Silverhill in Word and Picture.

Think about your future!

         Silverhill has sufficient rain and sunshine, good water, wholesome climate, hardly any winter, plenty of wood for heating, much wild game, fish and oysters, rich grasslands and plenty of wild fruit.

         Nature has done all this for Silverhill. Could the Swedish people find a better place for settling here in a happy home?

Buy land in Silverhill!
Write to
Svea Land Company,
122 S. Clark Street, Suite 512,
CHICAGO, ILL.

         It is well known that thousands of people in the north and especially in the big cities struggle to make a living. Many have their eyes turned toward the sunny south and are asking:

         “Where can I buy land?”

         To answer the many requests for information, we are presenting this booklet giving the details of the Swedish Colony of Silverhill, one of the most favorable locations in the south. After looking at many areas around the south we have come up with these findings in our research: Nature has given Silverhill so many blessings that you could not ever find a place as good as this.

         When people come from the north to Silverhill they will enter a beautiful bay that joins Fish River and travel up the river to the highest point of land along the Gulf of Mexico between the two large cities of Pensacola and Mobile, 10 miles from Daphne, the county seat of Baldwin County, Alabama.

         The town got the name of Silverhill because of a man that owned a turpentine factory where they processed the pine pitch into turpentine and rosin. He had a good business and always paid his help and expenses in silver coins. He was known as the "Silver King".

         He lived a short distance from the factory on a hill that had many blooming dogwood trees around his home, which gave a holy appearance while they are in bloom; they resembled a silver dollar, this bloom covered the whole tree and looked like a bride in her wedding gown.

         Silverhill has great resources and a good outlook for this colony to become the leading Swedish colony in the south.

Forward in leading…

         This official government report shows that the south’s 21 harbors did 60 percent of the importing and exporting, this left 40 percent for the other states’ 105 harbors. The total increase for the whole country was 18 percent, while the increase for the southern places was 38 percent. These results were only from 21 of the 126 seaports.

         War with Spain, then Cuba became free from Spanish control, had a good effect on the entire south making the area free to move forward. This is an opportunity now in the south for those in the north to look elsewhere for their livelihood.

…South is the future’s land…

         Climate.

         This holy sunshine, the continuous breeze, and the good water are in such harmony with this beautiful situation; it is a certain thing that anyone that settles here in Silverhill is assured a long life, and comfortable time, which is not possible, any other place. The summers and winters are mild; it is a wonderful greeting that a man could ever expect.

         Pastor E. Wingren writes in the New Weekly Post of Silverhill’s climate as following:

         After a long time here in this land, I would like to say that this year’s time has been pleasant and delightful. The changeable, chilly, and humid weather that they are accustom to in north Illinois is a condition that is not known down here. The air is high, clean, and clear; the heavens are blue, and the sun is warm and the air is mild. When the summer becomes hot the evening breezes make the evening enjoyable.

         Ester Westerlund, the girl by the rose bush, is holding a magnolia blossom in her hand. A more beautiful bloom man will never see.

         Magnolia trees grow wild around Silverhill. All that enjoy such blooms, sunshine, and nature need to move to Silverhill. It is said that Silverhill has Italy’s climate, Sweden’s nature, and America’s beautiful grasslands.

         This wholesome climate is as good for the poor as is it for the rich.

         Sweden has the nightingale, but Silverhill has the mockingbird, the bird that imitates all other songbirds.

         The photograph is taken at Carl Vallentine’s land, 3 miles from Silverhill (going south on county road 55, 2 ¾ miles from highway 104, at the first creek).

         The land is very inviting. There are no high hills; there are good streams with clear water.

         There is no place more qualified to build a Sanatorium than Silverhill.

         Doctors, pastors and others that are interested in a sanatorium for the sick and the feeble people, write to

         SVEA LAND COLONY,
122 S. Clark Street, Suite 512,          .....Chicago, Ill.

         The girl leaning on the gatepost has a gun on her shoulder, and she is waiting eagerly for the hunter.

         Winter months are good to hunt wild game.

         Are you sick and need healing? Follow the migration to Silverhill. Here is the place to go to. Here is the place to get your healing and your blessings.

         A change in climate and water and rest in nature's beautiful surroundings is for many sick people the best medicine.

         Wild fruit.

         There is no place better to eat your fill of wild fruit than Baldwin County. From the early spring to the late fall there is wild fruit to be picked around Silverhill.

         Dewberries, blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries, plums, grapes, and persimmons.

         Silverhill girls pick wild berries at Silverhill park (Oscar Johnson Memorial Park).

Nuts.

         Pecans of the Turner and Paper Shell variety bear real well with very little care and are in demand. Do not fail to plant a pecan tree, it will bear fruit in a few years and be a good source of income. There are many other varies of nuts that can be planted, but pecans are the most profitable.

        

Figs.

         Of all the fruits, the fig tree is the most interesting. They are planted from cuttings of 6 inches long, and put 3 inches into the ground. They will produce roots and grow fast. The trees grow into a beautiful rounded form and have large leaves. They bear a lot of fruit from every branch. The fig tree bears the fruit without a bloom.

         Figs are good medicine for many chronic sicknesses.

Fruit.

         Baldwin County, Alabama is so well known for its outstanding quality fruits that we could just be silent and pass by this chapter.

         Climate and the soil are most suitable for fruit growing.

         Japanese plums, persimmons, and all other tropical fruit grow to perfection.

Peaches…

         are a profitable crop to grow. They ripen early and give a great harvest, good sales and a high price.

         Pears, grapes and fruit of all known varieties are profitable to produce in Silverhill and they compare with California fruit in size, taste and color and ripen several weeks earlier than California.

         It pays to raise fruit.

Sugar cane…

         is one of the south’s many crops suited for this mild climate.

         It is a profitable crop that pays well.

         Oats give a good harvest in the month of May. The stubble is plowed down in June, and without doing anything else you can raise 3 tons of Alabama clover hay per acre. It is a wonderful fodder.

Corn

         is a profitable crop. It generally produces two ears to the stalk.

         After the corn is harvested you can harvest 3 tons of Alabama clover.

        

Sorghum

         is easy to produce and is very profitable.

        

Hops

         It is said that hops can grow abundantly. If anyone buys land that is familiar with growing hops, they will be given special consideration.

         Rice produces an abundant harvest for the Silverhill farmer. It pays better to raise rice than it does to raise wheat. And the straw is excellent fodder for the animals.

         Hay products. Many types of grass for hay grow and give good yields. Alabama clover is foremost for both hay and green pasture.

Potatoes

         Two crops of potatoes in the same year are very possible.

         The first crop is planted in February and is sent to market in the month of May. This first crop of Irish produces well and sells at a high price.

         The second crop is sweet potatoes, which are planted from sprouts and cuttings in June and harvested in December. This crop is not as costly to plant as the Irish potatoes and are good for shipping.

Silverhill's town plans and ten-acre plots are being laid out for growing fruit and vegetables.

Land values are rising fast.

Buy land in Silverhill now.

Price and terms…

Land sells for $10 to $15 dollars per acre.

Town lots go for $25 and $50.

Ten acres for fruit growing are $25 per acre.

Ten percent down payment.

Free transportation for anyone buying 40 acres of land.

Terms are negotiable per the purchaser’s wishes.

Mr. C. Arvidson,

is handy with the hoe. He is experienced in raising fruit and all other produce. He begins the day's work with purpose and finishes the day well satisfied with the work accomplished. He has a lot of faith in what can be grown and produced on his land.

Tobacco.

         The soil and climate are very good for raising Cuban tobacco, which sells at a good price. People that know, say that the land in Silverhill is worth $100.00 per acre when used to raised tobacco.

Silverhill has a great future.

Mr. C. Peterson

from Minnesota came to Silverhill in May 1899 with $20 in gold. He gave it all to Oscar Johnson with these remarks:

         “I am glad to trade the gold for a good piece of land. Forty acres would be comparable to 100 acres in the north”.

Creatures

         The mild climate, rich grass growing, and plenty of water make it a fine place to raise livestock. Milk products find a good market.

         Sheep. There is no branch of farming that pays as well with very little care than raising sheep.

         Swine. Peanuts and sweet potatoes are a great fattening food for swine production.

         Horses can be raised cheaply. You should not talk louder to your horse than you would to your lover. A horse does not like to be mistreated or scolded.

Poultry raising is not only good to have as a source of food for the farmer, but can also be a good source of income. Egg production in the winter is where the profit is. It would create steady customers.

         People are coming to Silverhill from east, west, and north to better their health and security. They come too with the idea of cattle breeding, raising grain and fruit. They do well because it is a good place to raise cattle and the land is easier to clear.

         Emmigration to the south is increasing.

         Silverhill is glad to get brethren from the Swedish and northern emmigrants.

Silverhill has Swedish church and Sunday school services. The meetings are held each Sunday in the school house.

         Silverhill has a Swedish notary public, Swedish justice of the peace, Swedish postmaster, Swedish superintendant over the roads, and we almost said a Swedish castle keeper. When the time comes the proverb says: “as man predicts, so it goes.”

         Let us give a friendly advice:

         Seek Silverhill colony before land prices increase another step.

         Dr. Klaus writes: Last winter I visited Silverhill. I found a wholesome climate. There I decided to settle and not return North. Bought land for fruit production.

Mrs. C. G. Sten is a worker in the Sunday School and also in the ladies sewing circle.

         Pastor J. N. Jacobson writes: On the first of September 1899, I accompanied one of Svea Land colony’s excursions to Silverhill and found everything that the colony had represented to me was accurate. I spoke with many of the new settlers and they were all satisfied. Excellent climate, fresh good water. The land was beautiful; good for fruit growing.

Rainfall

         The two greatest factors for good growth are rain and sunshine.

         Silverhill can rejoice over the fact of having an abundance of both. Rainfall is evenly divided thourghout the year and does not vary as in other places.

         When heavy rains come there is no danger of flooding. When rain is scarce there is always a heavy dew as in Sweden. There is never a good taste to fruit that has been irrigated as there is when there is natural rainfall.

         Testimonial

         Otto Solberg and his wife write:

         “We felt satisfied with the land even though we had little money to begin with. We had good luck and we like it here. When the land produces it can produce two crops on the same land annually. Those that have money can do much better. We have lived here for over two years without any sickness.”

         Homemade.

         Lindberg's house looks very much like it is homemade but it is no less of a happy home for being homemade. Their home is situated by Fish River, a distance of four miles from Silverhill.

         One fines many other homes built on Svea Land Colony’s land that are happy homes. They are any where from a half-mile to five miles from town.

         Swedes from many areas in this land as well as from various churches and provinces of Sweden have purchased and settled in Silverhill.

         Mrs. John Berg says in her long letter from Silverhill: “it shows what sober, honest Swedes can do.”

         Woods.

         Many varieties of trees grow around Fish River. Most are pine trees that grow tall without any underbrush (the woods were burned over annually to prevent underbrush and ticks).

         Soil.

         It has rich and light soil on strong clay bottom. It is easy to work and when it has been cultivated gives a good product of all sorts of produce.

         One man from Michigan said he would much rather pay $40 an acre for land in Silverhill, than $10 an acre for land in Michigan.

         Pastor E. Wingren’s sons

have planted much fruit of different varies and all the trees are growing and producing. Land that has been cleared and has grapes planted in April, will bear fruit in the summer. This is how well the fruit thrives.

C. Johnson writes from Silverhill on the 14 April 1900:

         “We have new potatoes and we have welcomed this year's yield. All we have planted grows very quickly. Weather is beautiful.”

         We could fill a whole book with testimonials, about Silverhill’s good climate, etc., etc., but for now this is enough.

         Testimonial.

         We the undersigned visited Silverhill in August 1899 and testify that we found that Silverhill has a beautiful climate, cool nights, good water, good roads, good grass for grazing, and good yields of rice, sugar cane, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, beans, melons, grain, vegetables, fruit; and all grows to abundance.

         We see in Silverhill colony rain, sunshine, and all is good. We liked the place and we bought land.

G. Gustafson, 60 acres.
C. Lyren, 60 acres.
A. Lindberg, 160 acres.

         Farmers! It behooves you to become interested, strictly speaking, because Silverhill will have a great history in the future.

         Question.

         It becomes a heavy burden to settle in the north and provide food, clothing, and a home for a family.

         Is it true that in the south you can hardly eat up what has been produced in the summer?

         Is it true that land around Silverhill is the best, and the climate and water is the most wholesome in the whole south?

         Is it true that Silverhill is a Swedish colony and Swedes who build and live here are settling the land?

         Is it true that in Silverhill there is no incidence of sunstroke and no snowstorms, so that man can produce crops the whole year around?

         Follow along on one of our excursions and answer these questions for yourself!

         Brick Factory

         reflects in Fish River’s clear water.

         We give a discount if someone purchases land that is skilled in managing a brick plant.

         A shoemaker and a blacksmith who purchases land and settles here will profit from it.

         Excursions

         A trip to Silverhill was made on the Chicago and Alton railroad from Chicago through St. Louis continuing on the Mobile and Ohio railroad going through the states of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama from St. Louis to Mobile. The train goes through places just like a ride through Eygpt with stops in towns named Cairo, Jordan, Korinth, Meridan and crosses over the Ohio River on the longest railroad bridge in the world.

         The trip is interesting and pleasant.

         Market.

         Mobile is a good market place. Silverhill has good connections through Mobile with the east, the west, and the north, and to the whole world through sea travel. Silverhill does not have train connections to Mobile, but has boat service to Mobile through Fish River.

         Mobile is an old town with many rich businessmen. It has a large seaport and good train connections. The city is known for its various kinds of fish and oyster industries, also for its early fruit and vegetable marketing.

         A person can have a four-room house built for $150 to $400 after all expenses of the surveying and location has been determined.

         Svea Land Colony undertakes to build houses, plant fruit trees and do any other work for the land purchaser.

Write or visit
Svea Land Colony,
122 S. Clark Street, Chicago Opera House Building, Suite 512,
CHICAGO, ILL.