ST. LOUIS, THE METROPOLIS OF MISSOURI AND THE WEST.

Population 1896, 600,000.

St. Louis, which is in point of population 5th among American cities, rivals the cities of even the old world in its miles of beautiful boulevards, its palatial residences, its thousands of comfortable homes and its commercial and manufacturing importance. No city in America can compare with St. Louis in point of street railway transportation facilities; an elaborate system of transfers exists between the different companies and by payment of a single 5c fare one may ride over a great portion of the city's 300 miles of street railways. With the exception of a few companies using the cable system, the street railways are operated by electricity, and the coaches used are of the latest palace car model.

The Park system of St. Louis is justly celebrated and no botanical garden in the world surpasses Shaw's garden in the southwestern portion of the city. Tower Grove park adjoining Shaw's garden, which presents examples of the landscape gardener's highest skill, also possesses a number of groups of statuary carved by artists of world wide fame. In this park and in the other large parks of the city the people congregate by the thousands on summer evenings and Sunday afternoons to enjoy the beauties of nature and hear the music of the public bands.

The climate of St. Louis has been most unjustly aspersed by rival cities; it is not true that it experiences great extremes of either heat or cold and the death rate is less than that of any large city in the Union.

St. Louis is the distributing point, not only of the Mississippi valley, but of the great West and Southwest, and even of the extreme Northwest. The commercial travelers representing St. Louis' wholesale firms traverse the Pacific states as well as the Mississippi valley states, and sales amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars are made by St. Louis firms to buyers in as distant points as California, Oregon and Washington. The trade with Mexico is growing by leaps and bounds, and St. Louis can already claim to be mistress of American trade with our sister Republic of the South.

MANUFACTURES-But four American cities surpass St. Louis in number and extent of their manufactures; as a distributor of shoes St. Louis is surpassed by only one other city; it ranks third as a dis

ST. LOUIS, METROPOLIS OF THE WEST.

141

tributor of dry-goods, clothing and groceries. No other city in the world has as large a hardware house or drug house or woodenware house or tobacco factories or lead works or brick yards or stove and range factories as has St. Louis. No other city in the Union has as large a brewery or shoe factory or street car factory as St. Louis.

POPULATION-St. Louis is a cosmopolitan city; originally founded by the French, it still retains some decidedly French characteristics, but there has been so large an infusion of Germans, Southerners, Westerners and New Englanders that it is impossible to designate St. Louis by any other term than cosmopolitan; whether from France or Germany or from the New England states, the Southern states or the West, the stranger in St. Louis will feel at home.

The public school system is unsurpassed, and its universities and colleges of law hold high rank among the institutions of the country. As a railway center St. Louis is pre-eminent; its magnificent Union station building is known over the world as the largest and most elaborate structure ever erected.

St. Louis is half way between the source and the mouth of the Mississippi river, and the fleet of steamers that float on the Father of Waters carries the city's commerce from the distant lakes of the North to the Gulf of Mexico.

St. Louis had in 1895 $4,112,000 invested in the bagging industry, producing an output of $1,517,577; $2,080,000 was invested in car works with a return of $2,725,723; the breweries, with a capital of $14,629,000, report an output of $10,065,342; the tobacco manufactures, with $5,465,392 invested, give a showing of $13,371,626; the iron foundries, with a capital of $3,441,478, report an output of $4,148,295; with $2,006,000 invested in the manufacture of clothing, a report of $4,885,907 is made of the selling value of the goods.

KANSAS CITY.

Population, 150,000.

Although Kansas City's present population is estimated at only 150,000, the city is so intimately connected by elevated railways, electric lines and cable systems with Wyandotte, Kansas City, Kansas, Independence and other adjacent cities, that for all practical purposes the business interests of Kansas City may be said to represent a city of nearly if not quite a quarter of a million inhabitants.

Situated at the junction of the Kaw and Missouri rivers, it owes part of its commercial importance to steamboat transportation; but its reputation as the great distributing point of the West, Southwest and Northwest depends mainly upon its unrivaled railway facilities; some twenty railroads radiate from Kansas City carring the commerce of that progressive place to the millions of inhabitants within a radius of from 800 to 1000 miles.

The city owns its water works and the competition existing between two private gas companies has resulted in giving the citizens an unlimited supply of gas at the low rate of one dollar per thousand feet.

A splendid system of cable, electric and elevated railways affords cheap and rapid transportation, not only to all parts of the city but to a number of delightful parks and suburban resorts located in various parts of Jackson county.

The brick and asphaltum paved streets are lighted by both gas and electricity. The stockyards and slaughter houses of Kansas City furnish employment to a small army of men and a market for the cattle and hogs of the farmers of several states. A number of flour mills, breweries, furniture factories, planing mills, brick factories and iron foundries add to the city's manufacturing importance. Sixteen banks represent a capital of more than $6,000,000, carrying deposits averaging $20,000,000. The magnificent public schools, office buildings, hotels and handsome residences all combine to give Kansas City a metropolitan air.

As the condition of the farmers in the central west becomes more prosperous, the importance of Kansas City will increase as a manufacturing and distributing center; its business now stands upon a firm basis and many profitable opportunities are constantly offered for the safe and permanent investment of capital.

OTHER CITIES.

In addition to the two large cities just mentioned, Missouri pos sesses a number of other smaller cities, such as St. Joseph, Springfield and Hannibal, which are already possessed of considerable wealth, refinement and business manufacturing importance. Lack of space prevents further details concerning these cities here; brief mention will be made of them and of a number of other cities in those pages wherein are described the different counties of Missouri.

ADAIR COUNTY.

Population, 18,530.

One hundred and eighty miles northwest of St. Louis. Three railroads, Wabash, Santa Fe, and Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City, afford ample market facilities.

SOIL-Prairie, with black vegetable loam, timber land along the water courses with clay soil and some little bottom land with sandy soil. All three kinds of soil very fertile. Rich coal strata. Seven mines operated. Fine clay, limestone and sandstone in abundance.

WATER-Chariton with its tributary to Blackbird river, Salt river and Bear creek flow from north to south through the county amidst farms and pastures. Living springs and wells and cisterns furnish pure drinking water.

ROADS are in fair condition; they are graded and kept up by a road tax of 10 cents on $100 valuation.

TIMBER-Pine, oak, walnut, hickory, maple and elm cover the hillsides along the streams. A handsome amount is annually marketed in shape of cooperage, cross-ties and hardwood lumber.

FUEL-Coal, home mined, of very good quality sells for $2.25 a ton. Cord wood at $2.50.

COST OF LAND-Good farm land sells as low as $20 to $25 an acre. Timber land from $10 to $15.

FARM LABOR-Good hands receive from $20 to $25 a month and

board.

PRINCIPAL CROP-Corn takes the first place on the list of commodities. It matures in about 120 days and yields 35 bushels to an Less than 10 per cent of the crop is marketed. Next comes oats and timothy. Enormous quantities are shipped to St. Louis and

acre.

Chicago. Apples are largely grown, also some small fruit. Poultry and eggs, also butter, are raised for the market. Tobacco is grown for home consumption; little is shipped. As a cattle and hog raising county, Adair county is among the leading in Northeast Missouri. In 1894 the county shipped the following surplus products:

American, refined, educated and very hospitable. Some 15 houses of worship, a great number of public and private schools; all kinds of fraternal organizations make it a desirable location for those that are seeking a comfortable home.

GENERAL ADVANTAGES-Cheap land, productive soil remarkably adapted for fruit growing. Stock raising on an extensive scale is still very profitable. The county seat is

KIRKSVILLE—On Wabash and Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City railroads; 205 miles northwest of St. Louis, with 6000 inhabitants. Streets are macadamized, sidewalks of granitoid and brick. The city is well lighted by electricity, has water works and telephone system and second-class postoffice. A number of factories make Kirksville the industrial center of Northeast Missouri. Three banks have a capital invested of $110,000 and deposits exceeding $200,000. Kirksville is an educational and religious center, with 10 churches of all denominations. Six schools-two public schools, a conservatory of music and languages, American School of Osteopathy and the First District State Normal. It is also the home of the A. T. Still Infirmary. Kirksville invites capitalists, investors and homeseekers to examine the advantages it has to offer. It wants a strictly