Our Ranch

The soil was rich and not so heavy but that we could easily dig ditches from the river into our cornfields, for you must know that in this land to which we had come very little rain falls, and if one would cultivate the ground, he must find some means of keeping it well moistened.

If we settled along this river, we could plant many acres and keep them watered at no other expense than that of ditch digging.. There was not one of the company who was not hopeful that we had arrived at our journey's end, and when we came to a place where the land sloped gently away from the river bank, and the leading team came to a stop, there was no need of any discussion. Before anything had been done except to turn the cattle loose to feed upon the lush grass, we busied ourselves with staking out claims.

From this time on, until we had a fair acreage plowed and corn planted, there was no rest for any of us during the hours of daylight; meanwhile we lived in the wagons as we had done during the journey from Lawrence. Once the planting was over, Mr. Middleton lost no time in building a house for himself. He took pride in doing so, for, as he said to me, it was his belief that our settlement would grow into a town of considerable size, perhaps big enough to be called a city, and he wanted to get the credit of having erected the first building.