History of Gove County, Kansas

HISTORY OF GOVE COUNTY, KANSAS

CHAPTER X
WAR RECORD

Gove county sent no soldiers to the Civil War, for the sufficient reason that the county was not laid out or named till several years after that conflict was over, and there was not during that time a single white man in our county. When settlers came, fifteen or twenty years after the Civil War, a large proportion of them were veterans of that conflict. Their number varied with the years, for the veterans came and went as the population rose or fell. A census of the Union veterans taken in the years 1900 to 1904 shows about seventy of them in the county at that time. Charles A. Nichols Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Gove City was a flourishing organization for forty years. But the Grim Reaper has taken the veterans one by one. Seventeen of them are buried at Gove City, thirteen at Grainfield, eleven at Grinnell, nine at Quinter and nine at other cemeteries in the county. Charles A. Nichols Post has lost its charter as the members were mustered out by death. Only three of its members survive. John R. Cooper lives in Colorado, Robert S. Kim is in the National Soldiers Home, and A. J. Mitchell is the only one now living in Gove county.

Our county owes much to the industry, the good sense and the sturdy Americanism of these old soldiers. They were the leaders in the difficult and discouraging work of pioneering, and it is largely due to them that this is now a tamed, civilized and posperous community instead of a desert waste "haunted by beasts and forsook by men" as it was a half century ago. Below is given the names of the Union veterans who helped to settle Gove county and make it what it is today. Here are men who will be remembered as having been prominent in farming, in business and in civic affairs and as the founders of families well known in the county to this day. Civil War Veterans

Oliver W. Abbott, M.. A. Ackley, Charles W. Adams, Eli Alberts, Henry Alberts, A. H. Anderson, Conrad Appel, James Archbold. T. H. Bacon, B. F. Bartlett, H. H. Benson, J. W. Benson, A. W. Berry, J. J. Bigbee, George Bingaman, George Blackwill, J. W. Blackwill, M. E. Boles, W. A. Bolster, L. Bornt, T. N. Bray, John H. Brown, C. M. Burr, Stephen Burris.
Richard C. Cahill. Chauncy Callo-way, David Carlton, G. M. Chambers, H. P. Colgrove, Wm. B. Colwell, John Comstock, Jackson Cook, Jeptha D. Cook, John L. Cook, John R. Cook, John R. Cooper, John Crippen, J. E. Criswell, Joseph Crow.
Marion Dargitz, Isaac Derr, John DeSantos, W. S. Dotson. Andrew Easton, Harrison Eaton, A. S.. Eldred, T. R. Epps.
Perry Fellers, John J. Fisher, Wm. Fleener. John H. Fosdick, Wm. Fowler, W. E. Frint, Carlos Fuller.

Jacob Gabler, Thomas Gallion, Wm. Grooms, H. J. Groves, Patrick J. Gubbins, August Guschewsky, Robert Guy. A. W. Harper, W. A. Harper, T. C. Hartwell, H. H. Henderson, G. W. Henry, John Hogan, Emanuel Hol-singer, William Hubbell, Henrv A. Hurlbert, J. F. Hyskell. J. W. Jameson, John H. Jones. R. S. Kim, Thomas Kirtley, James T. Knight, George Kreigh.
John Lafferty, William Latham, Joseph Lengel, Frank Lewis, Joseph Lines, B. B. Loomis, A. J. Lyon. D. J. Mallory, F. W. Martin, A. F. Massy, James Mather, C. D. Mathews, D. S. Maxwell, Isaac Miller, John H. Miller, A. J. Mitchell, M. V. Mitchell, John Morgan, W. B. Munns. D. McAnderson, Wm. McBride, J. B. McClanahan, John McCollister, T. M. McDonald, John W. McGinnis, J. J. McMains, E. McRitchie. Charles A. Nichols, Benjamin Nickerson, Charles Noble, Samuel B. North. U. W. Oblinger, Stewart Orr. E. H. Parsons, I. B. Peck, Jeremiah Peck, C. E. Peirce, Andrew Peirsee, J. N. Perry, Gus Peterson, Levi Phillips, E. R. Pilcher, George Platt. Lyman Raymond, J. H. Redifer, Asa Rice, W. Richards, M. P. Roberts, A. M. Robertson, C. Rupson, R. S. Russell. H. Schafer, Samuel G. Schafer, Michael Schartraw, J. Shelly, Preston Shipp, William Simpson, P. Sloey, J. J. Smith, Nathan Smith, Van Smith, William Smith, H. C. Spald-ing, E. H. Spencer, George K. Spencer, W. H. Spicer, T. B. Spielman, J. E. Springer, W. W. Stocking, Daniel Stout, A. K. Straley, O. P. Summers. N; E. Terrill, Louis F. Thomas, Jordan Tinsley, William Tipton, C. H. Towsley, I. N. Trollinger, Daniel Turner, J. M. Tyler. W. D. Ure. George W. VanMarter, John H. Vanover, Leonard Verhoeff. John Wahl, S. O. Wanzer, J. Q. A. Weller, O. C. Wells, Uriah Welton, E. N. Wert, A. West, R. L. West, E. Whismore, Milo W. Whitcomb, Joseph Whitehair, O. A. Widney, W. W. Wiggins, Jacob W. Williams, Guy Wing, Jacob Woodcock, Calvin Workman, William Wright, M. O. Wrighter. C. S. Yetman.

In addition to the Union veterans, Gove county has had three sturdy pioneer citizens who wore the Confederate gray S. S. Reynolds, D. F. Bowman and Major Armstrong-all of whom are now deceased.

When the call went forth in 18 98 for volunteers for the war with Spain James A. Stoner, Llewelyn Pearde and Joseph Crow of Gove county enlisted in Company I, Twenty First Kansas, and Harry Burr and Pleasant Harper, temporarily out of the county, enlisted in other states. If a thorough search of the war records were made it may be that we could find other boys from our county, but we are sure of the names given above. We feel no need for apology, there were some counties in Kansas which failed to furnish any recruits at all, but the circumstances under which that army was enlisted were such as to keep our number
down to a minimum. Very short notice was given; it was announced that on a certain day in May recruits from a number of counties, including Gove, would be received at Hays almost a hundred miles away. It turned out to be a week of almost continuous rain and bottomless mud. Even under such handicaps the lads from Gove county appeared at Hays in numbers large enough to have formed a small platoon-only to go down under the veto of an army surgeon. Men were turned down for the most trifling physical defects imaginable. One who was rejected that day passed the army examination nineteen .years later and served in the World War. Another passed the examination for the regular army several years after being rejected at Hays. The truth seems to be, that the government was embarrased by the rush of martial young men all over the land to join the colors. The President of the United States had called for one hundred thousand volunteers and six hundred thousand offered themselves, so the large majority of them had to be rejected. Never before was a body of men subjected to so rigid an examination, and the army which marched away in 1898 to whip Spain was as near physical perfection as an army can hope to be.

Of the boys who were accepted for service, Harry Burr was sent to the Philippines. Pearde, after his period of enlistment expired, reenlisted in the regulars and was also sent overseas. And Jimmy Stoner was stricken with typhoid in the fever-ridden army camp at Chickamauga, Georgia, and came home to die at his home at Quinter, Sept. 24, 1898, first of our boys to give his life in the service of his country.

Gove county may well point with pride to the record made in the World War. The civilian population upheld and aided the government to the limit in every way-Liberty Loans, Red Cross and everything else. And the figures show that we exceeded our quota by ten per cent in the number of men we sent To the Colors. Besides the number taken in the draft there were a number of volunteer enlistments and more than a dozen who were in the regular army at the opening of the war or who joined the regulars before the draft began to work. The boys from Gove county saw service in largest numbers in the Eighty Ninth, Eighty Eighth, Tenth and Thirty Fifth Divisions, but they were found in many other unils and while in the training camps they were scattered all the way from the Presidio in California to Camp Johnston in Florida. By far the largest part of them served in the Army branch of the service, but there were five in the Navy and eight in the Marines.

Below is given the list of those who entered the service from Gove county-with some misgivings, for I fear the roll is not complete. It has been no easy task to compile this list; the records of the County Draft Board are available, but are not complete; neither are the records of the Adjutant General's office at Topeka, as they frankly admit. I fear that some one has been left off the list.

It will be noted that in several instances two brothers, or three brothers, from the same family were in the service at the same time. We have the names of a considerable number of lads born and raised in Gove county who served in the World War but whose names cannot be put on our list because they had at that time ceased to be residents of our county and are accredited to other counties in Kansas or to other states (for instance, the two sons of S. S. Reynolds and the two sons of F. B. Strong.)
Of the World War dead, Gove county contributed ten-Cummings, Fink, Harvey, Hoeb, Johnson, Scott, Seiple, Stittsworth, Verhoeff, Ure. Of these Grant Ure is claimed by Sheridan councy and his name is inscribed upon the World War monument which the citizens of that county have erected at Hoxie; but he is put on our roll because he is credited to Gove county on the Adjutant General's records and his body is buried at Grainfield. The names of Eric Cummings and Charlie Harvey are inscribed on the monument which the State Teachers' College at Hays has raised to its students who made the Supreme Sacrifice. No attempt is made here to list those who received wounds in France, but they are not a few.

Most of our men served in the ranks, but we must not omit to mention that five of them received commissions as officers-W. D. Clark, Eric Cummings, W. B. Davidson, J. H. Rineh'art and Guy H. Winslow. The World War Floyd D. Adams, Frank E. Anderson. Jacob W. Barr, Ross Beamer, Arthur E. Beaver, Eurie F. Beckner, Will H. Behrns, Charles G. Beicher, Bennie G. Beougher, Emery B. Beou-gher, Glen D. Beougher, Clifford J. Bland, Forrest O. Bland, Jean H. Bland, Earl A. Bingaman, Ernest J. Boesch, Eugene W. Borah, John E. Borah, Orrin B. Boyer, Samuel L. Boyer, Niley S. Bray, Wallace Brooks, Leslie L. Brown, Edmund M. Burnett, Gilbert Burns, Harold D. Burns, William H. Burris, Verne W. Butler. Allan W. Cheney, Orval M. Cheno-weth, Silas E. Clark, William D. Clark, Harold P. Cole, Artie Cook, Pierce R. Cookson, Charles W. Cooper, Floyd L. Cooper, John R. Cooper, David E. Copeland, Matheny J. Cope-land, Frank B. Cox, Raymond G. Crippen, William M. Crownover, *Eric Cummings. Harry H. Dahna, William B. Davidson, John E. Davis, Earl W. Davis, Floyd E. Dazey, Seraphine Depper-schmidt, Louis A. Deves, Patrick J. Donahue, William E. Donahue, Frank R. Dufford. Martin W. Eastlack, Edward J. Easton, Forrest J. Eaton, Ralph Eaton, Samuel S. Ebbert, Ralph C. Eller, George A. Ely, Chester Embree. Charles A. Fink, George W. Ford, Elwood C. Forney, William E. Friend, Chester A. Fritts, Darwin L. Fullmer. Winfield Gallion, LaFayette Goodman, Nolan Goodman, Harold P. Greene, Leroy L. Gregg. William J. Haines, Christian S. Haldeman, Charles C. Hall, Don C. Hall, Roy R. Hamilton, Samuel E. Hamilton, Hobart Haney, Walter Haney, Andrew Hansen, Cecil D. Harper, W. P. Harrington, Frank Harsh, *Charles Harvey, George Heier, *Charles R. Hoeb, Leo J. Hoff, Fred B. Holloway, George J. Homm, Clifford P. Houser, William M. Howard, C. E.. Hullet, Leo Hullet. Benjamin F. Jamison, John E. Jamison, Noah D. Jamison, George W. Jennings, *Charles D. Johnson, Clifford W. Jones, Hiram W. Joy. Theodore A. Katt, Verne E. Kin-zie, Sam M. Kirkland, Charlie L. Kline, Jesse L. Kline, Carl R. Knott, Charles H. Knudsen. Urless R. Lanham, Arthur M. Lay-ton, Pius Leiker, Roy E. Lewis, John F. Lindquist, Samuel W. Long, Isaac W. Love. William F. Maginness, Leigh H.. Main, George Malsam, Frank Mark,; Henry Martin, Tolbert S. Martin, Hilary E. Mather, Earl Maxwell, Hugh E. Melroy, George L. Mendenhall, Adam Meyer, George A. Meyer, Mike W. Meyer, Jack V. Miller, Raymond H. Milroy, Lloyd Mitchell, Howard E. Moore, Lewis Muhlenkamp. Ralph McCalmant, Ray McDonald, Cash C. McNay. Walter E. Nation, Edd Naylor, Claude E. Nemeyer, Charles W. Norton. Kasper Ochs, Lester H. Ohls, Charles A. Orten. Robert J. Parish, William L. Peace, Ray B. Phelps, Donald L. Porter, Jay D. Porter, August E. Priefert, Glen I. Purdum. Earl Rachau, Samuel N. Rainer, Dan Rebarchek, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence S. Richardson, Robert W. Richardson, Alex W. Riley, John H. Rinehart, Valie L. Robertson, George C. Roemer, Lem Roemer, William F. Roemer, Don A. Romesburg, Francis E. Ruch, Abner Rush, Merle Ruttan. David Schaible, Joseph B. Scham-ber, Carl Schikowsky, Ernest Schi-kowsky, Arthur Schultz, *George M. Scott, *Ivan Seiple. Carl R. Sensen-baugh, Merle E... Shirkey, Ned L. Shirley, Stanley S. Simpson, Ruhl Sites, Asa M. Smith, Fred J. Snart, Harvey E. Snyder, Lewis O. Snyder, William H. Snyder, W. H. Spena, Elza M. Staples, Hobart A. Staples, Cecil W. Starr, Earl A. Stranaud, William A. Stevenson, George H. Stittsworth, Erasmus F. Strickler, Fred G. Stubbs, Joseph W. Suiter, Joseph L. Surmeier, George A. Sut-cliffe, Harley Swain. Charles H. Terrell, Earl L. Terrell, Harry T. Tholen, Lorin W. Timmons, Frank F.-Tomanek, George H. Trible, Ernest R. Trimmer, Loyd J. Tustin, Ralph M. Tuttle. Grant Ure, Fred B. Ury. Guy Van Marter, Roy Van Marter, *Leonard Verhoeff. Luther E. Wade, Clarence H. Wakefield, James H. Walkinshaw, Andrew Weber, Wilsie B. Wells, Warren T. Welton, Jewell West, Robert A.. White, Arthur C. Williams, Clarence H. Williams, Neal Winningham, Guy H. Winslow, Benjamin M. Wooters, Loran Wright, Floyd S. Wrighter. Nicholas Zerr, Theodore Zimmermann.

The folks at home planned a reception for the boys when they returned from the War. They came straggling back one at a time as they got their discharges, and it was not till almost a year after the Armistice that it was concluded that they were all back, and the party was given- an outdoor picnic in a grove near Gove City, Sept. 1, 1919. It was a very enjoyable affair with speech-making, a dinner and a brass band. The citizens committee did itself proud. But there was a certain feeling of disappointment, because the Boys in Khaki did not come out in greater numbers to the reception given in their honor. The lads who whipped the Kaiser are a modest lot, and many of them preferred to stay at home that day instead of turning out to be lionized.

Two posts of the American Legion were organized in the county, in 1920. The Fink-Harvey-Seiple Post at Quinter surrendered its charter after a few seasons, but the George M. Scott Post at Gove City is in a thriving condition, with a present membership of sixty. The Legion has fallen heir to the traditions of the G. A. R. and taken over the special work of that organization in the celebration of Decoration Day on the 20th of May in each year. And then, the Legion has its Armistice Day, our latest national holiday, November 11, the day when the World War ended in victory for the American arms.

The record may well be taken as a guarantee that the citizens of Gove county will do their part at any time, if the country should ever become involved in another war and need defenders.

NOTE-The following names of Civil War veterans are to be added to those given above: Nathan H. Burkhead, L. D. Bulla, Hudson Chapman, T. S. Coppock, D. C. Farnsworth, George M. Grubb, John Heckman, Thos. Hindman, Peter McFarland, G. W. Poorman, Uriah Probasco. There were posts of the G. A. R. at Grainfield in 1887 and 1888, at Buffalo Park from 1885 to 1892 and at Alan thus from 1889 to 1892.

CHAPTER XI
FARMING IN GOVE COUNTY

The next historian of Gove county will probably write of some things which are interesting enough but which have been left out of this work because I do not feel competent to do them justice. The next writer will tell of our cities and fraternal organizations and churches. At the present time six denominations have organizations and church buildings in our county. The Dunkards have three churches in Quinter and Baker township, the Methodists have churches in Gove City, Quinter, Grainfield and Grinnell, the Presbyterians in Quinter, the Christians in Grinnell, the Nazarenes in Gaeland township and the Catholics in Park, Grainfield and Grinnell.

At last report the population of our cities was Gove City 226, Grainfield 338, Grinnell 274, Quinter 485. But let some city man write the story of our cities, with their ups and downs; their occasional losses, by fire or some business catastrophe; their big days, when they put on some celebration that drew a crowd to town; their public improvements, electric lights and graveled streets. The first dwellings in our towns were sod houses or tents. There is still one sod house remaining in Quinter, where a fine old pioneer lady is spending her declining years, in a home well furnished within and fortified against the rain by a metal roof, rather than move out of the "soddy" into something more modern and less homelike. With this exception, sod is no longer in use as a building material in our towns; all these towns have some very nice and tasty homes; and it is probably correct to say that more brick and cement is used in them today than lumber.

Buffalo Park was the first town in the county and in its time had an ambition to be the county seat, as told in a previous chapter of this history. The town was platted as Buffalo, the railroad company calls the station Buffalo Park, but the postoffice is known as Park. After getting a good start in the early days the town faded away till there was little left except the depot, stock yards, water tank and school house; then the "Russians" settled around Park and built their big church and Park became a town again. The town was never incorporated, and has got along very well so far without a city government, but it has a sufficient population to incorporate as a city at any time the inhabitants desire, Our cities have plenty of civic pride, and nothing gives a citizen such a thrill as to have his town beat some other town, in any competition whatsoever. A few years since, Quinter had a baseball team which beat everything in the country. The Gove City sports got tired of being beaten by Quinter and hired a noted professional pitcher, giving him a hundred dollars to beat Quinter a couple games. He delivered the goods and Quinter was beaten. Quinter had several paid players on the team, and after these two games these players were "fired." Quinter wouldn't have them if they couldn't beat Gove City. And the Gove City sports were a hundred dollars poorer but did not regret it, because they had beaten Quinter.

On another occasion a county-wide Sunday school rally was held at Grainfield and a banner was to be given to the town which had the largest attendance. Our town wanted that banner. The writer's attendance had not been regular and he was not in very good standing at Sunday school, but this was forgiven and he was kidnapped and taken along, for something desperate had to be done to beat Quinter. When the noses were counted our crowd had beaten Quinter, by just one. I shall always think they never would have won that banner without me.

Our cities perhaps will never grow much larger under present conditions. They are country towns, without industries of their own, and their prosperity depends upon that of the country surrounding them. The big industry of Gove county is farming.
And farming in Gove county has a history-romantic, sometimes comic, sometimes tragic. Perhaps the subject calls for a poet rather than a historian. Elihu Bowles, former resident of our county, wrote a small volume of very readable verse which he called "In a Sod House." The Creator never made a fairer land but this sun which shines nearly every day in the year is sometimes destructive as well as creative; the wind may be chillingly cold or blisteringly hot; the temperature may range from a hundred degrees above zero to thirty below, according to the season; the rainfall may be anywhere from seven inches to twenty eight inches per annum, as the record shows, and the evaporation is from two to five times as great as the rainfall. This was the natural home of the buffalo grass, scanty of growth but rich of quality, which survives both heat and cold and in times of drouth cures up on its stalk and goes to sleep till rain comes again. The soil is rich, the sod easily broken, but farming in Gove county has been a fifty years struggle of man against the climate, to make the country a home for domestic plants and fruits and animals and civilized people.

The first battle of the settlers with the wilderness was lost by the settlers. Seeds the farmers brought with them from their eastern homes would not do well in a new country and their farming ended in failure; the country could not be carried by assault and half the settlers gave up the battle and left the county as quickly as they came. The early settlers had little capital, and perhaps it was just as well that they did not, for in their ignorance of the country those who had the most money were the biggest losers. Those who built nice houses and planted trees and made other improvements lost their money; the successful ones were those who built a sod house and settled down to live within their means and work out a system of agriculture fitted to the country.

When the battle was resumed it was along different lines. The country would grow buffalo grass if it would not grow corn and wheat, and every settler tried to get hold of a few cows. Half the country was railroad land untouched by the plow; of the remainder much had not been plowed or had been deserted and was rapidly going back to grass. Grass was free and a cattleman had a snap. New crops were being discovered; it was found out that the sorghums would thrive on the plains and that they were good winter feed for cattle, and that some kinds of them produced good grain. Alfalfa was introduced on the bottom lands. Settlers from Russia brought a variety of wheat which thrived on the plains of Kansas, and new strains of corn were being developed which were suited to our climate. But during the time that these new crops were being tried out everybody was cattle-minded. The country was covered with the melancholy ruins of the sett.ers sod shanties, and we wished it to remain that way, for if let alone the buffalo grass would soon reclaim the country and repair the damage which the plow had done. If an occasional home seeker visited the country he was asked to declare h s intentions; if he would bring cattle he was welcomed as a good citizen; if he intended to farm, every one he met discouraged him and told him the country is no good, you can t raise anything, you can't get water. I have no doubt that in those days we scared away many a good farmer whom we would be glad to welcome now.

Now for a few years the cattlemen made money. Then, when the value of cattle in Gove county was approaching the million mark, ruin struck the cattlemen. I shall always think it was a put up job. The Kansas City banks, dominated by the packing interests of that city, had been eager to make loans to cattlemen. Any one who had a few cattle and an abundance of free range was urged and solicited to borrow money and buy more cattle. With money to be had so easily everybody went in debt, then-the packers sprung the trap, knocked the bottom out of the cattle market and called in their loans. The packers got the cattle, and most of the cattlemen were broke.

But in the same year that the cattlemen were being put out of business Gove county got its first big wheat crop. Those of the stockmen who were raising wheat also had a chance to make back in wheat what they lost in cattle. The year 1903 was a perfect wheat year. A perfect wheat year is not necessarily a year of heavy rainfall. In fact, the rainfall in 1903 was only 17.25 inches -but it came when needed and none of it was wasted. There were heavy rains in the fall of 1902; 16.8 inches of rain fell during the months from July till October. This spoiled the winter pasture and made a miserable season for cattle, but put the ground into perfect condition for wheat and gave it a good early growth; gentle rains came in the spring and till harvest time, with no hail or high winds,

then followed a dry spell during har-vest-and Gove led all the counties in the state in average yield of wheat per acre, in a year when the rainfall was two inches less than the average of the forty years in which the record has been kept.

Tne wheat crop of 1903 was 752,518 bushels, the average per acre 25 bushels. With our acreage in this year 19 30 such an average would mean a wheat crop of five million bushels. There were, of course, many fields which yielded far above the average. Yields of forty bushels per acre were common. But the highest: yield of all was reported by J. C. Ort of Grinnell township who on a measured area of three acres harvested and threshed 222 bushels, an average of seventy four bushels to the acre. Lest this story be doubted Mr. Ort and his neighbors made an affidavit to the facts as stated. And Mr. Ort is still alive to testify to that big wheat crop.

Since 1903 mixed farming has been the type of agriculture most followed in this county. The settlers who came in about that time and later were better equipped for the battle than were the first coiuers. They grew corn and wheat of a kind suited to the country; they grew the sorghums, which in some years yield better than corn and wheat; they raise live stock as well as the field crops, and much butter and eggs. The new agriculture is on a secure foundation; the sod houses are gone; our county has many well improved farm homes and some of our farmers are not to be excelled anywhere. Three years ago the State Agricultural College and the farm papers of Kansas instituted the custom of selecting each year a small number of outstanding men to be designated as Master Farmers. The first selection contained the name of one Gove county man, A. Yale of Grinnell township; and we expect to see the names of some other Gove county farmers when future lists are announced.

The climatic difficulties which confront our farmers are perhaps as great as ever, but have been overcome to some extent by improved methods of farming, Drouth has been rendered less deadly by conservation of moisture and the raising of the crops best suited to the country. As more of the buffalo grass is broken up the hot winds have lost some of their power and prairie fires have ceased to be a menace. The wind we have always with us but we are learning to tame it. The writer of this sketch well remembers being put on the program of the county Farmers Institute twenty years ago for a talk on How to Keep our Soil from Blowing. It was a big subject, and in trying to solve the problem in a few words he laid down the following principles: "Keep a cover on the ground-stubble, trash or a good soil mulch (not a dust mulch); throw the harrow away, or use it with judgment; stir the ground in the spring." These recommendations seem rather inadequate now, but I maintain that they are good, as far as they go.

Certain animal pests have had to be eliminated. Time was when the prairie dogs numbered millions, and when the sod was broken up they held their ground and cut down the crops the farmer planted; the Agricultural College took up the problem and compounded a poison which was effective, and for years the townships levied a tax each year for the destruction of prairie dogs. It would be hard now to find a prairie dog in the county. Thousands of dollars have been paid out in bounties on coyotes and jack rabbits, and in some years that little animal, the grasshopper, is still very destructive.

In 1912 came the "horse disease", a malady which the veterinarians have never been able to explain, which carried off 1470 horses in Gove county. All the counties in the wheat belt were stricken, in the neighboring states as well as in Kansas. Farming operations were paralyzed for several weeks, then the scourge passed away as mysteriously as it came.

The development of the southern half of the county has been retarded by the lack of railroad facilities. The early settlers firmly believed that a railroad would be built along the valley of the Smoky, and the towns of Jerome, Alanthus, Teller and Pyramid were laid out in readiness for it. One or more railroad surveys were actually projected, but nothing came of them. The railroad excitement broke out at recurrent intervals and even so recent as six years ago a railroad meeting was held at Gove City. It is now evident that no more railroads will be built, and the south half has settled down to make

the best of it; the Smoky is now bridged in eight places, our graded roads are pretty good, most of our farmers have trucks and it is *iot much of a hardship now to haul grain twenty miles to market; most of the county now has R. F. D. or star route delivery, so the railroad is now but little missed. Lands are cheaper in the south half, the largest ranches are there and a larger percentage of the land is owned by non-residents than in the northern part" of the county.

A new style of agriculture has made its appearance within, recent years. The tractor and the combine enable the farmer to farm a larger acreage, but sometimes he has to go a long distance from home to get the land he needs. Some who live" in the extreme north of the county are now farming south of the Hackberry. If this tendency continues our towns along the railroads may become farm villages like those in the Old World and much of the farmer's work will be at a distance of twenty miles or more from his home. Some future historian may have a word to say about this subject.

At last report our county had 327 farm tractors, 329 trucks and 1571 automobiles. These gas-propelled vehicles are of such recent invention that it is not hard to remember back to the time before they made their appearance here. If we are not mistaken, J. E. Smith owned the first automobile in Gove county; the purchase was announced in the Republican-Gazette Dec. 14, 1905, in the fallowing words: "County Treasurer Smith has purchased an Olds Mobile with which to pass to and from his respective positions of county treasurer and cashier of the Citizens State Bank of Grain-field. The two towns being about 14 miles apart he can now cover the distance in about one hours time."

Tradition says that this pioneer auto frequently failed to make the distance within the hour, and that it sometimes had to be hauled in.

I wonder who will get the first airplane?

Our farmers have not been backward in forming organizations necessary to their business. Farmers institutes were formed at different times, but the County Institute organized at Gove City in 1907 had the longest life. For thirteen years this body maintained a two day annual fair each fall at Gove City. It had no buildings or grounds and offered no amusement attractions to draw a crowd, but it got a $50 grant from the county each year and raised an equal amount on the side and put on a free fair and a program of stock judging and other matters that was worth while. Then the Gove County Fair Association at Gove City and the Quinter Fair Association at Quinter were organized and took over the work which the farmers institute had started. For the last seven years the county has had two very creditable fairs. Too bad this is the last chapter in this history I would like to give a chapter to these fairs and the work they have done.

The Farmers Union organized the county about fifteen years ago, and has an elevator or business association at every shipping point in the county. When Congress passed the Rural Credits Act, two local farm loan associations were formed in the county to take advantage of the provisions of the law and get cheap money for the farmers; these associations are the Prairie View Farm Loan Association, whose territory is the south half of the county, and the Baker-Collyer Farm Loan Association which does business in the Quinter territory.

Some final statistics are in order, to show the basis upon which Gove county agriculture rests. Eighty per cent of the county is in farms. The acreage in wheat is reported as 153,233; corn is 30,189 acres, barley 27,422, cane 12,986. But these fig-ures are subject to change; if the outlook for wheat is not good in the spring the farmers will put out a larger acreage of corn, barley and the sorghums; and in some seasons the yield of these crops is worth more than the wheat crop. For some reason not yet explained the acreage in alfalfa is much smaller than it used to be. Cattle number 21,548. The product of the fields varies greatly from year to year according to the season, but the egg crop last year was worth $88,258 and the milk crop $108,920, and these are crops which can always be depended on.