The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-02-15

years of study found how to make a
garden spot in Trego, six miles south of
Cgallah in the valley of a stream called
Big creek
In the spring of 1878. Mr.. Rich settled
on the claim, which, with later additions
CT land, now composes the ranch He
appropriately called the new home
Eureka" At that time all was un-
broken prairie and bare from the effects
of prairie fires which had annually
swept the country The ground mad
been tramped and packed for years by
roaming herds of buffalo and cattle and
the rains, when they came. ran of
quickly leaving the ground still hard
and dry. Notwithstanding these things
and the loneliness of the place, he was
happy in trying to build his new home.
With his eastern team, eastern pillow and
eastern ideas, he endeaVored to conquer
ard subdue the wild and stubborn soil
For two years he worked in that way.
raising scarcely enough fodder TO feed
his few head of stock when snow Gov
cred the grass. He builded dug-out sta
bleS and. stone cOrralS, the remains or
which still show, and by rareSt chance,
saved a few acres of grass from the
great fire of '7S. Otherwise his stock
would have been starved and frozen to
death. During this time he had worked
hard and had practically received moth
ing in return. His small amount of
money was gone and he came near fol-
lowing most of his neighbors, who were
saying good bye to Kansas. But he and
his wife luckily secured schools nearby
and by teaching two winters saved
enough to start again.
About this time Mr.. Rich concluded it
would be better to learn something of
the nature of the country and then
adapt himself to it, rather than to keep
on trying to make the country adapt it
self to his ideas. He began by keeping
a record of the various phases of the
weather and amount of rainfall. The
result of this. together with his several
years of experience, led him to deter
mine that farming must be done in
quite a different manner than farther
east In protecting his claim and ad-
joining range from fire he discovered
that the grass grew larger and by re-
tanning the old grass as a mulch, the
ground absorbed the rain and retained
IT better than where SO bare from con-
tinued burning. Also, that the soil,
which at first was hard and slow to
disintegrate. now become more easily
broken and prepared for crops. He
found that the manner of cultivating
must also be in accordance with the ma
ture Of the Runtry- The ground must
never be ft-smooth and bare, but kept
so that the fields would hold the rains
and snow and not allow the soil to blow
away
As a result of this knowledge put into
use, crops were better every year. Feed
was more plentiful and stock was in
creasing and doing better. New neigh
bors settled near and many laughed
and viewed they would show the old set
tier how to farm. But sooner or later,
they either went back where they came
from or adapted themselves to Kansas
AS the years rolled on the settlers be-
came more acquainted with the wealth
er, of the amount of rain that could be
expected; and the kinds of crops that
yielded most and could better stand the
extremes of weather Now Trego coun-
~ is on the edge of the great wheat
Delt'' and also one OF the best grass
counties of the state.
Mr.. Rich kept up his weather records
under directions of the United States
weather bureau until the time of his
death, three years ago. Since then his
youngest son has taken the observa-
tions, a summary of which is given be-
low Of the averages for the past 10
years
yearly averages Of temperature and
RAINFALL. Rain