Rope

S.M.

January 24, 2024 

One interesting object in the collection of the Santa Fe Trail Center is this antique cast iron hand crank rope maker with a patent date of 1901. 

Rope has been an essential part of daily life since the dawn of time.  Until the Eighteenth Century, rope was constructed in ropewalks, long buildings where strands of fiber were laid out to the entire length of the intended rope, and then twisted together to form the rope.  Rope was made from natural fibers, and also from leather.   Manilla rope was as strong as its weight in steel, but leather was weaker.   Bison were hunted on the plains, and their skins were used for leather thongs and belts for factories in the factories of the eastern United States and Europe.   During the Nineteenth Century, rope production began to change.   Long ropes were necessary for shipping, and it is said that when King George V was a young prince, he had served in the royal navy where he learned to make rope from an old sailor. 

In 1887, a man was reported to have escaped from jail by making a rope out of newspaper.    In 1888, the wife of a New York banker had invented and patented a machine for making wire rope.  In 1921, two prisoners escaped from the Larned jail by making a rope from their blankets. 

Most communities had rope makers because of the high demand for rope.  In 1884, a Mr. Johnson lived north of Larned, and was listed as a rope maker.  Several local auctions were listed with rope making machines for sale.  The Row Hardware in Larned featured South American sisal grass which was a short fibrous grass which they sold for rope making.

Antique rope makers can still be found in museums and antique shops.   In the collection of the Santa Fe Trail Center is such a device which was patented on November 12, 1907.   A system of three metal gears were cranked, and as they turned, they would spin three cooks on the opposite side.  Smaller cords were attached to those hooks which would twist as the gears were cranked, which would twist long sections of three strand rope.    Other rope makers had up to five hooks for more strands making a thicker rope.   Rope making is often demonstrated at the Santa Fe Trail Center during educational events such as the Tired Iron Show each October.

 This particular piece was donated by the Newacheck family of Larned.  Elmer Newacheck was a long-time president of the Fort Larned Historical Society, and instrumental in the construction of the museum.

 

 John Basiger

SM

February 13, 2024

 

 

John Basiger was born in 1840 in Wangen, Switzerland, John Basiger came to the United States in 1854 with his parents.  His parents had first settled in Delaware County, Ohio where he was raised. He enlisted in April 22, 1861 in Company I, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and transferred in 1863 to Company B, Thirteenth Veteran reserve Corps and served as a hospital steward.   He was mustered out in 1864.   He reentered a few months later as captain of Company H, 174^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but after nine months of service, he was mustered out again due to poor health.  In 1870, he married Miss Ellen Smith of Kenton, Ohio.   The next year, their daughter, Nellie was born.  She only lived to the age of nine when she died of typhoid fever.   Their other child Jessie was born in 1873, but only lived ten months.   Jessie’s grave is one of the earliest in the Larned Cemetery. 

John R. Basiger established a Harness and Saddle shop in Larned upon arriving in 1879, and closed in 1885.  The Basigers had moved to Larned in 1879, and he was employed as a traveling salesman for the St. Louis Leather House.   He held a patent for a hook and terrett pad and hame strap buckle.       Their residence was on 4^th Street in Larned. In 1883, his shop was robbed him of $75.  The shop stood on the east side of Broadway, and was known by the big collar which hung out front.    He was part of the Company F regiment of the Kansas National Guard.   In 1886, he had established a cattle ranch, the Walnut Hills Pasture, north of Larned between the Walnut and Pawnee Rivers on one of the highest points in the county.  He raised thorough-bred, high-grade and shorthorn cattle.  Also in 1886, he began plans to bring a railroad to this ranch.  That year, he was awarded a badge from the Cattlemen’s Association. He opened a real estate office in 1887.     That same year, he sold his cattle in order to focus his attention on real estate, and sold the remainder of his ranch in 1888, and shifted his focus on managing the Southern Kansas Mortgage company. 

The location was on the south west quarter of section 15 in the Township 22 Range 16.   In the 1890s, he served as chaplain for the B.F. Larned Post No. 8, G.A.R.

After Ellen Basiger passed away in 1905 at the age of 67, Captain Basiger kept his ranch near Frizell Station for another year.   In 1906, he married Mrs. Rose Allen Katar, an accomplished musician and vocalist, and daughter to prominent abolitionists.  She was a graduate of the Conservatory of Music in Leipsic, Germany.  They lived on the corner of Topeka and Sixth Street which was considered “one of the most beautiful and palatial in Larned.”

Beginning in 1910, the Basiger family moved to Florida to winter there in the milder climate. In 1915, they donated one hundred volumes and 41 portfolios to the Cummins Memorial Library in Larned.   They had moved to Colorado Springs, where he passed away at the age of 84 in 1924.   He was buried in the Larned Cemetery. 

 

 

 Jess Willard - Kansas Boxer and Entertainer

 S.M.

January 1. 2024

One of the entertainers highlighted in the current exhibit “Cowboys of the Silver Screen” at the Santa Fe Trail Center is a Kansas legend, Jess Willard.     Willard was born in 1881 in Saint Clere, Pottawatomie County,  Kansas, and worked as a cowboy in his early career.  He was a cattle puncher and horse handler in Elk City, Oklahoma, and by 1910, became an overland freighter.    He did not begin boxing until the age of 27, although other reports say he was 29.   At six feet inches, he was larger than most fighters. His massive strength gave him the reputation to be able to kill with a single punch, although he was actually a gentle man who did not enjoy hurting people. He was nicknamed “the Pottawatomie Giant.” In 1915, he had won the title of world heavyweight champion in his boxing fight in Cuba against Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion.    After his win, he returned to the life of a cowboy and joined the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in April, 1915.    In September of that year, the Sells-Floto and Buffalo Bill Shows came to Larned.  It is not known if Willard performed in Larned.   Willard was an attraction in the wild west shows due to his sports fame and his riding skills.  He signed on to the Miller Brothers’ 101 Ranch Real Wild West show, but would return to buy the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in 1917 after the death of Buffalo Bill Cody.   In 1919, he starred in the film The Challenge of Chance, which showed in Larned at the Electric Theater in 1920.  In 1919, he lost hist prizefighting title when he fought Jack Dempsey in the famous boxing match in Toledo.    He also appeared in 1933 in the film The Prizefighter and the Lady, which also featured another famous boxer Max Baer and actress Myrna Loy.   Willard passed away in 1968.