New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-01-25
rur BURNT COUNTRY.
ncARpEN TRANSFORMED Nio a LES '" =

Lincoln Neb. Jan. ~ "a
1904 has affected the whoie country more
Or less and it has hi""c ""i" "'No' III
al the states Of the cor" oei'' Out II
eoon,s n have settled the ia'e OF southwestern
vebre ska completely. For years II mas Deen an
-, ouostion Just how iar west the region be-
,.or tho Platte and the hepuphcan rivers Is
arah,a Last summer the country itself answered
h''o'e 1S,,or once and for all For the last five
." chase Dundy. Hayes. Hitchcock and the
$500 half of Lincoln and Perkins counties
,a,.o heen subject TO almost continual drOuth
clear cold. almost snowless winters have been
to,,owed by scorching summers. until the re-
.ources Of the country are exhausted.
Tbere was time when that country was a
and Of plenty From 1850 to 1890 saw the
Golden age of prosperity. The rains were heavy
sna constant. the cornfelds were measured BY
,olss and the rich grasses grew so high that the
o,,,,e hardly had to stoop to them: the long
,asoons were filed with sparkling water the sun
covers nodded on every hill and the whole coun-
,,v rus,led with the promises OF Eden. \
hundred little towns sprang up along the West
A., lines Of railroad. homestcaders and buyers
came on every train, and the country was full
~ corn and money and people. AS a result Of
oil this prosperity the country went beyond its
70 borrow. and every one spent money Nearly
avery one went into debt because he could get
~, OF It easily Nearly every one mortgaged
t,s farm because he could lift the mortgage with
any one corn crop. At last there came year
vhen the corn didn't come. and ii hasn't come
since. Among people who are living up to their
means and n little beyond. total failure of
crops Ike that Of 1890 is terrible thing Their
resources were cut off entirely. but their expenses
went on just the same. The only thing they
could do was TO borrow more money at high
rate OF interest, mortgage their personal property
and trust TO next years crop. For four long
years since then the farmers OF Southweste tern
Nebraska have borrowed and mortgaged and
watched the smiling serenity OF that sky unit,
hope has died in even the bravest hearts The
rainfall has simply stopped and the drouth of
1894 has finished matters. 1t has picked the
bones Of that country and left it bare and
bleached. Men are tired OF planting crops that
never mature. and of stalking their homes and
fortunes for corn that never tassels They have
decided that making the desert blossom is not a
paying business. They have decided everything
over 10 their mortgages and have gone east
ward by the hundreds. The southwestern part
it was ever settled. and in half the little towns
along the Western roads the county officers and
The postmasters are about the only inhabitants
eft.
4 NEWLY MADE DESERT.
As TO the country itself. IL is desolate enough
o give an ordinary farmer a chill just to look
I f. The Republican River has dried up
ntirely. Half the cornfieds are empty. for the
arly corn never came up at ALL The corn that
as planted late stands just as 1t stood the day
he hot winds cooked IT in the fields before II
as two feet high. Grass-there has been none
here are whole precincts that. had they been
lowed with a lawn mower would not have
ielded one ton of heritage. grass weeds and
,dder in all. The little patches of gray. curly
uffa.o grass that usually furnish winter forage
u the roaming herds have been gnawed down
o the very roots by the starving cattle. For
ronths the whole country has been dead
aked brown. like clay from furnace. Even
he prairie dogs have given up the fight and are
ave sold all the stock they could and killed the
est. and have left the land they could not
ope 10 sell and started southeastward In their
lumber wagons. There are only too many in
tances Of intelligent men and their families
eaving the scene OF their bitter failure with
MY their thin, crippled horses, and less than a
'ollar in cash to start over again" Surely the
memory OF vain hardships and cruel disappoint-
nents is poor capital on which to begin anew.
The white prairie schooners that started in
great fleet down through the Republican Valley
few months ago. and that are still followed
Tow and then by stragglers varied and vari-
us as TO their occupants, There is the common
ype Of the man with unkempt beard end dreary
ullen eyes. the woman with faded hair and the
creaming children But there are other types
hat one does not often find in a covered wagon
ne young man who drove into McCook to halt
Or dinner had an upright piano in the wagon
nth his sklets and cook stove, and as he sat
1 the shade Of the cottonwoods eating his cold
riddle cakes and bacon he had a copy Of Tenny-
on open on his knees. The movers are not
II Of the ordinary farming class Some Of
hem far above the average In education
tut an intelligent man starves just as quickly
s dull man-sometimes a little quicker Many
,dustrious respectable families, that have once
cen considered very well fixed are reduced
D the extremity OF begging their way from
own TO town as they journey eastward.
STRANDED AND STARVING SETTLERS.
But pitiable as is the condition Of the people
rho are driven away there is another class still
more to be pitied. There people who cannot
cave the wilderness Their farms. buildings
Ind live stock are so heavily mortgaged that
hey are bound to that arid soil to prison
There have already been several cases Of actual
leath from starvation. and In the fall many
people were reduced to boiling up the weeds
mat grew around their wells and gardens for
reens' and to eating horse flesh. What will
Oecome OF them this winter until aid reaches
'nen no knows. They are utterly without
resources and without hope. The buildings in
'ns deserted towns Will probably be torn down
sno used for fuel. but they will not be sufficient
- Keep the people from freezing Many OF the
people live on the frontier and could not get to
VOTE, mork Without aid, even II It were offered Ten
.saIs ago the people OF that country burned
e.v Yin Tor fuel because they had thousands Of
Jhusnels and 1t was cheaper than coal. Now
rrsey nave not even sunfiower stalks TO burn.
sufferers of