Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-08-20
! THE LOST QUARRY.
BY ROE L. HENDRIcK.

A bS HUE LIE h1NbNASns ~
A~~A@o
In the fall of 1880 l was schoolboy,
IA years of age, in the little hamlet OF
Towanda, in Butler county, Kansas. 1t
was the headquarters Of McGillespie &
Evans, buyers of beef-cattle and hogs.
and of the South-Central Kansas Mar
Die and Frcestone company.
This company had had the curious
/, experience OF losing one of its quarries
by the great food of the Pecan creek in
1871 The original owner, who alone
had known precisely where to begin
operations, had been drowned. The
marble specimens. on the strength OF
which he had succeeded in interesting
he company, were of pink and purple
mottled stone, close in texture. free OF
cleavage, and susceptible of a fine pol
:sh. None of the directors had been
ableto find the exact place after the
freshet had radically changed the con-
formation of the valley. So, while
they were engaged in developing other
properties, they offered three hundred
dollars to any one who should redls-
cover the quarry for them, and there
the matter had rested for three years.
MeGillespie & Evans, the stock
dealers, bought thousands of fat steers
and hogs during each season, and after
collecting them in their big corals be-
side-the -Swestwater river, would drive
them ten niles across country to FL
Dorado, the county seat, where they
were shipped by rail to Kansas City, st.
Louis or Chicago. These trips were
usually made at night, to avoid the
heat of the sun, and were deeply inter-
esting to the boys of the community.
After much pleading, had been per-
mitted to accompany one Of the drives,
and thereafter was regularly engaged
as McGillespie's assistant whenever my
parents would permit me to go. Usu-
ally the drive was made on Friday
night. -. = 2
In September McGillespie was
thrown by mustang, and had his left
leg broken. His partner, Evans, with
Tony, the herdsman, was down in :"the
Nation" as the Indian Territory was
called, buying cattle from the Chero-
KEGS.
The big coral was filled almost to
overfowing with yellow, black and
parti-colored hogs, bought within the
past week; and as the price was re-
ported likely to fall suddenly, it was
necessary to get the hogs to Kansas
City at once.
In his pain and anxiety McGillespie
sent for me, and asked i'll could get
the hogs safe to Ell Dorado that night.
"Alone?" asked.
"Weel, not exactly, but pretty near,
pretty near" cried the old Scotchman,
impatiently. "Ye can have Sicker and
Susie and young Tony. but none O.
them younkers from the school. Tve
3 tried 'em, an they're no mortal use.
{. Slicker and Susie, the trained dogs
Of the firm, half Scotch collie and
half wolfhound, were invaluable assist
ants Il Ten-yealS old Tony, the Italian
drover'ss son.. had grown up beside q
stock coral; BUT our force was pitifully
weak to manage four hundred hogs.
There was not fence, aside from
few Usage orange hedges, between To-
wanda and Ell Dorado; and the road
was lined with cornfields of from 10 to
200 acres each.
McGiliespie told me he would pay me
twenty-five dollars IL got the drove
safe to Ell Dorado before sunrise, but
would deduct dollar for every shoat
left blythe wayside.
Just at sundown we opened the cor
raj gates S1icker and Susie were on
opposite sides of the main street Of the
hamlet, about one hundred yards in
advance. Tony and skirmished on
the rear fanls, and Kitty, the expert
enced road mare, walked slowly be-
hind, dragging a rafting blackboard.
In this manner-we made good progress,
and to my amazement passed through
the settlement, and had gone fully four
miles beyond before dark, without the
loss of q hog.
Then we reached a point where the
road skirted Cochrane's one-hundred
acre corn field. On the left was an DID,,
ill-cared-for' hedge, 40 feet high in
places. Here the drove jammed, in
spite Of the dogs efforts to keep the
leads moving, and some of the hogs
were crowded against the hedge and
severely pricked by the long, sharp
thorns. These hogs set up fearful
squealings and bolted over the backs
of the otherslinto- the corn fled, where
they went scurrying oft, still sQuealing
as they ran.
Here was pretty mess[ BY Tony's
advice paid no attention to the fugi-
tives, but instead hurried the drove
past the 'corn-feld and turned them
into Cochranes big corral, which hap
pened to be empty.
Then, going back to the farther edge
of the corn-field for the stray hogs, we
beat our way through it with the dogs
on either flank, and found our quarry
grouped tn gulch. They had to be
bitten freely about the ears by Slicker
before they would start.
Then they ran like deer, making a
three-mile detourA before we finally
headed them into an angle of the Coch-
rane corral. When we had released
the main body the strays mingled with
them. and we congratulated ourselves
that the worst was over.
But it was now one o'clock at night;
we were already. tired, and had made
ouly two-fifths of our juorney.
For the next three miles we had lit
tie trouble But some of the older and
fatter hogs were becoming tired They
took to tagging, and our switches had
very,1ittle effect in persuading them to