The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1919-04-17

BRAIDwOOD TELLS OF PIONEER
DAYS

~ f1OueeT NIbnt duu ufnOub tns
many interesting features of the even
ing, was a paper read by Thos. r
Braidwood. u. e. Court Commission
er here and one of the oldest set
tiers of the county. from point oi
residence although he IL not an old
AAA n ysarS, By any means. We pre-
vansa upon .Ar. Braidwood to lot us
Dublish his paper. knowing II would
BE- reed with interest by all the old
settlers and many OF the new ones
TIE paper follows:
In the early part of April. 1887.
saw In local paper a long article
about Beaver City. N. s. I. T. II
lauded the climate. the possibilities
as the coming metropolis OF the
Southwest. This article fired me with
tho desire TO become at once citi-
zen of this booming town and grow
up with the country. I made inquiry
Of Thomas A. Garrigues. whom the
article said, had a lumber yeard and
. large grocery and supply store. In
the town. He said this was the place
70 emigrate as the country was fill
ing up rapidly; that there were some
good claims near and that the Town
Company would give any person lot
on the Main Street who would erect
Z good business house and as many
lots ~ person needed to build on.
! was In q hurry to get to Beaver to
open up q hardware store. and cater
to the wants OF the new comers. I
bought . ticket to Dodge City, the
Cow Boy Capital that 30 much has
been written about. and was told OF
the bad men ! should bind there.
landed In Dodge about 1890 p. m.
and found Il about as quiet q place
~ any one could find in the State of
Kansas. Mr.. Garrigues had lumber
yard at that place. and as he had
some wagons being loaded with lum-
ber for his branch yard at Beaver.
I was told II I did not mind little
roughing. II would be the best way
TO get to Beaver. had been working
out Of the sun for some years. and
was as soft as q man that had been
working indoors could be. bought
myself blanket. and some groceries
to cook along the way. We did not
get . very early start. and an the
teams were heavily loaded. I walked
all tho way. We made 13 miles the
flrst day and camped alta ranch on
the Mulberry. The ranch house was
. two-roomed sod. about 12x24; q
small stable. no fence, nothing tC
look at but the landscape and the
magnificent distances. The wind was
blowing hard from the southwest
and I wore little dinky hard-boiled
derby hat. You can imagine what
my face looked like. ! was sun
burned bright red. and had
blisters on my nose and ears.
Just before supper. I saw q little
girl about 10 years old. take a gunny
sack and 90 out about u mile from
the house. She seemed to be looking
for something ON the ground. She
voOld stoop down suddenly, pick W
something and put II In the sack.
asked the teAmster what she was do
ing and he said getting coal.
did not want to show my Ignorance
70 kept quiet. and watched out. She
came In soon and saw she had beer
gathering cowchips. The fuel that
was universally used by every one in
the country. We went in the house
and the lady of the house was max
ing sourdough bicuits for supper She
would take her hands out of the
dough. wipe the flour off her handt
on her apron. put some chips In ths
stove and 30 on with the biscuits.
did not know II they were as clear
~ they might be but was ss hungry
20 . dog. I saw the other fellows eai
% trisd and they tasted o. X. The
fat pork did not look appetizing so
passed. We had coffee without mill
or sugar. and biscuits without butter
We had the same bill of fare fol
breakfast. ! have eaten many q goot
meal cooked with cowchip fire sine,
that time and glad TO. We were abou
six days on the trip. The last day wal
spent In bringing the wagons from
whore 0. ]. Loofbourrow lives I,
Beaver on account OF the deep sands
! arrived on Sunday night and m!
first meal was taken In n sod hous,
kept by Mrs. Ruth Smith. the mothe
Of D. d. Smith OF this place. Their,
were I saloons, I Wholesale liQuo
house and drug store where yo,
could buy q drink II you had tn,
money to pay for II. The saloons wer,
all open wide every day In the week
All business houses were open Sun
days the same as week days, in fact
believe that Sunday was the bes
day for business. There were n,
church organizations. no schools. M
recognition Of law, In fact. every mar
was . law unto himself. The title I,
property was might made right. Tn,
summer prior to my coming to Bea
yer. . company OF men from Wichit,
who had been Interested In count,
seat towns purchased from Jim Ian,
who held title to the land under tn,
6quatters Sovereignty laws. fo
3l600.00. the land now the Beaver
town lots. Lane reserved the bloci
townsite. which they surveyed int,
on which the Big Jo Lumber com
pany yard Ia now located Ton the OLE
town plats II 10 marked Lanes Re
serve.") In the winter OF 1861, ,
bill was pending In congress to anne,
this strip OF land to Kansas for judic
ial purposes. and to establish a Ian,
office at or near Hugoton, Kansas
went TO the president for his sigma
ture to become law. when influ