I Glass. Book_ jLli l^aNSflS : ^ ITS t[ I S T O ]?^ Y, :^ESOU^CES AJUD PROSPECTS, WICHITA, KANSAS : EAGIiB PRINTING HOUSE, 1890. e?6y V Gl 1,LU^ la/vuA^rou.::AiA^ ^^^ THE STATE OF KANSAS. rriHE following statements, compiled from good authorities, are presented-to 1 those who desire reliable information respecting the State of Kansas. We have reason to believe that there are many thousands of persons, in this country and abroad, who are seeking such information in order that they may intelligently determine questions affecting their own welfare, and that of their families and friends. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Kansas, one of the most prosperous of the Western States of the American Union, lies between latitude 37° and 40° North and longitu de 94° 40m and 102° West. The State is situated in the geographical center of the American Union. The State has the general forna of a rectangle, with a breadth of a little more than two hundred miles from no^'thio south, and a length of a little over ■ '*" ■•* ♦c 4^ four hundred miles from east to west, containing an area of 81,318 square miles, or 52,288,000 acres. The general surface of Kansas Is a rolling prairie which gently ascends from the eastern border. Kansas presents a succession of rich prairies, hills, and fertile valleys, diversified in its scenery; it has a rolling and varied surface, and a fertile soil. The State as a whole has all the requisites that go to form an agricultural and a fruit growing and a stock producing country. GOOD ROADS. A remarkable feature of the whole country Is the excellence of the wagon roads. Those who have struggled through the mud of some other sections find that on coming to Kansas the good road on which to get to market, church and school, greatly enhances the comfort of country Ufe. SOURCES OF INFORMATION. The official cr»p reports for the last twenty years, including the year 1889, and the fruit reports, and the live stock report for the same period, demonstrate without argument that Kansas was made for the habitation of man, and that within its borders men may maintain themselves by honest labor as indepen- dently, in comfort and peace, as on any other spot on earth. The reports issued by the State Board of Agriculture are valuable on account of their fullness and accuracy, and their conservative character, and they are in demand in all the States of the Union, and in many parts of Europe. The statistics found in this book are copied from these official tables. CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE. Kansas can truthfully claim a greater amount of sunshine than the Eastern States. The records show that the average cloudiness is a little more than forty- four per cent. In the Southern States the average is forty-seven per cent; in the New England States it is fifty-three per cent — while in Great Britain it reaches seventy-one per cent. The winters generally break up in February, the first wild flowers often appearing before the end of that month. FEEDING. Cattle, sheep and horses can be brought through the winter with only a few weeks of feeding. The average annual temperature of Kansas is about fifty-three degrees, which does not diflTer essentially from that of States to the east of Kansas in the same latitude. A great advantage possessed by Kansas over many agricul- tural States consists in the length of the growing season. During the growing season, the monthly average temperatures are high enough to bring to full ma- turity a great diversity of crops, while the lowest temperatures are so high above the freezing point as to prevent all danger of damage from untimely frosts. As a rule, serious frosts in the Spring are not later than April 1st., and severe frosts In the Fall are not earlier than October 20th, thus giving a period of over six months (two hundred days) without frost enough to injure corn or wheat, or any other staple crop. This long freedom from frost gives ample time for the thorough ripening and hardening of the corn crop— and to this fact, in a large degree, Kansas owes her triumphant position at the present time among the great grain producing States of the world. On account of the long season and the mild winter, the farmer has a chance to do much more work with less hired help than in the colder States. It is no unusual thing to do plowing every month of the year. The winters in Kansas are dry. In the Eastern States, the amount of rain. Including melted snow, is nearly as large in winter as in each of the other sea- sons. In Kansas, which has less rain in the winter than any other State in the Union except Minnesota and Nebraska, the apparent deficiency is made good by a more abundant supply of rain in Spring, Summer and Fall, than is received by the great majority of the other States. This distribution of rain through the months of the year greatly promotes the agricultural prosperity of the State. Beginning with March, there is a constant increase in rain in each month until June and July, when the rainfall reaches its greatest amount and -6- beglne to decline, each succeeding month showing a decrease In the average amount until the least amount is again reached iu February. During more than twenty years of careful observations, the only approach to a general drought was In 1874, when for several months in succession the rainfall was consider- ably below the average amounts. SUiMMER CLIMATE. The summers are delightful notwithstanding the fact that the temperature sometimes ranges in the nineties. The movement of the air is constant and cools the surface of the body by a rapid evaporation of the perspiration. Such a thing as sunstroke in Kansas is unknown. Very few persons, after having become accustomed to the comparatively short and mild winters of Kansas, and to its summers with their heathful, in- spiriting breezes, are willing to return to regions in which the wiiiii«r« lay their hands of ice and snow on all bui Iness from three to five months in the year, and in which the air of the summers , besides being hot, is still and stifling. SOIL— WATER— TIMBER. The soil of the upland prairies is generally a deep rich clay loam. The bot- tom lands near the streams are a black sandy loam; and the second bottom that is the land between the uplands and the valleys, are a rich and deep black loam, with very little sand. All of these lands are free from stones, easily cultivated and very productive. As the country has been settled and cultivated, the short buffalo grass which originally covered the prairies has given place to the tall blue stem, and other bladed grasses, and in many places various tame grasses, valuable particu- larly for hay, such as timothy, clover, blue grass and alfalfa, are getting started and are growing well. Not only do the valleys of the streams, larger and smaller, produce heavy crops of corn and of all vegetables, but the average up- lands also bring good corn crops, and the uplands are specially adapted to the production of wheat, oats and other small grains, and to the culture of fruit orchards. Kansas is well supplied with rivers and creeks. On the eastern border the Missouri presents a water front of nearly one hundred and fifty miles. The Kansas is formed by the junction of the Republican and the Smoky Hill rivers, and from the point of confluence it flows east about one hundred and fifty miles to the Missouri. Lateral valleys on the north, are formed by the Saline, Solomon, and Blue rivers, and other streams. The Osage river rises in the eastern part of the State, and after a southeast course of about one hun- dred and twenty-five miles, enters Missouri. The Arkansas has its source in the Rooky mountains in Colorado. It runs through nearly three-fourths of the lenffth of Kansas, east and south-east, and with its tributaries waters two- thirds of the wesfem and southern part of the State. Its lateral valleys on the north are traversed by the Walnut, Little Arkansas, Pawnee Fork, and other streams, and on the south by the Ninnescah, Chicaskia, and other fine streams. The Neosho, rising in tne central part of the State, runs south-east about two hundred miles, receiving in its course the Cottonwood and other streams. The Verdigris runs nearly parallel with the Neosho, receiving Fall river on the west. In the south-west are the Cimarron and Medicine, which flow for a considerable distance in the State, and a network of southern tribu- taries of the Arkansas. These rivers are not navigable, yet with their tributaries, they make Kansas one of the best watered of the Western Statues. In most localities, including the extreme western part of the State, good water is obtained within a reason- able distance of the surface by digging or boring. In some places, particularly in the western counties, artesian wells furnish valuable supplies of water. Timber is abundant along the streams in the eastern portion of the State. It is less plentiful in the central portion. The varieties of timber embrace oak, elm, black walnut, Cottonwood, box elder, honey locust, willow, hickory, sycamore, white ash, hackberry, and mulberry. The Osage orange makes a rapid and vigorous growth, and is not killed down by the winters, and it is extensivelj'^ used for hedges. Stone, being plenty and cheap, is used in building dwellings, and also fences, barns, and out-houses. Since the prairie fires have been stopped, the native growth of timber spreads and thrives. Forest trees and fruit trees, planted and taken care of, soon reward the planter with grateful shade and luscious fruit. Scarcity of timber for fuel and building purposes is more than made up by abundance of coal and stone. The toil of clearing a country covered with for- ests kills in their prime the first generation of hardy settlers. In the matter of the labor and time required for the cultivation and development of a prairie country, as compared with a forest country, the advantage is all on the side of the piairie country. Within the last twenty years, Kansas has made greater progress in every department of growth that forms u prosperous, civilized community, and with less wear and tear to her people, than any forest state has ever made in four times that period. STONE, BRICK AND LIME. Stone suitable for building purposes is found in abundance in nearly all parts of the State. The varieties include maguesian lime stone, blue and gray limestone, and great quantities of sand stone, and of flagging stone. Stone from the Kansas quarries Is used in some of the finest buildings In the ■ T- oountry. For churches, court houses, State and municipal buildings, nothing can be found superior to the product of the various quarries of the State. Material suitable for the manufacture of ordinary brick exists everywhere. The bars along the water courses furnish sand. The limestone aflbrds abun- dant supply of low-priced quicl^lime. Indeed, all the requisites of building exist in abundance, and are consequently remarkably cheap in all parts of the State. COAL, GAS AND L AD. Inexhaustible beds of bituminous coal valuable for fuel and for manufactur- ing uses, are found in the eastern and central districts of the State. In several counties, the mining and shipping of coal constitute one of the Important in- dustries, and a constantly Increasing source of wealth. The business affords employment and support to a large number of persons and it is rapidly growing in extent and importance. The workable deposits range in thickness from twenty to fifty inches. The main coal area is traversed by several important lines of rail way, thus making directly tributary to this district an immense outlying region which is crowd- ed with thriving towns and prosperous farms. A fine quality of natural gas has been discovered in some parts of the state, and is being successfully used for light, fuel and manufacturing purposes, at a saving over other kinds of fuel and light of from twenty-five to thirty per cent. Lead mines are profitably worked in the southeastern part of the State. Large and prosperous communities are being established in the vicinity of the lead mines, as also ia the vicinity of the coal mines. SALT. Kansas has taken Its place among the large producers of salt of the best qiiality known to commerce. Since 1867 salt has been made from brine ob- tained from wells near the mouth of the Solomon river in Saline county. An extended area in the central part of the State is un derlaid with rock salt. It is found at various depths fro m 450 to 925 feet. The thickness of the salt itself is from 126 to 250 feet. Many towns have in operation organized companies engaged in the manu- facture and shipment of salt. Complete returns of the salt products for the year 1889 have not been furnished. Thirteen companies, operating in five towns, report 547,224 barrels of salt made in 1889. Probably the entire number of barrels of salt made in the year 1889 was not less than one million. A large amount of capital is already invested in the business, and as salt, like sugar, is an article of necessity in the world, the result promises great addition to the wealth of the St^te. Robert Hay, Fellow of the American Geological Society, in a report made to the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, shows how salt is to become a more important factor in the future in agriculture and the arts than it has been heretofore. THE DEVELOPMENT OF KANSAS. Kansas was admitted as a State in 1861. The following four years were years of destructive civil war. The real development of Kansas began in 1865. The census of 1870 showed a population of 364,399. Railroad building began in 1865. From the first, the State has attracted settlers of a superior class as to intel- ligence and character. There have come many of the poor, from our own coun- try and from foreign lands — many of the young, rich only in their honest ambitions— many of the middle-aged, hoping that under our bright skies they mightrenew their youth and repair the losses of the past — but the great majority, native or foreign born, young and old, have been brave men and good |women, fit to lay the foundations of a great State. The present population of Kansas will compare favorably with that of any part of the country. It represents an aggressive, energetic, cultured, sober, law- respecting civilization. It is a proverbial saying among those who best know the people of the State, from east to west, — The glory of Kansas is the women and men who live within her borders^ The State received a great and valuable impulse from the exhibit made at the centennial exposition held at Philadelphia in 1876. From that date, the growth in population has been steady and rapid. The population in December, 1889, was 1,464,914. Of this number, the Inhabitants of foreign birth constitute a little more than ten per cent. The colored people make up less than four per cent. The development of the agricultural and material resources of the State has far surnassed even its wonderful growth in population. In the following table the aggregate of oom, wheat, oats, potatoes and hmj products of Kansas for the years 1860 and 1866, and for each year thereafter, Is given. The figures prior to the year 1875 are compiled from the reports of the United States Department of Agriculture; those following, from the reports of the Secretary of our own State Board of Agriculture. YEAR. 1860... 1865... 1866... 1867... 1868... 18^9... 1870-.. 1871... 1872... 1873... 1874... 1875... 1876... 1877... 1878... 1879... 1880... 1881... 1882... 1883... 1884... 1885. „ 1886... 1887 .. 1888... 1889... is u CD , 1,189,803 588, 273,888,321 61,649, 175,405 47, 47,922,889 7,654, 69,9i)0 41, 11,4.32,482 8,892. 779 783 412, t4,2l7, 187,520 240, 511,900 40 1,115 .S49 1,115, 173,600 8, 419,400 41, 23,749,800 831, 863,428 3,453, VALUE. ,573.77 ,998.27 ,127.44 1,876.18 ,829.77 :.83 ,994.00 .229.80 1,296.70 757.60 ,835.55 952.00 ,849.00 !.680.00 -40.00 .243.00 (12.00 776,323 1,583,868.00 2,456,984 7,370,952.00 $104,572,498.00 •Not including product of sugar factories. fAcres harvested. SUGAR MAKING. Several years of faithful eflbrt in connection with sugar making are begin- ning to receive their reward. As the result of continued experiment, progress is being made in the manufacture of sugar from sorghum. The cultivation of the sorghum caue, and the production of sugar by the most approved scientific processes are securing results that will, it is confidently believed, at an early day place the sorghum industry on a successful and paying basis. The climate and soil of Kansas produce large crops per acre of the best var- ieties of sorghum cane, and the cane attains to the highest degree of perfection. Every year adds to our knowledge of the culture and manufacture of sorghum, and brings us nearer to great and profitable results. The experiments made in some counties in the manufttcture of sugar from sugar beets are encour. ^ ug, and promise to be of practical value. COTTON AND SILK. Of course, the cultivation in this State of cotton and silk is as yet experi- mental. An encouraging beginning has been made. The report of cotton for the year 1888 was: Acres. Pounds. Value. 2,150. 645,000. $51,600. ~12~ Those who are officially connected with the silk culture report that the in- terest in this industry is increasing throughout the State with encouraging prospects. FRUIT TREES AND FRUIT. The exhibition of fruit made by Kansas at the Centennial at Philadelphia, in 1876 was a success so brilliant that it attracted and charmed all visitors. It was as well deserved as it was complete and undeniable. When the sod was broken in Kansas and the first claim shanties were built, the thoughtful settler having come to stay, did not cease from their work until they had planted nurseries and orchards. They got the choice and tried varieties, and cultivated them even at the price of great labor. Large crops of apples, pears, peaches, cherries, grapes and other fruits, are annually raised in Kansas. In quality and flavor the fruit is unsurpassed. The bright sun and the moving air are specially favorable to the coloring and perfecting of apples. Besides the large supplies needed for home consumption, there is every fall a demand for winter apples shipped in refrigerator vessels to supply other markets. The various branches of horticulture are each year receiving more intelli- gent attention and results are very satisfactory. This table shows the number of apple, pear, peach and cherry trees reported as bearing in 1889: Apple. Pear. Peach. Cherry. 4,849,(100. 117,000. 4,226,000. 1,057,000. SMALL FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. •Without quoting tables, it is sufficient to say that in Kansas small fruits give generous returns under judicious care and handling. The soil and the climate are especially adapted to most varieties of small fruits, and to the cul- ture of grapes. Vineyards bear liberally, and the grapes are of excellent ap- pearance and flavor. Veifetables, melons, all garden products grow readily, and are of excellent quality. The variety of soils ranging from the richest sheltered valley to the high prairie with its sunny exposure, gives opportunity for selection with refer- ence to the habits and needs of the tree or plant. LIVE STOCK. From the beginning of her history, Kansas has given gi*eat attention to the business of stock raising. In all respects the State is well adapted Vo the suc- cessful and lucrative prosecution of this industry. As before stated stock is often brought through the winter with less than six weeks feeding. No young state has taken more pains or expended more to secure the best breeds of stock of all kinds, than Kansas has done. The result has been the ob- -!•- tainlng by importation and othervf Isc, of large number of horses, cattle, swiue and sheep of the breeds that in this country and in Europe have pioveu to be the most desirable and profitable. Each year shows an increase in the returns of milk, butter and cheese. Dairy products are steadily assuming greater importance in the list of articles that bring wealth to the people of the State. Diseases of horses, cattle and sheep are not as prevalent and are less fatal than in the East. It is believed by many that the solution of the question of transportation to the eastern markets of the immense crops produced in Kansas is to be found mainly in connection with feeding grain to stock, instead of shipping it to market Large demands for fat cattle and hogs are springing up within the State, in addition to the demand for home consumption. Great numbers of cattle and hogs are required to supply the demand of the packing houses that have been established within the last few years. Below is a table showing the number and value of the various kinds of live stock for the year 1889: Horses Mules and Asses Milch Cows Other Cattle Sheep Swine Total NUMBER. 719,894 90,857 723,552 1,738,436 293,853 2,631,955 VALUE. $57,551,520.00 8,132,130.00 13,023,936.00 26,076,540.00 734,632.50 10,607,707.50 $116,126,466.00 HUNTING AND FISHING. Kansas is a paradise for sportsmen. It is true the lordly buffalo which once roamed our plains in countless thousands has disappeared, and except in the extreme western part of the State deer and antelope have also been exter- minated, but smaller game still abounds, and the markets of the State in season, are always well supplied with quail, ducks, prairie chickens, plover, curlew, snipe, geese, rabbits, etc. By wise legislation prairie chickens and quail are protected until well grown, and are shot only in October, November and December. Net- ting and trapping game birds are prohibited, and as the shelter of hedge and timber increases the delicious quail are multiplying all over the State. From October till April wild geese and ducks abound, feeding on the wheat fields in day time and seeking the rivers and ponds at night. We have known a single sportsman to bring down from fifty to one hun- dred geese and ducks in one day, every condition being favorable. - 14- Tbe ducks which are of all varieties, from the delicate teal to the far famed canvas back, Mallard, sprigtail, butter ball, spoonbill, red head, etc., abound — a few nesting here, and staying through the year, though the great majority migrate. In April the several varieties of plover appear, and the smaller kinds afford good sport all during the spring and fall. The large brown plover and curlew are plenty in April and May, but go north for the summer. While Kansas sportsmen ought to be satisfied with such a goodly array of game, they sometimes lay for heavier prey and consequently will frequently be tound silently folding their tents and quietly stealing over the border into Uncle Sam's great game preserve of the Indian Territory. There the wild turkeys still exist in great numbers. Deer are abundant, and occasionally a black bear may be seen in the canons of the Medicine River. Kansas does not claim to be a great State for fishing, still all the streams with rock bottom abound in the gamey black bass, and favored sportsmen have caught specimens weighing over seven pounds. In the streams and ponds of sandy or muddy bottom are found catfish, buffalo, eels, sunfish, perch, and occasionally a wail-eyed pike. The German carp is being cultivated and thrives in our waters. MANUFACTORIES. The people of Kansas, being mainly devoted to agriculture and stock rais- ing, have not yet made great advancement in the department of manufacture as compared with older states. And yet it is believed that the next census report of the United States will show creditable returns from Kansas in this depart- ment. Several of our counties have considerable capital invested in manufac- turing enterprises. There are in several of the largest cities a great number of manufactories of various kinds employing many millions of capital. There are in the State about one hundred and fifty flouring mills alone, with a capital employed of about $7,000,000. The immense smelting works of the State are claimed to be the largest of their kind in the world. It is said that the annual product of the one gold and silver smelter is $18,- 000,000. It produces one-fifth of all the silver and one-fifth of all the lead smelted in the United States. Five hundred men are employed and the wages paid them average higher than those paid by any other manufacturing institu- tion in the United States. Beef and pork packing houses, on an extensive scale, and requiring large capital for their operation, are carried on at several points in the State. Water power is abundant, and it may be easily utilized. The deeper min- ing of coal, and the consequent obtaining of coal in larger quantities than form- erly and of better quality steadily tend to enlarge the supply of fuel and to -16- dlminish its cost, and thereby to increase the facilities for establishing and maintaining manufactures on a remunerative basis. It is the opinion of practical men wlio liave given the matter careful study that there are many lines of manufactures that may be profitably conducted in Kansas, and that sound policy requires not only diversitied agriculture — the growth of a large variety of crops — butfor the same reasons diversified industry' — the turning of labor and capital into a great variety of channels. A mighty agricultural state promotes the wealth and independence of its citizens by the judicious establishment of manufactures. It is certain tliat the munutacturing interest will make a larger figure in Kansas history in (he future than it has done in the past. CHANCES TO INVEST MONEY. Every new State needs capital to develop her resources. This is particularly true of Kansas. The resources are so great and varied that any amount of money, if carefully invested, would pay a large interest. Starch — Corn is king, and starch is made from corn. Coal is abundant and pure water abounds. There should be and no doubt before long there will be, a number of the largest starch factories in the Union — as yet, little or nothing is done in this industry. Canning Fruits and Vegetables — These abound, yet little has been done in taking care of them by canning factories. Paper — The materials from which paper is made abound everywhere, and there is no limit to the capital that might profitably be employed in paper mills. Buying Farms— An. investment that will surely be safe and remunerative is the purchasing of land at the prices for which it can now be bought. Mining for Coal is profitable and safe. Salt Mining is just opened with all its possibilities. We have enough of this valuable deposit to supply the world. Factories for the production of farm implements are needed everywhere; so are bag factories, oil mills, and sugar-sorghum mills. City and Toion Property that will yield a paying rate of interest can be bought in many places at such figures as to invite purchasers for the mere p";ir- pose of investment. RAILROADS. In 1865 there were but forty miles of railroad in Kansas. December 31, 1889, there were in the State 8,806 miles of railroad. This fact fairly illustrates the unequaled material progress that has marked the history of the State during the past twenty-five years. It is a conceded fact that the railroads have been a powerful factor in pro- moting the marvelous growth and development of Kansas. They now reach nearly every portion of the State, In their eflbrts to supply the demands of trav«l and transportation. They are operated with enterprise and liberality. The people and the railroads having mutual interests, are working In cor- dial harmony for the promotion of those interests. All parties understand that the interest of each is the interest of all, and therefore each and all are working on the basis, not of antagonism, but of intelligent co-operation. SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS. Generous provision is made by the State for the education of the young. The children of the poor and of the rich are furnished equal advantages, and they are educated side by side. The common schools, open without charge to all the youth of the State, haye the direct support and fostering care of the State. The system of control and instruction is judicious aud it is administer- ed with fidelity and ability. The high reputation of her schools is the boast of the State. The successful maintenance of schools is by no means restricted to the older and wealthier sections of the State. In some cases on the frontier, in the newest communities, all the schools in the county are held in houses such as the pioneers themselves occupy, yet thorough instruction is given by competent teachers. The following figures for the year 1889 indicate the vigorous style in which our eflBcient common school system is doing its work: Estimated value of school property $9,794,428 Number of school buildings 8,819 Number of organized school districts 8,987 Number of teachers required - 10,592 Number of school districts having at least three months school 8,698 School population 524,206 Kansas also maintains a State University, a State Agricultural College and State Normal School. Each of these institutions has a full corps of teachers and a large number of students, In all of which instruction is free. Besides the State schools and several private iustitutions, there are in Kan- sas some thirty colleges and universities, mainly under denominational control. These denominational institutions report an average yearly attendance of more than 4,000 pupils, and buildings and other property valued at$l,700,000. The State has erected and liberally maintains two hospitals for the insane, a hospital for the deaf and dumb, a hospital for the blind, a school for im- becile youths, an industrial school for girls, a Reform school for boys and a State reformatory school for males, between the ages of 16 and 25 years, who have not been sentenced to a State prison. -IT- CHURCHES. Nearly all of the religious denominations known throughout the country are established, and actively at work in Kansas. The churches are characteriz- ed by a degree of enterprise similar to that which marks the secular life of the people. The reports of twenty-four denominations for the year 1888 show the follow- ing figures: The number of organizations is 8,185; of members 283,716; of edi- fices 1,956; and the value of church property is $6,415,937. NEWSPAPERS. The number of newspapers and periodicals published in the State is about nine hundred. In this list, including weeklies, dailies and monthlies, all the counties of the State are represented. It is emphatically true, as shown by the postofiice returns, that the citizens of Kansas are a reading people. As a rule, the press of Kansas is able and public spirited, and it has had its full share in achieving for the State its wonderful progress at home, and in winning for it its honorable reputation abroad. From the peculiar circumstances connected with its early history the newspaper press of Kansas has always drawn su- perior men to the ranks of its editors. Among them are men who, in point of knowledge of books and the world, of wit and humor, of clear and forcible style, of fearless and chivalri ceourage, are easily the equals of the most dis- tinguished editors this country has produced. HEALTH. Tables showing the rate of mortality have not been kept, yet there can be no doubt as to the fact that Kansas compares favorably with any state, east or west, as regards the health of her people. The rolling surface of the country, and the ravines furnish fine natural drainage, and as a result there are no swamps nor marshes to breed fever and malaria. Many persons coming from the East to Kansas find their health greatly improved, especially by residence in the western portion of the State. The per cent of insanity is shown by the tables to be lower in Kansas than in some of the best of the eastern states; for example, lower than in New York and Massachusetts. CITIES. March 1 , 1889, there were in the State eight cities, containing a population from 10,000 to 36,000 each, and twenty-eight cities, each containing a population of 2,500 or upwards, and sixty-five olties, each containing a population of 1,000 or upwards. -18- Almost every one of the counties, one hundred and six in number, has as Its county seat a thriving town, which furnishes good facilities for markets, churches, schools, etc. Those whose employment or preference leads them to the towns will find in these smaller county seats, as well as in the larger cities, good opportunities for work and investment. INCREASE OF VALUES. In 1860, the true value of all the property of the State was estimated at J!31,327,000. In 1870, it had grown to S188,892,000 ; in 1875, to $242,555,000. In 1885, the valuation, at a very moderate estimate, was $550,000,000, The increase in the total assessed values from 1865 to 1875 was $85,434,000 ; the increase in assessed values from. 1875 to 1885 was $127,300,000. In 1888, the total assessed valuation of the different classes of property, as per abstracts of county clerks, was as follows : Lands $169,124,636.00 Personal 56 641,623.00 City Lots 74,462,136.00 Railroad 63,009,288.00 Total $353,237,683.00 The assessor's returns are made on a basis of one-third of the value of the property and the valuation placed on all property is less than one-half its actual value; so that to ascertain the true valuation it will be necessary to multiply the above figures by six. ROOM AND INVITATION. The area of Kansas is so large that, notwithstanding her wonderful in- crease in population, she still has room for millions more. In point of cultiva- tion, the State has hardly been touched. In the matter of possible production, the record of the State has but begun. That which Kansas needs and desires is increase of population, of labor and capital. Without concealment, she seeks these, and she does so equally in the interest of those who are now here, and of those who may come. A good bar- gain is one by which both parties are benefited. Kansas invites immigration, for the benefit both of her citizens, and of those who may become citizens. We are proud of our record and of our position. Our development, ma- terial, educational, social, moral, shows for itself. Our country is unsurpassed in soil, in climate, in opportunities for making an independent living. Our people, in sentiment and practice, are favorable to economy, sobriety, industry, and order They are tolerant, liberal, intelligent, and ambitious. Along the line of diversified agriculture— in the encouragement of manufactures, mining, and all diversified industries — our people foresee far more splendid achievemente -10- than any yet reached. They cordially Invite to share with them, in tlielr work and in their success, men of all lionest callings, and of whatever birthplace, of whatever creed or party. They invite within their borders, men and women, the poor and 41ie rich, native and foreign born. They believe that on these healthful prairies, and in these fertile vallej^s, may be built up a State, popu- lous, rich, and strong — a State of smiling farms and busy shops, of schools, newspapers, churches, and peaceful homes — an imperial State, midway between the oceans, and serving as the New Keystone of the grander Union of the future. KANSAS. In the galaxy of States you will find no brighter star Than our own fair State of Kansas, leading most of them by far, In the fullness of her prestige, in the arts of peace and war, And her future mirrored brightly on the ages yet afar ; With her streams of winding beauty, flowing through enchanting vales; Where her woodlands skirt the water shedding beauty through the dales; With her rolling hills and caflons, forming landscapes truly grand. And her limitless prairies an unbounded sea of land. Laden with the wealth of ages, waiting for the plowman's share To upturn its hidden treasures to the sunshine and the air; Waiting that the seed be planted, when a harvest shall spring forth That will feed the coming thousands from the East and from the North , Coming to this land of promise that they may secure a home ; Coming from the weary winter, t'where its rigors are unknown ; Where the yieldings of the summer are not swallowed up in feed. For the teams which did the tending, leaving not a peck for seed. Where the cattle feed on pasture, from the third until the twelfth, Leaving but three months of resting to this source of endless wealth; Where the plowman turns his furrows from the first day of the year, Through all seasons, till December ushers in its Christmas cheer. Here a man can be a freeman, and an owner of the soil, Sit beneath his "vine and fig tree," and reap due return for toil; And the hoardings in the stocking, ne'er be drawn upon to spend, All the savings in endeavor, that an end shall meet an end. We invite the honest toiler to this garden spot of earth. And extend the hand of welcome to these men of sterling worth ; For we need them "in our business," in the schools, and in the churel), And we need a few for office, that can keep themselves from smirch. Stay not on the sterile hillsides, pulling roots and picking stones; Seek this land of milk and honey, leave the hillsides to the drones. We have room for brawn, and brain, and for energy galore, And the' thousands now are coming, there is room for thousands more. E. P. Ford. -21- ALLEN COUNTY. T ,oOCATTON: Located in the secoud tier of counties from the east line of the I \ State and in the fourth tier from the south line, is one of the most accessi- ■^■^ ble to visitors from the east of any in Kansas. It is only four hours from Kansas City, with which it is connected by the Southern Kansas and the M. K. & T. railroads. Physical Features: The greater part of Allen County lies within the Neosho Vallej', conceded to be one ot the richest in the Slate. The Neosho river flows through the county, and receives within its bounds numerous large tributaries, by which the county is well watered. It has a large propor- tion of bottom land. The banks of the streams are well wooded so tliat fuel is abundant and cheap. Away from the streams the country is gently rolling, presenting a beautiful landscape, all but an insignificant proportion of which is susceptible of cultivation. The soil on the upland is deep and rich. Water is easily reached everywhere and there is hardly a quarter section on which a stock pond can not be constructed at very slight expense. Pboducts: Corn is of course the great staple, although wheat is success- fully raised in the bottoms. But all the crops adapted to this latitude, — oats, rye, flax, broom corn, castor beans, potatoes, etc., — are successfully raised here. Flax may be mentioned as a specially successful and profitable crop, averaging last year not less than twelve bushels, and some fields going as high as sixteen bushels per acre. In the line of fruits Allen County has a specially proud record, having won the gold medal for the finest display for apples at the New Orleans Exposition in 1885, and having taken the first premium at four suc- cessive State Fairs. There has never been a total failure in fruit since our orchards were old enough to bear. Towns: lola, the county seat. Is situated at the crossing of the Southern Kansas and Missouri Pacific railroads. It has splendid schools, a diploma from which entitles its holder to admission to the Fresham class of the State Uni- versity, several commodious churches and a large number of handsome resi- dences. The "lola Carriage and Omnibus Works" are located here and occupy a capacious building. There are two large flouring mills and other manufac- turing establishments. Natural gas is now being utilized for fuel in private houses, while a company with large capital are engaged in drilling additional wells. The thing that lola most "banks on," however, is her marble quarry. It has been recently discovered that the whole city is underlaid with an inex- haustible bed of stone which experienced men, such as Townsend Bros., of Ohio, and Anderson, of Michigan, pronounce superior in beauty, strength and durability to any marble found elsewhere in the United States. Humboldt and Noran are the other incorporated cities of the county, and both are pleasant and flourishing towns, . Cheap Land: Owing to the fact that the title to a large body of land in the county was in controversy for a number of years, Allen County is not near- ly so thickly settled as it would otherwise have been, farms can now be bought here at a much lower price than prevails in other parts of the State for lands of the same grade and similarly located. The controversy alluded to is now hap- pily ended, purchasers may have no fear but that their deed will convey a per- fect title, and the result wall inevitably be a rapid advance in prices. Come now while you may still acquire a home at a price that will make it the most fortunate investment of your life. Remember that in coming to Allen County you come to a county where so- ciety is already settled, where churches and school houses are already built, where there are railroads, newspapers and all other adjuncts and conveniences of civilization. We can't tell it on a single page, but come and see for yourself that what we have said is but a faint shadowing of the actual attractions and inducenaents offered by Allen County to the home seeker. Address D B. D. Smeltzer, Director, lola, Kansas. -22- ATCHISOM COUNTY. 'HE County of Atchisou lies in the north-eastern part of Kansas, and is one of the most productive and progressive couuties in tlie State. It contains a population of 40,000, and a total area of 271,720 acres, of which 215,158 are under cultivation. The fertility of the soil is excclleut, and the crop yields per acre for a series of years compare favorably with those of any othei'county in theState. The average value of farm lands Is about ^22.50 per acre According to the assessor's returns for 18S9, the value of farms, implements and improvements was $7,176.07-1, an estimate which the most competent judges any is much below tlie actual value. The report of the State Board of Agriculture, for the j'^ear 1888, gives the total value of crops raised during the j-ear as $1,343,484.23. Coal has been discovered in several sections of the county, and arrange- ments are now being made to prospect in various localities with a view to develop the coal deposits which undoubtedly exist. The public schools of the county are unrivaled, and very liberally suppoi'ted by the people. The number of school districts Is eighty-two, and the value of school property' about $250,000. Railroads traverse the county in every direction, affording the farming communities rapid and easy access to the best markets. A large quantity of very desirable farm lauds is otfered for sale at prices and terms which will be found advantageous to those seeking farms in Kansas. Quite a number of thriving towns have grown up in the county, the largest and most important being Atchison, the county seat, railroad center, and connnercial metropolis of Kansas. It is situated on the Mi.ssouri river, in the north-eastern part of the county, and forms a natural gateway into the State. It contains a population of 25,900, and controls a most extensive trade in the surrounding region, its commercial importance beijig second to none. All the grand trunk lines of railroad center here — thirteen in all — affording our merchants communication with the finest agricultural country in the world, reaching the immense corn, hog, and cattle area of Southern iS'ebraska, and Northern Kansas, the most fertile corn, hog, and cattle producing region on the globe, and which annually ships more hogs and cattle through Atchison to eastern markets than any territory of equal area on earth. The wholesale trade of the city amounted in 1888 — the only reliable figures now obtainable — to $40,000,000, being larger than that of any other city in Kansas. Our bank- ing institutions are the pride and the stay ot the city, having withstood every strain that was ever brought against them, and now have over $1,200,000 In capital and surplus Invested in the business. Besides our very excellent public schools, we have four colleges, two of which have been erected within the past year, through a subsidy liberally contributed by the tax payers of the city. The city is thoroughly lighted by electric lamps, has nearly ten miles of paved streets, a good water supply, street car lines, and all other essentials necessary for comfortable and happy living. Our manufacturing industries are very extensive and diversified, rivaling those of any other city in Kansas. The report of the State Bureau of Labor statistics for 1888, shows that the four flouring mills of Atchison manufactured during that year 39,691,062 pounds of flour, and that their capacity was 1,400 barrels per day. Our mills are now shipping flour to Liverpool, a fact noted with pride by all the papers in the State. Our vitrifled brick plants have been established but two years, and not only furnish nil the brick for our own streets, but have taken ueveral outside contracts besides. In the past two years they have paid out for labor and ma- terial over $175,000. Atchison wants more factories, and offers substijntial inducements to those wishing to engage in manufacturing in the West. It also aflfords room for all kinds of mercantile establishments, and will extend a warm welcome and sup- port to all who visit us, whether prompted by curiosity alone, or by a desire to make a permanent residence among us. For further information, address R. B. Druby, Director, Atchison, Kansas. -28- BARBER COUNTY. T pOCATED in the center of the southern tier of counties, adjoining the In- I \ diau Territory. Contains 1,134 square miles, sullicient lor 4,63(i farms of 1(30 acres eacli. It has a population of H,5U0; taxable wealth, $3,6UU,000; divided into lands, v"!2,'200,UU0; town lots, v600,OUU; personal property, ^4uO,UUO; railroad property, ^oUU,OUO. Property is assessed at 33^ per cent of its real value so the actual wealth of the county exceeds $10,01)0,000. The county waa settled and organized in 1873. It has never asked for and has never needed one dollar of outside aid; has never had a crop failure; has four incorporated cities, these being JNIedieiue Lodge, the county seat; Kiowa, the gateway to the Ciierolvee Strip; Hazleton, in the center of the richest agricultural belt; Bharon, ten miles east of the county seat, in the rich ISharon valley. These towns are all prosperous with churches, scliools, and good society. Other smaller towns are Lake City, Sun City, Aetna, Mingoua, Deerhead, Hardtuer, Elm Mills, and Isabel. The county has tliree lines of railroad: The Santa Ee, running to Hazleton, Kiowa, Sharon, and Medicine Lodge; the Missouri Pacific, going to Hazleton and Kiowa; and the Mulvane extension of the Santa Ee, running through tlie northern part of the county. The county is the best watered of any in Kansas, its never failing streams being supplied by cool springs of pure water. JNlost of the streams are skirted by timber, and from each reaches out broad second bottoms; rich as those beside the Nile. The soil is very deep, im- pregnated with g3'psum and sand; never bakes, is easily tilled, and responds with wonderful jiroductiveness. The county is free-range, the only one in this part of Kansas that is. This feature permits tlie tarmer to liaudle stock without a great outlay of money for fencing. There was marketed last year, live stock raised in Barber County ai^ouuting to more than $500,000. The wheat crop in 1SS9, averaged, In the county, 24i bushels to the acre, while many fields went as high as 60 bushels; corn averaged 45 bushels, and 75 bushels was a fre- quent crop; oats yield from 40 to 75 bushels; millet trom 4 to 6 tons. Prairie hay is plentiful everywhere- many farms are being provided with alfalfa, from which three and even live crops are cut each season. The county has raised good cotton and there is a gin at the county seat. Its sorghum sugar Industry is now known to the world. The sugar works at Medicine Lodge started late in 1889, produced over 500,000 pounds of sorghum sugar, and from beets grown on ff)ur acres made 10,000 pounds of beet sugar. The works are being enlarged, a refinery put In, and this season they expect to manufacture 4,000,000 pounds of beet and sorghum sugar. Farmers who raised sorghum for the mill realized from ^20 to $30 per acre for their labor; they will realize double this on the sugar beets they plant. The county has about 100 organized school districts and 75 school houses, those at Kiowa, Hazleton, and Medicine Lodge being large, brick, modern buildings, heated by steam. There are churches or cliurch organizations in every town, city, and neighborhood. The immense gypsum de- posits are being utilized by a cement and plaster manufactory at the county seat that will ship out from three toflvexjar loads of mauufaotHred product, daily. There are depftsits of marble, several colors, in the western part of the county. The county has two successful creameries, one at Hazleton, and one at Medicine Lodge; two large flouring mills, one at Hazleton, one at Elm Mills; five newspapers, the Index and Cresset, at Medicine Lodge; Herald and Jour- nal, at Kiowa; and Express, at Hazleton. Land is worth from $3 to $30 per acre. Stock needs feeding but three months in the year. The farmer can usually plow with his coat oft* three hundred days in the year. There are more sunny days than in any county, sunny Italy not excepted. For further information, address W. L. Gamble, Director, Hazleton, Kaa. -t«« BARTON COUNTY. rT was organized in 1872, and has an area of 900 square miles; is located about midway of the state, north and south, and the next county west of the geographical center. The county seat is Great Bend, situated on the Great Bend of the Arkansas River. Several other important towns in the county are well located and prosperous.- Ellinwood, Hoisington, Pawnee Rock, Claflin and Olmitz, all situated in flue localities, with good farming country around them. The surface of the county is gently rolling, and of tirst and second bot- tom lands; it has neither high blufls nor "sand hills," and about all good till- able land. The first settlement was made in 1870, and it now has a population of 13,000. The soil is dark, rich, deep, loam and is watered by the Arkansas River. Walnut and Cow Creeks, all living streams, and several others part of the year. Also has an abundance of good pure well water that is never failing. Barton county has made quite a success in tree growth, and has many flue groves of young timber, and quite an amount of natural timber along the streams. iSIany farmers are successful in fruit growing, and in a few years fruit will be grown and bearing all over the county. Tlie natural grasses of this county are the Blue stem, bunch and Buffalo varieties; the tirst two are good summer grasses, the latter is a fine fall and winter grass, and especially valu- able for winter grazing. Alfalfa clover grows finely, and is raised quite exten- sively; red clover and Timothy are being sown and do well, as the land is long- er cultivated. Blue grass grows splendidly, and many fine lawns are now seen in Great Bend and other towns of the county. The county' is therefore espec- ially adapted to stock raising, there always -being an abundance of forage, and water during the dryest years, and with the long pasturing season and short Winters, stock raising is quite pi'ofitable. In several townships of our county, creameries have been built, and in these localities farmers are making the milk pay nicely, in connection with the raising of stock. Salt beds are found in the southern part of the county, and north of the Arkansas River a bed of rock salt of excellent quality, over one hundred feet in thickness has been tested and is found as nearlj^ jjure as any in the state; where this test was made a flowing well of salt water is constantly running out over the prairie and is quite percep- tably increasing in flow and quality and is the only known well of the kind in the State. One of the most important features of our State is the public schools and no county of the state takes more pride in her schools than Barton. Over one hundred organized districts and schools in our county. Graded schools at Great Bend and other towns of the county. The Central Normal College is located at Great Bend. This institution is but a little past two years old and is already taking rank among the best institutions of learning of our country; it has at this time over two hundred students in attendance and is daily increasing. A large and commodious brick building of twenty-four rooms, pleasantly located, with boarding houses, rooms and conveniences for students surrounding it, makes it pleasant, healthy and in every way deserving the patronage it has now and in the future will receive. Churches of the various denominations are well established and attended. The different business and professional in- terests are well represented. Four large flouring mills whose capacity is 1,000 barrels per day; macliine shops, Watef Works, Street Railway and other good improvements usual to cities of Kansas. The inhabitants of the county are generelly native Americans and Germans. Barton County stands at the front in crops of all kinds, but for want of space can only give of wheat, corn and rye; in 1884, wheat sown 84,518 acres; yield 2,112,950 bushels, being third in the 'State In bushels and flrst in yield per acre; in 1886—41,127 acres, yield 740,286 bushels being first in the state by 167,086 bushels; in 1889—82,578 acres; yield 2,332,528 bushels, being second in the state in bushels and flrst in yield; in 1890 we have not less than 120,000 acres sown, and at this season has never looked better in the history of the county; com, 1889, 2,000,000 bushels; rye 250,000 bushels. For further information address J. W. Bbown, Director, Great Bend, Kan. -85 BUTLER COUNTY. ITS MATERIAL WEALTH AND RESOURCeS. ^'ITUATED in the south central portion of the State of Kansas, and thlrty- ^\ live miles north of the Indian Territory, is the County of Butler — the ^"^ largest county in the State — being thirty-four and one half by forty-two miles in urea. The soil ot the county can not be excelled by that of any part of the United States. The general surface of the county is undulating, and is di- vided into bottom lands, second bottom, and upland or prairie. Butler Is the best watered county in the State, being traversed by twenty-three running streams, fed by never failing streams of the purest water. The banljs being strewn with a vigorous healthy growth of natural timber. The bottom lands along these streams are from one to two miles in width. The main stream is the Walnut river with its twenty odd tributaries. These streams furnish excellent water power facilities. Butler County has nearly one million acres within her borders, sufficient for 100,000 people,* yet she has but 26,000 inhabitants. Of this area 260,554 acres are in cultivation, which leaves about 640,100 acres which remain as thej' came from thle hand of the Maker. The productiveness of these lands can no where be equaled; corn frequently makes ninety bushels per acre, and wheat has been known to produce fifty. Butler County, in 1889, produced 5,499,160 bushels of corn, 1,144,830 bushels of wheat, and had 4,730 acres of Irish potatoes, 46,000 acres of sorghum, 270 acres of broom corn, and 13,760 acres of millet, which pro- duced an estimated crop of three tons per acre; flax grows luxuriantly. On March 1st., 1889, Butler County had on hand 393,322 bushels of old corn, 4,493 bushels of wheat, and 8,711 tons o€ tame hay and 72,692 tons of prairie hay. The assessors for 1888 make returns of: 1,193 acres of Timothy, 127 acres of orchard grass, 463 acres of clover, 402 acres of blue grass, 363 acres of other tame grasses. As a fruit country, Butler ranks a No. 1, and has 200,000 bearing fruit trees; apples, peaches, plums, and cherries are very prolific, and grapes are spec- ially adapted to this soil and climate. Butler County has hundreds of miles of hedges and thousands of acres of cultivated forests. As a stock country she knows no superior, her nutritious grasses and pure water, free from all alkali substances, place her out of reach of all competitors. In 1889,she had 15,318 horses, 1,767 mules, 69,101 cattle, 49,245 sheep, 59, 780 swine. Value of animals sold in 1888, 1666,712; wool clip 1888, $284,937; cattle fed for market off of the crop of 1889, 36,000. Butler County has a population of 26.000 people, and has 174 school houses, 8,917 children of school age; employs 214 teachers, who are paid an average salary of $40.67 per month. Butler County has always been well governed, to the extent that as a county, she owes not one dollar of bonded indebtedness. Butler County is traversed by four great trunk line railroads, and possesses 202 miles of railway, a main line of the Atchison, Topeka & SantaFe from Flor- ence, extends through the county from north to south, passing through the towns of De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Gordon, and Douglass to Galveston. The Missouri Pacific from east to west, and along the line may be found Rosalia Pontiac, El Dorado, Towanda, and Benton to Wichita, with a branch to JNew- ton, passing through Potwin, Brainerd, and Whitewater. The Rock Island crosses the northwest cornerof the county, crossing the Missouri Pacific branch at Whitewater. The St Louis & San Francisco passes through the south half of the county, from east to west, passing through the towns of Beaumont, Kelghly, Leon, Haverhill, Augusta, and Andover to Wichita. The Santa Fe road also has a branch from Augusta to Mulvane, and the Frisco a branch from Beaumont, through Latham to Winfield. In ihe reUgious world Butler County is fully represented. ElDorado Is the county seat and has a population of 6,000. This town forms an end of a division on the Missouri Pac road; this gives it the advantage of a monthly pay-roll of $20,000. The town is supplied with gas, electric light, and water works. Augusta, twelve miles south of El Dorado, is the next town of importanc* in the county — it contains 2,600 inhabitants. Douolass, twelv* miles south of Augusta, is next with 1.500 people. Then in order ooznes Leoa, Whitawatw, Brainerd. Latham, PatviB, iWanda, and Benton . 7or furthM infonmatlMi addrtai 0. O. Toninnt, Director, El Dorado, BJn. -26- CLARK COUNTY, a LARK COUNTY borders on the Indian Territory, Is the fifth from the west line of the State, has an area of 976 square rniles, and was organized in 1885. The surface is a rolling plain, the highest portion being in ix^t northern part. The south half of the county lies In the Cimarron valley. Streams of living water prevail in nearly every township. The Santa Fe R. R. gives trunk counections with Wichita and Kansas City, west to Ashland, thence southwest to Englewood, the present terminus. The Rock Island R. R. passes through the northwestern part of the county, Minneola being its prin- cipal station. The towns are Ashland, the county seat, in the central part, Lexington in the eastern, Minneola in the northwestern, Cash City in the western and Englewood in the southwestern part. Excellent building stone and brick clay are abundant. The soil is black and mulatto loam, very deep and productive. The Cimarron river and its tributaries make the south half of the county one vast valley. Pure and wholesome sheet water underlies this broad valley at a depth of from 10 to 30 feet, afibrding good wells. The soil all over the county works nicely and never bakes; it retains moisture and germi- nates with wonderful regularity. The rain fall, which averages about 23 inches per annum, is mostly confined to the growing season. The wild land is easily brought to a good state of cultivation, and from the first is adapted to grasses, grain, fruit, vines and vegetables. Corn is a staple here as in the rest of the State. Wheat is one of our best crops and never fails. Fields frequently aver- age 30 bushels per acre. Ashlan-d will have a first-class flouring mill in opera- tion by July 1st, 1890. Rye, barley, oats, millet, broom-corn, sorghum and vegetables are successful crops. Castor-beans prove profitable. Stock raising is one of our ever valuable industries. The native bufl^alo grass makes a rich pasturage, which cures where it grows, rendering the use of tame feed un- necessary during any portion of the year. Cattle live on our prairies the year round by grazing. The cost of raising cattle is reduced to the minimum. A herd of 1,000 cattle in this county was neither fed nor sheltered last winter and the actual loss from December, 1888, to September, 1889, was but eight head. Cows cared for in this manner, increase eighty per cent, per year, and with extra care and some feed in bad weather, will increase ninety per cent. Beef can be raised on our ranges for one cent per pound, and four year old steers ready for the market have not cost to exceed $8.00 or $10.00. Horses and sheep can be raised as profitably, but require more attention. Farming and stock raising can be combined with the best results. Wild blue stem hay can be cut in large quantities, and from five to ten tons of cane per acre can be raised. With such forage stacked in the pasture for bad weather, a small herd requires but little aitentinu during winter. Hogs are successfully raised. Alfalfa and cane make excellent forage, and both grow luxuriantly. The Wichita packing houses, but a few hours distant, can handle one million hogs annually. One of the most important considerations in contemplating a new country is the healthfulness of the climate Our air is pure and bracing. The surface of the country is rolling and slopes to the southeast; there being no stagnant water, the country is free from malaria. We have no local causes for dlsea.se. Colds and sore throats are almost unheard of. ISlany persons who have settled here have become entirely cured of long-standing diseases. This county is settled by intelligent and industrious people from nearly every state. The few foreign- ers here are naturalized, and are among our most thrifty citizens. Churches have been built and schools established in every part of the county. Presby- terians, Methodists, Baptists, Christians and Catholics have organizations and several good, substantial church edifices. Good farm land can be bought for from ^f) 00 to $10.00 per acre, according to location, improvements, etc.; i)asture land at from $2.50 to $5.00 per acre. Parties not wanting to pay all cash, can usually have from two to five j'ears' time on half the purchase money, at seven per ceiit. Taxes average about $10.00 per quarter section. For further information address C. P. Woodbury, Director, Ashland, Kansas. _27- CLAY COUNTY. a LAY COUNTY lies about one hundred miles west of the Missouri River and in Ihe second tier of counties south of the Nebraska state Hue. It has an area of 660 square milea or comprises 422,400 acres of excellent laud, suitable for a diversilied agriculture. About twelve per cent of the area is bot- tom land, the remainder upland. Nearly the entire area can be cultivated tliere not being more than five per cent of waste land. The bottoms are level with- out being marshy, the U]jlauds are beautiful stretches of undulating prairie rich in soil, yielding bountiful crops. There are no hills nor steep ascents and the whole presents a scene that pleases and fascinates the eye as it wanders over the gentle like swells dotted with farm houses and beautiful groves. At any season of the year the roads are good and perhaps with as little etibrt upon the i)art of the people to make them so as anywhere else in the world, and it is seldom that the heaviest loads cannot be easily drawn to market. It is well watered by the Republican and its numerous tributaries. Timber sufficient to supi)ly the agri- culturist M'ith all that he needs for posts, poles, etc. Good water is obtainable at a depth of twenty or twenty-five feet on the bottoms, and on the uplands forty to seventy-five feet. Magnesia limestone, excellent for building purposes can be had cheap. The productiveness of the soil cannot be excelled elsewhere. The magnitude of the crops many seasons if told would seem the fabrications of one who had but little regard for the truth. Yet the corn crop of 1889 amount- ed to 9,100,000 bushels or an average of sixty bushels per acre. The wheat 170,- 000 bushels or an average of twenty-two bushels per acre. The oat crop 1,600,- 000 or an average of forty-five bushels per acre. Fruits of all kinds are success- fully grown. Schools and church facilities are excellent in the rujal distiicts. Good farms convenient to market with fair improvements can be bought at prices ranging from $15 to $25 per acre. Clay Center, the county seat, is located on the east bank of the Republican river, partly in the vallej'' and partly on the gentler slope that rises as you leave the valley. Naturallj' the drainage is good securing to the resident a pure and wholesome atmosphere. It is a wide-awiike thriving city of 4,000 inhabi- tants; has three hotel buildings, one of them the most handsome and costly in Northern Kansas, completed and furnished at a cost of $125,000; the Flolly sys- tem of waterworks; three as fine school buildings in point of architecture and equipments as grace any city of its size, costing its jieople $G0,000; two opera ho'.ises, a street railway line and is illuminated with electric lights. Has sever- al costly church edilices and the congregations of thirteen churches assemble in their own buildings. Two well equipped fiouring mills that ship annually great quantities of their products toother markets. Several elevators of large caf)acity, three newspapers two national and one State bank, capital of each $50,000. The secret socielies of the I. O. O. F., the K. P., the A. O. U. W., and the several lodges of the Masonic order have many members and are in a flour- ishing condition. Six passenger trains daily arrive and depart over the Kansas Central, Junction City & Ft. Kearney, and Chicago, Rock Island & Paeitic railroads. No better location for manufacturing, as there is water ]!Ower that is only part- ly utilized ready to put in motion machinery of all kinds and many manufac- tured articles can be as cheaply produced here as an.ywhere with the advan- tages of turning them out at the innnediate ])(iint of consumption, saving to the consumer the cost of long transportation, and enabling the manufacturer to un- dersell those who must ship long distances. Beside rents and food are cheap and there are no saloons to demoralize workmen and all that is conducive to good health and morals exists. The water power propels the macliinery of a large flouring mill, an elevator and is the motive power of the electric light plant. It is sut^cient to operate any number of manufacturing enter7)risps, to which our people would give substantial assistance. For information address Director of Immicrration. Clav Center. Kansas. -28- COFFEY COUNTY rS LOCATED in the heart of the great Neosho valley, a valley that is noted everywhere for its richness of soil and wonderful production of almost everything in the way of grains, grasses and vegetables. Good unimproved lands can be had at from $6.0U to $15.00 per acre, and improved farms from $10.00 to $50.00. The surface of the county is a gentle, rolling prairie, with scarcely any waste land; the soil is rich black, and is from two to fifteen feet in depth. The Neosho river runs through the county from the northwest to the southeast and is fed by more than twenty creeks, some of them from fifteen to twenty miles in length, making it one of the best watered counties in the State, and good, pure well water can be had at an average depth of twenty feet. There are also numerous springs in the county. The river and creeks are skirted with timber. The county is well supplied with railroads. The A., T. «fe S. F., the Mo. P. and the M. K. and T. traverse the county in all directions. There are ninety -three school districts in the county, and each provided with a substantial school building costing from $600 to $1,000. There are also fifty-two church buildings in the county. Towns. — Burlington, the county seat, is located on the Neosho river, in the geographical center of the county, and has a population of 3,000. The A., T. & S. F. and the M., K. & T. railroads pass throuj,'h it. When the A., T. & S. F. road is completed from Gridley to a connection with the southwestern system, a distance of but 14 miles, Burlington will be on the shortest and most direct route from Kansas City to all the great southwest. She has three news- papers, three banks, waterworks, an electric light plant, two elevators, nine churches, one brick yard, one carriage factory, one brick school building, cost- ing $28,000, one ward school building costing $6,000, and numerous fine busi- ness blocks. It has magnificent water power ready to be utilized for any man- ufacturing purposes. It has a magnificent roller mill and elevator, just com- pleted, with a capacity of 160 barrels per day. LeRoy, the second city in the county, has a population of 1,000, is a rail- road center, forming, as she does, the end of four freight divisons of four Unes of the Mo. P. railroad. She is beautifully located on the Neosho river, sur- rounded by a fine agricultural country; has one newspaper, two banks, two mills, one of which has all modern milling machinery, one elevator, one car- riage factory, several churches, two of which were built the past year, a fine school building, and the educational interests are well looked after and presided over by a principal and four assistant teachers. Waverly, in the northeast part of the county, at the junction of the A., T. & 8. F. and Mo. P. railroads, has a population of 800. It is one of the best shipping points in the county. She has one newspaper, one bank, two eleva- tors, fine churches, a brick school building costing over $8,000, neat and sub- stantial residences, located in the heart of a fine agricultural country. Lebo is in the northwest part of the county on a branch of the A., T. & 8 F. railroad, and has a population of 750; has ten stores, two hotels, mill and elevator, one bank, one newspaper, good church buildings, graded schools, and all branches of business are represented. An abundance of an extra quality of coal underlies the country. Gridley is situated in the southwest part of the county, at the present ter- minus of the A., T. & S. F. railroad and on a branch of the Mo. P. road: Is a new town in a fine country, and has 250 inhabitants; all branches of business are represented; she has a fine school building, one newspaper, and churches. Aliceville, a new town in the east part of the county, is on the main line of the Mo. P. road, and has a population of 200 and is growing steadily. For further information address J. E. WATRaus, Director, Burlington, Kansas. -29- COMANC HE C OUNTY. rS located in south central Kansas, on the Chicago, Kansas & Western rail- road, one hundred and twenty-five miles west of Wichita, and borders di- rectly on the Indian Tejritory. The broad, fertile valleys of Ki(twa, Cav- alry, Mule, Nescatunga, Salt Fork, and Santanta traverse the county the entire length. To these can be added several expanses of beautiful, level land, known as " KoUer Flats, Missouri Flats, and Mill Creek bottoms." Comanche County has about three hundred and fifty miles of streams with running water, which, together with the many never failing si)rings, place the county at the head of the list in supply of pure water. Wells of excellent water may be obtained at any point in the county by digging from ten to sixty feet. Our soils will compare favorably in depth and productiveness with any in the South-west, and comprises diflferent varieties, among which are the alluvial deposits of the bottom lands, the black, sandy soil, and the red or mu- latto loam of the uplands. Where proper attention has been given, every department of agriculture has proven a success in Comanche County. The standard cereals produce good crops, besides broom corn, sorghum, castor beans, peanuts, and all kinds of vegetables are successfully raised. Wheat, rye, and corn are the principal pro- ducts and have been found to yield abundantly. Cotton and tobacco, of good quality, also mature well here and serve as auxiliary crops. Fruit trees, of all kinds, grow vigorously in every part of the county, and, as the climate and soil correspond so neatly with the great truit growing districts of the country, we have no hesitancy in recommending the culture of all classes of standard and small fruits. Comanche County is truly the paradise of the man who desires to raise horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs. The abundant supply of healthful water; the fine natural shelter afllorded by the wooded canyons, the mildness of the climate, and the convenience to market, combine to make this pursuit most profitable! We have had the misfortune to have a large amount of the best land in the county pre-empted by young men who have failed to become permanent settlers, and now these lauds are placed on the market at nominal figures and can be bought for small sums in excess of what it cost the pre-empter. Comanche has in several parts of the county a very fine building stone, which is used for stone buildings, foundations, and trimmings for brick build- ings. A very excellent quality of brick clay is also found. In the south-west part of the county, on the Cimarron river, may be found immense natural beds of the purest and best quality of salt. The great Santa Fe system of railway runs entirely through our county , from the north-east to the south-west corner. The system gives Comanche county good transportation to the eastern markets and enables us to cope with southern counties. But Comanche proposes to lead, not follow. Our citizens realizing the ne- cessity of direct transportation facilities to the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, as they also do the advantages of reaching the deep water harbor at Galveston on the Gulf, have chartered a road beginning at Denver, Col., to run via Coldwater (the county seat of Comanche County) with a terminus at Gal- veston. This brings direct to our farmers the markets of the world, and places us inposition to compete successfully with any agricultural county in the West. The agricultural interests of Comanche County are great, and she presents advantages in this respect that can not be excelled in the great south-west. Her live stock is thrifty, healthy, and fat, and for raising horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, no place offers greater advantages. There never has been a se.ison in the history of the county when an industrious farmer could not raise suffi- cient food for his stock — corn, hay, sorghum, etc. There is now upwards of fourteen thousand acres of wheat sown in this county and it could not possibly be in better condition. Coldwater has in course of erection a complete roller process flouring mill, and it is confidently expected that next year the wheat acreage will be double if not greater. It is often said that farming does not pay; but this is wrong; farming and stock raising does pay in Comanche county, and pays well. For further information, address 8. M. Jackson. Director. Coldwater. Kansas. -30- COWLEY COUNTY • aOWLEY COUNTY is located on the south Mne of the State, bordering on tlie Cherokee Strip, Indian Territory. It contains 1,130 square miles or 739,840 acres. The surface is made up of prairie and bottom lauds, as beautiful as the heart of man could wish and is one of the finest watered coun- ties in the state; its principal streams being the Waluut and Arkansas rivers, the latter passiug from the northwest to the southeast, a distance of nearly fifty miles, while the Walnut crosses the countj' from north to south, a distance or thirty-three miles. The other principal streams ai'e Grouse, Silver, Rock, Tim- ber, Muddy, Badger, Otter, Cedar, Steward, Crabb, Plum, Spring and Beaver creeks. All these streams are skirted with timber, have rich bottomlands now in a high state of cultivation. The timber of these streams consist of walnut, oak, locust, Cottonwood, sycamore, mulberry, ash, elm, hickory and maple. These lands can be purchased at from ten to forty dollars per acre. The popula- tion in 1889 was 35,991. The variety of crops produced in this county are wheat, corn, oats, rye, bar- ley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, castor beans, sorghum, cotton, flax, hemp, tobacco, broom corn, millet, blue grass, timothy, alfalfa and clover. In 18S9 Cowley county had 46,698 acres in wheat, producing 1,242,550 bush- els and 129,282 acres in corn, producing 7,110,510 bushels. It is the first county in the state in horses, having 16,085. In cattle and sheep it is second and is one of the leading counties in hogs, having 38,293. Illinois and Iowa show an annual loss of hogs by cholera of thirty-three per cent or about one-third of the crop, while Cowley county, owing to its peculiarly healthj'^ conditions show an average annual loss of less than three per cent. It alao heads the list in orchards and fruits, having over 600,000 fruit trees in bearing. The total assessed value of all the taxed property for the year 1889 was J)6, 777,437. 60. This represents from a fifth to an eighth of the real value of the property, so that a fair estimation of the value at this time would be from thirty to forty million dollars. Corn and wheat like some of the eastern states have made the staple crop. The country is, however, well adapted to stock raising of all kinds, and this year a large acreage of cotton will be planted, it having been demonstrated to be a profitable crop. The jjopulation is most entirely American ; the farms are well improved and school houses and churches are as numerous and convenient as in the older settled states. The principal town is Wiufield, the county seat, with a popula- tion of 10,000; is centrally located and one of the best built cities in the State and is known as the city of beautiful homes and churches. The principle trade of the city is the trade" it hsis with the outlying country, and three large flouring mills with a capacity of 800 barrels per day. Besides the manufacture of flour, Winfield has a factory for the manufacture of mill machinery, a foundry and machine shop, several carriage factories and one of the principal industries is the large quarries of flagging and building stone. Most of the business houses of Winfield are constructed of this stone, quarried within two miles of the city limits and this stone is one of the principle articles of export Wiufleld is the largest produce shipping town in Southern Kansas; nine railroads radiate to all i)arts of the country. Winfield is one of the most beautifully located cities in the State. It has Ave graded seliools, which furnish ample accommodations to 1,600 pupils, a business college, and the Southwest M. E. College; the State Im- becile Asylum is also located here. The several church denominations have commodious and elegant places of worship. Secret and benevolent societies are well represented. It is also in the celebrated salt district, having within the corporation a flowing saline well. There is no more attractive city for home and business than Wiufield. For information address E. B. Buck, Director, Winfield, Kansas. -SI- CRAWFORD COUNTY. aRAWFORD COUNTY is situated in the soutlieastern part of the State, aud ranks among the first of the Slate in agricultural resources, there being no waste laud in the county, and every one hundred aud sixty acres within its tweuty-tive miles square makes a first-class farm. While liaving these advantages agiieulturally, its chief boast is that it con- tains the only large and valuable coal deposit in the State, having in its eastern part over fifty thousand acres of coal laud already prospected, bearing two veins of coal of excellent quality; the upper vein being from twenty to twenty- four inches in thickness, and the lower or heavy vein averaging over the entire field, a thickness of forty inches. This coal deposit has already brought to its center all the leading railway systems of the State, and they are now receiving their supplies of fuel from this locality. The principal city of the county is Pittsburg, with a population now of over 10,000 and growing rapidly. It is situated in the center of this coal field, and like its name sake in Pennsylvania, is already the chief manufacturing city of its State. It is now the principal zinc smelting point in the world, hav- ing six large smelting plants, comprising forty-six furnaces in all, with a daily output of spelter of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. The coal already developed at this point, is comparatively speaking, inex- haustible, for figuring on a daily output of two hundred cars of twenty tons each, or four thousand tons per day, there is already land prospected to supply such a demand for two hundred and fifty years. What adds to the value of this coal field is the large zinc and lead deposits of the adjoining county in Kansas to the south, and the zinc, lead, iron and timber of south- west Alissouri. The latter named territory being entirely without coal centers, ^>«- the smelting c^ the ores produced there at Pittsburg, which, wbile only of a A few years growth, is soon to be the leading city of the State in wealth and population, on account of its natural resources. ^ It already has a pay roll for mining alone of more than ?200,'000 per month ^ and this is being increased all the time, as new mines and smelting interests \5 a^ffi developed. "OO Pittsburg, on account of its being a coal and railroad center, has already attracted the attention of manufacturers, as shown by its foundries, machine shops, boiler works, planing mills, etc., and is now known as the Smoky City of Kansas. The great growth of the State of Kansas as an agricultural State is unpre- cedented in the history of our country, but its manufacturing interests have not kept pace with the former and there is a field for the manufacturer in any line, Pittsburg, with its railroads and coal, offers the best of inducements for their locating; coal for manufacturing purposes being furnished for fifty cents per ton. This manufacturing interest also adds largely to the value of the adjacent lauds for agricultural purposes, as the large population centering at Pittsburg makes a good market for the gardener and fruit grower, and there is a splendid opening for parties wanting to engage in these occupations. To the farmer, laborer, manufacturer, or any one wanting business and a home, come to Pittsburg, the manufacturing city of the South-west. Population of PixTSBURa. First Census taken la 1887. 1887 4,033 1889 5,407 1888 8,000 1890 10,000 For further information, address Frank Playter, Director, Pittsburg, Kas. 32 DECATUR COUNTY rS IN the northern tier and the third from the west liue of the State; it is thirty miles square, with rich, productive soil; it has 650 miles of running water, six water mills scatterea along the Beaver, South and JNorth Sappa, Prairie Dog and North Solomon rivers; a steam roller mill at Oberliu with all the latest improved machinery; this mill is now filling an order of a half mil- lion pounds of flour'for the State of Georgia; she has 110 public school houses in which a term of six to nine months' school is taught annually, and a high school at the county seat where a finished education can be had. It has three lines of railroads passing through from east to west, — two lines of the Chicag'^ Burlington & Quincy, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, thus affordicg :imple railway facilities to the great markets of the country. The county has seven newspapers. Located as she is in the center of the great corn belt of the nation, and on the line ot travel across the continent, with a rich, productive soil, pure water and healthy atmosphere, choice lands, a live go-ahead people, DecMtur County bids fair to be the leading county of the northwestern portion of the State. Her debt is small, her naanagement good, and taxes light, and in looking over the various counties of Kansas do not fail to see Decatur, for it ofters you good farm lands from $4.00 to $12.00 per acre, according to location and im- provements. Population of towns on the B. & M. R. R.: Oberlin, 2,000; Norcatur, 250; Kanona, 100; Cedar Bluffs, 100; Traer, 100. On C, K. & N. R. R.: Jennings, 200; Dresden, 150. Obeblin, the county seat, is the great trade center of northwestern Kan- sas, and is centrally located in the Sappa valley; it has a splendid system of water works, several fine churches, — Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Cath- olic, Baptist, Christian and Episcopal organizations; public high school build- ing, and a National Memorial College, founded by'Miss L. A. Mints, where the children of Union soldiers and sailors receive a collegiate education free of charge. The U. 8. land office for the northwestern portion of the State is located here, where homesteads, preemptions and timber culture rights are made and final proofs perfected. It contains a population of 2,000 people, has four newspapers, four banks, large hotels, steam roller miU, dry goods, grocery, hardware, implement and drug stores, some of which carry from $80,000 to $85,000 stocks. She also contains one lodge each of Masons, I. O. O, F., K. of P., Modern Woodmen, A. O. U. W., one post G. A. R., W. R. C. and 8. of V. Four livery stables, three smiths, one carriage, one wagon and one plow factory, four coal and two lumber yards, two elevators and three stock buyers. The grounds of the Decatur Co. Fair Association are just outside the city, where an annual exhibition of farm products, stock, and mechanical arts is held, and the display would be a credit to any county in the west. Maps of Decatur County and the City of Oberlin furnished on application. DECATUR COUNTY PRODUCTS. 1888 1889 Under fence 106,142 170,130 Farm acreage 816,669 380,169 WinLer wheat 4,068 6,424 Bye 6,628 9,927 Spring wheat 14,540 21.810 Oorn 56 684 59,T60 Oats 7.339 11,007 Potatoes 17,054 20.076 Oorn on hand March 1st 258,2i 3 467,016 Wheat " " " 15.988 21,987 Tona of haj cut 10,060 12,870 1888 Batter made 828,427 No. of horses and males 6,064 No. of milch cows 5,208 No. of other cattle 9.602 No. of swine 12.884 Val. animals slanghtered or sold.. $134, 181 Frolt trees 61,880 Val. hortlcult'rl produots market'd 8.937 Acreag* artificial forest* ^'IH Population In 1884 t,TM 1889 437,189 6,768 6,450 10,187 16.149 178. ai» 68,670 'i For further Information address Oeo. W. KsTt, Dlreotor, Oberlin, KaafM. -33- DICKINSON COUNTY T pTES in the center of the golden belt, consisting of rolling prairies and |» V broad valleys, soil of npland rich clay, loam, dark color, depth from two to five feet; second bottom lands, blacik loam, very little sand from two to live feet deep, lower bottoms black sandy loam of immeasurable depth. These lands are exhaustless— twenty-five consecutive wheat crops have been raised in some lands without fertilizing and last year yielded from thirty to forty bushels an acre, while thousands of acres have Ibeen in corn for fifteen consecutive years, producing in 1889 »rora fifty to ninety-five bushels per acre, (seventy pound bushels). Populativ,u 1879 10,428; population 1889 24,000. Value of farms in 1879 $4,000,000, in 1889 $18,000,000. Crops of 1889— Wheat 47.000 acres, 1,000,000; corn, 120,000 acres, 6,200,000; oats, 40,000 acres, 1,600,000; rye, 6,000 acres 180,000. Hay cut 1889, 80,000 tons. Live stock in county December, 1889: sheep 20,600; hogs 29,000; horses and mules 18,000; cows, calves, feeders and fat cattle 55,000 head. Abilene, the county seat, has 7,000 inhabitants, two branches of the Santa Fe railroad, the Rock Island railroad and the Un4on Pacific railroad, which afford the best of railroad facilities in every direction. The city is lighted by electrici- ty, protected by the Holly waterworks system; civilized by fourteen churches; educated by six public schools, two of which are graded schools and the sisters of St. Joseph's college; informed and enlightened by one daily, three weekly and one monthly newspaper; and conveyed up and down her principal avenues for a distance of four miles is one of the best equipped street railways in Central Kansas. Herrington lies in the southeast part of the county, lighted by electricity, waterworks, an elegant opera house and two railroads. Solomon City, a town on the west has three railroads. Hope and Carlton in the south and southwest have railroads. Enterprise to the east, has water power mills and two rail- roads. Chapman is a little farther east with the county high school and rail- road advantages. Manchester to the northwest has two railroads. Other smaller towns in the county afford convenient markets for produce and stock. This article is not intended to boom town lots, but to persuade the practical farmers of the east to come and see this beautiful farming country and if they have money to invest to locate in Dickinson county. There are hundreds of rare bargains to be had now, both in town and county. Some elegant wheat and corn farms now in cultivation can be bought from $12 to $20 per acre while beautiful grass land can be bought at from $5 to $10 an acre. The beauty and grandeur of Abilene, her location, the stir and bustle of her citizens, the elegant streets and the refined and tasty homes, the beautiful lawns, the cordial w^elcome always tendered to any one who visits there, all added is enough to enthuse a stoic. It is not unreasonable to expect property to enhance in Abilene as she is not an overgrown town and surrounded as she is by the best county in the State her prospects are bright; and should the state capital ever be placed near the center of population, Abilene and Dickinson county will make a vigorous effort to secure the prize. For further information address G. C. Stkrt>. Director, .'\hi1ene, Knrtians. -84- EDWARDS COUNTY. EDWARDS COUNTY is situated one tier of counties west S. F., the Dodge City, Montezuma & Trinidad, the C, K. & N. (Rock Island), the Omaha, Dodge City & Southern, and Wichita & Western. Ford County contains 691,200 acres of fine rich soil. Winter wheat sown in 18S9, 2,911 acres. No. bushels harvested 46,576, value $23,288; corn planted 20,345 acres, bushels gathered 866,210, value $91,555; oats sown 6,502 acres, bush- els raised 162,550, value $37,386; rye sown 1,474 acres, bushels raised 28,006, value $7,841; Irish potatoes 553 acres, bushels raised 60,836, value $39,539; sweet potatoes 64 acres, bushels raised 5,4.50, value $5,168; castor beans 168 acres, bushels raised 2,232, value $3,124; sorghum 4,719 acres, acres manufactured into syrup $1,416, gallons syrup made 99,120, value of syrup $39,648, acres for torage 3,308, value of forage crop $33,030, total value of crop $72,678; broom corn 284 acres, pounds raised 170,400. value $5,964; millet 7,1.^5 acres, tons raised 14,270, value $57,080. There are 2,636 horses in the county valued at $21H,870; 423 mules and asses valued at $38,070; 3,762 milch cows valued at $67,716; 6723 other cattle valued at $100,845; 241 sheep valued at $602; 1,824 hogs valued at $11,856; 134,602 pounds of butter valued at $16,152 was pi'oduced from the milch cows, and also 6,705 pounds of cheese valued at $660. In addition to this, $4,544 worth of milk was sold; the value of poultry and eggs sold amounts to $6,514. The year 1889 was not an average season for farmers, and the record will be easily doubled for 1890. Ford County has most excellent schools. Seventy teachers are employed at the average wages of forty dollars per month. The progress in this direction is shown by the fact that thirty good, sub- stantial school houses have been built in the last three years. Cities and Towns. — Dodge City, the county seat, is well known as an enterprising and important city. It is an extensive railroad center, having two trunk lines to Chicago, and another in process of construction. It is a freight and passenger division for both the Santa Fe and Rock Island roads, and a division of the U. S. railway mail service. It has many advantages. The fine climate makes it a sanitarium; nowhere in the world does the year bring a greater number of delightful days. Water works, supplying pure, sparkling water in abundance, serve also to make beautiful lawns, where flowers and trees delight the eye; electric lights make night like day; fine business blocks; a magnificent city hall; first class opera house; good hotels; neat and commodious churches; a splendid public school system thoroughly graded; a fine new college conducted by an able corps of professors, and many other features of advantage conspire to make Dodge City specially attractive. Spearville is an important and thriving city, sixteen miles east of Dodge City, on the Santa Fe railroad. Ford City, twenty miles southeast of Dodge, on the Arkansas river, is one of the flourishing cities on the line of the Rock Island and Wichita & Western. Bucklin at the junction of the main line and the Liberal branch of the Rock Island, is a prosperous town, surrounded by well improved farms. Bloctm is located on the Rock Island near the south line of the county, and offers many advantages to investors. Wilburn, In the southwest part of the county, is a beautiful village with school and church privileges. Howell, on the Santa Fe, ten miles west of Dodge City, is worthy of note. For further information address L. A. Lauber, Director. Dodge CHty, Kansas. 89- OEARY COUNTY. TTTHIS COUNTY, formerly well known ^lul widely advertised as Davis d I to County, Kansas, is situated northeasterly from the center of tlie State. It includes portions of the valleys of the Kansas, Kepuhlicau and tSmoky Hill rivers and the adjacent uplands. The surface is beautifully diversified, and every part of the county is well supplied with water by the rivers and their tributaries, fed by numerous living springs. Also, with pure well water on almost every farm. The soil is a black, fertile loam, suited to all the grains, vegetables, fruits, and other crops, and products usually grown in this latitude. The climate is mild and healthful. The raising of live stock and other farm industries are carried on with profit. Horses, cattle, pork, wool, corn, wheat, oats, and other grains, fruits and dairy and poultry products are matters of profitable export. The vast water power of our rivers is easily and cheaply utilized. No region ot the West is more favored in this respect than this particular section. Junction City is located at the reputed center of the United States, one hundred and thirty-eight miles west of Kansas City, at the end of the first di- vision of the Union Pacific railroad. It is the northern terminus of the M., K. & T road, and southern terminus of the Junction City & Fort Kearney road. The town was laid out in 1858 on a site chosen for its many natunil advantages, rich soil, easy grades for road making and travel, abundance of pure water, salubrity of climate, and beautiful scenery. The town is in the center of the great limestone region of the State and the magnificent quarries of building" stone near the town are easily worked and inexhaustible. Two test borings have proven the existence of salt beneath the city, in endless quantity and great purity. The town is supplied with an admirable system of water works, cheaply operated by the city, supplying 500,000 gallons of pure well water per day. It combines the gravity and direct pressure systems, capable of throwing water to a perpendicular height of one hundred and thirty feet. The streets and business houses are brilliantly lighted with electricity, operated by water power. A company is organized to locate and build a system of electric street rail- roads, connecting the city with Fort Riley. A telephone system, connecting the principal business houses and residences with each other, and with I"'ort Riley. The city has two banks, four weekly newspapers, one monthly magazine, one Board of Trade, one Building and Loan Association, two railroad depots, two round houses, and other division buildings; ten church edifices, four stone school houses, with a capacity of 1.200 pupils, employing seventeen teachers; two private schools; one city hall and opera house; four public libraries. Esti- mated population, 6,000. Fort Riley is practically a suburb of Junction City. The military reser- vation consists of 20,000 acres, including portions of the valleys of the Repub- lican, Smoky Hill, and Kansas rivers, with wide stretches of variegated up- lands. In 1887, Congress authorized the Secretary of War to establish upon the reservation at Fort Riley a "permanent school of instruction for drill and prac- tice for the cavalry and light artillery service of the United States." One mil- lion dollars have been expended, and it will require tialf a million more to com- plete the improvements in process of construction. Fort Rilej' is fast becom- ing what it is intended to be, the largest and most important m'ditarrj establish- ment on the American continent. Tlie entire post is heated by steam from a bat- tery of boilers, and possesses a most efficient system of water works. Fort Riley is to be made headquarters for breeding the various grades of artillery and cav- alry horses, and a general recruiting station for the armies of the United States. In the breeding of horses the farmers of central Kansas will furnish the brood mares, and proper colts will be raised under contract. It is estimated that Fort Riley will. when in complete running order,accommodate 3,000 men and as many horses, and that the annual expenditures will not fall below $1,200,000 per an- num. This continuous monetary flow will be very beneficial to the business of Junction City and to the agriculture of the adjacent country. For further information address A. L. Barnes, Director, Junct. City, Ejtn. 40 a--^IS^'IBIj3D CO"Cr3iTT-2" Is situated between the maiu line of tlie Santa Fe and Great Bend extension and about one Iiuudred miles east of the west line of Kansas and a little over three hundred miles west of Kansas City. The soil is un- surpassed in fertility, and her building stone is a mar- vel of beauty and cheapness, it being found in abundance in all parts of the County. The •parkling water, bubbling from Springs form the noted and Which flows through the County from West to East, forming the best of drainage and the best watered bottoms for stock and hay to be found in Southwest, Kansas. Situated near the center of t!)e County, has a beautiful location, and twenty- six miles north of Cimarron and twenty-six miles south of Dighton and midway between Ness City and Garden City; as also between Dodge City and Scott City, commanding the largest scope of country from which to draw trade of any town off' the railroad in the Western part of the State. Her supply of good pure water is inexhaustible and the thrift and enterprise of her People are shown in the ar^^ATO STO^^"2" STOiTE SCHOOI-i BU"ILIDI2Sr<3-, and a handsome Methodist Church building, several substantial stone business blocks, a number of good hotel buildings and other business and dwellings too numerous to mention. Has done a big business during this season, and carried off first prize at the State Fair at Topeka, Kansas; also a syrup factory and a Flouring Mill will be ei'ected in Ravanna in a few weeks; the money for said factories being de- posited at Bank of Ravenna for that purpose. Ravanna is and will Remain the best town in Garfield County. S^'Ravanna is out of debt. For further information address D. W, Herman, Director, Ravanna, Kansas. -41- GOVE COUNTV. /^OVE COUNTY, KANSAS, is situated on the Union Pacific railway, tliree l©> lumdred and fifty miles west of Kansas City, Mo. Organized in Septeni- ^"^ ber, 18S(i; population, 4,000. Thirty miles north and soutli, and thirty-six miles east and west. Undulating prairie, table and bottom lands Streams are timoky river, Clieyenne, Salt, Plum, Hackberry, Spring and liig creeks, with numerous smaller creeks. Late the pasture for the vast herds of cattle, but promises rich harvests of wheat, rye, oats, broom corn, sorghum, flax, and corn, as the husbandman tickles the soil and plants the seed with the same care and intelligence that must be done in the developed localities further P^ast The yield of wheat in the county last year was about 1^7,000 bushels, and this year will be from 200,000 to 2-i0,006 bushels, there being ten acres sown to wheat this year where there was one last year. Other small grains have increased in proportion. The quality of the wheat is magnificent, and ranks higher than that grown in Eastern States. Soil, a dark loam, eighteen inches to ten feet deep Water of the finest qualitj' found at a depth of from ten to one hundred feet. Land unimproved, at from $;150 to §7.0(1 per acre. Improved farms at from $6.00 to $12.00 per acre. This county has no debt; warrants are par and taxes nominal. We boast of being in the best condition finaneially, of any county in this grand State. No more healthful climate can be found, in fact, health seekers have ever found in this section relief and many restored to health, and all find im- proved strength and vigor. This is the home for horses, cattle, and sheep. With a little feed during .lanuary and February, they live the entire year upon the rich grasses with which this whole county is prolifically carpeted. That trees, fruit, etc. will grow here to perfection lias been fully demonstrated. Of the towns in this county, Gove City, the county seat, is located in the geographical center of the county, twelve miles south of Grainfield on the Union Pacific railway, A young town, but full of life and vim. Her citizens are the peers of any community in energy, industry, morals, and intelligence. Gove City has never yet been cursed with a boom, and consequently business is not overdone. Grainfield, in the north center of the county, a bright little town, boasting of the best improvements of any town of its size in the State, a re- fined population, and a splendid community. Grimell, nine miles west of Grainfield, is situated in the midst of a fine farming country and is one of the best trading points in the county. Buffalo Park, six miles east of Grainfield and Quinter fourteen miles east are surrounded by wide scopes of country and are good business centers. jEROJtE is on the Smoky River in the south central part of the county, Alanthus and Teller in the southeast part. What has l)een said of the people or of natures gifts in any section or towns applies equally to every part of Gove County. Forty-seven school districts are already organized, the majority of them have commodious and permanent school buildings ecjual to the communities many years older. To the home seeker we extend a cordial invitation to see our favored county before locating and be convinced that your interest will be advanced by making your abode with us. Al? fraternal societies have organizations here; churches of all evangelical denominations ai"e represented. In fact we are a God loving and Satan fearing people. To see our County and break bread with our hospit- able people is to become one of us. For further information address J. E. Hart, Director, Gove City, Kansas. GRAHAM COUNTY. WHOSE natural resources cannot be excelled, is situated In the north- western part of the State, is the second county from the Nebraska line and the fourth from the Colorado line, and contains 676,000 acres of land. If you are interested in the Great West, we ask your attention to a few reasons why you should see Graham County before deciding on a location. That the man with small means can easier get a start and one with large capi- tal makes more money than in the older parts of the country has been demon- strated over and over again. The general surface of the County is a rolling prairie with bottoms along the numerous streams. These streams, on some of which are belts of timber, make the county one of the best watered in the State. Wild plums, grapes, currants, etc., are also found in abundance along the streams, while all cultivat- ed vines make a remarkable growth here. The climate is as healthful as can be found in the United States, with very short and mild winters and long summers. The atmosphere being light and dry, is very beneficial to those predisposed to lung troubles. The soil, 90 per cent of which is tillable is a rich sandy black loam and is very productive, being well adapted for all kinds of agriculture. In 1888, the poor crop year all over the country, Graham county produced forty bushels of corn per acre; oats fifty bushels; wheat twenty-five bushels, etc. In 18S9 wheat went from twenty to thirty-five bushels per acre.corn forty to sixty bushels, oats sixty bushels, potatoes one hundred bushels, broom corn five hundred pounds, and all other crops in proportion. Stock raising is very successful, as there is plenty of wild grass on which stock can subsist the year round, except when the ground is covered with snow which period does not exceed a mouth in a winter: thus the cost of keep- ing stock is very small. Our railroads offer ample opportunity for getting our products to market. There is plenty of good native stone in the county which can be sawed out and then being left in the air will harden so that it is excellent for building purposes. Many of our most elegant buildings are built of this stone. Hard sandstone also abounds. Choice farming land can be bought at from $5 to |12 per acre unless close to town. Thus with land so cheap and good building material so plentiful an eastern renter can come here and secure a home of his own for about the same price he would have to pay there for a single year's rent. Besides farm equities can be bought very reasonable, so that an industrious man with very little ready money can get a start and easily make enough to pay ofl the mortgage when it comes due ; then the legislature has wisely exempted $200 to the head of each family from taxation. The social educational and religious advantages of the county are excellent considering the fact that the county is so new. The people here are fully equal to those in the east in intelligence and enterprise and are industrious, happy and prosperous. There are seventy-nine nchool districts organized in the coim- ty with their school houses dotting the hill tops and prairies. All the princi- pal religious denominations are here and several have already erected very tasty and commodious church edifices. The leading towns of the county are Hill city, Fremont, Bogue, Penokee and Nicodemus, with six well-edited newspapers. Hill City, on the Solomon River, is the county seat and metropolis of the county, with an elegant $20,000 court house just completed and donated to the county by J. P. Pomeroy, the Boston millionare; a neat two story frame school house, several fine business blocks recently completed and others now in process of erection. For lurtherinformation address L. Messick, Director, Hill City, Kansas. GREELEY COUNTY. BY LOOKING on a nuip ul' K:'.ii(<:is you will liiid tliis county adjoining the Slate of Colorado, iiud tlie center county norlli and south of the counties on tlie extreme western line of the iState. It is traversed from east to west by tiie Mo. Pac. Ry., and the Great Bend extension of the A. T. & S. F. R. R. is built and in operation to its east line. Tlae first settlers came to make their homes in Greeley in the spring of 1886, so that the county can truly said to be in its infancy. It was temporarily organized July 9th, 1888, and the county seat located at Tribune and the county permanently organized the following is'ovember. In order to give the reader an idea of the surface of the county, it is only necessary to state that a farmer may start with his team and plow at the center of the county, arrive at the east line without meeting an obstruction, come bacli to the same point and drive to south, north and west lines and never need to take his plow out of the ground. The county is twenty-six miles east and west and thirty miles north and south in extent. It has less waste land than any county in Kansas. It con- tains about 480,000 acres, or 3,000 farms of 160 acres each. Of these 3,000 farms, not more than 500 are occupied; the balance are on the market for sale at from $3.00 to 16.00 per acre and there is still left in the county a large quantity of government land which has never been filed on, and a still greater amount can be jjreempted, homesteaded or filed on as timber claims by paying from $25 to $100 per quarter section for relinquishments. Greeley County can truthfully say that it has more cheap, good land and less indebtedness than any county in Kansas. All kinds of grain and vegeta- bles are grown. The soil is a dark sandy loam, from three to ten feet deep, and is especially adapted to wheat raising. In the last four years wheat has been grown to a limited extent but has invariably yielded well. This year there are about 10,000 acres in winter wheat and the prospects for a good crop are excel- lent. Greeley County is well adapted to stock raising. Stock of all kinds can live through the year on the native bufiklo grass which grows in profusion. It is well known that the winters in western Kansas are exceptionally mild. Farmers who have a bunch of cattle are making money, and it is the universal opinion of all of them that cattle, sheep and horses can be kept for less money here than any place in the State. Greeley County finds a ready market for all kinds of products in the mountain towns of Colorado, and although our loca- tion in the extreme western part of the State might j^rejudice home-seekers on account of the distance from Eastern markets, it is true that the prices obtained in Pueblo and Denver for farm products are better than can be had in Kansas City, St. Louis or Chicago. By the census of 1889, the population of the county was 2,079; the assessed valuation was $876,000, and there were twenty-four school districts organized. The five principal towns are. Tribune, Horace, Astor, Colokan and White- law. Of these. Tribune, the county seat, having a population of about 500, is the largest town in the county. All kinds of business usually found in a county seat town are represented here, but there is room for others. The town boasts of a splendid brick school house built last year at a cost of $7,000; the best and largest hotel on the Missouri Pacific railway west of Salina, and there is now under construction a $20,000 stone court house which will be finished before next September. For further information address P. J. Donahue, Director, Tribune, Kansas. -44 - GRAY COUNTY. ^ RAY COUNTY, twenty-foui* by thirty-six miles in size created in 1887, has l©> a dark porous soil equal iu richness to that of any couuty in Kansas. ^^ The odd sections for ten miles on each side of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad are oflfered for sale at prices varying from |4 to $10 per acre. Of the remainder of the county about one-half of the lands have been proved up. There are still opportunities to file on goverameut lund.-j or to buy relin- quishments at reasonable prices. Considerable attention has been paid to the cultivation of trees and many young orchards of apple, peach, plum and other fruit trees are in a flourishing condition. The growth of trees upon properly cultivated timber claims has been rapid and highly satisfactory. Good crops of sorghum, wheat, rye, oats, millet, alfalfa, rice corn and broom corn are raised. The average annual net profit upon each acre of altalfa for the past two years has been $40. The Arkansas River flows through the central portion of the county and is bounded by rich bottom lands. The Eureka irrigating canal, ninety-six miles in length, starts at Ingalls. The winters here are mild and short and all kinds of stock are wintered on very little feed at a very light expense. In point of health Gray County is un- surpassed by any other section of country. There are now a large number of first-class, well" equipped school houses in the county, nearly all of which have been built within the last two years. Good schools are maintained from six to nine months in the year. There is now in operation forty -five miles of railroad in the county; thirty miles of the A. T. & S F, running across the cen- tral portion of the couuty, and- fifteen miles of the Dodge City, Montezuma & Trinidad running from Dodge City to Montezuma, and there is not a single dollar indebtedness upon Gray County or any township iu it. Ingalls, the permanent county seat, which was so declared by the Supreme court in October, 1889. located on the main line of the A. T. & S. F., R, R. twen- ty five miles from Dodge City on the east, and the same distance from Garden City on the west, is a new and rapidly developing town; well situated to secure the trade of a large scope of country. The Town is young and small and offers splendid opportunities for business and investment of capital; plenty of water is obtained at a depth of from eight to forty feet. SUBSTANTIAL ENTERPRISES AT INGALLS. Work has been begun upon a sugar mill for the manufacture of dry mer- chantable sugar from the sugar cane to the growth of which the soil of the sur- rounding country is peculiarly adapted. The cost of this mill will be $40,000 and willhyve a capacity of one'hundred tons per day; it will be completed in time to consume the present year's crop. FLOURING MILL. The contract has been let for the construction of a roller process flouring mill to be equipped with the latest improved machinery, and to have a capacity of one hundred barrels of flour per day. CHEESE FACTORY. A $2,000 cheese factory is also under contract and will be completed early in the spring; the other towns in Gray county are Montezuma, Macomb, Lock- port. Hess and Cimarron. INIontezuma is situated in the southern part of the countv in the midst of a rich and beautiful country, is the terminus of the D.C. M. & T. R. R. Mocomb is a station six miles east of Montezuma. Ensign is a small station twelve miles east of Montezuma, and Lockport is situated on the west line of the county on the proposed line of the above mentioned railroad. Hess is a hamlet six miles southeast of Montezuma; Cimarron is a town on the Santa Fe, six miles east of Ingalls. TO HOMESEEKERS. The educational, religious and social status of our citizens is equal to that of communities in the older states. The people are sober, honest and indus- trious, and extend a cordial invitation to the intelligent, energetic and law- abiding people of the world to come and settle among them. For further infor- mation address Geo. W. Dunn, Director, Ingalls, Kansas. -45- GREENWOOD COUNTY. TTTHIS County is tliiity-oiu- by thirty-nine miles square, and contains 1,156 ^14 sections. The surface is gently undulating. The numerous streams, among wliicli the Verdigris, Fall River, Spring Creek, Walnut, Bache- lor, Willow, Honej' and Otter creclis, ot pure running water, render it one of the finest watered counties in the State, almost every section in the entire county being touched by some one of these streams or by tlieir innumerable tributaries. Five distinct railroads, already completed, lead I'rom the county in all directions and place us at the very threshold ofalltlie great markets for our pi-oduce. and, in addition thereto, pay a little more than oue-sixtli of all taxes for all purposes, paving last year $27,677.29. The entire taxes of said county for all purposes for 1889 being $153,605.00. CHURCHES. The morals of the county are preserved by more than thirty churches, with a membership of over 5,000, divided anaong the leading orthodox denomina- tions. SCHOOLS. The entire school population of the county is 6,138. Length of school term in weeks 3,905. Number of teachers engaged, 139. Number of school houses, 138. Amount paid out for school purposes in 1888, $66,291.23. Average salary- paid teachers $44.02; the same being the highest average price paid in any coun- ty in the State, thereby securing to this county the most efflcient school work to be found anywhere in the State. The foregoing does not include the South- ern Kansas Academy, situated at Eureka, which at present has in attendance about one hundred and fifty pupils, and a faculty second to none. This academy has only been running since 1885, and last year graduated a num.ber of students who are at this time occupying places of trust and profit in this and other states. CLIMATE. The climate like other counties in Southern Kansas is very like that of Italy, and but seven days during the winter of 1889, the sun did not shine. Men go about their daily avocations in niidwiuter in their shirt sleeves and wonder why others will persist in shivering around a log fire in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and elsewhere, when sunshine alone in Kansas is sufficient to drive one into the shade in most of the winter days. PRODUCTS. There were grown in 1889 in this county more than 600,000 bushels of corn on less than 150,000 acres of land. Very few of our farmers engage in wheat growing, but the yield last year was an average of about thirty-five bushels per acre. Forty- three thousand acres yielded 26,000 bushels of oats last year, or a little more than fifty bushels per acre. All classes of vegetables are grown in abundance. Potatoes in many instances producing more than three hundred bushels per acre. There are in the county 127,121 bearing apple trees, which produced last year over 800,000 bushels of apples. Peaches, pears, plums, cher- ries and small fruits are equally abundant. More than $12,000 worth of horti- cultural products were sold last year. STOCK There were in the county on January 1, 1890, 87,000 head of cattle being corn fed for market. There are 15,000 head of horses; 38,563 hogs were sold last year; sheep do remarkably well and are paying property. Large flocks of from 1,000 upward are common, one man alone having fed this winter 10,000 head, out of which he lost but ten head. Eureka, the capital of the county, is at the Juncture of Fall river and Spring creek, and at the crossing of the A. T. ESS COUNTY is essentially a farming and stock raising county. During J®/ the last five years the development of her agricultural resources has been te continuous notwithstandiug the general business depression. Every year has shown more farming and better crops. The official records of the State Board of Agriculture from which we shall quote all statistics given herein prove this. In '86 the assessed valuation of the county was $747,752.16; in '88, .$1,870 200.00. The total values of farm pro- ducts have been in '85, |210,719.40; '86 $304,118.00; '87, $305,925.00; '88, $423.0.36.- 67; '89, $429,654.50. In '85, the acreage of winter wheat was 2,855, the yield 34,- 260 bushels; in '86 3,611 acres and 46,943 bushels; in '87, 4,203 acres and 42,030 bushels; in '88, 10,141 acres and 131, 833 bushels; in '89, 10,265 acres and 153,975. For seven years the average yield of wheat has been 13 9-10 bushels per acre. Over 51 000 acres will be harvested in 1890 and wheat never looked better at this season of the year — February. In '89 County Commissioner Brumback got 25 bushels to the acre from 34 acres. County Commissioner Scherzinger raised 42 bushels to the acre on 77 acres. This was the best field of so large an acreage in the State. While Ness is not surpassed as a wheat county it is not claimed that it is a great corn county. However, the 4,837 acres of corn in '85 had become 19,837 in '89, and the yield had grown from 120,925 bushels to 456,241. Ness ranked seventeenth among the 106 Kansas counties in broom corn, producing 327,000 ?ounds in '89, and 11,522 tons of millet and Hungarian gave her fifteenth place, n '89 barley averaged 25 and oats 33 bushels to the acre, 85,734 bushels of rye being raised on the 4,763 acres sown. 10,646 pounds of cheese and 155,553 poimds of butter were produced. The Ness City creamery sold $16,282 worth of butter from May 1, '89, when it opened, to Dec. 31, '89. In sorghum cane Ness stood first in' Kansas, with 10,374 acres and a yield valued at $101,666.00. The capacity of the sugar mill at Ness City is greater than that of any other sor- ghum sugarmill in the world. In '86, at the Garden City Exposition, Ness took first prize over all the counties in Southwestern Kansas In '88, at the Kansas City Exposition, Ness met the best counties in Kansas and Missouri in com- petition as to display of farm products and divided first prize with Cass county, Missouri. With but 5,305 inhabitants in '89, Ness has good cause to be proud of her record. The county is well watered by the Pawnee, Walnut, Forrester, South Fork, North Fork, and the tributaries of these and the Smoky Hill river. Excellent well water is found at an average depth of thirty-five feet. There are small belts of timber on the streams. An abundance of the best building stone is found. Many fine buildings and miles of stone posts show this. Ness City with but about 1,000 inhabitants, has thirty-two stone and brick business houses. Certainly no town of the'snme population in the United States is more substantially built. The Ness City fiouring mill, roller process, is the largest found in this section. The Ness City high school is as handsomely built and ably conducted as any in Kansas. There are seventy-two organized school districts in the county. Ness county is equal distances from the north and south lines of the State and seventy niiles west of the center of Kansas. Two railroads traverse the county from east to west. Ness is one of the six largest counties in Kan- sas, with an area of i,OS0 square miles, 691,200 acres. Here are 4,320 farms of 160 acres each, nearly every acre plough land. Over 3,000 of these are unoccu- pied. In one week Ness county can find gooil, cheap farms for over 3,000 men. In Ness county you will find a fertile soil, a healthful climate and an abundance of cheap farms. You will find good water, good schools, good society and a cordial welcome. For further information address J. L. Gbken, Director, Ness City, Kansas. -61- PAWNEE COUNTY, THE MOST BKAUTIFUIj AND PRODUCTIVE REGION OF THE ARKANSAS VALLEY. r;^ AWNEE COUNTY is a central county, lying in the great Arkansas valley. ■^ It has as fine natural resources as any coimty in the .State. The soil is a ® rich, black loam, capable of producing a great variety of crops in abun- dance. Ninety-live per cent of its area can be cultivated. This county is es- pecially adapted to the raising of wheat and all kinds of small grain. Wheat averaged twenty-flve bushels per acre last year, and all otiier crops were very satisfactory. Crops can be raised here at a less cost than in any of the older States. This county now has .50,000 acres of growing wheat, all looking well. Cattle and stock raising always bring a good profit. We have excellent grazing grounds in abundance, and ivs our winters are short and mild it requires but little feed for stock. We have an inexhaustible bed of the finest letter's chiy, and quarries of good building stone, which can be sawed into any shape desired. Coal is said to exist in several localities within the county. The county is well supplied with pure water by running streams, and wells can be had by boring from fifteen to twenty-five feet. Lands are cheap; improved farms can be bought at from $8 to $25 per acre on easy terms. Every township is supplied with good schools and church or- ganizations. Taxes are low, bonded indebtedness small, and county warrants have been worth par ever since the county was organized. Lakned, the county seat of Pawnee county, is only fifteen years old and is a city of 3,500 people. It is situated on the main line of the Atchison, To- peka & Santa Fe railroad, and the junction of the Chicago, Kansas & Western, and is also the terminus of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic railroad; and being in the center of the United States, must necessarily become an important city. Larned has the United States land office, and is designated as one of the points for holding United States court, and expects an appropriation during the pres- ent year for a Government building. Larned rejoices in the discovery of the greatest artesian mineral well on the American continent. Larned has the best system of water works in the West; the city is lighted by electricity; it also has a street railway in operation, the best of public and private schools, and the different religious denominations have commodious church edifices. All the leading secret orders are represented. We have four of the best banking institutions in the West. The city of Larned is the most beautifully situated city in the State of Kansas. It is situated in a sloping curve from the Arkansas river valley back to the more elevated prairie. About one-half of the city is built in the valley and one-half on elevated ground. The Pawnee creek, a clear, pretty stream, bordered with forest trees, watering large tracts of farming laud, here empties into the Arkansas; the effect being most charming and picturesque. Its present advantages, with its lines of railroad, its factories, its churches and schools, and its recently discovered medicinal waters, making it a great health resort, is scarcely equaled by any, and her future must be one of the gi'eatest cities of the West. W^e have a fine climate, good people, and no saloons and gambling dens to allure the young. If you want productive soil, healthy climate, mild winters and good people come to Pawnee connty, Kansas. The sun shines on no fairer or richer coun- try than can be found in the Arkansas valley. If you want a home in the land of churches, schools and good society, you will find it in Pawnee county, the garden spot of the valley. If you are seeking the stock breeder's paradise, no where on the green earth can you find as much of it as you can in Pawnee county. If you are seeking a safe investment for money, Pawnee county is the safest bank in the world. There never was a better time to invest in Pawnee county lands than now. You will make a seriou'! mistake if you fail to visit Pawnee county. For further informal inn address C W. Depue, Director, Larned, Kansas. — 6»- PRATT COUNTY. rpTHE second county west of Sedgwick (in which Wichita is located) is Pratt, Q)\ls situated directly on a line drawn through the center of the State from north to south, the most fertile and best watered of the southwestern counties. Organized as a county less than a dozen years ago, it has risen rapid- ly and by reason of superior resources has taken rank in the front with the best con ntiesof the State. It is intersected by four prominent lines of railroads, namely: Rock Island, Missouri Pacific, Wichita & Western (Santa Fe), and C. K. & W (Santa Fe.) It is rapidly becoming one of the leading wheat coun- ties of the State, the average production in 1889 being thirty bushels per acre, eight bushels above the State average. Cora last year averaged forty bushels per acre. All other crops also went above the State average. Sorghum cane, the future great product of Kansas, is produced here in its best state. This fact being shown has induced the location here of the largest sorghum sugar enter- prise in the world and the only sugar refinery west of St. Louis, requiring the investment of over half a million dollars capital, work on the construction of which is now actively in pi'ogress. The plan of this enterprise is the solution of the sugar problem in the United States as it has been solved in Germany. A central plant for the manufacture of raw sugar is being constructed, this to be fed by outside plants which work the cane up into juice, this juice being piped to the central plant for the final process. In connection with this the central plant will have a refinery to turn out a finished product of commercial sugar. This industry is to be completed in time for this year's cane crop, the first of August. Cane is the most profitable and surest croj) that can be raised in this climate and this system places the market for it right at the farmer's door. Choice fertile farm lands may be had here for from $10 to $20 per acre. Here is offered a desirable location for the rock-ridden farmers of the east to find a home and lands, every foot of which is tillable; a profitable field for in- vestors and manufacturers. Pratt county extends an invitation to all to "come and see." Several good towns dot the lines of railroads traversing Pratt county, af- fording adequate means of communication and ample market tor the agricul- tural products of the county. Among them are Preston, Natrona, luka, Cul- lison, Saratoga, Sawyer, Coates and Cairo, beside the county seat, the city of Pratt. At nearly all these points are to be located sugar plants of the diffusion process subsidary to the central plant and refinery. These plants will work up the cane as it comes from the field into juice of the consistency necessary to piping. The convenience and cheapness of this plan places the industry far in advance of the present methods and will thus in time make Pratt county the center of the sugar industry of the United States. The advantage to property interests in these towns is apparent. When the sugar industry shall have reach- ed its development, the city of Pratt will be noted as the "New Orleans of the West." In addition to this great industry, Pratt county has a vein of salt beneath her soil sufficient to "save the universe." A well has been drilled in the limits of Pratt, showing the salt bed to be 280 feet in thickness and 99 per cent pure. It is in the great salt belt of which Hutchinson is now the center of operation, and the analysis shows the Pratt county salt to be more than equal to the Hutchinson salt, which is superior to any rock salt now being utilized in the East. Pratt county thus has within her means to cheapen two of the neces- saries of life and of "busting the trusts" in these two articles. For further infor- mation address G. H. Saunders, Director, Pratt, Kansas. -63- RUSSELL COUNTY. CENTER OF THE STATE— CHEAP LANDS, JJKAl'TIFUI. HOMES, AND HEALTHFUI. LOCALITY— THE GREAT WHEAT PRODUCING SEC- TION — WELCOME STRANGERS. RUSSELL COUNTY is located uear the center of the State. The county is on the line of the Union Pacific railroad as well as the Salina, Lincoln & Western, and contains 576,000 acres. The surface is slind centering atTopeka: The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Union Pacific, the Missouri Pacific and the Rock Island. These lines, with their branches, radiating in all directions, render access to Topeka convenient from all parts of the Stiite. The general offices and shops of the first named, located in Tope- ka, employ 2,600 men. General Advantages — Topeka and Shawnee county have grown sym- metrically. Their educational, religious, commercial and political advantages are in harmony. For further information address James A. Troutman Director, Topeka, Kansas. -70 STAFFORD COUNTY rS located about sixty-two miles from the exact geographical center of the United States, one county south and one county west of the ceater of Kansas. The west linp of the county runs almost parallel with the 99th meridian, and agricultural statistics for the past few years have demonstrated that the great corn belt of the West lies between the 98th and 99th meridians. Among the most important advantages of her peculiar location, however, is the fact that there is a NATURAL SYSTEM OF SUB-IRRIGATION, which is alone an inexhaustible mine of wealth to her agricultural interests. The Arkansas river, in making its "great bend" from Kinsley to Hutchinson, traverses three sides of the territory of which Stafford county is the center. This territory is all Arkansas valley, or second bottom land, and a total failure from drouth in this section is an impossibility. In addition to a largely in- creased rainfall, there is a natural system of sub-irriagation which comes up from a sheet of pure, soft water, four feet in depth, underlying the entire county at an average depth of twenty-two feet, and in many places not over six or eight feet from the surface. The cost of a well in tbis county is very insig- nificant, and the supply of water obtained is inexhaustible, no well ever being known to go dry. This important feature demands consideration, as it gives advantages second to those of no other county. THE SOIL is a deep, rich, black, sandy loam, resting upon a porous clay sub-soil. The porosity of the soil, while it renders it capable of being plowed after the heaviest rains, at the same time keeps it constantly moist by evaporation from below and protects it from drouth. The soil varies from four to seven feet in depth, and is entirely free from rock or alkali. In 1889, with a population of only 8,417, and with nearly 300,000 acres of her land yet unimproved, Stafford county harvested the following crops, ac- cording to the last official report of the State Board of Agriculture: CROPS. Corn bus. Winter Wheat •• Spring Wheat '' Oats , " Rye " Barley...., " Buckwheat " Irish Potatoes.... " Sweet Potatoes. . .. " Castor Beans " Sorghum Flax bos. Cotton lbs. Tobacco " Broom Corn " Am't Acres Raised. Harv'td 3,7«50> ■218,130 2,934 ^3,189 .9,915 163 293.724 71,700 7,164 3,585 82.") 33 l.l!4 104 34 800 46 i 9.800 98 4,383 18 487 3,395 2 300 1 600 1 12:.'8 600 1,881 Value $673,830 90 10t,70;.40 1,3-20.30 44,058.R0 17,208 00 206.25 C86.40 12,180.(10 69,400.00 5,880.00 4,382.00 18.00 24.00 60 00 39,501.00 OKOPS. Millet and Hungar- > Ian tons. ) Tame Hay tons. Praiiie Hay " Anim'ls sold for Slg'tr «ool Clip of 1889.... Cheese Butter Milk, sold Poultry & Ei?gB, sold. Fruit, sold Garden Products Hogs, 1889 No. Cattle, 1889 " Total. Am't Raised. 12,654 37,627 50,100 77.688 Acres Harv'td 6,327 69 116,878 50.616.00 2.2.17,304 21 Amount per capita 265.81 Amount per capita of farming population .". 348.G5 Average of total agricultural products per acre 19.14 Two railroad systems traverse the county, the Santa Fe running east and west, and the Missouri Pacific northwest and southeast. St. John, the county seat, is a prosperous little city of about 1,000 inhabi- tants, has a $20,000 court house, t]o,000 public school building, roller flouring mills, three church edifices, and enjoys a splendid country trade. Stafford, second in the county, is a beautiful little city, has a fine public school building, enterprising merchants, and is a splendid trading point. Macksville, third town in the county, is located in the western part, and is a trading point of considerable importance. For further information address L. H. Fisher, Director, St. John, Kansas. -71- STANTON COUNTY. rN givinj? a brief sketch of our cownty it Is not our aim to fill this parnjjraph with a lot of windy assertions that can not be substantiated, but merely to place before the readers a few solid facts which alone are sutlicient to con- vince tlie inlelliirent mind of the 8Uj)erior advantages this county oilers to the home-seeUer aud capitalist ; equal to or above all other counties iu fcJouihwestern Kansas. Stsinton is one of the extreme sonthwestern counties of Kansas. It is bounded on the north by Hamilton, on tiie east by Grant, on the soulh by ^Morton and on the west l)y Colorado and the great ctittle trail. The county is twenty-four miles wide and twenty-eight and a quarter miles long, having an area of 678 square miles. Its topographical advantages are numerous. The entire area from north to south, east to west forms a magnificent valley of far stretching beautiful prairie land coTered by a vast variety of nutritious grasses, among which the buffalo, gramma and sage are most prominent. The laud is principally level, but in all the portions of the county sutficiently undulating to aflbrd" perfect drainage. The soil ranges from two to four feet in depth. It is of a rich, dark, sandy loam and yusceptii)le to tlie cultivation of any conceivable plant known to agriculture or horticulture. The porous structure of the soil niakes it partic- ularly easy of cultivation, thereby enabling the farmer to cultivate much larger tracts of land than he could in many of the eastern and older states. What Margaret Fuller calls the "Sense of Divine Youth" seems an all per- vading principle here, and the seasons and the generally healthful intUiences of the life inspiring winds, waterand atmosphere are revelations to visitors from the older states. Being located between the 37th and 38th degrees of latitude, within close proximity to the Rockies, whose gentle mountain breezes continu- ally pervade and purify the atmosphere from the humidity so prevalent to sea coast countries, making the climate healthful and invigorating, furnishing its lucky inhabitants with all the advantages of a semi-trophical zone, allowing the farmer and mechanic to labor ten long months in the year beneath the canopy of soft Italian skies, with a temperature conducive to health and vigor. The annual rainfall ranges from twenty to thirty inches, and is generally well distributed over the grov/ing season. The water through the county is abundant, pure and wholesome. There is room for 10.000 more good men in Stanton county; brave, confi- dent, self-helpful men to grow corn and raise live stock; mechanics to build homes, churches, school houses, stores in the towns, and homes on the farms. Farmers and stockmen who liave not the means to buy farms in the East, or who are crowded out by oppressive landlords can here secure for tlieraselves good farms in the valleys and on the slopes at prices ranging from $3.25 to $8 peracre. By stocking these cheap farms with sheep, cattle or horses there is for them a future of competency, comfort and independence. The guaranty of their success, however, is cj\re, diligence and complete abstinence from specu- lation. For such men — men of large or moderate means, good judgment and working ability, Stanton county has a splendid future. Johnson City, the county seat and only commercial town In the county, is admirably located on a charming plateau in the center of the county, and is thirty miles from Syracuse on the Santa Fe railroad with which road it is con- nected by daily stage and the Western Union telegraph. The town has superb natural drainage, and abounds in magnificent building sites. It commands a beautiful view of Bear creek valley, by which it is half encircled. It is well supplied with church and school edifices. Its citizens comprise an energetic class of mechanics and business and professional men. For further information address P. M. Starnes, Director, Johnson City, Kansas. STEVENS COUNTY. Q^ TEVENS COUNTY, organized in 1886, is in the southern tier of counties, ^\ bordering on " No Man's Land," and is the second county east from the ^-^ Colorado State line. The county is twenty-seven miles square and con- tains 466,560 acres of land, nearly every foot of which is susceptible to cultivation. The county is one vast, gently undulating prairie, intersected with two irreg- ular chaius of low hills. The soil is a dark, sandy loam, varying in depth from seven to twenty feet, and its fertility is practically inexhaustible. Excel- lent crops of corn, wheat, oats, cane, millet and other cereals and forage plants have been grown every season ; while sweet and Irish potatoes, peanuts, beets, turnips and other roots yield large crops. Castor beans were tested for the first time last season, and the results were eo gratifying that a much larger acreage will be grown this year. Broom corn was grown here on an extensive scale last season and a large amount of high grade brush was marketed. One of the most remunerative crops grown here is melon seed. Hundreds of acres of water and musk melons, cucumbers, squashes, etc., are grown under contract for seedsmen. Cotton has been tested in a small way with gratifying results. The native grasses afford excellent pasturage all the year round, stock requir- but little additional feed during the most inclement weather. Owing to the extreme mildness of the climate but little shelter is required for stock, and that for but a few days at a time. An inexhaustible supply of pure water, free from alkali, is found at depths varying from a few feet, near the Cimarron river, to 125 feet. The water occurs in a vein of coarse gravel and sand of variable thickness, and has been found in every part of the county. It is confldentl.y believed that artesian water can be had at a depth of not to exceed five hundred feet. Test wells will be put down this summer. The rainfall is adequate to the growth and maturity of all crops suited to this latitude and the physical conditions of the country. The Board of County Commissioners, under the State law. offer a bounty of ten dollars per acre for forest tree culture, thetreea to be cultivated five years. Thousands of cotton wood, maple, walnut, locust, mulberry, and other forest trees have been growing for three and four years, demonstrating that forests can be successfully grown. Fruits have not been fully tested. A few peach, plum and cherry trees bore specimens of fruit last year, and as these trees do not winter-kill, make a quick, vigorous growth, and are free from the ravages of insects, they will doubtless do welL The indebtedness of t he county, its several townships and incorporated cities, bonded and floating, is but about half that of most of the new counties and towns, making taxation comparatively light. There are thirty-three organized school districts in the county. Thirty of these have school buildings completed, and all have good schools. The city of Hugoton, near the center of the county, is the county seat. It is located on an elevated plateau, and the buildings, both public and private, are exceptionally good. A handsome school house was built in the fall of 1889 at a cost of seven thousand dollars. It is a model of covenience and is fur- nished throughout with all the appurtenances required in a graded school. Six miles north and two east of Hugoton is the city of Woodsdale, a town of about two-thirds the size of the county seat. It is surrounded by as fine a body of laud as there is to be found anywhere. A fine school house has just been completed at a cost of four thousand dollars. It will accommodate a graded school of four departments. The other towns and postofflces in the county are Dermot and Moonlight in the northwest, Niagara in the southwest, Voorhees and Lafayette in the south, and Moscow and 2ella in the northeast. Of these Dermot, Voorhees Lafayette and Moscow are good trading points and growing towns. For fur- ther information address B. F. Fubnass, Director, Lafi^yeifce. Kansan. -79- SUMNER COUNTY. GREATEST WHEAT PRODUCINa CX)UNTY OF THE STATE— FIRST IN RAILROAD MILEAQE— FIRST IN HORSES— THIRD IN CORN. TT7PIIS is one of the very best agricultural counties in the State. The soiPia (^Ife a rich, deep sandy loam, genial and productive. The yield of grains of all kinds is equal to that of any county in Kansas or the west. It is wat- ered by three rivers, the Arkansas, Ninnescah and Chikaski, with several im- portant smaller streams of never failing water. Good water is found every where at a depth of from ten to fifty feet. It is not afTected by the droughts of the plains counties. Its climate is the host in the west. The county has a population of about 33,000. Most of our people are from western states. There are several colonies, including Quakers, Germans and Bohemians, which are very prosperous. Land is cheap; unimproved laud can be had at from $8 to $15, owing to location. Improved land ranges in price from |15 to $30, owing to improve- ments. There is a splendid opening here for farmers with limited capital who wish to purchase 40, 80, or 160 acres, and there is no doubt but that the land will double in value in the next ten years. There are district schools in every neighborhood, 193 organized school dis- tricts and 194 school buildings. The value of our school property is $240,000. This county has 249.67 miles of railroad, besides 38.39 miles of sidings. This is more than is contained in any other county in the State, giving us four dis- tinct systems. There are twenty-seven railroad stations in the county. The valuation of propertj'^ in Sumner county is |1, 537, 949. The companies paid into the treasury as taxes last year, $52,194.58. We have two salt plants in successful operation at Wellington. An oflQcial analysis proves the Wellington salt to be the purest in the world. It is 99.40 pure salt. The first plant started has made 4,821,838 pounds. The vein is 65 feet; depth of well 300 feet. The other plant has been in operation a little over six months and has made 652,000 barrels. All sold. This vein is 30i feet deep and the depth of of the well is 250 feet. An important fact is that the salt here is nearer the surface than at any point in the State and can be ruanufaetured at less expense than any where else. Wellington, the county-seat, has a population of about 6,000, with all modern improvements and three railroads. Caldwell has 2,000 people and three railroads, Conwaj'^ Springs has two railroads, a sugar factory and cream- ery. Geuda Springs is a summer resort with a $40,000 bath house. Belle Plaine Mulvaue, Oxford, Argonia, South Haven, Hunnewell, Perth and Corbin each have two railroads. Milan, May field, Millerton and Rome are good trade centers. The total taxable valuation of property last year, about one- fourth its real value, was .17,684,373; acres in farms, 584,036; acres under fence, ::v)7, 379; acres in wheat, 96,433; bushels raised, 2,507,258; acres in corn, 160,000; bushels raised, 7, 84.'), 436; acres in oats, 60,000; bushels raised 1,900,728; value of farm imple- n:ients, $183,505; number of horses in county, 16,361; number of hogs in county, 48,389; number of cattle in county, 50,619; value of animals slaughtered and sold for slaughter, $934,749; apple trees bearing, 87,951; pear trees bearing, 3,530; pcacth trees bearing, .557,856; plum trees bearing, 14,065; cherry trees bearing, 38,935. The number of young fruit trees growing is much larger. Taking the advanced state of improvements, the schools, the railroads, and all other conveniences and comforts, and the low price of land, certainly no section of country anywhere surpasses Sumner county in inducements to home-seekers. For further information address J. Q. Wood, Director, Wellington, Kansas. -74- TREGO COUNTY. PAKAGON OF PERFECTION— THE BELLE OF NORTHWEST KANSAS. TTTREQO COUNTY is a west central county, lying in the fourth tier east 6i\ls from the Colorado State line. It has an area of 900 square miles, was organized in 1879. The general surface is undulating to slightly rolling, and there is an absence of the dull, flat monotony so conspicuous in some counties. Bottom lands vary in width from one-half to one mile, and com- prise twelve per cent, of the total area. Tlier^ are no timber belts, but a few small groves of trees appear along the Saline and other streams. Magnesian limestone is found in great abundance everywhere, and a very hard conglomerate stone is also plentiful. Native lime is also found in many parts of the county and is a good substitute for burnt lime. The subsoil is tirst clay and then marl, a natural fertilizer, and a soil second to none in the State for' wheat and other small grain. Springs are abundant and well water is obtainable at from ten to one hundred feet, owing to location. It is one of the best watered counties in the State, having the Saline river and Spring creek in the north part of the county, Big creek nearly in the center of the county and the Smoky (Kaw) river in the south part of the county, besides many other small streams which are fed by springs. The soil is a rich, dark loam, rich in all the necessary properties for the successful raising of all kinds of fruits, grain and grasses. No section of the State can offer better opportunities for joint farming and stock-raising. The lands, generally speaking, are very smooth with just slope enough to drain well. The soil ranges from fifteen inches to four feet in depth. We claim for Trego couuty, aside from its natural advantages, such as water in abundance, fertile soil, building stone, etc., etc., the following commercial or financial merits: While other counties in Kansas are groaning under a burden of grievous and heavy taxation, on account of a heavy and extraordinary bonded indebtedness, both couuty and township, the county of Trego is almost entirely out of debt, while there is no debt whatever on any township in the county. The indebtedness of Trego county is $35,000, being bonds voted in 18S7 to build a stone court house (now completed), at Wa Keeney, the county seat. This is by far the most-important matter to be taken into consideration by intended home-seekers or investors in real estate. Always buy where there is little or no bonded indebtedness, and, consequently a low rate of taxation. WaKeeney, the couuty seat of Trego county, is the most important town in the Western Land District, as all parties who make entries on government land or are interested in contesting claims, as well as many who make final proof are required to appear before the U. S. Land OflBce, which is located at this place. There are a number of large and substantial buildings, among which we mention the opera house, a handsome stone structure, 80x100 feet, erected in 1880, at a cost of iJSO.OOO ; the Union Pacific depot, 30x100 feet, one of the finest and handsomest depots beween Kansas City and Denver,built of stone in 1S79, cost $8,000 ; the Tribune and First National bank buildings, built of brick in 1887, cost |8,000 ; public school building, frame, 82x88 feet, cost $8,000 ; the Presbyterian and M. E. church buildings, both handsome frame structures, costing $4,000 each ; the stone court hou.se, one of the finest court houses in the State, cost .'{:3o,000. also a neat Baptist church, frame, costing $1,500. We want it distinctly understood that we are no boomers, we state facts just as they are. Our settlers already on the field are an intelligent people, and we walit more of the same kind to help us build up this part of sunny Kansas, so we say come to Trego county and see for yourselves. Come where taxes are very low ; come and help build up what is going to be one of the best counties in the State. For further information address James Kelly, Director, WaKeeney, Kansas. -75- WICHITA COUNTY, BATREPT OF ALL— In tlie shade of the Rockies nestles the brif^htest jewel in the glorious galaxy of Western Kansas counties. An energetic people brave the vieissitudes of frontier life and transposed a seeming desert into a Garden of Eden with modern improvements. A bounteous nature bestows upon Wicliita county peace, prosperity', and plenty, together with her most nmnificent endowment of an unequaled fertility in soil, richness in re- sources, opulent in profundity; plethoric in productiveness, and fruitful in plentitude, added to which, the kind dispensation of an indulgent Providence has blessed Western Kansas with a most delightful climate. The glory of Kan- sas w'ill never die. Her praises have been sung in every clime where the sun of civilizatioTi dawns. The wonderful tales of her mighty onward march to the front rank of statehood, in wealth, prosperity, and power, have penetrated every portion of the globe. it is a tale that never grows old, and generations to come, when the people of to-day have gone to the only place that can rival and out-shine Kansas in beauty, grandeur, and fertility, Heaven, the history of Kansas will read as a wonderful romance. Through the innumerable difliculties of early settlement, the vicissitudes of reckless fortune, the ignominy of indifference, the satire of ridicule, the hatred of petty jealousy, the herculean eflbrt, wresting the land from the immutable hand of time, and eradicating the wild nature from the soil, Kansas has marched triumphantly onward, the eyes of her people ever turned implicitly upward to the regal ensign of the State "ad astra per aspera." Though often discouraged, her people were never disheartened; though driven to the verge of desperation, the "never say die until dead" spirit of her citizens, in whose breast was nourished an unswerving faith in the ultimate success of their fondest hopes, always proved in an emergency equal to the occasion. Western Kansas is the eldorado of home-seekers. It is the modern para- dise for the farmer and stock raiser. The vast plains of Wichita county, undulating away towards the horizon, as far as the eye can reach, are the most fertile west of the sixth principal meridian. The soil is a rich, black loam, is underlaid by a marl sub-soil, and is from two to five feet in depth. The county lies in the shade of the Rocky mountains, just far enough to the eastward to catch the rainfall from the gigantic chain of mountains, whose towering peaks pierce the clouds and hold the snow's of winter till cari'ied off as rain in spring and summer. Two good streams of water, the Beaver and White Woman, flow across the county from east to west. The Beaver, a large, overflowing stream, rises in Colorado and fed by never failing springs and streams. White Woman also rises in Colorado and contains a good body of clear, pure water. Good water can be obtained at a depth of from fifteen to ninety feet and is free from alkali. Wichita county is twenty-four by thirty miles square; contains 460,800 acres of farming land — 2,880 quarter sections — more than half of which can now be bought at from $5 to $10 per acre. These cheap farms are as beautiful tracts of land as can be found in the United States. All as level as a floor and as rich as a garden. Two railroads traverse the county from east to west; the Missouri Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Stock raising is exceed- ingly remunerative in this county as stock can subsist,yes actually fatten on the native grasses, at least ten months in the year, often the entire year. We have good schools, good churches, good society, good roads, and for healthfulness, Wichita county challenges the world. Our population is 2,500 and our death rate but eight. Wichita county has six good towns — Leoti, Coronado, Halcyon, Selkirk, St. Theresa, and Wasburn — besides several places 'containing post- oflBces, etc. You can locate on a farm in any part of the county and be sure of being handy to schools, post-office, and churches. The agricultural products of Wichita county took the second premium at the State Fair in Topeka, in 1888, and the third premium at Kansas City Exposition the same year, with several States competing. For further information address A. R. Knapp, Director, Coronado, Kaa. -76- WILSON COUNTY. WILSON COUNTY is one of the best agricultural counties in Kansas. It is in the southeastern part of the State and is traversed by the Verdigris and Fall rivers. These streams, with their tributaries, give us a large percentage of fertile, well watered bottom lands, which, for raising corn, wheat, oats, rye and all kinds of fruits and vegetables, are not surpassed anywhere. Our corn crops are notorious. The acreage of this one crop last year in Wil- son county was 85,299 acres, with an average yield of forty bushels to the acre. All the cereals do well here. Thecouuty was settled some twenty odd years ago, and has never "boomed" in the common acceptance of the word. It has, however, maintained a steady, healthy growth, and its present population is about 16,000. Highly improved farms can be bought for less money than can an equal amount of raw laud in many counties no better than Wilson, and not so advantageously situated in the matter of proximity to the best markets. Fredonia, the county seat, situated in the heart of this rich, productive section, is particularly favored in the railroad line. It is on the main line of the 'Frisco railroad, giving us direct connections with St. Louis and other east- ern points, and also with the very profitable markets of Colorado and the west. The Santa Fe road also pierces Wilson county, passing through Fredonia. Still a third immense railroad system, the Missouri Pacific, deemed it wise to run a line through here; and these three great competing lines give our county and its capital city, Fredonia, unexcelled railroad connections with every part of the United States. The city of Fredonia is at present making rapid and substantial progress. Towering above all other buildings in the city, is the magnificent brick and stone court house, built at a cost of $50,000. This beautiful structure occupies the center of a large square, which is surrounded by blocks of fine brick business houses, including two of the best bank buildings in this part of the State. An- other elegant edifice is the Hudson opera house, second to none in appoint- ments and furnishings. The city is supplied with what is conceded to be the best system of waterworks in the State, if not in the west. In connection with the water works the city has an efficient fire department, fully equipped with the most approved apparatus. The streets and business houses are lighted with electric lights. Our childi'en are being educated in large, roomy and handsome brick school buildings, in charge of competent and enthusiastic teachers. W"e particularly invite attention to Fredonia's advantages as a desirable point for the location of manufacturing enterprises. Its superior railroad facil- ities, unlimited supply of pure cheap water and proximity to cheap fuel, make it a point peculiarly adapted to the profitable investment of capital in various manufactures. We have two large flouring mills supplied with modern machin- ery. A company with a cash capital of $12,000, has bought machinery and is put- ting in a large canning establishment, which will greatly enchance the value of our enormous apple and other fruit crops, and insure a profitable market for the many vegetables which are so easily grown here. It is expected to have the institution in full operation the coming summer. Another enterprise for which all arrangements have been made and the plant bought, is an ice factory. The parties interested have been governed in their selection of Fredonia as the point for their investment by its pure water and superior shipping facilities. There is room for many more similar enterprises and our people stand ready and willing to aid in every reasonable way all who desire to locate here and add to the growth and prosperity of this progressive city. We want no "boom," but simply our share of the intelligent farmers and workmen and up- right, wide-awake business men who are looking toward our grand young 8tat« with longing eyes, and we feel sure that an examination of our natural re- sources and favorable location will convince anyone that Wilson is one of the best counties, and Fredonia one of the most thrifty and pleasant cities in the State of Kansas. For further inforn)ation address M. T. CAiTTBEiii., Director, Fredonia Kansas. -77- WYANDOTTE COUNTY, T pOOATED at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers, is the small- I \ est county iu the State of Kansas; yet in point of wealtli and population, in commerce and manufacturing, in agriculture, and as a tiela for profit- able investments and delightful homes for all classes, the county has no equal in the west. The population of the county, is 63,000, distributed as follows: Kansas City, Kansas, the metropolis of the fState, 45,000; Argentine, a great manufac- turing city of the second-class, 6,000; Rosedale, a busy city of the third-class, 4,000, and the fiv^ townships outside the cities, 8,000. The surface of Wyandotte county combines the rich alluvial bottom lands of the Missouri and Kansas valleys, and the lighter soils of the hills skirting them. Every plant that can be grown along the 39th pai'allel is cultivated to a high degree of perfection. Evidence of this is found in the fact that for the last eight years, the agricultural exhibits have taken first prizes at fairs and exposi- tions wherever shown. Geological formations and experiments show that coal in paying quantities underlies the county and capitalists are making active preparations for mining the coal. The assessed valuation of taxable property in Wyandotte county is $11 ,322,- 761, which represents only 25 per cent of the actual valuation. The financial condition of tne county is first class. With a bonded indebtedness of $540,230, her bonds bear a low rate of interest, and sell at a handsome premium. Wyandotte county has the largest city in the State of Kansas — Kansas City, with a population of 45,000. She has twenty-three miles of paved streets, is lighted by electricity, has Holly system of water works, and has fourteen miles of double track and sixteen miles of single track in street railways, with five or more miles under construction. The Kansas City, Kansas, stock yards are the second largest in the world. The total receipts for 1889, were 1,220,343 cattle; 2,073,910 hogs, 370,772 sheep, 34,563 horses and mules, requiring 83,972 cars to handle the animals shipped to Kansas City, Kansas. Of these there were purchased for packers and city use, 474,885 cattle, 1,741,880 hogs and 195,027 sheep. The aggregate value of the stock handled in 1889 was $59,554,276. Wyandotte county is pre-eminently the leading manufacturing center of the West. The latest report of the State Labor Bureau shows that 112,073,000 of capital is employed in manufacturing in the county, while the value of the product for 1889 was $36,209,311. The value of the raw material used in manu- facturing id placed at $32,209,4-58, while $2,554,817 was paid out for labor in forty-nine of the leading establishments. In Kansas City, Kansas, there are seven great packing establishments, which entitles the city to the claim of being the second packing center of the world. Beside these there are extensive railway shops, foundries, machine shops, smelters and numerous smaller manufacturing concerns. At Argentine, which joins Kansas City on the south and which is separat- ed from it by the Kansas river, is the mammoth smelter of the Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company, of Kansas City. This is the largest institu- tion of the kind in the world, producing one-fifth of all the silver and one-fifth of all the lead produced in the United States. Its annual output being valu- ed at $18,000,000. At Lovelace, three miles west of Argentine, another similar smelter is being built. Seven great railroad systems, touching nearly every state and territory west of the Mississippi river and in the south, have their terminal facilities in the county. These are the Union Pacific, the Missouri Pacific, the Rock Island, the Santa, Fe, the Memphis Route, the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwest- ern and Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City. Each has a standing army of several hundred men employed in offices, shops, round houses, yards and at various railway occupations. For further Information address A. R. Ford, Director, Kansas City. Kansas. POPULATION: Table showing by counties, the population on March 1, 1839. Allen AmterBon.. . . A.lchl80U Baibor Barton Sonrbon . ... Srown Botler Chane Chautauqua. . Cherokse . . . , Cheyenne ■51ark 31ay oloud Coffey Comanche. . . Oowley Drawford Decatur Dickinson Oonlijhan Douglas Edwards. . . . ^Ik «lli8 Ellsworth... Finney Ford Franklin Garfield Geary Gove Graham Grant Gray Greeley Greenwood. . . Hamilton. . . . Harper Harvey Haskell Hodgeman . . . Jackson Jefferson Jewell Johnson Kearney Kingman Kiowa Labette Lane Leavenworth. Lincoln , 1889. ,847 235 ,607 ,333 8ii5 115 502 916 970 404 ,349 ,4119 ,231 ,720 .321 ,396 ,000 991 ,1'9 ,702 191 .320 ,0H3 ,975 ,783 ,220 r.67 ,300 (547 .886 820 •168 637 338 125 801 079 3+0 349 200 84J 72.5 096 315 901) 117 244 188 039 807 28 519 C21 2.54 COUNTIES. Llnu Logan Lyon Marlon Mttrshall McPherson . , Meade Miami Mitchell Montgomery . Morris Morton Nemaha Neosho Ness Norton Osage Osborne Ottawa Pawnee Phillips Pottawatomie Pratt Kawlina Reno Republic. ... Rice Riley Rooks Rush Russell Saline Scott Sedgwick Seward . . .. Shawnee Sheridan Sherman Smith Stafford Stanton Stevens Snmner Thomas Trego Wabaunsee ... Wallace Washington . , Wichita Wilson Woodson Wyandotte... Total.... 16 840 8.529 26.471 20,241 24.372 21.358 3,596 17.834 14 346 24 050 11 438 1.600 19,762 18.414 6 305 10 965 2V3.6 12.210 15 4.)3 6.6.0 16.039 16 898 7.738 6,981 31.481 17.539 13.393 12.978 8.698 6.007 6 882 20.142 2.848 .52.552 2 t'20 65-904 4 031 6 90.i 15 032 8.211 l.tJ95 1.865 30 (197 6 445 2.844 10.950 2.741 21.894 2.668 15 938 8.9i4 60.802 POPULATION OF CITIES IN KANSAS. Ha\ing 1,000 Inhabitants and upwards, March 1, 18S9, arranged according to rante. ClUes. Kansas City.... Topt^ka WichiU • Leavenworth.. . Atchison Fort Scott HutchlusDi) Lawrence Kniporta Salina Arkansas City. Newton Winfleld , Ottawa Parsons Pittsburg \Velliiii,'ton El Dorado Abilene Argentine Junction City.. Olathe McPherson llorton Concordia Osage City Indcpenilenco . Marys\i!le Clay Center Girard Minneapolis . .. Manhattan Paola Holton Oswego . . Chanute Seneca Garden City... Columbus Kingman Do(ige City Antliony Burlington Great liend CTietopa Rosedale Hiawatha Beloit Lamed Coffeyvllle.. . Council Grove.. Popula- tion. 79 80 81 82 8;i ^ 85 8(i 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 NIckerson Burlinganie Marlon Ellsworth Galena , Garuett Washington Cherry vale Eureka Weir City CaldweU , Harper Baxter Springs, Scran ton Wamego , Sterling Peabody lola Lyons Fredonla BelleviUe Pratt Ne<)de.sha Norton Humboldt Florence Sabetha Herrington Osage Mission.. Pleasanton PhiUlpsburg... Howard Baldwin City.. Yates Center... Lindsborg Cherokee Osawatomle Erie Augusta Downs Clyde Osborne LaCygne Stoclcton Oberllu Valley Falls.... HaLstead St. Marys Sedan Quonemo Popula- tion. 2,103 2,054 2,(M9 2,02G 2,018 2,011 1,9T5 1,951 1,947 1,»H 1,793 1,775 1,76S 1,743 1,743 1,706 1,703 1,(587 1,(;74 1,(U0 1,598 1,566 1,546 1,525 l,,'i20 1,517 1,392 i.;«iO 1,320 1,315 1,315 1,303 1,241 1,231 1,230 1,228 1,181 1,171 1,151 1,151 1,149 1,145 1,136 l,i:« 1,12;^ 1,119 ],aio 1,0S6 1,056 1,038 * PopuUtloa of ISSS; no ratoms for 1SS3. y u OFFICERS KANSAS IMMIGRATION BUREAU. E. B. BUCK, President, Winfield. HALE COWLEY, Secretary, Wichita. A. W. OLIVER, Treaaurer, Wichita. EXECUTIVE BOARD. R. B. DRURY, Atchison. A. R. FORD, Kansas City, Kansas. C. P. BUFFINGTON, Cherryvale. S. A. MARTIN, Eureka. TAYLOR MILLER, Salina. Q. A. SPENCER, RusseU. W. E. BOLTON, Greensburg. V.O' PRICK, 25c. — ^ PRICE, 26c. //