Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15
END OF THE TRAIL
Wichita, Dodge and Abilene
Were Rivals in T'oaghness
WHERE DROVERS MET
GREAT CHANGES SINCE THE DAYS
OF BLooDSHED.
How Wild Bill Got His Reputation
Home Of Buffalo Bill-Rise Of
Salt Mining Industry.
WHERE DRoVERS MET

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
| Record Herald.
| HILL CITY. Kans.. July g. 1905.
| Abilene. Kans., used to be the end of the
trail-the end of the long drive-where the
| cattle from Texas and New Mexico formerly
reached the railroad. Wichita and Dodge
| City were at the end Of similar drives. and
| these three for several years were the
| toughest towns In the United States. 1t
| will always be matter OF controversy
which was the toughest. Dodge City proba-
bly, makes the strongest claim. but Abilene
was the home of Buffalo Bill and wild
| Bill" Hickok. who was town marshal for
| several years and used to kill couple of
| men every night before he ate supper. When
| he got busy he would kill a couple more
| before he went to bed. These homicideS
were not due to a bloodthirsty disposition,
but to a love Of law and order. high sense
Of official responsibility and determination
to keep the peace. As long Wild Bill was
| marshal and sat on the lid Abilene was
peaceful community, but if he went out OF
town for a few minutes hell broke loose.
know this to be fact. because bill" told
me SO himself When was verdant re-
porter In search of the truth out here many
years ago Wild Bill took me into his conf
| dence. We had heart-to-heart talk; he
| showed me the notches the butt of his
revolver, and took me to see the graveyard
| where he buried his victims Bill said that
| the climate was SO fine out here tnat he had
to kill a man to start that graveyard, and
| he showed me the exact place where the
| first martyr was laid.
| How Wild Bill Got Reputation.
| George Ward Nichols of Cincinnati. the
| first bIIch nd of Mrs. Rel wit
of our ambassador to Austria and founder
of the lockwood pottery factory. discovered
Wild Bill and made him famous by an arti-
| Gle in Harpers Magazine. 1t was one-fourth
| fact and three-fourths fiction, and was in
| tended to be a satire, but the public accept
| ed 1t as the truth, and Wild Bill became one
! of the heroes of the frontier. When things
Gained down in Abilene and the town be-
came too dull for him he went to Deadwood.
where he was shot in the back by a coward
| ly gambler he had run out Of Abilene some
years BEFORE His grave in the Deadwood
| cemetery is marked by monument sup
porting his bust and bearing an epitaph that
| describes his career.
Abilene was also the home of Buffalo Bill.
| He spent his youthful days there, and there
| acquired the name that has stuck to him
| ever since. II any one will take the trouble
| to look through the early records of the
| Kansas and Pacific railroad he will find
| series of two or three contracts entered
| into by the purVeyorS of that corporation
| with William F. Cody for furnishing buff
| falO meat for the track layers and construc-
| ton gangs. Mr.. Cody was engaged in this
| business for several years and employed a
| large number of professional hunters like
| himself. Buffalo meat was very much
| cheaper than beef in those days, and the
| contractors fed 1t almost exclusively to
| their hands. Mr.. Cody was engaged in this
| occupation. with his headquarters at Abb
| lene. when Gen. Sheridan employed him as
| scout in the Indian war of 81. and that
1 ua ba hep Of heroic
| If you landed in Abilene these days you
| would never suspect that it had been the
| scene of such exciting history or the home
| of such famous men. 1t is a quiet orderly
| prosperous community of 5000 people. noted
! for it's fine churches and schools, and has
| been made rich by the fertile soil which
| surrounds it. There are three railways ana
| two big -four mills which grind much of the
| local wheat and ship 200 and 1,oO0 cars OF
| -four year.
Salina a Commercial Center.
Salina, little farther along. with 1900
| inhabitants Is commercial center and has
| the reputation OF doing the largest whole
! sale business of any place OF its size in the
| world. Indeed. / have heard 1t asserted
| that more goods are sold in Salina than in
| any other ten towns Of its size in this coUn-
| try, for 127 commercial travellers go out Of
| that town into Kansas, Colorado. Wyoming.
| Oklahoma, Indian Territory and even Texas
| and New Mexico. 1t has two largo whole
| sale stores and one Of the largest hardware
| establishments in the country. 1t claims
| the fourth wholesale hardware store In the
/ United tSates, the first being in st. Louis.
| the second in Chicago, the third II Duluth
| and the fourth in Salina. This one cstab-
| lishment employs thirty-four travelling men
| and their sales run up into the millions
| which Is pretty good for T. iowa Of 1900
| inhabitants. There are three hour mills In
| Salina. One of them turns oat LOB barrels
| day Last year the Unio1 Pacific alone
rIo Ic of6 nt,r frny7 Ia
and there are three other railroads.
| Salina Is also one Of the principal bank-
| ing centers of the west with a large sur
| plus capital. There is military academy
| of 170 students and college fcr women
| which has wide influence.
| In 1887 a party of Ohio people led by J. s.
| Croweli of Cleveland. settled on the Kansas
! and Pacific land grant and founded the town
! of Kanopolis on the exact spot where they
/ supposed the geographical center of the
| country to be- While they were mistaken
| in their latitude and longitude they hit 1t
| off in great shape in other directions, as
| covering an enormous deposit of rock salt.
which lies like anthracite coal in great
| bed 80 miles long and six miles wide. near
| ~ across the state. Crowell with r. H.
Phelps and s. E. Baker, organized the Royal
| Salt Company and have been mining 1t like
| coal. They have shaft 900 feet deep at
| Kanopolis, and send down the miners. who
| dislodge the salt rock with dynamite. shovel
| II into cars just as they would handle coal
| In Pennsylvania. hoist 1t to the surface and
| ship it by carload lots to every part of the
country It costs about much to mine 1t
/ as 1t does coal, and sells for about the same
| price as anthracite-that is. at an average
| of 50 ton on cars at the mines.
| A Perplexing Question.
| An opposition company has been formed
| by James Cowie of Columbus. Kan. and
| his associates. Cowie was formerly general
| superintendent Of the Royal Salt Company
and had a falling out with his employers.
| The opposition company has been unable to
! buy salt lands. hence they secured permits
1 sion from the authorities OF Kanopolis to
| sink shafts In the streets and alleys. and
| are getting ready to undermine the town.
| This as you will imagine, involves some
/ perplexing questions. 1t Is not settled
/ whether the authorities have right to
| grant such concession even to mine the
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