The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-04-02
KANSAS.
A Jaunt Through the state and What
Was Seem.

Correspondence OF the Herald
AS Kansas Is III the mouths Of so many
people all ovor this Union, suppose tho I'M
preston received ofthe State by ono who has
been on recent jaunt through its confines
will prove interesting Having leisure, l went
10 Kansas 10 SOC the country, study It's capa-
bilities and resources, and to as
certain what its merits were, II II
bad any, over Texas. j went, saw, and
glad was | TO leave II again. There Is no
question but that Kansas is the
MOST oyERRATED
State in this Union. II embraces nm ample
scope of territory, but Of tho Sl,81s square
miles, not exceeding one-fourth are arabic
lands, the rcst being thin-soilod, rocky prai-
ries and hills. Just think of it! OF the 81
Oi862O acres of land in the State, only 49,.
OlOS80 are fit for the husbandman. Com
pare this with Texas and we see that of her
i756S7 $40 acres of land, four-hfths or l40,.
47O,272 acres are good farming lands, md
excepting perhaps one-llfth, ms fine farming
lands as ever pillow was put into. The
question arises, If Kansas has SO much
prairie land why is 1t not good stock coun-
try? The answer 10 that 1t Is
TOO COLD.
ITS climate is the most inhospitabe and
the bleakest of all the Western States. Dur
ing the winter and good portion of the tall
months the snow lays on tho ground all the
time, from one foot to five feet deep, and
during that time cattle must BIO housed and
fed. while in Texas they roam at will over
the prairies and keep fat on tho rich, suceu-
lent grasses 1t isapretty, undulsting plain
and fair to look upon in tho springtime
viewed from an artists standpoint, for the
landscape scenes are magnificent. The
State is
spLENDIDLY wATERgD,
ANY number Of streams traversing it, and
springs without end bursting from the hill
sides ard amid the rocks, Along the streams
ia the only timber the State can
boast, and 1t is scrubby
scraggy knotty, dwaried growth, at for no
uses save for fuel. AS an evidence of this
YOU rarely ever see farm that Is fenced in.
There is an abundance Of excellent stohe for
building and fencing purposes, and won
dered that the fields were left open. l can
attribute it to no cause than pecuniary ina
bity of the farmers to build fences. Here
and there, on some of the older settled places,
YOU see struggling, uncared for hedges, but
thew are few. Along the many streams are
broad valleys, exceedingly fertile, and they
make up the arabic land OF the State, no
farms being seen outside Of these valleys,
save an occasional one at the foot ofthe hills,
where a little spot of alluvial soil, made from
the wasbings Of the hills, is found. Some of
these valleys are adapted to wheat, and
others to corn, and when you mention these
cereals YOU embrace the products of Kansas.
Every farm has its orchard, but
FRUIT Is A FAILURE.
The peach crop amounts to nothing except
about once in four years. Apples
of the harder kind do pass
ably well. Much as has been said of
Kansas as corn and wheat producing State,
il is inferior both in soil and climate to Mis-
,sour, Indiana, Illinois and Texas, or any
of the grain producing States. 1t is the peo-
ple and not the Stateitselftha gives it repute
for its wheat and corn producing qualities.
They are the most energetic, untiring, hard
working people ever saw. They win victo-
nv from their bleak climate and ungenerous
soil, by the sweat of their brows, by persist
emit cultivation. If such farmers ms they are
had our Texas lands they would make three
or four times as much per acre as our Texas
farmers do. We see accounts in the newspa-
pers of the tide of immigration pouring into
Kansas and they are true, for there is no
State settling up so rapidly, but there are
nearly as many people leaving and trying to
leave. You cannot go into even the smallest
towns without being beset by
REAL ESTATE AGENTS,
All having in hand innumerable farms 70
sale, and all importunate to sell. The
reason they give when asked why
80 many people want to sell out, if Kansas il
such an Eldorado, is that the farms have beer
mortgaged for money to make improvements
and owners want to sell them at private sale
before foreclosure, 80 as to try and say,
something from the wreck. Now we know tina
the past year was good crop year every
where and that prices everywhere have beer
good for field products, and, reasoning from
these facts, the inevitable conclusion is tina
the trouble is the climate and the soil, ant
not the mortgages, for mortgages can be pait
off. If lands are rich and seasons propitious
The towns and little cities have ali
ouT-aRowN, THE COUNTRY.
All kinds of business are overdone, an
there is lack of that air of Thrift indicativ
of prosperous country. The houses ar
handsomely and substantially built, and
was pleased to see that the school house
were abundant, and with the churches, wer
always the finest buildings in the countr,
The reason of the rush of immigrant
is that the State has made persistent and in
telligent efforts to secure them. Kansas is az
advertised from one end OF the Union to Il
other. Printers ink is not spared, nor Al
the florid imaginations of the advertisers
all curbed in their fights. Glib-tongue
agents talk Kansas in all the older State
and every conceivable inducement is held Of