The Red Cloud chief., 1896-08-21

calves We inquired of a land agent
what land was worth and were told
that it was worth from three dollars to
nothing per acre. At Lincoln Centre
we cross tho Saline river, and now we
feel that we have again reached a land
of corn and wine" or rather "whpnt
and VINE, as that cereal is the main
article Of production here. Hundreds.
or u might say thousands of acres of
wheat meet our gaze, now mostly in
shock. As we pass on into Ellsworth
county we find a strip of country badly
damaged with hail and we were told
that 1t was accompanied with the hard.
est rain ever known since the county
was settled. So far all the way from
home we have had muddy roads, but
now we come to IA cattle country. We
go through section after section of
fenced pastures and we see many fine
cattle. We are told there that the land
is owned by the mortgage companies"
aud j. leased to the cattlemcn.
Ia some instances where the surface
soil l. oil to Il depth of two or three
inches, we travel over sold rock rs
smooth rs tables and resembling the
paved streets of our large cities. The
little Lizard known ~ the swift"
abound here, and it seemed To me they
were nearly rs thick rs grasshoppcrs.
We iind our first dusty road, south of
Little river in Rice county, and from
there on we have it dry. We arrive al
Hutchinson, in Keno county, on Satur.
day evening where we have friends.
aud stop To spend the Sabbath. Hutch.
inSon is Il beautiful city with it's vide
clean streets and shady avenues. lis
population is ten thousand. II has
fourteen salt plants, aud salt i worth
forty cents II barrel there. The vein
from which the salt is taken il thre,
hundred feet thick and four hundred
feet below the surface. There are two
ice factories there which turn ON,
twenty five tons OF ice daily and sell,
for t~uirly.iyo cents per hundred. In
lur coulter of the rily there isl b,aurI-
Iui fountain continuing a statue Of ,
bug" ear al corn from the top of which
.ouIuatr> q constant stream # water
represent the produc'iyoncss
Of the Arkansas river valley, CoRN and
SALT. The statue bcar,thc Inscription,
Ladies' Columbian Club 1893 The
valley of the Arkansas river is indeed
another corn belt, and the land near
Hutchinson Is valued at thirty dollars
per acre. All along the valley we find
the lilcst trees we have ever seen that
was planted by the hand of man. for.
got to say that Hutchinson contained
ten school houses all Of them larger
than the high school building at Red
Cloud, One of the state reform schools
Is located there also. We had the pleas. |
ure of visiting the buildings and found
them to be massive stone structures
with every window barred aud with
fine drives and well laid out grounds. |
from Hutchinson south we faced hot
all of the way. About eighteen
miles from the north line of the terri
tory known rs the "Strip" we crossed
salt fork of the Arkansas river.
As we crossed we dipped up some of
he water and had our first taste of
natural salt water. We travelled for
miles in the "strip" without see.
ing 4 piece Of brush or timber six
inches long. Many of the claims seem.
to be abandoned and we were mad,
to realize what a Settlers sIlanty'
meant when we saw some of the
''makcslifts' hat were made to ans.
wer for houses. We arrived "a, our
August I'd, and were in.
that hot winds had been blow.
ing for twelve days. II this escapes
waste basket ] may write again,
my impression of things gen.
in this much talked of country of
Very Respectfully Yours,