The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-04-17

at great expense by driving pole into
the river bank. Soon afterward Audi
bon visited the place, and with prophetic
eye foretold the great future in store
for st. Joseph. 1t is the first instance
on record where the prophetic eye has
been utilized in that way.
Robideaux laid out a townsite here
and then called together the old hunters
and trappers to name the little town.
Mr.. Robideaux had provided a large
barrel Of something to shatter across
the bow Of the newly christened craft.
Each trapper suggested name, but
each name seemed to be distasteful to
Joe, till Charlie Stewart, the "Old Zip
Coon" of history, suggested. with his
eye on the keg, that it be called st. Jo-
seph in honor of Mr. Robideaux.
KNOCK her head in" said Joe, and
the barrel was busted quicker than a
New York Sunday law.
General good feeling prevailed, fol-
lowed by remorse and Apollinaris water.
The streets were named while the gen.
eral good feeling was in the act of pre-
vailing. They were named for the sons
and daughters of whom Joseph had re-
peatedly found himself the parent.
Amt them were Messanie, Angel
iqu -lvanie, Charles, Edmund. Felix,
Francis, julie, Fareon, Michel, Rosine,
Antoine, Louis, Fouline, Auguste, Isa-
belle, Iodine, Fouberg, Robideaux, Al
fonse and Poisson. The streets were
the first to give out, for Joseph still had
his culver full OF names.
Robideaux built a big brick store,
which was known far and wide as the
great building of the western country.
1t is now a modest sausage factory ia
nous for its manufacture of the tooth
some black-and-tan sausage of Missouri.
Joseph has long since passed on to that
eternal hunting ground where the coon
skin cap is entirely superhuous. His
portrait now hangs in the board of trade
auditorium of the prosperous city.
St. Joe in 1860 became the starting
point of the famous pony express, a dar-
ing enterprise, which no one tut an
American would have deemed possible.
There was Wall street scheme at that
time for obtaining a subsidy of ten mil
lions of dollars from the government for
carrying the mails overland from New
York to San Francisco for year. VIII
liam H. Russell, backed by Secretary of
War Floyd, thought the scheme was
not warranted in the interests Of econ
omy. He also offered to bet 5000, 900,
that being all he had with him at the
time, that ne could put on mail line
that would cover the $50 miles between
st. Joe and San Francisco in ten days.
The Wall street boys took the bet, and
the big go-as-you-please race against
time began. Mr. Russell bought 300 of
the toughest and feetest ponies he could
find, and hired 125 men who could ride
on horseback without painful regrets on
the following day. The relays We're
made at ten TO twenty miles apart. Each
rider had to cover sixty miles, and al
low himself two minutes to skip from
one horse to the other with his saddle
bags of mail.
April 6, 1860, the pony express started.
A gun fired on the steamer Sacramento,
in the bay at San Francisco, was the
signal. Billy Baker, mounted on the
restless little hornet Border Rufian,
made little cloud Of dust. and. as the
echo of the big gun died away, swift as
the telegram raising the salary of the
operators along the line, he sped toward
the Sierras.
All went well. The first rider made
twenty miles in forty-nine minutes.
Everything ran smoothly, notwithstand
ing the Indians and the deserts, till the
courier reached the Platte. 1t was
case of Damon and Pythias. so far as
high water went. and the t-eacherous
river was more than bank full Of icy
water rushing over It's uneasy bed Of
ouicksand. lie only thought Of his en-
ployers, however, and plunged IN. The
steed sent down like q shot and was
never more seen, but the brave rider.
with his bag. bat,led with the roaring,
icy torrent till he stepped, painting and
dripping. on the muddy shore, and with
chattering teeth and staggering gait
started for the station ten miles away.
Sixty miles out from St. Joe, Johnny
Fry awaited the arrival of the courier
till it seemed 10 him If was too lSte to
possibly make it When he got his
packet he had four hours TO make I'D.
1t looked impossible. At St. Joseph
thousands Vert, gathered o. the hlQEs