The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-03-27
Which is About Twenty Miles Away
but i. isn't the one Sheridan
lmmottaliZed.
But Which is One Of the Most Thriv.
ing Towns in Jefferson County,
on the Narrow Gauge
Road,
Road.
A Good Grain Shipping Point Its
Profpects-Jefferson Coun.
ty-The Winchester
Academy.
An Interesting Little "Reminiscences
Of the Border Troubles
The Battle al Hickory
Point.

Point.
Correspondence OF THE TINEs
WINCHESTER, Ks, March 20.-The little
city OF Winchester is one of the most thirty
ing and substantial of all the towns upon
/ the line of the Kansas Central Railway,
and while perhaps it canrnt be said that it
has, like m any of the pre-eat busting burgs
OF the State, sprung into * sterce in a sin
gle night from the open prairie AMI grown
like the city Of Aladdin, still its growth,
while comparatively slow, hes every ele-
nent Of perm anency, solid and substantial,
combining every requisite for an enduring
and prosperous community. Winchester
quite shipping point for grain, more es-
Pecially wheat, and during the past year
hundreds of car loads Of that cereal found
their way from here to the metropolis and
TO the grain markets Of the farther East.
Surrounded BY a country fertile in IT, re
sources snd wealthy in its abundance of
bearing, il
| IT CANNOT HELP But GROW,
and every year gees step OF advancement
onward and upward. The present popuIa-
ton of the town is about seven hundred. TO
which additions are being made, almost
daily, and while it is true that the eastern
COUNTIES Of the State are not the recipients
OF even fair share of their proportion OF
the immense and overwhelming tide OF iu,-
migration now pouring into Kansas, still
Jefferson county il more favored than some
OF the others and lis population Is steadily
upon the increase. The county Of Jefferson
is one OF the most fertile in the State; well
walered and timber-d, it po-sss-es adyan-
tsges of which counties further westward
cSnno; boast; It's production
| STARTLING AT SOME SEASONS,
more especially SO when compared with the |
yield Of the average counties in the Eastern |
States, is sufficient TO satisfy even the most |
exacting Of husbandmen, who regard Kan |
sas a. the Utopia of the earth; It's school |
| facilities are the very best-in fact Jeff.r- |
son county is pre- eminently one Of the |
| foremost counties of the State, and can show |
a record which will stand by the ride of |
any other. Wheat is the staple cereal, al |
though up to the past three years corn was
king From Win hester alone during the |
past year thousands of bushels of the for
mer have been shipped, while from Okla
loosa, Perryvilie and Valley Falls, the
latter the principal town in the county, the
shipments have been very great The ave
rage corn yield.i forty bushels to the acre,
which is simply good average crop,
while
EIGHTY AND ONE HUNDRED BUSHELS
are no, at al! uncommon, and an event
| happening sufficiently often to prevent ii
being matter Of much surprise. The
| shipments OF corn from the county, particH-
| larry from Winchester, have not been very |
large, compared to that of wheat, as the |
gre tter part of that raised has been con-
sumed at home. Flax oats and rye are |
extensively raised, and shipments of these |
| are heavy. Winchester is a good shipping |
point, and hundreds of carload. of grain |
| find their way from here eastward every |
year.
WINCHESTER Is SITUATED
upon a bridge, so to speak, and upon irs |
| slopes. ali but imperceptible, was grown |
some OF the finest crops in the county. The |
immediate surrounding country is traversed |
| by small streams, which saves irrigating |
and watering channels, those flowing to the |
northwest help TO form Crooked Creek, |
| which taking a northeasterly direction |
! fl ,ws into Stranger Creek near Rapp's |
mills, in Leavenworth county; while those |
| taking the opposite or sou,heasterly direc- |
ton form Walnut Creek, which also emp |
| ties into Stranger Creek, near the bridge on |
the O-kaloOsa and Leavenworth road. This |
is a. pretty country as the sun shines up |
on, and If the fact could be known to at |
least portion OF those immi grants who |
| swarm by thousands to the extremes OF the |
State, they would hardly regret that they |
fore went their first intention of going to the |
far west to grow up with the country out |
| there-provid.d they come to Jefferson |
county instead. Jefferson county offers |
every inducement to the immi grant-fertile |
coil, a good class of population, thrifty and |
saving, the class which does more TO build |
up a community than any other, and good |
railroad facilities. with the best markets
for farm products within few miles. The
present population OF the county is about
1000.
An INTERESTING REMISIsCENCE.
The settlement OF Jefferson county i.
nearly if not quite identical with that OF
its sister county, Leavenworth, and "a a
natural consequence il had its share of the
border trouble, the result of the conflict be-
tween the pro-slavery advocater and the
free state men for the supremacy. While
of course the amount of blood drawn was
not so great az in other parts of the State,
still the feeling ran high between the con
tending parties and many q 10y al, liberty
loving advocate OF freedom fell before the
whitening and deadly fire OF the ambushed
scion OF that noble class which considered
the en-lsvement of the black the true free
dom tor the prescribed race. But it wasn't
a one sided affair by any means, and life
WAS usually for life and the score, when
correctly taken, will come out about even
The only encounter OF any consequence,
however, which included any considerable
number OF men upon either side, took place
at Hickory Point, two miles and half
we-; of Winchester, in the summer OF 1856
There were probablyisomeforty or sixty up n
each side, and while the casualties included
but one pro--lavery man wounded and no
body killed, the firing during the day was
pretty brisk and the smount OF brushwood
and timber cut BY bullets is beyond estima-
| ton. The South Carolinians were en-
trenched in blacksmith shop, and the free
state men who had come even from
Lawrence, having been informed of the
whereabouts of the Csrolinians, attacked
them in the forenoon, the battle lasting the
greater portion of the day The Lawrence
company was known az The Stubs" At
night the battle WA declared a draw, and
friend and foe, drawn together BY a mutu
aliiy OF thirst joined hands and made an
assault upon some barrels of whisky stored
there. the cons. qnence being that the two
opposing armies we're soon in that happy
state when wsrs and hard feelings are for
gotten and all apimcsties allsy.d. In the
meantime, however. during the progress Of
he fight, the Southerners had sent word to
Lecompton that they had been assaiied by
. the Free State men, and force Of United
States troops were sent out to their aid
and to put stop to further proceedings
The next morning early, before the effects
; Of the spree had we'll worn of, the Free
/, Skaters were called up 10 make the return
msrch TO Lawrence, but on the way, feel
! ing very naturally, tired and epervated by
the effects of both the battle and the en-
counter with the tapglefoot, they rested at
NewelPs saw mill. now O-kaloosa, and for
getting all discipline rolled in among the
saw logs and went in2loriously to sleep.
1t wac thus that the troops found them,
J and with no care for the tired and aching
homes of the battle SCARED victims Of the
/ fight OF the dsy before, marched them ig-
E nominiouslv before them TO Lecompton,
|, where they were promptly iugged-proba-
r bly, Tor disturbance Of the pesce. This il
an accurate account of the famous battle of
Hickory Point, which owing tosome strange
1 misunderstanding on the part Of historians,