Iowa
Old Press
The Independent published in East Orange Jan 16, 1878
Sioux County in Detail.
Sioux County It’s Advantages and (?_Oesanices)
Geographical Position, Sioux county is the most western county in the 2d tier, from the northern boundary of the State; being situated south of Lyon, north of Plymouth and west of O’Brien. The Sioux river separates it from Dakota on the west. In size it contains 23 congressional and fractional townships, forming 13 civil townships.
Soil and Physical Characteristics. The soil is light loam, very fertile and well adapted to grain raising, formed from the debris left by prairie fires, which for ages have swept over the north west, being in many places several feet in depth, forming an inexhaustible bed of tillable soil. There is a little broken land along the bluffs of the Sioux River. Hay land is well distributed. Water is readily obtained from streams or wells, there being no springs.
Prices of Land . Land can be obtained at from $4. To $11. Per acre. Speculators land being the cheapest and Railroad lands the dearest. The land in the southern tier of townships not entered under the homestead and preemption laws, is mostly owned by the Iowa R. R. Land Co. That further north by the Sioux City and St .Paul Co. both these companies will sell on long time and at low, rates of interest.
[transcribed by WJV, Feb 2021]