A peculiarity of this gypsum is, that it pulverizes readily, and, by mixing it with water , makes excellent mortar for plastering purposes. All kinds of cereals can be raised on the soil without difficulty, and in no country can crops be successfully cultivated with as little labor. Seventy bushels of oats to the acre were harvested, and corn, though the season was unfavorable, yielded as high as fifty-five bushels. Nearly all kinds of roots are of easy cultivation, and fruit grows finely. Efforts to cultivate small fruit, such as berries, grapes, etc., have thus far proved failures.
Trees grow rapidly, and under the timber culture act, immense quantities are being planted.
The soil of Pratt County is well adapted for agriculture pursuits, and farming judging from past years, can be successfully and profitably followed as business. While it is an excellent agricultural county, it has also superior advantages for stock-raising. True, its streams are few, but good well water is easily obtained, and one well, with the use of a wind mill, is capable of watering 500 head of cattle, and this system of providing cattle with water is preferred by stockmen to the streams and creeks. Pratt County was first organized in 1873, and with that transaction commences the narrative history of the county. It was accomplished by a party from Hutchinson who traveled through the country with a tent, going from county to county organizing them as they went.