The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1878-12-26
Special Correspondence Of TIE journal.
ALL ABOUT WICHITA.
IrrsRSs1ua FAofs AID SfAf1sflcs ADee7
4 SoE1D Ayp PRezPIRous 0IfY n
KAHsAS.

WICHITA, December l6.-Wichita
has long been called the emporium Of
Southwestern Kansas, and n0twith-
standing the talk Of extending the
railroad, there is no lmmediate dam
ger Of reliuquishing the proud distins-
ton.
Centers of trade are not built up In
q day, and once firmly established are
not to be talked out OF existence.
Wichita will not be whitewashed and
fenced in for some time to come. A
stroll Of half day through her prin-
cipal streets will furnish many IN item
of interest to practical men.
Wichita 10 first and foremost grain
center. Three or four Of the most
populous and wealthy counties OF the
State lie Ia the Arkansas Valley, the
great wheat district Of the West. and
every surplus bushel of this product
finds it's way to this point, and pays
tribute to its business interests.
There are nine elevators With stor :
ing caprcity of 10000 bushels, and q
daily shipping capacity Of l25 cars, be-
sides the second largest Touring mill
in the State, aud all these have been
run every day since harvest, aud might
have been run day and night IL the
railroad had been able to supply cars
sufficient to haul the wheat out as fast
as the farmers hauled it in.
Another important branch Of bnsi-
ness here 10 the implement trade.
There are two large houses engaged
exclusively in this business, and the
aggregate sales amount to hundreds of
thousands Of dollars annually. Smith
& Heating, of your city. with the rare
business sagacity that has always char
acterized them, saw the Importance OF
this point, aud some two years ago
built mammoth brick warehouse ON
Douglas Avenue, aud placed Mr.. j. r
VanZ sBdt, one Of the most successfui
saleman in the State, as manager of AS
complete stock of wagons aud i'm
ments as could be found in the large
cities. Within q year the trade had
grown to such proportions as to justi-
fy q second Establishment Of the kind.
which was furnished by Houck Bros,
Of this city, aud now still another has
been added to the list, aud they are al.
full OF business. The capital invested
in these enterprises aggregates $780,
00O
Wichita has four exclusive hardware
stores. owned by Houck Bros ,Bissam,z
& Butler, Holloway & Byers, and
kctchum & Davis, with capital Ol
more than $4,000, anl in addition
malt dozen other firms carry par
tial stock.
Being prairie country, the lumber
business is very profitable, and re-
qulres the carrying of large stocks, in
Volying corresponding capital. The
principal dealers are Shellabarger &
Oliver, Chicago Lumber Company.
Michigan Lumbes Company, John Ca
nv. John Davidson, and the Wisconsin
Lumber Company, with an aggregate
capital of $l25,000.
The character of the dry goods
houses are sure index of the wealth
and refinement of town, and in thi-
respect Wichita may challenge com
parisOn with any town, large or small.
in the State. The stocks may not be
% large as some, but they have
been selected for city trade, and WELL
to-do customers. The leading houses
arc Geo. Y. Smith & Co, Kohn Il Co..
Myers Il Co., aud Thos. Lynch, repre-
senting a capital of 5000 In addi
ion to these J. G. Dunscom and Z. S
Brown have dry goods departments III
their general stores, which increase
the capital invested in this line to more
than 100000
The grocery trade commences first
in the life Of town. and continues to
the last. and thrives the most uniform.
ly of any, if the profits are not SO larg,
as in some other branches, becaue it j.
founded upon the very necessities OF
ones nature. The leading houses are
Allen e Tucker, Richards Il Rogers
.Jocrlyn u Kellogg, Geo. Reilly, w. S
Corbett, NJ Ellsworth. Jas. Black. G
G. Ilartwig, G. ID. Ward, and Pollock
Il Pearce, with stocks aggreg ltiny $780,
900 in value. besides which there are q
score Of stores that carry groceries a.
an incidental item.
p Wichita also has two exclusive
queensware and lamp stores, five drug
stores, four boot and shoe stores, aud
small shops with miscellaneous stocks
BY the dozen.
There are here three among the lar
gest and best hotels in the State, Of
which the Douglas Avenue House just
ly stands al the head, and three pros
porous newspapers, the EAGLE, Ben
con and Herald, to whose influence
this country owes liberal patronage
for their unwavering devotion to it's
best interests.
To give an idea of the business OF
The town in paragraph, [ will simply
state that john Exton. the leading coal
dealer, has paid to the A,chisOn, To-
peka s. Santa Fee Railroad Company.
during the past eight years, Sl68,0O0
for freiVhts on coal!