FIGHTING IN COURT - Santa Fe, Kansas. A Haskell County Dead Town

Sorry for the misspellings. This is copied from a 1913 Hutchinson News - Amy Bickel


The Haskell County Seat War is
a Bloodless One.
BATTLli WITH LAWBOOKS
The Town of SatantaJoins Forces
Willi Santa Fc to Beat
Sublette.
"Tlin county soot fight in Haskell
county is Retting to be a real contest
now," reported Chas. Button, n land
agent who has returned to Hutchinson
from a business trip down tJio new
railroad.
"Satanta, while having no chance
of securing (he county seat, itself,
has Joined forces with the old town of
Santa Fe, or what Is left of It, to
keep the county seat from being moved
to Sublette. Satanta and Sublette
are hardly on speaking terms."
Mr. Button expressed tho belief
however, that tho necessary vote
would be secured by Sublette at tho
special county seat election which
will be held February 25.
Tho Rival Leaders.
Steve Cave, who owna th« big
mercantile store at Sublotto, and is
one of the heavy land owners of the
county, is lending the fight for Sublette.
J. 8. Patrick, real estate man
and land owner nt Satanta, is heading
the faction of that town.
There isn't much left of Santa Fo
excepting the court house, an old
frame structure, the rest of the town
being gradually broken up and moved
away. Hut those who own land Interests
In that section are hoping
that a noii.h-and-south railroad will
build through .from Onrdeu City to
liberal which will give Santa Fe a
railroad, and a chance to retain the
county seat. . ;
"Mayor" Steve .Cave, of Sublette, insists
however, .that. ' this/ north-ami-j
south road, even ir •bttlH,,"#ill make!
his town a junction, point and even I
more'desirable for the county, seatship.
' '.• .
Fighting In the Courts.
TTiilike other county seat wars In
the shortgrass, tho • fighting In this
Haskell county "war".'is being ifone
in the courts. Both sides have hired
lawyers, Satanta being represented by
Attorney Sluhbs, and '>3tiblelle' by Attorney
Murr, both of Garden City.
A petition was filed by Satanta to
enjoin the Haskell county newspapers
from printing the election notice for
the county seat removal election, and
restraining the holding oftlio election.
Judge Downer, In chambers at Garden
City donlcd the application/
Overlooked the Women, /
The Sublette petition almost fell
through, however, because those In
charge of circulating It forgot to consider
the women. The law requires
that the petition bear a certain percent
of taxpayers. The night before
It was to he presented to the county
commissioners, Attorney Marr discovered
that they had overlooked the
'women, who are now legal voters and
taxpayers. It therefore lacked the
necessary three-fourths of the signatures.
He hustled to Santa Fe and Induced
the commissioners to defer action for
one day, wlille the Stibletln -workers
scoured the county in automobiles and
got the necessary additional women
signatures."
A Satanta Trick.
A trick -worked by tho Satanta people
failed to work. They pretended
at first that they were favorable to
the county seat being moved, and all
signed tho petition.
At tho last moment the Satanta
people withdrew their signatures oxpectlug
It would leave the petition deficient.
But It had eigjit names to
spare when tho show-down came.

Wilburn, Kansas, A Ford County ghost town

Last year, Hutchinson resident Wallace Smith came into The News office with an old photograph.

It shows a great uncle, Mort, holding a rifle and standing by a covered wagon. The back of the photo said it was taken at Wilburn, Kansas.

Smith said his grandmother, Stella, traveled with her parents some 900 miles from Brown County, Indiana to the Ford County town. Smith knew the town had since disappeared.

He wanted to know more, he said.

Wilburn ArgusEditor Frank Mathews wrote of the town’s promise in the April 2, 1886 edition.

A few months ago, Wilburn was not and where it now stands the wolf, the antelope and the coyote held unchallenged dominion, save by the buffalo and the wild horse  and the rattlesnake gave his fatal warning unheard by the ear of man. Today the scene has changed. One turn of the kaleidoscope of time and we see a different picture. We now have alone hardware, one clothing store, two grocers, a lumberyard, a shoe shop, a larger feed and livery stable, post office, a large well-conducted hotel, a blacksmith shop, two rustling real estates firms who are always willing to give you any information desired. We also have one of the best schoolhouses in southwest Kansas, and last but not least a newspaper and publishing office.

And yet we just begun to grow. Strange faces are daily seen upon our streets … to the young man of limited means in the overdone cities of the east, who would gain a foothold where wealth and happiness be his portion, to who would better their condition, we would respectfully, but earnestly say, come to Wilburn. We extend the invitation believing that there is a country that ere long will blossom as the rose and a town that will keep right along with the country.

Christian, a McPherson County Dead Town

Christian is located a mile south of Moundridge.

In 1874, the first wave of Mennonites immigrated to Kansas in search of religious freedom.

It was about that same time that Mennonites Christian Krehbiel, Daniel Krehbiel, Christian Hirschler, and Christian Voran migrated to the United States and purchased land in McPherson County, the corners joining at a site they dubbed Christian, according to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

Meanwhile, according to “Century One: History of Moundridge, Kansas, 1887-1987,” a man named Christian Stuckie also owned land in the vicinity, as well as Christian Hirschler’s wife, Katherine.

Elmo, Kansas - A Dickinson County Dead Town

Elmo is located in Dickinson County. I have a personal connection to Elmo, as my great grandparents and my great-great grandparents are buried here. They farmed between Elmo and Carlton, a dwindling town to the west. My father said my great grandfather, probably around the age of 9, would take water to the workers building the railroad through Elmo, or what was then Banner City. They gave him tobacco for his efforts.

Bell tower at St. Columba Catholic Church in Elmo

Once called Banner City, the cemetery still holds the name.

Dermot, Stevens and Morton County

By Amy Bickel - The Hutchinson News - abickel@hutchnews.com

DERMOT - Some folks, Charlie Milburn said with a chuckle, call him the mayor of Dermot.

Not that there is much to manage on this section of the hardscrabble High Plains. The town of Dermot hasn't been around for years.

There's nothing left, he said, except for a cemetery and a one-room brick school, which has the dubious honor of being the state's last one-room school, having closed in 1990. Residents, however, are not about to let what is left of their neighborhood die.
About once a month, Milburn and others gather at the brick school. There they socialize with a potluck supper.

Alta Mills, a former Harvey County community.

Television radar maps sometimes show the spot along the Little Arkansas River and older folks around these parts still give directions from it. However, what is left of Alta, or Alta Mills as it was commonly called, is hidden by the overgrowth - a foundation, an old warehouse, a dilapidated home.

Brian Stucky at the site of Alta Mills. In the background is the home is grandfather, John, lived in and raised Brian's father, Ransom.

The old mill, nothing but a foundation.

You can see the remains of the dam.

Stucky at the site of the mill.

The mill warehouse.

Stucky and Terry Critchfield talk at the mill site.

An old photograph of the Alta Mills store.

The John Stucky home.

The Mill. At the turn of the 20th Century.

Zenith, a dead town in Stafford County

Zenith flourished once, long years ago, but withered badly with the march of years. Now comes again new vigor and new life, springing from the petroleum inoculation. Stafford Courier, March 17, 1938

Here's a photo from Zenith's heydays - notice all the oil wells!

 

 

 

ZENITH - Earl Hayes recalls a day when oil wells filled the horizon here. Back then, in the 1930s and 1940s, his little hometown of Zenith in Stafford County was spurting with the industry. The Stanolinds and Sinclairs even did business in town. There was a school, lumberyards and groceries. People moved to town and built homes. "They drew 20 million barrels of oil out of that field," the 96-year-old retired farmer said. More than 75 years have passed since Zenith's glory days, said Hayes, who now lives in Hutchinson. Trees voluntarily grow in masses across vacant lots, in between a sundry of old cars in the once bustling town just off Highway 50. Moreover, the elementary school has been empty of students for almost 50 years.

The old Zenith school.

The Zenith elevator still operates

Zenith was a cast-off. The name, which means "highest point attained," once was Sylvia, according to a story in the Stafford Courier from 1938. A man named Tom Anderson had a store there in 1874. There also was a post office called Zenith. "With the coming of the railroad, the name of Zenith was cast aside in favor of Sylvia," according to the paper. According to an account by Frances McComb Brownlee, who wrote a historical column for the Courier, the Zenith post office was moved to the town's present location around the year 1886. The town began to grow. There was a general store, blacksmith shop, cream station and lumberyard. The Farmers' Elevator was organized in 1905. A Sunday school was held in the lumberyard until a Presbyterian church was built in 1911. The bank and school district were organized in 1914. And, in 1914, Bert McComb and Bill Johnson, owners of the store, partnered together to sell Studebakers and Buicks. But, as with many a prairie town, life began to decline. The bank was sold in 1929. The auto dealership moved to Stafford. A high school closed in 1926, with high school students shipped to Stafford to receive an education. Then, one morning in 1937, "the cry of abundant oil hit the headlines of the daily papers," Brownlee wrote. The first well was discovered a half mile south of Zenith. It produced 800 barrels a day with great gas pressure. "Leasing was at a wild pace," Brownlee wrote. According to a 1938 story in the Stafford Courier, Zenith became one of the state's major oilfields.