Lost Springs Kansas.

Marion County.

Clesr Creek, Township Map, 1885.

http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/224032/page/9

 

On the county map. Lost Springs can be found in Township 17-South and Range 4-East.  On the township map, Lost Springs can be found in section 21.

 

Lost Springs Post Office.

 

Open July 9, 1879 and ran to ?

 

Business men who used Lost Springs as their P. O. address as of 1885.

 

M. F. Ehms, Farmer and Stock Raiser, from Arkansas, came to county September, 1884.

 

S. D. Hyson, Farmer and Stock Raiser, from Hopkins county, New York, came to county April, 1884.

 

B. Hunsparger, Farmer and Stock Raiser, from Waterloo, Canada, came to county April 1880.

 

A. M. Nettroner, Farmer and Stock Raiser, from Elkhart county Indiana, came to county March, 1884.

 

Albert Peck, Farmer and Stock Raiser, from Mason county, Illinois, came to county June, 1879.

 

M. F. Shupe, Farmer, Merchant and Land Agn't., from Canada, came to county April, 1879.

 

W. J. Weaver, Farmer and Stock Raiser, Pennsylvania, came to county December, 1876. 

 

Fates About Lost Springs.

 

The first settlers in the county located on Doyle creek, near the present town of Florence. They were Moses Shane, who came in 1858, and whose death the next year was the first in the county; Patrick Doyle, in 1859, for whom Doyle creek and township were named, and a family by the name of Welsh, in which occurred the first birth in the county in Aug., 1859. In the spring of 1859 a trading post was established at Lost Springs on the Santa Fe trail and in the autumn of the same year Moore Bros. established a ranch near the present town of Durham. The first postoffice was established at this place with A. A. Moore as postmaster. Later in the same year a postoffice was established at Lost Springs with J. H. Costello as postmaster. Previous to this the nearest postoffice was Emporia. Thomas J. Wise settled on Clear creek and John Brenot on Brenot creek in 1859. The next year William H. Billings, George Griffith and William Shreve located where the city of Marion now stands. The population of the county in that year was 74.

 

Lost Springs Kansas. 1912.

 

Lost Springs, one of the historic points in Marion county, is an incorporated town located in Lost Springs township, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads i8 miles north of Marion, the county seat. It has a bank, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postofifice with two rural routes. All the regular lines of business activity are represented, and one of the largest mills in this section of Kansas is located here. There is a hotel and livery stable for the accommodation of travelers. According to the census of 1910 there were 276 inhabitants.

 

The springs for which the town was named, a noted camping place on the Santa Fe trail, are about 2 miles west of the depot. Many explanations have been given as to why they were called Lost Springs, none of which are authentic enough to bear repetition. These springs were known to the earliest travelers on the trail, and this was a camping point. The first historical mention of this place was by Josiah Gregg in his work, "Commerce of the Prairies," written in 1845. I" his table of distances he places it 175 miles west of Independence, and 15 miles west of Diamond Springs, the previous stopping place. A trading post was established there in 1859 by J. H. Costello and a partner, Joshua Smith, who six months afterward sold out to Costello. Some lime during the Civil war a detachment of soldiers was ordered up from Mississippi to guard the Santa Fe trail, and Corporal Fred Sucksdorf, with a few men, was stationed at Lost Springs. In 1908 a large granite boulder was set up to mark the trail at Lost Springs. The usual inscription was cut on the stone and a fitting ceremonry attended the occasion. In 1904 the town of Lost Springs was incorporated as a city of the third class.