Barber County Kansas
|
Barber County Kansas |
|
Among the valuable properties in Barber county and adjacent to Medicine Lodge, is the ranch or stock farm of Houchin & Palmer embracing 3,000 acres of deed land, all enclosed by a three barbed wire fence stapled to black locust posts, procured in Arkansas for this especial purpose. Eight hundred acres of this land is fenced in the same manner, in separate fields and under a high state of cultivation.The property, considered as a total, is watered by three streams of running water and numberless soft water springs that never run dry. It has 160 acres of natural meadow land producing the finest quality of hay, 200 acres of it is natural alfalfa soil, with water sufficiently near the surface to produce a crop independent of the employment of artificial means.
There are three sets of farm buildings, meaning a dwelling house and the ordinary out buildings of a farm, all of a substantial and durable character, located about one mile apart. These dwellings are leased by the tenants for two-thirds of the crops grown from the lands they cultivate. Each of these farms is separate from the main ranch, has an orchard, bearing the fruits common to the country, and all the environments that tend to make inviting and pleasant homes. There are also upon or contiguous to this property, three school houses where regular terms are taught for the benefit and convenience of the different neighborhoods.
As many as 850 head of cattle have been held on this ranch at one time, but perhaps an estimate of its capacity would be to say that for the year through, winter and summer, it will sustain in good condition about 500 head.
They keep none but the best grade of she stock, using pedigreed Durham males for breeding purposes.
At the present time, Mr. Palmer is contemplating a visit to England, of which he is a native, coming to American twenty years ago. He has sold his interest in the cattle, 500 head, to Mr. Houchin, and leased his half of the landed estate to G.W. Shaw & Co., Mr. Houchin being the company.
What will eventuate upon Mr. Palmer's return from the old country we cannot foretell, but as the standing of the herd is to be improved the coming season by the introduction of new blood, Mr. Houchin being now in Topeka where he goes to purchase males, we venture the prediction that when Mr. Palmer does return, he will bring with him animals from across the waters that will make your eyes snap, and improvements made in the ranch itself that will outrank anything we have yet known in Barber county, perhaps in Kansas. This is given out as an inference, however, though it can be relied upon as fact.
Messrs. Houchin and Palmer are up to date business men. Not venturesome plungers, but level headed and far seeing men who have been uniformly successful in their undertakings.
Their homes in Medicine Lodge are models of neatness that indicate the abodes of intelligence and comfort.
Their standing as men and citizens will not be questioned anywhere. May their days be long in the land, and prosperity wait upon their footsteps.
Thanks to Ellen (Knowles) Bisson for finding, transcribing and contributing the above Medicine Lodge Cresset article to this web site!
It is one of a series of articles published together on 2 March 1900 under the title of Barber County Profiles: Men Who Have Taken a Prominent Part in Developing the Stock Industry in Barber County.
|
|
|