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THE 

Kansas Historical 
Quarterly 



KIRKE MECHEM, Editor 
JAMES C. MALIN, Associate Editor 



Volume III 
1934 

(Kansas Historical Collections) 
VOL. xx 



Published by 

The Kansas State Historical Society 

Topeka, Kansas 
15-6674 



722fi8 



Contents of Volume III 



Number 1 February, 1934 

PAGE 

A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EARLY KANSAS Robert Taft, 3 

FERRIES IN KANSAS: Part II Kansas River Concluded. .George A. Root, 15 

A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT OF THE KANSAS SITUATION, 1856-1857: The 
Letters of Lieut. Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S. A., 

Edited by William Stanley Hoole, 43 

WILLIAM C. HOOK: Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals of the 
United States Thomas Amory Lee, 69 

HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS AND PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENTS. .0. W. Mosher, Jr., 86 

THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing the Report of the Executive Com- 
mittee; Report of the Secretary and Treasurer; Election of Officers, 

Kirke Mechem, Secretary, 91 

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 105 

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . Ill 



Number 2 May, 1934 

PAGE 

FERRIES IN KANSAS : Part III Blue River George A. Root, 115 

A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT OF THE KANSAS SITUATION, 1856-1857: The 
Letters of Lieut. Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S. A. Concluded, 

Edited by William Stanley Hoole, 145 

CAMP BEECHER Hortense Balderston Campbell, 172 

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY, 

Compiled by Helen M. McFarland, Librarian, 186 

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 207 

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 223 



Number 3 August, 1934 

PAGE 

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY Theo. H. Scheffer, 227 

FERRIES IN KANSAS: Part IV Republican River George A. Root, 246 

A TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES IN KANSAS AND THE INDIAN TERRITORY 

IN 1870 William Nicholson, 289 

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 327 

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 336 



Number 4 November, 1934 

PAGE 

FERRIES IN KANSAS: Part V Solomon River George A. Root, 339 

A TOTJR OF INDIAN AGENCIES IN KANSAS AND THE INDIAN TERRITORY IN 
1870 Conclusion William Nicholson, 343 

THE GOMPERS-ALLEN DEBATE ON THE KANSAS INDUSTRIAL COURT, 

Domenico Gagliardo, 385 

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 396 

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 411 

ERRATA IN VOLUME III 412 

INDEX TO VOLUME III 413 

(iv) 



THE 

Kansas Historical 
Quarterly 



Volume III Number 1 

February, 1934 



PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT 

W. C. AUSTIN. STATE PRINTER 

TOPEKA 1934 

15-2718 



Contributors 

ROBERT TAFT is associate professor of chemistry at the University of Kan- 
sas, Lawrence. 

GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society. 

WILLIAM STANLEY HOOLE, a grandson of Lieut.-Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S. A., is 
an assistant graduate instructor at Duke University, Durham, N. C. 

THOMAS AMORY LEE was president 1 of the Kansas State Historical Society for 
the year ending October, 1933. He is a Topeka attorney. 

O. W. MOSHER, JR., is associate professor of history at the Kansas State 
Teachers College of Emporia. 

NOTE. Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without re- 
gard t,o their importance. 



A Photographic History 
of Early Kansas 1 

ROBERT TAFT 

THE influence of American photography upon the social and 
political growth of our country has never been traced, and for 
some years the writer has been accumulating facts and materials 
bearing upon this thesis. In making the search for such material, 
thousands of photographs have been examined and the importance 
of many of these photographs, as historic records, apart from their 
interest as illustrations of the development of photography, has been 
more and more impressed upon the writer. History, by means of 
photographs, is by no means new, and is well illustrated by that 
monumental series of volumes, The Photographic History of the 
Civil War. That this method has not been employed more exten- 
sively is surprising, and may be due, in part, to the lack of knowl- 
edge which the historian and writer possesses of the history of 
American photography. 

To be specific, the photographs available in the Kansas State 
Historical Society as important historic evidence are practically 
unknown, even among professional historians. The particular 
object of this paper is not to present an exhaustive photographic 
history of the state, however, but to call attention to such material 
as it exists and to emphasize the importance of the photographic 
method of recording history and the value of adding similar material 
by donations from interested individuals who possess photographs 
of historic value. 

The development of American photography may be briefly out- 
lined by the following chronology: 

Sept. 21, 1839 The beginning of photography in America. 2 

1840-1860 The era of the daguerreotype, or photographs on 

silvered copper. 

1849 The introduction of photography on glass. 

1853 The beginning of commercial wet-plate photography 

in the United States. 
July 4 and 11, 1854 Issuance of patents to J. A. Cutting, covering the 

ambrotype. 

1. The present paper is a revision of an illustrated lecture presented by the author at the 
annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society, October 17, 1933, under the title, 
"A Pictorial History of Early Kansas." The author is indebted to Dr. F. C. Gates, editor 
of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, for permission to use the plate which 
accompanies this article. The plate was originally published in the Transactions, v. XXXVI, pp. 
36-40 (1933), under the title "Old Photographs A Review of American Photography in the 
Period 1839-1880" written by the author of the present article. 

2. The data upon which this table is based have been obtained by the writer through an 
extensive examination of the scientific, photographic, and patent literature of the period, and 
will be discussed in detail in a forthcoming publication. 

(3) 



4 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Feb. 19, 1856 Patent to H. L. Smith for tintype, variously known 

as melainotype and ferrotype. 
1859 Introduction of carte de visite photographs in the 

United States. 
1866 Introduction of cabinet photographs in the United 

States. 

1880 Beginning of modern gelatin dry-plate photography. 

1881 Patent issued to F. E. Ives for half-tone process. 

From this table it is apparent that it would have been possible to 
have a complete photographic record of the development of our 
state from the early 1850's down to the present. A preliminary 
search for photographs of the 1850's and 1860's shows that photo- 
graphs of individuals and scenes important in the development of 
the state have been made. How many are existent to-day is another 
question. 

The earliest photographs taken in Kansas, which I have found 
mentioned as yet, were those made by S. N. Carvalho on Col. John 
C. Fremont's expedition of 1853 and 1854. Carvalho described 
his experiences with this expedition in a discursive book, Incidents 
of Travel and Adventure in the Far West, published by Derby and 
Jackson, New York, 1859. According to Carvalho, the first photo- 
graphs of this expedition were made "near Westport, a few miles in 
the interior," on September 17 or 18, 1853. Whether "the interior" 
referred to lay in Kansas or Missouri is uncertain. If it were in 
Kansas the dates mentioned above may mark the beginning of 
photography in Kansas. In addition, it is interesting to note that, 
if this locality lay in Kansas, on these dates, without doubt, the 
first photographic contest in the state took place. It appears that 
Colonel Fremont had given a Mr. Bomar, also a "photographist," 
permission to accompany the expedition at least as far as Westport. 
Bomar made his photographs on waxed paper negatives, according 
to a process developed by the Englishman, Talbot. Carvalho se- 
cured his photographs as daguerreotypes. Fremont requested that 
at Westport both types of photographs be made so that he could 
choose between the processes. According to Carvalho, "In half an 
hour from the time the word was given my daguerreotype was made ; 
but the photograph could not be seen until the next day, as it had 
to remain in water all night, which was absolutely necessary to 
develop it." Since much water and time were necessary for the 
paper negatives, Fremont decided to leave Mr. Bomar and his outfit 
at Westport, and Carvalho was chosen to accompany the expedition 
westward. 



TAFT: PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EARLY KANSAS 5 

From the discussion it is evident that a number of daguerreotypes 
were made in Kansas by Carvalho. Unfortunately, although I have 
made an extended search, none of these daguerreotypes or their 
photographic copies appear to be extant to-day. They were prob- 
ably destroyed by the fire in which the Fremonts lost many of their 
personal effects, as described by Mrs. Fremont in the introduction 
to Colonel Fremont's memoirs. 

There are records of daguerreotypists working in Kansas slightly 
after this date. Among these may be mentioned Rankin, 3 Needles, 4 
Barker and Gregg 5 of Leavenworth, Boles and DaLee 6 of Lawrence, 
and Hathaway, 7 of Weston, Mo., all of whom practiced before 1860. 

Surviving portrait daguerreotypes and ambrotypes made by these 
men in this period (1854-1860) are much more common than are 
photographs of views or incidents. Among the latter class there are 
two outstanding in the collections of the Kansas State Historical 
Society. The first of these is a daguerreotype view of a Free State 
battery, taken at Topeka in 1856. 8 The daguerreotype, when found 
by the writer, was in a badly corroded condition, but by chemical 
treatment was restored so that it now constitutes an interesting 
and valuable historic record. 

The photograph shows the cannoneers, their tent, ammunition 
and considerable landscape. This daguerreotype, I believe, is the 
earliest Kansas photograph in the collection of the Historical Society. 

The second photograph, previously referred to, is an ambrotype 
of the Doy rescue party. 9 This was made at Lawrence, in the 
summer of 1859, by A. G. DaLee. 10 

That other view photographs of this period were made cannot 
be questioned. For example, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 

3. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, March 9, 1855. 

4. Information from a lithograph published in 1857; now in Lawrence room, University 
of Kansas library. 

5. Leavenworth City Directory, 1859-1860, p. 22. 

6. A. G. DaLee was a pioneer photographer of Lawrence, beginning business there in 1858. 
He was wounded in the Quantrill raid and left Lawrence for several years following the raid. 
He eventually returned and practiced his profession in Lawrence until his death. He died 
while on a vacation at Colorado Springs, Colo., on August 4, 1879. (Lawrence Daily Journal, 
August 6, 1879.) Thanks are due Mrs. A. P. Fey, of Lawrence, a daughter of Mr. DaLee for 
a portion of the above information. The Philadelphia Photographer, v. XVI, p. 287 (1879), 
in announcing Mr. DaLee's death, states that he was "considered the best photographer west 
of the Mississippi, as well as a man of sterling character." The first advertisement of J. 
Boles appears in the Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, December 5, 1857. 

7. Hathaway's first advertisement appeared in the Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, 
November 3, 1854. As Weston was across the river from Fort Leavenworth, Hathaway must 
have been patronized by the early citizens of Leavenworth, as well as the soldiers from Fort 
Leavenworth, and may even have come into Kansas to do photographic work. 

8. Date and description from the record furnished by the donor of the daguerreotype. 

9. For an account of the Doy rescue see J. B. Abbott, Kansas Historical Collections, v. IV, 
p. 312. 

10. Theodore Gardner, Kansas Historical Collections, v. XVTI, p. 851. Gardner refers to 
the photograph as "an old-fashioned daguerreotype." Ambrotypes are frequently mistaken 
for daguerreotypes. 



6 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

for October 4, 1856, contains two woodcut prints of Kansas interest 
stated to have been copied from daguerreotypes. The first of these 
is a group of Free State prisoners, including Gov. Charles Robinson 
and John Brown, Jr., among others, which is stated to have been 
copied from a daguerreotype made for Mrs. Robinson. The second 
shows a broad panorama of Kansas landscape and is entitled "U. S. 
Troops, near Lecompton, Kansas, Guarding Free State Prisoners, 
from a daguerreotype made expressly for this paper." The originals 
of both of these valuable daguerreotypes, if still in existence, would 
be a welcome addition to the records of the Kansas State Historical 
Society. 

During the sixties of the Civil War I have little information as 
yet of photographic interest. The number of photographers in the 
state was doubtless increasing, and many photographs were doubt- 
less taken, of which some surely have survived. The only one with 
which the writer is familiar is a view of Poyntz avenue, Manhattan, 
in the early sixties. It is of considerable interest, as it shows an 
emigrant train, pulled by the familiar oxen of the period, headed 
west through the main street of the town. This photograph is well 
known in the state as it was reproduced lithographically in post- 
card form some twenty-five or thirty years ago. 

The development of western railroads at the close of the Civil 
War naturally focussed attention upon the West and its appearance, 
and demand was made for authentic photographs of this portion of 
the country. As a result, a number of photographers came west. 
I will describe the work of only one of these photographers, as it is 
of especial interest to Kansans. 

The photographer in question was Alexander Gardner of Wash- 
ington, D. C. Gardner was a Scotchman brought to this country 
in the fifties by Mathew B. Brady, 11 without doubt the most w.idely 
known photographer this country has produced. 

Gardner achieved considerable reputation in his own right as a 
photographer and in 1863 opened his own gallery in Washington, 
D. C., and is probably best known from several excellent photo- 
graphs of Lincoln. 12 Gardner also followed the Army of the Poto- 
mac during the Civil War. 13 

11. Lanier, Reviews of Reviews, v. XLIII, p. 307 (1911). 

12. The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln, F. H. Meserve. Privately printed, New York, 
1911. 

13. Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, v. 1 and 2. Philip and Solomon's, 
Washington, D. C., publishers, no date. The Library of Congress copy bears the accession 
date of 1868. 




SOME GARDNER PHOTOGRAPHS OF 1868 

1. Fort Leavenworth (No. 51 in the Gardner series), showing clearly the very ex- 
tensive nature of this military establishment which was the supply depot for manv 
frontier outposts and expeditions. 

2 Massachusetts street, Lawrence, five years after the Quantrill raid (No 34 of the 
Gardner series). 

t ?u The University of Kansas when two years old. The Kaw river is seen to the left 
he building and a part of the town of Lawrence to the right (No. 38 in the Gardner 



4. Walnut street, Ellsworth. The town in its infancy, for it was not more than a 
year or two old when this photograph (No. 143 of the Gardner series) was made. 

5. Manhattan, (No. 96 of the Gardner series). 

6 - The Union Pacific, E. D., under construction the end of the track, twenty miles 
west of Hays when photographed (No. 152 of the Gardner series). 

7. Poyntz avenue, Manhattan, looking west (No. 97 of the Gardner series). 



TAFT: PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EARLY KANSAS 7 

In 1868 Gardner came west 14 and obtained a number of photo- 
graphs along the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, 15 which at that 
time was under construction in Kansas. 

The Kansas State Historical Society is fortunate enough to pos- 
sess a fairly complete set of these photographs in the form of stereo- 
graphs, the individual prints of which are approximately three inches 
square. Gardner, however, as was quite common in the expedi- 
tionary photography of that day, also made larger photographs 
(8" x 10" and 11" x 14", see Reference 14) in addition to the stereo- 
scopic views. It is unfortunate that none of these are in the archives 
of the Society. 

As these Gardner photographs depict towns, scenes and institu- 
tions of this state some sixty-five years ago they constitute an 
exceedingly important set of historical documents. In fact, the 
writer regards this set as the most valuable, historically, of all the 
fifteen thousand photographs possessed by the Kansas State His- 
torical Society. 

While nearly the entire set deserves reproduction in some form in 
which they could become better known to the citizens of the state, 
the expense of such an undertaking is at present prohibitive. In 
lieu of such reproduction the writer has compiled a detailed cata- 
logue of the Gardner set, so that the set may become better known. 
While it is realized that a catalogue is not exciting reading, yet I 
venture to say that if anyone interested in Kansas history reads 
the entire compilation he will be astonished to find that such photo- 
graphs exist, and a desire will be created to see the actual prints 
themselves. In the event that the reader is fortunate enough to 
view these series it is recommended that they be examined stereo- 
scopically. The stereoscope produces a sense of perspective and 
reality that the flat prints do not possess. In addition, stereoscopic 

14. The date is established by two facts: 1. No. 152 of the Gardner series (see catalogue 
included in this paper) shows the end of the track "600 miles west of St. Louis." As Hays 
City was "580 miles west of St. Louis" this would place the end of the road 20 miles west 
of Hays at the time the photograph was taken. According to "The Kansas Pacific," by 
Virginia B. Ream (Master's thesis, University of Kansas, 1920), the Union Pacific, Eastern 
Division, was at Hays City in the spring of 1868, p. 32. 2. Gardner's photographic expedi- 
tion to Kansas was described in the Philadelphia Photographer, v. V, p. 129 (1868). The 
item reads: "A very interesting collection was shown (to the Philadelphia Photographic 
Society) taken on the line of Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, by Mr. A. Gardner 
of Washington, D. C., and were loaned by Mr. Josiah C. Reiff, of Philadelphia. The sizes 
range from 8x10 to 11x14, and include Fort Harker, Fort Riley, Abilene, Junction City, 
Salina, and other towns of Kansas. Many of them are views of the Plains. Thanks were 
tendered Mr. Josiah C. Reiff of U. P. R. W., E. D." 

15. Ream (cf. Reference 14) states that the original name of this railroad was "The 
Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western R. R." In 1863 it was changed to "The Union Pacific 
Railroad, Eastern Division." Eastern Division in order to distinguish it from its northern 
competitor. In 1868, it was changed to "The Kansas Pacific Railroad." In 1880, it became 
part of the Union Pacific Railroad System and is now known to Kansans simply as "The 
Union Pacific." 



8 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

examination eliminates in a considerable measure many of the de- 
fects, both photographic and mechanical, which the prints possess. 

A CATALOGUE OF THE GARDNER STEREOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION 

OF THE KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

The collection numbers some 150 different views. They all bear, 
on the reverse side from the prints, the following information: 
"From Gardner's Photographic Art Gallery, 511 Seventh street, 
Washington. Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, 
Eastern Division." In addition, they bear a serial number, the title, 
and a distance expressed in miles "west of St. Louis, Mo." The 
catalogue given below gives Gardner's serial number (all are called 
by Gardner, "Class D"), the title with Gardner's spelling, and the 
number of miles west from St. Louis, which for the sake of brevity 
is expressed simply as the number of miles. This series of stereo- 
scopic views was acquired by purchase by the Kansas State Histor- 
ical Society in 1930 from Miss Crete Rose, of Lanham, Md. Miss 
Rose stated that this set of views had been in her family since her 
father's childhood. 

Mi. west of 
No. Title St. Louis 

8. State Line Hotel, Kansas 284 

9. Railbridge Across Kansas River at State Line, Kansas 284 

10. Great Bend, Missouri River at Wyandotte, Kansas 286 

11. Farm House, Near State Line, Kansas 286 

12. Hotel de Button, State Line, Kansas 284 

13. Wyandotte, Kansas 286 

14. Railroad Shops, Wyandotte, Kansas 286 

15. Railroad Yard at Wyandotte, Kansas 286 

16. Office, U. Pacific Railway Co., E. D. Wyandotte, Kansas 

16i Same Title as 16 (different view) 

17. Building Bridge across the Kaw at Wyandotte, Kansas 286 

18. View on Kansas River, near Wyandotte, Kansas 286 

18. J. M. Webster and Family, Wyandotte, Kansas 

19. Steamer Mary McDonald at Wyandotte, Missouri River, Kansas. . . 286 

21. View on Kansas River at Turnpike Bridge near Wyandotte, Kansas, 287 

22. View at Stranger, Kansas 311 

23. Indian Farm in Delaware Reservation, Kansas 311 

24. View on Kansas River in Delaware Reservation, Kansas 

25. Depot, Lawrence, Kansas 323 

26. Crandall House at Depot, Lawrence, Kansas 

27. Turnpike Bridge Across Kansas River at Lawrence, Kansas 

28. View Looking Across Turnpike Bridge at Lawrence, Kansas 

29. View on Kansas River from Below Bridge at Lawrence, Kansas 

30. Looking down Kansas River from Turnpike Bridge at Lawrence, 



Kansas 



TAFT: PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EARLY KANSAS 9 

Mi. west of 
No. Title St. Louis 

31. View of Darling's Mills, Lawrence, Kansas (Cattle in foreground) 

32. Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston R. R. Bridge across Kansas 
River, Lawrence, Kansas 

33. View Looking up Kansas River Towards General Dietzler's House 

34. Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, Kansas (Cattle in foreground) 

34. Same Title as 34 (different view) 

35. Eldridge House, Lawrence, Kansas 

36. Lawrence, Kansas. From Mount Oread 

37. Lawrence, Kansas, from Fort Union. State University on the left 

37. Lawrence, Kansas, from Fort. State University on the Left. (Same 
number as above but different view.) 

38. State University, Lawrence, Kansas 

39. Fort Union, Lawrence, Kansas 

39. Same title and number as above but different view 

40. General J. Lane's House, Lawrence, Kansas 

41. House and Well Where Jim Lane Shot Capt. Jenkins, Lawrence, 
Kansas 

42. Waukerusa Valley Looking East from Mount Oread, Lawrence, 
Kansas 

43. Waukerusa Valley (Blue Mount in Distance) from Fort. Lawrence, 
Kansas 

44. View in Waukerusa Valley, Kansas 

45. Fort Scott Road from Mount Oread, Lawrence, Kansas 

46. View Looking Northwest from Mount Oread, Lawrence, Kansas 

47. Cattle Grazing on Mount Oread, Lawrence, Kansas 

48. Depot, Leavenworth, Kansas 309 

49. Leavenworth, Kansas 

50. Government Farm, Leavenworth, Kansas 

51. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 309 

52. Fifth Street, Leavenworth, Kansas 

53. Delaware Avenue, Leavenworth, Kansas 

54. Catholic Cathedral, Leavenworth, Kansas 

55. Public School, Leavenworth, Kansas 

56. View on Top of Pilot Knob, Leavenworth, Kansas 

57. View from Pilot Knob, Leavenworth, Kansas 

58. View in Salt Creek Valley, near Leavenworth, Kansas 309 

59. View on Amphitheatre Road, Leavenworth, Kansas 

59i Photographic Outfit. 

60. Moore's Summit, Kansas, on Branch Road Between Lawrence and 
Leavenworth 309 

61 . View Embracing 12 Miles of Prairie from Moore's Summit, on Branch 
Road Between Lawrence and Leavenworth. . 



62. View from Moore's Summit on Branch Road Between Lawrence and 
Leavenworth 

63. View of Prairie from Moore's Summit 

64. Cattle Yard at Moore's Summit 

66. Depot Tonganoxie on Branch Road Between Lawrence and Leaven- 
worth 309 

67. Tonganoxie on Branch Road 



10 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Mi. west of 

No. Title St. Louis 

68. View at Tonganoxie 

70. Tonganoxie Farm 

71. View of Prairie, near Tonganoxie 

72. Perryville, Kansas 336 

73. Railroad Bridge across Grasshopper Creek, Kansas 

74. View on Grasshopper Creek 

75. View on Road to Grasshopper Creek near Perryville, Kansas 

76. Lecompton, Kansas 338 

77. State House, Lecompton, Kansas 

78. Lane University, Lecompton, Kansas 

79. Ferry across the Kaw at Lecompton, Kansas 338 

80. View at Ferry across the Kaw at Lecompton, Kansas 

81. Well by Wayside near Lecompton, Kansas 

82. Depot at Topeka, Kansas 351 

83. Topeka, Kansas 

84. State House, Topeka, Kansas (under construction) 

85. View at Depot, Topeka, Kansas 

86. Kansas Avenue, Topeka 

87. Lincoln College, Topeka, Kansas 

88. Prairie Hunting, Topeka, Kansas 

89. View on Kansas River, Topeka, Kansas 

90. Pontoon Bridge at Topeka, Kansas 

90. View at Mr. Wetherall's, Topeka Kansas 

91. St. Mary's Mission, Kansas 375 

92. Pottawatomie Indians at St. Mary's Mission 

93. Depot at Wamego, Kansas 388 

94. Lincoln Avenue, Wamego, Kansas 

95. Depot, Manhattan, Kansas 402 

96. Manhattan, Kansas 401 

97. Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 402 

98. Water Tank at Manhattan, Kansas 401 

99. View on Kansas River at Manhattan 402 

100. Big Blue River, Kansas 401 

101. Fort Riley. No Longer an Outpost, Kansas 420 

102. View on Kansas River at Fort Riley, Kansas 

103. Monument to Major Ogden near Fort Riley, Kansas 

104. View in Kaw Valley from Hill above Fort Riley, Kansas 

104^. A Rare Specimen Found on Hill above Fort Riley, Kansas 

105. Junction of Smoky and Republican River, Kansas 421 

106. Railroad Bridge across the Republican, Kansas 

107. Depot at Junction City, Kansas 423 

108. Junction City, Kansas 

109. Packing House, Junction City, Kansas 

110. Stone Sawing Mill, Junction City, Kansas 

111. Quarries at Junction City, Kansas 

112. Trestle Bridge near Abilene, Kansas 447 

113. View on Muddy Creek, Abilene, Kansas 



TAFT: PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EARLY KANSAS 11 

Mi. west of 
No. Title St. Louis 

115. Loading Cattle at MacCoy's Stockyard, Abilene, Kansas 447 

116. Prairie Dog Town, Abilene, Kansas 447 

117. The Mayor of Prairie Dog Town, Abilene, Kansas 

119. Prairie Dog at Prairie Dog Town, Abilene, Kansas 

120. Hotel and Depot, Salina, Kansas 470 

121. Salina, Kansas 

122. Section Men at Salina, Kansas (The extreme distance is five miles 

off) 

123. Trestle Bridge near Fort Harker, Kansas 500 

124. Fort Harker, Kansas 503 

125. View at Fort Harker, Kansas 

126. Ranche at Clear Creek, Kansas (Formerly an overland stage station) 498 

127. Group with Tame Elk at Ranch on Clear Creek, Kansas 

127. Same title as 127, slightly different view 

128. Workmen's Ranch on Alum Creek, Kansas 496 

129. Devil's Bake Oven on Alum Creek, Kansas (Seven miles east of 
Fort Harker) 496 

130. Mushroom Rock on Alum Creek, Kansas 496 

131. View at Mushroom Rock on Alum Creek 

132. View of Mushroom Rock on Alum Creek 

133. Mushroom Rock on Alum Creek 

134. Indian Cave on Mulberry Creek, Kansas 494 

135. Picnic at Indian Cave on Mulberry Creek 

136. Inscription Rock at Indian Cave 

137. The Escort at Indian Cave 

138. Indian Hierglyphic Rock on Smoky Hill River, Kansas (15 mi. 
northeast of Fort Harker) 496 

139. Depot, Ellsworth, Kansas 508 

140. Ellsworth, Kansas 

141. North Side of Main Street, Ellsworth, Kansas 

142. South Side of Main Street, Ellsworth 

143. Walnut Street, Ellsworth 

144. Cattle Fording the Smoky Hill River at Ellsworth, Kansas, on the 
Old Santa Fe Crossing 

145. Bull Train Crossing the Smoky Hill River at Ellsworth, Kansas 

146. Hays City, Kansas 580 

147. Fort Hays, Kansas 

148. U. S. Express Overland Stage Starting for Denver from Hays City, 
Kansas 

149. View on the Plains, Six Miles West of Fort Hays, Kansas 586 

150. View on the Plains, Kansas 585 

151. Construction Train West of Fort Hays, Kansas 

152. "Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way," Laying Track 600 
miles west of St. Louis, Mo 

153. View at Hays City, Kansas 580 

Discussion of each of the stereographs listed above would carry 
us too far afield from the object of the present paper. As a matter 



12 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

of fact, a detailed discussion of each picture and the ramifications 
it suggests would eventually lead to an exhaustive history of the 
state in 1868. The opportunity, however, is too good to be passed 
over completely, and, accordingly, a few will be selected for such 
comments as occur to the author. 

In the first place, it is evident that Gardner did not confine him- 
self to his trip along the main line of the Union Pacific, E. D., 
alone. Side trips to Leavenworth and the country between Leaven- 
worth and Lawrence (Nos. 48 to 71) ; to Lecompton (Nos. 76 to 81) ; 
as well as the excursions from Fort Harker (Nos. 129 to 138), are 
the most noticeable of these. 

In addition it is quite evident that Gardner viewed the country 
with the eyes of an easterner. His titles suggest this many times 
for the broad sweep of prairie and plain evidently impressed him. 
For example, "View embracing twelve miles of prairie," etc. (No. 
61), and the comment "The extreme distance is five miles off" 
(No. 122) show this quite clearly. 

The animals of the country, prairie dogs especially, attracted his 
attention, for he made a number of attempts to photograph them at 
Abilene (Nos. 116 to 119) ; the unusual geologic and archaeologic 
features near Fort Harker (Nos. 129 to 138) were also of interest. 

To the student of the cattle trade (No. 115) "Loading Cattle at 
MacCoy's Stockyard, Abilene," should be of interest; to the student 
of railroads many are of interest. Number 32, for example, shows 
an engine and coal car of the Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston 
R. R., with a group of men. A close examination of the coal car 
(better, "wood" car) shows that "Ottawa" is printed in large letters. 
Apparently it was so called in honor of the town of Ottawa, as this 
road between Lawrence and Ottawa was opened to travel January 
1, 1868. 16 

Of photographic significance we have numbers 28, 59%, and 104%, 
all of which, in addition to other points of interest, show Gard- 
ner's dark room. Gardner, of course, employed the wet process 
for making his negatives. Consequently, along with all other 
photographers of this period, he carried his dark room with him, 
as it was necessary to prepare the plates immediately before use, 
fto expose them while still wet (hence the name "wet process") and 
to develop them before they became dry quite a different story 
from our modern procedure. Exposures were also much longer 

16. A. T. Andreas, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883), p. 339. Coffeyville 
was apparently the nearest this road approached Galveston. It is now part of the Santa Fe 
system and is called locally the "Ottawa branch." 



TAFT: PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EARLY KANSAS 13 

than are required for modern photographic materials, 5 to 30 seconds 
probably being required for his wet plates. The slow speed of the 
negatives is apparent in the movement of figures during the course 
of exposure in quite a number of the prints. 

One further observation of these photographs must suffice. A 
comparison of the photographs of the main streets of Leavenworth, 
Lawrence and Topeka (Nos. 53, 34, and 86) show visually, as is 
already well known, the relative development and size of these 
towns. The population data 17 given below supplement this visual 
information. 

Date Leavenworth Lawrence Topeka 

1860 7,429 1,645 759 

1870 17,873 8,320 5,790 

1880 16,546 8,510 15,452 

1890 19,768 9,997 31,007 

It would be extremely interesting and instructive if there were 
available photographs of such Kansas localities as the Gardner 
series taken at more or less regular intervals. Such photographs 
show not only the structural and social development of the towns 
of the state, but also depict in unmistakable manner the growth of 
physical features. For instance, the writer possesses a series of 
four photographs (taken from approximately the same location) 
over a span of sixty-five years, which show in a most remarkable 
manner the growth of trees in Lawrence. The first of these is a view 
of the town of Lawrence taken by Gardner in 1868 (No. 36) and 
shows the town as practically treeless. 

The second of the series, taken by W. H. Lamon of Lawrence, 
some ten or twelve years later shows young trees well started. The 
third (photographer unknown) taken about 1890 shows the further 
growth of the trees and the last taken in the summer of 1933 from 
the same locality shows little but a sea of leaves and branches. 

In my judgment it would be extremely worthwhile to seek other 
photographs showing similar developments. There are other photo- 
graphs of the period with which I have been dealing probably ex- 
istent. For example, Dr. William A. Bell and Maj. A. H. Calhoun, 
of Washington, made a series of photographs along the Union 
Pacific through Kansas in 1867, 18 Robert Benecke 19 of St. Louis 
was over the same ground, taking a number of 8 x 10 views in 1874 ; 

17. Courtesy of Mr. L. E. Truesdall, chief statistician for population, U. S. Census 
Bureau. The figures are from the official federal censuses for years tabulated. 

18. The Philadelphia Photographer v. IV, p. 266 (1867) ; Harper's Weekly, v. XI, p. 468 
(1867). See also New Tracks in North America, by W. A. Bell, Chapman and Hall, London. 
1869. 

19. The Philadelphia Photographer, v. XI, p. 160 (1874). 



14 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

W. H. Lamon, 20 of Lawrence, photographed extensively over the 
eastern part of the state in the sixties, seventies and eighties; prob- 
ably the most widely known of the early Kansas photographers waa 
Capt. J. Lee Knight, 21 of Topeka, who apparently ranged over the 
entire state, and even west into Colorado, taking a large number of 
views during the early seventies. 

In the last place, the suggestion might be made that even though 
we have an incomplete photographic record of the state at present, 
it would be possible to assemble representative Kansas views of 
several hundred photographs at periods of, say, ten years, thus pre- 
serving in authentic and facsimile fashion evidence of changes in the 
state. Such photographs, to be of the greatest comparative value, 
should be taken from the same location, should be dated, the subject 
inscribed, and catalogued. 

20. W. H. Lamon was trained as a photographer by his brother-in-law, A. G. DaLee, 
already mentioned. Lamon practiced for himself in Lawrence from 1865 to 1886, when he 
removed to California, where he died in 1895. Information from A. T. Andreas, History o) 
the State of Kansas, p. 839, and Mrs. A. P. Fey, of Lawrence, a niece of Mr. Lamon. 

21. Captain Knight came to Topeka August 6, 1867, and established one of the early 
photographic galleries in Topeka. (Topeka Capital, July 1, 1915.) He became county 
clerk (Shawnee county) in 1875 and apparently gave up his active practice of photography 
after that time. Captain Knight's name appears frequently by mention and as contributor in 
the photographic journals of the early seventies. He was a vice-president of the National 
Photographic Association in 1870. 'The Philadelphia Photographer v. VII, p. 241 (1870). 



Ferries in Kansas 
PART II KANSAS RIVER Concluded 

GEORGE A. ROOT 

SMITH'S FERRY, next above Papan's, was the third operated 
within the limits of present Shawnee county. Sidney W. 
Smith, native of Orange county, Vermont, arrived in Uniontown in 
1848. In 1852 he settled on the Kansas river in the south half of 
S. 30, T. 11, R. 15 E., and established a ferry, having landings on 
both sides of the river in the same section which is now a portion of 
Menoken and Mission townships. This location is about a mile 
northwest of the old Baptist mission, which was established in 
the fall of 1847. The ferry boat used by Smith was built at 
Uniontown by Messrs. Kennedy and Freeman, was operated as 
a rope ferry, and was said to be the first rope ferry ever estab- 
lished on the Kaw river above Wyandotte. Kennedy ran the 
boat for Smith for a year, and then became a partner in the busi- 
ness. 268 This ferry was operated for eight years before it was aban- 
doned. A road ran from the mission to the ferry, and the bottoms 
to the west of the mission farm were a favorite camping place for 
the thousands of wagon trains which passed up the valley to this 
crossing. Here they went into camp, letting their stock have a 
needed rest while necessary repairs were being made to their prairie 
schooners. Mr. Langel W. Moore, an old resident of that neighbor- 
hood, who attended school at the old mission, stated that he had 
talked with old Indians who visited the school to see their children, 
that one old Indian, growing reminiscent, said to him, "Me see this 
whole bottom covered with white-topped wagons. Me not know half 
that many wagons in world." 

In the Kansas Tribune, Topeka, September 30, 1858, about two 
and one-half months after the Topeka pile bridge washed out, ap- 
peared the following item: "FERRY ACROSS THE KANSAS. There is a 
good ferry across the Kansas at this place. Mr. Smith, the proprie- 
tor, is an old hand at the business, and promises speedy and safe 
trips. A few months hence and the rebuilding of the Topeka bridge 
will exclude the necessity of a ferry at this place." 

Following is a copy of the bond filed by Mr. Smith for the year 
1859: 

268. Cone, Historical Sketch of Shawnee County, Kansas, p. 12 ; Andreas, History of Kan- 
sas, p. 532. 

(15) 



16 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Know all men by these presents that I, S. W. Smith, as principal and Wil- 
liam Morse & E. C. K. Garvey as sureties all of the county of Shawnee 
and territory of Kansas are held and stand firmly bound to the said county of 
Shawnee in the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) to be paid to the 
said county through any person duly authorized to receive the same, to the 
payment of which we bind ourselves our heirs, executors and administrators 
firmly by these presents. 

Sealed with our seals and dated the 16th day of February A. D. 1859. 

The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas a license has 
this day been granted to the said S. W. Smith by the county board of super- 
visors in and for said county, to establish and maintain a ferry across the 
Kansas river at the city of Topeka, in said county. Now if the said S. W. 
Smith shall so establish and maintain such ferry, agreeably to such license 
and in all respects according to law, then this obligation shall be void and of 
no effect. WILLIAM MORSE (Seal) 

Rec'd and approved this 18th day of E. C. K. GARVEY (Seal) 

February A. D. 1859. F. W. GiLES. 2 ** 9 JOSEPH SMITH (Seal) 

The Topeka Tribune, of April 28, 1859, also contained another 
mention: 

SMITH'S FERRY. The well-known crossing of the Kansas river, six miles 
west of Topeka, Smith's ferry, has lately been resumed by the proprietor of the 
ferry. The landing on both sides of the river is good. Thousands of the Cali- 
fornia emigrants crossed here. Mr. Smith has been in the business for a num- 
ber of years and understands it exactly. See his ferry advertisement. 

The advertisement follows: 

SMITH'S OLD FERRY 

The subscriber announces to the traveling public that he has resumed his 
old Ferry at the crossing of the Santa Fe road from Leavenworth to New 
Mexico, on the Kansas river. This point is well known in the country as the 
most easy and natural crossing on the river, it being on the most traveled 
thoroughfare through to the new gold mines or the Santa Fe settlement, and 
over which the U. S. government trains almost invariably pass. It need only 
be announced that this is the old stand, to insure all the principal crossing of 
those bound to the mountains to southern or any part of western Kansas. 

Rates of ferriage will be as low, and the crossing more convenient, and at- 
tended with less delay than at any other ferry on the Kaw river. 

April 29, '5-m3. S. W. SMITH, Prop'r. 

Two other ferries were started in 1853 in this vicinity, which was 
known as "The Great Crossing." One was by Hiram Wells and John 
Ogee, who established the first and probably the only deck ferry 
boat ever on the Kansas river. Their craft was 10 x 60 feet in size, 
capable of carrying a good-sized load. This ferry was said to be but 
a short distance from the Smith ferry. Joseph and Louis Ogee also 
started a ferry in this immediate vicinity during 1853. It was a 



269. Original document in office of county clerk, Shawnee county. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 17 

partnership affair for a few years, when Louis sold his interest to 
Joseph who continued to run it until 1869. 

The last two named ferries, and Smith's ferry, according to W. W. 
Cone, were located within a quarter of a mile of each other, but 
whether above or below Smith's is not stated. "There was a large 
amount of travel over these ferries. On some days there were no less 
than seventy-five wagons ferried across the river on each boat, mak- 
ing two hundred and twenty-five wagons, with teams, per day. This 
was the California and Oregon emigration." 27 

B. H. Eddy, R. F. D. No. 8, Topeka, has lived in the vicinity of 
"The Great Crossing" for many years. During the fall of 1932 he 
stated to the writer that during his boyhood days he recalled many 
times of having seen remnants of an old ferry cable fastened to a 
good-sized cottonwood tree on the south bank of the Kaw river, 
where the old Oregon trail led to the river. This fragment of cable 
no doubt had seen service on one of the ferries that operated in this 
immediate locality. The Oregon road, on the hills to the south, can 
still be traced in places for several miles, and ruts cut by the wagon 
wheels down the hillside a short distance from the river crossing 
were still visible in the fall of 1933. 

Mr. Eddy also recalled a pontoon bridge that spanned the river 
at the approximate site of the ferry. This was built in 1888 or 1889, 
for the convenience of farmers on the north side of the river who had 
planted many acres to sorghum for the Topeka sugar mill, which was 
located at the western base of Martin's Hill. As this sugar mill was 
short lived, the bridge evidently came to an end about the same time. 

On March 12, 1866, the Pottawatomie Bridge and Ferry Company 
was organized at Topeka, Joshua Knowles, Daniel W. Boutwell, L. 
B. Chamberlain, Dr. D. W. Stormont, and Reuben A. Randlett being 
the incorporators. The principal office of the company was at 
Topeka. The company proposed to establish ferries and bridges on 
the Kansas river between the following-named locations: At a 
point where the eastern boundary of the Pottawatomie reservation 
crosses the Kansas river, thence running west to where range 7, east 
of the sixth principal meridian, crosses the river. The company was 
capitalized at $50,000, with shares $100 each. The charter was filed 
with the secretary of state, March 12, 1866. 271 The eastern limit of 
the charter was in S. 22, T. 11, R. 15, and the western limit was 

270. W. W. Cone, Historical Sketch of Shawnee County , p. 12; Andreas, History of Km- 
stu, p. 587, says the ferries were three or four miles apart, the main crossing being at the 
Baptist mission. 

271. Corporations, v. 1, p. 108. 

22718 



18 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUAKTEBLY 

close to the western limits of present Manhattan. The members of 
this company were identified with the history of Shawnee county 
for many years. Joshua Knowles was prominent in business circles 
and was president of the Topeka Bridge Company; Daniel W. 
Boutwell was a noted scout and messenger for the Union forces 
during the Civil War on the frontier. His son Victor S. Boutwell 
is present foreman of the bindery at the state printing office; Dr. 
D. W. Stormont was one of the outstanding surgeons of his day, 
and the founder and patron of Stormont Hospital, Topeka. Reuben 
A. Randlett, was a resident of Shawnee county as early as 1856. 
He was a contractor and carpenter; took part in the early border 
troubles and was an employee of the state during the early nineties. 
The above company filed the following statement, dated December 
31, 1866, with the secretary of state: 

Capital stock $50,000.00 

Property or assets held by company 5 . 00 

Liabilities, none. 

Receipts of company previous year 15.00 

Expenses during previous year 10.00 

JOSHUA KNOWLES, President. 
L. B. CHAMBERLAIN, Secretary. 

On the line between S. 19 and S. 24, T. 11, R. 13 and 14, but a few 
rods from the mouth of what is now known as Vesper creek, was 
the location of the Pottawatomie Bridge and Ferry Company. A 
stone approach led up from the river at this point, but few if any 
of the residents now living in that locality know any history of this 
enterprise, or how long it operated. This was just one and one-half 
miles below the site of old Uniontown. 272 

On March 13, 1869, the Silver Lake Ferry Company was granted 
a charter by the state. Joseph Saville, E. P. Rino, Eason Johnson, 
I. C. Johnson and William Chilson were incorporators. The com- 
pany was capitalized at $800, divided into two shares of $400 each, 
and had its headquarters at the town of Silver Lake. Their ferry 
was to be "located at a point about 80 perch [rods] below the mouth 
of Silver Lake, on the north side of the Kansas river, in S. 20, T. 11, 
R. 14 E., and on the south side of the river in S. 21, in said twp. 
and range, both in Shawnee county." The boundary of the ferry 
was to extend westwardly up the river two and one-half miles from 
the west line of description, and eastwardly down the river two and 
one-half miles from the east line of described sections. This charter 
was filed with the secretary of state March 13, 1869. 273 

272. This information was furnished by Mr. W. F. Douglas, of Willard, who is farming 
the Widow LePoint farm, on which old Uniontown was located. 

273. Corporations, v. 2, p. 39. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 19 

No license or bond for the operation of a ferry was filed by the 
above company. The next year, however, Joseph Saville and J. N. 
Bourassa obtained a ferry license for this point which granted 
special privileges for three miles up and three miles down the 
river. 274 They filed a $500 bond and started their ferry, their 
charges for the year ending March 1, 1871, being: government 
wagon team, $1; two-horse wagon, 35 cents; one horse wagon or 
buggy, 25 cents; horse and rider, 15 cents; loose horses or cattle, 
10 cents; sheep or hogs, 5 cents. 275 

In 1871 Mr. Bourassa had sole charge of the ferry, 276 and Edward 
Chilson for the next five years, with J. B. Oliver, of Silver Lake, 
as partner in 1874. Their license that year granted exclusive rights 
for a distance of one-half mile each side of their ferry landings. 277 

Apparently this ferry was not operated for the next two years, as 
no licenses were issued by the county. In 1879 Mr. Chilson re- 
established his ferry early in April, the county requiring a bond of 
$200, but issuing a license without cost. 278 

During the fall of 1879 a new company was formed to operate 
the above ferry, and the Topeka Commonwealth of November 9 
contained the following mention: 

The Silver Lake Ferry Company recently organized has taken possession of 
this boat at the crossing, employed a competent man to take charge thereof, 
reduced the rate of ferriage to a low figure, and commenced business under 
favorable auspices. New roads will be laid out and old ones repaired leading 
to the ferry, and every facility afforded the traveling public having occasion 
to cross the Kaw at that point. 

Silver Lake is putting on metropolitan airs, and is fast becoming a promi- 
nent shipping point, and if its merchants and business men get their eyes open 
to their own interests they will now offer such inducements as will draw the 
trade from the adjacent country on the south side of the river. Valencia 
and Plowboy are growing settlements, and are the homes of energetic and 
successful farmers. The grain and stock business is rapidly increasing in those 
localities, and will naturally seek railroad communication at Silver Lake, now 
that the ferry has been put in proper shape to facilitate coming there. 

On July 8, 1880, the Silver Lake Bridge and Ferry Company 
asked for and was granted a license to operate and maintain a ferry 
across the river south of the city of Silver Lake. No license fee 
was required, but the company was required to file a bond for 

274. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book B-C, p. 204. 

275. Ibid., p. 204. 

276. Ibid., pp. 850, 351; original bond on file in Shawnee county clerk's office. 

277. Original bonds in office Shawnee county clerk; Commissioners' Proceedings, Book D, 
pp. 119, 494 ; Book E, pp. 30, 82, 155. 

278. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book E, p. 487. 



20 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

$200. 279 The following year R. A. Ogee filed a bond of $300 for 
operating a ferry near Silver Lake, which was approved by the 
county clerk, and the board of county commissioners authorized that 
official to issue a license without fee. 280 

The second ferry started within the limits of present Shawnee 
county was that of Charles Beaubien and Lewis Ogee, who, in 1849, 
established a ferry from near the mouth of Cross creek, and landing 
on the south side of the river at a point directly opposite. This was a 
pole ferry, and probably the first to start operations above Papan's. 
It ran for three or four years. 281 

Darling's ferry either succeeded the Ogee ferry or was a rival 
jconcern. In 1853 L. K. Darling is listed in the United States Official 
Register as ferryman at the Pottawatomie agency, then located on 
Cross creek at about present Rossville. The ferry at this time is 
described as being located four or five miles above Silver Lake and 
approximately one and one-half miles above old Uniontown, on the 
northwest quarter of S. 15, T. 11, R. 13 E., and a short distance east 
of the "Rocky Ford Crossing." 282 Among those who assisted in 
operating this ferry in 1855-1856 were J. P. Gleich, 283 who in 1855 
took a claim on Mill creek, just north of the Joseph Thoes home- 
stead ; Hilliary Nadeau and Lewis Ogee. 284 Darling had a monopoly 
on the ferry business at this point for a number of years, but with 
immigration came the demand for a ferry at the big bend, and he 
left for the Indian territory, where he went into the hotel business 
at Shawnee. 285 This ferry operated under different ownerships 
till late in the 1860's. During the latter 'sixties a road was laid 
out from Wilmington, in the southeast corner of Wabaunsee county, 
and on to the Santa Fe trail, via Mission creek, to Darling's ferry 
and on to Rossville, 286 where it connected with the Fort Riley 
military road. A branch of a road running from Wabaunsee to 
Topeka reached Darling's ferry via a cut-off in the southeast corner 
of S. 30, T. 11, R. 13 E. 287 

279. Ibid., Book F, p. 46. 

280. Ibid., July 7, 1881, Book F, p. 268. 

281. W. W. Cone, Historical Sketch of Shawnee County, Kansas, p. 13 ; Andreas, History 
of Kansas, p. 589. 

282. Shown on map of the Pottawatomie Reserve lands belonging to the A. T. & 8. F. 
R. R. Co. 

283. John P. Gleich was born in Bavaria in 1829. He landed in New Orleans in 1848, 
where he worked in a blacksmith shop for two years. Cholera becoming prevalent in that 
city he left, and after roaming around for two years came west and took a squatter's claim on 
Mill creek, Wabaunsee county, which he subsequently preempted. He followed farming and 
stock raising, and for many years made his home in Alma. 

284. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 16, p. 732. 

285. Thomson, Early History of Wabauntee County, p. 8S6. 

286. Map of Pottawatomie Reserve lands. 

287. Ibid. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 21 

This point was without ferry accommodations for a time till early 
in 1871. On March 8 the Janes Ferry or Bridge Company was char- 
tered, the incorporators being M. W. Janes, J. H. Durham, H. Klein, 
I. Taylor and A. W. Smith. The company was formed for the pur- 
pose of running or operating a ferry, or building a bridge on the 
Kansas river, within the following boundaries: Commencing on the 
south side of the river at a point where the east line of Wabaunsee 
county crosses the river and extending thence west to the mouth of 
Mill creek, and described within corresponding boundaries on the 
north side of the river in the county of Shawnee. The principal place 
of business of the corporation was at the south landing of the ferry, 
in the county of Wabaunsee. The corporation was to be a perpetual 
one, was to have four directors, those chosen for the first year being 
Herman Janes, of Erie, M. W. Janes, A. W. Smith and J. H. Durham, 
all of Rossville, Shawnee county. The company was capitalized at 
$1,000, with shares $50 each. This charter was filed with the secre- 
tary of state March 9, 1871. 288 

This bridge or ferry site was close to the old Uniontown crossing, 
which was about one and three-fourths miles west of old Union- 
town. 289 

Janes' ferry was licensed to run till July 3, 1872, ferriage charges 
being as follows: two horses and wagon, 25 cents; one horse and 
buggy, 25 cents; man and horse, 15 cents; loose horses or cattle, 10 
cents; footman, 10 cents. 290 

The next ferry up the river was on the north side of the Kaw, on 
S. 7, T. 11, R. 13, about four and one-half miles above Cross creek. 
The north landing was on land owned by James Baldan, in 1873, 
while the opposite landing was in Wabaunsee county. Nothing to 
establish the ownership of this ferry has been located. 291 Baldan 
arrived in that locality in 1855 and was still residing there in 
1876. 292 

St. Marys had the next ferry up the river, but definite infor- 
mation regarding ownership has not been located. According to the 
Wabaunsee County Herald, of Alma, the ferry went into operation 

288. Corporations, v. 3, pp. 200, 201. 

289. Max Greene, in The Kansas Region, p. 43, says: "Next we have Uniontown, a vil- 
lage of log cabins, a mile to the south of the river. Then, Red Bluffs, taking name from the 
peculiar light brown of the soil, which is highly productive. This mulatto color pervades the 
soil to considerable depth and extends for several miles around. Darling's ferry is passed; 
and Mill creek comes splashing and leaping in, like a little mountain river. Nor is its force 
spent in wanton gambols; on it the Pottawatomies have erected a grist mill. And what with 
its belts of trees, and grassy reaches between, and clusters of tall mounds, the Kansas valley 
has no lovelier scene." 

290. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book D, p. 86. 

291. Beers' Atlas of Shawnee County, Kansas, 1873, p. 9. 

292. Cone, Historical Sketch of Shawnee County, p. 13. 



22 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

late in the summer of 1869, and would prove "a great accommoda- 
tion to those living on lower Mill creek. 293 

A Mr. Dunlap was a ferryman at St. Marys in the early seventies. 
His name is mentioned in an undated court manuscript in possession 
of the Kansas State Historical Society. 

In 1871 work was started on a bridge at St. Marys, which was 
completed early the next year. A mention of this bridge from the 
Kansas Reporter, Louisville, February 8, 1872, is as follows: "The 
bridge across the Kansas river at St. Marys is so far completed that 
teams are now crossing on it. It will prove a fine thing for that 
thriving city and community, as well as the people on the opposite 
side of the river." 

St. Marys was on the line of the old California road and also the 
Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley highway. In 1857 A. J. Mead, of 
Manhattan, C. R. Mobly, of Ogden and M. Chapman, of St. George, 
were appointed commissioners to locate and establish a territorial 
road on the nearest and best route from some point on the military 
road near St. Marys mission, in Calhoun county, to Fort Riley, in 
Riley county, 294 by the way of St. George, Manhattan, mouth of 
Wild Cat creek and town of Ogden. The road was to be located and 
established prior to June 1, 1857. 295 

In May, 1933, plans of the United States War Department for a 
Kaw river flood control project called for a dam and ferry across 
the Kansas river west of Topeka. This dam, as formulated in the 
plans, would be located at Kiro, Shawnee county, and would form 
a lake that would extend up the Kaw valley to close to the Potta- 
watomie-Riley county line, 296 with a ferry located at St. Marys. 

The next ferry up the river was at Wamego, about twelve miles 
distant. On October 30, 1866, The Wamego Bridge and Ferry Com- 
pany was formed, J. E. Gregg, J. M. Webster, William D. Wetherell, 
J. Lewis Brown and A. P. McMillan being the incorporators. The 
purpose of the company was to build a bridge over the river, or 
operate a ferry from S. 9, T. 10, R. 10, where a line running through 
the center of section 9 from north to south crosses the Kansas river, 
and to the south bank, with privileges within one mile on each side 
of said line. The principal office of the company was located at 
Wamego, and the capital stock was placed at $1,000, in twenty 

293. Wabaunsee County Herald, Alma, August 6, November 25, 1869. 

294. Fort Riley originally was in Riley county, but changes in county lines subsequently 
placed it in Davis (now Geary) county. 

295. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 180. 

296. Kansas City Times, May 17, 1933. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 23 

shares of $50 each. This charter was filed with the secretary of 
state, November 7, 1866. 297 

In the Topeka Weekly Leader, July 11, 1867, the following notice 
regarding the foregoing company appeared: "Wamego Bridge and 
Ferry Company Notice is hereby given that an assessment of fifty 
per centum on the capital stock of the Wamego Bridge and Ferry 
Company has been levied and that the same is now due and payable 
at the office of the treasurer of said company, at Wamego. Dated 
this 1st day of July, 1867. LEWIS BROWN, Secretary." 

There is some question whether this company ever operated a 
ferry. No further mention of the organization has been found. 

On September 14, 1867, the Wamego Ferry Company was organ- 
ized, Leonard C. Prunty, James L. Prunty, John Prunty, Atchison 
Prunty and J. L. Brown being the incorporators. The principal 
office of the company was located at Wamego. Capital stock 
was placed at $1,000, in 100 shares of $10 each. The company 
proposed to operate a ferry on the Kansas river at or near a point 
on the north bank, in S. 9, T. 10, R. 10, where a line running north 
and south through the center point of the section strikes the north 
bank of the river, and within the limits of one mile on each side of 
this line. This charter was filed with the secretary of state on 
September 16, 1867. 298 This organization lasted less than two years, 
being succeeded by the Wamego Bridge and Ferry Company, a new 
organization. 

The Wamego Bridge and Ferry Company, the second of this 
name, was granted a charter by the state in June, 1869, the incorpo- 
rators being L. C. Prunty and J. L. Prunty of the previous com- 
panies, and H. C. Crawford, J. E. Clardy and James Richey. The 
new company was capitalized at $2,000, shares being listed at $2.00 
each, perhaps with a view of popularizing the new enterprise. The 
ferry location was to be where Lincoln avenue, Wamego, strikes 
the Kansas river, with special privileges for one mile up and one 
mile down the river from this point. This charter was filed with 
the secretary of state, June 4, 1869. 299 

Evidently there had been some dissatisfaction at the manner in 
which the old Wamego ferry had been conducted, which may or 
may not have been the reason for obtaining a new charter. The fol- 
lowing "roast" of this ferry came from a paper in a neighboring town : 

297. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 225, 226. 

298. Ibid., p. 390. 

299. Ibid., v. 2, p. 80. 



24 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The Wamego ferry is not a nuisance. It is always in condition to transfer 
teams, when the boat is not leaky, or the wind don't blow, or the water is 
not too high or too low, or it don't freeze, snow, though [thaw?] or rain. 
If you happen along on any other occasion than those mentioned you will be 
certain to get across, providing you don't come too early or too late, or the 
ferryman is not up in town. A team that we know of, a few days ago, 
happened along at one of those times, and had to go round by Topeka; but 
still, we repeat, the ferry is not a nuisance. 300 

This bit of pleasantry must have gotten under the hide of the ferry 
management, for a week later the same authority indulged in an- 
other dig, as follows : 

Our kind and generous defense of the Wamego ferry last week that it was 
not a nuisance seems to have not been appreciated by the ferry company, but 
on the contrary it appears to have provoked their displeasure a-nd aroused their 
iresome feelings more especially Mr. Prunty's and the Commodore's. We do 
really regret this, as we regard Mr. P. as a gentleman, and as such we dislike 
to forfeit his good opinion. We know, too, that he has been a- warm and fast 
friend of the Herald, and it always did pain us to sever friendships. Now, 
gentlemen, just keep your linen on and don't rend anything, for we are going 
to make another desperate and frantic effort to regain your good will, and since 
you have taken it so much to heart, because we said the ferry was not a 
nuisance, to accommodate you we take it back. The public can just think as 
they did before that the ferry is a nuisance let us have peace. 301 

Early in July, 1869, H. C. Crawford, one of the proprietors, was 
said to be considering the purchase of the ferry. He was spoken of 
as very attentive and obliging to the traveling public and it was 
hoped he would succeed in his undertaking. 302 At this particular 
time the stage of the Kaw was high and Mr. Prunty was having a 
new boat built to run between the island and the Wamego side. 
With a boat on each side of the island at this point, high water, ex- 
cept on extraordinary occasions, would no longer interfere with cross- 
ing. Mr. Crawford, who was operating the ferry boat at the. time, 
was very obliging to those wishing to cross, carrying whole boat 
loads of goods and produce. 303 

Late in December, 1869, running ice in the river at this point 
caused considerable inconvenience by making the river impassable. 
This condition was somewhat irritating to Wabaunsee county people 
who had been using the Wamego ferry in order to do their trading, 
and prompted the Herald to suggest the purchase of the pontoons, 
lately in use at Topeka, by townships on each side of the river. 304 

300. Wabaunsee County Herald, Alma, June 3, 1869. 

301. Ibid., June 10, 1869. 

302. Ibid., July 8, 1869. 

303. Ibid., July 8, 1869. 

304. Ibid., December 23, 1869. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 25 

This ferry was running as late as 1872. 

Beginning with the spring of 1870 a bridge for Wamego was dis- 
cussed, which resulted in the completion of a toll bridge by June 18, 
1872, after which time the ferry ceased to operate. 305 

Louisville, three miles due north of Wamego, and approximately 
four miles from the Kansas river, also had a ferry. This town was 
on the military road running from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley, 
and on Rock creek. It was laid out in 1857 by Robert Wilson and 
named for his son Louis. During Horace Greeley's overland trip in 
1859, he was a guest of Mr. Wilson at his log cabin hotel for several 
days, when the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Stage Line was de- 
tained at this point by high water. 306 Louisville was quite an im- 
portant town for a number of years, having been chosen as the 
county seat in 1861 and holding the county offices until 1882, when 
the county seat was moved to Westmoreland. Several hack lines 
ran out of Louisville one to Wamego, under the superintendence of 
S. B. Young; one to Irving, by 0. J. Denison, and one by way of 
America City to Corning, operated by Jacob Jacobia. 307 

On March 14, 1866, the Louisville Bridge and Ferry Company was 
chartered, John Landon, William P. Douthitt, 308 John G. Otis, 
Joseph L. Huggins and Isaac D. Clapp being the incorporators. The 
company proposed to operate a bridge and ferry over the Kansas 
river at a point between S. 7 and 8, T. 10, R. 10 E., this location 
being about one mile west of the site granted to the Wamego Bridge 
and Ferry Company. Capital stock of the company was placed at 
$75,000, in shares of $75 each. Their charter was filed with the 
secretary of state, March 14, 1866. 309 This ferry, or another, was in 
operation as late as 1872. 

At a historical gathering of Wabaunsee county old settlers at 
Wabaunsee, on August 28, 1932, ferrying was discussed as follows: 

One gentleman who had old memories asked about the ferry here. He 
remembered when it was said there was no conveyance across the river west of 
Topeka. Willard said there was a ferry here but it was not always in opera- 
tion. The' current was so swift that at times it was not practical to get across. 
At Wamego there were two ferries, one from this side to the island and another 
from the island to the opposite shore. His father with team and lumber wagon 
would often find the first inoperative, but would be able to drive across the 

305. Alma Union, May 26, 1870; October 20, December 28, 1871; Kansas Reporter, 
Louisville, June 13, July 4, 1872. 

306. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 17, pp. 460, 461, 488, 499; Andreas, History of 
Kansas, p. 976. 

307. Kansas Reporter, Louisville, October 6, 1870. 

308. William P. Douthitt and John G. Otis were early residents of Topeka; the latter 
was a member of Congress from 1891 to 1893. 

309. Corporations, v. 1, p. 112. 



26 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

first channel and then across the island. From there he would obtain a ferry 
to the shore beyond. The ferries operated by cable. Wabaunsee County 
Truth, Wabaunsee, October, 1932. 

In 1871 work was started on a bridge built by the two townships 
embracing both Louisville and Wamego. This was completed in 
1872, the event being chronicled by a Louisville newspaper: 

DISCONTINUED. The old ferry across the Kaw, that has served the public 
for more than seven years, is at last discontinued, and the boat and fixtures 
have been removed. In its vocation it has served us well, but few, if any, 
accidents having occurred under its management, but it is superseded by the 
superiority of the great over the past, and it must now give way to its more 
desirable successor The Great Iron Bridge. The original wire stretched across 
the river is now for sale by the old ferry company. 310 

Wabaunsee, near the western limits of Wabaunsee county and 
due south of Louisville, was the site of the next ferry, the legislature 
of 1858 granting a license to the Wabonsa and Webster City Ferry 
Company to operate a ferry from Wabonsa, Richardson (Wabaun- 
see) county to Webster City, in Pottawatomie county. The corpo- 
ration included R. H. Wateman, E. C. D. Lines, F. H. Hart, S. M. 
Thomas, H. M. Selder and their associates, who were given a twenty- 
five year charter, with landing places on each side of the river on 
lands adjoining the towns named. The ferry was not required to 
have boats running before July 1, 1858. 311 This company evidently 
operated less than two years, when a new company, sponsored by 
the town company, took hold of things. 

The new organization, known as the Wabaunsee Ferry Company, 
was established by the legislature of 1860, the charter members 
being John N. Nesbit, Charles B. Lines, E. C. D. Lines, William 
Mitchell, Jr., S. M. Thomas, Julius F. Willard and Walker S. 
Griswold, trustees of the Wabaunsee Town Company. This charter 
to run for ten years, provided for ferry landings in the town of 
Wabaunsee on the south side of the river, and on the north side of 
the river in Pottawatomie county at a point convenient for the 
company. 312 

Apparently there was some change in the ferry situation at this 
place in 1866. On April 7, Calvin D. Wheeler, Samuel R. Weed, 
Isaac H. Isbell, J. M. Bisbey and A. C. Cutler were granted a 
charter to operate a ferry across the river at Wabonsa, at the foot 
of Elm street, to be known as the Elm Street ferry. Capital stock 

810. Kansas Reporter, Louisville, June 20, 1872. 

811. Laws, Kansas, 1858, p. 58; original document in Archives division, Kansas State His- 
torical Society. 

812. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, pp. 275, 276. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 27 

of the new company was $500, in shares of $10 each. This charter 
was filed with the secretary of state May 10, 1866. 313 

The old Wabaunsee Ferry Company underwent another reorgani- 
zation in 1866, when a new charter was secured from the state on 
April 14. The new incorporators were Charles B. Lines, J. M. 
Bisbey, C. D. Wheeler, A. C. Cutler, George S. Burt, I. H. Isbell, 
E. J. Lines and Samuel R. Weed. The principal office was located 
at Wabaunsee, and capital stock placed at $1,200, with shares $10 
each. The ferry was to be operated between the west line of the 
Pottawatomie Reserve, where the same crosses the Kansas river, 
thence west on the river to the township line between ranges 9 and 
10. This charter was filed May 16, 1866. 314 

A road, established in 1861, ran from Wilmington, on the Santa 
Fe trail, by way of Wamego to Wabaunsee. G. G. Halls, Jehu 
Dodgson and Edward Krapp, were commissioners appointed to 
establish the road. 315 

St. George, about six miles up the river from Wabaunsee, on 
the opposite side of the river, and about a like distance west of 
Wamego, had the next ferry. On March 14, 1866, James L. Huggins, 
John Landon, William P. Douthitt, and John G. Otis were granted 
a charter under the name of the St. George Bridge and Ferry Com- 
pany. Their ferry was to be located between S. 9 and 10, T. 10, R. 
9 E., in Pottawatomie county. Capital stock of this company was 
placed at $25,000, with shares at $25 each, and the principal office 
was located at Topeka. This charter was filed with the secretary of 
state, March 14, 1866. 316 This company at this time had also ob- 
tained a charter for bridge and ferry privileges at Louisville. 

The foregoing ferry, apparently, was not being operated by 1869. 
Early that year a movement was started to establish a free ferry 
between the counties of Wabaunsee and Pottawatomie. The Alma 
paper favored the project, and said: "It is rumored a free ferry is 
to be established at St. George. There is no place on the river 
between the two counties where there is less obstacles presented 
than at this point." 317 

Work started on the new project at once. A new cable was 
ordered and the building of a ferry boat commenced. The new ferry 
connected with a road running from St. George to Alma, which was 

313. Corporations, v. 1, p. 146. 

814. Ibid., pp. 155, 156. 

815. Laws, Kansas, 1861, p. 248. 

816. Corporations, v. 1, p. 113. 

817. Wabaunsee County Herald, Alma, April 1, 1869. 



28 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

less than fifteen miles long. By June the boat was well under way, 
and the cable for it had arrived at Topeka some time since. Resi- 
dents who were depending on the new ferry grew impatient as time 
elapsed, and the Herald, of Alma, urged that the work be hurried, 
adding: "After you get it done all the travel from this point will 
seek the railroad at your place." 318 This ferry began to function 
early that fall, and the Herald, of November 25, stated that it was 
in good running order and had been for some weeks. The new 
ferry must have infused new life into the town, for the leading news- 
paper of the county just across the river said that St. George was 
going to be a big place right away. It was declared to be at the 
head of navigation on the great Kaw. A steamboat called the St. 
George packet made a few trips up the river and then went down 
and returned no more. 319 

Saint George had the distinction of having the first and only free 
ferry on the Kaw in Pottawatomie county. The stockholders of the 
Saint George Bridge and Ferry Company, after a conference with 
the citizens of the town, late in December, 1870, agreed to give the 
use of the ferry free, providing they would keep everything in re- 
pair. The merchants of the place employed a man to take charge of 
the boat and operated it at their expense, no doubt profiting by this 
arrangement. 320 Just how long the free ferry operated we have not 
discovered, but the probabilities are it was discontinued within a 
year. 

By the middle of June, 1871, the advantages of a steam ferry on 
the river in this vicinity were being discussed. An Alma paper sized 
up the situation thusly : 

There are more than 2,000 people in Wabaunsee county who are interested 
in this matter. This number is increasing at a rapid rate. One of our citizens 
pays $156 a year for ferriage. Others pay, if we mistake not, over $100 a year. 
Other taxes are heavy, but the ferry tax is the heaviest. That town which 
shall take this matter in hand and give our farmers better ferry service at 
cheaper rates will reap a reward worthy of its enterprise. We suggest that 
Wamego take the lead in the matter, and establish a steam ferry at which such 
rates shall be charged as will pay expenses, and nothing more. Give the 
merchants and laboring men of Wabaunsee as near an approach to free trade 
as can be. 

Let not Saint George and Saint Marys wait for Wamego. If they do they 
will lose an advantage it will be hard to regain. 321 

318. Ibid., April 15, May 27, June 23, 1869. 

319. Ibid., September 2, 1869. 

320. Kansas Reporter, Louisville, December 31, 1870. 

321. Alma Union, June 15, 1871. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 29 

Apparently Saint George was without ferry accommodations for 
another year. In August, 1872, James Woods started a new enter- 
prise, which took teams and "passengers across in fine shape," at the 
following rates: double teams, 25 cents; horse and rider, 15 cents; 
footmen, 5 cents, including return trip. 322 

Further history of the ferry has not been located. 

Manhattan, about six miles above Saint George, had the next ferry 
across the Kaw. Just when it was started, and by whom, has not 
been learned. Ferry records prior to April, 1876, could not be con- 
sulted, since the volume containing these early licenses is stored in a 
basement vault in the Riley county court house which has not been 
opened for years. The combination has been forgotten. 

The Manhattan Express of May 21, 1859, has mention of a ferry, 
and it is likely the ferry was in operation much earlier. The next 
mention occurred in the same paper late in the following December: 
"Business at the levee has not been as brisk as usual during the past 
week, owing no doubt, to the cold weather. We rather mistrust that 
navigation is about closed for the season. There are three boats 
now lying at the landing one flat boat and two skiffs all sunk." 

In 1860 the legislature passed an act authorizing John Errick to 
maintain a ferry at that point for five years and to have exclusive 
privileges for one mile up the river and one mile down from the point 
where his ferry was then located. The act also specified that he 
should not be required to pay more than $20 for the first five years, 
and that his ferriage charges should be no less than was charged by 
other ferries in Riley county on the Kansas river. 323 

The exact location of Errick's ferry has not been learned, but from 
the wording of the act just cited, it was going in 1859. 

In answer to an inquiry at the office of the county engineer of 
Riley county, the location of the Manhattan ferry over the Kaw was 
given as S. 17, T. 10, R. 8, this being just a short distance above the 
junction of the Blue and Kaw rivers. 

No further mention of the Kansas river ferry at Manhattan be- 
tween 1860 and midsummer, 1863, has been located. In the latter 
part of August, 1863, a local paper printed the following: 

The last rise in the Kansas river has been playing hobb with ferry arrange- 
ments. A new channel has been cut out this side of the island and a sand bar 
formed near the other shore. Our enterprising and accommodating (?) ferry- 
man seems bound to overcome all difficulties. He has a new boat in on this 
side and the old one repaired for the other. This is an example for all faint- 

822. Kama* Reporter, Louisville, August 22, 1872. 
323. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, pp. 270-271. 



30 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

hearted grumblers to follow. Energy and perseverance will accomplish most 
anything. Who ever heard uncle Lucius complain of high, or low water or 
sand bars? 324 

The ferry was next mentioned in June, 1864, with a Mr. Wood- 
ward in charge. This item gives considerable information regarding 
improvements and changes: 

We happened down to the Kansas ferry last evening, and were surprised to 
see what improvements Mr. Woodward had made. He has constructed piers 
from each bank out into the stream to the distance of several rods, so that it is 
now only about 160 feet from pier to pier. He has also built a causeway from 
the island to the west bank of the river, which seems to be strong and sub- 
stantial. We suggest to the people of Manhattan that as friend Woodward is 
doing so good a work for the town we offer him all the encouragement possible. 
If he can but perfect the work which is so nearly accomplished it will con- 
tribute materially to the prosperity of the town. With a new, good sized boat, 
and a new strong cable the communication with the south side of the river will 
be complete. The channel of the river is made so narrow by the extension of 
the piers that it is thought there can be no danger of sandbars even at the 
lowest stages of the river. 325 

Hoar's ferry was another Manhattan enterprise in operation dur- 
ing the middle 1860's, and may have been started by John Hoar, 
who in 1867 was one of the incorporators of the Manhattan and 
Kansas River Bridge Co. The location of this ferry and further 
history have not been learned. 

As the old ferry company's charter ran for but five years, it was 
probably renewed and still functioned. By 1867, however, there 
sprang up a movement to secure free ferry service. The Independ- 
ent was a strong advocate of the proposition, and in its issue of 
July 27, printed the following: 

A FREE FERRY. An enterprise has been set on foot lately to have a free 
ferry across the Kansas river. This is entirely a practicable undertaking, and 
with a little earnest zeal may be carried into immediate effect. 

Such a proposition as the following has been considered in an informal 
manner : 

First The ferry company to place a new wire cable entirely across the 
river so that a boat can be run at the highest stage of water, and to keep a 
good boat in good condition continually. 

Second The citizens of Manhattan to pay the wages of a ferryman. 

Now there appears to be a general desire on all sides to have this done. 
The only obstacle in the way appears to be a little lack of confidence. 

The ferry company would raise all the needed money in a day, if they 
knew the citizens would subscribe a sufficient sum to employ a first-rate 
ferryman, and the citizens would raise the money to pay the ferryman if 

324. Manhattan Independent, August 24, 1863. 

325. Ibid., June 6, 1864. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 31 

they knew the company would keep the boat, cable and landings in good 
condition. 

Now we urge this course : Let the ferry company go to work immediately, 
and put the boat and cable in first-rate working condition, then authorize 
the trustees to enter into obligations that it shall be kept so. Then let the 
citizens meet and appoint a person, or persons, to take subscriptions on con- 
ditions, obligating the company to pay, (monthly, quarterly or otherwise) 
promptly, the sums subscribed to pay the wages of a ferryman. 

This is a measure of great importance to the community, and the advan- 
tage to the people will be many times the cost. 

Manhattan is losing much of its legitimate trade, because good ferries are 
kept up at Wabaunsee and Wamego, while crossing at Manhattan has been 
extremely uncertain. Confidence is wanting, and it operates greatly to the 
injury of our city. 

A free ferry, established in good faith, is the only thing now within our 
reach to restore confidence in the place and get back the trade that has been 
drawn away. 

A week later the Independent stated that the free ferry over the 
Kansas was decided upon. P. W. Zeigler, who was in active charge 
of the innovation, had forwarded an order to Trenton, N. J., for 600 
feet of wire cable seven-eights of an inch in diameter, which was 
thought sufficiently strong for the ferry, having an ultimate strength 
of twelve tons. This paper also added: 

The ferry company have shown commendable perseverance in their efforts 
in this direction, and now it remains for the citizens of Manhattan to pay the 
salary of a ferryman, and we shall secure all the trans-Kansas trade which 
has recently sought other markets. 

A new hemp rope has just been received by Messrs. Dent and Beckwith, 
which will be used until the wire cable arrives. 

There is talk also of a free ferry over the Blue. The citizens must be 
looking after these matters in earnest, or the trade and influence of our town 
will be much curtailed. 

Free access to our city must be furnished, and our motto should be "Free 
Trade in Everything but Whisky." 326 

Their efforts toward getting a free ferry was noticed by the 
Missouri Democrat, of St. Louis, and called forth this reply: 

The effort has been entirely successful. The public are hereby notified of 
the new arrangement and invited to avail themselves of this, the only free 
crossing of the Kansas from its source to its mouth. Manhattan has lacked 
only this advantage to give it the most extensive trade from the surrounding 
country of any town west of Lawrence. People will take notice that we labor 
under this disadvantage no longer. 327 

Ferrying under ordinary conditions was apt to be a rather monot- 
onous job. Once in a while, however, something transpired, not 

826. Ibid., August 3, 1867. 
327. Ibid., August 10, 1867. 



32 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

on the regular program, which provided a little excitement. A case 
of this kind happened on August 20, 1867. That forenoon, as a 
carriage containing two ladies and two children was crossing the 
Kansas on the free ferry, the horses attached to the carriage com- 
menced to back just as the boat had left the main channel and was 
approaching shoal water, and continued to step backwards until the 
back part of the carriage was run over the edge of the boat, pre- 
cipitating the ladies and children into the water. With commend- 
able presence of mind each of the ladies held a child above the 
water, which was three or four feet deep at that place, thus by their 
coolness saving the lives of the little ones who must otherwise have 
been drowned. 828 

The free ferry proved to be a popular public utility and was exten- 
sively patronized. 329 Early in December the Independent said, "The 
free ferry across the Kaw is likely to have a new boat. We are 
pleased to learn that the misunderstanding between parties interested 
in the enterprise is now amicably adjusted. The new cable will be 
put on with the new boat and then with the courteous ferryman, who 
has done so well the past summer, we shall have a ferry of which 
we can well be proud." 38 

While the old ferry had made a number of improvements this year, 
there was still more they could do, as the following would indicate: 

FERRY. If the Manhattan, Kansas River Ferry will just fill in stone enough 
at the landings to cause the removal of the sandbar in the middle of the river, 
they will do a great thing for their own interest and that of the public. Prompt 
action will do much to cherish the growing confidence in the enterprise, while 
neglect and delay will prove disastrous all around. 831 

The old company's license was about to expire, and as they had 
lively competition in the free ferry, they began taking steps to get 
their affairs in order. There were debts that must be met, and a 
number of the stockholders were delinquent on their assessments. 
Late in November the following notice was published : 

FERRY COMPANY MEETING 

The Manhattan, Kansas River Ferry Company, met at Cove's Hall, on 
Saturday, November 23. Owing to the limited notice, the attendance of stock- 
holders was small. A quorum of the numbers not being present, no business of 
consequence was transacted. The meeting adjourned, to meet at the same 
place on Saturday, December 7. The following motion was adopted: 

That a general attendance at the adjourned meeting be urged, and that 

828. Ibid., August 24, 1867. 

329. Ibid., October 6, 1867. 

330. Ibid., December 7, 1867. 

331. Ibid., November 2, 1867. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 33 

they be notified to come prepared to settle their arrearages, as provisions must 
be made for paying off the indebtedness of the company. E. NEWELL, ec. 332 

The Independent early in January, 1868, stated that the old ferry 
company was to receive another license from the county commission- 
ers, and expressed gratification at the news, as the ferry company 
had done good work the past summer and had the good will of the 
public. 

Apparently the company was reorganized early in 1868, for on 
January 20 the Manhattan Ferry Company was chartered, Allen B. 
Lee, Hiram Beal, E. W. Newell, Alanson Carlton, E. R. McCurdy, 
H. S. Roberts, James Gahan, George Andrews, John H. Pinkerton, 
H. J. Letore and E. L. Foster being the incorporators. The company 
proposed to operate and maintain a ferry across the Kansas river at 
points between the mouth of the Blue river and one and one-half 
miles up the river, these boundaries being in T. 10, R. 8 E., of the 
6th P. M., and at and near the principal ferry crossing on the Kansas 
river. The corporation proposed to construct and maintain a first- 
class ferry across the Kansas river near the present highway, south 
of the Union Pacific Railway, or at the present crossing known as 
the Manhattan Kansas Ferry Company's Ferry, the corporation 
claiming exclusive privilege of erecting and operating a ferry any- 
where within the limits above. This charter was filed with the secre- 
tary of state January 21, 1868. 333 

The ferryboat used by the company appears to have met with 
some accident or misfortune early in 1869, and the company not hav- 
ing attended to the matter with their previous promptitude, drew 
condemnation from points quite distant. The Wabaunsee County 
Herald, Alma, May 6, contained the following plaint: "The ferry- 
boat at Manhattan, across the Kaw, has been sunk some two or three 
weeks. We understand that on Saturday the county board of Riley 
county granted a license to a new company, providing the old com- 
pany do not get their boat running by to-night." 

Evidently there was a change in the local ferry situation very 
shortly, for a local paper had the following: 

THE KANSAS FERRY. The people living south of the river, as well as the 
merchants of Manhattan, will be glad to learn that the ferry is likely to be a 
permanent institution, and that the difficulties heretofore experienced in cross- 
ing the river are not likely to occur again soon. A new boat is soon to be put 

882. Ibid., November 30, 1867. 

888. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 444-445. 

32718 



34 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

on, built of pine, sawed in Chicago to order for the purpose. The boats have 
heretofore been built of oak, and were too heavy and unwieldy. The Deever 
Brothers and John Flagg, Jr., have leased the institution for a term of years, 
and they don't mean the boat shall be stopped either for high water, sandbars 
or wind. Their success will be a blessing. 334 

Apparently the first steps for a bridge over the Kansas river at 
Manhattan was in 1866. On March 9 of that year the Overland 
Bridge Company was chartered by the state, John G. Otis, James M. 
Spencer, Orrin T. Welch, Spofford D. Macdonald, Franklin L. Crane, 
David W. Stormont and Mahlon Bailey, all of Topeka, being the in- 
corporators. The company was organized for the purpose of con- 
structing, maintaining and operating bridges and ferries across the 
Kansas, Republican and Smoky Hill rivers in and between the fol- 
lowing points: Commencing at a point on the Kansas river where 
the east line of S. 11, R. 6 E., crosses the Kansas river, and running 
up the Kansas to the mouth of the Republican river, thence up the 
Republican river to a point where the second standard parallel 
crosses the river ; also from the mouth of the Smoky Hill river, run- 
ning up that river to the mouth of Lyon creek, all being between and 
in the counties of Davis (Geary) and Riley, in the state of Kansas. 
This charter was filed with the secretary of state March 9, 1866. 335 

Evidently the above company did not erect a bridge. Early in 
1867 another organization known as the Manhattan and Kansas 
River Bridge Co., was formed to take care of the local situation. 
This company's charter, signed by Wm. Allingham, John Hoar, John 
E. Jewett, Andrew J. Mead and Henry Leffer, on February 25, 1867, 
recited that the capital stock of the new enterprise was $45,000, with 
shares at $100 each ; that it was the purpose of the company to erect 
and maintain a first-class bridge across the Kansas river, near the 
present highway adjacent to Manhattan and south of the Union 
Pacific Railroad Co., at or near the former ferry crossing known 
as Hoar's ferry. Rights for bridge purposes were reserved for any 
point from the mouth of the Big Blue up the Kansas river for a 
distance of one and one-half miles. This charter was filed with the 
secretary of state March 6, 1867. 

The spring of 1867 was a wet one and the Kansas and Blue rivers 
were taxed to their capacity to carry off flood waters. The Man- 
hattan Independent, commenting on conditions said: ". . . More 
water has doubtless flowed past us in the Blue and Kansas rivers 
during the past few days than in any former period of equal dura- 

834. Manhattan Standard, June 19, 1869. 
335. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 86, 87. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 35 

tion since this country was settled. The Blue has been rivaling the 
Mississippi in magnitude. . . ." 336 

These high waters brought the subject of bridges before the people 
with more force than ever. Some steps had been taken towards se- 
curing bridges, but the apparent lack of push among the promoters 
had produced no tangible results. The Independent voiced the fol- 
lowing protest at the local situation : 

BRIDGES WANTED. Where are the bridge companies; and where are the 
several thousand dollars already subscribed to rid us of the "man traps" which 
now float over our streams to decoy man and beast into dangers from which 
they are lucky to escape at half a dollar a head for horse and buggy? 

We cannot cross our "bridge of sighs" without being reminded of the re- 
markable structure upon which Xenophon crossed his army over an Asiatic 
stream. The pontoons were made of the skins of his beasts of burden, sewed 
into the form of bags, and floored over with rushes. 

Our bridge may be an improvement on Xenophon's, but his had at least 
this advantage, that it was a free bridge. With such a structure as ours over 
such a river, we wonder that Manhattan gets any immigration. We are doubt- 
less now inhabiting the "promised land," but it would require a Moses to lead 
anybody else over to us dry shod and good natured. 337 

This stirred things up and shortly afterwards a movement of those 
most interested in the bridge was started, asking the county commis- 
sioners to call an election to vote on the question of the county 
taking stock in the two Manhattan bridge companies. The commis- 
sioners, however, refused to call an election for this purpose, their 
action based on the manifest illegality of the measure, the county 
having no legal right to subscribe to the capital stock of these or any 
other bridge companies. 338 

Manhattan's lack of a bridge over the Kansas river deprived the 
city of much trade from territory south of the river, and prompted 
the following frank admission from a local paper: "BRIDGE THE 
KANSAS. We need a bridge over the Kansas more than we do over 
the Blue, and everybody should vote for the Kansas bridge as well 
as for the Blue." 339 

By the spring of 1870 the city had decided to have some bridges 
one each over the Kansas and Blue rivers. Out of a total of 289 
votes cast those voting for the Blue river bridge polled 250, and 
those in favor of the Kaw river bridge cast 243. 340 This latter 
structure was 530 feet long. 341 

336. Manhattan Independent, April 20, 1867. 

337. Ibid., May 18, 1867. 

338. Ibid., July 13, 1867. 

339. Manhattan Standard, April 30, 1870- 

340. Ibid., May 7, 1870. 

341. Ibid., August 20, 1872. 



36 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Fall rains hindered the completion of this structure. The Stand- 
ard, of September 30, 1870, stated: "The Kaw is on a bender. There 
has been a surplusage of water in the stream for the past week. 
The temporary bridge constructed by the contractors was washed 
out but not lost entirely, it having been rescued by ropes." Another 
item in the same issue said: "The rise in the Kansas and Big Blue 
rivers has put a stop to bridge operations and we are not likely to 
enjoy our bridges this fall." 

Late in the fall another rise in the Kaw river delayed completion 
of the bridge, a portion of it floating down the river. It was 
supposed that the rise had done some damage west of Manhattan. 342 

Work on the bridge was pushed vigorously in the spring of 1871. 
A large force was engaged. The last pier was completed by the 
middle of March and two spans finished by the end of the month. 343 

The bridge was completed by midsummer. 344 

Manhattan was fairly well provided with roads reaching out in 
different directions. The city was on the great military road from 
Leavenworth to Fort Riley. In 1857 the legislature established a 
road running up the Blue, by way of the towns of Tauromee, Ran- 
dolph, Brownsville, Marysville and Palmetto, and to connect with 
the road to Nebraska City ; 345 another ran from Seneca to Man- 
hattan, by way of Centralia, Nottingham and Barret; 346 another 
ran from Manhattan to Irving. 347 

Ashland, about four miles due south but about six miles up the 
river from Manhattan, had the next ferry, which was in operation 
as early as 1857. No record of any license issued for this ferry is 
found in Davis (Geary) county Commissioners' Journals, but there 
is a record dated April 20, 1857, that citizens of Shane creek asked 
for the establishment of a road from Ashland ferry to Manhattan 
ferry. This was "not granted for want of form, and laid over as 
unfinished business." Another record of the same date fixed the 
license fee for this ferry at $10 per annum, and also ferriage rates 
for every ferry in the county as follows: For each two-horse team, 
mules, oxen, or asses, 50 cents; for each additional span of horses, 
mules or asses, 20 cents; for every buggy or one-horse vehicle and 
horse, mule or ass, 30 cents; for every horse, mule or ass and rider, 
20 cents; for every horse, mule or ass led, 10 cents; for footman, 10 

842. Ibid., November 4, 1870. 

843. Manhattan Nationalist, March 12, 81, 1871. 

844. Ibid., August 11, 1871. 

345. Laws, Kansas, 1857, pp. 178, 179. 

346. Ibid., 1861, p. 248. 
847. Ibid., 1864, p. 209. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 37 

cents; for cattle, 10 cents; for sheep, hogs and freight, the county 
court left the charge with the parties to agree. 348 

Davis county about this time was having some trouble collecting 
licenses, for the Journal, under date of May 18, following, contains 
a record that the court ordered that all those who should take out 
a license shall be required to date said license back to the time of 
exercising licensable privileges, as all who ferry must pay license for 
the whole time the ferry has been run without a license, at the rate 
of license per year for each licensable business. 349 

On July 20, following, a petition signed by twelve citizens asking 
for a road from the Ashland ferry to the Manhattan ferry, was 
presented to the Davis county commissioners. This petition asked 
that the road lead from the Ashland ferry to the Manhattan ferry, 
touch at Ashland and the bend of the river between the claims of 
J. E. Ross and John Holbin. 350 Commissioners were appointed 
August 11, 1859, to view this road. Upon the completion of their 
work they submitted a report, which, being read, was not received 
for want of form. New commissioners were appointed to report 
at the September term of the county commissioners. 351 This road 
was still under consideration late in 1859, H. A. W. Tabor, 352 
D. B. Chapman, and George Bowers being commissioners. 353 

Ashland had few roads leading to its ferry. The bulk of travel 
east and west went over the military road north of the river. In 
1860 a road petition was presented to the county commissioners of 
Davis county by Jesse Hunt, praying for the establishment of a 
road from the Manhattan road near Thomas Ross 7 , running thence 
through the lands of Messrs. Stone, Robinson, Barlow, Beach (?) 
and Hunt to the junction of the Ashland road and the Pottawatomie 
trail leading to Fort Riley, as near said trail as possible. This peti- 
tion was ordered to be filed and notice given that the board would 
review said road on Monday, March 5, 1860, its findings being re- 
corded under date of March 7, I860. 354 

Ogden, about six and one-half miles due west of Ashland and 
about eight miles southwest of Manhattan, by land, had the next 
ferry. The legislature of 1857 granted a fifteen-year franchise to 
operate here to Robert Bates and John W. Parsons. License fee 

348. Davis county, Commissioners' Journal, Book 1, pp. 2, 8. 

349. Ibid., p. 5. 

350. Ibid., p. 6. 

351. Ibid., p. 8. 

352. Later United States senator from Colorado. 

353. Davis county, Commissioners' Journal, Book 1, p. 16. 

354. Ibid., pp. 44, 49. 



38 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

was fixed at $10. Rates of ferriage prescribed by the act were: Foot 
passengers, each 10 cents; each person on horseback, 25 cents; each 
unharnessed animal, 20 cents; single horse and carriage, 40 cents; 
two horse, or oxteam and driver, 70 cents; each additional animal, 
15 cents; packages, 50 Ibs. or less, 10 cents; merchandise not in 
teams, 10 cents per hundred pounds. 355 

The foregoing ferry apparently ceased functioning within a couple 
of years, for the legislature of 1860 granted authority to C. R. and 
Richard D. Mobley to keep a ferry across the Kansas river at or 
near the city of Ogden for a period of five years, and have exclusive 
privileges for two miles up and two miles down the river from the 
city of Ogden. The act provided they should not be required to pay 
more than $20 for the first two years, nor their ferriage rates be 
lower than charged by other ferries in that county on the Kansas 
river. 356 

A new company took over the ferry business in 1866. On March 
22, that year, Thomas Dixon, Henry Mitchell, Patrick Dixon, James 
M. Harvey and Calvin M. Dyche formed a corporation known as 
the Ogden, Pawnee and Santa Fe Bridge and Ferry Company. It 
was the purpose and plan of the new company to erect bridges and 
operate ferries across the Kansas river at the place where a certain 
state road running from Ogden to the southeast corner of S. 1, T. 17, 
R. 4 E., crossed the Kansas river, near the mouth of Three Mile 
creek, and at such other points within the boundaries mentioned as 
may be necessary. Capital stock of the new company was placed at 
$3,000, with shares $100 each. The principal office of the company 
was at Ogden, Riley county. This charter was filed with the secre- 
tary of state April 14, 1866. 357 

No record of licenses have been located between the years 1866 
and 1879, though old citizens of the county assert that a ferry was 
operated during the most of this time. 

On April 7, 1879, L. M. Estes and others of Ogden township peti- 
tioned for a license to run a ferry on the Kansas river in Riley county 
at or near the town of Ogden. The license was granted and license 
fee remitted. Toll rates were fixed by the county board as follows: 
For four horses and wagon, 50 cents; for two horses and wagon, 25 
cents; for one horse and wagon, 20 cents; for man and horse, 15 

355. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 164. 

356. Private Laws, Kansas, I860, pp. 271, 272. 

357. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 186, 137. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 39 

cents; horses, cattle and mules per head, 10 cents; swine and sheep, 
per head, 5 cents; men on foot, 5 cents. 358 

This ferry was operated as late as 1888 or 1889, when Henry 
Schiller was in charge. 

The second effort to secure a bridge for Ogden was made in 1871, 
when the Ogden and Kansas River Bridge Co. was organized to 
build a bridge across the Kansas river at or near the mouth of 
Clark's creek in Davis county, and near the east line of the Fort 
Riley military reservation in Riley county. This company was 
capitalized at $50,000, with shares at $100 each. The principal 
place of business was at Ogden. This company was to be managed 
iby five directors, those chosen for the first year being Thomas Dixon 
and C. M. Dyche, of Ogden, and E. B. Purcell, N. A. Adams and 
Wm. P. Higinbotham of Manhattan. This corporation was formed 
to exist for twenty years, and was organized April 8, 1871, but de- 
layed filing its charter with the secretary of state until October 13, 
1871. 

The Ogden town company was inaugurated in 1857, and that year 
a United States land office was opened. The Fort Leavenworth to 
Fort Riley military road ran through the town, which in early days 
was one of the most important points in the county. 

The next ferry on the river was at Pawnee, site of the first terri- 
torial capitol building. The old capitol was located on S. 28, T. 11, 
R. 6 E., and the ferry landing is said to have been located about 
eighty rods downstream from this building. This was also said to 
be the crossing for the old Mormon trail to the west. Fox B. 
Booth 359 maintained the ferry at this point, having secured a ten- 
year license from the legislature of 1855, his ferry being located on 
lands owned by him opposite the new town of Pawnee. 360 

This ferry was operating next year, when Gov. John W. Geary 
paid a visit to Fort Riley. At this time the governor had as escort 
a company of Dragoons under Major Sibley. They were on the 
south side of the river when they reached Riley City, and crossed by 
ferry to old Pawnee, which had been totally destroyed in Septem- 

358. Davis county, Commissioners' Journal, Book 2, p. 2. 

359. William H. Mackey, Sr., of Junction City, writing to Charles E. Cory regarding 
slaves in Kansas, said: "Fox Booth, a North Carolinian, who came from some point on the 
Platte to Fort Riley, in 1854, owned a negro woman slave. She worked a ferry boat for 
him, and rowed me across the raging Kaw many times. Booth tired of her and brought her 
down to McDowell's creek to Tom Reynolds' place and offered her for trade. Reynolds looked 
her over and came to the conclusion she would make a good herder. Booth wanted a few 
cows for her, but Reynolds would not part with the cows, and finally offered an old white 
stallion, and the deal went. I was an eye witness to the transaction. This was in the fall 
of 1855." Kansas Historical Collections, v. 7, p. 241. 

360. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 13, p. 2 ; General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 790. 



40 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

her the year before. 361 No further history of this ferry has been 
located. 

Pawnee was on the military road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort 
Riley. The territorial legislature of 1855 established two roads that 
touched Pawnee one running from Atchison, via Grasshopper 
Falls, 362 and the other from Saint Joseph by the nearest and best 
route to Fort Riley by way of Pawnee. 363 

Riley City, in the Ashland bottoms, south of the river, and almost 
adjoining Pawnee, had the next ferry, which was operating in 1856, 
and paid a $50 license fee this year. 364 

There may have been two ferries in operation here in 1857, though 
no names of the operators have been located. The Journal of the 
Davis county commissioners, of April 20, 1857, contains entries of 
ferry license fees fixed by the commissioners, the ferries at Ashland 
and Ogden being assessed $10 each for the year, while Riley City, 
two in number, were fixed at $20 each. Ferriage charges were 
standardized for every ferry operating in the county this year, and 
were as follows: Two-horse teams, 50 cents; buggy or one-horse 
vehicle, 30 cents; horse and rider, 20 cents; each led horse, mule or 
ass, 10 cents; footmen, 10 cents; cattle, 10 cents; sheep, hogs and 
freight, the county court left with the parties to agree. 365 

The next ferry upstream was located just opposite the Fort Riley 
military reservation on S. 27, T. 11, R. 7 E., on the east side of the 
river. It was started by L. B. Perry, who came from near St. Louis, 
Mo., in 1856, and operated it for about nine years. County com- 
missioners' records for Davis county fail to disclose the annual 
license fee exacted for this ferry privilege, but it does record ferriage 
charges allowed by the commissioners, as follows: Two horses, 
mules, or oxen and wagon, 40 cents; each additional span, 20 cents; 
one horse and wagon, 35 cents; for each man and horse, 25 cents; 
for each footman, 10 cents; loose horses, mules or cattle each, 10 
cents; sheep and swine, per head, 5 cents. 366 This ferry was located 
on a point of land partly encompassed by a crescent-shaped slough, 
the whole plot being entirely surrounded by water during times of 
flood. This slough has long since been known as ''Whisky Lake." A 
small settlement sprang up near the landing, which was in the SE 1 /^ 

361. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 1002. 

362. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 976. 
863. Ibid., p. 942. 

364. Riley county historical clippings in the Kansas State Historical Society's library, 

v. 1, p. 12. 

865. Davis county, Commissioners' Journal, Book 1, pp. 2, 3. 

366. Ibid., Book 2, p. 148. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 41 

S. 27, which was platted April 7, 1860, as Island City, by David 
Wilson, for L. B. Perry, who owned the land. 367 Some parties later 
had attempted to start a rival town at the extreme western point of 
this so-called island, giving it the name of West Point. The town 
never amounted to more than a few low-class grog shops. Accord- 
ing to Andreas: 

The name of the place was afterwards changed to Whisky Point, it having 
derived this name from somebody in court having said he would rather die 
in Junction City than live at Whisky Point, referring by this remark to West 
Point. Since that time the place has been known by the name of Whisky 
Point. On May 14, 1862, a very unpleasant affair occurred at Whisky Point, 
between a party of soldiers, in which two were killed and one wounded. On 
the same day the provost marshal, with a squad of men, went around and 
closed up every saloon in which intoxicating liquors were vended. 368 

Just eight days before this happened, Captain Sylvester, of Com- 
pany K, Twelfth Wisconsin, visited Island City with a squad of 
men, and on this occasion thirteen barrels of whisky were broken 
open and their contents spilled. 

A ferry was in use at Fort Riley in 1856, according to Herman 
Oesterreich, for the purpose of getting hay across the river for use 
at the post. This institution was being operated by Alex and John 
Smith, and apparently was the last ferry met with ascending the 
river, its location being close to the junction of the Republican and 
Smoky Hill rivers. 369 The Smiths had settled on land to the south- 
west at the third crossing of Lyon creek, which later became known 
as the Alex Smith crossing. How long the Smiths operated this 
ferry has not been learned, as early commissioners' journals of 
Davis county give scant mention of ferry matters. 

Fort Riley is located near the junction of the Smoky Hill and Re- 
publican rivers and alongside the Kaw river. This point was known 
to the Indians and traders as the "Grand Point." 37 Many roads 
terminated at or started from the fort. The earliest was a Mormon 
road which crossed the Kansas slightly south of Whisky Lake. 
Sections of this old road, according to Henry Thiele, an old resident 
of Junction City, can still be traced past the Geary county poor farm 
and for some distance beyond. Another road ran to Fort Kearney; 
another to the southwest by way of Fort Barker and on to the Santa 
Fe trail at Fort Zarah ; another to Bent's Fort was declared a terri- 

367. Junction City Union, January 11, 1912. 

368. Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 1001, 1002. 

369. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 14, p. 146. 

370. John C. McCoy's manuscript "Map of Indian Surveys in Kansas, 1830-1836," in 
Kansas State Historical Society's archives. 



42 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

torial road. 371 The military road running from Fort Riley northwest 
to the Nebraska line was also made a territorial road. 372 In 1859 a 
bill was introduced in the council by Senator Mead, for the estab- 
lishment of a territorial road from some point at or near Fort Riley 
to some point near the base of the Rocky Mountains, at or near the 
thirty-ninth parallel of latitude. The bill passed both houses of the 
legislature, but for some reason did not become a law. At this same 
session an act was passed declaring ''that all roads now used as mili- 
tary roads in the territory be and the same are hereby made terri- 
torial roads, and are established on the best and most traveled track 
at the passage of this act." This law received the approval of Gov. 
Samuel Medary February 7, 1859. 373 Another road ran from Leav- 
en worth to Fort Riley by way of Grasshopper Falls ; 374 another from 
Fort Riley to Fort Lamed was made a territorial road, 375 and two 
years later Congress was memorialized by the legislature to make 
provision for bridging and improving this road from Fort Leaven- 
worth, via Fort Riley to Fort Lamed. 376 A number of other roads 
passed the fort and terminated at Junction City. These will be men- 
tioned in a future paper. 

371. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 170. 

872. Ibid., pp. 170, 171. 

873. Ibid., 1859, p. 584. 
374. Ibid. 

875. General Laws, Kansas, 1861, p. 82. 
376. Laws, Kansas, 1863, pp. 88, 84. 



A Southerner's Viewpoint of the 
Kansas Situation, 1856-1857 

The Letters of Lieut. Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S. A. 1 
Edited by WILLIAM STANLEY HOOLE 

My Dear Brother 2 Kansas City, Missouri, Apl. 3d., 1856 

HERE I am after two weeks travelling, and not in Kansas Terri- 
tory yet, but it is only l 1 /^ miles off, and I can see into it. I 
feel a good deal tired of travelling, and we have concluded to rest 
here until to-morrow, when we will take the stage for Lawrence City, 
by way of Westport. After we get to Lawrence, I don't know where 
we will go, but I rather think we will go to Whitfield, a few miles 
north of Kansas river. 

It has cost me over $102 to get here, besides about $25 which I 
have spent for necessaries, &c. We have been quite well since we 
left with the exception of one day that I had a headache and fever, 
caused I guess from losing so much sleep, and the fatigue off 
travelling. We did not get to Nashville until Sunday evening; we 
left that place Monday about 12 o'clock and went down the Cum- 
berland river on the steamer City of Huntsville to Cairo, at the 

1. Axalla John Hoole, the son of Elizabeth Stanley and James C. Hoole, himself a soldier 
in the War of 1812, was of English descent, his grandfather, Joseph, having emigrated from 
York, England, about 1780 or earlier, and settled at Georgetown, S. C. Axalla John, born at 
Darlington, S. C., October 12, 1822, was one of five sons. The eldest, Joseph Bertram, served 
in the Seminole War and the War Between the States; Samuel Eugene was a surgeon in the 
Mexican War; and Thomas Stanislaus served throughout the War Between the States. 

Axalla John was educated at St. John's academy, Darlington, and after completing the 
academic course, taught school there for 12 years. When he was quite a small boy, the 
Nullification excitement was at its height in South Carolina, and the small boys of the com- 
munity organized a military company, of which he was elected captain. At the age of 20 he 
joined the Darlington Riflemen, a local company of militia, and, in 1854, was elected captain. 
He served in that capacity until March 20, 1856 (his wedding day), on which day he left with 
his bride for Kansas territory. 

They arrived in the territory early in April, 1856. Taking a fairly active part in Kansas 
politics, Hoole was elected probate judge of Douglas county by the Proslavery party under 
the regime of Gov. Robert J. Walker. During the approximately two years that he remained 
in the territory, he kept up a rather lively correspondence with his family in South Carolina 
of which thirty-one letters are printed in this series. 

Returning to Darlington, December 5, 1857, Hoole was immediately reflected captain of the 
Darlington Riflemen. Upon the outbreak of hostilities at Fort Sumter, he assembled the men 
on the academy drill grounds, made a speech to them, and called for volunteers. With the 
exception of one, every man in the organization stepped forward and the company entrained 
at once for Charleston. Remaining there a short time, the Riflemen returned to Florence, S. 
C., where they were mustered in as Company A, Eighth South Carolina Volunteers, Col. E. B. 
C. Cash, commanding. The regiment left Florence for the Virginia front, June 2, 1861. 

At the expiration of the period of enlistment, April, 1862, the regiment was reorganized, 
and Captain Hoole was elected lieutenant-colonel. After serving in several major conflicts in 
Virginia, including the First Battle of Manassas, he was transferred with his company to 
Dalton, Ga., to join the forces of Gen. Braxton Bragg. He arrived there September 17, 1863, 
and was killed in the Battle of Chicamauga, September 20, 1863. His body was returned to 
Darlington and buried in the family cemetery. Cf. D. A. Dickert, Kershaw's Brigade (New- 
berry, S. C., 1899), pp. 38ff., 284-285; Treasured Reminiscences of John K. Mclver Chapter, 
U. D. C, (Columbia, S. C., 1911), pp. 69-71, 74-75; W. A. Brunson, Glimpses of Old 
Darlington (Columbia, S. C., 1910), p. 7. 

2. Thomas Stanislaus Hoole, b. June 29, 1824 ; d. January 18, 1905. He served throughout 
the War Between the States as captain, Mclntosh's battery, Pee Dee (South Carolina) artillery. 
Referred to in these letters as "Stin." 

(43) 



44 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

junction of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers, where we changed 
boats and went up to St. Louis, Mo., where we arrived Friday morn- 
ing about 8 o'clock. We remained there about two hours, in which 
time I purchased a six-shooter for $20, and some other things. We 
then changed boats and sailed up the Missouri river to this place. 
The boats travel very slow up this river at this time, as it is very 
low and swift. 

I have seen none of the country except along the banks of the 
river, which is, with very little exceptions, nothing but lofty, rugged 
rocks, sometimes two or three hundred feet high. It was quite a 
sight to me at first, but I got very tired of looking at them. I 
saw thousands of wild geese in the Missouri river; I shot at them 
once about 200 yards, and of course missed. I saw duck also in 
abundance. 

Wherever I have been able to see any land besides the rocky 
shores of the rivers, they, or rather it, appeared to be very rich, 
and I was told by some of the Missourians that it was much better 
off from the river. We entered the prairie country before we came 
to timber again 

The banks of the river were low and I could see for miles, but 
there were houses scattered all over the prairie. I fell in company 
with a young man who had just married, from Georgia, who said 
he was going to Kansas, but there were other families along from 
Georgia, who were going to Missouri, and when they left the boat 
about 60 miles from here, he left with them and I was not sorry 
for it, as I did not fancy him much; neither did I fancy his wife. 
I would have but little to do with them one objection I had to 
him was, he drank liquor 

The Missourians (all of whom I have conversed with, with the 
exception of one who, by the way, I found out to be an Abolitionist) 
are very sanguine about Kansas being a slave state & I have heard 
some of them say it shall be. I have met with warm reception from 
two or three, but generally speaking, I have not met with the re- 
ception which I expected. Everyone seems bent on the Almighty 
Dollar, and as a general thing that seems to be their only thought 
There was a large box on one of the boats about a week ago coming 
up the river, which some of the Missourians thought contained 
Sharp's Rifles, so they sent a deputation to its destination, which 
was at this place, to have it opened. When they arrived here the 
person to whom it was consigned refused to let them open it, where- 
upon they opened it by force when lo! it contained nothing but 



HOOLB: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 45 

a piano. There was a box containing a cannon which a confounded 
Yankee opened, but closed it up again before any of them could 
examine it, saying that it was nothing but some cartwheels. His 
daughter-in-law told me this this morning, hesitatingly, as if her 
father-in-law had done a smart trick. If she had been a man, I 
don't know what I should have said, but she was a pretty young 
woman. 

Well, dear brother, the supper bell has rung, so I must close. 
Give my love to [the immediate family] and all the Negroes. . . . 
Excuse bad writing for I am very nervous. I am anxious to hear 
from home . . . direct to Lawrence City, Kansas Territory, as 
I shall leave word there for my letters to be forwarded to whatever 
place I go. Your ever affectionate brother, Axalla. 

My Dear Mother Dou g las Cit y> K T A P L 14th " 1856 

. . . I came to this place last Saturday, after staying at that 
nasty Abolition town of Lawrence for a week. This is called a 
City, but there are only four little log houses in it, but it is laid out 
into lots for a town, and I expect one day it will be. The capital, 
Lecompton, is two miles from here, but they are going to build the 
state university at this place. It is situated close on the Kansas 
river, and I consider it the prettiest site for a town in the Territory. 
I have been quite well with the exception of colds since I have 
been in the Territory. Betsie 4 is not very well to-day, but she is 
well enough to be writing a letter. . . . We are boarding with 
a very excellent family named Ellison. The old gentleman is the 
most enthusiastic Proslavery man I have met with. 

I have not been able to get into any business yet, although a man 
wanted me to work on a house for him in Lecompton last week, at 
$2 a day, but I could not get board in the place, and as the job would 
last but a few days, I did not set it. They are wanting a school in 
Lecompton but I have not been able to make it up. The fact is, 
the people here seem to be so taken up with politics, that they can't 
take time to think of hardly anything else. There is a school want- 
ing here at Douglas, but there is a young fellow from Georgia, who 
was ahead of me, but I am under the impression that he will not 
succeed, as there seems to be a sort of split in the neighborhood. If 
he fails, they say they will make up a good school for me. If I 

3. Mrs. Elizabeth Stanley Hoole, wife of James C. Hoole, b. July 25, 1800; d. July 7, 
1887. They were married August 6, 1818. 

4. His wife, Elizabeth Brunson Hoole, b. April 15, 1832; d. February 2, 1925. 



46 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

don't succeed in getting a school, I will go at the carpenter's trade 
which will pay, by-the-bye, better, but as I prefer teaching, even 
if I make less, I shall try that first as it will be a permanent business 
and in the other I may sometimes be out of employment, unless I 
were a good mechanic. I don't think I will ever like this country. 
The timber is too scarce, but the land is very rich any of it will 
make from fifty to a hundred bushels of corn to the acre; but then 
the wind is always blowing, sometimes so hard that a man can 
hardly keep his hat on his head. I don't intend to preempt land, 
for all the claims worth having are already taken up, but if I like it 
well enough when the land comes in market, as there will be thou- 
sands who will not be able to pay for their claims, I will then buy 
a place. But I don't think I will ever like this country well enough 
to settle here, and I don't think, or at least I am afraid, it will be 
never be made a slave state, and if it is not, I will not live here on 
any conditions. 

I was introduced to the Governor last Thursday. He seems to be 
a very friendly sort of man, but I don't think he is very smart. He 
seemed to take a good deal of interest in me, and was very anxious 
that I should get board in Lecompton, but I was unable to do so. 

My dear Mother, you need not be afraid. . . . This is a very 
good neighborhood. We are boarding with a good clever Methodist 
family. The circuit-rider stayed here last night. I had formed a 
very poor opinion of the morality of the Territory when I was at 
Lawrence, but I find the people up this way fare better. At Lawrence 
almost everyone I met was profane, but here it is quite different. I 
have not made use of an oath since I have been in the Territory, 
and I don't intend to be guilty of that practice any more if I can 
help it. Betsie makes me read the Bible sometimes, and I intend, 
when I can rent a house and go to ourselves, which I hope to do 
soon, to read it regularly. . . . 

The people in this Territory have very poor houses, generally built 
of logs with rock chimneys. The one we are boarding in is three 
log houses built in a row the middle one of which is the kitchen 
where the Negroes stay. They have four or five Negroes. If we 
stay here this summer, we will have plenty of ice as Mr. Ellison 
has put up a good deal of it. 

The people here are just fixing to plant their crops. Trees are 
put out about like they were when we left Darlington. The nights 
here are still quite cool, but I have not seen frost for some time. 

. . . Write me all the news, every little particular will be 
interesting to me. . . . Your ever affectionate son, Axalla. 



HOOLB: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 47 

My Dear Brother Dou las Cit y> K ' T " A P L 27th " 1856 

. . . I am still boarding at the above mentioned place with 
Mr. Elison and paying $3 a week apiece for myself and wife, but 
I have sent to Missouri for provisions which I expect here in a day 
or two, when I will go to housekeeping. I have two houses which I 
can rent, one of which we are occupying to sleep in. It is about a 
hundred yards from Mr. Elison's, where I eat. I commenced work- 
ing at the carpenter's trade last Monday I tried to get a school, 
but failed to get one worth my notice, so I concluded on the whole it 
was best for me to get at something else, and as a trade pays better 
than anything else, I went at the carpenter's. The man I am work- 
ing with is giving from $1.75 to $2.25 a day, but could not tell me 
what he would give me, but said that we would not fall out about 
the price, until he could determine what I was worth. I intended 
to have made him set a price yesterday, but it rained so that I 
could not go to work. To-morrow we will come to an understanding. 
I shall stand out for $2 a day, as I think that I am worth that, at 
the rate of everything else here. I have a long walk every day to 
and from my work, about two & a half miles. My work is in Le- 
compton, the capital, above Douglas. 

I have no fun here. Game is scarce. Mr. Elison's son killed a 
pelican in the river yesterday morning. I went out late in the even- 
ing and killed two squirrels, which is the first thing of any kind I 
have killed since I have been here. They catch cat-fish in the river 
here that weigh from 10 to 100 Ibs., but I have not seen any yet. A 
man caught one yesterday morning that weighed 20 Ibs. 

I still don't like this country, and I don't care how soon it is ad- 
mitted as a state. The Governor sent the sheriff to take some men 
in Lawrence last Saturday (yesterday week) and the Lawrenceites 
rescued the prisoner from him. The sheriff came and reported to 
the Governor, who sent him back with four other men, but they 
also failed. The Governor then sent a dispatch to the fort for some 
soldiers ; they came on Tuesday, and with the sheriff went to Law- 
rence on Wednesday and succeeded in taking six prisoners, but as 
they had not the most important one, they concluded that they 
would stay there all night. In the night the sheriff (Jones) with two 
or three other men went out of the tent to get some water, and 
while drawing it, the sheriff was shot at, the ball passing through 
his pantaloons behind his leg. They went into the tent, when a 



48 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

man came in pretending to be drunk. Jones told him to go out, that 
they had no use for him there. Then he left walking as steady and 
apparently as sober as any man. About five minutes after, Jones 
was shot through the tentcloth in the back, the ball entering near 
the backbone just below the shoulder blade. Jones drew his bowie 
knife, and attempted to rise, but could not. I hear that he was not 
dead last Friday evening, but there was very little hope for him. I 
have sent ... a circular giving the particulars of the case, 
which you can get and read. Colonel Sumner, 5 was encamped on 
the north side of the Kansas river on Friday with 200 regular sol- 
diers, opposite Lawrence. He is there, he says, to prevent a fight 
between the Proslavery and the Abolitionists, and I hear that he 
says the moment he leaves, there are hundreds of Proslavery men 
ready to march against Lawrence. There are scouting parties of 
Proslavery men out every night since Jones was shot. The Law- 
renceites have threatened the life of Governor Shannon 6 and several 
other Proslavery men. An attempt was made to burn the house of 
a Proslavery man, about a mile from here, on night before last, and 
a parcel went there last night to stand guard. The owner (Mr. 
Clark) is in Missouri, but his wife is at home. The same house was 
fired last fall, but was discovered soon enough to be put out. I 
don't expect anything else but a fight before long the excitement 
is too great, and if Jones dies, it will be greater. You must get the 
circular which I have sent. . . . and read it ... That will 
give you a better idea of the state of feeling here than I can give, 
as it expresses the opinion and feelings of every Proslavery man. 

Jerry Vann came to Lecompton yesterday was a week ago. He 
is trying to make up a school there, and I believe has succeeded in 
getting nearly twenty scholars at $1 per scholar a month, but he 
has to build a schoolhouse, and has to pay $3.50 a week for board, 
so he will not make much clear money. Vann says he left Parrott 
at Leavensworth. House got off the boat at Independence, Mo., and 
Vann says he would not be surprised if House has not gone on to 
California, but I hope not. 

You must write to me and tell me all the news about everything. 

6. Edwin Vose Sumner (1797-1868), a native of Boston, Mass. For meritorious service 
in the U. S. army during the Civil War, he was brevetted major-general. Cf. Appleton'a 
Cyclopedia of American Biography, v. V., p. 750. 

6. Wilson Shannon (February 24, 1802-August 30, 1877), second governor of the territory 
of Kansas, was born in Ohio. His term of office, which lasted almost a year, was filled with 
troubles, including the Wakarusa War. His removal from office took place August 16, 1858. 
He soon left the territory, for hie life was in danger, but after the violence and danger to his 
life were over, he returned, and made his home in Lawrence, where he died. Cf. U. S. 
Biographical Dictionary, p. 879: Kansas Historical Collections, v. V., p. 281; Appleton, op. 
cit. f v. V., p. 481. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 49 

. . . You don't know how anxious I am to hear from home. I 
have not heard a word since I left, except what Vann told me, 
which was in a manner nothing Tell me everything about people, 
farm, hogs, dogs, and everything else. Give my love to Mother, 
Sister, and all the Negroes, and my most sincere regards to all my 
friends. Tell Mother not to fret herself about me ... I don't 
intend to risk myself to danger unnecessarily, but if my party needs 
my assistance, I will not shrink from what I consider my duty. 
. . . I subscribe myself, your ever affectionate brother till death, 
Axalla. 

Dear Major' Douglas, K. T, May 17, 1856. 

The general feature of this part of the country is a rolling prairie, 
with no timber of any kind except along the rivers, creeks, and 
ravines, and [the] bottomland is heavily timbered with walnut, oak, 
hickory, ash, cottonwood, elm lyn [sic] , &c. The creeks and ravines 
have the same but not so large and thick; the hillsides are all lime 
rocks, the soil very rich. The soil of the prairie appears to be very 
rich but it requires from 3 to 6 yoke of oxen to break it up, but 
after broken, no trouble to tend. The bottomlands are very spongy 
and mellow, but it takes 2 or 3 yoke of oxen to break it up; it is 
said to produce 8 or 10 barrels (40 or 50 bu.) per acre without 
cultivating. No corn, or very little, planted yet. If they can plant 
by the 1st. June, they will make a good crop. The sweet [sic] 
grows well here. The grass is from 6 to 8 inches the whole face of 
the prairie where I am, on the Kansas river, from 12 to 15 miles. 
The cattle are very fine. A gentleman near me has one cow, and 
his wife churns twice a day. They have 5 in the family and a good 
deal of company. He gives me as much milk and butter as I want, 
then gives milk to his pigs. There are but few hogs here, but what 
are here look well and in fine shape. The horses are very inferior; 
they give them but little corn, and sometimes a little salt. 

I expect it will be a great country some day; it is cold though, 
and the water is bad. They use river water mostly, those who live 
near the river. Some use the water in the ravines in wet weather; 
in dry weather the water stands in holes among the rocks, settles, 
and becomes very clear, but tastes of lime. 

The prospects for making money is dull, a good mechanic can get 

7. Maj. F. F. Warley, editor of the Darlington Flag (of which there is no file extant), 
and major, First regiment, South Carolina Volunteer artillery. He took part in, the battle of 
Battery Wagner, Charleston, S. C., was wounded, and was later in command of prisoner's 
stockade, Florence, S. C. Cf. Treasured Reminiscenses, op cit. } p. 78. 

42718 



50 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

from $2 to $2.50 per day, but he will have to spend it to live on. 
Board and everything else is very high. Board is from $3 to $5.50 
per week, no washing at that, coarse fare . . . and have to lie 
on a comfort or blanket on the floor; there are but few beds in the 
country as yet. Lumber is from $2.50 to $4 per hundred feet and 
very inferior. I worked at carpenter's trade for $1.75 a day. For 
a man to come here to farm it would require from $500 to $1000 to 
commence. You will have to give the settlers for land from $300 to 
$1000 and then pay the government price for it when it comes into 
market. 

There is no game but a few squirrels, and they are scarce, and no 
fish of any account. One of my neighbours caught a catfish that 
weighed 20 or 25 Ibs., but I did not see it. All provisions are high, 
except milk and butter. Flour, $12 a barrell, bacon 8% to 12^, 
mollasses 80^ gal., coffee 16%^ lb., salt 3%^ lb., so you will have to 
spend all you can make to live on. No scouring is done for want of 
water. When it rains your feet are stuck so full of mud you can 
scarcely walk. 

The place where I am living is called Douglas City. It has only 
5 or 6 houses in it, and they are log houses. It is laid out for a 
town in lots, and is the place selected for the state university. It 
is a prettier place than Lecompton where they are building the 
State House, which is only 2 miles above this place, on the river. 
Timber is more plentiful at Douglas than at Lecompton, and a 
better landing for boats, when they should run this river. One has 
gone to Fort Riley, 100 miles above here. Kansas river is broad 
but shallow, full of sand bars which makes navigation difficult. 
Lawrence is the headquarters of the Abolitionists of this Territory. 

Yours truly, 

A. J. Hoole. 

Douglas, K. T., May 18th., 1856 
My dearly Beloved Sister 8 

... I rec'd a letter from Mr. Cooper . . . which was 
dated four days before yours. They had both been written nearly 
a month before I got them, which I attribute to their being directed 
to Lawrence. I had left place, but when I left it I gave the P. M. 
my name with directions to forward my letters to Lecompton, but 
he neglected to do so until I wrote to him. . . . 

8. Elizabeth Euphrasia Hoole, b. May 20, 1826; m. J. Q. A. Dabbs, April 2, 1862; d. 
1919. 



HOOLB: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 51 

The seed of sweet potatoes is almost lost in this Ter. & also in 
Mo. & other northwestern states. You did not tell me whether 
you had moved into the new house or not. Do tell me whenever 
you write to me all such news as that. . . . 

You say the Negroes don't forget me in their prayers. Thank 
them a thousand times for me, and beg them always to remember 
me when they render up their petitions to Him who rules and 
governs all things. I feel that I need the prayers of everyone. Tell 
Stin when he writes to tell me about everybody, everything, dogs, 
hogs, cows, horses, and chickens and everything leave nothing out, 
for anything from Old Darlington will interest me. 

And now dear sister, I suppose you would like for me to tell you 
something of myself, &c. Well, I have been working at carpenters 
trade for three weeks, until last Thursday when the man I was 
working for got out of lumber and had no work for coarse workmen 
like me, so he discharged all of us except those who could do fine 
work. I was getting $1.75 per day. I made lacking 25 ct& of 
$30 in what time I worked. But you may depend upon it, I earned 
every cent I got, for I had to walk about three miles, work eleven 
hours, and then walk back at night. I was, you may say, exercising 
fifteen hours of the hardest kind every day. Sometimes I felt like 
I would give out before I could get home at night. I was sick 
Friday and Saturday a week ago, and so lost two days, which I 
attribute to overworking. I was also unwell yesterday and the day 
before, but if I had had anything to do, I believe I should have 
worked. I engaged to work for a man near me, but I hear he is 
bad pay and I believe I will back out. Betsie has been unwell for 
two or three days, and I fear that she is worse off than she pretends 
she is. She said she was a good deal better when she first got up 
this morning, but just as I commenced writing this, she came in 
and lay down and said she felt worse again. 

We are living to ourselves and considering the house, very pleas- 
antly. Betsie cooks, but we hire a Negroe to do our washing at $2 
a month. Betsie is a first rate cook. We have meal, flour, bacon 
(ham shoulder and sides) lard, butter, molasses, sugar, coffee, be- 
sides milk (butter milk and sweet milk) as much as we want, 
whenever we go after it. So you can guess whether we have enough 
to eat or not. 

I pay $2 a month for house rent, but I think that it is cheaper 
to live to ourselves and keep house than to board out, for the 
lowest we can board at is $3 a week apiece, and I am certain it is 
much more pleasant. 



52 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Major Beaufort 9 [sic] has arrived in the Ter. with 4 or 500 men. 
Beaufort himself is now at Mr. Ellison's, my nearest neighbor. I 
have not seen him yet, but I heard that he said he intended to 
call on me. Col. Treadwell 10 who came with him was at Mr. 
Ellison's one night last week. I called on him. He is a very 
gentlemanly man; he is a brother-in-law of Bertram. I felt like I 
had met an old friend when I met him. We talked very little 
though, for we had but little time that night. The next day he came 
to where I was working at Lecompton, but did not stay long with 
me as I expect he thought he was hindering me from my work. 

I wrote a long letter to Warley yesterday, which I expect he will 
publish in the Flag. If he does not, you must get Stin or Mr. 
Cooper to get it from him and read it as I have written a good deal 
to him which I would have written to you, if I had not thought 
that you would learn it all. It is mostly on political matters. 
While I am writing, guns are firing in the camps of the different 
companies of soldiers who are gathering to attack Lawrence. Sun- 
day as it is, they are shooting in every direction. I expect before 
you get this Lawrence will be burnt to the ground. I may not 
know when it will be attacked, but if I do, I expect to go although 
I don't think that they will show any fight, though they are pre- 
paring. But I hear they are very much frightened and have sent to 
the Governor for protection, but he sent word to them that they did 
not consider him their Governor and would not submit to the laws, 
so he would leave them to their fate. But all of this you will see 
more fully in the letter I have written to Warley, so I will now 
close this. Do write soon and often to me. . . . Your Affec- 
tionate Brother, Axalla. 

Douglas, K. T., June the 1st., 1856 
My Dear Beloved Mother 

I received a letter from Sister yesterday . . . and I am glad 
to hear that Stin is getting along so well with the crop, and that your 
prospects for fruit are so promising. We will have no fruit here, 
as there are no fruit trees: strawberries are the only fruit we will 
have. They are all about on the prairie and are getting ripe. 
Though wild, they are the same as our tame strawberries at home, 

9. Probably John Buford (1825-1863), a native of Kentucky, and half-brother of Maj.- 
Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, U. S. A. He was engaged in the Sioux expedition in 1855, 
and was transferred to Kansas, where he served in 1856-1857. Cf. Appleton, op. cit., v. I, 
p. 443. 

10. Col. B. F. Treadwell, a South Carolinian (?), was very active in Southern interests 
in Kansas. He was appointed representative to canvass Alabama for money to aid the 
Southern cause. He is reported to have contributed $1,000 cash. C/. Elmer Leroy Craik, 
"Southern Interests in Territorial Kansas," Kansas Historical Collections, v. XV, pp. 392, 431. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 53 

but not so large and fine, though they need only cultivation to make 
them so. The people here are not done planting corn yet. The 
gardens are very backward; just enough mustard for spring greens. 

I am determined to make a living while I stay in this Territory, 
and I turn my hand to anything that I can make money at. I have 
had to lay out so much money for necessaries to keep house on, that 
for all I have made since I have been here, my purse is reduced to 
about $140, but then my heaviest expenses are over for the present. 

This would be a good country for one who had money enough 
to commence farming to live in so far as making a plenty to eat, 
but it is out of the question to think of making a fortune here for 
years to come. And with the exception of a plenty to eat, there is 
nothing else desirable. 

We attended preaching last Sunday at a friend's about a hundred 
and fifty yards from here. [There] was only one member of the 
church there, besides Betsie. A very slim congregation & a pretty 
good, plain, practical sermon, &c. 

. . . We are getting along smoothly and happily. . . . 
'Tis true there is a great deal of excitement in the Territory, of which 
I have written an account to Warley to-day, and which, as I feel 
certain you will see, I shall omit writing to you. But that does not 
affect me as I am confident of the success of the party to which I 
belong. Though it grieves me to hear of the outrages which the 
Abolitionists are committing. . . . Do remember me to all of 
my friends who enquire about me. Tell all the Negroes howdie and 
give my love to them. Tell the little Negroes that I often think of 
them when I see the tubs of buttermilk given to the hogs & dogs. 
My kind neighbour, Mrs. Ellison, never lets me get out of fresh 
yellow butter, and sometimes we have as much as two saucers of 

*V * .' ' Your affectionate Son. 

P. S. I have enclosed three kinds of prairie flowers for Sister. I 
am living in Douglas, but the P. 0. is at Lecompton, two miles off 

Douglas City, K. T., June the 8th, 1856 
My Dear Sister 

I wrote to mother a week ago, and now I seat myself to write 
you a few lines, to let you all know how we are getting on. 
. . . Betsie got a letter from Mr. Cooper yesterday dated May 
the 19th, which has come quicker than any we have rec'd yet. 
... I was in hopes that I would get a letter from . . . Stin 



54 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

yesterday but was disappointed. I suppose Stin thinks I don't care 
to hear from him, but he should think of himself when he was in 
Alabama, and remember how glad he was to hear every little thing 
from home. . . . 

These are still exciting times here. You may form some idea of 
them when I tell you that I never lie down without taking the pre- 
caution to fasten my door, and fix it in such a way that if it is forced 
open, it can be opened only wide enough for one person to come in 
at a time. I have my rifle, revolver, and old home-stocked pistol 
where I can lay my hand on them in an instant, besides a hatchet 
& axe. I take this precaution to guard against the midnight attacks 
of the Abolitionists, who never make an attack in open daylight, 
and no Proslavery man knows when he is safe here in this Ter. 
Some of them go so far as to guard out every night. There are 
three families of us here in a hundred yards of each other, with 
seven men in the three families, so that if no more than a dozen or 
fifteen comes at once, we will be able to stand our hand pretty well. 
From past experience, they can't stand with even two to one. In an 
attack which they made on the little town of Franklin, about 12 
miles from here, one night last week, six Proslavery men guarded 
cannon against a company of the rascals, variously estimated at 
from 50 to 1,500. Five out of the six were wounded; one of them 
dangerously, the ball passing through his body. 

We hear so much news about attacks, depredations, &c., that I 
can scarcely believe, or at least tell what to believe. All accounts 
are generally exaggerated, but still there is still some foundation 
for them. Well, my dear Sister, I must lay my pen aside for a while, 
as it is time for me to go to preaching about a hundred yards from 
here. J after 10 o'clock 

J after 1 P. M. Well, my dear Sister, I have been to preaching 
and heard a rather poor preaching from the text: I came not to 
destroy men's lives but to save them. Quite a small congregation 
as usual. 

I also heard some more news while at preaching. A man by the 
name of Taylor (a lawyer) was there. He was taken prisoner at 
Lawrence last night by the Abolitionists, robbed of $80, money that 
he had collected for some one in Kansas City, Mo., kept under 
guard all night, and set at liberty this morning. He reports that 
they were about to hang him, had the rope around his neck, but on 
his giving a Masonic sign, a Mason in the crowd would not let 
them hang him. I will not vouch for the truth of this, as this man 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 55 

is one who's veracity is somewhat doubted but then it may be in 
substance true. 

Well, my dear Sister, I believe that I have written all that I can 
think of that would interest you, except political news, which I 
intend to write to Warley & which you will be able to get from the 
Flag, as I guess he will publish it. Betsie has sent you a bud of the 
wild rose which are quite plentiful here ... we have a good many 
strawberries here growing about on the prairies. I see some ripe 
at this moment only a few feet from the window where I am writing. 
. . . Your affectionate Brother, 

Axalla. 

Dear Cousin Mary" Douglas, K. T., June the 8th, 1856 

I believe I have written to all the rest of the family, so I will 
now write to you. . . . 

I hope you have a good garden this year I understand the 
seasons have been fine. People here are just setting out plants, and 
the gardens look very backward, which I attribute to negligence, 
as I am certain that the weather was warm enough long before they 
commenced planting. Some of the farmers are hardly done planting 
corn yet. . . . 

I expect if you were here, you would go into spasms, everything 
is so dirty. It is almost useless to scour the floor, for the first rain 
that comes, it gets smeared all over with mud. I have not seen 
a scouring broom since I have been here. All the cleaning the 
floor gets is with the common sweeping broom, that is bought out 
of the store. 

We live in a little log house with the floor almost six inches off 
of the ground. It don't leak at all, for whenever it rains, it just 
pours down, and wets everything; that is the time we take to wash 
the floors, as we are saved the trouble of bringing water. 

We have very fine neighbors, just as kind as they can be. Two 
of the ladies, one a married lady & the other a widowed sister (an 
Oddfellow's widow at that) came here this morning and brought 
Betsie a plate of nice yellow butter, enough to fill nearly one of 
those 12%^ bowls. As for milk they tell us to come after it when- 
ever we want it so you see we live well. But I tell you, Cousin 
Mary, I don't like this country at all, though the people tell me that 
if I stay here a year or two, I will not be satisfied to live in 

11. Mary Branson, b. September 15, 1804; d. ? 



56 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Darlington any more. It is a rich country and that is about all 
that can be said in its favor. 

There is great excitement in the Ter. now. The Abolitionists are 
committing great depredations on the Proslavery party, killing at 
night, &c., & the Governor is endeavoring to keep the Proslavery 
party from retaliating. But I expect you will hear enough of this 
in the other letters which I write home to the men folks. . . . 

Give my love to ... all enquiring friends; tell ... all 
the negroes howdie for me ... write down all the news and 
keep it for me to read when I come back. ... If any of the 
girls ask you about me, tell them I love them yet, if I am married. 

Your Affectionate Cousin, 
A. J. H. 

P. S. We have circuit preaching here today & regularly every 
other Sunday. 

Douglas, K. T., Sunday June the 22nd/1856 
My Dear Sister 

I have seated myself to write you a few lines; I will not promise 
you a long letter as I don't think I can find much to write that 
would be interesting to you, but perhaps I may fill a sheet before 
I close. . . . We are getting along about in the same style. 
Both of us are quite well. I have been out of employment for the 
last two weeks. I had been working for a man, but after doing $21 
worth of work for him, I found out that he was slow pay, so I 
quit. . . . 

I wrote to Cousin Billy last Friday. ... I wish when you 
see him, that you would correct a mistake which I wrote to him. 
Tell him that the last of the two outrages which I mentioned to 
him is altogether wrong so far as parties are named, [and] that 
if he will place Buford's men in the place of Abolitionists, and 
freesoiler in place of Proslavery man, he will have it right. Some 
of the men b[r] ought out by Buford are acting rascally. They are 
robbing and plundering and don't always confine themselves to 
Abolitionists, but rob and plunder everyone that falls in their way. 
They came for nothing else. 

Gov. Shannon has resigned his commission as Gov. of the Ter. 
and his time will expire on the 1st. of July 

It is thought by some that there will be a general outbreak of the 
Abolitionists here about the 4th., as there is a large body expected 
from Michigan about that time. But I hope not. Times have been 



HOOLB: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 57 

pretty quiet here for the past two weeks. I have quit preparing for 
midnight attacks, and sleep soundly and securely. 

I went fishing yesterday and caught a fish that weighed about 
a pound and a half, called here a hickory shad. The man who went 
with me caught a pretty good catfish, both of which I took. Ate 
the shad this morning for breakfast, & Betsie is cooking the cat for 
dinner. I saw a man catch a buffalo that would weigh about 10 
Ibs., and another man had one to the top of the water that he 
thought would weigh 20 Ibs. The buffalo is very much like the 
redhorse. 

There is a quarterly meeting at Lecompton today, but I did not 
go, not having a horse. . . . 

Leonadas King's son, who came out here from Eufala, [Alabama] , 
with Major Buford, left for home last Wednesday. He first thought 
of going by Darlington, but finally concluded to go directly home. 
He was pretty sick of the Ter., I tell you, as I presume a great many 
others are. I among the rest. My only hope of getting pay for 
coming here lies in the hope of preempting a piece of the Delaware 
reserve, when it is treated for, and selling it again. 

I laid my pen aside to eat dinner and after eating, took a smoke, 
lay down on the bed, went to sleep, and slept three hours. My cat- 
fish was very nice. We had cold coffee, cold biscuit, cold bread, 
cold boiled ham, a nice saucer of fresh butter, and a nice pitcher of 
sweet milk. Betsie generally tries to arrange it so as to have very 
little to cook on Sundays. ... I bought four hens and a rooster 
last week and paid $1.25 for them, 25^ apiece. The very next even- 
ing, while I was off at work (two neighbors and I were making a 
skiff in co. to cross the river with) and Betsie was over at Mr. Elli- 
son's, where she commonly stays when I am off, about 150 yards 
from here, some one or a cat came and took my rooster. Fortu- 
nately, my neighbour from whom I purchased them, had another 
spare one and gave it to me. Betsie has now seven eggs, tho we 
have had the chickens only a few days. I hear that Missouri is 
going to give all of the Southern settlers who are keeping house a 
cow & calf, that is, those who have none, and provisions to last 
them a year. They have 300 cows and calves already made up and 
a quantity of provisions. Mr. Ellison's wagon with three others 
are now gone to bring up the provisions to Lecompton. I intend to 
apply for my share, also for the cow. If I get the cow, I will try 
to buy a couple of shoats, as I will have lots of milk to throw away. 
All of the hogs here are fat enough to eat, and don't get a grain 



58 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

of corn. This is a great country for stock. It is a beautiful country 
in the spring and summer, but looks dreary & desolate in the win- 
ter. ... I saw some of the prettiest corn over the river oppo- 
site here yesterday that I ever saw. It was a little over knee 
high, from three to five stalks in a hill. This is truly a great corn 
country. 

You must not look for long letters from me, as there is very little 
here for me to write about, but I shall expect long letters from you, 
as you know that every little news from home would interest me. 
Do tell me everything . . . Love to all ... 

Your ever affectionate Brother, 

A. J. H. 

Dear Sir 12 Douglas, K T., June the 29th, 1856 

I received your very acceptable letter, dated June the 2nd. . . . 
It is reported here that the Delaware Indians are about treating 
away a part of their lands, so I and three or four of my friends here 
went across the river last week to lay our claims. I made two which 
I intended to make choice of when I could examine them better, but 
as I am not fully satisfied with either, I intend going back again this 
week and looking about again. There is some fine land on the 
Delaware reserve, and if it does come in for preemption, I intend to 
preempt a claim, pay for it at the government price, make some 
little improvements on it, and sell, if I can get a price sufficient, 
then go home to Old Darlington again. I don't think I shall ever 
like here well enough to make it my home. 

We are to have a great barbecue on the 4th., at Lecompton. I 
don't know who will be the orator, but it is thought that a Col. 
Moore 13 will be. I hear that the Yankees are to have a great 
gathering at Lawrence on that day, and also at Topeka, and it is 
rumored that their legislature will meet at the latter place then. 
Governor Shannon, I hear, has given Col. Sumner orders to be ready 
to act in case they do, but they (the Abolitionists) have no Gov. 
Robinson 14 is still in custody, guarded by Uncle Sam's troops. Some 
think there will be a general outbreak among the rascals on that 

12. I have been unable to identify the receiver of this letter. 

13. Probably Ely Moore. See Footnote No. 27. 

14. Charles Robinson (1818-1894), first governor of the state of Kansas. He was first 
elected under a Free-State constitution in 1856, but was arrested on a charge of treason, and 
indicted by the federal grand jury. After several months' imprisonment, he was tried for 
usurpation, acquitted, and released. Two years later he was reflected by the Free-State 
party, and in 1861 became the first governor of the state. Cf. New International Encyclopedia, 
v. XX, p. 50. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 59 

day, as it is reported that there are to be a great many from Michi- 
gan and other free states in here at that time, which report, it seems, 
is about to be sustained, as there were 80 on board one of the boats 
coming up from Missouri last week, armed with Sharpshooters. But 
when they reached Lexington, Mo., their arms, at least 60 guns, were 
taken from them. 20 they threw into the river before they would 
give them up, and they were sent back to where they came from 
not the guns, but the Abolitionists! Hurrah! for the Lexington 
boys! 

It has been pretty quiet here for some time, though the week 
before last the agent of the Shawnee Indians, who was an Aboli- 
tionist, was killed, and his son wounded. It is not known who com- 
mitted the deed. The son who escaped says that they were riding 
horses branded with a U. S., though the men wore citizens clothes. 
It is thought that he was murdered for his money, as it is generally 
believed that he had a good deal. There are more lies told about 
the affairs of Kansas than a little, and if it were not for the purpose 
of giving Warley the true state of things, I don't think I would 
write to him. But I can't bear the idea of the readers of the Flag 
hearing such erroneous statements as I see copied in it from other 
papers. I find that Warley can get news from here from other 
sources sooner than he can from me, but then, what I write is 
literally true, as I will not state a thing to him as true unless I hear 
it from good authority. 

The political matter which I have written in this, you may give 
to him to publish, if he likes, as I don't intend to write to him this 
week, for I have nothing else to write . . . 

Your ever sincere friend, A. J. H. 

My very dear Sister DOTGLAS > K ' T " Au st - the 3d " 1856 

. . . You must not think hard of me for not writing to you 
sooner, for I have so many of you to write to, that it would keep 
me all the time writing, if I undertook to write each one every 
week. ... I am well now, but I can't get back my appetite. 
I had a very severe attack of the bilious fever. . . . After nine 
days I took it again, but it was slight, and by taking a little blue- 
mass and some mixture of quinine and some other things which the 
Dr. left me, I broke it. ... Our neighbors are very kind, in 
truth, rather too much so for me, as they make me feel as if I am 
a trouble to them. They will not even let me bring water for my- 
self, but if they see me go after any, they quarrel with me. This 



60 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

morning, though I feel strong enough to go after it myself, a boy 
brought me a pail full by sun up. They all seem to think a great 
deal of Betsie and myself. 

It is quite cool here this morning; almost cool enough to sit by a 
fire. We have suffered for rain in this part of the country, but last 
week we had several fine rains, and as the crops are generally very 
backward, there is a chance for good crops. Corn is now about 
tasseling & shooting. Gardens are generally poor. I have not eaten 
a good mess of vegetables this summer. . . . 

There are fewer snakes here than in Darlington. I have killed 
four rattlesnakes, three of them had only a button, but the other 
was a large one with nine rattles. My foot passed within a foot of 
his head, and he could have bit me with all ease, as I did not see 
him until I was by him, but they never strike without rattling he 
did not rattle. 

There are more insects about the house I live in than a little, 
crickets, spiders, cockroaches, granddaddies, &c. Yesterday Betsie 
and I burned and killed about a thousand of the last. They had 
got so troublesome that they were crawling over us at night; in the 
day they would collect in knots about the house, so I set a news- 
paper on fire and burned them. One consolation: we are not 
troubled with bedbugs. . . . There are scarcely any ticks here 
in the summer, but I am told that in the winter the stock is literally 
covered with them, in perfect shields, horses, cows, and everything 
else. 

Plums are just commenced getting ripe. . . . There is no other 
fruit. Dried apples are worth $3 a bushel here. Watermelons are 
just getting ripe . . . one of my neighbors has some almost as 
large as my head. 

I have heard of some few claims about 16 miles from here that 
are not taken up yet. One is said to be a very fine claim, and I 
intend, as soon as I am able to ride that far, to go and take it up, 
and not wait for the Delaware lands to come in, as that is uncertain, 
at least for some time. 

There is very little doing here. Money is scarce; a great many 
people want work done, but they have no money to pay with. 
Everyone seems to be resting on his oars, as the saying is. Nothing 
going on, except among some of the Abolitionists who are doing a 
good business stealing horses from Proslavery men. One of my 
neighbours (Mr. Elison) lost a very fine horse which he has been 
offered $135 for, which is a pretty big price for Kansas. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 61 

The Missourians are going to send 300 head of milk cows into the 
Ter. for the benefit of Southern immigrants. I was told the other 
day by one who is to have the distributing of them when they come, 
to come and pick me out one. Every Proslavery man who is keep- 
ing house and has no cow is entitled to one. Some men have gone 
after them now. 

Well, my dear sister, I believe I have told you everything that I 
can think of that would interest you. . . . Betsie sends her 
love to you all. . . . Write soon to one who loves you dearly. 
. . . Your affectionate brother, Axalla. 

My dear Sister Lecompton, K. T., Augst. 27, 1856 

I rec'd yours of the 5th. inst. last week, but as you complain that 
none of you had rec'd a letter from me in five or six weeks, and I 
had written to some one in Darlington every week with the ex- 
ception of the last two, I have come to the conclusion that it is al- 
most useless to write, as I feel pretty well satisfied that my letters 
never get out of the Ter., no, nor this county, but are stopped in 
Lawrence; but I shall however make one more attempt, hoping that 
it may be overlooked and pass through 

You see from the heading that I am now in Lecompton. Last 
night two weeks ago the Abolitionists, about 250 or 300 strong at- 
tacked the little town of Franklin, or rather one house in the place 
in which there were 14 men (Proslavery). They demanded the arms 
of these 14 men which were refused, when they commenced firing 
upon the house, and, after a short time, were repulsed, but rallied 
and came again, [and] were repulsed the second time. Then they set 
fire to a load of hay and rolled it against an adjoining house (the 
post office) when the 14 cried for quarter. Nearly all of the 14 made 
their escape without receiving a single wound, but of the Abolition- 
ists, 32 were killed and wounded, 7 or 8 killed. 

A few days after an army of 400 of the Murderers went to at- 
tack Col. Treadwell, who was making a settlement about 20 miles 
south of this, but he, hearing of their approach, abandoned his post 
and made his escape. Treadwell had only about 50 men and no 
ammunition. He sent to Lecompton for help and 18 started, but 
hearing that he had left, they turned back. On their return they 
fell into an ambuscade of the Abolitionists about 250 strong, but 
charged through them without losing a man, and only two were 
wounded slightly. The next morning the same band of villains at- 



62 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

tacked the house of Col. Titus, 15 about 1 miles from here. Titus 
has 18 men, and after fighting with small arms for half an hour, 
they turned loose their cannon on his house and battered it down 
over his head. They took him and most of his men prisoners, after 
fighting to the last. Titus lost only one man killed, and himself and 
one more wounded. They were carried to Lawrence and after a 
few days were exchanged. Titus is from Florida and is a very brave 
man. On the morning the attack was made on Titus, the news 
came that 800 men were coming against Douglas, so we, 8 in number 
with our families, crossed over the river, but they did not come. 
The next day we returned, but not feeling safe there we came (after 
a few days) to this place, which has about 750 regulars to guard it. 
There are three families of us living in one house. There is a great 
deal of excitement here, but how long it will last no one can tell. 
Mo. is sending in men to help us, and it is high time they had come. 
This contest will decide the fate of Kansas and the Union. Lane 16 
is in the Ter. with a force of from 1500 to 2500 men. Gov. Shannon 
has resigned and the new governor has not come on, so the Lieut. 
Gov. Woodson 17 is now the acting Gov. I don't know what will 
be the plan of the present campaign, as the officers keep it a secret. 
Betsie is well, but I have [had] slight fevers every day, for the 
last three or four days, caused, I guess, from excitement and stand- 
ing guard. ... I don't think you need be uneasy about me 

15. Henry T. Titus, spoken of as "Col. Titus of Florida," was commissioned colonel of 
the Second Regiment, Southern division, Kansas militia, August 6, 1856. It is said that he 
brought a delegation of armed Southerners with him from Florida and Georgia. Colonel 
Titus had taken an active part in the "sack of Lawrence," and had assisted in destroying the 
presses of the Herald of Freedom and of the Free-State, and throwing the type in the river. 
Early in the morning a party of Free-State men attacked Titus' house, fired 7 cannon balls 
made of lead melted from the type of the destroyed presses, dug from the sand in the river, 
and forced Titus to 1 surrender. He had been wounded in the head and shoulder. After his 
capture he was supplied with comfortable quarters and a physician to attend him. The 
other prisoners were confined in the Herald of Freedom building. Titus died in 1881. Cf. 
Kansas Historical Society Collections, v. I-II, pp. 228-229; v. HI, p. 323; v. VII, p. 529; 
v. X, p. 597; v. XII, p. 412; New York Times, August 17, 1856; Lexington (Mo.) Express, 
August 23, 1856. 

16. James Henry Lane (1814-1866), a native of New York, emigrated to the Kansas ter- 
ritory in April, 1855, and soon attempted to organize the Democratic party there. Failing in 
this, he joined the Free-State movement, and advocated a broad and constructive program for 
organizing the anti-slavery factions in the territory. He was a member of the first Free-State 
convention at Lawrence. After the Topeka convention was held and the constitution ratified 
by the Free-State men, Lane was elected U. S. Senator, but was not admitted to a seat in the 
senate. Leaving Washington, he set out to tour the Northwest to lay the cause of Kansas 
before the people, and, as the Missouri river was closed to Northern emigrants, he opened 
a new route via Iowa and Nebraska. Through this channel "Lane's Army of the North" 
invaded Kansas, attacking Proslavery strongholds. Cf. Dictionary American Biography, v. X, 
pp. 576-578; W. E. Connelley, Kansas and Kansans, p. 1284. 

17. Daniel Woodson (1824-1894), secretary of Kansas territory, 1854-1857, was a native 
of Albemarle county, Virginia. He was appointed secretary at the age of 80 by President 
Pierce. Woodson's education, his prejudices and his political principles led him to take a 
position with the National Democratic party, and he was faithful to the policy of the Pro- 
slavery party in Kansas. At four different times during his term as secretary, Woodson was 
called upon to act as governor. In 1857 he was appointed receiver of public moneys for the 
Delaware land district, a position which he held until the election of Lincoln. Cf. Kansas 
Historical Collections, v. V, p. 157, v. XIII, p. 410; U. S. Biographical Dictionary, Kansas, 
p. 222. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 63 

here as the regulars will guard this place, but if there is any fighting 
to be done, I intend to pitch in. 

Before we left Douglas a posse of the Abolitionists (seven in 
number) came and demanded some arms that Gen'l Clarke 18 had 
left there. There was no one at home, but a Mr. Browne & myself, 
who were both puney, besides the women. Clarke's guns had been 
removed but there were nine other guns all loaded in a log house 
which we had fixed up as a fort. When I ascertained what they 
had come for, I went to that house and stood in the door, after first 
waking up Mr. Browne, with my pistol in my pocket and my thumb 
on the hammer. I was determined that they should not have the 
guns, let the consequences be what they might. One of the men rode 
up to the door and demanded Clarke's guns. I told him they were 
not there, and after receiving the same reply from several of the 
family, and invited by Mrs. Ellison to come in and search, they left. 
It was my intention, if they undertook to make the search, to shoot 
the man who was at the door, and not six feet away from me, with 
my pistol, close the door, and shoot the rest with the loaded guns. 
I could have [done] it easily with the assistance of Mr. Browne, as 
we had port holes to shoot out of But fortunately for them and 
perhaps for myself and the others, they did not undertake the 
search 

Betsie has gone to work making flannel shirts for one of the 
merchants of this place at 37^ apiece. She can make two a day. 
. . . I have heard since I commenced writing that letters go by 
way of Leavensworth from here, so I am in hope you will get this. 
. . . I would write to Warley if I was certain he would get it, 
but as I guess by my letters, the last two that I have written to him 
did not come out in the Flag, he did not get them. . . . Tell 
Mother not to be uneasy about me. I feel quite safe here and there 
will be such an influx of Missourians and other Southerners here in 
a few days that Lane can not hold them a dodge. . . . 

Your Affectionate Brother, 

Axalla. 

18. George W. Clarke was a notorious Proslavery leader in the border warfare days. Be- 
fore coming to Kansas he had been in the U. S. navy. In 1855-1856 he served as Pottawat- 
omie Indian agent, with a residence near Lecompton; 1857-1858 he was register in U. S. 
land office at Fort Scott. In the fall of 1856 he was the leader of 400 Missourians in their 
raid on Linn county. Cf. Kansas Historical Collections, v. Ill, p. 306, v. XVI; Hamersly, 
Complete Army & Navy Register of the United States of America, p. 150; D. W. Wilder. 
Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1875), p. 243. 



64 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

My dear Mother Lecompton, K. T, Sept. 12, 1856 

I must write you a few lines to let you know how I am getting 
along, though I have but little hopes of your getting this as letters 
for some time past have been miscarried or stopped on the way 
but I will make the venture 

I have been unwell ever since the 9th. of July. ... I thought 
of going to work in a few days, when the Abolitionists broke out 
and I have had to stand guard of nights when I ought to have been 
in bed, took cold which . . . caused diarrhea, but ... I 
feel quite well [now]. Betsie is well 

You perceive from the heading of this that I am now in Lecomp- 
ton, almost all of the Proslavery party between this place and 
Lawrence are here. We brought our families here, as we thought 
that we would be better able to defend ourselves when altogether 
than if we scattered over the country. 

Lane came against us last Friday (a week ago to-day). As 
it happened we had about 400 men with two cannon we marched 
out to meet him, though we were under the impression at the time 
that we had 1,000 men. We came in gunshot of each other, but 
the regular soldiers came and interferred, but not before our party 
had shot some dozen guns, by which it is reported that five of the 
Abolitionists were killed or wounded. We had strict orders from 
our commanding officer (Gen'l Marshall 19 ) not to fire until they 
made the attack, but some of our boys would not be restrained. I 
was a rifleman and one of the skirmishers, but did all that I could 
to restrain our men though I itched all over to shoot, myself. I 
drew a bead a dozen times on a big Yankee about 150 yards from 
me, but did not fire, as I knew if I did, the boys all around me 
would do the same, and we had orders not to fire until the word 
was given We had 400 men and we learned after Lane had 
drawn off his men that he did not have more than 700; had we 
known it, the regulars would not have arrived soon enough to have 
kept us from fighting, but we were acting on the defensive, and 
did not think it prudent to commence the engagement. I firmly 
believe that we would have whipped them, though we would have 
lost a good many men. I did not see a pale face in our whole 

19. Gen. Francis J. Marshall (1816-1895), a native of Virginia, moved to Kansas terri- 
tory in 1849. In 1855 he was elected brigadier general of Kansas militia by the territorial 
legislature. When Lane threatened Lecompton, Marshall assumed command of opposing 
forces; and it is a fact that he forcibly prevented one of his subordinate officers from opening 
fire on Lane's troops. In 1857 Marshall was elected governor of Kansas under the Lecompton 
constitution, but after its rejection he retired to private life. In 1859 he moved to Colorado, 
and became engaged in mining. Cf. Franklin G. Adams, "Kansas State Historical Society 
Scrap-book," v. VIII, pp. 239-241. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 65 

army, every man seemed keen to fight. I for one, did not feel as 
nervous as I am when I go to shoot a beef or a turkey. 

I was in bed when the news came, and the confusion calling the 
men to arms awoke me. I sprang up, seized my gun, told Betsie 
to go with the rest of the ladies where they would be out of danger, 
and went to my post in line. I was so weak that I could scarcely 
walk, and after I took my position, I sat down waiting for the word 
to fire. I believe it helped me, for I have been improving ever 
since but enough of this 

Gov. Geary 20 arrived here night before last; he is a fine looking 
man, six feet two inches high, seems to be about forty years old. 
He issued his proclamation disbanding all armed bodies in the Ter. 
I hear that Lane and his men say that he has gone too far to back 
out now and will resist the U. S. troops. That is just what we want, 
as by that means we will get rid of all his last recruits at any rate. 
The Gov. also said in his Proclamation that the laws of the Ter. 
shall be enforced. I think he is all right at least I hope so. 

But my dear Mother, I must close as the stage has come. You 
must not be uneasy about me, as I hope our difficulties here will 
soon end, and we will all get to our work soon I am more uneasy 
about making money than I am about being killed by the Yankees, 
though the times looked pretty squally for the last three weeks. 
. . . Betsie sends love to you and all the rest of the family. . . . 
My love to you, my very dear Mother, Your Affectionate Son. 

My Dear Sister Douglas, K. T., Sept. the 24th., 1856. 

Your most acceptable letter came to hand last week, but I have 
not had the chance of answering it before. I have received two let- 
ters from you since I have written you one, but I have written to 
mother, which answers the same purpose, as when I write to one of 
the family, it is intended for the whole. You see by the heading of 
this letter that we have come back to Douglas. We moved the 
latter part of last week. Everything is so quiet now, to what it has 
been, that we thought we could risk here again. Gov. Geary is act- 
ing with a great deal of energy and promptness. He has over one 
hundred of the Abolitionists prisoners, which are to be tried soon. 
Genl. Lane is not to be found. It is rumored that he has gone North 
to Nebraska to meet 600 recruits, but I hear that he was seen in 

20. John White Geary (1819-1873), a native of Pennsylvania, arrived in Kansas as 
governor Sept. 9, 1856, found the territory in a state of civi-1 war, and in three weeks' time 
quelled the disturbances. Later his life was threatened, and on March 4, 1857, he resigned and 
returned to Washington to report to President Buchanan. Cf. Dictionary American Biography, 
v. VII, pp. 203-204 ; Kansas Historical Collections, v. IV, p. 373 ; v. VII, p. 375. 

52718 



66 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Lawrence last Friday, so I don't know which is correct. I have 
written to Warley a sketch of the war, which I suppose he will 
publish so you can see it, and it is unnecessary for me to write it in 
this . . . 

We have quite cold weather here now; yesterday morning and 
this morning pretty large frosts, and we had to sit by the fire all 
day. I am satisfied that a good deal of the crop will be cut short, 
if the weather does not moderate. Crops are generally late, on ac- 
count of the disturbance last spring. But one consolation to the 
settlers of the Ter. [is that] Missouri has made fine crops this 
year, and I am in hopes provisions will be cheap. A great deal of the 
crops here have been destroyed by the marauding bands of Aboli- 
tionists, driving off the settlers, letting stock into their fields, &c. 
But they are paying for it now: Missouri has passed resolutions 
not to let them have any provisions from there, and I hear they are 
almost on a state of starvation in Lawrence now. 

I am anxious to get my health and strength again, that I may get 
to making money, for our funds are getting low, and winter is com- 
ing on. ... I still have money enough to carry us on for a 
while yet, but, if I do have to call for help, I shall make a call on 
the [Darlington] district, as I think I am in the service of the South, 
and representing Darlington, though not the only one. But I 
would not be surprised if I were not the only representative of Old 
Darlington by spring. Of those who came out here first, only three 
are left, and one of them spoke of going back as soon as the present 
fuss was over, and I suppose he is on his way by this time I mean 
Galloway. Dr. Byrd may stay, but I have my doubts, so I think 
that I deserve a little more than the rest who go back home. . . . 

I am very much grieved to hear that the old black hen had sprained 
her toe! and of the other sad mishaps among the poultry. Tender 
them my condolence. Remember me to all my friends. . . . 
Give my love and howdie to all of the Negroes; tell the little ones 
not to forget me. Tell Stin that when I arose this morning and saw 
the frost, I thought of him and fox-hunting. I am obliged to work 
here to pass off time, as there is nothing that I can get for amuse- 
ment, and I have very few books to read. You must write soon and 
often to me, and give me all the news. . . . 

Your Affectionate Brother, Axalla. 



HOOLB: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 67 

My Dear Sister Dou g las > K T " Oct - the 12th - 1856 - 

This is my birthday, and I must celebrate it by writing you a 
short letter to let you know how I am on such a memorable occasion. 
Well, to do so, I shall have to go back a little. I commenced work- 
ing at the carpenter's trade in Lecompton last Wednesday was a 
week ago, worked two days, [it] rained one, worked three more 
days, was taken sick so I have been doing nothing ever since. I 
suppose I was too weak to undergo the fatigue : I had to get up at 
daylight, and walk three miles by 7 o'clock, work 11 hours, and 
walk back home, which generally took me till into the night. I feel 
quite well today, but to mend the matter, I have taken the rheuma- 
tism in my right arm, just below where it joins the shoulder-blade 
bone. I could scarcely move my arm yesterday, but it feels some- 
what better today. If I am well enough, I will go back to work to- 
morrow; it will not do for me to be idle here. Betsie is making me 
some apple dumplings in honor of the day. Her health continues 
very good. She tells me to tell you that she has her quilt in the 
frame but I am afraid it will stay in the frame some days yet, if 
some of the ladies don't help her! 

The weather has been quite pleasant for some weeks till Friday, 
when it rained and it has been cool and cloudy since. The frosts 
last month did not kill all the grass and other vegetation, though it 
killed a good deal. Betsie and I are getting along pretty comfort- 
ably, since we came back home again. I find it a pretty hard task 
to get wood and water for her. 

Mr. Ellison's daughters, at least two of them, returned in the last 
stage from Missouri, where they went on the breaking out of the 
last fuss. Betsie and I were very glad to see them, as they are a 
great deal of company for her. They visit each other every day. 
One of them is a great favourite of mine, being an Oddfellow's 
widow, in addition to her good qualities. 

I will write to Warley tomorrow all the political news of the Ter., 
so I will not bother to write it in this to you, as you will see it in the 
Flag. I write home to one of you so often that I have little to write 
about myself. One of our neighbors has missed a Negro fellow and 
supposes he has been carried off by the Abolitionists. He thinks that 
they had to carry him off by force, as he does not think the Negro 
would go off willingly. They have tried to induce a good many to 
run away. 

I guess Stin has been foxhunting by this time. I think of it every 
cold spell we have. Tell him, if he would not write to me before, 



68 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

he must write now and tell me of the chases that will do me some 
good, just to hear of them. 

Now, my dear Sister, you must be sure to write to me soon and 
tell me all the news. I hope our dear Mother's health has improved 
since you wrote your last. Tell her, now that the horses are idle, to 
ride about. I am certain it will be an advantage to her. Give my 
love to [the immediate family]. . . Tell all the Negroes howdie. 

Your Affectionate Brother, Axalla. 
(To be Concluded in the May Quarterly) 



William C. Hook 1 

Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals 
of the United States 
THOMAS AMORY LEB 

FOUR members of the Kansas bar two from Leavenworth and 
two from Winfield have been appointed to the federal bench 
and have added luster to their names, their profession and their 
state. Of the four, only one, Brewer, of Leavenworth, reached the 
supreme goal and sat upon the supreme court of the United States. 
Two of the remaining three each twice came close to the goal, and 
the fourth, much junior in service to the others, was seriously con- 
sidered by President Hoover for the last vacancy upon the supreme 
court. 

David J. Brewer was appointed to the supreme court bench in 
1889, after having served as an associate justice of the supreme court 
of Kansas, and as a judge of the circuit court of the United States 
for the eighth circuit. William C. Hook, the subject of this sketch, 
also of Leavenworth, was appointed judge of the United States 
district court of Kansas in 1899, and sat upon it four years before 
being advanced to the circuit court in 1903. John C. Pollock, of 
Winfield, had been an associate justice of the supreme court of 
Kansas for several years before he was named as judge of the United 
States district court of Kansas to succeed Hook in 1903, and George 
T. McDermott, originally of Winfield although all of his practice 
had been in Topeka, sat as a trial United States judge for the dis- 
trict of Kansas for two years before he was appointed in 1929 to 
the newly created Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

As I have said, all of these men have added luster to their profes- 
sion and to their state. When the writer of this sketch argued his 
first case before the United States supreme court, Justice Brewer 
was still in the thoughts of the older members of the court, and the 
writer well remembers the anecdotes which one of the justices of 
that court told him at the dinner table concerning the learned, 
keenly logical and sometimes controversial Brewer. No other man 
from our state has attained the supreme goal of lawyers and jurists, 
although both Judges Pollock and McDermott have been seriously 

1. Address by the president, Thomas Amory Lee, before the Kansas State Historical 
Society, at its fifty-eighth annual meeting, October 17, 1933. 

(69) 



70 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

considered for it, and any lawyer who has ever appeared before them 
knows that the appointment of either would grace the bench itself. 
But Hook came, perhaps, closer to an appointment to the United 
States supreme court than almost any man in history who was not 
appointed, and not only once, but twice. 

William Gather Hook was born in Pennsylvania at Waynesburg, 
on September 24, 1857. He died at his country home at Plum Lake, 
Wis., August 11, 1921, after a service of eighteen years upon the 
federal appellate bench. He was the son of Enos and Elizabeth 
(Inghram) Hook, and was descended from Thomas Hooke, who 
settled near Providence, Md., in 1668. The family is of mixed 
English, Scotch and Irish descent. Judge Hook was the great 
nephew of Enos Hook, a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, 
in the sessions of 1838 and 1840, and the great, great grandson of 
Capt. James Hook of the Continental army who saw active service 
in the Thirteenth Virginia regiment until the summer of 1778. His 
parents moved to Nebraska in 1863 and across the plains to 
Colorado by ox and mule team in 1866, and then back to Leaven- 
worth where they finally settled in 1867, and Leavenworth was 
always thereafter his home. After he graduated from the Leaven- 
worth high school he studied in the law office of Clough & Wheat, 
a famous firm for many years in eastern Kansas. Before he was 
twenty-one years old, he had been graduated from the law depart- 
ment of Washington University at Saint Louis, with the degree of 
Bachelor of Laws, and upon his majority, he was admitted to 
practice and at the same time admitted to the law office of Lucian 
Baker of Leavenworth. Baker, too, is famous in the legal history 
of the state. Much business of a varied character came to that 
law office, and young Hook learned quickly and well the funda- 
mentals of successful practice. When Baker was elected to the 
United States Senate, the law firm of Baker, Hook & Atwood was 
formed, which continued until William C. Hook was appointed, in 
1899, to be United States district judge for the district of Kansas. 
The other member of that firm was John H. Atwood, now practicing 
in Kansas City, Mo. 

Four years after his admission to the bar, William C. Hook 
(married Louise Dickson, daughter of Capt. James Dickson, and to 
them were born three daughters and a son, Inghram D. Hook, an 
able and prominent lawyer of Kansas City, Mo., and a captain 
of infantry overseas in the World War. 

Although Judge Hook was a Republican, he was appointed city 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 71 

attorney of Leavenworth by a Democratic mayor and served in 
that capacity for six years. 

It was not long after Judge Hook's appointment on February 
13, 1899, to succeed Judge Cassius G. Foster who had resigned, 
that Judge Hook's first opinion appears in the Reports. On April 
29, 1899, in the 93d Federal, at page 865, Judge Hook's opinion in 
the case of Grove et al. v. Grove et al., for the circuit court of the 
district of Kansas, second division, is printed. From then until his 
death, his opinions are scattered through 176 volumes of the Federal 
Reporter, the last one being at page 150 of the 269th volume. His 
first opinion is in Judge Hook's characteristic style. The nature 
of the suit and the facts are clearly and shortly stated. The ques- 
tions to be decided are logically considered and answered. His 
first printed opinion concerned itself with the important question 
of jurisdiction, and the following extract from his opinion is char- 
acteristic of the man : 

The right of a court to retain jurisdiction by the dismissal of parties who 
are not indispensable is founded in good reason, for it would be an idle cere- 
mony to deny the dismissal of objectionable parties and to dismiss the bill 
of complaints on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction, and then 
allow the complainants to recommence the suit, omitting the parties whose 
presence would oust the jurisdiction of the court. The practice observed for 
so many years is in the interest of the speedy determination of litigation. 
(1. c. 867.) 

A study of Judge Hook's opinions shows that they were, from the 
beginning to end, common-sense opinions. His keen mind was not 
only an analytical mind but a practical and constructive mind. The 
speedy determination of litigation appeared to him to be of more 
importance than an interminable wrangling over narrow and tech- 
nical points of law. Preservation of the equities of the various 
parties in interest was more important than subservience to legal 
form. These characteristics were particularly observed in the re- 
organization of the Metropolitan Railway system, which, for almost 
the first time in judicial reorganizations under equity receiverships, 
preserved the stockholders' equity and served the public interest, 
as well as satisfied, in part at least, the lawful demands of creditors. 

At the time that Judge Hook went on the bench, the famous old 
eighth circuit was headed by Judge Henry C. Caldwell, of Little 
Rock, Ark. Judge Walter H. Sanborn, of Saint Paul, for so many 
years Judge Hook's chief, and Judge Amos M. Thayer, of Saint 
Louis, were the two other judges. The circuit justice over the eighth 
circuit was Justice Brewer of the United States supreme court, and 



72 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

other district judges included Elmer B. Adams, of Saint Louis; 
John F. Phillips, of Kansas City, and W. H. Munger, of Nebraska. 

Judge Hook's first opinion which excited wide public interest was 
in the Western Union case (Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Myatt, 
State Solicitor, et al., 98 Fed. 335). Judge Hook had been upon 
the bench less than a year when he announced his decision in this 
notable case, striking down the Kansas court of visitation. The 
Kansas legislature in 1898 had attempted to create a body which 
should have a combined legislative, judicial and executive power, 
contrary, of course, to the fundamental ideas of constitutional gov- 
ernment in our country. The case was argued upon the one side by 
the State Solicitor Myatt, and Atty-gen. A. A. Godard, of Kansas, 
and upon the other side by the attorneys who for so many years 
were retained by the Western Union and Pullman companies, as well 
as by other great Eastern corporations, Rossington, Smith & Histed. 
George H. Fearons, L. C. Krauthoff and Frank Hagerman were 
also of counsel. The bill of complaint of the Western Union Com- 
pany set forth that, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 28 of the 
Special Session Laws of 1898, a court of visitation had been created, 
subject only to review by the supreme court of the state, which 
should have the widest possible kind of executive, legislative and 
judicial powers over recalcitrant railroad companies and similar 
corporations. Upon the complaint of one Maxwell, who had tendered 
to the Western Union Co., certain messages and demanded the 
transmission thereof at the rates prescribed under chapter 38 (which 
subjected telegraph companies to the court), which had been refused 
by the company, the court of visitation sought to exercise its powers. 
The bill of complaint alleged that the act itself and the order of the 
court of visitation violated the due process and equal protection of 
the laws clauses of the fourteenth amendment to the federal consti- 
tution. 

After stating that the proofs upon the application for the tem- 
porary injunction clearly showed that the rates prescribed by the 
law were materially less than the actual cost of the service, Judge 
Hook granted the injunction, not only holding that the rates were 
confiscatory, but also holding that the law creating the court of 
visitation violated the constitution of the state of Kansas, which 
inhibited the conferring of inconsistent legislative and judicial 
powers upon the same body to be exercised in regard to the same 
subject matter. 

This case attracted the attention of President Roosevelt, and 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 73 

when the Senior Circuit Judge Caldwell retired, President Roosevelt 
named Judge Hook as a circuit judge, in 1903. Most of Judge 
Hook's service in the next nine years was upon the circuit court of 
appeals. Presently Judge Thayer retired and Judge Adams of 
Missouri was promoted to the circuit bench, and for a good many 
years, Sanborn, Hook and Adams rendered a great majority of 
the many notable decisions of the old eighth circuit which was the 
largest circuit in the country and included practically all of the 
territory between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains. 

In 1908, Judge Hook wrote the opinion in the Omaha City Water 
Works Co. case (162 Fed. 225), holding, in brief, that the city of 
Omaha might acquire the private water works which extended into 
other communities and beyond the corporate limits. In this case, as 
in all of the Hook opinions which the writer has studied, the Judge 
took the most practical view of the situation. With all of his learn- 
ing it might well be said that the foundation stone of Judge Hook's 
opinions was always practical common sense. In this particular 
case the termination of interminable litigation was most important, 
and Judge Hook terminated the litigation. 

In 1909, the famous suit by the government to enjoin the Standard 
Oil Co., John D. Rockefeller, and many other individual defendants, 
as being in restraint of trade, was argued before the eighth circuit 
court of appeals. The court rendered a decree in favor of the gov- 
ernment and enjoined the defendants. It was in this case that Judge 
Hook wrote the definition of monopoly and restraint of trade, which 
was quoted so frequently by Attorney-general Wickersham in his 
opinions, and which had much to do with President Taft's tentative 
selection of Judge Hook for a place on the supreme court. In his 
concurring opinion, Judge Hook said: 

Magnitude of business does not, alone, constitute a monopoly, nor effort 
at magnitude an attempt to monopolize. To offend the act the monopoly 
must have secured by methods contrary to the public policy as expressed in 
the statutes, or in the common law. 

Judge Hook went on to say that the question of violation of the 
law did not depend upon whether or not the monopoly was reason- 
able or unreasonable, but depended upon the result or effect. If the 
restraint were direct and appreciable, then there was a violation of 
the statute, but if the restraint were merely incidental then there 
was no violation of the statute. At this particular time the supreme 
court had not yet introduced into the law the so-called rule of reason, 
although, when the decision of the eighth circuit court of appeals in 



74 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

this notable case was affirmed by the supreme court, the rule of 
reason for the first time appeared in the majority opinion as a dic- 
tum. His opinion in this case attracted the attention of the country 
and of the public press. 

Shortly thereafter the famous Harriman merger case was argued 
before the eighth circuit court. In this case (188 Fed. 102), which 
was a suit by the government against the Union Pacific and 
Southern Pacific contract, Judge Hook stood alone and dissented 
from the majority opinion which held that there was no violation 
of the statute. Judge Hook's opinion was most forceful, as the 
following extract shows: 

The combination was effected through the purchase by the Union Pacific of 
part of the capital stock of the Southern Pacific. Upon this two important 
questions arise. The first, which is one of law, is whether the purchase by 
one railroad company of corporate stock of another, less than the majority, 
but sufficient in amount according to the practical experience of men to en- 
able the purchaser to dominate or control the policies and operations of the 
other, is a form of combination within the prohibitions of the Sherman act. 
The conclusion of the court being against the government on another ground, 
it was unnecessary to determine this question; but as I do not assent to the 
conclusion, and as the question lies at the threshold of the government's case, 
I should briefly express my view concerning it. 

There is no substantial difference between the holding of the corporate 
stocks of two companies by a third, such as was condemned in the Northern 
Securities Case, 193 U. S. 197, 24 Sup. Ct. 436, 48 L. Ed. 679, and the holding 
by one of those two of the stock of the other. The form is somewhat different, 
but the effect, which is the chief concern of the law, is the same. If prior 
competition disappears as a direct and natural result, trade and commerce 
are restrained. If it is unlawful in one case, it must be so in the other. It 
would be idle to hold that, while two competing railroad companies cannot 
lawfully submit to a common control through a separate stockholding organi- 
zation, they may do so by dispensing with that medium. That would be re- 
garding shadows and letting the substance go. The language of the Sherman 
act in this particular is broad. It covers every contract and combination in 
restraint of interstate and foreign trade or commerce, whether in the form of 
trust or otherwise. The essential, effective character of the arrangement is to 
be regarded, rather than its casual vestiture; the substance, rather than the 
form. In Harriman v. Northern Securities Co., 197 U. S. 244, 297, 25 Sup. Ct. 
493, 49 L. Ed. 739, it was assumed that the act could be violated by the direct 
holding of stock of a competing corporation. 

I grant it is a serious thing to disturb a great business transaction like that 
shown in the case at bar; but, given the power of congress to legislate, and 
clear words to express what a judge conceives to have been its purpose, hia 
duty is plain, whatever he may think of the wisdom of the law. Even if 
public regulation is believed to be a wiser solution of the important economic 
problem than enforced competition, with its necessary wastes and burdens, 
nevertheless his judgment of a law embodying the latter policy should pro- 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 75 

ceed as with distinct approval of its selection. It is quite clear that, with the 
growth and development of governmental regulation of common carriers en- 
gaged in interstate commerce, there is decreasing reason for holding them sub- 
ject to the Sherman act, and it may be that as regards rates of transportation 
the Interstate Commerce Commission could perform its duties with equal 
justice to the public and greater justice to the railroads if they were released. 
But certainly that is for congress, not the courts. The judicial function is 
properly exercised when the Sherman act is construed and applied as though 
it were the only legislative remedy on the statute books. 

The other question in the case is decided by the court against the govern- 
ment. It is whether the two great transportation systems, the Union Pacific 
and the Southern Pacific, were, in a substantial sense, competitors in inter- 
state and foreign commerce. This question involves the relative location of 
their lines on land and sea, and not only the parts they actually performed, 
but also those they were naturally capable of performing, in the movement 
of traffic. Albeit in part within the domain of judicial knowledge, this seems 
to me to be a pure question of fact. Some hundreds of witnesses, practical 
railroad men and shippers of wide experience, testified upon it, and a great 
mass of evidence was taken, showing almost without dispute that, using the 
term "competition" as business men understand and use it, there was active, 
vigorous, and substantial competition between the Union Pacific and the 
Southern Pacific before the former obtained control of the latter. But the 
court holds the question of competition to be one of mixed law and fact, not 
determinable by the evidence alone, and as such it is answered against the 
government. 

Reduced to its simplest terms the conclusion of the court that the two 
companies were not competitors and the Sherman act was not violated is 
based on these two grounds: (1) Trade and commerce were not restrained, 
because before the combination the competitive interstate and foreign traffic 
of the two railroad companies was not a substantial percentage of their total 
traffic, including in such total the traffic entirely within the several states, 
over which congress had no control. (2) Trade and commerce were not re- 
strained because before the combination one of the lines of railroad, the 
Union Pacific, was an intermediate one in a through route, and depended for 
competitive traffic upon the business interests of connecting carriers, and 
therefore could not by itself alone, unaided by the concurrence of its natural 
allies, make a joint through rate over the entire route. In other words, each 
party to a contract or combination between railroad companies, which the 
government assails as being contrary to the Sherman act, must have owned or 
controlled an entire through route over which competitive traffic moved. That 
it may have performed an essential part, or have been a necessary factor, in the 
transportation, is insufficient. That connecting carriers may have voluntarily 
joined it in making through rates for the traffic is immaterial. (United States 
v. Union Pac. R. Co. et al., 188 Fed. 102, at 120, 121 and 122.) 

So forceful was this opinion, so logical and clear-cut that the at- 
torney-general of the United States later stated it was the sole 
reason why he appealed this case to the United States supreme court. 
The United States supreme court reversed the eighth circuit court 



76 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

of appeals, and upon the grounds set forth by Judge Hook. As a 
matter of fact, his dissenting opinion might well be the opinion of 
the supreme court in the case, so harmonious are they. It will be 
remembered that the government at this time, during President 
Taft's administration, was quite concerned with the question of 
monopoly, and Judge Hook's opinion in this case had perhaps more 
to do with President Taft's high regard for the man than any other 
opinion which he rendered. 

As soon as Justice Brewer died, on March 28, 1910, followed very 
shortly by the death of Chief Justice Fuller, on July 4, 1910, there 
was an immediate public demand for the promotion of Judge Hook. 
After a careful investigation of the many eminent men who were 
recommended to the President for this position, the President de- 
termined to appoint Judge Hook to succeed Judge Brewer. He went 
so far as to authorize a prominent Kansan (who was then in the 
federal service and much interested in the promotion of Judge Hook) 
at the White House Saturday morning, to wire Judge Hook that his 
name would be sent to the senate on the succeeding Monday noon. 
The wire was sent, but, on the succeeding Monday noon Judge 
Hook's name was not sent to the senate for confirmation. It was 
Judge Willis H. Van Devanter, also a judge of the eighth circuit, who 
was nominated for the vacancy. Associate Justice Edward Douglas 
White of Louisiana was nominated for chief justice to succeed Chief 
Justice Fuller. Long afterwards the story became known. Saturday 
afternoon, Senator Clark of Wyoming, then chairman of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, and Senator Warren of Wyoming, who was 
then serving his twentieth year in the senate, went to see the Presi- 
dent on behalf of Judge Van Devanter, also of Wyoming. The Kan- 
sas senators, Curtis and Bristow had no such seniority. President 
Taft was very much interested in the promotion of Justice White and 
there seemed to be objections to the promotion on account of the fact 
that he was a southern Democrat, a Catholic and a former Confeder- 
ate soldier, to say nothing of his age. The Wyoming senators 
thought that the objections to White might be overcome. It is said 
that President Taft later explained that the abilities of Hook and 
Van Devanter were equal, that either would make a splendid justice, 
and that if the promotion of Van Devanter would secure the con- 
firmation by the senate of White as Chief Justice, he thought it 
advisable to promote Van Devanter. 

On October 14, 1911, Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan of 
the United States supreme court died, and once more the President 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 77 

was faced with the question of a successor. Within less than a 
month it was announced that the President was considering Judge 
Hook, Walter C. Noyes, United States circuit judge for the second 
circuit, Francis J. Swayze, justice of the supreme court of the state 
of New Jersey, and Frank H. Rudkin, United States district judge 
of the state of Wisconsin. The press considered it very significant 
that two of the names upon the President's list had figured in im- 
portant anti-trust suits, Judge Noyes in the American Tobacco Co. 
case and Judge Hook in the Standard Oil case. On December 19, 
in a special dispatch to the Boston Herald, it was stated that, 

Information from reliable sources to-day is to the effect that President 
Taft has practically determined to appoint Judge William C. Hook of Kansas, 
now on the bench of the eighth United States circuit, to the vacancy in the 
supreme court caused by the death of Associate Justice John M. Harlan. 

There is still some chance that the appointment may go to Charles Nagle, 
Secretary of Commerce and Labor. It is understood that Attorney-general 
Wickersham has endorsed the candidacy of Secretary Nagle with exceptional 
vigor, and is making a great effort to secure his colleague's promotion. 

President Taft has a distinct fondness for Judge Hook, whom he estimates 
highly. Moreover, he has made a personal study of the more important 
opinions rendered by Judge Hook, and is in accord with them. The President 
was much pleased with the opinion written in the Standard Oil case, and liked 
even better Judge Hook's dissenting opinion in the Harriman merger case. 

From that date until December 30 there were frequent reports 
in the press that the President had determined to appoint Judge 
Hook, although it was stated that the attorney- general was strongly 
for Nagle. Secretary of Commerce and Labor Nagle, however, was 
sixty-two years old, and President Taft had announced that he 
would appoint no justices to the supreme court who were over sixty 
years of age. (He made only one exception to that rule, the pro- 
motion of his former colleague of the fifth circuit, Judge Lurton.) 
Judge Hook was only fifty-four years of age and in the full sweep 
of his powers. 

On December 30, however, protests against the appointment of 
Judge Hook from the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma were 
sent to the President, and Governor Aldridge of Nebraska announced 
that he would at once wire a protest against the appointment. 
Then the Minnesota Railroad & Warehouse Commission protested. 
The chairman of the Kentucky Railroad Commission joined in the 
protest and Senator Gore of Oklahoma made a most virulent speech 
against Hook. Notwithstanding these facts, the press announced 
on December 30 that the President had decided to name Judge 



78 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Hook, and two Western senators quoted the President as saying, 
"It's no use. I have decided on Judge Hook for this appointment." 

The opposition to Judge Hook at this time came almost entirely 
from more or less radical railroad commissioners who were opposed 
to Hook on account of the fact that he had granted a temporary 
injunction against the enforcement of the Oklahoma two-cent rate 
upon a proper showing therefor, the injunction being later sustained 
by the circuit court of appeals, and by the United States supreme 
court in that it refused to grant certiorari in the case. At the same 
time, the radical press announced that he was the candidate of great 
railroad corporations. This was extraordinary, because in 1899, 
when Hook was first appointed to the bench by President McKinley 
as a staunch gold man, it was the railroads Bailey P. Waggener, 
general counsel for the Missouri Pacific ; M. A. Low, general counsel 
for the Rock Island ; A. A. Kurd, general counsel for the Santa Fe, 
and Archibald Williams, general counsel for the Union Pacific who 
had fought his appointment so vigorously and had tried to secure 
the appointment of Chief Justice Horton of the Kansas supreme 
court, and in 1910, there was some complaint against the promotion 
of Judge Hook to the supreme court, on the ground that he was not 
sound enough from the corporation point of view. Before his ap- 
pointment to the bench, Hook had been very successful in suits 
against the railroads. Indeed, it is said that there were protests in 
Washington from Wall Street about the appointment of the Kansas 
"Populist," and now the radical press and radical politicians were 
condemning Hook as being the friend of Wall Street. The truth 
about the matter, of course, is that he was a well-balanced judge 
and neither a pro- nor an anti- corporation man. 

Notwithstanding these protests the President had determined to 
appoint him, but at the last minute and on the very day when his 
name was to have been sent to the senate, a new protest was made. 
On January 31, the Massachusetts branch of the Massachusetts 
Political League and the New England Suffrage League, interested, 
in equal rights for negroes, protested Judge Hook's appointment on 
the ground that he had rendered a decision in the 186th Federal 
denying negroes the same rights in traveling as other Americans and 
upholding the Oklahoma Jim Crow car law. An assistant United 
States district attorney, the negro appointed by President Roosevelt, 
was very active in the fight against him on this ground. Although 
the plaintiff in the Jim Crow case and the attorneys for the plaintiff 
in that case all wired the President that they were not opposed to 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 79 

Judge Hook's promotion and considered him to be the friend of the 
negro, Taft determined not to appoint Hook and suddenly appointed 
Mahlon Pitney of New Jersey on the 20th day of February, 1912. 
The facts in regard to the Jim Crow case were that Judge Hook 
concurred in an opinion by Circuit Judge Adams which dismissed a 
suit by McCabe against the Santa Fe to enjoin the railroad from 
obeying the law requiring every railroad company doing business 
in Oklahoma as a common carrier to provide separate coaches for 
the accommodation of white and negro passengers equal in all com- 
forts and conveniences. Judge Adams said that the statute did not 
violate the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United 
States, and that the enforced separation of the negro race from the 
white race in railroad cars and waiting rooms did not deny to it the 
equal protection of the laws, because the supreme court of the United 
States in Plessy v. Ferguson, 113 U. S. 537, 41 L. Ed. 256, had fore- 
closed further discussion. There was, however, a proviso to section 
7 of the act, which read as follows : 

Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent rail- 
road companies in this state from hauling sleeping cars, dining or chair cars, 
attached to their trains to be used exclusively by either white or negro pas- 
sengers, separately, but not jointly. 

Judge Adams thought that such accommodations were luxuries, 
and that the ability of the two races to indulge in such luxuries 
were so dissimilar that the railroad companies might find it profit- 
able to supply them for the white race and not profitable to supply 
them for the colored race. Judge Sanborn dissented, believing that 
the statute abridged the privileges and immunities of the colored 
citizens of Oklahoma and deprived them of the equal protection of 
the laws. 

The furor made by this decision determined the matter against 
Judge Hook, in spite of all that Senator Curtis and Representatives 
Anthony and Campbell could do, and in spite of the fact that even 
the Progressive Senator Bristow and the Progressive representa- 
tives in congress from Kansas either endorsed Hook or at least did 
not join in the protests against his appointment. Representative 
Fred S. Jackson, who as attorney general of Kansas, had conducted 
much anticorporation business before Judge Hook, announced that 
he had always found the Judge fair and impartial. It is interest- 
ing to note that although the nomination of Chancellor Pitney was 
kept a dead secret until the day that he was nominated, namely, 
February 20, there were immediate and many protests as soon as the 



80 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

selection became known. It is also interesting to note than when 
Charles Evans Hughes (the present chief justice of the United 
States supreme court) was governor of New York, he had vetoed the 
two-cent law without arousing the same animosity against his ap- 
pointment as accompanied the announcement of Hook's pending ap- 
pointment. The matter was so close that the National Tribune 
stated, 

If the senate week before last had not adjourned Thursday over the fol- 
lowing Monday, probably Judge Hook would now be upon the supreme bench 
and attending to his duties as an associate justice there. . . . 

"Well, I will appoint Hook," the President said to a senator who was much 
interested in the matter and who had been to the White House to see him 
about the nomination several times. "I will send it up right away." 

That was Thursday morning. The President's statement meant that he 
would send the nomination in that day, or the day following. But the senate 
met at two o'clock Thursday afternoon and after a little adjourned to the fol- 
lowing Monday. 

In the meantime, somebody dug up a decision by the federal court of the 
eighth circuit whereby Judge Hook upheld the Oklahoma statute providing for 
Jim Crow cars. The Judge did not write the decision himself, but approved 
one written by Judge Sanborn, so that Hook and Sanborn made a majority 
of the court of three members. The negroes got wind of that decision and by 
Saturday protests from negroes were pouring in upon the White House. By 
Monday, when the senate first convened, a great storm was brewing among the 
colored brethren of the country. 

Shortly thereafter the 1912 Republican National Convention took 
place and the following November the great Roosevelt-Taft fight 
resulted in the election of Woodrow Wilson. 

In 1915 Judge Hook built the great monument of his judicial 
career. For more than three years the Metropolitan Railway system 
of Kansas City, Mo., had been in the hands of receivers. It was on 
June 3, 1911, that Judge Hook had appointed Robert J. Dunham, of 
Chicago, and Ford F. Harvey (of the Fred Harvey system) , of Kan- 
sas City, as receivers for the Metropolitan Street Railway Co. and 
its allied companies, the Central Electric Railway Co. and the Kan- 
sas City Elevated Railway Co. The receivers operated these com- 
panies for more than four years, vainly trying to reach an agree- 
ment with the attorneys representing the various interests for the 
reorganization of the company. In the course of the receivership 
Judge Hook had increased the pay of the street railway employees, 
without being petitioned to do so, as a matter of justice to the em- 
ployees, and had also taken steps to improve the service. At the time 
that the bonds were issued, the law required the maintenance of 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 81 

streets between the tracks and twelve inches outside of the rails, and 
this had been sadly neglected by the company itself, thus giving rise 
to the city's claim that the obligation to maintain was ahead of the 
specific lien of the bonds. During the receivership there had been 
much dissension between the representatives of the city and the 
receivers with regard to the maintenance and improvement of ser- 
vice, including among other matters, a dispute as to the necessity 
for connecting traffic across the Twelfth street viaduct with the 
Street Railway Co. of Kansas City, Kan. Finally, on June 4, 1913, 
the receivers reported to Judge Hook that no agreement could be 
reached, and appealed to him to arbitrate the differences between the 
city and the receivers. In this appeal to arbitrate the mayor joined. 
The result of the Judge's efforts was a new franchise in 1914, granted 
by the city, conditioned upon a reorganization which would meet 
with the approval of Judge Hook. There was a tremendous dispute 
between the holders of different classes of securities, the representa- 
tives of tort judgment creditors and the representatives of stock- 
holders committees as to the terms of the reorganization, and Judge 
Hook himself drafted a plan of reorganization which was presented 
to the various representatives of the various interested parties in 
Chicago on July 27, 1915. The plan did not meet with the approval 
of the bondholders, as Judge Hook had determined to protect stock- 
holders' equity and the public interest. When it came, however, to 
the point of giving up the new franchise of 1914 or approving of the 
essential principles of Judge Hook's plan, it was, of course, promptly 
approved by the bond holders. The electric-light company was 
divorced from the street railway company, the New Jersey holding 
company was abolished, and under the terms of the plan, the stock- 
holders and the city itself reaped the benefit of the liberal provisions 
of the 1914 franchise which, for the first time in the history of 
American utilities, guaranteed the mortgages underlying the bonds 
to the end of the term of the franchise. This reorganization was so 
novel as to attract the attention of legal scholars and those interested 
in civic matters, in addition to that of judges and lawyers. 

James N. Rosenberg, of New York, in an article in the Columbia 
Law Review for November, 1920 (20 Col. Law Review, p. 735), 
entitled "The ^Etna Explosives Case," wrote: 

Up to the time the ^Etna case came into court the most notable blazing 

of the way toward a sound economic handling of reorganization was, it is 

believed, that done by Judge William C. Hook of the United States court 

for the eighth circuit. The Missouri Pacific reorganization (138 Fed. 812) 

62718 



82 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

was before him in 1916, and in one of the litigations that arose in that case 
he had said : 

"It has sometimes been claimed that plans of reorganization formulated by 
bondholders and stockholders of a railroad in the hands of receivers are ex- 
clusively of private concern, free from judicial action or interference. But 
for various reasons the view cannot be sustained in principle. After all that 
can be said from the standpoint of theory and strict right, the fact remains 
that many railroad receiverships, and the one here is typical of them, are 
but instruments for consummating plans of reorganization, and courts have 
come to realize that such use of their jurisdiction and processes entails a 
correlative duty to those affected by the result. . . . The relation between 
the receivership . . . and the plan of reorganization agreed upon is close 
and intimate. So far as properly can be, the judicial proceeding is conducted 
in harmony with the plan, and the success of the agreed readjustment is 
promoted by the orders of the court and the acts of its receivers. Generally 
the judicial course would not be different if the court were carrying out a 
plan of reorganization of its own making or one affirmatively adopted by 
judicial order or decree. . . . While it is the settled doctrine that reor- 
ganizations will be encouraged, yet, on the other hand, a court of equity will 
not lend its aid to one that is inequitable or oppressive. . . . The con- 
clusion is manifest that the general duty of a court in a railroad foreclosure 
suit to take cognizance of a plan of reorganization by the bondholders and 
stockholders which is to be aided by its decree, and to protect the equitable 
rights of all, becomes specific and imperative upon the complaint of an inter- 
ested party." 

So successful was Judge Hook's handling of this receivership 
that when the Kansas Natural Gas Co. litigation arose and Judge 
Thomas J. Flannelly, now of the Prairie-Sinclair Co., but then 
judge of the district court of Montgomery county, Kansas, ap- 
pointed state receivers and other parties took the case before the 
federal court, Mayor Edwards of Kansas City, Mo., begged Judge 
Wilbur Booth, of the eighth circuit court of appeals, to take charge 
of the situation and settle it in the same way and along the same 
lines as Judge Hook had terminated the Street Railway Co. re- 
ceivership. 

Judge Hook was also concerned in other important reorganiza- 
tions and receiverships, including amongst others, the reorganiza- 
tion of the Terminal Railroad Association of Saint Louis, the Den- 
ver Water Works Co., Vulcan Sheet Metal Co., and during the war, 
the Missouri Pacific receivership, in which his rulings on the matter 
of the Kansas City-Northwestern intervention were praised by the 
Yale Law Journal as a landmark in receivership proceedings, and 
the Missouri-Oklahoma Gulf Railroad Co. Most of that company's 
bonds were owned in Belgium and France, and on account of the 
war beyond the seas, the owners of those securities were largely not 
represented in court. It was due to Judge Hook's protecting hand 
that their rights were secured just as though they had been repre- 
sented in court before him in the reorganization of the company. 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 83 

The last great decision of Judge Hook which attracted nation- 
wide attention was his ruling on November 22, 1916, that the Adam- 
son eight-hour act was unconstitutional. It was in the course of 
his receivership of the Missouri-Oklahoma Gulf Railroad that this 
ruling was made. It is quite true that the United States supreme 
court reversed this ruling of Judge Hook and upheld the constitu- 
tionality of the act, but many lawyers to this day feel that the re- 
versal might not have obtained under other circumstances, and that 
Judge Hook's ruling was correct. 

Judge Hook's opinion in the Standard Oil case was largely written 
at Plum Lake, in the beautiful lake district of northern Wisconsin. 
Here, about 1900, he had built a slab cottage on a point jutting into 
the lake and almost inaccessible by land. Later he built a log house 
of the large pine trees cut principally from his own property. The 
French windows on three sides of the first floor of the house looked 
out upon the lake or the adjoining pine grove, and on the fourth side 
was a great fireplace, many stones of which were sent to the judge 
by his friends from all parts of the United States. 

Occasionally lawyers interested in the various railroad receiver- 
ships which the Judge was conducting, would come to his home at 
the Lake to present various matters and secure various orders. At 
these times, court was held in the pine grove and justice rendered 
far away from the noise of the city. 

When he arrived, in July, at the Lake he usually brought with 
him some four or five government mail sacks of briefs and records. 
While he was on vacation, the Judge usually spent his mornings at 
his library in the cabin working on the briefs and records which he 
had brought with him. His afternoons on vacations were partly 
spent in the planting and cultivation of his beautiful flower garden 
which thrived luxuriantly in the damp, sandy soil of a knoll not far 
from the house. Judge Hook took pride in his flowers, knew their 
botanical names, and himself did almost all the work of their cultiva- 
tion. 

This sketch of Judge Hook would not be complete without a de- 
scription of his personal qualities and appearance. He was moderate 
and temperate in his habits. Although slight in physique, he had 
great physical endurance, which matched his great and effective 
mental and nervous strength. His appearance indicated physical 
and mental alertness, energy and determination. 

Herbert S. Hadley once of Kansas and later governor of Missouri, 
in his book entitled Rome and the World To-day, said: 



84 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The Romans glorified courage, steadfastness, virtue, and that significant 
quality of the mind and heart which is described by the word gravitas. 

It is probable that the same process of racial development produced the 
Romans as has produced our own people. I believe it can be said that there 
is a striking resemblance between the busts and statues of the leaders in 
Roman history of the later years of the Republic and the early Empire and 
many of the public men of the United States a generation ago. I knew a for- 
mer federal judge who could have sat for a bust of Julius Caesar. 

In mentioning a federal judge, Governor Hadley was referring to 
Judge Hook. 

Some of the description of Julius Caesar in Froude's Ccesar, is es- 
pecially applicable to a description of Judge Hook's physical ap- 
pearance: "In person, Caesar was tall and straight. His features 
were refined. The forehead was wide, high, the nose large and thin." 

While, perhaps, not a man of striking appearance, yet Judge 
Hook was a man whose face and features were always remembered. 

Judge Hook was buried at his old home in Leavenworth, Kan., 
but services were held at his summer home in Wisconsin, in the 
beautiful pine grove on Plum Lake for those of his many friends 
who had known him there for a generation. The late Dr. Thomas 
W. Goodspeed, of the University of Chicago, presided at the services. 
In speaking of his old friend, Dr. Goodspeed quoted from the 92d 
Psalm, saying: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he 
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon," and then said, "Verily, my 
friends, one of the Cedars of Lebanon hast this day fallen in our 
midst." This might have been paraphrased, in the writer's judg- 
ment, by saying, "One of the tall pines has fallen." 

In the memorial of the proceedings before the eighth circuit court 
of appeals on September 5, 1921, having to do with Judge Hook, it 
was ordered that a committee consisting of Mr. C. W. Bunn, chair- 
man, Saint Paul, Minn., Mr. Frank Hagerman of Kansas City, Mo., 
Mr. Edward J. White of Saint Louis, Mr. John H. Atwood of Kan- 
sas City, Mo., partner for many years of Judge Hook, and Mr. 
George H. Williams of Saint Louis, later Senator Williams, should 
present suitable resolutions at a session to be held on December 5, 
1921, at which Judge Sanborn presided. There was talk amongst 
the lawyers attending the memorial meeting of Judge Hook's man- 
ner while upon the bench. It was said that his manner upon the 
bench was ideal, that it happily blended dignity and courtesy, that 
he always gave patient attention to an argument, that he grasped 
the point of counsel with great rapidity, and that while reserved 



LEE: WILLIAM C. HOOK 85 

and somewhat aloof, his gentleness to an inexperienced practitioner 
created a real affection for him, and yet, that Judge Hook was firm. 
When John F. Phillips, former United States judge of the district 
court of Missouri, who frequently sat upon the court of appeals with 
Judge Hook, was presenting the Kansas Natural Gas litigation in 
Denver before the eighth circuit court of appeals on October 1, 1913, 
he constantly interrupted John S. Dawson, then attorney-general of 
Kansas and now a valued member of the Kansas supreme court, who 
was arguing the case for the state. Among other things he com- 
plained that the attorney-general be required "to read the whole 
paragraph in the brief/' or some such similar matter. Judge Hook 
mildly replied, "Maybe he doesn't wish to read it. It is his argu- 
ment. Let him proceed in his own way." Finally Judge Hook, in 
a manner which could not be mistaken, turned to the attorney-gen- 
eral and said: "Mr. Attorney-general, in making further statements 
you will address the court alone and pay no attention to any one who 
interrupts you," turning at the word, "interrupt" toward his former 
colleague. 

Perhaps this sketch of the learned judge and citizen of Kansas 
who attained such great distinction and high place in the federal 
judicial annals of our country, can best be closed by a quotation 
from the response of Judge Sanborn, the presiding judge on the oc- 
casion of the memorial of the eighth circuit court of appeals in 
memory of Judge Hook: 

He was endowed with an extraordinarily powerful intellect, as keen as a 
Damascus blade; a wise and imperious will, to whose behests every move- 
ment, emotion and passion of his mental and physical being bowed with 
reverential deference; with a cautious, sound judgment, and with an im- 
partial considerate temper. His mind was stored with a profound and ac- 
curate knowledge of the law, an inexhaustible fund of general information, a 
comprehensive and intimate acquaintance with general literature, a refined 
and artistic taste, and gifted with a canny, experienced insight into the ob- 
jects, intents and purposes evidenced by the acts and sayings of men. 



Historical Collections and 
Public Entertainments 

O. W. MOSHBR, JR. 

AT THE present time there appears to be such a cultural interest 
in historical documents, the creation of school museums and 
private collections, as well as in the giving of entertainments with 
a historical basis, that the writer trusts that the following sugges- 
tions will be of value to those interested. 

During a recent meeting of the Research and Public Archives di- 
vision of the American Historical Association the point was stressed 
that there are in the hands of private individuals many valuable 
documents and relics that would contribute much toward correcting 
and clarifying incidents in our history, especially biographical ma- 
terial of priceless value that historical investigators would love to 
use if they only knew where to lay their hands on it. Unfor- 
tunately there is nowhere a central depository where the records 
of documents in private hands can be filed, and the investigator, 
once he has exhausted the national and state collections, which 
may be meagre, is at a loss where to look further. One of the speak- 
ers asserted that there are enough Abraham Lincoln letters scattered 
in the hands of private individuals to serve as a basis for writing 
a new and more accurate account of the life of the emancipator. 
Another brought out the point that the main lines of our history are 
preserved in the public archives and that these have been utilized 
over and over again that after all there is not a great deal that 
has not already been gleaned from the well-known sources. In 
consequence, the search of the future for historical material should 
be directed to uncovering those resources in private hands that are 
so fast disappearing. Every day from lack of expert knowledge, 
materials of real value are lost or carelessly thrown away. Resting 
in the dust and silence of garrets are old diaries, letters and relics 
that would throw intimate light on the past. 

All of us know of such cases of valuable documents in private 
hands, which, unless viewed by the trained and appreciative eyes 
of a person who understands their worth, will be lost forever. 

If the writer may be permitted to cite a personal experience, on 
one occasion an uneducated family brought forth a lot of old books 
that were believed to be valueless and were to be given away. True, 
most of the books were worthless, but, one turned out to be the rare 

(86) 



MOSHEB: HISTORY FOR PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT 87 

Ranby's Diseases, Instructions for the Treatment of Gunshot 
Wounds and Army Diseases, issued by the medical staff of the Con- 
tinental army. Through the Anderson Galleries a great medical 
library was found that was anxious to secure the volume. It was 
sold for $50 for which the family was thankful enough "Just like 
finding money in the street/' they said. Think, too, of the value of 
throwing open to the medical students this buried information. 

Many private collections about Kansas contain more or less 
valuable material. From a very casual examination of Emporia 
and neighborhood the writer has observed in private hands an origi- 
nal of the Boston Gazette containing the first account of the Boston 
massacre by the British, the diary of a Civil War officer, Napoleon's 
signature on a Legion of Honor, a document of the French revolu- 
tion, an old religious anthology in Latin dated 1560, an early ac- 
count of the voyages of Raleigh in which he asserts that oysters 
grow on trees in America, the Memoires of Anne of Austria, old 
medical books and letters of early Kansas days. In the field of 
relics of an archaBological nature many farmers have specimens 
picked up on their farms, some unusual pieces such as the spear 
head with triple notches found by the Ronigers. Of frontier days 
the hammered-iron tomahawk, and the head of a Spanish halberd 
picked up in the Flint hills are silent witnesses. If all these are to 
be found around Emporia what treasures for a historian might not 
be found were Kansas to be surveyed by experts! The time may 
yet come when as a result of better economic adjustments and 
more leisure, the state authorities will be enabled to spend more 
time in discovering and evaluating these materials. 

SCHOOL MUSEUMS AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS 

In the meantime much good work is being done through school 
museums and private collecting. Almost everyone is a collector at 
heart, but as yet this very worthwhile interest has been scarcely 
touched. Wherever there have been meetings at which someone 
competent to discuss the various fields of collecting has been present, 
the response has been spontaneous. At the Clements Community 
Center, in Chase county, the farmers for miles around brought in 
Indian relics discovered on their farms and followed with keen in- 
terest the discussion of how the aborigines made and used their 
ancient implements. 

There are, already, numerous school museums and private col- 
lections about the state and there is scarcely a town that does not 



88 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

have some enthusiastic collectors who are anxious to be advised as 
to their collections and told how to classify them. The following 
/advice from Mr. A. E. Graf, associate director of the United States 
National Museum in Washington, in his contribution to this article, 

says: 

The starting of school museums or private collections is a matter de- 
pendent largely upon the enthusiasm, persistence and personality of the in- 
terested individuals. The first item in such a movement, naturally, is to be 
assured of a suitable room or other space in which material collected may 
be so exhibited as to attract the interest and cooperation of all concerned. 
Usually the enthusiasm of a single individual or a small group is responsible 
for the initial movement which may result in the securing and exhibiting of a 
few articles which serve as a nucleus to attract the collection and display 
of other specimens. Having secured suitable space, a local historical series 
might be started with a spinning wheel or other household appliances showing 
the development of handicraft; an Indian axe or arrowheads for the beginning 
of archaeology; and a piece of Indian beadwork for ethnology. Such specimens 
placed on exhibition, labeled clearly as to their origin and use and bearing 
the name of the donor or collector, or both, will frequently serve to awaken 
the interest of students in acquiring more and better specimens along similar 
lines. 

For those schools or individuals that already have collections the 
following advice with regard to classification may be helpful: Se- 
cure a Manual for Small Museums by Laurence V. Coleman, Smith- 
sonian building, Washington, D. C. This will give a general treat- 
ment of various exhibits. For those who have Indian relics (stone 
artifacts, pottery and the like) the Smithsonian Institute, Wash- 
ington, D. C., has a number of bulletins that will aid greatly in 
the understanding of the nature and uses of the pieces that you 
have discovered. Although the famous Bulletin 30, commonly 
known as the Book of the American Indian, is out of print as a 
whole, nevertheless certain valuable pages are printed separately, 
and with a little assistance through your congressman, may usually 
be obtained without cost. The most valuable suggestions are as 
follows: Aboriginal agricultural implements (pages 26-27); archae- 
ology (76-77) ; arrowheads, bows, quivers (90-91) ; basketry (132- 
135) ; beadwork (137-139) ; ornaments (149-155) ; pictographs (242- 
245) ; utensils (601-603) ; the making of stone arrow-heads, spear- 
heads and axes (638-643) ; moccasins (916-917) ; Indian mounds 
(943-945). 

Other pamphlets such as Krieger's Aspects of Aboriginal Decora- 
tive Art (37 plates), Publication No. 3102, and instructions as to 
excavating prehistoric sites the proper, scientific manner in which 
to do your exploring, may be procured from the same source. 



MOSHER: HISTORY FOR PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT 89 

As to the proper arrangement for archaeological relics Mr. F. M. 
Setzler, assistant curator of archaeology, Smithsonian Institute, in 
his statement for this article, says: 

Archaeological artifacts should be arranged either by state or by culture area. 

All specimens representing a recognized archaeological culture can be grouped 
under various divisions depending entirely on the nature of the exhibit. 
Various phases of a culture might be exhibited under art, material culture, 
ceremonial objects, food, dress and personal ornaments, burial methods, etc. 
Under material culture one should exhibit examples of all artifacts character- 
istic of the culture. Then, too, much depends on the adaptation of archaeo- 
logical material to the exhibit cases, room and lighting facilities. Detailed 
and attractive labels play an important part in any exhibit. 

Coming now to a more recent period, collections of utensils em- 
ployed by the early settlers of Kansas, may frequently be pro- 
cured by exchanges or gifts. Here are some suggestions, both val- 
uable and amusing, for the building of collections of local interest: 
whisker combers, butter and sausage presses, turn-keys for pulling 
teeth, sconces, steelyards, corn-huskers, pill-makers, boot-hooks and 
boot-jacks, red-top and copper-toed boots, wool-cards, pocket and 
foot stoves, sap spiles, candle snuffers, tuyeres, sand shakers, ox 
shoes, frows, bullet molds, gun flints, niddy-noddies, bedstead 
wrenches, lynch pins, puncheon lanterns, conch-shell dinner-horns, 
tar-buckets, Indian beadwork, etc. 

For literature with regard to the arrangement and classification 
of these articles, the Smithsonian Institute has much material such 
as Bulletin 141 on Collections of Heating and Lighting Utensils. 
Clifford's The Junk-Snuppers (Macmillan Co.) is also valuable for 
general information. 

An effective arrangement may be made from the tracing of the 
Indian bow and arrow through early fire arms to the modern rifle. 
Other ingenious sequences can be thought out by the exhibitor. 
The possession of the pamphlets and books described, together with 
the specimens illustrating them, thus gives the basis for a choice 
and valuable collection. 

THE HISTORICAL ENTERTAINMENT 

It is not necessary to go far in Kansas to discover models for 
historical exhibits and entertainments, for quite a number of schools 
present them each year. At Coffeyville, the high school invites the 
general public to participate in an annual program and exhibition. 
It calls for lists of exhibits needed under five different classifications 



90 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

and the people from all over the city and surrounding country 
make their contributions. The specimens desired are as follows: 

1. Maps, charts, books, letters, old newspapers, tin-types, manuscripts, 
stamps and coins. 

2. Aboriginal stone relics; modern Indian relics. 

3. Revolutionary War and colonial objects. 

4. Civil, Spanish and World War materials. 

5. Relics of the early settlement of Kansas, period costumes. 

The results greatly interest everyone, especially when the exhibits 
are carefully explained by an attendant who speaks with authority. 
These exhibitions are noteworthy and each year may be perfected 
by a more scientific approach, and by the use of period music. 

Eventually, it is fair to predict that these centers of interest in 
historical matters, whether they be public or private, will be welded 
into a cooperative organization that will not only aid in preserving 
for their local communities the records of their past, but will col- 
laborate with the United States and state authorities in bringing to 
light valuable documents and materials for research in the field of 
American history. This is indeed a healthy cultural movement. 
As yet few states have gone far in such organization possibly it 
may be for Kansas to point the way. 



The Annual Meeting 

fifty-eighth annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical 
A Society and the board of directors was held in the rooms of the 
Society on October 17, 1933. 

The meeting of the board of directors was called to order at 10 
a. m. by the president, Thomas Amory Lee. The first business was 
the reading of the annual report of the secretary. 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 17, 1933 

The past year has been one of continued growth and progress in all depart- 
ments of the Society. Accessions of manuscripts, documents, books and relics 
have been large and of unusual interest and value, particularly in the archives 
and manuscripts department, where the new material received was outstanding. 
There was a marked increase in the number of persons who have used the 
Society's collections. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

The executive committee met regularly every month with the exception of 
July. The advice of the members has been sought in all matters of con- 
sequence, and in accordance with the constitution and by-laws they have 
approved all expenditures. President Lee appointed Sam F. Woolard, Wichita, 
and T. M. Lillard, Topeka, for two-year terms ending October, 1934. The 
terms of W. W. Denison, chairman, E. A. Austin, and H. K. Brooks, all of 
Topeka, expire with this October, 1933, meeting. 

APPROPRIATIONS AND THE LEGISLATURE 

The 1933 legislature was pledged to economy, and when it convened the 
friends of the Society were fearful that our work might be crippled by ill- 
advised reductions in salary and maintenance appropriations. Some of the 
proposals which received support both in the House and Senate were indeed 
radical. Thanks to the assistance of the president of the Society, Thomas 
Amory Lee, and the unselfish work of a number of other officers and members, 
the final appropriations were not too drastic. The fact that the staff of the 
Historical Society was already inadequate made it seem important not to 
receive a reduction in the personnel. The secretary and the other officers of 
the Society wish to express their thanks again to the members who so 
generously and promptly gave their assistance. 

LIBRARY 

The library received over three thousand requests for information, mostly 
regarding Kansas subjects or genealogy. A large number of students have 
used the collections of the Society, both for theses and general research. Some 
of the thesis subjects on which research was made are: gubernatorial elections, 
1930, 1932; national banking system, 1865-1875; property tax delinquency in 
Kansas; place of the comic strip in newspapers; Congressman Hatch of 
Missouri and his contribution to agriculture; Paddock, Nebraska and agricul- 
ture; history of education in Kansas; Populist delegation in the 52d Con- 
gress; Haskell Institute; Lindsborg and Bethany College; development of 

(91) 



92 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

newspapers; Federal Land Act, 1891; Desert Land Act, 1877; Sherman anti- 
trust act, 1890; history of religion in Kansas, Nebraska and western Missouri; 
trend of kindergartens in Kansas; and history of Elk county. 

The constantly increasing demand for information and assistance often 
makes it impossible for the library staff to handle the routine of library work 
and cataloguing. Two additional catalogue clerks are needed to do the work 
efficiently. 

ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS 

Accessions to the archives for the year ending June 30, 1933, were 12,503 
manuscripts, 563 manuscript volumes and 74 manuscript maps. A large part 
of the post-office accessions, mentioned later, go into this department. The 
bound manuscript volumes received from the post office are included in these 
figures. 

The smallest and most interesting manuscript volume received is only 5 x 7 
inches. It is the leather-bound original field notes of a survey of a United 
States mail route along the Santa Fe road from Independence, Mo., to a sta- 
tion on Pawnee Fork in west central Kansas. This survey was made in 1858. 
It is interesting to know that years ago the Society acquired the original map 
of this survey. Now by a strange circumstance the field notes come to light 
after seventy-five years in private ownership. 

One of the valuable bound volumes included in the post-office collection 
is a tome of 632 pages, labeled "Journal A," which is a record of pleas in the 
United States district court of Kansas from 1862 to 1872. Two exhibits filed 
in this journal are a copy of a map of Indian reservations surveyed by Isaac 
McCoy and assistants from 1830 to 1832; and a copy of a map of Fort Leaven- 
worth reservation in 1862. 

An entertaining accession was a volume recording accounts of "The National 
Marriage Aid Association," whose headquarters were Topeka and whose secre- 
tary and treasurer was the Rev. John D. Knox. These records date in 1881 and 
1882. 

A collection of about 12,000 manuscripts came from the law department of 
the Union Pacific Railway in Topeka, through the courtesy of T. M. Lillard, 
a director of this Society. While much of this will doubtless have to be dis- 
carded, a preliminary inspection indicates that it includes some valuable 
material. There is a map of the southern branch of the road from Junction 
City to Humboldt, based on a survey of 1866. This map shows the location 
of Cottonwood City in Chase county, a forgotten townsite started in 1857 
by French immigrants. 

The recent state treasury scandal has prompted an inspection of original 
impeachment trials and investigations for the years 1862, 1874, 1891 and 1905. 
The archives department has original proceedings of these, either in bound 
volumes or manuscripts. 

Fortunately for the manuscripts department the two clerks authorized by 
the legislature of 1931 were continued by this year's legislature, although for 
a time it appeared this very important work would be stopped. The work 
of organizing and repairing the thousands of manuscripts has gone forward 
steadily. One hundred and forty-nine boxes of papers have been examined and 
placed in chronological or alphabetical order. Valuable papers have been 
repaired. Approximately 30,000 pieces were handled. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 93 

One of the important collections belonging to the Society is the John 
Brown papers. The Society's original John Brown collection, numbering 137 
papers, had been pasted in a bound volume. This was the approved method 
of handling manuscripts years ago; but now many of these pieces were in 
imminent danger of disintegration. All these valuable letters were removed 
from the volume, repaired, and reinforced with silk gauze according to the 
best modern practice. They are now more legible than they were in the bound 
volume and are preserved from further deterioration. 

There have been many interesting and valuable accessions in this department 
during the year. What is probably the most important single accession of 
manuscripts and documents ever received by this Society came early this 
year from the Topeka post office. In the attic of the old federal building 
were several large rooms full of post-office records and other government 
papers and records. When this building was about to be razed instructions 
were received by the local post-office authorities to dispose of this accumula- 
tion of material. It had been sold to a waste-paper dealer when by accident 
the secretary learned of its existence through a man who had secured old 
stamps from some of the documents and letters. Postmaster R. C. Caldwell 
kindly permitted the Society to inspect these records, and when it appeared 
that there were documents of value he allowed us to remove them to the 
Memorial building. In all, seven small truck loads of books and papers were 
transferred to the Society's archives. 

While it is not yet possible to classify this huge collection in any detail, 
much of it unquestionably is invaluable from a historical standpoint. There 
are a large number of original territorial court records, most of which originated 
at Lecompton in the 1850's, hundreds of pieces bearing the signatures of Judges 
Lecompte, Cato and Elmore. These relate to most of the controversial ques- 
tions which arose in the territorial conflict. There are thousands of papers, 
including letters and official records, relating to district courts, circuit courts, 
bankruptcies, pensions, land offices, war-time alien-enemy registrations, United 
States marshal's activities, war-time Red Cross work, together with a great 
many miscellaneous government documents, pamphlets and bulletins. These 
date from 1854 down to the time of the World War, and some later. Each 
of these general groupings will, of course, lend itself to extensive subdivision, 
if more detailed handling indicates that it is of sufficient value to justify being 
retained. We have only begun to organize this collection. Preliminary ex- 
amination already indicates that the territorial documents will throw a new 
light on the history of that period. With our limited staff it will be many 
months before the worthless material can be discarded and an inventory 
made. 

NEWSPAPEB SECTION 

The issues of 735 newspapers and periodicals, 79 being school and college 
publications, were being received regularly for filing on October 1. Of these, 
58 were dailies, 11 semiweeklies, 505 weeklies, 27 fortnightlies, seven semi- 
monthlies, four once every three weeks, 73 monthlies, 13 bimonthlies, 23 
quarterlies, 10 occasionals, two semiannuals and two annuals. In the list were 
included 452 weekly community newspapers. On January 1 the Kansas news- 
paper collection totalled 41,216 bound volumes. 

Historians, journalists and students find this collection inexhaustible for 
accounts of Kansas events. Statistics for the operation of the wheat allotment 



94 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

plan of the federal government have been published in almost every newspaper 
in the state the past few months. This and publicity for other governmental 
innovations should make the 1933 file of newspapers the most important of 
recent years to the historian. 

The 1933 annual List of Kansas Newspapers and Periodicals received by the 
Kansas State Historical Society was published in July. The edition listed the 
editors and publishers of 735 publications. 

To the 186 volumes of newspapers shipped to the Fort Hays State College 
in 1931 is added a shipment to Wichita University in January, 1933. Over 
five hundred bound and unbound volumes of duplicate newspapers of com- 
paratively recent date were included. 

Newspaper accessions for the year include an incomplete file of the Topeka 
Daily Legal News, 1913-1932, from Nanon L. Herren, Topeka; sixteen bound 
volumes of the Cawker City Public Record, 1883-1916, and the Cawker City 
Camp Fire, 1882-1883, from A. G. Alrich, Lawrence; fourteen bound volumes of 
The Argentine Republic, Kansas City, 1909-1921, from the Kansas City, (Mo.) 
Public Library; twenty-two volumes of the International Book Binder, Indian- 
apolis and Washington, D. C., 1911-1932, from V. S. Boutwell, Topeka; six 
bound volumes of Harper newspapers, 1878-1885, from H. M. and J. P. Sydney, 
Anthony, and three unbound volumes each of the Hoard's Dairyman, Ft. 
Atkinson, Wis., Breeder's Gazette, Chicago, and Wallace's Farmer, Des Moines, 
Iowa, 1929-1931, from the Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 

THE PICTURE COLLECTION 

In its fifty-eight years the Society has accumulated over 15,000 pictures, 
ranging from tintypes less than an inch in size to the more than life-sized 
oil painting of territorial Gov. Andrew H. Reeder. A few of these pictures 
are hanging on the walls of the building, but thousands have been stored in 
an inadequate and antiquated filing system of albums and folders. In order 
to make this fine collection of use it was essential that a complete card cata- 
logue be instituted. 

With the approval of the executive committee E. H. Young was employed 
to begin this work. Our cataloging system was adapted from those in use at 
the Wisconsin and Minnesota historical societies, who have pioneered in sys- 
tematizing picture collections, with modifications recommended by the Li- 
brary of Congress. This card index will contain descriptive matter sufficient 
to identify each portrait and scene. Extensive cross referencing will make 
illustrations of every subject immediately available. This plan will make the 
best possible use of our present storage facilities, and it is elastic enough to 
take care of picture accessions for many years to come without reorganization. 

Unfortunately for the Society Mr. Young recently received a position in 
a New England college and the work has been temporarily delayed. Mr. 
Nyle Miller, our newspaper clerk, will devote half time to this task in the 
future. 

One of the outstanding portrait accessions of the year was the gift of an 
oil painting of Betty Woolman by her son, William J. Woolman, of New 
York. Mrs. Woolman was a pioneer Kansan who entertained Lincoln in her 
home at Leavenworth when he visited the territory. Mr. Woolman and sev- 
eral members of his family made a trip to Kansas to present this painting to 
the Society. It now hangs in the first floor foyer. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 95 

The oil painting of Charles Curtis, former vice president, painted by the 
late George M. Stone, was sent to the Society by Mr. Curtis when he vacated 
his government office. This excellent likeness hangs in the first floor foyer. 

MUSEUM 

The museum gained both in attendance and in the number of accessions. 
It is, of course, the most popular department with the general public, the 
visitors during the year numbering 32,943. There were 157 items accessioned. 

One of the largest collections was given by Rev. A. F. Johnson, of Leaven- 
worth, who was chaplain of the 140th infantry, Thirty-fifth division. This col- 
lection included forty World War pieces. A set of cooper tools used in 
early-day Kansas was sent from Hollywood, Calif., by Mr. W. G. Cracraft. 
Among the gifts from the Woman's Kansas Day Club was a hatchet used 
by Carrie Nation in a raid on a Topeka joint in 1901. A saddle purchased 
by Mr. A. J. Bellport in San Antonio, Tex., in 1867, and used by him in driv- 
ing cattle over the Chisholm trail, was donated by his daughter, Miss Abbie 
Bellport. A hitching post in the form of a negro stable boy now holds the 
horse which is hitched to a victoria. Oddly enough, the horse, hitching post 
and victoria attract as much attention as any display in the museum. The 
new stable boy is a replica of the type that was popular in the South in 
slavery days. It was a gift of the Castrite Foundry Company, Topeka. 

ACCESSIONS 

Total accessions to the Society's collections for the year ending June 30, 
1933, were as follows: 
Library : 

Books 965 

Pamphlets 3,739 

Magazines 665 

Archives : 

Separate manuscripts 12,503 

Manuscript volumes 563 

Manuscript maps 74 

Printed maps, atlases and charts 134 

Newspapers (bound volumes) 942 

Pictures 297 

Museum objects 157 

These accessions bring the totals in the possession of the Society to the 
following figures: 

Books, pamphlets, bound newspapers and magazines 346,938 

Separate manuscripts 924,784 

Manuscript volumes 27,216 

Manuscript maps 490 

Printed maps, atlases and charts 10,279 

Pictures 14,936 

Museum objects 32,686 

KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The Quarterly is now completing its second year. It has proved popular 
beyond expectation. At first it was difficult to secure suitable contributions, 
but in recent months the magazine has attracted an increasingly large number 



96 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

of first-class articles. For this reason the editors believe that forthcoming 
issues will be of exceptional interest. Much credit for the high standard of 
the Quarterly is due to Dr. James C. Malin, associate professor of history at 
the University of Kansas, who is associate editor of the Quarterly. 

PUBLICITY 

The collections of this Society are a continuous source of newspaper and 
magazine feature stories. No small part of what is written about Kansas, 
both in state and in national publications, is based on research done in the 
Historical Society. The authors of a number of current books received as- 
sistance last year. Within the past year special writers for Collier's magazine, 
Saturday Evening Post and the New York Times Magazine visited the So- 
ciety. Articles in the Quarterly are summarized or reprinted in Kansas news- 
papers and in a number of other out-state publications. Many Kansans 
who do not appreciate the importance of history but who do appreciate the 
economic value of publicity would be surprised to learn how large a pro- 
portion of what is said about Kansas originates in this Society. It would be 
difficult to appraise the commercial and advertising value to the state of its 
historical records. 

The secretary is constantly being called upon to make talks about the 
Society or Kansas history. Last year he addressed nine organizations in 
Topeka, two in Lawrence and one each in Hutchinson, Abilene, Kansas City, 
Kan., Overland Park, Bancroft and Republic. It is astonishing to discover 
how little Kansans know about the Historical Society and the extent of its 
resources. 

OLD SHAWNEB METHODIST MISSION 

The budget director approved the Society's request for $4,000 a year for 
the maintenance of the Old Shawnee Mission. The legislature reduced this 
to $750 a year, which was the amount allowed by the legislature of two years 
ago. Much work that had been planned, therefore, cannot be done. Last 
year it was found necessary to replace the caretaker. Dr. T. G. Vernon and 
his wife, of Paola, were employed, and they have done much to improve the 
buildings and grounds. The Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society and 
the Shawnee Mission Floral Club have been of great assistance. Work is 
now being done to repair the rooms which were assigned several years ago 
to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Colonial Dames, the 
Daughters of American Colonists and the Daughters of 1812. When these 
rooms are furnished, the east building, which contains the Shawnee Mission 
Indian Historical Society museum, will be one of the most interesting his- 
torical buildings in Kansas. This mission, with the three old buildings which 
looked down on the Santa Fe and Oregon trails, was for many years the last 
outpost of civilization for the hundreds of thousands of pioneers who peopled 
the far West. It is one of the outstanding historic sites in the West. 

FIRST CAPITOL OP KANSAS 

The first capitol building, on Highway No. 40 east of Fort Riley, continues 
to attract many visitors. For the year ending October 1, 1933, there were 
11,546 visitors as compared with 13,216 the preceding year. The salary of the 
caretaker, who is required to be in attendance every day including Sundays, 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 97 

was reduced from $600 a year to $450 a year, or $37.50 a month, by the last 
session of the legislature. This reduction is felt to be too drastic. 

FORT HAYS FRONTIER HISTORICAL PARK 

This park, which was created by the legislature of 1931, is managed by a 
board of which the secretary of the Historical Society is a member. There are 
an old stone blockhouse and guard house which were used by federal troops 
in 1867. Beginning last spring a Reforestation camp was established, and a 
crew of nearly 200 men has been at work on the federal project, which in- 
cludes landscaping and road making on land belonging to the park and to 
the adjoining experiment station and Fort Hays State College. The project 
was secured largely through the work of Congresswoman Kathryn O'Laughlin 
McCarthy, of Hays. The work is being done under the general supervision 
of the park board in accordance with plans which are approved by federal 
authorities. 

PIKE PAWNEE PARK 

On September 29, 1933, a crowd estimated at over 10,000 assembled at the 
Pike Pawnee park and monument near Republic, Kan., to celebrate the 127th 
anniversary of Pike's visit to the Pawnee chiefs on this site in 1806, when the 
American flag was first raised in the territory that is now Kansas. Addresses 
were made by Congresswoman Kathryn O'Laughlin McCarthy, Congressman 
W. P. Lambertson, Gomer Davies, the secretary of the Historical Society and 
others. The occasion for so large a gathering was the effort which is being 
made through Mrs. McCarthy to secure a federal appropriation for damming 
the river and creating a national park. If this is done it is proposed that 
the eleven acres now belonging to the state of Kansas in the name of the 
Historical Society will become a part of the national park. The Kansas legis- 
lature appropriated $3,000 for a memorial monument which was erected in 1901. 

KANSAS ARCHEOLOGY 

There are several well-informed amateur archaeologists in Kansas and a 
number of others who make up in enthusiasm for what they lack in knowledge. 
Kansas is a rich archaeological field. There are many village sites which 
have not yet been despoiled by curiosity seekers. In order to preserve these 
sites your secretary has suggested the formation of an archaeological group 
within the society. If sufficient interest develops and enough responsible mem- 
bers can be secured it is hoped to organize such a group this year. 

LOCAL AND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES 

Since the last annual meeting two county historical societies have been 
organized and have affiliated themselves with the state society by taking out 
life memberships. The Society has assisted organizers in several other counties 
which have not yet affiliated. Several of the local and county societies in 
the state are doing good work in gathering historical documents and relics. 
At Dodge City the nucleus of an excellent museum has been brought together. 
The McPherson County Historical Society has done outstanding work in 
recording the history of the early day settlers. The Shawnee Mission Indian 
Hiatorical Society, largely composed of residents of Johnson county, were 

72718 



98 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

assigned the main room in the east building at the old Methodist Shawnee 
Mission for a museum. Within two years this society has succeeded in placing 
on display a remarkable collection of documents, relics and pictures. While 
it is impossible for the state Society to take an active part in the organization 
of local societies, the encouragement of such associations is essential to the 
preservation of the history of the state. Members of this Society are urged 
to lend their assistance to local associations. 

This report would be incomplete without mention of the members of the 
staff of this Society. They are uniformly courteous, loyal and conscientious. 
The secretary acknowledges his indebtedness to them for what has been ac- 
complished in the past three years. 

Respectfully submitted, KIRKE MECHEM, Secretary. 

Upon the conclusion of the reading of the report of the secretary 
it was moved by W. W. Denison that it be approved and accepted. 
Seconded by Sam F. Woolard. Carried. 

The president called for the reading of the report of the treasurer 
of the Society, Mrs. Mary Embree, which follows: 

REPORT OF THE TREASURER 

STATEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP FEE FUND FROM AUGUST 17, 1932, TO 
OCTOBER 13, 1933 

Balance August 17, 1933 $919.75 

Annual memberships received 250 . 00 

Life memberships received 210. 00 

Refund of money expended 341 . 60 

Subscription to Quarterly and single numbers 3.77 

Interest on Liberty bonds 297 .50 

Liberty bonds held by Society (par value $6,000) 5,911 .63 

Total amount on hand $7,934.25 

Expenditures : 

Traveling expenses 289.06 

Money advanced for postage 412 . 00 

Subscriptions and dues 105.05 

Manuscripts and letters purchased for Society 100.70 

Pledged by Society for marker at Trading Post 70.00 

Insurance 15 . 25 

Flowers 11 .75 

Museum relic 2 . 50 

Replacing glass 1 . 60 

Gifts to janitors 13.50 

Western Typewriter Company, repairs 10.00 

Rent of safe-deposit box for 1932 and 1933 6.60 

Refund of memberships 4 . 00 

Expense of annual meeting, 1932 14.50 

Extra clerk hire 235.00 

Total expenditures $1,291 .51 

Balance October 13 6,642.74 

$7,934.25 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 99 

Liberty bonds $5,911 .63 

Cash . 731.11 



$6,642.74 

Bank balance October 13 $813.41 

Less outstanding checks 92.30 

721.11 
Life membership not deposited 10.00 

731.11 

JONATHAN PECKER BEQUEST FUND 
Principal, Liberty bonds $950.00 

Balance August 17, 1932 $30.64 

Interest from August 17, 1932, to October 13, 1933 42.52 

Total amount received $73 . 16 

Expenditures : 

Frank B. Kingsbury, New Hampshire history 10.50 

Balance on hand October 13, 1933 62.66 

$73.16 



THOMAS H. BOWLUS FUND 
Principal, Liberty bond (interest included in membership fund) $1,000.00 

JOHN BOOTH BEQUEST FUND 
Principal, Liberty bonds $500. 00 

Balance on hand, August 17, 1932 $44 . 10 

Interest from August 17, 1932, to October 13, 1933 22.38 

Total amount received $66.48 

No expenditures for the year. 

Examined by committee October 13, 1933, and approved. 

EDWIN A. AUSTIN, 
W. W. DENISON, 
HENRY K. BROOKS. 

On motion of W. C. Simons, seconded by W. W. Denison, the 
treasurer's report, as approved by the committee appointed from 
the executive committee to audit the books, was accepted. 

The report of the nominating committee was read by Mrs. Henry 
F. Mason, chairman: 



100 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

REPORT OF NOMINATING COMMITTEE 

To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society: 

Your committee on nominations beg leave to submit the following report 
for officers of the Kansas State Historical Society for the following year: 
For president, H. K. Lindsley, Wichita. 
For first vice president, Thomas F. Doran, Topeka. 
For second vice president, F. H. Hodder, Lawrence. 

Respectfully submitted, MRS. HENRY F. MASON, 

MRS. A. M. HARVEY, 
ERNEST A. RYAN, 
JAMES C. MAUN, 
E. E. KELLEY, 

Committee. 

On motion of Mrs. Bennett R. Wheeler, seconded by W. W. Deni- 
son, the report of the nominating committee was accepted. 

This concluded the scheduled business for the morning meeting. 
The president, Thomas Amory Lee, made some suggestions regarding 
the work of the Society. He called attention to the need of bringing 
the annals of Kansas down to date, beginning where Wilder's chron- 
ology left off. He stated that in his opinion it would be well worth 
while for the Society to spend more time and money on this under- 
taking. He recommended the purchase of photographing or phostat- 
ing equipment which would make possible the reproduction of news- 
papers and other material becoming too fragile for constant use. 
Mr. Lee commented on the calendaring of manuscripts and hoped 
it would be possible to do more of it in the future. He particularly 
called attention to the fact that Kansas has made no effort to compile 
a history of the participation of the state and its citizens in the 
World War. He urged that the Society, through its officers, recom- 
mend the formation of a state commission looking toward the prep- 
aration of a Kansas World War history. Mr. Lee closed his remarks 
with a word of appreciation for the loyal and efficient work of the 
members of the staff of the Society. 

On motion of Sam F. Woolard, seconded by W. W. Denison, Mr. 
Lee's suggestions were referred for action to the executive committee. 

There being no further business for the board of directors, the 
meeting adjourned. 

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY 

The annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society con- 
vened at two o'clock p. m. The meeting was called to order by 
President Lee. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 101 

The secretary read telegrams and letters from members who were 
unable to be present. 

The secretary displayed a campaign hat which had been worn by 
Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf while a major with the Twentieth Kansas 
in the Phillipines, who was present at the meeting. In the hat was 
a hole made by a bullet which had also cut a piece from one of 
General Metcalf s ears. 

Thomas Amory Lee read, as the annual address of th/> president, 
a paper on the judicial career of the late Judge William C. Hook. 
This paper appears as a special article elsewhere in this issue of the 
Quarterly. 

Robert Taft, of the University of Kansas, presented "A Pictorial 
History of Kansas," which consisted of picture slides of early Kan- 
sas scenes and persons, accompanied by explanatory comments. 
Mr. Taft's pictures and talk were of exceptional interest. "A 
Pictorial History of Kansas," appears as a special article elsewhere 
in this issue of the Quarterly. 

The report of the committee on nominations for directors was read 
by the secretary as follows: 

OCTOBER 17, 1933. 
To the Kansas State Historical Society: 

Your committee on nominations beg leave to submit the following report 

and recommendations for directors of the Society for the term of three years 

ending October, 1936: 

Beeks, Charles E., Baldwin. Metcalf, Wilder S., Lawrence. 

Beezley, George F., Girard. Morrison, T. F., Chanute. 

Bonebrake, Fred B., Topeka. Norris, Mrs. George, Arkansas City. 

Bowlus, Thomas H., lola. O'Neil, Ralph T., Topeka. 

Browne, Charles H., Horton. Philip, Mrs. W. D., Hays. 

Dean, John S., Sr., Topeka. Rankin, Robert C., Lawrence. 

Embree, Mrs. Mary, Topeka. Ruppenthal, J. C., Russell. 

Gray, John M., Kirwin. Ryan, Ernest A., Topeka. 

Harger, Charles M., Abilene. Sawtell, James H., Topeka. 

Harvey, Mrs. Isabelle C., Topeka. Simons, W. C., Lawrence. 

Haucke, Frank, Council Grove. Soller, August, Washington. 

Kagey, Charles L., Wichita. Stanley, W. E., Wichita. 

Kinkel, John M., Topeka. Stone, Robert, Topeka. 

Lee, Thomas A., Topeka. Trembly, W. B., Kansas City. 

McFarland, Helen M., Topeka. Walker, B. P., Osborne. 

Malone, James, Topeka. Woodward, Chester, Topeka. 

Mechem, Kirke, Topeka. 

Respectfully submitted, MRS. HENRY F. MASON, 

MRS. A. M. HARVEY, 
ERNEST A. RYAN, 
JAMES C. MALTN, 
E. E. KELLEY, 

Committee. 



102 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

On motion of W. W. Denison, seconded by Thomas F. Doran, 
these directors were unanimously elected for the term ending Octo- 
ber, 1936. Justice John S. Dawson administered the oath of office 
to those who were present. 

The president called on Mrs. Ottis W. Fisher, president of the 
Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society, to read the annual re- 
port of the work of her organization. Following the reading of her 
report she asked Mrs. Bernice Fraser, a member of the Society, to 
read an original poem on the Old Shawnee Mission. The secretary 
read a report of the Marion County Historical Society, forwarded 
from Mrs. Jane C. Rupp, secretary. On motion the two preceding 
reports were accepted to be placed on file. 

Rev. Josiah E. Copley called the attention of the Society to 
the celebration commemorating the founding of the Presbyterian 
mission at Highland in 1837. 

The members adjourned to the foyer, where Mrs. Bennett R. 
Wheeler, in behalf of the Colonial Dames of Kansas, presented to 
the Society a bronze plate bearing the profile of George Washington 
and selections from his farewell address. The plate was accepted 
for the Society by its president, Thomas Amory Lee. 

With this ceremony the annual meeting of the members of the 
Society adjourned. 

MEETING OP THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

The afternoon meeting of the board of directors was called to 
order by the president. He asked for a rereading of the report of 
the nominating committee for officers of the Society. The following 
officers were then unanimously elected : 

H. K. Lindsley, president; T. F. Doran, first vice president; F. H. 
Hodder, second vice president. 

President Lee requested Professor Hodder, the newly elected 
second vice president, to say hello to the meeting. Professor Hodder 
complied with a bow and a laconic "hello." 

Mr. Lee requested T. F. Doran to take the chair in the absence of 
the newly elected president, H. K. Lindsley. Mr. Lee moved that 
the executive committee be instructed to prepare plans for the or- 
ganization of a World War historical commission for the purpose 
of compiling a history of the participation of Kansas and her citizens 
in the World War, with further instructions to present the project 
at the proper time to the legislature. Seconded by Mr. Mechem. 
Carried. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 



103 



Mrs. Henry F. Mason moved a vote of thanks to President Lee 
for his services to the Society and particularly for his work in the 
Society's behalf during the meeting of the legislature. Seconded by 
Mrs. A. M. Harvey and unanimously carried. 

There being no further business the meeting adjourned. 

KIRKE MECHEM, Secretary. 

DIRECTORS OF THE KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AS OF 
OCTOBER, 1933 

DIRECTORS FOR YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1934 



Austin, E. A., Topeka. 
Berryman, J. W., Ashland. 
Brigham, Mrs. Lalla M., 

Council Grove. 
Brooks, H. K, Topeka. 
Bumgardner, Edward, Lawrence. 
Curtis, Charles, Topeka. 
Davis, John W., Dodge City. 
Denious, Jess C., Dodge City. 
Frizell, E. E., Lamed. 
Godsey, Mrs. Flora I., Emporia. 
Hall, Mrs. Carrie A., Leavenworth. 
Hamilton, Clad, Topeka. 
Haskin, S. B., Olathe. 
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita. 
Jones, Horace, Lyons. 
Kelley, E. E., Topeka. 
Lillard, T. M., Topeka. 



Lindsley, H. K., Wichita. 
McCarter, Mrs. Margaret Hill, 

Topeka. 

Mercer, J. H., Topeka. 
Oliver, Hannah P., Lawrence. 
Patrick, Mrs. Mae C., Satanta. 
Reed, Clyde M., Parsons. 
Rupp, Mrs. W. E., Hillsboro. 
Scott, Charles F., lola. 
Schultz, Floyd, Clay Center. 
Shirer, H. L., Topeka. 
Van De Mark, M. V. B., Concordia. 
Van Petten, A. E., Topeka. 
Wark, George H., Kansas City, Kan. 
Wheeler, Mrs. B. R., Topeka. 
Woolard, Sam F., Wichita. 
Wooster, Lorraine E., Salina. 



DIRECTORS FOR YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1935 



Aitchison, R. T., Wichita. 
Bowman, Noah L., Garnett. 
Capper, Arthur, Topeka. 
Cory, C. E., Fort Scott. 
Crosby, E. H., Topeka. 
Dawson, John S., Hill City. 
Denison, W. W., Topeka. 
Doerr, Mrs. Laura P. V., Larned. 
Doran, Thomas F., Topeka. 
Ellenbecker, John G., Marysville. 
Harvey, Mrs. Sally, Topeka. 
Hobble, Frank A., Dodge City. 
Hodder, F. H., Lawrence. 
Hogin, John C., Belleville. 
Huggins, Wm. L., Emporia. 
Humphrey, H. L., Abilene. 
Johnston, Mrs. W. A., Topeka. 



Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville. 
McLean, Milton R., Topeka. 
McNeal, T. A., Topeka. 
Malin, James C., Lawrence. 
Mason, Mrs. Henry F., Topeka. 
Moore, Russell, Wichita. 
Morehouse, George P., Topeka. 
Raynesford, H. C., Ellis. 
Russell, W. J., Topeka. 
Smith, Wm. E., Wamego. 
Spratt, 0. M., Baxter Springs. 
Stevens, Caroline F., Lawrence. 
Thompson, W. F., Topeka. 
Van Tuyl, Mrs. Effie H., 

Leavenworth. 

Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton. 
Wilson, John H., Salina. 



104 



THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 



DIRECTORS FOR YEAR 
Beeks, Charles E., Baldwin. 
Beezley, George F., Girard. 
Bonebrake, Fred B., Topeka. 
Bowlus, Thomas H., lola. 
Browne, Charles H., Horton. 
Dean, John S., Topeka. 
Embree, Mrs. Mary, Topeka. 
Gray, John M., Kirwin. 
Harger, Charles M., Abilene. 
Harvey, Mrs. Isabelle C., Topeka. 
Haucke, Frank, Council Grove. 
Kagey, Charles L., Beloit. 
Kinkel, John M., Topeka. 
Lee, Thomas Amory, Topeka. 
McFarland, Helen M., Topeka. 
Malone, James, Topeka. 
Mechem, Kirke, Topeka. 



ENDING OCTOBER, 1936 
Metcalf, Wilder S., Lawrence. 
Morrison, T. F., Chanute. 
Norris, Mrs. George, Arkansas City. 
O'Neil, Ralph T., Topeka. 
Philip, Mrs. W. D., Hays. 
Rankin, Robert C., Lawrence. 
Ruppenthal, J. C., Russell. 
Ryan, Ernest A., Topeka. 
Sawtell, James H., Topeka. 
Simons, W. C., Lawrence. 
Seller, August, Washington. 
Stanley, W. E., Wichita. 
Stone, Robert, Topeka. 
Trembly, W. B., Kansas City, Kan. 
Walker, B. P., Osborne. 
Woodward, Chester, Topeka. 



Kansas History as Published 
in the Press 

Lyons history has been featured in a series of articles by Frank 
Hoyt, Rice county pioneer, which have appeared almost weekly in 
the Lyons Daily News, for many months. 

"Charley Reynolds Hunter and Scout," by E. A. Brininstool, was 
the title of an article printed in the North Dakota Historical Quar- 
terly in its January-April, 1933, issue. Mr. Reynolds was a member 
of the Tenth Kansas Volunteers. 

Special historical articles appeared in the Miltonvale Record pre- 
ceding the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the city's naming, held 
October 6 and 7, 1933. Miltonvale was first called Zahnsville. 
Titles of a few of the stories included in this series are: "A Pioneer 
Story Incidents of Sixty-Five Years Ago," by G. W. Gray, Septem- 
ber 7; "The Founding of Miltonvale," September 14; "The Rain 
Makers," and "The Passing of the Old Town Well," September 21; 
"The First Settler in Starr Township," and histories of the Milton- 
vale schools, September 28, and "Thoughts in Keeping with the 
Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration," October 5. 

The Lyons Presbyterian church celebrated its sixtieth anniver- 
sary September 17, 1933. A short account of the organization was 
published in the Lyons Daily News, September 18. 

A brief history of the Palco News appeared in its issue of Sep- 
tember 27, 1933. The Palco News, formerly the Palco Enterprise, 
was established in March, 1905. 

Names of Smith county old settlers registering at their annual 
meeting in Smith Center, September 27, 1933, were published in the 
Smith County Pioneer, Smith Center, September 28. 

"Walter F. McGinnis Tells of Early Days," "An Interesting Let- 
ter From California," by Frank L. Randolph, and "M. A. Harper 
Tells of Moving to Kansas," were special features of the Pioneer 
edition of the Potwin Ledger issued September 28, 1933. 

Names of old settlers registering at the Southwest Free Fair at 
Dodge City, September 27, 1933, and the dates they came to Kansas, 
were published in the Dodge City Daily Globe, September 28. 

(105) 



106 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

"Reminiscences of An Old Timer," was the title of an article re- 
viewing the highlights of Weir history which appeared in the Weir 
Spectator in its issues of September 28 and October 5, 1933. 

The ninetieth anniversary of the First Presbyterian church of 
Highland was observed with a week of special services from October 
15 to 22, 1933. Excerpts from the diary of Father Irvin, 1841-1844, 
as presented to the church meeting by Mrs. Margaret Hubbard Mor- 
ton, were a part of the historical articles printed in the Highland 
Vidette during October and November, commemorating the event. 

A history of Vance Post, No. 2, of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, Hays, was published in the Hays Daily News, October 6, 
1933. The post was organized at Hays City by a special order from 
the department commander dated February 1, 1878. 

Headlines of stories by W. F. McGinnis, Sr., appearing in The 
Butler County News, El Dorado, in recent months were : "The 
Elephants and Ox Teams Recall Many Old Time Incidents," Octo- 
ber 6, 1933; "Memories of the Past Revived in the Life of an Old 
Timer," October 13 and 20, and "Dean of Rail Engineers [Merton 
Stewart] to Retire at Seventy," November 17. 

An article describing the struggles in early-day Lawrence, and 
the preservation of a chair brought by the Eldridge family from 
Massachusetts through the Jones and Quantrill raids, was published 
in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, October 7, 1933. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Clyde Christian 
church was observed October 8, 1933. Special historical articles 
were printed in the Clyde Republican preceding the event. 

Historical notes on the organization of the Olathe Methodist 
Episcopal church were published by the Olathe Mirror and The 
Johnson County Democrat preceding the seventy-fifth anniversary 
week of services October 22 to 29, 1933. S. T. Seaton reviewed the 
history of the church in the Mirror for October 12. 

Toronto history, as printed in a pamphlet entitled Woodson 
County Hand Book (1883), was reprinted in the Toronto Republi- 
can in the issues of October 12 to November 16, 1933, inclusive. 

Dickinson county history was reviewed at a meeting of the Dick- 
inson County Historical Society held at Abilene, October 16, 1933. 
A two-column summary of the speeches presented at the meeting was 
reported in the Abilene Daily Chronicle, October 17, 1933. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 107 

The reminiscenses of E. T. Wickersham, of Fall River vicinity, 
were published in the Fredonia Daily Herald, October 17, 1933, and 
The Western Star, Coldwater, November 3. Mr. Wickersham set- 
tled in Elk county in 1862. 

"Some Wolf Creek History," by John W. Manners, Sr., appeared 
in the Lucas Independent, October 18, 1933. 

A history of the Sylvan Grove Presbyterian church was published 
in the Sylvan Grove News, October 19, 1933. H. C. Bradbury held 
the first preaching service. 

Winona newspaper history was reviewed by J. G. Felts in the 
Logan County News, October 19, 1933. 

Lecompton history was recalled by J. Frank Kerns in an article 
printed in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, October 19, 1933. 
The article, as published, was read at the annual meeting of the 
Douglas County Old Settlers' Society, September 14. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Cheney was officially 
observed October 20, 1933. Special historical notes were printed 
in the Cheney Sentinel in its issue of October 19 and 26, commem- 
orating the event. 

A history of the Hiawatha Methodist Episcopal church was briefly 
sketched in the Hiawatha Daily World, October 20, 1933. The 
seventy-fifth anniversary was observed with a special program at 
the church on November 26. 

Oswego historical notes, pictures of pioneers, first buildings and 
early-day scenes were published in issues of the Oswego Democrat 
and the Independent of October 20, 1933, preceding the old settlers' 
meeting held in the city October 21. Both newspapers on October 
27 printed a list of the old settlers registering for the event who had 
been in the vicinity forty years or more. 

A historical sketch of the Paola Methodist Episcopal church was 
printed in The Miami Republican, Paola, October 20, 1933, preceding 
the seventy-fifth anniversary program held October 27 to 29. A 
review of the pageant presented at this meeting was printed in The 
Western Spirit, Paola, November 3. 

Stories relating the history of floods along the Kansas river and 
the part the proposed Kiro dam would play in the nation's flood- 
control program have frequently appeared in newspapers of the 
state in the past few months. Three were: "The Story of the Kiro 



108 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Dam," by Charles H. Sessions, in the Topeka Daily Capital, October 
22, 1933; "Kiro Dam and Lake," by W. H. Fernald, in the Florence 
Bulletin, October 26, and a page article, "How Kiro Dam Would 
Benefit Kansas, Midwest and Nation," by William Wallace, in the 
Topeka Daily Capital, December 17. 

Lincoln county teachers and district school officials for 1933-1934 
were named in the Sylvan Grove News, October 26, 1933. 

The histories of Sublette and Satanta were reviewed in the Sub- 
lette Monitor and the Satanta Chief in their issues of October 26, 
1933. The first buildings in the two cities were moved in from 
Santa Fe twenty-one years ago. 

"Memories of Early Claflin," as written by Mrs. R. L. Hamilton 
and read at a club meeting in October, 1933, was published in the 
Claflin Clarion, October 26. Claflin was founded in the spring of 

1887. 

The history of the Salem Evangelical Church was briefly reviewed 
in the Leavenworth Times October 26, 1933. The church celebrated 
its forty-fifth anniversary October 29. 

St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Glasco celebrated the fortieth 
anniversary of the completion of its church building October 29, 
1933. The history of the organization was briefly noted in The 
Sun, Glasco, October 26. 

"About Getting Grub Stakes," was the title of the October 27, 
1933, installment of the "Just A Thinking" stories by W. V. Jackson 
which are printed from time to time in The Western Star, Coldwater. 
In this article Mr. Jackson recalled the exchange of cedar posts 
from southwestern Barber county and southeastern Comanche 
county, for food. 

The history of the Women's Relief Corps, Department of Kansas, 
was published in the Baxter Springs Citizen, October 30, 1933. The 
Kansas corps was organized at Topeka, February 6, 1884. 

An article describing the late Mary Elizabeth Lease as James M. 
Mickey knew her, was featured in the Leavenworth Times of Octo- 
ber 31, 1933. Mr. Mickey was the editor of the Osage City Free 
Press during the campaign of 1896, and recalled several anecdotes 
of her life. Sketches of other incidents in the life of this famous 
Populist orator were written by B. J. Sheridan for The Western 
Spirit, Paola, November 3, and by D. D. Leahy for the Wichita 
Sunday Eagle, November 5. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 109 

The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Abilene Grace 
Reformed church was observed November 5, 1933. The history of 
the organization was published in the Abilene Daily Chronicle, in 
its issues of November 1 and 5, and in the Abilene Daily Reflector, 
November 3. 

Coal mining in Russell county was discussed by L. C. Brown in 
the Lucas Independent, November 2, 1933. Mr. Brown reports that 
a Mr. Matthews mined the first coal in the county in 1871. The 
article was reprinted November 9 in the Bunkerhill Advertiser. 

A list of the old settlers attending the Paola celebration held in 
their honor, October 25 to 31, 1933, was published in The Western 
Spirit, Paola, November 3. 

"When Finn Founded Wichita's School System," an article by 
Bliss Isely relating the experiences of William Finn, Wichita's first 
school teacher, was printed in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, November 
5, 1933. 

Life in Lincoln county from the years 1871 to 1877 is revealed 
in the diary of J. Z. Springer, which was published in the Lincoln 
Sentinel-Republican in its issues of November 9, 16 and 23, 1933. 
Mr. Springer came to Lincoln county from California in May, 1871. 

Sabetha's Methodist and Congregational churches celebrated their 
seventy-fifth anniversaries recently. The Methodist Church held 
its services November 5, and the Congregational Church, the week 
starting November 19. A brief historical sketch of the Methodist 
Church appeared in the Sabetha Star, November 9. Stories of the 
founding of the Congregational Church were printed in the Sabetha 
Herald, November 22, and in the Star, November 23. 

Names of pupils and teachers in a La-wrence school during the 
month of May, 1863, as written by William Duncan on the margins 
and fly leaves of a copy of Ray's Arithmetic, were published in the 
Lawrence Daily Journal-World, November 15, 1933. The names are 
of especial interest since the Quantrill raid on Lawrence occurred 
only three months later. 

"Who Was First in Business in Cheney," an article naming the 
pioneer business men, was printed in the Cheney Sentinel, November 
16, 1933. 

The early history of the First Methodist Church in Wichita and 
the dedication of its church bell was reviewed by Victor Murdock 
in the Wichita (Evening) Eagle in its issue of November 16, 1933. 



110 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

A prairie fire scare in 1887 in Comanche county was recalled by 
Mrs. S. A. DeLair, writing in The Western Star, Coldwater, No- 
vember 17, 1933. 

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Cottonwood Falls First 
Methodist Church was observed with special services during the 
week starting December 3, 1933. A brief history of the organization 
was published in the Chase County Leader, Cottonwood Falls, No- 
vember 22. 

A "Review of an Inheritance With Reference to Kansas Autumn 
Sundays, Scenery, Pioneer Motives and 'Way of Life/ " by T. W. 
Morse, was printed in the Emporia Times, November 23, 1933. 
Augustus Wattles, who settled in Linn county in 1857, was the 
writer's grandfather. 

A story of the establishment of the first rural mail delivery 
route out of Wichita was written by Victor Murdock for the Wichita 
(Evening) Eagle, November 23, 1933. 

Brief histories of Eminence, former county seat of Garfield 
county, were printed in the Garden City News, November 23, 1933, 
and the Sublette Monitor, November 30. The Monitor story was 
republished in the Topeka Daily Capital, December 3. 

Notaries of Russell county are being named by Judge J. C. Rup- 
penthal in his ' 'Russell Rustlings" column published in the Paradise 
Farmer, starting with its issue of November 27, 1933. Judge Rup- 
penthal also listed some of the early settlers of the county, and the 
date they arrived, in this column during November and December. 
Several other Kansas newspapers are publishing this series. Among 
them are the Waldo Advocate, Luray Herald, Natoma Independent, 
and the Wilson World. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the Baldwin Ledger was commem- 
orated November 30, 1933, with the issuance of a twenty-page his- 
torical edition. A detailed history of Baldwin's newspapers was 
prepared by J. A. McFarland, Jr., present editor of the Ledger. 
Letters from former editors still living and their photographs were 
published. The founding of Baker University, as described by J. 
C. Hall, first graduate; the early history of Baker, by H. W. John- 
son ; a list of prominent graduates of the college, and the biography 
of Dr. A. T. Still, founder of osteopathy, were other features of the 
edition. 



Kansas Historical Notes 

Plaques honoring fourteen Kansas women have been placed in 
the seven congressional districts of the state under the supervision 
of the Woman's Kansas Day Club. Miss Stella B. Haines, of 
Augusta, president of the club, assisted the district leaders with the 
unveilings. Names of the women receiving the plaques and the date 
of the dedicatory ceremonials are as follows: First district Mar- 
garet Hill McCarter, Topeka, novelist, December 7; Amelia Ear- 
hart Putnam, Atchison, first aviatrix to fly across the Atlantic 
ocean, December 8. Second district Celia Dayton, Spring Hill, 
first woman physician in Kansas, December 10; Clarinda Howard 
Nichols, Kansas City, first Kansas woman to sit in a territorial 
legislature and contend for property rights of women, December 11. 
Third district Esther Clark Hill, Chanute, poet, November 27; 
Osa Leighty (Mrs. Martin) Johnson, Chanute, African and South 
Seas explorer, November 27. Fourth district Mary Jane Watson- 
Sort, Emporia, first woman school teacher in Emporia, December 4 ; 
Eliza Ann Huffaker, Council Grove, missionary teacher to the Kaw 
Indians, December 5. Fifth district Addie Cowley Bradley, El 
Dorado, first white girl child born in the district, October 28; 
Susanna Madora Salter, Argonia, said to be the first woman mayor 
in the United States, November 10. Sixth district Mary A. Wade, 
Ellis, one of the first woman mayors to serve with five women coun- 
cil members, November 22; Mary Calkins Bissell, Phillipsburg, 
mother of the first white child born in the district and coeditor of 
the Phillipsburg Herald, November 23. Seventh district Carrie A. 
Nation, Medicine Lodge, temperance crusader, November 9 ; Minnie 
Tamar Johnson Grinstead, Liberal, first woman to serve in the 
Kansas legislature as a member of the House of Representatives, 
November 20. 

The following persons will serve as officers of the Dickinson 
County Historical Society for the ensuing year: Mrs. A. B. Seelye, 
president; Mrs. H. L. Humphrey, vice president; Mrs. 0. L. Thisler, 
Jr., treasurer, and J. H. Giles, secretary. It is planned to house relics 
and records of the society in the Abilene Public Library when the 
proposed addition to the library building is completed. 

Recently elected officers of the Shawnee Mission Indian Historical 
Society are: Mrs. Walter E. Gresham, president; Mrs. R. R. Sand- 
meyer, vice president; Mrs. A. H. Buckley, recording secretary; 
Mrs. C. C. Terry, treasurer; Mrs. Ottis Fisher, custodian, and Mrs. 
A. E. Fraser, historian. 

(Ill) 



112 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

New officers of the Lindsborg Historical Society are: John A. 
Holmberg, president; H. J. Thorstenberg, vice president; Henry 
Olson, treasurer, and G. E. Eberhardt, secretary. 

Clare A. Coe, of Topeka, was elected president of the Twentieth 
Kansas infantry organization at the annual election held in Topeka, 
October 9, 1933. Other officers elected were: Fred Recob, Topeka, 
vice president; Jerry Springstead, Topeka, secretary and treasurer, 
and Frank B. Dodds, of Lawrence, historian. 

At the annual meeting of the Chanute Old Settlers' Association 
held in Chanute, October 19, 1933, the following officers were re- 
elected for another year: J. W. Heminger, president; Mrs. W. W. 
Alcott, vice president; Mrs. Minnie Carter, secretary-treasurer, 
and Mrs. Letha Hawkins, registrar. 

The granite stone marking the site of Wichita's first school at 
Twelfth street and Jackson avenue was dedicated November 9, 
1933. William Finn, the teacher, conducted the school during the 
winter of 1869-1870. 

At the December meeting of the Southwest Historical Society of 
Dodge City in "The Corral," historical museum at the Merrit Bee- 
son home, H. B. Bell was reflected president and H. F. Schmidt 
was reflected secretary and treasurer. 

Sen. Arthur Capper addressed the annual meeting of the Shawnee 
County Old Settlers' Association held in Topeka December 5, 1933. 
Officers elected to serve during the ensuing year are : Emery Brobst, 
president; Miss M. L. Addis, vice president, and Miss A. A. Wood- 
ward, secretary and treasurer. 

In celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary year of the founding 
of Salina, the Saline county chapter, Native Daughters of Kansas, 
erected a marker at the site of the landing of the first free ferry 
over the Smoky Hill river, near the west approach to the Iron 
avenue bridge, Salina. The marker was unveiled December 10, 
1933, by Mrs. Christie Campbell Loomis, of Omaha, daughter of the 
late A. M. Campbell and Mrs. Campbell, who operated the ferry. 

Other 1933 old settlers' meetings which were announced in the 
press and not previously mentioned in this magazine were held in 
Ohio Grove and Roy school districts, of Ottawa county, October 1 ; 
Palmyra township, Douglas county, October 10; lola, October 10; 
Brownville community, near Colby, October 22; Rush Center, No- 
vember 8; Petrolia, Neosho county, November 15, and School Dis- 
trict No. 1, Osborne county, November 17. 



THE 

Kansas Historical 
Quarterly 




Volume III Number 2 

May, 1934 



PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT 

W. C. AUSTIN. STATE PRINTER 

TOPEKA 1934 

15-3410 



Contributors 



GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society. 
WILLIAM STANLEY HOOLE, a grandson of Lieut. Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S. A., is 
an assistant graduate instructor at Duke University, Durham, N. C. 

MRS. HORTENSE BALDERSTON CAMPBELL is reference librarian at the Wichita 
City Library. 

NOTE. Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without re 
gard to their importance. 



Ferries in Kansas 

Part III Blue River 
GEORGE A. ROOT 

'TVHE Big Blue river, the Kaw's largest tributary, rises in Hamil- 
JL ton county, Nebraska, close to the Platte river. Probably one 
of the earliest mentions of the stream is to be found in the account 
of the expedition of Stephen H. Long. Prof. Thomas Say, a mem- 
ber of that expedition, in 1819, paid a visit to a village of Kaw 
Indians located near the junction of the Big Blue and the Kaw, at 
which time he referred to the character of the country between the 
"Blue Earth" and the Vermillion rivers. Rev. Isaac McCoy who, 
with his sons, Dr. Rice McCoy and John C. McCoy, surveyed In- 
dian reservations embracing territory watered by the Blue, calls 
the stream "Moh-e-ca-to" or Blue Earth creek. Another early men- 
tion is found in Fremont's surveys. The river in modern times has 
become better known as the Big Blue, to distinguish it from its 
principal tributary, the Little Blue, which also rises in Nebraska 
and joins the larger stream in Marshall county, Kansas, about one 
mile west of Blue Rapids. The Big Blue flows through seven 
counties of Nebraska Hamilton, York, Polk, Butler, Seward, Sa- 
line and Gage entering Kansas in Marshall county, about due north 
of Oketo. From here its course is slightly west of south through 
that county, then forming the boundary line between Riley and 
Pottawatomie counties, uniting with the Kansas river at the eastern 
limits of the city of Manhattan. The Big Blue is approximately 
285 miles long, about 100 of which are in Kansas. 1 

The first ferry location on the Big Blue above its mouth was at 
Manhattan. The name of the person receiving the first license at 
this point has not been learned, as early records of Riley county 
commissioners have not been available in the preparation of this 
article. The earliest ferry notice located in the newspapers ap- 
peared in the Manhattan Express, February 2, 1861, in a published 
table of receipts and expenditures of Riley county for the previous 
year. One item in this list recited that M. J. Gore had paid Riley 
county $50 for a ferry license. During 1861 Mr. Gore must have 

1. Long, Maj. S. H., Expedition to Rocky Mountains, 1819 and 1820, v. 1, p. 136; "Sur- 
vey of Indian Lands in Kansas," by Rev. Isaac McCoy and sons, 1830-1836, MS. volume, 
p. 120, and original manuscript map of Indian Reservations in Kansas, in Archives division 
of Kansas State Historical Society; topographical map of the road from Missouri to Oregon, 
compiled from the field notes and journal of Capt. J. C. Fremont by Charles Preuss in 1846 
and published by authority of the United States Senate. 

(115) 



116 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

had some sort of an agreement with the merchants of the town, for 
he was carrying the following advertisement in the home paper 
early in the fall: 

FREE FERRY ! ! FREE FERRY ! ! 

Free Ferry Across the Big Blue River at Manhattan. 
M. J. GORE, Proprietor. 2 

During the special session of the legislature of 1860, two measures 
were introduced in the House of Representatives for the establish- 
ment of ferries across the Big Blue bills numbered 250 and 310. 
Rep. George G. Pierce, who sponsored No. 250, also presented a 
petition signed by Samuel Loomis and others, asking for a ferry. 
This petition was referred to the Committee on Roads and High- 
ways, but on motion of Mr. Pierce it was withdrawn from that 
committee and referred to the Committee on Incorporations and 
Banking. Bill No. 250 was passed by the House and sent to the 
Council where it was accorded a first and second reading and 
referred to the Committee on Incorporations. It was evidently 
smothered there. 3 Bill No. 310 was passed by both houses, but for 
some unexplained reason failed to become a law. 4 

No further mention of the Manhattan Blue River Ferry has been 
located other than a short item from the Manhattan Standard of 
April 23, 1870, which stated that the ferry was located at the foot 
of Poyntz avenue, and the following from a paper in a neighboring 
county on the opposite side of the Kansas river: 

The ferry at Manhattan is in charge of a perfect gentleman, assisted by 
another man, a perfect numbskull, but neither gentlemanly cleverness nor 
numskulling could run the boat over without all hands pulling hard, which 
we did till our hands were blistered, and the sweat ran down like rain, but 
received the consoling assurance that it would not always be so as the con- 
tract for the stone work to a bridge had just been awarded to Messrs. Allison 
for less than nine thousand dollars, that being the lowest bid by three thou- 
sand six hundred dollars than the highest. The iron work was let to Mills 
of Topeka. I was told that the whole cost of the bridge would be less than 
thirty thousand. . . . 5 

Manhattan was located on the old military road from Fort Leav- 
enworth to Fort Riley. Up to 1855 the bulk of the supplies for 
Fort Riley were hauled over this road, crossing the Blue at a point 
about four or five miles above the mouth of that stream and about a 

2. Manhattan Express, September 2, 1861. 

3. House Journal, 1860, special session, pp. 217, 226, 236, 297, 338; Council Journal, 
1860, special session, pp. 321, 336. 

4. House Journal, 1860, special session, pp. 320, 329; Council Journal, 1860, special ses- 
sion, pp. 496, 520, 632. 

5. Alma Herald, July 7, 1870. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 117 

mile below what was known then as Rocky Ford. A bridge had 
been built at this place by the government in 1854, which was car- 
ried away by a flood in 1855. From that time on travel crossing 
the stream depended on ferries. By 1860, however, plans were ma- 
turning for a bridge at Manhattan to care for this traffic. Bills were 
introduced in the House of Representatives during the special ses- 
sion of the legislature that year, granting franchises for bridge com- 
panies, but they failed of passage. 6 However, work started on a 
toll bridge some time during the year, which was completed in the 
spring of the year following. The Manhattan Express, of April 20, 
1861, stated that the bridge was nearing completion. This structure 
was opened to travel on May 20, and on May 25 the Express printed 
the following: 

Travelers, the new bridge is in the crossing order; the citizens prefer to cross 
the bridge the reason why: 1st. It is safe, easier and more expeditious mode 
of traveling than the antiquated way of ferrying. 2d. It cuts off one mile of 
travel from Manhattan to the junction of the bridge and ferry roads. 3d. The 
toll is only one-half the ferry rates. Z. 

In 1864 high water and ice in the Blue must have damaged the 
bridge, which was, evidently, a pontoon affair, thereby somewhat 
disrupting mail service. A local paper early that year said: "The 
ice is out of the river and the bridge back in its place, and the mud 
has in a measure dried up, so we hope for no more delay of the 
mails." 7 

About three weeks later the same authority had this mention: 
"The cold snap which commenced a week ago to-day, formed so 
much floating ice in the Blue river, that it became necessary to 
swing out the floating part of the bridge. Spring has come again 
and the bridge will be returned to its old position to-day." 8 

By 1867 plans were formed for a new bridge. On January 21, 
1867, the Manhattan and Blue River Bridge Company was organized 
for the purpose of building a bridge over the Blue river to be located 
between the mouth of the river and a point one and one-half miles 
upstream in T. 10, R. 8, and at or near the foot of Poyntz avenue, 
or between the foot of Blue Mont Hill, or a point between the afore- 
said named places. The company was capitalized at $40,000, with 
shares $100 each, and proposed to erect a first-class Howe truss 
bridge near the present highway north of the Union Pacific railroad. 
The company was composed of representative Manhattan business 

6. House Journal, 1860, special session, pp. 212, 400. 

7. Manhattan Independent, February 8, 1864. 

8. Ibid., February 29, 1864. 



118 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

and professional men, which included Isaac T. Goodnow, Josiah M. 
Pillsbury, S. D. Houston, S. G. Hoyt, John W. Pipher, John Pipher, 
and Joseph Carney. Their charter was filed with the secretary of 
state, March 6, 1867. 9 

On the organization of the new bridge company, a local paper 
commented: 

Another bridge is to be built over the Blue river at this place. Under the 
general corporation act of the state, a company has been formed for the pur- 
pose, and soon and joyfully we can take a final leave of ferries and boat 
bridges. They were valuable in their day, and served a useful purpose, but 
we have outgrown them and are prepared for better and bigger things. 10 

High water in the Blue again disrupted mail service in 1867, and 
the newspaper summed up the situation thusly : 

We have received no eastern mail since Wednesday; the floods have so 
fiercely asserted their power. The railroad bridge over the Blue at this place 
stands against the marvelous power of the onrushing flood. The bridges to the 
west of us have not been so fortunate and their being swept away makes Man- 
hattan the present terminus of the Union Pacific. 11 

By early March the pontoon bridge was running again, 12 and it 
served the community for the next few years. 

In 1870 a demand for a free bridge was being agitated. The old 
bridge company at this time was building a new toll bridge, and 
apparently did not look with favor upon the free bridge proposition. 
They applied to the court for an order restraining the township 
from building a bridge at this place. The court, however, refused 
to issue such an order. A pontoon bridge, spoken of as the Leffer 
pontoon bridge, had been placed across the river to care for traffic 
while the new one was being built. Construction work went ahead 
during the summer and early fall, but when the fall rains commenced 
work was seriously impeded by high water which carried away the 
railway of the contractors doing the work, delaying completion 
several weeks. On the completion of the new bridge the Leffer 
pontoon was moved up the river and located where the old Barnes 
ferry operated. One of the local papers was of the opinion the 
pontoon bridge would be a benefit to the people of that section 
even though it was a toll bridge, for a toll bridge was better than a 
toll ferry. 13 The toll bridge was completed early in the spring of 
1871. 

9. Corporations, v. 1, p. 301. 

10. Manhattan Independent, February 9, 1867. 

11. Ibid./ February 16, 1867. 

12. Kansas Radical, Manhattan, March 2, 1867. 

13. Manhattan Standard, October 23, 30, November 18, 1870; The Nationalist, Man- 
hattan, January 13, March 31, 1871. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 119 

Following the flood of 1903 in the Blue and Kaw rivers, per- 
sons owning small boats did a land-office business transporting 
individuals across the raging waters of both the Blue and Kaw. 
Ferry boats were in demand at this time and there were none, so 
Manhattan city and Riley county shared the expense of building 
one for use on the Kaw, as every bridge in this vicinity over that 
stream had been carried away. The bridge over the Blue survived 
the flood, but it was left in an unsafe condition, needing repairs be- 
fore it could be used. 14 

The following ferry item is taken from Riley county, " Commis- 
sioners' Journal," v. 2, p. 99. As no location is given and no further 
history located, the entry is given herewith: "On October 8, 1878, 
John Cook applied for a ferry license for the Big Blue river. He was 
required to give a satisfactory bond, when he was to receive a license 
without cost. His toll rates were to be as heretofore established. 1 ' 

Pittsburg, slightly above Manhattan and almost opposite, had the 
next ferry. This town was laid out in 1857 and was eight miles west 
of Eldon. When Jones and Russell established their Leavenworth 
and Pike's Peak Express line, which ran to Denver, Pittsburg became 
a station on that line. Albert D. Richardson, correspondent of the 
New York Tribune mentions passing through the village while on his 
way to the mountains. 15 In 1859 John Flagg received a license 
from Riley county commissioners to operate a ferry at this point, 
the settlement in March, that year, having but three houses. 

The following is the only other reference we have found of the 
Pittsburg ferry, and is taken from the printed diary of Christian L. 
Long, of Selinsgrove, Pa., formerly of Newport, Pa., written in 1859, 
on his trip to Pike's Peak: 

Tuesday Mom, April 26th. Left Eldon 6% o'clock 8 miles to Pittsburg 
till 11% o'clock where we had a stream to ferry which is called the big blue 
could not cross on account of storm storm ceased at 4 o'clock crossed En- 
camped on the west bank of the same on the outskirts of a town called 
Manhattan. 

Pittsburg was last shown on maps of about 1860, and has long 
since been numbered among the dead and forgotten towns. 

The next ferry project above Pittsburg was an enterprise known 
as the Kansas Bridge and Ferry Company, organized March 9, 1866, 
with a capital stock of $50,000, divided into shares of $50 each. The 
incorporators were Isaac D. Clapp, John J. Boyd, John Landon, 
John G. Otis and William P. Douthitt, and the principal office was 

14. Manhattan Nationalist., June 4, 6, 8, 1903. 

15. Richardson, Albert D., Beyond the Mississippi, p. 161. 



120 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

at Topeka. This company was formed for the purpose of construct- 
ing, operating and maintaining bridges and ferries across the Big 
Blue river where the township line between 9 and 10 crossed the 
river in Range 8, and within four miles above said point and below 
to the point where the Blue forms a junction with the Kansas river. 
This charter was filed with the secretary of state, March 9, 1866. 16 
This location is approximately seven miles above the mouth of the 
Blue, following the meanderings of the river. If the above company 
built a bridge or operated a ferry, no record has been located by the 
writer. Otis and Douthitt were prominent early residents of Shaw- 
nee county, the former a paymaster in the United States military 
service in 1863, and later a member of congress from the fourth 
district. The latter was a prominent attorney of Topeka for many 
years. 

The next ferry upstream was located at the point where the road 
from Manhattan to Cedar creek crossed the Blue. Cedar creek is 
on the east side of the Blue and joins it in S. 30, T. 9, R. 8, about 
one and one-half miles above the location of the Kansas Bridge and 
Ferry Company, and approximately one mile almost due east of the 
Juniata crossing. After having operated a ferry in the immediate 
vicinity of Rocky Ford for several years, J. H. Barnes secured a 
license for the Cedar creek location and established his ferry at that 
point. The county commissioners on granting his license prescribed 
the following rates of ferriage: "For four-horse team, 25 cents; 
two-horse team, 20 cents; one-horse team, 15 cents; horseman, 10 
cents; cattle, per head, 5 cents; footman, 5 cents." 17 

Dyer's ferry, close to three miles above the Kansas Bridge and 
Ferry Company location, and about four miles from Manhattan by 
the old military road, was the next ferry location up the river, estab- 
lished in 1853 by Samuel D. Dyer, a six-foot Tennesseean, for the 
use of the government. Dyer had previously been employed by the 
government at Fort Scott. He was an old man at this time, was the 
first settler in Riley county, and built the first house, which has been 
described as "one story high and three stories long." Dyer was pro- 
slavery in sentiment, of the Methodist church, South, and said to 
be upright, honest and of a kindly disposition. 18 He had two sons, 
Abraham and James, who helped with the boat. This ferry was 
located on the east side of the Blue, on S. 30, T. 9, R. 7. A little 

16. Corporations, v. 1, p. 102. 

17. Riley county, "Commissioners' Journal," v. 2, p. 411. 

18. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, pp. 246, 247; v. 12, pp. 426, 427. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 121 

settlement sprang up at this place, known as Juniata, and sometimes 
called "Dyer's town," the town consisting of a store or two and a 
few cabins, in all about nine houses. Dyer operated this ferry for 
a year or two, when the government built a bridge across the river 
here, the first to span the Blue. The ferry was then discontinued, 
travel going over the bridge. Early in 1855 a flood carried away 
the structure. 19 The quartermaster at Fort Riley built a new boat 
and again asked Dyer to operate it. This Dyer did, beginning op- 
erations without first having secured a license from Riley county 
as required by law. He was penalized $200 by the county for this 
neglect. This case was pending in the June, 1856, term of probate 
court of Riley county, when friends of Dyer started circulating the 
following petitions in his favor, which were eventually sent to the 
governor : 
To His Excelency the Governor of Kansas Territory: 

We, the undersigned citizens of Riley county, would respectfully represent 
that there is now a judgment now in the courts of said county which was 
rendered at the last June [1856] term of the probate court by confession on 
the part of S. D. Dyer against S. D. Dyer for keeping a ferry without a 
license, and said judgment is for two hundred dollars. Now, we, the under- 
signed citizens of said county, do not think that it was the intention [of] said 
Dyer to violate any law or statute of this territory. And as he is an old and 
poor man with a large family we would respectfully prey your Excellency to 
remit said fine and judgment, or at least the largest portion of it, as it would 
be extremely hard for him to pay the sum of two hundred dollars for so trivial 
an offense when it was as he says unintentional [on] his part by remitting the 
said fine you would do a favour to an old and good man and reflect the wish 
of the people of Riley county. 

Respectfully submitted this August the 16th, 1856. 
Henry Whiteside C. R. MOBLY, one of the county commrs. 

A. A. GARRETT, a justice of peace. 

WM. C. DYER. 

J. W. DYER. 

A. C. ALLEN. 

WM. F. ALLEN. 

C. N. WlLSON.20 

To His Excellency the Governor of Kansas Territory: 

We the undersigned citizens of Riley county and Territory of Kansas, would 
respectfully represent to your excellency that a judgment for two hundred 
dollars is now pending against Samuel D. Dyer in favor of the people of Kan- 
sas, obtained from the probate court of Riley county at the June term 1856 
of said court, as a penalty for keeping a ferry on Blue river in said county of 
Riley for a short time without a license from the commissioners of said county. 

19. Ibid., v. 12, p. 426. 

20. Original document in Archives division, Kansas State Historical Society. 



122 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Your petitioners would represent that the facts under which said ferry was kept 
are as follows: After the bridge across Blue river was destroyed the govern- 
ment built a ferry boat and the quartermaster at Fort Riley proposed to said 
Dyer that if he would attend to said boat and transport all government teams 
free of charge, he should have the privilege of taking pay from citizens. Your 
petitioners would further represent that while he kept said boat it was not his 
intention to violate any laws of the Territory, but honestly believed that the 
quartermaster had the power and authority to establish and protect said ferry, 
that he acted in good faith and without any other motive, as soon as he was 
convinced it was a violation of the laws said boat as a ferry was discontinued 
by your petitioners and a license obtained from the county and in view of 
these facts your petitioners would ask your excellency to remit the fine against 
him. 

S. D. Houston A. B. Lee J. S. Williams 

Tunis I. Roosa J. M. McCormick S. B. Williams 

Ira Taylor C. P. McDonal Zebulon Avey 

J. R. McClure Grange Miller Henry Whiteside 

John Pipher Samuel Fowler H. B. Nealy 

W. Chiltoon Phillip Weiner H. B. Naly 

Chas. Barnes M. A. Garrett C. N. Wilson 

John W. Pipher Jos. Legore David Hayse 

Thomas Reynolds George Tilton William Hanna 

G. W. Lee R. S. Hays Samuel Hayse 

E. M. Newell G. W. Eubank William C. Dyer 
A. Williams 21 

It would be interesting to know the outcome of this matter, but 
no records of the governor's office turned over to the Archives divi- 
sion of the Historical Society have any further mention of the 
matter. 

Samuel D. Dyer and family are listed in the 1855 census, pages 
7 and 8, as residents of the tenth district. His occupation is given 
as farmer, age 50, born in Missouri. His wife's name was Pamelia, 
age 40, born in Missouri. Eight children were listed, as follows, all 
born in Missouri: William C., [over] 21; Abraham 0., [over] 21; 
Lydia, [over] 21; Enoch P., James D., Martha Ann, Sarah, and 
Mary, minors. The census of 1857 lists two more of the Dyer 
family who were voters: John N. Dyer and E. P. Dyer. These 
records are in the Archives division, Kansas State Historical Society. 

Dyer must have operated his ferry till about 1858, when a new 
bridge was completed across the Blue. The first election in what is 
now Riley county, on March 30, 1855, was held at his house. He 
was commissioned justice of the peace, October 15, 1856, for Dyer 
township, which was named for him. His death occurred sometime 
during the year 1875. 

In 1867 necessity must have arisen for another ferry across the 

21. Ibid. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 123 

Blue, for the Manhattan Independent of July 27, contained the 
following: "A new ferry is about to be established on the Blue, just 
below Rocky Ford. It will be a great convenience to travelers who 
frequent the Blue river valley. Judge Chaffee gives $100 towards its 
establishment, and Mr. Collins, an old friend of ours from Exeter, 
N. H., is building the boat." 

Reminiscent of the old ferry is the following from the Rooks 
County Record, Stockton, of August 18, 1932, which gives the ex- 
periences of Dr. J. Seleen, pioneer pastor in the Swedish community 
of Mariadahl: 

The Big Blue was a menace in those days. ... In normal weather one 
could cross the river in places on horseback, but when high water came it was 
impassable. The first year I paddled across hi a hollowed out tree trunk, 
which was a great risk at times. Later, some of the more progressive farmers 
got together and made a good row boat which held seven or eight persons. 
Then, after a year or two, came the ferry. 

The site of Dyer's town or Juniata, later came into the possession 
of Gen. J. S. Casement, whose son, Dan Casement, owns it to-day, 
being known as the Juniata stock farm. 

Dyer's ferry equipment appears to have been moved about a mile 
upstream, close to the Rocky Ford crossing, 22 after it passed out of 
his control. No clue to ownership has been located between that 
time and 1871, when J. H. Barnes was operating a ferry about a 
mile above the old Juniata crossing and a short distance below 
Rocky Ford. 

Rocky Ford, something over a mile above the Juniata crossing, 
was the most important crossing of the Blue in Riley county, and 
within a mile or so above and below this point the bulk of travel 
reaching Manhattan and settlements beyond passed over the river 
between these limits. A dam was built across the river just below 
this ford to furnish waterpower for a mill. The "pond" produced 
by this backwater early became one of the favorite swimming holes 
for the young urchins of the very early 1870s. Their apparent dis- 
dain of swimming suits together with a reckless display of nudism 
virtually prohibited city ladies from riding out and crossing the 
river in the cool of the evening, which prompted a local paper to call 
on the city authorities to put a stop to the practice. 23 

A bridge with a 241 foot span was built at Rocky Ford in 1890. 24 

Barnes' ferry must have played quite an important role in the 

22. Location given in Everts' Atlas of Kansas, p. 84, as S. 30, T. 9, R. 8. 

23. The Nationalist, Manhattan, June 23, 1871. 

24. Randolph Enterprise, May 1, 1890. 



124 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

business activities of Manhattan, for the Independent, of January 
13, 1871, contained the following: 

BARNES' FERRY. The citizens of Manhattan township by a very decided 
majority voted to pay seventy or eighty thousand dollars to build bridges 
across the Blue and Kansas rivers. It was supposed to be a good investment 
for Manhattan, on the ground that it would lead great numbers to do their 
trading here who now go elsewhere. It is to be hoped that it was but the 
commencement of a systematic effort to improve the avenues leading to town. 
There is not a road leading from town but needs improvement. There are 
places in them all which, at certain seasons, are almost impassable for want 
of ditching or bridging. A little money spent in improving these roads would 
bring in a great deal of trade that we now lose, and would lead to a more 
rapid settlement and development of the country. But we commenced to 
write about a ferry not roads. 

Barnes' ferry, just below the Rocky Ford, affords the only convenient means 
that large numbers of people have of getting to town during high water. As 
many as five hundred teams have crossed in one month besides those who 
crossed on yearly tickets. And yet there is no legal road leading from the 
ferry to town. The owners of the land can at any time fence up the tracts 
on which the road now runs. Moreover, there are two bad places in the road 
during wet weather, and no one feels encouraged to improve them because of 
the fact that the road may any day be forced elsewhere, or entirely closed. 
Mr. Barnes asks that a road be laid from the point where Mr. Phillips' line 
intersects the Blue river road, along said line to his ferry, and we have reasons 
to believe that if a road is once permanently located there, it will be properly 
drained and kept in order. He asks no money from us only a right of way. 
Shall he not have it? 

February and March, following hard winters, were anxious months 
for those operating ferries. A sudden warm spell, followed by a 
good rain, was almost sure to cause the ice to break, often forming 
dams, causing the river to rise rapidly, overflow bottom lands, and 
in many instances carrying away ferry boats as the ice went out. 
This condition obtained early in 1871, and is described in the fol- 
lowing: 

The rain of Thursday night, last week, raised the Big Blue considerably. 
Again ice from the upper waters of the stream formed at the horseshoe bend 
about seven miles north of the city, and the result was a general inundation of 
the riparian region thereabout, resulting in no serious damage, however, as 
far as we have learned. Monday night the ice gave way and swept in a flood 
down stream. The boat at Paul's ferry was torn loose from its moorings and 
carried down the river several hundred yards, where it fortunately lodged 
against a couple of trees in such a way as to be easily returned to its place, 
and that, too, uninjured. What became of the boat at Barnes' ferry we 
did not learn. The ice passed the piers of the new bridge here without doing 
any injury to them. 25 

25. The Nationalist, Manhattan, February 24, 1871. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 125 

On March 16, 1871, the Barnes family and others formed a com- 
pany for the purpose of operating a ferry at this location above 
Rocky Ford. The incorporators were J. H. Barnes, S. B. Barnes, 
Charles Barnes, S. V. Lee and N. D. Norton. Capital stock of the 
company was placed at $3,000, with shares $50 each. This location 
was in S. 30, T. 9, R. 8E., and Manhattan was the principal place 
of business. Their charter was filed with the secretary of state, 
March 17, 1871. 26 

J. H. Barnes apparently was out of the ferry business by 1874, at 
which time he was operating a lime kiln. This year there appeared 
to be need of another ferry north of the Juniata crossing, and The 
Nationalist of July 17 suggested that Mr. Barnes was the man to 
put it in operation as he had been in the ferry business before. 

C. Gearhart probably succeeded to the ferry business at this point. 
The Nationalist, Manhattan, early this summer, printed the follow- 
ing regarding the matter: 

We understand that what is known as Barnes' ferry has been removed to 
a point above the dam at Rocky Ford, Mr. Gearhart still continuing to run it, 
however. We presume that this will result in the putting in of a ferry at the 
old Juniata crossing, east of the mouth of Cedar creek. To persons residing 
on the east side of the Blue above Cedar, a ferry at that point would shorten 
the round trip to Manhattan some three or four miles, which is certainly worth 
saving. We have heard it intimated that Mr. Downing may move his ferry to 
that point. 

County commissioners' proceedings of July 21, 1874, recite that 
C. Gearhart petitioned to run a ferry on the Blue at a location about 
twenty rods above Rocky Ford. He filed the necessary bond and 
his petition was granted. 27 

The following is the last mention we have located of Gearhart's 
ferry : 

GEARHART'S FERRY. This ferry has been removed from the millpond back 
to its old place, (near Mr. Barnes') and is now in running order. Mr. Gearhart, 
who is a very worthy and industrious man, will be very happy to accommodate 
the traveling public who wish to cross the Blue in that neighborhood. We 
understand that there are now two outlets to the ferry one by way of Childs' 
and one by Dodge's. 28 

John Johnson was the next person to operate the ferry near the 
Rocky Ford dam. He filed a bond for the faithful performance of 
ferry duties, was granted a license on August 7, 1876, and was al- 
lowed to charge the same rates of ferriage as were granted to C. 

26. Corporations, v. 3, p. 211. 

27. The Nationalist, Manhattan, July 31, 1874. 

28. Ibid., March 3, 1875. 



126 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Gearhart. Two years later he applied for another license, filed the 
requisite bond, and was granted a license without cost. Ferry rates 
were to remain as already established. 29 

No record of ferry licenses for this location between 1877 and 
1880 have been located. On November 12, 1881, John Chalmers 
was granted a license for the location known as the Rocky Ford 
dam. 30 No further mention of Chalmers' ferry has been located. 
It probably was discontinued at the expiration of its license in 
November, 1882. 

Jefferson Brown, on October 6, 1884, presented a petition for a 
license to operate a ferry at or near the General Casement farm, 
known as the Rocky Ford ferry, which was granted, his ferriage 
rates to be the same as at the Joseph Hays ferry. 31 

Riley county records of 1888 contain the last mentions of the 
Barnes ferry. On January 5, that year, Sam Gardner was granted 
a ferry license and allowed to charge the following rates: "Crossing 
a two-horse team, one way, 20 cents; four-horse team, one way, 25 
cents; horse and buggy, 35 cents; man and horse, 15 cents; footman, 
5 cents; loose cattle or norses, per head, 5 cents." 32 

On October 11, 1888, William Harrison received a license to run 
the Barnes ferry, his rates to be as follows: "Four-horse team, 25 
cents; two-horse team, 20 cents; one horse and buggy, 15 cents; 
footmen, each, 5 cents; loose cattle, per head, 5 cents; loose hogs, 
per head, 3 cents." 33 

Paul's ferry, operated by J. W. Paul, was probably the next ferry 
upstream. It was located at about the SE 1 ^ S. 24, T. 9, R. 7, which 
was approximately one mile almost due north of Rocky Ford. This 
crossing was being operated as early as 1871 perhaps earlier al- 
though no record of a license for it has been located. The earliest 
mention of this enterprise was in 1871. When ice in the Big Blue 
broke up in February, that year, the boat was carried downstream 
for some distance, finally lodging against some trees, where it was 
later retrieved and returned to its place undamaged. 34 

Early in March, 1872, an individual arrived at this ferry while 
the ferryman was at dinner. Being impatient to cross at once he 
hopped into the skiff to work his own way across. When in mid- 
stream the boat went off and left him hanging onto the cable. His 

29. Riley county, "Commissioners' Journal," v. 2, pp. 28, 99. 

30. Ibid., v. 2, p. 233. 
81. Ibid., v. 2, p. 368. 

32. Ibid., v. 3, p. 11. 

33. Ibid., v. 3, p. 49. 

34. The Nationalist, Manhattan, February 24, 1871. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 127 

calls for help attracted the ferryman who arrived and wanted to 
know what had become of the boat. The unfortunate victim pointed 
down stream, whereupon the ferryman exacted a promise to pay 
$6 for the old cottonwood boat before he would take him out of the 
water. The promise was given and faithfully carried out. 35 This 
ferry is shown on the map of Riley county, in Everts' Atlas of Kan- 
sas, pp. 84, 85. Mr. Paul is listed in the census of Riley county for 
1875 as a resident of Grant township, a farmer, age 37, born in 
Missouri; wife, Nancy J., age 33, born in Missouri; six children 
Charles, 13, born in Missouri; Mary E., 11 ; John W., 9; Hester J., 5; 
Martha, 2; and Julia 3 / 12 , the last five being natives of Kansas. 

Downing's ferry, run by J. M. Downing, apparently was the next 
one functioning at this point, being operated early in 1872. The 
first mention of this ferry we have located is the following: 

We learn that Mrs. Legore and her three sons, in returning from Man- 
hattan to her home on Mclntire creek, Pottawatomie county, on Monday 
night, lost three horses, under the following circumstances: They reached 
Downing's ferry, on the Blue, at about 10 o'clock, and went down the hill 
pretty fast, the ferryman says. It is said the boat has no apron, and when 
the wheels struck its front beam, which was high from the ground, it was 
pushed out into the river by the concussion. The wagon on not rising into 
the boat dragged the horses back into the river, and they with the running 
gear, were carried under the ice by the current. The wagon box floating 
enabled the occupants to save their lives by jumping upon the ice. 36 

A subsequent issue of the above paper stated that but two horses 
were lost, and that there was but one of Mrs. Legore's sons and a 
young man along at the time of the accident. 

In July, 1873, Mr. Downing presented his petition for a license 
to run a ferry on the Big Blue on the line between the farms of 
Joseph Hays and Charles Sturgeon. 37 His petition was granted 
and rates of toll fixed as follows: "Two horses and wagon, 25 
cents; each additional horse, 10 cents; one-horse buggy, 10 cents; 
single horse, 15 cents; loose cattle, 10 cents; foot passengers, 10 
cents." 38 

In 1873 an effort was made to get a bridge across Mclntire creek, 
in the immediate vicinity of Downing's ferry. The following com- 
munication gives an idea of what one of the taxpayers thought of 
the proposition: 

35. Ibid., March 8, 1872. 

36. Ibid., January 26, 1872. 

37. This location is on the SE% S. 24, T. 9, R. 7, and is shown in Historical Plat Book 
of Riley County, p. 64. 

38. Riley county commissioners' proceedings, in The Nationalist, Manhattan July 18 
1873; Historical Plat Book of Riley County, p. 64. 



128 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

SHALL THE BONDS BE VOTED? 

To the Voters of Blue Township : 

An attempt is to be made, on Monday, Sep. 8, to vote bonds to build a 
bridge over the lower crossing of Mclntire's creek for the benefit of Downing's 
ferry. Movements are on foot to establish a ferry a few miles above, and 
another at the Rocky Ford mill, at points where depots on the M. & N. rail- 
road will be located and when they are established Downing's ferry will have 
to be abandoned, thus rendering the bridge utterly useless. 

If it was proposed to build the Mclntire bridge where the main road up 
the Blue crosses the creek I would not object, for one would always be needed 
there, but it does seem foolish or worse to build one where it is certain 
to be speedily abandoned. The proposed bridge across Cedar is also needed, 
but the desire to secure it ought not to lead the voters to absolutely throw 
away a large sum. 

Let us then vote down this proposition and build bridges only where they 
are needed. And also insist that hereafter such bridge proposition stand on 
its own merits. ELBOW. 39 

Another item about this time stated that Downing's ferry would 
probably be moved to the old location of the Juniata ferry crossing. 

In 1875 a license was granted to A. Johnson to run a ferry at this 
point, the permit also fixing rates of ferriage. For some reason, not 
recorded in commissioners' minutes, this license was canceled, and 
on the petition of Joseph Hays (or Hayes) the license was issued to 
him. This location is recorded as on lot 5, S. 24, T. 9, R. 7E. Rates 
of toll were to be the same as prescribed for Mr. Johnson. 40 

Mr. Hays, apparently, was running the ferry as late as 1885, al- 
though no record of licenses issued to him for the years 1883 and 
1884 have been located. His license was dated April 13, 1885. 41 

M. E. Bush was the next operator in charge of this ferry, his li- 
cense being dated October 5, 1885. Ferriage rates allowed by the 
commissioners were: Four-horse team, 25 cents; two-horse team, 
20 cents; one-horse team, 15 cents; footman, 5 cents; cattle, per 
head, 5 cents. 42 

Apparently the ferry was not running during the year 1886, at 
least no record was found of any license issued. The next year W. 
W. Graves obtained a permit, his license being dated April 11, 1887, 
and authorizing him to collect toll rates as heretofore established. 43 

G. W. Sigman was next operator at this location, his license being 
dated April 9, 1888, with same privileges as were accorded the pre- 
39. The Nationalist, Manhattan, September 5, 1873. 

40. Ibid., April 23, 1875. 

41. Riley county, "Commissioners' Journal," v. 2, pp. 3, 51, 83, 114, 160, 199, 225, 402. 

42. Ibid., v. 2, p. 423. 

43. Ibid., p. 539. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 129 

vious year. Mr. Sigman had scarcely operated his ferry for three 
months when complaints were filed against him. On July 5, fol- 
lowing, a petition was presented to the county board, asking that 
Sigman's license be revoked. The board listened to the sworn testi- 
mony of George Washington, D. A. White, G. W. Hill, Jacob 
Springer, Rude Springer, Frank White and a Mr. Ninch, all of which 
was against Mr. Sigman. The board laid the matter over to Sat- 
urday, July 7, 1888, the action at that time being set forth as fol- 
lows: 

The matter of revoking the ferry license of G. W. Sigman came up for 
hearing. The board had listened to the testimony on the day before of the 
parties who wanted the license revoked, and after hearing the sworn testimony 
of G. W. Sigman, the board decided to revoke the license of the said G. W. 
Sigman. And the board made an order revoking said license from and after 
the expiration of Saturday, July 7th, 1888. 44 

M. F. Osburn received the next license for this location, which 
was dated October 1, 1888. 45 

Two more changes in operators are of record for 1889, the first 
license being issued to L. C. Wiley on January 11, and the last to 
Theodore DeNoyer, on October 16, who filed a $500 bond for the 
faithful performance of his duties, and was allowed to charge rates 
as heretofore fixed for this crossing. 46 

Unadilla, Pottawatomie county, was incorporated in 1858 by 
Arnold B. Watson, Lorenzo Westover, M. C. Keith, Ambrose Todd 
and S. Newells, and was mentioned in early Gazetteers as late as 
1866-'67. In 1859 the legislature granted to Zach Curtis the right 
to establish a ferry across the Big Blue at this place, having a five- 
year privilege, with the right and power to land on either side of 
the river. He was required to furnish a bond for $2,000, with good 
and sufficient security, and collect ferriage rates as allowed by the 
county board. This act was to take effect and be in force from and 
after its passage. It received the approval of Gov. S. Medary on 
February 2, 1859. Private Laws, Kansas, 1859, pp. 100, 101. 

Stockdale had the next ferry upstream. J. H. Callahan estab- 
lished a ferry near there in 1887, receiving his license from the 
county on April 11. While his license failed to state the location of 
the ferry, Everts' Atlas of Kansas, page 84, indicates the ferry was 
located on the SE 1 ^ S. 33, T. 8, R. 7E, this being between five and 
six miles northwest of Rocky Ford by wagon road, and approxi- 

44. Ibid., v. 3, pp. 19, 36, 39. 

45. Ibid., v. 3, p. 49. 

46. Ibid., v. 3, pp. 77, 119. 

93410 



130 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

mately two or three miles farther following the river. Callahan's 
ferry was authorized to collect tolls as follows: Four-horse team, 25 
cents; two-horse team, 20 cents; one-horse team, 15 cents; one man 
and horse, 5 cents; loose cattle, per head, 5 cents; footman, 5 cents. 47 

Riley county records show that Callahan took out licenses for the 
years 1888, 1890, and the last in 1896. 48 

A ferry was operated for a time at the town of Garrison, Potta- 
watomie county. This crossing was about eight miles by river above 
Stockdale, and a little shorter by road. The village dates back to 
territorial days, Dr. J. P. Root introducing a bill in the council 
during the session of the legislature of 1858 for its incorporation. No 
mention of ferry licenses for this location has been found, but a ferry 
is indicated on a plat of the county, located on the NW 1 /^ S. 7, T. 8, 
R. 8E., the west landing being on land owned in 1881 by R. G. 
Allen. 49 

Apparently other ferries operated at or near Garrison at different 
times. Under the head of "Garrison Locals" the Randolph Echo of 
May 2, 1883, printed the following: "The ferry boat recently pur- 
chased by Mr. Webber is now in good running order." 

Randolph, about five and one-half miles by road and a mile 
farther by river, had the next ferry. This ferry was different from 
any other on the river, inasmuch as it was a community affair instead 
of a private one. The charter, as filed with the secretary of state, 
was as follows: 

RANDOLPH FERRY 

We, the citizens of the town of Randolph in Riley county, Kansas, assembled 
on this 3d day of June, 1878, do organize ourselves into a ferry corporation 
to be known as the Randolph Ferry Company, for the purpose of legally 
holding any real estate or other property that may come into its possession 
for the use of said company. 

The place in which all of its business shall be transacted shall be' in the 
town of Randolph, Riley county, and state of Kansas. 

The term for which said corporation is to exist shall be for (20) years. 

The number of trustees of said corporation shall be five, to be elected an- 
nually by ballot, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April each 
year. 

At a meeting of said company held in the said town of Randolph on the 
third day of June, 1878, the following-named trustees were duly elected: 
Milton Foreman, John Chelander, John W. Nelson, Axel Axelson and Wm. 
Pierson. The residence of said trustees is in Randolph, Riley county, Kansas. 

47. Ibid., v. 2, p. 540. 

48. Ibid., v. 3, pp. 19, 90, 170, 496. 

49. Council Journal, 1858, p. 83; Historical Plat Book of Riley County, p. 55. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 131 

The capital stock of said company shall be five hundred dollars, to be 
divided into one hundred shares of five dollars each. 

The aforesaid company was organized for the purpose of operating a ferry 
across the Big Blue river, at or as near as possible or practical to the said 
town of Randolph. 

Signatures of five members of said company. A. WIKANDER, 

JOHN W. NELSON, 
MILES REED, 
JOHN F. BECKMAN, 
C. A. CHAPMAN. 
State of Kansas, ) sg 
Riley county, ) 

Be it remembered that on this 8th day of January, 1879, before me a notary 
public, in and for said county and state aforesaid, came A. Wikander, John 
W. Nelson, Miles Reed, John F. Beckman and C. A. Chapman, to me per- 
sonally known to be the same persons whose names are affixed to the fore- 
going instrument of writing, and duly they acknowledged the same. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my notary 
seal on the day and year last above written. 

[Seal] Wm. Condray, Notary Public. 

Filed with the secretary of state, January 24, 1879. 50 

While the foregoing charter mentions no specific location for the 
ferry, it is more than likely it was located on the SW^ S. 12, T. 7, 
R. 7E., as the Historical Plat Book of Riley County, page 73, shows 
a ferry for Randolph located at that point. Whether the community 
ferry was a going concern or not we have not discovered. However, 
on November 12, 1881, the ferry seemed to have passed into other 
hands, for Elijah Holden was granted a license for a ferry near the 
town where the public road leading from Randolph to Olsburg 
crosses the river. 51 The next license, dated April 8, 1884, went to 
Elijah Holden and Joseph Hays. 52 In 1885 and 1886 it went to 
Mr. Holden, the ferry being located between sections 12 and 13, T. 
7, R. 6, ferriage rates for 1886 being as follows: Footmen, 5 cents 
each; man and horse, 10 cents; two-horse team, 20 cents; loose 
cattle, per head, 5 cents. 53 

Holden's connection with this ferry apparently ended in 1887. 54 

On July 8, 1887, Peter Jacobson was granted a license for a ferry 

at this location, being allowed to charge the same rates as accorded 

to Holden. 55 In 1888 the license was issued to N. S. Bergman. 56 It 

is probable this ferry was discontinued after 1888, as no further 

50. Corporations, v. 9, pp. 810, 311. 

51. Riley county, "Commissioners' Journal," v. 2, p. 233. 

52. Ibid., v. 2, p. 345. 

53. Ibid., v. 2, pp. 401, 446. 

54. Ibid., v. 2, p. 589. 

55. Ibid., v. 2, p. 586. 

56. Ibid., v. 3, p. 44. 



132 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

mention of Randolph ferry matters is recorded in the commissioners' 
proceedings until July 6, 1903, the year of the big flood, when an 
entry in the record recites: 

The board agreed to make a donation of $200 for the erection of a ferry- 
boat to be located over the Big Blue at Randolph, and further agreed to pay 
the sum of $15 per month for the running of the same after February 1, 1904, 
until such time as the bridge can be constructed and ready for travel. 57 

A move for a bridge at Randolph was started during the summer 
of 1889. Bonds had been voted, materials ordered for the structure, 
and work commenced that fall. A neighboring community paper, 
which evidently had not kept posted on the situation, printed the 
following: 

Report reaches us that the bridge company to whom the Randolph bridge 
contract was awarded will not accept the Jackson township bonds for security. 
The reason for this we do not know and it may be a rumor. However, their 
time is rapidly passing and no move is being made to build the bridge. 
Olsburg News-Letter, September, 1889. 

This item called forth the following reply from the Randolph 
Enterprise, of October 4, 1889: "This is somewhat of a surprise to 
the people of Randolph and vicinity, as one carload of material is 
here and work has been commenced. It will be quite a difficult task 
to make us believe that we are not going to have a bridge." 

Construction was pushed that winter, the Randolph Enterprise 
of January 23, 1890, reporting that work was going ahead nicely 
the ice on the river facilitating the work. This bridge was com- 
pleted and thrown open for travel about the first of May, 1890, 
served the community for a number of years, until it was so dam- 
aged by floods and the passing years that it had to be replaced. 58 

Mariadahl, between three and four miles by land and about twice 
that distance by river above Randolph, had the next ferry.- This 
was being operated early in the spring of 1883, perhaps earlier. The 
first mention we have located is the following item from the Ran- 
dolph Echo, of March 7, 1883: 

One of our esteemed fellow citizens and an ex-captain of the Garrison 
ferry boat had a slight unpleasantness last week. The difficulty growing out 
of a settlement of accounts. It seemed there was a small balance due from our 
citizen, but the question was, who was entitled to receive this money, the 
owner of the boat or the ex-captain, part of it belonging to the former and 
part to the latter. 

The late commander concluded he would take his share in meat, and 
wrapped his mouth around our citizen's nose. This plan of adjusting accounts 

57. Ibid., v. 4, p. 286. 

68. Ibid., v. 8, pp. 863, 494 ; Randolph Echo, March 13, May 1, 1890. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 133 

has failed in this instance to give satisfaction. The said captain hasn't been 
seen around to any considerable extent since. He bites like a beast. 

Another mention of the ferry by the same authority, about a 
month later says: "George Sender is tending the ferry here and 
the traveling public can now be accommodated." 

A petition for a ferry at or near Mariadahl was presented to the 
Riley county commissioners in April, 1885, by E. Kallberg and 
others, praying that Kallberg be granted a license to run a ferry. 
Kallberg was granted a license upon his promise to furnish a good 
and satisfactory bond, and was to be allowed to charge the same 
rate of toll as the Holden ferry was charging. At the July, 1885, 
meeting of the county commissioners, this license was revoked as 
the said Kallberg failed to file a bond. It was ordered that the part 
of the minutes of the April meeting granting license privileges to 
Kallberg be stricken from the journal. 59 

On July 8, 1885, Peter Nelson applied for and was granted a li- 
cense for a ferry at or near S. 5, T. 7, R. 7. This location is vir- 
tually at the village of Mariadahl. In 1887 he also was given a 
license. 60 

A ferry at Mariadahl is shown in Everts' Atlas of Kansas, p. 84, 
as located on the SE 1 ^ S. 32, T. 6, R. 7. 

Riley county "Commissioners' Journal," volume 4, pages 295, 
297 and 308, recite that in 1906 an effort was made to secure a 
bridge for Mariadahl for the convenience of residents on the Potta- 
watomie county side of the river. Riley county commissioners 
were willing to put up $1,500 towards the project. Evidently this 
amount was not deemed sufficient to induce township officials in 
either county to enter into any contract work, and at the October 
meeting of the county board this offer was rescinded. 

Cleburne, about three and one-half miles above Mariadahl by land 
and about four miles by the Blue, had the next crossing. On October 
4, 1886, Magnus Vilander was granted a license to operate a ferry 
at a point about eighty rods south of where the center line running 
east and west of S. 15, T. 6, R. 7, crosses the Big Blue river. The 
county board prescribed a scale of ferriage charges, but the records 
do not give the particulars. 61 Vilander also received licenses for 
1887 and 1888, which apparently were his last. A bridge was under 
construction at Cleburne in 1890. During the flood of 1903 an 
emergency ferry was put in operation there, but details are lacking. 

59. Riley county, "Commissioners' Journal," v. 2, p. 402. 

60. Ibid., v. 2, pp. 411, 539. 

61. Ibid., v. 2, p. 476. 



1,'J4 TIN-; KANSAS HFKTOIUCAL QUARTERLY 

On July 3, 1807, a charter affecting Marfihall county was taken 
out by a company known as the Western Bridge and Ferry Com- 
pany, the incorporations being Rufus R. Edwards, Joseph R. Staley, 
Thomas W. Waterson and Jerome D. Brumbaugh. The com- 
pany's headquarters was located at Marysville, and the capital 
stock of the enterprise was $50,000, with shares at $50 each. The 
company's object was to build bridges over the Blue river from the 
point where the south line of the (Ho Indian reservation crossed the 
Blue to a point southward where the township line between town- 
ships five and six crosses the river, this being the southern boundary 
line of Marshall county. The corporation also was granted the 
privilege to build and maintain bridges on the Little Blue from the 
point where the north line of Washington county crosses that river to 
the mouth of the stream, or its confluence with the Big Blue. The 
charter also desired exclusive privilege to build and maintain ferries 
between the points above named. This document was filed with the 
secretary of state July 6, 1867 . 2 Further history of this project 
has not been located. 

A ferry at the town of Merrimac, Marshall county, is shown on 
a plat of that town surveyed in 1858 and filed with the United 
Slates land office at Ogden. .John P. llatlerschcidt, of Leavenworth, 
was president of the Merrimac Town Company, and 0. P. Barbour, 
secretary. This townsite was located at the junction of the Black 
Vermillion and Big Blue, about one and one-half miles north of the 
Pottawatomie-Marshall county boundary, and approximately thir- 
teen miles up river from Randolph, Riley county. No further his- 
tory of this ferry has been located. 68 

Irving, about three and one-half miles north of old Merrimac, had 
the next crossing, known as Shipp's ferry. The legislature o.f 1859 
passed an act granting to James W. and William E. Shipp the right 
to establish a ferry on S. 18, T. 5, R. 7, with exclusive authority to 
land on either side of the Big Blue for one mile up and one mile 
down from said point. They were to keep a good boat or boats at 
the ferry sufficient to accommodate the traveling public. They were 
to pay the usual tax to the county for this privilege, and the county 
commissioners were to prescribe ferriage charges not less than the 
rates usually charged at ferries. This act was approved by Gov. 
Samuel Medary and was to take effect and be in force from and 
after its passage. 64 

02. Corporation*, v. 1, p. 867. 

68. Printed plat in possession of the Kansas State Historical Society. 

04. Private Lawt, Kansai, 1869, pp. 100, 101. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 135 

The Shipp brothers, Ambrose, Easton, Martin and James, settled 
on the south side of the Blue in what is now Blue Rapids township 
in 1857, not far from Irving of the present time. The following 
year A. Barry, representative from Riley county, introduced a 
bill No. 331 in the house of representatives, to incorporate the 
Shipsport Town Company. James and W. E. Shipp and Geo. W. 
Brown were the incorporators. The bill also provided for the estab- 
lishment of a ferry, which was to be located between the mouth of 
the Little Blue and the mouth of the Black Vermillion, in S. 18, T. 
5, R. 7E., the same location as the ferry incorporated in 1859. 65 
House Bill No. 5, also introduced by Mr. Barry, likewise provided 
for a ferry for Marshall county. 66 

No official record of a ferry at Blue Rapids has been located, 
although one may have been run temporarily, as the following item 
from the Blue Rapids Times of May 17, 1877, indicates: "Orville 
Cooley launched a boat on the billowy Blue this week. It was 
demanded in the interest of commerce and agriculture." 

A pontoon bridge across the Blue at the Rapids served the needs 
of the public during the summer of 1870. This, however, was swept 
away during a flood late in October following. A neighboring town's 
newspaper, describing conditions at this place shortly after, said: 
"Since the pontoon bridge has been carried away at the Rapids, foot 
passengers are carried over in a row boat. A cable ferry is con- 
templated." 67 

Marshall county is especially rich in historical associations. 
Through this section, in territory included in townships two and 
three, the vanguard of Oregon pioneers under Marcus Whitman and 
others passed during the 1830s, marking a route known for many 
years as the Oregon trail. Fremont passed through this section in 
1842, while searching out a route for a railroad to the west, and 
mentions passing a train or two of emigrants bound for Oregon. 
The great Mormon exodus of 1847 also passed through the county, 
opening a road while on their way to Utah. In 1847 and 1848 these 
pilgrims rolled along this highway by the thousands, the throng 
being increased by tens of thousands in 1849, when the immense 
army of gold seekers started on their way to California. This 
travel had scarcely begun to lag when it received new impetus in 
the year 1858 through the discovery of gold in western Kansas in 

65. Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Report 1877-1878, p. 298; House Journal, 1858, 
p. 198. 

66. House Journal, 1858, pp. 23, 67, 306. 

67. Waterville Telegraph, September 30, November 4, 1870. 



136 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

the Pike's Peak region. There was no let-up during the days of the 
Pony Express and the Overland Stage, and not until the era of 
railroad building, which followed closely on the termination of the 
Civil War, was there any perceptible slump in travel going west. 

Independence crossing was the earliest established on the Big 
Blue, the name no doubt attaching from the large numbers of Mor- 
mons from Independence, Mo., who crossed the river here on their 
memorable trek to the west. All the early traffic through this sec- 
tion crossed the river here, the travelers no doubt being obliged to 
build their own ferry boats when the river could not be forded. In 
1849 Francis J. Marshall established a ferry at this point, having 
first received permission from the Indian agent to establish a trading 
house, and authority from the military authorities at Fort Leaven- 
worth to put in ferry boats also. This crossing is described as being 
on S. 30 or 31, T. 3, R. 7E., being about five and one-half miles 
south of present Marysville, and about one-half mile south of 
Shroyer. 68 There was a ford close to this point, but it was passable 
only when the water in the river was low. Edwin Bryant accom- 
panied an Oregon and California party over this route in May, 1846. 
The Blue was at flood stage, and his party being anxious to proceed 
without delay, they set to work to build their own ferry boats, 
fashioning two dugouts each twenty-five feet long from cottonwood 
logs about three and one-half or four feet in diameter. These 
immense canoes were fastened together with a framework that al- 
lowed the wheels of the wagons to fit into them. The ferryboat 
being completed, the craft was launched, ropes fastened to each end 
and floated down stream to the point of embarkation. As fast as the 
boat was loaded men on the opposite side of the river pulled the 
ferryboat across, this mode of transportation being kept up until 
everything was taken across. On account of the rapidity of the 
current, and the great weight of the wagons, much difficulty was 
experienced. "One of the canoes was swamped on the western side 
in drawing the third wagon from it. The damage, however, was soon 
repaired and the work resumed. Nine wagons and their contents 
were safely ferried over during the afternoon." . . . The next 
day "the business of ferrying was resumed at an early hour, and con- 
tinued with vigor until nine o'clock at night, all the wagons, oxen, 
and horses were safely landed on the western bank of the river, 
where our corral was formed." 69 

68. Ibid., April 15, 1870; Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Report 1877-1878, pp. 
295, 296. 

69. Bryant, What I Saw in California, pp. 62-65. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 137 

The Independence crossing was also known as the "lower cross- 
ing." Marshall did a flourishing business here up to about 1853. 70 

In 1849 Lieut. Howard Stansbury, surveying the route from Fort 
Leavenworth to Great Salt Lake, located a more practicable cross- 
ing on the Blue, about six miles above the Independence crossing. 
The government opened a road to this place in 1850, and by 1851 
and 1852 this upper road and crossing became the favorite one with 
the traveling public. Here early in 1851 Marshall established his 
second ferry, built a blacksmith shop, erected a store building and 
established a store, carrying on a thriving business up to 1853, 
travel up to this time being divided between his two ferries. The 
ferry at this new location was situated about 100 yards below where 
a bridge later spanned the river, while his trading houses were about 
the same distance above the bridge location. Mr. John G. Ellen- 
becker, of Marysville, in a letter to the author, says the ferry "was 
about thirty rods above the present old bridge and sixty rods above 
the ford in S. 29, T. 2, R. 7E." Marshall's store was as convenient 
for the Otos and Pawnees as it was for emigrants to the west, and 
many a dollar of the red man's money was spent at Marshall's for 
ammunition, whisky, red flannel, bright-colored calicoes, and other 
essentials to Indian life. Marshall spent his winters at his home in 
Missouri, coming out to the Blue in early spring and operating his 
ferries and trading business during the period of California emigra- 
tion. Only an eye witness can have any idea of the magnitude of 
the travel at this time, or any conception of the stirring scenes and 
incidents transpiring in the vicinity of Marshall's during those 
eventful years. A traveler starting out from St. Joseph in the 
spring of 1852 said there were thousands of people there awaiting 
their turn in crossing. The throng was so great that Marshall would 
cross only wagons and people, compelling owners to swim their 
stock or ford the river. His ferry boat accommodated three wagons 
at a time, for which, up to 1852, he charged $5 a wagon, his rate 
this year being $3 each. Fording stock was something of a risk at 
times. Cholera had broken out along the road at this time, probably 
having been brought by emigrants from the Missouri river boats. 
A number of victims of this scourge had been buried this spring 
in the vicinity of Marshall's. 71 

A California emigrant who reached Marshall's in mid-May, 1852, 
wrote : 

70. F. G. Adams, in Marshall County News, Marysville, February 22, 1873; Andreas, 
History of Kansas, p. 914, 

71. Marshall County News, Marysville, February 22, 1873; Andreas, History of Kansas, 
pp. 917, 918. 



138 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Upon the banks of this river is a post office, carried on, I believe, by private 
enterprise. There is also a store, groceries, and many articles whereby a per- 
son can refit if he is out of such articles that's necessary for the journey. The 
Big Blue river is quite a stream of water and when it is high has to be ferried. 
At the time of our crossing the water had fallen so as to be fordable. Al- 
though a cold and wet morning the boys took to water like young ducks. The 
ferry charges are $3 per wagon for crossing. At this point the traveler begins 
to learn the reality of high prices, especially if he notices the diminution in 
the weight of his pocketbook from time to time as he has to use it. There 
are many new made graves upon the banks of this river, perhaps fifteen. We 
overtook a large train at the ferry. They have near 100 passengers and have 
lost (we have been informed) ten or fifteen. Put in wood and water and 
pushed out into the open prairie, and near good grass. . . J 2 

Marshall was sole operator and owner of his ferry up to 1854, 
when the Kansas-Nebraska bill was signed. The next year he took 
a partner, one Albert G. Woodward, and applied to the territorial 
legislature for a charter, which was granted. This act authorized 
them to establish and maintain a ferry across the Big Blue at the 
crossing of the great military road leading from Fort Leavenworth 
to Forts Kearney and Laramie, and also a ferry at the crossing of 
the Independence and California road across the Blue, with special 
privileges from the south line of the Oto Indian reservation to a 
point one mile below the crossing of the Independence road. 73 

Marshall's ferry charter gave him a monopoly on the business 
along this most widely traveled route. In 1856 he was operating 
both ferries, and his license granted by county commissioners sitting 
at Palermo on June 2, that year, prescribed the following schedule 
of rates for his two ferries: Loaded wagon and team, $3; empty 
wagon and team, $1.50; carriage and two horses, $2; loose stock, 
per head, 25 cents. 

These rates were materially reduced this year by the commis- 
sioners, the new schedule being: Crossing a loaded wagon, $1.50; 
man and horse, 50 cents; footman, 25 cents; all stock at 25 cents 
per head. 74 

In 1859 Marshall paid a tax of $25 for his ferry license, and the 
commissioners on March 22 established the following rates: Four- 
horse team and wagon, $1; two-horse team and wagon, 50 cents; 
man and horse, 15 cents ; footman, 5 cents. 

The above figures were again reduced by the commissioners at a 
meeting held June 4, following: Two-horse wagon, 50 cents; four- 
horse wagon, 75 cents; six-horse wagon, $1; loose cattle, per head, 

72. Copy of manuscript of John H. Clark, in possession of author. 

73. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 777. 

74. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 918. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 139 

10 cents; hogs and sheep, 5 cents per head; footman, 5 cents; man 
and horse, 30 cents. 

On January 21, 1860, a new schedule affecting all ferries operat- 
ing in the county went into effect and established the following as 
the legal rates: 

One yoke of cattle and wagon, $1; two yokes of cattle and wagon, $1.20; 
three yokes of cattle and wagon, $1.65; four yokes of cattle and wagon, $2; 
five yokes of cattle and wagon, $2.25; six yokes of cattle and wagon, $2.50; 
two horses and wagon, $1; four horses and wagon, $1.50; six horses and wagon, 
$2.50; loose animals, per head, 12^ cents; horse and rider, 25 cents; horse 
and buggy, 50 cents; freight, per cwt., 3 cents. 

By 1862 there must have been a demand for lower ferry charges, 
for at the January meeting of the county commissioners rates were 
again revised, this time downward, as follows: 

For United States mail coach, 40 cents; two yoke of cattle and wagon, 75 
cents; four yoke of cattle and wagon, $1.25; six yoke of cattle and wagon, 
$1.50; two horses and wagon, 50 cents; four horses and wagon, 75 cents; loose 
cattle, per head, 5 cents; horse and rider, 10 cents; footman, 5 cents. 

Marshall was connected with the ferry business until about 1858, 
when he joined a party of gold seekers and set out for the Pike's 
Peak region, leaving his brother-in-law, Henry D. Williams, in 
charge of his trading house and ferry. After the Leavenworth and 
Pike's Peak Express route was moved north from the Kaw Valley 
to the old Oregon-California trail which ran through Marysville, 
Mr. Williams was made a division superintendent of the line. 75 
Williams, a native of Missouri, was twenty years old in 1860. 

The town of Marysville had been laid out by Marshall in 1855, 
and the territorial legislature that year passed an act incorporating 
the Marysville Town Company. Franklin G. Adams, a resident of 
Marshall county in the early 1870's, gives this description of early 
Marysville and Marshall's ferry: 

During the Pike's Peak rush in 1859, Marysville was a lively place. Early 
in the spring the ferry was thronged with travelers to the gold regions. Later 
these travelers began to return. Thousands started back, without ever reach- 
ing the mountains. Supplies they had bought to take along with them were 
sold and almost given away at Marysville and elsewhere. At the ferry this 
spring a tragedy occurred. Several hundred returning Pike's Peakers had 
gathered on the west side of the river. Incensed at everybody who had profited 
by what had proven their misfortune, they charged that General Marshall, the 
owner of the ferry, had been one of the leading instruments in circulating the 
fabulous accounts of the riches of the Colorado mines. He had, they said, 
done it in order to make traffic at his ferry and at his town. They therefore 

75. Colorado Magazine, Denver, v. 8, p. 232. 



140 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

resolved that, as he had made money enough out of them as they went west, 
they had a moral right to free ferriage in returning. A part of them took 
possession of the boat, arresting and confining the ferryman. Word came of 
the fact to Henry Williams, brother-in-law of Marshall, in whose control the 
ferry had been left. Hastening to the boat, he demanded that it should be 
given up. His demand being resisted, he deliberately shot and killed two of 
the usurpers, when the others quickly abandoned the boat. Lawful ferriage 
was thereafter paid. Williams was indicted for the killing, but was not con- 
victed. 

Marshall, in a letter to J. S. Magill, of Marysville, written during 
the summer of 1895, about four months before his death at Denver, 
November 23, 1895, gives the following account of the establish- 
ment of his trading house and ferry: 

In the early settlement of Kansas, it is to be remembered, I established a 
trading post at the government crossing of the Big Blue river on the road 
leading to the great west, over which went all the travel starting from Fort 
Leavenworth and all other points below old Fort Kearney on the Missouri 
river to new Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie and all the Indian country, Utah, 
Oregon, Washington and the great emigration to California, which meant at 
least five thousand to ten thousand people a day from April to July. Over 
this route went the great Pony Express enterprise to California, which the 
country now knows partially led to the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. 
Most of the time the river could be forded, but often for six weeks at a time 
it could not be crossed except by means of the ferry. This was one of the 
greatest thoroughfares which the country has ever known. 

I applied to the Indian agent for the privilege of establishing a ferry and 
trading post at the point where Marysville now stands. It was in the Indian 
country, and there was no particular agent having jurisdiction over this part 
of the Indian lands. He informed me that it was the battleground of the 
different tribes when at war with each other, hence a dangerous place for the 
establishment of a trading post, as I proposed. 

I then applied to Major Ogden, the quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth, 
for a contract with the government to put in boats, build ware- and' store- 
houses and to supply troops returning from the western forts in the winter 
time, and he protested that on account of its dangerous proximity to the 
ground described such an establishment might not last long without military 
protection. I expressed myself, however, as willing to arrange for my own 
protection, to which he afterward gave his consent. On securing his permission, 
I proceeded at once, bought a piece of artillery, mounted it, loaded my wagons 
and was on my way to the Big Blue crossing at the point referred to within 
twenty-four hours after my contract with the government. This arrangement 
was universally concurred in by the officers at Fort Leavenworth. Colonel 
Sumner, who then commanded the Second dragoons and who afterwards com- 
manded a division in the late war, and Lieutenant Stuart, who was his 
quartermaster on expeditions into the Indian country in the spring and sum- 
mer and afterwards known as the rebel General Stuart, of the Black Horse 
cavalry, on returning late in the fall crossed at this point, always required 

76. Marshall County News, Marysville, March 1, 1873. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 141 

supplies for his soldiers and horses, knew of the facts in connection with my 
enterprise, and I had their hearty cooperation. ... In 1851 the Big Blue 
river rose to the top of its banks, and perhaps this fact had something to do 
with the facility with which I secured permission from the government officers 
to carry out my plans for establishing a ferry, etc. 77 

Mrs. Forter in her history gives additional history of Marshall: 

F. J. Marshall established a ferry at that point and for a time the place 
was known as Marshall's ferry. Business thrived and Marshall brought his 
wife, Mary Williams Marshall, to live here and named the place Marysville 
in her honor. It will be recalled that in his letter to Judge Magill, Marshall 
says, "There were five to ten thousand people at this point daily." A careful 
research shows that about seventy-five thousand people traversed this county 
and crossed the Blue river either at the lower crossing or at the crossing here, 
from 1846 to 1856. So it is safe to say Marysville has never had an equal 
number of inhabitants since that time. 

Horace Greeley mentions an incident that occurred at this ferry 
in 1859. Writing from Manhattan under date of May 24, he said: 

. . . Let me close with an incident which is currently reported through- 
out this region as having recently taken place at a crossing of the Big Blue, 
known as Marysville (of course not the Marysville of Bull creek), some sixty 
miles north of this place. 

A party of disheartened gold seekers, it is said, were returning from the 
plains, and came to this ferry, which they insisted on crossing without payment, 
saying they had no money. The ferrymen refused to take them over until 
paid (another account says he asked them an exorbitant price) when they 
attempted to take the boat and put themselves across whereupon he drew 
his revolver, they drawing almost at the same instant. He was, of course, 
riddled with balls, and fell dead, but not until he had either killed or severely 
wounded five of his assailants 78 

Marysville was the most important point on the old Oregon- 
California road in Kansas after leaving the Missouri river. It was 
the starting point as well as the terminus of a number of roads. 
The legislature of 1855 established the first territorial road to this 
place, which started from a point opposite St. Joseph, Mo., to the 
town of Richmond, on the Great Nemaha, thence to the town of 
Woodson on the Vermillion, and on to Marysville. 79 Another ran 
from Marysville to Council Grove. 80 The military road from Fort 
Leavenworth to Fort Laramie, as far as Marysville, and passing 
through the counties of Leavenworth, Atchison, Brown, Nemaha, 
and Marshall, was declared a territorial road. 81 Another ran from 

77. Extracts from letter of Francis J. Marshall to J. S. Magill, secretary of the Marshall 
County Old Settlers' Pioneer Association, dated Denver, July 22, 1895, and published in 
Forter's History of Marshall County, Kansas, pp. 65, 66. 

78. Greeley, An Overland Journey, p. 59. 

79. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 957. 

80. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 178. 

81. Ibid., p. 174. 



142 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Marysville by way of Richmond, or the geographical center of 
Nemaha county, thence to Claytonville on sees. 15 and 22, T. 3, 
R. 17, in Brown county, thence to Troy, Wathena, and Roseport, 
opposite St. Joseph. 82 In 1859 a road was laid out from Elwood to 
Marysville by way of Wathena; 83 another started from the Blue 
river, running west on the First Standard Parallel to the Republican 
river; 84 another, running from Elwood, up Peter's creek, by way of 
Troy, Lewis' crossing of Wolf river, Highland, Hiawatha, Seneca 
and Marysville was declared a territorial road; 85 another, estab- 
lished in 1861, ran from Marysville to New Hope, via Washington; 86 
another ran from Atchison, via Kennekuk and Granada to Seneca, 
thence by one branch to Marysville, and, by another branch via Ash 
Point, Guittard and Oketo, to the Nebraska line ; 87 another ran 
from Marysville, by way of St. George to Wabaunsee; 88 another 
ran from Fort Leavenworth to Marysville, by way of Holton and 
Nottingham ; 89 another ran from Marysville via Washington, thence 
by a westerly course up Mill creek to some practicable point on the 
Republican river. 90 The legislature of 1863 passed an act declaring 
the road leading from Seneca, on the township line west to S. 36 , T. 
3, R. 7E., thence west by north to Marysville, to intersect the in- 
corporated limits of Marysville on the east of Broadway street in 
that town, thence west to the most suitable point for a bridge across 
the Blue river, thence to follow the old military road to S. 2, T. 2, 
R. 5E., in Washington county, thence to follow the old military 
road to the north line of the state of Kansas, be made a state road. 91 
The next ferry location on the Big Blue was at Oketo, close to 
the Oto Indian reservation, this being about ten miles above 
Marysville by the river and about two miles less by land. The 
legislature of 1859 passed an act granting to Henry W. Poor, V. C. 
Poor and Robert M. Smith the right to keep a ferry at this town 
for a period of ten years, having exclusive rights from the north 
line of S. 14, T. 1, R. 7, to the south line of S. 26, T. 1, R. 7, including 
three miles up and down the river. Ferriage rates were to be fixed 



82. 


Ibid. 


p. 179. 




83. 


Ibid. 


1859, p. 


584. 


84. 


Ibid. 


p. 585. 




85. 


Ibid. 


p. 593. 




86. 


Ibid. 


1861, p. 


248. 


87. 


Ibid. 


p. 248. 




88. 


Ibid. 


p. 248. 




89. 


Ibid. 


p. 247. 




90. 


Ibid. 


1865, p. 


243. 


91. 


Ibid. 


1863, p. 


86. 



ROOT: FERRIES ix KANSAS 143 

by the county. This act was approved by Gov. S. Medary February 
10, 1859, and became effective from and after its passage. 92 
The following is the earliest mention of this ferry we have located : 
A company, known as Poor, Whitehead and others, have built a ferryboat 
and laid out a town some ten miles above here, on the Blue, and have located 
a road from that point east, intersecting the military road at Ash Point, and 
are directing emigrants by their ferry, telling them it is twenty-five to thirty 
miles nearer than by the old road. Moses Blanchett, one of the principal men 
of Ash Point, was directing traffic right straight on the old road, which con- 
flicted with the interest of those living upon the new road. 

Last Wednesday a body of armed men arrived at Ash Point from the new 
road, and informed Blanchett that he must either quit working on the road 
or they would clean him out ; and commenced pulling coats and making other 
fighting demonstrations. Blanchett then procured a shot gun and returned 
to the store where the mob was collected, when he was informed by them he 
must quit working for the old road or leave the country. Blanchett told 
them he should do as he pleased, when Wilson, with his coat off, approached 
him, and Blanchett told him to keep off, or he would shoot him. "Shoot and 

be d d," was the reply, and Blanchett discharged the gun at him, the shot 

entering his breast and killing him instantly. Blanchett then fled and was 
pursued the next day by a large party who intended to hang him on the first 
tree if overtaken. 93 

Frank A. Root, in his Overland Stage to California mentions this 
ferry. He says that the Holladay stages, which previously had run 
via Guittard's station through Marysville, were, in the fall of 1862, 
run over a " cut-off" Holladay had built from Guittard's, via Oketo. 
This road was known as the "Oketo cut-off," and was laid out by 
Holladay to spite Marysville. About the middle of October, 1862, 
stages began running over the "cut-off" in spite of anything Marys- 
ville people could do about it. Holladay evidently had first secured 
permission from the Post Office Department to change the stage 
route to the new road on which he and other interested parties had 
expended a lot of money. He had a suitable ferry boat built for 
crossing the river during periods of high water; and had put in 
bridges and culverts over small streams and ravines. Naturally 
Marysville was indignant at the change. The town had been getting 
mail three times a week by stage. For a month afterwards they 
were almost without service. Then a man was hired to bring it from 
Guittard's by horseback three times a week. A petition to the 
Post Office Department asking for a daily service by coach brought 
a reply cutting the service to a semi-weekly delivery by horseback. 
A second petition was sent, when service was cut down to once a 

92. Private Laws, Kansas, 1859, p. 114. 

93. Marysville Platform, copied in Kansas State Record, Topeka, June 2, 1860. 



144 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

month. A third petition was forwarded after which service was 
discontinued. For some time after that mail was forwarded by 
oxteam and freight train from Guittard's to its destination. Finally 
Marysville hired a man to carry it regularly between the two points. 
Missouri river papers from St. Joseph, Leaven worth and Kansas 
City were often a month old when received at Marysville. Marys- 
ville, however, got even for this injustice. During a flood in the 
Blue the ferryboat at Oketo was cut loose during the night and 
floated away, causing considerable annoyance and delay in the 
operation of the stage line. Later, parties unknown during the night 
dug a ditch across the cut-off road, and tore up a stone crossing in 
a bad slough. That night the west bound stage came along, and 
the driver not seeing the ditch in the dark, drove into it, the severe 
jolting that ensued throwing him off the seat and to the ground. A 
general of the United States army was a passenger at the time and 
received a good shaking up. He asked the cause of this sudden stop 
and the driver explained it was probably on account of the ill feeling 
of Marysville for Holladay. The general at once wrote to the com- 
manding officer at Fort Leavenworth for troops to protect the over- 
land mail line and stage company's property. A few days later a 
detachment of the Third Wisconsin cavalry was sent out, making 
its headquarters at Marysville, after which time further trouble 
ceased. The cut-off was abandoned after about four and one-half 
month's use and the stages again ran through Marysville on March 
4, 1863. 94 

Mr. John G. Ellenbecker, of Marysville, furnishes the following 
regarding the Oketo ferry: 

The Oketo cut-off was laid out in 1861 and 1862 by Ben Holladay, and his 
agents, no doubt, put in a ferry at old Oketo, one-half mile south of the 
present Oketo, in 1860 or 1861, and provisions were made to cross the stages 
over the Big Blue at that place especially during high water. There was, 
however, a good ford there. This point was located in S. 14, T. 1, R. 7E. 
Since Whitehead was in the employ of Holladay, no doubt the ferry company 
you speak of Poor, Whitehead & Co. were the employes of Holladay. That 
Poor was Val Poor who came to the Oketo country in 1857. So no doubt the 
first ferry at Oketo was started by October, 1862, when Holladay's coaches 
began to travel the Oketo cut-off. 

The best living witness I could find at Oketo lately was Oscar DeLair. 
He said he came to Oketo in 1866; thought the ferry was then running and 
ran till the summer of 1867. 

This was the northernmost ferry on the Big Blue river in Kansas. 

94. Root and Connelley, Overland Stage to California, pp. 200, 519-523. 



A Southerner's Viewpoint of the 
Kansas Situation, 1856-1857 

The Letters of Lieut. Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S. A. Concluded 
Edited by WILLIAM STANLEY HOOLE 

My Dear Sister Douglas, K. T., Nov. the 2nd., 1856 

IT IS quite true there is very little of interest to write that I can 
think of at present, but perhaps I may be able to fill a couple 
of pages. ... I know you are always glad to hear from us, so I 
have endeavoured always to write to some one every week since I 
left home. . . . 

I guess you wish me to say something about myself, &c. Well, 
my health is still improving. I thought I was taking the rheuma- 
tism, but it has got well, and I suppose it was nothing more than 
taking cold in my shoulder while at Lecompton, by lying with it 
near a window where a pane of glass was out. I am quite well of it 
now. I am quite well at this time, but after eating, whether I eat 
much or little, I feel a choking sensation in my chest which some- 
times turns me sick for a few minutes. . . . The Dr. advised 
me yesterday to get some whiskey, and make me some bitters, but I 
would have to give 75^ or $1 for a bottle full, and I dislike to spend 
so much money. Moreover, I don't like the idea of buying liquor 
anyhow. I am one of the jew men in this Ter. who do not drink. 

I have been making a bedstead and doing other work, trying to 
fix up the house, and other things comfortably for the winter. I 
tell you, we look quite stylish with our new bedstead (a teaster, at 
that) and the curtain all round. We intend to make us a mattress 
this week. We have the tick already made & a hackle ready for the 
hackling shucks. So you see we will soon be very comfortably fixed. 
Betsie has quilted a quilt, and we have two thick comforts besides. 

Our purse is getting low, but I still think we will have enough to 
take us through the winter, so you need not fear of our suffering. 

Court is still going on in Lecompton. One man tried for being 
engaged in the Hickory Point fight on Saturday, has been convicted 
and will go to the penitentiary, I guess. Four have been acquitted 
for that, but then they have to be tried again for being in the fight 
on the day after (Sunday). They are however getting on very 
slowly with the court. I went up yesterday and elbowed my way 

(145) 
103410 



146 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

into the court room. They were examining a witness, and though I 
stayed in there at least fifteen minutes, the lawyer only asked the 
witness three simple question. I should have remained in the room 
longer but I happened to cast my eyes on the head of the man stand- 
ing by me, and it was so well speckled with nits that I thought it 
prudent to get away from him, for fear I might catch the disease. 

There is very little regard paid here to the Sabbath. Now, while 
I am writing, the hammers of the carpenters are going just as if it 
were not Sunday, down at Lane & Go's steam-mill. 

I don't know how many guns I have heard this morning. One of 
my neighbours killed a beef. Last Sunday some of them went 
driving, and so it goes on. I have sometimes thought that I could 
tell Sunday from any other day in the week by the number of guns. 
But then, I don't know but that I am doing as bad as I generally 
take Sunday to write letters. But I have no other way to pass off 
the day. I get tired of singing and reading, in fact I can scarcely 
find time any other day, and on the whole, it is as quiet and as 
harmless a way of breaking the Sabbath as any other. 

We have had no very cold weather yet, though the ground has been 
frozen over several mornings. It is now raining and the wind is 
bearing around to the north, so we may expect some cold weather. 
Provisions have taken a fall in price; bacon can now be bought at 
10^, corn at from 50 to 62 ^ cts., flour at from $4 to $5 pr. sack, 
butter is worth 35 cts. per lb., sugar and coffee are worth 20 cts. 
per pound, &c., &c. 

Betsie joins me in sending love to you all. . . . 

Your ever affectionate brother, A. 

P. S. Tell Stin that Mr. Ellison & family are well, and that Mr. E. 
was one of those who went driving last Sunday. He had a shot at 
two large old bucks, and the dogs ran off after a wolf. . . . 

My ever dear Sister D u S las > K ' T " Novbr ' the 20th > ' 56 ' 

Yours of the 3d. inst. has just come to hand, and though it is now 
7 o'clock at night & I am pretty tired, I have seated myself to an- 
swer it, as by doing so, you will get it four days earlier than if I 
should postpone till another day, the mail not leaving here after 
Saturday till Tuesday. I would not have time to write to-morrow 
and get it in the mail, as I am at work. . . . 

I have made up my mind to remain here till next fall, and see 
another crop made, when planters will have nothing in a political 
way to contend with to throw them back. I wish also to endeavor 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 147 

to get a claim, so that my trip here may not in the end be a final 
loss. Another reason is, I don't think that the difficulty is altogether 
over here. If the Abolitionists find that the Southerners are leaving, 
they will immediately begin to send immigrants, so that in the end 
we will lose Kansas, for which we have spent so much and suffered 
so much already. I don't think, on the whole, that I can lose much 
more than I have already lost by remaining here a year longer. That 
will be the time which I have said I would return home, from the 
first, and if nothing happens to change my mind, I will remain till 
then. . . . 

I am now, and have been for some weeks, in as good health as I 
ever was in my life. 'Tis true at one time I thought that I had the 
rheumatism, but it lasted only a short time, and I have come to the 
conclusion that I must have hurt my shoulder, or taken cold in it. 
The choking sensation which I felt after eating is removed. I got 
a bottle of whiskey, and filled it half full of cherry bark, which 
cured me. 

'Tis a pleasure for me to hear how much love all of our Negroes 
have for me. God knows they do not throw away their love away 
on me, who does not reciprocate their feelings. Remember me to 
them all, and also tell "Maum" Judy howdie for us. Tell Mary if 
we live to see next year this time, we may drink some of her locust- 
beer. I could fill a sheet in messages to them all, but I have not 
time, but they may all rest assured that I think of them a great deal. 

There is an effort in progress to make me up a school here in 
Douglas, worth $30 a month, but they don't go at it rightly. I 
have succeeded in making myself very popular so far as my ac- 
quaintance extends. All seems to think a great deal of me. I have 
been told that I was the very man for Kansas I mend boots, make 
axletrees for wagons, work at the carpenter's trade, and in fact do 
any little thing of the kind, so make myself useful. Some have gone 
so far as to suggest me to the committee as a nominee for the legis- 
lature, but it was thought I was too little known in the county. But 
enough of bragging ! . . . 

Don't fret yourself about me. . . . Were it not for you, my 
dear Sister, I would hear from home but seldom. I get the Flag, 
but there is very little news in that. I have received precious few 
letters besides yours since I have been here. Col. Wilson has written 
to me twice, once while in Virginia, and one I got from him today. 
He speaks in his last as if he would be glad to see me in Old Dar- 
lington, tho', like me, he fears the danger is not over. . . . 



148 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Well, my dear Sister, I am on the middle of the 4th. page, and I 
thought, when I commenced, that I would not write two. But I feel 
now that if I had the time, I could write another sheet, but it is 
time for one who rises before day to be in bed; it is nearly 9 o'clock. 
So I will close by sending love to [the family] and all inquiring 

friends ' ' Your loving brother, A. J. H. 

P. S. Tell Stin to ride Grant sometimes fox-hunting. I am afraid 
he will forget how to run in the woods before I go back. 

Dear Mother Douglas, K. T, Nov. the 30th, 1856 

We are enjoying excellent health, tho I have had a cold for some 
days past, which is not unusual in all places. The weather has been 
pretty disagreeable for more than a week, cloudy and windy, but 
no rain. Yesterday was a very clear still day, and to-day it is fair 
but windy & cold. I have not felt the cold more severely than I 
do winters at home, but then we have had some as cold weather 
here already as it commonly gets in So. Ca. 

Dear Mother, I have had to lay down my pen for three or four 
hours. A young man came in, and asked me to go with him up to 
Lecompton, to preaching. So I dressed and went, but the preacher 
did not come, and we had our walk (about 6 miles) for nothing. 
I am astonished to see so little regard paid to the Sabbath, as there 
is here among people who seem to be enlightened in every other 
respect. When I went up to Lecompton today, the steam-mill was 
going just as if it were not Sunday, and all of the groceries were 
open, as on any week-day. But this is pretty much the case all over 
the Ter. those who do not work go hunting, or do something else, 
not much better. For my own part, I generally take Sundays to 
write letters, but then I have very little other time to write, unless 
at night, and I don't feel able to afford to buy candles for this 
purpose. It is also a quiet way of spending the day. On the whole 
I don't see as there can any harm arise from it. It certainly dis- 
turbs no one. 

I am regarded here as a very quiet, consistent, moral man, and 
one of the ladies said the other night that she had often thought 
that I ought to be a preacher. Would to the Lord that I was good 
enough to be one! A young man belonging to the Baptist church 
asked me yesterday to go with him to-day to see one of our neigh- 
bours, and on my refusing to go with him on the grounds that it was 
Sunday, he told me that I was not a Methodist, but a strict Presby- 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 149 

terian. I have written the above, my Dear Mother, not to make 
you believe that I am any better than I was when I left home (for 
I feel truly that I am worse) but merely to let you know that I am 
not affected by the recklessness of those around me. 

I and the young Baptist man (mentioned above) has some argu- 
ments on doctrine. He has read Graves' Iron Wheel, and argues for 
him, but I got him the other night. He came over to our house 
expressly to argue with me. I had told him to prepare himself be- 
fore he came, and I suppose he had at least fifty passages of Scrip- 
ture picked out, but I think I headed him on his own selections. He 
is the first male member of the church I have met with, that I know 
of (except the preacher) since I have been here. It is quite a treat 
for me to find some one to argue with on Scripture. But enough of 
this 

My dear Mother, I don't want you to fret yourself about me. I 
am afraid that you imagine that I am not getting along well, and 
conjure up a great many imaginary hardships, dangers, &c., that 
I have to undergo. Don't let such things disturb your mind. I am 
getting along very well; my health is good. I expect that I weigh 
as much at this time as I ever did. We have a plenty to eat, 
a pretty comfortable house, and on the whole are getting along 
finely. . . . 

The neighbours around Douglas have been trying to make up a 
school for me, but I don't think they will succeed. . . . It is 
thought that everything will commence with new life [in the spring] . 
Money will be more plentiful and a greater demand for work of 
every kind. ... I can live very comfortable until then, but I 
am deprived of many, yes, very many, luxuries that you all enjoy, 
such as agreeable company, church-going, &c., &c. 

There is little or no excitement here. The Kansas militia were 
disbanded last week; the prisoners were put in charge of the regulars, 
and as was expected, 38 of those who had not been tried, and 3 that 
had been and condemned to five years' imprisonment, have escaped. 
Nothing else could have been expected, when a good many of the 
regulars are Abolitionists themselves. I saw a statement in the 
paper today saying that Lane says he is coming to Kansas in the 
spring with 10,000 men. I don't believe he will ever show his face 
in Kansas again. My impression is that there will be no more 
fighting here, but we need men more than ever. Those who are 
here should stay at least a year longer, and more should come. The 
balance of the fighting will be at the ballot-box. 



150 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Well, my Dear Mother, I have very little else to write. I write 
so often to some of you that I keep you posted as regards how things 
are going on here. . . . Sister writes that you are all very dull 
since I left. I don't see why that should be, for my company was 
not so very agreeable, nor was I so very cheerful that I should cause 
so much sadness by my absence. . . . If we all live, I expect we 
will spend the next Christmas after the one near at hand, together. 
God grant that we may all live to see it, and meet once more. My 
heart yearns toward the loved ones in Old Darlington, and if I find 
everything as I hope to find it, when I return, I don't think I shall 
leave home again soon for any length of time. Give my love to 
all. . . . Ever Your Affectionate Son, A. 

Dear Jack 21 Douglas, K. T., Dec. the 21, 1856 

I guess by this time you have heard of the increase in my family, 22 
as I wrote to sister more than a fortnight ago, and requested her to 
let you know all about it. ... The little brat is getting along 
finely, but it sleeps almost the whole time. It (or rather she, I 
should have said) is very small, but pretty good looking. I don't 
nurse her much yet, but when she gets so that she can notice and 
laugh &c., I expect I will play with her a good deal but enough of 
this. 

We are all well and getting along fine, though the weather is very 
cold. The ground has not been clear of snow for more than three 
weeks; before one snow can melt, another comes; every time it 
clouds up, we have some snow, and the river has been frozen over 
so that people have walked over it for two weeks or more. 

I have been working for Gen'l Clarke for the last two weeks. 
. . . I hear that I please him better than any one he has ever 
had to work for him. I don't know how long he will want me. I 
will finish what I engaged to do in another day, but he tells me 
that he is not nearly done with me yet. He wishes me to go to 
Missouri to buy provisions for him, and sundry other services 
which he cannot trust others in his employ to do. . . . 

Jack, I get more & more out with the Ter. every day, and if it 
were not for the great cause, I would leave it as soon as I could. 
But I think that Southerners are needed here now as much as ever, 
and will be for the next twelve months, by which time I think that 
the political fate of Kansas will be decided. From what I can gather 

21. John A. Brunson, b. March 3, 1828; killed, Second Battle of Manassas, August 31, 
1862. 

22. A daughter, Ada Constantia Hoole, b. December 12, 1856; m. W. H. Lawrence, 
September 7, 1881; d. August 30, 1904. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 151 

from newspapers &c., I am of the opinion that there will be a great 
many Northern emigrants sent here next spring, and it would not 
surprise me at all if we have more fighting. There is something 
brewing. Only last week a party of desperadoes went to a man's 
house, dragged him out of bed, and gave him fifty lashes on his bare 
back, telling him that, if he did not leave in ten days, they would kill 
him. They have also threatened others in the same way. These 
men who have been thus treated and threatened are free-state men, 
but law and order loving men, and the reason they have been treated 
thus is because they would not join Lane's band, but served on the 
jury in trying some of his robbers. This and signs convince me that 
there is something in the wind, but let it come. We will meet it 
like men. But the South should not rest on her oars and think all 
is safe. If she does, she will be sadly mistaken. The Abolitionists 
are going to work slyly and cunningly, and if our eyes are not wide 
open, Kansas will be lost at last. 

I shall try and tough it out till next fall, and do all that I can to 
save it. Let as many go back as will. I may be the only representa- 
tive of Old Darlington here now, for aught I know. I received a 
letter from Bill Huggins the other day saying that he has heard that 
Scarborough had gone back, and all of the others may be there. I 
wish you would try to ascertain who are gone home from here, and 
let me know in your next. I know from experience that it is hard 
getting along here (Kansas is a hard road to travel) but then I 
should think that young single men could have toughed it out, 
at least one year. I am afraid they did not have the great cause 
at heart sufficiently. If I live and nothing happens more than I can 
imagine at this time, Kansas will have one representative from Old 
Darlington next fall, at any rate, let others do as they may ! 

The corn crops here were light this year. In fact I don't believe 
that it yielded but very little better than it is generally at home, 
tho to look at it growing, it seems that it would more than double 
acre for acre. It is planted a great deal thicker than we plant it in 
So. Ca., but the ears are no larger. This year was not a good one 
to test it, as all corn was planted too late on account of the War last 
spring. Sweet potatoes do but poorly here on account of the short- 
ness of the season. I have not tasted one since I have been in the 
Ter. I saw some not long since, the largest about as large as a man's 
wrist, but they were generally about as large as corncobs. Irish 
potatoes do fine. The sweet are worth $2.50 a bushel, the Irish, 
$1.50. 



152 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Brown sugar & the meanest Rio coffee is worth twenty cents a 
pound, cheese 30 cts, butter 40 cts, beef 78 cts, pork 6 cts, lard 15 
cts, cornmeal $1.25 a bushel, flour $4.50 pr. sack of 80 Ibs, molasses 
$1.50 per gallon. So by the above you can judge of the cheapness 
of living here in Kansas. Everything else is in the same proportion, 
except salt, which is $10 a sack. 

There is one thing that I forgot to write in writing of the political 
state of affairs here. It is that Robinson (the Free State governor 
of the Ter.) has issued a proclamation ordering an election to fill 
a vacancy in the Free State legislature, and also ordering the legisla- 
ture to meet at Topeka on the 2nd. Monday of January next, the 
same day that our legislature meets. Now we will see what Gov. 
Geary will do. This shows that the Abolitionists still do not recog- 
nize the existing laws of the Ter., and also that they do not consider 
Geary, but Robinson, as Governor. 

Everyone who see_s your rifle wants it. It is considered the 
prettiest little gun in the country. I went over the river not long 
ago with it and killed ten squirrels in twelve shots, and cut off the 
forefoot of the eleventh. A little before that I killed four in four 
shots, making fifteen times I hit in sixteen shots. But then I have 
been mad enough to break her several times I have popped four 
caps at turkeys. It seems that every time I get a good chance to 
kill one, the cap pops without the gun going off. I came on a doe 
the other day which made a few leaps and stopped behind a cluster 
of vines and bushes. I shot through at her, and she ran off, though 
I thought I hit her. About a week after one was found dead, so I 
would not be surprised if it were not the same deer. . . . 

You must let Mother know of your getting this as soon as pos- 
sible. . . . Do write to me. . . . Ever Yours &c., A. J. H. 

My Dear Mother- Dou 8 las > K T " Dec " the 28th " 1856 

It is now after night, but I must write you a few lines to let you 
know how we are getting on. My common practice has been to 
write to one of you every Sunday, but it happened that I could not 
write this morning. ... We are quite well; Betsie is now by 
the fire holding our little one, which is growing finely. I think it 
will begin to notice and laugh in a short time. I have made a bet 
with a young lady that she will talk at six months old. All in fun, 
of course. Betsie makes a great to do over her, but it is too young 
for me to notice much yet. . . . 

I have very little that is interesting to write, except that I should 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 153 

go into detail of what has transpired in the Ter. in a political way, 
and that would be too great a task for me to undertake. Every- 
thing appears to be going on very quietly here, but I fear that the 
North is working secretly. I have suspicions that they are buying 
over the influence of some who have heretofore called themselves Pro- 
slavery men. There are some who were with us, that I feel pretty 
confident are now working with the North. I have always watched 
them with a suspicious eye; they are men that I never put much 
confidence in, tho others did. But you will hear more of this before 
long. I will now change the subject. 

What sort of a Christmas have you all spent? For my own part, 
it has been very dull. I went over the river squirrel hunting, walked 
over the ice. After I got over I heard that there was to be a meeting 
of the settlers on that side about a mile above. So I went up to the 
meeting. There were about 12 or 15 men there; one got up and 
endeavoured to explain the object of it, and after getting up and 
trying to explain it about a half dozen times, making in all a speech 
about two hours long, I gathered enough to find out that it was to 
appoint a delegate to the Proslavery convention to be held in Le- 
compton on the 2nd Monday in January. The speaker was drunk. 
They had four bottles of liquor, and before the meeting broke up 
(for it did not adjourn) one got so drunk that he fell down; another 
got about a hundred yards off, and there he lay. Others got pretty 
boozy, but they kept their feet. At least they were up when I left. 
Thus passed my Christmas. Betsie went to our next neighbour 
and spent the day. 

I have been working for one of our neighbours (Gen'l Clarke) for 
two or three weeks, and I intend going back to work for him in a 
few days, but I will have to go to Lecompton tomorrow to buy some 
flour or meal. ... If provisions were not so high, I could make 
a very respectable living here. Flour has got up to $6 pr hundred, 
meal $1.37^ per bu., salt $4 per bu., sugar and coffee 20^ pr lb., &c., 
so you see this is a dear place to live in. 

It has been colder here for a month past than I ever saw, tho I 
have not minded it much more than I did the winters at home. The 
river is frozen so thick that they are hauling logs across on the ice 
with two yokes of oxen, so you may know the ice must be thick. 
We have had eight falls of snow, but it has never fallen more than 
an inch thick. I tell the folks here that I would not make this my 
home for life, if I had the whole Ter. There is no way that one can 
enjoy himself. No matter how much one makes, there is little en- 



154 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

joyment in it at last. I will stay till I see that there is no use in my 
remaining any longer, and then Ho! for So. Ca. . . . 

In the meantime I will try to make all the money I can . . . 
don't fret yourself about me. I tell you honestly and sincerely that 
I am getting on well. Let us endeavour always to look on the bright 
side, remembering that the same One who watches over you there 
is watching over, and I hope, protecting me here. Let us endeavour 
to look to Him to spare our lives to meet each other again. . . . 

Ever Your affectionate son, Axalla. 

P. S. There is a weed here that they say put in whiskey will cure 
the rheumatism. I have been told that it has never failed to cure the 
worst cases. I intend carrying some home with me when I go. If 
you are not well of it, I will get some, pound it up, and send it to 
you. 

My Dear Sister Douglas, K. T., Jany the 4th., 1857 

Your very acceptable and agreeable letter of the llth. Ult. came 
to hand in due time, and I now seat myself to write you one in 
return, as it is Sunday, which is my usual time for writing. . . . 

I generally shave & clean up on Sunday mornings, just as if I were 
going to church, and then seat myself and write my letters, after 
which I spend the rest of the day in singing, and talking with Betsie. 
Now that I have a little fellow, I nurse and play with it, but it is 
too small to be interesting yet, Wait till it gets old enough to laugh 
& jabber; then I will have fun. She has begun to notice some al- 
ready. . . . 

I commenced a job of work for my neighbour (Mr. Ellison) on 
the 1st. inst. . . . When I get through with his work, I have 
another to do for Gen'l Clarke, up on the prairie. . . . We have 
had very cold weather here for a month, but I find that I can stand 
it about as well as any one else here, tho most were raised farther 
North than I was. The river is still frozen so that wagons can cross 
on the ice. 

Everything is apparently going on quietly here, but I fear it will 
not continue so long. Several Proslavery men who held public 
offices have been turned out, and it is thought that the Gov. is at 
the bottom of it. There is a plan on foot to get him turned out, at 
least I think so. I heard some hints on Christmas day which will 
make me an important witness against him. My opinion of him, 
and I told my friends so from the first, is that he is a doublefaced 
Free-soiler. I have never had much faith in Pennsylvania poli- 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 155 

ticians, Buchanan not excepted. Geary is an energetic Gov., but I 
believe that he is working for the Free-soil party here. I wish I may 
be deceived. One week more, I think, will throw light on his ma- 
neuvers. Robinson has issued his Proclamation, calling together 
the Free-soil legislature to meet at Topeka on the 2nd. Tues. in this 
month. If Geary permits them to convene, then he will admit by 
his actions that he is not The Gov. of Kansas, but that Robinson is 
The Gov. The Proslavery legislature convenes tomorrow week, so 
we will then have two law-making bodies in the Ter., assembled at 
the same time. Time will soon test the matter. But enough of this 

. . . I am glad to hear that you have so many potatoes. They 
would be a treat for us here ; we have not tasted one since we came. 
I am sorry to hear of the short cotton crop, though it is just as I ex- 
pected from the accounts I saw from different parts of the state, and 
that is why I fear that the Negroes' eyes magnify. . . . 

Well, my dear Sister, I have written a very scattering, discon- 
nected letter so far, and I have but little else to write. Now I must 
come back to myself again. . . . Everytime it clouds up here, 
it snows. The ground is perfectly white now, but the snow will not 
average more than two inches. The old settlers say this is a re- 
markable fall; the ground has not been clear of snow for a month. 
I have bought some pork that was killed last Friday week, but it is 
frozen so that I can't salt it, and if the weather continues thus, there 
will be no use. . . . 

Give our love to [the immediate family]. Tell all the Negroes 
howdie, "Maum" Judy, Frank & Delia included; tell them to be 
faithful and do the best they can. If we all live and nothing hap- 
pens, we will see each other next fall. . . . 

Your loving Brother, Axalla. 

Dear Cousin Billy Douglas, K. T., Jany the llth., 1857 

I wrote a letter the other day to A. W. Sexton, stating to him how 
near I came to dying a few days before, which letter I presume he 
will get some days before you get this, and so I am satisfied he will 
tell you all about it. I will only say that I had a severe attack of 
the bilious cholic, but I now feel quite well. Betsie is also quite well, 
& so is the little one, which, by the bye, is growing finely and begins 
to notice a good deal. It has not been sick in the least yet. . . . 
Everybody praises it as the prettiest thing in the country, and you 
may know we think so. I think it is almost, if not quite, as pretty 
as Lizzie Cooper, and you know I always thought she was the 



156 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

prettiest thing in the world. Our little one's hair is shedding out 
and I am afraid it will not be so pretty when it gets a little older. 
The women around here say they never saw a child grow faster, 
still it does not look blubberly and helpless as some children do, 
but looks firm and hard. . . . 

Everything is apparently going on smoothly here in a political 
way, but I fear the storm has hardly commenced yet. I am getting 
to despond a good deal. I know they are going on in the north 
with their aid societies, &c., and I would not be surprised if they 
are not planning another invasion of Kansas next spring, and at the 
same time I hear of nothing being done by the South. Those who 
came out last year have mostly gone back, and I hear of no others 
coming. The South seems to -have given us few over and has lost 
all care for the Ter. I fear Kansas will be lost yet, tho we now have 
the upper hand. For my part, I will try to weather the storm, and 
if we fall or fail, I may be found at my post. I will have the con- 
solation of feeling and knowing that I did all I could for the South 
and our cause. But Kansas is a hard road to travel and God alone 
knows how I will weather it through. Few have made greater 
sacrifices than I have, as yet, but if we gain our object I will not 
regret what I have lost by the operation. 

There have been two balls lately in which Proslavery and Aboli- 
tionists mingled together, and there is to be one in Lecompton next 
Thursday, of which The Governor is first manager, but in spite of 
all this, there is still bitter feeling existing between the two parties. 
Our legislature convenes tomorrow, I said our because the Aboli- 
tionist legislature was to have met at Topeka last Tuesday, but I 
have not heard from there. The great and engrossing subject here 
at this time, is the Gov. & his actions. The papers are full of him, 
most condemning him. There is also another topic in vogue, the 
bank. Some are in favor of chartering a bank, and some not. For 
my own part, if I were ever so much in favor of a bank, I would op- 
pose chartering the one in contemplation, as the capital all comes 
from the northern states. We are to have a vote tomorrow on the 
subject in order to instruct the legislature. Several prominent Pro- 
slavery men have been turned out of office, and I have no doubt it has 
been through the representatives of the Gov. I tell you, we are 
down on him in this section. I regard him as a double-faced free- 
soiler, tho I have had some of our party to find fault of me for view- 
ing him in that light. That was my opinion from the first, for all he 
seemed at the time to be acting in our favor. Time will prove! 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 157 

We have had very cold weather for some time. The snow is now 
from 4 to 10 inches deep. They say it is as cold here as it was any 
time last winter, and it will not get any colder. If it does not, I can 
stand it pretty well, though it is too cold for me to like to live here. 
I find that I can stand it as well as anyone else, and I believe I com- 
plain as little as anyone. The most I hate about it is, that when 
it is too cold to work, it is not too cold to eat, and so I am losing. 
I saw a prairie wolf this morning for the first. One of our neighbor 
young men caught it and called me over to see it. We are going 
out in the morning, if it is a good morning; they come to a dead ox 
a short distance from here, and he says he knows he can start one. 
I will not seal this letter till I can give you our success. . . . 

P. S. Monday morning, Jany. 12th. Well, I went on the wolf 
chase this morning, and such a chase it was. The hounds were 
trailing it and one of the grey hounds saw it, and ran it about 200 
yards, and caught it. It was a small one. The prairie wolves are 
great fools; they will run in the openist place they can find. This 
was on the ice on the river. I saw two more on the ice about one 
mile above us, but we didn't go after them. ... I shot twice 
at prairie chickens this morning, but missed. . . . 

Yours sincerely, A. J. H. 

My Dear Mother Dou e las > K T " Feb y the 22nd " 1857 

... I have been elected, by the legislature, a judge of the 
county court, which I have been told pays $3 a day, for every day 
I serve. I was elected without any solicitation on my part, by the 
unanimous vote of both houses. It is however an office of more 
honor than profit. I go now by the title of Judge. 

Quite a serious & shocking affair took place in Lecompton on last 
Wednesday (the 18th. inst.), the particulars of which I will relate 
in as few words as possible. Some two months ago the sheriff 
(Jones) resigned his office, and the judges of the county court, of 
which I am now one, appointed a young man named Shirard [Wil- 
liam T. Sherrard] from Virginia to fill his place, but the Gov. re- 
fused to give him his commission. Shirard met him in the ante- 
room of the legislature about two weeks ago and spat upon him. 
The Governor's friends (Abolitionists of course) held a meeting of 
indignation against Shirard and commending the Gov.'s course. 
Shirard's friends (myself among the number) attended the meeting. 
The Gov.'s friends, convicts included, were all armed. After several 
speeches Shirard got up to explain his position to the meeting (so 



158 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

I learned, for I had left the meeting and gone to a store about fifty 
yards off, to warm). In the course of his speech he said something, 
and a man by the name of Sheppard gave him the lie. Shirard 
dared him to repeat it, when they both drew pistols and commenced 
firing at each other, but neither receiving a mortal wound, they both 
closed in, when they were separated. At this time a young man of 
the Gov.'s household ran up to Shirard and shot him in the head. 
He was taken into custody, but gave bail, and has sloped [sic]. 
Shirard lived till yesterday evening. He is to be buried at 2 o'clock 
today. Shep[p]ard was shot through the body near the hip, but 
[it] is not considered dangerous. I am glad that I was off when the 
firing was going on. Ex-Sheriff Jones had his watch chain shot off, 
and another man was shot in the knee. 

Monday morning, the 23rd. My dear Mother, when I had writ- 
ten the above I was called to go to the burying of Shirard, and did 
not have time to finish, but we did not bury him, but concluded to 
send his body back to Virginia. It is the opinion of a great many 
here that the meeting on the 18th. was got up expressly for the 
purpose of killing Shirard, Cramer, & Ex-Sheriff Jones, and that 
the Governor was knowing to it, if not one of the plotters. There 
is one thing certain, he was solicited by persons on both sides to try 
and stop the meeting, as persons were fearful that evil would grow 
out of it, but he refused. He is charged as being one of the plotters, 
publicly by the paper here. Well . . . enough of this. 

. . . I am going up to Lecompton this morning to take the oath 
of office, and get my commission, but Geary may refuse it, as he did 
poor Shirard, being as I am a South Carolinian. On the first of 
Sept. next we are to elect delegates to frame a state constitution, 
and if we succeed in making it a slave state, I can then return home 
feeling satisfied that my enduring hardships here have not been in 
vain. I feel pretty well satisfied that we have the majority in the 
Ter., but they can beat us in this county. Oh, how I wish that 1000 
Southerners would come in the middle of March and settle in this 
county. . . . Well, my dear Mother, 'tis time I was going up 
town, so I must close. . . . Tell all the negroes howdie, howdie, 
howdie . . . and let me beg you not to fret yourself about me. 
Recollect that there is One who watches over us here in Kansas as 
well as those in So. Ca. let me assure you that I will always try 
to keep out of danger as much as possible, but if we should never 
again meet on earth, let us try to meet where parting will be no 
more. Remember us in your prayers, is a request of your ever 

Devoted Son, A. J. H. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 159 

Dear Jack Douglas, K. T., March 22nd, 1857 

Your very agreeable and acceptable, but very short letter, came 
to hand a few days ago. . . . We hear from home so seldom, 
that we can't help but feel sometimes uneasy. ... I would like 
for you to tell us how they [the immediate family] are getting on, 
what each one is driving at, &c., &c. . . . You can scarcely 
imagine how anxious we are to know everything and a little more 
time and labor on the part of our dear friends, which would be of 
small sacrifice on their part, would be a source of great, Ah! very 
great satisfaction to us. ... But enough 

One year ago yesterday we left old So. Ca, oh, how time flies! 
and still it seems long to me since I have seen my dear friends. But, 
thank God! if it is His pleasure, we will see you all again in eight 
months more, for, if nothing happens, I expect to leave here about 
the middle of Nov. It is impossible for me to make a decent living 
here. ... I am to commence a job of work tomorrow that will 
be worth $25 or $30 when it is finished, which I think I can do in 
two weeks at least. And, if we should have no more difficulty this 
year with the plagued Black Republicans, I think that there will be 
a better prospect of making money. I fear however that we will 
(but this in its proper place). I have sent frds of the money I 
had to Mo. to buy provisions, and when it comes, we will have 
enough to last us (without accident) three months at least, and I 
hope by that time to make money enough to send for another supply. 

The Delaware lands, which I spoke of in my last letters home, 
have not been treated for, at least I fear so. So I shall have no 
hope of making such a speculation, as I hoped to do, that would 
remunerate me for my time and trouble in coming out here. Now 
for my reasons for fearing that we are to have more trouble here this 
summer, which will also inform you concerning the political state 
of the Ter. 

In the first place, as perhaps you are aware already, we are to 
have an election on the 16th. of June to elect delegates to frame a 
state constitution. Well, the Black Republicans held a meeting on 
the 10th. at Topeka and have resolved not to vote on that occasion, 
[and] also that they will not allow themselves to be assessed for 
taxes, and will not submit to the laws. They also elected Chas. 
Robinson as their governor for the 2nd. time. It is also reported 
that Lane is in Lawrence and Old Brown 23 (the notorius Ossa- 

23. John Brown (1800-1859), of Harper's Ferry fame. Cf. Dictionary of American 
Biography, v. Ill, pp. 131-134. 



160 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

wattomie murderer) brought in 100 men a few days ago. How true 
these things are I can't say, but it is generally believed. Gov. Geary 
left the Ter. secretly last week and took a boat for St. Louis. It 
is reported here, but I doubt its correctness, that he died at Jefferson 
City of bleeding at the lungs. He looked in bad health before he 
left, and some think he has a fast consumption. 

A letter was received from Washington a day or two ago, saying 
that Geary would certainly be turned out of office. Few of our party 
will cry about it, as we certainly can't endorse his course since he 
has been Gov. of Kansas. I hear that he said before he left, that he 
was heartily sick and disgusted with these Abolitionists. I some- 
times think that he really meant well, but for want of judgment 
and bad advice, he committed grievous blunders. He thought he 
could come here and pat these rascals on the back and in a short 
time all would be right, but he was grievously mistaken in his men 
he is gone however, and joy go with him. 

I heard yesterday that Secy Woodson, who is acting Gov. in the 
absence of the regular Gov., received despatches from Washington 
that there is to be two regiments of regulars stationed at Lecompton 
to be at the disposal of the Gov., [and] that some of them are to go 
around with the tax collector. If this is true, it is good news. This, 
Jack, is all the political news of importance. 

. . . The mails have been irregular for the last month or more, 
which may account for your not hearing from us, as you said, for I 
am sure I write every week and sometimes twice a week. . . . 

You said in your last that the Estate Negroes had been divided, 
and that Cousin Billy got Peggy and her children. If I recollect 
aright, that is the lot which he preferred, but you did not tell us of 
the others, who got such and such lots. All such as that would in- 
terest us. ... Make a big crop of corn and potatoes, as I wish 
to buy my supply for next year. Oh, I wish I had a peck of sweet 
potatoes now ; I have not tasted one in a year ! . . . 

Ever your friend & Brother-in-law, A. J. H. 

Dear Jack Douglas, K. T, Apl. the 12th, 1857 

Your most acceptable letter of the 23rd. March came to hand 
yesterday, with a check on the State Bank of N. Y. for seventy- five 
($75). I doubt very much whether I can get it cashed conveniently 
anywhere near here, but perhaps I may be able to trade it off in 
Westport, Mo, or perhaps at Leavensworth City. If I fail to pass 
it off my hands without putting myself to too much expense and 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 161 

trouble, I will enclose it back to you. I shall go to Lecompton to- 
morrow and see what I can do, but I have very little hopes, as neither 
of the merchants there trade in New York; two of them trade in 
Philadelphia, and the other in Kansas City & St. Louis. They are 
all rather of the dropshot sort of merchants anyhow. 

I had the pleasure of hearing a sermon preached today in the City 
of Lecompton, the first I have heard since sometime about the 
middle of July last. The text today was Romans V, 1. It was 
preached by the Presiding Elder of the M. E. Church South in Kan- 
sas by the way, a pretty good, plain, matter-of-fact sort of sermon. 
I enjoyed it pretty well, tho I had to stand the whole time during 
service, as there were only enough seats for the ladies. 

Well Jack, I have very little to write except what I have written 
. . . for the Flag, which is political, and you will see it. I will 
tell you, however, that Betsie got bloodthirsty this evening. The 
news came that Jim Lane was at a house about 100 yards from the 
one we live in. So Betsie and some of the other "Border Ruffians!" 
women here talked about killing him. I saw him as he was going 
off about a mile from me on the prairie, which is the first time I ever 
saw him to know it, tho' I was once within 150 yards of him, but 
could not tell him from any of the rest of his men. I am firmly of 
the opinion that we will have more trouble here this year, if our 
new Gov. is not a man of the right grit. 

Betsie & the baby are both quite well. We have named the little 
scamp Ada Constantia. What think you of that name? She grows 
remarkably fast, and some of the women think that her under gums 
are swollen as if about to cut teeth, but I think it is quite young. 
However, I know little about these things. 

Betsie joins me in love to you, . . . Tell all the Negroes 
howdie, and give my best regards to all enquiring friends. . . . 

Ever Yours sincerely, A. J. H. 

My Dear Sister Douglas, K. T., April the 19th., 1857 

. . . I received the draft which you mentioned, from Jack, God 
bless him for his kindness. I have not yet got it cashed tho one of 
the merchants in Lecompton says he will take it at 1 pr. ct. discount, 
if I should happen in when he had money enough on hand to take 
it up. His clerk told me yesterday that if I had been there a day 
or two before, he would have taken it, as he was in want of one, but 
he had got one that suited him better, as it was for an even $100. 
It would be worth 1% pr. cent premium in St. Louis, but that would 

113410 



162 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

cost more than it would come to, to take it there. ... It may be 
that we will be able to get along without using the $75 . . . until 
we start home. . . . 

We still have winter weather here. On the night of the 17th 
Inst. the rain fell and froze on the ground, so that everything was 
covered with ice. It then snowed a coarse hominy snow till the 
ground was white. It all melted off however yesterday, but the 
wind still blows cold from the west, too cold for me to go to Lecomp- 
ton to preaching. I went last Sunday ... it was quite a treat 
to hear a sermon, not having heard one before since last July The 
Presiding Elder (Bradford) called on Betsie and me last Friday. 
He appears to be a very clever man. He wants Betsie to send for 
her letter from the church, and deposit it here in Lecompton, but I 
don't know as there would be any use in that, as we are going back 
again. He hinted strongly at me about joining also, and I would do 
so, but I fear I am not fitting, and never will be, to join the church. 

I begin to hope that we will have no more fighting in the Ter. 
Stanton, 24 the Lieutenant Gov., has arrived. He made a speech in 
Lecompton the other day, declaring most emphatically that the laws 
should be enforced. He came out boldly and asserted that he was 
born Proslavery, had lived Proslavery, and would die Proslavery. 
Walker, 25 the Gov., will be here about the middle of next month. 
He is also Proslavery. So I think the Abolitionists will be afraid 
to risk another fuss. 

My health has been very good for more than a week, and I have 
been at work. . . . Little Ada is well and growing finely. She 
is a perfect prodigy, so pretty, smart, &c. . . . We named her 

Ada Constantia, tho I call her Snooks, Snipes, Zip, Snapp, &c 

Who could not be happy with the best of wives and the prettiest 
best, smartest, and most interesting [of] little babies? 

I think I will leave this part of the Ter. after a while. Gen'l 
Clarke has been down to Fort Scott and speaks so favorably of that 
section, that I believe I will go there. He (Clarke) is going, and 
says he is going to carry me. He says they want a male academy 
there. They have a good female. It is a fine opening, and he says 
there are a good many vacant claims in that section. It is much 

24. Frederick Perry Stanton (1814-1894), b9rn in Alexandria, Virginia. In the spring of 
1857 he was appointed secretary of Kansas territory. Later in the year he served as acting 
governor. 

25. Robert John Walker (1801-1869), of Mississippi, though a native of Pennsylvania. 
He reached Kansas and accepted the post of governor, May 5, 1857, on the pledge of 
President Buchanan that the state constitution should be submitted to the vote of the people. 
But after rejecting the forged and fraudulent returns in Kansas, and opposing the Lecompton 
constitution, he resigned, November 16, 1857, and going before Congress, defeated the at- 
tempt to force the corrupt measure on the territory. Appleton, op. cit., v. VI, p. 329. 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 163 

warmer than it is here. . . . Give my love to Mother. . . . 
Howdie all the Negroes for me ... and write soon, dear sister, 
to Your Affectionate Brother, Axalla. 

My Dear Mother Douglas, K. T., May 24th., 1857 

I received a letter from Sister by Wednesday's mail, dated the 
7th. Ult. which I will answer by writing to you, as I wrote my last 
to her. ... I am sorry to hear that you will have no fruit this 
year, and I fear from all the accounts I can get, that the prospects 
for a crop are quite gloomy. Spring is very backward there as well 
as it is here. People are not done planting corn here yet, and what 
is planted does not seem to come up. We had just had a sprinkle 
of rain and it looks as if we will have more directly. I wish we 
could have a good rain, for then perhaps everything would come 
up and grow. 

Tell Sister I thank her for the seed she sent me, but I wish she 
had sent me the cotton seed also, as there are a good many of my 
neighbours who have never seen it growing, and I am anxious to 
see what it would do here. 

Times are very hard here at this time. I hear that there are some 
families down south of here, about 20 miles, who are on the point 
of starving. They are some of the northern emigrants, sent out by 
the Aid Society. The North has done more for her emigrants than 
the South has done ; still I believe they are getting along worse. In 
some parts of the Ter. I hear they are generally quarreling and 
fighting among themselves, burning each other's house, &c. 

The Indians are playing the mischief out west of this. They 
have taken Fort Laramie, which is about 150 [?] miles from here, 
I believe. I have not learned what tribe or tribes. Eight hundred 
regulars left Fort Leavensworth last week for the scene of action, 
so I guess they will soon be brought to terms. Everything is going 
on quietly here with the exception of what I have told you above. 

We are to hold a meeting in Lecompton to-morrow to nominate 
delegates for the convention. Gov. Walker has not arrived yet, but 
we are looking for him this week. 

I did not go down to Fort Scott as I expected, but I asked Genl. 
Clarke & ex-Governor Ransom 26 to enquire what chance there would 
be for me there. . . . Betsie's health has not been so good for 
several weeks. She has a bad cold Our little one has 

26. Epaphroditus Ransom (Democrat), state governor of Michigan, 1848-1850. Cf 
Encyclopedia Britannica, 13th. ed., v. XVII-XVIII, p. 377. 



164 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

also had a cold and cough, which is the first time that she has been 
the least unwell since she has been born. She has cut four teeth 
and two more are almost through. She can sit alone, grows fast, 
&c., &c. Everybody says she is a prodigy! 

Mr. Ellison had a Negro woman that died yesterday ; she had been 
sick for a long time. . . . The Negro left an infant about a fort- 
night old, the poorest little object you ever saw. It does not weigh 
more than three pounds. There has been a great deal of sickness 
here in Douglas this spring, mostly from colds. 

I killed a rattlesnake yesterday, but it was a small one, having 
only three rattles & a button. One was seen by the path I go 
to get water, very large, by a man yesterday and I was looking for 
it when I found the one I killed. There are not many snakes here, 
but I believe there are as many rattlesnakes as any other kind. 

Provisions are still very high here; bacon has fallen a little, but 
I believe everything else is on the rise. Cows are beginning to mend, 
and milk is getting plentiful. My neighbours tell me to come after 
milk, but I do so very seldom it looks too much like begging to me. 

Well, My dear Sister, I have written all the news that I know of 
and some foolishness that I ought to have omitted. If I were with 
you, I could find enough to talk about for a week, but when I come 
to put it on paper, it is a different thing. ... I hope in God's 
name we will see each other in about six months more. What I shall 
do when I get back to Darlington, I can't tell . . . but I guess I 
will try teaching again, and that will be a poor business, I fear. 
. . . Give my love to [the entire family] 

Your Affectionate Son, Axalla. 

Dear Sister Douglas, K. T., July the 5th, 1857 

I received yours of the 17th. Ult. the day before yesterday. . . . 
Betsie is enjoying very good health at this time. ... As for my 
town part/, tho I keep up and have worked every day. . . I would 
perhaps have lain up some days, had it not been that I was (and I 
am) so anxious to get through with the job of work I have in hand 
for Col. Stanton. He is also in a hurry for it, as he says he wishes 
to get out of town. He wants me to occupy one of the rooms. 
. . . It would be much more convenient to live there than here, 
as wood and water are more convenient, and moreover, he wishes me 
to continue working for him. ... I guess by the time Mr. 
Smith & I get through with the work, he (Stanton) wishes us to do 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 165 

for him, we will be into his pockets about $150. ... I think 
I can get along here pretty well till I get ready to go home. 

I fear, Sister, that coming here will do no good at last, as I begin 
to think that this will be made a Free State at last. Tis true we 
have elected Proslavery men to draft a state constitution, but I 
feel pretty certain, if it is put to the vote of the people, it will be 
rejected, as I feel pretty confident they have a majority here at 
this time. The South has ceased all efforts, while the North is 
redoubling her exertions. We nominated a candidate for Congress 
last Friday Ex-Gov. Ransom of Michigan. I must confess I have 
not much faith in him, tho he professes to hate the Abolitionists 
bitterly, and I have heard him say that Negroes were a great deal 
better off with Masters. Still, I fear him, but it was the best we 
could do. If we had nominated a Southern man, he would have 
been sure to have been beaten, and I doubt whether we can even 
elect a Northerner who favors our side. 

One of out most staunch Proslavery men was killed in Leavens- 
worth a few days ago. It is hard to ascertain the facts in relation 
to the murder correctly, but as far as I can learn, there was an 
election for something. The man who was killed (Jas. Lyle) went 
up to the polls and asked for a ticket. An Abolitionist handed him 
one which he, Lyle, tore in two. The other asked him why he did 
that; he replied he did all such tickets that way. The Abolitionist 
told him he had better not do so again, when Lyle told him if he 
would give him another he would. It was given him, and he tore 
it also, at which the Abolitionist drew a bowie knife and stabbed 
Lyle to the heart, then ran a few paces, drew a revolver, and com- 
menced firing at the dying man. The fellow was taken prisoner 
and eighty men were sent from Lawrence that night, by Jim Lane, 
to keep Lyle's friends from hanging him. Gov. Walker put out for 
Leavensworth on Friday to have the prisoner carried to the fort, in 
order to keep the Abolitionists from rescuing him, or prevent Lyle's 
friends from hanging him by mob law. 

There was a big ball in Lecompton on the night of the 3d., but 
they had no celebration there yesterday. The Abolitionists had a 
barbecue at Bloomington, about 8 miles south of this, but it was 
a party thing, I hear. There was a big celebration at Tecumseh 
and all were invited to attend, tho it was given by Proslavery men. 
Judge Cato was the orator of the day. I celebrated the day by hard 
work ... so you may guess I felt like sleeping last night. 

We have had no rain here for more than two months, worth a name, 



166 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

but the corn seems to grow some, dry as it is. My Irish potatoes 
look well, and are full of blossoms, but I have not tried them yet. 
My cotton grows fast, but the other seed you sent me did not come 
up. Betsie is lying on the bed, reading the Bible & napping by 
turns, but I believe she does most of the latter. Ada is asleep. Oh, 
the sweet little creature. You may think I am only bragging, but 
I tell you she is the smartest child I ever saw, has the most sense, 
is the prettiest, and the best everything else. She can crawl, stand 
up and hold to a chair, has cut six teeth and will soon have two 
more . . . but she has precious little hair on her head. . . . 
Some of the ladies here don't call her anything but Whitey, she is 
so fair and looks so white. Enough of this 

You must give my love to all. . . . Tell all the Negroes a 
hundred Rowdies for us. ... 

Your Affectionate Brother, Axalla. 

P. S. 6th. Mr. Smith, the man engaged with me in work, was 
bit by a rattlesnake last night about midnight. He got up to give 
his child a drink of water, & stepped on the snake on the floor. He 
drank a pint of whiskey and got drunk. He has the Doctor with 
him this morning, and I hope he will be up in a day or two. 

Dear Cousin Mary Dou g las > K T " Au 8 st ' 16th " 1857 

... I suppose you are aware ere this that we have moved from 
the place we have been living ever since we have been here, and also 
that we have changed our manner of living. So Betsie, instead of 
complaining of the want of something to do, now is glad of a chance 
to rest. . . . Col. Stanton has bought a cow, and you would 
have been amused to see Betsie's first attempt at milking. If the 
cow switched her tail, Betsie would jump, and if she happened to 
look around at her, she was sure the cow would bite her the next 
thing. She was even afraid to shift the calf from one teat to another 
for fear it would bite her hand. . . . Oh, coming to Kansas has 
been a great school for my old wife. She has learned something 
about cooking, she has learned to wash, and milk cows, besides a 
good many other things. So when I go back it will save me one 
hand in the field, as I will have learned by then that in getting a 
wife I got a first-rate cook & washer, &c. Jesting aside, I really 
believe it will be of advantage to her, as she will be able to 
know how things should be done. . . . But to change the sub- 
ject, I tell you. ... I have the greatest little girl that ever was. 
. . . She is beginning to walk already and her mouth is forever 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 167 

jabbering when she is awake. She hollows at everything that comes 
about, horses, cows, hogs, &c. Col. Stanton thinks she is a prodigy. 
I will be dogged if I know how many teeth she has I will ask 
Betsie when she comes in. She beats everything in these parts 
that is enough 

Sister wrote to me in her last, bragging what a nice dinner she 
and Mother ate at your house a few days before she wrote, and it 
gave Betsie and me fits, we wanted to be there so bad. You must 
not eat up all of your cabbages before the 1st. of Dec., as I guess 
that will be all the kind of vegetables you will be able to have at 
that time. . . . We have had no vegetables yet this year, except 
some beets which Betsie bought at 15^ a dozen. As for chicken I 
have almost forgotten how they taste as I have not eaten any in al- 
most a year. I bought a few hens the other day, but have not got 
them home yet. I am to give 30 cents apiece, and have to go after 
them this morning, Sunday. As it is I don't like to do it, but it is a 
kind of case of necessity, as the family I bought them of is going 
to move to a different part of the Ter. to-morrow. I went after them 
yesterday but they had neglected to shut them up the night before, 
and I could not catch them. If provisions were not so dear here, I 
think we would be able to live, but when meal is $2.50 a bushel, 
flour $13 a barrel, meat 20 cts. a lb., sugar & coffee 20^, molasses 
$1.50, eggs 30^f a doz., salt from $2 to $3 a bushel, I tell you it takes 
money to live. We are doing, however, pretty well now. We have 
about $120 ... on hand now, which is almost enough to take 
us back to So. Ca., and I intend to try to keep that much on hand 
ahead, for that purpose. . . . 

Well, I have very little more to write. We have had several good 
rains of late, which has improved the corn very much. There is a 
good deal of stir about politics at this time, but I cannot go into 
detail on the subject, as it would be too great a job. I will however 
say that the candidate we have nominated for Congress (ex-Gov. 
Ransom of Michigan) in one of his messages to the legislature of 
that state, was strong on the Free State side, which has been found 
out since his nomination, and he has been requested to withdraw. 
I don't know whether he will, or not enough of this. . . . Give 
my love to ... all of the relations and friends . . . and 
tell all the negroes howdie, howdie, howdie for me. . . . Hoping 
that you are well and that, God willing, I will see you in the course 
of about 3^ months, I subscribe myself. . . . 

Your sincere and affectionate old Friend, A. J. H. 



168 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

My Dear Sister Douglas, K. T., August the 23rd., 1857 

Your very acceptable and agreeable letter of the 5th. inst. came to 
hand yesterday. It is now 3 o'clock in the evening, when I now take 
my seat to write you. The reason I am so late commencing is that 
I have been attending a meeting to organize a Sunday School here 
in Douglas. A Sunday School missionary is going around in Kansas 
for this purpose. The day was so unfavorable that we had had a 
small turn out, but I think we will have a school of 25 or 30 children. 
I was elected Librarian, Secretary & Treasurer of the Society and 
also expect to take charge of a class, at least till we can get enough 
teachers, which I hope we will. It is to be held in the house I moved 
from in Douglas. . . . 

I was in hopes that, if the peach and apples missed, you would 
have watermelons, but it seems you have not. I ate some yesterday 
for the first. I bought two small ones for 25^ apiece. I also bought 
some beans & beets, and Betsie & I had a real old fashioned vegeta- 
ble dinner today. I came near hurting myself, and Betsie com- 
plained of having eaten too much. We have to buy everything 
here Great country this! ! 

Betsie & Ada are both well, but Betsie is still very thin. I will 
say nothing of Ada, as you will think I am only bragging, but you 
will see and judge for yourself, if God is willing, some day, whether 
I am only bragging or not. 

We have had a few pretty good rains lately and it is now raining 
a slow rain. Crops are improving, my cotton I see is pretty full of 
offers, blooms and small pods, tho' it is so late, I fear but few bolls 
will mature. 

The Col. [Stanton] is a very fine man personally, and I like him 
so far very much, but he and I don't agree in politics. He is too 
much of a Union man. We argue a good deal, and once or twice I 
saw he got pretty warm. We get along first rate. He comes home 
about sundown and leaves soon after breakfast, so B [etsie] and I 
are alone all day. . . . We get \\ gallons at a milking from our 
cow, or three gallons a day. Betsie makes from half pound to a 
pound of butter at a time. ... I tell you, we are living at foun- 
tain head now, if we do have to pay high for everything. Col. 
Stanton bought a sow and six pigs to eat the buttermilk and scraps ; 
he made Betsie a present of two of the pigs. . . . 

There is little of importance to write in the way of politics, though 
that is all of the topic here at this time, as it has always been. There 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 169 

is to be a meeting tomorrow within a few miles from here to nomi- 
nate another candidate for Congress. It is by the Conservative Free 
State Men, nominally, but I fear it is gotten up by the Black Re- 
publicans to divide our party, as they have learned that a good 
many of us are dissatisfied with our nominee. But what surprises 
me and rather puts me at a loss to guess what they are driving at 
is that the Abolitionists' nominee says that if Col. Moore 27 is the 
nominee tomorrow, he (Parrott) will not run, but will do all he can 
for Moore. Moore was a representative to Congress from New 
York about 18 years ago, and made a speech against the Aboli- 
tionists while in Congress. I have heard him express himself in 
favor of Slavery Tis hard to tell what will be the result. 

Our Convention meets next month to frame a State Constitution. 
I am satisfied that a majority of said convention are Proslavery, 
but don't know how they will make it. The time for deciding the 
great question will soon be at hand. What will be the future state 
of Kansas no one can tell. So much for politics. 

It has been quite cool here for several days, and now it is com- 
fortable sitting by a fire. . . . Betsie has just cut one of the 
watermelons I bought yesterday, and I must lay down my pen and 
eat some. . . . 

You say that Cousin Billy says he will not write, but will give it 
to me when we return. Perhaps he may not have the chance of do- 
ing so in a year yet, for I may not go back this fall, but wait till 
next. So he had better give it to me by letter, for fear he may for- 
get some by that time. . . . 

Give my love to [the immediate family] and tell all the Negroes 
a heap of howdies for me. . . . Do write soon to 

Your ever loving brother, Axalla. 

Dear Sister Douglas Co., K. T., Sept. 13th, 1857 

Yours of the 25th Ult. came to hand a few days ago. ... I 
have very little of importance to write. The constitutional conven- 
tion met last Monday and organized, elected Genl. Calhoun 28 Presi- 

27. Ely Moore (1798-1861), was born in Sussex county, New Jersey. From 1834 to 1838 
he served in Congress, and won national fame in his reply to Waddy Thompson, of South 
Carolina. In 1853 President Pierce offered him the position of minister to England, but he 
declined; and accepted, on account of his health, an Indian agency in territorial Kansas. It 
is a part of the unwritten history of Kansas that he was to have been the first territorial 
governor, but his health forbade, and he recommended his friend, Andrew H. Reeder. Cf 
Albert R. Greene, "United States Land-Offices in Kansas," Kansas Historical Collections, 
v. VIII, p. 4. 

28. John Calhoun (1806-1859), appointed as surveyor general of Kansas and Nebraska 
by President Pierce in 1854. He was made first president of the constitutional convention in 
1857. Cf. Dictionary American Biography, v. Ill, pp. 410-411. 



170 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

dent, and after being in session a week, they have adjourned, not to 
meet again till the 3rd. Monday in Oct. after the election is over. I 
guess they don't wish to adopt a constitution until they ascertain 
what the Abolitionists intend doing in the coming election. The 
great subject of contention here now is not whether the convention 
will frame a slave constitution, for 'tis almost certain they will, but 
whether it shall be put to the vote of the people for ratification, or 
not, and who will be the legal voters. So far as Gov. Walker is con- 
cerned, some endorse his course of policy and some do not; even 
those who do, admit that they do not approve of some of his acts. 
For my own part, I ... endorse nothing he has done, let alone 
his general course of policy. A good many of our party appear to be 
very sanguine about this being a slave state, but I am fearful 'twill 
not, though I am sometimes high in hopes. I wish 'twas decided, one 
way or the other. I am getting tired of it, and wish to leave the 
Ter. We had Genl. McLean with us last night, he is one of the same 
school of politics as myself, so he and Col. Stanton had it all the 
time. Stanton is one of the Walker & Buchanan school of politics. 

Crops look very fine here at this time, the rains having set in 
about the right time, and if frosts should stay off long enough, there 
will be a good deal of corn made in this part of the Ter., and ac- 
counts from other parts of the Ter. are equally favorable. 

We are all quite well at this time . . . getting along very 
comfortably. I think Col. Stanton doesn't want us to leave here 
this winter, [as] there is little prospect of his house being finished 
this fall, so that he can move his family here. . . . He has found 
out that we are not of the ordinary class of persons . . . and I 
know that he does not like the idea of parting with us. 

So far as living high is concerned, as the saying is, we are living 
in clover, but I believe I gave an account of our living in the letter 
I wrote to Mother last week. Our Sunday School I fear is a failure, 
owing to the difficulty of getting the library. The agent said that 
he would send the books to me at Lecompton, but they had not come 
yesterday. 

I thought I would say nothing about Ada, as I fear you will say 
I am only bragging, but I will tell you however that she can walk 
all over the house, has eight teeth, and her gums seem swollen as 
if she was about to cut jaw teeth. . . . Mrs. Ellison, who has 
had about a dozen children, and as many grandchildren, says that 
she never saw such a child in her life. Col. Stanton says she is 



HOOLE: A SOUTHERNER'S VIEWPOINT, 1856-1857 171 

a prodigy ; he never saw such a forward child in his life. Whenever 
he comes home, she commences jabbering to him, which pleases him 
very much. He makes a great deal of her. 

Well, my dear Sister, I expect you will find this a disconnected 
affair. When I was on the 2nd. page, my Oddfellow's widow & her 
sister came in, and in a few minutes after, two of her other sisters 
came, and so I could not write steady with them talking around me. 
You must excuse it, if it is written badly. . . . Give my love to 
Mother. . . . Tell all the Negroes howdie, and my best regards 
to enquiring friends. Your loving Brother, Axalla. 



Camp Beecher 

HORTBNSB BALDERSTON CAMPBELL 

CAMP BEECHER was established at the junction of the Big and 
Little Arkansas rivers on the site of the present city of Wichita, 
May 11, 1868, 1 to protect the settlers from the attacks of the Indians, 
particularly from the terrors of the Cheyennes, who had been raid- 
ing the east central portions of Kansas. It was not an isolated 
camp, but was one of many forts built in Kansas to safeguard the 
settlers from Indian raids. Its primary purpose was as headquarters 
for a border cavalry patrol which extended northward to Marion 
Center. 2 

The necessity for establishing the camp here at this time is evi- 
dent, for on the 17th of May, 1868, two men were massacred by 
Osages in Butler county on the Big Walnut. A dispatch from a 
Eureka correspondent in the Kansas Daily Tribune tells of this 
horrible event: 
Two MEN KILLED BY OSAGE INDIANS, ON BIG WALNUT, BUTLER COUNTY, 

THE BODIES FRIGHTFULLY MUTILATED 
THE TRIBE SURRENDERS TWO OF THE GUILTY PARTIES FOR TRIAL 

[From our Traveling Correspondent] 

Eureka, May 27, 1868. 

EDITOR TRIBUNE: On the evening of the 17th inst. Mr. Sam T. Dunn and 
Jamea Anderson, living on what ia known as the Government Strip, were 
examining a corner stone, near their residence, when they suddenly were sur- 
rounded by fourteen Indian warriors. 

Mr. Dunn was killed, it is supposed, instantly. Mr. Anderson was first dis- 
abled by a tomahawk and then shot. 

Their heads were both cut off and scalped, that of the former being left 
several rods from the body. The fingers were also cut off from one of the 
bodies and taken away. 

After the massacre was completed, the party let down the fence to an 
eighty-acre field nearby, and drove off two mules; they also chased a horse 
to within a hundred and fifty yards of the house. 

They were followed by a party of white men some twenty-five miles, far 
enough to convince them that they were Osage Indians. They were recognized 
by the cut of their hair, their clothes, and by articles left on their trail, as 
being Osages. 

I have the above from a brother of one of the deceased. J. S. B. 3 

1. U. S. War Department, Adjutant General's Office, letter from the adjutant general, C. H. 
Bridges, major general, to Mrs. Hortense B. Campbell, January 13, 1933. A. G. 314.71 
Camp Beecher, (1-3-33) Off. 442. 

2. Kansas State Record, Topeka, June 12, 1868, quoted by Marvin H. Garfield, in his 
"The Military Post as a Factor in the Frontier Defense of Kansas, 1865-1869" in Kansas 
Historical Quarterly, v. I, p. 58; November, 1931. 

3. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, May 31, 1868, p. 2. 

(172) 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEECHER 173 

The Kansas Daily Tribune also prints this article about the mas- 
sacre : 

The Journal of yesterday morning has the following: 

After the signing of the Osage treaty, a Mr. Dunn, whose parents reside in 
Johnson county, arrived in the commissioners' camp from Walnut creek, 
Butler county, bringing the report that his brother, Samuel, and a partner by 
the name of James Anderson, were killed on Sunday, the 17th inst., by a band 
of White Hair Osages. The commissioners immediately called the chiefs in 
council, and peremptorily demanded the surrender of the guilty parties. The 
next morning, after two hours parleying, amid the moaning of the squaws and 
the most intense excitement on the part of the warriors and braves, they gave 
up two young men, who were brought by the commissioners to Ottawa, where 
they will be turned over to U. S. Marshal Whiting to be tried for the crime 
charged. 

The matter of sending troops had been under consideration before 
this atrocity was committed, Gov. Samuel J. Crawford having writ- 
ten to Gen. Philip H. Sheridan previous to April 14, 1868. On that 
date General Sheridan posted the following letter to the governor: 

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI. 
Q FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS, April 14, 1868. 

I am in receipt of your letter in reference to the establishment of a military 
post at the mouth of the Little Arkansas, to protect the settlers in the county 
of Sedgwick. 

I had already ordered an examination of this point, intending to send a small 
military force there and the place will be occupied by at least one company 
by the 1st. May. 

I am, Governor, Very respectfully Your obedient servant 

His Excellency P. H. SHERIDAN, 

S. J. Crawford Major General, U. S. A. 4 

Governor of Kansas 
Topeka, Kansas 

Many years later, writing of Camp Beecher in his article, "The 
Little Arkansas/' James R. Mead said, "Why a company of infantry 
should be sent to this point we were never able to learn. In the 
previous years we had been coming and going over these plains with 
no protection whatever and all had been peace and quiet in this part 
of the state. A company of infantry would not have been effective 
beyond one half mile of their camp. None but well-mounted horse- 
men, trained to plains life, could have protected an extended fron- 
tier." 5 

At first the camp was called Camp Butterfield but that name was 

4. Letter from Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan to Gov. S. J. Crawford, April 14, 1868, in 
Archives division of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. 

5. Kansas Historical Collections (Topeka, Kansas State Historical Society, 1907-1908), 
v. X, p. 13, and O. H. Bentley, editor, History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas* 
. . . (Chicago, C. F. Cooper and Company, 1910), v. I, p. 129. 



174 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

not used long, for by June, 1868, the place was known as Camp 
Davidson, and on October 19, 1868, this was changed to Camp Bee- 
cher, 6 which name it kept until it was abandoned in June, 1869. 7 
Why the camp had three names in a little over a year is not ex- 
plained, although it is easily understood why the name was changed 
to Camp Beecher, in honor of First Lieut. Frederick H. Beecher, 
hero of the Battle of the Arickaree. 8 

In those days news traveled very slowly, for the order changing 
the name of the camp to Camp Beecher, issued October 19, 1868, at 
Fort Hays, was not printed in the Leavenworth Times and Conserv- 
ative until Sunday morning, November 1st. It ran as follows: 

Camp Beecher 

Headquarters Department of Missouri 
Fort Hays, Kansas, October 19, 1868 
General Field Orders, No. 3 

The station of United States Troops at the mouth of the Little Arkansas 
river, Kansas, will hereafter be known as Camp Beecher, in commemoration of 
the name and services of Frederick H. Beecher, 1st Lieutenant, 3d Infantry, 
who was killed in battle with Indians, on Arickaree Fork of the Republican 
river, September 17, 1868. 

By command of Major General Sheridan J. Schuyler Crosby, Brvt. 

Lieut. Col., A. D. C. 9 

Camp Beecher, as it is most commonly known, was located on the 
present site of Wichita, the exact spot being in dispute. There are 
three possible places where it might have been located. 

John S. Whigan, a member of Company H, Fifth United States 
infantry, visiting Wichita in 1916 after an absence of forty-eight 
years, located it near Ninth and Waco. Mr. Whigan recalled that 

6. Bridges to the author, loc. cit. 

7. June, 1869, is accepted as the date of abandonment of Camp Beecher, on authority 
of the letter listed in note No. 1, although Mrs. Frank C. Montgomery, in her article on 
Fort Wallace, published in the Kansas Historical Collections, v. XVII, p. 233, gives a later 
date which evidently is based on the U. S. War Department report, 1869-1870, Washington, 
Government Printing Office, 1870 (U. S. 41st Congress, 2d session. House of Representatives), 
Executive Document No. 1, part 2, s. n. 1412, p. 70. Here Major General Schofield makes 
the following statement: "The outposts of Fort Zara and Camp Beecher on the Arkansas 
have been broken up." The date of a dispatch on the same page as this notice is October 
23, 1869. 

8. Frederick Henry Beecher, born in New Orleans, June 22, 1841, was one of the famous 
family of Beechers, being a nephew of Henry Ward Beecher and a son of the Reverend 
Charles and Sarah Coffin Beecher. (Dictionary of American Biography; under the auspices of 
the American Council of Learned Societies; edited by Allen Johnson, N. Y., Scribner's, 1929, 
v. II, pp. 126, 129.) 

Beecher was in the battles of the army of the Potomac from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg. 
The severe nature of his wounds necessitated his transfer to the second battalion veteran 
reserve corps, where he served as lieutenant and acted as adjutant general in the Freedman'a 
Bureau. He was transferred to the Third U. S. infantry in November, 1864, and was made 
first lieutenant in July, 1868. (Appleton't Cyclopedia of American Biography; edited by 
J. G. Wilson and John Fiske, N. Y., Appleton, 1888, v. I, p. 221.) 

In 1866, he was stationed at Fort Riley. Later he built several buildings at the Fort 
Wallace army post. He was killed by the Indians in the Battle of Beecher Island, Colo, [or 
Arickaree], September 17, 1868. (Beecher Island Annual, Wray, Colorado, Beecher Island 
Battle Memorial Association, 1917, v. V, p. 55.) 

9. The Leavenworth Times and Conservative, November 1, 1868, p. 1. 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEECHER 175 

the soldiers built for their quarters a dugout seventy-five by fifty 
feet, mostly underground. 10 

A dugout which William Finn said he had been told was used by 
a troop of U. S. soldiers in the winter of 1868-'69 housed the first 
school held in Wichita. Mr. Finn, speaking in 1928 of this first 
school house, reported that the only building he could find [for it] 
was a dugout half a mile north of the settlement and that it was 
quite commodious, with a fireplace and dormer windows on the 
south side of the roof. There was no log house of any shape or kind, 
as some one else has pictured it, on top of the dugout. 11 

This first schoolhouse was located at Twelfth and Jackson, accord- 
ing to Mr. Finn, who in 1924, took a party including his son-in-law 
Earl C. Schaefer of Sedgwick; Earl's father, Charles Schaefer, also 
of Sedgwick; Finlay Ross, former mayor of Wichita; Billy Peacock, 
of Wichita, now of Aiken, S. C. ; and Bliss Isely, who says that Mr. 
Finn did not say that this was the site of Camp Beecher; in fact 
that he did not ask him about the location of Camp Beecher. Mr. 
Isely ventures the statement that this location might have been a 
sentry's outpost. 12 

On November 9, 1933, the school children of Wichita placed a 
granite marker on the site at Twelfth and Jackson to commemorate 
the place where the first school was held in Wichita, but it was not 
definitely stated on this occasion that it was the site of Camp 
Beecher though it was reported by Mrs. Earl Schaefer, the daughter 
of William Finn, that the dugout formerly located there had been 
used by Company A of the Fifth infantry. 13 

The third point at which Camp Beecher is said to have been 
located is at the junction of the Big and Little Arkansas, between 
the two rivers, just across the Little Arkansas from the present 
municipal bathing beach. Kiowa, chief of the Wichita Indians, in 
an interview with Mr. Isely in 1924, is authority for this location. 
Chief Kiowa and the Wichita Indians left the present site of 
Wichita in 1867, according to Mr. Isely, but returned to trade. 14 

At all events, wherever the dugout was located, it was close to the 
Little Arkansas river, where the soldiers could fish for cat fish and 
carp, could pick sand plums along the banks when they ripened 
late in the summer, could make wine out of elderberries growing 

10. Wichita Eagle, September 9, 1916, page 5. 

11. Ibid., March 4, 1928, Magazine section, page 6. 

12. Letter from Bliss Isely to Mrs. Hortense B. Campbell, December 4, 1933. 

13. Wichita Eagle, November 10, 1933, page 2. 

14. Isely to the author, loc. cit. 



176 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

nearby, and could shoot buffalo and prairie chickens out on the 
plains. 

Mr. Whigan further declared: "Shortly after we pitched camp, 
a man by the name of Lewellyn, his wife and three daughters, built 
a cabin near the east bank of Little river about a mile above the 
mouth." 15 Lewellen's patent from the United States government 
shows settlement was made prior to July 15, 1870, but does not give 
the exact date. 16 

Curious to relate, no one seems to know Lewellen's given name 
or the correct spelling of it. The Kansas State Gazetteer of 1888- 
1889, listing him later as a resident of Chelsea, records it simply as 
Lewellen. 17 Andreas' History of Kansas, in its history of Chelsea 
township of Butler county, lists him as Doctor Lewellen 18 and the 
Wichita City Directory and Immigrant Guide, 1878, in its history 
of Wichita, gives the name as Doc. Llewellan. 19 Additional proof 
that he never used his first name or that by some strange fate he 
had no other name than Doctor is demonstrated by the fact that in 
as important a transaction as securing the patent for his land he used 
only the name Doctor Lewellen. 20 

Durfee's store must have been built then, too, for the Leaven- 
worth Times and Conservative of December 18, 1868, says, "Mr. 
Durfee has the honor of breaking the first sod at the new town of 
Wichita, Sedgwick county, at the mouth of the Little Arkansas 
river, where early in January, 1868, he erected a large store building 
or 'ranch' at a cost of $2,500, stocking it with $25,000 worth of goods. 
Since then emigration has poured into that section of country and 
now, where a year ago were only his buildings, is now the thriving 
town of Wichita." 21 

Durfee's partner was Philip Ledrick 22 who, according to records 
in the tract book in the General Land Office at Washington, was 
granted a patent on land located on the EJ, SWJ and Lots 1 and 2 
of Section 17 of Township 27 South, Range 1 East of the Sixth 

15. Wichita Daily Eagle, September 9, 1916, p. 6. 

16. U. S. Interior Department, General Land Office, letter from the acting assistant com- 
missioner, D. K. Parrott, to Mrs. Hortense B. Campbell, May 18, 1933, 1495563 "B" CWB, 
advice relative patented entries. 

17. Kansas State Gazetteer, 1888-1889 (St. Louis, R. L. Polk and Company, [c!889]), v. 
VI, p. 239. 

18. Andreas, A. T., publisher History of the State of Kansas. . . . (Chicago, A. T. 
Andreas, 1883), p. 1450. 

19. Wichita City Directory and Immigrant Guide, 1878, compiled by D. B. Emmert (Kan- 
sas City, Tiernan and Wainwright, 1878), p. 15. 

20. Parrott to the author, loc. cit. 

21. The Leavenworth Times and Conservative, December 18, 1868, p. 2. 

22. Wichita City Directory and Immigrant Guide, 1878, compiled by D. B. Emmert 
(Kansas City, Tiernan and Wainwright, 1878), p. 15. 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEECHER 177 

Principal Meridian, on April 15, 1873. In the proof Mr. Ledrick 
gave the date of settlement as February, 1868. 23 

Mr. Whigan says that D. S. Munger's house wasn't here when he 
came, 24 although the Daughters of the American Revolution of 
Wichita, in their Illustrated History of Early Wichita, are authority 
for the statement that it was the first house built in Wichita. 25 In 
his proof, submitted to the Humboldt land office, February 2, 1870, 
D. S. Munger, filing on the SEJ of Section 17, Township 27 South, 
Range 1 East, of the Sixth Principal Meridian, stated that he had 
settled on the land prior to May 15, 1868. 26 

Another resident in the early part of 1869 was Phares C. Hubbard 
whose entry on land in the same section as Munger shows proof of 
settlement made April 17, 1869. 27 He must be the Hubbard whom 
Fred A. Sowers, in his chapter of Bentley's History of Wichita and 
Sedgwick County, entitled "The Early History of Wichita," men- 
tions thus, "Jack Ledford traded Hubbard out of his interest with 

23. Parrott to the author, loc. cit. The author's examination of a township map reveals 
that, roughly speaking, early Wichita was built on Sections 16, 17, 20, and 21 of Township 
27 South, Range 1 East of the Sixth Principal Meridian. The present boundaries of these 
sections would approximate Thirteenth street on the north, Hydraulic on the east, Kellogg on 
the south, and the Big and Little Arkansas rivers and Seneca on the west. 

In present-day Wichita, the claims of these early settlers would be in the following 
locations, according to the information from the survey plats of the city of Wichita in the 
county clerk's office, Wichita, Sedgwick county, and the original township plats in the office 
of the county surveyor, Sedgwick county, as prepared by Mr. N. W. Bass, U. S. Geological 
Survey with headquarters in Wichita (now of Washington, D. C.): 

Ledrick, Philip: E% SW& and Lots 1 and 2, Section 17 This tract extends from 
Central avenue north to Riverside avenue and its extension due eastward across the Little 
Arkansas river, and from Sherman avenue and its projection northward through Central 
Riverside Park west to Buffum avenue and its projection southward through Riverside Park 
(Central and South Riverside Parks) to the north bank of the Little Arkansas river in South 
Riverside Park, thence southeast along the bank of the river to Central avenue. 

Munger, D. S. : SE^4 Section 17 The south boundary of this tract is Central avenue; 
the north boundary falls about 130 feet north of Ninth street between Lawrence avenue 
(name changed to Broadway by Ordinance No. 11325 of the City of Wichita, adopted October 
30, 1933 Wichita city clerk's "Office Ordinance Book"), and Waco avenue, and from Waco 
avenue on westward it is the alley south of Ninth street; the east boundary is Lawrence 
avenue and the west boundary is Sherman avenue and its projection northward through Central 
Riverside Park. 

Hubbard, Phares C. : NW*4, Section 17 The south boundary of this tract is Riverside 
avenue, which runs between Buffum avenue and the west bank of the Little Arkansas river, 
and the projection eastward of Riverside avenue, along a line that would fall about 150 feet 
south of Ninth street; the north boundary is Thirteenth street; the east boundary is a north- 
south line about 34 feet west of Lewellan avenue; and the west boundary is Buffum avenue 
and its projection northward through Riverside Park and Oak Park. 

Watterman (usually spelled Waterman), Eli P.: NE& of NE& and Lots 1 and 2, Sec- 
tion 20 This tract extends from Douglas avenue north to Central avenue and from Lawrence 
avenue west to the east banks of the Little Arkansas and Arkansas rivers. 

Mathewson, William: NE*4, Section 21 This extends from Douglas avenue north to 
Central avenue and from Hydraulic avenue west to Washington avenue. 

Mead, James R. : NW*4, Section 21 This extends from Douglas avenue north to Central 
avenue and from Washington avenue west to Lawrence avenue. 

24. The Wichita Daily Eagle, September 9, 1916, p. 5. 

25. Illustrated History of Early Wichita; Incidents of Pioneer Days; compiled by and 
written for the Daughters of the American Revolution (Wichita, Eunice Sterling Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution, c!914), [p. 10]. 

26. Parrott to the author, loc, cit. 

27. Ibid. 



123410 



178 THE KANSAS HISTOEICAL QUARTERLY 

Matsill in the general merchandise business, getting also the Grand 
Hotel, then being built (afterwards the rear part of the Tremont) ." 28 

Eli P. Waterman settled on the NE*4 and Lots 1 and 2 in Section 
20 of the same township and range, prior to June 20, 1869, and 
William Mathewson made settlement on NE 1 ^ of Section 21, on 
July 20, 1869. 29 James R. Mead, entering his claim to the NW*4 
of Section 21 in the Humboldt land office July 29, 1870, showed 
no date of settlement, though he says in his paper, "The Little 
Arkansas," that he first saw the Little Arkansas on a sunny after- 
noon in June, 1863. 30 However, he says later in the article that he 
was then visiting the valley on a three weeks' hunting and exploring 
trip, 31 so he probably did not settle here permanently at that time. 

No doubt these early settlers were well known to the local officers 
in charge of Camp Beecher, none of whom remained on duty for a 
long period at a time. Capt. Samuel L. Barr of the Fifth U. S. 
infantry was in command first, from May 11, 1868, to June 10, 
1868, then Capt. Robert M. West of the Seventh U. S. cavalry took 
charge from June 11, 1868, to September, 1868, after which Captain 
Barr again resumed command from September, 1868, to April, 1869. 
He was followed by First Lieut. George McDermott, Fifth U. S. 
infantry, April 22, 1869, and by Capt. Owen Hale, Seventh cavalry, 
May 20, 1869. 

Company H, Fifth infantry, was stationed at the camp from May 
11, 1868, to May 20, 1869, practically all the time the camp was in 
operation. Company K, Seventh cavalry, served from June 11, 
1868, to August 12, 1868, and from May 20, 1869, to June, 1869. 32 

Captain Barr was not an amateur at frontier posts for he had 
seen service in the Civil War in Arizona and New Mexico, having 
been stationed at Camp Lewis, near Pecos Church, N. M., in 1862, 33 
and at Fort Whipple in 1864, 34 and had surprised an Indian camp 
near Sycamore Springs, Ariz., and killed four Indians on December 
31, 1864. 35 

Barr was a Delaware man who seems to have spent all the years 

28. Bentley, O. H., editor, History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas. . . . 
(Chicago, C. F. Cooper and Company, 1910), v. I, p. 9; Andreas, A. T., publisher, History 
of the State of Kansas. . . . (Chicago, A. T. Andreas, 1883), p. 1930. 

29. Parrott to the author, loc. cit. 

30. Kansas Historical Collections, v. X, p. 7. 

31. Ibid., v. X, p. 10. 

32. Bridges to the author, loc. cit. 

33. War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Con- 
federate Armies (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1883), series I, v. IX, p. 538. 

34. Ibid. (1873), series I, v. XLI, part IV, pp. 381, 994. 

35. Ibid. (1896), series I, v. XLVIII, part I, p. 907. 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEBCHER 179 

of his service with the Fifth United States infantry, being appointed 
a second lieutenant October 24, 1861, promoted to first lieutenant 
April 30, 1863, and made a captain, October 31, 1866. Unassigned 
May 19, 1869, he was mustered out January 1, 1871. 36 

Of the four men in command at Camp Beecher, Capt. Robert 
M. West had the most distinguished military career. During the 
Civil War he was an officer in charge of artillery with the Fourth 
Army corps in the Peninsular campaign, 37 was in command at 
Fort Magruder in the North Carolina and South East Virginia 
campaign, 38 participated in the attack on Williamsburg, 39 and was 
present at the siege of Yorktown in April, 1862. 40 

Born in New Jersey, West enlisted as a private in Pennsylvania 
Mounted rifles April 12, 1856, and was discharged February 5, 1861. 
He was made a captain in the First Pennsylvania light artillery on 
the 25th of July, 1861, was promoted to the rank of major on the 
13th of September of that year, and to the rank of colonel on the 
28th of July, 1862. He was transferred to another branch of the 
service, the Fifth Pennsylvania cavalry on April 29, 1864, was made 
a brevet brigadier general April 1, 1865, for gallant and meritorious 
service at the battle of Five Forks, Virginia, and was honorably 
mustered out August 7, 1865. 41 

The Seventh cavalry, which was stationed later at Camp Beecher, 
had West for its captain July 28, 1866. West was also honored by 
being made a brevet major, March 2, 1867 42 for gallant and meri- 
torious service, in action at Charles City C. [ourt] H. [ouse], Vir- 
ginia, December 13, 1863, and was made a brevet lieutenant colonel, 
March 2, 1867, for the same kind of service in the battle of New 
Market Heights, Virginia. West resigned March 1, 1869, and died 
September 3d of that year. 43 

An Irishman, First Lieut. George McDermott, who was at Camp 
Beecher from April 22, 1869, to May 20, 1869, was an officer 

36. Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States 
Army, From its Organization, September 9 f 1789, to March 2, 1903, published under act of 
Congress approved March 2, 1903 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903), v. I, p. 

37. War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Con- 
federate Armies (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1883), series I, v. XI, part I, p. 282. 

38. Ibid. (1887), series I, v. XVIII, p. 266. 

39. Ibid. (1887), series I, v. XVIII, p. 262. 

40. Ibid. (1884), series I, v. XI, part I, p. 359, 360. 

41. Heitman, op. cit., v. I, p. 1020. 

42. Hamersly, T. H. S., Complete Regular Army Register of the U. S. for One Hundred 
Years (1779 to 1879), . . . (Washington, Hamersly, 1880), part I, p. 850, gives the rank 
as brevet colonel, March, 1867, for gallant and meritorious service in the Battle of Five Forks 
Virginia. 

48. Heitman, op. cit. t v. I, p. 1020. 



180 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

in the Fifth infantry, 44 the same company in which Captain Ban* 
served. McDermott was wounded at Valverde, N. M., February 21, 
1862, in a battle between Union and Confederate troops 45 and later, 
upon his recovery, was stationed at Fort Whipple, Ariz., Lieutenant 
Barr being there at the same time. 46 Lieutenant McDermott was 
appointed from the army, being successively a private, corporal, 
sergeant, and then first sergeant in the Fifth infantry. Made a 
second lieutenant in the same infantry July 17, 1862, he was pro- 
moted to a first lieutenancy July 14, 1864. He died June 21, 1878. 47 

All of these commanding officers saw service in the Civil War, 
Capt. Owen Hale of the Seventh cavalry being no exception. His 
stay at the post was short, for he was in command only from May 
20, 1869, to some time in June, when the camp was abandoned. 48 
Captain Hale entered the service the first year of the War of the 
Rebellion as a sergeant major of the Seventh New York cavalry, 
and was made a second lieutenant in the Ninth New York cavalry, 
May, 1863. For gallant and meritorious service during the war he 
was commissioned a brevet captain March 13, 1865, was mustered 
out November 29, 1865, but reenlisted as a first lieutenant in the 
Seventh cavalry the 28th of July, 1866, and was promoted to a 
captaincy March 1, 1869. Hale was killed in a battle with the Nez 
Perce Indians at Snake river, Montana, September 30, 1877. 49 

Camp Beecher was established here in 1868 in spite of the fact 
that in 1865 and again in 1867 treaties had been made with the 
Indians which, if they had been lived up to, would have put an end 
to Indian warfare, at least for a while. The treaty made in 1865 
was witnessed not far from the spot on which Camp Beecher was 
located, for James R. Mead, in his article, "The Little Arkansas," 
says the Indians and the White Men met on the east bank of the 
Little Arkansas, six miles above its mouth and negotiated the Treaty 
of the Little Arkansas. 50 The 14th day of October, 1865, the treaty 
with the Cheyenne and the Arapaho was made. 51 Later the Apache, 
the Cheyenne and the Arapaho negotiated with the White Men, 52 

44. Bridges to the author, loc. tit. 

45. War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Con- 
federate Armies (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1883), series I, v. IX, p. 487. 

46. Ibid. (1893), series I, v. XLI, part II, p. 986. 

47. Heitman, op. cit., v. I, p. 662. 

48. Bridges to the author, loc cit. , 

49. Heitman, op. cit., v. I, p. 487. 

50. Kansas Historical Collections, v. X, p. 11. 

51. U. S. Congress, Senate, Indian Affairs Committee, Indian Affairs; Laws and Treaties, 
compiled, annotated, and edited by Charles J. Kappler (Washington, Government Printing 
Office, 1904), v. II, pp. 887-891. 

52. Ibid., v. II, pp. 8l-892. 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEECHER 181 

and the Comanche and the Kiowa on October 18, 1865, concluded a 
treaty with the whites. 53 

The treaties at Medicine Lodge were also made in October, the 
first one being entered into at the Council Camp, on Medicine Lodge 
creek, seventy miles south of Fort Lamed, on the 21st day of Oc- 
tober, 1867, by and between the United States of America, repre- 
sented by the commissioners duly appointed thereto, to wit, Na- 
thaniel G. Taylor, William S. Harney, C. C. Augur, Alfred S. [BL] 
Terry, John B. Sanborn, Samuel F. Tappan, and J. B. Henderson of 
the one part, and the Confederated tribes of Kiowa and Comanche 
Indians represented by their chiefs and headmen, duly authorized 
and empowered to act for the body of the people of said tribes. 54 

On the same day, another treaty was made with the Kiowa, Co- 
manche and Apache, 55 and on the 28th of October, 1867, another one 
was made with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. 56 This treaty provided 
that the Indian tribes with whom it had been concluded should con- 
sent to unrestricted settlement by the whites of the country be- 
tween the Arkansas and Platte rivers, should not interfere with the 
construction of the Pacific railroads through the same territory 
and that the Indians themselves should thenceforward occupy reser- 
vations in the Indian territory south of the Arkansas river which 
had been designated for their use. In return for these concessions, 
the government was to furnish arms, ammunition and supplies, and 
to pay certain sums as annuities toward the support of the several 
tribes of Indians. 57 

"These treaties had been made, in the usual course, with the 
chiefs and head men of the several tribes, but in the following spring 
it was found that the young men and warriors were opposed to the 
agreements made, and claimed they had been procured by personal 
bribes offered to these unworthy chiefs by whom they had been 
signed." 58 

The Indian chiefs who sought to confer with Sheridan said they 
had been deceived in signing the treaty they had made and had 
never understandingly agreed to the stipulations it contained. 59 

There was no excuse for the outrages committed by the Indians 
since the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867, states Thomas Murphy 

53. Ibid., v. II, pp. 892-895. 

54. Ibid., v. II, pp. 977-982. 

55. Ibid., v. II, pp. 982-984. 

56. Ibid., v. II, pp. 984-989. 

57. Davies, Henry E., "Great Commanders" Series, General Sheridan (N. Y., Appleton, 
1895), pp. 286-288. 

58. Ibid. 

59. Ibid. 



182 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

of the Central Superintendency No. 69, Office of the Indian Affairs, 
with headquarters at Atchison, in his report for the year 1868. He 
says that every promise made to them in the Medicine Lodge Treaty 
had been complied with. Yet without provocation they attacked 
the white settlers and committed numerous outrages. He recom- 
mends they be left to the tender mercies of the army till they shall 
be forced to sue for peace. 60 

Savages had been collecting about Forts Dodge and Larned, from 
whence it was expected they would proceed during the summer to 
their reservations in the Indian territory, but as the season advanced 
it became evident that they had no intention of complying with the 
treaty and were only awaiting a favorable opportunity for an out- 
break. Savages to whom Sheridan was opposed had a force of about 
six thousand warriors, and had at their disposal country extending 
from Platte river in Nebraska to Red river in Indian territory. 
There were large herds of ponies to mount the warriors and trans- 
port the women and children, with their tepees and other property, 
and, through traders and the bounty of the government, they were 
well provided with arms and ammunition. General Sheridan de- 
termined to confine operations during grazing and hunting season 
to protecting the people of the new settlements and those on the 
overland routes, and to begin an active compaign after winter set in. 
Then the savages would be settled in their villages, their ponies 
would be weak and thin from lack of grazing, and there would be 
little game to be had. Headquarters was established at Fort Hays, 
then on the extreme western line of settlement and the terminus of 
the Pacific railroad. 61 

To guard the lines of the Union Pacific Railroad (usually spoken 
of at that time as the Kansas Pacific) and the Denver stage road, 
in addition to protecting the line of the Arkansas to New Mexico, 
General Sheridan had only a force of about twelve hundred cavalry 
and fourteen hundred infantry, he said in his report to the Secretary 
of War, for 1868-1869. There were in the territory to be protected 
Forts Barker, Hays, Wallace, Larned, Dodge, Lyon, and Reynolds, 
and the outposts of Cedar Point, Zarah, and Camp Beecher. 62 Gen- 
eral Sheridan's total of two thousand six hundred men was in sharp 
contrast to the Indians' six thousand warriors. 68 

60. U. S. Interior Department, Indian Affairs Office, Annual Report of the Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs, 1868 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1868), pp. 9, 257. 

61. Davies, op. cit. f pp. 288-290. 

62. U. S. War Department, "Report of the Secretary of War, 1868-1869" (Washington, 
Government Printing Office, 1869), 40th Congress, 3d session, House Executive Document 
No. 1, s. n. 1367, p. 17. 

63. Davies, op. cit., pp. 288, 290. 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEECHER 183 

As for the men stationed at the camp, the number varied from 
time to time. The "Annual Report" of the Adjutant General of the 
United States, October 20, 1868, says that there were stationed at 
Camp Davidson, Kansas, near the mouth of the Little Arkansas 
river, two companies of the Seventh cavalry and the Fifth infantry. 
There was one post chaplain, one surgeon [Mr. E. B. Umstaetter] , 64 
one major, one regimental adjutant, one regimental quartermaster, 
and one subaltern. 65 

In a proposal for fresh beef and beef cattle, the Office of the 
Chief Commissary of Subsistence, Department of the Missouri, Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas, advertised on May 3, 1869, for meat for only 
one company, quartered at Camp Beecher. Evidently the Chief of 
the Commissary Department did not know that Camp Beecher was 
to be abandoned so soon for he stipulates in this "proposal for new 
beef from the block" that the contracts will commence at all posts 
July 1, 1869, and expire December 31, 1869. 66 From these two 
sources we know then that there were two companies stationed at 
the camp at one time, and only one at another time. 

No record has been found of any major engagements which 
occurred at Camp Beecher. Mr. Whigan remembered that a band 
of Indians attacked the camp in July or August of 1868, and that 
the soldiers rallied behind the Lewellen camp to fight them off. He 
recollected that one soldier was wounded and a number of Indian 
ponies were killed. If any Indians were wounded their bodies were 
carried away. 67 

Methods of transportation in Camp Beecher's territory were still 
quite primitive in 1868-1869, though three years later, on May 15, 
1872, the Santa Fe ran its first train through Wichita. 68 A post road 
between Towanda and Wichita established in 1868 was no doubt 
used by the soldiers occasionally for various purposes, especially by 
the infantry. 69 Their mail came through Fort Harker, addressed 
to Wichita, Kansas. 70 

The dreaded cholera came with the soldiers, James R. Mead says 
in his article, "The Little Arkansas." He gives the date of the 

64. Bridges to the author, loc. cit. 

65. U. S. Congress. House Executive Document No. 1, 40th Congress, 3d session, s. n. 
1367, pp. 732-733. 

66. The Leavenworth Times and Conservative, May 12, 1869, p. 1. 

67. The Wichita Daily Eagle, Wichita, September 9, 1916, p. 5. 

68. Wilder, Daniel Webster, The Annals of Kansas, 1541-1885, new edition (Topeka, T. 
Dwight Thacher, 1886), p. 572. 

69. The Kansas State Record, Topeka, May 6, 1868, p. 3. 

70. The Wichita Daily .Eagle, Wichita, September 9, 1916, p. 5. 



184 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

troops being stationed here as 1867, 71 although the records already 
quoted in this paper definitely establish the dates as 1868-1869, 72 
and he gives the name of the captain of the Fifth infantry as Thomas 
F. Barr 73 instead of Samuel L. Barr. 74 There was no doubt cholera 
here when the troops came, though no official record of it is available 
in the Army Medical Library; the records there do show, however, 
that the disease was prevalent at Fort Zarah 75 in 1868, so it was 
likely to have been here, too. 

The Wichita Indians who were moved in 1867 from Butler county, 
Kansas, to their former homes on that part of the "Indian territory 
known as the leased district" were sorely afflicted with the cholera 
and had to be moved in wagons, many of them dying enroute, ac- 
cording to the report made by J. H. Chollar, the special agent for 
removing the Wichita. 76 

Mr. Mead corroborates the latter data in his same article on "The 
Little Arkansas." He also states that the Nineteenth Kansas 
cavalry, organized by Governor Crawford to fight the Indians, 
stopped at Camp Beecher on the twelfth of November, 1868, and 
remained till November 14, whence they proceeded to Camp Sup- 
ply. 77 This seems to be the only occasion on which any Kansas 
troops were at Camp Beecher. 

And so the soldiers came in May, 1868, to Camp Beecher and left 
in June, 1869. The Leavenworth Times and Conservative of June 3, 
1869, reports their final activities in the following order issued by 
General Schofield, the commanding officer of the Department of the 
Missouri: ". . . The Seventh cavalry, now at Camp Beecher, 
will at once move northward towards the big bend of Smoky Hill, 
scouring the country between the Arkansas and Smoky Hill. Jf no 
Indians are discovered they will go to Fort Harker." 78 Evidently 
no Indians were found for a dispatch from Ellsworth to The Times 
and Conservative, under the date of June 15, 1869, reports that: 
"Company 'K' of the Seventh United States cavalry, Brevet Major 
Hale commanding, arrived yesterday at Fort Harker, from Camp 

71. Kansas Historical Collections, v. X, p. 13. 

72. Bridges to the author, loc. cit. 

73. Kansas Historical Collections, v. X, p. 13. 

74. Bridges to the author, loc. cit. 

75. U. S. War Department, Army Medical Library, letter from the librarian, Edgar 
Erskine Hume, major, medical corps, U. S. A., to Mrs. Hortense B. Campbell, January 19, 
1933. 

76. U. S. Interior Department, Indian Affairs Office, Annual Report, 1867 (40th Congress, 
2d session, House of Representatives, Executive Documents), v. Ill, part II, pp. 330-331. 

77. Kansas Historical Collections, v. X, pp. 13-14; v. XVII, p. 105; v. VI, p. 38. Craw- 
ford, Samuel J., Kansas in the Sixties (Chicago, McClurg, 1911), pp. 321-322. 

78. The Leavenworth Times and Conservative, Leavenworth, June 3, 1869, p. 1. 



CAMPBELL: CAMP BEECHES 185 

Beecher, where they had been relieved by a detachment of Company 
'C,' Tenth cavalry. Signed, W. W. Creighton." 79 

Several of the men who were in the army remained as settlers. 
Sergeant Mohen afterwards became a policeman, and Sergeants 
John Ward and Charles Bush also made their homes here. 80 In 
the Wichita Eagle for April 6, 1876, the following picturesque ac- 
count is given of the later careers of some of the men: 

During the winter [1868] a company of infantry were quartered at this point. 
Several of the boys having served out their time were discharged and took 
claims. One or two married and are still with us, honored and useful citizens. 
One went to the mountains and his quietus made with his boots on. Another 
was chosen by unanimous vote, without even asking it, to represent Sedgwick 
county in the State Industrial Institute at Leavenworth for a term of seven 
years. It was thought to be an "act of justice" by his constituents. 81 

79. Ibid., June 16, 1869, p. 1. No record has been found of the Tenth cavalry being 
here, although it was in the field at the time, according to the "Report of the Secretary of 
War for 1868-1869," House Executive Documents, 40th Congress, 3d session, v. I, p. 17. One 
local authority, the Wichita City Directory and Immigrant Guide, 1878, compiled by D. B. 
Emmert (Kansas City, Tiernan and Wainwright, 1878), p. 15, reports that a colored company, 
commanded by Captain Rowelson, was stationed here at the time, but the letter to Mrs. 
Hortense B. Campbell, January 13, 1933, from C. H. Bridges, major general, says that there 
is no one by that name on the rolls in their office. The War Department also reports that 
only the Fifth infantry and the Seventh cavalry were stationed at Camp Beecher. 

80. Wichita City Directory and Immigrant Guide, 1878, compiled by D. B. Emmert 
(Kansas City, Tiernan and Wainwright, 1878), p. 14. 

81. The Wichita City Eagle, April 6, 1876, p. 1. 



Recent Additions to the Library 

Compiled by HELEN M. MCFARLAND, Librarian 

/ TM3E books received in the past year are from three sources, 
-L purchase, gift and exchange, and fall largely into the following 
classifications: Kansas; the West; Genealogy and Local History; 
and General. We have been fortunate in receiving as gifts several 
genealogies, and we receive regularly valuable publications con- 
taining history and genealogy through our exchange with many his- 
torical societies. We also subscribe to several historical and genea- 
logical publications which are not available by exchange. These add 
greatly to the usefulness of the library. 

There are many books needed for the library, particularly those 
relating to the West and Genealogy and Local History which have 
been published years ago and are obtainable only through dealers 
in rare Americana. We have acquired a number of early Kansas 
books through dealers' catalogues. As there is often only one copy 
of these books in a book dealer's shop it makes them very difficult 
to secure. 

The following is a partial list of books which were added to the 
library from October 1, 1932, to October 1, 1933. The total number 
of books accessioned appears in the report of the secretary in the 
February issue of the Quarterly. 

KANSAS 

ABILENE, Ordinances of the City of Abilene Published by Order of the City 
Council [Abilene, Strother Brothers] 1892. 

ADAMS, ANDY, The Outlet. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Company , 1905. 

ART PUBLISHING COMPANY, "The Magic City" Wichita, Picturesque and 
Descriptive. Neenah, Wis., Art Publishing Company, 1889. 

ATCHISON BOARD OP TRADE, Atchison, the Railroad Centre of Kansas: Its 
Advantages for Commerce and Manufactures. Atchison, Daily Champion 
Steam Printing Establishment, 1874. 

AUCHAMPAUGH, PHILIP GERALD, James Buchanan and His Cabinet on the Eve 
of Secession. [Lancaster, Pa.] Privately Printed, 1926. 

BAKER, ROBERT OSBORNE, The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Em- 
ployees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and 
Canada. Lawrence, 1933. 

BARTLETT, JENNIE V., History of the Salina Schools, With Reminiscences by 
Mrs. C. W. Lynn. Published in Memorial Tribute by Saline County Chap- 
ter, Native Daughters of Kansas, 1933. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 187 

BEALS, CARLETON, Brimstone and Chili, a Book of Personal Experiences in the 

Southwest and Mexico. New York, A. A. Knopf, 1927. 
BERGIN, ALFRED, The Story of Lindsborg, Written for the Sixtieth Anniversary 

of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church . . . April 19- 

21, 1929. Published by The Luther Leagues of the Bethany Church. Linds- 
borg, [Bethany Printing Company] n. d. 
, Tro och Lif Nagra ord till de unga om ett helgadt lif, grundadt i en 

lefvande tro. Rock Island, 111., Augustana Book Concern, 1913. 
, Under Furor och Palmer. [Smolan, Kan.] Gustaf Eriksons Forlog 

[c!916L 
BOWLBY, RICHARD, Kansas, the Seat of War in America. London, Effingham 

Wilson, 1856. 
BRADT, CHARLES EDWIN, Problems of Pin-Hole Parish. Wichita, Missionary 

Press Company, [c!912]. 
BROWN, GEORGE ALFRED, Harold, the Klansman. Kansas City, Mo., Western 

Baptist Publishing Company, 1923. 

BRUCE, HENRY CLAY, The New Man. Twenty-nine Years a Slave. Twenty- 
nine Years a Freeman. Recollections of H. C. Bruce. York, Pa., P. Anstadt 

& Sons, 1895. 
BURLINGAME, KANSAS TERRITORY, Its Location, Present Improvements and 

Future Prospects: Lumber, Water, Coal, Stone, etc. Topeka, Ross Broth- 
ers, 1857. 
CARTER, ROBERT L., Pictorial History of the Thirty-fifth Division. St. Louis, 

1933. 
CHESTER, CHARLES, comp., Technocracy, a Book for Thoughtful Persons. 

Topeka, F. E. Anderson Publishing Company, 1933. 
CLAY CENTER, Revised Ordinances. Published by Authority of the City. Clay 

Center, Clay Center Publishing Company, 1926. 
, Revised Ordinances of the City of Clay Center, Kansas. Clay Center, 

Dispatch Printing House, 1890. 
COATES, GRACE STONE, Portulacas in the Wheat. Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton 

Printers, 1932. 
Commemoration of Nelson Timothy Stephens on Commencement Day, 1932, 

at the University of Kansas . . . Upon the Reception by the University 

of the Portrait of Judge Stephens . . . New York, Tudor Press, 1933. 
[CoNE, JOHN PHILIP], Told Out of School. By One of the Pupils, no impr. 
CONNELLEY, WILLIAM ELSEY, Wild Bill and His Era: the Life and Adventures 

of James Butler Hickok. New York, The Press of the Pioneers, 1933. 
Constitution and Government of Kansas. Lawrence, J. S. Boughton, 1889. 
COSGROVE, MRS. HARRIET (SILLIMAN) AND C. B. COSGROVE, The Swarts Ruin; 

a Typical Mimbres Site in Southwestern New Mexico. . . . Cambridge, 

Mass., Peabody Museum, 1932. 
DARLING, ARTHUR BURR, Political Changes in Massachusetts 1824-1848. New 

Haven, Yale University Press, 1925. 
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [Year Books of Various Kansas 

Chapters}, 440 Pamphlets. 



188 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

DOUBT, SARAH L., My Summer Abroad. No impr. 

DOUGLASS, JAMES HARVEY, AND R. H. ROBERTS, Instruction and Information 

Units for Hand Woodworking. Winfield, The Practical Arts Publishing 

Company, 1932. 
EARHART, AMELIA, The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and 

of Women in Aviation. New York, Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1932. 
EDMONDS, ALBERT SYDNEY, II Penseroso and Other Poems. [Topeka, College 

Press, c!932.] 

EHRLICH, LEONARD, God's Angry Man. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1932. 

ENGBL, E. F., Engel's Laboratory Method in Beginning German. Hand Book 
of Materials for Engel's German Laboratory Notebook. Rev. ed. Law- 
rence, Sunflower Publishing Company, [c!932]. 

, Why and How to Learn German. Lawrence, Sunflower Publishing 

Company, n. d. 

FARNHAM, MRS. MATEEL (Hows), Lost Laughter. New York, Dodd, Mead & 
Company, 1933. 

THE FERRY-HANLY-SCHOTT ADVERTISING COMPANY, comp., A Square Deal for 
Kansas Railroads: the Sentiment of Scores of Kansas Editors. No impr. 

FLICKNER, PETER, J. J. KREHBIEL, AND P. P. WEDEL, A Brief History of Swiss 
Mennonites Who Immigrated from Wolhynia, Russia, into Kansas. (In 
German.) No impr. 

FREEMASONS, ANCIENT, FREE AND ACCEPTED, By-Laws, Rules and Funeral Serv- 
ices of Topeka Lodge No. 17. Topeka, MacDonald & Baker, 1865. 

GRANT, BLANCHE CHLOE, ed., Kit Carson's Own Story of His Life as Dictated 
to Col. and Mrs. D. C. Peters About 1856-57, and Never Before Published. 
Taos, N. M., 1926. 

HARBORD, JAMES GUTHRIE, America in the World War. Boston, Houghton 
Mifflin Company, 1933. 

HEY, C. A., comp., A Little Bouquet: Some Songs and Cheers for Kansas and 
Her Pioneers. To the Pioneers of the Great Southwest This Book is Dedi- 
cated. Dodge City, Dodge City Printing Company, 1930. 

HIGGINSON, MRS. EDWARD, A Story of the Wichita Musical Club from Its 
Organization, May 7, 1892, to . . . September 1, 1929. Wichita, The 
Travis Press, n. d. 

HODGES, GEORGE H., In Appreciation of Former Governor John P. St. John. 
[Olathe, Olathe Democrat, 1933.] 

HOLMES, MRS. HILDA (MAUCK), Wings of Hope. [New York, C. Kendall, 
c!932.] 

HOPKINS, G. M., A Complete Set of Surveys and Plats of Properties in Wyan- 
dotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Compiled and Drawn from Official 
Records and Actual Surveys. Philadelphia, G. M. Hopkins, c!887. 

HOPPER, BROWNLOW, The Rugged Rocky Region. [Detroit, c!92L] 

HORTON, DUDLEY T., History of Hopewell School District No. 114, Plevna, 
Reno County, Kansas, n. p. [1932.] 

HOWE, EDGAR WATSON, The Story of a Country Town. New York, Dodd, 
Mead & Company, 1932. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 189 

INGRAM, JOHN C., Coming of Christ. [Ashland, Ingram, c!932.] 

, Prophetic Democracy, [n. p. Ingram, c!927.] 

INMAN, HENRY, The Ranche on the Oxhide, a Story of Boys' and Girls' Life 
on the Frontier. New York, Grosset & Dunlap, [c!912]. 

JUNCTION CITY, General Ordinances of the City of Junction City Revised by 
W. H. Laundy . . . 1896. Junction City, Republican Book and Job 
Printing House, 1896. 

KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, Transactions, Vol. 35. Manhattan, Kimball 
Printery Company, 1932. 

KANSAS CITY, Revised Ordinances of the City of Kansas City, Kansas, 1909. 
Kansas City, Gazette Globe, 1909. 

Kansas Facts, Vol. 4, 1932 and 1933. Topeka, Kansas Facts Publishing Com- 
pany, 1933. 

KANSAS PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Kansas Pacific Railway Gold Loan $6,- 
600,000. First Mortgage Seven Per Cent. Gold Bonds. . . . n.p. [1869]. 

KANSAS STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Proceedings, 1930, 1931. 2 vols. No impr. 

, Committee to Prepare and Revise a General Corporation Code, Gen- 
eral Corporation Code. Topeka, Ives, 1933. 

KAUFMAN, P. R., Unser Volk und Seine Geschichte. [Basil, Kan., 1931.] 

KIENE, LLEWELLYN, The Story of Two Brothers. Topeka, Printed and Pub- 
lished by the House of Smiths, 1905. 

LAWRENCE, Revised Ordinances of the City of Lawrence, Kansas. Published 
by Authority of the City. Lawrence, Journal Publishing Company, 1891. 

LEAVENWORTH, LAWRENCE AND GALVESTON RAILROAD COMPANY, Trust Mortgage 
to the Farmers Loan and Trust Company of New York. Chicago, Rounds 
& James, 1869. 

LEISY, ERNEST ERWIN, American Literature; an Interpretative Survey. New 
York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, [c!929]. 

LITOWICH, CAROLINA, Ugly Face. Boston, Christopher Publishing House, 

[c!932]. 
LOCKWOOD, GREENE & COMPANY, Incorporated, Industrial Survey of Wichita, 

Kansas. Mimeo. [1927.] 

LOOMIS, NELSON H., Facts about the Railroads, Omaha, Neb., October 23, 1928. 
No impr. 

, Railroad Issues of 1923; Speech Delivered at Salina, Kansas, September 

26, 1923, Before the Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union of 
America. No impr. 

LYTLE, J. A., A Brief History of District No. 34, "The Rose Valley District," 
Osborne County, Kansas, Embracing the First Thirty-five Years of the 
District's Organization. St. Louis, Ross-Gould Company, 1933. 

McCoY, JOSEPH G., Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and 
Southwest. Reprinted. Washington, D. C., The Rare Book Shop, 1932. 

MACK, GEORGE, JR., ed. and pub., The 1933 Kansas Legislative Blue Book. 
Lawrence, World Company, 1933. 

MARCY, MRS. JENNIE C., Autumn Leaves. Baldwin, 1932. 



190 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

MARKHAM, REUBEN H., Meet Bulgaria. Published by the author. Sofia, 
Bulgaria, Printed by "The Stopansko Razvitiye Press," 1931. 

MARYSVILLE, Revised Ordinances of the City of Marysville. Published by 
Order of the City Council, May, 1893. 

MAXTON, MRS. ROSIB ELLEN, The Last One. Joplin, Mo., Automatic Printing 
Company, 1932. 

MERRILL, O. N., A True History of the Kansas Wars, and Their Origin, 
Progress and Incidents. . . . Cincinnati, 1856. Tarrytown, N. Y. Re- 
printed by William Abbatt, 1932. 

MOORE, MRS. ELMA (SETTLE), Winnowings. [Seneca, Courier-Tribune Press] 
n. d. 

Moss, RYCROFT G., The Geology of Ness and Hodgeman Counties, Kansas. 

(State Geological Survey of Kansas, Bulletin 19, 1932.) 
NYQUIST, EDNA, Pioneer Life and Lore of McPherson County, Kansas. 

McPherson, Democrat-Opinion Press, 1932. 
OLATHE, FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Dedication Services of the First Christian 

Church, Olathe, Kansas, Sunday, April the Fourth, 1926. No impr. 
OLATHE, JOHN P. ST. JOHN MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL, A Life Lived for Others: 

John Pierce St. John 1833-1938. [Olathe, John P. St. John Memorial High 

School, Journalism Class, 1933.] 
OSWALD, A. LEWIS, Traditions of Troop One. Hutchinson, Rotherwood Press, 

[c!931]. 

OWEN, JENNIE SMALL, Fodder. 4th ed. Emporia, Emporia Gazette Print, 1932. 
PEJMBERTON, MURDOCK, AND DAVID BOEHM, Sing High, Sing Low; a Comedy in 

Two Acts and Six Scenes. New York, Samuel French, Incorporated, [c!932L 
PERRY, JOHN D., President Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division. 

[Letter to Hon. 0. H. Browning, Secretary of the Interior, Dated St. Louis, 

December 31, 1868.] No impr. 
PETERS, H. P., History and Development of Education Among the Mennon- 

ites in Kansas. Hillsboro, 1925. 
PHILLIPS, MRS. CATHERINE COFFIN, Cornelius Cole, California Pioneer and 

United States Senator: a Study in Personality and Achievements Bearing 

Upon the Growth of a Commonwealth. San Francisco, John Henry Nash, 

1929. 
, Portsmouth Plaza, the Cradle of San Francisco. San Francisco, John 

Henry Nash, 1932. 
Folk's Arkansas City (Kansas) Directory, 1930. Including Cowley County. 

Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk & Company, 1930. 

Polk's Chanute (Kansas) City Directory, 1929. Including Neosho County Tax- 
payers. Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk & Company, 1929. 
Polk's El Dorado (Kansas) City Directory, 1929. Kansas City, Mo., R. L. 

Polk & Company, 1929. 
Polk's Emporia (Kansas) City Directory, 1930. Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk 

& Company, 1930. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 191 

Folk's Kansas City (Kansas) Directory, 1930. Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk 

& Company, 1930. 
Folk's Salina (Kansas') City Directory, 1931. Including Saline County. Kansas 

City, Mo., R. L. Polk & Company, 1930. 
Folk's Topeka City Directory, 1933. Including Shawnee County Taxpayers. 

Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk & Company, 1933. 
Folk's Winfield (Kansas) City Directory, 1931. Including Cowley County. 

Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk & Company, 1931. 
POLLOCK, JOHN CALVIN, Charge to Grand Jury, Fort Scott, Kansas, May 1, 

1922. No impr. 
PORTER, KENNETH WIGGINS, John Jacob Astor, Business Man. Cambridge, 

Harvard University Press, 1931. 
"A Protest" of the Committee Representing Stevens, Morton and Seward 

Counties in the State of Kansas Against the Passage of the "Voorhees- 

Cimarron Land Office BUI." N. p. Judd & Detweiller, [1888]. 
QUAYLE, WILLIAM ALFRED, The Prairie and the Sea. Cincinnati, Jennings & 

Graham, 1905. 
READ, JOHN M., Speech on the Power of Congress Over the Territories, and 

in Favor of Free Kansas, Free White Labor, and of Fremont and Day^ 

ton. . . September 30, 1856, at Philadelphia. Philadelphia, C. Sherman 

& Son, 1856. 
RHODES, HARRY L., Bird Notes, with Questions and Answers. Wellington, 

Charles Hillebrandt, 1932. 
ROENIGK, ADOLPH, ed., Pioneer History of Kansas. [Lincoln, Kan.] Author, 

[c 1933]. 

ROSE, OSCAR JOEL, Just Ridin' 'Round Stories, n. p. c!932. 
SEELEY, CHARLES LIVINGSTONE, Pioneer Days in the Arkansas Valley and South- 

ern Colorado and History of Bent's Fort. Denver, Author, [c!932]. 
SEWARD, COY AVON, Metal Plate Lithography for Artists and Draftsmen. New 

York, The Pencil Points Press, Incorporated, 1931. 
SHARP, WAUBAN A., A Brief Sketch of the Central Normal College, Great 

Bend, Kansas, from Its Beginning to Its Close. Topeka, 1933. 
SHERWOOD, ELMER, Buffalo Bill's Boyhood. Racine, Wis., Western Publishing 

Company, n. d. 
SHUMARD, B. F., AND G. C. SWALLOW, Descriptions of New Fossils, from the 

Coal Measures of Missouri and Kansas. St. Louis, George Knapp & Com- 
pany, 1858. 
SMITH, EDWARD B., Etymology and Syntax. Chicago, A. Flanagan Company, 

[c!894]. 
Solid Shot. The Facts and the Arguments on the Liquor Traffic. 2d ed. 

Springfield, Ohio, New Era Company, 1890. 
STOLPB, MAURITZ, AND ALFRED BERGIN, Call for Lutheran Rallying. Rock 

Island, 111., Augustana Book Concern, 1917. 
STKOUD, ALBERT, Verdigris Valley Verse. Coffeyville, Journal Press, 1917. 



192 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

TAYLOR, MRS. H. J., Snow and Goss, the Pioneers in Kansas Ornithology. Re- 
printed from the Wilson Bulletin, September, 1932. 

TOPEKA BOARD OF EDUCATION, Socializing the School. Report of the Board of 
Education, Topeka, Kansas, for the Two Years Ending July 1, 1917. No 
impr. 

UNDERWOOD, MRS. EDNA WORTHLEY, Other Twilights. Portland, Me., Mosher 
Press, 1928. 

, Egyptian Twilights. Portland, Me., Mosher Press, 1928. 

, Improvisations, Africa, the Mediterranean. Portland, Me., Mosher 

Press, 1929. 

-, Improvisations, South America, the Carib Sea. Portland, Me., Mosher 



Press, 1929. 

, Masque of the Moons. Portland, Me., Mosher Press, 1928. 

, Songs from the Plains. Boston, Sherman, French & Company, 1917. 

, tr., Anthology of Mexican Poets from the Earliest Times to the Pre- 



sent Day. Portland, Me., Mosher Press, 1932. 

The Book of Seven Songs by Tu Fu, Translated into English by Edna 



Worthley Underwood and Chi-Hwang Chu. Portland, Me., Mosher Press, 

1928. 
, Famous Stories from Foreign Countries. Boston, Four Seas Company. 

1921. 
, The Slav Anthology, Russian, Polish, Bohemian, Serbian, Croatian. 

Portland, Me., Mosher Press, 1931. 

, Songs of Hafiz. Boston, Four Seas Company, 1917. 

, The Taste of Honey: the Note Book of a Linguist. Portland, Me., 



Mosher Press, 1930. 

Three Chinese Masterpieces, Translated into English by Edna Worth- 



ley Underwood and Chi-Hwang Chu. Portland, Me., Mosher Press, 1927. 

USHER, J. P., The Pacific Railroads: Their Operation as One Continuous Line. 
Argument in Behalf of the Kansas Pacific Railway Before the House Com- 
mittee on the Pacific Railroad. Washington City, 1878. 

VAN NOT, KATHRYNE, AND ELINOR HEDRICK, Jack and Matt of the WX. New 
York, Duffield & Green, [c!933]. 

VESTAL, STANLEY, pseud., Sitting Bull, Champion of the Sioux. Boston, 
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1932. 

Views of the Great Kansas River Flood, Lawrence, May and June, 190S. 
Lawrence, Daily Gazette, 1903. 

WAUGH, MAURICE C., Hearthside Musings. Wichita, Travis Press, 1931. 

, Reanimation. Wichita, Travis Press, 1932. 

WHITTEMORE, MRS. FRANCES DAVIS, George Washington in Sculpture. Boston, 
Marshall Jones Company, 1933. 

WICHITA CITY MANAGER, Report, 1922-1926, 1928-1932. 10 vols. No impr. 

Wichita City Directory 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1928, 
1931, 19S2. 12 vols. Place and Publisher vary. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 193 

WICHITA CITY SCHOOLS, Community Life and Development: a Manual for 
Work in Community Civics. 4th ed. Wichita. Wichita Eagle Press, 1926. 

WIRTH, FREDERICK E., Socialism: the Political Religion of a Christian. (Uni- 
versity of Kansas. Hattie Elizabeth Lewis Memorial, No. 13.) 

WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS, Fifty-fourth 
Annual Report, 1932, n. p. 1933. 

WOMER, PARLEY PAUL, The Coming Creed. Boston, Sherman, French & Com- 
pany, 1911. 

WOOL WORTH, J. M., The Pacific Railroads: Their Operation as One Continuous 
Line. Argument in Behalf of the Kansas Pacific Railway, before the House 
Committee on the Pacific Railroad. Washington City, 1878. 

WOOSTER, LYMAN C., The Fundamentals of Biology. Emporia, Emporia Ga- 
zette, 1930. 

THE WEST 

ALLEN, JULES VERNE, Cowboy Lore. San Antonio, Tex., Naylor Printing Com- 
pany, 1933. 

BROWN, MRS. JENNIE BROUGHTON, Fort Hall on the Oregon Trail. Caldwell, 
Idaho, Caxton Printers, 1932. 

BRUCE, ROBERT, The Fighting Norths and Pawnee Scouts; Narratives and 
Reminiscences of Military Service on the Old Frontier. . . . Published 
with the cooperation and approval of the Nebraska State Historical Society. 
Lincoln, Neb., c!932. 

CHAPIN, FREDERICK H., Mountaineering in Colorado: the Peaks about Estes 
Park. Boston, Appalachian Mountain Club, 1889. 

CHARDON, FRANCIS A., Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-1839: Descrip- 
tive of Life on the Upper Missouri; of a Fur Trader's Experiences among 
the Mandans, Gros Venires and Their Neighbors; of the Ravages of the 
Small-pox Epidemic of 1837. Pierre, S. D., 1932. 

CRAWFORD, LEWIS FERANDUS, Rekindling Camp Fires, the Exploits of Ben 
Arnold (Connor) (Wa-si-cu Tam-a-he-ca) ; an Authentic Narrative of Sixty 
Years in the Old West as Indian Fighter, Gold Miner, Cowboy, Hunter and 
Army Scout. Bismarck, N. D., Capital Book Company, [c!926]. 

DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS, Pioneer Songs. [Salt Lake City] Author, 
c!932. 

DELLENBAUGH, FREDERICK SAMUEL, The Romance of the Colorado River; the 
Story of Its Discovery in 1540, With an Account of the Later Explora>- 
tions, and With Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell Through the 
Line of the Great Canyons. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1906. 

EGAN, HOWARD, Pioneering the West, 1846 to 1878; Major Howard Effan's 
Diary, Also Thrilling Experiences of Pre-Frontier Life Among Indians. . . . 
Richmond, Utah, Howard R. Egan Estate, 1917. 

FITCH, FRANKLIN Y., The Life, Travels and Adventures of an American 
Wanderer: a Truihjul Narrative of Events in the Life of Alonzo P. DeMilt. 
. . . New York, John W. Lovell Company, [c!883]. 

133410 



194 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

GELBERT, EDMUND WILLIAM, The Explorations of Western America 1800-1850, 
an Historical Geography. Cambridge, University Press, 1933. 

GREGG, JOSIAH, Commerce of the Prairies; the Journal of a Santa Fe Trader. 
Reprint edition. Dallas, Southwest Press, [1933]. 

HAFEN, LERoy R., Colorado, the Story of a Western Commonwealth. Denver, 
Peerless Publishing Company, 1933. 

HAFERKORN, H. E., comp., The Mississippi River and Valley: Bibliography: 
Mostly Nontechnical. Fort Humphreys, Va., The Engineer School, 1931. 

HASTINGS, LANSFORD WARREN, The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California. 
Princeton. Princeton University Press, 1932. (Narratives of the Trans-Mis- 
sissippi Frontier: a series of reprints of Western Americana.) 

HEBARD, GRACE RAYMOND, Sacajawea, a Guide and Interpreter of the Lewis and 
Clark Expedition, With an Account of the Travels of Toussaint Char- 
bonneau, and of Jean Baptiste, the Expedition Papoose. Glendale, Cal., 
Arthur H. Clark Company, 1933. 

HOOPES, ALBAN W., Indian Affairs and Their Administration, With Special 
Reference to the Far West, 1849-1860. Philadelphia [University of Pennsyl- 
vania Press], 1932. 

HUDSON, WILLIAM HENRY, Famous Missions of California. New York, Dodge 
Publishing Company, [c!901]. 

HULBERT, ARCHER BUTLER, ed., Southwest on the Turquoise Trail; the First 
Diaries on the Road to Santa Fe. Published by the Stewart Commission 
of Colorado College and the Denver Public Library, [1933]. (Overland to 
the Pacific, vol. 2.) 

KELLY, HALL JACKSON, Hall J. Kelley on Oregon; a Collection of Five of His 
Published Works and a Number of Hitherto Unpublished Letters. Prince- 
ton, Princeton University Press, 1932. (Narratives of the Trans-Mississippi 
Frontier: a series of reprints of Western Americana.) 

LANGWORTHY, FRANKLIN, Scenery of the Plains, Mountains and Mines. Prince- 
ton, Princeton University Press, 1932. (Narratives of the Trans-Mississippi 
Frontier: a series of reprints of Western Americana.) 

LEWIS, ANNA, Along the Arkansas. Dallas, Southwest Press, [c!932]. 

LOCKWOOD, FRANCIS CUMMINS, Pioneer Days in Arizona, From the Spanish 
Occupation to Statehood. New York, Macmillan Company, 1932. 

LOVE, NAT, The L/ife and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the 
Cattle Country as "Deadwood Dick" . . . Los Angeles, 1907. 

MCLEAN, JOHN, Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay 
Territory. London, Richard Bentley, 1849. Toronto, Champlain Society, 
1932. (Reprint.) 

MASSEY, STEPHEN L., James's Traveler's Companion. Being a Complete Guide 
Through the Western States. . . . Cincinnati, J. A. & U. P. James, 1851. 

New Spain and the Anglo-American West; Historical Contributions Presented 
to Herbert Eugene Bolton. 2 vols. [Los Angeles, Privately Printed, 1932.] 

OSTRANDER, ALSON BOWLES, The Bozeman Trail Forts Under General Philip 
St. George Cooke in 1866. . . . Casper, Wyo., Commercial Printing 
Company, 1932. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRAEY 195 

OWEN, JOHN, Journals and Letters of Major John Owen, Pioneer of the North- 
west 1850-1871. . . . New York, Edward Eberstadt, 1927. 

PIKE, JAMES, Scout and Ranger, Being the Personal Adventures of James Pike 
of the Texas Rangers in 1859-60. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1932. 
(Narratives of the Trans-Mississippi Frontier: a series of reprints of 
Western Americana.) 

PIKE, ZEBULON MONTGOMERY, Zebulon Pike's Arkansaw Journal. Published by 
the Stewart Commission of Colorado College and the Denver Public 
Library, 1932. (Overland to the Pacific, vol. 1.) 

Pioneering on the Plains, Journey to Mexico in 1848, the Overland Trip td 
California. [Kaukauna, Wis., 1924.] 

POB, JOHN WILLIAM, The Death of Bitty the Kid. Boston, Houghton Mifflin 
Company, 1933. 

ROYCE, SARAH, A Frontier Lady: Recollections of the Gold Rush and Early 
California. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1932. 

SHAW, R. C., Across the Plains in Forty-nine. Farmland, Ind., W. C. West, 
1896. 

SAMPSON, HENRY I., Emigrant's Guide to the Gold Mines. Three Weeks in 
the Gold Mines, or Adventures with the Gold Diggers of California in 
August, 1848. . . . New York, Joyce & Company, 1848. Tarrytown, 
N. Y. Reprinted by William Abbatt, 1932. 

STANTON, ROBERT BREWSTER, Colorado River Controversies. New York, Dodd, 
Mead & Company, 1932. 

STONE, MRS. ELIZABETH ARNOLD, Uinta County, Its Place in History. Glen- 
dale, Calif., Arthur H. Clark Company, n. d. 

TALLACK, WILLIAM, The California Overland Express, the Longest Stage Ride 
in the World. Published serially in Leisure Hour, London, 1865. 

THOMAS, ALFRED BARNABY, ed. and tr., Forgotten Frontiers: a Study of the 
Spanish Indian Policy of Don Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of New 
Mexico, 1777-1787. . . . Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. 

THOMPSON, WILLIAM, Reminiscences of a Pioneer. San Francisco, 1912. 

WILSON, RTJFUS ROCKWELL, Out of the West. New York, Press of the Pio- 
neers, 1933. 

GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY 

AMERICAN CLAN GREGOR SOCIETY, Year Book, Containing the Proceedings of 
the Twenty-third Annual Gathering. Richmond, Va., American Clan Gregor 
Society, [c!933]. 

AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INCORPORATED, Ruj, Haight, Eddy, Sumner, 
Hatch and Allied Families: Genealogical and Biographical. New York, 
Author, 1932. 

AMERICAN IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Journal, 1932, Vol. 80. New York, So- 
ciety, 1932. 

Annual Review of Greater Kansas City: Illustrated 1908. Kansas City, D. M. 
Bone, Secy., Business Men's League, [c!908]. 

ARDERY, MRS. WILLIAM BRECKENRIDGE, comp., Kentucky Court and Other 
Records, Vol. 2. Lexington, Ky., Keystone Printery, 1932. 



196 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

BELL, LANDON C., Charles Parish, York County, Virginia. History and Regis- 
ters. Births, 1648-1789. Deaths, 1665-1787. Richmond, Virginia State Li- 
brary Board, 1932. 
BERGEN, TEUNIS G., Genealogy oj the Lefferts Family, 1650-1878. Albany, Joel 

Munsell, 1878. 
BERTHOLD, EUGENIE, Glimpses oj Creole Life in Old St. Louis. St. Louis, 

Missouri Historical Society, 1933. 
BRIMFIELD, MASS., Vital Records to the Year, 1850. Boston, New England 

Historic Genealogical Society, 1931. 
BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Collection oj Payers, Vol. 6. Published 

for the Society, 1932. 
BUECHNER, CECILIA BAIN, The Pokagons. Indianapolis, Printed for Indiana 

Historical Society, 1933. 
CANTERBURY, CONN., CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Records, 1711-1844- Hartford, 

Historical Society and Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of 

Connecticut, 1932. 
COLLIER, EDWARD A., A History oj Old Kinderhook from Aboriginal Days to 

the Present Time. . . . New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1914. 
COLUMBIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Records, Vol. 83-34- Washington City, Society, 

1932. 
COURT OF ALBANY, RENSSELAERSWYCK AND SCHENECTADY, Minutes, 1680-1685, 

Vol. 3. Albany, University of the State of New York, 1932. 
CRAIG, H. STANLEY, comp., Cumberland County (New Jersey) Marriages. 

Merchantville, N. J., Compiler, n. d. 
DANIELS, FRANK A., History of Wayne County [North Carolina}. Address at 

Opening of Wayne County's New Court House, November 30, 1914- No 

impr. 
DARTMOUTH, MASS., Vital Records to the Year 1850. 3 vols. Boston, New 

England Historic Genealogical Society, 1930. 
DAUGHTERS OF FOUNDERS AND PATRIOTS OF AMERICA, History of the National 

Society, 1911, 1913, 1914. 3 vols. No impr. 
, Lineage Book, Vols. 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 1920, 1924, 1927, 1928, 

1931, 1932. 15 vols. [Place and Publisher vary] . 

, Officers and' Members, 1910. No impr. 

, Year Book, 1931-1934. No impr. 



DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, Lineage Book. Vols. 127-132. 
Washington, D. C., Press of Judd & Detweiler, Incorporated, 1932-1933. 

, North Carolina, Roster of Soldiers from North Carolina in the Ameri- 
can Revolution. Durham, N. C., Author, 1932. 

Descendants of John Porter, of Windsor, Conn., in the Line of His Great, 
Great Grandso"^ dol. Joshua Porter, M.D. of Salisbury. . . . Conn. . . . 
Saratoga Springs, N. Y., George W. Ball, 1882. 

DOANE, ALFRED ALDER, comp. and publisher, The Doane Family: Deacon John 
Doane, of Plymouth, Doctor John Doane, of Maryland. Boston, compiler, 
1902. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 197 

Dyer and Payne Family Lineages. No impr. 

ELLIS, JOHN S., Our Country: Its History and Early Settlement by Townships. 

. . . [Complete History of Delaware County, Indiana], Muncie, Ind., 

Neeley Printing Company, [1898]. 

Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Vol., 20. New York, Lewis Histori- 
cal Publishing Company, 1932. 
Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Index Vols. 1-20. New York, Lewis 

Historical Publishing Company, 1932. 
FABWELL, HARRIETTS F., Shaw Records, a Memorial of Roger Shaw, 1594-1661. 

Bethel, Maine, E. C. Bowler, 1904. 
FAUST, ALBERT BERNHARDT, The German Element in the United States. Boston, 

Hough ton Mifflin Company, 1909. 
FAXON, FREDERICK WINTHROP, ed., Annual Magazine Subject Index, 1931. 

Boston, F. W. Faxon Company, 1932. 
FLETCHER, EDWARD H., Fletcher Family History; the Descendants of Robert 

Flitcher of Concord, Mass. Boston, Rand, Avery & Company, 1881. 
GERMAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ILLINOIS, Jahrbuch, Vol. 32. Chicago, 

University of Chicago Press, 1932. 
THE GOVERNOR THOMAS DUDLEY FAMILY ASSOCIATION, Year Book, Year Ending 

October 20, 1931. No impr. 
GREEN, EDWIN L., History of Richland County [South Carolina]. Columbia, 

S. C., R. L. Bryan Company, 1932. 
HAYDEN, CHARLES ALBERT, comp., The Capen Family, Descendants of Bernard 

Capen of Dorchester, Mass. [Minneapolis, Minn., Augsburg Publishing 

House, 1929.] 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEWBURGH BAY AND THE HIGHLANDS, Publication No. 14. 

Newburgh, Newburgh Journal Print, n. d. 
History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, Missouri. St. Louis, 

Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1887. 
History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, With Illustrations and Biographical 

Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. New York, Munsell 

& Company, 1880. 
History of Penobscot County, Maine, With Illustrations and Biographical 

Sketches. Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Company, 1882. 
History of Union County, Ohio. . . . Chicago, W. H. Beers & Company, 

1883. 
HOES, ROSWELL RANDALL, Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch 

Church of Kingston, Ulster County, New York. . . . New York, De 

Vinne Press, 1891. 
HOPPIN, CHARLES ARTHUR, The Washington Ancestry and Records of the Mo 

Clain, Johnson and Forty Other Colonial American Families. 3 vols. 

Greenfield, Ohio. Privately printed, 1932. 
HUGUENOT SOCIETY. Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia, The 

Huguenot, Publication No. 5. Independence, Mo., Lambert Moon Printing 

and Publishing Company, 1931. 



198 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Transactions, No. 37. Published by 
Order of the Society, Charleston, S. C., 1932. 

HUNTER, C. L., Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Bio- 
graphical. Raleigh, Raleigh News Steam and Job Print, 1877. Reprinted, 
1930. 

ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Transactions for the Year 1982. Proceed- 
ings of the Annual Meeting, Papers Presented at That Time, Contributions 
to State History. Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois, [1933]. 

JACOBUS, DONALD LINES, ed., History and Genealogy of the Families of Old 
Fairfield, Vol. 2, Parts 1-6. Fairfield, Conn. Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter, 
D. A. R., 1932-'33. 

JEWETT, FREDERIC CLARKE, History and Genealogy of the Jewetts of America. 
2 vols. New York, Grafton Press, 1908. 

JONES, HORATIO GATES, The Levering Family: or, A Genealogical Account of 
Wigard Levering and Gerhard Levering . . . and Their Descendants. 
. . . Philadelphia, King & Baird, 1858. 

KENT, ARTHUR SCOTT, Kent Genealogy. Privately printed, 1933. 

KING, EDWARD THORP, Genealogy of Some Early Families in Grant and Pleas- 
ant Districts, Preston County, West Virginia; Also the Thorpe Family of 
Fayette County, Pennsylvania and the Cunningham Family of Somerset 
County, Pennsylvania. [Marshalltown, Iowa, 1933.] 

KING, J. ESTELLE STEWART, comp., Abstract of Early Kentucky Wills and In- 
ventories Copied from Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories, n. p. 
1933. 

LEWIS, THEODORE GRAHAM, History of Waterbury, Vermont, 1763-1915. Water- 
bury, Vt., Record Print, [cl915L 
LININGER, WILLIAM H., comp. and pub., The Liningers: Genealogical Register 

of the Descendants of Henry Lininger. Chicago, 1930. 
LITTLE, MARYELLA ROBINSON, Stephen Little of New York, His Background 

and Family. . . . Privately printed, n. d. 
LOCKE, JOHN STAPLES, Historical Sketches of Old Orchard and the Shores of 

Saco Bay . . . Boston, C. H. Woodman & Company, 1884. 
LOWELL, MASS., Vital Records to the End of the Year 1849. 4 vols. Salem, 

Mass., Essex Institute, 1930. 

[LuM, ELMOUR DBNTON], Sylvanus Lum Family, 1807-1930, n. p. [1930]. 
McCABE, MRS. GILLIE (GARY), The Story of an Old Town, Hampton, Virginia. 

Richmond, Old Dominion Press, 1929. 
McCoRD, WILLIAM B., ed. and comp., A Souvenir History of Ye Old Town of 

Salem, Ohio, with Some Pictures and Brief References to Ye People and 

Things of Ye Olden Time. [Salem, 1906.] 
Maine Register, State Year Book and Legislative Manual. Nos. 61 and 62. 

Portland, Me., Fred L. Tower Companies, 1930-31. 
MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly 

of Maryland, 1752-1754. Baltimore, Maryland Historical Society, 1933. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 199 

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Proceedings, Vol. 64. Boston, Society, 

1932. 
MILLER, BEN ROBERTSON, The Louisiana Judiciary. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

State University Press, 1932. (University Studies, No. 9.) 
MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT, Builders of the Bay Colony. Boston, Houghton 

Mifflin Company, 1930. 

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA, PATRIOTIC SERVICE COM- 
MITTEE, Book Guide to the Separate States of These United States of 

America, May, 1933. No impr. 
NEW BEDFORD, MASS., Vital Records to the Year 1850. Vol. 1. Boston, New 

England Historic Genealogical Society, 1932. 
NEW ENGIAND SOCIETY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, Annual Report, 1932. No 

impr. 

NICKELL, JOE, History of the Nickell Family. Chart. 
O'GORMAN, ELLA FOY, Ancestry of Foy and Allied Families. 6 charts. 
Panhandle-Plains Historical Review, Vols. 5-6. Canyon, Tex., Panhandle-Plains 

Historical Society, 1932-1933. 
PELLETREAU, WILLIAM S., Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical 

and Family History of New York. 4 vols. New York, Lewis Publishing 

Company, 1907. 
PEMBERTON, ROBERT L., History of Pleasants County, West Virginia. St. Marys, 

W. Va., Oracle Press, 1929. 
PYRTLE, E. RUTH, Early Virginia Families, Pyrtle, Davis, Turner, Martin. 

[Lincoln, Neb., Claflin Printing Company, 1930]. 
REX, LEDA FERRELL, George Rex Genealogy: Ancestry and Descendants of 

George Rex First of England to Pennsylvania in 1771. Wichita. Privately 

published, 1933. 
ROBINSON, GEORGE F., History of Greene County, Ohio. . . . Chicago, S. J. 

Clarke Publishing Company, 1902. 

RODNEY, GEORGE BRYDGES, Letter-books and Order-book of George, Lord Rod- 
ney, Admiral of the White Squadron, 1780-1782. 2 vols. New York, Printed 

for the New York Historical Society, 1932. 
ROLLINS, JOHN RODMAN, Records of Families of the Name Rawlins or Rollins 

in the United States. ' Lawrence, Mass., George S. Merrill & Cricker, 1874. 
RUMPLE, JETHRO, History of Rowan County, North Carolina; Containing 

Sketches of Prominent Families and Distinguished Men. Salisbury, N. C., 

J. J. Brewer, 1881. Republished by Elizabeth Maxwell Steele Chapter, D. 

A. R., 1929. 
SCOTT, W. W., Annals of Caldwell County [N. C.]. Lenoir, N. C., New Topic 

Print, [cl930L 
SELLERS, EDWIN JAQUETT, Van Hecke Allied Ancestry. Philadelphia, Allen, 

Lane & Scott, 1933. 

SHALLENBERGER, MRS. E. H., Stark County [Illinois'] and Its Pioneers. Cam- 
bridge, 111., R. W. Seaton, 1876. 
SHAMBAUGH, BERTHA M. H., Amana That Was and Amana That Is. Iowa 

City, State Historical Society of Iowa, 1932. 



200 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Sheffield, Daggett and Allied Families; a Genealogical Study with Biographical 
Notes. New York, American Historical Society, 1932. 

SHELBURNE, MASS., Vital Records to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Mass., 
Essex Institute, 1931. 

SIEWEBS, CHARLES N., Forsyth County: Economic and Social, a Laboratory 
Study at the University of North Carolina, Department of Rural Social 
Economics, n. p. 1924. 

SLOCUM, CHARLES ELIHTJ, Short History of the Slocums, Slocumes and Slo- 
combs of America. . . . Syracuse, N. Y., Author, 1882. 

SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS, RHODE ISLAND, The Muster Rolls of Three Com- 
panies Enlisted by the Colony of Rhode Island in May, 1746, for an Ex- 
pedition against Canada. Providence, Printed for the Society by the Stand- 
ard Printing Company, [1915]. 

, A Plat of the Land of Captain Henry Bull at Pettaquamscut, Drawn 

by James Helme, Surveyor, January 8, 1729. Providence. Printed for the 
Society by E. L. Freeman Company, [1927]. 

, Samuel Gorton's Letter to Lord Hyde in Behalf of the Narragansett 



Sachems. [Providence] Printed for the Society by E. F. Freeman Com- 
pany, 1930. 

, Some Further Papers Relating to King Philip's War. [Providence] 

Printed for the Society by E. L. Freeman Company, 1931. 

SOCIETY OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION, The Constitution of the General Society 
of the Sons of the Revolution, and the Constitution and By-Laws of the 
Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York. New York, 
Exchange Printing Company, 1891. 

Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution, Compiled from Pension Statements. 
Chattanooga, Lookout Publishing Company, n. d. 

SONDLEY, FOSTER ALEXANDER, Asheville and Buncombe County [North Caro- 
lina}. Genesis of Buncombe County by Hon. Theodore F. Davidson. 
Asheville, Citizen Company, 1922. 

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, South Dakota Historical Col- 
lections, Vol. 16, Part 1. Pierre, Hippie Printing Company, 1932. 

SPOFFORD, CHARLES BYRON, comp., Grave-stone Records from the Ancient Cem- 
eteries in the Town of Claremont, New Hampshire. Claremont, George 
I. Putnam, 1896. 

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IDAHO, Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees, 
8-12, 1922-1930. 5 vols. Boise, 1922-1930. 

STEWART, FRANK H., Salem County [N. /.] in the Revolution. Reprinted 
from the Salem Standard and Jerseyman, 1932. 

TALLMADGE, SAMUEL AND OTHERS, Orderly Books of the Fourth New York 
Regiment, 1778-1780, the Second New York Regiment, 1780-1783, With 
Diaries of Samuel Tallmadge, 1780-1782 and John Barr, 1779-1782. Albany, 
University of the State of New York, 1932. 

TAYLOR, CHARLES J., History of Great Barrington (Berkshire County), Massa- 
chusetts. Great Barrington, Clark W. Bryan & Company, 1882. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 201 

TAYLOR, ELLERY KIRKE, Descendants of Stephen Flanders of Salisbury, Mass., 

1646, Being a Genealogy of the Flanders Family. 2d ed. [Rutland, Vt.] 

Privately printed, 1932. 
TURNER, WILLIAM READ, Old Homes and Families in Nottoway. [Black-Stone, 

Va., Nottoway Publishing Company, c!932]. 
UTICA PUBLIC LIBRARY, comp., A Bibliography of the History and Life of Utica. 

Utica, Goodenow Printing Company, Incorporated, 1932. 
VAIL, HENRY HOBART, Pomfret, Vermont. 2 vols. [Boston, Cockayne, 1930.] 
VAN RENSSELAER, JEREMIAS, Correspondence of Jeremias Van Rensselaer, 1651- 

1674. Albany, University of the State of New York, 1932. 
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Proceedings. Montpelier, Vt., 1932. 
VIRKUS, FREDERICK ADAMS, The Compendium of American Genealogy, Vol. 5. 

Chicago, Institute of American Genealogy, 1933. 
WADDELL, ALFRED MOORE, History of New Hanover County and the Lower Cape 

Fear Region [North Carolina] 1723-1800, Vol. 1, n. p. [pref. 1909]. 
WALMSLEY, HARRY R., ed., The State of Missouri. . . . [Kansas City, Mo., 

Lewis Printing Company.] 1932. 
WEISB, ARTHUR JAMES, History of Lansingburgh, N. Y., From the Year 1670 

to 1877. Troy, N. Y., William H. Young, 1877. 
WESTON, THOMAS, History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Boston, 

Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906. 
WEYBURN, SAMUEL FLETCHER, The Biography and Ancestry of Hon. George 

Henry Catlin, Scranton, Pennsylvania, with Notes on Genealogy. [Scranton, 

Pa., Lackawana Historical Society, c!930], 
WHEELER, HENRY A., Genealogy of the Descendants of Samuel H. and Sarah 

H. Wheeler of the Town of Berlin, Worcester County, Massachusetts, 1815- 

1982. n. p. [pref. 1932]. 

WHITE, ALMIRA LARKIN, Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wen- 
ham and Lancaster, Mass. 1688-1900. 3 vols. Haverhill, Mass., Chase 

Brothers, 1900-1905. 
WHITE MRS. NELLE RHEA, The Bradfords of Virginia in the Revolutionary 

War and Their Kin. Richmond, Va., Whittel & Shepperson, 1932. 
WILSTACH, PAUL, Potomac Landings. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Company, 

[c!920, 1921, 1932]. 
WINFIELD, CHARLES HARDENBURG, History of the Land Titles in Hudson County, 

N. J. 1609-1871. 2 vols. New York, Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, 1872. 
WOOD, WILLIAM SMITH, Descendants of the Brothers Jeremiah and John Wood. 

Worcester, Mass., Press of Charles Hamilton, 1885. 

GENERAL 

A. L. A. Catalog, 1926-1931, Chicago, American Library Association, 1933. 

ACADEMIE DE MACON, Societe des Arts, Sciences, Belles-Lettres, and Agricul- 
ture de Saone-et-Loire, Annales Tome 27. Macon, Protot Freres, 1930-1931. 

ADAMS, JAMES TRUSLOW, The March of Democracy; the Rise of the Union. 
New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932. 



202 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

, The March of Democracy; from Civil War to World Power. Vol. 2. 

New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. 
[ALLEN, ROBERT S. AND DREW PEARSON], Washington Merry-Go-Round. New 

York, Blue Ribbon Books, Incorporated, [c!931]. 
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, Proceedings, vol. 42, pt. 2. Worcester, Mass., 

Society, 1933. 

Americana Annual: An Encyclopedia of Current Events, 1933. New York, 
Americana Corporation, 1933. 

BARRETT, SAMUEL ALFRED, Ancient Aztalan. (Bulletin of the Public Museum 
of the City of Milwaukee, vol. 13, April 24, 1933.) 

and E. W. GIFFORD, Miwok Material Culture. (Bulletin of the Public 

Museum of the City of Milwaukee, vol. 2, No. 4, March 17, 1933.) 

BOK, EDWARD WILLIAM, The Americanization of Edward Bok: the Auto- 
biography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After. New York, Charles Scrib- 
ner's Sons, 1924. 

BOWERS, CLAUDE GERNADE, Beveridge and the Progressive Era. Cambridge, 
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1932. 

BROCKETT, LINUS PIERPONT, Woman's Work in the Civil War: a Record of 
Heroism, Patriotism and Patience. Philadelphia, Zeigler, McCurdy & Com- 
pany, 1867. 

BROWNING, ORVILLE HICKMAN, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 
2, 1865-1881. Springfield, 111., Illinois State Historical Library, 1933. 

BRUCE, ROBERT, comp., Pawnee Naming Ceremonial, Near Pawnee, Oklahoma, 
Armistice Day, November 11, 1932. New York. Privately published, 1933. 

BURROW, CLAYTON, Life of the Plains Indians. New York, Teachers College, 
Columbia University, 1932. 

, The Plains Indians. New York, Teachers College, Columbia Univer- 
sity, 1932. 

CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, Year Book, 1932. Wash- 
ington, Published by the Endowment, 1932. 

CLAUDER, ANNA CORNELIA, American Commerce as Affected by the Wars of 
the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1793-1812. Philadelphia, 1932. 

COFFIN, EDWIN F., Archaeological Exploration of a Rock Shelter in Brewster 
County, Texas. New York, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foun- 
dation, 1932. (Indian Notes and Monographs, No. 48.) 

CONE, KATE MORRIS, A Sketch of the Life of Sylvester Morris. Boston, Alfred 
Mudge & Son, 1887. 

Contributions to Canadian Economics, Vol. 5, 1932. (University of Toronto 
Studies in History and Economics.) 

CORNEJO, MARIANO H., The Balance of the Continents. London, Oxford Uni- 
versity Press, 1932. 

CRAIGMYLE, THOMAS SHAW, BARON, John Marshall in Diplomacy and in Law. 
New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. 

CRANDALL, ANDREW WALLACE, The Early History of the Republican Party. 
Boston, Richard G. Badger, c!930. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 203 

DANA, JOHN COTTON, Modern American Library Economy as Illustrated by the 
Newark, N. J., Free Public Library; the Picture Collection. 4th ed. New 
York, H. W. Wilson Company, 1929. 

DARNELL, ELIAS, A Journal Containing an Accurate and Interesting Account of 
the Hardships, Sufferings, Battles, Defeat and Captivity of Those Heroic 
Kentucky Volunteers and Regulars . . . in the Years 1812-13. . . . 
Philadelphia, Lippincott, Grambo & Company, 1854. 

Dictionary of American Biography, Vols. 10, 11. New York, Charles Scribner's 
Sons, 1933. 

[DIRECTORIES OF VARIOUS CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES.] 65 vols. 

DODGE, JACOB RICHARDS, Red Men of the Ohio Valley. . . . Springfield, 
Ohio, Ruralist Publishing Company, 1859. 

EISELEN, MALCOLM ROGERS, The Rise of Pennsylvania Protectionism. Phila- 
delphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1932. 

EMERSON, EDWIN, Hoover and His Times. . . . Garden City, N. Y., Garden 
City Publishing Company, Incorporated, 1932. 

FOREMAN, GRANT, Indian Removal: the Emigration of the Five Civilized 
Tribes of Indians. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. 

FREEBURG, VICTOR OSCAE, ed., William Henry Welch at Eighty: a Memorial of 
Celebrations Around the World in His Honor. New York, Milbank Memo- 
rial Fund, 1930. 

GRAY, HOWARD LEVI, Influence of the Commons on Early Legislation; a Study 
of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Cambridge, Harvard University 
Press, 1932. (Harvard Historical Studies, vol. 34.) 

GREELEY, HORACE, Recollections of a Busy Life. New York, The Tribune 
Association, 1873. 

GREENE, EVARTS BONTELL, AND VIRGINIA D. HARRINGTON, American Population 
Before the Federal Census of 1790. New York, Columbia University Press, 
1932. 

GRIFFIN, GRACE GARDNER, Writings on American History, 1929; Supplement 
Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1929. 
Washington, Government Printing Office, 1933. 

GRIFFIS, WILLIAM ELLIOT, The Story of the Walloons at Home, in Lands of 
Exile and in America. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1923. 

HARDY, EDWARD ROCHIE, JR., The Large Estates of Byzantine Egypt. New 
York, Columbia University Press, 1931. 

HOLLAND, RUPERT SARGENT, Historic Ships. Philadelphia, Macrae Smith Com- 
pany, [c!926]. 

HOWARD, JOHN TASKER, Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It. 

New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, [c!929, 1930, 1931]. 
HUDSON, MANLEY OTTMER, ed., International Legislation; a Collection of the 

Texts of Multipartite International Instruments of General Interest, 1919- 

1929. 4 vols. Washington, Carnegie Endownment for International Peace, 

1931. 



204 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

HUNGERFORD, EDWARD, The American Railroad in Laboratory. Washington, 
D. C., American Railway Association, 1933. 

International Index to Periodicals, July, 1932-June, 1983. New York, H. W. 
Wilson Company, 1933. 

INDIANA LIBRARY AND HISTORICAL DEPARTMENT, HISTORICAL BUREAU, Indiana 
Book of Merit; Official Individual Decorations and Commendations 
Awarded to Indiana Men and Women for Services in the World War. 
Indianapolis, 1932. (Indiana Historical Collections, vol. 18.) 

JACKSON, JOSEPH STANLEY, The Public Career of Sir Francis Burdett; The 
Years of Radicalism, 1796-1815. Philadelphia, 1932. 

JAMES, MARQUIS, Andrew Jackson, the Border Captain. Indianapolis, Bobbs- 
Merrill Company, [c!933]. 

JONES, AUGUSTINE, The Life and Work of Thomas Dudley, the Second Gover- 
nor of Massachusetts. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, [cl899L 

KNAPPEN, THEODORE MACFARLANE, Wings of War, an Account of the Important 
Contribution of the United States to Aircraft Invention, Engineering, De- 
velopment and Production during the World War. New York, G. P. Put- 
nam's Sons, 1920. 

LATTIMORE, OWEN, The Gold Tribe, "Fishskin Tatars" of the Lower Sungari. 
. . . (Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, No. 40. 1933.) 

LEE, ROBERT EDWARD, Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, 
by His Son Captain Robert E. Lee. New York, Doubleday, Page & Com- 
pany, 1904. 

LELAND, WALDO GIFFORD, Guide to Materials for American History in the 

Libraries and Archives of Paris. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington, 1932. 
LYNCH, JEREMIAH, A Senator of the Fifties: David C. Broderick of California. 

San Francisco, A. M. Robertson, 1911. 
MANNING, WILLIAM RAY, ed., Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States ; 

Inter-American Affairs, 1831-1860. 2 vols. Vol. 1, Argentina; Vol. 2, Bolivia 

and Brazil. Washington, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 

1932. 
MARYLAND WAR RECORDS COMMISSION, Maryland in the World War, 1917-1919; 

Military and Naval Service Records. 2 vols, and maps. Baltimore, Author, 

1933. 
MASSACHUSETTS, ADJUTANT GENERAL, Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and 

Marines in the Civil War. Vol. 5. Norwood, Mass., Norwood Press, 1932. 
MATHEWS, JOHN JOSEPH, Wah' Kon-Tah, the Osage and the White Man's 

Road. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. 
MEAD, FRANKLIN B., Heroic Statues in Bronze of Abraham Lincoln. Fort 

Wayne, Indiana, Lincoln National Life Foundation, 1932. 
MEAD, MARGARET, The Changing Culture of an Indian Tribe. New York, 

Columbia University Press, 1932. 
MILITARY ORDER OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES, Proceedings of the 

Thirteenth Triennial Convention. 1932. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 205 

MOORE, JOHN BASSETT, ed., International Adjudications, Ancient and Modern; 

History and Documents. . . . Modern Series, vols. 4-5. New York, 

Oxford University Press, 1931-1933. 
National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 22. New York, James T. 

White & Company, 1932. 
NEVINS, ALLAN, Grover Cleveland, a Study in Courage. New York, Dodd, 

Mead & Company, 1933. 
The New International Year Book for the Year 1932. New York, Funk & 

Wagnalls, 1933. 
New York Times Index, Year 1932. New York, New York Times Company, 

1933. 
NORTH DAKOTA, ADJUTANT GENERAL, Roster of the Men and Women Who 

Served in the Army or Naval Service (Including the Marine Corps) of the 

United States or Its Allies from the State of North Dakota in the World 

War, 1917-1 918. 4 vols. Bismarck, Bismarck Tribune Company, 1931. 
Patterson's American Educational Directory, Vol. 30. Chicago, American Edu- 
cational Company, 1933. 

Peace Year Book, 1933. London, National Peace Council [1933]. 
PIERCE, FRANKLIN, Tariff and the Trusts. New York, Macmillan Company, 

1907. 
PORTER, HENRY MILLER, Autobiography of Henry M. Porter, 1838-1932. Denver, 

1932. 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A., Minutes of the General Assembly. 

Philadelphia, 1933. 
REA, PAUL MARSHALL, The Museum and the Community. ... Lancaster, 

Pa., Science Press, 1932. 
ROBERTS, EDWARD HOWELL, comp., Biographical Catalogue of the Princeton 

Theological Seminary, 1815-1932. Princeton, N. J., Theological Seminary, 

1933. 

SMITH, HURON HERBERT, Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians. 
(Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, vol. 7, No. 1, 
May 9, 1933.) 

SPENCE, LEWIS, The Myths of the North American Indians. New York, 
Farrar & Rinehart, n. d. 

STEEFEL, LAWRENCE D., The Schleswig-Holstein Question. Cambridge, Har- 
vard University Press, 1932. (Harvard Historical Studies, vol. 32.) 

SULLIVAN, MARK, Our Times; the United States, 1900-1925. Vol. 4, The War 
Begins, 1909-1914. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932. 

TURNER, FREDERICK JACKSON, The Significance of Sections in American His- 
tory. New York, Henry Holt & Company, [c!932]. 

U. S. ARMY, GENERAL STAFF, List of Conventional Signs and Abbreviations in 
Use on French and German Maps. Printed at The Base Printing Plant, 29th 
Engineers, U. S. Army, 1918. 

U. S. CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 
Vol. 28-29, 1785, January 11-June SO; July 1-December 30. Washington, 
Government Printing Office, 1933. 



206 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the 
United States. Supplement, The World War, 1914-1918. 10 vols. Wash- 
ington, Government Printing Office, 1928-1932. 

UNITED STATES GEORGE WASHINGTON BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, History of 
the George Washington Bicentennial Celebration. Washington, United 
States Washington Bicentennial Commission, 1933. 

VANDER VELDE, LEWIS GEORGE, The Presbyterian Churches and the Federal 
Union, 1861-1869. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1932. (Harvard 
Historical Studies, vol. 33.) 

Who's Who in America, Vol. 17, 1932-38. Chicago, A. N. Marquis Company, 
1932. 

WILKERSON, MARCUS M., Public Opinion and the Spanish-American War. 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1932. (University Studies, 
No. 8.) 

WILLARD, THEODORE ARTHUR, The Codex Perez, an Ancient Mayan Hiero- 
glyphic Book; a Photographic Facsimile Reproduced from the Original in 
the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. Clark Com- 
pany, 1933. 

, The Lost Empires of the Itzaes and Mayas. Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. 

Clark Company, 1932. 

WILSON, ROBERT ANDERSON, Mexico: Its Peasants and Its Priests; or, Adven- 
tures and Historical Researches in Mexico. . . . New York, Harper & 
Brothers, 1856. 

WISCONSIN WAR HISTORY COMMISSION, The 32d Division in the World War, 
1917-1919. Issued by the Joint War History Commission of Michigan and 
Wisconsin. [Milwaukee, Wisconsin Printing Company, c!920.] 

The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1933. New York, World Telegram, 
1933. 

WYLLYS, RUFUS KEY, The French in Sonora (1850-1864), the Story of French 
Adventurers from California into Mexico. Berkeley, University of Cali- 
fornia Press, 1932. (University of California Publications in History, vol. 
21.) 

YOUNG, JESSE BOWMAN, What a Boy Saw in the Army: a Story of Sight- 
Seeing and Adventure in the War for the Union. New York, Hunt & Eaton, 
[cl894L 



Kansas History as Published 
in the Press 

Garnett history has received an extensive review in Harry John- 
son's column, "Past and Present," which has appeared regularly 
for several years in the Garnett Review. 

A column entitled "When Dodge Was Young," by F. A. Hobble, 
is being published from time to time in the Dodge City Daily Globe. 

The early-day recollections of F. L. Hodgson have appeared occa- 
sionally in the Harveyville Monitor in recent months. 

An Oregon woman who lived in Marysville from 1871 to 1882 
wrote a series of interesting letters on early Marysville history which 
were published for several weeks during the latter part of 1933 and 
the first part of 1934 in The Advocate- Democrat, Marysville. 

"How Chanute Was Founded," was the title of an article con- 
tributed by Mrs. C. T. Beatty, of Chanute, to the St. Paul Journal 
in its issue of August 24, 1933. Mrs. Beatty quoted quite exten- 
sively from the manuscript of Judge J. A. Wells, of Erie, one of the 
founders of New Chicago, now a part of Chanute. 

Old notebooks kept by Mrs. S. T. Hendrickson, pioneer music 
teacher of Wichita, provided Rea Woodman with material for a 
feature story which was published in The Democrat, Wichita, in the 
issues of October 7 to November 4, 1933, inclusive. The notebooks 
which related Mrs. Hendrickson's musical activities covered the 
period from 1874 to 1911. 

"Riding Over the Santa Fe Trail," was the title of a series of 
articles by Mrs. G. W. Crosby which appeared in the Chapman 
Advertiser in its issues of October 26, November 23, 30, and Decem- 
ber 7, 1933. The story related many historic events happening on 
this famous highway. 

Dorrance history was briefly sketched by J. L. Garrett in the 
Bunkerhill Advertiser, November 23, 1933. Other contributions 
from Mr. Garrett have appeared occasionally in later issues of the 
Advertiser. 

Centralia newspaper history was published in the Centralia 
Journal in its fiftieth anniversary edition issued November 24, 1933. 

The reminiscences of George M. Gray were written by Mrs. 
Maude Richey for The Times, Clay Center, November 30, 1933. 

(207) 



208 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Mrs. Richey also wrote up the early-day experiences of Mrs. Nels 
Okerstrom for the December 28 issue. A series of articles on the 
origin of the names of the country schools in the Clay Center vicin- 
ity was another feature published in The Times during November 
and December. 

A history of the Greenleaf Trinity Lutheran church was sketched 
in the Greenleaf Sentinel, November 30, 1933. The church cele- 
brated its fiftieth anniversary December 3. 

The killing of the last buffalo in Smith county was recalled by 
H. F. Henry, of Lebanon, in the Smith County Pioneer, Smith 
Center, November 30, 1933. Mart McGraw, Mr. Henry's neighbor, 
killed the animal in June, 1873. 

Gray county history was pantomimed on the Farm Bureau 
Women's Achievement day, November 14, 1933. The pageant, as 
compiled by Mrs. C. B. Erskine, was published in The Jacksonian, 
Cimarron, November 30. 

The history of The Daily Republican, Burlington, was briefly 
reviewed by John Redmond in its issue of December 2, 1933. Mr. 
Redmond has been a Burlington publisher for thirty-five years. 

Numerous cases of mob violence in southern Kansas were cited 
by D. D. Leahy in his "Random Recollections of Other Days," 
published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, December 3, 1933. 

"Kansas Noddies' Persist, But Few Can Build Them To-day," 
reports the Kansas City Star in its issue of December 3, 1933. Some 
of the difficulties of sod-house construction encountered by the en- 
gineers in charge of the Civilian Conservation Corps at the Kinney 
dam between Garden City and Dodge City were reviewed in this 
article. 

"Fire-arms Were Taboo in First Rules Adopted for Wichita 
Pupils," by Victor Murdock, was the title of an article reviewing 
the school situation in Wichita in 1871, which appeared in the 
Wichita (Evening) Eagle, December 5, 1933. 

The early history of Pawnee county was sketched in an article 
published in the Lamed Chronoscope, December 7, 1933. The 
Lamed Press, issued June 10, 1873, was the first newspaper. 

Capt. Nathan Boone's journey through present Harper county 
in 1843 was reviewed by Nyle H. Miller in the Anthony Republican 
of December 7, 1933. Captain Boone, with a party of about ninety 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 209 

men, followed a northerly course through the present counties of 
Harper, Kingman, Reno and Rice and returned through the neigh- 
boring Barton, Stafford, Pratt and Barber counties. The Attica 
Independent reprinted the article in its issues of February 15, 22, 
and March 1. 

Hiawatha newspaper history was sketched by Ewing Herbert in 
the seventieth anniversary edition of The Brown County World, 
Hiawatha, issued December 8, 1933. 

Topeka in the late 80's and the operation of the steam locomotive 
on the "West Side Circle" was described by Dorothy Jane Willcutts 
in the Topeka State Journal, in its issue of December 9, 1933. 

A brief biography of Anthony A. Ward, stressing the part he 
played in the founding of Topeka, was written by Dorothy Griffin 
for the Topeka Daily Capital, December 10, 1933. 

"Before the White Man Came," a new serial of the Western 
country, by Paul I. Wellman, was commenced in the Wichita Sun- 
day Eagle, December 10, 1933. A pageant, presenting the history 
of the establishment of the Rose Hill Quarterly Meeting of Friends, 
now the Wichita Meeting, was also summarized in this issue. The 
story was written by Miss Emma Kendall, head of the English de- 
partment of Friends University, for the fiftieth anniversary celebra- 
tion of the Quarterly meeting held in September, 1933. 

W. 0. Carter, pioneer in well irrigation, related his part in the 
discovery and development of the Arkansas valley underflow in 
western Kansas for irrigation purposes, in the Garden City Daily 
Telegram, December 13, 1933. Lee Doty, the article relates, was 
the first man in Finney county to utilize well water for irrigation. 

A series of articles entitled "When Lincoln County Was a Young- 
ster," was contributed recently to the Lincoln Sentinel-Republican 
by C. C. Hendrickson. Mr. Hendrickson, who has lived in Lincoln 
county since 1866, commenced the series in the issue of December 
14, 1933. 

The history of the Meadowlark library was sketched in the Lewis 
Press, December 14, 1933. The library was organized April 25, 1925. 

"Vacation by Stage," was the title of an article by E. E. Kelley 
describing a trip in 1894 from Medicine Lodge to Pike's Peak in 
an old Concord stage, which was published in the Topeka Daily 
Capital, December 17, 1933. A biographical sketch of Dr. John H. 

143410 



210 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Holliday, Dodge City's "gun-toting" dentist of yesteryear, by 
Milton Tabor, was another feature of this issue. 

"Topeka Folks and Affairs of Yesterday," is the title of Frank 
D. Tomson's column which appears as a regular Sunday feature of 
the Topeka Daily Capital, starting with its issue of December 24, 
1933. 

E. H. Keller, a resident of the Horton community for fifty-eight 
years, reminisced for the Horton Kiwanis club, December 26, 1933. 
A summary of his talk was published in the Horton Headlight, 
December 28. 

A series of letters written by Sen. John J. Ingalls to his father 
in the latter 1850's, while the senator was establishing himself in 
Kansas territory, was printed in the Atchison Daily Globe, Decem- 
ber 29, 1933; January 1, 4, 12, 17, 23, 26; February 2 and 5, 1934. 

The capture of Black Kettle, famous wild horse of western Kansas, 
by Frank H. Lockard in the early 1880's, was described by E. E. 
Kelley in the Topeka Daily Capital, December 31, 1933. 

"John Dougherty, Indian Agent," by Margaret Stauf, was the 
title of an article published in Mid-America, Chicago, in its Jan- 
uary, 1934, issue. Major Dougherty's headquarters were at Fort 
Leavenworth during part of his term of service in the early 1800's. 

Kansas Christian church history was featured in the sixty-four 
page January, 1934, edition of The Kansas Messenger, Topeka. 
Photographs of church buildings and historic sites were included. 
Biographical sketches of prominent pastors and a list of the Kansas 
Christian churches with the founding dates were of especial interest. 

A bronze marker honoring Mrs. Mary E. Haines, writer and 
lecturer for temperance and suffrage, was dedicated December 31, 
1933, at the Augusta Baptist church. A biography of Mrs. Haines 
was published in the Augusta Daily Gazette, January 1, 1934. 

Syracuse in 1872 was recalled by George J. Haas, of Guthrie, 
Okla., in a recent issue of the Syracuse Journal, and in the Dodge 
City Daily Globe, January 3, 1934. Mr. Haas was a member of the 
colony from Syracuse, N. Y., which founded Syracuse, Kan. 

Colony Free Press history was reviewed by the Free Press in its 
issue of January 4, 1934. C. T. Richardson and J. J. Burke were 
the founders. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 211 

Ferries across the Republican river in the Clay Center vicinity 
were described by several old settlers writing in The Times, Clay 
Center, in its issues of January 4, 11, 25, and February 8, 1934. 

Charles McQuiston, of La Junta, Colo., recalled the hardships of 
pioneering in early-day western Kansas in an article written by Ida 
Ellen Cox for the Dodge City Daily Globe, January 5, 1934. In 
the Globe of January 29, Mrs. Cox published an interview with Mrs. 
Luella Stutzman who witnessed the Kendall and Syracuse county- 
seat fight. 

A biographical sketch of John Norton Holloway, early Kansas 
historian, was written for the Topeka Daily Capital by E. E. Kelley, 
in its issue of January 7, 1934. 

Russell county abstractors from 1889 to 1933 were named by 
Judge J. C. Ruppenthal in his column, "Russell Rustlings," pub- 
lished in the Paradise Farmer and the Waldo Advocate, January 
8, 1934. 

Names of persons receiving marriage licenses in Gove county 
during 1933 were printed in the Republican-Gazette, Gove City, 
January 11, 1934. 

Reminiscences of an old-time preacher were contributed by J. W. 
Manners, Sr., to the Lucas Independent in its issue of January 
11, 1934. 

The story of the life of Darius Jackman, by Mrs. Carrie Jackman 
Humphrey, and a history of the Chapman creek mill, of which Mr. 
Jackman was the owner for several years, were printed in the 
Chapman Advertiser, January 11, 18 and 25, 1934. Titles of other 
articles appearing in recent numbers of the Advertiser were : "Story 
of the Michael Ryan Family," by Lawrence Ryan, February 15 
and 22; "Pioneer History of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Clayton," by 
Mrs. Caroline Clayton Ingersoll, March 1 and 8; and "Hold Meet- 
ing in Chapman to Consider County Line," March 22, a reprint 
from The Chronicle, Abilene, for January 28, 1876. 

W. V. Jackson's "Just A Thinking" column published from time 
to time in The Western Star, Coldwater, briefly reviewed the his- 
tory of Comanche county in the issue of January 12, 1934. Cattle- 
men were the first settlers in the present boundaries of the county 
in the early 1870's, Mr. Jackson reported. 



212 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Framed charters and photographs of members of patriotic or- 
ganizations, lodges and railroad orders hanging in the G. A. R. room 
at Dodge City recalled some of the early history of these societies 
to a writer for the Dodge City Daily Globe in its issue of January 
12, 1934. 

"A Brief History of the Kansas Anti-Thief Association," was the 
title of an article by G. J. McCarty, secretary of the Kansas division, 
A. T. A., which was printed in The A. T. A. News, Cheney, January 
12, 1934, and in the Cheney Sentinel, January 18. The charter for 
the first Kansas lodge was dated September 17, 1876. It was organ- 
ized in Republic county on the farm of Charles Northrup near 
present Munden. 

"Some Memoirs of a True Pioneer Mother of Kansas," was the 
title heading the autobiography of Mrs. Amelia D. McQueen, of 
Eureka, which was published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, January 
14, 1934. Mrs. McQueen came to Kansas from Pennsylvania in 
1857. Her account was also published in the Eureka Herald, Jan- 
uary 18. 

The foundings of Chelsea and Towanda, Butler county towns, 
were reviewed by Victor Murdock in the Wichita (Evening) Eagle, 
January 17, 1934. 

Postmasters of Plainville were named in a story of the founding 
of the city's post office which was published in the Plainville Times, 
January 18, 1934. W. S. Griffin started the Plainville post office in 
a sod house in the late 1870's. 

The Indian raid on Spillman creek in May, 1869, was reviewed 
by Adolph Roenigk in the Salina Journal, January 18, 1934. 

A brief history of Sycamore Springs was published in the Hi- 
awatha Daily World, January 18, 1934. John Downs first purchased 
the site from the state in 1866. 

Maj. Stephen Long's description of the Kansas Indian village 
near present Manhattan, which he visited in 1819, was reviewed by 
C. A. Kimball at a meeting of the Manhattan Cooperative club, 
January 18, 1934. The address was summarized in the Manhattan 
Mercury, January 19. 

Headlines of historical feature articles recently written by Byron 
E. Guise for the Marshall County News, Marysville, include: 
"Ducks Guzzled for Gold and Found It Near an Oketo Farm Until 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 213 

the Big Flood of 1903," from an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Anton 
Pribyl, January 19, 1934; "Barneston (Neb.) Spelled With or With- 
out 'E' Says Son of Man After Whom Town Got Name," interview 
with Fred H. Barnes, February 2 ; "Superstitions of the Indians Are 
Related by an Admirer of the Race," Otto J. Wullschleger, of 
Frankfort, March 9, and "Local Man Who Won Croix de Guerre 
Refreshes His Memories of World War," from an interview with 
F. A. Southworth, March 23. A story of the Pony Express which 
was opened up through Marysville April 3, 1860, was printed by the 
News, April 6. 

The Lyons Daily News observed the tenth anniversary of the 
discovery of oil in Rice county with the issuance of a special oil 
edition, January 20, 1934. A full-page oil-field map of the county 
and a brief history of every well drilled in the county were contained 
in the edition. 

The naming of Lincoln Ellsworth's South Polar ship the Wyatt 
Earp, prompted A. B. McDonald to write a page illustrated review 
of the life of that famous cowtown marshal in the Kansas City Star, 
January 21, 1934. 

A brief history of Lockport, once thriving town on the Gray- 
Haskell county line, was recalled by Mrs. S. T. Alexander, of Cope- 
land, for the Dodge City Daily Globe, January 22, 1934. The 
article was reprinted in the Sublette Monitor, January 25. 

Kansas history was briefly sketched in The Democratic Messenger, 
Eureka, January 25, 1934. 

A year-by-year history of southeast Kansas entitled "Annals of 
Osage Mission," was begun in the St. Paul Journal in its issue of 
January 25, 1934. W. W. Graves, editor of the Journal, compiled 
the series. 

The history of the Afton Trinity Lutheran church was briefly 
reviewed in the Waterville Telegraph, January 25, 1934. The first 
minutes of the church were written April 26, 1886. 

"Pioneer Days" is the title of a column relating the pioneering 
experiences of E. T. Wickersham, which appears regularly in the 
Fall River Star. The series had an uninterrupted run for several 
months from January 26, 1934, when it was continued under an- 
other heading. Several of Mr. Wickersham's articles have been 
reprinted in current issues of The Citizen, published at Howard. 



214 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

A description of Topeka in 1874, when the wooden sidewalks were 
wired down to keep them from being used for firewood, was pub- 
lished in the Topeka State Journal, January 27, 1934. 0. K. Swayze 
was the contributor. 

Riley county school history was reviewed by J. E. Edgerton at a 
meeting of the Riley County Historical Society, January 27, 1934. 
A resume of this address was published in the Manhattan Mercury, 
January 27. 

"Let Not Kansas Forget Her Great Tradition," was the title of 
the Kansas day feature article published in the Kansas City Star, 
January 28, 1934. The story was contributed by Olin Templin. 

Early schools in Saline county were briefly described in the Salina 
Journal, January 29, 1934. Information for the article was obtained 
from Mrs. Cora W. Rees, whose paper on Saline county history has 
been published in pamphlet form. 

The experiences of Hank Lord, early Kansas settler and soldier, 
were related by C. C. Isely in a Kansas day address before the 
Dodge City Kiwanis club, January 30, 1934. A resume of the speech 
was published in the Dodge City Daily Globe, January 31. 

C. D. Lamme reviewed the history of Kansas for the Hiawatha 
Kiwanis club, January 30, 1933. His speech was summarized in the 
Hiawatha Daily World in its issue of January 31, 1934. 

The fifth annual Hutchinson Farm and Home Week was held 
January 31 to February 3, 1934. The Hutchinson News and Herald, 
sponsors, published historical notes of interest to Reno county people 
in conjunction with the event. 

An article on the development of Russell county's oil fields, with 
a detailed list of the 250 tests drilled during the past ten years, was 
printed in the Russell Record, February 1, 1934. Oil was first dis- 
covered in the county in November, 1923. 

The story of education in Kansas since the days when school 
was held in crude log cabins was told by leaders in the state's edu- 
cational field in a mimeographed publication for members of the 
Kansas Educators' Club, which was edited by its president, C. H. 
Oman. The volume, issued in February, 1934, is the tenth anniver- 
sary number of "The Kansas Educator." "A History of the Schools 
of Garnett, Kansas," an article written by Mr. Oman for "The 
Kansas Educator," was published in The Anderson Countian, Feb- 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 215 

ruary 1, 1934. The first school building was erected in 1856 by the 
Garnett town company. Mrs. John R. Slentz was the first teacher. 

A three-column history of Chetopa, written by Mrs. W. R. Veach, 
was printed in the Chetopa Advance-Clipper, February 1, 1934. 
Dr. George Lisle established the first settlement in 1857, but the 
town was burned during the Civil War and was not reestablished 
until 1868. 

First settlers of Burlingame were named by Mrs. W. G. Beale in 
The Enterprise-Chronicle, Burlingame, in its issue of February 1, 
1934. 

A resume of the accomplishments of the Tuesday Afternoon Club 
of Blue Rapids was published in the Blue Rapids Times, Febru- 
ary 1, 1934, in commemoration of the club's fortieth anniversary. 
A brief story of Blue Rapids' old woolen mill, which employed as 
many as 125 persons at one time in the 1880's, was another feature 
of the edition. 

Pioneering experiences of Mrs. Clark A. Smith were printed in the 
Salina Journal, February 1, 1934. Mrs. Smith came to Kansas in 
1871 with a colony of settlers from Pennsylvania. 

A story of the Boston-Elk Falls county seat warfare in 1874 was 
told in detail by Thomas E. Thompson in the Howard Courant in its 
issues of February 1 and 15, 1934. 

The third annual "Booster Edition" of the Leon News was pub- 
lished February 2, 1934. Members of the Leon Methodist Episcopal 
church edit these editions which regularly contain several historical 
articles on the city and church. 

A brief history of the Riley County Teachers Association was 
printed in The Morning Chronicle, Manhattan, February 3, 1934. 
The association was organized as an auxiliary to the Kansas State 
Teachers Association, July 9, 1886. 

The 1933 "Yearly Progress Edition" of the Kansas City Kansan 
was issued February 4, 1934. 

Activities of Russell, Majors and Waddell, early Leavenworth 
freighting firm, were discussed by R. A. Barry in a recent issue of 
the New York Herald-Tribune. The article was republished in the 
Topeka Daily Capital, February 4, 1934. 

"The Great Spirit Spring, Waconda," was the title of a historical 
sketch by Elizabeth Mitchell Petro published in the Topeka State 



216 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Journal, February 5, 1934. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, in 1806, was 
the first white man to view the springs. 

A history of Cottonwood Falls' old mill which opened for busi- 
ness in 1861 was contributed by Mrs. Carrie Breese Chandler to the 
Chase County Leader, Cottonwood Falls, February 7, 1934. Mrs. 
Chandler also wrote a story of the Amos Noyes family for the 
Leader in its issue of March 28. The Noyes family came to Kansas 
in 1866. 

Reminiscences of early-day Osage Mission, by Martha Rafferty, 
appeared in the St. Paul Journal February 8, 1934. Miss Rafferty 
settled in the Osage Mission vicinity in 1866. 

A brief history of Blue Hill Masonic Lodge No. 198 of Lucas and 
the names of the men who served as past masters from 1880 to 1933 
were published in the Lucas Independent, February 8, 1934. 

"Sketches From the Life History of Jacob Achenbach,'' was the 
title of a five-column article which appeared in the Hardtner Press, 
February 8, 1934. Mr. Achenbach was a railroad builder and organ- 
izer of the Hardtner town company. 

Old mills of Colony were discussed by F. S. Denney in the Colony 
Free Press, February 8, 1934. 

The hardships endured by the settlers in Kansas during the 1880's 
were briefly reviewed by C. W. Thomas in The Butler County News, 
El Dorado, February 9, 1934. 

Early Abilene is described by Almon C. Nixon in a column en- 
titled "Border Days in Kansas," appearing from time to time in the 
Abilene Daily Chronicle. The series started with the issue of Febru- 
ary 11, 1934. 

Special historical feature stories published in the Topeka Daily 
Capital, February 11, 1934, include: "Ravanna, Once Prosperous, 
Is Ghost Town in a Dead County," by E. E. Kelley; "Grantville 
Was Named After Famous General," by Marjorie Burroughs Welter. 
A brief sketch of the Kansas Woman's Relief Corps also was in- 
cluded in this issue. 

A history of the Swede Creek Evangelical church was sketched in 
the Waterville Telegraph, February 15, 1934. Preaching services 
started as early as 1864, but the church did not organize a Sunday 
school until 1871. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 217 

The reminiscences of Mrs. L. P. Darling, of Codell, as recorded 
by W. F. Hughes in his column "Facts and Comment," appeared in 
the Rooks County Record, Stockton, February 15, 1934. Mrs. 
Darling settled on Paradise creek near present Codell in 1874. 

Names of old settlers registering at the Barber county old settler's 
reunion held February 9, 1934, at Medicine Lodge, and the years 
they came to Kansas, were printed in The Barber County Index, 
Medicine Lodge, February 15, 1934. 

The reminiscences of Miss Mary E. Morrison, who settled in 
Saline county in 1860, were published in the Elkhart Tri-State News, 
February 15, 1934. 

A history of the old road through the sand hills south of Syracuse 
was written by C. W. Noell for the Syracuse Journal in its issues of 
February 16 and March 2, 1934. Mr. Noell believes the road was 
used as early as 1885. A story of the pioneering experiences of 
Charles L. Ong, who arrived in Syracuse in 1886, was another fea- 
ture of the March 2 issue. 

"An Old Kansas Cattleman's Story," was the title of an article 
concerning the experiences of D. W. Barton, former cattleman, 
which was written by E. E. Kelley for the Topeka Daily Capital, 
February 18, 1934. 

Reminiscences of Junction City pioneers and notes on the history 
of Geary county were published in the Junction City Republic, 
February 22, 1934, commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of 
the city. The experiences of Mrs. Mary Strand- Andreen, a pioneer 
who now lives in Rock Island, 111., were recorded in the March 1 
issue, and Will Mackey's reminiscences were printed March 8. 

"In the Days of '49," was the title of an article by Harry John- 
son which appeared in The Anderson Countian, Garnett, February 
22, 1934. Mr. Johnson gave an account of Paul Fearing's journey 
from Harmar, Ohio, to the gold fields of California. 

Ogden was made county seat of Riley county in 1857 by a vote of 
193 to 162, according to a Manhattan Mercury article in its issue of 
February 22, 1934. Minutes of the first book of county commis- 
sioners' proceedings revealed, however, that all was not harmony as 
a result of the vote. Another article entitled, "Crucified Ogden," 
was published in the Mercury, March 7. 



218 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Under the column heading, "Pioneer Reminiscences," The Barber 
County Index, Medicine Lodge, is publishing a series of stories and 
recollections as set down by Barber county pioneers. The first of 
this series was written by Mrs. May Shepler Lytle in the issue of 
February 22, 1934. Other contributors were: William Horn, March 
1; J. Hugh Woodward, Howard J. Parker, March 8; lantha (Ferga- 
son) Roach, Phoebe Rogers Gibson, March 15; Mrs. Laura M. Shell 
and S. Ward, March 29. 

"Color and Romance in Making of Early Saline County History," 
was the title given the reminiscences of Joseph Lockard, who came 
to Kansas in 1870, which appeared in the Salina Journal, February 
24, 1934. The story was presented at the February meeting of the 
Saline County Chapter, Native Daughters of Kansas. 

A controversy regarding the location of "The Lone Tree," famous 
Santa Fe trail landmark, was discussed by E. E. Kelley in the 
Topeka Daily Capital, February 25, 1934. The tree, the site of 
which was regarded as approximately half way between old Fort 
Dodge and Fort Aubrey, was cut down in 1879. Gold mining ac- 
tivities on the Smoky Hill river near McCracken were reviewed by 
Leonard A. Prowant in this same issue. 

The Junction City Union, in commemoration of the seventy-fifth 
anniversary of Junction City, published nineteen pages of illustrated 
historical articles as supplements to the regular daily issues during 
the week of February 26 to March 3, 1934. City librarians, mem- 
bers of the journalism department of the high school and Junction 
City pastors assisted the Union staff members in the preparation of 
these stories. Included among the subjects treated were the growth 
of the city and county; histories of the churches, schools, railroads, 
mail service, fire department, public library, telephones, Hogan mill 
dam, Ladies' Reading Club; the part German pioneers played in the 
building of the city ; the housewarming at the Bartell hotel ; the first 
white boy born in the city; flood of 1903; building of Army City; 
Indian raids in the Saline valley; steamboats on the Kansas river, 
and biographies of several of Junction City's pioneers. 

A brief history of the Burr Oak Herald was published in its 
"Booster Edition" issued March 1, 1934. 

The history of the building of the Wallace county courthouse was 
briefly sketched in The Western Times, Sharon Springs, March 1, 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 219 

1934. Bonds were issued for the construction of the present building 
March 1, 1914. 

A biography of the late Gus Haucke, of Council Grove, was pub- 
lished in the Council Grove Republican, March 3, 1934. Mr. 
Haucke, who was born in Germany, settled in Kansas in June, 1873. 
His son, Frank "Chief" Haucke, is a past Kansas state commander 
of the American Legion, and in 1930 was the nominee of the Repub- 
lican party for governor. 

"Carried Away by Indians as a Girl, She has Spent 65 Years Near 
Scene of Awful Atrocity," was the title of an article relating an in- 
terview with Mrs. Sarah White Brooks which was printed in the 
Kansas City Star, March 4, 1934. A. B. McDonald, the interviewer, 
reports that Mrs. Brooks lives within a mile of the spot where, on 
August 13, 1868, the Cheyennes captured her. The Clyde Republi- 
can republished the article in its issue of March 8. 

Items concerning early Waconda history as gleaned from the 
Waconda column of the Beloit Weekly Gazette for 1872 were printed 
in the Waconda Chief, March 6, 1934. 

The old Thomas Stanley house four miles southwest of Americus 
has been razed, the Emporia Gazette reports in its issue of March 
7, 1934. The Stanleys, who were Quaker missionaries, first came 
to Kansas in 1842. The house near Americus was erected in 1864. 

A brief history of Atwood was contributed by Mary Elizabeth 
Kelley to The Square Deal, Atwood, March 8, 1934. Atwood was 
established in April, 1880. 

"The Foundation for the First Irish Settlement Near Solomon," 
was the title of a brief article by Amos Jones which appeared in 
the Solomon Tribune, March 8, 1934. Other reminiscences by Mr. 
Jones were published in the Tribune March 22 and 29, under the 
title, "Looking Into the Past." 

The evolution of Topeka's water supply from the era of wells 
and cisterns to the establishment of a water works in 1882 and the 
laying of the water mains was reviewed in the Topeka State Journal, 
March 10, 1934. 

Reminiscences of J. H. Robinson, a resident of Geary county 
for seventy -two years, were published in the Junction City Union, 
March 12, 1934. 



220 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The Frankfort Boy Scouts, under the leadership of A. P. Hart- 
man, coeditor of the Frankfort Daily Index, have begun a series 
of trips to many of north central Kansas' historic sites. Historical 
notes of these excursions have appeared from time to time in the 
Index in recent months. As a feature of the issue for March 12, 
1934, a description of Alcove Springs and a sketch of the life of 
Williamson Franklin Boyakin, as prepared by Clyde K. Rodkey, 
were published. 

A half-page account of the Battle of the Arickaree, by Winfield 
Freeman, was printed in the Salina Journal March 14, 1934. 

Jonathan Millikan built one of the first houses in Olathe, the 
Olathe Mirror reported in its issue of March 15, 1934. It was a 
two-room structure, completed in 1857, and is still standing. 

A newspaper history of St. Marys was published in the fiftieth 
anniversary edition of the St. Marys Star, March 15, 1934. John 
OTlannigan founded the Star on March 13, 1884. News of partic- 
ular interest to the old-timers which was contained in two issues 
of the St. Marys Times, published in 1875 and 1876, was printed 
in the Star in its issue of March 29. 

Forty manuscripts relating the histories of the school districts 
of Anderson county were received in a contest held recently by Mrs. 
Isabel Yokum, county superintendent of schools. The Garnett 
Review, with its issue of March 15, 1934, commenced publishing 
the series. The Anderson Countian, Garnett, also published the 
prize-winning manuscript, "School District No. 11," by Wilma 
Stewart, in its issue of March 22. 

A letter relating some of the pioneering experiences of J. C. 
Martin was printed in the Kingman Journal, March 16, 1934. Mr. 
Martin established the Kingman Mercury, the first newspaper pub- 
lished in Kingman, in 1878. 

Life in early-day Kansas was briefly reviewed by William Free- 
land for the Effingham New Leaf, March 16, 1934. Mr. Freeland 
came to Kansas territory in 1854. 

A brief history of the old covered bridge over Big Stranger creek 
at Easton was published in the Leavenworth Times, March 16, 
1934. The Easton bridge was one of three erected by army engi- 
neers under direction of the then commandant at Fort Leavenworth, 
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, seventy-eight years ago, the Times 
reports. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 221 

The story of the Ashtabula colony which was organized in Ohio 
and settled in King City, McPherson county, in the early 1870's, 
was written by Alex S. Hendry for the McPherson Daily Republi- 
can in its issue of March 19, 1934. 

An artist's sketch of Hutchinson as it appeared in 1878 was de- 
scribed in the Hutchinson News, March 19, 1934. 

Early-day Junction City was described by Mrs. E. N. Church 
in the Junction City Republic, March 22, 1934, and in the Junction 
City Union, March 27. Mrs. Church arrived in Kansas in 1864 
and settled on Humboldt creek near the city. 

A series of articles entitled "Pioneer History of Tescott," was 
commenced in the Tescott News, March 22, 1934. 

Early days in Clay county were briefly reviewed by Peter Hjelm 
for The Times, Clay Center, in its issue of March 22, 1934. Mr. 
Hjelm settled in Clay county in 1870. 

The reminiscences of Mrs. M. S. Walker, who settled in the Rock 
locality, Cowley county, April 2, 1870, were published in the Win- 
field Daily Courier, March 24, 1934. Mrs. Walker reports that there 
was only one store in Winfield at the time of her arrival. 

Dodge City history was briefly reviewed by Elizabeth Mitchell 
Petro in the Topeka State Journal, March 24, 1934. A pen sketch 
of Dr. 0. H. Simpson's cowboy statue at Dodge City illustrated the 
article. 

"From the Old Family Album," a series of pictures of early-day 
Wichita and Oklahoma, was published from time to time in the 
Wichita Beacon starting with the issue of March 25, 1934. 

A manuscript relating some of the early-day experiences of the 
late Mrs. Sallie Crow was copied in the Garden City News, March 
29, 1934. Mrs. Crow settled in Sequoyah county in 1879. Through 
the courtesy of the publishers of the News, the story was made avail- 
able to E. E. Kelley who had parts of it republished in the Topeka 
Daily Capital, March 25. 

The reminiscences of William M. Heirgood, of La Junta, Colo., 
were recorded by Ida Ellen Cox for the Dodge City Daily Globe, 
March 26, 1934. Mr. Heirgood was a resident of Hartland during 
the Kearny county-seat warfare. 

Early-day Cuba was described in the Cuba Tribune in its issue of 
March 29, 1934. The city was incorporated in the spring of 1884. 



222 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The story of the disarming of a band of men under Col. Jacob 
Snively, who displayed a commission from the Republic of Texas 
authorizing the band to prey upon Mexican commerce over the 
Santa Fe trail, was related by C. C. Isley in the Kansas City Times, 
March 29, 1934, and was reprinted in the Dodge City Daily Globe, 
April 2. 

"Your Yesterdays," a series of photographs showing persons and 
scenes familiar to Johnson county residents of yesteryear is being 
published in the Olathe Mirror starting with its issue of March 29, 
1934. 

The naming of Wichita's first streets was discussed by Victor 
Murdock in the Wichita (Evening) Eagle in its issue of March 29, 
1934. 

Reminiscences of the late Percival Hawes, as written for the Alta 
Vista Journal, December 18, 1913, were reprinted in the Journal, 
March 29, 1934. Mr. Hawes, who died on March 23, 1934, home- 
steaded a part of what is now the townsite of Alta Vista in August, 
1870. 

A history of Lerado, Reno county, was published in the Hutchin- 
son News, April 2, 1934. Lerado was a boom town of the 1880's, 
founded by Dr. J. A. Brady, of Louisville, Ky. Most of the buildings 
were moved to Turon after Lerado failed to get a railroad. 

School District No. 3, Russell county, was historically sketched 
in a series of articles by L. C. Brown which appeared in the Lucas 
Independent. The articles began in the April 5, 1934, issue. 

"Among Our Souvenirs" is a new photographic feature appearing 
regularly in the Altoona Tribune. The series, which commenced 
with the issue of April 5, 1934, includes many pictures of persons 
and scenes prominent in the early-day history of Altoona. 

The Plainville Times published a historical sketch of the Plain- 
ville Christian church in its issue of April 5, 1934, and a sketch of 
the Plainville Catholic church, in the April 12 issue. 

John McBee, a resident of Kansas since April 9, 1859, reminisced 
for the Topeka Daily Capital in its issue of April 8, 1934. Mr. 
McBee has been at the information desk in the Kansas state capitol 
for nineteen years. The value of newspaper files to the historian 
was discussed by E. E. Kelly in the same issue of the Capital. 



Kansas Historical Notes 

The eighth annual meeting of the Kansas History Teachers Asso- 
ciation was held in Fraser hall at the University of Kansas on April 
7, 1934. F. H. Hodder, head of the History Department at Kansas 
University and president of the association during 1933, presided at 
the sessions. Included on the program were the following papers: 
"Unit Organization for Modern History," Robena Pringle, Topeka 
High School; "Cross Currents of European Politics/' Ernest Mahan, 
K. S. T. C., Pittsburg; "The Swedish Immigrant Churches/' J. 
Olson Anders, Bethany College, Lindsborg; "Recent Historical 
Literature," R. R. Price, Kansas State College, Manhattan; "The 
Westward Movement; Life on the Frontier," John Ise, Kansas 
University; "The Turnover in the Frontier Population," James C. 
Malin, Kansas University, and "The Frontier in Pictures," Robert 
Taft, Kansas University. At the business meeting the following 
officers were elected : Sam A. Johnson, Kansas State Teachers Col- 
lege, Emporia, president; J. B. Bright, McPherson College, vice 
president; C. B. Realey, Kansas University, secretary and treasurer, 
and Robena Pringle, Topeka, was elected to the executive committee, 
her term expiring in 1937. 

At a meeting of the Riley County Historical Society held at 
Manhattan, January 8, the following officers were elected to serve 
during 1934: W. D. Haines, president; Mrs. I. S. Smith, vice presi- 
dent; Mrs. G. H. Failyer, secretary; Mrs. F. L. Murdock, corre- 
sponding secretary; Mrs. Ida Warner, treasurer; G. H. Failyer, his- 
torian and custodian of the cabin, and Mrs. Smith, assistant. 

The Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society recently pre- 
sented its past presidents with gold pins. Mrs. Frank Hardesty 
and Mrs. Ottis Fisher, past presidents, received the gifts. 

An attractive twenty-six page booklet entitled, Old Kiowa In 
History and Romance, was recently published by T. J. Dyer. Kiowa 
was established in the early 1870's. 

The historical collection of the late A. M. Campbell, Jr., of 
Salina, which was presented to the Salina Public Library by Mrs. 
A. M. Campbell, Jr., and her daughter, Mrs. Mary Campbell-Palmer, 
is now on display in the Saline county museum in the library build- 
ing. 

(223) 



224 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Hundreds of articles of historical interest were collected and dis- 
played under the auspices of the Lindsborg Historical Society at 
Bethany college April 13, 1934. Programs were given, both in the 
afternoon and evening. The proceeds from the nominal admission 
charge were used to assist the organization in carrying on its work. 

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the meeting of the Wyandotte 
convention which drew up Kansas' constitution, was observed in 
Kansas City May 10 to 14, 1934, with an Indian festival. Special 
historical features were published in the newspapers of the city in 
conjunction with the event. 



THE 

Kansas Historical 
Quarterly 




Volume III Number 3 

August, 1934 



PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT 

W. C. AUSTIN. STATE PRINTER 

TOPEKA 1934 

15-3729 



Contributors 

THEO. H. SCHEFFER, a former resident of Ottawa county, now resides in 
Puyallup, Wash. He is employed as an associate biologist in the United States 
Department of Agriculture's bureau of biological survey. 

OHORGK A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society. 
A sketch of Dr. William Nicholson appears in the introduction to his article. 

NOTE. Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without re- 
gard to their importance. 



Geographical Names in Ottawa County 

THBO. H. SCHEFFER 

IT IS some time since the writer last had residence in Ottawa 
county; so many years, in fact, that when we visited Delphos 
recently we found young people in the high school whose dads and 
mothers had listened to our words of wisdom when we were in 
charge of the same institution. At this former time a young lady 
in the schools suggested something which we haven't quite forgot- 
ten in all these years an investigation into the sources of the 
geographical names in the county. 

Having since then had opportunity at times to follow up the mat- 
ter, by way of mental recreation, we have found it most interesting, 
and trust that our relation of some of the details will interest at 
least those who are familiar with the scenes and places to be con- 
sidered. The recording of these things will seem the more worth 
while if, perchance, it stimulates an interest in like research in 
other communities of the state. For much really valuable local 
history of the early settlement and development of a region is lost 
unless recorded before the first generation of pioneers, or their im- 
mediate descendants, have passed from the stage. Already are the 
years three score and ten since the first actual home builders found 
their way up into the lower valleys of the Smoky Hill and the 
Solomon. For, away off under the dome of the national capitol, 
about that time, a group of men, in heated controversy over state 
rights, started something when they threw down the gauntlet of 
squatter sovereignty to the free and courageous. 

In the near background of this period of first settlement are the 
frontier traders and trappers, who outfitted for their trips and dis- 
posed of their catches at Missouri river points. Still earlier were 
the French of like pursuits, who, under concessions from the gover- 
nor of the greater Louisiana, were the first to come up the streams 
of central Kansas to take beaver and to traffic with the Indians. 
Each of these groups of trader-trappers had something to do with 
the naming of our streams. But, unless their trails were crossed by 
an adventurer or explorer who kept a journal, some of the names 
did not stick. 

For some of the historical information, of local character, the 
writer can vouch from his personal knowledge of things. Much 

(227) 



228 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

more we gleaned from conversations or correspondence with a few 
of the homestead settlers who were among the first on the ground. 
The data of broader historical scope we gathered in the Library 
of Congress during several short periods of residence in the national 
capital. 

The writer, having lived for some years now in a state that is all 
shot to pieces with Indian names, considers it fortunate that the 
part of the map we are dealing with in this sketch has only three 
or four such designations. For sometimes when we come to analyze 
the term which the local people fondly believe means "Babbling 
Brooks," or "Sky-blue Moonbeams," it is found to designate the 
"Place-Where-the-Buffalo-Had-a-Fit," or something equally pro- 
saic. The name "Ottawa" is derived from a word which signifies 
"to trade," "to buy and sell." In early traditional times and also 
during the historic period the Ottawa Indians were noted among 
their neighbors as intertribal traders. The national emblem of the 
tribe was the moose. 

The Ottawas were first visited by Champlain in 1615 on Georgian 
bay, where they were picking huckleberries. In the next century 
they are known to have migrated considerably in bands, some 
settling in southern Wisconsin, northeastern Illinois, and along Lake 
Erie. They took part in all the Indian wars of their region up to 
1812. Pontlac, a chief in "Pontiac's War," 1763, was a member of 
the Ottawa tribe. 

By treaty of August 30, 1831, made at Miami bay, in Lake Erie, 
four bands of Ottawa Indians dwelling along the Maumee river and 
its tributaries, in Ohio, ceded their lands to the United States and 
were moved to a tract of which the present Ottawa, Kan., is about 
the center. This tract was about eleven miles square. In June, 
1862, they ceded these lands back to the government, and under 
the conditions of the treaty then made, the tribal relations were 
to be dissolved in five years and the Ottawas to become citizens 
of the United States. 

The right of the Kanza Indians to the lands now comprised in 
Ottawa county was recognized by the United States government 
in its treaties, the first of which was made in 1815. By a second 
treaty, at St. Louis in 1825, this tribe ceded to our government all 
their lands lying north of the Kansas-Arkansas watershed and west 
to the headwaters of the Smoky Hill and Solomon forks, except a 
tract thirty miles wide beginning twenty leagues west of the mouth 
of the Kansas river (near the mouth of Soldier creek) and running 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 229 

west through the lands ceded. This long and comparatively narrow 
strip included approximately townships 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 south, gov- 
ernment survey, covering thus all the present Ottawa county. 

On January 14, 1846, at the "Methodist mission in the Kansas 
country," the Kanza tribe ceded to the United States 2,000,000 
acres, beginning at the east end of the above strip, including its 
entire width of thirty miles and running west for quantity. This 
cession included part of Ottawa county to be, but as insufficient 
timber for the use of the Kanza was found to exist in the part of 
the strip that was left them, the provisions of the treaty were made 
to cover the entire strip to its western limit, and a new reservation, 
about twenty miles square, was given to the Kanza Indians in the 
region of Council Grove. 

Thus the simple red man (very simple) disposed of his Ottawa 
county hunting grounds, and thereafter received his rations of beef 
more or less regularly from the generous hand of Uncle Sam. The 
Council Grove reserve was diminished by treaty in 1859, and in 
the period between 1873 and 1880 the lands of the reserve were all 
sold, the Indians having been removed to the Indian territory on 
a small reservation bordering the Arkansas river on the east, where 
it enters the territory from Kansas. 

A little history of the organization of Ottawa county may prove 
interesting here. In the Council Journal, Kansas territorial legis- 
lature, special session, 1860, February 25, we read in part: 

House bill No. 420, "An act to provide for the organization of the counties of 
Republic, Shirley and Wade," was taken up, and, by consent, "Ottawa" was in- 
serted instead of "Wade," and the bill was read third time, and the vote stood 
as follows: Yeas 12; nays none. 

In the House Journal, morning session, February 27, 1860, we 
read in part: 

House bill No. 420, "An act to provide for the organization of the counties 
of Republic, Shirley, and Wade," was taken up, and, on motion of Mr. Pierce, 
the House concurred in the amendments of the Council. 

At the evening session, February 27, which was the last day of 
the special session, the following message was received from the 
governor : 

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, K. T., 

February 27, 1860. 

To the House of Representatives: I have this day approved House bills 
. . . "An act establishing and organizing the counties of Republic, Shirley, 
and Ottawa, and to define the boundaries thereof." . . . 

Respectfully, (Signed) S. MEDARY. 



230 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

In the General Laws of Kansas territory, 1860, we find the text 
of this bill: 

CHAPTER XLIII 

Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory 
of Kansas : 

SECTION 1. ... and the territory composed of townships nine, ten, eleven 
and twelve south, in ranges' one, two, three, four, and five west of the sixth 
principal meridian, shall constitute the county of Ottawa. 

SEC. 2. The following-named persons are hereby appointed commissioners 
for the aforementioned counties, to wit: ... for the county of Ottawa, 
R. C. Whitney, Henry Martin, and Branch, of Pike creek. 

It will be noted that the county barely escaped being named 
''Wade." The selection of "Ottawa" instead was probably a com- 
promise on a neutral name; for the same day on which the organiza- 
tion bill was introduced, the governor had sent in his veto of a bill 
prohibiting slavery in Kansas. Now, Benjamin F. Wade, for whom 
it was sought to name the county, was a fiery antislavery senator 
from Ohio, who fought the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854 and the 
Lecompton constitution of 1858. He was also a strong opponent of 
fugitive slave laws. 

Though Ottawa county was thus defined and described by the 
legislature of 1860, it was not formally organized until 1866. At the 
first election, in this year, Minneapolis was chosen as the county 
seat. Ayersburg had been designated by the governor as temporary 
county seat. 

ORIGIN OF NAMES APPLIED TO OTTAWA COUNTY STREAMS 

Coming now to the geographical names of more local application, 
we find ourselves in deep water at once figuratively speaking for 
the Solomon is not that kind of a stream. We know that this river 
was formerly the Nipahela (Ne-pah-ha-la) , meaning in the language 
of the Kanza Indians "water-on-a-hill." This we had directly from 
an educated tribesman who used to roam the valley as a boy. The 
designation also appears occasionally on the older maps or journals 
as the "Nepaholla river." The name originated from the peculiar 
situation of the Great Spirit Spring, along the river's course near 
the present site of Cawker City. 

This name, however, did not stick, and we are left in some doubt 
as to the origin of the newer term "Solomon." The first recorded 
reference to the stream under this name is in the Expeditions of 
Capt. Zebulon M. Pike, entry of date September 23, 1806. He re- 
ferred to the stream as Solomon's Fork, and as Solomon's Fork it 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 231 

usually appears on the earlier maps up to about the time the terri- 
tory was admitted as a state. Sometimes it is given as Solomon's 
river. 

There can be little doubt that the name was given the river by 
the French traders and trappers who were in the country in the years 
just preceding Pike's expedition; for they gave designations to other 
streams of the region, two of these partly within the present limits 
of Ottawa county. The name Solomon was fairly common among 
these people at that time, as we may note from a perusal of some of 
the journals of the early explorers. John C. McCoy, who came to 
the Kansas country as early as 1830, states in a letter written about 
fifty years later: u My impression is that a man named Solomon, 
connected with a company of early Rocky Mountain trappers, was 
either lost or robbed by the Indians on that stream." 

Our own impression is, however, that the name does not perpetu- 
ate the glory of the mighty Prince of Israel, but that it had a more- 
humble origin, in the character of the waters of the stream itself. 
This for two reasons: First, that no other natural feature of the 
region was given a personal designation at that early day; and, 
second, that the French had called two other streams of the regions 
the Grande Saline (Saline river) and the Little Saline (Salt creek) 
on account of the properties of their waters. Therefore we may be 
pardoned for expressing our belief that Pike, an Englishman, wrote 
the word "Solomon" in his journal from confusing it with the spoken 
French word "salement," pronounced almost identically the same, 
sa-le-man. This is the adverbial form of a word meaning "dirty." 
So there you are! Good-by, old swimmin' hole! 

To relieve this tense situation somewhat, we will quote Pike's en- 
tries in his Expeditions for the days he spent in Ottawa county the 
first recorded account touching the territory. The year is 1806. 

September 18th. Marched at our usual hour, and at twelve o'clock halted 
at a large branch [Saline river] of the Kans, [Smoky Hill] which was strongly 
impregnated with salt. This day we expected the people of the village 
[Pawnee] to meet us. We marched again at four o'clock. Our route being 
over a continued series of hills and hollows, we were until eight at night before 
we arrived at a small dry branch [of Salt creek]. It was nearly ten o'clock 
before we found any watoi . Commenced raining a little before day. Distance. 
25 miles. 

September 19th. It having commenced raining early, we secured our bag- 
gage and pitched out tents. The rain continued without any intermission the 
whole day, during which we employed ourselves in reading the Bible, Pope's 
Essays, and in pricking on our arms with India ink some characters, which will 
frequently bring to mind our forlorn and dreary situation, as well as the 



232 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

happiest days of our life. In the rear of our encampment was a hill, on which 
there was a large rock, where the Indians kept a continual sentinel, as I 
imagine, to apprise them of the approach of any party, friends or foes, as 
well as to see if they could discover any game on the prairies. [The Indians 
referred to here were some of Pike's scouts. The camp on this day was, ac- 
cording to the editor of Pike's Expeditions, on one of the small branches of 
Salt creek near the present site of Ada. The crossing of the Saline river at 
noon of the previous day was somewhere in the vicinity of Culver.] 

September 20th. It appearing as if we possibly might have a clear day, I 
ordered our baggage spread abroad to dry; but it shortly after clouded up and 
commenced raining. The Osage sentinel discovered a buffalo on the prairies, 
upon which we dispatched a hunter on horseback in pursuit of him, also some 
hunters out on foot; and before night they killed three buffalo, some of the 
best of which we brought in and jerked or dried by the fire. It continued 
showery until afternoon, when we put our baggage again in a position to dry, 
and remained encamped. The detention of the doctor and our Pawnee am- 
bassador began to be a serious matter of consideration. [They had been sent 
ahead to the Pawnee village on the morning of the 14th.] 

Sunday, September 21st. We marched at eight o'clock, although there was 
every appearance of rain, and at eleven o'clock passed a large creek, remark- 
ably salt. [This is Pike's Little Saline river, now Salt creek.] Stopped at one 
o'clock on a fresh branch of the salt creek. Our interpreter having killed an 
elk, we sent out for some meat, which detained us so late that I concluded it 
best to encamp where we were, in preference to running the risk of finding no 
water. . . . Distance, 10 miles. [We omit here an account of trouble with 
one of the Indian scouts.] 

September 22nd. We did not march until eight o'clock, owing to the in- 
disposition of Lieutenant Wilkinson. At eleven waited to dine. Light mists 
of rain, with flying clouds. We marched again at three o'clock, and continued 
our route 12 miles [probably by mistake for 2 miles] to the first branch of 
the Republican Fork. [There are some errors in Pike's map. He probably 
refers here to a branch of the Solomon, near the Glasco-Simpson district.] 
Met a Pawnee hunter, who informed us that the chief had left the village 
the day after the doctor arrived, with 50 or 60 horses and many people, and 
had taken his course to the north of our route; consequently we had missed 
each other. He likewise informed us that the Tetaus [Comanches] had re- 
cently killed six Pawnees, the Kans had stolen some horses, and a party of 
300 Spaniards had lately been as far as the Sabine; but for what purpose 
unknown. Distance, 11 miles. 

September 23rd. Marched early and passed a large fork of the Kans 
[Smoky Hill] river, which I suppose to be the one generally called Solomon's. 
One of our horses fell into the water and wet his load. Halted at ten o'clock 
on a branch of this fork. We marched at half past one o'clock, and encamped 
at sundown, on a stream [Buffalo creek] where we had a great difficulty to 
find water. We were overtaken by a Pawnee, who encamped with us. He 
offered his horse for our use. Distance, 21 miles. [It may be noted here 
that Pike counted distance mainly by his watch so many miles per hour 
of march.] 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 233 

This gets Pike out of Ottawa county and across the Solomon, 
so we will follow him no further. 

The Saline river and Salt creek, thus accounted for in connection 
with the naming of the Solomon, did not appear on any map under 
their present names until the settling-up period of territorial days. 
"Salt creek," instead of "Little Saline," first appears on Mitchell's 
map in 1859. The "Grand Saline," "Saline Fork," "Great Saline 
Fork" is shown first as the "Saline river," on Ream's map of Kan- 
sas, 1865. 

The stream now known as Chapman creek was first recognized 
under its Indian name, "Nishcoba," as it appears on Eastman's 
Indian reserve map, 1854. A more nearly correct spelling of the 
word is Ni-skoba or Ni-skopa, meaning "Crooked Water." We 
may note here that the first syllable "ni" (water) appears also in 
the Ni-pahela (Solomon river) and in the Ni-obrara river. The 
equivalent Siouan or Dakotan form is "mi-ni," as in Minihaha and 
Minitonka. 

On Whitman and SearFs map, 1856, the designation Chapman's 
creek is first used, and thereafter the stream was known by that 
name, except that on two other maps of practically the same date 
it appears as "Sycamore creek." This botanical name, though it 
may be correctly applied, apparently did not find favor. But who 
was Chapman? So far we have not been able to connect up any 
man of that name with the early settlement of the stream's lower 
course, in Dickinson county. 

Pipe creek has probably shared the fate of many another geo- 
graphical feature whose original designation has been carelessly 
handled by the chartographer or copying clerk. There is a current 
impression that the stream was originally called Pike creek in honor 
of the explorer, who camped, however, on Salt creek, west of the 
Solomon. At any rate we have noted that in the General Laws of 
Kansas territory, February, 1860, a Mr. Branch of "Pike creek" 
was appointed one of the first three commissioners of the newly 
created Ottawa county. This was probably E. W. Branch, who 
had come into the county the previous spring. Mitchell's map of 
that year, on the other hand, has the name "Pipe creek" for the 
stream. Therefore, if there was an error in listing or copying the 
word it dated from the very beginning, and has been perpetuated 
ever since, for the creek does not appear on any earlier map than 
Mitchell's, 1859. 



234 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

A post office named Pipe Creek was established June 24, 1874. 
This office was discontinued September 30, 1898. The first post- 
master was Edwin Colton. 

Some of the pioneers who traveled or freighted by ox team must 
have had trouble at the Coal creek fords, for this stream first ap- 
pears on the map (W. J. Keeler, 1866) as "Hard-Crossing creek." 
Concerning the change of name, we have the following from J. J. 
Jenness, prominent in the pioneer history of the county: 

Coal creek was originally called Hard Crossing, but in 1864 or 1865 a man 
by the name of Gladden, living on the headwaters of the creek, discovered a 
small vein of coal about six inches thick. He took a sample to Junction City, 
then the nearest town of any importance, and endeavored to organize a com- 
pany to prospect. In this he failed; but in order to keep the thing before the 
public, he went to the land office at Junction City and succeeded in getting 
the name changed, on the government map, to Coal creek. 

Coal Creek post office was established October 3, 1866, with Jas. 
L. Ingersoll as the first postmaster. 

Sand creek trickles, sometimes flows, over a stream bed whose 
nature has given this watercourse its name. In places the ripples 
are clear enough that one can see the bottom and find proof of this 
condition which is rather unusual in a prairie stream. Before the 
country was settled up the antelope came there to drink, and as 
"Antelope creek" the stream was first known to the pioneers. We 
find it thus represented on Colton's map, 1867, on Johnson's map, 
1870, and on Cram's map in 1872. On a revised edition of the lat- 
ter, appearing in 1876, the designation "Sand creek" is first used. 
Why the name was changed, after it had been on record for nearly 
ten years, we have not been able to learn. 

Concerning the naming of Lindsey creek there is some difference 
of opinion. Mrs. S. B. Chapman, who, with her husband, settled in 
the valley just below the mouth of this stream in 1863, wrote me 
some time ago as follows: "A man by the name of Lindsey took a 
claim before the Civil War, running from Lindsey creek east. His 
home was on the creek. All who took claims were run out by the 
Indians at the commencement of the war." 

On the other hand, we find in Cutler's voluminous History of 
Kansas, published in 1883, pertinent matter of interest on this 
subject: 

In 1857-1858 the hunters and trappers who visited Solomon valley gave names 
to many of its creeks. For some unexplained reason these wayfarers left a 
wagonload of plunder behind them, just above Minneapolis, for the ownership 
of which a lawsuit was subsequently tried in the district court, at Junction 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 235 

City. Judging from the evidence there produced the "gentlemen" who gave 
Fisher, Lindsey, Brown, and Chriss creeks their names, were not the most 
savory morsels of humanity in the world. Most of the names of these Solomon 
valley creeks have since been changed in respect to the living. 

We may reconcile these two accounts of the man Lindsey by as- 
suming that he "stuck around" for a while subsequent to the events 
just narrated, and tried to hold a piece of land on the creek. This 
appears reasonable from the fact that his name came to be asso- 
ciated with the stream, while the wanderers Fisher, Brown, and 
Chriss lost out on their geographic designations. "Lindsey creek" 
first appears on Keeler's map in 1866. 

We have made diligent effort to locate the court records to which 
Cutler evidently had access, but have met with no success. Prob- 
ably they have long since been destroyed. 

Flowing through the southeastern part of the county and nosing 
into the Solomon not far above the place where the latter joins 
the Smoky Hill, is a stream called Buckeye creek. We have had 
no opportunity to explore this stream in search of the buckeye 
bush, but have been told on good authority that it does not grow 
there. Several types of tree and shrub as the buckeye, hickory, 
and sycamore which are to be found in the Permian limestone dis- 
trict as far west as eastern Dickinson county, disappear when we 
enter the Dakota sandstone belt of central Kansas. 

We are left, then, to assume that Buckeye creek was so called 
by some of the pioneers who had come from the Buckeye state 
Ohio. In the history from which we have quoted above, Cutler 
states that: "In June, 1855, a party from Ohio explored the Solo- 
mon valley with a view to locating a colony, but were deterred by 
Indian scares and by the fact that the Kansas river was found to 
be not navigable." John Riordan, who settled on or near the creek 
in 1859, says that it bore the name Buckeye at that time. 

Keeler's map, 1866, is the first to give the stream a name 
Buckeye creek. Colton's map, appearing the following year, changes 
it a little to "Buck Eye creek." The next transformation of the 
work was evidently the work of a susceptible young copying clerk 
whose thoughts were busy with dimples and lace bonnets; for he 
wrote it down "Blue Eye Creek." Johnson's map, 1870, is respon- 
sible for this bit of romance. Two years later Cram's atlas goes 
him one better, by calling the little brook "Blue Eye river." He 
corrects his mistake, however, in his revised atlas of 1876, and since 
that time the stream has been plain Buckeye creek. One of the 
municipal townships of the county has been given the same name. 



236 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Rand, McNally & Company's map, 1879, is apparently the first 
publication to recognize and record the local names of three of the 
smaller streams of the county. These are Table Rock creek (flow- 
ing into the Saline from the south, between Tescott and Culver), 
Mortimer creek, and Yockey creek, the latter two tributaries of the 
Solomon, from the east, just above Delphos. 

Table Rock is no more, but before it fell from the attacks of van- 
dals it had perpetuated its name in the stream which flows close by, 
in the eastern edge of Lincoln county. 

Yockey creek perpetuates the memory of Levi Yockey, whose 
homestead cabin once stood on the bank of this stream somewhat 
less than a mile west of the present site of Delphos. The few who 
still remember the location can trace the foundation of the old log 
structure and that of the pioneer schoolhouse which was near it. 

The groves of timber on Mortimer creek, about two miles farther 
up the Solomon valley, still shelter the home of David Mortimer, 
who came to the county in 1865. These groves once witnessed serious 
Indian troubles, but the writer remembers them only as the happy 
hunting grounds of unforgettable vacation days. 

Dry creek, which doesn't flow into the Solomon about two miles 
south of Delphos, and Henry creek, which sometimes does run 
through the city limits, are streams that occasionally appear on the 
maps. As to the former, we need offer no explanation of the origin 
of its name. Henry creek may have been named for Henry Stelter. 
a pioneer, whose home was on the edge of the stream just south of 
Delphos. But David Mortimer, mentioned above, thinks the name 
dates back to an earlier settler who lived there for a time before 
the lands were surveyed, and who was driven out by the Indians. 
In this connection we may note that one of the municipal townships 
of the county also bears the name "Henry." 

Other small streams of the county are only branches of the creeks 
already accounted for, and have merely a local interest that will 
not, in the scope of this article, warrant inquiry into the origin of 
their names. 

ORIGIN OF NAMES APPLIED TO OTTAWA COUNTY TOWNS 
As a preliminary to discussing the origin of names applied to 
towns in Ottawa county, or anywhere else for that matter, we may 
say that such names usually originate with the establishment of a 
post office at the place designated. Now, the naming of a post office, 
or a Pullman car, is anybody's game so long as the alphabet holds 
out. We have never been able to fix responsibility for the atrocious 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 237 

combinations of letters that appear on some of the cars, but with 
the post offices we have fared better. Not that we object to any of 
our home county names understand! We are lucky to have a list 
of good and worthy ones. If they were not such they could be 
changed, for all names of towns in our basic language are feminine. 

A letter or petition from local residents requesting the federal 
government to establish a post office in their community, may or 
may not suggest a name for the new geographical location. When a 
name is offered, the officials in charge of such matters usually adopt 
it, though they reserve the right to reject fool names, or one that is 
so nearly like another in the same state that confusion might arise 
in routing the mails. If no name is suggested in the petition, an 
official or clerk in the Washington office used to take it upon himself 
to call the place after some friend, or perhaps a person of high rank 
in his estimation. Sometimes, however, the name has proved to be 
too rank to suit the community concerned, wherefore in more recent 
years the federal office has adopted the slogan "Give us a name or 
you don't get the mail bag," or words to that effect. 

With these necessary preliminaries, we will try to discover who's 
who and what's what as pertains to a dozen or more names of 
towns in Ottawa county. 

"Minneapolis" is an Indian-Greek combination Mini (water), 
apolis (city), therefore, "City of Waters." Good, so far as it goes! 
We drank from the old town well many years and found that it 
satisfies. 

As to the local use of the word, we have it on the authority of the 
late Frank Rees, who may have been present at the christening, that 
the name for the future county seat was suggested by Captain 
Pierce, who had come to the county from Minneapolis, Minn. 
Everybody came from somewhere in those days. The homestead 
of Capt. A. D. Pierce was a mile or so below the present site of 
Sumnerville station, at a fording place on the Solomon which still 
bears his name. At one time, in June, 1869, an Indian raid ex- 
tended as far down the valley as his place ; but the marauders were 
beaten off by the homesteader, with the able assistance of another 
pioneer Ben Markley. 

The Pierce family evidently did not remain to enjoy the peace 
and prosperity that later came to the Solomon valley, for, after the 
death of the captain, survivors of that name appear to have left 
the country. 

Although Ottawa county had been legally established in 1860, it 



238 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

was not formally organized until six years later. At the time of 
its establishment Ayersburg had been designated by the governor 
as the temporary county seat; but at the first election held in the 
county, November, 1866, the community center of Minneapolis was 
chosen instead. A post office was established at the latter place on 
January 13, 1868. Elijah Smith, who was afterwards identified with 
the business interests of the new town, was the first postmaster. 
Minneapolis appeared on a state map for the first time in 1870. 

Ayersburg, to which reference has been made above, was the 
cabin of Seymour Ayers, on Lindsey creek, between the present high- 
way bridge and the mouth of the stream. As legally constituted, 
it had been the county seat for more than six years. A post office 
of that name was established on July 16, 1864, the same date on 
which Bennington post office was created. These two, then, were 
the first post offices in the county. 

The first postmaster at Ayersburg was John C. Boblett, who, ac- 
cording to report, dealt out the postal cards at a cabin somewhat 
nearer the present site of Minneapolis than the home of Seymour 
Ayers on Lindsey creek. The latter, however, succeeded to the post- 
mastership on September 12, 1865. From the recollections of Mrs. 
Frank Rees, Ayers used to ride to Solomon once or twice a week to 
supply the neighbors with their news of the outside world. After 
serving in this capacity until July 5, 1867, he was succeeded by 
Thomas Waddell, who held the office until it was changed in name 
to Lindsey the next year. "Ayersburg" appears on Heeler's map, 
1866-1867, and on Colton's map, 1867, but on no map published later. 

The Ayers family afterwards moved to a farm on Pipe creek, on 
which, or near which, the Ayers schoolhouse, district No. 10, stood 
in later years. The old stone schoolhouse has been replaced by 
another which bears the name of Woodsdale. 

The original townsite of Lindsey was less than a mile from the 
proposed Ayersburg, and the history of the two efforts to establish a 
community center is practically the same early rivalry to hold 
there the county seat designated by the governor at the creation of 
the county. As we have noted, however, Minneapolis was chosen 
in the election of 1866. 

A post office was established at Lindsey on July 7, 1868, Harvey 
Markel (Markley?) being appointed postmaster. When the writer 
first saw the place, in October 1879, this office was in the old hotel 
or stage tavern which stood at the first corner south of the Lindsey 
creek bridge. It was then the home of the Best family and Mrs. 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 239 

Best's second husband, 0. B. Potter. The schoolhouse, "Dickie" 
Knight's blacksmith shop, two or three old shacks, and a number of 
cellars were all that remained of the former aspirant for county- 
seat honors. In later years the school, the blacksmith shop, and the 
post office were reestablished at the railroad crossing a half mile 
farther south, where Lindsey is still on the map. 

If the man Lindsey, who once claimed the creek for his own, was 
the type of "gentleman" Cutler pictures him in his historical refer- 
ence, perhaps his hoodoo thwarted the efforts of the settlers to build 
on this stream a city of destiny. On the other hand, the shades of 
the gallant Pike, who fell at York in the defense of his country, may 
have assisted in the establishment of a town at the mouth of a 
stream evidently intended to be named for him. 

We have not been able to learn definitely just why the original 
post office at Bennington was so named. But since there is a post 
office in each of seven states of the Union apparently named for the 
original Bennington, Vt., we assume that this is a case in which a 
designation was given the Ottawa county location by an official of 
the federal post office. Bennington, Kan., post office was established 
on July 16, 1864. Two years later the name appeared on both 
Colton's map and Keeler's map of the territory. 

Samuel Z. Boss was the first postmaster at Bennington, according 
to government records. Some have thought to identify Richard 
Knight with this position, and state that he came to the Solomon 
valley from Bennington, Vt. But members of Richard Knight's 
family state that he came to Bennington, Kan., in 1866, after having 
served an enlistment in the Second Colorado cavalry. He was born 
in Ireland, and when he came to this country located at Sandusky, 
Ohio, before coming to the West. His homestead dugout and black- 
smith shop were near a lone cottonwood tree about one-fourth 
mile southwest of the intersection of the section lines in the present 
town of Bennington. In 1870 he was flooded out by high water in 
Sand creek and moved to Lindsey. 

Bennington, Vt., is the only town in the list of eight of the name 
that has a population over one thousand. It was there we fought, 
and won, a decisive battle of the Revolutionary War. 

In discussing the two geographical locations down the line below 
Bennington, we are inclined to sympathize with the fellow who 
"Stood on the bridge at midnight, feeling rather tough; Two moons 
rose o'er the city, where one would have been enough." 

There are some discrepancies in the reports we have as to the 



240 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

naming of Niles and Verdi, but all other historical facts seem to 
accord fairly well. To begin with the federal government records, 
a post office was established at "Coal Creek" on October 3, 1866, 
with Jas. L. Ingersoll in charge. This office was located on a claim 
between the present stations of Niles and Verdi, which are less than 
three miles apart. The origin of the name Coal creek has been dis- 
cussed elsewhere in this article. 

On April 18, 1879, the name of the office was changed to "George- 
town," the first postmaster under this new name being John J. 
Jenness. Two correspondents who gathered information for the 
writer about twenty years later, at Niles and Verdi, respectively, 
state that this office was so named in honor of George Ingersoll, on 
whose original claim it was located. Did the old timers have in 
mind Jas. L. Ingersoll, the first postmaster at the "Coal Creek" 
office? At any rate there are Georgetown post offices in twenty- 
seven different states of the Union, all presumably named after the 
"Father of his Country." 

A few years later, January 16, 1885, this office was changed to 
"Verdi," with C. H. Shultice as the first postmaster. Verdi was a 
new railroad station just north of the mouth of Coal creek. In the 
same year, according to one correspondent, a post office was estab- 
lished at "Nilesville," a station about three miles farther down, and 
below the mouth of Coal creek. The report of this correspondent 
we have been able to verify just recently by further inquiry at the 
federal department. The office at Nilesville was created August 10, 
1885, with Thomas Casebeer in charge. Two years subsequent to 
this event, or, to be exact, on August 25, 1887, the office was re- 
christened "Niles." 

As to the origin of the two names, "Niles" honors the memory of 
Hezekiah Niles, an American publisher who was the founder and 
for many years editor of the Niles' Weekly Register, at Baltimore, 
Md., and Washington, D. C. This publication was devoted chiefly 
to the discussion of political matters and affairs of state and is a 
valuable source for the study of American history of the period 1810 
to 1850. There are ten towns named Niles in as many different 
states of our country. Two of them only, in Ohio and in Michigan, 
have a population of more than one thousand. 

Josiah Hocker, on whose land the railroad station of Niles, Kan., 
was built, is reported to have named the place after his old home 
town of Niles, Ind., according to one correspondent, or Niles, N. Y., 
in the Mohawk valley, according to another. As there is neither a 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 241 

"Niles" nor a "Nilesville" in either state, it is probable that the 
name was suggested by someone in the federal post office. 

"Niles V" appears on Rand, MeNally & Company's map published 
in 1886. On a revision of this map in 1888 the name has been 
changed to "Niles." 

Kansas, Minnesota and Texas have each honored the great com- 
poser, Verdi, with a post office bearing his name. If anyone at 
Verdi, Kan., suggested the name for the local office, it may have 
been, as one correspondent writes, because of the famous singing 
schools conducted there at the time by Thomas Wood, and by the 
musical compositions of Mrs. Effie B. Frost. Officials of the Union 
Pacific railroad, who are credited with having named the station, 
report that their records do not show this to be the case. "Verdi" 
first appears on a map, along with "Niles V," in 1886. 

Cleomenes, returning from a visit to the famous oracle at Delphos, 
in ancient Greece, reported, "The climate's delicate; the air most 
sweet." Considerations of this sort may or may not have in- 
fluenced the Ottawa county pioneer, Levi Yockey, to suggest the 
name Delphos for the post office of which he first had charge. Prob- 
ably, however, memories of his old home town of Delphos, Ohio, 
influenced him more than any knowledge of Shakespeare's Winter's 
Tale. 

The office was established on November 13, 1866, in Yockey 's 
cabin on the creek that still bears his name. Here the pioneers are 
reported to have gathered on "mail days" to witness the dumping 
of the sack's contents in the middle of the floor, after which cere- 
mony every fellow scrambled about on hands and knees to get all 
he could rightfully claim. 

The townsite of Delphos was laid out by W. A. Kiser, on his land, 
in 1869-1870, when the memory of Indian raids was still fresh in 
the minds of the few settlers. One such incursion of the Cheyennes 
reached Yockey creek on August 12, 1868. In another raid, on 
October 14 of the same year, Peter Karnes, John Andrews, and two 
members of the Smith family were killed, and Mrs. Morgan was 
taken prisoner. A third raid has been mentioned in connection with 
Captain Pierce's defense of his cabin at Pierce's ford. 

Delphos first appears on a map of the state (Keeler's) in 1866- 
1867, along with three other locations in the county Ayersburg, 
Coal Creek and Bennington. 

In the summer following the arrival of the first mail bag at 
Yockey's cabin, Capt. A. D. Pierce landed a post office for his 

16-^3729 



242 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

community down the river. This was on June 21, 1867, and the 
place was called Sumnerville. It still has the distinction of being 
the only Sumnerville in the United States, though there are nineteen 
places called Sumner. All apparently were named in honor of the 
eminent statesman, Charles Sumner, whose famous speech in the 
senate on "The Crime Against Kansas" provoked the assault on 
his life by Representative Brooks of South Carolina. Whether the 
name of the new post office was suggested by Captain Pierce or pro- 
vided by the federal officials we have not been able to learn. . A 
railroad station still bears the name, but the post office has been dis- 
continued with the spread of rural free delivery. 

The post office at Ada, Kan., was called to serve the public on 
August 26, 1872. Jacob B. Lane was in charge, and in honor of his 
wife, Ada, he suggested the name for his cabin which held the soap 
box which held the few communications received once a week from 
the outside world. S. P. Beucler later secured the office for his store, 
the nucleus of the town Ada, about two miles northeast of the Lane 
homestead. For a long time, he writes, his office did not average 
more than a half dozen pieces of mail a week. With the coming of 
the Santa Fe railway, in 1887, the post office and the town of Ada 
were shifted three-fourths of a mile southeast to the station located 
there. 

The Santa Fe railway officials named their way station between 
Minneapolis and Ada in compliment to Mrs. Blades, on whose land 
it is located. As Miss Thirza A. Brewer she had homesteaded the 
quarter in 1871. The year previous to the coming of the railroad a 
star-route post office had been established in this locality at the 
bachelor headquarters of Nathaniel B. Penquite and his brother 
Frank. This event dates back to January 11, 1886. Nathaniel was 
named as postmaster and, in addition to their none too burdensome 
duties of canceling stamps and distributing mail, the two brothers 
kept a small stock of goods for sale to the neighbors. 

When Brewer station was located the next year the post office was 
transferred there, with Mrs. Blades in charge. Owing to a similarity 
in the name of the station and that of another post office in Kansas, 
the office at Brewer kept its original name of Penquite until it was 
discontinued on March 15, 1895. 

About nine miles east of Minneapolis another station was located 
on the new Santa Fe line in 1887. It was called "Wells" by the rail- 
way officials, probably in honor of Henry Wells, whose name was 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 243 

linked with that of Wm. G. Fargo in the operation of an express 
company on that line. 

The name "Wells" has been given also to a dozen other towns in 
the United States, not to mention combinations which may refer to 
springs of water. At first the federal officials refused to accept the 
designation for a post office, and when one was established there on 
May 21, 1888, it was called 'Toe." The first postmaster was Isaac 
Piper, who still held the position when the name of the office was 
finally changed to Wells, October 26, 1892. Another post office, in 
Logan county, fell heir to the name Poe. 

The location of a post office at Vine creek, or Vine, in the eastern 
part of the county, antedated by several years the coming of the 
railroad; for the records show that the date of its establishment was 
December 9, 1879. The writer, having hunted rabbits in pedagogic 
days along these branches of Coal creek, is ready to testify that 
there are more vines than creeks. Therefore, perhaps, the govern- 
ment officials were justified in shortening the name of the office to 
"Vine." The name was suggested by the first postmistress, Mrs. 
Sara D. Seely. 

Rumor has it that the little stream on which the railway station 
of Vine Creek is now located was once called "Nigger creek." All 
honor to the lady who suggested the change. 

For forty years a post office was maintained at the community 
center of Lamar, on upper Pipe creek. This office was established 
on June 20, 1872, with Harlan P. Sanford in charge. Its sponsor 
was Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, of Confederate fame, later 
member of congress and associate justice of the supreme court. The 
site of the civic center of Lamar is said to have been changed, in 
1882, to a point about 140 rods east of its first location. The post 
office was discontinued on March 28, 1912, the place being served 
thereafter by rural free delivery. 

Early developments in the Saline valley district of Ottawa county 
resulted in the establishment of the two post offices there on the 
same date, April 8, 1869. The "Churchill" office was on the farm of 
T. B. Sears, its first postmaster. This was on the section directly 
south of the one on which the railroad station at Tescott is now 
located. The place was named by Mr. Sears in honor of his mother's 
family, the Churchills, of New England stock. The other office was 
called "Windsor," but for whom and by whom we have not been able 
to learn. Neither can we place its exact location. Its first postmaster 



244 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

was E. C. Fisher, and as an office under the name Windsor it was 
discontinued on May 24, 1887, with the coming of the railroad. 

About the same time, or a little earlier, two other star-route 
post offices of the Saline valley were discontinued and for the same 
reason the building of the new Lincoln Branch railroad. These 
offices were "Bluffton" and "York." The former had been estab- 
lished on January 30, 1872, and was discontinued August 4, 1886. 
Its location was about three miles south and a little east of Tescott, 
near the county line. Its first postmaster was Peter Kipfer. York 
post office was located perhaps four miles northeast of Tescott and 
was first in charge of Henry M. Miner. It was created on April 14, 
1880, and ceased to exist August 20, 1886. 

Churchill office was never really discontinued but was changed 
in name to "Tescott" on August 4, 1886. At that time it was changed 
in location, also, to the new railroad station and town of Tescott, 
across the river and a mile or so to the north. The place was so 
called in honor of T. E. Scott, one of the progressive, outstanding 
farmers of the community. On his lands a part of the new town had 
been platted. The first postmaster at Tescott was Nathan H. Eddy. 

Culver had its baptism of fire in the mid-September days of 1868, 
when the sun shone hot on the sands of Beecher Island. There in 
the dry bed of the Arickaree Fork, Lieut. Geo. W. Culver gave his 
life on the first day of the memorable fight with Indian hordes under 
the leadership of Roman Nose. Lieutenant Culver, originally from 
New York state, was reputed as a man of intelligence and sterling 
worth, and had won honors in service with the second Colorado 
cavalry. Before entering upon the campaign in which he lost his 
life, he had requested that in case he should never return his home- 
stead claim on the Saline river should be given to his partner, a 
Mr. Hotchkiss. This homestead, according to a comrade, was lo- 
cated about a mile south of the present site of Tescott. 

Associated with Culver in the fight at Beecher Island for the de- 
fense of their homes on the Kansas frontier was Howard Morton, 
another settler of the Saline valley. He was seriously wounded by 
an Indian's bullet, but survived the terrible encounter to live through 
the years of peace and prosperity that came as a result of the 
sacrifice at Arickaree. 

Two of the municipal townships in the southwestern part of the 
county were named in honor of Culver and Morton. As a memorial 
to the former, also, Culver post office was established on April 14, 
1875, at the home of the first postmaster, Robt. H. Lesley. After 



SCHEFFER: GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN OTTAWA COUNTY 245 



one or two changes to other farm homes, the office was located at the 
new railroad station of Culver in 1886. 

In closing this historical sketch it may be considered worth while 
to include a few extinct geographical locations in Ottawa county 
farm-home post offices which have ceased to exist: 



NAME. 


Established. 


Location. 


Discontinued. 


First postmaster. 


Ackley 


Mar. 7, 1879 


Ottawa township 


June 2, 1888 


Matilda Edward* 


Ailanthus 


Oct. 13, 1881 


Garfield township. . . . 


Oct. 16, 1882 


A. S. Kinsey 


Braid 


Dec. 21, 1885 


Durham township 


May 14, 1890 


Thos. Durham 


Caledonia 


May 5, 1876 


Concord township . . . 


Feb. 12, 1885 


Cicero H. Frost 


Grover 


April 19, 1870 


Logan township 


Nov. 4, 1885 


Wm. Postlethwait 


Melville 


Mar. 25, 1878 


Chapman township . . 


Sept, 4, 1890 


Jaa. S. B. McNay 


Ohio Grove 


Oct. 20, 1873 


Culver township 





J. C. Pittinger 


Pipe Creek 


June 24, 1874 


Logan township 


Sept. 30, 1898 


Edwin Colton 


Ritsraan 


June 7 1880 




Oct 5 1881 


David T Ritsman 


Widerange 


Sept 4 1882 




Feb 29 1904 


Wm M Wyant 


Yale 


Mar. 17, 1873 


Sherman township . . . 


Feb. 5, 1887 


S. Y. Woodhull 



Changed to Crown Point, in Saline county. 



Ferries in Kansas 

Part IV Republican River 
GEORGE A. ROOT 

THE Republican river, first known to early cartographers as the 
Republican Fork, took its name from a branch of the Pawnee 
Confederacy known as the Kit-ke-hah-ki or Republican Pawnees, 
who lived along the stream up to about 1815. 1 The river had a 
name bestowed by the Indians, Wa-wa-bo-gay, 2 but by what tribe 
has not been learned. 

Zebulon M. Pike, the explorer, traveled up the stream a short 
distance in September, 1806, while on his way to the Pawnee village. 
An atlas published by M. Carey & Son in 1817 names the river the 
Republican Fork. So far as is known by the writer, the shortened 
form, the Republican, was first used on a map of the western portion 
of the United States, drawn by Anthony Finley and dated 1826. 3 
John C. McCoy, who surveyed many of the Indian reservations em- 
braced in present Kansas, has stated that the Kansas Indians called 
it the Pa-ne-ne-tah or Pawnee river. 4 Black's General Atlas, pub- 
lished in Edinburgh in 1841, calls it the Republican, as also does 
Fremont, the explorer. However, Capt. John W. Gunnison, who 
explored the West for a railroad route to the Pacific in 1853, in his 
report to the government designated the river as the Pawnee's river. 5 
Capt. Charles S. Lovell, Sixth U. S. infantry, formed an encamp- 
ment at the mouth of the Pawnee river in 1853, which he named 
Camp Center 6 (now Fort Riley). 

The Republican is formed by three branches, all of which rise in 
eastern Colorado, the northern fork in Yuma county, and the Arick- 
aree and southern forks in Lincoln county. These all flow in a 
slightly northeasterly direction. The south branch cuts across Chey- 
enne county, Kansas, from a point at about the line between town- 
ships four and five. About thirty-eight miles downstream it enters 
Nebraska in Range 28 West, uniting with the north fork near 
Benkelman, and forming the Republican river proper. From here 
the stream flows in an easterly direction, passing through the counties 

1. Blackmar, History of Kansas, v. 2, p. 377. 

2. Junction City Union, May 6, 1876. 

3. Hulbert, Where Rolls the Oregon, map facing p. 7. 

4. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, p. 405. 

5. House Executive Document No. 29, 32d Cong., 1st sess., s. n. 737. 

6. Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Biennial Report, 1877-1878, p. 171. 

(246) 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 247 

of Dundy, Hitchcock, Red Willow, Furnas, Harlan, Franklin and 
Webster, across the corner of Nuckols county, entering Kansas the 
second time in Jewell county in the NW 1 ^ S. 4, T. 1 S., R. 1 W. 
Within a mile of this point the river again leaves the state and enters 
Kansas for the third time in the same township and range. The 
river here, for somewhat less than a mile, flows directly west. After 
another turn to the southeast the river's course is slightly north of 
east, passing into Cloud county. The stream from here runs to the 
southeast, a little north of present Concordia, thence in an easterly 
direction into Clay, traversing that county in a southeasterly course, 
entering Geary and uniting with the Smoky Hill about one and one- 
fourth miles northeast of Junction City, near Fort Riley. 

A manuscript map of Indian reservations included in northeastern 
Kansas, made by John C. McCoy in September and October, 1833, 
shows the junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, desig- 
nating the point of land at the juncture as the "Grand Point." The 
fact that one can obtain a view of the different valleys and the sur- 
rounding landscape for miles around from the tops of the high hills 
in this vicinity may have been a contributing factor for the Indian 
name handed down. 

The United States weather bureau is authority for the statement 
that the Republican is 461 miles long, about 150 of which are in 
Kansas. The river drains an area of 23,067 square miles. Disastrous 
floods have occurred from time to time, that of March, 1881, being 
the most serious of record up to that date. It was exceeded, how- 
ever, by the big floods of 1903 and 1915. In order to get accurate 
measurements of the amount of water carried by this stream during 
the year, several gauging stations were established by the United 
States weather bureau along the course of the river. The first of 
these above the mouth was set up by Arthur P. Davis on the wagon 
bridge at Junction City, April 26, 1895. Daily readings kept since 
then have been published from time to time. Figures for 1899, which 
may be taken as a normal year, show that the high-water mark 
was reached on June 4, at which time the Republican had attained 
a depth of 10 feet, with a discharge of 1,224 cubic feet per second. 
The river on January 1 and December 1, that year, showed a depth 
of 3.40 feet, while the lowest stage for the same period was 2.4 feet 
on November 14 and 16. 7 A gauging station was also established at 
Clay Center on August 1, 1904. The width of the river at this point 
at average low water is 200 feet, and the drainage area above is 

7. Water Supply and Irrigation Papers, No. 37, pp. 248, 249; Daily River Stages, v. 13, 
p. 33. 



248 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

22,756 square miles. On May 29, 1903, the highest water of record 
on the river at this point reached a depth of 24.8 feet, a trifle over 
18 feet being the danger point. 8 

The legislature of 1864 declared the Republican river unnavigable, 
notwithstanding the fact that Financier No. 2, a side-wheel steam- 
boat of 125 tons burden, ascended the stream in 1855 for a distance 
of forty miles, returning safely the following day to the Kansas 
river. This side trip is said to have taken the steamer to the vicinity 
of Clay Center. 9 

The earliest ferry on the Republican, and probably the first above 
its confluence with the Smoky Hill, was located at the crossing of 
the road from Fort Riley to Junction City. This thoroughfare 
reached the river in the SE% S. 30, T. 11, R. 5 E. 10 The name of 
the man who inaugurated this service was, perhaps, Capt. Asaph 
Allen, 11 who, in 1858 and 1859, operated a ferry 12 between the fort 
and Junction City. 

An early reference to the above ferry is found in the diary of 
Christian L. Long, who was accompanying a party of emigrants 
on their journey westward. Under date of April 28, 1859, he records 
having crossed on this ferry, stating that the river was about ninety 
feet wide at that point, and ferry charges $1 a team. Horace Greeley 
also mentions crossing on this ferry in May, 1859, when he reached 
Junction City on his journey westward. He described it as a rope 
ferry, and stated that a number of families and a large herd of 
cattle had been taken across. These pilgrims were on their way to 
California. They took the road up the right bank of the Republican 
to Fort Kearney and on to Fort Laramie. 13 

George W. Martin, second secretary of the Kansas State Historical 
Society, a resident of Davis county for a number of years and pub- 
lisher of the Junction City Union, recalls crossing on this ferry dur- 
ing a return trip from Leavenworth in the winter of 1862-1863. 
He said: 

We changed mail at Riley without trouble and soon reached the ferry across 
the Republican. It was five o'clock in the morning; the river was full of 
slush ice, and the most difficult part of the night was to arouse Tom O'Day, 
the ferryman. We drove on the boat, happy in the thought that we were 
nearing home. The boat stranded about the middle of the stream, probably 

8. Daily River Stages, v. 9, pp. 33, 34. 

9. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9, p. 388. 

10. Bird & Mickle, Map of Davis County, n. d. 

11. Asaph Allen was a delegate to the Philadelphia convention in 185C, and in 1857 was 
chief clerk and secretary of the senate during the session of the Topeka legi.slature. 

12. Junction City Union, June 19, 1866. 

13. Greeley, An Overland Journey, p. 72. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 249 

fifteen feet from either shore. The driver looked around for the ferryman, 
and there he was standing on dry land. ''What do you mean?" he inquired, 
accompanied by the most awful abuse that ever came from the mouth of man. 
"An' I knew it would stick; do you suppose I'd go out there?" He crawled 
into his warm bunk; the slush ice soon solidified; we took a few planks from 
the bottom of the boat, laid them across the ice, walked over and into town, 
and I crawled into bed at Sam Strickler's at six o'clock. Contrast that way 
of getting into town with the present Pullman service at forty miles an hour, 
and then growl. 

But before we forget the ferry, which was often either rightly or wrongly 
the excuse for beating us out of our mail, when we were getting it but three 
times a week, contrast four bridges within a few hundred feet of its crossing, 
one bearing a transcontinental line, with a score of long trains daily, and 
another a trolley line between Junction City and the fort. . . , 14 

This ferry probably operated more or less regularly until late in 
the 1860's, but whether under more than one ownership the writer 
has been unable to discover, as early records of Davis county com- 
missioners contain scant mention of ferry matters. Presumably 
there was some dissatisfaction at the manner in which the ferry was 
operated, for the Union, early in 1863, called attention to the matter 
in the following paragraph : 

A NUISANCE. The most intolerable nuisance with which this country has 
been afflicted, is the ferry across the Republican river at Fort Riley. For the 
past week or ten days the mail has been a half a day behind, for the reason 
that they would not cross that thing in the night. It has always been a 
wonder why the military authorities at Riley tolerate such a nuisance under 
their nose. We hope the day is not far distant when a substantial bridge will 
connect us with America. 

Late in February, 1863, the Union said "we got but one eastern 
mail in eight days." 

In the issue of January 31 it registered another "kick" at ferry 
conditions : 

A SUGGESTION. We would suggest, as a matter of great convenience to the 
traveling public, that a wooden man be substituted for the Irishman who at- 
tends to the ferry across the Republican. We have crossed a few times there 
lately, and have been unable to find where the fault rests. Whoever has charge 
of that ferry must get someone who will attend to it, as it is serious to the 
county to have travel so impeded. 

The summer of 1863 was a wet one in the Republican valley, and 
that stream was a trifle too high to be safely forded a good portion 
of the time before midsummer. Yet there were those who willingly 
took a chance and forded the river in order to save ferry charges, 
as the following incident would prove: 

14. Kansas Historical Collection*, v. 7, pp. 381, 382. 



250 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

DISCARDING FERRY BOATS. One day last week a man from up the Republican 
came to town shopping. He started home with a few dollars' worth of dry 
goods, groceries, etc. Arriving at the Republican he resolved to save twenty- 
five cents, and accordingly resolved to ford. Riding up to the pier where the 
boat lands, he spurred his horse into about fifteen feet of water. Horse and 
rider went with the current the horse passing completely under the boat, 
coming out at the lower side. The man clung to the boat with more tenacity 
than he did to the two bits. Both were finally rescued, but the sugar, etc., 
mingled with the sand. The ferryman enjoyed the sport hugely. Junction 
City Union, July 25, 1863. 

Apparently there was little or no complaint at the operation of the 
ferry during normal river conditions. In time of flood, however, 
there was considerable dissatisfaction. No doubt the narrowness of 
the channel made the operation of a ferry boat somewhat hazardous, 
which in turn made the ferryman overly cautious. The following 
items from the local paper are indicative of conditions during the 
next year or two: 

Will those interested in the ferry across the Republican, for their own 
benefit and that of the country, please get some one who will run the boat? 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week, the stage started east but wa? 
compelled to return because the ferryman would not cross it. Sunday it 
started out again, and this time the driver, Jim Hall, swam the river and 
brought the boat over. A gentleman from the Solomon, who was going to 
mill at Manhattan, a few days ago, was compelled to do the same thing, while 
the man who has run the boat for a year declared he couldn't do it! It is to 
be hoped that the interests of the community is not longer to suffer by that 
ferryman being retained there. During all this high water there had been no 
earthly excuse, except the incompetence or laziness of that man, for keeping 
from us the mails for three or four days. Junction City Union, August 15, 1863. 

TOMMY. ;We allude to the ferryman across the Republican. He is a genius. 
Old settlers have become accustomed to him, and have pretty much quit 
growling. Tommy is a good fellow, but he is not fit to run a ferry boat: The 
other day some men from town went down to get the mail across, and after 
making all preparations asked him to take hold and pull. He replied, "Sure 
it'll get wet, and who can handle it when it's wet?" with his peculiar brogue. 
We will next hear that he is afraid the boat will get wet. Junction City Union, 
February 20, 1864. 

During the past few weeks, the "navigation" of the Smoky Hill and Re- 
publican have been occasionally interrupted by high water. The ferry across 
the Republican is now managed with more efficiency, courtesy and decency 
than at any time during the past three years; yet notwithstanding the desire 
of the ferryman to oblige the traveling public, he was not able, every time, 
to make the "connection." We do trust that the time will come when both 
the Smoky Hill and the Republican will be bridged, and when the intercourse 
between the different portions of the state will be uninterrupted. Had our 
Congressional Committee reached Fort Riley a few days before or the day 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 251 

after they did, they would have been delayed from twelve to twenty-four hours 
in crossing the Republican. This ought not to occur on a reserve of which 
government claims the ownership of exclusive jurisdiction. The government 
either ought to bridge the stream or grant the privilege of bridging it to 
citizens, with reasonable aid in doing so. Junction City Union, June 3, 1865. 

Between pleasing the traveling public and combating the forces of 
nature the ferry operators had their hands full. Ice and high waters 
were the greatest hazards. An illustration of the inconvenience of 
those weather conditions to both operators and patrons will be found 
in the following paragraph: 

The fords and ferries on the Republican and Smoky Hill the past week have 
been impassable for teams. The thaw last week raised the water, and the boat 
at the fort was carried off Saturday night, since which time the only com- 
munication with the fort and below has been by skiffs until Friday towards 
night, when a temporary structure was fixed, upon which trains, &c., have 
crossed since. It is feared that the garrisons of the government posts west 
will be nearly starving, from the long stoppage of trains. There are reported 
to be some eight trains of from 300 to 400 wagons, detained by inability to 
cross the Republican here and at the Big Blue at Manhattan. The mail has 
been got through every day but Monday. Teams have arrived from above 
by fording from two to three feet of water in Chapman's creek. Junction City 
Union, January 20, 1866. 

The last mention of ferry matters in the immediate vicinity of 
Fort Riley is the following from the Junction City Union of March 
29, 1873: "A ferry is being established at the fort, evidently for the 
benefit of the wood contractors, as a large quantity of that article 
is corded up on the opposite side of the river." 

In this series of articles on ferries mention has been made of the 
bridges which replaced them at some of the more important points, 
and this has necessitated brief consideration of the roads over which 
the early-day traffic passed. The problem of river crossings was not 
always solved with the construction of bridges. The digression 
which follows is illustrative of the difficulties many sections en- 
countered in the era of bridge building, and shows the extent of 
travel over the roads which converged in the vicinity of Fort Riley 
and the junction of the rivers. 

There had been some early travel up the Republican by emigrants 
on their way west, which increased after the establishment of Fort 
Riley in 1853. That year the government erected a truss bridge 
across the river to help care for this traffic. This bridge went out in 
1856, during a freshet. The year following another bridge was 
built which was swept away during a flood in 1858. 15 

15. Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 1001, 1007. 



252 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

In 1858 private interests sought a franchise for bridge purposes 
and obtained from the legislature that year a twenty-year charter 
for the Republican River Bridge Company, which granted exclusive 
bridge privileges and rights at or within five miles from Fort Riley, 
with right to charge toll at rates not to exceed the average rates 
charged by the several ferries across the Kansas river established by 
law. A provision of the act stipulated that unless the bridge was 
built within three years the act would be void. 16 No bridge was 
built within the time limits. 

A "float" or pontoon bridge had been erected across the Republi- 
can between Fort Riley and Junction City in the late 1850's. This, 
according to the Manhattan Express of February 25, 1860, was 
destroyed by high water and floating ice on February 19. This 
structure, apparently, was replaced or rebuilt later that year, for 
on October 6, following, the board of county commissioners issued 
an "order that Charles F. Clarke 17 take out license for his bridge. 
License at thirty dollars per annum. Rates of tole are the same 
as those of John Wallace for bridge across the Kansas river at 
West Point." 18 

During the session of the 1864 legislature, senate concurrent reso- 
lution No. 20 was passed, asking congress to improve the Fort 
Leavenworth-Fort Riley military road, the memorial contemplating 
the bridging of the Republican at Fort Riley as well as improving 
the highway westward, copies of this document were forwarded to 
the Kansas delegation at Washington to be brought before con- 
gress. 19 

This action may have spurred the bridge company to life, for the 
company, or another of the same name, filed a certificate of incorpo- 
ration with the secretary of state on November 11, 1864, 20 authoriz- 
ing the company to construct a bridge over that stream. This com- 
pany was formed after the passage of joint resolution No. 56, by the 
39th congress, entitled "A joint resolution for "the reduction of the 
military reservation of Fort Riley and to grant land for bridge pur- 
poses to the state of Kansas." The state accepted the terms and 
provisions of the resolution which guaranteed "that a bridge shall 
be constructed over the Republican river on the highway leading 

16. Private Laws, Kansas, 1858, p. 47. 

17. Charles F. Clarke is listed in the 1860 census of Davis county, p. 80, as a native of 
Ireland, 32 years of age, owner of real estate valued at $4,000, and personal property, $4,000. 
His wife, Bridget, was born in Ireland. The three children, minors, were born in Kansas and 
Nebraska. 

18. Davis county, "Commissioners' Journal," Book 1, p. 79. 

19. Senate Journal, 1864, pp. 378, 379, 394. 

20. Corporations, v. 1, p. 14, in the Kansas State Historical Society's archives. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 253 

through the present Fort Riley military reservation, and that said 
bridge should be kept up and maintained in good condition, and 
should be free to the use of the government of the United States for 
all transit purposes forever, without toll or charges," etc. 21 

As late as the last of July, 1865, no actual construction work on a 
bridge at the fort had been started, though plans for a structure 
were being suggested. The first move evidently was started by the 
government, as the following item would indicate: 

We learn that Captain Berthoud has arrived at Fort Riley with orders from 
department headquarters to construct a bridge across the Republican river at 
that point. The reputation of Captain Berthoud as an engineer insures a first- 
class structure. Work upon it will shortly be commenced. We learn that 
Butterneld has purchased a complete stock for a daily line of coaches from 
Atchison to Denver. We hope our Salina neighbors will be spurred up by 
these items and make a good road which will be without hindrance to this 
enterprise. Go to work, and by the time the bridge is completed, have sub- 
stantial bridges across the Solomon and Saline. Junction City Union, July 29, 
1865. 

Apparently nothing was accomplished up to 1867. That year the 
bridge company got an act passed by the legislature granting the 
right to build a bridge, to be completed within one year from the 
passage of the act, which was approved by Governor Crawford 
February 26, 1867. 22 One of the provisions of the law stipulated 
that it was the duty of the bridge company to notify the governor 
when the bridge was completed, whereupon the governor in person, 
together with a competent engineer, should proceed to examine the 
bridge, and if the governor found that a good and substantial struc- 
ture had been built across the Republican by the company, it was 
his duty to certify the same to the Secretary of the Interior and 
request that he issue patent for the lands mentioned and described 
in the joint resolution to congress, etc. The bridge company was 
also required to deposit with the governor satisfactory surety and 
guarantees, fully indemnifying the state of Kansas against any loss 
or losses by the guarantee given by the state of Kansas to the United 
States. The lands contemplated for the bridge embraced the portion 
of the military reservation lying between the Republican and Smoky 
Hill rivers being the part lying between Junction City and the 
forks of the rivers. This bridge was started in the spring of 1867 
and was completed by December following. 23 By 1873, however, 
the condition of this bridge had become so impaired as to be danger- 

21. U. S. Stat. at Large, 39th Cong., 2d seas., pp. 573, 674. 

22. Laws, Kansas, 1867, pp. 68, 59. 

28. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 1007. 



254 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

ous for traffic, and on March 15 the Davis county commissioners 
passed the following order, which was addressed to Gov. Thomas A. 
Osborn: 

Ordered, that the county clerk be instructed to notify the governor of the 
state of Kansas that the bridge across the Republican river is now and lias 
been impassable for the last week, and that the county commissioners of Davis 
county respectfully calls his attention to the same as the guardian of such pub- 
lic property. 24 

Governor Osborn's reply was written March 18, and stated that 
the matter had been referred to the attorney-general for his opinion. 
That officer was of the opinion that it was the duty of the county 
attorney of Davis county to institute suit against the bridge com- 
pany if the county commissioners deemed it necessary to do so to 
enforce a compliance by the bridge company with the terms of their 
charter under which it was organized. The county clerk was re- 
ferred to section 136, chapter 25, General Statutes of 1868. 25 This 
answer brought a communication from the chairman of the board of 
county commissioners of Davis county, dated March 24, asking that 
a certified copy of the bond given the state by the bridge company 
be sent. He said the president of the bridge company claimed that 
his company was a private corporation, and that the county com- 
missioners had no right to inquire into its affairs. The letter also 
stated that property had been sacrificed and life endangered, and 
business from a portion of the county suspended by the failure of 
the bridge company to fulfill their bond. 26 

On the 29th of March the governor addressed a letter to the 
attorney-general, telling of the impassable condition of the bridge 
and stating that no action was being taken by the bridge company 
to repair it. His letter also gave a complete history of the company's 
charter, and also directed the attorney-general to start action. The 
last paragraph recited: 

The Republican River Bridge Company having failed to comply with the 
act of the legislature and the terms of said bond, you are hereby requested to 
institute such proceedings in this case, and with the least possible delay, as 
will best protect the interests of the state, and enforce a full discharge of the 
obligations owing to the state by said bridge company. 27 

In the meantime the governor had received complaints from the 
military, for on March 29 he wrote Maj. Gen. John Pope, at Fort 
Leavenworth, acknowledging receipt of his letter of the 26th, and 

24. Governor's correspondence, 1873, "Letters Received," in Archives division, Historical 
Society. 

25. Ibid., "Impression Book No. 2," p. 11. 

26. Ibid., 1873, "Letters Received." 

27. Ibid., "Impression Book No. 2," pp. 15-18. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 255 

informing the general "that measures will be taken immediately to 
compel the Republican River Bridge Company to repair the break 
and place the bridge in a safe, passable condition." The same day 
he also answered the letter of the Davis county commissioners, in- 
closing a certified copy of the bond given by the bridge company 
which was on file with the secretary of state. He also asked to be 
notified in case the company refused to make repairs, and advised 
that the attorney-general would assist in prosecuting if it became 
necessary. 28 

Evidently the bridge company got busy at once, for on April 1, 
following, the chairman of the board of county commissioners wrote 
the governor to the effect that "the bridge company are at work 
repairing the bridge with a force sufficient to do the work at once." 
A letter to the governor from the county chairman, written April 7, 
contained word that the bridge was temporarily repaired. The letter 
also stated that 

we have written the attorney-general requesting information in the event of 
the bridge company attempting to collect tolls, but got no answer. The county 
attorney is also awaiting information from the attorney-general previous to 
commencing suit against the company. We are of the opinion that suit com- 
menced now would have a better effect than to let them do as they please. 
It seems the bondsmen are all stockholders and wish to call your attention to 
the fact that some of them are worthless bankrupt or left the state. 29 

By the following May the bridge was again in an impassable 
condition, and on the 22d of that month Major General Pope again 
addressed a letter to the governor, calling attention to the matter, 
which letter was referred to the attorney-general two days later, the 
governor asking that he "take such action as was necessary to pro- 
tect the interests of the state and compel the bridge company to live 
up to the terms of their contract with the state." The governor also 
wrote Major General Pope that he had referred the whole matter 
to the attorney-general with a request that proceedings be instituted 
against the bridge company to enforce a compliance on their part 
with the conditions of their contract with the state. 30 

It would be interesting to note what the attorney-general had to 
say in regard to the matter, but unfortunately no correspondence of 
his office covering this episode is included in the Historical Society's 
archives, and the first printed report of that officer was not issued 
until 1875. 

The Junction City Union, however, had kept informed on the 

28. Ibid., pp. 19, 20. 

29. Ibid., "Letters Received," 1873, Archives division. 

30. Ibid., 1873, 1874, "Impression Book No. 2," pp. 178, 179. 



256 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

bridge situation, and had called the attention of its readers and the 
county authorities to its deplorable condition no less than six times 
in as many weeks. Beginning with the issue of March 8, and 
closing with that of April 5, 1873, it said: 

The approach to the Republican river bridge was broken down on Thursday 
by a wagon loaded with wood. . . . Wednesday morning several wagon 
loads of emigrants crossed on the bridge. After waiting a couple of days for 
some one to fix it, they went to work and in a day and a half had it so that 
it could be crossed. A few days ago a blacksmith working for Meader, having 
occasion to cross over, could only cross on the railroad bridge. In doing so 
he fell through, but falling on some timbers had his shoulder broken. . . . 
A few days ago a man in attempting to cross had a horse killed. A party 
of emigrants crossed over the other day by unloading their wagons and pack- 
ing the goods over. The bridge has been in this condition for about a 
month. . . . We passed the Republican bridge the other day, and of all 
the disgraceful, dilapidated concerns, it is the worst. We understand the com- 
pany have sent to Chicago for lumber to fix it. In the meantime, we hope 
the U. S. military authorities will take charge of it, and put it in the shape 
government designed it should be when the land was donated. . . . The 
Republican bridge is actually being repaired, a large force of men being en- 
gaged on the work, and from present indications it will be a most substantial 
improvement on the old. . . . The Republican river bridge is finally re- 
paired and rendered passable, being rebuilt on a more substantial basis than 
heretofore. No accident insurance will now be required in view of making an 
attempt to cross it. 

The third bridge to span the Republican river at this point was 
that of the Kansas Pacific railway, which was completed in 1866. 
This bridge, like the first two wagon bridges, was a victim of the 
elements of nature in February, 1867, its fate being chronicled 
briefly, as follows: 

The railroad bridge over the Republican, this side of Junction City, went 
out on Thursday morning. One-half of the superstructure was secured so as to 
prevent it from floating downstream, and the other half came down and lodged 
against an island just above Wamego. It will soon be put to rights again. 
Wyandotte Gazette, February 16, 1867. 

Thursday morning a bridge supposed to be that of the Union Pacific railroad 
over the Republican river, came floating past Manhattan. Two men were upon 
it trying to steer the unmanageable bark ashore. We learn that a line was 
thrown to them from the shore a little below here, and thus at least, one span 
of the bridge was saved and safely moored. Manhattan Independent, February 
16, 1867. 

The Republican river bridge beyond Manhattan was swept away on Febru- 
ary 14, during the highest water ever known up to that time. Kansas Radical, 
Manhattan, February 16, 1867. 

Bridges at Riley, Manhattan and Wyandotte have been swept away by the 
flood. Also a large portion of the pontoon at Topeka. Leavenworth Con- 
servative, February 15, 1867. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 257 

During 1867 another corporation known as the Junction City and 
Republican Bridge and Ferry Company filed a charter with the 
state. The incorporators were R. W. Hilliker, F. M. Ferguson, John 
Wayland, 0. J. Hopkins and Thomas D. Fitch. This company was 
capitalized for $300,000, with shares $300 each. It was the purpose 
of the company to operate a ferry and build bridges in Davis county 
at a point on the Republican in S. 17, T. 11, R. 5 E., and between 
points five miles above and five miles below. This company was 
organized July 27, 1867, and filed its charter with the secretary of 
state July 30, 1867. 31 No further history of this bridge and ferry 
project has been located. 

From Junction City and vicinity roads led out in all directions. 
The military road passed through the town and led on to Salina and 
the military posts on the Smoky Hill and southwest to the Santa Fe 
trail. The Leavenworth and Pike's Peak express route ran through 
the town and went up the Smoky Hill for a distance. A Mormon 
road ran across the military reservation, and continued in a northerly 
direction close to the east line of Range 5. A road from Junction 
City crossed the Republican at the north line of the city at S. 1, 
T. 12, R. 5, and connected with a road running west from the fort. 
A letter to the author from Henry Thiele, of Junction City, indicates 
that there was an old Indian ford across the Republican at this 
place. A branch of this road ran up the east side of the river 
towards the Nebraska line. 32 

In 1857 the legislature passed an act declaring "The road as now 
located and opened as a military road from Fort Riley northwest 
to the Nebraska line, is hereby made a territorial road." 33 The 
road leading from Fort Riley to Bent's Fort, as already established, 34 
was likewise made a territorial road. In 1864 Congressman A. C. 
Wilder presented a concurrent resolution of the Kansas legislature 
to congress for the establishment of a military road from Fort 
Leavenworth via Fort Riley to Fort Lamed. 35 Another road started 
from Fort Riley via Ogden, turned northwest, followed up the east 
bank of the Republican, touching the towns of Milford, Gatesville, 
Clay Center, Lima, Clifton, Clyde, Lawrenceburg, Lake Sibley, 
thence a little west of north to a point just across the Kansas- 
Nebraska line, where it joined the Fort Riley-Fort Kearney road. 

31. Corporations, v. 1, p. 370. 

32. Road shown on original land surveys, state auditor's office, Topeka; Bird & Mickle, 
Map of Davis County, Kansas, issued during the 1880's. 

33. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 170. 
84. Ibid. 

35. Junction City Union, April 2, 1864. 

173729 



258 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Another road started from Junction City and followed up the west 
side of the Republican, touching at McGeesburg, Five Creeks, Mul- 
berry, and, crossing the river at Lawrenceburg, terminated at Salt 
Marsh on Salt creek, a few miles north of the river. 36 

Prior to 1861 no mail was carried beyond Junction City. In April, 
that year, a contract was let for carrying it once a week from that 
point to Salina, a distance of about forty-five miles. 37 

The Leavenworth & Pike's Peak express line, which went into 
operation in May, 1859, followed up the Smoky Hill after reaching 
Junction City, turning towards the northwest in present Ottawa 
county. Inside of a year this line was moved north to the Platte 
river. During the summer of 1862 the Kansas Stage Company 
started running stages from Junction City to points on the Santa 
Fe trail. The first coach left Junction City August 22 for the far 
West, this being the formal opening of the Smoky Hill route to 
Santa Fe*. Prior to this time all travel had passed over the Santa 
Fe trail through Morris county. Five days later the stage from the 
West arrived in Junction City. 38 

With the organization of the Butterfield Overland Despatch in 
May, 1865, that company started construction work on a line to 
Denver. On June 30 their construction train reached Junction City, 
from which point it started west on July 3, opening up a road and 
reaching Denver on August 7, following. This company transported 
an immense amount of merchandise over the military road and over 
the ferry on the Republican. The first train sent out by the com- 
pany a small one was on June 24, 1865. It was loaded with 
150,000 pounds of freight for Denver and other Colorado points. On 
July 15, following, a train left Atchison for Colorado with seven- 
teen large steam boilers. Steamboats discharged great quantities 
of freight on the Atchison levee for shipment by this line. In one 
day during July, 1865, nineteen car loads of freight were unloaded 
at Atchison consigned to the "B. 0. D." Early in August a train 
was loaded with 600,000 pounds of mechandise for Salt Lake City 
merchants. 89 

The location of the next ferry upstream is a matter of conjecture. 
On November 1, 1865, a license was issued to Mary Clark to keep 
a ferry across the Republican. She filed the $500 bond required by 

36. "Map of Kansas," ordered by Maj. Gen. J. M. Schofield, and drawn by Ado Hunnius, 
1870. 

37. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 1007. 

38. Ibid., p. 1002 ; Junction City Union, 1862, advertisements of Stage Co. 

39. Root and Connelley, Overland Stage to California, p. 879 ; Andreas, History of Kan- 
tas, p. 1002. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 259 

law. J. R. McClure was the security. 40 The location of this ferry- 
does not appear on the records, nor has any further history been 
located. 

On February 5, 1867, a company was organized at Junction City 
known as the Republican River Bridge and Ferry Company. The 
incorporators were James Streeter, A. W. Callen, 0. J. Hopkins, 
James H. Brown, P. L. Taylor, S. M. Strickler, G. E. Beates, Daniel 
Mitchell, Wm. K. Bartlett and Robert McBratney. This company 
proposed to operate bridges or ferries from the mouth of the Re- 
publican river to the point where the west line of Davis county 
crossed that river. The principal office of the company was to be at 
Junction City. Capital stock was listed at $150,000, with shares 
$50 each. This charter was filed with the secretary of state February 
6, 1867. No further mention of this enterprise has been located. 41 

Another project, the Union Ferry Company, Davis county, was 
organized July 20, 1867, and proposed to maintain a ferry or bridge, 
or both, across the Republican river at a point (not specified) be- 
tween the Fort Riley military reservation and where the river inter- 
sects the east line of Clay county. The incorporators were E. W. 
Rice, Will C. Rawalle, G. E. Beates and Bertrand Rockwell. The 
capital stock was to be $5,000, with shares $100 each. This charter 
was filed with the secretary of state July 24, 1867. 42 Aside from the 
charter no further record of this ferry has been located. 

Bachelder, about nine miles northwest of Junction City by land, 
and about fifteen by the river, was the next ferry location. The 
legislature of 1859 granted to Abram Barry the right to keep a 
ferry at or within one mile of Bachelder for the period of ten years, 
with right to land on either bank of the river. Rates of ferriage 
were to be fixed by the county board. This act also granted to 
Barry and his associates the privilege of building a bridge at this 
same location and maintaining it for a period of twenty years, they 
to have all the rights of the Lawrence Bridge Company, authorized 
at this same session of the legislative assembly. This act was ap- 
proved by Gov. S. Medary, February 11, 1859. 43 

There must have been need of a ferry at this point and one may 
have been operated there more or less continuously for many years, 
although no confirming evidence has been found except the following 
from the Topeka Daily Capital, of March 19, 1881 : 

40. Davis county, "Commissioners' Journal," v. 2, p. 148. 

41. Corporations, v. 1, p. 284. 

42. Ibid., v. 1, p. 366. 

43. Private Laws, Kansas, 1859, p. 117. 



260 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Mr. A. B. Whiting returned to-day from a visit to Davis county. At Mil- 
ford, on the Republican river, the ferry boat had washed away leaving sus- 
pended in the air the wire cable which was utilized in an odd way by those 
desiring to cross. A crockery crate was slung under the cable or pulley, and 
passengers climbed in by ladder on each side. The crate being cut loose it 
would descend with great rapidity, just touching the water in the center of the 
river, and its impetus would carry it part way up the grade, and then the 
occupants of the crate, never more than four, would haul hand over hand until 
the terminal air station on the other side was reached. The return was made 
in the same way, and the appearance of the crate as it descended the curve was 
somewhat similar to that of a basket full of human beings shot out of a mortar. 
It was more novel than popular as a mode of transit, but it was the only way 
left to cross the high waters. Mr. Whiting crossed with a party of three and 
found his hair standing on end and moral reflections coming very naturally to 
his mind. 

Wakefield, Clay county, was the next ferry location, being about 
seven miles by river and about one mile less by land. This town 
was started in 1869 by a colony of English settlers, and was named 
in honor of Rev. Richard Wake, who came to America in 1854 and 
united with the Methodist Episcopal church. He was one of the 
leading spirits in the new colony. On March 30, 1870, the Wake- 
field Bridge and Ferry Company was organized, the charter members 
being Alexander Maitland, A. B. Whiting, A. C. Jewett, Moses 
Younkin and Perry M. Gushing. The company had its offices at 
Wakefield, and the organization was capitalized for $1,000, with 
shares at $10 each. Their ferryboat was to ply the Republican river 
and have suitable piers on each side of the stream opposite the town. 
This charter was filed with the secretary of state, April 19, 1870. 44 

William J. Chapman, in his account of the Wakefield colony, 
stated that James Eustace was president of the Wakefield Bridge 
and Ferry Company and William Guy the ferryman. 45 

Just when this ferry actually went into operation has not been 
learned, but it must have been late in 1870 before it was ready to 
function. On January 3, 1871, a petition was presented to the 
county commissioners of Clay county, asking for a license to operate 
a ferry at this town. This petition was granted and the license fee 
fixed at $10 a year. Rates of ferriage were accepted in accordance 
with rates accompanying the petition, and were as follows: 

Single passengers, 10 cents; single passengers who return same day, 15 cents. 
Family of three, 25 cents; return same day, 40 cents. One horse and rider, 15 
cents; return same day, 25 cents. Two horses, 20 cents; and return, 30 cents. 
One team and wagon, laden or empty, 35 cents; return same day, 50 cents. 

44. Corporations, v. 2, p. 345. 

45. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 10, p. 496. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 261 

Live stock, single head, 15 cents; three head, 35 cents; five head, 50 cents. 
Sheep, 5 cents each; 50 or over, 3 cents a head. Family tickets to include the 
members of the family of the same name under 21 years of age, and one 
team and wagon, or one horse or single head of stock to pass once and back 
in one day, per month, $2.50; six months, $7.50; 12 months, $12. 46 

The next mention of this ferry in county records was on October 
5, 1874, the county board granting a ferry license to A. Maitland 
for one year, on condition that Maitland pay a license fee of $10, 
and file a bond for $1,000, "the board believing that such ferry was 
necessary for the accommodation of the public." The county board 
fixed the following rates, which Maitland was authorized to charge 
and collect for his services: 

Foot passengers, single crossing, 5 cents; horse and rider, single crossing, 10 
cents; horse and buggy, single crossing, 15 cents; one team and wagon, loaded 
or empty, 25 cents; threshing machine and all double loads, 35 cents; cattle 
5 head or less, each, 10 cents; over 5 head, 5 cents; 5 head of sheep or hogs, 
5 cents. One-trip tickets for foot passengers returning same day, twelve for 
75 cents; one-trip tickets for wagon loaded or empty, returning same day, 
twelve for $2.47 

In the spring of 1875 the ferryboat at Wakefield was lost or 
destroyed, and need existing for such a convenience, Messrs. Thomas 
H. North and N. B. March presented their petition to the county 
board on April 12, asking for a license to run a ferryboat on the 
river at or near Wakefield, within one mile of the present ferry there. 
This firm proposed to charge the following rates of ferriage: 

Two-horse team, 20 cents; one-horse team, 15 cents; horseman, 10 cents; 
footman, 5 cents; four-horse team, 30 cents; threshing machine, 30 cents; 
horse power, 25 cents. To return same day in each case, 5 cents additional. 
Cattle 2 head, each 10 cents; over 2 head, each 5 cents. Sheep 2 head, each 
5 cents; all over 5 head, each 3 cents. Hogs same as sheep. 

The county board granted the license, contingent on the filing of a 
bond of $1,000, and the receipt of a sum of $10 as a license fee for 
one year. 48 

With the loss of his ferryboat early in the year, Mr. Maitland 
must have neglected to file the necessary bond required of ferry 
owners. In the meantime North and March must have "stolen a 
march" on him by filing their bond and putting their ferry into 
operation. Later, learning that Maitland contemplated a resump- 
tion of business, North and March presented a petition to the 
county board June 6, 1875, reciting that Maitland had not filed the 

46. Clay County, "Commissioners' Journal," Book A, pp. 162, 163. 

47. Ibid., Book 1, pp. 212, 213. 

48. Ibid., Book 1, p. 262; Book 2, p. 49. 



262 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

necessary bond, and asked that the licenses to him be revoked, giving 
the following reasons therefor: 

1st That said Maitland has no ferryboat and is not using due diligence to 
build one, and has had no boat since the breaking up of ice last spring. 

2d That Mr. Maitland had not complied with the law in having, when 
his boat was running, a list of rates of fare at his ferry, and having charged 
more than the rates allowed by the county commissioners. 

3d That said A. Maitland claims that his license is in full force and effect, 
and that he has a right of way extending 1% miles above and the same distance 
below the former Wakefield ferry, to the damage and annoyance of the said 
North and March, who hold a license to run a ferry at Wakefield, and who 
have a good boat, and are complying with the law concerning ferries, and 
further, they are prepared to prove the above under oath and by other wit- 
nesses if necessary. 49 

Under date of July 7, 1875, the ''Commissioners' Journal" recites: 

A. Maitland appeared before the board to ask permission for a certain 
length of time to rebuild a ferryboat to replace the one destroyed last spring. 
The board having no power could grant no permission. Other matters were 
presented by Mr. Maitland but the board having no jurisdiction could offer 
no relief. And it appears by the record that Mr. Maitland, by order of this 
board, was granted a license to run a ferryboat at or near Wakefield, on the 
5th of October, 1874, and the said Maitland having failed to file the bond re- 
quired by law, and as Mr. Maitland expressed himself as not caring whether 
the license continued or not, it is hereby ordered that said license be revoked 
and the clerk notify Mr. Maitland of the action of the board. 50 

Another entry of July 7 says: "By reason of the revoking of Mr. 
Maitland's license no action on the above petition [of North and 
March] was necessary." 51 

W. P. Gates, of Wakefield, may have operated the ferry in 1876, 
as the "Commissioners' Journal" of April 4, 1877, states that Mr. 
Gates presented a petition to renew the license for a ferry across the 
Republican at that place. He presented a bond approved by the 
board, and having paid the $10 fee required, the board ordered a 
license granted, toll rates to be as follows: "Foot passengers, 5 
cents; horse and rider (return 10 cents extra), 10 cents; horse and 
buggy (return 10 cents extra), 15 cents; two-horse team loaded or 
empty (return 10 cents extra), 25 cents; threshing machine and four- 
horse teams, 35 cents." 52 

Evidently Mr. Gates interested outside capital in his ferry busi- 
ness this year, for on July 3 the Wakefield Ferry Company was or- 
ganized, the ^corporators being William Preston Gates, D. H. 

49. Ibid., Book 2, p. 71. 

50. Ibid., Book 2, pp. 70, 71. 

61. Ibid. f Book 2, p. 71. 

62. Ibid., Book 2, p. 248. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 263 

Myers, R. T. Bachelor, Joseph Christmas, William Alloway, David 
Hayden and Pharselia Marcellus Hocking. The company was capi- 
talized at $300, with shares $5 each. The charter stated that the 
ferry was to be over the Republican river at the town of Wakefield, 
Clay county, between the townships of Republican and Grant, and 
the corporation was to exist for ten years. This charter was filed 
with the secretary of state July 26, 1877. 53 

The last mention of a ferry at Wakefield found in county records 
is of date February 19, 1880, which states that an application was 
received from William Alloway, secretary of the Wakefield Ferry 
Company, asking that a license be granted the company to operate 
the ferry at or near Wakefield. The license was ordered granted on 
the payment of a $10 fee and the filing of a bond of $1,000, and was 
to be dated from February 28, 1880. Rates of ferriage were not 
mentioned in the commissioners' minutes. 54 

Broughton, about midway between Wakefield and Clay Center, 
was the next ferry site upstream. The only reference to this ferry 
we have located is the following from The Times, Clay Center, of 
February 9, 1934: 

Some weeks ago The Times stated that, as far as this paper had learned the 
only ferry across the Republican river between Clay Center and the Geary 
county line was the one at Wakefield. However, Harry Clark informs the 
paper that in the spring of 1882 a ferry was 200 feet up the river from where 
the present river bridge stands. It was maintained until 1887, and operated by 
two brothers named French. 

There was a little draw on the south side of the river and a road ran down 
to the river bank. People drove down and were ferried across the river. When 
the bridge was built at Broughton the ferry was discontinued. So that makes 
another ferry for Clay county, but seems to establish the fact that there were 
but two from Clay Center to the Geary county line. 

Clay Center, about six or seven miles upstream and a little less 
by wagon road, was the next ferry location. On July 3, 1867, a 
license was granted to N. Duncan to build a ferry across the Repub- 
lican river at the crossing of the county road near Dexter's mill, at 
the southwest edge of Clay Center, with license fee to hold good for 
one year. 55 Neither the amount of the fee nor ferriage rates were 
given in this record. No further mention of this ferry has been 
located. Apparently no other license was issued for a ferry at this 
place until October 6, 1873, when the county board granted ferry 
privileges to Messrs. Wickham & Plant. Whether they started their 

63. Corporations, v. 8, p. 52. 

64. Clay county, "Commissioners' Journal," Book 2, p. 873. 

66. /bid.. Book A, p. 15 ; The Dispatch, Clay Center, January 29, 1914. 



264 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

ferry at this time is a bit uncertain, for on January 7, 1874, the 
commissioners' minutes record that C. E. Linsley filed his applica- 
tion and bond, asking for a license. His application was filed for 
future action. 56 No further mention of this matter has been located. 
On the same day that Mr. Linsley filed his application Messrs. 
James Plant and Asa Anderson also made application to the com- 
missioners for a license to run a ferryboat at the crossing of the 
river on the route from Clay Center to Republican City, at Clay 
Center. The board believed that such a ferry was necessary for the 
accommodation of the public, and accordingly granted a license for 
the period of one year from that date. The board also ordered that 
they should have the exclusive privilege of building and operating 
a ferry at Clay Center, and authorized them to charge and collect 
the following ferriage rates: 

For four-horse team, or two-horse team and threshing machine, one trip, 30 
cents; two-horse team and threshing machine power, one trip, 20 cents; two- 
horse team and conveyance, one trip, 20 cents ; single buggy or wagon, one trip, 
15 cents; horse and rider, one trip, 10 cents; foot passenger, one trip, 5 cents; 
cattle, one head, one trip, 10 cents; over one head, each head, one trip, 5 cents; 
sheep or hogs, five head or less, one trip, each, 5 cents; each additional head, 
one trip, 2 cents. 

One driver to be passed with each team. No person other than those be- 
longing to family of person owning team or driving same to be allowed to 
cross with the same without charge. The ferry to be run at the above rates 
from 5 o'clock a.m. to 9 o'clock p.m. And from 9 o'clock p.m. to 5 o'clock 
a. m., double the above rates to be charged. 

The above list of rates on the said ferry to apply to one crossing if the 
return is not made before 9 o'clock p. m. of the same day. And the word "trip" 
to be construed to mean "across the river and back again if made before 9 
o'clock p. m. of the same day." 

And it was further ordered by the board that the said Plant & Anderson 
should file a bond of two thousand dollars for a strict performance of their 
agreement with the board, and pay into the county treasury the sum of fifteen 
dollars as a license fee to run their ferry. 57 

The Times, Clay Center, in its issue of January 4, 1934, has an 
interesting article on Clay county ferries, from which the following 
regarding the above-mentioned ferry is taken : 

George Neill has about the best recollection of ferries around Clay Center. 
The first ferry here, he says, was operated by Plant & Anderson, just where 
the old Fourth street bridge has stood for so many years. That was around 
1873. Mr. Neill was running a store at Republican City, southwest of town, of 
which city he was also postmaster. He states that he lost a load of merchan- 
dise, worth $200, in the river at that ferry, as he attempted to drive onto the 

56. Clay county, "Commissioners' Journal," Book 1, p. 163. 

57. Ibid., Book 1, pp. 161, 162. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 265 

ferry. Mr. Neill states there was also a ferry just south of the mouth of Five 
Creeks, operated by George Small. Then there was a ferry at the present 
Airline bridge site, run by a man named DeMond, who lived at the place. Mr. 
Lippe (Rev. Lippe) operated the ferry at Rocky Ford which was just a mile 
up the river from the Airline river bridge. 

Clay Center being off the main-traveled highways to the West, 
was not much of a road center in its early days. However, it was 
on the route of a road running from Fort Riley, up the east side of 
the Republican via Bachelder, Riley county, St. Julien, Mount Pleas- 
ant, Clay Center, Clifton and on to the Nebraska line. A state road 
was laid out from Clay Center to Waterville in 1870. Clay county 
accepted the road on November 12, that year, issuing warrants for 
her share of the expense. 58 At this time Waterville was the terminus 
of the Central Branch railroad, and the newly opened state road 
was a benefit to settlers living in the sparsely settled sections be- 
tween these two points. 

The next ferry location up the south side of the river was the Five 
Creeks ferry, and while not operated on the Republican, was located 
close to the mouth, and proved a great convenience to residents and 
travelers going up or down the river, or to and from Clay Center. 
For that reason its history is included at this point. 

This ferry was started by Timothy Martell, who, on July 2, 1877, 
petitioned the county board to grant him a license. In his petition 
he stated that his ferry was so situated as to produce no revenue, 
and asked that his license be granted without payment of the usual 
fee. He furnished a bond, which was acceptable to the board, where- 
upon a license was granted. 59 He ran this ferry about two years. D. 
G. Brooks appeared to be in charge of this ferry in 1879, and on 
July 9 made application for the necessary license, which was granted 
without the payment of the $10 fee. He was allowed to charge the 
same rates as previous owners of the ferry. 60 F. B. Dodds, of 
Lawrence, states that this ferry was in operation as late as 1881, 
or till the bridge was built. The ferry was located in the NW% 
S. 13, T. 8, R. 2, and about one mile northeast of Republican City. 61 

A ferry was in operation at the location now known as the Air 
Line bridge during the late 1860 7 s, according to F. B. Dodds, of 
Lawrence. This location is about four miles upstream from the 
Five Creeks ferry. While commissioners' records of Clay county 
contain no record of ferry licenses for this location under that name, 

58. Ibid., Book A, p. 158. 

59. Ibid., Book 2, p. 271; Book 3, p. 31. 

60. Ibid., Book 2, p. 251. 

61. Bird & Mickle, Historical Plat Book of Clay County, p. 51. 



266 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 



the ferry site is so named and located on the SE^ of the SWV4 S. 2, 
T. 8, R. 2 E., on land owned in 1881 by T. G. Ryan. 62 No further 
history was located. 

Rocky Ford ferry was next upstream from the Air Line location, 
and nearly two miles distant, being in the extreme northeast corner 
of S. 4, T. 8, R. 2 E. An atlas of 1881 shows this ferry located on 
land owned by J. L. Woodside. It is said a ferry was in operation 
here in the 1860's, notwithstanding county records prior to 1874 con- 
tain no mention of licenses issued. On June 8, that year, however, 
the county board ordered the clerk to issue a license to W. J. Wood- 
side to operate a ferry near Rocky Ford, on condition that Woodside 
file a bond for $1,000 with the county clerk and pay into the county 
treasury the sum of $10 as a license fee for the period of one year, 
and otherwise comply with the law regarding ferries. Woodside was 
allowed to charge and collect the following rates of toll for his 
services: 

For one threshing machine, 30 cents; four-horse team and wagon, 30 cents; 
one-horse vehicle, 15 cents; one man and horse, 10 cents; one footman, 5 cents. 

The above prices are only extended from 7 o'clock a. m. till 9 o'clock 
p.m. of same day. 

All of the members of any family under the age of 21 years are allowed with 
the wagon and team. 

Each team crossing shall pay 20 cents, and if said team don't come back 
within ten days, it can have a return trip for 30 cents. [Probably meant if 
team returned inside of ten days.} 

All care to be taken to prevent accidents, and all those who will not comply 
with the terms of the ferry rules shall be responsible for their damages should 
any occur. If the river is very high the teamster must loose the traces and 
put down the tongue if the ferryman thinks it unsafe. 63 

This ferry must have passed into new hands the next year, for on 
July 7, 1875, Messrs. Williams and Bebout appeared before the 
county board and made application to operate the ferry at or near 
this place. They made it plain to the board that the ferry was to 
be run as a neighborhood convenience, would have very little to do, 
and that the fees collected would not amount to enough to pay for 
the license fee. The board was convinced it was necessary for the 
convenience and use of the neighborhood, and accordingly issued a 
license for one year without payment of the usual fee. Messrs. 
Williams and Bebout were required, however, to file a bond in the 
sum of $1,000, and charge the same rates of ferriage as were recorded 

62. Ibid., p. 61. 

68. Clay county, "Commissioners' Journal," Book 1, p. 187. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 267 

on page 187 of the "Commissioners' Journal," and to fulfill the re- 
quirements of the ferry law. 64 Mr. Williams seems to have operated 
his ferry about three months, for on October 5, following, he in- 
formed the county board that he had disposed of his ferry at Rocky 
Ford and wished his license canceled as he had sold out his interest 
and the buyer would continue the business. As no loss would result 
to the public, the board ordered the license canceled. 65 

A. M. Marker was the new operator, and he presented his petition 
for a license to operate on the route heretofore occupied by L. M. 
Williams. Marker filed the required bond and the board granted 
him a license, ferriage rates to remain the same as before. 66 

Timothy Martell was in charge at this point the next year. On 
June 5, 1876, his petition was presented to the county board, together 
with a bond signed by himself, J. M. Coffman and Edmond Des- 
mond. His petition was accepted and a license granted for one year 
without payment of a license fee, ferriage rates to remain as hereto- 
fore allowed. 67 Martell operated this ferry about two years, after 
which time it passed into new hands. In 1878 Adolph Eberhard 
was granted the license. In 1879 it went to T. M. Wilson. From 
1880 to 1883, when the last license was issued, Mr. Eberhard (or 
Ehrhardt) was proprietor. Ferriage charges allowed by the county 
board in 1880 were: ''Round trip, two-horse team, 15 cents; round 
trip, one-horse team, 10 cents; round trip, footman, 10 cents." 68 

Morgan was the next ferry location, this being about twelve miles 
slightly northwest of the Rocky Ford ferry, as the crow flies, and 
approximately half as far again by the river. The first mention 
of ferry matters at this point is found in an item from The National- 
ist, Manhattan, of September 1, 1871, which stated that it was "a 
good ferry point where a ferry is soon to be built by a company 
lately formed in the town." No specific location for this ferry has 
been located, but it probably was in the immediate neighborhood of 
the bridge later erected over the Republican almost directly west of 
the town. 

E. W. Reed appears to have been the first to receive a license to 
engage in business at this point. His application, bearing date of 
July 8, 1873, and presented to the county board, was granted, the 
license being issued October 3, following, without charge, on condi- 
tion that he file a bond with the county clerk in the amount of 
$1,000. 69 One year later Mr. Reed received another license, the 

64. Ibid., Book 1, p. 278. 67. Ibid., Book 2, p. 266. 

65. Ibid., Book 2, p. 102. 68. Ibid., Book 3, pp. 46, 74. 

66. Ibid., Book 2, p. 102. 69. Ibid., Book 1, p. 115. 



268 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

county board prescribing ferry charges as follows: "For two horses 
and wagon and driver, 20 cents; one horse, buggy and man, 15 cents; 
footman, each way, 5 cents; loose stock, per head, 5 cents; one man 
and horse, 10 cents." 70 

Mr. Reed operated this ferry until March 11, 1875, when he peti- 
tioned the county board to release him from his bond as he had sold 
his ferry at Morgan City. The board granted his petition that he be 
released from any liability occurring after this date. 

Charles Ehrhardt became the new owner, and this same day he 
presented his petition for a license to operate at this same location. 
He furnished the required bond, signed by himself, J. Stirling and 
Peter Young. 71 This ferry was operated regularly as late as 1881, 
being under the control of Timothy Martell on October 4, 1875; 
J. W. Luce, in 1876; Nathan Fowler and Thomas Truffly (?) in 
1877, 1878 and 1879 ; 72 and A. Ehrhardt in 1880 and 1881. The 
license for 1880 fixed ferriage charges as follows: "Round trip, two- 
horse team, 20 cents; round trip, one-horse team, 15 cents; round 
trip, footmen, each, 10 cents." 73 The application for 1878 stated 
that the ferry was located on the section line dividing sections 6 
and 7, T. 7, R. 2 E. This ferry site is shown in Bird & Mickle's 
Historical Plat Book of Clay County, 1881, page 49, as located on 
the NE corner S. 7, T. 7, R. 2 E. It was probably discontinued 
when the Morganville bridge was built. This bridge went out dur- 
ing a flood in the 1920's, and for a time an emergency ferry was 
put into operation to care for traffic. 74 

Eagle Bend, in the immediate vicinity of Morganville, also had 
a ferry that operated for several years. This location, as recorded 
in the Clay county courthouse, was in the extreme northeast corner 
of S. 7, T. 7, R. 2 E., practically identical with that of the Morgan- 
ville ferry. It may have been a new name for the older ferry. On 
June 5, 1876, Timothy Martell presented a petition to the county 
commissioners for a license to operate a ferry at this location, pay- 
ing a $10 fee for this privilege and receiving authority to charge 
ferriage rates as already established. In 1877 he presented his peti- 
tion for similar privileges. 75 Martell at this time was also operating 
a ferry at Rocky Ford. These are the only licenses issued by Clay 
county for ferry privileges to the Eagle Bend ferry. 

70. Ibid., Book 1, p. 190. 

71. Ibid., Book 2, p. 47. 

72. Ibid., Book 2, pp. 101, 173, 239, 363 ; Book 3, p. 74. 

73. Ibid., Book 3, p. 354. 

74. Statement of George P. Lawson, Clay Center, to author. 

75. Clay County, "Commissioners' Journal,'* Book 2, pp. 169, 266. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 269 

An article in The Times, Clay Center, January 4, 1934, described 
an interview with Tom Edmonds relative to the start of this ferry. 
It says: 

. . . In 1873, he was herding cattle a little northwest of Clay Center for 
Tom Morgan. One day he saw men twisting wires to make a cable and within 
a short time they had a ferry in operation across the river. That was two 
miles west and one mile south of Morganville. That ferry is what is known 
as "The Eagle Bend Ferry." It was operated for some time. The ends of the 
old cable can still be seen twisted around the trees at Eagle Bend. Perry 
Peterson, mail carrier, confirms that statement, that the old cables are still 
visible. George Carl and Philip Girard own the land on each side of the river 
there now. 

Another reader of The Times, writing to that paper from Clyde, 
said: 

It was started there near 1878 by Timothy Martell from Clyde, and William 
McCaddon rented the boat near that time and ran it from April until October. 
It was situated north of the Snell farm on the west side of the river and be- 
tween the Brazil farm, now occupied by Claude Stewart, and the Barrows farm, 
now owned by Carls on the east. We lived there in a little log cabin on the 
bank of the river. 

The next ferry above Morganville was known as the Riverdale 
ferry, being between five and six miles by the river and about three 
miles downstream from Clifton. Riverdale post office was about 
two miles west of the Republican, and on a section road reaching 
the river between sections 13 and 24, T. 6, R. 1 E. The Times, Clay 
Center, in the issue of January 4, 1934, has an interesting article 
regarding ferries in this immediate neighborhood, as recalled by 
Frank Knapp, of Clay Center and formerly of Clifton. It says: 

According to Mr. Knapp in 1871 there were two ferries across the Repub- 
lican river northwest of Morganville. One was across the river directly west 
from the Crawford schoolhouse about 1% miles, connecting land now owned 
by Henry Mellies. The other was directly west from the Sherman schoolhouse, 
about two miles, connecting the present Bauer-Pederson land. It was ap- 
proximately 3 miles down from Clifton. This was the ferry known as the 
Riverdale ferry. It was operated by a man named T. L. Tanney (or Tenney). 
Mr. Knapp says that the ferry west of the Crawford schoolhouse was not 
operated long. The Riverdale ferry was much the better known. Mr. Knapp 
is not sure whether these two ferries were operated at the same time or whether 
the Crawford school ferry was moved up the river to the Riverdale neighbor- 
hood. All he remembers is that there were in 1871 ferries at each of these 
places. 

The Riverdale ferry apparently was nearer the town in 1876 than 
it was in 1871. A notice in the Concordia Empire, June 23, 1876, 
said: "Riverdale Ferry. One mile east of Riverdale, on the most 



270 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

direct route to Clay Center. Cross the Republican at Tinney and 
Greenwood's Ferry. They will cross you day or night." 

A Clifton reader of The Times, in its issue of January 11, 1934, 
adds the following to Clay county's ferry history: "The Riverdale 
ferry was on the Harrison land, and, I think, run by a man named 
Tenney, from Morganville, and there was still another one near 
Pete Young's, and in 1870 there was no way to cross the river ex- 
cept to ford, only at Clyde was a pontoon bridge." 

The only license for a ferry in the Riverdale neighborhood was 
issued on April 3, 1876, to T. L. Tinney and William Greenwood. 
They filed the required bond, paid a $10 license fee and were allowed 
to charge the following rates of ferriage: 

Two-horse team to cross and return same day, 20 cents; two-horse buggy 
to cross and return same day, 20 cents; one-horse buggy to cross and return 
same day, 15 cents; horseman to cross and return same day, 10 cents; footman, 
each way, 5 cents; loose stock and horses, per head, less than 5, 5 cents; loose 
stock and horses, 5 head or over, per head, 2 cents; hogs or sheep, per head, 
2 cents; four-horse teams to cross one way, 30 cents; threshing machines to 
cross one way, 30 cents. 76 

Clifton, three miles above the Riverdale ferry, was the next ferry 
location. A crossing known as the Sturtevant ferry was said to have 
been in operation during the late 1860's, according to F. B. Dodds, 
of Lawrence. This enterprise was running before the bridge was 
built. However, the first ferry license located for this town bears 
date of April 2, 1878, when G. E. Brooks was granted the right to 
operate a ferry at or near the line between sections 5 and 6, T. 6, R. 
1 E. To Mr. Brooks' application a $1,000 bond was attached, signed 
by himself as principal and C. E. Doolittle, E. Dole and Wm. H. 
Rich as sureties. His license cost him $10 and he was authorized 
to make charges similar to neighboring ferries. 77 

Apparently another ferry was in operation in this immediate 
vicinity the year before, for on November 9, 1878, an entry in the 
"Commissioners' Journal" recited: "The ferry license of H. A. Sut- 
ton and H. G. Reed for a ferry across the Republican river near W 1 /^ 
S. 14, T. 6, R. 1 E., in Mulberry township, expires the 12th inst., and 
the said parties have made application for a renewal, and it is 
ordered that license be granted for one year November 12, 1878, free 
of license fee." 78 

Mr. Reed must have approved of this location, for on December 
20, 1878, the Clifton Ferry Company was organized, the incorpo- 

76. Ibid., Book 2, p. 155. 

77. Ibid., Book 2, p. 362. 

78. Ibid., Book 2, p. 441. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 271 

rators being Leavitt Bartlett, C. C. Funnell, G. E. Reed, E. W. 
Snyder and Albert Lavy. The new company was capitalized at 
$200, in forty equal shares. The principal office of the company was 
at Clifton, and the ferry was south of town on the east line of S. 
14, T. 6, R. 2. This charter was filed with the secretary of state 
January 4, 1879. 79 

S. Bartlett applied for a license at this location on February 11, 
1880, which was granted without fee upon his filing bond. His 
ferriage charges were uniform, costing patrons ten cents for each 
crossing for every kind of vehicle, or footman. 80 No record of licenses 
for 1881 and 1882 have been located. On April 15, 1883, A. Ehrhardt 
applied for and was granted the license for this location, this being 
the last date a license was granted. 81 This was the northernmost 
ferry site in Clay county. 

The next ferry upstream was in Cloud county, and was located 
on the parallel about four miles above Clifton and three miles below 
Clyde. It was started in the spring of 1871 by A. J. Bradford. The 
Concordia Empire, of April 8, 1871, stated that it was to be running 
inside of a month, and the Atchison Champion of April 29, follow- 
ing, said: "There is a good rope ferry here and charges are reason- 
able." In November, that year, for reasons not stated, the ferry 
was not in working order, and stages to Concordia on the north side 
of the river were routed by way of Sibley. 82 Just how long this 
ferry was operated we have not learned. 

Clyde was the next ferry location upstream. It was about six 
miles by the river, or four by wagon road from Clifton. The first 
ferry recorded at Clyde was in 1870, although it could not be classi- 
fied as a permanent institution. Heavy rains occurred in Cloud 
county in September of that year, and Elk creek, which flows 
through the town, overflowed and caused considerable damage and 
inconvenience. Flood waters got into the pit of Kennedy's saw 
mill, at the east edge of town. While the water was up the boiler 
of the shingle mill was used as a ferry boat. Several bridges were 
washed away. The Republican river rose ten or twelve feet, but 
at Clyde did not greatly overflow its banks. It was falling by the 
latter week of September, and in the meantime people in the flooded 
district crossed in boats. 83 

79. Corporations, v. 9, pp. 272, 273. 

80. Clay county, "Commissioners' Journal," Book 2, p. 355. 

81. Ibid., Book 3, p. 74. 

82. Concordia Empire, November 25, 1871. 

83. Republican Valley Empire, Clyde, September 20, 1870. 



272 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

On April 24, 1871, the Clyde Bridge and Ferry Company was 
organized, the incorporators being A. W. Campbell, David Heller, 
Charles Davis and David Turner. The principal place of business 
of the company was at Clyde, and the charter secured from the state 
was for twenty years. Officers of the company included A. W. 
Campbell, president; David Heller, treasurer; David Turner, secre- 
tary, who were also directors, the other members being B. H. Mc- 
Eckron, A. J. Bradford, Charles Davis, Geo. W. Barnes, Ephraim 
Kennedy and William Hare. The company proposed to operate a 
toll bridge or ferry on or near the section line between sections 26 
and 27, T. 5, R. 1 W., in Elk township, Cloud county, this being 
just north of the old Central Branch railway. This enterprise was 
capitalized at $15,000, in shares of $50 each. This charter was filed 
with the secretary of state April 26, 1871. 84 

This ferry must have gone into operation shortly after the charter 
was obtained. The following year B. H. McEckron wrote the secre- 
tary of state, asking if their charter gave them control of the ferry 
rights for a distance of five miles each way from the ferry, no 
legislation having been had to that effect. 85 The secretary's reply, 
unfortunately, has not been preserved. 

On March 14, 1872, the Clyde ferry was granted a license on pay- 
ment of a $25 fee to the county treasury. The board of county com- 
missioners prescribed the following rates: "Team and wagon, 25 
cents; single animal and wagon, 15 cents; horse and rider, 10 cents; 
foot passengers, 5 cents; loose horses and neat cattle, each 5 cents; 
sheep and swine, each 5 cents. The ferry company was required to 
post rates of ferriage in conspicuous places on both sides of the 
river." 86 

Ferrymen as well as those wishing to cross on the boats had their 
worries. Floods made their business hazardous; winter put an end 
to it, while drouth halted operations at times. This latter condition 
obtained early in the spring of 1872, as will be seen by the following: 

The Waterville stage did not arrive until quite late on Saturday night, and 
many thought it singular, as the day was pleasant and roads good. From 
Superintendent Scott we learn that while crossing on the ferry at Clyde, the 
boat grounded and after working a long time to get it afloat the horses were 
taken off and used to haul the boat ashore. This detained the coach a couple 
of hours. We make this statement in justice to the company. Concordia 
Empire, April 13, 1872. 

84. Corporations, v. 3, p. 264. 

85. Secretary of State, "Letters Received," 1872, in Archives division, Kansas State 
Historical Society. 

86. Cloud county, commissioners' proceedings, in the Concordia Empire, March 23, 1872. 



ROOT: FEERIES IN KANSAS 273 

This ferry operated as late as 1878, the last license record located 
being in the commissioners' proceedings for April 9, 1877, and grant- 
ing a license in January 1, 1878. 87 On this date, however, the "ferry 
was not working. The river was full of running ice and the ferry 
boat was moored to the Clyde shore, unable to do duty. Conse- 
quently passengers on the stage, with their baggage and the mails, 
had to be crossed on the railway bridge a procedure not so pleasant 
we apprehend, for the ladies and children, owing to the incomplete 
condition of the bridge." 88 

On July 7, 1870, the Concordia land office was opened, and im- 
mediately the tide of immigration set in to the Republican valley. 
As there was no bridge on the river nearer than Junction City these 
settlers were obliged to make use of the ferries when not able to 
ford the river. Some idea of this rush of settlers is indicated by the 
fact that the office was besieged for weeks and months by hungry 
land seekers, who sometimes stood in lines 200 or 300 yards in length, 
remaining night and day awaiting their turns to secure the coveted 
homestead or preemption. 89 Awaiting their turn to cross the river 
at the ferries must have been irksome to these settlers, for as early 
as 1871 there was considerable talk in favor of bridges. These early 
attempts, however, came to naught, as some of the wiser heads in 
each county pointed out the heavy taxes such improvements would 
entail upon the settlers, and arguing that "Good ferries are being 
put in at every point where they are necessary." It was not until 
1877 that an election to vote bonds for bridge purposes carried. 90 

While but few roads centered there, Clyde was quite an important 
early-day point. Stages from the Republican valley routed for 
Concordia and other points westward all crossed the river here. 
The road from Atchison to Clifton, running west on or near the first 
standard parallel, by way of Lancaster, Muscotah, Eureka, America 
and Irving City, was made a state road by the legislature of 1861. 91 
Capt. Nathaniel Fox, who purchased Seymour's ferryboat early 
in April, 1872, and moved it down the river to Bunton's ford, had 
the next ferry. He applied to the Cloud county commissioners for 
a license which the board considered at a meeting a few days later 
and refused, as being within the charter limits of the Clyde Ferry 

87. Concordia Empire, April 27, 1877. 

88. Ibid., January 4, 1878. 

89. Edwards' Atlas of Cloud County, Kansas, p. 9. 

90. Concordia Empire, March 25, 1871, October 19, 1877. 

91. Laws, Kansas, 1861, p. 252. 

18-3729 



274 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Co. 92 The Concordia Empire at this time stated that Mr. Fox's 
ferryboat at Bunton's was operating and running successfully, and 
that he claimed the route to Clyde from Concordia was two miles 
nearer than by any other route, that the road was better and that 
there was one less creek to cross. Mr. Fox evidently started his ferry 
with the intention of catching the cream of the travel up the river. 
In the Empire of April 13 appeared the following advertisement: 

BULL RUN FERRY 

I have established a ferry at Bunton's crossing of the Republican, and am 
prepared at all times of the day or night to cross teams or foot passengers. 
My boat is new and safe. The approaches are level and in good condition. 
The distance between Concordia and Clyde by this route is 

TWO MILES LESS 

than by any other, and there are not as many creeks to cross. 

The following are the rates: Four-horse team, 40 cents; team and wagon, 
25 cents; single animal and wagon, 15 cents; horse and rider, 10 cents; foot- 
man, 5 cents; sheep and swine, 3 cents each. 

The commissioners evidently reconsidered Mr. Fox's application 
within the next week, for on April 20 their minutes recite that 
"License was granted to Nathaniel Fox to run a ferry at Bunton's 
ford on the Republican river, provided that he do not run the ferry 
within the limits of the Clyde ferry, measured by the channel of the 
river, and subject to the same conditions as the Clyde and Con- 
cordia ferries." 93 

Presumably Mr. Fox had not been worried by the action of the 
county board, for he kept ahead with his ferry, apparently running 
it free in the meantime, as the following might indicate: "The Bull 
Run Ferry (at Bunton's Crossing) is crossing over free all the good 
looking men in the country. Mr. E. A. Wannemaker availed himself 
of the privilege and reports the ferry in good order, and insists that 
it is the nearest way down the valley." 94 

In May, 1872, Captain Fox was not depending entirely upon the 
revenue derived from his ferry for a living, for his ferry advertise- 
ment also carried information to the effect that plenty of grain and 
hay could be obtained at the ferry for teams waiting to be crossed, 
and that meals could be had for 25 cents. 95 

Late that fall the editor of the Empire had occasion to cross the 
river on this ferry and mentioned the incident: 

92. Cloud county, commissioners' proceedings, in the Concordia Empire, April 13, 1872. 

93. Concordia Empire, April 27, 1872. 

94. Ibid. 

95. Ibid., May 25, 1872. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 275 

The other day we passed over the river on the boat run by Captain Fox, 
and must say that it was just no trouble at all. The boat is a very safe one, 
and large. The approaches are easy, enabling loaded teams to cross easily. 
The Captain has made arrangements for high or low water. As this route is 
nearest to Clyde and Waterville, and the road the levelest, the ferry is kept 
running a large portion of the time. Captain Fox is an enterprising boatman, 
and worthy of patronage. 96 

There has been no opportunity to consult Cloud county records 
for the years 1873 to 1875, inclusive, nor the newspapers covering 
those years, and it is barely possible that Mr. Fox did not operate 
his boat for that full period. On October 1, 1876, Burkdall & Ash- 
lock filed a petition with the county board asking permission to run 
the Bull Run ferry for one year from that date. Their request was 
granted on payment of $15. 97 Apparently there was a change in the 
management of the ferry in the spring of 1877, for commissioners' 
proceedings of date April 9, 1877, state that the application of 
Messrs. Venne & Gamper for a license to run the Bull Run ferry 
over the Republican on S. 29, T. 5, R. 1 W., until January 1, 1878, 
was granted, the license fee being fixed at $15. 98 No further history 
has been located. 

Lawrenceburg, seven or eight miles upstream from Clyde, and 
about six and one-half by land, had the next ferry, which must have 
been started in the spring of 1871. Although no record of a county 
license has been found for this ferry that year, the Waterville 
Telegraph, of May 17, 1871, states that "a ferry has been established 
across the Republican at Lawrenceburg, Cloud county." This ferry 
was operated for a short time in the spring of 1872, under the con- 
trol of D. C. Seymour, before it went out of business. The follow- 
ing is an account of its "wind-up": 

The Lawrenceburg ferry was sold quickly the other day. The proprietor, 
Mr. Seymour, was coming over to town when he met Mr. Fox, who bantered 
him for the boat. The price was given and accepted, and in a very short time 
Mr. Fox was on board the boat, cable hauled down, and on the way down the 
river to Bunton's, where it will be used hereafter. A new boat will probably 
be put in at Lawrenceburg. Mr. Seymour informs us that when he sold the 
boat, he supposed it would remain where it was." 

That an attempt to establish a new ferry at this point was made 
a few days after the sale is indicated by the following item in the 
commissioners' proceedings of April 10, 1872: "The proposition of 
Frank Lawrence to build a free ferry on the Republican river near 

96. Ibid., October 26, 1872. 

97. Ibid., October 13, 1876. 

98. Ibid., April 27, 1877. 

99. Ibid., April 6, 1872. 



276 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Lawrenceburg, and equip the same, and present it to the county, if 
the county would agree to maintain the same and run it forever, was 
rejected after due consideration." 10 

Another item from the above source, for August 10, 1872, stated 
that the Lawrenceburg ferry was nearly ready for operation. No 
further mention of this enterprise has been found. 

The Concordia and Lawrenceburg Ferry Company had the next 
crossing above Lawrenceburg. This company was organized January 
31, 1871, the incorporators being W. S. Symonds, Albert Neally, 
Hugh 0. Regan, Patrick O'Brien and Timothy O'Brien. The new 
company was capitalized for $300, with shares $10 each. The com- 
pany proposed to operate a ferry across the Republican at a point 
on sections 19, 20 or 29, T. 5, R. 2 W. Business offices were to be 
maintained at both Concordia and Lawrenceburg. This charter was 
filed with the secretary of state March 24, 1871. 101 No further men- 
tion of this enterprise has been found. 

On December 20, 1871, the Concordia and Clyde Ferry Associa- 
tion was organized, the incorporators being Calvin H. Sanders, D. C. 
Seymour, David Lilly, A. B. Seymour and F. Saunders. Its charter 
stated that the ferry was to be located in S. 20, T. 5, R. 2 W, in 
Cloud county, Kansas, with the place of business at the ferry. The 
incorporators were the first board of directors, and were to serve 
the first year. This charter was filed with the secretary of state 
December 23, 1871. 102 

D. C. Seymour appears to have obtained control of this ferry, 
which was about two miles slightly southwest of Lawrenceburg by 
land, and between seven and eight miles by the river. He was. oper- 
ating it in the spring of 1872, when he sold his boat and equipment 
to Capt. Nathaniel Fox, who floated it about twelve miles down 
stream to start the Bull Run ferry at Bunton's ford. Within ninety 
days Mr. Seymour built another boat and applied to the county 
board early in June for a license to operate a ferry on S. 20, T. 5, R. 
2 W., which was granted free for one year, ferry charges being as 
follows: "One span of horses, or mules, or yoke of oxen, 25 cents; 
each additional animal, 10 cents; one horse and vehicle, 20 cents; 
each horseman, 10 cents; each footman, 5 cents." 103 

Concordia, about eight or nine miles by the river and a trifle over 
four miles by land, had the next ferry. In 1859 or 1860 a profitable 

100. /bid., April 20, 1872. 

101. Corporations, v. 3, p. 220. 

102. Ibid., v. 4, p. 56. 

103. Cloud county, commissioners' proceedings, in the Concordia Empire, June 13, 1872. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 277 

ferryboat is said to have been in operation on the Republican just 
north of present Concordia. As there were comparatively few set- 
tlers in Cloud county at that time, it is more than likely this ferry 
picked up some patronage during the time of the gold rush to Pike's 
Peak. Concordia was located in 1869, and not until 1870 was there 
enough travel to justify a ferry at this point, though none was in 
operation that year. Early in 1871, however, it was announced that 
this want was to be supplied. In the Concordia Empire of February 
11 the following item appeared: "It is expected that the ferry op- 
posite this town will be in running order in three weeks. A good 
ferry anywhere between here and Clyde would surely have paid for 
itself and $500 more than expenses since last fall, and been of great 
benefit to the traveling community." 

The new ferry evidently was put into operation according to 
schedule, for the Empire of March 11, following, stated: "The new 
ferryboat was launched last Saturday [March 4] and is now in 
good running condition. Mr. Lanoue is fixing up the landing, and 
when completed will be all that the traveling public could wish." 

Mr. Lanoue at this time also operated a saw mill, and had a 
blacksmith shop near his mill, and as soon as his ferry was gotten 
into running order, he advertised that parties who lived on the north 
side of the river who needed blacksmithing and had their work 
done by him, would be ferried free. He was spoken of as one of 
the most enterprising men in the valley and deserved success. 104 

An incident occurred at this ferry during midsummer, 1871, which 
furnished thrills for the principals. A Mr. Bogue, who lived on the 
north side of the river near Lake Sibley, had been at Concordia, and 
on his return drove on the ferryboat at Lanoue's crossing. The boat 
for some reason had not been properly secured, and when the fore 
wheels of the wagon struck the boat it was pushed into the stream, 
and the wagon, team, women and all were precipitated into the 
river, which was quite deep at that place. Mr. Henry Newman and 
James Hall plunged into the stream and rescued the women, who 
were badly frightened and very wet, and narrowly escaped drown- 
ing. 105 

Not always did this ferry work to the satisfaction of every patron. 
A resident of Clyde voiced his complaint to his home paper, which 
in turn was answered by the Empire of April 29, 1871, as follows: 

A correspondent of the Watchman pitches onto our ferry because he was 
delayed a few hours, the boat being out of order. Of the hundreds who have 

104. Concordia Empire, March 18, 1871. 

105. Ibid., August 18, 1871. 



278 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

crossed, no complaint has been made. The enterprise is new, and as a matter 
of course it takes some time to get everything in first-class shape. The pro- 
prietor, Mr. Lanoue, has spared no expense in putting in a first-class ferry. 
He has dug down a steep bank and put probably two hundred loads of rock 
on the bar and in the river to make the approaches safe a-nd convenient. The 
boat is strongly made of oak, and the wire rope is strong enough to stand the 
swiftest current. The charter for a ferry at Clyde was granted at the same 
time as the one for this place. How's your boat? 

By September this year the river had reached such a low stage 
that it was no trouble to ford it any place. Fall rains, however, 
again made ferrying necessary, and Mr. Lanoue, just before cold 
weather set in, was allowing the teams loaded with coal to cross for 
one-half the regular rate, which generosity was duly appreciated by 
citizens who were obliged to make use of the ferry. 106 By November 
28 teams were crossing on the ice, and early in December zero 
weather set in and put a stop to ferrying. However, Mr. Lanoue 
started advertising to keep his ferry before the traveling public. 
Beginning with the December 23, 1871, issue of the Empire, he car- 
ried the following advertisement of his enterprise: 

FERRY AT CONCORDIA 

A new ferryboat at Concordia has just been completed by the undersigned, 
and is in splendid running order. A substantial wire rope is used. The travel- 
ing public may rest assured that they will be properly attended to. We can 
ferry loads of any size. H. LANOUE. 

The winter of 1871-1872 was a cold one, and in January, 1872, ice 
men were putting up river ice twenty-two inches thick, and clean. 
Late in February this ice broke and went out. Four hours after it 
had broken the river rose some seven feet. For several days the 
river was in an impassable condition. Stages containing the mail 
from Waterville, then the end of the Central Branch railroad, were 
unable to cross the Republican for a day or two. Mr. Lanoue was 
ready and within four days after the river opened had his ferry- 
running and was crossing teams and passengers safely. 107 Besides 
his ferry, saw mill and blacksmith shop, he was embarking in other 
lines. In March, following, he was completing a grist mill, and had 
formed a copartnership in the brewery business with a Mr. Geis of 
Concordia. He was also making preparations for the manufacture 
of 200,000 brick, and had contracted to erect a fine brick building 
on Main street for the Larocque Bros. 108 Lanoue's petition for a 
license for his ferry in 1872 was granted by the county board on 

106. Ibid., September 23, November 21, 1871. 

107. Ibid., January 13, February 24, 1872. 

108. Ibid., March 23, 1872. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 279 

March 14. License fee was fixed at $25, and ferriage rates estab- 
lished as follows: 

Team and wagon, 25 cents; single animal and wagon, 15 cents; horse and 
rider, 10 cents; foot passenger, 5 cents; loose horses and neat cattle, each 5 
cents; sheep and swine, each 3 cents. 

Said ferry company to have this list of rates of ferriage posted on each side 
of the river near the ferry. 109 

Lanoue must have found that it paid to stand in with the county 
officials, for Deputy Sheriff Votaw informed the editor of the local 
paper "that Mr. Lanoue crosses all county officers at his ferry free, 
when traveling on county business." no 

An unfortunate accident occurred at this ferry late in 1872, which 
was recorded in the Empire of November 23, as follows: 

The community was surprised and saddened, on Tuesday morning last, by 
the finding of the dead body of the ferryman at this place a Swede, familiarly 
known as "Capt." Kohlenberg. The facts, as we learned them, seems to be, that 
after midnight the boat crossed over to the north shore with Mr. C. M. Albin- 
son as a passenger the ferryman being aboard, but unable, from intoxication, 
to work the boat, and obliging his passenger to work himself across. It seems 
that after landing Mr. H. must have gone to the edge of the boat, near the 
shore end, for some purpose, fallen overboard, and alone and helpless, miserably 
perished. He was found in the morning lying close to the boat; his feet 
touching it, and his head under the ice that had formed about him. The body 
was removed, and the coroner's jury, which met and examined it, returned a 
verdict of "Death by accidental drowning." 

The "Captain," we understand, was at one time a Swedish soldier, and a 
member of the bodyguard of a Swedish king, and had seen a great deal of 
active service. He had four children, now in Sweden, to whom the news of 
his death in this far away land, will be a sad, sad message. 

Lacking opportunity to consult county records or newspaper files 
for 1873, 1874 and 1875, the history of the ferry for those years is 
not known, but it is probable it changed hands during this time. 

Manna and Gerard were granted a ferry license by the county 
board on January 3, 1876, upon paying a license fee of $25. m As 
this license mentions no specific location, it may apply to Clyde, 
Concordia, Lake Sibley or any other locality on the river having a 
ferry. Late in June that year the Empire published the following: 

On Sunday last, Esq. Eaves, who was at his ferry station, discovered a large 
black object moving in shallow water near the ferry. He went at once to 
reconnoiter and found a huge catfish, which had "foundered" and was unable 
to reach deep water again. He soon dispatched the fish with a pike pole, and 
had a 48-pounder for his pains. 112 

109. Ibid., March 23, 1872. 

110. Ibid., May 11, 1872. 

111. Ibid., January 7, 1876. 

112. Ibid., June 30, 1876. 



280 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Eighteen seventy-six was not overly damp the first half of the 
year and for a month or more Eaves' ferryboat had been obliged to 
"lay-up." However, there was easy crossing at the ford, a few rods 
below the ferry. 113 The month of August, following, more than 
made up for the lack of water. For some days Concordia received 
no mail from any river towns on account of the bridges being put 
out of commission. 114 

While an attempt had been made to secure a wagon bridge in 1871, 
it was not until September 22, 1876, that the Concordia bridge was 
completed. 115 A celebration was held in honor of the event, and 
some speeches were made, the Concordia band being on hand to 
furnish music for the occasion. The home paper records that the 
celebration was not much of a success, for several reasons, one of 
which was a difficulty pending between the county boards and the 
contractors over the acceptance of the bridge and the final settle- 
ment. 116 A flood in the Republican in January, 1902, swept away 
the wagon bridge. The river at some points in the county was four 
miles wide. During the period of the flood the river cut a new 
channel about one-fourth of a mile north of the old one, rejoining 
the old course about one and one-half miles to the northeast. This 
left the Concordia electric light plant and mills without water power, 
and necessitated the building of a new bridge. 117 

Prior to 1870 there were few roads in Cloud county, but with the 
tide of home seekers coming on during the next few years, the county 
commissioners were kept busy acting on petitions of homesteaders 
and others who asked for new roads to be opened up. In 1871 the 
legislature established a state road from Concordia to Cawker 
City. 118 This road late that year became the route for a stage line 
operated by the Southwestern Stage Company between Concordia 
and Beloit. 119 

The town of Lake Sibley, located about two miles northwest of 
Concordia and about one-fourth of a mile north of the "lake," was 
the next ferry site upstream. The earliest mention of this crossing 
we have located is an item in the Concordia Empire of March 21, 
1871, which stated that "A new ferry is being put across the Re- 

113. Ibid., June 30, 1876. 

114. Ibid., August 25, 1876. 

115. Ibid., September 22, 1876. 

116. Ibid., October 6, 1876. 

117. Hollibaugh, History of Cloud County, pp. 146, 177. 

118. Laws, Kansas, 1871, p. 298. Original plat of this road is in the Archives division 
of the Kansas 'State Historical Society. 

119. Concordia Empire, December 16, 1871, 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 281 

publican two miles west of Lake Sibley, and will soon be in opera- 
tion." Another item from the Empire of May 27, following, says: 
"Jenning's Ferry, two miles west of Sibley is now in good running 
condition. The boat is well made and competent men run it. Teams 
are charged 35 cents other rates in proportion." The exact loca- 
tions of Jenning's ferry and ford have not been found, but Edwards' 
Atlas of Cloud County shows a road leading west to the Republican 
from the vicinity of the town of Sibley, striking the stream at about 
two miles distant, either on sections 13 or 24, T. 5, R. 4W. The 
only other mention of this ferry we have located is the following 
from the Empire of July 8 : 

Rev. M. P. Jones, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of this place, was 
out in all the severe storm of Sunday, on an open ferry boat in the river. He 
had been to preach at Sibley, but got caught on his return. Being wet to the 
skin, three miles from home, and church about to commence, he was in a 
somewhat unpleasant predicament. But he was equal to the occasion. Pro- 
ceeding to the house of a friend he procured a suit of clothes though many 
times too large, and preached as usual. Mr. Jones is from Philadelphia, and 
though unused to frontier life, makes a capital pioneer minister. 

About the time this ferry was started another was projected, its 
backers apparently having an eye on the same location. This 
organization styled itself the Lake Sibley Ferry Company, was 
organized March 28, 1871, and was to be located at or near "Jenn- 
ing's Ford." The principal place of business was at Lake Sibley. 
The incorporators included A. R. White, C. M. Alberson, S. R. 
Miller, J. D. Robertson and W. G. Hay, who were also selected as 
the first board of directors for three months. The organization was 
capitalized at $400, with shares of $5 each, and was chartered for 
100 years, their charter being filed with the secretary of state April 
7, 1871. 120 

Andreas' History of Kansas, p. 1055, has the following reference 
to a ferry supposedly in this locality: "Messrs. E. B. Cook and W. 
Way had been with William Hemphill on the Republican river near 
the bend, assisting Judge Adams to build a ferry boat so as to make 
a more direct route between Atchison and Denver." The "bend" of 
the river mentioned must have been somewhere between Concordia 
and the south line of Republic county, as the parallel road ran west- 
ward close to the line of the first parallel. This road was laid out 
in 1859 under the supervision of Judge Franklin G. Adams, who 
served the Kansas State Historical Society for many years as its 
first secretary. 

120. Corporations, v. 1, p. 238. 



282 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The earliest mention of a ferry in this vicinity appeared in the 
Freedom's Champion, Atchison, February 17, 1859, and stated that 
one was "to be started at the town of Courtland, 79 miles west of 
Atchison, on the Great Parallel Route to the Gold Mines." There 
was no town of Courtland in Republic county at that time. The 
present town, six miles west of the river, was not established until 
1885. 

Scandia, 16 miles above the Sibley ferry, was the next crossing 
place on the river. Late in the year 1870 arrangements were being 
made to establish a ferry at what was then called Scandinavia. The 
first mention we have found of this enterprise appeared in the Water- 
ville Telegraph, of December 16, 1870, which stated: 

The citizens of Scandinavia have closed a contract with A. B. Whiting for 
the construction of a ferry across the Republican there. The ferry will cost 
some $700, and is to be a substantial affair. The approaches are to be of stone 
and brush. N. O. Wilkie is superintending the construction of the ferry. 

Another mention of this enterprise appeared in the Concordia 
Empire of March 25, 1871, and stated that "A first-class ferryboat 
is to be put in the Republican at New Scandinavia soon. A strong 
wire rope will be used." 

Mr. P. T. Strom, of Republic, in a letter to the author, gives the 
following first-hand information regarding this ferry: 

The first ferry was put in operation in the spring of 1871. I can't recall who 
was the first ferryman, or who took out the charter, but I suppose you will 
be able to find the names of the charter members on file at Topeka, for I 
believe anyone operating a ferry was required by law to take out a charter. 
After an ex-government scout by the name of Charlie Hogan took possession 
of the ferry, there were many free rides across the Republican for little me 
and some of the other boys who made their playground around the landing 
place of the ferry. There were several others who ran the ferry, among whom 
I think was N. 0. Wilkie and a Mr. Holmstrom. The ferry came to an un- 
timely end in a heavy windstorm that filled her with water and sank her, and 
I suppose she is still there, buried in the sand. This ferry was located about 
on the section line on the north part of Scandia, directly west from the Swedish 
Methodist church. The banks of the river were low there and made a good 
crossing. If my memory serves me right, the ferry was followed by a pontoon 
bridge that served until a bridge was built. To operate the ferry a heavy steel 
cable was stretched tight from shore to shore. On the east bank of the river 
the cable was fastened to heavy anchor posts, well braced, while on the west 
side of the Republican was a grove of cottonwoods, one large tree of which 
answered the purpose of an anchor post. On this cable a pulley was slipped 
and a rope went from this pulley to each end of the ferry, and as the boat 
moved forward the pulley slipped along on the cable. Another rope was 
stretched from bank to bank, which was used to pull the ferryboat across 
the river. Sometimes, when the load was heavy, poles or what were called 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 283 

hand spikes were used to push the old boat along. I do not remember how 
many years the ferryboat was in use, but I think it must have been about five 
or six years. 

The Empire of March 2, 1872, contains a little additional informa- 
tion regarding this ferry, and says "The ferryboat . . . went 
down the river during the last rise, and the ferryboats at Sibley and 
Lawrenceburg shared the same fate. Mr. Lanoue hauled his boat a 
long way on land and managed to save it." 

The Scandia ferryboat must have been recovered and again put 
in operation, for the Empire of April 20, following, stated that the 
boat stuck on a sand bar in the middle of the river during the time 
when ice was going out. In 1872 some of the residents of the com- 
munity started agitation for a wagon bridge to span the river at this 
point. An election was held to vote on the proposition of issuing 
bonds for the purpose of bridge building, at which time the proposi- 
tion was voted down by a majority of over 800. In some precincts 
every vote cast was against the bonds. 121 Late in the 1870's, how- 
ever, a wagon bridge was built to replace the ferry, and served the 
needs of the community for several years. This structure was swept 
away on March 4, 1881, by high water, caused by the breaking of 
an ice gorge in the river. Two young men, M. C. Van Slyke and 
Tom Donahan, had occasion to cross the river at Scandia at this 
time, and set out in a row boat. They succeeded in getting within 
a short distance of the opposite shore when their boat sank. Tom 
being the best swimmer of the two reached the shore first, stripped 
off his coat and boots and plunged in and assisted Van Slyke to 
shore. It was a close call for both of them. 

There was now a need for either bridge or ferry. Accordingly a 
public meeting was held at Scandia on March 4, 1881, and a fund 
of $300 was raised to build a free ferry to be used until a new bridge 
could be built, active steps having been taken for that purpose at 
this time. 

In the meantime T. P. Smith applied to the county board for a 
ferry license at this point, and was granted the right to operate his 
ferry at the quarter section line running east and west through the 
center of S. 17, T. 3, R. 4 W., with exclusive privilege for a distance 
of two miles north and two miles south. His license was dated 
March 9, 1881, and was for one year, the county board granting this 
monopoly for a $10 fee, at the same time establishing the follow- 
ing rates of ferriage: 

121. Concordia Empire, July 27, 1872. 



284 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Crossing span of horses and wagon, with or without family, 50 cents; second 
crossing same day, free; man and horse, each crossing, 15 cents; footman, 10 
cents, horses and cattle (corraled on boat) per head, 5 cents; sheep and hogs, 
per head, 2^ cents; double rates of ferriage being allowed between the hours 
of 7 o'clock p.m., and 6 a.m., of next day. 122 

This move on the part of Mr. Smith to thwart the free ferry proj- 
ect is best told in an account taken from the local paper of the 
week following: 

A FREE FERRY 

On Friday last, immediately after the bridge was swept away, a meeting 
was called and steps taken towards making some arrangements for crossing the 
river. Finance and building committee were selected, a subscription raised to 
the amount of $235. On Saturday the subscription raised and the cash paid 
down to the amount of $350. Lumber was purchased, and the cable was ordered 
by telegraph and the building committee went to work and were straining 
every nerve to complete the same. 

On Monday, while all this was going on, one of our worthy attorneys know- 
ing what the citizens were doing, was secretly getting the commissioners to- 
gether for the purpose of securing a license for one Thomas Smith, of Beaver 
township, also who had been in town for several days, and knew all the pro- 
ceedings of our citizens, and who knowingly, in direct opposition to that which 
the citizens of this place were doing for a free ferry, went and succeeded by 
misrepresentations to the county commissioners, in procuring a license for 
Smith to run a toll ferry. 

Another meeting was held Monday night when further steps were taken in 
the direction of a new bridge. 

All passed along smoothly until Tuesday evening, when Mr. Smith returned 
from Belleville, went to our committee and proposed to give them but a few 
minutes to sell out to him all the material for which they had contracted and 
informed them that he had procured his license giving him control of the river 
for two miles north and two miles south of this place, and that no free ferry 
could run at this place. He then produced his license much to the surprise of 
our committee. This bold move on the part of Smith created considerable 
excitement on our streets. 

Wednesday morning a number of our leading citizens repaired to Belleville, 
called a meeting of the board of county commissioners, laid down the true 
facts of the case, whereupon the board at once, seeing that they had been 
imposed upon, rescinded the action of their licensing a toll ferry, and pro- 
nounced it null and void. 

. The committee returned from Belleville, Wednesday evening, and gave in 
their report at the city hall during the evening, and read the rescinding order 
from the board of county commissioners, which was loudly applauded by all 
present. 

The following resolution was passed by the assembly : 

"Resolved, That we, as citizens of Scandia, extend to the people of Belle- 
ville our heartfelt thanks for their sympathies in the sad calamity that has 

122. Republic county, commissioners' proceedings of March 8, 1881, in The Journal, 
Scandia, March 26, 1881. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 285 

befallen us in the loss of our bridge, and for their assistance in unearthing 
and correcting a base wrong that had been perpetrated upon us." 

During Wednesday afternoon Mr. Smith crossed the river and returned to 
his home, likely not desiring to hear that his little game of bluff had so 
suddenly met its death. 

The free ferry is almost completed, and will be in running order in a few 
days. Those from the west side of the river need not be uneasy about getting 
across to town as a free skift will be run until the ferry is completed. 123 

On the completion of the boat there were busy times for the next 
few days. There were not a few emigrants who struck the place 
after the bridge had gone out and before the ferry was completed. 
They had to wait until the boat was ready. 124 Shortly after the 
new enterprise began operations, it suffered a mishap which is de- 
scribed in the following: 

Some little excitement was caused Wednesday evening [March 7] at the 
landing of the ferry. The two men who have been running it had been hurried 
so much by parties desiring to cross from each side that they had not taken 
time to pail the water out of the boat, and as it had been leaking some little, 
and in the second place, the landing had been constantly falling in and wash- 
ing out until it was badly in need of repair. A team from White Rock had 
just been driven onto the ferry and being somewhat excited were very restless 
and kept running from one end of the boat to the other, and at last to the 
extreme west end when it began to sink, the wagon being empty left the full 
weight on that end. The boat had just been started from this shore but was 
drawn back, the team unhitched, but the neck yoke could not be loosened from 
the pole of the wagon which caused some little delay. By this time the boat 
tipped and the horses were almost covered with water. The driver who was 
assisting in saving the team was compelled to leave them and swim out for 
shore; but the current was so swift as to make it almost impossible. He called 
for help and the skiff was sent to his assistance, but he reached the shore just 
as the boat got to him. Ed Dennison and Tom Denehy deserve great credit 
for the cool manner they displayed in the rescue of the man and team. 125 

A few weeks later two young men from the west side of the river 
undertook to take charge of the ferry. Just what they did is not 
recorded in the local paper, which briefly chronicles that they found 
somebody to take charge of them, for they looked through calaboose 
windows for some time. 126 

On March 22, 1881, a stock company was organized at Scandia 
for the purpose of building a bridge to span the river. They re- 
ceived their charter late in March or early in April. The corporation 
was capitalized for $10,000, with shares at $50 each. G. L. White 
was president; Isaac McClure, treasurer, and Ben F. Hershe, secre- 

123. Scandia Journal, March 12, 1881. 

124. Ibid., March 12, 1881. 

125. Ibid., March 26, 1881. 

126. Ibid., April 16, 1881. 



286 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

tary. One of the provisions of the charter was to sell to the county 
as soon as it saw fit to buy, by paying the cost of the property. 127 

During this time the free ferry was operating, but evidently had 
not proved to be a very satisfactory solution of the problem. The 
Journal of April 16 said the people were becoming tired of spending 
from five to ten dollars a day to keep it in operation, and it was de- 
cided to turn it into a toll ferry. Tom Smith, who previously had 
secured the ferry charter, was notified to this effect, it being sup- 
posed he had the first right on a licensed ferry. Mr. Smith very 
shortly made his way to Belleville, where the county commissioners 
were in session and insisted on having his old license renewed, stat- 
ing to them he did not wish a new license. This request was refused 
and Smith stepped out to get legal advice, during which time a com- 
mittee from Scandia appeared in the county board's office, presented 
a petition signed by A. D. Wilson and thirty-one others, asking that 
a license be granted to the Scandia Toll Bridge Company to operate 
a bridge over the Republican river at the foot of Fourth street, in 
Scandia, and that a ferry license be granted to said company in 
connection with the bridge license to enable the company to main- 
tain and operate a toll ferry at this point until the company could 
complete its bridge. The license also asked exclusive control for a 
distance of two miles up and a like distance downstream on either 
or both sides of the river from this point. The petition was granted 
and a license issued for one year upon payment of a $10 fee. Ferri- 
age charges were the same as allowed in Smith's license. 128 

Work on a new bridge was commenced early in the fall, but was 
not pushed very vigorously. Early in September the Journal stated 
that it would "be done before election, but in the meantime candi- 
dates have to pay toll or ford it." An item in the issue of December 
3, following, stated that "the pile driver doing work on the bridge 
at this place, fell into the river last Sunday, the false work under- 
neath giving away." The bridge was completed early the following 
year. 

The next ferry upstream was about ten miles by the river and 
twelve by road, and was located about one-half mile northwest of 
the present Pawnee Park bridge. This was popularly known as the 
Dan Davis crossing. For the early history of this enterprise we are 
indebted to P. T. Strom, of Republic. He says that the ferry was 
built in the spring of 1873, three of the charter members being R. T. 

127. Ibid., April 2, 1881. 

128. Ibid., April 16, 30, 1881. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 287 

Stanfield, Dan Davis and William Polley. There may have been 
other members, but he could not learn their names. As none of the 
company had any money to buy a cable, they wove their own by 
twisting thirteen strands of No. 9 smooth wire together, accomplish- 
ing this by the following method: A short oak plank, through which 
thirteen holes had been bored, was fastened to the rear wheel of a 
wagon. The thirteen wires were securely fastened together at one 
end and the opposite ends were thrust through the holes in the oak 
plank and were fastened to the wheel. This gave them a crude 
gauge to get a uniform twist on the wire. A pan with a good fire 
in it was moved a little ahead of the twist so as to heat the wires, 
making a better cable, they thought. Ralph W. Polley, son of 
William Polley, operated the ferry at the Dan Davis crossing dur- 
ing 1873 and 1874, after which it was sold to a Mr. John Trimmer. 
Mr. Strom secured these details from Ralph Polley, who, so far as 
he knows, is the only ex-ferryboat man alive in that section of the 
country. Mr. Polley said there were crooks even among those early- 
day prairie-schooner tourists. One of their favorite tricks was to 
present currency of large denomination in payment. Most of the 
time he could not make change, so had to let them go with the 
promise that they would be back this way next week. One day a 
traveler pulled a one hundred dollar bill on him, but Ralph happened 
to be prepared. When the traveler saw that the ferryman was going 
to change it, he said: "Wait a minute. I will see if my wife has any 
change." Ralph said, "No, I have so much in small bills I was hop- 
ing a man like you would come along." In passing over the big 
bill, the traveler said, "I've paid my way from Illinois with that bill." 

Ferriage rates at this crossing were: "Team and wagon, 40 cents; 
horse and rider, 15 cents; cattle, 10 cents; footman, 10 cents." The 
bulkiest fare collected was two armfuls of jerked dried buffalo meat. 

This ferry was operating as late as 1877, when R. Daniels and 
D. N. Davis presented a petition to the county board for a license 
at or near the mouth of White Rock creek. The petition was 
granted. 129 

A bridge built in the late 1870's put an end to the ferries. This 
bridge was destroyed early in March, 1881, when an ice gorge eight 
miles long above Republic City broke. At this time there was 
another and larger ice gorge reported at Superior, Neb., said to be 

129. Republic county, commissioners' proceedings, July 2, 1877, in the Belleville Telescope 
July 12, 1877. 



288 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

worse than any other on the river. A new bridge was completed 
about the last of August, that year. 130 

There was another ferry about six miles upstream from the Davis- 
Polley ferry. In a conversation with Mr. Strom, C. C. Hobson, an 
old settler of Big Bend township, stated that his father, John Hob- 
son, and J. C. Price constructed and operated a ferryboat one-half 
mile south of the Kansas-Nebraska line in 1874 and 1875, after 
which it was moved two miles west into Jewell county where it was 
used until a bridge was built across the Republican at Hardy, Neb. 
This is the last and most northern ferrying place on the Republican 
river in Kansas. 

ISO. Scandia Journal, March 6, September 3, 1881. 



A Tour of Indian Agencies in Kansas 
and the Indian Territory in 1870 

WILLIAM NICHOLSON 
I. INTRODUCTION 

/CRITICISM of the methods used by the United States govern- 
^^ ment in its dealings with the Indians reached a fever heat in 
the latter 1860's. Considerable mismanagement was alleged on the 
part of many agents engaged either officially or unofficially in 
traffic with the Indians. President U. S. Grant, with a view to cor- 
recting these political abuses, delegated the nomination of the Indian 
agents to the several religious organizations interested in mission 
work among the Indians. 

In his message to Congress delivered December 5, 1870, President 
Grant said: 

Reform in the management of Indian affairs has received the special at- 
tention of the Administration from its inauguration to the present day. The 
experiment of making it a missionary work was tried with a few agencies, 
given to the denomination of Friends, and has been found to work most 
advantageously. All agencies and superintendencies not so disposed of were 
given to officers of the Army. The act of Congress reducing the Army renders 
Army officers ineligible for civil positions. Indian agencies being civil offices, 
I determined to give all the agencies to such religious denominations as had 
heretofore established missionaries among the Indians, and perhaps to some 
other denominations who would undertake the work on the same terms, i.e., 
as a missionary work. The societies selected are allowed to name their own 
agents, subject to the approval of the Executive, and are expected to watch 
over them, and aid them as missionaries to christianize and civilize the Indian, 
and to train him in the arts of peace. The Government watches over the 
official acts of these agents, and requires of them as strict an accountability 
as if they were appointed in any other manner. I entertain the confident hope 
that the policy now pursued will in a few years bring all the Indians upon 
reservations, where they will live in houses, have school-houses and churches, 
and will be pursuing peaceful and self-sustaining avocations, and where they 
may be visited by the law-abiding white man with the same impunity that he 
now visits the civilized white settlements. 1 

Pursuant to the President's instruction, the Society of Friends 
undertook to select the agents for Nebraska, Kansas, and the Indian 
territory. At a meeting of "The Associated Executive Committee 
of Friends on Indian Affairs," held at Damascus, Ohio, May 18, 

1. Congressional Globe, 41st cong., 3d seas., 1870-71, pt. 1, p. 9. 

193729 



290 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

1870, the Washington committee reported as follows: "Under au- 
thority given us in the first month, we have selected and appointed 
Dr. William Nicholson as General Agent of the Associated Execu- 
tive Committee." 2 

This branch of the society (Orthodox Friends) appointed several 
committees to take charge of the missionary work among the 
Indians. Since it was impossible for all members of the executive 
committee who were charged especially with the work among the 
Indians to visit the various agencies under its control and to report 
their condition and progress, one of its members, Doctor Nicholson, 
was delegated to perform that duty. 3 He divided his time between 
Washington and the Central Superintendency, which district in- 
cluded the Indians in Kansas and part of the Indian territory. It 
was on the first of these inspection tours taken in the fall of 1870 
that Doctor Nicholson made the observations in his diary which are 
here reproduced. 

Doctor Nicholson was by vocation a physician. He obtained his 
medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1850 and 
practiced in the neighborhood of his home at Belvidere, N. C, By 
avocation, however, he was an active member of the Friends' meet- 
ing, and was a leader in what would now be called social service 
work. His family consisted of his wife Sarah, and two sons, 
William and George T. The latter was for many years associated 
with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway, and died in 1913, 
while holding the position of vice president in charge of traffic. 

At the close of the Civil War Doctor Nicholson was a delegate to 
the North Carolina state constitutional convention. Later, while 
still engaged in his Indian work, he moved to Lawrence where his 
family joined him. The Report of the Secretary of the Interior 
publishes a report he made at a conference of missionary societies 
meeting with the board of Indian commissioners in Washington, D. 
C., January 11, 1872. 4 The following day, at a convention of repre- 
sentatives of the various religious denominations engaged in the work 
of Christian civilization among the Indians of the United States, 
Doctor Nicholson was chosen secretary. 5 On February 1, 1876, he 
became superintendent of the Central Superintendency 6 and served 

2. From a copy of the minutes of the proceedings furnished the Kansas State Historical 
Society by Mrs. Arthur M. Jordan of Chapel Hill, N. C. 

8. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 42d cong., 2d sess., 1871-72, v. 1, s. n. 1506, 
p. 597. 

4. Ibid., pp. 583-586. 

5. Ibid., p. 599. 

6. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1876, p. 68. 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 291 

for a term. A copy of a letter from C. Schurz, Secretary of the In- 
terior, dated at Washington, May 6, 1878, acknowledges receipt of a 
notice from the Associated Executive Committee of Friends on In- 
dian Affairs announcing the appointment of Dr. William Nicholson 
as their general agent. 7 He was elected to the Kansas house of 
representatives from Douglas county in 1880. 

Mrs. Arthur M. Jordan (Carrie Nicholson Jordan), of Chapel 
Hill, N. C., daughter of George T. Nicholson and granddaughter of 
Dr. William Nicholson, recently presented the diary to the Kansas 
State Historical Society for publication and preservation. She writes 
that Doctor Nicholson "was a tall man, grave and rather serious of 
mien, and possessed of that gentle dignity which is so often charac- 
teristic of the Friends." 

The diary itself was recorded in pencil in a pocket-sized daybook 
bound in black cloth. The first eight pages contained miscellaneous 
and disconnected memoranda having to do with names of persons 
desiring employment in the Indian service, notes on Friends 
churches, and personal expenditures all of which was not deemed 
of sufficient interest to publish here. 

Included in these memoranda, however, were the following notes, 
obviously set down to guide him in a personal survey of the health 
of the tribes, and of the provisions made for schools and religious 
training: 

MEDICAL INQUIRIES 

Diseases of the Lungs, Alimentary Canal, Brain, Skin acute and chronic 

Intermittent & Remittent Fevers 

Typhoid Fever 

Syphilis primary &c 

Gonorrhea 

Scrofula 

Diphtheria 

Parturition average duration, difficulties and dangers 

Post parture difficulties, hemorrhage, Child bed fever Mammary abscess 
&c Displacement of the Uterus Frequency of births Average number 
of children Age of puberty & period of decline of the Menses 
Treatment during & after labor 
Treatment of new born children 
Food of children Bathing, dress 

Mortality in childhood Youth & mature age average of life 
Twin births. Effects of intermarriage amongst themselves and with other 
races upon vitality, health, & mental & moral characteristics 

7. From a copy of a letter from C. Schurz furnished the Kansas State Historical Society 
by Mrs. Arthur M. Jordan. 



292 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Prevalent vices 
Intellectual development 

Social affections Conjugal affection parental filial tribal. 
Loyalty to their chiefs or other powers of government Physical endur- 
ance of pain fear of death 

Religion Ideas of a Supreme Being and of a future state Sin and atone- 
ment Strength of their feeling of moral obligation 
Civilization grade tendency whether upwards or downwards 
Government form laws enforcement & enactment 
Physical development Muscular nervous bony fatty 
Color hair beard teeth 
Language Marriage Burial &c Increase or decrease 

Name of Agency Agent and address 

Location, bounds & size of reservation 

Number of persons in each tribe 

Lands in severalty or common. If both in what proportion 

Do they follow the chase 

Any schools Who conduct them How are they supported To what 
denomination are the Teachers attached Average no. in Schools Num- 
ber of children receiving instruction Number in all of a suitable age to 
go to school 

Does Government provide any support to schools 

Any school for special religious instruction 

Any openings for schools 

Aid in agriculture from the Government Treaties in force 

Is their location regarded as permanent. 

The first entry in the diary proper was dated on October 4, 1870, 
at the Kaw Agency in Kansas, and it is here the following reproduc- 
tion begins. The portion printed is a connected narrative of Doctor 
Nicholson's tours of inspection from this date to December 28, 
1870. In it he described his visits to agencies in eastern Kansas and 
the Indian territory, made comparative estimates of the industry, 
morals, customs, sanitation, health, and religious activities of the 
various tribes on the reservations, and impartially recorded the 
attitude of the white man the trader, the missionary, the soldier, 
the Indian agent and the settler toward the Indian. Interspersed 
were copious accounts of his attendance at religious gatherings, in 
nearly all of which he took a leading part. 

Lawrence, the headquarters of the Central Superintendency, was 
the starting point for these inspection tours. Kansas agencies were 
visited first. In the latter part of October he left for the Indian 
territory or what is now Oklahoma, via Humboldt and Chetopa. In 
the territory he visited in turn the agencies of the Delaware, Osage, 
Sac and Fox, Shawnee, Cheyenne and Arapahoe, Wichita, Kiowa 
and Comanche, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek Indians. 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 293 

He arrived at Okmulgee on December 5 and attended the ad- 
journed session of the first general council of the Indian territory 
where, with other United States Indian officials, he advised the 
assembled Indian delegates. A provision was made in the Indian 
treaties of 1866 for the establishment of this council of all the tribes 
resident in the Indian territory. For various reasons the council 
was not called until September 27, 1870. After a four-day meeting 
it adjourned until December when a proposed constitution for the 
Indian territory was reported, considered and ordered to be sub- 
mitted to the several tribal councils for ratification or rejection. 
Delegates from the Cherokee, Creek, Ottawa, Shawnee, Quapaw, 
Seneca, Wyandotte, Peoria, Sac and Fox, Osage, Seminole, Chicka- 
saw and Choctaw tribes were in attendance. 

Doctor Nicholson has faithfully recorded the proceedings of this 
adjourned meeting and has summarized the chief provisions of the 
new constitution. Many hoped that the machinery set up at this 
meeting would make the Indian territory a regularly organized 
territory of the union, with a legislature, a delegate in Congress, and 
all the usual offices of a civil government. But the Okmulgee con- 
stitution, as the document framed by the council came to be known, 
was never ratified by the legislatures of the several civilized tribes 
and congress failed to act upon it. 8 

After the council's adjournment Doctor Nicholson and party set 
out for Lawrence via Fort Gibson and Chetopa. He arrived there 
on December 28 and left immediately for the East, abandoning his 
diary for a time. 

Daily entries were regularly resumed in the diary on April 14, 
1871, two days after he returned to Lawrence. He again took up his 
work in the Central Superintendency as the general agent of the As- 
sociated Executive Committee of (Orthodox) Friends on Indian 
Affairs. Entries were continued until June 24, 1871, when the 
book was filled, but his daily notations were briefer, less connected 
and more concerned with personal affairs than formerly ; hence they 
will not be included in the two installments of the diary published 
in this and the November issues. Doctor Nicholson records several 
visits to Friends meetings during these two months. Several more 
pages were devoted to names, addresses, and qualifications of persons 
seeking employment. 

8. The minutes of the September and December meetings of the General Council of the 
Indian territory and a copy of the proposed constitution were republished by the Oklahoma 
Historical Society in its Chronicles of Oklahoma (1925), v. Ill, pp. 33-44, 120-140, 216-228. 



294 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

II. ENTRIES FROM THE DIARY: OCTOBER 4 TO DECEMBER 28, 1870 

[Kaw Agency] 

10 mo. 4 - 1870 

Kaw Agency Mahlon Stubbs, Agent Mahlon Newlin, Trader 
Joseph Newson, Farmer. Nathan & Mary Ann Pinson, Teachers 
Address Council Grove, Kansas 

Reservation 9 Miles N & S by 14 E & West traversed by Neosho 
River from NW to S. E about one third valley land remainder 
bluff & high prairie the latter poor Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
R. Road traverses the reservation on the East side of the Neosho 
with right of way & privilege of timber 

Kaws the company [illegible] $ [uncertain] for timber The 
annuity of the tribe is $10,000 payment annual They trade 
beforehand to the amount due each & so the money passes directly 
into the hands of the trader who furnishes his own capital The 
quality of the goods is excellent & the tribe has been well fed this 

year 

****** 

(The Kaw delegation of 1866 left the facts on file at Washington 
concerning annuity due said tribe by default of Agent & sureties. 
Said facts were set forth in a treaty made in 1866 but not ratified. 
The treaty made with R. R. Company in 1869 acknowledges that 
$18000 are due them & should draw interest, if the Kaws have to 
pay interest on their indebtedness 

Dickey, Agent about 1857 or 58 used funds appropriated for bene- 
fit of Indians when they left Topeka about 1859 Treaty left with 
Mix, who has facts Montgomery preceded Dickey & is accused 
of making a false pay roll & getting $2000 Treaty of 1866 (with- 
drawn) acknowledges interest & principal about $23000) 
****** 

Their Buffalo hunt was successful having captured about 500 last 
winter & an equal number this summer. They will go again this 
fall Their corn, beans & pumpkins are more than usual, not- 
withstanding the dry weather They are busily engaged in drying 
these for winter A few of them live separately in the houses 
built by Government, but most of them are in their own wigwams 
in villages. Houses are warm & dry made of bark or buffalo hides 
opening at top for smoke & light & at each side (if large) for en- 
trance the latter closed with buffalo skin when necessary No 
stock but ponies & dogs A very few keep pigs Make their own 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 295 

saddles, two forks are selected & then side pieces & all covered with 
raw hide & highly ornamented sometimes with brass tacks &c. 
Lariette ropes are sometimes made of horse hair first twisted into 
small strands & then 5 or 6 twisted into a rope % inch in diameter 

They are addicted to horse racing betting ponies, blankets & even 
their shirts sometimes They often have dances Most of them 
have shirts & leggings the latter sometimes of flannel & sometimes 
of buffalo skin Their moccasins are mostly of the latter material 
& some of them highly ornamented with beadwork All wear 
breach cloths & blankets Some of them have very fanciful dresses 
One had a head band of nice fur (otter) over the forehead was bead- 
work in the shape of two infant's hands, on each side was a buffalo 
horn, one painted red, the other green, & a long strip of otter fur 
descended from the back part down nearly to the floor & highly 
ornamented with tape &c Their ears have 4 perforations each & 
sometimes each perforation is loaded with an assemblage of trinkets. 
Faces painted red with blue & black streaks They must suffer 
much from wet feet Hair is mostly cut close or shaven except on 
the top of the head Women have long hair, but dress much as the 
men The men pull out their beard with spiral wire pressing the 
coil over their faces & compressing the spiral & pulling it Hair 
black & coarse teeth mostly good & White but concealed by the 
lips 

They are polygamous & put away their wives when they please 
& these divorced wives can marry again Wives can leave their 
husbands also but if a man steals another's wife, he is liable to 
summary vengeance Men purchase their wives and at a very 
early age girls of 12 or 14 are often sold & thus it is difficult to 
secure the attendance of girls at School They have something of 
a marriage ceremony The bridegroom takes his presents to the 
parents of the bride A crier calls for objections if there be any <fe 
then they proceed to the wedding feast 

Parturition is attended with some difficulties & dangers, but prob- 
ably with no greater than with white women They are usually 
up & around soon after perhaps the next day During the process 
they walk about sit or lie according to their own preference Very 
many children die in infancy they are poorly cared for often tied 
upon a board for some months & then tucked under the blanket 
between the woman's shoulders Very many of the children are 
Scrofulous Enlarged indurated & suppuration [of] cervical glands 
or cicatrices of previous suppuration I saw several afflictions of 



296 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

the skin which seemed to be syphilitic Many are marked with 
Small pox & I think it important that the tribe be vaccinated again 
the last vaccination was totally unsuccessful 

The greatest mortality amongst the adults is in Spring Pneu- 
monia is the most fatal disease. Whenever a man gets very sick, 
they are apt to despair of his recovery & so they cover him closely 
with blankets & almost suffocate him to death rather helping him 
along to the happy hunting ground Their custom is to bury with- 
out coffins & to put the clothing, bow & arrows & many small 
articles into the grave, with a plate of food & after the grave is 
filled they choke a pony to death over it & leave it there 

They believe in a resurrection of the dead & think the person will 
need all these things when he comes to life again. The physical 
development of very many of the men is very good stout muscular 
frame. But the majority are rather under size Very many have 
a good proportion of the fatty constituents of the frame but the 
most are lean looking altho they have recently been well fed 
I suppose protracted exposure to inclemencies of weather and irregu- 
larities in the supply of wholesome food have gradually interfered 
with proper nutrition &c I presume that Pneumonia could be 
less frequent amongst them if their clothing & food were better 
their moccasins do not keep their feet dry & their blankets & 
leggings are a poor substitute for close fitting coats & pantaloons 
but they will not wear white men's clothes They are quite in- 
disposed to adopt the habits of civilized life. 

Unchastity is a very prevalent vice amongst the females. They 
do not have a very strict regard for truth, especially in matters of 
trade They have not a great respect for the rights of property 
though not notoriously thievish 

Their conjugal attachment is not strong but parental and filial 
affection is well developed Their form of Government is now re- 
publican the head- chief is elected once in 4 years & their Council 
men once a year Their religion is monotheistic & they some- 
times subject themselves to punishments to atone for sin or appease 
the displeasure of the Great Spirit They have no ideas of a 
Savior or Redeemer When a great man is dying they try to help 
him bear his suffering by afflicting themselves cutting themselves 
&c &c 

In smoking they frequently puff the first whiff of smoke upwards 
as an offering of thankfulness to the Great Spirit Previous to 
their hunts they go through with various ceremonies to secure the 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 297 

help of the Great Spirit in their expedition Mobegu Kinnekin- 
nick 

In smoking they mix sumach leaves with the tobacco & in the 
process of smoking they inhale the smoke into the lungs & force it 
through the nasal passages in expiration Some of their hatchets 
or tomahawks have a pipe in the hammer part & the handle has a 
canal through it communicating with the pipe the end of the han- 
dle is shaped to be put into the mouth handle of hickory the pith 
being burned out when one has smoked awhile he passes it to 
another & he to another & so on. The men nearly all use tobacco 
in some way The women seldom use it. The School is not very 
encouraging average 20 

The superintendent has $100 for each scholar & is responsible for 
all expenses The parents do not like for their children to go to 
school & the children often run away & go home By allowing 
them to go home once a fortnight & then going after them in a 
wagon, some gain has been made But the great trouble is when 
they leave school their friends & others make so much fun of them 
that they soon drop English language & citizens dress & go back 
into Indian habits It is doubtful whether the boarding School 
system is best unless the children can be kept permanently away 
from the tribe. By establishing day schools, the children might not 
seem to improve so rapidly, but the older people would be lifted up 
with them & the children become accustomed to association at the 
same time with both teachers & Indians & thus be able to act out 
the lessons taught in the School before their own people. 

The annual payment of the Raws occurred on the 6th of 10 mo. 
& was made by their agent, assisted by A. C. Farnham, Chief Clerk 
of Supt. Hoag They have been in the habit of trading to the 
amount of $10. for each individual in advance of their payment & 
so of course the money passes directly into the hands of the trader 
The $10. each does not exhaust the annuity now & usually they 
divide the surplus & receive it in money But owing to scarcity of 
provisions the last winter, they all agreed, with consent of the Su- 
perintendent to take it up in advance, in flour, coffee, sugar &c. &c. & 
so their surplus of $1080 was also due to the trader This being 
different from their usage, although they had fully consented to it 
& had received the full benefit of the arrangement, seemed at first 
to make them dissatisfied they wanted the $1080 divided amongst 
themselves & seemed to dislike very much to see it paid over to the 
trader The whole thing had to be repeatedly explained to them 



298 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

& then they waited a long time before the chief & councilmen would 
sign the pay roll. At last they told the trader that he must roll out 
some presents to them that the old traders did &c &c he told them 
he would give them some crackers & tobacco <fe then they signed & 
went out to receive their presents They soon had the boxes opened 
and the articles were regularly and systematically divided One 
head man divided the tobacco into 2 equal parts & gave each part 
into the hands of another & so on & another head man divided the 
crackers in the same way & they soon were all ready to start home 
except a few who lingered about the agency to get their supper. The 
former traders were in the habit of putting on about 100 per cent & 
then to keep the good side of the Indians, they made presents of 
trinkets, tobacco &c Under the present policy of giving good 
articles at a moderate profit, the trader cannot afford to make many 
presents and altho' the Indians are delighted with the quality & 
quantity of their goods, they cannot seem to understand why the 
trader now will not make presents & incline to think him selfish, 
stingy & unfriendly to them & in these notions they are encouraged 
by persons around them who are unfriendly to the present arrange- 
ment & who lose no opportunity of making the Indians dissatisfied 
with their present agent & trader &c 

The difference in language often gives rise to difficulty from sim- 
ple misunderstanding 

Another thing which gave dissatisfaction at the payment was 
that the Railroad company had failed to pay what it owed the In- 
dians for wood The most of them had traded out their full por- 
tion of this money & of course did not care, but a few had not traded 
all of theirs & so they insisted that the trader should pay them the 
balance This he was unwilling to do, for he had already fur- 
nished goods for the principal portion & in case of a failure of the 
R. R. Company, he (the trader) would lose that & he did not feel 
justified in paying out cash for the balance Shegincah & several 
others seemed very much out of humor about it The contract 
with the Company was only to run 12 mos. & was limited to getting 
ties for that part of the road in the reservation But Robt. Stev- 
ens, the Company's agent, wrote the contract without limit as to 
quantity so that the company got some advantage unjustly, <fe as 
to how much timber they got there is no means of knowing except 
their own statement 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 299 

10 mo. 7th 1870 

To-day they met to enrol but wanted a council first Allaga- 
Wa-hu their chief made a long speech & seemed to dwell upon the 
fact that they merely saw their money but never handled it that 
the trader got it all &c This was all explained again & again. 
Then they wanted a conference amongst themselves So we re- 
tired And when recalled, they said they wanted to trade, but 
not to be credited for their annuity they wanted to save that & 
have it in money but wanted the trader to let them have goods 
& they would go off upon the hunt & pay him in furs He told 
them he was not willing to trade in that way but if they brought 
any furs he would buy them. They then declined to enrol & so 
after considerable conversation they went to their homes 

If the Kaw Reservation be sold at $2.50 per acre it will amount to 
$201,600. Their trust lands will pay their indebtedness Their 
new reservation in the Indian Territory will cost $46,000, leaving 
$155,520 

10 mo. 8th 1870 

Kaw Council. Allaga, wa hu the head Chief absent on account of 
sickness of his mother in law. The subject of their removal to the 
Indian Territory, west of 96 on Cherokee Lands their new res- 
ervation to contain 160 acres for each individual of their tribe was 
opened by reading a letter from Indian Office at Washington & one 
from Supt, Hoag's Office & a clause of Cherokee treaty. Various im- 
portant considerations were brought to their attention by Agent 
Stubbs. They talked over the measure & desired until the 10th to 
talk with their people & are to report at that time. 

10 mo. 10th 

The Council with the head chief & a large number of the tribe met 
& had the whole subject again explained to them by the Agent. 
They then took an hour or more for consultation & when we were 
recalled Allagawahu the head chief made a speech in which he said 
they had concluded to send a delegation of the Raws & half breeds 
with the Agent to view the country & if they liked it they would be 
willing to go. They wished to see the country & know about the 
water & the trees & to scratch the land to see if it would bring corn 
&c that they wanted good land so they could walk the white man's 
road, follow the plow &c that if their Great Father could move 
their present land and river and timber all down there, they would 
go altogether at once but as they would have to leave their present 
good land they wanted to see whether they could find more as good 



300 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

as that is. They wanted to sell their land directly to their Great 
Father. Did not want to bargain with any body else &c. They 
wanted to go down there to see the country at once while the leaves 
were green & did not want to wait until they would have to dig under 
the snow to see what kind of soil it was. He wanted to live like 
white men and did not wish to have anything to do with the wild 
southern red men, alluding to Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Co- 
manches &c said they would come and eat with the Kaws out of the 
same spoon & sit by the same fire & then go off & shoot them. He 
did not want to mix with them. He wanted to follow his plow with 
the white man & if the wild Indians killed him at his plow, he 
wanted his children still to follow the plow & to be the white man's 
friend Wa-pah, gu followed him in confirmation Ca-wal-o 
gu (the giant of the tribe in stature) followed in the same strain & 
so did Fool-Chief & Pa-du-cah-gah-lu. After some remarks from 
the Agent & some of us congratulating them upon the harmony and 
excellent conclusions of their council, they were again requested to 
consider the subject of enrollment & they agreed to come tomorrow 
and enrol & so separated in good humor. They had seemed very un- 
settled for several days. The days were rainy & during their last 
council the sky cleared So their mental condition coincided with 
the weather Post hoc sic non propter hoc. 

Paducahgahlu wishes me to send him a copy of the treaty which 
he signed He gave it to Mix at Washington 
Joseph James, Interpreter of Kaw Indians a half breed 
Frank James a brother- 
Jos. Dunlap U. S. Marshall 
Huffaker, former trader 

We gave the Indians all the encouragement we could to send their 
children to school whilst the delegation went to view the country 
& whilst many others of them went to the Buffalo hunt. 

10 mo. llth 
Left Kaw Agency Took train at Big John, a flag station in 

front of Agency buildings on my way to Lawrence via Emporia 

& Topeka, to consult with Enoch Hoag, who I learned has returned 

from Ind. Territory Stayed at Topeka. 
In Kaw language Yolly means "Good" Edodge means the 

Agent or Father 
Williamson, Ch Clerk in financial department of the Interior 

Office 50 millions 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 301 

Clum, Chief Clerk of Commissioner Parker 

New York Indians have 32 certificates for Land patents for land 

near Ft Scott, now occupied by settlers 1 certificate is in Neosho 

Agency the others in Department at Washington, filed by Agent 

G. C. Snow- 
Young officer Thompson at Ft Gibson intimate friend & room 

mate of Leut. Whipple at Pottawattomie, stationed at Ft Riley. 

[Quapaw, Seneca and Shawnee Reservations] 

10 mos 12 left Topeka at 4.30 A. M. for Lawrence found Edwd 
Earle on train who had been to Pottawatomie Agency looking for 
me Met Enoch Hoag & Asa Tuttle at Lawrence Depot & so we 
all went on together to Baxter Springs. Arrived at night & found 
John D. Lang one of the President's unpaid Commission & [incom- 
pleted] 

10 mo. 13 We all (except A. C. Tuttle who took stage for his 
school) left Baxter for the Quapaw who were to receive their pay- 
ment by Williamson the Government Agent, commissioned as pay- 
master This payment is of $90,000, as provided in last Indian 
Appropriation Bill as indemnity to the Indians of the Quapaws & 
Shawnees Senecas & mixed Senecas & Quapaws for losses sustained 
during the war in the destruction of their stock & other property. 
Genl James Blunt bargained with these Indians to endeavor to se- 
cure indemnification for these losses, for one third of the amount se- 
cured. He says he succeeded in getting Article XII reinserted into 
the Omnibus treaty with various tribes after it had been stricken out 
by the Senate's Committee on Ind. Affairs That it was shown 
there had been a quasi treaty with these Indians & the Confederate 
Government which prejudiced their claim & had to be satisfactorily 
explained & that he was at a great deal of loss of time & spent a 
great deal of money in securing the claim That he has paid out 
$6000 & may have to pay out 10000 more. And that he does not 
think he will make a very big thing of it &c It seemed to all of 
us a very large per cent and whilst I did not feel at all like en- 
couraging the Indians to repudiate their obligation I tried to pre- 
vail upon Gen Blunt to return to them a few thousand doll for 
Educational purposes I think the whole thing had been carefully 
explained to them They sent voluntarily to Genl Blunt to get 
him to press their claim & each of them had signed an agreement 
to give him one third of what he could secure for them & if he did 
not secure anything he was to have nothing This had been care- 



302 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

fully explained repeatedly by their Interpreter & seemed to be fully 
understood 

Two Commissioners had been sent out by the Government to pass 
upon the claims & had made out an amount of $110,000 or about 
that The claim of about 12000 was rejected as the woman had 
gone amongst the Cherokees or Creeks to reside & the amount was 
cut down to $90,000 by Congress Secretary Cox had commis- 
sioned Williamson to pay this money to each claimant ac- 
cording to the roll I had no authority to control the money after 
it had passed from Williamson's hands So it was handed to the 
Indian he passed it to the Agent Mitchell; he paid the traders' 
claims & & handed over 33% per cent to Genl Blunt & the balance 
was given back to the Indian There seems to be no way to regu- 
late the amount charged by these claim agents unless Congress will 
pass some law to regulate it. All business of the Indians ought to 
be transacted through their regular Agents who are directly re- 
sponsible to Government & no percent charged, as these agents are 
paid for their services by the Government But it has become so 
much the habit of Govt to delay payments justly due unless there 
is some one present at Washington to prosecute claims that it has 
given rise to the present system of claim Agents & attorneys in the 
Indian Department Pension office Land office &c & there is real 
difficulty in getting anything done except through these agencies & 
thus the claimants have to sacrifice a considerable part to secure the 
balance This system also gives rise to the presentation of false 
claims & monied influence often prevails to get these false claims 
allowed This is really a great business & the country is often 
cheated out of large amounts. 

These Quapaws, Senecas &c are very poor and very much in need 
of schools They mostly dress as citizens and are very desirous 
of having schools They are self supporting and are beginning 
to get cattle, horses &c all of which they lost in the war. Many of 
them speak English The Ottawas have a school taught by A. C. 
Tuttle & wife & the Peorias have a house nearly ready and a young 
man John Collins Isaacs, has come from Philada. to teach their 
school Philada. Friends have furnished $1000 for the Ottawa 
School & will assist some in the Peoria School J. M. Hiatt 
assisted by Lindly Pickering have opened a store at the Agency 
Many of these people go to Seneca a town in Missouri & get whiskey 
Their greatest and most urgent need is to have good schools 

We met on the 14th of 10 Mo Paymaster Williamson (Jas. A.) 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 303 

Jocnic & Pilkinton sent by Secretary Cox to make the payment 
Genl Blunt, Agent Mitchell & they commenced the payment in the 
afternoon J. D. Lang and E. Hoag left for Baxter E. Earle 
& myself remained. 

These Indians are greatly advanced above the condition of the 
wild tribes They are very decently clothed and the women look 
altogether better than the Kaw women The Agent's wife speaks 
very highly of their good qualities & their anxiety to learn, in cook- 
ing making clothing &c She had an Indian woman assisting 
her in her household duties She seems to take a real interest in 
the welfare of these people & is certainly a superior lady I am 
persuaded that she has a deep Christian solicitude for their real 
improvement At night they gathered around their camp fire & 
some of them engaged in what they called a dance which was 
much like a children's game A circle of them kept moving around 
the fire & kept up a sort of tune the drummer beating his drum 
at the same time Drum made of a churn with Buckskin stretched 
over the head of it They did not move the feet much in the 
dance except in moving around the fire most of the motion being in 
a rapid movement of the knee & ankle joints Some of the women 
joined in the exercise The Senecas are a decidedly religious 
people but have not been instructed in Christianity Once a year 
they offer a dog in Sacrifice They select a white male dog keep 
him shut up & as clean as possible feed him highly so that he 
shall be very fat & at the proper time he is killed & suspended & a 
fire kindled under him & as he burns & the smoke ascends, they 
say their prayers & express their gratitude & they believe that these 
prayers & praises ascend upon the Smoke to the Great Spirit and 
they believe that He hears them. An instance was related to me 
in which this sacrifice was made in time of great drought & they 
prayed for rain & very shortly the rain came, as they believe in 
answer to their prayer They are superstitious & have somewhat 
objected to Schools partly because the Christian religion is not 
exemplified in the character of a large part of the white people with 
whom they have been brought into contact They consider white 
people as the representatives of Christianity & they judge of the 
system by the character of those whom they consider its representa- 
tives This is perfectly natural but very unfortunate. How 
much they need the constant presence of solid, earnest loving 
Christians to live amongst them & teach them by example as well 
as by precept I believe that Lindly Pickering & John Milton 



304 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Hiatt and John Collins Isaacs appreciate these things and are very 
desirous of securing the confidence of these Indians by an upright 
Christian example and precept But a few earnest Christian 
women thoroughly practical and of industrious domestic habits 
refined and desirous of doing good to these people would effect 
wonders amongst them These people have the basis for a very 
solid character, if they can be rightly cared for & the object should 
not be to combat directly their superstitious notions, but to teach 
them the better way by example in connection with instruction & 
this is rendered peculiarly necessary because of the bad example 
which white people have set before them & by which they have 
been confirmed in the superior excellence of their own religious & 
social system. These Indians have but one wife & are usually 
faithful in their conjugal relations. One of their most remarkable 
moral characteristics is honesty a sacred regard for their promises. 

The payment was resumed on the 15th. We remained until 3 
o'clock having witnessed about 150 payments the entire number 
being about 176. We then had to leave & rode 16 miles to Wm 
Hills & next morning through the rain 8 miles to Spring River 
Meeting Stopped at Moses [omission] and got warm & dry as 
there was no fire at the meeting house. 

(Genl James Blunt & McBracney McBradly [McBratney?] 
are Agents for the Eastern Band of Cherokees in N. Carolina & are 
endeavoring to secure for them their portion of the tribal funds & 
annuities of the Cherokee nation The suit of this Band against 
their old Agent Thomas, to secure their lands which he purchased 
& took title in his own name & whose creditors are now driving 
those Indians from their homes cannot be prosecuted because 
Congress failed to make any Appropriation for the costs I wish 
to examine at Washington the whole matter of these Indians & 
their relations with their old Agent & with the Cherokee Nation & 
the historical facts bearing upon the cause of their remaining in 
N. Carolina They receive no annuities beyond the interest on 
an Appropriation made for the purpose of [omission]). 

Cherokee treaty of 186 cannot be ratified because of the in- 
fluence of lobbyists 

The claim of Eastern Cherokees is for hundreds of thousands 

Samuel Valier Chief & Interpreter of Quapaws 

Spicer, do. do. of Senecas 

Spring River, Sub Agency 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 305 

George Mitchell Agent 
Seneca, Missouri 
Asa C. Tuttle 
McLane's Station 

Ind. Territory 
via Baxter, Kansas 

14 miles S. West from Baxter Stage leaves Southern Hotel at 
Baxter on mornings of 3rd 5th & 7th days 

10 mo 16 

Edward Earle & myself attended the meeting at Spring River, 
but the day was so stormy that not more than 20 persons were 
present We dined at Moses [omission] & then went through the 
storm in an open wagon to Timber Hills meeting, held at present 
in the house of Amos W. Hampton a minister Here we met at 
4 o'clock a company of perhaps 40 or 50 who braved the Storm to 
attend the meeting It was an interesting meeting Several com- 
munications, besides what I felt called to offer We were very 
kindly entertained at A. W. Hampton's by himself & wife & next 
morning the storm being heavy still we concluded to abide with 
them until it should moderate We have some opportunity of 
witnessing the discouragements which beset the people in this new 
country The prospect is fair that after a long & hard scuffle they 
will be able to realize the fruits of their labor but at present it is 
a hard time with them They are very much in need of good meet- 
ing houses in various neighborhoods but as their lumber has to 
be brought from Chicago by railroad, building is very expensive 
We met here Thomas Smith formerly of Iowa, who was once one 
of the United Brethren but has now become a member of our Society. 
He appeared in Supplication in the meeting at this house We 
also met Selinda Johnson, formerly of Eastern Ohio She also 
spoke a little in the meeting & was engaged in supplication in a 
sitting in the evening. There are many persons, not Friends, who 
would be glad to go to Friends meetings if there was room for them 
in the meeting houses, & thus good houses would here very much 
tend to build up the Society & promote its usefulness 

10 mo. 18 Amos W. Hampton took us to Columbus, as the storm 
had moderated It is about 15 miles above Baxter Springs & is a 
suitable place to leave the train for one who goes down from Kansas 
City to visit the settlements of Friends in Spring River Quarter- 
It is 6 miles from Timber Hills meeting 

203729 



306 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The R. Road from St. Louis to Pierce City may be extended so 
as to intersect at Columbus &c. 

10. 19th 
At Lawrence meeting correspondence 

10. 20. 

Letter to J. B. Garrett. 

Box of books No. 1 distributed to Ottawas & Peorias No. 
2 Laurie Tatum No. 3 Sac & Foxes Kickapoos & Wichitas, 
Caddoes 

Three boxes are desired at once 1 for Darlington's Agency 1 
for Quapaws & Wyandottes & 1 for general distribution Ele- 
mentary books desired & charts & cards No second readers 
wanted 

Clothing to be sent to E. Hoag Calico for Comforts a cheaper 
article for lining & batting for wadding for the Ind. women to make 
up. 

Suggest that meeting of the Committee be 26th of 12 month 
Grand Council meets on 5th of 12 mo 

John B. Garrett 

217 Church St. 

Philada. 
[School for the Ottawa Indians] 

Asa C. Tuttle and wife Emmeline (formerly Howard,) are doing 
an excellent work amongst the Ottawa Indians. Their School is 
about 14 miles S. West of Baxter and averages 26 

Their influence upon the tribe in favor of religion & morality have 
already been very marked It had been a universal practice with 
the men & boys to carry pistols The boys brought them to 
school After a time Emmeline felt that she must speak to them 
about it and they told their parents & the Chief Judge Wynn 
The council considered the subject & her reasons for her desire in 
the matter and they passed a law not only forbidding boys to carry 
pistols but men also & thus the entire habit of the tribe in this 
respect has been reformed She was much concerned also that 
they should have proper regulations concerning marriage and proper 
views concerning chastity &c The results of the labors of these 
missionaries is a good marriage law & several parties have come to 
Asa and requested him to join them legally as man & wife he being 
a minister of the Gospel. Some of these parties had been living to- 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 307 

gether but were not married. This brought him into something of a 
strait but after having talked to them so much upon the subject, 
he felt that it was right and so in a solemn & religious manner he 
has performed the marriage ceremony, as nearly in conformity with 
our practice as circumstances would admit The opportunities 
have been often remarkably serious and impressive He speaking 
to them in ministry & for them in prayer and they being tendered to 
tears There has been a great deal of sickness amongst them & 
many deaths A physician is very much needed there and a house 
for the Teachers Their boarding place is very unsuitable. It 
does not protect them from rain They have both been very sick 
& are still feeble Something should be done to make them more 
comfortable else they will utterly break down I do not remem- 
ber ever to have felt more forcibly the force of our Savior's saying 
"The fields are already white unto harvest," than when visiting the 
Indians of the Spring River Agency I advised Enoch to have a 
house built for them as there are appropriations which can.be used 
for this purpose He has made out no schedule yet for the dis- 
tribution of the $60,000, because he has never received any direction 
from the Indian Bureau concerning it. Commissioner Parker told 
me more than a month ago that he had directed E. H. to make out 
the Schedule But the direction was never received by E. H 

10 mo. 21st. Just before retiring for the night Oh, Lord, give 
to me, to my wife and to my Georgie & Willie, an interest in thee 
and in thy salvation I ask this before wealth or any earthly 
gift 

[Peoria Reservation] 

10 20th 

Edward Earle attended the payment of the Peorias who had be- 
come citizens & had drawn their share of the tribal funds, amount- 
ing to over $72000 It took place at Paoli, Kansas & was made 
by paymaster Williamson Major Baptiste, Chief of the Peorias, 
had one tenth for his services in getting the money drawn from the 
Treasury He is an intelligent man of some wealth speaks Eng- 
lish well, has a fine farm nice house, an intelligent wife & Edward 
says he has seldom a better dinner than she set before them. He 
lodged with them and spoke of the bed, parlor &c as indicating that 
they were under the care of a skilful housekeeper Many of these 
citizen Peorias are skilful farmers and some of them are well edu- 



308 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

cated evincing the capacity of the Indian for civilization even when 
surrounded by very adverse influences 



Miami Indians HR. 2347 

June 27, 1870 Bill read twice in House of Representatives 
****** 

10 mo 23 E. Hoag & wife & E. Earle & myself went to Hesper 
& attended the meeting there It was large & lively 

I spoke from the text, "I beseech you brethren, by the mercies 
of God, that ye present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, ac- 
ceptable unto Him" &c There were several other testimonies and 
supplication We dined with Wm & Penelope Gardiner & had the 
company of Winslow & Margaret Davis, Dr. Reuben L. Roberts 
& wife Rebecca (formerly Jucks) & other Friends also met David 
Davis & wife the former a young man who went with us upon 
part of our journey in N. Carolina some years ago & the latter a 
daughter of the widow Hill below Springfield, N. C. Hesper is 10 
or 12 miles a little South of East from Lawrence & 4 miles South 
of Eudora. A nice rolling country & thickly settled by Friends 
The meeting there is a highly interesting one, containing a goodly 
proportion of the old the middle aged & the young Returned to 
Lawrence about dark Eudora is at the mouth of Wakarusha 
River where it enters the Kansas 

[Chippewa and Munsee Reservation] 

10 mo 24 

Chippewas & Munsees 63 in all $15.00 to each individual 
$113.80 surplus for painting schoolhouse, firewood for School (fee- 
Payment was made at the Mission 6 miles southwest of Ottawa 
Ignatius Caleb, the Muncy chief thinks they would like to go 
amongst Cherokees they like to live here and want to be in peace 
with white people & to follow the Christian ways but their cattle 
sometimes go off the reservation & white people shoot them and 
they have no redress in the law the white people cut their timber 
& they have no redress in law He feels thankful to the Lord for 
the little payment they are to receive & for all their other blessings 
but says they are constantly diminishing in numbers & they would 
rather 'be associated with some larger <fe stronger tribe. These 
Indians are well dressed The women are as neatly attired as the 
same number of white women collected in the country They have 
a school conducted by Romig, a Moravian 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 309 

Donahu spoke on behalf the Indians He says the settlers have 
squatted upon some of the land and are not willing to pay the value 
of the Land He thinks the Indians would like to be here & be 
citizens that they may have the protection of law that each one 
may have a patent for his land so he can sell it for its full value & 
give a permanent title 

A part of their land has been sold under their last treaty (perhaps 
'54 or '56) & more of it might be, if, the Secretary of the Interior 
would advertise it 

These Indians are diminishing in part from the remains of syph- 
ilitic disease 

The tribe was once very deeply tainted with this affection & it 
prevents fecundity & causes the loss of a great proportion of the 
children They are now greatly improved in their morals and 
most of them are professors of Christianity Romig & his wife are 
located amongst them by the Moravians The Indians do not pay 
them anything, except the use of a dwelling & a farm of 15 acres 
Their labors have doubtless been of great service, to the tribes but 
unless they are moved to the vicinity of a larger tribe & intermarry 
they will soon run out Constant intermarriage in so narrow a 
circle and that an unhealthy circle tends to a constant physical 
deterioration I saw one case, of what was probably syphilitic 
laryngitis in a child 18 months old I suppose it was hereditary 
syphilis 

[ Potta watomie Reservation ] 

10 mo. 25th 

Went to St. Mary's in the Pottawattomie Reservation and were 
kindly entertained by Dr. Palmer who was formerly agent here. 
Williamson, paymaster, had not arrived We found here a collec- 
tion of Indians & white people some said to be of a very poor grade 
morally all waiting the payment 

1026 

We went to the Catholic Mission were admitted into the girls' 
school room, about 80, 20 of whom were day Scholars Most of them 
where white children The Indians do not send their children 
much now. It is the same with the male department. They are 
putting up large brick buildings now for each sex & will have ac- 
commodations for many students They have a farm of 1200 or 
more acres of very good land keep 100 cows raise wheat enough 
for the use of the establishment also apples, peaches & vegetables 



310 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The buildings are very close to the railroad & farm on both sides 
of it The view southwards from the hill above the building is 
very fine reaching for 25 or 30 miles beyond the Kansas River, 
which runs about 2 miles and a half south of the Institution 

The payment is a division of the funds to those of the Pottawat- 
tomies who have become citizens amounting to $680 ($525,000 in 
all) for each individual Many of these are good farmers & doing 
well but many others are intemperate and will not take care of 
their money It is thought the whole tribe will soon be ready to 
go to the Indian Territory There is not much hope of their im- 
proving where they are Their most fatal disease is pneumonia 
Consumption is very common There is a good deal of Scrofula 
Syphilis is also prevalent especially with the Citizen & half breeds 
Parturition is attended with comparatively little difficulty either 
at the time or subsequently At the menstrual period, women 
separate themselves from society & in the advanced stages of 
pregnancy the woman is placed in a house by herself and not visited 
by her husband or any one except some of the elderly women 
She has little or no assistance in the process Children are treated 
in the same way as the Kaws treat theirs Very many children 
die before the second year There are very few old people 
amongst them Intemperance, sensuality untruthfulness, are 
prevalent The Prairie band are blanket Indians & live much like 
the Kaws Parental & filial affection well developed Conjugal 
attachment not very strong Husbands & wives often separate 
They are not polygamous The office of chief is hereditary 
They have some tribal laws. Have a marriage ceremony Their 
religion is monotheistic and they make a sort of offering of their 
first fruits They believe in a future state of existence happy for 
the good & miserable for the bad Bury soon after death in 
boxes with prepared food in the box They always manifest 
great seriousness & reverence when they speak of the Great Spirit 
There does not seem to be much opening for educational work 
amongst them as they are looking towards removal 

(Joseph N. Bourassa (Bur-ra-saw) U States Interpreter for 
Pottawattomies. ) 

These Indians show the bad effects of Annuity payments. They 
sit and wait for their money and then use it badly 

In this payment 10 per cent is charged by George Young, Dr. 
Palmer & Mr Bertrand, for the portion which they obtain & 12 pr 
cent for the portion obtained by Major Ross Col Murphy & 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 311 

Wilmarth &c. These firms join together and work in concert. They 
have been working for years to get the Government to make this 
payment They used 6 per cent of the 12 per cent claims upon mem- 
bers of Congress (Pomeroy Clarke &c. &c.) and about $2000 
or more upon clerks in the Department of the Interior Irving 
& Clum would not accept anything. 

The Michigan or Wisconsin Pottawattomies numbered 250 a few 
years ago $25,000 

Shaw-gue now blind was once a chief and a very eloquent 
orator Has been to Washington 

About 150 Pottawattomies strayed off about 1861 & are supposed 
to be about the Wichita Mountains They were allotted Indians 
& have some of the best land allotted to them on [omission] Creek 
Some of the principal men are Big Kickapoo or Capt John 

Shomin Pame-je yah Niscod nemma 

****** 

Black Beaver says they went to Mexico with the wandering 
Kickapoos 

11 mo 28th 
****** 

Mr. Wilmarth 

Capt John or Big Kickapoo Shomin (dead). Pame-je-yah Nis 
cod nemma dead 

These stray Pottawattomies are entitled to all the privileges of 
the tribe Might get certificates of citizenship, patents for their 
land & their share of the tribal funds 

10 mo 26 

Afternoon Williamson arrived & commenced payment Each 
Indian receives his portion from the paymaster hands it to E. Earle 
to be counted again directs him to pay to Dr Palmer the 12 pr 
cent for the agents who secured the appropriation & takes the 
balance Most of them deposit their money with bankers who 
are here from Topeka as it is unsafe for them to undertake to keep 
it themselves as there are thieves, pickpockets, and robbers around 
watching their opportunity. There are many saloons & gambling 
houses and there is no law against selling whiskey to those Indians 
who have become citizens Hence those who undertake to carry 
their money will be likely to lose it. Counterfeit money men are 
usually on hand ready to change money for the Indians & pass off 
their spurious bills as many of the Indians receive large amounts 



312 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

and many $100 bills The head of a family draws for each of his 
children as well as for his wife & himself It thus happens that one 
man often draws a large amount 

10 mo. 27th 

Payment resumed 

Louis Vieux (View) the crier Saml Nevoir, one of the business 
Committee very intelligent but intemperate 

10 28th 

Payment continued The paymaster closed payment at dark 
last night, because it was not considered safe. There was a large 
class of bad men known to have collected in town & it was supposed 
some of the Indians would be robbed, in going from the office to the 
camp after receiving their money Lieut Whipple had charge of 
the guard he is now stationed at Ft. Riley, but for two years, has 
been at Key West Dr. Gabby & Lewis Ogee drew a part of the 
percentage At noon we left for Lawrence to prepare for our 
journey to Ind. Territory 

Mr Smith, Banker at Topeka Mr. Laslie Banker St Mary's 

10/29 Left Lawrence by rail to lola & then stage 8 miles to Hum- 
bolt, after dark in a severe storm of rain with thunder & lightnings 
I glean from the Humbolt Union the following 

Rev. W. S. Robertson, Presbyterian missionary to Creek Nation 
is translating (has) the Scriptures into Muscoga Rev. J. R. Ram- 
say is amongst the Seminoles. Will soon open School The house 
to be built of lumber sawed at their own mill He has 120 Church 
members $500 have been subscribed by members & others 
The head chief is a warm hearted Christian Mr. John B.eck of 
Ft Scott is recommended to the Board of Foreign Missions as a 
suitable person to be nominated to the Government as an Indian 
Agent for Seminoles Mr. Robertson has 34 members in his 
Church in Creek Nation 

We did not make connection at Humboldt with the train for 
Chetopa & so had to wait there until second day afternoon 

On First day morning, went to the Sabbath School at Methodist 
Church and took charge of a class which the Minister assigned 
me As the services at 11 oclock were to be conducted in German 
for the benefit of that class of the population we did not remain 
The Minister said he would have been very glad for us to have the 
use of the house for a meeting in the evening, but he had already 
given it up to a Baptist Minister from Ottawa He seemed to 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 313 

regret it much & said if he had only known that we would be here, 
it should have been otherwise We attended the Presbyterian 
Meeting at 11 oclock heard an excellent sermon by Dr. Lewis 
Sermon on the Holy Spirit and had some conversation with the 
minister afterwards, in which we endeavored to encourage him as 
we did the Methodist Minister in the morning. These men (the 
only ministers in the place) seem to be earnestly working in the 
midst of an ungodly people, for the promotion of Christianity 
Their congregations are very small In the evening we again 
went to the Methodist meeting house to hear the Baptist Stranger 
When the appointed hour had arrived, he was not present, altho' 
he was known to be in the city The Methodist Minister seeing 
me in the central part of the house, made his way to me & said that 
the hour had arrived & the Baptist minister was not there & he felt 
under no obligation to wait for him & he desired me to take charge 
of the meeting I told him that I did not feel free to do so until 
we had waited a while as the Baptist would probably soon be in 
He again expressed his regret that he had not known that we would 
be there After a while the Baptist came & preached So there 
seemed no open door for us to have a meeting & we left our hotel 
second day afternoon at 5 o'clock & went across the Neosho River 
to the Depot, half a mile away. But the train did not come and as 
we were constantly expecting it, we remained all night in the Station 
house 

They have but one train a day each way & no telegraph - We 
of course could not tell why it did not come nor when it would come 
& we did not want to miss it because our team is probably await- 
ing us at Chetopa, 60 miles southward So we arranged some 
boxes of merchandize which were stored in the room & with carpet 
sacks for pillows & our blankets for covering we got along pretty 
well tho' the boxes felt pretty hard before day There was no 
fire in the room but the weather was not very cold Neither 
had we any light but the moon shone, the forepart of the night, so 
we could see how to arrange our boxes By morning, we were 
ready for breakfast as we had no supper & we succeeded in getting 
something to eat & after a while an engine came down the road & 
said that the bridge over the Cotton Wood at Emporia was washed 
badly & that it was very uncertain when a train would be along 
So we just have to wait here Moreover we now learn that had 
we gone from Lawrence by Emporia we should have been detained 
there So that we are really farther on our journey than we 



314 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUAHTERLY 

should have been I feel thankful that we are well & as comfort- 
able as could be expected. 

11 mo 1st 

I weigh today 148 Ibs. without overcoat, with ordinary fall suit of 
clothing. We waited all day at the Depot & until 9 o'clock at 
night & no train arriving we went again to the Humboldt House and 
we four had to sleep in the garret, in small quarters in which was 
already one man A few nights before, at the Eagle Hotel, we 
jour slept in a room just 7 feet by 11% by actual measurement 
A strong prairie wind gave us ventilation to some extent both those 
nights 

[Delaware Agency] 

11 mo - 2nd 

Again at the Depot after breakfast The Engine again passed 
down but no satisfactory intelligence about a passenger train 
But after an hour & a half a train came along & we joyfully took 
seats in the car Arrived at Chetopa about 1 oclock & found our 
driver & team & some of the Delaware Indians, al ready to ac- 
company us 

Isaac Johnny Cake a brother of the Delaware Chief was on the 
train with us, having his wife & daughter They were going out to 
the Agency also & so we all set out together 

Seminole means a Seceder or a wild Indian as they separated 
from the Muscogee or Creek nation a long time ago & settled in 
Florida They pronounce it Sem-i-no-le putting the emphasis on 
the last syllable 

We left Chetopa at 3 o'clock, and arrived at McGees near Cabin 
Creek about sunset 10 miles South West from Chetopa He was 
away hunting deer & would not be at home but his wife said we 
could stay 

The house was small with a shed attachment two rooms in all 
& no up stairs E. H. E. E & myself & Isaac Journey Cake & 
wife & daughter stayed in the house & the two young men Edward 
F Hoag & Cyrus Frazier, slept in the Ambulance & the two Delaware 
Indians young men slept in their wagon There were 14 in all 
in the little house We got a good supper & breakfast & were only 
charged 50 cents apiece The horses also had hay furnished we 
having grain with us We found them with plenty of hogs, sheep 
& goats & cattle Left at 7.10 and rode 30 miles by 1.30 P. M., 
in a Southwestent direction crossing several small creeks & came 
down between Salt Creek & Lightning Creek & crossed to the east 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 315 

bank of the latter about 2 miles above its junction with the Verdi- 
gris River We saw plenty of prairie chickens a few deer many 
buffalo birds a species of black birds which follow the Cattle and 
buffalo over the prairies to catch flies which trouble the cattle 
We passed very many mounds or rounded hills smooth enough to 
drive a carriage over though some of them too steep We stopped 
on Lightning Creek at Charles Journey Cake's one of the Chiefs 
the other two being John Conner & Anderson Sarcoxie. Charles 
Journey Cake lives in a very comfortable house has a good farm 
a fine carriage &c We were invited to sit down to an excellently 
prepared dinner of roast beef baked chicken nicely baked Svjeet 
potatoes, very good light bread Irish potatoes Coffee, Rice 
pudding & dried Apple pie Charles himself had gone deer hunt- 
ing he has several very large Buckskins & some fawn Skins 

The Delawares had some of them been here for several days 
expecting their payment we intending to have been here two or 
three days ago But many of them are upon the other side of the 
Verdigris River & they cannot get over as the water is high & 
will not fall sufficiently until a day or two more has passed These 
are good looking Indians dressed like citizens. Many of them speak 
English They are industrious and are beginning to get a little 
stock &c They have only been down here a short time and had 
met with heavy losses of stock &c in the war & by thieves before 
coming down here They are now incorporated with the Chero- 
kees A few of them have become dissatisfied, because, as they 
say, the Cherokees are not kind to them & these dissatisfied 
Delawares have gone eastward amongst the Peorias about 30 or 40 
miles away There are about 950 individuals & they receive 
$30.00 each The Post office is Goody's Bluff Cherokee Nation, 
Ind. Ter They are the remains of the tribe with whom Wm Penn 
made his Celebrated treaty under the old Elm tree upon the banks 
of the Delaware River 

About 5 o'clock P. M. on 5th day the 3rd of 11 mo Charles 
Journey Cake and other hunters came in with five or six fine deer 
He killed one a few days ago which weighed over 200 Ibs after it 
was dressed They sell the skins at about $1.37 per Ib after 
they are dressed It takes a very large skin to come to $2.00 

Charles Journey Cake has a lithograph representation of the belt 
of Wampum delivered by the Indians to Wm Penn at the Great 
Treaty under the Elm tree at Shackamaxon in 1682 from Historical 
Society of Penn "Not sworn to & never broken," furnished by a 
grandson of James Logan. 



316 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

11 mo 4 

We sat up last night until after 1 o'clock for Superin Hoag to 
get his roll corrected by the chief & Council This morning we 
had a nice breakfast of venison & commenced payment at about 9 
o'clock Worked very closely & until 9 o'clock P. M. 

11 5th 

Commenced again and finished payment 

About 100 of the Delawares are professors of the Christian 
Religion, mostly Baptists They meet regularly for worship but 
have no regular minister Charles Journey Cake lives so far 
from the meeting place that he collects the people of his neighbor- 
hood & reads the Bible to them in Delaware language & exhorts & 
teaches them He gave thanks and prayer at the table before 
meals in Delaware I could not under stand any of it except the 
Name Jesus near the close It was sweet to hear him pronounce 
that Name in reverence & with Solemnity He has 6 daughters 4 
married the two unmarried are twins and very much alike about 
16 intelligent educated modest refined girls Some of his 
Grandchildren were present one, Ella May Pratt, sung very 
sweetly the hymn "Don't think there is nothing for Children to do" 
&c. It was late at night before we finished the payment. The 
people had been waiting several days & we worked hard to get thru 
& let them go home 

11 mo 6th 

First day morning 

E. Hoag learns that the Osages have not gone on the hunt as he 
had been told, but are waiting for their payment so he concludes 
to go home at once and get their money Edw. Earle, myself & 
driver with the ambulance remain here today, to spend First day & 
see if way opens for anything to do or say for the good of the people 
or the encouragement of their excellent chief John Conner & 
Anderson Sarcoxie the other chiefs, are in feeble health. Conner the 
head chief is here but not able to leave his tent He talks English 
is very intelligent and expressed a hope of a better existence 
beyond the grave He belongs to the Baptists. In the tabular 
statement furnished to Supert. Hoag from the Department, $100 
was directed to be paid to Capt Sarcoxie as a continuation of a 
special annuity to his father according to treaty 1829 Conner & 
Journeycake say that it was only an annuity of $100 & that he 
received it at the spring payment & of course it is not due again 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 317 

until next spring They furthermore say that in treaty 1860 the 
chiefs & council men are entitled to receive pay for their services 
but that for the last two years their pay has been stopped & they 
do not know why it is 

****** 

I received of Isaac Journey Cake for Thomas Haines, a teacher 
$25.50 balance of his account Pd. to Enoch Hoag Also of the 
same for Linneus Roberts $50.00, balance of his school account 
Pd. to Enoch Hoag 

Paid these to Enoch Hoag. 

****** 

They furthermore say that they have a claim upon the Govern- 
ment for property stolen by white people whilst they lived in Kan- 
sas That the last treaties recognize these losses as just & they 
do not know why they are not paid 

Mr. C. N. Vaun a Cherokee Lawyer proposes to draw the tribal 
funds of the Delawares for 3 or 4 or 5 per cent acting in coopera- 
tion with E. Hoag If the Chiefs & Councilmen agree to it The 
Delawares are rather averse to drawing their funds though it 
might be better for the more industrious part of them to do so If 
Congress would permit this they would be glad 

Henry Armstrong, son in law of Chas. Journey Cake has a store 
at Journey Cake's but he lives several miles above near his brother 
Charles Armstrong another soninlaw of Charles Journey Cake 
John T. Smith has a store near Charles Armstrong's C. C. Burnett 
is a trader over the Verdigris on the Caney 

Charles Armstrong is a great hunter. He has sat on his horse & 
shot a deer in one direction & turned & shot another in a different & 
killed both The Caney river is the same as the Little Verdigris 
& runs into the Verdigris Dr. Allen married a daughter of Isaac 
Journey Cake & practices some amongst the Indians Dr. Lovell 
formerly of vicinity of Pilot Mountain in N. C. lived on Grand 
River & has practiced here sometimes 

"It is very pleasant to me to hear the good book read. It almost 
seems to me that I can sometimes see the Savior when he Spoke 
these words so pleasant, so kind, so lovely He is full of love 
He is a true Savior and there is no. other but Him." These words 
were spoken very deliberately and seriously by Charles Journey 
cake at a religious opportunity in his family after I had read the 
18th Chapter of John He then knelt & offered a prayer in Delaware, 
which of course I could not understand except the names Jesus & 



318 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Christ In speaking English he had to be very deliberate but in 
his native language he was fluent Osage Wah sah she Ou sa-ge 
Wa-sa she 

ll-7th 

We left C. Journey cake's & went Southward a few miles below 
the mouth of Lightning Creek & crossed the Verdigris at a ferry 
near Ballitt's The bank on the west side was very bad & steep 
river 150 ft wide & 15 deep but had been much deeper. It would 
have been much better to have crossed it higher up about Goody's 
Bluff but the water was too high there to ford & there was no ferry 
at that place the road would have been much more direct to the 
Caney river. After crossing the Verdigris and passing the river 
bottom of Splendid rich land we came to Capt John Conner's, Head 
Chief of Delaware's We then went North of West over the 
prairie and & then turned west towards the mouth of the Caney 
River but as the roads were very indistinct we rather got off the 
exact course We passed but one house between Capt. Conner's 
& John Carter's, a distance of 20 miles We reached Carter's a 
little before night & thought we had better stop as they were willing 
to entertain us as well as they could We rested pretty well 
although the wind blew hard & the house was somewhat open. The 
beef & coffee were very good though the surroundings the table 
knives &c &c were in such a condition as under some circum- 
stances would have rather destroyed appetite They only charged 
50 cents for each person & nothing for horsefeed The man had 
a dozen horses 75 or 80 cattle & was preparing to open a little farm. 
He lives near the Cana below Curleyhead Creek Cattle & horses 
live in the bottom lands of the Cana all winter without being fed 
upon cane (reeds) wild rye &c Wild Geese are there all winter 
A flock of 10 or 12 flew up, not more than 200 yds from the house 
in the morning There are also many wild ducks & an abundance 
of fish in the river. 

[Osage Agency] 

11 mo 8 

After leaving Carter's we crossed one small creek & then Curly- 
head Creek the water of which was quite deep Between this 
Creek & Shoteau's store we passed some splendid bottom Land but 
rather wet Prairie grass 8 ft high in some parts It is about 
10 miles from Carter's to Choteau's Store & that is one mile (200 
rods) west of 96 & about 12 miles below the junction of the little 
or East Cana with the Big or west Cana & 22 miles below Kansas 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 319 

Line The Cana formed by the junction of these streams is also 
called little Verdigris & runs southward a little west of 96 & at 
about latitude 36-30' it turns Southeast & runs to the Verdigris. 

There is a good deal of chill & fever in this section The river & 
creeks are well supplied with timber. We found entertainment, at 
Mrs. Gildstraps Quite a number of Delawares are settled on the 
Cana & also Shawnees on Bird Creek which runs into the Cana on 
the Western side about 15 miles below Shoteaus These people 
all supposed that they were east of 96 And the best Government 
map's represent the Cana river as East of 96. whereas it is entirely 
west of it until it turns to the South East to reach the Verdigris 
We find upon coming here, Mahlon Stubbs & the Kaw delegation 
who have been examining for a location They like the country of 
the little & Big Cana but as that has been selected by the Osages it 
is difficult to arrange it unless the Cherokees will consent for the 
Osages to have a strip about S l / 3 miles East of 96 & which belongs 
appropriately to the Cana River as otherwise it would be devoid of 
timber. The line would then run upon the divide between the Cana 
& the Verdigris near to the Cana because the Creeks of the 
Cana are smaller & shorter than those of the Verdigris This 
strip of S l /2 miles is not occupied to much extent and is mostly 
arable land and could be well supplied with timber from the Cana 
It seems appropriately to belong to the Cana 

We find Isaac T. Gibson here also, and Joseph Newsom & Thomas 
H. Stanley the two latter being with Mahlon Stubbs 

Hard rope & his band of Osages came in today also 

11 mo 9 

We find that most of the Osages have gone on the hunt & that 
the trader misinformed E. Hoag I suppose he wanted the money 
to come so he could get some of it The weather is fine & we 
would be glad to be on our journey but we must be patient We 
bought a pair of horses of M. Stubbs, as he was going to send all his 
party home & he himself going with I. T. Gibson to Tahlequa to 
the Cherokee Council to try to adjust the land matter but they 
will wait for Enoch Hoag In company with I. T. Gibson & M. 
Stubbs we hired a Cabin built a fire, roasted some sweet potatoes 
& after a light supper, spread down our robes & blankets upon a 
pile of corn in the husk Our blankets being narrow for two & 
the night cool, we were not over comfortable but got along 
pretty well In the morning we had a nice breakfast prepared by 



320 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

our driver & I. T. Gibson. Coffee beef steak (cheese bread & 
crackers we already had on hand this was the morning of the 
10th of the mo 

After breakfast, we read a portion of Scripture & had a devotional 
pause Then sent Cyrus after some sweet potatoes & spoke to a 
woman to bake us some buiscuit for dinner C. got a bucket full 
a peck of potatoes for 87% & we hired a dutch oven of a neighbor 
& baked some splendid potatoes also had beef &c &c & of 
course Coffee for dinner I carried the potatoes to the river & 
washed them & then we walked over the adjoining lands, surveying 
for agency Buildings & after dinner Isaac, Mahlon & myself took a 
horseback ride over the river to view the premises there 

We crossed just westward from Mrs. Gildstraps & ascended by a 
bridle path to the top of the bluff & made our way towards a re- 
markable mound a mile & a half away We first descended 
slightly & then more rapidly into a ravine where we lost sight of 
the mound Then in ascending we had a beautiful view of its 
constantly & regularly increasing proportions We came to a 
plateau or broad terrace perhaps 300 ft below the top of the 
mound which was very regularly conical for the last 80 ft the 
upper portion resting upon a broader base of much the same char- 
acter At the foot of the basilar portion we crossed a little stream 
& prepared to ascend Reaching the top of the basilar portion 
we tied our horses to some little shrubs & walked or clambered up 
at an angle of 45 to the summit which was about 40 ft in diameter 
There was not a tree nor even a [illegible] bush from the top to the 
ravine below Prairie grass grew to the top Small fragments 
of rock w r ere intermingled with the soil & upon these were impressions 
of seashells W T e also found petrified sticks coral &c upon the 
summit We had a fine view of the surrounding country the 
Cana immediately East & stretching first south & then in the dis- 
tance winding by south the Curley head Creek making into it 
from the Eastern side 

Various mounds in different directions &c Descending we 
went upon the south side of a mound nearly west & found an abun- 
dant supply of excellent building sandstone some of it apparently 
already dressed having two, three & sometimes 4 faces of a cube 
nicely squared Upon the face of very many of these rocks were 
impressions of sea shells of varying character & also of leaves & 
stems of vegetables On one rock the face of which measured 
two square feet were over 120 distinct impressions of Shells. 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 321 

After a good supper we talked over the dangers of this country 
for men who travel with money. We felt some solicitude for our 
Superintend whom we were expecting &c and so after a time we 
read some in the Bible The voice of prayer was heard amongst 
us & we spent an hour or two in exchanging our feelings of interest 
in one another's welfare & were able, I trust, to cast our cares, our 
fears, & our burdens upon the Lord and in peace & composure to 
commit ourselves unto his will We had removed the corn to 
one side of the cabin & husked a part of it & made a bed of the husks 
upon which we spread our robes & blankets & had a good rest 

10 mo llth [undoubtedly "11 mo. 10th or llth" is meant here] 1870. 

In the morning after a good breakfast I took another bucket 
of sweet potatoes to the river & washed them & then proposed to 
E. Earle & Cyrus Frazier to make it wash day so changing our 
apparel we went to the river where it rushes over the rocks & had 
quite a time in washing clothes We then tied up a rope for a 
clothes line & hung them up to dry near our cabin Saw a flock 
of Paroquettes red bills, yellow heads & green bodies Said to be 
capable of speaking like Parrots 

This mound is a little S. of West from Shoteau's agency or Mrs 
Gildstraps & about a mile & % half west of the Cana river at its 
great westward curve Another mound is connected by its base 
with the base of this It is North West from this & a little 
taller Upon the South face of this and all over the summit is 
the fine sandstone with petrified shells &c [The author here in- 
serted in his diary a rough sketch of a mound which accompanied 
this paragraph.] 

Two of the Cana River mounds as viewed from the North-East 
These mounds are about 1% miles from the River & about 2 miles 
a little South of West from Choteau's Store, or Caneyville or Gill- 
straps crossing [Here a sketch of two mounds appeared.] 

Afternoon of llth of 11 mo. We rode again on horseback west 
of the Cana first Northward, then Westward to the mounds again 
Returned at night fall Superintendent not yet arrived. 

Ennisville is about one mile east of 96 & near the Kansas line 
Parker is about 30 miles east of Ennisville [A roughly sketched 
map of the Little Verdigris river area a little south of the Kansas 
line accompanied this paragraph. It locates Choteau's store and 
names the creeks in its vicinity.] 

213729 



322 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

11 mo 12th 

E. E. M. S. I. T. G & myself rode Northward so far as Cotton 
Creek three miles south of Kansas line. 

Coon creek is about 6 miles north of Shoteau's Post Oak Creek 
about 6 miles above Coon creek Junction Creek a small stream 
runs in at the junction of the Big & Little Cana about three miles 
above Post Oak Cr. & then Cotton creek is about three miles above 
Post Oak Cr. & then Cotton creek is about three miles beyond 
Junction Creek Just before reaching Cotton Cr we pass between 
two remarkable mounds We saw a flock of wild turkeys & one 
of wild Geese on banks of Cotton Creek & in returning saw a 
wolf which seemed very much frightened & ran away as rapidly as 
possible. We also saw a flock of 18 Sand hill Cranes much taller 
than geese They were about 100 yds from us, standing on the open 
prairie & did not seem at all alarmed by our passing so near to 
them We found coal at Post Oak Creek Upon return at night 
to our Cabin, we found Supt Hoag had come with John Rankin, 
Post Master at Lawrence & trader at the Sac & Fox Agency and 
also Robt Dunlap, trader with Osages They will go with us to 
the Sac & Fox Agency. 

11 mo 13th 

About eleven A. M we set out for the Arkansaw River 8 in Com- 
pany Crossed the Cana at a ford about 2 miles below Shoteau's 
Store passed between two mounds & finally into a sort of canon 
& saw immense blocks of lime stone on the hill sides Came about 
3 o'clock to Judge Roger's 18 miles from Shoteau's in a South 
Western course Judge Rogers has gone to Tahlequah to the meet- 
ing of the Cherokee Council or Legislature he being one of its 
members His wife gave us permission to stay with them all night 
& as there was no other stopping place which we could reach, we 
were glad of the permission though the quarters were not such as 
might be expected at a Judge's residence in the Eastern States 
Edward & I & Enoch & John Rankin slept on beds on the floor very 
comfortably It turned suddenly cold in the night We passed 
no house yesterday, the whole 18 miles 

11 mo 14 

Left at 8 l /2 o'clock In 2 miles came to Polecat Cr & 2 miles fur- 
ther to Bird Cr. A half mile beyond Bird Cr, the best road (though 
several miles the longest) turns to the right & in 5 miles leads to 
the Falls of Fall Creek the direct road leads to a bad crossing some 
miles below the falls The water at the Falls is about 100 ft wide 
& plunges over the solid rock about 8 ft. 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 323 

A flock of wild Geese, 11 in number flew up just before us in the 
morning within easy gunshot Also ducks Saw a wolf in the 
distance 

Stopped at noon & cooked our dinner Then met a drove of 
Texas cattle numbering 1000 & another drove just behind of 4 or 
500 They lost 150 in fording the Arkansaw by their getting in- 
to quicksand We reached the bank of the Arkansaw about half 
hour before Sunset but had to go higher up to another ferry & as 
I. T Gibson & Mahlon Stubbs were going to Tahlequah they parted 
company with us here & went down the Arkansaw on the North 
bank We were so delayed in finding the ferryman that we con- 
cluded to camp on the North bank & soon had our fire going & our 
beef on a stick before it tea made &c & at bedtime E. E. & 
myself took the ambulance & the others lay before the fire E. E. 
got cold & left for the fire at 1 o'clock I rested but did not sleep 
soundly 

11. 15th 

Wild Geese & wolves kept a music for us last night We had an 
early & good breakfast & expected the Ferryman to come early but 
it was fully 8 o'clk before he came & then we were delayed in getting 
the boat ready & starting The river is about half a mile in 
width and we had to go down the river about half a mile to avoid 
a shoal & the current being stronger on the other side it was difficult 
to get the boat to the landing place The bank was very steep & 
we had to fasten the horses to the end of the carriage pole & to 
take everything out of it & thus were enabled to get it dragged up 
the bank It was near ten o'clock before we left the west bank 
of the river 

The weather was fine & we went on over various Creeks & in 
the afternoon over one or two considerable mountains and about 
8 o clock P. M. came to Post Oak Taylor's a Creek Indian We 
had passed no other house since leaving the Arkansaw except a 
little settlement within a mile of the river Taylor was not at 
home & none of his family except one grown daughter who had gone 
to bed Supt Hoag & John Rankin were acquainted there & had 
stayed with them before She could not talk English They 
made her understand that we wanted corn for the horses & to 
sleep on the floor before the fire ourselves She gave assent & 
went back to her bed in the corner of the room E. E. J. R. & my- 
self went into the woods & cut down a tree & brought up the wood 
as there was no wood pile & making a good fire we spread down our 



324 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

robes & blankets & slept pretty well In the morning we ate our 
breakfast, having some cold food & having made some coffee E. 
H paid the woman $3.00 & we left her some good coffee on the table 
she not having left her couch 

[Sac and Fox Reservation] 

We reached the Sac & Fox Agency about 1, o'clock P. M & had a 
good dinner at J. Crowley's the Blacksmith Agent Miller & Dr. 
Williams & wife seemed glad to see us &c. In going from Shoteo's 
to the Arkansaw we went nearly south & after crossing the Arkansaw 
we went South west to the Sac & Fox Agency From Choteou's 
to Judge Roger's is 18 miles Judge Rogers to the Arkansaw is 
35 miles. From Arkansaw to Post oak Taylor's is nearly 40 miles 
from Taylor's to Agency 20 miles total from Shoteou's 113 
miles We passed the Deep Fork about 11/2 from Agency This 
runs centrally from east to west through their reservation Enoch 
boards with Dr. Williams & wife & Edward & I with Jacob Crow- 
ley & wife We had a comfortable bed & good fare. 

11 mo 17 

Sac & Fox Reservation extends from the North Fork of the 
Canadian on the south to the Red Fork of the Arkansaw on the 
North 46 miles and from the Creek line on the east a distance of 
16 3/4 miles to the west embracing 770% Square miles. There 
are 660 of this tribe. They manifest some disposition to agriculture 
and have a very favorable location The climate is mild and al- 
though chills & Fever prevail to some extent in the Fall, yet it will 
become healthier as it is brought under cultivation. Corn, sweet 
potatoes, cotton, Sorghum &c will be staples here also wheat. The 
affairs of this agency are not in so good a condition as they would 
have been under other circumstances. Our excellent friend Thomas 
Miller offered his resignation months ago, believing that the time 
had come for him to be released He had very successfully & 
economically removed these Indians from Kansas last winter & 
wished some one else to take hold of the work of putting up the 
Agency buildings &c John Hadley has been recommended & ap- 
pointed as agent but does not come & we suppose will not be able 
to do so and this disappointment, of course, adds to the delay in 
getting things ready 

They need a saw mill at once. As the climate is mild, it is practi- 
cable to do a great deal of work here in the winter Agent Miller has 
5 or 6 men employed in farming operations putting up temporary 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 325 

buildings breaking the sod, fencing &c. He has had about 200 acres 
broken. 

The Agency is situated near Deep Fork which has a fine rich 
bottom in which the wild rye remains green through the winter 
The bottom is liable to overflow It is difficult to cross this stream 
in high water as they have neither Bridge nor Ferry The Osage 
women crossed their little babies & their property last summer by 
making a sort of basket of a rawhide by drawing up the edges with 
a rope so as to bring the hide into a cup shape then taking the rope 
in the teeth the mother would swim across & carry the whole con- 
cern over & depositing the freight, would swim back for another 
cargo Deer & wild turkey are abundant. But such articles as 
have to be brought from the States are high owing to the distance 
of wagon transportation Pecan nuts here are abundant worth 
$2.00 per bushel They have 80 bushels at the trader's store 
About 60 acres of the broken land is around the Agency & 140 or 
more for various Indians 

The general condition of these Indians does not vary much from 
that of the Pottawatomies Their women are overworked and 
become prematurely old There are evidences of hereditary syph- 
ilitic taint & Scrofula amongst these Indians. Very few children 
are born amongst them & of those few many die They are con- 
stantly diminishing in numbers One chief & part of his band 
are still at the old reservation & refuse to come down but they will 
get no money until they come One article in their last treaty 
(Article XV) needs my attention when I return to Washington 
Mo-quaw-ho-ko is the chief who will not come The absentee 
Shawnees & some Delawares who live west of the Seminole Reser- 
vation about 550 in number are now placed under the care of the 
Sac & Fox Agent These Indians are located within the area 
which the Pottawattomies will probably select 
****** 

Louis Goky is Interpreter for Sac & Foxes Keokuk is one of 
the chiefs Muttatah muttata 

Jacob Crowley Blacksmith $800 Mary Crowley his wife $300. 

James Hadley ^ 

Timmerman > Farmers $600 

Wm Baldwin J 

Dr. David Williams, Physician & wife $1500 per year & furnish 
his own medicines 



326 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Oliver Smith Gunsmith 

Thomas Miller Agent succeeded by John Hadley in 3rd 
mo 1871 

Sac & Fox Agency 
via Okmulgee, Creek Nation, Ind. Territory 

PRICES cts eta. 

Bacon sides 50 .30 

Flour 10 .09 

Sugar 25 .25 

Coffee 50 .35 

Syrup 2.25 

Calico .20 

Heavy cost in coming here 

****** 
(To be concluded in the November Quarterly) 



Kansas History as Published 
in the Press 

"Some Memories of the Past" is the title of a column by H. V. 
Butcher which appears occasionally in The Western Star, Coldwater. 

A "Query and Answer Column," sponsored by the Dickinson 
County Historical Society, has been published from time to time 
in the Abilene Daily Chronicle. 

The reminiscenses of Allison J. Pliley, scout and Indian fighter, 
were printed in the Olathe Mirror in its issues of March 19 and 
26, 1931. S. T. Seaton, the author, interviewed Mr. Pliley in 1909 
and submitted the manuscript to him for correction and verification. 
Mr. Pliley served on the plains in the latter 1860's. 

A history of St. Joseph's Alumni Association was published in 
the St. Joseph college student publication, The Cadet Journal, of 
Hays, in its issues of October 7, 1933, to May 26, 1934, inclusive. 

The construction of the sod house, home of many early Kansas 
settlers, was discussed by Donald S. Gates in the December, 1933, 
issue of The Journal of Geography, published in Chicago, 111. 

Articles of a historical nature appearing in the Winter, 1934, 
number of The Aerend, a Fort Hays Kansas State College publica- 
tion, included : "History of Fort Lamed," by B. Z. Woods ; "Meteor- 
ites of Kansas," by Elizabeth Eppstein; "Bent's Fort: Pioneer 
Memory," by Paul King; "A Prima Donna [Dora Hand] of Dodge 
City," by F. B. Streeter; "Martin Allen: Pioneer Prophet," by R. 
L. Parker, and "Kansas Fossils," by Letha Abell. 

Several letters written during the Spanish-American War by 
Lawrence participants were printed serially in the Douglas County 
Republican, Lawrence, in its issues of February 22; March 1 and 8, 
1934. 

The address given by Charles F. Colcord, president of the Okla- 
homa Historical Society, at the Barber county old settlers' reunion 
held in Medicine Lodge, February 9, 1934, was published in the 
March issue of the Chronicles of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City. Mr. 
Colcord related some of the frontier history of southern Kansas and 
the Indian territory. 

(327) 



328 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

An article discussing the work done by Company 1778, Civilian 
Conservation Corps, on the site of old Fort Hays, was contributed 
by Lloyd Kohler to the March 10, 1934, issue of Happy Days, the 
corps newspaper printed in Washington, D. C. The Enterprise 
Journal republished the article in its April 19 issue. 

Seventy-five years in Kansas were reviewed by Frank M. Spurrier 
in the Sylvan Grove News, March 15, 1934. Mr. Spurrier came 
from Iowa in the summer of 1858 and settled twenty miles west of 
Manhattan. 

Bone picking near Fort Hays in 1875 was recalled by J. L. 
Garrett in the Bunkerhill Advertiser, March 22, 1934. 

"When Methodism Reached Kansas," by S. T. Seaton, was the title 
of an article published in the Kansas City Star, May 26, 1907, and 
republished in the Olathe Mirror, March 29, 1934. In the prepara- 
tion of this story Mr. Seaton had access to original minute books 
of the church which he later presented to the Kansas State His- 
torical Society. 

Questions and answers relating to Elkhart's history were printed 
in the Elkhart Tri-State News in its issues of March 29 to May 3, 
1934, inclusive. 

A brief history of the First English Lutheran church of Lawrence 
appeared in the April issue of the Kansas Synod Lutheran, pub- 
lished at Atchison. The congregation was organized March 16, 1867. 

The history of the Independence High School was briefly sketched 
in the Independence Daily Reporter, April 4, 1934, and in the South 
Kansas Tribune, April 11. The school was organized by T. W. 
Conway in 1884. 

A brief history and the list of charter members of the old Garden 
City Board of Trade were published in the Garden City News, April 
5, 1934. 

The early days of Washara, Lyon county, were recalled by John 
Flynn in the Emporia Weekly Gazette, April 5, 1934. The town was 
founded on the Santa Fe trail in the middle 1860's. 

"Bear Creek Cowboys of 1883 Left Horses in Indian Scare," and 
"First Known White Man Crossed Stanton in 1850," were the titles 
of two articles by R. I. Cockrum which appeared in the Johnson 
Pioneer, April 5 and May 3, 1934, respectively. The latter story 
dealt with F. X. Aubrey's activities in the region now known as 
Stanton county. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 329 

"Builders of Wichita," a pageant written by Manly Wade Well- 
man, was presented at the Wichita Forum April 9, 1934. The 
Wichita Eagle and Beacon published special illustrated historical 
sections in their issues of April 8 commemorating the first meeting 
of the city council held in April, 1871, when Wichita was formally 
recognized as a city. 

"Always Ready to Help Railroads," an article reviewing Hutchin- 
son's railroad bond elections held during the boom of the middle 
1880's, was printed in the Hutchinson News, April 11, 1934. 

The history of the Church of Christ at Miltonvale was briefly 
sketched in the Miltonvale Record, April 12, 1934. The church was 
organized April 17, 1884. 

The recent abandonment of ninety-seven miles of the Missouri 
Pacific railroad from Fort Scott to Lomax led George T. Clayton 
and Tom Johnson to review the line's establishment as the Kansas, 
Nebraska and Dakota railroad in the spring of 1886, in the Fort 
Scott Tribune in its issues of April 13, and May 18, 1934, re- 
spectively. 

A brief history of the Ost community in southeastern Reno county 
was published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, April 15, 1934. 

The First Methodist Episcopal church of McPherson observed 
the sixtieth anniversary of its founding April 15, 1934, with an 
all-day program held at the church. A history of the organization, 
including a list of the early pastors, was published in the McPherson 
Daily Republican, April 16. 

Pratt's First Methodist Episcopal church observed its fiftieth 
anniversary with a week of special services starting April 15, 1934. 
An eight-page illustrated supplement devoted entirely to the history 
of the church was a feature of the Pratt Daily Tribune, April 17. 
The Pratt Union, of April 19, also published an illustrated history of 
the organization. 

The experiences of George M. Hoffman, Kansas stockman and 
banker, were retold by George G. Green in the Hutchinson Herald 
of April 17, 1934. 

"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," the Johnson Pioneer 
reported in its issue of April 19, 1934. The recent high winds in 
the West have uncovered quantities of Indian relics in Stanton 
and other western Kansas counties. Arrowheads of various sizes, 



330 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

shapes and kinds have been picked up, as well as spearheads, stone 
knives, hammer rocks, and other bric-a-brac peculiar to the once 
rulers of the plains. On a particularly high spot twenty miles 
northwest of Johnson, "fire holes" are reported to be showing. 

A brief history of the Richfield First Presbyterian church was 
published in the Dodge City Daily Globe, April 19, 1934. The 
church was organized November 23, 1886. 

The history of the Emporia city library was sketched in the 
Emporia Gazette, April 19, 1934. The first library association was 
formed in December, 1869. 

An autobiography of Darwin B. Wolcott, Pawnee county pioneer, 
was published in the Lamed Chronoscope, April 19, 1934. 

"Historical Sketches of Coffey County," is the title of a series of 
articles by A. D. Wiseman which appear serially in the Gridley 
Light. The series, which commenced with the issue of April 19, 1934, 
featured the Hampden colony, April 26; record of crimes and 
casualties, May 3; county seat troubles, May 17; location of county 
seat, May 24; early newspapers, May 31; land grant warrant of 
1861, June 7; LeRoy newspaper history, June 21, and defunct towns, 
July 5. 

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church, northeast of Cheney, 
celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, April 22, 1934. A history of the 
church was published in the Cheney Sentinel, April 19. 

"Tells Drama of Early-day Railroad Race," was the title of a 
story by William W. Gear relating a run between two freight trains 
for a rail crossing on the Kansas prairies forty years ago, which was 
printed in the Topeka Daily Capital, April 22, 1934. 

Experiences of Joe Talbott, freighter over the old Medicine Lodge 
trail, were related in the Hutchinson News, April 23, 1934. 

Pioneer life on Elm creek, Lyon county, was recalled by Robert 
Langley of Miller in an interview published in the Emporia Gazette, 
April 24, 1934. Mr. Langley settled on Elm creek in 1857. 

The history of Hoxie was reviewed in a series of articles in the 
Hoxie Sentinel, commencing with its issue of April 26, 1934. Several 
articles were contributed by members of the English department 
of the Sheridan county high school. 

Members of the St. John's Catholic church of Herington celebrated 
the twenty-fifth anniversary of their church building, May 2, 1934. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 331 

Both the Herington Times and Sun published a history of the organi- 
zation by A. J. Farrell, in their issues of April 26, 1934. 

The coming of the automobile to Clay Center was discussed by 
The Times in its issue of April 26, 1934. 

Cheyenne county school history was reviewed by C. E. Curry in 
the "Old Timers' Column" published in the Bird City Times, April 
26, 1934. Etta Linn, the first superintendent, served from July 5, 
1886, to January, 1889. 

The reminiscences of W. J. Richardson were printed in the 
Eureka Herald, April 26, 1934. Mr. Richardson arrived in Green- 
wood county in the early 1870's. 

Old settlers contributing to the "Pioneer Reminiscences" column 
published weekly in The Barber County Index, of Medicine Lodge, 
include: William E. Marquand, Mrs. Lizzie Herr Sommer, April 

26, 1934; M. J. Lane, May 3; Carrie C. Shaw, J. D. Mills, May 10; 
George McGuire, L. A. Eby, H. H. McCoy, May 17; M. S. Justis, 
Mrs. C. E. Thompson, May 24; Sam Smith, I. T. Strickland, May 31; 
Clarence E. Thompson, Rose Hildebrand, June 7; Mrs. H. A. Ted- 
row, R. J. Taliaferro, June 14; Mrs. Harriet Mills, Mrs. Dan H. 
Axtell, Bert Clark, June 21 ; Ben S. Kauffman, Louis Walton, L. W. 
Moore, July 5, and William Palmer, July 12. 

Washington county's courthouse history was again reviewed in 
the "Special Court House Dedication Edition" of the Washington 
County Register issued April 27, 1934. The new courthouse was 
dedicated May 4. 

John Brown's activities in Kansas territory were discussed by 
Eliza Johnston Wiggin, of Otego, in the Topeka State Journal, April 

27, 1934. 

The seventieth anniversary of the founding of the Ottawa First 
Baptist church was observed April 29, 1934. A brief history of the 
organization was published in the Ottawa Herald, April 27. 

Arkansas City in 1870 was described by F. A. Chapin in the 
Arkansas City Daily Traveler, May 2, 1934. 

The Howard Baptist church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary 
April 29, 1934. A history of the organization was briefly sketched 
in The Citizen, Howard, May 2. 

Wichita's livery stable boom was recalled by Andy S. Huff in an 
interview by Victor Murdock which was published in the Wichita 



332 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

(Evening) Eagle in its issue of May 2, 1934. Mr. Huff settled in 
Wichita in 1869. 

"A Tale of Prairie Days," an article written by Mrs. W. R. Bullen 
describing her experiences in Kansas in 1886, was printed in The 
Kansan, Concordia, May 3, 1934. 

The Waterville Telegraph issued a thirty-six page sixty-fourth 
anniversary edition May 3, 1934. Among the historical articles 
were: "Waterville Incorporated in the Year of 1870," "Indians 
Massacre Six From Waterville in 1869," "Musical Development of 
Town Told by S. A. Bryan," "Julius Rahe Tells of Pioneer Days," 
"The Telegraph's First Issue January 1, 1870," "School Development 
Related by Mrs. Gordon," and "Early Tales of Blanchville." His- 
tories of the city's churches, lodges, clubs, and library, and biograph- 
ical sketches of pioneers were also included in this edition. A four- 
page supplement, which was issued May 10, published letters from 
old settlers and a sketch of Waterville's school system. 

A history of the school in district No. 90, Marshall county, was 
sketched in the Summerfield Sun, May 3, 1934. 

The forty-second anniversary of the lola United Brethern church 
was observed May 6, 1934. A brief history of the organization was 
printed in the lola Daily Register, May 3. 

A twenty-page historical edition was issued by the Tipton Times, 
May 3, 1934. Tipton was established in 1872 as Pittsburg, and was 
named for W. A. Pitt. A few years later the Post Office Department 
asked that the name be changed. Judge J. C. Ruppenthal, now of 
Russell, recently wrote that he remembered how bitterly the settlers 
objected to giving up the name "Pittsburg" for Tipton. Historical 
sketches of St. Boniface Parish, Zion Lutheran church and the 
American Legion and Auxiliary were published as features of the 
edition. 

The pioneer mill on Buffalo creek was recalled by J. H. Swenson in 
an article appearing in The Kansas Optimist, Jamestown, May 3, 
1934. Another story concerning the mill was printed in the May 
24 issue. 

A history of Morganville by Mrs. W. H. Lennard was a feature of 
the thirtieth anniversary edition of The Tribune, Morganville, May 
3, 1934. The city was founded in 1870 by Ebenezer Morgan. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 333 

Some of the correspondence between Maj. Richard I. Dodge and 
Gov. Thomas A. Osborn regarding the Dodge City Vigilantes of 
1873 was published in the Dodge City Daily Globe, May 5, 1934. 

"Exploring Scenes Rich in Beauty and Big With History in the 
John Brown Country" was the title of a story relating the high 
lights of a trip made by A. B. MacDonald through eastern Kansas, 
printed in the Kansas City Star, May 6, 1934. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of Finney county 
was observed at the Finnup Pioneer day celebration held in Garden 
City May 8, 1934. Special historical features were published in 
both the Garden City News and Daily Telegram preceding the event. 

Manhattan newspaper history was briefly reviewed in the Man- 
hattan Mercury, May 9, 1934. 

A brief history of the Osborne city library was contributed by 
Vera Olds Botkin to the Osborne County Farmer, May 10, 1934. 
The library was first organized in 1889 under the name of the 
Ladies Library Association. 

Garnett as it appeared sixty-six years ago was described by J. W. 
Barndt in The Anderson Countian, Garnett, May 10, 1934. 

The seventy-sixth anniversary of the founding of St. Paul's Epis- 
copal church of Manhattan was observed May 13, 1934. A history 
of the organization was sketched in the Manhattan Mercury, May 
12, and The Morning Chronicle, May 13. 

Origin of the names of several Kansas towns as given in a radio 
address over KFKU by Allen Crafton, of Kansas University, was 
published in the University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, May 15, 1934. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Wilsey was observed 
May 15, 1934. The Wilsey Warbler issued a six-page special his- 
torical souvenir edition on that date, and on May 17 printed the 
names of the old settlers registering at the event. 

The death of William "Billy the Kid" Bonney was discussed in an 
article by Col. Jack Potter, of Tascosa, Tex., in a recent issue of the 
Union County Courier, which was republished in the Dodge City 
Daily Globe, May 16, 1934. 

Morrill history was reviewed in detail in a special twelve-page 
edition of the Morrill Weekly News, issued May 17, 1934. Sketches 
of the railroad, churches, schools and newspapers were included in 



334 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

the history, which was prepared by the senior English class of the 
high school under the supervision of C. R. Van Nice. 

The history of Fowler was reviewed in the Fowler News, May 17, 
1934. Ben F. Cox, Solomon Burkhalter and George Fowler laid out 
the townsite in 1884. 

Names of students who were graduated from the Winona con- 
solidated high school from 1915 to 1933 were printed in the Logan 
County News, Winona, May 17, 1934. 

Biographical sketches of the late Selah B. Farwell and Robert 
R. Hays, Osborne county pioneers, were published in the Osborne 
County Farmer, Osborne, May 17 and June 21, 1934, respectively. 

St. Francis Catholic church of St. Paul celebrated its golden 
jubilee May 16, 1934. A history of the church as prepared by Paul 
M. Ponziglione, S. J., was printed in the St. Paul Journal, May 17, 
and republished in the Parsons Sun, May 24. 

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of St. John's 
Catholic church of Hanover was observed May 15, 1934. Histories 
of the church were printed in the Hanover Herald and Democrat in 
their issues of May 18, 1934. 

A two-column biographical sketch of Charles Jesse "Buffalo" 
Jones entitled "The Last of the Plainsmen," was contributed by 
E. E. Kelley to the Topeka Daily Capital, May 20, 1934. 

The activities of Jason Lee, and other early Methodist mission- 
aries to Oregon, were discussed by A. B. MacDonald in the Kansas 
City Star, May 20, 1934. 

Special historical articles were published in the Baldwin Ledger 
and The Baker Orange preceding the diamond jubilee celebration 
of Baker University held at Baldwin May 24-28, 1934. A history of 
The Baker Orange, college student publication, was a feature of the 
Orange in its issue of May 21. 

A history of Trinity Episcopal church of Arkansas City was 
sketched in the Arkansas City Tribune, May 24, 1934. The church 
was organized on December 27, 1884. 

Names of Civil War veterans who settled in Pawnee county were 
published in the Lamed Chronoscope, May 24, 1934. 

A history of the Ottawa Campus, student publication of Ottawa 
University, was printed in its fiftieth anniversary edition issued 
May 24, 1934. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 335 

The fiftieth anniversary of the Wathena Christ Lutheran church 
was celebrated June 3, 1934. A history of the organization by Rev. 
H. C. Lubeck was sketched in the Wathena Times, May 25. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the Garden City First Christian church 
was observed May 27, 1934. Brief histories of the organization were 
published in the Garden City Daily Telegram and News on May 24. 

A history of Wright Park, Dodge City, was written by Dr. 0. H. 
Simpson for the Dodge City Daily Globe, May 29, 1934. 

A letter from A. B. Ostrander, former contest clerk in the Inde- 
pendence land office, was published in the South Kansas Tribune, 
Independence, May 30, 1934. Mr. Ostrander briefly related some 
of the difficulties a few of the settlers had in getting title to their 
lands. 

The story of the Kidder massacre in 1867 was retold by A. H. 
Stewart in The Sherman County Herald, Goodland, May 31, 1934. 

Clay county post offices in 1881 were named in The Times, Clay 
Center, May 31, 1934. 

The organization of George Graham Post No. 60 of the Grand 
Army of the Republic on August 3, 1882, was reviewed in The 
Courier -Tribune, of Seneca, in its issue of May 31, 1934. 

"On the Last Frontier," by Charles Adam Jones, a cattleman's 
story of ranch life in the Southwest, was published in The Atlantic, 
Boston, Mass., in the June, 1934, issue. Mr. Jones related his ex- 
periences while assisting in transporting several carloads of cattle 
across Kansas to Great Bend and driving them from Great Bend to 
Las Animas, Colo. 

A narrative of the Cherokee outlet country entitled "A True 
Story of Frontier Life The Killing of Johnnie Potts," was written 
by Harry Woods for the eighth annual homecoming edition of the 
Hazelton Herald, issued June 1, 1934. 

An interview with Rev. A. M. Weikman of Wichita, pioneer 
Catholic priest who conducted services in Marysville in the 1870's, 
was published in the Marshall County News, Marysville, June 1, 
1934. 

The history of Dodge City as a military center was sketched in 
the Dodge City Daily Globe, June 2, 1934. 



Kansas Historical Notes 

The names of Moses Milton Beck, for more than fifty years 
editor of the Holton Recorder, and William Elmer Blackburn, of the 
Anthony Republican and Herington Sun, were added recently to the 
"Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame." Portraits of these men will be 
added to those of their eight predecessors on the classroom walls 
of the department of journalism at the University of Kansas. The 
"Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame" was established four years ago 
by the University of Kansas. The names of editors selected pre- 
vious to this year's announcement were: Sol Miller, The Kansas 
Chief, Troy; Maj. J. K. Hudson, The Kansas Farmer, Topeka, and 
the Topeka Daily Capital; Marsh M. Murdock, Osage County 
Chronicle, Burlingame, and Wichita Eagle; D. R. Anthony, Leaven- 
worth Daily Conservative and Leavenworth Times; Noble L. 
Prentis, Topeka Daily Record, Junction City Union and Kansas 
City Star; D. W. Wilder, Fort Scott Monitor and Hiawatha World; 
Edward Wallis Hoch, Marion Record; and John A. Martin, tenth 
governor of the state of Kansas and editor of the Atchison 
Champion. 

A tour to several Dickinson county points of historic interest was 
made by the members of the Dickinson County Historical Society 
after a luncheon meeting held at Lyona, June 12, 1934. 

The Riley County Historical Society observed its twentieth anni- 
versary with a picnic supper and program held June 15, 1934. 
Kirke Mechem of the State Historical Society and Mrs. Eusebia 
Irish were the speakers. 

(336) 



D 

15-8729 



THE 

Kansas Historical 
Quarterly 




Volume III Number 4 

November, 1934 



PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT 

W. C. AUSTIN. STATE PRINTER 

TOPEKA 1934 

15-5574 



Contributors 

GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society. 

DR. WILLIAM NICHOLSON was bom in Perquimans county, North Carolina, 
on November 9, 1826. His early education was received in Friends schools 
in North Carolina and in Providence, R. I. In 1850 he was granted a medical 
degree from the University of Pennsylvania. His work among the Indians of 
the Central Superintendency in the 1870's led Doctor Nicholson to establish 
his residence at Lawrence, where he continued his Friends activities and served 
as clerk of the Kansas Yearly Meeting from 1872 to 1888, when he removed to 
Pasadena, Calif. He died there on March 1, 1899. For additional biographical 
data see ante, pp. 289-291. 

DOMENICO GAGLIARDO is associate professor of economics at the University 
of Kansas, Lawrence. 

NOTE. Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without regard 
to their importance. 



Ferries in Kansas 

Part V Solomon River 
GEORGE A. ROOT 

'TVHE Solomon river, the largest affluent of the Smoky Hill, is 
-L formed by two branches, both of which rise in the northwest 
part of Kansas. The north fork has its source in the southwestern 
part of Thomas county, flows in a northeasterly direction across 
Sheridan, thence easterly across Norton and Phillips, southeast 
across the southwest corner of Smith, the northeast corner of Cloud, 
southeast across Ottawa, across the northeast corner of Saline, and 
joins the Smoky Hill just east of the Saline-Dickinson county bound- 
ary line. The south fork also rises in Thomas county, and takes 
a course almost due east across the counties of Sheridan, Graham, 
Rooks and Osborne, uniting with the north branch in the northwest 
corner of Mitchell county, about two and one-half miles from the 
west line of the county and near the village of Waconda. 

The river had two names bestowed by the Indians, one being 
"Wus-cu-pa-lo." J The other was "Ne-pa-hol-la," meaning "water 
on a hill. " The Great Spirit Spring lies near the junction of the two 
branches and was called by the Kaw Indians "Ne-woh-kon-daga" 
"Spirit Spring." 2 The Pottawatomies called it "Menaton'beesh," 
and on passing it would make an offering. 3 

In Pike's account of his trip to the Pawnee village in 1806 is 
probably the earliest printed mention of this stream. He recorded 
on September 23: "Marched early and passed a large fork of the 
Kansas which I suppose to be the one generally called Solomon's. 
One of our horses fell into the water and wet his load." 4 Carey's 
Atlas, of 1817, shows the stream as Solomon's Fork. Capt. John 
W. Gunnison, the explorer, reached the mouth of Solomon's Fork, 
July 6, 1853. 5 Francis T. Bryan, lieutenant of engineers, in a report 
to Gov. John W. Geary, dated at St. Louis, Mo., December 26, 1856, 
calls the stream the Solomon's Fork. 6 

The Solomon is approximately 300 miles in length, two-thirds of 
this distance being above the forks of the river. It drains an area 

1. Junction City Union, May 6, 1876. 

2. McCoy, History of Baptist Indian Missions, pp. 411, 412. 

3. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, p. 306. 

4. Coues, Pike's Explorations, v. 2, p. 408. 

5. 'Ibid. 

6. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, p. 669. 

(339) 



340 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

of 6,882 square miles. 7 The river has often been spoken of as the 
most rapid stream of western Kansas. Lieut. Julian R. Fitch, in 
his report on the river in 1864, stated that it was a rapid stream 
with high banks and had a watercourse eighty feet in width. 8 The 
bed of the stream, however, is said to be muddy. 9 

Disastrous floods have occurred from time to time on this river, 
that of June, 1903, being one of the most serious. 10 In order to 
obtain accurate information of the quantity of water carried by 
this stream during normal and flood years, a gauging station was 
established at Solomon, September 4, 1904. 11 

There were only a few ferries located on the Solomon. The first 
across the river was established at the mouth of the stream in 1858, 
by D. Bruce. He also started a town known as Bruce City, 12 which 
was located at the mouth of the Solomon, and in all probability 
never attained greater proportions than the rude shanty of its 
projector. A diligent search has been made through early records 
for something about Mr. Bruce, but aside from the meager state- 
ment that he laid out the "city" and operated a ferry, no other 
information is available. 

About one year later, on June 4, 1859, Henry Whitley settled on 
land near the mouth of the Solomon, and likewise started a ferry. 
He was a native of England, born on September 4, 1830. In 1858, 
the year before he settled on the Solomon, he married Catherine 
Hall, daughter of Deacon Jabez Hall, of Toronto, Canada, and had 
come west with his bride, settling near the present Dickinson- 
Saline county line, and close to the military road which crossed the 
Solomon near its mouth. His nearest neighbor at this time lived 
at Mud Creek (now Abilene), nine miles away. The nearest post 
office was Junction City, thirty-five miles distant, and the closest 
grist mill, at Council Grove, was sixty miles distant. His chief 
market was Leavenworth, 170 miles away. When he went to mill 
or market, Mrs. Whitley remained alone in their shanty cabin for 
days at a time while he made the slow and laborious trip by ox 
team for necessaries. On such occasions it is more than likely 
Mrs. Whitley was frequently obliged to assist in running the ferry. 
Not long afterwards Whitley took as partner a relative, probably 

7. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, Daily River Stages, Pt. XI, p. 113. 

8. Ware, Eugene, F., The Indian War of 1864, P- 585. 

9. U. S. Geological Survey, Water Supply and Irrigation Papers, No. 37, pp. 249, 250. 

10. Hollibaugh, History of Cloud County, pp. 146, 147. 

11. U. S. Geological Survey, Water Supply Papers, No. 131, p. 111. 

12. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 685; "Dickinson County Clippings," v. 1, p. 178, in 
Library of the Kansas State Historical Society. 



ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 341 

Luther Hall, and for several years operated this crossing as the 
Whitley & Hall ferry. 13 Whitley was the first postmaster of Solomon 
City, and served a number of years. He opened a store in connection 
with his ferry in 1863. He was elected commissioner of Saline 
county in 1861. 

In 1865 much travel went west and southwest over the military 
road, and this year Henry Whitley, John Williamson and Luther 
Hall organized themselves as a town company and laid out Solomon 
City on lands belonging to Whitley, the SW% S. 18, T. 13, R. 1 E., 
and the E% of SE% S. 13, T. 13, R. 1 E. The town was located on 
the west line of the county, a portion being in both Dickinson and 
Saline counties. 14 

The Whitley & Hall ferry probably had some opposition, for the 
Junction City Union in the early 1860's said that Capt. Asaph Allen, 
who ran a ferry across the Republican between Junction City and 
Fort Riley, also ran a ferry on the Solomon, the item not specifying 
the exact location. 

Another ferry enterprise was started early in 1863, the Junction 
City Union of January 19 stating, "A ferry boat has been placed 
on the Solomon, which will expedite travel greatly. It was built 
by Fletcher, Cobb & Marvin, who are a 'hull team/ consequently 
it must be a 'hull' boat." No further mention of this enterprise 
has been located. 

On May 1, 1866, the Whitley & Hall enterprise was reorganized 
as the Solomon River Bridge and Ferry Company. Its incorpo- 
rators included Guerdon E. Beates, 15 Elias S. Stover, 16 Luther Hall, 
George B. Hall and Henry Whitley. The object of the new enter- 
prise was to erect, construct and operate bridges or ferries across 
the Solomon river, where said river crosses the township line between 
township 12, ranges 2 and 3, west, and the mouth of the Solomon 
river. The principal office of the company was located at Solomon 
City. Capital stock was placed at $60,000, in shares of $100 each. 

13. Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 692, 693. 

14. Ibid., p. 691. 

15. Guerdon E. Beates was an early resident of Davis and Saline counties, first settling at 
Junction City. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the Second Kansas infantry, 
and served four years and seven months. He took a prominent part in early Davis county 
politics, and was deputy revenue collector during 1877- '79. In 1885 he was elected to the 
legislature and served one term. He held many other positions of trust. His death occurred 
at Salina early in January, 1888, burial being at Junction City. 

16. Elias Sleeper Stover was born in Rockland, Me., Nov. 22, 1836. At the age of 
fifteen he became a sailor, and visited nearly all the principal seaports of the United States, 
as well as many of those of foreign countries. He came to Kansas in 1856, settling in the 
vicinity of Junction City, and helped in the Free State cause. He was a Civil War soldier and 
participated in fifty-one different engagements. He was appointed Kaw Indian agent in 1872. 
Later he removed to Albuquerque, N. Mex., served in the legislature of that state, and was 
the first president of the University of New Mexico. He was prominent in G. A. R. circles 
of New Mexico, and was a past commander. In 1920 he married Margaret Zearing, of San 
Diego, Calif. He died in Albuquerque, February 3, 1927. 



342 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

This charter was placed on file with the secretary of state May 
5, 1866. 17 

At times these early-day ferries did not operate to the entire 
satisfaction of everybody. J. A. Slover, writing from Solomon, 
under date of July 1, 1867, said: 

. . . Our ferries on Solomon and Saline are, at certain times of the year, 
a perfect nuisance. The one on Solomon especially, though not through the 
fault of the owners, or those in charge of it, but through causes over which 
they have no control, is anything but satisfactory at times. Twice already this 
season while the water was high, has the ferry been compelled to lie idle, to the 
great inconvenience of the traveling public. Now, why cannot Dickinson 
county and Saline county, unite on this, to them, important question and 
build a bridge across Solomon at the most convenient and accessible point to 
the county road of Saline county. It will be to the interest of Solomon City, 
and they can certainly give their support, and when the citizens of the county 
think of the matter, they will see at a glance, its necessity and benefit. . . , 18 

The next ferry point of which we have information was at the 
town of Waconda, Mitchell county, about eighty miles upstream. 
Aside from this bare mention no further history has been located. 
The Waterville Telegraph, of August 11, 1871, quoting the Beloit 
Mirror, says: "Our people are getting out the timber for a ferry, 
and soon we shall have accommodations for crossing the river at 
this point." 

A state road was established by the legislature of 1866, running 
from Henry Whitley's, in Saline county, up the Solomon river, by 
way of Fort Solomon to Boblett's mill. George Hall, Henry Whitley 
and J. C. Boblett were commissioners appointed to lay out the 
road. This same year another state road was laid out from the forks 
of the Solomon river, via the State Salt Springs, on Salt creek, thence 
south, via Scripps and Mays' settlement on the Saline, to Salina, 
thence south, via Sharp's creek to the Santa Fe road. Charles 
Holtzman, Alexander C. Spillman and Mr. May were appointed 
commissioners to lay out the road. 19 

Probably there were other ferries on the Solomon river, but no 
record of them has been available for this paper. 

17. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 144, 145. 

18. Junction City Union, July 6, 1867. 

19. Laws, Kansas, 1866, pp. 225, 227. 



A Tour of Indian Agencies in Kansas 
and the Indian Territory in 1870 

WILLIAM NICHOLSON 
CONCLUSION 

[Shawnee Reservation] 

11 mo 19 

LEFT the Sac & Fox Agency & went Southward towards the 
North Fork of the Canadian Reached the river at sunset after 
a drive about 6 hours over a good rood except one or two quicksandy 
creeks the last 15 miles was mostly prairie 

The crossing is 30 miles a little west of South, from Sac & Fox, 
Agency River about 120 ft wide & at present 4% feet deep 
Samuel Charley a Shawnee has some fine corn here & had two 
wagons loaded with it & ready to cross the river Some other 
Shawnees had been hunting their hogs & had got down to the Stream. 
They drove 6 or 8 of them into the river & Swam them across But 
some others were refractory & refused to go into the water So 
with the aid of dogs they caught them & putting their lariatte 
ropes around behind their forelegs & mounting their ponies they 
pulled the hogs into the water, holding them up so they would not 
drown The dogs swam along to see it well done. 

We reached the house of John White a mile beyond the river, 
about dark & he said we could stay with him He is a sort of 
Chief amongst these Absentee Shawnees who live in this vicinity & 
Black Beaver a chief of the Delawares at Witchita He is now 

very sick 

****** 

466 now there & 175 coming from Kansas 100 on Bird Creek 
John White Samuel Charley Joseph Ellis. Robert Deer 

William Shawnee 

* * * * * * 

These Shawnees mostly speak some English and cultivate the soil 
to some extent They have horses, cattle, hogs &c Their 
houses are rudely constructed and unfinished as they had nearly all 
their buildings destroyed in the war & they have not yet recovered 
from their losses They have claims upon the Government for 

(343) 



344 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

these losses ($250,000) & Major Voir, a Secretary of the Grand 
Council, is acting as their agent in endeavoring to secure these 
claims 

Agent Miller of Sac & Foxes who has care of these Indians has 
recently been down here taking their census & looking into the 
matter of their losses John White lost 200 cattle & 43 horses & 
others in proportion These people came here a long time ago 
some from about St Louis and have been constantly improving until 
the war devastated them They left their homes & went to Kan- 
sas for protection they being loyal and because of their being 
absent their property was destroyed Their cattle were probably 
stolen by army contractors & sold to the Government on one side 
or the other Supt Hoag suggests that they should have $200 out 
of the $60,000 fund for their smith work to be paid to the Black- 
smith & Gun smith of the Sac & Fox agency E. Earle & myself 
coincide and feel that they need two good schools at once 

11 mo 20 

Left John White's at 9 o'clock and traveled over rough & mostly 
timbered road for 10 miles in a direction a little west of south to a 
settlement of Shawnees a mile or two north of Little River Here 
with a Shawnee for a guide we turned west & a little Northwest 
first through timber & then through marshy Prairie for 5 or 6 miles 
where we crossed the Little River & camped for dinner upon its 
southern bank & our guide went back It is a narrow stream here 
perhaps 30 ft wide about 4 feet deep & very steep banks We 
then went North West for about 5 miles & came again to the South 
bank of what we suppose was the same stream & followed the 
bottom in a westward & south westward direction for about 3 miles 
& then crossed to its north bank & went still south westward for 
about 4 miles when we camped for the night. We passed an en- 
campment of Shawnees where we saw many deerskin hanging in 
the trees & met the Indians not far off They were out merely 
to get skins 

At 9 o'clock we read the 4th of Hebrews as we sat under our tent 
before the warm camp fire & had a solemn devotional peace in 
which my heart was tendered to tears in secret prayer for my dear 
ones at home & especially for Bro Josiah's children thinking it 
most likely from what I last heard, that their dear mother had 
before this passed to her heavenly rest. 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 345 

11 mo 21 

Beautiful, clear cold morning ground crusted &c left about 
8 o'clock & went in a westward direction about 8 miles & came 
down to the Canadian River, at an old trading post now deserted, 
& at a creek which we crossed near where it enters the Canadian 
here we came into the road leading up from the old Seminole Agency 
& were soon joined by one which we suppose came from a ford of 
the Canadian tho we did not go down to the bank. We saw a road 
on the Southern bank which seemed to lead over the hills in a South 
western direction We here turned N. West & traveled about 10 
or 12 miles & came to an old deserted trading post near a creek 
where the road forked & we stopped for dinner. Then about 8 miles 
further we came to another creek with a bad crossing, where was 
once a bridge, but it was broken down we rode 12 or 14 miles 
further & camped near a creek Our general course has been 
nearly north but slightly west of north very little timber poor 
prairie some buffalo grass we have seen 10 deer 4 wolves 
& E. H. killed one prairie hen today 

We have not seen a human being today Weather clear & this 
forenoon a very cold wind nearly facing us but afternoon very 
pleasant The creeks which we have crossed this afternoon have run 
towards the north Fork of the Canadian Camped & rested pretty 
well 

11 mo 22 

Left about 8 and quickly came upon several flocks of wild turkeys 
from 10 to 12 in each E. H & Cyrus each killed one in a 
mile or two we came to a deep large stream, which we suppose to 
be the North Fork of the Canadian We crossed it and traveled 
all day in a North west direction going probably 35 miles or 40 
We crossed some rapid streams with very steep banks. The water 
was not deep but there were evidences in the drift that one of these 
sometimes rises 20 feet above its present level These creeks & 
very many ravines were very bad to cross Near night E. H. 
sat in the carriage & killed a prairie chicken & as we approached 
some timber to look for a camping place we found turkeys perched 
in the trees The streams this afternoon run in a North Eastern 
direction as though they are branches of the Red Fork of the Arkan- 
saw The waters must be very red during a freshet as indicated 
by the land and by the water stains upon the trees The ground 
is very barren & as our Corn is exhausted it is really a hard time 
for our horses There is very little grass & that is mostly dry 



346 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

We are greatly blessed with good dry weather though it is quite 
cool We think we have missed the right road to the Cheyenne 
Agency but have not seen a single human being today We 
passed a Prairiedog village this afternoon Had a pretty com- 
fortable night altho the wind blew so hard before morning that we 
thought our tent likely to blow over. 

[Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency] 

11 mo. 23 

Cyrus killed another turkey this morning We started at 8 
o clock & in an hour or two came in sight of water some miles away 
& finally reached it & crossed it. I suppose we traveled about 8 
miles & we concluded it must be Red Fork we went on a few 
miles further & came in sight of a wagon moving southward, (we 
moving N. West & soon found that we were approaching the road 
leading from Wichita, Kansas to the Cheyenne Agency and the 
wagon men soon relieved us of our uncertainty & by some persuasion 
we secured a few oats for our horses We fed them, recrossed the 
Red Fork, a few miles above where we had just crossed it & went 
on over a very good road for 30 miles & reached the Cheyenne & 
Arapahoe Agency about 6 o'clock & found comfortable quarters 
at Agent Darlington's We are blessed with good health and I 
trust are thankful for our many favors 

After sunset we saw some turkeys about a hundred yards from the 
road perched in trees & Cyrus killed two at one shot. He & Enoch 
saw a large buck in the morning when they went to get the horses as 
they were lariatted some distance from our tent in the best grass 
that could be found Our horses held out nobly for all they had 
so little to eat for the last two days We now suppose that the 
deep stream we passed yesterday about 8 or 10 miles beyond North 
Fork of the Canadian was Chisholm's Creek, a branch of the Red 
Fork or sometimes called Cimarone River (More probably it was 
the head of Deep Fork) 

11 mo 24 

Blessed with refreshing sleep It being thanksgiving day, the 
employees of the Government are released from duty and so Agent 
Darlington proposed a meeting 

We were willing & at 10% we met a considerable company & I 
think we found it a profitable opportunity I spoke upon thanks- 
giving as the duty & privilege of Christians, but that no acts of 
thanksgiving are valueless unless they are the outspringing of a right 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 347 

state of mind That we must come to a proper appreciation of 
our Heavenly Father's mercies and avail ourselves of his kindness 
through Christ Jesus before we can be truly thankful & when 
we do avail ourselves of the offers of his love, we shall give up our 
wills to His give him the preference trust Him believe his 
truth believe what the Bible says not a part only but all & 
accepting the truth of our fallen nature we come to true repentance 
& desire for deliverance from both the guilt & the dominion of sin 
through our Lord Jesus Christ &c. &c. & then followed in exhorta- 
tion & then in prayer for ability to see ourselves as we are & to be 
delivered from all sin & prepared for heaven while we live here &c. 
&c. Edward Earle then spoke & then E. Hoag followed, all in good 
spirit & to good purpose 

In afternoon we held a council with Bigmouth, White Crow & 
Yellow Horse, three Arapahoe Chiefs who want to follow the white 
man's road & to live in peace They are represented by agent 
Darlington as very good men They plead for help and encourage- 
ment. They say that their own people & the Kiowas & Comanches 
are opposed to their following the ways of white people & talk about 
them very much They say that much has been promised to be 
done for those Indians who would settle down & they are now as 
much settled as possible and want some help in getting things ar- 
ranged 

They want chickens, and plows & wagons & cooking utensils &c 
White Crow's son was found dead last summer and it was supposed 
that some Osages who left the place about that time had murdered 
him and so the Arapahoes talked of making war upon the Osages 
But upon consultation White Crow said that if they succeeded in 
killing some of the Osages, it would not bring his boy to life again 
and that he desired them to refrain from war that if he could 
forgive the Osages and bury the whole matter & live in peace, he 
thought his people ought to be willing to do the same This seems 
remarkable for an Indian Can white men who profess Christian- 
ity show more of the Christian spirit 

Brinton Darlington Agent 

Jesse Townsend Elma Townsend Soninlaw & daughter of Agt 

Jos. Jon Hoag Israel & Ruth Negus John Williams, Blacksmith 

Dr. [omission] Henley John Smith Interpreter 

Menimic Head Cheyenne Chief 

Powder Face 1 . , . . 

Left Hand \ Arapahoe chiefs 



348 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

These Indians suffer some from Intermittents when confined near 
the Agency But are healthier when upon the hunt The 
Cheyennes are a strong healthy people The Arapahoes are much 
affected with Syphilitic affections mostly secondary. Their women 
are muscular and suffer very little in childbirth They bury the 
best clothing, bows & arrows & some food with the dead & kill the 
best horse at the grave that they may have every thing ready 
for their journey at the resurrection They believe in a happy 
place for the good & an evil place for the bad They are Mono- 
theists and when they feel badly or are in distress they offer their 
own blood in sacrifice, cutting their bodies 

Red Moon, Little Bear, Lean Bear, Good Bear & Bear's Tongue 
****** 

Arapahoe head men 

Little Raven Big Mouth 

Spotted Wolf White Crow 

Storm Yellow Horse 

Ice Bird Chief 

Powder Face Tall Bear 

Left Hand's (Bro represent) Yellow Bear's Band rep 

Head men of Cheyennes 

Big Jake Bear's Tongue 

Little Robe (Menimics band) Bear Shield 

Sitting Bear Lean Bear 

Heap of Birds Whirlwind Junr 

Big Horse Stone Calf 

White Beard White Bull 

Red Moon Good Bear 

Wolf's Road Lone Chief 

(When a man will not take advice the Indian expression is "He has no 

ears.") 

****** 

The bands of all the above chiefs have been in & drawn rations at 
the Agency since leaving for their Fall hunt notwithstanding Col. 
Nelson's statement to the War Department, that they would never 
return They include the entire tribes of Cheyenne & Arapahoes. 

Little Heart a Kiowa Chief 

Apaches Tracy 

Big Mouth, Arapahoe, commanded the Indian troop which slaugh- 
tered Major Elliott & his command, perhaps the day after Black 
Kettle's Camp was destroyed Big Mouth has Major Elliott's 
horse yet. 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 349 

11 mo. 26th 

Fine cool weather Council with some Cheyenne Chiefs Red 
Moon did the speaking Said the whole Cheyenne tribe was bound 
to the peace by what had been said That they will use all their 
influence for peace Complains of the prohibition of Ammuni- 
tion do not want it for any evil purposes but to kill small game 
That the prohibition gives some of their men the idea that the 
object of the Government is to disarm them & make them weak so 
it can easily destroy them They do not want to be confined to 
a small reservation want the privilege of hunting and moving 
around Do not like to be prohibited from going into Camp 
Supply Do not want Railroads to come through their country 
for then bad white men will come in as they did in the Smoky Hill 
Country & drive the Indian out 

[Wichita Agency] 

Left at 9% for Wichita Agency Crossed the Big Canadian at 
12 o clock but Brinton Darlington & J J Hoag being in Com- 
pany & stopping to let their horses drink the wheels settled in the 
mud & when the horses started the Doubletrees broke & it was quite 
a job to get the Ambulance out of the Quicksand this river is 
% of a mile wide but does not seem to have any more water in it 
than the North Fork which is not more than 100 feet wide neither 
stream seems to have as much water here as they do above it 
seems to sink away in the Sand So also of the Arkansaw & may 
be the sources of springs in some lower country many miles away 
These Sandy bottoms are very treacherous & it is not safe for a 
team to stop in crossing The quicker you cross the better 
Going on 8 or 10 miles further we came to a fine valley which 
gradually winds south ward to the Washita River but we found some 
dangerous places in it One of our wheels horses suddenly sunk 
in the mud and the wheels on one side of the Ambulance went to 
the hub We loosened the horses as soon as possible and then by 
fastening two of them to the end of the pole and digging with the 
Spade in front of the wheels we succeeded with difficulty in extricat- 
ing it We crossed Sugar Creek about dark & arrived at Shirley's 
trading post at 8 o'clock We got some supper here and the privi- 
lege of spreading our robes & blankets on the floor 

There were some men there working for Shirly & Agent Richards 
& they had a man to cook for them & he kindly offered to prepare 
supper for us Agent Richards has gone to Lawrence & his Indians 



350 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

are upon the hunt his house is partly built & is located % of a 
mile N. W. of the trading post which is close to the falls of Washita 
River 2 [?] ft of fall 

[Kiowa and Comanche Agency] 

11 mo. 27 

After Breakfast B. Darlington proposed to have the men of this 
place collected & read in the Bible before we leave I went out 
& asked them if they were willing to come in They readily as- 
sented & about a dozen gathered in all that were there. E. H. 
proposed 55th of Isaiah I read it & then after a pause spoke from 
our Savior text "Repent ye & believe the Gospel/' explaining the 
nature of repentance That it was not simply a sorrow for one sin, 
or for many sins, but an earnest desire & purpose also to turn from 
& be delivered from all sin both its guilt & its power that the 
invitation is to all Every one that our being exhorted to seek 
the Lord whilst he may be found intimates that there is a time 
when he cannot be found &c. &c Then soon followed in prayer that 
as in mercy we were preserved unto this day, He would put into 
our hearts the desire to be made wholly his to follow him to give 
our wills to him & thus to be made partakers of his love & 
mercy here & hereafter &c 

We then started on our journey saw Mt Scott in the south 
dined at the Cache Creek & bearing around to the East & South 
East of the Wichita mountains we came to Medicine Lodge Cr 
which joins Cache Cr at Ft Sill which we reached at Sunset & 
passed on a mile further to the Agency & were kindly entertained by 
Laurie Tatum Most of the Indians are upon the hunt. Their 
annuity goods are not here Left Ft Harker 7th & may be two 
months on the road (350 miles) ox team probably 

The treaty provides for the goods to be delivered on 15th of 
10 mo just when the Indians need them as their clothing is then 
much worn. 9 After this time when the Indians are getting good 
robes they do not so much need their clothing Robes $10. best 

The annuity gds are transported by the military & they have so 
much to do of their own that it is always very late before they reach 

9. In a section of miscellaneous matter in the back of his diary, Nicholson makes the 
following entry: "1871 1/8. Josiah Butler writes from Kiowa and Comanche Agency that 
the Annuity goods, due 10/15, 1870 had not yet arrived. Neither have their rations come. 
The Commissary department of the Agency has been buying & borrowing sugar for months 
the stock of bacon also is exhausted Also states that it is reported the Indiana made a 
raid into Texas on the 2nd of 12 mo. last, and 12 miles from Montague killed a woman A 
three children, seriously wounded & scalped another woman & slightly wounded a boy A 
left three children in the house unhurt The report had not been confirmed." 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OP INDIAN AGENCIES 351 

the Indians goods It would be better for the Interior department 
to do its own freighting for it has to pay for it any way & is so 
much longer about it The Military ordered the man of whom 
they bought beef to turn the whole amount contracted for at one 
time The contract had bound him to deliver a few at a time as 
they were wanted at 2% cts gross But as he turned over the entire 
amount (4000 head) at once, it has cost $15000 to herd them 
The Indians get so much buffalo that they do not want much beef 
The trader did not gain the whole $15000 because he had to be in 
a hurry to fill his contract & he would not have bought the whole at 
once & so would not have been at the entire expense of herding 

Little Heart, the Kiowa Chief who is said to have killed the 
Mexican at Camp Supply on the night of about 29 or 30 of 6 mo 
has recently died out upon the plains 

11 mo 28th 

Cloudy morning &c 

Nearly all the bands of these Indians have been engaged in raid- 
ing this year and quite a number of the Wichitas & affiliated bands 
The Qua ha dee or Roving Comanches have never come in upon 
the reservation never draw rations & declare that they never 
will come in. This band is a nucleus Its size is very variable 
depending upon how many of other bands may join them tem- 
porarily for raiding purposes thus the blame is thrown upon the 
Qua ha dees when in reality it is mostly members of other bands. 

The Mexican influence is also very bad Many Mexicans are 
amongst them as Indians They go down into Mexico and get 
guns & ammunition and tell the Indians that they have a great 
Father in their country as big as the one at Washington and much 
kinder to the Indian because he will let them have all the ammuni- 
tion &c they can buy and does not care how much they raid upon 
the Texans 

The Wild Apaches of New Mexico now camped on Head Waters 
of Brazos are coming amongst these Indians, as the Government is 
fighting them there and that is an additional reason for solicitude & 
of probable future trouble 

The Comanches 10 years ago were in Texas and farming and herd- 
ing to a considerable extent But the Texans drove them from the 
country & killed their Agent upon his return The Indians will 
not forget all this They laugh at the Kiowas & Apaches and call 
them cowards and women & in this way they induce them to join 
their raids They moreover say that when they are quiet the 



352 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Government does not do much for them, but when they go to war 
then they are well treated & have many presents Say they can 
always tell when they will have an abundance of presents & when 
they will have very few Very many of them were sick last year 
& died & they thought they must kill some body for that also 
They complain that the Government shows a want of confidence 
in them 

In regard to the beef contract, which Col. Lee ordered to be closed 
at once, on 1st of 7 mo when the Commissary was turned over to 
Agent Tatum, a few were selected and weighed & the others esti- 
mated by the weight of these One lot was appraised by two men 
one of whom was selected by Agent Tatum & the other by the man 
who sold the cattle & the other lot was appraised by two military 
men who were considered to be good judges About 1000 head were 
sold to the Cheyenne & Arapahoe Agency Another thousand have 
been used here & there are about 2000 now on hand There is 
a regular account kept with the mill & the product of the mill in 
toll is applied for any expenses which may be necessary about the 
mill or house a full account being kept, but not put upon the de- 
partment books, because it would have to go upon the property 
return & would give much more trouble The wheat is ground and 
sold to the Military for horse feed as there are no flour mill or 
bolt. There are about 800 bushels & sold at $3.00 (5 cts pr Ib) 
There is also a fair crop of corn but this will be necessary to feed 
the mules 

The rations turned over to L. Tatum by N. D. Badgeon 11 mo 
1869 which had apparently been issued, were sold for over $4466 
and entered upon his books and applied for the benefit' of the 
Indians as is clearly shown by his books in the office The house 
Built by Col Boone for an Agency is turned into a farmer's house 
because it is too far away across the Creek for the Agent's house 
& is just where it is wanted for a farmer's house It is adobe & 
no rock at the bottom & he has built an Agent's house out of the 
money appropriated for the putting up of houses for employees & 
built it where it is much more convenient These matters all seem 
to be entirely correct although upon the department reports they 
are not exhibited. 

11 mo 29 

Edward Earle & myself have examined carefully the books & 
accounts of Agent Tatum and we do not discover anything that is 
not entirely correct and straightforward He believes that he will 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 353 

have ample funds for all his estimates of the current fiscal year 
There is a balance of the $20,000 appropriation not yet expended, 
amounting to over $6000 some of which he wishes to be used for 
educational purposes & some for assisting in erecting houses for 
chiefs &c. &c. 

Charles Ehresman Interpreter for Kiowas Comanches & Apaches 

Lone Wolf ^| 

Kicking Bird V Kiowa Chiefs 

Tumbling Bird J 

Pacer Apache 

Lone Wolf complains of the witholding of ammunition thinks 
it because the government wants to take the advantage of them 
complains of Gen Nelson's driving them away from the vicinity 
of Camp Supply said they went there because they were so 
sickly near the Agency and that is why they gave up farming 
they thought something was wrong or else they would not be sick 
& die & so they wanted to try their old way of living again Com- 
plains that their annuity goods had not come & wants E. H to 
give them some presents that their women are naked & they 
want tobacco blankets and kettles & a great many other things 
complains that the Texans kill so many of them that they want to 
kill some Texans also Again & again he calls for powder & 
lead thinks we are big enough chiefs to give them a little to go 
hunting has been waiting two days to see us & when he heard last 
night that we had come, they were all so glad they could not sleep 
that we were all big Captains from Washington and he thought we 
might give them a little for killing birds, turkeys deer & buffalo &c 
300 Apaches 
1896 Kiowas 
2742 Comanches 
1000 Quahadas 

Lone Wolf says that none of the Kiowas will go & none of the 
Apaches to the Grand Council He will not talk about anything 
but ammunition He says if they go to the Council all their words 
will fall to the ground the white people wont pay any attention 
to them Then they persistently demand presents of clothing &c 
&c E. H offered them tobacco & apples they said they did not 
want them they wanted clothes & thought he might go to the 
traders & buy some E. H. told him he did not have money 
They said he might go to the trader's & borrow some & pay the 
trader when the annuity goods came that they did not expect 

235574 



354 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

the goods would be here until winter was over or summer had come 
& they said it is cold now & they want goods now They have al- 
ways been used to have big chiefs give them something when they 
come. They think it strange we do not give something to them 

Kiowas 1896 

Apaches 300 

Comanches 2742 

4938 
Quahadas 1000 

Total 5938 

Satanta complains of ammunition being withheld says that 
he wants Enoch to tell his Great Father at Washington that if he 
will move Texas farther off he will not raid there any more that 
he wants Camp Supply removed & he wants ammunition He 
says they raided last summer because they could not get ammuni- 
tion That they think the white people want to fall upon them 
and destroy them & that is why they will not let them have ammuni- 
tion He says he does not want to go to Washington but wants 
E. H to tell his Great Father what he says & then if he will send 
him some ammunition, perhaps after a while he will go to Wash- 
ington & see him 

There were Sioux Indians here last summer 

Gen. B. H. Grierson believes that the troubles last summer were 
the result of a preconcerted arrangement between the Sioux, & 
all the plains Indians for a general Indian war. But as Red Cloud 
went to Washington & the thing was broken up, the difficulties in 
this vicinity did not amount to much He seems disposed not 
to use his soldiers except in extreme necessity. 

We dined to-day (29th) with Genl Grierson & had much interest- 
ing conversation on the subject of the Indians & their management 
He proposes to concentrate the troops at Fort Sill He objects to 
setting a part of the Kiowa reservation to the Wichitas says all 
the Indians object to it and that it will lead to difficulty but that 
those Indians are welcome to remain only the Kiowas do not want 
any of their territory cut off They will say that next thing 
another part will be set off to some other Indians & then another 
&c until they will have nothing left The Wichitas &c used to 
live here near these Mountains and consider that this is just the 
place for them that it is their home &c but are willing to re- 
main on the Washita River 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 355 

The Comanches Caddoes, Wacoes &c were located on the 
Brazos River near Camp Cooper 99 Long 33' Latitude in 1855 and 
in 1859 they were driven out of the country by the Texans 

[Chickasaw Agency] 

11 mo 30th 

Left Kiowa & Comanche Agency at 7% A. M. & took the road 
Eastward towards Cherokee town on the Washita River A 
beautiful clear cold day after some rain & wind We feel grate- 
ful for so much good weather At 30 miles we passed within 2^2 
miles of Dr. Sturns south of the road We camped about 40 
miles from fort Sill & had an excellent rest & this morning 12 mo 
1st we are off at 7% We found good roads yesterday afternoon 
Read the 4th of John before retiring last night Cyrus killed a 
turkey just before we started There were very many near our 
camp & a great many prairie chickens were near our road for the 
first 2 hours We saw a large Buck also & several flocks of wild 
geese In about 10 miles we came to where the road from the 
Wichita Agency came into ours & then we kept down the Washita 
valley passing one Ranche some herds of cattle The valley 
is from one to 2 miles wide & very fertile, the musquite grass being 
green in many parts of it and looking as if it would afford pasturage 
all winter We passed on after dinner across a deep Creek & 
then down the valley of the Washita to Smith Paul's large farm 
then took the left to the Ferry opposite Cherokee Town crossed 
by moonlight & then went to Dr. Shirley's 2 miles beyond Cherokee 
Town, through a muddy circuitous route Smith Paul's farm 
will yield 200,000 bushels of corn this year He is a Georgian who 
married a Chickasaw woman. A man can occupy all the land that 
he will fence & is entitled to a strip 1/4 of a mile all around his 
fence so that no one shall encroach upon his pasture & timber 
There are about 5000 Chickasaws & 1500 Freedmen These Freed- 
men are not citizens The Chickasaws voted according to treaty to 
allow the $300,000 which the Government was to pay them for the 
Kiowa Reservation to be appropriated for the Colonizing of the 
Colored people But nothing has been done yet by the Govern- 
ment & the Chickasaws will probably now be willing to let them re- 
main as citizens At present they are not amenable to law and are 
engaged sometimes in Cattle Stealing & other improper practices. 

The Chickasaws are sending their children to the States to be 
educated, as their law allows their school fund to be used in this 



356 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

way. The colored people have no right to any lands and if one 
makes any improvements a Chickasaw can come in and expel him 

Dr John Shirley is a trader here & brother of Wm Shirley trader 
at the Wichita He lives about 80 miles from Ft. Sill & just about 
half way between Ft Arbuckle & old Ft. Arbuckle. 

12 mo-2nd 

We have had excellent accommodations (for this country) at Dr. 
Shirley's Good feather beds a stove in each room &c The 
morning is very fine clear, cool & frosty We trust we are not 
altogether devoid of appreciating these blessings "Bless the Lord 
Oh my Soul & forget not all his benefits " 

We traveled over a road quite muddy from recent rain & crossed 
the Canadian at Topofki ford, 5 miles above the mouth of Topofki 
Creek, a little before Sunset The water was not deep but it is 
a treacherous bottom & we kept the horses moving on a brisk walk, 
for fear of quicksand were favored with safe crossing and found 
accommodation at the house of an industrious colored man named 
Tecumseh, who lives about one mile north of the Canadian 
Tecumseh has between 200 & 300 hogs 200 cattle & 21 horses- 
he lost much stock during the war His hogs get fat on acorns 
& those that are designed for bacon, he drives up & fattens on corn 
But he eats a great deal of fresh pork Says that he kills a hog 
every other day there being other families around He has 6 
children no school for his children. He was a slave to a Creek 
Indian and came when quite small with his parents & master from 
Alabama when the Creeks were removed thence He speaks English 
well & is enterprising & industrious He has one small very com- 
fortable log house for travelers with a good bed in it & this was 
placed at our disposal 2 of us occupied the bed & two arranged 
robes &c upon the floor had a splendid fire & felt that we were 
well provided for Our horses too were well supplied 'with corn 
well cured blade fodder (the first we have had) hay oats &c. We 
have traveled 30 miles to day. 

12 mo 3rd 

Blessed with a very comfortable rest upon robes, blankets &c 
upon the floor A good breakfast & ready to leave at a little 
before 8. A very mild clear morning Wind from the South, 
indicating rain I read some chapters in the Bible to Tecumseh 
& his family last night & we explained matters as well as we could 
to them His wife is a Baptist They occasionally have meet- 
ings at his house It is a pity they cannot have a school in that 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 357 

neighborhood We traveled for 15 miles to Little River here 
we found a considerable company on each side, detained by high 
water No ferry boat water 15 ft river about 75 ft wide 
Indications of rain river rising instead of falling & no prospect of 
its being fordable in a week 

From the Kiowa & Comanche Agency at Fort Sill to Dr. Sturn's 
a little south of the road leading to Cherokee Town is about 30 
miles From Dr. Sturn's to Cherokee Town a mile or two east 
of the Washita is 50 miles from Cherokee Town to the Canadian 
is 30 miles from Canadian to Little River is 15 miles from Little 
River to the Seminole Agency is 15 miles from Seminole Agency 
to Okmulgee is 50 miles & thence to Ft Gibson is 50 miles From 
Ft Sill to Ft Gibson is 240 miles 

We got the assistance of 2 colored men & one Seminole and all 
hands went to work to make a raft and got it launched by night. 

[Seminole Agency] 

12 mo 4th 

Commenced to raft sent over baggage then wheels then 
ambulance body &c assisted by Lieutenants Doyle & Beck & Willey 
& their men We got over & then swam the horses It was near 
eleven o'clock before we got started & but for there being a 
heavy force of men there we could not have succeeded Lieut 
Willey was in charge of a large train of commissary stores for Ft 
Sill and was on the North Bank & his teamsters helped us to pull 
the Ambulance off the raft & put on the wheels & then pull it up 
the bank The ambulance weighs about 1200 Ibs The other 
Lieutenants were on the South bank and were traveling in the same 
direction that we were It is First day morning & it seems much 
like work but the Council is to convene tomorrow 55 miles away 
and it seems necessary to hasten (Dr. Bryner of Pittsburg is the 
New Seminole Agent) 

We reached Seminole Agency at 2. o'clock & got dinner then 
drove until night when the forward wheel striking a stump, caused a 
fracture of our carriage pole, so we camped for the night & by 9 
o'clock next morning we had a new oak sapling pole & started on 
our journey We crossed North Fork of the Canadian on a good 
Ferry boat and also Deep Fork and reached Okmulgee about 
moonlight finding comfortable quarters for this country at [omis- 
sion] Smith's Not very many members of the Council have 
arrived yet. 



358 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

[Okmulgee and the Meeting of the General Council of the Indian 

Territory] 

12 mo 6 

The weather is cool & looks as if we might have snow Smith 
is a white man but his wife is colored She keeps an excellent 
table The colored people in the Creek country are upon an equal 
footing with the Indians & a man who marries a colored woman 
becomes a member of the nation the same as if he had married an 
Indian woman. 

They have excellent Sandstone here for building purposes some 
of it fine enough for grindstones. It hardens upon exposure to the 
air We saw some beautiful specimens, scattered over the hills, 
yesterday. They seemed to be fragments of a solidified stratum of 
reddish sand over which water had been flowing & left it in ridges of 
a waving character We often see the sand left in just such a 
condition upon the subsidence of a stream in waving ridges just 
imagine such a surface to become petrified & then by some upheaval 
broken into fragments of from 6 by 8 inches up to two or three feet 
square & from 3 to 6 inches in thickness & we have somewhat the 
idea 

At 2 o'clock the Council convened but there was not a quorum 
present Credentials were presented by several who were not here 
at the last Session President Hoag made remarks encouraging the 
members to confer with one another and endeavor to mature their 
views & plans of legislation so that when a quorum should arrive, 
they might be able to act promptly & wisely. 

He advised them to consider themselves as persons who were sent 
here to devise measures (not of their own personal aggrandizement) 
but for the good of their people at home that legislatures 'should 
remember that their power comes from the people & that it is their 
duty to look to the true interests of the people & that their atten- 
tion should be given to those educational, agricultural, & general 
industrial measures which will tend to the elevation & permanent 
improvement of the tribes which they represent Upon motion 
the Council then adjourned until tomorrow 9 A. M. 

This General Council consists of delegates from each of the tribes 
that chooses to be represented, and that lives in the Indian Terri- 
tory Each tribe is entitled to one delegate & then to an addi- 
tional one for every thousand people or fractional part of a thousand 
above five hundred Major Vore, Secretary pro tern (Vore) 
(Vore) 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 359 

12/7 

Council met no quorum Some addition was made to a few of 
the Committees Super Hoag gave a short account of the condi- 
tion of some of the tribes, which he had recently visited & called 
for remarks from any members who were willing to speak Francis 
King, of the Ottawas said his people have only been in the territory 
2 years that they are now improving in civilization have 
mostly good houses a saw mill a good school and religious 
meeting every Sunday He bore testimony to the great value of 
the Sabbath meetings, both as a religious point of view and as a 
civilizing institution that before they had these meetings, if you 
went over to a neighbors at 8 or 9 o clock of a Sunday morning, 
you would find the morning's work unfinished the dishes un- 
washed upon the table the children with their soiled clothes & 
other evidences of sloth and carelessness but now they provide all 
the week for Sunday rise early that day put the house in 
order dress the children in clean clothing and go promptly to 
their meetings He said his people were deeply interested in the 
proceedings of this Council and he hoped the stronger tribes repre- 
sented in the Council would not oppress the weaker that he him- 
self felt an obligation to look to the interest of his neighbor as well 
as to his own interest and he sincerely hoped all the members would 
be influenced by such a consideration in their deliberations He 
furthermore said that many of the delegates present are men of edu- 
cation and intelligence and capable of expressing themselves clearly 
and forcibly and that many others like himself had had fewer 
opportunities could speak English with difficulty and had had no 
experiences in legislative matters This diversity leads to some 
delay and hesitation the former class do not like to say much 
because they suppose it will not be understood or appreciated & the 
latter because they feel distrustful of their capacity to express them- 
selves These hindrances will gradually diminish and he looked 
hopefully to the future 

Augustus Captain, of the Osages said his people were out upon 
the plains hunting buffalo that the matter of securing a home 
in the Indian Territory had been delayed by unavoidable causes 
that they had given up their homes in Kansas because the settlers 
had treated them so badly and were now practically homeless 
he could not say that they gave much encouragement to schools 
and civilizing influences as the treatment which they had received 
at the hands of the whites tended to prejudice them against the 



360 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

ways of the white man President Hoag said he was sorry for 
all this but believed the land question would soon be settled & hoped 
the future of the Osages upon their new home would be brighter 
than the past 

Edward Earle addressed a few words of encouragement to the 
Council and assured them of the great interest which he felt in the 
welfare of their race spoke of the great kindness and hospitality 
which we had received from them on this journey, in such striking 
contrast with what had so often been represented as to their savage 
and barbarous nature &c After the Council a Cherokee named 
W. A. Duncan who lives near the Arkansas line and who is evi- 
dently a man of education and intelligence, thanked E. E. for the 
kindly interest which he manifested in the Indians. Said it re- 
joiced him to find that they have some friends in the midst of the 
general indifference & hostility manifested towards them He is 
not a member of the Council but being in Okmulgee on business 
came in out of interest in the proceedings Council adjourned 
to 9 A. M. to-morrow. 

W. A. Duncan called upon us after dinner and we had much in- 
teresting conversation. We find him very intelligent, of a well 
balanced mind, well educated and a minister of the Methodist 
Church His address is Evansville Arkansas & he resides on Bar- 
ren Fork of Illinois river near the Arkansas line and perhaps 20 
miles East of Tahlequa or a little North East 

There are of the Cherokees 18000 of all ages, & colors they 
have about 42 public schools their colored people have separate 
schools Thirty five per cent of all funds due the nation & which 
may hereafter accrue to them are appropriated to the support of 
common Schools and for other educational purposes the people 
in the Eastern part of the Cherokee nation are largely engaged in 
farming wheat does remarkably well corn & sweet potatoes 
also In the western portion of the nation, stock raising is the 
chief occupation of the people We feel a great desire to en- 
courage education amongst them and that they would as soon as 
possible, have native teachers We feel very desirous also of en- 
couraging Normal Schools that the System of instruction in their 
schools may be improved as rapidly as possible. At night W. A. 
Duncan had a religious meeting of an interesting character. He 
spoke from the text "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" 
gave a description of the attributes of the Creator his love 
his justice his mercy his truth & truthfulness &c. & improved 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 361 

the teaching of these truths by an Exhortation to all present to ac- 
cept in their hearts the God of the Bible and to endeavor to be as 
near like him as possible to copy his character to imitate 
in our example and life that which he reveals to us as his character 
They then sang in Muscogee language, in a very earnest and spirited 
manner 

1 then spoke a few words and Thomas Miller followed They 
then sang again The Minister spoke in English and what he & 
the rest of us spoke was interpreted in very good style by a young 
man David Hodge into the Muscogee language Checota, head 
chief of the Creeks is a minister and very earnest 2160 Semi- 
noles 

12 mo 8th 

Council met at 9 A. quorum present 37 delegates present 
64 being the entire number Journal of yesterday & day before 
read & confirmed. Mr Purcy of Chickasaw amended by Scales, 
Cherokee, moved appointment of Interpreters to such as need 
carried Sands to whom was committed the duty of inviting the 
wild tribes to participate by delegations in this council reports that 
he sent the message but has had no reply He sent it to the 
Absentee Shawnee & they to Cheyennes &c in runner style But 
many of the tribes were on the hunt & did not hear of the request 
in time for the appointment of delegates. President Hoag read an 
extract from Commissioner Parker's official report just published, 
giving a favorable report of the proceedings of the late session of 
the Council and expressing a hope of good results from its present 
session The journal of the late session of the Convention was 
then read and interpreted 2 additional rules were introduced 
regulating contested Seats of members & providing for a fine of 
$4.00 for disorderly conduct or for expulsion by a 2/3 vote, if neces- 
sary Adjourned to 2 P. M. 

2 P. M. Met according to adjournment. The rule proposed for 
disorderly members was rejected as an imputation upon the good 
character of the Indian people. The rule concerning legal qualifi- 
cations was adopted and a committee of 5 directed on Credentials 
There being 2 sets of Credentials presented by those who claim to 
represent the Muscogee nation, they were referred to Com. on 
Credentials 

On motion a Com of 10 was appointed to propose a plan for 
permanent organization of the tribes & nations of the Ind. Terri- 
tory in accordance with the provisions of treaties of 1866 ad- 
journed till 9 A. M tomorrow 



362 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

12 mo 9th 

40 delegates present. President Hoag remarked that we were 
dependent upon the Divine blessing for all good & that it was a 
duty resting upon us all to ask for that blessing & that a pause for 
devotion would be made at the opening of each morning session & he 
exhorted every member ministers and all others to attend to their 
impressions of duty & if they feel prompted by the Good Spirit to 
pray publicly that they be faithful to do it. After a devotional 
pause the Secretary was directed to call the roll read minutes of 
last meeting &c in routine Adjourned to 9 o'clock to-morrow 
Morning so as to give the Com. on Organization time to work as 

every thing seems to hang upon the report of that Com. 
****** 

Judge Baker Railroad man Lobbyist 



* 



We had an interview to-day with John White, Joseph Ellis & 
Robert Deer of the Absentee Shawnees & we propose to assist them 
in building three school houses & also to help them about their 
blacksmith business there are some farming implements on the 
way to them they are a deserving people, desirous of improve- 
ment but lost $200,000 dollars worth of property, in houses stock 
&c during the war About 100 have been living on Bird Creek 
which runs into Cana 175 or more are on the way from Kansas 
& some Delawares from Washita are coming & there are 460 or 
more already between the North Fork & Canadian Those now 
in Kansas will many of them come down & I suppose in a short time 

there will be at least 700 collected in that region. 
****** 

Mr. Cramer teacher 

Timothy Barnard Colonel 

****** 

12 mo 10th 

Devotional pause Quorum Com. on Credentials report 
against 2 claimants from Creek nation Report adopted The 
Committee on Organization report recommending a form of Govern- 
ment for the Territory, republican in form, providing for Executive, 
legislative & judicial departments and to be based upon & strictly 
in conformity with the various treaties of 1866 so arranged also 
as to protect the weaker tribes from oppression by the Stronger & 
to promote the general good of all the nations and tribes & not to 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 363 

be binding upon any except those who accept and consent to it 
Mr. Johnson, Cherokee, opposed the report of the Com on the ground 
of its not being specially provided for in the Cherokee treaty which 
had been adopted as a basis of legislation He concluded his re- 
marks with a motion to adjourn until 12th, 9 o'clock Carried 

12 mo 11 

Commissioners of President arrived yesterday and to-day at 3 
o'clock had meeting with delegates & others & spoke to them upon 
various matters of interest 'I appointed a meeting for the evening 
and read a part of 4th Chapter of Philippians & spoke from the 8th 
verse, first dwelling upon the proofs of the authenticity of the 
Bible &c & then pressing the duties prescribed therein the evils 
of war & Intemperance were specially dwelt upon and I had great 
freedom of utterance especially upon the latter Subject, going into 
it quite fully Thomas Miller then spoke Then Judge Baker 
& the meeting was very quiet and orderly Delegates mostly 

present 

****** 

The Council met Sep 27 

Com on organization of the Council & order of business 

Com on Relations with U. S. 

Com on International (tribal) relations 

Com on Judiciary 

Com on Finance 

Com on Education & Agriculture 

Com on Enrolled bills 

The Com on relations with U. S were were instructed to report a 
memorial to President of U. S. setting forth our relations with the 
Gen. Gov as defined by Treaty Stipulations, & protesting against 
any legislation by Congress impairing the obligation of any treaty 
provision & especially against the creation of any government over 
the Ind. Territory other than that of the Gen. Council. And also 
against the Sale or grant of any lands directly or contingent upon 
the extinguishment of the Ind. Title to any Railroad company or 
Corporation now chartered for the purpose of constructing a Rail- 
road from a point north to any point south or from a point East to 
any point west through the Indian Territory, or the construction of 
any other R road other than those authorized by existing laws 
Assurances were sent to Kiowas Comanches Apaches Cheyenne, 
Arapahoes, Wichitas &c of friendship & kindly feeling & invitation 



364 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

to meet at the next convention of the Council which adjurned till 

12. 5th 

****** 

12-11 

Strangers present at Okmulgee J. D. Lang Robert Campbell 
John V. Farwell of the President's Commission Major Reynolds 
former Seminole Agent Mr Denman, former Super, of Northern 
Superintendency Mr. Fenlon beef contractor Judge Baker & 
Mr. Hubbell of Springfield Missouri as the agents or attorneys of 
the South Pacific Rail Road Mr. Hanna of Kansas City Mr 
M. E. Joyce reporter for N. Y. Herald Mr (Mr Pales-Missouri 
Republican) & Mr. H. A. Goldsmith of Kansas City Times Gen 
E. S. Parker Commissioner of Ind. Affairs Dr Long of the 
Chickasaw 

12-12 

Quorum Upon motion of Mr Johnson the yeas & nays were 
ordered when the vote shall be taken upon the report of the Com 
on organization Mr. Ross spoke of the necessity of organiza- 
tion Legislation by the Genl Council is useless without Executive 
& Judicial powers & processes He favored organization as a matter 
of necessity humanity, & essential to carrying out the principles 
of the treaties of 1866 Mr. Johnson opposed the report of the 
Commit & proposed some alterations Mr. Vann again defended 
the report Mr. Folsom of the Choctaw, approves the report, but 
feels they are launching upon a sea which they may never be able 
to navigate but the crisis is upon them they must meet it there 
is difference of sentiment, but we must freely express our views & 
endeavor to do the best we can under the exigencies of the times. 
If we work with trusting hearts in the Great Over ruling Hand 
above, we may be able to work a temporal salvation for our people 
& unite ourselves under such a form of Government as shall be 
favorable to the growth of a happy & great & harmonious people 
Mr Johnson again spoke in opposition Mr Fry of Choctaw hoped 
they would get to some solid foundation & all unite upon it & pro- 
mote education and the spread of the Gospel & all its civilizing in- 
fluences Genl Jackson in 1837 promised us this country & took 
our country in the east from us So we were forced here there 
is no other land to which we can be removed here are our hopes 
here the problem must be worked out here is the place of our 
destiny let us form a government which shall be able to promote 
our best interests & shall suit the Gov U States 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 365 

Mr La flore Choctaw defended the report was unwilling to con- 
fine himself to the Cherokee treaty The Choctaw treaty went 
further & was more conformable to the general Indian policy of the 
U. S. Gov. He was willing to conform to the wishes of the U. S. 
Govern in any way which did not compromise their own rights & 
privileges to their own detriment He was sorry that the move- 
ment meets with opposition at the threshold Pres. Hoag read 
from the Cherokee treaty the article defining the powers of the 
Council It may legislate upon matters pertaining to the inter- 
course & relations of the Indian tribes & nations & colonies of Freed- 
men resident in Ter the arrest & extradition of Criminals & 
offenders escaping from one tribe to another or into any community 
of freedmen the administration of justice between members of dif- 
ferent tribes of said territory and persons other than Indians & 
members of said tribes & nations & the common defense & safety 
of the nations of said Territory He considered the last clause as 
fully authorizing the proposed organization Mr. Porter, Cherokee 
defends the report of the Com. & calls for the question. Ayes 48 
Nays 5 

Mr. Carter, Chickasaw, moves a Com of 12 to draft a Constitu- 
tion (No law shall be enacted inconsistent with the Constitution 
of the U. States or laws of Congress or existing treaty with U. S. 
The legislative powers of the Council may be enlarged by consent 
of the Councils & consent of President of U. S. The President 
seems to have the power of suspending the operations of the laws 
of the Council, when he deems it necessary) 

Mr W. P. Ross Chairman of the Committee Messrs Leflore 
C. Carter J. F. Brown F. King J. P. Folsom, G. W. John- 
son C. P. H. Percy Oktarsar Harjo (or Sands), G. W. Stid- 
ham, Riley Keys Augustus Captain & [omission] 

Adjourned to 2. o clock 

2. P. M- 

Resolutions were passed expressing the gratification of the Coun- 
cil at the visit and words of cheer and encouragement of Messrs. 
Campbell, Lang and Farwell, Commissioners on Indian Affairs ap- 
pointed by the President of the U. S. The Committee on Agri- 
culture made a very interesting report The largest farm is that 
of Smith Paul enclosing 2000 acres. The Cotton crop of Chicka- 
saws is estimated at 5000 bales Mr. Vann one of the delegates, 
lost his entire herd by the war He does not know how many 
cattle he had but he knows that for several years before the war 
he marked over 600 calves each year How sad the devastations of 



366 



THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 



war Report adopted Mr. Brown proposed rules 1st No mem- 
ber to be placed on more than 3 Committees without his consent 
2 Some one to be called upon by the President to pray before 
commencing business in morning referred to Com on Rules & 
Regulations adjourned to 9 A. M. tomorrow 



Roll of Delegates- 



Cherokee 
J. W. Adair 
Jos. F. Thompson 



Muskogee or Creek 



Ottawa 

Eastern Shawnee 
Quapaws 
Senecas 
Wyandottes 
Confed. Peorias 
Sac & Fox 
Absentee Shawnee s 

Osages 



Seminole 



Chickasaw 



Choctaws 



W. P. Ross 

Allen Ross 

John Sarcoxie 

S. M. Taylor 

Stealer 

Ezekiel Procter 

Henry Chambers 

Geo. W. Johnson 

D. N. Hodge temporary 

G. W. Stidham 

P. Porter 

G. W. Grayson, Secretary 

(resigned) 
S. W. Perry man 
Charke 

J. M. C. Smith 
Francis King 
Lazarus Flint 
Robert Lumbard 
George Spicer 
George Wright 
Edwd Black 
Keokuk & Muttatah 
John White & Joseph Ellis 
(Robert Deer Interpreter) 
Augustus Captain 
Samuel Bevenue 
Hardrope 
Fushatche harjo 
John F. Brown 
(Brown The Trader) 
Chas. P. H. Percy 
Joseph James 
Hopiah tubby 
Campbell Leflore 
John McKinney 
Wm. Frye 
Maha tubber 
Alex R. Durant 



Riley Keys 
S. H. Binge 
O. H. P. Brewer 
J. A. Scales 
Moses Alberty 
Joseph Vann 
Stand Watie 

Mortopyarhola 
Vice Grayson 
J R. Moore 
L. C. Ferryman 
J. M. Ferryman 

Oktarharsars-har j o 
Timothy Barnett 
G. W. Walker 



(Wati-inca) 



Colbert Carter 
Jackson Kemp 



James Thompson 
Joseph P. Folsom 
Alfred Wright 
Coleman Cole 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 367 

12 mo 13 

Gen. E. S. Parker Commissioner of Ind. Affairs, addressed the 
Council expressing his own deep interest in the welfare of the 
people of this Territory and also the deep interest of the President 
of the United States and of many members of Congress He ex- 
pressed the hope that this Council would take such a course as 
would organize the nations & tribes of the territory into a com- 
pact, territorial government for mutual protection and encourage- 
ment He believed it most likely that Congress will accept the 
presence of a delegate from this Government, who shall be charged 
with the duty of representing in Congress the interests of the People 
of this territory and that the territorial Government may in due 
time be changed into that of a State Government & thus the 
Territory become a State with all the privileges of any other in the 
Union He also recommended the opening in the Territory of a 
United States Court, because it subjects the people here to a great 
deal of trouble to have to go out of the Territory to attend the 
Courts of the U. States besides it is necessary for the people 
here to become accustomed to forms of law. It would be better also 
for juries to be formed of Indians for the trial of cases arising in 
the Courts Another point is that, other friendly tribes may be 
introduced into this territory This will require some legislation 
that there may be some uniformity of action in the matter 

He wished them also to indicate their preference of a Secretary 
He should be a man in whom they have full confidence He 
should not be partisan Should not favor one tribe more than 
another He will commission such a man, as they will prefer 
It is important for the journal to be accurate and such in every re- 
spect as will command the respect of Congress, when submitted to 
their inspection He was responded to by C. Leflore of the 
Choctaws & by P. Porter of the Creeks & that very handsomely 
Remarks also by Farwell & Lang of President's Commission 
Com. Parker says Sen Harlan has introduced a bill for the recep- 
tion of a delegate from the Territory & that his idea is to form a 
Territorial Government, preparatory to a State Gov as in other 
cases 

2. o'clock 

Committee on Constitution granted privilege of retiring ad- 
journed to 9 o'clock 



368 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

12 mo 14 

Mr. Scales Resolution requesting the Supert of Southern Super- 
intendency to inform through their respective agents, the wild tribes 
of the plains, that the Cherokees &c have met in general Council 
and wish to extend to them the assurances of their friendship & 
kindly feeling and their desire that these tribes should maintain the 
peace amongst themselves & with the people of the Un S. & that 
this is the object of the Confederation as well as to promote the 
general welfare of all Indians & secure peace amongst them 
secure their lands exclusively to themselves & to their children 
referred to Com on Intertribal relations (Adopted) 

Sec. Interior, through Commissioner of Ind Affairs appoints 
George W. Grayson Secretary of the Great Council to hold said 
office during pleasure of said Seer. Interior Vote of thanks to 
Maj. J. G. Vore for the satisfactory manner in which he has per- 
formed his duty as temporary Seer of this Council & requesting the 
Pres. to make him due compensation for his services Adjr 9 A. M. 
Tomorrow 

At a Conference of the Council of the Creek Nation Checote 
(Governor presiding) presented to Commissioner Parker the case 
of Surveying Creek lands that of two white Creeks now con- 
fined in jail in Arkansas who having lived here from childhood & 
been adopted into the nation were placed upon the Light horse or 
Police of the nation and were present and participated in the at- 
tempt to arrest a Creek charged with crime. 

He resisted and was killed Who of the Police force did the killing 
is unknown but as they were whites they were considered subject to 
U. States law & arrested for trial Also the case of funds im- 
properly paid by Late Agent Capt Fields, of the orphan Fund 
Also the case of Traders licensed by the agent who refused to respect 
the Nation's laws in prohibiting the selling of goods on the Sabbath 
day 

The Commissioner informed him that Wm Rankin had been 
ordered to resurvey the Creek lands as the former survey is not 
satisfactory Also that it is probable the Seminoles were located 
too far East and that perhaps some change in the Creek line may be 
necessary in order to prevent disturbing the Seminoles 

As to the men in Prison, the Government claims jurisdict over 
all white men whether in the Ind. Ter. or not. They can either 
defend them as Creeks and if convicted appeal to the U. States 
President & he will probably pardon or they may present all the 
facts in the case to the Attorney General & perhaps he would direct 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 369 

a nolle prosequi He would inquire into the money case & no 
agent will be allowed to violate the Sabbath laws of the nation 

John Chupco, Chief of the Seminoles was in 1859 a blanket 
Indian in Florida but now has 140 acres in cultivation and a large 
amount of stock. He is a Presbyterian & an excellent man About 
500 came when he did from Florida. Chupco, loyal 

The Seminoles on one occasion wanting beef & flour for a Council 
meeting were offered what they wanted for rails and in 24 hours 
they split 3100 rails & purchased what they desired The beef 
was supplied by (E J. Brown) Brown the trader 

A Seminole Indian seeing John F. Brown making a Field Gate 
stood by and watched him all day long Next day he went to 
the Sawmill & bought timber and when (E. J. Brown) Brown went 
to his house not long after, the Indian had made 5 or 6 gates and 
erected them in different parts of his own farm 

John Jumper, the other chief of Seminoles is a Baptist minister, 
an excellent man, very industrious and has an excellent farm Mr 
Brown has sold them over 180 wagons since the war this shows 
thrift for they paid for them with their own earnings 

1215 

A committee of three on Revision of the journal to produce the 
revised copy to be read in Council before its adjournment Allen 
Ross G. W. Walker & E. J. Brown Com on revision Adjourned 
to 2 o'clock 

Will meet the wild tribes in Council whenever practicable & 
desired by the Superintendent of Ind. Affrs. 

Adjourned to 9 A. M. Tomorrow 

****** 

1216 

Education 

Choctaws neighborhood schools & maintaining about 20 youths 
at schools in the States A male & a female Boarding School are 
to be opened as by authority of Council Annual school fund 
$30,000 Neighborhood schools 3 for each of 16 counties = 48 
Children at each 20 to 40 Whole number of children of the 
Choctaw Nation at School 1460 Population 16,000 to 17,000 

Cherokee Population about 17,000 School & orphan fund con- 
sists of money invested in State & U. S. bonds 596-140, 219,774 

School Fund $596,140 

Orphan Fund 219,774 

5 to 7 percent interest 

245574 



370 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

48 Public Schools. 3 colored 
% of teachers natives 
Total no of pupils.. 1928 

Males 973 

Females 955 

Orphans of these pupils are boarded & clothed by the orphan Fund 
One Moravian Mission School and a few private Schools, besides 
Muscogees population inclusive of Freedmen 13000 22 Public 
Schools with a Supt of Public Instruction. 1 teacher to each School 
Salary $400 for 10 months 9 more Schools will soon be opened = 
total 31 One Boarding School besides has 80 pupils & another 
will be ready by Spring for an equal number (80) Salaries of 
Super. & teachers of these boarding Schools are paid by the Method- 
ists & Presbyterians balance of their expenses by the Nation 
6 of the public Schools are exclusively for the freedmen 

Treaty Stipulation fund $10,000 

Contingen on President's pleasure 1,000 

National appropriation 13,758 



Total $24,758 annual 

Average no of Children at School for Scholastic year 1870 700 
Seminoles Population 2500 4 neighborhood Schools Teacher's 
salary $600 per Annum Whole no. of pupils at these 4 schools is 225 
average daily attendance about 40 A mission building is in 
process of erection Rev Mr Ramsay Superintend to accommodate 
over 50 pupils 

School fund annual Treaty Stipulation $2500 
Chickasaw population 5400 11 neighborhood schools 440 the 
whole no of pupils 60 pupils at $350 each (annually) are at school 
in the States at expense of the nation 

School fund $29,000 

For children going to state schools 21,000 

Annually $50,000 

Osages popula 3000 to 4000 50 pupils at Catholic Mis. School 

School fund $3000 Annually 

Confed. Peorias, pop 170 One Public School No. pupils 25 
average daily 20 School fund (entire) 35000 to 40000 
Shawnee 80"^ 
Wyandotte 160 L no schools 
Senecas 188 I 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 



371 



Educational report 



Afternoon 1216 





.5 

A, 

. . 16 500 


02 
"o" 
ci 

fc 

48 


Indians 


Colored 


^ Boarding 
Mission 


o' 3 
fcj 

1460 


Average 


Eh 
III 

$30,000 


Salary oj 
teachers 


11 
II 
?0 




17 000 


48 


45 


3 


1 


1928 




50,000 






Creek 


. . 13,000 


31 


25 


6 


2 




TOO 


24,758 


$400 




Seminole 
Chicka^aw 


-2,500 
. . . . 5,400 


4 
11 






1 


225 
440 


160 


2,500 
50,000 


$600 

* 


6(i 


Osages 


. . . . 3,500 








1 






3,000 








170 










25 


20 


2 000 






Ottawa"' 




1 








52 












. . . 700 




















Quapaws & Others 


. . . 660 




















Absentee Shawnees. . . . 


700 










.... 











* $3.00 per month for each pupil. 

Entire population represented in the General Council 60,000 
140 School 4800 pupils Entire School fund (annual) $163,000. 



The people of the nations of Indians inhabiting the Indian Terri- 
tory have met to frame laws and arrange the machinery of a Govern- 
ment for the country occupied & owned by them, in order to draw 
&c & relying upon the guidance & favor of Almighty God to carry 
out in a consistent & practicable form the provisions of treaties 

Report of Com. on Organization objects are to draw themselves 
together in a closer bond of union for the better protection of their 
rights the improvement of themselves and the preservation of 
their race 

Art 1 

Section 1 gives the boundaries of the Ind. Territory & the name 
of the Government viz Indian Territory 

Sec 2 guarantees to the citizens of each of the nations entering 
into this compact, the same rights of transit commerce, trade or 
exchange in any of said nations which he has in his own, subject 
only to consistency with existing treaties with the U. S. & the 
laws regulating trade & intercourse, & under such judicial regula- 
tions as are hereinafter provided. No rights of property or lands 
or funds owned by one nation shall be invaded by citizens of 
another and the rights of each nation to its lands, funds & other 
property remains sole and distinct to itself Any Indian nation 
now represented in this Council & which may hereafter lawfully 
enter the Ind Terr, or may now be lawfully in it, shall be admitted 
to representation & all the privileges of this joint Gov by ac- 
cepting the provisions of this Constitution 



372 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Art. 2 Sec 1-Provides 3 distinct departments, Legislative Ex- 
ecutive & Judicial for the powers of the Gov. 

Sec. 2 No one belonging to one of these departments shall ex- 
ercise the powers belonging to any other except as hereafter pre- 
scribed 

Art 111 

Sect. 1 Vests the Legislative power in a Senate & House of 
Representatives Style of enactment is by the General Assembly 
of The Indian Territory 

Sect 2 Provides that the Senate shall consist of one member 
from each nation whose population is 2000 and one member for 
every additional 2000 or fraction thereof greater than 1000 pro- 
vided that nations whose individual population does not equal 2000, 
may unite & be represented in the same ratio & Provided further 
that the Ottawas, Peorias & Quapaws shall be entitled to one 
Senator & the Senecas Wyandottes & Shawnees to one Senator 
& the Sacs & Foxes one Senator 

Sect. 3 limits eligibility to the General Assembly to bona fide 
citizens of the nation represented & to those who have attained the 
age of 25 yrs 

Sec. 4 House Representatives shall consist of one member for 
each nation and an additional member for every thousand popula- 
tion or fractional part of 1000, greater than 500 

gee 5 Members of the Gen Assembly are to be elected by the 
qualified voters of their respective nations, according to their laws 
or customs term of office is 2 years Vacancies to be filled 
as original Elections 

Sec. 6 Senate shall choose its own President & other Officers 
The House shall choose its Speaker & other officers Each House 
to judge of the qualifications & returns of its own members A 
majority constitutes a quorum for each house A smaller number 
may adjourn from day to day or take measures for compulsory at- 
tendance of absentees, as each house may provide 

Sec. 7 Each House shall provide its own rules of proceeding 
punish for disorderly behavior & with the concurrence of 2/3 expel 
a member but not twice for the same offence Each House 
shall keep a journal of its proceedings- 
Sec. 8 General Assembly shall have power to legislate upon all 
subjects pertaining to the intercourse & relations of the Ind. Terr., 
the arrest & extradition of criminals escaping from one nation to 
another the administration of justice between members of the 



NICHOLSON: TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 373 

several nations and persons other than Indians & members of said 
nations and the common defence & safety of the nations of said 
territory But they shall not legislate upon any other subjects 
than these 

Sec 9 Provides oath or affirmation of office obliging to a sup- 
port of the Constitution of the Ind. Territory & to a faithful & 
impartial discharge of official duty 

Sec. 10. Provides a per diem of $4. for every day's actual at- 
tendance in the Genl Assembly & $4 for every 20 miles of travel 
going & returning by the shortest practicable route to be certified 
by the presiding officer of the house No member to receive per 
diem compensation for more than 30 days at any annual session 

Sec 11 Except for treason, felony or breach of the peace, mem- 
bers are exempt from arrest during the sessions of the Gen Assembly 
or in going & returning 

Sec. 12 No power of suspending the laws of this territory shall 
be exercised except by the Genl Assembly or its authority No 
retrospective law or law impairing the obligation of contracts shall 
be passed 

Sec. 13 Gives power to Gen. Assembly to raise revenue but 
only as actually necessary & in accordance with law which law 
shall be uniform in its operations throughout the Terr. 

Sec. 14 All Appropriation bills shall originate in the House of 
Representatives but Senate may propose amendments or reject the 
same Other bills may originate in either house & be subject to 
the rejection or concurrence of the other 

Sec. 15. The House of Representatives shall have sole power of 
impeachment All impeachments to be tried by the Senate 
Senators being on oath & the Chief Justice presiding A concur- 
rence of 2/3 shall be necessary to conviction 

Sec 16 Governor & all civil officers liable to impeachment 
but punishment not to extend beyond removal from office & dis- 
qualification for holding any office of trust, honor, or profit in the 
Territory but the party whether convicted or acquitted shall be 
liable to indictment trial & punishment according to law as in 
other cases 

Art5 

Sect. 1 Judicial Power is vested in one Supreme Court three 
district Courts & such inferior Courts as may be provided by law 

Sec 2 Supreme Court to consist of three Judges to be appointed 
by the Governor, with the approval of the Senate, as district judges. 



374 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Two of said judges shall form a quorum of the Supreme Court for 
the transaction of business Official term 6 years one to be 
vacated in 2 years one in 4 & one in 6 &c The Chief Justice 
shall be the one appointed for 6 years & afterwards the Senior judge 
in office 

Sec. 3 Supreme Court to meet at Capital 1st Mondays in June 
& December to be a court of Apellate Jurisdiction from the Dis- 
trict Courts & of original jurisdiction in cases prescribed by law but 
such jurisdiction shall not interfere with the civil & criminal juris- 
diction retained by each separate nation by the treaties of 1866 

Sec. 4. Supreme & district judges shall have power to issue writs 
of habeas corpus & other necessary process 

Sec. 5 District Courts shall have original jurisdiction of all 
civil & criminal cases arising from the trade or intercourse between 
the several nations and all cases arising under the legislation of 
this Gov. according to law 

Sec. 6 Writs of Error, Bills of exceptions & appeals may be 
allowed from the final decisions of the district courts, as prescribed 
by law 

Sec. 7 Genl. Assembly to divide the Ind. Terr, into 3 districts of 
as nearly equal dimensions & population as possible assign a 
judge to each & provide for holding terms of the District Court 
in each at such times & places as may be deemed expedient 

Sec. 8 Judge must be 30 yrs of age of good character & suitable 
qualifications 

Sec. 9. No judge to sit upon a case in which he is interested or 
connected with either party by consanguinity or affinity, except by 
consent of parties & in case of disqualification, vacancies to be 
filled according to law 

Sec. 10 All writs & other process are to run in the name of the 
Indian Territory & bear test & be signed by the clerk issuing the 
same 

Sec. 11. Indictments conclude against the peace & dignity of the 
Ind Territory. 

Sec. 12 Every court to appoint its clerk to be qualified according 
to law & compensated also 



The General Assembly may propose such amendments to this 
constitution as three fourth of each branch may deem expedient & 
the Governor shall issue a proclamation directing all civil officers of 
the Territory to promulgate the same as extensively as possible 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 375 

within their respective limits at least six months previous to the 
annual session of the National Council of the nations parties hereto, 
& if three fourths of such national councils, at such next annual 
sessions shall ratify such proposed amendments they shall be 
valid to all intents & purposes as a part of this constitution 

Art. IV 

Sec. 1. The Executive power is vested in a Governor whose term 
of office shall be two years to be elected by the qualified voters of 
each nation on 1st Wednesday in April The mode of examining 
the returns the same as usual in such cases Governor must be 
30 yrs of age Compensation to be fixed by law liable to im- 
peachment His office to be filled (in case of vacancy), by the 
President of the Senate & The usual powers & duties of the Governor 
of a State or Territory are prescribed. He is also clothed with the 
veto power. Provision is also made for the appointment of a Secre- 
tary of the Ind. Territory & he is ex officio, the Treasurer also &c 
An Attorney General district attorneys, marshall & deputies 
are provided for The Bill of rights is essentially the same as in 
the Constitution of the United States and of the Several States of 
the Union. 

12 mo 19 

Council met after having had all of the 17th for interpreting & 
fully understanding the Constitution as they could do this better 
out of session than in it. Quorum Journal read Resolution 
allowing mileage to Smith & others who left their homes but failed 
to reach Okmulgee in time for the September Session before its 
adjournment Constitution read & interpreted the Second time 
Com. on Education presented a revised report adjourned to 2 
o'clock. 

2. P. M 19th 

Schedule Secretary to transmit a duly authenticated copy of the 
Constitution to each nation represented in this Council & to ask the 
ratification of the same by their respective Councils When the 
secretary receives official notification from % of the National 
Councils, of their ratification, the Secretary is to call together the 
delegates from those nations assenting in General Council and that 
Council shall provide for the election of Governor and members of 
the General Assembly fix the time for the meeting of the General 
Assembly, that it may provide for the necessary laws for putting 
this Constitution into working condition This Constitution shall 



376 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

not be obligatory upon any nation which does not duly ratify and 
adopt the Same continued to read & interpret the Constitution 
for 3rd time Adjourned to 9 A. M. tomorrow. 

12 mo. 20th 

Proceeded to finish 3d reading of Constitution The Constitu- 
tion was finally adopted ayes 52, nays 3 Adjourned to 2 o'clock. 

2 P. M. 

Council voted, viva voce, as to where the next Council meet It 
was, as follows Okmulgee 28 Ft Gibson 13 & North Fork 
Town 10 decided to meet at Okmulgee on the 1st monday of June 
1871 

The President made some remarks congratulatory of the kind- 
ness, &c of the delegates A vote of thanks was tendered the 
President for his impartial, and faithful discharge of the duties of 
the Chair Also a vote of thanks to Thomas Miller Edwd Earle & 
myself for our assistance &c to the members of the Council in 
their important work At the close of Enoch Hoag's remarks 
Thomas Miller was engaged in earnest vocal supplication I 
responded in a few words of gratitude for the kindness of the Council 
in permitting us to be present in its deliberations and expressive of 
my deep interest in their work & my earnest desire for its complete 
success &c 

We had a most satisfactory adjournment after which most of the 
members came up to give us a cordial shake of the hand and say, 
"good bye" 

We have boarded since being here with Silas Smith who is a 
white man but his wife is a colored woman Their dwelling and 
cook house are in the yard and the dining room is under the same 
roof as our room. Five of us have slept in this one room and some- 
times eight during the past fortnight In the day time and evening 
our room has frequently been thronged and as the floor is very 
limber it has been difficult to write much, for both the above reasons 
Yet E. Earle C. Frazier & myself have managed to do the cor- 
respondence for 5 or 6 newspapers as we were desirous that accurate 
reports should be furnished to the public press of the proceedings of 
the Council and of our observations of the working of things in this 
portion of the Territory Amongst the Creeks there are many in- 
stances of intermixture between the Indian & African races Four 
or five of the delegates are at least half African With the other 
tribes, there is much more of an aversion to a social equality with 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 377 

the colored race Indeed with many, there is much the same feel- 
ing as exists in our Southern States. 

These were slaveholding nations before the war very many of 
them went into the Confederate Army and when the war closed the 
Government of the United States dictated the abolition of Slavery 
amongst them as it did in the Southern States It is perfectly 
natural that the old feeling should still be to some extent apparent, 
but we may hope that it will gradually disappear as a new genera- 
tion comes upon the stage and new circumstances surround these 
nations 

[Seminole Business] 

According to provisions of Seminole treaty of 1856, the sum of 
$3,000. was to be appropriated annually for ten years for Educa- 
tional purposes the sum of $2000 for agricultural purposes and 
the sum of $2200. for Smith & Shop work, annually for 10 years 
The former appropriation is due up to Aug 1, 1861 when the Con- 
federate treaty was signed The two last are due to December 
1st 1860 The Seminole treaty of 1866 (Art. 8 & 9) reaffirms and 
assumes all the provisions of the treaty of 1856 not conflicting with 
the treaty of 1866. The Seminole Government believes that the 
above monies are still due them & desire they may be paid to Supt 
of Ind Affrs & by him to the Council to be used for Support of 
Schools Smith work &c amongst them 

[Creek Business] 

Of the $200,000 provided in article 3rd of Creek Treaty 1866, it 
is alleged that 25 per cent was paid to Perry Fuller, as Claim agent, 
by direction of the Creek Council, Gov. Checota at its head in 
presence of D. N. Mclntosh T. Barnett $2000 was paid for 
the damages to the Mission building and $10,000 were set apart for 
the payment of the delegates who went to Washington to ratify the 
treaty Of this $10,000, it is alleged that a son of Agent Dunn 
received $3,000 & that $7,000 were placed in the treasury of the 
Creek Nation - - T. Barnett, treasurer, & that the delegates have 
never received any compensation Some say that the $10,000 were 
specially appropriated by Congress & did not come out of the 
$200,000 

Perry Fuller j 

F. Lense J 

D. N. McDonald 



McDonald 1 T ., , , _. , . , 
a .,, } Little Rock, Ark. 

Smith J 



378 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Maj Dunn Agent of Creeks 

Capt. Fields & Lieut. Joslyn assessed the losses of the loyal 
Creeks freedmen soldiers &c at $6,000,000 It was cut down 
to $1,800,000, and $100,000 directed to be paid out of the money 
received by the U. States from the Seminoles. The Seminoles paid 
the U. S. 50 cts per acre The U. States agree in Art. 3 to pay to 
the Creek Nation 30 cts per acre for the West half of its territory 
& in Article 4 they agree to pay out of the proceeds of these lands, 
the losses of the loyal Creeks, freedmen & soldiers, at least to the 
amount of $100,000 In effect the Creek Nation pays $100,000 
out of the proceeds of the sale of its lands, to the loyal portion of 
its citizens as indemnification for their losses in the war The 
Government of the U. States pays no part of it really The money 
paid by the Gov. for the Sac & Fox reservation is now due to the 
Creek Nation, with interest on $275,000 Sac & Fox land costs 
$144,000 at $.30 pr acre 

1218 

Thomas Miller, Edward Earle & myself went to a meeting for 
worship held in a Creek School house near the residence of Checota 
the Governor of the nation They have meeting there every 
Sabbath at 11. o'clock The Governor usually preaches But 
today after singing in the Creek language, Thomas Miller preach 
at length & the Governor interpreted Then they sang again & 
Wm Frye, prayed with much animation in the Choctaw language 
then they sung very impressively in Creek The hymn in English 
is "Come along" "Come along" Then the Governor spoke a 
while in Creek & pronounced the benediction One woman was 
shedding tears during the singing and another woman began to 
tremble & gradually to bow her head until she became very -much 
bent forwards & was in a universal tremor her shoe heals making 
a most rapid tapping upon the floor This soon ceased when the 
singing closed but she showed the earnestness of her feeling in 
coming forward at the close of the meeting & shaking hands with all 
in our vicinity This was remarkable for an Indian Woman they 
are usually very backward & keep their faces downward in the 
presence of Strangers I think the woman, above mentioned was 
partly African as her hair was slightly curly this may partly 
account for her agitation as the colored people are more demonstra- 
tive in their worship 

1219 

Snow Storm 4 or 5 inches of Snow much melted & still falling 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 379 

12 mo. 20 

Cold clear Council adjourned. 

12 mo. 21 

Clear cold morning We left early & soon found the Creeks 
obstructed by ice so as to require the aid of our Axe & of poles to 
make way for the horses About 9 o'clock Col. Wm P. Ross & 
Allen Ross came up riding in an open Buggy with two horses & 
Judge Key on horseback they took the lead and were of great 
service in breaking the ice In one creek with 4 feet of water as 
Col. Ross' horses came to the ice upon the further shore, one of 
them with great sagacity, reared up & threw his fore feet upon the 
ice & crushed it then advancing again, he repeated the operation 
and they next time, leaped upon the bank and took the buggy 
squarely up on the shore line ice After our horses had mounted 
the bank & the front wheels came in contact with the frozen bank, 
it was impracticable to raise the wheels until we all jumped out 
the horses had to make a turn very suddenly & the ice was so solid 
upon the hill side that it was very difficult for them We drove 
on until near night It became cloudy early in the day & was 
very cold We succeeded in getting entertainment at the house 
of a colored man named [omission] and were permitted to have 
the sole use of a room about 11 feet square with a fire place & one 
narrow bed Mr Thompson another of the delegates joined us a 
little after we got in so there were 8 of us We furnished our own 
coffee & bread and they gave us some sweet potatoes & fried pork 
& we made a good supper We then took the bedstead out of the 
house & put down our robes, blankets &c & we 8 wedged ourselves 
into the 11 feet of width & having some hay spread on the floor, 
under our robes & a good fire, we succeeded in being comfortable 

[Creek Agency] 

12/22 

In the morning, it was colder a strong N. West wind & snow- 
ing moderately We were up early, took a cup of coffee, some 
cheese & crackers & then started on our way The snow storm 
increased & at 10% we reached the Creek Agency & stopped for 
dinner & to get the horses shoes fixed so they would not slip on the 
ice so badly It has been very hard on our horses They had to 
stand out all night last night, though had blankets & plenty of 
food & also had grain this morning before we left We find very 
comfortable quarters here at the Creek Agency 



380 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Evening It was nearly sunset when the Blacksmith finished 
shoeing the horses & so we concluded to remain here to night as 
there was no house nearer than 8 miles & we were strangers to the 
road 

12/23 

It was extremely cold this morning One of our Company is a 
native of Canada & two of New England & they seem to think it 
is about as cold as they almost ever felt it We got off after 
early breakfast & got down to the Arkansaw opposite the mouth of 
Grand River & a little below the mouth of Verdigris & in sight of 
Fort Gibson. The steam Ferry Boat was on the other side & they 
said the pipes were frozen So we waited all day until dark, they 
assuring us they would soon be over We had a fire under the hill 
& did not suffer extremely with the cold After night we succeeded 
in getting permission to stay in a house near by & 4 of us occupied a 
room with 4 others (strangers) who had come down to cross the 
river but had to beg a chance to stay in the house 

We fixed beds upon the floor, spreading our robes blankets &c 
We had a good fire in the forepart of the night & were comfortable 
but as the fire went down it became very cold in the room & at a 
little before 5 o'clock, I got up & put on wood As soon as the 
fire got fairly under way we were able to rest a little more comfort- 
ably as our beds were as close to it as we dared to place them. 

12/24 

We learn this morning that the real reason why the boat does not 
run, is the ice They fear it will be cut through The Surface of 
the Arkansas is covered with masses & sheets of floating ice, & in 
the channel, but the still water is hard frozen It is beautifully 
clear this morning wind has changed from N. W. to East or 'South 
East We suppose it will soon be warmer. 

This place is called Nevins' Ferry & Nevins receives $1000 per 
year rent for the privilege of landing the Ferry Boat on his premises. 
Edward Earle & Francis King (the Ottawa delegate, half French, 
a machinist) have gone over in a little canoe To night they 
return & say that after they had thawed the pipes, they found the 
boat fast upon a log The pump rod broke & they had to go to 
Ft Gibson to get it repaired All hands have worked hard all day 
and moved the boat somewhat & think that in 3 hours effort in the 
morning they will succeed In the mean time the river continues 
to fall & the boat rests more heavily so we cannot tell when we 
shall get over I believe we are favored with a good degree of 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 381 

patience & feel thankful for health and many comforts, considering 
our situation 

12/25 

It is now past 1 o'clock P. M They have been working hard all 
day and the boat is still fast We have understood that they move 
it a little & expect to get it off before night Enoch, Edward & 
Francis King are over helping the men at the boat & so are many 
others Cyrus & I have packed up, harnessed the horses & paid 
our bill, hoping to see the old boat move her wheels, but we may 
after all have to stay where we are a while longer 

We learn that all the ferries in this part of the river are im- 
passable so that we should fare no better elsewhere than here 
The weather has moderated but the wind is chilly from the south- 
east and it is quite cloudy It looks quite as if we might have 
another snow storm. We expected to be in Lawrence to-day & to 
meet the Committee there to-morrow unless they have changed the 
time and place of meeting. We have done our best to meet the 
engagement. It is simply impossible to make any accurate calcula- 
tions about traveling through this country 

We thought we had given ourselves ample time in arranging for 
the Committee meeting. But it will require 4 days yet for us to 
reach Lawrence even though we could cross the river to-day & if the 
snow melts suddenly we may expect high water in some of the 
Creeks between here & Kansas 

Well at half past one P. M. the old Boat blew her whistle and 
after various efforts to reach the landing places & she finally came 
so near that we succeeded in getting aboard & by 4 o'clock we were 
on the north bank of the Arkansaw or rather we had to be landed 
on the west bank of Grand River. We were rejoiced & our horses 
seemed as much so as we We drove 15 miles although a part of 
it was through the woods & would have been exceedingly bad but 
for being frozen Came to a Stage Station which was already 
filled with men mostly very rough profane fellows but fortunately 
not drunk One of the men Captain of a surveying party was so 
clever as to give up his bed to Supt Hoag as he had a mattress & 
blankets of his own & as I was rather unwell from a cold, Edward 
Earle made me share the bed with Enoch refusing it himself He 
& Cyrus had all our robes, most of the blankets &c & said they were 
comfortable F. King & E. Black, got a place before the fire in the 
family room Edward & Cyrus spread down in the dining room or 
kitchen which was as open as a barn Enoch & I with 11 or 12 



382 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

others occupied to the full the company room I believe there were 
two or three families in the family room where King & Black slept 
So the house was full 

12/26 

Edward was up early, started a fire in the cook stove & made a 
pot of coffee warmed our frozen biscuit & so we breakfasted on 
coffee, cheese & Biscuit & left a little before sunrise and reached 
Alberty's Store about ll 1 /^ & stopped for dinner Here we met 
[F. ?] Adair a prominent Cherokee lawyer who lives opposite this 
place, east of Grand River & is detained by ice The weather is 
still very cold though clear to-day The roads are frozen & 
smooth & our horses get along finely since their shoes were fixed 
We begin to hope we may reach the railroad to-morrow night as we 
are making greater speed than we have hitherto done on this journey 
We are now 37 miles north of the Arkansaw 

Night Well we are at Cochran's, 40 miles from Chetopa We 
arrived here just at dusk and half an hour before getting here we 
noticed that Faithful Jennie one of our wheel horses seemed sick 
As soon as we stopped the Ambulance here, she dropped upon the 
ground She seemed in great agony & in 20 minutes she was 
dead We cannot tell what was the matter She had done her 
part most faithfully upon this long journey & and it was a grief 
to us to lose her though, as we are now within one day's journey of 
the railroad, we can easily make it with three horses But a 
faithful performance of duty endears even our domestic animals to 
us We learn that about 50 horses have died this year on the 
road from Chetopa to Ft Gibson 

12 mo/27 

We rested pretty well last night though the accommodations were 
poor 

We left at 8% o'clock & a man who stayed there put his horse 
in & drove 10 miles & then we put one of our horses ahead of the 
other two & reached Chetopa at 3% o'clock I trust we feel 
thankful to get to the railroad again & hope to be able to leave at 5 
in the morning & to reach Lawrence in the Afternoon 
****** 

At Chetopa, Enoch Hoag Edward Earle & myself adjusted our 
accounts 

Enoch has in very many instances paid my expenses, as his assist- 
ant, he being allowed an assistant by the Government Edward 



NICHOLSON : TOUR OF INDIAN AGENCIES 383 

Earle has supplied most of our Commissary Stores My part of 
Edward's bill is 

$32.70 

My board bill at Okmulgee 10.62 

My other expenses are 4 . 18 

Before Leaving Lawrence for the Territory, I had paid out in traveling 

expenses since 8/13 142.00 

My traveling expenses from 8/16 to 12/28 $189.50 

Fare from Lawrence to Washington $42.00 

Sleeping car 2.00 

Supper 12/29 75 

Dinner 12/30 

Baggage &c 1 .50 



12/28 

Left Chetopa at 5 A. M. 

Just before leaving the hotel Enoch came to our room & said that 
he had lost his key and wanted a collar I had just closed my 
trunk, but told him I would open it & get him one When I got 
upon the train I found that I had lost my own keys I suppose 
that I locked my trunk & laid the keys upon the floor to adjust the 
other fastenings & then failed to pick them up I mention this 
incident, to remind myself of my own carelessness and to make me 
careful about complaining of the carelessness of other people We 
were momentarily expecting the omnibus to call for us & were of 
course in some haste especially as they failed to waken us as early 
as we expected them to do Upon arriving at Lawrence, we found 
Joseph Jonathan Hoag there and with his usual readiness, he set 
about getting me some more keys & succeeded in supplying the loss 
of Enoch & myself 

"Review 11/19 No. 13 pg 194 

"The School is not a success & yet I believe Nathan & Mary Ann 
Pinson are doing the best they can The Kaws are very much 
opposed to sending their children to school &c " 

I learn that some Friends have drawn the inference from the 
above quotation, that I consider the want of success to be due to 
incapacity in the Superintendents above named I did not mean 
this at all I believe them to be earnest, faithful and capable 
laborers but the difficulties against which they have to contend are 
very great I felt very great sympathy with them and am sorry 
that in the haste of correspondence, I should have used expressions 



384 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

which could possibly be construed unfavorably to these dear 
friends 

The want of success does not refer to any defect in the manage- 
ment or mode of teaching. The children actually at School are 
doing all that could be expected The teaching is successful 1 
only meant that the school as a paying Institution is not a success 
The Superintendents are allowed $100 for each pupil, per annum 
Now it costs nearly as much to run the establishment with only a 
few children as with 40 The great difficulty lies in the disinclina- 
tion of the Indians to keep their children at the School" 

Sent to Review 12/29 as explanation 

12/28 

We were favored to reach Lawrence this afternoon I learned that 
the Committee were not in session A letter from J. B. Garrett 
instructs E. Earle & myself to attend to such matters as we deem 
necessary with Enoch Hoag & then come East. We endeavored to 
do so & left Lawrence 2% P. M. & at Kansas City, Edward took the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph, road via Chicago & Boston & I the North 
Missouri for Washington via Richmond, la We had been almost 
constantly together for more than 11 weeks and with our other 
traveling companions had been closely united in our views & feelings 
about the work we were engaged in We parted, as we had 
journeyed in good feelings towards one another 



The Gompers-Allen Debate on the 
Kansas Industrial Court 

DOMENICO GAGLJARDO 

ON THE night of May 28, 1920, in New York City, occurred the 
climax in the controversy over the Kansas Court of Industrial 
Relations. Carnegie hall was crowded to capacity. Every seat was 
taken, and fire regulations were stretched to allow standing room. 
People from all walks of life were there, for everyone expected a 
great debate, a debate which in the words of its chairman, the Hon. 
Alton B. Parker, was perhaps to be the most momentous clash since 
the historic meeting between Lincoln and Douglas. 

The industrial court law had been enacted a few months earlier 
after severe and trying strikes had caused some suffering and much 
public indignation. Upon the operation of this act the nation's 
interest was riveted. Against it organized labor stormed furiously, 
while its adherents offered a relentless and even vociferous defense. 
The debaters, Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federa- 
tion of Labor, and Henry J. Allen, governor of Kansas, were recog- 
nized leaders of men, were unusually skillful debaters, and by their 
previous work had given abundant proof of deep faith in the posi- 
tions they defended. 1 

Unfortunately, the question to be debated had not been specifi- 
cally formulated. Mr. Gompers had desired to debate the question: 
"Has the state a right to prohibit strikes?" while Mr. Allen had in- 
sisted on the broader statement: "The Industrial Controversy; 
President Gompers will present the remedy of the American Federa- 
tion. Mr. Allen will present the remedy as proposed in the In- 
dustrial Court." 2 Consequently, though the cheers, applause, groans, 
and boos of the audience testified eloquently to the interest and 
satisfaction of the equally divided adherents, there was nevertheless 
little consistent opposition of argumentation. It would seem fair 
to say that in this historic debate the minds of the two contestants 
rarely crossed. Each man developed his own project, and each 
merely put on record his own views of the struggle between capital 
and labor. 

1. A representative of the American Federation of Labor challenged Governor Allen to 
debate the industrial court law with Clarence Darrow. This challenge Governor Allen declined, 
but suggested a debate with Gompers. New York Times, April 26, 1920, 17 :7. 

2. Henry J. Allen, The Party of the Third Part (N. Y., Harper and Brothers), pp. 93, 94. 

(385) 

255574 



386 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Mr. Gompers began by stating that the issue involved two princi- 
ples: On the one hand, freedom, justice, and democracy; on the other 
hand, tyranny and injustice. He assumed it is a fundamental 
principle that liberty consists of the ownership of one's self, that 
the right to organize, strike and peacefully picket flows naturally 
from one's ownership of himself, and that therefore this right is 
essential to liberty. 

If ownership of free men is vested in them and in them alone, they have 
not only the right to withhold their labor power, but to induce others to make 
common cause with them, and to withhold theirs that the greatest advantage 
may accrue to all. It further follows that if free men may avail themselves 
of the lawful rights of withholding their labor power, they have the right to 
do all lawful things in pursuit of that lawful purpose. And neither courts, 
injunctions nor other processes have any proper application to deny to free 
men these lawful, constitutional, natural and inherent rights. 3 

These principles, Mr. Gompers maintained, are among the inalien- 
able rights embodied in the Declaration of Independence and are to 
be found in the statute laws, especially in the Clayton act, and in 
court decisions. 

Not only is it true, he argued, that the right to organize, strike 
and picket is "lawful, constitutional, natural and inherent," i. e., 
"divine," but that it is essential to the public welfare. The rocky 
road of progress, he pointed out, is long and hard, rilled with obscure 
turns and treacherous pitfalls. Valiant bands must of necessity find 
the way and lead others onward and upward. In the vanguard are 
the trade unionists, leading the toiling masses to a better life. By 
being organized into unions, this noble army makes greater and 
more rapid headway. And it is the better able to overcome those 
obstacles that naturally lie, or are deliberately placed, in the. path- 
way of their progress. The strike, that terrible weapon which Mr. 
Allen dreads so much, is used only as a last resort. When all other 
means have been tried and found ineffective, then, by the sheer force 
of a strike, the obstacle is overcome, and the onward march is again 
resumed. The immortal Lincoln could say: "Thank God we have a 
system of labor where there can be a strike. Whatever the pressure, 
there is a point where the workingman may stop." 

Violence, he asserted, "in the form of any attack upon life, body 
or property," is of course wrong, and those responsible for it must 
be punished to the end that it be wiped out. But to tie men to their 
jobs by making strikes unlawful is a confession that republican 

3. Gompers -Allen Debate (N. Y., E. P. Button & Co., 1920). All quotations are taken 
from this book except where otherwise noted. 



GAGLIARDO: THE GOMPERS-ALLEN DEBATE 387 

institutions and democracy no longer exist. And it is a subterfuge 
to say that antistrike legislation does not deny the individual the 
right to quit. The dissatisfied worker may indeed quit his job, "and 
just imagine what a wonderful influence such an individual would 
have ... in the United States Steel Corporation." Deep in 
every man's breast is the hope of freedom, of better times for himself 
and his own; and only a poltroon would refuse to struggle for a 
better day for himself, his dependents and those who are to follow. 
Strikes, to be sure, are frequently uncomfortable and make for in- 
convenience; but there are worse things, and among them is that 
"degraded manhood" which results from antistrike legislation. 

And how good have unions and strikes been, for America, land of 
liberty, whose Declaration of Independence was signed in the hall 
of a carpenters' union! Precious children have been rescued from 
the black depths of yawning coal pits, Mr. Gompers declared, from 
the interminably weary hours of mill and factory, and have been 
put into schools and into God's sweet sunshine to develop manhood 
and womanhood. Men and women have been rescued from the 
degrading sweatshops of the needle trades and from other equally 
degrading "home" work, when laws for their protection enacted by 
the state have failed. Those who favor nostrums such as that em- 
bodied in the Kansas industrial court law are men who, "impatient 
of the struggle of the human family, want to find a royal road to 
the goal of tranquility and peace." Alas! There is no royal road. 
During the World War, Mr. Gompers said, American trade union- 
ists loyally fought abroad and faithfully labored at home, to the 
end that autocracy might forever be destroyed. And now, now that 
the victory abroad has been won, they find that selfsame autocracy 
being forced upon them, find their hard-won liberty being destroyed 
at home. What a travesty on our sacred dead in Flanders Fields. 
The world is seething with deep unrest. In many countries this un- 
rest is expressed in terms of mild or radical revolution. In our 
country it is expressed in terms of labor organizations and their 
activities. Our labor movement has brought so much light and hope 
and opportunity to the masses that every law which forbids strikes 
will be futile, and "will simply make criminals and lawbreakers out 
of workmen who are honest, patriotic citizens." "We are at the part- 
ing of the ways," he warned, "and the time is at hand when it must 
be determined whether eternal principles of freedom, of justice and 
democracy shall hold sway or be supplanted by the tyranny and 
the injustice as of old." 



388 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Governor Allen began his presentation by describing in some detail 
the events leading to the passage of the industrial court law. There 
was the lifting of the fuel ban by Doctor Garfield, the national coal 
strike and the exorbitant demands of the union, the receivership of 
Kansas mines, the governor's own fruitless efforts to induce Kansas 
miners to return to their work, the call for volunteers to operate the 
mines, and the production of coal by those volunteers. Interspersed 
throughout his talk were "human interest" stories. There were 
stories of shivering patients in a local hospital, of a poor washer- 
woman fearful of harsh and revengeful unionists, of groups of union 
miners willing to work, but afraid of their leaders, of a brave coal 
miner who, refusing to strike, was ostracised by his fellow unionists, 
and of uniformed ex-service men moving bravely and resolutely to 
the coal-mining front. But all this was not the substance of his 
remarks. 

The substance of Governor Allen's statement was that the public 
was faced with a formidable condition. Time was, said Mr. Allen, 
when unions were harmless. That was thirty-five or forty years 
ago, when economic conditions were simpler. Under the guiding 
hand of those early unions, progress was made, victories were won 
from reluctant capital; and the governor could say he was glad for 
all "legitimate" progress made by unions. But now that times have 
greatly changed, that economic life has become so interdependent 
and so exceedingly complex, unions have become truly dangerous. 
What was liberty then is tyranny now. "Organization has become 
a huge thing like a Frankenstein in its potentiality. Its power seems 
unsuspected by Mr. Gompers, who has watched it since its inception 
as a crude, rudimentary thing, devoted to simple and laudable 
objects." 

The right of an individual worker to quit his job cannot be ques- 
tioned, and it is not questioned, the governor said. The Kansas law 
specifically safeguarded that right. But a strike? That is different. 
A strike is a private conflict between capital and labor. And more 
important still, it is a conflict that is initiated by union leaders 
rather than by union workers. The Kansas industrial court law was 
not really aimed at the workers; it was aimed at their leaders. "The 
law does not take away from the individual workman the divine 
right to quit work." It merely takes away from Mr. Gompers the 
"divine right to order a man to quit work." Naturally, union leaders 
resent this. Yet the law does not even take away the worker's 
right to organize and bargain collectively through union leaders, for 



GAGLIAKDO: THE GOMPERS- ALLEN DEBATE 389 

these rights are both specifically safeguarded in the act. But it does 
require reasonable continuity of operations, and eliminates that 
"economic pressure" from both workers and employers, of which the 
public has "had enough." 

To-day, he continued, strikes bring unendurable suffering to an 
innocent party the public. That is a great wrong. The union 
worker may gain, but the public loses, more even than the union 
gains. Surely, in a civilized society, this should not be. There 
should be some way to prevent the needless suffering of the party of 
the third part. Man's activities in other lines have been curtailed 
and regulated for the public welfare. Why not here? Already the 
state has protected the workers. Child-labor, anti-black-listing, 
anti-injunction, convict labor, free employment services, mechanics 7 
liens, laws regulating the working conditions of women and minors, 
safety codes for mines and factories, and other laws have already 
been enacted and made effective. "The quarrel between capital and 
labor is the only private conflict the government still allows to go 
on." Unions and strikes are costly. High dues and loss of wages 
take a heavy toll from workers. 

The time has now come when the capital-labor conflict should 
also be regulated. Surely, Governor Allen insisted, a just govern- 
ment can do better by mankind if it makes impossible a recurrence 
of those awful conditions which prevailed in the winter of 1919-1920, 
when miners and operators were at each others throats and the 
public was helplessly freezing. A fair law can impose justice upon 
both employers and workmen and give first consideration to the in- 
terest of the public. This Kansas has done, and the industrial court 
law is the only effective method yet attempted to protect the public 
interest. The right to strike has been curtailed. A great hue and 
cry has gone up, and it is shouted from the house tops that labor 
has been deprived of its only weapon. But it is an adequate answer 
to say that labor has been given "in every honorable controversy the 
more reliable weapon of the state government." Indeed, many 
workers, even some trade-union leaders, and many prominent persons 
have expressed approval of the industrial court. Trade unions in 
Kansas are actually using it. For, although the wheels of justice 
may grind slowly, they grind exceedingly fine, and this is being more 
clearly recognized by thoughtful persons. 

In brief outline these were the principal arguments of the two 
opponents. During the course of the debate, as each alternated with 
the other in presenting his ideas, both Mr. Gompers and Governor 



390 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Allen necessarily took some cognizance of the other's remarks, and 
there was some thrusting and parrying, but for the most part this 
was done only in a desultory and haphazard manner. At one point, 
perhaps the most significant one in the entire debate, Governor Allen 
asked Mr. Gompers three questions: 

When a dispute between capital and labor brings on a strike affecting the 
production or distribution of the necessaries of life, thus threatening the public 
peace and impairing the public health, has the public any rights in such a 
controversy, or is it a private war between capital and labor? 

If you answer this question in the affirmative, Mr. Gompers, how would you 
protect the rights of the public? 

And . . . who had the divine right to forbid the switchmen to strike in 
their outlaw strike? Who controls this divine right to quit work? 

This thrust struck home. The philosophy of the unionism Mr. 
Gompers preached was of the "more here and now for us" variety. 
If the public is hurt, why that is too bad, but we must progress. Let 
the employer pass the burden on to the consumer, to the public. 
Yet he couldn't say this, for then Governor Allen would have made 
his point. 

Mr. Gompers therefore attempted first to put off the answer. "If 
I had the time, I would answer the governor." From the audience 
came cries of "You can't! You can't!" This nettled Mr. Gompers, 
and he shouted: "I will prove it to you, if I live long enough." Then 
he attempted to parry the thrust. It is "really a catch question" 
comparable to the question "Do you still beat your wife?" "Let me 
say this, however, that an innocent child can ask more questions of 
his father. . . ." Here he was again interrupted by laughter and 
great applause, and cries from the audience exhorted him to "Answer 
it! Answer it!" But the veteran president of the American Federa- 
tion of Labor could only say in reply: "I assure you of an answer, 
if I have the time, even this evening." 

The questions were not answered during the course of the debate. 
All that the idol of organized labor could say was that if strikes in 
this country had prostrated the economic system, there might be 
some justification for the questions, but that the United States, with 
all its strikes, led the world in production. He added that "if 
strikes were the abomination and the curse that some people want 
to attribute to them, then China ought to stand at the head of 
civilization." 

A month later Mr. Gompers attempted in a supplementary state- 
ment to answer Governor Allen's questions. I shall discuss first 
Mr. Gompers' reply to the third question. The question concerning 



GAGLIARDO: THE GOMPERS- ALLEN DEBATE 391 

"rebel" strikes, i. e., those not authorized by unions and opposed by 
union officials, no doubt greatly troubled Mr. Gompers. Had he 
answered it properly, he should have had to distinguish between 
"regular" and "rebel" strikes. This would have led him openly to 
qualify the "divine" right to strike, and would necessarily have led 
to other qualifications. But the question was not properly answered. 
Mr. Gompers said it was absurd and revealed the insincerity of the 
critics. "Labor is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't," he 
declared. The whole thing boils down to this, that a "minority, 
goaded by employers beyond endurance," defies the majority. "That 
is all there is to that." 

This is certainly an unsatisfactory answer, assuming that the 
strike is "divine," or is an inherent right. For on that assumption 
no one, including union officials and even a majority of the members 
of a union, has the right to oppose a strike. But if, on the contrary, 
the right to strike is based essentially on democratic principles, which 
theory the writer accepts, then Mr. Gompers' answer is sound as 
far as it goes. Yet it does not go so far as some might wish. For 
the same democratic principles justify the state, which includes the 
union, in forbidding any or all strikes. Thus Mr. Gompers' answer 
was rather an argumentum ad hominem than a reasoned reply. 

In discussing the question relating to the public welfare, Mr. 
Gompers tried first to evade it by saying that the language was im- 
proper because it described a strike as a "private war between capital 
and labor," which, he said, is perilously near thoughtlessness or 
ridicule of mankind's struggle towards an ideal. Governor Allen had 
not really described the conflict in that way ; he had asked if such a 
struggle was a private war. Then came another attempt to evade 
the issue in the statement that to the employer employment has 
meant profit while to the workers it has meant a "means of sustain- 
ing life." This statement might have been lifted bodily from the 
works of Karl Marx, for whom, it must be added, Mr. Gompers had 
no love. 

Large strikes, Mr. Gompers continued, temporarily affect the 
general public, but the general public includes union men and women, 
who account for one-fourth of the total. Now when a strike affects 
the production and distribution of the necessaries of life, thus 
threatening the public peace and impairing the public health, he 
admitted, the public does have rights. Here for the first time Mr. 
Gompers really joined the issue, and could be expected to explain 
what are the public rights and perhaps how they are protected. 



392 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

But that he did not do. He merely said that when these strikes 
occur, the union strikers are usually the first to recognize that the 
public has rights. But how do unionists show this recognition? 
Mr. Gompers did not say, did not even suggest. Here he might have 
struck a blow for organized labor. Had he shown that striking trade 
unionists do concern themselves with the public interest Governor 
Allen's sword would have been broken! Instead, he contented him- 
self with saying that there are few such serious strikes which so 
affect the public. More evasion on the part of Mr. Gompers, and he 
asserted that most of these have been "strikes in which employers, 
or public officials influenced by the employers, have created the 
breach of peace by the use of thugs, armed guards and detectives," 
a statement which contains only too much truth, but which is quite 
beside the point. 

And then for once he really defined his position. "The public has 
no rights which are superior to the toiler's right to live and to his 
right to defend himself against oppression." This constitutes the 
first ground, the middle ground, and the final ground on which Mr. 
Gompers stood. The trade unionist is in the vanguard of human 
progress. "So far as labor is concerned, the right to strike must be 
and will be maintained, not only as a measure of self-defense and 
self-advancement, but as a measure necessary to public progress." 
When, but only when, "industry ceases to be operated for profit 
alone" will it be time to "relax that eternal militant vigilance which 
has saved the workers from the abyss and given them a position of 
power and intelligence fitting our Republic and our time." 

What have we here? Samuel Gompers, arch-enemy of socialism, 
converted to the hated doctrine? I think not. We have rather a 
man who has been pushed to the wall, inadequately armed and fight- 
ing desperately. 

This is strictly in accord with the philosophy of the trade unionism 
which Mr. Gompers represented. That unionism is almost totally 
devoid of altruistic principles. Mr. Gompers maintained that in 
bettering their own conditions, trade unionists improved the lot of 
the masses. This, I think, is true. But it is also true that the im- 
provement of the masses is purely and simply a by-product, and the 
dominant type of trade unionism does not concern itself with the 
by-product. Mr. Gompers was unable to answer Governor Allen's 
main question, and for the inescapable reason that the public wel- 
fare was not one of the prime considerations in his brand of 
unionism. 



GAGLIARDO: THE GOMPERS- ALLEN DEBATE 393 

Perhaps the question was unfair in a debate. It is no simple mat- 
ter to evolve on the spur of the moment a short answer to a momen- 
tous question. 4 But I do not think the question was unfair. For 
months Governor Allen had been speaking before groups in different 
parts of the country, extolling the virtues and the success of the Kan- 
sas industrial court law. And Mr. Gompers trailed after him, try- 
ing to undermine what the governor had said. The fundamental 
problem involved in the court law was not new to Mr. Gompers. 
Any trained debater should easily have forecast the tenor of Gover- 
nor Allen's argument. Why, then, when for the first time in the 
history of American organized labor, the challenge of the public in- 
terest was effectively hurled at trade unionism, did Samuel Gompers, 
the foremost spokesman of the American trade union movement, 
persistently evade the challenge? I can see only one answer. Gom- 
perian trade-union philosophy had not adequately felt and con- 
sidered the challenge. 

But a different type of union leader, representing a different brand 
of unionism, might have answered the question, even on the spur of 
the moment. Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Cloth- 
ing Workers, might have said that the struggles of his union were for 
the purpose of introducing a better industrial organization, one which 
promised not only to better the conditions of the worker, but to in- 
crease the efficiency of industry and to assure the public a better and 
a more certain supply of goods. 5 The soundness of this reasoning 
most certainly would not have appealed to all men. But the issue 
would have been definite. The question could then have been de- 
bated. Trade unionism could then have attempted to show that its 
methods are superior to state regulation. It would have been pos- 
sible to appeal to science and reason rather than to emotion and 
sentimentalism. The strike could have been considered pragmatic 
rather than divine. But it was not so. And at this crucial point 
where the minds of these two men clashed, Governor Allen un- 
doubtedly succeeded in inflicting the greater damage. 

Governor Allen answered Mr. Gompers' supplementary statement 
in a stinging sur-rebuttal. That statement, Governor Allen said, 
was in essence this: "The public be damned." The toiler's right to 
live is not questioned. But many great strikes are called rather 
"to dictate the terms of life to society." Mr. Gompers failed to 
distinguish between a strike in private industry and one in an 

4. "The Kansas Challenge to Unionism," New Republic, v. 27, No. 339, June 1, 1921, p. 4. 

5. Ibid., p. 5. 



394 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

essential industry, which attempts to "coerce the public" and force 
the issue by means of economic pressure or distress. To say that 
industrial conflict in essential industries cannot be settled by the 
state is equivalent to saying that we must be governed by organized 
capital or organized labor. The capital-labor conflict is anti-social, 
and "there is no element of progress in the strike. It is reactionary." 
The collective bargaining which Mr. Gompers offered as a basis of 
industrial peace "is not a conciliatory or harmonizing function, but 
a one-sided arrangement whereby the employee dictates to the em- 
ployer and lets the devil take the hindermost, which is usually the 
public." 

Here, I think, Governor Allen's enthusiasm led him astray. To 
say that without compulsory arbitration we have government by 
organized labor or organized capital is to identify the scope of 
limited industrial action with the broader scope of government. It 
rarely happens, even in important conflicts, that the victorious con- 
testant rides rough shod over the vanquished and the public. To say 
that the capital-labor conflict is anti-social and that there is no 
element of progress in the strike, shows, I think, a misunderstanding 
of social processes. This does not mean that the capital-labor con- 
flict represents the most desirable form of social process in that field. 
But it does mean that the struggle between capital and labor is, in 
general, a useful social process. It is costly, perhaps needlessly so, 
but it is nevertheless useful. Competition is also costly, perhaps 
needlessly so, but it has certainly not yet outlived its usefulness. I 
think also that Governor Allen is wrong in his belief that Gomperian 
collective bargaining is a one-sided arrangement which the union 
dictates at the expense of the public. The collective bargain is 
rarely ever dictated by the union, but is generally the product of 
much deliberation, of give-and-take by both sides, and nearly al- 
ways with some consideration for the public. It is unfair to 
organized labor to say that the employer and the public are both at 
its mercy. And I think it is also an unjust criticism of Mr. Gompers 
to say, as Governor Allen did, that he once considered the strike a 
last resort, but now considered it the first resort. The strike is a last 
resort, and it has, in general, been so used by organized labor. 

In conclusion, Governor Allen said that Mr. Gompers' first appeal 
was on behalf of union leadership, his second on behalf of organized 
labor, and that for the unorganized worker and for the public he had 
no consideration whatsoever. Here again it appears to me that 
Governor Allen was less than just. The large number of union 



GAGLIARDO: THE GOMPEBS- ALLEN DEBATE 395 

officials drawing salaries seemed to irk the governor, and on more 
than one occasion he gave vent to his feelings on that subject. I 
think Governor Allen both misunderstood the function of the full- 
time union official, and underrated that official's loyalty to the rank 
and file of organized labor. Samuel Gompers set a high standard 
of honesty, faithfulness, and efficiency for his fellow leaders, and he 
cannot properly be charged with being mercenary in his motives 
or acts. 

I think, also, that the whole episode would have been lifted to a 
higher plane, and would have been less confusing if Governor Allen 
had clearly and consistently limited his discussion to strikes in 
essential industries. That he certainly did not do. Many, and I 
think most, of his severest criticisms can fairly be interpreted as 
applying to all strikes. And I also believe that Governor Allen 
really felt bitterly towards all strikes and not merely towards those 
in essential industries. But whether or not this last opinion is sound, 
I am convinced that the issue was not drawn clearly enough or 
maintained consistently enough. It therefore follows, I believe, that 
the solution of the fundamental problem involved in prohibiting 
strikes was not appreciably advanced in the debate between Mr. 
Gompers and Governor Allen. Consequently, this much heralded 
clash, which at the time appeared to hold great promise of enlighten- 
ing the public on the fundamentals of the struggle between capital 
and labor, has sunk into almost complete oblivion. 



Kansas History as Published 
in the Press 

Historical articles of particular interest to Kansans, appearing in 
recent issues of The Aerend, a quarterly magazine published by the 
Fort Hays Kansas State College, include: "Tragedies of a Cow 
Town/' by F. B. Streeter, a story of frontier Ellsworth and the shoot- 
ing of Sheriff C. B. Whitney, featured in the spring and summer, 
1934, numbers; "Sorghum The Emigrant Crop of Kansas," by 
Arthur F. Swanson; "Wild Bill Peace Officer in Hays," by Paul 
King; and "Fort Zarah," by Elizabeth Eppstein, published in the 
spring number; "Harvest, Then And How!" by Christine M. Herl; 
and "The Christening of a Kansas Town [Herndon]," by Alfred 
Carney, printed in the summer number. Mr. Streeter's story, 
"Tragedies of a Cow Town," was republished in part in the Ellsworth 
Messenger, July 26, 1934. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Newton First 
Congregational church was observed May 6, 1934. Notes on the 
history of the organization were printed in Newton newspapers 
following the event. 

A journey from the Cherokee Nation in present Oklahoma to the 
California gold fields in 1850 was recorded by John Lowery Brown 
in his diary, which was edited by Muriel H. Wright and published 
by the Oklahoma Historical Society in its Chronicles of Oklahoma 
for June, 1934. The party of Cherokees, of which Mr. Brown was 
one, went northwest from the Grand Saline, Cherokee Nation, struck 
the Santa Fe trail in present central Kansas and followed it to 
Bent's fort in present southeastern Colorado, on its way to the coast. 

A history of the Larned Portia club, as prepared by Mrs. C. E. 
Grove, was printed in The Tiller and Toiler, Larned, June 7, 1934, 
and in the Chronoscope, in its issues of June 7, 14, and 21. 

"When Sherman County was on Frontier," was the title of a series 
of articles by Lewis C. Gandy which appeared in the Goodland 
Daily News from June 8 to 15, 1934, inclusive. Another series by 
Mr. Gandy entitled "Old Fort Wallace and the Smoky Hill Trail," 
was commenced June 22. 

The activities of the Homesteaders' Protective Association, later 
renamed the Homesteaders' Union Association, and the organization 

(396) 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 397 

of Sherman county were reviewed in a three-column article published 
in The Sherman County Herald, Goodland, June 14, 1934. 

Lawrence school history was reviewed by Dr. A. R. and Jane 
Kennedy in the Douglas County Republican, Lawrence, June 14, 
1934. 

The history of the Plainville Nazarene church was sketched in the 
Plainville Times, June 14, 1934. 

Larned postmasters were named in The Tiller and Toiler in its 
issue of June 14, 1934. The post office was established in Larned 
on August 15, 1872. George B. Cox was the first postmaster. 

A brief historical sketch of the First Baptist church of Wathena 
was published in the Wathena Times, June 15, 1934. The church 
was organized on June 13, 1858. 

"Geologic History of Stevens County, and Southwestern Kansas 
and Vicinity," is the title of an article by J. W. Dappert, of Taylor- 
ville, 111., being published serially in the Hugoton Hermes, com- 
mencing with the issue of June 15, 1934. Mr. Dappert was an early- 
day surveyor in southwestern Kansas. 

The sixtieth anniversary of the founding of St. John's Lutheran 
church of Topeka was observed June 17, 1934. A brief history of 
the organization was written by Arnold Senne for the Topeka State 
Journal, June 16. 

A two-column history of the Chilocco Indian School, located six 
miles south of Arkansas City in present Oklahoma, was printed in 
the Caldwell Daily Messenger, June 16, 1934. W. J. Hadley estab- 
lished the school for the United States government in 1884. 

Notes on the building of Gen. William T. Sherman's house north 
of Topeka in 1859, a brief history of Topeka's fire department, and 
W. K. Myers' account of the Battle of Adobe Walls in 1874, were 
features of the Topeka Daily Capital, June 17, 1934. Mr. Myers' 
story was a reprint from the Chase County Leader, Cottonwood 
Falls, of June 13. 

Wichita, as it appeared in 1869, was described by Victor Murdock 
in an article relating an interview with Landon Haynes, former 
cattleman, which was published in the Wichita (Evening) Eagle, 
June 19, 1934. 

A two-column biographical sketch of C. R. "Buck" Teeters, one 
of the Fort Wallace buffalo hunters, was written by A. H. Stewart 



398 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

for The Sherman County Herald, Goodland, in its issue of June 21, 
1934. 

The early history of the Baileyville Baptist church was reviewed 
by Mrs. Bert Hay, of Holton, in The Courier-Tribune, Seneca, June 
21, 1934. The church was organized on August 23, 1884. 

A history of West Powhattan school was published in the Horton 
Headlight, June 21, 1934. 

"Sixty Years of Newspaper History in Butler County," by George 
F. Fullinwider, was the title of a four-column article printed in the 
El Dorado Times, June 22, 1934. The Walnut Valley Times, founded 
at El Dorado on March 4, 1870, is the first on record. Additional 
notes to this newspaper history were supplied by T. P. Manion in 
the Times of July 14. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the dedication of the Centennial 
Methodist Episcopal church building near Halstead was celebrated 
June 17, 1934. A brief history of the church organization was pub- 
lished in the Halstead Independent, June 22. 

A brief history of the old Hesper Academy near Eudora was 
printed in the Douglas County Republican, Lawrence, June 28, 1934. 
The Society of Friends chartered the institution on June 10, 1884. 

"Post Office Closing Recalls Early Day," was the title of a his- 
torical sketch of Bayneville in the Clearwater News, June 28, 1934. 

Goodland history was reviewed by Jean Beckner in The Sherman 
County Herald, Goodland, June 28, 1934. A biographical sketch 
of Col. George Bradley, pioneer of Sherman county, written by A. 
H. Stewart, was another feature of this issue. 

"Some Early History" was the title of an article by Lillian Forrest 
recalling early Jewell county Fourth of July celebrations and the 
organization of a Union Sunday School, which was published in 
The Jewell County Republican, of Jewell, in its issue of June 28, 
1934. 

"When Humboldt Was the Distributing Depot for the Great 
Southwest," an article by J. H. Andrews, was printed in the Hum- 
boldt Union, June 28, 1934. Humboldt in 1870 was the nearest rail- 
road point to several southwest Kansas towns, Mr. Andrews re- 
ported, and trainloads of supplies were deposited there for re- 
shipment overland by wagon. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 399 

Attica observed the fiftieth anniversary of its founding with a 
celebration held July 4, 1934. Histories of the city's newspapers, 
early business houses and railroad were published in the "Golden 
Anniversary Number" of the Attica Independent, issued June 28, 
1934. Names of pioneers registering at the event and their recol- 
lections of early-day Attica were recorded in the Independent July 5. 

The history of Oakley, as written in detail by Clarence Mershon, 
librarian at the Oakley Public Library, is being featured in cur- 
rent issues of the Oakley Graphic. The series was commenced in 
the issue of June 29, 1934. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the laying out of the city of Coldwater 
was recently observed. A letter from Cash M. Cade, of Shawnee, 
Okla., one of the members of the original townsite company, was in- 
cluded in the historical articles printed in The Western Star, Cold- 
water, June 29, 1934. 

A paper by B. R. H. d'Allemand relating the history of Stevens 
Park at Garden City and the part the late S. G. Norris had in its 
development was published in the Garden City News June 30, 1934. 

The pioneer-day celebration held at Greensburg, August 3, 1934, 
commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Kiowa 
county. The July and August issues of the Greensburg News and 
Progressive-Signal, the Haviland Review and the Mullinville News, 
Kiowa county newspapers, contained many historical notes and 
articles contributed by pioneers and others. The Kiowa County 
Historical Society, organized on August 19, 1932, assisted in the 
arrangements. 

"An Unexplained Mystery of the Western Plains," was the title of 
an article by Leta Edgar relating the history of the Beales-Royuella 
Spanish land grant, published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, July 1, 
1934. Dr. John Charles Beales, as a part of his project to colonize 
this empire of 60,000,000 acres, which included portions of the 
present states of Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, brought 
out 100 Catholic families from Massachusetts in 1824, settled them 
in this region, and then was unable to find the colony again, wrote 
Miss Edgar. 

The history of the Atchison Globe was sketched by Samuel T. 
Bledsoe, president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad at a 
dinner held in Topeka, June 30, 1934, honoring Edgar Watson Howe, 



400 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

founder of the Globe. William Allen White, publisher of the Em- 
poria Gazette w*as toastmaster. Other speakers included Col. 
Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Gov. Alf 
M. Landon, and Frank A. Ripley, president of the Topeka Chamber 
of Commerce. The speeches by McCormick and Bledsoe and Howe's 
response were printed in the Topeka Daily Capital, July 1. 

Early western gunmen were recalled by Fred Sutton in a three- 
column article appearing in the Kansas City (Mo.) Journal-Post, 
July 1, 1934. 

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the University Methodist church 
of Salina was observed at special services held at the church July 
1, 1934. A brief history of the organization was published in the 
Salina Journal, July 2. 

Reading history was sketched by Joyce Gibbs in the Emporia 
Gazette July 3 and 4, 1934. 

Names of Chase county school teachers listed in five-year periods 
from 1890-'91 to 1905-'06 were published in the Chase County News, 
Strong City, July 4, 1934. 

The Spanish bull fights held at the opening of Dodge City's fair 
grounds in July, 1884, were described in the Dodge City Daily Globe, 
July 4, 1934. 

Early Downs and Osborne county history was recalled by W. A. 
Listen, of Salem, Oregon, in a letter printed in the Downs News, 
July 5, 1934. Mr. Listen arrived in the Downs vicinity in 1879. 
Additional Downs history was reviewed in the News in its September 
27 issue. 

The fifty-first anniversary of the organization of the Calvary 
Sunday School, near Randall, was observed June 24, 1934. A his- 
tory of the organization was briefly sketched in The Jewell County 
Republican, of Jewell, in its issue of July 5. 

Early Wichita and southern Kansas history was recalled by L. 
C. Fouquet, of Chandler, Okla., in a letter published in the Hum- 
boldt Union, July 5, 1934. Mr. Fouquet arrived in Wichita in 1870. 
He later served as postmaster at Magnolia and Andale. 

"Haun's Bluff Cooled the Dodge Toughies," was the title of an 
article relating the reminiscences of C. E. Roughton, of Jetmore, 
which was printed in the Dodge City Daily Globe, July 5, 1934.. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 401 

Mr. Roughton wrote of a gang's unsuccessful attempt to kill Thomps 
Haun in 1879. 

"Pioneering With Wash Kennedy/' was the title of a two-column 
article published in the Greensburg News, July 5, 1934. Mr. Ken- 
nedy came to Kansas in 1862. 

"Changes of Forty Years in Coldwater," by H. V. Butcher, is the 
title of a feature column appearing occasionally in The Western 
Star, of Coldwater. The first article of the series was published 
in the issue of July 6, 1934. 

A biographical sketch of Jules B. Billard, first mayor of Topeka 
under the commission form of government, was written by Dwight 
Thacher Harris for the Topeka State Journal, July 7, 1934. Mr. 
Billard came to Kansas in 1854. 

The history of Fairmount college, now the University of Wichita, 
was sketched by Rea Woodman in the Wichita Beacon, July 8, 1934. 

Anecdotes from the life of Col. Sam Radges, for many years 
publisher of the Topeka city directories, were recalled by Oscar 
Swayze in the Topeka Daily Capital, July 8, 1934. 

The settlement of the territory around present Plainville was 
reviewed by W. F. Hughes in his column, "Facts and Comments," 
published in the Rooks County Record, Stockton, July 12, 1934. 

Historical topics of general interest discussed in Harry Johnson's 
column, "Past and Present," printed in recent issues of the Garnett 
Review, include: "The Ferry Boat Across North Fork," July 12, 
1934; "Anderson County's First Citizen Eliza Priest," and "First 
Burials in Anderson County," July 26; and "Our Early Autos," 
September 6. 

The political activities of the late Chester I. Long and Jerry 
Simpson were mentioned by D. D. Leahy in his column, "Random 
Recollections of Other Days," published in the Wichita Sunday 
Eagle, July 15, 1934. 

Brief histories of Sylvan Grove School District No. 22, west of 
Horton, were printed in the Horton Headlight and The Tri-County 
News in their issues of July 16, 1934. The school district was organ- 
ized in the middle 1860's. 

A thirty-six page historical edition commemorating the founding 
of the South Haven Methodist Episcopal church was issued by the 

265574 



402 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

South Haven New Era, July 19, 1934. The church was organized 
by the Rev. B. C. Swartz on August 27, 1873. 

Life in territorial Kansas and John Brown's slave-running ac- 
tivities were recalled in the Garnett Review, July 19, 1934. 

The first court docket used in what is now Garden City was 
briefly discussed by the Garden City News in its issue of July 19, 
1934. The first case was tried on September 1, 1879, the News 
reported. 

"Lawrence, Kas., Was Founded as Free State Stronghold Eighty 
Years Ago," was the title of an article published in the Kansas City 
(Mo.) Star, July 19, 1934. 

Barber county old settlers contributing to the "Pioneer Reminis- 
cences" column appearing occasionally in recent issues of The Bar- 
ber County Index, of Medicine Lodge, include: Arthur D. Shaw, 
Wm. L. Derrick, July 19, 1934; Aubra Donovan, Allen E. Herr, 
July 26; H. A. Tedrow, Robert L. Groendycke, August 2; Lela 
Teagle Yoke, August 23, and Mrs. J. W. Young, September 6. 

A biographical sketch of Gen. Henry Leavenworth, founder of 
Fort Leavenworth, was published in the Kansas City (Mo.) Times, 
July 21, 1934. 

Prairie fires, drought, Indian scares, the grasshopper invasion and 
scurvy combined to make 1874 one of the hardest years ever ex- 
perienced in Sumner county, the Caldwell Daily Messenger reported 
in a feature article printed in its issue of July 25, 1934. 

A story of the building of Chase county's courthouse and the 
temporary quarters used before its erection, was written by Carrie 
Breese Chandler for the Chase County Leader, Cottonwood Falls, 
July 25, 1934. The county's present courthouse was completed in 
1873. 

William Hammond's reminiscences of the drought of 1860 were 
published in the Emporia Gazette, July 25, 1934. Mr. Hammond 
went to Emporia with his parents in June, 1857. 

"Just a Country Town," was the title of an article by C. B. 
Andrews, which appeared in the Seneca Times, July 26, 1934, de- 
scribing a little town in Nemaha county forty years ago. 

Pioneer days in Mitchell county were described by the late Mrs. 
James Humes, of Beloit, in a paper published in the Beloit Gazette, 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 403 

July 26, 1934. Mrs. Humes arrived in Mitchell county in Septem- 
ber, 1871. 

The reminiscences of Henry Lord, of Dodge City, a former Indian 
fighter, were printed in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, July 26, 1934. 
Mr. Lord was a member of the Eleventh Kansas regiment. 

A history of Shell Rock township, Greenwood county, by Royal 
Wolcott, was published serially in the Madison News in its issues 
of July 26, August 2, 9, 16, and 23, 1934. 

Eighty years of Atchison history were briefly reviewed by the 
Atchison Daily Globe in its issue of July 27, 1934. The first town 
meeting was held on the townsite of Atchison July 27, 1854. 

The history of the Shawnee Methodist mission near Kansas City 
was recalled by Mrs. Harry B. Tasker, of Topeka, in the Topeka 
Daily Capital, July 29, 1934. Mrs. Tasker is chairman of the Shaw- 
nee mission committee of the Kansas Daughters of the American 
Revolution. 

The sixty-second anniversary edition of the Wichita Eagle was 
issued July 29, 1934. "The Story of the Eagle," by Kent Eubank; 
"Recollections of Col. Marsh Murdock," founder of the Eagle, by 
David D. Leahy, and "Wichita Was Once a Military Post," by Hor- 
tense Balderston Campbell, were features of the edition. 

Five special services were held by the Swedish Evangelical 
Lutheran Bethany church of Lindsborg during August, 1934, in 
observance of the sixty-fifth anniversary of its organization. His- 
torical notes were published in current issues of the Lindsborg News- 
Record in conjunction with the event. 

A brief history of Cadmus Grange, No. 350, of Linn county, was 
printed in the Kansas Grange Monthly, of Kingman, in its August, 
1934, issue. The grange was organized on July 21, 1873. 

Herington newspaper history was reviewed by Muriel Harris 
Knox in a page article published in the Herington Times-Sun, August 
2, 1934. 

The history of Garden City's first experiment station was sketched 
in the Garden City News, August 2, 1934. The experiment station 
was established two miles north of the city in 1888. 

A historical sketch of the Eskridge Covenanter church, by Mrs. 
J. R. W. Stevenson, was featured in the Eskridge Independent on 
August 2, 1934. A committee of the Kansas Presbytery, with Rev. 



404 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

J. R. Latimer, moderator, organized the congregation on April 16, 
1884, with twenty-five members. 

Incidents happening at Fort Saunders, Douglas county, during 
the border warfare period, were briefly discussed in the Kansas City 
(Mo.) Star, August 3, 1934. 

Several Kansas newspaper presses have been sunk into a watery 
grave by irate readers as a result of strong editorial policies on the 
part of their editors. One newspaper to meet this fate was The 
XVIth Amendment, of Ness City, edited by Joseph Langellier, and 
devoted to the cause of prohibition. In 1885 it published almost 
regularly the names of those who bought liquor at the local drug 
store for "medicinal" purposes. According to an article published 
in the Dodge City Daily Globe, August 7, 1934, some of these citi- 
zens so publicized "did not like to have their tastes aired" and saw 
to it that the press was dumped into Sunset Lake in Ness City 
where it rests to-day. Mr. Langellier did not revive the Amendment 
after this disaster. 

A history of the St. Mary's Catholic church of McCracken was 
sketched in the McCracken Enterprise, August 10, 1934. The Rev. 
Father Hardis, of Liebenthal, held the first Catholic service in the 
community on August 12, 1884. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of Saint Peter's Lu- 
theran church of Holyrood was observed August 12, 1934. A history 
of the church was published in the Holyrood Gazette in its issue of 
August 15. 

"The Old Home Town Band Stand," was the subject of a 
two-column sketch by Harry Johnson appearing in The Anderson 
Countian, of Garnett, August 16, 1934. 

^ history of the Pony Express was contributed by John G. Ellen- 
becker to the Hanover Democrat of August 17, 1934. 

The history of the Kimball United Brethren church was reviewed 
by R. E. Morgan, of Kimball, in the Chanute Tribune, August 
17, 1934. 

A cartoon strip entitled "History of Topeka in Pictures," by 
Robert Currie, is a weekly feature of the Topeka Daily Capital. 
The series started with the issue of August 19, 1934. 

The accomplishments of the Beloit Women's Civic Club since its 
organization on March 15, 1922, were reviewed in the Beloit Daily 
Call, August 23, 1934. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 405 

Early postoffices and the Santa Fe trail in Lyon county were 
discussed in the Emporia Gazette, August 23, 1934. 

The droughts of 1860 and 1934 were compared in the Humboldt 
Union, August 23, 1934. In 1860 relief rations were hauled from 
Missouri river points with starved teams, the writer reported. 

The story of the massacre at Lone Tree in 1874 in which 0. F. 
Short and a party of surveyors were killed by Indians was retold in 
the Meade Globe-News and the Meade County Press in their issues 
of August 23, 1934. A bronze tablet honoring the surveyors has been 
purchased. It will be placed upon the trunk of the original Lone 
Tree. 

A brief history of the Kansas City Advertiser was published in 
The Wyandotte County Record of Kansas City, August 24, 1934. 
The Advertiser is a continuation of the Argentine Republic, estab- 
lished in Argentine in 1887. 

The history of the Liberal Christian church was briefly reviewed 
in the Liberal News, August, 27, 1934, and in The Southwest 
Tribune, August 30. The church was organized on August 26, 1894, 
with J. H. Knapp as the first pastor. 

Henry Burnard's pioneering experiences in southern Kansas in 
the early 1870's were related in the Mulvane News, August 30, 1934. 
Mr. Burnard came to Kansas in 1870 and settled along the Arkansas 
river bottom near present Udall. 

The Cheney Methodist Episcopal church celebrated its fiftieth 
anniversary September 2, 1934. The names of former pastors were 
included in the history of the organization published in the Cheney 
Sentinel, August 30. 

Early Kansas newspaper history was briefly reviewed by Milton 
Tabor in the Topeka Daily Capital, September 2, 1934. 

"Graveyard at Chelsea First of Cemeteries in the Prairie Empire/' 
was the title of an article by Victor Murdock published in the 
Wichita (Evening) Eagle, September 5, 1934. Chelsea is the oldest 
neighborhood in the Butler-Sedgwick county region, wrote Mr. 
Murdock, and the cemetery was started contemporaneously with 
the establishment of the town. 

Neosho Falls in the 1880's was briefly described by Mrs. Luta 
Van Boskirk, of Kansas City, in The Woodson County Post, Septem- 
ber 6, 1934. 



406 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

Fort Leavenworth history was reviewed in the annual "Fort 
Leavenworth Edition" of the Leavenworth Chronicle, issued Septem- 
ber 6, 1934. 

The Newton First Presbyterian church celebrated the sixty- 
second anniversary of its organization on September 9, 1934. A 
brief history of the church was published in the Newton Evening 
Kansan- Republican, September 8. 

An article relating the history of the prohibition movement in 
Kansas was printed in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, September 
9, 1934. 

The introduction of electric lighting in Topeka was recalled in 
the Topeka Daily Capital, September 9, 1934. F. B. Roper, who 
made the installation in 1881, still resides in the city. 

Clark county history is being reviewed in detail in a series of 
articles contributed by John R. Walden to The Clark County Clip- 
per, of Ashland. The series was commenced in the issue of Septem- 
ber 13, 1934. 

The experiences of Thomas A. Butler, western Kansas railroad 
contractor, were printed in the Dodge City Daily Globe, September 
13, 1934. The story was obtained by Victor Murdock from the son, 
Newton W. Butler, of California, and was first published in the 
Wichita Eagle. 

A series of articles concerning the personnel of Veteran Company 
1779, Civilian Conservation Corps, is being contributed by Capt. 
Albert Whipple Morse, Jr., commanding officer, to the Burr Oak 
Herald. The series was commenced in the issue of September 13, 
1934. 

The part Arkansas City played in the opening of the Cherokee 
strip in 1893 was recalled by F. B. Hutchison in the Arkansas City 
Daily Traveler, September 15, 1934. 

A biographical sketch of Gen. James G. Blunt, by Kirke Mechem, 
was published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, September 16, 1934. 
General Blunt was Kansas' first major general. 

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the St. Andrew's Episcopal 
church of Fort Scott was observed September 20, 1934. The history 
of the organization was reviewed in the Fort Scott Tribune in its 
issue of September 19, 1934. 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 407 

A French settlement made over seventy-five years ago in Chase 
and present Marion counties was discussed by John Madden in an 
article printed in the Marion Review, September 19, 1934. Names 
of Kansas pioneers who came to the state before 1880 and who at- 
tended the Marion old settlers' meeting held September 13, were 
also featured. In the issue of September 26, the Irish colonization 
in Marion county was described by Mr. Madden, and in the October 
3 issue the English colonization was reviewed. The history of the 
Mennonite colony was reviewed in the October 10 issue, by William 
Burkholder. 

Weir's history was briefly sketched by J. W. Farrell in the Weir 
Spectator, September 20, 1934. 

Commemorative editions of the St. John News and The County 
Capital were issued September 20, 1934, honoring the founding of 
the First Methodist Episcopal church at St. John fifty-one years 
ago. A history of the church compiled by Mrs. W. H. Waters, Mrs. 
L. L. Carleton and L. B. Asher, was published. Photographs of 
persons prominent in the church history were also featured. 

The Pittsburg Headlight and Sun printed their sixth annual 
"Kansas Coal Edition," as a part of their issues of September 24 
and 25, 1934, respectively. Included in the featured articles was a 
two-page history of the southeast Kansas industry as it was thirty 
years ago, republished from the industrial edition of the Headlight 
issued September 10, 1904. 

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Lyona Methodist Episcopal 
church was observed during the week ending September 23, 1934. 
A brief history of the church published in the Topeka Daily Capital, 
September 25, related that the Lyona church was the first organized 
in Dickinson county. 

A. D. Searle's survey of the Lawrence townsite begun on Septem- 
ber 25, 1854, was recalled in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, 
September 25, 1934. The two-column story related the origin of 
street names and located some of the early boundaries of the city. 
Over four square miles was included in the original townsite. 

"Early Wallace County, General Custer, and the Seventh Cav- 
alry," a series of articles written by Lewis C. Gandy, has been 
resumed in The Western Times of Sharon Springs. The series com- 
menced with the issue of September 27, 1934. 



408 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

A history of the Dry Creek school, as written by C. H. Gustln in 
1900, was published in the Toronto Republican, September 27, 1934. 
The school district was first organized in April, 1866. 

A letter from Rev. H. E. Ross, of Whitewater, relating his early- 
day experiences as a Methodist pastor in Hugoton, was printed in 
the Hugoton Hermes, September 28, 1934. Reverend Ross arrived 
in Hugoton in 1897. 

"When Civil War Threatened Kansas Seventy Years Ago," was 
the title of an article by Manly Wade Wellman, reviewing Gen. 
Sterling Price's campaigns around Kansas City in October, 1864, 
published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, September 30, 1934. 

A biographical sketch of Oscar Stauffer, Arkansas City news- 
paperman, was printed in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, September 
30, 1934. 

The history of the Masonic Order in Kansas was briefly reviewed 
in the October, 1934, issue of the Kansas Masonic Digest, published 
at Wichita. Lodges were established in Kansas a few weeks after 
the territory was opened to settlement in 1854. 

Cale, a town founded near the state line southwest of Arkansas 
City in 1886, was described in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler, 
October 2, 1934. The town did not prosper and the townsite was 
abandoned a few years after its founding. 

A biography of Eugene Fitch Ware, Kansas poet and former editor 
of the Fort Scott Monitor, was published in the Fort Scott Tribune, 
October 3, 1934. A copy of the manuscript as written by A. M. 
Keene was placed in the cornerstone at the dedication ceremonies 
for a new school building at Fort Scott, October 2. The school will 
bear the name of the poet. 

Names of persons still alive who resided in the Conway Springs 
neighborhood in 1884 were listed in the Conway Springs Star, Octo- 
ber 4, 1934. 

Biographical sketches of Civil War veterans who made their homes 
in the Waterville community are being published in the Waterville 
Telegraph. The first of the series appeared in the issue of October 
4, 1934. 

The history of Havana, located four miles west of Burlingame 
on the old Santa Fe trail, was reviewed by Marie A. Olson in the 
Topeka Daily Capital, October 7, 1934. A colony of Germans from 



KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 409 

St. Louis and Chicago laid out the townsite in 1858, but abandoned 
it in the early 1870's. 

A biographical sketch of F. Dumont Smith, Hutchinson attorney, 
was published in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, October 7, 1934. 

The story of Presbyterianism in Kansas, from its Indian-mission 
work in the early 1800's to its present-day membership, was related 
by Rev. Drury H. Fisher, of Manhattan, at a meeting of the Kansas 
Presbyterian synod in Clay Center, October 10, 1934. A resume of 
this address was printed in the Clay Center Dispatch, October 11. 

Waushara Methodist church, near Eskridge, celebrated the thirty- 
fifth anniversary of the building of its present church edifice on 
October 7, 1934. A history of the organization, by Lester E. Bush, 
was published in the Eskridge Independent and the Harveyville 
Monitor in their issues of October 11. Names of teachers and mem- 
bers of the various public school boards in Wabaunsee county were 
listed by Anna Nash-Wagner, county superintendent, as another 
feature of the same issue of the Independent. 

A history of Ravanna, a boom town of the 1880's, was briefly 
sketched by R. K. Myers in the Dodge City Journal, October 11, 
1934. 

The history of Vinland Grange and the Grange Fair was reviewed 
by Allison Andrews in the Baldwin Ledger, October 11, 1934. Vin- 
land Grange was organized on May 24, 1873, with twenty-eight 
charter members. 

Mennonite settlements in Kansas were briefly reviewed by Laura 
Knickerbocker in an article published in the Kansas City (Mo.) 
Star, October 14, 1934. A description of the Shawnee Methodist 
mission as it appears to-day, and a biographical sketch of William 
Allen White, were other Kansas features included in the issue. 

The history of Haskell Institute at Lawrence was sketched in the 
Kansas City (Mo.) Star, October 16, 1934. The first building of 
the Institute was erected in 1884. 

Life at old Camp Nichols, established by Col. C. Carson on the 
Cimarron cut-off of the Santa Fe trail in present Cimarron county, 
Oklahoma, was described in the Dodge City Journal, October 18, 
1934. Crumbling rock walls are all that remain to-day of that 
camp erected in 1865 to house soldiers who acted as escorts to 
wagon trains through the territory from Fort Dodge or Fort Lamed 
southwest to the camp. 



410 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 

The golden anniversary of the Block Trinity Luther