The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-25
He NAMED WICHITA
John S. Barnum of San Jose,
CAL, Had That Honor
WAS AT A TOWN MEETING
He Made the Motion and 1t
Carried--HiS Letter
WAS AT A TOWN MEETING

John S. Barnum, now OF San Jose, Cali
fornia. named Wichita. He tells when
and how in the following interesting let
ter tothe editor Of the Eagle:
San Jose, Cal, March Is, 1900.
NJ. NJ. Murdoch
Dear Sir: In reading your account Of
the death Of the Father Of wichita
Civilian Greiffenstein), in the Eagle of
September Is, 1899, handed me by John
B. Carey a few days before his death, 1
have read with great deal Of interest
your sketch of his life. as was well ac-
quainted with him and his squaw, and
could add to his personal history. I was
at the Lone Tree Treaty held on the
banks Of the Little river about one mile
above where E. II. Durfee's old trading
post was afterwards located when Gen.
Sanborne treated with the several
tribes Of Indians congregated there in
the fall of 1866. I assisted Dutch Bill
.caching' the very few worldly effects
that he could not get into his little one
horse wagon when he left Walnut creek
IN 1864 and was surprised to see him
come with his squaw to draw his grub
and blankets along with the other In
dams at the treaty. / am proud Of the
little part I took in Wichita. but had it
not been for me there would have been
no Wichita.
In May, 1868, I piloted company c, Fifth
Infantry, Captain Barr in command. to
the mouth Of the Little river from Fort
Harker (there was no trail them for the
purpose Of guarding the crossing Of the
Arkansas river and open a TRAN to Fort
Cobb. T., from Fort Harker, The first
town meet was held in my suffers
tent. There was old man Munger, who
was afterwards appointed postmaster
and kept the postoffice in his hat; old
man Vigoss, Lewellen, Waterman. the
two Steele boys and myself I made
nation that the town be known now,
henceforth and forever as Wichita, Sedg-
wick county, Kansas.
In 1883 met one of your reporters. en-
route to Ellsworth to the soldiers reun-
lon, at which time I gave him little
history OF Buffalo BilT' OWN Mathew
son), which was in your paper and was
read with some surprise 10y some who
only knew him as a member of the say
ings bank If he is now living he will
remember me as one of company e First !
Colorado cavalry. After the soldiers
camp was established the settlers came |
in very rapidly and civilization soon took |
some OF the place of the Wichita and |
Cado Indian villages, where some of their |
matched lodges still stood The first |
step towards advanced civilization was |
a dance in Mr.. Watterman's cabin, al |
though not yet completed, having neither
door nor window. Mrs. Waterman, 60
years of age. her adopted daughter, Is,
Fanny Hall, Y, Mrs. Hall, her widowed |
mother and the two Naher sisters, being
all the ladies in the town, took an active |
part. Thus to ratify our town meeting, |
about June the 18th, on July 4th we held !
our first Fourth of July celebration in
the grove at the junction of the Little
and Big rivers, when the was tWenty-four
couples on the ground. some Of the ladies'
coming from Whitewater for the occa-
sion. I mention these few instances,
knowing from the many conversations I
have had with the late John B. Carey
that you take a great interest in the his
tory Of your town. and as 1 am a stran-
ger to you, that you may know that
there is no monkey business, and that
what l have written is facts.
I have not been in your town since
1871, when, in the interest Of the ELS
worth Stock Yard company, I opened up
the cattle trail, plotting the first herd
Of cattle from the south that crossed the
river just below the mouth of the Little
river, and there was not a house along
the trail, but Dick Strew's ranch on
Plumb creek from Wichita to Ellsworth
Any of the lod settlers Of Ellsworth
county vii remember
Yours very respectfully,
mo IoATpN-T-NT