The McElwain family left their home town of Sutton, W. Va., on March 22,
  1879. They came down the Elk River in a flat boat with a cabin on it. It
  was built for the trip to Charleston W.Va., by the father, V.H. McElwain.
     They landed there on Saturday evening,. There was no steam boat until
  Monday, so the father decided to go on in the little flat boat. They
  pulled out into the big Kinowa River and went to Point Pleasant and took
  a steamer from there to Cincinnati, Ohio.
     From Cincinnati they came by train to Hutchinson, Kansas, the nearest
  railroad to Medicine Lodge. They hired a conveyance from Hutchinson to 
  Medicine Lodge. The first day they got as far as Kingman. The next day
  they drove on to Medicine Lodge. It was April 6, 1879, when they arrived
  and thought it the most desolate looking place they ever laid their eyes
  on.
     There was one hotel, one store, two or three other business houses,
  and about a half dozen dwelling houses.
     There was not a field or a fence between Medicine Lodge and Lake City.
  There was no house on top of the ground, only now and then you passed a
  dugout (hole in the ground).
     The country was strictly a cattle country. Stock lived on the buffalo
  grass on the prairie all winter. The winters were not severe; in fact it
  was warm in winter, hot and dry in summer. The country remained that way
  for several years.
     People began to fence little fields, to plow the ground and plant feed.
  It was mostly cane at first, then more extensive, so in that way the country
  grew and improved as years passed.
     The people who were not able to own large herds of cattle to live from
  made their living by cutting cedar posts out of the canyons. Some picked
  up buffalo bones and hauled them to the nearest railroad. Selling them to 
  buy food for their families.
     The early day settlers went through many hardships that present day
  generations will never believe existed.
     Descendants of the two who wrote this article. Mrs. Harriet (McElwain)
  Mills and sister, Mrs. Rebecca (McElwain) Lahey, are Peggy Mease and Edna
  (Lahey) Swayden.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 298