Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1859 — Jasper County. [ARTICLE]

Jasper County.

[From the Expositor.

The county was organized in May, 1838, -being then composed of the county as it now ! stands and a part of Benton. At that time I the population was sparse, but since then the progress of improvement has been gradual, and the population will probably reach ; ■5,000 souls, who possesses intelligence, enand industry of no ordinary degree. ■ The land embraced in the Coufity limits 'si Wiostly undulating prairie ( which for fertility js unsurpassed by’ that"of any other county in the Slate, It is well watered, with tim- : her and stone sufficient for al! practical purposes. The county is about thirty miles i uquare, thus giving an area of nine hundred square miles, all of which is susceptible of cultivation, and a large portion of which is cultivated, and of ordinary season yields the farmer a large harvest. , As a stock county, Jasper is unequaled, and every season furnishes large droves of tine cattle for the Eastern market. ■ At present, no railroad facilities are enjoyed within our borders, although the line of two contemplated roads pass through the county. One called the Ft. Wayne Western, crossing the N. A. & S. Railroad at ' Francisville, in Pulaski county, and running due west via Rensselaer to Kankakee City,; Illinois. The other, called the Toledo, Logansport and Burlington Railroad, crossing the N. A. & S. R. R; nea • Reynold’s station, and thence north-west to Burlington, lowa. When these roads are completed, as they undoubtedly will be, and that at no distant ! day, Jasper county will occupy a position second to no other county in the North-west. Her natural advantages, as we before remarked, are good, and need but the labor of the agriculturalist to render- it inferior to no ; county in the State. Improved lands in the immediate vicinity of these roads cam be bought tor from $lO to .sls per acre; unimproved for from $5 to $lO. As we fall back from these roads, land decreases in value, and good, choice lands, improved, can be had tor about $8 per acre, and unimproved for $5 per acre; thus placing ■ a home within the reach of every man dis- , posed to use industry and economy. Rensselaer, the county seat, is situated at the rapids of the Iriquois river, peopled by an enlightened and intelligent class, who jaettled here with the first settlement of the town, and have grown with its growth and strengthend with i>ts strength. It contains at this time a population of some one thousand. For the last two years her growth has not been vigorous in consequence of the financial embarrassment under which the entire country has labored. As a county town of no great, age, she ranks- fair with her sister towns. The agricultural interest of the country being far in advance, the day is not far remote when her improvements will take a fresh start and outstrip many other towns wliosei population now exceeds that of Rensselaer. Iler business men are honest, tipright and enterprising, and command the confidence and esteem of the community by which they are surrounded. All ili ttlf, Jasper county possesses all tire natural advantages to make it an almost perfect Eden, and needs but a few years, with the labor of the farmer, to make it the finest end riche t coun'y in. the State. In the meantime, Jwe would suggest to those who want homes—cheap homes—that now is the. tune and Jasper county the place, where, in a few years, by judicious and prudent manageiuent, wealth and competence may be secured.