Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1898-08-20
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20.
! MARVELLOUS DEVELOPMENT.

~ MANvGAVOS DEVESoF NhsiNs
The following article appeared in
last Saturdays Galena Times:
Editor Times:-At one of your no
tells few days ago heard stran'
ger say, "the top of the ground
around here isn't worth twenty-five
cents an acre." Possibly he was
looking for something below the
surface, else he certainly would
move on. What he said suggested
the thought that many man has
gone over the region around about
Galena, in the years long past, and
has gone away, thinking not only
that the top of the ground is not
worth twenty-five cents an acre,
but that even below the surface it
is not more valuable. Thus, of
those who have come and tarried
awhile, and have gone away in a
spirit of disdain, it may be said that
there are ships that pass in the
night.
Twenty-three years ago / went by
stage from Baxter Springs, Kansas,
to Neosho, Mo-, stopping over night
in Joplin, which was then town of
board shanties. squalid, unpreten-
tious, uninviting. II looked to be
a desperate adventure, engaged in.
for the greater part, by persons of
changing habits and poorly de.
fined purposes. 1t was alone in the
world; for no railroad company
had given ii favorable considera-
ton. II had a decidedly frontier
appearance, and it was not without
the reputation of being a compar-
atively tough place; for it was well
supplied with class of people who
had a remarkably free aud easy
manner, come of whom were men
and some women, as we are told OF
Billingsgate. in one of the old read
ers. believe that the same repu-
tation was suggested as attaching,
at that time, to Baxter Springs, al.
so; for in those days il was not I'm
common to have "a hot time in the
old town." as some of the early set
tiers may recall. As for Galena,
there had been no dream of the town
such as il is now. Baxter Springs
was then the terminus of the rail
road, and there were no indications
of an early change of it's condition
in that respect. Its importance az
a trade center overshadowed every
thing within a comfortable radius,
though even then it had seen better
days, having been the key to the
Indian Territory and kind of rem
devious for the drovers from Texas,
and from other regions far away.
At the time of which write, il had
begun to wane. Its glory. never go
great as that of Rome or of Thebes,
had already begun to depart. Bax-
ter Springs ought to be a city of
twenty-five thousand people. In
stead of Springfield, II ought to be
the manufacturing center of what
we call the Southwest; but it's OPP
portunity, in that respect, has been
lost. II must seek advancement
along some other line; and this il
will, at a time not far away; for
with the advantages which nature
has given il, il will not always re-
main q place of no importance.
This week I went from Galena,
Kan, to Carthage, Mo-, not in
rickety stage coach, drawn by a
jaded four-in-hand, but in car
rage whose upper parts seemed al
most as II built of wicker work, and
whose speed was that of the wind;
for II was drawn by lightning, upon
rails of steel. The distance 10 about
twenty-five miles. and at this sea-
son the trip lie perfectly delightful
one. To the thoughtful person il
inspires the emotion of wonder; and
to him there comes a feeling almost
of exul,ation, u great joy growing |
out of the consciousness that he
lives at time when science lie do.
ing 80 much toward making life
worth the living. The matter of
cheap, speedy and comfortable To-
Is among the highest
aims of our civilization. The an
noyance of smoke and cinders, so
constantly present with the ordin-
airy railroad coach, is here entirely
unknown. The car moves along.
innocent of any apparent effort on
the part of any person or thing.
and one feels as If impelled by the
operation of mind. through the
force of a strong though gentle will
power.
The road passes through Joplin,
Webb City and Carterville; and the
entire distance between Galena and
Carthage, outside of the other cities
may be considered. In
its present condition, as half way
between city life and country life,
90 convenient is II to go from place
to place, upon almost any kind of
business in which one may be en-
gagged. Everywhere there are In
dicatious of thrift shown in the