The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-26
BY HARRY ROOT.

Quinter is in the northeast corner OF
Cove county. 1t is the business me-
tropolis Of the county, its trade terri
tory extending into Trego county east.
Graham on the northeast, and Sheri-
dan on the north, a country which
settled up in the late seventies and
early eighties. Few people outside OF
the county know that the town has
had three names. When the Union
Pacific was built a passing track was
put in. which appeared on the guides
and folders as Melotte Siding. Later
when the pioneer settlers came flock
ing in the name was changed to Fam
ilton. Several years later a large col
ony of Dunkards came from the east,
many of them taking homesteadS near
the toWnsite, and erected a commodi-
Gus church, the name was rechristened
Quinter In the strife for location of
county seat Cove City. II miles from
the railroad, was chosen, her vote be-
ing almost unanimous, while the vote
of the railroad towns was cast Tor
their own towns. Had either town di-
vided her vote for one of the other
places it is believed the county cap
ital of Cove would have been locates
on the main line of the Union Pacific
railroad. Grainfield. Park and Quin-
ter were working for the county seat,
and so bitter was the strife, and SO
much jealousy existed, the voters cast
their ballots for their respective towns,
and this threw the county seat to
Cove City. The first time your cor
respondent visited Cove City the town
had three newspapers Now there is
one, and the foL- railroad towns each
have one. Several projected railroads
have headed toward Cove City, and so
far all have failed. 1t is pleasantly
located in the valley of the blackberry,
a rich farming country and thickly
settled.
"Chan." Perdue of Be1oit is dead.
He had been an invalid for the last
two years. A few months ago the
writer of these notes" was a visitor
at the pleasant country home of Mr..
and Mrs. Perdue He was hopeful
that he would outliVe his ailment of
paralysis, and he was as cheerful on
this occasion as your correspondent
has seen him many times in the nearly
fifty years of our acquaintance and
friendship. No an in northwest
Kansas had more friends than Chan"
Perdue. He was everybody's friend,
and all who knew him were his
friends. Politicians from all over the
state visiting Beloit would hunt up
Chan" and politics would be gone
over. He was Republican and he at
tended every county, district and many
state conventions. He came to Beloit
in 1878. He served as postmaster and
assistant for seventeen years, besides
clerk 1t was impossible for him to
refuse an appeal for aid or assistance
He was a valued friend of the writer
who will mourn lis death in COM
mon with his many friends in Beloit,
Mitchell county and Kansas. In 1894
he married Jane NJ. Ellis, of Ionia.
Mich. a loving, faithful wife who was
the rarely sympathetic cOmrade of his
activity, and the loyal tirefess nurse
who cared for him with extraordinary
devotion turnout the period of his
helplessness. He was member of the
Masonic order, knight Templar and
Shrine. Odd Fellows, K. of P, and the
A. o. U. W. He YVES taking life easy
when he was stricken, and he and
his splendid wife were at home to
their many friends in one of the pleas
ATTEST happy homes in Beloit.
In the distribution of political pie
to the deserving ones, it is believed
G. L. Danner hts the strongest pull
for the Wilson postoffice. Danner has
been pushing for Wilson ever since
the town got on the map. Now his
friends want to see him rewarded.
Congressman White will make no mis-
take in his selection.
It is interesting to hear old timers
talk of their pioneer days in north
west Kansas. Recently Kent Trimmer,
of Cove county, editor and publisher
of the Cove City Republican, who is
too, one of the pioneer newspaper men
in the Sixth district, visited the state
house, and called on his old time
friends in the auditors office, Norton
Turner. state auditor. and Frank Nc
Ivor, first assistant in the office. Years
ago Turner was publishing the Colby
Tribune; and McIvor was running the
Hoxie Sentinel. The trio had not been
together long when they began telling
"reminiscences of the pioneer times
they experienced, first one giving some
experience of their early days when
that wonderful empire west of the
sixth principal meridian was new
First Turner spoke of the pleasures
and hardships he had had in RawIins
and Thomas counties. Then Trimmer
spoke of founding a paper at Fan1il-
ton Station, now Quinter, Finally Nc
Ivor spoke up and said, my expert
ences were many and varied, but the
most pleasant one I can recall off
hand was eating meals that were
cooked over fire made from the ma
tive fuel, known then as buffalo chips,
but later COW chips. and do you know
that even today to drive over hills
and down into valley just at the
close of day and get a whiff of the
aroma from one of those fires. brings
back the appetite of those boyhood
days. Talk about the ambrosial
zephyrs of the far, far east and the
spiced air of the south, but to INV