The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-07

buffalo. but elk, wild turkeys and all
sorts Of game, as we'll as plenty Of
grass and good water, and among the
timber were an abundance of cedars-
This is a regular paradise said Mr..
Mead to his companions, and the
stream is known today as Paradise
creek. while the town of Paradise
stands on the spot where they camped.
s. w. Brewster OF Chanute read a paper
which told the story of Father PAU Pon-
zigifone a Jesuit missionary, among the
Osages, who left his mark in southeastern
Kansas For nearly so years he lived and
back in the 40s. There is a legend that
he was the black robed priest referred
story of Evangeline following her lover
over the prairies.
Ponziglione was an Italian count who
entered the Jesuit priesthood, and who,
driven from his home by revolution.
made his way to Rome and finally to
America with the determination of work
ing among the Indians. He came to St.
Louis early in the 40s and then came on
to the Usage mission, now the little town
of ST Paul, in Neosho county. There he
Cherokee county north to Miami, west to
Fort I.arned, and back along the southern
line of what is now the state of Kansas,
and he even went far down into the IN
dian Territory He was loved by both In
dams and whites-after the whites came.
He remained at the Usage mission until
1889 when, at the outbreak of the Greeks
in Montana, he went north to attempt to
quiet them. knowing the Indian ways, and
remained there two years, finally going 70
a Catholic institution in Chicago to end
his days
W. D. Street of Oberlin, who was speak
er of the Populist house of 1897, read a
paper on THE Victory of the Plow." Mr..
Street is a pioneer of central and western
Kansas himself. In 1867 he freighted with
OK team from Fort LeavenWorth to
Fort Dodge by way of Fort Harker, and
a year or two later he was with Custer
in the troubles in the Indian Territory.
In 1870 he was captain OF a company of
and 10
dians, building Fort Jewell on the spot
where Jewell City now stands.
est railroad point for northwestern Kan
sas and everything had to be hauled from
hardships of the pioneers who conquered
northwestern Kansas for agriculture and
told how it has come to be one of the
most prosperous sections of the whole
country.
Robert NJ. Wright, of Dodge City.
who succeeds Judge John Martin as
president of the State Historical So
ciety, is an oId-time plainsman. He
is Familiarity known as Bob Wright
by the old-timers. He first crossed
Kansas in 1859. He was born in
Maryland, and in 1856, at the age of
16, he came west to St. Louis, re-
naming there until the Pixies Peak
gold excitement in 1859 He started
to Colorado along with the gold seek
ers, reaching the place where Denver
now stands. He hauled the first load
of shingles used in the building of
Denver. For a number OF years he
freighted across the plains and along
the Santa Fe trail, finally locating on
Cimarron now stands That was in
1866, and he has lived in the Arkansas
valley ever since. He had part in
many of the Indian fights of the early
days, and has had much to do with
building up the short grass country.
He has represented Ford county in
the legislature four different times,
and has been state forestry commits
Sioner since 1899.
At the evening session of the society
a paper by Phil E. Chappell, of Kan
Sas City, Mo-. was read. 1t related to
steamboating on the Missouri in the
early days. Mr.. Chappel is one of
the old-time river men, and his paper
told many personal experiences of the
times when the steamboat instead of
the railroad was the chief method of
transportation across Missouri.
Charles Harker Rhodes, a student in
American history at rne state un1ver-
sity, read a paper on the. subject,
was the English Bill a Bride ?'' The
English bill was introduced in congress
by an Indiana congressman after
whom it was named, providing for the
admission of Kansas into the union
under the Lecompton constitution, and
among other things it gave to the pro-
posed state extensive land grants. 1t
was generally considered that this
land grant was a bait to tempt the
free state men to admit Kansas as a
slave state. Mr.. Rhodes contends that
this is not correct; he says the land
grant was no more than was given to
other states under different circum-
stances.
A euIogy of the late Samuel A.
Kingman, for many years chief justice
of the supreme court, was read by
Capt. Joseph G. Waters. Captain
Xrafn no 4 no1 - -Nr-I-
on this paper, and it was one of the
best productions of the kind that has
ever been prepared for the historical
society. All of the papers read at
the, annual meeting Tuesday. along
with others, will be published in the
next volume issued by the society.
Resolutions were adopted relative
to the death of the late Col. D. r.
Anthony, who was one of the most
valued members of the society.
Colonel Anthony was one of the five
charter members of the society, and
no man had had a more continued and
personal relation to Kansas history
than he.
Secretary Martin was elected to at
tend the annual meeting of the Amer
lean Historical society, to be held at
Chicago during the holidays. He in
timated that the honor ought to go
10 some other member of the society,
but a resolution was passed ordering
him to attend and represent the So
ciety.
A report of a committee was adopted
favoring the erection of some sort of a
monument or tablet to mark the site
of the Kama Indian town about two
miles east of Manhattan. This was the
principal town of the KanZas, the In
dams after whom the state was named
The Kaw river now covers the site of
the old Indian cemetery, while the
townsite itself is under cultivation, and
every sign of the village is rapidly dis
. H.