The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-02-14
AN IRRIGATION SCHEME
Company Formed to Use the Water in the
CHEYENNE Bottoms.

| A great inland sea is being projected
near Great Bend by an enterprising COM
pany of citizens of Kansas and Colorado.
| The promoters propose to turn the Ar
kansas river into what is known as the
| cheyenne Bottoms thereby creating q
lake about ten by twenty-five miles in ex-
| tent, to be used as a resort and for irri-
cation purposes.
| An Eagle reporter called on Hon. Will
| lam Matthewson, who is familiar with
every section OF Kansas. and asked him
| what he knew about the Cheyenne Bot
| toms and the proposed enterprise. He
said:
II have hunted ali over that great ba-
| sin and il is simply an alkaline or gum
| DO basin some twenty miles long by eight
! to ten miles wide. and holds water like
| a jug. 1t is almost entirely surrounded
| by bluffs twenty-five to fifty feet high,
and the land is almost worthless"
Mr.. o. T. Simmons. who is always
alert on any enterprise that will benefit
Kansas. was seen. He said tina. he knew
most al! of the promoters OF the COM
pany and that they were men of push
AMI capital and that they have already
secured the right of way and made a
survey of the ditch. Options have nearly
all been secured on the land in the basin,
and the work will be pushed in the spring
| This inland sea will have beneficial
effect on the climate of western central
Kansas. and thousands Of acres of land
can be irrigated from this lake in the dry
season. Mr.. Simmons further stated that
in his judgment the big slough and the
gumbo basin three miles southwest of
this city could be used in a similar man
ner and Sedgwick county fruit and truck
farms irrigated in a dry season, and
crops doubled in quantity and the bust
ness reduced to certainty. Besides
Wichita could be made great health and
summer resort.
Owing 10 the thousands Of idle men in
the cities there is a growing demand for
small farms of ten TO twenty acres near
some city with ample railroad facilities.
Mr.. Burbank oc California, said in re-
ference to small tracts of land:
"A thousand acres of land are required
to support a wild savage, and he does not
live on the fat of the land at that. Civil
lization has taught the farmer how he
may exist on a ranch of 100 or 200 acres
BY concentrating his energy little more
the orchardist is enabled TO live incom-
fort from the proceeds Of twenty or thir-
ty acres. The nurseryman goes step
farther and makes as much money as
any of the others with five acres Of and
BY concentrating the native energy of
Tire liluldI WHO IeuulTeS u thousand acres
of lad to support him. my business ena-
bies me to live better from the proceeds
Of square rod OF land
While l could live on a patch of land
not much larger than a cemetery lot. I
prefer 70 do business on a large scale
and make more money. As a result I
have under cultivation about fifteen acres
Of land. | hire men 10 do all the garden
ing for me and l only exercise general
supervision over the business"
While VI. Burbank has been tending
this little patch of land OF his in the
Santa Rosa valley he has done more 10
advance plant life than any other man
living. His first achievement was the
creation Of the Burbank potato.
Thus it IS seen that "up to date" pro-
ducers do not want the whole earth in
order 20 make money out OF the PROD
ucts OF the soi'$nd that Sadgwick coun-
" would amply support one or TWO hun
dred thousand people including the city
OF Wichita.