News, Events & County History

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

As if the Dust Bowl didn’t make matters difficult enough, a deluge of grasshoppers made the bleak farming situation of the 1930s even more complicated. To battle the pests and ultimately save his alfalfa crop, Orlie White began raising turkeys on his Kearny County farm located on the north shore of Lake McKinney. According to a story written by his wife, Prudence, “Turkeys were the best grasshopper catchers in the world.”

Orlie had a dealership with Red Wing Hatcheries in California for ‘broad-breasted turkeys,’ an improved meat bird. The poults arrived by freight train, and each was taught to drink water and then put in a heated brooder house for the first few months. White built three brooder houses to house 1,000 poults the first year. These structures were on skids so they could be pulled by horse or tractor to fresh ground and a new supply of grasshoppers, sometimes as often as every two to three days. These moves were also made to lessen the threat of a disease called blackhead to which the turkeys were very susceptible. In making these moves, the feeders and roosts were pulled slowly a quarter to one-half mile to the new location. Sometimes the turkeys would follow, but more often than not, they had to be driven.

“If a few managed to get away through the line of drovers, the whole flock would suddenly turn, and half-flying, stampede back to the old location,” wrote Prudence. Drovers would have to protect themselves as best they could from the onslaught of “hurtling birds, flapping wings and choking dust.”

Later, the Whites added three more houses, and increased the number of poults to 2,100. In summer, portable roosts were built as turkeys “have a yen” to be put out in the open at night. To keep coyotes, coons and other predators at bay, lighted lanterns and sometimes even flares were put around the turkeys and someone slept near the turkeys each night.

Severe dust storms could also prove fatal to young birds. A particularly severe dust storm hit April 9, 1935 and was still raging two days later. Because of the storm, the White’s telephone was not working, and it became necessary for Orlie to ride a horse into Lakin and send a telegram to Red Wing asking them not to send the poults until further notice. When the dust storms died down about two weeks later, the Whites ordered the turkeys again.

Quite a bit of work had to be done before receiving the poults. Boiling hot water was used to scrub the fourteen feeders and water fountains. The brooder stoves were checked out to make sure they were working perfectly, and litter was spread on the floor of the brooder houses. As turkeys tend to crowd into corners and trample or smother one another, the Whites rounded the corners in the brooder houses with wire netting.

On April 29, 1935, Orlie met the early morning train and soon returned with 17 boxes of poults, each box containing 60 poults. Each was given a drink before being set loose in the brooder houses, and in a week’s time, “the little gobblers were strutting.” On May 27, a haziness appeared in the sky, and Prudence drove the little birds from their pen enclosures into their houses. She was not a moment too soon as the storm came fast and she had barely enough time to get them all inside.

“A cloud of darkness settled over us and stayed that way about 20 minutes. Then it began to rain, hail and blew so hard that large branches were broken off the trees. Eventually, the clouds broke, and we could see the Amazon ditch overflowing its banks, and deep water swept through the recently evacuated turkey yards. I shall always recall my good fortune in that I went to check on the small turkeys before lying down with the baby,” Prudence recalled.

Pilots from the Garden City Army base often flew overhead and would dip low enough to see the turkeys which caused the birds to panic. The pilots didn’t realize how much trouble they caused.

“In fact, a hawk flying overhead could cause a like disturbance. Any unusual noise in the middle of the night could send all of them into flight. . . Turkeys could think up the most novel ways to commit suicide, sometimes by hanging themselves on a piece of machinery.”

Because the gobblers required constant watching, the White family was closely confined at home when raising turkeys. They enlisted men to help with the operation, but the World War II draft resulted in a shortage of hired help. Two of their men, James D. Porter and Lawrence Epperson, were called into the service, and both gave their lives for the cause.

White’s turkey business ended by 1942. In addition to saving their alfalfa, the venture also ended up being very profitable for Orlie and Prudence who marketed their birds for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons at the Swift plant in Garden City. “We always figured we made at least a dollar per head on every poult we bought.” By 1938, the White’s home had let so much dust in that they had a new one built. According to Prudence, the completed house and furnishings in pre-war 1938 cost $11,000 and was paid for with “turkey money.”

Orlie and Prudence were not the first large-scale poultry producers in Kearny County. According to the Nov. 19, 1904 Investigator, Barney O’Connor was the first poultry dealer here to ship carloads of turkeys out by train. O’Connor loaded his first car on November 15, 1904, and approximately 850 fine gobblers made their way across Kansas and to the Kansas City market courtesy of O’Connor and the Santa Fe Railroad.

Here’s wishing all of our followers and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

May your turkey be tasty! The Museum will be closed Thursday and Friday.

Orlie and Prudence White with their three children. Jimmy is seated beside his mother. Standing left to right are daughters Lois (Creveling) and Shirley (Henderson).

SOURCES: History of Kearny County Vols. I & II; archives of the Investigator and Museum archives.

A little history on school mascots

The “Spartan” was adopted as the Deerfield High School mascot in December of 1931. This announcement came via the December 23, 1931 DHS SPYGLASS, the school’s newspaper. “The name SPARTANS was unanimously chosen by the student body as an appropriate name for the school, at a chapel program which was held Friday, Dec. 18 in the auditorium. The name Spartan implies that we are brave, mighty and powerful although small in numbers.”

The history behind Lakin’s mascot is not so cut and dry. The naming of a mascot was announced in the School Notes section of the October 16, 1931 Lakin Independent. ““Bronchos” is the name by which the Lakin Rural High School athletic and forensic teams will be known. The journalism class christened them this week.”

Just a few days earlier, the new rural high school building had been dedicated in grand fashion with a key address by U.S. Congressman, the Honorable Clifford R. Hope. The school’s completion that fall was a feat in itself. Building contracts were let out in March of 1931 with the stipulation that the building be completed in 120 working days using as much local labor as possible. The opening of school was postponed not because the building wasn’t ready, but because part of the furniture had failed to arrive on time. The first day of classes was September 14, 1931. Some of the classroom desks had still not arrived, but enough of the equipment had been received to start regular school work. The new facility accommodated twice as many students as the 1920-1921 school and included an auditorium with a seating capacity of over 600 and a gymnasium of the same size on the opposite end. This came in handy as Lakin has always loved and supported its teams.

By 1940, both spellings of “Bronchos” and “Broncos” were being used when referring to Lakin teams. “Broncs” began being used in the fall of 1947 when the football team was referred to in the paper. This was the first year for football at Lakin since the sport had been discontinued in the fall of 1921. Perhaps the change was made to coincide with that event; however, the changeover to “Broncs” was gradual. Both terms – “Broncos” and “Broncs” – were still being used. Despite our best efforts, our staff could not locate an official announcement when the final “o” was dropped.

Although Lakin Grade and Middle School students are now also known as “Broncs,” they weren’t always. The debut column of “THE COLTS KICK” appeared in the September 25, 1942 Lakin Independent. This was Lakin Grade School news as compiled each week by the English classes of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. As far as what our staff could find, this was the first time in the local papers that LGS students were referred to as “Colts.”

The pictures accompanying this post are a random sampling of artifacts from Deerfield and Lakin schools. They are not on display at the Kearny County Museum at this time; however, visitors are welcome to look at our yearbook collection in the Museum library. The Deerfield collection starts with small pamphlet-type books produced in-house. In the 1940s, the Spartan transformed to a commercially produced and bound publication. Our Lakin collection begins with the 1916, 1927 and 1931 Prairie Breezes. We have 1949 through 2022 of the Lakin Bronc/Bronco yearbooks.

Memorial Building a tribute to Kearny County’s veterans

Seventy-five years ago, construction of the Veterans Memorial Building on Lakin’s Main Street was well underway, but it had been a project years in the making. By January of 1946, around $18,000 had been donated and another $16,400 pledged for the construction of an all-purpose building that would honor the valorous achievements of the citizens of Kearny County who served our country as soldiers, sailors, marines and Red Cross nurses. That money had been secured through an all-out effort by a building committee composed of Pat Halloran, Bernard Nash, Wayne Clarkson, Ralph Stees and Ralph Hutton, but the amount fell short of what would be needed to complete the project. In addition, many residents had expressed that they felt the project should be funded through taxation rather than donation.

At a special meeting called on January 11, 1946, the American Legion passed a motion to ask citizens by way of a petition if they were in favor of erecting and maintaining a memorial building through taxes. The response was favorable, and at the August primary, a bond issue for $50,000 was resoundingly approved by a vote of 485 to 105. Monies that had been previously donated were returned to the respective donors. Three lots were purchased from Mary Thornbrough, but it was July of 1949 before commissioners approved architectural plans for the building. D.C. Bass & Son Co. of Oklahoma City was awarded the building contract that August.

The building was in use by mid-April of 1950, and an elaborate celebration was planned to dedicate the Kearny County Veterans Memorial Building and the new Lakin Grade School the following month. An estimated 1,600 persons attended the ceremonies on May 8, 1950. The day’s activities opened with a parade that included veteran groups, the Kearny County Saddle Club and the Lakin High School band as well as bands from Garden City and Holcomb. Following the parade, the bands assembled in front of the Memorial Building where together they played the “Star Spangled Banner” following a moment of silence in honor of Kearny County’s war dead. The flag was hoisted as a bugler sounded, “To the Colors.”

Rev. Marvin Brown of Garden City, state chaplain for the American Legion, gave the invocation, and the dedication was made by Wayne Muncy of Dodge City, state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. A free barbecue dinner was served by the American Legion, VFW, and VFW auxiliary.

Following the meal and inspection of both buildings, the crowd assembled at the grade school where musical numbers were provided by the grade school’s band and the Lakin Barbershop Quartet. Bernard Nash served as the master of ceremonies, and Col. Ernest White introduced Harry Colmery, former national commander of the American Legion and candidate for U.S. senator, who gave the main dedication address. To complete the festivities, a dance was held that evening at the Rainbow King featuring square-dancing, modern, and old-time music provided by Tait’s Orchestra of Colorado Springs.

Today, just as then, Kearny County appreciates, respects and admires those who have served our country. Veteran’s Day is November 11. If you see a veteran, please be sure to let him or her know how much you appreciate their service.

Tate to be inducted into Cowboy Hall of Fame

Another of Kearny County’s finest will soon be inducted into the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Brad Tate will receive the honor in the Ranchers/Cattlemen category at the Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony slated for November 2. Born with ranching in his blood, Brad is the fourth generation of his family to reside in southwest Kansas and make a life from horses, cattle, and agriculture. His maternal great-grandfather, Alonzo Boylan, established a horse ranch on White Woman Creek 40 miles north of Lakin, capturing, breaking and selling hundreds of wild horses. Boylan also farmed, raised cattle, and built up a prized Jersey dairy herd. Brad’s paternal great-grandfather, George H. Tate, Sr., arrived in Lakin 10 years later and opened a general store on Main Street. The elder Tate also had interests in ranching and agriculture.

Brad’s grandparents, Harry and Lena Tate, acquired land in several southwest Kansas counties. They raised cattle, work horses, brood mares and mule colts which they sold to the U.S. Army and farmers who were still using the animals to plant and harvest crops. Harry and Lena purchased 11,000 acres in Hamilton County in 1927, and Brad was born there on a ranch south of Syracuse in 1934, the son of Cecil and Maude Tate. His dad took baby Brad on the wagon when he ran windmills.

When Brad’s father became cashier of the Kearny County Bank a few years later, he moved his family to Lakin. Brad grew up working cattle and was involved in rodeo throughout high school and college. After graduating from Lakin High School in 1952, he pursued a degree in animal husbandry at Colorado State University where he was a member of a national championship rodeo team, won the regional championship in calf roping and was the runner-up in steer wrestling.

Brad also met his life partner while at college. He and Ann Counter were married in June of 1956 at Greeley, Colo. In 1957, Brad entered the Army and served two years at Fort Bliss where he achieved lieutenant status. The Tates came home to Lakin, and Brad ranched and farmed with his father. In 1960, the father-son duo started Tate Quarter Horse Ranch. They acquired some colts and started showing them at local shows, and in 1961, they bought their first race horse, a stallion named Bar Caro. This was followed by the purchase of Glory Be Good, a stakes-placed son of Top Deck. Later, a Kentucky thoroughbred by the name of Hannibal was acquired. Brad’s racing and breeding career took off. One of his biggest money winners in the 1980s was Fast and Racy which won two futurities and was undefeated as a two-year-old. A few of the Tates’ other top horses include Nu Gnu, Queen of Vail, Queen of Aspen, Tate Express, Sir Veza, Baja Jazz, and Wicked Valentine which earned eight wins in 44 starts from 2013 to 2020.

Brad became a member of the board of directors for the Kansas Quarter Horse Racing Association in 1962, and during his three years as president of the KQHRA, he successfully lobbied for pari-mutuel wagering in Kansas. Brad became a director in the American Quarter Horse Association in 1967, and in 1977, he joined the AQHA Racing Committee. He was a chairman of that committee for two years. In 1985, he was elected to the AQHA’s Executive Committee and became president of the organization in 1989, the 50th anniversary of the AQHA. During his tenure, Brad was instrumental in increasing awareness of the AQHA and American Quarter Horse with the opening of the American Quarter Horse Heritage Center & Museum at Amarillo, TX. After serving on the executive committee, Brad continued to serve the AQHA by chairing the finance committee. In 1998, he was recognized as a 30-year cumulative breeder and was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2000.

Through the years, the Tate family’s holdings continued to increase. Brad became a partner in Tate Enterprises and worked alongside his son, Bret, and cousin George Tate in running Tate Ranch and Triple T Farms. Brad was also a partner in Kearny County Feeders.

Brad and Ann Tate have been staunch supporters of the Kearny County Historical Society and our community. Both served as elders in the Presbyterian Church. Ann faithfully delivered Meals-on-Wheels for years, served on Medical Procurement Committees, and the Kearny County Hospital Board while Brad served terms on the USD 215 school board and the City Council.

In the early 2000s, the Tates moved their ranching operation to northeast Oklahoma, but Brad and Ann retained their Lakin home and return occasionally. Their eldest daughter, Tamara Meisel, resides in Lakin, and daughter Susan Locklear lives in McKinney, Texas. Son Bret was an accomplished horseman like his dad and held the local high school records for calf roping and steer wrestling and was the 1978 All-Around Champion. He too was on the Colorado State University rodeo team, and graduated with honors from the ranch management program at Texas Christian University. Bret passed away in October of 2008, and his son, Ben, now manages Tate Ranch, the sixth generation to have “ranching blood” coursing through his veins.

The Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame has proudly celebrated the enduring legacy of the cowboy since 2002, and Brad is the fourth inductee with Kearny County ties. Otis Jennings, Vicki Lohman Johnson and Jim Arnold were all inducted in the Working Cowboy/Cowgirl category. Several events surrounding the induction ceremony will take place at Boot Hill Museum in conjunction with the Western Cattle Trail Association’s annual conference which will be commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Western Cattle Trail. Events scheduled include speakers, trolley tours and museum tours. For tickets or information about this year’s induction ceremony and related festivities, check out the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kscowboyhalloffame, boothill.org or westerncattletrailassoc.com.

SOURCES: Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame; “Pioneering Tate Family Celebrates 100 Years in Kearny County” by Florence Fletcher; “Wild Horses Couldn’t Drag Him Away from the AQHA” by Barbara Oringderff; The Quarter Horse Journal; Kansas Horseman Magazine; Diggin’ Up Bones by Betty Barnes; Tate Ranch on Facebook.com; equibase.com; racingandsports.com; archives of the Lakin Independent, and Museum archives

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.

An aerial view of the ruts looking east.

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.

Paul Bentrup is shown standing with the ruts in the background in this picture taken in 1988 by the late Dorothy Morgan. The grass-filled ruts are more easily seen at different times of the year, and the color and texture of the grass in the ruts is different from the surrounding grass.

Paul Bentrup receiving the Santa Fe Trail Ambassador Award in 1987 from Marc Simmons, first president of the SFTA.

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 400^th 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.

The DAR’s Santa Fe Trail marker at Lakin High School.

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.

The Santa Fe Trail through Kearny County

Indian Mound and Chouteau’s Island, both in Kearny County, were the most conspicuous landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail between Pawnee Rock and Bent’s Fort. One can only imagine the array of traders, soldiers, freighters and emigrants who passed through our ‘neck of the woods’ while traversing America’s first commercial highway.

In September of 1821, Missouri trader William Becknell left Franklin with wagonloads of cloth, buttons, buckles, tools and more. It took him and his five compadres roughly two and a half months to cross Kansas and reach Santa Fe, NM. Unlike others before him who had been arrested by Spanish soldiers, Becknell was welcomed. What was so important about Becknell’s timing? He had made it to New Mexico after the territory won its freedom from Spain. He returned to Missouri with bags of silver and glowing accounts of the profits to be made in the Santa Fe trade. Other traders soon followed suit.

By 1824, commercial trade between Missouri and New Mexico was a significant benefit to both the U.S. and Mexico. That year, the General Survey Act authorized the president to order surveys for roads and canals “of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail.” President James Monroe assigned responsibility for the surveys to the Corps of Engineers. The act provided $10,000 for marking the Santa Fe Trail and $20,000 for implementing right-of-way treaties with Native American tribes whose land touched the route. The Sibley Expedition began the nearly two-year endeavor in July of 1825.

There were two routes to the Santa Fe Trail, the Cimarron Route and the Mountain Route. Just west of Dodge City, some traders crossed the Arkansas River at the middle crossing to take a shortcut called the Cimarron Cut-off or the Jornada. This route was very dangerous because it passed through Indian hunting grounds and very little water was available. Wagons that did not take the Cimarron Cut-off continued west beside the Arkansas River, eventually arriving in what is now Kearny County. Here, caravans had two choices – continue west and take the treacherous mountain route which offered more water and fewer Indian dangers or use the upper crossing, turning near Chouteau’s Island and traveling the Bear Creek Pass.

According to field notes by U.S. Engineer Joseph C. Brown, a member of the Sibley Expedition, “The road is again very good up to Chouteau’s Island – the largest island of timber on the river. Many things unite to mark the place so strongly that the traveler will not mistake it … On the north side of the river the hills approach tolerable nigh and on (one) of them a sort of mound conspicuous some miles distance. . . The course of the river likewise being more south identify the place.”

Indian Mound, about five miles west of Lakin, overlooked Chouteau’s Island. Speculation regarding the origin of the mound is longstanding. Was it manmade or a phenomenon of nature? Whatever the case may be, Indian Mound offered a vantage point to both settlers and Native Americans on the lookout for approaching parties. Wind and rain have eroded the mound considerably.

Chouteau’s Island once rose lush and green in the middle of the Arkansas River. Its disappearance is blamed on natural forces, flood control measures and the use of the Arkansas for irrigation. The island was named for Auguste P. Chouteau whose hunting party entrenched themselves on the island in 1816 and successfully fought off an attack of 200 Pawnee Indians.

Wagon trains turned south at Chouteau’s Island and skirted the small but very deep Clear Lake, noted by Brown as a large pond slightly to the east. They then followed Bear Creek Pass, a natural passageway through the sand hills created by a slippage in the Cretaceous Formation around 250,000 years ago. According to geologists, a stream flowed through Bear Creek into the Arkansas River, but dry periods led to the sand blowing over the water and the stream going underground. This theory rings true with what is known of Sunken Wells, a watering hole and stopover point near the Kearny-Grant county line. Stories tell how travelers would stop for the night in the dry sand hills with no water in sight. They would wake in the morning and were surprised to find large cracks in the earth near where they had been sleeping and a lake of water, 200 feet or more in diameter. Within a few hours, the lake would disappear. From this southern end of the Bear Creek Pass, travelers struck a due south course until meeting up with the Cimarron Cut-off at the lower spring (Wagon Bed Springs) in what is now Grant County.

By 1825, goods from Missouri were not only being traded in Santa Fe but also to other points farther south. In 1828 alone, $150,000 of merchandise was taken to Santa Fe. By that time, Independence, MO had become the starting point of the trail. The trail was used primarily as a commercial road between 1821 and 1880 and quickly became a route of cultural exchange. A few months into the Mexican-American War in 1846, America’s Army of the West followed the Santa Fe Trail westward to successfully invade Mexico. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the war in 1848, the Santa Fe Trail became a national road connecting the more settled parts of the United States to the new southwest territories. According to the National Park Service, commercial freighting along the trail boomed to unheard-of levels, including considerably large amounts of military freighters who were supplying the southwestern forts. The trail was also used by thousands of gold seekers heading to Colorado and California, stagecoach lines, adventurers, missionaries, wealthy New Mexican families and emigrants.

Railroads began expanding westward across Kansas when the Civil War ended. Shipping goods by train was faster and easier, and the lengths that traders had to travel on the trail grew shorter. The glory days of the oldest and most important overland trade route across the Great Plains were over when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reached Santa Fe in 1880.

SOURCES: National Park Service; Santa Fe Trail Association; “Bear Creek Pass and the Santa Fe Trail” by Dorothy Morgan; History of Kearny County Vol. 1, and Museum archives.