New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-12

drinking and story telling farmer found the season
too much for him, aud bis corn is scarcely hlgher
than the weeds. OF course he is in debt, ana no"
he shall get through the year troubles hun. You can
see fields of 90 49, and 80 acres OF corn size Dy suc
one growing and green and the other thin and
wasted One is owned by the men whose pioWs
were ready to run the moment the ground was In
nroner condition: the other thought he knew from
experience that he could start up just as well the
day after the circus but while the girls were getting
breakfast in the leaky kitchen the rain was pouring
down. and the horses were eating idly In the staDe'
lie never saw such luck
This part of Illinois settled first, ana as long
ago as fifty years, largely by Southern people, van
dalia was the capital. and all north, especaiy tio
grand prairie which for tho last ten years mas pro
duced tho surplus corn of the world was CONSIDERED
of no account Some few counties were settled Dy
Northern men, and they planted large orcharus,
which for years have been extremely prohtaoie. ana
those choice Sorts such Pryors Red the Genltah'
and PENNSYLVANIA Red Streak have been sent in
vast quantities to Chicago and St. LOUIS markets.
and have been shipped down the MISSISSIPPI 10 Meh-
pbis. Vicksburg Matches, and New-Orleans by
steamers and flat-boats. Generally the farmers
have done little more than live, though bacon and
cornbread have always been in full supply and they
seem to be contented. Of late years Yankees have
been buying some of those old farms, and have
opened new ones, and all kinds Of fruit have been
planted on a large scale. Peach orchards of ten,
twenty and even fifty acres are to BIO seen, but this
year there is not peach Apples are half crop,
grapes full one 1t is to be remarked that here es-
pecialy the severity of last Winter injured the ap-
ple trees so much that, to make q rough guess, as
many as quarter of the trees will die, while another
quarter are in languishing condition. The same Is
to be said of the country much further east ana also
of a wide extent of country to the north' where
cherry pear and peach trees have suffered likewise
40 that il must be seen that large and unexpected
demands must be made on nurseries for several
years to come.
Southern Illinois has immense resources, but they
are almost wholly undeveloped Groves of fine timber
abound and further south are large forests of viii te
oak, poplar, and black walnut. Wagon implements
and furniture factories should be established, giving
employment to thousands of people, and furnishing
home markets for farm products Almost the whole
section is underlaid with btuminous coal and heavy
beds of iron ore, limestone and other commoa
minerals are untouched and almost unknown. This
division is $50 miles broad from east to west and 80
miles long from north to south and IL is worth more
than the whole of New-England, while 1t can sup
port twice many people but Its development i
for future generations and l make note OF such
sections that people may better realize what KIND OF
country possess and what It's future 10 become,
where one language Is TO be spoken ana one govern,
it is about the same as it was when Abraham LIN
coin attended court and made it lively with ms
stories. Never was man more blue than IN ioyo
while stopping here a short tlme having q little
while before discovered that my pocket had been
picked, for l was on my way TO the hrst county
TO find new home 80 miles south, with my family
of small children and all was worth along.
Things went rough for several years, but after
awhile something came of 1t in the shape OF HE
TRBUNE's DOngola letters.
much better improved, for the hard pan Is further
from the surface, and crops Of every description III
Guiding grapes but not including other fruit are as
good as they ever were. Finally a descent Is made
from the prairie upands to the American bottom, SIX
or eight miles broad and 30 miles long, which has
long been celebrated for Its remarkable fertility ana
this may be Judged from the fact that it is described
by separate article in the American Encyclopedia.
There Is question about the crops here for they
are always enormous. Improvements in the way OF
buildings and orchards are not noticeable, and the
bare land several miles from the city Is held
at from $40 to 500 an acre Large p9r-
tions of il are owned by wealthy residents OF ST.
Louis Night came again, and next morning we
were crossing the Platte Purchase and approaching
Kansas City. We are now getting well on the Boz
der. Catte-men and traders from the PIans ana the
great SOUTHWEST, brOnzed, uncOmbed and roughly
clad crowded all places while many OF the women
were dressed in cheap lawns and adorned with Con-
necticut jewelry STILL wel-dressed gentlemen there
WERE and ladies too exotcs from the far East Kansas
City is new Chicago. Forty-two passenger trains
go out daily and eight regular trains leave one after
another in the same hour from the same depot and
all the cars are well filled. In addition, vast num-
Der of carloads of cattle go ont daily for Chicago
and New-York. Within year three other railroads
are TO be completed. All this border of the Missouri
Valley country is equally active. Twenty-Five miles
north is Leavenworth with five railroads, p
miles beyond is Atchson with still more roads, and
beyond is st. Joseph with nearly as many. Next
comes Omaha. with it's lines converging and radiat-
ing like rays of light and finally there is Sioux City
little behind, but crowding well on, all of which
towns and lines of transportation seek support from
the grand Interior with the Rocky Mountains rising
in the midst 600 miles away.
IL
dOtte and here is that remarkably fine body Of land
known as the Delaware Reservation, which had
been granted TO the tribe of this name by the most
solemn compact TO be held forever and day. When
Kansas began to be settled the whites wanted this
reservation, wanted it badly, couldn't be happy,
couldn't advance without it but the Indians would
not SELL for they were getting civilized and were
raising two bushels OF corn TO the acre, and Govern
ment warned all persons to keep their distance,
since the Indians should be protected long trees
grow and waters run. No matter; Kansas had poll
ticians of type never seen before possibly their
| like never will be seen again, and somehow tho
DelawaTes sold out, and now they are living tho
interest of their money, with which they buy bakers
bread, tobacco, blue denim and 10 cent calico.
| 1t is hardly worth while TO say much more about
the crops the road, except that In Kansas wheat
| corn, oats and potatoes are magnificent, and that
apples will be fair crop. L saw man who lives %
miles south of Kansas City, who said that in his
| neighborhoOd they would have q good supply of
peaches which are the first heard of during dis
lance of 400 miles, Kansas is growing for she re-
ceives on an average 10000 immigrants year, and
by the appearance of things, tine Immigration from
another quarter is heavy, and destined to increase
rapidly. Lawrence has nearly 10000 inhabitants
and Topeka. the capital is growing almost as fast
| When come back TO this State in the Fall mean
| to go out among tho people to see how they get
along homesteading and prompting, where at pres
ent corn is their food and their life and where the
parlor bedroom, and kitchen are one.
There are but few other valleys in the world so
fertile as that of the Kansas River. To my iudg-
ment, it is fully as rich the American Bottom
while it is from three to eight miles broad and as
much as 175 miles long, The poorest of the uplands
are as rich as the Mohawk Valley. Gradually set
Elements and villages fade away; there is constant