The Topeka state journal., 1922-08-08
DREAM NOW REAL
Man Who Surveyed Ulysses,
Kan, VIII Return by Rail.
Left After Becoming Leading
Citizen 20 Years Ago.

Wichita, Kan, Aug. s.-Twenty-
nine years ago George w. carp,
banker, mayor. founder and surveyor
of Ulysses, Kan, in extreme south
western Kansas, left the town he
helped organize. He vowed he would
never return until he could ride in on
a railroad.
August IT he plans to return TO
Ulysses. And it will be by railroad,
for the Santa Fe is scheduled to run
it's first train over its new line from
Satanta to Ulysses on that date. Earp.
IN response to an invitation from the
present mayor, will make the princi-
pal sPeech at the celebration in honor
of the event
The new Santa Fe line IS to traverse
Grant and Stanton. hitherto the only
railr,adless counties in Kansas. and
eventually, perhaps, cross over into
Colorado, piercing territory that has
lever been served by a railroad.
carp came to Wichita in 1898 after
the boom population of Ulysses had
dwindled to almost nothing. lie
served for four years as deputy
United States marshal In 1915 he
was appointed deputy under Internal
and in 1917 was made chief OF field
deputies, a position he held until his
term expired August 1 of this year.
carp was young man in the Car
a bridegroom of but a few months
when the Ulysses townsite company
was organized there. He was made
manager of the company and with
nine men set out to establish the city
of Ulysses in what was then Hamilton
county.
In June, 1885. they located on tho
bank of the north fork of the Cimar-
ron river, taking a school section for
which they paid SO an acre. On their
arrival cowboys were engaged in the
annual spring roundup and 10000
head of cattle were being branded on
the tract. The town-builders had to
wait until the roundup was over be-
fore putting down their stakes.
In those days everything west of
Dodge composed Finney and Hamil-
ton counties and a race was in prog
ress to divide the territory into smaller
sections. the different factions trying
to establish counties which they in
tended to control. AS result, Has
kell and Seward were founded out of
Finney to the southwest, and from
Stevens and Morton counties Dodge
City to the north and Meade to the
east were the nearest railroad points
and steel rails did not pierce any of
the new counties.
carp and his followers built the
first structure hotel-and in less
than a year were leaders of a. munich
pality of nearly 1000 people, engaged
in a county seat war. The town was
organized for police protection in
1886 and the same year Ulysses was
it up for a county of which
it could become a county seat. Grant
county was laid out and a commits
sioner was appointed by the state to
select the county seat. Because the
had been named Grant for the
Union general and the town Ulysses,
a rival town company that located up
the river a few miles was called Ap-
pomattax in memory of the generals
defeat of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Vir-
ginia.
The towns began a campaign for the
county seat. The commissioner ap-
pointed by the governor selected
Ulysses, subject to an election which
also favored Ulysses. Grant became
q. county in 1887 and Appomattox tore
down some of her buildings and
moved the rest to Ulysses.
A plow furrow from Meade which
guided first settlers to the Cimarron
became a well trodden
trail. In fact, signs along it that told
where to get good well water were
responsible. at least in a measure, for
the rapid growth of Ulysses