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1214027

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

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KANSAS
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

1909-1910.

EMBRACING

ADDRESSES AT ANNUAL MEETINGS; SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS IN
CENTRAL KANSAS; THE WYANDOTTE CONVENTION; MANU-
FACTURES IN THE KANSAS DISTRICT; THE SOLDIERS OF
KANSAS; THE KANSAS SCHOOL SYSTEM ; THE CHEY-
ENNE, PAWNEE, CHIPPEWA, MUNSEE, AND SAUK
& FOX INDIANS; THE GERMAN-RUSSIAN SET-
TLEMENTS IN ELLIS COUNTY; EARLY DAYS
ON THE UNION PACIFIC; THE EXPEDI-
TION OF VILLAZUR; THE STORY OF
LECOMPTON; AND PERSONAL
NARRATIVE.

Edited by GEO. W. MARTIN, Secretary.

jj<L VOL. XI.
979. i

STATE PRINTING OFFICE,
TOPEKA, 1910.

1435

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^ lOHBEH m mPERn Of Ji"
mOBHCE muc UBBABY

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NOTE.

The word "Transactions" on the title page of this series
has been changed to "Collections," to conform with the char-
acter of the publication. Originally the transactions of the
Society, business and otherwise, were published in the same
volume with historical papers, but each feature has assumed
such importance as to require a separate volume. The "Trans-
actions" of the Society are now all contained in biennial reports,
the last being the sixteenth, while the "Collections" are the
same series as "Transactions."

1211027

BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

FOR THREE YEARS

Anderson, Cyrus. Blakeman.
Boggs, S. R.. Smith Center.
Brooks. Paul R.. Lawrence.
Brougher. Ira D., Great Bend.
Carson. C. W., Ashland.
Cowgill, E. B., Topeka.
Davies. Corner T., Concordia.
Dawson. John S., Hill City.
Fairfield. S. H., Alma.
Francis. John, Colony.
Harris. Kos, Wichita.
Hoch. E. W.. Marion.
Humphrey, L. U., Independence.
McCarter. Margaret Hill. Topeka.
Manning. E. C, Winfield.
Miller, J. Earll. Marysville.
Morgan, W. A., Jetmore.

FOR THREE

Anderson, T. J., Topeka.
Anthony. D. R., jr., Leavenworth.
Barber, Caroline E., Syracuse.
Benton, Otis L., Oberlin.
Brewster, S. W., Chanute.
Capper. "Arthur, Topeka.
Carruth, W. H., Lawrence.
Coburn. Foster D.. Topeka.
Cole.* Geo. E., Topeka.
Cory, Charles E.. Fort Scott.
Gillpatrick, J. H., Leavenworth.
Greene. Albert R., Portland, Ore.
Hanna. D. J , Salina.
Harris, Edward P., Lecompton.
Hamilton, Clad, Topeka.
Hodder, F. H., Lawrence.
Huron, Geo. A., Topeka.

ENDING DECEMBER, 1910.

Prentis, Mrs. Caroline, Topeka.
Pierce, Alfred C, Junction City.
Pierce, Francis L.. Lakin.
Postlethwaite, J. C, Jewell City.
Quincy, Fred H., Salina.
Rockwell, Bertrand, Kansas City, Mo.
Roenigk, Adolph. Lincoln.
Royce, Olive I., Topeka.
Simmons, J. S.. Hutchinson.
Smith, F. Dumont. Hutchinson.
Stone, W. B.. Galena.
Valentine, D. A., Topeka.
Whiting, A. B., Topeka.
Waggener, B. P.. Atchison.
Wright, Robert M., Dodge City.
Woolard, Samuel F., Wichita.

YEARS ENDING DECEMBER, 1911.

Ingalls, Mrs. John J., Atchison.
Johnston, W. A., Minneapolis.
Kingman, LucyD., Topeka.
Lewis. Cora G.. Kinsley.
McGonigal, R. M., Colby.
Markham, O. G., Baldwin.
Morehouse, Geo. P., Topeka.
Parsons, Luke F., Salina.
Peacock, A. S., Wa Keeney.
Peters, Amelia C, Newton.
Plank, Pryor. Sparks.
Plumb, Mrs. P. B., Emporia.
Sanders. Frank K., Topeka.
Veale, Geo. W., Topeka.
Ware, E. F.. Kansas City. Kan.
Wilder, D. W., Hiawatha.

FOR THREE YEARS

Adams, Zu, Topeka.
Beach, J. H., Hays City.
Blackmar, Frank W.. Lawrence.
Boyd. H. N., Belleville.
Campbell. J. W., Plevna.
Cochrane, Warren B.. Columbus.
Connelley, William E., Topeka.
Crawford. Samuel J., Baxter Springs.
Davis. John W.. Greensburg.
Faxon. Ralph H., Garden City.
Feder, W. P., Great Bend.
Fike, J. N., Colby.
Fisher. J. W.. Atchison.
Gleed. Charles S.. Topeka.
Glenn, W. M., Tribune.
Gray. John M., Kirwin.
Griffing,* W. J., Manhattan.

ENDING DECEMBER. 1912.

Hill, Joseph H., Emporia.
Johnson. Elizabeth A.. Courtland.
Little, James H.. La Crosse.
Madison, E. H.. Dodge City.
Mead.* J. R., Wichita.
Mitchell, J. K., Osborne.
Moore, Horace L., Lawrence.
Robertson, Fred. Atwood,
Ruppenthal. J. C, Russell.
Smith. E. D.. Meade.
Smith, William H., Maryiville.
Shields, J. B., Lost Springs.
Spilman, A. C, McPherson.
Stubbs, W. R.. Lawrence.
Vandegrift. Fred L.. Kansas City, Mo.
Wilder, Mrs. Charlotte F., Manhattan.

(iii)

Kansas State Historical Society.

OFFICERS.

A. B. Whiting, Topeka, President.

E. C. Manning, Winfield, First Vice President.

W. E. CoNNELLEY, Topeka, Second Vice Presideiit.

Geo. W. Martin, Secretary.

Lucy S. Greene, Treasurer.

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY.

•Samuel A. Kingman. Topeka 1876

•George A. Crawford, Fort Scott 1877

•John A. Martin, Atchison 1878

•Chas. Robinson, Lawrence 1879, 1880

*T. Dwight Thacher. Lawrence 1881. 1882

•Floyd P. Baker, Topeka 1883, 1884

•DanielR. Anthony, Leavenworth.. 1885, 1886"

Daniel W. Wilder. Hiawatha 1887

•Edward Russell, Lawrence 1888

•William A. Phillips, Salina 1889

•Cyrus K. Holliday. Topeka 1890

•James S. Emery, Lawrence 1891

•Thomas A. Osborn, Topeka 1892

•Percival G. Lowe, Leavenworth 1893

Vincent J. Lane, Kansas City 1894

*Solon O. Thacher. Lawrence 1895

*Edmund N. Morrill, Hiawatha 1896

'Harrison Kelley, Burlington 1897

*John Spe'er, Lawrence 1898

Eugene F. Ware, Kansas City, Kan 1899

•John G. Haskell, Lawrence 1900

John Francis, Colony 1901

William H. Smith, Marysville 1902

William B. Stone. Galena 1903

John Martin, Topeka 1904

Robert M. Wright, Dodge City 1905

Horace L. Moore, Lawrence 1906

*James R. Mead, Wichita 1907

George W. Veale, Topeka 1908

George W. Click, Atchison 1909

' Deceased.

Kcmsas State Historical Society.

LIFE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

Adams. J. B.. El Dorado.

Anthony, Col. Daniel R., Leavenworth.

Anthony. Daniel R.. jr.. Leavenworth.

Bailey. W. J., Atchison.

Ballard. Clinton David. Barnes.

(Born August 10. 1898.)
Ballard, David E . Washington.
Benton, Otis L.. Oberlin.
Berryman. J. W.. Ashland.
Bernhardt. Christian. Lincoln.
Bigger, L. A.. Hutchinson.
Bishop. John L.. High Grove, Cal.
Bockemohle, W. Leo. Ellinwood.
Bonebrake. P. L. Topeka.
Brougher. Ira D., Great Bend.
Burge. N. B.. Topeka.
Burkholder. E. R., McPherson.
Cain, W. S.. Atchison.
Campbell. J. W., Plevna.
Capper. Arthur, Topeka.
Carson. C. W., Ashland.
Clark, Elon S.. Topeka.
Clarke, Fred B., Seattle. Wash.
Clarke. Genevieve Slonecker, Blue Mound.

(Born June 20. 1908.)
Cole. Geo. E.. Topeka.
Coleman, Mrs. A. E.. Manhattan.
Conover. John. Kansas City, Mo.
Crawford. Samuel J., Baxter Springs.
Cron, F. H., El Dorado.
Curtis. Charles, Topeka.
Davidson. C. L., Wichita.
De Rigne. Haskell. Kansas City.

I Born July IJ. 1906.)
Everhardv. J. L.. Leavenworth.
Fairfield. S. H., Alma.
Fike. J. N.. Colby.
Frizell. E. E.. Lamed.
Frost. John E.. Topeka.
Gardner. Theodore. Law^rence.
Gilmore. John S.. Fredonia.
Gleed, Charles S.-. Topeka.
Gray. John M.. Kirwin.
Greene, Albert R., Portland. Ore.
Halderman, John A., Washington, D. C.
Hall. John A.. Pleasanton.
Hanna. D. J.. Salina.
Haskell, John G.. Lawrence.
Haskell. Wm. W.. Kansas City.
Havens. Paul E.. Leavenworth.
Holliday. Cyrus K.. Topeka.
Hornaday. Grant. Fort Scott.
Humphrey, James V.. Junction City.
Humphrey. Mary Vance, Junction City.
Jacobs. John T., Council Grove.
Jewett. Edward B., Wichita.
Johnson. Elizabeth A.. Courtland.
Johnson, Geo., Courtland.
Johnston. Lucy Brown. Topeka.
Jones. Lawrence M., Kansas City. Mo.
Keeling. Henry C. Caldwell.
Kellough. Robert W.. Tulsa. Okla.
Kennedy. Thos. B., Junction City.
Kimball. E. D.. Wichita.

Kimball. F. M., Topeka.

Little, Flora W., La Crosse.

Little. James H.. La Crosse.

Lininger. W. H.. Topeka.

Locknare, Charles S., Topeka.

Loomis. Mrs. Christie Campbell, Omaha.

Loomis. N. H.. Omaha, Neb.

Low. Marcus A.. Topeka.

Lo^ve. P. G.. Leavenworth.

Lower. George Levi. Republic City.

(Born October 12, 1902.)
McGonigle. James A.. Leavenworth.
McKercher, F. B.. Peabody.
Mackey. Wm. H.. jr.. Junction City.
Manning. E. C, Winfield.
Martin, Amos Cutter, Chicago, 111.
Martin, Donald Ferguson. Kansas City

(Born February 19. 1909.)
Martin, George Haskell. Kansas City.

(Born August 1, 1907.)
Martin. Geo. W., Topeka.
Mead. James Lucas. Chicago.
Mead, James R., Wichita.
Metcalf. Wilder S., Lawrence.
Monroe, Lee, Topeka.
Morehouse. Geo. P.. Topeka.
Morgan. I. B.. Kansas City, Kan.
Morrill. Edmund N.. Hiawatha.
Mulvane. David W.. Topeka.
Mulvane. John R.. Topeka.
Myers, Frank E.. Whiting.
Nellis, Luther McAfee. Los Angeles, Cal.
Norton, Jonathan D.. Topeka.
Orr. James W., Atchison.
Orr. Jennie Glick. Atchison.
Pen well, L. M.. Topeka.
Peterson, C. A.. St. Louis, Mo.
Pierce, Francis L.. Lakin.
Plumb, A. H.. Emporia.
Plumb. George. Emporia.
Plumb. Mrs; P. B.. Emporia.
Prentis. Caroline E.. Topeka.
Price. Ralph R.. Manhattan.
Radges, Sam. Topeka.
Ridenour, Peter D., Kansas City, Mo.
Robinson, A. A., Topeka.
Rockwell. Bertrand. Kansas City, Mo.
Roenigk. Adolph. Lincoln.
Root. Geo. A., Topeka.
Ruppenthal. J. C, Russell.
Seaton. John, Atchison.
Shields, Mrs. Clara M., Lost Springs.
Shields, Joseph B., Lost Springs.
Simpson. Samuel N., Kansas City.
Slonecker. J. G.. Topeka.
Stewart. Judd. New York city.
Stone. Eliza May. Galena.
Stone. William B., Galena.
Stubbs. Walter R., Lawrence.
Thacher. Solon O.. Lawrence.
Waggener, Bailie P., Atchison.
Whiting, A. B., Topeka.

Total number, 120.

Ka7isas State Historical Society.

ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY,

For the year ending June 30, 1910.

All newspaper editors and publishers are
publications.

Abilene.-W. T. David.son.

Alma.— John A. Bisbey. Fred Crafts, Joseph
Little. Lardner J. McCrumb. W. N. Smith,
C. C. Stotler, Willis G. Weaver.

Amy.-I. M. Wolf.

Argentine.-Geo. W. Toothaker.

Arkansas City. -Ed. F. Green.

Ashland. -Robert C. Mayse.

Atchison. -J. W. Fisher. Geo. W. Click, Mrs.
John J. Ingalls, Sheffield Ingalls.

At wood. — Fred Robertson.

Baldwin. -Charles E. Beeks, O. G. Markham.

Barnes. -A. Ballard, R. B. Briggs. W. C. Hal-
lowell, A. Hazen, Matthew McKelvy.

Beloit.-Wm. H. Mitchell.

Blakeman. -Cyrus Anderson, Orqp V. Hender-
.son.

Chanute.— J. M. Bashline. S. W. Brewster.

Chapman. -J. H. Taylor.

Clay Center.-Clark M. Anthony.

Colony.— Clara Francis, John Francis.

Columbus.— Warren B. Cochran.

Cottonwood Falls.— Miss Carrie Breese, Archi-
bald Miller, John Miller. W. A. Morgan, J.

B. Sanders.
Dighton.— F. L. Rownd.

DodgeCity. — E.H.Madison, Robert M.Wright.

Elmdale. — Robert Brash.

Emporia. -L. T. Heritage, Jos. H. Hill, D. W.

Morris, Mrs. G. W. Newmah.
Enid, Okla.— J. V. Admire.
Enterprise.— James Frey, Mrs. Catherine A.

Hoffman.
Erie.-L. Stillwell.
Fairview.— W. P. Lambertson.
Fort Scott.— Miss Frances E. Hall, Dr. Sarah

C. Hall, Dr. W. S. McDonald.
Geneva. Minn. — Rev. J. J. Lutz.

Great Bend. — Edwin Tyler, Dr. E. E. Morrison.
Greenleaf.— C. L. Woodford.
Greensburg.— John W. Davis.
Hallet.-Frank I. Burt.
Hartford, Conn.— W. J. Chapman.
Hays City. — J. H. Beach. James Behan.
Hennessey, Okla.— Charles Harker Rhodes.

Hiawatha.— Henry J. Aten, Mrs. Julia A. Chase.
G. E. Congdon. M. G. Ham, G. A. Hoffman.
Rebecca D. Kiner, Frank N. Morrill, Thos.
Stevens, Raymond G. Taylor.

Hill City.— John S. Dawson.

Hutchinson. — J. S. Simmons, Mrs. Philip S.
Kriegh.

lola.- A. H. Campbell, Oscar Foust, E. W. Stan-
field.

Jetmore. — W. A. Morgan.

Jewell City.-J. C. Postlethwaite.

members by virtue of the contribution of their

Junction City.— Elizabeth Henderson, Robert
D. Henderson. A. C. Pierce, S. W. Pierce,
Geo. A. Rockwell.

Kansas City.-C. L. Brokaw, Dr. W. F. Waite,
Eugene F. Ware.

Kansas City, Mo. — Willard R. Douglass, F. A.
Faxon.

Kinsley.— E. T. Bidwell, Geo. W. Watson.

Lawrence.— W. B. Brownell, Edward Bum-
gardner. Miss Mary P. Clarke, C. C. Col-
lins. G. Grovenor, Frank H. Hodder, O. W.
McAlIaster, Col. H. L. Moore. J. C. Walton,
Alex Martin Wilcox. C. H. Tucker. F. W.
Blackmar.

Leavenworth.— E. T. Carr, Dr. J. L. Everhardy,
H. C. F. Hackbusch, Mrs. Carrie A. Hall.

Lecompton. — E. P. Harris.
Lyndon. -E. H. Cluff.

McPherson. — A. C. Spilman, J. A. Spilman,
I. F. Talbott, John R. Wright.

Madison. — H. F. Martindale.

Manhattan —Mrs. Anna E. Blackman, John

Booth. Mrs. A. E. Coleman, John V. Cor-

telyou, S. M. Fox, Wm. J. Griffing, Mrs.

J. A. Roller, J. W. Paul, Ralph R. Price.

Mrs. Caroline A. Smith, Mrs. Charlotte F.

Wilder, Nellie Elliot, Eusebia Mudge Irish,

Harriet A. Parkerson.

Marion. — Ferd J. Funk.

Marysville.— J. Earll Miller, David v. Riesen,
W. H. Smith.

Meade. — Robert A. Harper, C. K. Sourbeer.

Medicine Lodge. —Chester I. Long.

National Soldiers' Home.— Jos. S. Phebus.

Ness City.-L. B. Wolf.

Newkirk, Okla.-J. C. Columbia.

Newton.— W. L. Adam. R. B. Lynch.

North Topeka. — Samuel J. Reader.

Nortonville. — Anna Pearl Fisher.

Oberlin.-W. A. Smith.

Olathe.— J. B. Bruner, Isaac Fenn, C. R. Green,
D. P. Hougland, D. Hubbard, John P. St.
John. Stephen J. Wilson.

Omaha, Neb.— Henry E. Palmer.

Osborne. — J. K. Mitchell.

Ottawa.— Charles N. Converse, Rev. Thos. E.
Chandler.

Parker.— Lewis N. McCarty.

Parsons.-E. O. Ellis.

Perry.— J. F. True.

Plattsmouth, Neb.— Rev. Michael A. Shine.

Randolph. -W. F. Peter.

Rosedale. — Frank Holsinger.

Russell.— Louis Banker, Mrs. Sara Spalding
Ruppenthal. F. J. Smith.

Salina.— J. W. Blunden. Geo. F. Brooks, T. D.
Fitzpatrick. W. F. Grosser. Luke F. Par-
sons, Fred H. Quincy, Daniel R. Wagstaff

THE ELEVENTH VOLUME, HISTORICAL
COLLECTIONS.

The eleventh volume of the Kansas Historical Collections reaches a
high-water mark in historical publication, for it is the best volume yet
published by the Kansas State Historical Society, as well as one of the
best state publications ever issued from whatsoever source.

The editorial work has been done with painstaking care, and the foot-
notes proving or disproving historical statements are in themselves of
inestimable value, many coming from original sources drawn from the
manuscript and archives collections of the library of the Historical
Society.

Every person desiring the book must pay postage or express, the
postage being 26 cents. All interested in the book should have a member-
ship in the Society, either active, $1 per year, or a life membership at $10.

The articles are all worthy of special mention, but perhaps the one
which will be read with surprise as well as interest is the "History of
Manufactures in the Kansas District," by Mr. R. L. Douglas. Few
Kansans realize the increasing magnitude of our manufacturing inter-
ests, and in this careful compilation will be found a valuable contribution
to the history of the state.

"Swedish Settlements in Kansas," by Doctor Bergin, marks an epoch
in the life of the state, as also "German-Russian Settlements in Ellis
County," written by Rev. Francis S. Laing. Preserving this valuable data
before the first generation has entirely passed away is a labor of love and
of patriotism, and in the years to come the descendants of these hardy
colonists will be grateful to the wisdom that recorded the history of the
migrations of their people.

"The Boundary Lines of Kansas" is especially opportune at this time,
when Kansas is celebrating her half-century anniversary of statehood,
the paper being an historical epitome of the physical making of the state.
Much of this history is new to the reader, being from original sources,
and in it George W. Martin shows in an inimitable manner the political
methods of that day. Considering our boundary line at this late time, we
may well rise up and call the Wyandotte Constitution fathers blessed.

The article by Capt. J. G. Waters, "Fifty Years of the Wyandotte
Constitution," is of interest, giving the personnel of the convention and
the outcome of its deliberations, and while he marks it as a "commonplace
document," he shows that it has worn well.

"The First Appearance of Kansas at a National Convention," by A. G.
Procter, is a unique bit of history delightfully told. There are still those
who do not realize that Kansas, in 1860, was the throbbing heart of the
Nation and who will read the story of her sitting as an honored guest in
the deliberations of that body with surprise.

Contributions to the military history of the state, prefaced by a pa-
triotic poem by B. B. Smyth, are found in the admirable articles under
"Soldiers of Kansas." The military biography of Col. Lewis R. Jewell
preserves for all time the gallant deeds of that little known but heroic

Kansan. Added luster is reflected upon the glory of the Seventh Kansas
in the article by General Fox, and "Memorial Monuments and Tablets"
shows the jrratitude of a people to their soldiers and heroes.

Daniel Geary's letter, giving "War Incidents at Kansas City," and the
"Life of Capt. Marcus D. Tenney" relate something new historically.
Judge Stillwell's "Personal Recollections of the Battle of Shiloh" shows us
that while "wai- is hell," yet there is still time in the life of a soldier to
note the "Johnny-jump-ups," to hear the whistle of the redbird, and feel
the soft spring air.

The Indians receive valuable notice, especially in a most interesting
account of "The Sauks and Foxes in Franklin and Osage Counties," by
Mrs. Ida M. Ferris. The paper by Rev. John Dunbar is likewise valuable,
and the Historical Society is fortunate in being permitted to publish it.
It was written when this part of the world was young, and the Indians
were not those of to-day. Papers by Rev. Joseph Romig and Henry C.
Keeling are also of much interest.

Probably one of the most readable and detailed accounts of the Villazur
expedition of 1720 ever published is in this eleventh volume in a paper
by Prof. J. B. Dunbar. Much time and research has been spent upon the
subject by the author, and the binding together of the innumerable frag-
ments into a well-told story of this historic expedition was a great labor
and one of increasing historical value. Professor Dunbar had much of
the detail from the Pawnee Indians themselves, which adds to the life
and interest of the narrative.

"The Kansas School System," by Clyde L. King, will be found of value
in reference work, beginning with the first efforts of the state toward
education and coming down to present-day methods.

A paper of exceeding interest is found in J. D. Cruise's "Early Days on
the Union Pacific." Well qualified to write of that first railroad history
by reason of his connection with it, the reader is given the benefit of his
knowledge and experience.

The personal note, always pleasant in history, is struck by such de-
lightful papers as those of Mrs. S. B. White, Col. George W. Veale, Ely
Moore, jr., A. R. Greene, Theodore Weichselbaum, Newton Ainsworth,
and the stories of "Pioneering in Wabaunsee County." These gossiping
reminiscences bring the early days closer and leave us with a warm place
in our hearts for those who endured the stress of the day.

The story of old Fort Hays embodies something of the romance of the
plains and is told in a pleasing way by Prof. J. H. Beach. A chronolog-
ical sketch of Kansas City, Mo., by H. C. McDougal, is valuable both in
point of history and arrangement, beginning as it does at the "beginning"
and coming down to 1909. A word must be said of the biography of
Frank M. Gable, the story of a man who, as a boy, passed through the
hardening process of pioneering in Kansas; it was a great school, that
pioneering, and the graduates show that it was worth while.

It is impossible to make mention of all the good things in this volume
or all the good work done for it. The significance of Kansas history is
too great and has too many phases to discuss in a brief book notice. If
Mr. Charles Harker Rhodes could be subsidized as a missionary, Kansas
history would be a vastly moi-e popular study.

Ka7isas State Historical Society.

Vll

ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY-Concluded.

Shawnee, Okla.— James E. Histed. Thad C.
Histed.

Smith Center.— S. H. Boggs.

St. Louis. Mo.-W. H. H. Tainter.

Syracuse.— Caroline E. Barber, Evelin P. Bar-
ber.

Tecumseh.— Dr. J. A. Read.

Topeka.— Zu Adams. O. W. Bronson, F. D. Co-
burn. William E. Connelley, Geo. W. Crane,
John P. Davis, Chas. P. Drew. B. F. Flen-
niken, Lucy S. Greene, Clad Hamilton.
Geo. A. HurBn, Arthur M. Hyde. Judge
W. A. Johnston, Howell Jones, Geo. M.
Kellam, Lucy D. King-man, W. W. Mills,
Arthur L. Nichols, L. M. Penwell, Mrs.
Caroline Prentis, J. W. Priddy, Frank K.
Sanders, Harry E. Valentine, Geo.W.Veale,
Geo. W. Weed. Mrs. Ward Burlingame,
Peter Fisher, Dr. Elmore S. Pettijohn.

Tribune.— Clement L. Wilson.

Wabaunsee.— Geo. S. Burt.

Wa Keeney. — A. S. Peacock.

Walnut Grove, Ariz.— T. B. Carter.

Washington. D. C.-E. J. Dallas.

Wichita. Kos Harris. Mrs. W. H. Isely. J. H.
Stewart, Henry Wallenstein, Samuel F.
Woolard.

Yates Center.— Mrs. Mary W. Campbell.
York, Pa. -Dr. I. H. Betz.

Total, 220.

At the date of this publication, October 15, 237 members have paid dues for the current year,
June 30, 1911, including the following new names :

Anthony.— Thomas A. Noftzger.

Bavaria.— Theodore H. Terry.

Belleville.— John C. Hogin.

Brandsville. Mo.— William Whitney Cone.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. — William Harvey Miner,

Luther A. Brewer.
Council Grove.— Anderson G. Campbell.
Evanston, 111. — Henry J. Patten.
Great Bend. — George W. Thatcher.
Haddam. — Frank R. Jenkins.
Humboldt. — Mrs. Margueritte Skidmore.
Hutchinson. — J. F. Warren.
Kansas City, Kan.— Walter Gillespie Phelps,

Winfield Freeman. Silas W. Porter, Eliot

Porter.

Kansas City, Mo. — Mrs. Annie Lane Johnson,
Charles H. Moore, F. M. Brigham.

Lawrence. — Paul R. Brooks.

McPherson.— H. A. Rowland, B. A. Allison,
Andrew Engberg, D. P. Lindsey, G. W.
Allison, Thos. C. Sawyer, Sadie L. Champ-
lin, John G. Maxwell, Henry L. Maxwell.

Manhattan. — William H. Andrews, E. B. Pur-
cell. Elizabeth Hoyt Purcell.

Mankato.— D. H. Stafford.

Meade.— George B. Allen, O. R. Stevens.

Miles. — William Robert.

Moline. 111. -J. B. Oakleaf.

New Orleans, La.— W. O. Hart.

New York. N. Y.- E. F. Burnett.

Ogden. —Theodore Weichselbaum.

Olathe.— N. Ainsworth, George H. Timanus.

Osborne.- Robert R. Hays, Duane W. Bliss.

Roxbury. — James Muir.

Russell. — Dean Olin Smith.

Scott City.— L. S. Runnels.

Sterling. -W. Q. Elliott.

Stockton. — George Yoxall.

Syracuse. — Mrs. Gates Powell, Wm. J. Powell.

Topeka. — Patrick H. Coney, David Orville

Crane, Frank Snow Crane, Arthur B.

Poole, W. W. Denison. A. M. Harvey,

Reese V. Hicks, C. S. Triplett, Beatrice

Burge.

Troy.— Charles Edwin Brown.

Twin Mound. -Orel O. Hiatt.

Vesper. — John C. Baird.

Veterans' Home, Nappa county, California. —
Hercules H. Price.

Wabaunsee.— Charles Lines Burt.

Wa Keeney. — E. D. Wheeler.

Wellington. — M. B. McLean.

Wichita.— Mrs. M. W. Himebaugh.

-b

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

PAGE

Introduction— The Significance of Kansas History, by Charles Harker
Rhodes 1

I.— Addresses at Annual Meetings.

Coming In and Going Out, by Geo. W. Veale, of Topeka 5

First Appearance of Kansas at a National Convention, by A. G. Proc-
ter, of St. Joseph, Mich 12

The Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas, by Rev. Alfred Bergin,

Ph. D., of Lindsborg 19

Fifty Years of the Wyandotte Constitution, by Joseph G. Waters, of

Topeka 47

The Boundary Lines of Kansas, by George W. Martin, secretary 53

The East Boundary Line of Kansas, by William E. Connelley 75

IL —Manufactures.

A History of Manufacturing in the Kansas District, by Richard L.
Douglas, of Columbus 81

Resources of the Country, 84.

The Beginning of Manufactures, 92.

The Coming of the Railways, 99.

Opening of the Fuel Supply and Beginning of Mineral Industry, 106.

Manufacturing since 1880, 116.

Natural Gas and Oil, 135.

Flour Milling, 148.

Slaughtering and Meat Packing, 167.

Mineral Resources, Smelting, 165.

Salt, 175.

Cement and Cement Plasters, 181.

Natural Cement. 186.

Portland Cement, 188.

Oil and Oil Refining. 192.

Brick and Tile, 208.

Glass, 207.

Bibliography, 211.

IIL— The Soldiers of Kansas.

Nothing But Flags 216

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry and Its Commander, by Charles E. Cory, of

Fort Scott 217

The Early History of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, by S. M. Fox, of

Manhattan . 238

Memorial Monuments and Tablets in Kansas, by Geo. W. Martin,

Secretary 253

War Incidents at Kansas City, by Daniel Geary, of Kansas City 282

Life of Capt. Marcus D. Tenney, of Junction City 291

Personal Recollections of the Battle of Shiloh, by Leander Stillwell, of

Erie, Kan 296

(ix)

X Kansas State Historical Society.

IV. -The Indian. ^^^^

My Experience with the Cheyenne Indians, by Henry C. Keeling, of ^^^

The'^ChillpewaandMunsee^or Christian) Indians of Franklin County, by ^^^

Kev. Joseph Romig r' \'." " '■ '^i"u " V^'aqqa

The Presbyterian Mission Among the Pawnee Indians in Nebraska, 1834

to 1836. by Rev. John Dunbar •••••• .■■,,■■

The Sauk and Foxes of Franklin and Osage Counties, Kansas, by Mrs.

Ida M. Ferris of Osage City

v.— Miscellaneous Papers.
Massacre of the Villazur Expedition by the Pawnees on the Platte in

1720. by John B. Dunbar V;„ - l" ■' Wu'ni a"t' ^^^

"The Kansas School System, Its History and Tendencies, by Clyde L.

. 424

King -„

The Santa Fe Trail in Johnson County, Kansas iod

•'The Story of Lecompton," by Ely Moore, jr 463

"In Remembrance," by A. R. Greene 480

"German-Russian Settlements in Ellis County, Kansas," by the Rev.

Francis S. Laing 489

" Early Days on the Union Pacific," by John D. Cruise 529

" My First Days in Kansas," Mrs. S. B. White, of Junction City 550

Statement of Theodore Weichselbaum, of Ogden 561

"Old Fort Hays," by James H. Beach 571

" H istorical Sketch of Kansas City, Mo. , " by H. C. McDougal 581

Frank M. Gable ^^^

The End of the Kansas Fight 592

Pioneering in Wabaunsee County 594

Addenda ^^

Errata ^14

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ^^^^

PVontispiece — Proposed Memorial and Historical Building,

A. G. Procter, St. Joseph, Mich 14

Swedish Settlements :

Rov. Alfred BerRin. Ph. D.. 19.

John A. and N. P. Johnson. 21.

L. O. JadcrborK. 22.

A. H. CarlKren. 22.

Pastor Olof Olsson, 23. -

First church in central Kansas. 31.

Map showinK Swedish settlements, 32.

Dr. A. W. Dahlsten, .33.

Dr. Carl Swensson. 37.

Oldest house in McPherson county, 38.

Svomdal. 18fi9. 39.

The colony buildinc, 40.

Old Swedi.sh Lutheran church, Fremont, 1870, 44.

Samuel Dexter Houston. Salina 5|

C. B. McClellan, Oskaloosa 5*

John Taylor Burris, Olathe 64

Samuel E. Hoffman, St. Louis 64

Contents of this Volume. xi

MAPS AND illustrations-Concluded.

PAGE

Robert Cole Foster, Denison, Texas 69

B. F. Simpson, Paola 69

Map of State Line at Kansas City 77

Map of State Line as suggested in 1855 xvii

C. D. Webster, pioneer oil refiner 194

Map of the Battle Ground of Cane Hill 225

The Sauk and Fox Indians :

Black Hawk, 337.

Keokuk, 337.

Monument of Keokuk, 343.

Moses Keokuk, John Goodell and Shaw-paw-kaw-kah, 353.

Mrs. Julia Goodell, 356.

Henry W. Martin. 361.

Charles Keokuk, grandson of Keokuk, 371.

Quenemo, 380.

Mrs. Mary Keokuk, 385.

Walter Battice, 388.

Dr. William Jones, 391.

Group of Indians at Old Settlers' meeting, 393.

Map showing Route of Villazur Expedition 400

Ruins of El Quartelijo, Scott county 398, 409

N. Ainsworth and a Santa Fe trail marker 458

The German-Russian settlements in Ellis county :

Rev. Adolph Wibbert, 489.

Peter Leiker, 489.

Nicholas and Catharine Dreiling, 491.

St. Joseph's College, Hays, 494.

Parochial schoolhouse. Catharine, Ellis county, 496.

St. Anthony church, Schoenchen, Ellis county. 499.

Church at Catharine, Ellis county, 501.

Map of German-Russian settlements in Ellis county, 496.

Church at Munjor, Ellis county, 504.

Rev. Anthony Schuermann. 508.

Rev. Jerome Mueller, 508.

St. Fidelis church, at Herzog, Ellis county, 509.

Rev. Mathew Savelsberg, 510.

Justus Bissing and wife, 512.

Fred Karlan and Maria Karlan, first settlers in Catharine, 513.

Parochial school at Herzog, Ellis county, 516.

Holy Cross church at Pfeifer, Ellis county. 518.

Invitation by Samuel Hallet to celebrate first forty miles of the Union

Pacific 537

Stephen B. White •. 551

Mrs. S. B. White 551

PREFACE.

XJERE is another installment of that most interesting and
unequaled story of human experience and development —
Kansas history. We can issue these publications but once every
two years, which fills us with regret because of the material we
must crowd over. As a state we have reached our fiftieth mile-
post, and the story has not been half told. Interest in our his-
tory has not ceased with the passing of the years; that of forty
years ago, twenty years ago and to-day is just as unique and
absorbing as that from 1854 to 1865.

But so much has happened in the fifty years since statehood
began that the territorial pioneer, and to some extent his la-
bors, must give way to the settlement of strange peoples — the
Swedes, the German-Russians, the Mennonites — unknown and
unexpected when the fight for free soil was on; to railroad con-
struction and manufactures. We must make note of oil, gas,
cement, salt, great agricultural wealth, bank deposits —things
preposterous and unthought of at the time when the character
of our history was established in self-sacrifice and blood. The
soliciting and reception of material pertaining to the territorial
period has, in a measure, given way to that of later days, but
the research work of the scholar and student will disclose the
testimony of the pioneer fresh and interesting for all time. It
is said that one of the speakers, turning from the group of
distinguished guests invited to witness the driving of the
last spike on the Union Pacific road, declared to the handful
of neglected pioneers who had gathered at the feast unasked,
that they themselves were the real builders of the road, that
their courage and sacrifices had made the steel rails necessary.
So that no matter how far the history of Kansas may drift in
material things, the convictions and the sacrifices of the terri-
torial pioneer will never be lost. William E. Connelley has said,
somewhere in his writings, that a thousand years from now the
romances and the novels will have their plots along the east
border line of Kansas. Indeed, this idea is already assuming
interest and proportions in "Quivira" and "The Price of the
Prairies," by Margaret Hill McCarter, "A Certain Rich Man,"

(xiii)

XIV

Kansas State Historical Society.

by William Allen White, Connelley's "Quantrill," and a few
other local publications of a distinctively historical nature.

The eleventh volume contains the story of Kansas with
equally important features and a variety of incidents which has
characterized all the publications of the Society. The expedi-
tion of Villazur from Santa Fe across western Kansas to the
Platte, so ably and clearly set forth by John B. Dunbar, is prob-
ably the last of the prehistoric incidents to be presented. Prof.
Clyde L King tells us how the cause of education has kept pace
with progress in material things. The Indian contributions are
of great value, representing a citizenship of these prairies, now
extinct, much of which has merged with credit in the white
citizenship remaining. The appearance of Kansas at the first
national convention, told by the only surviving delegate, Hon.
A. G. Procter, shows where the excessive modesty prevailing
in Kansas came from; the delegates were begged to nominate
a ciindidate for vice president with Lincoln, but declined because
of modesty. The papers concerning our Swedish friends, and
the German-Russians of Ellis county, who have contributed
such thrift to the commonwealth, will be of increasing value as
the years go by. A descendant of the German-Russian colony,
when invited to prepare the paper, remarked: "How wonder-
ful ! to be invited by the Kansas Historical Society to tell who we
are! If our people had had such an opportunity when they left
Germany and settled in Russia how interesting and valuable it
would have been ! " How fast the descendants are Americaniz-
ing, and how interesting the past will be to the Kansas born!
The personal narrative in this volume equals the best we have
ever published.

The Secretary is under continued obligation to the officers
and members of the Society for their patience and support: to
Miss Zu Adams, Miss Clara Francis, George A. Root, and Mrs.
Frank Montgomery, for their ability and scholarship as dis-
played in these pages, and to all the employees for faithful
service. To the intelligence and skill of the employees of the
state printing office great credit is due. And to the friends
who by their contributions have made the book so useful to the
public and to students the people of Kansas owe a lasting debt
of gratitude. q^ W_ M.

ADDENDA.

Page 13, note 5. — William W. Ross died June 6, 1890, at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. May Ross Snyder, 2823 Orchard avenue, Los Angeles,
Cal. His daughter Delia, wife of Lee R. Andrews, died February 1,
1904, in Alameda, Cal.

Page 21— Gustaf Johnson. —Insert, preceding last paragraph:

"As Johnson and his company came to Solomon river, where they
had first planned to settle, they found on the bank of the river three
dead cattle, and asked a cowboy how these animals had happened to
die. He said then, that the water in the river was so poisonous that
whatsoever being drank from it died. On such a river the Swedes
dared not settle, and hence went further west in search of land."

Page 30.— Add to bottom of page:

"The first child born of Swedish parents in this valley was Gustaf
Adolf Nordland, born in Salina May 5, 1867. The first white person
born within McPherson county was Knut Johan Norstram, born a little
west of where Lindsborg is now situated, January 13, 1869.

"The first white person to be buried in this valley was Mrs. Jan
Nilson, who died December 31, 1868.

"The first couple married in McPherson county were Lars Huldt-
quist and his first wife, who were married in November, 1868.

"The first sermon preached in this neighborhood was preached in
Burgt Johnson's dugout by the river, in the spring of 1868, by Rev.
S. G. Larson."

Page 31.— Rev. A. W. Yale, district missionary of the Southwest Baptist
Association, at Lakin, Kan., writes, under date of June 11, 1910:

"In regard to King City there is but little to say. It had a pre-
carious existence of only a few years. I moved to McPherson in De-
cember. 1872. At that time Lindsborg and King City were the only
post offices in the county. King City had a general store, a drug
store that made a specialty of 'snake bite ' medicine, a small hotel,
and a few dweUings. McPherson had just started, and being near the
center of the county it absorbed King City. A post office was es-
tablished at McPherson, April 1, 1873. I read the story of the
' Swedish Settlements ' with great interest. I know many of the
persons mentioned. The meeting-house illustrated on page 31 in-
terested me, as 1 saw it in 1873. It was built of stone, a much better
wall than the picture would indicate, up to about half of the gable,
and finished up to the comb with sod. It had a thatched roof, a dirt
floor, and the seats were slabs with pins for legs. It no doubt repre-
sented more sacrifice and simple, genuine piety than its more pre-
tentious successor. In 1872-'73 a general store was owned at Linds-
borg by Nelson & Schancke. Mr. Schancke was a clerk in the land
office at Salina ( and also at Junction City, under J. R. McClure and
Geo. W. Martin, registers). It seems to me there ought to be a short
history written of the Kansas militia that guarded the frontier posts,
Marion and Wichita, in the fall of 1868. I was in Marion, but too
young to tell much about it. George W. Moulton, second lieutenant,
is still living, and he might have sufficient data to write it up."

(XV)

XVI

Kansas State Historical Society.

I'ajfes 34, 35, add to note 7: "Scandia, Kan., February 21, 1871.

"Gov. J. M. Harvey, Topeka, Kan.: ,, ^ ^u

"Your Excellency- Informed through the papers that the rep-
resentative of Republic county, N. T. Van Natta, in the house of rep-
resentatives, has presented a bill for granting aid of seed wheat to
the poor destitute citizens of said county. I have to state in regard
to this that the people of Republic county, as far as the west part
concerns, as being mostly settled by my countrymen, the Scandma-
vians, is not in favor of this beggarly motion of Mr. Van Natta s.
The Scandinavians in this county have never yet used the generosity
of the legislature to dispose of public funds, and will not do so this
year either. I recollect that your excellency last year, by letter di-
rected to Reverend Bergenskiold, made inquiries to ascertain if the
Scandinavians in Republic county wanted assistance in grain. Rev-
erend Bergenskiold was then directed to tell your excellency that the
Scandinavians in Republic county would not receive any such aid be-
cause there was no necessity thereof, and for this year the necessity
for such aid is still less.

"The time may perhaps come when we will need aid, and if we
then call for it we are satisfied that help will be given.

"With greatest respect, your excellency's most obedient servant.

(Signed) N. O. Wilke."

Page 54. — After first paragraph, top of page, insert:

"On the 26th of May, 1910, a resolution was passed in the United
States senate, in the same form as it passed the house, authorizing
the states of Missouri and Kansas to adjust their boundary lines. It
provides that the states may enter into compact to fix their boundary
fines to conform to changes made necessary by the changes in the bed
of the Missouri river. The river makes so many changes that part of
Missouri is now on its west side and part of Kansas on the east side.
Each state is authorized to cede to the other land that has been af-
fected by these changes on such terms as they may agree upon. The
two states are authorized to agree upon the jurisdiction each shall
exercise over crimes committed on the river so long as they are not
inconsistent with the laws of the United States."

Page 55.— After first paragraph, top of page, insert:

"Mr. Douglas : I ask the permission of the Senate to submit at this
time a report from the committee on territories in relation to the
Nebraska bill, which was set apart for to-day. The committee have
had their attention called to the southern boundary of the proposed
territory of Nebraska, as fixed by the bill already reported, which is
on the line of 36^ 30'. Their attention has been called by the chair-
man of the committee on Indian affairs to the fact that the boundary
would divide the Cherokee country, whereas, by taking the parallel
of 37 north latitude as the southern boundary, the line would run be-
tween the Cherokees and the Osages. We have concluded, therefore,
to vary the southern boundary, in order not to divide the Cherokee
nation by the terms of the bill.

"Then there are two delegations here who have been elected by
the people of that territory. They are not legal delegates, of course,
but they have been sent here as agents. They have petitioned us to
make two territories instead of one, dividing them by the fortieth
paral.el of north latitude- the Kansas and Nebraska territories.
Upon consulting with the delegates from Iowa, I find that they think
that their local interests, as well as the interests of the territory, re-
quire that the proposed territory of Nebraska should be divided into
two territories, and the people ought to have two delegates. So far
as I have been able to consult the Missouri delegation, they are of
the same opinion. The committee, therefore, have concluded to rec-
ommend the division of the territory into two territories and also to
change the boundary in the manner I have described. "-Congressional
Globe. Ist session, 33i Congress, part 1, page 221, January 23, 1854.

Addenda.

XVll

Page 70, note 37.-Topeka Capital, July 31, 1910:

"The state tax levy for Kansas will be $1.05 on the thousand dol-
lars valuation this year, the fiftieth year of statehood. Last year the
levy was $1.25 on the thousand. The reduction is 20 cents on the
thousand, or a 16 per cent reduction. These figures were given out
yesterday by the State Tax Commission. The total equalized valua-
tion for the state for 1910 is $2,752,098,126. For 1909 it was $2,511,-
260,285.26, showing an increase in the valuation of this year of
$240,000,000. The total amount of state tax that will be raised by the
levy of $1.05 per thousand on the given valuation is $2,889,702.56.
The valuation on the different classes of property fixed by the State
Tax Commission shows an increase in every class. The total valua-
tion for personal property for 1909 was $505,065,221; for 1910 it is
$554,151,451. The total valuation for lands in 1909 was$l, 210,193,155;
for 1910 it is $1,353,190,173. The total valuation on lots for 1909 was
$377,557,856; for 1910 it is $424,623,964. The total valuation on the
property of the public utilities for 1909 was $416,314,476; for 1910 it
is $420,132,536."

Page 73. —Addition to paragraph.

concerning the transfer of

Kansas City to the territory

of Kansas :

"Col. Robert T. Van Horn, in
the Kansas City Star of May
29, 1910, said :

" 'In the situation in
which the proslavery party
in Kansas territory then
was, the possession of Kan-
sas City might have been a
determining factor in the
contest. The town was the
river port for all the sur-
rounding territory. It nat-
urally was proslavery, being
the trading post for all that
section of Missouri that
raised " hemp and niggers. ' '
The wisdom of the Kansas
party that wanted the town
for the future state's me-
tropolis has been vindicated
by events.

" 'The scheme was a
practical one, and if prop-
erly engineered must have
succeeded. I believe to-day
that if it had been carried
out Kansas City would have
reached its present great-
ness many years ago. That
it did n't succeed is the fault
of one man. Missouri was
willing, Kansas was willing.
Congress was wilhng, I be-
lieve. We failed to connect
thedifferentends, thatisall.
" 'I do not know in whose
mind the plan originated.
Mobillion McGee, who owned
a farm in Westport and was

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XVUl

Kansas State Historical Society.

a member of the Kansas territorial legislature, was one of the
aKitators. Mis farm would have been in Kansas if the plan had
Kone through. It was proposed to run the state line so as to
mclude all the territory west and north of the Big Blue river,
from the point where it crossed the Kansas line down to its junc-
tion with the Missouri, within the territory of Kansas. The terri-
torial legislature was then in session at Shawnee Mission. A caucus
was held and the plan approved. I was present at some of the
deliberations, and later went to Jefferson City on the same errand.
The Missouri legislature was willing to do its part if the consent
of Congress could be obtained. There was some correspond-
ence, I believe, with Senator Atchison and General Stringfellow on
the subject, but the details are not fixed in my mind. The whole
scheme "died a bornin'," as it were, and I really had no knowledge
of what was done outside of my own part. There must have been a
plot at Washington as well as at this end, but who was in it and how
far it got I never knew. I do know, however, that our agent failed
us. and I always have believed that if he had done his part Kansas
City would to-day be the metropolis of Kansas, geographically as well
as potentially.'

"At this point Colonel Van Horn's recollection stops. He admits
there were secret influences at Washington that defeated the plan and
that they were exerted through a woman who cast a love spell over
the agent of the plotters and turned him from his purpose. The name
of this agent Colonel Van Horn would not divulge.

" 'He was a widely known Kansan,' the colonel said, 'and after
the war took a prominent part in the politics of that state. He died
a few years ago, keeping inviolate the secret of his romance in Wash-
ington, and as I was his friend and fellow plotter, I must be no less
discreet. All that I can say is that the Washington charmer not only
kept my friend from communicating with our allies in Congress, but
kept him out of Kansas for more than two years. Part of that time
they were in Europe together, I believe.' "

Page 120. —To follow last paragraph:

"Charles Ware, superintendent, reports that the Armstrong shops
of the Union Pacific have a capital invested of $229,525. The value of
repairs in 1909 was $350,729. Total number of cars repaired, 26,653;
number of locomotives, 117; average number of employees, 374.

"The superintendent of the Rock Island repair shops at Horton
reports average number of employees 700, and value of all repairs
$819,000; capital invested in plant not known.

"William O'Herin, superintendent of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
shops at Parsons, reports capital invested in shops, $1,438,515.45;
value of repairs annually, $604,000; average number of employees,

Page 149. -Run in after first paragraph at top of page:

"I built the first flour mill that was ever built in the territory of
Kansas before it became a state. This was in, I think, 1855 or '56.
When the lands of the territory of Kansas were thrown open to set-
tlers I was clerk on the steamer New Lucy Bertram, running from St.
Louis to St. Joseph. I left the river and, with my father-in-law, Mr.
Wilham Palmer, and my brother-in-law. W. J. Palmer, took up land
and located the town site of Palermo, in Doniphan county, Kansas
«Tn-^^ 'V-'^^ ^^^^"^ ^^- Joseph. Mo. My partner in the mill was
William Kimber. and the firm name was Mahan & Kimber. We had a
general store, and adjoining the flour mill (which was a three-story-
high frame building) we had also a sawmill, which, I believe, was the
first sawmill ever erected in the territory. This mill was a conven-
ience to the settlers of Doniphan and adjoining counties, and the mill
waa crowded with farmers from all over these counties. This was
before the county seat of Doniphan was located. Myself Gary B

Addenda.

XIX

Whitehead, John Stiewalt, Judge Joel P. Blair and several others
went to the high spot on the prairie about seven miles northwest of
Palermo and there drove the stakes in the ground and put up an Ameri-
can flag and called it Troy, the county seat of Doniphan county, which I
learn is now quite a large and prosperous town. When the war be-
tween the North and the South broke out I left Kansas and went back
on the river, steamboating again, and the boat I was then placed in
command of (the Omaha) took a regiment at St. Louis, Mo. (the
Fifty-seventh regiment Ohio volunteers), down to Vicksburg, with
General Sherman. Afterwards I went to Memphis, Tenn., and en-
gaged in business there; and after the surrender I planned and built
the waterworks at Memphis, and then went back to my native state,
Missouri, and superintended the construction of the waterworks at
Kansas City, Mo., which was then a small town, claiming 16,000
people, but I don't think there were over 12,000. After that I planned
the waterworks at St. Joseph. Mo., but didn't build them. I was
born in Palmyra, Mo., on the 23d of April, 1826. I am now engaged
in manufacturing fire apparatus at Chicago." — F. M. Mahan, 2023
West Lake street, Chicago.

Page 152.— The gradual reduction process of milling referred to by Mr.
Douglas at the top of this page is what is commonly known in Kansas
as the " roller process. " Charles A. Pillsbury, of Minneapolis, Minn.,
who is largely responsible for the improvement in American milling
methods, explains, in an article prepared by him in 1895, that "The diffi-
culty in grinding spring wheat by theold process [crushingbetween burr
stones] was with the middlings, or that part of the kernel between the
bran covering and the starchy central body." Mr. Pillsbury says fur-
ther: "In 1868 E. N. La Croix, a French millwright, came to Faribault,
Minn. , and experimented in making a middlings purifier like one he had
seen in France. In 1870 he removed to Minneapolis and continued his
experiments. At length a machine was made and a sample shipment of
flour sent to New York. Word came back by wire that the new flour
was selling at fifty cents a barrel higher than other brands. Geo. T.
Smith produced a superior machine, and those millers using his
middlings purifier received an advance of from two dollars to four
dollars per barrel the third and fourth years. Thereupon Geo. H.
Christian, representing the Washburn mills, a number of head millers
from other mills, and myself representing the Pillsbury mills, went
to Europe and made a thorough study of the Hungarian 'high milling '
or gradual reduction roller and middlings process. As a result some
of the Minneapohs mills adopted the Hungarian process bodily, mid-
dlings purifier and all, and in a few years were compelled to throw
away some of the complex machinery with which they were loaded.
The Pillsbury mills, however, adopted only what seemed to be the
best features of the Hungarian process, such as the rolls, made modi-
fications all along the line, and retained the American middlings puri-
fier invented by Mr. Smith. We found that the Hungarian system
needed simplification to increase its efficiency, to save labor, and es-
pecially to avoid dangerous accumulation of mill dust." — From article
on "Flour Milling in America," in the Encyclopedia Americana, 1904.
Accompanying the above article is a table in which Kansas ranks
ninth of thirty states in the production of wheat.

Kansas State Historical Society.

PaK-e 257. first paragraph, top of page, and page 268, second paragraph
from bottom. -Col. Theodore Roosevelt when he emerged from dark-
est Africa into civilization cabled. April 11, 1910. Gov. W. R. Stubbs,
his acceptance of an invitation to be at Osawatomie and dedicate the
John Brown battlefield as a state park. The date of the battle was
August 30, but the ceremony was appointed for August 31 to accom-
modate another engagement of the ex-president. Colonel Roosevelt
started from Oyster Bay Tuesday, the 23, 1910, greeted by monstrous
crowds everywhere, making his first stop at Cheyenne, Wyo. He
reached the western line of Kansas at 5 P. M., Tuesday, the 30th. He
made short stops at Horace and Tribune, in Greeley county. He
reachetl Osage City at 7:30 a. m.. the 31st, where he was received by
Gov. W. R. Stubbs. At Ottawa he made a short talk, in which he

said:

"I naturally have a peculiar association with Kansas. It was a
Kansas delegation that first definitely overcame my relutance to be
vice president, and therefore ultimately got me to be made president
I am so glad to be back with you, to be back here in the West, to be
back in the United States."

He reached Osawatomie at 9:30 A. M. He was conducted first to
the Masonic Temple, where a reception was held. From there
the program provided for a journey in automobiles to the old
cabin of Rev. S. L. Adair, situated a mile and a half north
of town, often the refuge of John Brown. Then luncheon at
the State Hospital for the Insane. The afternoon exercises began
with a parade reviewed by Colonel Roosevelt. In line were the
Thirteenth regiment band from Fort Leavenworth, part of the Fif-
teenth cavalry, company D of the Kansas National Guard, G. A. R.
veterans, members of the Woman's Relief Corps in automobiles, and
civic societies. The parade passed the modest monument erected to
Capt. John Brown, in a pretty little park a few blocks north of the
business district, and dedicated in 1877. After a brief stop at the
monument the parade continued to the battlefield, two blocks farther
on. There followed introductory remarks by Cora M. Deputy, presi-
dent of the board of trustees named by the legislature to manage the
park, and by Governor Stubbs; then Colonel Roosevelt delivered his
address dedicating the grounds as a state park. We quote this fur-
ther historical statement:

"There have been two great crises in our country's history; first
when it was formed, and then again when it was perpetuated. The
formative period included not merely the Revolutionary War, but the
creation and adoption of the constitution and the first dozen years of
work under it. Then came sixty years, during which we spread across
the continent, years of vital growth, but of growth without, rather
than growth within. Then came the time of stress and strain which
culminated in the Civil War, the period of terrible struggle upon the
issue of which depended the justification of all that we had done ear-
lier, and which marked the second great period of growth and develop-
ment within. The name of John Brown will be forever associated
with this second period of the nation's history; and Kansas was the
theater upon which the first act of the second of our great national
life dramas was played. It was the result of the struggle in Kansas

Addenda. xxl

which determined that our country should be in deed as well as in
name devoted to both union and freedom, that the great experiment
of democratic government on a national scale should succeed and not
fail. It was a heroic struggle; and, as is inevitable with all such
struggles, it had also a dark and terrible side. Very much was done
of good, and much also of evil; and, as was inevitable in such a period
of revolution, often the same men did both good and evil. For our
great good fortune as a nation, we, the people of the United States,
as a whole can now afford to forget the evil, or at least to remember
it without bitterness, and to fix our eyes with pride on the good that
was accomplished."

On Tuesday, the 30th, Hon. William A. Calderhead, of Marysville, and
Capt. Joseph G. Waters, of Topeka, made very earnest and enthusiastic
John Brown speeches.

Pages 269 to 271. —The Memorial Hall Building Commission, at a meeting
held May 24, 1910, concluded to abandon the construction of the build-
ing until after the session of the legislature in 1911. Under the terms
of the law it was impossible to proceed, because the bids for the su-
perstructure far exceeded the amount of the appropriation. If it had
been determined to use inferior material it was still impossible to
proceed, because the greater portion of the appropriation would
have lapsed before the work could be performed. The site cost the
state $15,000, and $22,393.44 has been expended on the foundation,
making a total of $37,393.44 the state has invested. The appropria-
tion was $200,000; $15,000 for site, $135,000 to be used before June 30,
1910, and $50,000 for the year ending June 30, 1911. To change the
alley to suit the commission, the neighboring property owners were
taxed $5113.33, and to get the corner lots within the appropriation the
city council gave the board of education credit on its water contract of
$4000, and the Commercial Club gave $500, thus making the site cost
$24,613.33. The state encampment of the Grand Army, at its meeting
in Hutchinson in May, requested that the building be made of marble
and granite.

Page 272. —Following first paragraph:

"A monument to the memory of those of company H, Twentieth
Kansas, who fell in the Spanish war, will be erected in Oak Hill ceme-
tery at Lawrence this year [1910], the money for it, about $1000,
having been provided. It will be fourteen feet high. On one face of
the pedestal will be chiseled the names of those members of company
H who did not return when the regiment was mustered out. The other
faces will contain the entire roll of the company with its officers and
principal engagements. The statue will bear the inscription, 'Erected
by Co. H., 20th Kansas Infantry, 8th Army Corps, Spanish-American
war, 1898-'99."'

Page 272. —Third paragraph from top:

"A massive granite shaft twelve feet ten inches high now crowns
the resting place of Gen. Henry Leavenworth, in the National ceme-
tery at Fort Leavenworth. It bears the following inscription: 'Henry
Leavenworth, Colonel 3rd U. S. Infantry, Brevet Brig. General U. S.
Army. Established Fort Leavenworth May 6, 1827. Born December
10, 1763; died July 21, 1834.' General Leavenworth died in the Indian
territory. His remains were carried via New Orleans to Delhi, N. Y.,
for interment. Through the thoughtfulness and energy of Henry
Shindler, they were removed May 30, 1902, to the National cemetery
at Fort Leavenworth. The shaft is a thing of beauty."

xxii Ka}isas State Historical Society.

Pape341.-Mr. Harry E. Gillette, surveyor of Franklin county, in a letter
of August 30, 1910, says that R. C. Lutton has owned the quarter
section upon which the Sauk and Fox Indian agency was situated in
that county since July, 1872, and has within the year moved the old
agency building from its original foundation.

INTRODUCTION.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF KANSAS HISTORY.

An address delivered before the Southern Kansas Teachers' Assoeiation at Winfield, by Charles

Harker Rhodes, • in the fall of 1905.

THE social significance of Kansas history lies in the political rather than in
the physical determination of its early settlers. By this I mean that the
natural struggles of our pioneers against environment do not per se consti-
tute a claim to memory. Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, were likewise
peopled with rugged settlers — men who blazed just as difficult paths
through the dusk of primeval forests; men who scarred the seaied prairies
with just as weary furrows; heroic fathers who shielded sleeping^households
from midnight tomahawks just as deadly; undaunted, patient stoics, who
suffered just as bitter privations as befell the lot of isolated Kansans. But
the pioneers of Kentucky and her kindred states were drawn to those regions
by the lure of free land. Actuated by an egoistic impulse, they left behind
them the comforts of civilization and sought in the solitudes of the wildland
to rear them a home. True, they dealt with elemental forces, but their
problems were chiefly economic, and after an essential period of stress and
struggle these straggling settlements assumed some measure of stability and
the permanence of a new commonwealth was assured.

But how different is the case of Kansas ! When in 1854 it became evident
that the South would make a supreme effort to capture this territory, the
North was mightily stirred. The spirit of Puritanism, that in New England
was atrophying from lack of exercise, now found opportunities for active
expression. The Kansas crusade began with Eli Thayer as its Peter the
Hermit. Men of ease, and wealth, and influence;, noble women of culture
and refinement; youths of family, with social allurements; adventurer and
visionary; savant and simpleton; righteous man and renegade; from all
avenues of life came volunteers to save Kansas from the Southern Saracen.
Undoubtedly the majority of Northern immigrants came for homes; but
their primary motive was altruistic. They suffered privations and incurred
grave dangers for the sake of a great principle involved. Here is a Puritanic
pioneerism— the distinguishing trait of early Kansas— not Puritanic in the
individual living, for there were mean men among those pioneers; not Puri-
tanic in the sense of austere religionists, for many of our early Kansans
were decidedly irreligious; but Puritanic in the collective idealism which
motivates the settlement.

Note 1.— Charles Harker Rhodes was born at La Rue, Ohio, October 10. 1880, the son of Will-
iam A. Rhodes and Ida Brown Rhodes. In 1886 the parents moved to Kansas and settled at
Cairo. Pratt county, where the father conducted a general store. In 1892 the family moved to
Wellington. In 1899 Charles Harker Rhodes graduated from the Sumner county high school.
In the fall of 1900 he graduated from the University of Kansas. He was granted the fellowship
of American history, and returned to that institution for his master's degree. For his thesis he
made a study of the Lecompton Constitution in Congress. He also read before the State His-
torical Society a paper, "Was the English Bill a Bribe? " He was principal of the Winfield high
school, 1905 to 1907. He resigned to take a traveling position with AUyn & Bacon, of Chicago.
His present home is at Hennessey, Oklahoma.

-1

2 Kansas State Historical Society.

It is inaccurate to say that New England saved Kansas. The contest for
Kansas was a question of numbers, and the great body of Northern colonists
came from the Middle West. But while the Ohio valley furnished the thews
and sinews, it was the spirit of old New England that gave leavening force
to this dominant body. Kansas thus became an expression of nineteenth
century Puritanism, and in this fact lies the social significance of the history
of our state. The spirit of Puritanism, chastened by time and enriched by
precedent, is now transplanted from the bleak and rocky shores of the North
Atlantic to flourish on the warm prairies of Quivera and from this new
center to radiate powerful influences throughout the country. The elements
of this great principle become local motor forces. They enter into our
citizenship. They shape our laws and color our constitutions. They influence
and often regulate our social, industrial and political relations. Puritanic
pioneerism, as the scientist would put it, has become a congenital character-
istic and works unconsciously. It is the birthright of these later generations,
and only in the consideration of this heritage of blood and iron can that
complex mosaic called Kansas character be rightly appreciated; for in its
final analysis, the chief element of this Kansas character is opposition to
restraint of liberty, and this antagonism belongs to Puritanic blood.

Both the social and the political significance of Kansas history are de-
pendent upon a national point of view, according as a qualitative or quantita-
tive aspect is desired. Kansas history must be studied in the concrete if its
real meaning is to be derived.

The political significance of Kansas is best revealed in a brief resume of
the legislative history of the state.

The South realized keenly its waning power in Congress. The acquisition
of Texas and our disgraceful aggressions upon Mexico, actuated by the
economic necessity of southern expansion, had failed largely of their primal
purpose. The Texans, proud of their national achievements, refused to allow
the partition of their state into four or five slaveholding commonwealths
according to the original program, and the fruits of a Southern measure
were thus lost to slavocracy. BaflBed here the busy South picked a quarrel
with inoffensive Mexico and rifled her empire of her choice domain, only to
find the slave virtually excluded from the land of this conquest as well.
Territorially speaking the South now found itself in a cul de sac. And at
the same time it was haunted by that imperative econom.ic law which makes
the life of slavery depend upon expansion. Balance of power between the
sections had become a vain, delusive hope. The North, conscious of its
waxing strength, had grown aggressive, and the trend of events seemed to
indicate that it had given its ultimatum that no more slave states were to
be admitted to the Union. This feeling, together with the natural incom-
patibility of sectional interests, had meanwhile given rise to a growing senti-
ment of secession, especially among the Gulf states. Agitation, confidence,
wealth in the North ! Bitterness, distrust, and decline in the South ! Then
came the possibility of incorporating Kansas in the slaveholding area, and
to this issue rallied the South for its supremest effort.

After a debate in Congress which shook this reeling Union like a mighty
earthquake, the Kansas-Nebraska act was signed on May 30, 1854, which
threw th.3 territory open for settlement. The doctrine of popular sovereignty
legalized in this organic act made the contest for Kansas a matter of organ-
ized occupation. The Union in '54 thus radiated two distinct beams of

Significance of Kansas History. 3

theory, and Kansas was the lense which revealed the great angle of sectional
divergence. The Missourians were maddened by the corporate activities of
Northern emigrant associations, and the story of their invasions, of the
strife, struggle, and ultimate victory of the Northern hosts need not detain
us here.

The illegal government instituted by the invading Missourians was toler-
ated by the Free-Staters as de facto, but ignored by them as de jure. Their
attitude of protest is well manifested in the peaceful [revolution accomplished
by the Topeka movement. By 1858 it was recognized throughout the country
that an overwhelming majority of the settlers of Kansas were for freedom.
In the South it was quite generally conceded that slavery as an institution
could never flourish in the latitude of Kansas. And yet, in this year, in the
face of these well-known conditions, occurred the real crisis of the Kansas
issue — the first blow of the Civil War. The discussion in the Thirty-fifth
Congress centered around admission under the Lecompton", constitution; and
the Kansas question in this session was understood to symbolize the irrecon-
cilable conflict of sectional interest. For this reason we find it attached to
every question, regardless of relevancy, wherever there was a conflict of sec-
tional interests involved. Kansas was thus an efficient obstruction to all
forms of legislation. If all the discussion of constitutional questions evoked
by the Kansas issue were collected, it would constitute a]magnificent treatise
on the fundamental principles of American public law, comparable in scope
to the federalist papers. Were all the political theories andjdoctrines that
grew out of the Kansas question brought together, the collection ^would
form one of the most satisfactory presentations of political science ever
published. Were the theories of industrial relations advanced in this dis-
cussion assembled we would have a textbook on economics. And finally, if
some energetic Kansas-loving student would collect and collate all the morals
evolved in the birth of his commonwealth, he would contribute to philosophy
a mine of unexploited data for a system of social ethics. Such],was the
scope of the Kansas question !

That Kansas could never remain a permanent slave state was conceded
by the South. Then why does this Democratic senate of 1858 struggle so
strenuously in the face of known conditions ? Is the South acting in bad
faith when it attempts to force Lecompton upon an unwilling public? Let
us see. Nationalism is almost dead now, and in its place has arisen a sec-
tionalism which entertains social theories that are mutally exclusive. And
yet in this controversy both sections are consistent according to their points
of view. Accept the Southern premises and its conclusions follow inevitably.
To the impartial investigator, however, each side is intolerant; each faction
is ungenerous; each section uncompromising.

What was the South trying to do in the case of Kansas ? Two lines of
action are discernible. The secessionists of the Gulf states were adroitly
laboring to commit the North to an ultimatum which in effect would declare
against further expansion of slavery. In the event of such a declaration
secession would be justified politically and the burden of disunion would be
thrown upon the North. They therefore labored to bluff the North into the
acceptance of a proposition which they knew it could not accept. In truth
they would have been disappointed had the North in a spirit of compromise
admitted Kansas as a slave state. It was a mere feint. But there was
another.^group of Southerners, 'patriotic men, who appreciated the imminence

4 KafUias State Historical Society.

of di9ruj)tion, who viewed with alarm the rising tide of secession, and sought
to reassure their constituencies in the admission of Kansas as a slave state.
In pleading this, they frankly urged national expediency alone. They put
the matter above the question of absolute justice in their appeal for the
Federal interest. The bill that passed the senate on March 23, 1858, ad-
mitting Kansas under Lecompton, revealed positions utterly irreconcilable,
a situation that admitted of no compromise. It was a flash from the mid-
night sky, that laid bare before the feet of the nation the yawning abyss of
disunion, and in this thunderbolt could be heard a Jove-like voice bidding
the Union prepare for a fatal struggle between two political principles one
of which must expire. So much for the political significance of Kansas.

Excepting Missouri and California, the admission of no western state was
fraught with such momentous consequences as that of Kansas. And for
this reason there ought to exist here a great local patriotism. Does there ?
How many children are growing up into a realization of the great principles
underlying the foundations of Kansas ? How many students are genuinely
interested in the strife of our early citizenship, or are aware of the large
significance of Kansas history? How many of the present generation have
felt the idealistic uplift that the essence of Kansas induces? How many !

The old-timers who made freedom a fact in Kansas and who pledged their
lives to principles are fast passing away— unfortunately unwept and unsung
by an indifferent posterity. But, thanks to the efforts of our State Historical
Society, the memories and deeds of these old Roundheads are being preserved,
and in the publications of this Society and in the Congressional Globe from
1854 to 1860 is Kansas history to be found.

The bequest of our Puritanic pioneerism was that vital principle of Kan-
sas character which is in inherent opposition to restraint of liberty. It is
the expression of this trait that has given Kansas an individuality, and when
the mighty impulse of this principle dies down Kansas character will descend
to the dead level of mediocrity.

Is there a present-day importance to Kansas history ? Is this Puritanic
principle of opposition to remain a vital ideal in Kansas life? Or is it
merely an ephemeral factor that passed away with the accomplishment of
the purpose that gave it birth ? The events of the past few months have
answered this question.

It took thirty years of arduous agitation to produce the Kansas conflict,
civil war and personal freedom. To day there is another call for freedom.
At this moment we are embarked upon another era of agitation which is
destined to deliver us from industrial bondage. Kansas, true to her instincts,
struck the first blow at Standard Oil oppression. The nation stood aghast
at our impudence. A half century rolls around and once more the eyes of
the world are on Kansas. Perhaps the inevitable conflict that our Lawsons
and Tarbells and Steffens will precipitate will be waged by the generation
we teachers are now training for the duties of life. It therefore behooves
the loyal teachers of Kansas to commune with the spirit of our departed
past and enthuse and warm and vivify the lives of our students with the
faith of our pioneer fathers. Kansas is the lodestone of the nation. The
East looks to us in this crisis for guidance and for strength, and "if the salt
have lost his savour wherewith shall it be salted."

ADDRESSES AT ANNUAL MEETINGS.

COMING IN AND GOING OUT.

Address by the president, COL. George W. Veale, ' of Topeka, before the Kansas State Historical
Society, at its thirty-third annua! meeting, December 1. 1908.

I AM now passing out of office as president of the Historical Society of
Kansas, a society organized for the purpose of perpetuating and pre-
serving historical events connected with the state and territory of Kansas.
Although the Society is admired by many of our people, it is also made light
of by others, who call it the "dumping ground" for all the cast-off books,
manuscripts, pictures, etc., that people have no room for in their houses
and care nothing for. These critics forget that what may be uninteresting
to the second generation is history to the third.

The Society should be the pride of all the citizens of the state. What
would we know of the past but for the preservation of our records? Tradi-
tion is not sufficient for this age.

Much has been written by magazine and newspaper writers with refer-
ence to events transpiring in Kansas during our territorial days and our more
recent statehood, all of which has been commendable to the authors and of
interest to the public, and constitutes a part of the records of this Society.

Though I am not a magazine writer, a newspaper man, a philosopher or
a story-teller, I have a few recollections of the past of which I may be per-
mitted to speak, a few things which have transpired within my knowledge
during my fifty years' stay in Kansas, which I wish to relate. If I seem to
say too much regarding myself I hope to be excused, for it is only that you
may know who I am and where I came from that I speak of myself.

I first saw the light of day in Daviess county, Indiana, May 20, 1833. If I
had not been born I never would have lived in the beautiful sunlight of na-
ture—never would, therefore, have made any history for myself or have been
able to observe the historical events of my time. I grew to manhood prin-
cipally in Hoosierdom. My father was born and raised in South Carolina ;
my mother in Shepherdstown, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. They met in
Daviess county, Indiana, and were married there in 1813. My father taught
the first school in Daviess county, in 1809, as is shown by the records of that
county now on file in its courthouse. My father served in the war of 1812,
and was wounded on the Wabash fighting the Indians. He died in 1858, still
bearing the ball he received in that engagement.

I was married to Miss Nannie Johnson in the city of Evansville, Ind.,
January 20, 1857. I married because I wanted to, and further because I
got the girl I wanted, and no man ever had a more devoted or better wife

Note 1.— George W. Veale has been a citizen of great public spirit. In 1857 he assisted in
building a steainboat to ply on the Kansas river. He represented Quindaro in the first Kansas
railroad convention, held at Topeka, in 1860. He represented the city of Topeka in the state
senate of 1867 and 1868, and in the house of representatives for the years 1871. 1873, 1877. 1883,
1887, 1889 and 1895. He was state agent for sale of railroad lands, 1866 to 1869, under act of Feb-
ruary 23, 1866. He resides on Fillmore street, in Topeka, in his seventy-seventh year.

(5)

Ka)usa.<i State Historical Society.

thit I have had. She has ever been loyal to her own womanhood, her
family, her friends and to our adopted state. Mrs. Veale was the daughter
of Col. Fielding Johnson, one of President Lincoln's first appointees in Kan-
sas. Wiihin one month after his inauguration he appointed Fielding John-
son agent for the Delaware Indians, in which position he served until about
the close of the war. He was prominent throughout the Rebellion in many
ways. Besides performing his official duty as Indian agent he was useful
in keeping the Indians loyal to the government, and in looking after the
families of the soldiers who had enlisted and gone to the war.

The Kansas volunteers who went out to the war early in '61 did not re-
ceive any pay from the government for several months. Thomas Carney,
a large grocery merchant at Leavenworth, and later governor, through
the intluence of Colonel Johnson, furnished the families of these soldiers in
Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties groceries and such other things as
they were unable to get for themselves, and when the boys received their
pay they forked over to these benevolent friends the last cent due them for
these supplies.

My wife and myself left the city of Evansville March 29, 1857, on the
steamer "White Cloud," in company with the family of the late Judge
Crozier. of Leavenworth. We landed on Kansas soil at Quindaro on the 7th
day of April, and there we began the responsibilities of married life. I be-
gan merchandising, because I had been in that business in the city of Evans-
ville.

Quindaro was a historic free-state town, situated on the banks of the
Missouri river, in what was then Leavenworth county, and was afterwards
taken from Leavenworth county with a part of Johnson county and made
the county of Wyandotte.- Quindaro was the name of Abelard Guthrie's
wife, and the name was spelled, in Wyandot, "Seh Quindaro. "^ She was
a Wyandotte Indian woman. Her husband, Abelard Guthrie, was a white
man, well informed, and was delegate to Congress from Nebraska in 1852.*
He was a native of Ohio, and was the instigator and prime mover in laying
out the new town of Quindaro. Wyandotte at that time (now Kansas City,
Kan.^ was a strong proslavery town, controlled by men who owned slaves.
Mr. Guthrie, being an ardent free-state man, sought Governor Robinson,
S. C. Pomeroy, S. N. Simpson and several other free-state men and organ-
ized a free-state town, located on Mrs. Guthrie's land, with other lands that
they had purchased for that purpose. The little town grew amazingly for
a while — two years or more.^ At one time it had pretensions of being a
city. It had a city organization— mayor and council— who met weekly to
deliberate on matters concerning the interests of the thriving town. Quin-
daro had two good hotels, one of them quite large; two prosperous churches,

Note 2.— Kan. Hist. Coll.. vol. 8, p. 452.

NoTK .(.-''Seh Quindaro" is the name of the Big Turtle Clan of the Wyandot Indians for
woman.' and meant oriKinally "the female turtle covering up the eggs in the sand." The
word iH made up of syllables from words which also have reference to the object for which she
ill covermtf up the.se eggs — that they may be hatched out by the sun - so that a free translation
of lh<- word might mean the daughter of the sun." Quindaro had a large infusion of white
bl.KMl fn.m b..ih i.arents. The romantic story of Mrs. Guthrie's ancestry is given by Mr. William
K. Umnelley who is also the authority for the above note, in his address on the " Emigrant In-
dian Tribes of Wyandotte County." Kan.sas City, 1901.

Note 4.- Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory, by William E. Connelley. pp. 28, 78.

NoTK.'.. -Typewritten copies of the fragmentary journals of Abelard Guthrie are in the
poRHeBsion of the Historical Society, and contain much material regarding the rise and fall of
wutndaro.

Coming In and Going Out. 7

Methodist and Congregational, both with good buildings for worship; also a
large livery barn, with hacks and stages leaving every morning for the in-
terior towns of the territory, carrying mail and passengers. At one time it
had about 1000 population, all branches of business being represented— law-
yers, doctors, mechanics of all kinds; one newspaper, called the Quindaro
Chindowan,^ owned by a company of leading business men and edited by
J. M. Walden, at that time a youth just out of college and an ardent free-
state man. In 1858 he was elected a member of the Leavenworth constitu-
tional convention, where he served with distinction. At the present time
he is a ruling bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

V. J. Lane, at the present time editor and publisher of the Wyandotte
Herald, at Kansas City, Kan., was at that time the postmaster at Quindaro,
and had his oflfice in the'store of Johnson & Veale. Alfred Gray, now de-
ceased, was a prominent man there. He was county commissioner of
Leavenworth county in 1858, and later was a quartermaster in the volun-
teer service, in the Fifth Kansas cavalry, and still later became secretary
of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, where he served with distinction
and credit to himself and with great satisfaction and benefit to the state.
Charles Chadwick, a lawyer, was another of Quindaro's prominent men. In
1861 he became private secretary to Gov. Charles Robinson, and in the suc-
ceeding year became adjutant-general of the state.

There were many other most estimable and useful citizens of that famous
little village. The advent of Gov. Robert J. Walker into the territory was
by means of a Missouri river steamer. There were no railroads at that time
west of the Mississippi, save the one from St. Louis to Jefferson City, a
distance of 125 miles. Governor Walker's first speech in the territory was
made at Quindaro, from the boiler deck of the steamer New Lucy. The
boat had landed at Quindaro and was discharging some heavy freight, ma-
chinery for a big sawmill, I think, and the captain informed us that he had
the new governor aboard. "There he is now," said the captain, "up on
the boiler deck. " So we set up a howl for "Governor Walker. " He came
forward and made us a very nice little talk, which was of a pleasing charac-
ter, saying that he hoped to make himself useful to the people of the terri-
tory, as he afterwards did. After a thorough investigation of affairs in
Kansas he wrote the State Department at Washington that without the
submission of the Lecompton constitution to the people of the territory a
peaceful settlement would be entirely impracticable, and that resistance to
the "bogus laws" was still threatened. Walker succeeded, with the help
of Secretary Stanton, in submitting the constitution to a vote of the people,
which resulted in its final defeat.

Your humble servant was the first sheriff of the new county of Wyan-
dotte, appointed and commissioned by J. W. Denver, then governor of the
territory, afterwards a general in the Civil War, and for whom Denver City
(Colorado) was named. Denver City at that time was in Kansas, the summit
of the Rocky Mountains being the western boundary of our territory.

The Kansas policy of President Buchanan, and his predecessor, President

Note 6.— The file of the Quindaro Chindowan. in the Historical Society's collection, covers
the first year of its publication. May 13, 1857, to June 12, 1S58, Nos. 1 to 52. The last number con-
tains Mr. Walden's valedictory. The paper did not suspend with this issue, but was continued
for some time by the Quindaro Board of Trade, of which Alfred Gray was president. Mrs. C. I.
H. Nichols was one of the principal contributors.

8 Katisaa State Historical Society.

Pierce, iii lernlorial days was most abusive, outrageous and tyrannical to-
wards our free-state men and measures.

At Quindaro we had a steam ferry, and the roughs from Missouri would
demand free ferriage. They came over in gangs to vote, and many times
helped themselves to whatever property they wanted, and occasionally shot
some free-state fellow just for fun-their principle of action being anything
to prevent Kansas from becoming a free state.

In the spring of l-iST I heard the then secretary of the territory, Mr. F.
P. Stanton, make a speech at Lawrence, in which he said he was here for
peace, but that the territorial laws must be obeyed; and if they were not,
and we free-state fellows wanted war, that we could have it, and with it
the knife to the hilt. But this did not frighten anybody. We were used to
that kind of talk, and before Stanton left us, the following December, he
was converted to the free-state policy. After this matters moved quietly
along, and it really became safe for a free-state man to ride from the Mis-
souri river to Lawrence, and even to Fort Scott.

When the new county of Wyandotte was organized and Wyandotte made
the county seat, Quindaro began to wane. The powerful influences from the
county seat began to be felt. Another sun had risen, the beams of which
did not reach Quindaro. However, the prophesies of its free-state friends
failed to hold up the load of public opinion in favor of the new county seat,
and in spite of its commercial advantages Wyandotte grew but little during
the war.

In 1864 the Union Pacific railway, then the Kansas Pacific railway, began
to operate its road as far west as Lawrence, and reached Topeka in 1865,
Junction City in 1866 and Denver City in 1868, and is the greatest railroad
thoroughfare at this time crossing the state of Kansas.

Quindaro died easily ; no more struggles after the war. She has now,
however, an endearing monument upon her site, the Freedmen's University
of Kansas (under the patronage of the state, and known as "Western Uni-
versity"). It was at Quindaro that I raised my company of men for the
war under the first call of the President for volunteers. I have my com-
mission yet, dated April 29, 1861, signed by Charles Robinson, governor.

Methods for making Kansas a slave state had passed to the beyond by
the fall of 1858. During that spring we had had the Leavenworth constitu-
tional convention. All of the well settled portion of the territory was rep-
resented in it by able and efficient men. Their deliberations resulted in a
constitution which did not recognize slavery in Kansas, and under which we
failed to be admitted as a free state. In 1859 we had the Wyandotte con-
stitutional convention, held at Wyandotte (now Kansas City, Kan.); and
then the men of methods and measures— the brilliant men of our territory-
deliberated, and made the constitution under which we were admitted into
the Union of states as free Kansas. There were .many very able men in
this convention, both Democrats and Republicans, The result of their de-
liberations will outlive the whole number of that distinguished assembly of
deh-gatea. The manuscript journals of the convention are on file among the
archives of this Society.

The year 1859 was rather a quiet one, and 1860 was the dry year-so
dry that in our part of Wyandotte county we did not get a mess of beans or
of roasting ears to eat; it was all dried fruit from the states. The lower

Coming In and Going Out. 9

jaw of many of our citizens fell, and their faces became as long as the moral
law. Many families left the territory, and most of those who stayed had to
have help. The undaunted courage and staying qualities of those earlier
settlers who remained and fought it out proved them the backbone of our
future state. In 1859 we had Samuel Medary, of Ohio, our last territorial
governor, who was succeeded by Charles Robinson, our first state governor.
The year 1861 brought us statehood. January 21, the day that Jefferson
Davis went out of the United States senate as senator from Mississippi,
which had just seceded from the Union, the Kansas bill passed the senate,
36 for and 16 against. The bill had passed the house April 11, 1860. The
President's signature was affixed January 29, 1861, and Kansas was ad
mitted a loyal state into the Union.

The change to a state government brought the legislature from Lecomp
ton and Lawrence to Topeka, March 26, 1861. The first session of the state
senate was held in the Ritchie block, on the southeast corner of Sixth and
Kansas avenue, where the session of 1862 and 1863 also met. The senate
for a short time in 1862 or 1863 adjourned to the south wing of the Episcopal
Female Seminary. The house met in the old Gale block, now Crawford's
Opera House, on Kansas avenue, in 1861, and here Lane and Pomeroy were
elected to represent the new state in the United States senate. The second
session of the house met in January, 1862, in the Gale block, but the session
of 1863 met in the Methodist Episcopal church, on Quincy street, between
Fifth and Sixth streets. These lots are nowoccupied^by the Kansas Medical
College, in a very handsome, commodious building erected by the Odd
Fellows and for some time occupied by the A. B. Whiting Paint and Supply
Company.

The fourth session of the legislature was held in "state row," as it was
called at that time, by reason of a contract that was made by the state
with certain parties for the erection of a building for the use of the state
officers and legislature until such time as the state could put up a building
of its own. The contract for the erection of this block called "state row"
was made with Wilson L. Gordon, Theodore B. Mills, G. G. Gage and Loring
Farnsworth. As I remember, the contract provided for the location of this
building on lots Nos. 131, 133, 135 and 137 (present street numbers 423, 425,
427 and 429) on Kansas avenue, between Fourth and Fifth streets, so that
the session of the legislature of 1864 was held in the new buildings that had
been completed and were in readiness for them. Thomas Carney, of Leav-
enworth, was governor at this time, having been elected in November, 1862.
The legislature continued to meet and deliberate in the state row until the
removal to the east wing of the statehouse, in December, 1869.

The state officers were accommodated in state row as follows: On the
ground floor the supreme court held its sessions in the south building, No.
429; the state auditor's office in the next building. No. 427; the state treas-
urer's office in No. 425, and the secretary of state on lot No. 423. The
offices of the governor and adjutant-general were upstairs in the north end
of the building.

Kansas has never remained idle. She has used all honorable means to
encourage immigration and the building of railroads, and to develop her agri
cultural and natural resources. Her educational, charitable and reformatory
institutions have advanced continually. She has taught loyalty and kept

H) Katisas State Histoncal Society.

within the pales of her constitutional law. The best effort for encouraging
immiK'ralion ever made by Kansas was her agricultural display at the Cen-
tennial ExiMjsition in Philadelphia in 1876. Extraordinary efforts were used
by our people to enable Secretary Alfred Gray of the State Board of Agri-
culture to carry out his plan for this exhibition. Besides the efforts of the
men, societies were organized by the ladies throughout the state, in To-
peka" they held fairs, where goods and wares were sold. They even had
fancy dress balls and danced the minuet. In this event they had the gov-
ernment at Washington represented. President Washington and Martha
Washington, with a full circle of cabinet officers and their wives, were
present in full court dress-ruffles, wigs, knee pants, and low shoes with
buckles on them. Each of the parties participating represented some his-
toric character. Mrs. Veale wore a dress over a hundred years old.

It is needless to say that the Kansas exhibit at Philadelphia was almost
perfect, and attracted more attention than that of any other state exhibit
on the grounds. The visitors never overlooked the Kansas building, and its
effect was long apparent in the increase of our farming population. ^

The ladies of Topeka raised $1000 to buyjthe large iron fountain that
stood in the center of the Kansas building; and the same fountain stands in

Note 7. -In April, 1862. Mrs. Samuel A. Kingman gave the Historical Society the record
book of the Ladies' Centennial Association for Shawnee county. It shows the total amount re-
ceived by the ladies from the organization of the association, Augu«t 7, 1875, to April. 1876, to
have been $1041.98. Mrs. N. F. Handy, chairman of the fountain committee, appointed George
W. Click. Alfred Gray and Henry Vi^orrall to erect the fountain, which was to be of stone. The
officers of the association were: Mrs. J. M. Spencer, president: Mrs. N. C. McFarland, Mrs. E.
W. Dennis and Mrs. Geo. W. Veale. vice presidents; Mrs. Julia D. Osborn, treasurer; and Mrs.
M. W Kingman, secretary. A letter of Alfred Gray accompanies the record, dated June 23, 1877,
in which he notifies the ladies that the fountain is now at their disposal, and about to be stored
in the basement of the capitol. See, also, article in this volume on "Monuments and Markers,"
by the secretary.

Note 8. — Next to the action of the territorial pioneers in resisting the curse of human
slavery as the policy of the coming state, the greatest and most successful movement of the
people of Kansas was the exhibit they made at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in
1876. Kansas in that early and somewhat feeble day had the nerve to step out and lead off as the
first to construct a separate building. The separate state exhibit was a departure from the rules
of cla-s-sification laid down by the United States Commission, and had the effect to withdraw all
Kansa-M products from competition and from the chances of gaining medals and diplomas. It
wa-M thought by the state board that the commendations to be gained from the public over a
unified display would more than compensate for the loss of awards. After the board had entered
upon its separate display the United States Commission varied the rule so as to make collective
exhibits the .subject of awards. There were six awards to the state and several to individual
Kanoans. But this was not the ambition or hope of the board.

The exposition opened May 10, 1876, and closed November 10. In the fore part of September
the Kansas building was closed for a few days in order to supplant the products of 1875 with the
products of ls76. Several carloads of the products of 1876 were shipped from Topeka September
6, and on the 9th arrived at the centennial grounds. The building was closed on Monday, the
nth. and opened on the 14th with formal ceremonies Over eight million people visited the ex-
position in about 18(1 days, and more than one million visited the Kansas building. Many days the
crowd was so great that several police officers were required at the entrance to admit people in an
orderly manner. The eastern newspapers said that no exhibition on earth ever created such inter-
est a.s that in thi- Kansas building. P. T. Barnum, the great showman, visited the building, and
wn ■ . i!.Iii.-hlid with theexhibit that he proposed to take the collection and add it to his museum
f' in in this country, Great Britain, Germany and France. Barnum sent an excursion of

a 1 people from Bridgeport. Conn., to see the Kansas exhibit, and at the close many

•rliclea in the building were labeled "Purchased by P. T. Barnum."

Onn rpport says : "' Public funds were never better expended in a state's interest than is the
ai i'n made by the last Kansas legislature. The benefits accruing are beyond estimation ;

tt olutely no measure to gauge them by. It is much for Kansas that she should be

rt.'. ' ling state exhibitor at the nation's centennial, but it is more that the magnificent

d Is should people her grand valleys and boundless plains with the brains and

rr. ;.:i8t."

The Boston Advertiser said : "All the riches of Kansas are spread out before the eyes of the
peoples of all the CDnlinents in the most seductive manner possible. It makes a man regret that
he live» in the Middle states to gaze on such a display. It sows in fruitful soil that seed of un-
re»l whirh may be found somewhere in every true American's organization."

The H.iMton M'atrhman said: "Bleeding Kansas ! It is not her wounds that have reopened,
but. ili.'inl. G'kI. her Centennial state building."

John W. Forney, at a political meeting in Philadelphia, September 1, spoke of a visit to the
Kansas building with George A. Crawford : "As we crossed the threshold I found myself stand-

Coming In and Going Out. 11

the park at the junction of Topeka avenue and Twelfth street, Topeka, at
this time.

It was in state row that I reniered my first service to the state as a
legislator. I served two years in th-e, senate, 1867-'68. We had annual ses-
sions then. After this I served a nurrtber' of terms in the house, fourteen
years in all, I think it was. It, was down;iii .this old state row that Edmund
G. Ross was elected to the United States senjxte to succeed James H. Lane.
Governor Carney had also been eke ted there to nhe U'lited States senate in
1864, but his election proved to be premature, and he did not get his seat.
It was Governor Carney that first gave our new. state credit. He was a
rich man when he became our governor, and i;i order to sell our bonds gave
his personal guarantee with the bonds for the piomut payment of the in-
terest as it accumulated and the payment of the bonds ?:t- their maturity.
Governor Carney was one of the most loyal, benevolent aiid useful men of
his day in Kansas. His deeds of worth and valor will long be remembered
by our people.

ing, as it were, in a great educational temple [cheers] ; a tide of memories rushed through my
mind as I took in the dazzling- scene. Kansas was the field on which the first modern battle was
foug-ht in favor of the declaration of independence [great cheering]. Kansas was the key that
unlocked the tremendous future [cheers]. Kansas was the magician that solved the hard
problem of human slavery [cheers]. Kansas was the apostle that liberated the white party
slaves of the North and the black chattels of the South [cheers], and to Kansas I owe my own
emancipation from the thraldom of slavery in our own politics [cheers]. Have you ever seen
this Kansas building, fellow Republicans? If not, then take care that you do see it, for it will
teach you many things. Recollect that it is the map, the photograph, the condensation, the his-
tory of the unspeakable value of Republican principles. . . . First, a map of Kansas, itself a
romance, every schoolhouse marked with a star [cheers] ; then a room with the files of nearly
150 newspapers [cheers], then a singularly beautiful tracery woven from the grasses and grains
of Kansas, roofing the temple itself with a golden lining : then rows of the varied seeds and
cereals of Kansas ; then a cabinet of minerals ; then a collection of woods ; and finally, many
specimens of art and architecture, and books and bookbinding, and a fragrant comljination of
summer apples and plums, and over all the figure of the old bell of independence, woven in straw,
that rung liberty out to all the nations of the world on the Fourth of July, 1776 [cheers] "

This wonderful exhibit was in the hands of the following board of managers: George T.
Anthony, president, Leavenworth ; W. L. Parkinson, vice president, Ottawa ; Alfred Gray, sec-
retary, Topeka ; George W. Click, treasurer, Atchison ; George A. Crawford, Fort Scott ; John
A. Martin, Atchison ; T. C. Henry, Abilene : Charles F. Koester, Marysville ; E. P. Bancroft,
Emporia ; W. E. Barnes, Vinland ; R. W. Wright, Oswego. Those mostly responsible for the
matchless taste and skill displayed were Alfred Gray, George A. Crawford, George T. Anthony,
aided by the genius of Henry WorralK

The result of this one effort far e.xceeded anything since. In 1875 the population of Kansas
was 528,349 ; in 1880, 996.096, a growth of 464.179. In 1885 it was 1,268,562, a growth of 272,966.
In 1890. 1.423.585, an increase of 155.023. In 1895, 1,334,734, a decrease of 88.851. In 1900, 1,444,708.
an increase of 109,974. In 1905, 1,544,968, an increase of 100,260. In 1909, 1,707,491, an increase of
162,523.

In a report made to the United States Commission by George A. Crawford. February 8. 1881,
dated in New York, is the following statement of the benefits derived by Kansas from her exhi-
bition :

" In 1874 Kansas suflfered from the combined affliction of the financial panic of 1873, the
drought, and the raid of the grasshoppers. The crops of 1874 were devoured. The legislature
was called in special session to provide relief, but to no purpose. Half the counties and one- third
of the people were on record asking aid.

"Contributions from the East were solicited. A relief committee was in session in the state
capital distributing aid.

"At this crisis the legislature of 1875 appropriated $5000 for the collection of products that
had then no existence. The people planted in the spring of 1875, and the grasshopper reaped.
The second and third plantings furnished those products that astonished the millions at Phila-
delphia.

"In March, A. D. 1876, $25,000 additional was appropriated, and $8625 for publications, and
withthis total of $33,625 the Kansas exhibition was held at the Centennial.

"As soon as parties saw our products in the Kansas building they commenced going to Kan-
sas. Kansas editors to the number of about sixty came and saw, and told the story for them-
selves. Then came about 8000 Kansas visitors. The result was, Kansas waked to new life and
hope.

"Immigrration set in. House smade empty by those who had moved back East were retenan-
ted in the winter of 1876-'77. Lands came in demand. Thousands visited the state, on tours of
observation, who will yet come to stay. There were more of these, perhaps, than of those who
located. But all spent money, and made times better.

The census of May, 1 880, shows an increase of 464. 179 over the population of 1875. The num-
ber of people in 1876 was about the same as 1875. The loss by emigration to the mining regions
would more than offset the natural increase in population. It is safe, therefore, to say that, in
four years since 1876 Kansas has gained 464,179 inhabitants by immigration. Estimate these by
the money they bring and the value of their labor, and you have a grand result."

12 Kansas State Historical Society.

If I were to undertake to speak of all our good, true and loyal public
men in Kansas it would make a large volume. Therefore, I will leave their
records to be read as they are found in the books in the library.

Kansas has grown to be a great siate ; one of the foremost agricultural
states in the Union. Her Historical Society has hIso grown until there is
no more room for its expansion in the statejvouse.

Many things are transpiring annually, to make it more important that
the state should fostfi; this institution i^nd provide liberally for its support.
I sincerely hopev. before I pass out, to see an historical-memorial building
erected somewhere in the 'shadow of this building that will be a credit to
the state and an enduring /nonument to her soldiers and public men.

It has been said. that. Napoleon's last words" were, "I am dying; what
will the world say now?" f am not known as Napoleon was, but I am
known somewhat in Kansas. I have tried to be faithful, and trust that I
have been useful to my state and to the localities in which I have lived.
When I shall have passed out, they may say, "Another old settler is gone
to the other shore." The passing out may be easy, but climbing the ladder
on the other shore may be much more difficult. Napoleon was passing out
of the visible universe that he had viewed for so long into another world,
and he wondered to himself, "What will the world say now?" The Milky
Way and the solar stars were no longer giving light to him. And so it shall
be with all Kansans when their day shall come. Let us make our record
good.

FIRST APPEARANCE OF KANSAS AT A NATIONAL

CONVENTION.

An address by Hon. A. G. Procter,' of St. Joseph, Mich., before the Kansas State Historical
Society, at its thirty-fourth annual meeting, December 7, 1909.

TT seems like a chapter of ancient history to tell of Kansas at a national
■*■ convention fifty years ago, but it was an event historic and interesting,
marking the awakening of the nation to a new duty, under a leadership
that surprised the world. And Kansas was there, the special guest, taking
her place among the most favored, doing her part in that great moral uplift,

Note 9. -Scott's biography of the Great Soldier says that " Tete d' armee" (head of the
iirmy) were the la-st words uttered by Napoleon on the day of his death. May 5, 1821. Some days
before he had said to the priest, Vignali. who attended him : "I am neither a philosopher nor a
physician. I believe in God, and am of the religion of my father. It is not everybody who can
be an atheist. I was born a Catholic and will fulfill all the duties of the Catholic church, and re-
ceive the a.ssistance which it administers." Then, turning to a physician whom beseemed to
have Buspoctcd of heterodoxy, he said : " How can you carry it so far. Can you not believe in
God. whose existence everything proclaims, and in whom the greatest minds have believed?"

Note l.-A. G. Procter was bom at Gloucester, Mass., in the year 1838. coming to Kansas
early in 1857. He wa.s first employed by Col. James Blood, of Lawrence, and was sent by him to
Emporia in the summer of 1857 to take charge of his branch store at that point. Mr Procter was
an active and popular business man, well known all over the southwest part of the territory
waj. selccl*^! by all the representatives from that section as their candidate for the national con
vcntion of 18«i. and was chosen by the Republican territorial convention as one of the six dele
Bales, bcinir at that lime but twenty-one years of age, and the youngest member of that historic
asaen.hlv. Prom 1M,1 to Ihm Mr. Procter was the special agent of the Cherokee Indians stationed
at Fort (.ibson. havmg charge of the reinstating of those Indians in their homes from which
they had lieen <Inven. His services in that work were very highly appreciated by Secretary
John P. Usher, under vvhose authority he acted At the close of the war he sold his fimporia
businc»s and moved to St. Louis, where he established an extensive wholesale business in which
he was *ucreBsful. Frr.m there he moved to Chicago, and was for years at the head of a lar^e
busin..»M •■"'•TlTise retiring in 1889 to St. Joseph, Mich., where he now resides, in the enjoyment
of gr-d lo.-ilh and pleasant surroundings. Mr. Procter has never lost his interest in Kansas
and for nearly fifty years has been in close touch with his early pioneer friends at Emporia At

P'^j.^^.^^'i"'"! ".f °"°' '■""y'ent'^n of 1908. at the request of the Michigan delegation he was
invited to the platform as an honored guest of the convention. k«»i,iuji. ue was

First Appearance of Kansas at a National Convention. 13

giving us "free homes for free men" in the territories and paving the way
for freedom everywhere.

The Republican national committee, at its meeting in New York early in
1860, issued a call for a national convention, to meet in Chicago, May 16, to
name a candidate for President and to declare its principles and its poHcy.
At this meeting Kansas was invited to send six delegates, to be selected by
a convention representing every part of the territory.

It was something new, inviting a territory to take part in a national con-
vention on an equal footing with the states, but we were making a good
fight of special service to the party, and in recognition of this fact the com-
pliment was extended.

The territorial convention met at Lawrence, April 11, and named as its
six delegates: A. C. Wilder,- John A. Martin,^ William A. Phillips,* W. W.
Ross,'' John P. Hatterscheidt"^ and A. G. Procter. I believe I am the only
one of this group left to tell the story.

We met at the Planters' Hotel, Leavenworth, got acquainted, and came
to Chicago together. A nice suite of rooms at the Briggs House had been
reserved for us, and we found ourselves comfortably housed and well pro-
vided for from first to last.

Note 2.— Abel Carter Wilder was born in Blackstone, Mass., March 18, 1828. and was an
elder brother of Daniel W. Wilder, of Hiawatha, Kan. He was educated in the common schools,
and inherited the political faith of his father. Dr. Abel Wilder, of Mendon, Mass., an ardent
antislavery man. At the age of eighteen he became a merchant in his native town, and later in
Woonsocket, R. I., and engaged in this business with his brothers upon his removal to Roch-
ester, N. Y.. in 1850. Here as a member of the Merchants' Library Association he secured for
its lecture course leading antislavery speakers. In March, 1857, he came to Leavenworth and
entered the land business. An active free-state man. he became one of the most cheerful and
enthusiastic advocates of free Kansas, was largely instrumental in rescuing Leavenworth from
the proslavery party in 1857, and later entered warmly in the anti-Lecompton fight. Mr. Wilder
was a delegate to the Osawatomie convention of May, 1859, was made secretary of the first Re-
publican state central committee, and was chairman of the Kansas delegation to the Republican
national convention at Chicago, and voted for Seward. He escorted Seward during his visit in
Kansas the following September. In 1860 and 1861 Mr. Wilder was chairman of the Republican
state central committee, and in 1864, at Baltimore, again represented Kansas as a delegate to the
Republican national convention. He was also a delegate from New York to the conventions of
1868 and 1872 August 7, 1861, he was appointed brigade commissary by President Lincoln and
stationed at Fort Scott. He was elected to Congress in November, 1862. Though declining a
renomination in 1864, he was defeated in convention by only eleven votes. October 28, 1863, Mr.
Wilder married Miss Frances Hunter, of Rochester, N. Y., and returned to that city in the fall of
1865, to become one of the publishers of the Rochester Evening Express. He was elected mayor
of Rochester in 1872, but resigned the following year because of ill health, and traveled in Europe
and afterward in the United States. He died in San Francisco, December 22, 1875.

Note 3.-Sketch in Kan. Hist. Coll., vol. 7, p. 410.

Note 4.— Memorial exercises, in Kan. Hist. Coll., vol. 5, pp. 100-113.

Note 5.— William Wallace Ross came to Kansas by ox team in the spring of 1855, and
located on a farm near Lawrence. That October he assisted John Speer in the publication of
the Kansas Tribune at Topeka, and later, with his brother, E. G. Ross, continued its publication
there until the summer of 1858. In September. 1859, the brothers established the Kansas State
Rec(n-d, at Topeka, and continued its publication until 1868. Mr. Ross was an active free-state
man and served as a delegate to the Leavenworth constitutional convention. In 1860 he was a
delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago. He was agent of the Pottawatomie
Indians from 1861 to 1864, and mayor of Topeka in 1865. He was born December 25. 1828, in
Huron. Ohio, son of Sylvester F. and Cynthia Rice Ross. The family moved to Noble county, In-
diana, in 1839. and to Wisconsin territory in 1846. Deprived of schools, young Ross gained, while
working on the farm, a liberal education by his own exertions, conversation with his father, and
the use of the ample library of a neighbor. Having begun the printer's trade at Janesville. he
became foreman of the Milwaukee Free Democrat, and participated in the rescue of the
colored man Grover from the Milwaukee jail, the first rescue under the fugitive slave law. Miss
Mary Elizabeth Berry, whom he married in March, 1855, accompanied him to Kansas. She died
in October, 1858, leaving one child. May, now Mrs. M. P. Snyder, of Los Angeles, Cal. His sec-
ond wife was Miss Julia Whiting, of Topeka. Their daughter Kate died in Topeka, June 19, 1882.
Another daughter, Delia, was also a resident of California, but is now dead. She was twice
married. Mr. Ross's third wife. Miss Sara Betts, died after one year of married life. Late in
life Mr. Ross removed to Coronado Beach, Cal., and died early in June, 1889, at the home of a
daughter in Lo3 Angeles. While still a resident in Topeka Mr. Ross engaged in the dry goods
busines for a time, and had large mining interests in Colorado. At his death he left considerable
property.

Note 6.— Sketch in Kan, Hist. Coll., vol. 10, p. 211.

Kan^'ias State Histoncal Society.

From the very first we were
the recipients of special attentions.
Kansas was so in the public eye at
that time that we attracted the
hearty greetings of the big delega-
tions, who were profuse in cordial
messages, especially those from the
Eastern states, and the calls we re-
ceived greatly impressed us with
the interest the whole North felt in
the manly struggle we were making
out there on the border.

It seemed to be understood that
Kansas would support the candidacy
of Mr. Seward, although we were
not actually instructed to do so.
Mr. Seward had been the great
friend of free Kansas in the sen-
ate from the first. He had charge
of the bill then before the senate
for the admission of Kansas as a
free state, and had given to it his
best talent and influence, so we felt
under special obligations to recipro-
cate. Outside of this, it seemed
to us that he was, of all men
mentioned, the one best fitted. He
was a great statesman, the real
representative leader of the party in the senate; with large experience
in national affairs; a great orator, a ripe scholar, and strong with the
leaders of the antislavery movement all over the North, It seemed to us
that if the party had the courage of its convictions it would find no more
brave or acceptable candidate.

Mr. Seward's campaign was in charge of Thurlow Weed, of New York,
a veteran party leader, a "Warwick" in New York politics for years, and
his following was confident and aggressive. It has always seemed to me
that had the Seward element been able to cast its vote on the first day of
the convention Mr. Seward would have received that nomination by a large
majority. But it was not so to be.

Mr. Weed sent a messenger to us, inviting the Kansas delegation to his
room at the " Richmond " for a conference. Our chairman. Wilder, intro-
duced us and we took seats with Mr. Weed around his parlor table. Though
introduced casually, as we entered, I noticed that he addressed each of us
personally in the course of conversation, calling us by name, which seemed
to me at the time to be something remarkable.

His argument for the nomination of Mr. Seward was put in a quiet way,
but wonderfully effective. Weed was certainly a past master in diplomacy!
He said: "The country is drifting on to perilous times. It will tolerate
no experiments, no expediency, no uncertainty in its candidate or its policy.
We must namp our strongest man, our most advanced statesman, and
especially one who is well experienced in national affairs. Any other policy

HON. A. G. PROCTER.
St. Joseph, Mich.

Sole survivor of the first delegation to a

national convention from Kansas,

1860.

First Appearance of Kansas at a National Convention. 15

would be cowardly and would incite distrust. It is no time to hesitate. We
must avow our convictions, name our leader and go forward, deserving the
confidence of the country ! I can see no man who can fill this demand as
can Mr. Seward."

Mr. Weed was very conplimentary to Kansas and treated us with marked
courtesy.

We had hardly reached our room when Horace Greeley called. Greeley
knew Colonel Phillips well, so we easily fell into friendly greetings.

Greeley interested me greatly. He seems to me to have been a kind of
cross between David Harum and Josh Whitcomb. He was certainly inter-
esting.

"Boys," he said, as he tossed his big white hat into the center of the
table, "they may talk as they please about Seward— about his being the
great leader, the great statesman and the representative man of the party.
I am here to tell you, and to satisfy you— every one of you— that Mr. Seward
could not be elected if he were nominated."

As he said this he brought his fist down on the table with a bang that
made his old hat jump.

"There are states absolutely essential to our success that Mr. Seward
cannot carry. I will bring to you men from these states who will verify
what I am saying." And sure enough he did, bringing to us Governor Cur-
tin of Pennsylvania, Gov. Henry S. Lane of Indiana, and Governor Kirk-
wood of Iowa, each of whom assured us that the nomination of Mr. Seward
would be disastrous in each of these states, and gave their reasons.

Greeley was unquestionably the real leader of the anti- Seward forces,
and altogether the most able and earnest. He laid great stress on the need
of making a nomination that would be reasonably sure of carrying the elec-
tion. Any other policy, he said, meant disintegration and utter ruin to the
party. "We must name a man we can elect, and must put aside every other
consideration," said he.

"Whom do you want, Mr. Greeley?" asked Colonel Phillips.

Greeley hesitated, and said: "I think well of Judge Bates, of Missouri.
He is a very able man, and comes from a section of the country we ought
to consider carefully. Mr. Lincoln may be found to be available. He is a
very adroit politician, a great debater, has a strong hold on his friends ; but
he lacks experience in national affairs, which will make his nomination
hazardous. I am not sure yet what is the best thing to do." And this, from
the avowed leader of all the opposition to the organized forces of Mr.
Seward, only about thirty hours before the time for taking the first ballot,
shows the condition of things up to that time.

The first day of the convention was devoted to the temporary organiza-
tion and the naming of the different committees. Our delegation had one
member on each of the leading committees. Wilder was on platform ;
Phillips on credentials ; I was on the committee on rules and order of business.

Our committee met the next morning in one of the parlors of the Tremont
House, made up of one delegate from each of the states represented. Cor-
win, of Ohio, was chairman of our committee.

As we got down to our work it was soon clear that there was to be sharp
rivalry between the Seward and the anti-Seward forces. Eli Thayer, repre-
senting a district in Oregon as proxy, introduced a motion for calling of the
states in a certain order, leaving out any mention of call of territories, which

IQ Ka7isas State Historical Society.

of course was meant to cut out the six votes of Kansas, and giving to the
representatives of the territories honorable seats as guests of the conven-
tion. I objected to this immediately, and the Seward men on the committee
took up the fight on our side. I was not quite sure at the time just howr our
invitation was worded. I spoke to Judge James, of New York, who sat next
to me. of this, and he said: "See your national committeeman as soon as
you can and get a copy. We will keep up the fight until you return."

So I skipped out to find Martin F. Conway, our member, and luckily I
discovered him just at the hotel entrance,

I told Conway what was being attempted and what I wanted to know.
He pulled the copy of his resolution, which had been adopted, out of his
pocket and read it to me. It was all right— inviting us to participate in the
work of the convention. "Take this with you," said Conway, "and give
them hell."

I hurried back with the paper in my hand. The discussion was on when
I entered, and as the speaker closed on my entering, Corwin said: "We
will now hear what our young friend from Kansas has to say."

1 braced up and commenced my bluff by saying that Kansas could hardly
be expected to come to a national convention to take a back seat; that we
must have all the rights and privileges of any other delegation or we would
withdraw. That if this convention should attempt to deprive us of any of our
rights we would appeal to the open convention. I then read the resolution
inviting us to participate in the work of the convention, and concluded:
"Gentlemen, we are here by that invitation, and we propose to stay and do
our part in the work before us."

I then moved that the whole matter be dismissed, which carried by an
almost unanimous vote.

As I sat down. Judge James and "Pig-iron" Kelley reached out their
hands and whispered, "Well done, my boy; Kansas is all right." And that
is how near Kansas came to getting "honorable seats." We were not
looking for bouquets in those days.

As the time for reaching the balloting drew near the lines became more
tightly drawn and the feeling more intense. We reahzed more and more
the awful responsibility, and the need of a tried leader to carry us through
the impending struggle, for the conviction was growing every hour that
there was a conflict at hand that might involve the very existence of our
nation, and the thought of it made us pause.

At this juncture there came to the front, from a source not before taken
into consideration, a movement led by the men of the border states. This
body of resolute men from Maryland, the mountains of Virginia, from east-
ern Tennessee, from Kentucky, and from all over Missouri had organized
and had selected Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, as leader and spokesman.

They were as earnest a group of men as I have ever met. They asked
for a conference with us, which we arranged without delay. The Kansas,
delegation was the first to receive them. It may have occurred to them
that Kansas was awake to what was coming, and would more likely appie-
ciate the full force of their logic.

The company completely filled our room. There was something about
the atmosphere of that meeting that seemed to mean business. Mr Clay
was a man of strong personality. He had all the mannerisms of a real

First Appearance of Kansas at a National Convention. IT

"Kentucky colonel"— very courtly, very earnest and very eloquent in ad-
dress.

"Gentlemen," said he, in starting, "we are on the verge of a great
civil war."

One of our delegates said : "Mr. Clay, we have heard that before."
Mr. Clay straightened himself up, and with a real oratorical pose he ex-
claimed: "Sir, you undoubtedly have heard that before; but, sir, you will
soon have it flashed to you in a tone that will certainly carry conviction !"

He went on: "We are from the South. We know our people well. I
say to you, the South is getting ready for war ! In that great strip of
border land reaching from the eastern shore of Maryland to the western
border]of Missouri stands a resolute body of men, determined that this Union
shall not be destroyed without resistance ! We are not proslavery men, not
antislavery men, but Union Republicans, ready and willing to take up arms
for the 'defense of the border ! We are intensely in earnest! It means very
much what you do here— much to you, but more to us. Our homes and
all we possess are in peril. We want to hold this Union strength for a
Union army! We want to work with you for a nomination that shall give
us courage and confidence ! We want you to nominate Abraham Lincoln \
He was born among us, and we believe in him ! Give us Lincoln for a
leader, and I promise you that we will push back the disloyal hordes of se-
cession and transfer the line of border warfare from the Ohio to the region
beyond the Tennessee, where it belongs ! We will make war on the enemies
of, our country at home, and join you in driving secession to its lair ! Do
this for us, and let us go home and prepare for the conflict."

No one could give a satisfactory report of that appeal. It was the most
impressive talk that I had ever listened to. It brought us face to face with
the grim specter of civil war.

This delegation, headed by Mr. Clay, made this appeal to most of the
delegations of the different states, and its effect was instantly felt. There
was a getting together of Lincoln sentiment all along the line. They formed
the group around which the earnest Lincoln men rallied and organized their
forces. I honestly believe that this was the movement that gave Lincoln
his nomination. It was the turning point, for it awoke all to a realization
of what was before us, and compelled a recognition of a new element on
which might rest great results for good or evil. In short, it set us all to
thinking.

The one thing most effective against the nomination of Lincoln was the
fact of his inexperience in national affairs, for we all came to realize that
we were fast drifting toward a terrible struggle that would demand the
highest order of leadership. We realized that not only our home affairs
would need the most able statesman that we could find, but that the com-
plications in our foreign affairs demanded the very highest order of diplo-
matic genius, and that Mr, Lincoln, though admitted by all to be a moat
adroit politician and wonderful in debate, had never been called upon to show
that he possessed a single one of the qualities at this time most in demand;
and though the point was urged and pressed that Mr. Lincoln could be
elected, there were some who felt that, even though that were true, we
could not afford as a party to take the chances of placing a man without
experience at the head of public affairs at such a time.

This conflict seemed more and more to impress us with the great responsi-

18 Kansas State Historical Society.

bility resting upon us. We simply put our trust in God, and He gave us—
Abraham Lincoln ! We were building better than we knew.

The next morning after the nomination things quieted down. We met
to name a candidate for vice president, and to conclude the work of the
convention.

There came to our Kansas delegation at this time a number of influential
delegates from the New England states headed by Anson Burlingame, ask-
ing Kansas to nominate for the vice presidency N. P. Banks, of Massachu-
setts. Banks was at the height of his popularity at this time and was
recognized as a brilliant leader and coming power in the East.

Burlingame urged us to make the nomination, as a Kansas nomination
would carry weight all over the North ; more he thought than from any other
source.

We held a quiet caucus over this, and, strange as it may seem, we de-
clined the proposition, deciding not to present this name or any other. We
felt that we were too young in the fold to assume any such responsibility,
and so notified Mr. Burlingame. It was simply a case of modesty— some-
thing quite unusual in Kansas political history.

There remained now the work of satisfying the country that we had made
no mistake. This was more of a task than we had imagined. The country
was slow to realize. They told us that they had asked for a statesman and
we had given them a rail-splitter. But when at the last, during the summer,
Mr. Seward announced that he was ready to take the field for Mr. Lincoln,
and when he came forward, with an earnestness and eloquence that surprised
U3 all, urging his countrymen to make sure of the election of Mr. Lincoln if
they would save the country, the whole North responded with a wide-awake
campaign and every northern state swung into line with its Lincoln electors.

And when, through the succeeding four years of trial, Mr. Lincoln so
happily displayed his great ability and complete fitness, we of the conven-
tion rested, and still rest, in the assurance that our work after all was well
done.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

THE SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS IN CENTRAL KANSAS.

An address delivered by Rev. Alfred Bergin,' before the Kansas State Historical Society at
its thirty-fourth annual meeting, December 7, 1909.

THE First Swedish Agricultural Company, organized at Chicago, 111.,
April 17, 1868, and the Galesburg Colonization Company, organized in
the fall of the same year, are mainly responsible for the Swedish settle-
ments in central Kansas.

There were, however, Swedish
settlers and minor settlements even
prior to the formation of those two
companies.

The first Swedish settler in Kan-
sas was undoubtedly John A. John-
son, who came from Galesburg, 111.,
in 1855. He settled at Mariadahl,
in the neighborhood of Cleburne.
His brother, N. P. Johnson, came in
1856. In 1857 C. J. Dahlberg and
Peter Carlson, with their families,
arrived, and also C. P. Rolander,
N. P. Axelson, and J. A. Sanderson
came in 1858. In 1859 John A. John-
son's mother, three brothers and
four sisters arrived from the old
home in Horn parish, Ostergotland,
Sweden.

The little colony increased by
new arrivals from Galesburg and
from Sweden, and a Lutheran church
was organized in 1863 and a house of
worship erected in 1866. The name
of the church, Mariadahl, was given
the congregation in honor of the
first person buried in the new country, Maria, mother of the Johnsons.

Note 1.— Alfred Bergin. B.D.. A. M., Ph. D.. was born in Vastergotland. Sweden, April
24, 1866. He came to America in 1883, graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter,
Minn.. 1892, and from the Augustana Theological Seminary, Rock Island, 111., with the degree of
B. D., in 1894. In the latter year he was also ordained as pastor in the Augustana Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church. He has served congregations at Sanborn, North Dak., Warren,
Minn., and Cambridge. Minn. In 1904 he was called as successor to Dr. Carl Swensson, as pastor
of Bethany Church, Lindsborg, Kan. While pastor at Cambridge, Minn., he attended the State
University, at Minneapolis, Minn., and received from this institution the A. M. degree in 1899,
and in 1904 the degree of doctor of philosophy. He is a member of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, the National Geographic Society, the American Forestry Asso-
ciation, the Swedish-American Historical Society, the Kansas Historical Society, the Swedish
Church Historical Society of Upsala, Sweden, the National Health League, etc. While in Min-
nesota he served as director of Gustavus Adolphus College, and statistician of the conference.
He is now on the board of directors of Bethany College, vice president of the Kansas Conferem e
of the Augustana Synod and president of the McPherson district of said conference. He i-;
editor of the Kansas Young Lutheran, assistant editor of the Lindsboras-Posien, and contributi s
to several Swedish- American publications. In 1898 he published "Nagra ord i viktiga fragor '' :
in 1904, The History of Cambridge, Minn.; in 1905. The Law of the Westgoths, from the manu-
script of Aeskil, 1200 A. D. ; and in 1909, The History of the Swedish Settlements in Central
Kansas. It is upon this work, containing 368 large pages, and published by the Augustana Book
Concern, Rock Island, 111., that this essay is based.

REV. ALFRED BERGIN, Ph. D.
Pastor Bethany Church, Lindsborg.

2Q Kan.'ias State Historical Society.

Peter From, from Ockelbo. Sweden, took a claim in the West Fork val-
ley. Marshall county, in 1858. He was instrumental in ^-'^^'^^fJll'^^^
his countrymen to his new home, and was in a way the cause of the settle-

ment at this place. , , . t ««;«iQri«

Anders Palm, from Lund, Sweden, took up his abode m Lawrence m 1858.
He bought machinery for a windmill in Sweden and brought it to Lawrence
in 1862 when he erected the windmill famous in the annals of Kansas.

P. J. Peterson, from Sandsjo. Sweden, came to Lawrence at about the

same time as Palm. ^ , t-. u m ^QM

John P Swenson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, February 19, 1814
He settled near Enterprise, on Swenson creek, in 1858. He was visited
by Jiiderborg the same year at Christmas. Swenson had a good educa-
tion and had been court reporter in Skane, Sweden, but had poor success
as a farmer. He moved to Junction City in 1862, and later to Concordia,
where he died January 20, 1895. Two of his daughters live in Junction City.
Mr Swenson was elected to the city council of Junction City in 1871 and 1873,
and again in 1876, serving six years. He was elected in 1872 a member of
the State Board of Railroad Assessors, serving two years. In 1868 he was
very active in gathering a lot of his countrymen to work on the Union Pa-
cific, southern branch, now the M. K. & T., south from Junction City. Swen-
son's first settlement in America was at Lexington, Mo., in 1853.3

L. 0. Jaderborg came from Galesburg to Salina in 1858 in the company
of Colonel Phillips with Doctor Gran and several persons. The place did
not appeal to them, so they all went back. Jaderborg, however, stopped at
Fort Riley, where he, through the aid of L. B. Perry, ^ a ferry owner, built
a blacksmith shop. He preempted, in the spring of 1859, some land near
Enterprise, and, after having been in the war, took up his residence here in
1865. When Jaderborg was at Salina there was not a single dwelling place
either here or in Enterprise. They followed simply the government trail
between Riley and the western forts. There was, however, one little hut
at Junction City and another at Mud Creek (Abilene) west thereof. Jader-
borg, his wife, son Thure and daughter Lydia are now residing at Linds-
borg, while Julia, who is married to E. Lindahl. lives on the old farm,
which contains 1100 acres.

Anders B. Carlgren was the first Swede in the Smoky Hill valley south
of Salina. He came here January 18, 1864; settled February 15 in the same
year on section 30. township 13. range 2, Saline county, and lived there
until 1893, when he returned to Sweden, where he died in 1895. He was

Note 2.— William L. Palm, son of Anders, recently presented a large painting of the wind-
mill to the Historical Society. The members of his father's family had all removed from the state,
and he thoujfht the picture would be of interest to Kansans. The windmill furnished power for
an extensive foundry and machine works in the early days, and the first plow cast in Kansas was
made there.

Note 3. —Two certificates for the purchase of land, signed by G. W. Veale, agent, in the
"office State Rail Road Lands," Topeka, have been found among the papers of the Archives
Department. One is to John Breaton and C. M. Albinson for 560 acres of land in Cloud county
(S. 10, T. ."J, R. 4 W. ), and is dated November 1, 1868. This was transferred the same month to
John P. Swenson. at Junction City. The other certificate is for land purchased by Robert Hen-
derson of Junction City.

Note 4.— L. B. Perry and wife settled on the island near Fort Riley in 1856. They were
from MiHSouri, near St. Louis. For nine years Mr. Perry operated a ferry on the Kaw river be-
tween Whi.Mkey Point and Fort Riley; he farmed, and also ran a sawmill. Whiskey Point and
Inland City were at one time opposite Fort Riley near where the Junction City Country Club is
now located. They left Geary county in July, 1867. Perry became interested in a Santa Fe
wag-on train; in 1869 he was in the grocery trade at Fort Scott, departing finally for Texas.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

born in Bitterna, Vastergotland, Sweden, in 1819, arrived in America in
1863, and after wandering on foot through Missouri and Kansas came to
Saline county at the time stated. He lived, to begin with, in a hollow Cot-
tonwood tree, and later built a dugout and a log cabin. There was then no
settlement or settler west or south of Carlgren in this valley. Salina was
then not a large place.

JOHN A. and N. P. JOHNSON.
First Swedish settlers.

G. A. Johnson, from Husby, Ostergotland, Sweden, settled next to Carl-
gren, in 1867. Peter Johnson, from Alem, Smaland, Sweden, came the
same year; also, Andrew Johnson and family, a nephew of Carlgren.

In the latter part of April, 1866, Gustaf Johnson, from Hofva, Vaster-
gotland, Sweden, visited the territory where Lindsborg now is located. He
drove from Junction City, in company with L. Huldtqvist, P. Spangberg and
A. G. Linn, from Vastergotland; H. J. Nordlund and Ahlqvist, from Skane;
Erik Ocks^, from Vastmanland, and Karl Johnson, from Smaland. At their
return, May 1, every one, together with nine other young Swedes, filed on a
quarter along the Smoky Hill just where Lindsborg now is situated. Johnson
is yet in Lindsborg, a hale and hearty old man, but all the other pioneers
have either died or moved away. Some of their descendants are, however,
here on the old homesteads.

As soon as Johnson and his company had settled in this vicinity some
more of their friends came to stay with them, and in the fall of 1866, as
well as during 1867, quite a few families arrived, some from the Eastern
states and others from Sweden. Among these were Gust Hoglund, I. M.
Nelson, P. Hedlund, P. Elving, Major Holmberg and others. But not be-
fore the formation of the First Swedish Agricultural Company, in 1868, in
Chicago, was there any great influx of settlers to this neighborhood.

The newcomers were all poor. Some had been in the war. They had to
seek somewhere to earn their living until the soil would produce something.
They were given employment at Forts Harker, Dodge and Scott, and on the
Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads. As most of them were young men,
they simply stayed on the land long enough to comply with the law, and
those who had families of course left them on the homestead. There was an
abundance of buffaloes, antelopes, turkeys, and no lack of venison, if they could

KaTusas State Historical Society.

only manape to get some bread. Their first corn and wheat was ground at
a windmill a little south of Salina. Texas herds, grasshoppers and droughts
were very hard on the scanty crops in these early years.

In 1S68 the Rev. J. B. McAfee, then adjutant-general of the state, be-
came interested in securing railroad rates, and in other services, to many
Scandinavians then in Chicago. Awaiting the action of agents they had been
looking over the states of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. He secured a
rate of $10.50 from Chicago to Kansas City and less than half rate from
Kansas City westward. On account of a severe famine in Sweden about tha.t
time, many thousands came to the states above named, and some purchases
of land were made for them in this state, notably in the counties of Republic,
Jewell, Cloud, Mitchell, Ottawa, Lincoln, Saline and McPherson. Rev. S. G.
Larson visited Kansas in the spring of 1868 in the interest of this movement.
The Indian troubles, as detailed in General McAfee's report for that year,
were not very encouraging to immigration.

L. O. JADERBORG.

A. B. CARLGREN.

Sven August Lindell, from Barkeryd, Sm^land, Sweden, left for America
in 1866. On the steamer he discussed with some other young Swedes on
board the feasibility of organizing some kind of a colony and buying land in
Iowa. The plan was, that as all were poor, some could go away to seek
work, while others stayed at home and broke open the soil, etc. Lindell
came to Galesburg. 111., to Ohio, to Chicago; and wherever he went he
would talk of his pet plan, to get a home of his own. He discussed it also
with Magnus Carlson, J. G. Bergsten and John Ferm, in Chicago, and the
result was the formation of the First Swedish Agricultural Company in
Chicago, April 17, 1868.

The intention was to have a company of 100 persons, who each should

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

buy 160 acres of land. As there was cheap land in the Smoky Hill valley in
Kansas, they decided to buy 16,000 acres from the Kansas Pacific Railroad
Company. They heard of the droughts in Kansas, but thought that if God
was willing to lead them here, he would also give rain. S. G. Larson, S. P.
Lindgren and Dan Lindahl, were sent to look over the land and make pur-
chase. They decided on a tract nine miles north and south and six miles
east and west in the southern part of what is now called Saline county and
the north part of what is now McPherson county. The plan was to buy the
railroad land and homestead the intervening government land. They did
not get all the land they applied for, but the homestead land in between
gave them sufficient territory for their colony just the same.

The members of the com-
pany were not all located in
Chicago. Those in Chicago
had friends and relatives in
Sweden, and there were a
large number of them in the
province of Varmland who
became members even at the
start. John Ferm wrote to
John Johnson, in Backa, at
Kroppa, C. R. Carlson, at
FiHpstad, and Rev. Olof 01s-
son, at the parish of Pers-
berg. These then interested
their friends in the enter-
prise, and with eighty fami-
lies, numbering about 250
persons. Rev. Olof Olsson
set out for the New World
and Kansas in May, 1869. He
arrived at Salina in the latter
part of June of that year,
and became from the very
start the leading man in the
colony.

The colonists were sin-
cerely religious, of a pietistic color, and influenced greatly by the teachings
of C. 0. Rosenius and P. Fjellstedt. They were earnest Lutherans, and
desired above everything else to establish their church in the place
where they were to make their home. They would begin the dig-
ging of their dugout with prayer, and prayer and Scripture reading
always had its place in the program for the day. They were rigorously
honest, trustworthy and law-abiding. Hardly had they begun the erection of
their huts before they undertook to build a house of worship. Their first
church, simple and primitive, was erected on section seven, Smoky Hill town-
ship, McPherson county, out of stone from the bluffs, and in it the first
service was held New Year's morning at five A. M., 1870.

They were by no means clannish, but desirous of unity and order. Within
the colony they naturally favored people of their own nationality and belief.

PASTOR OLOF OLSSON.

Kan^^as State Histoncal Society.

Hence the constitution of the company as well as the constitution of the
church is written so as to admit only sincere believers m Jesus Christ of
Swedish-Lutheran faith.

It mipht be of some interest to copy the minutes of the first meeting ot
the Agricultural Company, the constitution of the company, the land con-
tract and the constitution of the church, for all were of importance to this
early colony, whose influence has been so great in the development of our
great and glorious state :
"Minutes of the meeting held at 190-192 Superior street. Chicago, 111.,

A])ril 17, 1868. in order to organize a Swedish Agricultural Company

within the United States. ,, , ^ -.,.• io,.u u *.

"I. The meeting was opened by reading of 1 Corinthians, Idtn chapter,

and prayer. t • j

"2. John Ferm was elected chairman pro tern, and b. r. Liindgren,

secretary.

•'3. A constitution was proposed and it was decided to discuss the same

item by item. , , ^ ,

"4 The preamble and the fifth paragraph were adopted.
"5. The meeting adjourned to meet next Friday evening to continue

the discussion, and was closed with prayer."

How long a time it took to agree upon a constitution cannot be learned,
but the following was the result of the deliberations :

"CONSTITUTION FOR THE FIRST SWEDISH AGRICULTURAL COMPANY,

OF CHICAGO, ILL.

"I. The name of this corporation shall be the First Swedish Agricul-
tural Company. .

"II. Everyone received as a member of this corporation shall be a be-
lieving Christian, adhere to the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran church,
be industrious and thrifty, and exert himself for the upbuilding and develop-
ment of the company.

"III. Each member shall, when operations begin, contribute $100, and
after that $25 the first day of every third month while this organization
exists, but should any member not be able to contribute the full amount, he
shall be debited by the sum so lacking, besides six per cent interest.

"IV. Every member is in duty bound to work for the maintenance and
success of the corporation. Should anyone be negligent in this respect or
oppose the progress of the company, or in some way shirk his duty as a
member, he will have to be satisfied with such decision concerning himself
as a majority of the members pass.

"V. While this corporation exists all members shall have equal rights
and duties. After five years are passed shall the common property be di-
vided in the following manner:

"(«) A committee of seven shall value all the property of the company.'
The land shall be divided into forty-acre lots. Cattle and other property
shall be divided according to its value. This committee shall consist of the
president, secretary and one director, two other members, and two who are
not members of our company. The committee shall be selected at a special
meeting called at least six months prior to the time for dividing the prop-
erty. When valuation has been completed the property shall be divided
among the members of the corporation.

"(/)) The land thus valued shall on a specified day be sold at auction to
the highest bidder among the members of the company. No lot less than
forty acres can be bought or sold, and no price less than that put by the
valuation committee can be accepted. With cattle and other property the
same rule shall obtain. Pay for property thus bought shall be deducted
from each buyer's share in the company.

"(c) What money is received above the price of the appraisers shall be
distributed equally among the shareholders and shall become due and be col-
lected at such time and in such manner as is decided upon on the day of
auction.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas. 25

"(rf) For the administration of such matters as may need attention, as
open accounts and unfinished business transactions at the dissolution of the
company, a committee of administration, or an administrator, shall be
chosen.

"(e) Should some one desire to leave the corporation prior to the ex-
piration of the five years, he shall either get a successor satisfactory to the
corporation, who will take upon himself all obligations of such a member,
or he shall have no right to claim any of his deposited capital before the ex-
piration of five years, and then minus the interest only. If the corporation
should then be in straightened circumstances he shall receive from the admin-
istrator a note of such kind as shall then be decided. But shall the corpora
tion during the five years lose or not gain anything, then shall the remaining
members have the right to receive their full depositions first without inter-
est, and from the remainder those who have left the company may take as
long as it lasts.

'' (/) The corporation shall, as soon as any operations have been begun,
elect seven officers, or more if necessary, and they shall serve for one year.
They shall be: president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and three di-
rectors, and shall be elected at the annual meeting of the corporation.

" (g) Should any member while the corporation lasts become sick or
suffer some accident that would unfit him for performing his duty according
to paragraphs II and IV, he shall not be expelled but be treated in as lenient
a manner as the condition of the corporation will allow.

" (h) Should any member die during the existence of the corporation,
his heirs, provided they do not desire to remain in the company, shall be
treated in accordance with paragraph IV ; but if they desire to remain their
duties will be those of the constitution as a whole.

"(i) A general meeting shall be held in the last part of June or the
first of July every year, and besides as often as conditions demand. The
president shall give notice of every such meeting to each member in good
time.

"(j) Whosoever has any complaint against the corporation, or anything
to recommend to the same, its members or officers, etc., shall address the
president, when it becomes his duty to convene the board of directors.
If that cannot settle the matter, refer it to a general meeting. Complaints
against the president shall be brought before the vice president.

"(k) Alterations and amendments to this constitution cannot be made
except by a two-thirds majority vote, and after such have been discussed
at a previous meeting.

"instructions to officers.

"The president's duties are: To preside at the sessions of the corpora-
tion and at the meetings of the board of directors; see to it that everything
is done in a proper and orderly way; not allow more than one to speak at
the same time, but give each one that so desires an opportunity to speak,
provided he deliberates on the question before the house. He shall further see.
too, that each question is thoroughly discussed and, if possible, passed upon,
before he lets another question be presented; sign all documents; and as the
head and leader of the corporation he shall be a firm character, sincerely
quench all disorder and insubordination, but with kindness and love treat
want and virtue. Special emphasis is laid upon his duty to care for the
widows and orphans within the corporation as far as the circumstances of
the company allow

"The vice president shall, in the president's absence, perform his duties.

"The secretary shall write and keep the record of the decisions of the
corporation and its board of directors, and besides keep a record of the in-
come and outlay of the corporation similar to that of the treasurer.

"The corresponding secretary shall receive and reply to all the corre-
spondence of the company, and inform absent members of the doings of the
corporation if these concern any individual member. Concerning letters that
demand a meeting of the whole company he shall immediately inform the
president.

"The treasurer shall receive all money coming to the corporation and

26 Kaiisas State Historical Society.

pay out according to the decision of the same. He can pay no sum larger
than ten dollars at one time without asking the board of directors, but must
a payment be made so quickly that the board cannot convene, and the cor-
poration should lose financially if payment is delayed, then he may pay such
duos with the consent of the president or some director. He shall further
keep the books in proper shape at all times, and present in a written report
the condition of the treasury to each annual meeting. If he should misuse
his great trust, the board of directors shall have the power to depose him,
and the president shall have charge of the books until an extra meeting be
called, when the case shall be considered and if necessary a new treasurer
elected.

"The duties of the directors shall be to have at heart the welfare of the
corporation ; defend the same against false reports ; prevent strife and di-
visions, if such should arise among the members ; to assist by kind advice
and information the members and officers; be present at all meetings and
vote conscientiously and impartially, and also assist the officers by corre-
spondence or otherwise as the circumstances may demand.

J. Ferm, President.

J. G. Bergsten, Vice President.

S. P. LiNDGREN, Secretary and Treasurer.

S. A. LiNDELL, Corresponding Secretary.

A. P. LiNDE and J. 0. Lindh, Directors."

The charter is of a later date. The company was formed, bought land:
and made settlement, but did not know the need of incorporation. As soon
as it found out that incorporation was necessary, this was attended to.
This explains why the charter differs in some respects from the constitu-
tion, and why it is of so late a date.

"Charter of the 'First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson
County, ' prepared and adopted in pursuance of an act of the legislature of
Kansas, 29th day of February, A. D. 1868, as follows, to wit :

"First.
"The name of this corporation shall be The First Swedish Agricultural
Company of McPherson County.

"Second.
"The purpose of this corporation shall be the promotion of immigration,
the encouragement of agriculture, and the purchase, location and laying out
of town sites and the sale and conveyance of the same in lots and subdivi-
sions or otherwise.

"Third.

^iJ^*^ business of this corporation shall be transacted at Lindsborg, in
McPherson county, in the state of Kansas, and at the city of Chicago, in
the state of Illinois.

"Fourth.

"The term of existence of this corporation shall be twenty years.

"Fifth.
"The number of directors of this corporation shall be eleven, and for the
year next ensuing they shall be the following-named persons, that is to say:
John term and John Henry Johnson, who severally reside in McPherson
county m the state of Kansas, and Andrew M. Olson, who resides in Saline
county state of Kansas, who are respectively citizens of the state of Kan-
T«L*r n ""■ F'''^^^^; \"drew P. Monten, John 0. Lind, Swen Samuelson,
John G. Bergsten Nils Johnson, Carl A. Carlson and August P. Brandt,
who severally reside in the city of Chicago in the state of Illinois.

"Sixth.

.. „l7f^'^ corporation has no capital stock. The property of this corporation

counfv Ih'^^''^'" P%''f'' ^^ '^"^' "^'"^ Whereof are situated in McPherson
county, and some in Saline county, in the state of Kansas, amounting in the

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

S. Samuelson,
August P. Brandt,
John G. Bergsten,
J. H. Johnson,
Andrew M. Olson."

aggregate to thirteen thousand one hundred and sixty-eight j^o acres of land,
which said land was heretofore contracted for in behalf of this corporation
from the Union Pacific Railway Company, by a certain contract in writing
bearing the date first day of September, a. d. 1868, on which contract sun-
dry payments of principal and interest have been made on behalf of this
company of the purchase for said land to the amount of ten thousand dollars
or thereabouts, together with divers and numerous articles of personal
property, goods and chattels, consisting of domestic animals, horses, cattle,
sheep and swine and agricultural and farming utensils, machines, and im-
plements, amounting, together with the land aforesaid, in value to the sum
of seventy-five thousand dollars or thereabouts. Witness our hands this
28th day of Februrary, a. d. 1870.

Peter Colseth,

J, O. Lindh,

Carl A. Carlson,

N. Johnson,

John Ferm,

Andrew Peter Monten,

"Contract.

" Land Department of the Union Pacific Railway Company, E. D.

"This agreement, made this first day of September in the year eighteen
hundred and sixty-eight, between the Union Pacific Railway Company, E. D.,
of the first part, and the First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson
County, Kansas, of the second part,

Witnesseth, That in consideration of the stipulation herein contained and
payments to be made as hereafter specified, the first party hereby agrees
to sell unto the said second party the following-described lands in the state
of Kansas, viz.:

Description. Section.

19
21
23
27
29
31
33

NW14 of NEi^ 35

N>^ and SW1.4 of NWM 35

NWM of SWM 35

1
3
5
7

SWM of NEK 9

NW14 9

NWi^ of SEK 9

SW14 9

Wi^ofNEi^ 11

WVz of SE14 11

NWi^ 11

SW14 11

EJ^ofNEi^ 15

Ei^ and SW>^ of SE1.4 15

SKofSWK •' 15

NWi^ 17

NW14 of SEK 17

SWM 17

WK 19

SWMofSEi^ 19

Syi : . . . 21

own.

Range.

3 west

28 Kansas State Historical Society.

Description.

Section. Town. Range.

El/ 29 17 3 west.

Sf, 33 17 3 "

sEt.::.:. ;;.■;;.■ 33 n 3 "

Eio1,fNWi4 33 17 3 "

Oontaininff. according to the United States survey, thirteen thousand and
si.xty-eiRht ,V, acres, for the sum of twenty-nine thousand six hundred and
twenty-nine .Vo dollars, with the interest annually at the rate of six per
cent Payment has been made and received of five thousand nine hundred
and twenty-five ,"„'o dollars ($5925.97), and the remaining principal, with the
annual accruing interest, shall be paid at the general land office of the first
part in five annual payments, at the time and in the manner following; that
is to say:

Day. Month. Year. Principal. Interest. Amount,

First payment 1st Sept. 1869 $1,422 22 $1,422 23

Second " 1st Sept. 1870 $5,925 97 1,422 23 7,348 20

Third " 1st Sept. 1871 5,925 97 1,066 67 6,992 64

Fourth " 1st Sept. 1872 5,925 97 71112 6,637 09

Fifth " 1st Sept. 1873 5,925 96 355 56 6,28152

"And the said second party, in consideration of the premises, hereby
agree to place at least fifty families upon said land in south half T. 16 S.,
R. 3 W., and T. 17 S., R. 3 W., within eighteen months from this date, and
further agree that within two years from this date and in each of the then
next ensuing two years they or their legal representatives or assigns will
improve, by tillage or some other course of good husbandry, at least one-
tenth of said lands, so that at the expiration of said four years not less than
three-tenths of the premises embraced in this contract shall have been used
for cultivation; and further, the second party agree that they will make
punctual payment of the above sums as each of the same respectively be-
comes due, and that they will regularly and seasonably pay all such taxes
and assessments as may hereafter be imposed upon said premises. In case
the second party, their legal representatives or assigns, shall pay the several
sums of money aforesaid punctually and at the time above limited, and
shall strictly and literally perform all and singular their agreements and
stipulations aforesaid after their true tenor and intent, then the first party
will cause to be made and executed unto the said second party, their heirs
or assigns (upon request at the general land office of the first party and the
surrender of this contract), a deed conveying said premises in fee simple
with the ordinary covenants of warranty; and in case said second party shall
be unable to make any of the payments under this contract when the same
shall become due, and shall make affidavit to this effect, the first party
agree that of the lands hereinbefore described there shall be deeded to said
second party by said first party a sufficient number of acres to represent
the purchase money paid under this contract at the time of such failure or
default; but the lands to be so deeded in the event of such default and in
consideration of the money paid on this contract shall be selected from the
lands aforesaid by the agent of the second party and by land commissioner
of the first party, and in the event of disagreement between the agent of
the second party and said land commissioner the decision of the president of
the Union Pacific Railway Company. E. D., shall be final.

"The lands to be selected shall be sold at the present selling price for
such tracts as they stand upon the books of the said first party, and not at
the uniform price of two ,Yft dollars per acre as herein rated. The first
party agree to donate to said second party, or to such parties as they may
designate, without cost to said second party, one hundred and sixty acres
of land in section seventeen (17), in township seventeen (17) south, in range
three (3) west of the sixth principal meridian, in the state of Kansas, for
church and school purposes, provided that a church is erected on said tract
m good faith within five years from date of this agreement; and in case of
any failure or departure of the second party to fully execute on their part
this contract in any essential particular, the agreement to donate the one

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas. 29'

hundred and sixty acres for church and school purposes shall be null and
void.

' ' And it is hereby agreed and covenanted by the parties hereto that time
and punctuality are material and essential ingredients in this contract and
said parties of the first part reserve the right immediately upon the failure
of the party of the second part to comply with the stipulations of this con-
tract to enter upon such land aforesaid as may by such default revert to the
first party and take immediate possession thereof, together with the im-
provements and appurtenants thereto belonging, and the said party of the
second part covenant and agree that they will surrender unto said party of
the first part such land and appurtenances without delay or hindrance, and
no court shall relieve the party of the second part from the failure to comply
strictly and literally with the contract; and it is further stipulated that no
assignment of the premises shall be valid unless the same shall be indorsed
hereon, and that no agreements or conditions or relations between the sec-
ond party and their assigns or any other person acquiring title or interest
from or through them shall preclude the first party from the right to con-
vey the premises to the second party or their assigns on the surrender of
this agreement and the payment of the unpaid portion of the purchase
money which may be due to the first party.

"In witness of which, the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Eastern Divi-
sion, has caused these presents in duplicate to be signed by the commis-
sioner and the secretary of the land department, under the seal of said com-
pany, and the second party has hereto set signatures on the day and year
above written. j^^ p devereux, (Seal.)

Commissioner.
Chas. B. Lamborn, (Seal.)

Sec. U. P. R. Co., E.D.
John Ferm, President. (Seal.)
S. P. LiNDGREN, Secretary. (Seal.)

"Countersigned by Samuel J. Gilmore, Secretary."

"State of Kansas, Saline county, ss.

"I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of a
contract from the U. P. R. Company, E. D., with First Swedish Agricul-
tural Company of McPherson County, as filed in this office for record the
22d day of March, A. D. 1869, at ten A. M. And there was thirty-five cents
international revenue stamps thereon and properly cancelled.

E. Lincoln,

"CONSTITUTION OF THE BETHANY SWEDISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF LINDSBORG, KAN.

"1. The name of our church is the Bethany Swedish Evangelical Lu-
theran Congregation, Lindsborg, Kan.

"2. The congregation accepts the confession of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, but wishes to stand in a friendly and brotherly relation to Christians
of other Protestant denominations.

"3. Since the congregation, according to the Word of God, is convinced
and confesses that participation in Holy Communion on the part of the un-
converted does not have a helpful but hurtful influence, she cannot admit
to this sacrament any one unless such a person has been carefully examined
by the pastor and the deacons concerning the genuineness of his conversion.

"4. Each and all desiring to become members of this congregation shall
apply for admission to one of the deacons, but cannot be admitted before
the pastor and the deacons have thoroughly discussed his application.

"5. Persons who are to become members shall publicly, before the con-
gregation, promise faithfulness to God and his Word, and by general prayers
be welcomed and blessed.

"6. Children born of parents within as well as without the church shall
at the suitable time be by the pastor instructed in the truths of Christianity,
and, if they desire to become participants in Holy Communion, received into

A'a/was State Histoncal Society.

the congregation in the same manner as aforesaid concerning reception of

'"^-7*'" nlv such persons shall be elected as deacons and trustees who are
reco>;nized by the church as true and believing Christians, as far as human
judgment according to God's Word is able to decide. . r, . . ■

'*8 Each deacon shall, by personal conversation, endeavor to find out in
what state of spiritual development he who seeks admission into this con-
gregation may be, and thereafter report his findings to the church council
(the deacons, with the pastor as chairman), which then shall decide accord-
ing to paragraph 3 concerning the applicant.

"9 The deacons shall be consecrated before the pastor and the congre-
gation by giving a solemn promise of faithfulness to God and the congrega-
tion and"by prayer. (Signed.)

C. Carlson, E. O. Staf,

C. JOHANSOM, OLOF SVENSON,

M. Carlson, A. Erickson,

John H. Johnson, A. John Nilson,

John Train, Jan Jansson,

P. Peterson, Erik Erson.

"Lindsborg, Kan,, August 19, 1869."

THE GALESBURG COLONIZATION COMPANY

Was organized in the fall of 1868. Rev. A. W. Dahlsten, pastor of the Lu-
theran church at Galesburg, 111., was the prime mover in this enterprise. At
a meeting held in his church, where Olof Thorstenberg was chairman and
J. P. Stromqvist secretary, and where over 300 persons were gathered, it
was decided to send a committee to Kansas to investigate conditions for
settlement, and, if found favorable, to buy land for the contemplated colony.
This committee consisted of Doctor Dahlsten, Olof Thorstenberg, Gustaf
Johnson, John Rodell and Wm. Johnson. After having visited this valley they
bargained with the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company for twenty-two sec-
tions of land in Saline and McPherson counties, and then brought the rail-
road company's land agent home to Galesburg. Here each member bought
his own piece of land, and the company was at once dissolved, but it had
served its purpose and brought hundreds of thrifty and industrious young
Swedes to the plains of Kansas. The twenty-two sections bought were
located northwest, west and southwest of the land bought by the Chicago
colony. This purchase served only as a nucleus for a larger settlement,
however, for not only was the intervening homestead land taken possession
of, but all available land in the whole neighborhood, and within only a
couple of years there was no land to be had in this valley. One of the
largest settlements of Swedes in the United States had been formed, and
central Kansas was no more a terra incognita or a grazing ground for the
buffalo or the Texas herds.

The settlement has grown until it covers a territory thirty miles north
and south and twenty to twenty-five miles east and west, and proves to be
one of the garden spots of Kansas. About 20,000 Swedes or descendants of
Swedes are found here to-day, and some have a right to be counted among
the most well-to-do and influential people within the borders of the state.

The colony owes its prosperity in no small way to the gifted and indus-
trious leadership of Dr. Olof Olsson, the founder of Lindsborg, and the well
known and brilliant Dr. Carl Swensons. The influence of both these men
has been of national dimensions, but no less great within the borders of our
state.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

^K£4k

The first Church in Central Kansas.

Lindsborg, the central city of the colony, has over 2000 inhabitants, nearly
all of Swedish descent. It is considered the cleanest city in Kansas, and
has a good sewer system, waterworks and electric light plant, owned and
controlled by the city, and harbors within its borders Bethany College, an
institution supported by the Swedish Lutheran Church, having annually over
900 students, counting among its faculty members Kansas' foremost land-
scape-painter, Sven Birger Sandzen, and famous all over the United States
for its splendid Messiah concerts.

The city of Lindsborg was laid out by J. H. Johnson and C. R. Carlson,
in the fall of 1869. Johnson became its first postmaster, and was one of
the commissioners appointed by the governor to call the first election and
organize McPherson county in 1870. The first election was held at Sveadal,
March 24, and 197 Republican and 1 Democratic votes were cast. In the
fall of the same year the county seat was moved to Lindsborg, which then
consisted of one building erected by the Agricultural Company. In 1873
McPherson became the county seat. Lindsborg has never had a saloon or
an opera house. Its first public school was held in the courthouse in 1871,
and Mrs. Warner was the first teacher. There were but half a dozen
children.

Salina, Fremont, Salemsborg, Aasaria, Falun, Marquette and Smolan are
situated in the territory of the Galesburg company.

Salina was the distributing point for the whole settlement, and very
naturally some of the Swedes stopped and made their homes there. N. P.
Nelson, Gust Engstrom, Anders Vikberg, C. A. Holm, M. A. Thelander,
Anders Hart, Anna G. Hart, S. Lundberg, C. Thelander, Carl Soderberg,
G. Eklund, Frank Eklund, Hans Ostberg, F. O. Rydbeck, P. J. Peterson,.
John Johnson, Emma Larson, Mathilda Anderson, Christine Holmberg, Sven
Mattson, N. P. Engwall and Carl Fait were the very first settlers. Several
of them had families. Although there always have been a large number of
Swedes in Salina, they never were the controlling element.

Fremont received its first settlers in 1868. In December of that year
J. P. Stromqvist settled near the place where the church now is, and early
in the following year a large number of Galesburg people followed in his
steps. Among the first ones we find J. P. Rodell, Isak H&kanson, G. Ctder-

32 A'a??^s-a.s State Historical Society.

holn, C. J. Stromqvist, the six Dahlsten brothers, C. N. Lundqvist, C. J. Hak-
anson, S. A. Palmqvist, A. P. Hukanson, J. M. Carlson, F. G. Hakanson and
C. J. Sundgren. A church building was erected in 1870, which is yet in good
condition, although long since too small for the congregation. This is the
oldest house of worship in existence in central Kansas.

Salemsborg belongs to the same settlement as Fremont. Its history is
therefore similar to Fremont's. One of the first houses built was the sod
church, which was used for the first time September 29, 1869. Among the
very first settlers we find C. J. Brodine, L. J. Larson, I. M. Danielson,
August Frost, Capt. J. Ekholm, J. Sandberg, S. A. Appelqvist and John
and Olof Thorstenberg.

Assaria is an outgrowth of Salemsborg. Mans Peterson, B. P. Hessler,
Svan Johnson, Sam. Peterson, Chas. Thorstenberg, John Trulson and John
Johnson are some of the first settlers. The prosperous little village within
the settlement has a population of about 350.

Falun is also an outgrowth of Salemsborg. Its oldest inhabitant is Eric
Sundgren, who came from Dalarna, Sweden, in November, 1868. In the fol-
lowing spring L. J. Anderson, L. J. Larson, Jacob Malmgren, J. G. Hed-
berg and C. J. Sandberg arrived. It was also here that Eric Forsee, who
was the leader of a colony from Bishop Hill, 111., took up his abode in 1869,
Major Forsee was a veteran of the Civil War. The settlement includes a
thrifty little village of about 100 persons.

Smolan is another outgrowth of Salemsborg. Charles Frank, its first
settler, came in the company of J. P. Stromqvist in 1868, and took up his resi-
dence here sometime before Christmas that year. The settlement contains
a village of about seventy inhabitants.

Marquette is a branch of Fremont. Andrew Erickson, the first settler,
came in December, 1868, and was in Stromqvist's company. He settled just
where now is a flourishing village of about 800 persons.

New Gottland is a settlement adjacent to Lindsborg and McPherson. Its
first settler, C. J. Hanson, located in March, 1871. In April of the same
year, Sven and Gust Burk, and in June A. T. and N. T. Olson and Hans
Nelson arrived. Later, in the fall, there was a large influx of settlers. The
first services here were held New Year's day, 1872, and Dr. Olof Olsson or-
ganized the congregation in July the same year.

McPherson has a population of about 4500 people, quite a number of
whom are of Swedish descent. The Swedish settlement is. however, a
branch of New Gottland. J. A. Swenson, H. A. Lindberg, John Post. G. A.
Sohlberg, J. P. Lofgren, Gust Post. Carl Bengtson, A. J. Gustafson, J. A.
Thulin, Alf. Rotsten. C. Anderson, C. A. Sellberg, N. N. Lincoln, Oscar
Eklund and Nils Moden are some of the first citizens.

New Andover is, in a way, also an outgrowth of the Galesburg colony.
It is in fact a part of the Fremont settlement. Among those who were first
to settle here are Anders Bolin, August, Aron and J. P. Johnson, Erik
Johnson, N. Nygren, John Carlson, Anders and Peter Swenson. The church
buildmg is situated a little east of the famous "stone corral "near the
Santa Fe trail.

Enterprise received its first Swedish settler in 1858, when Swenson and
Jaderborg selected their claims, and Jaderborg was especially instrumental
in inducmg his countrymen to come here. The colony is. however, not large.

-2

OTTAWA CO.

THE SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS IN CENTRAL KANSAS.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

Marion Hill, near Dwight, dates back as far as 1875. The first arrivals
were J. Rolph, S. Ek, J, Leander, N. Nelson, J. Johnson, P. Martinson, N.
Johnson, Mrs. Tysell and Mrs. Landin.

Burdick dates from 1881. Its first settlers were J. Setterstrom, P.
Bjorkback and J. Gustafson. The colony is, however, growing, as people
are yet moving in from Illinois.

Hutchinson received its first Swe-
dish citizens in 1869. They were
Fred Ryde, M. Nyberg, F. Walker,
J. Swenson, P. Svenson, S. J. Lee-
berg, N. J. Patrick, P. Talbot, and
Miss Leeberg. Sven Eskilson came
in 1871. The colony has, however,
never been large. There is even
here a little congregation which has
existed since 1886.

Garfield is a village of about 200
inhabitants, several of whom are
Swedes. Those who first settled
here are John A. Nelson, John De-
lander, Fred Nystrom, N. F. Carl-
son, Adolf Simonson, Per Erickson,
0. W. Olin, Alfred Poison, and S. P.
Abrahamson. All came in 1879.
This was once quite a prosperous
colony, but a large number, scared
by the droughts, left. Those who
remained, however, do not regret
now that they did so. The '^ last
years have been blessed with good
crops.

Page, Sharon Springs and Stockholm are results of the Swedish Coloni-
zation Company, organized in Lindsborg June 11, 1887. J. Peterson was
elected president, C. J. Stromqvist secretary, and J. M. Erickson treasurer.
Its aim was to locate Swedes of Lutheran faith in larger colonies on the
plains of the West, and settlements were made at the aforenamed places.

In 1885, C. J. Falk, John Samuelson and Gust Larson came to Page.
They were followed in the next years, however, by quite a number of coun-
trymen from Page county, Iowa, and Fillmore county, Nebraska.

In 1887 Oscar Felix settled at Sharon Springs. John H. Edberg and
Anders Peterson came in 1888. J. Holcomb, J. M. Erickson, Olof Engstrom,
S. N. Nelson, J. P. Peterson and S. J. Holland came soon after.

In 1887, Nels Larson and Svedlund settled at Stockholm. Mat Holcomb,
F. Videgren, T. Martinson, Olof Larson, Anders Olson, Nils Olson and S.
Glad came soon after, some from Illinois and some from eastern Kansas.

In 1885 quite a number of Swedes settled north of Healy. in Gove county,
and about the same time another colonization attempt was made in Trego
county, but, like other settlements in western Kansas, these have had poor
success. The severe droughts have been the main hindrance to progress.

-2

DR. A. W. DAHLSTEN.

34 Kansas State Histoncal Society.

Conditions have, however, been more favorable of late, and hope has again
been kindled in the hearts of those v^rho have remained.

In 1869 there was an effort made to establish a settlement on Spillman
creek. Lincoln county, northwest of Salina, but the Indian massacre on
May. 30 of that year-' put an end to this enterprise as far as the Swedes
were concerned. Those that were not killed by the Indians left, and a few
came to Lindsborg and have since lived here.

Among these are John T. and Peter M. Elmqvist, of Lindsborg, and
Peter J. Johnson, who now lives at Marquette. Besides the raid on Spill-
man creek the old people tell of another, in 1867, by some of the Osages,
who took with them a woman and child« from the vicinity of Sharp's creek.
The Indians hurt the settlers otherwise in no way, but they would, of course,
now and then come to them and beg, and, if chances were favorable, also

steal.

We have now enumerated the larger gatherings of Swedes in central and
western Kansas. Swedes are, however, found in most every city and county
of the state, as well in the western as in the eastern part.

There are several large colonies along the Solomon, Republican" and Blue
rivers, also at Osage City, Savonburg, Topeka, Kansas City (Kan.), St.
Marys, Ottawa, lola, Vilas and Chanute.

It is estimated that there are about 30,000 people of Swedish descent in
central and western Kansas and about 50,000 in the whole state. This is
considered a conservative estimate, but is nothing but an estimate, as there
are no means by which the exact number can be ascertained.

Although they are not unfamiliar with the language of the land, the
church language of the Swedes in Kansas has hitherto mainly been the
Swedish, and the different denominations claim membership as follows:
About 15,000 of the Swedes, gathered in sixty-six congregations in Kansas,
belong to the Lutheran church, here represented mainly by the Augustana
Synod of North America, which synod is one of the larger bodies that make
up the general council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America.

Note 5. — See account of monument erected at Lincoln Center, in the article by the secretary.
In this volume, on "Memorial Monuments and Tablets."

Note 6.— The captives were Mrs. Bassett and her infant of a few days. The mother being
too weak to ride, they were left upon the prairie, and were found by Mr. Bassett and some
neighbors, who were absent at the time of the capture. The infant died from exposure. — Cut-
ler's History of Kansas, p. 811.

Note 7.— In 1868 the Scandinavian Agricultural Society of Chicago selected land for a colony
in Republic county, and located fifteen Swedish settlers the first year near the present town of
Scandia. During the years 1869 to 1871 a large immigration of their countrymen, both from the
United States and Sweden, arrived, and the colony by 1883 numbered at least a thousand mem-
bers. The sawmill sent out by the Chicago support of the colony did good service in furnishing
native lumber from the timber along the Republican, and was later converted into a grist mill.—
Cutler's Hi.story of Kansas. 1883. p. 1038. I. O. Savage, in his History of Republic County. 1901,
mentions that at the election of 1869 for permanent location of the county seat, New Scandia re-
ceived forty-two votes and the winning town. Belleville, fifty-nine. But five other votes were
cast.

[Archives Department, No. 524, class 970.]
•To his ExceUency. Governor of the State of Kansas: Undersigned actual settlers in the
new bcandinavian settlement in the Republican valley, in the county of Republic, state of Kan-
sas, hereby petition that a company of fifty soldiers may be sent to camp near this settlement,
as snteRuard against the Indians, of whom now and then a few are seen near this settlement,
which IS on the exposed border of this state. As several hundred Scandinavians intend to come
here to settle by next spring, it is the only salvation to keep the Indians out this winter ; if they
are nllow^ed to commit any depredations now it will prevent the further settling of this country
by a gfwd and hardy race of settlers. -New Scandinavia, December 4 1868

W,.v,lfi,f A*''?"?'. ^V.^' °^'^ a""^; ^^^J^ Wessen, G. Asbjornsen, Tho Svendsen, J. R. Sandrett. Th.
J OleHon Anrlr v*^ i^'^'W't^^^""^'"' ^^ inborn. A. Berggren. A. J. Brundbek, A. Larssan.
P I IrT; rl }^l^ J'^(. « ^ 2'^'^'^^-r9\^- Ohsfeldt. M. Johnsen. Carus Clase. A. Baikstrom
P. Larsen, Carl Prednk Holmberg. P. E. Walin, C. E. Halmberg, Edward Carsten, G. F. Holm!

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas. 35

These support Bethany College, at Lindsborg; the Orphanage, at Mariadahl;
the Old People's Home, at Lindsborg, and give some aid to the Swedish
Hospital at Kansas City, Mo. Besides, substantial aid is given to the
Augustana' College and Theological Seminary at Rock Island, 111., and the
Lutheran Deaconess Home at Omaha, Neb.

Lindsborgs-Posten, a Swedish weekly, Bethany Messenger, the college
weekly, and the Kansas Young Lutheran, a bilingual monthly, all published
at Lindsborg, serve as organs of the Swedish Lutheran Church within the
state.

The Mission covenant counts 1600 members, gathered in twenty-six con-
gregations within the state. These support an academy at McPherson at-
tended by 142 students, and have as their church organ the Kansas Missions
Tidning, a Swedish monthly published at Lindsborg.

The Swedish Baptists count 820 members, distributed in fourteen con-
gregations within the state, and support a home for the aged in Clay Center,
called Sunset Home.

The Swedish Methodists number 385 persons, distributed in seven con-
gregations, and are planning to establish a home for the aged at Clay Center.

The Free mission has a congregation of about thirty members in Linds-
borg.

What number of Swedes belong to the English-speaking denominations
it is impossible to say.

The influence of the Swedes in politics has been considerable. Dr. Olof
Olsson was instrumental in passing some of the good laws of our state, and
Dr. Carl Sweilsson was for years one of the leaders, not only within the state,
but within the nation. Here are the names of those who have held politi-
cal offices within McPherson and Saline counties: jj r> ^ >€ ,r> ^m»j

McPherson County. X*^X<1.U,^ /

County commissioners : John H. Johnson (special commissioner) , March
1, 1870 to May 9, 1870 ; John Ferm, first district, May 9, 1870, to January, 1874.
John P. Stromqvist, Lindsborg, first district, January, 1874, to January,

berg, L. C. Hanson, C. H. Brunsilius, P. A. Brunsilius, T. Sjostronn, N. Hansen, C. Bergman, P.
Janson, J. P. Holmstrom, J. P. Borgesson, Henrik Olssen, C. Aug. Holmstrom, Erik Olsen,
August Haakonson, John Erikson, M. Snedahl, A. G. Andersen, K. E. Johnsen. John Breaton,
agent for the colony."

On the margin is this description: "Section 17, township 3, range 4 west." The present
town of Scandia is located in a portion of section 17.

From manuscripts found in the Archives Department of the Historical Society it is learnsd
that John Breaton, agent for this colony, returned to Chicago, and in February, 1869, was inter-
ested in the publication of a "Scandinavian-English newspaper of Agriculture and Economy."

Christian Anderson, of Scandia, was agent of the Scandinavian Agricultural Society in 1872,
and John Engstrom, of Lawrence, was its agent in 1873.

B. J. Giersing, a member of the Scandia colony, returned to Chicago, becoming secretary of
the society in 1872. He wrote several letters to Secretary of State Smallwood, which disclosed the
factthat the Scandinavian Agricultural Society of Chicago held a patent dated November 23,
1869, for about 7083 acres of railroad land, for which Bnglehart H. Hansen, of Republic county,
had paid $8,854.82, to be held in trust for the Scandinavian Agricultural Society. Mr. Giersing
complained that two sections of their lands in Cloud county had been sold by a railroad company
to D. Steeler and J. F. Jay. From further correspondence it seems that the government paid
back the purchase money for these two sections to Steeler and J«y.

In the correspondence of Geo. W. Veale, state agent for railroad lands, there were found
many applications from Swedes and Norwegians for lands in Cloud, Republic, Riley and Potta-
watomie counties.

Niels Christenson wrote from Randolph post ofHce, February 28. 1868, inquiring for lands in
his locality, stating: "We have a settlement of Swedes here, and we wish to locate as many of
our countrymen as near here as possible, for better to maintain our churches and schools."

S. D. Houston, of [Junction City, wrote to Mr. Veale, October 26, 1868, recalling his applica-
tion for section 18, township 2, range 4 west, near present Shardahl, stating that many Swedes
had settled near by and he would give way to them.

See, Andreas, p. 967, for mention of this Scandinavian colony, some of whose members went
to Jewell county. John Dahl, killed by Indians, 1869.

36 Kaiisas State Historical Society.

1878; John P. Grant, second district, January, 1880, to January, 1886; C. J.
Stromqvist, first district, January, 1891, to December 16, 1892, (resigned).

County clerk : John Rundstrom, special county clerk, March 1, 1870, to
May 9, 1870; O. E. Hawkinson, two terms, January, 1892, to January, 1896;
J. 0. Stromqvist (first officer born within the county), two terms, Janu-
ary, 1905, to January, 1909 ; Gust Nyquist, January, 1909, to January, 1911.

County treasurer : Anton Hogwall, two terms, August 7, 1876, to Octo-
ber 13, 1880; P. J. Lindholm, two terms, October, 1886, to December, 1890;
Andrew Goodholm (appointed), February 18, 1890, to October, 1890; John P.
Grant, two terms, October, 1894, to October, 1898; C. J. Stromquist, two
terms (five years), October, 1898, to October, 1903.

County attorney: Charles Ferm, January, 1877, to January, 1879; F. 0.
Johnson, two terms, January, 1898, to January, 1902.

Clerk of district court : S. J. Swenson, May 9, 1870. to January, 1873.

Coroner : John Runstrom, May 9, 1870, to January, 1872.

Sheriff: Hans Wickstrom, January, 1872, to January, 1874; Emil Gustaf-
son, two terms, January, 1907, to January, 1911.

Probate judge: S. A. Sward, four terms, January, 1903, to January, 1911.

County superintendent: Olof Olsson, one term. May 9, 1870, to September
18, 1871.

Representative : Olof Olsson, one term, November 11, 1870, to January,
1873; C. A. Swensson, one term, January, 1889, to January, 1891; C. J.
Stromquist, two terms, January, 1893, to January, 1897; Charles Lander,
three terms, January, 1905, to January, 1911.

County assessor: D. H. Grant, January, 1908, to January, 1909.

State superintendent of public instruction: Frank Nelson, two terms,
January 1899, to January, 1903.

Saline County.

Commissioners: Olof Forsee, 1880-1882, 1908; Peter Svedlund, 1888-1889,
1897-1898; N. 0. Carlson, 1892-1893; Wm. O. Benson, 1904-1908.

County clerk: John Anderson, 1875-1876.

Clerks of district court: N. Petersen, 1874-1878; N. Ferlen, 1882-1884;
C. J. Fredrickson, 1884-1890; F. 0. Ostenberg, 1890-1894; Aug. Svedenborg,
1894-1898; J. E. Rydberg, 1898-1902; Alex. Hederstedt, 1902-1906; Aug. V.
Anderson, 1906.

Sheriffs: Olof Forsee, 1883-1891, 1897-1898; E. M. Anderson, 1891-1895;
J. Malmgren, 1895-1897; Aug. Svedenborg, 1899-1904.

Representatives: Eric Forsee, 1872-1874; Nels Peterson, 1880-1882.

Railroad assessor : M. M. Danielson, 187M873.

BUSINESS LIFE IN LINDSBORG PRIOR TO 1900.

As early as the year 1866 a trading point was established in this com-
munity on the banks of the Smoky Hill river, on section 9 (Rostad), and
conducted by Sam Shields. The merchandise was hauled from Leavenworth
by team. Most of the trading done here was with the Indians, from whom
buffalo hides were taken in exchange for merchandise. These hides were
then taken to Topeka and exchanged for the actual cash. This store was
abandoned in 1868.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

DR. CARL SWENSSON.

The early trading point for the Swedish people in this part of the valley
was Salina. It was to this point that they must go when they wished to
provision themselves or to dispose of their grain. A journey to Salina
meant an absence of two days in most cases, as the slow moving ox teams,
which were the beasts of burden in those days, could not make the journey in
less time. Those who were fortunate enough to have a team of horses
could make the journey heavily loaded in one day, but this day was extended
far into the night. Often one of the settlers would make the trip and pur-
chase provisions for himself and many of his neighbors, and this arrange-
ment saved the individual many trips, except when he wished to market his
products. Salina was even the general trading point for several years after
a point had been established in this vicinity, as the stock carried was small

Ka7isas State Histoncal Society.

and not complete enough to satisfy the simple wants of the settlers. The
SwedishlAgricultural Society store, owned by people in the East, was a
place usually patronized by our people.

Oldest house in McPherson county. Built by
C. F. Norstram, June, 1868.

The first store in the Swedish colony was established in the spring of
1869, by John Henry Johnson. It was located in a log house on C. F. Nor-
strom's farm, just west of Lindsborg. Of course, the supply carried was
very small, consisting of coffee, sugar, flour, pork and tobacco. This store
was continued for several years on Mr. Norstrom's farm and then moved
to the town site and merged with the store known as the Swedish Agricul-
tural Society store. J. H. Johnson was appointed Lindsborg's first post-
master, December 1, 1896. In the fall of 1869 a similar trading place was
begun on the south half of the southeast quarter of section 30, by Maj. L.
Holmberg.** The supplies carried here were also very small. This place
was called Sveadal, and Mr. Holmberg was appointed postmaster, mail
being hauled from Salina by wagon once a week. The business was con-
tinued for several years, but finally the stock was moved to the town site
and cloaed out.

In the spring of 1870 we have the first business venture on the town site
of Lindsborg. This was a stock company, owned by the Swedish Agricul-
tural Society of Chicago, and farmers of this vicinity. S. P. Lindgren was
the manager, and the name of the company was the Swedish Agricultural
Society. A two-story, thirty by forty frame building was erected on the
corner now occupied by J. 0. Sundstrom, and called the Colony building.
The store was conducted on the ground fioor, while the upper floor was used
for the various gatherings of the colony. The upstairs was also used for a
courthouse and oflices for the county officers. Religious services were held
here, and it is related that at times the Indians came and disturbed the
worshipers. In 1871 the post office was discontinued at Sveadal and the

Note 8.-In the spring of 1870 a military company was organized for protection from the
Indiana. L. N. Holmberg, captain.— Cutler's History of Kansas, p. 811.

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas.

merchandise moved to the Colony building. The business was carried on
under the above management until 1871, when the stock was purchased by
C. R. Carlson, and he in turn conducted it until 1872, when Daniel Johnson
purchased an interest. Of course, even at this time the stock of merchan-
dise was very small, occupying a room sixteen by thirty feet. It is related
that the boot and shoe department of this store consisted of six pairs of
boots hauled from Salina. The dry goods department consisted of a few
bolts of pink cahco, also taken from the same place. The firm known as
Carlson & Johnson continued the business in the Colony building until 1875,
when a small stone building was e/ected on the present site of D. Johnson
& Co. 's store and the stock moved to that place. Both gentlemen continued
in business until 1891, when Mr. Carlson retired and Mr. Johnson alone took
charge of the business and has conducted the same to the present day.

SVEADAL, 1869.

Doctor Rundstrom was the first practicing physician in the colony. He
never moved to the town site, but held his office at his farm, two miles west
of town. Doctor Rundstrom came to the colony in 1869, and continued his
profession here until 1883. Doctor Axelson came in 1871 and located at Rose
Hill, and had his office on his farm north of the above-named place. Dr. J.
B. Curtis in 1872 located on the town site and" continued to practice here
until he moved to Denver.

In October, 1871, N. P. Nelson and L. G. Schancke established a genera]
merchandise store in the frame building now owned by the Lindsborg Hard-
ware, Seed and Implement Company. The building erected at this time was
used until 1907, when it was moved back on the present site, where it serves
as a warehouse. In the year 1872 John Ferm]was appointed postmaster and
the post office was moved from the Colony building to the store named above.
In 1873 J. Henry was appointed postmaster. This same year Mr. Nelson
retired from the firm and Mr. Schancke conducted the store, with Mr. Hag-
lund as partner, until 1882. In this year the store was sold to Peter Felling,
who continued as sole proprietor until 1884, when C. Cederholm entered as
partner and the business was carried on by the above gentlemen until 18-77,

Kansas State Histoncal Society.

when Mr. FelHng>old his interest to Hans Wickstrom, who conducted the
business until 1889, when the stock was sold.

In 1872, J. B. Curtis established a drug store on the site now occupied
by the Farmer's State Bank. Doctor Curtis continued this business until
the spring of 1881, when it was sold to Doctors Murphy and Day, who after
a .short time sold to Doctor Curtis and George Carbaugh. In 1884 this stock
was purchased by Eben Carlsson, who conducted the business until 1892.
This business was moved in 1887, when the new building was erected. In
1892 Mr. Carlsson sold to Frank Lewin and John Gustafson. In 1896 Mr.
Lewin retired, and the business was held by Mr. Gustafson until 1900, when
John Stockenberg entered as partner. Their present quarters were erected
and occupied in 1902.

_:a^

The Colony Building.
See Note 13.

A. G. Holm and Mr. Fallquist started a harness and shoemaking shop in
1872. In 1874 Mr. Fallquist sold his interest to Mr. Holm, who has contin-
ued his business on the same site for the past thirty-six years.

With the growing of the colony also came the necessity for tools with
which to till the soil and harvest the crops. In 1873 an exclusive hardware
and implement store was erected on the site of the First National Bank
building. The building as it stands to-day was erected the same year. The
members of this firm were N. P. Swenson and John A. Swenson. N. P.
Swenson previous to this time had conducted a blacksmith shop. The busi-
ness was carried on until 1880, when the stock was sold.

Charles Johnson, in 1872, procured a charter allowing him to build a dam
in the Smoky Hill river for power purposes. The same year a small mill
was built on the river bank. As the crops were not large nor the demand
very great, little attention was paid to the flour mill for some years, and a
r-awmill was erected south of the mill and the power used mainly for sawing
timber. But as the country became more densely populated there was a de-
mand for the products of the mill. In 1882 J. G. Bergsten purchased the
power and built a new and larger mill, called the Smoky Valley Roller Mills.
The dam was also at this time rebuilt. From this time on the mill was run
to its full capacity. In 1880 Mr. Theodore Teichgraeber purchased the mill
and power dam and retained ownership until his death, in December, 1907.
In 1897 the mill burned to the ground and the present mill was erected.
During the years various additions, such as the new dam, elevator and ware-
rooms, have been added. The business is continued by the sons of Mr. Teich-
graeber.

In 1874 John Welin built a blacksmith shop on the site now occupied by
the Bethany Book and Printing Company. In the same year he purchased

Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas. 41

the shop owned by N. P. Swenson, located on the corner now occupied by
B. G. Grondal, and continued his work until 1885.

In 1874 Jacob Christian started a blacksmith shop on the east side of
Main street, which he kept up for several years. Peter Granquist was
later accepted as a partner. In 1885 Mr. Granquist purchased the shop, and
was succeeded by O. Berglund a short time afterward. He owned it until
1902, when it was purchased by Janne Johnson and Oscar Holmberg, who
still retain the business.

In 1874 the furniture business was begun in Lindsborg by L. F. Anderson,
on the site now occupied by Erickson Bros. A small building was erected
at first, and in 1883 the present brick building was erected. Mr. Anderson
continued the business until 1899, when he sold it to Frank Lindberg, who
had possession for four years, and in turn sold to Emil Anderson, who in
turn sold to Erickson Bros., the present owners of the business.

During the years 1871 to 18-74 other businesses were begun, but they
were not of a permanent kind. In the fall of 1872 Mr. La Boyteaux started
a hotel and boarding house on the present site of the Brunswick Hotel.
Mr. Nix in 1873 built a blacksmith shop on the present site of the Rosberg
furniture store. In 1873 William J. Henry built the Union Hotel, which has
since that time been occupied by various hotel men. In 1874 a general mer-
chandise store was established on the lot south of the Farmers' State Bank
building by G. Nelson and Olof Swedlund. This building was burned out
after a short time and the business was never resumed.

The coming of the Union Pacific railroad in 1879 marks a new era in the
history of the community. Up to this time there had been no market for
the grain and products of the" farm. When a farmer wished to dispose of
his grain he must haul it twenty miles or more to Salina, thereby losing
time and subjecting himself to much inconvenience. Naturally, when he
had received his money at Salina, he would do a great deal of trading at that
place. This was a hindrance to the struggling business of the Lindsborg
community. We find, however, that in a few years after the building of
this road many business houses of a permanent nature, such as elevators,
lumber yards, coal yards and banks, came into existence. We also find the
people cementing themselves closer together, for on July 8, 1879, the city of
Lindsborg was incorporated and John A. Swenson elected mayor.

When, in the fall of 1887, the Missouri Pacific railroad also laid its main
line through the city the commercial facilities were greatly improved.

J. O. Sundstrom, in the fall of 1879, and in company with J. G. Bergsten,
started a store on the present site. The Colony building at that time occu-
pied the lot, but this was moved and used for a dwelling house. Messrs.
Sundstrom and Bergsten erected on the corner a building fifty by fifty feet.
In 1881 J. Hasselquist entered as a partner and remained a member of the
firm until 1882. In 1884 James G. Bergsten sold his interest to Mr. Sund-
strom. Mr. Sundstrom still owns the store, and as the years have gone by
and the business expanded various additions have been built.

In 1879 John Anderson erected an elevator west of the Union Pacific
track. He also handled broom corn. In 1880 Charles Gunnerson erected an
elevator east of the Union Pacific tracks, called the Farmers' Elevator.
These two additions to the city gave the farmers a market for their grain
and products and necessarily were a help to the other business of the town.

42 Kansas State Historical Society.

The brickyard was established in 1879 by J. A. Swanson, on the banks
of the Smoky Hill river, south of the city. The yard was continued at that
point until 1901, when, as the supply of clay was limited, the yard was moved
and now occupies the corner of Francis Johnson's farm. Since the removal
the yard has been enlarged and modernized.

The press made its appearance in 1873 when Dr. 0. Olsson published
Nytt och Gajnmatt, a Swedish monthly. The first English paper was called
the Localist, and was published by Wm. McClintock in 1879. The following
year it was published by Walter Younger for six months, and then by J. H.
Hyde for six months. In 1880 the paper was purchased by John McPhail.
For several years it was published under lease by other papers. It was
finally absorbed by the Smoky Valley News, which was established in 1881
by August Ringwall, who continued to publish the same until 1891. During
the time the name of the paper was changed to the Lindsborg News. In
1891 and 1892 the paper was published by G. E. Eberhardt. In 1893 it was
sold to Frank Nelson and J. B. Nelson, who owned it until 1900, when it
was bought by Miss Anna M. Carlson and Martin T. Blomgren. Miss Carl-
son and Mr. Blomgren continue the paper to the present day, and now occupy
a new building erected in 1906. Kansas Stats Tidning was moved from Sa-
lina to Lindsborg by Mr. Ernst Skarstedt in 1880. In 1882 Kansas Posten
was established by Dr. Carl Swensson. The associate editors were J. A.
Udden and A. Nelander. It was discontinued after two years. A Swedish
paper called Pedagogen was published in 1884 in alternate editions of Eng-
lish and Swedish. The name was later changed to Framat, when it was
moved to Kansas City, and finally from there to Chicago, where it was pub-
lished under the name of Fosterlandet up to 1907. The present name is
Fylgia.

In 1879 Arthur & Allen established a hardware store on the site now oc-
cupied by J. M. Nelson & Co. These people continued the business for one
year and then sold out to Gibbs & Gebbard, from Salina, who conducted a
branch store here. J. M. Nelson and Chas. Lander in 1883 bought this
stock. This store had been moved, so that when Lander & Nelson began
business the stock was in the Crathy building, on the east side of Main
street. In 1884 W. W. Shirwin was taken as partner but remained in the
firm only one year. Lander & Nelson continued in the Crathy building for
two years, and then moved to what is now known as the grocery depart-
ment of J. 0. Sundstrom's store. The business was continued at this place
up to 1890, when they moved to their present quarters. In 1902 A. A.
Abercrrombie and Fred Anderson purchased Mr. Lander's interest. Mr.
Nelson still retains his share.

A lumber yard was established in 1879 by Eberhardt & Sudendorf. It
has since been owned and operated by the Eberhardt Lumber Company,
G. A. Anderson, and John V. Johnson & Co. Mr. Johnson in 1906 sold the
yard again to the Eberhardt Lumber Company, who still retain the interest.

In August, 1879, a book store was established in the Union Hotel by
John Ekblad. After continuing some time in this location he entered part-
nership with 0. Hamberg, who in the same year had established a jewelry
store on the site now occupied by Gustafson & Stockenberg. In 1883 Mr.
Ekblad sold his interest to H. V. Nelson. Messrs. Nelson and Hamberg
continued the business for a short time, when the stock was divided. Mr.

Sivedish Settlements in Central Kansas. 43".

Eberhardt purchased an interest with Mr. Nelson and the building now oc-
cupied by the Goodholm book store was erected. In 1885 Fred Goodholm
and John Ekblad, who had been absent for a couple of years, purchased Mr.
Nelson's interest. This firm conducted business until 1898, when Mr^
Goodholm purchased Mr. Ekblad's share, and in 1902 purchased Mr. Eber-
hardt's share. Mr. Goodholm has associated with him Ruben Goodholm as
jeweler and optician.

In 1879 C. Lundquist came to Lindsborg, and to this day still conducts his
tailor shop on the east side of Main street. In the same year Ober & Co.
established a general merchandise business on the site north of the Bruns-
wick Hotel. This business was closed out in 1884. Also this year William
Schwenson established a grocery business on the site now occupied by O. B.
Runbeck. This business was sold out in 1886. A. C. Pearson established a
coal yard this year. This yard was owned afterward in succession by N. P.
Swenson and E. Jerrett.

In 1882 John A. Swenson organized the Bank of Lindsborg. In 1886 it
was changed to a national bank, and is at present the only national bank in
the county. The bank is capitahzed at $50,000. The present officers are:
John A. Swenson, president; C. F. Norstrom, vice president; C. M. Nor-
strom, cashier.

In 1881 Britian & Wheeler established a hardware store on the site now
occupied by J. M. Nelson & Co. 's warerooms, on the east side of Main
street. In 1885 Oscar Johnson and John Pihlblad purchased the business.
Mr. Pihlblad after a short time retired from the firm, Mr. Johnson continu-
ing the business to 1883. The store then occupied the building held by J. M.
Nelson & Co. In this year J. W. Bengston, John Swenson and Luther
Swenson purchased the stock from Oscar Johnson. In 1889 the stock was
moved to the present site. In 1896 Luther Swenson and John Swenson
severed their connection with the firm, and J, W. Bengston conducted the
business until 1898, when Frank Lewin purchased an interest and remained
an active partner until 1906. In 1902 C. A. Lundstrom entered the firm, and
in 1906 purchased Mr. Lewin's interest. The present building was erected
in 1906-'07. The present name of the firm is The Lindsborg Hardware,
Seed and Implement Company.

John Gibson and A. Lincoln established a lumber yard in 1881. Mr. Lin-
coln and Henry Johnson, for the four years previous to this, had run a
livery stable on the site now occupied by the Commercial State Bank. Gib-
son & Lincoln remained partners until 1886, when John Gibson retired from
the firm and J. Duncan purchased his interest. Mr. Duncan remained a
member of the firm until 1891, when Mr. Lincoln purchased his interest
and continued the business until 1896.

The "Steam Mill" was built and operated in 1882 by S. P. Carlton.
Since that time in the line of succession Messrs. Jerrett, Ginder and G. E.
Eberhardt have operated the mill. In 1892 the plant was purchased by G.
I. Toevs and Mr. Kohfeld. Since then it has been enlarged by new build-
ings, such as warerooms and elevators. The firm, which is now a stock
company, has just completed a five-story mill, with a capacity of 700 barrels
daily. This is the largest mill in McPherson county.

Edw. Rosengren established a broom factory in 1880. Mr. Rosengren
has been engaged in the manufacture of brooms in Lindsborg for twenty-
eight years.

Kamas State Historical Society

Siuedish Settlements in Central Kansas. 45

In 1882 Dr. G. E. Berquist came to Lindsborg and located. Doctor Ber-
quist has practiced medicine in this county for thirty- six years, and is the
oldest physician in the county. In December of the same year N. P. Nelson
and Doctor Berquist started a drug store on the site now occupied by Rosberg's
furniture store. In 1884 Mr. Nelson retired and Doctor Berquist continued
the business until 1889, when the business was sold to August Ekstrand.
Mr. Ekstrand continued the business for eleven years, and in 1900 sold to
Oscar Berglund, the present owner.

A furniture store was established in 1884 by C. V. Rosberg, on the site
now occupied by Mr. Lewin. The business was conducted there for one
year and then moved to the present location. In 1897 the building and
stock were destroyed by fire and a new building was erected. Mr. Rosberg
was the first licensed embalmer of the city.

The Swedish American Insurance Company was organized February 14,
1885. C. J. Stormqvist was its president from 1885 until 1893. Since then
Francis Johnson has held that office. F. G. Hawkinson, F. Goodholm, and
C. J. Stromqvist have served as secretaries. S. L. Linderholm and C. F.
Norstrom have served as treasurers. The company insures property against
fire, lightning, windstorms and cyclones. The insurance now exceeds
$5,000,000. It erected its own building in 1905.

In 1886 the Farmers' State Bank was organized by A. E. Agrelius. The
present bank building was erected in 1887. This bank is capitalized at
$30,000. The present officers are George Shields, president, A. E. Agrelius,
cashier.

In 1887 the Brunswick Hotel was built by a stock company, and in line
of succession up to 1897 was under lease by C. J. Clausen, Mrs. McCarty,
Peter Schulz, A. B. Jenkins and J. D. Nelson. In 1897 Mr. Weddle became
the proprietor and has continued the management to the present time. This
building was given to Bethany College in 1894, and disposed of by the Col-
lege to S. H. and G. Shields, the present owners.

B. G. Grondal, the photographer, came to Lindsborg in 1887, and has con-
tinued in his profession up to the present time. In 1908 he erected a new
gallery of the most modern type.

Oscar Anderson established in 1888 an exclusive shoe business on the east
side of Main street, on the lot north of A. G. Holm's harness shop. Mr.
Anderson continued this line up to 1904, when he sold a half interest to N. J.
Thorstenberg. At this time a large building was erected on the west side
of Main street into which they moved, and a line of gents' furnishings was
added. On May 20, 1906, Mr. Anderson died at Excelsior Springs, Mo.
Messrs. Thorstenberg, Gustafson and Lind, now own the business.

In 1888 Emil Anderson opened a laundry on College street, and continued
this until 1907, when the plant was purchased by Thomas Johnson. Mr.
Johnson erected a building on Main street and moved the plant.

In 1890 N. J. Thorstenberg purchased the Farmer's Elevator, which was
erected in 1882 by a stock company formed by the farmers of this commu-
nity. In 1896 Amos Thorstenberg entered the business with him. In 1898
the large elevator along the Missouri Pacific track was built. This firm did
an extensive business, operating along the line of the Missouri Pacific to the
Colorado line. In 1904 Thorstenberg Bros, sold to the Hall-Baker Grain Co.,
who in turn have sold to Ludvig Nelson. He has changed the elevator to an
alfalfa mill. William Lillian now owns it.

46 Kansas State Histoncal Society.

G. N. Malm came to Lindsborg in 1894 and started a painting and deco-
rating business, entered in partnership with his brother, E. E., in 1898, and
with another brother, C. G., in 1907, and is at present at the head of the
well-known decoration firm. Malm Bros.

The Bethany Book and Printing Company had its beginning in 1895, when
A, Ringwald began to publish the Lindsborg Record. In 1896 Doctor
Swensson started Lindsborgs-Posten, and in 1900 its present place of busi-
ness was erected. Here is found not only the Munter & Carlson Jewelry
Store, a well furnished book and music store, but also a printing establish-
ment, where Lindsborgs-Posten, the Lindsborg Record, the Kansas Young
Lutheran, The Bethany Messenger, The Bethany Bulletin and Vingardsar-
betaren are published.

Andrew Beckstrom in 1898 purchased the grocery stock of C. Lundquist,
who for the preceding ten years had conducted a grocery store on the site
now occupied by the Peterson millinery store. The store was continued on
this site up to 1901, when the new building south of the Bethany Book and
Printing Company was erected, and a general merchandise line was put in.
The firm A. Beckstrom & Co., as it was then known, continued to 1908,
when the business was incorporated under the title of the Lindsborg Mer-
cantile Company.

Since 1900 many business enterprises have been started, among which
are: Train Bros. Hardware Company; The Commercial State Bank; Wilber
& Davis Grocery Company; 0. B. Runbech Grocery Company; Ericson
Bros., furniture; Jacob Peterson, millinery; Carlson & Anderson Lumber
Company; John A. Holmberg, plumbing; J. A. Lysell, harness shop; E. S.
Orndoff, feed store; Olson & Johnson, blacksmith shop; Gunnerson & Ly-
sell, painters; Gibson & Tudor, bakery; Anderson, coal yard; Lundgren &
Johnson, coal yard; the telephone company, and, most important, perhaps,
of all. The Hagstrom Bros. Manufacturing Company, already famous all
over the country for their "Blowout" patch, electric cord adjuster, spark
plug, porcelain tube cutters, automobile tire sleeves, etc.

The Wyandotte Convention. 47

THE WYANDOTTE CONVENTION.

FIFTY YEARS OF THE WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTION.

An address by Capt. Joseph G. Waters, ' of Topeka, before the Kansas State Historical Society
at its thirty-fourth annual meeting, December 7, 1909.

THE Missouri compromise, by its restrictive terms, led the people of
the North to believe that slavery was in process of ultimate extinc-
tion. The organic act establishing the territory of Kansas was directly an
invasion and repudiation of the settlement which had been agreed to in the
compromise act, and was the result of the dominance in Congress of the
slave oligarchy then controlling the national government. The organic act
left it to the people of the territories to vote slavery up or down. Every-
body North and South knew that this meant a conflict waged on the soil of
Kansas. The territory of Nebraska, coming into the Union on the same
terms with Kansas, was separated from the field by the 200 miles of Kansas
territory intervening, Kansas being the buffer to ward off all conflict so far
as it affected Nebraska. Nebraska organized its territory without turmoil
and its history since then as a state has been respectable, quiet and without
feature. It is a good state— nothing in its annals to quicken the pulse, and
nothing to rouse the blood to high endeavor; nothing in its history to re-
member, other than it is full of good people and has been and will be pros-
perous and great in a conservative and presbyterian way.

After the Kansas organic act had been passed, adherents of slavery, ani-
mated by the entire solid South, hastened to the territory to aid in fashion-
ing a slave state in harmony with the then government and according to
the Dred Scott decision. The opposing free-state force, coming from the
North, largely from the new western states, was possessed of as high a pur-
pose as a people could have— "free homes," "free speech" and "free

Note 1.— Joseph Groff Waters was born October 18, 1837, in Campbell county, Ken-
tucky. With his parents and family went to Fort Madison, Iowa, in the spring- of 1838, Iowa
then consisting of its lands, sky, some Indians, and the garrisoned fort at Fort Madison.' The
family changed residence to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1849, the father dying- there. The mother and chil-
dren moved to Macomb, 111., in 1856. Studied law and was admitted December 25, 1857. Went
into the war as private, carrying a gun until the summer of 1862; was made lieutenant in
company C, Eighty-fourth Illinois volunteer infantry. Had been private in company A in that
regiment, and as such was wounded at Stone river, December 31, 18G2. At the battle of Franklin
brought up to the field and helped distribute the ammunition, 800,000 rounds, or twenty wag-on
loads, with which the battle was fought ; was wounded while serving this ammunition ; recom-
mended for promotion to the reg-ular service ; was wounded at battle of Nashville ; was' hurt in
the head at Atlanta ; was breveted captain for the Franklin flght ; was on the firing line every
time a gun went off in the army of the Cumberland. On the staff" of Gen. Nathan Kimball, com-
manding a division in the Fqurth Army Corps as aide, assistant adjutant-general and judge ad-
vocate. Mustered into the United States service as lieutenant in Fifteenth, then Twenty-fourth,
then Thirty-third infantry, and was honorably mustered out in August, 1869. Came to Topeka
and has lived here since, and expects and hopes to end his days here. Has been somewhat ex-
tensively engaged in the practice of the law. Has defended a hundred or more murder cases—
thirty-six in one batch at Paris, Tex. — and never had a man hung ; has been fairly successful in
the practice ; has written something, and made some addresses. If the people retain their
patriotism he would like to have some of them read hereafter ; and if this government shall go
down with commercialism and corrupt ways, he wants to have all the recollection of himself lost,
too ; has never held office nor drank whisky, and does not believe there is a man living who can
point to any of his public addresses in which there is a sentence or paragraph that was not in-
tended to pump cheer into those who heard it, to give them heart, and to speak well as clear an
utterance as he could for patriotism and the very highest ideals of life and citizenship. This
day, as these lines are written, in full health, he has great pleasure that he was born when he
was, lived through a heroic period, humbly shared in its stirring and manly events, and surviving
all came at last down into the Canaan and lived, loved and died in its pastures, supremely blest
and happy, with a regret that he left so many good people behind him.

4g Kansas State Historical Society.

men," were words to paint on any high banner of crusade, and they meant
enough to fill the soul with heroic action.

The story haa been often told of the conflict here. It embraced the
highest emotions and the most brutal passions. The times demanded sacri-
fice, self-denial and poverty. For over three years such a warfare was
fought on Kansas soil before the convention met at Wyandotte to formulate
a constitution. It may impress one that under such circumstances the in-
spiration and high purpose of those years of frontier strife would glow
throughout the provisions of that instrument; that there would be some-
w^here in its terms the flash of blades for freedom, and the strong first ut-
terance of a giant who had torn the shackles from his fettered limbs. The
truth is it is a commonplace document. The great warriors of the territo-
rial battles, who wore the unscabbarded swords, whose apparel showed
plainly the crease and wear of their bolstered belts, long-haired, unkempt,
and who had done picket duty on the skirmish line, were not delegates to
that convention. Eighteen lawyers were members of that high convocation
and they dominated the entire instrument.'- There were many able men,
and throughout their deliberations they gave their best thought, judgment
and wisdom in the preparation of a constitution for the new state. There

Note 2.— members wyandotte constitutional, convention.

James M. Arthur, Centreville, Linn county; farmer; was born in Indiana about 1817 and died
prior to 1882.

John T. Barton, Olathe, Johnson county; physician ; was born in Albemarle county, Virginia,
about 1831, and died in Missouri several years ago.

James Blood, Lawrence, Douglas county; merchant; was born in Vermont, March 25, 1819,
and died in Lawrence, February 4, 1891.

N. C. Blood. Baldwin. Douglas county; merchant; was born in Bolton, Vermont about 1817,
and died in Lawrence. October 21, 1870. N. C. and James Blood were brothers.

James G. Blunt, Walker, Anderson county; physician; was born in Hancock county, Maine,
July 21, 1826. and died in Washington, D. C, July 25, 1881.

Frederick Brown, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county; manufacturer; was born in Germany
about 1826. and died in St. Joseph, Mo., prior to 1882.

Jonathan Coleman Burnett, Mapleton, Bourbon county; farmer; was born in Morristown,
Vt.. March 19, 1825. and died at Wichita, Kan., July 2, 1899.

John Taylor Burris, Olathe, Johnson county; lawyer; was born in Butler county, Ohio, De-
cember 22. 1828. and still lives at Olathe.

Allen Crocker, Burlington, Coffey county; farmer; was born in Bloomington, Ind., February
27. 1x25. and died near Burlington. Coffey county, Kansas, February 13, 1874.

William Parker Dutton. Stanton, Lykins (now Miami) county; farmer; was born in Charles-
town, N. H., October 1. 1817.

John W. Forman. Doniphan, Doniphan county; merchant; was born in Bourbon county,
Kentucky. October 18. 1818, and died near Canton, Mo., September 19, 1898.

Robert Cole Foster, Delaware, Leavenworth county; lawyer; was born in Logan county,
Kentucky, September 10, 1834, and died at Dennison, Tex., January 6, 1910.

Robert Graham, Atchison, Atchison county; merchant; was born in Ireland about 1804, and
died in Atchison county in 1868.

John P. Greer. Topeka, Shawnee county; lawyer; was born in Montgomery county, Ohio,
October 21. 1812. and died at Topeka, November 28, 1889.

William Riley Griflith, Marmaton, Bourbon county; farmer; was born in Tippecanoe county,
Indiana. May 8. 1820, and died at Topeka. February 12, 1862.

James Han way, Shermanville, Franklin county; farmer; was born in London, England, Sep-
tember 4. 1809. and died at Lane. Kan., May 9, 1882.

Samuel Hippie, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county; land agent; was born in Perry county,
Pennsylvania, in 1815, and died in Atchison county, January 21, 1875.

Samuel E. Hoffman. Neosho, Woodson county; lawyer; was born in Pennsylvania about 1835,
and now lives in St. Louis, where he has been engaged in the banking business.

Samuel Dexter Houston. Manhattan, Riley county; farmer; was born in Columbus, Ohio, June
11, 1x18, and died at Salina, February 28, 1910.

E. M Hubbard. Highland, Doniphan county; merchant; was born in Green county, Ken-
tucky, May 1.), 182S. and died prior to 1884.

William Hutchinson, Lawrence, Douglas county; farmer; was born at Randolph, Vt., Janu-
ary 24. 1823. and died in Washington, D. C, May 18, 1904.

^"^o,^"'^!"*'.'* '"Kails. Sumner. Atchison county; lawyer; was born in Middletown. Mass., De-
cember 29. 18.!.{, and died at Las Vegas, N. M., August 16, 1900.

Samuel Austin Kingman, Hiawatha, Brown county; lawyer; was born in Worthington. Mass.,
Juntf Zfi. 18IK. and died at Topeka. September 9, 1904. (See Kan. Hist. Coll., vol. 9, pp. 55-66.)
priorto Jul 30 1882°"" ^^^' ''"'"" '^°""'^^= mechanic; was born in Indiana about 1817, and died

iaoP^^A^A^A Li.llie. Emporia, Madison (now Lyon) county ; lawyer; was born in Ohio about
loZI, and died prior to July 30, 1884.

The Wya7idotte Convention. 49

is no sentence anywhere written into the instrument as passed, however,
that seems to have been written by some free-state lance, in which he gave
return shot for those fired at liberty during that long, heroic warfare.

During all the years preceding, in the settlement of the territory, the
slave escaping from his master sought the camps of the free-state men, who
divided their meager fare with him and shared their plaids, and then took
him a Sabbath day's journey nearer the north star. After all such thrilling
experiences they wrote the word "white" in the constitution and left the
slave with broken shackles out in the cold, marveling in his dusky soul for
a privilege of freedom denied him— a man in posture but deprived of a po-
tency that made him desire without hope, and yearn without heart.

The strongest allies of the free-state forces were their woman folk, who
gave them all the material help they demanded, bound up wounds, gave them
higher courage, the utmost devotion, and, above all, their prayers. Sharing
their fortunes, both of defeat and victory, why had not the pschycological
moment arrived to make her a voter, the convenlion having chivalrously
given her the homestead? But it did not do so.

These are only queries that beset me in thinking over those magnificent
days when freedom was being fought for, and then reading the prosaic in-

C. B. McClellan, Oskaloosa, Jefferson county ; merchant ; was born in Wayne county, Ohio,
May 7. 1823, and is still living at Oskaloosa.

William McCullough, Council Grove, Morris county ; farmer ; was bom in Scotland about
1815.

A. D. McCune. Leavenworth, Leavenworth county ; lawyer; was born in Ohio about 1828,
and died prior to July 30, 1884.

William C. McDowell, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county ; lawyer ; was born in Ohio about

1828, and died in St. Louis, July 16. 1867.

Caleb May, Pardee, Atchison county ; farmer; was born in Madison countv, Kentucky, Jan-
uary 19. 1816, and died at Eustis. Fla., AugTist 27, 1888.

John A. Middleton, Nottingham, Marshall county ; lawyer ; was born in Pennsylvania about
1834. He removed from Kansas to Montana in 1864.

Ephraim Moore, Holton, Jackson county ; manufacturer ; was born in Ohio about 1821.

Luther R. Palmer, Louisville, Pottawatomie county; physician; was born in Chatham, Colum-
bia county. New York. January 9, 1819. and died at St. Mary's, Kan., in April, 1883.

Paschal S. Parks. Kickapoo, Leavenworth county; lawyer; was born in Indiana about 1833.
After passing some years in Kansas he returned to his native state, where he died about 1879.

William Perry, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county; lawyer; was born in New York state
about 1831, and died in Colorado prior to 1882.

Robert J. Porter. Troy, Doniphan county; merchant; was born in Pennsylvania about 1831,
and died prior to 1882.

Hiram D. Preston. Burlingame, Shawnee (now Osage) county; farmer; was born in New
Hampshire about 1831. He died prior to July 30. 1884.

John Ritchey, Topeka, Shawnee county; farmer; was born at Uniontown, Ohio, July 17, 1817,
and died at Topeka. August 31, 1887.

Edmund Gibson Ross, Glenross, Wabaunsee county; printer; was born in Ashland, Ohio,
December 7, 1826, and died at Albuquerque, N. M., May 8, 1907.

James A. Signor, Humboldt, Allen county; surveyor; was born inNew York state about 1834.

Benjamin Franklin Simpson, Paola. Lykins (now Miami) county; lawyer; was born in Bel-
mont county. Ohio, October 24, 1836. He still lives at Paola.

John P. Slough, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county; lawyer; was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in

1829. and died in Santa Fe. N. M., December 16, 1867.

-John Stiarwalt, Palermo, Doniphan county; farmer; was bom in Ohio, about 1814, and died
prior to 1882.

Samuel Adams Stinson, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county; lawyer; was born at Wiscasset,
Me., November 24, 1831, and after a residence of some years in Kansas returned to his native
town, where he died, February 20, 1866.

Edwin Stokes, Clinton, Douglas county; manufacturer; was born in Pennsylvania, about
1824.

Solon Otis Thacher. Lawrence, Douglas county; lawyer; was born in Hornellsville, N. Y.,
August 31, 1830, and died at Lawrence, Kan., August 11, 1895.

P. H. Townsend, Big Springs, Douglas county; lawyer; was born in Salisbury, New Hamp-
shire, in 1825, and died prior to July 30, 1884.

R. L. Williams, Franklin, Douglas county; merchant; was born in Kentucky about 1817.

James M. Winchell, Superior. Osage county; farmer; was born in Avon, Livingston county.
New York, in 1823, and died at Hyde Park, N. Y., February 2, 1877.

John Wright, Leavenworth. Leavenworth county; farmer; was born near Greencastle, Ind.,
June 4, 1827. and died at Fort Scott in December, 1870.

Thomas S. Wright. Granada, Nemaha county; lawyer; was born in Pennsylvania about 1809,
and died some time prior to 1882.

Benjamin Wrigley, Troy, Doniphan county; lawyer; was bom in Ohio about 1830, and died
prior to 1882.

50 Kansas State Historical Society.

strument that bore but little of the flower of its battles. John Brown at
the time this convention was in session had formulated a plan of attack on
8lavery-a pigmy challenging the government, a mouse attackmg the moun-
tain-and within three months thereafter had vented his pentup soul m open,
victorious battle. The delegates to this convention had seen the same bitter
experiences that John Brown had felt, and no ruffle of a border war, no
marque or reprisal appeared in its provisions, no mighty utterance of a peo-
ple who had fought the last and greatest battle for the freedom of the ter-
ritories.

The constitution' was the thought of many, for like mstruments from
other states were drawn on for its provisions. The school system was pro-
vided for in the wisest manner. It will be the heritage of all children in
our border. Every sanctity and bulwark has been thrown around its funds.
There is no illiteracy in Kansas, and the more the intelligence of a people,
the more the need of a great school fund and system that rots not, like
granite, but protected as a sacred trust flourishes forever in the hearts of
the people. In a population of 1,700,000, we spend over $12,000,000 annually
on our schools. The school is the apple of the Kansas eye. The constitution
provides for a homestead that is as benignant as the home could desire. It
is wholly within the wife's grasp, and so long as she says "No," the roof
will shelter her brood and no adversity, calamity or husband can destroy it.
Compared to somewhat similar provisions in other states, that of our com-
monwealth is by far the best of all. The supreme court, with a wisdom
wide horizoned, has interpreted every provision of the homestead in favor of
the wife and children. Every proffered amendment to the constitution is
viewed with concern for fear that in some way a meddlesome hand and a
blind eye may repeal this provision. I think it apt to say that the laws of
Kansas have been kindly to women; they have made her an equal heir with

Note 3.— The Wyandotte constitution, our fourth, was made in the month of July, 1859, and
siKned on the 29th. it was adopted by the people of the territory October 4, 1859, by a vote of
10,421 for and 5530 against. A year and four months elapsed before the admission of the state
into the Union, January 29, 1861, when the constitution became operative. This was the fourth
attempt at a constitution. The convention met at Wyandotte (now Kansas City, Kan.). Octo-
ber 18. 1909, the Commercial Club and the city of Kansas City, Kan., gave a banquet in honor of
the body which met in their city and J formed the constitution. It was a brilliant gathering,
characterized by wit, eloquence, and much good cheer. Three members of the convention of
fifty years ago, John T. Burris, Samuel E. Hoffman and Robert C. Foster, were present. There
were six survivors at the end of fifty years. In addition to the three named there are: S. D.
Houston, Salina: C. B. McClellan, Oskaloosa, and B. F. Simpson, of Paola.

October 9, 1855, forty-seven delegates were elected to make a constitution, by a vote of 2710.
They met in Topeka October 23, 1855. An election was held December 15, 1855, and 1778 votes
were cast for the constitution. This was called the Topeka movement, and was a protest against
the proslavery territorial government. It had no legislative authority, and was denounced as
revolutionary. The legislature which assembled under it was dispersed by federal troops July
4, lS.">fi. July 3, 1856, the house of representatives at Washington, by a vote of 99 to 97, passed a
bill admitting the territory under this Topeka constitution. The bill was introduced by Galusha
A. Grow, of Pennsylvania. It was never considered in the senate.

The territorial legislature, February 10, 1857, created the Lecompton constitutional conven-
tion. Delegates were elected June 5, 1857, and the convention met September 4, 1857. The con-
stitution formed by them received 6226 votes at an election December 21, 1857, only proslavery
men voting. In the meantime the free-state men secured control of the territorial legislature.
This body met in Lecomi)ton and submitted the Lecompton constitution to another vote, when
10,226 votes were cast against it. Notwithstanding this complication, the senate at Washington,
by a vote of 33 to 25, passed a bill to admit Kansas under this constitution. The house adopted a
substitute by a vote of 120 to 112. and the result was the English bill, which ordered another vote
on August 2. 1858, when the Lecompton constitution was overwhelmingly beaten.

The legislature of 1858, also free-state, authorized the Leavenworth constitutional conven-
tion. This body formed a constitution May 18, 1858. It was presented to Congress January 5,
1859. but no action was taken on it.

Aiiril 11, 1860, the United States house of representatives voted, 134 to 73. to admit Kansas
under the Wyandotte constitution, the bill being introduced by Galusha A. Grow. Twice during
the next eight months the senate defeated a motion to consider the Kansas bill, when Mr. Seward
finally raised it January 21, 1861, and it passed by a vote of 36 for and 16 against, and was signed
by the President on the 29th.

The Wyandotte Convention. 51

her husband and given her a restricted suffrage— a wedge and maul to rive
the log.

The bill of rights is like that of any other state. Beyond any ordinary
constitution the people may adopt is the power of the courts to interpret its
provisions. In many cases the courts have given us judge-made law, limit-
ing the meaning or enlarging it. Even with the best men of the land on
the bench, that will be the way of it until the end of time, provided judges
are permitted to do so. The parliament is its own expounder, probably ;
but when great events possess a people, or the huge power of business and
commerce, or of patriotism, urge the courts to find a new meaning or drop
an old one, it will be done in such neat, cogent and instructive opinions,
that the wonder grows on us why it was not always thus. The dictionary
is a great reservoir with which to make respectable logic and sage conclu-
sions. Oklahoma has attempted to put every thing in its constitution-
hedging against the judiciary, protecting themselves against themselves,
curbing the legislature and preventing the due and onward course of public
opinion from change in interpretation. Her constitution has been criticized
by two Presidents of the United States, and no doubt they had a right to
criticize, yet as a private citizen I dare not take this privilege with a people,
or with the ideas they have crystallized into law.

In our constitution suffrage has not yet been given to woman, except in
a diluted way, and she is still classed with idiots, felons, Indians, Chinese
and the like. The time is coming when she will be given the full electoral
right. From then on it will be easy sailing into the millenium. The gen-
eral good will then count on a majority. The mercenary, coarse and cor-
rupt will be in decadence. The right of a mother to vote will be exercised
for the protection of her children. It was a mistake that the Wyandotte
convention did not make her a full elector.

We have a prohibitory amendment that is accepted as the settled and
forever policy of the state. It is absolutely glorious. No one understands
the quality of breathing pure ozone milked from the cool sunrise air so
much as the man who steps down and out of an overcrowded immigrant car
in which he has taken in the composite odors of many countries. It is won-
derful how nice and sweet and clean a state is without saloons. Business
houses, great railways, the daily newspaper, and applied personal intelli-
gence and experience, as much as the repressive law, have accomplished
this tmmitigated blessing for Kansas.

The conservatism of other states in their constitutions had much to do
with the conventional form of ours. Moderation and an obedience to the
long recognized provisions of other states held the Wyandotte convention
in leash. ^ After fifty years of wear and tear it would be hard to suggest a
more excellent constitution. I do not mind me that any one of its provi-
sions is unworthy of the state, and the whole instrument is a good one to
build to. I have this to say— that the freed negro, without knowledge and
fairly ignorant, should have stood back and waited until the women of Kan-

NoTE 4.— It may be well to recall while reading this paper that Kansas had already framed
three constitutions, two free-state and one proslavery, in which the partisan sentiments of the
authors were too apparent. In voting down the Lecompton constitution the people of Kansas
had virtually won the battle for the free state, and in 1859 were anxious to secure through the
Wyandotte convention the machinery for a stable state government that would have to receive
its final sanction from a Congress and President still in the hands of their political enemies.
The members of the convention could not afford to risk their goal by the expression of unneces-
sary sentiment.

52 Kansas State Historical Society.

sas had been given the right to vote, not because of color, but because one
should have had it and the other should have waited.

The salient features of our constitution are the system of schools, the
comprehensive, enlightened and humane provisions for the care of the help-
less classes, the homestead, the advancement of v^^omen, and the prohibitory-
amendment.

In other matters, we are abreast of our sister states. The real constitu-
tion in Kansas is the people themselves. Theirs is the sovereign will. No
paper provision can suppress a conscience or perpetuate a wrong. We will
always have in Kansas a people alive to their own progress and advance-
ment along every high, chivalric and manly line and the fervent champion
of every phase of morals. Kansas is great and wealthy. If her people will
it, as they surely will, her grand future is beyond the domain of speculative
prophecy. The weakness or vagueness of a written constitution is not im-
portant with such a people.

Students of history may well mark the path of the people over the ob-
structions of their own constitution when they remember that, while the
constitution of the United States protected the master in his slave property,
the slave nevertheless was bearing arms as a free man before that provision
was changed ending slavery here and, by its example, ending slavery over
the whole surface of the globe. The king of Belgium was the last surviving
relic of slave piracy and slavery. It took a war to do it, but the higher law
found its abode in the hearts of our people beyond the limitation of any in-
strument that could be fashioned by the brain of man. When a people look
upward to the stars, there is no obstruction of the earth that can hide their
glitter. Kansas in her laws, under her constitution, is much; but her soul,
her tremendous history, her hopes and expectations, are beyond the pur-
view and provision of any constitution.

I prophesy, as I have always prophesied, that this is and always will be
the grandest state in the Union; the highest exposition of civilization on
the earth, and the greatest people the Lord has ever created; and this re-
gardless of the present constitution.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 53

THE BOUNDARY LINES OF KANSAS.

An address by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary of the State Historical Society, before the Old
Settlers' Association at Alma, September 28. Independence, October 16. and at the Banquet
at Kansas City. Kan., October 18, 1909, in honor of the Wyandotte Convention.

A REVIEW of all that happened leading to the establishment of the
boundary lines of Kansas takes us back to the very beginning, and
shows with absorbing interest how everything concerning negro slavery
focused toward a conclusion upon this rectangle of beautiful prairie now
called Kansas. The Jefferson proviso of 1784 and the ordinance of 1787 in-
dicated a settled policy against the extension of slavery. Notwithstanding
this Louisiana was admitted into the Union with slavery in 1812. There
was no particular occasion or demand, so history tells us, for this, especially
as the language of the treaty under which the territory had been acquired
from France was also plainly against it. In 1818, six years later, Missouri
applied for admission into the Union. There were, in 1820, 1,469,061 slaves
in the whole country, outside of Louisiana. In the case of Missouri it was
proposed to incorporate into the bill a clause requiring that the constitution
of the new state should contain an article prohibiting the further introduc-
tion of slaves, and gradually abolishing existing slavery. There was violent
opposition. The provision prevailed in the house, and was rejected in the
senate.

In the next Congress the controversy was renewed with increased vio-
lence. And here the famous Missouri compromise was born. Missouri was
allowed to come into the Union with slavery, but a section was incorporated
in the act excluding slavery forever from all the territory acquired from
France, not included in Missouri, lying north of 36° 30' north latitude. The
constitutionality of this provision was submitted by President Monroe to his
cabinet. Four of them, being from the South, gave written affirmative
opinions, and so the President, also from a slave state, signed the bill.

Missouri could not have been admitted as a slave state had not certain
members from the free states been reconciled by the incorporation of this
prohibition in the act of admission. However, it is not the purpose of this
paper to pursue the wearisome question of slavery, but rather look up the
boundary lines of Kansas, which cannot be done and ignore this significant
line of 36° 30' north. There can be no history of Kansas without reference
to this line; nor can we follow this line without some slight reference to
the institution of slavery, and how the ante helium statesmen straddled the
line in 1850, and again in 1854.

Slavery was permitted in Missouri by a vote, March 2, 1820, of 27 to 15
in the United States senate, and 90 to 87 in the house. Missouri was ad-
mitted March 2, 1821, but the conditions were not complied with until August
10, 1821, when the President proclaimed the state in the Union. The com-
promise line of 36° 30' is the south line of Missouri, "west, along the same,
to a point where the said parallel is intersected by a meridian line passing
through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas river, where the same emp-
ties into the Missouri river." This is the first mention of the east line of
Kansas. But June 7, 1836, Congress changed the west line of Missouri

54 Kansas State Historical Society.

north of the Kansas river from the meridian to the Missouri river, by add-
ing to that state the Platte purchase. This was the first violation of the
compromise of 1820. thus adding free-soil to slave territory. And so we
have the east line of the territory and state of Kansas followmg the Mis-
souri river from Kansas City northward. If it had not been for this change
Kansas would have been a perfect oblong, including the Missouri river and
five of the best counties in that state.

The admission of Missouri, the annexation of Texas, the creation of Ore-
gon territory, the compromise act of 1850, and the Nebraska-Kansas bill,
form a chain of historic incidents not surpassed.

Texas was admitted as a state March 1, 1845. The Missouri compromise
was reaffirmed in the bill thus : "And such states as may be formed out of
that portion of the said territory lying south of 36° and 30' north latitude,
commonly known as the Missouri compromise line, shall be admitted into
the Union, with or without slavery, as the people of each state asking ad-
mission may desire; and in such state or states as shall be formed out of
said territory north of said Missouri compromise line, slavery or involuntary
servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited."

The bill creating the territory of Oregon became a law August 14, 1848.
It reaffirmed the ordinance of 1787, excluding slavery from all the North-
west territory.

This line of 36° 30' north latitude runs parallel with the south line of
Kansas, about thirty miles distant, through Oklahoma. So that Kansas
was surely pledged to free soil. In the early discussions of the slavery
question the Mason and Dixon line was frequently referred to as the dividing
line between freedom and slavery. This was the boundary line between
Pennsylvania and Maryland, established in 1763-67, by Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon. It ran due west from the Delaware river 244 miles, in
north latitude 39° 43' 26". It was resurveyed in 1849, and found to be cor-
rect. It was a mere trifle in importance as compared with the line of 36°
SC which led up to the Kansas controversy.

Trouble again arose in 1850, and another compromise was made renewing
the line of 36° 30'. The territories of New Mexico and Utah were created,
to be admitted as states when ready, with or without slavery, as the people
might determine (New Mexico being south and Utah north of 36° 30', Utah
being pledged to freedom by the original act), California admitted with a
constitution prohibiting slavery, the passage of the fugitive slave law, and
abolishing the slave trade in the District of Columbia. These five acts are
known as the compromise of 1850.

But in 1854 Senator Douglas was the champion of a bill practically re-
pealing the Missouri compromise of 1820. He proposed in the Nebraska bill
"to leave the people of the territories perfectly free to form and regulate
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution
of the United States." This opened the ball, the Free-soilers of the North
asserting that this revived and reestablished slavery north of the line of 36°
30'. Everybody, I take it, knows all about the effort of the South to estab-
lish slavery in Kansas, from which territory it had been excluded, and the
wonderful history which followed.'

Note l.-The Kansas-Nebraska bill was the act of Congress by which the territories of
KanBaa and Nebraska were organized, 1854. It turned out to be one of the most important acts
m the legislative history of the United States. It precipitated the final phases of the slavery

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 55

The original title read "An act to organize the territories of Nebraska
and Kansas," and the movement was then referred to as the Nebraska
question. But the violence of the controversy in the attempt to force
slavery into Kansas overshadowed Nebraska, and so it has ever since been
known as the "Kansas-Nebraska act." As originally organized the terri-
tory of Nebraska extended from the fortieth parallel (the present south
line of the state of Nebraska) to British America, and from the Missouri
river to the Rocky Mountains. A portion of Colorado, that part of North
Dakota and South Dakota lying west of the Missouri river, and all of what
is now Montana and Wyoming east of the summit of the Rockies, were
taken from Nebraska. Nebraska was admitted into the Union as the thirty-
seventh state, in its present shape, March 1, 1867.

The territory of Kansas was formed as follows: "Beginning at a point
on the western boundary of the state of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh
parallel of north latitude crosses the same (about thirty miles north of the
southwest corner of Missouri, or 36° 30' parallel of north latitude) ; thence
west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico ; thence north
on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight ; thence following said boundary
westward to the east boundary of the territory of Utah, on the summit of
the Rocky Mountains ; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth
parallel of latitude ; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of
the state of Missouri ; thence south with the western boundary of said state
(being a meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the
Kansas river) to the place of beginning."

The following letter concerning the southern boundary line explains
itself:

"Washington, March 24, 1910.
"Geo. W. Martin, Esq., Secretary Historical Society:

"My Dear Mr. Martin— I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
January 21, 1910, requesting information as to the reasons for the choice of
the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude for the southern boundary line
of the state of Kansas, and asking whether there was a fraction of Osage
land lying south of this parallel of latitude. You invite attention also to
what appears to be a narrow strip of the Osage Reservation lying in the
Indian Territory north" of the Cherokee lands, as shown by plates CXXIX
and CXXX, Eighteenth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology.

"An examination of the plates to which you refer indicates that the strip
of land mentioned was formed by a correction line, or auxiliary base line,
which extends across the entire northern part of Oklahoma and is located
some six or seven miles south of the northern boundary of that state.

"The thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude appears to have been fixed
as the southern boundary of the territory of Kansas by section 19 of the
Act of Congress organizing the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, ap-
proved May 30, 1854 (10 Stat. L., 277, 283), and there is nothing in this
office to show the reasons for its choice as such southern boundary.

"This parallel did not, however, form the dividing line between the
Cherokee and Osage Nations, the lands belonging to the former which were
located in Kansas being a narrow strip approximately 2J miles wide and ly-
ing just north of the thirty-seventh degree.

"By the act approved January 29, 1861 (12 Stat. L., 126), admitting
Kansas into the Union as a state, the thirty-seventh degree of north lati-

struggle, which resulted in the Civil War. It led to the reorganization of political parties. It
started a renewal of the contest between the North and the South over a question which had
been regarded as settled for many years, at least by the compromise measures of 1820 and 1850.
It stirred the passions of the people of both sections, gave rise to bitter and protracted contro-
versies, both in and out of Congress, and doubtless considerably hastened a resort to arms. This
bill sealed the doom of the Whig party; it led to the formation of the Republican party; it raised
Lincoln and gave a vent to his great political ambition.— Si. Louis Republic, January 23, 1910.

5g Ka7isas State Historical Society.

tude was again fixed as the southern boundary of the state; but by a sub-
Beauent provision in section 1 thereof the lands of all Indian tribes located
wiihin the limits or jurisdiction of the territory were expressly excepted
out of the boundaries, and constituted no part of the state of Kansas until
such tribes shall signify their assent to the President of the United States
to be included within said state, or to affect the authority of the government
of the United States to make any regulation respecting such Indians, their
lands property or other rights, by treaty, law or otherwise, which it would
have been competent to make if this act had never passed. '

"Congress thus in effect moved the boundary line of the state so far
northward as to exclude the so-called Cherokee Strip and the lands of all
other Indian tribes which had not theretofore ceded their lands to the United
States, until such time as the said Indian tribes should comply with the re-
quirements of the act. J , ^,

"By the treaty of July 19, 1866, ratified and confirmed by the act ap-
proved July 31, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 799, 804), the Cherokee Nation (see ar-
ticle XVII) ceded in trust to the United States the tract of land in Kansas
which was sold to the Cherokees by the United States under article II of
the treaty of 1835; also, the strip of land ceded to the Nation by the fourth
article of said treaty, which was located in Kansas, and gave its consent
for the said lands to be included within the limits and jurisdiction of the
state of Kansas.

"Subsequent to the treaty with the Cherokees the rights of the other
tribes who had lands in Kansas, with the exception of the Quapaws. were
ceded to the United States, and by the treaty of February 23, 1867 (15 Stat.
L., 513, 514), the Quapaws ceded all their right, title and claim to lands in.
Kansas; thereby virtually restoring the thirty-seventh degree of north
latitude as the southern boundary of the state.

Very respectfully, John Francis, jr.,

Acting Chief Land Division."

It is safe to say on a very superficial examination of the volumes and
volumes of debates on the Kansas question from 1854 to 1861 that there was
no controversy whatever as to these lines. Nor is there anywhere to be
found an explanation of why or how these lines were chosen. ^ It just hap-
pened so. Nature laid out this beautiful piece of territory and an overruling
Providence spared its dismemberment. And what was Kansas originally?

Note 2.— As early as 1848 an effort was made to organize a territorial government in the
Indian territory west of the Missouri river. In 1844 the Secretary of War recommended an or-
ganization. On the 12th of October, 1852, an election for a delegate was held at the Wyandotte
council house, and Abelard Guthrie received all the votes cast. There was much opposition to
the opening of the territory. Another election was held at Fort Leavenworth and Guthrie de-
feated a man named Banow by a vote of 54 to 16. Guthrie started for Washington on the 20th of
November, 1852. He did very effective work in forcing a consideration of the question of
the organization of Nebraska territory. October 11, 1853. Rev. Thomas Johnson was elected
delegate to Congress. A bitter fight prevailed between Ai)elard Guthrie and Thomas Johnson.
But several precincts further up the river voted for Hadley D. Johnson, of Council Bluffs, Iowa,
the returns from which seem to have been ignored. But our purpose relates only to the origin
of the boundary line. For many interesting details of those days, see Connelley's Provisional
Government of Nebraska Territory. Hadley D. Johnson arrived in Washington early in January.
1854. The following is from a statement by Mr. Johnson in the Nebraska Historical Report,
vol. 2. p. 80 :

"I also found, seated at a desk, in the house of representatives, a portly, dignified, elderly-
gentleman, who was introduced to me as the Rev. Thomas Johnson. He was an old Virginian,
a slaveholder, and a Methodist preacher. . . .

" On being introduced to Mr. Johnson, who seemed somewhat stiff and reserved, I alluded to
the manner of my appointment to the present mission, which, like his own. was without legal
sanction, but was for a purpose ; told him there was no occasion for a contest between us for a
seat to which neither of us had a claim ; that I came there to suggest and work for the organiza-
tion of the two territories instead of one ; that if he saw proper to second my efforts, I believed
that we could succeed in the objects for which we each had come. . . .

"The fates decreed, however, that we were not to hold our seats a great while, for one day
the principal doorkeeper approached me as I sat in my seat, and politely inquired who I was, and
by what right I occupied the seat ; and being by me answered according to the facts, he informed
me thai a complaint had been made to the speaker; he was under the necessity of respectfully
asking me to vacate the seat, as such was the order of the speaker. I replied to him that of
course 1 would do so: but, I added, as my neighbor on my left occupied his seat by a right similar
to my own, I felt it to be my privilege to inquire why I should be ousted while he was permitted
to remain. On this the doorkeeper turned to Mr. Johnson, who corroborated my statement,.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 57

Rev. John G. Pratt, missionary to the Delaware Indians, in comparing Kan-
sas then and to-day, thinks the white man has desecrated nature. He says :^

"My first introduction to Kansas was in 1837. Leaving Boston in April
with my wife we reached the then territory May 14, being about four weeks
in slow but uninterrupted travel. The territory at that time was in perfect
quiet, and a most beautiful country it was. Coming from the Atlantic, my
first look at a green open prairie on a sunny day seemed to be a look at the
ocean, with which I was so familiar, but this was also Flora in her gayest
attire ; the eye was too limited in its capacity to take in such wide and far-
extended area of beauty— the like will never be seen again in Kansas. The
coming of dwellers has spoiled all this. Though still the Sunflower state, the
earlier dress of nature was more comely— it was nature's beauty."

In 1853, Percival G. Lowe, of Leavenworth, went out with Major E. A.
Ogden when Fort Riley was located, and here is his first impression :*

"Of all charming and fascinating portions of our country, probably there
is none where nature has been so lavish as within a radius of 150 miles,
taking Fort Riley as the center. In rich soil, building material, in beauty
of landscape, wooded streams and bubbling springs, in animal life, in every-
thing to charm the eye, gladden the heart, yield to the industry of man-
here was the climax of the most extravagant dream, perfect in all its wild
beauty and productiveness ; perfect in all that nature's God could hand down
to man for his improvement and happiness."

Rev. Charles Brandon Boynton made an exploration in the fall of 1854,
which was published under the title "Journey through Kansas. ",^ He says:

"But the first hour's ride over the prairies of Kansas spread before us
such a picture, varying every moment and beautiful in every change, as we
had no previous conception of, and drew from us continued expressions of a
delight that would not be suppressed. One can form no correct idea of the
prairies of Kansas by a previous knowledge of those of Indiana and Illinois;
and residents in Iowa add the same remark of theirs. How, without the
majesty of mountains or lakes, or broad rivers, and with so few colors as
here are seen, such an effect can be produced, is worthy the study of artists.
It is a magnificent picture of God, that stirs irresistibly and inexplicably
the soul of every beholder. Young and old, the educated and the unlearned,
ahke feel the influence of its spell, and each in his own language gives ut-
terance to his delight and wonder, or stands breathless and mute. There
are many scenes in Kansas that can scarcely be remembered even with-

whereupon the "two Johnsons," as we were called, were incontinently bounced and relegate
to the galleries.

"I never learned, nor did I care to know, whether I was removed at the instance of thf
friend of Mr. Johnson, or whether a Mr. Guthrie, who had also been a candidate for delegate,
had fired a shot at his adversary, the Rev. Thomas. If the latter was the case, in firing he hit
two birds. I did not feel hurt by this event, but believe that the dignity of the other Johnson
was seriously touched, and himself mortified.

"I ought, perhaps, to mention the fact that, in our negotiations as to the dividing line be-
tween Kansas and Nebraska, a good deal of trouble was encountered; Mr. Johnson and his Mis-
souri friends being very anxious that the Platte river should constitute the line, which obviously
would not suit the people of Iowa, especially as I believe it was a plan of the American Company
to colonize the Indians north of the Platte river. As this plan did not meet with the approbation
of my friends or myself. I firmly resolved that this line should not be adopted. Judge Douglas
was kind enough to leave that question to me, and I offered to Mr. Johnson the choice of two
lines — first, the present line, or second, an imaginary line traversing the divide between the
Platte and the Kaw. After considerable parleying, and Mr. Johnson not being willing to accept
either line. I finally offered the two alternatives — the fortieth degree of north latitude, or the de-
feat of the whole bill, for that session at least. After consulting with his friends. I presume,
Mr. Johnson very reluctantly consented to the fortieth degree as the dividing line between the
two territories, whereupon Judge Douglas prepared and introduced the substitute in a report as
chairman of the committee on territories, and immediately probably the hardest war of words
known in American history commenced."

Note 3.— Letter to Franklin G. Adams, January 12, 1889.

Note 4.— Kan. Hist. Coll.. vol. 7, p. 101.

Note 5.— Page 45.

Kmisas State Historical Society.

SAMUEL DEXTER HOUSTON,
Salina, Kan.

Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, 1859

Died February 28, 1910.

C. B. McCLELLAN,
Oskaloosa, Kan.

Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, 1859

out tears. The soul melts in the presence of the wonderful beauty of the
workmanship of God."

Max Greene was another early-day explorer in 1855. He also published
a book, 8 in which he says:

' ' Here through the exhilarating crystal air, on every hand, are scenes
of natural glory, the sublime of loveliness, whose only appropriate descrip-
tion would be a passionate lyric to flicker along the nerves like solemn
harmonies of mighty bards."

The east boundary of Utah, "the summit of the Rocky Mountains" ac-
cording to what was known at that time, is a very vague and indefinite ex-
pression. Another statement of the western line says: "Westward to the
summit of highlands dividing the waters flowing into the Colorado of the
West or Green river, from the waters flowing into the great basin." It is
usually understood that the territory of Kansas extended nearly to the
present eastern line of Utah. At that time probably no one knew. A topo-
graphical map of the United States, issued in 1907, shows the summit of
the Rocky Mountains, called the "Continental Divide," to be a trifle west
of Leadville. West of this point the waters flow into the Gulf of California,
and east the waters flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The east line of Utah
is very near the one hundred and ninth meridian west, but the summit of
the mountains is shown to be so irregular as not to be stated by lines. Sev-
eral of the old maps show the west line of Kansas territory following the

Note 6.-The Kansas Region, p. 14.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 59

continental divide. Undoubtedly, therefore, the territory of Kansas did
not include the whole of Colorado, but say about two-thirds of it, or a few
miles west of Leadville.

The western line of Missouri, "a meridian line passing through the middle
of the mouth of the Kansas river, ' ' is the eastern line of Kansas. Thus is desig-
nated one of the most conspicuous points on the continent. Here the line
is a street cutting in almost equal parts the most interesting and promising
city in the land. This street is lined with untold millions of wealth in rail-
roads, packing houses, stockyards, and general manufactures. The mouth
of the Kansas river was accurately determined by astronomical observation
in 1804 by Lewis and Clark, the explorers, to be latitude 38^ 31' 13"."
There has always been some controversy as to whether or not the mouth of
the Kansas has changed. I see no way of determining whether it changed
between the date of the location given by Lewis and Clark in 1804 and the
date of the settlement of the boundary line in 1821. The report of the
Geodetic Survey in 1902 gives the latitude and longitude of the Second
Presbyterian church spire (northwest corner of Thirteenth and Central,
Kansas City, Mo.) to be latitude 39^ 05' 55. 813" and longitude 94° 35' 13. 448". s
In 1899 Mr. W. E. Connelley made a careful study of this matter, and con-
cluded that the line is where it always was.^ Mr. C. I. McClung,!" whohaa
had much experience in the engineering department of Kansas City, Kan.,
tells me that the distance between the mouth of the Kansas river and
Thirteenth and Central, Kansas City, Mo., is 7392 feet, or one and four-
tenths miles.

The fortieth parallel of north latitude was made the boundary line be-
tween the territories of Nebraska and Kansas by Congress in the act of
May 30, 1854. It seems that in the beginning the Missourians wanted the
Platte river, but Hadley D. Johnson, representing more northerly interests,
insisted upon the fortieth parallel, ^i There were no surveys then, and
there was no controversy in Congress about any portion of the lines.
Neither was there any hundred-dollar-an-acre land, and so Congress acted
like the fellow who sold a quarter section, and while the buyer was not
looking slipped in the deed another quarter to get rid of it. Nebraska was
extended north to the British line, and Kansas extended to the summit of
the Rocky Mountains, a few miles beyond the present city of Leadville.
Immediately upon the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act John Calhoun
was made surveyor-general of Nebraska and Kansas. A contract was made

Note 7.— Original Journals of Lewis and Clark, vol. 6, p. 239.

Note 8.— Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1902, p. 247.

Note 9.— See Mr. Connelley 's paper on the "Western Boundary 'of Missouri," which follows
as an addenda to this article.

Note 10.— Letter of C. I. McClung to Secretary Geo. W. Martin, dated October 5, 1909.

Note 11.— Connelley's Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory, p. 31: "Another factor
was entering into the movement for territorial government for Nebraska. This was the fixing
of the location of the line of railroad soon to be built between the Pacific ocean and the Missouri
river. Iowa wanted the initial point of this road on her western border, and Missouri contended
that the valley of the Kansas river was the logical, most central, and most practicable route.
Ever since the enormous and phenomenal emigration to California, the initial point of this ' great
national highway,' as it had been called by Colonel Benton, had been a matter of contention
between the people of Iowa and Missouri, and. to a certain extent, to the country at large. The
North, generally, favored Council Bluffs as the starting point, and insisted that the valley of the
Platte was the route of greatest utility, from a national standpoint. The South contended that
the mouth of the Kansas river was a better location from which to start. The controversy fol-
lowed the old line drawn between the North and South by the question of the extension of slavery,
and was the one matter upon which the factions of the Missouri Democracy could unite."

60 Kayisas State Historical Society.

with John P. Johnson '= to establish the northern boundary line. It was
concluded to make it the principal base line whereupon to start the survey,
both on the north in Nebraska and on the south in Kansas. The fortieth
parallel was astronomically established in 1854 by Capt. T. J. Lee.^^ topo-
graphical engineer, U. S. A. The survey was started on the 18th of No-
vember, 1854. The party were eighteen days running west 108 miles.
When the Missouri river was closed to northern immigration, in 1856, Ne-
braska City was a port of entry for Kansas.

At a banquet tendered him January 19, 1910, by the Commercial Club of
Lincoln, Neb., Hon. Eugene F. Ware said: "In 1895 I was the attorney of
J. P. Johnson, who was a banker at Highland, Kan. One evening he began
telling some of his early history, and among other things said that he was a
graduate of Harvard College, being a classmate of Senator Hoar, of Massa-
chusetts. He said that they had had or would soon have a celebration of
their fiftieth year after graduation. He said that, after graduation, he
came to Illinois and got a position in a college, his specialty being mathe-
matics, and that having made the acquaintance of Senator Stephen A.
Douglas he became desirous of getting an appointment from the Interior De-
partment to survey or assist in surveying the boundary line between what
was to be Kansas and Nebraska. He received the appointment, and came
up the Missouri river with a complete outfit, sixteen men, horses and mules,
wagons and surveying instruments. They were told to make earthen
mounds every few miles in good locations, easy to observe, on the line, and
were instructed to go west until they struck the desert, and when they had
got fully on the desert line they were to halt and put up a mound, and then
they were to go one full day's march into the desert and establish the sixth
principal meridian running north and south. Mr. Johnson said they went
west until they had fully come to the desert line, and then they went a long
day's journey into the desert. From his recollection, he thought it was
about thirty-six miles. There, on the Kansas-Nebraska line, they raised a
mound establishing the sixth principal meridian, and went to a dry swale
some distance off and got rocks and capped the mound. He says a full re-
port was made to the surveyor-general's oflfice on their return to the Missouri
river, where the party was disbanded and government property sent to Fort
Leavenworth and turned in. When he was telling me this, he said the sixth
principal meridian as thus established still remained, and that he had several
farms west of it in Jewell and Mitchell counties, which produced fine corn."
Such towns as Clyde, Solomon, Newton, Wichita and Wellington now mark
the sixth principal meridian.

The southern boundary line of Kansas, the thirty-seventh parallel, was
surveyed by Lieut.-col. J. E. Johnston, First cavalry, and finished Septem-
ber 10, 1857. The astronomical determinations were by J. H. Clark and H.
Campbell, the survey by J. E. Weyss. The southern boundary of the Osage
Nation formed the northern boundary of the Cherokee Nation by treaties
with the United States of 1828 and 1833.'^ A map of Kansas and Nebraska,
mdorsed August 5, 1854. by George W^ Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, shows the thirty-seventh pa rallel as the boundary line between the

W. jJ,hn8Jn.'~^°"' ^'^*' ^°"" '"'^■'^- *'• ^^^' "Survey of the Northern Boundary Line,' by C.
Note 13. -Gov. Samuel J. Crawford, message, 1865.
Note 14.-Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties, vol. 2, pp. 289. 387.

The Boundary Lmes of Kansas. 61

Osage and Cherokee reservations, and it is possible that in outlining the
bounds of the new territory the line between these two tribes was adopted
as least liable to arouse controversy.

It is an interesting study to follow the organization and development of
these plains. At the time of the creation of the territory there had been
no surveying other than for Indian reservations. Instead of distinct lines
being given in the creation of counties a stated territory was described as
so many miles west, so many miles south, etc., the point of beginning being
the main channel of the Kansas or Kaw river at the point where the main
channel crosses the Missouri line. The proslavery legislature of 1855 cre-
ated thirty-five counties in what is now Kansas, and the county of Arapahoe
in what is now Colorado. The act said that when the surveys were com-
pleted the nearest township, section or subdividing line should be the boun-
dary. The counties established by the first act extended only to the west
line of Marshall, Riley and Geary. In a separate act the counties of Marion
and Washington were established. Marion was a narrow strip extending
from about the south line of the present Dickinson county to the south fine
of the state. Washington extended from about the middle of Sumner to
the east line of Las Animas county, Colorado. Arapahoe county covered
the Rocky Mountains region, and extended east to the one hundred and third
meridian, or a few miles east of the west Hne of Kit Carson county, Colo-
rado, or to the east line of New Mexico extended north. This left all the
region west of Marshall county and north of the south line of the present
Wallace and Logan counties under the vague description "all the territory
west of Marshall and east of Arapahoe." The county lines were made re-
gardless of routes of travel, and subsequent development made lots of
trouble readjusting counties to suit ambitious cities. The channel of the
Kansas river would not answer, so we had Wyandotte taken from Leav-
enworth and Johnson, Douglas and Shawnee pieced out from Jefferson and
Jackson, and Riley had to be shifted greatly to suit Manhattan, i^

October 6, 1856, a few men connected with Fort Riley held an election
at Sycamore creek (now Chapman creek, in Dickinson county), and voted
for all the region between Marshall and Arapahoe, nearly 300 miles in ex-
tent, and elected Benjamin F. Simmons to the legislature. There were thir-
teen votes cast, ten being cast for Simmons. >^ The record shows that
Simmons served through the entire session of the proslavery legislature of
January, 1857, and was chairman of the committee on corporations. The
ten votes he received at Sycamore were the total cast for him. P. Z. Taylor,
a clerk of that election, still Hves in Denver. The Historical Society has
the poll list of this election. This region, as well as Arapahoe county, was
attached to Marshall county by the legislature of 1855 for civil and military
purposes.

In 1859 the legislature established the counties of Montana, El Paso,
Ore, Broderick and Fremont out of the west end of Arapahoe, leaving this
last-named county on the great plains. The names Broderick and Fremont
indicate that a different sentiment was in charge of affairs. Of the coun-
ties thus established but three remain in the state of Colorado— Fremont,
El Paso and Arapahoe.

Note 15.— Kan. Hist. Coll., vol. 8, p. 449, "Establishment of Counties in Kansas," by Miss
Helen G. Gill.

Note 16.— Archives Department, 324, accession number 110.

^2 Kansas State Historical Society.

AH of this territory south of the south line of Wallace and Logan and
between Marion and Arapahoe was named Peketon by the legislature of
1860. At the same session the legiilature began to encroach on the terri-
tory north of the Smoky Hill river, by the organization of the counties of
Republic, Shirley (now Cloud), Ottawa and Saline. In 1867 counties were
created as far west as Norton, Graham, Trego and Ford.

The legislature of 1868 reached the state line, and established Wallace
and Gove counties. Cheyenne and Sherman were created by the legislature
of 1873. Thirteen years later, or in 1886, the county of Sherman organized
for business — thirty-two years after the creation of the territory and
twenty-five years after the admission of the state.

The region known as Peketon was not disturbed until the state legislature
of 1867, when the counties of McPherson, Sedgwick and Sumner, and all as
far west as Ford and Hodgeman, were created. The counties were organized
to the west line of the state in 1889, when Greeley, the last county, was
ready for business— thirty-five years after the creation of the territory and
twenty-eight years after statehood.

So much for the territory of Kansas. How about the state of Kansas?

After the creation of the territory, and prior to statehood, Kansas had
four constitutional conventions. The Topeka convention of October, 1855,
the Lecompton convention of September, 1857, and the Leavenworth conven-
tion of March, 1858, each accepted the boundaries established in the organic
act of May 30, 1854, extending the proposed state westward to the summit
of the Rocky Mountains.

The Wyandotte convention, the fourth and last before the admission of
the state, fixed the present boundary of Kansas at 102 degrees west longi-
tude from Greenwich, or, as stated in our constitution, the twenty-fifth
meridian west from Washington. At a geodetic congress held in Wash-
ington in 1884. composed of scientific representatives from all the countries
of the world, it Vvas resolved to adopt the meridian of Greenwich as the
universal prime or first meridian. The Encyclopedia Americana says that
geographers of all countries reckon longitude from the meridian of Green-
wich, although local geography of many countries may be reckoned from
their respective capitals. Sadlier's geography says: "We measure longi-
tude from the meridian of Greenwich, and the meridian of Washington."
Col ton's geography says : "Longitude is sometimes reckoned in the United
States from Washington, and in France from Paris." The west boundary
runs three miles west of the twenty-fifth meridian, or 102 degrees, which is
explained by the fact that after the adoption of the constitution the survey-
ors in running the eastern line of an Indian reservation in Colorado estab-
lished the west line of Kansas, and made an error of three miles beyond the
meridian named as our western boundary, so that it is really 102° 2' west
from Greenwich.

William Hutchinson, chairman of the committee on preamble and bill of
rights, reported on July 15 the present boundaries for Kansas as adopted by
the committee. A prolonged discussion was closed the next afternoon by a
vote in committee of the whole, placing the western boundary at the one-
hundredth meridian,'' a line about six miles west of Hill City, in Graham
count y. On July 28, the day befor e the final adjournment, Caleb May, of

Note 17.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention : Proceedings and Debates, p. 172.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 63

Atchison, proposed to amend the clause by making the twenty-sixth merid-
ian, or 103 degrees west longitude, the line.^** which would be a northern
extension of the east line of New Mexico or about the west line of Kit Car-
son county, Colorado. After some discussion May was prevailed upon to
change his motion to the original recommendation of the committee, and
our present western boundary was fixed by a unanimous vote. The discus-
sion on this point during the sultry days of July 15 and 16, 1859, are inter-
esting, and I make a few extracts to show in what estimation western Kansas
was then held.

William C. McDowell, of Leavenworth, who seems to have fathered the
South Platte annexation, says:^^ "I would inquire whether the boundaries
given here are the same as those in the organic act ? ' '

Mr. Hutchinson: "They are the same, except the western; . . .
after diligent inquiry it was ascertained that the one-hundredth meridian
west ( Hill City and Fort Dodge) would be in a country which is at present
being settled ; the one-hundred and first (at Atwood, Colby, Scott, Garden
City and Liberal) will probably be settled, but at the one hundred and sec-
ond degree, or twenty-five degrees west from the boundary, it was believed
was placed upon a natural sandy divide, where no part of the population
would be cut oflf that wanted to be with us."

James Blood objected to an amendment making the twenty-fourth merid-
ian west from Washington, corresponding to the one hundred and first west
from Greenwich, the western boundary (the ongitude of Colby, Scott and
Garden City), saying: "I would prefer the twenty-fifth (our present bound-
ary), and if gentlemen will make a calculation they will find that it is not
extending our state unreasonably in that direction— about 400 miles. The
country out there will not be settled for a long time, and is not of much
particular value. I think the proposition is a fair one as submitted by the
committee."

Solon 0. Thacher^p understood "that a large portion of this western
region from the twenty-third (Hill City) or twenty-fourth (Colby and Gar-
den City) is a miserable, uninhabited region. The only question is whether
we shall include within our boundaries a tract of country that is not valuable
to us, and confer upon it the benefits of government at our]expense. Those
of us who have read Horace Greeley's letters from that region, and con-
versed with gentlemen who have been there, are of the opinion that that
portion of the territory is not at all inviting."

Mr. Hutchinson remarked that "it is simply a question of fact as to how
far west this section of country can be inhabited— how far there is timber,
water and grass. It is evident that if we place it at the twenty-third (Hill
City) or twenty-fourth meridian ( three miles west of Colby) , that we shall
cut off a population that will be greatly discommoded at some future day to
travel to meet settlements near the Rocky Mountains. That should be the
governing influence in giving the direction of our vote. We are expecting
a grant of land from Congress. That will call for alternate sections, in all
probability ; so the further westward our boundary shall go the greater the
number of acres of land we shall get. If it is uninhabited entirely it will

Note 18. — Wyandotte Constitutional Convention : Proceedings and Depates, p. 409.
Note 19.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention : Proceedings and Debates, p. 139.
Note 20.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention ; Proceedings and Debates, p. 141.

€4

Kansas State Historical Society.

JOHN TAYLOR BURRIS,

Olathe, Kan.

Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, 1859

SAMUEL E. HOFFMAN,

St. Louis, Mo.

Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, 1859

never be worth a dollar ; we have nothing to pay on it— we have neither to
pay taxes on it nor build fences around it. There is no loss, and I think
there is no gain."

Samuel D. Houston, of Riley county, who favored the summit of the
Rocky Mountains and also the Platte river, said: "There are arguments in
favor of extending our boundary westward; and I should be recreant to my
duty were I not to present these arguments. ... I have learned for
the first time, and with astonishment, of ... a move by the people in
defining their boundaries [in which] they were benevolent enough to give
away one-half their territory. . . . Were we to do it as individuals we
would be charged with insanity. . . . If we can get the boundary desig-
nated by Congress in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and get a road to the moun-
tains, I ask if it is not a question of some magnitude whether Kansas shall
not have the grand Pacific railroad of the country. You must go to the
mountains and get pine with which to fence and build on your beautiful
prairies ; but if you give away your pineries and give those thoroughfares
into the control of other people, how are you going to accomplish this?
. . . I believe what I propose is for the best interests of the whole terri-
tory of Kansas."

Mr. McDowell objected to incorporating the mining regions, "their dif-
ference of pursuits presenting a people not homogeneous, whose wants will
be different and very little in common with ours."

James G. Blunt proposed again the twenty-third meridian, the Hill City
line, and said:2t "We would then embrace all of the desirable territory

Note 21.- Wyandotte Constitutional Convention : Proceedings and Debates, p. 153.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 65

upon this side of that large, sterile plain situated on our west, that would
add neither wealth nor importance to our state, but over which to extend
our laws and protection would be an onerous burden."

B. Wrigley, of Doniphan county, said: 22 "You put the western bound-
ary upon the twenty-third meridian (Hill City and Fort Dodge); and you
have on the eastern side the agricultural district of Kansas, and you have
on the west an expanse of territory of equal width and of equal extent,
barren, sterile and unfit for agricultural purposes."

Mr. Houston: " Why, gentlemen, we want . . . a connection of this
sort that we might get the highest possible price for our products. . . .
One would suppose from what gentlemen say of the country that it was a
God-forsaken desert; that the lightnings of heaven had poured their streams
of death upon it for centuries. But what are the facts ? Almost everyone
that goes out there tells us that it is covered with immense herds of buffalo
as far as the eye can reach, over a vast extent— north, south, east and west.
I believe I have as much respect for the buffaloes' opinion as I have for the
gentlemen's here in regard to that country. Who ever heard of wild ani-
mals seeking a home that is perfectly barren? Why, the grass must be
extremely nutritious there. -^ I believe that cotton can be raised on these
plains that will supply the demand of the whole country. When we get a
railroad out there, can't you tax these herds? When you run a railroad out
there, let men make a business of herding. You know very little about that
country. . . . One gentleman remarked to me a short time since that
he had written hundreds of letters to the East, telling them to come on
here; that we wanted to make a pathway to the Rocky Mountains over this
very country we are now proposing to give away. I would keep it till we
found out all about it. Who ever heard of a man cutting off part of his
farm before he had examined it? Now, gentlemen, this territory may be
too large for certain schemes of partisanship, but it is not too large to make
a grand and a glorious state for the people, and for the interests of the
people."

There is an incident relating to the north boundary line of the state of
Kansas scarcely known in her history, but in the history of the twin state
of Nebraska it constitutes a very important chapter.

January 17, 1856, ^^ J. Sterling Morton introduced into the lower house of
the territorial legislature of Nebraska a resolution memorializing Congress
to annex to Kansas all that portion of Nebraska south of the Platte river,
because it would be "to the interests of this territory and to the general
good of the entire Union." It was stated that the Platte river was a natural
boundary mark— that it was impossible to either ford, ferry or bridge it; it
was further thought that such a move would effectually prevent the estab-

NoTE 22.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention: Proceedings and Debates, p. 157.

Note 23.— The year 1909 was the forty-ninth year of statehood. There were sixty-three coun-
ties in the state which this year produced from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 bushels of corn each, and
there were thirty-one counties that produced from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 bushels of wheat.
Twenty-four counties in the line with Ellsworth, «r west of that range of counties, produced
from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 bushels of corn each, or from 1,000.000 to 3,000,000 bushels of wheat
each. The 4,000, 000-bushel corn counties and two of the 3,000,000-bushel wheat counties are in
the west half of the state— Sumner, Barton and Reno. All the other counties in the weet half of
the state produced proportionately, according to their population and development. Jewell
county, belonging to the west half of the state, this year raised 3,546,558 bushels of corn, and
twice since settlement has taken a prize as the ranking corn county in the state.

Note 24.— Morton's Illustrated History of Nebraska, vol. 1, p. 396.

-3

Kansas State Historical Society.

lishment of slavery in either of the territories. This was postponed by a
vote of twenty to five. The project slumbered until 1858. There was great
bitterness between north and south Nebraska at the time, and the annexa-
tion sentiment seemed to grow.

In those days Nebraska had other troubles than the unreliability of the
Platte river. Kansas was torn in pieces by a great national issue, and our
Republican-Populist war of 1893 had a precedent for ridiculousness in the
controversy which divided the pioneers of Nebraska from 1855 to 1858.
Florence, Omaha, Plattsmouth, Bellevue and Nebraska City were contestants
for the territorial capital. The story reads like a southwest Kansas county-
seat fight. The first legislature was called at Omaha, January 16, 1855.
Omaha was full of people interested in rival towns, who made threats that
the session should not be held. In January, 1857, the antagonism to Omaha
assumed an aggressive character. A bill passed both houses of the legisla-
ture, moving the session to a place called Douglas, in Lancaster county.
This bill was vetoed by the governor. In 1858 a portion of the legislature
seceded in a small riot but no bloodshed, and attempted to do business at a
town called Florence. -'> September 21, 1858, the fifth session met in peace
at Omaha, and began to talk about bridging the Platte.^e *

Restlessness was common then, for the Kansas territorial legislature
was also hard to please. The proslavery people left Pawnee to sit in
Shawnee Mission, and the Free-soilers would not remain at Lecompton,
but in 1858, 1859, 1860 and 1861 moved to Lawrence.

About the beginning of the year 1859 several mass meetings were held,
and Congress was memorialized to incorporate the South Platte country in
the proposed state of Kansas. There was some dissent, of course, but the
annexationists seem to have been quite lively. On the 2d of May^' a mass
meeting was held at Nebraska City, which invited the people to participate
in the formation of a constitution at Wyandotte July 5, reciting "that the
pestiferous Platte should be the northern boundary of a great agricultural
and commercial state. " They ordained that an election should be held in
the several South Platte counties June 7. There are no results of the elec-
tion given, but Morton's History of Nebraska, page 401, volume I, says
that in the county of Otoe, of 1078 ballots cast at a previous election, 90O
electors signed a petition for annexation, and that this sentiment was rep-
resentative of the whole South Platte district. Governor Medary's son and
private secretary, on the 16th of May, 1859, had written a letter to the Ne-
braska people, urging them to elect delegates to the Wyandotte convention,
and to proceed quietly, "as it would only create an unnecessary issue in
southern Kansas at the time, were it freely talked of."

On the 12th day of July, 1859,-8 the following Nebraska men were ad-
mitted to seats on the floor of the Wyandotte constitutional convention
then in session, as honorary members with the privilege of participating in
the discussion of the northern boundary of the state of Kansas, but not to

Note 25.— Morton's Illustrated History of Nebraska, vol. 1, pp. 322, 326.

Note 26.-lbid. pp. 322, 360. Note 27.— Ibid. pp. 400, 405.

Note 28. -Wyandotte Constitutional Convention: Proceedings and Debates, p. 23. The
names of the Nebraska delegation as here given are corrected by Mr. Morton in his Illustrated
History of Nebraska, p. 402, and Mr. Clarence S. Paine, secretary of the Nebraska Historical So-
ciety has made still other changes.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 67

vote : Stephen F. Nuckolls, Mills S. Reeves, Robert W. Furnas, Obadiah

B. Hewett, Wm. W. Keeling, Samuel A. Chambers, Wm. H. Taylor,

Niles, [Geo. H. Nixon], John H. Croxton, John H. Cheever, John B. Bennet,
Jacob Dawson, and (?) Wm. P. Loan. In the archives of the State Histori-
cal Society we find the original application of the Nebraska people signed
by Mills S. Reeves, John B. Bennet, Wm. H. Taylor, Samuel A. Chambers,
and Stephen B. Miles.

On the 15th the Nebraska delegates were heard, and on the 16th, during
the consideration of the west boundary line of the state of Kansas, William

C. McDowell, of Leavenworth, a Democratic member, moved the following
amendment -J^

"Provided, hoivever, That if the people of southern Nebraska, embraced
between Platte river and the northern boundary of Kansas as established by
Congress, agree to the same, a vote is to be taken by them, both upon the
question of boundary and upon this constitution, at the time this constitution
is submitted to the people of Kansas, and provided Congress agree to the
same the boundaries of the state of Kansas shall be as follows : 'Beginning
at a point on the western boundary of the state of Missouri where the thirty-
seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same ; thence west with said
parallel to the twenty-fourth meridian of longitude west from Washington ;
thence north with said meridian to the middle of the south fork of the Platte
river ; thence following the main channel of said river to the middle of the
Missouri river ; thence with the middle of the Missouri river to the mouth of
the Kansas river ; thence south on the western boundary line of the state of
Missouri to the place of beginning.' "

After a short parliamentary wrangle about separating the north and
west lines, Mr. McDowell withdrew the amendment, and the convention
voted that the northern boundary remain unchanged.

The Nebraska City News, the organ of the South Platte sentiment, was
furious over the result. I quote ^ii; "The curious may wish to know why
this rich boon was refused by the Black Republican constitutional conven-
tion of Kansas. It was for this reason : Its acquisition, it was believed by
those worthies, would operate against their party. They said South Platte
Nebraska was Democratic, and that being added to northern Kansas, which
is largely Democratic, would make Kansas a Democratic state ; would de-
prive the Black Republican party of two United States senators, a congress-
man and other offices. They were dragooned into this position, too, by the
Republican party outside of Kansas. Kansas, they are determined at all
hazards, shall be an abolition state."

It was a great deal, amid the sentiment and passion of that hour, to ask
the Free-soilers in the Wyandotte convention, following the struggles of the
border as far south as Fort Scott from 1855 to 1860, to go back on the people
south of the Kaw for an unknown quantity in southern Nebraska. The
delegates from Nebraska offered great things in a material way, but politics
cropped out everywhere, principally from outside of Kansas. There was no
politics then but the slavery issue. Solon 0. Thacher said:^^ "Chief among
their arguments was one meeting an objection which they supposed would
be raised in consequence of the political character of the country proposed
to be annexed; and we have been invoked by all the powers of logic and

Note 29.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention : Proceedings and Debates, p. 140.

Note 30.— Morton's Illustrated History of Nebraska, vol. 1, p. 403.

Note 31.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention: Proceedings and Debates, p. 147.

gg Kansas State Historical Society.

rhetoric to ignore the political aspect of this case-to lay aside whatever
feelings might arise politically, and look at the question dispassionately.
Now, sir, I say they urge an impossibility. Had these gentlemen from
southern Nebraska seen the sky lurid with the flames of their burning
homes, the soil of these beautiful prairies crimson with the blood of their
brothers and fathers, or their wives and children flying over the land for a
jilace of refuge from crime and outrage, . . . they would not think of
making such an appeal to us. . . . Gentlemen must remember that this
is the first time in the history of Kansas that southern Kansas has been
represented in any deliberative body. Think you, sir, that the people who
have just escaped from a prisonhouse that has kept them so long can desire
to reenter the clammy dungeon? "

I have carefully looked through the files of several of the Kansas news-
papers of that period, and I find a singular indifference to the question of
annexation. The Topeka Tribune and the Leavenworth Herald very freely
supported it. The Lawrence Republican, T. Dwight Thacher's paper, was
strongly opposed to it. There was little else considered then aside from
slavery. The Lecompton Democrat favored the dismemberment of both
Kansas and Nebraska and the formation of a new state lying between Kan-
sas and the Platte rivers. The Republican of July '21, 1859, said this scheme
was hatched in Washington and nursed in the Blue Lodges of Missouri.
Annexation would make southern Kansas a mere appendage to the northern
part of the state and completely at its mercy. The editor of the Republican
made a visit to southeastern Kansas, and in his issue of July 14 reported
unanimous opposition to the movement ; that the people there neither cared
to be annexed nor knew the politics of the Nebraska men. A portion of
the Nebraska movement was to make another state south of Kansas river
to be called Neosho. ^^ In a speech before the convention, July 22, Solon 0.
Thacher said that three-fifths of the population of Kansas was south of the
Kansas river. The Platte gave no river frontage, and would need an ap-
propriation every year to make it navigable byj catfish and polliwogs,^^
and the movement would give Kansas three additional Missouri river coun-
ties north of the Kansas river, which would not be desirable. A singular
feature is that the Free-soil legislature of 1859 petitioned for annexation,''*
while Free-soilers in the constitutional convention bitterly opposed it. The
Lawrence Republican is the only paper that handled the subject with vigor.
I quote as follows from the issue of June 16, 1859 :

"The proposed measure, if accomplished, would destroy the community
of interests which now exists between the various portions of Kansas.
Our people are bound together as the people of no other new state ever
were. Together they have gone through one of the darkest and bloodiest
struggles for freedom that any people ever encountered ; together they have
achieved the most significant and far-reaching victory since the Revolution;
together they have suffered-together triumphed ! At this late day, after
the battle has been fought and won, and we are about to enter upon the
enjoyment of the fruits of our perilous labors, we do not care to have intro-
duced mto our household a set of strangers who have had no community of
interest with us in the past, who have hardly granted us the poor boon of
their sympathy, and who even now speak of the thrice honored and loved

Note 32.- Lawrence Republican, July 21, 1859.

Note 33. -Ibid. July 28. 1859.

Note 34. -General Laws Kansas Territory, 1859. p. 651. Joint resolution No. 3.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas.

name of Kansas as a 'name which is but the synonym of crime and blood!' "
(Extract from a Nebraska City paper.)

On the 23d of July McDowell renewed the subject in the Wyandotte con-
vention by the following resolution r^s

"Resolved, That Congress be memorialized to include within the limits
of the state of Kansas that part of southern Nebraska lying between the
northern boundary of the territory of Kansas and the Platte river."

This was defeated on the same day by a vote of nineteen for and twenty-
nine against. The Democrats refused to sign the constitution, and of those
who did sign, four— S. D. Houston, J. A. Middleton, L. R. Palmer and
R. J. Porter— voted to annex the South Platte country.

ROBERT COLE FOSTER,

Denison, Tex.

Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, 1859.

Died January 6, 1910.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SIMPSON,

Paola, Kan.

Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, 1859.

Senator Green, of Missouri, in opposing the admission of Kansas under
the Wyandotte constitution, said that not over three-eighths of Kansas
could be cultivated, that "without this addition (South Nebraska) Kansas
must be weak, puerile, sickly, in debt, and at no time capable of sustaining
herself."

In the United States Senate on January 18, 1861, he moved to strike out
the proposed boundaries of Kansas and insert the following :"'

"Beginning in the main channel of the North Fork of the Platte river,
at a point where the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washing-
ton crosses the same; thence down and along said channel to its junction

Note 35.— Wyandotte Constitutional Convention: Proceedings and Debates, p. 276.
Note 86. -Congressional Globe, 2d Sess., 36th Cong , p. 444.

70 Kaiisas State Historical Society.

with the main stream of the Platte; thence down and along the main chan-
nel of the Platte to the Missouri river; thence south along said river and
the western boundary of the state of Missouri to the northern boundary of
the Cherokee neutral land; thence west along said northern boundary, the
northern boundary of the Osage lands, and the prolongation of the same, to
the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence north
on said meridian to the place of beginning."

This was defeated by a vote of twenty-three yeas to thirty-one nays, a
greater number of the yeas being those who opposed the admission of Kan-
sas under any circumstances. In support of this proposition Senator Green
said: 3'

"It will be observed by an examination of the constitution adopted at
Wyandotte, now pending before the senate, that about one-third of the ter-
ritory of Kansas is cut off on' the west. That includes the Pike's Peak
region, where the first gold discovery was made, including the Gregory
mines, and so on, cutting off that space of territory, which none of the other
constitutions ever did. Owing to the character of the country, that reduces
it to a small compass to constitute a good state. The gross area is about
eighty thousand square miles; but the portion susceptible of settlement and
of habitation will not exceed forty thousand ; and the best authority I have
reduces it to thirty thousand out of eighty thousand square miles. After
we pass west of the Missouri river, except upon a few streams, there is no
territory fit for settlement or habitation. It is unproductive. It is like a
barren waste. ^' It will not even support cattle, or sheep, or anything per-
taining to the grazing business. There are no mineral resources in the state
to supply any want of agricultural resources. Hence, I propose to enlarge
the boundary, not upon the west, but to take the present western boundary
and prolong it northerly up to the Platte river, and then follow the line of
the river to its junction with the Missouri line, and follow the Missouri line
down. It will add to the territory about thirty thousand square miles, about
two-thirds of which will be susceptible of settlement. It will then make a
good, strong, substantial state. I have the privilege to state, in this con-

NoTE 37.— Total value of Kansas agricultural products for 1909, the forty-
ninth year of statehood $307,538,164 91

Live stock on hand 225,147,080 00

$532,685,244 91

Assessed valuation of the state for 1909, the forty-ninth year of statehood $2,511,260,285 26

The year-book for 1909 of the United States Department of Agriculture, says that Kansas in
the last ten years has been first in wheat, and fifth in corn in 1909. Kansas was first in alfalfa,
also last year this state stepped in fourth place on the number of horses, and seventh place in
the number of hogs produced F. D. Coburn, secretary of the Board of Agriculture, has been
compiling: some figures about Kansas crops and the same crops in other states. The government
figures also show that in the last ten years Kansas produced 770 million bushels of wheat while
its nearest competitor produced 708 million bushels. This was Minnesota. Kansas was third in
19ii9. but in nearly all the other years it was first. In the ten years Kansas produced 1608 million
bushels of corn which gives it fifth place in that period. Illinois is first; Iowa, second; Nebraska,
third, and Missouri fourth.

November 16, 1909, there were in Kansas 248 national banks, 825 state banks, 4 private banks
and 3 trust companies. These institutions held deposits on that date as follows: State banks,
$99,507,000: national, $84,448,908; a total of $183,955,908. January 31, 1910, the close of the 49th year
of statehood, the deposits were: State $99,505,213; national, $89,841,068; a total of $189,841,281, an
increase of $5,390,373.

W. A. L. Johnson, commissioner of Labor and Industry for the state of Kansas, makes the
following comparative statement for the ten-year period ending June 30, 1909 :

^ . , . , 1900.

Capital mvested 59,458,256

Number of salaried officials, clerks 3,612

Salaries «3 223 221

Average number of wage earners ' 27!ll9

Total wages of year $12,197i657

Cost of material used 12o'737'677

Value of products, including custom and repair work!!..!. 154!o08!544

See "A History of Manufactures in the Kansas District" elsewhere in this volume, covering
coal, zmc. lead. salt. tile, oil, brick, and cement.

P. H. Albright, in the Winfield Courier. Christmas. 1909: "The population of Kansas, in
round numbers, at this time is about 1,700,000. If our population were as dense as Rhode

Increase

1909.

per cent.

141,354,677

137.7

6.148

70.2

$6,098,368

95.3

51,628

90.4

$31,338,827

165.1

201,321,096

66.9

264,133,757

71.5

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 71

nection, that nine-tenths of the people south of the Platte, in what is now
called Nebraska, desire this annexation to Kansas."

In the further discussion of the bill for admission, Stephen A. Douglas,
January 19, 1861, summed up the trouble as follows:

"There is no necessity for delaying this bill as it would be delayed by
the adoption of the amendment. The senator from Missouri well knows
that this Kansas question has been here for years, and no consideration on
earth could suffice to stop it in this body three years ago, when it came under
the Lecompton constitution. It was not stopped then to be amended for the
want of judiciary or any other clauses; but it was forced through. We are
told, first, that Kansas must be kept out because her northern boundary is
not right, when it is the same now as it was then; next, that she must be
kept out because the southern boundary is not right, though it is the same
now as it was then; again, she must be kept out because of the Indian
treaties, though the same objections existed then as now; again, she must
be kept out because she has not population enough, though she has three
times as many people as were there then; and, finally, this bill must be de-
layed now because it does not contain a judiciary clause. I do not under-
stand why these constant objections are being interposed to the admission
of Kansas now, when none of them were presented in regard to the Lecomp-
ton constitution, three years ago, nor in regard to the admission of Oregon,
which has since taken place. It seems to me that the fate of Kansas is a
hard one; and it is necessary for these senators to explain why they make
the distinction in their action between Kansas and Oregon, instead of my
explaining why I do not make the distinction between them. "^^

July 22, 1882, a reunion of the members of the constitutional convention
was held at Wyandotte. Benjamin F. Simpson and John A. Martin made
speeches. Martin was secretary of the convention, and afterwards served
as colonel of the Eighth Kansas, and two terms as 'governor. He said in
his address that two influences induced the decision against the South Platte,
"one pohtical and the other local and material. Many Republicans feared
that the South Platte country was, or would be likely to become. Demo-
cratic. Lawrence and Topeka both aspired to be the state capital, and
their influence was against annexation, because they feared it would throw
the center of population far north of the Kaw. "^^ We quote:

"Each party. I think, was guilty of one blunder it afterwards seriously
regretted— the Republicans in refusing to include the South Platte country

Island at this time we would have about thirty-eight million; as dense as Massachusetts, we
would have thirty-four million: as dense as New Jersey we would have twenty-five million; as
dense as Connecticut we would have eighteen million; as dense as Pennsylvania we would have
fourteen million; as dense as Maryland we would have twelve million: as dense as Ohio we would
have ten million; as dense as Illinois we would have nine million, and as Indiana we would have
six and a half million. The population of Rhode Island is now 470 to the square mile; of Massa-
chusetts 420 to the square mile; of New Jersey. 300 to the square mile: others of the extreme
eastern states are following close in the wake, while the population of Kansas to the
square mile is but 20. If we go to the European countries, the most densely populated is Belgium,
with a population of 565 to the square mile; England the next, with a population of 500 to the
square mile; Italy with a population of 280 to the square mile; Germany with a population of 238
to the square mile; Austria with a population of 208 to the square mile, and France with a popu-
lation of 186 to the square mile. ... It has been demonstrated that sufficient food can be
produced on five acres of Kansas land to support a family of ten; or, in other words, one acre of
very rich land will support two people. It is not an extravagant thing to say that the fifty mil-
lion acres of land which Kansas contains will support a population of twenty million people.
. . . Those living to-day. who have not yet attained to the age of majority, will likely see a
population in Kansas more dense than it is at the present time in the state of Ohio, and this
would mean a population of eight million people."

In an address to the Kansas Club, New York, January 29, 1910, David J. Brewer, associate
justice of the supreme court of the United States, made the statement that in looking through
some old papers recently, he came across a life insurance policy which he carried in 1864, while
living at Leavenworth, which was indorsed thus : " Permission to live in Kansas granted."

Note 38.— Congressional Globe. 2d Sess., 86th Cong., p. 466.

Note 39.— Martin's Addresses, p. 25.

72 Kansas State Historical Society.

within the boundaries of Kansas; the Democrats in refusing to sign the con-
stitution they had labored diligently to perfect. I speak of what I consider
the great mistake of the Republicans with all the more frankness, because
I was at the time in hearty sympathy with their action; but I feel confident
that no Republican member is living to day who does not deplore that de-
cision. And I am equally confident that within a brief time after the con-
vention adjourned there were few Democratic members who did not seriously
regret their refusal to sign the constitution."

I think the judgment of the people to-day would be that the convention
did very well; that for homogeneousness of people and interests, the boun-
dary lines of Kansas encompass, encircle, surround and hold more content-
ment and happiness than any other equal extent of territory. Imagine a
northern boundary line as crooked as the Platte river, and a southern
boundary as crooked as the Kansas and Smoky Hill. Imagine what an un-
wieldy and incongruous lot of people and territory there would be from the
Platte to the south line of Kansas, and from the Missouri river to the sum-
mit of the Rocky Mountains. Fifty years of development and history show
that the convention made the state just right. Furthermore, we have never
heard of any unsatisfactory results from the shape of Nebraska, nor of any
failure on the part of Nebraska people to manage the Platte river. I think
that the Wyandotte convention, after fifty years, is entitled to the plaudit,
"Well done, good and faithful servants." When we recall that Kansas is
one of but twelve states in the Union that has lived under one constitution
fifty years, the Wyandotte convention surely has this approbation.

The following states have had their present constitutions in use for fifty
years or more, barring amendments from time to time submitted to the
people: Connecticut, since 1818; Delaware, 1831; Indiana, 1851; Iowa, 1857;
Kansas, 1859; Maine, 1819; Massachusetts, 1820; Minnesota, 1857; Ohio, 1851;
Oregon, 1857; Rhode Island, 1842; Wisconsin, 1848. In all of these, prac-
tically, there has been agitation looking toward constitutional revision, and
in some instances constitutional conventions have met and revised the con-
stitutions, but the revision has been rejected by the people. For nearly 200
years Rhode Island did business under her charter, obtained from Charles II
in 1663, and it was not until September, 1842, that a constitutional conven-
tion met and framed a constitution, which was ratified by the people of that
state.

Of the members of the Wyandotte convention there still remain with us:
John T. Burris, of Olathe, aged 81 years; Benjamin F. Simpson, of Paola,
aged 73 years; C. B. McClellan, of Oskaloosa, aged 87 years; S. D. Houston,
of Salina, aged 91 years; Samuel E. Hoffman, 4450 Westminster Place, St.
Louis, Mo., aged 75 years; and Robert Cole Foster, of Denison, Tex., aged
74 years. Their work was adopted by the people of the territory October 4,
1859, by a vote of 10,421 for to 5530 against. [Samuel D. Houston died Feb-
ruary 28. 1910, and Robert Cole Foster died January 6, 1910.]

In 1855 the territorial legislature of Kansas was in session at Shawnee
Mission, only six miles from the now center of Kansas City, Mo., and the
Missouri legislature was in session at Jefferson City. In a sketch of Kansas
City, Mo., published by Judge H. C. McDougall in 1898, 4" he says that "As
one of the many evidences of the fatherly interest which the citizens of
Missouri then had in the young territory of Kansas, it may be noted in pass-

NoTE 40. -Charter and Revised Ordinances of Kansas City. Mo., p. xvi.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 73

ing that Hon. Mobillion W. McGee, a citizen of this state, who then resided
where Dr. J. Feld now lives, out at Westport, was a distinguished and no
doubt useful member of that territorial legislature at Shawnee Mission. It
would have been greatly to the interest of the proslavery party in Kansas
to get Kansas City into that territory. The Missouri statesmen were then
anxious to further the ends of their proslavery brethren in Kansas, and Col.
Robert T. Van Horn, and a then distinguished citizen of the territory of
Kansas (whose name I cannot mention because for thirty years he and his
family have been warm personal friends of mine), agreed that it would be a
good thing all around to detach Kansas City from Missouri and attach it to
Kansas territory. Hence, after visiting and conferring with the legislatures
of Missouri and Kansas territory, and being thoroughly satisfied that the
Kansas territorial legislature would ask and the Missouri legislature grant
a cession upon the part of the latter to the former of all that territory lying
west and north of the Big Blue river from the point at which it crosses the
Kansas line out near Old Santa Fe to its mouth, Colonel Van Horn was left
to look after the legislatures and my other venerable friend was posted off
to Washington to get the consent of Congress to the cession. Congress was
also at that time intensely proslavery, and through Senator David R. Atchi-
son, Gen. B. F. Stringfellow and others, the Congressional consent to the
desired change could easily have been obtained. While agreeing upon every-
thing else as to the rise and fall of this scheme, yet Colonel Van Horn says
that upon arriving at Washington, our Kansas friend met and fell in love
with a lady with whom he took a trip to Europe, and was not heard from
in these parts for over two years. " And that is how Kansas missed havings
one of the greatest cities to be on the continent. But there was then no
ten-thousand-dollar front-foot land in those hills or timber.

In 1879 there was again great interest in a movement on the part of
Kansas City, Mo., for annexation." The Kansas legislature passed a con-
current resolution declaring that the citizens of Kansas were not opposed to
such a movement, and authorized the appointment of a committee of eight,
three from the senate and five from the house, to investigate the subject.
A memorial ^2 ^as presented to the legislature, signed by George M. Shelley,
mayor of Kansas City, and three councilmen, and a committee of five citi-
zens, in which it was said : "We assure your honorable body that our people
are earnest and sincere in their desire for annexation, and should the ques-
tion be submitted to the electors of the territory proposed to be annexed, it
would be ratified by a virtually unanimous vote. Already a memorial to
the Missouri legislature praying for such a submission of the question has
been circulated and largely signed by our people, and will be duly presented
by our representatives for the action of that honorable body." On the 7th
of March a delegation of 125 representatives of the business and commer-
cial interests of Kansas City visited Topeka. A great reception was held,
and speeches were made by Governor St. John, Speaker Sidney Clarke,

Note 41.— Senate concurrent resolution No. 6, introduced by T. B. Murdock, passed the
senate January 21, 1879, and was concurred in by the house the next day, and the original
manuscript is now in the files of the secretary of state. The Kansas City Times suggested the
annexation movement in its issue of December 14, 1878, and January 1, 1879, gave a full front
page to the subject, with map of the territory proposed to be annexed, and interviews with
prominent citizens : January 5 the Times printed Kansas and Missouri newspaper comments,
and the issues of March 6, 7 and 8 devote considerable space to the visit of the Kansas City dele-
gation to Topeka, and the reception and proceedings of the legislature.

Note 42.— Kansas Legislature, 1879. House Journal, p. 1100.

74 Kansas State Historical Society.

Lieut. -gov. L. U. Humphrey and Col. D. S. Twitchell. The Kansas City
guests further resolved: "That we are more than ever convinced of the
preat and mutual advantages that would accrue to Kansas City and Kansas
from a more intimate union with the young Empire state." The Kansas
City Times of March 7 published a map showing the change in the line de-
sired by the people of that city. The proposed line followed the course of
the Big Blue from a point on the state line near the southeast corner of
Johnson county, running slightly east of north to the Missouri river, at this
last point being about six miles east, comprising about sixty square miles of
territory. It is highly probable the movement never reached Jefferson City.
The Kansas legislature asked Congress to order a resurvey of this east line,
and John R. Goodin introduced a bill, but nothing ever came of it.

Verily "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how
we will," as Mr. Shakespeare said. Charles Sumner thus described our
situation.^' "The middle spot of North America, . . . calculated to
nurture a powerful and generous people, worthy to be a central pivot of
American institutions." William H. Seward said:" "Kansas is the Cin-
derella of the American family." Surely we were cuffed about like a
household drudge, and now we are feeding and leading the world. Again,
Seward said in Lawrence, September 26, 1860:^5 "Men will come up to
Kansas as they go up to Jerusalem. This shall be a sacred city. " Henry
Ward Beecher, whose Bibles and rifles are a part of our history, said:^"
"There is no monument under heaven on which I would rather have my
name inscribed than on this goodly state of Kansas." Abraham Lincoln, at
Springfield, 111., June 27, 1857, said:^' "Look, Douglas, and see yonder
people fleeing— see the full columns of brave men stopped— see the press
and the type flying into the river— and tell me what does this ! It is your
squatter sovereignty! Let slavery spread over the territories and God will
sweep us with a brush of fire from this solid globe." At our quarter cen-
tennial celebration, held in 1879, John W. Forney said:^* "If I had been
commanded to choose one spot on the globe upon which to illustrate human
development under the influence of absolute liberty, I could have chosen no
part of God's footstool so interesting as Kansas. . , . Yesterday an in-
fant, to-day a giant, to-morrow— who can tell?"

These excerpts will show the inspiration under which Kansas was born.
The character of the proposed state, her institutions, a high idea of public
policy and morality, gave tone to all the discussion, marred only by a sus-
picion on the part of some whether she could in a material sense maintain
it all.

And so the only trouble we have ever had about the boundary lines of
Kansas has been from the people on the outside endeavoring to get in.

Note 43.— Sumner's "Crime against Kansas," U. S. Senate, May 19. 1856.

Note 44.— Seward's Works, new edition, vol. 4, p. 617.

Note 45.-Ibid. p. 396.

Note 46.— Wilder's Annals of Kansas." 1886, p. 1035.

Note 47. -Ibid. p. 170.

Note 48.— Old Settlers' meeting, Bismarck Grove, 1880. Kansas memorial, p. 36.

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 75

THE EAST BOUNDARY LINE OF KANSAS.

By William E. Connelley, in the Kansas City Journal, March 6, 1899.

T NOTICE that the old controversy concerning the state line between the
-*■ states of Kansas and Missouri has broken out afresh this winter. The
Kansas legislature has been asked to appropriate the sum of $5000 to pay
the expenses of a suit to settle the matter in the courts. Perhaps it would
be as well that this be done. The result will settle nothing not already
known to any person and every person having investigated the matter.

In 1884 this matter was all threshed over. At that time many Kansans
would consent to no less than six miles of Missouri territory. As investi-
gation proceeded the claim narrowed until the foot of Broadway, in Kansas
City, Mo., was fixed as the point beyond which no Kansan could honorably
retreat. I was county clerk of Wyandotte county, Kansas, at that time,
and an ardent supporter of the Kansas claim— until I made an investigation
of the matter. In that year I made an accurate and correct map and plat
of every tract of land in Wyandotte county, Kansas, and also prepared an
accurate description of each tract, for the tax rolls of the county. It was
necessary that I should locate definitely the state line. The map published
herewith I have made from notes and information gathered by me at that
time, and every figure of it can be verified by ofiicial records in the public
offices in Wyandotte and Jackson counties, unless such records have since
been lost or mislaid. These records are only certified copies of the original
surveys of said counties, and the originals are on file in the General Land
Office of the United States. They may be inspected by any interested
citizen.

The west boundary line of the state of Missouri is the east boundary line
of the state of Kansas. The boundaries of the state of Missouri as they
exist to-day were fixed by act of Congress, March 6, 1820. Said act de-
scribes the western boundary of Missouri as follows: "... thence
west along the same, to a point where the said parallel is intersected by a
meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas river,
where the same empties into the Missouri river." (Land Laws of the U. S.
of a Local or Temporary Character, Washington, 1884, vol. 1, p. 418.) This
"meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas
river, where the same empties into the Missouri river," was surveyed and
established in 1823 by Joseph C. Brown, and from that day to this has been
recognized as the oflScial state line.

After that date and during the progress of the public land surveys por-
tions of the boundary line were retraced by John Lampton and other United
States deputy surveyors, the old corners recognized and reestablished, and
the lines of the public land surveys closed on the boundary line made by
Joseph C. Brown.

The official plats of the public land surveys, both in Missouri and Kansas,
show the connections with the mile monuments established in this survey
of the boundary line as established by Joseph C. Brown in 1823.

The public land surveys of Jackson county, Missouri, were commenced
in 1818. The greater portion of the surveys were executed during the years
1826 and 1827. Township 48 north, range 32 west, was surveyed in 1843.
All the surveys along the state line were made prior to or during 1827.

7G Ka)isas State Historical Society.

The corners of the township and the sections thereof were established on
the "meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas
river, where the same empties into the Missouri river," as established by-
Joseph C. Brown in 1823. These township and section corners are in ex-
istence now. They are well known. The civil engineers and surveyors of
both Jackson county, Missouri, and Wyandotte county. Kansas, have them,
definitely located, and use them in their work of surveying every week in
the year, perhaps every day in the year. Remember, they were fixed and
established prior to 1827. They are of record in the General Land Office of
the United States, and certified copies of them are in the public offices of
Jackson county, or were there when I was county clerk of Wyandotte
county, Kansas.

The only question that can arise which would affect the west boundary
of Missouri would be that of the exact location of the "middle of the mouth
of the Kansas river, where the same empties into the Missouri river," in
1820. As no attempt wa.=i made to fix this point until 1823, the location
made by Joseph C. Brown in that year must hold until it is conclusively
shown that the mouth of the Kansas river was changed between the years
1820 and 1823. No claim of this kind has ever been made. The mouth of
the Kansas river, in some geologic age, passed now some thousands of cen-
turies, evidently occupied all the space between the bluffs of Kansas City,
Mo., and those of Kansas City, Kan. ; but the Missouri river then occupied
all the space between the bluffs at Kansas City and those some miles north,
in Clay county. If the Kansas river ever flowed into the Missouri at any
point north of its present mouth it was long enough prior to 1823 to allow
a forest of giant cottonwoods and sycamores to grow in its old bed before
that date. The field notes and plats of the original surveys of that part of
Jackson county along the state line showed the land to have been covered
with heavy forest trees. They remained there until within the memory of
persons still living.

The mouth of the Kansas river was definitely and very accurately located
in 1804. The following quotation is from the History of the Expedition un-
der the command of Captains Lewis and Clark (edition of 1814, vol. 1, p.
18) : "26th [June] . . . after nine and three-quarters miles we encamped
at the upper point of the mouth of the river Kansas; here we remained two
days, during which we made the necessary observations, recruited the party,
and repaired the boat. The river Kansas takes its rise in the plains between
the Arkansas and Platte rivers, and pursues a course generally east till its
junction with the Missouri, which is in latitude 38°, 31', 13"; here it is 340J
yards wide, though it is wider a short distance above the mouth. The Mis-
souri itself is about 500 yards in width; the point of union is low and subject
to inundations for 250 yards, it then rises a little above high-water mark,
and continues so as far back as the hills. On the south of the Kansas the
hills or highlands come within one mile and a half of the river; on the north
of the Missouri they do not approach nearer than several miles."

Here is a description of the country about the mouth of the Kansas river
which is not far from a good description at the present time. The field
notes and plats of the original surveys of the lands of Jackson county about
the mouth of the river show the distance to the bluffs to be about the same
as given by Lewis and Clark. The claim that the Kansas river ever en-
tered the Missouri near the present Union depot is here settled, by the

The Boundary Lines of Kansas.

78 Kayisas State Historical Society.

language "rises a little above high- water mark, and continues so as far
back as the hills."

The contention that the mouth of the Kansas river was changed by the
flood of 1844, and those following, cannot possibly affect the location of the
state line even as established, for the reason that the line was established
and fixed more than twenty years before the occurrence of the said flood;
and for the further reason that it w^as not changed on account of any
change in the mouth of the Kansas river caused by said floods, if any
change was caused thereby.

No attempt has been made to change the line since its establishment in
1823. It would be of no consequence whatever if it could be shown con-
clusively that the mouth of the Kansas river was at the foot of Broadway
in Kansas City, Mo., in 1830, and that it remained there until 1855, when
the surveys of Wyandotte county, Kansas, were made, unless it could be
shown that it was there in 1820, and so remained until after 1823, and was
entirely ignored by Joseph C. Brown in his survey of the state line in that
year. Neither would it be of any consequence to show that this same point
was as far west as the town of Muncie, in Wyandotte county, unless this
same fact could be shown in connection. That Joseph C. Brown made a
proper location of the mouth of the Kansas river and the state line in 1823
is beyond question. The evidence that he did so is overwhelming; there is
absolutely no evidence to the contrary. There is an entire absence of mo-
tive for any erroneous location. The country was uninhabited and sup-
posed by many people to be uninhabitable. The Missouri lands could be
bought for $1.25 per acre, and so little demand for them existed at even
that price that one township was not sectionized until 1843.

Some contention is made by Kansas that the survey of 1855, when the
Wyandotte county lands were surveyed, was erroneous in so far as it con-
cerned the state line. It has also been claimed that the mouth of the Kan-
sas river as it existed at that time was made the initial point of the state
line. Neither of these contentions can hold; and the proofs that they have
no foundation in fact, but are squarely contradicted by conclusive evidence,
exist in the offices of the register of deeds and the county surveyor of
Wyandotte county, as well as in the state auditor's office in Topeka. Let
any man examine these certified copies of the original surveys of Wyan-
dotte county lands made in 1855. It is there shown that all the surveys of
Wyandotte county were closed on the state line as established in 1823, and
upon which the surveys of Jackson county, Missouri, were closed. Nothing
else could be shown unless a vacant and unsurveyed strip was left between
the line of 1823 and that of 1855, or the corners of townships and sections of
Jackson county, Missouri, moved west and closed up the mythical line of
1855, a supposition absurd and ridiculous. The township and section cor-
ners of the Jackson county lands as surveyed in 1826 and 1827 were never
extended west, but remain as originally fixed. And the Wyandotte county
townships and sections correspond with them, meet them, and are closed
upon them. The survey of 1855 did survey a line south from the mouth of
the Kansas river as it then existed, and marked such line upon the plat of
the survey, where it may be seen by one and all, but they made no attempt
to establish it as the state line. The" distance west from the true state
line, of this line south from the mouth of the Kansas river in 1855, is set
down on the survey as twenty chains and fifteen links, and Fowler's pack-

The Boundary Lines of Kansas. 79

ing house, Armour's packing house, the stockyards and most of old Kansas
City, Kan., is east of this line, but I have not heard of any Kansan claim-
ing that these institutions were in Missouri. The claim that the state line
has been changed since 1823, or that it was then erroneously located, is a
preposterous absurdity.

The original surveys and plats all show that Turkey creek emptied into
the Missouri river just below the present location of Dold's packing house.
A part of the old bed is now used as a dump just east of Abernathy's ware-
house, on Ninth street. William Mulkey's recollections of the location of
this stream are confirmed by the statements of Gov. William Walker in his
journals. William Walker was the principal man in the Wyandot nation.
He settled on the banks of Jersey creek, in what is now Sunnyside addition,
in Kansas City, Kan., in 1843. He was elected provisional governor of Ne-
braska territory in 1853, when all of what is now Kansas and Nebraska and
parts of Colorado and Wyoming was called Nebraska. He was a very care-
ful man in his statements, a man of great ability and splendid attainments.
He kept a daily journal for thirty years, commencing in 1844, of portions of
which I have procured copies, and will include in my publication on early
times in Wyandotte county, etc., and called "The Provisional Government
of Nebraska Territory," to be issued inside of the next sixty days.

Governor Walker says, in his entry on Saturday, March 10, 1849: "Cloudy,
warm and foggy. Prospect of more rain. Went to town and stayed all day.
The Kansas river still rising. The Turkey creek bridge gone." And on
Saturday, August 20, 1850: "Clear and warm. Went to Kansas, and on my
way found the ferry boat at Turkey creek sunk. After hard labor (and I
bearing the principal part) we succeeded in getting her afloat ; then com-
menced the process of bailing with an old tin kettle with as many holes as
it had seen years, and their name was legion."

The term "Kansas" in the above entry means Kansas City, Mo., which
was always called "Kansas" by the Wyandots.

The measurements of the old surveys about Turkey creek were verified
in the survey of the lands belonging to Silas Armstrong's estate and D. E.
James in sections 14 and 23, township 11, range 25, Wyandotte county, Kan-
sas. I have a copy of the plat of said survey, and many of the field notes.
The survey was made by order of the district court of Wyandotte county,
Kansas, and the number of the cause in said court is 1066. The files in said
cause are open to public inspection. The lands involved in this cause are
now the most valuable in Wyandotte county, embracing all of old Kansas
City, Kan., and if any error had been made it would have been discovered
long ago. On this plat are marked the corners of the sections of the survey
of lands of Jackson county made in 1826 and 1827, and the survey of the
above Kansas lands connects with these Missouri corners.

The old Wyandots that I have consulted on this matter always said that
the mouth of the Kansas river was changed very little by the flood of 1844.
While it would be of no consequence if it had, I mention this fact to correct
wild statements to the effect that some of the Wyandots said the Kansas
river emptied into the Missouri river below the Union depot. No Wyan-
dot ever made such a statement to me, and I have talked to almost all of
them. The claim that they had said so is refuted by their names for the
Missouri river and for the site of Kansas City, Mo. They call the Missouri
river "Kyooh-tahn-deh-yooh-rah. " Some of the older ones pronounce it

80 Kansas State Historical Society.

"Kyooh-tehn-den-dooh-rih," and this is perhaps the older and better form
of writing it. They claim that their people knew of and named this river
centuries ago. The name signifies "muddy river," or "muddy water," or
perhaps it might be rendered "yellow water," or "yellow river." But the
majority of them say it means "muddy river."

They call the site of Kansas City, Mo., "Kyooh-rah-dooh-hih." This
signifies "the point where the rock projects into the Kyooh-tahn-deh-yooh-
rah, " or the point where the cliff stands into the Kyooh-tahn-deh-yooh-rah.
They so call it because the blufl^ stood boldly out into the waters of the
Missouri at that point. The principle that accurate descriptions are em-
beded in Indian names is recognized by all students and scholars.

MANUFACTURES.

A HISTORY OF MANUFACTURES IN THE KANSAS

DISTRICT/

Prepared by Richard L. Douglas,' LL. B., A. B., University of Kansas, 1910.

ESTIMATION OF MATERIALS.

The principal difficulty that the investigator of this district has to con-
tend with is the utter lack of any secondary works upon which to base his
investigations. The work has to be practically all gathered from the orig-
inal sources. So far as the writer has been able to discover, this is the first
attempt to outline the development of manufactures of this part of the
country, and with but two or three exceptions this is as true of even indi-
vidual industries as it is of the whole of manufactures. There are a con-
siderable number of local county and town histories in existence which
represent the principal counties and towns in the district that this paper has
attempted to cover, but without exception they are barren of manufactur-
ing information, with the exception of the histories of Omaha and Kansas
City, listed below. Of all the histories of the state of Kansas, and there
are a score, but two pay even passing attention to manufactures, and the
rest confine their attention to the political side of the history.^

Note 1 (Author's note).— This outline of the development of manufacturing in the midcon-
tinent gas belt and adjoining districts was prepared for the Carnegie Institution, of Washington,
as a part of their economic history of the United States, and it is printed at this time by their
permission. The work was done at the University of Kansas under the direction of the depart-
ment of economics, as a part of the work required for the degree of Master of Arts in that insti-
tution.

Parts of the work are necessarily brief, and the paper can be but little more than an outline
for more detailed study of conditions. The need of more attention to this side of the history of
the Middle West is painfully apparent to the most superficial observer, and if this outline proves
of assistance in the furtherance of such work the author will be satisfied.

Note 2.— Richard Leroy Douglas was born on a farm near Columbus, Cherokee county,
Kansas, February 9, 1884. His father was George W. Douglas, a native of Iowa, who settled in
Cherokee county in 1868. and his mother Thula ( Ellis) Douglas, a native of Tennessee, who came
to Cherokee county, Kansas, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Driscoll Ellis, in 1879. His
parents were married in 1882 and still live on a farm near Columbus. Mr. Douglas graduated
from the Cherokee county high school in 1903. and entered the University of Kansas in Septem-
ber, 1904. He graduated from the School of Law in June, 1909, and was admitted to the bar the
same month. He graduated from the University in February, 1910, with the degree of Bachelor
of Arts, and received the degree of Master of Arts in the following June. During the last year
of his course he held the University fellowship in sociology and economics.

Note 3.—

"My theme to-day is History — not the shelf
Whereon she sets her idols, but herself.
If I examine History aright,
I read of one long and unbroken fight —
One thrilling drama ; every scene and act
Contains the record of a city sacked.
From time to time the curtain drops amain
On cities blazing, with defenders slain ;

"Yet, ere their ashes have had time to cool.
They start again to opulence and rule.
To what strange power, so vitalized and strong.
Do these recurrent energies belong?
Whence come the latent forces that re-rear.
From ash and wave, the palace and the pier?

(81)

82 Ka)isas State Historical Society.

The publications of the University Geological Survey of Kansas are the
only real compilations of manufacturing statistics by local investigators,
and they are on the whole quite satisfactory as suggestive sources of ma-
terials. They are careful and accurate, so far as they go, and to that extent
are of considerable aid. The other states of the section under consideration
do not have any publications that approach them for completeness and value
in either this or any other branch of the work. Special editions of a num-
ber of newspapers in the better towns of the state have been of consider-
able service, and, for the most part, the information therein contained has
been found reliable.

Where practicable the investigation has been supplemented by personal
visits and interviews, but it must be admitted that as a means of collecting
information that method is a failure for the purposes of such a work as
this. As a means of verifying tentative conclusions, reached from other
sources of information, however, interviews and visits have served an im-
portant purpose in the preparation of this discussion.

This district is in the beginning of what should be a period of consider-
able manufacturing importance, and it is to be hoped that a growing appre-
ciation of the importance of manufactures in this prairie region will
stimulate an attempt to chronicle the growth of the various lines of industry
that the fuel region is eminently fitted to pursue. If this outline proves of
assistance in this it will not be in vain,

INTRODUCTORY.

While it is the intention of this discussion to cover generally the group
of prairie states which lie between the Mississippi Valley states proper
and the Rocky Mountain states, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, it has
been found advisable to limit the work slightly in territorial extent. Such
a territory would include the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma,
with Texas in the horizon on the south. Such a strip of territory, however,
does not present a uniform basis for consideration, either from the point of
view of resources, of settlement, population or development. Some parts

"No answer back the old historian brings;
His tale is but of battles and of kings.
His prose and verse were written to proclaim
Some useless battle or some kingly name —
No honor given to the brains or toil
That pluck the wealth from mountain, sea and soil.
They leave that out — but throw distinguished light
Upon the least minutiaj of a fight.

'Since Cecrops landed on the Grecian shore.
Brought on a stock — started a country store —
Picked out a site by some prophetic guess,
And boomed old Athens to a grand success.
The human mind has always sought renown
In founding states, or building up a town.

'Yet ancient chroniclers forget to state
What built the cities, and what made them great.

'And History, with proud patrician frown.
Ignores a power that never burned a town.

'Now, when the truth is told, it shows two things:
First, states are rich and great in spite of kings ;
And next, that nations opulent are made
By neither kings nor battles, but by trade.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 83

of that group of states just enumerated have no manufacturing interests
that entitle them to consideration except locally, and do not even attempt
to be self-supplying. Perhaps the only exception to this rule is the flour
industry, which is distributed throughout the group as far south as Texas.

For these reasons the investigations have been confined largely to Kan-
sas and the growing industries of the new state of Oklahoma, whose de-
velopment is fast becoming important. The further reason exists that these
states are representative of the group having all the agricultural character-
istics of the others, and having the further advantage of mineral and fuel
resources, and the geographical location that enables them to put any manu-
factures that they produce into the markets further south and west. These
advantages, which the other states do not possess to any great extent,
make the Kansas-Oklahoma district of real importance as a manufacturing
section, and at the same time the discussion of industries and conditions in
it includes all the more important phenomena that are common to the other
prairie states.

For all practical purposes the manufacturing district proper, if the scat-
tered flour mills and a few minor industries are left out, is confined to a
■strip of territory not more than 200 miles wide at its greatest extent, and
extending from central Oklahoma to Omaha, Neb. Geographical lines can-
not be observed entirely in this limitation by bounds nor include all the ac-
tivities that are related and belong to the prairie section, but it is necessary
to include a little of Missouri. Kansas City, for instance, is economically a
part of Kansas, and typical of that state. The lead and zinc mining region
of the Joplin district, in southwestern Missouri, is also to be included in this
territory, on account of the part that it plays in the smelting industry of
Kansas and Oklahoma.

It is also to be observed that there is little of interest for the student of
manufactures west of the middle of the state of Kansas, or along the line
of natural division between the purely agricultural region and the outskirts
of the fuel belt on the east. The discussion in reality resolves itself into a

"Old Business is the monarch. He rules both
The opulence of nations and their growth.

'He builds their cities and he paves their streets.
He feeds their armies and equips their fleets.
Kings are his puppets, and his arm alone
Contains the muscle that can prop a throne.

"Old History, stand up. We wish to ask
Why you so meanly liave performed your task.
Under your arm you have a showy book.
In which we now insist that we may look.

"We'd like to see what's in that gilt-edged tome;
Say, did Old Business ever reign in Rome?
You say he didn't? Well, may we inquire
If the aforesaid Business reigned at Tyre?
■ Don't believe he did ? ' Well, look the index through.
And see if he is mentioned once by you.
'Can't find his name? Well, that is somewhat queer.
Say, of Old Business did you ever hear?'

"You never did? Well, I'm inclined to think
Pens full of pigs, and not pens full of ink.
Should be the object of your future skill.
And that your book should feed the paper mill.
O History ! the language may be broad.
But we must here impeach you as a fraud."

Extract from "A Corn Poem," by Eugene F, Ware, July h, 1876.

84 Ka)isas State Historical Society.

consideration of a district that is a part of at least four states, and includes
only a part of any of them. As the paper proceeds it will be seen that the
presence of the fuel supply in the shape of coal, and later of gas and oil, in
conjunction with other mineral wealth, is the distinguishing feature of this
district, and is responsible for its economic differentiation from the other
portions of the prairie region.

The manufacturing history of parts of even this smaller section dates
back but a few years. This is true especially of the Oklahoma district, in
which the development has been accomplished principally since 1900. In
this respect the recency of the growth of manufactures in that part of the
district lacks the formative period that will be observed in the discussion of
the industries in the state of Kansas. There is to be observed a very gen-
eral expansion of all lines of industry in a few years about 1890, accompa-
nied by a considerable centralization in fewer and larger establishments, in
which the manufactures of Kansas lost their experimental character. The
centralization was not accomplished, however, without interruption, proba-
bly owing to the check that the panic of 1893 put on all extensions, and there
was a very noticeable break between the beginning of the movement and
the centralization that has been going on since 1900. In this latter exten-
sion the industries of Oklahoma have taken a part, but not so noticeably as
those of Kansas. There they were builded on a par with the partly cen-
tralized institution of the Kansas industries, and so can be left out of the
early discussion.

The development will be followed chronologically, so far as possible, after
a preliminary discussion of the natural resources of the district which enter
into the growth of manufactures. Specific industries will then be consid-
ered in some detail, for the purpose of bringing out the peculiar phenomena
in each.

RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY.

As the later development of the subject in the following chapters will
show, the growth of industry from the first beginnings of manufactures has
followed with fair consistency the development of the natural resources of
the country. With few exceptions, there has been no attempt to foster
manufactures for which there was not a natural basis. This characteristic
can only be appreciated in the later discussion in the light of a brief sum-
mary of the natural resources of the region. This preliminary section will
be brief, for the reason that, in connection with the mineral industries to
be discussed latei, much of the material will be touched upon again.

At the period of the eighth census, 1860, Kansas was the only part of
the section under discussion that had developed any manufactures that de-
serve mention. The country was but sparsely settled, and the chief occu-
pation was, as it is to the present time, tilling the soil. The settlers were
attracted to the new country by its adaptability to agricultural purposes.
Corn was the leading crop, as it still is in the regions that were settled at
that time-the fertile valleys of the streams of the eastern part of the state.
The census of 1860 shows that the corn crop was far in the lead. The re-
ported yield was over five and one-half million bushels, ^ while the wheat
crop was under two hundred thousand bushels, and of oats the state pro-
duced less than a hundred thousand bushels.

Outside of the section of the river valleys of the northe rn and eastern

Note 4.-Fifteenth Biennial Kept. Kan. Board of Ag., p. 1196.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 85

parts of the state lack of rainfall was a serious hindrance to agriculture for
at least twenty years after this time, and the development of the western
section as a wheat-growing country did not begin very early. There were
three fairly distinct belts in this area, only one of which had an average
rainfall sufficient to make farming a certain thing one year with another.
In the eastern portion the precipitation in 18S0 was about thirty-three
inches annually; in the central portion of the state it was but twenty-five
inches, and further west not more than twenty inches. ^ A contemporary
writer says of the conditions: "The experience of the past years has shown
the settlers in western Kansas that wheat raising is never a sure thing, and
that other crops may be more profitably and surely raised. "^ It was not
until the introduction of hard winter wheat, late in the '70's, that the section
began to assume importance as a wheat-growing country. '^

Stock raising and feeding, however, was profitable and important during
the period before the cultivation of the soil and other influences led to an
increase of rainfall, » and, as will be seen later, it led to the development of
important manufactures in the meat-packing cities along the Missouri river.
The prairies were covered with an abundance of grass good for grazing
until November each year, and the abundant corn crops that could find no
outside market could be used most profitably in feeding through the winter
months. Corn which would sell for only fifteen to twenty-five cents a
bushel in the markets realized in this way as high as forty and forty-five
cents in some instances.'' This was especially convenient for the farmers
off the Hnes of railway, which were still few as late as 1880, for they could
drive their cattle and hogs to the railway, or even to market, where it
would be wholly impracticable, if not impossible, to market the corn neces-
sary to feed the same stock.

Although practically all of the territory included in this region is a part
of the great middle western plains, and is in general rolling prairie, the
streams, especially of northern and eastern Kansas, were in the early days
important locally in a manufacturing way. In the first place the river val-
leys contained a not inconsiderable quantity of oak, black walnut, cotton-
wood, hickory and ike timber, that offered a convenient and comparatively
cheap substitute for the more popular building lumbers, which at this time
were hard to get, and were almost prohibitive in price for the first ten or
fifteen years. The walnut timber which was in many places abundant,
offered raw material for a considerable number of furniture factories which
flourished in the eastern part of the state, at Leavenworth, Atchison, Fort
Scott, and in a smaller way in numerous other little towns. i"

The larger streams were, and still are to a lesser extent, of economic
importance, in that they offered a ch^ap and convenient source of power for
that class of industry which does not demand the use of heat. The first
record of the number of water wheels in use is found in the Ninth Census,
and according to that report there were 62 wheels in the state of Kansas ^

Note 5.— Kansas Hand Book, 1881, p. 14. Note 6.— Ibid., p. 13.

NoTET.-Kan. Hist. Coll.. vol. 9, pp. 502-506. T. C. Henry's "A Fenceless Winter Wheat
Field."

Note 8.— Kansas Hand Book, 1878, p. 6. Note 9.-Ibid. 1881, p. 36.

Note Id.— Kansas Monthly, March, 1881, p. 40.

Note 11.— Census Rept., 1860, vol. 3, p. 167.

gg Kansas State Historical Society.

furnishing power for flour and grist mills, and for the sawmills which were
scattered over the eastern part of the state. The number of these water
wheels multiplied rapidly for a period of twenty years or more, before the
opening of the fuel deposits and the extension of the railroads which made
the coal available. In 1875 there were 79 wheels alone furnishing power for
as many flour mills, and 26 more for combined saw and grist mills in Kan-
sas,'-' and by the following year the number had increased to 105 of the
flour mills and 33 of the saw and grist mills, not counting the large number
of wheels that were turning sawmills alone. i^ In 1881 the total number of
water powers in the state was given at 150, 110 of which were used for
flouring purposes.'^

From this time on for various reasons, among which the opening of the
Kansas coal fields and the enlargement of the mills that had been using the
water power, the number of water powers fell off rapidly, and the number
at the present time is few. A few of the larger dams still remain, and are
in constant operation at a profit. The fall of the Kansas river and its
tributaries, and of some of the southern Kansas rivers, is great enough to
afford abundant power, but as yet there have been few places where the
natural power exists at a place where the demand has been great enough to
justify the expenditure of enough capital to make it available.

The next natural resources in the order of development are the fuel and
mineral deposits that underlie a large portion of eastern Kansas and Okla-
homa and western Missouri, the latter demanding some attention in rela-
tion to this region on account of the impossibility of separating it as a unit
in the history of the remaining portion. The geological formations in this
section are peculiar, in that in going from east to west successive overlying
formations are encountered, each of a more recent period, until the center
of Kansas is passed. This feature is thought to be due to the fact that the
area under consideration was the last of the mid-continent basin to emerge
from the water in the ages when the elevation of the mid-continent basin
was gradually connecting the Rocky Mountain region with the higher lands
farther east. The center of this inland sea seems to have been in south-
central Kansas, but there seems to have been successive periods of subsid-
ing and emerging that make it difficult to place the limits definitely. ^^

In the extreme southeastern portion of the state, and covering probably
forty-five square miles in Kansas, is the exposure of the Mississippian lime-
stone, which contains the valuable lead and zinc deposits of the Joplin-
Galena district. This area extends over a large part of northeastern
Oklahoma, northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri, in which
regions it is a continuous surface formation, i" In Missouri the lead and
zinc deposits are found in three counties— Jasper, Newton and Lawrence^"—
while there are five counties in northern Arkansas, a little farther east

Note 12.-Fourth Ann. Rept., State Board of Ag., Kan.. 1875.

Note 13. -Fifth Ann. Rept., State Board of Ag.. Kan., 1876.

Note 14. - Kansas Magazine, March, 1881, p. 40.

Note 15.— For a detailed discussion of the formations of central Kansas, see vol. Ill, Univer-
sity GeoloKical Survey of Kansas, chap. 3. and "Geology of Kansas Salt," by Robert Hay, in
Seventh Biennial Report, State Board of Agriculture. Kansas, part II, pp. 83-95.

Note 16.-Univ. Geol. Survey, Kan., vol. Ill, pp. 14-15.

Note 17.-Mo. Bureau Geol. and Mines, Advance Sheets, vol. X, p. 15.

History of Manufactures in Kaiisas. 87

than the Missouri deposits in Newton county, that are of some importance's
Later development has shown that the district extends into Oklahoma, in
what was the northeastern part of the Indian Territory, contiguous to Kan-
sas and Missouri. This region furnishes more than half the zinc ore pro-
duced in the United States, '^ and about one- third of the lead produced in
the United States,-'^' and since the opening up of the Kansas- Oklahoma gas
region by far the largest share of this wealth of mineral is smelted and
prepared for the market in the gas belt of those states.

The output of this district has been growing steadily, but with the ex-
ception of the development of the Oklahoma and Arkansas districts, which
are recent, and at the same time of lesser importance as yet, the territorial
extent has not been widened much for several years. There are no avail-
able sources of information on which to base an estimate of the probable
duration of the life of these deposits, and it is not known whether there
are extensive bodies of ore at a greater depth than has been worked. The
generally accepted theory as to the origin of the lead, namely, the concen-
tration from percolating waters, 21 would account for deposits at almost any
depth to which the water penetrated and became quiet enough to allow the
deposit of the mineral matter in the solution. Many of the mines that
were worked as a shallow deposit have, it is true, been reopened and worked
at a profit at a deeper level, but how long this will continue no one knows.
Be that as it may, the lead and zinc deposits have been and are an impor-
tant resource as a basis for manufacturing activity, and will continue in
importance as long as the ore and the fuel deposits last.

Immediately overlying the Mississippian limestone, in which are found
the lead and zinc deposits, and which is supposed to extend in a fairly regu-
lar manner beneath the whole Kansas-Oklahoma region,-' are the great coal-
bearing beds of shale that cover the surface of nearly half the state of
Kansas, a large portion of Missouri and much of eastern Oklahoma. These
shales, separated as they are at intervals by heavy beds of limestone, ag-
gregate some 3,000 feet in thickness where they have not been thinned by
erosion, 23 and are coal-bearing through their whole extent, though the pro-
duct of the upper shales is not important in many cases except as supplying
a local demand. The base of the Pennsylvanian system, which rests on the
Mississippian limestone referred to above, is the heavy bed of shales de-
nominated the Cherokee shales by the Kansas geologists, the heaviest shale
bed in the Coal Measures, -^ averaging nearly 500 feet in thickness. These
shales are exposed on the surface of four of the southeastern counties of
Kansas, and are known to extend in a northeasterly direction into Missouri,
where they are the coal-bearing strata of that state. They are exposed
over a large area in eastern Oklahoma, forming the rich coal fields of that
state. In Kansas, these Cherokee shales are the most important by far of
the coal-bearing shales, =5 and all the coal from the Pittsburg- Cherokee dis-
trict is found in them, as well as the surface coals in the Fort Scott district, ^^

Note 18.— Professional Paper No. 24, U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 14.
Note 19.— Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 461. Note 20.-Ibid. p. 444.

Note 21. — Mo. Bureau Geol. and Mines, Advance Sheets, vol. 10, pp. 8-15.
Note 22.-Univ. Geol. Surv. Kan., vol. Ill, pp. 16-19. Note 23.-Ibid. p. 21.
Note 24.— Ibid. p. 21. Note 25.— Ibid, p. 25. Note 26.-Ibid, p. 140.

gg Kaunas State Historical Society.

and the Leavenworth county deep mines," both of which latter are in the
upper Cherokee shales. These shale beds are thus the great coal-producing
formations that are found in this section, and produce by far the largest
share of the coal mined in Kansas. -'8 The only other coal-bearing shale of
any importance in the state, and it does not extend into any except Kansas,
so far as known, is the Osage shale, 2000 feet above the Cherokee shale,
which has been important in that it has both supplied a local demand, and
has furnished a great deal of coal to the Santa Fe railroad. 29 The output
of the mines in the Osage shale is, however, comparatively small in later
years, since the opening of the Cherokee field to its full capacity, and is now
not more than six per cent of the output of Kansas, though twenty years
ago it was nearly eight per cent of the Kansas total. ^^

At intervals through these beds of shale, and exposed on the surface of
practically all of eastern Kansas and Oklahoma at distances of not more
than thirty or forty miles apart, are heavy beds of limestone that are be-
coming all the time more important in a manufacturing way. These beds
of limestone furnish the most excellent material for the manufacture of
Portland cement, and, with the shale beds either over or under them, as
convenience determines, have been the base of a rapidly growing industry
in the past ten years. These materials are the more valuable in that they
occur in almost immediate connection with an abundant fuel supply, both
of coal and natural gas, and the development of the Portland cement in-
dustry based on the fitness of the district, both in Kansas and Oklahoma,
has been without precedent. In the neighborhood of Fort Scott, the first
bed of limestone that was exposed above the Cherokee shales was of con-
siderable economic importance in that it was naturally suitable for the
manufacture of cement without the addition of any shales or other material,
and the production of Fort Scott natural cement was one of the early in-
dustries in this part of the country. ■*!

With the beginning of the development of the Portland cement industry
in Kansas and Oklahoma since 1900, the relative importance of the Fort
Scott limestone in an industrial way has diminished greatly, though it is
still a factor in the cement business. With but two or three exceptions,
the development of the limestone beds for the manufacture of cement has
been confined to the two heavy beds that lie nearest above the heavy Chero-
kee shales of the Lower Coal Measures, which are known by the Kansas
geologists as the lola and the Erie limestones, but the reason seems to have
been one entirely of the location of the limestone and shales with reference
to fuel and railroads, and not of particular fitness of the materials them-
selves. There is an almost inexhaustible amount of these beds of lime and
shale in the states of Kansas and Oklahoma that are perfectly suitable for
the manufacture of cement. In a recent interview. Prof. Erasmus Ha-
worth, state geologist of Kansas, said that there is enough limestone and
shale in Kansas alone to supply the world with Portland cement for a million
years. Further attention will be given to this subject in the later section
of this work on the growth of the Portland cement industry.

In casting up the wealth that is hidden in the shales and limestones of
the eastern part of Kansas and Oklahoma in the shape of vast deposits of

Note 27. -Univ. Geol. Surv.. Kan., vol. III. pp. 184, 185. Note 28.— Ibid, p. 183.
Note 29. -Ibid, p. 192. Note 30.-Ibid. op. p. 192. Notb 31.-Ibid. pp. 34-36.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 89

coal and building materials, it would seem that portion of the earth had
yielded up its share of the wealth of the country, but the layers of sand-
stone scattered through the Cherokee shales hold still another source of
fuel wealth in the shape of oil and gas, that has grown to be one of the
most important resources of the country in the development of manufac-
turing interests, and has added millions to the wealth of Kansas and Okla-
homa in a decade. Oil has been of minor importance up to the present time
as a fuel, only the inferior quality being used for this purpose. The abund-
ance of gas that has been available for the last ten years has been directly
responsible for the coming of the Portland cement plants and glass factories,
and has revolutionized the brick and tile industry, as well as benefited to a
large extent all the manufacturing interests of the eastern half of both Kansas
and Oklahoma, and that district practically includes all that is of importance
for manufactures up to the present time.

The oil and gas area is included within an irregular strip 40 to 50 miles
wide and about 250 miles long, extending in a slightly southwesterly direc-
tion from Kansas City on the northeast to about a hundred miles south of
the northern boundary of Oklahoma. Its extent is practically coincident
with the surface exposure of the Coal Measures, except that it is every-
where somewhat smaller, and is included within that region. The gas and
oil "sands" of this region are the layers of porous sandstones that are
scattered through the lowest of the Coal Measures, the Cherokee shales al-
ready referred to; and with only three or four exceptions the whole flow
of both oil and gas comes from those layers of sand,^^ or from the sand-
stones in the shales immediately above the Cherokee shales.

Differing theories as to the origin of the oil and gas in this region have
been advanced, and they are of some importance in the discussion of the
probability of finding oil and gas at a greater depth when the supply begins
to fail. Beneath the Mississippian limestone, which underlies all the Coal
Measures of this section so far as is known, it is supposed that there are
regular formations of the Devonian age, and immediately beneath that for-
mation the formations of the Silurian age, 33 which bear the Trenton rocks
that bear the oil and gas in Indiana and the other parts of the eastern
field. 3* Reasoning from the fact that the Trenton rocks are the producers
in that region, the theory has been advanced that they are the source of
the gas in this region, and that it has escaped from its original source
through the faults of the Mississippian limestone and worked upward into
the porous sandstones of the Cherokee shales, where the heavy fine-grained
shales above confined the oil and gas from a further upward movement. 35
Writing on this subject in 1905, Professor Haworth said : "To assume that
deep drilling in Kansas and the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) will find oil in
the Trenton carries with it a double assumption, either of which is liable to
be incorrect. First, it assumes that the Trenton rocks extend westward
and underlie the oil territory. This is a presumption, with the known facts
about evenly divided against it. Any and all stratified rocks have a limit to
their extension. In places the Silurian is known to extend over a few miles

Note 32.— Haworth. Independence Reporter Magazine

Note 33. — E. Haworth, Independence Reporter, Oil and Gas Magazine, p. 8.

Note 34.— Ibid. p. 9.

Note 35.— S. J. Hatch, Kansas-Indian TerritorylOil and Gas Field, p. 13.

90 Ka)isas State Historical Society.

only, and then to cease to exist simply because they were never formed or
created. We have the Silurian in the Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas,
but no one knows to a certainty that they extend as far west as Bartlesville
(the heart of the Oklahoma field). The deep well at Neodesha (Kansas)
penetrated formations below the Mississippian, which were probably Silu-
rian, but about this there may be some doubt. If these rocks do not reach
west to the oil field, then of course oil cannot be found within them at that
place. Secondly, if the Silurian can be reached with the drill there is still
room for doubt regarding their being productive of oil and gas. As above
stated, they are not productive in half the places where known. Why,
then, should we expect them to be productive here? In Indiana and Ohio
they are particularly porous, remarkably so for limestone, and this gives an
opportunity for oil and gas to get into them. To be productive they must
first exist, then must be open and porous, and last must have the pores
filled with oil."3'

At the time Professor Haworth wrote the above there were two deep
wells that had found oil and gas below the Cherokee shales of the Carbonif-
erous age, one at Osceola, Mo., and one at Bartlesville, while a score or
more of equal depths failed to find any traces.-'" Since then a well at Caney,
Kan., got a strong flow of gas below the Mississippian limestone. ^s

This discussion of the probable origin is of importance in this connection
only as it embodies the expression of expert opinion as to the future de-
velopment of the field, and upon which the future of many of the now ex-
isting manufacturing establishments depends to a large degree. Development
up to the present time has failed to show the existence of a deeper supply,
but there is of course room for the finding of such fields later, ^s The de-
velopment of the oil and gas fields will be taken up historically in a later
section of the work.

There remain yet to be noticed in the list of resources two things which
the Kansas-Oklahoma region owes to the workings of nature— the gypsum
beds of the central portion of both states, and the vast salt beds of central
Kansas. As we stated above,* the center of the mid-continent basin is
supposed to have been in the central or western part of Kansas, and it was
during the time when some parts of it at least were cut off from the main
body of the ocean and persisted as "dead seas" that both the gypsum and
the salt were deposited by the concentration of the sea water. The deposit
of gypsum in Kansas is a strip about 230 miles in length, and varies in width
from 5 miles in the north to 25 in the central portion, and nearly 140 miles
at the southern boundary of the state, ^o Continuations of this same area
are known to produce gypsum in Oklahoma, and have been worked for the
last ten years. The geology of Oklahoma has not been worked out suffi-
ciently to determine the extent of the gypsum deposits there, and owing to
the fact that it is nowhere regular, like a deposit of sand, limestone or

• Supra, p. 86.

Note 36.-E. Haworth. Independence Reporter. Oil and Gas Magazine, p. 9.

Note 37. -Ibid, p. 9.

NoTE38.-Hatch. Kansas-Indian Territory Oil and Gas Field, p. 15.

and mS^fn'rTn^f' ^n^^f'S ^^^' V.' ^- ^«°'- ^urv.. by Adams: Mineral Resources of Kan.. 1899
and 1903, and Univ. Geo!. Surv., Kan., vols. Ill and IX. for further discussion of this subject.

Note lO.-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., page 31.

History of Manufachcres in Kansas. 91

shale, it will be a matter of some conjecture until the geology is carefully-
worked out. It is, however, known that the same conditions that led to the
formation of the Kansas and Oklahoma deposits existed on southward into
Texas, where gypsum mills have been in operation for several years.

The following condensed account of the formation of the gypsurn deposits
by Ha worth will meet the needs of the present discussion: "The geologic
age of a formation is no indication of the probability of its carrying gypsum.
In some parts of America it is of the Silurian age (jthree ages older than
the Kansas-Oklahoma Coal Measures), and elsewhere it occurs in the Coal
Measures. The lowest part of the Permian, which immediately overlies the
Coal Measures, contains the lowest of the gypsum beds in Kansas. From
here upward, through almost every distinct formation of the Permian, gyp-
sum occurs in our state (Kansas), while the Permian of Texas and the
Cretaceous of Iowa have large quantities of it. . . . At the close of the
Coal Measure time it seems that the greater part of the eastern half of
North America existed as dry land, with considerable portions of the west-
ern half also under water. This left a great arm of the sea extending
north from the Gulf of Mexico, and covering the territory now occupied by
the western part of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas,
and the eastern parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and British
Columbia.

"Throughout the time just referred to, sedimentation was a continuous
process, forming the heavy Coal Measure shales and limestones which un-
derlie the Permian. Bed after bed was formed in this way, generally
reaching eastward to the coast line, and extending westward for unknown
distances. Each succeeding bed, therefore, overlies the preceding ones,
but its eastern limit is farther west than that of those below it. The same
land movements . . . continued throughout the Permian and later
times, and finally the whole of the great expanse of water . . . was
replaced by dry land. The elevation processes, however, were slow and ir-
regular, with many returns to former conditions, so that the particular
area in which gypsum was being deposited might be a site of limestone
formation of a later period. The formation of gypsum requires the concen-
tration of ocean water (about half the concentration required for the deposit
of salt beds) , and this must have been brought about by the segregation,
here and there, of bodies of ocean water from the main ocean, so that
evaporation could concentrate the liquid. . . . It is highly probable that
in each individual case such inland seas or lakes were relatively small, so that
the formation of gypsum at any one time and place may not have covered
many townships in extent. At this late day it is impossible to determine
the exact limits of such gypsum beds. Erosion has worn much of the sur-
face away, and may have destroyed untold quantities of gypsum. . . .

" In detail the Kansas deposits pass from the Lower Permian on the north
to the upper Red Beds (overlying the Permian, and supposedly Triassic")
on the south. This may imply an earlier elevation into dry land conditions
in the northern part of the state, and a later one along the southern line.
. . . Within Kansas, therefore, the Permian ocean was driven south-
ward, rather than westward, as is proved by the extraordinary thickening
of these formations southward. . . . Throughout the period of gypsum

Note41.— Robert Hay, "Geology of Kansas Salt," Seventh Bien. Rept. Kan. Board of Ag.,
pt. II, p. 84.

92 Kaiisas State Historical Society.

formation there was a great lack of stability of oceanic boundaries, which
made possible the frequent embayment of ocean water, so that by their
surface evaporation gypsum deposits could be produced, and . . . pro-
duced them at various times and places throughout the great western

area. *-

There is another sort of gypsum deposits in some parts of Kansas, called
by the Kansas geologists the secondary deposits, usually in low, swampy
ground and in connection with springs of gypsum water. It is a granular
deposit, somewhat like sand banks, and contains a larger portion of silica
and lime than the rock gypsum, but in nearly every place where it is known
in Kansas is of good commercial quality. It is supposed that these deposits
of earth gypsum were formed by the solution of the rock gypsum under-
ground, and the subsequent deposit on the surface by the gypsum springs
just referred to. That these deposits are of recent origin is shown by the
fact that there are in nearly all of them modern fresh-water shells that be-
long to a time long after the formation of any rock gypsum that is known."

Following the formation of the gypsum deposits just described, there
seems to have been a considerable portion of the ocean cut off in an inland
sea that included a triangle having its base along the line of the Arkansas
river and its apex near the northern boundary of the state. Professor
Grimsley says: "The great salt beds just to the southwest (of the gypsum
deposits) in the direction of the dip of the rocks may have been deposited
later in the stage of gulf evaporation, after the waters had deposited their
gypsum and had retreated further to the south."** It is evident, however,
that the salt period was less fluctuating than the gypsum period, for the
salt is general over the triangle, and near the southern end is about 400 feet
in thickness, *5 with occasionally layers of gray shale interspersed. Above
this heavy salt formation are the gray shales to which the salt beds owe
their preservation, beds of nonsaiine shales from 100 to 200 feet thick."

The salt beds were the last of the geological formations that are of par-
ticular importance in a discussion of the manufacturing resources, for they
were succeeded by the "Red Beds" and the "Dakota" formation bearing
sandstones, neither having any mineral wealth, so far as has been discov-
ered. With this discussion of the resources for a basis, it is possible from
this point to trace out the growth of the manufacturing enterprises in a
perfectly natural way, and with the beginnings of industry the next section
will begin.

THE BEGINNING OF MANUFACTURES.

For the purposes of this paper the investigations will begin with the
census of 1860, for previous to that time there were but few manufacturing
establishments in the prairie region, and those that were in existence were
not of any considerable importance. At that time the territories of Kansas
and Nebraska were little else than a wilderness, having had a territorial
existence for but five years, and the settlements were confined largely to
the region of the Missouri river and its navigable tributaries. According
to the census of 1860, the total population of the territory of Kansas was

Note 42.-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. V, pp. 13-16. Note 43.-Ibid. p. 83.

Note 44.-Ibid. p. 80. Note 45.-Min. Res. of Kan., 1897, p. 56.

p 85^°^^ 46.-Hay, "Geology Kansas Salt," in Seventh Bien. Kept. Kan. Board of Ag., pt. II, .

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 93

but 107,200 souls, while Nebraska had only 28,841. Oklahoma, then known
as the Indian Territory, was wholly unsettled, and does not enter into the
discussion for a period of about thirty years longer.

Kansas City, now the metropolis of the district, was unimportant as
a town, and was having a hard struggle in competition with Atchison,
Leavenworth, and other points in the region then settling up.^' Its found-
ers were brought there by the westward-going business, but they could
not anticipate the prosperity that was to come in a few years, or fore-

NOTE 47.— Kansas City, Mo., January 29, 1884.

Judge F. G. Adams, Secretary Kansas State Historical Society:

Dear Judge— I hand you herewith two autograph letters written to me by Horace Greeley
in 1859. Believing that such relics, no matter how highly prized by the owner, answer a better
purpose in public than in private collections, I beg you to accept of them as a contribution from
me to the library of the Kansas State Historical Society. Aside from their value as autographs
of a distinguished American, they should be dear to all old Kansans as autographs of the man
who. above most others, strove earnestly, ably and faithfully for the admission of Kansas into
the Union as a free state. Aside from this consideration, again, the subject discussed, the patri-
otic sentiments of the writer and his prophetic utterances concerning the future of Kansas and
Kansas City, render this gift peculiarly appropriate.

If we had an historical society here it would perhaps be more appropriate to retain them in
this city. Since we have not. I take pleasure in delivering them into your keeping, knowing
how carefully they will be preserved.

The occurrence that led to this correspondence can be briefly described :

Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, who had been at the head of the Emigrant Aid Society of New England
( a society formed for the purpose of assisting immigrants from the free states in settling in
Kansas), had still some slight interest in the '" Free State Hotel," as the building now known as
the Gillis House was then usually styled. He had come to Kansas City a short time before the
date of the first of these letters, on private business, and while here had been assaulted by Col.
H. T. Titus, a former notorious proslavery fire-eater and border ruffian. The assault was an un-
provoked and cowardly one, and as such was condemned by the whole community, with the ex-
ception of a few of the "bummers" and loafers about his saloon, who naturally backed Titus.
An account of this affair was at once sent from Atchison, the home of Pomeroy, all through the
Northern states, and of course it lost none of its atrocity for want of local coloring. The New
York Tribune took it up and Mr. Greeley wrote a scorching editorial upon it, in which Kansas
City came in for a full share of his caastic fire.

Knowing how unjust this particular attack was, and feeling that such an article might do
incalculable harm to our struggling city among the Eastern people whom we were then trying
to attract, I wrote a letter to Mr. Greeley, stating the exact facts and trying to show him that
■we were earnestly undertaking to build up a free-state city in proslavery Missouri. How little
effect this effort had upon the stern, unforgetful old man the first letter shows (I translated it
for the benefit of readers not skilled in deciphering hieroglyphics ) :

"Office of the Tribune, New York. October 30, 1859.

"Dear Sir— The history of Kansas City is not unknown to me. It is not unknown to the
Northern people. If you are not long enough resident there to know how the big hotel was
mobbed, the guests maltreated, and its lessee compelled to give it up. there are plenty who are.
Do you know how General Pomeroy was driven from that city? I think I do. In all the strug-
gle for freedom versus slavery in Kansas. Kansas City was a malignant stronghold of persecu-
tionand violence. The facts cannot be set aside.

"Of course she is bound to change in time, since her trade must mainly come from free Kan-
sas, not from slave-cursed Missouri. And when she does change — openly, frankly and above-
board, I shall be very glad to publish the facts and figures. Until she shall show herself as
openly and actively for freedom as she has done for slavery, I think the trade of Kansas should
go to her own river ports, rather than to Kansas City.

"You have given me your views on the matter, herewith you have mine.

• •r. mo,-. T^ ^-^ », ,. Yours. Horace Greeley.

Dr. T. S. Case, Kansas City. Mo.

To this I could only reply by saying that however badly Kansas City people might have acted
in the past, during the heat of the strife between the pro- and anti-slavery partisans, her people
were now disposed to do all in their power to make amends and to encourage Northern people to
come in and help us to build up our city; that the border war was ended, and that the only con-
tentions now existing were among enterprising settlers over rival town sites, etc. But it did
not avail anything. He could not realize the change that had already taken place in the charac-
ter of the people here by reason of immigration, new ideas, business complications, etc., and ac-
cordingly replied as follows:

"Office of the Tribune, New York, November 17, 1859.

"Doctor Case— It would be impossible for us to see things alike— at least for me to see them
as you represent them— so we must agree to differ. You may suppose the only quarrel in Kansas
was about town sites, etc., but I knoiv better. I know, too. that the position of Kansas City
throughout that struggle was one of bitter and lawless hostility to the free-state cause. I know
that the abuse of General Pomeroy there did not end with the outrage you so complacently refer
to. I know much more, the sum of which is that Kansas City does not deserve patronage or favor
from the free-state men of Kansas until her citizens shall openly and manfully undo the wrongs
they have done, and place themselves in communion and sympathy with the free-state cause.
Such is my view of the matter, and I see nothing like injustice or untruth in what I have said on
the subject. Yours, Horace Greeley.

"Dr. T. S. Case, Kansas City. Mo."

Of course it was useless to continue the correspondence, and I did not reply; but less than a

94 Kansas State Historical Society.

see that it was destined to become the gate to the whole Southwest. ^8 But
when the settlement of the Kansas territory began in earnest, after the or-
ganization of the new territory in 1854, Kansas City at once became the
gateway through which practically all the settlers sought the new country.
Its merchants offered stocks of goods nearest the land of promise, and the
steamboat landing was the best on the river. ^^ Then the settlers were nat-
urally glad to be able to follow the Santa Fe or the Oregon trails to the
West or Northwest, or the government roads either north or south, and by
the combination of these advantages Kansas City, Mo., became in reality a
Kansas town, and has remained so largely from an economic standpoint
since it has become a city. In the beginning, however, it was not a manu-
facturing center, as it was a distributing point for the Southwest, and it
was not until the manufacturing of the new country had passed the local
character and had begun to centralize in important railway centers that it
became one of Kansas's factory towns.

At the census of 1860 Kansas was still a territory with an organic exist-
ence of five years' duration, and only twenty-one of the forty-one organized
counties were included in the census returns on manufactures. Less than
one-fourth of the occupied country was settled or improved. Consequently
manufacturing was relatively unimportant, as is shown by the fact that

year later, when 250 Republicans in Kansas City formed a Lincoln and Hamlin Club and openly
held meetings and made antislavery speeches, I wrote Mr. Greeley again, called his attention to
the fact, and he promptly gave us ample credit. Afterwards, in June. 1861, when we raised
three companies of volunteers in this city for the defense of the Union, I apprised him of it, and
again he gave us due credit.

These facts, in connection with the letters, will, I am sure, make them doubly interesting in
your estimation, and not the less welcome in your Society.

Very sincerely yours, Theo. S. Case,

Editor K. C. Review of Science and Industry.

Note 48.— Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 11.

Note 49.— Table showing the amount of merchandise sold in Kansas City f or the"year 1857 :

Dry goods $390,007 67

Boots and shoes 146, 801 64

Hats and caps 23,480 00

Clothing 96,781 50

Books and stationery 6,481 90

$663,552 71

Hardware, iron, steel, nails, etc $147,299 17

Powder, lead and shot 25,088 65

Glass and glassware 20,231 54

Woodenware. brooms, etc 8,980 25

Stoves, tin and hollow-ware 53,281 36

Plows 2,722 00

Wagons and carriages 44,800 00

302,402 97

Groceries $472,005 80

Flour and meal 382,400 00

Bacon and lard 102,545 27

Foreign and domestic liquors, etc 135,915 30

Cigars and tobacco 47,483 85

-, , , '" 1,130,350 22

Kobes, furs, etc $267,253 02

Jides 58,580 96

oalt 20 575 00

Sundries (embracing articles not expressed) 105,' 791 86

r. o. . , 452,201 44

Urugs, medicmes and oils $62 ,198 20

Soap, candles, etc 37,705 00

Confectionery 6,090 00

Crackers and pilot bread 18 176 41

Furniture [[[[ 34^602 00

Q.^^i , ^u J .. 158,771 61

Saddles, leather and harness $81,287 90

Lumber, shingles, sash, etc 394,965 49

476,253 39

"^"'^^ $3,183,502 34

—Annals of the City of Kansas, Spalding, 1858, p. 79.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 95

although a prairie state, with no extensive timber, 124 of the 209 establish-
ments listed by the eighth census were devoted to the manufacture of lumber
and shingles, having an investment of $395,840 of the total of $639,870 in-
vested in manufacturing in the territory. Nearly two-thirds of the labor
employed was engaged in the lumbering industry, and considerably more
than half of the two millions and a little over of manufactured products was
lumber and shingles. The sawmills were located on the banks of the streams
of the eastern part of the state, cutting up the native timber,* some of
which was of fair size, and marketing a great deal of it unplaned, for, being
principally hard wood, it was difficult to plane. There were four establish-

Statement showing the amount of warehouse business done in Kansas City for the year end-
ing December 31, 1857, as taken from the books of the commission merchants, and not entering
into the calculations of the foregoing table :

No. of packages , .received, 381,628

No. of wagons " 1 , 172

No. of plows " 2,246

No. of sacks of flour '| 49,266

No. of sacks meal " 4,560

No. of sacks oats " 2,160

No. of sacks corn " 2, 760

No. of sack-; potatoes " 1,760

No. of bales hay '' 336

Amt. Mexican wool " 865,000 pounds.

Amt. lumber " 1,277,200 feet.

Amt. shingles " 656,090

Amt. lath '' 844,000

No. of kegs powder " 1,940

No. of dry hides " 2,280

Bales of buffalo robes ' ' 7,040 or 70,400 robes.

Bales of furs and skins " 2,580

Bags of buffalo tongues " 514

Buffalo meat " 55,000 pounds.

No. of packages furniture " 7,768

No. of gallons stoneware " 5,936

No. of carriages " 256

No. of pianos " 32

Amt. of gold and silver in boxes $1,139,661 50

Amt. silver ore from Gadsden purchase (pounds) 2,000 00

Amt. of pound freight, exclusive of above (pounds) 12,985,600 00

No. of wagons loaded with the above goods, 9,884.
Freight charges, commissions, etc., paid on above goods at ware-
house 545,020 00

—Annals of the City of Kansas, Spalding, 1858, p. 79.

EXPORTS.

We will in a few brief words give an idea, as intelligent as we can from our limited data, of
the export trade of Kansas City. We leave out of this estimate any figures of local exports, as
■we have elsewhere shown that this country is too new to raise anything as yet, and what it will
be when settled and developed, any figures we could give would be so far short of what it will
be that we even refrain from prophecy in regard to it.

We take our exports, however, from a region of country lying from 600 to 1500 miles south-
west and west.

Exports of New Mexican and mountain products for the year 1857 :

Mexican wool, lbs 865,000 $129,600 00

Mexican goat skins 50,000 25,000 00

Dressed buckskins 50,000 62,500 00

Dry hides 105,000 375,000 00

Specie in boxes 1,139,661 50

Silver ore, one ton (value not known)

Furs, skins and peltries (estimated) 36,000 00

Total exports $1,767,761 50

—Annals of the City of Kansas, Spalding, 1858, p. 81.

Border Money. —Estimate of what may most appropriately be called ' ' border money ' ' — tha *
is, gold and silver coin that comes directly from the mint, or from New Mexico, and is first pu*
into circulation upon the Missouri border :

Annuity money (paid to various tribes of Indians) $1,100,000

Army money (paid out to privates and officers, U. S. A.) 2,000,000

Mail money (paid to mail contractors) 200,000

Emigration money 300,000

New Mexico money (brought direct from Mexico) 1,500,000

Total $5,100,000

—Annals of the City of Kansas, Spalding, 1858. p. 22.
* Supra, p. 85.

90 Kansas State Historical Society.

ments, with an aggregate capital of $10,000, engaged in the manufacture of
f jrniture out of the native walnut, hickory and oak that the sawmills had
to use for the making of the coarser grades of lumber.

There were two other lines of manufacturing at the time of the eighth
census that deserve mention, and they are the only others that were really
established. They are milling and the manufacture of wagons and car-
riages, with the kindred blacksmithing trade. There were thirty-six grist
mills, many of them small water powers, engaged in the making of flour
and meal for the settlers. A few of the mills were of fair size and did a
considerable business, but by far the majority were custom mills, and did
their grinding only as the farmers brought in the grain to get the supply of
flour and meal for the family consumption. As there was less than 200,000
bushels of wheat produced in the territory at that time, so or about 1.8 bush-
els per capita, it is easy to see the comparative insignificance of the milling
business at that early day. There were but three wagon and carriage es-
tablishments, with a capital of some $18,000, making in the census year
about $65,000 worth of carriages and wagons, ■■'' and employing thirty-five
hands, while the kindred blacksmithing trade employed twenty-four men.^^
Among the other industries listed, there were six boot and shoe shops, four
brickyards, three harness shops, and about a score of others of one or two
establishments to a trade.

The decade between the eighth and the ninth census reports was a most
trying one for the progress of industry in Kansas, for it was the scene of a
bitter conflict between the bona fide settlers and the bushwackers of the
border, who did not cease their operations after the election decided that
the territory should be a free state. Until after the close of the Civil War
the growth of the population was slow, and it was not until about 1867 that
the settlement began again in earnest. By the time of the taking of the
ninth census the population of the state had trebled, and instead of twenty-
one counties, as in 1860, there were forty-one that reported manufacturing
interests in 1870. Manufacturing in all its dimensions had practically in-
creased sevenfold, and the state was fast becoming self-sufficing in the lines
of manufacturing that its natural resources fitted it to produce. It is an
interesting fact that while the number of establishments and the capital
increased seven times and the number of men employed nine times in the
decade, the value of the product increased only about five times over the
figures for 1860.

The number of lumbering establishments increased in the ten years
about seventy per cent, and, in point of numbers, lumbering was still in the
lead. But by this time the milling business, second in rank in the number
of establishments, was easily in the lead in the value of products, with a
total output of $2,938,215 as against a little over a million and a half of
lumber sawed. Flour and feed milling from that time until after 1885 was
the leading industry, as well as the most widely distributed over the terri-
tory. The establishments were comparatively small, the average capital
being about $1000 per mill, and they still were engaged principally, if not
entirely, in supplying flour and meal to the immediate neighborhood in
which they were located. About one-third of the mills were run by small

Note 50.- Ag. Kept., Eighth Census, pp. 54, 55.

Note 51.-Vo1. Ill, Eighth Census, p. 167. Note 52.— Ibid,

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 97

water wheels, and the rest by steam, with the exception of a half dozen or
more wind-driven mills. Another feature of the business, which the census
report does not indicate but which is revealed by the state reports four
years later, ^3 is the fact that nearly twenty per cent of the mills engaged in
grinding flour and meal were what the reports call "saw-and-grist" mills;
that is, they used their power for running their saws during the time they
were not needed to grind, and thus were able to run at a profit where the
business was too small to make the milling alone profitable.

The endeavor of the new state to become self-sufficing wherever pos-
sible is shown as well in the rapid growth of the furniture factories and the
wagon and carriage shops up to the census of 1870. The figures show that
there were fifty-two furniture factories and sixty-eight wagon and carriage
shops, or an average of more than one of each to every organized county.
Necessarily these shops were small, and with only a few exceptions sup-
plied only the immediate vicinity, but the number and their activity illus-
trates the attempt to make the most of the country's resources. The
number of the wagon shops soon fell off, for they were not able to compete
with the larger makers farther east, who bought in larger quantities and
put out better wagons than most of the small shops could produce. The
furniture factories persisted, however, and continued to supply the local
demands for the cheaper grades'of furniture for a number of years. There
were sixty-eight wagon and carriage shops in the state in 1870, with a
capital on the average of about $1500 each, and doing in the aggregate
nearly a quarter of a million dollars' worth of business annually. It is evi-
dent from this that they were little more than blacksmith shops, and were
not entitled to rank as factories. A few exceptions existed, such as the
wagon factory at Leavenworth, which was in operation about this time and
continued to extend its business for twenty-five years or more, and by 1880
was marketing over 6000 wagons a year. Their prosperity was due largely
to the possession of a patent spring which they used on the spring wagons
that were the principal part of their output, and it was to this fact that the
company was so prosperous.

Harness making continued to prosper in a small way, the seventy odd
shops doing a little more than $400,000 of business in the year 1870. The
number of brickyards had increased to twenty-seven in the state, supplying
the local demands for permanent building materials, and a few limekilns
had begun operations where the surface veins of coal had been opened in the
eastern part of the state. There were but five ironworks in the state, and
only three establishments making agricultural implements in a small way,
the settlers depending on getting such supplies from established manufac-
turers.

It was in 1872 that the state of Kansas began the publication of annual
reports of agriculture and industry under the direction of the Board of Agri-
culture, and some of them contain detailed information of the development
between 1870 and 1880 that no other publications touch. The first statistics
on manufactures were included in the report for 1874, and were obviously
incomplete, but from that time they seem to be fairly comprehensive in the
main. There seems to have been an increase in the production of manufac-
tured articles that approached the demands of the population, particularly

Note 53.— Fourth Ann. Rept., Kan. Bureau of Agriculture, p. 503.

-4

98 Kmisas State Historical Society.

during the first five or six years of the period. Toward the end of the period
the number of sawmills began to fall off rapidly, and from this time sawing
ceases to cut much figure in the reports. It is obviously unfair to base any
conclusions on the sawing of lumber in a prairie region such as the Kansas-
Oklahoma section is, for it could not rank as an important industry except in
comparison with the small beginnings of the others under consideration.

The flouring industry in this period becomes the characteristic industry
of thercountry, and being based on the needs of the people and the use of
the products of the land was destined to grow. The census reports show
an increase for the ten years following the census of 1870 of more than 300
per cent in the output of the flour mills, with an increase of only a little
more than 200 per cent in capital, number of mills and number of men em-
ployed. According to the first complete report of the state bureau, in 1875,
the number of flour and grist mills had increased more than one and a half
times since 1870, ^^ and by the following year the number was more than
three times that for 1870. ^^ These figures show that much of the increase in
numbers for the whole ten years was made during the first six, though no
reason has been assigned for that condition, as the growth in numbers was
again on the increase soon after, and continued for twenty years longer.
The state reports give but passing mention of the other industries at this
time, and fail to show a total that approaches that of the census reports,
and it would not be strange if the reason was the lack of importance of
many of the industries.

There was little to indicate at that time that there was a manufacturing
future for the section of the country under consideration, for the mineral
resources were practically unknown and almost wholly undeveloped; the
extent of the fuel supply was unsuspected; the dryness of the climate made
textile industry in any extent out of the question; the exhaustion of the
scanty timber supply put lumber trades out of the question as an opening
for manufacturing greatness. A contemporary writer says: "The fact
must be apparent that Kansas will always have to be an agricultural state,
although the importance of combining manufactures with this leading in-
dustry is apparent. "56 The same writer, continuing, says: "At present flour
is the principal manufacture, and the industry has grown in the last few
years until at present there is a large surplus produced." Wagons and
furniture are the only other articles that struck the writer as being of any
considerable importance.

By this time, however, the development of the principal towns as centers
of what industries were in existence was becoming noticeable. The coming
of the railroads must be given the credit £or this concentration, and from
the time that the transportation lines had established well-defined distribut-
ing centers those places began to secure a larger share of the manufacturing.
It is characteristic of the manufactures of the whole section that they have
followed the railways, and in but few cases have the railways been pushed
out to accommodate any manufacturing project. The extent of the growth
of a few towns in importance is first indicated in the report of the Kansas
Board of Agriculture for 1876.5- It indicates the centralizing in eight or

Note 54.-Fourth Ann. Kept. Kan. Board Ag.. 1875, p. 503.

Note 55.-Ibid. 1876. compiled from local reports.

Note 56. -Kansas Hand Book. 1878, p. 19. Note 57.-Fifth Ann. Kept.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 99

nine towns in the eastern and northeastern parts of the state, and all of them
were the ones that were favored by the railway advantages when the lines
were first building. Atchison, Topeka and Emporia on the Santa Fe; Leav-
enworth and Lawrence on the Union Pacific, and still farther west on the
same road, Junction City; and Fort Scott, on the Kansas City, Fort Scott
& Memphis, were the towns that were taking the lead.

In that year Fort Scott had a score of enterprises, each with a capital of
from $2000 to $80,000, and aggregating over $300,000. Considerably more
than half of this amount was invested in the flouring mills, which were
the town's principal activity. -« Of the towns mentioned above, Fort Scott
was the principal one so far as the leading industry, milling, was concerned,
and the others showed a greater variety of manufacturing activity. Leav-
enworth was in the lead in number of establishments, and probably equally
in the amount of capital invested, though the figures are not given. Of the
47 factories reported, 3 were ironworking establishments, 4 were brickyards,
4 were engaged in the manufacture of furniture and house furnishings,
while there were but 2 flour mills reported. ^^ Topeka was the second town,
with 35 manufacturing establishments, 3 of which were flour mills, of only
medium size for those times, however, while there were 11 wagon and car-
riage shops reported.^" Atchison, Lawrence, Emporia and Junction City
wei-e the only other towns that were mentioned in the report of 1876, and
they ranked about in the order named.

In this same year the number of railways in operation in the state of
Kansas alone had reached seven, two of them extending entirely across to
the west, and a third spanning it from north to south, ^i and Omaha, Neb.,
had connection west almost to the coast, and with the Kansas systems on
the south. Obviously there was nothing in the needs of the new country
that accounts for the rapidity of the extension of the railways across the
prairies, and in fact it was a matter almost wholly outside the demands of
business that was offered that led to the great activity of the transporta-
tion lines at this particular time. As the railways became of great import-
ance a little later as the natural resources of the country were discovered,
it will be profitable to consider at some length at this point the building of
the leading lines of railway across Kansas and Nebraska.

THE COMING OF THE RAILWAYS.

The first railway project that ever materialized in the territories of Kan-
sas and Nebraska was that of the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western, char-
tered by the legislature of the territory of Kansas in 1855. The plan was
to construct a road from Leavenworth to the western boundary of the terri-
tory, then the summit of the Rocky Mountains, in the present state of
Colorado. It was one of five charters granted to railway corporations at
that session, 62 and with a single exception ^3 ^v^as the only one that material-

NoTE 58.-Fifth Ann. Rept., Kan. Board Ag.. 1875, p. 119.

Note 59.-lbid. 1875, p. 164. Note 60.-Ibid. p. 208.

Note 61.— Tuttle, "History of Kansas," p. 554.

Note 62.— Territorial Statutes of Kansas. 1855.

Note 63.— The Elwood & Marysville Railroad, chartered at the same session. Cutler's His-
tory of Kansas is authority for the following statement : " On the 20th of March, 1860. the first
iron rail for a railroad on Kansas soil was laid at Elwood, opposite St. Joseph, Mo., on the El-
wood & Marysville railroad. On the 28th of April the locomotive "Albany ' was brought over the
river from St. Joseph on a ferry boat and placed on the new railroad track. This was the first
iron horse that ever touched Kansas soil."

IQQ Kaiisas State HistoHcal Society.

ized to the extent of actual construction. In 1857 the company was organ-
ized at Leavenworth. Kan., with a capital of $156,000 subscribed.

In May, 1857, grading on the line was commenced, and the location of
the line was completed to Pawnee, on the site of the present Fort Riley
military reservation. Little further was done, however, until after the act
of Congress of July 1, 1862, »* granting government aid to the construction
of a Pacific railroad and telegraph line. One clause of the act authorized
the Leavenworth. Pawnee & Western to build a line from Wyandotte, at
the mouth of the Kansas river (the terminus of the Pacific Railroad of
Missouri) to some point on the one hundredth meridian. In the following
year the Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division, was organized,
under the act of 1862, and it purchased the franchises and all rights of the
Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western. "^ From this time the history of the
road is a part of the general Pacific Railroad project, and was pushed for-
ward as a part of it.

In the meantime, the Kansas territorial legislature had chartered another
road, the St. Joseph & Topeka,"" projected from the Missouri river, oppo-
site St. Joseph, to Topeka, Kan. The charter lapsed without any actual
construction, however, and a new project, in substance the same, resulted
in the incorporation of the Atchison & Topeka Railroad Company, February
11, 1859.''" The same men were back of the new road, and the only material
change was that of the eastern terminus.

Droughts and the Civil War combined to discourage the promoters, how-
ever, and nothing was actually done toward constructing the line until the
congressional land grant to the state of Kansas for the purpose of encourag-
ing railway construction opened the way to the needed aid. The grant was
made available to the Atchison & Topeka company in 1864 to the extent of
a grant of 6400 acres of land per mile of road actually built in the state,
conditioned on the completion to the western boundary of the state within
ten years. 88 The name of the road had in the meantime been changed to
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, ^^ and the road was
projected in the general direction of the old Santa Fe trail toward Santa
Fe, N. M.

The promoters of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe had little ready
money at their disposal, however, and as it was almost impossible to realize
on their land grant at that time, the road was not actually built until after

Note 64.— Ch. 120, U. S. Statutes at Large, 37th Cong., 2d Sess.

Note 65.- Cutler. History of Kansas, p. 245.

Note 66.— Laws of 1857. Sixteen railway charters were granted at this session.

Note 67.— Laws of 1859. The zeal of the citizens of the town of Atchison to make their town
the terminus of the road instead of the Missouri town resulted in their lending aid to bring the
Hannibal & St. Joseph from St. Joseph to Atchison. With this secured, the same men backed
the Atchison & Topeka project. See Cutler's History of Kansas, p. 243.

Note 68. -Laws of 1864; see. also. Moody's Magazine, September, 1908. p. 145.

Note 69.— The treasurer of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe furnishes the following chro-
nology of that road :

1859. Feb. 11. Atchison & Topeka Railroad Company chartered.
1859, Sep. 15. First officers and directors chosen in Topeka.

1863. Mar. 3. Congressional land grant to state of Kansas.

1864, Nov. 24. Directors vote to change the name of the company to the Atchison, Topeka &
banta Fc Railroad Company.

lo^' li^v" ^' Transfer of the congressional land grant to the Santa Fe company.
18€4, Feb. 16. Acceptance of the grant by the directors of the Santa Fe company.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 101

both Kansas and Nebraska had been spanned from east to west by the Union
Pacific company, under its charter of July 1, 1862.

From 1855 to 1860 was a period of great railway activity west of the
Mississippi, the Granger lines being engaged in pushing cut for western
traffic just then. It was these projects, between the Mississippi and Mis-
souri rivers, that offered the inducement for the building of the Kansas
and Nebraska lines. At this time there were several lines building west-
ward, besides the Hannibal & St. Joseph, already mentioned. The Pacific
Railroad Company of Missouri was building westward from St, Louis toward
Kansas City, which it reached in 1865."'^

Two lines, the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska and the Cedar Rapids & Mis-
souri, "i were building across Iowa, with Omaha as the objective point.
These roads were a part of a single project, to connect the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers at Fulton, 111., and Omaha, Neb. The roads were leased to
the Galena & Chicago Union railroad, and were under its control when the
Cedar Rapids & Missouri reached Omaha in 1866. "^ In the same year the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific purchased the rights of the Mississippi &
Missouri River railroad, which was building toward Council Bluffs, Iowa,
and in 1869 completed the road into that city." The Burlington & Missouri
River railroad was headed for the mouth of the Platte river '^ at the same
time, and still another road, the Dubuque & Pacific, now a part of the Illi-
nois Central system, was building toward Sioux City. This line was opened
in 1866. '5

The idea of a Pacific railroad had been before the country for several
years, and the secession of the Southern states removed the block on the
part of those desiring a southern route, making the location of the route in
1862 a simple matter. With the added necessity of making the most of its
western resources, and the original impetus of the Pacific railroad project,
the government loaned its credit and offered large land subsidies to assist
the transcontinental line. Everything that could be done to hasten the
building of the road was offered by the provisions of the charter.

According to the charter provisions, three lines were to be built west-
ward from the Missouri river— one from Omaha, Neb., opposite Council
Bluffs, Iowa; one from Atchison, Kan., the terminus of the extended Han-
nibal & St. Joseph; and one from Kansas City (Wyandotte, as the town was
then called on the Kansas side of the line). These lines were to unite at
the one hundredth meridian, and from there the line was to be extended to
the Pacific coast, a total distance of more than 1700 miles. In order to se-
cure the speedy building of the line, the generous subsidies granted by the
government were conditioned upon the completion of the road to the coast
by July 1, 1876. ^"^ The subsidies, the largest ever granted a railway com-

NoTE 70.— Van Oss, "Amer. Rys.," 590; also, Missouri State Board of Agriculture Rept., 1875,
p. 297.

Note 71.— Poor's Manual. 1879, p. 810.

Note 72. — In 1864 the Galena & Chicag-o Union was consolidated with the Chicago & North-
western Railway Company, organized in 1859. (Poor's Manual, 1879, p. 723.)

Note 73.— Poor's Manual, 1879, p. 732. Note 74.-Ibid. p. 713.

Note 75.— This road became a part of the Illinois Central in 1867. (Poor's Manual, 1879, r.
816.)

Note 76.— Ch. 120. U. S. Statutes at Large, 37th Cong., 2d Seas.

]Q2 Kansas State Historical Society.

pany (with the exception of the Northern Pacific), consisted of loans of
government bonds at the rate of $16,000 per mile on the level plains, with
an allowance of twice that amount in the plateau regions, and three times
as much for the worst of the Rockies. In addition there was a grant of
twenty sections of land per mile for the whole distance."

With the inducements of these conditional grants before them the pro-
moters of the company began construction in 1865. Ready money was scarce,
and hard to secure, however. Only about one-tenth of the authorized two
millions of capital was paid in, and for a time it looked as if the grants were
to be lost for the want of funds to build the road. March 15, 1865, the con-
struction was sublet to the famous Credit Mobilier Company of America, and
the work of construction was then pushed forward with unheard of rapidity.
The construction of the western end of the road was turned over to the
Central Pacific, '» with the same subsidies, and with the privilege of building
eastward until a junction was made with the westward construction of the
Union Pacific. Within two years there were 559 miles of track completed
on the eastern end, and a part of the line (Kansas Pacific) was in operation.
Both ends of the line strove to get as large a share as possible of the subsi-
dies. The completed line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean was
finally opened six years ahead of time, when the two construction companies
met at Promontory Point, west of Ogden, Utah, in April, 1869.^*

The junction at the one-hundredth meridian was waived by act of Con-
gress, and the Kansas Pacific, ending at Denver, in 1870 built a connecting
line, the Denver & Pacific, to Cheyenne, Wyo. ^^ In the meantime, the
Central Branch was built westward 100 miles from Atchison, stopping in the
open prairies at Waterville, solely for the purpose of securing the govern-
ment subsidy. In 1880 the three lines^^ were consolidated in management
and united in name, having added enough feeders by that time to make the
total mileage a little more than 1800 miles, exclusive of the tracks of the
Central Pacific west of Ogden, Utah.^^ The capitalization of the company
had in the meantime (1870) increased to the following amounts: Capital
stock, $36,762,300; first mortgage bonds, $27,231,000; land grant bonds,
$10,400,000; income bonds, $9,355,000. The cost of construction averaged
about $60,000 per mile for the whole road.^s aggregating about two-thirds
the amount of the capital.

The next railway in point both of time and importance was the Santa Fe,
which was the outgrowth of the old Atchison & Topeka railroad already re-
ferred to, * and which has been one of the great factors in the development
of Kansas, for a long time its principal field as well as its home. When the

Note 77.— Moody's Magazine, February, 1908, p. 163.

Note 78. - Backed by Leiand Stanford, Mark Hopkins and C. P. Huntington; organized
under the laws of California, and authorized to build east beyond the state line.

Note 79.— Moody's Magazine, February, 1908, p. 163.

Note 80.- Poor's Manual (1876-'77), p. 422.

Note 81. -In the meantime the Elwood & Marysville road (note 63) had become the St.
Joseph & Denver City, and had built to Hastings, Neb. ( The extension was under a charter
as the Marysville, Palmetto & Roseport railroad, 1857.) It reached Hastings in 1873, and by lease
formed a junction with the main line at Kearney, Neb., making in reality a fourth leg to the
ea.stern lines of the Union Pacific.

Note 82.— Moody's Magazine, February. 1908. p. 166. Note 83.-Ibid. p. 167.
'Supra, p. 100.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 103

charter was extended, in 1863, the first move was the securing of a govern-
ment land grant (through the state of Kansas), but the promoters were
unable to get any cash or bond subsidies, and the actual construction was
delayed until after the Civil War. In 1869 less than 30 miles were built
westward from Topeka, and in the following year the line was extended to
Emporia, about 60 miles from Topeka, and it was nob until 1872 that the
line was finished to its eastern outlet at Atchison. ^^ Ten months before the
expiration of the ten-year period allowed by the terms of their land grant,
only 136 miles of the line was in operation, and there were left 380 miles to
be built to the western boundary of the state. ^^ At this time the builders
began to emulate the performance of the Union Pacific four years earlier,
and the road was pushed forward in the time that was left, and the state
line was reached two months ahead of time. The gift of 3,000,000 acres of
land in the state of Kansas was secured, ss The panic of 1873 came on just
at this time, and the work on the new road was suspended entirely for a
couple of years, when the western terminus was extended to Pueblo, Colo.,
in order to secure enough western business to pay operating expenses on
that end of the line.s^

The Santa Fe was soon compelled to build farther west, however, in
order to live at all, for there was practically no business whatever on two-
thirds of its line. Ten years later it reached the coast, partly by construc-
tion and partly by purchase, touching at both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The later development included the opening of a line to Galveston, Tex., in
1887, by lease and construction, and the extension to Chicago in 1888.8**
The later period of the growth of the road was also marked by the acqui-
sition of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern, opened in 1870 as the
Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad, which was operating nearly
200 miles of line in the eastern part of the state in 1872.^9 This line was
one of those that followed on the heels of the Santa Fe and the Union Pa-
cific, and were obliged to content themselves with what aid they were able
to secure from the state, and from the counties that they traversed. The
L., L. & G. secured something over a million dollars of municipal bonds, and
the grant of 125,000 acres of land from the state,''" and with this assistance
put the road into operation.

The next road, in point of time, was built by the same group of men that
put the L., L. & G. into operation, and was called the Missouri River, Fort
Scott & Gulf. The two roads were known to early Kansas history as the
"Joy Roads," at least until the sale of the L., L. & G. to the Santa Fe.
The Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf was organized in 1868 for the purpose
of facilitating the development of the southeastern part of the state, and
received aid from the state of Kansas in the shape of a grant of 125,000
acres of land,'^' or a little more than 830 acres per mile of track. Baxter
Springs, Kan., on the southern line of the state, was the end of the road as
originally completed in 1870,"- giving it a total length of 161 miles, with Kan-
sas City as its other terminus. The promoters had the intention of ultimately

Note 84.— Moody's Magazine, September. 1908, p. 146. Note 85.— Ibid. p. 146.
Note 86.-Ibid. p. 145. Note 87.— Ibid. p. 149. Note 88.-Ibid. p. 151.

Note 89.— Kansas Magazine, vol. I, p. 23; Poor's Manual. 1879, p. 902.
Note 90.— Kansas Magazine, vol. I, p. 24.
Note 91.— Poor's Manual, 1879, p. 902. Note 92.— Ibid. p. 900.

104 Kansas State Historical Society.

building southward to some then indeterminate point, but it was not for
some time that it was finally connected with Memphis, on the Mississippi
river. In addition to the aid that the state gave in the shape of the grant
of land, the cities and towns along the line of the survey donated bonds ag-
gregating $750,000, or more than $4600 per mile,"^ The road was of consid-
erable importance in relation to the manufacturing interests of the country,
in that it was the first to reach the coal belt of the state, and in the first
year of operation some 2000 cars of coal were shipped to Kansas City for
distribution, from the surface deposits of coal in the vicinity of Fort Scott. "^
When the coal fields of the Pittsburg district were opened in the later '70's,
the road, now known as the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf, was already in
the field, and put the coal on the market as fast as the field was developed.

In the same year that the Joy interests began grading for their line to
the gulf, work was commenced on still another line, to extend from Junction
City, Kan., on the Kansas Pacific, to Fort Smith, in the Indian Territory,
a distance of about 180 miles, according to the original project. "^ The road,
thoughcalled the ' ' Union Pacific, Southern Branch Railway, ' ' was independent
of the Pacific system, and got no aid from the government, though it did
succeed in getting a grant of 125,000 acres of land from the state, and an
aggregate of $730,000 in bonds from the counties through which it passed. *•**
The line was completed across the state in 1871, but, beginning nowhere,
and ending in the same manner, as it did, it was found necessary to make
some sort of extension as soon as possible. Accordingly, in the same year
that the road was completed, some smaller lines in the eastern part of the
state were acquired, the plans perfected for a connection with St. Louis,
and with the Gulf on the south, and the name of the road changed to "The
Missouri, Kansas & Texas. "^" In 1872 the "Katy" purchased lines con-
necting Paola, Kan., its eastern point, with St. Louis, and also with Han-
nibal, Mo., "8 and in the same year extended the southern end of its line
through the Indian Territory to the Texas line,^^ a conditional grant of
three and one-half million acres of Indian lands having been secured in the
meantime from the government.

In the latter '70's the road had nearly 800 miles of track in operation, i""
and early in 1880 it was acquired by the late J. Gould and his interests.
Gould at that time was in control of the Pacific Railroad of Missouri, re-
ferred to above,* and he put the two roads loosely under one management
and set about extending their lines in Kansas, under the name of the Mis-
souri Pacific, to compete with the Santa Fe lines. i»i The union of the roads
did not last long, but while it did Gould succeeded in unloading his branch
lines at fancy prices, and when the Katy resumed its old name and separate

Note 93.— Kansas Magazine, vol. I, p. 24. Note 94.— Ibid, P. 24.

Note 95.— Van Oss, "Amer. Rys.." p. 606.

Note 96.-Van Oss. "Amer. Rys.." p. 606; also. Poor's Manual, 1879, p. 839.

Note 97.-Van Oss, "Amer. Rys.," p. 606 ; Poor's Manual, 1879, p. 838.

Note 98.— Van Oss, "Amer. Rys.," p. 607.

Note 99.— Kansas Magazine, vol. I, p. 22.

Note 100.- Van Oss. "Amer. Rys.," p. 612 ; Poor's Manual, 1879. p. 837.

Note 101.- Van Oss, "Amer. Rys.," p. 592.

* Supra, p. 101.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 105

existence, eight years later, it had doubled its mileage in the four states
that it penetrated. i"2

In the year 1871 still another railway entered this section, this time
building into it from the east. It was the St. Louis & San Francisco, which
was originally projected as a branch of the Missouri Pacific in 1866. It
began a separate existence in 1876, having in the meantime been extended
to Vinita, in the northeastern part of the Indian Territory, by the aid of a
grant of a little over a million acres of land from the government. i"^ The
road became especially important a little later when the lead and zinc mines
were developed in the Joplin district, which it traversed, and still later as
the development of the coal field was pushed southward into the Indian
Territory.

One of the most remarkable features of the growth of American railways
is the building of the roads in the Nebraska- Kansas-Oklahoma region that
has just been outlined. There were in the three states, according to Poor's
Manual,!"* 2306 miles of railway in 1870, and in 1875, 3592 miles. Very little
construction was done for four or five years following the panic of 1873, but
work was resumed with a will in the two years preceding Poor's report for
1880, and in that year there were 5632 miles in operation. ^^^ It is hardly
profitable in this connection to pursue the development further, for later
than this time it becomes a matter of extension for the sake of competing
for business rather than for the securing of the subsidies offered, as in the
case of the early roads. It is sufficient to say that by 1890 the principal
work of railroad building was completed in this section, there being in all
more than 15,000 miles in operation at that time.'"^ The grants to the five
principal companies for the construction of the 3300 miles, approximately, that
was built prior to 1875, aggregated more than twenty million dollars in
bonds and over seventeen million acres of land, all in the two states of
Kansas and Nebraska. ^'^^ Much of the land was sold in an early day to meet
the operating expenses of the roads, and it is difficult to estimate the value
that it was to them. Much of it sold as high as four and five dollars per
acre, and probably little for less than three dollars. Taking three dollars
as a conservative estimate, the land granted amounted to $54, 825, 000, which,
added to the bond subsidies, brings the total of state and municipal aid, and
that of the United States, up to $74,955,000, or more than $22,000 per mile
for all the road built. Of course, the Union Pacific got far the larger share
of the land grant, and nearly all the aid bonds, and this average does
not represent the actual condition as to the individual roads themselves.

No one, even at the time of the building of the early roads, was deceived
as to the diflficulties that confronted them when the time came to operate
them in the new country, for, as has already been suggested, the roads
came before there were any manufactures to transport, or very much in the

Note 102.— VanOss, "Amer. Rys.," p. 612.

Note 103.— Poor's Manual, 1880, pp. 850-852. Note 104.— Ibid. p. v.

Note 105.— Ibid. 1890, p. vi. Note 106.— Ibid. p. vi.

Note 107.— The total of subsidies for each of the five roads was as follows :

Road. Acres land. Amt. bonds.

Union Pacific 13,400,000 $17,600,000

Santa Fe 3,000,000

L. L. &G. (Santa Fe) , 125.000 1,050,000

M. K. &T 125,000 730.000

K. C. F. S. &M 125,000 750,000

IQQ Kansas State Historical Society.

way of agricultural products. A contemporary writer ^oa says : ' ' The Kansas
roads will have a hard time to keep out of bankruptcy for the next few
years, . . . for we have built roads far in advance of the needs of the
people. . . . The amount of the bonded debt of some of the counties
and municipalities is alarmingly disproportionate to the amount of taxable
property of the state. " The amount of traffic was indeed small, and in 1870
the Kansas Pacific, with nearly five hundred miles of track in Kansas, re-
ported only a little over three million dollars as their gross receipts for the
year,'"* while the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf could muster but a
million dollars' worth of business for its 160 miles of track. ^^^ It is no part
of this work to discuss the financial problems that these roads had to meet,
and no attempt will be made to even enumerate the financial difficulties in
which they were involved almost immediately. The fact that, without ex-
ception, the early roads whose building was induced by the subsidies of land
and bonds had one or more experiences in insolvency illustrates forcibly how
far in advance of the development of the country the network of transpor-
tation lines was extended in the states of Kansas and Nebraska.

The coming of the railways early, as they did, while unprofitable for the
roads and their stockholders for several years, was, on the other hand, a
great influence in the development of the country. An early writer says: ^
"The rapid growth of Kansas is owing mainly to the Kansas railway sys-
tem," and this is as true of the later manufacturing growth as it was at
the time it was made of the settling of the country for agricultural pur-
poses. When the coal fields were opened up there were at least three lines
already built into that territory to carry the fuel wherever there was a de-
mand for it for any purpose. The same was true only a few years later
when the deposits of lead and zinc were developed in approximately the
same region. The older towns, too, that had attracted more or less of
capital for the foundation of manufacturing activities, had railway lines
ready to carry in the raw material and the fuel where needed, and carry out
the products to all the settled parts of the country, at the reasonable rates
that the number of competing lines secured them. It is for that reason
that a few towns took the lead as indicated above, * early in the game, and
it is for the same reason largely that the country has from the very first
utilized every resource, as soon as it was discovered, as a basis for what-
ever manufacturing enterprise it would support.

OPENING OF THE FUEL SUPPLY, AND BEGINNING OF MINERAL INDUSTRY.

Following close on the heels of the extension of the railways in the state
of Kansas came the discovery and development of the coal beds that have
already been referred to, and as the fuel supply and the railroads practically
go together in influencing the development of industry, the coal mining in-
dustry will be taken up historically. The lead and zinc district, which was
opened soon after the southeastern Kansas coal field, will also be taken up
at this time. Though not the first into the outside market, the southeast-
ern field was the first to produce coal, and from the first settlement, imme-
diately after the war, some coal was stripped from the surface veins of the

Note 108.— Milton W. Reynolds, in Kan. Mag., vol, I, p. 26.

Note lOfl.-Kansaa Magazine, vol. I, p. 21. Note llO.-Ibid. p. 24. Note 111. -Ibid. p. 27.

•Supra, p. 98.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 107

Cherokee shales for the consumption of the early settlers. The following
account of the opening of the mines is taken from a note by Haworth in his
first report on the mineral resources of Kansas :"2

"These early settlers in southeast Cherokee county began mining coal
in the fall of 1866. The coal beds they operated upon were some of the
thinner and lower veins, now entirely abandoned. . . . The vein was
about twelve inches thick. The surface stripping amounted to but little,
and with plow and team it was a very little matter to lay bare a considerable
area and to dig up the coal. This supplied the local demand and also fur-
nished some for the adjoining territory in Missouri, to which market it was
conveyed by wagon. Some years later the heavy beds of coal now so ex-
tensively mined in Cherokee and Crawford counties were discovered where
they came to the surface, and mining operations began by the stripping
method.

"The outcropping of the heaviest coal beds of the area forms an irregu-
lar line extending northeast and southwest. Weir City was the first town
founded upon the coal fields, followed by the location of Pittsburg, nine
miles to the northeast, and this in turn by the numerous coal-mining villages
. . . so well known in that part of the state. At the present time more
than two-thirds of the coal mined in the state, nearly all of which is taken
from the same coal bed, comes from these two counties, from the coal vein
commonly called the 'Weir City' or the 'Pittsburg heavy vein.'

"Along with the development of mines operating in these heavy coal
beds, lesser beds have been operated, particularly in Cherokee county, by
the stripping process, where they are exposed near the surface. The price
of coal tor the last few years has been so low that it has been unprofitable
to work these lesser beds, the individual farmers usually finding it profitable
to buy the coal from the market rather than spend time mining it from
their land. . . .

"Almost synchronous with the development of the coal mines in Chero-
kee and Crawford counties came the development of similar mines in the
vicinity of Fort Scott, where a bed of coal from fourteen to twenty inches
in thickness is found immediately under a heavy limestone. ... In the
early days these mines were operated by individual farmers on whose land
the outcroppings of coal were found, or by small companies which worked
the mines during the winter, when labor was cheap and fuel in demand.
This process was continued until recently, when the price of coal became so
low that profitable mining is now carried on in but few places in the vicinity
of Fort Scott— only such localities as chance to afford the coal with the mini-
mum amount of stripping.

"Further north, in the vicinity of Pleasanton and Mound City [about
twenty-five miles north of Fort Scott], similar beds exist, and were dis-
covered decades ago and operated on a small scale, the market conditions
being such that those desiring coal could not well obtain it from outside
sources, and therefore the local market was good, and mining to a limited
extent was profitable. So it was with the mines in Franklin county, in
Osage county, and in Leavenworth county, only in the latter place the
mining is conducted by sinking deep shafts, the majority of them reaching
about 800 feet below the surface."

It was these beds of coal, that Professor Haworth dismissed with the
barest mention as of very minor importance ten years ago, that were the
important sources of fuel for the first ten or fifteen years after the building
of the railroads, and in those days Fort Scott and Osage City were the im-
portant sources of the fuel supply. Shipment of coal began out of the Fort
Scott district as soon as the Memphis railway reached it out of Kansas City.
Five years later a contemporary writer spoke of the Fort Scott coal as "too
well known to call for a detailed description," ^i^ and is authority for the

Note I12.-Min. Res. Kan,, 1897. pp. 36, 37.

Note 113.— Prof. B. F. Mudge, in Fourth Ann. Rept., Board Ag., Kan., 1875, p. 126.

108 Kansas State Historical Society.

statement that considerable quantities were marketed in Kansas City, St.
Joseph, Mo., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, along the lines of early railways in
that direction. The Osage county coal was perhaps of the most importance
at first to the outside world in that it furnished a convenient supply of fuel
for the Santa Fe railroad from the time the first few miles were put in
operation, as the coal was reached by the railway the first year. By 1874
the output of the Osage county mines was estimated at 73,000 tons, while
by the next year it had increased to 123,000 tons,"^ or almost its present
volume. The same writer mentions the coal in Cherokee county as being at
that time used in the smelting of zinc.^i^ a small smelter having been opened
at Weir City, in Cherokee county, a couple of years earlier, using ore that
was brought from the Joplin mines, which had been opened about five years
earlier to some extent. The Cherokee coal at that time, however, had no
outside market at all, as the Fort Scott coal was ample to supply the then
existing demand and needed a shorter haul to get it to market.

With the exception of the mines in Osage county, which were usually
shallow shafts, the coal in the beginning was mined almost entirely by strip-
ping from surface outcroppings. The first deep mining in the state was in
Leavenworth county, where a company was organized and sinking begun as
early as 1859. The promoters of the company had faith, and kept digging
until coal was reached, in 1865, at a depth of 713 feet. It proved to be too
thin a vein to make mining profitable, however, and it was not until 1870
that the vein that is now operated was reached. In that year the company
was capitahzed at $300,000, the shaft enlarged, and the coal placed on the
market. '1" The discovery of this deep vein of coal was of comparative im-
portance to the towns of Leavenworth and Atchison, for, being the oldest
towns in the state, and having a goodly share of the network of railways,
they were in a position to do a fair share of the manufacturing of the state,
and the discovery of fuel at their doors was sufficient to give them a consid-
erable impetus at that time.

The later development of the Leavenworth coal field has not been very
extensive on account of the greater expense of locating and reaching the
coal, and it was not until 1889 that a second company was organized for
mining coal at that place. The Kansas Penitentiary, at Lansing, near
Leavenworth, is actively engaged in coal mining, and produces something
over 15,000 tons per month when running full time. All of this coal is used
at the various state institutions, and affects the market only in that it re-
duces by that much the demand that would otherwise exist at those institu-
tions.

It was in 1876 that the first coal was shipped from the southeastern
Kansas district in small quantities, and that was produced entirely by strip-
pit mining."" In the same year the first shaft was sunk, and a year later
a second began operations. It is characteristic that the field was opened
by local capital entirely, and it was not until the railroad companies began
to acquire lands for the purpose of controllioig their own fuel supplies that

Note 114.-Fourth Ann. Rept., Board Ag.. Kan.. 1875, p. 125.

,oo,^°'',^rU^-~^**"'"*^ ■^""- ^ePt- Board Ag.. Kan.. 1875. p. 126; Cutler's History of Kansas
1883. p. 1152.

Note 116. -Leavenworth Post, October 1. 1906.

Note 117.-PittsburK Headlight, Sept. 10, 1904.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 109

outside capital figured to any great extent. The Pittsburg coal was found
to be of superior quality for steaming purposes, and, as later investigations
have shown, the southern end of the Kansas field is in the lead in this re-
spect, i^s For this reason the demand began to grow for the Pittsburg coal
as soon as it became known to the market, and in 1879 two more shafts
were put down at Pittsburg. By 1884 the output of the mines at Pittsburg
alone was about 25,000 cars annually, ^^^ or about half the output of the
state. 12"

As early as 1882 the first Pittsburg company became allied with the Jop-
lin Railway Company, which was operating a short line of road between
Joplin, Mo., and Pittsburg. Then, in 1886, the Santa Fe organized a com-
pany at Frontenac, a few miles north of Pittsburg, and from that time the
railroads have been the heaviest consumers of the Kansas coal. It is es-
timated that at the present time the Santa Fe alone, through its supplying
company, the Mount CarmelCoal Company, produces a million tons a year.i^i
more than a sixth of the total output of the state, and it has been estimated
that in all the Kansas railways use about four million tons of coal each year.

The census of 1880 shows the relative importance of the various districts
to be about as indicated above. Bourbon county (the Fort Scott district)
was far in the lead, and produced more than half the coal of the state, while
the Osage mines produced more than the combined output of Cherokee and
Crawford counties, which made up the Pittsburg district.'-- But, as has
been stated, the Pittsburg coal was only just becoming known at that time,
and the rapid growth of the output of that district for the next ten years
shows its superiority as a fuel producer. In 1890 the two counties had one-
third of the producing shafts in the state, and mined more than half the
coal marketed. Osage county, with more shafts than the Pittsburg district,
was mining about one-third as much coal, ranking second in the state, while
Bourbon county had dropped from the leading place into insignificance, in the
ten years, and was producing less than one per cent of the total of the
state, and that wholly from local pits. In the meantime the number of
mines at Leavenworth had increased to four, and they were mining about
twelve per cent of the coal of the state. 123

The development of the Kansas coal field since 1890 has been marked by
the increase in the size and activity of the companies in the Pittsburg dis-
trict, and with the attendant growth of importance of that field in reference

Note 118. -Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. Ill, p. 294.

Note 119. — The (Pittsburg) Smelter. Mar. 22, 1884.

NOTE120.-Min. Res. Kan., 1897, p. 42.

Note 121. -Pittsburg Headlight. October 10, 1904.

Note 122.— The following table shows the relative importance of the leading localities :

District. Output (tons). Value. No. employees.

State 771,442 $1,517,444 5,024

Pittsburg district 115,310 261,995 751

Bourbon county 405,410 622,098

Osage county 129,832 355,821 879

Leavenworth 60,588 121,170 324

—Tenth Census, Min. Ind., p. 650, etseq.

Note 123.— The relative importance of the districts in 1890 is shown by the following table :
District. Output (tons.) Value. No. employees.

State 2,222,443 $3,301,788 5,956

Pittsburg district 1,376,232 1,634,715 2,825

Osage 446,018 903,602 2,032

Leavenworth 245,616 415,751 937

110 Kansas State Historical Society.

to the others in the state. When Haworth issued his report on Kansas coal
in 1888 the bulk of the output of the Pittsburg district, then about eighty-
five per cent of the total, was mined by only ten companies, each of which
built and rented the houses for their employees near their mines, furnished
stores of their own for the trade of their miners, and in short built up little
communities in the neighborhood of each mine. The mines in other parts
of the state have become of lesser importance each year, until at the present
time the two counties of the Pittsburg district furnish more than ninety per
cent of all coal mined in the state. ^-^

The importance of the coal supply, the development of which has just
been outlined, cannot be emphasized too much in connection with the growth
of manufactures. It is largely the lack of this very advantage which has
kept the state of Nebraska from coming to the front in any of the lines of
activity that Kansas has pursued. Since the first mines were opened in the
state there has been produced an aggregate of eighty-six million tons, 125
worth in round numbers a hundred million dollars at the mines, and sup-
plying numerous industries with power. "It is diflflcult to surmise what
would have been the result to the citizens of our state had coal mining
never been followed within our borders. . . . We have various indus-
tries, particularly our zinc-smelting and salt-making industries, which prob-
ably never would have been in operation had not our mines yielded such
large amounts of good and cheap fuel. This is certainly true of our zinc-
smelting industries. There is no place in the state showing greater activity
than the coal-mining areas in the southeast. Railroads have been built to

Note 124.— The percentages of the districts by four-year periods since 1890 are :

1890. 18H. 1898. 1902.

Pittsburg district 64.67% 78.82% 85.51%) 89.268%)

Leavenworth 12.27 9.349 7.91 5.564

Osage 7.11 8.197 4.63 3.439

— Min. Res. Kan., 1902, table op. p. 32.

Note 125.— The following table shows the production of thelKansas mines to 1907:

jrg_„ Production, Price Value

short tons, per ton. of product.

1880 , 550,000 $130 $715,000

1881 750,000 135 1,012,300

1882 750,000 1 30 975,000

1883 900,000 128 1.152,000

1884 1,100,000 125 1,375,000

1885 1.400,057 123 . 1,770,270

1886 1,350,000 120 1,620,000

1887 1,750,000 140 2,198,110

1888 1,700,000 150 2,550,000

1889 2,112,166 148 3,126,005

1890 2,516,054 130 3,170.870

1891 2,753,722 131 3,607,375

1892 3,007,276 1 SIV2 3,954,568

1893 2,881,931 1 37% 3,960,331

1894 3,611,214 135% 4,899,774

1895 3,190,843 1 12M> 3,590,141

1896 3,191,748 101% 3,227,357

1897 3.391,806 107 3,488.380

1898 3,860,405 108% 4,193,159

1899 4,096,895 125 5,124,248

1900 4,269,716 1 28 5,500,709

195i 4,793,374 130 6,231,386

1902 5,230,267 136 7,139,139

1903 5,839,976 152 8,871,953

1904 6,333,307 152 9,640,771

1905 6,423,979 145 9,350,542

1906 6,024,775 147 8,979,553

„ .'''°**'8 83,539.580 .... $112,443,942

Priortol880 3,000,000 150 4,500,000

Grand totals 86.539,580 .... $116,943,942

History of Manufactures in Kansas. m

a wonderful extent, villages have sprung up, and the population has in-
creased, making great business for the merchant and the mechanic, . . .
so that the direct benefits of mining reach out to all classes of people, and
in the aggregate produce many millions of dollars of business that otherwise
could not exist. "126

The great advantage that the Kansas coal has offered to industry lies not
only in its quality and abundance, noi' e'/en its convenience, but in the
cheapness with which it could be mined and put on the market. Prior to
1880 the average price was not above;"?1.50 per short* ton, while the average
price since that time is only about $1.30 per ton, prices ;a every case being
for the coal at the mines. The Pittsburg district has always had a great
advantage in this respect, and to the present time can get its coal to the
surface twenty-five to thirty per cent cheaper ih'un other parts of the
state. 127 The first direct outgrowth of the coal supply /v^as the cluster of
zinc smelters that were built in the neighborhood of Pittsburg, flourishing
up to the time of the advent of the gas smelters, about 1900, ana adding con-
siderably to the industries of the state even before the building of the gas
smelters. 128 The coal has been found in many cases, where the samples
were tested, to be of good coking quality, and some of it was coked for use
in the zinc smelters before the day of the gas furnaces. Only one regular
establishmenti29 for the burning of coke has been built in the state however,
and practically all of the coal has been burned in its natural state.

The output of the Kansas coal mines reached its maximum in 1904, as
did that of the Oklahoma mines, to be mentioned presently. The reason for
this in both cases is the development of enormous quantities of natural gas
in both sections, and this new fuel has almost entirely superseded coal for
both domestic and factory consumption in the outlying towns, as well as in
the immediate oil and gas district. For this, and for the additional reason
that many of the railroads in the district have equipped their locomotives
with oil burners, and have been using the inferior oils as fuel.i^o the export
business of the coal mines has shown a greater proportion than ever before,
and only that fact can account for the demand holding up as well as it has.

As has already been suggested, the coal-bearing formations of Kansas
extend practically continuously into that part of Oklahoma immediately
south of the Kansas district, and as early as 1880 there was some coal min-
ing in that region, i^t The total area of workable coal in Oklahoma is esti-
mated to be about 14,000 square miles, and forms the connecting link
between the Kansas fields and those in Arkansas. Conditions have been
very unfavorable for the development of this part of the field, owing to the
fact that it has been difficult to get satisfactory leases of the lands, which
until a short time ago were nearly all in the hands of Creek and Choctaw
tribes, all the district being in what remained the Indian Territory up to the
admission of the new state. The Interior Department watched the rights
of their Indian wards rather jealously, and fixed the royalties that the lease-
holders had to pay. Up to the time of the report of the Dawes Commission
on Indian Affairs, in 1898, this royalty was fixed at seventeen and two-thirds

Note 126.-Haworth. Min. Res. Kan., 1897. p. 40.

Note 127.-Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 676.

Note 128.— Haworth, Min. Res. Kan., 1897, p. 34.

Note 129.-Min. Res. Kan., 1903, p. 24. Note 130. -Ibid. 1906, p. 650. Note 131.— Ibid. p. 671.

;^j2 Kansas State Historical Society.

cents per short ton of screened coalJ '^ The commission reduced that figure
to fifteen cents per ton of screened coal, but even with that concession the
operators found themselves confined to the southern market, as they could
not compete at all with the Kansas coal. In 1898 the Secretary of the In-
terior exercised the authority given him to reduce the royalties where
necessary, and after a thorough lieariYig reduced the royalties to ten cents
per ton of screened coal. "3 With this concession the output of the mines
on the Indian lands almost • d'publed ii?- a little more than a year, and con-
tinued to increase until the opening of the Texas oil field, which produced
an abundance of, inf eripr oil that could be used only for fuel. In consequence
of the cheapness oi the new fuel, the territory coal was cutoff from a large
share of the. mai"ket that, had caused its development, and the production
began to fall off after 19U3. How long this will continue it is impossible to
say, but it seems prpbable that the output will increase from this time.
The produftion- for 1907 shows an increase of over half a million tons,i3* the
first since fu^l oil came into competition.

Although the production of the Oklahoma district has been approximately
half that of the Kansas district for the past six years, its importance in the
development of the manufactures of the section has been practically noth-
ing, for, owing to the condition just mentioned, it was unable to enter at
all the region where the industries were building. Its importance in this
connection lies chiefly in that it will at some future time, when the supply
of oil and gas will inevitably fail, have to furnish the fuel and power for the
industries that are now using the cheaper and more convenient fuel. As it
is in no sense the province of this discussion to speculate on that contingency,
the outline of the growth of the fuel supply will end with this brief treat-
ment of the Oklahoma coal.^^s

Practically contemporaneous with the development of the coal supply in
Kansas came the beginnings of the mining of lead and zinc in the coal
region, and in a very short time the smelting industry grew up around the
coal mines, using the cheap and abundant fuel in reducing the minerals for
market. Even ten years or more before coal was known in Cherokee and
Crawford counties the first lead mines were opened in Jasper county, Mis-
souri, adjoining the coal fields, and probably a thousand tons of lead had
been mined and smelted in Jasper county before 1860, i^e practically all of it,
however, with wood as fuel. The first discovery that is authenticated^was
two miles east of Joplin in 1849, and the next year lead was discovered

Note 132.-U. S. Geol. Surv.. Min. Res.. 1898. part VI. p. 413. Note 133.-Ibid. p. 415.

Note 134.— Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4, 1908. p. 80.

Note 135.— The following table shows the output of coal from the Oklahoma district by five-
year periods since 1880:

Av. No.

Amount. Value. price. employees.

1880 120,947

1885 500,000

1890 869,229 $1,579,188 $i 82 2,57i

1895 1,211,185 1,737,354 143 3,212

1900 1,992,298

1901 2,421.781 3,915,268 i 62

1903 3.517,388 6,386,463 182 7.704

1905 2,924,427 5,145,358 176 7,712

1906 2,629,731 5,482,366 192 8,251

7^t ■^}'® fifi^res are collected from the reports on Mineral Resources of the United States
on T^u^c "•■ 1^^' P- ''™' ^^^ *'■'*'" ^^^ Engineering and Mining Journal, January 4, 1908,
p. 80. The figures for 1901 and 1903 are introduced for the sake of completeness in the above table,
ana m order to show the falhng off of production as the oil and gas field was developed.

Note 136. -Mo. Geo). Surv., vol. VI. p288.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 113

within the present limits of the town. "About 1851 mining began in earnest
at different points in Jasper county [Missouri] along Center creek and
Turkey creek [north of Joplin]. . . . These . . . mines were pro-
ducing so much lead ore at the time of the Civil War that they became ob-
jects of no little importance to each of the belligerent parties. ... It
is doubtless true that many people came across the line into Cherokee county
and at least suspected that the vicinity of Galena was lead-bearing. . . .
In fact, with the settlement of Cherokee county, many rumors were afloat
about the Indians having mined lead ore here and there in different
places." '3'

Immediately following the Civil War, the mining operations were not of
much importance in Jasper county, and it was nearly fifteen years before
the rediscovery of lead in Joplin started the mining fever anew. In 1871
the mining operations began in earnest. In 1875 mines were opened at Webb
Cityi38 (about ten miles north of Joplin). About a year later, early in 1876,
a well digger found a large pocket of the richest galena that had been found,
while digging a well on Short creek, ten miles west of Joplin, in Cherokee
county, Kansas, and as soon as the news of the find became known companies
were formed, and prospecting began in earnest on the Kansas side of the
line. "In the spring of 1877 the same prospector, while digging in Short
creek valley about a mile above Bonanza (the name given the first Kansas
mine), came upon a large body of pure lead ore that produced several hun-
dred dollars' worth of metal. Again the excitement was renewed. . . .
Almost every shaft that was sunk found large quantities of lead near the
surface. . , . It is estimated that within three months from the dis-
covery of lead in this particular locality not less than twelve or fifteen
thousand people had encamped on the grounds, "i^s

It is a peculiar thing that for the first few years after the opening of the
Joplin-Galena district, in the '70's even, but little attention was given to
the abundance of zinc ore that was uncovered by the prospectors in their
search. One reason was that the ore required a better fuel supply than
the first miners possessed to reduce it, and as the first railroad did not reach
Joplin until about 1875 it was an expensive matter to get the bulkier and
less valuable (at that time) "jack" to market. The Matthieson & Hegeler
smelter of La Salle, III. , had, it is true, a representative in Joplin before
1875, "but in these early days zinc ore was not reckoned of any consider-
able importance, and, therefore, its discovery attracted little attention."!^"
As early as 1870 zinc was discovered in Kansas, near Galena, and one mine
produced a considerable quantity of it, marketing at Joplin with the buyers
for the La Salle smelter. i" The discovery of lead in the same vicinity
about the same time put a quietus on the zinc activity for a time, and all
energies were bent toward the production of the more profitable ore. The
development of the deposits of zinc ore was inevitable, however, for "the
two ores are so intimately associated that they cannot well be separated in
a description of their occurrence. Scarcely a shaft that did not produce ores

Note 137.-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. VIII, p. 20. Note 138.-Ibid. p. 21.

Note 139.-Mm. Res. Kan., 1897, pp. 17-18.

Note 140.-Univ. Geol. Surv.. Kan., vol. VIII. p. 21. Note I41.-Ibid. p. 21.

1]^4 Kansas State Historical Society.

of both metals. Frequently the same shovel of earth will have the two
mixed in about equal quantities. " i^-

In 1873 a small zinc smelter was started at Weir City, about twenty miles
from the zinc deposits at Galena, using the recently discovered coal deposits
as fuel, and hauling the ore by wagon to the smelter. As it required about
three and a half tons of coal to reduce a ton of zinc ore,i" this was for a
time the only feasible way. Within two years, however, the St. Louis &
San Francisco railway reached Joplin and Galena, giving access to the Illi-
nois smelters, and the gap between the Frisco and the K. C., F. S. & M.
railways was bridged, allowing shipment of the ore to the Weir City-Pitts-
burg district by rail, and the output of zinc ore began to assume the lead-
ing position that it has held ever since. At the present time about seven
times as much zinc as lead is produced in the Kansas-Missouri district, i"

With the opening of the Kansas smelters and the connection with the
Illinois smelters the output of zinc grew rapidly, and the mining processes
became of a less experimental character. It was at first feared that the
ore deposits would not prove lasting, and the first mines gave every evidence
of this fear. The improvements were all of a temporary character, and the
operations were confined to the surface deposits. Another reason was that
in most cases the miners had not the means to sink their prospect shafts
very far, and in nine cases out of ten the hole would be abandoned if it did
not encounter a body of ore near the surface, simply for the want of funds
to go further. In this respect the early mines were much like the prospect
holps that the average gold seeker puts down in the boom days. "It was
only a short time, however, until matters assumed a more . . . substan-
tial form. Regular mining companies were organized; each controlled the
properties belonging to it, and conducted its operations in a systematic
manner." '^'^

Rather strangely, it was not until the mines had been in successful opera-
tion for more than twenty years that much outside capital was attracted
into the mining business, probably because the capitalists shared in the fear
that the deposits would not last long enough to make mining properties
paying investments. The early smelters partook of the same characteristics,
and, while the smelter men came into the field from the East, in many cases
the first smelters were small affairs, and the volume of business did little
more than to net interest on the investment, plus wages to the owner-
laborers, who went into the business on a partnership basis, and did much
of the labor for themselves. The production of two to three million
dollars' worth of wealth every year by the mines brought a considerable ag-
gregate of wealth into a small section of the country in the course of time,
however, and the development was fairly thorough and satisfactory before
the lead and zinc mines began to figure in the financial world as invest-
ments.

Then it was that the high range of prices of zinc in 1899 attracted East-
ern capitalists to the advantages of the Missouri-Kansas field. Spelter
prices for that year were twenty per cent higher than they had been for
several years before, an d as the permanent character of the field was well

Note 142.-Min. Res. Kan., 1897, p. 19. Note 143.-Ibid. p. 33.

Note \M.-7Anc-Lead Reporter, 1907, p. 13.
Note 145.— Min. Res. Kan., 1897. p. 18.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 115

established by this time the prospect of large gains brought a great influx
of capital that continued for two or three years and resulted in a thorough
exploitation of the whole district, i" It was estimated that in about nine
months after the rush opened in the spring of 1899 the number of new mills
in the district was almost doubled, i^" Much of this extension was, however,
speculative, and a great deal of outside money was poorly invested and
lost. ^*s Much of the activity for the year was bona fide development, and
there was a substantial increase in the production of the district, which in
that year aggregated more than ten millions of dollars.

The growth of the output of the district has been remarkably consistent,
and represents the combined influences of the addition of outside capital, the
extension of the territorial extent of the district, and the deeper develop-
ment of the deposits. The unprecedented rush of capital to the Joplin dis-
tricts (already referred to), in 1899 was not accompanied by an increase at
all proportional in the output, and the following year of 1900 fell off con-
siderably, and the two years from 1898 to 1900 showed a gain little greater
than the normal increase for ten years before. Ore prices have been a very
important factor in determining the production of the district, and several
times within the last fifteen years the prices have been low enough to cause
the temporary closing of the mines for higher prices. In the case of lead
alone, however, the increase has not been so noticeable, though the state-
ment above is true in the main of lead, as it is for the gross output. The
ten years from 1887 to 1897 represented a comparatively steady output,
aggregating about three and a half million dollars' worth of the two ores
each year. The ten years after 1897, however, saw a remarkable increase,
owing to the influences mentioned, and in that time the output nearly quad-
rupled in value. ^*^

It is estimated that the value of the ore shipped out of this district since
its first opening to the present time is not less than a hundred and eighty
millions of dollars, ^'^ and as this figure represents practically a net addition
from the outside, at least until ten years ago, when outside capital began
to claim a share, the importance of these mines in an economic way to this

Note 146.— Univ. Geol. Surv.. Kan., vol. Vni, p. 31.

Note 147.-Min. Res. Kan., 1898, p. 20.

Note 148.— Haworth, in his report on lead and zinc, says: "The unusually high prices re-
sulted in a grest influx of capital and promoters, who would buy property here and sell it to newly
formed companies. Mining- properties sold for from two to five times their value, and a great
deal of outside money was so poorly invested that it was entirely lost. These bad results were
partly due to the promoters who paid such large prices, and partly to a lack of proper manage-
ment by the new companies. . . . Yet with all these hindrances the lead and zinc mining
territory of Kansas and Missouri prospered."— Univ. GeoL Surv., supra cit.

Note 149.— The ore shipments and values for the ten years from 1897 to 1907 are as follows
for the district :

Zinc {short tons.) Lead. Value.

1897 177,976 30,105 $4,726,300

1898 234,455 26,687 7,119,865

1899 255,088 23,888 10,715,305

1900 248,446 29,132 7,992,106

1901 258,306 35,177 7,971,650

1902 262,545 31,625 9,430,890

1903 234,873 28,656 9,471,395

1904 267,240 34,362 11,487,350

1905 252,435 31,679 13,302.800

1906 278,929 39,188 15,128,175

1907 286,587 42,034 15,419,727

—Joplin Daily Globe, January 26, 1908.

Note 150.— Joplin Daily Glob*, January 26, 1908.

IIQ Kansas State Historical Society.

section of the country was very great. These figures do not include the
addition in value that the smelting industry, which followed close after the
mines, put on the raw ores. At first only a small part of the Joplin ores
were smelted in this section, to be sure, but as long as twenty years ago
the Kansas smelters were claiming probably half the ores from the Joplin
district, and for the past ten years, since the opening of the gas supply and
its utilization in the smelters, nearly all the output has been reduced in the
Kansas and Oklahoma smelters, which are now producing two-thirds of the
spelter of the United States. As the smelting industry will be taken up in
detail in a separate section, it is sufficient to merely suggest here the importance
of the business which has been the principal activity of several of the towns
in the fuel belt for years. "The population has been increased many thou-
sands, practically all of whom subsist in one way or another upon the out-
side money [that the mining and smelting industries bring in]. This money
is paid for the raw ore and metals fresh from the smelters, going to the
merchants and . . . laborers, a great portion of it reaching the farmers
in the surrounding neighborhoods. The great increase in population has
been associated with social, intellectual . . . and political activities
until the extent of the influence along these lines has become so great, and
ramifies all phases of activities, . . . scores and even hundreds of miles
in extent, so that no one will ever be able to summarize the influence for
the last thirty years, or for the future." i»i

While the above quotation puts the case strongly, the importance is not
much exaggerated, as is shown by the growth of towns, the extension of a
network of railways, and the prosperity of a section of the country that
would not be even up to the average but for the mines and smelters, with
the markets and other activities that follow such an addition to the popula-
tion as this branch of mineral industry brought in. The coincidence of the
lead and zinc mining territory with the fuel belt, utilizing first the coal and
later the natural gas a little farther removed from the oil supply, has un-
doubtedly been the basis of the greater share of the prosperity of that sec-
tion of the country.

MANUFACTURING SINCE 1880.

As has already been suggested, even before 1880 the older towns in the
eastern part of the state of Kansas that had been favored by the first and
most convenient lines of railways were taking the lead in the manufactures
of the section. There was a considerable rivalry among them for the lead-
ing place in trade and industry, and each of them did everything possible to
advertise and foster any new industries. This situation continued very no-
ticeably for a period of about fifteen years longer, or until about 1895,
which date marks the beginning, to all intents and purposes, of the conditions
that now exist. This period marks the rise of a half dozen towns to places
of considerable importance by a considerable increase in number and char-
acter of manufacturing enterprises, as well as a healthy growth of business,
reaching its culmination, however, in the early '90's. Since that time the
alteration of trade conditions, the development of other and more advan-
tageous centers, and other influences, have combined to relegate some of
these towns that aspired to metropolitan positions to second- and third-rate
positions.

Note 151.-Haworth, in Univ. Geol. Surv.. Kan., vol. VIII. p. 32.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 117

Conditions were in general favorable for the growth of a number of
manufacturing interests to supply the wants of the immediate country and
of those sections lying farther west. Centralization had not been carried
out to any great extent in the industries farther east with which the new
establishments had to compete. Freight rates were high — much higher, as
a matter of course, on most manufactured articles than on the materials
from which the finished articles were made. Hand labor was of greater im-
portance then than a few years later, and the small shops were not at the
disadvantage that they are now. Then, too, the western country was new,
and the field was not developed commercially as it came to be a dozen years
later, and the new manufacturer had all the advantages of local spirit and
reputation, knowledge of the needs of his market, and few of the disadvan-
tages that the small factory now has. The factory that entered the field at
this time had an even chance to land the business, and almost without ex-
ception the new enterprises prospered and encouraged others to come in.

It was natural that the older towns of the richer northeastern part of
the state should be the ones to feel the influence of these conditions most,
and for this reason, in connection with the reasons mentioned above, Leav-
enworth, Atchison and Lawrence especially experienced a very flattering
growth in a manufacturing way from about 1875 into the early '90's. To-
peka, Emporia and Fort Scott had the same experiences, though in hardly
as marked a degree. Leavenworth and Lawrence, particularly at one time,
had at least double the number of industries that they have at the present
time, and each had rosy hopes for industrial futures. Furniture, iron-work-
ing establishments and implement factories were among their best paying
and most characteristic enterprises. It will be observed that many of these
establishments were built up on the basis of conditions that were only tem-
porary, and as the conditions changed and those industries were placed on
a footing of competitive relationship with other localities natural unfitness
in some cases caused a falling off in business, and finally discontinuance or
removal to a better field.

The example of Lawrence, situated as it is without the advantages of
fuel supply or specially advantageous transportation facilities, is perhaps
the strongest representative of this movement. Much of the activity is due
directly to the fact that there were a few men like A. Henley, one-time
state senator, and former Congressman J. D. Bowersock, who, with money
to invest, put it into manufacturing enterprises in their own town. Condi-
tions were for a time such that they prospered at it, and other enterprises
came after, encouraged no doubt by their successes. And further than this,
these men were interested to some extent in every important enterprise
that came into the community, so their influence for expansion was effective,
both as a motive power and as an example.

One of the best examples in Lawrence of the growth and later decadence
of industry was perhaps that of the Consolidated Barbed Wire Company,
so called, which began in a very small way as early as 1878. It was at first
largely a personal enterprise, and the output was but a few hundred pounds
of wire a day. But in 1888 the company was organized and incorporated,
and the equipment increased. The manufacture of nails and woven fencing
was added, and later, as the demand grew, of bale ties. In 1890 the company
employed forty men and had an average output of thirty tons per day,
which was a considerable matter in those days. The business was extended

Jig Kansas State Historical Society.

rapidly until 1895. The products were marketed in Kansas. Indian Territory
(Oklahoma). Colorado, and even New Mexico. A comtemporary account
states that the Lawrence company "competed successfully with the Eastern
manufacturers,"!^- and the growth of the business for a few years certamly
bears out the statement.

After 1895, however, conditions rapidly became such that the busmess
became less profitable each year, and in 1898 it was sold out to Eastern com-
petitors, who closed and dismantled the mills. At least three good reasons
can be assigned for the decadence of this particular industry. In the first
place, it began and prospered on account of the fact that the company had
the services of a man who built for them the machines that were then used
in the making of the wire, and when larger machines were introduced that
required less personal attention they were at a disadvantage. The total
lack of material was another factor that condemned the industry to failure
as soon as it should be subjected to close competition with more favored
localities. The reduction in prices about 1895 was the other factor, and all
combined to make it advisable for the owners to dispose of the industry at
the first opportunity. "Under local management during high prices, and
while the demand exceeded the supply and profits were high, the industry
could operate successfully. But close competition was more than the con-
ditions here could stand. "i"

Another enterprise that the same men started in 1893 was the manufac-
ture of the Eclipse hay press, and for a time, two or three years probably,
the company prospered. Owing to the fact that they had all the business
that they could manage without this new enterprise, however, and for the
further reason that their machine had some defective parts, the company
sold out all their rights and the business moved to Kansas City. This will
be observed in the case of many enterprises about this time, and the move-
ment toward the city on the Kaw will be noticed more particularly with the
view of pointing out the reasons for the movement to a larger center with
less favorable labor conditions, where the cost of material equipment is
proportionally larger.

Another of the large industries of Lawrence that is on record was the
canning company, which however is still running, though on a smaller scale
than formerly. It was organized in 1881, and increased its business as the
demand for canned products grew, until in 1890 it was putting up in the
neighborhood of a million cans annually. The pay roll of the company was
from $1200 to $2500 per week, according to the season of the year, and the
products found a market in ten states, extending as far west as the coast.
"It is the largest canning factory between Baltimore and San Francisco
. , . and the only one in Kansas using all kinds of fruit. "^^^ For the
same reasons, undoubtedly, that the canning business has not been more
characteristic of this section of the country, the Lawrence establishment
found its territory restricted early after this, and it now supplies only local
markets. The competition of the surer fruit states was more than the con-
ditions here could stand, and now the factory has to depend on the advan-
tage in freight rates in the home market.

Note 152.— Lawrence Daily Reeord, September 12, 1890.

Note 153. -Interview, J. D. Bowersock, 1908.

Note 1B4.-Lawrence Daily Record, September ]2, 1890 ; Topeka Daily Capital, August 8,

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 119

Another Lawrence enterprise that disappeared about 1890 was the old
Lawrence Plow Company, that was one of the first to make its appearance.
So long as hand labor could compete in the business the factory flourished,
and its business was a considerable part of the town's activity for many
years, until matters adjusted themselves, as in the case of the wire factory
mentioned above, and the factory was discontinued. An iron foundry, es-
tablished as a small shop almost with the founding of the town,i55 and which
rose to some importance in the later '80's, is now little more than an insig-
nificant repair shop.

Also characteristic of the extension of business about 1890 was a large
manufacturing chemical company, '^e first established in 1880, and recapitalized
in 1890 at $90,000. At that time it employed about fifty men, and manu-
factured patent medicines, extracts, toilet sundries and the like. "The
business, formerly confined to Kansas, now has a branch at Salt Lake City,
and covers Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Louisi-
ana, Indian Territory, Washington and Oregon. Its increase of business
in the last year has been 400 per cent. "'•^' Shortly afterward, however,
this enterprise went the way of the others mentioned, and nothing came in
to take its place in the town's business. The men who had their money in-
vested began in many cases to seek other investments in the state and else-
where. The Henleys, for instance, who had been one of the moving
influences in the earlier days, went out into the central part of the state
and invested their capital in the growing gypsum cement plaster industry.

In a considerable degree the two older towns, Atchison and Leavenworth,
the first settled points on the Missouri river in Kansas, show the same ex-
tension of manufacturing up to about the early '90's, and a subsequent de-
cline. In the case of Leavenworth particularly the decline was very great.
Being one of the points selected for the beginning point of the Union Pacific
railway, and favored by the location on the river, the town cherished for a
long time the hope of becoming the metropolis of the state. In the first
thirty years after its founding in 1854, this ambition seemed in a fair way
of realization. But it is an interesting fact that twenty years ago the town
had more factories, exclusive of the small establishments, such as bakeries
and confectionery shops, and establishments used in the trades, such as car-
pentering and the like, than it has now. It had then the largest wagon
factory in the state and four smaller, but active, factories; its seven flour
mills included the largest and best equipped mills in this section; and in 1879
it is recorded that "they are shipping their products all over Kansas, Illi-
nois, Iowa, and Missouri. "158 its iron foundries employed some 500 men,
and were growing rapidly; it had six furniture factories, including the pio-
neer and largest in the Middle West. Besides these industries the town had
the only boot and shoe factory in the state, and one of the first packing
houses west of the Missouri river.

Atchison, while never cherishing the same pretensions for first place in-
dustrially, was enjoying a period of industrial activity that it has not seen
for the last fifteen years. A contemporary account states that the town had

Note 155.— Topeka Daily Capital, August 8, 1888.

Note 156.— The Leis Chemical Company.

Note 157.— Lawrence Daily Record. September 12, 1890.

Note 158.— Leavenworth County Clippings, vol. I (not paged).

120 Kmisas State Historical Society.

sixty factories employing about 1000 men in 1879, i''^ while the last census
lists but sixty-one factories, employing 940 men. '"» One of its big industries
was the Fowler packing plant, established in 1878, with an equipment of
$175,000. and employing about 500 men. The capacity of this first large
packinghouse in this region was about 3000 hogs per day, and the early suc-
cess of the venture did much to encourage the coming in of the other pack-
ing establishments a little later. The census of 1880 reports five carriage
factories, seven flour mills, five brickyards and four furniture factories, and
not half of these remain at the present time.

The extent of the falling off of the industries in the two Missouri river
towns is shown by a comparison of the census figures for the number of
leading industries for 1880 '<" with the last report of the state Bureau of
Labor.'"- Leavenworth had in 1880 forty factories in nine of her foremost
industries, while in the same industries in 1907 only eighteen were reported.
In the same time the number in Atchison dropped more than half— from
twenty-seven to eleven— in the enterprises that constitute her leading ac-
tivities. The only branch of industry that has not suffered a decline in the
period is the iron industry, which has lost nothing in the number of estab-
lishments, and has continued to grow at a normal rate ever since the begin-
ning. The reason for this exception is undoubtedly twofold to a certain
extent. In the first place, every section of the country finds it advantageous
to be self-supplying in certain kinds of ironwork. It is cheaper to have
the pig iron and the charcoal shipped in and the castings made near the
point of consumption than to pay the higher rates on finished articles that
are made at a distance, even with the advantage of the coincidence of the
supply of fuel and ore. Further, the industry as it was established at
Leavenworth and Atchison was not such that it requires the environment
of a large city, or even of extensive railway connections, for it has little
need of a distributing center.

One of the representative iron plants began operations as a small foundry
in 1872, and gradually increased its output as the needs of the country called
for more of the product. The increase of the equipment and the standing
of this foundry enabled it to branch out into railway work about three years
ago, and it is now supplying a considerable share of the castings used in car
repairing in the near-by shops. Leavenworth has also two foundries en-
gaged in the manufacture of bridge and structural steel that have never
felt any serious diminution in business since the first establishment thirty
years ago. To be sure, none of these enterprises rank very high in point of
size among manufacturing plants of the world, but they have been for years
and are still supplying a good share of the local demand for their line of
ironwork, and support a not inconsiderable part of the population of the two
towns. In order to live and prosper, it has been necessary for these plants
to change as the conditions and the trade they cater to has changed, and
intelligent personal management must be given credit for a part of the
prosperity.'"^

Note 159.— Atchison DaUv Champion, February 20. 1879.

Note 160.— Census Manufactures, Kansas, 1905, page 14.

Note 161.— Tenth Census, Manufactures, pp. 241. 242.

Note 162.-Kan. Bureau of Labor Rept., 1907. pp. 254, 284, 285.

Note 163. — "The conditions of trade and manufacturing caused from time to time the wip-
ing out of much that used to prevail, causing some things to be obsolete, or too expensive to keep

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 121

Contemporaneous with the decline of the towns of northeastern Kansas,
and almost commensurate with it, is the development of the trade and manu-
facturing center at the towns Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan.
The beginning of this growth and centralization at the junction of the Kan-
sas and Missouri rivers precedes by some years the noticeable decline of the
other towns, but it got its principal impetus in the same period of prosperity,
in the later '80's and early '90's, that marked the culmination of the activity
of the other centers. At the same time another center was developing at
Omaha, Neb., started apparently by the activity that the coming of the
packing houses gave to that city when the large Eastern packers entered
the field about twenty years ago. To this time Omaha, including the pack-
ing enterprises in South Omaha, comprises nearly four-fifths of the manu-
factures of Nebraska, ^'^^ and for this reason the attention that is given to
that state in this paper will be centered in the development of its principal
city. This will be taken up after the consideration of the growth of Kansas
City.

The growth of a manufacturing center at Kansas City, as well as
the rise of its commercial activity, can truly be said to be neither the
result of accident or design. It was the result of the natural fitness of the
location with reference to traditional lines of communication, as has already
been suggested in this paper, and its location at the gateway of commerce
to the Southwest, los In a way, the growth was in the face of a determina-
tion that it should not be the leading town, the competing points making
strenuous efl^orts to counteract the progress that it was making as a trading
point. The Pacific Railway of Missouri extended its line on to Leavenworth
in an early day, and boasted that it would make Kansas City nothing more
than a whistling station, and cutoffs were built to Lawrence and St. Jo-
seph from points east of Kansas City, with the same intent. The Leaven-
worth, Pawnee & Western built from Leavenworth to Lawrence, avoiding
Kansas City, and the Santa Fe did not fill up its gap between Lawrence and

up ; therefore, conversant with the want of the railroads, I conceived the idea of a more thorough
supplying of their wants, and as they needed a heavy tonnage of supplies that otherwise had to
come a long distance, I was enabled to find a market at home for such wants, and over 200 men
are now engaged in supplying this market."— Interview, John Seaton, Atchison, 1908.

Note 164.— Census Manufactures, Nebraska, 1905, p. 15.

Note 165.— Live stock " is an item of business which, we think, more than any other con-
nected with our city, is calculated to astonish those who have given no direct attention to West-
ern trade and development. It is, in magnitude, the heaviest item in our money transactions.
There are many causes combining to make this result, and which have -made Kansas City the
stock market of the Western plains.

"In the first place, Kansas City is the depot of the Santa Fe and Mexican trade, and conse-
quently the best market for oxen. It is also the nearest river point to the stock-growing regions
of Arkansas. Texas, and the Cherokee country, and the first place they strike the Missouri river
on their trips north, to California, Salt Lake, and the United States forts and trading points
north of the Platte. It is also the nearest and most accessible river town to southwest Missouri
and over two-thirds of the territory of Kansas at which emigrants and others can land and out-
fit. It is also the best starting point for stock direct to California, Utah and Fort Laramie, as
grass is from two to three weeks earlier by the Kansas than by the Platte, water more abundant,
and less liability to Indian depredations.

" These facts all conspiring here for the past few years made this the point of exchange and
sale with stock drovers and stock raisers, and it is here that stock buyers come to meet the
drovers and make their purchases.

"The drover of Texas buys cattle and drives them to this point, where he meets Missouri and
California drovers, to whom he sells ; thus making it the rendezvous of the cattle trade of the whole
country west of the Mississippi. We have also known large lots sold here for Chicago and points
east. The same may be said of dealers in mules and horses, for it is the nearest and best market
to the country producing them, and is the point to which emigration looks for its supply.

"When these facts are considered, the large amount of our live-stock sales will be readily
understood. We have known as high as 15,000 head of stock sold here in one week during the
season. This, large as it may seem, is but the beginning of what is to come. We see, by the
Texas papers, that the drovers from that state who have returned report in the most favorable

122 Kansas State Historical Society.

Kansas City for several years after the road was first put into operation. i«6
Hut there were some conditions that no amount of effort could counteract.
In the first place, the most of the settlers came by steamboat across Mis-
souri for the first few years, and Kansas City had not only one of the best
landings on the river, but one of the best ferries as well; and, as has al-
ready been seen, the proximity of the Santa Fe trail to the west and the
military road south made the town an objective point for the settlers on
that account. Naturally they desired to get their provisions as near their
new homes as possible, and as supplies could be brought from St, Louis by
boat in about five days,'"" its trade was soon growing rapidly.

Another thing that made for the growth of Kansas City even in the
early days of the settlement was the fact that the bulk of the settlement
soon after the war was to the southwest rather than in the direction of the
towns farther up the river, and the fact that there were no towns in the
southern part of the state for a long time that had the benefit of railway
connections such as would enable them to fill the place of distributing cen-
ters. Then when the emigration began in earnest to Oregon and Califor-
nia, passing through Kansas City as the shortest route by rail or trail, as
the case might be, and taking supplies from the country surrounding it, the
growth of the town was rapid and permanent. The fitness of the location
was soon apparent to the financial world, and the railways were soon either
seeking it as a terminus or, as in the case of the older roads, extending
their lines to meet the trade that it commanded. So much for the advan-
tages. The effect was for a good many years confined to the extension of
the importance of the town as a trading and distributing point, and in the
meantime the competing towns, disappointed in that respect, were building
up their manufacturing interests in all the lines that the conditions of the
new country demanded.

One of the first manufacturing ventures of Kansas City was the building
of a flour mill soon after the war, and with the growth of the country the
output of the Kansas City flour mills gradually became important, i^s At
times in the early history of the mills they had to go into Missouri instead
of the country across the line west for the wheat to grind into flour, and

lisht the advantasres of our market, and no doubt many who have heretofore taken other routes
will next season drive to this point. Should the Mormon war be commenced in earnest next sea-
son, 03 we have no doubt it will, it will have the effect of sending all the California droves this
way. by the more southern route, as well as add immensely to our sales for army supplies, trans-
portation, etc. From these causes we should not be surprised to see our stock sales increase 100
per cent over last year."

"Statement of live stock sold in this market for the year ending December 31, 1857: [We
compile the following from our live-stock market reports of the past season, as published by us
weekly, from the actual sales made by and through our stock dealers, and from statistics fur-
nished us by city butchers.]

\i'lS^ horses, mules and oxen, averaged at $86 per head $1 ,262,200 00

52,000 stock cattle, from Missouri, the Cherokee country, Texas and Arkan-
sa-s. sold here for the California. Salt Lake. Forts Kearney and Laramie,
and for home markets, averaged at $18 per head 939,000 00

, ^u '*' $2, 198,200 00

LWe have no data from which to judge of the number of hogs and sheep sold, and prefer not
to estimate.] /-■ ^ «

-C. C. Spalding, Annals of the City of Kansas, 1858, pp. 78, 79.

Note 166.-The Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 13. Note 167.-Ibid. p. 11.

v„ii^°^*'}1u~r'''!?^^*''^*°'"^°* milling here began a little more than forty years ago with the
whn.^f,^! the first flour mill near the river bank in what is now the north end of town. Some-
WnH in fil "^"'8 ^f e built in other parts of the prssent city, on Delaware and Walnut streets.
M« Of f hY M "^""T^s- There were also, from time to time, mills built across the line in Kan-
h!nif in tv.^ 1 . .ilil. ^ °"'/ J^^ Zenith, at First street and Troost avenue, now remains. It was
oriirinni rl.in\ • ^.°",? ^^^ ^^*^" ^° enlarged and rebuilt that practically nothing of the
original mill remains. -Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 119.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 123

the town did not for many years display any unusual activity in the manu-
facture of flour. With the introduction of hard wheat by the Mennonites
from Russia, who settled in Kansas in the 'TO's.i^o the supply of wheat be-
came dependable, and Kansas City began to prosper in the milling business,
as did the other towns of the wheat-raising belt. The hard wheat did not
become a practical factor until late in the '80's, so that the growth of the
milling business in Kansas City received this stimulus at practically the
same time that other industries were enlarging their capacities and the
movement toward centralization began to place manufacturing in all lines
on the present basis.

The advantages of location and trade that have been outlined made Kan-
sas City an especially favorable location for flour milling as soon as the ex-
portation of Kansas flour began (about 1880, or possibly a little earlier to
surrounding states) and to the fact that the city is the objective shipping
point for a large share of the product that is not ground in the wheat belt
must be given the credit for much of the recent development, i'" Since 1890
the production of wheat began to assume its present proportions, and since
that time, and principally in the later '90's, the largest of the Kansas City
flour mills have been built. At the present time Kansas City mills have a
capacity of approximately 3,000,000 barrels annually, and send their products
wherever American flour is consumed. "The recent great additions to the
city's milling capacity will greatly advance the name and reputation of
Kansas City as a milling center. It will be long before any such an aggre-
gation of mills will be erected in any center as now stands at the head of
the Mississippi river. The tendency is towards a wider distribution of mills as
near as possible to the wheat fields. In spite of this tendency, however,
Kansas City has doubled its capacity within the last few years. It will
continue to grow, and within a few years we will see a milling capacity
here of 20,000 to 25,000 barrels per day (against 15,000 barrels daily now)." ''i

The meat packing industry was one of the first manufacturing enterprises
now characteristic of Kansas City to make its appearance. ' ' The pioneer^ ' ^ in
this field was Edward W. Pattison, who in 1867 established a house at Junc-
tion City, where he formed a company and packed about 1000 cattle. . . .
In 1868, in company with J. W. L. Slavens, he built the first packing house
in Kansas City, and that year packed about 4209 cattle, the first beef pack-
ing done in the city." In 1869 Mr. Slavens sold his interest to Dr. F. B.
Nofsinger. In the summer of 1880 Jacob Dold & Sons, one of the largest
packing firms in Buffalo, N. Y., purchased the packing house of Nofsinger
& Co., and still remain the representatives of the pioneer packers of Kansas
City. In IS 68 Thomas J. Bigger, formerly of Belfast, Ireland, began the
packing of hogs for the Irish and English markets, the first enterprise of
this kind started in Kansas City after the war. In 1869 Mr. Slavens, of
the pioneer firm, formed a copartnership with Ferguson, Slavens & Co.,
which afterwards became Slavens & Obum, and later the Morrison Packing
Company.

' ' In 1870 Plankinton & Armour rented the packing house of Pattison &

Note 169.— Fifteenth Bien. Rept., Kan. Board Ag.. p. 945. et seq.

Note 170.-The Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 119. Note I71.-Ibid, p. 121.

Note 172.— "The History of Kansas City, Mo.," by Theo. S. Case. 1888. is the authority for
the statements regarding the early Kansas City packers, while the coming of the present packers
is noted as the firm name appears in Hoye's Kansas City Directories.

124 Kansas State Historical Society.

Nofsinger, but in the following year built their own house. The firm had
already two large houses, one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago. From the
date of the establishment of their business here the steady and rapid pro-
gress of the great interest they represented may be said to have commenced
in Kansas City." About 1884 John Plankinton retired from the firm, and
the present corporation of Armour Brothers Packing Company was formed.

The Fowler Brothers, with packing houses in Liverpool, New York and
Chicago, began beef and pork packing and lard refining in Kansas City in
1881.''^ Of the other packing houses now here, Swift & Co., of Chicago,
began operations in 1888; Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company, of New
York, about 189:^ ; the Cudahy Packing Company in 1900; Morris Nelson &
Co. about 1903, John Morrell Packing Company the same year, and the
American Dressed Beef and Provision Company about 1904.

There was no lack of cattle for a basis of beef packing. It is estimated
that at the close of the Civil War there were in Texas literally millions of
cattle for which there was practically no market. The only way to reach
Chicago, at that time the principal Northern center, was to drive the herds
through Kansas and into Missouri to some railroad terminus. ^'^

The opening of this great cattle-raising region by the railroads soon made
Kansas City'^'' an important shipping point. "It is already the second hog
and cattle market of the great West, and has already outstripped St. Louis,
Cincinnati, New Orleans, and all the rest except Chicago. " '"" The reason
assigned by this writer for the development of the market so rapidly was
the competition of the southwestern railways that entered Kansas City.

This was the situation at the time of the perfection of the refrigerator
car system, which has made it possible to ship fresh meats the world over,
and as soon as the cars were proven the Chicago, New York and Boston
packers began to look about for a western location for packing houses. It
was about this time that the citizens of Omaha, Neb., succeeded in interest-
ing some outsiders in the establishment of a cattle market and packing
center in Omaha, and in 1884 a stockyards company was organized with a

Note 173. -They had established a large pork packing plant at Atchison in 1878.— Atchison
Daily Champion, February 20, 1879.

Note 174.— Joseph G. McCoy tells in his "Historical Sketches of the Cattle Trade in the
West and Southwest," Kansas City, 1874, of the efforts of himself and brother to secure railroad
shipping points in western Kansas for the Texas drovers of 1867-'73. The Kansas quarantine
law of 1867 prevented Texas cattle being driven into Kansas east of the sixth principal meridian
and north of township 19, except during December, January and February of each year. The
McCoys induced the Kansas Pacific to put in a switch at Abilene, just east of this meridian, late
in 1867. and advertised the town among Texas drovers with such success as to attract 35,000 cat-
tle to that point the first year, together with Eastern and Western buyers. The trade increased
yearly at Abilene until, in 1871, 600,000 animals were brought in. That year the drovers met with
great loss, for the railroads had agreed upon a high freight tariff on live stock east from Chicago,
and there were few buyers from any section, and 1871 was the last in which a cattle business
was done m Abilene, for incoming settlers and other interests had begun to discourage the town
*^ J «r '"i!'-'"*^ pomt. Newton, on a branch of the Santa Fe, offered shipping facilities this year,
and Wichita, in 1872, drew large herds to her market, the same branch of the Santa Fe having
reached that point in May, 1872 (Topeka Commonwealth. October, 1872). "In 1873 near 450,000
head of cattle entered western Kansas, besides about 50.000 which turned off the trail to the
eastward and went to Coffeyville. There was nearly no demand from any source for stock cat-
tle Aa was usual, from three- to four-fifths of the cattle brought from Texas were stock ani-
mals, cows and calves, and in former years a large proportion had been sold to cattlemen of
we.Miern Kansas. Colorado and the more northern territories, and now beeves from these new
nerds had come in competition. The Eastern financial panic of 1873 reached Kansas in October.
t»ar?'"7io-r'^*^'^'",°c^l to the cattle trade, which did not fully recover until after the grasshopper
hSn Mol;^ f \^^^- ^" A.UKUSt, 1871, the L., L. & G., now the Southern Kansas Railway, had
the EMt from thlterTitor*^* ^'^ Coffeyville, and thus gave connections, by way of Kansas City, to

Note 175.- J. G. McCoy's Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade, 1874, pp. 274-276.
Note 176.— Kansas Hand Book, 1881. p. 36.

History of Manufactures in Kansas.

125

million dollars' capital which controlled, so it is reported, an investment of
some fifteen millions of dollars in American cattle and grazing lands. '"^
Then in 1885 G. H. Hammond & Co., a Michigan company, began the erec-
tion of a packing plant in Omaha, followed in the next year by another that
the stockyards company was erecting under contract for the Fowlers, who
had already built packing houses at Atchison and Kansas City, Kan. Then
in 1886 Sir Thomas J. Lipton, the well-known English pork packer, built a
packing plant in Omaha, which in the following season he sold to P. D.
Armour, of Chicago, and Michael Cudahy, of Milwaukee. ^'^ In 1890 Armour
sold his Omaha interests, devoting his time to larger interests at Kansas
City. ^'9 Although the Eastern packers were hardly estabUshed in Kansas
City by 1890, the census for that year shows six packing houses, represent-
ing nearly nine millions of dollars and handling nearly forty million dollars'
worth of finished products. ^ so jn that year only about one-third of the cattle
that came to the Kansas City stockyards were sold to the packers, the
rest being reshipped to Chicago and St. Louis. By 1895, however, the Kan-
sas City packing houses were consuming about half the million and a half
head of cattle that the stockyards received annually, and by the time of the
twelfth census^si nearly two-thirds of the cattle that came to Kansas City
were slaughtered there, while very few hogs were shipped out of Kansas
City. The following tables are taken from the Thirty-ninth Annual Report
of the Kansas City Stockyards, December 31, 1909:

TOTAL YEARLY RECEIPTS.

Year.

1871.
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.
1876.
1877.
1878.
1879.
1880.
1881.
1882.
1883.
1884.
1885.
1886.
1887.
1888.
1889.
1890.
1891.
1892.
1893.
1894.
1895.
1896.
1897.
1898.
1899.
1900.
1901.
1902.
1903.
1904.
1905.

Cattle.

Calves.

Hogs.

Sheep.

Horses and mules.

120,827

41.036

4,527

809

236,802

104,639

6,071

2,648

227,689

221,815

5.975

4,202

207,080

212,532

8.855

3,679

174,754

63,350

25,327

2,646

183,378

153,777

55,045

5.339

215,768

192.645

42,190

4,279

175,344

427,777

36,700

10.796

213,415

588,908

61.684

15,829

244,709

676,477

50,611

14,086

2S5.863

1,014,304

79,924

12.592

439.671

963.036

80,724

11,716

460,780

1,379,401

119,665

19,860

533.526

1,723,586

237,964

27,163

506,627

2,358,718

221,801

24,506

490.971

2,264,484

172,659

33,188

669,224

2,423,262

209,956

29,690

1,056,086

2,008,984

351,050

27,650

1,220.343

2,073,910

370,772

34,563

1,472.229

76.568

2,865,171

535,869

37,118

1,270,917

76,570

2,599,109

386,760

31,740

1,479,078

92,077

2,397,477

438,268

32,505

1,660.807

86,021

1,948,373

569,517

35,097

1,689,193

83,352

2,547,077

589,555

44,237

1,613,454

76,198

2,457,697

864,713

52,607

1,714,532

100,166

2,605,575

993,126

57,847

1,817,526

104,436

3,350,796

1,134,236

37,006

1,757,964

88,269

3,672,909

980,303

17,483

1,912,019

105,465

2,959,073

953.241

33,775

1,967,719

113,077

3,094,139

860,449

103,308

2,000.165

126,410

3,716,404

980,078

96,657

2,082,541

196,625

2,279,337

1,154,084

76.844

1.953,371

183,741

1,969,381

1,151,730

67,274

1,996,610

166,861

2,227,170

1,004,099

67,562

2,180,491

242,091

2,507.548

1,318,968

65,582

Note 177.- Bell, History of Omaha, pp. 622, 627.

Note 179.— Kept. Comtn'r Corp., Beef Ind., p. 37.

Note 180.— Census of Manufactures. 1890. part II, pp. 842. 843,

Note 181. -Ibid. 1900. part III, p. 415.

Note 178. -Ibid. pp. 624-627.

126

Kansas State Historical Society.

TOTAL VKARLY RECEIPTS— Concluded.

l'#flr.

Cattle.

Calves.

Hogs.

Sheep.

Horses and mules.

1906

.. 2,295.979

2,384,294

.. 2,154,338

259,815
285,966
303,789

2,675,601
2.923,777
3,715,109

1,616,788
1,582,148
1.640,542

69,629

1907

62,341

I'Kia . . .

56,335

1909

.. 2.350,946
.. 45,417,029

308,982
3,076,479

3,092,835
74.497,199

1,645,325
22,541,299

67,796

Totals. . . .

1,397,984

TOTAL YEARLY SHIPMENTS AND DRIVEN OUT.

Year.

CattU.

Calves.

Hogs.

She.ep.

Horses and mules.

1871

120.794

40,102

4,527

809

1872

236,799
227,666

104,399
220,574

6,071
5,951

2,648

1873

4,204

1874

207 069
174,511

212,714
63,096

8,877
25,310

3,685

1875

2,635

1876

183,256

153,180

54,829

5,321

1877

215,771

193,204

42,333

4,2%

1878

175,549

426,355

37,012

10,794

1879

211,361

589,794

61,157

15,826

1880

244,281

676,848

51,004

14,090

1881

286,134

1,015,447

79,848

12,604

1882

4.39,521

961,906

80,708

11,607

1883

460,598

1,379,005

119,180

19,869

1884

533,992

1,724,287

237,214

27,092

1885

506,577

2,359,027

223,088

24,656

1886

490,906

2,264,323

172,397

33,098

1887

669,062

2,423,546

209,491

29,618

1888

.. 1,055,547

2,009,250

351,796

27,739

1889

.. 1,219,395

2,073,314

369,878

34,485

1890

.. 1,472,853

T6,713

2,863,354

535,207

37,134

1891

.. 1,272.249

76,580

2,601,109

387,912

31,783

1892

.. 1,477,741

92,156

2,396,737

438,139

32,432

1893

.. 1,661,247

85,968

1,948,457

569,277

34,891

1894

.. 1,687,274

83.256

2,547,588

589,359

44,153

1895

.. 1,613,123

75,923

2,457,167

863,100

52.655

1896

.. 1,714,336

100,284

2,604,842

989,420

57.710

1897

.. 1,817,033

104,355

3,348,556

1,134,222

36,945

1898

.. 1,758,396

88,521

3,674,269

981.668

17.487

1899

.. 1,911,356

105,048

2,957,827

953,615

33,357

1900

.. 1,968.266

112,830

3,096,091

860,517

102,579

1901

.. 1,999.048

127.386

3,712,573

980,071

96,571

1902

.. 2,087,357

197,670

2,283,827

1,152,907

76,388

1903

.. 1,957,660

186.327

1,967,096

1,158,334

67,272

1904

.. 2,001.495

167,625

2,226,304

1,001,434

66,538

1905

.. 2.176,297

246,612

2,504,586

1,314,292

63,651

1906

.. 2,296,414

259,127

2,674.849

1,611,048

67,117

1907

.. 2.384.739

285,788

2.915.459

1,578,059

62,126

1908

.. 2,148,625

304,366

3.711,739

1,636,752

56,490

1909

.. 2.341,879

308,474

3,090,968

1,645,702

67,811

Totals

.. 45,405,877

3,085,009

74,473,769

22,521.706

1,390,164

The amount of capital invested in the packing houses had increased
nearly seventy per cent in the decade, and represented about fifteen mil-
lions of dollars, while the number of packing houses had increased from six
to eight. The value of the packing-house products in 1900 was more than
seventy-three millions of dollars, '^3 q^ more than the combined value of all
the manufactured products of both Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City,
Mo., for the year 1890. The five years from 1900 to 1905 showed a continua-
tion of this growth, representing an increase in the amount of capital in-
vested of about fifty per cent, accompanied by an increase in the value of
products of about twenty per cent. 1^4 This discrepancy between the in-
crease of capital and production cannot be taken as permanent, for the re-
ports for 1907 indicate an output of more than a quarter of a billion dollars,
representing an increase of more than fifty per cent since 1900, while the
net increase in c apital remained at about the same percentage, i^s

Note 188. -Thirty-ninth Annual Report, Kansas City Stockyards. December 31, 1909. p. 408.
Note 184. -Census Manufactures. Kansas, 1905. pp. 22, 23.
Note 18B.- Rept. Kansas Bureau Labor, 1907, pp. 284, 288.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 127

It requires no further elaboration to indicate the actual importance of the
packing industry that has grown up in the Kansas side of the town. Its
importance in relation to the other enterprises is shown in a few very simple
comparisons. Talcing the census figures for 1905 as a basis of comparison,
the value of the products of the packing industry (eighty-eight millions)
was more than double the value of all other manufactured products in both
Kansas Citys, and the packing house