The New West from Great Bend, Kansas • 1

7l. RMSEN DAVE N. HEIZER, Vol. 1. No.

1. GREAT BEND, KANSAS, SEPTEMBER, 1878. PUBLISHER. REAT THE CITY OF BEND. plastering and finishing in the best style with two coats of mint inside and out.

A foil r-roonied house can be built for $500 and one with seven or eight rooms for either $700 or $800. The reader can judge from these prices if building is more expensive here than in the east; our own opinion is that it will not cost as much to build in Barton county as it will in the eastern This is one of the most important towns on the line of the Atchison, peka Santa Fe railway, located on the apex of the great curve in the I Arkansas river known as the Great Bend. It has a commanding position the very heart of one of the rich-agricultural countries in the known -orld. It is in the center of Barton, states. I'll ICES OF LAND.

Kmc of the largest, and destined to be, at an early day, one of the wealthiest counties in the prosperous state of Kansas. Kail way lands in this county can be purchased at from $2 to $6 per acre, the price depending on the distance of the land from towns. They can be talked with hundreds of farmers who, by experience, have earned the right to speak in regard to the county, and tliev have all of them testified that tin is a desirable country to live in, and .1 I Great Bend, as a city, has a future before it which promises to make it the center of enterprises of importance to be located within the borders of a state which must, at no distant jday, become the peer of any in the republic. Already the city has a start which entitles it to proud distinction, and it is the home of a class of prosperous people who are an honor to Kansas, while their industry has wron for them all that goes to make up first-Mass homes with such appliances as pertain to modern civilization. Great Bend, while it is a new city nd has yet to celebrate its first de-Jade, has advantages which have cost tially built business blocks; excellent newspapers, and in short all that is required to make a town desirable as a place of residence for people of culture and refinement.

The true history of the town reads like a romance, so rapid has been its development, and yet its growth has been solid and continuous. The people have united in every measure which was calculated to advance the public weal, keeping in view the leading points that a city was to be built which should attract to it capital and business, and with these they have gone on developing the vast country which lies east, west, north and south, making Great Bend the point from which supplies were, drawn, and to which everything marketable was taken. bought on six or eleven years' time with seven per cent for cash. Many men have bought land on time and have by a single crop paid for it and all expenses of producing the crop. There is no chance wrork about this for if a man cultivates the land the result is certain.

It must be understood that buying land on time and having no money to put in a crop will not turn out as profitable as it would to have something to do with. It needs wisdom in starting a farm in the west and if you would succeed you must give the subject your whole attention; men have failed here through neglect as elsewhere. A FEW LEADING POINTS. Those who contemplate removing to the west desire information about certain localities. The practical ones confine their questions to a few leading points the climate, soil and productions these are the points which are all important.

Those of New England sigh when they think of their short summers mer communities ineiaoor 01 a quar U. rni There fine their laitli in it is unbounded. RAILWAY FACILITIES. One of the finest and best equipt railroads in the United States, the Atchison, Topeka tfc Santa Fe, passes through the county from east to west following the Arkansas river, passing through the principal towns Ellinwood, Great Bend and Pawnee Rock; this gives railway facilities to every portion of the county and gives us a choice of markets the mining districts of the west or the large towns and cities of the east. This railway will very soon be extended to California and become in reality the chosen route to the Pacific coast.

This extension is now going on and it is only a matter of months when the work will be completed. COST OF BUILDING HOUSES. The subject of building is an important one and we attempt to give the reader a clear idea as to price BARTON COUNTY. and shudder when they realize that the long winter quickly follows. Irost The earliest settlements made in Barton county Were in the year 1872, three years later, 1875, according to the numeration made, the population of the county was 2,099, in "1876, a year later, it had more than doubled, having increased to 5,646.

and in 1878 it has reached something over 11,000. Need there be any better evidence of the fertility of the soil, the healthful-ness of the climate, and the general prospects of the' county, We have cuts down the corn when it comes up in the spring, and it comes so early in Lumber is somewhat higher here than in the east and vet we know that i i i i i the fall that the crop is prevented from ripening. To these men the climate of Kansas would be all that hurches, costly dwellings, a graded ublic school; one of the finest court ouses in the state; large and substan- nouses can ne imut as cheap as in Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. A substantial frame cottage of two rooms will cost $375 this" will include could be desired. For the winter is a matter of only sixty days, and often.