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As Published - February 1944

February 1944 (Vol. 13, No. 1) pages 107-109
Transcribed by lhn;
digitized with permission of the Kansas Historical Society.

A series of historical notes entitled "Sherman County Firsts" have been published as a frequent feature of The Sherman County Herald, of Goodland, for the past three years. The notes are contributed by D. W. Blackburn.

Cecil Howes, long-time head of the Topeka bureau of the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, has been contributing illustrated articles under the title "The Birth of a State-This Month in Kansas History" to the Kansas Teacher, Topeka, since January, 1942.

The building of the Rock Island railroad through Doniphan county in 1886 was described in a two-column letter from W. F. Horn printed in The Kansas Chief, Troy, September 2, 1943. Another feature of this issue was a page pictorial history of the Troy Kiwanis Club.

A history of the Homemakers club of Frankfort, by Mrs. Stanton Arnold, was published in the Frankfort Daily Index, September 9, 1943. The club was organized September 9, 1923.

United States agriculture as it will relate to changing world alignments was discussed by Dr. James C. Malin of Lawrence in an article "Mobility and History: Reflections on the Agricultural Policies of the United States in Relation to a Mechanized World," in Agricultural History, Washington, D. C., October, 1943.

Historical articles of interest to Kansans by Victor Murdock, which have appeared recently in his column in the Wichita (Evening) Eagle, include: "Growing Use of Salt One of Developments in Wichita's History," November 6, 1943; "First Really Busy Day [Arrival of the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry] on the Site of Wichita Came in November, 1868," November 12; "That Dance at Kellogg's [November 13, 1868] Opening of Social Era in the City of Wichita," November 15; "When the Open Country Westward of Wichita Was Truly Unknown Land [1868]," November 16; "Episode [Stampede of Hundreds of Horses] on Prairies Southwest of Wichita That Was Most. Unusual," November 17; "Some Travel Essentials [Water, Wood and Grass] in the Wichita Area That Have Disappeared," November 18; "Era in Which the Area Beyond the Arkansas River Southwest of Wichita Was Wholly Without a Pioneer's Home," November 19; "Survey of Their Trees on a Thanks

108 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

giving Day by the Early Wichitans," November 25; "Progress of the Match Through the Stretch Covered by Wichita," December 1; "Striking Figure of West Presented by a General, William Selby Harney," December 2; "Two Very Early Callers [Peter Ridenour and Frank Hunt] to Wichita's Vicinity Rode in From Lawrence [in 1857]," December 3; "Memory of Albert Jay Brown of the Way He Used to Haul Hay to Wichita . . . ," December 6; "Selling Corn to Ranch . . . , Episode in Which Figured H. D. Heiserman and a Couple of Neighbors From Sedgwick County in the Winter of 1879," December 7; "Buffalo Hunt Tactics That Got Best Results in Robes and in Meat," December 8; "Description of a Violent Tempest With Tornadic Features That Visited This Vicinity in the Fall of 1854," December 9; "Captain John Chisholm, Grandfather of Jesse, Earliest Resident Here," December 10; "Travels of Prairie Jesse [Chisholm], Original Resident Here, Over the Vast Southwest," December 11; "Early Household Here, That of Jesse Chisholm [Below Thirteenth Street on North Chisholm Creek], Numbered Large Family," December 13; "Origin of Two Names in the Wichita Tribe, the Waco and Towakony [Indians]," December 14; "Incident in the [Indian] Exodus From Wichita in 1867 to the Territory South," December 15; "Sight of a Tree Here That Brought Delight to an Early Voyageur [Lt. James B. Wilkinson, 1806]," December 16; "Last of Armed Spaniards to Set Foot in Kansas, Don Fracunda Malgares [1806]," December 18; "Splitting Buffalo Herd [in 1857] As a Defense Maneuver by U. S. Cavalry Force," December 22; "Effect on the Interior of This Country of an Act Sponsored by William Henry Harrison Which Put Public Domain Within Reach of the Poor Man," December 24; "Once Focal in Wichita and Region Around It Was the U. S. Land Office," December 27; "Vocation in the West, That of Interpretation, Prominent One in Past," December 28; "Notable Prairie Guide, Black Beaver, Delaware, Covered This Region," December 29; "Switch in Frontier Dress From Original Styles Was Witnessed in Wichita," December 30.

Early newspapermen in Butler, Sedgwick and Lyon counties were recalled by J. M. Satterthwaite in a column article in his Douglass Tribune, November 26, 1943.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 109

The forty-fifth anniversary of John Redmond's purchase of The Jefersonian, predecessor of The Daily Republican, of Burlington, was celebrated at the annual correspondents' party at Burlington, December 5, 1943, the Republican of December 7, reported. The same issue also featured a two and one-half column history of Burlington Lodge No. 66, A. F. & A. M. The lodge was chartered October 21, 1868.

Some old bridges still spanning the streams of southeast Kansas were mentioned by Fred Brinkerhoff in the Pittsburg Headlight, December 18, 1943.

A. P. Elder recalled the organization of a good roads association for Kansas in 1904, in the Ottawa Herald, December 31, 1943. In Franklin county prizes were awarded for the best dragged roads, and names of the winners of 1907 were printed.

Early Phillips county history was briefly reviewed by Cecil Kingery in The Phillips County Review, Phillipsburg, January 6, 1944.

Brief notes on the founding of Augusta, as recalled in a pageant written by Miss Stella B. Haines, were printed in the Augusta Daily Gazette, January 20, 1944. The town was named for Augusta, wife of C. N. James. Mr. James was the town's first settler and first mayor.

William Allen White died on Kansas day, January 29, 1944, at the age of 75. Following his death newspapers and magazines of the nation published biographical information and anecdotes about him. A large portrait was reproduced in the January 29 issue of the Emporia Gazette, the newspaper he published for nearly fifty years, and in the same issue and others following, messages of tribute and acknowledgments were printed.

The Gnadenau settlement in Marion county, a typical Mennonite community, was briefly discussed by Cornelius Krahn in an illustrated article in the February, 1944, issue of The American-German Review, published by the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation of Philadelphia, Pa. The Gnadenau settlers came from the Crimea in 1874 under the leadership of Jacob A. Wiebe, the article reported.

A brief history of the Mitchell mill built on Clarks creek in 1855 was sketched by W. W. Roux in the Junction City Republic, December 2, 1943. One of the mill stones is now in the Manhattan City Park.