The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-08


DANvnLE, Ills, Sept. 6.-Never, no,
never, since first the white man stuck
q pillow in the fat soil of this wonderful
valley has there been promise Of so good
q crop, all things averaged, as now glad
dens the granger eye. OF course there
have been years in which this or that
crop did better. There was one year in
which wheat yielded as bounteously,
three or four when corn was as good
and many when fruit was better, but
for an all around year, in which every
product does well and some have beaten
the record, no year in our history equals
this of 1894. Wheat, midsumme fruits,
early vegetables, hay and small crops
these are already made and harvested,
and the prospect for the autumnal yield
is simply wonderful Equally encourag-
ing to the farmers are the prevailing
high prices for corn, hogs and hay.
Once more one sees the long lines Of
wagons hauling old corn to the country
depOts, once more the dollar Of the dad
dies jinRles unsteady in the pockets Of
the sons and rings with Wagnerian
harmony on the counters Of the country
merchants, and all things indicate not
obscurely the dawn Of better day.
The Poetry OF Maize.
stood the other day on a command
ing point overlooking the broadcast sec
ton Of the Wabash river bottom lands.
Five miles to the north and seven to
the south, from the Opudu bluffs on the
west to the maple clad hills on the east.
stretched one vast cornfeld, broken only
by the river channel
A mighty maize. but not without plan.
In all that area there was not stalk
less than 10 feet high and many over
~
would average 10 or IS feet, and the
tassels were just at their 1oveliest. The
wind blew softly from the south, and as
the vast yellow sea waved and sparkled
in the morning sunshine the spectator
was thrilled with joy and felt that most
sublime Of all poetry-the poetry which
cannot be uttered.
But where is the Wabash river?
Well, it has not vanished entirely, as
many smaller streams have done, but it
has shrunk to a mere branch can be
waded by a mere boy at almost any
point north of Terre Haute. The people
say that there has never been a year
when so small a rainfall was so well
distributed for the farmer, but this
drought, following the great drought Of
last year, has dried out the earth down
to bedrock Last winters rain and snow
were not sufficient to thoroughly wet
the earth, and now the rain goes straight
down wherever it strikes. ''This year 8
drought, y says an old observer, s'came
just too late to hurt the corn, just early
enough to save the wheat and hay and
at exactly the right time to leave dry
season for the fruit and mast. If a
committee Of grumbling farmers-and
they are the grumblingest people in the
world-had the ordering Of it, they
cCuldn't have bettered it-that is, with
40 more rain to go on" Just the same
the fishing runs are dry and the fish are
dead. The swamps have burned over
and killed the moccasin snakes, and the
Wabash is shrunk to a rivulet.
The shrunIxen wabash.
Fifty years ago the Wabash was navi-
gable for good sized steamers four
months in the year and sometimes six.
Early in March large Ohio river boats
began to land at Terre Haute, and
month later the trip to Lafayette was
made with ease. The history of naviga-
sicn on this river is the history of civili-
cation condensed. It was first the canoe
made by the Indian Of a seasoned log
followed BY fire, then the canoe more
gracefully shaped with the help Of the
white mans Ratchet, then in rapid sue
cession the pirogue, keelboat, fatboat,
or ''broadhOrn, - and finally the steam
boaS.
It was in 1916 that the first steamer
went down the Ohio. The word had
gone through the settlements that it
was to come, and the pioneers fOcIzed
from far and near and camped on the
river banks to see the painted wonder
moving without oar or sail. Soon after
the first steamer landed at Terre Haute,
but by 1885 q regular trade was estab-
lished, and the whistles of the Plovv-
boy, Fidelity, Victory, Republican.
Blue Wing and many other noted boats
grew familiar to the valley farmers One
year 60 boats went up to Lafayette and
returned with big cargoes of corn,
wheat and whisky. That was the maxi
mum. Now it is only in rare seasons
that a steamer ventures north of Terre
Baute, and then the captain studies the
clouds and at every landing posts him
self on the state of the inhowing
streams I have breasted the waves
made by a stern wheeler 40 miles above
Terre Haute on the first Saturday in
July. This year a 1O-year-old boy could /
wade the river at the same point. Sic
transit gloria Jovis Pluvii in occidente,
deleta sy1va-or words to that effect.
The English Of the locality has it thus:
Things amt like they used to be when
we was boys.
The gain, however, far outweighs the
loss Forty years ago all this country
was as malarious as the KongO basin (cli- 4
mate asidel gnats. mosquitoes and green
head flies rose from the muclzy bottom
by billions Tan obsolete Hoosier numer-
al, and for six or eight weeks in every