The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-10-14

good time for me to tell why ! took so
Happy a view Of the early settlers life
While the other speakers told soul-har-
towing tales and drew doleful pictures
Of the hardships Of the early settlers. 1
have been through the mill and know
quite a lot from experience, and first 1
viii say that to young people abund-
antly equipped, with vigor and energy,
vitality and ambition, as l was, there
is no such thing as harship. Such per-
sons can fight the battle of life any
where and under almost any circum-
stances and whistle and sing every day
While doing it The ten years / spent
ca the extreme frontier and beyond. were
Is pleasant as any of my life.
commenced frontier life young, at
The years of age when my father settled
On land not yet surveyed by the gov
mnment. 1 was raised on farm in the
woods, early in life learned all wood
craft and was an expert hunter and
trapper, and knew AL about teaming
and horses and cattle and taking care
of myself generally from the time l was
nine years old. [ also knew mich about
water, for l was raised on the banks of
the Father of Waters, which knowledge
proved useful in fording and swimming
rivers. When l became of age L longed
TO see more of the winds of nature and
knowing no better place came to the
territory of Kansas. 1 crossed the Big
Muddy, the Missouri, in May, 1889. and
that fall 1 went out into the wild Indian
and buffalo plains in search of fun and
adventure; aSd l found both in plenty
and some other things. built some cab
ms way up the Saline, forty miles further
west than Towanda and entered in TO
the enjoyment Of an early settlers life.
j had a lot of experience with Indians
and buffalo and SUCH ard the next spring
i planted some garden, potatoes, onions,
corn and watermelon patch all of which
did well-but the raccoons ate all the
corn and watermelons; so, to even things
UP, 1 took their pelts TO market that
winter with some hundreds or thousands
of their brethren of various kinds.
hired men to help, but found it lonesome,
so, having made the acquaintance of
fair maiden back in the settlements
I'm Kansas we Joined fortunes-very small
Ones-a couple of good rifles, a team,
plenty of grub" and Astounding health.
clothes enough for every day and buffa-
10 robes for camp life-and so We lived
happy and contented. But the bad In
dams had the unpleasant habit of kill
ing us fellows when they caught us un-
awares and while they didn't exactly
get my scalp, they came pretty close to
st sometimes. They vigorously protested
against settlers old or young, poaching
upon their parks and preserves. and
learned they intended soon to clean out
the frontier settlements which they did
later. / concluded discretion was the
better part of valor, now that / had a
wife to protect so took her back TO our
old iowa home
While my teams We're in Ieavenworth
unloading. / noticed leaning against a
building a man dressed in buckskin. with
the typical SLOUGH hat, pants in boetss
two big revolvers and a knife in belt.
long hair and all the other signs and
tokens Of brother plainsman. hailed
him and he answered that his name was
Bill Bemis. that he stayed on the Rag
ing Walnut" had no particular business
and further Informed me that after d
person took a drink OF Walnut creek
water, he could steal on sight; that there
.Aas an old mixture Of Indians, refugees.
f, >rkansawyers. white men and such down
there-all peaceable and happy and gen
orally very busy doing nothing and not
very many to do that I thought that
must be fine country for an enterpTis-
ing young man. so / hitched up my teams
and pulled out for the Walnut. and on
arrival found as clever a people as there
was anywhere; some just as good and
bright, some Just as worthless and harm
less as could lee found anywhere. and In
dams and more coming All of which
suited me- This was in 1868.
1 got as far west as possible in safety
10 my family and located al the big
spring where since my time has arisen
I'm all its beauty and surroundings the
village of Towanda In those days ev-
eryone almost was located at spring
for which Butler county is so famous.
and there was then about enough springs
to go around: some drank creek water
straight ] set about the best spring in
the lot. There was an abundance of
timber for everybody. no end Of grass
and little way to the west the earth
was black with herds Of buffaioes to be
had for the taking by those who knew
Row: and / knew, as the Indians said,
q heap
At that time we were a happy, honest.
contented well-fed lot of people. We had
no lawyers. no laws but the knowledge
of right and wrong. which the great Gre
ator had implanted in every mans breast;
end just think Of it. no taxes and no
real estate agents. We would not take
the upland in Butler county as sift;
all 1t was good Tor was grass and there
was plenty of that everywhere; and all
tYe earth to the west. north and south
I'd the fullress there of was ours any
how We did worship God. Good Father
Stansbury came over from Eureka and
preached for US At my cabin and some
times a few couples of us would ride
horseback from my place TO Chelsea 10
church and back home in the evening
Miss Sarah SatcheH taught school for the
Few children there was on The White
Water And so we lived and enjoyed life
and did not worry Il GrassnoPpers came
occasionally. or hot winds. or blizzar6s
chilled. We were TOO tough 10 freeze AMI
wood was free and plenty. We need not
&c hungry FOR world Of meat lay just
beyond US and. peltries would buy -four.
sugar. coffee and calico. We all rode
for good horses could be bought for so
apiece. Talk about hardships OF early
settlers. For such as I, life was a con-
t.nual round of Joy We laughed at dan-
ger. could II need be sleep the long. sweet
sleep Of the 5ust in Snow bank wrapped
in our buffalo robes.
And SO the happy years rolled on uatil
the fan CT lssS Then there came
change The romance and freedom Of