The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1906-04-05
Mrs. Kate Strong Writes.
Geary. O. r.. March "a. IA,

oCdFy, W. N1drCu ~, lSUOs
After SO long silence have at last
There maybe few persons who will be
know what is transpiring in this ''The
Land of the Fair God,' that is what /
hear it called now, but in the last few
weeks thought it would all blow away.
but after the excursionists from Grand
River, Iowa, arrived at home it ceased
somewhat only to be followed by snow
and hard freezes which caught the
apricot trees in full bloom and some
peach trees. Some say they are not
killed, but if not they had just as we'll
bloom in the fall of the year. The pres
ent March has beaten all records twice
over since we have been here for wind.
One day it blew hard enough to blow
the sand up the COWS teats so bad we i.
never got any milk all day. Last night
we had the heaviest rain we have had
since last June which may destroy some
of the bugs and worms this country is
infested with, but doubt it.
Last fall Ito change the subject had
the severest attack of asthma have
had since came here. thought very
seriously of writing my obituary to re-
lieve my over charged feelings, but my
sister, Mrs. Tillotson from South Dakota,
came to see me and l soon regained my
usual health. There might have been a
little homesickness mixed in as j. D.
had been visiting his old friends and
relatives in Iowa. By the way l must
tell you a little joke on him which hap
pened the next day after he came home.
There was a horse race on the fair
grounds which of course he had to at
tend. Just before the horses started he
happened to get on the track and some
one yelled kid Strong! Kid Strong!
get off the track" That was the first
time had ever heard him called by
that name, they had always called him
Prophet Strong before. After the race
was over he ran a foot race got beaten
at that but won on the horse race. l
suppose it made him feel young to visit
Iowa where he got so much good grub
to eat. December Sth he went fishing,
drove a dray wagon, got the rheuma tism
and lost knife Sam Farquhar gave him
fifteen years ago, nor that isn't all, he
brought me to grief by hiring darl1ey
to whitewash the hen house. | always
ask good many questions and asked
the darkey his name and he said it was
Digger. | thought niger Digger was
a pretty good name. | asked him how
old he was and where he came from and
if he had wife and he said he was rs
years old, was bred in old Kentucky,
born in Tennessee, his wife was ID years
old and was born during the Civil war.
| had asked enough that time.
have read five or six descriptions
written by different editors of 101
rancho but not one was as good as O. E.
Hulls. Two items he failed to mention
was that the water in the creeks after
a rain looks like tomato soup, and the.
fine farm near there which is fenced in
by tomb stones.
Well it | can cram little sense in
this letter it is about time | was trying.
Good crops of all kinds were raised here,
last fall, babies included six boys being
born in one week in Geary. The corn
crop was immense. Just imagine thirty
one or more cars of cotton going past
our place to Oklahoma City every few
days. Until December or later it was a
beautiful sight to see, but the dollars
looked better to the sellers or farmers
who raised it. We have two cotton
gins in Geary, water works, ice plant
and electric lights April 1st. A good
prospect for an immense wheat crop.
ooluc OdlS were uC IWO OF UnFee lnCleS
when the freeze came, but where they
are now do not know, but if Oklahoma
can come out of a freeze like she can
out of a sand storm she may be all right
yet. She is surely doomed enough to
get statehood, but most all Oklahomans
come from some where and so their pol
tiles are somewhat doubtful and it isn't
safe for the republican party to decide
yet awhile.
Since writing the above l received a
letter from my sister, Mrs. Tillotson,
also read Il. Gilreath's very interesting
letter in The REPORTER from South Da-
kota. Mrs. Tillotson writes that E. Til
lotson has taken a soldiers filing of 100
acres also that her son Clyde had taken
a homestead of fine hay land all south
of the Missouri River in South Dakota
and would improve the same.
will close hoping some one else will
write who has left good old Iowa for
the only way hear from them is
through the papers.
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