From the collections at the Leavenworth County Historical Society and Museum. Reprinted with permission from The Leavenworth County Historical Society and Museum and the Leavenworth Times. Donated by Debra Graden.

George J. Remsburg Writes Of Dr. Earle, Who Administered to the Ill During The Early Seventies.

The Porterville Evening Recorder recently printed the following item:

"A while back the Recorder printed an item to the effect that Henry C. Rose, a rancher living west of Porterville, delivers his produce to market in a home-made cart, "powered" by a Holstein cow. The item has been given wide publicity, having been reprinted in newspapers throughout the country. The Montreal (Canada) Daily Star, by way of comment, says it would be interesting to know how many miles she does to a gallon of milk."

The above recalls that in the early days there lived about midway between Kickapoo and Oak Mills, north of Leavenworth, a quaint old country doctor by the name of Dr. Earle. (I do not now recall his given name.) He is said to have been the first physician who ever located in that section, long before the days of the late Dr. George W. Redmond, who settled there and engaged in the practice of medicine in the early '70s. Dr. Earle drove a steer hitched to a cart while practicing his profession, and also delivered fruit and vegetables to the Leavenworth market in this manner. He was a familiar figure on the streets of leavenworth, and no doubt there are some old-timers living who will recall him. His steer was named "Buck."

Dr. Earle lived on top of the high Missouri river bluff, near what is now known as "Swede's Cut," which is a grade made years ago by the Missouri Pacific railroad, and so-called because a Swede lived there when the road was built. The doctor's house was known to everyone in that section as the "sharp-topped house," because of the steep pitch and sharp comb of its roof. the house stood a short distance south of the old farm house of the late Hiram Dougan, of Kickapoo, and not far from the Leavenworth-Atchison county line. What ever became of Dr. Earle I have never been able to learn.