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IN A MORE HOPEFUL VEIN

Mr. Peattie's Sixth Drouth Letter Tells of an Oasis in the Desert.

A Part of the County Where There Was Plenty Water and Where Things Are Better.

Just a Little Flash of Light in the Gloom Which Hovers Over the Starving Sand Hills Country.

(The World-Herald's special envoy into the drouth country, Mr. Robert B Peattie,
writes more hopefully today, he having apparently struck an oasis in the desert
This is Mr. Peattie's sixth letter A better idea of the actual situation which exists in the land of poverty cannot be obtained than that given by a perusal of his previous correspondence)

Chappel, Deuel Couty, Neb, Dec 19—For the first time in my wanderings I have come upon a county where the destitution is not general This county is not generally stricken, although but few crops were raised, none at all on the table lands. The valley along the Platte river, where irrigation is being practiced to some extent, raised some corn, a little wheat and a small quantity of alfalfa Here and there small patches of potatoes and other vegetables were grown where
wind-mill pumps were utilized, and on these articles the farmers will subsist
during the winter months. Seed will have to be generally distributed in the spring The farmers out here are better able to stand the present pinching circumstances than some people, for the very good reason that they have never known much better times.

Of course there are a good many who have applied for aid of the county commissioners, and there are others who have solicited clothes and food in the towns along the Union Pacific. These have all been accommodated. The county is in fair financial condition. Its warrants sell at 95 and it has some funds available for the relief of the distressed. Were it not for having reduced the valuation 25 per cent the county would be in better shape to cope with the present emergency.

Up on the river, about half way between the north and south lines of the county, there is a good deal of land where considerable hay is raised. This is bringing $10. The farming community up there has built a few ditches and irrigated a small portion of the lands. Wind-mill irrigation is likewise practiced to some extent both there and in the valley of Lodge Pole creek not far from this town. Wherever the means is at hand the farmers have pretty generally taken up the work of putting a certain portion of their lands under water, and have succeeded in keeping the wolf from the door---if he is not too large. Some of these men have rigged up pumps of their own make, built reservoirs of several thousand barrels capacity and are filling these preparatory for next year's work.

PLENTY WATER

Here at Chappell an inexhaustible supply of water is reached at from ten to twenty feet below the surface and in many instances two pumps fall to reduce the level. Along Lodge Pole creek the farmers successfully irrigate by means of pumps, dams and resevoir

IN A MORE HOPEFUL VEIN

Mr. Peattie's Sixth Drouth Letter Tells of an Oasis in the Desert.

A Part of the County Where There Was Plenty Water and Where Things Are Better.

Just a Little Flash of Light in the Gloom Which Hovers Over the Starving Sand Hills Country.

(The World-Herald's special envoy into the drouth country, Mr. Robert B Peattie,
writes more hopefully today, he having apparently struck an oasis in the desert
This is Mr. Peattie's sixth letter A better idea of the actual situation which exists in the land of poverty cannot be obtained than that given by a perusal of his previous correspondence)

Chappel, Deuel Couty, Neb, Dec 19—For the first time in my wanderings I have come upon a county where the destitution is not general This county is not generally stricken, although but few crops were raised, none at all on the table lands. The valley along the Platte river, where irrigation is being practiced to some extent, raised some corn, a little wheat and a small quantity of alfalfa Here and there small patches of potatoes and other vegetables were grown where
wind-mill pumps were utilized, and on these articles the farmers will subsist
during the winter months. Seed will have to be generally distributed in the spring The farmers out here are better able to stand the present pinching circumstances than some people, for the very good reason that they have never known much better times.

Of course there are a good many who have applied for aid of the county commissioners,