WINFIELD, KANSAS.

NAMED AFTER A PREACHER.

The settlement near Dutch Creek in Cowley County, started by C. M. Wood in April 1869, was soon vacated by Wood and others when the Osage Indians either burned them out or threatened to do so. C. M. Wood was married on June 28, 1869, to Miss Melinda Jones, from Springfield, Ohio, at the residence of Judge W. R. Brown, at Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. Before their marriage Mrs. Wood began to talk about their return to the claim Wood had established, referring to it as “Lagonda,” an Indian name meaning “Clear Waters.” Wood, his wife, and their household effects reached “Lagonda” on August 14, 1869. After viewing the burned remnant of his first log cabin, Wood began building a second cabin, fully intending to use it as a home and a place in which to hold trade goods for the Indians.

W. W. Andrews Family.

One of the first settlers in the second wave to arrive was W. W. Andrews, from Leavenworth, Kansas. On November 19, 1869, the Emporia News printed the following article about Cowley County.

On Wednesday we had a call from Mr. W. W. Andrews, of Cowley County, from whom we have late intelligence from that new county.

There is beginning to be some anxiety about threatened troubles with the Indians, and Mr. Andrews was on his way to Topeka to lay before the Governor a petition signed by almost every legal voter in that county, asking him to take measures for their safety. He also brought us the proceedings of a meeting lately held there, at which a “Citizens Protective Union” was organized, the constitution, by-laws, and resolutions of which we publish below.

Mr. Andrews informs us that immigrants are pouring into that county at a rapid rate. Nine families arrived the morning he left, and dozens more are now on their way thither. It is becoming well known that Cowley is one of the best timbered, watered, and agricultural counties in the State, and between this and next summer the rush will be great.

Mr. Andrews says there has been no outbreak with the Indians yet, but they are saucy, and are committing petty thefts among the settlers. Where the men are about home in considerable numbers, the Indians do not disturb anyone, but they watch, and when they find the men absent they visit the houses and compel the women to cook meals for them, after which they load their ponies with provisions and leave. When they can find two or three settlers out from other settlements, they make a regular business of robbing them. The Indians assert that they will not hurt anybody, but that settlers shall not open claims below the mouth of Dutch Creek. They have robbed and driven back all who have ventured below that point, and the settlers, knowing their treachery, fear trouble will break out.

It must be recollected that these settlers are not on land where the Indians object to their going, further than that they want to save their hunting ground. We hope the Governor will make speedy and decided action in the matter, and do all in his power to relieve the demands of these enterprising people. They have gone on to these lands with the assurance from Superintendent Hoag that they should have peaceable possession of them. Notwithstanding the promises the store of C. M. Wood was burned by the Indians.

CITIZENS’ PROTECTIVE UNION.

COWLEY COUNTY, KANSAS, November 7, 1869.

The citizens of Cowley County assembled at the house of Dr. Graham for the purpose of organizing a Citizens’ Protective Union.

N. J. Trusty was elected Chairman, and Dr. Graham, Secretary, after which the following constitution, by-laws, and resolutions were presented and adopted.

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE 1. This Association shall be called the Cowley County Citizens’ Protective Union.

ARTICLE 2. The object of the Association shall be the mutual protection of citizens, both in claims and property.

ARTICLE 3. The Association shall be composed of those citizens residing within Cowley County who subscribe to this Constitution.

ARTICLE 4. The officers of the Association shall be a President and Secretary.

ARTICLE 5. This Constitution may be altered or amended by a vote of two thirds of all the members present.

BY-LAWS.

ARTICLE 1. This Association shall hold at least one session in each year, at such time and place as may be determined upon from time to time.

ARTICLE 2. The officers shall be elected at each annual session, by ballot, and shall remain in office until others are chosen.

ARTICLE 3. The President shall preside at the meetings of the Association, preserve order therein, put all questions, announce decisions, appoint committees, and call meetings at his discretion, or at the request of three members.

ARTICLE 4. The Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings of meetings, answer all letters addressed to the Association, give proper notice of the meetings, and attend to such other business as generally pertains to this office.

RESOLUTIONS.

Resolved, That the members of this Association use their influence to encourage immigration to the bounds of this county.

Resolved, That owing to the outrages having been perpetrated upon the property of citizens of this county by the Osage Indians, that we petition the Governor for protection.

Resolved, That each citizen be entitled to hold a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land, provided he improves and resides upon the same within thirty days after making his claim, and that we recognize as improvements sufficient to entitle a man to protection that there be a house upon the claim, and at least five acres cultivated within twelve months from making his claim.

Resolved, That we recognize no man’s right to hold a claim of more than one hundred and sixty acres of land.

Resolved, That in the transaction of business this Association be governed by parliamentary rules.

Election of officers being next in order, Dr. W. G. Graham was elected President for the ensuing year, and C. M. Wood Secretary. Adjourned.

N. J. Trusty, President.

W. G. Graham, Secretary.

Some of the early settlers persisted in calling the settlement “Dutch Creek,” due to its nearness to Dutch Creek. It is fortunate that this idea was not liked. Some years later they changed the name to “Timber Creek.” There were other settlers who liked the name first given to the settlement by Mrs. C. M. Wood: “Lagonda.”

In the latter part of 1869 Mr. W. W. Andrews made a wagon trip back to his old home at Leavenworth, Kansas, where he saw the old family preacher, Winfield Scott. At a meeting of the settlers, Andrews informed them that Winfield Scott had told him: “If you are going to start a town down there and will give it my name, Winfield, I will come down and build a house of worship for you.” The name “Winfield” was adopted in January 1870.

The following article was in the Thursday, April 15, 1886, issue of the Winfield Courier.

EARLY HISTORY.

A Letter From Winfield Scott, D. D.

ANGEL ISLAND, CALIFORNIA, April 2^nd, 1886.

ED. COURIER: In your journal of March 24^th, just received by me, is copied a little private note I wrote the Rev. Mr. Reider. It was written with no idea of publication, or of giving any matter of historical interest of your place. It has led me to wonder whether the pioneers and old settlers of Kansas are as greatly interested in the rise and progress of your State as I have been. I was not a pioneer and do not claim any of the honor and glory that attaches to the grand characters that made history when Kansas fought her way through fire and blood to freedom. Going onto her soil in January, 1865, I was in time to see the development of a great State, in a most wonderful manner. At that date Weston was the western terminus of the H & St. Joe railroad and we rode in a coach from there to Leavenworth. I resided in Kansas until January, 1872, and saw the building of the Kansas Pacific, the L. L. & G., Missouri River, Ft. Scott & Gulf, and Neosho Valley railroad, and have ridden over those lines when towns along them containing from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants each had risen like magic from the prairie sod, and in so short a time that not an old shingle could be seen upon a single roof.

It was during the latter part of December, 1870, that I visited Walnut Valley. A few months before this a Leavenworth man had gone there. Among my friends were the families of Messrs. Andrews, Hickok, and Rev. O. W. Tousey. They sent me an invitation to visit them, telling me of the new country and of the name of the new town after myself, and that they expected it would be the county seat. I had known of many prophetic towns of euphonious and high sounding names that never existed except in imagination, or in a glowing letter of an enthusiastic squatter, or worse than that, only on a highly embellished and carefully platted card board, that I was not especially influenced by the town or the promise to immortalize my name, but I did want to see what was then known as the great “southwest” that was booming from the rushing tide of immigrants all going thither. I knew of the warm welcome, too, I should receive from the large hearted old friends then on the ground. Accompanied by my old college chum, Prof. D. H. Robinson, of the State University, we went to Emporia by car and took a team and drove to Eureka, where we were joined by my brother, S. Scott, now of Clay Center. From there we went west to Butler County, through El Dorado, Augusta, and Douglass, all rival towns, each full of prophecy and prophets, of their own success and the other failures.

Augusta was named after Mrs. Augusta James, the wife of Mr. C. N. James, my parishioner. I spent a day or two at Augusta, preaching evenings. I remember well the afternoon when we forded a stream, passed through a strip of timber, and drove over the gently sloping ridge, when we had the first view of the town of Winfield. The Main street was laid out and enough stores and houses rudely built, with foundations of other buildings laid to define where the intended main street was to be. The record I made in writing to an eastern journal was this: “On the center of a beautiful plateau of land, in the very heart of the valley, is rising a splendid town. Four months ago two or three houses marked the place where it was to be. Today there are twenty-seven buildings, twenty more are rising, and about thirty more lots have been secured.” I met there, besides the friends mentioned, D. A. Millington, an enterprising businessman, whom I had known in Leavenworth, and he believed in the town, and met me with cordiality and championed with liberality and enthusiasm my proposition to raise money for a Baptist church in Winfield. I preached every evening while there and hunted deer in the day time. The first day I killed three, just across the creek west of the town site. I borrowed and used a rickety old shotgun, with stock tied up with strings to hold things together. My luck as a hunter all came the first day, and that, too, in the forenoon.

The record of the Sabbath service is as follows: I preached in a store not completed. The front end of the building being out, we had for the congregation a wide open door. My pulpit was the end of a work bench with my overcoat doubled up for a desk. The seats were 2 x 8 scantling resting on nail kegs and boxes, and yet the entire room 20 x 36 was full morning and evening with an appreciative audience. We had a good choir and an organ. At the close of the morning sermon, a church was organized with twelve members. During the evening and the next day a subscription of $400 was secured, which was increased to about $700, sufficient to enclose a stone building 24 x 40 with 14 ft. walls of your stone quarry. This is the record: “I have never seen in the west as pure white magnitia [magnesia] limestone as these quarries afford. It can be laid in the wall for $2.25 per perch, thus furnishing durable and very cheap building material for the poor as well as the rich. It seems a little unique to think of a very poor man living in a magnificent limestone house roofed, shingled, finished, and furnished throughout with the best quality of grained black walnut, all this because it was so cheap—the difference between the dwellings of the poor and the rich being in the cut of the stone and the carve of the wood.” In returning home I volunteered to drive somebody’s team for them and made the trip alone. From a point north of Chelsea, I struck out across the Flint hills to go to headquarters of the east branch of Fall river, traveling by compass. This is the record. “For the first time in Kansas, I laid out upon the prairie, supperless and alone. With oats and hay for the horses, a robe blanket with God’s moon and stars in the heavens over me, and the precious spirit of Jesus in the heart, a happy night was spent while joy came in the morning. I know now why Abraham in journeying, rejoiced in setting by his altar and I can see how happy spirits can be inspired to make heaven resound with hallelujah.”

Thus was the publication of the little items of history, which seem to interest you, have tempted me to give you a few more items of history on more general matters which may awaken in others old memories and reveal to the younger generation what a luxury it was to live and work when the foundations of enterprises were being laid, which now add so much to the thrift, stability, and peace of a great state. I was always proud of Kansas. I proclaimed it east and west as “the poor man’s paradise, where continuous quarter sections could have more bona fide settlers on them than any western state.” My interest and pride in the state has never waned.

Ed. P. Greer, editor of the Winfield Courier in 1903, printed a letter addressed to him in the August 19, 1903, issue.

The Courier is in receipt of the following letter which will interest all our readers and especially the Old Settlers Association members.

San Marcos, San Diego County, California

August 12, 1903.

Mr. Ed P. Greer. Dear Sir, Will you kindly see that Mr. Ed. F. Green, president of the Old Settlers’ meeting to be held in Dexter August 26, gets the following items.

“Winfield” was named by my mother, Mrs. W. W. Andrews, now living in San Diego, 920 Ash Street, in 1869 for Rev. Winfield Scott, who was then a Baptist preacher in Leavenworth, Kansas. In return for the honor Rev. Scott came to Winfield and preached and “begged,” as he called it, until the first church, a small stone Baptist church was built on Millington street. He is now a retired army captain in San Francisco, or was two years ago.

I was the first white child born in Winfield, August 3, 1870, in a log house then standing on what is now the northeast corner lot at (the) corner of fourth and Loomis streets.

I was named for Rev. Scott’s daughter, Minnie Etta. I came to California in 1890 and am the happy wife of A. Shipley, a section foreman in San Marcos. Very truly yours,

Mrs. A. B. Shipley, nee Minnie E. Andrews.

W. W. Andrews was about thirty-six years old when he first came to Cowley County. He and his wife, Maria, who was about the same age, had three children: Cora E., Hattie E., and Minnie E.

On February 28, 1870, Cowley County was organized by order of Gov. Harvey on petition and three county commissioners were appointed: W. W. Andrews, of Winfield; G. H. Norton, of Creswell; and S. F. Graham, of Dexter. The first meeting of the three county commissioners was held at the home of Mr. Andrews on March 23, 1870, where it was determined to hold an election for a permanent location of the county seat on May 2, 1870.

Andrews was chairman of a meeting held in Winfield on August 25, 1870, at which the Republican Party was organized in Cowley County.

Messrs. W. W. Andrews and A. D. Speed gave twenty acres of land situated three-fourths of a mile from Winfield in 1871 for the use of the Cowley County Agricultural Society, organized on August 17, 1871. The first annual fair began on October 12, 1871.

W. W. Andrews was vice president of the Winfield Town Company, organized on January 13, 1872. During 1872 Andrews and J. C. Weathers started a brick yard north of Winfield, expressing their willingness to trade brick for a few cords of good dry wood. Weathers left and became a cattleman. In April and May 1873 Andrews stated that he intended burning 500,000 brick during the season, using a heavier and better clay, and tempering and molding brick on an improved plan to produce a stronger and larger brick. The Andrews’ grove proved to be a popular place to hold picnics.

In May 1874 Andrews built a brick residence in the north part of Winfield. Forty acres of his land adjoining the town site on the north was laid off into town lots and made a part of Winfield. The addition embraced the residences of M. L. Read, T. A. Wilkinson, E. B. Kager, Dr. W. G. Graham, N. C. McCulloch, and J. J. Ellis. Andrews was one of the committee members in charge of fireworks at the 4^th of July celebration in 1874.

Mr. W. W. Andrews went with J. J. Williams of Winfield to the Black Hills in 1876, spending most of his time there. He sent a copy of the Dead Wood (Black Hills) Reporter to the editors of the Winfield Courier in June 1876. Andrews was successful with his mining claims for silver. It was reported in September 1877 that he made $100,000. From the time he left in 1876 until 1884 he returned to Winfield for occasional visits with his family. His daughter, Cora E., met and married Fayette Austin, of Lead City, South Dakota, on March 1884 in the Black Hills.

In April 1884 Mr. Andrews returned to Winfield and put up for sale part of his land near Timber Creek, that he called “Village of Northfield.” Curns & Manser sold the sixty lots on a block of ground six hundred feet north of the S. K. Depot that were not at that time a part of the city. In February 1885 W. W. Andrews departed for California. In October 1885 Mr. and Mrs. Fayette Austin came in from the Black Hills for a visit before going to California. Mrs. Andrews and other members of the Andrews’ family moved to California in March 1886. After the death of W. W. Andrews in 1889, his widow returned in July 1889, staying with her daughter, Mrs. Harry Bryant at Arkansas City. She later moved back to California.

D. A. Millington.

Daniel Azro Millington was born in Hubbardton, Vt., May 17, 1823. He received an education in the common and higher schools of the state, and became proficient in mathematics and the sciences. He taught in the common schools for five years. He moved to Illinois and in 1844, at the age of 21, married Miss Mary A. Smith on May 16, 1848, in Will County, Illinois. In time they had four daughters. In March 1850 he left Illinois alone for California and did some mining for gold, meeting with some success. He started a return trip in September 1851 via steamboat, and then walked or rode a mule across the isthmus of Panama to board another steamship in the Atlantic. On his return he at first went into the lumber business at Joliet, Illinois. In 1856 He moved with his family to Iowa City, Iowa, and engaged in general mercantile business. In 1862 Millington and his family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where as a merchant, he was successful during the war. In January 1866 the family moved to St. Louis. Merchant Millington experienced heavy losses there. In 1868 the Millington family moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, where D. A. Millington, merchant, met J. C. Fuller.

James C. Fuller was born in Orleans County New York in 1835. He was educated at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York, and taught school for three years. He then began to travel in search of a location in which to settle, taking in various cities in Iowa, Illinois, California, and Texas. When the civil war broke out, Fuller was in Texas and soon learned that he either had to join the Confederate Army or go north. He went to Baltimore, Maryland, and engaged in lithograph publishing for four years. In 1869 J. C. Fuller moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, and became acquainted with Millington.

J. C. Fuller, D. A. Millington, and Col. J. C. McMullen.

In late July or early August 1870 J. C. Fuller, D. A. Millington, and Addison Richards left Fort Scott, Kansas, for Sumner County, Kansas, and became proprietors of a new town being laid out, “Sumner.” Other proprietors were J. M. Steele, C. S. Roe, and J. H. Liggett, of Wichita; J. Jay Buck and E. W. Cunningham, of Emporia; Col. J. C. McMullen, of Clarksville, Tennessee; and Maj. Woodsmall, of Gosport, Indiana.

It appears that all did not go well at Sumner. Col. McMullen moved to Arkansas City, where he started a private bank in 1871. He later started the Citizens’ Bank of Winfield in late January 1878. All three (McMullen, Fuller, and Millington) were involved in a new bank that started in April 1879 when the Citizens’ Bank and the Winfield Bank were consolidated: The new entity was called the “Winfield Bank.” Col. J. C. McMullen was elected president; B. F. Baldwin, vice-president, J. C. Fuller, cashier; and D. A. Millington, secretary. This enabled the Winfield Bank to erect a brick building, 25 by 140 feet, on the same lot occupied by the old Winfield Bank. The first floor was occupied by the bank; the second story was made into offices; and the newspaper, the Winfield Courier, occupied the basement.

First Winfield Town Site Company and First Bank.

J. C. Fuller and D. A. Millington paid $1,000 to A. A. Jackson for his squatter interest in 160 acres of land on August 20, 1870, and associated themselves with E. C. Manning, Col. J. M. Alexander of Leavenworth, and T. H. Johnson, a co-partner with Manning in a law firm, in becoming proprietors of the new town site in Winfield township.

A. J. Patrick was the editor and proprietor of the Winfield Censor. In late November 1870 an article appeared stating that the president of the town company, Mr. J. C. Fuller, had informed them that twenty-three business houses were now under contract and in course of construction, adding “How’s that for a town only four months old?”

D. A. Millington had some experience as a surveyor and completed laying out into town lots and blocks all the west half of Fuller’s claim and the east half of Manning’s claim, completing this work in January 1871 after the government survey of the lands in Cowley County had been made.

D. A. Millington and J. C. Fuller erected a small frame building on the southwest corner of 9^th Avenue and Main Street, called “The Winfield Bank of J. C. Fuller.” It was the first bank in Cowley County, established in the spring of 1871. By the time it was completed, two local attorneys were tenants: J. B. Fairbanks and Leland J. Webb.

In May 1871 D. A. Millington served as a road viewer in seeking a favorable route from Winfield to Howard County and opened a land office for the town company at the bank, prepared to receive pre-emption statements for the U. S. Land Office from settlers. He replaced the first Cowley County surveyor, H. L. Barker, who was appointed on November 8, 1870, and resigned on July 1, 1871.

In July 1871 D. A. Millington and H. B. Norton of Cowley County were members of the Osage, Neosho and Walnut Valley railroad company, seeking to build a railroad from Ottawa to Arkansas City, covering a distance of 180 miles. They were not successful.

Learning that the plats would arrive on Monday morning, July 10, 1871, three members of the Winfield Town Company (Millington, Fuller, and Manning) traveled after dark on Sunday, July 9, 1871, reaching the residence of Judge T. B. Ross three miles northwest after midnight. Ross, the only probate judge in Cowley County, was a minister. He refused to travel on Sunday, but told them he would go one minute after midnight. Arriving at the United States land office at Augusta, Kansas, ahead of the Arkansas City delegation, they entered the Winfield town site as the first tract of land entered in Cowley County and they succeeded in having Winfield declared as the temporary county seat.

Millington and Fuller were not members of the second town company in Winfield, which organized on January 13, 1872.

D. A. Millington was appointed Winfield township clerk on July 1, 1872, by the Cowley County Board of Commissioners after F. A. Hunt resigned.

Millington was part of a committee appointed on August 31, 1872, to consider extending aid to build a section of the Nebraska and Kansas Railroad from Peabody to Cowley County.

In response to a petition presented by a majority of the electors of the unincorporated town of Winfield, containing a population of about six hundred inhabitants, the Judge of the 13^th Judicial District of the State of Kansas, W. P. Campbell, called for an election to be held on March 7, 1873, at which Millington was one of the judges. The electors made Winfield an incorporated city of the third class. He lectured about astronomy before the teachers attending the Normal Institute in Winfield in April 1873 and became a justice of the peace in May. In December 1873 Squire Millington held the first of many parties in his residence, 420 East Tenth Avenue, assisted by Mrs. Millington and their four daughters. Fifteen couples made the double parlor floor ring with the heel and toe. Supper was served at midnight.

Millington was busy in 1874. In March he sold half of the block upon which his house stood to Rev. James E. Platter, who erected a fine residence. In that same month he was admitted to the Bar in Cowley County and formed a co-partnership with attorney L. J. Webb. He resigned as Justice of the Peace in April so that there would be two Justices to elect in the township instead of one. In June he was appointed as a member of the reception committee for the planned 4^th of July celebration in Winfield. In August he became a director of the Cowley County Agricultural Society and a director of the school board. In September Webb and Millington moved their law office into the Winfield Bank.

D. A. Millington was one of the citizens in Winfield interested in promoting moral and intellectual improvement and to consider establishment of a Library and Reading Room. In November 1874 a series of meetings were held at the Winfield courthouse, and in mid-December a board of directors was elected. Millington was made president. The Institute’s goal was to establish a public library and reading room. In June 1875 a library was opened at the law office of Mr. Millington every Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. Mr. Millington acted as the Librarian.

In April 1870 a group of citizens living in the south of Butler County and the north part of Cowley County mounted a campaign to create a separate county consisting of a twenty- mile strip to be taken from the south part of Butler and a six-mile strip from the north end of Cowley County. Millington was warned in January 1875 that the movement was gaining momentum. He quickly called for a meeting and a resolution was passed, opposing the giving away of any part of Cowley County.

Millington was the Mayor of Winfield for two years: 1875 and 1876.

In January 1876 D. A. Millington was appointed U. S. Commissioner for this section of Kansas vice L. B. Kellogg, resigned.

Millington continued his efforts to get a railroad that would come to Cowley County. His efforts and that of others was noted in the Winfield Courier on May 24, 1877. “The lightning killed a mule belonging to Mr. Slemmons, at the Vernon schoolhouse Saturday night. Messrs. Millington, Jennings, Kelly, Seward, and railroad speakers from Arkansas City and Emporia were there. It’s kind of funny that the lightning selected that mule.”

A. B. Lemmon, who married Millington’s oldest daughter, Clara, on November 24, 1875, became a partner in purchasing the Winfield Courier from E. C. Manning. The first issue of the paper, jointly edited and conducted by them and James Kelly, appeared on July 12, 1877. Mr. Millington soon took charge and handled most of the editorials. He also answered some peculiar queries such as the following: “If 3 cats will catch 8 rats in 3 minutes, how many cats will it take to catch 100 rats in 100 minutes at the same ratio?” His response: “This is not so simple a problem as it looks on its face, yet it is readily solved as follows: If three cats can catch 8 rats in 3 minutes, then three cats can catch a rat a minute and 100 rats in 100 minutes. Answer—three cats. Give us something hard. ED.”

D. A. Millington received his commission and assumed the office of postmaster at Winfield on February 1, 1879. He served for five years.

On April 24, 1879, Mr. Lemmon sold his interest. Mr. Millington became sole editor and publisher of the paper.

In July 1879 D. A. Millington told about a trip that he and Mrs. Millington made to Colorado after visiting with their daughter and son-in-law, A. B. Lemmon, in Topeka. Lemmon asked who they were going with. Millington answered, “M. L. Robinson and J. C. Fuller.” Lemmon rejoined: “Correct. Never think of going to Colorado with less than two bankers with you.”

Millington, then fifty-six years of age, told about his trip to Pike’s Peak with M. L. Robinson. “We started from Colorado Springs before six o’clock in the morning and rode in a buggy six miles, up to Manitou Springs at the entrance of the canon at the foot of the trail. Here we mounted hardy and sure-footed ponies and entered upon the trail at about seven o’clock. Our route was steep uphill, winding around mountain peaks and precipices, up a stupendous gorge or canon; past numerous water falls—many of them covered by enormous granite rocks which had tumbled down from thousands of feet above; winding along in a narrow mule path in the steep sides of fine debris, which had tumbled down from the heights above; hugging overhanging rocks to keep from falling into the stupendous chasm below; crossing over the gorge back and forth to avoid impassible precipices; and finally at the end of four and a half miles, and having risen 3,000 feet, we emerged from the canon into a wider valley, in which there was much vegetation, and which was crowded with splendid quaking aspen trees and many firs; along which valley we passed westward toward the peak, still rising rapidly and winding between lofty peaks. Following this valley a mile and a half we turned to the left, directly south, and went up along the backbone of a very steep ridge for two miles, which brought us up to the Lake House, a log hotel on the margin of a beautiful lake lying in an ancient crater at an elevation of 9,700 feet.

“From this point we went west and southwest, climbing diagonally up the steep side of a spur or ridge, running down southwest from the peak. A mile and a half of the steepest kind of climbing brought us around the point of the ridge. A storm was raging above us, and we rode into it, winding up the west slope of the peak. The storm was rain, snow, and hail with the sharp reports of lightning and thunder reverberating among the crags around us. One discharge splintered a granite rock to pieces but two or three hundred feet from us. But we were well wrapped and comfortable and kept climbing and winding up spirally from the west side of the peak around the north and east sides to the south side, where we emerged above the storm, and still climbing up toward the north, arrived at the signal station on the very summit, having risen above the lake nearly 5,000 feet, about 2,000 up to the storm, 2,000 through the storm, and 1,000 above it.

“We arrived at the summit at about a quarter past three o’clock in the afternoon. The storm was still raging below us. Far down the sides of the peak, all around from 1,000 to 5,000 feet below us, rolled the dark clouds, the lightning flashed incessantly, and the thunder crashed and reverberated; but we looked over the storm down to the east and saw the city of Colorado Springs, eighteen miles distant, lying apparently immediately below us, and many other objects stretching away in the distance. But the storm though still far below us was widening toward the east and soon shut off our vision from the lower world. Sometimes a little fraction of the cloud would roll up from below on one side of the top and plunge down on the other side, but otherwise it was fair on the top.

“At four o’clock p.m. we commenced our descent. Before we had proceeded a mile down the trail we found ourselves entering the upper side of the storm, and by the time we had descended another mile, we found ourselves surrounded by a war of the elements which cannot be described. The rain, snow, and hail were in themselves terrible, but the lightning and thunder were too frightful to contemplate. The air was filled with rapid flashes, and reports sharp, loud, and incessant, crashed and reverberated among the crags about us. We heard the splintered and exploded rocks rattling and jingling all about us, but could not see them for the darkness and density of the storm.

“My companion, M. L. Robinson, got down from his pony and by the light of the lurid flashes, I thought he looked rather pale. There were several strangers on their ponies along, and not only men but ponies seemed almost paralyzed by fright. There was one woman, strong and courageous as she went up, now entirely demoralized. She and her husband had dismounted when we overtook them coming down. He was standing pale and speechless by the side of the trail. She was on her knees, her face deformed by her fears and distress, large tears rolling down her face, moaning, praying, begging for life. She prayed and promised the Lord that if he would save her from this terrible danger, she would never go to Pike’s Peak again, the longest day she ever lived. M. L. tried to soothe and quiet her, but he might as well have attempted to quiet the storm that was crashing around us. We told them that that was no place to stop, to get on their ponies and ride down out of the storm. We proceeded to follow our own advice and were soon below the worst of the storm; and when we reached the Lake House, the storm was all above us toward the top of the peak. We arrived at Manitou from the top of the peak in four hours. It had taken us eight hours to go up. We arrived at Colorado Springs at nine o’clock p.m.”

Mr. Millington concluded his article with another event. “Judge Hallett delivered in the U. S. Court his decision dismissing the Receiver appointed by the state court of Colorado, in whose hands was placed the Denver and Rio Grande railroad. The Receiver immediately turned the property over to the D. & R. G. company and that company, being in contempt of court for not having turned the property over to the A., T. & S. F., in compliance with an order of Judge Hallett in June, turned over the road to the latter company at noon. There was great rejoicing among the friends of the A., T. & S. F. Guns were fired, bonfires, illuminations, and speeches were made.

“We were among those who heartily rejoiced at the result and we congratulate Manager W. B. Strong and his friends on the able and glorious fight they have made and on this fair measure of success. We were then at Colorado Springs and took the first train under the new management to go south to the Rio Grande.

“Arriving at Pueblo, a large number of the discharged employees of the former management with their friends numbering two or three hundred, assembled around the train and made an attack on the employees of the A., T. & S. F.

“An extensive fight ensued. Some three hundred pairs of fists were hitting around in a lively manner and the Santa Fe forces were whipped out. The engineer and conductor whose lives were threatened skipped out and disappeared. The train was detained two and a half hours until the Santa Fe authorities accepted an engineer, conductor, and hands that were dictated by the mob. The civil authorities pretended to be trying to keep the peace and preserve order, but were evidently in sympathy with the mob. Nevertheless we went on with the train to Alamosa on the Rio Grande and returned to Pueblo the next day.

“At Alamosa no friends of the Santa Fe company dared to appear. At El Moro the Rio Grande roughs bought all the fire arms and ammunition that could be had and held the ground. The whole southern part of the road was in the hands of the mob and what the result will be it is hard to guess. Doubtless blood will be spilt and the U. S. Marshals with posse will be called to quell the mob and completely carry out the orders of the court.

“At seven o’clock on the morning of last Friday, we were at Alamosa on the west side of the Rio Grande in Colorado. At the same hour on the next morning we were at Newton, Kansas, having traveled 576 miles in 24 hours, including stoppages, one of which was two hours at Pueblo. The narrow gauge train carried us up the Sangre De Christo range, down the frightful gorges and windings of the Veta Pass, and over the high mesa skirting the mountain ranges, 136 miles to Pueblo; then the A., T. & S. F. train slid smoothly down the Arkansas at the rate of 35 miles per hour, 440 miles to Newton.

“As we came down from Wichita last Saturday evening, we found that the railroad track was laid as far as the creek a mile this side of El Paso and the grading completed several miles farther; in fact, as far as we could see it from the wagon road. Work appeared to be progressing vigorously. We saw a construction train loaded with railroad material about 13 miles this side of Wichita.”

Mr. Millington retired from active business in 1886, but remained connected in an official capacity with the Winfield Gas Company.

D. A. Millington died suddenly on May 6, 1891, of heart failure at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Hackney, where a group had assembled to visit with two of his daughters, Mrs. W. J. Wilson and Mrs. Ezra Nixon. Both ladies planned to leave the next day: Mrs. Wilson going to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mrs. Nixon to Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Besides the two daughters mentioned, Mr. Millington was survived by his wife and two other daughters: Mrs. J. Ex Saint, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mrs. A. B. Lemmon, of Santa Rosa, California.

The funeral was held at the Millington residence on May 7, 1891, Rev. J. C. Miller officiating. The following acted as pallbearers: S. C. Smith, E. P. Hickok, J. B. Lynn, J. E. Conklin, H. C. Loomis, and W. P. Hackney.

J. C. Fuller, Banker, Winfield.

J. C. Fuller kept busy at the bank when he was not involved in town company business. He ran the following notice in the Winfield Courier on Thursday, October 16, 1873.

“J. C. Fuller wants it distinctly understood by those persons in the east part of the county who think all the banks in the county have suspended, that the Winfield Bank of J. C. Fuller has been opened for business every day at regular hours, has paid all demands and checks in cash, has continued to loan to its regular customers, and is prepared to do the same in future. The bank is not buying eastern drafts, but takes them for collection.”

Fuller was active in Adelphi Lodge, A. F. & A. M. He was one of the organizers of a Literary Society in September 1874. He was one of the board of directors of the Winfield Institute.

J. C. Fuller received $42.65 for rent in his bank building by the City Council from April 10, 1875, to March 10, 1876. Fuller was not happy when the city council took him in as a resident of Winfield in April 1875. In May 1875 he was appointed by Mayor Millington as city treasurer. In November 1875 Fuller was elated when the bank’s 6,000 lb. fire and burglar proof safe arrived.

At a meeting in El Dorado on November 14, 1875, Fuller was chosen as one of the directors of the Walnut Valley Railroad Company; at a later meeting in Emporia on November 23, 1875, he was made Vice President. The proposed road was a narrow gauge from Kansas City and Emporia to Arkansas City. Owing to a bill pending in the State legislature to amend the bond law, it was deemed best not to organize the company until the result of the bill was known. The matter was soon dropped.

Mr. Fuller paid close attention to his forty-acre wheat patch. In June 1876 he joined with Rev. J. E. Platter and A. J. Thompson in purchasing a header for their extensive wheat fields. In September 560 bushels were threshed from his wheat stacks, turning out 16½ bushels to the acre. For enjoyment he played croquet with D. A. Millington, James Kelly

Winfield Town Company.

Winfield Town Company was organized Jan. 13th, 1872, with E. C. Manning, president; W. W. Andrews, vice president; C. M. Wood, treasurer; W. G. Graham, secretary. E. C. Manning, J. H. Land, A. A. Jackson, W. G. Graham, and J. C. Monforte were directors. The foregoing named persons with T. H. Baker, S. S. Prouty, Thos. Moonlight, and H. C. Loomis were the corporators. The object of this corporation was “to lay out a town site on the rolling prairie east of the Walnut River and south of Dutch Creek, the same being in Cowley County and embracing the particular forty acres of land on which the residence of E. C. Manning is situated, with the privilege of increasing the area of the town site as soon as practicable.”

Controversy Over Winfield Town Company Site.

On March 27, 1873, James Kelly, Clerk of the District Court, purchased outright from R. S. Waddell the Winfield Courier. He was soon involved with reporting about the woes that had befallen the Winfield Town Company with a suit by Enoch Maris.

Winfield Courier, Thursday, April 17, 1873.

Town Site Suit Settled.

The following glorious news for the people of Winfield was received by the Clerk of the District Court of Cowley County last Saturday.

SUPREME COURT, THE STATE OF KANSAS.

To the District Court within and for the 13th Judicial District, Cowley county, Kansas, Greeting:

WHEREAS, In a certain civil action lately pending before you, wherein Enoch Maris et al were Plaintiffs and the Winfield Town Co. were Defendants, a Judgment was rendered by you in favor of the said E. Maris et al., on a transcript of which Judgment and record said Winfield Town Company prosecuted a petition in error in the Supreme Court within and for the state of Kansas.

AND WHEREAS, At the January term of said Supreme Court, A. D 1873, on consideration of the said petition in error, it was ordered and adjudged by the said Supreme Court, that the said Judgment of the court below be reversed with cost, and the cause remanded for further proceedings, you are therefore commanded, that without delay, you cause execution to be had of the said Judgment of the Supreme Court, according to Law the said petition in error to the contrary notwithstanding.

WITNESS my hand and the seal of said Supreme Court, affixed at my office in the City of Topeka on the 9th day of April A. D. 1873. A. HAMMETT, Clerk.

Thus the vexed suit to set aside the deeds made by the Probate Judge to the Winfield Town Company is now settled and everybody can take hold in earnest to make Winfield what it ought to be—the queen of the Walnut Valley. We have never taken sides in this controversy because it was in the Courts and different persons had different views. Now that Mr. Maris is out of court with his suit, there is nothing in the way of making a prosperous town of Winfield. The town company is also now in a position where it can afford to be generous and pursue a policy that shall contribute largely to the fullest development of the town.

Winfield Courier, Thursday, May 8, 1873. Editorial.

The Town Site.

“We see from our exchanges that the impression has gone abroad that the Winfield Town site trouble has been decided in favor of the Town company. Now this impression went abroad from the manner in which the COURIER spoke of the matter two weeks ago. It stated plainly that the decision vested the title in the Town company. This was untrue and published in that sheet with the intention of misleading the public.” Telegram.

The following is what we did say as clipped from the COURIER, and any honest man will see the difference between the Telegram and the truth.

“Thus the vexed suit, to set aside the deeds made by the Probate Judge to the Winfield Town company, is now settled, and everybody can take hold to make Winfield what it ought to be—the Queen of the Walnut Valley. We have never taken sides in the controversy, because it was in the courts and different persons had different views.

“Now that Mr. Maris is out of court with his suit, there is nothing in the way of making a prosperous town of Winfield. The Town company is also now in a position where it can afford to be generous and pursue a policy that shall contribute largely to the fullest development of the town.”

Now where do we “state plainly that the decision vested the title in the Town company?”

The suit is out of court. The “citizens” and Town company have it within themselves to adjust the difficulty in an amicable manner so that there may be an end to the strife and bickering that have thus far retarded the progress and prosperity of our town, and the COURIER will always be found ready to advocate anything that will tend to that most desirable end.

On Saturday, May 13, 1873, a Topeka, Kansas, newspaper, The Commonwealth, stated that all the justices of the supreme court of Kansas concurred in reversing a decision made in Cowley County concerning the case of the Winfield Town Company versus Enoch Maris and Co. “The decision of the supreme court in the Cowley County case reached here last night, and threw the whole town into consternation, as this decision makes the deed of the mayor to the town company illegal and void, and of course all deeds of the town company are also void. This will, however, be an advantage to the town, as the people here will take it into their own hands, and people will get lots much cheaper, and those here will quit paying money to a town company that never had any title to the lots or town.”