"Claims taken last spring can now be sold for from $1,000 to $1,500. A bridge has been built across the Niobrara, due north of Ainsworth. There is a good deal of vacant government land north of the river, yet much of the best has been taken, but there are several thousand acres, good farm and grazing land, yet vacant in the county. There is a continual stream of land seekers coming in, and it is fast being taken. The sod and log 'shanties,' are fast giving way to frame dwellings, and the face of the country is beginning to assume a different appearance. Fair quality of land is selling for from three to ten dollars per acre. "The weather has been so favorable (Dec. 11, '83) that farmers are still plowing. First frost occurred Sept. 26th. Mr. Cook, of this place, has about 8,000 head of cattle; does not provide feed or shelter for them during the winter, yet loses very few. Some look fat enough for market now, with no other feed than the prairie grass. "School houses are now being built in nearly all the school districts. The voting population of the county at last election was 1,000. I will give you the production of the soil, and allow you to judge of its merit: Wheat from 28 to 35 bushels per acre; oats 50 to 80 bushels per acre; potatoes, weighing 3-1/2 pounds, and 400 bushels per acre; cabbage, 22 pounds----" This information I received from Mr. P. D. McAndrew, who was so favorably impressed with the country, when on his visit to Fort Niobrara, that he disposed of his _Tribune_ office, and returned, and took a claim near the Stone Butte, of which I have before spoken, and located at Ainsworth. I would add that Valentine has not made much advancement, as it is of later birth, and the cow-boys still hold sway, verifying Mr. Tucker's stories as only too true by added deeds of life-taking.