The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1875-05-13
COME TO SOUTHWESTERN
KANSAS,

western Kansas, properly speaking,
consists of about fifteen counties. whose
territory is watered and drained by the
Arkansas River and its tributaries,
the Little Arkansas, the twoW alnuts,
Pawnce. Minnesota, Medicine Lodge,
Cimarron and their hundreds of TIL
butaries. tits country 100 miles north
and south by $50 cast and west. Being
but recently opened to settlements to
4 the pre-emptor and homesteader, the
settlement of portion of il. especially
+ OF Sedgwick. Harvey. Reno, Barbour,
Sumner. Cowley and Butler counties
has been wonderfully rapid. To 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 it, 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-
habitabIe. 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 compiled.
1t is fact well known to the gov
ernment, 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
] -. % fi,n I,,l;n,,
mains but limited supply of really
good agricultural lands in al!thc 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 ii
is little less than 2.000 miles IN length.
being one of the longest and swiftest
running streams upon the continent.
Rising in Colorado territory, longitude
one hundred and six and one-half de-
grees west of Greenwich, and latitude
thigty-nine anIone-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-fiye miles north of the south
line of the state. runs due east no miles. |
DIVORCES seventy-five miles northeast, |
then angles to the Southeast, forming
what is known as the Great Bend. !
thence a little south of east through |
Kansas, the Indian territory and the |
state of Arkansas, emptying into the |
Mississippi midway between Memphis |
and Nicksburg. The Arkansas is a |
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 il carries the |
melting SHOWS in June. July and Au-
gust of many thousand square miles, it
never overfiows 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 superintendent water spreads it.
self through his subsoil, instead of
overlooking the country, rs would be
the case il the subsoil Of the wide val
leys was clay. SO completely does the
porus suhsoil drink up this water that
most of the year it is easily fordabe
with teams, and there has been times
when, in the western portion of the
state, the river bed would go dry. al
though water could be obtained three
or 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-
ton Of the valley lies between the
Great Bend and the point where the
river enters in the Indian territory, in
which area are the counties of Reno.
Harvey. Scdgwicls, Sumner, Cowlev
and Butler. To describe perfectly the
lands, streams, towns and productions
of these counties would require more
faciie and forcible pen than we WELD
The valley proper or bottom is from
ten to twenty miles in width The
higher lands upon either side are kind
of second bottom, or low rolling prai-
ries, with just enough undulation or
swell to carry off the extra rain falls.
rhe soil of the valley proper, which is
also marked by gentle swells, is chief
y sandy loan, made up of such min
sral elements as have been washed !
from the Rocky mountains by the attri- ,
lion of ages. 1t is q marked feature of !
this soil that it contains much larger
of mineral matter than the :
prairie soils of Illinois and Iowa, which |
are chiefly vegetable mould. For this | :
reason our valley will improve by Gull
ovation. To those accustomed to a
nurky soil, there appears to be in {
places in this valley too much sand, but :
The experience of our farmers is direct Z
" the opposite. Read what the editor
Of the Americda AgricultugiSt, who vi {
sited this valley in April of this year,
has TO say:
'Thc soil is dcep black loan, rest !
ing on lighter colored subsoil con- {
,istiug OF loan. clay and gravel. both
soil and subsoil being so porus that 1
surface water readily passes through c
hem, and in no case is there any diff G
Guilty experienced in crossing with (
lorses and wagons or stock, any water 5
courses or beds Of streams. Teams may [
be driven across springs or creek bot $
IONS fearlessly, without danger Of mir :
ng. This porosity of the soil, while y
/ renders it capable of being plowed or a
worked Immediately after the heaviest /
,ains, at the same lime keeps is con- G
stantly moist from evaporation below, Il
md protects ii from drouth. Within C
six hours of the cessation of n rain in o
which Judge at least three inches of
water fell. | saw farmers breaking sod g
md caltivating the young corn. The f
;rops of corn, oats, rye, spring and fall s
wheat, potatoes and garden vegetables, '
which saw growing, both on new and i
I'D breakipgs, III various localities in t
he valley, are equal 10 any that have Y
.ver seen elsewhere, during many Fl
ears experience. know of no part |,
If the country, possessing a more at r
ractiye sci! for the farmer than this" "
STOCK. n
This is the natural home for cattle =
from early spring until the middle of :,
october or the first of November the I
nerds of farmers and stock raiser's II
wander leisurcly through the green q
lutricious grasses that brush their :
ides in open meadows that arc bound y
css, growing fat and producing their =
lind. The abundant grasses, pure wa = =
ers and warm climate render this por- - y
ion of Kansas the finest stock country 4