"If the desert does
not bloom as the rose, it will not be the fault of
Charles J. Jones"
C.J. "Buffalo" Jones
Buffalo Jones was one of the four founding fathers of
Garden City, Kansas.
"If the desert does
not bloom as the rose, it will not be the fault of
Charles J. Jones" |
|
C.J. "Buffalo" Jones
Buffalo Jones was born on January 31, 1844 in Bloomington, Illinois. In 1878 Jones came to western Kansas to hunt antelope. Jones stayed and helped establish Garden City. In April 1879, C. J. Jones wanted to improve the downtown area and shipped in trees from Sterling, Kansas to plant along Main Street. In 1883 Jones became the 1st mayor of Garden City.
In 1884 only 350 people lived in Garden City. By persuading the railroad to stop there, by 1886 the population had grown to 3,500 people! Jones helped to increase the population of Garden City. Jones was also said to have a very good ear. It was rumored that he could hear the rumble of a wagon coming towards Garden City. He would go out and meet them and tell them how to get to Garden City.
Important Facts
* He married Martha J. Walton in 1869.
* The first highway in Finney County was named after Jones.
* He went to Oklahoma in 1893 to try to participate in the land run.
* He bred a new breed of cattle by crossing buffalo and domestic cattle; he called them "catalo".
* He was a friend of a western writer, Zane Grey. He wrote his first successful book about Buffalo Jones.
* Buffalo Jones and President Theodore Roosevelt were friends. President Roosevelt appointed Jones the 1st game warden of Yellowstone National Park.
* Jones worked to preserve buffalo. In earlier years he had been an extremely proficient buffalo hunter.
* In 1885 Jones built the first courthouse and sold it to the city for $1.00.
* Jones died in 1919 at his daughter's house in Topeka, Kansas. Jones is now buried in Valley View Cemetery in Garden City.
* A statue of Buffalo Jones is in front of the county courthouse.