The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-31

name OF DOVE rode up and ordered him
down off the house and told him that he
had jumped his claim (another one OF
their games land TO get off Immediately.
This made Days hair 10 stand on end
Things looked as. though something was
going to drop. He crawled down and
made for a woodpile, where he had a
shot gun and bulldog revolver. He
pulled them out and drew them on his
caller. Dove whirled his horse and spur
red away"
! Mr.. Mnler's house was completed by
gathering dry grass. mixing it with dirt
for mortar. water being carried a half
mile, and plastering up the big holes and
cracks with IT, This home was the first
log house built between Whitewater and
Wichita, except Dave Payne's. and it be-
came a tavern for many a traveller and
a landmark for many years.
| Mr.. Miller continues: Then came the
time for breaking prairie He had scarce
" enough to live on, but he hired Mr..
Sam Crum and Mr.. Taylor to break two
acres for him at 81 an acre. He then
ventured to the end of his purse-strings
10 buy two OK teams in partnership with
adam Longsdorf and also an old wagon,
for s125, or one-half the cost. He then
had 10 have plow, which he bought on
thirty days credit for $50. He lost no
time in hunting sod blowing from new
Corners at 81 a day He soon earned
enough TO pay for his plow and a few dol
lars left to live on. He then began to
break his own land
He planted corn between the burrows Of
sod, he also planted broom corn. which
proved to be far superior to corn in new
I ground. He then began to make brooms.
having his oldest son. Harry. peddle them
| in the little village Of 800 inhabitants. He
was the only broom maker for years. and
as the town grew he found reader sale
for his brooms. realizing from $500 TO 800
from their sales annually.
Here Mr. Miller digresses to tell of a
terrible prairie fire. 1t came up to the
house, and great flakes Of fire swept
| through the cracks Of the house and fell
on the bedding, but fortunately did not
burn the family and the house He says
the height of the flames from the blue
stem grass was twenty feet at times.
Further he says: David had the op-
portunity of locating several homeseekers
and breaking hedge lines. and received
so to $50, according to the amount of
land broken, having the only OK team in
that vicinity. He was not the only
greenie-there were others-who paid dear
for their whistles. BY letting no oppor-
tunities pass, .-e made $500. which changed
the familys living from johnnycakes and
black sorghum to wheat bread and cot
fee for which they carried water from
a well two miles distant. They had all
kinds Of game to eat except antelope.
which Davy never could shoot. Buffalo
meat was plenty; they used to buy it for
two cents a pound The buffalo were
killed mostly for their hides and would
lay around on the ground for no one
knows how long before they would be
brought into Wichita to be sold; all the
dogs in the country had all they could
eat
THE broom business became overdone
and David quit it and went to farming
He found that potato Feelings do not
grow, so he invested in a thousand sweet
potato plants at 81 per thousand; which
also proved to be a failure. He then sent
to Topeka for four bushels Of wheat,
which with the freight cost him S14. This
he planted in April, 1871. the first spring
wheat planted in Sedgwick county. as
held by the old settlers He narrowed it
in with a log. It grew to the height of
about two feet, when the chintz bugs al
most destroyed it. and caused him TO cut
it before IL was ripe. He cut it with an
old cradle, for which he traded a dozen
brooms He made his own rake and Har
~, his son. raked it into sheaves and
Mrs Miller bound them. 1t was threshed
by tramping a pair of ponies over it.
The longer they tramped the tougher it
got. and the more it wound around the
ponies legs. BY holding it in the air and
letting the wind blow the chaff out and |
scraping it up of the ground he found
that he had just four bushels more than
he had sown. Then he started to the Au-
gusta mills, about twenty miles distant, |
to have it ground into -four. When he |
reached there the miller told him that |
his wheat was too shriveled; that there |
was not enough nourishment in it TO |
make flour. Davy tried to sell it to the |
miller but could not and he finally traded |
It to him for a few sacks Of cornmeal, |
which was only two cents a pound. They |
spent a sleepless night in that old mill. !
In the morning they started home with /
heavy hearts. They found sale for some /
Of the meal on the road at IL cents per |
pound
Then Davy tried raising buckwheat cut |
ting and threshing it in a similar manner.
which he found to DE more profitable.
he found ready sale for it at $3.50 per
busnel He sold thirty bushels at this
price He also tried tobacco. which grew
and yielded new crop. but there was
no market for It except for washing Mex
lean sheep. which were numerous at that
time"
Mr.. Miller goes on to relate Of the fam
Iiy's removal to town; how they acquired
q tract Of land whieh mas since become
the very center - he swell residence
portion of wichita. hos thew Daut tl.e,r
first house. how the boom brought them
money: how in that day they went back
to visit the old places in the east: his bat
ties with the city in putting streets
through his place. and a hundred other
details
Mr. Miller says he was designated
Yankee" Miller 10 distinguish him from
lther Nliers. II was probably bestowed
also because Of his trading instincts. He
paid ten years subscription at $ a year
10 the Weekly Eagle once. in brooms.
THEY WHIP THE BEARS
In Yellowstone Park When They Get
MischeiVous.
c,-sreF T0-Nf~ who has inst returned |