125 years ago
january 22, 1886
Next Friday, January 29, Kansas celebrates its quarter centennial—the 25th anniversary of the admission of the State to the Union. The following exercises will be held in Topeka, and will include addresses by Gov. Marion, ex-Governor Robinson, Sam Wood, ex-Governor Osborn, Noble Prentis, Chief Justice Horton, and others. It will be an interesting occasion, and all the young Kansans possible should be there and hear the old Kansans tell the story of pioneer days.
A 22-inch vein of coal has been discovered 10 miles this side of Emporia, or about 40 miles east of Marion. The “coal belt” is moving westward along with the “Star of Empire” the rain belt, and other progressive institutions.
Businesses advertised on the front page of this issue include the following: A.E. Downes, dealer in staple and fancy groceries; First National Bank of Marion, W.H. Dudley, cashier; Cottonwood Valley Bank, the only incorporated bank in the city; Marion Carriage and Wagon Works, James H. Hoch, proprietor; Jno. F. Carter, dealer in lumber; Barrows & Tidyman, new furniture store; Case & Billings, real estate agents; and A.D. Billings, furniture.
Mr. S. Jetmore has sold his fine Durham Park township farm to Scully and removed to Emporia.
Bob Baker got in two carloads of coal the first of the week and divided it among 80-odd families.
The individual who left a handkerchief with some silver tied in one corner or it at the YMCA social will please call at this office.
Messrs. Hutchinson & Co. had housed, up to last Saturday night, six or seven hundred tons of excellent ice. The ice is about 12 inches thick.
Our fellow citizen Stephen Jex returned from western Kansas the first of this week and confirms the stories of the awful effects of the storm out in the new country. At Coolidge, he saw several corpses of frozen people, and heard of many more. And cattle, he says, were frozen by the thousand, on the range.
The handsome new cutter which Henry Siebert imported into Marion this winter and which has been busy ever since, gliding around over the slick surface, marks another advance in conveyances.