CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY. AGRICULTURAL LIFE. RELIGIOUS AND MORAL VIEW OF THE QUESTION OF IMMIGRATION TO THE LAND. A STATEMENT IN REGARD TO THE RELATIONS WE HOLD TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS. WHAT THEY MAY EXPECT. MINNESOTA. GENERAL STATE STATISTICS. CROP STATISTICS. FARM STATISTICS. GENERAL REMARKS. CATHOLIC COLONIES IN MINNESOTA. SWIFT COUNTY COLONY. GRACEVILLE COLONY. ST. ADRIAN COLONY. AVOCA COLONY. THE BEST TIME TO COME. A CHAPTER FOR ALL TO READ. HOW TO SECURE GOVERNMENT LAND. ADVERTISEMENTS. Transcriber's Notes. CATHOLIC COLONIZATION IN MINNESOTA. REVISED EDITION. PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC COLONIZATION BUREAU OF MINNESOTA. UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE RIGHT REV. JOHN IRELAND, COADJUTOR BISHOP OF ST. PAUL. ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, JANUARY, 1879. THE PIONEER PRESS CO. INTRODUCTORY. The increase in the number of our Catholic Colonies in Minnesota, and the changes which population and other causes have brought about, make it necessary to publish a revised edition of the Immigration Pamphlet, issued by the Catholic Colonization Bureau of Minnesota, in 1877. We are pleased to notice the increased interest which is manifested all over the country, by Catholics, in the matter of Catholic immigration from the cities to the land. The sympathy, aid, and words of cheer, we are continually receiving from friends totally unconnected with our local work, assure us of this pleasing fact; which we attribute, in a great measure, to the honest, intelligent advocacy, and generous support our Catholic newspapers have given to the question. For ourselves, we are glad to gratefully acknowledge the liberal support the Catholic editors have given to our work: the confidence which they placed, from the very beginning, in the purity of our motives and the soundness of our business arrangements, is an indorsement of which we are justly proud. They have recognized that our aim is to do good to the many; and in all cases where our advice has been taken, our instructions followed, our warnings heeded, we do not fear that we have injured one. The approbation of our co-religionists, conveyed to us from all parts of the country, the success which God has been pleased to give to our humble labors, are cheering guarantees that we are on the right road; and we pray God that He will continue to bless our efforts, enlighten us in our present task, and keep our ardor in the cause we have espoused strictly within the bounds of truth. It is an axiom that "they who own the soil own the country." Happily, in this country, the people's title to the land is recognized, they are invited to take possession of their own, and the tall, luxuriant grasses of the broad prairie are the messengers it sends forth from its virgin bosom, telling of the wealth it has in store to reward honest, patient labor.