mill connected, ice house, 
cheese cellars, hot and cold water, and, we 
may say in brief, every appliance necessary 
for conducting a large business. 
The capacity of the creamery is 20,000 
pounds of milk; (2,500 pounds of butter) aud 
from 600 to 800 pounds of cheese per day. It 
is “worked” upon the milk gathering and 
cream gathering plan jointly, and is now run¬ 
ning about one-third capacity. 
Tne markets for its products are both in the 
East and West, and we must say that after 
visiting most of the large creameries in Iowa 
and Illinois, we have seen none as complete 
iu every detail as the one at Fremont. The 
10th annual Fair of the Dodge County Fair 
Association, will be held at its grounds, about 
one mile west of the city, on Sept. 6, 7 and 8. 
A good exhibit is expected this year. 
There are in Fremont three foundries and 
machine shops, a large brewery, a steam ele¬ 
vator, a good flouring and grist mill and 
marble works, the latter doing a large country 
business. The hay pressed this year aud 
shipped from this point will exceed 15,000 tons. 
It is commonly called Blue-joint, and sells 
readily for highest prices ir the market. 
Dodge County, of which Fremont is the 
county-seat, was organized in 1855 and lies in 
the second tier of counties west of the Mis¬ 
souri River. It contains 540 square miles and 
12,318 population (last census) with an assessed 
valuation of property (probably upon the 
basis of one-third actual value) of $1,438,665. 
The entire southern border of the county 
(uearly) is washed by the Platte River. The 
Elkhorn River and on which are several good 
water powers, flows southeasterly through the 
eastern part. Besides these are Maple, Peb. 
ble, Cummings and Rawhide creeks, flowing 
through the fertile acres and making it one of 
tbe best watered counties iu the State. There 
is a small amouut of native timber and 
numerous groves and orchards. About one- 
third of the surface is valley; the balance is 
Culture of Roots for Stock-feeding. The Tur¬ 
nip; method of preparing the Land for Tur¬ 
nips; Time of Sowing; Method of Saving for 
Winter Feeding; varieties of turnips (illus¬ 
trated ) ; the Beet ; varieties (illustrated); 
Mangels (illustrated); cultivation; theCarrot; 
varieties (illustrated); cultivation and preser¬ 
vation ; Kohl Rabi; the Parsnip ; varieties; 
time of sowing, &c. This treatise, which has 
reached its fourth edition, is made up of the 
long experience of its authors. 
Peter Henderson Sc Co., 35 and 37 Cort- 
landt St., N. Y.—Price list of pot-grown 
strawberries; also of pot-grown grape-vines. 
Accompanying this list is a colored plate of 
“The Cream of Strawberries,” which are as 
luscious-looking as the veritable strawberries 
themselves. They are Downing, Bidwell, 
Jersey Queen, Sharpless, Jucunda aud Golden 
Defiance. This will be sent to all applicants. 
Quarterly Report of the Kansas State 
Board of Agriculture, for the quarter end¬ 
ing Jline 30, 1883, containing special papers 
on education for farmers, the holding of farm¬ 
ers’ institutes, practical botany, fish culture, 
the raising and management of sheep, &e., 
See. Win. Sims, Secretary, Topeka, Kansas. 
The New Botany. —A lecture on the best 
methods of teaching the science, by W. J. 
Beal, M. Sc., Ph. D,, professor of botany in 
the Agricultural College, Lansing, Michigan. 
Second edition, revised by the author. Pub¬ 
lished by Chfts. H. Marot, 814 Chestnut St., 
Philadelphia. Price 25 cents. 
The Tenth Annual Industrial Exposi¬ 
tion of Cincinnati will be held at that place 
Sept. 6 to Oct. 7. Arrangements have been 
made for cheap transportation of articles for 
the Exposition, and rates of fare will be re¬ 
duced. 
Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y.— 
Abridged Catalogue of Select Fruit and Orna¬ 
mental Trees, grape-vines, small fruits, shrubs, 
roses, etc. Oue of the best lists published. 
Free to applicants. 
E. P. Roe, Coruwall-on-the-Rudson, N Y. 
— Catalogue of Small Fruits and Grape Vines 
for the present Fall. A well selected list of 
the best. Free to applicants. 
T. C. Robinson, Owen Sound, Out., Can¬ 
ada.—Summer Catalogue of Potted Straw¬ 
berry plants. 
American Game bird Shooting. —By John 
M. Murphy. (Orange Judd Co.) Price, $2.00 
Injurious Insects of the Farm. By 
Mrs. Mary Treat. (Orange#udd Co.) Price $2. 
CHAP! ER IX. 
Miss Sally Pratt was the sister of Jonas 
Pratt and was also postmistress at the village. 
The Goshen post office under her administra¬ 
tion was the center of the village gossip and 
the source of much of it. Whi n the daily 
mail arrived, which was about 10 o’clock in 
the forenoon, along with the empty milk cans, 
all the gossips who had done up their morn¬ 
ing work and had an hour to spare before the 
dinner hour called them from this refreshment 
to their labor again, met in Miss Sally’s little 
back parlor where the mail was sorted, and 
each one helped the postmistress with her 
official duties. Every letter which passed 
through the office was closely scanned and 
commented on. 
“Why, here’s a letter for Mrs. Brooks; 
that’s from the eapt ain; its marked—C. E. Y. 
and somethin’—and somethin’ else—an N. 
What’s that, I wonder,” taid Miss Sally. 
“Why, you stupid, its Ceylon; didn’t Cap- 
tin* Brooks sail for Ceylon to be away a year, 
last March, and it's September now; where’s 
your smartness, Sally; and pretty goin’s on 
there’s been, if all was known, while the Cap- 
tin’s been away.” said one of the sisterhood. 
“Why, no you don't say,” said another, “I 
always thought that Brook's woman was little 
good, with her high and mighty Boat n 
ways and her nose up in the air. Cornin’ 
here to live cheap: and nobody know of her 
goin’s on. But she’s watched, I tell you.” 
“Gracious, Sally, what’s chat big letter; 
let me see it," said one who was looking over 
her shoulder. 
“Gracious, indeed; I should say so,” re¬ 
marked Miss Polly. “This is curious. A let¬ 
ter for Jabez Jonkins. Well, I never! I don’t 
believe he ever had a letter before at this post- 
office; not while I’ve been here, and that’s 
six years. Who can it be from, I wonder!” 
And the letter was handed round and turned 
over and over, and the post marks scrutinized, 
but nothing could be made of it, for the marks 
were badly blurred. The upshot of the long 
discussion, however, was that this must be a 
letter from the long lost brother, Josiah Jon- 
4 - 
