F606 F 686 . SS9 Copy 1 EA1TSAS! GK3 TO ELLIS AND RUSH COUNTIES c^- C^3- « » C ^CULa^ OF THE SOUTHWESTERN RIGULTURAL N COLONIZATION A! "3TOIS2IZ, F^.. "EM MAN TIE I0TECT OF HIS DWS HE." , / BUILD IT BY JOINING THIS COLONY NOW ! Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wash ington, D. C, in the year 1877, by Henry S. George, M. D. OPPIOBES PRESIDENT, HENRY S. GEORGE, M. D YORK, PA. VICE PRESIDENT, ADAM S. PFLEIGER i YORK, PA. SECRETARY, WILLIAM CHAMBERS YORK, PA. TREASURER, THOMAS HOLLAND YORK, PA. GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, JACOB EBERLY HARRISBURG, PA. SERECTART OF THE LAND DEPARTMENT, ADAM F. GEESEY YORK, PA. DIRECTORS : William Chambers York, Pa. William R. Stouch York, Pa. Jacob Eberly Harrisburg, Pa. J. Cole Green,. . . . Williamsport, Pa. Christian Markley York, Pa. Adam F. Geese y, York, Pa. Thomas D. Brown.. Wilmington, Del. Joseph C. Holland Hanover, Pa. Adam S. Pfleiger York, Pa. Henry S. George, M. D. . ..York, Pa. Jacob Shipman Sunbury, Pa. Hon. Abm. Rohrer, Hon^y Grove, Pa. Thomas Holland York, Pa, T. Kirk White York, Pa. Wm. J. Adams Harrisburg, P a - ORGANIZATION. This Company is chartered and organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and by the terms of the Charter the Company is to exist until dissolved by the mutual consent of its members. OBJECTS. The objects of this Association are, to locate and purchase public lands, put them under cultivation, and improve the same for the mu- tual benefit of its members and also, to aid and assist working people, with limited means, to migrate to, settle upon and cultivate these lands, thereby enabling them to procure homes, support themselves and families, and educate their children. The principal business office of the Company is located at York, Pennsylvania, and is called the office of the Home Department. The business office of the Company at the Land Department will be loca- ted at the City Site of Wadsworth, Cooper Colony, Ellis County, Kansas, and is called the office of the Land Department. The President, or one of the Vice Presidents, the Secretary and Treasurer, and a majority of the Directors, will reside at and remain permanently at the Home office, until the colony is substantially estab- lished, or as long as it may be necessary to maintain an Eastern office. The General Superintendent and the Secretary of the Land Depart- ment will reside and remain permanently in the Colony. The Secretary, Treasurer, Secretary of the Land Department and General Superintendent, are required to give such bonds as the Board of Directors will approve, and until the Home office is removed to the Colony, the bondsmen must be residents of Pennsylvania. All the moneys of the Company must be deposited with the Treasurer, and cannot be paid out by him unless, upon the official order of the President, approved by the Board of Directors, and attested by the Secretary. The General Superintendent will receive all moneys for the Colony and deliver the same to the Secretary of the Land Department, who will keep all accounts for and pay out all moneys at the same, but all moneys delivered to him as incomes or for property sold in the Colo- ny, must be forwarded at once to the Secretary, and no moneys can be paid out by the Secretary of the Land Department, except by spe- cific appropriations made by the Board of Directors, and not then, unless upon the official order of the General Superintendent, approved by the Land and Finance Committee. This is not a Stock Company, but an Association of Members for Mutual benefit, but Certificates of Membership will be issued to each member, and the Articles of Co-operation (the organic law of the Company) will be embodied in each Certificate of Membership, and the Certificate, together with a duplicate of the same, will be signed by the member to whom a Certificate is to be issued, also by the — 5— President, countersigned by the Treasurer, attested by the Secretary, legally witnessed and sealed with the common seal of the Corpora- tion, one of which will be delivered to the member, and the other one retained by the Company. The matter and contents of each Certificate, in so far as it secures to any member any right, privilege, immunity or franchise, cannot be changed or altered, without the joint consent of each member and the Company, so that each Certifi- cate is virtually a contract between each member and the Company, and so far as it relates to real estate to be secured to each member, will constitute a conditional deed. There will be three classes of Certificates of membership issued, one to be entitled Certificates of membership of the first class, one to be entitled Certificates of membership of the second class, and one to be entitled Certificates of membership of the third class. Each member of the first class will be required to pay dues in money, at the rate of five dollars per month, and in addition will be subject to an annual assessment of one hundred dollars, until he or she has paid into the Treasury the sum of five hundred dollars, and each member of the second class, also each member of the third class, will be re- quired to pay dues at the rate of five dollars per month, until he or she has paid into the Treasury the sum of two hundred and fifty dol- lars, and besides the dues and assessments, each member of the first class will be required to pay, at the time of joining the Company, the sum of ten dollars as a fee of membership, and each member of the second and third classes will be required to pay the sum of five dol- lars as fee of membership, and in addition, each member will pay an office fee of one dollar upon receipt of his Certificate, and each Di- rector, Officer and Agent will pay the sum of one dollar for his certi- ficate of office. No person can hold more than one Certificate of the first class, (ex- cept in trust for minors,) and no person can hold more than two Cer- tificates of the second class, (except in trust). No person can hold more than one Certificate of the third class, (except in trust), but any person may hold one certificate of the second and one of the third class, but no more, (except in trust.) Any parent or guardian may hold one Certificate of the first, or two of the second, or one of the second, and one of the third class, in trust, for any minor of any such parent or guardian, and will be enti- tled to receive the profits arising from the same, but the land will be held and operated by the Company until such minors arrive of age. But in case of the death of any such parent, the profits will be applied by the Company to the support and education of such minors, unless the mother or guardian give to the Company satisfactory security for their support and education. In case of the death of a married male member leaving no children, the widow will be entitled to his Certificate of membership, land, lot, etc., but if there is a child or children, the widow will get one-half, and the other half will go to the child, or if more than one, divided among his children, share and share alike. — 6— The wife of any member may become a member of the Company upon an equal footing with all others. Any member may sell his or her Certificate to any person entitled to purchase the same. HOW MEMBERS MAY LOCATE THEIR LAND. Members may locate upon their lands or lots at any time after the legal selection has been made, and make such improvements as they see fit, but those who do not desire to take possession of their land may have the same cultivated by the Company, and receive the profits arising therefrom in money. The second and third class Certificates are designed and issued for the purpose of affording an opportunity to workingmen by the pay- ment of small sums at short intervals, (in money or labor,) to secure farm or town homes and the Certificates of the first class are design- ed and issued for the purpose of accumulating capital to operate in conjunction with labor, and thus work in union and harmony, for the mutual benefit of each. The working force will be employed by the Company, and paid by the month, subject to dismissal for disobedience or disqualification. But if any employee who is a member, be discharged for disobedience, he will be required thereafter to continue the payment of his dues in money. HOW LANDS ARE TO BE DIVIDED. The land taken by the Company will be divided as follows ; The land necessary for village or city sites, will be set aside for that pur- pose, and the remainder will be surveyed and laid out into section lots (640 acres), and each alternate section will be set aside to be held permanently by the Company and cultivated, and the proceeds appro- priated by them to improvements upon the lands of the Company and upon the lauds of the members, and the other alternate quarter sec- tion, will be set aside to be divided among members as the Articles of Co-operation prescribe. Each member of the first class will be en- titled to one hundred and sixty acres of land in his or her name, and each member of the second class will be entitled to eighty acres of land in his or her name, as well as an equal share of the profits of the Company arising from the land held and cultivated by them, and from other sources, in proportion to the money paid by each, and each member of the third class will be entitled to a village or city lot of one half of an acre in any village or city site, surveyed and laid out by the Company, upon any of its lands, and to a share in the profits of the Company in proportion to the amount paid in money or labor by each member. The Company will clear and break up all the land, improve all the farms, build all the houses and barns upon the farms, and the houses and other improvements upon the village or city lots of the members, (unless members desire to clear and break up the land at their own expense upon farms selected by them, build their own houses, etc.,) and after about three years, (by our estimates and calculation^) each —7— member of the first class who has paid into the Treasury the sum of $500, will have one hundred and sixty acres of land, with about sixty acres under cultivation, and sufficient net gains in cash to enable him to cultivate his land upon his own account, and at the end of about four years, each member of the second cJass, who has paid into the Treasury the sum of $250 (either in money or labor) will have eighty acres of land, with about forty acres under cultivation, and sufficient net gain in cash to enable him to cultivate his land upon his own ac- count, And at the end of about four years from the date of the Cer- tificate of each member of the third class, who has paid into the Treas- ury (either in money or labor) the sum of $250, will be entitled to a deed, and possession of a lot of ground, not less than one-half of an acre, in any village or city site, surveyed and laid out by the Com- pany upon any of its lands, with a house, stable and other improve- ments made upon the same, and his due proportion of net gain in cash. The Company will take possession of all mines, water powers, etc., operate mines or lease them, improve water powers for use by the Company or to be leased to others, plant and cultivate forests upon farms destitute of woodland, lay out the towns upon the Company's lands, distribute lots among members entitled to them, and sell others to actual settlers only upon ground rent, if the purchaser so desires, thereby aiding working men, not members, to more easily acquire homes, and also preventing the lots from falling into the hands of speculators. The profits accruing to the Company, will be applied to improve- ments upon the lands or lots of the members, and upon the lands or lots of the company, and to public improvements, viz: constructing highways, improving water powers, manufacturing, opening and operating mines, quarries, etc. No person will be employed by the Company except he be a mem- ber, unless the necessities of the business require it, and preference will always be given to members over others, when qualifications are equal. In case an employee be dismissed by a foreman, the employee may apply to the General Superintendent, for a permit of transfer to another department. Each member of the first class will virtually be the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land, and a share in the profits of the Company arising from all the mines, water powers, woodlands, vil- lage or city lots sold, manufacturing done by the Company, etc., in proportion to the money paid into the Treasury by him or her. And each member of the second class will virtually be the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, and a share in the profits as above stated. And each member of the third class will virtually be the owner of two houses and lots, and a share in the profits as above stated. The money paid into the Treasury by the members, will be invested in the necessary buildings, agricultural implements, and in breaking up and cultivating the soil. _8— By the Articles of Co-operation, no bonds, mortgages or other obligations can be issued against the Company, {except as purchase money for lands); it will therefore be impossible for the Company to become involved, hence its affairs must always rest upon a solid and substantial foundation. With such a. foundation nothing can inter- fere with its steady progress, and • uninterrupted prosperity, except mismanagement, unfavorable seasons, or uuforseen and unavoidable casualties and accidents. Against the former, this Company is as well secured as anything human can be ; as the officers and directors have been selected with great care from among plain, practical men of long experience in business, agricultural and mechanical pursuits, men of known integ- rity, and the highest character and standing in the communities where they live; men actuated by motives of benevolence, to engage in a great work of charity, viz : to aid and assist people of limited means by the payment of small sums at short intervals, to acquire farms or village or city homes ; to lift from degredation and poverty thousands of industrious and.worthy people, now condemned to lives of unre- quited toil, from the wretched situations in which they are compelled to eke out a miserable existence in an unequal struggle for life, into a condition of honestly and justly compensated labor and manly inde- pendence. By the Articles of Co-operation of this Company, no person can become a member in any class who is an habitual drunkard, a gamb- ler or common loafer, a disorderly or dangerous character, and no person will be employed by the Company, who is not a man of peace- able, industrious and sober habits ; besides, in the titles of real estate, to be issued by the Company to members or others, the sale of intox- icating liquors as a beverage, is to be prohibited. By the Articles of Co-operation no money can be expended in or- ganizing or getting up the Company, beyond the amount of the fees of membership, and other fees, and therefore all persons who have a desire to join this Association, may feel fully assured that their money will be honestly invested, and faithfully applied to improvements of, and upon the land of the members of the Company, and that each member will get every dollar earned by his labor or investment. The officers' of the Company will be paid a reasonable salary for actual services performed, and not one cent more! No fancy prices will be paid as salaries, or for anything purchased by the Company. Each member of this Company will stand upon a perfect equality with all others, in proportion to the amount of money or labor expended by each. No inside rings will be favored with fat contracts or pet jobs. No one will amass fortunes from the sweat and toil of the members, but if they sweat and toil, they, and they alone, will receive the full reward, and "as they sow, so shall they reap" The expenses necessary to carry on the business of the Company, will be paid, but every dollar over and above such expense, will be invested in the land, the requisite buildings, farm implements, tools, — 9— stock, and in cultivating the lands of the Company and those of the members, then the profits of the Company will be applied to improve- ments upon the land of the members and the Company, opening and operating mines, improving water powers, manufacturing, etc., and necessary public improvements in the Colony, after which the profits will be divided among the members. ESTIMATES AND CALCULATIONS. The following estimates and calculations have been made for the purpose of finding with some degree of accuracy two results, viz: in case a given amount of money be paid in small sums, at short inter- vals, by a certain number of persons, into a common fund, thereby creating an aggregation of capital, to be invested in cultivating and improving lands — 1st. How long a time will it require for such an investment to put a given number of acres of land under cultivation 1 ? 2d. How long a time will it require for such an investment, to en- able each person thus investing to acquire a farm, so fitted out in all respects that each member will be able to raise from the land a suffi- ciency of farm products to support himself and family? In order to be able to answer these questions, it became necessary to procure reliable statistics, we have therefore obtained at great ex- pense and trouble a large number of statistics upon the subject, from the highest authorities in the country, a few of which only, for the want of space, we are able to publish in this circular ; and taking such statistics as the foundation, we have, at immense labor, made a calcu- lation running through four years, which for the want of space we can publish only the results found for first year. We have taken for our basis of calculation two hundred members of the first class, and two hundred members of the second and third classes, and corn and wheat as the crops to be raised. The probable expenditures of the Company for the first season, will be about as fol- lows: CALCULATIONS FOR THE FIRST YEAR. The probable income and expenditures of the Company for the first season will be about as follows : It will be necessary to send a few men out to the land early this spring to build the houses for the accommodation of the farm hands, the outlay for that purpose will be — Five wagons at $75 each $ 375 Two span of horses, harness, etc., say 400 Tools, etc., say 500 Lumber, nails, hardware, etc., for houses and barns, say .... 3,500 Forty yoke of oxen at $75 a yoke, will amount to 3,000 Forty prairie ploughs, at $20 each 800 Twenty milk cows at $20 each 400 Furniture, household goods, farming tools, etc., say 1,000 —10— Five hundred laying hens at 20 cents each 100 One hundred sheep at $2 each 200 Two hundred lambs at $1 each 200 Three hundred young pigs at $2 each 600 Fifty breeding hogs at $5 each 250 Wages of 42 men at $20 per month, say ten months 8,400 Wages of 8 women at $10 per month, for same time 800 Board for 50 persons at $10 a month, for ten months 5,000 Seed corn for 1000 acres of land, say 100 Expense of looking up and locating the land 600 Sixty yoke of oxen to be bought during the summer to break up land, at $75 per yoke 4,500 Sixty ploughs at $1 8 each 1,080 Wages of 60 men, 3 months, at $20 per month 3,600 Board for 60 men, 3 mouths, $10 per month 1,800 Cost of seeding 2,800 acres in wheat 3,360 Cash paid as interest on purchase money for 20,000 acres of land 3,346 Salaries and expenses, say 6,000 Total expenditures of the first year $49,911 INCOME OF THE FIRST YEAR. Each member will pay into the Treasury as follows : — Monthly dues for 400 members, first year $24,000 Annual assessments, first year, for 200 members of the first class 20,000 Office fee for Certificate of membership, at $1 each 400 The above calculation is based upon the supposition that the 358 cash paying members will remain at home the first year, or locate upon and cultivate their lands at their own expense, while the men to be employed on the farms will be selected outside of this number, each one of whom must become a member, but will have the privil- ege, when employed by the Company, to pay their dues in labor, and although they pay their dues in labor, it is still so much income to the Company, and therefore must be estimated as such. Total income from members $ 44,400 INCOME FROM LAND. One yoke of oxen and one man will, on an average, break up one acre of prairie land per day, being 40 acres per day for 40 ploughs, 2,800 acres in 70 days; 1,000 acres of land planted to corn will yield say 30 bushels of shelled corn per acre, or, for 1,000 acres, 30,000 bushels, which will sell readily in Kansas at 20 cents a bushel, amoun- ing to the sum of $ 6,000 Total income from all sources the first season $ 50,000 Total expenditure the first year 49,911 Cash in Treasury at the end of first season $ 489 —11— INVENTORY OF PROPERTY OWNED BY THE COMPANY DECEMBER 31, 1878. Five wagons at $75 each . . . $ 375 One hundred yoke of oxen 7,500 Two span of mares and harness 400 Lumber, buildings, tools, furniture, etc 3,5u0 One hundred prairie ploughs 2,000 350 hogs (fat) $10 3,500 300 sheep and wool, $3.50 each 1,050 Four colts at $25 each 100 2,500 chickens at 15 cents each 375 Twenty milk cows 400 Live stock, not counting teams, say 1,000 Cost of buildings, say 3,000 Estimated value of Company's land (not increased value of land broken up) 140,000 Increased value of 2,800 acres of land broken up during the spring, at $3 per acre 8,400 Value of 6,000 acres of land broken up during the fall 18,000 Value of the Company's property the first year $189,600 Cash in Treasury Dec. 31st, first year 489 CONDENSED SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE CALCULATION. Value of Company's property $ 189,600 Cash in the Treasury » 489 Total proceeds $ 190,089 Total expenditures 49,911 Net proceeds • $ 140,178 Capital invested 44,400 Net gain on Capital invested $ 95,778 Being a Net Profit of 215 and 6-10 per cent for the first year. To ascertain the net gain of each member, multiply the dues, or dues and assessments each member has paid the first month, by the rate per cent, of the net gain per month, and the product will be the net gain of each member upon his or her investment for the first month, next add together the dues, or dues and assessments of each member for the first and second months, and multiply as before, and the product will be the net gain of each for the second month, and continue this process by months, until the net gains of each member for each month, from the date of his or her first receipt for the pay- ment of dues, to the date of settlement, after which add together the net gains for each month thus found for each member, and each of these sums will be the total net gain of each. —12— The cost of boarding the men the first few months will be more than double the amount it will cost after that time. Ten dollars per month for each person is a much larger sum than it will be likely to cost. The rich prairie grass of Kansas, supplies abundance of the best of food for stock ; cattle, sheep, hogs, fowls, etc., thrive and grow fat upon it ; even the oxen need no other food while working every day. Milk, butter and cheese will cost no more than the expense of milking the cows, and making the butter and cheese. Potatoes and most other vegetables planted in March, will be fit for use in June, and before midsummer pork, mutton and chickens will be supplied free of cost. Eggs will cost nothing, and after corn is ripe, flour {for the first year) and groceries will be the only articles of food to be bought. As before stated, we have confined our calculations to the raising of corn and wheat only, and the expenditures we have estimated much higher than the general average, while we have placed the increase less than the general average; besides we have not mentioned the most profitable agricultural business in Western Kansas, viz, raising hogs and stock, and making butter and cheese, neither have we men- tioned the profits to arise from water powers and mines, lime and building stone quarries leased, and town lots sold. THE ADVANTAGES TO BE GAINED BY PAYING DUES OR DUES AND ASSESSMENTS CASH IN ADVANCE. The question is often asked, what advantage will be given in case dues or assessments are paid in advance ? The following statements will answer this question. According to our estimates and calcula- tions for the first year we find the net gain on the capital invested to be over 215 per cent, per annum, but for convenience of calcula- tion we will call it 120 per cent, per annum — being Ten per cent. PER MONTH. EXAMPLE NO. 1. Suppose "A" being a member of the first class, pays the total amount of his dues and assessments ($500) in advance — his net gain for the first month would be $50 — and the same amount for each month intervening from the date that he paid his $500 to the date of settlement, amounting in the aggregate, for 3 years and 2 months, to the sum of $1,900. EXAMPLE NO. 2. Suppose "B," being a member of the first class, pays his dues and assessments in the regular order as prescribed in the "Articles of Co- operation," his net gains will be as follows : At the end of the first month "B" pays into the Treasury his dues, $5, and assessment, $100; the rate per cent, of the net gain being 10 per cent, per month, the net gain on $105 for one month, will amount to the sum of $10 50, and the second month "B" will pay his dues, $5, which added to the $105 will amount to the sum of $110, and the net gain —13— on $110 for one month, at the rate of 10 per cent, a month will amount to the sum of $11 ; and the third month "B"' will pay his dues, $5, which added to the $110, will amount to $115, and the net gain on $115 for one month, at the rate of 10 per cent, a month, will be $11 50, so that, at the rate of 10 per cent, a month, the net gain of each month will increase at the rate of 50 cents a month. The fol- lowing table will show the net gain of each month and the total gain for the first year, for "B :" Dues and Assessments for 1st month. $105 00 2d ' 110 OC 3d 1 115 00 4th ' 120 00 5th ' 125 00 6th ' 130 00 7th ' 135 00 8th ' 140 00 9th 1 145 00 10th ' 150 00 11th ' 155 00 12th ' 160 00 Net gain for 1st month $10 50 2d : j d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th ]2th 11 00 11 50 12 00 12 50 13 00 13 50 14 00 14 50 15 UO 15 50 16 00 Total net gain of "B" the first year $159 00 The total net gain of "A," the first year, at $50 a month, will amount to $600; net profit gained by the investment of "A" over that of "B" for the Jirst year, will be $441. The first month of the second year "B" will pay into the Treasury his assessment, $100, and his dues ($5) for that month, which will amount to $105; this sum added to the assessment and dues paid by "B" the first year, viz: $160, will make $265, — the net gain of "B," (which at the rate of 10 per cent, a month) will for the first month of the second year amount to $26 50, and following up this process for the second year and adding together the net gains of the whole 24 months, will show the total net gain for the first two years, which for "B" is $510, but the net gain of "A" is $1,200, and the net profit gained by the investment of "A" over that of "B," the first two years, will amount to $690. The first month of the third year "B" will pay into the Treasury his assessment, $100, and his dues ($5) for that month, which will amount to $105, this sum added to the assessments and dues paid by "B" the first and second years, viz: $320, will make $425; the net gain of "B" (which at 10 per cent, per month) will, for the first month of the third year, amount to $42 50. The net gain of "B" for the last fourteen months, of the three years and two months, will amount to $640 50, and the total net gain of "B" for the whole three years and two months,. will amount to $1,150 50. The total net gain of "A" being just $50 per month for each month, will, in three years and two months, amount to $1,900: net gain on "A's" investment over"B's," '{in three years and two months) $749 50. The rate per cent, of net gain for the three years and two months, upon the investment of "A' over that of "B" is 149 and 8-10 per cent. Thus it will be seen by the above examples and elucidation that those —14— members who pay dues or assessments in advance, will have the full benefit of the net gain on the whole amount of their investments the first month, and each month thereafter, during the three years and two months, and upon the same pi'inciple the members of the second and third classes, will receive profits in the same proportion; still those who pay in advance confer a very great benefit upon those who are unable to do so, from the fact that by so doing, they contribute to the accumulation of available capital, thereby enabling those who pay dues, or dues and assessments in the regular order, to procure homes much sooner than they otherwise could. We clip the following from the Philadelphia Inquirer of May 22d, 1876: DAKOTA AGRICULTURE. BIG WHEAT FARMING ON THE LINE OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD. Special Correspondence of The Inquirer. Fargo, Dakota Territory, May 5, 1876. A wheat field of 10,860 acres ! That sight has never heen seen. It is rapidly unfolding in Cass county, Dakora, and will be on exhibition as soon as the laws of prairie agriculture will admit. George W. Cass, of New York; Benjamin P. Cheney, of Boston, and Oliver Dalfymple, of St. Paul, are joint owners of this great wheat field in the Red river valley. The body of it was purchased of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. The intervening sec- tions were bought of the government. In June, 1875, the breaking plows were put through 1286 acres of the tract. This will be seeded this month to No. 1 Minnesota spring wheat. Experience shows that 20 bushels to the acre can be certainly relied on as the first crop from this Red river soil. Forty-eight bushels to the acre have been harvested the first year in the valley. Crop No. 1 from this partially opened farm, therefore, may be credited at 25,700 bushels. The present price of wheat at Fargo is $1 10. For the development of this farm there will arrive here next week, from St. Paul, sixteen teams of horses, ten 14-inch breaking plows, sixteen cross plows, fourteen large wagons, six largest seeders, eight self-binding reapers, two horse-power fanning mills. In addition to the buildings now on the farm, the lumber and materials are on the way for a dining room and kitchen suffi- cient for a permanent force of twenty-four men, for one headquarters house, four dwellings, two and a half stories high, to comfortably lodge and quarter the hands, and four good stables. The work projected for this year is to make a crop on the ground broken last year, and to break up in June and July 1280 acres more. Next year there will be 2560 acres to harvest from, and that crop can be fairly estimated at 60, 000 bushels. The property is under the personal management of Oliver Dalrymple whose reputation as the most successful wheat grower in America is well established. It is the intention of the owners of this farm to hasten the breaking be- yond the two sections per annum, with which they have commenced. It will not be long before the wonderful spectacle can be seen of a wheat field of —15— 10,860 acres — unbroken by fences, uniform in color and growth — waving in the wind a sea of golden grain . And the wonder of the spectacle will be en- hanced by the fact that only three years ago the plow was an unknown tool in the region where this wheat will grow. A plow, as an instrument of agri- culture had never been seen in Cass county, Dakota, before 1873 . It had been used as a railroad tool by the contractors who built the Northern Pacific track; but when they went away their plows went with them. And the won- drous spectacle of that great field of undulating wheat, beyond the Red river of the north, will be enhanced by the additional fact that two years ago not an acre of land in that region had been taken up — not an acre had been pur- chased from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company or the Federal Govern- ment. In the closing paragraph the same writer says : The Illinois farmer can get off an acre of his own land only fifteen bushels of No. 2 wheat, which at 90 cents gives him $13 50 — a profit of only one dol- lar an acre. The Red river valley farmer will harvest certainly twenty bush- els of extra No. 1 to the acre, which will sell readily for one dollar, giving him $20 to the acre, a profit of $9 50. Last year his wheat averaged $1 10 at Fargo: and land in the district, precisely like this, has produced 40, 42, 46 and 48 bushels to the acre. The records of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company show yields of fifty bushels. A correspondent to the same paper of September 7th, 1877, speak- ing of the same farm, says : BIG WHEAT FARMS. This section will soon rival California in the matter of great wheat farms. I give some figures of one or two of them which are fair beginnings for a new country: Two years ago General George W. Cass, of your State, and Benjamin P. Cheney, of Boston, bought from the Northern Pacific Company eleven thou- sand acres of prairie land, near the track at Casselton, in Dakota, about twenty miles west of the Minnesota line. They formed an alliance with Oli- ver Dalrymple, the "Wheat King," of Minnesota, whose large grain farms near Minneapolis have been the admiration of tourists, and opened what is now known as the "Dalrymple farm " Twelve hundred acres of sod was broken in 1875 and sown to wheat. In 1876 twenty-eight hundred acres ad- ditional was put in wheat, making a field of four thousand acres, from which has just been harvested a crop that is simply magnificent. Three thousand acres more have been broken this year for seeding in 1878, which will make seven thousand acres of wheat practically in a single field. SOME SUGGESTIVE FIGURES. Some idea of the scale on which things have to be done at these large farms may be gathered from the following, which I clip from the current number of our local newspaper the Fargo Times: —16— "Oliver Dalrymple has five steam threshers now at work on his 4000 acre farm at Casselton, each one threshing an average of 1000 bushels per day. The grain is hauled directly to the cars as fast as threshed and shipped to New York via Duluth and the lakes. He loads and forwards fifteen cars per day. At 350 bushels to the car, the crop on this one place will make 257 car loads. The yield, from what has been threshed so far, is estimated at 90,000 bushels, an average of 22£ bushels per acre. Add to this the 3500 acres on the Grandin farm, in which Mr. Dalrymple has a half interest, and which will average equally well, the two farms will produce 168,750 bushels of wheat this year." The Grandin farm mentioned in the above extract, is another agricultural venture along the Northern Pacific, which has reached imposing proportions, and proved a bonanza. The Messrs. Grandin Brothers, bankers, of Tideoute, Pa., bought a tract of 40,000 acres in Trail county, Dakota, from the railroad company, and also availed themselves of the experience and sagacity of Mr. Dalrymple by making him managing partner in the enterprise. At the Grandin farm 3500 acres of wheat was harvested this year, and 3000 acres more are broken for next year's seeding. Mr. Dalrymple, in harvesting the crops of these two farms employed forty-two self-binding reapers two hun- dred and twenty-five horses, and one hundred and fifty men. Nine steam threshers, with a daily capacity of one thousand bushels, are required in threshing the grain. The harvest spectacle was a most inspiring and signifi- cant one — significant because libelers, great and small, had, for their own purposes united to decry the soil and the climate upon which, and under which, these superb results have been produced. This idiotic clamor has now been forever hushed by the logic of facts too stubborn and too conspicu- ous to be ignored. It is the intention, I learn, of the owners of the two above-mentioned farms to break additional sod-land at the rate of 5000 acres per year until the entire 51,000 acres shall be in grain. The two farms will then yield over a million bushels annually . While dealing with statistics I may as well add that Mr. Dalrymple's crop alone will this year require five hundred boxcars or thirty- three extra trains of fifteen cars each to carry it over the Northern Pacific to the lake, and we are informed that Mr. Dalrymple's net profits this year off of that single farm was over $50,000. CLIMATE OF KANSAS. "The State lies between the 37th and 40th parallels of north latitude, while the two counties in which the Southwestern Agricultural and Migration Co. have purchased lands, lie between the 38th and 39th parallels, which parallels in the United States include Central Missouri, Southern Illinois, Southern Indi- ana; a large part of Kentucky, West Virginia, Southern Pennsylvania and Maryland, on the East, with Colorado, Nevada and Central California on the West, while in Europe they embrace the vine-covered hills of Portugal and Spain, the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and the sunny clime of Southern Italy. Thus, its position not being sufficiently near the equator to render it enervating or debilitating, nor far enough north to expose it to the severity and rigors of a Northern clime, with an altitude steadily and slowly increasing from the Mississippi River towards the Rocky Mountains, where- by pure and healthful breezes are wafted across the Prairies; even in the —17— sultriest summer weather the cool night wind comes to refresh and invigor- ate, after the toils of the day are over, while during the severest winters bright alternations of sunny days will often intervene, to remind us of the not far distant spring. To quote from the Third Annual Report of the State Board: "The atmos- phere is dry and exhilarating. A person is not so susceptible to the ther- mometrical changes as in an atmosphere more moist. This is an important consideration in stock-raising in this State, especially on the Prairies. The valuable qualities of grasses depend largely upon atmospheric influences. In a dry atmosphere they retain their nutritious qualities; in an atmosphere charged with moisture, they are overtaken by autumnal frosts, and killed . They thus decay in place of remaining during the winter as winter pasture for stock." The rivers and streams of Kansas, the Smoky Hill and Republican, both rising in Colorado, steadily flowing on throughout the State and uniting their joint forces with that of the Saline and Solomon, at Fort Riley, to form the Kansas or Kaw river, prove most conclusively (the rapidity of eva- poration being taken into account) that there is a far greater rate of rainfall throughout the length and breadth of the State than hitherto it has had credit for. KANSAS AT THE CENTENNIAL. The exhibition of Kansas in her own building at the International Exhi- bition of 1876, at Philadelphia, was in every respect a grand success. The Centennial Commission of the State, iii conjunction with the State Board of Agriculture, did a noble work in placing before the eyes of the world the palpable evidences of the immense fertility, not only of the regions, adjacent to the Missouri river, but of the praries themselves : and with one sweeping blow, have thrown down the barriers which hid the unexampled progress which was going on in spite of the ignorance of the East. To-day Kansas stands forth a strong young State, ready and able to assert and maintain her proud position as one of the gre.it producing States, The cereals, potatoes, flax, castor beans, broom corn, fruit and other products exhibited at Philadelphia, are the best evidences of her fertility, and the newspapers all over the couutry have been sounding the praises of this lusty young State, which dares to step into the arena, and take up the gauntlets, of old and well-known States. Thousands of actual settlers are pouring in from nearly every State, justi- fying the prediction that the emigration into Kansas during the year 187b will be unprecedented in the settlement of any other State in the Union. THE BEST PART OF KANSAS. The following reasons are given why the country along the Smoky Mil 1 River (in the vicinity of Ellis county) is better than that along the Arkansas River, west of Hutchinson : 1. It is more rolling and better drained. Ague is rarely, if ever, con- tracted on the prairies. 2. The valleys and uplands are not sandy, nor are there any of the great ranges of white sand-hills that are to be seen in the latter distiict, an( which by their reflection of the sun's rays damage the crops materially especially in dry seasons. Flat, sandy lands, with sandy or gravelly sub soils, cannot be productive unless under abundant rainfall. 3. Good building stone and coal are much more abundant. Settlers liv- ing many miles south, come across the country with their wagons to haul coal from the lands along the Smoky Hill River. 4. Water is everywhere abundant, and always good, both as to taste anc health fulness; almost every well is a spring, and springs on the surface are numerous. 2 -18- 5. Grasshoppers select sanely soils in which to'deposit their eggs. 6. Sandy soils are drifted by the March winds, and by this action the roots of the Winter Wheat are ground up, or exposed to the sun's rays. 7. It is a limestone region, and consequently better for grain. 8. It has a greater number of water courses. 9. It has a greater Rainfall. 10. And because the combination of the above elements make it a better country. RAINFALL AT FT. ^HAYS AND FORT LARNED, As given in the Report of State Board of Agriculture for 1874, (pages 96 and 99.) FORT HAYS. FORT LARNED. TEAR. Ellis County, Pawnee County, on Kansas Pacific Railway. on Atchison, Top. and Santa Fe Ry. 1870 17.89 inches. 23.06 inches. 1871 30.50 a 13.64 " 1872 14.90 " 7.97 1873 22.64 C( 16.84 " 1874 26.90 it 23.01 " 1876 35.90 a 18.49 " 1877 34.23 a 31.89 " Total 7 years, 182.96 inches. 134.90 inches. Average per year 26.14 a 19.27 " RAINFALL IN KANSAS (in inches) For Twelve Months, Ending October 31st, 1876. STATIONS IN KANSAS On Kansas Pacific Railway. | 1876-77. [Nov., Dec. jJan.&Feb. Winter. Manhattan. Fort Riley . McPherson Russell .... Fort Hays . STATIONS On Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Fort Lamed Kinsley Fort Dodge 3.18 1.81 2.35 2.44 5.58 .52 .00 .35 1876. Mch., Apl. May & Jun Growing Season. 19.81 13.47 24.15 9.38 19.60 7.51 9.62 12.12 July, Aug. Sep. & Oct. Ripening Season. 19.13 11.60 10.45 14.94 10.72 8.84 10.10 7.36 Total for Twelve Months. 42.42 26.88 36.95 26.76 35.90 16.87 19.72 19.73 THE EXTENT OF THE FALL. The Agricultural Department furnishes the following statement of the av- erage fall of rain in the several States below named, in the four driest months of the year, May, June, July and August, for a period of ten years, which shows favorably for Kansas: —19— Inches. ! Inches. Kansas 19.19 ! Indiana 15.50 New Jersey 17.21 Iowa 17.05 Connecticut 16.70 Missouri 15.37 New York 15.25 Nebraska 14.96 Massachusetts 16.47 I Vermont. 14.69 Pennsylvania 16, 28 Maryland 16.12 Kentucky 16.12 Maine 16.10 Minnesota 15.91 Ohio 15.75 Illinois 14.68 Rhode Island 14.45 New Hampshire 14.27 Wisconsin 14.15 Michigan 14.01 TEMPERATURE. Mean temperature of the year, 52° 76', which is only 06' below the mean of the eight preceding years. The highest temperature was 98°, on the 23d of June; the lowest temperature was 5° below zero, on February 1st and De- cember 30th, giving a yearly range of 103°. Mean temperature at 7 A. M., 470 44'; at 2 P. M., 62° 33'; at 9 P. M., 50° 76'. Mean temperature of the winter months, 32° 03' (a slight fraction above the freezing point), which is 3° 62' above the average winter temperature; of the spring, 51° 62', 1° 34' below the average; of the summer, 75° 51', 1° 26' below the average; of the autumn, 51° 87, 53' below the average.'' From the Hays City Sentinel, Sept. 26, 1876. In 1874 the mean fall of rain throughout the State was 26.72 inches. In Ellis county the fall was 27.06 inches. In 1875 the mean fall was 24.01 (this was only for ten months.) In Ellis county the fall was 26.18. This is abso- lute and indisputable proof that for the past two years the rainfall in Ellis county has been above the State average. Below we give a comparison between Ellis county and another portion of the State whose sufficiency of moisture is not questioned. Rainfall for six years, from March, 1869, to October, 1874, during the months named, at Hays and Fort Riley : Hays. Rilev. March 10.19 6.10 April 12.56 9.29 May 20.73 19.27 June 11.56 21.25 July 13.29 16.15 August 13.24 18.61 September 26.48 22.92 Total 108.04 113.59 It will be seen that at Fort Riley, one hundred and thirty-five miles west of the Missouri river, and one hundred and fifty-four miles east of Hays City, Kansas, there was in six years last past, counting seven months each year, only five and one-half inches more rain than at Hays. The fact that during that time there was in that country a large amount of culti- vated lands, and timber growing, will fairly account for this small difference. Who will now say that Ellis county is any dryer than other parts of Kansas ? During the months when rain is most needed, we have our full share. ;ellis county. Organized in 1867. Population in 1876, 4,151. Rays City, the county seat, with a population of 649, is 289 miles west of Kansas City, and is well located near the center of the county, at the point where the railroad crosses Big creek. It possesses a well-built stone school house, erected at a cost of $6,000 ; also a court house of same material, at a cost of $16,000, which are —20— the two finest public buildings in the western part of the State. All branches of trade are well represented. Fort Hays military reservation, adjoining the town is delightfully situated, and almost encircled by a belt of timber. It is confidently expected this will he made one of the most important mili- tary posts in the West. A United States Land Office is located at this place. Ellis . Near the western line of the county, and thirteen miles west of Hays City, stands at an altitude of 2,019 feet above the sea level. The rail- way company have here a round-house, machine shops, and accommodation for the shipment of cattle (employing from 75 to 100 men). It is the end of the third division of the road, and is the residence of the division superin- tendent. The company have also built here a large hotel, of magnesian limestone from the neighboring quarries. The population is about 500. There are good stores, school houses and churches. At Victoria, a station near the eastern border of the county, there is an extensive tract of fine land, the main portion of which was purchased from the railway company by Mr. George Grant, of London, England. The county is watered by the Smoky Hill river, running through the south- ern part and the Saline on the north, with Big creek, a tributary of the former, running through the center. The climate here is particularly pure and invigorating, warm days in summer, with cool, refreshing nights ; the soil is very rich and loamy, and, with good cultivation, is exceedingly prolific. Within a quarter of a mile of the town of Ellis, on the farm of Mr. Jno. H. Edwards, vegetables of every description, fruit and other trees, have been successfully grown during the past six years. Winter wheat put in, in good season, grows well and yields abundantly. Hungarian and millet have done well, while all kinds of small fruit flourish with ordinary care and attention. Pure and good water is attainable at an average depth of from ten to thirty feet, and good building stone is abundant. For stock-raising this county cannot be surpassed, the greater portion of it being covered with a luxuriant growth of rich buffalo grass. The bottom lands produce prairie grass in suf- ficient quantities for the supply of hay, while the deep ravines and numerous bluffs give good shelter from storms. For sheep farming, the peculiar for- mation of the county renders it pre-eminently adapted ; the pursuit of which must become a stable business. The dryness of the atmosphere and the na- ture of the soil form an effective preventive against rot, while the absence of burrs and thorny plants save the loss of wool, which facts combined will tend to make this section of the country the great wool market of the West. Five villages were erected in this county during 1876 by Russo-German col- onists." STOCK-RAISING. "The lands in Ellis and adjoining counties, offer the greatest facilities for stock-raising and grazing purposes. The natural advantages here presented for this branch of industry are the abundance of nutritious grasses with which the piairies and valleys. are clothed the year round ; the bountiful sup- ply of clear and wholesome water (so necessary in this pursuit) afforded by creeks and springs everywhere within reach, and, what is of incalculable value to the grazer, the temperate and agreeable climate, in which cattle are not, in summer, exposed to the injurious attacks of flies and other in- sects, so destructive, in more southern latitudes, to the prosperity of the owner. Nor have we the long winters and heavy snows of northern climes, where cattle have to be housed and fed for half the year. Here they graze the entire winter on the prairies and along the streams, seldom requiring the use even of hay. Led by instinct to seek, and traveling hundreds of miles to obtain, the richest pasture and most abundant water, the antelope and buf- falo had here their favorite feeding ground, until advancing civilization drove them Westward. During nine months of the year, large herds of buf- falo are still to be seen along the line of railway west of Ellis. Large stock- yards are established at Brookville, Ellsworth, Bunker Hill, Russell, Ellis —21— and other points, where cattle can be sold or shipped on commission. From seventy-five to one hundred per cent, per annum is a common estimate of profits on stock-raising in Central Kansas and Colorado. The increase in this business, everywhere along the line, from the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri river, has been very large. This has been greatly stimulated by the cheapness of Texas cows, that can be bought for from $6 to $10, and are crossed upon the domestic stock with much advantage and large profits. Thus the man of limited means can, in a short time, have a nice herd of cattle, and its rapid increase makes him independent in a few years . That Kansas must grow upon her cheap lands and luxuriant grasses the beef and wool that is to feed and clothe the million, admits no longer of doubt. Here capital is every year investing largely in this safe and profita- b'e business. We have ready markets East and West, and Kansas City is the largest cattle market in the United States. The mining districts of Col- orado, Montana and Nevada are dependent upon our country for their meat and supplies. The Kansas Pacific is the main thoi oughfare through this vast grazing region; and each year, in the fall, immense trains are run daily for the transportation of cattle." "Kansas City, the eastern terminus of the Kansas Pacific Railway, is the point from whence feeders throughout the Western States obtain their stock cattle, and during the season large numbers of them from Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Indiana attend the market. During the past year many new feed- ers have sought it as a source of supply." WHAT PRACTICAL FARMERS CAN DO. [From Russell Record, Dec. 28, 1876.] As an evidence of the productiveness of the soil, we give the following statements, which have been furnished to us by some of the best farmers in the county: Russell, Kansas, Sept. 22, 1876. This is to certify that I have harvested 190 bushels of wheat from 6£ acres of my land in Centre township, Russell county, Kansas. The wheat was put in the ground on the 16th of Sept., 1875. Daniel Marsh. December 15, 1876. This is to certify that I have harvested 200 bushels of spring wheat from 8 acres of my land in Paradise township, Russell county, Kansas. Sown 1st of May. J- T. Davis. December 18, 1876. This is to certify that I harvested 80 bushels of oats from 2 acres, sown April 1st; and 100 bushels of oats from 4 acres, sown about the middle of April. My oats will weigh 36 lbs. to the bushel. E. W. Durkee. [From Report of State Board of Agriculture for 1875.] Statement of W. E. Fosnot, of Ellsworth: "The first week in June I sowed a field of buckwheat on upland prairie, upon which a crop of sod-corn had been raised the year before. The crop yielded 25 bushels per acre. After harvest I sowed to fall wheat, which is . . . Lard, per lb 14 to Hams, per lb 14 to Tea, per ft) 75 to Coffee, per ft) 25 to Soap, per ft> 8 to Candles, star, per ft) Sugar, per ft) Salt, per ft> Coal Oil, per gal Harness, double 20 00 Earm Wagons i 75 00 Single-shovel Plows Double-shovel Plows j Medium two-horse Plows I 13 00 50 50 25 50 75 50 00 20 15 16 16 20 33 10 to to to Sulky Hay Rakes Horses Oxen, per yoke Coal, per ton (25 bush) "Wood, per cord. 25 00 25 00 75 00 3 00 3 50 18 161 1. 25 35 00 90 00 5 50 6 50 17 00 30 00 to 150 00 to 100 00 to 7 00 to 5 00 to to Note. — As good limestone exists in great abundance everywhere in the Smoky Hill re- gion, the price of lime will depend upon the quantity burned. We publish the above extracts, which we have selected from among hundreds of a similar character, in order to demonstrate, by the unanswerable logic of facts, that when a given quantity of land is cultivated upon a large scale, in a systematic and business-like manner, it is possible, by the aid of machinery, to make the same land net much larger profits than can be realized from land cultivated in a small way ; and that when these profits are invested as fast as made, in improvements and in cultivating more land, it will require but a few years for each member of the Company to become independent. But the net gains from the cultivation ot the farms mentioned in the above extract are confined to one single product, while stock- raising must, from the nature of the climate in the Dorthwest, always prove a business of a secondary consideration, as the stock must be housed and fed during the long tedious winters; but in the more genial climate of Western Kansas, where stock do not need to be housed, but run at large and pick their own living during those months called winter, and live and thrive without one dollar of cost other than the expense of looking after them, stock raising becomes a —25— greater source of profit than that of raising grain ; still facts will bear us out in the assertion that the raising of wheat and corn in Western Kansas is equally as profitable as in the north-west, while there are numerous other crops which prove a source of great profit in Kansas that cannot be raised at all in the north-west, such as tobacco, sweet potatoes, pea-nuts, broom corn, fruits, and many others affording equal if not greater profits. Sweet potatoes and pea- nuts, we are informed, yield in Western Kansas, on an average, three to four hundred bushels per acre, and we are assured from reliable sources that they are equally as good as corn for fattening hogs, and that a bushel of these potatoes or pea-nuts are for that purpose equal to a bushel of corn. It is a universally admitted fact among those who are informed respecting the soils of different regions, that the soils of Western Kansas are far superior in point of richness and productiveness to those of any other section of the country. Add all these natural advantages to those to be derived from the systematic colonization of a large tract of land, and we may sum up this subject thus: — A population of farmers and mechanics, placed upon the land in a large body in such a region, and employed in cultivating the soil and building the houses, will necessarily de- mand a town or towns, together with all branches of business and industries required to supply a civilized people with the necessaries and comforts of life, opening up a field for enterprise and the profita- ble investment of capital, and opportunities for young men of means, or without means, to locate, grow up with and prosper in a new com- munity, that cannot be had or found in old settled regions. Under the system adopted by this Company, a man of means with growing up or grown up children, cannot in any way better provide for them, than by taking out a membership in this Company for each one of his children, as it must prove less expensive and far more ad- vantageous than the best life insurance, for several reasons : 1st. Because he is required to pay a given sum by installments for a few years only, instead of paying until he dies, and is certain to become the owner of a farm. 2d. The money paid by him will be invested in improvements on his own land, every cent of the profits of which goes to him or his children, instead of being appropriated to enrich a few at the expense of many. 3d. For each three members of the first class, one farmer or me- chanic can be kept constantly employed the first year, cultivating the land, building and making improvements upon the same, and making profit for those who invest their money and remain at home, and the second year the profits will perhaps enable the Company to double the working force, and increase in like proportion the third and fourth year. 4th. Unlike life insurance, the members will not necessarily be obliged to die to obtain the benefits thereof. —26— 5th. Those who invest their money in this Company, invest it in land and land improvements, and if there should not come out of it one dollar of profit, other than breaking up the land, putting it under cultivation, and building the houses, for the next five years, the bare fact of placing a population of farmers and mechanics upon it, thereby of necessity calling into existence a town or towns, and with it a de- mand for railroads, the rise in value of the land itself will make the certificate of every member of the Company worth several times the cost of it. For example, each member of the first class will be the practical owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land ; suppose that land in four years will reach a marketable value of ten dollars per acre, (a very moderate price) each Certificate of membership of the first class would be worth just $3,200. 6th. And as the money paid by each member will go at once into land and land improvements {if properly and judiciously invested,) it will be fixed in a kind of property that cannot be lost; it will need no insurance; thieves cannot steal it; fire cannot burn it; the torrent may inundate and war may devastate, but they cannot destroy it, and, except by the folly of the members themselves, nothing in civilized society, at least where law is omnipotent and supreme, short of the divine hand of the Creator through an earthquake, can deprive each member of his land. One of the fundamental objects of this Company is to induce those persons who are able to become members in the first class, paying dues and assessments in the regular order, or one member of the first class paying the whole amount of his dues and assessments in advance, to join the Company, for the simple reason that for the first year it will require that sum of money to enable the Company to send out and keep employed one member of the second or third classes. By this means a large number of working men may be employed by the Com- pany in cultivating the soil, building houses, etc.; and every working man who desires to acquire a home, if he is a sober, steady, industrious and respectable citizen, can find at least three friends whom he can induce to become members for the sake of aiding him to secure a farm, through which he may be able to obtain the means to support his family and educate his children. The profits to be realized by this Company, will be gathered from the hidden riches of the soil, and by a union of capital invested by honest men, with industry and skilled labor, upon just and equitable terms, the exhaustless resources of nature, will be made to unfold her bounteous wealth, and from a population of impoverished and un- happy working men and women, we shall endeavor to raise up a community of hard-working, industrious and virtuous people, sur rounded with the comforts of life, and blessed with peace and plenty. In presenting to the public this new system, we shall not be sur- prised if at the threshold of our enterprise we are met with all man ner of evil imputations, and that we should be obliged to encounter the opposition of selfish men, who in most cases from the spontaneous impulses of their own bad hearts, are ever ready with the meanest in- —27— sinuations, and accusing others in advance of whom they know no evil, of the vilest motives, to this class we. have nothing to say, for out of their own mouths they condemn themselves. But there are still other, and good and valid reasons, why men should look with suspicion upon any scheme presented to them for their consideration, by which capital and labor are to operate together, for it is not strange that a wronged and suffering people should look upon all associations of capital with labor, as heartless and supremely selfish, when they behold the starvation wages, forced poverty, ill health and death of the helpless victims of soulless corporations/ whose unjust profits, wrung from misery, are the offspring Of cruel and inhuman laws; and ,in view of the fact that there exists, and always has existed, an order of men, a kind of pseudo "patricians," seeking to subsist upon legal privilege, and who, by artfully devised schemes under the cover of law, gotten up in modern times, by financial gamblers, for the pur- pose of enabling a class of legal shylocks, through deceitful and dis- guised processes, to levy taxes Tor private profit upon the business public and the confiding and unsuspecting producers of wealth, laying communities under tribute, and without just equivalent, imposing ob- ligations upon them they cannot meet, and burdens they cannot bear, until, as a moral protest ; against the outraged rights of the producing people, the industries of the country have been crushed, forcing the business public into hopeless bankruptcy, and the nation itself into anarchy and blood. With these facts before them, it is no wonder that confidence in the integrity of the ruling classes is lost, since the people have been so repeatedly betrayed by pretended friends, into the hands of their enemies, until they are led to exclaim, like Washington, upon learn- ing of the treachery of Arnold, "who can we trust now?" Thus the public mind being in a condition of suspicion and distrust, in order to insure the success of a popular movement of this kind, it becomes necessary to secure public confidence, to this end we would refer the people to any banking house in the country, through whom they may be able to obtain reliable information respecting the char- acter and standing of the officers and directors of this ' ompany, there- fore we invite impartial and honest investigation, that facts may speak for themselves. The well to do citizens of York, and most other places in Pennsyl- vania and the Northern States, from the warm impulses of their own generous hearts, contribute annually thousands of dollars to a fund called "charity," to prevent the indigent poor from absolutely freez- ing and starving to death, an eminently commendable virtue But, gentlemen, did it ever occur to you that so great an evil does not exist without a great fundamental cause, and that after all your noble ef- forts, the means applied are but temporary reliefs, and that much of this money at least might have been invested in such a way as to enable many of these helpless people to help themselves, so that in- stead of being an unmitigated burden upon you pecuniarily, say noth- ing of the vice and immorality always sooner or later sure to follow —28— extreme destitution, you would help these people to become self-sup- porting and independent. Here then gentlemen is an opportunity offered, by availing yourselves of which you will be able to unload some at least of your burden, not by contributing your money to be used up in affording transcient help, and for all purposes of usefulness thereafter forever lost, but by placing your money where you can aid these people, not only to acquire self-supporting homes, and that too without the loss of a dollar, on your part, but on the other hand, by making such a disposition of your means, you will, if you desire, be able to appropriate the profits arising therefrom, so as to continue this great work, the noblest of charities, indefinitely, and therefore we call upon you to examine carefully the. By-laws and Articles of Co-opera . tion of this Company, and if you approve them, and believe the cause to be a just and worthy one, unite your efforts with ours, and assist us to bring about this happv consummation. There is much more that might be said upon this subject, but at present we neither have the time or space to do so. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LAND LOCATING COMMITTEE. The committee sent out by the Company, were instructed to ex- plore the lands of the south-west, west of the Mississippi, and to select lands possessing the following advantages : 1st. A healthy climate free from malaria. 2d. A well watered region, affording ample and continuous water power. 3d. A section free from excessive summer drouths. 4th. Prairie land, with a soil adapted to raising wheat, corn, to- bacco, stock, &o. 5 th. A region where timber can be obtained at cheap rates for building and manufacturing. 6th. Easy and cheap access to markets. The Land Selecting Committee were instructed that, in case all these advantages could be found in any one section, except the first, that they should not locate land in such a region, because health above all things, is the first to be considered. REPORT OF THE LAND SELECTING COMMITTEE OF THE SOUTHWESTERN AGRICULTCRAL AND MIGRATION COMPANY, OF YORK, PENNA. York, Pa., March 25, 1878. To the Board of Directors and Members : H Gentlemen — In accordance with your instructions your Land Se- lecting Committee visited the States of Texas, Arkansas and Kansas, and examined carefully the lands, soil, climate, natural advantages and disadvantages, products, etc., of those States ; and, after a thor- ough and impartial investigation, they have decided that the State of Kansas is best adapted to the necessities and tastes of our people. We have therefore contracted for twenty thousand acres of land, of —29— the Kansas Pacific Railway Company, in Ellis and Rush counties, Kansas. The land is situated about eleven miles south of Ellis, on the Kansas Pacific Railway, the northern boundary beginning about two miles north of the Smoky Hill River, and extending south, including the river, to the end of the railroad grant, a distance of about nine miles; its western boundary is the boundary line of Ellis county, and its eastern boundary is now being located by our acting civil engineer, Mr. Thomas S. Moorehead, assisted by the Agent of the Railway Company. The Smoky Hill River enters the land upon the western boundary, and runs in an eastern and southeastern direction a distance of eight or nine miles, to the limits of the eastern boundary. This river is a living stream, supplied by numberless springs ; the water is very clear, and most excellent for drinking. The fall along this river, and the volume of water, is sufficient to make very exten- sive water power, at distances of at least one or two miles apart. The site we have selected for Wadsworth City is, to the minds of your Committee, a beautiful location, and, besides possessing many na- tural advantages, to those who have an eye for the beautiful is one of the most grand and picturesque spots that could be desired. The ele- vation along the river bank is from ten to twenty feet above the bed, rising gradually (towards the south) to the Smoky Hills, a distance, in the broadest place, of about a mile and a half, forming a gently inclined plane, and extending about three miles along the bank of the river. On the southern boundary of the city site rises what is called the Smoky Hills, consisting of bluffs from fifty to two hundred feet above the river bed, divided by numerous ravines, running in all directions, but finding their outlet to the river. These hills and ravines are, gen- erally speaking, not fit for general cultivation, the soil being thin and light, but will make excellent grazing or pasture grounds for stock. ( They are not included in our purchase.) Upon the northern bank of the river, opposite the city site, are clusters of broad, high bluffs, divided by deep ravines. Upon this bank, in a central part of the city site, is located a slate bluff, rising perpendicularly above the river bed to a height of about fifty feet, and extending along the river bank four or five hundred feet. This bluff is composed of a solid strata of slate, from ten to twelve feet high above the river bed, and upon either side of this bluff are ravines, which extend a mile or more to the north. Along these ravines are a number of small lakes, con- taining very clear and excellent drinking water. These lakes are supplied from living springs, and bear evidence of having been made by beavers, as we found one dam freshly made, and covered with the tracks of animals; also at the head of these lakes we found the holes- of the beavers, and traps set by trappers. By making dams at the mouth of the ravines these lakes may be made into two large ones r useful for fish culture, summer bathing, and in winter to furnish a \ \ \ —30— supply of ice. If the slate in the bluff is of such quality as to be easily split into roofing slate, it will prove a great source of conve nience and profit to the colony. A very peculiar kind of magnesia limestone exists under the surface of the land in Western Kansas, and limestone quarries are found al- most everywhere under the bluffs. This stone is pure white, also dark straw color. Can be sawed, planed and cut with common wood working tools, as easily as soft wood, and yet, when used in build- ings, is as durable as the hardest granite. The men employed by the Company may, at times when there will be no farm work to be done, be set at work quarrying and putting these stone into shape for build- ing purposes, to be used by the Company, sold to its members or to others. In other words, the manufactui'e of this stone into building material may be made a great source of profit, as it cau be sawed and planed by machinery, and turned and carved into all sorts of orna- ments for buildings, and for other purposes ; besides, it makes most excellent lime, and with the discovery of coal in the vicinity of our city site, the existence of which we have abundance of evidence, it will prove a vei*y useful product, not only for building, but for farm- ing. Coal has quite recently been found, and is now being mined, on land near the railroad, about four miles east of Ellis, and as it is found all along the Smokey Hills east of Ellis county, it is quite likely it will also be found upon the lands of this Company. The soil of these lands is from two to six feet deep, seldom less than two, usually with a clay sub-soil, and is composed of a rich black mucky loam. The land in Ellis and Rush counties is rolling prairie, with here and there ranges of hills and ravines. It is believed that the mineral wealth of Ellis and the adjoining counties is very extensive, and when a population of industrious and enterprising farmers, me- chanics and miners (such as this Colony is composed of,) settle in there, this region will become a rich and prosperous country. This part of Kansas is one of the most healthy sections in the United States, the altitude being twenty-five hundred feet above the level of the sea. The air is necessarily pure, and highly charged with oxygen, an essential element in the treatment of consumption, catarrh etc. The nature of this country is such that malarial diseases are almost impossible, as there is no standing or dead water anywhere ; all the streams being supplied by living springs. There is not a swamp or marsh to be found in this part of Kansas. In many of the bluffs is found a kind of cement of a very hard and adhesive character, analogous to water lime, and it is said when ground up, may be used for the same purposes. The crops raised in this region are, for merchantable purposes, wheat, broom corn, tobacco, etc. But wheat is the crop to be relied on chiefly for profit ; this produce yielding from twenty-five to forty bushels per acre. The price of wheat in Western Kansas is from —31 — seventy- five cents to one dollar per bushel. The quality of wheat raised in Kansas is equal to any raised in any part of the United States. Corn yields from seventy-five to one hundred bushels per acre, and sells at this time at from twenty to thirty cents per bushel. Corn is raised in Kansas chiefly for fattening stock, by which means farmers are enabled to realize from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel. Vegetables of every kind are raised in great abundance in all parts of Kansas. Fruit trees thrive and grow readily, and in the older settle- ments very fine peaches, pears, apples, plums, grapes, etc., are raised in large quantities. Water melons grow almost spontaneous, and equal in size -and quality to the best productions of New Jersey or Maryland. There is very little timber in Western Kansas, but good building lumber can be shipped to Ellis or Hays City and sold at twenty to twenty-five dollars per thousand feet. The price of coal at Hays or Ellis, shipped from the East is, at this time, about seven dollars per ton. Coal from the mines in the Smoky Hills, in the adjoining counties, can be had at from $2.50 to $4.00 per ton. Texas cattle can be bought at Ellis, at about nine dollars per head, and the numerous grazing fields west of Ellis is the great stock fatten- ing region of the United States. One hundred bushels of corn cost- ing say twenty dollars, is suflicient to fatten five steers, which will sell at Ellis for from thirty to forty dollars per head, netting at least, one hundred per cent. Your Committee having to the best of their ability carried out your instructions, we are, gentlemen, Very respectfully your obedient servants, H. S. GEORGE, M. D., Chairman of the Committee. The By-laws and Articles of Co-operation are published in a book of forty-one pages, and will be sold at fifteen cents each, sent by mail to any address, upon receipt of fifteen cents, in currency or postage stamps. As this is a mutual Association, all expenses for printing must be borne by the members : hence, it is but just that the public who desire information respecting this company, should pay their share at least of such expense. 016 094 345 2 • -32— WHY JOIN THE SOUTH-WESTERN AGRICULTURAL AND MIGRATION COLONY AND GO TO ITS LANDS IN ELLIS AND RUSH COUNTIES, KANSAS ? Because you have the very finest and every variety of land to select from — River Bottom, Undulating Valley and Rolling Prairie. Because the fertility of the soil cant be beaten. Where else can be found a soil of such rich, dark loam, varying from three to fifteen feet in depth? Because the purity of the climate is unsurpassed — long Summers, short Winters, and genial skies. Because it has the finest Limestone lands in America. Because, in proof of this, the unprecedented < Tops proclaim Kansas to be the Banner Wheat and Com State of the Union. Because Springs of purest water are to be found in every section. Because of its abundant Water Power for manufacturing purposes. Because, for Stock Raising and Wool Growing, the nutritious character of its wide grassy ranges has been proved invaluable. Because all its lands are within an easy distance of the Great Iron Thoroughfare of the West. Because Towns will rapidly spring up with all their attendant advantages. - Because where this Colony locates, the moral and religious welfare of its members will be duly cared for. LAST BUT NOT LEAST. Because the terms of this Colony are such, that by paying small sums at short intervals, men of limited means can easily procure SELF-SUPPORTING HOMES. Because in no other way can so small an amount of money be in- vested with such large returns. AH letters requiring answers must contain a three cent postage stamp. For further particulars, as to joining this Colony, &c, apply to H. S. GEORGE, M. D., PRESIDENT, YOUK, PA. N LIBRARY OF CONGRESS