The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-17

of the mountain and end there. Their
| is no doubt in my mind that G. W. Ben
ton Of Mangum is right in his hypo
thesis that the greatest part Of thi:
range is covered up with prairie.
|
Game Is fast disappearing here
Bears can no longer be found in the
mountains. Antelope and deer are as
scarce as the prairie chicken. Quail
are not more numerous than in south
ern Kansas. There are some ducks.
| The great wild turkey, which by the
way the Indian will not eat, has en-
tireIy disappeared. The great roosts,
which the men of the plains were wont
to use as sign-posts, and named with
as much care as they now name a town
or stream. are deserted. The coyote
is still here They yawl at night
around the homes of the settlers. Last
night I saw one sneaking across the
brow Of bleak hill, dragging himself
stealthily along and uttering his dismal
despairing bark.
young seem to live with the owls and
the prairie dogs / have seen hundreds
of these young rabbits lodging down
in the holes along the road after the
owl and the prairie dog. Plovers can
be seen frequently and the same may
be said of curlews. The predominant
ing feathered creature, however, is the
hawk, some of which are of great size.
This country is the winter resort OF
those great fiocks Of wild geese which
BASS over Kansas to the north every
year. During the fall they pass into
this country and remain during the
cold months. So far as I can learn,
there is little winter down here. There
are single isolated days of bitter cold
during two of the winter months.
The settlers here originally started
out to make this wheat county. Now
they are adapting themselves to the
soil and climate by diversifying.
Wheat has not been abandoned, but
the acreage has been reduced. Corn
is used SDaringly, while the cultivation
of cotton is increasing yearly. Nearly
all the towns, big and little, have cot
ton gins. This little place has one
which is busy all the time. The gin is
run by steam but the pressing Of the
bales is done by mule power. AS in
other parts OF Oklahoma the main crop
will some day be cotton; the cereals
merely side issues. In this portion
there is a fight ON between Duncan, In
dian Territory, and Vernon, Texas,
for the cotton trade Of this vicinity.
At present Texas gets all the trade of
this part of Oklahoma The people Of
Cheyenne, Roger Mills county, trade |
with Canadian City, Texas; the people |
of Delhi, Greer county, with Quanah, |
Texas, anL the people Of Altus, Man |
gum and Navajoe, with Vernon, Texas. |
One of the most pressing desires Of the |
people in this vicinity is a railroad.
They expect that some day the Rock |
Island will build west through the |
Comanche country and the Denver
road in Texas north into Greer county. |
I find big sentiment here in favor
Of the division of Greer county into two
counties. People say it is too large.
1t is ninety by forty-five miles. Altus
has ambition to be county seat.
People in this county all wear sewed
shoes. No peg shoes are sold. In talk
ng with shoe man 1 learned that
Texas is harder ON shoe leather per
:apita" than any other state in the
Inion.
In this town at the foot of the noun
aims there are some consumptive con-
1t is said that this dry eli
nate is better than the resorts in Colo
ado 1t is the boast of everybody that
meet that this is the ''healthiest coun-
~ on the face of the globe" People
10 not get sick and COW and hog dis
,ases are unknown. they tell me.