Early Settlers on Coldwater Creek

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Coldwater Creek. In Sherman County, that name meant something real, something rare.

This was the first area in the whole county to be settled, and the reason wasn't hard to figure, because it was the only live water for miles around. In a place that dry, water doesn't just attract people. It holds them.

And the first person it held was a buffalo hunter by the name of J.D. Rawlings, who came out here in the 1870s. Now picture that.

A buffalo hunter, out on the edge of everything, planting himself next to the one creek worth mentioning. Rawlings would later become County Judge, which tells you something about the kind of man he was, or at least the kind of man he became. But when he first showed up, this land was as open and untamed as it gets.

Then, about 1894, a man named W.B. Slaughter acquired the Rawlings place. Slaughter would go on to run a bank and a store over in Stratford, so clearly he had an eye for opportunity.

He also had a ranch that needed working, and that's where a cowboy named John Lanners comes in. Lanners arrived in 1892, hired on at Slaughter's ranch, and eventually acquired his own land. He ran a mule-drawn supply line, which out here, hauling goods across that wide open country, was no small undertaking.

Also arriving in 1892 was Thomas Snyder, who built one of the largest spreads in the area. Eighteen ninety-two must have been quite a year for this stretch of creek. And rounding out the early story, there were men like J.H.

Williams, who made his living as a freighter, and Geo. Loomis, who set up as a merchant. One creek.

One reliable source of water in a county full of dry nothing. And from that, a whole community took root.

What the marker says

First area in Sherman County to be settled, and only live water for miles. First settler, buffalo hunter J.D. Rawlings, came 1870s. Later County Judge. W.B. Slaughter acquired the Rawlings place about 1894. Later ran bank and store in Stratford. John Lanners (arrived 1892) was a cowboy at Slaughter's ranch; acquired land and ran a mule-drawn supply line. One of largest spreads was owned by Thomas Snyder (also arrived in 1892). Among other prominent early settlers were J.H. Williams, freighter, and Geo. Loomis, merchant.