* HISTORY OK SMITH COUNTT, KANSAS TO I960 VERA EDITH CROSBY PLETCHBt B. 3, f Kansas ;.tate University, 1956 a thksis submitted In partial fulminant of the requirements for the degree of UhSTKR OF lOOS Department of History, Political odenee, and Philosophy KANSAS iiTATS UNIVtfkiITT OF «GRICULTURi AMI APPLM) SCUMS 1960 ,Tf IHjIIPUbbIIiII c U \ \b>0 A11201 7413S3 o.a tabu of contents list of maps aw) amd tables iy uuellkr scholarship t PREFACE Ti CHAPTER I. AS GOD BROUGHT 1 CHAPTER II. TEPEES, TREATIES, AMD TRAILS 12 CHAPTER III. SURVEY TO SSTTUiMENT 25 CHAPTER IV. HOMESTEADERS AMD HOMES 53 CHAPTER V. BOOK OH BUST 77 CHAPTER VI. COUNTY SIDE-LIGHTS 105 Newspapers 105 Post Offloss and Ghoat Towns 112 Transportation In .-frith County 119 Snith County Jchools 132 Music and Bootes 143 Infamous Psople and Incidents 147 County Organizations and Celebrations 151 The Usual and Unusual 157 Some Representative Smith Countians 164 CHnPTER VII. HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS ......206 Snith County Memorial Hospital 207 Geographical Center of the United states 208 Smith County Historical Society 210 The Kensington Hand 211 The Old Dutch Mill 216 "Home on the lianr.e" 220 ill CONCLUSION 239 BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 aPI'FMDIX 251 iT 1UPS Pig. 1. Location of Smith County in the State of Kansas ix Fig. 2. Oil and gas seeps in Smith County, Kansas 11 Pig. 3. Expeditions caul trails in Kansas 19 Fig. 4. Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Lxpress Co 22 Fig. 5. Counties created by legislature in 1867 27 Fig. 6. i-Arly settlements in Smith County and creeks, 1878 28 Fig. 7. 'Hie original township division of Smith County 41 Fig. 8. Townships as organized by 1885 43 Pig. 9. Government lands 1875 83 Fig. 10. Kirwin Dau Project and irrigation canals 102 Fig. 11. Location of post offices and ghost tonns 123 Pig. 12. Townships and railroad routes in omith County 128 Fig. 13. Proposed Pike's Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, 1913 130 Fig. 14. school districts in Smith County 142 TABLES Table 1. Annual precipitation, smith County, Kansas 6 Table 2. Origin of foreign born population in Smith County 56 Table 3 . Population of Smith County by origin of birth 57 Table 4. Population of .*aith County, 1870-1959 65 Table 5. Population of each town and township by decades 1880-1950 and 1959 67 Table 6. Comparative average prices in Soith Co., 1930-1932 94 Table 7. Para Statistics, 1873-1956 100 Table 6. Post offices of Smith County in order of establishment 120 Table 9. County superintendents in -raith County, 1872-1961 141 UUKLLER SCHOLARSHIP This study was made possible through the generous assistance of the Mueller Scholarship for Graduate Reset rch in Kansas history. This annual scholarship was established at Kansas State College in 1956 by Colonel and Urs. Harris ... Uueller of ichita, Kansas, for the purpose (1) of preserving the history of Kansas which includes attention to South Central Kansas) (2) of giving incentive to students to become teachers of history, especially of Kansas history, in the public schools of the state) and (3) to increase the knowledge, understanding, and ap- preciation of the Kansas heritage. mil Smith County is located in the north central part of Kansas, bordered on the north by Nebraska, and on the other three sides by counties quite sinilar in physical features, and economic and industrial development, ihe economy, except for a few minor industries, is based wholly on agriculture. The towns, none large enough to be classed other than rural, range from hamlets to a pop- ulation of approximately 2,400 at Smith Center, the county seat, since there have been no industries to bring in "outsiders," most of the people are de- scendants or related in some way to the early settlers of the area and are intensely proud of their county. The writing of this thesis on the history of Smith County has had a par- ticular interest for me because I belong in this category, tfy grandfather, Daniel H. Crosby, was one of the early homesteaders in the county. He was one of the incorporators of Cedarville, the first town in the county, and later we, a business man in Kensington for many years. He and his wife who came to the county with her parents in a covered wagon, were married by the first pro- bate Judge of the county, John Harlan. The grandparents of my husband, John Fletcher and William Barcus, both homesteaded in the area then known as Crystal Plains. I lived in Smith Center all of oy girlhood and graduated from high school there in so my 1935 ties to the county extend over three generations. For this reason the writing of the history of Smith County, while seemingly an insurmountable Job, has been a pleasant and a fascinating task. The purpose of this thesis has been to give a brief survey of the history of Smith County from the pre-esttlement days to comparatively recent times, in- cluding the history of the settlement of the various towns, and some represen- tative families and people who have contributed to its development. „s no vii extensive reports of historical nature have ever been written for anith County, this work is In the nature of a pioneer effort in the field. In making the study I have been guided not only by the intrinsic inter- ests which the study has for me as a native :*dth Countian whose forebears pioneered there, but also in the hope that the material here gathered to- gether for the first time may be of value in later years when many of the sources are no longer available. The principal sources of information have been personal interviews, personal correspondence, manuscripts of early set- tlers, charters and newspapers on file in the archives and library of the Kansas ;.tate Historical Society in Vopeka. liuch of the material was found in the library of the Kansas Historical Society, but it had not previously been collected where it was available for quick and easy reference. Had it not been for the cooperation ana interest of the reference librarians, lira. Lorene Hawley, Mrs. Portia nllpert, and lira, .ileen Charbo, much of it would never have been located. I wish to thank Col. and Urs. Harris S. liuellar of Wichita, for the scholarship that helped make this thesis possible; and for the suggestions, constructive criticisms, and generous use of his time, I wish to express ray appreciation to Dr. H. E. Socolofsky of the Department of History, Political Selene*, and Philosophy under whose direction this thesis was prepared; also to Dr. A. B. Sagesar whose comments and criticisms were extremely valuable. To the many people who have helped in Catherine this material — Ur. and Urs. unmet oner, Urs. Hattie Baker, Urs. Margaret Nelson, Ur. Hay Myers, Urs. Theo Kice, Ur. H. V. Dilsaver, Ur. Oscar Crouse, Ur. Conrad Schwarz, the staff of Farrell library, Kansas Jtate University, end many more nho are acknowl- edged in footnotes throughout the thesis, I want to gratefully acknowledge viii my indebtedness. Special appreciation is riven to ray husband and mother for their patience and inspiration throughout the months I have been occupied in this work. KANSAS K-AifP g> *um CHAPTER I A3 GOD WROUGHT Smith County lies in the extreme northern tier of counties in -.*u.t is generally termed the north central area of the state of Kansas. It is bounded on the north by ..abator and Frtmklin counties of Nebraska; on the west, east and south respectively by Phillips, Jewell, and Osborne counties of Kansas. It is 900 square miles of gently undulating grasslands except here the north fork of the Solomon liver cuts across the southwest corner. Here chalk-rock hills border a valley which varies in width from one to five miles, another rough area is the edge of the foothills of the Hepubllean River in the ex- treme northwestern part of the county, which were good grasslands before settlement. In the twentieth century, Smith County is cut by ravines and ditches, many too deep to cross, due to erosion, but in 1876 it was optimistically de- scribed as "scarcely a ravine in the county where the plow or reaper can not be run in or across the same without any inconvenience. ,dong the streams the bottoms are wide and sloping.... There is not more than 3 per cent of our land, exclusive of the timbered portions, that cannot be tilled, and this 3 per cent affords the most excellent pastures and stock erasing lands "^ in the world. The ground was covered with a short, native grass commonly called buffalo grass which browned under the sun but turned green with light showers of rain. 1 Rev. .. U. ellman, "History of jaith County", address delivered at Smith Center July k, 1876, "in the presence of 2,000 honest pioneers," " This grass deceived the first travelers who thought its height and dead ap- pearunce showed the country infertile and unproductive, but they soon dis- covered that it cured on tin: ground, and not only the buffalo but cattle and horses could grasre all winter and keep in good condition. Grass roots closely entwined in the sod held the soil firmly so that no silt was carried into the streams and river to muddy its waters. It was said "the water in the .oloaon 2 River was clear as crystal and the fish could be seen plainly. The entire area is drained by tributaries of the Solomon ftiver, which are 3eaver Creek, hast Beaver Creak, Cedar Creek, Middle Oak, lest Oak, and Oak Creeks, spring Creek, and Twelve Ulle Creek, all of which floe in a southeast- erly direction.