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

Eager For Greener Fields and Newer Pas
lures.

Especial Correspondence
PITTsBURG, Sept. 6.-It is a common
belief that the American negro is not
much Of q pioneer, and yet a very
casual inquiry and research will dis
close the fact that, when the conditions
Of his being in the country prior to the
war of the rebellion are considered, he
is as eager in the race after ''greener
fields and pastures new as are any Of
his fellows of whatever race or nation
atty.
After the war large numbers of freed
men followed the Union soldiers to the
north and west, increasing the negro
population of those sections to = marked
extent. In 1865 some $50 men, women
and children settled in Grant county,
Wis, building the town of Grant, not
far from Lancaster, the county seat. In
1877 a colony of them from Tennessee
and Kentucky settled in Graham coun-
ty, Kan, and founded the town Of Nico-
demus, located on the south fork Of the
Solomon river. The town Of Morton
City, in Hodgman county, Kan, was
founded by another colony in 1879. a
colony of negro veterans purchased a
large tract of land in 1882 in the Mouse
river valley, Dakota, and built the town
of Arnold. Butler is the name Of a
town about B miles south Of Chicago,
in which there is a large cotton factory,
the whole plant owned and operated by
colOred men. On the opening of the Sac
and Fox Indian reservation for public
settlement in 1890 fully 1, 500 Of them
secured claims in that portion of the In
dian Territory, and the town Of Lang
ston was the result. In 1892, when the
Cherokee strip was opened up, hun
dreds Of them were among the claim
~ II
founded.
None Of these efforts was mushroom
in its nature, and while their fame
has been and may continue to be Of the
mute, inglorious'' kind they serve as
a cOmplet refutation Of the charge that
the negro is not pioneer. The agita-
ton to settle in Africa has also borne
some fruit, and every little while small
companies of them leave the country for
the far distant shores Of Liberia. Re
peated efforts have been made to colombo
large numbers of them IN the Mexican
states of Sonora and chihuahua and IN
Brazil, South America, but without
success
The latest move is an attempt to set
tie model colored colony in Para
disc valley, Maricopa county, A T.,
about "A miles north Of Phenix, the
tanning colored men are invited to be-
come members. The plan is called the
tsDouglassville Colony and Farm Viii
1age' and it embraces ?, $50 acres Of
land under the canal system Of the
Pennsylvania Irrigation company, d.
vided IN tracts Of 20 acres each, with
village site of 40 acres located IN the
center of the plan. Each cOlonist viii
have residence lot in the village 36 by
200 feet, on which he Is expected to
erect his residence, barns, etc, thus
creating at the start a community of
600 people, and no farm will be more
than one mile from town. The high al
titude, hea1thful climate and fertile soil
Of south central Arizona, coupled with
the fact that statehood is yet to come to
the territory, with all the opportunities
to engage in industrial, commercial and
political pursuits which a new country
offers, are held out as Inducements The
plan is receiving the hearty commenda-
ton of the leading men Of the race, who
hail it as a practical solution of a per-
picking race problem J. L. B.