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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 houses employed about two-fifths of the
laborers employed in manufacturing in the two cities ; two-fifths of the
capital invested in manufacturing is in the packing industry, and the value
of the cattle, hogs and sheep slaughtered is more than three-fourths that of
all the raw materials consumed in the factories of the two towns. '^^ The
industry pays nearly four and a half million dollars annually in wages to its
employees, who with their families would make a city equal in size to any
but three or four towns in the state of Kansas. The product of their labor
comprises nearly one-tenth of the output of all the packing houses in the
United States, and is second only to that of the Chicago plants in volume, ^^v

This great centralization that has been accomplished in Kansas City has
practically been the result of twenty years' work, for before 1890 the in-
dustry was comparatively small. It is the consequence of conditions partly
peculiar to the industry itself, but in part the result of conditions which led
to the growth of other lines of manufactures in Kansas City in the same
period. It is not unfair to give to the rapid growth of the packing industry
part of the credit for the attraction of other activities, for prosperity in any
line, for whatever cause, cannot but attract others. At any event, before
the census of 1890 the activity of the two Kansas Citys was beginning to be
noticeable in manufacturing, and in the census year they had some 1700 es-
tablishments, producing about seventy-six million dollars of finished products.
The Kansas town at that time had little else in a manufacturing way than
its packing houses, its other industries aggregating only about four million
dollars annually. Until 1886, the Kansas side of the town was, however, a
group of independent towns, each going its own way, but with no union of
strength such as the union into one municipality in 1886 gave to it. Since
that time it has quadrupled in population, has added to its list of industries
mills and elevators, foundries and machine shops, has multiplied its packing
houses, until now it produces more manufactured articles than any other
city in the United States according to population, and practically double the
amount of the Missouri side of the town.iss

With the abundance of material the packing houses furnished as a basis
there has grown up in Kansas City a large and growing soap and tallow
business. One plant alone turns out 25,000 tons of laundry soap annually, and
two others bring the total output up to 40,000 tons per year, '^a and the prod-
uct is marketed all over the Missouri valley. Also depending to some extent
upon industries that were already established are the factories for the man-

NOTE 186 —Census Manufactures, Kansas, 1905, pp. 22, 23. Ibid, Missouri, pp. 24, 28.

Note 187. — Census Manufactures. 1905, Slaughtering, etc., pp. 15, 16.

Note 188.— The Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 37. The towns of Armourdale, Kansas City and
Wyandotte were consolidated by proclamation of Gov. John A. Martin, March 6. 1886. and re-
ceived the name of Kansas City, as provided for by acts of the legislature of that year for the
consolidation of cities. —Session Laws 1886. pp. 86, 89; also, history of "Wyandotte County and
Kansas City, Kansas," Goodspeed Pub. Co., Chicago, 1890, p. 384.

Note 189.— The Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 191.

128 Kansas State Historical Society.

ufacture of crackers, biscuits and confections, which consume annually in
the neighborhood of 80,000 barrels of Kansas City flour and 800 tons of lard
from the Kansas City packing houses. Practically all varieties of crack-
ers and biscuits are made in these factories, which employ 300 men constantly
at a yearly wage of $425,000, while nearly 100 salesmen cover the whole
Central West with the product of their labor. I'-'o All the cracker factories
also make large quantities of nearly every grade of candy in connection with
their other sweets, one of the largest devoting several acres of floor space
to this branch of the business.

Iron and metal working, including machinery, implements and railway
shops, has been for the past ten or fifteen years an important branch of the
industrial life, and now furnishes employment for nearly 3000 men, and the
annual output is more than five millions of dollars. The foundries and machine
shops are easily in the lead from every point of view, and their products
make up fully half the output of this class of goods. They alone employ a
thousand men, and represent nearly three millions of capital. The tinware
factories, four in number, represent a capital of a million and a half, and
the annual output is about half a million of dollars, i^^ Agricultural imple-
ments, including hay presses, wagons and carriages, are now produced
in Kansas City in quantities to cut a considerable figure in the markets of
Kansas and Oklahoma. Three thousand farm wagons every year is the out-
put of one factory, the only one in this section of the country that is enti-
tled to rank as a factory, and the value is more than a quarter of a million
a year, all developed since 1905. Another enterprise, doing a business of a
quarter of a million, manufactures scrapers and road tools, being the only
one west of Chicago, i^^

Within the last few years Kansas City has been invading the western
field with steam and gasoline engines. The plant that manufactures Corliss
engines is said to be the largest west of the Mississippi river, and its output
is about half a million annually. "Milwaukee, Wis., and Michigan manu-
facturing districts formerly held the first place in this line of manufacture,
but Kansas City is now supplying all the surrounding territory, and nothing
is too large or too small in the line of a Corliss engine for the Kansas City
manufactory. This firm sells its product as far east as Pittsburg and as far
west as the coast, and in round numbers 500,000 horsepower is represented
by the machinery turned Out by this company yearly. Three hundred men
are employed in this industry, with a weekly pay-roll of $3500 and an annual
product of half a million." ''^^

Quite recently Kansas City haa been figuring in the middle western
market as a manufacturer of practically all grades of furniture, and at the
present time there is little furniture made in this section outside of Kansas
City. The older factories, which were built before the days of centralized
factories, have nearly all gone out of business. Some of the enterprises
that were established at Leavenworth and the other Kansas towns have
moved to Kansas City, attracted by the market and transportation ad-
vantages. "There are not less than twenty-five manufacturers and jobbers
engaged in the manufacture and jobb ing of furniture or supplies for the

Note 190. -The Kansas City Annual, 1907. pp. 102, 103.

NOTB I91.-Cen8us Manufactures. 1905. Kan., pp. 22, 23. Ibid.. Missouri, pp. 24, 28.

Note 192. -Kansas City Annual. 1907, p. 193. Note 193. -Ibid. p. 193.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 129

retail dealers and funeral directors; eight manufacture mattresses; four are
producers of spring beds and cots; four factories manufacturing extensive
lines of upholstered furniture; one iron bed factory; three engaged in pro-
ducing folding beds; ... all making a strong and desirable market for
the retailers in the territory tributary to Kansas City, "i"*

It is not profitable to continue further the enumeration of the manufac-
turing enterprises that have been developing and extending their operations
in the two Kansas Citys in the last twenty years. The list would include a
hundred lines not mentioned above, such as the breweries, with two millions
of product; the tobacco factories, with a half million; saddlery and harness
factories, with three-quarters of a million; the recently established shoe
factories and factory-made clothing establishments, as well as a long list of
others producing the things that the wholesalers who job their wares out of
Kansas City would otherwise have to buy elsewhere to supply the needs of
their customers through Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

With the growth of the last twenty years which has put Kansas City in
the lead as a manufacturing point, it is rather a remarkable fact that there
is not as yet a true factory class even in the oldest of the industries. That
fact is accountable for the lack of some industries that conditions of trade
would make profitable, but which demand a class of labor trained from
childhood in the trade. With its 25,000 factory employees, there is not as
yet a factory class, and probably will not be in the true acceptation of the
term until the country surrounding is more densely settled and the oppor-
tunities for changing employment are more restricted. To a limited extent
there is a restriction of the children of the laborers of the packing houses
and machine shops to similar lines of work, but the independence, or democ-
racy, or freedom, or whatever it is that characterizes the West, has not
yet yielded to the factory influence, and there are few children "born to
trade" of any sort. This condition is even more true of other places in this
region, and in some cases, as in the glass factories that came West since
1900 into the gas towns of southern Kansas, it was necessary to import the
woi'kmen from older factory centers to overcome this dearth, and it is a
difficulty that such industries have failed to keep the supply of labor up to
the needs of the business.

There is no reason why Kansas City should not continue to prosper in
manufacturing, for the development seems to be only fairly under way at
the present time. The fuel supply is close at hand, practically all industries
now having the benefit of the southern gas field, with the coal belt of the
same region to draw upon in the event of the failure of the more convenient
fuel. She has as yet practically no labor problem to meet, for outside the
packing industry, the iron-working and tobacco trades, labor is unorganized
and the "closed shop" is unknown. The cost of living is reasonable, stand-
ards of wages high enough to enable the family of the workman to live in
comfort, and the laboring class is on the whole content. The development
of the country to the southwest, tributary to Kansas City, is not ended by
any means, and the demand for the product of the industries that are and
are to be established is on the increase. With the advantages of geograph-
ical location, with more railways than Chicago giving easy access to all
parts of the country, and with no disadvantages to run the fixed cost of pro-

NOTE 194.— Kansas City Annual, 1907, p. 98.

-5

130 Ka)isas State Historical Society.

duction out of proportion, the future of manufacturing is bright, and present
activity bids fair to continue.

Practically contemporaneous with the rise of Kansas City t^ leading po-
sition is the development of a similar center at Omaha, Neb., dating also in
that case since 18S5, and most marked during the decade betw^een ;^'90 and
1900. As has already been remarked in the introduction to this papor, the
state of Nebraska has no natural advantages that, so far as can be deter-
mined at the present time, will ever make it a manufacturing community.
Lack of both fuel and water power have so far, and probably will, prevent
the growth of any very considerable factory interests in the state. The
only significant exception, if indeed it be an exception, is the growth of the
packing industry at Omaha (South Omaha), which, ranking as it does as the
third in size in the United States as a packing center, gives it an important
position in the manufacturing of the state. The census reports for 1900
and 1905 show a steady condition in the relation of this center to the state,
both showing that the two Omahas produce approximately four-fifths of
the manufactures of Nebraska. The packing houses alone produce nearly
half the products of the state, measured in values, while the total value of
all the products of the state is only about one-tenth greater than the value
of the output of the factories of the two Kansas Citys.

From*these facts it will be seen that, up to the present time, at least,
Nebraska offers a fairly barren field for the student of manufacturing. Her
flour industry is not, it is true, insignificant, aggregating some twelve mil-
lions of dollars annually, but that is only about double the output of the one
center at Kansas City. There is no milling center in the state, probably
for the double reason of the lack of power and the relative proximity to the
great flour mills at the head of the Mississippi, and the markets of the lake
port which invite exportation of wheat rather than milling. At any rate,
the industry is distributed among some 240 comparatively small mills, whose
field of operation is principally local. Dairying is a leading industry, and
the creameries of the state add three and.a half millions to her manufactures
annually; malt liquors add a million and a quarter; printing and publishing
amounts to another five millions; car repairing amounts to four and a half
millions; and these, added to packing and milling industries, make up sev-
enty per cent of the total of the state. Outside these activities there is
little in the state that can be classed as true factory activity, most of the
industries reported to make up the total being as much in the nature of
trades, or at most shops with local trade only. This being true, the relative
importance of the center of activity at Omaha can be readily appreciated.

The growth of the importance of Omaha in manufactures follows in gen-
eral the course outlined in the growth of Kansas City, The packing houses
were the opening wedge that seemed to give the impetus to other linesof
manufacturing, and it was felt at about the same time, from 1885 to 1890.
The industries that had been established there earlier than that time had
made no remarkable progress, and gave no evidence of the potentiality of
development in their condition before the activity of the citizens for stock-
yards and packing houses, which finally bore fruit in 1885'85 with the erection
of the first packing plant. Omaha had a stockyards project that was looked
to to bring business and prosperity to the town as early as the "fO's, and
the pluck of the early promoters was finally rewarded early in the '80's by

Note 195.-Bell. History of Omaha, p. 623.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 131

the interest that English cattle growers began to take in the scheme to de-
velop a shipping center at Omaha. It is said that as early as 1880 there
was an English investment of fifteen millions of dollars in cattle and grazing
lands tributary to Omaha, ^'"' and the citizens set about interesting them in
the project of establishing large stockyards there.

The stockyards enterprise soon met with encouragement from outside
sources, and 'it is recorded that "English and American capitalists have
put $1,000,000 in the common stockyards and $2,000,000 English capital is
promised to build packing houses." The first packing house was actually
built as the result of this activity in 1884, and leased in the following year
to G. H. Hammond & Co., a Michigan corporation, and the stockyards began
to turn part of their business into the local packing house. With the busi-
ness started, and a paid-up capital to work with, the stockyards company
went after the packers in earnest, and free building sites with good cash
bonuses were offered to attract prospective investors. In 1886 a bonus of
$135,000 brought the Fowlers into Omaha ( their Chicago house having already
established a business at Atchison, Kan., and had bought the Kansas City
plant in 1880),'"^ and very shortly afterwards Thomas J. Lipton, the English
packer, built in Omaha. But in the following year Lipton transferred his
property to the Armour-Cudahy Company, to whom a still larger bonus
was given. G. F. Swift & Co., of Chicago, having become interested in the
prospects at Omaha, were induced to enter the fiel4 by the payment of a
bonus of $135, 000. and a free building site in 1887. In all, the stockyards
Company paid out $420,000 in cksh and donated a large tract of land near the
yards to secure the industry that had been the dream of its promoters for
nearly twenty years past.^'s

Whether or not this expenditure would have been necessary in the end to
get the packing houses at Omaha it is of course impossible to say, but there
is little doubt that it brought them in sooner than they would otherwise have
come. In that way the expenditure is justified, for the subsequent and
nearly contemporaneous growth at Kansas City makes it extremely probable
that Omaha would not have fared so well in the final adjustment of the
business if the points had been left to compete on the basis of attractiveness
of the locations alone. Be that as it may, by 1890 Omaha had attained im-
portance in the packing business, having secured four large estabHshments,
and in that year the value of their products reached twenty-four millions of
dollars, i^'' and by the end of 1892 had almost doubled that amount, the
products totaling forty-five millions in round numbers. ^o" It is probably un-
fair to give the coming of the packing houses the credit for the expansion
of industry that took place in Omaha in the period of five years or so about
1890, but undoubtedly the addition of more than five millions of capital and
the additional employment of more than 2000 men in the stockyards and
packing houses in such a short time had a great deal to do with it.

Other and older industries in Omaha were on the increase after 1885, and
their prosperity, accompanying that of the packing houses, induced a period
of rapid growth for the city. The old Omaha & Grant Smelting Company,

— 1 .

Note 196.— Bell. History of Omaha, p. 622.

Note 197.-Ibid, pp. 623-625. Note 198.-Ibid. pp. 623-631.

Note 199.— Census Manufactures. 1890, part II. p. 508.

Note 200.— Bell, History of Omaha, p. 633.

132 Kansas State Historical Society.

established in Omaha in 1870, which smelted ores from Colorado and the
Black Hills region of the Dakotas, consolidated with a Denver company in
18S2. and its volume of business increased many fold in the next few years.
By 1892 it was employing a thousand men, and its products were valued at
twenty-one millions annually. Its plant covered twenty-five acres, and was
rated the largest in the world, and it was drawing ores even from Canada
and Mexico.-"' A dependent industry, the Carter White Lead Works, the
first of its kind west of St. Louis, which used the pig lead of the Omaha
smelter, experienced a rapid increase of business at the same time. Its
capital was increased 500 per cent from 1880 to 1889, and by 1890 it employed
seventy-five men and produced 10,000 tons of lead white annually. ="- A lin-
seed oil factory had reached a million and a half of products, and a pioneer
soap factory multiplied its capital and productions by ten about the same
time.-»3

This increase brought population, and money to be spent, and encouraged
the growth of other activities. The rapid growth of the town called for a
great amount of building material, and at one time there were fifty- two brick-
yards about Omaha, producing a hundred and fifty millions of brick annually,
where now five yards meet all requirements. Five clothing factories, em-
ploying 400 people, began operations at this time, and a bag factory employ-
ing another hundred came in in 1887.-"^ Three shirt factories were added,
and after them came a button factory, marketing a large share of its output
with the clothing factories. Foodstuffs being in greater demand, the supply-
ing industries grew rapidly. A cracker factory was built in 1883, another
in 1885, which was soon bought by the American Biscuit Company, which
employed 200 people. Vinegar and pickle factories, breweries and distilleries
followed rapidly and added materially to the total. Six furniture factories
were built from 1889 to 1891, employing 300 men, making a specialty of beds
'and mattresses. Wood and paper packing-boxes and tinware factories, em-
ploying 200 or more men, were doing a flourishing business supplying the
various industries that had grown up in a few years. ^os

This expansion of industry had nearly reached its maximum in 1890, and
the fifteen years following the census of that year saw an increase of only
twenty-five per cent in the value of manufactured products in Omaha
proper, while in the same time the capital invested nearly doubled. In
South Omaha, where all the packing houses are located, the increase for
the same period was about 215 per cent in the value of manufactures, the
most of it represented by the trebling of the output of the packing houses,
which now forms all but a couple of millions of the manufactures of the
south side of the town. Outside of Omaha there has not been any develop-
ment of a center of manufacturing in any line of industry that deserves
particular mention. The rural districts come in for the most of the other
manufactures, Lincoln and Nebraska City contributing but a comparatively
small share of the total. "In 1905, of the factories reported, 73.2 per cent
of the establishments were in the rural districts, while in 1900 the percent-
age of such establishments was 74.4; and the value of their products was
18.3 per cent of the total for the state in 1905. as against 15.3 per cent in
1900. The percen tages of increase in number of wage-earners, in wages.

Note 201. -Bell. History of Omaha, p. 496. Note 202. -Ibid. p. 497. .

Note 203.-lbid. pp. 501. 508. Note 204.-Ibid. p. 503. Note 205.-Ibid, pp. 499. 500.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 133

in capital, and in value of prodticts, are greater for the rural districts than
for the urban. "206 The value of manufactures in the two Omahas is about
78.3 per cent of the state, and this, added to the 18.3 per cent that the
urban manufactures contribute, leaves but 3.4 per cent of the total for the
other towns that rank above urban in character.

It has already been noticed that in the case of Omaha there was a great
increase in the size of manufacturing establishments and a relative increase
in the amount of capital invested during the period from 1885 to 1892 or
thereabouts. While there were special reasons partly responsible for the
unusual increase in the expansion of the factories there which did not obtain
in Kansas, yet the same movement is noticeable in all lines of her manu-
facturing enterprises. There has been a movement toward the centralization
of industry in fewer establishments with relatively more capital ever since
the period of prosperity that preceded the panic of 1893. For the greater
part of the decade following the census of 1890, however, stringency and
even contraction followed the years of panic, and manufacturing did not
make much progress, and the most of the centralization has been accom-
plished since 1900. The past four or five years have shown this movement
to the greatest extent, and it is still going on at the present time.

The actual extent of the movement can only be shown by a comparison
of the figures of the census reports, which, in 1880, show an average invest-
ment of $3995 for each establishment which in the next ten years had al-
most trebled, the average capital in 1890 being $9824. The figures for 1900
are diflficult to explain, for they show an increase of nearly seventy per cent
in the number of establishments, and a decrease in the average capitaliza-
tion of fully a thousand dollars, or nearly twelve per cent. The census of
1905, however, shows a remarkable centralization, the average amount of
capital having increased to $37,658, and leaving the packing houses out of
the consideration, to $25,750 for every manufacturing establishment listed.
The report of the state bureau of labor two years later, probably slightly
incomplete, since it shows an actual increase in number of establishments,
nevertheless indicates that the average capitalization had practically doubled
since 1905, if the packing houses are left out of the accounting. In this
consideration a truer estimate is reached by omitting them, as the capitali-
zation is larger than any other industry and it would swell the average out
of proportion to the real conditions in the others. In view of these figures
the only satisfactory explanation of the decrease in capitalization shown by
the census of 1900 is that in that report a number of hand trades were
counted which should not have been listed. It is also probable that it took
into account the growth of small establishments in the towns of the western
part of the state at this time, which had hardly begun to feel the influence
toward centralization that was going on in the larger towns.

The milling industry, the oldest and most widely distributed of the man-
ufactures of the state of Kansas, gives a fair illustration of the extent of the
centralizing movement, though those figures also leave something to be ex-
plained in the case of the report for 1900, the decrease in the average amount
of capital indicated being about thirty per cent. This can be explained in
part by the fact that in that year the census report listed under this head
a large number of feed mills scattered over the western part of the state,*

Note 206. — Census Manufactures, 1905, Nebraska, p. 5.
* Interview, Kansas Labor Commissioner, 1908.

134

Kansas State Historical Socictij.

but how much this would aflfect the result is a matter of conjecture. The
ten years from 1880 to 1890, which was the period of introduction of the
gradual reduction "patent process" in the Kansas mills, showed a doubling
of the average amount of capital per mill. Then come the figures of the
census of 1900, showing an increase of fifty per cent in the number of
mills and a decrease of one-third in the average capitalization. The later
'90's was the period when the last of the old-fashioned burr mills, running
on part time, many being small water-power mills and survivals of the early
period of milling, were giving way before the disadvantages of competition
with the larger and better equipped mills using the new process. With a
knowledge of the real movement that was going on, it would be expected
that the report would show exactly the contrary to what it does. Either
there was a great undervaluation of the mills in that report, or the listing
of a large number of little feed mills in the industry put the figures out of
proportion, for the next reports indicate a condition inconsistent with them.

The census of 1905 indicates the general movement toward centralization
very clearly, the figures showing a trebling of the average capitalization
for the fifteen years since the census of 1890, the number of mills being
about the same at this time as fifteen years before. On^the basis of the
1900 report, the decrease in number of mills for the five years is about one-
third, and the increase in capitalization for the same time about 400 per
cent. The multiplication of capital and size of the more favorably located
mills, is, however, going on much as even these figures indicate, and the
state report for 1907 shows that the average capitalization had risen to
$62,932, an increase of about sixty-one per cent in the two years.

Other industries that were established early enough to form a basis of
comparison show in about the same degree this movement toward the cen-
tralization of manufacturing in larger and better establishments, which for
the first time in many cases are now large enough to be ranked as factories.
In the case of many industries that are now ranked as of first importance
in the manufactures of the state, the conditions about 1900, chief of all the
discovery of oil and gas in abundance, have either worked such a radical
change in the industry that a comparison would show little or nothing of
value in this connection. Others have had their origin practically in that
period, and their history is practically all of the present day.'-""

Note 207.— The following table, compiled from the census reports, except that of 1907, which
is from the report of the State Bureau of Labor, shows the figures on which the preceding dis-
cussion was based:

All industries.

Milling industry.

YEAR.

No.

Average
capital.

Inc.

No.

Average
capital.

Inc.

1880

3.395
4,471
7,830
2,474
1.769

$11,192,315
43.926.002
66.827.362
88.180.117

119.983.322

- 10*
327
80

320
348
533
354
202

$3,395,828

7.844.280

8,366,966

13,816,887

12.712.364

1890

113%
- 30*
148.7
61

19(X)

1905

1907

' Per cent for 1900 is a decrease.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 135

NATURAL GAS AND OIL.

Following close upon the ceritralization of industries in Kansas City and
Omaha that has just been under discussion, came the important discoveries
of natural gas and oil in the early '90's, the influence of which in the period
of prosperity after 1895 started the growth of a new manufacturing district
in the eastern part of Kansas, which since 1900 has been gradually extended
into the northeastern part of Oklahoma. The oil was at first the most im-
portant part of the discovery in a commercial way, until the establishment
of the new industries using the abundant supply of gas as fuel, but econom-
ically the gas has been by far the more important of the two to the devel-
opment of the district. For this reason the operations in oil will be given
only passing mention, though in reality prospecting for the one has as fre-
quently resulted in developing the other branch of the mineral wealth, for
the districts are practically coincident. The oil development will be touched
upon again in connection with the oil refining industry, and for the present
the discussion will be centered on the fuel importance of the gas develop-
ment.

"The history of the developmejit of oil and gas in Kansas really dates back
to 1860, when there was some preliminary prospecting in the neighborhood
of lola, Kan., inspired by stories of oil and gas springs that the early set-
tlers got from the Indians ^os as early as the period of the development of
the Pennsylvania field in the '50's. The history of the discovery and devel-
opment of oil and gas in Kansas may be divided into three parts: First, the
early period, dealing with the early observations of surface indications, and
a little prospecting. Second, the period in which the prospectors began
using the drill actively. . . . Third, the period of recent development,
which began about 1890, and continues to the present time."-"'' Little was
accomplished in the early prospecting of the first two of these periods, and
only passing mention will be given to them. The influence on manufactures
has all come since the important developments about 1895, and afterward, ^'o

As early as 1860 there was a company organized to drill for gas and oil
in Miami county in the neighborhood of Paola,-'* about fifty miles south of
Kansas City, and leases were secured on 30,000 acres of land. A little drill-
ing was done before the outbreak of the Civil War, but little was accom-
plished, and the company scattered in that time of strife and border troubles,
and all records of the drilling were lost. A little later some shallow wells
drilled at Mound City, in Linn county, produced small quantities of gas and
oil, and it was thought worth while to send the state geologist to investi-
gate the geology of that region, and a flattering report from him led to some

Note 208. — " Beaver Spring was the first spring in Kansas showing crude oil on its surface.
The Indians would camp there to gather oil by placing their blankets on the surface of the spring,
and in a few hours wring the blankets and secure much oil. They used it for frozen parts, for
cuts, sprains, for sores on their ponies, and externally for internal ailments. The spring was in
Miami county."— From a letter of Ely Moore, of Lawrence, May 17. 1909.

Note 209.-Univ. Geol. Surv.. Kan., vol. IX, p. 21.

Note 210. — There are numerous accounts, more or less accurate, dealing with the early dis-
covery of oil and gas, and a number of newspaper accounts dealing with the later period that are
quite accurate, but Haworth's report, in volume IX of the University Geological Survey, will be
adopted as the basis of the account, supplemented by notes from other accounts where profitable.
Statements and quotations not otherwise credited are from that volume.

Note 211.— The i/eraW of Freedom of March 31, 1855, mentions the finding of oil in the
vicinity o'f Osawatomie.

12Q Kaiisas State Historical Society.

further prospecting. "But the money was hard to raise, drilling was ex-
pensive, and at best it was but mere child's play compared with the way oil
wells are drilled at the present time. Under such circumstances, . . .
very indifferent success followed these undertakings." Some drilling in the
neighborhood of Kansas City at the same time found a little oil and gas, but
not enough to offer much encouragement.

The second part of our history includes the period from 1870 to 1890,
during which time a fair amount of drilling was done, on> small scale, how-
ever, and by men of limited experience and for local interests. "About
seven miles to the northeast of Paola, in 1882, wells were put down, and a
fair amount of gas was obtained, and piped into the city. Encouraged by
this fair success, drilling was prosecuted to a considerable extent through-
out a semicircle reaching from northeast to southwest of town. Occasion-
ally an oil well would be found producing a heavy, dark oil which found a ready
market at five dollars a barrel for lubricating purposes. But a far greater
value was obtained in the natural gas, which was found in sufficient abun-
dance to supply the city of Paola with lights and heat from those early days
up to the present time." Fort Scott, Wyandotte (Kansas City, Kan.), and
lola, later the center of development, found gas in small quantities about
the same time.-'-

The development of the present period began in reality with the opera-
tions of a Mr. Mills, who did some prospecting for oil at Neodesha, about
thirty miles from the southern line of the state. Meeting with some suc-
cess he went East, and succeeded in interesting a Pittsburg firm, who
began work in the Neodesha field in 1893, and soon met with reasonable
success. They brought in a number of producing gas wells and laid pipes
to supply the town, and lighted the first gas from the pipes on the Fourth
of July, 1894, as a part of the celebration. These men brought in some
good oil wells, and in the following year sold their holdings to the Forest
Oil Company, afterwards the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, a branch of the
Standard Oil. The operations at Neodesha were thus of great importance,
in that they opened the field to outside development, and for this reason
should rank as the real beginning. Gas was found really before Guf-
fey & Galey, the Pennsylvania drillers, struck gas at Neodesha, by the
prospecting of a local merchant at Coffeyville, almost on the southern line
of the state. Coffeyville was using the gas from his wells for domestic
purposes in 1892, and about the same time Cherryvale,-'' about half way
between Neodesha and Coffeyville, finally secured a producing gas well,
after the local company had all but given up hope, and that town also began
to use the new fuel.

Note 212. -;-Prof. Robert Hay. then of the United States Geological Survey, in an article in
the fifth biennial report of the Board of Agriculture, gives an account of the early development,
the principal item of which follows: "The Kansas Oil and Mining Company was organized in
li»2 with a capital of $42.5.000. and drilled four wells east of Paola. striking gas in three at a
depth of about 800 feet, the pressure varying from 55 to 66 pounds, while a fifth got a small
quantity of gas at a depth of 78 feet. Fort Scott began using gas for lighting in the same year,
having three productive wells about 200 feet deep, and an oil well yielding four barrels a day.
Kansas City, Kan., was using gas from three wells for factory purposes, a flour mill, a planing
mill and a brick plant depending on it for fuel. lola was using gas in the same year from a sin-
gle well 628 feet deep for light and heat for a hotel. Independence, fifteen miles from the state
line on the south, had a well a thousand feet deep that produced a light flow of gas." — Fifth
Bien. Rep., pp. 198-207.

Note 2l3.-"The Cherryvale Gas Company has ordered a new drill, and will on its arrival at
once commence sinking more wells. The demand for this excellent and cheap fuel is increasing
?^ "ts advantages over coal and its safety becjmes known."-Cherryvale Republican, September
lO, ir*yc.

History of Mmiufactures in Kansas. 137

It was at Tola, in Allen county, however, that the first big well was
brought in and the industrial importance of the Kansas field became ap-
parent. There had been more or less local activity in that region ever since
the first discovery of the Acres well in 1873, and in January, 1894, a strong
flow was struck in the thirteenth well in the field, and the town had enough
gas from that time for all domestic purposes. Encouraged by this success
a new company was formed, and just as the drillers were becoming dis-
heartened the strongest well ever drilled in the lola field was brought in on
Christmas eve, 1893, '-^^ and the town found that it had far more gas at its
disposal than it could use. This was the first well to reach the stratum of
the best oil and gas "sand," near the base of the Cherokee shales, and it
was with this step that the industrial development dependent on the gas
supply was inaugurated. Reports of the supply of gas soon attracted various
manufacturing enterprises, foremost among them being the brick plants,
zinc smelters and the Portland cement mills. Such was the lead that the
big gasser of 1895, and others that were soon brought in, gave to lola, that
for a time it was the center of the manufacturing activity that followed.

For a time the demand for the vast stores of natural gas that the drillers
tapped here and there all over the oblong area of some half a dozen coun-
ties, from Paola southwestward, lagged far behind the supply, and the bulk
of the development from 1896 to 1900 was made with the hope of finding oil.
The utihzation of the gas to an extent commensurate with the possibility of
production depended upon the advent of a large amount of capital to make
it available for domestic purposes generally, and still more upon manufac-
turing establishments to turn its pent-up energy into work and wealth.
Soon after the development at lola, brick plants were started at Coffeyville
and at Cherry vale, using natural gas as fuel,'-i5 but they were not very heavy
consumers, and many of the large wells in the period before 1900 were
closed in, and no immediate benefit was secured from them.

This in brief was the condition of the Kansas gas field in 1900. The
Standard Oil Company had erected a refinery at Neodesha which was com-
pleted in 1895, with a capacity of 500 barrels a day.^ie and in the next two
years its operating branch, the Forest Oil Company, had eighty-three pro-
ducing wells distributed in seven counties of the Kansas field. Stimulated
by the activity at Neodesha, and encouraged by the prospects of a market
for their oil that the Standard oflPered, the other towns renewed their opera-
tions, and in the two years from 1900 to 1902 the present development was
fairly foreshadowed. Chanute began prospecting independently in 1899, en-
couraged in the hope of finding oil by the showing of oil in the earlier gas
wellg. The work of the first two years was principally done by a Mr. I. N.
Knapp, who, disappointed in getting leases at Neodesha, turned to that field,
and made a deal with that city to drill gas wells for them, and to have the
privilege of retaining all the oil that he should find. In this way he devel-
oped several hundred acres, drilling more than 200 wells, and in 1900 began
shipping oil to the gas factories of Kansas City and Omaha. He continued
in this business until after the laying of the Standard's pipe line to Kansas

Note 214.—" Discovery and Development of Natural Gas in Kansas," by Charles F. Scott in
Kansas Historical Collections, vol. 7, p. 128. The lola Regis' ersind the Friend- Herald, lola, dif-
fer as to the date of bringing in of this well, giving the date as December 19, 20 and 23, 1893.

Note 215.-Min. Res. Kan., 1898, p. 46.

Note 216.— Ind. Rept., Oil and Gas Mag., p. 9.

138 Kansas State Historical Society.

City in 1904, when he sold certain products of his refinery to that company,
and retired from the field some years later. Both 1902 and 1903 were boom
years for Chanute. The Prairie Oil and Gas Company entered the field with
two large storage tanks and a pipe line to the Neodesha refinery, and the
number of wells multiplied rapidly. Many of them were gas wells, and in-
creased the visible supply of gas far beyond the local demand.

An interesting chapter of the development is written in and about Inde-
pendence, Kan., in the operations of McBride and Bloom, two young men
who had been in business drilling in the Kansas field since the beginning of
the development. In 1901 they brought in a monster gas well near Inde-
pendence, and immediately covered the county with leases, and by 1903 had
developed a number of oil producers southwest of Independence, and made
themselves wealthy thereby. In 1903 the Standard entered the field, and in
that year finished its pipe line to Bolton, the center of the pool. Near In-
dependence, also at Erie, development in 1903 brought in fourteen gas wells
and a number of oilers, adding to the supply of available fuel. Other devel-
opment resulted in a great addition to the oil production of the state in
1903- '04, and to take care of the production the Standard had increased the
capacity of its Neodesha refinery first to 1000 barrels a day in 1902, and to.
5000 in 1904.'-'" Then in 1903 an independent refinery was built at Humboldt
by C. D. Webster, who came out from the Pennsylvania field. ^'s in 1904
the Standard erected a second refinery at Sugar creek, near Kansas City,
Mo., with a capacity of 6000 barrels per day, and in the same year a second
independent establishment entered the field, this time just south of the
Kansas line, in the Indian Territory, where the development had reached
by this time.-'"

This was the situation with regard to the gas supply for the first year or
two after the great development in 1900. Nearly every one of the Kansas
towns in the gas belt had a gas company of its own, and had more gas than
it knew what to do with. Many of the oil wells failed of their purpose and
brought in gas. The all-absorbing question was what to do with it. It was
at this stage that the towns through their commercial clubs went after the
manufacturing interests, wherever idle capital was to be had in the United
States. Three-cent gas for a long period of years was the offer that they
made to prospective manufacturers. Many offered free building sites, and
in some instances free gas was offered for two or three years as an extra
inducement to locate.'-'-" These efforts probably did more in the way of ad-
vertising the resources that the new gas field had to offer than in any other
■way, but in that respect success followed closely. The amount of corre-
spondence that followed for a few years from manufacturers from all over
the East was voluminous, and many industries came in at least sooner than
they would have done otherwise for this reason.

The towns to the south of lola had the advantage in that once their
propositions got the ear of the prospective manufacturer, they had all the
force of the example of what had been accomplished there before 1900.
Ida had to go after her factories, and had to prove the value of the fuel
supply to get them. Then, after a long wait, the Lanyons decided to locate

Note 217.— Interview. 1908.

Note 218.-Independence Reporter, Oil and Gas Magazine, p. 43. Note 219.— Ibid, p. 34.

Note 220.— Independence Daily Reporter, March 6, 1903.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 139

a smelter at lola, and the exodus from the coal district of Pittsburg began
with the plant of the Robert Lanyon's Sons, that was built in lola in 1896.
Other smelters followed closely after this first one, and in a few years brick
and Portland cement plants were added to the list of consumers of lola
gas. 221 AH this was before 1900, before any of the other towns had put
their surplus gas to any industrial use, and before they had fully realized
the wealth that was going to waste beneath their feet. Local capital had,
it is true, organized the Coffeyville Brick and Tile Company in 1896, and
built other plants at Independence and Cherryvale in 1898, using gas for
fuel, 222 bu., beyond that the demand for domestic purposes fixed the market
for the gas of those towns.

The development of the years 1900 to 1902 extended the gas field to
practically its present extent, and the cheap rates offered to manufacturing
institutions began to scatter the incoming capital to the southward of the
first center at lola. The larger interests as they came in, almost without
exception, availed themselves of the offer of free fuel or of the three-cent
rate, as the case might be, but in most instances they set about to acquire
holdings of their own, and put down their own gas wells near the site of
their plants. In the case of the Portland cement mills, which began to dot
the country through the gas belt after 1900- and the successful start of the
lola mill, the production was often larger than the industry called for, and
the companies offered their gas to other manufacturers at the regular fac-
tory rate.

Then it was that another factor entered the field and put the real gas_,
development of the field on its feet. This was the organization of the Kan-
sas Natural Gas Company, animated by T. N. Barnsdall, of Pittsburg, Pa. ,
backed by other capital from the Pennsylvania field. A charter was secured'
in 1904, the wells and equipment of the Consolidated Gas, Oil and Manufac-
turing Company, organized a year earlier by McBride & Bloom, the pioneer-
developers, were taken over, and the new company, with a capital of $12,-
000,000, started out to supply all eastern Kansas with gas from the southern
field. In 1905 the Caney Gas Company was acquired, and a few months
later the big concern took over the Coffeyville Gas Company, which ownedi
64,000 acres of gas lands and was valued at nearly a million alone. Several;
other local companies were taken up, and within two years from its incep-
tion the Kansas Natural controlled the output of the Kansas field, save for'
the production of the wells by the individual manufacturing plants, such aa
the smelters, brick plants and like industries.

The Kansas Natural centered its development in the field in and about
Montgomery county, Altoona, just north of Neodesha, and Deering, south
of Independence, being the centers of the two larger pools from which it
drew. As soon as the supply was located the company began laying pipe lines
into the Joplin mining district, and northward to Topeka, Lawrence, Kansas
City, Leavenworth and Atchison, touching intermediate towns outside of
the gas district. 223 These lines were practically all completed by the end of

Note 221.— lola Register (daily). May 13. 1907.

Note 222.— Interview. 1908.

Note 223.— One of the incidents of the activity of the Kansas Natural was the org-anization
of the Kansas Gas Protective Association, which tried to stop the operations of the company
and to forbid the piping of the gas out of the state. Finally, December 17, 1904, the pipe line
was blown up in three places in Montgomery county, and the litigation in the courts that foI~
lowed gave the victory to the Natural, and its operations have not been opposed since that time
— Independence Reporter, Oil and Gas Magazine, p. 36.

140 Kansas State Historical Society.

1905, tjie piping of Kansas City being completed in 1906, and the company-
counted nearly a million population in the towns that it served. The larger
manufacturing establishments, however, that are situated in the gas belt,
are not included in these figures. In 1905 the Kansas Natural had 350 wells,
with a tested capacity of two billion cubic feet daily, and had nearly 400
miles of sixteen-inch mains laid to reach its customers. The company has
been an important factor in the industrial situation since that time, in spite
of the fact that the largest share of manufacturing gas is produced from
other wells. --'^ It has made a permanent rate of twelve and a half cents
per thousand feet for manufacturing purposes, and has hundreds of factories
using its gas.

In 1904 the development of the field had passed southward across the
state line into Oklahoma and Indian Territory, and some large oil pools
were opened south of the line. In Oklahoma but one district produced oil
to any extent (all the development being for the sake of oil), while in the
Indian Territory the development was confined largely to the Osage lands
on account of the fact that leases were difficult to obtain elsewhere. 225
Late in the year the activity increased in the vicinity of Bartlesville and
Tulsa, and' by the end of the year there were about 500 oil wells producing
in the territories. In the following year the development of the oil pools
in and about Bartlesville, Ramona and Pawhuska brought in numerous
strong gas wells,--'' and those towns began to off'er gas to manufacturers
for two cents a thousand.--' The next year (1906) saw an unprecedented
development in the supply of gas in the Indian Territory, the field developed
extending from the Kansas line southward almost to the Arkansas river,
and being in most places from five to ten miles in width. The larger num-
ber of the wells are in the Cherokee Nation, and will average twenty million
feet per day.

The same conditions continued in the field south of the Kansas line
throughout 1906, the amount of gas developed and left unused being enor-
mous. Practically no manufactures had as yet entered the field, and owing
to the uncertainty of the laws and rulings of the Interior Department, the
gas was left practically unused save for local domestic purposes. The pos-
sible production increased enormously,--** however, in spite of the fact that

Note 224. — "There are twenty-five glass plants, fifteen smelters and perhaps a hundred
brick plants drawing on the Kansas gas field and consuming a hundred million cubic feet. . . .
In the same district domestic consumers do not use to exceed 25,000,000 cubic feet. The plants
enumerated have their own gas lands and do their own drilling for the supply for nearly all of
them."— Independence Reporter. Oil and Gas Magazine, p. 37.

Note 225. — "Later in the year the Secretary of the Interior began to confirm leases within
the Cherokee territory, and drilling began with great activity. ... A few small areas were
leased previously, including nearly all the town site of Bartlesville, which was leased to the
Cudahy Oil Company; . . . Since the Cherokee leases have been confirmed drilling has be-
come very active in the little town of Alluwe, about thirty milesisouth of the town of Coffeyville,
and at the villages of Dewey and Lenapah, the former being four miles north of Bartlesville, and
the latter ten miles south of Coffeyville."— Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX, p. 207.

Note 226.— "A well drilled close to the state line in October tested close to thirty-five million
feet. In the Indian Territory some enormous gas wells have been found, a number of which
range from fifteen to twenty million cubic feet. The strongest wells are near the line between
the Osage and Cherokee land, .some on one side and some on the other. ... In the vicinity of
Bartlesville the gas is found in the sand above the oil sand, and frequently the gas is allowed to
escape, and the drill sent down to the oil." — Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX, p. 214a.

Note 227.— Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX, p. 214.

Note 228.— "Gas has been developed in the Indian Territory to such an enormous extent
in connection with the oil development that the Cherokee and Osage territories could probably
supply two or three times as much gas as is developed in Kansas. A great deal of this territory

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 141

the companies in their drilling purposely tried to avoid the known pools of
gas, in their search for oil. In 1907 the Kansas Natural laid a small pipe
line into the field south of the state line, and drew heavily from it until the
Oklahoma legislature passed a law prohibiting the exportation of gas from
the above field, and the law since that time has been—s thoroughly enforced
so far as can be learned. The southern end of the field thus presents an
anomalous condition. There are millions of dollars' worth of gas on tap
that up to the present time have been absolutely of no value, on account of
the conditions outlined above. The conditions are analogous to those that
prevailed in the Kansas field for the first few years, but the determination
of Oklahoma to keep the gas at home will, if persisted in, eventually result
in a movement of gas-using industries southward. -^o

In the Kansas gas field there was considerable activity during 1907, nota-
bly in the northern end, probably stimulated by the impossibility of drawing
from the Oklahoma field. The principal development was that of a pool a
few miles southwest of Chanute, where a large number of wells were drilled
that would run from two to thirty million feet. 2" In this respect the new field
is almost as good as that in Montgomery 232 county, which was exploited two
years earlier. A new field was also opened between Neodesha and Fredonia,
in Wilson county, the wells being smaller, however, and the flow used prin-
cipally by the local manufacturing interests. Other shallow fields, producing
wells of three to five million capacity, were also developed at two or three
other points. It is known to be a fact that the constant drain on the gas
supply of the northern part of the Kansas field, especially at lola, where
the zinc smelters and the Portland cement mills consume millions of feet of
gas every day, that there is fear of the failure of the supply at a no very
distant day. Deep drilling has been going on at lola for nearly a year past
with a view of increasing the supply before the want is really felt. Nothing
definite can be learned as to the results, but no new finds have been made
known to the public, and the indications are that that part of the field at
least is at present confronted with a gradual diminution of the supply.

It would be very difficult to stwte either the production of the Kansas-
Oklahoma gas fields authoritatively. -33 or, if the production were ascertained,

gas is shut in awaiting a market, while other portions are piped to various towns and villages
and retailed for domestic consumption. Practically no manufacturing concerns are established
south of the state line."— Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX. p. 219.

Note 229.— "Guthrie, Okla., February 17, 1910.

"R. L. Douglas. University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.':

■'Dear Sir— Your letter of February 14. addressed to the secretary of State, has been re-
ferred to this office.

'"The law referred to in your letter was not a territorial law. but was passed by the first
state legislature, and will be found in chapter 67 of the 1907-'08 Session Laws. This law was de-
clared unconstitutional by the United States circuit court of the eastern district of Oklahoma,
by a decision which was filed in .July. 1909. The decision has not been officially reported, but no
doubt will be contained in the 172d volume of the Federal Reports.

Very respectfully. W. C. Reeves.

Assistant Attorney -general."

Note 230. — " But few factories are as yet established (1907). At Bartlesville there are two
zinc smelters, and one is building. At Dewey, four miles north, a .Portland cement plant is
building."— Haworth, in Eng. and Min. Jour., January 4, 1908.

Note 231. — Haworth, in Eng. and Min. Jour.. January 9, 1909.

Note 232. — "In another column of this booklet will be found the detailed report of Sealy L.
Brown, gas inspector, showing the amount of gas developed in Montgomery county, Kansas,
January 1, 1909. In spite of the vast amount of gas piped to Kansas City, Topeka, Leavenworth,
St. Joe. joplin and other cities, the wells of the great Montgomery county field show no diminu-
tion."-Mid-Continent Oil Fields, 1908, p. 44.

Note 233.— Tables were published in the bulletins on Mineral Resources of Kansas for the

years 1897 to 1902, inclusive, that are as accurate as any for the Kansas field. No figures were

.available for the Oklahoma field for the'purpose of this article that give satisfactory summaries.

142 Kansafi State Historical Society.

to give an accurate valuation, on account of the fact that the gas is sold at
prices varying from three cents to twenty-five cents a thousand in different
parts of the district, and manufacturers who own their own wells have no
satisfactory records of the amount of gas actually consumed. Probably gas
to the value of half a million, or thereabouts, was produced in the experi-
mental period up to 1897,-'^^ and about twenty-five millions since that time,
as nearly as the estimates can be reconciled. --^s No figures are obtainable
for Oklahoma, though it is estimated that there were a hundred and forty
billion feet of gas produced in that district last year.-'" The estimate is,
however, in all probability high.

The importance of the development of natural gas to the manufacturing
interests of the state lies, howevtr, in its particular advantages as a fuel in
certain kinds of industries, rather than in the amount that is produced. To
some of the industries that have been built up in the eastern part of Kan-
sas since 1900 gas is an essential elertient. This is true of the glass facto-
ries, which have to make gas if they cannot secure the natural product.
Others, as the Portland cement mills, find it doubly advantageous, the cost
and efficiency both entering into the consideration. In others, such as the
brick industry, which gas has revolutionized, and the zinc smelters, the con-
venience and economy is the greatest recommendation. It has often been
stated that 20,000 feet of natural gas is equal in efficiency to a ton of ordi-
nary coal, 23' and under the loose conditions that prevail in small factories,
where the firing is not of the best, that is probably a fair estimate. It has
been stated on good authority that with average conditions about r?5,000
feet238 of gas would equal a ton of coal. As the cost of fuel to the larger
plants, located in the gas belt, is not above three cents a thousand,
the ratio of gas and coal would make it necessary to get coal at seventy-five
cents a ton to equalize the two fuels from the point of cost alone. This ad-
vantage, in connection with the superiority of equal firing, convenience and
the like, have been the factors that have attracted the industries to the

Note 234. -Min. Res., Kan.. 1902. p. 39.

Note 235.— Min. Res.. U. S., 1906, gives the following table of gas production for Kansas (at
page 823):

Year. i^»- Value. No wells

producers. productive.

1897 10 $105,700 90

1898 29 174,640 121

1899 31 332,592 160

1900 32 356,900 209

1901 48 659,173 276

1902 80 814,431 404

1903 120 1,123,849 666

1904 190 1,517,643 1,029

1905 171 2,261,836 1,142

1906 130 4,010,986 1,145

In addition to this table. Professor Haworth, state geologist of Kansas, estimated that in
y»07 the gas consumed had a value of from six to seven millions of dollars. (Eng. and Min.
Jour.. Jan. 4, 190H.) On that basis, the value for 1908 would be in excess of seven millions in
all probability.

Note 2:56.-Report state mine inspector, Oklahoma, quoted in Kansas City Journal (daily).
January 11. 1909.

Valuable material is contained in the following publications : First Biennial Report Kansas
Bureau of Labor. 1901-'02. pp. .323-339; Coffey ville Daily Journal (supplement), April 6. 1907:
Independence Reporter Oil and Gas Magazine. December 1905 : Tola Daily Register (anniversary
edition). May 13. 1907: Annual Review.s. "•The Mid-Continent Oil Fields." 1905, 1906, 1907, pub-
li.Mhed by the Independence Daily Reporter ; various numbers The Kansas Derrick, published at
lola. Kan.: Kansas-Indian Territory Oil and Gas Field," Chanute, June 1. 1904.

Note 237.-First Bien. Rept.. Kan. Bureau Labor, p. 329.

NoiE238.-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX, pp. 201. 202.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 143

southeastern part of the state, and have added a net increase of thirty or
forty millions to the manufactures of the state since 1900.

The first of the new industries was, as has been stated,* the Lanyon zinc
smelter at lola; and soon afterward several brickyards began the use of gas.
Then, in 1899, the establishment of the cement mill at lola, followed as it
was with remarkable prosperity, led to the organization of others in rapid
succession. Other smelters were built all along the line of gas towns from lola
to Deering, near the southern line of the state. The number of gas-burning
brick plants multiplied, and the failure of the Indiana gas field attracted
the glassmakers to the new field as early as 1902, the first factory being a
small twelve-pot window-glass factory at Independence. '-^'i By 1905 there
were four cement mills, nine glass factories, twelve smelters and more than
half a hundred brick plants in operation in the state using gas as fuel,-^^
and the gas belt had become the center of manufacturing and business activ-
ity.-" Since that time eleven more Portland cement mills have been built
in Kansas, and two in the gas district of Oklahoma ( Indian Territory) ; the
number of glass factories has doubled, the smelters have builded southward
across the state line at Bartlesville, and the population of the district has
almost doubled.

One of the incidents of this growth of manufacturing and of the develop-
ment of the oil and gas fields is the inception of a great demand for machinery
of all kinds, and out of this new demand has grown up a wonderful increase
in the iron foundry and repair business. In 1903 the largest of the iron-
working establishments were consolidated into one company, under
the name of the United Iron Works Company, with a captalization of
$650,000, with a line of eight plants reaching from lola to Springfield,
Mo., where the head offices are located. The purpose of the consolida-
tion was to secure a specialization of industry in the shops best located
to do a particular line of work ari thus to prevent wasteful com-
petition between plants. The plan v.orked so well that in addition to the
first five plants included, two more were purchased in 1904, and a third was
erected at Independence in 1906.-^-' The conditions of the gas-belt district
are such that it is highly advantageous to have such a string of ironworking
plants to attend to the heavy repair business, which demands prompt and
convenient service. The fact that the rates on the raw materials, pig iron '
and charcoal, are much cheaper than rates on the finished machinery that is

Note 2Z9.— South Kansas Tribune (weekly), December 6. 1905.

Note 240.— Census Manufactures, Kansas, 1905, p. 20.

Note 241. — "There are twenty-five gas plants, fifteen smelters, four cement plants, and
perhaps a hundred brick plants drawing on the Kansas gas field."— Independence Reporter, Oil
and Gas Magazine, p. 37. The estimates in this account are considerably larger than the census
figures, and are probably a little too large.

Note 242.— The two plants at Springfield, Mo., make a specialty of ice-making machinery,
coal-mining machinery, and railroad repairs, and employ 150 men. This is the parent plant, and
the head office of the company. The Aurora, Mo., branch, specializes in zinc concentrating plants
for the Joplin district, and employs 25 men. The Joplin plant also makes concentrating ma-
chinery, and boilers and sheet steel supplies for the mines, and employs 85 men. The Pittsburg
plant makes coal-mining machinery, and does railroad repair work, employing 75 men. The lola
plant, established in 1901, makes all kinds of cement-mill supplies, oil tanks and smelting ma-
chinery, besides general repair work in all these lines. It employs 165 men. The Independence
plant, the last of the line, makes a specialty of brick-making machinery, and supplies most of
the yards in that part of the gas belt, giving employment to 50 men. The freight difference gives
these plants a twenty per cent advantage over similar plants east of the Mississippi, and ac-
counts for the growth of the industry.— Interview, 1908 ; also, lola Register, May 13, 1907.

* Supra, p. 139.

j^44 Kansas State Historical Societij.

produced where the materials are at hand, gives the specialized shops a
trade advantage that has made the iron trades a most prosperous industry.

An interesting feature of the development of the gas- belt manufacturing
towns is the fact that almost without exception the industry has added a
settlement to the town in which it is situated, and this factory section
seems, in most cases, to be a thing in itself and apart from the rest. The
thing that strikes the casual observer is the apparent absence of any effect
whatever in the way of addition to the town since the coming of the factories,
and this impression persists until the immediate neighborhood of the factory
is reached. There, usually, he will find a settlement almost equal in size to
the population that depends upon the industry. Of the cement mills, the
glass factories, the smelters, and, in some instances, of the brickyards,
this is almost universally the case. The oil refineries and the machine shops
do not follow this rule. One potent reason is doubtless the consideration of
convenience, which makes it advisable for the laborer in these establish-
ments to live near his employment. As in most cases these establishments
are necessarily at some distance from the residence part of the towns, and
as the labor employed represents an addition by so much to the pre-
vious population, it is a rule that there is a settlement for each large in-
dustry. Thus, for the first time in the manufacturing life of the state,
there is a class different from the general population, and one that does not
mingle freely with it. In this respect there is a similarity to the situation
in the coal-mining towns, where the settlement for each large mine has
been the rule for years, even in the case of American labor.

It is also worthy of notice that the new manufacturing population is not
to any extent organized, and that the labor union is not a very important
factor, especially in the industries that have followed the development of
the gas belt. The cement workers are wholly unorganized, as are the brick
workers,-^' the smelter men,^^^ the employees of the oil refineries, and a
large proportion of the ironworkers. The glassmakers are organized to an
extent, but not at all closely. Of the fifteen glass factories reported by
the state in 1907 only two had local unions, but as the glassworkers repre-
sent a population that comes from an older field, a much larger number
than this have in all probability had union connections at some time or
other. The ironworkers have by far the larger share of the unions in all
these towns, and have had a substantial growth, continuing up to the
present time. The boilermakers and the iron molders have accomplished
the larger share of their organization since 1900, while the machinists have
added very little to the number of their locals in ten years. On the whole,
however, the labor union is a comparatively unimportant factor in the
manufacturing classes, while on the other hand the miners, railroad workers,
carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers and cigar makers are well organized in
all but the small establishments. ■'«

Note 243. -The first biennial report of the State Bureau of Labor reports: "On April 7
(1902) the union ( in the CoflFey ville Brick and Tile Company's plant) resisted a system of dockage
for lost time during working hours, incident to the operation of the plant. The company refused
the demand, and 150 men went on a strike. On April 10 a conference was held and a contract
agreed upon covering the differences, the company conceding the point the men demanded " ( p.
266). This is the only showing of an organization in the reports, and the statement above may
be taken as approximately true.

Note 214. -There were four smelter men's unions listed in the report of the State Bureau
I p. 132. et»e<i.) for the year iy02-two at lola. one at Kansas City and one at Wichita-but no
lurther information is given about them, and they are not listed in 1903.

Note 245. -Report Bureau Labor, 1907. p. 104. et seq.

History of Manufactures in Katisas. 145

Most of the factory unions have been organized within the last ten years,
the greatest activity being from 1899 to 1904, about the time that the labor
unions were receiving so much advertising, and the "closed" or "open"
shop controversy was so prominent. Another factor may have been the
recognition that was given to labor organizations by the establishment of
the State Society of Labor, the enactment of the factory laws on child labor
and factory inspection and the enforcement of the new labor laws-^* by the
labor commissioner. All these provisions, aimed at the recognition and as-
sistance of the labor unions incidentally, as they were operative on labor in
general, became effective in 1899, and it is certain that after that time the
number of unions increased very materially. One thing that the unions may
have been instrumental in securing was the enactment of the child-labor
law in 1905,2*' for that had been urged by all the unions since 1900 in every
report. In some instances the unions have been very beneficial to the la-
borers, but on the whole the steady increase in wages has not been attributed
by the unions themselves to the effect of the organization any more than to
the general activity of business. -'^

The situation of manufacturing with reference to all the recent estab-
lishments that depend on the gas belt is so much a matter of the present
time that it would be largely a matter of speculation to attempt to give
them a permanent rating in the manufacturing of the country. It is highly
probable that the northern end of the district has reached its maximum,
while there is nothing as yet to indicate a similar condition in the southern
end of the Kansas field. The Oklahoma gas region is still comparatively
unused in an industrial way, only the Portland cement mills and the smelt-
ers having ventured into it as yet. i^tatehood and the settled conditions
that go with it will doubtless encourage factories to locate there where
they have been discouraged. The continued enforcement of the law against
piping gas out of the state will, if adhered to, inevitably draw some of the
establishments southward from the Kansas field, which being older and
drained heavily all the time will fail first.-'*

It must, however, seem improbable that there will ever be a complete
exodus of industry from this section, whatever the fate of the gas supply,
unless of course there should be a similar discovery elsewhere coincident
with a failure here. It is stated on good authority -^^ that even in the
case of the Kansas zinc smelters for the last two years the advantage
is not very great, and the old Kansas coal smelters, as well as the Illinois
coal smelters that are building substantially and equipping for a complete

Note 246.— Chapter 34, Session Laws, 1898. Note 247.— Chapter 278, Session Laws. 1905.

Note 248. — "Average wages, as compared with 1900, are increased in fifty-two instances,
decreased in seven, the same in forty-four. . . . Causes for increase: Forty-one organiza-
tions assign reasons for increase in wages, the prevailing being on account of tfie organization
and the prevailing activity in all lines of business."— First Bien. Rept., Bureau Labor (1901-'02),
p. 142. "Opportunity for employment, as compared with 1901, increased in eighty-eight in-
stances, decreased in six, the same in fifteen. Causes for increase: thirty-eight, 'general pros-
perity.' "Ten, "organization." Four, 'strikes in the East.' Wages, as compared with 1901,
increased in forty-five instances. . . . The prevailing reasons for such increase are 'Organ-
ized labor, and general activity in business and prosperity.' " — Ibid, p. 292.

Note 249. — At this time (1910) the Kansas Natural Gas Company has been using Oklahoma
gas for the supply of its Kansas trade for months. The failure of the gas supply in the lola
district and the weakening of the wells south almost to the Montgomery county district have
made it of importance that this Oklahoma gas should be made available. There is little doubt
that the duration of the Tola supply is tq be short, and parts of that district not supplied by the
Kansas Natural are now using coal for domestic purposes.

Note 250.— Walter R. Ingalls, in Eng. and Min. Jour., January 4, 1908.

^4G Kansas State Historical Society.

utilization of by-products, are on an equal footing. The Kansas smelters
recover no by-products, with the exception of part of the lola works, and
are built rather temporarily. When the gas fails, there is no reason why
the Kansas industry should not reorganize on a basis of greater economy,
using the undiminished coal supply, and operate at little if any disadvantage.

The district will inevitably extend southward to some extent on account
of the fact that the conditions are practically uniform over southeastern
Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. That, it seems, is destined to be the
factory district, if present conditions should prove to be more than temporary;
and there is no visible cause for a termination of the conditions that have
been making so strongly for industrial growth in the past few years. If
the line of commerce shifts to a north-south line and exports seek an outlet
by way of the Gulf of Mexico, as railway traffic men assert, and as seems
probable, the present growth will receive an additional impetus that should
be even greater than that given by the discovery of the new fuel supply ten
years ago. The transportation lines are here, the capital is here and on the
increase, and there is a substantial foundation in economic resources to sus-
tain such a growth.

The tendency at the present time, and it is but little more than a ten-
dency as yet, is for the building up of more important manufacturing cen-
ters through the central parts of Kansas and Oklahoma, which supply in a
measure the things that have heretofore been imported from Kansas City
and elsewhere. Topeka, Wichita and Oklahoma City are the largest and
most important of the cities that have been participating in this later growth.
Their importance began in a commercial way owing to their favored loca-
tions as distributing centers, and at the present time they are doing heavy
business in distributing to the trade of the smaller towns of their district.
This is especially true of Wichita and Oklahoma City, which being farther
removed from the prairie center of commerce at Kansas City have a larger
field to supply. Oklahoma City, as the metropolis of the new state of
Oklahoma, has been almost from its beginning one of the best and most
active commercial cities of the prairie region, but up to 1900 it had no be-
ginnings in an industrial way that amounted to anything. Wichita and
Topeka, on the other hand, have had industrial aspirations, and some actual
importance, for years.

The actual importance of the two cities (Topeka and Wichita) at the
present time is shown by a comparison with the total manufactures of the
state. For comparison the figures for Kansas City, Kan., will be subtracted
from the state total, for they represent a much larger value of products
than any other centers in proportion to the capital and wage-earners, on
account of the peculiarities of the packing industry, which makes up the
bulk of its industries. Subtracting the totals of Kansas City from the
state reports, there were in Topeka and Wichita in 1907 ^s' manufacturing
establishments with one-ninth of the capitalization of the rest of the state,
employing more than one-sixth of the wage-earners, paying one-seventh of
the wages, and producing more than one-fourth of the products of the state
after Kansas City was subtracted. The growth of the industrial life of
both the cities has been very rapid, and is proportionately greater in
Wichita than in Topeka, on account of the fact that the former is but be-
ginning industrial Hfe of importance. In five years since 1900 Wichita in-

NOTE 251.- Twenty-third Ann. Rept., Bureau Labor, tables, p. 280, 0t seq.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 147

creased the capital invested in all industries 148 per cent, with an increase
of 6.7 per cent of the number of establishments ; wages .increased 59.9 per
cent, while the value of the products increased 122 per cent. In Topeka
capital increased 99.7 per cent, with an increase of 6.8 per cent in the number
of establishments; the number of wage-earners increased 37. 5 per cent, and
wages 25.9 per cent, while the value of products increased 72.9 per cent. -5-
The four years since the figures above were collected have seen a continua-
tion of the increase of the importance of Wichita at a greater rate than
Topeka, and the indications are that it will continue for a considerable time
as yet.

The importance of the industries of Topeka is added to materially by the
railway shops of the Santa Fe, they being the main shops for the system.
Though there is not much actual construction carried on there, the amount
of the repair work is enormous, and adds a considerable amount to the total
for the city. In consequence of the railroad work there is a considerable
activity in the iron foundries, whose product is nearly a million dollars an-
nually. Flour mills add two and a half million; one of the larg-est creame-
ries in the United States added over four millions last year,-" out of the
product from 400 collecting stations through the state, which were distrib-
uted again in the shape of "butter to dealers all over the country. The
product of the Topeka packing house adds a large amount of pork products
to the total. Among the comparatively new industries should be mentioned
a structural steel company, a new automobile factory which has a rapidly
increasing output, a vegetable canning factory, a pickling and preserving
factory, all of which are growing rapidly. At Wichita, the largest single
item of industrial importance is the output of two pork-packing plants,
while the flour mills are second, with an output of a million and a half of
product annually. The growth of the business of the manufacture of drugs
and toilet preparations is one of the important features of the latest growth,
and a new paint factory, making paints for the Southwestern climate, is
rapidly extending its market.

Oklahoma City showed the greatest increase in the five years after 1900,
increasing from almost nothing to some actual importance, and revealing
the potential importance of that city as a future manufacturing center. In
the five years the capital invested increased 729.5 per cent, the number of
wage-earners 227.3 per cent, and the wages 317.3 per cent; the value of the
products increased 334.4 per cent,-='^ by far the most rapid increase of any
part of the prairie section in the same time. Favored by location in the
center of the new state, with railway connections of the best, on the north-
south line of traffic, this city will inevitably increase in importance, both as
a distributing center and as a manufacturing point in many Hnes of products.
There is abundant wealth in the city, and it will be strange if the potential
importance does not place the city on an equality with Kansas City as a
manufacturing and commercial point at no very distant time.

In the following sections l^he history of the more important of the indi-
vidual industries will be taken up in the order of importance and develop-
ment. There are, however, many lines of manufacturing that are becoming

Note 252.— Bull. No. 28, Census Manufactures, 1905. p. 16.

Note 253.— Topeka Daily Capital, March 7. 1909.

Note 254.— Bull. No. 30, Census Manufactures, 1905. p. 32.

148 Kaiisas State Historical Society.

important in this section that will not be touched upon in this paper on ac-
count of the length that it would give to the discussion. They should not,
however, be entirely overlooked. Dairying -5' is one of the industries that
is constantly becoming more important and is destined to become character-
istic of the whole section. There are in Kansas and Nebraska at the pres-
ent time more than a hundred creameries, whose capital aggregates nearly
four million dollars, and whose output in 1905 was more than seven million
dollars' worth of butter, to say nothing of the value of the frozen products
in the shape of ice creams that they put out in large quantities every year.
Car construction and repairs by railroads is of considerable importance, there
being some fifty-three shops in the two states, representing about nine mil-
lions of capital, and nearly sixteen million dollars' worth of products every
year. Bakery products make over three millions in the two states. Malt
liquors are a million and a half in Nebraska, and tobacco industries amount
to two millions in the three states in this section.

With this suggestion of the importance of some of the lines of industry
that are not treated in detail, the discussion of the more important individ-
ual industries will be taken up.

FLOUR MILLING.

The milling industry is one of the oldest manufacturing enterprises in
this section of the country, and at the same time one of the most thoroughly
characteristic and widely distributed over the whole section. One of the
first needs of the settlers of the new country was for the means of grinding
their wheat, one of the first products, into flour for their family consump-
tion. This necessity caused the building of small gristmills in the early
days in every community. The eastern part of the section, including prin-
cipally southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas, built many of these
mills, the small streams furnishing power for a majority. Wheat raising
was of less comparative importance in the first twenty years of the history
of the new states than it is at the present time, and before 1870 there was
almost no flour sent out of the district. Home consumption furnished prac-
tically the whole of the demand, and it was hardly looked upon as a manu-
facturing enterprise as a source of wealth and profit, but as a necessity to
society. Most of the early millers followed the business as a sort of side
issue to their regular employment or business.

There are almost no accounts at all of the early period of the milling in-
dustry in this part of the country, partly on account of the very fact that
it was looked upon as so much a matter of course that it attracted little
attention. ^s" In the later years, the industry has attracted some literary
attention, and there are a few accounts that are serviceable as a source of
material for a statement ot the development of the industry. For this
reason it has been necessary to draw the conclusions as well as many of the
details from scattered accounts in local reports for the most of the whole
period. It has therefore been the purpose of this article to study particu-
larly the industry in Kansas, which, being the center of the group of states
under consideration, and the most quickly settled part of the district, is

Note 265. -Sixteenth Bien. Rept.. Kan. St. Bd. Ag., pp. 1038-1040.

Note 256.— Cutler's History of Kansas gives local mention of the establishment of flouring
mills, but no tabulated statistics.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 149

characteristic enough to make the study sufficient for the whole section.
This is further justified by the fact that it is in Kansas alone that there has
been any considerable centralization of the industry in the later period.

The census reports are the only sources of information as to the number
of mills and extent of operations until the beginning of the publication of
a few statistics on manufactures by the secretary of agriculture in his an-
nual reports, beginning with 1874. The first census of Kansas territory
was in 1860, and showed only thirty-six flour and grist mills in the state.
The average capital invested was given as a little over $3000, and the value
of the products was almost $300,00". Small as this amount seems to be,
considering that it was the sum of all the flour industry in forty-one coun-
ties, it shows a larger total than any other single industry, and this leading
position in manufactures it held until the rise of the meat-packing interests
at Kansas City about 1890. It was not until nearly 1870, however, that the
production of flour in the state assumed its normal relationship to the de-
mands of the population for flour. Previous to that time the needs of the
people for bread were supplied from the corn crops, where the supply of
wheat in the state did not meet the requirements.

In the ten years from 1860 to 1870 the number of flour and grist mills
had practically trebled, and the industry was assuming stable proportions.
The amount of capital had increased nearly nine times, and the product had
grown in like proportions, reaching in the year of the census $2,938,215. In
the same time the population of the state had trebled, the acreage farmed
had practically quadrupled, and the wheat acreage had increased from less
than 200,000 acres to two and a third million acres. Soft winter wheat was
the sole product at this time, and as the weather conditions at that time
were such as to make wheat growing uncertain in a considerable portion of
the section, -5^ the milling industry still represents the needs of the settlers
for bread.

The early census reports do not show the distribution of the mills, -'^s nor
the relative numbers of water powers, but those facts are partially supplied
by the report of the agricultural department of Kansas in 1874.259 These
figures are not very satisfactory, on account of the fact that the returns
are incomplete as to numbers, and still further deficient in giving the values
of the mills reported. The next year, however, the report ^so shows practi-
cally complete enumeration of mills, though other details are deficient, as
before. There were 158 flour and grist mills reported in the state of Kan-
sas in 1875, with an average capital investment of $11,000 each, or almost
four times that of fourteen years previous. Only a little more than half
the mills were valued, but at that average capitalization the whole number
brought the total capital investment up to nearly two million dollars, while
in the following year it passed three millions by the same method of com-
putation. In 1875 there were nearly 300 mills reported, or more than are in
operation in the state at the present time.

Note 257.— The Cutler's History of Kansas, 1883, gives under each town a list of its manu-
factories, a history of individual enterprises. Flour and corn mills are included in the number ;
money invested, power and output are usually shown, as well as date of establishment.

Note 258.-Kansas Hand Book, 1881, p. 13.

Note 259. — Third Ann. Rept. State Board of Agriculture: the accounts are scattered through
the body of the report, covering over a hundred pages, so that it is impossible to give page ref-
erences.

Note 260.— Fourth Ann. Rept.

150 Kaiiaa!^ State Historical Society.

The relative importance of the water powers of the streams of the east-
ern part of the state is suggested by these same reports. In 1874, 86 of the
total of 158 reported were run by water power, and how large the propor-
tion may have been earlier can only be conjectured. It was just at this
time that the number of water powers was on the increase, as is shown by
the report for 1875, which lists exactly half of the 290 flour and grist mills
as steam-driven. From this time on, however, there has been a gradual
decline in the number of water powers, until at the present time there are
but a few in the state, and only at the most favorable locations. There are
a considerable number of points where it would be possible to locate water
powers that are not utilized at ail now, on account largely of the convenience
and cheapness of fuel as compared to the initial cost of installing water
powers. Another feature of the flour milling industry through the '70's is
the considerable mills that were run only a part of the time, and in connec-
tion with small sawmills. These combination mills were not confined to the
water powers along the streams, but persisted for some time after the use
of steam power in the flour mills became the rule. Over two-thirds of the
combination mills reported in 1875 were driven by steam. Wind was a source
of power to a small extent, and there were at one time ten wind flour mills
in the state. The reports for the year 1876, 2<" show practically the same
results that have been stated, save that there was an increase in the
number of mills reported, the number averaging ten to each county report-
ing flour mills — 330 in all.

The decade following the conditions that havfe just been suggested saw
a practical revolution of the milling industry of the state. At the begin-
ning of that time only about the amount of wheat was made into flour that
the population of the state demanded. The mills were small, none of them
being above 150 barrels capacity, and the average much less. Exportation
of flour was unheard of, and almost unthought of.-"- But there were sev-
eral influences working quietly in the later '70 's that were making for the
reorganization of the milling industry on an industrial basis that would
make the products important in the commerce of the outside. The first if
not the most important of these was the introduction of hard wheat in
Kansas by the Russian Mennonites who emigrated to the south central part
of Kansas in the '70's, and settled in a group of counties along the Santa
Fe railroad. Prior to that time it had been found impossible to build flour
mills of any consequence on account of the uncertainty of the wheat crop
in that section of the state, and one of the early mills in Harvey county
had to ship wheat from Atchison at times to supply its burrs, ^es

The first party of the Mennonite colonists brought only a small quantity
of the Russian or "Turkey" hard wheat with them, and for several years
only such as they needed for themselves was grown from it.-"^ About 1885,

Note 261. -Fifth Ann. Rept., State Board of Agriculture.

Note 262.-An article in the Kansas Monthly for July, 1878 (vol. I. No. 1). calls attention to
the relative insignificance of the milling- industry to its possibilities, in the eastern part of the
state where crop conditions were fairly satisfactory. " Probably there is not a mill in the state
that has a capacity that will average 1.50 barrels a day. and there is not enough to manufacture
one percent of the present crop. . . . Every well conducted mill is paying large profits,
. . . and I doubt if there is any other business in Kansas that pays so well."

Note 263. -Fifteenth Bien. Kept. State Board of Ag. (Kan.), p. 945.

Note 264.— Ibid, p. 948.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 151

however, Mr. Bernard Warkentin,'-"'' who had been influential in getting the
Mennonites to settle in Kansas, being convinced of the great superiority of
the new wheat as a sure crop producer, imported a considerable quantity of
it from Crimea, and sold it to the farmers for seed. Mr. C. B. Hoffman, 2«6
a pioneer miller of the state, who had been running one of the largest mills
on the Smoky Hill river at Enterprise, was one of the early promoters and
one of the first to offer the hard wheat flour for export.-"" The wheat
did not have to be acclimated, but was naturally adapted to the region west
of the eastern quarter of the state that was too dry for the soft wheat that
had been the whole crop up to this time. By many of the oldest millers of
the state, who have watched the development of the milling industry from
the early days, the introduction of hard wheat is given the credit for the
growth of the exportation of flour from the state, ^es

Beginning about the same time was the improvement of natural condi-
tions which made the production of soft wheat more certain and profitable.
The increase in rainfall that has been going on almost since the first settle-
ment of the state has made the eastern two-thirds better adapted tp the
raising of soft wheat than the eastern edge was at the time the milling in-
dustry started. The impetus given to the raising of wheat by the intro-
duction of hard wheat was communicated to the growing of soft wheat as
well, and as soon as the increased rainfall became a thing certain, the pro-
duction of both kinds of wheat increased enormously. In 1870 there were
less than two and a half million bushels of wheat raised in the state; in
1880 there were seventeen and a third million bushels; and by 1890 this had

Note 265.— Bernard Warkentin was born in southern Russia in 1847, where his father, a
Mennonite, was a large landowner. Young Warkentin came to America. locating first in Sum-
merfleld, Ohio, and from there coming to Kansas in 1872. He settled at Halstead, where he built
the first mill in Harvey county. In 1886 he purchased mill property in Newton and removed
there, retaining business interests, however, in Halstead. He was the first man to introduce the
Turkey hard wheat into Kansas, as his father had been first to interest the Mennonites of south-
ern Russia in that variety of the grain. Mr. Warkentin was one of the " solid men " of
Kansas, public-spirited, and alive to the best interests of the community and the state. His death
was tragic and occurred while he and his wife were on a trip abroad. They were en route from
Damascus to Beirut, when a young man in the next compartment of the railway train, in han-
dling his revolver, accidentally discharged it, the ball penetrating Mr. Warkentin'sbody. He
died in the Prussian hospital at Beirut, about midnight, April 1, 1908. The young man account-
able for this accident was a Turkish prince, Mehemfed Said, a grandson of the famous Abd-el-
Kader, emir of the Arab tribes in Algeria.

Note 266.— Christian B. Hoffman was born in Azmooz, Switzerland, in 1851, and the family
emigrated to Wisconsin, settling in Washington county in 1854. In the year 1857 the father, C.
Hoffman, born in Switzerland August 1, 1826, came to Kansas, locating first at Leavenworth.
He remained there until 1860, when he went into Dickinson county and engaged in farming. In
1868 he left his farm and built a grist mill on the Smoky Hill river near where the town of Enter-
prise now stands. Mr. Hoffman was treasurer of the town company of Enterprise, organized in
January, 1873, and has always been closely identified with its interests. His son. Christian B.,
was educated at the Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Mo., and in 1873 was married to
Catherine A. Hopkins, a native of Virginia. He entered into partnership with his father in the
milling business, and together their ventures have been very successful, embracing many lines of
industry, some of which are now carried on by the third generation of American Hoffmans. C. B.
Hoffman represented his district in the legislature of 1883 and has been more or less active in
politics.

Note 267. — " It was the introduction of hard wheat that made the exportation of flour from
Kansas possible. ... I found that it was a better yieldfer, and that it stood the drought and
other vicissitudes better than the soft wheat. This caused me to chemically analyze its qualities,
which showed that it was rich in gluten, and produced a very nutritious and palatable bread.
Baking tests confirmed this. Exportation of hard wheat flour began in the early '80's, and was
in full swing by 1885."-Letter, C. B. Hoffman, Enterprise, Kan.. 1908. •

Note 268.— "The first flour exported direct by the mills from Kansas was sometime between
1884 and 1887, and was made from hard wheat: it was really the hard wheat-of Kansas that
made it a wheat raising and flour manufacturing state of any importance."— Chas. V. Brink-
man, Great Bend, Kan., 1908.

"The introduction of hard wheat gave an impetus to the raising of wheat in Kansas which
furnished a surplus, a market for which was found in foreign countries."— John Kelley (Kelley
Milling Company, Kansas City, Mo.)

152 Kansas State Historical Society.

increased to thirty and a third million bushels. In the decade from 1880 to
1890 there had been but a slight increase in the average acreage of wheat,
thus showing the importance of the combined influence of the introduction
of hard wheat and the improved crop conditions on the production.

The other important influence was the introduction of the gradual reduc-
tion process in the Kansas mills in the early '80*8. This process was intro-
duced into the United States from France only about 1870, and the burr
process, in general use over the whole United States, persisted in a great
many of the Kansas mills almost until 1890. The first mills in the state
were equipped for the new process in 1881 and 1882,='''' and were ready for
business at about the time that the other advantages in wheat growing
that have been suggested were well under way.

The successful milling of the hard wheat was dependent on the introduc-
tion of the new process, in so far as the export market for flour was con-
cerned, for the old burr process made very inferior flour out of the hard
wheat. With the introduction of the new process, and the reorganization of
the milling business that followed it, many of the old-time water power
mills disappeared altogether from the state. These influences culminated
about 1890, just about the time when, as has already been seen, practically
every line of industry was experiencing a period of expansion and centrali-
zation. The milling industry was no exception, though the centralization
was not accomplished until nearly fifteen years later to its full extent.
The decade from 1880 to 1890 showed an increase in the number of mills of
only 8 per cent, while the amount of capital invested increased 130 per
cent, 2"" the value of the products increased one-half in the same time, and
the number of employees about the same.

The exportation of flour to neighboring states, and particularly to Texas
and Iowa, had begun as early as 1878, ^"i from some of the older and larger
mills in the eastern part of the state. The production of a surplus of wheat,
which had been on the increase from 1875, made possible the development
of larger mills and the growth of a few rather well-defined milling centers.
Those towns that have already been mentioned as taking the lead in manu-
factures, were the ones to take the lead in the new milling movement.
Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Atchison and Fort Scott were
the principal towns, and each of them had from two to four or five of the
larger mills of the state. In the case of the milling industry, however,
there was a wider distribution of mills in the middle western counties of
the state, owing to the effort of some of them to operate as close to the
supply as possible. There were mills built along the water powers of that
section of the country at this time that are still among the largest in the
business to-day in this region. Notable among these are the mills of C. B.
Hofi'man at Enterprise, of C. V. Brmkman at Great Bend, and Bernard
Warkentin at Newton. It is largely to the efforts of these pioneer millers
in that section of the country that the advertising of Kansas flour, and es-
pecially hard wheat flour, was due.

By 1890 the products of the Kansas flour mills were reaching practically
all the neighboring states that were not self-supplying. Missouri, Nebraska

Note 269.— Letters. C. B. HoflFman and C. V. Brinkman.
Note 270.-Tables from census reports for 1880 and 1890.
Note 271. -Interview. J. D. Bowersock, Lawrence, 1908. '

History of> Manufactures in Kansas. 153

and Iowa took considerable quantities of Kansas flour, while the products
■of the Kansas mills found an outlet to the south and southwest, in Georgia,
Tennessee, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. One of the largest of the
mills at this time was at Lawrence, having a capacity of 250 barrels a day.
Of it a contemporary account says: "Its products are known from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, and car lots are sent to the surrounding states. It
took the first premium at the World's Fair Cotton Centennial at New
Orleans in 1884. ' ' -''- The annual production of wheat by the state of Kansas
reached thirty-four million bushels in 1889, and in 1891 it increased to fifty-
six million bushels, affording abundant material for the mills. The quality
of the flour was becoming well known, and the mills were in a fair way to
prosper.

The financial difficulties of 1888 and the depression in all lines of industry
for several years afterward were felt as well by the flour mills as any other
lines of manufacturing, and there was little change in milling conditions
from 1890 until nearly 1900, when there was a considerable increase in the
number of mills, accompanied, however, by only a slight addition to the in-
vestment of capital. This was partly due, no doubt, to the fact that there
were a number of small mills built in the western half of the state about this
time that did only local custom business, and they swelled the numerical
count without adding materially to the milling capacity of the state. From
1898 to 1902 or 1903, however, was a period of considerable addition to the
milling capacity, and, though there were not many mills of consequence
built in that time, there were enlargements going on that have increased
the capacity of the mills to far more than the demand for Kansas flour at
the present time will keep busy. It has been estimated that about 1902 the
milling capacity of the state reached approximately eleven and a half mil-
lion barrels of flour annually,-" or practically double the amount actually
produced. This estimate shows a condition that actually exists at the pres-
sent time; that is, that a large portion of the mills of the state can and do
run but a part of the time, and only the better located and better managed
are able to run continuously.

One of the incidents of the increase of milling capacity about 1900 was
the rise of the milling center at Kansas City, which within only a few years
past has risen to second place as a milling center in the United States. The
annual exportation of a large share of the wheat produced in this section of
the country had years ago made Kansas City the market for millions of
bushels of the Kansas wheat crop every year, while the growing production
of Oklahoma since the '90's added greatly to the wheat that sought the
markets through Kansas City. Realizing the important advantage of lo-
cating mills in conjunction with such a market, there was a considerable
increase in the milling capacity of the Kansas City mills, beginning about
1895. A notable incident of this increase was the erection of one of the
largest hard-wheat mills in the world in Kansas City, Kan., by the Santa
Fe railroad. These mills, known as the Rex Mills, have a capacity of 5000
barrels daily, but for some reason have not been in operation for three or
four years. Recently, however, they have been leased by one of the active

jnilling companies of Kansas City,^"^ and will be in full operation in a few

■ 1

Note 272.— Lawrence JowrwaZ. (weekly), April 15, 1887.

Note 273.-C. B. Hoffman, in Thirteenth Bien. Rept. Bd. of Ag., Kan., p. 539.

Note 274.— The Southwestern Milling Company.

154 Kansas State Historical Society.

months. This will make this company the largest operator in the Southwest,.
with a total mill capacity of 8000 barrels a day. The operations of this one-
company will require forty cars of wheat daily, worth from $35,000 to
$50,000, according to the market. The other mills at Kansas City, six in
number, have a capacity of 1000 and 2000 barrels each, and bring the total
capacity of the mills at this place up to fourteen and a half thousand barrels
a day. -'■'■■

There are twelve towns in the state of Kansas that have a milling ca-
pacity of from 1500 to nearly 4000 barrels of flour daily. Topeka heads the
list with six mills producing 3750 barrels; and a number of towns through the
center of the state in the heart of the wheat belt complete the list. They
were all located, in the first instance, with a view of operating on the wheat
produced in the vicinity, but when it was found necessary to increase the
size and scope of the operations in order to command a standing in the mar-
ket, it was found impossible to secure enough wheat to run the mills with-
out the aid of the railroads. At the present time many of these mills ship
nearly all of their wheat from various distances. This would not have been
possible if the railroads had charged the regular local freight rates on the
shipment and reshipment, and would have forced the milling industry to
centralize completely at Kansas City or some other market center, save for
the small mills that were so situated that they could operate on the wheat
produced within a radius reached by the wagons of the farmers. By means
of the milling in transit rate, similar to the rate made to all manufacturing
concerns of any importance, the millers were allowed to stop wheat at their
mills and grind it and ship out an equal tonnage of flour and other products-
on the through rate. By this means the millers in the center of the state
have exactly the same footing that the Kansas City millers have, save that
they have a little additional trouble of keeping buyers out to supply them,,
while the Kansas City mills find their wheat coming in constantly of its own-
accord.

Under these influences the more aggressive mills through the wheat belt
adapted themselves to the new conditions after the centralization tendency
manifested itself, and the products of a dozen towns find foreign markets
on an equal footing with the Kansas City center. -'^ The only difficulty that
they experience is the finding of a suflficient supply of wheat tributary to
their mills to keep them running the year round. There is a constant ten-
dency for the farmers to turn their wheat on the market considerably in
advance of the marketing of the new crop, and the millers sometimes have
trouble in finding enough wheat available without sending to Kansas City
for it, and thus doubling their ordinary freight rates. Only the great
losses ordinarily incidental to idleness or running on part capacity would
justify paying freight twice, but they are compelled to do it at times. The
building of elevators all through the western part of the state in the wheat
country has helped a great deal in this respect in keeping the wheat in the
country longer, and the growing prosperity of the farmers, which enables
them to hold their crops longer, has aided in the same result.

Note 275.— The Kansas City Star. October 26. 1908.

Note 276.-The towns that are in the lead are: Topeka, with a daily capacity of 37B0 barrels;
Wichita, 3.1W1 barrels: Wellington. :',0.50 barrels: Coffeyville, 1950; Salina, 1925: Leavenworth. 1750;
Arkansas Citj-^ 1550: Atchison, 1450; Hutchinson, 1150; Newton, 1070; McPherson, 1070: Enter-
prise, WM The total capacity of these mills is 23.225 barrels, or about one and a half times that
of Kansas City at the present time.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 155

A few years ago one of the largest milling companies-" of the state con-
ceived the idea of going into the elevator business for itself, in order to
secure a constant supply of high-grade wheat for its mills. Accordingly a
subsidiary grain company was organized, sixteen elevators were bought,
thirty-five or more buying stations were established in southern Kansas and
northern Oklahoma. It is worthy of notice that this is the largest one of
three milling centers of large proportions in the state operating wholly on
soft wheat, 2"8 the products of which are marketed almost wholly in the
Southern states and in the West Indies. One small mill owned by this com-
pany, and operated in connection with their other mills, manufactures hard-
wheat flour for the demand among local customers of the company, but the
large majority of their products are made of soft wheat. The building of
elevators over the wheat belt has of late years become the rule, and has
aided in general in holding back enough of the wheat crop each year to
keep the mills running to supply all the trade they have been able to secure.
Occasionally, however, it is necessary to go to the eastern markets and buy
wheat rather than to allow the mills to be idle and disorganize the trade
that they have been able to build up.

Under present conditions there are two distinct types of flour mills in
this section of the country. One is the mill of 500 barrels or more capacity
running on full time, twenty-four hours in the day, and exporting its prod-
ucts by the carload. A mill of this character, well managed and favorably
located, is under no disadvantage in competition with a mill of 5000 barrels,
except in the magnitude of the trade it is able to handle. After a certain
limit the construction of a flour mill is a matter of duplication, and the
medium-size mill has no unsurmountable difficulties in its way. The smaller
mills, of which there are a great number, not only in Kansas but all over
Nebraska and Oklahoma, of 200 or 300 barrels capacity, are at a decided
disadvantage, and are not able to compete in the same class with the larger
mills,-"'' and their operations are of a necessity confined to local business.

Most of the mills of Nebraska and a share of those of Oklahoma are of
this character; they are widely distributed through the wheat- producing belt,
and do not figure in the markets of the world to any greater extent than
the smaller Kansas mills. In the case of Nebraska this is almost univer-
sally true. The milling industry was late in starting, and as late as 1880
Kansas flour supplied a large share of the local demand in that state. The
230 odd mills in 1905 had an output but little over double that of the eight
mills operating at Kansas City alone, and the production of the state is only
a little more than a fourth that of Kansas.*

In the case of Oklahoma, however, there is a situation similar to what
exists in Kansas. In the part of the state that was the Indian Territory

Note 277.— The Rea-Patterson Milling- Company, of Coffeyville. organized in 1893. with a
capital of $50,000. which has since been increased to $200,000. It consumes on an average over
two million bushels of wheat annually. It is composed wholly of southeastern Kansas men.—
Coffeyville Journal (daily) . April 6. 1907.

Note 278.— The others are Atchison and Leavenworth: the Cain Milling Company of Atchi-
son, and the Kelley & Lisle Company of Leavenworth, are the largest, and market their products
with the southeastern trade, as does the Coffeyville company.

Note 279. — "A mill of 500 barrels capacity, other things being equal, is fully as profitable as
a larger mill. A mill of 200 barrels capacity and less must depend upon a local market on its
better grades of flour, and is not large enough to command a market on its lower grades, as it
does not produce enough. Hence it is at a decided disadvantage."— Letter, C. B. Hoffman, 1908.

* Supra, p. 151.

156 Kansas State Historical Society.

the mills are small and not numerous, and strictly local in character. In
Oklahoma territory, however, the building of the mills took on a larger and
more important character early in their history. There the larger mills are
the rule rather than the exception, and some of them have been in opera-
tion practically since the time the wheat raising in that section assumed its
present proportions. The centralization has been largely accomplished con-
temporaneously with the same movement in the Kansas industry. In 1900
there were fifty-five mills in Oklahoma proper, with a capital investment of
just about a million dollars. -'»" That is, there were one-sixth the number of
mills as in Kansas, with about one-eighth the capitalization. The products
of the Oklahoma mills at the same time were about one-eleventh that of the
Kansas mills. In the five years following, however, there was a great cen-
tralization of the industry in Oklahoma, and while the number of mills in-
creased only one-half, the capitalization had trebled, and the value of the
products had increased in almost the same proportion. -«i

In 1905 only seventeen of the seventy-five Oklahoma mills represented
less than $20,000 capitalization, while thirty, or two-fifths of the number,
were in excess of $100,000 each. The average capitalization for the Okla-
homa mills in 1905 was a little more than $43,000, while the average of the
Kansas mills (not including the mills of Kansas City, Mo.) was barely
$39,000. One reason is no doubt that Oklahoma missed entirely the local
stages of the industry that Kansas went through, and, with the building of
the mills to take care of the wheat production of the new state, it began
at the place the Kansas mills had reached after thirty or forty years of ex-
periment and growth. As there were few small mills in the field, such as
still persist in Kansas despite their disadvantages, there were but few to
eliminate, and the majority of the mills are of the character of the better
mills of the older state.

A few years ago there was an organization perfected in Kansas City,
aimed to place the smaller mills of the eastern part of Kansas as nearly as
possible on an equal footing with the larger mills in a commercial way. An
association was formed of the smaller soft-wheat mills, about twenty-five
in number, and all the surplus is exported by the Kansas City office of the
association. In this way, as the quality of the flour is usually about the
same, the association is able, by the amount of flour that it has at its
disposal, to command a much more advantageous market than the individual
mills could ever hope to reach. The surplus of these mills is probably not
much more than the output of a single large mill, and the association is not
of actual importance in relation to the industry as a whole. It does illus-
trate, however, another way of accomplishing the end that the large mills
have attained in the commerce of their products. Whether the small mills
will be able to live and prosper by means of such an association is doubtful,
and it is likely to prove merely a device to enable them to prolong their life
to a certain extent in spite of the disadvantages, to which they will even-
tually yield.

With millions of bushels of wheat going out of this section of the coun-
try every year, while there are idle mills only too willing to grind it into
flour, the permanen ce of present conditions may well be called into question

Note 280.-Twelfth Census. Manufactures, part II, pp. 730. 731.
Note 281. -Census Manufactures, 1905, Bull. 30, pp. 31, 34.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 157

In many ways it would be advantageous to grind a larger per cent of the
Kansas and Oklahoma wheat into flour. It would relieve to a considerable
extent the periodical strain on the transportation facilities of the country,
by spreading the tonnage more evenly over the year, and would give an ad-
ditional tonnage eventually in the shape of bags, barrels, machinery and the
like incidental to steady operation. On the other hand, there has to be
created a market for more Kansas-made flour, by means of systematic ad-
vertising. The freight rates would have to be revised so as not to encour-
age the shipment of unground grain as at present, and for this the railroads
would have to be enlisted. There is the further consideration that, with
the larger and more substantial building of European mills, accompanied by
the tariff on the importation of flour in some of the countries, American
flour is likely to be at a permanent disadvantage, and conditions are at pres-
ent favorable for an actual decline in the proportion of wheat that is ex-
ported as flour from this section.

It should be said in conclusion, however, that Kansas hard-wheat flour
is at present on a better footing in the foreign market than it has ever been
before, and is esteemed second to none in the world, if not indeed as the
best. The advantages that the Northwestern flour has had in this respect
is a thing of the past in many of the European markets. "It is, however,
only in the last year or so that it commands a price equal to the North-
western hard-wheat flours, and in some cases a higher price. This is due
to the fact that, on account of the magnificent mills at Minneapolis, and the
enormous amount of advertising, the -public got the idea that the North-
western flours were superior to any others. The facts, however, did not
bear out this contention, and the trade is learning that the Kansas hard-
wheat flour is the better of the two. Just recently Mr. Robys, of Antwerp,
Belgium, a heavy importer of flours, paid us a visit. He said that Kansas
flours are commanding a higher price in the Belgium and Netherlands mar-
kets than the Northwestern flours of equal grade. "-8-

SLAUGHTERING AND MEAT PACKING.

To even the casual observer the slaughtering and meat-packing industry
is obviously of great relative importance in the list of manufactures of the
Middle West. For the last twenty-five years it has held the first place
among the manufactures of both Kansas and Nebraska, both in the amount
of capital invested and in the value of products. Just now, so far as the
state of Kansas is concerned, first place in capitalization, though possibly
not in the actual amount of capital, must be given to the Portland cement
industry, but that industry has not yet approached in any degree the meat-
packing industry in the value of the output. The actual importance of this
industry is shown by the fact that the packing houses at Kansas City, Kan.,
manufacture nearly a hundred million dollars' worth of products every year,
or nearly half the value of all the manufactures of the state. ^^^ in the same
degree the industry leads in Nebraska, the value of the products of the
packing houses at South Omaha contributing about sixty-nine of the one
hundred and fifty-five millions of manufactures of that state in 1905. '^^

The industry is also remarkable in that it is by far the most highly cen-

NOTE 282. -Letter, C. B. Hoffman. 1908.

Note 283. -Bull. 28, Census Manufactures, 1905, pp. 20, 21.

Note 284. -Bull. 29, Census Manufactures, 1905. pp. 16, 17.

^58 Kansas State Historical Society.

traiized of all the manufactures of the West. This is, of course, as true of
the industry in the whole country, so far as the production for anything but
local purposes is concerned, six leading companies producing nearly half of
all such products in the United States, without counting the products of two
or three others who produce together nearly a hundred millions annually. -s^
The localization of the packing industry is none the less remarkable, though
perfectly natural. Practically all the packing of any consequence in the
prairie states is done in the four towns, Kansas City, Kan,, South St.
Joseph, Mo., South Omaha, Neb., and Sioux City, Iowa. Kansas City and
Omaha are far in the lead, ranking second and third, respectively, among
the packing centers of the United States at the census of 1905, '''8« though
St. Joseph, with forty-two million dollars of products — half that of Kansas
City and two-thirds that of Omaha— is fifth among the packing centers, and
Sioux City ranks seventeenth. Demanding as it does the existence of a well-
established market to give a continual supply of animals for slaughter, it is
natural that there should be but a few packing centefs, for the reason that
there are as few important live-stock markets in this part of the country.

The conditions leading to the establishment of live-stock markets at
Kansas City and Omaha have already been discussed sufficiently for the
purposes of this paper, in a previous section. An extensive market had
grown up from natural suitability of location at Kansas City years before
there were any packing houses of any consequence there; and the enterprise
of the citizens of Omaha, by their efforts in favoring the establishment of a
stock market and packing town accomplished the same result for Omaha.
Kansas City had become of some importance by 1880, while five years later
saw the beginning of an important industry at Omaha. Sioux City, of con-
siderably less importance to the present time, came into prominence later,
and St. Joseph did not attain any importance until Swift & Co. built a two-
million-dollar plant there in 1897. -^^ The building at these towns was almost
wholly by Eastern packers, who had been getting their cattle and hogs
through these Western markets, and were now seeking to get near to the
supply, for the sake of economies in handling. The Cudahy & Armour
packing plant at Omaha, which later passed into the complete control of the
Cudahy family, is the only important instance where these packers have
their offices in the West.

The westward building into these towns was only the logical result of
the westward movement of the live-stock industry itself that has been going
on for forty years. '-^^ As the center of the supply moved westward, the
packers found themselves constantly suffering great losses in shrinkage of
the animals in transportation for the long distances they went to reach the
packing houses in Chicago and farther east. It needed, however, the in-
vention and perfection of a system of preserving and transporting the
dressed products from the time of slaughtering until it reached the Eastern

Note 285.— Rept. Commr. Corporations. Beef Ind.. p. 58.

Note 286.- Bull. 286. Census Manufactures, 1905, p. 14.

NoTE287.-Rept. Comm. Corporations, Beef Ind.. p. 5. This plant had a capacity of 1400
•callle. 7000 hogs, and liOCJO sheep per day.

■ lo^n"^? ^•?!5;r'^^^'"^ ^^""^ ^"* ^'^•2 per cent of the cattle of the country west of the Mississippi
in imy in 1900. 62.4 per cent were west of the river: in 1905, 72.4 per cent of the yearling-sand 84.7
ot the dairy cattle were west of the Mississippi, showing a great shifting of the cattle-raising
industry to the West in the twenty-five year period. Tables, ibid. p. 3.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. ISd

markets to make it feasible to build packing houses in the West. In the
meantime, the losses to the producers and the packers, incident to the
shrinkage of the long haul, spurred on the perfection of the refrigeration
system of transportation, and made possible the building in the West of the
large packing establishments. The natural economies of a few centers ac-
counts for the fact that there are comparatively few large packing centers
in the country, and the location of the most important in the favored cities
in this section. 289

The decade from 1880 to 1890 was the period of the establishment of the
Eastern packers in Kansas City, Omaha, and Sioux City, if it is permissible
to class the Cudahy company among the Eastern packers.-'*" In 1880 Kan-
sas City had two packing houses, with a million and a half of capital, em-
ploying 900 men, and making about five millions of products. The first
packing house there of importance was only ten years old at that time.-**!
In 1881 Fowler Brothers, who had a pork packing plant at Atchison, Kan.,
began operations in Kansas City. In 1883 local capitalists built and opened the
plant of the Kansas City Packing Company, which nine years later was sold
to the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger company, of New York, who were said
to be the first Western exporters of dressed beef.-"- In 1887 Swift & Co.,
of Chicago, built their first Western packing house at Kansas City as an
experiment, 2'''3 and the next year opened a $300,000 plant in Omaha.-"* There
were in all seven packing houses in Kansas City by 1891, with a capitaliza-
tion of nearly nine million dollars, and products of forty and a half mil-
lions. '-**5

The building of the packing houses at Omaha, induced at first by the
grant of cash bonuses by the stockyards association of that place, has al-
ready been touched upon,-"'' and by 1890 there were four large packers
there, doing about twenty-four million dollars' worth of business. '•''■'^

Note 289.— This discussion will of necessity be much shorter than the importance of the
companies engaged and the magnitude of their operations seems to warrant. But there is no
way of obtaining anything but the most superficial information, which it is unprofitable to am-
plify. The Commissioner of Corporations prefaced his report with the statement that only Swift
& Co., of all the packers of the country, made public reports, and those were so condensed as to
be.useless.

Note 290.— Michael Cudahy and P. D. Armour, in 1887, bought the plant built in Omaha a
year earlier by Thomas J. (since Lord) Lipton. In 1890 Armour sold his interest to Cudahy, who
about that time opened his Sioux City branch, and ran it without competition until the Armours
built there in 1903 ; in 1892 they built a western plant at Los Angeles.

Note 291. -Case's History of Kansas City, 1888, p. 217.

Note 292.— Kansas City Star, June 12. 1898.

Note 293.— Case's History of Kansas City. p. 219.

Note 294. - Bell, "History of Omaha," p. 631. Swift & Co. were induced to locate this
Omaha house by the gift of a bonus of $130,000 by the stockyards association of Omaha.

Note 295.— Packing industry in Kansas City June 1, 1891 :

Number of houses 7

Value of real estate occupied $1,500,000

Value of plant 5,701,394 '

Capital employed 12,380,000

Value of raw material used 34,412,852

Value of product 40,656,134

Number of hands employed 4,433

Wages paid 2,483,915

Floor space occupied, square feet 6,230,850

Percentage of increase 16.36

— Commercial Club of Kansas City, Twelfth Annual Report, p. 58.

Note 296.-Kansas City Comm. Club, Twelfth Ann. Rept., 1891.

Note 297.— Census Manufactures, 1890, part II, p. 508.

160

Kaiisas State Historical Society.

The Eastern packers were not all represented in these figures for 1890,
however, as Nelson Morris did not enter this field until 1904,2os with a plant
at St. Joseph, Mo., and one at Kansas City in the following year.'-»» The
business for the first ten or fifteen years was much more of pork packing
and less of beef packing.^""

Pork packing was a comparatively important industry in Omaha for ten
years before there were any attempts to build plants for the slaughtering of
beef. The Fowler plant which was built at Atchison in 1878 packed hogs
only, and had a capacity of 3000 daily, employing 500 men.^o' The three
plants in Kansas City in 1880 killed seventeen times as many hogs in that
year as they did of cattle. ^"^ Much of the beef that was killed at that time
was either sold locally or salted and cured, and the refrigeration or ship-

NoTE 298. -Kansas City Times, October 22, 1904.

Note 299.— Kansas City Star, January 7, 1905.

Note. 300. — Statement showing entire packing done in Kansas City since the beginning of
the industry. 1868 to 1890-'91, copied from Twelfth Annual Report of Commercial Club of Kansas
City. p. 59; 1892 to 1900 found in "Imperial Kansas City, 1900," by Mercantile Illustrating Com-
pany, p. 18 ; 1901 to 1909 taken from "CompHments of The Kansas City Stock Yards Company,
1910."*

Cattle.
4,200
4,420
21,000
45,543
20.500
26,549
42,226
26,372
26,765
38,617
18,756
29,141
30,922
46,350
65,116
74,314
66,250
78,963

Calves. Sheep.

Caiendar year.

1868

1869

1870

1871

1872

1873

1874

1875

1876

1877

1878

1879

1880 '.

1881

1882

18S3

1884

1885

1886 ; 116,481

1886-'87 (fiscal) 139,763

1887-'88 '• 240,295

1888-'89 " 413,842

1889-'90 " 511,305

1890-'91 " 444,519

1892 593,569

1»^93 891,495

1894 900,090

1895 855,723

1896 923,374

1897 920,610

1898 890,394

1X99 991,783

1900 1,092,804

1901 1,175,581

1902 1,089,516

1903 1,025,446

1904 1,012,665

1905 1,244,775

1906 1,340,415

l'»'"7 1,257,8.54

1908 1,164,904

1909.. _ 1,334,906

*" In addition to these figures I give below

Packing Company through their yards, which

February 14, 1910):

1904 • 744,824

1905 681,365

1906 604,969

6,523
7,149
37,736
57,092
45,572
39,461
51,747
36,269

46,150

48,623

68,228

116,083

101,022

98,619

140,4X9

159,550

166,337

1.55,132

192,824

14,455

56,358

38,336

32,905

89,100

93,063

99,589

197,220

201,106

159,219

200,622

366,317

366,743

534,159

672,991

770,569

614,752

645,212

636,018

777,391

724,773

775,989

731,259

942,752

,127,533

,082,532

,094,455

,172,669

Year.
1868-'69 (season) .
1869-'70
1870-'71
1871-'72
1872-'73
1873-'74
1874-'75

1875-'76 " . .
1876-'77 " . .

1877

1878

1879

1880

1881

1882

1883

1884

1885

1886

1886-'87 (fiscal ) . .
1887-'88 • ' . .
1888-'89 " . .
1889-'90
1890-'91

1892

1893

1894

1895

1896

1897 •

1898

1899

1900

1901

1902

1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

1908

1909

Hogs.

13,000

23,000

36,000

83,000

180,000

175,000

70,300

74,474

114,869

180,357

349,097

366,830

539,097

857.823

749,083

,056,116

114,451

529,415

759,753

,849,473

813,444

703,343

,777,596

,223,769

,994,395

426,304

,098,512

123.966

362.110

040,386

263,664

700,109

872,128

547.313

246,303

891,708

083,020

451,901

582,668

739,628

425,907

745,380

the number of head of hogs received by the Fowler
are npt reported in this company's annual ( letter,

1907 567,804

1908 635,447

1909 447,279

Note 301.— Atchison Daily Champion. February 20. 1879.

Note 302. -Commercial Club of Kansas City. Twelfth Ann. Kept., p. 59.

History of Manufactures in Kansas.

161

ment of fresh beef was not of great importance in the Kansas City and
Omaha plants until the building just preceding the census of 1890. 3"' It is
also worthy of notice that the bulk of the northern packing, that is, at
Omaha and also at St. Joseph, still maintains this character, largely on ac-
count of the market conditions in the first place, and on account of the
further fact that it is not possible to ship hogs as far profitably as cattle on
account of the greater shrinkage.

The business of pork packing is one that lends itself to a wider distribu-
tion and a less centralization than the beef-packing industry. In the first
place, it is one of the essentials of the pork-packing business that the meat
be cured, and the use of refrigeration and rapid transportation cuts less
figure than in beef packing. Then, also, cured pork serves an entirely dif-
ferent market. Little of the Western pork goes East, while all the fresh
beef seeks an outlet in that direction. The pork is marketed in the north-
west and all over the central prairie states, while many of the packers send
large quantities to the southeast to the cotton fields. It is this latter trade
that the more southerly located houses supply mostly. ^"^ In this connection
it is well to note the rise of packing houses of considerable importance at
other places than those named, and in some cases independent wholly of the
other centers. One of the earliest of these is a model little packing house
at Topeka, which has grown gradually from an insignificant butchering house
twenty-five years ago to a capitalization of a third of a million, killing
nearly one-seventh as many hogs as the Kansas City packing houses, and
sending its products all over the South and Southeast. 3"' Pork and pork
products are the specialty of the company, beef being an issue only to sup-
ply local demand. Of the same character, but of larger size and greater
volume of business, are two packing houses at Wichita, one owned and op-
erated by the Jacob Dold Packing Company, of Buffalo, N. Y., representing
an investment of a half a million, and having a capacity of over 5000 animals
daily. The other is operated by the Cudahy Packing Company, of Omaha,
and is of about the same size, though in the last year or two it does the
larger business of the two. '"•' These plants represent the different oppor-

NOTE 303. —The following table from the report on the beef industry shows the slaughter of
hogs and cattle at Kansas City. Omaha and St. Joseph since 1880:

Cattle.

Hogs.

Year.

Kansas City.

St. Joseph.

Omaha.

Kansas City.

Omaha.

St. Joseph.

1880

50,288

104,246

548,677

893,750

1,092,804

1,025,446

523,551
1,557,556
2,306,944
2,171,357
2.827.128
1,891.708

1885

30,930
322,819
314,312
576,669
735.158

58.948
1,397.676
1,007,716
2,162,612
2,177,981

1890

1895

1900

288,977
404,737

i; 537, 582

1903

1,577,860

Note 304. — Interview, manager Cudahy's Wichita house. 1908.

Note 305.— Interview. 1908.

Note 306.— This plant was established as a butcher shop in 1874, and gradually increased its
operations as conditions justified. It was bought several years ago by John Cudahy, and oper-
ated independently by himif or several years. It was taken over by the Cudahy Company in 1906.
The plant has made it possible to establish a regular market for hogs at this point, and by its
connection with the other Cudahy branches, of which there are a score, it is able to buy all the
hogs that are offered, and where necessary they are then reshipped to the nearest branch. It
was found necessary to do this in order to insure a regular supply, such as is now assured.- In-
terview, manager.

-6

1(^;2 Kansas State Historical Society.

tunites in the two classes of meat packing, and both are healthy develop-
ments due to normal conditions.

There are smaller establishments of the same character along the
southern line of the state of Kansas, at Pittsburg,'"" Coffeyville.^os and
Arkansas City.-'"» The essential difference in these and other plants of the
same size through the district is in the scope of their operations, which are
for the most part confined to the locality from which they draw their hogs.
Their importance is not actually great as yet, but their development is
recent, and there is a probability that there will be an opportunity for
medium-sized pork-packing establishments to prosper.

The decade from 1890 to 1900 was one of great development of the pack-
ing industry in the Western packing centers, and it saw a multiplication of
capital and production. Omaha almost doubled its production in two years
after 1890, and the other towns prospered in a degree only slightly less. It
is not possible to say how far the panic years affected the industry, but by
1900 a great increase in the operations had been accomplished. The latter
part of the decade saw the rise of St. Joseph, Mo., as a western packing
center, there being five packing houses of all sorts in 1900. ^i" Swift & Co.
were the pioneer?, and their two-million-dollar plant was put into operation
at that place in 1897. Then in the following year Schwarzschild & Sulzber-
ger, of New York, built at St. Joseph to compete with the Swifts. The
Hammond Packing Company came in about the same time, and later, about
1905, Nelson Morris built at St. Joseph. There were five millions of capital
invested in 1900, and the products were twentj'-nine millions, more than
two-thirds of which was pork products. St. Joseph had about a third as
much capital and output as Kansas City in that year.

Kansas City and Omaha were not far apart in their importance at the
end of the decade, each having approximately fifteen millions invested in
the industry. Kansas City was in the lead, with seventy-three millions
of products, to sixty-seven for Omaha. Nearly two-thirds of the products
of the Omaha packers was pork and pork products, while the pork products
of the Kansas City houses was very little over half, if any.^n This state-
ment shows the relative importance of the centers in the different lines of
meat packing, as has already been suggested. The business at Sioux City,
Iowa, at this time was practically in the hands of the Cudahy company^
which had been established there since 1890 or thereabouts. There were
three companies reported, but two of them were unimportant. Beef prod-
ucts make up less than a fourth of the volume of the output of eight mil-
lions of this city in 1900. The production of the four cities in this year
aggregated about a hundred and eighty millions of dollars, only, however,
about seventy per cent of that of the city of Chicago in the same year.
They ranked as follows among the cities of the United States as packing
centers : Kansas City, second ; Omaha, third ; St. Joseph, fifth ; Sioux City,
about 8eventeenth.3i2

Note 307.— A local plant that has gradually srrown to considerable local importance, with a
capacity of 300 animals per day.

Note 308. -Capitalized at $50,000, and having a daily capacity of about a hundred animals.

Note 309. -Has a daily capacity of about 200 animals.

Note SlO.-Figures for 1900 are from vol. IX of the Twelfth Census, p. 407, et seq.

Note 311. -Twelfth Census, vol. IX, p. 408. Note 312.-Ibid, p. 410.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 163

It is impossible to give any exact statement of the increase of the indi-
vidual cities since 1900, on account of the combining of the only figures
available in the census report for 1905.313 The most remarkable feature of
the development is the increase of the operations at St. Joseph, which prac-
tically doubled its production and more than doubled its capitalization. The
increase of capital at Kansas City was also considerable, and out of propor-
tion with the increase in production. Practically every plant at Kansas
City has been making important extensions in the last few years, and there
are now nearly twenty millions invested there in the packing industry. The
capital invested at Omaha increased also in the five years after 1900 almost
one-third, while the products increased but one-tenth that much.^n The
reasons for these showings of the lagging of production behind capitalization
cannot be found from the information that is allowed to become public.

An interesting feature of the development since 1900 is a movement in
the direction of the combination or consolidation, as indicated by the forma-
tion of the National Packing Company in this district in 1903.31'' The Ar-
mours, Swifts, and the Nelson Morris interests were said to be back of it,
and at the time there was a great deal of belief current to the effect that
there was an actual and tangible combine in existence. However that may
be, or whether these companies desired simply to eliminate some of their
smaller competitors, in 1903 the new company was organized with a capital
of fifteen millions, and bought up the Hammond plants at Omaha and St.
Joseph, the Fowler and Ruddy plants at Kansas City, and the St. Louis
Dressed Beef and Provision Company of St. Louis, the aggregation having
about nine millions of capital before the combination. ^le If there is an
actual combination in existence between the large packers they have kept
it hidden successfully, but there is no doubt that prices paid for animals are
practically the same for all the packers in any one of the western mar-
kets, ^i^ and there seems to be a remarkable (likeness in the prices charged
by all the leading packers for their products. It is a common assertion on
the part of the independent butchers that the packers are actively working
together, and that there is never anything to be gained by visiting different
packers after one of them has made a price. ^is it seems to be the universal
rule that uniform quality brings uniform prices in the packing towns of this
district. It has also been alleged, with what truth it is impossible to say,
that the larger packers, notably Armour, Morris and Swift, work together
in cutting prices and overbidding on cattle for the sake of making it hard
for the small competitors. It is true that there is but little if any active
competition that shows on the surface among the larger packers, 3i» though
they consistently deny the existence of any agreements or combinations, ^^a

Note 313.— Bull. No. 83. Census 1905.

Note 314.— Bull. 83. Census Manufactures, 1905, pp. 23-26.

Note 315.— A combination of other of the smaller operators was effected at Kansas City in
1905, by which a capital of a million was united in one concern, operating independently of the
large packers in that field. — Kansas City Star, October 7, 1905.

Note 316.— Rept. Comm'r Corp., Beef Ind., pp. 293-295.

Note317. — "It will be observed that the prices of all the packers are very close together,
with a greater variance at St. Joseph or Kansas City, though the records are too meager at the
latter place. The general result warrants the statement that the prices paid by the packers are
substantially the same at a given time on the given market."— Rept. Comm'r Corp., Beef Ind.,
p. 125.

Note 318.-Kansas City Star. July 30. 1906. Note 319. -Ibid, December 1, 1905.

Note 320.— Ibid, September 9. 1905.

164 Katisas State Historical Society.

Conditions in the packing industry, not only locally but nationally, are
such that it would be a comparatively simple matter for the larger com-
panies to do anything that they cared to do with the market, for the industry
is practically centralized in not to exceed six or seven large companies in
the country, and these companies get fully half the beef cattle that are
slaughtered in the United States.^-i Of course, it is true that in the selling
department there is no possibility of the packers controlling the prices of
fresh beef in the West on account of the importance of the independent
butchers under present conditions, for the small establishments kill nearly
three-fourths of the beef that is consumed in this section. 3- So far as the
possibility of the public getting any benefit of the greater economies of the
larger establishments, there is little chance, for the six large companies
control practically all the slaughter in the Western centers, and their charges
to the retailers are limited only by the prices that the local butchers with
their waste and looseness can make. In this respect the packers are practi-
cally free from the competition of the small butchers, and it needs but the
demand in this section to put the fresh-beef industry in the same condition
that the packed products are at the present time.

In every one of the four cities under consideration the industry is not
only dominated by the larger packers, but it is literally swallowed up by
them. In Sioux City, Cudahy and Armour have the industry to themselves,
and Oudahy had it all until about five years ago. In Omaha there are four
companies, the Cudahys, the Armours, Swifts, and the National Packing
Company, which may be regarded as an Armour-Swift institution. Cudahy
has about one-fourth of the business in the city, and the other three have
over seventy per cent, making a total of over ninety-five per cent of the
slaughtering in their hands. ^-^ St. Joseph may be said to be controlled by
Swift and Morris, for the only other concern of importance is that of the
National Packing Company, which they helped to organize, and the three
companies consume over ninety-nine per cent of the animals that are slaugh-
tered there. '-^ All of the six are interested in Kansas City, and there they
consume practically all of the slaughter, being a fraction of a per cent
higher than the figures for St. Joseph. '-s

The following table of the capitalization of the companies that are thus
monopol zing the meat-packing industry in the prairie states is interesting.
Of course only a part of the capital represented is actually invested or used
in these packing houses. These companies had as gross receipts in 1903
seven nundred million dollars, and slaughtered five and a half million ani-
mals. The table (Rept. Comm'r Corp., Beef Ind., p. 25) follows:

Name of company. Where incorporated. Capital.

Armour & Co Illinois $20,000,000

Swift & Co Illinois 35,000,000

Nelson Morris & Co Illinois (partnership) 6,000,000

National Packing Co New Jersey 15,000,000

Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Co. . . .New York 5.000.000

Cudahy Packing Co Illinois 7.000,000

Total capitalization $88,000,000

Note 321. -Rept. Comm'r Corp.. Beef Ind., p. 57.

NoTE322.-The following table of sources of beef consumed in the different parts of the
country shows the conditions of the fresh-beef industry in this section. Six large packers sell:

New England states 75 to 80% Central states 25%

NewYork, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. 50 to 55 Western states 20 to 25%

South 20 to 25 Mountain states 15 to 20

— Rept. Comm'r Corp., Beef Ind., p. 74.
Note 323.-Rept. Comm'r Corp., Beef Ind., p. 62. Note 324.-Ibid. Note 325.-Ibid. p. 58.

History of MamifacUires in Kansas. 165

It is to be regretted that it is not possible in this connection to give a
better account of the commercial conditions of the industry, or to give more
of the labor conditions, but owing to the lack of information that has already
been mentioned, it is not possible to give such an account as would be of
any value. Therefore with this outline the discussion will close.

MINERAL INDUSTRIES, SMELTING.

The smelting industry, at the same time one of the first and one of the
most important of the manufactures of the section, has been carried on in
the fuel district of Kansas since the early '70's to some extent. In its be-
ginning it was not of great importance, and in its present aspects the smelt-
ing industry, particularly of zinc, is one of those that belong to the period
following the development of the gas and oil field since 1895. At present it
is one of the most important of the mineral industries, and the section has
the distinction of producing nearly two-thirds of the zinc spelter produced
in the United States, 32« and is one of the foremost districts, if not indeed
the first, in the world. 3'-'" The lead smelting has always been of minor im-
portance in this section, although there has not been a time since the open-
ing of the Joplin mines when there has not been some lead smelting car-
ried on.

The history of the development of the spelter production in the United
States is a very interesting one, dating back only to the establishment of a
small plant by the federal arsenal in Washington, for the manufacture of
brass for the making of the standard weights and measures, ^-s The process
was very expensive at that time, and the methods the government used
were impracticable commercially on account of the cost. The first attempt
to use the Belgian retorts failed about 1850 on account of the lack of the
proper knowledge of the means of overcoming the tension of the iron and
manganese in the ore. Then in the next year the Wetherill process was in-
vented, by which the ore was mixed with anthracite coal on an open hearth,
and the ore was vaporized and collected and condensed in muslin bags.^^g
In 1856 another attempt was made at Bethlehem, Pa., to use the Silesian
model of the retort furnace, but on account of improper handling of the fire
clay used in making the retorts the experiment was a failure. The next
year two old Saxon smeltermen, Matthieson and Hegeler, demonstrated
that the Bethlehem furnace would work with proper handling, but as they

Note 326. — "The position in the zinc industry occupied by this state (Kansas), depends on its
smelting rather than its mining activities. Thus the presence of usable supplies of natural gas
and the geographic position of the state combine to make it the leading zinc-smelting state. In
1906 nearly fifty-eight per cent of all the spelter made in this country was produced by smelters
located in Kansas, and of the 20,921 tons increase in production of spelter in this country over
1905. 15,277 tons, or seventy-three per cent of the increase of zinc, was produced by Kansas
smelters, while zinc ores produced by Kansas mines, as reported by smelters, amounted to 14,424
tons of concentrates, which yielded 3902 tons of spelter. ... Of the total increase in pro-
duction contributed by the Missouri-Kansas district, a large part was contributed by Kansas,
and the greater part of this was from the Galena district."— Min. Res.. U. S., 1906. p. 471.

Note 327.— Productions of zinc in 1900 by principal districts was as follows :

Rank. District. Metric tons spelter.

1 Belgium 119,317

2 Kansas-Missouri 104,303

3 Upper Silesia 102,093

4 Rhineland and Westphalia 53,000

5 New Jersey and West Virginia 7,491

— W. R. Ingalls : Production and Properties of Zinc, p. 16.

Note 328.— Ingalls, " Production and Properties of Zinc," p. 14.

Note 329.— Ibid, pp. 13, 14.

IQQ Kansas State Historical Society.

went to the western field in Wisconsin in the same year they accomplished
little there. 33"

It is said that the first zinc works in the West were built in Wisconsin
in the early '50's by an old Silesian smelterman named Georgi, who demon-
strated that the continental methods could be applied to the American ores.
Then in 1858 Mathieson & Hegeler erected their smelter at La Salle, 111.,
where the first ores produced in the Kansas-Missouri district were marketed
about ten years later.

There were small smelters built in the zinc fields of southeastern Mis-
souri in the latter '60's, one at Potosi, in Washington county, in 1867, and a
second at Carondelet two years later, both of them smelting the calamine
from the southeastern corner of the state. 33i About ten years later the
prospecting in the Joplin-Galena district for the development of the lead
deposits uncovered the vast zinc ores of that section, and the first shipment
of zinc east, about 1870, started the production in that district. Shortly
after, as early as 1873, there was a small coal smelter built at Weir City,
Kan., the place of the newly discovered coal fields, and ores were hauled by
wagon until railway connections were established. The development of the
coal field in the next few years moved northward into Crawford County,
and when Robert Lanyon came west from the smelters at La Salle he
selected Pittsburg as the location for his smelter. ^32 This was in 1878, and
marked the beginning of the activity of Pittsburg as a smelter town.

The firm of Robert Lanyon & Co. built two furnaces in 1878, and added
to this number two more in the following year, as the prosperity of the
business and the increased activity of the mines in the Joplin-Galena district
made the smelters plenty of business. In 1882 two more furnaces were
added, making six in all. In the meantime, however, part of the Lanyon
family of smeltermen withdrew from the company, organized the firm
of S. H. Lanyon & Bro., and built a second smelter in Pittsburg. '"^ In 1882
two more smelters were built at Pittsburg, the first by two more of the
numerous Lanyon family, W. and J. Lanyon, employing about fifty men,
with two furnaces. The other was built by the Granby Mining and Smelt-
ing Company, who put up a 400-retort furnace and employed about seventy-
five men. '34 This made a total of eight furnaces in that year, with a daily
capacity of about ten tons of spelter. In 1884 the total capital invested in
the four smelters was $650,000, and they gave employment to 350 men, with
an average outlay for wages of $7500 each month. 334

The growth of the smelter industry at Pittsburg was very rapid all
through the '80's, for the convenience of the coal supply so close to the
mines gave the Kansas smelters an advantage in that respect, since they
got the long haul on the spelter, which reduced the tonnage greatly over
the shipments of the raw ores. Where in the early '80's the larger part of
the ores went to the La Salle smelters, which had in connection a sheet
zinc factory, 3:t5 by the end of the decade the larger share of the ores of the
district was being reduced in the Pittsburg smelters. In 1887 there were

Note Sao.-Ingalls. "Production and Properties of Zinc." p. 14.
NoTE331.-Ibid, p. 15.

Note 332.-Mo. Geo!. Surv.. vol. VI. p. 295. Ingalls. Zinc, p. 15.
Note 333. -The Pittsburg Smelter. March 22, 1884. Note 334.— Ibid.
Note 335.- Kansas Monthly, vol. IV, No. 8, p. 103.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 167

21,900,000 pounds of spelter produced at Pittsburg, valued at $825,000, and
there was an investment of a million dollars in capital. Six hundred men were
employed in the industry. '"' Two years later the production amounted to
26,716,000 pounds, valued at a million and a third, 33' and the Pittsburg dis-
trict was spoken of as "the second largest zinc-producing city in the United
States, "338 as it in all probability was.

The existence of an abundance of cheap fuel so near to the zinc mines
is, in a word, the situation that made possible this rapid growth of the zinc-
smelting industry at Pittsburg. In no case was it necessary to haul the
ores more than twenty-six miles by railroad to reach the smelters, so that
the freight rates were comparatively inconsiderable. The price of coal has
always been low in the Pittsburg district on account of the shallowness of
the coal beds at that place and the ease of mining. Pittsburg coal is the
cheapest and at the same time the best coal in the district, the average
price for twenty years being about $1.45 per ton for the coal at the mines.
The smelters, however, use the inferior "slack" coal, which costs on the
average less than half and usually about one-third as much as the screened
coal.33f' This grade of coal, so long as it is free from dirt and impurities,
as the most of the slack from that district is, is perfectly suited for the
smelters, for they require the coal to be rather finely crushed in the latter
part of the smelting process, to facilitate the rapid combustion necessary
to generate the heat required.

Favored by these conditions, the operations of the zinc smelters in the
Pittsburg district increased in volume steadily up to 1898. In 1891 there
were six smelters, with a total of forty-two furnaces, in Pittsburg, with a
daily capacity of fifty tons of spelter. At the prevailing prices, 3*" this
product was worth about $9000 daily, and nearly a thousand men were em-
ployed about the works. 3" In the following year the list of smelters shows
a slight scattering of the establishments into the near-by towns of the coal
district. Galena had a small establishment, shipping in the coal instead of
sending the ore away. The disadvantage in this was that the freight would
be about three and a half times as much as by the other means, since about
three and a half tons of coal were ordinarily required to reduce a ton of
ore. 3" The other smelters were in the coal towns, however. Scammon and
Weir City, both south of Pittsburg, and in the shallower coal, each had one,
while Girard, ten miles to the northwest, had one plant. As the production
of the zinc mines increased during the '90's, the output of the Kansas

Note 336.— Topeka Capital. June 4. 1889.

Note 337.- Min Res. Kan., 1897. p. 34.

Note 338.- Topeka Capital, June 4, 1889.

Note 339. —The relative cost of the different grades of coal is shown by the following figures
from Mr. Ingalls's book, " Production and Properties of Zinc," pp. 42, 43:

Year Cost, slack. Cost, mine run,

per ton. per ton.

1899 $0 35 to $0 60 $1 00 to $1 10

1900 75 to 85 1 50 to 175

Note 340.— $108.82 per ton in New York for the year.

Note 341.— Topeka State Journal, November 7, 1891.

Note 342.-Min. Res. Kan., 1897. p. 33.

168 Kansas State Historical Society.

smelters increased accordingly. 3^' "Our Kansas smelters have long been so
extensive that they have consumed much more ore than our Kansas mines
have produced. The Kansas and Missouri mines are so close together that
no difference could be made between them by the ore buyers. It is not
proper to say that all the Kansas ore is smelted in Kansas territory.
It is proper to say, however, that a much larger amount of ore is smelted
in Kansas territory than is produced from the Kansas mines, as much more
than half of the Missouri ore is shipped to the Kansas smelters. "-^^^

While the reduction of the raw ore to the spelter form in which it reaches
the market is rather an elaborate one, the outline is comparatively simple,
and the equipment is not at ail extensive or elaborate. The ores reach the
smelters from the crushers and concentrators, which are without exception
located at the mines, as a finely crushed concentrate varying from perhaps
forty to eighty per cent of ore, the rest being flint and the like that is
not perfectly separated. The smelter itself consists of the old-fashioned
Belgian furnace that has been in use for decades, the only modification being
confined to improvements in the methods of handling the ores. The following
paragraph ^^' gives the process in outline:

"The process consists first, after the ore is crushed, in passing it through
a calcining furnace in which it is thoroughly roasted until all the sulphur is
removed and the metal is left behind in the form of an oxide. It is then inti-
mately mixed with the proper amount of carbon, generally in the form of
coke, which has been produced on the grounds, and placed inside a clay re-
tort which is heated externally until by the reducing action of the carbon
the whole of the zinc oxide is reduced to a metallic state. The heat of the
furnace volatilizes the zinc as fast as it is deprived of oxygen, and drives it
into a conical clay receptacle attached to the retort, but which projects out-
side the furnace. Here it is cooled to the liquid state, and is drawn out and
molded, when it is ready for the market."

From this description of the process that obtained in all the zinc smelt-
ers, it will be readily divined that the establishments were not necessarily
elaborate. The following description, written in 1891, of the smelting prac-
tices of the district, shows that there was a certain looseness and careless-
ness about the operations that would not be tolerated now. These conditions
are characteristic of the smelters all through the period up to the introduc-
tion of the gas furnaces after 1898, and to some extent since that time, but in
a different aspect, as will be seen later. "The furnaces are in most cases
built with the ash pits above the ground with a sloping bank of earth or cin-
ders leading up to the furnace floor. The buildings are scarcely more than
sheds. . . . and the first cost is inconsiderable. In the smelting proc-

NOTE 343.— The production of the Kansas mines and the output of the Kansas smelters for
the ten years prior to the introduction of the gas smelters is as follows:

y^f^r. Mine product. Tons spelter. Value.

1888 33,391 10,432 $1,025,902 88

1889 32,950 13,658 1,368.53160

1890 21,675 15,199 1,652.89125

1891 20,641 22,747 2,475,336 96

1892 23,811 24,715 2,218,912 70

1893 25,028 22,815 1,733,755 63

1894 28,670 25,588 1,902,162 84

1895 41,232 25,775 1,831.05600

1896 62,232 20,759 1,653,593 30

1897 59,451 33,443 2,755.703 20

1898 74,852 38,543 3,508,524 27

Note 344.-Min. Res. Kan., 1897, p. 33. Note 345.-Ibid, pp. 33, 34.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 169

ess the cheapness of fuel makes economy in this direction unimportant,
and cheapness of Hving makes labor obtainable at wages as low as anywhere
in the country.

"The works are owned by partners, who do the work of salaried em-
ployees, and consider as profit what would be only the interest on their
money and wages at any other occupation. The furnaces are roughly con-
structed of inferior material, and will not long sustain the heat required to
exhaust the zinc from the cinder. It is the accepted opinion that there is no
economy in butchering the furnace for the small additional per cent of the
metal; it is preferred to increase the production of the furnace and to re-
duce the cost of labor and fuel by increasing the charge of ore; ... in
other words, to butcher the ore to save the furnace." ^^« The only criticism
with this description is perhaps that it applies more particularly to the early
part of the '90's. Soon after 1890 there was a movement in the direction of
the organization of joint-stock companies, the laborers sharing in the
profits. Also the personal element of the original shareholders became
more or less submerged in the extension of the smelters in the '90's. As to
the methods pursued, however, there was Httle change, the increase in size
of the smelters being accomplished by the addition of a larger number of
furnaces answering to the above description.

The year 1896, which was marked by the beginning of the work on the
first gas smelter at lola by Robert Lanyon's Sons, successors to the first
Pittsburg firm of Robert Lanyon & Co., is the beginning of the present pe-
riod in the zinc-smelting industry. The development of the gas field in the
five or six years following completely revolutionized the smelting industry
in Kansas, and moved the smelting district first to a center at lola, the
home of the first important gas development, and a little later to a number
of towns southward toward the state line, and finally into the Oklahoma
field, with the building of the three large smelters at Bartlesville since 1905.
The gas was turned on in the first Lanyon smelter at lola late in the year
of 1896. and in the following year the smelter began operations in earnest.
Shortly afterward W. & J. Lanyon, cousins of the first comers, left the
Pittsburg district, and built a second smelter at lola with 1800 retorts. In
1899 George E. Nicholson built the third smelter at lola, with 1200 retorts;
the Robert Lanyon's Sons built a second smelter of 3000 retorts at La Harpe,
about four miles from lola, and the Cherokee Lanyons began operations at
Gas City, midway between La Harpe and lola. Two other small furnaces
were started in the same year, and at the same time the Edgar Zinc Com-
pany started their 1800-retort smelter at Cherry vale. •'^'

This building, started in 1898, practically comprised the smelter extension
of the '90's, and the others came after the gas development of 1900-1902.
The smelter capacity at this time was about 12,000 retorts heated by gas,
as against 9000 retorts in the various coal furnaces of the state, ^^s By 1900
the coal smelters of the Pittsburg district had practically suspended opera-
tions on account of the disadvantage they had in competing with the gas
furnaces, which saved a great fuel expense, as well as labor expense in the
use of the gas in the furnaces. '^'^ On account of this disadvantage, accom-

NoTE 346.— F. L. Clerc. "Kansas-Missouri Smelting Practices," in Min. Res. U. S.. 1882.

Note 347. -Min. Res. Kan., 1898. pp. 38, 39. lola Register, May 13, 1907.

NOTK 348.-Min. Res. Kan., 1898, p. 39. NOTE 349.-Ingalls, Zinc, p. 38-40.

YjQ Kansas State Historical Society.

panied as it was by a rise in the price of coal which was gr)ing on at this
time for various reasons, the coal smelters found it impracticable to continue
operations. Most of the companies went to the gas field a? soon as the
advantages were demonstrated, deserting the cheaply constructed furnaces
without taking the trouble to dismantle them in most cases.

At this same time another important change was being accomplished in
the consolidation of the small companies into a few larger companies, with
the result that administrative expenses were cut down and competition was
sharpened between the stronger and more aggressive companies thus formed.
This movement began as early as 1896, before the movement to the gas belt
was well under way, in the organization of the Cherokee-Lanyon company.
This was a consolidation of five different companies, operating seven coal
smelters at Scammon, Pittsburg, Weir City, Cherokee, Kan., and Nevada,
Mo. It was this company that built the second gas smelter at lola. Then
in 1899 a second consolidation wa:s effected by which the Robert Lanyon's
Sons and W. and J. Lanyon companies, with two smelters each, were united
in the Lanyon Zinc Company, making it the strongest in the field at this
time.-''" A third consolidation was effected in 1902, by which the plants of
the Prime Western Spelter Company, the A. B. Cockerill Company, and the
George E. Nicholson Company, in the lola field, were taken over by the New
Jersey Zinc Company, one of the large operators of the United States.^"

The year 1902 was also marked by the erection of the first zinc rolling
mill west of the Mississippi, and by the building of a smelter equipped for
the recovery of sulphuric acid from the roasting furnaces. The Lanyon
Zinc Company built its rolling mill at La Harpe, equipped for an output of
twenty tons of sheet zinc every twenty-four hours, the product including
strip, rod, and sheet zinc of all grades. ^^2 "phe sulphuric acid works were
built at lola by the United Zinc and Chemical Company, which had for
several years been operating a plant at Argentine, Kan., manufacturing
large quantities of sulphuric acid. The rise of the importance of the oil-
refining business in this section, demanding as it does large quantities of
sulphuric acid in the finishing processes, made it advisable to build this new
plant to supply the increasing demand. The daily capacity of the new
smelter, for that is what in effect it is, is about forty-five tons of ore per
day. There are three blocks of furnaces, containing in all 1728 retorts ; on
the whole, a good-sized smelter. The sulphur gas from which the acid is
made is recovered in the preliminary roasting process, and takes nothing
from the amount of the metallic zinc that results. As there is a con-
stantly growing demand for sulphuric acid.^s^ it is highly profitable to re-
cover this by-product of the smelters, but strangely enough no other smelt-

NOTE 350.— This consolidation was but a part of the centralization of the smelting industry
of the entire country into a few large companies^ Practically the whole of the smelting activity
of the country, after these Kansas consolidations, was in the hands of seven large companies.
The consumption of the spelter is no less centralized, there being but about seven companies
using considerable quantities of it. Half the demand for zinc is for galvanizing purposes, and
the United States Steel Corporation, which owns the Edgar Zinc Company at Cherryvale and the
Girard Spelter Company at Girard. is the chief consumer. There are but four sheet zinc mills
in the country, one brass compound company, and one concern that uses zinc in desilverization
of lead. It is estimated that four-fifths of the zinc produced in the United States is used by
these seven companies.— Ingalls. "Production and Properties of Zinc," p. 47.

Note 351.— Ingalls, " Production and Properties of Zinc," p. 22.

Note 352.— lola Register. May 13, 1907.

Note 353.-It is used in the manufacture of fertilizer, in refining petroleum, manufacture of
nitro-glycerme, alum, soda-ash. ammonium sulphate and blue vitriol principally.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 171

ers in the Kansas-Oklahoma gas belt are equipped for it. The reason is
not easy to determine, for it is to the recovery of this product that the
new and expensively equipped coal smelters in the Illinois field, that have
been built in the last two or three years, owe the advantage that enables
them to compete successfully against the low freight rates the Kansas
smelters get on account of their nearness to the ore supply. ^54

It is more than possible that the initial cost of equipping the roasting
furnaces for the recovery of sulphuric acid is the deterrent influence. There
is to the present time a certain temporary character about all the smelters
of the gas belt, caused perhaps by the uncertainty of the duration of the
gas supply. Certain it is that there are no smelters so well built and per-
fectly equipped for permanent activity in this district as the new smelters
that are being built in the Illinois field, where there is an expectation of
depending wholly upon coal for fuel.* The southward movement of the
center of the zinc-smelting activity since 1900 is an indication of the present
instability of the gas smelters in the district. There has been a gradual
southward movement going on all the time, 35= until now there is a smelting
center at Bartlesville, Okla., second only to the lola smelters in the number
of plants and the number of retorts, ^^e

In 1905 the Lanyon- Starr Company began the erection of the first zinc
smelter south of the Kansas line, at Bartlesville, Okla., 3" in the heart of the
new gas field, where the fuel supply is more abundant and less expensive.
As early as this there had been felt a growing difficulty of obtaining natural
gas in the northern end of the field cheaply enough to have any advantage
over the coal smelters, and the prospect of a further failure in the supply
of the gas wells led to this move, which was soon followed by the erection
of two more large smelters, which were in full blast through 1907. ^^^ The
smelters of the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company at Caney
and Deering, near the state line in Montgomery county, and those at Bar-
tlesville, are probably the only ones that are able to get their supply of gas
as advantageously as could be had w^hen the movement began to the gas
belt.3'>8 As the gas development of Oklahoma is as yet but well begun, it-may
be expected that this movement will continue, and in time, if the gas holds
out in abundance, there will be an exodus from the lola district to Oklahoma.
The only thing that will prevent will be the event that all the desirable gas
lands may be leased before the disadvantages of the other locations force
the attention of the smelter companies to the desirability of moving. The
situation now is that there is no advantage in getting gas from a supply-
ng company for an industry dependent as largely as is the smelting business
ion the fuel supply.

Note 354.-IngalIs. Zinc, p. 39.

Note 355.— In 1902 the Girard Smelting Company left Girard and built a smelter at Chanute;
in 1903 the Lanyons were about to build at Neodesha, but sold their contracts to the Granby Min-
ing- and Smelting Company of St. Louis, who were operating extensive mining properties in the
Joplin district. They put two furnaces into operation the first year, and gradually increased to
six. with 3840 retorts in 1907. Then the Cockerill Zinc Company put in a smelter at Altoona.
north of Neodesha, followed soon after by the building of the Lanyon smelters at Caney and
Deering, southward.

Note 356.-Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4, 1908.

Note 357.-Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 472.

Note 358. -Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4, 1908.

* Ingalls, Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4, 1908.

172 Kansas State Historical Society.

Even before the building of the large smelters at Bartlesville there was
another movement toward the reopening of the old Pittsburg coal smelters,
indicative of the same condition, namely, the passing of the great fuel ad-
vantage that the gas smelters had at first enjoyed. That this is the reason
of the move is shown by the fact that the first move was made by one of
the Lanyons, who fitted up and started one of the old smelters in May, 1904.
Even earlier than that, the Cockerill Zinc Company had reopened its old
coal smelter at Rich Hill, Mo., and late in 1904 local capitalists bought up
another of the old Pittsburg plants and put it into commission. Doubts as
to the advantage of the gas smelters at that time was given as the reason
for the move. '•' Another thing that must, however, be considered in this
connection, is that these coal smelters are much smaller propositions, and
the personal attention that the proprietors can give to the metallurgy and
general management is a decided advantage in some respects. The opera-
tion of these coal smelters has continued at Pittsburg, Kan., and at Rich
Hill and Nevada, Mo., where they were in operation before the discovery
of gas.'*" Slack coal at seventy-five cents a ton, the usual price in the
Pittsburg district for several years, makes it almost a stand-off with five-
cent gas.

Just what will be the outcome of the situation with the smelting industry
it is impossible to say. When the gas ultimately fails, if the ore supply is
still in existence in the Joplin district, it is more than probable that there
will be a return to the coal district. The tendency in the Illinois field at
the present time to build larger and improved coal smelters, depending on
economies of metallurgy rather than of fuel, has been mentioned. That
will doubtless be the final solution of the difficulties here. "With modern
gas producers and coal costing eighty and eighty-five cents per ton (a little
above the average for good slack at Pittsburg), gas can be artificially made
for two a half cents a thousand; the ratio is as one to two to natural gas in
calorific power, which would make natural gas at five cents equal to the
artificial gas." ■'■' The artificial gas plants could be producing coke, which
is required in small amounts, and this would be an added advantage. There
may never be an attempt to use artificial gas in the smelters, but the above
statement shows possibilities in that direction.

The development that has been going on in the smelter industry in the
Kansas-Oklahoma field comprises what has been denominated the most im-
portant change in the industry since its introduction in the United States -J*^'-
growth of production and the use of natural gas as fuel. The growth of
the industry in the ten years following the introduction of the first gas fur-
naces has indeed been remarkable. The smelters in Kansas alone have
quadrupled their output in that time, and in 1906 were producing one and a
half times as much spelter as the whole United States produced ten years
before. The growth and the new fuel have been largely confined to the
district included by Kansas and the new Oklahoma field. '"^

Note 359. -Pittsburg: Headlight. September 10. 1904.

Note 360.— Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4. 1908.

Note 361.— Ingalls. " Production and Properties of Zinc," p. 44.

Note 362.-lbid, p. 25.

Note 363.-See tables in Mineral Resources of the United States for 1906, and in Mineral Re-
sources of Kansas, 1903, for figures in detail.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 173

It is singular that there should have been so little real change in the
methods as the. zinc-smelting industry has experienced. In many cases the
methods employed are practically those of thirty or forty years ago, es-
pecially in the case of the smaller coal furnaces. " Up to a few years ago
the same type of distillation furnace was used that was in use at the time
of the inception of the industry in this country. The introduction of the
Wetherill process, the mechanical roasting furnaces and the use of natural
gas in Kansas are the principal changes. So gradual has been the evolu-
tion that many methods and types of furnaces have remained unchanged
through long periods of years. . . . For successful distillation of zinc
ore, we seem to be limited to comparatively small retorts; all attempts
. . . in blast furnaces and otherwise on a large scale, save for the pro-
duction of zinc oxide, have been failures. " ^"^ The progress in the industry
has been confined chiefly to mechanical devices in the handling of ores, ex-
tending little further than the roasting furnace, and not even generally so
far as the application of the devices for the recovery of sulphuric acid.

The following directory of zinc smelters in this district in 1908 is given
by Mr. Ingalls^'*'' as follows :

Company. ■ Location of works. Furnaces. Retorts.

Edgar Zinc Co Cherry vale 24 4,800

Lanyon Zinc Co .' lola. 5 3,000

Lanyon Zinc Co " 5 3,000

United Zinc and Chemical Co " . 4 2,304

United Zinc and Chemical Co " 2 480

Cockerill Zinc Co " 5 3,000

Cockerill Zinc Co " 3 1,800

Cockerill Zinc Co Altoona 5 3,000

Cockerill Zinc Co Pittsburg 3 672.

Granby M. and S. Co Neodesha 6 3,840

American Zinc, L. and S. Co Caney 6 3,720

American Zinc, L. and S. Co Deering 6 3,720

Prime Western Spelter Co lola 9 5,344

Prime Western Spelter Co " 5 3,220

Bartlesville Zinc Co Bartlesville 6 3,456

Pittsburg Zinc Co Pittsburg 3 672

Lanyon-Starr S. Co " 6 3,720

National Zinc Co " 4 2,432

Chanute Zinc Co Chanute 8 1,600

There are outside of this district thirteen smelters, having a total of
seventy-eight furnaces and 31,276 retorts, being considerably less than half
the equipment in the gas belt. The relation of the number and size of the
smelters to the production of spelter is very close, the share of the district
being about fifty-eight per cent of all the spelter produced in the United
States.

Note 364.— According to W. R. Ingalls, the noteworthy improvements of the past forty
years in the metallurgy of zinc are: (a) Growing importance of the zinc blends as a source of the
supply; (6) introduction of mechanically raked furnaces; (c) recovery of sulphuric acid from
the gas; (d) gas firing, accompanied by the use of larger furnaces; (e) improved retorts; (/)
control of fumes (only in European smelters) ; (g) labor-saving devices in handling material;
ih) natural gas fuel in the United States. — Prod, and Met., Zinc, p. 24.

Note 365.— Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4, 1908.

174 Kansas State Historical Society.

The smelting of lead has always attracted less attention than the zinc-
smelting industry, and there is little information accessible on the subject.
Lead was the first product of the Joplin district, and on account of the ease
of smelting it was the first ore that was smelted in the vicinity of the min-
ing camps. As early as 1853 there was a furnace for the reduction of lead
ore about five miles north of Joplin, and nearly a thousand tons of lead were
smelted in Jasper county in the five years after 1850. At the outbreak of
the Civil War there were two furnaces in the county, reducing the ore with
charcoal as fuel.^e" Small lead smelters were scattered about the smelter
district from time to time, the activity varying somewhat in the different
parts of it for various reasons. In 1889 there were furnaces at Joplin, Mo.,
Pittsburg and Weir City, Kan., and Rich Hill, Mo. An earlier furnace at
Galena was closed at this time. The process of lead smelting is compara-
tively simple and easy,-^"' and the early furnaces were not very elaborate.

Early in the history of Galena there were some small "Scotch Eyes"
in operation reducing a part of the lead produced in that immediate vicinity.
They were running for about eight years, when they closed on account of
temporary fuel conditions. "Nothing more was done in the line of lead
smelting at Galena until 1897. During that year two different companies
established smelters at Galena, and began operations on a tolerably large
scale. . . . From the closing of the first Galena smelters to the estab-
lishing of the latest ones, the Galena ore was principally shipped to the
Joplin smelters. A small portion of it went west to supply the demand
for lead in the gold and silver smelting furnaces of the Rocky Mountain dis-
trict. Occasionally, during the last few years, a part of the ore was shipped
to the refining works at Argentine. This latter company is doing a large
besiness in refining gold and silver bullion. As a result, it is sending vast
quantities of metallic lead ore onto the market, and has established such a
reputation as a producer of pure soft lead that it is enabled to make un-
usually advantageous sales. During the latter part of 1897, particularly,
this company entered the markets of Galena and Joplin and bought large
quantities of lead ore which were shipped to the smelter at Argentine. " ^^^

This Argentine plant, for many years the largest in the country, is worth
special mention. It was built about 1880 for the purpose of refining gold
and silver bullion shipped in from the other smelters, and for such other
kindred work as they could profitably follow. In the latter '90's the com-
pany had a paid-up capital of three million dollars, operating 'smelters at
Leadville and El Paso, and shipped the gross bullion, containing large quan-

NOTE 366.— Missouri Geol. Surv.. vol. VI, pp. 288, 289.

Note 367. — "The smelting furnace most commonly used in the southwestern district is the
Scotch Eye.' As usually built, a considerable amount of the metallic lead is volatilized, and
escapes through the smokestack. Years ago the Lewis patent process for saving these metallic
fumes was used in the Moffet smelter at Joplin. This consists essentially in suspending a large
number of woolen bags from the ceiling of a large chamber, the lower ends of which are fastened
over registers through which the whole of the material escaping through the smokestack must
pass. The gaseous products pa.«i3 slowly through the bags, while the solid products are strained
out. The lead vapor escaping from the furnace is soon changed into lead oxide, which in turn is
changed into lead sulphate by the sulphur fumes likewise escaping through the smokestack.
The product is therefore got in the shape of lead sulphate, and when properly separated from
the fumes is used as pigment for white paint. Since the shutting down of the Moffet smelter
the same process is used by the Pitcher Smelting Company of Joplin. The new smelters at
Galena have attachments for accomplishing the same end, although very different in construction.
It is claimed by the operators of this process that the savings are enough to make a handsome
margin of profit, so that the old-fashioned 'Scotch Eye,' with no attachments for saving the
fumes, has gone out of use."— Min. Res. Kan., 1897, pp. 32, 33.

Note 368.— Min. Res. Kan., 1897, p. 32.

History of Mmiufactures in Kansas. 175

tities of lead, to the Argentine plant for final refining. Commercial condi-
tions were such that they could ship the gross bullion to Kansas City as
cheaply as they could send the refined metals, and thus the freight on the
lead contained in the bullion was saved entirely. The plant carried on lead
smelting and the manufacture of various commercial products from the other
metals that are recovered in the refining process, chief of which were blue
vitriol and white vitriol. The copper was all made into blue vitriol, and in 1897
a million and a half pounds were put on the market from the Argentine
plant. Part of the lead was sold in the metallic state, and part of it changed
into litharge and put on the market at an advanced price. The operations
of the company in the Argentine plant in 1896 amounted to over sixteen
and a half million dollars, of which over two millions were the lead
products. 369 For some reason the refinery and its smelter departments were
closed about 1900, and have not been opened since that time. The consolida-
tion of the lead producers probably had much to do with it however. 3""

Owing to the fact that fuel is of less relative importance in the reduction
of lead ores, there has been no such movement of the smelters that reduce
the Kansas-Missouri lead from the Joplin district into the gas belt. The
only lead smelter in the gas belt is that of the Ozark Mining and Smelting
Company, which also operates one of the Joplin smelters. The principal
operations of this company are centered in the production of white lead and
zinc oxide. The other Joplin smelter, as well as the Galena establishment,
is equipped for the production of white lead from the fumes. Practically
all of the ore from the Joplin district, about 35,000 to 40,000 tons annually,
is reduced in these smelters mentioned, ^'i The lead smelters are apparently
prosperous, and are in operation practically all the time, their capacity
being approximately commensurate with the production of the Joplin field.
No definite information about the present operations is, however, obtain-
able. 3' =

SALT.

Although there has been salt produced in Kansas by artifical methods
almost from the time of its admission as a state, curiously enough the ex-
tent and importance of the vast salt beds in the central part of the state
were discovered almost by accident. It was at the time of the oil and gas
excitement that was permeating the eastern part of the state in the latter
'80's that the settlement of the central part of the state was accomplished,
and without any reliable data upon which to base their hopes, nearly every
town through that section was actively engaged in prospecting for oil and
gas or coal, or anything else that they could find. It was a time of prosperity,

Note 369. -Min. Res. Kan., 1897, pp. 15, 16.

Note 370.— " In the operating field the lead industry is widely different from the zinc in-
dustry. In the latter the production is by nearly twenty different companies, the bulk of it by
six large competing companies, while in the lead industry a single corporation, the American
Smelting and Refining Company, dominates the entire field, with interests exceeding the com-
bined interests of all the others." — Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 440.

Note 371.- Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 448.

Note 372. — Either owing to the fact that each of these companies has developed processes
of its own, or that it desires for some reason or other to keep its operations secret, it is prac-
tically impossible to get into the works or to get any figures about the business of the different
works. For this reason it is impossible to state whether there is any connection between the
smelters in this district and the monopoly spoken of above (note, p. 370) or not. For the same
reason it is impossible to indulge in any satisfactory discussion of the methods or classes of pro-
duction other than the bare outline that has been suggested above.

176 Kaiisas State Historical Society.

and ready cash was to be had for any such enterprises. Settlers were lit-
erally swarming into that section of the state from Missouri, Iowa and
Eastern states. It was a boom time for the towns of that section, and fac-
tories were projected without number that never materialized as a matter
of fact. It was this very situation, however, that brought to light the salt
beds. From 1887 to 1888, Ellsworth, Lyons, Hutchinson, Great Bend,
Kanopolis, Pratt, Nickerson, Sterling, Anthony, and Wellington organized
companies for the prospecting for oil and gas, and by the end of 1888 every
one of them had given up the project, with nothing but rock salt to show
for their operations. ^'^

Hutchinson, destined to be the town to profit most from this prospecting,
was one of the towns that felt the boom the most, and a drilling project
was under way in 1887. The well was put down by Ben Blanchard, of that
place, who had the promise of aid from the citizens. As the work pro-
gressed, however, without finding anything of importance, the promised
assistance faded away, and Mr. Blanchard finished the well alone. The
well struck salt at a depth of 500 feet, and left the last layer at 847 feet. 3'+
Mr. Blanchard fenced in the well and continued the prospecting on his own
account in secret, and finally found a little oil below the salt. Nothing
came of the oil, however, and the excitement that it started subsided, as
no one at the time realized the importance of the salt bed that had been
uncovered. Kingman, twenty-five miles south of Hutchinson, penetrated
a heavy salt bed 250 feet in thickness in July, 1887, ^'s and in the following
December Lyons, about the same distance northwest of Hutchinson, got a
heavy salt bed at a depth of about 800 feet that was nearly 300 feet thick. ■''»
Kanopolis, Sterling and Anthony were other towns that found the salt beds
in the same year, and practically fixed its northern and southern limits.-'"

Rather strangely at first the discovery of the salt attracted practically
no attention other than curiosity; that in spite of the fact that there had
been a small solar salt plant in operation at Solomon City, in Dickinson
county, about thirty miles west of Fort Riley, since 1867, and salt had been
an object of considerable attention and activity since the first settlement of
the territory and the adoption of the constitution. "^ The salt marshes that
were found along the eastern horizon of what is now known to be the ex-
tent of the rock salt area were of considerable importance to the early
settlers, and limited quantities of salt were manufactured from them and

Note 373.-Min. Res. Kan.. 1898, p. 78.

Note 374. -Lok of Well in Min. Res. Kan.. 1898, p. 92.

Note 376.-^ Min. Res. Kan.. 1898, p. 91. Note 376. -Ibid, p. 80.

Note 377. — "In an east-and-west line the thickness of the salt . . . varies, but how far
wPBtward it extends is entirely unknown. The eastern limit of the lake or sea from the waters
of which this salt was precipitated is moderately well known, while we are yet in total ignorance
of its western extent. In the north-and-south direction our knowledge covers a little wider area,
reaching from Anthony on the south to Kanopolis on the north. . . . The salt beds at An-
thony are lOl feet thiclt ; at Kingman they are 41,5 feet thick ; at Hutchinson they have thinned
to 380 feet, while at Lyons they have decreased to a thickness of 275 feet, and at Kanopolis to one
of 250 feet. At this rate of decrease . . . they would entirely disappear before the north
line of the state is reached."- Min. Res. Kan., 1898, pp. 87, 88.

Note 378.— The constitution of the territory of Kansas, adopted at Wyandotte July 29, 1859,
and approved by Congress when it was admitted into the Union, contained the following pro-
vision : "Sec. 5. That all salt springs, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land
adjacent to each, together with all mines, with the land necessary for their full use. shall be
granted to the state for works of public improvement." See, also, Kan. Hist. Coll., vol. X. p. 231,
table showing " grants to public land states upon admission to the Union." Ten other states
besides Kansas have received twelve salt springs with six sections of land adjacent.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 177

sold in the state from the '60's on.^'* The salt factory at Solomon City
was the first of any considerable size in the state, and though it has had a
rather checkered career it has produced several thousand barrels of salt
annually until only a few years ago, and gave Kansas a place as a salt-pro-
ducing state long before the development about 1890. ^^o

It was a New York salt company that was the first to realize the im-
portance of the salt discovery, and soon after Mr. Blanchard's prospect
well went through the salt they had the ground looked over, and put down
two wells in Hutchinson, and began the erection of a salt factory. This
was the first of the factories that followed the discoveries of the salt beds,
and put Kansas in the list of important salt producers. It was opened early
in 1888, and the first salt was made March 15. It had a daily capacity of
600 barrels, and made about 70,000 barrels in the first year of its operation.
The same spirit of boom development that had inspired the first prospect-
ing for oil and gas seized upon the new project as soon as the Guinlock &
Humphrey plant was started, and within a year from the opening of the
first factory there were twelve salt plants in operation or just rendy to
begin operations in the city of Hutchinson alone. The daily capacity of
these factories within a year was nearly 5000 barrels, or more than a million
and a half barrels annually— almost as much as is actually produced to-day
by the Hutchinson salt plants. There is no information to show what share
the Eastern salt companies had in this development, but there were at least
tnrt :; '^ tern companies concerned in this first activity, '^i

Tbe building of salt plants was by no means confined to Hutchinson,
however, and in the same year seven other plants were built at Anthony,
Nickerson, Sterling, Wellington and Great Bend.-'*- Conditions were at
first unfavorable for these plants, and half or more of them made no at-
tempt to live when the disadvantages became apparent. The two factories

Note 379.— The first salt was made by Mr. J. G. Tuthill, one of the early settlers of Republic
county, from a marsh near his farm, about fifty miles northwest of Fort Riley. "In the manu-
facture of salt, Mr. Tuthill would collect the scales from over the marsh and dissolve them in
water, allow the earthy impurities to subside, and siphon off the clear brine and evaporate it to
dryness to recover the salt. . . . When the weather was not favorable for the formation of
salt scales over the marsh, he would dip or pump the brine from the small wells and haul it to
his little salt factory. The brine was evaporated from large kettles, in much the same way that
our fathers evaporated sugar water in Indiana, Ohio and the Eastern states. At the present
time this sounds like a very primitive method, but at that time it was in accordance with the
most approved process. Portions of the arch of Mr. Tuthill's kettle salt plant still stand to mark
the spot of his primitive factory. In the early '60's Mr. Tuthill made salt and hauled it to Man-
hattan, where he received as high as ten cents a pound for it. Mr. Hazen says he sold over a
hundred barrels of salt made by Mr. Tuthill and other farmers from 1873 to 1876 while he kept
a store in Seapo, Republic county (now extinct)."— Min. Res. Kan., 1898, pp. 72, 73.

Note 380. — The salt springs at Solomon City were made known to Eastern salt makers by
accident in 1866, and in 1867 a representative of the Continental Salt Company, of New Bedford,
Mass., drilled a well to a depth of a hundred feet, striking a good supply of brine at eighty-four
feet. The company sold out in a short time, but the factory was operated until 1877. In 1874 a
second well was drilled and operated until 1876 under the name of the Wimsatt Salt Works.
"Brooks and Brown, of the West Virginia Salt Works, operated it during the years 1876 and 1877.
In 1880 the National Solar Salt Company began operations, and in 1881 the two plants were
merged into one, and this company operated them until 1885. It was practically closed until 1888.
when Mr. Wimsatt operated it first for R. J. Weemys and later for R. W. Wirt. In 1890 it be-
came the property of its present owner. The Solomon Solar Salt Company. As can be seen from
the above this plant has gone through numerous changes, and the work has been irregular.
. . . The present superintendent says they have a capacity of about 7000 barrels a year." —
Min. Res. Kan., 1898, p. 76.

Note 381.-Min. Res. U. S., 1888, p. 609.

Note 382.— Anthony had two plants with a total capacity of 950 barrels daily. One of them
operated three months only, and the other struggled along for three years. The plant of the
Nickerson Salt Company had a capacity of 350 barrels. It was sold to a Hutchinson company in
1891, and closed. Sterling had two plants, one of which was in operation but a few months. [In
1890 four plants were built, two of which lived but a year or two, while the others continued in:
business until about I900.]-Min. Res. Kan., 1898, pp. 80-84.

278 Kansas State Historical Society.

at Anthony were closed in a short time, and the one at Wellington lived
about a year. All over the salt bed, however, there were plants of various
sizes erected, and in 1890 there were no less than twenty-eight factories in
the state. 3*^ At this time there was a great disadvantage that the Kansas
salt makers had to contend with in competition with the Michigan salt fac-
tories in the fuel problem. In that district the practice of using lumber
waste for fuel at a cost of nothing or even less than nothing, since it saved
the expense of destroying the waste, gave a wonderful advantage to the
factories of that section. For this reason it was impossible for Kansas salt
to go East at all, as the Michigan makers were also favored by freight
rates that had been made to encourage the industry in its infancy.

With conditions in such a state, it is no wonder that so many of the early
Kansas salt plants gave up the struggle. In self-defense the larger opera-
tors about Hutchinson, who had the advantage over many of the others in
an abundant water supply that some of the others did not have, bought up
many of the larger plants and closed them to prevent the total demoraliza-
tion of the trade. Even in 1890 one of the larger Hutchinson plants had
gotten control of seven other plants, and as early as that the consolidations
had benefited trade conditions to a certain extent. -'s^ The financial diffi-
culties soon after this and the hard times following them made matters still
more critical for the smaller plants, and resulted in a great reduction of the
number. About this time one of the sons of J. Sterling Morton bought an
interest in one of the largest plants, and soon thereafter the freight rates
were adjusted more favorably for the Kansas factories. It is generally un-
derstood that the concessions were secured by Mr. Morton through his
brother, Paul Morton, then traffic manager of the Santa Fe railway, but
this cannot be definitely confirmed. The fact remains that the Santa Fe
made the first concession, and a general advantage in rates resulted to the
Kansas plants. At the present time the salt is marketed anywhere this side
of the Mississippi river, conditions making that the natural division line.^^^

At the same time that these plants were building for the manufacturing
of salt by the evaporating process there were mines opened at various
places in the salt belt for the mining and crushing of the rock salt. At
many places there are layers of the salt that are practically pure, and save
for a little gray shale there is nothing to give trouble in the production by
this method. Salt mining also was considerably overdone at the very be-
ginning, for as there are always some impurities in the salt gotten by this
method it cannot compete with the evaporated salt, and some of the mines
were soon closed. Kingman (southwest) was the pioneer, and local capital
put down a shaft in 1888 that produced salt for about two years. Soon
afterward a Chicago company put down a large shaft, said to be one of the
largest in the world, and began mining on a large scale. The company had
financial difl[iculties in 1893, and the plant went into the hands of the iron
company that put in the machinery. It was closed for nearly ten years, but
has been producing considerable quantities of salt recently, all of which is
shipped to Chicago. In 1890 a shaft was sunk at Lyons by local capital,
associated with some St. Louis men, and the company has been producing

Note 383.— Robt. Hay, in Seventh Bien. Rept., Bd. of A?., Kan., p. 95.
Note 3S4.- Seventh Bien. Rept., Bd. of Ag., Kan., part 2, p. 96.
Note 385.— Interview, 1908.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. ' 179

salt regularly ever since. At Kanopolis there was also a mine sunk about
1890, which has been actively producing all the time. This mine was bought
by the Lyons company some years ago, and the product of the two shafts
are marketed together. The mines do not run full capacity, for the Lyons
shaft alone could produce 1000 barrels a day.^ss more than enough to sup-
ply the demand for rock salt for all the territory west of the Mississippi
river. 387

The methods of production in the evaporating plants have been radically
changed since the first plants were built twenty year.s ago. Then the uni-
versal method was that used by our grandfathers in sugar making, where
the heat was applied directly beneath a large open pan, and the liquid boiled
until the salt was deposited on the bottom of the pan, and raked out to dry.
This method was slow and required a great deal of fuel, besides making a
coarse grade of salt. For this reason the steam-grainer method was soon
introduced, patterned after that used in the Saginaw district of Michigan.
The brine is heated by the passage of steam through the pipes, which are
placed about midway of the depth of the pan. The salt made in this way
is of fair fineness, and, since the introduction of automatic raking devices
for drawing the salt from the bottom of the pans, is cheaper than the old
method. It is now used to a great extent by all the Kansas plants, and
almost exclusively by some of them. The last change in methods of pro-
duction is that called the "vacuum-pan" method, which was introduced by
the largest of the Hutchinson companies in 1895. Evaporation is facilitated
by this method by preserving a vacuum above the pan all the time, and a
much finer grade of salt results. This is the only plant of the kind in this
section of the country.

The center of the salt industry is, as it has been from the beginning, at
Hutchinson, where there are four rather extensive works, and a fifth that
produces small quantities of salt. Probably half or more of the salt of the
state, however, is made in the one plant known as the Morton plant, said
to be the largest single salt plant in the world. About one-fifth of all the
salt produced goes in bulk to the packing houses along the Missouri river,
for use in packing and curing meats. About two-thirds of the balance is
put on the market in barrels, and the rest in sacks of various sizes for
domestic purposes.

Since 1907 the salt factories have been using gas in their boilers from the
pipes of the Kansas Natural Gas Company, the advantage being principally
due to the convenience in firing, and the saving of labor incidental to the
use of coal. 388 The solar plant is no longer in operation at Solomon City, it
having yielded to the superior methods employed by the other and larger
establishments, while only small quantities of salt are produced by the fac-

NOTE 386.— Min. Res. Kan., 1898. p. 103.

Note 387.— The methods employed in these two mines are very similar to ordinary coal-min-
ing operations. The salt is undercut in the mines with compressed-air drills and blasted down
with dynamite. The blocks are hoisted to the surface and run through the breakers, and sorted
down by a system of screens into nine different sizes or grades. As it passes from the breakers
it is hand-picked by boys and girls to get rid of the discolored pieces containing impurities, much
as the anthracite coal is sorted. After the sorting process, the lumps are crushed into various
sizes and degrees of fineness to suit the demand for which it is intended. The salt reaches the
market in all conditions, from the huge blocks sold for ranch purposes to the various grades
used in packing hides, icing refrigerator cars, and in the manufacture of soap and glass and the
like. The evaporated salt is not used for any of the purposes for which the rock salt is produced,
and the two industries, therefore, do not affect each other in the least. —Min. Res. Kan., 1898, p!
99 *t seq.

Note 388.— Interview, 1908.

IgQ Kansas State Historical Society.

tories at Anthony and Sterling, probably not more than a few hundreds of
barrels a year.

It will thus be seen that the salt industry has followed the tendency of
the other industries of this section of the country. There was a great ac-
tivity about 1890, followed by a slight falling off in the volume of business,
and attended by a centralization of the industry in the hands of a few
operators. The output is now steadily increasing, *"' and the bulk of it is in
the hands of one company, and it is certain that at the present time there
is at least a gentleman's agreement between all the producers, which has
reduced harmful competition to a minimum.

An interesting phase of the development of the salt beds that is likely
to prove to be as important as interesting, is the erection of a large soda
ash plant, with a daily capacity of 120 tons, at Hutchinson. This plant is
said to be the only absolutely independent plant '"" in the world manufactur-
ing this very important product,-^'" and the only one west of Detroit. There
has been a constantly growing demand in the Middle West for this product,
and especially since the coming of glass factories the economic importance of
such a plant near to the seat of the demand has been very apparent.
Twenty years ago there was an investigation of the field, almost as soon as
the salt factories were opened, but nothing came of that investigation, for
what reason it is not known. The organization of the company for the
building of this plant was begun about three years ago, in January, 1906,
and the stock was sold quietly among local investors, to avoid attracting at-
tention to the work until it was well under way. There are a number of
interests in the manufacturing section that use the product who are inter-
ested.

The plant will cost about half a million dollars, and will begin operations
some time in the spring of 1909. It is built on the most approved lines, has

Note 389. — The production of salt by the Kansas factories by two-year periods since 1889 is
as follows :

Year. Barrels (280 lbs.) Av. price. Value.

1889 450.000 $0.45 $202,500 00

1891 855,536 .357 304,775 00

1893 1,277,180 .369 471,543 00

1895 1,341,617 .36 483,70100

1897 1,224,980 .34 417,626 94

1899 2,172,000 .35 760,200 00

1901 1,271,015 .60 762,609 00

1903 1,455,582 .50 800,730 74

1905 2,123,109 .39 837.739 00

[Table from Min. Res. Kan., 1903, p. 46. Figures for 1905 from Bulletin No. 83, Census
Manufactures U. S., 1905.]

Note 390.— There are five other plants in the United States, at the following places : Syra-
cuse, N. Y., Saltville. W. Va., Detroit. Mich.. Wyandotte, Mich., and Barberton, Mich. There
are six European plants, one in England and five on the continent. All these plants, save the one
at Saltville. W. Va., and the Barberton plant in Michigan, are controlled from a central office at
Bernberg. Belgium, and the two independents are living and operating under close agreements
with the centralized plants. This industry dates only back to the erection of the first plant by
the Solvey Bros., at Bernberg, in 1866, followed by the Brunner-Monde plant in England in 1882.
Then the Solvey people built the first American plant at Syracuse, N. Y.. in the heart of that
salt field, in 1S89, and the Solvey Process Company, a branch from Bereschniki, Russia, built the
Detroit Solvey Process Company's plant at Detroit. The central organization was formed by an
early coalition between Messrs. Brunner and Monde and the two Solvey brothers, and they hold
stock in every plant in the world save the two American plants named above. The profits of the
business under this arrangment are said to have been enormous.— Interview, 1908.

Note 391.— The principal interests within reach of the Hutchinson plant using soda ash are:
The glass factories, which use as high as forty per cent in making some grades of glass, espe-
cially bottle glass: the makers of .soap and washing compounds. One Kansas City soap malcer
used 2000 tons last year in making his ordinary output of soap. Paper mills, woolen mills, pot-
tery factories and laundries use large quantities of it. The oil mills of the South use it, and it
forms the basis of most of the boiler compounds, as well as of many chemical preparations.
Baking powders and cooking soda are made from derived ingredients, chief of which is soda ash.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 181

all the improvements, and will, it is estimated, be ten years ahead of any
other plant in this feature of equipment. The principal materials used are
salt brine, which is pumped from the wells of the company drilled on the
site of the plant, and limestone, which is to be had in Marion county, not
more than thirty miles away. It is said that at the present prices the
profits of the business will amount to from six to eight dollars a ton.

There has been a great deal of complaint in the Middle West on account
of the tribute the manufacturers have had to pay to the soda ash combine.
It is a large item to pay the freight alone on the amount used by many of
the factories, and it is an invariable rule that all shipments are per bill of
lading, and, if there is a discrepancy, the consignee is without redress
against the company. The future of the company is, as a matter of course,
wholly conjectural, but there is no visible reason why it should not prosper,
for there is ample demand to keep it running among the men interested in
one way or another. It is rumored that the largest of the salt factories is
contemplating the erection of a similar plant, if this one prospers, but that
cannot be confirmed.

CEMENT ANP CEMENT PLASTERS.

In discussing this division of the mineral industries of the section, there
are three wholly distinct subjects to be handled, in so far as the develop-
ment of various cement and plaster enterprises are concerned. First of all
there is the gypsum cement plaster industry, originating in the accidental
calcining of some rock gypsum at the camp fire of one of the earliest settlers
of Blue Rapids, '"■- the seat later of the first gypsum plaster factory in the
region west of the Mississippi. Even earlier in importance on the markets
is the production of natural cement (popularly known as hydraulic cement)
at Fort Scott, which had assumed commercial pretensions before 1870.
Lastly, there is the wonderful growth of the Portland cement industry in
Kansas and Oklahoma, dating from 1899, and depending upon the advantage
of natural gas fuel to a large extent. As much on account of the conven-
ience in treatment, as for any logical reasons, these divisions will be consid-
ered in the order named.

The first gypsum plaster produced in the state was from the northern,
or Blue Rapids end of the district of gypsum-bearing formations already
mentioned in another part of this paper. The properties of the gypsum
rocks at Blue Rapids being well known locally before the Civil War, it
needed only someone to start making the plaster to create a demand. In
1871 some of the gypsum was burned and taken to Elmira, Ohio, and the
quality proving good, the Coon brothers of that place came to Blue Rapids
in the following year and began the manufacture of "plaster of Paris"
over a stove in a five-barrel kettle. ^93 in 1875 the business was enlarged
by the addition of water power for grinding the gypsum rock and the in-
crease in the kettle capacity of the plant. The valuation of the plant as

Note 392.— It was in 1858 that this first gypsum was burned in this accidental way, and the
settler used the calcined gypsum in making plaster to "chink " the cracks in his cabin. In the
following year the plaster was used in the plastering of a number of houses in the new town,
and the advantages of the gypsum beds along the river at that point were so apparent that the
commissioners who laid out the town reserved a strip 100 rods long and 320 feet wide along the
river containing the known deposit.— Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. V, p. 51.

Note 393.— A number of accounts of the plaster industry are in print. The best are
articles by Haworth, in volume VII, Kansas Historical Collections, and in volume V, University
Geological Survey, and an article by Grimsley in First Bien. Kept., Bureau of Labor, pp. 144-147.

182 Kansas State Historical Society.

remodeled was given at $10,000, and it continued actively in operation until"
the failure of the firm in 1887. Two years later the mill was almost de-
stroyed by floods, and was never rebuilt.

Though never rebuilt, and of no great actual importance, the first gypsum
mill demonstrated the value of the gypsum rocks about Blue Rapids, and in
the same year that the first mill was in its financial straits, a second was
built by H. G. and F. W. Fowler, who organized the Blue Rapids Plaster
Company, which operated until it was bought by the United States Plaster
Company, of Toledo, Ohio, about 1900. In the same year, a second mill was
built by the Kansas Cement Plaster Company, making the number of mills
at Blue Rapids three in all. Soon after the destruction of the Coon mill
another was built by the Great Western Plaster Company. The first opera-
tions of all these mills followed the plan of stripping the earth from the
surface of the ledge of gypsum rock where it outcropped along the banks of
the Blue, but it was soon found advisable to run drifts into the deposits and
get the materials in this way.

In 1873 the secondary deposits of gypsum "dirt" was discovered by ac-
cident by a farmer in the southeastern part of Saline county while plowing
and burning a "fire guard" along his farm, and the important district in
Saline and Dickinson counties was opened to the gypsum industry.* The
first mill in this section was built in 1889, by a company of Salina men, who
formed the Acme Cement Plaster Company. About the same time the
second mill using the earth gypsum was built at Dillon, about ten miles east
of the first mill. Up to 1900 there had been in all eight mills built and
operated in this central area, nearly all of them using the earth gypsum.
Other deposits than those named were found at Rhodes and Burns, in Marion
county, at Longford, in Clay county, and at Mulvane, in Sumner county. ■*"*
The importance of these discoveries of earth gypsum lies in the convenience
of handling of the raw material in the first place, and in the fact that they
seem to make more satisfactory plasters in some respects than the rock
gypsum, and usually command a higher price on the market than those
made from the rock gypsum, ■'ss

Still another important development in the gypsum industry at this time
was the building of the Medicine Lodge plant, in Barber county, in 1889.
A magazine article on the Barber county beds attracted the attention of
some English capitalists in 1888, and their interest resulted in the building
of the Keene Cement Company's plant in the following year. This company
has always manufactured a high grade of plaster, and has been the only one
in the state to market to any extent in the Eastern cities. The plant was
under the management of two brothers named Best, and the output has be-
come famous as "Best Brothers' Keene Cement."

With the erection of the Barber county plant in 1889, the number of
gypsum plaster mills in the state of Kansas was raised to nine, and all of
them were doing a fair business. There was a little more than a half mil-
lion of dollars invested in the mills and lands, or about one-fifth of the in-
vestment in the industry in the United States in that year, but the output
was not at all proportional to the rest of the country, it being but about

Note 394.— First Bien. Rept., Bureau of Labor, Kansas, p. 145.
Note 395.— Min. Res. Kan.. 1901-'02, p. 63.
' Supra, p. 90.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 183

one-fifteenth of the whole. These figures, however, do not show the exact
conditions of the industry, without the consideration that the output of the
New York and Utah establishments, and a large part of the Michigan mills
was sold uncalcined as land plaster. After deducting this amount from the
totals, the actual production of plaster of Paris by the Kansas mills was a
little more than a fifth of all the plaster made in that year. 396 There never
has been any considerable part of the Kansas product sold in the crude
state, the farmers of the state seeming to have a prejudice against its use.^^^

The number of mills continued to increase through the early '90's, and
the production increased steadily until 1895, which was the banner year for
the plaster mills of the state. In that year the output was nearly 73,000
tons, with a value of close to $300,000. ^-'s The figures for this year have not
been equaled since, either in the output or valuation, except for one year,
1906. One reason for this is not so much the falling off in the demand for
the product as for the shifting of the center of the industries to a certain
extent. The Texas deposits were beginning to send their products into part
of the field that the Kansas mills had supplied in the later '90's, and as early
as 1899 one of the largest companies operating in Kansas had built a mill in
Texas from which they shipped a large share of their trade. ■''■'9 The ap-
proaching exhaustion of the deposits of earth gypsum in the state also had
its effect, in that it led to discontinuing the operation of a considerable
number of mills about this same time, as the workable deposits were one
after another exhausted. The mills using the earth gypsum had in general
enjoyed an advantage in cheaper production and higher prices, and these
advantages were diminished with the exhaustion of the most favorable of
the deposits.

Commercial conditions of the gypsum plaster industry were, on the whole,
very satisfactory through the '90's, and the products of the Kansas mills
found a market through the Western states and as far east as the Ohio
river, while the Barber county mill, already referred to, marketed some of
its products as far east as the Atlantic coast. "The freight on such goods
soon amounts to as much as the first value of the goods themselves. . . .
During 1897 the common rates from Kansas to St. Louis were three dollars
a ton, and to Chicago four dollars a ton. This is more than the manu-
facturers of the same class of goods in the state of New York paid to get
their goods laid down at either Chicago or St. Louis. Still, in the face of
these difficulties, the superior quality of the Kansas products enabled them
to compete favorably in some of the Eastern markets with materials manu-
factured much nearer to the point of consumption."""

The beginnings of the movement toward centralization that the other in-
dustries of the section had experienced in many cases even earlier than this
were felt in the gypsum plaster industry about 1900. The moving spirit in
the centralization was the American Cement Plaster Company, organized at
Lawrence, in 1898. It opened its mill at Mulvane, in Sedgwick county.

Note 396.— Eleventh Census. Mineral Industries, pp. 699-701.

Note 397.- Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. V, p. 133.

Note 398.- Min. Res. Kan.. 1903. p. 40. Note 399.-Ibid, 1899, p. 51.

Note 400.— Min. Res. Kan.. 1897, p. 64: "Kansas cement plasters have finally found their way
into almost all the markets of America. They have traveled as far east as Boston and New York,
and westward to San Francisco. . . . The greater part . . . are sold west of the Ohio."

184 Kansas State Historical Society/.

southeast of Wichita, early in 1899, and already had a large plant at
Quanah, Tex., supplying a large part of its trade. In 1900 this company
virtually acquired two other companies, with three mills in the Kansas dis-
trict, and about the same time started its large mills at Grand Rapids, Mich.,
in the heart of the gypsum fields of that district. This made the Lawrence
company by far the largest producer in the Kansas field, and its extensions
into the Texas and Michigan fields made it probably the largest single
operator in the country.

The following account of the consolidation is taken from the state re-
ports for 1900.^" "The Salina Cement Company changed management,
Messrs. A. and J. A. Henley, of Lawrence, Joab Mulvane, of Topeka, be-
coming the principal stockholders. A new board of directors was elected
in June, and the offices of the company moved to Lawrence, the business
being done under practically the same management as the American Cement
Plaster Company. . . . The Great Western Cement Plaster Company,
of Blue Rapids, was recently bought outright by members of the American
Cement Plaster Company, and the offices moved to Lawrence, although the
business is still being done at Blue Rapids under the old firm name. . . .
In this way the owners of the American company have obtained control of
the two others, and transact the business for the three companies from one
office in Lawrence." The United States Gypsum Company, organized about
1902 with offices at Chicago, and operating the old Fowler plant at Blue
Rapids, and a second plant built at Blue Rapids a little later, began to
branch out about this time, and took over the plant of the Roman Cement
Plaster Company in Pratt county in 1899, and the Wymore Cement Plaster
Company's plant at Hope, Kan., which had been operated by a company of
jobbers with offices at Wymore, Neb., for about a year.""^'- This second
merger of producers left but three mills that were producing independently,
including the Medicine Lodge plant in Barber county, which has always re-
fused to give out any information as to its operations. ^"3

The effect of this merger, which brought the monopoly of the cement
plaster industry into the hands of two strong companies, was soon apparent.
The American Plaster Company closed its original Kansas mill at Mulvane
in the same year that it bought the other companies out, and one plant ac-
quired from the Saline company at Dillon was never reopened. Their ob-
vious purpose was to restrict the production in order to better trade conditions.
The business at that time was sadly overdone, and the prices were becom-
ing all the time more unsatisfactory, so that there was nothing in the busi-
ness for any of the Kansas mills.* The organization of the United States
Gypsum Company, which practically completed the work of centralization
of management, completed the plans that the Lawrence company had in
mind. The immediate result of the two combinations was an increase in
price of gypsum plaster from an average of about $4.30 for the past four
years to an average price of $5 a ton in 1902, the first year of the opera-
tions of the second consolidation.^"^ This level of prices has not been main-
tained since that time, but at no time since the consolidations has the price
been so low as before.

Note 401. -Min. Res. Kan.. 1900-'01, p. 64. Note 402.-Ibid. 1900-'01, p. 65.

Note 403.-Ibid. 1902. p. 42. Note 404.-Ibid, 1903, p. 40.

* Interview, 1908.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 185

The principal change in the industry on the commercial side since 1902 is
the practical discontinuance of two at least of the smaller mills that were
operating independently, so that now the two companies have a single com-
petitor in the Medicine Lodge plant. The smaller mills were under the ad-
ditional disadvantage that the building of the Oklahoma mills had on the
Southern market for the Kansas plasters, and between the influences they
left the field. The number of mills in Oklahoma (and the Indian Territory)
in 1905 had reached seven, and the investment of capital had reached two-
thirds of a million. The value of the products of the Oklahoma mills reached
about $150,000, or more than half that of the Kansas product, and the addi-
tion of this supply has had a considerable effect on the industry in Kansas.
Commercial conditions are practically the same as they were ten years ago,
so far as the territory reached is concerned, though the Eastern market is
limited more on the east than it was ten years ago, and very little of the
product of the Kansas and Oklahoma mills goes east of the Mississippi river
now. There is still an opening to the northwest, on account of the fact that
there are no mills in that section of the country, and no materials that are
known as a basis for any in the future. The freight rates, however, reduce
the demand in that direction, and lime plasters are used to a considerable
extent where the cement plaster would be used but for the cost.

There are now, even with the reduction of the number of active mills,
more plants in the Kansas field than the tributary territory demands, and
many of them are running only a part of the time. The demand depends of
course only upon the activity of the building trades, and there is not suffi-
cient building going on using plaster products to call for any large amount
annually. The demand in Oklahoma has been pretty largely taken care of
by the new mills in that section, and probably will be, as the amount of
gypsum in that state, while not definitely mapped, is known to be ample for
some years at least. ^"^

Another thing that the centralization of the plaster industry has accom-
plished is the introduction of more improved methods of manufacture than
prevailed while there was a larger number of small plants furnishing the
plaster output of the state. Up to 1900 there was no considerable improve-
ment in the general methods of calcining the gypsum, or in the handling of
either the raw materials in reaching the plant, or in the disposal of the cal-
cined gypsum as it came from the kettles. The kettles themselves are huge
barrel-like steel cylinders of boiler steel, set on end on a masonry base, and
the heat is applied directly beneath, and the gypsum is stirred by clumsy
revolving arms within it as the burning process goes on. It requires
twenty-five or thirty horse-power to run such a stirrer, and accidents to the
machinery are frequent on account of the strain. Waste of heat, and waste

Note 405.— The following letter from a member of one of the two leading companies operat-
ing in this district gives a fair view of the present situation in the industry in general : "In 1907
there were six or seven mills in operation in Kansas. A number of the mills have been discon-
tinued since 1900 on account of the raw material being exhausted and the mill being moved to
another deposit (in the case of those using the earth gypsum only) or discontinued entirely.
The mills in Oklahoma have taken care of most of the increase in the demand for gypsum prod-
ucts, and have had their effect on the Kansas mills. Our market for the Kansas mills extends
east to Chicago, and some in Indiana, but the freight rates are very high that far away, and as
there are other mills in that territory it is almost impossible for the Kansas mills to get that far
or much farther east. We have shipped some of our material to the far Northwest, but that is
on account of there not being any good material found in that territory. There are now a good
many more mills in this territory than the demand requires, and a number of them are shut
down entirely, while several others are running only a part of the time. ... I have just
been at one of our plants . . . and And that business has been very quiet there, and we hav«
averaged running only a small part of the time."

186 Kansas State Historical Society.

of power in stirring, with a large amount of personal experience needed to
determine the degree of burning required/"« have made this method objec-
tionable to progressive manufacturers. Improvements were looked on with
distrust for a longtime, however, and not until the American and the United
States companies got a monopoly was it practicable to fit the mills up with
more approved machinery. ^»" The plant of the American people at Mulvane
was one of the first to introduce the gravity system in getting the raw ma-
terials to the calcining kettle and a system of conveyors to take it from
them to the store sheds, thus eliminating practically all hand labor. The
continuous calcining system employed in the Portland cement plants has not
yet been adopted by the gypsum plaster mills, for what reason it is not easy
to determine.

There are no gypsum mills in the state of Nebraska, and so far as is
known no gypsum deposits that are workable. The mills in Oklahoma are
recent, and no separate figures for the output in barrels are obtainable, the
federal reports listing Oklahoma and Texas together. On a basis of prices
about the same as that in Kansas for 1905, however, the valuation given by
the census for 1905,* $130,716, the output would be in the neighborhood of
37,000 tons, or a thousand tons less than was produced in Kansas for the
same year.^'"* The output of the Kansas mills by four-year periods since
1889 is shown by the following table

■ 4(19

Year. Tons plaster. Av. price. Value.

1889 17,332 $5 44 $94,235 00

1893 43,631 4 16 181,599 00

1897 50,045 5 05 252,81100

1901 49,217 4 25 209,172 00

1906 64,351 4 48 642,859 00

NATURAL CEMENT.

The natural cement industry in this section of the country has never
amounted to much outside of one place (Fort Scott), where, on account of
the peculiar fitness of the impure limestones, the industry has flourished
since 1868, and the two mills that have been in business there for the last
twenty years are still producing cement in competition with the Portland
cement plants. Outside of this Fort Scott industry, therefore, there had
been little in the way of cement manufacture in the section until the build-
ing of the Portland cement plants. There has been little lime burned in the

Note406. — "In some mills a long tube thermometer is kept in the plaster, . . . but the
plaster adheres to the tube below and so gives a lower reading. ... In other mills electric
wires run to an automatic registering thermometer which is said to give good results. . . .
The expert calciners, however, depend more upon the appearance of the plaster in the kettles
than upon thermometer readings. Inexperienced calciners who depend wholly on a thermometer
reading plunged at times into the kettle may make very poor plaster out of the very best ma-
terials."-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. V, pp. 102, 121.

Note 407.— "The great objection to the present kettle system of calcining gypsum is the
great amount of heat required to calcine the mass of cold gypsum thrown into a kettle with a
thick steel bottom. Much heat is wasted by radiation from the kettle. Another objection is the
large amount of horse-power retiuired to stir this mass of gypsum and keep it from overburning
at the bottom. The heat required tends to warp and burn out the kettle bottoms, which are
heavy and expensive to replace. The methods of calcining . . . have not improved much
recently, and it would appear that there is much room for it."— Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. V,
p. 103.

Note 408.-Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 1074.

Note 409. -From Mineral Resources of Kansas. 1903, p. 40, save for the figures of 1906. which
are from the Mineral Resources of the United States, 1906, p. 1074.

* Bull. No. 30, Mfffs. Oklahoma, etc., 1905, pp. 34, 35.

Histoi'y of Manufactures m Kansas. 187

state, the bulk of the lime that has been used coming from the more con-
venient limestone ledges in Missouri.

Small works for the manufacture of cement were built in Fort Scott in
1868, and in 1869 the size of the works was increased to a capacity of ten
barrels a day, with a capital investment of $4000."" There was little de-
mand for hydraulic cement at that time, but as Louisville was the nearest
supplying point east, and the price from there was ten dollars a barrel to
Kansas points, the Fort Scott company cut the price to five dollars and got
all the business there was at that time. The demand for the cement has
greatly increased through the use of cement by the railways in their con-
struction, beginning with the building of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
railroad into Fort Scott, and from that time the other roads began to use it
to some extent. In 1871 the capacity of the plant was increased to fifty
barrels a day, and the product began to reach all the eastern half of the
state. The price in the meantime had been reduced to three dollars a bar-
rel. The capacity of the plant was twice increased in the '70's, and in 1879
the plant was bought by the C. A. Brockett Cement Company, of Kansas
City, and the capacity increased again, to 700 barrels a day.

In 1887, encouraged by the constantly growing demand for hydraulic
cement in various kinds of construction work, a second plant was built at
Fort Scott, and in a few years its capacity was increased to 700 barrels a
day, making the possible production 1400 barrels a day. Improved machiney
and a better understanding of the methods of production had operated to
decrease the cost of production many times, and the price had fallen to a
dollar a barrel in the '80's, and has fallen steadily since that time until it
reached a level of about forty cents a barrel in 1895, and has risen again
since 1900 to about fifty cents on an average. The Fort Scott cement grad-
ually displaced lime mortar in the better grades of construction, and the
quality and cheapness enabled it to reach the markets of all the adjacent
states. About 1900 an agreement was reached between the two companies
to avoid competition, and since that time all the product has been marketed
through the Fort Scott Cement Association, with offices at Kansas City.^i
Since the building of such a large number of Portland cement plants from
1902 to 1906, the competition has been keen, but has not been able to force
a reduction in the output of these plants. Since the building of the second
plant at Fort Scott there have been over two and a half million tons of
cement produced, with a value of at least a million and a third at the mills.

The following table"^ ghows the output by two-year periods since 1888:

Year. Barrels. Price. Value.

1888 40,090 $0.75 $30,000.00

1890 150,000 .70 105,000.00

1892 110,000 .69 77.000.00

1894 50,000 .50 25,000.00

1896 125,567 .40 50,226.00

1898 160,000 .38 60,800.00

1900 127,339 .40 50,333.00

Note 410.— The properties of the rock were first suspected in 1867, and a sample sent to Prof.
Louis Aggasiz, then of Harvard University. The facts of the following account are based chiefly
on a letter by Mr. C. A. Brockett, president of the oldest of the plants, and printed in Mineral
Resources of Kansas for 1897.

Note 411.-First Bien. Rep., Bd. Ag., Kan., p. 148.

Note 412.— From Mineral Resources of Kansas, 1903. p. 42: figures for 1904 and 1906 are
from the Bulletin on the Cement Industry, by E. C. Eckel, 1906, p. 28.

188 Kansas State Historical Society.

Year Barrels. Price. Value.

1902 154,681 $0.50 $77,340.50

1904 210,922 .... 79,456.00

1906 238,311 .... 129,781.00

Totals 2,670,673 .... $1,368,514.50

PORTLAND CEMENT.

The Portland cement industry in this section of the country is one of the
recent developments in manufacturing, being only about ten years old as
yet, and the principal development has been made within five years. For
this reason it is impossible to put together the information that is at hand
and forecast the course that the industry is likely to take. There are a
number of the plants that have run but a short time as ytt, and some that
are still building, and there are no statistics to be had that show much more-
than the beginnings of the present conditions. It is, however, one of the
most interesting phases of the industrial life of this section of the country,,
and it would be unfair to pass it by without an attempt to suggest its im-
portance. The development of ten years has raised the production of Kan-
sas and Oklahoma from nothing to a potential capacity at the present time
of one and a half times the production of the United States ten years ago.
Two years ago the production of the Kansas cement plants, four in number
at that time, was a little more than 3000 barrels. This year there are four-
teen or fifteen plants in Kansas and Oklahoma, in the gas belt, with a com-
bined capacity of nearly 37,000 barrels a day, or thirteen million barrels for
the year if the mills should run on full time.

The Portland cement industry is a comparatively new one in the United
States even, but it is worthy of notice that already there are two centers
fully developed which produce by far the larger share of the product of this
country. The first is that of the Lehigh district in Pennsylvania, where the
industry started, with the near-by section in New Jersey. Now comes the
development of the Kansas-Oklahoma field, increasing at double the rate of
increase in the Eastern field, ^'^ ^jth a capacity equal to that of the Penn-
sylvania field four years ago. One feature of the building of the cement
mills in this section that makes it impossible to'get a proper perspective of
their importance at the present time is the manner of their organization.
The first two or three plants were built by bona fide business men who in-
vested their own capital. But since that time the majority of the companies
that have projected and built plants have done so by means of the sale of
stock by promoters to the investing public, which was just then losing in-
terest and opportunity in the oil and gas fields for reasons that are sug-
gested in the following section.* As a result the manufacture of cement
has been given practically the same character as some of the promoted en-
terprises in the oil boom. With only a few exceptions, it must be said, how-
ever, that the building of the plants and the manufacture of cement has
been pushed forward in perfect good faith by the promoters, and nearly all
of them are well equipped and substantial.

The difficulty lies in the fact that there is not enough construction work
going on in the immediate territory naturally tributary to the trade of this
section to use a ny large proportion of the product that the mills here are

Note 413.- Min. Res. U. S., 1906, p. 909 et seq.
' See note 432.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 189

equipped to supply. They must, therefore, depend on the sale of their
products over a very large territory to keep the mills running. A further
consideration just at the present time is the fact that on account of trade
conditions in this section in the past year (1908) there has been a practical
suspension of all large construction work until the money situation im-
proved, and the demand for cement was considerably less last year than in
years just past. For these reasons, and for the additional reason that only
half of the plants built are fairly reaching the markets with their products
now, there has been no opportunity to try out the trade conditions under
normal circumstances and form any estimate of the wisdom with which the
center of production has been built up. With this qualification of condi-
tions, the development of the industry will be outlined.

It is to the unbounded faith in natural gas that was prevalent in this sec-
tion a few years ago that the growth of the industry is principally due. To
be sure, the raw materials here are not inferior to any in the country, and
exist in practically inexhaustible abundance,*'^ and there"would probably
have been Portland cement made here in the course of time without the gas
fuel. But it was the discovery of gas at lola in 1895, which has been dis-
cussed, and the demonstration of its advantages by the zinc smelters almost
immediately, that led to the location of the plant of the lola Portland Ce-
ment Company at that town in 1899. The first cement was made in 1900,
and it found immediate favor on the market. The capacity of 2500 barrels
a day was soon doubled, and large dividends were paid out on the four and
a half million dollars of common and preferred stock. It is impossible to
state the profits of this plant, other than to give the increase in operations,
which included a further increase in capacity of the lola plant to 6500 bar-
rels, and the erection of another plant at Dallas, Tex., of half that size, all
out of the undivided profits, while the dividends went on without interrup-
tion.

The lola company was controlled largely'if 'not entirely bylEastern capi-
tal, and the prosperity that w^sTslipping out into the hands of aliens may
haVe had something to do with the remarkable interest that followed the
first two or three years of successes of the new industry. The first move-
ment for following their example came from George E. Nicholson and A. B.
Cockerill, two men active in the smelting business at lola since the late
'90 's. In 1903 they organized the Kansas Portland Cement Company and
built a mill at Tola, which started in March, 1904, with a capacity of 1500
barrels a day. The profits of the business so far exceeded those of the
smelters that these men increased their capitalization to $1,600,000 in a short
time, and increased their plant to 2500 barrels a day. Almost at the same
time two more companies were organized. One of them, the Western
States, whose plant was opened at Independence in 1905, is one of a long
chain of similar plants in the country"' and opened with a capital of three
and a half millions, and a capacity of 3200 barrels a day. About the same

Note 414. — " Kansas could supply the world for a million years from the limestone and shale
in her borders. "—Interview, Ha worth, 1908.

Note 415.— This is the fourth of a line of five magrnificent plants built under the Cow ham
system since 1900. They are operated separately, and have no trade connections with each other
beyond the fact that Mr. W. F. Cowham, the originator of the idea, is president of each, and the
stockholders who take the large blocks of stock are common to each. The plants are : The Na-
tional, at Jackson. Mich.; the International, at Toronto, Canada; the Southern States, at Rock-
mont, Ga., completed just before the Western States at Independence ; and lastly, the
Northwestern States, built at Mason City, Iowa, in 1907.

190 Kansas State Historical Society.

time the fourth plant in the state was opened at Neodesha with a capacity
of 1800 barrels. These four plants, the only ones in the state in operation
through 1906, made over three million barrels of cement, and the new ones,
the Western States and the Indian at Neodesha, made about twelve times
as much as in their first year.

The activity following the organization of these two plants that began
operations was unprecedented, and with not more than one exception out of
the ten plants that were projected almost immediately they were financed
on a basis calculated to enrich the promoters while at the same time raising
the means of building the plants and putting them in operation. The pro-
moter usually kept a large block of the stock for his work, and had the in-
terest that it gave in the business for his eff'orts. Thus only the investors
stood to lose anything. While the financial plans varied somewhat, the
main trend was in the direction of sale of the preferred stock, with a bonus
of the common stock, usually in a like amount, while the promoter kept the
rest of the common stock."" Big profits were the theme of the promotion,
and as high as thirty per cent on the investment was claimed as a sure thing
for the first year. It is a fact that under cheap gas conditions, the fuel
cost amounted to about a third of the actual operating expenses in making
a barrel of cement, which it was said could be made for fifty cents a barrel,
while the average selling price has been regularly about two and a half
times that amount.

One of the new plants, to be sure, seized upon a plan that distinguished
it in a way from the others. That was the Ash Grove White Lime Associa-
tion, which had been producing white lime at a number of points in Missouri
for years, and had a regular trade built up with their selling agencies for a
large amount of Portland cement that they had to get of other manufactur-
ers. The plan was a reorganization of the old company on the customary
lines, save that the dealers were induced to take the stock, and a market
was assured the enterprise from the start. The plant has been in operation
but a few months, so that it is not possible to see the actual success of the
plan.

Two of the remaining companies promoted during 1906 were outside of
the gas belt, and counted on the use of fuel oil in burning their product.
One was built near Kansas City, about twenty-five miles west, and has not
been a success so far. It was found necessary to change the fuel system
almost as soon as the plant was given a trial, and as the financial difficulties
came on just then it has not been in operation to any extent since it was
built, and so far has been a failure. The other is in Yocemento, Ellis county,
and claims two advantages for its location to balance the advantage the gas
belt offers. The materials that it uses are easier to handle than any other
in the district, and a real saving in power and equipment is certain. The
other is the fact that it is in a commercial position of vantage in that it is
nearer to the needs of a great deal of middle western railway construction
than any other mill. How far these advantages will make its operations

Note 416.— The following- extract from a representative prospectus shows the tenor of the
representations: "The maximum cost of producing Portland cement in the Kansas belt is 50
cents per barrel. For the purposes of this illustration we will make it 55 cents. The lowest sell-
mt? price durrns: any one year has been $1.25 a barrel. Figured on this basis, a net profit of 70
cents will be realized on cement. . . . One thousand dollars invested in preferred stock would
yield an annual return as followa: Seven per cent on $1000 gives $70; twenty-five per cent (the
balance of the estimated profits) on $1000 common stock gives $250. making a total equal to thirty-
two per cent on the investment."

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 191

profitable it is impossible to say, but the plant has been in as constant opera-
tion as any of the most favorably located since its completion a year ago.

There are still two cement plants that have not begun operations, and
whose future is wholly dependent upon the adjustment of conditions in the
future. They are at Independence and Humboldt, in the heart of the gas
belt of Kansas, and both are of average size and equipment. Last year
there were two producing mills in the Oklahoma end of the gas district (in
the old Indian Territory field, at Ada and Dewey) capable of producing 5000
barrels a day. How far there will be a movement southward, such as has
been observed in the smelting industry, it is impossible to conjecture. In
all probability there will be no more plants built for some time, however,
and future locations will depend somewhat upon the fate of the gas supply.

An important deal was consummated in January, 1908, by which three
of the large Kansas cement mills were consolidated under one management
with a capitalization of twelve and three-fourths million dollars. They were
the Kansas Portland, of lola, of which G. E. Nicholson is the moving spirit,
the Independence Portland, of Independence, and the Indian Portland, of Neo-
desha. These three plants have a capacity of 8300 barrels a day, and the
capital of the company is nearly one-third that of all the companies built
and building in the section. The operations of all the plants are now in the
one company, the United Kansas Portland Cement Company. The financial
plan was openly one of shaping the capitalization to meet the estimated
earning power of the three plants. It was figured that two and three-
fourths million barrels a year would be the output, and the capital was pro-
portioned by multiplying each barrel of estimated output by four dollars
and a half, of which the preferred stock was a third and the common two-
thirds. The consolidation came at the time when the plants were closing
on account of the falling demand, and so far there has been no result from
it other than the closing of two of the plants a large part of the time.^^'

Last year (1908) was a disastrous one for the Portland cement trade in
general, and there was not more than a fifth as much cement made in the
Kansas mills and the two Oklahoma establishments as they were capable of
producing, simply for the reason that there was no market for it. Fully
half the plants were closed, and the rest were running only a part of the
time. There was no cement marketed with the railroads, always the heavy
consumers, and other lines of trade were slack. Just at present it is safe
to say that there are more plants built than there is any need for. But
owing to the impossibility of estimating the future of the rapidly growing
demand for Portland cement in so many lines of work, it would not be safe
to make that statement as true for any considerable length of time. With
the materials that are at hand in as convenient location as nature has

Note 417.— Just as this report goes to press it is announced that an important merger of all
the Nicholson plants in Kansas, Texas, Iowa and Tennessee, six in number, are to be consoli-
dated. Mr. Nicholson himself admits that other plants in Kansas and Oklahoma may be taken
into the merger, and appraisements of eight others are known to have been made in the last few
months. If such a combination is made the company will be the largest producer of cement in
the world. The object of the move is undoubtedly to regulate the production and sale of the
Western cement. The price has never been satisfactory since the bulk of the mills began to
produce in 1908 and later, and at one time last year prices fell to eighty cents a barrel. A meet-
ing of manufacturers in the autumn of 1909 succeeded in raising the price twenty cents a barrel
with the aid of a rising demand for cement, but greater economies in marketing are absolutely
necessary to make the business profitable, if it does not become necessary to permanently close
some of the mills that have been erected. By this means the loss of overconstruction will be
shared by all the plants in the country, and will not fall particularly on any one. If the deal
goes through there will be but a few independent mills in this section, and they will rank as-
small producers in comparison.— See Kansas City Star. January 11, 1910.

192

Kanfias State Historical Society.

placed them, and with the advantage of natural gas fuel, which is still con-
siderable, it is at least possible that there will be a busy future for the
plants now built. The market for them is restricted to the territory west
of the Mississippi, and the Michigan and Iowa plants are cutting it off on
the north, so that at present the Rocky Mountains and the Missouri river
limit the territory for all practical purposes of description.

The Portland cement industry, on the whole, has brought less capital
into the country from the outside than any other of the mineral industries,
save the brick and tile perhaps. Practically, only two of the large com-
panies are held outside of the Missouri valley, and many of them number
their stockholders among the business and professional men of the towns
and villages of the eastern half of Kansas and part of Missouri. One of
the Oklahoma plants, for instance, is held almost entirely by Kansas busi-
ness men. The industry does not have a very important effect on the in-
dustrial society of the state, outside of the economics of the stockholders,
for the number of workmen is relatively small to the magnitude of the
products. Part of the labor, especially the mechanical workers, is highly
skilled, and another part is of the most ordinary sort. These latter have,
in general, clusters of a dozen or two houses in the vicinity of the mills,
and are a thing apart in a way from the rest of the society, while the skilled
workers are not distinguished by their life at all. There is not a generality
of organization among the cement workers, and the most of the workmen
are unorganized.

The following table shows the location, capitalization and capacity of the
plants now (January, 1909) in operation or ready to begin :*^^

Location.

Capital.

Ca-
pacity.

When

Name.

Common.

Preferred.

built.

lola Portland

lola'.

lola

$1,500,000

$3,000,000

6,500

1899

United Kansas

1904

Independence

1905

Neodesha

4,125.000
1,500,000

250,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000

400,000
1,000,000
2,000.000
1,000,000

750,000

8,875,000
2,000.000

8,300
3,200
500
1,500
2,500
3,000
1,.500
1.250
5,000
2,500
2,000

1905

Western States

Independence

Fredonia

1905

FredoniaP. C.Co

1905

Humboldt P. C. Co

Humboldt

1,000,000
2,000,000
2,000,000

.500,000
1,500,000
2,500.000
1,500.000

750,000

1909

Ash Grove P. C. Co

Chanute

1908

Ajax P. C. Co

1909

U.S. P. C.Co

Yocemento

1908

Bonner P. C. Co..

Monarch P. C. Co

Bonner Springs

Humboldt.. . .

1908
1908

Dewey P. C. Co

Dewey. Okla

1908

Ada. Okla..

1908

ToUls of plants

$17,025,000

$26,625,000

37,750

OIL AND OIL REFINING.

As a preliminary to the discussion of the growth of the oil-refining in-
dustry in the "mid-continental" field, including Kansas and Oklahoma, it
will be profitable to supplement the discussion of the production of crude oil
in a previous section* with a brief summary of the production and present

Note 418.— This table, as well as many of the statements in this discussion of the cement in-
dustry, is made up from information collected in bits from the prospectuses of the various com-
panies, and from interviews and letters where they could be had. For that reason few references
have been made to published accounts, which in the main show very little of the real conditions
in the industry.

* Supra, p. 135.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 193

condition of the oil supply. Oil has been marketed in Kansas for many years
in small quantities, the first being in 1889, when 500 barrels were reported.""
"The yield gradually increased to and including the year 1906, when a total
of 113,571 barrels were produced. From this it gradually declined to 82,215
barrels in 1899. The new development set in shortly after this, and the
production rapidly increased to a maximum, in 1904, of 4,250,779 barrels,
since which time the production has gradually declined. . . . For the
year 1907 the Prairie Oil & Gas Company bought (in Kansas) 1,696,428 bar-
rels, and the independent refiners and consumers of fuel oil consumed an
amount not determined with exactness, but probably more than half a million
barrels a year, which should be added. . . .

"During this period the production of oil in what is now the state of
Oklahoma gradually increased from the first developments, nearly ten years
ago, to and including the year 1907. Developments south of the state line
were very rapid and satisfactory during the years 1906 and 1907. ^-" In 1904
the production of the entire field was only a little over five and a half million
barrels, showing that but little drilling had been done south of the line at
that time. For the year 1905 it aggregated fully twelve million barrels; in
1906 nearly twenty-two million barrels, and in 1907 the magnificent amount
of 47,556,905 barrels,^-i making the mid-continental field the most produc-
tive in America. " "-

It has already been stated the development of the oil field really began
in 1895 with the advent of the Forest Oil Company into the Neodesha field,
and the erection of a small refinery at that place by the Standard Oil Com-

NOTE 419.— This first oil was produced in the Paola shallow wells, the pioneer field of the
Western country. " No oil was found at Paola until 1888, when some people drilled in a fair well
at a very shallow depth. Most of the drilling at this time was for gas, and the real oil develop-
ment did not begin until a year ago ( 1904 ) . Enough wells were drilled at Paola, however, to
build a small refinery in the early part of the '90's. . . . From 1888 to 1902 the work done in
this section was of little note, there being a few wells drilled, but no real development com-
menced until the general activity started in Kansas." — Ind. Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., 1905, p. 6.

Note 420.— A great impetus was given to the development south of the Kansas line during
1905 by the political situation in the Kansas legislature, incidental to the movement which cul-
minated in the bill to build a state oil refinery to "check the Standard Oil." This will be noticed
in the subsequent pages.

Note 421.— The following table, taken from the report on Mineral Industries of the United
States for 1906, shows the production of the Kansas-Oklahoma field up to 1907. Figures for 1907
are by H. G. James, of the Independence Reporter, and for 1908 by Erasmus Haworth, geologist
of Kansas, whose figures for the values are used through the table.

Percentage

Year.

Production.

Price, bbl.

Value.

total production

1889

500

.. . . 1,200

1890

1891

1,430

5,080

1892

1893

18,010

.04

1894

40,130

$0 48

$19,262 40

.08

1895

44,467

28,458 88

.08

1896

113,741

71,656 83

.19

1897

81,723

49,033 80

.14

1898

71,980

70*

50,386 00

.13

1899

69,700

52,245 00

.12

1900

81,186

64,948 80

.13

1901

189,151

151,320 80

.27

1902

368,849

331,964 10

.42

1903

1,071,125

1 10

1,178,237 50

1.07

1904

5,617,527

5,449,001 19

4.80

1905

12,013,495

7,208,097 00

8.92

1906

21,718,648

8,904,745 68

17.17

1907

46,161,654

18,464,661 60

1908

50,741,678

42*

21,311,504 76

* Estimated.

Note 422.-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX, pp. 199, 200.

-7

194

Kansas State Historical Society.

pany. which the Forest represented, in the spring of 1897 J^a The first
thing that company did was to buy up the holdings of Guffey & Galey,«*
the men who had done all the development at that time, consisting of 212,340

acres of leases, on which were some
sixty-five producing wells, not count-
ing a dozen gasers, and four 25,000-
barrel iron storage tanks at Neo-
desha. Within the next two years
the Forest had continued the devel-
opment as their refinery needed the
oil, and brought in a total of eighty-
three oil wells, the majority of them
in the neighborhood of Thayer, in
Neosho county, about fifteen miles
from Neodesha.^-= The importance
of this field was sufficient to justify
the laying of a small pipe line to
Neodesha. This was the beginning
of the great pipe-line system that
the Standard has since extended from
the Oklahoma field to Whiting, Ind.,
and on to the Atlantic coast. ^-6 The
policy of the Standard at the begin-
ning seemed to be to simply prove the
field, without making any attempt to
bring it to a maximum of productive-
ness. Local producers, however, con-
tinued to bring in wells, and there
was no market for the oil, save for a
limited market with municipal gas plants, unless the Standard took it. This
situation forced the Standard into the market to take care of the oil that was
offered, and to this end the building of the pipe-line system was inaugurated. ^-'

Note 423.— The refinery at Neodesha beg-an operations in May, 1897. — Neodesha Register,
May 21. 1897.

Note 424. — 0>;tober 12. 1891, M. W. Miller, of Osawatomie, began the development of natural
gas in Wilson county. In April, 1893. he sold out his interests to J. M. Guffey and John Galey,
wealthy residents of Pittsburg-, Pa., who continued the development until, on November 1, 1895,
the Forest Oil Company of Pennsylvania, generally known as the Standard Oil Company, pur-
chased their entire interests in the Kansas field, including leases in seven counties.— Wilson
County Sun, Neodesha. November 22. 1895.

Note 42.5.— Ind. Rep Oil and Gas Mag., p. 9.

Note 426 —" While the development of Guffey & Galey had convinced the Standard that
considerable oil existed in Kansas, the industry was largely of an experimental character. In-
dependent operators had succeeded in developing only small quantities of oil in remote sections,
but they desired the Standard to buy it. To accommodate a few of the heaviest producers, tank
cars were provided, and storage tanks were put up at Neodesha, where a short pipe-line system
had been inaugurated. In 1903, operations around Chanute, Humboldt and Montgomery and
Chautauqua counties had grown to sufficient proportions to induce the Standard to extend its
local pipe lines to connect with these fields, and on August 1, 1903, began the systematic regis-
tering and publication of runs and shipments. On that date the total stocks on hand amounted
to 257,190 barrels. The total production of the Kansas field at that time amounted to about
90,000 barrels a month." — Ind. Rep. Oi) and Gas Mag., p. 9.

Note 427. "Realizing that the inauguration of a system of pipe lines and storage facilities
would immediately develop the entire Kansas field, the Standard at once began an elaborate
extension of all its facilities, including two extensions to the Neodesha refinery, and the com-
mencement of a much larger one at Kansas City (their Sugar Creek plant) . The parent company,
after a careful consideration of the matter, appropriated $35,000,000, to be used as needed in
Kansas and Indian Territory in connection with its Eastern system. Tank farms wt-re bought
and work begun, and pipe lines extended everywhere production developed."— Ind. Rep., Oil and
Gas Mag., p. 9.

C. D. WEBSTER.
A pioneer oil refiner of Kansas.

History of Manufactures ifi Kansas. 195

Once started by this encouragement, the development was very rapid. Then
the failure of the Beaumont oil bubble is thought to have caused a further
increase in the oil activity in that it turned a great deal of the capital that
had been attracted there into the Kansas field. The development of the
field that has been outlined in an earlier section will answer in the main for
this purpose when it is remembered that nearly all of the prospecting up to
about 1904 was for the sake of oil, and the fact that attention was given to
the gas in the other account should not obscure that fact.

The summer of 1902 saw a considerable activity in the oil field, and the
output of the year previous was more than doubled. The Standard doubled
the capacity of its Neodesha refinery in that season, <-'» and in the following
spring, attracted by the prospects of the Kansas field, C. D. Webster, "»
an old oil refiner from the Pennsylvania field, began the erection of the first
independent refinery in the state ^■"> at Humboldt, the richest part of the newly
developed field. The plant was projected for a daily capacity of 500 barrels of
crude oil, but it was finished with just half that capacity. The first oil was re-
fined in February, 1904, and placed on the market. The plant and marketing
facilities represented an outlay of about $80,000, and the refinery is equipped

Note 428.— Interview, 1908.

Note 429.— At Chanute, Kan., in the year 1907. C. D. Webster made the following statement
to William E. Connelley:

■■Born on Trout river, Franklin county. New York, June 8, 1852. Attended school at Malone,
N. Y., and at the age of eighteen went to clerk in a store in that village. At the age of twenty-
one he went to Port Henry and engaged in the clothing business, in which he continued until
1876, when he went to Bradford, Pa., and engaged in the clothing business; and later laecame in-
terested in oil production at Bradford. When the Tidewater pipe line was built (the first built
to tidewater over the mountain) he built a refinery at Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill. This he
operated until the Tidewater company sold out to the Standard Oil Company. Webster would
not go into the Standard company, though offered $100,000 for his property and a salary of $5000
a year. He organized the Sunlight Oil and Gasoline Company at Philadelphia, in which he is
still a stockholder. He organized the Reflex Refining Company, which built a refinery at Phila-
delphia, and then came the bitter fight with the Standard Oil Company, whose teams followed
his wagons and gave away oil and gasoline. This lasted four years and ruined Webster. Then
he went to Titusville, Pa , and organized the Webster Gasoline Company, manufacturing gasoline
by a special formula. The venture was profitable. His partners sold out to the Standard Oil Com-
pany, but Webster would not go into the Standard, andfinally lost all his interest in the property.

"Webster then went to Boston and there organized the Webster Oil and Gasoline Company,
but through rebates the Standard drove him out of business. Webster then began in a small
way to sell oil, securing his oil from Pennsylvania and selling from wagons to retailers. The
Standard Oil Company then put two teams after each one of his wagons and sold oil at half price
until Webster was ruined. He then secured a contract to light certain streets in Boston with
naphtha, upon which the Standard Oil Company bought all the naphtha on the market, and
Webster was reduced to the last extremity. He bought a peddler's wagon and began to retail
oil from house to house. The horse was old and lean and his wagon dilapidated, but his business
increased, and in two years had eleven teams selling oil and had a large warehouse, for which he
paid $2200 a year rent. Then the Standard Oil Company put teams after each of his wagons and
sold oil at one cent a gallon. It sent its agents around disguised as book agents to get names of
his customers that it could not get otherwise. Webster hired halls in Boston and appealed to the
people to stand by him, and the Boston Post aided him; but he was finally driven from the field.

"From Boston Webster went to Providence, R. I., and secured contracts for street lighting,
inventing a naphtha burner and contriving to secure enough naphtha to run his lamps. To operate
this contract he had organized a company in Boston, which is still in existence. This contract
netted him $20,000 in three years. Having now some money, he returned to Titusville, Pa., and
bought a refinery, which he operated until forced out by the Standard, when he moved his refin-
ery to Marietta, Ohio, and rebuilt it at a cost of $130,000. Here his health failed. His refinery
made $7000 the first month, and he was offered $120,000 to give up the fight, but he refused. The
Standard secured control of the crude oil production in that locality, and Webster was again
driven to the wall. For some time he was out of business, but organized the Knickerbocker Oil
Producing Company in Philadelphia and bought a large production in the Marietta field. This
company was successful, clearing over $50,000 the first year. Webster sold his interest in it and
came to Humboldt, Kan., and became the pioneer independent refiner of this state."

Note 430. — A small refinery was built at Paola about 1890. but it was in operation only a
short time. "The refinery was built by the Paola Oil, Gas and Manufacturing Company, and
had a daily capacity of twenty-five barrels of oil. The company did business for a couple of
years, until the price of refined oil went down, and the plant went into the hands of Henry C.
Jones, receiver, who had charge of it for five years, when it was sold to the Standard Oil Com-
pany, who removed the parts still standing to Neodesha. This refinery was the first west of the
Mississippi river."

IQQ Kansas State Historical Society.

for the manufacture of kerosene, cylinder, engine and fuel oils. ^'" Just ahead
of the opening of this Webster refinery the political agitation which finally
resulted in the state refinery law (later declared unconstitutional), the
common-carrier law and others was in full swing, and the sentiment against
the Standard Oil and in favor of anything independent made business pros-
per for the new refinery.

This agitation, which was carried into the state legislature and was
pushed until it resulted in the passage of four laws, is one of the most in-
teresting phases of the oil development of the district. The advertising of
the fields in 1902 and 1903 attracted a remarkable number of oil promoters
into the district, and simply from the force of circumstances they centered
their activity in the Chanute field. There were reasons for this, chief of
which was that there was nowhere else in the proven territory in Kansas
that they could get leases satisfactorily. The Prairie had the most of the
proven lands in the southern end of the state by this time, and the specula-
tors organized their companies for the exploitation of the Chanute field.
As is usually the case in such times, there were companies organized that
could never in the very nature of things pay a cent on their stock, so ill-
advised were their operations. But everybody wanted to get in on the good
things that they saw other people making, and the organization of com-
panies went merrily on. When the movement reached its height there were
262 companies located in the Chanute field, with a capitalization of two hun-
dred million dollars. "^ Then the development in the southern end, which re-
doubled in 1903, attracted the activity southward on the outskirts. At the
same time the increase in production ran so far ahead of the facilities for
handling the oil that the price began to fall steadily early in 1904, and this
increased the demoralization of the companies around Chanute.

Looking about for something upon which to place the blame for these
conditions, the Standard and its operating company, the Prairie Oil and Gas,
came in for the blame for consequences of all that was bad. Another thing
that added to the sentiment against the Standard at this time was the fact
that there had been in force a buying order to the effect that all oils bought

Note 431.-The Tola Register (daily) for May 13, 1907. has this to say of Mr. Webster, the
owner and promoter of the new refinery: "Mr. Webster is probably the oldest refinery man in
the state, and has to his credit the erection of eight different plants— three at Philadelphia, two
at Titusville. one at Marietta. Ohio, one in Boston, and the one at Humboldt. He has been in the
refining business for a period of twenty-eight years, and has experienced all the ups and downs
of the business. He is also at the head of the Webster Oil and Gasoline Company, of Boston,
which does a retail business in refined oils made by independent refiners. . . . There is little
about the oil business that Mr. Webster does not know. He has good reason to be familiar with
the methods of the oil trust, for he has been fighting it all his life, and only his dogged deter-
mination to win has enabled him to come out on top." The quotation illustrates the angle that
many of the contemporary papers give to any of their articles that touch the doings of the
Standard Oil at this time.

Note 432. — A report on conditions existing in the Kansas oil and gas fields in December. 1907*
prepared by William E. Connelley at the request of Attorney-general Jackson for use in his suit
of ouster against the Standard and associated companies, contains a table giving the names of
companies who were producing oil in Kansas in the summer of 1904, together with their location
and capitalization, and followed by this summary: "The capitalization given amounts to $186,-
713,000. It is not pretended that this amount was paid up and put into the business. The figures
show the total capital stock of these companies where the amount of capital is given. These
companies number 350. The above total would allow an average of more than $530,000 each. If
It is counted that but ten per cent of the total capital stock was paid in, then the amount in-
vested by these companies is $18,671,300, which is not far from the correct amount. Some of the
capiUl stock had nothing paid in on it, and other stock had very little paid in on it; but many of
the largest companies paid in a large proportion of their capital stock The capital stock of the
companies listed here with the amounts left blank, that of those companies the names of which
K'*'«1o"r;°nn?f^" ^^ '"*'• *"^ ^^^^ °* ^^^ individuals whose names are unknown, would probably
be $l-i5,000.000. and I believe this a conservative estimate. Treating this amount as the total
amount of the listed companies was treated would yield $12,500,000, which, added to the $18,671,300,
equals $.J1.171.300, the sum invested by independent producers in the Kansas oil fields."-Manu-
script in office of attorney-general, Topeka.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 197

by the Prairie agents should be graded arbitrarily as North Neodesha and
South Neodesha, and the former brought twenty cents a barrel less."^ This
differential, made for the want of any other convenient means of distinguish-
ing between the heavy oils of the northern end of the field and the better
grade oils, was looked upon as unfair discrimination ^^^ by the Chanute men,
and it is probable that in many cases the difference in the quality of the oil
did not amount to that much. At any rate, that was the chief grievance of
the Chanute oil men, who organized "The Chanute Oil Producer's Associa-
tion " in August, 1904. "5

It was in 1904 that the Prairie finished the eight-inch pipe line to Sugar
Creek, near Kansas City, Mo., where the Standard was building an 8000-
barrel refinery, on the trunk line of the Standard pipe-line system to Whit-
ing, Ind., which was completed early in 1905. This pipe-line system, with
its ramifications in the Kansas-Oklahoma field, was the only considerable
pipe line in the field at this time, and the heavy production at the southei n
end of the field of the lighter and superior oils at this time operated still
more against the northern men, who, more convinced than ever of their
grievance, started on a crusade against the Standard.^ •*' Shortly after the
meeting of the Chautauqua Producers' Association at Sedan, in January,
1905,"" a meeting of all the prodi^cers of the state was called to meet in
Topeka, and an organization was effected January 19, 1905, and the fight
began in earnest. "« Up to this time the agitation had been confined almost
wholly to the oil men themselves, but by taking the discussion into the state
capitol at the time of the session of the legislature, the lobby that was
organized succeeded in making it a political question and gained the ear of
the state for their demands."''

The campaign in Kansas resulted in the passage by the legislature of
four bills, three of which are now in force, and one— the refinery bill— for a
time considered the most important of all, has been declared unconstitu-

NOTE 433.-Univ. Geol. Surv., Kan., vol. IX, p. 215.

Note 434.— The proportion of heavy oil in the north Neodesha field was not greater, or very-
little greater, than in the south Neodesha field. There was heavy oil in both fields. The great
amount of oil in both fields was of the highest grade according to the scheme of grading used by
the Standard Oil Company. A large proportion of the oil in the Oklahoma field was of higher
gravity than in the Kansas field. -W. E. Connelley.

Note 435.— Ind. Rep., Oil and Gas Mag., p. 10; Chanute Daily Sun, August 2, 9, 1904.

Note 436.-Ind. Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., p. 10.

Note 437 —"This organization was effected . . . at Sedan, and more nearly accomplished
the object sought than any other organization of the Kansas producers. . . . The first real
business of the association was the adoption of the following resolution: 'Resolved. That it is
the sense of this meeting that all drilling operations should be suspended as far as possible, and
that the landowners be asked to join in the movement to limit operations, and to that end to con-
sent to extend drilling contracts.' The efl'ect of this resolution was to stop all drilling in Chau-
tauqua county within a few weeks after its adoption. . . . The same action has been
attempted a score of times in other fields, but has never been more than partially successful."
—lad. Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., p. 11. This was the one sensible action aimed at the raising the
price of oil and giving the inferior oil a chance in the market by reducing production. In March,
1905, the Prairie already had seven million barrels of oil in storage, and was adding rapidly, with
no other use for the oil offered.— Independence Reporter, March 29, 1905.

Note 438. — " The Kansas Oil Producers Against the Standard Oil Company," by W. E. Con-
nelley, Kan. Hist. Coll., vol. IX, p. 94.

Note 439.— The state association instructed its legislative committee to endeavor to secure
the following legislation: (a) The building of a state refinery, of not less than 1000 barrels ca-
pacity: ( 6) the prohibition of the pumping of gas wells; (c) the prevention of discrimination in
prices by manufacturers or dealers of any manufactured articles; (d) making all pipe lines more
thin four inche=! in diameter common carriers; («) the creation of the office of gas and oil in-
spector; (/) the prevention of the use of "gas pumps" to increase the flow of oil wells.— Ind.
Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., p. 10.

198 Kansas State Historical Society.

tional by the supreme court, ^*» and is therefore dead. The bill declaring
pipe lines common carriers was designed to force the Standard to transport
the oil of the producers through its lines for delivery to the independent re-
fineries at a graduated distance tariff. The point has been raised that the
pipe line, being a private one, the state has no constitutional authority to
order their use by any and every applicant.^*' Although the law has been
in force several months, no one has sought to take advantage of its privi-
leges. ^^^ The other bills that became laws in this session were the antidis-
crimination bill,"^ and the maximum rate bill, providing a schedule of
charges for transporting oil in pipe lines, and giving the railway commis-
sioners power to prescribe maximum charges for transporting oil in tank
cars, not to exceed in any case the charge by pipe line."*

About the only result of this agitation, so far as the Standard was con-
cerned, was the suspension of operations in Kansas for a few months, and
the transfer of their activities to the territory south of the state line, the
heavy development of the territory around Bartlesville, Dewey, and the
famous Cleveland pool in old Oklahoma demanding their attention. "In
Kansas the development was not great in 1905. In fact, for six months
(February to July, inclusive), it was impossible to market more than a
fraction of the oil which might have been produced from the wells drilled.
As a result, surprisingly few wells were drilled in Kansas."**-' The pro-
duction of the Kansas wells, though almost as much in 1905 as in 1904, has
been declining steadily ever since, and the bulk of the oil of the mid-conti-
nent field, beginning with 1905, has come from the south side of the line,
where the standard has intensified its development since then.***'

Apparently a direct result of the agitation in favor of the independent
producers in the legislative session of 1905 was the building of a large num-
ber of independent refineries in the various oil towns of the field, largely in
Kansas. It is more than probable that the mere moral support that the agita-
tion gave to the project of building independent establishments had as much to
do with this result as the direct benefits that any of the legislation brought.
The common-carrier law accomplished but little, for the bulk of the Stand-
ard's mains were laid before it was passed, and therefore did not come within
its operations. The smaller feeders, by the very provisions of the law,
were not included, and the independents were left pretty much to the de-
velopment of their own refinery connections, and the eflfect is seen in the
large number of small establishments that grew up, each one located in a

Note 440. -State v. Kelly, 71 Kan. 811.

Note 441.— The supreme court has decided that this applies only to lines laid after the pass-
age of the law.

Note 442.-Ind. Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., p. 31.

Note 443. — Provides that there shall be no favors to sections or persons in the sale of manu-
factured articles. 'The \&w works a greater hardship on the small concerns than it does on the
Standard. Jobbers of merchandise also complain that the law handicaps them in securing trade
or m preventmg competitors working their territory. "-Ind. Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., p. 32.

Note 444.— Kansas Laws of 1905, chapter 315.

Note 445. -Univ. Geol. Surv.. Kan., vol. IX, p. 211.

Note 446.— The figures submitted by the Prairie in answer to the interrogations of the at-,
torney-general of Kansas, m the suits in the supreme court for violation of the antitrust laws,
?'7oo nllf ,?i'"*^"^'?''^ °^ "•' '" Kansas for three years as follows: 1905. 3.244.062.96 barrels; 1906,
3 128.287.17 barrels; 1907. 1.696.428.85 barrels. The amount of oil in storage in 1908, as given in
the .same statement, was thirty-four miHijn barrels, of which only ten million barrels was in

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 199

small territory that it could reach with its own feeders. As for the rail-
way rate, there is such a small part of the oil that is ever offered for trans-
portation in that way, unless it be for fuel purposes, that it hardly affects
the refineries. The antidiscrimination bill may have been more effective.
Certain it is that the Standard has not at any time since made any effort to
fight the small refineries by cutting rates. But there is no means of know-
ing whether they would have done so without the law. In fact, the attitude
of the Standard in its relations to the independent refiners in the mid-conti-
nent field has seemed one of good-natured indulgence. The manyfold pre-
ponderance of the company in its operations would have made it short-sighted
business policy for the Standard to have pursued any other policy, and the
men who have had the management of its affairs in the Western field seem
to have appreciated this situation thoroughly.

The fact remains, independent of any speculations as to what the mem-
orable session of 1905 did, that within that year there were five independent
refineries built and put into operation in the Kansas field, and two were
built in Oklahoma. The second of the independent refineries was really put
into operation in the summer of 1904, ahead of the political agitation. It
was built at Muscogee, I. T., with a capacity of 250 barrels a day, but the
oil failed within a short time and it was necessary to ship in oil from other
points to keep the refinery going. The second Kansas independent was the
Paola Refining Company's plant, which was finished in August, 1905, with
an initial capacity of 250 barrels a day. It was built by local capital en-
tirely, and marketed its output in the surrounding towns. Before the end
of the year there were also erected the Uncle Sam Refining Company's
plant at Cherry vale, capacity 250 barrels; Superior Refining Company, ^^'
at Longton, capacity 150 barrels; Sunflower Refining Company's plant, at
Niotaze, in Chatauqua county, 150 barrels. Three others were building at
the end of the year, to have when completed a joint capacity of 1300 bar-
rels. Thus the building of the year when completed gave the field a refining
capacity of about 13,000 barrels a day, of which the two Standard refineries
made up about 10,500 and the independents the other 2500.

The oil-refining business seemed to be something of a mania, especially
in Kansas, from this time on, and there were six refineries completed in
Kansas in 1906, distributed as follows: Two at Chanute, one at Kansas City,
one at Atchison (the property of the Uncle Sam Company), one at Rollins
(near Chanute), and one at Bronson. in Allen county. "» It was also a year
of great extensions on the part of the Prairie, for the opening of the famous
Glenn and Weber pools near Tulsa, as well as the development of the Cleve-
land pool, in old Oklahoma, made it necessary for that company to build miles
of pipe Hne in order to hold its own in the field. ' ' The year 1906 was an active
one for the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, which erected and filled 336 iron tanks
in the field. When the last report was made the company had 295 tanks. On
January 1, 1907, it had 631. A year ago the company owned seventeen
farms on which tanks and pumping stations were erected. To-day it has
thirty, ... an increase in 1906 of thirteen farms. "^" In the same
year the Prairie built nearly a thousand miles of pipe Hne, making a total

Note 447.— Built and owned by one man.— Mid-continent Oil Fields, 1907, op. p. 32.
Note 448.— Mid-continent Oil Fields, 1906, p. 16.
Note 449.— James, Mid-continent Oil Fields, 1906, p. 4.

2(xj Ka)isas State Historical Society.

of 2671 in the field, not counting the line from Kansas City to Whiting,
Ind. "The Prairie has been compelled to fairly network the field from
Tulsa to Kansas City to take care of the tremendous production. In order
to force the oil through these pipe lines pumping stations are necessary,
and last year the Prairie built nineteen, making the total number now
forty-three. "^^^

The next year (1907) was also marked with great activity in refinery
building, the year ending with twenty-five refineries either in operation or
just ready to begin operations. There were two refineries about completed
in the Oklahoma field, one belonging to the Uncle Sam company, making
three for it, and one building at Tulsa for Mr. Webster who had the refinery
at Humboldt. The full capacity of these refineries amounted in all to more
than 30,000 barrels a day, of which the two plants of the Standard contrib-
uted 23,000 barrels, its Sugar Creek plant having increased to 17, 000 barrels,
and the Neodesha plant to 6000 in the meantime. Of the new refineries,
only two were of more than 300 barrels capacity. The National Refining
Company, one of the large refineries of the Ohio district, with plants at
Marietta, Cleveland, and Findlay, Ohio, built a 1500-barrel refinery at Coffey-
ville, and laid pipe lines into the Indian Territory, as well as all over the
southern end of Montgomery county. Kansas, to supply it with the crude
oil.*'' The other was built at Independence, by the Standard Asphalt and
Rubber Company, an independent company whose specialty is the extrac-
tion of the asphaltum base of the lower-grade oils. Their refinery, which
is incidental to the business, has a capacity of 1500 barrels of crude oil a
day. This plant will be mentioned again.

The year 1907 was also marked by the advent of another factor in the
mid-continent field. This was the building of two pipe lines to the Gulf of
Mexico, one by the Gulf Pipe Line Company, which was completed from the
Glenn pool late in the summer and began pumping oil immediately. The
Texas company, also building towards the Gulf, had reached Dallas, Tex.,
in October of that year, and began pumping oil about the 1st of January,

1908. Both of these companies had been in the field for some time, develop-
ing their share of the Oklahoma oil, but had to depend on the shipment of
their production to the coast by tank car, and the tremendous development
made it advisable for them to lay their own pipe lines to take care of the
production of their lands. The two companies handled in the year nearly
nine million barrels of crude oil, nearly all of it in this way.-i"

The building of refineries in 1908 went on apparently with undiminished
zeal, but this year the activity was confined to the Oklahoma field, which
now has eight independent refineries, two of which, however, at Tulsa, are
closed. Coffeyville is the only point in Kansas that is sharing in the recent
building, and has two small refineries about completed at the beginning of

1909. For the first time the independent refineries did not seem to prosper,
but for what reason it is hard to say. Those at the northern end of the
field, however, were doing practically nothing nearly all the year, for what
reason it could not be determined, for their managers steadily refused to
give out any information. The Atchison refinery of the Uncle Sam com-

NOTE 450. -James, Mid-continent Oil Fields, 1906, p. 23.

NoTK 451.-Coflreyville Daily Journal, April 6, 1907, p. 45.

Note 452.-Haworth. in Eng. & Min. Jour., January 4, 1908, pp. 81. 82.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 201

pany^53 ^as closed during the year, and all of the plants at Chanute were
idle. ^54 It ig more than probable that the gradual failure of the wells ^^s of
that end of the field is at the bottom of this decline, for, so far as can be
learned, the other independent plants were prospering. The year preceding
was very satisfactory for all of them.^'O and outside of the decline of the
northern field there was no apparent alteration of conditions.

With but one exception, there has been little attempt to make by-prod-
ucts out of the oils of the mid-continent field. Practically all the heavy
base of the oil is sold in bulk to the railroads, or shipped to municipal gas
plants to be used as fuel. The Rollins refinery, near Chanute, did, it is
true, equip its plant for the extraction of the paraffin which is in all of the
oil in this field, but for some reason it never accomplished much at it. So
far as can be learned, that is the only attempt to extract the paraffin. None
of the Standard refineries in the field pay any attention to it, but it has been
intimated that the Standard company has been instrumental in keeping out
this branch of the industry in other plants,^" -pjje exception stated is the
Standard Asphalt and Rubber Company, which began the erection of a
large plant at Independence in 1906 for the puFpose of extracting the as-
phaltum base of the waste oil that the other refiners sold for fuel. Early
in 1907 it began operations, paying a premium on the heavy oils ^^^ that con-
tained as a rule a larger proportion of this element in the base, and began
marketing all grades of asphalt roofing, insulating, paving and waterproof-
ing materials.

Note 453.— The struggle of the Uncle Sam Company is one of the interesting features of the
growth of the independent refineries in the Western field. It was organized and promoted by a
man totally without capital of his own to back it. and planned with the optimism of the true
plunger for the largest independent enterprise in the field. Lands were leased, three refineries
were built — one at Atchison, one at Cherry vale and one at Tulsa — and a pipe-line system laid
from Bartlesville to Atchison to supply them. Dependent upon subscriptions of stock to carry
the project, the promoter. Mr. H. H. Tucker, was finally arrested in 1907 on the charge of using
the mails to defraud. After a sensational trial, the company being in the hands of a receiver in
the meantime, he was released, and again took up the management of the company. The stock-
holders paid out the indebtedness of the company, and it is now doing the largest inde-
pendent business in the field.— James, Mid-continent Oil Fields, 1907, p. 5; Cherryvale Republi-
can, October 19, 1906, January 5. 1906.

Note 454.— Mr. Connelley. who has recently visited the oil fields (February, 1910), says that
the independent refineries at Chanute are again operating. Besides the experimenting necessary
to determine the best method of refining oils in this district, one of the great drawbacks of the
independent refiners has been the marketing of their oils. At first they adopted the methods of
the Standard, shipping their products to more or less distant points and employing agents for
their local sales. The Uncle Sam was the only company, besides the Standard, employing pipe
lines. As independent refineries increased their managers found that, added to the ordinary
hindrances of railroad transportation, was the growing competition and the necessary and con-
stant effort to adjust the business to new conditions. But time and the antidiscrimination law
has to a great extent solved the market problem, and the independent refiners can now depend
upon the individual enterprise of local merchants who purchase their oil from the refineries and
assume the responsibility of their own shipping and local distribution.— Interview of editor.

Note 455.— It is claimed by some that the Kansas oil fields are exhausted, and that they were
but light fields at the best. This is not true. Almost every company that has gone to the wall
had nine-tenths of its holdings still to drill. Further drilling will bring to light many new pools
in the Kansas fields: so far the oil has scarcely been touched in Kansas.- Mss. in office of attor-
ney-general, Topeka.

Note 456.— James, Mid-continent Oil Fields, 1907, p. 4: "All the small refineries of the field
have apparently done well during the past year, and most of them have added to their capacity.
Many of them have added lubricating departments to their plants. As to the advisability of this
there has been some question, but the refiners themselves state these departments are large
money makers. The plants at Faola, Niotaze, Erie and Longton have just completed these ad-
ditions. The Standard refineries do not attempt to make greases in Kansas."

Note 457. — " Every plant that contemplates makinsr paraffin has been quietly bought up by
the Standard interests."- Chanute Tribune, August 9, 1907.

Note i5S.— South Kansas Tribune, Octobers, 1906. "The Standard Asphalt and Rubier
Company has contracts for 1.500 barrels of oil daily, from which it will distill the lighter oils,
and manufacture the 'Sarco ' products from the waste."— Ibid, January 23, 1907.

202 Kansas State Historical Society.

The "Sarco" products, so called, the output solely of this Kansas plant,
are unique, for there is no other establishment like it in the world. All the
processes are protected by patents, and are known fully to only the em-
pluyees of the plant. The processes are the result of a series of experiments
performed by G. F, Culmer, the manager of the Independence plant. He
commenced experimenting with crude oil as early as 1894, and a company
was organized to manufacture the products in the Eastern fields. A rupture
with the company resulted in the organization of the new one at Chicago in
19JG and the building of the plant at Independence. The products have an
advantage over the natural asphalt in that they are free from impurities
and can be suited to any temperature desired in the process of manufacture.
For cold climates a softer grade is made, that will melt at 100° F. if desired,
and the melting point can be raised to nearly 400 degrees. Another feature
of the industry is the manufacture of rubber, by mixing in the proper pro-
portions the softer grades of this asphalt and reclaimed rubber. The result
is a rubber that cannot be distinguished from the ordinary rubber of com-
merce, and is tough enough for automobile tires and the like.

The "Sarco" company bought the Paola"^ refinery in 1907, and increased
its capacity to about a thousand barrels a day, to put all the finishing pro-
cesses on the oils that are distilled at the Independence plant. The company
owns its own tank cars, and ships the finished oils back to Independence for
distribution to the trade on account of certain advantages in freights that
are secured thereby. The industry employs in all about a hundred men,
and markets the products practically all over the United States. The offices
of the company are in Chicago, and the management of the commerce is in
that office. ^60

Only recently the demand for road oils in this section of the country has
led the Standard to equip its refinery at Sugar Creek with a plant for the
manufacture of three grades of road oil. This is the only plant that makes
a specialty of this branch of the industry. ^''i At one time for about two
years the Standard refinery at Neodesha manufactured a "petroleum coke"
out of the oil that ordinarily went for fuel, and sold it to the Cranby smelter
at Neodesha, but the process of manufacture was expensive, requiring a
great many men in all the processes, and it was discontinued with the ter-
mination of the first contract with that company. ^«2 With these exceptions
the refinery business in the Western field is confined wholly to the produc-
tion of the distillate oils, and the fuel and lubricating oils out of the heavy
residue that is left in the distillation.

It would be possible to continue the account of the development of the
oil fields, and to multiply the details of the operations of the refineries to a
much greater length, but in this connection it would hardly be profitable.
In spite of the number of independent refineries that have sprung up in
p ractically every town of the state that has any visible oil supply, the fact

. , J??"""^ 459.-The Paola refinery has since been removed to Independence and consolidated with
the Sarco plant. -W. E. Connelley.

Note 460. -Inter view. 1908.

rc^,I*.'l^Afl'7^^'^^^-S'^^ ^'^^ November 30. 1908: C. W. Owston. of Chicago, head of the
roacl oil lepartment- KansaB City's park board was the first that we could interest in road oil.
«l.ln i.rill ^T.'^.fin K ^^ ^^ ^°. Pu* 9'i'' chemists at work looking for better grades at a reason-
One wi^be at S^ a C^T""^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^"^ ^'^"''^ *° '"^^^ *^^ *^^^^ ^'■^'^^^ required.

Note 462.-Interview. 1908.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 2^3

remains that the Standard dominates the field over any combination of in-
terests. The Prairie last year took up more than three-fifths of all the oil
produced in Kansas and Oklahoma, its estimates for its pipe-line runs for
the year being over thirty-three million barrels. The other two pipe-line
companies, the Gulf and the Texas, each handled a little over five million
barrels. The independent refineries, twenty-three in all, used only a little
more than three million barrels, or less than one-tenth that taken up by the
Standard. ^B^ Scattered as they are all over the field, and with limited
facilities and capital, they can do no more than operate as a check on the
Standard in the local market, if indeed it needs one.

In summarizing, it is only fair to give the credit of the wonderful devel-
opment of the field to the operations of the Standard. Not that it has been
in any sense a work of charity, or even of public spirit, but the fact remains
that without the vast amount of capital that it turned into Kansas and
Oklahoma from 1902 to 1905 there would have been hundreds of oil wells
sealed up indefinitely waiting for a demand for the oil, just as has been
observed in the case of the gas supply, even after the advent of the Kansas
Natural Gas Company with its millions of capital. No one has attempted
to estimate the life of the field, and it is probably impossible to do so with
any degree of certainty, but there is no diminution of the production yet,
outside of the shallow field in Kansas The Oklahoma wells are still pro-
ducing, and from all indications will continue to do so for years to come,
and continue to add to the wealth of the district.

BRICK AND TILE.

The manufacture of brick has been a relatively important industry in all
this section of the country from almost the first settlement of the different
localities, and it is, and has been from the first, one of the most widely dis-
tributed.'"'* The clays that are found in almost every one of the many strata
of the shales that are exposed throughout the whole Missouri valley offered
a convenient and fairly good material for the manufacture of the ordinary
building brick, and the country has been self-supplying in this respect since
the very beginning of brick construction. The whole section, exclusive of
Oklahoma, which is not old enough to have been subject to exactly the same
conditions, experienced a great activity in substantial construction twenty
or more years ago, during the prosperity wave preceding the depression be-
gun in 1888, and brickyards sprung up and flourished in almost every town.
Southeastern Nebraska and all of eastern Kansas felt this activity espe-
cially, and built scores of small yards that lived only until the passing de-
mand was over. At one time in this period there were over fifty brickyards
in the city of Omaha alone, or almost as many as there are in the whole
state of Kansas at the present time. In 1890 there were more than a half
more brickyards in Kansas than there are now.^'^s The decline of the era
of municipal improvements in the early '90'8 marked the passing of scores of
these yards from the list of manufactures. ^"«

Note 463.— Haworth. in Min. & Eng. Jour., January 9, 1909.

Note 464.— In 1857 the business of the brick and lumber yards of Kansas City, population
5000, amounted to $479,543.49. 591 brick or frame buildings being- erected that year.— Annals of
the City of Kansas, 1858, p. 93.

Note 465. -Census 1890. part III, pp. 742-745.

Note 466. — "Beyond the areas of cheap fuel, the principal factor for the location of fac-
tories for the manufacture of clay goods is that of the market. . . . During the periods of

.>().} Kansas State Historical Society.

There is no way of determining the exact magnitude of the early brick-
making operations in this section, even if it would be profitable to do so.
It was about 1890, however, that the activity was greatest in the state of
Nebraska, while the figures show that the Kansas brickyards produced more
brick as early as 1880 than they did until after 1900. ^«' The decline in num-
ber of plants and value of products had begun in Kansas before the end of
the '80's. and continued until after the panic year of 1893. ^«« Since that
time the* actual number of brick in Kansas has increased with fair regu-
larity, while the number of yards has steadily decreased. After the era of
building and improvement, however, the course of the industry has not been
similar in the two states, Kansas and Nebraska. In the latter state the
number of yards is still relatively large, and the size correspondingly small,
while the industry is still widely scattered oyer the state. The yards are
there located in the places where on account of normal building activity
there is a moderate demand for brick all the time. In Kansas, on the other
hand, centralization of the brickmaking industry set in in the later '90's,
beginning with the organization of the Coffeyville Vitrified Brick and Tile
Company and the opening of its gas kilns at Coffeyville in 1896. With
the rapid building of the gas using brickyards in the eastern part of the
state about 1900, the movement began to centralize the industry in the gas
bait in a small number of extensive plants, until now there are about half
as many plants as there were thirty years ago and the output is five or six
times as great.

Since the advent of gas-burned brick upon the market, the industry,
chiefly in Kansas, has been practically revolutionized, and only in the
smaller towns of the middle western part of the state do the same
conditions prevail that were characteristic of the whole section fifteen years
ago Now all the brick produced in Kansas that figure in the market are
those made by the yards in the gas belt, and from the shale beds themselves.
In fact, it is to the advent of gas-burned brick that the importance of the
state as a brick producer is wholly due. Save for the fuel advantage, there
is no reason why the industry should not have remained just as it has in
Nebraska, widely scattered and uncentralized, each yard relying on its im-
mediate neighborhood, and no more. Nearly forty of the sixty odd yards
in Kansas at the present time are in the gas belt, and it is from them that
nearly all the vitrified paving and face bricks are made which figure in the
markets outside the state. It is also worthy of note that no other part of
this section of the country, the Oklahoma belt not excepted, is self-supply-
ing in these grades of brick, but all draw their supplies largely from the
Kansas yards.

The first gas-burned brick were made at Coffeyville, in 1896, and two
years later the same company built two other yards, one at Cherryvale and
the other at Independence, both of them using gas fuel. With the exten-
sion of the oj)erations of this company began the centralizing tendency in

municipal improvements and building, brick factories sprung up and flourished for a time to
- ;i.i>ly local demands, and later declined or entirely disappeared. There is scarcely a town in all
■ .in Kansas that has not at one time had a factory for the manufacture of brick. Some of
'• ■ •• factories still exist, while many of them, having served the purpose for which they were
constructed, are diacontinued." — Min. Res. Kan., 1897, p. 82.

Note 467.-Se€ Tenth Census, vol. II, pp. 119. 120; Min. Res. Kan., 1903. p. 38.
Note 468.-Min. Res. Kan., 1903, p. 38.

History of Manufactwes in Kansas. 205

the brick industry that has been observed in all the other industries of the
state. The popularity of the vitrified brick that they made led to the build-
ing of a fourth plant at Chanute not long afterward, and the company at the
present time is not only the largest producer in the gas belt,^69 but probably
in the country, having a daily capacity of not less than 500,000 brick. In
addition to this the company has for years marketed the whole output of a
large plant at Buffalo (fifteen miles west of Chanute). and with this prod-
uct the company controls not less than a third of the brick output of the
state.

There has been a constantly growing demand for vitrified brick for pur-
poses of municipal improvement in the eastern Kansas towns for a little
more than ten years, and the organization and success of this first large
gas-using company was soon followed by others of considerable size and im-
portance. The two largest were organized about the same time. The
Pittsburg Vitrified Paving Brick Company, which did not for some time use
gas, however, had two large plants, both in Pittsburg, about 1900, with a
combined output of 100,000 daily. The other, The lola Brick Company, also
operating two yards about the same time, using gas, however, had an equal
capacity. The Pittsburg company also bought up a large brickyard at
Leavenworth with a capacity of 60,000 daily. Other large yards were those
at Lawrence, built in 1899, with a capacity of 30,000; a second plant at
Chanute, with a capacity of 50,000. Humboldt, La Harpe, and later the
other towns of the gas belt, followed with fairly large yards.

With all this activity in the gas belt, however, the coal-burning yards at
Atchison, Lawrence, Topeka, Ottawa, Leavenworth and Salina continued to
get a large share of local business, and occasionally invaded the field of the
larger gas-burning yards. ^''^ The building of new yards was practically
completed in three or four years after 1900, and the conditions have been
practically the same ever since that time. The face and paving brick of
the Kansas yards soon began to find favor in the outside markets, and with
the multiplied magnitude of their production the exportation of those
grades of brick became important. For several years the commercial terri-
tory of the Kansas yards has been parts of the adjoining states of Nebraska
and Missouri, and, to a certain extent, Iowa, while they find an outlet to
the south as far as the Gulf ports, and New Mexico on the southwest. ^"^
The common building bricks, of course, do not go nearly so far, but for
some time Kansas has made much more of these grades than is used within
her borders.

The brickmaking industry is thus practically centralized in the eastern
quarter of the state of Kansas, so far as the commercial importance of the
industry is concerned. Nebraska has about twice the number of yards, and
nearly half the capital and production of Kansas, but the yards there make
but a small proportion of vitrified brick, the common building brick for
local trade being the principal item. Oklahoma, also about equal in num-
ber of yards to Kansas, has an investment of less than a third as much
capital, and less than a fifth of the output, a still smaller proportion of
which is vitrified brick. ^"^ There are also two plants in Kansas making
sand-lime brick, the only ones in this part of the country. They are located

Note 469.-Min. Res. Kan. Note 470.-Ibid. 1903, p. 37. Note 471. -Ibid. p. 39.

Note 472.— Census Manufacturers. 1905, Bull. 62, p. 70 et seq.

206

Kansas State Histoncal Society.

at Wichita and Bonner Springs, the latter about twenty miles west of Kan-
sas Citv. They are comparatively new industries, but in 1906 there were
some 800,000 brick marketed. The Wichita plant has increased its opera-
tions several times since it started, and has put about twelve million on the
market in all. The products are standard and face brick for building pur-
poses, and the most of those from the Wichita plant go into Oklahoma and
Texas, while a few go east on account of the color. Western Kansas takes
a portion of the output,^''

One influence that may have had something to do with the fact that
there are now but very few brickyards west of the middle line of the state
of Kansas is the growth of the manufacture and use of "artificial stone,"
made of cement and sand. The growth of this business has been very rapid,
especially in the last two or three years, and has undoubtedly had the effect
of supplying a portion of the demand for common building brick. This class
of building material has the advantage of cheapness and ease of manufac-
ture, and recommends itself especially to those portions of the state where
the clays are not especially superior and fuel is expensive. In 1905 the cen-
sus reports give twenty-three of these artificial stone factories in Kansas,
and sixty- five brickyards. Two years later the state report ^'^ gives sev-
enty-one factories for the manufacture of artificial stone and fifty-six
brickyards. Nebraska is experiencing somewhat of the same movement,
hardly to the same extent, perhaps, while it is still less noticeable in the
new state of Oklahoma. These cement blocks are not the ideal building
material by any means, and it is impossible to forecast the future of this
industry or its effect on the brick industry.

The manufacture of sewer pipe has never been of especial importance in
connection with the clay manufactures of this section. One reason, no
doubt, for this fact is that the number of large cities or towns is relatively
small, and there has been until quite recently a comparatively small demand
for this class of products. There has been for many years a large estab-
lishment at Kansas City, Mo., for the manufacture of sewer pipe, and nearly
ten years ago a large plant was built at Pittsburg, Kan., which has been
doing a considerable business. The Kansas City concern had at one time
planned to build a large plant at Chanute, but it never materialized, for
what reason is not known. Drain tile of any sort is a very small part of
the clay products of any of the sections other than the Kansas belt, and
even there it is only a relatively small portion of the whole product. Hardly
any of the new gas-burning yards are equipped for its manufacture at all,
and concentrate practically their whole effort on the production of brick.

The following table shows the production of the principal articles of
manufacture in the clay industries of the three states :

State.

Oklahoma (and I. T.).

KanHas

Nebraska

Common
brick.

70,007,000
214,273,000
131,290,000

Vitrified
brick.

1.950,000
75,826,000
(a)

Drain tile,
value.

(o)

$13,212 00
(a)

Total value
of products.

$596,299 00
1,906,360 00
1,006.743 00

Totals^ 415,570,000 77,776,000 $13,212 00 $3.409,302 00

includld 1'hIli'^f^^^V? '^5"5«s with other states. The whole product of the sewer-pipe factories is
the Unit^ St^tesl'fs^l'p. iTet'^s^^ *^''' ^'^ *^'''"- ^^^ **^'^" ^"^ '" '^'"""' Resources of

Note 473. -Interview. 1908.

Note 474. -Twenty-third Ann. Kept., Kan. Bureau of Labor, 1907, p. 280.

Histoj'y of Manufactures in Kansas. 207

GLASS.

The youngest of all the manufacturing enterprises in this section, and at
the same time the most highly localized of all, is the glass industry, which
began with the building of the plant of the Midland Window Glass Company
at Independence, in 1902. Rather remarkably, all the building since that
time has been practically confined to four towns in Montgomery county, of
which Independence is the center. There are two others in Kansas, one at
Chanute, and another, one of the earliest, a bottle-glass factory, at Neode-
sha, which was also opened in the summer of 1902. The growth of the in-
dustry, for some reason, has not extended across the line into Oklahoma,
with the single exception of one plant, built sometime in 1904. It is more
than possible that the reason for the failure to build southward is due to the
fact that there has not been any considerable addition to the total number
of glass factories since the advantages of that field became well advertised.

The coming of the glass factories is due to at least two influences, both
of which were a little overestimated, according to the statements of the
manufacturers themselves. The first of them was the failure of the gas
supply in the Indiana field, upon which a large number of glass factories
were dependent for fuel. The glass industry is of such a nature that gas is
the only satisfactory fuel, and failure of the natural product necessitates the
more expensive alternative of using manufactured gas. The failure of the
supply, about 1900 and afterward, led some of the glassmakers to look about
for a new field that could supply their factories. Then the development of
the Kansas field since 1900, and the wide advertising that it received through
the efforts of the commercial clubs and similar organizations of every town
that had proven gas for which there was no demand, attracted their attention.

That the effect on the industry in Indiana was not as great and demoral-
izing as some of the glassworkers at first feared is shown by the continual
building of factories in that district, using manufactured gas. The increas-
ing cost of gas in the Kansas field in the last two years has also tended to
diminish the advantage that it offered in the beginning, and when the disad-
vantage in the necessary importation of nearly all the raw materials from a
long distance east is added, the field is nothing ahead of the Indiana makers.
In one way it is at a disadvantage in marketing the product, for products
cannot go east of the Mississippi river simply on a basis of equalization of
freight rates, with production cost equal, and the larger share of the output
of these factories has to find a market to the west and southwest, where
the population is widely scattered in comparison to the Eastern markets,
and the demand is therefore smaller.

Those two factors, however, brought a considerable interest to the Kan-
sas gas field, and in the four years from the building of the first plant, in
1902, there were sixteen glass factories built, manufacturing window, bottle
and lead glass principally. The first, and one of the largest, was the Inde-
pendence plant, built in 1902, at a cost of about $40,000. Its business
prospered immediately, and the products (all window glass) found ready
market in Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. ^"^ The plant was soon remod-
eled and its output practically doubled. The next company in the state was
the Cherryvale Glass Company, which put its plant into operation in June,

Note 475.— Ind. Rep. OH and Gas Mag., p. 56.

208 Kansas State Historical Society.

1902. really ahead of the opening of the Independence plant. The specialty
of tills factory is lead glass, such a tumblers, lamp chimneys, globes and
the like. It is the only one of this kind in the district.

In the season of 1903 a number of Wisconsin men organized the Neodesha
Bottle and Glass Company, and built a bottle-glass factory at Neodesha.
The specialty of this company is flint-glass bottles for the apothecary trade,
which has been found sufficient in the field tributary to this plant to
justify the erection of considerable additions to the plant, and equipping
it for amber and colored glass this year."« In the same year that
these plants were started three more window-glass factories were built—
the first by the Van Camp Glass Company, who came here from the Indiana
field and built a $20,000 plant at Caney, in the southwest corner of Mont-
gomery county. They planned to use a sand found west of that place, which
had been tested and found satisfactory for the manufacture of window
glass. '" The Midland company, at Independence, also used a run of Kansas
sand from a bank near Fredonia, and found it fairly good for this purpose,
so it is said. The other two factories built that season were at Coffeyville,
which soon became the center, and now has more than twice the number of
factories of any other town in the district. The first ^^^ ^q^^ built by a com-
pany of local business men. who employed the services of an experienced
glassmaker and built one of the largest factories in the West. Their out-
put for the first year amounted to about $200,000, and was marketed with
the large jobbers of the Middle West.^'*' The other plant built at this time
was also at Coffeyville, and was very similar in size and equipment to the
plant of the company just described, and its first year of operation put
$150,000 worth of window glass on the market. ^^o

This second Coffeyville company is worthy of a little more than passing
mention, on account of the fact that it was the first of a number of coop-
erative factories built in the Montgomery county field. The officers and
holders of the $75,000 worth of stock in this company are all glassmakers
from Indiana, and all of them followed actively the mechanical operation of
the various departments of the factory. This factory also used the con-
tinuous-melting regenerative tank process from the first. The second co-
operative company was the Western Window Glass Company, which built
at Independence, in 1905, a twelve-pot factory. There were twelve stock-
holders in the company, all of them glassworkers, and all of them employed
in the factory. This company was very near failure shortly after its organi-
zation on account of the destruction of the plant by fire soon after it was
started. Only the assistance of the business men of the town, who backed
the rebuilding, saved this cooperative venture from total failure. ^s'

Note 476.— Interview. 1908.

Note 477.— Silica, usually obtained in the form of sand, is the larjrest ingredient of all grades
of glass, and has to be of a high degree of fineness, such as is seldom if ever found in the sands of
the Kansas-Oklahoma district. Practically all the sand used at the Kansas factories, and espe-
cially in those making lead-flint glass, which requires a brilliant clearness, comes from Illinois
and from Pacific, Mo., near St. Louis. " Most of the sand deposits obtained in this state contain
too much clay and are too high in iron. If a good deposit of clear white sand could be found it
would mean much for the advancement of the industry."-First Bien. Rept. Bureau Labor.
Kan., p. 344. No sand has yet been found that contains the desired proportion of silica.

Note 478. -The Coffeyville Window Glass Company, capitalized at $75,000, and using the con-
tmuous-meltmg regenerative tank, which is said to increase the output forty per cent at the
same cost.

Note 480. -Coffeyville Daily Journal. April 6, 1907, p. 30. Note 479.-Ibid, p. 29.
Note 481.-Ind. Rep. Oil and Gas Mag., p. 56.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 209

There were nine glass factories in active operation in Kansas in 1905,
and others in process of construction. The investment of capital was a
little over half a million, nearly half of which was represented by the ex-
pense of building the factories. There were 718 workers employed, at a
wage of nearly half a million, and the value of the products was nearly a
million dollars. The cost of the materials used was more than a third of
the value of the finished products, while all the expense of operation, including
wages, salaries, fuel and the like, according to the statement of the fac-
tories, ^^2 ^as $849,700, leaving a little more than a hundred thousand dollars
as interest on the investment and profits of the business— in short, about
twenty per cent of the investment returned this year, available for interest
and profits. The figures of the same report, two years later, gathered from
statements of the factories, show a less prosperous condition, though the
returns were not at all unsatisfactory. The number of the factories in the
two years had increased to fifteen, and the capital invested had nearly
trebled, being in 1907 $1,467,571. The number of employees had increased
to 1720, or more than double the number two years before, and the total
expense of operation was over a million and a half, with the value of the
products only $1,792,034, leaving the earnings available for interest and
profits only thirteen percent, as against twenty percent two years earlier. ^^3

Perhaps one of the branches of the glass industry most favored by the
location in this district is the fruit-jar industry, which has been established
at Coffeyville since the erection of the first factory by Wilson & McCulloch,
as a branch of their business already established at Marion, Ind.^^^ The
factory was soon sold to Ball Brothers, of Marion, and it was immediately
enlarged to its present size. There are ten large machines, each employing
four men, that are in constant operation, making this one of the largest
fruit-jar factories in the country.

The second was built by the Mason Fruit Jar Company, also at Coffey-
ville, in 1906. This company, which is largely composed of Coffeyville busi-
ness men, however, is a branch of the industry which has been at Marion,
Ind., for years, and is capitalized at $100,000. The manager and superin-
tendent are old employees of the Mason factory at Marion. The factory has
six machines, with a capacity of 1700 gross of fruit jars a week. Both fac-
tories use the continuous-melting regenerative process, and their combined
product would amount to about thirty-five car lots a week when they are
running on full time. These are the only fruit-jar factories in the western
part of the country, and they can reach practically the whole of the country
west of the Mississippi river. They have the further advantage over the
other glass factories in that the market for their product is at its best in this
Western fruit section, while the market for building glass is dependent on
a more dense population, such as the Eastern factories supply.

One of the great disadvantages that all of the Kansas glass factories
making flint and bottle glass (including the fruit-jar factories) have to con-
tend with is the heavy freight rates that they have had to pay on soda ash,
which is about one-fourth of the material used. The freight from Detroit,
the nearest source of supply, is 27| cents a hundred, or $5.50 a ton. The
erection of the new independent soda-ash plant at Hutchinson last year is

Note 482.— Tables. Bull. Bureau Labor, Kan., 1905, pp. 46--53.

Note 483.-Ibid, 1907. pp. 280-283. Note 484. -Interview. 1908.

210 Kansas State Historical Society.

therefore a great help to the Kansas glass factories, for the freight rate on
the product at the same factory price is less than a third as much from the
Hutchinson plant as from the Eastern factories. The Hutchinson plant is
as yet an untried industry in so far as its competitive relations to the East-
ern factories operating in the combine, and the permanence and importance
of its effect is still indeterminate.

The window-glass factories, on the other hand, which outnumber the
bottle-glass factories considerably in this section, use as the base of their
product not the soda ash, but the "salt cake," so called, or sodium sulphate,
which is an important by-product of the process of manufacture of sulphuric
acid. Being an incident and not an aim of an industry, the salt cake is
cheaper, and is thoroughly satisfactory for the manufacture of this grade
of glass, though it does not give as great a degree of toughness as is neces-
sary for the various grades of glass that are subject to considerable changes
of temperature. The bulk if not all of this product that the Kansas glass
factories use has come from the works of the United Zinc and Chemical
Company, at Argentine, Kan.,^**'' which has been engaged in the manufac-
ture of sulphuric and nitric acids for twenty years. In this respect, there-
fore, the factories engaged in the manufacture of building glass have had an
advantage over makers of the other classes of glass products, for the
freight rates are moderate and the cost of the material quite reasonable.

A difficulty that practically all the Kansas glass factories have felt to a
considerable extent from the beginning is that of keeping the necessary
number of workers during the busy season. Practically all the blowers and
cutters came from the Indiana field, and the same roving spirit that made
them free to come here in the first place makes them the most undependable
class of laborers in this part of the country, according to the testimony of
the operators. While of American descent almost wholly at this time, they
are, nevertheless, undependable, and gave so much trouble by their moving
about that it was found necessary for the factories to associate for the
purpose of regulating the hiring of employees to avoid taking away each
other's help^^'' These workers, especially those of the more roving charac-
ter, have their own settlements in the neighborhood of the factories in
many cases, and as they do not stay long in one place at the best, hardly
form an integral part of the social body of the community. Many of the
more skilled workmen, however, including those that were the first to come
and aid in the organization of the industry, are not of this character at all,
and are most desirable additions to the citizenship of the state.

As has already been suggested, conditions in the industry are such that
the advantages that first recommended this field are considerably diminished,
but in spite of that the importance of the output of the Kansas glass fac-
tories is increasing materially. With nearly two millions of annual produc-
tion, it is thirteenth among the manufactures of Kansas, ninth in number
of employees, and fifteenth in the amount of capital invested. ^**^ Much of
the future of the industry in this section depends upon the length of the gas
supply and the discovery of more of the raw materials nearer to the fac-
tories. The manufacture of soda ash in the state will help, and the discovery

Note 485.- First Bien. Rept. Bureau of Labor, Kan., pp. 341. 342.

Note 486.— Interview. 1908.

Note 487.-Twenty-third Ann. Rept. Bureau Labor. Kan., 1907, pp. 280-283.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 211

of good sand would be of considerable importance. At present the condi-
tions practically shut the product of these factories into the southwestern
part of the country, south of the Missouri and west of the Mississippi
rivers. *^^ / '. .

BIBLIOGSAPHV. y] .*, . .

Adams, George I., and others: " Zinc ?.hd* Lead Deposits of Northern Ar-
kansas." (Professional Paper No. 24',.tl*. S, Ge6lo^i'ia1 Survey, Wash-
ington, 1904.) ■', V", •*•'.'',

BouGHTON, J. S. : "Kansas Hand Book" (two-issues, ISfS.i^Si, contain
compiled statistics from state and census reports, with ghort es'r.ajs on
the industries of the state by the author.) Pubiiahed.'b.y the^.uthor,
Lawrence, Kan., 1878, 1881. '',',•"• .

History of the State of Kansas (also, a supplementary histoVy and de-
scription of its counties, cities, towns and villages), 1616 pages. Chicago,
A. T. Andreas. (The general history of Kansas in this volume was com-
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county histories were prepared under Cutler's supervision by a corps of
assistants.) Known by the name of either the publisher or the author.

Ingalls, Walter Renton: "Production and Properties of Zinc," Eng. &
Min. Jour. Co., New York, 1902. (This is the best discussion of the
zinc industry for this district that has ever been published, and is fairly
comprehensive for the whole period of the development, though neces-
sarily brief in some respects.)

Kansas State Board of Agriculture. Reports. State Printing Office,
Topeka. ( Annual from 1872 to 1876, inclusive. The reports for 1874,
1875, and 1876, the Third, Fourth and Fifth annual reports, contain scatter-
ing information on manufactures of Kansas, the first state reports
available. The reports are biennial since 1877, and contain little of
manufacturing interest.)

Kansas Bureau of Labor. Annual Reports. State Printing Office,
Topeka, Kan. (The Twenty- third. Twenty-second, Twenty-first, Eigh-
teenth and Seventeenth annual reports, for 1907, 1906, 1905, 1902, 1901,
respectively, contain information that has been used in this paper.)

Kansas State Historical Society, Collections. State Printing Office,
Topeka, Kan. (The Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Collections, 1902, 1906,
1908. )

Kansas State Legislature. Laws 1864, 1866, 1905. State Printing Office,
Lawrence, Topeka, Kan.

Kansas Supreme Court. Reports, vol. 71, 1905. State Printing Office,
Topeka, Kan., 1906.

Kansas University Geological Survey. Reports: Vol. IH, "Special
Report on Coal"; vol. V, "Special Report on Gypsum and Gypsum Ce-
ment Plasters," 1899; vol. VH, "Special Report on Mineral Waters,"
1902; vol. Vin, "Special Report on Lead and Zinc," 1904; vol. IX. " Spe-
cial Report on Oil and Gas," 1909. -State Printing Office, Topeka.

Annual Bulletin on the Mineral Resources of Kansas, 1897 to 1903,

Lawrence, Kan. These reports are the best and almost the only com-

Note 488.— Interview, 1908.

212 luuisas State Histoncal Society.

prehensive discussions on the mineral resources of the Kansas part of
the field for the period which they cover. They are especially good on
the geological distribution of the different minerals treated. The "Min-
eral Resources. " which wag published for six years, contains much of the
commerce of the various mineral products, and less of geology.

Kansas Territory Leglsl-atu^e; Statutes 1855. Shawnee Manual Labor
School [St. Loais, Mo.]. 1855; . •"

Kansas TeRli>TpaY' Legislature. Lav^s 1857. R. H. Bennett, public
printer./-. .Lecomplon, Kaii., 1857.

,^' '-. •' I PRIVATE. Laws 1859. Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, 1859.

Missouri Bureau -of Geology and Mines: "The Origin of the Lead and
Zinc Deposits," second series, vol. X, Joplin, Mo , 1907.

Mis,sauRJ". Geological Survey. Reports: Vol. VI and vol. VIL State
Printing House, Jefferson City, Mo.

Moody, John: "The Romance of the Railroads." (Moody's Magazine, vol.
VI, No. 3; vol. VIII; A. W. Ferrin, New York. This is a series of arti-
cles current through the year of 1908 on the principal railways of the
country. The articles on the Union Pacific and the Santa Fe are the ones
referred to.)

Poor's Manual of Railroads : Poor's Railroad Manual Company, New
York (annual since 1869).

Reynolds, Milton W.: "Kansas Railroads." (Kansas Magazine, vol. I,
No. 1, 1872. Kansas Magazine Publishing Company, Topeka, 1872-'73.)

Siebenthal, C. E. : "Mineral Resources of Northeastern Oklahoma."
(Bulletin No. 340, U. S. Geological Survey, part I, 1907.)

Smith, W. S. T. : "Lead and Zinc Deposits of the Joplin District, Missouri
and Kansas." (Bulletin No. 213, U. S. Geological Survey, Government
Printing Office, Washington, D. C, 1903.)

Tuttle, Charles R. : "History of Kansas," 1876, Interstate Book Com-
pany, Madison, Wis., and Lawrence, Kan.

U. S. Eighth Census. "Manufactures," (1860).

U. S. Ninth Census. "Manufactures," (1870).

U. S. Tenth Census. "Manufactures," (1880).

U. S. Eleventh Census. "Manufactures," (1890.)

U. S. Twelfth Census. "Manufactures," (1900).

U. S. Census of Manufactures, 1905: Bulletin No. 28, "Manufactures of
Kansas ' ' ; Bulletin No. 29, ' ' Manufactures of Nebraska ' ' ; Bulletin No. 30.
' ' Manufactures of Arizona, New Mexico, Indian Territory and Oklahoma " ;
Bulletin No. 35, "Manufactures of Missouri and Arkansas"; Bulletin
No. 62, "Glass and Clay Products"; Bulletin No. 70, "Petroleum Refin-
ing"; Bulletin No. 83, "Slaughtering and Meat Packing, Manufactured
Ice and Salt."— Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

U. S. Commissioner of Corporations. Report on the Beef Industry.
Government Printing Office. Washington, D. C, 1903.

United States Congress. Statutes at Large, vol. 12, edited by Geo. P.
Sanger. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1863.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 213

U. S. Geological Survey. Mineral Resources of the United States
(annual since 1883). Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

Van Oss, S. F. : "American Railroads as Investments," New York, G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1893. (Gives a brief account of the financial organiza-
tion and the early building of the principal roads in this section.)

[All the above volumes and periodicals are to be found in the library of
the University of Kansas ; the government reports are of course to be
found in any good library. Most all of the authorities referred to in this
paper may also be found in the library of the State Historical Society, at
Topeka.]
Annual Review of Greater Kansas City, 1908. ''Same as the above.

Bishop Press, 1908. Both of these publications are in the public library

of Kansas City, Mo.)

Bell, John T., and Savage, J. W. : "History of Omaha," Munsell & Co.,
New York and Chicago, 1894. This is one of the most serviceable local
histories in this section for manufacturing material, though its scope is
confined to Omaha and South Omaha, whose packing-house development
up to 1892 is treated in detail. It is in the Omaha Public Library and
Museum, at Omaha, Neb.

Case, Theo. S. "History of Kansas City, Mo. " D. Mason & Co. , Syracuse,
N. Y., 1888. The volume also gives equal attention to the industries of
Kansas City, Kan.

CoFFEYViLLE DAILY JOURNAL. (Industrial edition, Coffey ville, Kan., April
6, 1907. Fuel and manufacturing history of the southern part of Mont-
gomery county, Kansas, since 1900. University of Kansas library.)

Commercial Club of Kansas City. Twelfth Annual Report of the Trade
and Commerce of Kansas City. Tiernan-Havens Printing Co. [1891.]

Engineering and Mining Journal. (Monthly since 1878.) Published by
Engineering and Mining Journal Company, New York. The various
numbers contain articles from time to time on mineral resources; espe-
cially, two yearly reviews by Erasmus Haworth, state geologist of Kan-
sas, in the number of January 9, 1909; an article in the issue of January
4, 1908, both on the mid-continent oil field; and an article in the latter
issue by Walter Renton Ingalls on zinc smelting in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Francis, S. N. : "Kansas-Indian Territory Oil and Gas Field," Chanute,
Kan., 1904. (Presents the personal side of the development of the Kan-
sas oil and gas fields since 1900. Fairly satisfactory. University of
Kansas library.) ■

Imperial Kansas City, 1900. Compiled by Mercantile Illustrating Co.,
Kansas City, Mo.

Independence Daily Reporter Oil and Gas Magazine, Independence,
Kan., December, 1905. (Historical of the development of the Kansas-
Oklahoma oil field, and contains manufacturing information for the
southern Kansas towns. Careful and reliable. University of Kansas
library.)

lOLA Daily Register. Tenth Anniversary edition, lola, Kan., October 25,
1907. Contains a careful account of the oil and gas history, as well as
the manufacturing that followed the gas development in the northern
part of the Kansas field.

214 Kansas State Historical Society.

J.\MES, H. G.: "The Mid-continent Oil Fields." (Pamphlets, three vol-
umes, reviewing the oil field for the years 1905, 1906 and 1907. Best
statistical compilations for the Mid-continent field. Published by the
Independence Daily Reporter, 1905, 1906, 1907. University of Kansas
library.)

The Kansas City Annual, 1907. (Published by the Business Men's League
of Kansas City. Mo., D. M. Bone, secretary. The Bishop Press, 1907.)

Kansas City Stock Yards Company. Compliments, 1910.

Kansas Magazine, 1872-'73. Kansas Magazine Publishing Company, To-
peka.

Kansas Monthly. J. S. Boughton, Lawrence, Kan., 1879-'81. Univer-
sity of Kansas library.

MrCoY, Rev. Isaac. " History of Baptist Indian Missions. " William M.
Morrison, Washington, D. C, 1840.

Richardson, E. E. "Receipts and Shipments of Live Stock at Kansas City
Stock Yards, Kansas City, for the year 1909." Tiernan-Dart Printing
Company, Kansas City, Mo., 1910.

Spalding, C. C. Annals of the City of Kansas : Embracing full de-
tails of the trade and commerce of the great Western plains, together
with statistics of the agricultural, mineral and commercial resources of
the country, west, south and southwest, embracing western Missouri,
Kansas, the Indian country, and New Mexico. Kansas City : Van Horn
& Abeel's Printing House, 1858, p. Ill, il. 0.

Ware, Eugene F. Some of the Rhymes of Ironquill. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York, 1902.

Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan. Goodspeed Publishing Com-
pany, Chicago, 1890.

ZooK, Jesse A. : "Zinc-Lead Reporter." Joplin Globe Publishing Com-
pany, Joplin, Mo., 1907. (This is the most condensed and accurate state-
ment of the production of the Joplin district. Copies are obtainable of
the publisher or the author.)

newspapers.

The following newspapers of the state have been consulted for informa-
tion on various topics, and with unlimited time much could be done by a
thorough search of the files in the library of the State Historical Society,
in Topeka, Kan., where all of the papers referred to may be found. The
majority of them may also be found at the oflSce of publication, save in the
case of some of the earliest. Without plenty of time, however, the files
would be of little service, for the information is diluted and scattering. In
the case of the newspapers of Kansas City, the clipping library, classified
according to subjects, is of considerable service for that section, and the
information is easy of access.

The Kansas City Star (daily, evening), Kansas City, Mo.

The Kansas City Times (daily, morning); the morning edition of the
Kansas City Star.

The Kansas City Journal (daily, morning), Kansas City, Mo.
Joplin Globe (daily), Joplin, Mo. (Files at oflSce.)
Atchison Daily Champion, Atchison, Kan.

History of Manufactures in Kansas. 2i5

Chanute Daily Sun, Chanute, Kan.

Cherryvale Republican, Cherryvale, Kan.

Coffey ville Journal (daily), Coffey ville, Kan.

Independence Daily Reporter, Independence, Kan.

South Kansas Tribune (daily and weekly), Independence, Kan.

Io\a Register (daily), lola, Kan.

Friend- Herald, lola, Kan.

Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, Kan.

Lawrence Daily Record, Lawrence, Kan.

Leavenworth Post (daily), Leavenworth, Kan.

Pittsburg Headlight (daily and weekly), Pittsburg, Kan.

Pittsburg SmeZter (weekly), Pittsburg, Kan.

Topeka Capital (daily), Topeka, Kan.

Topeka State Journal, Topeka, Kan.

The limitations of this paper did not permit anything like an exhaustive
examination of the newspapers, and there is an unHmited amount of work
that might be done along this line in the library of the State Historical So-
ciety, where all the newspapers of the state are on file, as well as practi-
cally all magazine and pamphlet publications in the state. Owing to the
fact, however, that there has been no attempt to classify the material save
by pubHcations, the work is tedious in the extreme.

21(5 Ka7isas State Historical Society.

NOTHING BUT FLAGS!

COMRADES! Salute the battle-torn colors in memory of those who
fought and died with them that the nation might live !

' ' Nothing but flags ! ' ' but simple flags !

Tattered and torn, and hanging in rags ;

And we walk before them in careless tread,

Nor think of the hosts of the mighty dead

Who have marched beneath in the days gone by,
With a burning cheek and a kindling eye.
And have bathed these folds with their life's young tide.
And in dying were blest, and with blessings died !

" Nothing but flags ! " Yet methinks at night
They tell each other their tales of fright !
Dim specters come ; and their arms entwine
'Round each standard torn, as they stand in line.

As the word is given, they charge ! they form !

And these corridors ring with the battle storm !

And once again, through the smoke and strife.

These colors lead on for the nation's life !

" Nothing but flags ! " Yet they 're bathed in tears ;

They tell of triumph ; of hopes and fears ;

Of a mother's prayers for a boy away;

Of a serpent crushed ; of the coming day !

Silent they speak ; and the tears will start.
As we stand beneath them with throbbing heart,
And we think of those who are ne'er forgot!
Their flags come home ; why come they not ?

" Nothing but flags ! " Yet we hold our breath.
And gaze with awe at these types of death !
They are nothing but flags ; yet the thought will come :
The heart must pray, though the lips be dumb !

They are sacred and pure ! We can see no stain
On these dear loved flags come home again !
Baptized in blood, our purest, best ;
Tattered and torn, they are now at rest !

—Anon.

(Compiled by B. B. Smythe, company K, Ninth Michigan infantry, and troop A. First United
Statfs cavalry (dragoons), and dedicated with the love of a private soldier to the regimental
naifH f.f the Kansas volunteer soldiers, now exhibited in a special steel case in the rooms of the
Kansa-s Slate Historical Society.]

THE SOLDIERS OF KANSAS.

THE SIXTH KANSAS CAVALRY AND ITS COMMANDER.

An address by Charles E. Cory, ' of Fort Scott, before the Kansas State Historical Society,
at its Thirty-third annual meeting, December 1, 1908.

THE Western cavalry in the war of the RebeUion had a peculiar duty.
The distances were great. The commands were not situated as Long-
street's and Lee's and Meade's and McClellan's and Hooker's and Grant's
armies were. The military forces in the West, on both sides, were com-
paratively small bodies. Between the points of operation would be a day's
march, or two days' march, instead of an hour's march or possibly two hours'
march, as it was in the East. The cavalry was of immensely more impor-
tance in the West than in the East, although of great importance there. If
a blow was to be struck on the James or Shenandoah it could be done in a
surprisingly short time— surprisingly in more ways than one. Stonewall
Jackson or Sheridan might be reported in bivouac at sundown, and might
strike a vicious blow at dawn. In the West, however, it might take two,
or three, or five days' riding. They were away apart. The mortality in the
West was greater in proportion to the number engaged, though the total
mortality was much less. The percentage of mortality in Kansas regiments
in battle was greater than that of any other state, although the actual num-
ber of deaths was smaller. For instance, there were more men killed in
three hours at each of the battles of Chickamauga, Cold Harbor, Fredericks-
burg and Gettysburg than were killed in any battle, however long, on any
field west of the Mississippi. There were more men killed at Chickamauga
in three hours than were killed during the whole Spanish- American and
Philippine wars. The number of men engaged in those Eastern battles was
greater. The fight itself was fiercer. The battle field casualties were
greater.

My statement does not belittle the services of the army in the West,
nor does it belittle the glory that attaches to our soldiers in Cuba and the
Philippines. Those boys that went to the later war did their duty. They
did all that was asked of them, and did it with alacrity, faithfulness and
bravery. They did it well; but there was not so much to do. Our young
men in the Phihppines were not fighting with fighters. They were fighting
with brigands and cutthroats, and cutthroats are always cowards. They
had no such contests as occurred, for instance, at Fredericksburg, where
after the battle a man might walk three-quarters of a mile and stand on a
soldier's body at every step. Nor were they fighting with such men as
Meade met at Gettysburg, where Pickett's Virginians and Carolinians went
across the open plains in the face of 35,000 infantry and a thousand cannon,

Note 1. —See sketch of Charles Estabrook Cory, page 229, volume 7, Kansas Historical
Collections, and a paper written by him, entitled " Slavery in Kansas." In volume 8 he also had
a_ paper, "The Osage Ceded Lands." page 187. Mr. Cory obtained the facts in this paper rela-
tive to the life and service of Colonel Jewell from his family, and from conversations with private
soldiers and others who served under him.

(217)

21^ /vr/;?.sa.s State Histoncal Society.

and were slashed down like timber before the cyclone-and then reformed
and came on again! Nerve near omnipotent! They were not against a force
like Thomas met at Chickamauga, who stood and fought until they were
decimated. These last men I have mentioned were fighting their brothers,
of the same blood, while the men in the Spanish and Philippine wars were
against men who were not fighters. The enemy believed in the wisdom of
the adage that "he who fights and runs away shall live to fight another

day."

The men in the West in the Civil War did not differ in the same way
from the men in the East. The difference in the Civil War was not in the
kind of people, but only in the conditions surrounding them. The Western
forces were smaller. The distances were greater. The men were just as
combative, just as brave, had the same virile strength and nerve on each
side, but the blood letting was less because the opportunity was less. The
Eastern armies were close together. In the West the bands of fighters
were far apart.

Let me illustrate: Suppose Longstreet or Jackson in Virginia had taken
a fancy to strike Boston. Suppose Sheridan had taken a fancy to strike
Charleston. That would be about on a par with Gen. Sterling Price's swift
jump from the Indian Territory to hit Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, Mo.
The Eastern armies could not dream of such a thing, but in the West such
dashes were common.

In such conditions as this it was natural that the cavalry should be the
most useful branch of the army. It could hit a sudden blow at a distance,
where the infantry would be powerless, although both equally willing and
equally ready. The Sixth Kansas cavalry was probably better constituted
than any other Western cavalry regiment to perform this kind of duty. Its
members were to the manor born. They were on their own ground. They
were accustomed to frontier life. They knew what cowardice on the battle
field meant, for in a fratricidal war they had a keener perception of the
dangers of shirking on the field than did the Eastern men, although they
were not a bit more ready to fight. The Eastern soldier, north or south,
was from a community all Union or all Confederate. In the West it was
not so.

The surroundings made the men to meet the case— manufactured them.
Missouri for instance furnished very many regiments in the Confederate
army; and yet, from the same neighborhoods where those regiments were
raised there were also raised organizations of Union soldiers. A great
number of the members of the Sixth Kansas cavalry were from Missouri,
and went back to Missouri when the regiment was mustered out. They are
there now— and have forgotten. The other side has too. In a kindly spirit
they strive to forget. They are brothers. In all my extended acquaint-
ance with the soldiery of the '60's, I know of none who now have hate in
their bosoms. The haters now were teamsters or coffee-coolers then.

Soldiers that are raised from such a community as I have described,
where the people are all intelligent and brave, with some of the people on
one side of the fighting line and some on the other, are not likely to draw
very fine distinctions about the articles of war. It has been told that the
bitterest quarrel is a church quarrel. It is not true. The bitterest of all is
a family quarrel-brother against brother, cousin against cousin. The

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 219

problems are home to them. They are likely to pay more heed to routing
or disabling the enemy than they are to the matter of observing what is
regarded as correct among soldiers.

These men were not ruffians. I have the pleasure of knowing a hundred
of them. They were simply soldiers in a very rough time and in rough sur-
roundings. An instance: Years ago I knew private Charles H. Hosley, of
the Sixth, one of the sunniest-hearted and kindliest souls I ever met. He
was a man who loved all humanity. If there ever was a real Christian gen-
tleman he was one. Yet he was in the fiendish scrap at Cane Hill which I
shall describe after a while, and did his part. We who live "safe at home,
secure and warm," must not judge these people by our measure.

The punishment of the Western men was as much in the almost insuffer-
able hardships that they underwent in the way of lack of clothing, lack of
food, hard riding, hard marching, as it was in the actual work on the battle
field. In all of these matters the cavalry very naturally bore the brunt.
It is to the credit of the cavalry regiments in the far West that they always
came up to the measure of their duty. They despised a leader with white
blood as much as they hated a martinet or a bully. A really brave and com-
petent general at Wilson Creek lost his life because he did n't know his men
on this last point. He did not know them. They killed him.

THE LEADER.

A unique character was Lieut. Col. Lewis R. Jewell. He inherited from
his life on the ancestral farm in Massachusetts the will and nerve that have
helped so much to build up the West and the Middle West. Yet he was not
a Yankee. Though his ancestors had been in Massachusetts from a time
shortly after the Mayflower came, he himself took on the more rugged char-
acter of the West. An old portrait now in my office shows him with an
incisely chiseled Yankee face. But his mental make-up was distinctively of
the West. The old Jewell home was at Marlboro, Middlesex county, where
the colonel himself was born. While a boy he had dreams and visions of a new
world toward the setting sun. He was ambitious, and had an itching to be-
come a part of it. So, with the consent of his parents, he fared westward,
alone in the tiresome journey over the hills, and joined his uncle in Ohio.
There, enjoying the benefits of good ordinary country schools and a devout
Christian home life, he at the same time ran against the struggles which
make the average Western man so nervy in business and so fearless in war.

When in 1843 he married Susan Hutchinson, at Warren, Ohio, and had
bought a little wagon load of household furniture, he had just four shillings
left to begin home building. Before that time he had spent some years as
a general sales agent for a large manufacturing concern; had for a short
time engaged in mercantile business; had built, owned, and for a short time
ran a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi.

I never saw him. He was a splendid, large, broad-shouldered, deep-
chested man considerably over six feet high, of massive build, and, in the
words of Patrick Gorman, one of his men, "with a voice clear down to his
boots." On the word of Mrs. Jane H. Haynes, the widow of one of his
captains, "He was a man who by his looks, conduct and action would com-
mand respect anywhere. ' ' When in action he used that voice with precision,
force and elegance, but not with strict regard to the decalogue.

The call of the gold mines came to him in 1849. He went. The overland

220 Kitnsas State Historical Society.

journey with a wagon train, the toilsomeness and the cruel hardships of it,
have been described by others so many times that the story is scarcely in-
teresting.

Shortly afterward he left California and recrossed the mountains, and
settled on a farm in the northeast corner of Crawford county, Kansas, in
1856, close to where Arcadia stands.

When the troubles on the border began, of course a man of his make-up
was restless. He could not remain quietly at home when his neighbors
were going to the front. A company was raised in his neighborhood, nearly
all of the members being people who had just settled on raw prairie farms
and were trying to make homes of them. On the formation of the company
the soldiers very naturally looked for the most promising leader. Just as
naturally their selection fell on Jewell. The Home Guards 2 were first or-
ganized at Fort Scott with three companies of infantry. When it was de-
cided to enlarge the organization, with his little band Captain Jewell marched
into Fort Scott and joined the regiment as Company D.

The Fort Scott Home Guards were a great organization. They were
soldiers on their own motion. They guarded the border. They forced quiet
where lawlessness had been. Wherever house-burnings or depredations oc-
curred, a detachment of the Home Guards came right quickly. They by
arms enforced peace.

September 9, 1861, the Home Guards were disbanded, and the Sixth
Kansas cavalry ' was organized from the three companies of the Guards and
five new companies. Captain Jewell had shown himself worthy, and was
elected and commissioned lieutenant colonel. He held his commission until
his death. He was in actual command nearly all the time, though nominally
Wm. R. Judson was colonel of the regiment. Judson was not a fighter, and
it is probable that his selection as colonel was more on account of his promi-
nence politically than on account of anything he had ever done or was ex-
pected to do as a soldier.

THE SIXTH KANSAS CAVALRY.

The Sixth Kansas cavalry was a somewhat peculiar organization; not
entirely unique for a Western regiment, but different from most regiments
of the United States army. For instance, a good proportion of the men
rode their own horses. A part of the time half of them wore citizen's
clothing. They had no other, and could get no other. They were not only
most remarkable fighters, but they were also the finest foragers that ever
went to war since the days of vandals. That is saying a good deal, because
the Western armies in the Civil War on both sides scarcely needed a com-
missary train, and the words "conscience" and "property rights" were
blotted out of their dictionary. In the graphic words of a soldier who
talked to me the other day. not about the Sixth Kansas cavalry, however,
"we had no commissary, and we took no prisoners."

The situation in which the Sixth Kansas was thrown was largely influen-
tial m making up the character of its service, and the character of its men
as soldiers. The border of Missouri, Kansas, Ind ian Territory and Arkan-

R iMdH^fn^^ KTonH^I^'^n".'r'*r °".T'"f .''"°^" «^ the "Fort Scott Home Guards." also as "William
"fthV United Stiflf-°";u~^'^*°^^y"°" Organizations in the Volunteer Service

Wa.hin»toi id^pp. az"';^.^ ^^^ y«*'"« 1861. 62. '63. '64. and '65. compiled by John T. Fallon.

^^-^'^"^^i^riieT^Z.'^ll^^^^^^^^ - Official Military History of

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 221

sas, from Kansas City to Fcrt Gibson, say 300 to 350 miles, was a seething,
hissing caldron. Noble L. Prentis called this region "Battle Corners. "*
He was tasteful in the selection of the word.

What was supposed to be the flower of the army, on both sides, was in
the East. They did more bloody fighting, but here was the real punish-
ment. The Sixth was a cavalry regiment. Its companies could move.
They could go to a place. Two or three would be sent in one direction, a
couple of companies in another direction, and possibly another portion in
still another direction, to quiet local disturbances. They were doing con-
tinuous field police duty.

Its soldiers were what my friend Joe Ausman calls "roughnecks." My
guess is that not half a dozen men in the regiment would at that time have
known what a nightshirt was for if they had seen one. But they could live
like princes on the lee side of a haystack on a winter night, or they could
ride all night, over all sorts of roads, or no roads at all, and go into a skir-
mish in the morning like a bridegroom goes to his wedding. The hard
frontier life had made them men of iron. They were not much to look at.
They did not wear collars and cuffs and polished shoes at inspection, but
they did business.

Then, their physical endurance ! Nearly every one of the Sixth had rid-
den in prairie schooners or had tramped from Indiana or Illinois, or other
Middle West states, and were accustomed to sleeping on the ground with
nothing over them but a horse blanket and the sky, possibly the blanket
omitted. They were ready for anything. They could hit the eye of a
squirrel in the top of a tree. They had been trained on occasion to get
their meat from the woods along the streams. They were hardy, and could
stand any sort of punishment on a forced march. They could sleep in the
saddle. That was the kind of people that made up the Sixth. The Sixth
Kansas cavalry was up to the best of them. The people down Fort
Scott way are proud to claim the Sixth as the Fort Scott regiment. It
was really organized there, but the different parts came from a wide
territory. The colonel, lieutenant colonel, major and surgeon were all Fort
Scott people, but the companies came from places wide apart, some from
as far west as Junction City.

THE BURNING OF PORT SCOTT — WHICH DID N'T HAPPEN.

A zealot is not so by education. He is born that way. If Luther, or
Calvin, or Cromwell, or Sam Adams, or John Brown had not taken the par-
ticular trend they did they would still have been cranks, and would have
moved the world on some other issue. James H. Lane— "Old Jim Lane,"
as his worshipers loved to call him— was a zealot. He had been a soldier in
the Mexican war. He was a fighter. He had been a Democratic congress-
man from Indiana, but, coming early to Kansas, he was wise enough to
discover that the inevitable ending of the border troubles would be that
Kansas would be a free state. He promptly changed his political garments
and became an ardent free-state man and later a Republican.'' A new con-

NoTE 4.— "Battle Corners" forms the first chapter of Noble L. Prentis's book, Kansas Mis-
cellanies, published at Topeka in 1889.

Note 5. — " No such distinction as ' Democrat ' and 'Republican ' were known in the early
territorial days of trouble. An attempt to organize a National Democratic party, by such men
as C. W. Babcock. Marcus J. Parrott, James H. Lane, James S. Emery, H. Miles Moore, and
others of like prominence [in 1855] was denounced by the first territorial legislature as a
' measure fraught with more danger to the interest of the Proslavery party and to the Union

222 Kansas State Historical Society.

vert, if he is a born zealot, always goes to the extreme limit, and Lane did
that! He took on an extreme hatred for anybody that even thought of
making Kansas a slave state, although he himself had voted in Congress to
repeal the Missouri compromise, the only shadowy promise Kansas had had
of becoming a free state. He cared very little about methods. Webb
Wilder says he was king in Kansas ; and it was true. He left the United
States senate, where he was serving as the first senator from Kansas, and
called himself brigadier general. He got a sort of roving commission'' from
Washington. By some sort of necromancy he had command in the south-
eastern corner of the state.

than any which has yet been agritated,' and they resolved ' that it is the duty of the Proslavery
party, the Union-lovinsr men of Kansas territory, to know but one issue, slavery,' and all others
were held to be 'an ally of abolitionism and disunionism. ' ( Ho. Jour., 1855, p. 380.) The attempt
to orK'anize a National Democratic party was thus squeezed out. and simultaneously we find the
men named above, and others of lii:e belief and prominence, participating in the Big Springs
convciilion. A Democratic meeting at Lawrence warned the Missourians not to come over and
participate in elections. The Big Springs convention resolved, as against the action of the terri-
torial legislature, ' that Democrats and Whigs, native and naturalized citizens may freely enter '
into its movements ' without any sacrifice of their respective political creeds, but without forcing
them as a test upon others,' and that ' when those issues may become vital as they are now dor-
mant, it will be time enough to divide our organization by these tests, the importance of which
we fully recognize in their appropriate sphere.' ( Proc. Big Springs Convention. S. 6, 1855, p.
3.) And this is exactly what happened. After squatter sovereignty had settled the slavery
question the Republican party was organized : and in all the bitterness of the past no man was
ever heard to say that a Democrat, or Republican, or Whig did so and so, but invariably that a
Mi.-<.*)urian. a border ruffian, proslavery man or a free-state man was responsible."— Extract
from letter of Sec'y George W. Martin to Gov. George W. Glick, March 8, 1904.

The following extracts bearing upon politics and parties in Kansas in the '50's are copied
from a letter of Epaphroditus Ransom, receiver of the Osage land district at Fort Scott, to Lewis
Cas.s. United States Secretary of State, dated at Fort Scott. March 25, 1858. A copy of the origi-
nal manuscript, in the Lewis Cass collection of the Michigan Historical Society, was made for
the Kansas State Historical Society by the secretary, Henry R. Pettengill, in May, 1908.

"At least three-fourths of the population of this territory are from the free states, and they
are determined to make Kansas a free state, I think a majority of the free-state men here were
originally Democrats, National Democrats. They have officiated and acted with Republicans
here, the great body of them, for the reason that those opposed to that party organized not as a
Democratic' but "Proslavery" party. That drives nearly all the Northern Democrats into
the ranks of our opponents.

"' When I arrived in this territory, in January, 1857, the Democratic party, as such, had never
been organized within it. A ' Proslavery ' party only had been organized in opposition to the
Antislavery or Republican party. At a convention of the Proslavery party, held soon after my
arrival. I made great exertion to induce the National Democrats to drop their designation of
Proslavery ' and organize as a National Democratic party, upon the basis of the Cincinnati
P''\l'0''m, and being invited to participate in the proceedings of the convention I addressed that
body with what ability I possess in favor of such reorganization. After a stormy sitting of
some days, the measure was adopted."'

Note 6.-The following quotations from official documents are intended to outline the mili-
Ury service of James H. Lane in Kansas, from 1855 to 1864:

"Headquarters Kansas Volunteers,
..„ .. September 12, 1856.

y ohieutenant litehy: Having confidence in your courage and ability I do appoint you one
or my aids. You will report yourself for duty without delay.— Lane. Com'g."

(Manuscript m collections of Historical Society.)
ifiKr'^ free-state military organization was effected at a meeting held in Lawrence November 29,
iKM. UT. Chaa. Robmson was made commander in chief and Col. Jas. H. Lane was placed second
n command ( Wilder s Annals, 1886, p. 89.) The above appointment was intended for John
q„l„; ?"i"!i- ''u •''• ''^"tenant colonel of the Fifth Kansas cavalry in 1861, and colonel of the
Second Indian Home Guards, March 28, 1862.

"Headquarters Kansas Militia,
IP R PI, Kl "o V December 17, 1857.

mnir., '„„^ 1 J am- You are hereby notified of your appointment as aid-de-camp to the
V.^nl^r^::^^;:lCtl^^^^^^^ ^"^ regulation of the militia, '

tromiMJ''^Ji^^y^}l''^'^F^^^°i.^^^ collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, made
from the original letter to P. B. Plumb, and presented by him to Geo. W. Martin.)

"Headquarters Department of Washington,
.. „ , „ , Washington, D. C, April 24, 1861.

■Vpvt-,\ "^l^"-*"- ^- ^- ^^<^y- Washington, D. C:

H Lane an i ^lia^'^r M ^f'^''''l*'"y,?' ^^"^ desires that the volunteers under command of Gen. J.
. uane and Maj. C. M. Clay should take post at the United States navy yard, for its protection.

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 223

I am therefore directed by Colonel Smith, commanding, to request that you will report with your
respective commands to the commandant of the navy yard for this service by nine o'clock to-
night, to remain on duty until daylight. You will report to the commandant of the navy yard for
the same service on each succeeding night for the periods that your respective commands may
have been enrolled.

" I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Theo. Talbot.

Assistant Adjutant General."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 51, pt. 1, p. 335.]

See Kan. Hist. Col., vol. 10. p. 419. for roster, etc., of the Frontier Guard.

.. ,^ „ ,„, " Executive Mansion, June 20. 1861.

Hon. Secretary of War :

"My Dear Sir — Since you spoke to me yesterday about Gen. J. H. Lane, of Kansas, I have
been reflecting upon the subject, and have concluded that we need the services of such a man
out there at once ; that we better appoint him a brigadier general of volunteers to-day, and send
him off with such authority to raise a force (I think two regiments better than three, but as to
this I am not particular) as you think will get him into actual work quickest. Tell him when
he starts to put it through not to be writing or telegraphing back here, but put it through.

Yours truly. A. Lincoln."

..,,.„ „ ^ ,. , „ .J . " Washington City, June 20, 1861.

His Excellency, A. Lincoln, President :

"Sir — I tender and ask the acceptance for service for three years, or during the war, the
following regiments of troops in Kansas in addition to the three regiments from that state here-
tofore accepted, viz. :

"One regiment of infantry, including two companies of cavalry and two companies of artil-
lery. Col. James Montgomery. One regiment of infantry, including two companies cavalry and
two companies artillery. Col. William Weer. General Cameron concurs with me in the existing
necessity for two additional regiments, and will cheerfully make the order on your suggestion.

Respectfully. J. H. Lane."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3. vol. 1, pp. 280, 282.]

" Gen. James H. Lane: " ^AR Department, June 20, 1861.

"Dear Sir— This department will accept two regiments for three years, or during the war'
in addition to the three regiments the department has already agreed to accept from the governor
of Kansas, to be raised and organized by you in Kansas. Orders will be given to muster the
same into service immediately on being ready to be so mustered, and on being mustered the
requisite arms, etc., will be furnished on the requisition of the mustering officer, who is hereby
authorized to make the same.

" By order of the President: (Signed) Simon Cameron, Secreiarj^ o/ PTor."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 1, p. 282.]

The foregoing letter is also printed in the Leavenworth Daily Conservative of June 26, 1861.
in a communication signed "James H. Lane. Brig. Gen.." and beginning:

"Leavenworth. June 25. 1861.

" To the Citizens of Kansas: On the 20th instant I was duly appointed a brigadier general in
the volunteer force of the United States."

Following General Lane's letter is a card signed by William Weer, stating that General Lane
had assigned to him the duty of receiving and organizing troops at Leavenworth or Lawrence.

"War Department, Washington, June 20, 1861.

"Sir— You are hereby informed that the President of the United States has appointed you
brigadier general of the volunteer force raised in conformity with the President's proclamation
of May 3, 1861, in the service of the United States, to rank as such from the 17th day of May, 1861.
Should the senate, at their next session, advise and consent thereto, you will be commissioned
accordingly.

" Immediately on receipt hereof, please to communicate to this department, through the ad-
jutant general's office, your acceptance or nonacceptance of said appointment ; and, with your
letter of acceptance, return to the adjutant general of the army the oath, herewith inclosed,
properly filled up, subscribed, and attested, reporting at the same time your age, residence, when
appointed, and the state in which you were born.

"Should you accept, you will at once report by letter for orders to the secretary of war.

Simon Cameron, Secretary of War.
"Brigadier General -James H. Lane, United States Volunteers."

[Congressional Globe, January 8, 1862, 37th Cong.. 2d Sess.. p. 223.]

M. C. Meigs, quartermaster general, on June 26. 1861, made an order on Messrs. Haughton,
Sawyer & Co., Boston, from which the following extract is given :

"This clothing is for two regiments to be raised and commanded by General Lane of Kansas,
and must bedelivered in time to reach Fort Leavenworth before the 20th July, at which time the
regiment is to take the field.

"I inclose General Lane's requisitions, three in number, specifying the articles, and indorsed
by me for identification."

[.Congressional Globe, January 8. 1862, 37th Cong.. 2d Sess., p. 224.]

224 Kansas State HistoHcal Society.

"Adjutant General's Office,

Washington. D. C, July 10. 1861.
•• Dot«il an otlicer to muster in General Lane's brigade. The companies will be mustered
when presented, even thouKh less than the standard, and will be filled up afterward-s
wniii H'«^ ..gy order George D. Ruggles, Assist. Adj. Gen.

"Commanding Officer, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas."

"Leavenworth City, Kansas.
"Official copy. L. Thomas, Adjutant General.

"Adjutant General's Office. July 16, 1861."
"Theaboveorder was given at the request of General Lane. ,,.„,,

L. Thomas, Adj. Gen.
[Conffreaaional Globe, S7th Cong., 2d Sess.. p. 224.]

.,„ . , rt , " Fort Scott, August 27, 1861.

Special Order. , a. ^ i.

" Colonel Montgomery: You will report a list of the commandmg officers of the companies
composing the United States reserve corps stationed at this post and the strength of companies
in said corps. J- H. Lane, Commdg. Kansas Brig.

"By Abram Cutler, Acting Asst. Adjt. Gen."

[Mss. in collections Historical Society.]

"Headquarters, West Point,
" To U. Col .John Rxchy [ Ritchie]. "September 17, 1861.

"Confiding in your courage, gallantry and skill. I do and by these presents designate you
colonel of the Fifth Regiment. Kansas brigade, in place of Col. H. P. Johnson, who gallantly fell
thi.s morning while leading said regiment at the attack on Morristown. You will assume the
command of said regiment and report to Colonel Montgomery for orders.

J. H. Lane. Comg. K. B."

[ Mss. in collections of Historical Society. ]

"Headquarters Kansas Brigade.
„ ^ „ . Kansas City. October 3, 1861.

Gen. S. D. Sturgvs:

"General — In answer to your note of this day* I have this to say : That I don't care a fig
about rank ; I have enough of the glittering tinsel to satisfy me. I am here in obedience to an
order from Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont to cooperate with you in ferreting out and fighting the
enemy. Kindly and promptly do I desire to obey that order. My brigade is not here for the pur-
pose of interfering in any wise with the institution of slavery. They shall not become negro
thieves, nor shall they be prostituted into negro catchers. The institution of slavery must take
care of itself.

" I said in the senate of the United States, and my experience since only demonstrates its
truth, that in my opinion the institution would perish with the march of the Federal armies.

"Again I say that the mass of personal property in Missouri, including slaves, is at this mo-
ment held by the wives and children assisted by the Federal army, while the husband and father
are actually in arms against the government. In my opinion our policy in this regard should be
changed.

" Confiscation of slaves and other property which can be made useful to the army should
follow treason as the thunder peal follows the lightning flash. Until this change is made you
offer premiums for the men to remain away in the army of the enemy. I had a man cowardly
shot in the woods to-day within sight of our camp by the very men. I have no doubt, whose
property you are so anxious to protect.

" I am endeavoring to find what transportation I have to spare, if any, and will report to you
accordingly. Yours, J. H. Lane,

Commanding Kansas Brigade."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 2, vol. 1, p. 771.]

.. ,,. _ "Leavenworth City, Kan.. October 9. 1861.

H\» Excellency, A. Lincoln. President of the United Statei:

'SiR-Since my return from Washington to Kansas I have labored earnestly and incessantly,
a.s commander of the Kansas brigade, to put down the great insurrection in Missouri. After the
state authorities here had failed to collect a force worthy of the name. I, by my own individual
efTorta and tho.se of my personal friends, despite the opposition of the governor of this state,
succeeded m rai.sing and marching against the enemy as gallant and effective an army, in pro-
portion to Its numbers, as ever entered the field. Its operations are a part of the history of the
country. That brigade to a man are exceedingly desirous of continuing in the service under my
command, and I am very anxious to gratify its members in that behalf; but as matters are at
pre,s-nt arranged. I feel compelled to abandon the field.

While the Kansas brigade was being organized. Gov. Charles Robinson exerted his utmost
enaeavor to prevent the enlistment of men. Since its organization he has constantly, in season
ana out of season, villified myself, and abused the men under my command as marauders and
inievcs. l-or the purpose of gratifying his malice against me, he has conspired with Captain
frincc. the commandant at Fort Leavenworth, to dissolve the brigade, and Captain Prince has
apparently heartily espoused the cause in that direction. The latter-named person, in his official
fn ^ 1 ' f 7 refused to recognize my authority as commander, and wholly declined to respond
fort of the brrade'"'''°"' ""°" ^'"^ ^°^ articles and supplies necessary to the efficiency and com-

nr»«.It^rt!^'"*^- "ojioPe^ of improvement in this condition of things so long as I am in my
■uitminJ^ f„ T' '" • ®'" t"at I may with my brigade remain in the field, and the government be
mi«.Vnm^ Jl. J,^ "^"/iu- ""'^ '^?'?''as be protected from invasion from Missouri, I earnestly re-
riCTi an a recommend the establishment of a new military department, to be composed of Kansas,

•Not found.

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 225

the Indian country, and so much of Arkansas and the territories as may be thought advisable to
include therein. After much consideration, and consultation with influential and intelligent
gentlemen hereabout, I am decidedly of opinion that this at least should be done, and that the
commandant thereof should have under him at least 10.000 troops.

"If this can be done, and I can have the command of the department, I will cheerfully accept
it, resign my seat in the senate, and devote all my thoughts and energies to the prosecution of
the war. But if nothing can be done to remedy the evils complained of, I will, as above inti-
mated, be compelled to leave my command, quit the field, and most reluctantly become an idle
spectator of the great struggle, and witness, I have no doubt, the devastation of my adopted
state and the destruction of its people. Yours truly, J. H. Lane."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 1, p. 529.]

"War Department, The Adjutant General's Office,
Washington, March 26, 1910.

"Mr. George W. Martin. Secretary Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kan.:

"Nothing has been found of record in this office to show that James H. Lane was commis-
sioned brigadier general in June, 1861, or at any time in that year prior to December.

"The records show that the nomination of James H. Lane to be brigadier general of volun-
teers was sent to and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 18, 1861 ; that a com-
mission as of that grade was prepared for him on December 19, 1861 ; that the commission was
canceled March 21, 1862. by order of the Secretary of War, for the reason that it had not been
accepted, although ample time for its acceptance had been given. Nothing has been found of
record to show that the commission was ever issued, or to show what disposition was made of it,
nor has it been found on file. In view of these facts it is presumed that the commission was
never issued, but was retained in the War Department until March 21, 1862, when canceled, and
that then it was destroyed. F. C. Ainsworth. TJie Adjutant General."

[See letter of J. H. Lane to the Legislature, February 26, 1862, on page 226.

CONTEST OF FRED P. STANTON IN UNITED STATES SENATE FOR SEAT

OF JAS. H. LANE.

The credentials of Frederick P. Stanton, who had been appointed by Governor Robinson to
succeed James H. Lane as United States senator from Kansas, were presented to the senate by
Senator Foot, of Vermont, on July 12, 1861. and referred to the judiciary committee. Among
the papers presented in this contest were two printed statements of Mr. Stanton claiming that
Mr. Lane, by accepting a military appointment and qualifying to the same as brigadier general,
had forfeited his constitutional right to a seat in the United States senate. General Lane also
presented a printed memorial. A consideration of the report of the committee, which favored
the seating of Mr. Stanton, was deferred from time to time, and finally terminated in a vote ad-
verse to the claims of Mr. Stanton on January 16. 1862.

Proceedings in United States Senate, January 13, 1S62.
" Presiding Officer : Mr. Stanton will be admitted to a seat on the floor during the pend-
ency of this question, with the privilege of addressing the senate on the resolution before the
body. The question before the senate is on the following resolutions, reported by the Committee
on the Judiciary : ' Resolved, Tlhat James H. Lane is not entitled to a seat in this body.' 'Re-
solved, That Frederick P. Stanton is entitled to a seat in this body.' "

Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, moved to strike out the word "not" in the first resolution,
and during his remarks on the question made the following statements:

"There is no doubt of the proper election of the sitting senator from Kansas in April last ;
there is no doubt that he is entitled to hold his seat unless he has lost it by being appointed to and
accepting the office of brigadier general in the volunteer forces of the United States while he
was a member of the senate. ... On the 20th of June, call it an appointment if you choose,
he was appointed a brigadier general in the volunteer forces, and at or about that time he was
sworn. On the next day. or the next day but one. he went to the commanding general, and
being informed that he could not hold both offices, he said he would not hold the office of briga-
dier. He went to the President and told him he would not hold the office of brigadier. He went
to the Secretary of War and told him he would not hold the office of brigadier. . . . His
statement on this point is undisputed by anybody; it can be attested by his colleague, who I un-
derstand was with him when he went to the Secretary of War, when he went to General Scott,
and when he went to the President, and declared to them all he could not hold the office.

"He was appointed brigadier general, as they say, on the 20th of June; he resigned it about
that time; but he did not come into the senate and accept the position of senator and be sworn
and become a member of this body until the 4th day of July. That concludes the whole ques-
tion. The constitution says he must have held the office while he was a member. He was not a
member till he was sworn in. Before that time, if he held the office at all, he had resigned it.

" He took no oath as brigadier general of the volunteer forces. I mention it to show the ir-
regularity with which this whole thing went on. The President wrote a note to the Secretary
of War that 'we had better appoint' him. The Secretary of War thereupon notified him that
he had been appointed brigadier general, and transmitted to him a form of oath which happened
to be that for a brigadier of the army. Lane took it to 'put it through,' went to a justice of the
peace, and subscribed it. That was all he did subscribe, and he then published an address to the
people of Kansas.

"Now, the point I make, Mr. President, is, that there was no such intelligible, well-considered
acceptance of that office as ought for a moment to bind him; and that is all there is about it, so
far as the oath is concerned. But they say he acted as brigadier. I do not know that he so acted,
except it may be in taking the oath. I contend that if there are two sources of power on which
his acts could be based, he is at liberty himself to say on which he did act. There was this ap-
pointment of him as brigadier general of volunteer forces; and at or about the same time he re-
ceived from the Secretary of War an order to raise troops in Kansas. When he got that order
he at once published his proclamation. The proclamation purports to have been published on

-8

226 Kansas State Historical Society.

the "..th of June Yo.i miKht infer that it was written on the 26th of June, and therefore you
nu^ht^y that Jun.e.s 11. l-ane is not true when he says that he resigned his cornmission the day
Tfitr he took that oath, or about that time. If he acted as brigadier on the 2bth of June how is
^ Uml h.-^-siK-iu-d hiM commission, if he had one. on the 22d? Why. this was the state of facts:
When ho not his appointment he determined at once to issue his address. He wrote his address
the '-iry d.y he ifot that pretended appointment. He gave it to Mr. W.er, I think, who was here.
to carry it to Kansas and publish it in the papers, before he had concluded to resign and give up
the otVui- of brigadier Mr. Weer took the address. I suppose Mr. Lane had then taken the oath
of ollice- I do not know how that was. but Mr. Weer. at any rate, took the address and appoint-
moiit and he went to Kansas and caused that to be published in the papers in Kansas on the 26th
of June three or four days after Mr. Lane had determined not to accept the office, and without
knowing that he had refused to accept it. That accounts for all that; but it makes very signifi-
cant another fact. James H. Lane, the senator, says he never signed that address as brigadier.
They do not say that he did. . . . But they say further that he made requisitions for clothing
for the troops' and gave orders for mustering his brigade. I know it very well; but in that he
did not act as brigadier; he acted under an entirely different authority from the War Department.
It was given to him at the same time that this pretended appointment was given him. In a letter
dated June 20. 1861. addressed to 'Gen. James H. Lane.' the Secretary of War says: This de-
partment will accept two regiments for three years, or during the war. in addition to the three
regiments the department has already accepted from the governor of Kansas, to be raised and
organized by you in Kansas. ' . .

■■ Here was a distinct order from the War Department for him to raise these two additional
regiments. He went on to raise them, under this order of the Secretary of War ; he did not
raise them as brigadier general, because, if that was the idea, why was the order given? Now.
I ask. if you are going to turn from the senate all those gentlemen who have been raising troops.
what becomes of my friend the senator from New York [Mr. Harris], who, I believe, has raised
three regiments? If Lane loses a seat for two. he ought to lose a seat and a half."— Cowgres-
tional <;iobe. 37th Cong.. 2d sess.. pp. 291, 293.

"January 15, 1862. Mr. Lane,, of Kansas, spoke in the senate in his own behalf :!

" When I left here after the adjournment of Congress at the special session [August 6, 1861],
I passed through Indianapolis, and the governor of my native state of Indiana presented me with
a commission as brigadier general. I had not, then, however, determined to take the command
of any troops.

" When I reached Kansas I found there a condition of things which appealed to me. I put
the case to any senator upon this floor. Kansas was about being invaded by the army of Price,
over 10.000 strong. I have been at the head of the armies of the people of Kansas for five years.
That people looked to me ; and I say that if I had not gone to the scene of action, even as a
private. I should not have discharged my duty to that state. There was no officer of the govern-
ment there beyond a colonel. The forces of Kansas were scattered ; I called them to defend
their own firesides. They came, and of the troops that I commanded those that were unorgan-
ized numbered three to one. They were the people. Unorganized, they came to defend their
homes. As the courser falls into the ranks of the passing column, so did I fall into the ranks of
that army in my usual place ; the people acquiescent and I willing. Look at the orders and
proclamations issued from that army. How are they signed ? ' J. H. Lane, commanding Kansas
brigade.' Not as brigadier general, either under state authority or under the appointment of
the general government. The moment that Price was driven beyond our border, the moment
the danger to Kansas ceased, that moment did I lay down the command given to me by that
people."— Congressional Globe, 37th Cong., 2d Sess, p. 341.

"Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 10, 1862.
"Major General Hunter and Brigadier General Lane. Leavenworth, Kan :

"My wish has been and is to avail the government of the services of both General Hunter
and General Lane, and. so far as possible, to personally oblige both. General Hunter is the
senior officer and must command when they serve together; though in so far as he can. consist-
ently with the public -service and his own honor, oblige General Lane, he will also oblige me. If
they cannot come to an amicable understanding. General Lane must report to General Hunter
for duty, according to the rules, or decline the service. A. LINCOLN."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion. S. 1, vol. 9, p. 551.]

LETTER OF GENERAL LANE TO THE LEGISLATURE.

"Leavenworth. Kan.. February 26, 1862.

SiR-Thereshould bea perfect understanding between you. the local representatives of
the people of Kansas and your representatives in the national Congress. To this end I make the
following statement:

On the 20th of January I left Washington, expecting to take command of a column designed
to move in four separate bodies through this state southward.

It was understood by the senate and expected by the country that a satisfactory arrange-
ment would be made with Major General Hunter. Such was my conviction.

I came to Kansas, therefore, intending to arrange matters with him; to resign my seat in
the senate to you from whom I had received it. and to notify the President of the acceptance of
the commission of brigadier general, which was not to issue until the receipt of such notification.

I made every elTorl which self-respect would permit to effect this arrangement with Major
General Hunter. I failed. The correspondence when published will prove, indeed, that I could
not n.-jvp served under him in any capacity, however subordinate, without degradation.
.k ■ .' . "° '"■'"'^'"y ambition beyond that connected with this expedition. I desire to surround
ine institution of slavery with free territory, and thus girdle the cause of the rebellion itself.
life °" ""^ ^^^^' *® ' believe. I have been thwarted in this, the ^iherished hope of my

f.f v.T!l!-"*'' *'** s^Ple duty only remains to announce to you, and through you to the people
tL Pr^.!^„jr/./'"'"^°u^ ^° r*"""" *° ""y 3^«t '" the United States senate-a purpose declared to
the I roHident through a telegram, of which the following is a copy:

•All «(T, ,.- .„ u . , ,- "'Lbavenworth, Kan.. February 1 6. 1862.

the hTiJlAiJZw.^ harmonize with Major General Hunter have failed. I am compelled to decline

""K-O'ership. j_ jj_ Lane.'

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 227

"I have nothing further to say. I tru8t you will find me, as ever, faithful to the state and
country. All I am and all I have shall now, as heretofore, be devoted to them.

" Wishing you health, happiness and a safe return to your constituents, I remain your friend
and servant, J. H. Lane."

[Leavenworth Daily Conservative, February 28, 1862.]

„ „ , „ ^ ^^ "War Department, Washington City, July 22, 1862.

Hon. James H. Lane, Kansas:

"Sir — You are hereby notified that you have been appointed by the Secretary of War com-
missioner of recruiting- in the department of Kansas. You are requested to proceed forthwith
to raise and organize one or more brigades of volunteer infantry, to be mustered into the service
of the United States for three years, or during the war. For this purpose full authority is
hereby conferred upon you to establish camps and provide for the maintenance of discipline and
the supply of the troops with munitions of war. On your requisition the commanding general of
the department will issue supplies of arms and accouterments. clothing, camp equipage, and
subsistence ; transportation for recruits and recruiting officers will be furnished on your requisi-
tion or refunded on vouchers in the usual form, accompanied by your order directing the move-
ment. It is recommended that the provisions of General Orders No. 75, current series, be fol-
lowed as far as possible in organizing companies, to the end that muster rolls may be uniform
and authentic. This is necessary in order to secure justice to the soldier and to prevent con-
fusion in accounts and loss to the government. In performing these duties you are authorized
to visit such places within the department of Kansas as may be necessary, for which purpose
transportation will be furnished you by the commanding general upon your requisition, or the
cost of the same will be reimbursed by the Secretary of War from the army contingent fund.
You will be expected to report frequently to this department the progress and prospects of the
work, and to make any suggestion that may occur to you from time to time as useful in facilitat-
ing its accomplishment. This appointment may be revoked at the pleasure of the Secretary of
War. By order of the Secretary of War. C. P. Buckingham,

Brigadier General and Assistant Adjutant General."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 959.]

August 4, 1862, Capt. Jas. M. Williams, company F, Fifth Kansas cavalry, and Capt. H. C.
Seaman, were appointed by J. H. Lane recruiting commissioners for the purpose of recruiting
colored regiments. January 13, 1863, a battalion of six companies recruited by the above officers
was mustered into the United States service by Lieutenant Sabin of the regular army. May 2,
1863, the other four companies were organized, and the First Kansas Colored completed.— Mili-
tary History Kansas Regiments, p. 246.

"Leavenworth, Augusts. 1862.
(Received 6:40 P. M., 6th.)
"Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : Recruiting opens up beautifully. Good for
four regiments of whites and two of blacks. General Blunt leaves immediately to assume com-
mand of troops in Indian country. I am to protect his rear with my recruits.

James H. Lane, Commissioner."
[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, pp. 294, 295.]

"Leavenworth, Kan., August 6. 1862.
"Hon. E. M. Stanton: I am receiving negroes under the late act of Congress. Is there any
objection ? Answer by telegraph. Soon have an army. J. H. Lane,

Commissioner of Recruiting. ' '
[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2., p. 311.]

" TOPEKA, Kan., August 20, 1862-4 p. m.
C Via Leavenworth. Received 8:40 p. M.)
"Hon. E. M. Stanton : General Lane is recruiting a regiment of colored men in Kansas. Shall
I commission the officers? Has a draft been made on this state? C. Robinson."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 417.]

" War Department, Washington City, D. C, August 21, 1862.

"Governor Robinson, Topeka, Kan.: (Via Leavenworth.) If General Lane has applied to you
to commission any officers for a regiment of colored men, please give the name of the person and
rank of the officers for whom application has been made and instructions will be given you on
the subject. Edwin M. Stanton. Secretorj/ o/ I^or."

[Ofl[icial Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 431. J

"War Department,
Washington City, D. C, August 23, 1862.
"Gen Ja)nes H. Lane, Commissioner of Recruiting, Leavenworth. Kan.:

"Sir— It has given me much satisfaction to be advised by your letter of the 18th inst. that
the objects of your commission are advancing beyond your expectations. In regard, however,
to that portion of your communication which contemplates the raising of two regiments of per-
sons of African descent, you are informed that regiments of persons of African descent can
only be raised upon express and special authority of the President. He has not given authority
to raise such troops in Kansas, and it is not comprehended in the authority issued to you. Such
regiments cannot be accepted into the service.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretory o/PTar."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 445.]

"Gen. C. P. Buckingham: "Leavenworth, September 22, 1862.

"Sir— It is earnestly requested that Major Hunt may be ordered to pay the one month's ad-
vance to the three new regiments in this state without delay.

Respectfully, J. H. Lane, Commissioner o//?ecrMitinsr."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 577.]

228

Kansas State Historical Society.

•■ Washington. D. C, September 23. 1862. 7 : 35 p. m.
••//on J H lAxnt Uavenworth. Kan.: You are not authorized to organize Indians, nor any
but "y.r whUe nu-n. Funds to pay the regiments will be forwarded as 800n as the mojieycan b«
had froni tho troaaury.

[OlTicUl Records War of the Rebellion. S. 3. vol. 2, p. 582. J

"Headquarters Department of the Missouri,

St. Louis. Mo.. September 29, 1862.

^'"General- YouTwttcr'of the 26th. inclosing one from Colonel Thompson of the 192, relat-
ing to Lane and Jennison and their threatened raid on Missouri, is received.

•• I will send one of my staff officers to Leavenworth to ascertam the facts. Lane s move-
ments are often much exaggerated, and for that reason the rebels are very much afraid of hini.
So far aa they are concerned a reign of terror is the proper check to them, and it would be well
to make them understand they will have no sympathy at your hands. If he will pitch in at Cow-
skin Prairie he will not be likely to go amiss. I am told it is not much better about Independ-
ence We have got to fight the devil with fire. We are not likely to use one negro where the
rebels have used a thousand. When I left Arkansas they were sUll enrolling negroes to fortify
the rebellion You think Lane and Jennison should be sent to a 'safe place.' I think it will be
safe to send them against the rebels and Indians that are now collected and invading McDonald,
Barry and Stone counties. But let terror reign among the rebels. It will be better to have them
under «uch power than loose to carry on this guerrilla warfare, which drives good people out of
Jackson and Lafayette. Samuel R. Curtis, Major General Commanding."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion. S. 1. vol. 13. p. 688.]

"Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck. General-in-Chief: "St. Louis, Mo.. October 7. 1862.

"Gen. J. H. Lane, of Kansas, has raised three regiments. He has a commission for a briga-
dier general from Indiana. Can I detail and give him a temporary command?* Blunt recom-
mends it and favors it. He would help scare the rebels in southwest Missouri and Arkansas
very much. Samuel R. Curtis, Major General."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 13. p. 715.]

"War Department, Adjutant General's Office.
"Special Orders. No. 255. Washington. June 8, 1863.

"38. . . . The order by letter from the War Department of July 22, 1862, under which
Hon. J. H. Lane was appointed commissioner for recruiting. Department of Kansas, with power
to raise troops, is at his request hereby vacated and annulled.

E. D. TowNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General.
" By order of the Secretary of War.

"To the governor of Kansas." [Mss. in collection of Historical Society.]

In a letter of Guilford Dudley, adjutant general of Kansas, dated Topeka. July 25. 1863. to
the i)rovost marshal general, Washington, relative to the quota of troops furnished by Kansas,
he states that in spite of the general orders of the adjutant general's office. Nos. 18 and 75 (Feb-
ruary 21 and July 8. 1862), assigning to governors of states the duty of raising and control of
regiments until their muster, and the commissioning of officers, an exception had been made in
the ca.se of Kansas, and a recruiting commission given to J. H. Lane.

"The authority so given being exclusive and original, the usual regulations governing the
recruiting .service were relaxed, and neither descriptive papers, muster-in rolls, nor reports of
any character were filed in this department. Three regiments were thus organized during the
latter part of the summer of 1862, by Hon. J. H. Lane, under the authority of the War Depart-
ment. These regiments were numbered, respectively, the Eleventh. Twelfth, and Thirteenth.
Although neither of these were reported to this department at the time of their organization,
the muster-in rolls of the Eleventh and Twelfth (except company A) have recently been received.
The Thirteenth has never forwarded its rolls."— Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol.
3. p. .568.

"Fort Leavenworth, July 22, 1864.
General Roxecranx : After full consultation with General Blunt and other military men I
have become satisfied that Missouri is in imminent peril of devastation. Ten thousand rebels
are in course of concentration on the border and should be met by prompt action in calling out
the loyal men of Missouri and arming them for the field. J. H. Lane."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 41, pt. II, p. 333.]

LANE IN THE PRICE RAID.

" Fort Leavenworth. October 11, 1864.
.1, r ij"' iV^" ■• '^"®' J^tvrence: Colonel Walker is the man to command the Sixteenth in
the neld. I he regiment will move down to Olathe soon, and I will see what can be done. The
lol owing 18 part of General Orders No. 55: 'Hon. James H. Lane having tendered his services
lo the major general commanding, they are accepted and he is assigned to duty as volunteer
■ule-de-camp.

I -. 1 "^"" 1?" to Olathe soon, to day or to-morrow. Try to urge forward militia to that point.
i^st news from St. Louis is that fighting was going on near Jefferson City. I have sent out
iroopH to open the telegraph line beyond Independence to-day. Troops turning out rapidly
everywhere, but not going forward fast enough. S. R. Curtis, Major General."

(Official Records War of the Reb ellion, S. 1, vol. 41, pt. III. p. 793.]

• "Answer, if any. not found."

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 229

Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, in his report of the Price raid ( published in the Official Records
of the War of the Rebellion, vol. 41. series 1, pt. 1) makes frequent mention of the service of
Gen. James H. Lane. About October 13. 1864. he had moved his headquarters to Wyandotte.
"Here Senators Lane and Pomeroy had both joined me as volunteer aides, and I found both of
these men of great service in giving correct intelligence to the wavering public mind, and in
suppressing false impressions" (pp. 472, 473). Mentions Lane's service at Lexington (p. 475).
At the battleof the Little Blue, Lane " took an active and prominent part in the conflict, and dis-
played much coolness and gallantry under the fire of the enemy" (pp. 478, 525). At the battle
of the Big Blue " Lane's experience in former campaigns in Mexico and upon the Kansas border
enabled him to be of much service in the field everywhere " (pp. 484, 526). In battle of West-
port (p. 491). Battle of Marais des Cygnes : " During that night (October 24-25) Generals Pleas-
anton. Lane and myself traveled most of the time between the divisions, but at early dawn we
went forward and saw most of the conflict. We also joined the advance movement in the tim-
ber " ( p. 495 ). Lane very active in the field during the battle of the Osage. October 25, which
occupied thirty minutes, and deserves special commendation, and is mentioned first among
others for "unceasing toil and extraordinary gallantry" (pp. 496, 501). At battle of Chariot,
October 25. Curtis met General Lane, who had been sent back for reenforcements, " earnest in
his efforts to hurry forward the First division, which was considerably in the rear, at the same
time expressing his apprehension as to McNeil's ability to hold his ground until more forces
could be brought up " (pp. 502, 503). The names of Lane and Pomeroy, acting aides-de-camp,
appear on General Curtis's "Roll of Honor" in Price's raid (p. 520). October 27, James H.
Lane was relieved from further duty as volunteer aide-de-camp (p. .528). General Blunt also
acknowledges obligations to Lane for valuable services rendered during Price's raid ( p. 579 ) . In
the same volume, page 548. is found an interview between Lieut. George T. Robinson. Eleventh
Kansas, chief engineer, and Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commanding Department of Missouri,
who had come to the aid of Curtis, and was then, October 24, at Little Santa Fe. After express-
ing general dissatisfaction with General Curtis's management of the campaign, he said to Lieu-
tenant Robinson : " I understand, sir, that Jim Lane is running this border ruffian institution,
and actually in command of the whole machine."

Robinson: "I told General Rosecrans that General Lane was certainly at the front and
doing his duty as a common soldier, as were many other Kansas men, but as to his having com-
mand of any portion of the troops it was not so."

General R. said : "Oh, yes, I understand the whole thing, sir, much better than you possibly
can do; I understand and know Jim Lane thoroughly."

"Fort Scott. October 28. 1864.
"General Davies: Four o'clock yesterday I left Lamar, our army well closed up. Price mov-
ing on Bowers's Mills ahead of ours, and Blunt pushing and will pursue to the Arkansas river
with force enough to crush him. Every step taken gives evidence that Price's army is demoral-
ized and starving. J- H Lane.'

"Fort Scott, October 29, 1864.

"Hon. E. M. Stanton: Rosecrans and Pleasanton are escorting Marmaduke and Cabell to
Saint Louis. Curtis and Blunt are pursuing Price with about 4000 men. Can they not be rein-
forced? J- H. Lane."

[Official Records War of the Rebellion. S. 1, vol. 41, pt. IV, pp. 302, 319.]

Fort Scott at that time was a village. There were probably in the town
about 300 people, composed of court officers, clerks, deputy marshals, land-
office employees, and those few people who were here to furnish supplies to
the permanent inhabitants and to the soldiers. There were a great many more
people in Fort Scott, but they were soldiers. The real population was about
300. Under the national administration, of course, all these court and land-
office employees were Democrats; and the great majority of them were
Southern pro- slavery Democrats. Lane naturally hated them, and, hating
them, it was easy for him to hate Fort Scott." Because of his hatred he de-
cided to abandon and destroy the town. The site had been selected and a

Note 7. — "Since the election on 21st December, this town has seemed to be watched by Lane
and his coadjutors as the peculiar object of their hate, and upon which they intend to inflict
exemplary punishment. They have frequently threatened to send down their bands from Little
Osage and Sugar Mound and sack and burn the town, take possession of the government funds
in my custody." — From Mss. of E. Ransom before quoted.

"The people [after the Marais des Cygnes massacre, May 19. 1858,] felt much incensed against
Fort Scott. The citizens of the town had, however unwillingly, permitted these border ruffians
to make it their regular stopping place and silently acquiesced in the establishment of their
headquarters. The stigma naturally attached itself."

Ten of the perpetrators of the Marais des Cygnes massacre were well known in Fort Scott.
"They were the Hameltons, W. B. Brockett, Thomas Jackson, Harlan, Yealock, Beach, Griffith
and Matlock."

"Governor Denver, feeling that retaliatory measures might be taken by free-state men.
ordered Deputy United States Marshal Sam Walker, of Lawrence, to arrest James Montgomery
and some others. On reaching Raysville, on his way to Fort Scott. Walker found Montgomery
adrlressing a large body of men in favor of proceeding to Fort Scott and exacting vengeance on
the proslavery men there in sympathy with the Hamelton crowd. Walker saw it was not ad-
vantageous to arrest Montgomery then, but addressed the assembly himself, and asked for war

230 Kansas State Histoncal Society.

fort located there in 1842 as a base to protect the border from the Indians,
and the man who selected the site thoroughly knew his business, for, for
military purposes, it is the finest strategic point in southeastern Kansas. It
was the ideal spot for Lane to make his stand. But when Gen. Sterling
Price was moving along the western border of Missouri, making dashes into
Kansas, and on both sides of the line harrowing the Union people. Lane
made up his mind to get even with Fort Scott, and issued an order to build
Fort Lincoln'' on the Osage river a few miles west of where Fulton now is,
a spot entirely unfitted for a fortification. He also included in his order a

rants for the arreet of Geo. W. Clarke and others. Receiving the reply that the United States
di.strifl judge. Joseph Williams, would not issue the warrants, he said he would make the arrests
upon warrants issued by a justice of the peace, although it would not be strictly legal. Clarke
was nrret<tt>d on a warrant issued by a justice of the peace on Sunday, May 30. His friends de-
manded the arrest of Montgomery, and upon the advice of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, then stationed
in that vicinity, he was also arrested. Walker then left with Montgomery for Lecompton for
trial, but was overtaken by a courier at Raysville announcing that Judge Williams had released
Clarice This action so angered Walker that he turned Montgomery loose." — Robley's History of
Bourbon County. 1894. pp. 112-114.

"November 1(1, 18.58. — A letter from Osage, in the Leavenworth Jowrwai, says: 'Geo. W.
Clarke, a pet in the land office at Fort Scott, was the real cause of all the troubles in that region.
and a company of dragoons had to be stationed there to protect him from the merited vengeance
of an outraged people." He says Clarke 'in the summer of 1856 plundered, robbed and burned
out of house and home nearly every free-state settler in Linn county, while his hands were
steeped in innocent blood, and the light of burning buildings marked his course.' "— D. W. Wil-
der, Annal.<. 1886. p. 24:?.

"George A. Crawford arrived in Kansas by steamboat, landing at Leavenworth in the spring
of 1857. While at Lawrence, en route to Lecompton, he encountered a party goinir to Fort Scott
to secure the town site, and at once accepted an offer of partnership in the town project. Fort
Scott was then an abandoned military post, whose buildings were occupied by pioneers. Messrs.
Crawford. Kddy and their associates purchased claims to 520 acres of land and org-anized the
Fort Scott Town Company, of which Mr. Crawford was elected president, serving in that ca-
pacity nearly twenty years. The deed to every original lot in the town bears his name. He or-
ganized a hotel company, purchasing a proslavery and making it a 'Free-state hotel,' by which
name it was known far and wide. During the years 1857 to 1860. the violence and anarchy which
had previously characterized the more northern portions of the territory were transferred to the
region of Fort Scott. The town was in constant danger of destruction during these troubles.
Mr. Crawford was opposed to the agitation kept up by the contending forces and invoked peace,
and desired to settle all questions of the past by securing immigration. The proslavery men who
were being driven out took refuge in Fort Scott and formed an organization. Mr. Crawford's
opposition to their plans provoked a long series of attempted assassinations. Failing in these
they gave hirn notice to leave the town within twenty-four hours or he should be killed. His
answer was, 'I don't exchange messages with hOrse thieves." Mr. Crawford was in the room
with John H. Little, ex-deputy United States marshal, when, December 16, 1858, a raid was made
on Fort Scott by James Montgomery in rescue of Benjamin Rice, who was held as a prisoner by
United States Deputy Marshal Campbell." — Extract from biographical sketch of George A. Craw-
ford, Grand Junction (Colo.) Star, January 29, 1891.

Note 8. -April. 1861, the Civil War broke out, and Kansas was as patriotic as the balance of
the North. A company of 108 was raised at Fort Scott for three months" service by C. W. Blair,
who wa.s made captain. Blair and some of his company were the same year mustered into the
becond Kansas for three years. " During the summer of 1861, and by September 1. some 3000
troops, niore or less, collected here at Fort Scott. What troops were here then were under the
command of Gen. Jim Lane, who ran things in rather a loose way. In the summer of 1861, Jim
Lane had built a fort on the north side of the Osage river, and named it Fort Lincoln. It was
built on low bottom land that was no more a fit place for a fort than where Knapp's park is now
located. I his fort consisted of a stockade and a large blockhouse. In later years this stockade
and blockhouse were moved to Fort Scott and located about the junction of Lowman and First
strecu. -(j. W. Goodlander s Memoirs and Collections of the Early Days of Fort Scott, page 66

"The proximity of war in Missouri led J. H. Lane who was posing as Brigadier General of
VulunL-er!. m command of Kansas troops, to fortify Fort Lincoln, on the Osage river. The
r„°rv l„^1!. I rf' '"i* ""''tary or common sense view, was simply idiotic. He went down on the
nnn JnT?h .1 '*7''.°/ *-^? '■'''^'■" ^''*"'« ^« threw up an earthwork about the size of a calf
pen and then blazoned it forth as a great military fortification

Sr„». OM li m'' '^'"■' °^ August [1861] a considerable force was being concentrated at Fort
rhoThirri^L ^""^^.'"^I'-y had by this time gotten a regiment together, and five companies of
tiniP i„ . Ln ,?nri Vi?^'" *""" ""l^'^ °" ^^^ 20th of August. Other Kansas troops arrived from
fLrGcnerTrLrne's brigade*"^* ^"""^ "^""^ *^°"* ^^°° '"®"' ^°''^ ^*=''" "^^^ "°^ headquarters
thounlnH m?.'^'=^H"*'"^'''' PV*;® and Raines, were operating in western Missouri with several
Genoral Rain^« wilh k" T^^''''^ *" attack on southeastern Kansas. On the 1st of September
and n Hrmnint ^ , d'vision approached within twelve miles of Fort Scott, on the southeast,
drl" in Lane^B^^rW^^^^^^ 7'^*"" ^7.^ ">''*? "* *°^" ""'J captured a corral full of mules and
next day to rLonnni? ; ^ force of 500 cavalry, with one twelve-pound howitzer, was sent out
wheretLy were r..Tnfo;.^ ''T"" •?'" ^^^ T^^^' ^'"^^^^ *"d drove them across Dry wood creek,
of the Union forc^^«v«^.V v.'*"''.!.* ^?*f '?« ^"'"^ skirmish was fought until the ammunition
me union forcea gave out, when they fell back in good order on Fort Scott. The official re-

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 231

direction that Fort Scott should be burned if Price made a movement toward
the town.''

Nearly everybody in Fort Scott was moved, though a few of the people
refused to go. Mrs. E. A. Smith, who lived in a little native lumber cabin
where now is First street and Scott avenue, just under my office window,
her brother in the frontier guards, announced, "I will just stay here and
see who burns my house." And she did stay. A few other women did the
same Fortunately for Fort Scott, and fortunately for the honor of the
Union arms, Lieut. Col. Lewis R. Jewell, of the Sixth, was the man who
received the order to burn the town. He was left there with one or two
companies and he sent back by the aide who brought the order a perfectly
respectful response, acknowledging receipt of the order; and he added, in
words which indicate the kind of man he was, "When General Price begins
his occupancy of the city, then your order will be obeyed."

Price's army was about Deerfield, in Vernon county, Missouri, some ten
miles away, and he sent 500 troops over to attack Fort Scott. Jewell gath-
ered up everybody who could carry a gun, and all the arms in Fort Scott,

ports give the Union loss in this action as five killed and twelve wounded. The rebel loss was
about the same. In the meantime the infantry force occupied the heights east and southeast of
town.

"The entire force waited on the crest of the hill until night for the expected attack of
General Raines. About dark a raging thunder storm came up.

"That night General Lane ordered the entire force to fall back on Fort Lincoln, twelve miles
north, on the Osage, leaving Fort Scott to the mercy of anybody that might come along. . . .
General Raines was at that moment making a forced march on Lexington, Mo., by an order that
day received from General Price."— Robley's History of Bourbon County, 1894, p. 169.

"Wilder says that Lane fortified Camp Lincoln August 17, 1861. Britton claims that Lane
was satisfied, on the evening of September 2, that the rebel forces would attempt to take Fort
Scott the next morning, and. believing that his own force was insufficient to repel them, ordered
the abandonment of the town and withdrawal of his troops to Camp Lincoln."— Britton's Civil
War on the Border, 1891, p. 129.

Note 9.— "I was a young boy when I came to Fort Scott with my father. Dr. A. G. Osbun,
and settled on the farm where I still live, near the military bridge just across the Marmaton,
east of Fort Scott. I was here in 1861 when General Price was on the border, and General Lane
built Fort Lincoln on the Osage and ordered that on the approach of Price's army, or any part of
it. Fort Scott should be burned. I never saw the order, but I know it was issued because it was
common talk among all the people about the post. All the families except three or four women
left Fort Scott, and they refused to go. John Caldwell (he now lives in Drywood) and myself
went up to Dayton."- -C. H. Osbun, April 1, 1910.

"I was commissary sergeant here at the time Lane issued his order that when Price's army
appeared Fort Scott should be abandoned, fired and burned; but I never saw the order, yet it
was common talk among the officers and men that the town was to be destroyed. 1 had charge
of the commissary stores, and issued rations from the government stores. I followed the troops
to Fort Lincoln, where they had been ordered, all except Colonel Jewell, who had been left in
command. I was here before the war, during the war, and helped to organize one of the com-
panies of the Sixth Kansas, in which I was second lieutenant, and afterwards organized the
company for the Fourteenth Kansas of which I was captain, and have lived here almost continu-
ously ever since.— A. H. Campbell, March 25, 1910."

"I was in Fort Scott when General Price came by. General Lane issued an order to remove
all families to Fort Lincoln, and the government stores. The greater part of the stores were re-
moved. All the families were moved who would go. Mrs. General Blair and myself were re-
moved by a military squad by force. Mrs. Colonel Wilson and Mrs. E. A. Smith were the only
women who did not leave. Mrs. Blair was intensely indignant, as she had a babe in arms only
two weeks old. but she was forced to get into the ambulance and go. My husband. Captain
Haynes. was detailed with his company and another, I forget what company, to carry out the
order to burn the town and the balance of the stores when Price's army came in sight. 1 saw
all the orders, and saw that one. The town was not burned. There is no question about the
order. Everybody understood it. I was acquainted with all the commanding officers, and there
can be no doubt about the order."— Mrs. J. H. Haynes, March 24, 1910.

" I came here in the fall of 1858, and have lived here since excepting from 1886 to 1898. and
1901. I was here at the time of Price's raid in 1861. and Jim Lane had command here. At that
time he vacated the town and moved to Fort Lincoln, all except one or two companies, expecting
Price to make a raid on the town. It was the general impression of everybody left here that he
had issued an order that if Price made his appearance to burn the town, and he stationed a
picket at each house with a torch to set fire to the houses. I never saw the written order, but it
was generally understood by all that were left here that that order had been given."— E. L.
Marble, March 28. 1910.

" My name is Patrick Gorman. I live on my farm near Fulton, Kan., and have been a resi-
dent of this county continuously since 1858. I was fourth corporal of company A, Sixth Kansas

232 Kansas State Historical Society.

from the latest improved rifle to the single-barreled muzzle-loading shotgun
and the muzzle-loading pistol, and stayed in Fort Scott. He went down to
Buck Run. the little stream that divides the town, and cut cottonwood logs
and hewed and painted them to represent cannon and mounted them over
the breastworks built along the west side of Buck Run, fronting east, so
that when Price's detachment came to the high ridge east of town he could
see with the (ield glass a serried array of a half mile of vicious looking can-
non. When Price approached the town he went out and met him. The for-
midable army that Jewell had quickly gotten together of old men and boys
and cripples and possibly women, and the savage look of the fortifications,
did its work and the Confederate soldiers withdrew.

This disobedience by Jewell of the order given by Brigadier General (?)
Lane saved the city of Fort Scott from being burned, and is only one of the
many things that could be told about his nerve and prompt action in emer-
gency.

Jewell's connection with the Sixth was brief, for he joined the regiment
at the first organization, in September, 1861, and was mustered out by
Shelby's volley at Cane Hill on November 28, 1862. While he was with the
regiment, however, he was very busy. Up to his death at Cane Hill, he
and First Major Wm. T. Campbell, and Second Major Wyllis C. Ransom, were
nearly always away on some sort of expedition, preserving the peace along the
border. After Jewell's death Major Campbell succeeded him, and from that
to the end of the war practically handled the Sixth Kansas cavalry, Wyllis
C. Ransom being a close second in his services for the regiment. A. H.
Campbell, the son of Wm. T. , was the second lieutenant in company H, and
afterward became a captain in the Fourteenth Kansas regiment. With
many rare exceptions the officers were the kind of men I have described
before, ready to do anything and dare anything that was necessary, and
equally worshiped and as readily followed by their soldiers.

The regiment, being divided up as I have described, took part in a great
number of battles of more or less moment. It made a good record at Grand
River, taking a sortie around by Fort Gibson, then swung over into northern
Arkansas. Newtonia was one of the places where it did good work. While
in the Territory it captured the capital of the Cherokee Nation.'" This tribe

cavalry, and was present in and about Fort Scott when General Price passed along the Missouri
border. At that time Gen. Jamea H. Lane ordered the removal of all of the families from Fort
Sc')tt and the removal of all of the property to Fort Lincoln on the Osage, which he had estab-
Imhcd there. The families and household goods were all removed, except that one or two com-
panies were loft here in Fort Scott with orders that when Price's army or any portion of it
appeared m sight, the town must be fired and the rest of the troops should retire to Fort
Lincoln. The women all left with the exception of two or three, who refused to go. I never saw
the written order issued by General Lane, but I know that it was issued, and I know that the
families were removed, and I know that preparations were made to carry out the order of burn-
inir the town. It was a matter of common understanding among all of us, and while I never ac-
tually saw the order. I am positive it was issued."

ty of alliance between the Cherokee Nation and the Confederate states. The paper is
mlor.HiHl in Colonel Hinton s handwriting as captured by him in the Territory in 1864. The fol-
lowing extracts refer to the purchase of the Cherokee neutral lands bv the Confederacy :
.V,„ ''^^?';'".P°''«^'"«;<l,'''P'edKe the Confederate states, in case of the loss from any cause of
mnn^v »v,'i7»>n"^" -Ti ^^"'^u' ^etween Kansas and Missouri, to the payment of the purchase
monc>. |.^i.i.rK)0 paid for it by the Cherokees, with interest from the time of purchase in 1835.

forlpra.n. ."" ** ^f"" .^""^ declined to enter into any arrangement whatever with the Con-
rclorat..Mato«. evr>n fnr .h» „„ „* „„:_..._: . ... , f^j. all future

themselves

Tu-. iT ■ , , " " «...«™„^.^o w. .„.,« .ying between

I hat was offered by me as one of the terms of an alliance, offensive and

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 233

of Indians was about equally divided between the Confederate and the Union
sides. When the capital was captured the Sixth seized all of the records of
that division of the Cherokees. These records have great historical value,
and are now in the archives at Washington. The battle of Prairie Grove
was another place where it contributed its share— a bloody, vicious battle,
in which charges were made and repulsed, and assaults made on each side,
and then again made.

A PLEASANT SPOT.

Lieutenant Campbell, of the Sixth, tells a* story that shows one of the
bright spots in the life of a soldier. When they were at Rhea's Mills he was
officer of the day, and he found a couple of Confederate prisoners in the mill.
They told him that they were awfully hungry, and he sent at once to the
commissary and had a good meal furnished them. He has now forgotten
what command they were with. Subsequently, at the battle of Cane Hill,
Campbell was taken as a prisoner to a town farther down in Arkansas,
where he was at once given the liberty of the town on parole, but was not
returned to his command. He wondered at it, for no one else was paroled.
Shortly after he was turned loose an old gray-headed man approached him
and asked if he was being pretty well treated. He reported that he was
pretty well treated, but that he was hungry, and being on parole had no
place to sleep. The old man told him that if he would come with him he
would furnish him a place to sleep and something to eat. He walked up the
street with him to a fine old Southern mansion, and was taken into a room
which was evidently the guest chamber, with a splendid four-poster bed,
and everything around the room indicating comfortable ease. They had him
sit at the table with the family, and treated him as an honored guest. That
evening he noticed some little commotion around the place, and inquiry gave
him the news that the great guerrilla chieftain Quantrill was coming into
town that night. He came. Quantrill was a little deity among those people.
When Campbell came to the house that night to go to bed he found a man
lying on a pallet on the floor. He was a little bit inclined to have a spell
of brain storm when the man rolled over and started to talk, and informed
him that he was Quantrill. They talked together about their experiences
and had a very pleasant evening, but it was a shock to Campbell. He won-
dered why the old man did not put Quantrill into the bed instead of on the
floor. Before morning Quantrill was gone again. A week or so afterward

defensive, which, being rejected, the proposition is now withdrawn forever. It is not possible
that any obligation can now or ever rest on the Confederate states to pay this large sum. In elect-
ing to remain nominally neutral, and really in alliance with the Northern states, you will have
elected also to look to them for the price of that land, of which they have already plundered you.
If the Confederate states ever pay any part of its value, they will only pay to those of your peo-
ple who have declared themselves the friends of the South their share and proportion of that
value."

"In the Cherokee Nation there were two parties— one in favor of an immediate alliance with
the Confederate states, the other, headed by John Ross, declaring in favor of neutrality. Ross,
as principal chief, had issued a proclamation (May 17, 1861) admonishing his people to remain
neutral, and in this position he was backed by a majority of the Cherokee people.

"In August a general convention of the Cherokee people was called by John Ross as princi-
pal chief, for the purpose of considering the advisability of entering into an alliance with the
Confederate states. This convention (August 21, 1861 ), after due deliberation, declared in favor
of an alliance with the Confederate states, but the formal treaty to that effect was not signed
until October 7, 1861.

"John Ross, who had long been the principal chief of the Cherokees, addressed the assembly
in a statement giving the purpose of its deliberations, but very carefully avoided any word that
would commit himself. When it was voted to enter into a treaty of alliance with the Confeder-
ate States, Ross, as principal chief, signed the treaty, but he afterwards repudiated that action
and renewed his friendly intercourse with the Federal government." — History of Oklahoma, by
Joseph B. Thoburn and Isaac M. Holcomb, 1908, pp. 78, 79.

234 Kansas State Histoiical Society.

he old man asked him if he thought it strange that he should be taken into
his house, "a damned Yankee" as he expressed it, and treated that way.
Campbell confessed that his guess was right. Then the old man told him
that one of those prisoners he had had at Rhea's Mills was his son, and the
voung fellow, when Campbell was brought a prisoner, had taken his father
around and pointed Campbell out to him, and told him the story, but did not
speak to Campbell himself.

General Sherman's statement that "War is hell" is undoubtedly true,
but there are some little kindly spots in it after all.

CANE HILL."

But the event of the Sixth was the battle of Cane Hill, with a descrip-
tion of which my story ends; for this is more a sketch of Colonel Jewell
than a detailed history of his regiment. It was a little battle, but larger
than we want to see again.

On November 28, 1862, General Blunt was at Boonsborough (now Cane
Hiin. in Washington county, northern Arkansas, with about 5000 Union
troops, including several Kansas commands. Marmaduke was there with
about 7000 or 8000 Confederates. Lines were formed just north of Boons-
borough, but there was no battle— a little firing, that was all.

Running out of a spur of the Boston mountains, just over the ridge east
of Boonsborough, is a little brook, of swift-running spring water, ten to
twenty feet wide. Cove creek, running southward. Its valley is a ravine,
only a few rods wide, about like a city street, with the Van Buren-Fayette-
ville wagon road running along the right side of the stream— that is, the
west side— with bluffs on each side. Cove creek gives the name for the
battle used in the Confederate archives.

The Confederate troops were moving south down the road toward Van
Buren. They were going, you observe.

Blunt ordered Colonel Cloud, of the Tenth Kansas, to follow the Van
Buren road and assault the Confederate troops down Cove creek. He
changed his mind and directed Colonel Jewell to make the assault. Jewell
asked the privilege. The little valley was so narrow that Jewell concluded
that more than three companies would be a burden and in the way of each
other. Colonel Judson being absent, Jewell was in command. He had his
men in line and made a speech to them. Speeches to the file were common
in the West. He told them that he had a very dangerous expedition before
them, with the chances against them. He reminded them that Marmaduke
and Shelby had somewhere about 7000 men. He would order no man to go.
He wanted volunteers. He got them.

Up to this time in the story of the assault it would seem that this pro-
posed attack was a piece of foolhardiness— a charge of a battalion against
several regiments ! But if the plans had been carried out the chances are
that even then it would have succeeded. Colonel Cloud was ordered by
Blunt, with the Tenth Kansas, to go to a lower pass, just a short distance,
and cross over the n arrow ridge. At the proper time he was to throw his

Note ll.-"Cane Hill ia a ridge of perhaps eight miles in length and five miles in width, in

the i«)UthweKtem part of Washington county, Arkansas, just beyond the north base of the Boston

mountains Three villages are built upon it (Russellville, Boonsborough and Newburg), which

almost blen<lwithe.ich other, covering a distance, as the road to Fayetteville runs, of three or

h^n^ tn .7? \',?;''^°''f''- ^^'■?/ **>« Rebellion. Series 1. vol. 22. pt. I. p. 139. Accounts of

; ' ? ! 1 wQ, 1?"^ "!";A,':'«a"8as. November 28, 1862, may be found in Britton's Civil War on the

• ', m' i c ? "; ^ Military History of Kansas Regiments, p. 81; Official Records, War of the

ivttollion, b. 1, vol. 22, pt. I, pp. 41-59.

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry.

235

236 Kansas State Histoncal Society.

force down off the ridge on Shelby's flank into the open space. This was
all understood by the officers. When every company of the Sixth promptly
stepped forward and volunteered to go with Jewell, and three were selected,
his own old company in the number, everything was ready.

Jewell and his little band of "rough riders" made a dash over mto the
valley The dash was so vigorous and sudden that the rear of the retiring
forces moving down the creek gave way, and Jewell went with such impetu-
ous haste that he actually got to the cannon of a rebel battery which was
stationed in such a way that it would sweep quite a portion of the gulch,
before it had time to load and fire. Jewell took the battery and went on.
The little party, with Jewell a rod or two ahead of the front, went down
that gulch like very devils, with Jewell in advance of every man in the bat-
talion, roaring like a bull and swinging his saber and calling to his men to
come on. They swung down around the gulch, occasionally sabering a man
off his horse. When they got to the throat of the valley at the lower pass
over the Boston mountains, they expected to hear the guns of Colonel Cloud's
regiment. Fully expectmg it, and being confident, they dashed on, because
it was Jewell's idea, and the thought of every individual soldier, that the
way to fight that part of the battle was to fight it with a rush and a whirl.
I say they all "thought." There was not a machine soldier in the regi-
ment. They all thought. But to their surprise they heard no guns on the
flank. What could it mean? Notwithstanding this, having faith in the
good work which Cloud was known to be able to do, they kept on. Cloud
was a soldier, they depended on him. Up to this time the assaulting party
had slight injury, because Jewell's battalion had gone so much like a whirl-
wind that the Confederate rear had little chance to do any fighting. Swing-
ing on down the gulch, on the heels of the retreating foe, they turned a
corner, and were suddenly face to face, just a few rods off, with about 3000
of Marmaduke's Confederates, with Fighting Jo Shelby and his cavalry
protecting the rear. Still no sound from Cloud ! Colonel Cloud, according
to the arrangement, moved his men southward and started to climb across
the ridge. He was carrying out the order and was actually just going over
the brow of the ridge when a courier came dashing up with an order from
General Blunt not to complete the flank charge, but to withdraw; this with-
out any previous warning to Jewell so that he could protect himself. Why
this was done will probably always remain a mystery.

Jewell's men until they got to this point had received very little punish-
ment. They were well mounted, and had succeeded in dashing over the
ground faster than the rebels could get out of their way. Every man was
yelling like a fiend. In the last rush Lieut. A. H. Campbell was riding a
very fine and strong horse. One of the Confederates had his horse shot
from under him, and a comrade stopped to let him mount behind him, prob-
ably his brother. This delayed the two men so that they were actually in
the vortex of the cyclone. Campbell made a dash after them, and as he got
beside the horse he drew his revolver and attempted to fire into the back of
the rear man. He snapped the revolver two or three times, and then dis-
covered that it was not loaded. In his excitement he had emptied his
revolver and not recharged it. His horse with free rein dashed on. On ac-
count of this effort he had passed Jewell. This was the only time that any
Union soldier was ever ahead of Jewell in a charge. Jewell was swinging

The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 237

his saber and filling the air with his voice in his yells to his men to come on.
He said to Campbell, " That 's right, lieutenant, go ahead ! " The last words
he ever spoke before he received his death wound.

The withdrawal of Colonel Cloud's flank attack was not the worst of it.
Lieut. Col. A. V. Reiff, of the Confederates, whose written story I have,
had arranged an ambuscade by order of General Cabell, at the narrowest
part of the gulch, near where Cloud was to attack. The steep slopes were-
alive with hidden soldiers.

Just at the instant of Jewell's approach, the Confederates who were
drawn up in line of battle at very close range and well prepared, fired a vol-
ley that was horrible. At the same time the lead rained from the ambus-
cade above. Campbell's horse was shot from under him and he was thrown
to the ground a long distance away. In his own words, "I think I was
breathing splinters and dirt for half an hour." A young oak as big as a
stove pipe, a few feet to one side, was clipped by a shot, just as you snip
off a sunflower with your whip. The same volley did awful execution on the
whole little band. One shot hit Jewell's horse and another at the same in-
stant hit him in the breast. He fell off and the horse rolled kicking and
plunging into the little stream. Then, without any support, of course they
had to retreat, every instant agonizingly wondering what was the matter
with Cloud.

Why somebody didn't pay dearly for the murder of Lewis R. Jewell is
past finding out.

After this volley, of course, any further advance was useless. They
were forced back. They could have been forced back with clubs by such an
overpowering force. Quoting Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Reiff, "the
valley gorged like sheep passing a narrow gate. ' ' Reiff and his men fired into
the mass as they struggled to get away, but could not, as the valley was
full. They were taken prisoners, some of them held for many months.

General Jo Shelby was really in command of the body of men protecting
the rear against whom the assault was made. He described that scene to
me just a short time before his death. After his experience through all
the border troubles on the Kansas-Missouri line in the late '50's, Shelby
was competent to judge. He was a soldier all over. He said that was the
fiercest sortie he had ever seen on the field, and that the leader of it was
the bravest man he ever met in battle. Shelby was a dignified, cultured,
and scholarly gentleman. He was probably the first man to get to Colonel
Jewell after he fell off his horse, and the incident is characteristic of both
of the men. Shelby saw the straps on Colonel Jewell's shoulders and imme-
diately dismounted. Shelby knew what deference he owed to a soldier, al-
though a foe. I don't think he knew him, but simply recognized him as a
lieutenant colonel. Seeing that he was badly wounded, he said, "Colonel,
is there anything I can do for you?" It was intensely interesting to hear
Shelby describe the incident, better than I can. He said that Jewell with-
out a whimper, without any apparent anxiety in his voice or manner, raised
on his elbow and said, "Yes, General, you can get me a cup of water."
Shelby got him a canteen of water and then said, "Colonel, isn't there
something else I can do for you?" Jewell said, "Oh, no, no, no. All you
can do for me I guess, is to send one of your aides to General Blunt and tell
him that I am disabled." Observe the quiet, cool nerve of the man. He
didn't say he was killed, although he knew he was.

035; Kanms State Historical Society.

And 80 they took him. He was turned over to the Union command, and
died on the 30th, two days afterward. His body was carried to Fort Scott
and interred in the national cemetery and afterward reinterred at Arcadia,
his old home, where his descendants keep his memory green.

HOW HE DIED.

I do not like to quote, but here is a description which I cannot avoid.
When majestic old Olaf Gulmar, the Jarl, the descendant of the Scandinavian
Vikings, was at his death, after a rigid, stormy life, he ordered his servitor
Valdemar Svensen to carry him to the deck of his favorite boat, the Valkyre,
set it on fire and cut the moorings. It was done. As a seaward wind and
an ebbing tide carried the sloop from the northernmost point of Norway
toward the pole, in a mass of flame and the roar of the storm, Corelli de-
scribes him in his death rhapsody:

" 'Hark ! ' he cried, and his voice vibrated with deep and mellow clear-
ness. ' Hark to the thunder of the galloping hoofs ! See ! See ! The
glitter of the shield and spear ! ' He raised his arms as though in ecstacy.
' Glory ! Joy ! Victory ! '

"And like a noble tree struck down by lightning, he fell— dead."

So died Lewis R. Jewell, of the Sixth Kansas cavalry.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE SEVENTH KANSAS

CAVALRY.

Written by S. M. Fox. ' late Adjutant Seventh Kansas Calvary, for the Kansas State

Historical Society.

TO interpret history accurately and truthfully one must have lived as a
part of the history of which he speaks. This is especially true as re-
lates to the campaigns of the early Kansas regiments along the Missouri
border during the first months of the Civil War. Documentary evidence re-
lating to these movements is exceedingly meager, and we cannot confidently
rely on the ever-increasing exaggeration of tradition. Therefore, when one
attempts to criticise certain traditionary acts he should make himself doubly
sure of the ground on which he bases his criticism.

At this day, while some of the actors in the drama are still living, the
need of the Kansas Historical Society is a statement of the facts based upon
the personal knowledge of the narrator. His opinion of men with whom he
has been thrown in intimate relationship in the past is of value. Their au-
thenticated deeds he may well record ; but great care should be taken that
injustice be not done by a loose setting forth as fact that of which he has
no personal knowledge, but which has come to him second-hand, through a
possibly prejudiced source.

I have undertaken this article not to embalm any personal achievement,
but to correct a misstatement so baseless that I would not feel justified in
letting it go unchallenged. I will endeavor to be as impersonal as possible,
but it will be necessary to inject the ego into this statement long enough to
Bay that I was a member of the Seventh Kansas cavalry and served in its
ranks continuously from its earliest beginning, in 1861, until the regiment
was finally mustered out as a ve teran organization, in the fall of 1865, and

Note l.-For sketch of Simeon M. Fox, see volume 8. Kansas Historical Collections, page 13.

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. 239

therefore speak from intimate personal experience, and am not required to
gather my facts from any secondary source.

This article is inspired by the following statement taken from an article
printed in the ninth volume of the "Kansas Historical Collections," under
the title, "The Black- Flag Character of War on the Border," contributed
by Henry E. Palmer, late captain in the Eleventh Kansas cavalry. I quote
as follows :

"This demoralized, inhuman condition of affairs in the district of the
border was not confined to one side. The Seventh Kansas cavalry, organized
October 28, 1861, commanded by Charles R. Jennison, gained under Jenni-
son's control a world-wide reputation as the 'Jayhawkers. ' Returning from
their first raid into Missouri, they marched through Kansas City, nearly all
dressed in women's clothes, old bonnets and outlandish hats on their heads;
spinning-wheels, and even gravestones, lashed to their saddles; their path-
way through the country strewn with (to them) worthless household goods;
their route lighted by burning homes. This regiment was little less than an
armed mob until Jennison was forced to resign. May 1, 1862. As might be
inferred, this man Jennison brought only disgrace to Kansas soldiery."

Captain Palmer reiterates the above lurid statement in the Kansas City
Star of November 24, 1908, in a reply to M. H. Madden, who had seen fit to
take exceptions to some of Captain Palmer's statement in the above-quoted
article. In this last communication to the Star, Captain Palmer goes on to
strengthen his statement by saying:

"There are neighbors of Mr. Madden in your peaceful, prosperous city
that have not forgotten this parade through your streets, which occurred
about October 7, 1861."

I wish first to state here, before going further, that theSeventh Kansas
cavalry (or the First Kansas cavalry, as it was then designated) [never in
its history paraded through Kansas City in the guise and manner depicted
by Captain Palmer. It never " paraded through the streets of Kansas City
. . . returning from its first raid into Missouri, " nor returning from any
other raid.-

It will be observed that Captain Palmer mixes his chronology. He has
correctly given the date of the organization of the Seventh Kansas cavalry
as October 28, 1861, but he later fixes the date of the alleged parade through
Kansas City as October 7, 1861, twenty-one days before the regiment was
organized.

Note 2.— Ex-Governor E. N. Morrill, of Hiawatha, a member of the Seventh Kansas, writes:
"That story of Palmer's, it seems to me, is made up of whole cloth. It is absolutely false from
beginning to end. From collateral incidents he fixes the date of the raid out to Independence
as the 25th of November. The negroes of Independence had been waiting for the coming of a
Moses, and Colonel Anthony was apparently the Moses they were looking for, and they, doubt-
less following his suggestion, took wagons and carriages that they could find, loaded them with
whatever they could gather up, and followed the reriment back to Kansas City, and the next
day Anthony distributed the goods amone the negroes and sent them over into freedom, which
somewhere had an existence within the confines of Kansas. It is possible that the hazy memo-
ries of some of the old settlers have confused this negro heglra with the Seventh Kansas itself.
The regiment went out and returned the same day in good order. I have no doubt this exodus of
negro slaves was instigated by Anthony, and I think they went up to Leavenworth and trailed
through the streets, seeking for homes in the promised land. Do you realize how much of the
burning and alleged plundering in Missouri was done by the negroes, who took advantage of the
conditions to even up old scores? Those negro slaves had an intelligence and knowledge of
affairs beyond what many people realized. That day at Independence I remember that Colonel
Anthony struck a man of company A over the head with his saber for being funny and putting
on a woman's bonnet that he had picked up. Every regiment in the army had its complement
of regimental fools that had to be suppressed."

Wilder's "Annals of Kansas" has the following: "December 20 (1861) one hundred contra-
bands freed by Colonel Anthony at Independence arrived at Leavenworth in gay procession."
This freeing the slaves disturbed the rebel Missourians more than horse stealing, or any other
action of the Union troops.

240 Kansas State Historical Society.

It is a fact, however, that three companies of the Seventh Kansas were
in Kansas City during the last half of September and the first half of Octo-
ber, 1861. These companies were, however, dismounted and without uni-
forms, having been rushed down from Fort Leavenworth to help defend the
city against Price, then at Lexington. These companies made no raids what-
ever, but did provost duty, Major Anthony being provost marshal part of
the time. Colonel Jennison had no rank in the regiment until the date of
organization, October 28.^ It was understood, of course, that he was to be
the colonel. I was in Kansas City doing duty with one of the three com-
panies, and it seems odd that I have no recollection of any parade made
through Kansas City as described. I would certainly have been impressed
with such a wild and woolly performance, as I was a tenderfoot not long
out of the East. I do, however, have a recollection of a story told in camp
while the first companies were doing duty in Kansas City in the early part
of October, 1861, that Jennison had previously marched defiantly through
Kansas City with a band of his independent "Jayhawkers," but the memory
is now indistinct as to time and particulars. This incident doubtless, asso-
ciated with the name of Jennison, has confused the minds of some who saw
or heard of it.

There are no available records to fix the dates of many border incidents,
but Jennison did range about with his independent company well into Sep-
tember, 1861, and it seems hard for many to separate its doings from the
acts of the Seventh Kansas, later associated with Jennison's name.* Cap-
tain Palmer has fallen into this common error. It will doubtless be a sur-
prise to the captain and others to learn that Colonel Jennison never for a
minute commanded the Seventh Kansas in person on any raid or during
any field operation in Missouri during the time he was connected with the
regiment.

I never knew how or where Colonel Jennison spent a large portion of his
time, or by what authority, other than his own, he was absent from his
command. A part of his time was spent over the border in Kansas at a
town known then as Squiresville. An occasional orderly— his means of
communication with the regiment— would sometimes intimate that he was
solacing the tedium of existence by an indulgence in a game of fascinating
attraction in the West, known as draw poker. Doubtless it was more at-
tractive than the rude exercise that was necessarily an accompaniment of
operations in the field. This is all that the rank and file knew of Jennison's
whereabouts, and it was about all they cared. His influence on the regi-
ment, if anything, was negative, and there were few who were not heartily
glad when his wrath carried him to the precipitate step of sending in his
resignation. This resignation was not forced, as Captain Palmer intimates.

Note 3.— While the governor had some weeks previously issued a commission to Charles R.
Jennison aslioutenant colonel, he was not mustered into the United States service until mustered
as colonel. October 28. 1861. D. R. Anthony was first commissioned as major, and was mustered
as such into the United States service on September 29. 1861. He was the recognized head of the
rwiment until Jennison was mustered, as above. The regimental staff was organized in the
middle of October by the muster of John T. Snoddy (October 14, 1861) as adjutant, and. on the
mimi- date, bamuel Ayers as chaplain. It will be seen that the alleged ungodliness of the regi-
ment wa.'i not 'lue to the neglect of the governor in supplying an opportunity for religious train-
intt. Kobert W. Hamer was mustered as quartermaster the following day and the regimentar
■lair waa Hupplied with a sequence of reports. Bibles and fodder.

hnr.r'^-Triin^".''*-.^- ^- P"nce. Fort Leavenworth, to Gen. J. H. Lane. September 9, 1861: "I
«r»^in r.l;; • ? «^*'-'y .and active measures to crush out this marauding which is being en-
h^l^cH).^?^!^.? •'^""'«°" .".."'Sf- "S*'"" y°"'"3' ^y a band of men representing themselves as.
belonging to your command.'- War Records, vol. 3, series 1, p. 482.

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. 241

but was a voluntary act, induced by the appointment of James G. Blunt to
the rank of brigadier general, a position that he personally coveted and had
hoped would be his. He made an intemperate speech to the men— the
regiment was at Lawrence at the time— and during its course practically
advised them to desert; and before his wrath cooled his resignation was out
of his hands and beyond recall. A few men, principally from company H ( the
company recruited by Cleveland), deserted in response to Jennison's advice.
The number was not great, and doubtless some of them went to join the
band that Cleveland was organizing at the time, and that later preyed for a
brief season on Union men and rebel with just impartiality. Before 1 pass
on I want to say that company H was never a disorderly organization.
Cleveland resigned just as the regiment was organized, and his service with
the company was practically nothing. It was always a fighting organiza-
tion, and many of the best men in the regiment were in its ranks. The
undesirable element had voluntarily eliminated itself.

In the sketch, "The Black-Flag Condition of the War on the Border,"
there seem to be many loose and inconsistent statements. Captain Palmer
speaks frankly of the burning of Osceola, Mo., by his own command (Lane's
brigade), and the big drunk indulged in by some of the troops that would
have incapacitated them for defense had they been attacked that night.
He mentions a drumhead court-martial at Morristown, when seven prisoners
were summarily condemned and shot to death as a retaliatory measure.
Then, later, he makes this statement:

"The seventeen Kansas regiments, three batteries, and three colored
regiments, with the exceptions above noted, gave the enemy no cause for
guerrilla warfare, but all left good records for brave and soldierly conduct,
and the Seventh Kansas fully redeemed itself under Colonel Lee with Sher-
man's army, 1862 to 1864. "s

The exceptions referred to were the Seventh and Fifteenth Kansas cav-
alry regiments.

I do not know the kind of meat that Caesar has to feed upon to become
an oracle. But the captain knew Httle or nothing of the redemption of the
Seventh Kansas. Colonel Lee was a brigade commander, and did not per-
sonally command the regiment more than two months; and, besides, the
Seventh Kansas never served in Sherman's army. Sherman was at one time
a part of the army of the Tennessee, but the Seventh Kansas was never
under him. I do not personally know anything relating to the Fifteenth
Kansas cavalry, for I was serving far away, and the enemy confronting us
was giving us sufficient to occupy our minds without worrying over other
troubles. The men of the Fifteenth Kansas can make their own defense.
However, I do protest against the name of Jennison being used to connect
the Seventh Kansas with any event that occurred in Missouri. ^ Through

Note 5.— Maj. Charles G. Halpine, assistant adjutant-general to Secretary of War, March 14,
1862: "Nothing could exceed the demoralized condition in which General Hunter found the Third
and Fourth Kansas infantry and Fifth and Sixth Kansas cavalry, formerly known as ' Lane's
brigade,' on his arrival in this department. The regimental and company commanders knew
nothing of their duties, and apparently had never made returns or reports of any kind."— War
Records, vol. 8, series 1, p. 615.

Note 6.— There is an error in Coffin's "Settlement of the Friends in Kansas" (vol. 7, Kansas
Hist. Col., p. 360). He says: The Seventh Kansas cavalry. Colonel Jennison's regiment, was
made up about this time [1863], 1200 men. They obtained orders and crossed into Platte county,
and, with a besom of destruction, swept the border river counties, freeing all the slaves, of whom
long calvacades, with wagons, carriages, mules and stock, were crossing into Kansas continu-
ally." The date of this makes it clear that it was the Fifteenth Kansas, and not the Seventh.
The Seventh was in Mississippi during the year 1863.

242 Ka7isas State Historical Society.

two of its officers, Jennison and Cleveland, the regiment gained the name
'•Jayhawker3"-a heritage that brought trouble, but gave us the inspira-
tion to make the name good.

Other statements of Captain Palmer, for the purpose of historical ac-
curacy, call for correction. After giving a list of guerrilla chieftains who
operated in western Missouri in the early part of 1861 and whose blood-
curdling war cry was, "No surrender except in death!" he continues:

"The Kansans under Lane," Montgomery, Blunt, Jennison, Anthony,
Hoyt and others accepted the challenge, and until General Fremont, in Octo-
ber. 1861, issued his order against this retaliatory work and forced a reor-
ganization of Lane's brigade, which forced Lane out of the army and back
to the senate, there was no pretension to the common amenities of civilized
war," etc.

It will be remembered, in an extract previously herein quoted. Captain
Palmer states that, with the exception of the Seventh and Fifteenth Kan-
sas cavalry regiments, none of the Kansas organizations "gave the enemy
cause for guerrilla warfare." The captain's statements do not seem to
track. But, as to historical accuracy, note that he rings in Anthony and
Hoyt in active connection with Lane, Montgomery, etc., before the issu-
ance of Fremont's order in October, 1861, when the fact is that Anthony
was not actively engaged in the field until November 11, and Hoyt was not
yet in the service. While Hoyt was in service in Missouri with the Seventh
Kansas he was an inconsequential second lieutenant; he became captain just
as the regiment started for Mississippi, but until he resigned, not long
after, he was for most part of the time in the sick squad, and cut no figure
in the regiment worthy of mention.

In a list of lurid incidents, which the captain says "come before my
mind as a panorama, vivid as life, a story that can never be told," etc., the
following is mentioned as traveling by, among the other glaring scenes:

"Captain Charles Cleveland's desertion with several of company H,
Seventh Kansas black-horse cavalry," etc.

History demands certain corrections: Cleveland's first name was Marshall,
not Charles; the Seventh Kansas was never known as the "black-horse
cavalry," but company H was for a brief time called the "black-horse
company;" and, finally, Cleveland did not desert, but left the regiment
regularly, by accepted resignation; also, the desertion of eight or ten men
from company H was five months after Cleveland resigned. Otherwise the
lurid vision is correct as relates to Cleveland.

I have been compelled to make the foregoing references to Captain
Palmer's article to show that he was not sufficiently careful in verifying
many of his statements, and that there is much chronological confusion, as
frequently the act antedates its suggested cause. The story of the motley
parade of the Seventh Kansas, led through Kansas City by Colonel Jennison,
is pure fiction as far as the Seventh Kansas is concerned. Captain Palmer
did not admire Colonel Jennison; nothing of good could therefore result from
any connection with him, and, under the mistaken idea that Jennison was in
active command of the regiment during its brief service in Missouri, it
could be but a disorganized rabble, and it was safe to call it so. He hag

Note 7. -Senator P. B. Plumb once remarked to the secretary that Senator James H. Lane
was the only man who commanded an army without a commission.

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. 243

failed utterly to discriminate between the lawless acts of Jennison, butting
in with his independent company ^ along the border during the early months
of the war, and the regiment which later was associated with his name.

As to the Seventh Kansas cavalry, Lieut. Col. D. R. Anthony superin-
tended the organization of the regiment and was the god of the machine.
He was in active command of the regiment during the brief time it served
in Missouri, and to him should be given all credit or blame that justly be-
longs to this organization growing out of its service along the border. This
service began about November 10, 1861, and ended January 31, 1862. Two
weeks of this time was spent in camp up in Kansas, south of Leavenworth,
and therefore its service in Missouri was of little more than two months'
duration. Regiments had been marched to and fro. Lane's brigade" of
four regiments had been in the field for several months, moving up and
down the border. Internecine strife was continuous with the people them-
selves, and when the Seventh Kansas first came into Missouri the desolate
monuments that marked the destruction of barns and dwellings were to be
seen with pitiful frequency; and yet it is fashionable to charge this desola-
tion to the regiment that became heir to the name of "Jayhawkers. " What
this regiment actually did is sin enough, but it was a very small part when
compared with the whole.

The statement that "with the exception of the Seventh and Fifteenth
Kansas cavalry there were no better disciplined or better behaved troops in
the Union army than the Kansas men " is a very extravagant phrase. The
Kansas regiments were rushed into service before they were half organized.
None of them were well disciplined at the beginning, and many incompetent
ofi^cers were at first selected. It took time to get rid of incompetency, and
the governor did much harm in commissioning inexperienced men from civil
life and sending them out to take places that men who had made good by
efficient service were justly entitled to. The first two regiments were mag-
nificent organizations, but they received their discipline on the bloody field
of Wilson Creek."' The sobering influence of a desperate battle will accom-
plish more in a day towards discipline than the martinet can bring about in
a year of strenuous effort. None of the regiments at the first held the edge
over the others, as far as discipline went. No state certainly had the va-
riety of adventurous material that made up the Kansas organization. There

Note 8.— Jennison was twice commissioned by Governor Robinson in the Kansas Militia in
1861, first on February 23, captain of Mound City Sharps Rifles Guards, and May 28, lieutenant
colonel Third regiment, southern division, Kansas Militia.

A correspondent in the Leavenworth Conservative, writing from Fort Scott, July 10, 1861,
and signing himself "Jayhawker," tells of the operations of Captain Jennison in Missouri.
Starting from Mound City, July 4, with thirteen men, he entered Vernon county, Missouri, July
5, and organized a company of forty-five men, with Isaac Morris, of Vernon county, Missouri,
captain. Recruits from both states came in rapidly. Another company, under Ben Rice, soon
joined the first, when separately they raided several secession camps, capturing army supplies,
horses, etc., among them an ox train with military supplies for Fort Arbuckle. Although Cap-
tain Jennison was not known as an officer, all recognized him as commander-in-chief of the ex-
pedition, which reached Fort Scott with 800 recruits. His purpose, it is stated, was to pass down
through southwest Missouri and cooperate with United States troops in protecting Union men.
— Colonel Jennison's Scrapbook, vol. 1, p. 11.

Note 9.— Lane's brigade was composed of the Third and Fourth Kansas volunteers, the
Fifth Kansas cavalry, and the early organization of the Sixth Kansas cavalry.

Note 10.— In the battle of Wilson Creek the First Kansas lost fifty-one per cent of those en-
gaged, in killed and wounded. At the time of this battle the First and Second Kansas had been
in the service but two months. During the battle Major Sturgis remarked to General Lyon,
"These Kansas boys are doing the best fighting that I ever!witnessed." The First regiment af-
terwards traveled 6000 miles, through eight rebel states. The Second regiment was the last one
to leave the field (Wilson Creek), and the only regiment which kept its line and organization un-
broken from the first to the last of the fight, which lasted about six hours.

244 Kansas State HistoHcal Society.

were Puritans and "hellions," and the intermediate grades of men; some
praised God, and others cursed in His name; but they all were from a race
militant, and, whether disciplined or not, fought when the chance offered.

When the Seventh Kansas was paraded for muster at Fort Leavenworth
on the date of the organization, October 28, 1861, but nine companies were
in line. Company K, which Capt. John Brown, jr., was recruiting in Ohio,
had not reached the state. Jennison appeared in person for the first time,
and. after getting himself "balled up" while trying to put the regiment
through the manual of arms, rode away and left the command to Lieutenant
Colonel Anthony. I do not recall having seen Colonel Jennison again with
the regiment until at Humboldt in February, 1862, where he was stationed
in command of a brigade. If he visited the regiment at any time while in
Missouri, it was a transient call. Colonel Anthony was permitted to exer-
cise his own will without check or hindrance, so far as any apparent inter-
ference by Jennison was concerned. What that will was. Colonel Anthony
has been too recently with us and is too well known to make a statement nec-
essary. The reader's judgment would doubtless be nearer the mark than
Colonel Anthony's own, for he stated at a state editorial meeting a few
years ago, while in a reminiscent mood, that he felt the greatest mistake he
had made in life was, he had been too conservative.

When about the middle of October, 1861, the three companies returned
from Kansas City to Fort Leavenworth, as is stated earlier in this paper,
clothing and equipment began to be issued. An unmustered company came
from Illinois on escort duty, and they were persuaded to remain and cast
their fortune with Kansas; they became company D. Finally, on October
28, nine companies being organized, and company K just ready to start from
Ohio under young John Brown, the complete organization was accomplished,

Jennison, as I have said, appeared for a brief moment; and it was just
about this time that the thrilling scene that preceded Cleveland's resigna-
tion was enacted. A dismounted parade had been formed on the "blue
grass," Colonel Anthony receiving the salute. Cleveland had made his first
appearance. He was dressed in a somewhat motley garb— a soft hat, a reg-
ulation coat, drab trousers thrust into low-topped riding boots, a belt carry-
ing a surplus of revolvers and a saber that seemed a hindrance. Colonel
Anthony did not approve of the drab trousers, and forthwith proceeded to
deliver a public censure; whereupon the restive Jayhawker proceeded to
advance to the "front and center " without waiting for orders. There was
language, profane and incisive, while each man looked the other directly in
the eye. The amenities being passed, they glared at each other a moment,
then Cleveland, with a parting compliment which has passed down into his-
tory, strode away to his horse, hitched near by, and a moment later was
galloping toward Leavenworth city. His resignation quickly followed, and
was as promptly accepted.

Men of the class of Jennison and Cleveland were nothing if not spectacu-
lar. Jennison while colonel of the Seventh Kansas never wore the regula-
tion headgear; he always affected a tall, brimless fur cap. I recall my
first vision of Cleveland. I was an Eastern tenderfoot, and was being in-
ducted into a knowledge of the new Western world by a much-experienced
brother recruit. We were sauntering down Shawnee street in Leaven-
worth, and had just stopped to read a newly posted bill. It was headed
" Reward," and beneath it was set forth that a tempting number of dollars

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. ' 245

would be handed over to the individual who would bring in the body of one
Marshall Cleveland, "dead or alive." We had both concluded that we were
not hard up, and had started down the street, when we saw a gentleman
with a neatly trimmed black beard riding towards us up the street. He
was neatly dressed in a drab suit, low riding boots, and a soft hat grace-
fully slouched. He wore the universal belt, and a bulge on either side in
the tails of his frock coat made it plain to see that he was not defenseless.
His horse looked like a thoroughbred, and he seemed wonderfully at home
in the saddle. I remarked: "That's a mighty fine horse." My friend
answered: "It ought to be; he has the pick of Missouri. That's Cleve-
land." Nobody offered to arrest him, and he rode on up the street. He
went south on Fifth, and turned east on Delaware street. He was
offering his person to the reward seekers with a reckless nonchalance that
thrilled my unsophisticated nature to the core. I, however, did not hover ia
his vicinity.

The same evening while I— still inducted by my guide— was listening
with curiosity rather than delight to the much-bedazzled prima donna of the
slums, at the "Moral Show" that stood by the old market house at the
corner of Fifth and Shawnee streets, a little flurry brought attention to the
fact that Cleveland was leaning against a post in the back part of the hall.
He nodded to a few acquaintances, refused the request of a cross-eyed
Hebe to invest in her liquid wares, and presently sauntered out. My next
information was that the offer of reward had been withdrawn, and that
Cleveland had been authorized to recruit a company for Jennison's regiment.

The organization of the Seventh Kansas being effected, the regiment,
well uniformed, well mounted, but indifferently armed, moved down through
Kansas to Kansas City and went into camp. Anthony, in person, with
companies A, B and H, went into bivouac on the Majors farm, about four
miles southeast of Westport. The remainder of the regiment, except com-
pany K, camped in nearer to Kansas City, on O. K. creek.

It will be remembered that all of the city practically lay north of the
junction [Main and Delaware] in those days, and did not reach out very far
to the east or west. The McGee division, to the south, contained a brick
block of three or four stores and a few scattering houses and was connected
with the city by an unpaved road, unless six inches of Missouri clay mud
can be called a pavement.

It is not necessary to keep harping about the conditions that prevailed
along the Kansas border at this time, yet possibly a little retrospection may
make matters plainer to those who were not participants in these affairs.
The border-ruffian element in Missouri had held the ascendancy during 1855
and 1856, and rode over Kansas roughshod. They had burned Lawrence and
Osawatomie, and plundered other hamlets; had committed murders and out-
rages through the settlements, and had shown no mercy. Montgomery and
John Brown, who were essentially men of action, began to lead their fol-
lowers to resistance, and others followed their lead. There were others
who rode up and down and raged, but made little show of accomplishment.
The steady Northern persistence finally made itself felt, and the border-
ruffian element was gradually thrown on the defensive. They had sown the
wind and the whirlwind had to be reaped.

When the war became a fact, the conditions along the Kansas border
were unlike anything elsewhere. There were bitter wrongs to be righted,

246 Kamas State Historical Society.

and no one can stay the power of revenge. The creed of self-repression
where the reversed cheek is to be submitted to the smiter, finds but few
who will accept it in times of stress. They rather turn to the Old Testa-
ment, where a contrary doctrine can find support. John Brown had become
a martyr, and his soul militant had commenced its march of freedom, and
inspired feet were swinging into step to follow. Loyal Missourians, driven
from their homes, had joined the Union army, with the bitter purpose to
accomplish reprisal and revenge. No one can make a comparison with con-
ditions existing anywhere else in the land. The situation must be judged
by itself; it can admit of no comparison ; it stands unique and alone.

Imagination doubtless depicts the "Jay hawkers," represented in the in-
dividuals who made up the Seventh Kansas cavalry, as bearded desperadoes
with mustaches painted and drooping and a bellicose swagger that sug-
gested trouble to the timorous wayfarer. The truth is that a majority
of this regiment were beardless youths. Some of them had roughed it
through life and were coarse of fiber, but many others had come from cul-
tured homes in New England and Eastern states. Not half of the regiment
was recruited in Kansas, but there was leaven enough to permeate the lump.
One company was recruited in Ashtabula county, Ohio, organized by a son
of John Brown, and did not need any leavening influence. Three whole
companies and the halves of two others came from Illinois. The John Brown
company came the long journey that the name of "Kansas" might be asso-
ciated with their efforts toward the overthrow of slavery. They were satu-
rated with the spirit of the martyrs. As to education, the men ranked high
above the average. The regiment furnished more clerks at the various
headquarters than any other similar organization in the Sixteenth army
corps. The men were not ruffians or desperadoes, but averaged fairly with
other regiments of the Civil War. They were probably no better or no
worse."

The name of " Jayhawker " was not an asset at first to be highly valued.
The men laughed at it and accepted it. They did not realize what might
happen to them in future ages when the ambitious historian turned his im-
agination loose on the iniquities that attended the name. When, in the
spring of 1862, the regiment was ordered down to the Army of the Ten-
nessee, where real war was on tap, the name suggested a scapegoat, and
every regiment in the army corps began systematically to lay their depreda-
tions on the shoulders of the Seventh Kansas. We had our pay held up for
over eight months because we refused to make good the depredations com-
mitted almost entirely by an Illinois regiment. It was for this injustice
that the First Kansas, out of sympathy (God bless them!), refused to cheer
(Jeneral Grant when so ordered, as they marched by his headquarters at Ox-
ford, Miss., in the fall of 1862. And this grand old regiment was mighty
well disciplined, too. I love this old regiment. We served together for al-
most a year. I never shall forget the scene at the Tallahatchie when the
rebels began their advance toward our little regiment from their forts along
the bottom. Forty siege guns were filling the atmosphere with bursting
shells, and things looked dubious. B ut just then the infantry column came

Note ll.-The American Bible Society had a depository at Harrisonville, Mo. When a de-
tachment of the Seventh Kansas entered th« town the store had been already looted by some
m?.hr»l°rf' ""■% rVu-"S*l'*P''''^^ "^^l"" ¥^ '"'^*'=*^- The Seventh Kansas took the Bibles. It
h^'bee"^ ^ a^^opHatX apUed! '" '''' ^''"*^ ^°"^'" '° '''''' '''^' ''^'"^ involuntary charity

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. 247

up at double time, the First Kansas in the advance— "Jayhawkers, ye '11
have help now ! " All hell could n't have taken that hill.

During the summer of 1862 the Seventh Kansas served under the great
cavalry leader, General Sheridan, then a colonel, at Rienzi, the extreme
southern outpost of the army. The service was hazardous and exacting,
but this efficient soldier often spoke in generous praise of the service ren-
dered. During the advance of General Grant's army down the Mississippi
Central railway toward Vicksburg in the fall of 1862, day after day the
Seventh Kansas held the post of honor as the advance guard of the main
infantry column, and it skirmished and fought over every foot of the way
between the Cold Water and Coffeyville. It cleared and carried the crossing
of every intermediate stream; charged through and captured Holly Springs
in the early morning, with military stores and many prisoners; charged the
rebel battery at Waterford and captured one of its guns; and finally drove
the enemy behind their breastworks at the Tallahatchie, and held them
there for eight hours until the infantry advance came up, led by the grand
old First Kansas infantry. These eight hours were passed under the steady
fire of forty siege guns that made up the Confederate batteries. Men of
the Seventh Kansas crawled that night through the rebel pickets and into
their fortifications, and brought the news that the enemy were evacuating.
In the early morning this regiment forced a crossing and followed, harrass-
ing their rear guard from Abbeville to Oxford, and, driving back their ar-
tillery, carried the town by a charge, fighting every inch of the way through
the streets. Between the Tallahatchie and Water Valley this one regiment
captured over 2000 prisoners. At Coffeyville, where the entire cavalry di-
vision was led into a trap by an inefficient leader, the Seventh Kansas was
in the brunt of the battle, and fell back in order, and it was the Seventh
Kansas that formed at the Tillaboba bridge against the rebel infantry and
stopped their pursuit. General Grant never criticized the fighting qualities
of the regiment.

Gen. G. M. Dodge, when in command of the Sixteenth army corps, al-
ways gave the Seventh Kansas cavalry the preference, and plainly told us
so. While under his command the Seventh Kansas and Tenth Missouri cav-
alry (Cornyn's brigade), numbering less than 1000 men, whipped to a finish
3500 men under Roddy at Leighton, Ala., and a week later the augmented
brigade whipped General Gholson's army at Tupello, Miss., capturing an
entire regiment of Confederate cavalry.

During the campaigns of Gen. A. J. Smith against Forrest, in northern
Mississippi, in 1864, that splendid fighter detached the Seventh Kansas from
the cavalry corps, and the Jayhawkers were again given the honored posi-
tion of advance guard of the main infantry column. It cleared the way
from the north line of Mississippi to Pontotoc; and when Smith made a feint
retreat to maneuver Forrest outside of his fortifications, the Seventh Kan-
sas fought for sixteen hours, covering the rear against Forrest's entire
cavalry division. Only those who have been up against Forrest know what
this means. Forrest himself says, referring to this rear defense : "He took
advantage of every favorable position, and my artillery was kept almost
constantly busy." The whole wagon train for the most of the day had but
the Seventh Kansas between it and the enemy's cavalry. General Smith's
confidence in the regiment must have been great; and it was not mistaken—
not a wagon was lost.

248 Kani^as State Historical Society.

The above incidents are cited to show that under great war leaders the
Jayhawkers were trusted and honored, and that as a fighting regiment it
always made good. It fought an offensive warfare, not waiting to be at-
tacked, but dashed in and got in that effective first blow that wins the fight.
Even during its two months in Missouri, in the winter of 1861 -'62, its killed
and wounded was almost fifty per cent more than the similar loss in Lane's
brigade during the whole time it was under Lane's command.

The first movement made into Missouri, as has been said, was by com-
panies A, B and H, led by Colonel Anthony. On the evening of November
10, 1861, a loyal Missourian came in with the information that the rebel Up.
Hayes had assembled his band of guerrillas for mischief, and was in camp
on the Little Blue about thirteen miles out. Anthony immediately moved,
with 110 men, and after an all-night march attacked the rebel camp at early
morning of the Uth. A desperate fight followed. The rebel force greatly
outnumbered Anthony's command, but, taken by surprise, they were driven
from their camp with heavy loss, and their horses, wagons and entire camp
equipment were captured. The guerrillas retreated to the bluffs and rallied
behind the rocks in a strong defensive position, from which they could not
be driven. Our loss was nine men killed and about thirty wounded, many
of the latter, however, but slightly. The rebel dead left in camp was a
much larger number. Anthony retired, bringing away all his killed and
wounded and all the captured property. The writer was, with the reinforce-
ments, hurried out to Anthony's support. He was met some eight miles
out, on his return march. There were farm wagons and bedquilts, a part
of the primitive rebel equipment. In some of the wagons were the severely
wounded, stolidly bearing their pain; in others the bedquilts covered motion-
less shapes and told the pitiful story of death and sacrifice. There were
no "women's dresses," nor "spinning wheels, " nor "gravestones strapped ^^
to the horses"— the gravestones were a matter for after consideration.
This was the first raid of the Seventh Kansas into Missouri.

Soon after the regiment went into camp on the Westport road, near
the old McGee tavern. From this camp the regiment made a march
out to Independence, returning the same day. This movement is called "a
raid" by Britton in his "Civil War on the Border, 1861-'62" (page 176).
He erroneously fixes the date in September (more than a month before the
Seventh Kansas was organized), and credits the speech in the courthouse
square to Jennison. Jennison was not present; Colonel Anthony was in
command and made the speech.

When Price retreated south from Lexington he promised to return soon
with reinforcements and occupy the country permanently. The rebel sym-
pathizers around Independence were aggressively elated, and the spirit of
secession blatantly rampant. Threats were being made against loyal citi-
zens, and many were being driven from their homes and compelled to come
over into Kansas for safety.

Both the march out and return were orderly. It was not the first time
Union troops had passed over this road. Some destroying hand had some-

N0TE12.-The writer of this article has had some experience with pack-trains, but is at a
low Ju«t now to proceed to strap a spinning wheel to a saddle, especially as the saddle is to be
occupied by a rider. The statement seems a little extravagant. Also, the setting of the scene
•wmH to be a little contradictory. That the route should be "lighted by burning home." re-
SnlJ^i , i," '^T!"*' v^ 'larkness. and that the particulars of the fantastic garb and impedimenta
^itJ^ have been borne by the recreant Jayhawkers be made evident, the light of day would
Beem to have been most necessary.

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. 249

time preceded us; along the road were several lonely chimneys and black-
ened remains of houses. As we entered Independence, riding down the
long, sloping street to the business part of the town, we saw two ladies
waving their handkerchiefs from the upper floor of a double porch, at the
rear of a house about a block to the left. When we returned in the after-
noon they were again at their post. Three years later, when the veteran
Seventh Kansas had been rushed by forced marches from Mississippi to help
defend Kansas against Price, and as the extreme advance of Pleasanton's
relieving army charged up that same street against a battery in action on
the crest, two ladies were waving their handkerchiefs from that same porch.
Shells were bursting and bullets were flying thick, but they maintained
their post to the end. They did not seem to have any grudge against the
Seventh Kansas.

While at Independence the regiment was not permitted to break ranks.
The male citizens were rounded up and corralled in the courthouse square,
and Colonel Anthony, from the courthouse steps, impressed upon their
minds some wise and salutary truths. I do not know that much good was
accomplished, but I am sure Colonel Anthony himself must have been greatly
relieved when he got that red-hot stuff out of his system. No houses were
burned at any time. The regiment made an orderly march back to their
camp and did not parade through Kansas City, and the lurid story of the
route being "lighted by burning homes" lacked the necessary background
of darkness to have made it effective.

Colonel Anthony was a rigid disciplinarian and exacted obedience on
every occasion. He was at times tyrannical, and on several occasions he
stood perilously near death when he threatened men with the flat of his
saber. He never stood for foolishness, and while on the march was con-
stantly going up and down the column watching the conditions, and if the fool
of the regiment deemed it funny to array himself in any grotesque manner
he would have been ordered to dismount and continue the rest of the march
on foot, and when in camp the most unpleasant part of fatigue duty would
have been assigned to him. No culprit could ever hope to escape through
forgetfulness; his case was always attended to. The army was too new for
this excess of discipline, and often he would have accomplished more by less
exacting methods. He was himself restive under authority, and did not
hesitate to express his opinion of the incompetency of certain officers over
him, and this was not a good pattern of discipline to set for his men. The
first year of the war was a great strain on the army. A lot of incompetent
book soldiers had to be tried out, and the great leaders were yet subordi-
nates, who had still to make themselves evident by their works. In the
regiment, the first selection of company officers was not always a success.
They were elected by the men. But I will say this method produced better
results than would have obtained from a direct independent appointment by
the governor ; and this opinion is abundantly sustained by the character of
the appointments he later imposed upon us from civil life. Two of his ap-
pointments did make good. Capt. Jacob M. Anthony illustrated the Kansas
motto, but he was helped by peculiar conditions; and Fred Emery, the other,
very soon was transferred to the regimental staff as adjutant, and did not
have a disgruntled company of men behind him to make life a tantalizing
and troublous journey. All the rest went down to oblivion through forced
resignation or the sentence of a court-martial.

250 Kansas State Historical Society.

A few days after this "raid" out to Independence, the Seventh Kansas
moved out by a roundabout way to Pleasant Hill On this march guerrilla
pickets were in evidence on distant elevations, disappearing over the crest
whenever a near approach was made Late in the morning a heavy fog
came down, and the advance was necessarily very cautious. When the fog
suddenly lifted, the point, consisting of six men under the command of First
Serpt. johnny Gilbert of company C, saw a squad of men grouped up the
road near a house on a hill. He immediately charged, and the guerrillas,
evidently thinking the whole regiment was behind the yells that the six
throats were emitting, broke and wildly stampeded down the road, and, to
the surprise of the charging squad, about eighty mounted men, who had
been invisible behind an echelon of barns and stacks, dashed out and, terror-
stricken, followed them. One dead mule and one wounded prisoner were
the material fruits of this unexpected victory. I cannot refrain from in-
jecting here an item of personal achievement. I charged with this squad,
but I could not help it— my horse ran away. As to Johnny Gilbert, he later
deserted, leaving all government property carefully scheduled behind him
in his tent. He had been outraged by the appointment by the governor of
an incompetent, cowardly civilian to a commissioned vacancy that in all jus-
tice belonged to him. I saw him later in the service as a sergeant of artil-
lery in a famous battery attached to the Sixteenth army corps.

A few days later the regiment came back and went into camp in the old
fairground at Independence. While at this camp fifteen picked men were
sent out. under command of Lieut. Frank Ray, to the north as far as the
river. A written list of about a dozen houses, scatteringly located, was
given him, with verbal instructions to burn them. This was systematically
done. Ray had been a sergeant in the regular army. His force was small
and the neighborhood was full of danger, and he kept his men compactly
together. No looting was permitted, not even from houses burned. One
old Roman matron helped the destruction by throwing a pillow-case a quar-
ter full of powder in her fireplace, and walked from the ruins apparently
unscathed. Whether the orders for this burning came from higher than
regimental authority I never knew. There was no row made at Fort Leav-
enworth over it, as was the case in subsequent events.

The regiment went north into Kansas for about two weeks, being in camp
about eight miles south of Leavenworth during the time. On December
10 the Seventh Kansas was ordered to West Point, in the northern part of
Bates county, Missouri. There was no town there at:.the time, it having
been burned by other vandals than the Jayhawker regiment. On December
24 the regiment marched north, in the face of a blinding blizzard, to Morris-
town, or where Morristown'^ had once stood. This town was also little
more than a name; the anticipatory torch had some time before blotted it
out. It was here that Col. Hampton Johnson of the Fifth Kansas cavalry
had been ambushed and slain at the crossing of the stream, in September;
and it was here, I believe, at that time, that seven Confederate prisoners
were subjected to the action of a drumhead court-martial and shot at the

91 ^R^'^ 13.- A correspondent signing himself "A. B. M.," writing from near Morristown, July
nf hiVL'"' the capture of Morristown. Mo.. July 22, by Captain Jennison with twenty-five

«nH HuTJ^w "^ ".w ^^^t" \l volunteers. Two wagon-loads of ^ contraband " goods were taken
h?.\ll«hi» . through the camp. To the writer's share fell two hats, a necktie, drawers.

«n m« i^in?. K^''"\''- *»'»"'^ ^ol^8- writing paper, and. as company steward, a supply of drugs
and medicmes.-Jenniaon Scrapbooks, vol. 1, p. 13.

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry. 251

edge of their graves. The justice of this act does not concern the history
of the Seventh Kansas. It occurred before the service of that regiment
began. This was the permanent camp of the regiment during the remain-
der of its stay in Missouri.

On the last day of 1861 a raid was made out to Dayton and Rose Hill.
The latter town was in the southeast corner of Johnson county. Fulkerson,
Scott and Britty, rebel officers, were recruiting through this neighborhood.
Many Union families were being driven out and over into Kansas, and
brought stories of burning and outrage to our camp. There was much skir-
mishing during this trip, and Colonel Anthony was in personal command. '^
The town of Dayton was burned by his order, and he never shrank from the
responsibility. Scattering farmhouses were also burned, and doubtless
horses were taken and some looting done. Anthony made a report of this
expedition. His action was disapproved by General Hunter, and he was
censured, but never punished.

I cannot speak personally of the occurrences during the month of Jan-
uary, 1862, for I passed that month in an old remnant of a house at Morris-
town set apart for a hospital. The delirium of typhoid fever blotted out my
memory during that time. I can say, however, that there was much fight-
ing during that month, and the regiment lost seven or eight men killed in
action, and a number of men were wounded. On January 9 an expedition
was made, under Major Herrick, to Holden and Columbus. Company D
was ambushed at the latter place and driven back. Captain Utt, with com-
pany A, captured the town, buried our dead and burned the village. There
was much scouting during the remaining time in Missouri. Horses were
brought in, and doubtless many found their way to private homes in Kan-
sas and not many to the government corrals. It has been said that Jenni-
son profited by the sale of some of them; but it is better understood that
his active cooperator, when he resigned and sold this stock, told Jennison
to whistle for his share.

Jennison evidently directed operations from a distance, in a limited sense,
and a very limited portion of the command was involved. It is to be re-
membered that the desertions from company H were a matter of subsequent
history. The regiment, as a body, was under a reasonable state of disci-
pline. On January 31, 1862, the Seventh Kansas started on its march to
Humboldt, Kan., which town had been burned during the previous October
by rebel raiders led by Colonel Talbott. Missouri knew the Seventh Kan-
sas no more until the Price raid in the fall of 1864 brought back that regi-
ment by forced marches from Mississippi. The hurried rush up the river to

Note 14. —The rebels in Jackson county never fought unless they had the advantage ; they
laid in ambush and bushwhacked. They did not wear uniforms, but wore citizens' clothing, and
when cornered hid their guns and came out whining that they were Union men. Whenever a
house was burned they always sent up a howl about being "Union," when no house was burned
unless it was well known that the owner was a guerrilla and out in the "bresh." The only howl
made was by "Grandmother" Halleck, and General Hunter, who learned better later. In Ala-
bama we went out and burned and destroyed barns, corn and fodder, and brought away all
horses and mules; also cattle, as a rebel brigade made this their home and came out to raid upon
our outlying camps. Whenever a train was fired upon by guerrillas we immediately destroyed all
buildings and property within a radius of several miles. We burned Oxford, Miss., in retalia-
tion for the burning of Ghambersburg, Pa., by Early. (We got the news from a rebel newspa-
per which was exulting over it.)

Order of General Grant to General Sheridan, August 16, 1864: "If you can possibly spare a
division of cavalry, send them through Loudon county to destroy and carry off the crops, ani-
mals, negroes, and all men under fifty years of age capable of carrying arms," etc.

This destruction was common throughout the army. It was a necessity. When Grant fell
back from Oxford, Miss., in the winter of 1861 and 1862, we covered the rear. Fences, bams and
houses were burning, destroyed by the infantry column in advance of us.

252 Kaiwas State Historical Society.

St. Louis from Memphis, the day-and-night march across Missouri, and the
charge at Independence were subsequent history. The firing in the rear of
Price's army, that told the almost exhausted Union soldiers at Kansas City
that relief had come, was directed at the charging Kansas regiment, that
had outlived obloquy and come into its heritage.

There is a good deal of rot connected with the theory that an especial
man or deed was responsible for the raid on Lawrence. The original burn-
ing of Lawrence, Osawatomie, etc., was responsible for Montgomery, Jen-
nison, etc., and the campaigns along the border in 1861 held the Missouri
guerrillas in check for the time. Quantrill was a moral degenerate, and
when one follows the subsequent career of train robbing and murder of
Jesse James, Cole Younger and others of Quantrill's old gang, the question
of inducement to slaughter seems to be a superfluity, Quantrill doubtless
had his eyes on Lawrence from the beginning, and was only watching for a
propitious season to carry out a long-matured plan.

As to the conditions in Missouri after the Seventh Kansas left, the fol-
lowing extract from a letter of O. G. Gates, of Jackson county, Missouri,
to Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, bearing date of February 26, 1862
(War Records, vol. 17, part II, p. 93), will illustrate:

"It now appears that, although the Kansas volunteer troops in obedience
to orders did leave the state of Missouri, the substituted United States
troops in that county (Jackson) have made no change in their mode of war-
fare for the better; the same wanton and lawless violation on the rights of
private property have continued without check or hindrance. Bands of ne-
groes, slave and free, and clans of white men, thief and Jayhawker, from
the state of Kansas, with the knowledge of the United States forces thus
substituted, are permitted in open day to enter our county and freely gratify
their savage lust of plunder and private revenge on defenseless and terror-
stricken people."

It would appear from the above that the Seventh Kansas was not re-
sponsible for all the wrongs on the border. ^^ The Seventh Kansas had
become heir to the name "Jayhawkers," and they bore it to the end. The
regiment was neither an aggregation of devils nor saints. The regiment
did always fight well, and gained some honor. Propitious fate transferred
them to the Army of the Tennessee, and their initial service there was
directly under Col. Philip Sheridan. Without orders, the regiment charged

Note 15.— A careful reading of the war records of operations in Jackson and surrounding
counties during 1862. between the time that the Seventh Kansas was withdrawn and the "Red
Leg ' service began— that houses of rebels continued to be burned by Union troops, as is noted in
the reports of Col. John T. Burris and others (War Records, vol. 8). and the "capture" of
horses by the hundreds that were seized and brought out of Missouri, which are mentioned in
these reports -indicate that the warfare of 1861 continued, and it does not appear that any specific
cen.sure emanated from headquarters. Also Gen. Ben. Loan, on November 17, 1862, assessed
Jl.S.iKXt against the disloyal citizens of Jackson county, $7500 to be applied to subsist enrolled
militia. and $7500 for destitute families of soldiers engaged in active service. General Curtis
alone seemed to comprehend the situation, as his communication to General Loan (War Records,
vol. U. p. 688). dated September 29. 1862. indicates;

... You think Lane and Jennison should be sent to a " safe place.' I think it would
b* safe U) send them against the rebels and Indians that are now collected and invading Mc-
IJonald. Barry and Stone counties. But let terror reign among the rebels. It will be better to
nave Ihem under such power than loose to carry on guerrilla warfare which drives good people
out of Jackson and Lafayette. . . . What rights have the rascals that go skulking about in
th.> garb of citizens, not soldiers? Even our enrolled militia go with a badge on their hats : but
\ ,' lu .u so-.ca'led Partisan Rangers' sneak through the brush with no emblems of war,
.lit with the stealthy concealed garb of a private citizen seek to continue the business of steal-
.,!^'\, Ta murderfng. They deserve no quarter, no terms of civilized warfare. Pursue,

■iriKe and destroy these reptiles, and report to these headquarters as often as possible."

I,.n2!i„**'° It^i'^*.* General Curtis wrote this characteristic letter the Seventh Kansas was
Bone "ird Dorn's army, advancing on Corinth, and attacked their train at

Memorial Momiments and Tablets in Kansas. 253

General Price's camp at Marietta, Miss., and rode through it and brought
away his headquarters flag, and would have burned the camp had not Sheri-
dan in person ordered us to withdraw. The Seventh Kansas rode down
through Funderberger's Lane in the night against an unknown foe, and
routed a superior force. The Seventh Kansas, unaided and far from sup-
port, charged Jackson's veteran cavalry division of over 4000 men, and the
lane at Lamar was strewn with rebel dead. Thirty-six killed, 500 prisoners,
hundreds of horses and over 2000 stands of arms were the fruits of this vic-
tory. The infantry regiments came out and cheered us as we passed their
camps on our return, and it became a custom that obtained for months
after. We began to feel that we could eventually trot in the same class
with the old First Kansas infantry, which was among the cheerers. It is
an old story and has been briefly told elsewhere. As time went on the
name "Jayhawkers" lost its opprobrium, and the Seventh Kansas began
to make it an honorable appellation. Yet it was the same regiment, little
changed from the band which had served about two months in Missouri,
and, if we believe vague tradition, laid the country desolate.

Cleveland met his fate as a discredited outlaw at the ford of the Marais
des Cygnes. Jennison has cashed in his checks, withdrawn from the turbu-
lent game of life, and judgment has been passed upon him. With all his
sins, he had a gambler's generosity, and he often made life endurable to
some poor struggling soul. May his deeds of kindness be remembered and
all that was evil in his nature be forgotten.

Let us see. Kansas aspires to be called the "Jayhawker State." Our
most illustrious citizens hail the name as a badge of honor. Our great
University perpetuates the name in its war cry that celebrates victory or
shouts defiance after stubborn defeat. How came dishonor to be purified ?
Did not that one cavalry regiment that inherited the name and bore it through
four years of strenuous war do much to make it what it is ? How else was
the miracle accomplished ?

MEMORIAL MONUMENTS AND TABLETS IN KANSAS.

A paper read at the University of Kansas, December 4, 1908, by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary of
State Historical Society, on the occasion of dedicating markers in Lawrence.

rpHERE is no place where greater pride in the past should exist than
-L among the people of Lawrence. I sincerely congratulate you upon this
movement to honor and establish in bronze and granite the events which
have given the greatest possible historical significance to the town of Law-
rence.

The citizens of Lawrence were from the beginning a peace-loving people.
They came to these prairies to make homes, to develop a state according
to a certain idea of public policy and morality, which from the start in-
curred for them the most strenuous persecution. They exercised a natural
right in settling upon these prairies, and came in spite of the fact that cer-
tain convictions they held brought them warnings not to come, which upon
their settlement grew into threats that they must leave or be destroyed.
The result was repeated violence, met for years on the part of the settlers
by the most patient endurance of outrages, without resentment or reprisal.
Is there another instance in history where a people having every moral, po-

254 Kansas State Historical Society.

litical or property right, outraged so frequently by mobs of illegal voters
and armed bodiesdeterminedupon their destruction, and who having endured
this for six or seven years have, with a meekness unparalleled, done so little
in the way of violence to get even when the tide turned and help came?

"War is hell," we are told, and we know that on the outbreak of our
Civil War the worst devils, encouraged by the success of those who had for
years persecuted Lawrence, gathered on the border line between Kansas
and Missouri. By 1861 every line had been broken down. The spirit which
prompted the persecution of Lawrence sought the life of the government,
and the devil likewise got in his work under the guise of loyalty. If there
was any idea promulgated or principle established, or at least exposed, dur-
ing the war on the border, it was the doctrine of total depravity and origi-
nal sin. The outrages started in 1854 grew, and grew, and grew, termi-
nating in a nation on fire, and what was intended to be the total final
destruction of Lawrence, on the 21st of August, 1863.

It has been a frequent remark with me that, if I was a millionaire I
would come down here and dot this town all over with bronze, granite and
marble tablets and shafts. I look with pride upon the fact that Lawrence
did nothing to justify her afflictions, and so little when opportunity came to
secure revenge. These emblems of remembrance are justly due those who
lived here and who suffered. They suffered and died because they were a
part of Lawrence. They were citizens killed in their homes, and not
soldiers. The surprise and massacre at Baxter Springs was reasonable, be-
cause the victims were soldiers, armed and in the service. But the citi-
zens of Lawrence died in accordance with the threats made in 1854,
that they would not be tolerated in the territory. Probably ninety-five per
cent of them never harmed a man to the extent of a dollar, and were as
innocent of any raids upon other people, as soldiers or robbers, as an unborn
child. They did not die and all this property was not destroyed because
some irresponsible citizen, operating under the cloak of war or the lawless
conditions established by the persecutors of Lawrence, stole a horse or two
from the enemy, burned a house, or killed a man for the fun of it. They
would not have so died if they had remained in the East or if they had settled
in some other town. No; they died because they were a part of Lawrence.
All the remembrance and love possible for you to bestow is their due.

Times are growing better and the people are getting closer together all
the time. The hatred of the early days has practically disappeared. We
can attend Confederate reunions and listen to the talk with the utmost
complacency and friendly feeling; we can note and appreciate their memo-
rials and monuments— they stand for heroic service in what they believed.
We have them among us enjoying every advantage and success which comes
from peace and a strong and helpful government, and to- day we find no
fault with them. Radical Kansas has been more liberal than some other
sections of the country. But amid this glorious tendency there is one thing
left to rankle a Kansan, and that is the annual Quantrill reunion over the
Ime. The shamelessness of such a reunion is its worst feature. It is, how-
ever, the last flickering relic of the barbarism which prompted the repeated
and practically unresisted outrages upon Lawrence prior to 1861. But this
Bole annoyance will soon pass away. The record of Quantrill and his fol-
lowers, however, should not be permitted to pass into oblivion. It is im-
possible to-day to find a Kansas man who boasts of outrages committed in

Memorial Monuments and Tablets in Kansas. 255

Missouri during the war— there was no such thing prior to the war— but you
will hear the bitterest denunciation. Neither is there a set of Kansas men
to hold a reunion commemorating some outrage perpetrated by our citizens.
The civilization for which Lawrence stood has won out, and these markers
are set not in animosity, but through motives of patriotism and pride that
the record of our predecessors is so little tarnished, and as a token of love
and remembrance for those who have gone before.

The object of a monument or tablet is to give emphasis to the better
side of an act or controversy, and by no means to perpetuate the unpleasant.
Memorials to heroic deeds or persons have prevailed in all climes and
among all peoples since the race began. In ancient times great extrava-
gance prevailed in monuments, arches and memorial buildings. In some in-
stances purposes and motives might be criticized as vainglorious and of
questionable taste and judgment from our viewpoint; but the fact remains
that they were at all times the emphatic and enthusiastic expression of
peoples in the light they had. In the United States, at the beginning of the
last century, the memorial idea first appeared, but it was left to the wealth
of the last fifty years to fill our cities and cemeteries with statues and
memorials of which any people might be proud. The Daughters and Sons
of the American Revolution were almost entirely organized to rescue from
oblivion places and incidents made interesting to every lover of his country
during the Revolutionary war for independence, and they have not only
covered the East with markers suggested by that period, but have also con-
tributed to the preservation of the record of those enterprises and events
which show the westward growth of the nation.

One of the most remarkable monuments in the world is of recent con-
struction, and stands three miles above the ocean on the summit of the
Andes on the boundary line between Chili and Argentina. It is a colossal
statue of Christ, cast from old Spanish cannon, and dedicated to eternal
peace. It commemorates the conclusion of a treaty of peace and arbitra-
tion between these two spirited nations, and was set up March 13, 1904.
We should remember that the misguided of fifty years ago were not all
Missourians. Let these markers be dedicated to eternal peace, as well as
to the patriotism, patience and forbearance of your forefathers.

It has been only within the past twelve or fifteen years that any special
effort along this line has been made in Kansas. But there is a growing in-
terest, and, with our $2,500,000,000 tax roll, we ought to move more rapidly,
not only in what individual enterprise might do, but what the state should
do. We cannot live without sentiment. More should be done to encourage
it. The State Historical Society has had three applications in the past year
from patriotic and historical organizations in the East for a statement of
what has been done towards the marking of historic spots in Kansas.

There are many minor soldiers' monuments in the various cemeteries of
Kansas of which we have learned. Post 180, at Garnett, has a $500 monu-
ment erected by that post with funds furnished by the county; post 42, at
Marion, built a $150 monument; and at Manhattan the post secured a large
fliege gun and the W. R. C. raised the funds to properly mount it; at Cher-
ryvale, post 142 erected a monument sixteen feet high, built of Bedford
limerock, costing $230, obtained by one-dollar donations, principally from
old comrades; at Wichita the soldiers have a 7000-pound, 11-inch Columbia
gun, properly mounted; at Belle Plaine, post 337 has erected a monument

256 Kansas State Historical Society.

sixteen feet high, costing $250, raised by popular subscription; post 380,
National Military Home, has a $150 monument erected by the Ladies of the
G. A. R. and the children of Leavenworth, in memory of Thomas Brennan;
post 451, of Bluff City, has a 12- foot shaft representing a tree (Comrade
A. B. Work left by will $150 to apply to the cost of this monument) ; post
49, at Girard. is the custodian of a granite monument eighteen feet high,
built at a cost of $500 by the W. R. C, and by deed transferred to the post;
the Corps at Wilder also erected a monument at a cost of $100. Oread cem-
etery, two miles southwest of Lawrence, was located in 1854, and in it there
has been a small marker placed to several pioneer soldiers, at a cost of $100.
The walls of the chapel at Fort Leavenworth are literally covered with ele-
gant and costly tablets in memory of officers who gave their lives in the
Indian service on the frontier. There are a great number of rich memorial
windows in churches, but they are personal or family, and not public ex-
pressions.

Listed below are the more important and historically significant markers
thus far placed in Kansas, given in the order of their construction or dedi-
cation :

On the 3d of August, 1855, Maj. E. A. Ogden, constructing quartermaster
in charge of the building of Fort Riley, died of cholera, incurred in nursing
his private soldiers and laborers. Fifteen died on the same day. The dis-
ease developed on August 1, and by the 6th between 75 and 100 had died.
Major Ogden's remains were later taken to New York, but on the highest
knoll in the reserve, overlooking the post, now a beautiful modern city, and
the valley of the Kansas, Smoky Hill and the Republican for miles around,
stands a monument erected to him by quarrymen, teamsters, stonecutters
and laborers.

In the spring of 1876, when preparations were being made for the exhibit
at the Centennial at Philadelphia, Alfred Gray, then in charge, found that
all the buildings there, except the Kansas building, were to be furnished with
fountains, and that Kansas must have a fountain or we would never be in
it. The ladies of Topeka gave theatricals and dances and suppers until
they had raised $1000. This sum was used to purchase the fountain. Dur-
ing all that marvelous show this fountain furnished spray and coolness to
thousands upon thousands who visited that building, and many who were
caught up and later transplanted to Kansas. In 1874 the grasshoppers had
been charged with devastating Kansas, and that winter and the spring of

1875 beggars overran the country in the name of Kansas. But 1875 ended
with a record-breaking crop, which enabled the state at the exposition of

1876 to beat the world. This was the first and greatest stroke for Kansas.
At its close the fountain was brought back and continued its refreshing
labors in front of the statehouse in Topeka until permitted to freeze up.
For a few years following it remained in a junk-pile in the cellar of the
statehouse, when A. B. Quinton borrowed and repaired it, and for a few
years past it has been doing duty in a small park at Twelfth and Topeka
avenues, Topeka. This fountain not only represents the enthusiasm of the
women of Topeka for the proper representation of Kansas atfthe Centennial,
but it was participant in and witness of a display of great utility to the
state.

August 30, 1877, on the twenty-first anniversary, a monument at Osa-

Memorial Monuments and Tablets in Kansas. 257

watomie was dedicated to those killed in the battle at that place August 30,
1856. It is called the John Brown monument, although at first it was not
so designed. Charles Robinson, John J, Ingalls, Dudley C. Haskell, James
Hanway, D. R. Anthony and John Ritchie made addresses on the occasion.
The names of Theron Parker Powers, Charley Keiser, David R. Garrison,
George W. Partridge and Frederick Brown, are inscribed upon it. William
Williams was also killed by the ruffians in their retreat from the town. It
was erected by a local monument association, and its dedication was attended
by 10,000 people. The inscription reads: " In commemoration of those who,
on the 30th of August, 1856, gave up their lives at the battle of Osawatomie
in defense of freedom." The following additional inscription was an
afterthought— gave direction to the speeches and excited almost world-
wide comment: "This inscription is also in commemoration of the heroism
of Capt. John Brown, who commanded at the battle of Osawatomie, August
30, 1856; who died and conquered American slavery on the scaffold at
Charleston, Virginia, December 2, 1859."

Fifty years ago on the 19th of last May the Marais des Cygnes tragedy
occurred in Linn county. Eleven free-state men were gathered from their
fields, placed in line and fired upon by a body of proslavery men led by
Charles A. Hamelton, a Georgian. Five were killed, five wounded, and one
escaped. Two stones stand in the gulch five miles northeast of Trading
Post, showing the ends of the line of the victims, and a splendid monument
in a cemetery marks their graves. For this monument the legislature of
1883 appropriated $1000. This massacre has been immortalized by Whittier's
beautiful poem, "Le Marais du Cygne."

Marysville probably erected the first soldier monument in Kansas. It is
the usual statue of a soldier, with his gun at "order arms," made of Ver-
mont marble, mounted on a base of native stone about six feet high. It
cost $1350, not including the labor of constructing the base. The money
was raised by G. A. R. post No. 9, by giving pubHc entertainments. There
is a tablet on each side for inscription, one only being used. The inscription
is as follows : "An acknowledgment of the debt which mankind owes to the
heroes who fought to maintain the integrity of our national Union, and pre-
serve to the world a government founded upon liberty and equality." It is
the purpose to use the other tablets in time, and a friend suggests for one :
"God has been good to Liberty's nation."

In the Topeka cemetery stands a handsome monument to Alfred Gray,
for which the legislatures of 1881 and 1883 appropriated $1500, in recognition
of his services in establishing the work of the State Board of Agriculture,
and thereby attracting a vast emigration to our prairies.

In 1889, at the instance of Senator P. B. Plumb, the United States gov-
ernment removed to the Mound City cemetery the bodies of the soldiers
killed at Mine creek in resisting the invasion of Gen. Sterling Price's army.
It also erected a monument, six feet by six feet at the base, and eighteen
feet high, including a figure of a private soldier in full uniform standing
with "arms at rest." There is also a flagstaff on the grounds erected by
the government. The ground occupied by the cemetery was deeded to the
United States, and Mound City agreed to keep it in good condition. The
monument cost $2000, besides transportation and setting. There are forty-
five soldiers buried in the tract, among them Col. James Montgomery and

—9

258 Kansas State Historical Society.

Maj. John T. Snoddy. The inscription is as follows: "Erected by the
United States, 1889. In memory of the officers and soldiers buried within
this cemetery, who gave their lives in defense of the Nation."

Fort Leavenworth has a beautiful memorial to Gen. Ulysses Simpson
Grant, in the form of a bronze statue of the great soldier