Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1895-03-06

1 AAOW W manu- 10OUCys
The following interview appeared in
the Wichita Eagle of March 1st. The
interview is with our fellow townsman,
! t. L. Lindley. and is worth republish-
! ing.
| L will tell you how to solve this IT.
rigation problem for western Kansas .
SAID L. l.. Lindley of Medicine Lodge
| yesterday, as he leaned back in one of
the big chairs in the county attorney Is
office and placed his feet securely on
the table.
Then the Medicine Lodge man told a
story, every word of which Judge Nc
Canless endorsed, because the Judge
used to live out in that section of the
county,.
Mr.. Lindley then asserted with great
assurance that when the farmers IN
vaded western Kansas with his farm
machinery and wheat field that he drove
away prosperity instead.
He named over number of men In
Barber and Commanche counties who
used to own large ranches and herds of
cattle and who were mparatively rich
men and who were today struggling
under mortgages and must eventually
give up their ranches. These men had
given up cattle raising and had invest
ed III farm machinery and gone to farm
ing and that was what ruined them.
He declared that southwestern Kan
sas would be the richest country in the
world when people got back to the pro-
per level that nature intended and that
was stock raising. he SAID when the
| wheat field drives away the herds of
| cattle that the blue stem grass comes
IN and kills out the buffalo grass and
then the county is no good.
Mr.. Lindley explained how the two
last summers had been dry and the
blue stem grass, which is the buffalo,
had returned, land now" said he, "we
have wintered more cattle than any
body else.''
1T Is estimated that Is 600 cattle
were shipped into Barber county last
fall and some $1,000 sheep also came.
| A good deal of this stock was wintered
on the range without mouthful of
feed other than the buffalo grass and
they are in fine condition now. Now
what is the use in fooling with wheat
in natural cattle range like that in Bar
Der county and having the state donat-
ing money to buy seed wheat for the
farmers when they can raise cattle and
get rich.'
1.-The people down there are getting
fair prices for cattle now. Major Hood
of Emporia came down the other day
and selected 800 head of fine feeders
and there is plenty of cattle in that
| section.
when western Kansas gives up
wheat and corn and gets back 20 alfalfa
sorghum and katfir corn and cattle it
will be all right. 1t Is all right now if
only people would not try to raise some
thing that cannot be raised in the coun-
try. We do not need either summer
rains or irrigation to raise CATTLE"
Mr.. Llndley however admitted that
great crops could be raised in Barber
county oy irrigation. He said that G.
B. Currie, who lives about mile from
Medicine Lodge, last year irrigated 1OC
acres of alfalfa and cut the alfalfa
three times and that the three cuttings
had yielded six tons to the acre which
in Medicine Lodge is worth $40 per ton
which made $50 per acre.
MIR. l.indley however claimed that
it requires capital to irrigate and that
there is more clear money to be made
in the stock business than IN any kind
of farming that requires costly machin-
cry. He declared that just so long as
men went to western Kansas and Okla
hOma to raise wheat and corn that Sec
tion would be squealing for aid and if
they depended on cattle they would all
get rich.