The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-03-11
Sixth District NelUs Notes
Items and "reminiscences by An Old Timer With EIis
Ear to the Grass Roots.
Ar1rl
BY HARRY ROOT.

known as the Sixth congressional dis
trict, was practically begun in the
1 year 1879 and pushed rapidly there
after until completed. The 40th par
talIe1 of north latitude, or the divid-
| ing line between Kansas and Ne
lbraska, marked the center of earliest
4 advancement This was due in part
| to the line of railroad thru Nebraska.
crossing the country to Denver, as well
as to climatic conditions and to the
! political agitation awakened recently
| by the Kansas-Nebraska bill that
brought these states into the Union.
! In the early days of April 1872, w
E. Case and ]. H. Simmons arrived
in the Prairie Dog valley, in Norton
| county, for the purpose of locating
claims in that valley near the center
of now Norton county.
| The first settlers they found were
some miles east Of where Almena is
I located. They were d. c. Coleman
and Jim Hall, who with their wives,
who were sisters, had erected a dug
out and were settled having moved
| there to remain permanently These
| two sisters were the only women iv-
/ ing in the county at that time. d.
| C. Coleman was equipped with a COM
pass plats, maps, etc, and was hearth
| ly engaged fin locating settlers as rap
| idly as they. arrived. Coleman did
not remain in the county, but was
active while there, and became known
| to all the early settlers. Hall and his
wife remained in Almena until recent
years, and were respected and pron1i-
nent citizens Case and Simmons were
located by Coleman near the center
of the county and were active citi-
zenS for more than q score of years
On their way up the Prairie Dog they
encountered a small herd of buffaloes
and were lucky to Kill one of the
largest in the bunch. Buffa1oes an
telope, wild horses, turkeys, elk and
black tailed deer were not uncommon,
while the ponds and lagoons along the
valley were alive with flocks of water
fowl. Both Simmons aid Case, like
hundreds of other settlers, repaired to
the land office. then located at Con-
cordia, put filings on their lands, then
returned to their homes for six months
before taking up their permanent
homes in this new country.
Northwestern Kansas has a poetess.
Edith x. Rees a former Norton lady,
and now principal of the Edmond,
Norton county, high school. Her poem
follows:
To small sod shanty, the mansion of
the claim
Mid the rows of sod corn, little baby
came.
The sunflowers laughed joyously and
told it to the sun,
The winds went singing on their way
and told everyone.
CHORUS.
A Kansas girl is the girl for me;
A girl that's bred on the broad prairie. |
Where the sun shines far, and the
winds blow free;
A Kansas girl is the girl for me.
Where stood that old sod shanty, |
stands schools and churches
And that little baby is now a woman |
rare.
She knows the coyotes bowling and !
she knows a college yell.
She's everything a girl should be and |
J 7 fo1
Thousands of 3x5 cards containing
the names of as many old settlers |
later residents, and others who have
lived in Russell county in its fifty |
years of history. is part of the fur |
niture of the office of J. G. Ruppen- |
thai. of Russell. Each card is devoted !
to one individual, tho often contain |
ing cross-references to other persons
and families. For years the develop |
ment of this list has gone on. When |
Judge Ruppenthal as a|youth went TO |
the University of Kansas in 1891, he
saw for the first time card index |
cabinet and cards in the library, and I
at once began to apply the idea of |
such cards to other things than list /
ing books. Some years later he Sc |
cured a small cabinet which in time |
was exchanged for a larger one. In
the interest of local history he en-
tered names. He had thousands Of |
cards printed with spaces for fifteen
kinds of data. Not all OF these are
learned or noted. but space is avail
able The data include full name of
the person, date when first entry is
made on the card, details of birth,
marriage, death. Education, religion
and political affiliations are added. -Oc-
cupation and membership in all kinds
of organizations. are provided for as
well as successive places of residence
from the cradle to the grave. Office
held, military or army record fol-
4 sT- 70,
pIexion. size. etc, may be given. Both
offspring and ancestry have suitable
space. Besides all this. blank space
permits other matter not included In
the above.
when inquiry arises as to old timer
resort is had to these cards alpha
betically arranged. Editors and cor
preparing copy ask for
particulars here at hand. Lawyers
tracing estates or personal facts as
to legal interests seek for a clue in
these files. For every historical oc-
casion material is available for APP
Propriate story. The year that
Smith was drowned, or Brown was
frozen in a blizzard, or White sowed
the first hard wheat may be found
under the settlers name. Here are
the people regardless of age, sex, race
social conditions. marital state, creed
or political preference. 1t has been
the oompilers dream, admittedly I'M
realizable to include every human
who ever lived in Russell county
perhaps $4,000 to 100000 in all
J. z. Counter died at his home in
Brighton, Col, recently. 1t was Coun-
ter and James Humphrey who started
the Oberlin Herald in 1879. the year
after the murderous Indians on the I
Sappa and Beaver creeks in Decatur {
and Rawlins counties in September.
1878. In the cemetery in Oberlin is
a monument erected by state aid, and
on the sides of which are the names
of more than twenty settlers who were
killed by these murderous Sava ges.
The first work Humphrey did on his
arrival in Kansas was on the Atchi-