[Originally published in the Osborne County Farmer newspaper of Thursday, August 12, 1880.]

By  the request of F. H. Barnhart, editor of the OSBORNE COUNTY FARMER, we have resumed the continuation of the “Annals,” Mr. B. agreeing to complete them from the beginning of the year 1875.  Within the last two years the carefully prepared historical sketch of the record history of the county as a municipality, by Hon. A. Saxey, has been before the reading public, and we shall not attempt to treat of all that has been so well presented in the sketch.  Yet, in carrying out the plan of our papers we shall necessarily give such facts as may interest that large proportion of our population who have settled in the county since Mr. Saxey’s papers were published.  We also acknowledge our obligation to Hon. W. L. Bear (now an invalid) for information furnished.  Reminiscences of this and subsequent years, given the recent reunion of the Old Settlers’ Society, will not be repeated here, but the vice presidents of that association are expected. to prepare and read short sketches of their respective townships for the year under consideration at the reunion in ’72.  We ask pardon for now giving some facts belonging to years prior, which, in the history of the preparation of our first paper, were omitted.         

In 1865 Col. Kirwin, with a with a regiment of Tennessee Volunteers, was sent to the frontier to protect settlers.  He established a post between Bow Creek (then the Middle Fork) and the North Solomon, a short distance above their confluence.  It was called Fort Kirwin.  There being no settlers within 100 miles needing protection and the country swarming at that time with hostile Indians, he abandoned the post.  In 1870 the first settlers of Kirwin discovered remnants of a stockade and portions of an army wagon on this site.

In April 1867, Gen. Hancock (present nominee of the Demo­cratic party) destroyed an Indian village consisting of 300 lodges on Pawnee Fork.  The General had a practical view of Indian affairs, but was announced in eastern journals as a butcher.  Dr. Webb, of Topeka, relates an amus­ing story of the General, the tenor of which is about as follows:  When Hancock commanded this department and was encamped near Fort Dodge on the Arkansas, Santanta and his band of Kiowas came in.  This chief was an abject beggar in the camp of the palefaces and a demon on their trail.  On this occasion he came with great protestations of friendship, and, to gratify his love of finery, an old military coat with general’s stars, said to be one that Hancock himself had cast off, was presented him.  He also acquired a bugle, and greatly amused the garrison by galloping back and forth before his band, blowing his bugle and parading his coat, the warriors all cheering the cut-throat, and proud of the display.  Before dawn of the next day, however, the garrison were aroused by the thunders of a stock stampede.  Santanta and his Indians departed with a goodly herd of government horses and mules.  Pursuit was commenced at once, in order to cut them off before they could get the stock across the swollen Arkansas.  Just as the troops reached the bank of that stream a major general’s uniform was going out of the water upon the other side.   Notwithstanding its high rank, fire was opened upon it.  The savage earned a moment, blew a shrill defiant blast, and galloped off.  He had been promoted too rapidly:  as a simple chief he would have stolen some straggling teams; as a major general and bugler he appropriated the whole herd.

On the 28th of October 1867, Gens. Sherman, Harney and Terry, commissioners on behalf of the U.S., concluded a treaty with the Arappahoes and Cheyennes on Medicine Lodge Creek, and the Indians were located on a reservation in the Indian Territory.  An annuity of $20,000 for thirty years was settled upon each tribe, besides a suit of clothes annually to each member.

At the risk of being tedious we will give other important land­marks and natural, curiosities in this portion of the state, which interested the settler of ‘70 and ‘71, and we will begin with it brief description of Lake Sibley, the fisherman’s paradise.  It is situated in Cloud County, in the shape of a horseshoe, about two miles in length, and of the width and depth of the Republican River.  In the distant past it was undoubtedly the channel of that stream, but is now fed by springs.  The water is clear, and the shores, bordered with a dense growth of timber.The great salt marsh, in Jewell County, was also a place of resort by settlers for this article for the daily necessities of life; by stock raisers who herded around it for grazing purposes, and by sportsmen for the large stocks of wild ducks and brant remaining about two months during the autumn of each year.  “Mushroom Rock” on Alum Creek near the K.P.R.R., a huge table of stone poised on a solitary stone and strangely resembling the fungus from which it is named; and “Indian Rock,” on the Smoky Hill, etched all over its face by the aborigines with forms of animals and with Indian hieroglyphics were both noted landmarks.Near Bavaria, in Saline County, a human footprint was found impressed upon the surface of sandstone.  On these rocks fine impressions of leaves of the magnolia were discovered, and in the quarry petrified walnuts and butternuts.  The country around was a desolate prairie. Bird tracks and the leaves of forest trees have been found in the stone formations of Cloud Coun­ty.  In some localities in our own county, petrified wood of different varieties, embracing parts of grow­ing trees with branches have been exhumed.  A recent specimen from near Potterville is on exhibition at the Lipton House in this city.  Fish that have changed to the limestone found in the quarries, satisfy us of the fact that this country was a sea in the far distant past.

“Sugar Loaf Mound,” on Bow Creek, 300 feet above the Solomon, covered with sandstone at its very top.  And the “Twin Mounds,” two conic elevations on the Paradise Flats in Rooks County, were known far and wide.  On a direct line be­tween these places are the precipitous bluffs on the south side of the Solomon, near Stockton.  In a gorge high up on the side of this bluff, concealed beneath the cedars, the early settlers found a rude cabin, built there years before, and occupied as a place of concealment by a band of horse-thieves whose field of operation was about the military posts on the K. P. R. R.  This place is still called “robbers’ roost.

 ”In 1871 Bunker Hill was founded and shortly afterward became the railroad station for our settlers instead of Wilson.  Late in that year W. D. Street and others laid off the present townsite of Gaylord.  When last heard from, Street was still pioneering in the northwest corner of the state.  Jas. Johnson, his brother and others settled Cedarville, and Lee & Gan­dy were real estate agents at Kir­win before there were any settlers in the surrounding country.  Lee returned to Illinois and Gandy mysteriously disappeared.  A stockade was built at the latter place.  Wells, Randall, Cushman, et al., located near Stockton.  Early in ’70 Samuel Tatlow (commonly known as McIntyre) a scout for a detachment of the 7th U. S. Cav­alry, commanded by Capt. Derudio, an Italian, claimed to have killed an Indian in this county.  He claimed to have been a prisoner of the northern Arrappahoes for nearly a year.  The earliest settlers remember him as a mimic of Indian character, which art he carried to such perfection upon one occasion as to have almost led to his being shot as a real Indian.

1871. January.—The Republican Valley Empire removed to Concordia.Jan. 16.—Meeting of the State Temperance Society.  The U. S. land office opens at Concordia, with Hon. Amos Cutter, register, and Hon. E. J, Jenkins, receiver of public monies.  The office is literally blockaded with business for weeks.  During the year 932,175 acres of land are entered under the homestead law; Concordia is a townsite with six buildings.

Jan. 12.—Incorporation at Homeopathic Medical Society of the State.

February.—Work progressing on the mill at Bull City.

March 1.—The first marriage in the county, S. F. Weatherman and Marinda Alling.

March 3.—The Twelfth Judicial District created by the legislature.  Osborne County detached from Ottawa County and attached to Mitchell County for Judicial purposes.  Six thousand dollars appropriated for seed wheat and corn for western counties.

March 19.— Hon. Andrew S. Wilson, of Washington, Kan., appointed judge of the newly created district.  He as been judge of that district ever since, and recently, at Clifton, received the nomination of that Republican Party - equivalent to an election - for another term.

March 20.—Joseph Logan distributes seed wheat in the Northwest.  We do not remember of any settler in this county receiving any.

March 28.—Chas. G. Paris, now County Clerk, and W. L. Paris settle near the forks of Kill Creek.April.—Russell founded.

April 11.—James H. Joy and family locate on the creek which now bears his name.  Later in the year he kept supplies for the settlers, and the polls of Bethany Township were first opened at his store.  Messrs. Northway, Besse and Ballmer settled around him.  In this month A. Parker’s career as merchant began at Cawker City.  In exchange for merchandise he would take anything which the homesteaders had to dispose of.  He contributed materially to the growth of Cawker City.  Arthur’s sawmill,  the “Spears House” and Leggett & Scrafford’s store were the other leading business houses of the place.  Nearly all the settlers on the frontier received their mail at Cawker City, John A Segar being postmaster.

May 1.—The townsite of Osborne City is selected by the Pennsylvania Colony. This colony is composed of 35 men from Berks and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania, with Col. W. L. Bear, president, and Dr. John P. Moore (now in a railroad office at Bloomington, Ill.) secretary.  They choose homesteads by lot, and all enter land in the same township; Judge Britt, of Cloud County, assists in locating the claims.  The original members still residing here are Walter Baker, Benjamin Baker, Hon. W. L. Bear, A. Bowen, O. S. Bowen, Chauncey Bowen, John Fuller, A. N. Fritchey, Jacob Getz, Henry Harp, Geo. Krippner, H. W. Landis, J. N. Morrow, W. S. Neff, R. S. Ruth, J. C. Sherley, Jacob Schweitzer, Emanuel Smith, David Tindal, and D. W. Tindal.  F. R. Gruger and and E. B. Fry are in mercantile business, one at Harlan and the other at Cawker City.  Major H. D. Markley, Isaac N. Bair, John A. Boring, and others have returned to Pennsylvania.  Wm. Rader and Emanuel Fuller are at rest in this, the land of their adoption.

May 9.—The townsite is filed upon by the town company.

May 12.—The colony complete their log house, well and stockade on Section No. 21, one and a half miles southeast of the townsite.

May 17.—Certified copy of char­ter of town company received.Mr. Rhodes locates near present site of Harlan.  C. H. McHugh and others settle on Twin Creek, in what is now Winfield Township.  During the year A. W. Gowan, H. S. Ward and others make their homes near the forks of that creek.  G. & H. Alger are grocers, and the post office of Beaver (since discon­tinued) is afterward established in that neighborhood, with Smith Tryon as postmaster.

May 27.—Meeting held at Arlington store of Reasoner & Thomp­son to discuss  preliminary steps towards organization of the county. C. Reasoner, chairman, and P. Thompson, secretary; C. M. Cunningham, W. W. Bullock and A. B. Fleming appointed census committee.

June 3.—The first house built upon the Osborne townsite by Maj. H. D. Markley.  Material, cottonwood; dimensions 14 x 18 feet; house is not at present in existence.

June 3.—The county convention meets, pursuant to adjournment.  Present about 50 persons, the majority of whom were members of the Pennsylvania Colony.   Census committee report 724 inhabitants and 281 voters in the county.  C. M. Cunningham, A. B. Fleming and C. Bullock appointed a com­mittee to draft petition to the gov­ernor, praying organization.  Sam­uel Chatfield, C. M. Cunningham and Frank Stafford are recommended for commissioners, F. Thomp­son for county clerk and Osborne City for temporary county seat.  The enumeration included all parties having claims in the county.   The large proportion of voters show that fully one half of the adult males were bachelors.  The Christian names of the individual members of the families, except in cast of adults, were not given, hence the state authorities found the census defective, and suspended action until the role could be properly revised.  Charles Darmick, who died in Illinois in ’78, assisted in the second enumeration.  Experience demonstrated the fact that no 700 inhabitants settled upon U. S. lands are sufficient to sustain a county organization and the law has since been amended.July.—During this month Wichita and Abilene are rival Texas cattle markets, the latter being denominated “Kansas hell.”

July 4.—Celebrations at both Cawker City and Osborne.  At the latter place C. M. Cunningham presided; C. W. Crampton, vice president; Frank Thompson, secretary.  More than 100 persons present, 20 of them being ladies and 30 children.  The meeting is addressed by Col. Bear and Messrs. Thompson and Jacob Jemison, violin music by Messrs. Getz and Bliss, the first named having since laid down the fiddle and the bow.”

July 12.—The blacksmith shop of J. N. Morrow constructed.  It has since made way for a better building.  In this month a Bible class is organized by the settlers in Bethany Township.  The members attend the same armed, as the country is not yet considered safe from Indian raids.  Men plow with their guns strapped on their plows, and these pieces are very convenient when stray buffaloes come running across the valleys. U. S. mail line extended from Cawker City up both valleys.  Kirwin and Bull’s City placed in weekly connection with the civilized world.  On the North Solomon the postoffices are LeGrande (named for LeGrande Stone, president of the New  Haven Colony) situated on west side of Twelve Mile Creek, and kept at the “New Haven Store” –  John Burns, postmaster and dealer;   Bethany (since Portis) – named for a city of Palestine – Mrs. L. M. Lindley, postmistress, Gaylord; Cedarville, James Johnson, postmaster. He was afterwards county clerk of Smith County.  Also an office at Kirwin.  Afterwards on this line an office called Dresden was established near the present site of Harlan, with Sylvanus Hammond as first postmaster, and one called Smithville (afterwards Valley Forge, and since discontinued) between Cedarville and Kirwin, with a Mr. Smith as postmaster.  On the South Solomon are Corinth, P. W. Kenyon (then as now) postmaster; Twin Creek, on north side of the river four miles east of this place [Osborne], Henry Jemison, postmaster; Penn (Osborne City), Maj. H. D. Markley postmaster; Arlington (three miles above), C. Reasoner, postmaster; and Bull’s City, Gen. Bull postmaster.  Jas. W. Hughes, then of Cawker City, but now of the Gunnison country, was the carrier.  He first went up one valley and returned, and then went up the other and back to Cawker, all in the same week.  He was noted for punctuality.  In heat and cold, in calm and storm, nothing but the impassable condition of the unbridged streams hindered his running on all occasions up to schedule time.  At first he owned but one span, and drove a “buckboard.”    He did a great deal of trading for the people along the line at the stores in Cawker City, rarely forgot a message or errand, and his honesty was proverbial.  Being of a “sober turn of mind,” the boys were fond of jesting him.  The early settlers gathered at the post offices on mail days of each week with as great eagerness as the masses did around the bulletins in the large cities on the days of the late Republican convention at Chicago.

July 15.—“Resources of Kansas” by C. C. Hutchinson, issued.  This book takes a rose-colored view of everything related to Kansas, and is the best immigration document the state has published – 100,000 copies issued.  The legislature appropriated for printing same.

Is rounding into form.”

 Aug. 15.—Wagonda makes rapid strides.  J. W. Terry (now of this county) is the principal proprietor, P. B. Calkins, a practical builder, expends thousands of dollars in erecting stone buildings, the greater portion of which in later years are removed to its rival, Cawker City.  Employment in the quarries and delivering stone is given to a good many citizens of Osborne County, and the writer here learns the wonderful difference in a specific gravity between this stone of the Benton formation and that of the Niobrara formation near Bethany.  Mr. Calkins discovers the fossil remains of an animal of the alligator species, thirteen feet long, in a stratum of shale, three miles south of the townsite.

Aug. 18.—A good crop of wheat produced in the valley of the main Solomon below Beloit.  The homesteaders of this county procure their seed.

Aug. 20.—Charles Herzog erects of pine lumber, on the townsite of Osborne, the frame building now occupied by Herzog & Co., and opens a grocery and restaurant.  His lumber was consigned to Russell.  No road had yet been opened to that point, and the freight alone cost as much as the material would now cost at one of our lumber yards.  Mr. Herzog is the oldest permanent merchant in the city, and his credit has invariably been first class.  His building is the oldest in the place, but it has been materially remodeled in recent years.  

Aug. 21.—The air of Newton (the Texas cattle city) is tainted with the hot steam of human blood, six persons being killed in one melee.The Big Medicine in Rooks Coun­ty, settled (“Medicine,” in Indian, signifies mystery or divinity).  This creek is a good hunting ground.  Near it Johnson shoots Pearce and another settler in a dispute about a claim.  The excitement is great.  No counts in the valley nearer than Glen Elder in Mitchell Co.  The inhabitants are about to lynch him.  The prisoner waives examination before G. W. Stinson, J. P., fails to give bail, breaks guard and escapes.  Esq. Stinson was then a merchant on the Limestone.  He is now practicing law at Phillipsburg.  Nearly every county in the State has a R. R. project.

Sept. 12.—Gov. J. M. Harvey is­sued his Proclamation declaring the county organized and Osborne City (now Osborne) the temporary county seat.

Sept. 14.—The families of the [Pennsylvania] Colony arrive.  Col. Bear’s the first family on the townsite.

Sept. 27.—The special commissioners meet in Col. Bear’s house and divide the county into six civil townships, namely, Ross (named for ex-U. S. Senator E. G. Ross, who was at that time before them in the interest of a railroad company) which included all of the territory of the present township of Corinth north of the river; Bethany, which included the present township of Lawrence; Sumner, which included the present townships of Mt. Ayr, Kill Creek and a portion of Tilden; Penn included Independence and a portion of Tilden and Winfield Townships as they now exist; Bloom included Delhi, Jackson, south portion of Winfield and all of Corinth Township south of the river; Liberty Township comprised the remainder of the county.  Ross and Bethany composed commissioners’ district No. 1; Sumner and Liberty composed district no. 2, and Penn and Bloom district No. 3.  The board decides to submit to the electors of the county a prop­osition to vote $100,000 in bonds to the Lawrence & Solomon River R. R. Co.

Sept. 29.—Proposition to loan (borrow) $2,000 to defray current expenses of the county submitted.  An important rape case (parties all citizens of this county) in progress at Cawker City before L. G. Tucker, J. P.  The prisoner flees, is closely pursued by the officer, but makes good his escape. Esq. Tucker is at present a member of the well known firm of Smith & Tucker.           

Oct. 1.—C. J. Watson and W. P. Gillette (Watson, Gillette & Co.) commence mercantile business at the county seat with limited capi­tal. Their business has been profit­able, and they well deserve the name of “The Old Reliable Firm.” The bank now occupies their first site.  Levi Morrill, deputy clerk of the district court of Mitchell County, has an office at LeGrande.  Mr. M. was afterward county attorney of Smith County.  A. P. Viets, a Baptist minister of this county, solemnizes the marriage of a Smith county couple at his residence on Twelve-Mile Creek.  The St. Louis Fair, New England Fair at Lowell, and Pennsylvania Historical Society awards medals to Kansas for best display of fruits.  A lively canvass of the county for county seat and the county officers.

Oct. 29.—Mass convention in Osborne: J. T. Saxton (now deceased) president, and Dr. J. P. Moore, secretary.  The following ticket was placed in the field:  for Representative, Col. W. L. Bear; Sheriff, C. M. Cunningham; Register of Deeds, A. B. Fleming; County Clerk, C. W. Crampton; treasurer, John Joy; Clerk of District Court, C. J. Watson; Probate Judge, Gen. H. C. Bull; County Attorney, H. H. Napier; Surveyor, F. R. Gruger; Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. T. Saxton; Coroner, S. B. Farwell; County commissioners, P. W. Kenyon; Frank Stafford and J. J. Hays; for county seat, Osborne City; Republican Central Committee, Gen. Bull, Col. Bear and Col. Wm. C. Whitney of Ross (now proprietor of the Whitney House at Cawker City).  A few days afterwards a convention is held at Tilden (now Bloomington), which placed in the field another ticket headed by D. E. Tilden for representative.  W. W. Bullock there receives the nomina­tion for sheriff, and E. C. Frear for commissioner of district No. 1.  Q. A. Gates, a civil engineer (now a lawyer at Wilkesbarre, Pa.) is in the field for representative as an Independent Republican.  The Dem­ocratic ticket is headed by F. Thompson, the temporary county clerk.  Mr. J. B. Emley (now of Ohio City, Col.,) presents the merits of his townsite Emley City, near present site of Bristow.

Nov. 7.—Annual election.  John Rees, merchant at Asherville, cho­sen to represent Mitchell County.  Osborne County casts 213 votes for that office.  Col. Bear received 10 majority over Dr. Tilden and 49 majority over Gates, the next high­est.  Thompson, Democrat, received 22 votes.  Frear, the only success­ful candidate on the second ticket, received 3 majority; 95 votes for the loan and 11 votes against the loan. The railroad bond proposi­tion is lost.

Nov. 10.—No quorum of commis­sioners present to canvass the re­turns.

Nov. 11.—William Young, now of Pennsylvania, and Joseph Bell, now of Arizona, appointed com­missioners pro tem.  No ballots re­turned with poll books from Sum­ner and Liberty Townships.  The board refers the question of can­vass to the attorney general and adjourns ten days.

Nov. 17 and 18.—Terrible snow storm and great suffering.  Col. Bear the first merchant tailor of the county.  His place of business is on the south side of Penn Street.  

Nov. 21.—Nothing yet being heard from Topeka the returns from said townships are rejected and the canvass is proceeded with.  Osborne City receives 126 votes, Arlington receives 41 votes, Tilden receives 30 votes and Emley City receives 18 votes. 

Nov. 22.—The old board of commissioners, S. Chatfield chairman, select the square upon which the court house now stands for county purposes.  Thousands of wild turkeys appear in the valleys and many of them occupy a conspicuous position on the rustic home made tables in the rude cabins on the frontier while their domestic barn yard relatives formed the basis of Thanksgiving dinners in New England.  At this time Bow Creek is the chosen rounds for our hunters to lay in their winter’s supply of meat, and they find trappers on that stream.  Both beaver and otter are also caught in our streams at home.Nearly the whole country is burned over by prairie fires, emanating from the locomotives on the K. P. R. R.  The Texas cattle trail is opened to Ellsworth and Hays City.  At the latter place the services of William Hickock (“Wild Bill”), the celebrated Union scout and guide for the Indian country is called into requisition  in the capacity of sheriff.  He has made entrée to the general public in Harper’s Magazine and his name is a household word to residents along the Kansas frontier.  He is a very quiet man with the shoulders of a Hercules on the waist of a girl, and is wonderfully handy with his pistols.  His power lies in the remarkable quickness with which he draws a pistol and takes aim.  During his lifetime he has killed a baker’s dozen of men and was never known to be the aggressor.  In the capacity of officer he snuffs several men’s lives out.  At Hays two soldiers attempt his life, but the ready pistol is drawn and both of the assailants fall.  Their companions clamor revenge and Bill changes his base and becomes Marshal of Abilene, where he signalizes himself by carrying a refractory councilman on his shoulders to the council chamber.  Here in quelling a Texan riot in the gloom of the evening he not only kills the gambler, but one of his own friends, who is hurrying up to his aid.  As a consolation to the widow he pays the funeral expenses.  He removes to North Platte, Neb.William Cody (“Buffalo Bill”), cousin of “Wild Bill”, also resides at Hays City.  The Mysterious Plain is a book that he knows by heart, is a good scout, excellent guide and a great slaughterer of buffaloes.  “Buffalo Bill” figures in one of Buntline’s Indian romances.  He dies by violence from the hands of a Texan.

Dec. 4.—The copartnership of Napier, Bear & Clark formed – law, land and insurance.

Dec. 5.—John Mummah, aged 11 years, nephew of Wm. Rader, is buried on the town site with the funeral service of the Moravian Church.

Dec. 9.—First birth in Osborne County.  James Weatherman, son of S. F. and Marinda Weatherman who reside near the mouth of Kill Creek.  About the same time a son is born to D. M. and Lida Vanzant, residing on Joy Creek and is named for the county.  Both families are now non-residents.  Vanzant is in Indiana, and Weatherman leaves us in 1880 for Dacotah “to go where he can shoot something.”  Peitition for relocation of the county seat.  No circulation.

Dec. 23.—“Bethany Debating Society” organized; first question discussed, “Affirmed that this country is better adapted to stock rais­ing than to agriculture.  Decided in favor of the negative.  Washington county votes bonds for the railroad.  They are not accept­ed by the company.  Numbers of our settlers go to the Republican Valley for their winter’s supply of potatoes.  Corn planted here on second year’s ground produced six­ty-fold this year.The winter is severe.  Herds of Team cattle are kept at ranches where there is water on the creeks to subsist merely upon the buffalo grass.  The cattle become very weak and impoverished, and the wolves make havoc among them.  Buffalo hunters freeze to death on the plains, or have their limbs bad­ly frosted.  600 Omahas (friendly) are encamped at Kirwin, Chute & Corcoran are selling goods at that place.  The principal portion of the settlements made this year are in the valleys of the Solomons and up the creek valleys.  S. J. Moore, J, H. Shafer, et, al settle on Lawrence Creek where they now reside.  The Messrs. Thomas on Wolf Creek at Grand Center, and J. R. Bush, et al subdue the wilds in the Vincent neighborhood.  Eagle Creek is also settled.  Mr. Dwinelle still remains on Eagle, while Hill P. Wilson (now banker at Hays City) and the others are non-residents.  Messrs. Puzey and Culver settle near “Harvey’s” on Covert Creek.  Some claims are taken on Carr Creek, and Messrs. Wilhite and Moon with their families, make their homes on Little Medicine early in the year.