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Present Compared with■ • • .*Past; No Orchards; Few Coltsi1ty\\rri lt;i,‘mJRAPATEE, HI., Sept. 28 Tuesday evening:, Sept. 22 I left j Rapatee for a trip to Delons neighborhood. On the. way to Maquon we found the state aid road, men fencing the road crossings in order to oil roads, which were oiled the next day and the road was kept closed to the end fof the week with state pai»l guards at each crossing. Orvill Buck guarded north of Rapatee, and Cecil Da\'is the Fulton county entrance to town. Both men no doubt did their duty well.Wednesday afternoon in company with G- E. Freet of Harper school district, Chestnut township, we drove via north Maquon* east, within two miles of Peoria county line, thence south to Yates City, then to Elmwood over hard road north to end of destination then back to Rapatee, with detours making about forty miles. And right here we would like to say we never saw better prospects for corn in 42 years we have lived here. Most of the corn is past injury by frost. Just 2Ss* ■ 1 ■ hedge fence predominated wlth^ sound rail fences and much, ot: the com was cribbed In rail Some good ' fences of three tAxf inch boards and two barbed j wires. Do not remember A xnodrj era hog house In the township at* that time. And good barns were scarce, but there were many fine houses. Today the hedge fence Is gone. The farms cut into smaller fields and well fenced with American * wire fences. Harge well lighted hog houses are every-* where* Almost every farm has o fine barn and the sleek: cows seen in the pastures show they werlt;$. well housed last winter. The rural route mail box, telephones and it* many cases electric lights put; the farm in the.front row and* the daily paper almost unknown . on a farm forty 3'ears ago is found in almost every home. But we found some . changes we ’ very much regret. Those big orchards * we used to pa*« are gone. In j ’many cases just here and there an old useless apple tree and no young fruit trees growing. In ouxf • newspaper work in Salem township from 1SS7 to 1806 we used , -to stop and admire the many fine j colts we would see. Wish we could •4remember how many colts wo have counted in Hugh and James Sloan pastures. In over ten .( miles of driving in the townshi j last Wednesday we only saw two * colts. I believe before IS30 a J good team of farm horses will be valuable property. The horse will be the mainstay in growing the corn crop at least for the next 25 years. We found this proved in our visit to Iowa, Missouri and Kansas in 1S24. One moreyears ago last April we went over j thought, between the Harper those roads in Salem township, j school house and home lasti suspending a week on foot in the interest of Gersh Martin's Press and People of Galesburg. Winding up on Saturday afternoon in Tates City where we met farmers from as much as five miles awaj: for their copies of the week’s Press and People, and Plaindeal-- «* er. The men often standing on street corners reading their paper so .that the women folks could have the paper when the family | got home in the evening. That long ago news politics were more sacred to them than even their religion and when some reader would find a strong thing in favor of his own party he would* beckon his neighbor of the opposite political faith to him and read thearticle. Up to Bryan's great firsticampaign in 1836 one - almost carried his politics on his sleeve.We have found a copy of the*n Plafndealer blown into the hedge n and knew the Press and People s | man had no business in there.f Covered 12 To\vnIiipsIn the spring of IS$7 we footed the byways of the ^outh 12 townships of Knox county, gathered in about seven hundred dollars and added 350. noraes to Press andvPeople list in about 42 days. We enjoyed the job fine. In a brief manner we would like to notice the changes In good old Salem township in the last forty years. First for the better. Then theWednesday we passed seven country school houses. They have not improved with your farm building??, roads, hog and cow stock and mode of travel. We are. putting too much of our money in teaching worthless hobbies and neglecting the housing needs.--- t♦WFIAT COVERED PRAIRIES.The land, when the pioneers came, was densely covered with prairie grass and blue stem in many places about as high as a, man's head, when on horsebek.----- \EARTiY SPORTS In Haw Creek township the early diversions were as follows: Celebrations, spelling schools, singing schools, corn huskings and quilt-bees.ingINVENTED ROTARY FLOWRiley Root one of the Galesburg colonists, is credited with inventing the rotary snow plow and other devices.neitSTAGE COACH The stage coach was running through Persifer township as early as 1837. The state road thru Trenton and Knoxville was laid out in 1838. -It pays to Advertise in The Re-publican-Register.
Newspaper Details
Galesburg Republican Register
Galesburg, Illinois, US
Wed, Sep 30, 1925
Page 18
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IL, USA 22 Apr 2020
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