Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1901 — Our Idie Lands. [ARTICLE]

Our Idie Lands.

The recent opening of the Kiowa reservation in Oklahoma is currently spoken of as "the last chance for free homes.” Uncle Sam has by no means so completely divided his property as that phrase would imply. The transMississippi congress, just held at Cripple Creek, Colo., opportunely calls attention to the fact that in the western states alone there are fully 100,000,000 acres still open to honCostead entry. In 1890 the average size of the American farms was 137 acres, they had then shown an average decrease since 1850 of nearly two acres a year, their average size now is probably about 125 acres. At this rate the western homestead lands afford room for 800,000 more farms. It is true that much of these lands is not arable. On the other hand, much of them is certainly better suited for farming and stock raising than the Kiowa reservation.—N. Y. Sun.