Ten Dollar LandThe following was printed in the Rose History in 1911:"It is interesting to note at this day and age, when Rock County lands are transferred at $130 per acre, that not so many years ago the prices were ridiculously low. This prediction was made by the Rock County Herald on May 30, 1884: The demand for town lots and Rock County real estate is increasing steadily and prices are rapidly advancing. Wild land in Rock County at $15 per acre will be considered a bargain one year from this time.Apparently the prediction did not come true, for we find in the Herald’s issue of April 20, 1888, this wail:‘The proposition may seem at first a doubtful one, but it is probably true that Rock County land would sell more readily if the prices asked for it were increased at least 60 percent. There is no doubt about the fact that the prevailing price of land in this county is too low. The Creator couldn’t afford to make such land as ours for $10 an acre. The price wouldn’t pay for the first cost. Land in Lyon County, Iowa, adjoining Rock County geographically, but widely removed from it’s point of value and desirability, is held at from $15 to $18 per acre, and at this price finds ready purchasers, while land in Rock County, very much superior in every way, goes begging for buyers at from $7 to $10 per acre.’ During the prosperous years of the early ‘90s land prices jumped, as the following from the Herald of Feb. 12, 1892, shows:‘Our people must accustom themselves to higher prices than those which have prevailed heretofore. It is no longer and unusual thing to get $25 to $27 per acre for improved farms and the prices are certain to go higher.’ "Donations to the Rock County Historical Endowment Fund can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 741, Luverne, MN 56156.Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.