Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-06-17
MAKING A NEW TOWN
GROWTH or SHAWNEE, A LusTY IN
FAINT OF THREE MONTHS.
FOUNDED When the Shawnee Country In
the Indian Territory Was Thrown Open
To settiement-The First Settlers Were
Hustiers,-some Queer Characters.

y
to settIement--The First Settlers Were
HustiersD-some Queer Characters.
Down Mt the apex OF the Klckapoo obun.
try I'm the Indian Territory, IL tho town OF
Shawnee, which has lately taken unto IT,
self the ambitious appcllation Of "city"
IL was founded when tho Shawnee country
was opened, from which IL took It's name.
Lately it has assumed very ambitious air
and proposes to DO the metropolis of the
Kickapoo country when tho latter has be-
come covered with thrifty farms. It ant
Choctaw will DO the railroad points for
that country.
The Shawnee OF today Is three months
old and Is the "old town" moved north
two streets. 1t WAS at first situated on
parts OF two claims and consisted Of a long
wide street with well In the center, and
one end OF the street hated and despised
the other end. Along the street were scat
tered at intervals unpaintcd wooden build
ings, and all around were the stumps OF
trees. The largest building In tho town
was the millinery store'-in n town
where tho women wore sunbonnets In sum
mer and knitted hoods In winter The
next largest building was tho hotel-a
hideous structure unfinished everywhere.
Up stairs the windows were without glass,
and In its place thin checsecloth was tackled
In the sashes, giving the rooms dim re-
ligious light All the rooms were unlathed,
and the rafters In all their naked and splin-
terry uglincss glared at tho unfortunate
guests.
The hotel was kept by man from Ken
tucky feet inches tall, his wife feet
tall, three grown daughters as tall as their
mother girl 15 years old who was taller
than her mother and weighed over 200
pounds and was nevertheless graceful,
and a boy who was so young and big and
fat that no had been offered handsome
salary to exhibit himself. The girls were
all exceedingly handsome In face and fig
ure, as was their mother also.
One evening, two years ago, two weary
travellers drove up TO the hotel from a long
drive across the Kickapoo country. They
were hungry and grimy and had mental
visions of II good supper and plenty of soap
and water. When they asked for supper,
the host got down long shotgun from the
rafters and walked silently out OF the
house. A half hour later he returned with
some squirrels and a rabbit, and half an
hour after that supper was served. To be
sure, there was no milk for the tea and no
butter for the soda biscuits, but the girls
grouped themselves picturesquely around
the table to wait on the travellers, and the
younger man neglected his supper, to the
profit Of his more practical and older com
panion, who ate the young mans squirrel.
There were grocery store, a saloon and
two bakeries, whereby hangs tale. That
was old Shawnee, thriftless as backwoods
town In Georgia. hopeless except for the
then very uncertain coming OF the "Choc-
taw road and the opening Of the Kicka-
poo country. The town was full Of "wait-
ers, who starved along contentedly, pay
ing no rent and living of the scanty flnan.
cial droppings Of chance travellers.
But all this has changed. Ono day the
Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf railroad de-
cided to make Shawnee apoint on its line,
thereby leaving Tecumseh. which used to
laugh at and pity Shawnee, out in the
cold. The road secured 800 acres of land
near the old town, and the old town was
doomed. A new era had set in. Shawnee
had turned over a new leaf. All who
would consent to move over were given
lots, and in week old Shawnee was no
more, and new Shawnee began to boom.
The railway surveyors came through, and
then the graders, and passing by the town
now is huge embankment Of the red
earth Of the country. This was Shawnee s
infancy. 1t Is now three months old and
fine child for it's age.
Shawnee Is q typical new town, such as
are born of booms and unusual happen
ings. Wide streets have been cleared by
axes and scrapers. All over their surface
crop up the roots Of trees which trip horses
and pedestrians. Down the street on both
sides arc brand new buildings, many un-
painted and some, more ambitious, cover
cd with q priming coat Of paint, plenty
for the prevailing weather. On every hand
Is the sound of hammers and saws; every
one Is putting up building in town and
sleeping in q tent or covered wagon on
the outskirts There are four hotels and
another with n mansard roof going up.
A dozen saloons seem necessary to the
town, some Of them very ambitious and
one of them very humorous The humor-
Gus one has u sign In all the primary colors
depicting the antics OF two clowns In tho
letters spelling the word saloon" The
most ambitious house in town Is saloon
with polished hard wood fixtures and mir
rors and red curtains on the up stairs win
dows.
There are two banks, two newspapers,
One VuTlcty lnchtcr, 90 DuSlHesS nOuScS anu
two bakeries. Two years ago. when the
town numbered less tban 800 people, there
were two bakeries. One Of them was In u
tent and was conducted by u widow, the
other in little wooden shack. They are
now In new Shawnee, housed In good
wooden buildings. The widows bakery is
in neat cottage with an annex. These
bakeries have hated one another for two
years without abatement. Two years ago
they cut prices on one another, and each
claimed to make the best and biggest loaf
for nickel. Even then they got out hand
bills sncering Mt one another's bread and
tackled them to the trees. Today they are
getting out frequent handbills calling at
tention to the size Of their loavcs and 9th
erwise insulting their "loathsomc contcm-
po-ary."
The people of Shawnee aro n bustling,
hustling lot They hustle about all day,
whether they have anything to do or not,
just to keep In touch with the times. Ask
n A