The morning call., 1892-05-30
TnE CYCLoNE ~ KANSAS.

The ravages Of the cyclone in Southern
Kansas read ike an old story. The scene
visited is the old spot Harper and Sumner
counties, On The border OF the Indian Terri
tory; the force Of the hurricane seems to
have spent Itself before it reached the cen
ter Of The State, though heavy gales, caus-
ing loss Of property, are reported from
spots in Arkansas and Missouri. The cities
which suffered most were Wellington, which
is the county seat Of Sumner County, and
Harper, the county seat Of Harper County.
In these prominent buildings were pretty
generally destroyed and a number Of lives
were lost The engine Of destruction was
the familiar funnel-sbaped cyclone, which
Travelled with wonderful velocity and
effected lis work by the Irresistible force OF
lis rotary motion.
The catastrophe must for the present be
elassed in the list OF non preyentable dis
asters. South Of Kansas, ana impinging on
lie new Territory Of Oklahoma. is a broad
plain or desert paved with saline sand and
unbrOken by mountains or forest. 1t is
marked on the maps as the salt plain Of the
Cimarron and the salt plain OF tie salt fork
Of the Arkansas. It bears some resem-
blaDce to cur own Colorado Desert except
that it is not troubled with volcanic action.
Upon this plain, which is generally cloud
less, the fierce rays OF the sun heat with
such YlgOr that The air becomes highly rare
fed, and when the barometer in the neigh.
borhOo1 reveals the requisite atmospheric
conditions hurricanes are engendered
Weather experts can probably explain why
they generally rush north from the spot
where there is a vacuum 10 the spot where
lie fffff IL md ftafr
power 70 devise a remedy for such phenO-
mena. Like the typhoons Of the China
Sea and the Bay Of Bengal they may 20 on
forever, and residents Of the southern tier
Of counties of Kansas will hold their inn
provements at the pleasure Of the god
4Holus.
In view CT the facts tie late rush Of
settlers into Oklahoma seems surprising.
About one-half Of that Territory is suitable
for human habitatioD, with rich alluyial
valleys. rainfall of xhirty inches and
soil containing many elements OF fertility.
Butthe western half is chiefly covered with sa-
line deposits. It's treeless and almost water
less. Owing 10 meteorological conditions it
is subject to high winds, which, when they
blow from the south. are reproductions OF
the deadly siroeco, and wherever they blow
from always drive before them clouds Of
binding sand and dust There is not
river which does not run dry in summer.
nor is there field which can be cultivated
without irrigation, nor any source from
which water can now be got for irrigating
purposes. Is it not extraordinary that it
should have been necessary to call out the
United States troops TO check and regulate
the mad rush OF settlers into such spot as
that?
1t reflects little credit on American inge-
nuity and American enterprise that stimuli
taneOusy with the recurrence of this
cyclone in Kansas the papers should be re-
cording the Tayages OF the overlooking Mis-
sissippi in Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and
Louisiana. Tens of millions of bushels of
wheat and corn, thousands Of cattle and
hundreds Of human beings have been
drowned out Of their homes by the floods.
Yet the waters which committed this devas-
tatiOn. if they had been diverted at points
near the beadwaters of the rivers to the
lowlands Of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma
and Texas, would not only not nave spread
wreck and ruin in their course to the Gulf.
but would have scattered such fertility
through the barren lands that Kansas and
its neghbors would have been lifted out Of
debt, and who knows? the climate of the
plains south of the line Of thirty-nine de-
grees might have been so altered that
cyclones would be thing Of the past.
When The Moors wrested Southern Spain