Wichita eagle., 1890-02-21
oKLAHoMA PROSPERITY.
Colonel E. c. Cole, the Veteran Oklahoma
s'Boomer." Talks Hopefully Of the
Conrtry's Future.

| Colonel E, c. Cole, the veteran Oklahoma
| boomer aud fronsiersman, is up from
| Kingfsher. He is probably as we'll posted
| OH Indian territory affairs as any man in
the country He is we'll acquainted with
| the topography of the country, having
| Travelled it over long before the advent OF
| railroads into the territory.
Speaking of the general prosperity of the
Oklahoma peopletthe coibneI said: Dur
| ing the nine months that Oklahoma has
been settled. have not seen even one case
of destitution or even want for the neces-
saries of life. Several days ago | over
heard settler telling another that he had
never experienced better times than he
| had since he had taken up claim in Ok
lahoma. My curiosity was aroused. and
proceeded to question this man and some
others as to their Oklahoma experience
How are you boys getting along down
in Oklahoma, any how? / asked First
rate answered one why, my wife was
jast saying the other day that we seemed
to be doing better here than we ever did in
any place, ever before. My wife and / aud
the children are well contented- We like
Oklahoma What do you do for hving@
l asked him.
'Oh, l Just kind o. rustic along, some
how. Last week ! hauled in three loads
Of bones aud got 81 for them,' he
answered. Another one said that he cut
fire wood aud sold it, thereby making a
decent living. And yet another main
tanned himself By hauling rock. Yes. the
Oklahoma settlers are doing remarkably
well, considering the fact that Oklahoma
lam aNff f0n fata fN.f fto
spring planting. If they have succeeded
SO wei under adverse circumstances, we
may with reason eXpeco next season to
bring them great prosperity, for they will
have good crops in. It's fine corn conn
try. Excellent corn was raised on the sod
last season. They raise the finest turDips
down there that / ever saw"
''ls it far enough south for successful
cotton-growiugs"
Excellent cotton can be raised in Okla
homa. IN the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw
and Chickasaw country some very fine cot
ton is raised, and it can be successfully
done in Oklahoma. 1t is paying crop to
raise, too. Fine tobacco can be grown
there also. You see northern Texas is
little too wet and southern Kansas little
too dry, but the Oklahoma country strikes
a happy medium
1.-The only cloud that darkens the horizon
is the lack of laws governing the country.
As the matter now stands there are 10000
to 50, 900 American citizens living in chaos,
and most of them have become tired of the
unseeming delay in the action
of congress The planting season
is now upon the homesteaders
and the constant fear of contests stares
them in the face day and night. In many
cases the lack of means to carry on their
daily labors ana contests at the same time
greatly interferes with their plans. The
colonel says during the past week be has
driven over large portion of the north
ern half of the kIngfisher land office dis
trict and it is safe to say that there are
thousands of acres broken up, and con-
siderable has been planted in corn and
potatoes Colonel Cole will be in Wichita
several days yet attending to his large
Landed interests here and will then return
to Kingfisher where he now makes his