“Prior to 1870, Barton County was the home of the buffalo, antelope, elk and deer, and for several years after the county began to be settled, these kings of the plain roamed over the prairies of the county in countless numbers. Buffalo were even killed on the town site of Great Bend long after the first settlers had located there, and antelope were seen by the hundred as late as 1875. As the county became more populous all these disappeared.”

Thus, in his History of Kansas, published in 1883, William G. Cutler described the location that developed into Great Bend, Kan.

Named for its location on the “great bend” of the Arkansas River in central Kansas, the townsite of Great Bend, Kan., was surveyed early in 1871. Very few settlers came to the area that fall and winter. Settlement picked up “at a lively rate” early in 1872.

The arrival of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in July of 1872 contributed a great deal to the pace of development.

Great Bend’s chief competitor was the town of Zarah, located east of Great Bend near the abandoned military post of Fort Zarah. Promoters of Zarah expected to attract the Texas cattle trade “via the new route or trail some 50 miles west of the ‘Chisholm’ trail.”

When Great Bend won the county seat for Barton County and the railroad passed Zarah without establishing a depot, Zarah began to decline and eventually failed as a townsite.

By 1873, the Texas cattle trade that Zarah had hoped to attract arrived at Great Bend. The great Texas cattle trade had shifted west from Abilene to Ellsworth.

At Ellsworth, the Reporter recorded a substantial tally of 170,000 head of cattle grazing the surrounding prairies.

Cutler wrote in the History of Kansas, “The years 1873, ‘74 and ‘75, were interesting years in the history of Great Bend, as those were the years during which the cattle trade centered at that point. This trade would usually commence about the first of June, and continue till towards the middle of October. A natural consequence of this trade was lively times for the merchants while it lasted, and for the orderly and peaceably disposed of the community, a constant dread.

“The advantages in trade were more than counterbalanced by the disadvantages to society. The class of people that the cattle trade attracted to Great Bend, was that class of thugs and harlots that are a curse and a dread to every community ...”

On the streets of Great Bend, Texan drovers mixed with buffalo hunters, and at least some of the local citizens, in search of liquid fortification and pleasure. The town sported two dance halls, each 80 feet in length and “continuously lighted up during the night time ...”

Among the many saloons Mr. Stroble served lunch and lager beer brewed in August Herboldsheimer’s Topeka-based steam brewery. J. F. “Jack” Elder, proprietor of the Long Branch liked fine cigars and white wine and served up premium ale or a “rattling glass” of lemonade to tired and thirsty travelers.

Jack Elder’s working girls included young Kate Fisher, newly arrived from Wichita. She took his name and later became known as Big Nose Kate Elder. Elder’s girls were employed to keep the boys drinking and taking pleasure late into the night. When L. D. Henderson, Dodge City’s Ford County attorney, came to town for a case before Judge Brown he made the mistake of leaving unpaid bills about town before falling asleep at Elder’s Long Branch. Kate and the girls painted him up “a la Indian warrior” and when he woke up they turned him out on the street. Later a concerned citizen suggested to the readers of the Great Bend Register that this “fine-haired, sweetscented youth ... should be sent back east to reform his manners.”

An interesting businessman in town was Texan Moses S. Kutch, who switched from trailing cattle to dealing in clothing and groceries. Kutch supplied the greater part of the Texas trade. He was a friendly fellow, but would not tolerate a fool.

As the story goes, Kutch didn’t like the way an attorney was handling a case in which Kutch had an interest. When he could take no more Kutch, “momentarily administered a few blows with his fist that brought the county official to the floor.” Kutch immediately turned to the judge, asked the amount of his fine and paid without further note. It was the expedient thing to do.

Such was life at the great bend of the Arkansas River where the home of the buffalo, antelope, elk, and deer could become a lively frontier town in a matter of months on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.