The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-26
BY HARRY ROOT.

Your correspondent was among the
first visitors to Jewell county, and
several years prior to the changing of
the name Jewell Center to Mankato.
The names of Jewell City and Jewell
Center were so similar and mails got
mixed so frequently, the postoffice de-
partment demanded a new name,
hence the change. Neither town had
a railroad. G. r. Cole was one of the
early pioneers to the county, coming
from Iowa. and homesteaded a mile
and one-half from the then Jewell
Center townsite, in the fall of 1872.
Buffalo were killed on hts land and
adjoining claims in 1873. He was
there in time to see them in large
herds. Late in the fall of 1872 he
hauled flour for the first store started
in the town from Swan City, Neb., 10
miles, also freight from Waterville, 80
miles east. In those early times there
was only one merchant, Charles w.
Pettigrew & Co. operating general
store, David Blank was running a
blacksmith shop. w. o. Johns, hotel.
and D. J. Vance, postmaster. There
wasn't frame residence on the town.
site, and only two or three in course
of erection, one of which was donated
to the county for a court house If the
county seat was moved from Jewell
City to Jewell Center. At this time
the Cole family was living in dug
out, happy and contented. In the
county seat contest the Jewell City
people referred to the country sur
rounding Jewell Center as lava beds.
but that didn't change the minds of
the voters. whose choice was Man
kato. The town grew rapidly, and
soon the first bank started with Geo.
II. Case. Geo. S. Bishop and David
Heron at the head of it. AS the boom
progressed more business came, In
Guiding H. r. Hill, Chapman Brothers,
NJ p1ff T T l.
ton. n. Lindgrove, and others. Her
people were thoughtful from the start
and laid out cemetery grounds. and
the first person buried in it was Mrs
Vance. wife of D. ]. Vance, postmas-
ter, and one of the pioneer settlers.
In the early times hot winds and
drouth retarded immigration. and on
one of the prairie schooners' going
east to wifes relations was this iR-
scription: farewell to Kansas, bid
you adieu, we may immigrate to nj.
but never back to you" A farmer
said to your itemizer: Il went east
to the Republican river for young
cottonwood trees and returned with
1000 of them, and set them out, but.
the hot winds and drouth were more
than they could stand, and everyone
died for want of moisture" This was
in 1877. Some years there was plenti-
full moisture to raise crops. This
was the case with c. r. Cole. who
left Jewell county several years ago
and bought property in Oakland, a
suburb of Topeka. He says he hauled
the best of rye to Beloit and sold 1t
for Is cents a bushel. He also mar
keted hogs in the same town for 81
hundred weight besides hauled them
40 miles. Many of the earliest stayed
because they had not the means to get
away, and today are cheerful they are
living in so good a county as Jewell
and making money. Mankato is the
home of Hays B. White, congressman
ex-warden of the state penitentiary:
r. W. Turner, who held a national
appointment abroad as consul at
Cadiz, Spain. and W. R. Mitchell
Judge of the Fifteenth district Among
the early county officials your CORE
spondent first met are the following:
State senator. T. B. Carpenter; 1egis-
]. NJ. Hutchinson: treasurer. w. C.
AcClung: clerk. W. NJ. Allen: sheriff.
J. @. A. Shives; probate judge. J. w.
McRoberts: register of deeds NJ.
Stone; clerk of court. P. Alexander;
superintendent. D. s. Kenney: county
attorney r. S. Hanley: surveyor. E.
T. Byram; coroner, Walter Crew.
commissioners. Thomas Shuler. o. F.
Roberts, J. D. Robertson. Only two
Of the above named county officials
are living in Jewell county now, the
larger majority of them having died
years ago. The county was organized
in 1870. Your itemizer has witnessed
the growth of town to a population
of about 1900. 1t has the Missouri
Pacific and Rock Island roads. three
banks and two newspapers.
One of the exciting congressional