Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-14
FORMERLY THE DESERT
Progress of the Western Limit
of the Kansas Wheat Belt.
GROWTH IN FERTILITY
REMARKABLY CHANGES TO BE
SEEN THROUGHOUT THE STATE.
Settlers of a High Class-Cutting UP
the Misunderstanding the Lands
Center of United States.
GROWTH IN FERTILITY
by WILLIAM +. CURTIS.

special NofItSlpbNth'f "A'N 49, NNeN
SALIVA Kan. July 3. 1906.
The one hundredth meridian used to be
the western limit of the wheat belt OF
Kansas. and not many years ago. Now
1t runs to Page City. on the one hundred
and second meridian. In fact. wheat Is
now growing everywhere in Kansas with
out irrigation. This year it Is believed that
a sixty-five- million bushel crop has been
harvested. and one-third of it has been
grown upon what was formerly called the
great American desert. Barton Harper,
Kingman Phillips. Pratt, Reno. Rice.
Rocks and Stafford counties, which con-
tribute the great share of the wheat crop,
are in the desert.
The boundaries of the cultivated area.
the agricultural frontier. have been extend
ing gradually westward ever since the set
tlement of the state. In 1850 the extreme
limit OF cultivation was Emporia. 10 miles
from Kansas City. In 1870 the people of
Manhattan were blowing up the ground
and making gardens. In 1880 Salina was
the agricultural outpost. 2S6 miles from the
Missouri state line Before and after 1890
there were seven lean years. and many
farms in the central and western part Of
The state were abandoned; but in 1896 there
was plenty of rain and plenty of sunshine
and empire resumed its westward march.
In 1900 Ellis county was the limit but since
then the plOwman has reached the bound
airy OF Colorado. and the railways running
east and west now lined with wheat
farms on both sides.
Increased Fertility of Kansas.
There are many theories concerning the
Increase of the rainfall in Kansas. 1t is the
popular impression that the blowing of the
ground in an arid region is necessarily fol-
lowed by increased precipitation on the
theory that before blowing the rain runs
off the hard surface as 1t would from a
roof while after blowing it soaks into the
soil and is easily sucked up into the at
mosphere by the rays of the sun. There is
no doubt that the wild buffalo grass which
covered the pTairieS of Kansas with it's
matted roots formed surface as hard and
impenetrable as a slate roof, and that for
merly the water it fell from the sky ran
into the coolies and streams Immediately
without soaking into the earth. When the
turf Is turned the thirsty soil drinks in all
the rain that falls upon 1t, and the water
percolates through to the clay or bed rock
There Is no doubt that this contributes
much to the fertility of the soil. but there
Is nothing TO prove an increase of rain
fall There are records for only a few
years In the western part of the state and
they are neither accurate nor complete
The human memory is very unreliable also
and II is easy to obtain plenty of testimony
on both sides.
The average annual rainfall throughout
1904. inclusive so far as the imperfect rec
ords show. was 27.44 inches The average
rainfall for 1904 was 81. ST inches; for 1903
II was 1884 Inches, and for 1902 1t was IS 22
inches The average annual rainfall for
eighteen years in eastern Kansas was - 10
Inches; in middle Kansas 26.9S inches
and in western Kansas. 1892 inches A
comparison of years shows great varia-
tion, but no increase. The greatest precipi-
tation was in Greenwood county 90. 50
lnches) and the least was at Dodge City,
Ford county Q7.19 Inches.
In Wallace county, in the extreme north
western part of the state, records have
been kept for twelve years, which show that
there has already been more rain thus far
In 1905 than during any previous year since
1903. There were also good rainy seasons
In 1898. 1895 and 1902 The dryest years
were 1898. 1899 and 1901. The record for
twelve years proves that there has been no
permanent change one way or the other and
the remark holds good for the entire state.
1t is useless for any one to assert that the
cultivation of the soil has increased the
rainfall.
Remarkable Changes.
At the same time, there have been some
remarkable changes-so remarkable that
they may be called phenomena. Dodge City
offers one of the best illustrations. twenty
five years ago. when II was the end of the
cattle drive. nothing would grow there The
soldiers at the military post tried in vain to
make a garden. The experiments were re-
peatcd from year to year, each time with
better success. until now very fair crops
are harvested from the dry farms in that
neighborhood. while in the towns there are
gardens as good as you can find anywhere.
Old Fort Hays. where Sheridan made his
headquarters in the Indian war of 1867 was
the center of the Great American desert
and anybody who imported pillow. even
a sickle, twenty-five years ago would have
been an object Of public ridicule. 1t is now
within the richest part of the grain belt
and the Union Pacific railway hauled . 1Oi
cars Of grain out of that station last year
The cattle have not entirely gone. however
There are some large ranches in the neigh
boThOOd. Eighty thousand head or more of
cattle will be shipped from there on the
Union Pacific line alone this year
WinOna. forty miles from the Colorado
border, is the extreme western grain-ship-
ping point of Kansas. and several train
loads have been sent from there annually
for four or five years. Before that time 1t
was supposed that nothing but buffalo grass
would grow In that neighborhood but now
there are many dry farms''-that is. farms
cultivated without irrigation. from which
profitable crops are harvested every year.
There is no government land of any value
Left in Kansas. The school land has also
been pretty well sold out. and the proceeds
have been invested in state bonds. The gov
ernment lands sold for S1.2J an acre when
they were not taken up by h0Enesteaders.
the school lands brought average of
$500 an acre. and the lands on the railway
- ant All average OF S%-ZJ per acre. Inc
railway land grants are nearly all occu-
pied The Kansas Pacific Railroad Com
pany sold 22O.0OO acres last year and has
only about $4,000 acres seft in Kansas and
6O0OO0 acres in Colorado. most of 1t lying
along the boundary between the two states.
The land is selling at 81 an acre up
ward. on ten years time in ten annual in
stallments.
The original Union Pacific land grant com
prised 10000 acres. twenty miles on each
side OF the road from Junction City to Dem
Yer. and at least two-thirds OF IL is now I'M
der the piow The farms average about
leo acres each, although there are sew
eral large ones of 5000 acres or more Some
of the big ranches still remain intact The
Circle Cattle Company has So 900 acres In
Wallace county. near the Colorado bound
airy. which Is nineteen miles square. 1t
has recently sold 10000 acres to Marshall
* Roubedion. There is ranch of $4,000
acres In Logan county. Frank Rockefeller.
brother of the richest men I'm the world.
had a 1O,OO-acre ranch in Russell county
until a few years ago. but he has sold out
and left the country. owing to the unfor-
tunate killing OF a cowboy. for which he