Category: News & Events
Lawman John Henry Carter
When Mike Fontenot takes the oath of office as the new Kearny County Sheriff on January 13, he will become the latest in a long and storied list of local lawmen dating back to the 1800s. John Henry Carter was the first man charged with keeping the peace in our area. He was appointed undersheriff of Kearny Township in 1879 when what is now Kearny County was part of Ford County. Southwest Kansas was considered part of the wild, wild west at that time, and Carter’s heroics are well documented.
In 1882, a lucrative reward was offered for the capture and conviction of Thomas Wooten (sp.) and James McCullom who had robbed and murdered a railroad section foreman near WaKeeney. After hearing that the fugitives had been seen in our neck of the woods, Carter guessed the duo was headed to Point of Rocks Ranch in the extreme southwest corner of the state. Carter secured a good horse and reached the area about nightfall but learned that no strangers had been seen there. He cautioned the ranch’s owner and cowboys to show no surprise nor suspicion if the men arrived later. After everyone had gone to their bunks, two men rode up on worn-out horses and asked to spend the night. They were given coffee and food and allowed to sleep in their blankets on the kitchen floor which was next to where Carter was to sleep. But Carter saw no sleep that night, remaining constantly alert for any movements from the suspected men.
At dawn, lawman Carter slipped his rifle over the kitchen window sill and made his way out of the house, walking through the area where the desperadoes were still wrapped in their blankets. Carter secured his rifle and went to a deep buffalo wallow between the house and where Wooten and McCollom’s horses were tied. The wallow afforded partial concealment to John. Wooten came out of the house and started for the horses, and when he was about 50 feet away, Carter shouted, “hands up.” Wooten swiftly pulled two revolvers out and sent bullets flying in Carter’s direction. Carter returned fire, missing with his first shot but hitting Wooten with his second which left a silver-dollar-sized hole in the man’s shoulder.
McCullom reached the scene, and seeing his compadre lying on the ground in great agony, fired several bullets at Carter. The shots missed the lawman but raised a cloud of dust. McCullom then rushed towards Carter before firing his last charge. Carter waited until McCollom was within such close range that his vision was clear, took aim and killed McCollom with one shot. Carter brought Wooten to Lakin where the killer’s wound was dressed. Trego County undersheriff Joseph Lucas came to Lakin and took custody of the prisoner, but Lucas was later assaulted at WaKeeney by a masked angry mob who took Wooten. Some accounts say the mob hung Wooten while others say he escaped; regardless, Carter was deprived of the very handsome reward despite a concerted effort to secure a special $1,000 appropriation from the Legislature for his bravery. One account claimed that Carter did receive $300 for his efforts.
In August of 1887 when talk was circulating in the area about the Governor appointing a temporary sheriff here, both Chantilly and Hartland endorsed Carter for the position. Nearly 500 voters signed a petition asking the Governor for Carter’s appointment. “If Governor Martin should see fit to appoint John H. Carter to this office the people will secure a careful, honest and courageous Sheriff, and one whom the lawless element yet remaining in the county have a wholesome fear,” decreed The Hartland Times.
“That gentleman has lived on his present farm ten years, and has succeeded, by careful management and industry, in making himself comfortable well off. During that time he has seen the country grow from a border territory, ruled by the cowboy, and occupied only by cattle and their owners, to its present thriving condition of handsome towns, farm homes, school houses and other evidences of advanced civilization. But such changes were not made without trouble, and though he himself engaged in cattle raising, John Carter was always in the front, protecting the rights of the weak settler . . . he has done the state signal service in arresting murderers and other desperate criminals, always at the risk of his life, and sometimes when human life had to be taken in order to protect law abiding citizens.”
This was a time of rampant hijinks and game play between towns vying for county seat and some shady characters vying for offices. Governor Martin appointed R.F. Thorne, not Carter, as the first Kearny County sheriff, but John Carter’s public service did not end there. He served multiple terms as a county commissioner, as an officer with the Hartland Republicans, school director for the Hartland school district, was undersheriff again in the 1890s, and was a member of the GAR, having served during the Civil War.
Born in 1844 at Collinsville, Illinois, John arrived in the Hartland area eight years before the town was platted. He built a homestead and filed a timber claim on his property which was adjacent to the townsite near Indian Mound and the famed Chouteau Island. Carter’s was the first timber claim proved up in the county, and the grove was a popular venue for early-day celebrations. Carter also ran a butcher shop and farmed. He and his first wife, Mary Penn Carter, had four children: Amy, Ezra, Hattie, and Alice who was the first girl born in this county. John Carter died at the age of 80 at San Diego, California in 1924.
SOURCES: History of Kearny County Vol. 1; Southwest History Corner by India Simmons; Buffalo Jones’ Forty Years of Adventure by Charles Jesse Jones; archives of The Hartland Times, Lakin Pioneer Democrat, Lakin Herald, Lakin Index, Western Kansas World and Topeka Daily Capital; Museum archives; and Ancestry.com. Special thanks to Charlotte Carter Isaacs, great-great granddaughter of John H. Carter.
Talking Turkey
A little history on school mascots
Memorial Building a tribute to Kearny County’s veterans
Tate to be inducted into Cowboy Hall of Fame
Charlie’s Ruts a local treasure
No one knows for certain just how many thousands of wagons journeyed along the Santa Fe Trail. The heavy cargo carriers often traveled three or more abreast, their wheels etching ruts that can still be seen on various sections of the Trail. Just north of Highway 50 and about three miles west of Deerfield lies Charlie’s Ruts, the site of several sets of parallel swales. This property, donated to the Kearny County Historical Society in 1984 by the late Paul Bentrup, is open to visitors. In fact, visitors are encouraged to walk in the time-smoothed tracks, and that is exactly what Bentrup hoped for when he deeded the property.
Walking in the ruts is a tradition established by Paul’s father and the site’s namesake, Charles Bentrup. When Charlie discovered the wagon swales on his land, he knew he not only wanted to preserve them but share them with the public. Before he died in 1956, Charlie made it known that he wanted the ruts to be made available to visitors for all time.
“That’s the way he wanted it, and that’s the way I want to keep it,” Paul said.
Paul was a faithful caretaker to the ruts and an avid promotor of the Santa Fe Trail. He kept a mailbox at the turnout for the ruts and kept it supplied with a variety of historical information and a notepad for people to sign. His car was always loaded with Trail information which he readily shared and used to recruit new members. In 1987, Paul was the first person recognized by the SFTA with an Ambassador Award. In 2015, he was posthumously inducted into the Association’s Hall of Fame.
The Santa Fe Trail is just one of many historic routes which have been recognized by Congress as national historic trails. Physical traces or remnants of these trails such as wagon ruts, graves, inscriptions and campsites can be found on state lands, in nature preserves, in city parks, on ranches, and even in suburban back yards. Many of those important pieces of trail history have been publicly commemorated, protected and preserved through the National Park Service’s partnership certification program.
In the fall of 2018, Charlie’s Ruts joined the list of Santa Fe Trail certified sites when the Kearny County Historical Society and Kearny County Commissioners entered into a partnership certification agreement with the NPS. The KCHS retains all legal rights to Charlie’s Ruts and is eligible to receive technical assistance, protection and site development guidance, project funding and assistance, and recognition through the park service. A PCA was also entered into between the NPS, KCHS and Bob and Adrian Price who own the land where visitors park and gain access to the ruts.
Bob Price also serves on the historical society board and installed the National Park sign at the ruts last year. The KCHS and Lakin PRIDE also collaborated on the installation of a silhouette at the site featuring a conestoga wagon pulled by two oxen and led by a lone rider on horseback. Clif Gilleland brought the idea for the project to the KCHS on behalf of PRIDE, and generous donations from the community provided the funding. At the 2023 Santa Fe Trail Symposium held at Independence, MO, both organizations were recognized with the Hathaway/Gaines Memorial Heritage Preservation Award for their efforts in preserving Charlie’s Ruts.
Most recently, the kansastravel.org website added a new page devoted to Charlie’s Ruts. Information and pictures can be seen not only on their website but also on their Facebook page.
There’s no doubt that both Charlie and Paul Bentrup would be very pleased with the attention that the ruts have been receiving.
SOURCES: National Park Service; archives of the Lakin Independent and Wichita Eagle; kansastravel.org; Facebook; and Museum archives.
Chouteau’s Island history still very much alive
Chouteau’s Island was the site of a number of skirmishes, and it was one skirmish in particular that earned the island its name. In the spring of 1816, Auguste P. Chouteau and his hunting party were returning from the upper Arkansas in Colorado with a winter’s catch of furs when they were attacked by a band of 200 Pawnee Indians. They retreated to the island where the grove of cottonwood trees, thick clumps of willows and a heavy growth of tall grass provided excellent coverage. Despite being considerably outmanned, Chouteau’s party successfully fought off their attackers. One man was lost and three others wounded.
In 1828, more than $10,000 of silver was buried at Chouteau’s Island by a group of traders known as the Milton Bryan Party. The group was on the return trip from Santa Fe, and among Bryan’s party was a man by the name of William Young Witt. Witt, a third cousin to the grandmother of B.C. Nash, a lifetime Lakin resident, kept a diary of the journey. One morning after arriving at the Upper Cimarron Springs, Bryan’s party was awakened just before dawn.
“The whole earth seemed to resound with the most horrible noises that ever greeted human ears; every blade of grass appeared to re-echo the horrid din,” Witt wrote. “In a few moments every man was at his post, rifle in hand, ready for any emergency, and almost immediately a large band of Indians made their appearance, riding within rifle-shot of the wagon. A continuous battle raged for several hours.”
After successfully stampeding all the horses and mules, the Indians retreated. Hitt was wounded six times. (According to Bryan’s account and Hitt’s son’s account, Hitt was wounded 16 times.) The next morning, some of the men took off in hopes to find the lost stock. Hitt was on his way back to camp when he was overtaken by Indians, but some of his traveling companions arrived in time to save him. Unable to secure any of their stock, the entourage left by foot in the morning with each man shouldering a rifle and a proportion of provisions. After eight days travel, they had less than 100 pounds of flour left and had been unsuccessful in finding any game.
Hitt recalled, “For two weeks the allowance of flour to each individual was but a spoonful, stirred in water and taken three times a day.” Adding to their futility was a scarcity of water. In desperation, the troupe was once compelled to suck the moist clay from a buffalo wallow.
As soon as a convenient camping ground was found, the men made shelter and left the weakest of their party while some of the strongest hunted. Successful at last in killing some small game and buffalo, they used buffalo chips to fuel a fire. After a few day’s rest, the men began again to march homeward, but their money had become a greater burden than they could bare. They decided to bury it at the first good place they came upon.
“We came to an island in the river to which we waded, and there, between two large trees, dug a hole and deposited our treasure…This task finished, with much lighter burdens, but more anxious than ever, we again took up our march eastwardly.”
Traveling for over two weeks by foot, the men were exhausted; some scarcely able to move. They divided company, the weaker ones to proceed by easier stages. When the stronger ones arrived at the settlement, they sent a party with horses to bring in their comrades who were seemingly nothing but human skeletons wrapped in rags, but “all got safely to their homes.”
The following year, the traders returned to Chouteau’s Island; however, Hitt is not mentioned as being among the group of men. Their party was accompanied by Major Bennett Riley and his men, the first military escort on the Trail. The silver was retrieved, and the trading party continued their trek to Santa Fe with their goods. South of the river was Mexican territory, and the American troops could go no farther. The traders began their journey down Bear Creek pass and were attacked by a band of Indians upon entering the sandhills. Nine of the men, riding at full speed, returned to the soldiers with the dreadful news. The troops disregarded their orders and made a hurried march across the river to defend the caravan. One trader, Samuel Lamme, lost his life in the assault, and his tortured and mutilated body was laid to rest at the edge of the hills not far from the Trail. Riley and his troops accompanied the traders for two more days and then reluctantly returned to Chouteau’s Island where they camped for three months awaiting the caravan’s return.
Between 1865 and 1870, a caravan of traders was attacked by Indians in the valley between Chouteau’s Island and Indian Mound. Word reached Fort Garland of the attack, and soldiers were sent to the scene. By the time they reached the area, the Indians had fled and the traders were all dead. The soldiers buried them and returned to Fort Garland. Legend has it that the burial ground was visible for many years as the grass there was much greener.
In 1941, Kansas was celebrating the 400th anniversary of the coming of Coronado to Quivira, the first white man to visit Kansas. The occasion was observed by placing historical markers all over the state. Kearny County held a Pioneer Day celebration that July, and a crowd of more than 1,000 witnessed one of the largest parades in Lakin where 10-gallon hats, cattlemen’s garb, pioneer costumes, horse riders and buckboards were abundant. Following a program at the court house, participants drove a mile west of Lakin on US 50 for more speeches, music, celebrating and the unveiling of the Chouteau Island marker. Although the original sign is long gone, a sign commemorating Chouteau’s Island can still be found just west of Lakin at the roadside park beside the golf course.
Photos from the 1941 Chouteau’s Island marker reveal. The island once rose lush and green in the middle of the Arkansas River, its disappearance blamed on natural forces, flood control measures and the use of the Arkansas for irrigation.
SOURCES: “William Y. Hitt Santa Fe Trail Memoires,” “The Old Santa Fe Trail” by Colonel Henry Inman, “Commerce of the Prairies” by Josiah Gregg, “The Flight of Time” by Milton E. Bryan, “Kansas Before 1854: A Revised Annals” compiled by Louis Barry, “Chronicle of Bennett C. Riley” by Leo E. Oliva; History of Kearny County Vol. 1, & ancestry.com. Special thanks to Meg Nash Spellman.
The Marking of the Santa Fe Trail
By 1900, the Santa Fe Trail was already history. If asked to locate the Trail, very few people could do so. The Kansas Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization which honors our American heritage, set a plan in motion in 1902 to mark the old commerce route as a tribute to the brave pioneers who traversed it. “Those early travelers prized the old Trail as a road to the future, and we hope the people of years to come will use it and keep its early history in remembrance.”
The DAR enlisted the aid of maps, the knowledge of early settlers, the Kansas State Historical Society and some previously erected markers to trace the route of the SFT. At a Trail Committee meeting in 1905, the Daughters decided to ask the school children of Kansas to contribute a penny each toward the marking of the Trail since the funds appropriated by the State were not enough to pay for all the markers. On Kansas Day 1906, which was also designated as Trail Day, approximately 200 pennies were collected from Lakin students to help in the endeavor.
In 1907, the DAR announced that 96 markers had been placed throughout Kansas. Kearny County’s markers arrived by rail in July of that year, and commissioners paid the expense of setting the five stones. Since Kearny County did not have a DAR chapter, County Clerk and Lakin pioneer F.L. Pierce gave prompt and efficient attention to the task of having the markers placed. The marker placed in Deerfield stands in the southeast corner of the city park. In Lakin, one monument was set at the old courthouse at the corner of Main and Waterman. This marker was moved to the current courthouse in 1939. The third marker in Lakin sits in front of the high school. It was moved to this location in 1961 but had originally been placed at the site of the school building which sat on the west end of the Lakin Grade School block.
Hartland’s Main Street was the location of the fourth marker. As Hartland gradually disappeared, the marker was engulfed in weeds. Billy Carter was cultivating the ground and put a long chain around the marker and pulled it over to his house. Later the DAR Chapter of Garden City secured the assistance of the highway commission and had the marker moved to the River Road where it intersects the once Main Street of Hartland.
The final marker was placed between Lakin and Deerfield at Long Schoolhouse. For several years after the school closed, the marker remained where it was placed by the side of the highway. As the story goes, a young man who was opening a filling station in Lakin thought the marker would look good on the station grounds and brought it to Lakin. Kearny County commissioners later instructed Paul McVey, county engineer, to move this marker to Indian Mound. Mr. McVey and Bill Fross accomplished this difficult task using a winch truck.
The dates engraved on the markers (1822-1872) are a somewhat controversial topic among trail enthusiasts as the Santa Fe Trail Association recognizes the start of the trail as 1821 when William Becknell first ventured to Santa Fe and the end of the trail as 1880 when the railroad reached Santa Fe. The Story of the Marking of the Santa Fe Trail by the Daughters of the American Revolution in Kansas and the State of Kansas claims, “The earliest use of the Trail was in 1822, when a caravan left Boonville, Mo., by way of Lexington, Independence, Westport (now Kansas City, Mo.), thence in a southwesterly direction across the great State of Kansas, then only a desert and wilderness, and on to Santa Fe, New Mexico.” The DAR correlated the end of the trail with the completion of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad through Kansas in 1872. In 1996, a plea was made in the quarterly newsletter of the Santa Fe Trail Association to press for historical accuracy, but the original engraved dates remain. Nonetheless, more important than the dates on the granite markers is the fact that had the Daughters not marked the historic route when they did, the location of the Santa Fe Trail could have been lost forever.
SOURCES: “The Story of the Marking of the Santa Fe Trail by the Daughters of the American Revolution in Kansas and the State of Kansas” by DAR Historian Mrs. T.A. Cordry; “History of Kearny County” Vol. I; Kansapedia, Kansas State Historical Society, www.dar.com; www.santafetrailresearch.com; archives of the Advocate; Museum archives, and information provided by the late Marcella McVey.