"In the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilization. From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

Monday, March 7, 2016

County Seat Towns, in 1880

An excerpt from our family reading, Mr. Edwards visits the Ingalls family in The Long Winter (before the long winter becomes a looooong winter):
This here country, it's too settled up for me. The politicians are a-swarming in already, and ma'am if'n there's any worst pest than grasshoppers it surely is politicians. Why, they'll tax the lining out'n a man's pockets to keep up these here county-seat towns! I don't see nary a use for a county, nohow. We all got along happy and content without 'em.