The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-08-16
The Great West.

The following letter, from citizen of Hartford
county, gives glowing description of the State
of Kansas. 1t was written to one of our sub
scrbers:
While waiting over for train for the east |
concluded to give you few notes on my west
ern trip. / have been thinking about retiring to
quiet life for over ten years, and during that
time have been reading and talking with West
crn travellers about the various sections of the
great West, with the desire to locate in the
very best place within the bounds of the Re-
public. | became satisfied, some time since,
that my desired spot was in the valley of the Ar
kansas river, and in the State of Kansas, and
started out to see it before buying, left Pitts
burg on Wednesday at 2 o'clock, P. NJ, and
reached Kansas City at IL o'clock the following
Monday night. i remained over until Tuesday
at H., when took the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe road for the Arkansas Valley, which we
reached on Wednesday morning at l o'clock.
1t is useless to say what has been said thou
sand times, that Kansas is the most beautiful
country on the globe-not flat like Illinois and
Indiana, but rolling and undulating like the
waves of the sea, with soil as rich as the valley
of the Nile. From Great Bend in Barton coun-
ty, where stopped, it is three hundred miles
in any direction before you reach broken or
billy land. 1fyou were getting up farm to Or
der it would be impossible for you to make any
Improvement on this country, except that you
might prefer to have some timber, which is not
TO be found here, but when planted itgrows very
rapidly. Barton county is the centre ofthe State.
Coal is as cheap as it is in Pttsburg, the greater
part of the State being underlaid with it. The
water is as good as that of Hartford county; the
climate is perfect; the winters are so mild that
cattle live without housing, and in the middle of
summer you are famed by gentle breezes, equal
in healthiness to the ocean winds. There Is no
ague, and in talking with the settlers who are
from every State, they will unite in saying that
this countryis without doubt the garden spot of
the earth. bought 100 acres, for which l paid
1920 per acre. The soil is six feet deep. / am
one-fourth of mile from the railroad, the same
distance from the river, and four miles from the
town of Great Bend, the county seat You
might ask if this is so good country, why is land
so cheap? | will tell you. Until the railroad
passed through there, four years ago, it was
three hundred miles from the nearest settlement;
but the town of Great Bend has now popula-
ton of over 1900, while the county has popu-
lation of over 10000. They have court house
which cost 49, 600, fine public school building
and some fine residences. You will find people
here from New England, who have come out
with their families and are living in sodded caves
until they can put up their houses. In these
caves you will find the most elegant furniture
including pianos, organs and Brussels carpets
showing them to be persons of wealth and cul-
ture. This State has the advantage of having
been settled by Americans instead of foreigners.
have arranged to have hedge fence planted
around my land, and for the planting of forty
acres in timber. The price of land ranges from
50 to S12, according to its proximity to the rail
road. 1t can be bought on the following terms:
OnesiXth down and one-siXth each succeeding
year until paid. lhave written this letter in the
hope that you may provide for the future of your
family by securing land for them that Will make
them independent in q few years. With the aid
of your boys you could farm GAO acres Of this
land conveniently.
| met a Hartford county man, | forget his
namc he was from near Bel Air He is now G2
years old, and he says this climate makes him
feel like boy Of 10. Most of this land will
produce over 40 bushels of wheat per acre.