Russell Springs, Kansas – On the Smoky Hill Trail

The Pioneer Town Company spent much money on improvements, including a waterworks system, an artificial lake stocked with fish and fowl, a $25,000 courthouse, and a $10,000 schoolhouse. On September 7, 1887, Governor John A. Martin named Russell Springs the temporary county seat and appointed officers. That fall, over 100 houses, a hotel, two churches, a bank, and several stores were built.

However, Russell Springs was not the only town that wanted to become the county seat. Oakley, situated in the county’s northeast corner and the most populous town in the county, was making every effort to gain an advantage. It was incorporated as a third-class city and advertised wildly, promoting its rich and bountiful soil and its Union Pacific Railroad branch line from Oakley to Colby.

Ennis City (present-day Monument) advertised its location near the center of the county and dreamed of becoming the largest city in western Kansas. John B. Ennis, the promoter, stressed opportunities for all classes of people in the heart of this rich agricultural land. His brochure stated, “The boom is on; there is no better place for investments and rare opportunities for the earlycomers.”

On November 21, 1887, the Russell Springs town company presented a deed of its townsite to Logan County commissioners, promising to convey the land to the county if Russell Springs became the permanent county seat.

In the December 1887 election for the permanent county seat, almost all the towns in the county were on the ticket, including Russell Springs, Logansport, McAllaster, Elkader, Oakley, Monument, and Viinona. Russell Springs won by 276 votes, and officers were elected. The new county started with an indebtedness of less than $3,000.

On Christmas Eve, a celebration dance was held in the new courthouse. Officers moved into the new Logan County courthouse in January 1888. In April of that year, Russell Springs was incorporated as a third-class city. At that time, the town’s population was almost 800. However, that number appears to be exaggerated as later sources list the number of residents much lower in the next few years.

In the summer of 1888, a nickel vein was discovered a few miles southwest of Russell Springs. Stirring up much excitement, more than 60 mining claims had been taken in the rocky portions of the county in just a few weeks. At that time, the town had a few hundred people and boated two weekly newspapers, two hotels, a bank, several stores, a livery stable, the Union Church, two physicians, and several lawyers. However, it did not have a railroad, and the nearest line was the Kansas Pacific Railroad tracks about 12 miles north.

With prospectors flooding in, some by outsiders from as far away as Denver, Colorado, a hack line began to offer regular services between the mine site and Russell Springs at 75¢ round trip. The nickel fever soon spilled over into other parts of the county as prospectors and investors considered any dark-looking rock possible nickel ore.

However, it was soon found that mining would not be profitable because of the low percentage of nickel in the ore, the lack of a smelter in the area, and the distance to the railroad. Within months, the mining rush was over. Afterward, some said the whole thing was a hoax by the Western Nickel and Cobalt Mining Company, whose members may have “salted” with actual nickel ore so that the company could sell stock and establish a mining district.

In 1890, Russell Springs’s population was 117, and it continued to drop in the next two decades.

In 1910, it had a population of just 82, but it still had a bank, a weekly newspaper called the Leader, a school, churches, and several retail businesses. Then came the news that a railroad would be built through the town, and the residents had high hopes.

In 1911, the Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma Railroad was routed from Scott City, Kansas, to Winona via Russell Springs. Unfortunately, the railroad had financial difficulties, and in 1917 it ceased operation. The tracks were later removed and used for World War I efforts.

However, the town grew in the following years until its population peaked at 198 in 1940.

Though Russell Springs remained very small, efforts to move the county seat to the larger town of Oakley were defeated in 1937, 1945, and 1960. However, in 1963, Russell Springs lost the election, and the county offices were moved to Oakley, which had prospered through the years mainly due to the Union Pacific Railroad.

The old county courthouse in Russell Springs became the Butterfield Trail Museum in 1965. In 1972, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At the end of the 1960s, the Russell Springs schools were closed through school consolidation, and today, students attend the USD 275 Triplains school in Winona.

The Russell Springs post office closed on November 7, 1997. Its population is just about 24 today.

© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2024.

Also See:

Frontier Trails of Kansas

A Journey to Denver via the Butterfield Overland Despatch

Logan County, Kansas

Logan County Photo Gallery

Smoky Hill Trail

Sources:

Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Butterfield Trail Museum
Kansas State Historical Society
Fort Hays State University
http://genealogytrails.com/kan/logan/history.html
Wikipedia