Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1880 — Resources of Jasper County. [ARTICLE]

Resources of Jasper County.

BT THE COUNTY SURVEYOR. Allow me to B»y,by way of introduction] that I am not a lamk trader; nor am I writing for any land speculator#; but wish to treat'lhe subject in as impartial manner as possible. I claim that J super county contains tbe natural advantages for becoming on«* of the healthiest and wealthiest counties hi the State. •/ Take a glance at the health reports aud we find/taking character of diseases into consideration, bnt few if any counties in tbe U. S. exceed ours for general good health. Malaria, the only real scourge to our county in the past, is rapidly giving away, and with the increased cultivation of our lands, will almost disappear. . . ■ j Now let ns compare a few figures: Our county square miles, or nearly one-sixtieth part of the State. It has a population of about 7,500, or an average of about sixteen and a half persons to each square mile; while the State has an ►average of about fifty persons per square mile. New- York has an average of 05; Pennsylvania 76; Massachusetts IS7; and I doubt not but our county has as many acres that can be made tillable as any county of its size in the above name.d States. To be as dcnsly populated as Massachusetts would require that we have 103,250 persons in the county, or 14 times our present population, and our rich soil can produce the where-with to feed and clothe that number. Now to make a comparison in dollars and cents we find a still greater discrepency. In order to come up to tbfe average value of the State we must increase the market value of our lands five fold, and the amount of our fann'products four fold, of our manufactured articles nearly forty fold, and yet ludiana is far below what it cau and will be in a few years more. . The entire grain crop of Jasper county for 1870, was placed at a little less than two hundred and Gfty thousand bushels, being about one-fourth as much as Carpenter township alone can produce if well cultivated.

Now we 6ee wfcat our county is, and it remains to be seen why it is thus behind; what it may be by proper development, and how to develop its resources properly. In order to fully understand the needs and wants of our county, I will describe the different portions ofjt in detail. First, 1 shall notice the prairie portion, which consists of about 75 square miles in the south and souths west part of the county, and about fifty square miles in an irregular strip through the center of the county, running east and west. There are several marshes, flats and swamps destitute of timber, differing very much from the tracts of prairie mentioned above. The soil in the prairies is rich, black loam, from 6 to 30 inches in depth, with clay", gravelly or 6and subsoil, and with a few sandy exceptions is superior farm land. Wheat has not been uniformly an entire success in the south part of the county, but perhaps a little more experience will show the cause of failure and the remedy. Other grains do well, especially corn.

Good water can be procured anywhere at a depth from 12 to 25 feet. It comes through a limestone strata that underlies the whole county, and is consequently what is known as hard water. There are but few springs in the county. The land in the prairie part of the county is nearly all improved and held at good prices, from sl2 to 830 per acre exclusive of the improvements. The minerals of tills part are of little value. There is an excellent quarry of stratified limestone on the Alter farm, suitable for building purposes, in section 21, township 27, range 7. There is also a quarry of water limestone on the same farm. Limestone again crops out in section 26, and sandstone iu Carpenter’s grove, section 24. The banks of Carpenter creek, through the grove and above, consists of soft shale or slate, changing in places to blue clay. The clay underlying most of the prairie is ot excellent quality for brick and tile, but in many places it contains too much gravel to be worked successfully. Along Alter’s creek, in Jordan Township, is*a very fine clay which would make good earthenware. But as an agricultural district the prairies of Jasper county cannot be excelled in the west.

( Continued next week.)