SALT A story of early days in Anderson county, KS Transcribed and submitted by Merl "Bus" Cornelius, (c) 2001 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [Note: Bus Cornelius has a large collection of reminiscences and drawings posted at http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/articles/bus/bc_main.htm. These have to do with the Boling and Cornelius families, and mostly concern the time they spent in Lane, KS. The Anderson county KSGenWeb page is very grateful to Mr. Cornelius for sharing his memories and those of his mother Marie Boling Cornelius with us.] --- SALT I will call this the salt story, it is not interesting but an event in time and if I do not write it down it will be forgotten. First I will endeavor to establish dates. Being the story has been told and retold and those that do remember have passed on, I will record what I was told. My mother Marie Boling Cornelius was b1903 d1988, born in Greeley Ks. Moved to Lane in 1917. She told this story and I can not tie it to Greeley or Lane, but will give you what I think. In 1839 the Government forced moved the Pottawatomie Indians from Indiana to the area of Lane Kansas. Some seven hundered miles, being the Pottawatomies had been previously moved from Wisconsin to Indicia, they objected and the Army had to hog tie the chiefs in army wagons to make the move. The Indians set of their village on the Pottawatomie Creek near what was called Dutch Henrys Crossing, which was made famous by John Brown. These Indians were removed from the area in 1884 There were other tribes in the area, the Fox, Ohio's, Sack's, at that time Kansas was the dumping ground. The first white settlers at Greeley were, Valentine Gerth and Frances Meyer both single men from St. Louis. They came in the early part of 1854 and arrive in time to plant and harvest a corn crop. On the abandoned Indian tracks left by the Indians they built there cabin near the creek and covered the roof with elm bark strips from the Indians teepees. Mr. Meyer returned to St Louis. The railroads came through the area in the 1870, it was first called the St Louis - Kansas - Arizona Railroad and latter changed to the Missouri Pacific. There is two reasons I am writing this, this way. Valentine Gerth's son John moved to Lane and as I have stated my mother moved from Greeley to Lane also, this story came along and it could fit both towns, and dates but due to the dates, railroad not being built, I believe it was Valentine Gerth and not John involved. My mother told of the early times when the area was out of salt, it does not sound like much to us with markets close by and our refrigerators, but in those days, salt was the only way to preserve meat and survival. Mr. Gerth set out on a six day trip in his wagon to Westport to secure a load of salt. They figured three days up and three days back. This salt was so critical for cooking and preserving, that a number of wagons and buggies and men on horse back started up the trail on the sixth day to meet Mr. Gerth and get some of the salt he was bringing. Bus Cornelius ---