emption claims for the purpose of general cultivation. The attempts 
at agriculture which have been made here during the past two or three 
years have been attended with considerable success, possibty owing to 
favorable seasons, but the most sanguine expectations are entertained 
by the settlers. 
The scene of greatest activity has been along the line of the Atchi- 
son, Topeka and Santa F6 Eailroad. From Dodge City westward to 
La Junta new towns are springing up as if by magic, and the surround- 
ing country is being rapidly settled. Cimarron, Belfast, Pierceville, 
Garden City, Hartland, Syracuse, Cooledge, and Lamar are some of 
these new points of settlement. Several new and extensive irrigating 
canals, drawn from the Arkansas Eiver, have been carried through por- 
tions of the country, which will enable much land to be brought under 
irrigation. The bottom lands and second bottoms are flat and well 
adapted to irrigation. The high lands have a rich soil, supporting a 
good body of gramma and buffalo grass. On the Kansas Pacific Eail- 
road there is also considerable activity in the way of settlement. Sor- 
rento, Kit Carson, and Coronada are booming towns on this road in 
Eastern Colorado and Colona, Collyer, Grinnell, Sheridan, and Wallace 
on the same road in Western Kansas. The railroad through this sec- 
tion runs mostly on the divide or highest and least watered part of the 
country. Wallace County seems to be particularly wanting in large 
streams. Some of the first branches of the Smoky Hill Eiver have 
their rise in it, but the supply both of water and trees is small. There 
has been little improvement or settlement in the county until recently. 
The village of Wallace is built on the Government reservation of Fort 
Wallace, which reservation is 2 miles wide by 7 miles long. The build- 
ings of the old military post are about 2 miles from the village. They 
are mostly in a state of dilapidation, but a portion are substantially 
built of stone and are well preserved. 
A large and substantial dam which was built across the small stream 
and utilized chiefly for an ice-pond still remains in a damaged condition, 
and with some repairs could be employed for irrigation. The village 
is on the high upland, and is supplied with water mainly from wells of 
different depth. On the highest levels water is usually reached at about 
150 feet. One-half the land lying along the railroad is owned by the 
compauy, and is not yet offered for sale, and settlers have generally 
gone beyond the railroad limits. The few attempts which have been 
made at cultivation without irrigation have been principally for the pur- 
pose of obtaining forage crops of corn and millet, and have been so 
successful that trials are now being made of wheat and othei farm crops. 
At this village and in the vicinity the grasses are gramma and buffalo, 
in variable proportions, the buffalo predominating on the highest levels, 
but the gramma taking the lead elsewhere. The ground is well covered 
and affords excellent pasturage, and is quite capable of affording sum- 
mer pasturage for stock at the -ate of 10 acres to the head. 
