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Tunnel Mills-Winfield
Tunnel Mill Park.
[Before going to the newspapers to learn about Tunnel Mills, I decided that it might be best to first enter information gathered together by RKW concerning “Tunnel Mill Park.” I do not know when RKW first gathered this information. MAW 4/21/2000]
Tunnel Mill Park is now a single tract of land that is owned by the city of Winfield, Kansas. It was, at first, a portion of each of two 160-acre tracts consisting of homesteads which adjoined each other.
One homestead was known as a tract in the northeast quarter of Section 33, Township 32 South, Range 4 East of the 6th principal meridian. (For brevity this is generally written NE 1/4-33-32-4.) This tract was known as “the Peninsula,” site of Tunnel Mill and Tunnel Mill Dam. The first official record was made December 12, 1871. This was a receipt for $200 paid to the receiver of the U. S. land office at Augusta by Robert B. Cultra.
Another homestead was established on the northwest quarter of Section 33, Township 33 South, Range 4 East of the 6th principal meridian. (For brevity this is generally written NW 1/4-33-33-4.) This tract was homesteaded by Andrew J. Covert and his wife, Mary Covert. The west edge of this homestead adjoined the east edge of the Cultra homestead.
RKW commented: This is confusing. Remember that the road to the Tunnel Mill Dam and the neck of the peninsula is on land originally owned by Covert while both ends of the dam and the west end of the peninsula is on land originally owned by Cultra.
Deputy County Surveyor Wirt W. Walton surveyed Andrew Covert’s tract for the purpose of using it as a mill site on May 28, 1872.
Andrew J. Covert sold a one-half interest in the parcel of land that led to the peninsula to Joseph C. Blandin. This sale took place June 23, 1873.
Joseph C. Blandin had already founded and owned a “flour and grist mill” on the Walnut at the west end of Eighth Avenue. In 1872 he sold this mill to C. A. Bliss and Co. C. A. Bliss was a Winfield merchant. He named the mill the “Winfield Roller Mills.” In 1880 Bliss sold his flour mill to B. F. Wood; later he bought back a half interest. After the death of C. A. Bliss, the “Winfield Roller Mills” was sold to J. P. Baden. Baden later renamed the mill the “Consolidated Flour Mill.”
[RKW added the fact that “Blandin” was the original name of the street now known as “Thirteenth Avenue.”]
Blandin conveyed his half interest in Tunnel mill to Ira E. Moore on February 19, 1874. Blandin’s connection with the Bliss and Wood mill is indicated in a statement in this deed. It reads: “Together with all the right of said Blandin to raise the waters of said river above the stone mill of C. A. Bliss and Co.” (This clause was the source of litigation in later years when the owners of the stone mill (at Eighth street) went to court to keep the Tunnel mill from backing water against the wheel-pits of the stone mill of Bliss. According to the records, the stone mill finally won.
It would seem that Covert was selling something he did not own, but evidently he had filed on his claim before making the deed inasmuch as he received a patent to the quarter (dated November 1, 1873) for a consideration of $200. The filing of the Covert patent in the county office was not made until May 13, 1877. [RKW commented: Delayed filings seem to have been an old pioneer custom; filing the patent meant going on the tax rolls. This proves that thrift was not unknown in those ancient days.]
RKW was of the opinion that Covert obtained purchase money for the patent through a mortgage to Samuel D. Pryor for $212.50 on May 4, 1872. Furthermore, this mortgage appears to have been discharged by another mortgage to Pryor for $250.00 on October 5, 1872. The second mortgage was released on October 21, 1873. For some reason, the first mortgage was not released until July 17, 1891.
Covert mortgaged the west one-half of the northwest quarter to Francis Black for $2,100 on November 23, 1872. Black assigned the mortgage to Soranus L. Brettun on May 13, 1873. Brettun assigned the mortgage back to Francis Black on March 3, 1874, for $2,163.
Again, before the patent came, Joseph C. Blandin and his wife, Frances, together with Andrew J. Covert and his wife, Mary, mortgaged the mill on July 20, 1873, for $2,577.72 to Stillwell and Bierce, who had furnished materials and machinery for the mill. This mortgage was included and satisfied in a judgment of foreclosure and a Sheriff’s sale, which was held on June 1, 1877.
A new owner, Ira E. Moore, appeared in the record in a deed from Covert on February 19, 1874, for $500, for the quarter section except the mill; and on the same date a deed was made to Moore for Covert’s half interest in the mill in the amount of $7,610. This let Covert out of the mill ownership entirely. In this deed is the first reference to the mill as a going concern, although Walton’s survey and other documents show the mill was built or being built early in 1872.
The reference is in the statement: “Being a portion of the quarter section—set aside, reserved and used and applied for a mill site, and upon which said mentioned ground as a mill-site, there is erected a grist and flouring mill, now in running order, together with an undivided one-half interest in said grist and flouring mill as erected . . . .”
Cultra sold his quarter of land to Signor S. Copple on December 20, 1875.
Ira Moore sold the tunnel mill property to Lewis Harter and Christopher C. Harris for $10,000 on March 31, 1877. Lewis Harter mortgaged his half interest in 1879 to Lewis Harter and Virgil Harter for $1,500 per year. Lewis Harter mortgaged his half interest and on July 24, 1883, this mortgage was foreclosed and A. W. Goodell became the new owner of Lewis Harter’s half interest.
[Note: All of the newspapers referred to “Louis C. Harter” rather than Lewis Harter. MAW]
Christopher C. Harris sold his half interest August 6, 1884, to Ira and Charles Holmes for $4,000. (The Holmes had a wholesale and retail meat business and a packing plant at 1101 Main, Winfield, Kansas.)
A. W. Goodell made a deed to his half interest to Elam and Cynthia Harter on August 2, 1884, for $2,000. On the same date the Harters mortgaged their interest to C. L. Harter for $2,500. On October 29, 1886, the mortgage was foreclosed and title passed to C. L. Harter.
[Now I am very confused. RKW stated that at this point the mill was owned by the following: C. L. Harter [½], Copple [1/4], and Dunn [1/4]. Up to this point no mention has been made of Dunn. He goes on to say that Dunn sold his 1/4 interest to Copple on February 25, 1887, for $2,000, and that on August 26, 1889, Copple and Harter sold the mill to Ira and Charles Holmes for $5,000. MAW]
In July 1899 the Holmes’ families sold the mill to Adam Braik for $6,000.
On August 31, 1899, Braik deeded the property to John Clarkson for $8,000.
For some years after the sale to John Clarkson, Tunnel Mill appeared to be operating normally. John and Matt Clarkson, brothers, ran the business as the Clarkson Brothers Milling Company. Additions and improvements were made, including steam power to supplement the water power. The water power, at its best, is said to have been not over 75 horsepower. Fluctuations in the river made this power uncertain. The mill became known as the “Tunnel Roller Mills.”
RKW introduces a new element.
While Tunnel mill was making its slow history, another milling enterprise had built up in Winfield: the Kirk and Alexander Milling Company. Kirk was a brother-in-law of Matthew Alexander. The mill started at first as a feed mill on West Eighth at the alley corner back of J. B. Lynn’s store (now Lindley TV). The enterprise grew into a flouring mill and ultimately covered the quarter block occupied by Jack Lane Motor Co. (Now Jarvis Auto Parts).
The decline of the Tunnel Mills is more or less told in the Wallace Families file.
RKW made the following statements.
Mrs. Kirk, sister of Matthew Alexander, was the aunt of John and Matt Clarkson, who after her death became partners in the Alexander Milling Company. The purchase of Tunnel Mill was made by John Clarkson as a partner (according to the records) of the Alexander Milling Company. The two mills were run jointly by the partnership. For some reason dissatisfaction arose, resulting in a suit for dissolution of the partnership and distribution of the property by Matthew Alexander on June 30, 1904.
With demurrers, replies, demurrers to replies and amendments to petitions and replies, the case dragged on for years. J. Mack Love, of Arkansas City, was appointed referee. On his report, the court rendered judgment June 30, 1913, finding that the Alexander Milling Company partnership formed in July 1893 provided that Matt Clarkson should have 2/12, John Clarkson should have 3/12, and M. Alexander should have 7/12 of the proceeds. Sale of the mill to Charles M. Wallace for $2,900 was concluded September 30, 1913.
On November 24, 1922, Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Wallace deeded the mill property to Joshua N. Wallace for $3,500. By this time the mill building, reduced to a skeleton, was empty and dismantled. Tempests and floods had got in their work. In 1923 or there about, a start was made toward its repair and use as a custom mill. But another big flood came along, and another and another. So the enterprise languished. Sometime in the late fall of 1938 the building was torn down and the land became a rubbish dump.
In the summer of 1940 the city of Winfield bought the mill ground from Josh Wallace, and also the west end of the Peninsula from C. A. Kitch. From Kitch was also bought the right to maintain a dam on the Kitch land west of the middle of the river, to which line the city owns the property. The purpose of acquiring this property and rebuilding the dam was to provide an ample supply of water for the condensers at the municipal power plant. Bob Kitch, who was living on the Kitch property at the time, states the dam was strengthened and increased in height at that time. The underground tunnel was walled off, after a near tragedy, so that water could no longer flow through. The playground and boating facilities were incidental.
Perhaps someone can add more details to this story. RKW intended to do more research on the Tunnel Mills but he never got back to it. MAW
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS.
TUNNEL MILLS.
Note that the very first item found relative to “Tunnel Mill” or “Tunnel Mills” refers to Phil. Koehler as being in charge of constructing this particular mill.
Winfield Messenger, October 25, 1872.
We clip the following from the Leavenworth Commercial. We would like to publish the whole article, but our space forbids; so we publish the portion relating to our young city. That “Wanderer’s” opinion of Winfield is correct, no one will deny, and we hope to see him here again—and in fact, many more such “wanderers” if their visits will only end with like results.
WINFIELD, Oct. 13, 1872.
For the past week I have been wandering over the fertile counties of Sedgwick, Sumner, and Cowley, down the luxuriant valley of the Arkansas and up the beautiful, well-settled and cultivated valley of the Walnut River, finally bringing up in this place, the county seat of Cowley County.
Two flouring mills are in process of construction, one by your former fellow townsman, Phil. Koehler. One of the mills will be ready for work in about a month or six weeks; the other, being larger, will not be completed much before the middle of winter.
Note: The first mill described was the one that became known as the Bliss & Blandin mill. It was first described in October 1872 by the Winfield Messenger.
Winfield Messenger, October 25, 1872.
We received an invitation a few days ago from Mr. Bliss to take a ride down to the new mill of Bliss & Blandin. The workmen are at work on the second story of the building, and are pushing the work ahead very fast. The building is about 40 x 45, and is to be three and a half stories above the flume. The machinery will be here in a few weeks. The proprietors intend putting in four run of burrs, and will no doubt, as soon as practicable put in a woolen mill. The power is sufficient for a very extensive business, and the men who control it have the capital to improve it to its utmost capacity. Winfield possesses the best water power in the State, and where fuel is so scarce, steam will not be brought into use at all for manufacturing purposes; therefore, the advantage Winfield has over any and in fact all other towns in southern Kansas is plain to be seen. Every businessman will see at once that the future of Winfield is far brighter than many other towns that are far more pretentious, and her growth from this time will be very rapid.
Bliss & Blandin mill...
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873. [Editorial.]
The manufacturing business is fast being developed in our midst, that will invite to our town the sturdy farmers of some of the western counties that are now unknown to us.
A three and one-half story stone mill is rapidly approaching completion, built by Messrs. Bliss & Blandin, with an expenditure of twenty thousand dollars, and before it will be entirely completed will absorb at least five thousand more. This company are now introducing their superior machinery into the building and will have all in operation before the first of March. When the time arrives that will demand additions, they will be promptly made.
Next item does not agree with article written in 1872 inasmuch as it refers to “Andrew Koehler” being a miller of experience. [Believe that this was an error. Article should have stated “Phil. Koehler” instead.]
Andrew Koehler, a miller of experience, has a frame structure underway to be used also for milling purposes. The design to secure power by tunneling through a neck of land to gain a fall of water without damaging the stream was an original idea and will prove a flattering success.
These mills will both be run by waterpower, the economy of which in a country where fuel is an object, as it is here, will be realized when the profits of a year’s business will be computed.
[ARTICLE DESCRIBING WINFIELD/COWLEY COUNTY.]
Winfield Courier, Thursday, May 8, 1873. [From the Atchison Champion.]
We had the pleasure of a little drive around in company with Hon. L. J. Webb, to see the Fair Grounds and the two new mills, one just below the bridge on the west of town, and the other on a narrow peninsula a half mile south. The former is built of rock, three stories high. Two run of burrs have been put in, and it is the intention to add two more. It is run by water power. There is a splendid rock dam attached. Messrs. Bliss & Blandin, proprietors.
Note that Bliss & Blandin mill was located just below the bridge on the west side of Winfield.
Note that the Koehler & Covert mill was located on a narrow peninsula one-half mile south of the Bliss & Blandin mill.
The building of the latter has been attended by a marked degree of enterprise, in the construction of a tunnel one hundred and thirty feet in length, from the Walnut above to the same stream around a bench, at a cost thus far of $5,000 or $7,000, and it will cost to complete it about as much more. The building is a three story frame, 24 x 36, and will have a basement in addition. One burr has already been put in, and it is the intention to add three more. Messrs. Koehler & Covert are the proprietors. So that this community will have no want of good mills, as well as school facilities.
Now it gets interesting inasmuch as Blandin (of Bliss & Blandin mill) purchased a half interest in the Koehler & Covert mill [“Tunnel” Mill or “Tunnel” Mills]. In time it was learned that the one-half interest he purchased was owned by Andrew J. Covert.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, June 26, 1873.
Joseph C. Blandin has purchased a half interest in the mill of Koehler & Covert.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, July 24, 1873.
Mr. J. C. Blandin has returned from Cincinnati, where he has been to order complete machinery for his new Tunnel Mills. As he had everything fitted up at the foundry, it will require but a few days after the machinery gets here to grind wheat.
[COWLEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT.]
Winfield Courier, Thursday, July 31, 1873.
FIRST DAY.
No. 209. In case of Wood vs. Millspaugh, receiver in the case of Bliss vs. Blandin—Order—“That said Millspaugh appear before this Court on the morning of July 29th, and show cause why an attachment should not be issued against him for a violation of the injunction heretofore granted in this action.”
[COWLEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT.]
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 7, 1873.
C. A. Bliss vs. J. C. Blandin: order to Receiver to sell the property.
[RECEIVER’S SALE: CHARLES A. BLISS VS. JOSEPH C. BLANDIN.]
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 7, 1873.
Cowley County District Court, 13th Judicial District, State of Kansas.
CHARLES A. BLISS, Plaintiff )
versus ) No. 207.
JOSEPH C. BLANDIN, Defendant)
NOTICE is hereby given that the undersigned, the receiver in said action, will, pursuant to the order of said court to him directed, on Monday, the 8th day of September, 1873, from 9 o’clock A.M., to six o’clock P.M. of said day, offer for sale at public auction, on the premises the following described real property, situated in said county to-wit: Those tracts or parcels of land and premises situated, lying and being in the township of Winfield, County of Cowley, and State of Kansas, and being in the north half (½) of the northeast quarter (1/4) of section number twenty nine (29), township number thirty-two (32), south of range number four (4) east; and bounded as follows, to-wit: One lot beginning at a point in the east line of said north half (½) of said northeast quarter (1/4) of said section number twenty-nine (29) distant sixteen (16) rods north from the southeast corner of said north half (½) of said quarter (1/4) section and running thence north along said east line thirty-two (32) rods; thence west at right angles to said last mentioned line twenty-five (25) rods; thence south at right angles thirty-two (32) rods; thence east at right angles twenty-five (25) rods by place of beginning containing five (5) acres.
Another of said lots or pieces of land bounded as follows: Beginning at a point in the south line of said north half (½) of said section number twenty-nine (29) distant twenty (20) rods west of the southeast corner of said north half of said section number twenty-nine (29) running thence north parallel to the east line of said section number twenty-nine (29) sixteen (16) rods; thence west at right angles five (5) rods; thence north at right angles to the center of the Walnut river; thence down said river along its center to where the same intersects the south line of said north half (½) of said section number twenty-nine (29); thence east along said south line to the place of beginning. Containing five (5) acres more or less.
Said property to be appraised by three disinterested householders of said county, and sold for not less than two thirds its appraised value upon the following terms: One-third cash in hand; one-third in six months, and one-third in twelve months from the date of sale.
The deferred payments to be secured by notes bearing interest at twelve percent, per annum, after maturity, with at least two sufficient sureties and by mortgage on the premises. The purchaser to receive deed and possession upon complying with the above terms.
Said property being a grist and flouring mill and mill property and water privilege belonging to the parties above named.
Witness my hand at Winfield, Kansas, this 6th day of August 1873.
JOHN W. MILLSPAUGH, Receiver.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 21, 1873.
The suit of Chas. A. Bliss vs. Joseph C. Blandin that has been pending in the District Court for some months has at last been amicably settled, Mr. Bliss purchasing Mr. Blandin’s interest in the mill. We speak for the entire community when we say that everybody will be pleased to learn this fact. The mill will now be splendidly repaired, and ere long we will again hear the pleasant hum of the burrs as they grind into flour Cowley County’s first crop of wheat.
NOTE: TUNNEL MILLS CALLED BLANDIN’S MILLS...
Winfield Courier, Thursday, September 11, 1873.
Last Saturday we were shown some of the first flour ever ground in Winfield out of Cowley County wheat. It was from Blandin’s mills. The flour was of the first quality, and we think we are safe in saying that when Mr. Bliss gets his mill in operation (which will be soon) the people of this county will no longer need to import their flour.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, October 16, 1873.
Blandin’s mill is running steadily.
[COWLEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT.]
Winfield Courier, Thursday, October 16, 1873.
The following cases will stand for trial at the October term of the District Court of Cowley County and have been placed upon the trial docket in the following order.
CIVIL DOCKET. FOURTH DAY. C. A. Bliss vs. Joseph C. Blandin.
[COWLEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT.]
Winfield Courier, Thursday, October 30, 1873.
Proceedings of the Cowley County District Court, to Oct. 29th, 1873, the Following Causes having Been Disposed of.
CIVIL DOCKET.
C. A. Bliss vs. Joseph C. Blandin, dismissed.
C. A. Bliss et al vs. J. C. Blandin, dismissed.
C. M. Wood vs. John W. Millspaugh, C. A. Bliss given leave to become a party defendant, and cause continued. JAMES KELLY, Clerk.
E. S. BEDILION, Deputy.
[BONDSMEN: C. A. BLISS & J. C. BLANDIN.]
Winfield Courier, December 12, 1873.
The Co. Commissioners at their last meeting accepted the Courthouse. And the contractors, Messrs. Stewart & Simpson, take this method to return thanks to their bondsmen, S. C. Smith, Charley Black, R. B. Saffold, Hiram Silver, S. H. Myton, Rice & Ray, J. J. Ellis, J. D. Cochran, M. L. Read, J. C. Blandin, John Lowry, and C. A. Bliss, for the confidence reposed in them when they were entire strangers, and to say that they are honorably discharged from any further obligation on account of the Courthouse.
NOTE: NOW CALLED “TUNNEL MILLS.”...
Winfield Courier, July 31, 1874.
70,000 pounds of flour, Cowley County’s first exportation, was sent to Wichita yesterday from the Tunnel Mills.
Winfield Courier, October 22, 1874.
The Tunnel Mills will be running by steam in a few days. Mr. Bartlow’s engine is being attached for that purpose.
Winfield Courier, January 2, 1874. Editorial.
A Peep Over the Shoulder.
This number completes Volume 1st of the WINFIELD COURIER. One year ago it was started to supply a want long felt, not only in the Republican party, but among businessmen of all shades of opinion, who desired a good advertising medium. . . .
The buildings erected during the year just closed have been of the most substantial kind, the most prominent of which we call to mind, the splendid brick Bank building of M. L. Read; the neat Drug house of Maris, Carson & Baldwin; the magnificent flowering mills of C. A. Bliss and Blandin & Covert; the jail and Courthouse; the residences of Kirk, McMillen, and Dr. Graham. These are but a few of the many built during the last twelve months, and they are such as to do credit to any town in the state. Bridges of magnificent proportions span all main streams on the roads leading to town. . . .
Winfield Courier, July 17, 1874.
Mr. Blandin tells us of having bought two hundred bushels of wheat from a farmer from Grouse Creek and that upon grinding a sample of the same, it turned out forty-nine and one-half pounds of first-class flour to the bushel. He says that the best wheat he has seen this year came from Grouse Creek.
Winfield Courier, July 31, 1874.
70,000 pounds of flour, Cowley County’s first exportation, was sent to Wichita yesterday from the Tunnel Mills.
Winfield Courier, October 22, 1874.
The Tunnel Mills will be running by steam in a few days. Mr. Bartlow’s engine is being attached for that purpose.
Winfield Courier, December 17, 1874. Editorial.
THE NEW CEMETERY.
In company with Mr. Ira C. Moore, we yesterday paid a visit to the new cemetery, situated just south of the Tunnel Mills. There we found our able county surveyor, W. W. Walton, busily engaged laying off the ground into lots. The plat contains about twelve acres, and is certainly one of the most beautiful spots, for a public burying ground, to be found in Cowley County. The plat is a beautiful design.
Winfield Courier, September 2, 1875.
Strays. Two calves about six months old, one white one with red ears, and one red one with white spots. Can be found in Searle’s herd at the Tunnel Mills.
Winfield Courier, September 9, 1875.
The Tunnel mills are running day and night.
Winfield Courier, November 11, 1875.
CORN WANTED. The highest cash price will be paid for Corn at the Winfield Tunnel Mills. Corn, wheat, and rye wanted immediately. IRA E. MOORE.
Winfield Courier, December 23, 1875.
Messrs. Bradshaw & Sons are buying wheat at the Tunnel Mills. They are newcomers and are made of the material that must be doing something. Stirring, energetic men are what we need.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, January 6, 1876.
CENTENNIAL ISSUE.
MILLS.
There are seven grist mills in the county, four water power, three steam power. C. A. Bliss & Co. are proprietors and C. A. Bliss and J. C. Blandin were the builders in 1872 and 1873, of the four-story stone mill on the Walnut adjoining Winfield. It rests upon a solid stone foundation at the south end of a beautiful stone dam. The mill contains three run of burrs, merchant and custom bolt, $1,200 Middlings Purifier (the only one at work in the State at this time). Its daily grinding capacity of 24 hours is over 1,000 bushels of grain. This is the best water mill in southern Kansas. The mill is valued at $24,000.
I. E. Moore is proprietor of the Tunnel Mill, built by Covert and Koehler in 1872 and 1873. It is a three-story, substantial frame building containing two run of burrs driven by the water of the Walnut flowing through a tunnel beneath a narrow neck of land three quarters of a mile south of town. The mill is valued at $16,000.
Winfield Courier, March 16, 1876.
CORN WANTED. The highest cash price will be paid for Corn at the Winfield Tunnel Mills. Corn, wheat, and rye wanted immediately. IRA E. MOORE.
[COWLEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT.]
Winfield Courier, March 23, 1876.
CIVIL DOCKET. FOURTH DAY. Stillwell & Bierce Mfg. Co. vs. J. C. Blandin et al.
CIVIL DOCKET. FIFTH DAY. J. C. Blandin vs. S. A. Smith et al.
Winfield Courier, May 25, 1876.
The Winfield Tunnel Mills sold thirty-six thousand pounds of flour to a Wichita firm last Saturday, and could have sold as much more if it had been on hand. It will be delivered this week. Wichita mourns the loss of the dam of the Little Arkansas water mill. The boiler of her steam mill is in dry dock for repairs. If it were not for the “outlying province of Cowley,” a flour famine would be upon the kingdom of Wichita. And still we have no railroad.
Winfield Courier, October 5, 1876.
The Tunnel Mill is grinding with a good head of water since the dam has been repaired. W. H. Stump is the boss miller.
Winfield Courier, October 5, 1876.
J. C. Blandin, well-known in this city as one of its leading businessmen two years ago, called on us yesterday. He now resides at Emporia and is extensively engaged in farming and stock raising in Lyon and Chase counties. He informs us that his two daughters, Misses Lulu and Callie, are spending the fall among friends in the East, and are taking advantage of the opportunity offered them, to improve themselves in their musical education. They have, of course, visited the Centennial Exhibition. Mr. Blandin has a case in court which calls him down.
Winfield Courier, December 14, 1876.
The COURIER family has been sampling some of the Tunnel Mills’ new flour. It is excellent. Mr. Stump, the new proprietor, is turning out the very best.
Winfield Courier, December 21, 1876.
THE TUNNEL MILL, located immediately south of town, is now run by P. Stump & Co. Mr. Stump is an experienced miller and proposes to show his patrons how much and how good flour can be made from Cowley County wheat.
[AD: TUNNEL MILLS.]
Winfield Courier, December 28, 1876.
TUNNEL MILLS. P. STUMP & CO., Proprietors. (Successor to I. E. Moore.)
WINFIELD, KANSAS.
The above named firm are now proprietors of the Tunnel Mills, and will guarantee satisfaction in all their work.
Orders, for the City, left at the Post Office will be promptly filled.
Winfield Courier, January 11, 1877.
FRANK WILLIAMS, of this place, is shipping Tunnel Mills Flour to Philadelphia. He purchases staves and hoops in the knock down at Kansas City and sets them up here, barrels his flour, sends it to the Quaker city, and makes a profit. How much more of this could be done if we had a railroad?
[Note: Another mystery has come to light. It appears that Dexter also had a mill owner by the name of Stump. Could it have been P. Stump’s brother? Or could it be possible that P. Stump was handling Tunnel Mills at Winfield and the Dexter mills at the same time? At the same time mention was made of Levi Stump. Could he have been P. Stump’s brother? Could they have worked together handling both the Winfield and Dexter mills? MAW]
[COMMUNICATION FROM “HUGO SANDERS”—DEXTER.]
Arkansas City Traveler, February 21, 1877.
The Dexter mills have changed hands. A Mr. Stump, of Winfield, is the present owner, and we hope he will stump us all in the way of good flour, good turn-outs, etc. Yes, Mr. TRAVELER man, if you were a married man, and had your wife to look scissors and three legged stools at you on account of dark looking bread, when you had visitors, you would feel interested in having a good miller, too. HUGO SANDERS.
[NEWS FROM DEXTER TOWNSHIP CORRESPONDENT: “NASBY.”]
Winfield Courier, February 22, 1877.
From Dexter. February 15, 1877.
The mill has changed hands, Messrs. Service and Darst having sold out to a Mr. Stump and Co. We hope by the change to see improvements in that line.
[PURCHASE OF TUNNEL MILLS ANNOUNCED.]
Winfield Courier, April 12, 1877.
The Harter Brothers and C. C. Harris, having purchased the Tunnel mills a few days since, will take possession of the same about the first of June.
[ACCIDENTAL DROWNING AT WINFIELD: MISS BELLE WREN.]
Arkansas City Traveler, April 25, 1877.
Accidental Drowning at Winfield.
[From our special correspondent.]
On Saturday morning, April 21st, while attempting to cross the Walnut River at what is known as Tunnel Mill Ford, south of Winfield, Miss Belle Wren was drowned. The facts as disclosed at the coroner’s inquest are as follows.
Miss Wren, in company with John Boylan (a cousin), started to see about a school south of Arkansas City. When they came to the ford, the river was swollen by recent rains above, and it is supposed there was about seven or eight feet of water in the ford. The gentleman objected to driving in, but she insisted, saying she had crossed there the day before and there was no danger. Driving in, before they had gone 15 feet from the shore, the horses began to swim, and undoubtedly would have succeeded in crossing; but under excitement, they tried to turn around and make for the shore they had left. The buggy upset in turning, and threw both parties into the river.
He caught some willows with one hand, the bit of one of the horses with the other, and tried to turn them to the shore, but the current proved to be stronger than he, and he had to release his hold, and was able to reach the shore in safety. In the meantime she caught on the harness of one of the horses and was carried downstream, crying for help, until about 75 yards above the Tunnel Mill, when she and the horses, buggy and all, disappeared and were not seen anymore. Mr. Stump, the miller hearing her cries, started to help, and just as he got outside of the mill, he saw her disappear. Mr. Stump arrived in time to prevent Mr. Boylan from springing in to help her.
The alarm was raised, and the people instantly commenced searching for the body, which was kept up until 4:30 p.m. when the body was found opposite the mill some 75 or 100 yards below where she disappeared, having lain in the water some nine or ten hours. The body was removed to town, and the coroner summoned a jury, whose verdict was that the deceased came to her death by accidental drowning. Her brother-in-law, Mr. Crane, then took charge of the body. No blame is attached to Mr. Boylan, and he deserves praise for his manly efforts in trying to save the lady. The horses were found the next morning near the same place in a drift of logs and brush. The team belonged to Mr. Wm. Robinson, a livery man of this place.
[Announcement that Harter, Harris, and Harter will take over Tunnel Mills.]
Winfield Courier, May 17, 1877.
The double quarter column ad. of Harter, Harris & Harter in this week’s issue scarcely needs a notice—it speaks for itself. The Tunnel Mills under the new management is daily growing in public favor and it will not be long until it stands at the head of the list in the southwest. The flour turned out cannot be excelled, and as for gentlemanly and fair dealing men, the boys have no superiors in the Walnut Valley.
AD: HURRAH! -FOR- HARTER, HARRIS & HARTER, Proprietors of the Old Reliable
TUNNEL MILLS!
The above named firm is paying the highest cash price for Wheat. They Grind for Cash, They grind for Toll, They grind the best Flour in the Valley. GIVE THEM A TRIAL.
They exchange Flour for Wheat, Flour for Corn, Flour for “Corn in the ear.” No other Mill in the county offers to do this. Flour, Meal, Bran and Chop Feed always on hand.
DON’T FORGET THE PLACE! One half mile South of the City.
Winfield Courier, May 24, 1877.
Two hundred head of hogs wanted at the Tunnel Mills; also two yoke of oxen for which the highest cash price will be paid by Harter, Harris & Co.
[Note: The county newspapers took turns calling a Winfield minister either Rusbridge or Rushbridge. I do not know which spelling is correct. MAW]
Winfield Courier, May 31, 1877.
MARRIED. On Saturday evening, May 19th, at the residence of the bride, by Rev. J. L. Rusbridge, Mr. Phillip Stump and Mrs. E. F. Kennedy.
The above was a surprise to many of their friends, all of whom wish the happy pair a long life of happiness, and hope that many chips off the old Stump may brighten their future hearthstone. The printers were not forgotten.
Arkansas City Traveler, June 6, 1877.
MARRIED. On Saturday evening, May 19th, at the residence of the bride, by Rev. J. L. Rushbridge, Mr. Phillip Stump and Mrs. E. F. Kennedy.
Crossing Rush bridge has put an end to his Stumping around. How Ken he die.
Winfield Courier, July 12, 1877. Editorial Page.
The Bridge Question.
We, the undersigned, agree to pay the amounts set opposite our names for the purpose of completing an iron bridge across the Walnut, Cowley County, Kansas, and votes aid therefor in the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000) at an election to be held July 17th, 1877. Said sums of money to be due and payable in consideration of the erection of said bridge, to the order of the party to whom the officers of the said township let the contract for the erection of the said bridge. WINFIELD, KAN., June 25th, 1877.
The following signed the petition to erect the bridge: Winfield Tunnel Mills $50.00; Phillip Stump $10.00.
[COWLEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.]
Winfield Courier, July 12, 1877.
County Commissioners’ Proceedings. Witness Fees: $.50, P. Stump.
Winfield Courier, August 23, 1877.
Cash for Wheat. Harter, Harris & Co. want 10,000 bushels of wheat delivered to them at the Tunnel Mills within the next thirty days.
Winfield Courier, September 6, 1877.
On Monday the Tunnel Mills loaded an ox train of thirty wagons with flour for the Cheyennes and Wichitas.
Winfield Courier, September 20, 1877.
L. C. HARTER has gone to Kansas City for a new burr, a wheat duster, and flour packer for the Tunnel Mills.
Winfield Courier, September 20, 1877.
Harter, Harris & Co., are making extensive improvements at the Tunnel Mills. Stone masons are at work building solid foundations.
Winfield Courier, September 27, 1877.
L. C. Harter has returned from Kansas City. He succeeded in purchasing the new machinery wanted for the Tunnel Mills.
Winfield Courier, October 4, 1877.
Harter, Harris & Co. have got their Tunnel Mills well fitted up with new machinery and four run of burrs.
Winfield Courier, October 11, 1877.
Ten large government wagons, drawn by sixty oxen, came down from Wichita last Saturday loaded with lumber for Graham & Moffitt. They loaded again, at the Tunnel Mills, with flour for the Indians.
Winfield Courier, October 11, 1877.
The Tunnel Mills have a grinding capacity of 500 bushels per day, and will grind within the next ninety days 600,000 pounds of flour for the Indians, besides filling their merchants’ orders and doing their custom work.
Winfield Courier, October 11, 1877.
Flouring Mills. There are at Winfield two excellent flouring mills, each working four run of burrs and doing a large business. They are both run by water, having each an excellent water power on the Walnut River. They make a good market for a large amount of wheat. The upper mill is a large stone structure, and has a fall of eight feet. The lower is a large frame upon a substantial stone basement. The river at this place runs in the form of an ox bow, with the two ends near together. Under this neck a tunnel is constructed, a distance of about 100 feet, through which the water passes to the mill and attains a fall of about eight feet. There are some other mills in the county.
Winfield Courier, November 1, 1877.
A large addition to the Tunnel Mills is in process of erection.
Winfield Courier, November 1, 1877.
MR. DAVID CRAIG, while engaged on a contract for excavating earth at the Tunnel Mills, was on Monday seriously if not fatally injured by the falling of a high bank of earth and rock upon him, literally crushing him. Mr. Craig is a young man of industrious habits.
Winfield Courier, November 8, 1877.
DIED. David Craig, the youngster who was crushed by the falling of the bank at the Tunnel Mills, died last Sunday. [This indicates he died November 4, 1877.]
Winfield Courier, November 29, 1877.
Will Klingman is learning the milling business at the Tunnel Mills.
Winfield Courier, December 27, 1877.
Seventy-five teams were loaded with flour at the Tunnel Mills last Thursday, on the contract to supply the Indians at the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Wichita agencies.
Winfield Courier, February 21, 1878.
The Tunnel Mills have been improved wonderfully since the present proprietors came into possession. They have put in a great deal of new machinery, and are now making as good flour as any in the market. They have just finished their large Indian contract.
Winfield Courier, February 21, 1878.
Ral. Stump, miller at the Tunnel Mills, came very near meeting with a serious accident last week. He was working among the machinery, when his coat caught in some of the wheels and he would have been mashed to atoms had it not been for the united efforts of two of the mill boys who happened to be near.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, March 21, 1878. Front Page.
MILLINGTON & LEMMON, PUBLISHERS.
COWLEY COUNTY, KANSAS.
[Below captions was a map of Cowley County with some areas marked as “Government Lands.”]
FLOURING MILLS.
There are at Winfield two excellent flouring mills, each working four run of burrs and doing a large business. They are both run by water, having each an excellent water power on the Walnut River. They make good market for a large amount of wheat. The upper mill is a large stone structure, and has a fall of eight feet. The lower is a large frame upon a substantial stone basement. The river in this place runs in the form of an ox bow, with the two ends near together. Upon this neck a tunnel is constructed, a distance of about 100 feet through which the water passes to the mill and attains a fall of about eight feet. There are several other mills in the county.
Winfield Courier, March 21, 1878.
Last Saturday a six mule team was loaded at the Tunnel mills with 7,500 pounds of flour for the Cheyenne Agency.
Arkansas City Traveler, August 7, 1878.
MR. HARRIS, of the Tunnel Mills at Winfield, visited our city last Thursday, accompanied by the liveliest and most accomplished newspaper reporter in the State. So he thinks.
Winfield Courier, August 8, 1878.
Fifty teams to haul flour to Wichita wanted at the Tunnel Mills.
[ACCIDENT AT TUNNEL MILLS AT WINFIELD.]
Arkansas City Traveler, November 20, 1878.
Editor Traveler: Monday afternoon at about 3 o’clock, a man by the name of Bailey was accidently killed by the caving in of the bank at the Tunnel Mills. Some two feet of the bank fell in, and as the men were about twenty-two feet below, it completely buried the unfortunate victim. One other man was buried up to the waist, but was not seriously injured.
The dead man was under the earth about one hour, thus completely extinguishing all life long before they could reach him. Doctor Black was summoned and came with all haste, but medical assistance was useless. The workers were engaged in walling up the bank, which should have been done years ago, whereby a life would have been saved. ED.
P.S. This makes two men who have been killed in this manner at this mill.
Winfield Courier, November 21, 1878.
Fatal Accident. A young man late from Illinois named George Bailey recently took a contract of Harter, Harris & Co. to excavate the earth at the mouth of the tunnel at the Tunnel Mills. While engaged at this work last Monday the perpendicular bank of earth above him slid off and fell on him, crushing him down and burying him five feet deep. Before the earth could be removed from him, life was extinct. He had noticed the first symptom of the slide and started to run from under but did not succeed. Another man at work with him was more fortunate. He was pushed over and buried up to his waist but not injured.
[TUNNEL MILL.]
Winfield Courier, January 2, 1879.
The capacity of the Tunnel Mill is 6,000,000 pounds of flour and 1,000,000 pounds of corn meal per year. It has made in the past year about 4,000,000 pounds of flour and 1,000,000 pounds of corn meal.
[COURIER ADVERTISERS.]
Winfield Courier, January 2, 1879.
HARRIS, C. C., has money to loan. By the way, he is one of the owners of the Tunnel Mill, which used to advertise in the Courier, but it made their business too large and they had to quit.
Winfield Courier, January 9, 1879.
C. C. Harris has leased his interest in the Tunnel Mills to the Harter Bros. Mr. Harris is now a “gentleman of leisure” and will spend his time doctoring his ears, which he had the misfortune to freeze one day last week.
Winfield Courier, February 13, 1879.
The Tunnel Mills has had another change in its management, Virgil Harter having traded his interest in it to his father for town property in Burlington, Kansas, where he will soon remove. We will be sorry to lose Mr. Harter, as he is one of our best men.
Winfield Courier, March 27, 1879.
The following is a list of the principal business firms of Winfield.
MILLS.
Winfield City Mills.
Tunnel Mills.
[TEAM DROWNED.]
Winfield Courier, April 24, 1879.
On last Sunday a gentleman by the name of Myer drove down to the river, near the Tunnel mills, to wash his buggy, and not being acquainted with the “lay of the land,” got a little too far down and drove into the “whirlpool” just above the mill, which is about ten feet deep. Soon after getting into deep water, the two outside tugs became loosened, causing the tongue to drop down and run into the ground. The horses were unable to swim out and were drowned. Mr. Myer came here from Lawrence, brought his family with him, and is now left almost without anything. He deserves the sympathy of the entire community.
Winfield Courier, May 15, 1879.
Mr. E. C. Sales is putting up a patent lime-kiln on the land of Mr. A. A. Wiley in the canon beyond the Tunnel mill. When this kiln gets well into operation, it is expected that it will be able to supply Winfield any day and all the time, there being no delay to wait for burning. It will be ready in about three weeks. The stone at that place is the best in the county for lime.
[THE TUNNEL MILLS.]
Winfield Courier, May 29, 1879.
J. L. Horning has leased a half interest in the above mill, and it will hereafter be run under the firm name of Harter & Horning. Mr. Horning came here about one year ago and engaged in the grocery business. He had a heavy competition and a poor location and people slyly wagged their heads and prophesied “a bust” in the grocery line. But “76 Horning” didn’t come to bust, and he didn’t bust. Six months from that time Horning’s delivery wagon made daily visits to the houses of these same gentlemen who prophesied the “bust,” and Horning was doing the grocery business of the town. We don’t intend this as a “puff,” but as a plain statement of facts.
All that has been needed to make the Tunnel mill one of the best in the country is some good, practical hand at the helm. Mr. Horning’s twenty years experience in the milling business, and his characteristic “get up and get” mode of running things peculiarly adapts him for the business, and we expect to see the Tunnel mills flour quoted all over the State before a year.
Winfield Courier, June 19, 1879.
The Tunnel Mills are going through a thorough course of re-modeling. The water wheel has been raised, and the stones are being moved and adjusted. The present proprietors intend to do first-class work or none at all.
Arkansas City Traveler, July 9, 1879.
76 Horning 76, the grocer of Winfield, was in town last Saturday with Mr. Harter, of the Tunnel Mills. Mr. Horning is also interested in the mills, and is one of the most enterprising businessmen in the West.
Winfield Courier, July 10, 1879.
At the meeting of the commissioners on Monday some important changes were made in the boundaries of the townships of Vernon, Rock, and Pleasant Valley, and a new township called Walnut was created, composed of the eastern and northern portions of the old township of Winfield, and a slice off the southern portion of Rock. Pleasant Valley gets the south part of Winfield township, including the south bridge and the Tunnel Mills, and Vernon gets the western portion including both west bridges and Bliss’ mill. This leaves Winfield a municipality of itself. This new township of Walnut holds an election for officers on the 23rd of this month.
[JOHNIE MILLS DROWNED IN THE TUNNEL MILLS WHIRLPOOL.]
Winfield Courier, July 17, 1879.
A little boy by the name of Johnie Mills, aged about 7 years, was drowned in the whirlpool above the Tunnel Mills last Thursday afternoon. He had gone there with some boys, sons of R. B. Pratt, to swim, and getting beyond his depth, was swept into the whirlpool. The little boys immediately gave the alarm, but the body was not found for some time afterward. Coroner Graham held an inquest and a verdict of accidental drowning was returned. This the second case of drowning which has occurred at that place.
Winfield Courier, July 24, 1879.
J. L. Horning returned Monday from an extended tour in the Territory, in the interest of the Tunnel Mills. He visited the Kaw, Ponca, and Osage Agencies, and relates some interesting stories about the home life of the reds. The Tunnel Mills furnishes the first of August two hundred barrels of flour toward keeping the poor savage in food and idleness.
Winfield Courier, August 21, 1879.
Messrs. Horning & Harter have moved the building off their lot next to McGuire’s store and will immediately begin the erection of a stone and brick building thereon. They expect to complete it in October, when it will be occupied by a grocery store and the Tunnel Mills offices.
[FROM THE TERRITORY.]
Winfield Courier, February 5, 1880.
FORT SMITH, Ark., Jan. 28, 1880.
South of this point some twenty miles, and within easy reach by rafts on the Poteau river, is the great pine region of Arkansas and the Choctaw Nation. The few mills between here and Texas turn out lumber at $7.50 per thousand. What a God send a few hundred million feet of it would be to Kansas! But if Kansas needs lumber, Arkansas needs flour and corn. Such an article of flour as Bliss or the Tunnel Mills turn out is not to be had here at any price. What flour there is for sale in town is poor, and worth $4 per cwt. Corn is worth 90 cents per bushel, and hay $20 per ton. Hogs, most fed, (Your true Southerner never feeds any stock; with him it is “root hog or die” in good earnest) are worth $4.50 to $5.00.
ARK TRAVELER.
Winfield Courier, August 26, 1880.
J. P. Short, wife, and child had a close call last Monday evening. They were riding in a buggy near the ford beyond the Tunnel mill with a timid team, when a man rose up in the weeds beside the team, which frightened the horses, and they ran the buggy on a stump, which pitched J. P. out on his head. Mrs. Short caught the child and chucked it down in the bottom of the buggy, reached down over the dashboard, and secured one of the trailing lines, by which time the team had rushed down the bank into the rocky riverbed, where they ran in a circle over the rocks until men enough got inside the ring to stop them. Short is very lame, but little other damage was done, though it is a wonder that all had not been killed. We honor the brave lady for her prompt and sensible act in such a bewildering emergency.
Winfield Courier, March 17, 1881.
The proprietors of the Tunnel mill are making some long needed improvements in their mill. They are enlarging the flume and putting new walls under the building.
[FRANK MANNY’S LETTER: PROHIBITION IN KANSAS.]
Winfield Courier, May 5, 1881.
Prohibition in Kansas.
How It Has Killed Winfield and Cowley County!
Statements of Businessmen of Winfield and Leading Citizens of Cowley County,
Kansas, in Relation to the Situation.
HARTER & HORNING, Tunnel Water Mills: We are making 20,000 pounds of flour per day, which is about the same amount we were making a year ago. There are six flouring mills running in the county while only five were running a year ago. There is plenty of wheat in the county to keep the mills running until the next crop. There is much less wheat being shipped from this county than a year ago. I suppose about 1,200 bushels has been shipped within the last thirty days.
I don’t think prohibition effects this business in any way as yet. I do not think the wheat crop of this county the past year was over 300,000 bushels. An average crop would have been over 1,000,000 bushels. The present promise is a very good crop for this year. The acreage is greater than last year and we may reasonably expect a crop of 1,200,000 bushels. Prices are about the same as a year ago and have been very steady for a year. We have formerly shipped much of our flour to Colorado and New Mexico.
Arkansas City Traveler, May 18, 1881.
DIED. Joe Eads, an eleven-year-old boy, was drowned in the Walnut, at Winfield, below the Tunnel Mill ford, while bathing, last Sunday. The body was recovered after a two hour’s search.
Winfield Courier, May 19, 1881.
BOY DROWNED. Sunday afternoon a little eleven-year-old boy, George Eads, a son of Isaac Eads, was drowned near the Tunnel Mills. He had gone in swimming with several boys, got beyond the depth, and being unable to swim, was drowned.
Arkansas City Traveler, June 15, 1881.
DIED. A man by the name of Witt, from Chautauqua County, was drowned in the whirlpool below the Tunnel mills, at Winfield, while bathing, on Sunday last.
[DROWNED: MARION FRANCIS WITT.]
Winfield Courier, June 16, 1881.
Marion Francis Witt, of Chautauqua County, aged 30 years, went into the pool just below the lower dam in the Walnut river last Sunday morning and while in eight feet of water took a cramp and was drowned. An inquest decided that it was a case of accidental drowning.
Winfield Courier, June 16, 1881.
From remarks we read in the local papers and hear on the streets, we should suppose that near the Tunnel mills in the Walnut river is a Scilla, a Charybdis, a whirlpool that would cast the famous maelstrom off the coast of Norway in the shade: a vortex which “sucks into” its terrible whirl all who approach within half a mile of its horrid fascination and carries them down amid surging waters through the unfathomable caves of earth; and that thousands of persons have already met this horrible fate. Let us unpick this stupendous bubble. There is no maelstrom, no whirlpool, but only a broadening and deepening of the river bed, an innocent pool about eight feet deep at ordinary stages, and much like the rest of the river at high water. No life has ever been lost there except Mr. Witt last Sunday morning, and he was not drawn in, but coolly swam in and took the cramp. The young woman who lost her life two or three years ago was drowned in another place and in time of a freshet.
Winfield Courier, June 30, 1881.
The waters of the Walnut river and Timber Creek were up booming on Sunday and Monday morning. At the Tunnel mills, the water was about six feet deep in the basement. The Riverside Park was under water to the main wagon road. The Island Park bayou was full and the park was an island indeed. The City mills basement was full and water was around the mill. The Walnut was up about 18 feet.
Winfield Courier, October 20, 1881.
Tunnel Mills flour is worth “Patent” $4.75; XXXX $4.25; XXX $4.00. Corn meal $2.00 per hundred.
Cowley County Courant, February 2, 1882.
M. G. Troup, James McDermott, and J. R. Bryan have been chosen arbitrators to adjust the Tunnel Mills difficulty between Harter and Harris. No better men could have been chosen for this work.
Cowley County Courant, March 16, 1882.
The arbitrators in the Harter and Harris mill case have reached a decision, which has not yet been made public.
Cowley County Courant, March 23, 1882.
The arbitrators in the Harter and Harris mill case have, after a long and tedious siege of work, arrived at a decision, in which they find that Lewis Harter is indebted to C. C. Harris in the sum of $1,835.62, due for rent of mill property. The arbitration has passed off smoothly, and the decision is satisfactory. The costs amount to $176. This is a good deal cheaper, more expeditious, and leaves a better feeling than a case in the courts. Arbitration is the best thing in the world for those persons who desire only exact justice.
[TUNNEL MILLS.]
Winfield Courier, July 27, 1882.
Running Again. The affairs of the Tunnel Mills have at last been adjusted and the mill has opened up again and is running at full head under Lew Harter’s management. It will make a specialty of custom work, and farmers who bring their grain to the Tunnel Mills will get the best returns the wheat will give.
Winfield Courier, August 10, 1882.
The Tunnel Mill is running lively on custom work since it was opened up and the farmers are beginning to besiege it once more with their grists, as they used to do in early days. Lew Harter realizes the maxim that a fair and just recompense for his labor is all that can safely be exacted.
Winfield Courier, August 17, 1882.
B. F. Cox has leased a half interest in the Tunnel Mills and Lou Harter started for the east Tuesday to purchase a lot of new machinery. The boys are bound to keep our citizens supplied with flour.
Winfield Courier, November 23, 1882.
A big flour war is in progress, and you can buy flour now at almost your own price. The drop was caused by merchants shipping in foreign brands, and our home millers concluded to stop it, so put their flour down to bed rock.
Winfield Courier, January 11, 1883.
[From Green’s Real Estate News.]
Winfield’s Buildings and Business.
We have two large flouring mills, one a water power and the other water and steam power combined. This is a magnificent structure, being 40 x 60 feet in size, 5 stories high, built of magnesian limestone, gang saw finish, and is supplied with the most modern and latest improved machinery. Cost of building and machinery: $50,000. There is also a large and fine elevator near the mill with R. R. switch to each.
[Note: First mill mentioned with water power only was Tunnel Mills. The other was the Bliss Mill. MAW]
Winfield Courier, February 1, 1883.
Ben Cox has sold his interest in the Tunnel Mill to Phillip Stump, and has retired from the milling business. He is once more a gentleman of leisure. Indicative of this fact, we notice that he has just received a fine pointer pup from Lexington, Kentucky, and will devote his spare moments to training it. It is easier to steal a dog than to train one.
[TUNNEL MILLS: TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.]
Winfield Courier, April 5, 1883.
A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.
James McGuire Caught in a Belt and Killed at the Tunnel Mills.
DIED. Last Thursday morning the Tunnel Mills were the scene of another fatal accident. Mr. James McGuire is a brother of the McGuire’s, merchants of this place. He was working at the mill and went upstairs to put on a belt. The machinery was running at the time. He took hold of the belt to put it over a pulley when it threw a loop over his arm and he was drawn around and around, his feet striking the ceiling every revolution. Mr. Stump, the head miller, was in the basement of the mill at the time, and noticing that something was wrong, ran up and shut the water off. He then went upstairs and saw McGuire hanging in the pulley. He immediately went to work cutting the belts and soon, with the help of others, got him down. He was found to be still alive and was put in a wagon and taken to his home on Manning Street. An examination was made by the physicians, who found that almost every bone in his body was broken, especially in his feet, legs, and arms. The pulleys were making one hundred and twenty revolutions a minute when he was caught and he must have been whirled around with terrible force. He was conscious for several hours and until a few moments before he died, and was able to tell how the accident happened. This is the third man that has lost his life at that mill. Two were killed several years ago while digging the tunnel by dirt caving in on them.
[FATAL ACCIDENT: TUNNEL MILLS.]
Arkansas City Traveler, April 11, 1883.
A Terrible Accident. DIED. Last Thursday morning the Tunnel Mills was the scene of another fatal accident. Mr. James McGuire is a brother of the McGuire’s, merchants of this place. He was working at the mill and went upstairs to put on a belt. The machinery was running at the time. He took hold of the belt to put it over a pulley when it threw a loop over his arm and he was drawn around and around, his feet striking the ceiling every revolution. Mr. Stump, the head miller, was in the basement of the mill at the time, and noticing that something was wrong, ran up and shut the water off. He then went upstairs and saw McGuire hanging in the pulley. He immediately went to work cutting the belts, and soon, with the help of others, got him down. He was found to be still alive and was put in a wagon and taken to his home on Manning Street. An examination was made by the physician, who found that almost every bone in his body was broken, especially in his feet, legs, and arms. The pulleys were making a hundred and twenty revolutions a minute when he was caught and he must have been whirled around with terrible force. He was conscious for several hours and until a few moments before he died, and was able to tell how the accident happened. This is the third man that has lost his life at that mill. Two were killed several years ago while digging the tunnel by dirt caving in on them. Winfield Courier.
Winfield Courier, April 26, 1883.
Quite an excitement was created Tuesday evening by the reported drowning of one of Mr. John Allen’s little boys. The two brothers were fishing below the Tunnel Mills and became separated. Soon after the oldest one heard a splashing in the river and running up the bank saw his brother’s fishing pole sticking in the ground and jumped at the conclusion that he was drowned. He ran uptown and told his father, who started at once with a crowd for the river. When nearly there they met the boy coming along home, contented and dry. He isn’t the kind of a boy to be drowned by a rumor.
Winfield Courier, July 5, 1883.
Messrs. Gale, Burden, and Sleeth, the commissioners appointed to condemn the water privilege for the Water Company, met Thursday and made the awards. Bliss & Wood were allowed twenty dollars as their share of the damage, the Tunnel Mill ten dollars. None of the mills were present to put forward their claims and it is understood will contest in the courts the right of the Water Company to take what they have before legally acquired.
Winfield Courier, July 12, 1883.
Messrs. Jennings and Crippen are having their ten thousand bushels of wheat ground up into flour, which they are shipping. One car-load goes to Texas today. The Tunnel Mill is doing the grinding.
Winfield Courier, July 19, 1883.
Farmers, you can get at the Tunnel Mill the best of Flour, Bran, and Shorts.
The Tunnel Mills are running. Come with your grists.
Winfield Courier, August 9, 1883.
The Tunnel Mills are running. Come with your grists.
Winfield Courier, September 6, 1883.
The Tunnel Mills will hereafter be run by Messrs. Jennings & Crippen. They will put in at once a full set of rolls and discard the burrs.
Winfield Courier, September 13, 1883.
Farmers, you can get at the Tunnel Mill the best of Flour, Bran and Shorts.
[NEED FOR ANOTHER FLOUR MILL.]
Winfield Courier, November 29, 1883.
Give Us Another Mill. One of the greatest needs of this country at present is another first-class flouring mill. The Bliss & Wood mill is now a daily consumer of fifteen hundred bushels of wheat. It is running full capacity, is making three hundred and fifty to four hundred barrels of flour per day, and finds a ready market greater than its product. It is making money for the proprietors and is the best investment in the county. For the man or men who will take hold of the old Tunnel Mill, there is a fortune in sight. Every citizen in Winfield is interested in seeing it done, and if properly approached, will take a hand in helping to do it. As the old mill stands, it is simply an old rookery, and of little value to the owners or the public. Its water power is the only valuable thing about it. If someone with the requisite amount of energy and forty to fifty thousand dollars in capital or backing will take hold of it, put a four hundred barrel roller mill on the site of the old building, he will reap an abundant harvest on his investment. Then the two mills could use all the wheat that legitimately belongs to this market, and farmers who hold their grain until after the shipping season would be assured of good prices. In short, another four hundred barrel roller mill would make this the best wheat market in Southern Kansas. There is no uncertainty in the investment. It is a gold mile without the perils of prospecting. Will not someone take hold of the matter at once?
Winfield Courier, December 6, 1883.
$1.00 Per Bushel for Wheat. We will for the next 30 days pay you in first class Flour, $1.00 per bushel for good wheat. Jennings & Crippen.
Winfield Courier, January 10, 1884.
Flour at wholesale prices, best $2.25; good, $2.10 per hundred. East of the Brettun.
Jennings & Crippen.
Winfield Courier, February 28, 1884.
Mr. Thos. Parker informs us that Ira Moore, whom many of our old citizens will remember as being the second proprietor of the Tunnel Mills, died in the Black Hills a few weeks ago.
Winfield Courier, February 28, 1884.
Mr. M. A. Smalley, of Carey, Ohio, an old friend and school teacher of James McLain, was in the city Tuesday. Mr. Smalley passed through Winfield fourteen years ago on a buffalo hunt, when only one or two houses were here. The only thing he now recognized was the old ford near the Tunnel mill, which he remembered as the place where one of the hunting party of 1870 was drowned. Buffalo were not far from this point in those days.
Winfield Courier, February 28, 1884.
Messrs. Jennings & Crippen sold seventeen thousand bushels of their wheat to Landis & Beal, millers of Arkansas City, last week. They got very close to a dollar per bushel for it.
[Note the problem with names. (Courier) M. S. Snider; (Traveler) N. S. Snyder.]
[Note the problem with names. (Courier) W. J. Hodges; (Traveler) J. W. Hodges.]
Winfield Courier, May 1, 1884.
M. S. Snider, a partner of W. J. Hodges in the cattle business, while coming down the bank to the ford near the Tunnel Mill Saturday on his way from Arkansas City, had a serious mishap. The pole of his buggy broke, throwing himself and little boy out and bruising them up considerably. The horses crossed the creek in a mighty few minutes and paid the city a rapid visit on their own hook. The buggy was about used up.
Arkansas City Republican, May 3, 1884.
N. S. Snyder, a partner of J. W. Hodges in the cattle business, while coming down the bank to the ford near the Tunnel Mill, Saturday, on his way from Arkansas City, had a serious mishap. The pole of his buggy broke, throwing himself and little boy out and bruising them considerably. The horses crossed the creek in a mighty few minutes and paid the city a rapid visit on their own hook. The buggy was about used up. Winfield Courier.
Winfield Courier, May 15, 1884.
Jennings & Crippen have decided to build a brick and stone building a hundred feet deep with two stories and a basement on the lot south of Schofield & Keck’s livery barn. A survey brought out the fact that the barn was two feet over on the lot. It will be moved off and the work of erecting the building proceed at once.
[WINFIELD CITY COUNCIL.]
Winfield Courier, June 19, 1884.
The City Fathers ground out the usual grist of business Monday evening. Curns & Manser and Jennings’s and Crippen were granted building permits.
An ordinance was passed allowing Jennings & Crippen to move the building next to Wallis & Wallis grocery to the lot next to Scofield & Keck’s livery barn. These gentlemen, instead of building on the latter lot, as previously announced, will erect a large two story brick and stone store building on the lot next to Wallis & Wallis.
[NEW BRICK BLOCK: CURNS & MANSER.]
Winfield Courier, June 19, 1884.
The ground is being cleared for Curns & Manser’s new brick block, and work will commence at once. Jennings & Crippen will also erect a brick building next to Wallis’ store. The barber shop will be moved to the lot next to Schofield & Kecks livery barn. As Seaver, of the Dexter Eye, would say, “still we boom!”
Winfield Courier, June 26, 1884.
Mr. L. C. McRoberts has left a bunch of keys at this office which he found near the Tunnel mills last Saturday. Several house and other keys with a penny of 1869 are on the ring. The owner can get them by calling and paying for this notice.
[Note: Courier has Frank G. Willson; Traveler has Frank G. Wilson.]
[TUNNEL MILL CLAIMS VICTIM: FRANK G. WILLSON.]
Winfield Courier, June 26, 1884.
A BRIGHT YOUNG LIFE CUT OFF.
The Whirlpool Near the Tunnel Mill Ushers Another Soul Into Eternity.
DIED. Our community was shocked Tuesday afternoon by the drowning, in the whirlpool near the Tunnel Mill, of Frank G. Willson, one of the most promising young men of the city and a member of the real estate firm of Harris & Willson. He and C. C. Harris went to the river to bathe about three o’clock that afternoon and had been swimming in the water for some time when the accident occurred. The water in this pool is very deep and swift, though, with a little care, is not considered dangerous when the river is in a normal condition. It has several currents in a depth of fifteen feet and flows with a whirling motion, the current continually eddying around the pool. Frank and Mr. Harris had started down the current to swim around, the latter considerably ahead. When Frank got about half way through, he called for help and immediately went under. The current prevented Mr. Harris from swimming upstream to his rescue and the only thing to be done was to circle around and come down to him. But the body was held down by the undercurrent and only rose once after the first submersion, making all efforts at rescue fruitless. The alarm was immediately given and in a few minutes many willing hands were searching for the body. The swift, deep, and eddying water shifted the body in such a manner as to prevent its recovery until it had been submerged fifty minutes. Drs. Wright, Pugh, Taylor, and Wells were on the ground and everything within human possibility was done to resuscitate the body, but in vain. Its spirit had flown to the inevitable and voiceless Eternity. It is supposed that cramp or strangulation by a back-water wave caused the terrible result. Those acquainted with the water at this place don’t attribute it to the suction, though this undoubtedly increased the helplessness of the victim. It is hard to estimate the number of persons that have been drowned in this pool—fifteen or twenty. This alone is sufficient to brand this place as dangerous, and should warn people to go elsewhere to bath.
Frank G. Willson was about twenty-five years of age. He came to Winfield some seven months ago and associated himself with T. J. Harris in the real estate and loan business. During his short residence among us he won the esteem of all with whom he came in contact. His only relatives here are the family of his uncle, Mr. W. H. Thompson. His parents reside in Jacksonville, Illinois. They were immediately telegraphed the fate of their son and answered, requesting his remains to be sent home for interment, which was done yesterday. The father is a prominent banker of Jacksonville. Frank was one of those bright, progressive, and substantial young men whose future indicates great usefulness and advancement. The writer had many pleasant conversations with him and found him possessed of those finer feelings which indicate morality and refinement and are always agreeable. Nothing is sadder than the snatching away of a life buoyant with bright hopes for the future. Truly “in the midst of life we are in death.”
Arkansas City Traveler, July 2, 1884.
Drowned. Our community was shocked Tuesday afternoon by the drowning, in the whirlpool near the Tunnel mill, of Frank G. Wilson, one of the most promising young men of the city and a member of the real estate firm of Harris & Wilson. He and C. C. Harris went to the river to bathe about three o’clock that afternoon and had been swimming in the water for some time when the accident occurred. The water in this pool is very deep and swift, though, with a little care, is not considered dangerous when the river is in a normal condition. It has several currents in a depth of fifteen feet and flows with a whirling motion, one current continually eddying around the pool. Frank and Mr. Harris had started down the current to swim around, the latter considerably ahead. When Frank got about halfway through, he called for help and immediately went under. The current prevented Mr. Harris from swimming upstream to his rescue and the only thing to be done was to circle around and come down to him. But the body was held under by the undercurrent and only rose once after the first submersion, making all efforts at rescue fruitless. The alarm was immediately given and in a few minutes many willing hands were searching for the body. The swift, deep, and eddying water shifted the body in such a manner to prevent its recovery until it had been submerged fifty minutes. Drs. Wright, Pugh, Taylor, and Wells were on the grounds and everything within human possibility was done to resuscitate the body, but in vain. It is supposed that strangulation or cramp by a back-water wave caused the terrible result. Those acquainted with the water at this place don’t attribute it to the suction, though this undoubtedly increased the helplessness of the victim. It is hard to estimate the number of persons that have been drowned in this pool—fifteen or twenty. This alone is sufficient to brand this pool as dangerous, and should warn people to go elsewhere to bathe.
Frank G. Wilson was about twenty-five years of age. He came to Winfield some seven months ago and associated himself with T. J. Harris in the real estate and loan business. During his short residence among us he won the esteem of all with whom he came in contact. His only relatives here are the family of his uncle, Mr. W. H. Thompson. His parents reside in Jacksonville, Illinois. Winfield Courier.
[Note: First article states Elem Harter; second article states Elam Harter.]
[TUNNEL MILLS.]
Winfield Courier, August 7, 1884.
Tunnel Mills. Mr. Elem Harter is now in charge of the Tunnel Mills and ready to please all customers.
Winfield Courier, August 14, 1884.
Mr. Holmes has purchased C. C. Harris’ interest in the Tunnel Mills and Elam Harter has purchased Lou Harter’s interest. The mill will hereafter be run by Holmes & Harter, and will be re-fitted and fixed up to do first-class work.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
Wm. Snyder went to Winfield Monday morning. He met with quite an accident. Just before crossing the river near the Tunnel Mills, and in going down the hill, the neck-yoke broke and the horses broke loose, throwing Mr. Snyder out of the buggy, cutting his face, and bruising him up considerably. Mrs. Snyder remained in the buggy and was not hurt. The buggy was badly mashed up. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder can congratulate themselves in getting off so luckily.
-0-
NOTES BY RKW RE TUNNEL MILL, ETC.
RKW HAD THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IN “CLARKSON” FILE.
Tunnel Mill has had several names in the past: Tunnel Mill, Clarkson Mill, and Clarkson and Alexander Mill.
The Tunnel Mill was built in 1872-73 by Covert and Koehler. It was a three-story frame structure, and had two runs of burrs driven by water from the Walnut River, which flowed through a stone-lined tunnel beneath a narrow neck of land in a peninsula approximately 125 feet across a slim gooseneck turn of the river. Lou Harter had several partners over the early years. Some of the names: S. Copple, B. F. Cox, and a Mr. Horning.
By 1903 “Tunnel Mill” was known as “Clarkson Milling Co. with Jas. Clarkson as manager.
In 1885 there was a flour and feed mill located at 114 West 8th (now the location of Jarvis Auto Supply) and previously the location of Jack Lane Chevrolet. This property was owned by James Kirk. This mill was powered by a steam engine. Mr. Kirk died in 1886 and Mr. M. Alexander was the miller in 1887. M. Alexander and C. M. Wallace bought the mill. Mr. Alexander then bought out Mr. Wallace and named it the Alexander Milling Co.
Later Margaret Alexander married George Clarkson and the two mills were renamed “Clarkson and Alexander Flour Mills.”
The flood of 1923 washed away the mill portion of the old Tunnel Mill, which was never rebuilt. The Alexander portion of the mill was unaffected due to being on high ground.
The Alexander mill property was later sold and Jack Lane built his Chevrolet automobile agency on the property.
In 1940 the City of Winfield needed more water for cooling at its electric plant located at 14th Street and the Walnut River, so it rebuilt the dam portion of Tunnel Mill.
NOT KNOWN: DATE THAT RKW WROTE THE ABOVE.
[TWO MORE FILES RE TUNNEL MILL. WALLACE FAMILY. KIRK & ALEXANDER FILES, WHICH THUS FAR HANDLE KIRK ONLY. MAW 4/24/2000]
