The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1906-04-06


fOrmlly the State Agricultural col
Iege presidents. and secretaries Of the
state board Of agriculture have taken
the negative side Of the question In
spite Of this view the wheat belt
moves west and agricultural condi-
tons are improving
Some one will say "Oh, give US
rest,' But what are the facts Of his
tory Fruitful countries have be-
come barren and desOlate. Barren
Ion, Palestine and the New England
states prove this
NO change" scientists say. The
poles were once equatorial and eQua-
tOriaI regions poles"
They even have a theory Of a glacial
age in the temperate zones But this
is neither here nor there.
Come down TO the memory Of the
the early sixties Don't go west
OF the Missouri river to farm" Yawi
Did you ever hear OF blue stem traF-
cling west2 Yawi Everything travels
A Colorado beetle, called the pO-
tatO bug, once took a trip looking for
a market He crossed the United
States and the Atlantic and was
picked up on the docks Of Liver
pOOOL He was selling Greedy pOta-
toes
The Russian thistle once took
trip looking for a location. He filed
on western Kansas land and ran
lambs quarter and red shank out Of
the country and he did good Job.
But we started out on climatic con-
ditiOnS and climatic change What
do you find in the fruitful valley Of
the Euphrates2 BedOuis, bandits
and fool Americans. looking for
scenery and a health resort What
do you find in glorious Palestine, the
land once flowing with milk and
hOney2" Beggars and the beastly
Turk In Egypt, more beggars and
COrding to Ed Howe, like the Mis-
souri,, with no rich uplands, and a de-
scendant Of the PharOahs plugging
around with one OK and wooden
pillow
We would like to PROFOUND this
question to the presidents of eastern
agricultural colleges: What effect
does righteousness, good government
and gumptiOn have on rainfal2 and
what effect has murder, tyranny and
stupidity on rainfall %
Denuded forests. sparce vegetation,
broken canals, terraces and reser-
vOirs, Savages, barbarfans and bad
men mean deserts, while enterprise,
industry, intelligence and integrity
mean a paradise.
What's the matter with Kansas -
once known as the Great American
Desert" She's all right VIII some
Of the knockers on the ''semi-arid
west point out on the map the
,
Mississippi and Missouri There is
the Red, Canadian, CimarrOn, Ar
kansas, Smoky hill, Saline, Solomon,
Kaw, Republican Platte, LOup, Elk
horn, NiObrara, White, Cheyenne, Lit
tie Missouri and Yellowstone, and
many other smaller streams. all find
ing their springs and sources on the
great plains and IN the foothills Of
the Rockies When there is q flood
on the kaW, the Missouri and the
Mississippi, the great bulk of these
I troubled waters come from the great
| plains Do rivers rise where no rain
fallS2 Hold back these waters and
| you have a garden Of Eden - Irriga-
Will work the transformation The
valley Of the Mississippi, or the Nile
l is not richer than these plains, indeed,
! il is the detritus from the plains that
forms the silt Of the valleys The
/ plains therefore, have both the soil and
he rainfall The prOspeCtOr always
/ goes up stream to look for gold. There
/ is wealth incalCulable in the western
I plains
Infinite wisdom put the fertility
here for future use Settlement, til
| lage, railroads and telegraph lines
change conditions Great storms,
| travelling in narrow lanes, were once
the rain conditions here. now gentle
I winds and steady rains. Irrigated
districts cool the air and tend to pre-
I vent hot winds and drOughtS- The
! plains Of western Kansas will become
as productive as Illinois or Iowa, and
men alive today will live TO see it
Nine-tenths OF the immense volume
I Of water Of the lower Mississippi
comes from the western water shed
I OF the great plains. Against the
/ seventeen rivers already mentioned
that drain this great area on the
west, there are only five on the east
ern side OF the Mississippi, namely,
| the Illinois. wabash, Ohio. Cumber-
-
Of the water Of these innumerable
streams Of this western water shed
/ comes from rainfall on the western
/ plains.
In another place in this issue viii
1 be found q report Of the rainfall in
Sherman county for the last twenty
years the general average Of which
IS over IS inches. and one year-1SS5
over 46 inches. This county has
lose square miles, and the whole
state has a total area OF about $4,000
square miles. Take a map Of Kansas
and look at the veins and arteries Of
drainage Of this magnificent plateau
| This tells Il @. S-orV t. rs rISe Where
rains fall. and the more numerous the
smaller tributaries argues favorable TO
the conclusion that here rain must
fall, often IN astonishing volume, and
usually in sufficient amount for the
growing OF crops
II is not 50 much a question OF in
crease OF rainfall as il is Of diffusion,
distribution and equalization Of rain
fall. Storage and retention OF flood
waters. irrigation where possible and
thorough and general tiIIage Of the
soil viii accomplish wonders beyond
the dreams Of the most sanguine.
J r KimmeI, a prosperous farmer
Of this county, and Milton
Heizes, OF Brown county. met on the
streets Of GOodIand Saturday. They
were acquainted in Brown county.
Mr.. KimmeI relates the following in
cident When a boy. living in Brown
county, he listened 20 the conyerSa-
ton OF two men well, John I've
missed you Where have you been 20
Up in Nebraska TO take a homestead.
near the little town OF Beatrice
What Don't you know that you
can't raise anything up there2 You
cant farm more than twenty miles
west Of the Missouri Tousu starve
out there The man, discouraged BY
the talk OF this kind, finally abandon
ed his homestead entry in eastern Ne
braslza. where land IS now worth Size
or better are acre Both Mr. Kimmel
and Heikes remembered the incident
A word to the wise IS sufficient
EaEs Tor Eale