Wildcat Lore
The headline comes from Yogi Berra, but it applies equally to the good folks of Jarre Valley and Jarre Canyon. Douglas County settlers were naturally attracted to water and transportation access: Witness Sedalia’s founder, John Craig, who settled at the confluence of East and West Plum Creeks. The east side of the creeks was…
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Born in 1863 of Scotch lineage, George Patrick Stewart hailed from Murchison, Victoria, in Australia’s gold belt. After his storekeeper/postmaster father died when George was 7 years old, his uncle Izett Stewart transported him to the Isle of Jersey in England to live with his Aunt Helen. Nine years later, at 16, George rejoined Uncle…
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Swashbuckler! Now there’s a colorful term seldom used today. One historical character that comes immediately to mind is D.C. Oakes of our Wildcat Mountains. Another bold, flamboyant and larger-than-life figure was Rufus “Potato” Clark, or sometimes called the “Spud King.” And sometimes he went by the moniker “Dad.”* Rufus was born to a Connecticut farmer…
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Worn down by dismal life opportunities available to them in Somerset, England, Elizabeth Ann Dowden and her husband James Perry packed up, leaving the Isles in 1848. With sons James Dowden (James D.) and George, and 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth in tow, the family took passage on a ship to the United States. No luxury liner,…
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Born in Lostivefel, England in 1844 during the reign of King Edward VII, Frank Sobey was raised in Dubuque, Iowa, where his parents had immigrated. Against their wishes and merely 15 years of age, Frank joined the Union Army. His family immediately disowned him. Despite his youth, he vindicated himself with great…
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If you’ve lived in Douglas County more than a few years and haven’t been to Bud’s Bar in Sedalia, you ain’t nobody. Whoa! Let me be more sensitive. You’ve simply failed to seize a legendary opportunity: Bud’s world-renowned hamburgers, great folks, a colorful backstory and all the Wildcat Lore that flows within it. Sedalia…
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Have you ever hiked Sandstone Ranch? It is a grand, sculpted piece of Douglas County open space inventory bounded by Gove Creek and located south of Highway 105 and the Perry Park Road intersection. In 1870, 30-year-old Civil War veteran William “Allan” Dakan soloed westward to claim a cabin on lower Gove Creek, near blacksmith…
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Young people of the 21st century seem to be marrying later and fretting more, enjoying the lack of early responsibilities prior to taking on life-altering commitments. A good plan if you’ve got money or accommodating parents. Not so with Sedalian Thomas Buntain. He served in the Civil War as early as 17, marrying his bride…
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…in Greenland Until it burned to the ground again on May 11th of this year, the tallest building in Greenland, Colorado was a weather-seasoned red barn that was first built by Isaac Jegirtha Noe in the mid 1880s. His original three-cupola structure was first incinerated from a lightning strike in 1922. New owners at…
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Writers have a tendency to hype their subjects. After all, why write about them if they were merely good? With the Sedalia Manhart Family, no doubt remains about their seminal role in the town once called Round Corral. That the main street is Manhart Street settles any argument. Christian Manhart’s birth in 1835 started things…
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