The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-01
Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and
Texas, Are Lands of Fatness-
| Prodigally Blessed in Climate
and Soil.
RAPID GROWTH OF THIS
MOST FAVORED SECTION
Twenty-Five Years Ago It Con-
sisted Mainly of Prairie-Now
ills Tricky Dotted With Thriv.
ing Cities.
BY HERBERT vANDERHoOF.

BY HERBERT yANDERHOOF.
i Special Correspondence. !
OKLAHOMA CITY, Ok, Aug. %, 1900
t is difficult to realize, sitting here in this
handsome and we'll provided, modern city,
hat twenty years ago it was thing less
han dreamed of that the beautiful young
tipire over which it sits enthroned was
lradise primitive, almost untrodden. The
-prush Of this part Of the Southwest from
nelly silence to populous thrift has had no
arallel anywhere else in the story Of the
world, not even in the magical growth OF
>ur mighty West.
Oklahoma, the Indian territory, and the
djoining parts Of Texas constitute the very
.enderloin OF the continent In all that goes
O make for ideal conditions in living and
abor and homely luxury. The soil is fat,
Ind the elements are so kindly that wheat,
he distinctive product Of the North, grows
tide by side with cotton, the staple of the
south. Forty bushels Of wheat to the acre
sno uncommon yield, and cotton a bale
md q half Is usual.
Anything that grows anywhere else grows
lere, and grows easily.
1T takes lively man to plant cucumbers
Town our way" said one complacent coun-
ryman to another in the lobby of the hotel.
"Why?" asked the other.
Because when you stick the seed in the
.ound, if you don't run like scared wolf
ne vines'll get you all tangled up before
'ou can hit the fence"
The other man continued without finch
ng:
'tCucumbers do grow fast down your way,
0 I've heard. Yes, indeed. But we've got
GU skinned to death on early potatoes out
--ur way"
MANY to the hill?"
.'Nope. Size. One of our potatoes would
II peck measure, and three or four would
lake square meal
~ Wealth for Farmers.
Even metaphor sprouts fluently on this
oil and in this climate. That is because
very one is care free. There's no brood
lg over the weather. The seasons are
-lmost continuous. Four crops of alfalfa
ay are taken in the year, and after the
)urth, in the so called winter, cattle are
lrned In to fatten on the stubble. Snow
eldom flies, and never lies long, frost is
frequent, and the heats of summer are
,mpered by nights invariably cool. On
lde stretches Of prairie, underlaid by pull
srian limestone, fourishes the same blue
Ass that made Kentucky famous as a
lie stock country.
All life is at home here at it's best and
lie farmer can do most of his work sitting
own and driving, with a sunshade over
m, while he rides. 1t is the finest and
ost varied farm country under the sky,
I'd it is farmed to the mines by the best
owed machinery.
The population is the most active an6
ert to be found anywhere in the Union
YER 80 per cent are native born Ameri-
MS under so years old, which fact is sig.
dcant of their enterprise and yigor
lere are no poor people in the sense We
,derstand 1t in the North. AS you view
country from your window in the Pull
IN car you see none but good houses ant
sy people, and the folk that gather at thu
atoms are we'll clad, we'll set up, healthy
look at, and there for purpose. Shift
~'4"-~ssness is human trait, and some Of 4
ny exist among them, but absolute pow
~ Is thing unknown, and born vaga
nd would never stay here, because moth
saround him would suit his tastes.
Fatness, Full Barns, and Ease.
Wherever you look, whether your trail,
crossing valley or prairie, or upland
prospect Is the same. 1t spells fat
SIS, full barns, and ease. The waite
lrses are many and clear, the shade no
eat, but sufficient, the houses are com
table and often very handsome, tn
vns are frequent, and in most Of then
best buildings are schools an
riches. To live here "methinks Wer
.adise enow."
III this is on the surface and visible
t more lies deeper. Nature has bee
lcifully prodigal in the land and belo1
--"" Much Of the country is highly miner
zed, not in precious metals, but in Goa
oil. The anticlinal Of Kansas extend
It'll across northern Oklahoma into tn
Ian territory, and the oil fields Of tn
,ge nation are coming into rich pro
'tion. The great antlclinal of Texa
letrates northWesterly into Oklahom,
, oil won here is equal to the best {
Chanute and Beaumont fields, and som
Usage wells are giving heavy flo
the very highest quality known west
Mississippi. Cement and fine brio
vs. are common, and In the last five yea1
9 been freely opened and worke
lrries of superior granite are furnish
the stone for the finer new building
he towns, and in the north and west
ahoma there are a few profitable col
mines in active work.
II the northeast of Indian territory Ii
extension Of the zinc and lead fields
lsas, Missouri, and Arkansas, and
atabIe industry In the winning of the
;has been made possible by the branch
,wn to them by the Frisco and Ro
nd railroad systems.
Riches Below the Ground.
nd the ground furnishes the people wi
e coal. This most important becau
i necessary mineral Is being worked
ale that is steadily increasing, so tn
'ywhere along the hundreds Of miles
way steel that crisis crosses the territ
IN every direction coal is cheap, a.
ufaeture is simplified by its use for t.
ration of power. And so the wheat
ind In local mills, and the cotton ginn
ONE. Much of the wheat, that is. T
Is too large to be so handled, I
is little and lessening need for brin
-four here out of the North.
e whole region is good for all lines
ness, because it is ideally good for t
Ter The axiom that all wealth CON
[ the soil is made good in this ca
.comprehensively. In a country whe