The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-04-01
BILL NYE IN KANSAS.
Report of the Meeting of Chief Wide
out and Coronado.
The advantages and Attractions Of the
Chief Cities in the State.

AOOuC Cnre6 hunQreQ and fifty years
ago Coronado pitched his tent in Kansas.
Prior to that it is believed that the foot
OF a White man had not been the author
OF any footprints to speak of within her
borders. The early reddish Indian had,
up to that date, been the sole proprietor
OF that country.
Coronado found a fat and friendly set
OF Indians, quite a number of whom he
married, IN a cursory manner, after which
he went away from the place. He formed
the acquaintance at that time of old Wide
out, chief Of the Cowbiters, a very war
like and reVengeful race. Wideout weigh
ed, 1t is estimated, 400 pounds, though
not very tall, say five feet four inches in
height. So WE may classify him as the
widest red American, aside from Noah
Webster, Of whom history informs us.
Coronado, however, was not in search
OF Indians or a homestead, or ever rest
and change of scene, but he was looking
for gold at the time, being a cold, grasping
native such as Aourished during the luxu-
rlous Castilian days or under the New
Orleans dynasty.
Not finding any gold in the region of
Wichita, and townlots being far beyond
his reach, he retraced his steps. He lived,
however, to regret that he did not secure
property there and hold it for a rise.
For some years the Wichita Indians
and the Osages occupied the most desir-
able portions of Sedgwick county, and the
buffalo with the foreshortened narrative
walked the main streets Of Wichita I'M
scared.
The first white man to settle in the
county was John Ross. He was followed
by his hired man, both being buried in
the same grave at the earnest solicitations
of the Indians.
In 1868 Hon. James R. Mead estab-
llshed a trading post on the site Of Wich-
tia and began killing the buffalo in order
to clear off sufficient ground to start the
new board of trade building. In three
weeks Mr.. Mead killed $50 buffalo, and
saved 300 peIts in addition to his own.
He also saved $500 pounds of tallow,
which served to lubricate his boots all
that winter.
William Mathewson, who, it is claimed,
is the original Buffalo Bill of the frontier,
then settled here. His wife was the first
white woman to come to Wichita. The
first official act of the county commission
erS was to issue a license for a new saloon.
In 1870 D. S. Munger kept a hotel, was
postmaster, carried the mail in his hat, and
found time to do a general real estate bust
ness, watch repairing, lunch at all hours,
saws set and filed, and also to furnish in
surance and bulk oysters to n and all.
Now it requires thirteen letter carriers to
spread the mail.
In 1872 The Wichita Eagle broke its
shell, and with a shrill scream bought a
new hand press and began the opinion
molding business. The editor now occu-
pies a luxuriant Office, with rich tapestries
torn from the treasures Of European
princes. He Tolls back on a Turkish divan
in a beautiful suit Of pajamas, while sill
ent eunuchs from the east do his bidding.
On the walls are seen costly paintings of
Socrates, Plumb and other prominent
Kansas men. A group picture consisting
of Messrs. Ingalls, and Demosthenes hangs
above the etruscan fireplace. Costly
works are seen on every hand, and in
rich bindings, side by side, are the poems
Of Homer and Thomas Brewer Peacock.
There also may be found the published
speeches of Cicero, the Thomas Ochiltree
Of his time. Large etruscan tear jugs
| containing Wichita chartreuse ornament
the sideboard and natural punches of seed
| corn decorate the bust of a man whose
name I did not learn.
And yet on this very spot, only a few
wears go, it seems, the rank buffalo nod
ded in the wind and the early pioneer
mother was kept busy pulling the arrows
out Of her loved ones
l. it not remarkable? Here where
now wealth and refinement just fairly
| 81 oooL o4l,, 80, A., c+rDo+C a., Il oohlo
cars run clear out into the large farms,
and hired men dig potatoes beneath the
glare Of electric lights, only a short time
ago the early buckwheater, with his life
in one hand and his scalp in the other,
| fled before the irritable red man
Like hare before the beagle.
Most all the windows of the town were
| also shot cut as a mark of d~isrespect.
Finally a cowboy was secured red handed,
who had been in the prOof-reading and
punctuating business, and the people
made a cold and disagreeable example of
him.
Wichita is the largest city in Kansa,,
but does not care to have anything said
| about it. Electric street cars run clear
away out to the slaughter house and into
the forest primeval, so that sportsmen
frequently go by street car into the haunts
of the pheasant and the bear. 1t is not
uncommon to see an eastern capitalist re-
turning at night after a good days sport,
with a dozen grouse and two good sized
building lots.
Kansas is said to be the most remark
able grain growing State. Her soil is
rich and black, her people full Of hope
and good victuals. Corn is low at the
present time, but there is enough for food
and fuel for the winter, the crop being
unusually large. The man who said that
by the light of his burning corn the Kan
sas farmer was enabled to read the mort
gage on his farm was a pessimist with a
tendency toward uxoricide. Out of the
labor and anguish Of war, drouth and pes
thence in Kansas was born a beautiful
State, and within her borders dwell a
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