The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-23
BY HARRY ROOT.

BY HARRY ROOT.
J. W. Troutman tells many pleasing
experiences he passed thru in the Be
| lott Gazett'S fifty year anniversary is
sue. He took up his honest cad in
| Mitchell county in May. 1871. He has
retired from the farm, and is now do
ing real estate and insurance work.
! He says he can now look back with in
terest to the pioneer times he expert
enced. He was there in the days of
| the buffalo, and eaten many meals on
this kind of meat In June of that
year he and others ran down a buffalo
and killed it, and divided it up among
them. They soon found it was an old
one, as the meat was SO tough they
couldn't eat it The first one he ever
saw was the property of another man.
1t was a colt, and at the age of two
years he sold it for SIS. as money was
badly needed. Troutman was glad
and willing to work for any price, and
| did break sod with two yoke of long
| horns. That season many Texas cat
tie were feeding on the buffalo grass.
| The winter turned out to be a disas-
| trous one for the cattle The valley of
| the Solomon from BeIoit to Cawker
! City was full of dead cattle on &C
count of the severity of the winter and
| spring months. There was happiness
| and love in the little "soddy' on the
homestead so much that he says those
pioneer times were happy days to him
! a genuine. live snake in the school
| room Not so of the dugout and sod
| school houses of northwestern Kansas
| in pioneer times Before she mar
ried Mrs. Troutman taught school in
| a sod house in Mitchell county, near
Beloit. During school hours. and
| while hearing the lessons from one of
| her classes. g. sure enought live snake
came crawling down the side OF the
sods. There was great commotion
| among the youngsters, some of them
| climbed up on the benches, and others
ran out of the little soddy school room
| for dear life. The excitement was
/ soon over. the snake killed and the
/ children returned to their lessons.
| There are some living in the neighbor-
pupils of this teacher in the early sew
entities.
| One of the most active men in Ober-
| lin is John P. O'Grady. He has re-
| tired from the cashiership of the
| Farmers National bank of that town,
having served in the same capacity
for thirty-three years. This bank has
a fine organization of loyal stockhold-
| ers and patrons. 1t has been success
tful. and it can be said that not a
check has ever had to go to protest
| because of lack of funds. Before To-
| eating in Oberiin he was bookkeeper
| in St. Joseph, Mo- bank for q num-
Der of years. He has been a power in
i this bank and has a wide acQuaint-
| ance who will regret his retirement
| The writer of these notes has been
i acquainted with him since his resi-
| dence in Oberlin. and is happy Of the
I fact that both of US have been warm
| personal friends. He quits the bank
| on his own free will, and while he has
/ offers of broader fields his friends
want to see him remain in Oberlin.
He has seen much OF his town grow
up. and he has been a willing spender
and contributor for the town advance
ment- Good luck to you. John.
| r. E Patterson of Selden furnishes
| the Sixth district department OF The
State Journal some reminiscent facts
I of the early history of Rexford, Thorn
as county. He is a large farmer and
stockman. He is one OF the pioneers
| who witnessed the town grow from
two saloons and a cattle chute to the
row thrifty center of grain. stock and
mercantile houses John Penshaw
homesteaded the quarter section
/ where the town now stands, making
final proof in March, 1887, the place
being plated the same year. The first
postmaster was ". H. Markham, and
the first schoolteacher was Miss Nina
Cumston. One OF the first business
houses was operated by Penshaw &
/ Hook, in sod house three miles away
from the present site of Rexford, at
which time there wasn't q railroad
nearer than Oberiin, forty miles, and
i the settlemen far between The
buffalo had disappeared and antelope
were quite plentiful. DR.. H c. Pat
terson, the pioneer physician in
Thomas county. praetfced his profess
sion and operated drug store in Rex