Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-03-21
e Descrfpt,0n or ths country.

$780, Description or the Country.
Those who wish to obtain q correct esti-
mate:of- the Oh arocteristios OF the country
just ceded by the Greeks and Semipoles
can lay the foundation best by fixing in
mind the general slope from west to east.
The further We go east the lower the land
lies.f The finest agricultural lands in the
how acquisition. are in Oklahoma proper
and the small reservations east of it. AL
most the Eholeof this is rich, arabic land,
composed of gently rolling prairies inter-
spcrsed with'river bottoms A small part
of &c is rockysand there arestracts of tim
Der OF considerable size. Here and there
sandy spot may be found As rule the
timber grows better and more plentiful
a. one goes east. Moving westward
the ground becomes less abundan thy
supplied With timber and water, and after
passing q line drawn north and south
about thirty miles west of Fort Reno. the
country il, generally speaking, suitable
only Tor grazing and the climate is more
subject to extremes OF heat aud cold than
further east There are several valuable
tracts of timber not far from Fort Reno,
but west Of that point there is little except
worthless black jack oak and some cotton
wood along the bottoms. The high prairies
west of Longitude So 40 are we'll covered
with grass and the soil is naturally pos
sessed Of the properties necessary for
crops. but the water supply is not yet
sufficiently certain for dense population,
and crops win not repay the settler as
we'll as on the more eastern lands. 1t
may be said that grass grows in sufficient
abundance for stock raising almost all
over the lands coded by the Creeks and
Seminoles. ysSA
The Cherokee has the same general
cnaracteristics az the foregoing and if 1t is
added to the Homestead lands the settler
wall have to fax up q home east of 80 30
est.longitude il he wishes to cultivate or
there are small arabic patches but most Of
tho land is high prairie. suitable prin-
cipally for stock raising. Extensive salt
deposits are found In the western part of
the strip on the surface and there is little
doubt that the same salt formation which
supplies the Hutch ,nson wells also extends
down into this region. Inexhaustibie
quantities OF gypsum also exists in the
Western part of the strip.
Tho clim tie of all that section Of the
country lying east of 9S 30 west longitude
Is superb Army officers and others who
have lived there describe it as the most
agreeable inland climate in America. It
is neither very warm nor very cold giving
Q W olesome change from winter to sum-
mer. with almost perfect spring and fall.
In addlstoa-e0 furnishing . magnificent
soil unsurpassed even by tho Illinois bot
toms in productiveness. and SO favorably
situated thst il 10 now ready Tor tho plow,
Interpreting Jew obstacles Of rock, swamp
or forest, tha eastern part furnishes . cli-
.mate SO exquisitely balanced between the
hong svintses of the North and the long
summers q 49, South that almost all the
predicts e beth North and South can be
successfully o1ltivatedf mo. citizen of
tina new Oklahoma can b lnsy on his
farm. IL ho Wishea nearly the whole wear
round HeWm have railroad coauections
fren the drst uttA North, South. East and
West
The suk9ii fessfv ations east OF Oklahoma
proper axgsall composed of the very best
Lands. The s(ntn6 OF tho tribes which now
occupy them varies and what will be done
with them 10 doubtful The Sacs and