Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine Feb 2021 Vol 6 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

reached Junction City in 1866. The next year, Santa Fe freighters, bypassing Council Grove, offloaded at the Junction City railhead. They continued along the route west of where it intersected with the military road between Fort Riley and Fort Larned. A railroad station at Diamond Springs was developed with arrival of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1887.

It became a shipping point for cattle coming from the Southwest to graze Flint Hills pastures. After summer weight gains on native Bluestem, the cattle were shipped for terminal slaughter such as in Kansas City. “In 1910, Diamond Springs had 27 people, although population continued declining,” Weiser- Alexander said. “The old town site is now owned by an area rancher. It is marked only by signs, a couple homes, stone

ruins, and the cemetery.” The spring was capped many years ago, with two underground pipes discharging the output of water. One pipe goes to a large livestock water tank and the other empties into a stream flowing into Diamond Creek. “There is definitely a difference between the singular Diamond Spring and today’s ghost town Diamond Springs,” McClintock emphasized.

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