Winfield Odds and Ends

Winfield Courier, June 22, 1882. In last week=s COURIER in mentioning the churches of Winfield, we omitted the church of AThe United Brethren in Christ,@ of which Rev. J. H. Snyder is the pastor. They hold services every Sabbath afternoon at 4 o=clock, in the Courthouse. They have a membership of 35. The property originally acepted by the Baptist Church and then returned, has been purchased by them as a building site for a church, and measures are now being taken for the erection, as soon as possible, of a building for worship.

June 19, 1879 - Mr. Spach has purchased the old Manning house, the first one built in Winfield, and is moving it from the lumber yard to a lot on 6th Avenue.

Winfield Courier, June 15, 1882. Mad-Stone. Dr. Wright has procured a mad-stone that has been successfully used in cases of Hydrophobia. The stone is about an inch by an inch and a half, and was brought from Kentucky to this country by Mr. Mann. Mr. Wm. N. Day has had it in his care for some time and as above stated has now turned it over to Dr. Wright of this place, where it can be found by any and all persons who may have need of it. There have been three different persons from Douglass who have been bitten here to test its merits. The stone adhered to the wound on the man and one of the girls for several minutes. The other girl was bitten on the arm, but the skin was not broken, and so the stone refused to stick in this case. The dog that bit those persons bit some ten persons at and near Douglass last week. Burden Enterprise.

June 19 1879 - Mr. Jochems, at the council meeting Monday evening, made a very good suggestion, that of reducing the fare of prisoners and of providing a rock pile for them to exercise on between meals. The city has been entirely too easy on her prisoners heretofore, and the "Hotel de Finch" (named after the jailer Mr. Finch) is so excellently managed that most of the professional bummers don't care to stop anywhere else. The mortal terror of the above named gentlemen to anything like work, especially on a bread and water stomach, will have a wholesome effect, and the city will not be called upon to foot so many bills of "board for prisoners" at 75 cents a day.

June 19, 1879 - Winfield - Main street, the business street of the city, is 120 feet, all other streets are 80 feet wide. The sidewalks built of the magnesia limestone quarried two miles from town, are blocks of from 12 to 15 feet long by 6 to 8 feet wide and from 8 to 10 inches in thickness; and are models of beauty, elegance, and durability.

July 31, 1879 - The internal revenue officers were in town last week and almost every other man in town was scratching cigar boxes for dear life.

July 31, 1879 - A. A. Newman sold the Arkansas City Water Mills last week to Major Searing for $10,000. The Major is a thorough businessman, and will, no doubt, make a success at the milling business.

July 31, 1879 - A regular "Heathen Chinee," pig-tail and all, was on our streets Saturday, looking up the laundry business in Winfield and claims that he can "washee heapee cheapee and goodee."

Winfield Courier, June 15, 1882. Churches and Work-shops. Winfield has seven church organizations, with a total membership of 1,201. We have six church buildings, worth in the aggregate $38,850, and with a seating capacity of 2,150. The First Baptist Church has a membership of 180; the Presbyterian of 220; the Methodist Episcopal of 300; the church of the Holy Name (Catholic) 300; Grace Episcopal Church 50; Christian Church 126; A. M. E. Church 25.

We have eight manufacturing industries, namely: Two flouring mills, two furniture factories, a carriage factory, a foundry, a machine shop, and one of the finest tanneries in the country. The capital invested in them is $81,000, and they employ seventy-five hands.

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AD APPEARING TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1922 in Arkansas City Traveler.

New Cream Station for ARKANSAS CITY

We wish to announce to those interested that we will have a cream buying station in operation at our plant at 1100 South D street, January 2nd, 1922.

We will pay 30 cents per pound butter fat until further market change.

Bring your cream, eggs and poultry to our plant. We will endeavor to please you.

A. S. KININMONTH PRODUCE CO.

[MEASURING DEVICE PLACED ON WALNUT RIVER BRIDGE, WINFIELD.]

April 14, 1881 - Jarvis, Conklin & Co. have purchased a typewriter, the first one for Winfield. It is a handy little machine, and one can write with it much faster than by hand.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1922 MYSTERY SOLVED Explanation Made of Curious Machine on South Bridge.

That black box fastened to the west rail of the Walnut river bridge on South Main street is part of an apparatus for measuring and recording the rise and fall of water in the river, it was explained today by those who have it in charge. The box has caused a great deal of wonderment and questioning, but no one seemed to know about it. Today it was learned that William Mason, who lives south of the river, near the bridge, is looking after the apparatus.

Attached to the rail of the bridge adjacent to the black box is a horizontal timber upon which is fastened a measuring scale ten feet and one tenth in length. The scale is divided into feet and tenths of a foot. Between zero and three feet the scale is divided by markings, each of which represent two one-hundredths of a foot.

An opening in the bottom of the box, through which projects a short length of pipe, allows a weighted cord to be let down to the water. A permanent marker on this cord is applied to the scale and the reading taken and noted. Mr. Mason says this is done twice a day, morning and evening. The fluctuations in the height of the river are thus accurately recorded.

This apparatus was placed on the bridge several weeks ago by agents of the United States Geological Survey. Its purpose is to record the flow of the river. Similar apparatus has been placed on bridges throughout the country in order to get a dependable estimate on the amount of water available in any given region. Some day this will be valuable in making plans for the conservation of water, or for utilizing the rivers for water power.

Mr. Mason was asked to look after the apparatus because he lives nearby. He gets a small fee for doing it. The daily records are forwarded to the survey at the end of each week.

CCourier.

Winfield Courier, October 11, 1883.

A FEW RAMBLES BY A COWLEY COUNTY LADY.

Leaving Winfield August 10th at three p.m., I arrived at Maryville, Missouri, at ten a.m., the following day, without any startling occurrences and nothing worthy of note save a few reflections, which were that the stations seem but a few miles apart, and at each but a few minutes are given for exit and admittance and for those going on to take in the outlines of things and quietly put them in shape as we jostle on to our destinations. Here my thoughts became retrospective.

The last time I traveled this road was in 1871, when the terminus was Cottonwood Falls, from which we Apursued the even tenor of our way@ to Winfield in a two horse wagon, which we thought to be preferable to a stage coach, and which, with its white cover, was the unmistakable sign of emigration. After stemming the tide of wind and weather for three days, we arrived safely without the occurrence of anything which, at that time, seemed worthy of notice. But now we distinctly remember that the stations were far apart, and consisted generally of a single house, with a few acres of sod-corn about it, and the sight, which became almost monotonous, of a man with a few yoke of oxen or a span of horses, and sometimes a boy for driver, turning over the sod. Here and there on the road could be seen a pile of rock for a Afoundation,@ or a few slabs set up on end, with one left out for a door and a hole sawed out for a window, striking emblems of what we hoped to do and of what we have accomplished, with vast acres of undulating prairie stretching out before the pioneer, bounded only by the misty horizon, and stimulating his ambition by the wealth and plenty there in store, if not for himselfCfor his children.

I would not have the reader suppose that on this trip of 1871 I did not pass the then small towns of El Dorado, Augusta, and Douglass, and thence to Winfield, where we all brushed our hair and donned our nicest attire to peep out at the future seat of government of Cowley County. We found that we had only halted at a common-place log store, with the post office, dry-goods, groceries, etc., as the chief attractions. The upper story of this old building, I remember, was the birthplace of the Winfield COURIER. Near by was the small frame bank of J. C. Fuller. On the corner where now stands a block of buildings containing the Winfield Bank and that of M. L. Read, the COURIER office and numerous offices in the upper story, was the bare prairie, so with the opposite corner where now stands the magnificent brick block containing our Opera House. These wonderful changes stand to the old settler a quiet recognition of the hasty rewards produced, not alone by perfect management, but by the progressive march of railroads and other modern inventions, which have so annihilated distance as to make it possible for us to travel many more miles in a day than in those pioneer times, and which enable us to tell a brother in New York or San Francisco at 6 o=clock that sister died in Arkansas City, on the border of the Indian Territory, at half past three.

But we are passing on to new scenes, and as the conductor enters calling out the stations, I awake from my reverie to think of the present.

The towns are now but a few miles apart, and at every one there are from three hundred to several thousand inhabitants, and always one or more churches and schoolhouses, attesting the fact that religion and education are twin sisters, and that our progress would be less and our civilization fall short of its wonderful achievements without either. So we pass over the beautiful, rolling prairies of Kansas. with comfortable homes, orchards laden with ripening fruit, more than was expected and enough for home and much for market; herds of fat cattle and horses grazing in the pastures, and, if my judgment is right, enough wheat to supply the foreign demand.

The shades of night here gather around us, and we are at Newton, not where Sir Isaac saw the apple fall, but where I take a sleeper to change my reflections on Kansas past, present, and future to the interpretation of the wheezing and sneezing of the engine, which I found beyond my comprehension and fell into fitful slumbers.

Daylight brought us to Atchison, which the early hour and location of the depot prevented us from seeing much of; enough, however, to prove it to be a large manufacturing and business center. At sight of the ABig Muddy,@ I could not help falling into another retrospection, when, in 1857, it was the great highway for commerce and emigration, and when the writer was left by a thoughtful husband in St. Joseph while he did business in Leavenworth, where were fought the early political battles between the powers of slavery and free state. It was at that time unpleasant if not dangerous for a woman to be in Leavenworth, though I sometimes made the venture in the quieter days, and well do I remember when the steamer would launch at Iatan, pass over to Atchison, and soon, with quickening anticipation, be landed in Leavenworth.

Here we are reminded that we are hungry, and after breakfasting, we slowly pass over that strongly built structure, the Atchison bridge, and wind our way to St. Joseph over a very flat road with the Missouri near on one side and high hills, covered with timber, on the other. The scene here is very different from that in Kansas. There is the same frequency of railroad stations and the same cheering emblems of civilization and religion; but hills, high and rough, with immense trees and thick underbrush. We soon arrive at Maryville, meet our friends, and leave further description for another letter.            C. H. G.

Winfield Courier, February 14, 1884.

The city prisoners were put at work on the streets last week. They worked about fifteen minutes, then threw up the job, and refused to expend any further physical force in the interests of the city. They were returned to the cell and put on an allowance of bread and water.