The Worthington advance., 1880-10-21
KANSAS.
Letter froM Harvey Sater-Valley Of the
ARKANSAS aud Ayue. :

Iettcf JrON l1Hfcey O0teT-VHtt OF tHe
ARKANSAS aud Ayue. T..
TKINADAD, COL, Oct. 8, 1880.
EDITOR ADVANCE: Your correspond.
ent rolled out Of. Warrington at the
dreary hour Of midnight Sep. I'd, and
since then has been gradually moving
with "the Star Of Empire" The trip
might have been made in less time, but
when a man misses every otl.er train
and then gets left between stations half
of the time, his progress is naturally
rather slow.
Our journey through Kansas was over
tile Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fee
road which traverses the entire state
from east to west. Perhaps a few
words concerning this nucll.talked-o of
State will be of interest to many read
ers Of the ADVANCE. Probably no
State in the Union has been more ex-
tensiveIy and more successfully adver-
tised than Kansas. From Nickerson
west, the 4. Il. & 5. F. runs along the
valley Of the famous ''Ark-an-saw." 1t
is here that the great body of their va
cant lands lie, and it is owing largely to
this company that Kansas has enjoyed
such heavy emigration. They have
printed their pamphlets and maps and
''T0urist = Guides" by the ton and scat
tered them every where that they would
be liable to come in contact with man
whose face was pointed westward. They
have been represented ut every state
fair and every exposition since they have
owned foot Of land in the State of
Kansas. When the Chicago Exposition
first opened in the fall Of '73 they occu.
pied a large space in the second story de-
voted to the display of Kansas products
and the advertisement of the "A. II. Il
s. F. Railroad Lands" They had Cap
tured Buffalo calf and brace of prai-
rie dogs and offered them as an illustra-
tion of what remarkable yield of wheat
you could get in Kansas. At the Gin
cinnati Exposition they had 4 flaming
advertisement in the Col. and Kan.
building made from wheat slIeaves and
large ears of corn grown III the eastern
part Of the state. They have succeeded
iii convincing Il great many that it was
better to buy wild land of them ut from
81 to $8, rather than settle on Govern
ment land that they could get for $3.50
an acre. They can truly say with P. Il.
Barnum, s'tl,e road to success is through
printers ink"
Tie Arkansas river runs over a
''OOundless ocean Of prlirie." There is
not 4 stick of timber to be seen any
where; not even clump of willows. It
is as muddy as the Missouri and winds
along on top of the ground with appar-
emily no more bank to it's channel than
our Minnesota ''laxes" or ponds. 1t re-
minds on of Il stream 1T low tide run
ming over 4 sand bar.
This has been an other hard year on
western Kansas The drouth so COM
pletely ruined the crops that car load
from Lawrence and other eastern cities
to tie frontier settlers. In conversa-
tion with 4 farmer in the western part
of the state we. remarked.
Its been pretty dry this summer.
hasn't it?''
"Well, he replied. iii give you
sample. had in 70 acres Of wheat and
harvested 66 bushels from the piece.
My son. adjoining me, had in the same
amount aud lie p'owed it all under.
Scarcely any one pretended to harvest
their oats.''
"IIave any hoppers?''
mo sir, none to speak of. The crop
failure was due entirely to the drouth
and the Swarlns of insects that seemed
to come along with the dry weather." :"
This is not uncommon. ANY where H.
long the valley of the Arkansas wheat
is unsafe and corn is uncertain. Bnt
who is Il resident OF Franklin Co., and
,cl f,,r,,,nr}H, lix,aA i, Afitnacnf..
marked: "rhis would be just IL splen-
did pl..ce to live if It Was not for tie fe-
YER and agup. left there in I'll and
havn't missed the bilious fever Il single
fall since then. I should he perfectly
willing to go back to Minnesota and put
III, with the severe winters for the sake
of my health.''
"A previous sojonrn of ten months
speak knowingly. If Il nun is going in .
to Kansas he had better settle in the
south eastern part, where he can find
timber and farms with some improve
ments 1T about the same price he will
have to pay the r. Il. 20. for their wild
prairie.
One hundred and sixty-six miles hy
rail from the western line OF Kansas, is
1TliIiiliu ItptniOO. ~ Is SItNdltst tll IL
small stream ut an altitude Of 5000 feet.
and has about $500 inhabitants. most
ly Americans. There is no mining car
ried on near here, and no farming land
near town. The main industry of the
adjacent country is stock raising, prin-
ciralIv sheep.
Here yon can see the ''Spanish Peaks -
rising w Is, 900 feet above sea level and
covered will! perpetual SNOW. They are
only GIG feet lower than Pixies Peak
Three miles from Trinidad are some ex-
tpnsivr coal mines that yield an article
much superior in appearance to the
Fort Dndge coal. It is retailed in town
at $3.50 and can he bought at the mines
for $3.50 per ton.
GLEN AULDoN.