USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Vol I > Part 7
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EARLY LAND SURVEYS.
During this early period considerable trouble and dissatisfaction arose over the land survey. The government ran part of the township lines in 1860, but the section lines were run at a later date. Townships 22, 23. 24 and 25, range 4, were run in 1860, as were also the same numbered town- ships in ranges 5. 6, 7 and S. But in the north part of township 26 in range 4. the township lines were not run until 1867, while in the southern part of this township the survey was not made until 1871. At the same time, township 5, range 5, was surveyed, as was also township 26, ranges 6. 7. 8 and 9. While townships 22, 23, 24 and 25, range 9, were run in 1870 and townships 22, 23, 24 and 25 and the northern part of 26, in range IO, were run in 1871. the southern part of township 26, range Io, was run in 1867.
Not only were the section lines not run, but the township lines were so inaccurate that much trouble was experienced in locating lands, due to the careless way in which the surveys were made. Judge M. P. Simpson. presiding over the trial of a case in the district court in later years, which involved an early survey, commented on the way these surveys were made. Judge Simpson was in his early manhood a government surveyor and made
80
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
surveys in various parts of the country-none, however. in Reno county. Hle remarked that at the time the first township lines were run, it was thought a great joke to survey these lands, as they would probably never be settled. The surveyors would tie a rag to the stake of a wagon wheel. drive as nearly straight as they could. count the number of revolutions of the wheel, and when a sufficient number of revolutions had been made. a stone was pitched overboard and that became the marker for the township or range corner. It was the knowledge of such careless work that led J. HI. D. Rozan to drive to Salina to get a surveyor who came to Reno county to help the settlers locate their land. When C. C. Hutchinson wanted to locate Main street of this city, he concluded not to rely on the govern- ment field notes, but obtained the variation of the magnetic needle and then the surveyor's transit was set up and Main street located by the observation of the North star.
As a complete record of the surveys of Reno county will be a matter of interest. there is added to this chapter a record of the official survey of Reno county, by whom and when surveyed and approved. This was furnished In the interior department of the government. There is also added a dia- gram showing the time of the running of the section lines, with the names of the men who did the work. This was also furnished by the same depart- ment.
R 10 W
R 9 W
James Withrow , 1860 |James Withrow , 1800
I Wilcox & Kong
Wilcox & Thomas 1871
I.B.F'ICOZ
Wilcox & Mong 1870
1858
Wilcox & Mong 1870
James Tithrow
James i' throw
James Withrow
James Tithrow
Stuck & H111 1860
T 22 S
Wilcox & Thomas
Isaac B. Yilcox
James Withrow
-
James Withrow
James Withrom
James Withrow
James Withro.">
Wilcox & Mong
1870
Wilcox & Thomas 1871
I. B. Wilcox
Frederick Hawn
James Withrow
James Withrow
Wilcox
Abraham Ray 1861
Stuck & H111 1860
T 23 S
Nilcor ! Thomas
Isaac B. Wilcox
James Withrow
James Withrow
James Withrow
James Withrow
James Withron
Wilcox & Mong
Wilcox & Thomas 1871
LB, Tilcox
Wilcox & Mong
1858
James A. Mong 1870
Wilcox & Mong
& Mong
James Withrow
James Withrow
Abraham Ray 1861
T 24 S
Wilcox & Thomas
Isaac B. Wilcox
James Withrow
James Withrow
James Withrow
Jameg Withrow
James Withrow
Wilcox & Kong
Wilcox & Thomas
I. B. Wilcox
1870
Wilcox & Mong 1870
Frederick Hawn
James Withrow
Wilcox & Mong
& Mong
Wilcox & Mong 1870
& Long
T 25 S
Wilcox & Mong
Isaac B. Wilcox
- Fifth Standard Parallel South, by Frederick Hewn in 1858
1870
Wilcox & · Thomas , 1871
Wilcox & Thomas 1871
Wilcox
& Thomas
Wilcox & Thomas 1871
Wilcox
& Mong
Wilcox & Mong
Mong
Wilcox & Mong
Wilcox & Mong
Wilcox
& Mong
Wilcox
& Mong
Wilcox & Mong 1871
T26 S
Smoot
Samuel S. Smoot 1867
Smoot
Smoot
Samuel S. Smoot
Samuel S. Smoot
Samuel S. Smoot
Samuel S. Smoot
Smoot
Samuel S. Smoot 1867
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
James Withrow
Frederick Hawn
James Withres
James Withrow
Wilcox
Wilcox & Mong 1870
James Withrow
James Withrow
Wilcox
James Withrow
James Withrow
Wilcox
James A. Mong
Wilcox
Wilcox
& Mong
Boundary of Indian Reservation
1
1
Smoot
Smoot
Smoot
R 5 W
R 4 W
R 7 W Wesley & Kong, 1870 Isaac B. Wilcox, 1870 James Withrow, 1860 | James Withrow, 1860 20 RAW
R 6 W
James Withrow , 1860
Wilcox & Mong 1870
Wilcox & Mong 1870
Abraham Ray 1861
James Withrow, '60
James A. Mong 1870
Wilcox & Mong 1870
& Mong
James Withrow
James Withrow
Wilcox & Mong
Frederick Hawn
Samuel S. Smoot
James Withrow 1860
Wilcox & Mong 1871
ORIGINAL SURVEYS OF RENO COUNTY
OFFICIAL SURVEYS OF RENO COUNTY. By whom and when surveyed and approved.
Tp. R. Tp. Lines.
Subdirisions.
Dale Approred.
By Whom Approved.
1
James
Withrow,
1860
Stuck & Hill.
March IS.
1.561
Ward B. Burnett. Sur. Gen'l.
23
-
James
Withrow,
1860
Stuck & Hill.
18GO
March 18,
1.561
Ward B. Burnett. Sur. Gen'l.
24
4 James Withrow.
1860
Abraham Ray,
1861
March 30,
1862
Mark W. Delahay, Sur. Gen'l.
27 1
James Withrow.
1860
Wilcox & Mong.
1870 February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
26
Wilcox & Mong,
1.871
Wilcox & Mong.
1871
June 28,
1871
1868
Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner.
26
14
Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
December 21.
1861
Mark W. Delahay, Sur. Gen'l.
23
5
James Withrow.
1860
Abraham Ray.
1861
January 30.
1.862
Mark W. Delahay, Sur. Gen'l.
24
5
James Withrow,
1860
Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
20
Sami. S. Smoot.
1867
Saml. S. Smoot. 1867
1870
February 14,
1871
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'].
22
James Withrow.
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14.
1871
C. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
24
==
James Withrow,
1860 Wilcox & Mong,
1870 Wilcox & Mong,
1871
June 28,
1871
(. W. Babcock, Snr. Gen'].
26
Wilcox & Mong.
1867
Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
April 16,
1868
Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner.
22
James Withrow,
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14.
1871
C. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
23
James
Withrow.
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1870 February 14,
1871
(. W. Babcock, Snr. Gen'].
:24
James Withrow,
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
26
Wilcox & Mong.
1871
Wilcox & Mong.
1871
June 28,
1871
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
26
Saml. S. Smoof.
1867
Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
April 16.
186S
Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner.
22
8
James Withrow,
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1870 February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'].
23 S James Withrow,
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14,
1871
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
25
James Withrow,
1860
Wilcox & Mong.
1870 February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'].
26
Wilcox & Mong.
1871
Wilcox & Mong.
1871
June 28.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'].
26
is
Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
Saml. S. Smoot,
1870
February, 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
9
Isaac Wilcox,
1870
Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February, 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
24
0 Isaac Wilcox,
Isaac Wilcox.
1870
Wilcox & Mong.
1870 February. 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
26
Wileox & Thomas, 1871
1867
Saml. S. Smool.
1867
April 24.
INGS
los. S. Wilson. Commissioner.
26
10 Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
January 16.
1872
C. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen't.
23
10 Wileox & Thomas, 1871
Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
Jannary 16.
1872
C. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
2.1
10) Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
January 16.
1872
C. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
26
*10 Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
January 16.
1872
C. W. Babcock, Snr. Gen'l.
26
710 Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
Saml. S. Smoot,
1867
April 24.
SGS
Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner.
:
James Withrow.
1860
Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14.
1871
C. W. Babcock, Sur. Gon'l.
April 16,
1868
Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner.
1860 Wilcox & Mong.
1860 Wilcox & Mong,
1870
February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock, Snr. Gen'l.
1870 February 14,
1871
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
1870 February 14.
1871
(. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
25
1-1-1-1-1-
James Withrow.
1860
Wilcox & Mong.
1870
February 14.
1871
( .. W. Babcock. Sur. Gen'l.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
81
*North part.
¡South part.
January 16.
1872
C. W. Babcock, Smr. Gen'l.
10 Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
1870 February, 14.
1871
(. W. Bahcock. Sur. Gen'l.
25
January 16,
1872
(. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
Wilcox & Thomas, 1871
1870 February 14,
1871
C. W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
24
S James Withrow,
Isaac Wilcox,
1870
Wilcox & Mong.
1867
.April 16,
Jos. S. Wilson, Commissioner.
26
Saml. S. Smoot,
1 $60
Abraham Ray,
1861
April 16.
(". W. Babcock, Sur. Gen'l.
James Withrow.
James Withrow.
6 James Withrow,
James Withrow.
1860 Wilcox & Mong,
1870 Wilcox & Mong.
Saml. S. Smoot.
(6)
CHAPTER IN.
SOME "FIRST THINGS."
The first marriage performed in Reno county was celebrated on Septem- ber 3, 1872, by Rev. Frances S. McCabe. The groom was John P. Watson, of Shawnee county, and the bride was Miss Henrietta Thompson, of Reno county. The groom was thirty years old and the bride twenty-five years of age. W. W. Updegraff was the probate judge and granted the license -- No. I-on September 2, 1872.
The first birth was that of a son born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. That boy is now a member of the police force at Omaha, Nebraska.
The first threshing machine was brought to Reno county by J. N. Shahan. It was such an event that even the weight of the machine was recorded-6,585 pounds. During the fall of 1873, John Shahan and William Bell did the threshing for the community. The spring wheat yielded from ten to eighteen bushels per acre. The oats yielded from seventeen to forty bushels per acre.
The first political convention was held on February 1, 1872, to nominate candidates for county offices. It was perhaps more in the nature of the old- fashioned "caucus," as there were no contests either in the "convention" or at the election that was held a few days later.
The "first" of everything in the county is of interest. J. W. Kanaga brought the first "dropper" to Reno county. W. J. Van Sickle claims that he brought the first mowing-machine. There is considerable controversy over who brought the first buggy to the county. In all lines the pioneer is proud of his deeds, he is anxious to be numbered as the "first" to do certain things or to have brought the first of a certain article of usefulness to the county.
THE FIRST CEMETERY.
The first death in Reno county was accidental and with this came the establishment of the first cemetery. There is an old joke, started in California and used in every new community eastward to the Mississippi river, that the climate was so healthful that it was necessary for some one to die a violent death to start a graveyard. While no such "motive" as that animated the
83
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
early settlers of Reno county, it is a fact that the first graveyard was started by the burial of a man accidentally killed. The man's name cannot be remem- bered by any who live now. Derrick Updegraff-the father-in-law of Charles Collins, Reno county's first sheriff, had the contract of grading railroads in Reno county. They had their camp on the banks of Cow creek, near where Main street now crosses this stream. In the latter part of December. 1871, and January, 1872, the ground was frozen so hard that the grading work could not be carried on. Updegraff had a small board building put up on the southeast corner of Main and Sherman streets, where he kept his harness, shovels and other equipment in one part of the building and in another he had a stove and table where the men cooked and ate their meals. The floor of part of this room was covered with hay, and on this were laid the blankets and buffalo robes that constituted the beds of the workmen.
Updegraff, himself an interesting character, had in his employ a bunch of men who were the real pioneers of the times, men that the present genera- tion cannot appreciate. It was such men as these that showed to the less hardy what the county would produce. It was this class of men who demonstrated to the hidebound Easterner that this land west of the Mississippi river was worth more than simply to provide a barrier to keep off a foreign foe from the West, that would render their settlements on the Atlantic coast free from attack. It was such men as Updegraff had that put at naught the prejudice of those who would limit the boundary of the United States to original thir- teen states or states to be cut out of that territory.
There also lived in the sand hills another man called "Dutch Pete." He made his living by hunting. He talked very broken English and was a woolly. sandy-haired, black-eyed old buffalo hunter. "Dutch Pete" drove his wagon and a team of small mules to Updegraff's camp and wanted some of the men to go hunting with him. There was an abundance of deer in the hills. Some of the men agreed to go with "Dutch Pete." Some supplies were being put into the wagon, some hay, horse feed, blankets, some food and an outfit with which to do some cooking. These articles had been put in the wagon, when "Dutch Pete" started to put a shotgun, muzzle foremost, heavily loaded with buckshot, into the wagon. One of Updegraff's men was standing at the end of the wagon as "Dutch Pete" raised the gun over the side of the wagon, the hammer caught and the full load of buckshot struck the breast of the man at the end of the wagon. He did not fall, but walked into the building, laid down on a blanket and in a few minutes was dead.
That afternoon a box of rough boards was made by Updegraff's men and
St
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
without any burial ceremony the body was put into a grave on a little sandy knoll in the block at the corner of Avenue B and Adams street. A few wild plum bushes surrounded the grave. It was dug deeper than usual, because of the fear that the coyotes might uncover the corpse. This was the first death ; this was the first burial ; here was the first graveyard of Reno county. The name of the dead cannot be recalled now. Later two other graves were dug out on that lonesome spot. A little fence, painted white, for a while sur- rounded it. but the prairie fires charred it and it soon fell away. Many years afterward a grader was being pulled along Adams street and the bodies were uncovered. They were all taken up, placed in new coffins and buried in the Eastside cemetery. Their names are all unknown. They were the sole occul- pants of the first graveyard of Reno county.
The second graveyard in this county was laid out in 1873 at the north- east corner of what is now Monroe and Seventeenth streets. It was then so far out that it was considered a sufficient distance from town. This was abandoned in 1881. and many of the bodies removed to the Eastside cemetery when it was located. There are many bodies still entombed in that old grave- vard. Many persons are buried there. There is no record now that would identify them. This graveyard contained several graves of persons who died here while looking for a cure for their consumption. This location was bad from a sanitary standpoint, being above the city. The Eastside cemetery was laid out by W. E. Kellogg in 1881. The first tract of ground purchased was fifteen acres. It contained fourteen hundred and fifty-six lots and each lot was large enough for twelve graves. W. R. Brown was the first president of the company that had charge of this cemetery. E. L. Meyer was secretary and treasurer, and L. A. Bigger and W. E. Kellogg were directors. Later fifteen aeres more of ground was purchased and added to the cemetery. It is probable that there are from twelve to fifteen thousand persons buried in this cemetery, and while nearly all of the lots are sold, yet there remain a great many parts of lots still unfilled. On June 9. 1914, the cemetery was taken over by the lotowners and John H. Campbell was elected president of the associa- tion : A. M. Jewell, vice-president, and D. A. Moore, secretary and treasurer.
There have been many other cemeteries established in Reno county, but lack of compulsory registration until recent years, has rendered a complete record of them impossible. Many of the graveyards are now abandoned : some have a few graves in them, while many of them are carefully kept and tended.
85
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
THE FIRST "JOINT" RAID.
The first "joint" raid was made before there were courts and before this county was organized. It was made by a man who afterwards became the first sheriff of Reno county-Charles Collins.
Collins was never known as a temperance sympathizer, but on the con- trary, when the prohibitory law first went into force and the dealers in the for- bidden liquor were arrested and required to put up a bond for their appear- ance in court, Charles Collins was the man who generally went on the bond for their appearances. Collins did this so generally that Judge Houk grew uneasy over Collins's liability, and one day summoned him into court and showed him the extent of his suretyship. At that time Collins was liable for $175.000. Judge Houk questioned him closely as to his financial responsibility. Collins showed his resources, thousands of head of cattle; and while he did not state it on the stand, he practically told Judge Houk that he was indemnified by the brewers' organization, which was not only behind him on the financial part of the obligation, but was paying him liberally to go on the bonds of the men who were being tried. the brewers hoping to break the prosecution of the pro- hibitory law by this means. Judge Houk warned Collins to be careful and suggested that inasmuch as he, Collins, carried a deputy United States mar- shal's commission, that it was hardly the proper thing for him to be on the bond of the men who had been arrested for law violation. Collins soon ceased to go on the bond of the men arrested and they had to look elsewhere for help to keep them out of jail until they could have their trial.
But Collins made the first raid on a joint ever made in this county.
An enterprising citizen of Newton had driven over from his town. He had two barrels of whisky, two frowzy-headed women and a tent and his wagon. He camped on Cow creek and without anyone's consent began selling his whisky. C. C. Hutchinson was very much disturbed by this, as he was a prohibitionist and wanted to cut whisky out of his town entirely. There were no county or township officers to appeal to, as the county had not yet been organized. He thought of Charles Collins, who had a homestead four miles north of town. Collins was a son-in-law of Derrick Updegraff. a rail- road contractor, who had the contract of grading the Santa Fe railroad across Reno county.
Collins, in his younger days, was a striking looking man ; tall, straight as an arrow, with long, wavy black hair and an eye as black as his hair and a commanding manner that he never lost even in his old age. Hutchinson
86
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
appealed to Collins for help to get rid of the man with the two barrels of whisky and two frowzy-headed women. "I'll take care of them," was all he said to Hutchinson. Early the next morning, Collins drove up to the tent where the man had located his joint and without getting out of his wagon, called to him. The man stuck his head out of his tent and Collins showed him his United States marshal's star and ordered him to get dressed, he and his women, that they were all under arrest for selling whisky in an unorgan- ized county. The old man and his women were frightened into obedience. Collins helped them load their whisky and tent and other belongings into the wagon, and drove them to Newton and unloaded them and told them to stay out of Reno county and to tell all their friends that the next booze seller who struck that county out west would be tried for the offense. So the first whisky raid ever made in Reno county was made by Charles Collins, without deputies or assistance, and the confiscated outfit was hauled by a mule team thirty-five miles to jail.
THE FIRST ALFALFA.
With alfalfa so abundant, the people of Reno county seldom inquire how long it has been grown in the county. They assume that it was a grass found here, but that is not the case. Strangely in contrast with the humble buffalo grass that covered everything when the first settler came to Reno county, was the alfalfa that soon began to be raised. The alfalfa is tall and dark green : the buffalo grass a light green in the early spring and summer and turning brown in the fall and winter. The one so short that it could not be cut with a mowing machine, the other yielding four and five crops a year with stalks up to the sides of the horses ; the one natural, arising out of the condition of the soil, the other growing only when the soil has been broken and loosened up by tilling. The buffalo grass, the most wonderful natural grass ever known : the other the most prolific and valuable forage crop ever sown. The two are opposites in all respects, yet they grew alike in the soil of Reno county, when the conditions of their growth were met.
The first alfalfa was raised by G. B. Chapin, in Valley township. From the small start made by Mr. Chapin has come the 20,266 acres of alfalfa in Reno county. It is a forage plant that will fatten hogs almost as well as corn, when they are allowed to run on it. When cut and fed to cattle it will add fat almost as fast as corn. Horses will work hard and thrive on nothing but alfalfa. Fed to cows, it makes the best feed obtainable for milk and butter fat. Even the chickens like the leaves that may have shattered off in making hay. It has a bloom that is a delicate blue and a fragrance to that bloom that
87
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
mocks the art of any chemist to prepare a perfume that equals the fragrance of an alfalfa field in bloom. Some day some one will invent a method of extracting the perfume from the bloom and he will have an article of com- merce that will richly reward his labors.
The seed of this wonderful plant is not lost, for the fastest of dyes are made from the little yellowish-brown, oblong seed of the alfalfa. Generally the second crop of alfalfa is allowed to go to seed, as this is usually the driest time of the summer, when the seed pods form the best.
Not only is it a feed that all the beasts of the field eat with avidity, but alfalfa meal, made by grinding the cured alfalfa hay, makes a bread that is sweet and nourishing. So when Mr. Chapin sowed the first small field of alfalfa, down in Valley township, he little dreamed that he was pioneering the most valuable forage crop ever riased in any county. Not only does it pro- duce heavily, but it also enriches the soil in which it grows. 'Its roots sink down deep into the soil. From the air the alfalfa plant takes the nitrogen and stores it into rings around the roots of the plant and this stored fertilizer, the best nature affords, builds up the soil, while the plant does its service for man in its growth. The biggest wheat yield ever recorded in Reno county, sixty- seven bushels to the acre, was raised in an old alfalfa field that was plowed up in the summer of 1916 and produced the biggest yield in 1917.
THE BUILDING OF THE FIRST SILO.
The storing of feed for the winter months was not much considered in the early days. It was not necessary as long as the buffalo grass lasted, as this was as good a feed in January as it was in June. This grass cured itself in the fall and cattle would push the snow from this grass in January and eat it as readily as they did on the ranges in June. It was cured naturally and was a great natural feed. After the disappearance of the buffalo came the consid- eration of feed preparation for the winter. The building of silos was the method of "canning" the cattle feed. Perhaps the first silo in Kansas was built at the Agricultural College at Manhattan. Shortly after this one was constructed one was erected in Douglas county, and a couple of silos in Leav- enworth county. The first one in Reno county was erected by W. E. Hutch- inson, in the spring of 1882. This silo was a square one, sixteen by twenty- four feet, and twenty-four feet high. It was filled with Kaffir corn and cane. Mr. Hutchinson fattened a big bunch of steers in the fall and winter of 1872. and sold them to Frank Wolcott and W. E. Burns. They were without doubt the first fat steers fed on ensilage to go to the markets in Reno county.
88
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
THE LAST BUFFALO.
Like the first, the last is always the most noticed.
There have been many persons who have claimed to have killed buffalo on the Hutchinson townsite. A. F. Horner, who built the first house in Hutch- inson, says he never saw a buffalo on the townsite. He says that he and two companions, on their way to Hutchinson early in January, 1872, ran across a buffalo as they came to the place where the town was afterwards located : that they were down on the Arkansas river below the town, probably south of the reformatory, when a buffalo ran out onto the sandbed of the river. All three of the men in the party shot at him. They never knew which one actually killed him ; but that he, Horner, never saw a buffalo near the town after that one. Other old settlers claim to have killed a buffalo, generally near some prominent place in town, one near where the postoffice now stands, one where the waterworks plant is located and another where Convention Hall now stands, but it is probable that the memory of Horner and others is correct that the buffalo had moved westward before the town was located; and that if any buffalo were left it would be some old beaten bull that had been horned out of the herd and had concealed himself in the hills. There is a record that one such decrepit bull was killed on July 6, 1874. on the farm of E. S. Webster, south of town, but that he was so poor and old as to have been of no value. The buffalo had moved westward before the settlers came here, and few of them ever saw a buffalo in this part of the country.
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