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William Davis Poole: The Irish Immigrant Who Ranched Beside the Kaw at Manhattan, Kansas

A tanner's worker from Ireland who got off a stuck steamboat on the Kaw River and stayed to build a ranch.

Who Was William Davis Poole?

William Davis Poole was born in Ireland in 1829 and died in Kansas in 1911. The Hall of Great Westerners inductee page calls him one of Kansas's most respected pioneering cattlemen and says the museum inducted him in 1960.

The page is brief and gives no portrait of his personal life, so this profile sticks to his work and to what is documented about the place where he worked.

From Ireland to the Tanner's Shop

Poole emigrated to the United States in 1840, when he was about eleven by the page's dates. For the next ten years he worked for a tanner. Tanning was an industry tied to cattle, since hides were its raw material, though the page does not claim that his tannery years led him to ranching.

What the page does say is that he saved money and then headed west.

A Steamer, a Sandbar and a Homestead

The inductee page tells a story that has the feel of local legend. Poole was traveling up the Kaw River, the Kansas River, on a steamer when the boat stuck on a sandbar. He got off, settled just south of Manhattan, Kansas, and started a homestead there.

Manhattan sits where the Kansas River meets the Big Blue, and the Legends of Kansas page on Manhattan covers the town's early settlement. The sandbar account comes from the Hall of Great Westerners, so treat it as the hall's telling rather than a court record.

Ranching, Freighting and Horses for Fort Riley

On his homestead Poole started a small ranch and a freighting business. He later enlarged the ranch and bred horses to sell to settlers and to the cavalry at Fort Riley, the Army post near Manhattan.

Later he raised Shorthorn and commercial Hereford cattle. Shorthorn and Hereford are British beef breeds, and the page gives no herd sizes, acreage or sale figures, so none are stated here.

A cavalry post needs a steady supply of mounts, and settlers on new land need work animals, so horse breeding fit the place Poole had chosen. The page does not say how many horses he sold, how long the Fort Riley business lasted, or when he moved from horses toward cattle, so the order of those changes is not fixed here.

The Key to Poole's Success

Poole's record is the classic frontier sequence: save money, claim land, run several small businesses, and enlarge the most reliable one. The sources do not discuss debts, setbacks or conflicts, so those are left out rather than guessed.

The bullets below describe only the steps the hall documents.

  • He saved wages from ten years of steady work before heading west.
  • He took a chance on a place, getting off the steamer and homesteading where it stopped.
  • He ran more than one business at once, combining ranching with freighting.
  • He sold to dependable customers, breeding horses for settlers and the Fort Riley cavalry.
  • He changed his cattle over time, moving from Shorthorns to commercial Herefords.

Honors and Further Reading

The Hall of Great Westerners is run by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Poole was inducted in 1960, nearly fifty years after his death in 1911.

The hall overview describes the honor Poole received in 1960. For the Riley County setting, the Kansas Historical Society's Kansapedia entry for Riley County is a good start.

More Kansas ranching stories live in the farm.FM ranching section, including a farm.FM story on pioneer ranch horses.

Timeline

  1. 1829Born in Ireland.
  2. 1840Emigrates to the United States.
  3. 1840sWorks about ten years for a tanner.
  4. LaterSettles south of Manhattan, Kansas, after a steamer sticks on a Kaw River sandbar.
  5. LaterStarts a small ranch and a freighting business, then breeds horses for settlers and Fort Riley.
  6. 1911Dies.
  7. 1960Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners.

Frequently asked questions

Who was William Davis Poole?

William Davis Poole (1829-1911) was an Irish-born pioneer cattleman and horse breeder who ranched just south of Manhattan, Kansas.

How did William Poole come to Manhattan, Kansas?

According to the Hall of Great Westerners, his steamer stuck on a sandbar in the Kaw River, so he got off and started a homestead south of Manhattan.

What did William Poole raise?

He bred horses for settlers and the Fort Riley cavalry and later raised Shorthorn and commercial Hereford cattle.

When was William Davis Poole inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners?

He was inducted in 1960, according to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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