The times., 1897-05-09
DESERTED FARMS IN KANSAS.
Sad Lot OF Farmers In the Western
Part of the State.

Sad Lot OF Farmers in the Western
Part of the State.
There are deserted counties and towns
| and farms in Western Kansas Ii is pos
sible to ride 100 miles through the counties
of Stanton, Grant, Haskell, Morton, Stew
ems, and Seward without seeing farmer al
workin thefields. Yet time was when there
was some sort OF habitation on most
| every quarter and a mortgage for So on
every acre. The mortgage alone remains
The money secured by mortgage has been
spent, the gilded promises of rich agrcul-
tuIal country have come to naught the
prairie schooner has carried the settlers
hence, leaving the vast tract to prairie
dogs and a few hardy cattlcInen Recently
Eastern papers have sent newspaper men to
explore this sfortgrass country, and the
few persons they have found to interview
expressed the hope that they would not
endeavor to work up another boorn.
There are Just eighteen people in the four
towns OF woodsdale, Moscow, Springfield.
and Fargo Springs. There are unoccupied
houses, andin some instances gaping cellars
assertthat the houses have been ia Ike naway
by the persons who owned them In the
balmy days the county seat fights made
the now deserted towns lively enough 1t
Is really true that in one instance the court
house was kept on wheels and was hauled
to and from rival towns, guarded by armed
men like the ark of the covenant
man who owns a cattle ranchin Seward
county IS doing SO well since the crowd
left that he Ieseuts the appearance OF
travellers. He owns vast amount OF land
and uses all he wishes OF the country for
a cattle range When some one deplored the
passing of the once prosperous days and
populous times he observed that he hoped
they would never return: that there were
plenty enough people in that country now.
He has several hundred head OF cattle
possibly thousands. he doesn't feed them
any grain, and they look out for themselves,
grazing on the short grass, which gives the
Western Kansas countryits name-a name
which suggests hardship, solitude, heart
ache, and disappointment. By fall the
cattle are marketable, butin the winter and
spring they look Ike the or-backed hog
OF South Carolina or the bilious ,iJe-and-
seek COW OF Florida. In the boom times
the farmers subscribed money to hire
brass bands TO play at town lot sales
That's one way they spend their mortgage
money. And now the few who remain in
the hopeless West would not recall the
boom days IL they could They have got
down to bed rock and know they can't
borrow another cents that what they ma ke
is theirs that cattie alone may bring them
money enough to get back to better living
after awhile. There Ism t Il bank anywhere
TO tide them over. But the air is pure, the
water is good, the windmIis pump all the
cattle can drink, there is enough for the
ranchers to eat, and there is only one
pauper in the district, and she Is a helpless
old woman.
The traveller has hard time Of it.
The public places are Ill kept The
editor of the Emporia Gazette recently
stopped at a hotel in Turon and asked
the publican this ques ton: why in
the name OF dyspepsia do keepers of
Jim-crow tayerns copy the faults of big
hotels by trying to serve side dishes?
There is always the same fare at the
dinky hotel table The beef Is boiled
dry as a chip, the potatoes are watery,
the canned corn is freckIed and yellow,
the warmed-oyer tomatoes look as IL
painted on the dish. they are such
CORY, insipid red blotch." At Hugoton,
the editor says, "a woman has just
opened Ii hotel in family style She
served boiled potatoes, chicken, ham.
baked beans, apple sauce and pie
Strange that in a cattle country there
is no fresh meat! The woman told the
Gazette's editor that she had intended to
bake cake for dinner. but that morning
she had washed for her family, had
.taej sewers ses,SfUayts of bread -sUnIe Ior
tie neigislgsffs had Helped 20 take care of
a sick woman and tad been on her feet all
morning hadn sat Gown except for a cup
of coffee and hitof bread-so the morn
ing hadslippeda way before she knew itand
size didn' { get time to bake the cake. She
is old-fashioned woman with four or
five children to take care OF in addition
TO her guests. She makes her own yeast
and spreads it on the spare bed tn dry. She
said there was nothing 10 DO but work
No shows to see, no church socials 10 70
te, and church services only twice each
month &C hiracO Times Herald