The Oskaloosa herald., 1907-10-24
TRIP TO PAN HANDLE.
Editor OF Lawler Dispatch Tells An
Interesting Story.

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Gesman Bros. liberal offer OF a trip
to the Panhandle. Texas, and return,
for only SIS, and October LIST left here
by way of Mason City, going from
there to Kansas City over the Iowa
Central and Wabash and then over the
Santa Fe to Portales, New Mexico.
The trip to Kansas City was with
out any event worthy of notice, ex-
cept that the train lost time all the
way and arrived about three hours
late, The rush OF home and land
seekers to tile southwest was SO great
on this occasion that all roads leading
to that section had to run from four
to six sections out Of Kansas City to
handle the crowds
The balance Of the trip. over the
Santa Fe was rather wearisomie as
the company is rebuilding its tracks
most of the way, taking out the kinks,
reducing the grades and replacing old
bridges with modern steel and ce-
ment structures For a whole day we
crawled over soft, uneven tracks at
about 10 miles an hour, a heavy rain
prevailing all over Kansas, Oklahoma
and Texas. making the new track
soft and treacherous. Enroute we be-
came acquainted with Messrs. Il. II.
Fretz, of Philadelphia, Pa. and d. M.
Denison of Washington Iowa, who
were on their way to Hereford Texas,
to visit the latter's brother. N. M.
Denison, who moved there about IS
months ago, and is now farming and
doing little real estate business on
1.-THE side. They spoke SO highly Of the
town and country we decided to stop
off and see it and were much gratifed
to find Hereford a progressive town
Of about 1000. 1t is called the city
OF windmills, because nearly every
residence has a windmill and tank,
which supplies a complete waterworks
system for the residence and property.
The way land values have jumped
there the past two years is something
| immense, farms close to town selling
for fully double what they did in 1905.
TO one who has never seen the vast
area known as the Panhandle, it is a
sight that impresses one with profound
wonder. Millions on millions of acres
of gently undulating prairie land,whole
townships without a rock, tree or
break, waiting for the Industrious far
mer. Most of this is now owned by
the large cattlemen in tracts of from
"a. 900 to 100000 acres, who refuse to
sell at any price, The land now on
the market is state and ranch lands,
which, through the expiration Of leases
made years ago, have reverted to the
state, which has placed it on the mar
ket, forcing the. ranchmen to either
fence or put their land on the market
also, resulting inSsmuch of the land
near railroads being sold.
Crops looked fine as a rule and con-
sisted OF Alfalfa, corn, kaftir corn. milo
maize, California wheat, oats, barley,
wheat, sweet potatoes and sorghum.
Fruit of all kinds does well, especially
grapes, apples, small fruits and mel
ons, the latter growing to enormous
size, in some instances, as in case
which came under our observation,
weighing so to 90 pounds, They are
so plentiful that they are priced by
the grower about the same as pump
kins here in Iowa. We made it a
point to interview farmers who had
been in that country for number of
years and all were greatly pleased
They said they could raise stock al
most so per cent cheaper there than
I'm Iowa or Illinois while they can pillow
any month in the year and it seldom
froze so that land could not be worked
After a day spent in looking over
the country around Hereford, we went
to Portales, New Mexico, and from
there went out in the country by au-
tomobile about % miles to the land
owned by Gesman Bros, which We
found to be of fine quality and laying
as nice as any we had seen in the
Panhandle. On this trip we had a
little excitement In the way of an an
ltelope race. This particular buck had
become separated from the herd of
about ten we could see at a distance
and the auto glided between him and
the herd before he knew what was up.
Then began race that lasted for near
ly two. miles. The driver put on full
speed and so did the buck. Talk
about excitement! But victory was
with the antelope and he crossed the
road about two rods ahead and re-
joined the herd.
While our opinion OF the Panhandle
is based solely on observation of a
very small part of it and only a few
days stay, we believe there are vast
possibilities in the future and it will,
in a few years, become one OF the
greatest farming as it has been in
the past one of the greatest grazing
sections OF the world There is every
inducement in the way OF low priced
land fine climate, equitable laws and
low taxes, to the man who wants to
find a home or invest his surplus saw
ings in real estate. The values have
increased steadily since emigration has
set in in that direction and Will CON
tinue 10 do SO until land reaches a
normal value. The trip is certainly
pleasant one and the price SIS simply
Irresistible as the regular fare Is