Out of the Dust – Letters from the West

By Bob Betz

(County Seat) Several years ago, I acquired a box of paper material that was found in an attic. There were all sorts of items, most of which were from the 1800s. The letters were of special interest to me. They were in quite rough condition, wrinkled and jumbled all together, most without their envelopes.

I worked at making a logical file through that winter and found quite an interesting collection when I was done. I say done, but I am still sorting part of it.

I found three letters that were very interesting. The writer covered a wide variety of subjects. His spelling was terrible, but he supplied much information. They were sent from Wisconsin, dated Dec. 19th 1863, Mar. 17th 1864 and Dec. 29th 1864. They are addressed “Dear Friends” and closed “Michael.”

The following is extracted from the letters.

Dec. 19th 1863

I and my father has 255 acres of land I have 200 and my father fifty. We raised 1700 bushels of wheat & 300 Oats & 450 Corn. This summer I have 1 span of horses & 1 yoke of oxen & 11 cows, 43 sheep. The potatoes crop was light. Wheat was good corn is 60 cts pr bush oats 55 wheat 90 & 1.00 potatoes 40 pork 5.00 pr cwt. Butter 25.00 pr tub cheese 15 lb eggs 15 doz. I must tell you when I was in Lake City last June I bought a load of cattle and I sold them to the government and I made $213.00 in two weeks.

I have done well since I came to Minnesota and I will do well if Uncle Sam would let me do so. He wants 4000 men from Minn. They say they will draft on the fifth of January next.

I have not married yet. I came near it this fall but I thought I would wait a little longer. She is a French girl. Her name is Elizann Jeffery.

Lake City is a very pretty city on the lake. It is most as large as Norwich.

I wish this war were over. If you find me any papers send me the New Yorker. I take the Chenango Union or send the Tribune. Don’t send any till I write.

I send my love to Fido

Mar. 17th 1884

When I last wrote I said you not to write till I did as I expected to have enlisted. I have not yet. I was away all winter & I just got home from Wisconsin. We have had no draft yet here. I would enlist if my mother would let me. Most all young men has gone to the war from here. They pay $500.00 bounty in this town. They have not enough of men yet so it makes a good deal of excitement. I made up my mind not to enlist till I have to if I can.

When they put up a fence it stands for 5 to 8 years. They have all Oak timber for fence. When they put up the fence they set posts 9 feet apart and flatten the rails at the end & nail them on as you would boards.

They thrash their grain so the straw is in large piles & they let all their cattle live in those piles all winter & they come out fat in the spring.

I am going home from Lake City tomorrow & I am going to stay on my farm all summer. I have not seen an Indian since I came here till today. I see 21 Chipaway Chiefs going to Washington to see old Abe.

Dec. 29th 1884

Dear friends last May I had the happiness to share my fortune with a good and loving girl of 23 and I made my mind up to live happily on my farm the rest of my days. On the 14th of September my wife was going home to her fathers and a there came up a very heavy rain and she caught a hard cold which changed to a fever and on the 21st the Lord saw fit to take her to his home in Heaven and were we soon must follow if is God’s will.

We can raise wheat in the same field 12 years year after year. Wheat averages 35 bushels pr. Year corn 20 Oats 50 pr acre. Wheat is $1.40 per bushel Oats .50 Corn .75 Pork is $15.00 per cwt butter .35&.40 Hay $7.00 per ton. I can get a good yoke of Oxen for $100.00. A good span of horses is worth $500.00. I raised 1973 bushels of wheat this summer which I have not sold. One of my neighbors raised 400,000 bushels in one field.

I think some of selling out to my father this spring & and if I do I think some of going to California with brother.

End of letters

This is the type of information that gives you the feeling that you are there.

Robert Betz is an independent amateur historian who has volunteered for the past two years in the Madison County Archives in the Clerk’s Office. While working there three days a week, Betz has recaptured stories of Madison County’s past ‘out of the dust.’ His columns are taken directly from the county’s historic documents and written in the vernacular of the era.

One Comment on "Out of the Dust – Letters from the West"

Charles Page on Fri, 25th Dec 2009 9:12 am

Such stories of the past are great! They remind me of my grandmother’s journals which she kept from 1895 to 1941. Hers were recent enough so that I came to have lived during her last 20 years. Her family lived just the way their parents did. They never “kept up with changing times”. It gave me a feeling for the “old days”
Robert Betz unearthed a fine treasure in that box!!

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Out of the Dust – Letters from the West

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