Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-27

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erecting 100000 building for use as
a postoffice and United States court.
Guthrie has an excellent street car
line and the editors when there were
assured that within thirty days, work
Will begin on an inter-urban electric
\ line to run from Guthrie south to Ok
4 lahoma City. Seventeen church build
ings are to be seen in the city of
Guthrie, some of them handsome brick
and stone structures that would do
credit to a city Of 100000 Guthrie
has nine railways, with thirty-two pas
senger trains in and out of the city
each day In fact Guthrie is sur
prise to everybody who stops to con-
slider that the city is but sixteen years
of age and that seventeen years ago
there was not person living where
the town now is or any portion of the
country adjacent thereto All the
business district and part of the
residence streets are paved with Wit
rified brick and the entire city is COW
cred with perfect sanitary sewerage
! system. 1t has an electric plant
! $l5O.OOO gas plant that furnishes dol
1 lar gas to the entire city; two tele-
phone systems with nearly 1000 tele-
4 phones in actual use. While Guthrie
has only been designated as the tenn
porary capital of the territory, yet the
. opinion prevails that it will be made
the permanent capital, an honor which
the progressiveness and public spirit
of it's people render eminently deserv-
ing.
Good Bye to Guthrie.
| The editorial party remained in
Guthrie two days and two nights. Dur
ing that period they were royalty en-.
tertained and came to realize the full
meaning of true, generous, open-heart-
ed, western hospitality. There was a
reception and dance at the city hall;
( a reception and entertainment at the
Masonic Temple; street car rides and
drives throughout the city and an
open-handed, open-hearted cordiality
that was better than all these. If the
people want anything of the National
Editorial association, they have only
to ask for it and it is certainly theirs.
At Guthrie the writer had the pleas
ure of meeting Arthur -Kroeger, for
merly OF Ottumwa, who with his
father, d. Kroeger, owns 160 acre
farm eight miles southwest of Guthrie.
Mr.. Kroeger stated that they pur-
chased this farm five years ago at
from SO to $40 per acre and that 1t Is
worth today from $40 to $50. He is
much pleased with Oklahoma and its
prospects.
Enid Visited.
1 Leaving Guthrie on the evening Of
June 9 the editorial excursionists oc-
cupying eleven sleepers and making
up two special trains, started on a
tour Of Oklahoma and Indian Terri
tory The first stop was made at
Enid, the county seat Of Garfield
county. Enid, according to map pre-
sented to us by the enthusiastic citi-
zens of that hustling city, is the rail-
road center Of Oklahoma.
Just how many railroads 1t has, we
don't exactly know, but we counted
ten on the map and have no doubt but
there are several more by this time,
(ten days later) so rapid is the move
ment Of events in Enid and other
parts of Oklahoma. Enid claims to
have $4,000 people. We don't deny it
neither do we swear to 1t. but if they
are all as delightful as the special
ones we met there, Enid is made up
OF the best people on earth. It has
300 school children; $150,0OO water.
works system; electric light and gas;
telephone, churches, school houses,
public library and the Test of the good
things usually enumerated by COM
mercial club circular. 1t is located in
| what was known as the Cherokee
strip or Cherokee outlet This strip
was originally granted to the Chero-
kee Indians, not for occupancy but as
an outlet through which they could
reach the Rocky Mountains and the
vast hunting grounds of the plains. 1t
lis so by 220 miles in dimensions and
was opened to settlement Sept. 1888
nearly five years after the opening of
the first Oklahoma country where
Guthrie and Oklahoma City are To-
Gated. At IL O'Clock, noon. on that day
signal guns were fired and the tens of
| thousands of homeseekers, who had
congregated around the border, rushed
in. The strip was mostly settled in a
day and Enid had five thousand popu-
lat1on before sunset. In the brief space
OF eleven seasons, which have elapsed
since that day. the wilderness has been
conquered. Homes, roads, bridges,
school houses. churches and public i'm
provements have been built. The peo-
pie have successfully accomplished
that which ordinarily requires a quar-
ter of century or more. Enid is To-
Gated in an agricultural. fruit and stock
region that is occupied by prosperous
and contented farmers The people of
Enid enjoy school and church facili-
ties of the highest order and it's mer-
chants have a splendid wholesale, re-
tail and jobbing trade.
LaWton, the Three Year Old Wonder.
Leaving Enid at midnight the edi-
torial trains were taken over the Frisco