When Elk County Began

[W. Gray]

Fourth Annual Report, State Board of Agriculture
These figures are exclusive to Elk County Kansas, in 1875.

Population, 6,215

Wages:
Farm laborers, per month with board, $15 to $18
Carpenters $2 to $2.50 per day
Bricklayers and stonemasons $2 to $2.50 per day
Wagon makers $1.50 to $2 per day [Howard had a wagon factory]
Blacksmiths, $1.50 to $2 per day
Shoemakers, $1.50 to $2 per day
Harness makers $2 to $2.50 per day
Clerks $20 to $25 per month
Tinsmiths $1.50 to $2 per day

Horses, 2,422
Mules and Asses, 867
Cattle, 10,652 [A good many of these were probably work animals]
Sheep, 4,630
Swine, 4,445
Dogs, 1,212
Number of sheep killed by dogs, 30
Number of sheep killed by wolves, 32

Banks,
One at Elk Falls

Federal land, $1.25 per acre [only higher ground was available]
Private land up to $4.00 per acre

Newspapers
Longton Courant [moved to Howard later in 1875]
Elk County Ledger in Elk Falls [moved to Howard in 1876]
Elk Falls Journal [moved to Sedan later in 1875]

School Districts, 74
Number of schools, 59

Fencing
Stone fencing, 9,208 rods [29 miles]
Rail fencing, 166,390 rods [520 miles]
Wire fencing, 18,200 rods [57 miles]
Board fencing, 7,311 rods [23 miles]
Hedge fencing, 124,420 rods [389 miles]

[Marcia Moore]

How interesting, Waldo.  Thanks for posting this.

[W. Gray]

Thanks Marcia.

I am wondering what board fencing looked like in 1875 compared to today.

Does any one besides me remember the old magazine Tallgrass Country? It was published by Otis Watson out of Sedan. He might have published the Sedan Times-Star, also. The magazine was about rural life in Elk and Chautauqua counties and even Rose Nix Leo was a regular contributor.

Somewhere around here I have a copy of that magazine with an article about schools in early Chautauqua County. The teachers (usually but not always female) were always single and did not get paid much, but they received help in some form with room and board. They might have been furnished a room somewhere and each evening they would often be a guest for dinner at a different home. If the home had a school kid, the teacher used that time to update the parents on how well their child was doing.

Someone mentioned sod homes on the forum once. The average sod or log home cost next to nothing (except sweat) to build, but to build a wood frame house was in the vicinity of $625 for materials. Most people could barely afford the $225 cost of a 160-acre quarter section from the federal government let alone spend three times that amount for a nice house.

[dnalexander]

Thanks Waldo, for the history post. The thing that caught my eye was that there were wolves in Elk County, which contradicted an obscure fact I had lodged in my head that Southeast Kansas was the only place in Kansas that had no wolves. I may have been right I may be wrong with the little bit of research I did after reading Waldo's post. I did find support saying that the southeast part of Kansas did not have wolves. I will let you know all the details of this seemingly mysterious story as to why only a small part of Kansas did not have the one of the most widely distributed subspecies of the Gray Wolf known as the "Buffalo Wolf" or as the Kansas subspecies was known Canis Lupis nubilus stay.

David

[greatguns]

Yes, I remember Tallgrass Country.  I loved it.  I still have one that had an article about my aunt in it.

[W. Gray]

I seem to have heard the same thing at one time or another about wolves in Elk County. Let us know what you find out.

When I was a little fellow, there was a man by the name of Wells came from Elk County with my uncle and his family and stayed with us in Independence, Missouri, for a couple days.

He was quiet, laid back, seemed really wise, and smoked a pipe. I thought he was just great telling stories of Elk County, etc. My Dad said he was one of the Wells boys. Darned if I can remember his first name, though.

One of things he told me was that they used to have timber wolves in Elk County. He is the only one that I ever heard mentioning there might have been wolves in Elk County.

Greatguns, it was sad to see that magazine go out of existence but one could tell they were operating on a shoestring.

[dnalexander]

Waldo I have no idea why the fact that Southeast Kansas had no wolves stuck in my head from when I was a kid. I did spend a an hour checking it out and found very few things specifically related to Howard\Elk County\ or Southeast Kansas. As I find more I will detail my findings and provide links. I may need help from some of you that have more knowledge of the area than I do. I always considered Howard as Southeast Kansas but I did find that it may be defined as the following counties now though that may have changed over time:

Southeast Kansas (Elk County is on the border of this area)
Allen County

Bourbon County

Cherokee County

Crawford County

Labette County

Montgomery County

Neosho County

Wilson County

Woodson County

My  speculation now is that because buffalo were mainly on the flat plains of Kansas, in what most people think of when they think of Kansas, and not the hilly section in the eastern part of Kansas that we are familiar with.Which is more like my birth state of Missouri, not known for having buffalo. The smaller Kansas subspecies of gray wolf was not much larger and similar in coloration to the widely distributed coyote that we are familiar with. Some confusion may have occurred in reporting. Also, there were Federal bounties\eradication programs on the wolf that would have benefited over reporting wolfs that were in fact coyotes. All very speculative on my part . For the little bit of time I spent and the minimal info I found that specifically talked about the Elk County area I have little support. I will add more and document what I find.

David

I also have found a ref. from Sarah and John Everett from Miami County Ks. during 1857 talking of "prairie wolves" which was a common name for coyotes. Enough speculation, I have some researching to do. I thought you all might find the letters of Sarah and John Everett interesting so here is a link.

http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1939/39_4_everett.htm

[W. Gray]

The geography department at Kansas State University classifies fourteen counties as in southeast Kansas. In addition to those mentioned are Greenwood, Elk, Chautauqua, Cowley, and Butler.

The timber wolf is apparently the same as the Gray wolf and I found a US Fish and Wildlife map showing the Gray wolf former range as to what appears to be in all counties of Kansas except the most southeast county of Cherokee. Eastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas, Arkansas, and southern Missouri were not in the range shown on that map. (But I have heard that wolves once roamed in the area around the resort town of Branson)

The Osage sent large hunting parties from their reservation in southeast Kansas to the western part of Kansas to kill buffalo each year. One of their well worn and rutted trails to and from buffalo country went through the northern part of Elk County and was supposedly partly visible in the 1930s.

The last buffalo in southeast Kansas was found on the Elk River south of Howard. Several boys who had been swimming began a chase and the animal ran up Wabash Street where the animal was shot several times before it could be brought down in the north part of town. The buffalo meat was then divided between those who had done the shooting.The Elk County history book says the event occurred in 1875 but it actually occurred in 1874 according to newspaper reports of the time.

One of the boys in on the kill was Fred C. Flory who became Republican Tom E. Thompson's counterpart. Flory was long time editor of the Democrat paper Howard Citizen.

[dnalexander]

After a lot of great reading on bison, bison trade\industry,gray wolf, red wolf, coyote and prairie life; here is my final conclusions Not only did Kansas have the Gray Wolf they also had the Red Wolf. And since their historical ranges intersect in Southeast Kansas there is no doubt that wolves were killing sheep in Elk in 1875. One useless"fact" about no wolves in Southeast Kansas has been replaced by many facts. Thanks, Waldo for the post I enjoyed the journey. Here iis an interesting list of the Mammals of Kansas that I found along the way.

http://www.mammalsociety.org/statelists/ksmammals.html

David

[W. Gray]

Now, if we could just find where Big Foot ranged in Elk County.