"What are their terms?"
The St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, the main line of which is to be completed to the Red River this year, and which owns the branch line running from St. Paul up the east bank of the Mississippi to St. Cloud, have a million acres of prairie, meadow, and timber lands which they will sell in tracts of forty acres or more, and make the terms easy. Suppose you were to buy eighty acres at $8 per acre, that would give you a snug farm for $640. If you can pay cash down, they will make it $7 per acre,—$80 saved at the outset; but if you have only a few dollars in your pocket they will let you pay a year's interest at seven per cent to begin with, and the principal and interest in ten annual payments. The figures would then run in this way:—
Eighty acres at $8 per acre, $640
| Interest. | Principal. | Total. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | year, | $44.80 | ||
| 2d | " | 40.32 | $64.00 | $104.32 |
| 3d | " | 35.84 | 64.00 | 99.84 |
| 4th | " | 31.36 | 64.00 | 95.36 |
| 5th | " | 26.88 | 64.00 | 90.88 |
| 6th | " | 22.40 | 64.00 | 86.40 |
| 7th | " | 17.92 | 64.00 | 81.92 |
| 8th | " | 13.44 | 64.00 | 77.44 |
| 9th | " | 8.96 | 64.00 | 72.96 |
| 10th | " | 4.48 | 64.00 | 68.48 |
| 11th | " | 64.00 | 64.00 |
"The second year will be the hardest," said Mr. Blotter, "for I shall have to fence my farm, build a cabin, and purchase stock and tools. Is there fencing material near?"
That depends upon where you locate. If you are near the line of the railway, you can have it brought by cars. If you locate near the "Big Woods" on the main line west of Minneapolis, you will have timber near at hand. Numerous saw-mills are being erected, some driven by water and others by steam. The timbered lands of the company are already held at high rates,—from $7 to $10 per acre. The country beyond the "Big Woods" is all prairie, with no timber except a few trees along the streams. It is filling up so rapidly with settlers that wood-lands are in great demand, for when cleared they are just as valuable as the prairie for farming purposes.
Many settlers who took up homesteads before the railroad was surveyed now find themselves in good circumstances, especially if they are near a station. In many places near towns, land which a year ago could have been had for $2.50 per acre is worth $20 to-day.
"Is the land in the Mississippi Valley above St. Paul any better than that of the prairies?"
Perhaps you have a mistaken idea in regard to the Mississippi Valley. There are no bottom-lands on the Upper Mississippi. The prairie borders upon the river. You will find the land on the east side better adapted to grazing than for raising wheat. The company do not hold their lands along the branch at so high a figure as on the main line. Some of my Minnesota friends say that stock-growing on the light lands east of the Mississippi is quite as profitable as raising wheat. Cattle, sheep, and horses transport themselves to market, but you must draw your grain.
If you are going into stock-raising, you can afford to be at a greater distance from a railroad station than the man who raises wheat. It would undoubtedly be for the interest of the company to sell you their outlying lands along the branch line at a low figure, for it would enhance the value of those nearer the road. You will find St. Cloud and Anoka thriving places, which, with St. Paul and Minneapolis, will give a good home demand for beef and mutton, to say nothing of the facilities for reaching Eastern markets by the railroads and lakes.