The Cecil Whig

THE SOIL AND CLIMATE OF SOUTHERN AND WESTERN KANSAS.

Mr. Henry Stewart, agricultural editor of the American Agriculturist, having made a tour of observation over the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in May last, writes to Mr. Touzalin, the Manager of the Land Department of the company, the following as his opinion of the country and its advantages, after careful observation. We omit the first paragraph of his letter and commence with the—

Second, as to water. It has been widely supposed that Central and Western, if not Eastern Kansas suffered from a dry climate. Like many other ideas relative to the Western parts of the great Missouri Valley, I need hardly say, this, so far as the Eastern and Central parts of the State are concerned, is exploded. As to the Western part of the State, I judge the idea to be equally groundless. If springs and water courses in whose channels aquatic plants needing for their existence constant moisture, if frequently occurring streams, if rains frequently occurring and copiously descending, if all these are proofs, then there is abundant testimony that immediately west of the central counties, and to some extent all through the Valley to the westward, there is ample rainfall for all the purposes of agriculture. Doubtless as the tramping of the countless herds of buffalo which have heretofore roamed the extreme Western plains of the State shall have ceased, as it is soon certain to do, the surface will become more open and loose, and will retain longer the abundant rainfalls of the spring months, giving them back again in gradual evaporations to the atmosphere, which shall supply clouds and rains during a longer season than now prevails. Here as elsewhere, the cultivation of the soil will tend to ameliorate the climate. However this may be at the extreme west, the fact that within 150 miles of that point on the Walnut Valley northwest of Great Bend, corn and wheat has been successfully grown for five years past, shows that there the rainfall is, as I judge it is further west, sufficient. For stock purposes there is abundance of water. Not to speak of the frequent streams which are tributary to the Arkansas, nor that large stream itself, abundant water may be procured in shallow wells in every bottom; while on the bluffs it is only necessary to sink to a corresponding depth to procure a supply. The vast majority of wells are "driven wells," consisting of iron pipes pointed and perforated at the ends, which are driven by blows into the soil to a depth of from ten to twenty feet, or less or more, where unfailing water is found and pumped up. These cheap and serviceable wells are attached to every dwelling.

Thirdly, as to healthfulness. Here is a country in which malaria finds no conditions favorable to its existence. Stagnant water is not to be found either on or beneath the surface. The air too is in constant motion; a fresh breeze constantly fans the cheek and brings health to the lungs. In such an atmosphere as here exists, the system is invigorated, and labor is neither irksome nor fatiguing. These constant breezes also afford unlimited and valuable power for windmills of every description or for all purposes.

Fourth, as to climate. Here is a climate which exactly meets the requirements of the agriculturist, whether he be farmer, orchardist, stockman or shepherd. In early spring when the soil is freed from the slender grasp of what little frost it is subject to during the short winter, it is in admirable condition for plowing and preparation for crops. Then comes a season of rains and showers, which lasts into July, when only occasional showers occur to interfere with harvesting operations. The corn crop is safe before the rains cease, and after that time the grass cures upon the ground and makes a natural hay, retaining all its nutritious qualities, which serves as a perennial pasture for stock. The fall and winter seasons, which east of the Missouri are marked by the prevalence of cold rains and chilling storms so trying to stock, here are marked by dry and bracing weather. Occasional storms, in which light dry snow is drifted and wreathed upon the surface occur: during which the farmer will feel called upon to shelter and feed his stock. But I saw large herds of cattle which had been subsisted during the past winter without any prepared shelter or any prepared food, even in the shape of a mouthful of hay, and they were in excellent condition, and had suffered no loss on account of this absence of labored care.

Thus this country is specially adapted for sheep and stock raising in conjunction with grain growing, and must undoubtedly soon become a great source of supply of beef and mutton to the eastern markets.

All these considerable advantages combine to make this beautiful and fertile valley and these gently swelling slopes, especially attractive to certain classes. For instance, the young farmer seeking a home, who has few means beyond his own industry and strong arms and willing hands wherewith to carve it out. He may here either find a free homestead on United States lands, or purchase at low prices, on remarkably easy terms of payment and with liberal discounts for improvements from the Railroad Company. Very often he may thus purchase at relatively cheaper prices than by taking a practically free gift from the Government of a tract of land for his farm. The parents of children who desire to establish them in homes of their own, or to re-establish their own, or their children's health, failing in less favored regions, may here exactly suit their needs. Here they will find associations and conveniences equal to those they desire to leave; schools as good, an already comparatively well settled country, with agreeable neighbors, and in many sections considerable towns and public improvements along side of rich and cheap lands. The well-to-do farmer, here, in place of his well-improved but small eastern farm, may procure a much larger tract, in which he can put the plow to work the day of his arrival hither, and in a short time have a better stocked, and better improved farm than he before possessed, with the expenditure of but a small portion of his money; the balance he may safely, usefully and profitably invest in loans to his less fortunate neighbors, on the best security and high rates of interest. The man of small capital of from $2,000 to $10,000, will find opening in business in which he may utilize the abundant clays suitable for brick or stoneware; the valuable building stone, the gypsum or coal or salt profusely scattered in extensive beds at moderate depths below the surface, and thus not only make wealth for himself, but enrich the locality in which he casts his lot. The sheep or stock farmer may here find extensive pastures available the year round, with abundant water at hand always and everywhere, with no need to feed his stock except during the few weeks in which the usually short winter prevails, in fact he here finds the abundant grasses of the north with the genial climate of the south conjoined for his advantage. This country in a sheep's paradise. A short, sweet, nutritious herbage, dry soil, absence of cold rains and intolerable heats, a rolling upland, pure water, pure air, an entire absence of overflowed lands or bottoms, altogether make up precisely the conditions needed for the welfare of the flock. At the present time no more favorable opening could be imagined than here exists for embarking profitably in sheep or stock raising. A homestead of 640 acres, suitable for winter keeping and feeding, and the owner's dwelling place, can be purchased within five miles of towns, for $5 per acre, subject to discounts for improvements. Unlimited range may be had for some years to come at a distance of ten to twenty miles from the railroad, on which stock may be herded comfortably for ten months in the year. Stock may be purchased in quantities at fabulously low prices to eastern men. A trustworthy person engaged in this business assures me that he has purchased sheep at 60 cents per head. But at $1.50 to $2.00 per head picked flocks of native ewes may be procured. Two year old Texan heifers can be picked out of herds at from $6 to $8 per head, and cows at $10. With a nucleus for a flock or a herd at such prices, improved by thoroughbred blood, and with such unexampled facilities for inexpensive care and feeding, a most satisfactory result is absolutely certain to be secured by the exercise of the necessary knowledge, skill and energy, and of course, capital. Beef cattle have been sold at Wichita, in Kansas, the present spring, for five cents per pound on foot, while freights to Chicago amount to but one cent per pound live weight. All these facts, with the certainty that beef will always retain its price as an article of increasing cost of production elsewhere, and increasing demand everywhere, show the extreme profitableness of this business in this valley.

Timber is scarce in the west, although abundant in the east; but the abundance of coal for fuel, the cheapness of lumber for building, the abundance of fine stone and brick clays, and the hardiness of the osage orange as a hedge plant, together with its rapid growth as well as that of all kinds of forest and fruit trees, render the comparative absence of timber rather an advantage than otherwise; certainly its absence is not a want to be greatly deplored while its wide prevalence would, to a certainty, be an inseparable objection to the settlement of this section of the country.

But space fails to enlarge upon the prominent advantages which this broad valley forces upon the notice of the enterprising farmer. To all such seeking a western home, or to those who seek to retire from other pursuits to enjoy the pleasures of a healthful and romantic country life, with all its incidental advantages, I would here say that in the course of many years, and through extensive travel, I have not seen a more inviting country, nor one which offers greater inducements, with fewer objections, than this valley of the Arkansas, and in saying this the whole story is told. In conclusion, if I were asked at what points the most favorable localities for settlement offer themselves, I should reply that that depends altogether upon individual preferences. East of Fort Dodge I perceive no material difference in any respect that would weigh greatly with me in choosing a location unless it be the conveniences afforded by the established towns already of considerable size, and the closer or sparser settlement of certain districts. If I desired to engage in grain growing, and fancied rolling ground with abundant timber, I should choose the eastern parts of the Valley: for instance near to the Cottonwood River, or the towns of Florence, Peabody and Newton, where schools churches and social advantages are to be enjoyed. If I desired broad level bottoms, I should go further west. If I sought, as many will, a well-settled country with thrifty towns in which the purity of the social and religious atmosphere is an object of solicitude, and in which whisky drinking and other vices are tabooed by the public sentiment as well as by the coexistent law I should find a home in or about Hutchinson or Peace. Were I to engage in stock raising, I should search out my location all the way from Hutchinson to Petersburg, a stretch of magnificent bottoms and rolling upland twenty miles wide by one hundred miles in length, covered with a luxuriant carpet of richest grasses, and of which the town of Great Bend, a center of growing cattle trade, is the natural focus, and must be for years to come. But it should be remembered if one is tempted to go still further west, that although there is ample room yet, settlement progresses most conveniently for all concerned, when it does so with an unbroken front, and no scattered skirmish line as it were, is thrown out to meet and solve and vanquish all the questions and problems that arise in all newly settled districts, and that the cheapest lands on the whole are those which, while they bear a higher price, yet have as a valuable compensation the advantages of neighbors, schools, churches, towns, markets, communications and other accessories of civilized life.— There is ample scope and verge enough east of Forts Larned and Dodge for thousands of homesteads, and hundreds of thrifty towns and villages.

HENRY STEWART,
Agricultural Editor of
American Agriculturist.