Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-11
THROUGH WHEAT BELT
Washington Correspondents
on the Wind Swept Plains.
BLOOMING LASSIES
KANSAS HOSPITALITY AWAKENs
SENTIMENT OF THE BOYS.
Millions of Bushels of Grain in Sight
Farmers Prosperous and Happy
and Railroads Congested.
BLOOMING LASSIES
Special From a STAFF Correspondent.

Special From STAFF Correspondent.
HAYS CITY. Kan, September 8, 1903.
The Washington correspondents in their
special train on the siding were awakened
at o'clock this morning by a prolonged
blast from a neighboring wheat elevator.
and simultaneously there appeared COM
mittee of citizens, who declared that the
prairie chickens were broiling. the coffee
steaming and the bacon and eggs frizzling
In the pan. The boys turned out.
Facing the train was the main street of
the town, with the familiar little western
one-story buildings with high false front,
a roof over the sidewalk and hitching posts
at convenient intervals. On every side
stretched the prairie. the horizon clean as
cut steel In the clear morning air. The wind
swept over the plains, bringing tonic in
every breath and making you step high and
feel as If you dared your adversary to
come and knock chip off your shoulder.
Beautiful Wild Flowers.
Lining up on the platform the correspond
ents were introduced to their escorts, and
the line Of march to the local hotel taken
up. There in the dining room were long
tables decorated with the glorious wild
flowers OF the prairie. Little girls stood at
the door to pin bouquet upon each mans
lapel as he entered. With the scarcity of
help In this region 1t would have been
impossible for the proprietor to serve such
a number of guests. so the young ladies Of
the State Normal School volunteered to do
that duty.
They looked appetizing enough them
selves-fresh blooming lassies, in their
dainty summer gowns, each one bearing
the air of a hostess in her own house.
promptly they appeared with the break
fast Great platters of luscious wild prai-
RE chicken, killed the day before and
broiled to a turn; pitchers of steaming cof-
fee accompanied by rich cream. such as a
city dairyman never saw; great piles of
fat' brown rolls and pats of yellow. clover
FED butter; potatoes steaming in their
skins; cantalOupes, peaches, white grapes
pears. And this is bleeding Kansas.
Prairie Chickens Galore.
After the last vestige of prairie chicken
had disappeared the company were loaded
in buggtes and driven out to the state ex-
pertinent farm. This is institution to
teach the farmer how to farm scientifically
and to demonstrate the value Of irrigation
Side by side were fields of corn. alfalfa, SUI
gar beets sorghum cane and vegetables,
one irrigated and the other not. The diff
ference was marvellous. and plain that
even layman could see 1t.
Then the boys were taken out to Clusters
old camp ground, which he occupied in the
early sixties when he was protecting the
settlers from the Sioux Now 1t is an al
the rich grass. hub-high Near by runs a
gully. where the troopers got water, and
some distance off was high ridge, upon
which one could almost see the stationary
form or a caValryman outlined against the
clear sky. as he stood sentinel over the
trail.
From the top Of that ridge a most en-
trancng view was obtained. More than a
W In, fuht
awaiting threshing, each stack supposed to
contain one hundred bushels worth now "a
cents bushel. Here and there the smoke
of thresher was visible, but 1t will be
Christmas before all the wheat in this sec
ton alone is threshed out.
Industrious People.
This county contains 10000 Inhabitants,
and this year raised 100000 bushels of
wheat. Figure out the per capita value Of
that one product. The Inhabitants include
many Russians and Germans, thrifty and
industrious people, who use the proceeds of
each years crop to buy more land. 1t is
said you can never buy an acre from a
Russian. however What he gets he holds,
and only the disconnected Americans sell
out. While my escort was explaining that
he pointed to mover" Winding along
the dusty trail was canvas-covered
wagon loaded with the family and their
humble lares and penates, a troop of dogs
following.
"Off to Oklahoma" said the guide, "and
they won't stay there long, but will soon
be on the way to Texas or Arkansas Some
thrifty Russian has turned long stocking
inside out and tumbled out some money to
pay for the farm which that family occu-
pied"
On the way back we crossed little
stream. and tramp arose from beneath a
tree and stretched himself One of the
party wanted to give him a quarter to buy
his breakfast he looked so forlorn.
GIVE him nothing" said the emphatic
kansan who was acting as escort. He can
walk two hundred yards and get work for
$3.50 a day and board. No man who Is able
to stand on his pins need want in this
country
Just then we reached the threshing ma
chine which was rapidly lowering two i'm
mense stacks of wheat in the straw.
powerful coiored man was pitching" the
So a day" said the escort, land in few
days the proprietor raised him to 81 lest
some one else would get him. An ordinary
ignorant farm hand can make g. 80 pitching
wheat and keep busy until Christmas"
Amateur Pitchers.
little further on was another thresher.
and here half a dozen Of the boys mounted
the stacks and commenced to pitch. The
proprietor danced about, first on ono foot
and then on another. In a great stew. IF
one of them galoots drops his fork into
1ccOcT 1 III d Aitil, nc OoCAdIos.
Ten minutes of that kind Of work and we
carried the amateur pitchers tenderly back
to their carriages and resuscitated them in
the usual way.
1t is utterly impossible for the railroad
company to handle the immense crop which
the fertile soil of Kansas has poured into
the farmers grafIaries this year. They
have not the motive power and the eleva-
tors can't store 1t. On a street near the
elevator was a pile of wheat right out in
the open as big as a house. 1t was pyra-
mid shaped, with trench around 1t to
carry off the water. 1t Is said that the
rain runs off the hard kernels as OF a roof
and paste forms which protects the
grains below the Immediate surface.
1t will be a problem to take care Of this
great crop in the next few months until
the railroad can get 1t to market More
than one hundred wagons were in town
yesterday. and as we pulled out today