The Topeka state journal., 1905-05-24
THEY'RE COMING.
People Buying Up Western
Kansas Land.
Sheriff McAlister of Lakin Talks
Of Prosperity.
ONLY ONE WEAK ONE.
This Man He Says Is Now
Insane.
Improved Cultivation Has Rev
OlutiOnized Situation.
ONLY ONE WEAK ONE.

you say there are many people
coming out there to see the land?"
mo" replied the sheriff of Kearny
county, 'I said there were many peo-
pie coming out to buy the land"
Sheriff F. P. McAlister, of Lakin.
40 miles from the Kansas western
boundary and in the very shortest of
the short grass country, was in To-
peka yesterday with a crazy man who
set fire to a barn and burned it up.
When asked why he did it, the crazy
man said that he wanted to warm his
This man." declares Sheriff Nc
Alister, is the only man in KearnY
county who has cold feet"
A short conversation with Sheriff
McAlister is enough to convince al
most anybody that if there is any
place where fortune can be easily
made; if there is any place where the
poor man has a chance to get rich; if
there is any place on this earth which
bears distinct resemblance to future
bliss, it is Kearny county, Kansas.
1.-The time to get a foothold in the
western counties of Kansas is right
now" says Sheriff McAlister. There
is still lot of cheap land, which in
a few years will be worth as much as
any of the wheat land in the state.
Now it can be bought for $3.50 per
acre. Five years ago the same land
was worth about $50 a quarter Sec
ton. Kearny county is certain to be
one of the big wheat counties of the
state. The more people come there,
and the more the ground is titled. the
faster will be its development. Break
ing the land is what is increasing the
rainfall. The whole surface of the
ground has been covered with a
heavy mat of buffalo grass. The rain
has run off as soon as it fell; none
has soaked into the ground. For the
past three years we have been get
ting good rains in the fall and spring
and heavy SHOWS in winter, an ideal
condition for wheat, and this fall I
expect that a great deal of wheat will
be planted in our county. Corn is
already a profitable crop, going so to
so bushels to the acre.
Gan this is due to improved cultiya-
ton. When I went to Kearny county
20 years ago, the business was cattle
grazing. The so-called Texas farmers,
by plowing the ground a couple of
inches deep and throwing in wheat,
were about to raise three. crops without
another seeding. They let the TipeniiIg
wheat stand until part of it shook out
upon the ground, and then harvested
| the rest Such slip-ShOd methods OF
farming did. not help the country. Then
cane4tne modern methods Cfedeep ploW-
| ing, tdisking goand thorough cultivation
/ This opened up the ground, let the rain
soak in, and kept our moisture at home,
| instead of allowing 1t all to run off IN
| the Arkansas river. That is what is
redeeming. the western counties of the
state.
s'There are two kinds of land in
| Kearny county: the part which lies in
the valley of the Arkansas river, and
the upland, where the buffalo grass
grows, and which people used to think
as no good except for pasture.
Down in the valley is where we raise
| the sugar beets now. by irrigation.
There are 1000 acres of sugar beets IN
Kearny county this year, and they are
! looking fine Last year the farmers
made about 500 per acre on their sugar
beets. A man can attend to about 10
acres of sugar beets, and they thrive in
| the rich soil of the valley. This valley
| land is worth about SIS or $40 per acre.
There is not much choice between
various locations on the uplands; it is
/ all level and fertile. In some places wa
| ter is deeper than in others. Some places
it can be reached at so feet; at others
it is $50. When it is reached, it is
abundant