Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-12-22
Letter from kansaS...ReV. Vim. Camp
BELLS Address Reviewed.
HuMnoLDr. KANSAS. Dec. Z, 90

HUMBOLDT, KANSAS, Dec. Z, 90.
EDITOR CHRoNICLE:-Some extracts
from an address 10 the people of Niles
delivered by Rev. VIM. Campbell, on
his return from a tour of inspection
through Kansas, have come under my
notice, and 1 would like TO say a few
words through your columns in relation
to the truth Of his remarks.
Mr.. c. has been egregiously deceived
in regard TO many things in our State
and his address, as far as the extract be.
fore me goes, cannot be relied upon as !
? correct exposition of affairs. But [ will
proceed to point out his errors:
In the first place, there is no such
thing as state" and "branch'' land Off.
ces. There are three land offices in
kansas-one at Humboldt, one at TOpe'
ka, and one at Junction City-but they
are not dependent on. and have no com
municatiOn with each other.
The land officers and clerks are not the
proper persons 10 apply to for informa-
ton in regard TO what lands are settled
as they can only tell what lands are EN-.
tered, and six months must elapse from
date of settlement to date of entry. Real
estate agents and citizens in the vicinity
of the landsc can, and are always ready tC
give correct information on these points
The services of a surveyor are not nee.
essary, except where the stakes driven
by theg government surveyors have been
removed, which is hardly ever the case.
The statements Of citizens can generally
be depended on, though, of course, there
are rogues here as elsewhere. The nv
pothetical case of swindling related by
Mr.. c. could not occur for reasons which
he himself states in the preceding SEN
tence.
The depth of wells and scarcity OF
i rrnTnr. Of LWrnnn-Sn ~ r-IsI L.
nothing about, does not apply to South
eastern Kansas, where water is plenty
It's my opinion that Mr.. Wagstaff7s
a~cuteness led him into a mistake, and it
was a cistern instead of a well, that was
being filled.
1t does not take two years to become
acclimated. / know plenty of people
who have been here more than that
length of time, and not been sick at all.
Though I have not been here six months
yet, l consider myself acclimated. 1
have been sick but two days since I
came into the State.
Kansas needs no eulogy on the fruit
questionable Gold Medal awarded her
at the Pathological Exhibition in Phila-
delphia having settled that matter. But
l wish to say that / have seen larger and
finer specimens of fruit here than 1 ever
saw before in my life, and have no doubt
but that the quantities raised in a few
years will enable us to ship largely to
the South and East. The trees have not
had time to grow as yet. and the most of
our farmers have been too busy in build
ing, breaking and fencing TO fad time to
prepare for orchards. The wild grapes
and nuts, to the poor quality Of the form
er and small quantity of the latter, Mr..
c. most ~strenuously objects, need deter
nobody from emigrSting to our State, for
they are both generally good, and there
are plenty Of them in this section, and
they do not grow on blades of prairie
grass either.
Mr.. c. complains of the lack of timber
here. In my former letter 1 stated that
for a prairie country this section was
well timbered, and l intend to stick to it.
II he WiU shut his eyes to the beauty Of
the country, and only open them when
something derOgatory is to be seen, it is
not my fault. In spite of what he SAYS
on this subject, l insist that at no point
on the NeoshO rivers between here and
Erie is there a single place where the tim
Der is as scanty as he describes it. Even
the creeks which he crossed on his way
from here there, and which he may have
mistaken for the river, for aught Iknow,
have more timber than he tells of, and a
great deal of timber, perhaps the most of
it, has been cut off just at the crossings.
In proof Of our walnut timber being of
good quality, I have merely to state that
next week six hundred car loads of it
are to be shipped from TT. Scott to New
York.
''The bottom lands only are cultivat-
ed" How could Mr.. c. make such a
mistake as that when he travelled for the
most Of the way from here to Erie on a
high ridge, and at one place must have
NASAL fhrDrrph N whoaN En1I 90 Or-ar -, !
hundred acres? All along the stage road,
which only runs through the bottom
lands where they cannot be avoided, for
obvious reasons, are cultivated farms
and to avoid seeing them Nh. c. must
have been asleep.
"The dwellings are squalid looking
constructions" Well, Tu acknowledge
they are not much in the brown stone
front line at present. Our people bend
all their energies, i the first place, to
break, fence and improve their lands,
and, the genial climate making warm
and handsome dwellings unnecessary,
prefer TO spend their money and time for
the first few years in improving their
farms. Besides this, lumber has been
very HARD to obtain, not on account of
the scarcity of timber, but because, being
compelled to use prairie lumber entirely,
the demand was greater than the saw
mills could supply. This latter fact may
account for the fact that Mr.. c. did not
find good lumber at the saw mill he Wis
tied, because the lumber is carried away
as fast as it Is sawed, and the dregs only
remain on hand.
Nh. C. has not given the true story of
the Neutral Lands, but as their con-
densed history was given in the editori-
al correspondence of the CHRONICLE
from here, in June last, 1 will not en-
large upon that point, merely saying
that the editor of the CHRONICLE is post
ed in that matter as well as in regard to
the advantages Of Southeastern Kansas,
and 1 have M doubt will impart informal
ton to any n enough interested to in
quire.
But what 1 take most unkindly is Mr.. |
C.'s remark that the people of Kansas
were "woe-begone, Indifferent, indolent, |
wretched, lazy and worthless" but per-
haps the peculiarly busting life that Mr..
c. leads, and the great amount of work
he himself does, being so much in con-
trast with our quiet and peaceable life,
led him to make this remark.
l tell you there is enterprise in Kan
sas, and we don't make half as much fuss
about it rs you do about yours. If that
furnace project had been started in Hum
boldt instead of Warren, the furnace
hOl-4o az gDNAA III LGAOlOA avn 1AAC A
people of Allen county have given $685.
900 and will give $500 0 more, to secure
a railroad; the people of Humboldt will
give $4,000 to secure another and by the
middle of next summer two railroads
will be running through our town. A
third will come Don after. Is there any
enterprise about that? Our retail mer-
chants here, in 8 town Of about 1000 in
habitants, have made cash sales of as high
as $500 per day, and can scarcely keep
up their stocks of goods, though they
have teams on the road all the time.
had the honor, in company with Nj.
Burton, of the Dispatch, to Interview
Mr.. Campbell at Erie, but he wal very
reticent, and appeared to distrust us.
Mr.. Burton is completely posted in re-
gard to southern Kansas, having travelled
over the greater part of it, and could
have given TelidbIe Information, had it
been desired; but the old lady from
Vermont appeared 10 have the inside
track, end no questions were asked of
him.
There is little or no government land
unsettled in this (Allen) county, but
there is plenty for sale by the real estate
agents, and in my opinion it is cheaper to
buy improved lands than government
land.
But / have already t~respassed upon
your space too much, and hoping that
Kansas reputation is not entirely de-
stroyed in 'Trumbun county, I remain
Yours, Tom c. SHERMAN.
]