The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-23
Railroads Are Bringing Many
Settlers to Kansas.
Young Men Still Follow Horace
Greeley's Advice.
HAVE MONEY TOINVEST
Farmers and Stock Raisers Come
With Capital.
Merchants Constantly Seeking
Good Business Locations.

For three years the states of the mid
die west have been pouring their over
flow into Kansas and settling the farm
ing counties of the eastern end of the
state. the towns of the gas belts and
the cattle raising counties of the west
with the best class of population. This
flow of immigration has been largely
superinduced by the railroads entering
the state. Their home seekers days
have become regularly established and
remunerative features of their passen-
ger business They encourage travel by
judicious and widespread advertising of
Kansas in the east The newspaper ac-
counts of the immense wheat crop, the
booming sales of cattle land and the
demand for farming laborers has
aroused an interest in the state from
the most desirable people of the states
east and they have turned to Kansas
for a place to invest their money.
The movement is a natural result of
the populating of the older states of the
Mississippi valley, Indiana, Illinois.
Ohio, Missouri and Iowa. The high
prices of farming land, the scarcity of
undeveloped land and the denser pop
ulation is forcing the young men west
to Kansas where equally good ground
is to be had at far lower prices and
where ready markets are fully
as available. Most of these
come with money to invest. They
are careful farmers and good citizens
and Kansas is favored by their corning.
A vast amount of this travel stops in
the southeastern counties of the state
Merchants and men with general busi-
ness experience are settling in the small
/ ,f f11e This ia also true
of the states and territories south but
the advants ges of development offered
/ by Kansas counties induces the best
class of immigrants to stop here
w J. Black. general passenger agent
/ of the Santa Fe railroad, is naturally
close observer of the flow of immigra-
| ton, particularly when it is induced by
the road he represents and by the other
| roads entering the southwest.
1.-The business of bringing prospective
! settlers into Kansas is steadily asSum-
! ing greater proportions said ne TO-DAY.
The upbuildins of the southwest is a
matter of the greatest Importance to the
railroad companies entering that coun-
| try and they are extending every en-
couragement to people in the mlddle
states who are disposed toward seeking
a new location for the various enter
prises in which they desire to engage.
| To a large etxent the people coming this
way are farmers who have been crowd
ed out of the older farming states and
]
soil of the new west. Most of them have
money to invest though many are in no
great hurry to settle. They spend con-
siderable time in looking over the coun-
try and sizing up its possibilities The
movement is gathering impetus since
those who have first come out and set
| tied have had time to send back favor
able reports of their experiences Many
of the people we carry as homeseekerS
do not finally settle for two or three
years after their first Investigations
I'VE have no way of estimating the
number of homeseekers, actual ana
bona fide, that are carried by our road.
During the fall months our trains are
crowded with them and the number
runs into the thousands every month.
The indications are that this year will
be a very busy one in the immigration
business as soon as crops are well laid
by in the fall and will continue all win
ter and next spring. Young merchants
with a little capital to invest in some OF
the new towns that are springing up in
the new country and young fellows out
to find a location either in business or
farming are constantly coming to Kan
sas"
Senator John Clancy is interested in
Kansas immigration and has kept i'll close
touch with the movement of eastern farm
| ers. In speaking of the movement of i'm
migration from the middle states Mr.. Cha
| ney said
| during the coming fall from the middle
states including the northern part of Mis-
farming and stock raising. You see that
land there sells for from 500 to $50 an
acre and a man can sell out and come TO
| Kansas and buy the same amount of just
! as good land and have money to pvt in
| the bank. An Iowa man is after a $55 900
ranch which he wants to purchase for his
bows He is in the cattle business Mis-
souri, people are constantly looking for
| chances to invest in Kansas. This is an
| unusual thing al this time of the year. 1t
is seldom that such a movement OF home
seekers should begin before the first Of
fSeptember.
| toward settling Michigan and Wisconsin.
| A great many people went north from In
diana Illinois and Iowa. but that coun-
try is pretty well filled up am glad to
see that the railroads have begun to ad-
vertise Kansas through the eastern states
and with the advertising that she has had
from wheat crop and harvest hand stories
| I think the result will be an increased
| movement this way. Kansas viii get more
than her fun portion af the immigra tor.
'sVVestern Kansas is being turned over to
parcened over into a great many big
! ranches / know of one ranch in the
southwestern part of the state comprised
of 10000 acres in the management OF
which a man named Stevens in Comanche
county owns a controlling interest. The
men who stayed through the hard times
have gathered together large tracts OF
land and it is common to find ranches Of
from 25OO0 to $1,000 acres. That Is the
proper way to conduct the cattle industry
and it is being followed cut more and
more every year"