From Kit Carson County Cattlemen's Association, p  51.
 

Beloit.
     When the route for the new railroad was being surveyed in 1886 it was thought it would go across from Colby, Kansas, to Colorado Springs. So at a point eight miles south and two west of the present day Bethune, a town by the name of Beloit was started by the Beloit Townsite Co., as they thought that the railroad would pass by this location. It had its grocery stores, hardware stores, newspaper, post office, etc. The Roberts Bros., J. T. Marion, F. and D. H. Lem, and Frank Burland were persons interested in this town. The Beloit Post Office was one of the earliest in Kit Carson County. The mail was brught [sic] up from Cheyenne Wells.
     They had a well that was dug 200 feet deep and it furnished water for the entire country side
     However before the railroad was built the plans were changed and the line went through farther north. This spelled doom for the little town. The businesses moved up to the railroad towns and in about five years after the coming of the railroad it finally disappeared.
     In 1888 the Ed Hoskin family moved out to land that they had taken earlier and ran a blacksmith shop there. Later they moved to Burlington."
     J. T. Roberts, who ran the grocery store, moved it to Claremont after the coming of the railroad. His daughter Inez was born in Beloit in 1889.
    The Weekly Newspaper, called the Beloit Weekly Bugle, folded up.
Hoskin's Scrapbook

Hoyt.
     Hoyt was a town started just north of the present day Seibert on the Republican River by a man by the name of Mr. DeHoyt. At that time no one knew where the new railroad was to go through in 1886. There was a store, post office, a printing office, several homes and a well.
     When the railroad finally did go through farther south it soon faded away and the business moved to Seibert.

Columbia.
     Columbia was plotted in May, 1888, by the Columbia Townsite Co. on the route of the new Railroad. The town was laid out with wide streets and big blocks with all the business lots facing a public square. The Townsite Co. had big plans for this town, and established the Chicago Lumber and Coal Co. and the Columbia Banking Co. H. C. Conway, J. J. Bell, C. C. Payne, R. H. Patterson and W. H. Larned were some of the interested parties.
    However the Railroad people set the depot four miles west so the few business [sic] moved to the Claremont station and Columbia faded from the picture.
Hoskin's Scrapbook

Crystal Springs.
     Representatives of the various towns in Eastern Elbert County met at Hugo on June 14, 1888, to make plans for the dividing of Elbert County and for the creation of what was later to become Kit Carson, Lincoln and Cheyenne Counties.
     The founder, Stephen Strode, of Crystal Springs, which was located three and one-half miles east of Flagler, had hoped that it would become the county seat of one of the proposed counties. An ambition to be hoped for but not achieved.
     Volume 1, Number 1, of the Weekly Register of Crystal Springs dated July 4, 1888, expressed the opinion that the new Railroad would come through Crystal Springs and that it would become the leading trade center and the best town in Eastern Colorado, on account of its location and its numerous springs of pure water. It was the logical sight for a County Seat. The railroad was sixty miles away and seemed to be coming at the rate of two miles and one furlong a day and should reach Crystal Springs some time in August.
     He had a town all laid out with the streets all named. The east-west ones to be called Chicago, Rock Island, Colorado, Railway. The north-south ones to be called Spring, Front, Second, Third and so on.
      However, a Mr. McGonigal of Colby, Kansas, knew where the railroad would go through and had his plot ready for the new town that would be on the railroad and miss Crystal Springs altogether.
Flagler News
Hoskin's Scrapbook

Schools.
      There were no schools authorized or organized by the state of Colorado in Kit Carson County previous to 1886, but during the next three years, 1886-1889, 31 were organized in Elbert County which at that time included this county and parts or all of several counties.
      A few boys and girls, and just a very few, were going to school in this county before the schools were recorded. This first school, that was later to become District 39 and known as the Tuttle School, was held in a deserted sod house, not built for a school house. Stone's History of Colorado lists it as an unrecorded school before 1886, but the date of its first term cannot be stated and the location is vague but it was in the vicinity of the Tuttle Ranch.
      The first teacher at this sod house was Celia Miller, and she had a homestead at Hugo. As she was returning to her homestead in the spring of 1887, she was thrown from her horse and was killed. James T. Gilmore was the next teacher. Griff Davis, who lived about six miles from this school, attended it in 1887. The desks and benches were homemade and they used the books that had been brought from Nebraska and Missouri.
      In 1889 when the young Davis boys needed to go to school they were told that that schools was [sic] too far from home for them to attend. An arrangement was made then for the teacher to teach two months in the sod house and then to come up and teach two months in an old frame house that was nearer the Davis home. This old house was owned by a saloon keeper at Benklemen, Nebraska, and was located on the SE 1/4 24-6-46. Glass and Ed Davis and Dave Daniels were the pupils. The teacher and the boys all had chairs and they sat around an old poker table that the owner, Frank Rich, had sent over from Benkleman. Mr. Rich was hardly ever there as he spent most of his time operating the saloon. After Mr. Gilmore taught these boys for two months, he went northeast, we do not know where or how far and taught two more months of school to other pupils.
      The only other unrecorded school at this early date, listed by Stone's Colorado History, is District 26 at Carlysle, located two and one-half miles west of the state line and south of where the railroad went through. This school remained active until consolidation took place in the 1950's.
      Information taken from Stone's History of Colorado, and from several old timers.

Old Stage Coach Routes.
      In the early 1880's an old stage coach route angled across Kit Carson County from Haigler, Nebraska, to Cheyenne Wells. Later the stage coach route ran from Cheyenne Wells to Beloit, then up to Columbia, a place east of Stratton, then north to the Tuttle Post Office on the Republican River and came back by way of Burlington to Cheyenne Wells to complete the two-day trip. This trip was made twice a week.
      The road from Cheyenne Wells to Columbia was made by Tom Reed, with the aid of a spring wagon and three men who made the trail, that all followed, by throwing out shovels of sod with a spade at short intervals.
      Later a stage route was made from Cheyenne Wells to Burlington. Frank Mann drove the stage coach. All supplies were freighted in from Haigler, Nebraska, Wray, Colorado, or Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, an old railroad town. Most supplies came from Cheyenne Wells as that was the closest.
      Jake Brammier and C. J. Eatinger were early day freighters and they hauled principally from Cheyenne Wells to Burlington, a two-day trip. The price was 25c per hundred pounds with 4,000 pounds being the average load.
      Away back in 1859 there was a stage coach route that passed through the county. It followed the North Fork of the Smoky Hill River, known at that time as Boyd's North Fork. At a point south and east of the present town of Flagler it crossed over to the north side of the Republican River and went northwest to one of its stations, known as Boyd's Station No. 22, which was between Crystal Springs and Flagler. This route to Denver was used only a little over a year, as the government demanded the mail be carried over the more used route that went through Julesburg. The stations on this route were discontinued in 1860.

Early Day Post Offices.

1884-The people in the Flagler area went to Hugo for their mail.

1885-The mail came to Jauqua, Kansas, and then on to Friend, Colorado, for the residents in the Republican River Valley. Before this they would go to Wray for the mail,

1886-The mail came into Cheyenne Wells and then was taken north by stage coach to Beloit, then on to Columbia and on the Tuttle Post Office.

1887-The Carlysle Post Office was going now and the people in Eastern Kit Carson County would get their mail there. One person from the Wallet neighborhood would do go down to Carlysle on Tuesdays and pick up all the mail for the neighborhood and leave it at a home and the people would come and get it.

1888-Bowser Post Office took care of all the Flagler mail now until the Flagler Post Office was established.

1889-The Yale Post Office was established at the Yale home.

1890-The Wallet Post Office was established at the Wallet home. It was discontinued in 1906.

1890-The Ashland Post Office was established a little later than Wallet, but was discontinued at the same time. Mr. Seifert was the first Post Master. Later Mr. Teman became Post Master.

1906-The first mail route out of Burlington went north. After leaving Burlington it went to Goff, then to Landsman, Yale and back to Burlington. It went three times a week.

1909-The Loco Post Office was located about seventeen miles south of Seibert and was established on April 17, 1909. Charles D. Davis was the Post Master.

1909-The first mail route out of Bethune went north. Jesse McFarland was the first carrier. Ed Stahlecker was the assistant.

1910-The Bonny Post Office was located where the old Ellis Clark Store stood, about twenty mlies [sic] north of Burlington and about two east.