The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-19

railroad station, with FIVE rivers and
mum Derless creeks and gullies to cross,
and not a bridge on all the route, ard
it was twenty miles to the nearest post
office or store. I went to Wichita one
day that fall for some lumber and sup
piles. crossed the river about noon on
Saturday. I went up TO Duzenbery's
cottonwood sawmill and loaded the lum-
Der in a drenching r1sh- By the time
got back to the street it was flooded and
my wagon mired down to the hubs in
front Of Woodman's grocery. I had to
unhitch and leave it there. Rain poured
down all that night. I slept in the attic
above the store with the clerks Lee
Nixon and Jimmie Black When 1 got
up on Sunday morning to see how things
looked the river was raging torrent
and looked about a mile wide, and the
ferryboat was away ont yonder moored
to some cottonwood trees. Nine days
after that 1 reached the ferryboat, paid
$3.50 to be ferried a short distance onto
an island with the privilege of finding
my way over the rest Of the way Bob
West and Jake Sohn had taken claims
near me and I left them with my family,
getting out and hewiug logs for my
house. During my absence they had to
wade the river and took a lunch with
them for dinner The bank Of the river
worked. Bob got thirsty one day and
went to get a drink, when to his utter
amazement the river that had been only
knee-deep four hours before was away
up, drift and foam rushing past like
fury. He called to Jake to come quick,
and plunging into the stream with
great struggle he managed to wade
through with the water up to his neck.
West was tall and Jake was short He
saw he couldn't wade it, for the water
was rising fast; he couldn't swim; there
wasn't a house between the river and
the Rocky mountains. But Jake was al
ways full of resources. He rolled two
small dry cottonwood logs to the river
bank and dashed them together with
some grapevines and a clothes line that
they used for q chalkline He launched
his raft and got on it. But the grape
vines broke and the logs foated apart
and he had TO flop down on his stomach
and clasp the logs with his arms and
legs to keep from dropping down be-
tween, and away he went with the cur
rent, among the foam and drift down
the raging Ninnescah, and West trotting
along down the east bank yelling COM
mands to him. BY dint Of using his off
leg as combined paddle and rudder he
managed TO steer his craft close enough
to the east shore to cast the clotnesline
to West, who got hold OF 1t after several
attempts and rescued the shipwrecked
mariner from his perilous situation.
But enough. It would take volumes to
relate incidents or describe conditions
that might seem very strange today. It
was life requiring patience and indus
try. The frontier was no place for the
faint hearted. 1t took men and women
who could suffer disappointments and
override the obstacles and adopt them
selves to circumstances. Upon some of
those old pioneers who had formerly
been used to all the comforts of life and
who came out onto the frontier and
bravely endured all the hardships incl
dent upon subduing the wilderness and
making new homes for themselves, I can
look back only with admiration.
OF those who on that frontier wrought |
To cause a wilderness TO bloom,
How many wander far remote,
How many rest within the tomb.
WIN. ROSS.