The Butler weekly times and the Bates County record. (Butler, Mo.) 1918-1950, 1919-06-12
THROUGH THE WEST
A Letter From Col. c. E. Robbins.
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A Letter From Col. c. E. Robbins
Butler Weekly Times.
Gentlemen
Thought that a few lines from u:
might be OF interest to you, SO an
giving you a little outline of our trip
We left Butler on the afternoon Of
the 9TH OF May and went as far a:
Nevada and it rained on us before
we reached there; laid over all the
Liberal, where | had sale of 94o
acres of land; sold several tracts as
high as $Ioo per acre. The next day
about noon we started on and the
worst roads we had for 1900 miles
were on the Jefferson Highway be-
tween Lamar and Carthage.
We came through the mining dis
trict of Joplin, and Miami, Okla
homa, Picher, etc, and the oil fields
across Tulsa and Oklahoma City are
certainly going along some.
We did not see much farming
country through the first part of Ok
lahoma, but parts OF it further on we
saw some nice country.
- dU ~ JClly dNloSS tIIO SdHddIEh
river at Mustang, Oklahoma. 1t is a
treacherous river full of quicksand.
The ferry man keeps a team there to
pull cars out into the river about 100
yards to get you on the boat.
We were following the Ozark trail
and it certainly has had lot OF work
done on it and is we'll marked. We
drove in to Texas east OF Yelling
ton, about 10 o'clock one day and
only camped one night in Texas.
They sure had some roads. You
could drive just as fast as you liked.
There were lots OF fine crops in the
Panhandle country of wheat and
oats.
We began seeing the cactus plants
in western Texas and think we have
seen as many as 50 different kinds on
the entire trip.
Parts OF New Mexico was pretty
hard looking to us, BIT we were told
that back off the trail there were
many good ranges, and lots of cattle.
Building material was very cheap
through that country, as all you had
to have to build your house was a
spade and some water, just dig up
the dirt and mold it into the shape
of bricks only larger, and dry them
in the sun, and there you are. Some
of the people build houses of cedar
poles and chink them with the mix
ture and make very comfortable
homes.
The best country by far that we
saw was in the neighborhood OF
Mountainair. We saw Rufe Sellars,
former Bates county man there
who left Missouri with very little
money about ten years ago and now
owns about 1000 acres of land and is
on easy street.
We also saw John Cumiford, who
is we'll known to many people OF
Western Bates. We went out Is
miles to see him. and felt we'll paid
for. the trip, for John sure has made
it good there.
He has about 600 acres OF land,
fine new home and has made a for
tune raising beans. He had fine lot
of them planted again.
The country around Mountainair
offers much to the man of limited
means if he is willing to work, as it
seems to be a real bean country and
they also. raise a good lot of wheat
and corn. One man told me that
they shippd 90 cars OF beans out OF
there last year, and it was poor sea.
son.
After we left Mountainair we
went southwest to Socorro which IS
in a partly desert country, but is a
nice little town, with some little irri-
CATION being done around it. We
went west from there to Magdalena.
We saw some wonderful sights on
this trip, great snow covered noun
tains with winding roads through
great canyons, and lots of beautiful
scenery.
But there was no fishing along, so
we had but little chance to try our
luck.
We went through pine forests
where the great pine trees stood
thick on each side of the trail for
miles and miles. We camped in the
woods one night, and were told that
ithere were lots of deer, wild turkey,
bear, wild cats, etcs, but the worst we
heard was the bowling Of the wolves.
: As we came on we came to the
petrified forest, one Of the world
wonders. Great trees, S feet through
and - much as $50 to 400 feet long
with the roots showing plainly, cover
the ground. some Of them have
turned to aeate and the specimens
are beautiful
This place is about S miles through
and It wss worth our trouble in e..