Where in Elk County Am I?

[Dee Gee]

I'm ready.

[Wilma]

So am I.

[flintauqua]

Okay, a new round will start sometime Thursday afternoon or evening.  There will be two venues for the game, here on the Forum, but also simultaneously over in a Facebook group I formed for this purpose. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/353146498121636/

Feel free to play either place, or both.  Just remember to send guesses to me as either a Forum personal message or a Facebook personal message. 

[flintauqua]

New round begins now.  Some clues may seem a little familiar, but this is a new target. 

Game is also being played on a group page on Facebook with the title "Where In Elk County Kansas Am I?"  Anyone can join the group, just visit the page and request to join and I'll ad you in.

Okay, here we go.  Remember to respond in personal messages to me, rather than post publicly, that way others can continue playing. 

First clue is to narrow down what area of the county I am in.  Subsequent clues will focus on the precise spot.

I'm somewhere in a current township that has retained the name of one of the original three townships of Howard County.  Where In Elk County Am I?

[flintauqua]

Okay, we've had some guesses, (over on FB) most in the form of personal messages. Of the ten current townships of Elk County, two retain their names from when they were first created, when the area was still Howard County. I'm 99% certain that Old Boston (a guess) was in what was called Belleville township, and that name still exists as a township of Chautauqua County that now contains the towns of Peru and Chautauqua, but originally encompassed that vast majority of what is now Chautauqua County.

One of the two townships referenced is Elk Falls, but the target that I have this time is actually in the other, which Janet Weyrauch Harrington has yet to guess.



Next actual clue, and the last for this evening - Young Laura and little Willie were the first to stay here, in 1871.

[W. Gray]

The future site of Boston, Kansas, 4.5 miles south of Moline was in Belleville Township, which covered all of present day Chautauqua County and also extended a few miles into the south part of what is now Elk County.

But, when the town of Boston was founded in 1871, Centre Township was created and Boston became the township seat. Centre Township extended north a few miles into what is now Elk County.

When Elk and Chautauqua came into being, Boston was split in two with the north half of the town in Elk County, Wildcat Township and the south half in Chautauqua County, Centre Township.

The north half of Boston had its own Elk County voting precinct and voted for Howard as the county seat.

[flintauqua]

Thanks, Waldo.  I couldn't remember if the second round of townships had been designated before or after the founding of Boston.  When they did the second round, did they utilize the Public Land Survey system to delineate with?  I know several accounts that speak of the first division of Howard County into the three townships state the lines between townships were the drainage divides between Indian Creek, Elk River, and Caney River, as the land had not been surveyed yet.  Is that your take also?  If they did utilize the drainages originally, did they include the Salt Creek basin in with Elk Falls township since it eventually empties into Elk River (in Montgomery County) or did they throw it in Belleville.

[W. Gray]

The northern nine miles of Howard County survey completion was in early 1869. A year later when the county was organized they knew the eastern and western range line that formed the other original township you are talking about, but guessed at the southern line.

They had to guess the south boundary of Elk Falls Township, which took in what would later become Union Centre and the other northern townships, except for that other original township.

The eastern line of Belleville Township started west at the "divide between Elk and Caney" then went north by northwest to the southern boundary of the Diminished Reserve, which started nine miles from the northern Howard County boundary.

The rest of the county survey was finished in early 1871. When Boston came along they knew the surveyed boundaries of Centre Township.

[flintauqua]

Third clue - Third clue - the Osage Indians had a well established trail that passed near here as they journeyed from "Where Waters Meet" to hunting grounds in the Flint Hills and points further west. Perhaps this is a source of a local term "Wolf Trail"

[flintauqua]

Fourth Clue - If it were 1885, I'd be a mile closer to 66 than I am to 67.