PAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS
Story of the Plains
The Railroads
The United States government granted large tracts
of land to the railroad systems. The railroad companies in turn, could sell parts of the land they did not need.
They sold to settlers who desired to live in the territory, and in this way the railways were able to pay for rail
construction.
The railroad system established towns at convenient
locations along the tracks so there would be market places for the crops that would be raised. The companies met
with many hardships along the tracks such as angry Indians, buffalo herds, harsh weather, rocky and hilly territory
and rivers that had to be bridged. There was some scrub timber that had to be cleared to make a good rail bed.
By 1886 a track was being laid to Jetmore as a
branch from Lamed. The track was usable to Burdett that year including Rozel and Sanford.
This rail laying and road bed building furnished
jobs for the settlers who came penniless after their trip and obtaining their piece of land. This helped them provide
for their families until their first crops were in or their businesses began to show a profit.
The Chicago, Kansas and Western planned to build
a rail line to Jetmore along with the Atlantic, Denver and Memphis which was to build as far as Burdett and then
was to build a rail north but for some reason this fell through. The Denver, Memphis and Atlantic was nicknamed
the Daisie, Mae and Annie road but as mentioned it was never started north.
The president of the Pawnee Valley Road was W.B.
Strong, the freight agent was C.W. Smith. The chief engineer was A.A. Robinson and the brakeman was Jay Pixley
of Lamed.
By 1886 Rozel was allotted a station house but
this was later moved to another location in the night causing much speculation as to what happened to the building.
It was even reported that Rozel had sunk into a bottomless pit, but this was only a big joke by some men from Larned.
The Santa Fe bought out the Daisie, Mae and Annie
line around the time the track was being finished to Jetmore.
Wagon trains were learning the vastness of this
unexplored territory and those living on the fringes of the territory were becoming eager to press on. The rails
furnished this means of entering and trying their hand at conquering the new areas.
For more than one hundred years the rail locomotives
were run on steam. At first they heated the water to create steam with wood. This was later done with coal and
even later with oil. Now most of the rural trains are run with diesel. The diesel came to our area about 1954.
Thirty miles an hour was a great speed and since
brakes were not so good there were many accidents.
The coaches were reasonably comfortable despite
the shaking and rattling of the wooden built cars.
The passengers did suffer from the soot of the
coal smoke and they sweltered in the summer and were cold in the winter when the trains were able to run.
The modern diesel was developed in 1937 and coaches
were air-conditioned. The seats were made adjustable for the comfort of the passengers.
The standard rail tracks were 56 1/2” apart. There
were two other gauges of tracks, they were called the Narrow gauge and the Broad gauge.
The main business of the railroad is to carry freight.
Kansas as we know it today is much the same as
it was in the early days in regards to weather or temperature. Some years there are more storms and heavier rain
fall and some~ years there is drought.
Grasses grew tall and were of many varieties, and
even today the grass grows tall where not pastured. There roamed in this territory many tribes such as the Taos-Pueblo,
Apache, Cheyenne, Osage, Wichita, Kansa and the Pawnee. The Kanza, Pawnee and Osage were a part of the Sioux nation
and they, along with the Wichita, were known as gardeners, although only the women were allowed to be near the
gardens because of their belief. The men were considered hunters and warriors.
The Wichita, Apache and Pawnee tribes were some
of the last to leave Kansas territory.
Most of the Sioux tribes raised beans, maize, melons
and sunflowers. They gathered nuts, berries, fruits and roots that grew in the wild. They also made pottery of
clay and hollowed-out tools and bowls of bone, horn, stone and wood. The Pawnee tribes camped along the creeks.
The Kanza tribe was almost annihilated by the mid-1800s by small pox and cholera and by the alcohol sold to them
by the white man. The remainder of that tribe was moved to a reservation in Oklahoma.
The Osage were furnished guns by the fur-traders
and this tribe was constantly at war with the Pawnee and other tribes. In 1839 the Osage signed a treaty and moved
to Oklahoma. Oil was discovered in their Oklahoma territory but even so they still made raids into Kansas.
In 1840 the Kiowa, Apache and Cheyenne decided
to unite against their enemies, the white settlers and the railroads and caused much bloodshed. Even after they
were moved to Oklahoma they still made raids coming on horseback to hunt the bison, or buffalo, as the animals
were known. By 1880 the raids halted because there were no more buffalo roaming in large herds and settlers were
moving into the Kansas territory more and more every day.
Tribes of other nations of Indians also roamed
the prairies then known as the Kansas Territory. They were the Kickapoo, Cherokee, Assiniboni, Blackfoot, Ogalallas,
Brules, Crow, Ute, Shoshone and Omaha who roamed here to gather winter food mostly. These tribes lost many thousands
of their people and killed many whites. They later agreed to go to reservation in other areas before they lost
all of their families.
Many Blackfoot, Osage and Pawnee made peace with
the whites and served as scouts to both the Army and the caravans.
There were many different places and kinds of abode for the different tribes. Some built grass lodges by tying
and layering bundles of tall grass around a framework of branches of trees. These also had layered grass roofs.
Some built lodges of poles stood upright with poles crossed at the top and spread at the bottom, then covered with
cured buffalo or bear skins which were greased with buffalo or bear grease. These skin covers were painted with
designs of the tribe and also the family and rank designs so that the tepees were instantly recognized by any member
of the tribe. Some Indians mixed mud and grease to cover their lodges.
Before the Spanish came the Indian had no means
of travel except by foot. The Spanish traded them horses for food and help given them by the Indian. The Indian
made travoises to haul their belongings and these were pulled by large dogs; or, loaded the heavy loads on the
backs of the women.
The Indian called the white men Wasichus because
they believed the whites spoke with forked tongue.
The Comanche were the most skilled horsemen of
all the tribes.
Indians had many sayings that are worth remembering—”A
people without history is like the wind on the buffalo grass.” And, “If anything happens as an accident, it should
be forgotten as quickly as the water that falls on a stone is forgotten.”
The Buffalo
By Stella Ideker
The Indian valued the buffalo greatly because they
used every part of the animal. They ate the flesh, organs and even the bone marrow, drank the blood and intestinal
juices. The horns were for head ornaments and for cups, spoons and bowls. The brains, liver and fats were used
to tan the hides. They also used the fat for deodorizing their animal traps and for mixing body paints. The thick
wooly hair was used for ropes, woven into bags and ornaments, for saddle beds and backrests, and to stuff balls
made of hide to play games with. Part of the longer hair, such as on the beard, was used to make ornaments for
lances and bows, also on clothing. Even the tail was used to decorate their tepees and for fly swatters and whips.
The buffalo hide was used for tent covers, clothing,
saddles, war shields, containers for water, bags, cooking utensils and moccasins.
The sinew was used for bowstrings and backing on
the bows. The sinew was also used for sewing as well as the small intestines. The intestines were also used for
strings. The paunch was used for buffing water and bladder was used for carrying water while the scrotum was used
for stirrup covers and rattles.
The buffalo “chips” were used by both Indians and
white settlers as fuel.
The bones were used for many things. The shoulder
blades became hoes, axes and other tools. Leg bones were made into awls, hammers and knives. The ribs became arrow
straighteners, quill fasteners, arrow points, skin scrapers and dice.
Huge herds of buffalo roamed the prairies when the white man first came, but they were soon thinned out by hunters
for their hides. The white man believed that if they killed all the buffalo they would soon be rid of the Indians,
so they killed with no reason at times.
There was a time that the buffalo were so plentiful
that they would get on the railroad track and stop the trains. This once happened shortly after the railroad was
built toward Dodge City in 1872. The service was stopped for two days until the buffalo decided to move on. The
animals were unpredictable so it was best to await their own movement.
The Indian first hunted the buffalo by slipping
up on them under robes or brush and then scaring the herd and running them over a hill. This caused unnecessary
slaughter of the buffalo, but was done usually only once or twice a year, and only until the Spanish came with
horses.
From The American Bison, published by the New York
Zoological Society:
“In 1871, a vast buffalo herd was seen by competent
witnesses on the Arkansas River between Fort Zarah and Fort Lamed. It is estimated that the herd comprised considerable
more than 4,000,000 animals. The main herd was 50 miles deep and 25 miles wide.
“There are still traces of those gigantic herds
as seen in pastures where buffalo wallows are very much in evidence, especially after a heavy rain when they fill
with water.”
Grasshoppers
By Stella Ideker
In 1873 drought intensified in this area, crops shriveled. By 1874 the grasshoppers came suddenly high in the air
from the north like a huge black cloud.
Their ravages reached from the Dakotas and to Texas
and as far east as Sedalia, Missouri.
They stripped vegetation to stubble, shredded laundry
on clothes lines, chewed on the handles of pitch forks, garden hoes and rakes. They developed a taste for human
sweat that was impregnated on the handles, but even the fence posts were attacked.
After their invasion they left behind masses of
eggs buried in the ground. When the sun came out and warmed the ground, the grass became full of tiny, green grasshoppers,
even their eyes were green.
They could be heard gnawing and chewing as they
grew each day and changed color from green to brown. They moved in swarms and ate every thing in their path every
blade of grass, stalk of corn, wheat or any living plant, gardens included. They even ate the bark off trees. They
would invade, crawl over and into everything in their path, including houses. They remained in this area until
1877 when a law was passed that every man and his son were bid to kill every or any grasshoppers seen.
In 1913 and 1914 they came again in huge swarms,
again eating every blade of grass or plant in their path and again attacking any wooden article that had been handled
by man, even eating straw hats if left laying outside. It only took them a few hours to completely strip a whole
field and only a few minutes to devour a garden.
When the grasshoppers swarmed over the train tracks
they would stop the train as the track would become too slick for traction and the wheels would turn but gain no
hold.
How To Obtain Government
Lands
Taken from a publication by the Kansas State Board of Agriculture.
“Every head of a family, or widow, or single man or woman, over twenty-one years of age, being a citizen, or having
filed a declaration of intention to become a citizen, can preempt 160 acres of Government land, inside or outside
of railroad limits.
“Any person qualified as above for preemption,
can acquire by occupation and the payment of commission and fees ($18.00 to $26.00), 160 acres of land held at
$1.25 per acre, or 80 acres of land within ten miles of a railroad, and held at $2.50 per acre. Every homestead
settler, except soldiers, must in person go to the land office to make the filing, unless he is actually living
on the land, and then it is allowable to make the filing before the clerk of the county within which the land is
situated. The right to land under the homestead law dates from filing (not from settlement as under preemption),
and then the claimant is allowed six months, within which time he must take possession of the land by occupation
and improvement. Within seven years thereafter the settler must go to the land office, and prove by two witnesses
that he has resided upon and cultivated the land for five years immediately succeeding the time of filing, and
thereupon the settler is entitled to a patent. Absence from a homestead for
more than six months at any one time during the five years, works a forfeiture of all right to the land, if proven
to the satisfaction of the U.S. Register. Homesteads are not liable for debts contracted prior to the settlement.
In case of death before title is perfected, either by preemption or homesteading, the rights of the deceased descent
to the widow or heirs.
“An act to encourage the growth of timber on the
Western prairies.
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall plant, protect, and keep in healthy
growing condition for ten years, forty acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart
each way, on any quarter section of any of the pulic lands of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent
for the whole of said quarter-section at the expiration of said ten years, on making proof of such fact by not
less than two credible witnesses: Provided, That only one quarter in any section shall be thus granted.”
In 1862, the Homestead Law was passed that required
a settler to live on the claim (160 acres) five years and improve it, pay a fee of $10 for the entire claim plus
$1.25 per acre. The government also gave sections 16 and 36 of every township as school land to be sold at auction
to the highest bidder and the money placed in state school funds.
The settlers’ homes were of the simplest and cheapest
construction. The lot of the pioneer was a hard one.
Describing the first house on his homestead, I.H.
Ulsh related the following: “We arranged the furniture on the prairie and built a shanty over it by setting posts
in the ground and nailing boards to the posts. We also put a board roof over it. We had no floor, therefore no
need for rugs. We, however, had a good mat of buffalo grass which was equal to a Brussels Carpet, as long as it
lasted, and when the grass wore off we used a sprinkling can to keep the dust down.”
Virginia Franz said she could remember Albert Franz
telling about using a hand plow to break up the sod for the house.
After filing on his claim, the settler decided
upon the location for his house. The availability of water often had a great deal to do with this. The builder
also tried to locate his house as close as possible to a “bottom”:. or “slew” where firm, moist sod blocks could
be cut.
Usually, the builder tried to pick as level a spot
as possible for a sod house. The four corners were then staked off, and the area that was to be inside the house
was cleared of grass and weeds. Sometimes this area was leveled off with a sharp spade so as to make a dirt floor
that could be sprinkled with water and packed down hard. After used these floors were almost like concrete. Board
floors were often added later, when more time and money were available.
Both buffalo grass and blue stem grass made durable
sod blocks. Sandy soil and other type grasses were not satisfactory.
In breaking out sod for a sod house a walking plow or breaking plow was used to break out 12” strips, approximately,
and usually three to four inches thick, then cut them in two foot lengths, lapped them like brick, overlapping
the seams. When they got ready to put the roof on they would cut a ridge pole to use so it would have a slope so
the water would run off. Then they would lay flat boards or brush over the top and lay strips of sod over this
and lay them so the water would run off.
In 1897 the Sears and Roebuck Company catalog advertised
a “grasshopper plow” with a sharp blade that would cut a sharp strip of sod, It cost $6.50.
Every wall was different, from eight inches to
two feet deep. The deeper the wall the cooler the house in summer and warmer in winter.
Pioneer farmers had to build a dwelling on a piece
of ground where there were few rocks and no trees so dugouts were the answer. The builder usually dug back into
a bank 12 to 14 feet and layed sod blocks up for the front.
They provided protection from the Kansas wind storms.
The disadvantages were that they were damp and difficult to keep clean. Also they would get buried in the snow
in winter. Many old timers told of keeping a shovel on the inside so in case of a blizzard they could tunnel their
way out.
Marge Wells said her Grandfather Dexter Camp first
built a dugout on the north side of the Pawnee on the east side of where the bridge now is. Later they built a
sod house on the south side of the bridge because of dampness and water coming in. This home was used as a post
office for Ben Wade for several years and is now part of the Henry Selig estate. Mr. Selig was a cousin of Marjory’s.
This information was taken from the publication True Sod and from interviews and research.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s, mail was delivered
once a week from Lamed to the various post offices. The first post office in this area was Keysville, which was
established Dec. 7, 1877, with Charles Babcock as Postmaster. The office was discontinued Nov. 13, 1878, and reestablished
Dec. 11, 1878, with Henry T. Payne as Postmaster. This location was two miles south and one and a half west of
present day Rozel. Mr. Payne was succeeded by Isaac H. Tlish Aug. 30, 1880. At this time, the post office was transferred
to the home of Mr. Ulsh, which was located about three and one half miles northwest of RozeL The name was changed
to Ben Wade on Feb. 21, 1881. Mr. Ulsh and family returned to Pennsylvania for a few months late in 1882. Henry
Mehl was appointed postmaster but served only one month. He was succeeded by Dexter Camp March 1, 1883. Mr. Camp
lived less than a mile north of Rozel town site. He served until June 15, 1893, at which time the post office was
renamed Rozel and was moved there. Other postmasters and date of their appointments are as follows:
Rozel Post Office
Philo P. Wilcox- June 15, 1883
Hannah P. Sufficool- May 14, 1895
George Meador - Aug. 3, 1899
Hannah P. Sufficool- Oct. 5, 1900
Olney B. Ticknor - April26, 1901
John H. Riederer - Feb. 12, 1903
William T. Tracy - April 6, 1911
Walter W. Christian - Dec. 30, 1914
William S. Smith - April 24, 1922
Anna M. Schadel (Acting Postmaster)
Wayne Blackburn
Lloyd Arnold ( Officer-in-charge until Postmaster selected) Nov. 3, 1978 to May 17, 1979
Arlis Atteberry- May 17, 1979 to Nov. 7, 1979
Nancy Crook- Nov. 7, 1979 to April 19, 1980
Sidney Hicks- April 1980
1909-1919 Bill Homer, north route Wilmer Gibson,
south route
Each route was 33 miles. Wilmer first had a horse
and buggy, then a horse and cart, next a motorcycle, and later a Model T Ford. They resigned when a government
ruling was made that there was no pay if they could not complete the full route, regardless of road conditions
or inclement weather. (The ruling was then revoked.)
1919- ?? Charles Showalter, later transferred to
Hutchinson E.J. Barr
1924-1960 Joe Davis, north route
??-1934 Verne Uhiand, south route
In 1934, Uhiand was transferred to rural mail service
in Dodge City, and Davis served the combined routes, serving the south route first. Mr. Davis retired in 1960.
1950 The mail service to Rozel changed from train
to truck service.
1960-1986 Calvin Blattner
The mail route was combined with Burdett route
in 1977. The route is now over 145 miles.
“When the Keysville post office was about to be
discontinued in 1880 because no one would give it a home,” related I.H. Ulsh in 1925, “I naturally felt sorry for
the homeless, therefore, took the thing to my home. It was much run down and dilapidated in general. But we cleaned
and dressed it up decently and gave it a new name. Instead of Keysville, it was called Ben Wade. Tim McCarthy,
Lamed postmaster, suggested the name. Under the new name and new location, the office took on a new life and the
increase in business made it impossible for me to read all the post cards. The office has again changed its name
and is called Rozel, and is doing a thriving business in a thriving town of the same name.”
Post Offices
in Pawnee County
By Mrs. J.B. Brown
Tiller & Toiler, Nov. 12, 1946
When my brother, William Anderson Kitch, came out in 1883, he got his mail at Harmony post office. Three years
later when we came, Bird Nest post office had been established and we got our mail there. Bird Nest was so named
because so many sparrows made their home on the roof of the long low sod building that housed the post office.
This building was three rooms in length. One end was a shelter for the horses, cows and chickens. The other end
was the family home and post office.
Mr. Ewell was the postmaster, also mail carrier
and went to Burdett twice a week for the mail. After a few years, about 1889 or 1890, Mr. Ewell and his family
moved away and the Bird Nest post office was discontinued. Then the Harmony post office kept by Mr. Prudham was
moved two miles west to the Pfenninger home.
S.A. Kitch, my father, then carried the mail from
Burdett to Harmony until the route was changed, when he carried it from Rush Center to Harmony. Harmony post office
served a large community until the introduction of Rural Free Delivery.
Helen Drake Scott also remembers when her father, Josh Drake hauled mail to Burdett three times a week.
Source: Rozel Kansas 1886-1986 written by residents - transcribed & submitted by Barbara Ziegenmeyer
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