Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-06-02
EPITOME

NdllOQO.
This History is written by request OF
the Board of County Commissioners OF
Trego county, to be deposited IN the cor
ner stone of the court house which is now
in process of construction.
Outside of the territory now known as
Trego county having been a small part
of the Great American Desert OF Olney,
Mitchell and other geographers OF their
times, little which transpired here before
the establishment of the Smoky Hill
route in the southern part of the county,
in about 1857, from the East to Denver is
known. The establishment of this route
was the legitimate outgrowth of the de-
sire to connect conceptional great West
with an already developed Great East.
The gold fever of Pixies Peak and the
rich regions of the Pacific united to press
along this route hosts of people intent on
lettering their fortunes. To witness the
large wagon trains which passed over
this route would surprise most Of the peo-
Die who now reside in Trego county.
Fort Downer was established in about
1853, in order that the Smoky Hill route
through this county could be protected
from Indian attacks, and that, inciden-
tally, stage drivers and other border
characters might be supplied with "fre
water" Fort Downer was located on
Downer creek, about twelve miles south
west of the present site of Wa-Keeney,
and near where Mr.. Lew Halsey now
lives. Here occurred in 1866 an attack
by the Indians upon the garrison sta
toned in the fort. The Indians besieged
the place in overwhelming numbers. The
garrison, consisting chiefly of govern
ment and Holiday stage employees, fought
well. They were cut off from their water
supply. In this position, they held out
for two or three days. The besiegers f.
nally won signal victory by massacre
ing all the besieged with the exception
of one man, who made his escape A sue
cinct history of life along that route is
unobtainable, but sufficient is known to
warrant the statement that, within what
is now Trego county, wagon trains and
human lives were destroyed by Indians
with such frequency as not to be subjects
of surprise.
In 1867 work was commenced on the
Kansas Pacific railway in this county. A
large gang of graders and track-layers
were employed. The track was laid as
far as Coyote (now Collyer) in December,
when work was suspended for the winter.
That being the terminus for few
months, quite a town sprang up there,
numbering perhaps five hundred inhab-
itants 1t was the starting point for daily
stages to Denver, and vast quantities of
freight were shipped in prairie schooners
to the mining towns in Colorado and New
Mexico. But this town of Coyote was
composed of only frail shanties, and a
day or two sufficed to move every build
ing on the completion of the railroad to
Monument. The Indians then were nu-
merous and hostile, and every one had to
be on the alert. Quite a number lost
their lives in this county by the hands of
the savages. An immense quantity of
OF wood was cut for fuel for the use of
the railroad in this county for the first
few years after the railroad was built, and
the valleys were almost or quite denuded.
There was at old Ogallah three miles
east of the present site of Wa-Keeney,) for
q year or two after the completion of the
railroad to Sheridan, an eating house,
or, more properly, large car by the side
of the track, where trains stopped for
meals. With the wood-sawyers, team
sters, the eating house and guard of SOL
diers, Ogallah presented an industrial ap-
pearance. While the road was building,
Captain King, United States army,
threw up extensive Notifications at Ogal-
lab, which is popularity known as Parks
Fort. There was siding some six miles
west of Ogallah which was called Parks
Fort. This was moved to what is now
known as Trego Tank, one-half mile west
of Wa-Keeney.
The Oldest settler in the county to-day
is Ben. Richards, of Collyer, who reached
there on February 2, 1870.
]. G. Henry was the first to obtain
patent for quarter section of land. ].
G. Henry was also the first to build a
substantial residence in the county. This,
he built at Trego Tank in 1875.
The first white child born in what is
now Trego county was that of Fred and
Mary Best, near Ellis, September d,
1874
The first marriage in the county, which
appears of record, was that of George W.
Houseman and Anna NJ. Caldwell, which
occurred September 19, 1879. They now
reside in Ogallah township.
Up to about 1874 the bone trade and