Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-12-16

the way In which some one has des-
cribed Kansas. This description would |
very nearly have told all there was to |
tell about Kansas in the spring of 1867, |
the year of the great "carpet-bag'' emil |
grafton. The emigrant from the East !
could come by rail to Jefferson City, |
Missouri, at that time the most extreme |
western limit of the Union Pacific rail-
road, from that point by steam boat up
the Big Muddy to Kansas City, or
Leayenworth, the two principal points
where would-be Jayhawkers landed,
There was no public conveyance from
either of these points to the interior,
and unless he was lucky enough to own
a team or strike some one that did his
only resource was to foot it from Kansas
City to the historic city of Lawrence,
some forty miles. There were only two
or three white settlers cabins on the
entire road. From Leavenworth to
Lawrence, about thirty-hve miles, was
the Delaware Indian reserve. From
Lawrence west to Big Springs there was
but one house on the road or in sight of
the road, and this is fair sample of the
way that eastern Kansas was settled.
Council Grove was the outpost of civili-
and it was no unusual thing to find
small herds of buffalo within twenty
miles of the town. The emigrants of
1857 were mostly young men who came
to get homes. Most of them had little
money, generally enough to pre-empt a
quarter section of land, a few were
about broken when Kansas was reached,
but they could get a piece of land just
the same. There were few moneyed
men ready to furnish the money for one
half of the quarter. The fall of 1857
found Thousands of cabins where six
months prior there was only open prai-
rie, Along the timber streams the log
cabin was the popular heuse, if there
was a floor it was made of puncheons,
often the ground was the floor. There
was very little broken ground any where
except in the neighborhood of the In
dian Mission Schools, but thousands of
acres were broken up during the spring
and summer, and planted to corn. The
machine used fo1 planting was the ak;
every fourth furroW was the row; a cut
with the ak and three or four kernels
were dropped in, stamp with the foot
and that was all until gathering time.
It was the writer's privilege to come
with the ''carpet-baggers," and to locate
in Shawnee county near the little town
of Auburn, at that time near the center
of the county. The northern boundary
of Shawnee was the Kaw river, the
southern boundary few miles south of
Burlingame, The towns of the county
were Topeka, Tecumseh, Dayton,
Auburn and Burlingame. The county
conventions were held in Auburn and
most of the county business was trans
acted there. Her future seemed bright
but in an evil day, for Auburn, Topeka
and Burlingame fused. They divided
the county making county seats of both
Topeka and Burlingame. Dayton was
town some ten miles southeast of Topeka.
The location was beautiful, but for
months there was not single house in
sight of the city and it never got beyond
the stakes that marked it's lots and
streets and parks. About everything
was done with cattle. There were no
horse teams to speak of, four to six yoke
of cattle would run a twenty or twenty
four inch breaking pillow. When we
run out of groceries it meant trip of
six DAYS to Leavenworth or Kansas
City with oxen. Corn bread and bacon
was the standby for grub. Oxen hauled
the people to church and Sunday
School, drew them to their social gather
ings, dances, parties and picnics, and
when there was funeral oxen drew the
corpse and the mourners. Times were
hard during those early days but there
was very little grumbling. The early
settler meant business. He had come
to stay and grow up with the country.
It was the time when the Southern
STAKEHOLDER was trying by force to make
Kansas home for his slaves, Liberty
loving men were they, representing
every northern state in the Union, and
although they are nearly all gone across
the river, they left their impress on
Kansas. When the civil war broke out
they went. nearly to a man, and the
kind of men they were is proved by the
fact that more of them were killed in
proportion to Numbers than any other
state in the Union. After the civil war
came the soldier emigration and not
withstanding the prophecy that "three
or four years in the army ruined man"
they are among our best citizens.
Thirty-six years ago 1857, and now,
1898, then isolated houses, few and far
between, in the eastern part of Kansas,
only little patch of ground enclosed
here and there of a few acres with
pitch pole fence, the full two-thirds of
western Kansas was bowling wilder
ness, no settlement of any kind, the
home of the buffolo where large herds
could be seen extending as far as the
eve could reach in all directions, the
prairie dog, the rattlesnake and the owl
lived in apparent harmony undisturbed
by the white man.
The Indians were often hostile and
always treacherous, and many an early
settler on the Arkansas, the Solomon,
the Smoky, the Saline or the little Blue
paid for his daring and courage with his
fife. Water was scarce and springs few
and far between. Now the buffalo is a
thing of the past, the hostile Indian is
farming and his children are going to
school. Where the prairie dog laid out
his town and built his houses now stand
popular cities. Where the only sounds |
that broke the air were the warwhoop |
of Indians, the coarse believing of the
buffalo, the mournful howl of the grey
wolf or the sharp buzz of rattle snake,
YOU can hear to-day the lowing of cattle,
the bleating of sheep and the church |
and school bells. Where the dry land