The Leavenworth weekly times., 1879-05-22
EllIs COUNTY.
An Interesting Letter From our
Regular Correspondent.
Hays ard ilis.-the Live Towns
of the County.
A Glance at Things as They Used
to be,
The Development of the Country.
The Cattle Trade, the Mil s'y
Post, the Land Office, Etc.

| NV W s'S y
The Cattle Trade, the Mil asy
Post, the Land Office, Etc.
Correspondence Times.I
HAYS CITY, May l3.-The early histor.
of this thriving and energetic little City j
probably as well known to the majority O
the people of the State as the history OF tn
county in which they themselves live, a
for many years it was the great center o
attraction during the prevalence OF lndis'
hostilities in this section, and for Ion.
time the cattle market OF the West. One o
Clusters most noted battlefelds is in tn,
immediate vicinity, and many of the citi
zens here have recol.eciions of that long
haired, valorous chieftsin, who was the
terror OF the red man, and who never felt
the impulse
USUALLY KNOWN AS FEAR.
Custer made his headquarters at Fort
Hays, short distance from here, and it
was from this point that he made more
than one bloody devastating raid against
the aborigine. Hays was wild place in
the early times, and recital Of the deeds
Of blood committed here during the preva-
lence Of what is not inappropristely called
the reign OF terror, are sufficient TO csuse
wonderment that such things should have
been permitted in a country which makes
the pretensions to such
Az ADVANCED STATE OF CIVILIZATION
as the United States. But things are all
changed now, and there is Lot more quiet,
peaceabe or law-abiding town in the
country than Hays City; the Sunday law
is rigidly enforced, and the places which
were formerly the scenes Of the widest
revels are as silent as the boot-hill grave
yard where sleep the braves who died with
their boots on in defense of their honor or
the attempted satisfaction of some old
grudge. This was Wild Bills old stamp.
ing ground, too, and here it was he shot
Jack Strawhorne and also several others
upon whom he got the "drol;" this is the
town in which the boys of
THE OLD SEVENTH CAVALRY
used to have their fun and frolic, tor the
lads of the regiment didn't like towns with
too many churches, and at tha. time Hays
didn', have any there, also, is the mos, densely
populated "boot-hilP graveyard IN the
lie ha Of
or more human beings who died quick be-
cause the other man happened to pull his
trigger first. Formerly Hays was the par
adiss OF the gambler and the woman OF
easy virtue the woman of the town was in
her element and the fierce ard untamed
cowboy at home; the great majority of the
houses in the town were saloons, houses OF
III shape and gambling dens;
VIRTUE WAS AT DISCOUNT
n Hays then and Justice was a, blind as
Dat. Hays bore hard name then, truly, |
md it is nothing more than the truth TO |
'sy that she deserved it, but as the tide OF
civilized emigration swept westward the
Wild ard wayward barbarism which had |
ormeriy been rampant gave way before it
and what Hays was then isn't what Hsys is |
low. Hays is more quiet and orderly to-
lay than Is Leayenworth, for
HUMAN LIFE Is SAFE
lere, and it isn't in the metropolis. |
The Sunday law is rigidly enforced here
md it isn't in the chiei city of the State;
here is law and order here and-well,
here il more than one town in the State
many years older than this former wicked
little city where there isn't half as much
wild Hays might have been she
s as demure as country maiden at sweet
seventeen now, and whatever faults she
nay have had in the past are eradicated.
When Hays was young this part of the
was in chaotic state aud hover
ng, as it were, between
CIVILIZATION AND BARBARIsM;
he conflict between the two was not a shor.
1ne by any means, but barbarism had to
pick up and move further westward then
:ame the intelligent immigrant and the
'hrewd business man, with their schools
and churches and put 8 change of face
upon things in general. At the present
lime Hays is growing rapidly and has ad-
led three or four hundred 10 her popula-
ion during the present year, so that at the
present time she has
FULLY TWELVE HUNDRED PEOPLE
within her corporate limits, and adding TO
hat number all the time. She is building
Ip rapidly, too, more especially in the
matter OF residences, although there are
some fine business houses now in progress
IF erection. Many elegant business blocks
nave been put up within the past year, any
Dne OF which would grace any street in the
larger cities of the Missouri Valley, while
some of the residences already built and in
course Of erection would be a
GRACE AND AN ORNAMENT
10 apy city. 1t was not until late years
that Hays began TO paw very much atten-
lion to her architectural appearance, but
now quite rivalry has sprung up between
those who are putting up buildings, the
consequence of which is that Hays is much
the gamer thereby, as contrast between
what she is now aad what she was FIVE
years ago will testify. Business is az good
in Hays as in any other town in the State,
aud what is better it il increasing steadily |
all the time. The county is getting its fair |
share OF the immerse immigration now /
pouring in, and large bodies of land are
beirg taken up every week, as the books at
the land office here bear testimony. The |
town has fine graded school aud an ele- |
CANT building, one Of the finest in this psrt |
of the State; the county court house is also |
a very fine structure and worthy of any of |
our counties; there are one or two very neat |
church buildings, with another fine ore in
course Of erection. Hays has always been |
quite shipping poin. for cattle, and dur
ing the past few years has been rapidly |
rising into prominence as q grain market
as the county is filling up very fast and
every year the acreage Of grain is increased.
This place is one OF the best business points
upon the line of the Kansas Pacific road,
aud the amount of freight received here
during the course Of a year, if reduced 10
figures, would be matter of astonishment.
ELLIS COUNTY.
Although Ellis county includes some of
the very finest and most productive land in
the entire State of Kansas, the county did
not begin to develop, agriculturslly, for
some time after the first settlements, and
not until both Hays and Ellsworth had be-
come good sized towns The towns Of the
county have always been ahead OF the
country but this can very easily be accounted
for as they did not depend for their support
upon the surrounding farming community,
but upon the cattle trade, which at one
time was titanic in its proportions. The
county now, however, is settling up very
fast by the very best class of immigrants,
who are rapidly developing her resources
and tilling the coil, 90 that at the present
rate of progress Ellis will soon rank az one
of the great grain counties of the State.