Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-21
OKLAHOMA
And Thirty Mile Ride Up the North Ca
madam to Fort Reno.

: Having permission from the military
authorities to photograph at Fort Reno
l bid a reluctant farewell to the brigh
city of the plains last week. after a SO
journ there of nearly two years, anG
trusting that kind fate may give me my
last days amid its rising and classic
walls, and share in the enjoyment Of
} the ripened civilization that they today
give promise.
The last cold wave having thrown me
at leisure I am reminded of the many
promises to write chow it is down
there" and, with your permission, viii
hit all with one stone through your
widely-read columns-briefy as I can
and with no inclination to encourage OF
discourage.
Leaving Wichita at s p. N. on a
moonlight night for seven hours ride
to Oklahoma City" we were soon over
the Kansas state line and speeding over
the Cherokee strip, fifty-three miles
wide and to all appearances the same as
a fifty-three mile strip in Kansas would
be, devoid of any signs of occupation, a
sea of level, naked prairie with a sta
!
hands every fifteen miles. From all &C
counts at hand it is good ground and
destined to some time sustain great
population; but the eye of the boomer at
present is set on the bottom lands of the
numerous streams further south.
Our seat was shared by a
City who built ''hotel''
|
fell from grace and was froze out, and
favor with the powers that be and go to
CITY" and 1.-The North Canadian the
country was more broken, affording
hiding places, with the timber along the
river, for a thousand boomers.
After three hours sleep and break
fast we sailed out to see the city and as
a short horse is soon curried, so were
six or eight houses, four or five stockade
shanties and as many tents, soon seen
population, seventy Or eighty govern
ment or railroad employees, freighters,
etc. Boomers were scarce: a rumor was
rife that Lieut.. McComb and twenty FIVE
men and ten Indian scouts were
camped at Council Grove reser-
noon: the rumor saved the sol diers a
heap of trouble, for the boomers had,
without waiting on the order of their go
| ing, gone, scattered in all directions to
travel day and then travel back, ex-
pecting to find the blizzard gone on their
return. However, found one boomer,
A. f. Eggleston, whose face has been so
familiar about Wichita-he was speeding
f,,iE q 49,
he had fed fully at ease, of few words
but of staying qualities. Tobacco was
in great demand, the average resident had
for three weeks since the last raid drawn
his tobacco supplies from the friendly
boomer, of whom a hundred were al
ways in sight, bat now their game was
went to whiting.
About noon cloud Of dust was
seen in the west-''They are coming"
passed from one to another, and soon,
like cyclone, squad of cavalry clat-
tered through the town and disappeared
on the other side. We looked for Eggles-
ton. He had ducked his head, but soon
reappeared from behind the postoffice.
The scouts from time to time passed
through the town, and finally train,
with supplies, for the troops were out on
a twenty days trip. At night Lieutenant
McCoomb and several Of the boys done
up the town. and even Eggleston was
absent at roll call the next morning. a
club-footed doctor and surveyor O. left
his compliments and word, if he was in
quired for, to say that he was out show
ing bouncer a claim, and we presume
Eggleston was doing the same, as he had
x.f,. Ill
pretty well covered with names of future
settlers OF the valley-if 'Barkis is
within"
Our freight arrived at noon the next
day and without waiting for the morn
ing stage we started with it on thirty
mile trip west to Fl. Reno and along the
bottom Or valley of the North Canadian
At first owing to the bends of the river
we left the valley. The soil was here
thin, the sub-soil brick red and sandy
and we thought if this was eOklahoma,
give us Kansas. and we thought it a pity
that great tract like this, fit only for
hay or grazing should not be assigned in
ranch tracts to cattle purposes, and as
no one will ever pay Sl.25 per acre for
such land we move that the cattle
barons also have chance at the bad
lands by and by ''at a bit an acre" Well
we got again to the timber with a
raced opinion of Oklahoma proper and
camped for the night in protection of
the timber, for it is windy here-youll
never hear Of windy Kansas after Okla
homa Is peopled-perhaps not of
droughty Kansas, for they have droughts
here also, Just the same as they have
every where else in the west where nv
lines have been cast, only 1t has
been less tolerated in Kansas than else
where. [ was born in a drought away
down east and | swear | never got away
from them yet.
The next days ride Of twenty miles to
Fort Reno, was a day OF enthusiasm; it
was over an uninterrupted stretch of
high bottom one and one-fourth to two
and one-fourth miles wide. and while
not as rich as that of the Arkansas, yet
good enough for any body. We asked
our driver if it was productive. "Well,
on Quarter Masters creek a squaw man
has put IN 300 acres for seven years and
never raised a crop until last year, but
some say it was not well farmed. There
is Keith, another squaw man, on this
side of the river he always gets a crop"
And towards hight we came to Keith's,
the only farmer in the country.
His place betokened a broad guaged.
grasp while 100 head Of cattle grazed
around the monopolist of the range.
There is compensation in nature and the |
old mau's pull back was that the boys |
preferred to be Indians, ashley emerged !
from their teens and to serve in the In t!
dian police force, TO working on the |
farm, to like many another north would |