Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1886-10-28
CENTRAL AND WESTERN KANSAS.
The Conclusions Of an Accomplished Writer and
Competent Observer.

|
and western portions of Kansas, dates fror
the advent of the greatest and most poter
factor of civilization-the locomotive
Since its shrill whistle has awakened tn
echos of the prairie, the buffalo, antelop
and the Legendary drouth-that air-drawl
dagger, and nightmare of the great plains
have vanished, and those who have at frs
stepped hesitatingly beyond the extrem
eastern belt of our fair yonng empire-sus
picious of that immense ocean of grass
stretching unfortunately toward the setting
sun. have indeed made ''the desert blossom
| as the rose" and converted the once debata
bic area into one grand picture of fertility
and happy homes.
The settlement Of the Plains of Kansas
for years, was believed by the educated
masses without the pale Of possibility; thu
great intra- continental tract was desert tt
all intents and purposes according to the
early geographers, and a desert it was tt
remain
But the extension of our vast railway
system beyond the Missouri forever deter
mined the speculative question, and the
supposed perplexing problem. instead Of
being surrounded by intricate geographical
equations, solved itself by the simple, un
conquerable will of man to subordinate
nature to his demands-his actual presence
was all that was required-he inaugurated
the empire of the pillow" and conquered.
Kansas today, has no longer any
frontier, in the accepted sense, of a decade
ago-all that remains to be done, is to erect
the granite monuments which shall mark
her dividing line from sister great states;
her whole vast area is separated into coun-
ties, all Of which are organized except one
or two-and they in their pride Of
population are now confidently knocking
at the massive portals Of the capitol for adj
mission
Magnificent as is the picture Of the enter
nal progress of Kansas, it is but crude
vision of the possibilities which lie in the
underlined shadow Of the future; for, but
a fraction of her susceptible area has been
cultivated, and her cities and towns are but
the embryonic molecules of their impend-
ing greatness.
OF such, are Wichita-the phcnominal
exponent of the states progression-New-
ton, Hutchinson, Larned, Winfield, Wei
lington, and others Of the portion of our
geographical area under discussion; but
where today, the golden rod-last of
Autumn's tlowers-is tinging the brown
sod with its auseate hue, lie the teeth of
the dragon "and (sooD from the soil,
(wilD the FURNISHED cities spring" as the
railroads reach out into their magnificent
distances, and these will be, too, the won
der of the New West" as those referred
to by name abire, are the wonders Of
their respective region-and thus our own
poets (Ware,) classical paraphrase is re-
allied:
''Oer sunny Kansas
Some commercial Cadmus,
In days unknown,
The teeth Of golden dragons must have sovn;
For when the prairies
Feel the breath of summer,
The trowels ring,
And from the soil the FURNISHED cities
spring"
What peaceful result Ware has given
us for the work of his Cadmus, compared
to that son of Agenor, from which his al
fusion is taken-thc Ph9nician's harvest
was host of armed warriors, that of our
poet the elimination of modern civiliza-
tion-busy towns and peaceful homes.
The central and western portions of the
state, until recently, have been tributary
to but one trunk line, whose remotcneSs
from large area on either side
has made that territory so far away,
only great pasturage, and where
towns were almost impossible or
where they did exist, eking our prcca-
rious prosperity, and the prospect OF their
future reduced to a commercial zero. Now
all that is changed, or rapidly changing;
the Denver, Memphis and Atlantic railway,
o part of the great Missouri Pacific system,
has effected such revolution in the states
freight traffic, wherever its ramifications
have reachcd,-t road is the genius
whose touch is transforming the many
little hanlets in its course, into the dignity
of towns and cities, and in a hundred or
more places on the virgin prairies is bid
ding the teeth of the golden dragon to
sp'ing up into FURNISHED cities. Dodge,
Ford City, Appleton, Stafford and Greens
burgh, are feeling the rejuvenating effects
Of the new line.
Timber, coal and lumber, the vital es-
sentials of the New West. have been re-
duced in their cost so materially already,
where the road reaches, and prospectively
for those counties to which it is moving,
that fresh impetus is felt in the inmigra-
ton towards the recently opened regions of
the New West
Every one who is acquainted with the
methods of the Missouri Pacific system,
knows there is no danger Of entangling
alliances with other trunk lines in the
shape of pools to the dctriment of the
citizens of those portions Of the state
through which its road runs: with its
progress into new territory the specter of
appears as welcome vision on
an industrial horizon, and IS a relief from
the railroad thralldom under which our
PEOPLE have too long suffered.
OH SETTLER