[BroJoeK]

Ginseng

"A very remarkable piece of intelligence reaches us from the far West.
In Minnesota villages are deserted by their people, who have fled to the woods to seek -- not for gold, but for a little root known as ginseng."

For such a short paragraph, some interesting tidbits.

First, when they say "far west", they mean Minnesota!
Second, a state that would later vote for such quirky luminaries as Jessie Ventura and Ilhan Omar was even in 1859 looking for something new & exotic.
Third, ginseng is native to China, claimed to be cure-all for any disease, sort of like the political promises from some Minnesota politicians.

;-)

[the OlLine Rebel]

As a racing nut, including especially its history, it has long been known that Kentucky was considered “west” well into this...oops...last century. Common story was Man O’War partly would not go to the KY Derby because it was too far away....to the west. Trust me, it is in the old racing papers at least up to the ‘40s.