Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-06-19
The CHRONICLE
Letter from Southwest Kansas.
PARK CITY, SEDGwICK Co., KAN,
June lst, 1872.

for occupying your time and space Is
thatthere are always people wishing 4
better their condition by going ives
where lands are cheaper, but for wan
of information fail to make the de
sired change. Ny father was once /,
resident OF your county, but emf
grated to northern Illinois in the fal
of 1910, where he now resides. We
(mY wife, three children, q bFothei
and myself,) left Stark County, Illin.
ois, on October Sd, 1870, to find q
. home in the farther west, and Oy the
kind hand of Providence were led to
locate in southwest Kansas, in the
valley Of the Arkansas river, which
has the largest and most productive
valley in the State IL varies in width
from five to twenty five miles, is very
lsvel but not swampy; the soil is q
black sandy loan from two to six feet
in depth, and Is underlayed with
water and sand which forms a subter-
raneau irrigatiOn; the water raising
and falling with the river, and dur
ing rains the water soaks away very
fast and floods of through the bad
of sand to the river; also the reverse
rs the snow melts in the Rocky
Mountains in June and July. The
river is then at its highest, and the
water all through the valley raises
in this sand bed to level with the
river, which produces a moisture
from below to mature our crops. The
sand and water is from three to fif
teen feet from the surface good water
and an abundance Of it is procured by
driving the sand pump; we have two
/ N1v 60 e-krn h.
other twen'y five feet for house use;
| five feet Of this is above the surface,
the pipe passing up through the floor
to sink In the house; we think the
water more healthy eight or ten feet
below the water mark, which on my
place averages seven feet, On the up
land the water Is much deeper, vary
ing in depth according to elevation
OF land, IL being found invariably
on level with the river. We are
fifty-twp miles from the south line Of
the STATE, and settled on homestead
land in the land grant to the Atehi-
son, Topeka & Santa Fe rail road
Two miles south of us is the Usage
trust lands, TO the south line of the
State, and running nearly the whole
length of the State east and west; q
strip twenty miles wide slOng the
north boundary of this land was put
in market three years ago at ST.
per acre by actual settlement and cul- |
tivation for period not less than six |
months under the presumption law of
IS4l, with some late regulations to 4
prohibit frauds and speculations, /
which require 500 worth of improve |
ments, with actual residence, ETC. /
The final proof, and application for /
patent, cannot be made until the ex-
piration Of six months from date Of /
settlement, and one year is allowed if |
necessary. South of the twenty miles 4
strip, lies the thirty miles strip of
Usage diminished trust lands. This
was put in market one year ago at 75
cents per acre by actual settlement,
with the same requirements as stated.
North Of the Usage lands lay the
lands to the north line Of
the State, except that taken up by
rail road grants; this can be pre-
empted at minimum price. 81 IS per
acre, except inside of land grams
where 1. is raised in price to double
Those settling here have
the right to pre-empt one quarter Of
and on the Usage lands, also one pre-
smptiOn and one homestead right on
The Government land, but cannot use
Dnt one right at 3 time. / came from
/ good country but / think this is a
better one. We settled upoa our
Slams the I'd day of January, 1871
prior to this we had built q "dug-outh
which answered for house until the
after part of March, when we built
house l4x18 feet, one story high, and
he lumber for this was hauled ll6 !,
miles, that being our nearest rail
,oad point at that time. We COM
nenced breaking prairie the 10th of
February, and planting to corn the
5th OF March, but did not raise any s
,orn from planting done prior to the 6
9th Of April, the frost cut it down J
md the weeds and grass got the start j
II it. That part broke and planted
n May and June did we'll; some of it S
yielded fifty bushels per acre; we q
aised in all 200 bushels Of corn, @
learly all of this grew on thirty acres C
We broke during the season seventy q
cres. This season we have planted d
orty-five acres of last year breaking o
o corn, finishing the 10Th of April. f
spring and fall wheat do well, and we u
annot be beat for vegetables. Our K
oil does not bake. is always loamy a
nd moist. We have q herd law 81
Which prohibits all manner of stock p
rom running at large; we do not {
snce except with ''osRge hedge ;" q
his is q great saving in time and ex- b
ense. Since We settled here, the L.
Topeka & Santa Fe rail 81
Dad has been built to Newton, "a K
liles to the nOrth-east of US, and will il
sks Is miles north on its westward q
curse they are now grading west ti
{ Newton. The Wichita South n
'estern rail road branching Off at "
Iewton, passes seven miles east OF us, Il
nd is nearly finished to Wichita oi
his town was laid out in March. n
$40, and now numbers two thousand if
Inhabitants. One year ago we were b
n the extreme frontier, and feared "
lr lives from the red man, but now 81
e are surrounded by a belt of settle ri
tents thirty miles on the west &C
he disadvantages are, want of tim re
sr, ague, high winds, mosquitoes, ID
Orse thieves and Texas cattle. Coal dl
found and in paying quantities, to
I'D it is poor country that has not lt
rough decayed vegetation to produce bI
Ie a2ue. The wind will blow less as
Ie country gets older and groves and
sdges are grown. Such weg the case tt
ith lllipois. Horse thieves and gi
exas cattle will not stand eivilizs- es
IN; the herd law passed this spring w
III stop the latter, and the bullet and ga
pc the former. "a
To those wishing to come west ! he
Ould say they cannot do better than in
come 10 southwest Kansas. Sedg- ch
lex, Sumner, COVley, Harper, Bar be
ur, south half Of Reno, Rice, Bar se'
n, Pawnee, and portions of Stafford tel
unties are all choice land, and in spI
st, the best in the State. Some OF I'M
ese counties are yet unorganized. th'
lere Is plenty Of elbow room for lie
me Of your eramped up farmers vo
d office-seekers. Any one wish du
z information will have it freely %
ven by addressing steel q Smith, WI
ichita, Sedgwick Co., or S. J. Me- ne
Irron, Pawnee Rock, Barton Co., ct
llsO T.. L. Stone, Great Bend, Bar gla
! Co., Kan-,-or by addressing the DIRE
ieers of the District Land Office at sue
ichita, Sedgwick Co., Andrew eld
lin. (Registerl, W. A. Shannon. fci
eeeiver). be
have written at greater length fro
In intended, please pardon. anC
Respectfully Yours, day
H. F. RHODES. oec
due