The Springfield herald., 1911-05-05
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running promise made 10 trlend.
at parting TO write to them, us well a.
in compliance with your request, sent
this letter to the Herald.
We left The willows, our ranci
home, March 81, 1910, and were littl,
overland journey to Eastern Kansas.
We were blessed with fair wenthel
most all of the way bat encountered
many terrific wind and dust storms. tn,
spring winds setting in the second day
after our departure. l used to thinl
that Southeastern Colorado could Justly
claim q monopoly of the wind, but W.
had not gone far into Kansas until w
found that she, too, had her share.
Even here In the eastern part of ths
state there is breeze enough part of the
time to run windmill and we occas
ionally see one-always pleasant re
minder to US of Baca's landscape. W.
are located in the northwest corner Of
Linn county, sixteen miles from Eounc
City, the county seat. Parker. a nice
little town of 400 population, is eight
miles north of US and Csnterville, 81,
miles southwest, is our trading point
Both Of these are railroad towns anc
have the usual number of stores, hotels
churches, ETC., found in places of theil
size. Parker has two banks-one more
/ believe, than most towns of that size
can boast of. In this part little Of
the land is hilly and rough, some roll
ing, but most of it, both prairie anc
bottom, is level Our farm, being bot.
tom land is all level except where the
house stanls This land is worth from
$40 to $1oo an acre., price depending
upon quality of soil, distance from
orl iypr 70 Tha onl,
native timber here is that bordering
along the numerous creeks by which
this region is well watered. Big Sugar
creek is the boundary line on one side
of our farm and this stream affords
fine fishing But so far have found
little leisure time to indulge in this
sport or pastime. This is an agricul-
tural section and corn 10 the principal
crop, altho there is considerable wheat.
oats, and flax also raised.
Some alfalfa is raised, but mostly for
hog pasture. For hay, timothy and
clover are grown. AS the hog seems
to be the chief money-maker for the
farmers here nearly all Of them keep a
lot of hogs. On account of the high
price of pasture not very many cattle
are raised. Mich COWS are from $50
to $50 each. Horses are also very high.
Things are different here from what we
have been accustomed to. find that
my Colorado notions and methods OF
farming will have to be considerably
modified to conform to the conditions
here. But my earlier experiences in
farming will, no doubt, be Of much
practical value to me now. The farm
ers generally are prosperous here and
have their farms well improved. A
Of he fnr kol = T..
owners in most cases having moved to
can take lifssa little easier and still be
near enough to overlook the manage
ment of their farms. Garden veget-
ables are very successfully grown here.
Potatoes do fairly we'll but cannot COM
pare very favorably ip size with your
famous Greeley potatoes, said to be
the finest in the world. Poultry rails
ing is receiving good deal of attsn-
tion here, incubatsrs being extensively
used in Matching the chicks. This seq
tion is well adapted to fruit growing
and nearly everybody has an orchard
and fruit enough for home use. There
is a nice apple orchard on our place but
not much other fruit. There are some
commercial apple orchards here. The
largest one that know of, near Park
er, covers about 1900 acres.
Our prospect for fruit crop is good
at this writing. The season is more
backward this spring than last.
Farmers are now plowing for corn
and planting will begin in few days.
They have very good schools here. The
length of term in the country districts
is from six to eight months and the
salary of teacher about the same as
-
have equal suffrage the women are
may be of interest to some to know
that we have lady county superinten-
dent of achools in this county who is
serving her second term. Three church
es are represented in this vicinity, the
Methodist Episcopal, Christian and
Seventh Day Adventist. We have
telephones and rural delivery. Receive
our mail at o'clock every morning ex.
cept Sunday. This we certainly find
very great convenience. But being
some distance from town and the roadf
bad part of the time, our church priv
ileges are not as good as we would like.
This country, tho, has many more ad-
vantages than disadvantages. So we
like our New home very well and also
like the people. Fate has been kind in
again giving US good ne'ghbors. Con
sidering how thickly settled this
older part of Kansas is, we think
it Use a healthy place. Some of our
friends were afraid we should not be
able to live in this more humid climate
after having resided in Colorado so long.
But after a years residence here our
health continues about as usual. Mrs.
Stalnaker is little less nervous than
she was in the higher altitude. We
are seventy-two miles southwest OF
Kansas City on the M. X. & T. R. r.
known as the Katy" This road runs
four miles west of US, but, as there is
no station directly west. Centerville
will be the 'getting-off place" when
our Baca county friends come to see
us. And here's an invitation to any
who may be passing this way to STOP
off and visit us. With best wishes tc
The Herald and it's readers, l am very
truly yours. F. G. STALNAKER.
~SA 1M5YH