Chapter 1. HISTORY OF COWLEY COUNTY.

The Indians.

Newspapers in the late 1860s referred to this area of Kansas as the “Southwestern Fron-tier.” In the unbounded enthusiasm which prevailed after the Civil War over more territorial expansion, Jacob Stotler, Editor of the Emporia News, saw the “Great Southwest” as even including Mexico City.

Emporia News, January 17, 1868. The day is not far distant when old Mexico will become a part of the dominion under the Government of the United States. Its mineral wealth alone makes its acquisition desirable and certain. It is today without rod of railway. The Government of old Mexico would gladly give its pledge for money and land in aid of a railway through its domain to the Pacific coast. It would, indeed, be no very difficult task to obtain from the old Mexican Government a charter for a railway with an endowment double in extent, both in money and land, to that of the Union Pacific.

It takes a lot of imagination to put oneself in that time and place, to know only what was known then—not knowing how it was going to turn out.

At the conclusion of the Medicine Lodge Treaty (October 1867) the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were provided with a reservation adjacent to the Kiowa and Comanche Indians. In 1868 and 1869 these tribes, for various reasons, went on the warpath. They had to be subdued by the U. S. Army.

In 1868 (before the formal opening of Cowley County, Kansas February 28, 1870) the movement by entrepreneurs seeking financial gain and farmers seeking good land began. Each day was filled with events that shaped and molded the future of the county in its infancy.

The Osage Indians began their removal in March 1870. Their agreement to reside in Indian Territory was their third land transaction, and they seemed to have learned from experience. They were an exception to transactions by the U. S. Government with other Indian tribes. They sold their reservation (called the “Osage Diminished Reserve”) for cash and purchased what is known today as Osage County, Oklahoma, from the Cherokee Indians, obtaining a clear title to it—which included all of the minerals below. Remaining funds were put into a trust account for them by the U. S. Government.

Indian Territory, located south of the Kansas State Line, consisted of many tribes, upwards of 75. The years 1870-1875 were difficult at times for white settlers along the Kansas border due to hostile Indians going on the warpath for various reasons. Constant vigilance was maintained and there were numerous engagements by the U. S. Army and militia groups.

The West. Where Was It?

Shortly after 1750, the Cumberland Gap led to “the west,”—at that time Kentucky. Later “the west” extended to Tennessee. By the early 1800s “the west” was perceived to be mostly Missouri and Arkansas; “the northwest” was The Great Lakes and the area north of the Ohio River. In time writers spoke of “The West,” referring to everything west of the Mississippi, with the primary jumping off point being St. Louis, Missouri. The first two decades after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 were dedicated to exploration of “The West.” Lewis and Clark explored the new lands 1804-1806. They were followed by Pike, Bonneville, Fremont, and Long, who used the rough maps then available to follow Indian trails west of the Mississippi.

In 1823 William Ashley and Major Andrew Henry launched the first expedition of their new fur company into the Rocky Mountains, offering $200 in advance for men willing to spend a year in the mountains. There was no shortage of young men willing to sign up Among the new hires were Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith. By the time of the peak event—the 1838 rendezvous held on the Wind River—the old “mountain men” knew that an era was ending. Only two more rendezvous were held. A shortage of beaver took place during this span of 15 years, and the world market for beaver skins collapsed.

Soon after 1823 the United States Government paid the seven foot, 300 pound Osage Chief, Black Dog, and his tribe $500 in cash and $300 in merchandise for the right to cross their territory with the new Santa Fe railroad. Commerce began to develop in the West after mapping had been achieved and published. Businessmen of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (a terminus of the “west” a generation earlier), commenced building steam boats to engage in trade on the Mississippi and Missouri river systems. On the plains, trade routes developed by the Indians hauling 200 lbs. of “flint age” goods on horse-drawn travois were replaced by white traders with 2,000 lbs. of “iron-age” goods in big ox-drawn wagons.

After the discovery of gold in California in 1849, the economics of freighting changed. Bill Cody, 12 years old, signed on with Russell, Majors & Waddell in 1857 The wagons in use (as large as a room in a house) were specially manufactured for the prairie trade by J. Murphy, St. Louis, capable of hauling 6,000 lbs. of freight behind several yokes of oxen.

Around 1823 the newly independent, but broke, Mexican government implemented a strategy, which at the time seemed like a good idea. They encouraged the crazy Anglos from Kentucky and Tennessee to move into Texas, thus providing a human buffer between the depredations of the Comanche Indians and the Spanish people of Mexico. The effects of this strategy reverberated throughout the Southwest and West for the next fifty years.

By 1836 the flaw in the Mexican strategy for Texas became visible. Texans developed military resources to fight Comanches. As a result, they used their military in enforcing their declaration of independence from Mexico. Unfortunately, while the Texas fighting force was gaining independence for the Republic of Texas, they left the Indian frontier unprotected. In 1838 Fort Parker was overrun by Comanches, who killed the adults and captured four children: Rachel Plummer, Elizabeth Kellogg, Silas Parker, and ten-year old Cynthia Anne Parker.

By 1840 the Bent brothers were operating a string of trading posts on the western rivers. By signing his own treaty with Comanche and Kiowa Indians in the Texas Panhandle, Charles Bent was able to establish a trading post on the Canadian River. The Bent brothers acquired a buffalo robe at their post for 25¢ worth of trade goods. They then sold the same robe in St. Louis for $5 or $6 dollars.

The presence of the U. S. Army in the area of the Bent trading post during the War of 1848 inflamed the Indians to such a level of hostilities that trading was no longer possible. William Bent, the only surviving brother, burned the fort down to only the adobe walls in 1849 rather than sell it to the Army for what he considered an insulting and inflammatory offer.

These adobe walls (or “dobe walls”) were referred to by the author, J. Frank Dobie, a hundred years later. Kit Carson fought Indians from behind the old walls. Bill Cody rode by the falls in the fall of 1868, commenting on it in his biography. Bat Masterson and his fellow buffalo hunters hid behind the old walls in 1874, during an attack by Cynthia Anne Parker’s son, Quanah, and his hungry followers were urged to attack by their medicine man, Isatai, who assured them that the bullets of the white hunters’ guns would not hurt them. The buffalo hunters were expert shots and were well protected by the walls. They had an endless supply of ammunition and had rifles that could kill a buffalo at 500 yards. The attack was ill considered. After winning in this engagement, Bat and the boys collected all of the dead warrior’s raiments and took them back to Dodge City. The Indian costumes were utilized by the Dodge City Chamber of Commerce for the next several decades in entertaining visiting dignitaries with simulated Indian raids upon their persons.

In 1875 Chief Quanah Parker (known as “Citra” by the Quahadi Comanche band) appeared at the Ft. Sill reservation trying to find his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker.

Freedom.

Washington Irving, writing of his visit to Kansas in 1833, noted the total freedom enjoyed by the Indians—an idea imparted to many white settlers who had contact with them.

The eastern press found a market for this idea. True “Freedom”: no boss, no government, no rules, no limits.

Kansas was admitted to the Union January 29, 1861. In that same year it was embroiled in the War of the Rebellion—now known as the Civil War. People who came to Kansas as part of the political movement to make Kansas a “Free State,” began to develop new ideas about freedom, realizing that “economic freedom” was essential.

The War of the Rebellion [1861-1865] was such a wrenching event that one is tempted to divide United States and Kansas history into “Before the War” and “After the War.” Many links tie the two periods together. When one risks one’s own life to fight a war so slaves can be free, one begins to question what it means to be free. Those who realized they were taking the lands of “Free Indians” began to question events.

Influence of Newspapers.

Newspapers sprang up all over Kansas and the rest of the country, thanks to the low cost of printing technology developed during the Civil War to supply news to a demanding market. Editors became influential people. The currency of ideas was exchanged daily. In time, telegraph services would be inaugurated, thus bringing news from everywhere to all Kansas readers within a few days. The ideas put forth by Kansas editors were also being carried to the world. Currency supply, national banking policy, railroad shipping rates, and international grain markets were all observed.

News about the Sac & Fox swindle and other shady deals were revealed. The maneuvers of railroad barons and politicians were disclosed in minute detail.

Many officer corps veterans of the Civil War were sophisticated and sensitive to the intrigues in the halls of power and had little trust of big government or big business. Once the questioning had begun, the seeds of the Populist uprising of the 1890 had been planted.

The famous picture of the G. A. R. meeting in Winfield, in 1888, shows what was turning into a growing political movement disguised as an old soldiers’ reunion.

Movements sprang up: “Greenback Party,” “National Labor Congress,” “National Re-form Party,” “Union Labor Party,” “Order of Videttes,” “Farmers’ Alliance” (replacing the Grange), “People’s Party,” “Nights of Labor,” “Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union.” Some started in Winfield, Kansas. The Populist Movement will be told in another volume.

Conflict between national politics and their effect on local land, Indian, and rail rate policies would heat up to a political upheaval that would eventually land a Democrat in the White House. An occasional Democrat had always worked in Kansas. The philosophy pre-vailed that if Republicans got too far out of hand, Democrats could be put in for a term, as “It would keep ’em honest. Kansas Governor St. John muddied up the political picture by running as an Independent candidate for the presidency.

Stephen Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was elected as President of the United States in 1885. Soon Southern Democrats, who had no idea how to run Indian affairs, were appointed to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and took over as U. S. Indian Agents. Traders, teachers, etc. were replaced at Indian reservations. The political reverberation would last for decades. Both Indians and whites suffered at the hands of political hacks.

James Christian Defended Keokuk in 1869.

The landmark decision relative to the status of the Ponca Indian, Standing Bear, covered in this book, was not the first such case concerning an Indian, James Christian, of Arkansas City, a law partner of the noted Jim Lane of Kansas, was an attorney living in Lawrence in 1869. It was he who defended Keokuk.

James Christian was present May 21, 1856, when the “Sacking of Lawrence” took place, safely hiding Samuel C. Pomeroy (then the reputed agent of the Emigrant Aid Company) and Judge Miller. Christian was saved by a friend from being killed during “Quantrill’s Raid,” August 21, 1863. His story will be told in another volume.

The Rights of Indians.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 28, 1879. The decision at Omaha, that the Indians have the same right to go where they please as whites, brings to mind a similar decision by the Supreme Court of Kansas, some ten years ago.

Keokuk, a Chief of the Sac and Fox tribe, wanted to go to Washington to see his “Great Father.” The Indian Agent said Keokuk should not go because there was no appropriation to pay his expenses. Keokuk said he would pay his own expenses and started, and got to Lawrence, where the Agent had him arrested and brought before a U. S. Commissioner, who put him in jail, as Jimmy Christian, his attorney said, “with thieves, robbers, and other vile characters.” After a few days he was discharged under a habeas writ. He brought suit in the District Court for false imprisonment. He got a judgment against the Agent, and the case was taken to the Supreme Court of Kansas. Judge Kingman, in rendering a decision sustaining the judgment of the court below, said he could find no law to make it an offense for an Indian to go to Washington if he wanted to and paid his own bills.

He said that under no law, human or Divine, could he be subject to arrest and imprisonment by anyone. The opinion concluded by saying: “His rights are regulated by law for redress, it is not in the power of any tribunal to say you are an Indian and your rights rest in the arbitrary decision of executive officers, and not in the law.”

The case concerning Keokuk is reported fully in the 6:h Kansas reports, page 94. Commonwealth.

World Events Help Shape Cowley County.

By 1870 when Cowley County came into formal existence, the long history of boom and bust economics, personal alliances and animosities, stories of honor and political betrayal, business successes and failures, new philosophical ideas, growing technology, and a sense that education should be provided for everyone were conveyed to newspaper readers.

World events brought many changes. Mexico, under Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico (1864-67), became a dominion under Napoleon III (1852-70), Emperor of the French. The secession to the Spanish Crown embroiled France and Prussia into the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 and ended with Prussian grenadiers marching in the streets of Paris.

Many young men from Germany chose to cast their lot in the American West rather than the Prussian draft. The war and other events of the time brought an infusion of settlers to Cowley County, Kansas.

J. P. Baden and his brother, who brought the finest technical education that Hanover, Germany, could provide, settled in Winfield. Baden later built a fortune by shipping fresh eggs to the miners in Colorado and New Mexico. His story, as well as that of other young entrepreneurs from Europe to Cowley County, will be told in a later volume.

Wars in Europe took much agricultural land out of production and pushed world grain prices very high—high enough that a settler in Cowley County, Kansas, could buy 160 acres for $1.25 an acre ($200) and pay for the whole sum with a few acres of corn.

Why Farmers Settled in Cowley County.

A study of a map showing the topography of Cowley County and surrounding counties reveals the reason so many farmers from the east settled in Cowley County. Its terrain was relatively flat and the ground excellent for growing wheat, corn, etc. Not so with the areas east and west. To the east of Cowley County, for instance, are the flint hills and other lands described so aptly by Max Fawcett when he was trying to determine the distance between Arkansas City and the state line.

[Note: Howard County was split later into Elk and Chautauqua counties. The area investigated by Mr. Fawcett was in present-day Chautauqua County.]

A Hunt for the South Line of the State.

Emporia News, July 29, 1870.

ARKANSAS CITY, July 22, 1870.

EDITORS NEWS: In company with Wm. Nichols, Rolin Pond, and Norman Curtis, mounted, and equipped with revolvers, blankets, a field compass, and a sack with something in it to “chaw,” I started on the morning of the 14th to hunt the south boundary of the Osage Reservation.

We went to the crossing of the Osage trail on the Arkansas, about two miles below the mouth of Grouse, and looked for the line marks, but could find none. We then followed the trail to Beaver Creek, but could find no line mounds there; but learned that there were some near Gamble & Welch’s mill on Big Caney Creek, in Howard County, twenty-five miles farther east. Guided by M. Patton, a settler on the Beaver, we left the trail to the north, and rode the whole distance across a treeless divide, but with timber in sight on our right and left. We arrived at Big Caney Creek near sunset, and found one of the line mounds. We took supper and breakfast at James Spragues. Mr. Spragues is one of the first settlers on Big Caney. There is a new town just laid out near Gamble & Welch’s mill. It is called Sprague Valley. There was one house being built on the site. Gamble & Welch have a thirty horse-power portable saw mill, and are doing a good business. The country in that part of the valley of the Big Caney that we visited is the roughest, raggedest, and most picturesque part of Kansas that I have seen. The hills are almost mountains, with steep sides, covered with huge, projecting, boulder-like sand rocks. The timber near the river is as good as any that I have seen in Kansas. All over the hills near the river, and extending for miles back, are forests of post oak, interspersed with small and mostly smooth prairies. The trees are scattered, sometimes two or three rods apart, and the grass grows luxuriantly among them, which gives them the appearance of grand parks, and down deep in the rocky ravines are clear rippling streams of pure cold water, sometimes formed into little crystal lakes by great fallen rocks, covered with the most beautiful mosses and ferns that I have ever seen. The scenery on Big Caney very nearly resembles that of the Ozark mountain region of Arkansas. But the whole country is not rocky; the level valleys and nearly level uplands, both prairie and timber, are, with but few exceptions, nearly or quite free from out-cropping rocks. We were informed by the settlers that the Big Caney is settled to its mouth, forty miles into Indian Territory, and claims have been sold south of the line for as high as eight hundred dollars.

We set our compass at the mound near the mill, and ran east half a mile and found the second mound, but the two were not in sight of each other. We ran back to the first mound again, and found the variation, by our compass, to be about eleven degrees and twenty-five minutes. We then started west, ran through a mile of timber with a dense undergrowth of dogwoods, grapevines, and mosquitos, and came within a few feet of a line mound. On the rocky ridges farther west the mounds were built of rock, they were circular in shape, three feet high, with flat tops, and a stake in the center of each. We found all of the mounds in inconspicuous places. We camped in the evening in a deep rocky ravine, with a spring running through it, filled with dead wood and growing weeds. Farther west on our course, and about half way across the divide we found a good spring, after that we had no trouble in finding plenty of good water. This divide is about like the average of Kansas uplands, there is a good growth of grass and rosin weed on it, and with the exception of a few stony mounds, it can be readily cultivated. We crossed Beaver Creek the next evening at Phillip Crocker’s claim, took supper at Mr. Crocker’s, and camped on a hill a mile west, where we found a camp of mosquitos, and were

“Chawed all night,

Till broad daylight,

And then chased in the morning.”

In crossing the divide between Big Caney and Beaver Creeks the line runs about two miles south, and nearly parallel with Flat Rock Creek, which is a small but well timbered stream. Beaver Creek is a small stream, but well timbered; we were informed that it is settled to its mouth, fifteen miles south of the State line. There is a town laid out on the Abilene trail, about a mile above where the Osage trail crosses Beaver Creek. It is called McLain City. There are two cabins on the town site. Mr. McLain, an old settler, informed us that eighteen thousand head of Texas cattle have been driven over that trail since last spring. The divide between Beaver Creek and the Arkansas is well watered by spring brooks, and covered with a luxuriant growth of grass and rosin weeds, and is a splendid range for stock. It is about ten miles across. We arrived at the Arkansas River, and found that the south line of the Osage Reservation runs about five miles south of Arkansas City. If the south line of the neutral strip, lying south of the Osage Reservation, is the State line, the State line must be eight or ten miles south of Arkansas City. After making a mark where we struck the Arkansas, we started for home (Arkansas City). About half a mile below the mouth of Grouse we stopped for dinner, at a large spring on E. A. Wilton’s claim. It is worth going miles to see. It runs a stream that would fill a six inch pipe. It pours from a deep ledge of magnesia limestone, about thirty feet above the level of the Arkansas, and dashes down through a dark, shady, rocky, mossy ravine, sometimes checked in its impetuous course and formed into miniature lakes, and at others leaping down and forming beautiful little cascades over large rocks entirely covered with mosses and ferns. From the spring we followed the road through a narrow belt of timber between high bluffs and the Arkansas, and soon came to the Grouse, which is a stream about the size of the Cottonwood at Emporia. It is well timbered, and the bottoms are very rich, and thickly settled. From the Grouse we followed the upland road around the heads of the deep, rocky sided ravines, emptying into the Arkansas. Grouse Creek is about eight miles from Arkansas City. When about half way over the divide, we stopped to look for water. We found a circular hole in the solid rock, about three feet in diameter, and eight in depth, with a stream of cold clear water running through it at the bottom, and on going into it we found a passage leading from it, probably into a cave. We call it the well spring. A few rods from this, at the head of a ravine, behind some fallen rocks, we found the entrance to a cave. We entered it and found the interior to be about five feet high, and ten or twelve feet wide, with a stream of cold clear water running through it. We went back about fifty feet, and as far back as we could see it seemed to be about the same height and width. About twenty-five feet from the entrance we found a circular hole about three feet in diameter, directly over the center of the cave, running through the solid rock to the prairies above, making a perfect skylight. We have named it Skylight Cave. We are going to explore it in a few days. The prairie between Grouse and the Walnut is about as good as the average of Kansas uplands, but not as good as the upland on the divide north of Arkansas City. We arrived home in the evening, having been gone five days. We took supper at the Eskridge House. Mr. Eskridge is a natural hotelist and accommodationist. He sets a first class table. He is adding two additions to his house, which will make it quite roomy. He is compelled to do this to accommodate his rapidly increasing number of boarders.

Early Description of Cowley County Land.

Winfield Courier, December 12, 1873. Cowley County is situated on the South line of the state, towering on the Indian Territory and 100 miles from the East border of Kansas.

It was organized in February, 1870. It then contained 700 inhabitants. The present population is 15,000. The county is upon the Osage Diminished Reserve Lands, and has been open only to the actual settler, in quantities not exceeding 160 acres. No railroad grants cover any part of the soil of this county. The question of title is in no respect complicated by the conflicting claims of railway corporations and the citizens.

The rapidity with which the county has settled and the permanent character and extent of the improvements are marvels to all observers, and speak more impressively than words can express of the industry and enterprise of the citizens.

A few words as to the topography, soil, climate, etc., may not be uninteresting and possibly may prove of great service to the immigrant into our rapidly growing commonwealth, and to those in other states, who possibly contemplate "going west."

Cowley is one of the large counties of the state; being 33 miles square. It lies west of Howard, south of Butler, and east of Sumner counties.

The Arkansas River flows along its western border. The Walnut through its entire extent from the north to the south, about 10 miles east from the west line and forms a confluence with the Arkansas at the state line. The Grouse Creek is a large stream, in the eastern part of the county, flowing from the north and is a tributary of the Arkansas.

These streams with several important tributaries, as, the Rock, Timber, and Silver creeks, are all heavily timbered, and make the county one of the best watered and wooded counties in the state. The chief timber is Oak of several varieties; Black Walnut, Elm, Hackberry, Cotton-wood, Mulberry, and Sycamore. The streams are all rapid, and, save the Arkansas, clear, with rock or gravel beds. The Walnut, Timber, and Grouse furnish unlimited water-power.

The editor of the American Agriculturist, says:

“The soil is a deep, black loam, resting on a lighter colored subsoil, consisting of loam, clay, and gravel, both soil and subsoil being so porous that surface water readily passed through them, and in no case is there any difficulty experienced in crossing with horses and wagons or stock, any water courses or beds of streams. Teams may be driven across springs or creek bottoms fearlessly, without danger of miring. This porosity of the soil, while it renders it capable of being plowed or worked immediately after the heaviest rains, at the same time keeps constantly moist from evaporation below, and protects it from drouth. Within six hours of the cessation of a rain in which we judge at least three inches of water fell, I saw farmers breaking sod and cultivating the young corn. The crops of corn, oats, rye, spring and fall wheat, potatoes and garden vegetables, which I saw growing, both on new and old breaking, in various localities in the valley, are equal to any that I have ever seen elsewhere, during many years' experience. I know of no part of the country possessing a more attractive soil for the farmer than this.”

Fifteen bushels of corn from this valley, exhibited at the State Fair this year, gave an average weight of one and one half pounds per ear.

The upland between the Arkansas and the Walnut is a smooth, level prairie, every acre of which is tillable by the steam plow, when it shall come into use, and for fertility and beauty, challenges an equal area in any other part of the state.

Of the valley of the Walnut, nothing need be said. It is unrivaled and unsurpassed by any other valley in the state. The Walnut River is a large clear stream, flowing over a limestone bed—its banks deeply bordered with heavy timber of the best kinds, native to the State of Kansas. The bottom lands of the Walnut extends to the bluffs on either side—in some places several miles—and in fertility is unequaled in the state. Eighty bushels of corn and thirty-five bushels wheat per acre are not uncommon yields the past year, while fifty bushels of corn and twenty-five of wheat are probably less than average.

The upland between the Walnut and Grouse is a rolling prairie, with here and there a ledge of limestone cropping out and interspersed with mounds of considerable height. This land is full of springs and small streams of living water—for which reason, for grazing purposes is not surpassed. The settlers on these lands think them superior to any other class of lands in the county. The mounds and ledges of rock form a receptacle for water, which keeps the vegetation fresh during the entire summer while the gradual decomposition of the mounds keeps the soil very fertile. Wheat and other small grains yield rich harvests on this land—corn is good.

The stone of these mounds and ledges is a beautiful magnesia lime formation, easily quarried and worked, and make an excellent building and fencing material.

The valley of the Grouse resembles that of the Walnut. It is heavily timbered and extensively improved.

Professor H. B. Norton.

Cowley County in its infancy became the home of farmers, entrepreneurs, laborers, and educators. These men and women were mostly young, well educated, idealistic, and eternally optimistic. Among these was an educator, Professor H. B. Norton. Had he lived another 125 years, he would, of course, still be waiting for universal coinage, adoptions of the Metric System, and one Grand Republic, etc. But he would have been very interested in current discoveries in Geology, Astronomy, Black Holes, and the Beginning of the Universe.

Walnut Valley Times, August 29, 1873.

On Wednesday evening, Prof. Norton lectured upon “The Great Republic.” The lecturer discussed various evils affecting modern society, including war, the diversity of languages, restraints upon commerce, our imperfect system of weights, measures, and coinage, and the discordant relations between labor and capital. He then spoke of the remedies which may be applied to these evils. The British Parliament is moving in behalf of international high court, which shall arbitrate between nations, and make an end of war. The Japanese are now likely to adopt an improved form of the English language, with a phonetic alphabet and regularized verbs, which is likely to become universal in the far east and ultimately all over the world. The tendency of the times is towards free trade, cooperation between capital and labor, and to universal adoption of the French Metric System and a uniform coinage all over the world. The lecturer showed that this would practically change the world into one Great Republic and pictured the grand effect of this harmonious union upon human progress.

Upon Friday evening he lectured upon “The Nebular Hypothesis,” analyzing the structure of the universe, its method of growth, and the complete harmony between Genesis and geological science.

Communication: Indians and White Men.

At first, sign language was the only means of communication by some of the Indians with other tribes and white men. The next step was the use of interpreters. (Bill Conner learned English at the Osage Mission School.) Teachers at mission and government schools on the reservations quickly taught Indians the English language. Some of the Indians who were removed to Indian Territory already spoke English. There were other tribes who were familiar with Spanish, retaining many words of that language. White men in contact with these Indians soon picked up many of these words.

Trade and Social Relations with Indians.

The co-dependency, or symbiosis, of the farmers and businessmen of early Cowley County and their trading partners in the Indian Territory came into being shortly after the first settlers arrived. At first this was confined to trade with the Osage Indians, who brought in buffalo robes, wolf skins, buck skins, and other furs. As more Indian tribes took up occupancy at the reservations in Indian Territory, trade was expanded with those directly south of Cowley County.

In 1876, three years before the first railroad reached Cowley County, wheat was being turned into flour by county millers and sold via Government contracts to the Indian agencies at reservations in Indian Territory. Tunnel Mills at Winfield and A. A. Newman’s mill at Arkansas City shared in this enterprise. At first flour was transported by the millers. Long trains of wagons driven by local drivers became a common sight. In time, most of the agencies to the south and southwest obtained their own wagons. Reservation Indians picked up the flour and delivered it.

A custom developed where the merchants would supply some beeves to cook over big pit fires—which today we would call a Bar-B-Q—and the Indians, who had come up to trade, would show off their dances. These are described in the papers of the day as informal events, which included horse races and any other competitions that might have developed between the Indians and the white townspeople. As more cattlemen began to winter their cattle on the grass of the “territory,” their employees became quite competitive with the Indians in testing their skills. The Cowley County Fair featured these events, later to be called “Rodeos.”

Trade Established With Tribes South and Southwest of Cowley County.

Flour shipments from Cowley County were made to the following Indian tribes in the Territory: Osage, Kaw, Ponca, Nez Perce, Otoe and Missouria, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Sac and Fox, and Wichita Indians.

Some of our trading partners in Indian Territory were forced by the U. S. Government to move to their reservations. Some chose to move to Indian Territory voluntarily. Some of the tribes who located there did so after Cowley County was formed.

Cherokee Indians.

The Cherokee Indians did not trade with Cowley County merchants. They are included because of the land south of us known as the “Cherokee Strip.” Their involvement with the different cattlemen’s associations leasing land from the Territory Indians will be covered in the next volume.

Sioux Indians and Black Hills.

This chapter concerns the Sioux Indians and Cowley County citizens who went to the Black Hills when there was much unrest by the Sioux. At one time it appeared that the Sioux Indians might come south and settle in Indian Territory. This chapter also tells the story of the Cheyenne Indians who departed from their reservation in Indian Territory and, on their return, told the U. S. Indian Agent in charge of their agency about their participation in the “Custer Massacre.” He, in turn, published this fact in a state newspaper.

Horse Thieves.

Indians stole ponies from their white neighbors and fellow Indians; white people, in turn, were not particular if they stole horses from white settlers or Indians. In fact, a major commerce of Butler County was the “horse thieves ring,” which preyed on the Osage Indians as well as the white men after the Civil War. The members of this ring were stopped dead in their tracks when the perpetrators made the mistake of stealing the mule of a Civil War veteran. After the Vigilantes hung three and shot one of the thieves, they found themselves successfully defended by Bill Hackney. Volume I of “History of Cowley County, Kansas,” indicates that the stealing of horses and cattle was the cornerstone of the Butler County economy in 1870.

It is impossible for the authors to cover all the exciting events that took place in the early years of Cowley County in one volume. We hope to cover in future volumes the men behind the growth of Cowley County, travel down the Arkansas River by steamboat and other means, cattlemen’s associations, the Payne invasions into Indian Territory—an ominous precursor to the ending of the era of friendly relations and trade established by Cowley County citizens with Indians in the Territory and the beginning of the state of Oklahoma.