LYLE

The first men to locate in the vicinity of Lyle were Nick and Tom Sorrick and Len and Worley Andrews. These men were all buffalo hunters and arrived at the site of Lyle in the spring of 1873. Van B. Wiggins and the J.D. Wickham family arrived in the fall of. 1873. They both filed homesteads in Grant Township.

W.H. Andrews boasted the first frame house in the county and was one of the early clerks of the county. James and William Bell came to Lyle from Northern Indiana, James arriving in 1876 and William and family in the fall of 1878.

Will Bell did not remain at that time, having reached the Bisbee homestead at Devises fifteen days after the big Indian raid of September 30. They camped at Bisbee's the night of the second Indian alarm and joined in the mad rush to Norton for mutual protection. A rider passed down the valley warning the people there were twelve thousand Indians coming. All kinds of vehicles were soon on the move. Reaching Norton a corral was made around the hotel, a two-story stone building. The women and children were crowded into the hotel. The men stood guard all night with guns, clubs and axes, but no Indians came. It was another scare. Later that day the Bells continued on east and finally homesteaded in Graham County.