The Topeka state journal., 1899-04-20
NAMING OF KANSAS TOWNS


The investigating man with imagina-
tive tendencies had been leaning over a
railroad map of Kansas. HIS halr was
mussed where he had tumbled it about,
his pipe working hard meanwhile. HIS
eyes, behind the thick glasses of his
spectacles, looked vaguely toward the
man opposite, but not at him.
Il saw by the papers," he said,
"where the Kansas legislature disor-
ganized the townsite of Bird City. Now,
in the old boom days 1 used to hear a
good deal about Bird City. 1t was
kind of Aqua Pura, puffed till you
couldn't trade a farm in Illinois for a
corner lot there. 1 see by the map that
the town is still printed in black type,
and yet the other day the townsite was
disorganized that it might be used as
grazing land. But more than this struck
me when I saw the name. What was
it could have suggested such title
to the founders? Was it really birds?
They are mighty scare out in that coun-
try, except sage hens, with leather
flesh. Or was the founder named Bird?
Perhaps he thought his idea of starting
a town out on the edge OF deSOlatlOn
there was a bird. "
But the other man did not 1augh-it
was against his principles. 1t was his
rule to discourage the one with the in
tractable fancy. He had been sitting at
a desk opposite him for a year, and was
bored.
From Bird City I got to running
over the map, and I've got a good time
making stories to fit the names of the
towns, or trying to guess what their
christeners meant. Now there's Mirage,
in Rawlins county, that might mean
good deal, or only a little. 1t may be
that the folks that settled there had
seen a mirage, or perhaps the phenom-
enon was quite common thing in that
part of the state. But l like to think
that it's origin was more romantic. L
can see a lot of those who went out to
that country, perhaps in wagons, had
been drawn there by the boom tales.
ia nd
ton of their delusion came to them and
they named the place where they took
off their hats Mirage.
There's a lot O. names that tell of
the wonderful picturesque language OF
the backwoodsmen, the freighters and
cattlemen that knew the state before
the farmers came. There's Burnwood;
that's not far from Mirage. Cash City
suggests Wolfville and some of the 9TH
ers of the hooks. Cowkay, Kidderville,
Sawlog, Shep, Big Mule, Pawnee Rock,
Hog Back, Troublesome. Cow Greek,
Bone Springs, Bitter Creek, Swede, Tom
Cat, Fact, Fame and Fiat are a few
that came from these facetiOus minds.
I believe that Admire, which is quite
a good sized town, must belong to the
same class and owe their christening to
the men who were as lawleSS with their
language as they were in the use of
their guns.
THE ones who followed the real old
timers were less radical in their use, or
you can call it abuse, of their native
tongue. They didn't give Painted Post
is name, that's quite evident. A few of
them had classical learnings. For in
stance, there's Sharon Springs on the
very edge of the state in Wallace coun-
ty. Ulion and Achilles are only a few
miles from each other, which seems
quite proper and fitting, doesn't it?''
The other man said nothing. He
wasn't expected to.
Goshen, Athens and Cincinnati are q
few of the gems of this job-lot, though
Cincinnati may have come from some
chaps who were homesick for Ohio.
Chicago could mean the same thing or
great expectations There's a mess of
high-sounding names and most of them
are off the railroad. Museum. Protec-
ton, Claim, Freedom, Providence and
Ophir are a small bunch that I've jOtted
down, hoping that some day 1 might
find out their excuse for being. The
same amusing solemnity, with some
thing of religious tinge. you'll see in
the names Mount Zion, Zionville, Nico-
demus and Holy Cross. Joash sounds
Scriptural, but I'm not sure about it.
There must have been a lot of Scotch
men among the early ones in the west
ern part of Kansas, if the names indi-
cate anything. Bonnie Doon-there's
something real homesick in the
suggestions that brings-and Dun
other that fellow-countryme couldn't
get otgether occasionally over
Sharrald and Glen Grouse have the sure
ring to them, but Dalrymple isn't so
certain. 1t brings up ideas of the town
in the Bonnie Briar Bush though and
a fellow wants to holler 'Hoot Mon
They spelled it Pen Dennis-in two
words-when they named that Kansas
town. They couldn't have been think
ing of Thackeray when they did it.
There are some other towns that
please me more than all. There's some
thing so sentimental. and almost melan-
choly about them Sweet Home, Little
Valley, Home and May Day must be