Mexico weekly ledger., 1893-09-21
NIX AND Hossr NOT THEaR,
The Promised Lad y disappointment
to the kettiers.

The Promised I.sad y disappointment
TO the kettiers.
ARKANSAS rrY, KAN, slept, 17.-
The mystery which for so many long
years of anxious waiting has shreud-
ed the real character OF the Cherokee
Strip, the gauzy veil through which
.expeetant homeseekers Thought they
saw a Canaan, has been swept
away, The Cherokee Strip Ia now
a reality aud a very grim reality at
that, There is no Canaan about it
either. 1t was a promised land,
but it has not kept its promise, II
may do so a year from now, but at
present the Strip is about the most
uninviting quarter on the face o fthe
earth. Water is o~btainahte only in
a few places. Food is so searee that
a loaf of bread costs so ceats and a.
pound of smoked ham is worth 81.
The weather is s~uffocatine and an
other hot wind is blowing from the
south that would parch all vegeta-
ton if there vas any to parch. The
drought of the last month has left
the country burned dry. A smoth-
ering dust, composed Of a combina-
ton of fine sand and ashes from the
prairie fires, fills the air and adds to
the thirst and general discomfort of
the unhappy boomers. The ARE
less building of camp fires has set
the parched prairie blazing in many
places and boomers are out fighting
off the flames. In other places I'M
scrupulous men started the fires in
the hope of driving some timorous
claimant off a valuable tract.
WATER AT TEN CENTS A GLASS.
To-day was generally given over
to an effort to bring order out of
chaos. The farmers families have
put up tents, arranged their prim-
tive houses as comfortably as pos
sible and have begun the search for
water, either in creeks, springs, or
in driving wells. While the head
Of the family has hustled off to the
nearest land Office to file his prelim-
mary papers this work is done by
the remainder of the family. The
county seat and town sites have be-
come busy communities. Those
reached by the railways have been
fairly we'll supplied with provisions.
In those off the lines of travel the
commonest commodities command
fancy prices, SO greatly does the de-
mand exceed the supply. AT Willow
Springs, water sells at 10 cents a
glass, bread at so cents a loaf and
other supplies at proportionate
amounts. Restaurants, shops of all
kinds, drinking places and gambling
houses have been established in
tents and are doing a thriving bus
mess.
CHURCH SERVICES SHINY ATTENDED.
At Perry and Wharton to-day
church services were held, but very
slimly attended. People were too
weary after yesterdays great race,
too busy in administering to bodily
necessities, or too Indifferent to 60
to church. The centers of interest
have now been transferred to the
Government land offices. at King
fisher to-day hundreds OF tired,
weary boomers lined up in front of
the offices and will keep their places
until the office opens tomorrow. At
Guthrie no less than 1900 men and
women are in line. At Perry a line
of men a mile long stretches away
from the land office. At Pond
Creek the crowd of people DESTROYS
of doing business with the land Of
flee is enormous. The crowds at
the land office must have suffered
intensely to-day. The sun was hid
den behind the clouds, but one of
the famous hot winds was blowing
a gale from the south, carrying
dust in clouds. The men and women
who dared the dangers of yesterdays
rush, and who endured the hard
ships for the 10 days preceding,
held their places resolutely in line,
and will do SO until they make sure
of their claims by filing their papers.