Dodge City Times

Major T. J. Anderson returned yesterday from La Junta, where he accompanied a party of gentlemen who are visiting Kansas for the purpose of inspecting land grant railroads in the State. The party consists of Theophilus French, United States Commissioner of Railroads; Henry Blackstone, United States Railroad Engineer; Wm. F. McLennon, Chief of Warrant Division of the United States Treasury Department, and J. W. Griffin, Bond Clerk in the office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The party went by special train, passing over the entire road by daylight; and Major Anderson says he had an opportunity for looking at the wheat and paid particular attention to it. He says the best single field of wheat lies about one mile west of Florence, and that by far the best outlook for wheat is on what is known as "the dry ridge," in the neighborhood of Kinsley, Offerle and Spearville. The straw will be short all over the State, as the season is very late. The poorest wheat he saw was in Shawnee county, and it improved as they went west. His judgement is that there will be from one-half to two-thirds of a crop, and deprecates the practice of some correspondents who, after a rain, say "the wheat crop is assured," holding that in Kansas that crop is never assured until it is harvested.

-Commonwealth.