The historic gold mining town of Meers sprang up during the gold rush days at the turn of the last century. In May of 1901, roughly forty miners met at the base of Mount Sheridan and organized a mining district. These lands were then a portion of the Indian Reservation and not open to prospectors or miners. However, this was widely ignored and gold seeking flourished. Several months later in August of 1901, the land was officially opened to settlers and miners alike.

Out of respect for one of the oldest known prospectors in the Wichitas, Colonel Andrew Jackson (A.J.) Meers, the mining camp at the foot of Mount Sheridan (just inside the boundaries of the newly founded Wichita Forest Reserve) was named Meers.  A.J. Meers, migrated to the area in 1885 from his native Arkansas, where had been a Captain in the Confederate Army.  Colonel Meers had been camped out near the southern base of Mt. Sheridan in the spring of 1900 and had found a quartzite outcropping near the site where the camp town of Meers was to be first established. He claimed that this kind of quartz, known as "peacock ore", was usually very rich in minerals. This spurred the local mining quest. Ironically enough, Colonel Meers did not live in the town named after him, but had moved on to the mining town of Wildman (located 25 miles due west) in Kiowa County. He was one of several as assayers in Wildman and sold mines and mining stock.

In 1902, United States Government officials ordered all persons, not actually engaged in mining activity, off the

lands of newly formed Wichita Forest Reserve. Residents moved their tents and belongings one mile north across Medicine Creek to a ridge where the town of Meers was relocated.

It has been estimated that approximately 500 people lived in Meers at the height of its growth. Meers flourished with three grocery stores, two drug stores, a cafe, a  confectionery, three doctors, a smelter, and a post office. Meers also boasted of its own newspaper, a weekly, "The Mount Sheridan Miner."

The mining town of Meers prospered until by 1905 it began to show signs of a dwindling population. The flames of gold fever died down as miners came up broke. The various mine shafts near Meers yielded only small traces of gold, silver, copper, and zinc -- but no quantities large enough to make it worthwhile. Miners, becoming discouraged, left Meers and moved on. The last remaining remnant of the old mining town of Meers is a building which had been moved one half mile north of the second townsite.

Meers is a favorite destination of many who wish to get away from the fast pace of city life.