The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-07
NEW RAIL WAY LINE
That viii Be Necessary For
0kIahoma'S Great Growth.
SCENE FROM CAR WINDOW
Wealth and Promise of the
Town of EI Reno.

Oklahoma Is already an empire. an EN-
pire IN her own right, an empire in do
main and IN people; an empire IN her
towns and fields and In development. Few
people outside OF the territory have any
conception Of the wonderful progress
made by that prosperous people within
the past two years. Especially is this
Island road from Medford south to e.
Reno, q distance Of say hundred or
more miles. Besides a half dozen big
towns, which are really young cities, the
country is being brought under the high
est state Of cultivation. AS the hedges,
orchards and groves are but two or three
years old, the view is as yet unobstr1cted.
Her landscapes Of homes, and unending
fields of corn and wheat and cotton
spread away in almost immeasurable dis
tances. From some points along this road
open sweeps of verdant green Of ten 70
twenty miles, with hundreds upon hun
dreds Of homes, dotting the expanse ike
glittering gems in the bright sunlight,
may be taken In by the eye at single
glance. Satisfactorily estimated, Kansas,
in several particulars, stands the eleventh
state in the Union. Oklahoma when once
admitted will crowd for the twelfth close
Iy, especially in agricultural products and
IN live stock, if not in aggregated wealth.
What IS true of the country and Of the
cities along the line of the Rock Island is
true of the cities and country along the
Santa Fe line, thirty miles east. Every
where is improvement, active life and en-
terprise. The last two splendid crop sea-
sons have not only encouraged the land
owner and stimulated the ambition of the
towns and cities, but thousands Of new
settlers are pushing west up the Cimar-
ron, the North and South Canadian rivers
and their numerous tributaries so that
tho Missouri Pacific win soon be COM
PEELED to push on down into that country
from Kiowa, or otherwise the Santa FEES
Panhandle line will have to throw out
spurs and feeders. The meanwhile the
Choctaw and Oklahoma line is being Wig
orously constructed westward from FL
Reno.
Speaking of FL Reno, a city Of four or
five thousand, with its water-works, cleo
tr1c lights, cotton compress and Touring
mills, and two railway lines, the city has
two auxiliary interests which contribute |
TO the lie and Importance of the place: |
One of these, the Darlington Indian |
Agency, but a mile or two away, where |
Major Woodson, with his headquarters |
for a half dozen tribes Of nomadically |
inclined natives, is inaugurating and sue
cessfully, too, q new Indian policy for |
the government. A mile or two further |
is the United States military post Of Fort !
Reno. This post is Just now occupied by |
a four-companied battalion of Oklahoma |
volunteers, recruited on the last call and |
under command Of Major Stone. Every
officer and every man of that five hun
dred, including the major. the captains
and lieutenants, are Oklahomans. They
constitute the reserve of the Rough Rid
ers. These men compose, probably, one
Of the finest military organizations ever
assembled. They are of the stalwart pio-
neers who participated in the run for
homes. They come from the fields and
prairies. Every man has the stride and
build Of an athlete. Their drill would
paralyze the ordinary regiment recruited
from shops and stores. They have tight
board fences, ranging from eight to six
teen feet high, over which they go at the
rate OF fifty a minute. scale them with
the celebrity and exactness of a flock of
sheep over a three-foot picket. This Ok
lahoma battalion, fresh from the fields,
with their sun-browned faces and square
shoulders of uniform size, constitute an
ideal military assemblage in their new
dark blue uniforms and yellow leggtngs.
1t looks now as though these men will be
denied chance to display their patriotic
valor, but as a support to a Rough Rider
charge they would prove immense.
oklahoma is largely settled by South
kansans, and the tie between us is not
only close. but South Kansas is becoming
more proud of the connection every dav