Abilene Kansas in 1869 (An Eyewitness Account)

[Music] [Music] in 1857 Dickinson County was established in Kansas Territory located within the newly formed County was the home of Timothy hery and his wife Eliza who lived on the West Bank of Mud Creek North of the Smoky Hill River the hery would soon be joined by CH Thompson who built a structure known as the hotel on the East Bank of the creek in 1860 in an effort to become the county seat Thompson surveyed a town site on his side of the creek he asked Tim hery to name the new town and Tim conferred with his wife Eliza decided on the Biblical name of abalene which meant city of the Plains the hery home would become a stage Stop for the Butterfield over land dispatch where passengers could find a well-cooked meal in 1864 the frontier store was built by WS Moon and a drinking establishment known as old man Jones's Saloon soon joined the growing town but everything would change for abene in 1867 when Joseph McCoy visited with the coming of the railroad in 1867 McCoy chose abalene to be the crucial link between the great herds of Longhorns in Texas with the cattle markets in the East Cowboys would herd the Longhorns along the Chisum trail to abalene where they would be loaded on rail cars and shipped to places like Kansas City and Chicago abalene became the first true Kansas Cow Town in 1869 a correspondent of the lenworth times and conservative going by the pen name traveler traveled to several Kansas towns and described them to the readers of the newspaper after going to Hayes City in May traveler would stay in abene visiting the different businesses and talking to as many people as possible the letter that traveler published gives us a glimpse of what abene was like in its early days from the lenworth times lenworth Kansas June 25th 1869 from abalene special correspondents of the time and conservative abene June 18 1869 abalene 159 Mi west of lenworth might be called a Texan town so much of the Texan being apparent on the surface in the busy season thousands of Texan steers are the principal inhabitants but at present the Texan Drovers take a prominent position though this town has long been known as a Border Town yet till the cattle trade commenced it was insignificant in importance the McCoy brothers of Springfield Illinois gave it the first impetus these well-known stock dealers and razors were looking for an available point for the Texas stock trade and finally decided on abene here they erected an office Livery stable and hotel and and at once commence the Texan cattle trade which has since made the place famous this was only last year and yet 50,000 head were shipped from this point after June 10th the capacity of the yards is 1,500 head and 100 cars per day can be loaded the present season has hardly opened the business up to this time is 500 head of wintered stock shipped 1,300 head driven to St Paul 1,000 head driven to Montana and 350 head bought by powers to drive to Fort Harker there are still 750 head of wintered stock on hand and over 20,000 head down on the Witchita so far the season opens well though there has been a little delay owing to the opposition of many farmers to the passage of the Texan drove the settlers having the law on their side it has been found expedient to execute an indemnifying bond in $20,000 to protect them against any damage from the Texan stock last year the citizens of abalene raised a fund by taxing the stock 5 cents per head and paid off nearly all claims for damages the Drovers paid their prata without grumbling and the settlers were satisfied with the settlement businessmen of course the business being principally stock we must put WK and JP McCoy at the head of the list WK McCoy is nearly always in New York attending to the selling and James P McCoy attends to the finances and traveling at present the firm is represented by Colonel SN hit in the outside business and CF gross in the office both are competent businessmen and obliging gentlemen and the extensive business of the firm has their undivided attention HH Haslet is a general Trader in addition to being postmaster Express agent sheriff and agent of the Great Western Land Company his store is always crowded and he does a good cash business the post office receives and sends a large mail and is also the Distributing point for many places south and Southwest the average number of letters both ways is about 300 daily and in the months of July and August about 600 daily the duties of his other offices are all performed to the satisfaction of the community cel's large establishment also does an extensive trade Mr cely is from Springfield Illinois and has reaped the benefit of an early attention to the wants of the Texan cattle Traders CH moral keeps a large assortment of harness and Saddlery he makes a liberal use of printer Inc and receives a large patronage in consequence HC Brown keeps a large assortment of drugs and at the same time officiates as Register of Deeds Jake katowski keeps an assortment of dry goods and Notions JH igleheart and Company do a large business in miscellaneous Goods Mills Tim hery has a large and complete Grist Mill close to town which does all the business of this vicinity a new Grist Mill is being erected by Mr Hoffman 6 or 7 miles east of town on on the Smokey it is run by a water power and will be completed at a cost of $112,000 Drover's Cottage this hotel contains 50 rooms and was built by the McCoy brothers at a cost of $188,000 it is built substantially and has all the modern improvements including a billiard room and saloon JW Gore the proprietor is indefatigable in his efforts to please his guests and gives first class accommodations prairie dog Town one of the peculiar institutions of abalene is the dog Town nearly opposite the post office one of the humanitarians of the cattle Mart has fed them for a long time and they have become civilized they can be seen any sunny day promenading and keeping up their running fire of barks and Yelps their pickets are always out and on the approach of any of their larger can9 enemies the picket sounds the alarm and instantly all play is stopped and with quick jumps sharp barks and electric jerks of the tail every dog disappears till the danger is over the old adage every dog has his day is Illustrated in this case as none of the Town pets have yet had the hydro phobia the dog law is not enforced and dog town will probably still continue to exist as the most orderly best regulated and most industrious community on the road personal I met a number of pleasant gentlemen on my way some of whom I have mentioned among others Colonel JJ Meyers of Caldwell County Texas he has 10,000 head of St near Witchita 5,000 of which he has just sold and agreed to deliver at Salt Lake City the colonel has been on the border over 30 years and gave me considerable valuable information aw wheeler of California who has purchased Colonel Meyer's stock and will soon leave for Utah is a gentleman of education and has promised to write the times and conservative his impressions of the trip to TC Henry a farmer of abalene formerly of Alabama and JJ LEL late Station Agent I am under many obligations I also had the pleasure of meeting F Mall of the Pacific Stockyard St Louis and Hughes Rue a stock dealer of sadelia Missouri miscellaneous the town support a Baptist Church and public school the church is a neat frame structure and highly creditable to the organization which built it the agricultural prospects were never better wheat is estimated at from 30 to 40 bushel to the acre and some of the farmers commence harvesting fall wheat tomorrow farmers are in good spirits and will have more money after the sale of this crop than ever before land is cheap and offers great inducements to a farming population the following for sale notice is posted on the post office 160 Acres Prairie all fenced 40 acres broke good house and plenty of water 10 acres Timber 2 miles from Solomon City 9 miles from abalene terms $10 per acre $9 without Timber such chances cannot be found in more eastern states and yet poor men can buy farms at a very low figure in this part of the state every day this will close my description of abalene which in one year has become a town of 100 houses and the great cattle Depot whether Ellsworth will take the trade remains to be seen I know that both places will work hard for the supremacy traveler here are some notes concerning the article the McCoy brothers traveler mentioned w k McCoy and James P McCoy but there were three McCoy brothers who were influential in the cattle industry William K McCoy was the eldest followed by James P McCoy and Joseph G McCoy in Springfield Illinois William and James had created a livestock firm and afterwards were joined by Joseph although William and James were important in bringing the Texas Longhorns to Eastern markets it was Joseph who traveled to Kansas chose abene as the rail head and provided the infrastructure necessary in transforming abalene into a Cow Town in 1874 Joseph McCoy published the book historic sketches of the cattle trade of the west and southwest the Drover's Cottage this is a photo of the Drover's Cottage in abene in 1867 the photo was taken by Alexander Gardner it was a hotel built by Joseph McCoy in 1867 for the purpose of attracting Rich Cattlemen to come to abene after 1870 additions were made to the hotel so that it contained 100 sleeping rooms a restaurant a stage and areas to play pool and to gamble in 1872 2/3 of the Drover's Cottage was moved to Ellsworth this photo shows how the hotel looked in Ellsworth after even more additions were made to the building prairie dog Town thanks to photographer Alexander Gardner we have a few photos of the prairie dog town as described by the correspondent traveler all three photos were taken in 1867 we have this closeup of one of the prairie dogs a photo of a prairie dog peeping out of its hole and a photo of two men standing near two prairie dogs this last photo is titled the mayor of prairie dog town [Music] a [Music]

Channel: Legacy of the West

Views: 27,108

Keywords: Ablene, Aiblene, Abilne, Abilene Kanss, Abilene Kansa

Id: _1HPlZ09H38

Length: 15min 16sec (916 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 20 2024