The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1875-05-20
COME TO SOUTHWESTERN
KANSAS.

!, streams. fertile soil, hcalthfui climate
i and almost continual sunshine, South
: western Kansas. properly speaking
{ consists of about fifteen counties, whose
> territory is watered and drained by the
Arkansas River and its tributaries
Che Little Arkansas, the twoW alnuts
: Pawnce, Minnesota, Medicine Lodge
] Cimarron and their hundreds of tri.
buiaries. tits country 100 miles north
and south by 80 east and west. Being
but recently opened to settlements to
the prc-emptor and homesteader, the
settlement of q portion of il. especially
OF Sedgwick, Harvey, Reno, Barbour,
Sumner, Cowley and Butler countie.
has been wonderfully rapid. Tc this
country thousands of longing eyes are
turned, not only from the older states,
but from some portions of Europe.
These people who contemplate coming
to the west, and to this, the choicest
portion of il, are ANXIOUS to know
more of the particulars, more of the
striking characteristics of the great
river, its tributaries, and valleys, that
have for decades past been set down
by the geographer and writer as unin-
habitable. To newspapers of this val
ley, and TO the letters of friends alone,
can these people, who desire to come
among us, look for information. To
this end is this article complied.
1t is a fact well known to the gov
crnment, as TO all observing western
men, that the really valuable lands be-
longing to the general government are
now limited and that the remaining
lands are rapidly being transferred to
| private hands-the homesteader, pre-
emptor and settler of the west. Out
side of the Indian territory there re-
mains but a limited supply of really
good agricultural lands in all the west.
the choicest of which, for climate, soil,
and health, are TO be found in the great
valley of the Arkansas, in the counties
named above.
THE ARKANSAS RIVER
being one of the longest and swifIest
running streams upon the continent.
Rising in Colorado territory, longitude
one hundred and six and one-half de-
grees west OF Greenwich, and latitude
thirty-nine and one-half degrees north,
receiving its waters from rivulets and
springs that are fed by the melting of
the eternal SHOWS of the snowy range
which rears its rugged, lofty and snow
crowned peaks $50 miles west of and
5000 feet above the base of the Rocky
mountains, it flows completely around
the south peak, surges and sparkles at |
the base of Mount Lincoln and rushes |
out through canyon in Pixies Peak |
range into the valley Of estern Colora- |
do and on eastward. 1t enters Kansas |
seventy-iive miles north of the south |
line of the state, runs due east 40 miles, |
DIVORCES seventy-five miles northeast, |
then angles to the Southeast, forming
what is known as the Great Bend.
thence little south of east through |
Kansas, the Indian territory and the /
state of Arkansas, emptying into the |
Mississippi midway between Memphis
and Vicksburg. The Arkansas is
broad and shallow stream. with many
islands, low but well defined banks,
varying from four to ten feet in height.
The most remarkable features are that
although draining a country, before
reaching Kansas, larger than all New
England, and although it carries the
melting SHOWS in June, July and Au-
gust of many thousand square miles, il
never overflows its banks, but its wa
tiers are curiously kept within the bed
of the stream, working a great benefit
to the soil of the valley for miles upon
each side. The fact is the bed of the
stream throughout its source in Kan
sas is composed of sand and gravel, as
also the subsoil of the adjacent lands.
The superabundant water spreads it.
self through his subsoil, instead of
overlooking the country, as would be
f,As l,n c-,l. -, l. 4
leys was clay. SO completely does the
porus subsoll drink up this water that
most Of the year 1t is easily fordable |
with teams, and there has been times
when, i'll the western portion of the
state, the river bed would go dry, al
though water could be obtained three
Dr four inches below the surface, where
IN reality the river was flowing in the !,
gravel. The river at Wichita is about
800 feet wide, at Hutchinson, forty
miles further up, it is 1000 feet wide.
THE VALLEY AND SOIL.
The richest and most desirable por-
ion of the valley lies between the '
Great Bend and the point where the !.
liver enters in the Indian territory, in !,
which area are the counties of Reno.
Harvey, Sedgwick, Sumner, Cowley !.
md Butler. TO describe perfectly the !
ands, streams, towns and productions :
If these counties would require more !
AGILE and forcible pen than we WELD
The valley proper or bottom is from :
en- to twenty miles in width. The 4
higher lands upon either side are kind ),
# second bottom, or low rolling prai- :
les, with just enough undulation or :,
well TO carry off the extra rain falls.
rhe soil of the valley proper, which is
lso marked by gentle swells, is chief
y n sandy loan, made up of such min "
raj clements as have been washed i,
rom the Rocky mountains by the attri- n
ion Of ages. 1t is marked feature of i
his soil that it contains a much larger {,
of mineral matter than the a
rairic soils of Illinois and Iowa, which h
re chiefly vegetable mould. For this a
eason our valley will improve by cul- ii
iyation. To those accustomed to a r
lurky soil, there appears to be in Of
laces in this valley too much sand, but s
he experience of our farmers is direct OF
the opposite. Read what the editor Z
f the Americaa Agricuytarist, who vi OF
tied this valley in April Of this year, fo
as to say: Is,
'The soil is deep black loan, rest m
~ on lighter colored subsoil con- dt
sting of loan, clay and gravel, both
oil and subsoil being so porus that tf
irface water readily passes through of
ZEN, and in no case is there any diff er
llty experienced i'll crossing with til
orses and wagons or stock, any water so
purses orbeds of streams. Teams may ii,
? driven across springs or creek bot sp
ms fearlessly, without danger of mir va
g. This porosity of the soil, while W,
renders it capable of being plowed or 40
orked Immediately after the heaviest lo'
ins, at the same lime keeps is con- en-
antly moist from evaporation below, he
I'd protects it from drouth. Within 81,
X hours of the cessation of rain in or
hich | Judge at least three inches of
alter fell. | saw farmers breaking sod co
ID cultivating the young corn. The fel
ops of corn, oats, rye, spring and fall sic
heat, potatoes and garden vegetables, yo
hich ] saw growing, both on new and ha
1 breakings, in various localities in try
c valley, are equal to any that have wi
er seen elsewhere, during many fin
ars' experience. | know of nc part la,
the country, possessing more at rel
lctive soil for the farmer than this" wi
STOCK. me
This is the natural home for cattle. T T..
ON early spring until the middle of ~,
tober or the first of November the pi.
rds of farmers and stock raiser's nm, M
nder leisurely through the green ~
tricious grasses that brush their 20
es in open meadows that are bound ~ u:
S. growing fat and producing their oli
Id. The abundant grasses, pure wa u No.