Gove County KS Archives History - Books .....Reminiscences Of Early Days 1930
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Book Title: History Of Gove County, Kansas, Part II

CHAPTER VII
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS

  This chapter was written by A. B. Brandenburg of Quinter, who was one of the
earliest settlers, and one of the very few of those settlers of half a century
ago who are still with us. Mr. Brandenburg can tell this story much better than
any writer who came upon the scene in these later days; and in telling it he
could say, like the hero of ancient times, "all of which I saw, and a part of
which I was."—W. P. H.

  In the first settling of this part of Kansas, the Kansas Division of the Union
Pacific Railroad was one of the Pioneers. This was built thru here about 1866
and 1867 and was finished thru to Denver, Colorado, ready for trains to make the
thru trips from Kansas City to Denver, September first, 1870. Wells were put
down and section houses were built for the five men and crews about 14 miles
apart. The writer came to Russell in January 1878 and went to work for a man
that was one of the town company of Park, Kansas. He wanted another man and
myself to come out to Gove County and locate and he let us have a horse and
buggy to drive thru. We made the trip the last of April 1878. By driving thru we
could see the country better, so will say that Fort Hays was the first sight we
saw. The town was then not very large.

  The next place was Ellis, where there was not a building, only a small shed on
the south side of the track, and nothing north of the creek. . Next town was
Ogallah and they had just finished a sod house and was digging a well and then
on to WaKeeney. The town was plotted and two or three houses were built. The old
town was known as Trego, in the draw west of WaKeeney about a mile. Then we
drove on to Collyer where they were laying out that town and one house was
already built. The old town was about a mile west of Collyer. A section house
and water tank had been built and was called Coyote. On we drove to Buffalo, now
called Park.

  When the town was called Buffalo the postoffice was Hill Grove and then the
town was named Buffalo Park, and later Park. H. J. Bliss, one of the town
company, had built a store and lived over the store. There was one dwelling
house, and a. shed blacksmith shop.

  The first settlers were a number of families from Pennsylvania, 16 families in
all. These settled in and around Park in the spring of 1878. Another colony came
west and located at Collyer, settling as far west as Quinter, but there was no
town where it now stands. In the spring of 1879 the railroad laid a spur track
where Quinter is now located and called the place Melota. The town of Grainfield
was started in the spring of 1879. A colony of Holland Dutch from Iowa, settled
around Grainfield. The town of Grinnell had then a section house and another
small house where mostly tobacco and drinks were sold, also a few groceries.

  The town of Oakley was first named Carlisle. It like most of the other towns
along the Union Pacific have different names now than was given them when the
road was first built. In the fall of 1878 a band of Indians left the reservation
in Indian Territory and went north going thru the west part of Gove County, and
northward. Some where over the Solomon river a man was killed. This man's body
was brought back to Park for burial, as his parents lived at Park at the time.
This however seems to be one of those mysteries, because many at that time did
not think that the Indians were to blame for it.

  As this band traveled north into the northern part of Sheridan and the
southern part of Decatur county, between the Solomon and Prairie Dog property. A
man by the name of Peck had a store on the Prairie Dog right in their path, also
the post office in connection. The post office was called Shiboleth. I stopped
with them several times after the raid and they told me the story of the raid on
their house and store. From the house they took clothing and bedding and from
the store dry goods. The feather beds that were in the house were taken outside
and emptied of feathers which were scattered to the four winds. Mr. Peck said
that he had just received a barrel of syrup, that was all taken away, but what
they used to carry it in had always puzzled him. The Indians also killed the fat
cattle, then cut them in strips and left them lay.

  After doing all the mischief they could here the band left for Nebraska, where
their real trouble began. The settlers and cowboys were aroused over the
depredations the Indians were doing and gathered together and went after them,
finally driving the whole band into a canyon, where every member of the band was
killed.

  The soldiers had been following the Indians but apparently did not want to
catch them. The Indians said they were not afraid of the soldiers, but were
afraid of the cattle men and settlers. They knew that the soldiers were allowed
to go only so far, but the settlers and cattle men knew no such rules and meant
business.

  What really made Buffalo Park a live town those days was the fact that the old
cattle trail passed just west of Park, near the edge of town. There were from
100,000 to 200,000 head of cattle driven northward into the north western
states. These were mostly cattle contracted for by the government. These cattle
herds would start from Texas in March and get this far in June. The largest herd
I ever saw at any one time was 10,000 head. It looked to me like they covered an
area of ground 10 miles long by one quarter of a mile wide.

  While driving these cattle the men scattered along on each side to keep them
in line, and each man as a rule had five saddle ponies and would use a fresh
horse each day by turns. Those days they would let the cattle go all winter and
then round them up in the spring, and each man pick out his own cattle. I heard
one man say that when he left Texas he had 400 head of cattle in his bunch that
did not belong to him, and when they arrived here had about 50 head that did not
belong to him, most of them belonged in Nebraska.

  The cattle men had men stationed along the route with a list of brands whose
business it was to take such branded cattle out of the herds as the cattle
passed by. This cattle business is what made Buffalo Park a good town then. Many
of the boys would drop out and go back home and others were here waiting for a
job on the trail.

  By the end of 1879 Buffalo Park was a town with twelve stores and three
Hotels, three livery stables, three restaurants, three saloons, one barber shop,
two blacksmith shops, one harness maker and one bakery, and a paper printed
here, was the first one to be printed in the county.

  The first school was started in the fall of 1878, the people built the house
as there was nothing to tax, as this then was a township attached to Ellis
county, and later when Trego county was organized it was a township of Trego
county.

  The first Church organized in Gove county was at Buffalo Park by a
Congregationalist missionary sent out by that church. He was an able man by the
name of J. Q. A. Weller.

  In 1880 the people began to leave the town and also the settlers began to go
away as there were no crops and hence nothing to sell. In some instances the man
of the family would leave the family where they could take care of the things
then find work elsewhere, so they could earn some money to keep their families
and in some cases the wife would go and they received the sum of $1.50 per week.
That sum would seem almost nothing now. I have surely felt very sorry many, many
times for these families with their children, and no one knows what some noble
women have endured to bring up their families and keep their homes together, and
it was those people that have sacrificed to make it possible for the present
generation to have the advantages they have today.

  The first money the writer earned in Gove county was by picking bones over the
prairies.

  One of the first wheat crops raised in Gove county was in 1881. There was
about 20 acres of it on land about a mile east of Park. The writer and
ex-sheriff Robert Bohn cradled, bound and shocked the wheat for a man by the
name of Peach, who operated a blacksmith shop in Park.

  Grandma Christensen had a bakery in Park at the time, and we bought bread from
her often.

  In February 1881 was the worst we ever saw on these plains. I was batching on
my claim at the time and was caught there during the storm. I did not see any
one for 11 days. Folks south of me ran out of provisions and had to go to town,
they came by with a yoke of oxen and sled and we put my oxen and theirs to the
wagon and broke the road to Park. We were the first team to get to town from
south and east of Park.

  The most wicked blizzard we ever saw while it lasted was in February, 1883,
but it lasted only six hours.

  During the blizzard of 1881 some burned up most of their furniture. It was not
very costly stuff, however. It was mostly homemade furniture. At this early day
folks had to be men of all trades. Cabinet makers and sod masons, most of the
houses were built of sod or were dug-outs.

  The blizzard of January 1886 was the longest of any of them. There were 19
days during that storm that no train went through from Kansas City to Denver.

  Late in the spring of 1870 a caravan of 60 covered wagons traveling-together,
past through Park. They were headed for the State of Washington. Their route
followed the cattle trail northwest. These folks were from eastern Kansas and
Missouri. The prairie did not appeal to them.

  Our social times naturally were limited compared to what they are now, but we
had real good times together. The social dance and playing of games were the
chief activities of the social life.

  In the fall of 1885 the town of Familton, now Quinter, was staked out by a
town company from Nebraska and in the spring of 1886 a colony of the Brethren
Church located here and began to improve this part of the country. There is not
much use for me to say much about this country since the spring of 1886, as
there are so many here who are familiar with its history from then on.

  When I first located here and was on my homestead, I would imagine I could see
in the future. Perhaps only a few years, and see a nicely improver country—like
it is at present—but after a few years, when there were seasons when we failed
to raise anything, and what is more, it looked like it never would be of any
account, brought the discouraging periods to the country. But thanks to the
faithful few that stayed with it, it was these stalwart souls that saved the day
for this country. After a time new settlers came and stayed, they too saw in the
future that this would be a country of homes and determined to stick it out. It
is to this class of people that we owe a big debt for the homes we now have in
this section of Kansas. In what way could we be better rewarded for the
sacrifice so many have made when we see the grand churches of the community, and
the schools and all conveniences we now have, and best of all the God fearing
people with whom we have associated.

  As I look around and think of the early settlers here and the good, kind
friends of those times and wonder where tney are all now. The older ones are
gone on and the younger ones are scattered to the four winds. At the present
time I can count only two people living in this country now who were living in
this country when I located in this county. They are Mrs. Emma Crippen of Gove
and Charley Johnson living west of Grainfield.

  There were many interesting events happened in those days, which I have passed
over.

  In concluding this brief sketch of those earlier days will give the names of
those who were members of the town company of Buffalo Park: J. W. Ellithorpe, S.
J. Bliss, John Morgan, Jim Goudy, Ed Hibard, these were from Russell and there
are a few more names I do not now recall.



Additional Comments:
History of Gove County, Kansas
by W. P. Harrington

Gove City, Kan.	1930

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