Arizona republican., 1898-10-27
THE SHORT GRASS COUNTRY
Changes Thai Have Taken Place
 Since inc Boom.

Two great divisions exist on the prai- ries-the short-grass country and the blue-stem range. In the latter are fenced farms, occasionally macadam- ized streets. electric lights and tele- phones; in the former, wide reaches of level plain, perfect circled horizon, ghostly relics of greatness that did not last and of hopes blasted.
 The short gray grass that curls closa to the ground and scarcely furnishes hiding place for the timid quail CT the crouching jack rabbit, spreads LIS blanket over the high prairies; it IS cured by the autumn sun, and when the impatient and hungry Texas steer paws away the December snow he flnos beneath a sustenance that will give him weight and growth. A trip across Q dozen counties Of the short-gIass sec ticn of western Kansas reveals some startling changes from the heyaey oi glery when the boom was at IFS heIghi-
 The train runs daily except oun- day" one train q day per road With q scanty cargo of passengers, express and freight, it takes leiSurely course toward the setting sun from morning to night and as leisurely returns. Bu- there are plenty of teams to hire, and ? ride behind the hardy western horses over the level plains is delight, though marred by it's monctony.
 At the stations the whole population comes to see the event Of the day, the trains passing. The conductor anu agent have a long friendly conversa- ton. They take eff a large bcX O. plug tobacco, a pail or two Of cheap candy, 2 few boxes of canned fruit and veg tables and leave a car of soft coal Special trains handle the cattle and larger freight. A lawyer who is con testing a mortgage bend suit, a min ister who officiates over an extended missionary circuit, a few cattlemen and occasionally motherly locking woman who has come from back east to visit the children, bringing bounti- ful supply of new clothes and presents. make up the passengers. Ten years ago the conversation was Of lots and claims; five years ago it was Of nnan- cial troubles and losses; now it Is CT herds, Of round-ups and of ranches
 The cattle era has returned, and western (especially southwestern) Kansas and Nebraska are becoming the homes Of the stockmen- Hundreds of thousands of feeders have besn ship ped in this year from New Mexico and the Panhandle. They are turned loose on the vast prairiss Of buffalo grass. without shelter and without hope of extra feed except perhaps a little "rcughness," as the Kafir corn and millet are called, in severe weather. They will be rough fed'' until spring, then "grass fattened' on the new crop Of vegetation, and sent to market. The Tanchman buys fsw hundred acres along a water course for $1 to g an acre When he fences it he forgets to step at the corner, but strings the barbed wire over a tract Of five or tan miles square. By and by an eastsrn investor who owns a quarter section cut in the midst of the pasture hears Of it and demands satisfaction. Huh, replies the cattleman with shrug of the shoulders, T did not know it was your land. If had not fenced it some one else would have done so. The land is not hurt any; if you can prove in court that it has bean I'll pay the dam ages. Its rental value is only S4S0 q year. If you want the land out of my pasture, take it out" Of whole coun- ties where residents cwn less than 20 per cent of the real estate scarcely an acre remains as free rang-alI is en- closed in somebody's ranch.
 The towns are without homer even in their own country. Thsy have lost population, valuation and buildings They were laid out On liberal scale in the expectation that they would build up." Scattered ever 8 wide ter ritcry, cften half mile or more be- tween boundaries, are tha struggling houses, the square, ,fronted frame store buildings and the small shops, all need- ing paint and some needing inhbitants-
 In the csnter of the 3'city" are the boom buildings-handsome brick blocks two and oftentimes three stories high, with marble pillars, fianking the main doorway and ''1S85" emblazoned on the front. The bank occupies the last of these, and the business firms take as much as they nesd of ground floor Of the remainder. The upper floors accommodate the few profession- al men and hctel. A half-dozan office rooms far down one hallway, the par for on another and the office tucked away behind a clcth-partitioned bed room.
 Tn a land where cattle herds graze in sight of the dining room the milk is pcor, the butter worse and the beef steak unchewable. There is always a handsome brick school house. Sara