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As the leaves change and the school year settles in, there are countless good things happening in our schools and communities.
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Cattleman Henry Sitler watched as the survey stakes inched ever closer to his sod ranch house on a stretch of land along the Santa Fe Trail just outside the Fort Dodge military reservation. Recognizing the commercial opportunity of such a location, George Hoover and John McDonald set up a tent saloon near the Sitler ranch house on June 17, 1872.
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On the Kansas plains, the year of 1867 began with Gen. Winfield Hancock’s military campaign against the tribes that had called the western plains home for generations. Hancock claimed he wanted to bring peace to the plains, but his show of force only brought the prospect of annihilation to the people of the plains. The Cheyenne, supported by the Arapaho and Sioux, fought back to bring a bloody summer of war to the plains.
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The most famous cattle trail in western history, the Chisholm, was established when an innovative cattle market was created at Abilene in 1867. Abilene was so successful that the stockyards couldn’t handle all the cattle that were daily arriving. Other towns began to open markets for shipping and trading cattle, and new trails developed. The Kansas Pacific Railroad supported the development and built yards at other locations along their route. Cattle were shipped from Junction City, Solomon, Salina, Brookville, Ellsworth, Wilson, Russell and so on down the line.
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“I’m tired,” my son intoned as he sprawled across a chair on a neighbor’s front porch.
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Nathaniel Ellsworth Wyatt is believed to have been born in Indiana. His year of birth is in question, having been reported from 1863 until 1870. John T. Wyatt married Rachel J. Quick of Clay County, Ind., in 1860. Rachel was 16. When the Civil War broke out, John joined the 85th Indiana Infantry.
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