The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-19
A GREER COUNTY RANCH.

| of this place. The residence consist.
Of tow buildings-the sleeping and sit
ting rooms making one and the kitchen
and dining room the other. These
buildings are separated by few feet
| There are also near stables, sheds and
a corral. The whole ranch is fenced
1t is a wide level stretch OF buffalo
grass reaching up to some gigantic
benches of granite which arise out OF
the prairie as the coiling sides OF some
monster seaEerpent would roll above
the surface of a calm sea The peace
full cattle browse at a distance across
the plains and into the sharp deep can
yons among the massive rocks. Over
these rocks which are hundreds of feet
long and almost as wide, without a
creYice, break, split or crumble, down
their polished flinty surfaces on the
other side, with mountains and cliffs
rising ON every point is a pretty little
lake, with banks of granite and floor
of the same material, as though it were
a basin chiseled out Of a solid block Of
granite by a marble worker. For
acres around the unbroken surface OF
these immense benches catch the
water. and without the absorption Of q
roof, carry it down into this little spot,
which the cattle reach through a mar
row canyon. Here scores Of miles
away from running water are some
catfish trained in" it is seriously set
forth, and a great many large frogs
that do not know what mud is, that
were probably conveyed to this home
by the same mysterious process as the
fish. Here water is perennial, the
heavy rains causing its waters to over
flow and go daShing down u little can
yon that hasn't a grain Of sand IN It,
to say nothing Of pebble, but is pol
ished granite gutter. For acres back
of this. these smooth granite benches
wave like the pillows of the ocean.
Through them can be seen wide seams,
q foot in length, leading continuously
over the mountains, in direct line
through boulders and apparently de-
tached rock. But the unbroken course
of the seam indicates that everything
is just as it was when the volcanic heat
broke the mountain in twain and shot
this silver of molten ore up through the
crack.
Mr.. Trotter has an Interesting family.
The residence was selected because Of
Mrs. Trotter'S bronchial trouble which
has, under the influences of this eli
mate, entirely disappeared. They are
all educated. The youngest son rides
five miles to school every day on his
own Indian pony and jumbles his brain
over examinations like any other
American youth No one is ever sick.
Each one Of the children has certain
duties and IS always ready and in
health to perform them. After school
the youngest son hops his pony and
drives In some two hundred cattle with
great tact and skill. 1t is his fathers
boast that there is nothing on four legs
the boy cannot ride. At night, the
coyotes struggle up to the front gate
and yelp their concert, much to the |
extreme mental agitation of the family !
log. At one place the yellow prairie
'uns UP under a great over-hanging !
edge of rock. This in winter gives |
he cattle warmth and protection from /
he northern blasts. On the ranch |
here are cattle, horses, fields Of cot |
on, Kaffir corn, Indian maize, millet, |
md, prospects into the great granite
seams may later develop, gold.
If gold is ever discovered in the |
Wichita mountain system, the opinion
S here entertained that it Will be in a
most curious mountain just south,
,nown as Quartz. There is said TO be
My one fOrma ton in the world just
Ike it. This is in Western Australia
Iount Quartz is one block of granite
Using sheer one thousand feet into the
ir from a prairie country as level as
dancing floor. This tremendous slab
f insurmountable rock is cut, crisS-
rosSed, veined and counter-veined
With seams of what l believe is termed
the cap-Stone of the gold
nd silver bearing quartz. The angle
f ascent on the face of this mountain
; So degrees, l should judge from the
ONT at which 1 viewed it. on its
ummit is Il verit3ble topknot Of
angled rock. hanging over the sides.
here may he Il way 10 reach this or
amental wad on the top OF this noun
ain but doubt it Quart is in Ok
ahoma, sixty miles away from a rail-
cad. but if anyone who has mastered
in the Rockies, the Alps and
he HinaIayaS. and wants to try some
hing real hard l advise him 10 visit
'uartz and try TO ascend its face which
rartS obligingly from the level prairie
rithout any troublesome foothills 10 /
lp the energy needed for the last, and
l this the only ascent. Two hundred
aet away from the mountain, there is
o evidence in the soil of the proximity
{ 4 mountain. So far as l have Oh
arved. this end OF the Wichita noun
inns is not wearing away or chang
lg materially by the action of the
Iements. 1t is mostly solid granite
nj concrete-rock. rock everywhere,
Ut not a stone to throw.
The North Fork of the Red river runs
ear here, and five miles down the
-ream is an old Mexican mining camp.
he traditions down here need some