Catholic Colonization in Minnesota Part 9

In all cases of the kind the lands revert to the government and are again subject to entry. Yet, so rapidly are those lands taken up that we cannot promise to our people, coming from the East, that when they arrive, they will find any homestead land adjoining or within any of our colonies.

ST. ADRIAN COLONY.

This colony, situated in n.o.bles County, in the southwestern portion of the State, close to the State line of Iowa, on the Luverne and Sioux Falls branch of the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad, was opened in September, 1877.

Before going into details in regard to the colony we will give some extracts from an article (lately published) treating of southwestern Minnesota, where, as we have stated, St. Adrian colony is located.

"Southwestern Minnesota has made rapid progress in stock raising. As capital increases, and the utility and profit of stock raising become better understood by the farmer, we shall see fine flocks and herds, in addition to the fields of waving grain, and our rich prairies teeming with the life they can so amply sustain. The abundance of clear, sweet water, dry atmosphere, its elevation, rich pasturage, freedom from disease, and direct and ready access to all the prominent markets, unite to make Minnesota the paradise of stock raisers. Good hay can be put in the stack in Southwestern Minnesota for $1.25 per ton. It can be secured without other expense than cutting, and with very little labor, enough can be made for the maintenance of a large amount of stock.

"This section has been settled but seven years, yet it is already teeming with a population of wide-awake, industrious people, whose fields are evidences of the innate wealth of the region. The soil of Southwestern Minnesota is adapted to the successful cultivation of grain, and so celebrated has its grain producing qualities become, that capitalists have put their money into large tracts of land, and have now immense fields under cultivation, and their investments have proven extremely profitable. There are farms of 600, 1,000 and 2,000 acres, all producing Minnesota's great staple, wheat. Every year, as the success of these investments becomes known, new and large farms are opening.

"Southwestern Minnesota is on the move, and to those who wish to locate in a thriving, driving, pus.h.i.+ng, growing country, no locality on the green earth promises more faithfully, and none will redeem its pledges with greater pride to the wide-awake, stirring husbandman. The very soil teams with wealth, and the air is laden with the most precious gifts of health."

Making allowance for the rather high coloring of the above extracts, its facts are correct. Southwestern Minnesota has many advantages for stock raising, its soil is good, none better. Stock raising has been carried on successfully there to the advantage of a great many poor settlers, and men of wealth have opened large grain farms in this section of the State; the largest of these farms adjoins the colony lands of St.

Adrian.

Of the 70,000 acres of railroad land which Bishop Ireland holds the control of for colony purposes, 22,000 acres have been sold to settlers.

The colony lands adjoin the railroad town of Adrian. A little over a year ago it had three houses, now it is one of the brightest, liveliest, most bustling little burgs in Southwestern Minnesota. But, as in the case of Graceville, we will let a resident of St. Adrian speak for the town and colony. The following is an extract from a letter which we received the other day from the Rev. C. J. Knauf, the pastor in charge of the St. Adrian colony.

Father Knauf resides in the town of Adrian--where immigrants, bound for the colony, leave the train--and takes an active part in locating immigrants. Father Knauf writes:

"The village of Adrian consisted of three houses when I came here, September 20, 1877, one year and three months ago to-morrow; now there are 68 houses in the village. We have three hotels, one restaurant (no beer,) three lumber yards, one steam feed mill, four general stores, one drug, two hardware stores, one jewelry store, one barber shop, one large livery stable, two furniture dealers, four dealers in farming machinery, one shoe maker, one tailor, three blacksmiths, one carpenter shop, four wheat and produce buyers; a public school house, costing $1,800; a Catholic Church, well finished, and the pastor's house, the latter costing $1,840.

"I sold, up to date, 22,000 acres of land. Thousands of acres were broken last season. I was the first Catholic to arrive here: now we have sixty Catholic families in the colony. Next spring we will have 160 Catholic families, for a great many bought farms last year, had breaking done--some broke extensively, others moderately--and will move on, with their families, to their new farms, next spring, in time to put in their first crop."

In explanation of that portion of Father Knauf's letter which speaks of parties who have purchased farms in the colony but who have not moved on to them as yet, we will say, that since the Bureau, at the solicitation of many correspondents, agreed to have land selected and contracts made out for persons anxious to secure land in some one of our colonies, and yet unable, from one cause or another, to come on immediately; a great many have adopted this mode to get land.

We find from Father Knauf's letter that he has on his books the names of one hundred families who have secured land in St. Adrian colony, and will move on to their new homes next spring, so that he is looking forward to very lively times.

There is also coming out to St. Adrian Colony in the spring a brave-hearted little lady from Brooklyn, N. Y., to get in her first crop, and put up her first farm house. She was on here last summer, spent a month or so at St. Adrian, bought 270 acres of land, left money to pay for the breaking of 200 acres, and will come on to settle in the spring. She has no doubt but that she will make the venture pay, and prefers to make the trial rather than have her money bearing small interest in the East.

Lands sell in the colony from $5 to $7.50 per acre. A discount of 20 per cent. from these prices is allowed for cash. The conditions for time contracts are as follows: At time of purchase, one-tenth of princ.i.p.al and interest on unpaid princ.i.p.al; second year, interest only; third year one-fourth of remaining princ.i.p.al and interest on unpaid princ.i.p.al; same for three ensuing years: after the expiration of which the full price of the land is paid.

As an instance, showing the value set on land in this part of Minnesota, we will state, that school lands, sold last spring, at public sale, in the neighborhood of St. Adrian, brought from $7.50 to $17 per acre: the price obtained heretofore having been $5 per acre.

On stepping from the train at St. Adrian, last summer, one witnessed a scene of bustle and activity similar to those frequently described by writers in sketches of Western life in new settlements, with some important exceptions, for neither in Adrian nor in any of the towns under the control of the Catholic Bureau, can there be found rowdies, nor the saloons that vomit them forth. This fact may take from the dramatic effect of such sketches, but it is the anchor of family unity and love, the harbinger of prosperity.

The town of Adrian is 197 miles from St. Paul. A daily train from St.

Paul to Sioux Falls, D. T., pa.s.ses through it; it has also railroad communication with Sioux City, Iowa.

The lands of the colony are first-cla.s.s, both for agriculture and stock raising: and to those of fair capital we strongly recommend St. Adrian Colony.

The colonists are German and Irish Catholics.

AVOCA COLONY.

This is the latest opened of our colonies, Bishop Ireland having only secured control of the lands last April. It is situated in Murray County (Southwestern Minnesota,) adjoining n.o.bles County on the north, and in the whole 52,000 acres of land secured by the Bishop for the colony, we very much doubt if one poor section (640 acres) could be found, nor do we suppose that any of the land will remain unsold by the 1st of next July.

While the beauty of the location and fertility of the soil, make Avoca one of the most desirable locations in Minnesota, the easy terms on which a farm can be secured, are additional and substantial advantages for men of small means.

The centre of the colony--the village of Avoca, situated on a beautiful lake--is just twenty miles from Heron Lake, a station on the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad, 160 miles southwest of St. Paul; but the Southern Minnesota Railroad, which will give this portion of the State a direct communication with the Milwaukee and Chicago markets, is now completed to within forty-five miles of Avoca, and we expect to see it running through our colony lands by next fall. This will give to the settlers in Avoca Colony, a direct southern route to Chicago, and a choice of markets for their produce: the latter an advantage which farmers can well appreciate.

The price of lands in the colony are from $5 to $6.50 per acre, on the following easy terms of payment. At the time of purchase, interest only, one year in advance, seven per cent., is required; at the end of one year, interest only for another year; at the end of two years, one-tenth of the princ.i.p.al, and a year's interest on the balance; at the end of three years, one-tenth of the princ.i.p.al, and interest on balance; at the end of each year thereafter, twenty per cent. of the princ.i.p.al, and interest on balance; until all is paid.

We subjoin a practical ill.u.s.tration of these terms:

We will say that January, 1879, a man contracts for 80 acres of land at $5 per acre, this will come to $400, with 7 per cent. interest, which sums he will have to pay as follows:

Jan. 1st, 1879, At time of purchase, one year's interest in advance, at 7 per cent. $28 00

Jan. 1st, 1880, One year's interest in advance, at 7 per cent. 28 00

Jan. 1st, 1881, Ten per cent. of princ.i.p.al. $40 00 One year's interest on balance $360, at 7 per ct. 25 20 ------ 65 20

Jan. 1st, 1882, Ten per cent. of princ.i.p.al. 40 00 One year's interest on balance $320, at 7 per ct. 22 40 ------ 62 40

Jan. 1st, 1883, Twenty per cent. of princ.i.p.al. 80 00 One year's interest on balance $240, at 7 per ct. 16 80 ------ 96 80

Jan. 1st, 1884, Twenty per cent. of princ.i.p.al. 80 00 One year's interest on balance $160, at 7 per ct. 11 20 ------ 91 20

Jan. 1st, 1885, Twenty per cent. of princ.i.p.al. 80 00 One year's interest on balance $80, at 7 per ct. 5 60 ------ 85 60

Jan. 1st, 1886, Twenty per cent. of princ.i.p.al. 80 00 ------ Total. $537 20

The advantage of the terms is, that the princ.i.p.al payments are all postponed until the farmer has had time to raise several crops from his land. A quarter-section of land will support a family, pay for itself, leave after seven years a balance in cash, and be worth more than twice its original value.

We have already selected several 80 and 160 acre farms in Avoca for persons not in a position to come on immediately to the land. Now let us explain how this operates.

An intending immigrant writes to the Bureau to have 80 acres of land in Avoca at $5 per acre, selected for him, (as a general rule a man should take a quarter-section, 160 acres, by doing so he will be likely to have both meadow and tillage land on his farm.) For those 80 acres, he pays down, before getting his contract from the railroad company, one year's interest, $28. He writes on then, next spring, to the Bureau, to have 30 acres of his land broken and ready for a crop the following spring--1880. His breaking will cost at $2.50 per acre, $75. He will have paid the first year $103, and have his land ready for the seed; he comes on then the second spring, 1880, pays $28, another year's interest, to the railroad company, puts in his crop and has it saved and ready for market in August. Up to this time--not calculating the expenses chargeable to the crop, which we have estimated already in another place--he has paid out $131, and has his farm opened and in a fair way to pay for itself.

In soil and location the Colony of Avoca is not surpa.s.sed in the Northwest. Nine miles from the village of Avoca there is a large body of timber. Settlers can also get coal from Iowa.

The Rev. Chas. Koeberl is pastor of the colony, address, Avoca, Murray County, Minnesota. He writes to us under date of December 20th, 1878:

"In regard to this colony it promises, thank G.o.d, to be a great success.

Since June, when the land sales commenced, we have sold 9,850 acres, and forty-five Catholic families are preparing to move into the colony next spring. Immigrants will have in our village of Avoca, a building where they can leave their families until they have put up their houses, also a boarding house and store.