Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-07-19
[conuuniCatedl
Letter from Western Kansas Railroads
Improvement Of the soil Scarcity
of Wood and Water-Crops
Market Prices,

Mr.. EDITOR IL send you the fol-
lowing notes, thinking that, perhaps,
the general interest in Kansas may
render them not entirely unaccepta-
bic to many ofyour readers
The new town Of Sedgwick is sit
uated between the Arkansas and
Little Arkansas rivers, about twelve
miles from their junction, and near
the center of Sedgwick County. 1t
was commenced about a month ago
and now contains four buildings. 1t
is expected that title for the land
upon which it stands viii be obtained
in week or two, and that building
will then begin in earnest. A post
office has just been established here,
and the first mail leaves from it to-
day. An effort will be made this
fall to establish tho county seat at
Sedgwick. No election of county
officers has, as yet, taken place.
The Atchison, Topeka Il Santa Fe
r. r., now finished to Emporia, 100
miles from here, will pass through
Sedgwick, unless the citizens of
Wichita can carry the election next
fall and vote 100000 in county
bonds to bride the road to come
through Wichita (by the way, the
trick of voting county bonds to fur
Their some scheme of theirs, is q IA
vorite one with the large towns in
Kansas, many of which are able to
carry the county elections). Wich-
tia is at the junction of Arkansas and
Little Arkansas, and is town OF
1000 inhabitants.
The valley of the Little Arkansas
for twenty miles from its mouth, and
the bottom between the two rivers,
are settling up very rapidly, though
it is yet upon the very verge OF civ
ilization. Villages OF prairie dogs
are still to be seen near the settlers
cabins, and fifteen miles from here
buffalo are abundant. Some of the
settlements in Northern Kansas have
been much troubled with Indians,
but this portion Of the country has
not been molested. The hunting
grounds Of the friendly Osages are
directly west Of us, and the wild
Cheyennes and Arapahoes of the
plains are kept at a respectful dis
lance.
The soil of this vicinity is sandy
loan Of extraordinary depth and fer
| tility. When it has attained its
growth, the grass which covers the
prairios is five or six feet in height.
In some Of the counties east Of here,
the soil is hard and finty with a
hard clay subsoil, rendering the
country subject to the effects Of the
drouth, West Of here, some twenty
miles, are the "sand hills" which
stretch away into the great sandy
plains, barren Of everything but the
little, dried-up buffalo grass.
am convinced that the character
of the soil and climate of this region
has greatly changed for the better,
and that this was, indeed, once a
part Of the Great American Desert
made so by its great ar,dity. see
the changes that have taken place in
a short time. | see fringe of cot
tonwoods springing up along the
creeks where there are no signs OF
previous timber. | see the blue
Joint grass-the forerunnor Of civil
cation and cultivation-tak taking the
place Of The dry and scanty buffalo
grass and the thin, blue mesquite
grass. 1t is q noticeable fact, that
the sod Of the blue joint retains its
/ moisture much longer than that OF
the buffalo and mesquite grass while
the cultivated land remains moist
longer than the sod-facts very
hopeful 4or this country whose
greatest drawback is still q lack OF
moisture.
Those who come to Kansas, ex-
pecting to find the beautiful prairies
fringed and intersected with groves
of oak, and cool,' sparkling streams
running down the little hollows, will
be disappointed. They will not find
such region in Kansas-at least in
that part open to the homesteader Of
1870, Not that the country is de.
void of wood and running water, but
they are comparatively scarce; yet
many advantages of soil and climate
more than compensate for these
drawbacks
Notwithstanding the unfavorablc
dry weather Of the last three weeks,
crops look well. Early corn is eight
or nine feet high and still going up.
Small grain is about ripe and is q
heavy crop.
In the markets of the valley, corn
is $3.50 per bushel -four, s4.5O@6.OC
per cwt. meal, 1915 per cwt. bacon
28c per ID.
l must bring these notes to close
as / have come to the end of my pa
pei and the end Of my patience, fol-
the heat and flies are very trying
However, ] may trouble you again
soon. &. ii.
scdgwicl, Kansas July /, 1870