The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-01-20
General 1QteNqepcs..
Inquiries about Kansas.

- ~ IL 80 - Y =
Inquiries about Kansas.
Letters of inquiry. says the ParkyiIIe
Luminary, are reaching us by every mail.
We select lot of questions that have
been put.
l. How much land should settler
have for raising reasonable quantity of
stock--enough to make it profitable ?
g. What would this land cost. desira-
bly, situated in your neighborhood !?
3. What amount of capital would it
require to stock it, put suitable buildings
on it-in short, what amount of means
could one get along with !?
4. What is the cost of man-abor, and
woman-help. to work on a farm IN that
country? I?
5. What time should settler take
possession {?
6. Is there any apprehension from In
dams (?
4. What would it cost to remove furni-
ture from st. Louis to your neigborhood ?
8. In settling Kansas, what are the
terms of the Government to actual set
tiers How much land do they give !?
8. What are the openings for business
men in your immediate vicinity ?
In the following article will be found
such answers as we could hastily give in
time for this number.
ASswERs.-1. On the borders of these
large prairies the stock-raiser should first
secure timber and water; then he can
easily have unbounded scope in pastur-
age for years, on the vast ranges of ma
ture's meadOw-land. According to cir
cumstances, he might have from 80 to
16O acres of timber, and from 16O to $50
acres for farm.
2. The settler can secure, on most of
the land, $50 acres by pre-emption, at
81 25 per acre, and he may possibly be
able to bid off whatever more prairie is
required at the same price.
3. The first settlers generally put up
hewed log houses, log stables, and set up
low posts for sheds, rooted with prairie
hay. The winters are generally so mild
that cattle can be kept on hay during the
cold weather, letting them run out in the
sheltered groves and bottoms. 1t will
cost about 80 cents rod to fence with
rails an Usage orange hedge can be
raised for the same price. A stone wall
fence will cost from 81 to 81 so per rod.
1t will readily be seen that the cost of a
farm will be in exact proportion to the
amount and kind of Improvements made.
In regard to stock, COWS will cost from
S12 to S25 each oxen, $50 to S75 per
yoke /; horses, SIS to S1OO; sheep, 81
to 81 so per head-but they are mostly
of the common coarse wool kind.
At the steam saw-mills in Parkville
lumber can be had at $50 per thousand
feet.
Furniture, merchandise-all the neces-
sary outfits for settlers-can be had in
Parkville on as reasonable terms as at st.
Louis or the East, allowing for cost of
transportation, DC.
The amount of capital necessary to
start with depends entirely on the extent
of the settlers operations. Some of our
men came to the West, settled
on their claims, and had not dollar left +;
bnt they went to work, raised their cab
ms, while their cow and team fed on the
prairie, and by dint of persevering in
1ustry for few years their fields now
spread out in luxuriant fruitfulness before
them, and their numerous fiocks and
herds are scattered thickly over the vast
1t would undoubtedly be
better, at any rate easier, for farmer to
have sufficient ready money, after paying
for his land, TO purchase necessary farm
ing implements and household furni-
ture, provisions for the first year, besides
enough to help make his improvements
and buy some stock in the spring
Some portions of the Kansas Territory
is the best country for sheep raising we
ever saw, and it would be a capital spec
ulation for some of the wealthy wool
growers to send out few thousands of
their blooded stock.
Butter and cheese are in great demand;
fortunes are to be made rapidly in the
Kansas Valley, at the dairy business
Fort Riley affords fine retail market for
these commodities so also do the steam
boats and towns on the Missouri. The
Kansas presents the best sites in the
world for dairy farms.
4. Laboring men can be hired at from
S15 to S25 per month. Female '' help"
cannot be had at S2 week where
wanted, that had better be brought along.
8. The sooner the better; as all the
good claims are being rapidly taken up.
6. No danger need be apprehended
from Indians in the Kansas Valley below
Fort Riley, and not much above.
Z. Freights from st. Louis to Park
vile vary according to the state of the
river. In spring months. from Soc. to
SOC. per hundred is charged in sum-
mer, 2Oc to SOC. per 100 lbs.; in fall,
75c. to 30. Passage in cabin of first
class boats, ten to fifteen dollars.
From Parkville up the Kansas Valley
there is an excellent road, and teams can
be hired at from SO 50 to 80 per day.
The distance is about 35 miles to the
Lawrence, or Yankee settlement, as it is
called, on the Wakarusa 40 miles to
Grasshopper: 100 miles to Big Blue !;
and 120 to Fort Riley. Steamboats, viii
run on the Kansas river during high wa
ter. The Messrs. Garrett, of this town,
are building line of fiatboats, with
which to navigate that river during low
water Settlers in that section of coun
try can thus have easy and comfortable
travelling between Parkvillc and Fort
Riley, at reasonable rates. By taking
passage with Capt. Garrett, much delay,
inconvenience, and money will be saved.
s. None But all the lands ceded are
subject to pre-emption, except those in
the Delaware, Iowa, and Weas nations
over 600, 600 acres-which viii be put up
at public auction.
9. Merchants, hotel-keepers, mechan-
les, manufacturers, clerks, nurserymen.
and agriculturists, viii all find their in
dustry liberally rewarded in this vicinity,