The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-09-30
TALKS FOR WOODWARD.
W. A. Smith Spsass Eloqucntiy OF the Cap tai
Of County N.

Mr.. Will A. Smith of the Chicago Lum-
Der Company, who has been kept busy
looking after the interests of his company
at Woodward since the opening of the
strip, spent short time in the city yester.
day. and put in some good ticks for Wood
ward. He talks like an old boomer of the
vintage of 1887 and the beauty of it all is
he seems to be in dead earnest when he
speaks about Woodward.
Eyes sir" said he to an Eagle reporter.
II think we have at Woodward one of the
prettiest as we'll as one of the best towns
in the strip. There are now from l. 200 to
/, 500 bone fide citizens there, without
counting the floaters. Every citizen be-
lieves that Woodward will make one of
the best permanent cities in the strip, and
so do l. There are now professional boom
ers there-men here today and there to-
morrow-but all are good citizens who
came there to live and build homes for
themselves.
Are they buildingw
Yes they are building very rapidly and
putting up substantial structures. Some
business houses are being erected there
that would be very creditab!e to older and
larger towns. My company does a very
large business there and l am in posi-
ton to know what is being done in the
line OF permanent improvements. The
people are ambitious, but at the same
time they are conservative, and are not
! too anxious to run themselves in debt,
either as city or individuals. They
came from Kansas and Texas, and the
a m hi tion of he farnar cOp. hi cd with ha
conservatism of the latter. makes happy
blending. They are all united and will
pull together, elbow to elbow, in the in
| terest of their city"
what do they rely on more than the
patronage of the land office to sustain the
town."
why, my dear sir, the patronage of
the land Office is only one of the
miner elements in the success and
growth of the city. A vast
country surrounds Woodward. Some of
the land is excellent for agricultural pur-
poses while the balance makes the finest
kind Of pas,urage. II would permit my
self to foretell things l should say that the
tributary territory of Woodward will be
about equally divided between farming
will always be the cause Of the circulation
of ready money, and like all towns adjac-
ent to cat tie raising districts look for
Woodward to be lively at every season OF
the year. People, as rule, do not prop
eriy estimate the value of mixed industries
such as farming and cattle raising. The
fact is a community could not have bet
| ter combination. The products of the
farmer enter largely into the business of
| the stock raiser and creates home mar
ket. There will be just enough cattle
raised in county "M' to consume the corn
! and other feeding products of the farmers
of county IN" aud everybody knows that
this means home market and better
prices.
The more prosperous the cattleman will
be, the more prosperous the farmer will
| be, and the more prosperous the farmer
will be the more prosperous the town
people will be. need not tell you that
there is no question about the success of
cattle raising in the western portion of
the strip.
The military post of Camp Supply is an
other very material element in the
support of Woodward. Few peo-
pie estimate the value of this.
am told that over 100000
pounds of freight are handled annually
at Woodward for Camp Supply. The
amount of wages paid to laboring men and
| teamsters every year on this account ag-
gregates about $4,000. You see that this
will employ at least fifteen or twenty peo-
pie and maintain from sixty to seventy
people. Last year Camp Supply used Goo
tons of hay, 100000 pounds of coru, 30, OOC
pounds of oats and 800 cords Of wood. All
this will, hereafter, be produced in the
| immediate neighborhood Of Woodward
and will be prominent element of sup
port to the town. Ii had time could give
you good many points about Wood
ward, but have to return tonight. You
can say, however. that Woodward is one
of the very best towns in the Indian Ter
ritory and will always remain so.