The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1912-03-21
An Interesting Article by
Him in the Wichita
Eagle.

esting article IN the Wichita, Kan,
Eagle Of recent date on why l Came
TO Wichita" Mr.. Webb wrote as fol-
lows:
Forty-one years ago this winter,
back in Tyler county, West Virginia,
Cyrus Webb called his family about
him. There were seven children in the
family and to each and every one Of
them was explained the good points,
as Mr.. Webb understood them, both Of
the then frontier Kansas and OF South
ern West Virginia.
The reason for all this was that
Captain Webb. after his return from
the war, where he had fought four
years to preserve the Union, had been
considering the adyisabilty of remov-
ing to some other place. where he
could better provide for his rapidly
growing young Americans. AT that
\ time the Santa FSe railday was build
Ing through Kansas, The East had
been flooded with literature setting
forth the possibilities of this new ter
ritory as a future agricultural king
dom. But Southern West Virginia also
offered inducements for those who
We're not afraid TO bump up against
the after-the-w war drawbacks.
On that winter day in III, Captain
Webb explained the situation to his
children. He pictured the advantages
and the disadvantages of the two
ototav - e4irra tir,,, Ma , -
him with them. Then he put 1t to a
vote, to decide which place should be
the future shome of the Webb family.
The vote decided the matter in favor
Of Kansas. and to Kansas Captain
Webb came few weeks later and
took up a claim in Gypsum township.
E. Webb, ex-county commissioner.
ex-county treasurer of Sedgwick oun-
ty, and in 1910 second III a big field
Of candidates for the Republican nom
ination for state treasurer, was one Of
the boys who gethered around his
fathers knee Al years ago @and voted
to come to Kansas Incidentally the
present attorney general of California
was in that family group, too. and
though he was but 6 years old then,
he voted for Kansas along with the
majority OF his brothers and sisters.
That is how I happened to come to
Kansas said Mr.. Webb, when the
question was put to him. why we
voted for Kansas I do not know ex-
actly, but I do know that one thing
which Influenced most of us was that
father told us we could lget on our
ponies in Kansas and chase coyotes
across the pralries until we could hit
them over the head with clubs. 1 have
lived in Kansas a e cd many years.
| but l never chased but one coyote
that way. l didn't get close enough
to 1t to hit it over the head with
club, either"
A few weeks later the head of the
Webb family came to Kansas. He
first visited his friend, the late -"Dick"
Blue, in the eastern part of the state,
and then took up a claim iii what Is
now Gypsum township, about midway
between Wichita and Augusta. He
could have gotten closer to Wichita,
but he, like many others of that day.
thought Augusta the future metropolis
of the Southwest, because the land Of
flee was located there. A little later
he sent for two of his sons. E, Webb
and younger brother, to come out
and hold down the claim while he re-
turned to Virginia for the rest of the
family.
1t was June that the new we'll
known citizen of Sedwick county and
his brother got their first glimpse of
Kansas prairies, They had been told
TO get off the train at Strong City and
TO take the stage from Cottonwood
Falls to Wichita They did as direct
ed, only to find that in the meantime
the Sante Fe had been finishedto Pea
body, and that the stage started from
that town instead Of from Cottonwood
trails. 1t was their first insight into
Western progress. They stayed over
night at the Falls and the next day
happened to run across freighter
who was going to Augusta. Rather
than wait for their train, they took
passage with him, and though 1t took
them a couple of days, they finally
reached the Butler county town.
From Augusta they walked to the
claim which their father had selected.
1t was a jaunt of ten miles, and il
seemed many times that far to the
lonesome youths who never before had
been so far away from home.
81 never will forget that walk" said
Mr.. Webb, as he told the,story. ITO
us 1t seemed as II the whole United
states must be land. You know we
had been raised back there among the
hills OF West Virginia, where houses
were not very far apart, and where
the country was pretty thlckly settled.
Here we followed trail that was none
too plain, and nothing could we see
hut grass. Occasionally there was
shanty, and away OFF along the Walnut
river we could see few trees. hut they
we're but interruptions in a solid sea
OF waving grass s,
IT is a hong cry from that lonesome