Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-09-10
KANSAS MORTGAGES.
Interesting Statement From an
Eastern Examiner.
Henry M. Cleveland, Representing New
England Investors, Carefully Studies
the situation and Makes an En-
couraging Report.


with. It was prepared in the interest
of eastern investors by Henry NJ. Cleve-
land, of Brooklyn, Conn, a well-known
lawyer. who was specially employed to
examine the situation:
To Whom it May Concern:
Employed by several gentlemen who
have large real estate investments in
Kansas. have just finished an investi-
cation of its farming and financial in
terests. and we have agreed that a few
of the facts 1 have gathered may inter-
est the persons in this state who have
loans in Kansas, and also those who
are looking for good real estate
security for loans or investments. We
are not attempting to boom Kansas; we
are not attempting to boom any corpor-
alton in Kansas; we have endeavored
to get the absolute, undeniable facts in
relation to the lands and their possibil-
tiles and to the ability of the perma-
nent settlers to make money farming,
and to pay their mortgage indebted
ness. I travelled nearly the whole
length of the state, from the Missouri
border on the east to the Colorado line
on the west. l spent some time in
nineteen counties in different parts Of
the state, spending the most of the
time in the western counties which
have been so misunderstood and ma
ligned by newspaper writer's and polit-
ical tricksters like PETER and ''Sockless
Simpson" / obtained many facts
which appear in this letter from per-
sonal friends and farmers of large and
long experience and observation in sew
eral counties. My Imagination has
furnished no material for this letter.
In this investigation I exercised the
same care and thoroughness that did
in 1877 when 1 investigated the real
estate assets in the west of the life in
surance companies of Connecticut un-
der an appointment from the state.
My employers desired only plain cold
facts; these have given them Kansas
is divided into LOG counties, containing
a population of about 800. 600, at least
two-thirds of which are Americans. one-
half of the other third are Germans and
the remainder is composed of all other
nationalities. It is conceded by every
body that the central and eastern parts
of the state possess almost unlimited
land resources and that the soil and
seasons are favorable for the production
OF grain, stock. etc. The assaults that
have been made upon Kansas have been
aimed mainly at the western third Of
the state. 1t has been said and written
over and over that the land is poor,
that they have no rainfall there, that
nearly all the farms started there had
been abandoned and that all the money
loaned on farms there would be lost
Now it is true that farms have been
given up, some voluntarily and
some by foreclosure, and the explana-
Ill L,
abandoned their farms in the way / have
named, were in two classes. One class
would go there, take quarter section of
government land, break a few acres.
build a sod house, do nothing until the
time came to prove up and get title and
then borrow all the money they could
on the farm, which meant a sale to the
lender. The other class were men who
went from the corn states and tried to
raise corn, which cannot be done sue
cessfully in that part of the state, for
the reason that the altitude is too high,
the nights are too cool and that August
and September are the dry months
which damage the crops. Some of
these men got discouraged and went
off, others began to raise wheat and
did we'll. Winter wheat is the safe,
great crop of western Kansas. 1t is
planted in the fall, the winter rains and
SHOWS keep the ground in fine condi-
ton and the crop comes off before the
drv weather sets in. With rare ex-
ceptions, the men who went into west
crn Kansas during the last ten years,
intending to stay, are there now Gf liv-
ing) and are in independent circum-
stances, most of them, and some of
them are moderately rich. They suffer
there occasionally from a prolonged
drought, as we do in this state and as
they do in all other states.
They do not realize the full benefit
of the rainfall for the reason that the
surface of vast tracts of unbroken prai-
RE land has been made as hard as stone,
almost by the incessant tramp of buff
faloes. in the early history of the state.
The water runs off and the soil gets
very little moisture. The damage to
crops by droughts will be less frequent
as the land is brought nader cultivation.
have some knowledge of all the grain
states have travelled twice over the
famous Red river valley wheat lands in
North Dakota, and do not hesitate to
say that [ have never seen a richer,
handsomer belt of wheat, and all small
grain lands, than those l have travelled
over in western Kansas. A company
I. of gentlemen own a large body of land
in southwestern Kansas, and I had
long interview with their manager, and
he said he should put in 6, 900 acres of
wheat this fall, and next year quad
ripple it. He said to me: II believe
the next great wheat belt of the coun-
try will be in western Kansas, eastern
Colorado and the panhandle of Texas"
The crops ali over Kansas are unusually
large, although corn in some parts of
the state is little backwa ard, and the
excessive rains have done some dam
age. Reports from all the counties in
the state sent to Dun's mercantile
agency show the following remarkable
facts:
THE acreage of wheat in Kansas as
estimated from these replies ia 8. s22,-
900; the probable yield will be 50. 47S,-
900 bushels; an average for the state of
q little more than fifteen and one.half
bushels per acre. This total is divided
among the three belts of the state as
follows: Acreage in eastern belt, COM
posed of thirty-nine counties, 7sS, 600;
yield, IS, 1875, 600 bushels, or 1917 bush
els per acre; acreage in the central belt,
composed of thirty-fve counties. g.