Cowley County History
From "A New Centennial History of Kansas," Charles Tuttle, 1876
Cowley County was organized in 1870, being named in
honor of an officer in the ninth Kansas cavalry, who died at
Little Rock, Arkansas, after the Camden expedition. The area
of Cowley is 1,112 square miles, and the population 8,963, males
preponderating to the number of 715. There was in 1874 a much
larger population before the locust famine overtook the locality,
and since the census for 1875 was collected, the number has
increased again very considerably. When the report was prepared in 1874-5, to submit to the legislature of Kansas, there
were 475 in want of rations, and 1,400 in want of clothing for
winter. Unfortunately, the legislators bickered among themselves, and there was not as much appropriated as would pay for
framing the report. Illinois gave the largest quota of population
to this county, Missouri next, then Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.
Agriculture employs eighty-two per cent, of the population,
manufactures and mining seven per cent, and trade and transportation a little over three. Winfield is the county seat of
Cowley county. It is 144 miles from Topeka in a southwesterly
direction. Bottom lands rise in this county to the average of
thirty-three per cent, so that it will be seen that Winfield is the
center of a fine agricultural county. Woodlands average six per
cent., the timber being of choice varieties, valuable for manufacturing, such as walnut, oak and other such woods. The bottom lands of Arkansas river average five miles, the Walnut two
miles; Grouse, Dutch and Hock creek, one mile. The principal
streams are the Arkansas river and its tributaries, Walnut and
Grouse. The Walnut tributaries are the Rock, Dutch and Timber creeks. The Grouse has one important tributary. Silver
creek. This county has good springs, and excellent well water
can be procured at depths varying from fifteen to forty feet.
The mineral resources of the county are coal and building stone.
The quantity of coal is yet unknown, but the quantity and
quality of magnesian limestone are both excellent. No railroads
have yet been constructed here. Butter is largely manufactured
in this county, but cheese is a small product; farm animals thrive
and sheep would prosper but for the dogs. The increase of land
in cultivation in 1875 was over 82,000 acres. The water
powers of the Walnut are perfectly reliable except in heat of
summer when there is apt to be a failure. Three mills are now
depending on this stream. The manufactures of Cowley county
are, in brief, in Cresswell township, a steam saw mill and two
water power grist mills; in Spring Creek township, a steam lumber and grist mill ; in Winfield township a steam saw mill,
three water power grist mills and one brewery ; in Lazette
township, one grist and one saw mill, and in Silverdale township,
one saw mill and one grist mill. There are several banks in
Arkansas City, at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut.
This town commands a large trade, and although it is only three
years old it already runs ahead of all competitors. There is a
good weekly paper, the Traveler now published on a spot which
was an Osage hunting ground three years since. The Indians
come back to their old grounds to trade occasionally. The support of Arkansas City is the Texan cattle trade, traffic with the
Indians and supplying the fine agricultural country by which it is
surrounded. The Arkansas City Bank and the Cowley County
Bank in this town transact a considerable business. There are
two banking houses in Winfield also, the aggregate capital of the
four banks being $51,300. There are three papers published in
Winfield. The county has fifty-eight school houses and 108
districts: the value of school property being $63,476. There are
four church edifices valued at $11,500. There are seventy private
libraries and one public, with an aggregate of 4,631 volumes, but
returns only came from six townships out of twenty-two.
Return to Cowley Co. KHHP
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This website created Feb. 10, 2013 by Sheryl McClure.
2011-2013 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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