The St. Mary banner., 1902-09-27
THE LOST QUARRY.
BY ROE L. HESDRICK.

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In the fall of 1880 was a schoOlboy,
Ii years of age, in the little hamlet of
Towanda, in Butler county. Kansas. 1t
was the headquarters Of McGiilespie &
Evans, buyers of beef-cattle and hogs.
and of the South-Central Kansas Mar
BILE and FreestOne company.
This company had had the curious
experience of losing one of its quarries
by the great food of the Pecan creek in
1877. 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
the company, were Of pink and purple
mOttled stone ,4close in texture, free or
cleavage, and susceptible of fine pol
ish None of the directors had been
able to find the exact place after the
freshet had radically changed the COM
formation of the valley. So, While
they were engaged inideyeloping other
properties, they offered three hundred
dollars to any one who should redis-
cover the quarry for them, and there
the matter had rested for three years.
McGillespie & 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 Sweetwater river, would drive
them ten miles across country to FL
Dorado, the county scat, 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 We're deeply inter-
esting to the boys of the community.
After much pleading, I bad 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. '## ~
In September McGillespie was
thrown by a 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 If l could get
the hogs safe TO FL Dorado that night.
"Alone?" l asked. --z.-....-s
"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. I've
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. Ten-year-old Tony, the Italian
drover's son, had grown up beside a
stock coral; but our force was pitifully
weak to manage four hundred hogs.
There was not fence, aside from a
few Usage orange hedges, between Toe
wanda and Ell Dorado; and the grOed
was lined with cornnelds Of froms10 to
200 acres each. ~ %-FN~E ~ " 49,
McGillespie told me he would pay me
twenty-five dollars If got the drove
safe to Ell Dorado before sunrise, but
would deduct dollar for every sh0st
left by the wayside.
Just at sundown we opened the cor
raj gates. Slicker and Susie were on
opposite sides of the main streetOf the
hamlet, about one hundFed yards In
advance. Tony and / skirmished on
the rear tanks. and Kitty, the expert
cnced road mare, walked slowly be-
hind, dragging a rattling 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 a hog. l&
Then we reached point where the
road skfrted Cochrane's one-hundred
acre corn field. On the left was an old,
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 q fearful
squealing, and bolted over, the backs
of the others into the corn field, where
they went scurrying off. still squealing
as they ran. m msss-ea<se8 ~A~eS
Here was pretty mess[ BY Tony's
advice paid no attention to the fugi-
tives, but instead hurried the drove
past the corn-field and turned them
into Cochrane's big corral, which hap
pened to be empty. A.......,......,a..
Then. going back to the farther edge
Of the eorn-ield for the strayshogs, We
beat our way through II with the dde
on either fank, and found sotr quarry
grouped in a gulch. They had to be
bitten freely about the ears by Sicker
before they would start ,EKs.k
Then they ran like deer, making a
three-mile detour before we finally