Our Past Is Present January 4, 2019

January 4, 2019

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story is about the Dixon Brothers’ Land War and comes from an article written by Gaylynn Childs and found on page 21 of the book Set In Stone.  If Santa didn’t bring you this book for Christmas, we still have some available for purchase at our Museum at the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets.  By the way, this story is so complex and involved that for a better understanding – it WOULD be good to read the entire article.

            The Dixon brothers located claims on land along Three-mile Creek just outside the boundary of Fort Riley. The Pawnee Town Company had organized and a site was selected in the same area for the new capital city of Kansas. One day the Dixons were visited by a detail of soldiers from Fort Riley who ordered the party to move on, saying the land was already claimed.  The brothers maintained their ground and continued to put up their house.  A short time later, a Captain Lowe appeared at the site with government lumber and a crew of carpenters.  They put up a house on the same claim. 

            The Commanding Officer at the Post, notified the Dixons that they were intruding upon the claim of Mr. Lowe and must move.  The Dixon’s paid Mr. Lowe $300 to leave – and so he did.  One day after the Dixon house was completed, the brothers were visited by Judge Ed Johnson.  He urged the family to leave their claim peaceably, because the land was wanted for the military reserve.  However, in reality it was wanted by private individuals.

            That wasn’t the end of the land war, which involved others wanting the Dixon’s to move.  Jefferson Davis even got involved.  He wanted the land where the town of Pawnee was and the Dixon claim to belong to Fort Riley.  The residents at both sites were ordered out and mounted troops tore down the buildings with grappling hooks. 

            The Dixon’s went on to make the most of their bad beginnings.  They eventually moved to homesteads in the vicinity and became prosperous and successful. 

            And…. that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.     

Our Past Is Present January 3, 2019

January 3, 2019

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story is about a famous cavalry horse by the name of “Comanche”. 

            When the 7^th Cavalry was posted at Fort Riley in 1888, Comanche returned with them.  He remained in good health until late 1890 when Trooper Korn, who was Comanche’s ride, was killed at Wounded Knee. Comanche seemed to lose interest in life.  Veterinarians tried to keep the horse alive, but Comanche died of colic in November of 1891 after having lived 31 years.

            The story of Comanche doesn’t end here, however.  After his death the officers of the 7^th Cavalry moved quickly and asked Kansas University zoologist, Dr. L.L. Dyche, to preserve Comanche.  In 1893, Dyche gained permission to take the horse and display it at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  The preserved horse was later returned to KU following the World’s Fair. 

            However, in 1947, General Jonathan Wainwright, hero of Bataan and an old cavalryman and Geary County resident led a movement to persuade authorities at KU to return Comanche to Fort Riley.  Chancellor Deane Malott refused and stated that Comanche “was almost an alumnus of the institution!”

            In 1953, the museum at the Custer Battlefield requested that the mounted horse be moved to that location and both the KU Chancellor and the Governor of Kansas got into the fray and succeeded in winning in favor of keeping the horse at the University.  Comanche remains displayed at the Museum of Natural History. His tattered and moth-eaten coat is now sealed behind glass and the climate is controlled by a humidifier that operates 24 hours a day.

And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

Our Past Is Present January 2, 2019

January 2, 2019

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story comes from the research and an article written by the late Ron Harris titled “Frontier Trails and Travels”. The earliest trail to this area was the Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley Military Road, which opened in 1853.  This trail was made to build and supply Fort Riley. In 1858 gold was discovered along the banks of Cherry Creek in what was then western Kansas Territory.  Gold Fever erupted and a gold rush started to the Rocky Mountain gold fields.  There were two trails to the region.  One was the Oregon Trail, to the north of Junction City.  It was followed to the South Fork of the Platt River to Cherry Creek and then on to Denver.  The other route at that time followed the Santa Fe Trail, south of Junction City to Bent’s Old Fort and then followed an Indian-Mountain Man trading trail north to Denver and Cherry Creek.

            On May 19^th, 1859, the L&PP Stage coach Line signed a contract to carry the mail to Denver and on to Salt Lake City, Utah.  However, only two months later L&PP ran its last coach over their own route.  They had enough of the Kansas trails and decided to abandon them for the Oregon Trail. 

            This move left Junction City and other towns to the east in a vacuum.  Within days the “Junction City Sentinel” newspaper reported a shorter route than that of the L&PP.  It had long been argued that the coach line route could be shortened by following the Smoky Hill River on to Denver.  It would take off about 189 miles.  However, it was not mentioned that the Smoky Hill River disappeared about 130 miles short of the goldfields and civilization stopped at …. Junction City.  And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

Our Past Is Present January 1, 2019

January 1, 2019

            You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Geary County was created by an act of the First Territorial Legislature.  Davis County, as we were first called was among 33 counties defined and named by that now infamous body during the last week of August in 1855. 

            We have shared with you in the past that the legislative session at Pawnee lasted only five days.  Pawnee was on what is now Fort Riley and the First Territorial Capital building still stands where the legislature met.  The building is across the road from the new Irwin Army Community Hospital.

            The five days was long enough for the body to unseat those minority free-state delegates elected in the alternate election called by the Governor and then move the seat of government back to the Shawnee Indian Mission on the Kansas/Missouri border.

            When they reconvened at Shawnee Mission in the middle of July, the Bogus Legislature succeeded in getting Governor Andrew Reeder removed from office.  Then they set about adopting some questionable pieces of legislation, including the infamous “Black Law”, which made it a crime to help fugitive slaves or even speak against the right to own slaves in the Kansas Territory. They then disenfranchised territorial voters by appointing all the first count officials.  This was done as they set the boundaries and established the first county geographical divisions toward the end of August.  Many of the counties were given names of Legislators by themselves or their pro-slavery heroes. 

            Geary County was originally named Davis County after slavery advocate Jefferson Davis, who later became the President of the Confederacy.  Eventually, after much protest, our county’s name was changed to Geary after General John White Geary, the third Territorial Governor of Kansas and Union War hero. 

            And now you know a little more about why we say, “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.