Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-06-07

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After leaving Lawrence, the bottom
lands are wider and the quality improved
and the farms showed better to the eye
as we passed
Corn, wheat and oats all looked well
Peach trees showed the young fruit
The country was more open, and we
could see the bluffs. We here noticed
that at a distance of about twenty feet
above the bottom lands, or thirty feet
above the water in the river, as we esti-
mated It, was layer of limestone crop
ping out, apparently horizontal, and
about four feet thick. These rock
stood out beyond the superintendent
! soil, and to the eye they appeared tc
project over the servient soil Above
this layer OF rock, there was about SIX
feet OF broken rock, apparently disturb
ed after it had been deposited, and
| above that was some gravel, and then
soil. On the sides of these bluffs, both
north and south of the river, were, in
many places, distinctly marked water
lines. On some were four, and at one
point we counted six. These lines ex-
tended for many miles along the bluffs
The tops OF these bluffs have not been
cultivated to any extent, so far as
could be seen from the r. r. The flat
land was nearly all under cultivation
and, except where very low and wet, the
crops looked well. Above Topeka, the
valley seems to widen, and at Solomon
City, extends off in northwestern di-
rection as far as the eye could reach
After passing Solomon City we did not
see much Of the bluffs until we had
passed Salina
Between Salina and Brookville the
bluffs again come closer to the track
Here for the first time we saw the brown
iron stone. At this point it is the sup
erincumbent rock, the lime stone lying
under it with some clay between.
1t now began to be dark, and our OBJ
servations were, from this point, limited
on the outward trip. We arrived at
Ellsworth at 9:15 p. NJ. This point is
225 miles from Kansas City, at about
1900 feet above the sea level Here
we concluded to stop for the night On
leaving the cars we were asked if we
wanted to stop at the Grand Central
the only frst-class hotel in the city
As Mr.. Rordelheimer had informed us
that we were first-class emigrants, on
giving us our tickets, we concluded to
stop at the first-class hotel. We found
it furnished with an Office and clerk
who had evidently imbibed dignity with
his drinks, and also billiard and bar
room, in which was the K. & p. land
agent playing billiards, and some other
parties playing poker Ia Shenck, with
hot nd
antics.
The land agent informed us that they
had no good lands belonging to the r. r.
in less than II miles, but there was
some second hand land for sale out
about 3 miles. He proposed to show
us this in the morning We retired, and
at A. NJ, the 2lst, were up, and out
we walked to the top of the bluffs north
Of town. Found the land quite fiat,
soil thin, grass light-some buffalo
grassland on going into gulch, found
brown stone; under that clay, and still
lower, lime stone, and in the bed of the
out about miles.
On returning, we found few of the
citizens astir. One portly gentleman
OF some sixty summers said he was in
the cattle business. He had two large
herds, one about II miles south, the
other 6 miles north. He promised to
take us out to one herd, if we would
stay over that day. He said that the
government made great mistake in al
lowing this land to be settled. 1t ought
to have been kept as a grazing ground
for cattle, to supply beef to this world.
Nothing would grow there but grass and
millet; that wheat would do well for a
crop or two, and then run out. 1t was
fit for nothing but a great grazing coun
try. When asked how it was up at Rus
SELL Hays City and Ellis He said it
was higher and colder and more broken;
that the land was poorer, and that no
one ever wanted to settle west Of Ellis
worth. and none but stock men ought to
settle there.
We returned to the hotel, took our
breakfast, paid our bill, and took the
first train back to Brookville. Here a
Mr.. Simpson took a. team, and took us
out eight miles through the bluffs ana
draws, and onto some very tine-laying
table lands. There was a greater ex-
tent of land than at Ellsworth, other
wise not materially different. Here he
showed us thousand acres of wheat
in one field. The parties, of whom he
was one, commenced breaking in May,
1877, and sowed the wheat in Sept.
and Oct. the same year. 1t was clean
of weeds, stood quite even in height,
and was very pretty sight. We no.
ticed that the heads were short, and the
straw short and it was quite thin on the
ground. Simpson estimated it would
90 Is to 20 bushels to the acre, but to
our skeptical eyes it did not appear to
be over r. But we might be mistaken
We returned by way of Terracotta, a
new station on the road, where Mr.
Mullen has fine bed Of clay that is
adapted to making Terracotta ware.
Along our route from Brookville to
Ellsworth, and out to this farm and
back, we noticed that brownstone was
plenty. Every farmer can have a house
with brownstone front, and sides and
rear; and can have corrall for his
stock of brownstone; and can then build
a barn, hog house, and other outbuild-
ings of it, and have enough left to fence
in his farm. One man told us that this
stone contained large per cent of iron,
and some gold, and that he thought for
the iron and gold in it the time would
come when it would be washed out with
profit. SO here is chance for every :
body to get rich. There is more of this
stone than can be quarried by all the
people of Kansas for many years. All
parties agreed that this part of Kansas
was not good corn or fruit country;
that it's principal use was as a wheat
and grazing country. On our return to
Brookville, Mr. Simpson desired to sell
us some of this tract he had shown u.s.
We told him that this country was too
near the celestial regions for us; that
we wanted a hotter climate, and were
bound for Texas.
We left Brookville and returned to
Salina, where we staid over night. The
next day we looked around the town
and surroundings, and talked with farm
ers and many others. All agree that
in this valley wheat, oats, corn and bar
ley do well; that peaches, apples, cher
ries and other fruits can be grown with
success; that the outlying bluffs are
very poor; that the table-lands are good
for wheat, barley and millet, but not
good corn land and not good fruit land.
From here back to Topeka, our obser-
vations on the return trip confirming
I I Il i. Al.