James R. Mead Circa 1878 A One Time Kansas Buffalo Hunter

[Shotgun Steve]

Portrait of James Richard Mead, one of the early founders of Wichita. Mead came to Kansas Territory if 1859 and established himself as a buffalo hunter and fur trader. In 1868 he met with a group of men to organize a town company for the site at the junction of the Arkansas River and the Little Arkansas River. He was instrumental in bringing the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad through Wichita, which secured the position of the city as a trade center.