The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-12-12
CONCERNING A LITTLE VISIT.


write letter about Oklahoma. Thar
is why this letter is delayed two
weeks. His loyalty forbids him tt
"boom" any other country than hi
own, while truth compels him to say
a great many pleasant things abou
ssthe Pleasant Land" His only way
out of the dilemma is to simply throw
himself on the mercy of his readers
and beg them to believe that he re
mains loyal although he tells the
truth!
To make the cold dash at once then
1t seems to me that Oklahoma, as ar
agricultural country, is bound to gel
rich. A country that can grow wheat
and cotton, and everything that lies
between these two extremes, can
hardly help it. One year has dem
onstrated that Oklahoma can do these
things. Comparatively little wheat
was sown last year, of course, but
that little yielded well. And the
yield of cotton from the sod was sur
prising, In quality as well as quantity
This year there has been sown q
very large acreage of wheat, the San.
ia Fe railroad company-one Of the
heartless and soulless corporations
that we hear so much about--having
donated 10000 bushels of seed to set
tiers who were unable to buy. 1t il
up now and the green fields give
promise of a bountiful harvest. The
acreage of cotton will be large also,
and with both of these crops a success
the Oklahoma farmer can wear dia.
monds. But that is in the future.
Just now the Oklahoma farmer is
having pretty tough time Of it. A
man who goes onto a raw claim with
out a dollar in his pocket doesn't get
rich in a year, even in a country that
can grow cotton and wheat. More
if he runs up against nine
weeks' drouth as the Oklahoma farm
er did last summer. But with Uncle
Sam and the Santa Fe railroad to
pull him Through the winter, and
the "oldest inhabitant" to assure
him that there will never be another
drouth, he has no particular reason to
be discouraged. And he does not
seem to be.
-
The towns have not grown in size
during the past year, for the sufficient
reason that they were as big-in area
L mean-the day they were born as
the law allowed or will allow until
innumerable and slow-dragging con-
tests are settled. In every other way
though they have grown marvellously.
A little over year ago Oklahoma
City, for example, was about as ugly
a town as could well be imagined a
dirty, dark and disreputable looking
of tents, shanties and
"shacks." Today it has whole blocks
of two and three story brick buildings,
any number of neat, and attractive
several churches and a
general air of civilized prosperity.
The town is especially fortunate in
having among its citizens a great
many wealthy and enterprising BUSH
ness men, dozen or more of them,
perhaps, worth from 500, 900 to 81 900,
900 each. These men have invested
their money freely,-in fine business
blocks, in an ice factory, in Touring
mill, in an electric light plant, in a
ditch to furnish water power and in
other enterprises. With
such men to push it Oklahoma City
will always be a good town. The
and extent of its growth de-
ponds, as is always the case, OH a few
'ifs." The biggest If just now is the
location of the Choctaw road. If this
road comes the town will be the city
of the Territory. The doubt about its
arises over squabble about
the right of way through the city.
And this squabble arises from the in
excusable cupidity of a lot of blood
suckers who unlawfully and feloni-
ously and with malice aforethought
squatted on the right of way and now
ask the city to pay them dozen times
what the property is worth to get off.
1t is an aggravated case of steal, but
there doesn't seem to be much help
for it, so far as the town is concerned,
for it must have the road. Nightly
were held while was there
and every conceivable plan was sug-
gested that seemed to promise the
81, 900 or $50, 900 which it was thought
necessary to raise. 1t is Kansas over
again.
The Kansas visitor to Oklahoma
City can hardly realize that he is
away from home, there are SO many
familiar faces. He goes into the Grand
Avenue hotel to get dinner and "Old
Barr" comes from behind the desk to
shake hands with him. He goes to
she Office Of the Big Ditch company
md finds that the secretary is c. P.
formerly of Colony. He drifts
nto the Journal Office and discovers
J. ]. Burke, also of Colony, OH the
lripod. AS he goes out he is apt to
meet sturdy John Holzapfel, another
colony man. If he steps into the Of
ice next door he win find Sidney
Nlar Land Ianrar y and mariana