The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-03-21
The Great Limestone Belt
Of Kansas.
The Attractive Region of
the West.
BY Major Ell. Inman.

BY Major Ell. Inman.
The "Great Central Plains" are geograph-
ical feature of the State of Kansas. Covered
with a remarkably nutritious vegetation, for
centuries they were an immense pasturage for
countless herds of buffalo, antelope and other
Illuminating animals, whose habitat was the far
stretching green prairies that to-day form one
of the most beautiful agricultural portions of
the Mississippi Valley. Less than ten years ago
this region was believed, by the mass of the
people in the East to be an improbable desert,
but it is now the acknowledged garden Of the
Continent. This truly magnificent country can
claim the most luxuriant soil of all the Great
| West" and climate that approaches perfection,
at least. DR.. B. E. Fryer, one of the most
eminent surgeons in the Army and who was
stationed for years at Fort Harker, four miles
from the Town of Ellsworth, declared this to be
the "most perfect climate in the world" The
whole country is traversed by series of con-
slant streams, sweet and wholesome springs,
and springfield pools. Delicious water is also
always obtained in wells, by digging, at easily
accessible depths. It is already conceded that
the United States is rapidly becoming the gran
airy of the world, particularly in the production
of wheat. Kansas, an Empire in itself, is taking
the lead in the culture of this cereal, and in
short time will be acknowledged queen of all the
States in the production of this great staple.
The State, especially her peculiarly wonderful
fertile central area, comprised in what is now
known as the " limestone belt, under the test
of only few years, has proved to the world the
immense average its soil is capable Of. Each
year increases the limit OF the wheat belt, as
the frontier is pushed toward the mountains,
within which are found the greatest possibil-
ties, agriculturally.
It is aremarkable fact that nearly all the lanfs
of the Kansas Pacific Railway are included in
the limestone region under consideration, and
that south of this limit, in that direction, it
ceases altogether, and the country presents
another geological formation, the soil of which
is very sandy, and which, though at present,
from fllsaess Of its UeYy prinoitiUeness, is capa
BILE of producing good crops in seasons of abun-
dant rainfall, lacks the inherent qualities of
C1ECI WILSG TCGLGV CISL6yOTCLC6
In this particular the Smoky Hill Valley is inn
mensely superior to the arenaceous lands of the
region south, which is drained by the Arkansas
and tributary streams. 1t is well known by
every farmer that lime, in some of its combina-
tons, constitutes the essential ingredient in all
the more valuable grains and grasses. It's pres
ence in the soil is consequently to be considered
constitutional ameliorant of much power, and,
when mixed with or underlying tough or viscid
clay, it renders them friable, and consequently
more susceptible to the action of atmospheric
forces. Soil in which there is due admixture
of calcareous matter is not SO liable to beinjured
or rendered plastic by an excess of moisture
while under crop. The quality of the wheat
raised in this great Limestone belt' is con-
ceded, in all markets, to be the finest grade
known. It produces the familiar brands of So
called Southern flour for which St. Louis is
Justly celebrated. This is easily accounted for,
from the fact that the soil in which the wheat
| is grown possesses due admixture of calcareOus
matter, which has r. tendency to make the hull
! of the grain much thinner, and the farina itself
in much greater quantity, and in richer quality,
than in grain grown on the lands which exhibit
O6uClCuCy VI GI115 0dAGl AL OuI ull11GIb Wall
testify to the peculiar four-making properties
of our wheat, in this essential, SURPRISING that
raised i'll other sections and it is attributed en-
tirely to the fact-which the analysis of the soil
conirms-that this so-called limestone belt
possesses all the requisites of the best wheat
land in the world. Sand, it is well known, is
Injurious when it enters too largely into the
composition of cultivated soils; in other words,
it is useless beyond a certain proportion. That
| the ElimestoLe belt or wonderful wheat
region of Central Kansas, as it is sometimes
called has the amount of sick or sllica-the
basis of sand-fxed in the proper proportion, is
evident. from the fact that it requires peculiar
conditions to "lodge" the grain in the field,
even after the most terrific showers. Consid-
ering the question of the relative fertility, par
ticularly in its connection with wheat culture,
present richness of soil and endurance must
enter as essential elements of success, and the
CAPACITY of the self fertilization of the land, an
ingredient not to be overlooked. The latter
quality a limestone region alone can possess, as
only limited knowledge of agricultural chem
istrv clearly demonstrates. Viewing the subject
of wheat culture then, in all it's aspects, so far
as Kansas is concerned, an inspection OF the
Smoky Hill Valley, aud the arenaeeous region
south, coupled with fair idea of what the
culture of wheat requires the conclusion can
lead onlv in one direction-to the infinitely SUI
perior advantage of the Limestone belt"
Prospectively, from purely physical causes,
this great inland region must reach the position
Of one of the richest agricultural portions of the
United States. Only very few years ago-not
decade-husbandry here was purely tentative.
From absolutely no dew, eight years ago, this
region is as favored in that particular as any
that can be named. From lying outside of the
train belt, " so termed, this region has had TO
be taken in" The quantity of water in the
streams has augmented, springs have burst
forth where none existed before-in short, just
the converse of that meteorological phenomenon
has been evolved here, under the march of civil
ization, which takes place in heavily-tmbered
country under the same social conditions.
The following statistics of the rainfall clearly
prove the accuracy of the foregoing statement