Bent County register., 1886-12-11
LAMAR.
SOMETHING ABOUT The PAST, PRES
ENr AND FuTuRE OF The SouTH-
EASTERN COLORADO METRO
PoIIs.

been at the Nuna for a couple of
days. A Chieftain reporter met him
last evening and urged him to give
his opinion of Lamar. He said:
Lamar is bound to be one of the
leading cities in the Arkansas valley.
Il you want to know my reasons |
will tell you. 1t is located where it
must become county seat. 1t has
an abundance of wood near by and
cheaper coal than any of the towns
east of it. 1t has excellent brick
clay near at hand, and tirst-class
building stone within a mile north
of the town. The Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railroad are doing all
they can to favor the town. In fact
they are owners of portion of the
town. 1t has land office that will
be open for business by the first of
January. There are seven millions
of acres of land in the district, more
than six millions of which are still
open to the homestead, timber cul-
ture and presumption laws.
All the available land in the Ar
kansas valley in Kansas is taken,
and the home-seekers are pushing on
up the valley into Colorado. | have
seen forty bushels of corn, thirty
bushels of oats and one hundred
bushels of potatoes grown ON sod the
past season within few miles of
Lamar without irrigation. There Is
nothing to hinder irrigatiug the val
lev lands should the rainfall at any
time prove insufficient. | am salts
fed that Lamar will make better
town than Garden City, and believe
it will have more population within
a wear than Garden City, the magic
city of Southwestern Kansas. Being
a land office town it will naturally
be a trade center for the entire land
district, which means fifty miles
north and about one hundred miles
south, to say nothing about the coun'
try up and down the river WHICH Will
come where the most stc.es are TO
trade. There are no sar-. hills south
of Lamar to keep tb. people from
eomipp to the towr, which has been
Ne great draw back of Garden City
snce the ernment has decided
Il settles cannot 90 into the Okla
hong country, thousands of home
Sakers will turn their attention to
sitting the fertile regions of the up
pr Arkansas valley, | helped build
4, Garden City and | intend to de,
we the bulk of my time from now
OF to build up Lamar, for l am salts
fed that it has better chance to be-
come large town than any other
town in Colorado, on the Arkansas
valley east of Pueblo. The town
was started on the oath day of last
May and already has a population of
about seven hundred people. 1t has
more than doubled in buildings with
in the last sixty days. A new hotel
is nearly completed, which will give
the place three frst-class hotels, and
there are number of small, cheap
hotels and lunch and lodging houses
Houses are going up in every direc-
ton and there are at least fifty car
penters employed in the town at
good wages. We have in our lum-
Der yard over s45, 900 worth of lum-
Der, and sold 81 100 worth of lumber
before noon the day left town. Our
general merchandise firm, Spivey Il |
Holmes Bros, carry a stock of over
$4,000, and there are several other |
stores in the town. My present bust
ness in Pueblo is to enter one hun
dred and sixty acres of land adjoin-
ing the town on the south, which |
myself and NJ ID. Parmenter have
done with soldiers scrip We shall |.
lay out an addition and offer the lots |
for sale in few days. The north |
line of the addition is within three
blocks of the depot and it is the most
desirable building ground in the vi
cinity. We will give due notice
through the press, when the opening
sale of lots comes of"
Here the interview with Mr.. Hol- |
mes was cut short by Mr.. p. F. Sharp
coming in and taking Mr.. Holmes
out to fill an evening engagement.
Mr.. Holmes is live man and one of
the kind that never does anything by
halves. If Lamar don't become the
best town in southeastern Colorado
it will not be any fault of his and
the other men of the same stamp
associated with him Pueblo Chief
tain.