The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-28
KING GETS AUTO.
Forty Years Ago He Rode Be-
hind Ok Team.
Father Killed in War When He
Was Young.
TOO POOR TO BUILD.
Couldn't Accept Offer of Free
Winfield City Lots.
Now President of Bank of Same
Old Town.
TOO POOR TO BUILD.

Winfield, Kan, April 2S.-From an
OK team as a means of locomotion to
a modern automobile is the story of L.
p. King. president of the State bank.
who celebrated the fortieth anniversary
of his coming to Winfield today by buy
ing a 5-passenger automobile, SO horse
power. 1t is a beautiful car, 1911 model,
with all the latest improvements
These 40 years tell a story of thrift,
of enterprise, of overcoming obstacles,
of triumph over adversely and an hon
est success as men view success. Dur
ing these 40 years Mr.. King has seen
CoWley county evolve from a prairie
habitation of Indians and beasts of the
field to a rich empire populated With
an enterprising people, and living con-
tented and prosperous lives.
Came From Illinois.
King moved from Illinois with his
parents to Doniphan county, Kansas, in
FEBRUARY, 1854, where he remained ex-
cept for about two years during the
civil war until 1871, when in company
with his brother, T. W. King, Is months
his junior, he drove an OK team to cow
ley county. King was then 20 years OF
age. During the war Mr.. King served
as clerk and errand boy in the quarter
masters department at Fort Laramie,
then in Idaho territory, but now in
Wyoming.
His father was killed during the civil
war while serving in the Eleventh Ohio
cavalry. When a boy of 10 years Mr.
King drove a yoke of cattle across the
plains for 500 miles in what was then
practically a wilderness. OF course
there were other wagons in the party
While at Fort Laramie, Mr.. King
learned the Sioux Indian language 50
well that he could talk it almost as
well as a full blood. He still remem-
bers many words of that language.
But to get back to the original story.
1t was a rainy day when King and his
brother, T. W., who died several years
ago, arrived in Winfield, on April "a,
1871. Then there was log store at the
corner of Main and Ninth and few
other shanties. The King brothers each
owned a yoke of oxen, which they had
earned by chopping wood. King earn
ed his yoke of oxen by chopping wood
for Grandma Donaldson, who now lives
at UdaI AS Mr.. King drove down
Main street that April day in 1871, the
townsite company was offering lots on
Main street free, if persons who took
them would buy lot on which to build
a residence.
Lived on Claim 35 Years.
The King brothers did not accept the
offer for they did not have the where
withal with which to purchase the lots.
They drove on to Beaver township,
where later Mr.. King took an upland
claim, and where he lived for the next
So years. In the fall of 1871 the King
brothers drove their oxen to Humboldt
and hauled the first bank safe ever in
Cowley county to Arkansas City for
Colonel McMullen, who started a bank
there and later engaged in the banking
business in Winfield. In those days the
streams were without bridges, and al
times the wagon was pulled through
mud into which it had sunk to the sand
board. During the trip the tongue was
pulled out of the wagon 16 times. 1t
was a rainy fall and it was a hard
trip.
When they completed this trip they
took a job of hauling saw logs near the
mouth of Slate creek. In the spring
they continued to break prairie until
in all they broke 700 acres. Later they
traded their oxen for horses, and start
ed to farm on a small scale. King
divided his claim with his brother
In 1874 King was married. He taught
school in the winter and farmed in the
summer until elected to the legislature
in 1884. He served in the house of rep
resentatives for two terms and then III
the senate for 16 years, the longest con-
tinuous service Of any man in the his
tory of the state. At one time he was
elected president pro tenn of the senate
The 20 years that he served in the state
legislature as the representative of
Cowley county were years of great use
fulness to his constituents. Cowley
county will always be indebted to Mr..