The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-07-08
Kansas City Man Owns One
Field of II, 600 Acres in
Western Kansas.
HAS PURCHASED MANY FARMS
Ben H. Foster is Having Better Luck
Than the Late Jim Fike, His
Predecessor.

Tie IOWu VI UlIy east Oh
the Colorado line. The railroad trav-
erses the center of the huge tract, and
as far as the eye can reach on either
side nothing is seen save the rapidly
ripening grain.
The land and grain are the proper
ty of Ben H. Foster of Kansas City,
who is now known as the wheat king,
succeeding the late Jim Fike, who
died penniless after ten years los
ing fight with drouth, pests and pc
culiar dust storms of an electrical ma
ture that swept the level country al
most clear of vegetation and made
bankrupts Of hundreds of prosperous
farmers.
In 1913 Mr.. Foster began quietly
buying farms of the men who lived in
the district, and it was not long until
he had title to several thousand
acres. The prices he paid ranged
from So to $40 an acre. Upon this
tract he put men to work with huge
tractors turning over the soil, mean
time keeping up the buying of other
farms until his holding embraced the
present large area.
1t required vast amount of work
to level down the fields and remove
the fences that in many cases were
almost buried by the drifting soil.
But 1t was finally accomplished. and
the seeding done. The first crop, in
1914, was only fair but the new gam
bier with the elements did not lose
any money. The yield last year, how
ever, was what is known as the
bumper kind, and netted the new
king profit of $4,000. It looks as
though he is going to repeat this year
and do even better.
x X X
Big Kansas Land DeaI-The Iarg-
est land sale ever made in Western
Kansas in point of acreage and money
involved, has been closed at Scott
City. The sugar company has pur-
chased 22,240 acres of land south of
Scott City from the Clark-Dutton syn
dictate. The consideration was close
to $1,O0O,00O.
x x K
Lawrence to Own Water PIant.-By
a majority of 1913 out of a total of
2,058 votes cast in referendum cleo
ton, the city of Lawrence decided to
purchase the property of the Law
renee Water Company and make of it
municipal water plant. Plans for
improving and enlarging the system
have already been approved.
x x X
SaIine's Harvest Is on.-The work
OF harvesting Saline county's 125, 600
acres Of wheat has started in earnest.
Grain men there estimate that the
crop will average about seventeen
bushels to the acre.
Rock Pile For Hoboes-Caldwell has
solved the 1. W. W. and transient har-
vest hand problem after a year hen
the waiting harYesters overran the
town and the citizenry was compelled
to arm and send two hundred of them
out of town on a freight train. The
mayor keeps special officer in the
railroad yards and all "floaters'' are
shunted on unless they care to break
rock for their meals. The city has a
rock pile, and box of broken stones
is the price of a meal
= x x
Wyandotte Has Added 2,oo1.-The
population of Wyandotte county has
reports of the county assessor show
Kansas City, Kan, in 1915, had SO ,72O;
in 1915, 92,29d; Rosedale in 1915 had
1922, and this year it is 1928; Bonner
Springs in 1915 had 1,542, this year
1920. The total county population
this year is 1880 and last year was
Ill, 129.
Fathehr and Son EnIist.-The
neighbors will have to harvest Albert
Ferguson's wheat as a result of the
mobilization of the K. N. G. Fergu-
son and his two sons were at work in
their wheat field near Minneapolis
when they heard of the mobilization
order. The three Immediately stopped
work and walked to Minneapolis,
where they enlisted
x x x
Women Jurors Soon Agree Will
sons first women's jury spent just five
minutes in convicting a travelling rep
resentative of brewery who was TAX
ing orders for beer in the village. The
jurors are all married, but deny the
charge that their husbands had or
dered wet goods from the salesman.
x x
Volunteer to Nurse-Mrs. Jesse M.
Bader, wife CT a Christian minister.
has organized a Red Cross training
class at Atchison for nurses, who may
go to the front in case of war. The
class viii be instructed by Miss Grace
Powers, superintendent of the Atchi-
son hospital. and by physicians.
Nouno M.r c,1iaiS
York. a. young man of Leavenworth.
committed suicide the other day. It
is said that he tried to enlist as a sol
der in the regular army and was re-
3ected.
x x x
Mrs. BuIIene Dead-Mrs. Susan
Read Bullene. widow of the late La
throp BulIene. pioneer Kansas mer.
chant and one of the founders of the
Emery, Bird Thayer Dry Goods com.
pany in Kansas City is dead at Elm
Park place, the family home in Law.
renee. She was SO years old.