Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1902-04-10
SETTLING IN TIE WEST
Large Areas For Farms Taken
Up by Colonies.
HOMES STARTED ON CHEAP LANDS

~
Fore In Western Kansas.
A significant movement in settlement
Is taking place in connection with the
development of prairie Lands at b ex-
IRENE western part of this state and
in Colorado, as well as in other parts
OF the western Mississippi valley,
where cheap land is to be obtained,
writes the special correspondent Of the
New York Post at Abilene, Kan. This
is particularly true of colonies made
UP generally of foreign descended fam
lies, who are DESTROYS Of forming set
Elements that shall be distinctly for
their W people. Agents of the Ger
man American settlements of Pennsyl-
wanna and the similar population Of
Ohio and western New York have
made many trips to the prairie states
TO seek locations for the constantly
o1erfowing numbers hat must go out
into the larger field and make homes.
A committee Of Quakers has been
travelling up the Arkansas valley and
has just purchased for the use Of h
members of that sect 5000 acres in
Prowers county, Colo, on which will
be located 1000 families. The lands
they have chosen are on one Of the
large bitches where the level acres
stretch away for miles in every direc-
t1on and where the sugar beef can be
raised in great abundance and rich
ness. The Quakers have located sew
eral colonies in the west in the last
few years, some Of which have been
successful and some not. This attempt
is based on a more substantial basis
than some of the others. Only Quakers
will be admitted, and they will come
from Ohio, Illinois and Indiana They
expect to pay $40 an acre for their
land, with an annual water assess
ment Of 40 to so cents an acre. The
bitches that supply the lands are 265
miles long and are fed from the Ar
kansas river.
Another colony just located is in
Greer county, Okla, where 1000 fami-
lies from Germany are to settle, each
family getting forty acres. This and
was bought through agents and Is to
be owned at the outset in common.
In western Kansas there is growing
up a large colony Of Russians. who are
LdhAAS LA1c WuSdl SIOu1lNS dA0 SuSNSO0
admirably in producing that cereal
They began coming in the early eight
les and of late years their numbers
have SC Increased that they are practi-
cal1y the possessors Of two or three
counties. They build churches that cost
$4,000 each. The towns are closely
built. The n~eighboring lands have been
bought up by these people as fast as
they could find the money until the
prices have been raised to the highest
Known in the western part of the state
since the boom times. Many are COM
ing from Europe at frequent intervals,
and their friends here are buying land
for them in advance of their arrival.
The Dunkards, or River Brethren,
who are allied to the Quakers without
being Of their sect, are buying more
and steadily, taking, however, the
higher priced farms Of central Kansas.
They are bringing many hundreds of
immigrants out from the east to
tend their colonies and are proving
valuable citizens in that they have no
u and scarcely a criminal.
The colonists who have moved into
Oklahoma during tie last few months
have had some difficulty in securing
farms in a body. They have been
more successful when buying up the
cheap lands in the western parts.
where the homesteaders are not so ca
ger to locate. In the northwest. where
the railroads have been behind the i'm
migration movement, whole ~neighbor
hoods in the middle states, such as IL
linois. Iowa and Wisconsin. have been
transported to new homes. 1t is est
mated that O 1000 people have settled
in the northwest since March / through
the h~omeseekers' excursions. These
excursions are becoming notable fol
the crowds they bring.
TIE wheat successes have been re
sponsible for a great deal of the pur
chasing of land. Hundreds Of sales
have been made for the purpose o.
speculation all through the "whea
belt" which now extends into wha
was once thought only fit for grazing
The lands that eastern investors n
loaned money on then took through
foreclosed mortgages and finally solt
for a trife or abandoned to go to thu
counties for the are coming in tn
market. One western Kansas count.
held $50 quarter section farms, 16l
acres each, that came to it in this way
For three years it has been trying t.
sell them for approximately $40 a quar-
ter section under tax title. Recently
owing to the demand for land. tn
farms have been withdrawn from tn
market and will either be redeemed b.
the original owners or will be sold t
newcomers for larger prices. One spec
udator has just bought 10000 acres TO
an immense wheat ranch in southwes
Kansas. 1t is SAID that his and cos
him only $3.50 an acre.
The opening of the southwest b.
means of the new lines of railway t
the Mexican border and the throwin
men of the Indian Territory to whit