Greeley popularized the iconic phrase, “Go West, young man,” that helped inspire a generation of settlers to pack up their lives and seek their fortunes on the vast Kansas plains and beyond. But Greeley wasn't just interested in expansion; he was a fierce abolitionist who used the power of his newspaper to fight for Kansas to enter the Union as a free state.
Today, that historical legacy is baked directly into the local geography. If you look at a map, you'll see the county seat is named Tribune. Just a few miles away sits Horace, an early railroad town that once served as the final Kansas railhead before the steam engines crossed the border into Colorado. And Greeley County, along with three of its neighbors, declares its far-west identity in another way: by operating on Mountain Time.
The topography of the county includes rock formations, caves, and waterways, many of which, with irrigation and widespread cultivation, are now dry beds and basins. But the sites of White Woman Creek, Ladder Creek, Beaver Basin and Dead Horse Lake remain.
And the area is rich in conquistador and indigenous history. A sword from Coronado’s expedition was found in the northeast part of the county. Elsewhere, limestone caves served as burial tombs for the Cheyenne. And pottery shards from campsites around the waterways give evidence of Indigenous peoplewho travelled, hunted, and called this land home. Unfortunately, the homesteader’s plow has scattered much that could have given archeologists a greater insight into the lore of early residents and travelers.
Wild Horse Corral is a natural horseshoe-shaped chalk rock formation that was first used by Indigenous tribes and later by early day cowboys to capture bands of wild horses, by driving them into the rocky trap. As cattle ranching developed in the area, what was once a help to the herder became a hindrance and a death trap to cattle who sought shelter inside the canyon during severe winter storms. Ranchers changed the unique formation by dynamiting the entrance to create a wider opening for cattle to escape a snowbound bottleneck.
Another hazard for the herds of cattle was Dead Horse Lake, which would fill with alkali water during heavy rains, sickening and eventually killing any animals that drank from the 250-acre pool,however artifact evidence reveals that it once had clear, drinkable water.
Greeley County was organized in 1888, and a massive native limestone courthouse, designed in Victorian style, was completed in Tribune in 1890. One of the three oldest courthouses in Kansas, the building is listed as an official Kansas Landmark and in 1976 was included on the National Register of Historic Places.
Though a new courthouse was constructed in the early 1970s, the old structure continues to serve by housing the Horace Greeley Museum and its wealth of historical information about Greeley County and the surrounding area. Information for this story was provided by the Museum staff and was also taken from the late Virginia Lee Mathews’ Legend Magazine columns called On The Road.
For HPPR I’m Lynn Boitano.
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High Plains History is a production of High Plains Public Radio.
