Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1904-11-24

9 tne nrst man with family to lOcat
on the Solomon river.
In the spring Of SO, l located Solo
mon City for DR.. Luther Hal an,
Williamson. In that year a humble
ventured up the Solomon as far a
Delphos. Henry Coolencamp, a Ger
man, was there and numbe o
others afterward driven out BY tn,
i Indians.
l had the contract to finish the sub
division OF land which had been lef,
unfinished on account OF the food oil
'5S, and surveyed the land from the
mouth Of Hard Crossing creek up to
the forks Of the Solomon. | mention
this to show that travelling over this
territory in the capacity Of a sur.
veyor know whereof speak about
the early settlement Of the Solomon
river. In doing that work which
lasted from June to October 20, we
had no trouble with the Indians ex.
cept their begging.
In 1868, with DR.. Seymour, Lane,
Sanderson and William Frost, went
up the north fork of the Solomon as
far as where Kirwin now is and l do
not remember q single cabin after
leaving the Delphos settlement which
was vacated at that time. As we re-
turned from this trip we camped one
night where Glasco now is; that night
Lane rode in and reported Indians,
said they gave him chase. Three Of
us mounted and rode out on the high
prairie northeast Of camp. Itook the
glass and saw at once his Indians were
elks. As the elks could see us, two
OF us remained with the horses to
hold their attention while Lane
slipped around and killed fine two
year-old elk.
On this trip we also stopped at vii.
low Springs (Beloit) and l told them
when the Indian troubles were over
10 the country could settle was COM
ng up to improve the water power
Ind lay out town. They laughed at
ne and said l would never live long
'nough to see the country settled, III
old them it would settle in less than
even or eight years, and it did. On {
he Sd Of October 1869, selected the G
ownsite Of Beloit. The notice of I
our old settlers meeting brings to
~ mind many Of the old faces, and
ow would like to meet those vet q
live at your meeting on the goth. n
ut to resume. (
The last raid by the Indians was in a
$40. The Sioux killed three men at Il
lie mouth Of Limestone at Glen Elder, i
was at Abilene at the time. A few b
arted in pursuit Of the red devils, b
ut do not remember the particulars I'll
'ly they brought back no scalps. u
In 1860 I went out as guide for the o.
noky Hill river expedition. 1t was P
,tten up at Leavenw to locate q "
ad that would be a split between
% Platte trail on the north and the
kansas trail on the south, and went di
Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan In
ID junction City to Pixies Peak and lie
'nver. This was the last year Of eli
Q Kiowa war. We had four en-. CT
unters with them, lost one man and M
d one wounded.
the expedition proved very success OF
10 the end, as 1t gave US the X. P. be
R. to Pixies Peak and Denver. HI
10 Ben Holiday stage line was put 10
that route in 1866. had the con- a
'ct for quitting up hay for that line M
d the military post until 1869.
had never been west Of the forks "a
the Smoky Hill river, but Green wi
ssell, the man who discovered gold Oh
Colorado, told rue the south fork
s the road to Pixies Peak or Colo.
10 Springs as il is now called. otl
am under many obligations to my
friend, George v. Martin, now str
rotary Of the Kansas State Histori.
society. He sent me volume No. =,
that society. 1t gives the rem
SCIENCES Of long ago by those l
w personally, over half Of whom w
taking their last long sleep. 1 gu
e shed many tears over that book.