The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1901-06-28
IS IT GOOD OR PooRP
Conflicting Opinions Regarding the Value
Of the Indian Lands to Be Opened
For settlement This Fall.

A great many people have been
awaiting the opening of the Kiowa and
other Indian lands, and have planned
TO 90 there as soon as the time is set.
From all the information gathered on
the subject the best advice is"don't &c"
In the first place the rush and
scramble viii be something fearful. In
the next place the lands there of any
value have either been already allotted
to the Indians or will be secured by
any means devised by the men who
are posted and are on the inside of the
plan.
Mr.. J. B. Penn, of this city, recently
made trip down there and he reports
that outside of the Canadian river
valley the lands are practically worth
less. He says the soil is not over an
inch deep and the lands are worthless
except for grazing purposes and poor
for that.
The Denver News Of June "a has an
account given by Capt. A. E. Trester,
sent by the government to report on
the mineral resources of the Wichita
mountains. He says there is no pay
ing mineral there, and that because of
the rush and the disappointment which
must follow, the conditions are simply
afrightful." People without means and
with no chance of employment are
there stranded and are trying to get
out of the country. That as far as the
land goes, what the Indians are not oc-
cupying is not worth having, and is
composed of sand hills and "black
jack" He also says that there is a
bitter sectional prejudice against
northeruers and fasteners, and that
Texans and Arkansans are doing all
they can to rOut the northerners.
Trester reports the crops from King
fisher, Ok, to Dallas, Tex, as bad, hav-
ing been damaged by the bugs. ANY
one who has work enough to keep body
and soul together better stay where
they are, he says. The settlers already
there on adjacent territory are against
newcomers, and will make it very IN
pleasant for them.
Stay away from the opening is the
advise of men who have been on the
ground.
The other side of the question is
that the lands in the Indian territory
are alright and that it is a ''Iand of
promise" E. Holcomb, of Topeka, a
Rock Island surveyor, is reported as
saying:
"The stories about restitution among
the people on the border are all false .
says Holcomb 1T is also false that
there are great crowds of people there
waiting for the opening. have been
all around the border, as we'll as in the
territory, and l know that there has
not been, and is not, a bit of suffering.
Including the population of the towns
on the border, there are not over 5000
people there awaiting the opening.
There has not been time this sum-
mer or last winter when a man who
was willing to work could not get sL5O
a day.
"The Comanche country is a splend-
id country; the best in the west. 1t is
the best watered country I ever saw.
It will be very valuable as an agricul-
tural country. But look for the most
sensational discoveries in the develop
ment of its mineral resources. The
country is rich in copper. coal, oil,
asphalt, marble and granite. 1 pro-
phesy that when the country is opened
up, it will develop faster than any 81
milar tract of land ever did in the his
tory of the world"