Barton County KS Archives History - Books .....Recollections Of Early Days 1912 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 23, 2005, 1:04 am Book Title: Biographical History Of Barton County RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY DAYS By David N. Heizer of Colorado Springs, Col. I CAME to Barton County in May, 1871, in company with J. H. Prescott of Enterprise, Miss., W. W. Weymouth of Springfield, 0., and Wm. Finn and Albert Griffin of Sedgwick, Kansas. We were looking for a location to engage in stock raising. We arrived at old Fort Zarah about the 18th of May, 1871. On the night before our arrival we camped with the officers and directors of the A., T. & S. F. railroad, who were returning from a prospecting trip up the Arkansas Valley, over the proposed line of their road. They assured us they would build their road as far west as Fort Zarah within two years. With this information, upon seeing the magnificent body of land on the Big Bend, as it was then called, we concluded that here would be a favorable place to commence and build up a settlement. Accordingly we spent several days in surveying and tracing out section lines in township 19, range 13, and after concluding to locate a town on section 26, and making a survey and plat of the same, we organized a town company with J. H. Prescott as president, and authorized him to go to Salina and file on said land, under the Town Site Preemption Act—which he did. I must here recount the scenes of our first buffalo hunt. OUR FIRST BUFFALO HUNT. On our arrival there were myriads of these noble animals on the south of the Arkansas. J. H. Prescott, Al. Griffin, and myself mounted three horses and set out Griffin had a Henry rifle and a pair of revolvers, I had a needle gun and a pair of dragoon revolvers, and Mr. Prescott not being a marksman, but very fond of adventure, went along to enjoy the fun. We crossed the Walnut just opposite the old fort, and came to the river. It was high, the sand-bars being covered; we knew nothing about it, and felt very doubtful about being able to cross, us it looked very angry and deep. After debating some time as to whether we would venture, we concluded not to give up unless we were obliged to, and that one of the party should doff his apparel and investigate. As I was the only swimmer it fell on me to explore. I prepared myself after the manner of a theater actress—only more so. The water seemed to be deepest near the bank; I expected to be thoroughly baptized at the first jump. I made a tremendous jump, and lo and behold, the water, mud, sand and all was not knee deep. The spectators encored me, and the rest of the performances consisted in my running and skipping along in water from six inches to five feet deep. We then crossed, and within a mile of the river came to where a small herd of buffalo bulls were grazing in the sand hills. Griffin and I dismounted and taking our rifles crept to the crest of a ridge about 300 yards of them. I had formerly thought buffalo were about the size of ordinary cattle, but as I looked at one through the sights of my gun, thinking what a terrible beast a wounded buffalo was reported to be, he looked to be as large as an elephant or a common sized barn. I concluded there must be telescopic sights on my gun, and drew it back to look it over; the gun also seemed to have the ague. We finally concluded to both fire at the same bull, and becoming brave, we did so, but without any great damage to the bull, as he went galloping off with the rest. He was hurt, however, as he limped badly. This was encouraging; and getting very brave, we mounted our horses, left our rifles with Dr. Prescott, and pursued with our revolvers. THE CHASE. The flight of the bulls had started a large herd just beyond another hill, which we bad not seen; we, taking a southeasterly and they a southerly course, we flanked them about the middle of the herd. We then went wild, and dashed right into the midst of the herd, determined to have a buffalo. I could, with the fast horse I had, ride onto any of them, and finally succeeded in shooting a fat cow through the loins, so that she fell out of the herd, disabled. I was so close onto her when I fired that I could have kicked her. The rest of the herd passed on, and Griffin came to the rescue. After about a dozen shots, made in circling around the enraged beast, we brought her down. We were not yet satisfied, and seeing a small herd of cows and calves off to the northeast, concluded we must have a calf, as they would be better meat We dashed for them, and after a two mile chase, got one, which we dressed, threw across my horse, and then set out for camp, leaving the old cow for the coyotes and wolves, which were then here by the thousands. It was some time before we could find the doctor, whom we had left behind, and almost night before we reached camp, tired and hungry. Never did meat taste better than did steaks from that young buffalo. We ate and were satisfied, for we had possessed the land and proven ourselves worthy huntersi of the chase. But to business. At about this time there were several prospecting parties camped near us on the Walnut, among whom was M. W. Hasley, now of Lakin township. I made up my mind to stay, as did Wm. Finn, of Sedgwick City. Messrs. Weymouth and Prescott went with me to Ellsworth, where they took the train east for Ohio, to return in July or August After making a tour up the Saline river, I returned to our ranch on the Walnut, as we had taken possession of and left our stores in an old deserted stone ranch near Fort Zarah. Finn and I remained at this ranch until about the 20th of June, when E. J. Dodge and Aaron Hartman called on us one evening, having walked across from Russell, and about perishing on their way from thirst. I shall never forget a little incident that occurred that night. CASTING OUT SERPENTS. Messrs. Dodge and Hartman had made their bed on the floor (a dirt floor) and were about to retire. As I walked by the foot of our bunk I heard a familiar sound; calling for Finn to bring a light, which he did, we proceeded to kill a very healthy young rattlesnake and cast him out. Dodge and Hartman proceeded as vigorously to gather up their bed and divide the same, preparatory to climbing a tree or seeking some other safe place to sleep. However, Mr. Dodge has always insisted that he felt safer when I told him that was only the second one we had killed that evening, when usually we killed five or six before retiring. LAND AGENT BUSINESS COMMENCED. Next day, in true land agent style, we proceeded to locate Mr. Dodge, who wanted claims for himself and sons. He then selected the quarter in section 10, T. 19, R. 13., on which he now lives; but we did not get through until he succeeded in getting my team stuck in the Walnut—a little episode I have never fully forgiven him for. A MISHAP. About the 4th of July of that year, T. L. Morris and Judge Mitchell of Quincy, Ills., made a trip to this point, on a buffalo hunt and a prospecting tour for the Great Bend Town Company. They prospected some and hunted enough for the Judge to get heaped on the plain by an unruly buffalo bull. The said bull did about seventy-five dollars worth of goring on the Judge's horse—no computation made as to amount of damages done to the Judge's dignity, as the liveryman made no claim on that. ZARAH SURVEYED. About the same time, a survey for the town of Zarah was being made by one Meriton, for the Zarah Town Company, with Judge Miller of Ellsworth as president. Also, in the latter part of June, John Cook, John Hubbard, A. C. Moses, Ed. W. Dewey, and D. E. Benedict made calls, and Logan Reynolds and J. P. Bissell followed soon. When I first came there were no settlers below Section 14, in township 19, range 14, on Walnut creek. GREAT BEND TOWN COMPANY. Later, either in July or August, T. L. Morris came out again in the interests of the Great Bend Town Co., and selected section 34, township 19, range 13, as the site for their town. Geo. N. Moses, A. B. Robinson, Frank Day, and Hiram Bickerdyke were in the party with him. Afterwards, he changed the location to section 28, the present site of the town. In September, he began the erection of a hotel, now a part of the Southern Hotel, which was completed during the winter and occupied by Thos. L. Stone. STRIFE FOR THE COUNTY SEAT. Considerable rivalry was rife between the Zarah and Great Bend town folks, which finally resulted in the downfall of Zarah and the triumph of Great Bend. CATTLE TRADE. The winter of 1871-2 was a very hard one for this latitude, and not much was done for the advancement of the town and settlement until spring. The prospect of the early completion of the railroad, thereby making Great Bend with its rich grazing country a desirable shipping point for Texas cattle attracted the attention of business men who had been identified with the Texas trade at other points; and during the spring of 1872 the town made a very rapid growth. Business houses sprang up around the square as if by magic. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/barton/history/1912/biograph/recollec24ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 9.5 Kb