The Topeka state journal., 1897-05-15
/ EARLY DAYS IN BUTLER co.
[Bent Murdock in the El Dorado Daily
ReDublican1

Most Of the bottom farms in the north
half of this county were settled upon
/ the county belonged to the Usage IN
! dians. That was thirty-eight years
ago. Each settler had some sort of a
cabin, a little patch of ground broken
and fenced, some cattle and but very
few hogs or chickens. In 1860 came
the only real drouth this state ever
had. Kansas was a territory; times
were awful hard, both east and west;
/ the government was paying u per cent
interest for money, there were no rail-
roads within 200 miles of FL Dorado
and no markets anywhere for any
thing.
Not a drop Of rain fell for eleven
! months. There was but little corn or
wheat in the cOuntry-in fact there
was not an ear of corn grown in all
southern Kansas that year. The prairie
/ dry, cattle could get but little to eat,
! there was nothing to feed the COWS
/ and pigs and the abominatiOn of desc
/ latiOn confronted the men and women
who had come here to find homes They
had nothing to sell, no money with
which to buy anything to eat or wear,
While the nearest mill was on the Cot
tonwood, 90 miles away. The work
horses and oxen were racks of bones
and scarcely able to drag themselves
about, let alone haul a loaded wagon.
A good many people pulled out, but
the most of them remained to stout it
out. They couldn't get away. Then
came the tug of war. There were no
cribs of corn, no bins of wheat remain
ing over from the preceding year, for
no crops of any kind had been raised.
To the south the Indians, to the west
buffalOes and-the desert The Lord
was in his holy temple that fall and
he drove fat buffaloes close up to the
settlements, and we joined the crowd
that went out in October on the Little
and Big Arkansaw to kill our winters
meat.
Rnt winter came and with it tre-
mendOus snow storm.
The east heard of our distress and
their hearts were touched. a line OF
railWay-the Hannibal x St JOe-WaS
completed to AtchisOn, and by Christ
mas hundreds of tons of food, clothing
and grain began to arrive at that town
Committees were appointed and the
strongest men and stOutest TENS We're
sent over the prairieS, 200 miles, IN the
dead of winter, to haul the food TO the
hungry settlers, The roads We're lined
with teams Men, half fed and half
clothed, had to camp out going and
coming; there was but little hay and
no grain for stock anywhere on the
road We made two trips that winter,
and know all about it, and when we
hear able bodied men talking of hard
times now we excuse them They
simply don't know what hard times
are.
Arriving at Atchison the wagons
were speedily loaded with flour, corn,
wheat, seed oats, a little bacon, a bag
of beans. dried apples and the ike; ana
our readers can imagine how happy
these people felt after getting loaded
with these things; and they can, no
doubt, appreciate how one felt going
into camp on the return trip. There
was bacon, flour cakes and dried APP
pies Imagine how man, who had
been living on corn bread, sorghum
molasses and pumpkin for three
months, would feel sitting down IN the
Jack oak woods of Atchison county to
a square meal of bacon and flour Hap-
Jacks; and imagine, If you can. now
the iaded horses felt when a quart or
two of Illinois shelled corn was given
them. There are a number of men in
this county who made that long trip
through snow and ice, who no dOupt
wonder where they got the t0futuoe 70
stand it. We heard a Butler county
woman say, last week, that for nearly
month she had nothing in the mouse
to eat but buffalo meat and corn bread,
and when the weather got awful cold
they all went to bed to keep warm,
her husband having gone to Atchlson
Coffee, tea and sugar were not
thought of. except when company
came; potatoes, vegetables and canned
fruits We're not to be had; buckskln
pantaloons. coonskin caps and buttalo
coats We're not uncommon, While In
dian mOccaSins were very often worn
in place of Shoes and when the aid"
began to come the grain sacks We're
made up into wamuses and trousers 1or
the boys, the flour sacks being utilized
for undertaking for the women and
children All these donations were
shipped to IS. Q. POmerOy, AtchisOn,
Kansas and it was no unusual thing
to see a boy going to school in grain
bag pantalOOnS with ). &. POmerOy
stamped across the seat, while upon the
clothes lines petticOats tapped in the
breeze stamped with big red or green
letters: Xxx Family Flour"
With the spring of 1861 came bOunti-
full rains, early gardens, sunshine and
the war. The young men Joined the
army. With the war came market
at the government forts for horses and
cattle. From that time on the pioneers
began to see light ahead, although this
county did not gain in population and
become fairly prosperous till about
1869.
In the winter of 186O-61 D. L. NIcCabe
went to Topeka as a representative
from this county, wearing a cOOnskin
cap and a buffalo coat, and was about
as well dressed as the others.
And here we are today with railways,
markets schools, churches, the best of
food and clothing and everything else
to make the comfortable feel happy;
and yet we meet great stout, able
bodied men every day who damn the
government and its laws, deplore the
condition of the people, complain of
hard times and roar about low prices
and poverty. Able bodied men, big.
stout men, who ought to be ashamed
of themselves. There are dozens of
men who Will read TINS arIlcIe VINO
were glad at one time to work for so
cents a day and take their pay in flour
or bacon and who wore linsey- -woOlsey
shirts, pepper-and-salt pantaloons and
cow-hide boots, who didn't blame the
government for hard times. They were
glad that they were alive and were
willing to work to make times better.
There are men on our streets daily
who would complain should they be
given an upholstered mahogany seat
in Paradise We sometimes think there
ollght to be a limit to this calamity
vail: and there would be if these wall
ers could be brought square up against
the conditions that existed at the first
settlement of this state, some forty