"The soil in this valley and in many other portions of the territory is equal to that of Iowa, or any other portion of the United States, in point of beauty and fertility, and its productions in many articles are far superior, particularly in regard to wheat, potatoes, beets and turnips. There is now growing in the fields of Mr. James Johns, less than a mile from this place where I write you, a turnip measuring in circumference four and a half feet and he thinks that it will exceed five feet before pulling time."