Opinions

Ellsworth’s volunteer firefighters need support of the communityDear Editor, I wanted to share some comments about a local resource some of us take for granted until something catastrophic happens.Ellsworth County is very blessed and fortunate to have volunteer firefighters.

The morning air has turned crisp, the temperatures have begun to drop, and the sun noticeably rises a little bit later every morning. It is definitely beginning to feel like fall on the farm.

Early in October, 1869, George W. Martin, the editor of the Junction City Union, joined a party of railroad excursionists to travel to the west line of the Kansas border.

Newspapers inform, educate communitiesWelcome to National Newspaper Week! We’re excited you’ve joined us for the 82nd annual celebration, which runs Oct. 2-8.We realize that fairly recently, we published an editorial about the I-R’s 150th anniversary and more or less threw ourselves a parade.

One of the unexpected joys of working at the paper has been getting to know you, our readers.If I happen to be here on a Tuesday evening, I see cars pull up and people make a trip to the newspaper box sitting outside of our front window. Sometimes, I come out and chit-chat.

They say that Curly Walker came down to Wichita from the “hell on wheels” end-of-track frontier towns of Hays City and Ellsworth.At Wichita he was known to run with another “Curly,” John “Curly” Marshall, also a graduate of the tough little hole they called Ellsworth.

Osage orange trees are still common throughout much of the United States, though not many people appreciate just how much the thorny, dense trees have shaped our country. Before Christopher Columbus’ arrival, Osage orange had a limited range in the Red River basin in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

“The Troubles” over slavery in Kansas Territory brought hundreds of people to Kansas in 1856. Aspiring young newspaperman, Hovey Evert Lowman and his brothers, John G. Lowman and Lyman L. Lowman, went to Kansas “to seek fame and fortune in that new territory.

Over the past decade or two, farmhouse décor has been an in vogue style of interior design. It makes me chuckle when I think about people who don’t live on a farm trying to create clean and pretty spaces through white wash, distressed paint and vintage hardware.

In 1858, William Greeneberry “Green” Russell led an expedition to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in search of gold. After weeks of disappointment gold was discovered on Little Dry Creek, about 10 miles south of their original destination. The discovery set off the “Pikes Peak” rush for gold.