The Journal
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa
May 22, 1883

The subject of prospecting for coal is engaging the attention of our citizens at present, though it seems to be all talk, and as there is so much of that it is feared the entire force will be expected before anything will be done. It would not seem right to say anything disparaging of the enterprise of this place, but it is a fact that a committee was recently sent to Des Moines to look after the narrow gauge railroad and had to pay a good share of their expense. A case or two like this might account for the fact that we lost the road and might also cause the coal prospects to vanish into air. There is a great tendency here, as well as in many other places, to take things just as they are. Some of the leading men of a place can cause a coldness to develop any public enterprise by withholding their support, or by giving it such a small share of interest that others hesitate about pushing on in any good work.

Transcription by Nancee (McMurtrey) Seifert, Decmeber 31, 2009