Wichita eagle., 1886-12-23


/ river, and mile of smooth down grad
e brru ght us to the well built town of Farg
; Springs, which lays on kind of secon'
, bottom above the river. Fargo Spring
/ like Springfield expects the county seat
/ and the only solution of the question seem
l to die in tht decision of the supreme court
L which met this month to decide the matter
: met man here who was on his way
to Neutral City, and the regular stage run
ming only once week at present, we char
tered team and struck out the next morn
ing on the main trail to No Mans Land
which leads through that place.
Three or four miles over trolling prairie
country with about mile of medium sand
road interspersed brought US out into
a beautiful valley sloping southwark,
without a break to the south line of Kan
sas and north line of No Mans Land. We
passed several loads of goods bound for
Neutral City, and scores of large ricks of
blue-stem hay, which grows here from six
to eight feet in heighth and has been put
up in large quantities, along with large
crops of millet hay, sorghum or. cane and
corn-fodder, by the farmers of the valley
who seem to be of a progressive sort. The
| further south we went the better the sell
appeared and began to feel that should
soon join the enthusiasts who had come be-
fore me and pronounced this the largest
body of fine valley land in Kansas. The
buffalo grass is the heaviest ever saw, the
loan being sandy as well as black makes
it easy to work. We passed small team
of ponies walking 12-inch plow through
the sod at a two acre a day gait,
and a smile on their faces at that. |
We reached Neutral City at about ten
o'clock and found matters lively, with the
demand for everything in excess of the
supply, however, though houses are going |
up rapidly, and stocks of hardware, gro
ceries, dry goods and clothing have just
began to roll in, and will from all appear
ances be in good running shape before any
bad weather sets in this winter
The site of the town is simply superb,
sloping gently as it does east and west from
Broadway, the main street of the town
Any part of the site will drain itself The
streets are all wide, from 100 to 1875 feet,
and l soon began to take lively interest
n the future great of Southwestern =
Kansas, as the people confidently call it, ,
hough did not express myself too strong
y on that point until after l had picked r
ut several lots and got the prices from d
lr. w. V. Marshall who represented the n
Neutral City Town company at Neutral g.
lily, of which he is member. Some G.
hing over half the Main street lots are q
lready given away on building +,
ontracts or sold, and list of the parties n
aking them showed me, the names of n
ome of the most prominent railroad men, f.
lerchants and clear-sighted investors in ~
.ansas.
Wichita and Hutchinson are we'll repre- :,
'nted, as well as Winfield. Caldwell, Os- r
ego, Topeka, Garden City, Cimarron +,
nd some from way down east" had r
leir share of soil.
The town has only been laid off little .,
yer two months and starting so late in
he season, the town company hardly eX- 70
sctcd to more than hold the ground this Fl,
inter and be ready for the spring rush. co
If Tho onapiru Of ho No,,frcl
~ 'io ieceh1 opening up Oh 'he Neutrai of
rip. or No Mans Land, two miles south, b,
rs started such an immigration through 70
eutral City, on which it relies for sup on
les and as stopping point before locat- q,
g over the line. that the trade will de- ~,
and rustling all through the winter H.,
The Town Company are giving the best fe,
IS away to any one building a suitable 10,
lsiness house or residence on them, and a or,
eat many are availing themselves of the fro
ance. and at the same time they step over tin
e line and take up homestead claim ~,
thin two or three miles of their place of L.,
siness.
~, ne
This plan strikes me so forcibly that ,h.
u can about consider NE located for the III.
inter-.
Flrewood is piled up at all the houses in a.,
IS vicinity and some loads of coal have 70
'eady been hauled up from the big coal Of
in recently opened up in No Mans Land,
lthwest of here.
Before leaving the 'outer world | took W.
rticular pains to look up the railroads xxx
elected to this point, and as l had good w
'urance that the Rock Island will go out ,"'
the state at this point, the '"'
parallel, and the lay of the We
lntry is against any other point. and :,
Torable for this am willing to take -,
: chances here, especially as three other va
lroads have already named this same .n'
int also, and as near as l can find out are 'Hs
ding property here. ne'
The people are very anxious to help the -"
en along, as their nearest trading poin, WI
side of here is Fargo Springs, seven '.o
n miles northeast, a trip to which
lakes them tired" they say. ino
Some of the Town Company and stock vi
ders are Campbell & Huffman, Pea 'u'
iy; J. L. Hornipg. vice president Kan 'n'
, Colorado Il Texas r. r., at Winfield: eii'
5. Rogers, Wichita; E. 3. Wingate. s'''
eff engineer of Border Line, Caldwell; poA
E. Dickerman, president. Theodore ''i"
rec, secretary, J. T. VanVoorhis. .rcas- Je''
T, and Thomas & Co. general agents 1
Main street Wichita, and long list be- nie'
IS all Of whom are working hard for not