Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-06-12
From Kansas.
WINFIELD, CowLEY CO., KAN,
W. May a, 1873.


rnrroE Iowa VoTEn:-It has be-
oo,ue quite common of late for the
:t;vous of Marion Co., who move to
now country, to give their former
.o;ohbors, through the medium OF
tho press, a description Of their new
homes. In accordance with this
.nstom land very good custom l
mink it isl l will endeavor to tell
vou something of "What | know
shout Southern Kansas, and more
narticularly Cowley county:
Cowley is in the southern tier OF
counties, and is the fifth from the east
line of the State. It is boun led en-
the west by summer, norGh by But
lpr and east by Howard. The coun-
~ is well watered by numerous
streams of as nice clear water as l
ever saw. The principal streams are
the Arkansas river, which runs
through the western part of the coun-
~. Walnut river, which passes nearly
through the centre from north to
south; and further east by Rock,
Dutch. Timber, Silver and Grouse
creeks. All these creeks have tim
Der enough to supply the surround
ing country with fuel for a number
Of wears; and all afford excellent wa
terpower. Walnut river is we'll sup
plied with the best timber that l
have seen in Southern Kansas. /
have seen just as large and nice Oak,
Walnut, Sycamore and Cottonwood
logs at the mills on this river as |
ever saw at the mills on the Des-
Moines river in Iowa. The Arkan-
sas has but little timber. Native
lumber sells at the mills at from 50
to So. Good walnut lumber can be
bought for So per hundred feet. Oak
and Walnut fence posts are worth
from S. to 81 per hundred. Fence
rails sell at about the same price.
The soil in this part of Kansas is
very good. 1t is not SO dark as Iowa
land generally is but for all kinds OF
crops / think it will prove equally
productive. The latter part of last
season was very dry, and though
there was but little of the upland in
cultivation corn crops were good.
The vegetable crop was excellent.
Irish potatoes do well-something
not common so far south.-I think
there can be no doubt about this be.
ing good fruit country-for peache:
and grapes in particular. Fruit tree,
of all kinds grow rapidly, though
none are yet old enough to bear.
suppose you have heard Of the ever.
lasting Kansas rocks. They are here
in force. Cowley Co. appears to bt
founded upon rock; and therefor
suppose she viii endure forever. AL
ofthe uplaEd is underlaid with lime
stone-ahind ofmagnesian lime. /
crops Cut in the ravines, and not un
frequently on the level surface; bu
asa rule, on the upland, the rock!
are from three to eight feet from thu
surface. This makes well-diggine
an uphill business, as we have tx
blast most of the time after striking
the rock. The stone is splendid fol
building purposes; when first taker
from the ground it is quite soft and
easily dressed, but becomes hard by
exposure to the air and admits Of 6
fine polish. 1T also makes good
quality of white lime.
This county has been open for set
tlement but three years, yet no coun
try that / have ever seen has made
more progress in improvements in
the same length of time. Nearly all
the land is now claimed, and there i:
more or less Improvement on every
quarter section. Some of the far.
mers, especially those who settled or
the bottoms, have good farms well
improved. We have quite a number
ofmills in the county, and will have
more as fast as they are demanded
as water power is abundant.
School districts are being organized
all over the county, and our schoo
houses are upon an average larger
and better than the district schoo
houses in Iowa, and are furnished
with gothic seats-a decided i'm
provement on the old style.
Before coming here, / believed
that Southern Kansas was settled by
rough class of pioneers, and thi
seems to be the prevailing opinion
in Iowa; but after six months resi-
dence here and after becoming wei
acquainted with the inhabitants Of
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