The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-09-01
GL1s gl1teLIiasltteE
oaloo, Nos. 70 and ~ Tourteonth Street,
KANSAS CITY
As Viewed by stranger Her Wonderful
Growth aud Prosperity,
To ina RiLlOr Of lhs Inisiligsnner


10 the Editor Of he Intelligence.
sIR;-Kansas City Is the hottest, dryest
and busiestcity in the United States. Itand
the surrounding country is just now suf-
feripg from q protracted drouth, having
had no rain to amount to anything for two
months and part Of the time the tenn
perature has been as much as one hun.
dred and seven in the shade. But In
spite OF the drouth and heat business Is
booming at rate that Is perfectly as,
founding 10 one not accustomed to 1t,
This Is not q usual thing, the like having
never been seen here before.
To stranger dropped down at the I'm
ion depot, Kansaa City does not present an
inviting view or give any one an idea OF
Its extent or business enterprise, The
first impression Ia that Of q house half
completed, where the occupants have
moved in before It was completed. Kan
sas City is not yet done building by very
large majority. AS yet 1t has no fine pub.
lie building, In fact, the public buildings
are not far from shabby, TO Offset this
there are many fine residences, and few
elegant ones, with q promise OF more in
the near future, 1t is only short time
since anything In the way Of fine residence
building has been done, but 1t Ia safe to
say that Kansas City enterprise will, in
the near future, bring 1t up to othsr cities
In this respect, and In the matter OF pub
lie buildings as well A fine five million.
dollar court house is already projected.
A visitor to Kansas City il we'll repaid
for stopping here II he Ia person who ap-
precistes q hurry and hustle, hand over
hand, rough and tumble, eyery.fsllow.for-
himself, enterprise; but II lie wants TO
stop In some quiet place he had better
pass 1t by, for Kansas City people are not
much given TO sleepy-headedness, They
have the go.ahead in them and do not take
kindly to anything else,
II one attempts to give any idea Of the
amount and variety Of the business OF
Kansas City, or its growth or improve.
ment he finds himself in the same boat
with the chronic talker at ward caucus.
lIe don't know where TO begin or when
to quit, In fact he Is not Just quite sure
that there has not some new and more i'm.
portant enterprise flushed into being since
he began to write, 80 quickly do important
enterprises spring into being here.
Some idea Of 1t Ia had by remembering
that II has grown from small country
town OF seven hundred in 1855 to a city OF
from one hundred and twenty-five to one
hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants
In 1885. And the older 1t gets the faster
II grows, about seveuty.four thousand OF
the present population having been gain
cd since 1880.
Kansas City Gs 1t now Is has sixteen
railroads and thirteen more projected,
nine horse car lines, radiating from i com.
mon center at the junction Of Main and
Delaware streets to all parts OF the city,
one cable line in operation, from the
Union depot through the city almost to
It's limits on the east, and four more In
course OF construction. The one In opera.
ton is two and one.h9lf miles long At
the west or Union depot, there is being
built an elevated motor line that extends
three miles west across the Kansas river
through Wyandottei and at the eastern
terminus Is TO be construCteda motor line
reaching ten miles enst to Independence.
Add to this belt line, around the city,
built by all the railroads, and q person
does not often have to fall back on
natures locomotive power 10 get to any
point In the city and its surroundings.
This Is only q meager index to the bust.
ness that must exist 10 sustain 1t, all OF
which 10 worthy OF mention, but one will
serve to illustrate. The real estate bust.
ness Is monstrous. Everybody deals in
real estate. Merchants talk real estate.
Lawyers disCuEs real estate. Clerks, physi.
clans and even ninsters preach about
real estate. II you see three men stand.
ing on street corner talking you can de-
pend upon 1t two Of them are discussing
real estate. And besides all this, there
are abOutHve hundred real estate agents
ready to tell you anything you will listen
to about real estate. Not many days ago
the transactions OF one day brought into
the County Recorders office 270 deeds for
record, and only yesterday morning the
Kansas City Journal announced that forty
building permits had been granted the
day before. Many places In the city one
can see whole squares oil fine new brick
buildings that have been put up within
the last three months.
A person wonders how every body
makes money out Of real estate, but this
question Is easily answered by saying that
the assessed value Of the city real property
is now four aud one.halt times greater
than II was eight years ago and Is still
steadily increasing.
1t Is gratifying to a resident OF Wheeling
to see former Wheeling people taking an
active part in pushing this young city to
the front, and to see that some OF them
are the most wealthy and influential PEG.
PEG in the city. It also convinces one
that Wheeling has the stutt to boom the
old town. Messrs. QglObey, Tholnburg,
Hall, Jones, Day, Wayman, and many
others are making hay while the sun
shines. J.d.I.
Kansas City, NO., august 20.
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