White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1857-07-16
From the St. Ioeis Republican,
The Great City Of the Plafns-Immense
Emigration-Fine Grasses Health
of Emigrants and Stockholders of
the Fort


CENTRAL CRY. N. T., June 10, 1857.
A long prospecting peregrination, in which
took a survey, and calculated the prospects Of
all the towns in Kansas and Nebraska, has at
length brought me to this beautiful d City of the
Palms." where am content to pause in admit
ration Of its loneliness of locality and in con-
temptation Of the greatness and the glory of its
future.
While sit within its midst, RECALLING my trans
ported visien with unrestricted ranges over the
emerald seas which bound the horizon ON the
west and south, and the undulating woodlands
which wave against the northern sky and the
clear expanse of silvery waters gliinmering be-
meath the stars are stripes of our national ban
ner, float proudly from the barracks of Fort
Kearney, just two miles on the east, forming a
circumference Of vastness, of wildness. Of SPLEEN
dor and security possessed by ne other city site
between the OCEANS.
The government OF the United States, with
that sound discrimination which has always dis
tinguished its selections of military posts, estab-
lished Fort Kearney several years ago, and its
advantages have been found to be so many and
great that the Secretary of War Intends to en-
large it, to increase its number of men and GUAM
titles Of munitions, and to make it the most
powerful and permanent fortress in the interior.
1t is a matter of note hat Wheaever Govern
mcnt has established important military posts,
thsre cities have sprung speedily into magnitude
and opulence. This results from two obvious
causes, the first of which is the eligibility of To-
cality, and the other the security afforded BY
our arms.
This city is but two miles vest Of For.
Kearuy, in the midst ola rsaguifecnt domain,
comprising twelve hundred and eighty acres of
choice table land, directly upon the south bank
of the Big Platte river. II is the great highway
of travel to Utah, Washington and California,
and IS the only point for large city between
st. Joseph and San Francisco. Il is the con-
cenh,ating point for all railroads leading from
the Atlantic and Mississippi and Missouri val
levs towards the Pacific. From st. Paul, in
Minnesota, ii:pm Dubuque, in Iowa, from St.
Louis and St. Joseph, Il Missouri, and from
Memphis, in Tennessee, they will here con-
verge, aid follow one main trunk hence through
the valleys Of the South Pass TO the great nArts
Of the Pacific. Thus, this is not only seogSphi-
cally and in name, but will be commercially an5
in fact the cExRAL CRY Of our country.
Nature has designed it as point-a focus
and radiatins cenrc-fOr the travel and the
commerce of our continent The rich prairie
land cOtermiROus will yield abundant stores to
the culture Of the husbandman; the boundless
plains beyond will afford pasturage for millions
Of herds; the broad and clear waters Of the
Platte will inigate the wales, and the famous
%Gand Island ffty-two miles in length, and
heavily empowered in continuous forests, will
furnish every variety Of timber for all time to
come, wa,;ie exhasss,ess mines Of bituminOus
fuel lie in the immediate vicinity
The founders Ofthis city are some of your most
eminent and wealthy citizens, among whom are
Col. d. d. Mitchell, offs ST. Louis, and Gen. Bella
NJ. Hughes, Hon. James Caig, Col. S, .woOdsOn,
Col. John Scott, and others, Of St. Joseph.
Several of these gentlemen have been across
the plains and mountains, and are familiar With
the topography and geology Of the whole cOun-
ny They found this paint TO possess advantage