The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-05-13
FROM sEDGWIeK COUNTY.


characteristics OF Soil. Climate, &e-Fruit
GroWing-Rapid Growth Of the new
Counfy-Wiehita-Its business. plans.
&c-RaEEF0ad pr0specfs-The A. T. & 3.
Fs C0mpany'S Land Grant, &e.
Correspondence OF the Commonwealth.
Among the new counties of the State
towards which the tide of immigration
is now flowing SO rapidly. perhaps no
county offers greater inducements in
climate, soil, cheap lands, and bright
prospects in the near future, than the
county of Sedgwick. But a small por-
ton of the land in this county is yet ia
ken by settlers, and there are thousands
of acres of the best ofbottom land open
ed for settlement and as vet unoccu-
pied. About half of the county lies in
what is known as the twenty mile strip
of Usage trust lands, title to which can
only be obtained by actual settlers af-
ter a residence of six months. This
wise provision insures dense popula-
ton, and keeps out spectators, land
grants, college scrip, and all that class
of titles, which in so many counties
have taken up the best lands and hold
them for speculation.
The valleys of the Arkansas river,
which flows through the center of the
county, are as productive and beautiful
lands as there are in the State, resem-
bling the Kaw valley. The soil is a
black sandy loan, easily cultivated,
never gets muddy, and does not suffer
from either drouth or excessive rain.
Living water can be obtained anywhere
in the valleys by digging from eight to
twelve feet, at which depth a bed of
sand or gravel is reached, furnishing
clear, cold, soft water. Timber is album
dant along the streams. Wild fruit
grows in profusion, and time will show
that Sedgwick county is one of the best
fruit-growing regions of the State. Six
thousand peach and apple trees have
been set out in the valley this spring by
settlers who believe in fruit.
Our county has been organized but
about two months, and settlement began
in earnest only year since. We now
have a population of two thousand,
daily increasing by trains of immigrant
wagons. Society is much in advance
of what might be expected in so new a
county. Many men ofintelligence and
education have settled here, attracted
by the richness of the soil, the beauty
of the scenery, and the brilliant pros
poets of the future.
Wichita, the county seat, is a beauti-
full and growing town, situated near the
center of the county, at the junction of
the two rivers, and is the natural bust
of sustaining an immense population,
which must some day make it city
whose streets will be thronged with
business, and resound with the whistle
of the locomotive, clang of machinery,
and the hum of business. The town at
present contains seven stores, two no.
tells, saw mill, harness shop, blacksmith
shop, lumber yard, postoffice, county
offices, and the usual set cetera" which
make up a fiourishing and growing
town. Many new buildings are going
up, including large hotel, by the ire
pressible frontiersman, VIM. Griffin
stein "a livery stable, by Mr.. McAdams :;
and two chnrches-Episcopal and Pres
byterian-@he latter of which will cost
some $1,000. VIM. Mathew son, the no
ted plainsman, and the original and
genuine Buffalo Bill' resides here with
his family, and is respected by all, for
his unassuming demeanor and straight
forward honesty.
The board of county Commissioners,
at their last meeting, fixed the license
for saloons at $500, which will effectu-
ally dry up that source of annoyance
and dissipation in our town.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
| railroad company have surveyed their
road from Emporia to Wichita, and have
the survey OH file at Washington and
the lands withdrawn (alternate Sec
tions) from market, down to the Usage
line. This gives them, between Empo-
ria and Wichita, eight hundred and ten
thousand $4,000 acres of as fine land
as there are in the State, worth to-day
$500 per acre, some of it much more.
This grant insures the certain and
| speedy construction of their road to
| the Arkansas River, at an early day.
Mr.. Peter the energetic superintendent
of the road, assures us the road shall be
pushed forward without stop or delay.
On the 18th he starts from Wichita, with
a corps of engineers, to survey the route
to the western boundary of the State.
Wichita is also the terminus of the
Humboldt and Arkansas River railroad,
which is intended as q continuation
west, of the Sedalia & Fort Scott road !;
and at no distant day road will trav-
erse the valley of the Arkansas from
Fort Gibson to the mountains.
All wanting homes in the great unde-
veloped West, either single families or
colonies, or business men seeking loca-
tons where they can grow up with the
country, we invite to Sedgwick county
to see for themselves, and settle among
us if suited. This portion of the State
has been entirely exempt from Indian
depredations, being out of their range,
and never having incurred their hostil-
ity. J. r. NJ.
Wichita, May I'd, 1870.