THE PLAINS — DAWN OF ERA — PRIMITIVE TIMES — FIRST SETTLEMENT — INDIAN PERILS AND SCARES — CHEROKEES COME — INDIAN TRADING POSTS — CAMPS — SETTLEMENT PRIOR TO 1870 — SETTLEMENT IN 1857 — DROUTH OF 1860 — H0ME DEFENSE COMPANY ORGANIZED — BUTLER COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR — FIRST SETTLER IN EL DORADO — CHOLERA — EARLY SETTLERS — POSTOFFICE — FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION — HOMESTEADING.

The plains—"I am the plains, barren since time began, waiting until man shall give me towns like children for my arms." Men are brought into this world and endowed with and possessed of certain characteristics, among which are ambition and imagination. These characteristics constitute the working power of the world and tend toward its fulfillment. They are the basis of discovery and settlement. They stand for enlightenment and advancement.

In the dawn of the era when civilization, pressing westward, entered claim for its own, man, urged by his ambition and inspired by his imagination, stood upon an elevation and beheld the plains primeval. There in the unhindered scope of his vision boundless rolling ranges stretched to endless skies; peaceful, restful hills and valleys lay in dreamy, sensuous slumber; timber edged streams wound up and down; unchained, unclaimed, unknown. Prairies of promise. Stretches of possibilities. A land in waiting. A land waiting the touch of the hand of man; waiting the touch of his magic wand of love and power and civilization. A touch that should call from sleep to life. A touch that should arouse from the years and the silence a potent dynamic force and quicken it toward its reckoning of the future. A force that should glean from barrenness a wonderful and glorious fruition for man's inheritance.

Wasted lands waiting the call unto a prolific fertile soil, that should produce that which is life-giving and life-sustaining; that should produce prosperity and contentment; that should produce manhood and womanhood; a citizenship that should give a thrill of pride by reason of being a part thereof. And man, visualizing the possibilities, claimed the kingdom. "This country shall be my country. These plains shall be my plains. These streams shall be my streams" Then those elected to

redeem it came unto the land preserved for them, and they set unto it boundaries. And it was a land exceedingly good.

Let us turn back the hour and traverse the years and the changes. A panorama touched with the brush of the master artist, the description of which is beyond the power of the pen. Picture the beginning; the wilds of the wolf and the coyote, the bounds of the buffalo, the deer, the elk and the antelope; the primitive home of the Red Man, his wigwam, his tribe, the little Indian village planted among the trees at the water's edge; the stream where the red children played and grew to the stature of men and took up the life of their fathers, hunting, fishing, sleeping, fighting, stealing and passing on to the Happy Hunting Grounds, thanking the Great Spirit for life and opportunity.

From that day look forward to this. Could imagination, stretched to its utmost limit, have pictured the changes? A new land, a new people. Old things have passed away, and, behold, all things are new. Not the Indian nor his wigwam, not the buffalo nor the deer, not the unfenced, untamed prairie nor the primitive condition of all nature, but the finished home of the white man, his houses, his barns, his prospering towns and growing businesses; while horses, cattle and sheep graze the hills and range the valleys. Instead of the primitive we have the civilized; instead of the wild, untamed soil, we have fields of grain and orchards of fruit; the wild has been subjected, the soil tamed and the desert caused to bring forth and blossom.

As man goes forth to his daily toil and beholds his barns and granaries, filled to the utmost, and realizes that the days of want and hunger and privation have passed him by, there comes to his mind in some form or another, uttered or unexpressed, the great prayer and thanksgiving "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.

When the first settlement was made in Butler county, the lands south of the fifth standard parallel, which runs near the north line of the present city of El Dorado, were largely Indian property. Next south of that lay a twenty-mile strip, the property of the Osage tribe. This land was ceded to the government by the Little Osages on September 29, 1863, and was held as trust land. Next south lay the Osage reserve, a thirty-mile strip, which remained the property of the Indians until September 18, 1870, when it passed into the hands of the government and was opened for settlement. At the time of the settling of Kansas, the Indian had been placed on his reservation and required to stay there. The Indian has always been the most serious problem of the pioneer. A constant, anxious watch by day, a terrifying dread by night. His boldness and daring had been somewhat tempered by the punishment which had been brought upon his lawless outbreaks. The passing of years of defeat and constant retreat had dimmed the great warriors' Spirit and somewhat subdued the fire of his soul.

It is doubtful if the Kansas pioneer ever faced Indian perils such as were endured by the early settlers of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, or the

more eastern States as they were in turn redeemed to civilization. Yet there were times of outbreak when the firey spirits, consumed with desire to destroy, to burn, and to slay, would sweep down on the scattered and helpless settlements in the splendor of their savage war paint and the wild pandemonium of their cruel delight. The annals of Kansas are filled with bloody deeds and murders and massacres of the Indians. Butler county has been fortunate in having so few raids and murders

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NORTH MAIN STREET BRIDGE, EL DORADO, KANS

by the Indians. Yet some are recorded. Some occurred in the wilds of the territory before boundaries had made the land into counties.

The Indian held his kingdom undisturbed, save only by the occasional passing of a white man, his reign undisputed in the land which is now Butler county. He roamed at will in pursuit of the buffalo, or other wild game, until perhaps the year 1857. In that year a party of prospectors attempted a speculation in land, to which the Indians held title. Disputes arose over the boundary lines, and trouble came between the red man and the white. The Indians eventually proved their title, but

not until after a settler had been killed by a band of Indans[sic] under Hardrobe, a chief of the Osage tribe. But for the most part friendly relations were maintained between the Indians and the settlers. The Indians would maybe steal or attempt small unfair dealing, but seldom was there an attempt of anything savage. Many of the early settlers speak with great liking of certain Indians, who had become their friends.

An occasional Indian scare served to frighten the scattered pioneers. The scares are recorded as furnishing a great deal of excitement, but without loss of life. In July, 1859, a report came from a party of Osages that a large band of Comanches was entering the county from west of the Whitewater, plundering and killing on the way. Chelsea was the general assembling point on these occasions. Settlers from the Walnut and the Whitewater gathered there for the purpose of uniting forces and battling against the foe. On this particular occasion, excitement ran riot. For two days anxious watch was kept. But the Indians never came, and the scare ended. Another Indian scare took place in May, 1868. Again the Indians were heralded as coming to burn, to slay and kill. This time the frightened settlers gathered together in El Dorado, the men mustering all the old guns available and taxing their brains for methods of killing an Indian. Ammunition was pitiably scarce, and the brave little band of pioneers could not have long withstood an attack from savage raiders. But this, too, passed away. After two nights' vigil and no molestation, the settlers returned to their homes. Later it was learned that a band of Cheyenne Indians had passed north of here, through Marion county, on the way to meet and fight the Kaws that were stationed there.

In February, 1862, a band of Cherokees came up the Walnut. Because they had been loyal to the Union, they had been driven by the rebels from their homes in the mid-winter. The weather was bitter cold and the ground covered with snow. The Indians were suffering terribly from cold and hunger. The hands and feet of many were frozen. They camped about two miles northeast of the present site of El Dorado, on what is now the James Teter farm. While waiting for relief from their agent at Lawrence, the settlers furnished good food and comfort. Six hundred bushels of corn and some oxen for beef were turned over to the sufferers. Martin Vaught and George Donaldson were among the goodhearted pioneers who were active in this deed, and never, said Mr. Vaught, has he seen a more grateful people. Some of the children were so starved they could not wait for food but ate raw corn and beef. The Cherokees were even then semi-civilized, and this band contained some as intelligent brains as the average white man. Many of this band afterward enlisted and made good soldiers for the Union. Several families remained on the Walnut until the close of the war.

A number of Indian trading posts were established in Butler and some of the towns of the county were thus begun. In the early sixties a small store was kept by Stone and Dunlap, famous Indian traders, on

the site of old El Dorado. This is where the "California trail" and the "Osage trail" crossed the Walnut river. In 1863, Hagan and Morrow, two traders, established a trading post south of Augusta, between the Walnut and Whitewater rivers. Two years later they sold to Daniel Stine, who continued the business. The big spring at Towanda and the wide grass bottoms about it formed an inviting camping spot and there the Indians pitched their tents and let out their ponies. To the great spring in 1863 came J. R. Mead and opened a trading post. This place, afterward named Towanda, was widely known at that time as Mead's Ranch. There he exchanged blankets, trinkets and trappings dear to the Indian's heart, for buffalo robes, furs and peltries. The Indians came from the south and west and camped there. Probably as many as twenty different tribes. The government sent Agent Major Milo Gaskins to look after the various Indian bands and he established his agency at that place.

Mr. Mead, in Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. 10, mentions these Indian camps in 1863:

"In 1863 there came from the south camps of Kickapoos, Shawnees, Delawares and others who settled on the Walnut and Whitewater. These Indians were the friends of all the wild Indians of the plains, and so long as they remained the southwestern frontier was safe from hostile attack. The Kickapoos I mentioned lived in the Indian Territory, or Texas, and were kinfolks and friends of the Kickapoos in Old Mexico. At the close of the Civil war, or about the fall of 1866, they outfitted at my place (Mead's Ranch on the Whitewater, present location of Towanda) and all left for Old Mexico directly across the county. They knew the country well, and were the finest body of Indians I ever met—brave, honorable, noble and were expert hunters. There were not over thirty men with families. Their lodges were models of neatness and comfort. The Shawnees and Delawares I mentioned also lived in the Indian Territory before the Civil war and returned."

In 1875 a band of 500 Pawnee Indians passed through Butler county on the way to a reservation in Oklahoma. They were in camp north of Towanda and again south of there. They were visited in both camps by many from the vicinity around, especially the young people of the day, with whom there was much bantering and joking. The old Indian days are passed beyond recall. Seldom is now seen a red man, but the old settler recalls with thrills and interest the dangers and escapes, the experiences and friendships of the days of the American Indian. Respect to his memory.

Settlement Prior to 1870—By first settlers, I refer to those early pioneers who came here for the purpose of making a home. Those sturdy men and women, who came with an empire in their hearts and a determination in their brain, reinforced by the brawn to withstand. They who came to suffer and endure and accomplish; to experience hardship, to do all things at whatever cost, to conquer and subdue the soil and reap

the harvest of victory. They that wrought higher than poetry, carved deeper than marble, and builded for themselves a monument as enduring as time. I mean not the migratory individual found on the frontier, coming ahead of civilization and fleeing before it, as do the wild animals that are opposed to and cannot meet civilizing influence. There were probably a few settlers in the county as early as 1854. Men who located along the streams established cattle ranches and trading posts. But very little, if anything, was done in the way of farming or attempting to make homes at that time.

There is an account of an attempt to establish a settlement in 1857. A party of prospectors laid out a town site, near the present site of Augusta. To this was given the name Arizonia. A few months later another party, infringing the Arizonia territory, platted the town of Fontanelle. Town lots were sold to Eastern parties whose hopes were for money quickly and easily. Hopes that might have been realized save for altercation with the Indians and disputes for the title of the land, in which the red man proved his claim. But authentic record of

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EARLY STREET SCENE, EL DORADO, KANS.

settlement begins with the advent of William Hilderbrand in May, 1857. William Hilderbrand was the first settler in what is now Butler county. He located on the Walnut river on the site where the first El Dorado was afterward located. Later Hilderbrand sold this and moved to an adjoining claim. This claim was afterward bought by the late Jerry D. Connor, whose home it was for many years. Clarence King now owns and resides on the place.

In June, 1857, Samuel Stewart, of Lawrence, organized a colony to settle in Butler county. They followed the old California trail to the

point where it crossed the Walnut—this was also the crossing of the Osage trail—and there they pitched their tents, ten wall tents arranged in a circle, and in the center the raised Stars and Stripes. This was June 15, 1857. Two days later the colonists planted corn. This was the first corn planting in Butler county. The names of some of this colony were, besides Samuel Stewart, Captain J. Cracklin, A. B. Searle, T. B. Swift and Thomas Cordiss. They formed a town company, purchased the claim which had been taken by William Hilderbrand, and there made the first location of El Dorado. July 9, 1857, William Crimble, William Bemis, H. Bemis, Jacob Carey, Henry Martin, with their families, and ten other families, whose names have been lost, settled near to El Dorado. In October, 1857, Madison and Butler counties polled sixty-nine Free State and Seven Democratic votes. At the election under the Lecompton constitution, December 21, 1857, there is no record of returns from Butler county, but on August 2, 1858, at an election on the Lecompton constitution, held on the old El Dorado town site, there is a record of twenty-three votes—the entire vote polled—cast against that platform. In 1858 and 1859 Butler county had about fifty actual settlers. Prominent among those early timers stand the names of Jerry Connor, James Gordy, Martin Vaught, George Donaldson, J. C. Lambdin, Archibald Ellis and Prince Gorum Davis Morton.

In the summer of 1860 came drouth—drouth that is not equaled in the annals of Kansas. For three months there was not one drop of rain. All things green were turned to yellow and brown; grass withered, crops burned; the streams became dry, and the fish died on their barren beds; great cracks opened in the earth, until one could not with safety ride across the fissured prairies. In August of that depressed summer came the first visitation of the grasshoppers. A large number of discouraged settlers left the state at that time and the vicissitudes of that year worked a far reaching hindrance against the settlement and progress of Kansas. During the years of the Civil war but few new settlers came to Butler county. In 1861 a company for home defense was organized under the command of P. G. O. Morton, of Chelsea.

The late J. D. Connor wrote for the Walnut Valley Times, March 8, 1895, a detailed account of the members and services of this company. This is copied as follows: "On account of the terrible drouth of 1860 there were so many people returned to their old homes in "the States" that in '61 there were probably not more than 300 white people of all ages within the territory now included in Butler county, Of course, matters pertaining to the war were discussed here, as all over the country, and it had a peculiar interest for us, being on the extreme frontier and subject to raid, both from Indians and the rebs from Texas and the Cherokee nation. In the summer of '61 a company was organized for local protection, with P. G. D. Morton, of Chelsea as captain. We had no regular duties or plan of meeting, but were subject to call at any time. The latter part of November we received word that there was a large train

of government wagons coming in from the west and headed toward Arkansas on the old California trail, which crossed Whitewater about where Amos Adams lives now, and the Walnut on John B. Stone's farm below El Dorado. As all intercourse in that direction was prohibited at that time, we concluded that there was something wrong, so the company assembled at old El Dorado. In the meantime, the train, consisting of about thirty wagons such as were used by government freighters at that time, each drawn by six yoke of oxen, had passed us, but it was decided to overhaul and bring it back—if we could. We started after them with about thirty men and overhauled them in camp on the head of Hickory creek. We surrounded the camp and ordered them to surrender, which they did without making trouble. They had about the same number of men that we had and if they had shown fight we must have fared badly. Three years' experience later convinced some of us that that was an awkward job, though successful. On the return we camped for the night on a little branch of Hickory, and to this day it seems the most disagreeable night I ever experienced. It rained and sleeted all night. There was no wood to make fire and by morning we were chilled to the marrow. We returned to the Walnut and went into camp on the farm now owned by James Teter. After resting the oxen a few days, we started the outfit with an escort to Ft. Lincoln, where it was learned that the train belonged to Majors & Rensch, of Leavenworth, from whom it was stolen and to whom it was eventually returned. The men were turned loose. We then established a regular camp, built breastworks of logs and dirt, though not laid out with much engineering skill, drew tents and some rations from the government, and made it headquarters till the spring of '62, when, tiring of camp life on Walnut, twenty-six of us, with Mathew Cowley at the head, went to Iola, were regularly enlisted into the United States service and, together with some boys from Fall River, made up Company L, Ninth Kansas cavalry. Following is a list of the members: J. D. Connor, Burge W. Atwood, David Upham, Joel Darius, Thomas, B. E., R. W. and Charles W. Wells, Wesley C., Thomas A., Jonathan and Josiah Hager, James and Thomas Craft, Wilson M. and John B. King, D. L. McCabe, Thomas B. White, A. L. Petrie, W. R. Cowley, Joyney Howell, Jake Landis, Jim Shipley, Norman Chapman and Dan Cupp.

In addition to these, Jim Thomas, Josh Lambdin, Charley and Frank Harrison joined the Eleventh—Col. P. B. Plumb's regiment; W. H. Thomas, Bod DeRacken and Jerry Woodruff joined the Fifth; Moses and Louis Thomas, Company G of the Ninth; Ralph Lambdin drifted into the First Colorado; Martin Vaught, Dan Cupp, and, I think, George T. Donaldson, joined the Seventeenth. J. C. Lambdin and P. G. D. Morton were in the quartermaster's department. There may have been others whom I do not now recall. At any rate, it was a very large per cent of the able-bodied men in the county at the time. The six Wells boys—brothers, and all six-footers—lived with their parents on the farm

now owned by W. E. Stone on West Branch. Three of them deserted, claiming that they could not remain in the service and save their souls, but each one of them managed to get away with a government horse and revolver when he left. The Hager boys lived at the falls on the Whitewater, now owned by J. W. Robison. The company was commanded by Capt. G. N. F. Read, now of Burlington, this State, and no better soldier wore the blue. Cowley was our first lieutenant while he lived and was loved and respected by every member of the company. He died of malarial fever at Little Rock and was buried there in the military cemetery. Burge Atwood was our first orderly sergeant and Dan Upham the last. Alec Petrie was bugler and seemed to take special delight in blowing reveille, for which he got many a blessing, or whatever it might be called; but wherever he was he was the life of the company. McCabe was our farrier, though it was harder work than he liked to do. After the muster-out we sent him to the legislature from this county. Poor Tom White died on the march on the Santa Fe trail between the Little Arkansas and Cow creek and was buried at sunset on the bank of that little stream. During the years '62 and '63 the company did duty among the Indians on the plains, and in the spring of '64 their regiment was consolidated and ordered into Arkansas, where we were thumped around till the final muster-out in the spring of '65. Of the boys who went from here in the old company, but few returned. Some were killed—more died of disease, till now there are only Ben King and myself to answer roll-call in the Walnut valley." Ben King died several years ago, and Mr. Connor himself passed away at Long Beach, Cal., December, 1915. Thus all are gone.

Jacob Schaffer was probably the first man to locate on the present site of El Dorado, though his claim was not entered until 1868. His claim lay on the west branch of the Walnut, and extended across it. The cabin was located, presumably, about where the city building now stands. Here he kept a small stock of supplies. In 1867 two brothers named Moorehead moved into this cabin and opened up a small store. This is believed to be the first store on the site of the present city of El Dorado, and which is about two miles north of the original location. That same year a regular store was opened by E. L. Lower.

In the fall of 1867 there was an invasion of cholera in southern Kansas, which included Butler county. A detachment of the Fifth United States infantry, under the command of Col. Thomas F. Barr, was stationed on the Little Arkansas near the present location of Wichita, and these troops brought the cholera with them. A dozen or more of the settlers of this county and a great many Indians died from the disease. Hon. J. R. Mead, in writing of this time, makes this mention of the death of a member of his household: "Among those who died of cholera in the fall of 1867, in Butler county, was Sam Carter, my faithful clerk and all-round useful man. He died at my house at Towanda. Sam Fulton and Doc Shirley, of Wichita, who happened to be at my house,

and myself worked over him all night; then after his death, washed and dressed the body and next day buried him, reading the burial services."

In March, 1868, B. F. Gordy entered 160 acres of land, which is now all the part of El Dorado south of Central avenue. The town site was laid out about one month later. In July, 1868, A. G. Davis, William Vann, with several others, located in Towanda township, and about the same time D. L. McCabe located in Rock Creek township. In July, 1869, Philip Karns settled in Rosalia township and Holland Ferguson in Fairmount township. Below is given a record of the first settlement in the different localities of Butler up to the year 1870, with the locations as designated by the present name of the township. This list is taken from a compilation of Jerry D. Connor, Martin Vaught and Daniel M. Bronson, made from data they had in possession: 1857, May, El Dorado township, William Hilderbrand. 1857, August, Chelsea township, Bob DeRacken, G. T. Donaldson, P. G. D. Morton, J. C. Lambdin, I. Scott, Martin Vaught, Dr. Lewellyn, Charles Jefferson, J. and L. Cole. 1859, Clifford township, William Badley. 1860, Plum Grove township, Joseph H. Adams. 1866, April, Spring township, Dave and H. W. Yates. 1866, Walnut township, George Long. 1867, Bloomington township, Samuel Rankin. 1868, April 13, Benton township, J. P. J. Nelson. 1868, July, Rock Creek township, D. L. McCabe. 1868, July, Towanda township, A. G. Davis, William Vann, Chandler Atwood and others. 1869, Spring and Pleasant townships, Marion Franklin. 1869, May, Bruno township, V. Smith. 1869, July, Rosalia township, Philip Karns. 1869, Fairmount township, Holland Ferguson. 1860, Hickory township, Mr. Myers. 1870, April 2, Union township, A. L. McKee. There is added this further list of settlers who came to the county, most of them preceding the year 1874, and who have since been prominent in its history: Daniel Stine, Augusta township; L. M. Pratt, father of Dick and John, Chelsea township; James R. Mead, Towanda township; W. H. Avery, Clifford township; Daniel H. Cupp, Towanda township; M. A. Palmer, Little Rock township; Charles R. Noe, Little Walnut township; Alvin Palmer, Augusta township; the Douglass boys, Joseph W. William and Walter H., Douglass township; Gilbert T. Green and family, Towanda township (Mr. Green was the father of seventeen children, eleven of whom accompanied him to Kansas); Jefferson G. and Harrison Stearns, Towanda township; James and Andrew J. Ralston, Towanda township; and Rev. Isaac Mooney and family, Towanda township.

Postoffice—The nearest established postoffice when the first settlement was made in Butler county was at Lawrence. Box 400 was rented by the settlers of the county, and mail so addressed was brought down to Emporia by means of a tri-weekly hack between that place and Lawrence. From Emporia mail was sent down to Butler by any who happened to be passing that way. The first distributing station in the county was established at Chelsea in 1858, with C. S. Lambdin as postmaster. The second postoffice in the county was established at El Dorado in 1860, with D. L. McCabe as postmaster.

Fourth of July—The very first celebration of this national holiday in this county happened, it is recorded, long before Butler was a county or Kansas a territory. Cutler, in his History of Kansas, says: "In July, 1847, Capt. J. J. Clark, with his company of Missouri mounted volunteers, bound for the Mexican war, came along the old California trail and, crossing the Walnut about a mile below the site of El Dorado, on the evening of the third of July, camped over for the night. The following day the eagle screamed and the salutes were fired and due honors paid to the warriors of an older day." But it was ten years later, July 4, 1857, that occurred the first real celebration in Butler county, the second on Butler county land. This was held by the settlers, on the site of old El Dorado. The settlers had but just arrived and no houses had been provided. The wagons were ranged in a circle for protective service in case of an attack by the Indians. Cutler has to say of this occasion: "Money was scarce in that camp, and had it been as plentiful as sea sands it could have purchased nothing; so the men started out to find in nature's storehouse the material for a feast. In the Walnut, William Crimble caught a large buffalo fish, Samuel Stewart shot a wild turkey and another of the party brought in a deer. While these supplies were being prepared numbers of speeches served to show the patriotism of the various members, and Judge Wakefield, of Lawrence, delivered an address. There is no time like the first in anything, and though often a celebration of later days has been memorable, and its echoes have rung in memory's ears for many a day, there can be none to efface in the hearts of those who heard them the resonant sounds of the years ago." Another Fourth of July celebration of a decade later has been graphically described by Mrs. D. M. Bronson, now Mrs. C. E. Dickinson, and mother of Mrs. C. E. Thompson, of El Dorado.

"Our first Fourth of July celebration occurred in 1868, which eclipsed anything I had ever seen for pure, unadulterated patriotism and practically illustrated freedom. The grove near Dr. Gordon's was selected for the purpose. The preparations were elaborate, seats were improvised, a speaker's stand erected, an old army flag was resurrected out of some dark corner and suspended in graceful folds from the limb of a tree just over the head of the speakers, which was both inspiring and effective. A public dinner was the order of the day. The men reconnoitered around to secure the financial requisite. The women were occupied preparing the "grub" the day arrived and all went merry as a marriage bell! The sun shone brightly, the birds sang sweetly and all nature seemed in unison with our hearts. The marshal of the day was Mr. Elisha Main. The exercises were introduced by singing the 'Star Spangled Banner,' which was executed with spirit, and what was lacking in time was supplied in sound. Father Stansberry offered a prayer; the Declaration of Independence was read by W. T. Gallagher; orations were then delivered by D. M. Bronson and W. T Gallagher, which were both eloquent and patriotic and so vivid in portrayal that we could al-

most see the noble bird in his aerial gyrations, and hear the footfall of the Pilgrim Father on the barren Plymouth Rock. The Declaration, our glorious magna charta, was literally worn out, what there was remaining of it would hardly make a gun wad. After the exercises closed the table was prepared, looking inviting enough to please the most fastidious epicure. But here came the tug of war. There were about ten bachelors to one woman in the country. All hungry, lean and lank, they made one grand forward march for the table. In about five minutes that table was bare. One lady, approaching me with acountenance indicative of sorrow, said: 'Have you seen anything of my fruit cake, the first one I have seen or made since I left old England's shores?' I told her I supposed it had gone to hunt up my dried apple pies. I did come near on this occasion of being converted to the doctrine of total depravity. The day's exercises closed with a grand ball over Henry Martin's store. This was our first dress ball."

Homesteading—The United States land office was located at Humboldt until October, 1870, when it was removed to Augusta, with Andrew Akin, registrar, and W. A. Shannon, receiver. The office remained in Augusta only until early in 1872, when it was removed to Wichita, where it remained until practically all the land in Butler county had been entered. The southern portion of the county as far north as the north line of section 30, in township 26, a strip twenty miles wide was known originally as the Osage Indian reserve. It is said this land was promised to the Osage Indians as long as "grass grew or water run," but the government in 1863 purchased the lands and removed the Indians to a reserve farther south. The reserve was then made pre-emption land and was sold to actual settlers at $1.25 per acre. Conditions and restrictions obliged the settler to make certain improvements, sufficient to show his good faith in taking the land for a home.

The remainder of the county north was disposed of to actual settlers under the homestead laws of the United States. The entire north portion was homesteaded except the odd numbered sections for a distance of twenty miles from the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. This land was donated to the railroad company to assist it in construction of the railroad through the state. The first donation was for ten miles on either side of the railroad, but afterward on account of a portion of the said odd numbered sections having been entered, the company was given an additional ten miles. In 1872 it was discovered that the company was claiming lands beyond the twenty-mile limit. A resurvey was had and a number of acres was turned subject to homestead entry. This land in Butler county was principally in Fairview and Benton townships. There was a small strip of land about fifteen rods wide between the two surveys, caused by a failure to make conections[sic] in surveying. This strip was called, or miscalled, the neutral strip. It, like the land on the north was subject to homestead entry.

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