The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-10
REVIVAL oT nEsrERN. KlAnAs.

A few year. ago our Geological survey
discovered that a large part Of the high
plain OF western KanAas IA underlaid " IN
vast quantities Of sweet pure water This
is the very region where thousands Of farm
ers settled about twenty-five years ago,
attracted by the fact that for two or three
years the rainfall had been sufiioient 70 grew
crops They were ruined by successlve
droughts. for good crop year comes only
once In four or hvo seasons.
They pulled up stakes and went back
East. The erumbling heaps Of their cod
houses and the markings Of the com rows
where they planted their last crop are eth
reminders Of their ruined hopes. They
little dreamed that there were quantities Of
water within easy reach and that the strong
and steady winds would turn windnnills,
lift the water into irrigation bitches and
transform the thirsty plain into a garden.
This water Is from ten 10 two hundred
feet below the surface, and Investigation
thus far seems to show that the quantity n
practically unlimited. Mr. HaWorths 70
port, printed by the survey eight years ago,
said that the amount Of ground water In
the southwest part Of the State seemed
sufficient 10 meet any demands, even II
manufacturing industries should arise 10
consume il. He said the greatest need Of
western Kansas was better methods OF
raising water and utilizing II.
This view has been confirmed by later
studies. The soil OF most Of western Kansas
is as rich as that Of the wheat and corn
fields that extend for 900 miles through the
eastern part Of the State. Rainfall seldom
fails in those eastern fields; and II u be
heved that the underground supply will
never fail the western fields that were aban-
doned by their despairng owners.
The conditions that Mr., HaVorth found
south Of the Arkansas River in the south
west part Of the State are now known to
exist far 10 the north Of the river, and much
Of the present development Of irrigated
farming lands is in Sherman, Thomas and
other counties in the extreme northwest
part Of Kansas. Here settlers have been
Rocking with money to buy land, and real
estate is having boom.
Tracts OF 100 acres that went begging at
800 few years ago are now selling at
N,6Oo, A party Of Swedes from Minnesota
last month paid $40 an acre for three sec
lions, or i,s2o acres, OF prairie. From the
car windows scores Of steam ploWs and
mule teams are seen turning up the soil and
getting ready for q wheat crop. Many
little reservoirs have been sunk on the tops
Of the prairie undulations, and vindmllls
are everywhere pumping from the wells
into the reservoirs which feed the irriga-
ton bitches, Many newcomers are living
in sod houses, others are putting up sub
stantial cottages and market towns are
rising This spring 1900 fruit trees have
been delivered at the towns Of Colby and
Goodman 10 be planted on the prairies OF
the northwest tier Of counties, The in
tensive farming that irrigation always
brings is supplanting the meager stock
raising that followed the bitter failure OF
twenty-five years ago.
Will the water really hold out? Biologists
think 80 and many believe that IL may come
all the way from the Rock Mountains along
the impermeable cretaoeous rocks that keep
it up within reach and seem TO slope ever
eastward in that region. We know that the
Arkansas draws the water in its channel
from those same mountains. At any rate,
the new farmers in the extreme western
counties feel the stimulus OF enthusiasm and
confidence and believe they are going 20
keep Kansas in the van Of the wheat States,
a proud position she has occupied several
times Of late years.