The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-04
Sixth District Ne1US Notes
Items and "reminiscences by An Old Timer With His
Ear to the Grass Roots.
BY HARRY ROOT
BY HARRY ROOT.


One of the pioneer towns in Smith
county was Cora. 1t was first set
tiled in 1870. Chester T. Hart oper :
ated the first store. The nearest rail-
road was the B. & NJ, and settlers
coming in on that road got off the
cars at Hastings, Neb., IS miles away.
Along in the early eighties a railroad
survey was run thru the Cora couu-
trv, Cora took on boom and several
business houses started up, including
three general stores. by Buckley q
Hill Isom & Parker and Gilbert &
Smith When Cora failed to get a
railroad the two first named, besides
several others pulled away from the
town. Among other business houses
in pioneer days was the hardware
store of Chas. Bates, David Royce.
/ brother of John Q. Royce, former
state bank commissioner. carried On
/ the lumber trade, Col. Joe Wright,
once candidate for lieutenant COVER
nor on the Populist ticket, printed
the Cora Union. Besides his general
merchandise affairs Mel. Parker kept
| around him q. herd of 900 cattle at all
times. DIR. John B. Dykes, just out
Of college and looking Aor a place to
I locate, was Cora's first doctor. Fail
/ ing to secure a rail- DAD, and the Rock
/ Island pushing thru northwest Kan
! sas, DIR. Dykes moved to the railroad,
| and located in Lebanon. Since his
| residence there he was the nominee
! twice for congress. He is now living
| in Mankato, and successfully practicing
his profession. The First Congrega-
tionalist church erected at an early
/ day still stands in Cora. 1t has been
| remodeled several times. 1t has u
/ large following. The town in pioneer
days had large hotel. Neither the
! 3. & NJ. nor the Missouri Pacific would
build to Cora. so the Rock Island
built thro leaving the town eight miles
] nd fnn Of 81
! laire. which at one time was the home
I of Tom Thompson, now state treas
urer. The population of Cora in her
best days was fifteen families all told.
1t was the building of the Rock Island
several miles from town that ruined
the chances of Cora. The'town was
originally in Pawnee township, and
ten miles square, and afterwards
changed to Cora. 1t is only a few
miles from the place where the noted
! Fatty" Arbuckle was born. Most of
the original settlers and homesteaders
are gone. Some of those remaining
are Martin Olson, Alex. Mcdonald,
Hank Myers, Hank Simmons, BILLY"
Hooper. Bud Collins and J. n. Barnes.
In Cora's best days it had legal talent
in a. H. Gates, Lair Dean and Jim
Cotton. They, too moved to greener
pastures. The early timers will re-
member Cora-had a dressmaker, Mrs.
Johnson, the dreSsmaker." The early
settlers will remember her home, as
it was built of merchandise boxes
One Of the big promoters of Cora was
Jack Kennedy, who was always in
I tereSted for town and her people. The
writer of these notes was an early
visitor to Cora, at which time two
railroads were almost assured. and the
third, the Rock Island, was looming
up in the distance. 1t had a good foun-
dalton at the start, but the railroads
never came, as was the case with
many northwest Kansas towns.
George Smith, at one time a noted
Populist in the early nineties, in Smith
county, who served in both branches
of the legislature from that county,
died at his home in Brighton, Cal,
and the remains were brought back to
Kensington for burial. He was an
farmer in the Germantown district
and later an active business man in
Kensington, and until he moved to
Colorado.
With gold discoveries in the Bird
City section of Cheyenne county.
which was the first county seat of
that county, the question arises if the
town will be as lively as it was in
county seat times when it boosted of
over 500 population, with three banks,
three newspapers, good system of
waterworks, court house, and several
good business houses. As one of
her citizens has said: mo. use to make
the Alaska trip when we have the
precious metal at home"
Beloit lost one of her most sue
cessful attorneys in the federal ap-
pointment of Chas. F. Kagey as min
lister to Finland. The papers favor
ably mention Joe F. Finch, a well
known educator in several towns in
the Sixth district as a new resident of
Beloit, who will open a law office in
that city. At the last bar meeting be-
fore the state supreme court he passed
served as county clerk of Jewell
county.
Dan B. Dyer, the old Republican
wheel horse of Smith Center, and of
the Sixth district, picked upon the
Kansas Day club gathering as the
proper time for his annual vacation,
and it was natural that he would want
to be in Topeka during the festivities
and the week preceding. Mr.. Dyer
would be just as much at home at any
town in the Sixth district as he would
be at Smith Center, as there is not
a COW path in those twenty-five coun-
past, and especially during the past
four or five years as grain buyer for
the Derby Grain company of Topeka.
When Dyer came to Topeka he looked
over the list of the candidates for gov
ernpr and proceeded to add three more
names to the list mentioning Senator
Price. Governor Bailey and Senator
Jim Stewart. The old man is morti-
m.