Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-08-02
WELL SAID.
The Walnut City Blade comes to the res

The Walnut City Blade comes to the res
cue of the much abused counties:
We have been surprised at the tone of
certain papers in the eastern part Of the
State at the position they have taken in
regard to the partial failure of erops in
southwestern Kansas, and notably the At
Gibson Champion and Topeka Commons
wealth which claim long since to have laid
aside the character of LEGAL papers and have
assumed TO champion the interest of the
State. To these papers. We. of the south
west. might be expected to look for justice
at least and not for misrepresentation and
ealumny. The immense crops Of wheat
raised in this part of the State has done
more towards building up the cities of At
Gibson and Topeka WITHIN the last few
years than anything developed in the east
ern part of the State. The Troy Chief edi-
ted by the worst BLACKBOARD in Kansas
SAYS: that as soon as the season comes
when the inhabitants can not root anG
Craze, q cry of distress comes up from that
RECON- southwest Kansas and then re-
commends that the truth be told To
the last we say, amen. And what is the
Truth about Kansas and her settlement:
Since the settlement of the State there
have been failures of crops occasionally.
The first occurred in 1857 when the Marias
de Cygnes was perfectly dry and the Kaw
at Lawrence would not navigate cat fish
Lawrence and the center of population
long ways east of our present capital. That
year thousands of people abandoned their
lands and went east in winter. In 1859 a
s,milar exodus took place from rhe eastern
part of the State and on each Of these oc>
casions the loud bawling for aid Of our
east-end brethren was heard to the Att
lantic.
During these years southwestern Kansas
was an UNEMPLOYED wilderness No rails
roads. no tiourishing villages had yet
sprung up. it was truly and without dis
pute the home of the Indian ana the buffa-
To-. Then came the immense Immigration
following the war and more particularly
following the turning over OF Missouri to
the ex-rebels. And the State began to fill
up so rapidly that the home productions
could not supply the demand. In 1874 the
State sas pretty we'll settled as far
vast as Great Bend, and the hot winds and
grasshOppers came down on the sod crops
of the frontier settler and again the people
of the frontier were in q manner rendered
destitute. But this was the first instance
of failure in southwestern Kansas.
Tho eastern part of the State raised an
abundance. in 1874. of everything except
corn Relief was sent to the sufferers
which to their disgrace was mostly gObblsd
up by the eastern counties; more going to
Doniphan or Shawnee than to Fawnee or
Rush. And now W hat has southwestern
Kansas done in the last few years: We
quote from the First Quarterly Report Of
the State Board Of Agriculture. Of Kansas.
for the year 1879. and will We apprehend
be regarded as good authority: ''Of the
81, 3l5, S5S bushels the entire wheat crop of
the State for 1873, the western cultivated
half produced Is. 81. $50 bushels. Seventy
eight per cent. of the entire winter wheat
product and seTenty-One of the spring
wheat product was raised in the western
half of the titled portion Of Kansas. Ford.
Edwards and Pawnee counties are located
in the Arkansas Valley on the line Of the
A. T. & +. F. These counties all lie in
BODY and the former is bisected bv the
Tooth meridian and are among the latest
settled counties IN the State. The wheat
product in these counties in 1878 was as
follows: Ford county q. 35S bushels and
Pawnee cOuntv 4s7. $50 bushels. Total in
the three counties $50, O2S bushels, nearly
as much as the combined production of
Maine. New Hampshire. Connecticut, Mas
sachusetts and Rhode Island. We could
give further statistics did space permit.
The only cause of this ungenerous attack
is . political jealousy of the growing power
of the western part of the State, and whole
some fear that If the western part Of the
State shall continue to develop ~ within
the past few years, that the mighty grain
producing region of weetsrn Kansas will
find An other and nearer outlook to the sea
board. than by wav of Atchison or Topeka.
VARIOUS CAU0Es-
Advancing years, care, sickness, disappOint-
menf and hereditary prpdis