The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-03-30
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The Great Limestone
Belt of Kansas.
The Attractive Region of the
West.
By Major n. lnman.

The "Great Central Plains" are geo.
graphical feature of the state of Kansas.
Covered with a remarkably nutritious yege-
tation, for centuries they were an immense
pasturage for countless herds of buffalo, an
telope 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 Val
ley. 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 Con-
tinent. This truly magnificent country can
claim the most luxuriant soil of the Great
West and a climate that approaches per-
lection, at least. Dr. b. f. 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, de-
clared this to be the "most perfect climate
in the world" The whole country is tray
ersed by series of constant streams, sweet
and wholesome springs and springfield
pools. Delicious water is also always obtain
ed in wells, by digging, at easily-accessible
depths. 1t is already conceded that the
United States is rapidly becoming the
granary of the worlo, particularly in the
production of wheat. Kansas, an empire in
itself, is taking the lead in the culture of
this cereal, and in Il short time will be ac-
knowledged queen Of all the States in the
production of this great staple. The State,
especially her peculiarly fertile
central area, comprised in what is now
known 2 the " limestone belt" under the
test of only few years, has proved to the
world the immense average its soil is capa-
BILE of. Each year increases the limit of the
wheat-belt, as the frontier is pushed toward
the mountains, within which are found the
greatest possibilities, agriculturally.
1t is remarkable fact that nearly all the
lands of the Kansas Pacific Railway are in
cluded in the limestone region under consid-
Grafton, and that south of this limit, in that
direction, it ceases altogether, and the coun-
try presents another geological formation,
the soil of which is very sandy, and which,
though at present, from tullneSs o.. ats gery
pr'imitiUeness is capable of producing good
crops in seasons of abundant rainfall, lacks
the inherent qualities of Standardization,
and must rapidly deteriordte. In this par
ticular the Smoky Hill Valley is immensely
superior to the arenacious lands of the
region south, which is drained by the Ar
kansas and tributary streams. 1t is well
known by every farmer that lime, in some
of its combinations, constitutes the essen
tial ingredients in all the more valuable
grains and grasses. Its presence in the soil
is consequently to be considered as condi-
ton of fertility. 1t also acts as constitu-
tional ameliorant, of much power, and,
when mixed with or underlying tough or
viseid clay, it renders them friable and con-
sequently more susceptible to the action of
atmospheric forces. Soil in which there is
a due admixture of calcareous matter, is not
so liable to be injured or rendered plastic
byan excess of moisture while under crop.
The quality of the wheat raised in this great
" limestone belt" is conceded, in all mar
kets, to be the finest grade known. 1t pro-
duces 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 u 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 a de-
fciency of this earth. All our millers will
testify to the peculiar tlour-making proper
ties of our wheat, in this essential, surpass-
ing that raised in other sections, and it is
attributed entirely to the fact-which the
analysis of the soil confirms-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 compost
ton of cultivated soils in other words it is
useless beyond certain proportion. That
the q limestone belt" or wonderful wheat
region of Central Kansas" as it is sometimes
called, has the amount OF slick or silica-the
basis of sand-fxed in the proper proper
ton, is evident from the fact that it requires
peculiar conditions to lodge" the grain in
the field, even after the most terrific show
ers. Considering the question of the relative
fl rtility, particularly III 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 a
limited knowledge of agricultural chemistry
clearly demonstrates. Viewing the subject
of wheat culture, then, in all its aspects, so
far as Kansas is concerned, an inspection of
the Smoky Hill Valley, and the arenaceous
region south, coupled with a fair idea of
what wheat culture requires, the conclusion
can lead only in one direction-to the in
fnitely superior advantage of the cline
stone belt"
Prospectively, from purely physical
causes, this great inland region must reach
the position of one of the richest agricul-
tural portions of the United States. Only a
very few wears ago-not decade-husband-
ry here was purely tentative. From abso-
lutely no dew, eight years ago, this region
is as favored in that particular as any that
can be named. From lying outside of the
"rain belt" so termed, this region has had
to be "taken in" The quantity eff water in
the streams kas augmented, springs have
burst forth where none existed before-in
short, just the converse of that meterolog-
ical phenomenon has been evolved here,
under the march of civilization, which takes
in heavily timbered country under the
same social conditions.
The following statistics of the rainfall
clearly prove the accuracy of the foregoing
statement:
The Fall of Rain and Melted Snow in inches,
at Forts Hays, Larned and Dodge, for the
last FIVE years, as shown by the Daily Me-