The Heritage Quest by Dorthy Mas

The Heritage Quest
by Dorthy Mast - Chairman of the History Committee
for the 125th Celebration of Bird City

The early settlers of Bird City and the surrounding areas were a mixture of cattlemen, homesteaders, traders, merchants, doctors, lawyers, millers, newspapermen, real estate agents, liverymen, blacksmiths and others, looking to secure a place in this new land.
     They came in covered wagons, by horseback or walked. They built homes of sod because there were no trees except near streams or live springs. As the town grew, the building materials were hauled by wagons from Collinsville (later Benkelman) or Rawlins County.
     The Historical committee for the Bird City 125-year celebration is looking for living descendants of the owners of early businesses or homesteaders from 1880 - 1920.
     "Come out of hiding and help us celebrate the accomplishments of those early settlers during Bird City's 125-years in 2010."
      The following is a list of the earliest businesses in Bird City: Kerndt Brothers Mercantile Store, Mrs. Slover's Boarding Shack, Mitchell's and Mikesell's Drug Store, Bird City Hotel-John Elliott, Dennis Cave's office, Murray Building-John Murray, Pendarvis Livery-E.R. Pendarvis, Thomas Cave-Physician, Lanning and Antrim Bank and Palace Billiard Hall-unknown owner.
      A beginning list of the homesteaders follows: Homestead (160 acres) located in section as follows: Bird City Township, James Adams-3; Robert Adams-3; William Atkinson-29; Edgar Baldwin-14;
Marietta Beal-6; Harriett Berry-34; Olin Berry-34, Edward Bohannan-9; Lincoln -9; Bowans, Henery -11.
      Sources: Cheyenne County Courthouse records and Homestead Patent Books.

     These articles are written to bring an awareness of how important the heritage of the past is to all of us. The dictionary explains it as "handed down from the past," but in reality it is how we relate to the past that is important.
     In the life style of today, we fail to place much importance upon the past. We often place it in the "ho-hum" category.
      This must bring great sadness to the grandparents and great-grandparents when their life stories seem to have very little value.
      Among the early settlers of the Bird City area, there were many unsavory characters that came to exploit the land and the people. Others came seeking religious freedom and some came to escape landlord tyrants, religious persecution or military conscription; however, when the chaff is separated from the wheat, we find those sincere, hard-working men and women dedicated to the task of cultivation the land, building homes, churches, schools and businesses to create a viable community.
     The hardships and trials they endured to accomplish this should be honored as a great part of the history of Bird City. We are continuing to search for the living descendants of these homesteaders and early town residents.
      Bird City township 3Rg 38 homestead patents in sections: Bowans, Henery-11; Boyer, William-4; Bratton, Richard-7; Brock, George-19; Brock, Levi-19; Butler, James -19; Carr, Clara-6; Cary, Francis-3; Cave. D.W.-36. Source: Cheyenne County Courthouse records-patents books.
      Bird City (town) residents - 1895; Bacon, H. W., Bacon, O. J., Barnhart, Homer, Beaverstock, F.D.,Berry, Olin, Bittner, William, Colt, A.R., Comer, F. B., Dobbs, R.D., Elliott, Fredrick. Source: Cheyenne Courthouse census records.

Settlers make dugout homes
The dugout
submitted by Dorthy Mast

    When the hardy settler began the conquest of the prairie, he found at hand the material for shelter and fuel. The dugout and the sod house provided the shelter and buffalo chips and prairie grass served for fuel.
     The prairie home was made out of the sod or was dug out of the side of the hill. The dugout was more easily constructed and became a temporary shelter until a sod house could be built.
     Often times the family lived in the covered wagon box during this time while the father used the running gears to haul the poles, brush and grass needed for the front of the dugout. The family cooked their meals by the campfire and the group slept in or under the wagon.
     The dugout was a room dug out of the side of a hill or ravine. A few rare posts were used in making a door frame or small window. The door opened out into the ravine. The front wall was made of square cut turf.
     The roof sloping back into the hill was made of a few poles covered over with brush, a layer of prairie grass and finally a layer of dirt. It was bad enough for a man to live in a dugout, but it was very trying for a woman.
     Often, the size of the interior of a dugout was only eight foot by twelve foot. The dugout was a very common structure and was used for many purposes, blacksmith shops, post offices, and lodgings were sometimes located in them. Not infrequently, a combination dugout and sod house was made.
      Source: The Sod House Frontier by Everett Dick.
Share information with:
Dorthy L. Mast, P.O. Box 8, Bird City, KS 67731
                        Phone: 785-734-2750 or
Wanda Dowdy, P.O. Box 146, Bird City, KS 67731
                        Phone: 785-734-2383