The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-04-17
COLONY FOR WOULD-B-BRIDE
Kansas Land Owner Has Novel Pro-
ject for Attracting immigrants.


TOPEKA, Kas., April 17.-Good news
| for the widows and manageable maid
ems whose affinities nave kept out of
| their way comes from Grant county,
! in the southwestern part of this statet
They are invited to form a colony
there as a lure to 1mpressfonable
| young rancnmen. The country is so
sparsely populated that T. M. Hen
| thorn, one of the principal land own
ers, has decided something must be
done to add to it's attractions and en-
| courage settlers. He has hit on the
| idea of getting some unattached wo-
men and locating them in Grant coun-
| ty. He believes they will draw far
mers, cowboys and ranchmen from ali
parts of the state, who will choose
wives from among them, and, with
gentle feminine hand to guide them,
settle down to the raising of cattle and
the cultivation of the land.
| The first step has been marked with
Inc little success. Henthorn has found
thirty-eight women who are willing to
take a chance, and, rather than remain
spinsters at home, go out in the wilds
and see what fortune will do for them
| in the way of husbands. Whether the
| few men in Grant county will look
with favor on the land and a comely
wife offer which Mr.. Hentnorn is pre-
raring for them cannot be determined
until spring. By that time the little
colony will be established near Ulysses,
the county seat, and if the brave prove
brave enough, they will find the fair
waiting for them.
| No AdamIess Eden.
The population Of Grant county is
less than four hundred, and nearly all
is centered in and close around Ulysses.
II is a wise precaution that has led Mr..
Henthorn to plant his colony where 1t
will be within reach Of civilization if his
plans miscarry, for if the women are
unwooed, in spite of their having to
/ come to the place with the object of
tempting suitors, they will be able to
return from their Adamless Eden to
haunts where they can be sure of find
ing men.
But Judging from the interest which
the project has aroused among the
Kansas rancnmen who hitherto nave
gone fancy free, the settlement will
have no lack of visitors after the col
orists arrive. The fact that sub
siantial dover, in the form of claim
Of land. goes with each bride is likely
to prove an additional inducement to
cowboys who are tired of bachelor life
and want to set up homes of their
own. Careful measures have been de-
vised to protect members of the col
onv from the designs of wooers who
would take advantage of their inno-
cence.
! Garden City, on the Arkansas river
is one of the principal places from
which recruits have been drawn. 1t
is in Finney county, adjoining Grant
AMI the women there are we'll enough
ACQUAINTED with conditions in south
western Kansas to know what they are
being called upon to face Most OF
Grant county is barren and waterless
and though a branch of the Cimarror
river and one or two smaller streams
rim through it, irrigation is necessary
in most sections before the country
can be of great value even for grazing
purposes.
Once a Wild Land.
From the days of the pioneers it has
been left alone, for, in addition to its
natural difficulties it was exposed te
Indian raids long after the center and
eastern parts of the state were set
fed. The Kiowas, COMMANDERS and
Southern Cheyennes infested its
boundaries, and it was through here
that their line of march lay when they
set out north on the warpath or or
raiding parties. Custer finally beat the
Indians back on this side, but for years
after they were supposed to be con-
! centrated in their reservations in wna1