Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1896 — TO BUILD A HEW CITY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TO BUILD A HEW CITY.

1 : •; j. j 1 OLD WAft VETERANS GOING TO THE SOUTH. ' : .'l' ** i i • . ''** (L A OrsnaArmy Colonjr In Georgia Which Promises to Be a Big Success— Emigrants Flocking In with a Western Rash. , The First Town. A Fitzgerald, Ga., correspondent, writing of the new G. A. R, colony being founded there, say*: The men who followed Sherman to the sea are once more “marching through Georgia.” But the people of this State do not look upon the present invasion with stich consternation as they did on that of over thirty years ago, for this is one of pea«£—the invaders have come to live with the invaded. The movement to colonize members of the G. A. R. in the South has made a fine start and already Fitzgerald, the “metropolis” of the colony, has a population of several thousand. Fitzgerald is in Irwin County and not five miles distant from the spot where Jefferson Davis was captured. The original plan of this colony was to provide a home in a milder climate for the veterans of the Federal armies. The project started with Philip Fitzgerald, a pension attorney and wealthy property owner of Indianapolis. At least 4,000 veterans have put their money into this co-operative

movement and decided to come South. These old soldiers and their families make a total of about 10,000 persons. It was at first intended to defer the opening of the colony until next spring, but the immigrants could not hold back and they are now coming by hundreds and thousands from all over the country north of the Ohio ri~er, and between the Mississippi river and the Rocky Mountains, fleeing from the rigors of Northern winter. The immigration is a reminder of the rush to the West before the day of railroads. Wagon trains are climbing the mountains and crossing the valleys. Of the 3,000 settlers who have arrived at' Fitzgerald in the last thirty days a large proportion came overland by wagon. There are immigrants who drove ail the way from the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska. and one family was six monthson the journey from the State of Washington. These people drove every mile from the far northwestern corner of the country to the extreme southeastern corner. The movement- has gone far beyond the Grand Army and thousands of young meh and a great many men who pioneered in the West have joined it. But old soldiers are in the majority. The pension dis-

bursements at the colony will exceed $50,000 a month. Ohjo, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri are represented by a class of sturdy young men who have come to farm. They say that the farms in their native States have been cut up so small that their fathers cannot afford to further subdivide. The boys, upon coming of age, have to strike out for themselves. Hitherto they have set their faces toward the land beyond the Mississippi and the Missouri, but they prefer a more genial climate. The colony has bought 35,000 acres and has options on 05,000 more. The shareholders in the co-operative company get their land at cost, which, however, includes the outlay for surveying and grading the entire tract, c:ity lots nnd all. Ex-Gov. William J. Northen, of Georgia, Bold the land to the colony at $3.50 an acre, although' some of it coat him «•> great deal more. One thousand acres were laid off for a city site. Like an Oklahoma Town. At present the town site resembles Oklahoma City or Guthrie thirty days after the‘public lands were thrown open. While most of the little pine board shacks are grouped in one corner of the reservation, they are found straggling through the forest for two miles. At night the woods are illuminated by huge bonfires of pine logs around whicb-the settlers assemble to discuss the future of the colony. The tract of land upon which the colony Is located is a high, roiling ridge about twenty-five miles wide nnd 150 miles long, extending through half a dozen counties in Georgia to the gulf coast in Florida. It is thickly wooded with the long-leaf pine. The turpentine manufacturer has worked some of the forest, but irbt all of it.’ The lumberman has not yet made an impression on it. The soil is not oftbe sandy character so common in south "Georgia, but is ’dark, somewhat resembling the prairie soil, except that this has an iron pebble, which indicates a fine fruit Soli. That the land will raise splendid fruit has been shown by the success of some Connecticut men,, the Tifts, and a colony of Pennsylvanians who have settled on the western edge of tiro ridge. All who were at the eolony believe firmly in its future. There are 54.000 men, women and children already in the movement Every train brings {resh arrivals and the population is growing at the rate of from 50 to 200 a day.’ Next month a 'railroad will be completed to the colony, and by spring there will be another! ..The ■oil is unquestionably fine and the climate healthful. Artesian wells strike water at a depth of 150 feet. The settlers sny when the tutecesa of the colony is demonstrated there will be a great movement from the Northwest. The three men who floated away from Cleveland on an Ice tioe in Lake Erie are bettered to hare been lost.

FIRST HOUSE IN THE G. A. R. COLONY.

THE G. A. R. COLONY AT FITZGERALD, GA.