The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1875-06-24

en- fields of wheat, and the broad acres
of waving corn scattered throughout
the county. Without sufficient means
for the purchase of seed, feed and
farming implements, the amount of
land under cultivation was necessarily
limited, yet Notwithstanding these
! disadvantages one million bushels of
wheat will be raised within the limits
of our county; having an area of one
thousand square miles, one fourth of
which is still open for presumption.
The surface of the country is equally
divided. consisting of fifty per cent
each of bottom and up lands. This is
the largest area Of bottom lands of any
county in the State. Harvey county,
according TO the report of the State
Agricultural Society, comes next,
with thirty-six per cent, while Brown
county contains only two and one
half per cent.
The soil consists of deep black
loan resting on lighter colored SUBJ
soil consisting of loan, clay and grav-
el. of such porous nature that water
readily passes through them rendering
it capable of being plowed or worked
Immediately after the heaviest rains.
Water is everywhere abundant and
of the very best quality, and is found
from eight to thirty feet from the sur
face. The report that many of our
inhabitants never use that commodity
as beverage eminated from an Illi- |
nois editor and is, therefore without
foundation.
Much complaint is heard from ply
sicians, who in vain endeavor to exc |
out an existence here. Sickness is
almost unknown; hence the necessity
ofimporting centenarians from Mis-
souri, to lay the nucleus of a grave /
yard.
Stone and brick clay are abundant |
throughout the county. Brick are
laid in the wall at So per thousand in
Wichita.
Land is selling at from $3.50 to $50 |
per acre, according to distance from
the railroad and the improvements.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
railroad company own about forty
thousand acres of land, sold at from S.
to 81 per acre, on eleven years credit,
fins h,s,, within, gha of /
every one. even editors, TO obtain
home III the heart of the Arkansas
Valley.
The city of Wichita, the County
Seat of Sedgwick county, is located at
the confluence of the little with the
big Arkansas rivers, in the most lovely
and fertile valley of that name. 1t is the
terminus of the Wichita & Southwest
ern Railway, and tac source of supplies
for the counties of Butler. Cowley and
Sumner, and the Indian Territory. 1t
numbers nearly four thousand inhabi-
tauts and is filled with the hustle and
strife Of active bushes. Two bridges
span the Arkansas river at this point.
The United States land office is located
here. Two papers, the Wichita EAGLE
and the Beacon, the former owned and
and run by Murdoch & Brother, and
the latter managed by Milton Gabel,
keep the denizens of the city posted on
the Beecher business. Three banks,
namely: The Wichita Savings, First
National and the Arkansas Valley,
supply the needful on the production
of proper security. Note Free passes
over railroads and dead-head circus
tickets arc not negotiable. Six relig-
ious denominations, with three church
es, draw an average attendance of
between three and four hundred each
Sunday A primary and graded school
with an attendance of four hundred
''young IDEAS" make it interesting for
shoe dealers. The Wichita City Flour
Mills and Elevator, with four run of
stone having capacity of one hun
drcd and sixty barrels of -four and five
hundred bushels of corn per diem,
with an elevator capacity Of forty
thousand bushels, was erected last
summer at a cost of $4,000. Another
mill is being pushed to completion OH
Chisholm creek, one mile from the
city. A portion of the water of the
little Arkansas rives is divcrged into
the creek, furnishing an unfailing
water power for this mill and other
manufacturing interests TO be con-
strnctcd at no late day. Near the City
Mills are located the stock yards, from
whence fifty thousand head of long
horns were last year shipped 10 ILL
nois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri,
where they were transmogrified into
"primc corn fed American beeves."
The receipts for freight, from this and
other sources. to the Atchison, Tope-
ka & Santa Fe railroad for the same
period aggregated 100000, with the
receipts added, on account of passcn-
gers, $s5,000 more. (This does not
include the amount paid by the "intcr-
viewing fraternity.")
The following figures show the bus
mess transacted in our city during the
past year. the various branches aggre-
eating nearly two million dollars,
being creditable showing for five
year old city:
Dry goods, four houses, annual sales. s165 200
Groceries. fifteen. Observation-Disclosures. 325 900
Hardware, Eve. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 100000
Drugs and medicines. four .. 1900
Boots snd Shoes, two. ......... 10000
Harness and Saddlery. four - $4,000
Wholesale Liquor, three . $4,000
Saloons and Billiard Halls, eleven -. 10000
Merchant Tailors, four . 1900
Millinery and Dressmaking ten 80. 10000
Hotels, ten ................. 10000
Livery and Feed Stables, fourteen 49, 10000