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THE
Kansas Historical
Quarterly
NYLE H. MILLER, Managing Editor
KIRKE MECHEM, Editor
JAMES C. MALIN, Associate Editor
Volume XXV
1959
(Kansas Historical Collections)
VOL. XLH
Published by
The Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka, Kansas
Contents of Volume XXV
Number 1 Spring, 1959
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY IN KANSAS,
Alan W. Farley, 1
With Alexander Gardner photographs of bridge building across the Kaw,
and office of the Union Pacific at Wyandotte, 1867, frontispiece, and
portrait of Samuel Hallet, facing p. 1.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND: The Role Played by the Southern
Kansas Towns in the Opening of the Cherokee Strip to Settlement,
Jean C. Lough, 17
With photographs of campers near Arkansas City preparing to make the
run, between pp. 16, 17.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS John E. Sunder, 32
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS
MISSIONARY, 1854-1858: Part One, 1854-1855,
Edited by Emory Lindquist, 39
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two, Kansas
Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg and Herbert
Spencer James C. Malin, 68
THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing Reports of the Secretary, Treasurer,
Executive and Nominating Committees; Election of Officers; List of
Directors of the Society 104
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 125
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 126
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 127
Number 2 Summer, 1959
PAGE
U. S. ARMY AND AIR FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS (In two installments,
Part One) : 129
With photographs of scenes and activities at Pratt Army Air Base, Great
Bend Army Air Field and Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina,
between pp. 144, 145.
THE PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH AND THE SMOKY HILL ROUTE, 1859-1860,
Calvin W. Gower, 158
Reprint of a "Table of Distances" from Atchison to the Gold Mines,
1859, between pp. 160, 161.
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS
MISSIONARY, 1854-1858 Concluded Edited by Emory Lindquist, 172
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two, Kansas
Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg and Herbert
Spencer Concluded James C. Malin, 197
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY,
Compiled by Alberta Pantle, Librarian, 229
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 251
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 252
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 255
(iii)
Number 3 Autumn, 1959
PACK
IRONQUELI/S "THE WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" James C. Malin, 257
With portrait of Eugene Fitch Ware, about 1881, facing p. 272.
A CHRONOLOGY OF KANSAS POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865, 283
MARK W. DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN; A Historical Case Study,
John G. Clark, 301
With reproduction of painting of Mark W. Delahay, facing p. 304.
RELIGION IN KANSAS DURING THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR (In two install-
ments, Part One) Emory Lindquist, 313
With portraits of Lewis Bodwell, Pardee Butler, Richard Cordley, and Hugh
Dunn Fisher, facing p. 320, and Charles H. Lovej'oy, Samuel Young
Lum, Peter McVicar, and Roswell Davenport Parker, facing p. 321.
U. S. ARMY AND Am FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS Concluded 334
With photographs of Boeing B-29 gunners at Smoky Hill Army Air Field,
Salina, and Free French fliers at Dodge City Army Air Field, facing
p. 336, and air force planes on Kansas fields, facing p. 337.
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 361
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 363
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . . 366
Number 4 Winter, 1959
PAGE
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 369
With photographs of altered Pony Express stations still standing in Seneca
and Marysville, and map of the Kansas portion of the Pony Express
route, frontispiece.
CRITIQUE OF CARRUTH'S ARTICLES ON FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS IN KANSAS,
/. Neale Carman, 386
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES Walter H. Schoewe, 391
With sketches and photographs of Linn county lead mine area, between
pp. 400, 401.
EUGENE WARE'S CONCERN ABOUT A WOMAN, A CHILD, AND GOD,
James C. Malin, 402
RELIGION IN KANSAS DURING THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
Concluded Emory Lindquist, 407
THE CENTENNIAL OF LINCOLN'S VISIT TO KANSAS 438
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 444
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 445
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 450
ERRATA, VOLUME XXV 454
INDEX TO VOLUME XXV 455
(iv)
KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Spring 1959
Published by
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka
NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN
Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor
CONTENTS
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY IN KANSAS,
Alan W. Farley, 1
With Alexander Gardner photographs of bridge building across the Kaw,
and office of the Union Pacific at Wyandotte, 1867, frontispiece, and
portrait of Samuel Hallett, facing p. 1.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND: The Role Played by the Southern
Kansas Towns in the Opening of the Cherokee Strip to Settlement,
Jean C. Lough, 17
With photographs of campers near Arkansas City preparing to make the
run, between pp. 16, 17.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS John E. Sunder, 32
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS MIS-
SIONARY, 1854-1858: Part One, 1854-1855,
Edited by Emory Lindquist, 39
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two, Kansas
Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg and Herbert
Spencer James C. Malin, 68
THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing Reports of the Secretary, Treasurer,
Executive and Nominating Committees; Election of Officers; List of
Directors of the Society 104
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 125
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 126
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 127
The Kansas Historical Quarterly is published four times a year by the Kansas
State Historical Society, 120 W. Tenth, Topeka, Kan., and is distributed free to
members. Correspondence concerning contributions may be sent to the manag-
ing editor at the Historical Society. The Society assumes no responsibility for
statements made by contributors.
Second-class postage has been paid at Topeka, Kan.
THE COVER
The Union Pacific railroad yard at Wyandotte in 1867,
photo by Alexander Gardner. This and the two which follow
are from a collection of 150 photographs which Gardner
took along the line of the Kansas Union Pacific to its end of
track, "20 miles west of Hays," in 1867.
*^QBjjl
i <
OTHER GARDNER UNION PACIFIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF 1867
Upper: Building a bridge across the Kaw at Wyandotte.
Lower: Office, Union Pacific Railway Co., E. D., at Wyandotte.
Samuel Hallett
(18287-1864)
Hallett energetically proceeded with the building of the Union Pacific from
the Missouri-Kansas line in present Kansas City west through Kansas, until he
was fatally shot by a disgruntled former employee in 1864. Had it not been
for the early death of Hallett and subsequent delays in reorganization of the
company, the Kansas Union Pacific might have been the line which met the Cen-
tral Pacific in Utah in 1869, to form the first railroad link with the West Coast.
THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume XXV Spring, 1959 Number 1
Samuel Hallett and the Union Pacific Railway
Company in Kansas
ALAN W. FARLEY
(Copyright, 1958, by ALAN W. FARLEY)
E honor of being first to suggest an overland railroad to the
-L Pacific seems to belong to Robert Mills, engineer and architect,
of Baltimore, who was later to design the Washington monument
and several pre-Civil War buildings at the national capitol. Writ-
ing in 1820 with extraordinary clarity of vision and at least nine
years before the first American railroad line on which a locomotive
was used, Mills noted that the voyage around Cape Horn to the
mouth of the Columbia river and return required about ten months
and that a
short direct and certain means of communication should be established over
the continent to the Pacific ocean. . . . When the Yellow Stone expedi-
tion has accomplished the object of forming a settlement at or near the junction
of this river with the Missouri, and an expedition is sent up the Columbia river
to form a settlement for the protection of trade in that country, we shall no
doubt find our government fully sensible of the importance of completing a
good rail or turnpike road, between the two points. ... To calculate on
the aid of steamboats upon these waters, and upon an application of the same
moving power to carriages upon railroads, across the mountains, we may esti-
mate an average progress of eighty miles per day on this rout, which would
enable us to accomplish the journey in little more than sixty five days from the
City of Washington to the Pacific ocean. 1
It wasn't until the 1850's that Mills' prophetic dream became a
real possibility. The government then conducted surveys of several
alternate transcontinental routes but sectional rivalry and bitterness
in congress precluded the possibility of any compromise choice be-
tween several possible northern and southern roads.
ALAN W. FARLEY, president of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1957-1958, is an
attorney of Kansas City. He is an outstanding authority on Western Americana, and has
published several works on Kansas City and Western history. This article was Farley's
presidential address before the annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society on
October 21, 1958.
1. Robert Mills, A Treatise on Inland Navigation (Baltimore, 1820), pp. 53-59. The
Carbondale and Honesdale railroad was the first railroad in America on which a locomotive
was used. It opened in 1829. In 1852 an unknown writer in the Emigrant, a weekly
newspaper of Ann Arbor, Mich., suggested a plan for a railroad from New York to Oregon
by way of the Great Lakes and the Platte river valley. Edwin L. Sabin, Building the
Pacific Railway (Philadelphia, 1919), p. 14.
2, : KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
When the Civil War commenced, the two railroads extending the
greatest distance west of the Mississippi were both in Missouri.
The Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad joined those towns over a dis-
tance of 206 miles and the Pacific railroad of Missouri was slowly
building west to connect St. Louis with Kansas City, helped by state
aid. This latter road reached Sedalia in 1861 when military activity
stopped railroad building. Both these routes were prime targets of
guerrilla raids and service on them was often disrupted during the
war. 2
Of the more than eleven hundred railroads chartered by various
Kansas legislatures, several were lines to run in and along the Kansas
valley. The Kansas Central Railroad Company, one of the most im-
portant, had been surveyed and was designed to go west from
Wyandotte, cross the river at Lawrence and through Lecompton
and Topeka. Every town that hoped to grow and survive had to
have one or more railroad lines at least on paper. The Leaven-
worth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company was chartered by
the "bogus" Legislature of 1855 and had done some surveying on
its route from Leavenworth to Fort Riley. But this was just another
visionary railroad until it had acquired a fortune in Delaware Indian
land. On May 30, 1860, through a treaty at Sarcoxieville on the
Delaware reservation, the promoters of this road gained 223,966
acres of Kansas valley land for $1.25 an acre. The railroad had no
money so by another treaty made on July 2, 1861, it was agreed that
the company could give a mortgage to secure the entire purchase
price. By selling this land in parcels to settlers and influential spec-
ulators, its railroad stock became valuable, and important support
for congressional action in favor of the road was obtained.
When the Southern members of congress withdrew, several con-
troversial measures that they had formerly successfully resisted were
enacted into law. New states and territories were created, and the
homestead law and the Pacific railroad law were enacted. This
latter measure resulted from a compromise between the influences
of St. Louis and Chicago, and was justified as a war measure to pro-
tect the Western coast. At the time it was stated that the passage
of the Pacific railroad act was due to the efforts of California and
Kansas. At any rate, on July 1, 1862, the Union Pacific and the
Central Pacific railroads were created and the Leavenworth, Pawnee
& Western Railroad Company was authorized to construct a rail-
road and telegraph line from the state line of Missouri at the mouth
2. Walter Williams and Floyd Shoemaker, Missouri, Mother of the West (Chicago.
1930), v. 1, p. 561 et seq.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 3
of the Kansas river (there to connect with the Pacific railroad of
Missouri on the south side of the Missouri river), thence westward
to the 100th meridian of longitude, there to unite with several rail-
roads from Missouri and Iowa. The route west of Fort Riley was
to be subject to the approval of the President, and each company
was required to complete 100 miles of road within two years after
filing their assent to the conditions of the act.
In order to help finance construction, it was provided that gov-
ernment bonds in the amount of $16,000 per mile would be issued
upon the completion of each 40-mile section of road after acceptance
of the section by government commissioners; these bonds to be a
first mortgage on all property of the railroad. A grant of alternate
sections of land within the limit of ten miles on each side of the
railroad was to be made upon the approval of each 40-mile section
built.
The Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company,
through its president, J. H. McDowell, accepted the provisions of
the act on November 15, 1862, although O. B. Gunn and Colonel
Medbury had commenced survey for the route several months
earlier. The Union Pacific Railroad Company delayed until the
following June to notify the government of its acceptance. 3 At the
end of 1862 the press could report that only 30 men were employed
on the railroad at Leavenworth. 4
Previous to May 28, 1863, a controlling portion of the capital stock
of the L. P. & W. was sold to Samuel Hallett and John C. Fremont. 5
In the business world of that day these were magic names. Hallett
was a young investment banker with offices in New York City, who
had acted as financial agent of the Atlantic & Great Western rail-
way, one of the successful railroad enterprises in the East. He also
had extensive connections with capitalists in this country and
Europe. John C. Fremont had become wealthy through the sale
of his Rancho de los Mariposas in California and was the darling
of the radicals in Washington who opposed the Lincoln administra-
tion. He had been an authentic hero of Western exploration but
his military failure in the Civil War presaged the decline of his fame.
A few days later the stockholders elected General Fremont presi-
dent, and changed the name of the corporation to the Union Pacific
Railway Company, Eastern Division. ( In 1868 this name was again
changed to the Kansas Pacific Railway Company. ) Hallett became
3. James H. Simpson, Report on the Union Pacific Railroad and Branches (Washington,
November, 1865), pp. 2-88.
4. Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, January 10, 1863.
5. Ibid., June 13, 1863; Points of Law and Argument for Complainant . . ., Stevens
vs. Kansas Pacific Railway, U. S. circuit court, district of Kansas (1874), p. 5.
4 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
general superintendent of the railroad and sole contractor for its
construction. 6
After making financial preparations and letting contracts for nec-
essary rails and other iron for the first 50 miles of road, Hallett
arrived at the offices of the company at Leavenworth on August 11,
1863. The following day he took possession of the railroad by the
simple expedient of driving the employees of Ross, Steel & Company,
contractors of Montreal, Canada, who had been employed by the
L. P. & W., away from their job of grading the right-of-way. One
account says that a company of cavalry from Fort Leavenworth was
obtained to back up Hallett's party. The victims retaliated by re-
sorting to sundry litigation but their suits were defeated in the
United States circuit court at Keokuk. 7 At this time Hallett, who
understood the uses of propaganda, published a long letter officially
endorsing his project. John P. Usher, then Secretary of the In-
terior, with the approval of the President, 8 declared that the govern-
ment favored the Kansas valley route for an overland railroad, an
action which must have made the Union Pacific investors and resi-
dents of Iowa and Nebraska unhappy.
At the time Leavenworth had become the largest city of Kansas
due to the many beneficial influences of the nearby fort and to the
steamboat traffic of the Missouri river. Other cities, St. Joseph and
Kansas City, coveted her trade and her metropolitan air as economic
adjustments due to the Civil War boomed Leavenworth and slowed
her rivals, notably Kansas City. But the location of the Union Pa-
cific, E. D., and other railroads, helped to turn away all this war-
time prosperity. Railroads were destined to supplant steamboats
and the trade of Fort Leavenworth was to decline after the war, due
to the economy of army activities. 9
Warring political factions within the city of Leavenworth made
concerted municipal action well-nigh impossible and were a horrid
example of what can result from failure to exploit civic opportunity.
The community assumed that it was indispensable to the railroad.
The situation was clear to outsiders, for a Kansas City editor al-
luded to that attitude with some sarcasm:
The Leavenworth newspapers are perpetrating a huge joak [sic] about the
Great Pacific Railroad. The entire editorial force of the city have turned out
6. Ibid., pp. 5, 6.
7. Western Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., November 7, 1863; The Daily
Times, Leavenworth, August 12, 13, 1863; John D. Cruise, "Early Days on the Union
Pacific," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 11 (1909-1910), p. 535; C. A. Trowbridge to
James F. Joy, September 26 and October 1, 1863, in "Burton Historical Collections," Detroit
Public Library, Detroit, Mich.
8. Kansas City (Mo.) Daily Journal of Commerce, April 5, 1864; The Daily Times,
Leavenworth, August 20, 1863.
9. The prosperity of Leavenworth was further retarded by high railroad rates which
"broke" or dropped at Kansas City on shipments to the East.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 5
with pick and shovel and gone to work on the road, and expect to have it
completed through to California in a couple of weeks. They are going to have
it run three times around Leavenworth, so as to be sure that it will stop there.
But the great difficulty for them to determine is whether they will build most
of it by telegraph, stage or newspaper puffs probably the latter. They are
going to commence it to-morrow or yesterday and they are also discussing
the propriety, after a few miles of it is built, of "breaking it off" and running
it into the ground for fear it may go to some other town besides Leavenworth. 10
Late in August, Hallett proposed to the mayor and council of
Leavenworth that the city subscribe $100,000 for stock of the rail-
road. 11 The people of that metropolis were nobly trying to relieve
the stricken inhabitants of Lawrence, who had been raided by the
Quantrill gang just a week earlier. A conference with the city
fathers about the subscription of stock was unsatisfactory, so Hallett
retaliated by moving the principal offices of the company to Wyan-
dotte.
It was then decided by the company that the main line would be
built directly west to Fort Riley, instead of detouring through
Leavenworth, then west from that place, as the Leavenworth in-
vestors desired. A branch line was designed to run from Lawrence
to Leavenworth, there to connect with the Hannibal & St. Joseph
railroad which had been extended south to Weston, Mo. To this
day a resident of Leavenworth has to travel through Kansas City
or St. Joseph going east by rail. The paved highways are similarly
routed.
The Congregational Record, Lawrence, for October, 1862, carried
a long account of Wyandotte and summarized its situation: "The
[Indian] Reserve on one side, and Rebeldom on the other, have pre-
vented Wyandot from reaching its early expectations. Loose clap-
boards, broken windows, and faded paint, indicate a place where
early growth surpassed its subsequent importance." To this scene
came Hallett & Co.
The railroad's eastern terminus was the Missouri line. It was to
cross the Kansas river near Splitlog's mill two miles south of Wyan-
dotte, and proceed up the north side of the Kansas valley. The
company advertised for a thousand laborers and offered $1.50 per
day, payable in cash every Saturday night.
On September 12, 1863, the Wyandotte Gazette recorded that
Last Monday at 10& o'clock A. M. work on the Union Pacific R. Road was
commenced. . . . Mr. Hallett . . . gave directions ... to clear
a space 50 feet on each side of the [state] line [for the eager spectators]. Mr.
Silas Armstrong [a leader among the Wyandotte Indians], and A. B. Bartlett
10. Daily Journal of Commerce, January 6, 1863.
11. The Daily Times, August 29, 1863.
6 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Esq., [attorney for the road], each claimed the privilege of cutting the first tree.
Each held his ax, standing by trees of about the same size. Mr. Hallett gave
the order to cut, and both trees fell about the same instant. A single cheer
resounded through the woods. . . .
Within two days two miles of right-of-way had been cleared.
Hallett caused a great post to be set at this initial point at the
state line; the side facing Missouri was inscribed "Slavery" and on
the side facing west toward Kansas the symbol was "Freedom/*
A week later the press exulted that the railroad had an excavating
machine that does the work of a hundred men, and that a telegraph
office was opened in Killings building at Third and Minnesota. By
September 26 nine miles of railroad had been located, half of that
cleared, and more than a third graded. The following week the
railroad office on Third street got an iron safe as large as a medium-
sized store room, and five miles of road bed had been graded. One
hundred Canadians arrived to work on the construction. The paper
chronicled that they were at work on a deep cut a few miles beyond
the Delaware Ferry on October 24 and were an honest and indus-
trious lot of men.
All this activity boomed Wyandotte but the railroad right-of-way
missed the town. Hallett's business acumen again came into play
as he secured more working capital for the road. After some nego-
tiation, the citizens by a margin of 286 to 3 voted that the county
issue $100,000 in bonds to be traded to Hallett for paid stock in the
railroad; and in return the railroad agreed to construct 1.77 miles of
spur track to the Wyandotte levee, erect freight and passenger de-
pots, and keep its turntables, machine shops, and engine houses
there. That same month (November) the railroad was being
graded at the rate of two miles a day, the graders reached the vicin-
ity of Lawrence and the first section of 40 miles, most of the route
through heavy timber, was ready for track. The city fathers were
advised to fix "our magnificent spring on the bank of the Kaw" for
the railroad spur had passed directly over it on a culvert.
In December ground was at last broken in Omaha for that
"branch" of the Pacific railroad, while iron rails had been brought
to Weston, Mo., by train, and shipped by steamer to Wyandotte.
The same month the Alexander Majors, loaded with railroad iron
got stuck on a bar 12 miles below Leavenworth and then became
ice-bound and didn't get to the levee at Wyandotte until February
7, 1864. People were so elated they saluted the steamer by firing
the local cannon. The following week more iron arrived and the
first locomotive, The Wyandotte, was set on the tracks that had been
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 7
quickly laid down on the spur at the levee. This locomotive had
been used on the Platte Valley railroad during the bad weather until
it could be brought here. V. J. Lane, who was at the Montana
mines at the time, writing much later says that John Hallett man-
aged to run the locomotive into the river, but the editor of the
Gazette simply says that two wheels got off the track on one of its
trips.
Much has been written about the route of the railroad at Law-
rence and Topeka, for these cities were on the south side of the
river. Originally it was designed that the railroad would pass both
towns by several miles on the most direct westerly line. On De-
cember 7, 1863, the Department of Interior received a petition from
Sen. James H. Lane and other citizens of Lawrence asking that
Hallett & Co. be required to run the road to the north bank of the
river opposite Lawrence and Topeka. 12 By January, 1864, the road
was graded past Lawrence and the telegraph poles were set. 13
Senator Lane is reputed to have used extraordinary pressure on
the railroad officials in favor of the route to Lawrence, causing the
abandonment of six miles of grading already completed, making
the line two and one-half miles longer and causing the extension
from Leavenworth which joined the road at that point to be two
miles longer, all at costs estimated to be $315,000. All factions in
the city joined in a resolution on January 6, 1864, that "the people
of Lawrence are ready and willing to secure necessary depot
grounds and remunerate the U. P. R. R. for all accommodations ex-
tended fo our city." 14
During March a second locomotive, The Delaware, was delivered
at the Wyandotte levee by the steamer Emilie-, six miles of track
had been laid, and the locomotive whistle resounded in the land.
On April 6 the directors of the railroad took a trip about ten miles
west on the new rails and afterward held a meeting in McAlpin's
Hall in Wyandotte where they heard that the first section of 40
miles was ready for rails, and that 84 bridges along the line, in-
cluding the bridge over the Kansas river, were all nearly completed.
Later that month an excursion party of ladies and gentlemen from
Wyandotte took a ride to Muncietown on the railroad and had a
picnic dinner in the woods.
12. National Archives, "Journal of Letters Received Lands and Railroads," December
7, 1863.
13. Hallett characteristically announced a celebration feast for the employees upon the
completion of grading the first section of 40 miles. Among the delicacies to be consumed
on the occasion were 500 tins of oysters. Western Journal of Commerce, November 21,
1863.
14. Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 28, 1864.
8 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
At the annual meeting of the stockholders at the office of the
company in Leavenworth in April, John D. Perry, president of the
Exchange Bank, of St. Louis, was elected president of the railroad
in place of John C. Fremont, who was also dropped as a director.
The same day another set of directors met at Leavenworth and
elected its officers with General Fremont as president.
At the railroad meeting at McAlpin's Hall, Hallett discussed his
difficulty with General Fremont who headed this rival organization
of directors within the corporate structure. It seems that this crowd
based its claim on the possession of certain stocks subscribed by
J. C. Stone of Leavenworth, who was also a director of the Omaha
group. The previous December the company had assessed a pay-
ment of ten percent on all stock and neither Stone nor the holders
of this stock paid the assessment, and under the terms of the charter
such delinquents had no right to vote. It was also disclosed that
Hallett had since acquired the stock from Stone, had then paid the
assessment, the company had ratified the transfer, and he had be-
come the bona fide holder of the stock. Hallett said that the as-
sociates of Fremont had prevented an amicable settlement. By the
purchase of Stone's interest, Hallet became the owner of most of the
stock of the company.
The editor of the Kansas City (Mo.) Journal of Commerce was
vitally interested in progress of the railroad. On April 5, 1864, he
editorialized:
The inherent difficulties of the work itself are great. The country is denuded
of labor, so that the workmen have had to be brought mainly from Canada.
Wages are high; lumber, iron, locomotives, cars, etc., all cost more than ever
before. The road is unconnected with any other completed railroad, and is at
so great a distance from iron manufacturers that the transportation of rails is
not only a tedious but a costly job. . . . But in addition to all this they
[Hallett & Co.] have had the most vexatious and harassing opposition from
outside parties to contend with. Suit after suit has been brought against them
their iron attached, their means locked up by injunctions, and every species of
legal persecution practiced against them. We have now before us the printed
briefs of a suit now pending in New York that reveal a species of opposition
which, we venture to say, railroad enterprises in this country have very rarely
encountered. So far, the parties prosecuting the work have triumphed over
every difficulty.
He then quoted a letter from Secretary Usher and Postmaster Gen-
eral Blair, to show that Hallett & Co. had the complete confidence
and support of the government.
Col. William C. McDowell also spoke at the railroad meeting, and
the same editor summarized his remarks. As president of the old
organization, the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western railroad, he told
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 9
of the failure of Ross, Steele & Co., the first contractors, to accom-
plish any results through lack of capital and initiative. McDowell
then went to New York to try to interest capitalists there in the
enterprise.
He met a number of them at Delmonicos, and laid the project before them,
but none of them would touch it. Kansas was too far away. It was a time of
war. The road was on the very border. There was too much risk in it. He
found no encouragement until he met Mr. [Samuel] Hallett. That gentleman
investigated the project, became satisfied of its feasibility, and at once em-
barked on it with all his might. He was the only man in New York who dared
to risk his name and his money in the enterprise. It was due to his boldness
and sagacity that we were indebted for the prospect now so fair of the suc-
cessful carrying through of this great work. 15
On July 1, 1864, Hallett sent letters with a beautiful engraved
invitation to influential persons all over the country to attend the
opening of the first section of 40 miles on the following August 18.
Those who accepted were offered a free pass to Kansas and return,
and would be met by a reception committee at Weston, Mo. It was
evident that Hallett was intent on building on to meet the Cali-
fornia section, then being constructed eastward from Sacramento.
John Speer later remembered that Hallett had said, "I hope to live
to ride on this road to the Pacific but if my life should be lost, my
brothers will push the work as if I lived. 16
The law under which the Pacific railroads were being built was
amended by congress on July 2, 1864, to increase the land granted
to 12,800 acres of land per each mile of right-of-way east of the
Rocky Mountains, double the amount of land granted by the original
act. The railroads were also allowed to issue first mortgage bonds
in amounts equal to the government bonds, the latter to be a second
lien on the railroad property. The act also required construction of
the branch line from Lawrence to Leavenworth and directed that
the right-of-way be built to the north bank of the river opposite
Lawrence and Topeka, and in effect, the first railroad to reach the
100th degree of longitude was given the right of way to build west-
ward to connect with the Central Pacific then building eastward
from California. Hallett & Co. was influential in securing this leg-
islation which made investment in the land-grant railroad much
more attractive to investors and the future growth of the railroad
seemed secure.
In Lawrence, where Hallett was advertising for more men to lay
rails, the Daily Tribune announced a railroad meeting the following
night to "give this Railroad King of the West a joyous greeting."
15. Kansas City Journal of Commerce, April 9, 1864.
16. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, July 28, 1864.
10 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The following evening Hallett discussed the great celebration of
August 18 and asked the city to furnish four committees to promote
the occasion: (1) To locate the depot; (2) To procure workmen
for the railroad; (3) To secure a large attendance from southern
Kansas; (4) Ladies to provide for the large number of expected
visitors. These plans were enthusiastically adopted, and a few days
later 150 men were laying rails near Sarcoxie. 17 If this progress
seems modest, it must be remembered that the Civil War made such
material and labor hard to obtain.
At this point fate intervened. On July 27, Hallett was shot in the
back by an embittered former employee, Orlando Talcott, near the
company offices on Third street in Wyandotte. Talcott had been
sent to Wyandotte as chief engineer by Fremont, and at the down-
fall of the general, had been replaced by Hallett & Co. It appears
that Talcott retaliated by sending an unfavorable report of the
manner of constructing the road-bed by the Halletts to the govern-
ment, which was required to inspect and accept the road in 40-mile
sections, before the railroad could draw the government bonds of
$16,000 per mile allowed by law. All accounts agree that Samuel
Hallett left instructions to kick Talcott out of the company office if
he called there again. A few days later Thomas Hallett, a brother
and a burly fellow, spanked Talcott and literally threw him out of
the office, taking a pistol away from Talcott in the process.
Talcott brooded over his wrongs and planned to have revenge on
Hallett. 18
John D. Cruise, a prominent figure in early Wyandotte, was an
eye witness to the murder, and pictures the tragic scene.
Samuel Hallett was sitting by me at the dinner table at the Garno House,
remarking as he rose to go, "I will leave a telegram at your office; do not hurry
your meal; it is not important." He crossed the street to write the message
it was a very warm day, and he recrossed to get his umbrella, and started north
on Third Street toward the general offices, which were in what was known as
the Brick Block. ... He had gone half a block, spoke to persons sitting
in front of Holcomb's drug store, Talcott among the rest, for he was a very
affable, gentlemanly man. Talcott, after he had passed, raised the heavy
repeating rifle which he carried and shot him in the back. Talcott had been
in my office just before noon, and I had asked him to dine with me, but he
refused. Jack Beaton, John M. Funk, the mayor, and myself had just finished
our meal and saw the whole proceeding. We all ran to the scene, picked up
Hallett, and carried him back to the Garno House, but he expired before we
reached the hotel. The bullet cut the strap of his white duck trousers and
lodged in his abdomen near the navel, but did not pass through. He exclaimed,
"My God. My God!" Talcott instantly mounted his horse which he had
17. Ibid., July 19, 20, 22, 1864.
18. Cruise, loc. cit., p. 538; Wyandotte Gazette, July 30, 1864.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 11
hitched conveniently, and rode off towards Quindaro, where he lived at the
time. Because of the enmity towards Hallett by many of the people living at
Quindaro, the hunt for Talcott was impeded and he was never apprehended.
He stopped for a few moments at his home [at Quindaro] and rode on into
oblivion, although a large reward had been offered for his arrest. 19
Sabin quoted a government report which appraised Hallett as "a
man of genius, of boundless energy and enthusiasm, fertile in ex-
pedients, bold and prompt in action. Had he lived he would have
been a master spirit in the construction of the Union Pacific Rail-
way, and probably one of the leading railroad men of the coun-
try." 20
To follow the history of the U. P. E. D. after Hallett's death re-
quires a look at the financing of the company so that the actions and
motives of various parties may be understood. After coming into
the railroad as financial agent of Fremont, Hallett had been em-
ployed on November 7, 1863, to construct the entire line of road
by the board of directors.
Later he acquired 99,800 more shares of the capital stock of the
Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western from James C. Stone and A. J.
Isaacs. This made him virtually owner of the corporation, leaving
only a few shares held by the other directors. 21 Besides the pur-
chase of stock, he paid $625,000 into the railroad to create an op-
erating fund. 22 In order to obtain more working capital, he went
to John D. Perry, president of the Exchange Bank of St. Louis. By
written agreements dated February 22, 1864, Perry agreed to loan
$750,000, of which $250,000 was to be advanced for the construction
of the first 40-mile section, this sum to be repaid when the govern-
ment accepted the section, the government bonds then to be avail-
able to cover the debt. To secure this fund, Hallett was required to
pledge one- third of all shares standing in his name (38,163 shares)
and Perry was to get one-fourth of two-thirds of all the profits of
Hallett's construction contract, but Perry was to have no control of
the building of the road. 23
At Perry's suggestion, Hallett had secured $150,000 more from
John How, Adolphus Meier, and Giles F. Filley, three St. Louis
merchants who were eager to get into the enterprise, but Hallett
had to pledge 61,637 more shares of stock. 24 Hallett was also forced
19. "Criminal Appearance Docket," case No. 104, district court of Wyandotte county,
Kansas.
20. Sabin, op. cit., pp. 88, 89.
21. Allegation in "Stevens vs. Kansas Pacific Railway," see Footnote 5.
22. Allegation in "Hallett's Heirs vs. Kansas Pacific Railway Company" in Supreme
Court of United States, 1879.
23. Hallet-Perry contracts, in "John Byers Anderson Papers," manuscript division, Kan-
sas State Historical Society.
24. Case No. 731, "Court Files," district court of Wyandotte county, Kansas.
12 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to commission Thomas C. Durant, vice-president of the Union Pa-
cific Railroad Company, as financial agent of the U. P. E. D., for
which Durant was to take another one-fourth of two-thirds of Hal-
lett's construction profits. 25
Hallett was just 36 years old when he was slain, and his wife, Ann
Eliza, with his children, were traveling in Europe. 26 The day after
his death, John L. Hallett, a brother, told the press: "I shall push
the work with as much vigor as ever. Shall pay on Saturday night/'
A few days later a delegation from Lawrence went out to the end
of the road to confer with the surviving Hallett brothers, John L.
and Thomas, about the approaching celebration. They had to go
on to Wyandotte where after a consultation the festivity was post-
poned, due to the death of Samuel Hallett and the want of proper
coaches. 27
Perry's agents met Mrs. Hallett when she disembarked at New
York and got her to renounce the right to finish her husband's con-
struction contract and to surrender it to the railroad. 28 Thereupon
Perry, as president of the company, discharged the Hallett brothers,
who with the help of Durant, as a surviving partner, were trying to
lay rails on the last four miles of the first section. Immediately the
business of building the road ground to a halt. Workmen had to
sue to collect their wages. So many small suits were filed that at-
torneys had their pleadings printed with a few blank spaces only
needing to be filled in.
On August 21 Perry came out to Lawrence for another railroad
meeting. He reminded the citizens of the resolution of January 6
and read a letter of Senator Lane to Hallett that ended with: "The
City of Lawrence to pay the additional cost of that part of the grade
you are compelled to vacate, and the additional expense of the
grade per mile that the new route costs over and above the old
route." The inevitable committee was appointed to deal with this
matter. 29
Perry wrote shortly afterward: "Mrs. Hallett will be here on Mon-
day or Tuesday with Geo. McDowell. I know not what I can do
with her. I have the road under my control, all the Hallett [s] left
[of] it." 30
25. Contract in National Archives, Railroad Package No. 80.
26. Daily Tribune, Lawrence, July 30, 1864; allegation in "Hallett's Heirs vs. Kansas
Pacific," supra.
27. Daily Tribune, Lawrence, July 29, August 3, 1864.
28. Perry to Anderson, September 18, 1864, "Anderson Papers," loc. cit.; also allega-
tion in "Hallett's Heirs vs. Kansas Pacific," supra.
29. Daily Tribune, August 21, 1864.
30. See Footnote 28.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 13
Perry's agents brought Mrs. Hallett to Wyandotte and had her
appointed administratrix of her husband's estate although neither
of the Halletts were residents of Kansas. They provided an attor-
ney, John K. Hale, who was a director of the railroad and a partner
of Allison B. Bartlett, who represented Perry in the ensuing litiga-
tion. Mrs. Hallett was induced to appoint Hale as her attorney-in-
fact and through him relinquished the valuable contract to construct
the railroad and, being persuaded that Hallett was bankrupt, filed
an inventory showing Hallett's estate to have assets of only $4,414.71,
listing only tools and cheap equipment of no use to anyone but the
railroad company. 31
Perry sued Hallett's estate and Hale accepted service for Mrs.
Hallett who was "temporarily out of the state." How, Meier, and
Filley also sued under the same conditions. Perry got judgment for
$264,250 which included interest, then had the 38,163 shares he held
as security appraised for $290.85 and the shares were auctioned at
sheriff's sale to the railroad for $287.73 which sum was duly credited
in Hallett's estate against Perry's judgment. In the suit of John
How, et. al, $462.28 was bid for 61,637 shares. Judgment was taken
in both suits on April 11, 1865, and the sheriff's sale was held on
August 14. So the railroad took all of Hallett's pledged stock for
$740.01, or for about three-fourths of a cent per share. At the same
time John Byers Anderson was buying stock from the railroad com-
pany and paying its full par value of $50.00 a share. 32
This legal chicanery was perpetrated at the expense of all the
urgency to build to keep ahead of the Nebraska railroad so Perry
and the investors at St. Louis could make a killing. It wasn't until
April 25, 1865, that Perry could file an affidavit that the first section
of 40 miles had been completed. 33 A few days later President John-
son appointed commissioners to examine the road, who made a
favorable report on May 5, 1865, although they noted certain de-
fects and that the railroad must count the 1.77 miles of the spur
track to Wyandotte in order to have a whole section of 40 miles. 34
Fate again intervened. John P. Usher, who had been quite
friendly to the road and at one time expected to be its president,
had resigned from the cabinet several months earlier and left the
Department of the Interior on May 15. He was succeeded by Sen.
James Harlan, of Iowa, who naturally favored the company about
31. "Estate of Samuel Hallett," deceased, probate court of Wyandotte county, Kansas.
See, also, Footnote 22.
32. Cases 731 and 732, "Court Files," district court of Wyandotte county, Kansas.
33. "Journal of Letters Received Lands and Railroads," loc. cit.
34. Simpson, op. cit., p. 90.
14 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to build the route through Nebraska, 35 where the first 20 miles of
track was not reported laid until October 28, 1865. Perry and his
friends had to conduct U. P. E. D. business with a government
bureaucrat who had no desire to see them get ahead. Then, too,
Usher became general solicitor for U. P. E. D. and Harlan disliked
his cabinet predecessor intensely. So "red tape" in the current
Washington fashion became a critical problem. 36
Secretary Harlan after approving the report of the government
commissioners reconsidered the matter and recommended that a
re-examination be made by a new commission, to consist of a com-
petent engineer to be selected by the Secretary of War, Harvey D.
Scott of Terre Haute, and Governor Crawford, of Kansas. General
McCallum, director and general manager of the military railroads,
considered additional proofs concluding with a recommendation
that the report of the former commissioners be accepted. This re-
port was then certified to the treasury with a presidential endorse-
ment.
In the meantime, the proponents of the Nebraska line were busy
trying to delay approval by the government. Next the rival or-
ganization in the U. P. E. D., headed by Edward Learned and E. R.
Meade, his attorney, addressed the secretary claiming that the group
represented by John D. Perry and John P. Usher were spurious di-
rectors, and not entitled to the government subsidy. The secretary,
taking heed of affairs in Kansas on September 7 asked that approval
of the road be rescinded and new commissioners be appointed, due
to the railroad bridge over the Kansas river near Wyandotte and
certain portions of track having been swept away by recent storms.
The President responded by appointing Lt. Col. James H. Simpson
to serve with Harvey D. Scott and Governor Crawford. 37
This board made a minute examination and an extended report
unfavorable to the railroad, which was not signed by Governor
Crawford, who addressed President Andrew Johnson by letter dated
October 13, 1865. July, August, and September were
memorable for singular and disastrous succession of heavy rains, destructive
storms and fearful tornadoes. On the 21st of August last, one of the most
violent and destructive swept over an immense range. . . .
In the City of Leavenworth on one occasion many houses were swept into
the Missouri river, carrying with them men, women and children, a number of
whom were drowned.
35. Harlan as senator and member of a select committee had effectively promoted the
interests of the main line through Iowa and Nebraska in the acts of 1862 and 1864. See
John P. Davis, The Union Pacific Railway (Chicago, 1894), pp. 102, 119.
36. Harlan to Perry, ibid., p. 105.
37. Ibid., p. 93.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 15
In consequence . . . the Union Pacific Railroad suffered greatly. Por-
tions of the track were temporarily damaged, bridges, ties and other property
carried away and destroyed, all of which have been repaired except the bridge
over the Kansas River near its mouth, and upon this work is going on and will
be completed before the Missouri Pacific road is extended to the State line
which is necessary to form the junction. 38
About this time the Daily Tribune of Lawrence reported that
there were good omens for the future of the railroad for it had pur-
chased two passenger coaches and another engine and that there
was a large shipment of rails at Weston. This may have helped
satisfy one of the objections by the government. 39
Perry was authorized by the board of directors to use the expected
government subsidy to deal with the dissident directors led by Fre-
mont and Learned.
On November 6 William J. Palmer, secretary and treasurer of the
railroad, reported that he had assigned $200,000 in bonds to Fre-
mont's agent, that he had disposed of Learned at Washington and
that Durant's resistance had been ineffectual. 40 Perry felt that the
settlement was a master-stroke, for the assignment of bonds when
received by the company, would bind the Fremont group to support
the future interests of the railroad.
Also, the company employed the Robert M. Shoemaker Company
to build the rest of the road. This group agreed to build the
branch line from Leavenworth to Lawrence for $600,000 in first
mortgage bonds, plus $250,000 in Leavenworth county bonds, plus
$22,000 per mile in full paid capital stock. 41
At a conference with the President and Harlan in October, Perry
and his associates consented to make whatever changes and im-
provements in the right-of-way and equipment required by the
government. The first section was then finally accepted. An addi-
tional section of 20 miles was certified to be ready on November 11,
1865, and was officially approved a month later, but the delay of
16 months had allowed the Union Pacific in Nebraska to catch up,
and the U. P. E. D. had lost the commanding lead over its rival,
which had been secured by Hallett's enterprise. 42
Mrs. Hallett delayed until 1873 to file suit against the Kansas
Pacific railroad, successor of the U. P. E. D., in the circuit court of
the United States at Leavenworth. By that time it was too late to
38. Crawford to Andrew Johnson, October 13, 1865, in National Archives, Railroad
Package Nos. 345, 346. Also contains original report of Scott and Simpson.
39. Daily Tribune, October 29, 1864.
40. Palmer to Anderson, November 6, 1865, "Anderson Papers," loc. cit.
41. Union Pacific Railroad Co., E. D. Robert M. Shoemaker, et al., agreement, July
1, 1865, ibid.
42. A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883),
p. 246.
16 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
complain of fraudulent actions that had been a matter of record
nine years earlier. She itemized the value of her husband's estate
to the aggregate of 15 million dollars, all of which the railroad had
fraudulently taken from her. The allegations of the suit are quite
interesting, but many details not mentioned herein are not suscep-
tible to verification now. The Union Pacific Railroad Company
simply does not now permit research in its archives and I do not
know what careful inquiry there would disclose, if anything at all.
Mrs. Hallett's suit was lost by demurrer at Leavenworth and the
supreme court affirmed this judgment in 1879.
It is always great fun to speculate on what might have been had
Hallett survived. Of course, such a presumption is productive of
nothing, but it certainly requires no great stretch of imagination to
visualize Hallett, with his great energy and resources driving the
road out to the one hundredth meridian before his rivals in Ne-
braska, and then forging on with friendly government help to join
with the Central Pacific of California; for the Nebraska road did not
reach the 100th meridian until more than two years after Hallett's
death.
John J. Ingalls might well have had this Kansas railroad in mind
when he wrote the immortal sonnet on lost "Opportunity ."
Gateways to the Promised Land
THE ROLE PLAYED BY THE SOUTHERN KANSAS TOWNS IN THE
OPENING OF THE CHEROKEE STRIP TO SETTLEMENT
JEAN C. LOUGH
FOR a brief while, in 1893, southern Kansas was the focus of
attention throughout the United States. Thousands of people
flocked to the area. Correspondents for the great Eastern news-
papers were present, sending out dozens of dispatches daily. The
cause of this tremendous interest was the opening of the Cherokee
strip, Indian territory, to settlement.
Elsewhere in the United States lay millions of uninhabited acres,
but the interest was in this strip of land roughly 58 by 150 miles
where the very atmosphere was reputed to be "electric and
full of life-giving properties." 1
There were many reasons for this interest in the Cherokee out-
let, or "strip," as it was called. Perhaps the greatest was that the
land was forbidden. It had been supposed it would be the home
of the Indian forever. Three railroads crossed it, but no settle-
ment was permitted within it. The areas to the north and south
were well populated. The homesteader wished to save the strip
for civilization; he wished to break the power of the great cattle-
men's combine, which, until 1890, had been using it. The railroads
wished to see it settled, in order to increase their own profit.
The southern border towns of Kansas of course saw possibilities
for great financial gain. They saw the strip as a vast new trade
territory which would necessarily be dependent upon them for
goods and services of all types. They also, expected the advent
of many new residents preferably "capitalists."
When the Indian appropriation bill of March 3, 1893, was
finally approved by congress, it contained the legislation necessary
to carry out the cession of the Cherokee outlet from the Cherokee
nation to the federal government, to pay the Cherokee nation the
sum agreed upon, $8,595,736.12 and to open the lands to public
settlement. Specifically, the outlet was a strip of land directly
south of and parallel to the southern Kansas border, bounded on
MRS. JEAN C. LOUGH, who received an M. A. degree in history at Colorado University,
Boulder, in 1958, is a resident of Arkansas City.
1. W. S. Prettyman, Indian Territory: A Frontier Photographic Record, selected and
edited by Robert E. Cunningham (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1957), p. 120.
(17)
26551
18 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the east by the Arkansas river and on the west by Beaver county
and Texas. To the south were the Cheyenne and Arapaho reserva-
tions, the Creek nation, and the territory of Oklahoma or "old
Oklahoma."
"Old Oklahoma" had been settled in 1889, ten years after the
first boomers came to sit upon the Kansas border and gaze at Indian
territory with longing eyes. David L. Payne, the boomer's most
militant leader, had been fond of quoting "The Lord commandeth
unto Moses: Go forth and possess the Promised Land," and it
became the watchword of the boomer campaign. 2 Naturally, the
presence of an area of land in the middle of Indian territory,
unassigned to any one tribe, had invited the greed of the land-
hungry. Once this land was opened, most of the rest of the
Indian's "permanent" home quickly went, piece by piece. Two
years later the boomers were again camped on the Kansas border,
looking southward, and the congress of the United States was in
the process of negotiating for the cession of the Cherokee outlet.
The outlet was not actually occupied by Cherokee Indians. It
had been Comanche and Kiowa territory, 3 which had been taken
from them by the government and given to the Cherokees, in
exchange for lands taken from the Cherokees in Georgia. The
Cherokee nation resided upon a rectangular tract to the east of the
outlet. The outlet gave them access to the hunting grounds to
the west. For several years it had been leased by cattlemen for
the grazing of their herds. These cattlemen, united in the Cherokee
Strip Livestock Association, as well as the railroads, had tried
unsuccessfully to buy the strip. The federal government had pro-
hibited it.
Public opinion had become so strong, however, for the opening
of the strip to settlement that the government eventually renounced
its treaties with the Indians, and virtually forced them to sell.
The official position was that the support which the Five Civilized
Tribes (erstwhile owners of Negro slaves) had given the Con-
federate cause during the Civil War had automatically abrogated
the treaties made with the tribes.
When the news reached Kansas that settlement had finally been
arranged with the Indians for the cession of the outlet, the Weekly
Republican Traveler, of Arkansas City, said:
2. Ibid., p. 10
3. Marquis James, The Cherokee Strip: A Tale of an Oklahoma Boyhood (New York,
Viking Press, 1945), p. 10.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 19
For years a little band of faithful men in this city have worked in season
and out of season for the consummation of the end which we are celebrating
today. Money has been expended in large sums in a legitimate way and
the rewards of these sacrificing men have too often been curses and mis-
representation. . . . 4
Now there was hope of more substantial rewards.
The little town of Hunnewell was already receiving benefits.
During the early 1890's, after the government had ordered all
cattle removed from the strip, thousands of head of cattle were
driven to the stockyards at Hunnewell for shipment to market or
to other grazing grounds. There was a Santa Fe branch line
terminus at Hunnewell, and the Frisco built an extension down
from South Haven, three miles to the north. 5 The population of
the town multiplied. It was a roaring cowtown in the tradition
of the earlier shipping centers.
The nation of course expected an immediate Presidential procla-
mation setting the time of the opening of the strip, but it was slow
in coming. Details needed to be taken care of, and an attempt was
made to find a more satisfactory method of settlement than the
"run" system used in the three previous openings.
While the government was studying, railroads and southern
Kansas towns were acting. Promotion went into high gear.
Boomer literature was printed and widely distributed. Business-
men's clubs and committees raised funds for advertising, and
solicited names of people to whom they could send literature.
Maps of the strip sold for 15 cents apiece. The homesteaders
began arriving in increasing numbers.
Part of the influx was due to the Panic of 1893. Money was
scarce. Banks were closing. Farm prices were dwindling steadily.
The farmers of Kansas were in revolt, and were upsetting Kansas'
political traditions by voting for Populist candidates instead of
Republicans. The great boom of the 1880*8 had burst, and con-
tinued drought, small crops, and low prices, coupled with mortgage
foreclosures, caused many to seek cheap land and a new start.
The boomers were sometimes able to earn a little money by work-
ing for the farmers in the region, but more often they had to rely
upon hunting and fishing to sustain them while they waited.
The Kansas towns which were closest to the border and the
most likely to be the nucleus for would-be-settlers were Arkansas
4. Weekly Republican Traveler, Arkansas City, March 9, 1893.
5. Homer S. Chambers, The Enduring Rock (Blackwell, Okla., Blackwell Publications
Inc., 1954), p. 12.
20 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
City, Gale, Hunnewell, South Haven, Kiowa, Anthony, and Ash-
land. Of these, Arkansas City and Caldwell had by far the greatest
attraction. The two main-line railroads which crossed the strip
were the Santa Fe at Arkansas City, and the Rock Island at Cald-
well. The best land was at the eastern end of the strip, priced
at $2.50 an acre. West of the meridian of 97 30' it sold for $1.50
an acre, and west of 98 30' at $1.00 an acre the latter figure
25 cents an acre less than the government paid the Indians for it.
Arkansas City had a population in 1893 of 9,264 people, an in-
crease of almost 1,000 since 1892. Caldwell had 2,138 residents
in 1893, an increase of around 140 persons. Doubtless these in-
creases were attributable to the arrival of the earliest boomers,
who found jobs and settled into the community, and the arrival
of new businesses, preparing to take advantage of the great crowds
expected and the anticipated business.
It was on August 19, 1893, that Cleveland finally issued the
long-awaited Presidential proclamation. The strip was to be
opened to settlement at 12 noon, September 16, 1893. The "run"
system was to be used. At a given signal all participants would
rush forward, and the first person to arrive at a location could
drive a stake bearing his flag and lay claim to that homestead.
In an effort to prevent fraud, especially by people crossing the
line sooner than the legal opening time, nine booths were to be
erected five on the Kansas border and four on the border of
Old Oklahoma where people were to register and receive certifi-
cates. These certificates were to be shown before legal entry could
be made to the strip on opening day, and they must also be shown
when filing claims. The booths were to open on September 11,
remain open ten hours a day, and continue until closed by order
of the secretary of the Department of the Interior. Three officers
were to work in each booth.
In order to be eligible for a homestead, a person must be 21
years of age or the head of a family: this caused a few hasty
marriages. He (or she) must be a citizen of the United States,
or have declared his intention of becoming one, must not have
exhausted his homestead right, and must not be a "sooner"
one who crossed the line too soon. 6 A married woman could not
take her land if her husband did. No restrictions were put on
registrants because of race.
6. James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents,
1789-1902 (Washington, Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1905), v. 9, p. 417.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 21
Certain areas were withheld from the public settlement. A
maximum of 70 allotments were open to members of the Cherokee
nation 68 being finally approved. Land was set aside for the
Camp Supply military reservation, for the Chilocco Indian Indus-
trial School, for four government land offices, and for county
courthouses, schools, parks, universities, agricultural colleges, and
other public purposes. 7
The area had already been divided into counties, given tempo-
rary alphabetical designations (K through Q), and county-seat
locations had been established. A strip of land 100 feet wide
around and immediately within the outer boundaries of the entire
Cherokee strip was set apart for opening purposes, to allow the
people to assemble without impediment just before the run.
Soldiers were patrolling the borders as well as the interior of
the strip, looking for sooners. The railroads were also guarded,
but the number of soldiers available was totally inadequate for
the magnitude of the job at hand. Many, many sooners slipped
through. Those who were caught were escorted out of the territory,
sometimes held in custody until after the run, and they lost their
right to homestead upon the strip. A few sooners were killed
by the soldiers. Some of the soldiers could be bribed, however.
One man paid a soldier $25 to hide him in a hole on a claim the
Friday night before the opening. He emerged at 12 noon, Saturday,
and found four other men had already staked on the claim. 8
After the Presidential proclamation setting the date for the
opening of the strip, migration increased tremendously. The
New York Times carried an article from Topeka, on September
5, saying that the "movement toward the Cherokee Strip is in-
creasing all the time. There has been a daily average of 100 teams
passing through this city, with from two to six men to the team.
This has lasted now two weeks, and it is yet nearly two weeks
until the opening." It added that the first newspaper in the strip
would be a daily at Perry, to be published by a John W. Jacks
of Missouri, "who has his presses and materials already there."
At least 60 newspaper plants in Kansas were reported to be boxed
up and ready for shipment to the newly-settled territory. Twenty
of these were said to be headed for Perry, which was believed
by many to be "the coming city."
Along the border, stores were selling out their stocks and re-
ordering almost daily. Prices were not higher in Kansas, but
7. Ibid., pp. 409-411.
8. Weekly Republican Traveler, October 26, 1893.
22 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Guthrie, Indian territory, reported shortages of supplies and prices
rising. 9 Milk sold regularly for five cents a quart, bread for five
cents a loaf, eggs for five or ten cents a dozen, and coffee from 25
to 30 cents a pound. 10
The Weekly Republican Traveler of Arkansas City increased in
size from four to eight pages. The Caldwell News said bluntly on
September 7: "We are too full of strip business to pay much
attention to politics till the gates swing open to the promised land/'
The post office at Arkansas City had to put on three extra men
to handle and distribute the mail. 11 Bakers at Wichita were work-
ing overtime to furnish bread to Caldwell, Kiowa, and Hunnewell,
where the great number of boomers was causing a shortage. 12
Warnings were issued to watch out for pickpockets and thugs
of all kinds, as the towns were full of them. Many and bitter were
the protests of having been taken at the old shell game.
Horses were put into training, and there were some complaints
about racing through and near the towns. Harness was tested
and strengthened, and wagons were gone over and repaired. An
enterprising man from Wichita brought down a carload of horses
to sell. 13
Farmers received many requests from homesteaders wishing
to camp upon their lands. One man built a temporary house with
its door on the state line, so that he would be ready to go at a
moment's notice. 14 The campers were so thick along the border,
and the weather so dry, that the soil was eventually churned to
dust. Water was soon very scarce; wells were pumped dry, and
streams and water holes dried up. Washing was almost an im-
possibility. Water sold for a dime a cup.
Once the registration was begun, hardships multiplied. The
booths opened only five days before the run was to be made.
Thousands of people stood in line before each booth, day and
night, awaiting their turns. The heat was intense, and numerous
cases of heat prostration and sunstroke, with some deaths, were
reported. Those who had families could rely on them to bring
food and water, which was often shared with others in the line.
9. New York Times, September 14, 1893.
10. Chambers, op. cit.
11. Arkansas Valley Democrat, Arkansas City, September 1, 1893.
12. Jennie Small Owen, annalist, The Annals of Kansas 1886-1925 (Topeka, Kansas
State Historical Society, 1954), v. 1, p. 156.
13. Martha Jefferson Boyce, History in the Making: A Story of the Cherokee Strip
(Beatrice, Neb., Franklin Press, 1948), p. 6.
14. Weekly Republican Traveler, March 16, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 23
Women were usually ushered to the head of the line, the last piece
of chivalry most of them were to see for some time.
In spite of all precautions, fraud was still possible at the booths.
People joined the registrations lines, only to sell their places for
from five to 25 dollars. Many certificates were sold or obtained
in other illegal manners. Some of the soldiers guarding the booths
were bribed to take registrants in the back door; booth officials
sometimes obliged acquaintances by selling them certificates after
hours, in the hotels. At Orlando, Oklahoma territory, the registration
booths were robbed of certificates and the official stamp, and by
the next morning thousands of forged certificates were on the
market. 15
The cattlemen had a meeting in Arkansas City on September 14,
and sent a wire to President Cleveland protesting the booth system
of registration as carried on at Booth No. 9, south of Arkansas
City. The wire said, in part: "7,000 people are now in line and
thousands more arrive on each train. A conflict between parties
that are not registered and the troops is imminent unless the system
is abandoned. . . . The conduct of the soldiers at Booth # 9
is despicable. . . ." 16
That same day between 4,000 and 5,000 persons were in line
before the booth at Caldwell. Hunnewell reported being "over-
pressed," also. Orlando, Indian territory, had around 22,000
boomers, and the intense heat and bad water caused an epidemic
of dysentery there. 17 Many people had shipped their horses,
bedding, and camping equipment by railroad from Kansas, across
the strip, in hopes of finding less crowded conditions and having
a better chance in the run from there.
The Cherokees sent a telegram to Secretary of the Interior Hoke
Smith requesting permission to put well diggers to work on the
Indian allotments "that water may be in readiness for the crowds
that will run into the new country on Saturday, and who will
certainly suffer intensely from thirst." 18 The request was denied.
The appeal for help on the registration problem was heeded,
however. Extra booths were opened and many new clerks were
added, in a last minute attempt to alleviate the hardships of
registration.
Among the hundreds of people arriving daily were several special
15. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
16. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
24 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
groups with plans for establishing colonies of their own. One
such group was comprised of 500 Presbyterians, reportedly on its
way from Colorado.
Two hundred Scandinavians arrived in Arkansas City under the
management of one Oscar Johnson of McPherson county. Their
colony was chartered by the state of Kansas. 19
Annette Daisy was also on hand. She had taken an active part
in the three former openings. This time she organized a colony
of single women, widows, and spinsters, dedicated to the purpose
of building a community "across the sacred borders of which no
man shall pass/' 20 Thirty-four women had signed up by open-
ing time.
In Guthrie, a colony of several hundred Negroes arrived. Each
one of them had a printed certificate granting him a farm upon
his arrival. These certificates had been bought in Louisiana for
ten dollars apiece, and were obviously worthless. 21
Other people had bought tickets entitling them to draw for the
land, paying several dollars for that privilege which was not to
be granted.
Many of the people who traveled to the Kansas border before
the opening day became disgusted with the crowds, the registration
procedure, the dust and hot winds, and returned to their former
homes. Their places were quickly filled by new arrivals. For-
tunately, although the settlers had come from almost every part
of the United States and from abroad, the great majority of them
were from the Middle West, particularly Kansas, where climatic
and drought conditions were not too different from those of the
"promised land." These people were better able to endure the
hardships prior to the opening.
On September 14, 1893, a Rock Island train crossing the strip
was attacked, and despite desperate resistance from the trainmen,
the Pullman cars were robbed of all their ice and water. The train
crew was reported to bear the marks of fierce fighting. 22
Thirsty sooners were not the only desperadoes loose in the strip.
The Dalton and Starr gangs were making their headquarters there
as well as many less well-known train and bank robbers. Trains
were frequently held up, and the gunmen appeared in Kansas
boldly and apparently at will.
19. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
20. Ibid., September 17, 1893.
21. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
22. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 25
On the day before the run a scout appeared in Arkansas City,
having just come from the Osage country, and notified all the banks
that the remnants of the Dalton-Starr gang were camped about
30 miles south of the town. They were planning to rob the banks
once the people had left town for the opening. A strong posse
was organized to protect the banks, as almost the entire police
force was going to make the run. The raid never actually took
place. 23
Hunnewell was having troubles of its own. A town of approxi-
mately 250 people, it was greatly overrun. Waiting lines were
everywhere, at the hotels, restaurants, stores, post office. Feeling
ran very high when it was discovered that four race horses had
been killed and seven others had been hamstrung. 24 There was
strong suspicion that someone planning to make the race afoot was
responsible.
Violence and death were not unusual during these days. Men
were killed for their money, or for their certificates. More often,
they fought, and killed, over gambling, women, and even attempts
to crash the waiting line at the registration booths. By far the vast
majority of the boomers, however, were honest, hard-working
people who behaved in an orderly manner until the run started.
In Arkansas City the press seized its opportunity to extol the
virtues of the town before a captive audience. Articles were printed
enumerating the economic possibilities of the area, the water supply
from two rivers, the three railroads, three newspapers, three mills,
four banks, stockyards, streetcar lines, electric lights, and telephone
exchange. The industries included a reclining chair factory, a can-
ning factory, and makers of bricks, carriages, mattresses, and
wind machines, as well as a wholesale grocery. 25
As the Canal City Dispatch, of Arkansas City, said: "We have
the location, the water power and everything else necessary to
make a city. . . . people . . . will return . . . buy
property. . . . Inside of the next year Arkansas City's popula-
tion will be three times what it is at present. It will be the supply
point for the south." 26 Fifty thousand people were in or near
Arkansas City before the run was made.
At Caldwell the press was also busy promoting the town. There
was one gloomy note. The Caldwell Journal kept printing a notice
saying: "We have on our books the names of a great many who
23. Ibid., September 16, 1893.
24. Caldwell News, September 14, 1893.
25. Weekly Republican Traveler, May 11, 1893.
26. Canal City Dispatch, Arkansas City, September 15, 1893.
26 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
owe us from one or two dollars on subscription. In all it reaches
several hundred dollars. Many of these men will go into the strip
without thinking of paying us. We can't afford to lose this money
and ask all to call at once and settle." 27 The editor finally solved
his problem by selling the paper and going into the strip himself
to live.
For the last few days before the opening, prairie fires raged
across the strip. Several sooners were believed to have burned
to death. It was said that "If a crow attempted to fly the Cherokee
Strip he'd have to take his own grub along." 28 A song was sung to
the tune of "After the Ball Is Over":
After the strip is opened,
After the run is made,
After the horses are buried
After the debts are paid;
Many a sucker'll be kicking,
Many will have lost their grip,
Many will wish they'd been hung,
Ere going to the strip. 29
At last the great day arrived. Well over 100,000 people were
assembled on the northern and southern boundaries. For hours
they waited; gambling, singing, praying even preaching. Finally,
at 12 noon (five minutes earlier on the Hennessey stretch of line)
a shot rang out and was relayed along the line from soldier to
soldier. The eager settlers, straining their eyes, could see the puff
of smoke from the distant rifle before they could hear the sound
of the shot. All along the line the horses leaped forward, and the
great race was on. The horsemen and bicyclists were easily in the
lead, followed by the heavier carriages and wagons. In the rear
were those who were going in afoot. In one place, at the first steep
ravine an 18-foot embankment the bicyclists were forced to quit.
The horsemen, unwilling to lose time by looking for a more favor-
able spot to cross, in many cases leaped their horses down the
embankment, often crippling them so that they had to be aban-
doned. Clouds of dust obscured the vision of the strippers, and
one heavy wagon, loaded with six men, was accidentally driven
over the same embankment. One man on the wagon suffered a
broken leg. 30
27. Caldwell Journal, August 24, 1893.
28. Chambers, op. cit., p. 22.
29. Ibid., p. 23.
30. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 27
There were many accidents. People fell off horses and were in
danger of being trampled in the rush. A Mrs. Charles Barnes of
El Dorado was killed under a falling horse. 31 Several other women,
some of whom rode "clothes-pin fashion" were also injured.
Broken arms, legs, and necks were not uncommon. Some who
didn't fall from horses or wagons, or drive off cliffs, managed to
fall off the overloaded trains which made the run, or be accidentally
shot in the uproar. Sooners were shot by soldiers, and at least one
soldier was shot by a sooner. 32
As the horsemen established a good lead over the rest of
the boomers, some of them dismounted and set fire to the prairie, so
that those behind them could not advance. Other fires were set
by claimants trying to burn off the grass and uncover their
boundary markers. A number of people were burned to death,
including a colored man named Tom Jameson 33 and a Mrs.
Elizabeth Osborne of Newton, Mo. 34 Some of those burned to
death could not be identified.
The fine race horses imported for the occasion did not hold
up too well. They made good starts, but couldn't stand the distance
or the terrain. Many dead horses littered the prairie the next day.
One man had a most uncomfortable ride when his thoroughbred
race horse became excited in all the turmoil and ran uncontrollably
for 24 miles before dropping dead. 35
The trains which made the run were jammed to the roof. At
Caldwell, although very crowded, the business of loading the
Rock Island trains proceeded in a fairly orderly manner.
As tickets were procured, the purchaser passed on from the east to the west
side of the tracks, received successive numbers, were put into companies under
captains, and placed in position along the track ready, each company to
board a car when the train came along. The train was made up of Montgomery
Palace Cattle cars 35 cars and it was loaded with 5,200 persons who bought
tickets and several hundred marshals and others, and officers of the road. 38
In Arkansas City things did not go quite so well. The trains
didn't pull out of the Santa Fe yards until long after 12 o'clock,
and the jam then was terrible. "At least 15,000 people, including
most of the population of Arkansas City, were there to board the
trains. Special trains from Wichita, Winfield and other points came
31. Weekly Republican Traveler, September 21, 1893.
32. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
33. Ibid.
34. Canal City Dispatch, September 22, 1893.
35. Weekly Republican Traveler, September 21, 1893.
36. L. R. Elliott, as quoted in "The Greatest Race of the Century," The Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 23 (Summer, 1957), p. 207.
28 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in loaded with sightseers. . . . Engineers were instructed to run
carefully, for it had been said attempts would be made to tamper
with the trains/' 37 Already spikes and straps had been removed
from the rails and bridges, but were fortunately discovered before
any accidents resulted. Trains also made the run from the south.
The trains had to stop at every station, and slow down or stop
every five miles. They were forbidden to travel faster than 15 miles
per hour. As a result, the men on horses arrived before the trains.
Many of those who made the run by train were town lot seekers,
or investors in town lot companies, such as the Ponca Town
Company and the Cherokee Town Site Trust Company.
At Orlando, Oklahoma territory, between 20,000 and 25,000
people were gathered for the race to the town site of Perry a
distance of ten miles. It took 45 minutes for the trains to get to
Perry, and by that time there were approximately 1,000 horsemen
there. By two in the afternoon there were 20,000 people in Perry,
many of them without food or water. 38
Some enterprising people made the run with improvised "water-
wagons" and sold water for a dollar a bucket. Fortunately the
weather was not as hot as earlier in the week.
Besides the difficulties of the run itself, there were the sooners
and the claim jumpers to deal with. The leaders of the race fre-
quently arrived, on sweaty horses, at a likely spot, only to find
someone already there, with an unmarked horse, sometimes plow-
ing a field near a partially-erected house. A whole town was
reported stolen by sooners. Men made the run from the east
side, contrary to instructions. Many cases were later taken to court,
but it was difficult to prove a man a sooner. Nearly every sooner
had two friends to swear that his claim was legitimate and his
certificate legal.
In many cases men dropped out of the run and staked land
unaware of the fact that someone else had already done so, or was
doing so at that very moment. Some of these cases were settled on
the spot, with a gun. Other claims were deliberately jumped.
Alexander Gillespie was staking a claim near Arkansas City
when another boomer with a Winchester rode up and dismounted
upon the same claim. "We will play a game of checkers for it," said
he. "I've jumped and it's your move." When he raised his Win-
chester, Gillespie moved! 39
37. Denver Republican, September 17, 1893.
38. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
39. Canal City Dispatch, September 22, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 29
An estimated 30,000 people made the run from Arkansas City,
and 10,000 from Caldwell, with a number going in from other
Kansas border towns and the Oklahoma territory. 40 By nightfall
many of them were on their way out again. Some merely went in
to see the show. Others were too late to stake a claim.
While the excitement was going on in the Cherokee strip, the
surrounding towns were practically deserted. The banks were
closed and business was at a standstill. Everyone who possibly
could had gone to see the run. However, within four hours of
the start of the race, orders began to roll into Arkansas City for
lumber and supplies. The eagerly awaited market had been opened.
One of the most successful profiteers from the opening of the
Cherokee strip was a lawyer who went into the strip several hours
before the opening, but without attempting to get land. Instead,
he collected evidence against some 200 or more sooners and had no
trouble in getting "an army of clients." 41
The local press was shocked at the depopulation created by
the opening of the Cherokee strip to settlement, but was pleased
that it had "at last been wrested from the powerful cattle syndicate
which for many years held dominion over it and would permit
no home-seekers." 42
Throughout the nation, though, criticism was rising over the
manner in which the run had been conducted, and over the idea
of having a horse race with the stakes a part of the public domain.
The New York Times editorialized on September 17:
The whole trouble has arisen from the fact that our homestead laws have
been bequeathed to us from a period when the Government and the Nation
were greatly interested in making sure that the public domain was occupied and
utib'zed. That period is past. What there is left of the public domain is a na-
tional possession of great and increasing value that should be made to yield to
the Public Treasury all that it is fairly worth.
A homestead of 160 acres of the best land, which sold for $2.50
an acre, would cost the settler around $516, including his fees and
four percent interest for five years. 43
The New York Times editorial expressed the current but curious
view towards the Cherokee strip and public lands:
The Cherokee Strip may be called the last remnant of the public domain.
The United States of America do still own some land in various outlying
40. New York Times, September 17, 1893. These figures coincide with those given in
the local papers at the time. Recent figures are much greater, giving Arkansas City
70,000 boomers.
41. Canal City Dispatch, September 22, 1893.
42. Arkansas Valley Democrat, September 22, 1893.
43. Ibid, September 8, 1893.
30 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
parts, but this is the last great tract that is thrown open to settlement. It
is upon that count the more disgraceful and calamitous that the settlement
of it should be attended by the outrageous scenes that have been witnessed
during the last few days, and that are likely to be followed by scenes more
disgraceful still.
To back up this prophecy, the Times carried a front page story
on September 19, with numerous titles and subtitles as follows:
Baptism of Blood and Fire.
Flaming Passions and Prairies
in Cherokee Strip.
Homemakers Abandoning their Outfits and Fleeing for Their Lives Thou-
sands of Them Hastening Back from What a Few Days Ago Was the
Promised Land Tent Towns Demolished by a Fierce Gale A Harvest
of Corpses Quarrels of Racers and "Sooners."
Conditions were bad, but it is doubtful if they were that bad!
Many boomers did leave the strip very quickly. The weather, the
burned-over earth, and the apparently endless winds encouraged
the less resolute to leave. Some managed to sell their claims
before filing, and turn a quick profit. Others were not so fortunate.
Claims were advertised for sale in the local newspapers.
Perhaps the most frustrating experience was that of Jacob Loren-
son. An article in the Canal City Dispatch on September 22 said:
Jacob Lorenson is the name of the young man who cut his throat at Perry
yesterday. He came here from Saginaw, Mich., and bought a lot for $500,
which proved to be on the public square. He staked another lot for which
he was offered $250 but refused the offer. It turned out that the lot was
in the alley. Moneyless and discouraged, he cut his throat but was alive
this morning, according to the report.
One group of unsuccessful homesteaders a would-be colony
from Illinois, which made the run on foot and secured nothing
had this to say: "We are glad to get back. . . . We honestly
would not take a claim in the new country as a gift now, after
what we saw of the country and its people/' 44
The trains running north out of the strip were overloaded. The
railroads were doing exceedingly well, and continued to do so, for
over their lines rolled the goods to build and stock not only stores
but cities. Passenger trade was heavy, but as it slackened the
freight trade increased.
Arkansas City was doing well economically. The orders rolled
in, and Arkansas City boasted that it was supplying every city in
the strip located on the Santa Fe line. In addition, an estimated
$250,000 had been left there by the boomers. The city did suffer
44. Denver Republican, September 18, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 31
a marked loss in population to the strip, but held firmly to the
belief that the people would come back, and that others, be-
coming disenchanted with the strip, would settle there.
Caldwell did not fare as well as Arkansas City. It, too, was a
supply center, but it was so seriously depopulated that it was
necessary to hold a special election. The councilmen for the first,
second, and third wards had left the state of Kansas. 45
The population of Arkansas City fell from 9,264 in 1893 to
7,120 in 1894. Caldwell went from 2,138 to 1,386 in the same years.
Kiowa fell from 1,358 people to 504. There were similar losses all
along the border. These losses cannot be attributed entirely to the
opening of the Cherokee strip, as the current depression undoubt-
edly contributed. It was estimated, however, that the opening of
the Cherokee strip cost Kansas some 50,000 populist votes.
The opening of the Cherokee strip to settlement was an event
for which the adjacent towns had long worked, propagandized, and
invested. In return they expected substantial city growth and
economic prosperity. Their goals were only partially attained.
Temporary economic gains there were, but also the loss of residents.
The losses were not quite as severe as they seemed, when it is
realized that boomers were gathering for the expected opening
as early as 1891, and those who got jobs locally were accepted and
counted as part of the resident population, when in fact and inten-
tion they were not.
Those towns which were basically sound, with sufficient water,
good railroad connections, and some local industry, survived the
Cherokee strip opening and experienced a slow but steady recovery
and growth. Others, which had had several rewarding years be-
cause of the strip boom, but which had no firm economic basis, never
recovered. The hotel at Hunnewell has been torn down and most
of the business houses have disappeared. On the site of Gale stands
a lone grain elevator.
The people had exercised their traditional American prerogative,
and moved on into the new frontier looking, as always, for the
"promised land" beyond.
45. Caldwell News, November 2, 1893.
Telegraph Beginnings in Kansas
JOHN E. SUNDER
KANSAS' great question slavery was settled. After five years
of bloodshed, delegates to a new constitutional convention
met July 5, 1859, at Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City), to
draw up an antislavery document. Throughout the meeting a
young man by the name of Philo H. Clarke sat at a telegraph key
near convention hall, clicking stories to Eastern correspondents.
His news brought fresh hope to the advocates of human freedom. 1
Clarke's office was connected with the East by way of Missouri.
His telegraph line also went through Quindaro, along the Missouri
river to Leavenworth. And, during that summer of 1859, while
the delegates threshed out their constitution, construction crews
were stretching wires between Leavenworth and Atchison.
Telegraph lines, by 1859, already crisscrossed Missouri. For
12 years there had been a struggle for control of the state's
expanding system. One casualty of the conflict was an early Mis-
souri river line, completed in 1851. From St. Louis west its wires
paralleled the south bank to Kansas City, then ran north along
the east bank to St. Joseph. The line had fallen into disrepair,
and when rebuilt in 1859 by Charles M. Stebbins, an independent
operator, the link above Kansas City had been discarded. 2
Western Union, in a series of corporate agreements, culminating
in Missouri between 1857-1859, had won control of Stebbins' lines
(and Stebbins' dreams of a transcontinental network) and en-
couraged its Western subsidiaries to expand into Kansas and Ar-
kansas. Stebbins received $12,000 in cash from Western Union in
return for a majority of stock in his Missouri river line, but theo-
retically he remained in control and was retained as general line-
superintendent. He had no choice; the giant threatened to build
a line, parallel to his, west from St. Louis to Kansas City. Capitu-
lation, with the superintendency, was better than financial ruin. 3
The plans for Kansas' first line were made by Stebbins and his
agents before the Western Union victory. In 1855 the Kansas ter-
DR. JOHN E. SUNDER, native of St. Louis who received his doctor's degree from Wash-
ington University, is a member of the history department of the University of Texas, Austin.
1. Frank W. Blackmar, Kansas . . . (Chicago, 1912), v. 2, pp. 50, 51; Noble
L. Prentis, A History of Kansas (Topeka, 1904), pp. 77-79; Topeka Daily Capital, January
16, 1955.
2. John E. Sunder, "The Early Telegraph in Rural Missouri, 1847-1859," Missouri
Historical Review, Columbia, v. 51, No. 1 (October, 1956), pp. 42-53.
3. Charles M. Stebbins, The New and True Religion (New York, 1898), pp. 367, 368.
(32)
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS 33
ritorial assembly incorporated two telegraph companies: the "Kaw
River" and the "Occidental." Stebbins' "friends among the mem-
bers (all Missourians)" sponsored the acts. He, his close friend
Isaac M. Veitch, and several associates, were to construct the Kaw
river line from a junction point on their Missouri river system
near the mouth of the Kaw (Kansas) river "through such points
on or near the Kansas river as the corporators may elect, thence
westward to the western boundary of Kansas territory." 4 They
were to build the Occidental from a similar junction point to Leav-
enworth and the northern boundary of the territory. Disruption
within the Missouri system in the mid-1850's, however, prevented
construction of the two lines, although Stebbins remained inter-
ested and optimistic.
While Stebbins was rebuilding the old Missouri river telegraph
line, his agents were active in eastern Kansas. Though building
plans beyond Kansas City were a bit indefinite, the Kansas Weekly
Herald at Leavenworth was enthusiastic, and on February 6, 1858,
called for an early public meeting to secure a link to Stebbins' line
"for economic and military reasons." The response was hearten-
ing to agents S. A. Drake and Captain Scudder, and, by August,
Leavenworth had subscribed $5,000. Russell, Majors & Waddell,
together with Smoot, Russell & Company, put up better than one
fourth of the total. 5
In September the last poles on the new Missouri river line were
going up on the prairies between Boonville and Lexington; Kan-
sas City anticipated connection to the system by Christmas; and
Drake was again on his way into eastern Kansas to rally more sup-
port for the line to and beyond Leavenworth. He passed through
Kansas City in mid-October and reported that Stebbins was build-
ing at the rate of three miles per day. All outward signs pointed
to success, including St. Joseph's demand to be part of the system. 6
The St. Joseph Gazette remarked: "This will always be our most
important connection, for by it we will not only communicate with
the Capitol . . . but with all the important points on the
river . . ." 7
The optimistic outlook, however, had to be qualified during the
4. The Statutes of the Territory of Kansas; Passed at the First Session of the Legislative
Assembly, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Five (Shawnee M. L. School, 1855),
pp. 856-858.
5. The Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, February 6, August 21, 1858; Western
Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., August 21, 1858.
6. Leavenworth Times, October 9, 1858; St. Joseph (Mo.) Gazette, September 28,
1858; St. Louis Daily Morning Herald, October 16, 1858; Western Journal of Commerce,
September 4, October 16, 1858.
7. St. Joseph Gazette, September 28, 1858.
36551
34 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
autumn. Stebbins was nearly out of funds by early October; in-
cessant rain pelted the construction crews in western Missouri; and
a few Leavenworth subscribers failed to meet their payments.
Time was at a premium, since navigation during the winter would
close on the lower Missouri, and telegraph equipment, especially
instruments and batteries in sufficient quantity, had to be delivered
in Kansas City before that time if any new stations were to be
opened before the following spring. Stebbins believed he could
overcome all obstacles, given some co-operation, but admitted that
he had been behind schedule for weeks. 8
Workmen had poles set into Kansas City by early December
but no wire. Stebbins explained the difficulty as a simple matter of
supply and demand. The wire producers were slow in forwarding
his orders, yet he intimated that even orders depended upon stock
subscriptions and many in the Kansas City area had not met their
pledges. Nevertheless, he was certain he could build the line
cheaper than anyone else and remained confident that it would
reach St. Joseph in a "very short time" and, perhaps, go on to
Council Bluffs. 9
Early in December, 1858, digging crews and hoisting-men
reached the banks of the Kaw, crossed the stream near its junction
with the Missouri, and commenced setting poles in Kansas terri-
tory through Wyandotte, Quindaro, and the Delaware Indian
lands to Leavenworth. They followed the river bottoms, since the
next best route was along Stranger creek five to ten miles inland
across the bluffs; too far to serve as a direct route to the river
towns. Stebbins' timetable, which called for wire in Kansas City
by Christmas and to Leavenworth by the New Year, fell far be-
hind schedule partially due to the Delaware Indians who "had
taken umbrage at the construction of a telegraph line through their
domain, and threatened to impede or prevent its progress." Rep-
resentatives of the telegraph line, and also, it seems, of the town
of Leavenworth, met with a council of Delaware chiefs on De-
cember 10, and reached an agreement whereby Stebbins was au-
thorized to obtain poles from the Indian lands upon his promise
to respect the reservation's character. 10
8. Letter, Charles M. Stebbins to Alfred Gray, September 18, 1858, "Alfred Gray
Papers," in Mss. division, Kansas State Historical Society; Leavenworth Times, October 16,
23, November 6, 1858.
9. St. Louis Daily Morning Herald, December 8, 1858; Marshall (Mo.) Democrat,
December 10, 1858; Western Journal of Commerce, November 20, 1858.
10. Leavenworth Weekly Times, December 11, 1858; Marshall Democrat, December
10, 1858; "Kansas Base Map (1921)," U. S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey;
World Geographic Atlas (Chicago, 1953), pp. 136, 137.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS 35
At last, shortly before Christmas, Kansas City sent and received
its first messages on the new line, and a temporary downtown
office was opened. The wires were strung across the Kaw on tall
supporting masts later to be replaced by cables. An office was
opened in Wyandotte, and the local Weekly Western Argus initi-
ated a column of "Telegraphic Items." In Wyandotte and other
localities Stebbins was accused of favoritism in the use of his
line and had to exercise great tact to retain the support of both
proslavery and antislavery factions. Another office was opened at
Quindaro, although Stebbins at first considered by-passing the
town. Between Quindaro and Leavenworth, however, it is unlikely
that any office was opened at that time. 11
Poles were up in Leavenworth before the wire was up in Kan-
sas City, and on New Year's Day, 1859, it was announced that
"in the course of a fortnight, the line will be completed." An
office under the management of Agent Drake was located at the
corner of Main and Delaware near the levee. The wire came
through in January and on the 25th of the month was connected
to the Leavenworth office. 12 A few days later, on the evening
of Saturday, February 5, Drake sent his first long-distance message
to New York City. The circuit was so constructed that the prin-
cipal cities in between received the message simultaneously and
joined in the celebration of Kansas' formal telegraphic birth. 13
The military authorities at Ft. Leavenworth realized immediately
the line's strategic value. The actual order issued by the com-
mander of the Department of the West, permitting the line to be
built north from Leavenworth proper across the reservation to
Atchison, is missing, but it is known that the fort used the line
to send and receive messages and that other similar utilities were in
time allowed to enter the reservation. Lacking information to the
contrary, we may conclude that Stebbins pushed his line through
the fort along the riverbank right-of-way later used by the Leaven-
worth, Atchison & Northwestern and Missouri Pacific railroads. 14
Between the northern edge of the fort and Atchison only Kicka-
11. Kansas City Daily Western Journal of Commerce, December 19, 21, 1858; Weekly
Western Argus, Wyandotte, January 15, 1859; Stebbins to Gray, loc. cit.; Otis B. Gunn,
New Map and Hand-Book of Kansas <Lr the Gold Mines (Pittsburgh, 1859), p. 23.
12. Leavenworth Weekly Times, January 1, 1859; Martha B. Caldwell, compiler,
Annals of Shawnee Methodist Mission and Indian Manual Labor School (Topeka, 1939),
p. 105; W. M. Paxton. Annals of Platte County, Missouri . . . to 1897 . . .
(Kansas City, 1897), p. 274; Daniel W. Wilder, The Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1875),
p. 198.
13. Daily Missouri Democrat, St. Louis, February 10, 1859; Kansas City Daily Western
Journal of Commerce, February 9, 1859; St. Louis Daily Morning Herald, February 8, 1859.
14. Elvid Hunt, History of Fort Leavenworth 1827-1927 (Fort Leavenworth, 1926),
pp. 130, 160, 252, 253; U. S. Military Reservations, National Cemeteries and Military Parks
(Washington, D. C., 1916), p. 135.
36 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
poo was large enough to warrant a telegraph office, and it does not
appear that the town either was offered or accepted one. The
people of Atchison, however, heard directly from Stebbins. He
wrote to John F. Tracy in April, 1859, requesting that Atchison
subscribe $1,500 in stock to guarantee an office on the line. Steb-
bins estimated that he could complete the Atchison-Leavenworth
connection in six weeks the towns were only 21 miles apart
and stated that his line was already paying eight to ten per cent
dividends. Robert C. Clowry, recently promoted to the Leaven-
worth superintendency, was to handle subscriptions. 15
Subscribers in Atchison knew that the line through Leavenworth
was a success and that Stebbins not only intended to build to
St. Joseph, but contemplated sending a branch line from Leaven-
worth to Ft. Riley. They subscribed the $1,500 in stock requested
and he pushed ahead with the line, so that by July 30 he had
poles standing in the streets of Atchison. Tracy opened an office
on the south side of Commercial street, between Levee and Sec-
ond, and was ready for business by mid-August. The wire was
connected on Monday August 8, and the first message, sent by the
mayor to Leavenworth and St. Louis, went over the wires one week
later. The editor of the Atchison Union telegraphed St. Louis:
"We are indebted to the triple alliance of labor, capital and science
for the final success of this great enterprise. We will now hand
to you important news from Salt Lake one day earlier than hereto-
fore, via Leavenworth." Atchison took pride in the fact it was
then 14 miles farther west than any telegraph station east of the
Rockies. 16
North of Atchison there were two possible routes to St. Joseph.
The line could cross the Missouri river to the east bank and proceed
overland along the right-of-way of the Atchison-St. Joseph railroad,
or it could be built along the west bank to Elwood opposite St.
Joseph. Stebbins decided to follow the west bank through Doni-
phan to Elwood, and immediately set crews to work to complete
the connection. 17
15. Daily Missouri Republican, St. Louis, March 8, 1859; Freedom's Champion,
Atchison, May 14, 1859.
16. Daily Missouri Democrat, February 10, 1859; Freedom's Champion, July 30,
August 13, 20, 1859; Sutherland & McEvoy's Atchison City Directory . . ., 1859-60
(St. Louis, n. d.), p. 77; A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas
(Chicago, 1883), p. 377. Atchison, however, was not farther west than any other station
east of the Rockies. In 1858 a telegraph line was completed between Houston and Gal-
veston, Tex., and Houston is slightly west of Atchison. See Frank W. Johnson, A History
of Texas and Texans (Chicago and New York, 1914), v. 1. For the quote see Daily Mis-
souri Republican, St. Louis, August 16, 1859.
17. The Kansas Weekly Press, Elwood, October 23, 1858; The Weekly West, St.
Joseph, January 14, 21, 1860.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS 37
In St. Joseph, Edward Creighton, Stebbins* agent, and J. B. Jen-
nings pushed the project; secured enough stock subscriptions to
guarantee completion of the link; and arranged for an upstairs
office on the corner of Jule and Second. The city council, at least
two years earlier, had provided ordinance protection for telegraph
poles and wires in St. Joseph. Everything was ready for the ar-
rival of the wires, but how would they cross the Missouri at El-
wood? By masts or by underwater cable? In 1858 soundings had
been made in the river immediately below Elwood and a "tele-
graphic plateau" located suitable to an underwater cable. They
decided, however, to use masts, at least temporarily, and the cross-
ing was made by mid-March, 1860. The line had been built across
85 miles of countryside since leaving Kansas City, at a cost of about
65 dollars per mile. 18
Meanwhile, St. Joseph was being connected by another telegraph
line across northern Missouri to Hannibal and the extensive Il-
linois network. On July 4, 1859, that line, built along the right-of-
way of the new Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, was completed
and congratulatory messages were exchanged between the two
towns. An office was opened under C. H. Spillman in the St.
Joseph railroad depot, from which, as one commentator remarked,
"the giant young city of the border will be able to throw out West-
ern Lightning and border ruffian news to the whole world." 19
The major problem of a transcontinental line, however, was not
entirely settled. The issue was confused by building projects, some
of a fly-by-night nature, projecting a vast trans-Kansas telegraph
network, especially into the newly opened Colorado gold country. 20
Nevertheless, out of the confusion the babble of projects two
possibilities emerged: the line Stebbins was building in 1859 to
Fort Smith, Ark., or the one he was building through eastern Kan-
sas territory. Land surveys made by Edward Creighton predis-
posed Western Union to favor the Kansas route, and by early 1860
it was clear that the transcontinental line would be built by extend-
18. The Revised Ordinances of the City of Saint Joseph Passed by the City Council,
in the Years 1857-58 (St. Joseph, 1858), p. 154; Robert H. Thurston, ed., Reports of the
Commissioners of the United States to the International Exhibition Held at Vienna, 1873
(Washington, D. C., 1876), v. 2, p. 78; Telegraph Age, New York, May 16, 1907; Wilder,
op. cit., p. 240.
19. Daily Missouri Republican, July 8, 1859; Hannibal (Mo.) Messenger, June 23,
1859; Liberty (Mo.) Weekly Tribune, July 15, 1859. For the quote see The Central City
Brunswicker, Brunswick, Mo., July 20, 1859. See, also, Ben Hur Wilson, "From Coast to
Coast," The Palimpsest, Iowa City, v. 7 (August, 1926), p. 235.
20. For examples of the acts of incorporation granted in Kansas see: Private Laws of
the Territory of Kansas, Passed at the Fifth Session of the Legislative Assembly . . .
1859 . . . (Lawrence, 1859), pp. 77-80, and Private Laws of the Territory of Kan-
sas, Passed at the Special Session of the Legislative Assembly . . . 1860 . . .
(n. p., n. d.), pp. 428-432.
38 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ing the Kansas City-St. Joseph section. 21 To further facilitate con-
struction, Western Union, on January 7, 1860, secured from the
Missouri legislature the incorporation of the Missouri and Western
Telegraph Company Stebbins was one incorporator consolidat-
ing Western Union's control of the lower Missouri valley. 22
Stebbins and Clowry extended their line from St. Joseph through
Brownville and Nebraska City to Omaha. The connection was
completed by September 5, 1860. The builders then pushed west,
while, within Kansas, 42 operators kept the circuits open and the
wires humming with news. 23 Messages to points east cost at least
60 cents from Leavenworth; at least one dollar from St. Joseph. 24
A few customers complained that the charges were exorbitant, and
at times the lines were down from wind or ice, but the construc-
tion crews on the plains beyond Omaha were confident they could
tie the nation together by a thin wire thread.
Another year, and enough thread would be unwound. Another
year, 1861, and the transcontinental line would be finished.
21. John E. Sunder, "Arkansas' First 'Wonder Working Wire/" The Arkansas His-
torical Quarterly, Van Buren, v. 16, No. 3 (Autumn, 1957), pp. 231-242.
22. J. Thomas Scharf, History of Saint Louis City and County, From the Earliest
Periods to the Present Day . . . (Philadelphia, 1883), v. 2, p. 1429; Laws of the
State of Missouri . . . 1859-1860 (Jefferson City, 1860), pp. 189, 190.
23. John W. Clampitt, Echoes From the Rocky Mountains . . . (Chicago, New
York, San Francisco, 1889), p. 63; Henry M. Porter, Pencilings of an Early Western
Pioneer (Denver, 1929), pp. 10-15; Joseph C. G. Kennedy, compiler, Population of the
United States in 1860 . . . (Washington, D. C., 1864), p. 187.
24. Tal. P. Shaffner, The Telegraph Manual . . . (New York, London, Berlin,
Paris, 1859), p. 759; Congressional Globe, 36 Cong., 1 Sess. (1859-1860), pt. 3, p. 2252.
The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Young Lum,
Pioneer Kansas Missionary, 1854-1858
Edited by EMORY LINDQUIST
I. INTRODUCTION
WHEN the Rev. Samuel Young Lum arrived in Kansas in Sep-
tember, 1854, he initiated a career of genuine dedication to his
calling and the welfare of Kansas. He was born in New Providence,
N. J., on May 6, 1821. In 1842 he entered the preparatory depart-
ment of Oberlin College and was enrolled in the regular college
course during the next two academic years, but did not complete
the degree. He was a student at Union Theological Seminary,
New York, 1845 to 1848. He went to California in 1849 and spent
somewhat more than a year traveling in that area and in Mexico.
Upon returning from the Far West, Lum was ordained as pastor
of the Congregational church in Middleton, N. Y., on November 19,
1851. He served that church until 1854. On April 21, 1852, he
married Caroline Keep of Madison, N. J. In 1854 the 33-year-old
clergyman was commissioned for service in Kansas by the Ameri-
can Home Missionary Society. The Lums arrived in Kansas about
the same time as the second party which was sent out under the
auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. This group
reached Kansas City, Mo., on September 6. Lum became closely
identified with the party and was a member of the "Lawrence
Association."
Lum conducted the first service in Lawrence on October 1, 1854.
On October 15 the Plymouth Congregational Church of Lawrence
was organized. The first services were held in the famous Pioneer
Boarding House, or "hay tent," which was owned by the Emigrant
Aid Company. He entered into his field of service with energy
and enthusiasm. Lum preached his first sermon in Topeka in De-
cember, 1854; he was largely responsible for organizing the Free
Congregational Church of Topeka in Constitution Hall in July, 1856.
In June, 1857, when the First Church of Christ in Wabaunsee
was organized, Lum preached the sermon. He was active in the
DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany
College, is dean of the faculties of the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky
Valley People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (1953), and numerous magazine articles
relating to the history of this region.
(39)
40 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
organization of the General Association of Congregational Ministers
and Churches of Kansas in April, 1857, although it is possible that
an earlier meeting was held in his house in August, 1855. He re-
signed as pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church of Law-
rence in 1857 and was appointed the first Kansas superintendent
of the American Home Missionary Society. He held this position
until 1861, when he became pastor of the Congregational church at
Rehobeth, Mass.
Lum returned to Kansas in 1869 as agent for the American Bible
Society, a position he held until 1874, when he became pastor of a
church at Mannsville, N. Y. He subsequently held pastorates in
other places in New York and Connecticut. His last residence was
at Rutherford, N. J., where he died on October 1, 1895, as a result
of an accident at a railroad crossing near his home. 1
Lum's letters in this collection were addressed, with but one
exception, to the American Home Missionary Society, which was
founded on May 10, 1826, in New York. The Congregationalists
and the Presbyterians were the principal supporters of the society. 2
The Rev. Milton Badger was the senior secretary of the society.
He was assisted by the Rev. David B. Coe and the Rev. Daniel P.
Noyes. The offices of the society were at Bible House, As tor Place,
New York City.
Lum was a keen observer of men and events in Kansas. Although
he served principally at Lawrence, he traveled widely in Kansas,
transmitting detailed letters and reports to the officials of the
American Home Missionary Society.
II. THE LETTERS, 3 OCTOBER, 1854-DECEMBER, 1855
LAWRENCE, K. T.
October, 1854
To THE EDITORS, The Home Missionary 4
When I arrived in Kansas, I found myself with little more than
enough to support my family for a week, after all the expenses of
getting here had been met. I knew not what to do. In this
emergency, Mr. Pomeroy, Agent of the Emigrant Aid Company,
1. A sketch of the life of the Rev. S. Y. Lum by the Rev. Richard Cordley, Lum's
successor as pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church of Lawrence, is found in the
Minutes of the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas,
Forty-Second Annual Session, Lawrence, Kansas, May 7-11, 1896, pp. 33, 34. Martha
Oseniak, Union Theological Seminary, New York, and Donald M. Love, Oberlin College,
Oberlin, Ohio, supplied helpful biographical information.
2. The United Domestic Missionary Society of New York, founded in May, 1822,
merged with the American Home Missionary Society on May 10, 1826. The Presby-
terian, Dutch Reformed, and Associate Reformed Churches were the leaders in the United
Missionary Society. Colin Brummitt Goodykoontz, Home Missions on the American Frontier
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 41
took me by the hand, as a true brother, and from his own pocket
lent me the means of defraying expenses in fact, did all for me
that a man in his situation could do. 5
As you supposed, I have been most busily engaged since my
arrival in the Territory. There was no other course left me but with
my own hands to prepare a place for my family before winter set in.
Of course, none could be rented, for there was little else than the
smooth prairie; and as most were engaged in building for them-
selves, I must do the same for myself.
At this place, which is, no doubt, as yet, the most important in
the Territory, there are the most encouraging signs of progress in
every direction. Many from the various companies that come on,
either locate within the city limits, or secure farms in the imme-
diate vicinity. Until now, within a circuit of five or ten miles
there are not far from seven hundred persons, mostly heads of
families, the representatives, in all, of little less than three thousand
souls, most of whom will be here as early in the spring as possible.
The site selected for a city, has many natural and local advantages.
It is laid out on an extended scale, embracing about two miles
square, and yet, from the rapidity with which lots are being taken
for actual improvement, it will soon have few important lots un-
occupied. 6 Many are pledged by the terms on which they accept
lots, to place improvements on them to the value of $2,000 to $3,000
each, within one year. If what is now promised be but partially
(Caldwell, Idaho, 1939), pp. 173-178. The late Professor Goodykoontz made a thorough
and scholarly study of home missions with special reference to the American Home Mis-
sionary Society in the volume referred to above.
3. The original letters are in the splendid American Home Missionary Society collec-
tion of Hammond library, Chicago Theological Seminary, unless identified differently and
are presented with the kind permission of Harvey Arnold, librarian. All the letters printed
below are manuscript items except two which were printed in The Home Missionary, New
York, in October, 1854, and December, 1855, and one published in The Independent, New
York, December 7, 1854.
4. While this letter appeared in The Home Missionary for January, 1855, its contents
indicate conclusively that it was written in October, 1854. A letter to The Independent,
New York, under date of October 12, 1854, and published on October 26, 1854, contains
much of the same infonnation. The Lum family arrived in Kansas about the same time
as the second party of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. This group reached
Kansas City, Mo., on September 6, en route to the Wakarusa settlement. Louise Barry,
"The Emigrant Aid Company Parties in 1854," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka,
v. 12 (May, 1943), pp. 129-131. Lum conducted the first service in Lawrence on
October 1, 1854, according to a correspondent of the Puritan Recorder. A. T. Andreas
and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883), p. 314. Lum's letter
reproduced here was printed in The Home Missionary, New York, v. 27 (January, 1855),
pp. 216-218.
5. S. C. Pomeroy, an agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company and later
a prominent Kansas figure, came to Kansas with Charles Robinson and the second party
of emigrants sponsored by the company. See, supra, Footnote 4. The arrival of Pomeroy
and his associates at Lawrence is described in Edgar Langsdorf, "S. C. Pomeroy and the
New England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly,
Topeka, v. 7 (August, 1938), p. 231.
6. The organization of "The Lawrence Association" and general background factors
dealing with this development are described in James C. Malin, "Emergency Housing in
Lawrence, 1854," ibid., v. 21 (Spring, 1954), pp. 36-41.
42 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
fulfilled, we shall present city of as rapid growth as, I had almost
said, any in California; and I can see no reason why it may
not be so.
Of one thing we are certain, that the population, if what is al-
ready here be a fair criterion of the whole, will compare favorably
with that of any State or Territory in the Union. For firmness of
purpose, indomitable courage, and executive talent, they will
equal the emigration to California; while in intelligence and moral
worth, they will be surpassed by none. A holy purpose has called
them to this western world, and they come with all the elements
necessary, with God's blessing, for the accomplishment of that pur-
pose. And yet this is at present no easy field for missionary labor.
We have, however, succeeded in forming a church of about twenty
members, and as soon as eastern certificates are received, it will
number at least, thirty; and this again will be doubled, we hope,
when all the families come on, since most of our present members
are male heads of families.
Those who have as yet united in our church movement, are, for
the most part, prominent members of New England churches, men
who have been influenced to come here, not mainly from a desire
for wealth, but to plant the standard of the cross in this fair land,
and to secure all its attendant blessings. It is for this that they
have left homes of comfort and posts of honor and usefulness in
the East. They are not men of wealth, but they are such as can
be relied upon in any emergency that requires wisdom in plan, or
firmness of purpose in execution. They are not satisfied with the
Sabbath worship simply, but engage with delight and eagerness in
all the social duties of religion.
Our ordinary congregation numbers about one hundred. It has
been over this at times, and were it not that we have no convenient
place for public worship, our numbers, I think, would be con-
siderably increased. For the present, we are compelled to meet
in the general sleeping apartment of the Company, a room about
50 by 20 feet, made of poles and thatched with prairie grass. 7
Up to this time the weather has been so pleasant and mild as to
render such a place comfortable, so far as temperature is con-
cerned; yet, filled as it is with the baggage of the lodgers, it has little
of the sacredness that attaches to the house dedicated especially
to the worship of God. Those who come are led, we trust, by a
7. An interesting description of the "Pioneer Boarding House" is found in Richard
Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas (New York, 1903), pp. 68, 69.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 43
desire to worship God. In this place we have usually two services
on the Sabbath; and, as there are already so many from other
societies on the ground, I feel it but courteous to share the services
with them. I speak thus, because the colony, in mass meeting,
invited me to supply their pulpit for a year, and they feel as though
I was "their minister/'
In connection with our public worship, there has been a very
interesting Bible class formed, of about twenty-five members,
many of whom have been actively engaged in the Sabbath schools
in the East. From these we expect the material for Sabbath school
teachers; and we have taken steps for the organization of a Sabbath
school as soon as a sufficient number of children can be collected.
How the house we are using will do for worship when the weather
becomes colder, we cannot as yet tell; but the proper authorities
are making preparations for building a large house for school pur-
poses. In this there will be a lecture room, 55 by 40 feet, which
will be used as soon as opened, for church purposes. There will
also be a smaller room for prayer and conference meetings. 8
From this you will see that already a permanent commencement
has been effected here; and I doubt not there are other places
which, this fall or early in the spring, will afford equal facilities.
The great point should be, to be on the ground at the start. And
then, the minister, in all such movements, must be one of the
people, capable and willing to bear his full share in all the toil,
labor, and privation, necessary in first settlements. The estimation
in which he is held with the settlers will vary, as he is thus one of
them, or otherwise. I believe that there is more than one settlement
now forming, where the right kind of a man would be able imme-
diately to find all that his hands could do. Many parties are still
to come; and if of sufficient size, they will form separate settlements
and will desire a preacher sympathizing with your Society. Rev.
C. E. Blood, of Illinois, is already here, and situated about sixty
five miles above here, on the Big Blue. 9 I should be glad to see
one or two men here, either this fall, or early in the spring.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM.
8. This building had dimensions 20 by 48 feet. Malin, "Emergency Housing in
Lawrence, 1854," loc. cit., p. 42.
9. The Rev. Charles Blood settled at the Juniata crossing, four miles above the junc-
tion of the Blue and Kansas rivers in the autumn of 1854. In April, 1855, he preached
the first sermon in what is now Manhattan. Charles M. Correll, A Century of Congre-
gationalism in Kansas (Topeka, 1953), pp. 20, 21.
44 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, K. T. Dec 6th. 1854
REV. MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
When last I wrote I promised another communication soon in
reference to other positions in the Territory. Since then I have been
some considerable distance further up than before & am thus
better prepared to write from actual observation. From what I
saw, I am disposed to think that there are perhaps two locations,
now being made, that will soon prove worthy of the notice of your
Society, in fact one of them may need a man immediately. This
place is about 25 miles up the Kansas River from Lawrence, is
just beginning to be settled by Eastern men. 10 A town is con-
templated & soon to be laid out & judging from the manner in
which Lawrence has progressed must as it is in similar hands,
have just as rapid development. Before a man could be on the
field if appointed immediately it will in all probability be in a
more advanced state than this place when I came here & I have good
reason to suppose I was none too early.
The truth is where eastern men take up a location & give evidence
of will and ability to build a town, multitudes from all other sec-
tions of the country crowd rapidly on their footsteps, & in most
cases, it is but a short time before the whole region, is set off into
claims & cabins are rising on every side. From present appearances,
the location of which I am now speaking is destined to be the second
city in this part of [the Territory] for becoming this it has some
decided advantages. I intend to visit there as soon as possible &
if I can make the arrangements will preach there on next Sabbath.
I am not yet certain that there is a building at all suitable for wor-
ship but no doubt one of the same kind as that which we occupy
will be soon erected.
I think it highly important that such points as these should be
early [entered on] by men from your society. Unless they are
thus they will not long remain unoccupied & perhaps & not al-
ways with those who hold the truth as it is in Jesus. I know that
we have had various preachers here who have striven at all times
10. Lum refers here to the founding of Topeka. The Topeka Association was organ-
ized on December 5, 1854, with Cyrus K. Holliday as president. Holliday wrote a letter
on December 3 from Lawrence in which he stated that he was "going about 40 miles up
the Kansas River to assist in laying out a new town." On December 17 Holliday used
Topeka, K. T., as the heading for a letter to his wife. Lum is often associated with the
naming of Topeka. Lela Barnes, ed., "Letters of Cyrus Kurtz Holliday, 1854-1859,"
The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 6 (August, 1937), pp. 245-247; Fry W. Giles,
Thirty Years in Topeka (Topeka, 1886), pp. 20-22. The relationship of Holliday to
establishing Topeka is discussed in Wallace S. Baldinger, "The Amateur Plans a City,"
The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 12 (February, 1943), pp. 3-13.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 45
to force themselves upon the people & setting forth the wildest
heresies as the truth of God. Unitarians, Christians, Swedenbor-
gians, Universalists have not been idle; their men are already on
the ground & openly declare that they will make it "too hot for the
orthodoxy." From this it will be seen, that all who have the
cardinal truth of the Cross should be most watchful & diligent.
About 55 miles still farther up the Kansas is another settlement, or
rather a number of settlements, another town is laid out & there
are quite a number of settlers within the area of a few miles &
who have the services of Rev. Mr. Blood, from near Springfield,
Illinois; he seems a man well adapted to pioneer life & a good man
to do the work of a missionary, he told me he had corresponded
with some one of the Secretaries. The field which he ocupies
must be an important field though not perhaps, destined to as
rapid growth as some others in the Territory. There are two or
three other points on the river of some importance though not
sufficient to merit particular attention as yet. They will be rather
a outpost between the leading points. I did not reach Fort Riley
but from reports, it is only a military post & it can be reached from
the Big Blue where Mr. Blood resides.
From enquiries made in reference to the city of Leavenworth for
as yet I have not been able to see it I should think it already quite an
important place & not supplied with any one who cooperates with
your society. They have occasional services by a Presbyterian
Minister from Missouri & at other times by a Methodist local
preacher but I cannot speak positively of its necessities.
On the South side of the Wakarusa, the settlers are rapidly filling
up the country. At Ureka, the point selected by the New York
Emigration [company] there will probably be little done this
Winter; but it would be well to watch the movement early in the
Spring, as they intend large things. Still farther south, in the
Osage country, many are coming in, & little communities are rising
on every side. I shall endeavor to visit that part of the country
early in the Spring if Providence permit.
In reference to the character of the emigration as a whole I
hardly know what to think many there are who come here with a
noble purpose. They are willing to be martyrs in the cause of
Religion & Liberty & yet I am compelled to think that the number
of such is small in comparison to those who have some selfish or
mercinary end to gain. I must confess that my mind has changed
on this subject & I do not think so highly of the aggregate emigra-
46 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
tion as at first. 11 I find many, perhaps a majority, without any
settled moral principles as a basis of action & when once outside
the restraints of eastern society, they act out the native depravity of
the human heart profanity & Sabbath desecration are beginning
to be fearfully rife & scarcely a Sabbath passes but our ears are
compelled to hear the sound of the rifle & axe. . . .
In reference to our own "City" there has [been little change]
since I wrote. Our public worship is much interrupted by the
cold weather as we have no place much better than the open air.
We find our thatch houses but poorly fitted for withstanding the
piercing wind that sweeps over these boundless prairies. Our
weather is not excessively cold, but the wind is so piercing & the
coldest & most windy days of the season have been the Sabbaths.
It is designed to construct a suitable building ... as soon as
possible but the first necessity is to provide for the suffering fam-
ilies. A weekly prayer meeting is sustained & considering the
circumstances, well sustained. I give up my little room, a little
more than 12 feet square for this purpose. There seems in a few
at least, an earnest desire to enjoy the social prayer meeting &
when we get together, though crowded into a small room & often
interrupted by sickly children still we do enjoy the Savior's pres-
ence, & from this little circle I trust will go out an influence upon
the surrounding elements. May it be as salt to save from moral
putrification.
Perhaps you may feel an interest in knowing how many comforts
we enjoy here. My own house, which is said to be as comfortable
as any is entirely without a floor or walls, nothing but bare "sid-
ing" & that so open as to give us views of the country, almost in any
direction. 12 The winds of course take every occasion to visit.
. . . One small room we store some things in another in which
to perform all the duties attendant upon living & here too bed
room, kitchen, sitting room & study etc all at hand. & even this
is thought here as doing very well. In most countries the process
of settlement has advanced further before the Missionary finds his
way there, but here the development will be so rapid that it is
necessary they should lead the van & in doing so they must be
subjected to all the inconveniences attendant upon settlement.
You desired to know definitely the current expenses of a Mis-
11. In October, Lum had written with enthusiasm about the fine qualities of the
settlers in Kansas. Supra, p. 42.
12. The first frame house erected in Lawrence was owned by Lum. Malin, "Emer-
gency Housing in Lawrence, 1854," loc. cit., p. 43.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 47
sionary here. These for the present must be rather large. There
is but one article of food that is at all reasonable meat is certainly
low, ranging from 5 to 10 cents per pound. Everything else is at
exaggerated prices flour at 11 to $12 per barrel, corn-meal, $6.50
per barrel, potatoes $2.50 per bushel, apples, in the vicinity of $2.00
per bushel; butter, 35 cents per pound; molasses from 60 to 75 cents
a gallon; all other things at this ratio. With almost a certainty of
still further advances you can readily understand from this what
must be the expenses if it is necessary for me to travel this will
greatly increase the expense as at most stopping places, exhorbitant
rates are demanded, often as high as at the St. Nicholas in New
York, & then horse hire is set at $1.50 a day! When I first arrived
in the Territory, I was compelled to pay at the rate of $25. a week
for the board of my family. This was of short duration in my case,
as I soon secured before one week had transpired a place at the
Baptist Mission for about what it would have cost me to keep
house myself.
I had intended to tell you something of the manner of putting
up at night, when we found no stopping place, how in travelling
about the Territory we are often compelled to take the open air,
the bare earth with nothing but the "broad blue" above, but I have
not time at present. Will you not send me all the back numbers
of the Home Missionary from the date of my commission? Written
of necessity in haste & confusion.
Yours fraternally
S. Y. LUM
LAWRENCE, K. T.
Dec. 7th. 1854
To THE EDITORS OF The Independent: 13
I am sorry that the impression has been received (in various
quarters ) that you have a regular correspondent in Kanzas, because
I begin to feel already the inconvenience of numerous letters of in-
quiry, questions to be answered through The Independent, etc., etc.,
all of which I could not possibly attend to, and still reserved time
and energy for the arduous work that my connection with the Home
Missionary Society lays upon me. Your valued correspondent from
Iowa, I trust will continue his vigilant watch over this part of his
former field. An occasional sheet at irregular intervals is all that
can be expected from me.
13. This letter was printed in The Independent, New York, January 5, 1855.
48 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Since I wrote, we have been surrounded by scenes of stirring
interest. 14 Almost immediately, the sympathizers with slavery, made
a bold push to dislodge us from our position here, and openly
avowed their determination to drive us from the Territory. As the
history of this affair has reached the public through other papers,
it is needless to enter into details; sufficient to know that finding a
sterness of purpose in Eastern men that they were unaccustomed
to meet in such quiet people, they wisely concluded to let us take
our time to withdraw while they, in the meantime kept at a re-
spectable distance. This decided course settled apparently all
future contests of this nature, and I think the danger of violence
is every day decreasing. Certainly we are on more intimate terms
with the opposite party; they holding most of the wooded land, had
refused to let the "Yankees" cut timber on any terms, but now they
are glad of the privilege of bringing it to the mill on any terms. The
advantages which they derive from a settlement of this character,
begins to be apparent; and they no longer desire to rob themselves
of these advantages.
After so long time, and in the face of so many discouragements,
we have commenced to make lumber in good earnest. Day and
night the music of the first steam engine ever set up in Kanzas
Territory, is heard by willing ears, for upon its operations depend
many of our comforts for the winter now upon us. 15 Lawrence
and the country around it, will soon wear a new aspect, and com-
fortable dwellings will take the place of the cheerless hovels hereto-
fore erected.
But this is not the only place about to assume importance in this
part of the Territory; another location has been selected about
twenty-five miles farther up the river, at a most beautiful point,
possessing many natural advantages. 16 Eastern men are the pro-
jectors, and the country around is fast filling up with such. One
object of the location at this particular point, is to check-mate the
14. Lum wrote to the editors of The Independent on October 12, 1854, and his letter
was printed in the issue for October 26, 1854. Since this letter was of a general charac-
ter and of only casual interest, it has not been included in this collection.
15. This sawmill was moved to Lawrence from Westport. The New England
Emigrant Aid Company had purchased a sawmill at Rochester, N. Y., as early as Septem-
ber 1, 1854, but this project was abandoned as far as Lawrence was concerned because
of a series of delays. The Rochester sawmill was operating in Topeka in May, 1855. The
company sawmill was operating at Lawrence by about December 1, 1854. Andreas-Cutler,
op. cit., p. 314; Giles, op. cit., pp. 34, 35. The first pamphlet of the Emigrant Aid
Company entitled "Organization, Objects and Plans of Operations . . .," stated that
the company would provide a sawmill and other equipment. Samuel A. Johnson, The
Battle Cry of Freedom; The New England Emigrant Aid Company in the Kansas Crusade
(Lawrence, 1954), p. 61. Prof. James C. Malin discusses housing, materials available,
skills of mechanics, etc., in the interesting article "Housing Experiments in the Lawrence
Community, 1854," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 21 (Summer, 1954), pp. 95-121.
16. Lum refers to the founding of Topeka. See Footnote 10.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 49
operations of a few Southerners, who are attempting to draw around
them a community of propagandists, five miles lower down on the
river; and the indications are that the Eastern men will be suc-
cessful. 17
The company from New York were rather late in their arrival
to accomplish much this fall, though they hope for great things
next year. 18 It is much to be regretted that a more substantial
commencement could not have been effected this season as the
delay gives courage to those waiting and anxious to bring in their
slaves. But I trust that New York capitalists will not be behind in
furnishing what is necessary for the complete triumph of their under-
taking. Certainly if the New England enterprise may be taken as
a criterion, they need not fear in reference to the safety of the
investment.
Since I have been in this country I have often wished that Eastern
men could see the necessity of sacrificing (no, I don't mean sacri-
ficing for it would be returned in large dividends, but lending)
money as well as men in the great and momentous work of making
Kansas a free State. In the North and East it is not looked upon
as the test question in reference to slavery extension, or, if thus
looked upon, it is not regarded as so soon to be decided. With all
thinking men here, it is seen in a far diff erent light.
All interested parties in Missouri look upon this struggle as the
life or death struggle of their "peculiar institution." In accordance
with this view, they are organizing secret societies to resist the
dreaded issue; such societies, headed by men in high places, and
reaching far into other Southern States, speak volumes in reference
to the deep feeling that exists; they are pulses that tell of the feverish
excitement within. True, it has often been said that the slave-
holders of Missouri are but a small part of the aggregate number
of inhabitants, and little to be feared; yet, generally, they are men
of property and influence, and seem to be able to lead the poor
and ignorant class directly in opposition to their own interests. It
is astonishing what deep-seated hatred they have succeeded in
infusing into the latter class, against all whom they can brand with
the name "Yankee."
17. Tecumseh was located as a townsite during the spring and summer of 1854. When
the first session of the territorial legislature met at Shawnee in July, 1855, Tecumseh was
designated as a permanent county seat of Shawnee county. Tecumseh lost the territorial
capitol to Lecompton. Andreas-Cutler, op. cit., p. 533.
18. A party from New York under the auspices of the New York League arrived in
Kansas City, Mo., on October 15, 1854, en route to Kansas. One group settled at Osa-
watomie. Johnson, op. cit., p. 82; D. W. Wilder, The Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1886),
p. oO.
46551
50 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
My mind has been led in this direction by the results of the
recent election. Nothing has been more common in Eastern papers
of a certain class, than the declaration that "Kanzas was safe, it
was not adapted by soil, climate, etc., for slave-labor;" and others
who have been earnest to secure the result, have allowed themselves
to be deceived with the idea that it has already been attained.
Many even of the most enthusiastic advocates of the recent move-
ment from the North, begin to feel as though having fought through
the battle, they might sit down and exult over the victory; but so
do not we feel who are still in the midst of the struggle; and we
think, when the fact that 2,200 Pro-slavery votes were polled against
less than 600 for Freedom, comes to be generally known, it will
go far to set the true state of things before the country.
It is true that Gen. Whitefield, representing the ultra South move-
ment, has been elected to a seat at Washington, as delegate from
Kansas. Whether he will retain that seat uncontested, is doubtful.
There is evidence the most conclusive, that multitudes voting for
him had no more right to vote than citizens now resident in New
York had for his opponent, and there can be little doubt but that
the election been confined to legal voters simply, the Free-Soil vote
would have been the heaviest. But it could not be thus confined;
the safeguards thrown around the ballot-box were not sufficient,
and then force was at hand to control all efforts to sustain right. 19
In a little settlement, about 7 miles from this place, where, it was
a well-known fact, that there were only 60 voters, 260 votes were
cast. In another, 700 illegal votes were known to be cast. They
came upon the weakest points, in such numbers as to overbear all
opposition. For days before the election they crowded by hundreds
the roads leading to the various districts, always carrying with
them a liberal supply of bad whiskey. Maddened by its influence,
they were ready for any dishonorable or violent course. In the
smaller districts, they could carry it all as they pleased, and they
were even known to compel suspected persons to open their votes
before casting them; and if not what they considered right, they
were thrown out and the offerer threatened with violence. Acts
similar to this, and even more atrocious, were the order of the day
in most districts; and as might have been expected, two men were
shot within a short distance from here. I do not think the annals
of our country will furnish another instance of such high-minded
mockery of the right of suffrage.
19. The first election for a delegate to congress from the Kansas territory was held
on November 29, 1854. J. W. Whitfield, the Proslavery candidate, was elected, polling
2,258 votes out of a total of 2,833. Wilder, op. cit., pp. 52, 53.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 51
One more fact has just at this moment come to hand; in one of
the more important districts, a ring of armed men was formed
around the ballot-box, and every man was compelled to pass their
ordeal before voting. It would seem that when such things could
be proved, it were sufficient evidence to warrant the order for a
new election, but the Governor thought differently. . . .
But I would say a word of our church prospects. We have formed
a church, now composed of about twenty male heads of families.
When the families arrive they will add greatly to our numbers, so
that we hope soon to have an efficient church. At least we greatly
need the influence of such a church in holding in check the passions
of men. The sooner we can surround ourselves with the safe-
guards that the youth among us have left behind, the sooner shall
we present a society similar to that at the East. A few of our num-
ber spend an hour on Wednesday evening of each week, in a social
prayer-meeting; and of all our meetings, this is the one most rich
in blessing; we not only get nearer to our common Father, but we
get nearer to each other's hearts, and feel an interest in each other
that nothing else can awaken. After being deprived so long of this
high privilege, it is deeply felt as the richest of all blessings.
Our public worship is somewhat interrupted by the cold weather;
not that we have much severe cold; yet we have no way of defend-
ing ourselves from it. Our church, made of thatch, will do very
well in mild weather, but when the winds sweep in from the prairies
in all their violence, it is far different. On such occasions our
audience is rather thin. . . .
In reference to reception-houses, we are not provided as well as
an eastern city would be, yet all who are reasonable can be tolerably
accomodated until they can supply themselves. The day of suffer-
ing is, we trust, mostly past.
Yours, etc.,
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE, K. T. DEC. 23, 1854
SECRETARIES H. M. SOCIETY
DEAR BRETHREN
In making out the report of my first quarter's labor in this Terri-
tory, I feel that I have but little in addition to what I have already
communicated. My time has of necessity been so much occupied
with the preparation for the comfort of my family that I feel little
comparatively has been accomplished; and yet, in the light of
eternity I trust, it will appear, that my first three months in the
52 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
service of your Society, has not been altogether fruitless of good.
Few of those who are not on the ground can appreciate the dis-
advantages in the midst of which we have been compelled to
labor. In most respects it is hardly likely that any which follow
will be like the past.
It is but a little more than four months since the first wave of
emigration began to swell along the border of this then unknown
Territory. Since then, wave has followed wave, with increasing
rapidity & volume, until the desolate has become inhabited, & the
unknown has become pretty thoroughly discovered. Late as was
the season when the majority reached here, & actually destitute,
as we then were of anything like protection from the approaching
winter, there was apparently but one thought prevalent in all
minds & all our energies were taxed in giving a physical form
to that one thought . We must have buildings or perish & build-
ings have arisen one after another until at this one point they
number over eighty & accomodate a population of about 500. 20
Scarcely another example of such rapid growth can be found, even
in California . & though here it is undoubtedly the most rapid, yet
all over the Territory is to be found abundant proofs of the interest
which is taken in the settlement of Kansas.
In the midst of the excitement which such a state of things
naturally produces, it is not wonderful that the majority should
feel little interest in spiritual things, time & thought were wholly
absorbed in what appeared an immediate & absolute necessity.
Considering these circumstances, I have been most pleased to find
so large a number actuated by unwavering principles, so many
ready to cooperate in every work likely to advance the interests of
truth & righteousness. Yet that number is not yet by far so large
as I at first supposed. The large majority of all who come to the
Territory, so far as I have the means of judging, are actuated solely
by selfish or mercenary motives. Many such are the open enemies
of the dearest doctrines of the Cross, & declare themselves deter-
mined to wage war against the introduction of "Orthodox senti-
ments."
In my intercourse with this community, I have been pained to
find not a few who have been professors of religion in Eastern
Churches, openly avow themselves the enemies of the truths they
20. A contemporary, John Doy, wrote on December 1, 1854, that on that date 33
houses had been built in Lawrence. Malin, "Emergency Housing in Lawrence, 1854,"
loc. cit., p. 45. The Herald of Freedom, as cited by Professor Malin, reported on January
13, 1855, that "three months ago there were no residences here other than tents; now
there are over ninety in the city limits, and new ones added daily." Malin, "Housing
Experiments in the Lawrence Community, 1855," loc. cit., p. 107.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 53
once espoused, trampling on the Sabbath, & ridiculing sacred
things. On the other hand, I find a goodly number of true spirits,
who have joyfully sacrificed the comforts of eastern homes, & the
communion of eastern Christians, for the rescue & salvation of
Kansas & here they maintain a character such as might be expected
from such principles. They are truly sources of encouragement to
which the missionary can go when depressed in view of temporal
difficulty, or discouraged at the manyfold trials his field present.
The weekly prayer meetings & we have two are made doubly
precious from the presence & earnest prayers of such spirits. It is
in these praying circles, & the dear Savior whom we are sure to
meet there, that we place our hope in reference to a favorable issue
in the times of conflict that now surround us.
As I stated in a former letter there is already a liberal supply of
missionaries from the various societies at this point, but two that
I know of have gone to another part of the Territory one of
these a Baptist Missionary & the other Rev. Mr. Blood, while no less
than five Missionaries besides myself remain at this point. These
are from the Baptist Home M. So. (they have two in the Terri-
tory) the American M. Ass. the United Brethren M. Ass. &
the Methodist Episcopal beside these, though not openly "mis-
sionaries" there are two from the Christian denomination, one from
the Swedenborgian, & one or two more of the Methodist etc. While
this is so, yet I do not feel called to give up this important point &
seek another. I was first on the ground & was unanimously chosen
to supply the place for a year. Some of these whom I have noticed
are excellent brethren & such as I would feel confidence in as fellow
laborers; yet I think the Committee would justify me in not yielding
the field, however much it might be desired by others especially as
my people desire I should stay.
This is one reason why I have as yet devoted nearly all my time
to this point. As it becomes necessary from the urgency of certain
parties, that something should be done, & as I desired an op-
portunity to enter another very important opening, about 25 miles
above here, I have given up to the others, every alternate Sabbath,
that is for the present. 21 I find in my new field a few professing
Christians, mostly connected with the New England Cong. Chs.
If the place has the rapid growth that is expected in the Spring
it will not be many months ere it will be expedient to form another
21. Lum makes reference here to his ministry at Topeka. See his letter of December
6, 1854, supra, p. 44. Lum conducted services ferquently in Topeka. On December 31,
1854, Cyrus K. Holliday described a visit by Lum. Barnes, loc. cit., pp. 249, 250.
54 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
church at that point; but these points are so far distant from each
other that it will be a difficult matter for one man fully to attend
to the duties thus devolving upon him; especially will this be true
when the tide of emigration opens next season. This point will
alone demand the entire energies of one and I have some hope that
it will be able to do something for the support of a Mission
though much cannot be expected, until we begin to be producers
instead of consumers.
I preached at this new point last Sabbath to about 25 as attentive
listeners as I ever addressed, & was happy in being the first to
declare the truth as it was in Jesus, upon a spot where thousands
will yet congregate in the worship of God. . . . Our sanctuary
was a small log house of Indian construction, formerly used for a
dance house, but now as a store room. It is entirely without win-
dows or means of light except the crevices left when building.
Yet even here, in a room scarcely tententable by our poorer fam-
ilies, East, & in almost total darkness, we had a most delightful
season of communion with each other, & with our Heavenly Father;
& I had the satisfaction of feeling that a good impression had been
made upon some careless minds. I find that external circumstances
have little to do with our real enjoyment. If the heart only be
right, it is possible to put up with privations & that without feeling
discomfort which would be thought in our former homes. . . .
It is my opinion that there are few countries more healthy than
this. Compared with the exposure there is little sickness but this
is admitted on all hands to be a very favorable season. Were it
not so, there must be much suffering. . . .
Yours fraternally,
SAMUEL Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS TERRITORY Feby 28th 1855
REV. DAVID B. COE
DEAR BROTHER
Not being acquainted with the usual form of filling out a report
such as is expected from me at the present time, I have adopted
the following:
1. The Church is called the Plymouth Congregational Church
of Lawrence, K. T. 22 We are not yet divided into counties.
2. During that part of the year, over which my commission ex-
tends, I have had but two regular preaching places, one at Law-
22. The Plymouth Congregational Church of Lawrence was organized on October
15, 1854, under the leadership of Lum. Richard Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas
(Lawrence, 1895), p. 17.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 55
rence & the other at Topeka, 25 miles further up the river. The
last has been a regular point for a little less than three months.
I have preached at one other place, but only occasionally.
3. The Church is composed of 14 members, 9 male and 5 female.
Besides these there is an equal number whom we confidently ex-
pect, at as early a day as possible, as soon, as they can get their
letters from the East. Communication with the East is so much
interrupted, from some cause, that letters of all kinds are often
detained for more than a month on passage. Some are waiting
for their friends to bring on their letters in the Spring.
4. The attendance during the past winter has been very much
under the control of the weather. Our house of worship has not
been such as to protect us from the inclemency of the weather,
when the cold was most severe; & from this cause at times we
have been compelled, to suspend public worship, & meet in smaller
circles in private rooms. This has been a serious drawback upon
our little Society. When the weather has been at all fitting, there
has been an average attendance of about 60 at Lawrence, though
it has often doubled that number. At Topeka we have had an
average of 20 in attendance, with a continual increase, and pros-
pects of a rapid increase in the Spring. As these stations are so
far a part & as there is every prospect of a rapid growth, it seems
mighty important that another man should be on the ground as early
as possible in the Spring. Either one of these [posts] must re-
quire the full energies of a missionary and unless thus occupied,
there is reason to fear that they will be taken up by those whose
object is to destroy the truth as it is in Jesus. In view of these
facts the inhabitants are very anxious that the right kind of a man
should be sent out by your society.
5. As yet, it is not my privilege to report any cases of conver-
sion. The mind of the community has been kept in a continual
state of intense excitement on subjects connected with land claims,
the election, & slavery, that there seemed little room for subjects
not so immediately connected with these temporal interests. At
times, I have almost thought that the church was about to be en-
gulfed in the wild vortex of excitement. It has proved a severe
test of Christian Character. In the midst of such circumstances
I have been pleased to find so many, not included in the church,
who were thoughtful in reference to a future state. Never have
I, in the East, preached to congregations more deeply interested,
so far as appearances are an indication. I have found also, in my
56 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
private intercourse with the people, a feeling of inquiry, & a tender-
ness in reference to the subject of heartfelt religion, that has led
me to hope that the truth is having its purifying effect.
6. We have had no additions by Profession.
7. The number who have handed in their letters, is 15; of this
number, one has already left us, to join, as we confidently hope, the
"Church triumphant." Mr. Lewis L. Litchfield, after a protracted
and painful illness, which he bore with true Christian resignation,
died two weeks since, triumphing in God. ... To die battling
for the truth in Kansas, seemed a short way to the crown; & as
we reviewed the scene, we felt new courage for the conflict before
us, wishing only to fall in complete armor.
8. Our Sabbath school numbers 32, & the Bible Class 25. The
former includes nearly all the children of the proper age in the
vicinity. . . .
9. But one church has as yet been organized, that is the one at
this place. Another will soon be demanded at Topeka, where there
are a number of families who sympathize with evangelical truth,
& much desire a church & a preacher. ... I have also received
an invitation from persons at Osawattomie, a town at the junction
of the Osage and Potawatomie rivers, to come & organize them
into a church. There are 12 families all of whom desire a Cong.
Chh. formed among them. This is about 50 miles south of this
point.
10. Our contributions have, of course, been small. Most of
our members are of the poorer class, & find all they can do to meet
current expenses. Yet they intend commencing in the spring to
do what they are able for my support. The amount depends en-
tirely upon the character of the Spring emigration I hope it will
be conciderable. At the Monthly Concert which was instituted at
as early a day as possible the contributions have amount to $2.53
so small that no disposition has as yet been made of it. The sum
would have been much larger were it not that most of our prom-
inent men have been absent during the Winter. Some of them
have returned to the states for their families, others have been
absent on business. Thus the responsibility has devolved upon
the young men of the Church & in many ways have I found them
of valuable service.
During most of the Winter we have not been at all protected
in our Public Worship but about 2 weeks since a hall 20 by 30
feet was completed, & placed at our disposal. This though rough
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 57
in appearance is so much in advance of what we had occupied up
to that time, that we feel quite satisfied for the present though it
will barely hold all who sometimes turn out. We hope that some-
thing will be done soon at the East to aid us in the erection of a
church edifice. No doubt this would aid materially in attracting
here the right kind of persons & thus the more surely & speedily
build up a self-sustaining & efficient church.
I find that when I wrote last I had not become fully acquainted
with all classes of men I had to come in contact with out here &
the more of experience [?] I have on this subject, the more am I
led to believe that, in many respects, there are few fields of labor
more difficult of cultivation than this. All kinds of radical ideas
are pretty fully represented here, and I have almost thought, at
times, that all this class of persons from the entire Union, are flow-
ing in, in hopes of realizing their wildest schemes. Time after
time, they have made their boast that they would crowd orthodoxy
out of Kansas. Yet I trust, in this they will be disappointed; there
is no kind of misrepresentation or misstatement, to which they have
not already resorted, to shake, if possible, the confidence of the
community in those who adhere to the truth. Their influence with
candid men is constantly decreasing.
I trust that there will be soon large numbers of true men join
us who will help to stay the flood of iniquity & infidelity that is
threatening. Especially is it important that the churches, who feel
any interest in the development of the truth in Kansas, should mani-
fest that interest in nobly sustaining those Societies that are to be
the instruments, under God, of making this new & beautiful terri-
tory all that our hearts could desire. I do most sincerely hope that
the church, North and East, will speedily furnish your Society
with the means of sending a large reinforcement to this field at the
earliest possible moment. Would that they could see, as we on the
ground see, the important issues that are pending & so soon to
be settled for the truth or otherwise. If the advocates of a free
Gospel, do not occupy the position it will not therefore, be left un-
occupied, as is already clearly indicated. . . .
Respectfully yours
S. Y. LUM
58 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE KANSAS TERRITORY
April, 1855
DEAR BROTHER COE
My report for the quarter ending March 23 is as you see, some
days behind its proper time, circumstances beyond my control
have delayed my writing until the present time & until within the
last few days but little has occurred to give interest to my cor-
respondence. All has been excitement with reference to our com-
ing election. 23 This one subject seemed to assume in most minds
more importance than all others. In this district, we were par-
ticularly interested, from the fact that we were expecting a large
delegation from Mo. to assist us in choosing a legislature.
The excitement pervaded all minds, & could be seen nowhere
more clearly than in the lessened number at our religious meetings.
Almost every thought was concentrated on the issue just before
us & every effort put forth to meet that issue. If such times of
trial lead the church to God as their only resource, they will tend
to a rapid Christian growth; but if, as was too much the case here,
they seek aid from human wisdom alone, they are the most dis-
astrous occurrences that can befall any Christian community. Thus
I do not feel that the few weeks past have secured much in a right
direction.
The election has passed & passed in such a manner as to render
it almost certain that it will be declared void, & another one or-
dered, which will in all probability, be more exciting & violent than
the last. It has been estimated from the best information that can
be gathered, that there was not less than 5000 persons, from Mis-
souri & other Southern States in the Territory on the day of election
& here for the sole purpose of voting after which they would return
to their homes, until another similar case should call them here.
The polls at Lawrence were surrounded at an early hour by about
700 of these visitors, prepared to carry every thing before them
for the legal voters in the district do not amount to 400. in other
districts near, the proportion of transient voters was even much
greater; & there is no kind of abuse or violence which they are
not ready to offer to all promiscuously, who come from the North
or East.
23. The election, which resulted in the "Bogus" legislature, was held on March 30,
1855. The election returns by districts are listed in Wilder, op. cit., pp. 59-61. Prof.
James C. Malin points out that "according to the census taken preceding the election,
settlers of slave state origin were present in a clear majority. Although the facts are not
available to provide proof one way or another, the reasonable presumption is that the so-
called Proslavery party could have carried the election decisively. Upon that basis, the
action of Missourians in invading Kansas and voting illegally, was an inexcusable blunder."
James C. Malin, "Judge Lecompte and the 'Sack of Lawrence,' May 21, 1856," The
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 20 (August, 1953), p. 466.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 59
What is to be the result of these things if they continue, is more
than human eye can foresee. One thing is certain, they check
very much the progress of true Christianity. Should the emigra-
tion of the present season be large, it will do much to controll these
things; especially, will it be so, if it be exactly the right kind. Oh
that the churches East, would send us hosts of their tried & faithful
men, men who would stand firm trusting in the Lord of hosts even
amid the wildest waves of excitement. Such are the men for Kan-
sas! those whom neither fear nor a bribe can move from their
steadfastness! There is sterling work to be done, not the least of
which is to controll the outbreaking passions of men, on both sides
of the great question that so deeply agitates us. But there are other
dangers that await the comers to this new Territory, than those
which grow out of the political agitation. Every month's residence
here develops this fact more fully.
The circumstances under which mind is thrown in this wild
frontier life, for it can be called nothing else as yet, engenders a
recklessness, & freedom from restraint, that too often, prove fatal
to the principles, as well as the practices of a home society & it is
not too much to say, that we have the material, for either the worst,
or the best, state of society in our country. There are surely enough
influences at work, unless counteracted by the Infinite One through
the efforts of His church to overthrow any society.
The first waves of eastern emigration begin to be felt here, &
they bear to us some choice spirits. 24 From present appearances,
I think we may hope for a higher state of character in some re-
spects, than that which came last Fall. A greater proportion seem
earnest Christians & from the interest, with which they enter into
our social gatherings for prayer, they encourage the hope of eminent
usefulness in our midst. As the families move in the Sabbath school
is rapidly increasing, & the Bible Class receives new accessions
& awakens a deeper interest.
But the emigration brings with it some disadvantages. We have
been compelled to give up our comfortable place of worship to be
fitted up as a boarding house & we are again driven to the thatch
house, which will soon also be filled with the coming. Would that
some liberal hands might be opened to give us a permanent place
of worship! Nothing could do more to aid the missionary in his
work for while thus driven from place to place it is very difficult
to secure a permanent audience. g y LUM.
24. Three parties left for Kansas during March, 1855, under the auspices of the New
England Emigrant Aid Company. Louise Barry, "The New England Emigrant Aid Com-
pany Parties of 1855," ibid., v. 12 (August, 1943), pp. 227-248.
60 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, K. T. JUNE 23rd/55
DEAR BRO. COE.
During the quarter that has just passed, I had intended to have
written another communication but we have been thrown into such
circumstances as to render it impossible. My labors have never
been more excessive & burdensome than for a few months past,
while at the same time I have not had the same amount of physical
energy as heretofore to bring to the issue.
We have been realizing some of the effects of the exposure to
which most of us were subjected last Winter: & considering
the circumstances, it would have been wonderful had there been no
more than an ordinary amount of disease. Exposure & bad diet
had prepared the way for disease & death; & yet they have not been
as prevalent as would have been expected, in any ordinary climate.
My own family have not been exempt from suffering. Early in
the spring, we were called to part with one of our dear children.
The anxiety & watching necessary, added to the causes already
noticed, prostrated nearly every member of my family. I began
to fear I should be left alone & we began to fear that there was
little romance in pioneer life, as we were experiencing it. It re-
quired not a little faith to toil on, under such circumstances, with bad
health & in many ways destitute of the common comforts of life.
Yet it was a position of usefulness & promise, & trusting in God,
we were determined to go forward, leaving health, & life even,
in his hands.
God has been better to us than our fears, & in love has kept us
while in the midst of sickness & danger. But not a few have died
around us, & I have been called to attend from 3 to 4 funerals a
week. Almost all of this kind of work devolved upon me, adding
quite materially to my other labors, & often preventing me from
fulfilling my regular appointments.
Thus it is true that during the past three months my station at
Topeka has been left almost entirely to other hands. I had hoped,
that before I was compelled to give it up, a man would have been
designated for that field by your Soc, but as most of my time is de-
manded here, & as there are several places where congregations
could be collected near at hand & where they are very desirous to
have preaching, I have thought best to withdraw from that field,
& I have done so with not a little reluctance. Could I have spent
my whole time there, or could some one from your Society have
gone in early Spring, there might now have been a strong organiza-
tion strong for this Territory. I hope yet someone may arrive in
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 61
time to gather the scattering elements, before they are all absorbed
by denominations teaching few if any of the essential doctrines
of the Cross. 25 A strong effort has been made there, as well as
here, to produce an union of all denominations upon a basis having
no creed & no discipline. By such means, those who ignore Christ's
divinity, the need of regeneration, &c. &c., hoped to get a con-
troling influence. But thus far the plan has not succeeded. The
true children of God stand aloof from such schemes, & are anxious
to have the lines between the church & the world distinctly drawn
& the character of Christianity elevated rather than lowered.
Since my last report 3 more Sabbath schools have been formed
in connection with the society with which I labor. In these schools,
there are about 80 children regularly collected to learn the way
of life. Nothing gives more hope in reference to the future of
Kansas, than the fact that many of the children are learning the
truths of God's Word in the Sabbath school. Many of these chil-
dren too are from parts of the Western states where they never
heard of the Sabbath School & were in darkness almost heathenish.
The spring emigration has brought with it some valuable ac-
cessions to our little society, & we feel that we have a steady though
not as rapid a growth as we expected. 26 There is also a deeper
interest manifested among those who have been here during the
Winter, & who have scarcely attended divine worship so that on
every hand there is ground for encouragement.
There is nothing we want next to the blessing of God more than
a place of worship that we can have the control of & call our own.
The hall where we meet is not uncomfortable, but it is subject to
the direction of others for much of the time. There will probably
be two churches erected during the present season, one by the
Methodist Soc. & the other by the Unitarian Soc. Rev. Mr. Nute
has brought on $5000, so it is understood, for the purpose of erecting
a Unitarian church though there is no Society formed here as yet. 27
The very fact of having a comfortable church edifice will give
to any Soc. or preacher an influence under the circumstances in
25. The organization of the "Free Congregational Church of Topeka" was completed
at Constitution Hall on July 14, 1856. The Rev. Lewis Bodwell, well-known frontier
minister, preached his initial sermon in Topeka as the first regularly appointed pastor on
October 26, 1856. Russell K. Hickman, "Lewis Bodwell, Frontier Preacher; The Early
Years," ibid., v. 12 (August, 1943), pp. 271, 279.
26. Nine parties had arrived in Kansas under the auspices of the New England Emi-
grant Aid Company by the time that Lum wrote this letter. Louise Barry, "The New
England Emigrant Aid Company Parties of 1855," loc. cit., pp. 227-268.
27. On May 27, 1855, Mrs. Sara Robinson described the arrival in Lawrence of the
Rev. Ephraim Nute, a clergyman sent to Kansas by the Unitarian Association, as follows:
"We are glad he has come among us with his genial sympathies, his heart warmth, his
earnest ways, his outspoken words for truth, and his abiding love for freedom and right."
Sara T. L. Robinson, Kansas; Its Interior and Exterior Life (Boston, 1857), pp. 59, 60.
62 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
which we are placed that will be important. In no way could the
work be more advanced than by the churches of the East, who
are looking with such interest to Kansas, than by sending the
means for such a building in every important town. We feel that
this is an important matter. We are willing to do all in our power,
but we are too weak to accomplish what is necessary.
Would that I could reach the ears of the Church at the East!
I would say There is no way in which you can accomplish what
you desire for Kansas, no way in which you can secure the insti-
tutions which you desire to establish there, so certainly, as by
furnishing her with faithful heralds of the Cross, & then by giving
them the means of accomplishing the work which a man might
almost as well not enter a field, as to be left, when there, unfur-
nished for his work. There is much responsibility resting upon
the churches of our land, in reference to the Home Missionary
work. They have, as yet, only begun to see it in its true light.
The quarter closes June 23rd. The amount due me from the
Society is $125 as I have received nothing from any quarter during
the past 3 months.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE K. T. Aug 6th 1855
DEAR BRO. COE
Your letter accompanying a draft for $125. arrived a few days
since. You say it completes my salary for the year, & wonder that
I "insinuated" otherwise. I thought I had good reason to suppose
that the first remittance was a donation at least Mr. S. C. Pom-
eroy stated that he had received a letter in answer to one he had
written in which it was declared thus to be but not feeling sure
from the language of the letter which contained it I wrote once
& again specifically to know, whether it were thus or not, whether
I should consider it a part of my stipulated sum. To those en-
quiries I received no direct answer but in the note from the
clerk, accompanying the draft of Apr 21st it was stated that the
enclosed was for the quarter ending March 25th. Of course that
is the way I supposed my account stood for the books, & was not
a little surprised to find it otherwise.
As the misunderstanding has caused some little embarrassment
I hope there will be no cause for it in the future. I have been
endeavoring to make arrangements for a more comfortable house
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 63
for the coming winter but have concluded to suspend in part my
preparations. The year has been one of very high prices in nearly
every direction flour has been until very recently as high as
$14.50 a barrel, corn meal $8. molasses from 75 cents to $1 a
gall cheese 20 to 25 cts a Ib. This is of course very destructive
to a persons funds, (& all that has kept us along, is the means
secured by Mrs. Lum's keeping boarders.)
When I came to Lawrence I did hope that long ere this my
people would feel able to contribute something toward my support
& have endeavored to bring their mind to this point but as yet
no one from any of the Missionary associations have been assisted
by the people here & then under the expenses of the high living
& starting anew in every direction feel at liberty to hold back in
this direction thinking that the East should supply their spiritual
wants. I do intend that it shall be materially otherwise at the
commencement of a new year & shall do all in my power to make
it so. . . .
There have been times during the month or two past when I
have thought it impossible to remain here with my family We
have been called to part with one of our dear little ones & Mrs.
Lum by constant labor, above her strength & the excessive excite-
ment that surrounds us has for weeks been laid upon a bed of
sickness which we feared would prove fatal. She was taken with
Nervous Typhoid fever in the midst of the hot weather but by the
blessing of a kind Providence she is slowly recovering. Church
matters are in about the same condition they were when I wrote
last but not so encouraging as we could desire.
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
P. S. If any part of this are made public please withhold that
enclosed in brackets.
LAWRENCE, K. T. Sept 23rd 1855
DEAR BROTHER COE
Another quarter of my missionary labor has passed & this com-
pletes the first year of my connection with the A. H. M. Soc.
Though in some respects my hopes have not been realized, yet
there has been steady & encouraging progress made so much so
that the time has come when the erection of some kind of a com-
fortable house of worship is a necessity. Where, but one year
ago I found but little over a hundred persons just arrived in this
64 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
unknown country, without shelter from sun or storm, I now find
near 1000 inhabitants with first class buildings of stone in every
direction, either erected, or in process of erection. Business men
with all the caution that characterizes that class in reference to new
settlements have invested largely in what they feel, is to be the
1st. or one of the 1st cities of Kansas, & already, 6 large stores are
in successful operation, some of them in buildings that would be
no discredit to Eastern business places.
This seems also to be the center of religious influence in the
Territory at least all denominations deem it highly important
to have a foothold here. 4 churches have been formed & another
is in immediate prospect these are, the Congregational, Meth-
odist, Baptist, United Brethren & Unitarian. These divisions of
evangelical Christians seems most unfortunate, where the whole
united are so weak, & will remove, much further off the time, when
the gospel can be sustained independent of foreign help, but it was
impossible to avoid it. Two of the churches named above intend
to erect suitable houses of worship this fall or rather I should say,
commence them this fall, the others would they keep pace with
the rapid movement around us, must not hold back in this respect.
During the three months just closed I have found the interest
in our prayer meetings constantly increasing & this too in the
midst of the excitement, which the doings of our Missouri legisla-
ture, have produced. 28 God's children have felt that in Him was
their only resource from legislative tyranny, & appealing to Him
for wisdom & guidance, they are resolved to follow the path of
right & duty at whatever hazzard. But we do not anticipate any
violent enforcement of those iniquitous acts, the authors know
too well, that the result would be anything but healthful to them-
selves, or advantageous to their cause. Infinite Wisdom will turn
the wrath of man to the furtherance of its own purposes. . . .
It should be borne in mind by those who contribute to the sup-
port of missions in Kansas, that our circumstances are peculiar,
unlike those of any other Territory, no emigration had preceded us,
& we had (the first year) no means of support within ourselves
it has been one continual drain upon our pockets, which in most
cases has taxed all our energies to supply, prices of the com-
monest necessities of life have been what our neighbours of Mo have
28. The "Bogus" legislature elected on March 30, 1855, assembled at Pawnee, near
Fort Riley, on July 2, 1855, and adjourned on July 6, to meet at Shawnee on July 16.
The legislature passed many laws which are found in the volume of 1,058 pages entitled
The Statutes of the Territory of Kansas. Included was a strong statement of the Proslavery
position in an "Act to punish offenses against slave property." Wilder, op. cit., pp. 73, 74.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 65
seen fit to ask in most cases very exorbitant. The coming year
in this respect will be very different as we now begin to have a
supply of many things within ourselves. . . .
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM
LAWRENCE, K. T. December, 1855
EDITOR, The Home Missionary 29
In some respects, our prospects as a church were never brighter
than at present. We have frequent accessions, and of a character
that will be permanent and valuable; and we certainly need all of
the right stamp that can be induced to come here, for we have much
work for Christians to do. Sin and error of every kind grow with
vigorous and rapid strides in a soil such as is afforded in a new and
forming community like this; and while the church has advanced
slowly, evil, in some directions has made fearful headway.
A few months since, public sentiment was such, that not a drop
of liquor could be publicly obtained in the vicinity; and it was
necessary to secure the certificate of a physician, before it could
be obtained for medicinal purposes. Now, there are grog-shops on
every hand, and the majority of young men are frequenters of
such places. 30 This is naturally attendant upon the wild excite-
ments in which we are compelled to live. For months past, our
young men have been in constant drill for war-, and such associa-
tions stir up the worst passions of our nature. We hope that the
worst excitement has passed; but we have thought so before, and
have been disappointed; and it may be thus in the present case.
There never has been such danger of actual hostilities a civil
war as that which we have just passed through, and which you
no doubt, have received full reports ere this. But as reports are
29. The contents of this letter indicate conclusively that it was written in December,
1855. The letter was printed in The Home Missionary, New York, v. 28 (March, 1856),
pp. 364, 365. The Herald of Freedom, December 29, 1855, reported that the thermome-
ter had reached 22 degrees below zero during the week, in keeping with Lum's descrip-
tion in the last paragraph. The issue of the paper could not be printed on schedule because
it was impossible to thaw out the paper stock.
30. The response to grog shops in Lawrence in January, 1857, has been described
as follows: "Action was forthcoming on Saturday, January 24, 1857, [when] at half past
ten in the morning about forty women of Lawrence, who had carefully worked out their
plans at previous meetings, set out on a tour of inspection of reputed groggeries. Instead
of two they found no less than seven in full operation. This was a discouraging situation
in a town of a thousand inhabitants, which prided itself on being a temperance community,
but the women were equal to the task they had set for themselves. With true frontier
simplicity they resorted to the one remedy that they had effective and with little waste
of time they went from liquor shop to liquor shop and in each case speedily wrought the
destruction of all the intoxicants that could be located. No determined resistance was
offered by the liquor dealers, probably because of a strong body of men who had come
prepared to protect the women against molestation." Otto F. Frederickson, "The Liquor
Question in Kansas Before Constitutional Prohibition" (Ph.D. thesis, University of Kansas,
1931), pp. 159, 160.
56551
66 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
very conflicting, it may be satisfactory to hear the facts from a
known source. 31 Early in November, a peaceable and unoffending
citizen, a Free-State man, was brutally murdered in cold blood by
a Pro-Slavery man, a few miles from Lawrence. The settlers in
the vicinity, having no hope from the mock-law of the Territory,
which was not made for such men, designed administering justice
in defiance of law. The culprit, shielded by Pro-Slavery men, es-
caped into Missouri; and, as he left, set fire to his own house, and
also to one or two others of his associates, thus giving the impres-
sion that the Free-State men had commenced the work of extermi-
nating their opposers. This report flew on the wings of lightning
through all parts of Missouri; and the Governor, to give it counte-
nance (without investigation), issued his proclamation.
In these ways, in the course of two weeks, there were collected
near Lawrence, at three points, somewhere near two thousand
armed men, who openly avowed their intention of burning the
town, and entirely exterminating the whole Free-State party; and
I have but little doubt that they fully intended to put in execution
their fell purpose. Matters began truly to assume a warlike at-
titude. The Free-State men came pouring in from all quarters, in
order that they might repulse the enemy at the first attack, and
thus prevent a general devastation. Mud forts were thrown up
in several parts of the town, sentinels were constantly on duty,
and scouting parties, day and night, were watching the movements
of the enemy. All the public buildings were turned into barracks
the preaching hall with the rest; and nothing was thought of but
the best means of defense.
The members of my little church, though deprived of their
place for public worship, met in the private circle for prayer, and
with deep earnestness and holy confidence in God, sought wisdom
as well as strength from on high. They felt much like the fathers
31. Lum describes the events associated with the Wakarusa War. Franklin Coleman,
a Pro-slavery settler, killed C. W. Dow, a Free-State man, at Hickory Point, 12 miles south
of Lawrence. The cabins of some Proslavery settlers in the community were burned by
Free-State sympathizers. Jacob Branson, a friend of Dow, was arrested by Sheriff Samuel
J. Jones on November 27, 1855. The prisoner was rescued by a Free-State party under
the leadership of S. N. Wood. The events developed as described by Lum. Wilson Shannon
was the governor. The spokesman for the Free-State group at Lawrence was Dr. Charles
Robinson. The agreement signed at Lawrence on December 9 by Shannon, Robinson, and
Lane is often referred to as the "Treaty of Lawrence." It is in this period that John Brown
became active in Kansas developments.
Lum's statement in this letter that the cabins of Proslavery settlers were set on fire by
Coleman as a ruse to blame the Free-State men is not in accord with the version generally
cited. Johnson, op. cit., pp. 138-144; Wilder, op. cU., p. 90. However, The Herald of
Freedom, December 29, 1855, stated: "It is the opinion of every person well-informed
on the subject in Kansas, that the Coleman and Buckley houses at Hickory Point were
burned by pro-slavery persons, for the purpose of stimulating outrages upon the Free-State
men." A contemporary account of these developments is found in Sara Robinson, op. cit.,
p. 128-159. The agreement between Shannon, Robinson, and Lane is found in The Herald
of Freedom, January 12, 1856.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 67
of the Revolution, determined to die; if necessary, in the cause of
God and the right. After two weeks of such excitement, a deputa-
tion from the enemy's camp came into town, in company with the
governor, to see if anything could be done to prevent a general
slaughter. They began to wish for some honorable way out of their
bad position. The settlers were too well prepared for defense, to
permit them to hope for an easy victory; and they did not like to
look at the certain death which would undoubtedly have been the
fate of most of their number in case of an attack. So they con-
cluded to try diplomacy. The delegation were treated respectfully,
were told our position, and our determination either to live or die
by them.
The consultation was continued for two days; when the Gov-
ernor professed himself satisfied, and gave orders to the army of
invasion to beat a retreat, which they were not slow to do. As
has been since said by those interested on their side, they did not
expect such stern resistance; and though they brought several
batteries of canon, yet they were only for use in case there was no
fighting on our side!
We are now experiencing most severe weather; the thermometer
has been within a week as low as 24 below zero; and it is about
impossible to keep warm enough to write.
S. Y. LUM
(The Concluding Installment, Containing the Lum Letters of
1856-1858, Will Appear in the Summer, 1959, Issue.)
William Sutton White, Swedenborgian Publicist
JAMES C. MALIN
PART Two KANSAS EXEMPLAR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AND HERBERT SPENCER
I. INTRODUCTION
/ 1pHE question of the influence of ideas is often beset with diffi-
* culties, but in the case of William Sutton White, editor of the
Wichita Beacon, 1876-1887, the major influences upon his thought
are clear; the principal one, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), and
less explicitly, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), Swede and English-
man respectively. For present purposes only the briefest indica-
tion of their systems of thought can be given, and of White's use
of them. Any really adequate presentation of White's dozen years
as publicist would require a full-length book.
II. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a scientist, technologist,
philosopher, and theologian; unquestionably one of the significant
savants of the 18th century; the second son of Jesper Swedberg,
bishop of Skara, and earlier a professor at the University of Upp-
sala, where in 1709, ES completed his formal university training.
In 1719 the family was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleanora, the
name then changing to Swedenborg. ES's first tour of foreign
study began in 1710; two and one half years in London and Ox-
ford, where his principal interests were mathematics and astron-
omy. He continued his studies on the continent, in the Nether-
lands, and in Paris, 1713-1715, returning to Sweden to devote him-
self to natural science, engineering, and invention, interrupted only
by successive extended periods of foreign travel and study. In
1716 King Charles XII appointed him extraordinary assessor of
mines. Swedenborg distinguished himself in the several major
branches of science: anatomy, astronomy, chemistry, geology, math-
ematics, mineralogy, physics, physiology, and psychology.
Until 1734 Swedenborg's career is usually viewed as strictly
DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly and author
of several books relating to Kansas and the West, is professor of history at the University
of Kansas, Lawrence.
(68)
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 69
that of scholar, scientist, and engineer; an investigator of nature,
especially in its physical aspects. The second period of his life,
1734-1745, focused upon biology, in which he is said to have made
important scientific contributions to anatomy, physiology, and
psychology. In the interpretative sense, this second period has
been designated as the search for the soul in nature. His third
period, 1745-1772, was devoted to theological studies, or to "The
Kingdom of God/' subsequent to his "Illumination," when he in-
sisted that he had been admitted to the world of spirits and there-
after considered himself as merely the instrument of the Lord
to explain the internal meaning of the "Word," the Scriptures.
Although some anticipation of this new departure appeared earlier,
the transition period proper extended over the years 1743-1747,
when, in 1747, he resigned from the board of mines to devote his
entire time to this new mission. 1
THE SWEDENBORG THEOLOGY
The Swedenborg theology as summarized for present purposes
is treated under four heads: Jehovah Creator, The Word (Scrip-
tures), the succession of churches, and the Lord as Redeemer and
Divine Activity. Jehovah God is infinite and eternal. The uni-
verse and man are created, therefore, finite and exist in space and
time as emanations from the Eternal. As all this is beyond the
comprehension of finite man, by analogy the Sun metaphor is used
as the nearest, although inadequate mode of conveying the mean-
ing. The Sun as the center of the solar system radiates light and
heat into outer darkness.
Matter is that which is more remote from the central source of
force and motion; the material and the immaterial both being force
and motion, only differently organized. Swedenborg conceived of
the universe as being formed by an evolutionary process, a spiral
1. The best single biography of Swedenborg, is Cyriel Odhner Sigstedt, The Swedenborg
Epic; The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (New York; The Book Associates, 1952).
See, also, George Trowbridge, Swedenborg: Life and Teaching, fourth edition of 1934 (New
York; The Swedenborg Foundation, 1955); Signe Toksvig, Emanuel Swedenborg: Scientist
and Mystic (New Haven; Yale University Press, 1948). All of these biographical studies
are from the Swedenborg point of view. No competent independent biography has appeared.
Brief biographical sketches of Swedenborg appear in the encyclopedias, the more signifi-
cant being L. B. DeBeaumont, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hast-
ings, 12 volumes (New York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951), v. 12, pp. 129-132; Alexander
James Grieve, Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition (1910), v. 26, pp. 221-223; ibid.,
1957 edition, abbreviated and revised by "X," v. 21, pp. 653-654; Frank Sewall, The New
Schaff-Hertzog Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson (New York;
Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1911), v. 11, pp. 183-189; N. A. Weber, The Catholic Encyclo-
pedia, edited by Charles H. Hebermann, 15 volumes (New York; Robert Appleton Company,
1912).
On the New Church, or the Church of the New Jerusalem, the best, and almost the
only work, except encyclopedia articles, is Marguerite Beck Black (1889- ), The New
Church in the New World (New York, Henry Holt, 1932).
In American perspective, a particularly interesting book is Helen Keller, My Religion
(New York; The Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., 1956 edition).
70 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
nebular hypothesis. The smallest unit in his conception of physics
is a mathematical point, which, if extended traces a line, a line
extended becomes a plane, and a plane extended encloses a solid;
thus space is accounted for by means of mathematical physics.
Matter is organized in space into vortical atoms; particles at the
core with other particles rotating around them. Each atom sets
up a magnetic field. Solar systems are formed out of atoms; the
galaxies are composed of solar systems; and the whole universe
is a system of galaxies, with its magnetic field of force. Here, in
his mathematical-physical system by which Swedenborg accounted
for creation according to his version of the nebular hypothesis, he
set up his model of a macrocosm-microcosm relationship which
prevailed as between each order of magnitude from the smallest
atom to the whole universe. By analogy, God had a similar re-
lationship, so far as infinite and finite could be compared.
Man is created in the image of God. The individuation of man
was accounted for by conceiving of his material body as a tempo-
rary receptacle for the soul, and the soul in turn received life by
influx from God. As God is order, all creation is according to
order. In other words, all created things are governed by Divine
law, without exceptions not even God can suspend Divine law
as the expression of Divine wisdom. This point must never be lost
sight of if Swedenborg's concept of evil, of salvation, and of re-
generation are to be understood. Man is created with complete
freedom of will, and out of love of self and of the world, is free
to choose evil, and by doing so sins against God and withdraws
himself from the love of God. Thus by his free choices, man is
good or evil, and creates his own heaven or hell, which are not
places, but states of being.
The Word of God is recorded in the Scriptures allegorically in
three degrees of correspondences; the literal, the spiritual, and
the celestial, and is understood according to the capacities of men.
By being admitted to the world of spirits, Swedenborg was con-
vinced he became the servant of the Lord to reveal the highest
form of truth as it was clothed in allegorical form in the Scriptures.
Just as men created their own heaven or hell, so each man be-
came a church: "The church is within man and not outside of him;
and that every man is a church in whom the Lord is present in the
good of love and of faith." In another context, the exposition as-
serted that "the right understanding" of the Word, "constituted the
church." Prior to the Lord's First Advent, the churches were repre-
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 71
sentative. This requires some explanation because Swedenborg
held that there had been four churches or dispensations prior to the
Second Coming of the Lord in 1757 which ushered in the New
Church, or the Church of the New Jerusalem. The four were the
Adamic, the Noahtic, the Israelitish ( or Jewish ) , and the Christian.
At the beginning of the Adamic or Most Ancient Church (Adam
was an era, not a man), men conversed with Angels, knew truth
from falsehood intuitively, and thus received the doctrine in a
spiritual sense. But man being free to choose, closed his mind to
the Lord and the heavenly love with its truth. Step by step the
Adamic mind withdrew further until the Lord intervened to restore
equilibrium, and conditions requisite for the exercise of a true
freedom of choice. The second, the Noahtic, or Ancient Church,
appeared after the flood not of water, but of evils and falsities by
which a new start was made by some people called Noah, whose
nature underwent a change whereby they survived, were given a
faculty called conscience or reason, to replace intuition, and they
developed writing by the use of symbols; the records of Moses were
in symbolic language, and not meant to be historical. True his-
torical writing began with Abraham. This church degenerated and
was succeeded by the third, the Israelitish, which in turn de-
generated, and was replaced by the Christian church. The advent
of the Lord through His Divine Humanity was to battle against
accumulated evil and to redeem mankind. Thus Jehovah God,
Creator, became also Redeemer, and Divine Activity the Trinity of
Person with which the Christian dispensation opened.
In this capacity of God, as Creator, Redeemer, and Divine
Activity, Swedenborg differed from the orthodox Christian interpre-
tation of the Trinity the Nicene creed, endorsed by the Council
of Nicaea in A. D. 325, which, according to his interpretation, in-
troduced a polytheism in the Trinity of Persons. In the Sweden-
borgian theology, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were three mani-
festations of one and the same Being.
Swedenborg repudiated also that version of the traditional plan
of salvation which represented God as angry, whose Son was cruci-
fied to propitiate Him, and to cancel "the sentence of damnation,
yet only in behalf of those for whom the Son should intercede, and
that so He becomes a Mediator in the presence of the Father
forever." Swedenborg could not accept any representation of God
except in terms of Divine love, who could not logically operate
upon any plan involving anger, vengeance, or punishment from
72 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the Lord. Man brought upon himself by his free choice the punish-
ments of sin. According to order, the consequences of sin could
not be remitted. By the Passion on the Cross, the Lord, in his
Divine humanity underwent temptation as man, but in overcoming
temptation restored the equilibrium in the spiritual world under
which the free choice of man between good and evil was effective.
Correcting further what Swedenborg considered the prevailing
errors of the orthodox church, he emphasized that, as effects from
cause, the penalties of sin were not remitted, removed or shifted.
By being saved from sin was meant, saved from sinning that he
might undergo regeneration, the regeneration being effected through
the Holy Spirit, the Divine Activity, the third aspect of the Trinity
of Person. The process of regeneration begins in this world by the
free choice of man in accepting the plan of reconciliation with the
Lord, and is continued in the next world to eternity the man
chooses good instead of evil, hates evil as a sin, and does good to
the neighbor according to the Divine order; not as a reward it
is his life.
For the Swedenborgian, death of the natural body is viewed as
a continuation of life of the soul in a substantial spiritual body.
The soul is eternal. In Heaven every man's life passes in review
from his memories, and upon this inescapable record, he is his own
prosecuting attorney, witness, and judge. He seals his own fate
for eternity; he is not judged by law and sentenced or sent to heaven
or hell. Whatever his life was on earth, in the natural body, his
change of state is only a continuation of that life to eternity. His
choice of a good life and the regeneration begun in the natural
body continues to eternity.
To the question, who can be saved? Swedenborg replied: "the
Lord's church is universal, and is with all who acknowledge the
Divine and live in Charity" ( Heaven and Hell, n. 308 ) . He warned:
"Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live a
moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians . . .
and a moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a
spiritual life." For Swedenborg, the universality of the church
extended to the inhabitants of other worlds in the universe. And
to a Christian world which was not clear on infant damnation,
ES comforted: "every child, wherever he is born ... is re-
ceived when he dies by the Lord and trained up in heaven. . . ."
Every man is born with three universal loves, the love of heaven,
of the world, and of self. The first is necessarily spiritual; the other
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 73
two are natural, but man may through them make his own heaven
and hell: 'What a man loves supremely is the main end and object
of his life. . . . it is the motive power of his life. ... A
man's entire character is that of his ruling love. ... It cannot
be changed after death, because it is the man himself." Neces-
sarily, the natural loves, in particular, are related to the doctrine
of uses. Led by the Lord, the three loves may be co-ordinated
and make man perfect. Riches and honors of public service, sub-
ordinated to spiritual love, are not to be condemned, but public
service should be rewarded commensurately.
As a biologist who had specialized in human anatomy, physi-
ology, and psychology, Swedenborg looked with wonder upon the
body as an organism. He rejected the widely held Christian at-
titude toward the flesh as necessarily associated with evil, and
something of which to be ashamed:
Every man ought to have a sound mind in a sound body; he must therefore
provide the proper food and clothing for his body; and also the intellectual
and critical matters which are the proper food of the mind; he will then be
in a condition to serve his fellow-citizens, his country, the church, and the
Lord. He who does this provides for himself to eternity.
To each individual in society, ES assigned a responsibility or duty:
Charity is to act justly and faithfully in one's office, business, or employment,
because everything so done is of use to society, and use is good, and abstract
good is the neighbor. . . . For example: Some kings. ... A [faith-
ful] clergyman. ... A just judge. ... An honest merchant. . . .
The same is true of every workman, sailor, farmer, servant, indeed, of every-
body who does his work honestly and faithfully.
This is charity, because charity may be defined as daily and continuously
doing good to the neighbor, individually and collectively. This means doing
good work in one's daily employment; and even when a man is not engaged
in good work; it may be the frequent subject of his thought and intention.
He who thus practices charity, becomes more and more an embodiment of
charity; for justice and fidelity form his mind, and their exercise form his
body; so that in process of time, from the form thus acquired, he intends and
thinks nothing but what is charitable. Of such men it is said in the Word,
that they have the law inscribed on their hearts. They attach no merit to
their works, for they never think of merit but only of duty, which is a good
citizen is bound to perform.
At another place, Swedenborg emphasized that admission to
heaven is not to be looked upon as a reward or as a merit for
works: "The joy of doing good to the neighbor is their reward,
and this is the joy of the angels in heaven; for it is spiritual and
eternal, and infinitely surpasses every natural delight."
74 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Swedenborg warned against charity in the sense of indiscrim-
inate giving of alms or relief to the poor "this must be done pru-
dently" or "these benefactors are ultimately the cause of mischief
to the good." Charity includes public, domestic, and private duties;
compulsory public duties like paying of rates and taxes; domestic
duties like the reciprocal relations of husband and wife, parents
and children, and master and servants; and private duties like pay-
ment of wages and interest, fulfillment of contracts whether based
upon statute, civil, or moral law "Those who have charity per-
form them justly and faithfully; for the law of charity requires
that a man should act justly and faithfully in all his dealings.
. . ." ES covered also under the rule of charity, recreational
activities, whether of the church, or strictly social intercourse.
Swedenborg carried the doctrine of uses to an extreme: "every-
thing good is good in the measure of its use. . . ." The knowl-
edge which men acquired through the exercise of intellectual pow-
ers was viewed by Swedenborg as an instrument, and as a trust
from the Lord, which man in his freedom might use for good or
evil. In this context he stated his motives in undertaking to ex-
plain the internal sense of the Word:
Now because it has been granted me to be in the spiritual world and in the
natural world at the same time, and thus to see each world and each sun, I am
obliged by my conscience to manifest these things; for what is the use of
knowing, unless what is known to one be also known to others? Without
this, what is knowing but collecting and storing up riches in a casket, and
only looking at them occasionally and counting them over, without any thought
of use from them? Spiritual avarice is nothing else. . . .
This insistence upon use of knowledge in contrast with hoarding
was according to order and correspondence with other things, like
wealth and power, entrusted by the Lord to the free choices of
men for good or evil.
Living in an age of monarchy, Swedenborg emphasized that
superiority in government, according to his standards of divine
justice, was to be found where the principle of popular responsi-
bility prevailed. Although not rated as a social reformer in the
fashion of the highly publicized philosophers and philosophies in
18th century France, who were his contemporaries, the social im-
plications of his theological system were highly explosive socially
in their potentialities.
Had Swedenborg been a crusader, who stopped at nothing to im-
pose his system of social revolution upon his generation, or had he
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 75
established a sect comparable to those of Luther and Calvin, or
had he undertaken a political career comparable to Cromwell or
Napoleon, the consequences might have been portentous. Instead,
his methods were essentially passive; man must not in any manner
be coerced into doing good, not even by the Lord, or by His ser-
vant, Swedenborg. Such restraint is rare indeed among men pos-
sessed of a sense of mission. His faith that right, as he saw the
right, would prevail eventually, seemed to be without limit. He
would not organize a church as an institution to propagate his doc-
trines; the church is in the hearts of men and would prevail. In
an age in which natural rationalism, materialism, and cynicism
were so strongly emphasized, both his spiritual interpretation of
history and his manner of implementing it were not of his 18th
century, when the most conspicuous characteristic was the intol-
erance manifested by the advocates of tolerance.
ANTECEDENTS OF ES IDEAS
A perspective upon Swedenborg is impossible to attain except
at an inordinate expenditure of time and effort. The scholarly
world which prides itself in being "enlightened" and "scientific" has
been inclined to ignore, or to ridicule the Great Swede because of
his claim of "Illumination." The orthodox religious groups tend to
dismiss him as a heretic. Swedenborgians generally refuse to ac-
cept as valid any discussion of him that does not recognize the
"Illumination" and all of its implications as the point of departure,
thus dissociating him from the main stream of the history of thought
his theological ideas are derived from the Lord, not from the his-
torical ancestry of all modern human thought.
The uncommitted historian is not obliged to pass judgment upon
matters of theological faith, as such, but is deeply concerned about
any body of thought that has impact upon men, and thus upon the
course of human history. The influence of a body of thought so
comprehensive as that under consideration extended far beyond
the confines of what is conventionally accepted as the province of
religion. A decision on the question of originality of Swedenborg's
work is not necessary for present purposes, but essential to any
real understanding of his place in history is the determination in
general terms of the sources or antecedents of the ideas found in
his works. This means that investigation is necessary of his techno-
logical, scientific, philosophical, and theological works in their en-
tirety, both for themselves and in their setting of the mid-18th
76 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
century. 2 And furthermore, the independent historian is interested
in the manner in which, and the extent to which, Swedenborg's
thought was integrated into later history as a culture-forming
factor. Whether or not original or valid, Swedenborgian thought
dominated the Wichita Beacon during the period 1876-1887. The
2. Note on the Emanuel Swedenborg Theological Works, the editions used and the
method of citation. The individual books bear long titles but are usually known by short
titles. For citation purposes abbreviations are used. Quotations are from the Standard
edition published by the Swedenborg Foundation, New York (English translation from the
original Latin), for the most part, and references are not to page numbers unless so indicated,
but are to numbered articles in the respective works, as these are common to all editions.
Arcana Coeslestia: The Heavenly Arcana Contained in the Holy Scriptures or Word of
the Lord Unfolded, Beginning With the Book of Genesis, Together With the Wonderful
Things Seen in the World of Spirits and in the Heaven of Angels (12 volumes), translated by
the Rev. John Faulkner Potts (New York, 1949-1951), (short title, Arcana); Heaven and
Its Wonders, and Hell; from Things Heard and Seen, (short title, Heaven and Hell); Angelic
Wisdom Concerning the Divine Providence (short title, The Divine Providence)-, The Four
Doctrines, four short treatises originally published separately; I. The Doctrine of the New
Jerusalem Concerning the Lord; II. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the
Holy Scripture; III. The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Ten Command-
ments; IV. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning Faith; The True Christian Re-
ligion (Everyman's Library edition, No. 893); Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love
and the Divine Wisdom (short title, Divine Love and Wisdom); The Apocalypse Revealed,
Wherein Are Disclosed the Arcana There Foretold Which Have Heretofore Remained Con-
cealed (2 volumes), (short title, Apocalypse); Miscellaneous Theological Works. (Of the
eight short treatises in this collection, two are used: "The Intercourse Between the Soul
and the Body"; and "The Earths in the Universe.") Posthumous Theological Works (2
volumes ) .
Of importance for an orientation on the chronology of Swedenborg's works, the times
of their actual composition, and of their first publication, is "A Brief Bibliography of Swe-
denborg's Works" included at the end of volume 2. Among Swedenborg's miscellaneous
writings are some autobiographical letters and extracts from other correspondence, and The
Coronis, an appendix to The True Christian Religion which is published with the latter book
in some editions.
Note on Swedenborg's Scientific Works. No standard edition, in English translation, of
the scientific works of Swedenborg is available. Some of the volumes that have been
published are now "out of print." For present purposes the works examined are listed here
in chronological order of composition:
Some Specimens of a Work on the Principles of Chemistry, With Other Treatises, trans-
lated from the Latin by Charles Edward Strutt [with an "Introduction" by the translator]
(London and Boston, 1847). The Principles of Chemistry (these parts only had been
printed) had been published in 1721, and some of the other treatises reprinted in 1847
were of the same date. The Principia or the First Principles of Natural Things to Which
Are Added the Minor Principia and Summary of the Principia, translated from the Latin by
James R. Rendell and Isaiah Tansley, with an "Introduction by Isaiah Tansley . . .," 2
volumes (London, The Swedenborg Society, 1912). The Principia, as printed here with
the additional materials, 1,214 pages, was part one of a three-part work Opera Philosophica
et Mineralia, published in 1734.
The Infinite and the Final Cause of Creation, Also the Intercourse Between the Soul
and the Body: Outlines of a Philosophical Argument, translated from the Latin by Jarnes
John Garth Wilkinson, with a new introduction by Lewis Field Kite (London, The Swe-
denborg Society, 1902, reprinted 1915). Wilkinson's original translation was in fact pub-
lished first in 1847. The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Considered Anatomically,
Physically, and Philosophically, translated from the Latin by the Rev. Augustus Clissold, 2
volumes (Bryn Athyn, Penn., The Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1955 reprint). Pub-
lished originally in 1740, 1741, and part three posthumously published.
The Medullary Fibre of the Brain . . . and Diseases of the Fibre; Rational Psy-
chology, translated from the Latin by Norbert H. Rogers and Alfred Action (Bryn Athyn,
Penn., The Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1950). This work was written in 1742. The
Animal Kingdom, three parts were published by ES in 1744-1745. Other parts have been
posthumously published in Latin and in translation. Only the "Prologue" in a reprint form,
has been used for the present study.
Ontology; or The Signification of Philosophical Terms, translated from the Latin by
Alfred Acton (Boston, Massachusetts New-church Union, 1901). This short treatise, never
completed, was composed in 1742. The Worship and Love of God, translated from the
Latin by Alfred H. Stroh and Frank Sewall (Boston, Massachusetts New-church Union,
1856). Parts one and two were published by Swedenborg in 1745, but part three was
published for the first time in this book. This work is an allegory of creation, not a scientific
work, and represents conspicuously the transition into Swedenborg's theological period, but
nevertheless his science affords the background.
The Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg, translated and edited by Alfred
Acton, 2 volumes (Bryn Athyn, Penn., The Swedenborg Scientific Association, [1948] 1955).
Psychological Transactions, translated and edited by Alfred Acton (Bryn Athyn, Penn., The
Swedenborg Scientific Association [1920], 1955). The several short works included in this
volume were written at various times and none were published by Swedenborg. Some are
published in this book for the first time.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 77
writing of local history is not a simple operation. That fact should
not require further elaboration.
Ignoring the controversies that have so largely controlled the
writing about ES, the contention of the present study is that, so
far as history of thought is concerned, continuity in Swedenborg's
intellectual development is the conspicuous fact. There is no more
reason to fragment his thought at the shift, 1843-1845, of the center
of his interest from biological science to theology, than at the shift
in 1834 from physical science to biological science. The same
philosophical tradition was employed from the beginning in organiz-
ing and interpreting, in sequence, physical science, then biology,
then theology and ethics.
Such difference as is apparent is only such as might be expected
with maturity, depth and scope of knowledge, along with the suc-
cessive shifts in subject matter. Necessarily the shift in subject-
matter of investigation from the theoretical bases of mathematical
physics and chemistry to the subject-matter of life in organisms
meant the acquisition of assumptions not formerly applicable.
Again, in the shift from biological material to spiritual subject-
matter further assumptions were required. These successive addi-
tions did not mean necessarily the abandonment or repudiation of
what was valid and usable from the prior stage in the development
of the later stages.
When men fail to find satisfactory answers to ultimate questions
in the so-called material world, physical and biological, through
reason applied to evidence of the fine senses, they appeal to the
supranatural, to the mystical in some form; that is to reasoning be-
yond the tangible evidence. 3 One extreme version of appeal beyond
the evidence of the five senses is absolute scepticism nothing is
certain, not even uncertainty or existence, a materialistic paradox
of negative mysticism.
The alternate extreme, and the one that Swedenborg adopted
eventually was a theological mysticism, a conviction of unition
with the infinite. Some of his highly publicized 18th century
contemporaries, especially in France, Voltaire, etc., made a show,
at least, of taking positions near the materialistic extreme; accord-
ing to conventional classifications, enlightened liberals. Measured
by such classifications, because of theological commitments, Swed-
enborg was a conservative or even a reactionary. But compared
with orthodox Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, Swedenborg was
3. For want of a precise word, the term mystical is used there in spite of the multiple
meanings it has already acquired.
78 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
a heretic, or radical. Under inspection, the conventional classifica-
tions became nonsense. Each individual emerges with unique
properties in his own right, which give his life significance and
meaning as a living, unclassifiable personality.
One of the first characteristics to be recognized in Swedenborg's
philosophy, which provided the theoretical framework for the or-
ganization and interpretation of his science, is the eclecticism under
which he exercised the widest freedom of choice in the selection
of features from the several sytems available. From the Greeks,
for example, among others, he drew from Empedocles, Leucippus,
Pythagoras, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. Several
Romans were used. From the writers of the early Christian era
Hebrews, Arabians, and non-Christian Neoplatonists Philo, Plo-
tinus, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), and even lamblichus are represented.
The last named was a later Neoplatonist whom late 19th century
scholarship considered an exponent of the decayed period of that
movement, although in the 20th century his standing seems to have
improved.
In his first major biological works, Swedenborg cited the early
church fathers, especially those prior to A. D. 325, the Council of
Nicaea which adopted the Nicene creed, or "Trinity of Persons"
as ES called it. 4 This was the period prior to the establishment
of orthodoxy, when conflicting versions of Christian doctrine, drawn
from several sources, were competing for recognition. Further-
more, the long tradition of Christian Mysticism was in evidence
in the writings of Swedenborg's scientific period as early as 1719. 5
All this should be clear from his explicit citations of authority.
To the student of the history of philosophy and theology, the evi-
dence is inescapable that the origins of Swedenborg's thought have
much deeper roots than superficially these citations would seem
to indicate.
In Swedenborg's theological works, as differentiated from his
scientific works, with only slight exception, he cited nothing but the
Bible. That fact of citation did not change, however, his basic think-
ing. All the main outlines of his philosophy had been well estab-
lished prior to 1745 when the theological phase of his life supposedly
began. In fact, some of his theology was a matter of record prior
4. See the lists compiled in The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, v. 2, pp. 41, 349.
5. Letter, ES to his brother-in-law, November 25, 1719, The Letters and Memorials of
Emanuel Swedenborg, 2 volumes, translated and edited by Alfred Acton, (Bryn Athyn, Pa.,
The Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1948), v. 1, pp. 220-221. ". . . God nas his
seat in the Sun. . . ." Also: "That the most eminent light and glory is in the sun,
while far away therefrom is darkness. . . ." This was further developed in Neoplatonic
metaphor in The Economy of the Animal Kingdom (1740-1741), article 251.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 79
to that date. To be sure, the shift in the center of gravity in sub-
ject-matter from science to theology and ethics resulted in a de-
velopment of a theological system, as in his prior period he had
formulated a biological system, and still earlier a mathematical-
physical system. Furthermore, the fact should not be overlooked
that in his theological system the scientific subject-matter of physics
and biology was integrated into the theological subject-matter and
argument. One Swedenborgian interpreter has admitted cate-
gorically that unless the claim of "Illumination" is insisted upon no
obstacles stand in the way of interpreting the thought of ES as
representing historical continuity. 6
A survey of Greek thought and of its contacts with other systems
usually called Eastern, and the intermingling with the Judaeo-
Christian-Islamic tradition would be revealing, but space does not
permit.
A survey of the history of Christian mysticism and of Neoplato-
nism makes clear the extent to which Swedenborg partakes of that
tradition. 7 Typologically, religions may be divided into two
groups on the basis of their treatment of the relation between
God and man. One group emphasized the difference between
God and man, God's transcendence: Zoroastrianism, Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. The other group emphasized the identity
of God and man and the immanence of God; and the desire on the
part of the soul as an emanation from God to be purified and to
return to the One. Christian Mysticism undertook, with varying
degrees of success, to combine these quite different points of view,
and so did Swedenborg.
The speculative Christian Mysticism emphasized the unity, or
wholeness, of life, which meant devotion to the business of the
world as well as to that of the spirit. Thus John Tauler (ca. 1300-
1361) declared "One can spin, another can make shoes; and all
these are gifts of the Holy Ghost. I tell you, if I were not a priest, I
should esteem it a great gift that I was able to make shoes, and
would try to make them so well as to be a pattern to all/* Jacob
Boehme (1575-1624) was a shoemaker who became also a mystic.
Aristotle had said that everything has a function; the good is to per-
6. The Rev. Lewis Field Kite, "Introduction" to ES, The Infinite and the Final Cause
of Creation. . . . (1915), pp. xx-xxi. Kite's claim, in this introduction, that Sweden-
borg pioneered in the explicit analysis of the infinite and the finite, cannot be accepted.
That distinction belonged clearly to Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464). See Wilhelm \Vindel-
band, A History of Philosophy . . ., translated by James H. Tufts (New York, 1895),
pp. 344, 345. This book is available in paperback, Harper Torchbooks, TB 38/39.
7. William Ralph Inge, Christian Mysticism [1899]. Paperback reprint (New York,
Meridian Books, 1956), Living Age Books, LA 3; Evelyn Underbill, Mysticism [1910], pa-
perback reprint (New York, Meridian Books, 1956), MG 1.
80 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
form that function well; the highest good is to perform it in the
highest and most complete manner; a harpist plays a harp, but a
good harpist plays the harp well. In this respect, speculative
Christian Mysticism was also in the tradition of Aristotle. Plotinus
emphasized the beautiful things of this world, and that this world is
not evil because it is the image of the Divine Mind: "What more
beautiful image of the Divine could there be than this world, except
the world yonder?" This macrocosm-microcosm metaphor of Greek
philosophy was conspicuous also in Christian Mysticism in the
view that man is made in the image of God. But the distinction
made by Origen (ca. 185-254) was generally accepted; that the
likeness exists in man only potentially, subject to development.
The role of mysticism in the history of human culture has had
varied verdicts. Inge said: "Asiatic Mysticism is the natural refuge
of men who have lost their faith in civilization, but will not give up
faith in God" (p. 115). Also, it is a revival of spirituality in the
midst of opposites: formalism, which is emptiness; and scepticism,
cynicism, and relativism, in which there is no certainty Mysti-
cism is an adventure into the unknown. An unregenerated his-
torian may add that this is a good definition also of science an ad-
venture into the unknown.
Returning again to the main line of philosophical development,
the modern beginnings that lead to Swedenborg are seen in Nicolaus
Cusanus (1401-1464) who undertook the first systematic analysis
of the infinite and the finite, developing the macrocosm-microcosm
metaphor, and with the aid of the atomic concept of Democritus
(460-360 B. C.), and the mathematics of the Greek Pythagoreans
concluded that in individuation each thing is different and that
place and motion are relative. The philosophical succession from
this beginning down to Liebniz and Christian Wolff in the 18th
century worked out the main lines of thought from which Sweden-
borg made his choices.
Critical, however, to such promise of originality as was in evi-
dence in Swedenborg's earlier scientific work was his assumption
of the role of reformer and his growing obsession with functional-
ism, a trait which he shared with other social reformers the
Locke tradition in England, the "Enlighteners" in France, and
Christian Wolff and his disciples in Germany. In ES functionalism
was expressed in the exaggerated doctrine of use, and the doing of
good to the neighbor as of the Lord as the ultimate measure of the
value of all things. The partial, but not a sufficient saving feature
for Swedenborg, however, was his even more stubborn insistence
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 81
upon free will no act performed under coercion of any sort has
moral value, not even an acceptance of Swedenborg's own system
of thought. This was evidenced also in his objection to the in-
stitutionalization of his "Church" that is, forming a cult. But
nevertheless, functionalism is always fatal to content, to substance,
and cumulatively to creative thought. This was Swedenborg's
tragedy.
III. HERBERT SPENCER
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), English philosopher and pioneer
in sociology, came from a family rooted for seven centuries in Dar-
byshire, England. His father, a Quaker, and an uncle, who were
most influential in his education, were both committed to educa-
tional careers. Herbert received little formal training, terminating
what little he did have by the age of 17. The major ideas which
were to characterize his career took shape early. In 1842 he formu-
lated his theory of the functions of the state; maintenance of order
and protection of life and property that and no more. In 1851
came his first book, Social Statics, in which he elaborated upon the
general statements of 1842. The following year he published an ar-
ticle which expounded "the development hypothesis"; a generalized
statement of the concept of evolution, physical as well as biological.
This was six years prior to Charles Darwin's first public formula-
tion of organic evolution under the name "natural selection."
In 1855 Spencer's book The Principles of Psychology, for the first
time, applied the development idea to that subject. By 1858 he
formulated a plan for his major life work, The System of Synthetic
Philosophy, to be issued in parts on subscription, an enterprise
that was not completed until 1896. His book on Education came in
1860. The First Principles of his philosophical system in 1862, The
Principles of Biology in 1864 and 1867, The Principles of Sociology,
volume I, in 1877, Data of Ethics in 1879, The Man Against the
State in 1884, and Justice in 1892. These titles, some of them not
being a part of his formal series, were the ones available to W. S.
White, except the last named. As D. Appleton and Company, of
New York, became Spencer's publisher in the United States, the
American editions of his books, especially the Social Statics, are
pertinent for the present study. 8
8. The data are not available to determine which of these books White used, or when
he made his acquaintance with Spencer. One historical evaluation of Spencer's philosophy
as a whole, stated that "the metaphysical top-dressing with which Spencer decorated his
system is in all essentials lifted from [Sir William] Hamilton." Another writer stated that
Spencer is due for a revival: "If his own age overrated him, ours has underrated his merits."
Anthony Quinton, "The Neglect of Victorian Philosophy," Victorian Studies, v. 1 (Maich,
1958), p. 253.
66551
82 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Spencer denied the existence of God in any orthodox religious
sense, thinking of himself as a scientist, he sought to eliminate the
supernatural, or the supranatural, from his system. In his Social
Statics, he used the term "Divine Idea," but in his book The First
Principles, this gave way to "The Unknowable." In any case
"creative purpose" was recognized, and the supernatural was ad-
mitted into his universe in spite of himself, depriving him of any
true claim to the designation of materialist. His Christian critics,
however, were not usually disposed to accept such differentiations.
Spencer believed that man's guide to action lay in absolute prin-
ciples that could be discovered by scientific investigation. Such
principles were valid, he admitted only in a perfect world for
perfect men. His term Social Statics referred to this ideal, under
which men exercised full self-control, which was a badge of their
freedom, and government was unnecessary. Under these condi-
tions the greatest happiness to all would be achieved through the
"exercise of all the faculties." Spencer's first principle of freedom
was, therefore, that: "Every man has the freedom to do all that he
wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other
man." Under this freedom, he was entitled "to get drunk or to
commit suicide." Evil, in Spencer's system, meant non-adaptation
of society and individual men to the perfect law of existence.
As society is the product of development, government is a growth
and a necessary evil in the process by which savage men become
civilized on their way to an eventual perfection when government
should atrophy. Thus expansion of the functions of government
and coercion was an evidence of moving in the wrong direction.
In an imperfect world among imperfect men, choices of alterna-
tives of conduct are relative; one finds himself in a position where
no course of good action is offered, only choices of the least wrong
from several possibilities, all of which are wrong. This is what
makes an understanding of absolute principles so important as
standards of measurement. As government can rightfully do noth-
ing more than protect life and property, Spencer opposed state
control of church and education. These were the responsibility
of the family and the individual, even to the extent of the right to
be ignorant. Most anything is preferable to compulsory indoctrina-
tion (education) at the hands of the state. No action can posess
moral quality if it is performed under coercion. The reformer's
demand for legislation to coerce men to be good, only created
worse evils and demand for further legislation to enforce the former
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 83
laws. According to the principles of development, man had come
a long way already on the road toward civilization, but had a
long way yet to travel. In the meantime, Spencer insisted, the
best mode of facilitating the achievement of the final goal was
patience, and the relatively best choices of modes of conduct
which necessarily excluded all laws extending the powers of the
state.
IV. WHITE'S SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
SYNTHESIS OF SWEDENBORG AND SPENCER
The foregoing review of the thought of Swedenborg and Spencer
reveals so clearly some of the similarities and contrasts as to make
any extended comparison unnecessary. At no time did White hold
up Spencer as his model social philosopher. Quite the contrary.
The first explicit reference to him by name was in February, 1880,
when Spencer's materialism was emphatically condemned. 9 In
White's synthesis of systems, the fact that Spencer had no positive
formulation about God meant that, unopposed, the Swedenborg
version of the Neoplatonic theology occupied the central position.
As in all cases where Spencer's lack of religious sanctions was in-
volved in the fusion, the positive character of the Swedenborgian
system was unopposed. The effects of this fact might suggest
that, instead of fusion of the thought of Swedenborg and Spencer,
White's philosophy might be described more accurately as essen-
tially Swedenborgian, influenced by Spencer, or with an admixture
of Spencer. Like so many people of the late 19th century, much of
White's debt to Spencer was by way of reaction against certain of
his teachings. But there were areas of agreement, most strikingly
in social policy. Although a century later, and by a different line
of reasoning, on so many things Spencer had arrived at much the
same conclusions as Swedenborg. The coincidences are so striking
that they cannot be casually dismissed.
THE "NEW CHURCH" ACTIVITIES IN WICHITA
The "New Church" was represented in Kansas as early as ter-
ritorial days, but did not achieve a self-sustaining status. During
the latter half of the 1870's, the Rev. Adams Peabody was mission-
ary to Kansas, visiting Wichita on the average of once a year from
1876 to 1882 inclusive. 10 Others appeared later. One attempt
9. Wichita Weekly Beacon, February 18, 1880, report on the Paige lectures.
10. Ibid., February 9, 1876; March 21, 1877; September 11, 25, 1878; December 3,
1879; March 3, 1880; May 11, August 10, 1881; January 11, 1882.
84 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
at organization of a local society at Wichita has been recorded. 11
In 1877 the convention of the Missouri-Kansas association of the
New Church met at Osage City, Editor White attending. In 1881
the Kansas Association met in Wichita. The Wichita Library As-
sociation received a gift from the Swedenborg Foundation, in
January, 1878, of 20 volumes of Swedenborg's Theological Works,
and in November, 1886, 20 volumes of collateral works. 12
By his editorial policy, White kept the Swedenborg philosophy
before the readers of the Beacon in several forms, much of it not
identified by name. White's devotion to Swedenborg was un-
qualified: "The greatest, most rational and philosophical theologian
of his, or any other age." 13 A characterization of White was in-
spired by the completion of the new Beacon building in 1885, when
a former associate wrote that he had always entertained a
"kinder hankerin feelin" towards the sheet ever since we were devil in that
office, years ago, when its present editor used to hoof it in from his claim, clad
in an army overcoat, and Swedenborgen ideas, to stick type, when the grass-
hopper was in the land, and the typos played "devil among the tailors" for
the beer. 14
"Clad in an army overcoat, and Swedenborgen ideas/' indeed!
Symbols of a profound philosophy of clothes expressed succintly
and picturesquely! Regardless of sharp differences among sol-
diers of the American Civil War about its issues and consequences,
there was agreement in an uncompromising patriotism. The old
army overcoat was a visible symbol. But White possessed what
many others lacked, an implicit faith in an invisible symbol, one
that he applied rationally and systematically to life.
In a long commentary on Swedenborg, upon the occasion of the
first gift of his books to the library, among other things White
wrote:
They are the ripe thought of the grandest man of all the centuries . . .;
whose vast, varied and comprehensive learning in all the domains of thought
is the wonder of the world and whose moral and spiritual excellence and
emanations fix him as the central human figure of all the ages. . . . His
theology is the philosophy of being and existence, and yet to the earnest
student and disciple his figure dwarfs out of the range of the intellectual
organs of vision and his personality is swallowed up in the depths of the
truths he declared. He bases his science of religion on the Bible, the mother
of all science and the inexhaustible reservoir of truth and life. . . .
11. Ibid., August 10, 1881.
12. Ibid., January 23, 1878; Wichita Daily Beacon, December 1, 1886.
13. Weekly Beacon, November 14, 1877.
14. Daily Beacon, October 27, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 85
White's meaning here is to be explained by the allegorical inter-
pretation of the Word:
His profundity is so simple, that the little child may comprehend its essen-
tials and his simplicity so profound that the succeeding ages will not exhaust
the particulars of it. It is the philosophy of life. . . .
On matters other than theology, White emphasized that:
he is not to be measured by whole colleges of ordinary scholars. No one man
is able to judge of the merits of his works on so many subjects. He anticipated
much of the science of the 19th century in astronomy, in magnetism, in anat-
omy, in chemistry, and first demonstrated the office of the lungs. His literary
value has never been rightly estimated.
White closed with citations of appreciation by other writers of
Swedenborg's importance. 15
Misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Swedenborg appeared
in several forms, one of which was confusion with modern or scien-
tific Spiritualism. Taking advantage of a discourse in Chicago by
the Rev. L. P. Mercer, on the subject of Spiritualism, White re-
printed the full text and wrote an approving editorial. Mercer
pointed out that orthodox Christian churches and materialists both
repudiate Spiritualism, but for different reasons. The more "scien-
tific" the world became the more insistent the demand for evidence
of immortality at the materialistic level of the senses with which
science deals a contradiction of concepts. The New Church is
the only system of faith resting upon Divine revelation that "admits
of the possibility" of spirits returning, and offers an explanation.
For that reason it is confused with Spiritualism. In fact, the New
Church denounced Spiritualism or more properly "Spiritism"; "in-
tercourse with the departed is possible in two ways, one orderly
and the other disorderly." Although possible to invite the spirit
to invade the consciousness, it is "expressly forbidden, always dan-
gerous, and at the best, only negative in its results." Swedenborg
recognized this and warned against it. The spiritual and the ma-
terial are not opposites, but different by discrete degrees. For the
spiritual to invade the natural consciousness was to degrade it.
The orderly mode of intercourse occurs only to those in a state to
receive "the opening of the spiritual senses of man." This means
"the seer's temporary elevation from this world to that." 16 The
knowledge derived during such states of elevation, was what
Swedenborg had written into his Theological Works this was
the New Church view and was in no sense comparable with modern
spiritism.
15. Weekly Beacon, January 23, 1878.
16. Ibid., September 17, 1879.
86 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
WHITE'S UNDERSTANDING OF NEW CHURCH DOCTRINE
APPLIED TO LIFE
White's understanding of New Church doctrine as applied to the
late 19th century world was stated in numerous forms as called forth
by specific events. Some of these are much more generalized and
comprehensive than others, but none of them singly or in series ap-
proached a systematic treatise on religion and life. Possibly such
an undertaking is what White had in mind when he retired from the
editorship of the Beacon. His views on the "continuation of life"
have been presented at sufficient length already. Among the doc-
trinal problems that agitated the minds of his generation, disturbed
as they were by the challenge of science and by the "higher criti-
cism" a few may be summarized from three quite substantial edi-
torial articles.
The religious significance of Christmas and Easter observances
occasioned many expositions of the Christian plan of salvation.
The ascension of Jesus on the 40th day after the resurrection, cele-
brated by the ritualistic churches, was the occasion for an article:
"A Spiritual Ascension." The Biblical text is: "And when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a
cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts, 1:9.) 17 In White's
exposition he reminded his readers that space and "place cannot
be predicated of heaven"; "By going up it is not meant that He went
up through space, but up in quality, up beyond the intellectual eye-
sight of the Apostles." The language, he asserted, was allegorical:
"The Scriptures are not the word of God or truth, but only its
manifestations. They are the ultimate and lowest expression of the
truth or word, as literally understood, but as ultimates they contain
as a vessel, the fullness of God." The revelation to man depended,
therefore, upon man: "The Lord comes to all men in all ages
through His divine truth and his manifestations depend at all times,
upon the state or condition of man's spiritual nature." The conclu-
sion about the Twelve was that: "If the Apostles could have fol-
lowed him, in thought and affection, He never would have disap-
peared from their sight, but would have been a constant presence to
them." In this sense the literal ascension "symbolized the perfect
unition of the humanity with the divinity within it. ... It
completes the cycle or plan of salvation: "The incarnation or the
material manifestation of the truth in the person of Christ . . .
was rendered necessary by ... the perverted state of the
17. The Douay (confraternity) edition reads: "And when he had said this, he was
lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud took him out of their sight."
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 87
human understanding, and will be forever unnecessary again/'
Thus the second coming of the Lord was not a material manifesta-
tion. Such a view "brings God down to our level, instead of raising
us towards Him." "The Lord never ascends nor descends. As to
the disciples at the Ascension, so with us, it is an appearance de-
pendent upon our changing spiritual states. . . ." 18
Integral with this was the theological meaning of the crucifixion
of Jesus, discussed under the title: "Substitution Sacrifice." Ac-
cording to the doctrine of the atonement attributed to the orthodox
Christian churches, Christ became a vicarious sacrifice to save man
from the penalty of his sins. The penalty for sin was eternal
punishment in hell. Under this theory Christ as the substitute for
man assumed these punishments, which logically could mean only
one thing; that instead of being at the right hand of God, he would
be spending eternity in hell suffering the penalties of the sins of the
world. Furthermore, White argued, if Christ was an infinite sub-
stitute, and there was so much as one soul in hell, then the devine
plan was a partial failure, and if partial an infinite failure. White's
conclusion was that:
The church, as surely as it lives, will ultimately sooner or later, utterly
reject the awful dogma of the vicarious atonement, or the sacrifice of the
second person of its trinity, to appease the wrath of the first person, and it
will accept the true at-one-ment, or the reconciliation of man to God, and
will worship one God, in the sole person of the Lord Jesus Christ. . . .
The sacrifice aspect, in contrast with the substitution aspect, was
then analyzed to clarify the nature of sacrifice as a religious rite,
and then to apply it to the crucifixion of the Lord:
To sacrifice does not mean to kill, much less to kill with vindictiveness.
It means in its high and primary significance, to make holy, to consecrate.
The rite of sacrifice was preceded by purification by the priests,
by consecration, and was performed with reverence in order that
the offering might be acceptable to God. Then, referring to the
crucifixion, White declared:
We cannot understand how an infamous act can be a holy sacrifice a
propitiatory offering. ... If there is any parallel between the murder of
the just Man, on Calvary, by a howling, cursing mob of sectarians permitted
and assisted by the indifferent and scoffing Roman soldiers . . . and
the holy sacrifices of the tribes of Israel . . . we fail altogether to
recognize it.
And then referring to the pending Methodist church heresy trial,
he concluded: "No wonder that the Rev. Doctor H. W. Thomas,
18. Weekly Beacon, May 28, 1879.
88 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
quoting another eminent divine, denounced the vicarious theory,
as the 'Butcher Theory'." 19
In a third article, "A change of Base Necessary," White drew a
comparison between Copernicus and Swedenborg, the latter doing
for the spiritual and moral what the former had done for the
planetary system. Physically, Copernicus showed how the earth
revolved around the sun, instead of the reverse, and had made
astronomy the most exact of the sciences. Instead of the body
being the central part of man, "the soul was the man" and "the body
was the mere clothing of the soul of the real man." The result is
"a rational theology that is scientific and philosophical. A true
theology is the most comprehensive of all sciences. . . ." But
that was only a part of White's argument. The concentration upon
the body had produced only a false theology and metaphysics, but
he insisted that it had resulted in "a perverted system of law and an
empirical medical practice." Thus Swedenborg "made the most
momentous discovery of all the ages," in demonstrating the truth
about the relation of the soul and body of man.
The consequences of this change of base were then described as
applied to man and government: "the nations begin to realize
that the law is a yoke and a curse, as was the laws of the Jews.
. . . The law has taken society as the unit to measure the man,
instead of taking the man ["the soul was the man"] as the unit to
measure society."
The Government is everything, the individual nothing only so far as he
adds to the power and strength of the government; while the truth is that the
individual is everything, and the government nothing, only so far as it secures
the welfare of the man. The man is not made for the government, but the
government was made for the man, to add to his freedom, to secure him in
the possession of every right God has conferred upon him. Man is the
master, the government is the servant; man is internal, the government is
external, and must be auxilliary and subordinate to the highest welfare of the
individual. Man lives forever; governments change, and rise and fall upon
the ebb and flow of the passions and the thoughts of men. Both church
and state must change their base of operation. 20
19. Ibid., December 14, 1881. The second part of this two part editorial was mostly
a reprint, without reference, from the Beacon of March 13, 1878.
20. Ibid., August 31, 1881. Not all Swedenborgians viewed the laissez faire role of
government as White did. Without going into detail, the Rev. W. M. Gpodner, minister of
the New Church at Lamed, wrote, July 14, 1881, making general reservations about White's
editorial position on "politics, temperance, and other questions," and by inference on public
education. Goodner was greatly agitated about the shooting of President Garfield and "the
vast number of foreigners," but more important, as he saw the general social crises, were
the great monied corporations, "the general war upon the interests of the laboring masses,"
and professional politicians. He thought the schools should aid in the matter. Ibid., July
27, 1881.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 89
ROLE OF THEOLOGICAL CRITIC TO WICHITA MINISTERS
Introduction and Personnel
The failure on the part of the Swedenborgians to organize a
congregation of the New Church in Wichita, left White free on
Sundays. Whether or not from a sense of editorial obligation or
from a conviction of religious need, White was a remarkably reg-
ular attendant upon church services, both morning and evening,
even of services during the week, especially during religious re-
vival meetings. Either he carried his reportorial pencil with him,
or he had cultivated a remarkable facility to reproduce from mem-
ory the substance of the sermons, and to differentiate the salient
points of doctrine and their application.
During the 1870's the leading churches were the Methodist,
Baptist, and Presbyterian. About 1880 the Protestant Episcopal
and Christian churches supported regular pastors of ability, and
by 1885 the Congregational organization was represented. 21 Other
ministers were the subject of White's searching criticism from time
to time, depending primarily upon whether or not they had some-
thing to say that seemed significant. The word criticism is used
here in its strict sense, as analysis and evaluation, which might be
favorable or adverse or both. As White put it himself: "The Bea-
con representative in his notices from time to time of sermons from
our city ministers, trusts he has been as far from flattering as he
has endeavored to be from irreverence or carping criticism/' 22 A
partiality for ministers was one of the charges sometimes leveled
against White. Heartily, he pleaded guilty: "J esus went about
doing good, and verily he has some followers in this town." 23
On the whole the ministers accepted White's criticisms with
good grace. Sometimes they corrected him from the pulpit or
replied through the Beacons columns. On a few occasions they
quarreled openly and violently, but usually that was not about
theology proper, but about moral issues in politics. In January,
1880, a substitute editor pretended (possibly he was serious) to
find himself in an embarrassing dilemma:
Capt. White is absent on a short tour, and as it is usual to comment on
Sunday sermons, we are at a loss to know just how to fill this part of the
bill. We are informed by reliable outside parties that several of the Ministers
have taken advantage of Capt. White's absence to preach on the absolute
21. The Catholic church activities were seldom the subject of White's commentary,
usually being handled strictly as news items. A lecture series was reported in the Beacon,
February 25, March 10, 1880.
22. Daily Beacon, February 8, 1886.
23. Ibid., January 13, 1886.
90 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
certainty of a personal devil. We know that this does not accord with his
views, but we don't know just why, nor where, we simply enter protest by
stating very frankly that, it won't do! it won't do! vide Capt. White's re-
turn. 24
Contemporaries had their fun about White and 24 volumes of
Swedenborg versus the preachers. The Leader evaluated the rela-
tive sophistication and religious status of the four Wichita news-
papers as of 1882:
The Wichita editors are all bad men. Marsh Murdock is as guileless as a
child when the preachers are around, but at other times he is a backslider,
as it were, and seems to have no respect for divine truth; the old sinners
who conduct the Times need no comment; [R. E. Field] the editor of the
Leader don't believe in certain little sundries which constitute a good share of
the orthodox faith, and he will probably be lost. Then there's Capt. White.
Ge whillikins! What a terror he is. Every little while some unsophisticated
gospel pedler winks at the burly old fellow, just for fun, and then this border
ruffian sallies out of his den with the Bible and twenty-four volumes of Sweden-
borg under his arm and proceeds to wipe up the floor with the preacher.
Jerusalem! how the preacher does pant to get away, but White is like a
magnetic battery; when you take hold of him you can't let go. And when
he has made an end of terrifying the preacher, he pulls his head into his shell
and waits for his next victim. Golly! We's an awful wicked crowd! 25
During his first year as editor of the Beacon, White was kept
busy apparently just in orienting himself in his new profession and
in producing a Democratic county newspaper that would compare
favorably with Murdock's Republican Eagle. Not until he had
been at his post for about a year did he strike out aggressively on
the several new lines which were to make his Beacon the dis-
tinctive and unique factor of Kansas journalism. So far as his posi-
tive approach applied to religious exposition, his editorial course
must have kept the Wichita ministers on the alert. Every minister
knew from experience that White's presence in his congregation
meant that some critical comment, favorable or otherwise, would
appear in the next issue of the Beacon. Not one of them was im-
mune to his adverse criticism if White thought it deserving, and
every one received his frank commendation for a logically con-
structed sermon even though the editor disagreed with his premises.
Frequently White gave scant attention to the discourse as a whole,
but used some point made by the preacher, either in approval or
disagreement, as a text for his own sermon for the day. Thus
Swedenborgian doctrine reached more people numerically and
directed attention to a wider range of thought than if the New
24. Weekly Beacon, January 28, 1880.
25. Ibid., January 4, 1882.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 91
Church as an institution had existed in the community. Each
denomination found its own distinctive doctrines, as voiced by its
minister, analyzed and inspected publicly in cold print. Like
Murdock of the Eagle in the field of journalism, the ministers
needed the "old self-abnegator" as a challenge and a stimulus, and
apparently some of them appreciated his independent criticism.
Certainly the church-going and the newspaper-reading public
benefited regardless of whether or not as individuals they agreed
with either of the participants in these good tempered but earnest
intellectual exchanges. 26
Pulpit and Secular Press
The minister's concern about the everyday life of his church
members was commended in the case of the Rev. J. T. Hanna,
Methodist. White was of the opinion that: "The public common
sense will sustain any preacher who fulfills the duties of his office
fearlessly, honestly and kindly ." 27 The same view was expressed
a year later with reference to the Rev. John Kirby's ( Hanna's suc-
cessor) discourse on the relations of church and state: "The true
end of religious teaching is to teach us how to live here, that we
may live hereafter/* 28
The following week, Kirby discussed the dangers threatening the
church. Possibly with White's comment in mind he emphasized
"that safety lay in increased devotion to the church, to her prayer
meetings, and her love feasts." White may have worded his com-
ment in such a manner as to give Kirby's remarks a Swedenborgian
slant that went beyond the minister's intent. If so, the emphasis
this time would tend to redress the balance in his own favor.
White also maneuvered for position and on his own part also avoid-
ing overt disagreement echoed yes, "to an extent": "But we believe
26. The ministers most conspicuous during the decade of White's tenure as theological
critic in Wichita are listed, together with their terms of tenure. For the First Presbyterian
church, the Rev. J. P. Harsen served from December, 1871, to April, 1879. His successor
was the Rev. J. D. Hewitt (sometimes spelled Hewett), June, 1879, through the remainder
of White's editorship. At the First Methodist church the rotation system operated to per-
mit each man during this period, with one exception, to serve three years: the Revs. ]. T.
Hanna, 1874-1877; John Kirby, 1877-1880; R. H. Sparks, 1880-1881; Barney Kelly
(Kelley), 1881-1884; T. S. Hodgson, 1884-1887. The Baptist tenure was not continuous:
the Revs. J. C. Post, 1873-1875; I. F. Davis, August, 1877-1878; A. L. Vail, January,
1879-March, 1881; and W. F. Harper, April, 1882- At St. John's Protestant Episcopal
church, three of the succession of rectors figured largely in Wichita life: the Rev. Dr. L.
DeLew, July, 1880, to September, 1881; the Revs. E. H. Edson, 1885, to March, 1886;
Charles J. Adams, June, 1886- At the Christian church, the first tryout proved unfor-
tunate. The Rev. T. J. Shelton arrived in June, 1880, dissention followed, the congregation
split, and Shelton attempted to establish an independent congregation. Eventually becoming
involved in several controversies, he turned to prohibition journalism, editing the Republican-
Times, June, 1881, to November, 1881 when the paper changed hands and editors. Later
ministers at the Christian church only occasionally received attention in the Beacon.
27. Weekly Beacon, June 14, 1876. The minister's name was sometimes spelled
Hannah.
28. Ibid., July 11, 1877.
92 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the true strength of a church lies in the daily business. . . . We
judge of a man, not from his life in but out of the church. . . ."
At the close White added that he had expected Kirby to include
this: "it would have been characteristic of the man." 29
The Presbyterian minister (1871-1879) J. P. Harsen made a
practice of devoting his sermon on the first Sunday of each year
to a discussion of the practical duties of life. He asserted that
more was expected of Christians than of others because, among
other things, the Lord did more for them. To this White objected,
insisting that: "He does all He can for every creature of His born
into the world. . . . [any difference lies in] the subject's will-
ingness to receive. . . ." 30 Thus Harsen's faulty logic was
corrected by consistent New Church doctrine.
In a private conversation a minister told White that the secular
press had "no right to criticize the church or discuss its doctrines
or dogmas/' and that by so doing the "people would stop their
subscriptions. . . ." White admitted that he had forgotten to
ask if the minister had ever advised such a procedure. Accord-
ing to his code: "No province of ethics is exempt from honest
discussion in the secular press, which is the avenue used by the
leading divines all over the world to reach the masses." Nearly
six weeks later, the young Baptist minister, I. F. Davis, advised
the temperance people to transfer their patronage from the Beacon
and the Eagle to the Herald. Later he denied it. At issue was the
liquor question, not theology. 31
The district conference of the Methodist church met at Wichita,
May 15, 1878, where 15 essays on various subjects were read.
White was distressed by the procedure. All debate on substance
was cut off, he charged, discussion being limited to "criticism of
style, grammar and diction, after the fashion of the school boy
literary club. . . ." White suggested that next time, the limi-
tation be placed upon the number of topics to allow time "for a
good discussion of the subject." He passed up the opportunity to
elaborate upon what he evidently had in mind the sterility of a
society so dominated by a false sense of sophistication as to sub-
ordinate substance to mere technicalities of form. Or to put it in
the converse, original and vital societies place the focus upon sub-
stance, form being only incidental.
29. Ibid., July 18, 1877.
30. Ibid., January 9, 1878.
31. Ibid., February 6, March 20, 27, April 3, 1878. Although trying to conciliate,
Harsen appears to have admitted the substantial truth of the Beacon story. Also, Bobbins,
editor of the Herald confirmed the charges.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 93
In 1880 the Beacon, January 21, commended the Rev. John Kirby,
Methodist, for carrying his precepts into the market place, but more
particularly the sermon of October 31 by the Rev. A. L. Vail,
Baptist, and the Rev. J. D. Hewitt, Presbyterian, elicited extended
comment under the heading: "Politics in the Pulpit":
The sooner the pulpit comes to recognize the great and awful truth that the
church is primarily . . . responsible for the moral condition of the people
in every relation of life further, that the church is the spiritual mother of
every social evil cursing humanity to-day, the sooner the pulpit will preach a
religion that has relation to life in politics, in trade, in society, in the family
as much as in the church and around the sanctuary. The church should
preach the politics of the people, and not the politics of a party. 32
Likewise the Beacon commended the sermon of the Rev. Barney
Kelly, Kirby's successor: "He had no mercy on our corns/' While
not agreeing with him in all particulars: "We believe a preacher
has a right to discuss any question under the sun that is of practical
importance to the people. The pulpit is the place to utter the
truth as God gives the power to see it. . . ." But, "A preacher
has no business to be a policeman. The church has no business to
appeal to the penal compelative law to enforce morals. The
churches should unite in demanding the repeal of the prohibitory
law"; also all laws against Sabbath desecration, blasphemy, and all
penal laws that invade man's moral freedom to do right or do
wrong. "All appeals to the penal power, by the churches, is
blasphemy against God, and is an open confession of spiritual im-
potency."
The differentiation made by White in the foregoing declaration
of rights was peculiarly appropriate to a complex, explosive situa-
tion that was developing. One aspect of it was a series of meetings
to support the enforcement of the liquor prohibitory law, including
a visit by Gov. John P. St. John, July 21, who spoke at the Presby-
terian church in the afternoon, and at the Methodist church in the
evening. At an earlier meeting, on Sunday, July 10, after Hewitt
had spoken, Kelly demanded a show of hands to test enforcement
sentiment. White had protested, and called this procedure cowardly
and bulldozing.
At one or both of the meetings of July 21, a standing vote was
proposed, but before it was taken, Kelly demanded that White
leave the meeting. The Beacon for July 27 was largely devoted
to the several aspects of the episode in which White denounced
in bitter personalities the ministers involved. No one realized more
32. Weekly Beacon, November 3, 1880.
94 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
keenly than the editor of the Beacon the betrayal by all parties of
basic principles of moral conduct. He differed from his opponents,
however, in admitting wherein he had failed, his editorial apology
being headed: "If We Were a Christian." The opening sentence
was confession: "Nothing could show more conclusively that we
are a sinner, than this issue of the BEACON. It is full of derision,
scorn and contempt, of hatred and all uncharitableness. We are
not proud of the issue. . . ." The manner of the presentation
he admitted, would "prevent its reception by those who need it the
most. . . . You can't make a man receive the truth by striking
him with a club." The second paragraph opened: "If we had been
a Christian we would not have published this issue. When smitten,
we would have 'turned the other cheek. . . .' " And the closing
sentence read: "If we were a Christian, we would be awful lone-
some."
The following week, a long editorial, "The Church Is Responsi-
ble," dealing with the Atonement, was introduced by a sequel in
which White insisted that he had never intentionally misrepresented
any man: "A man's honest opinions are as dear to him as his
reputation and character. . . . Since our connection . . .
with the BEACON, our relationship with the ministry has always been
cordial. ..." A differentiation was then made between a man's
private and his public status. The former was not a proper subject
of public commentary, but the latter, being of concern to society,
must submit to public scrutiny:
Until last week we have never uttered a word or written a line that
would reflect upon the private character or professional integrity of any min-
ister. Last week we reflected upon the public action and methods of public
men. . . .
In the public category also were public institutions: "The creeds
the doctrines of the churches, are proper subjects for fair and
free criticisms. We propose freely to exercise our right. . . .
We court criticism. We do not deprecate the condemnation of
our opinions or principles." 33 He then proceeded to discuss the
doctrine of the Atonement in blunt Swedenborgian terms, con-
cluding that the doctrine of the "vicarious Atonement is . , .
the prime cause of social evils and disorders of the world. It
amounts to a license to sin. . . . The only danger he runs
is sudden death, giving him no time to utter the cabalistic words
'Open Sesame/"
33. Ibid., June 22, 29, July 13, 20, 27, August 3, 1881.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 95
Relations between White and Kelly did not improve. In De-
cember, 1881, Kelly, with the aid of a visiting minister, was hold-
ing his annual winter revival. Under the title "False Doctrines,
the Cause of Evil," White disagreed with the preacher's presenta-
tion of the plan of salvation, including again the doctrine of the
vicarious Atonement:
Our readers may ask: "What right has the BEACON, a secular, political
newspaper, to discuss theological questions?" We answer: Just because the
BEACON is a secular and political newspaper. All truth has relation to life,
and secular and political matters include about the most of our life's affections,
thoughts and actions.
In other words, the secular and the political reflected the "char-
acter and quality of the theology of the day. There is no possible
hope of a radical regeneration in politics and in society until there
is a radical revolution in our theological ethics. The Beacon deals
in practical questions of every day life, for they make and form
the man." 34
On the evening of the day the Beacon appeared with the above
editorial, "after the religious exercises were over/' Kelly
gave the press a swinger, applying his remarks especially to the Wichita papers.
We were present, and enjoyed it. We know of no institution among men,
save, perhaps, the church, that is more open to and needs more honest and un-
sparing criticism than the press. There is no institution save the church, that
can be more productive of good than the press. We do not say that Brother
Kelly's criticisms were judicious, or were given in the right spirit, but we hope
he will keep giving them, for peradventure he may sound the key note of true
reform in the press.
The liberty of the press is worth all protection. The license of the press
should be boldly condemned and even punished. The press has the right to
its opinions. It has the right to express in proper phrase, its opinion of any
man's opinion, whether he be a preacher or a proletariat. Brother Kelly, we
think, is as free with his criticism and censure of men and things, as the press
can possibly be. We don't object, we glory in his freedom of speech. To
prevent him we would not close his mouth, nor his pulpit. There is nothing on
earth too sacred for the freedom of thought. Brother Kelly sets himself up as
a censor of the press, and if his censorship is not duly respected, he threatens
to break down the business of the papers. We believe in the censorship of
public opinion, and when the press violates the decencies of life, deals in
slander, is obscene and filthy, public opinion should voice itself, and the court
should lay its hands upon the offender, but it won't do for public opinion, the
courts or the preachers to attempt to obstruct nor throttle the freedom of
opinion or its expression properly couched. Ecclesiastical organizations are
human institutions, preachers are human teachers, and are not always inspired,
and never infallible, and we shall always freely, and will try to decently, ex-
34. Ibid., December 7, 1881.
96 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
press our opinion of the so-called church and its preachers. We say this with
all due respect for our Brother.
In 1882 a new Baptist minister, the Rev. W. F. Harper, began his
pastorate in Wichita. He preached his first regular sermon April 9,
and his second, "Relation Between Pastor and People/' April 16, in
which "he advanced, on the whole, very sound and practical views.
He thinks ... a pastor . . . should not cease to be a citi-
zen. . . . We think this is sound." But, the Beacon insisted
upon differentiation between the priest and the citizen. When act-
ing in the latter capacity "he should leave his gown and cassock in
the pulpit. The church and its priests have no official business out-
side of the spiritual and moral sphere." For example, the priest
must differentiate between the moral and police phases of tem-
perance;
the church, as a church, has no right to demand the passage of a penal law.
The church should be a leader, a teacher, an example and a life, but
it seems to be ambitious to be only a driver, and we do not want to see him
[Harper] become a driver. The measure of the immorality and degradation of
a people is the number of its courts, its prohibitive, restrictive, directive penal
statutes. Every increase of power in Topeka or in Washington City is an
incontrovertible proof of the intellectual and moral deterioration of the people,
an evidence of lawlessness and crime. If the church were virile, Washington
would annually become more insignificant; the center of the nation would not
be a geographical location but it would be in the heart and soul of every
man. . . . The church is primarily and in the highest degree responsible
for the present moral condition of the people, and it must acknowledge this
responsibility. 35
During the campaign of 1882, Governor St. John ran for re-elec-
tion to a third term using prohibition as his principal issue. A large
part of the evangelical church membership was mobilized in his
support, resulting in one of the most vicious and vindictive of Kan-
sas political experiences. Pressure was put on Harper, and during
midsummer he appeared to be committed, but late in August he de-
clared "the emancipation of his church from all connection with
politics and police law. The church was a teacher and preacher of
the Man Christ Jesus. It deals with the spirit and conscience of
man, and not with rituals and laws. . . ." The Beacon appealed
to the public to "Hold Up His Hands." 36
During such a political campaign the Beacon also felt the pres-
sure and abuse of the self-styled reform element:
The pulpit is continually whacking us over the head, because it asserts we
want to limit its functions. It does this in the face of the fact that lately, and
35. Ibid., AprU 19, 1882.
36. Ibid., August 30, 1882.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 97
many times in the past, we have asserted the fullest right, liberty and duty of
the pulpit to discuss every question that affects the moral, social and political
welfare of the people. We republished an article, written nearly two years
ago, to show that we have not been backward in demanding for the pulpit
the fullest liberty to teach. We believe the church is a great teacher. We
believe that all the blessings of God come through the church. The form of
the church is divine truth; . . . the sects so-called churches are instru-
mentalities of the church of God, and they are members of the church so far
as they teach what is true and do what is good. All the good and truth in
those sects comes from God; all the evil and falsity have been injected by man.
And White was insistent upon this last point evil in the church
and pointed to church history, Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant.
He objected to ministerial brag and bluster about what good had
been done for the world; and ministers reminded him of the un-
profitable servant. The ministers wanted to convert the non-
Christian peoples first, the heathen "but don't! Go among the
Christian nations, beginning with this one"; then England and Eu-
rope. As for the non-Christian peoples :
Don't call on the heathen until you have gone through your own households,
visited your relatives and dwelt among your wife's relations, and after you have
got all through, stand up in your pulpits and brag, if you dare; but you won't
brag if you have any sense left. The churches will say, Lord, we have been
unprofitable servants. . . . 37
Inter and Intra-cultural Relations: Incompatibility,
Rivalry, and Conflict
To an uncommon degree, White was able to view his own time
and culture as though he was an outsider. Whatever the origin of
his manner of viewing cultural relations, this trait was encouraged
by familiarity with Swedenborg's example in having the inhabitants
of the several planets describe their own customs and contrast them,
especially with those of the earth, to the latter's disadvantage or
advantage, as the case might be. Problems agitating White's gen-
eration were presented by conflicts within the culture of the United
States in relations with the American Indian "savages," and with
"immoral" polygamous Mormons; and outside the United States
with the so-called Christian nations in Europe, and in Asia, Africa,
and elsewhere with the allegedly "heathen" people. What, indeed,
were the distinguishing characteristics that were assigned to the
people that labeled them as savage, immoral, Christian, or heathen?
In the Swedenborgian sense, that true religion had relation to the
37. Ibid., June 21, 1882. The article referred to, "Politics and the Pulpit," and re-
printed in this issue, had been published first in the Beacon, November 3, 1880, instead of
September, 1880, the reference given by the editor.
76551
98 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
life people led, were not all these terms no more than exhibitions
of prejudices damaging only to the user by revealing his own sin
of self-love? White thought so, and said so in terms so blunt and
uncompromising as sometimes to infuriate even his friends.
The Sioux Indians were described by Joe Haskins, a mixed-blood
member of the Indian police, as controlled by their religion; they
respected the rights of both person and property within the tribe,
reverenced the Great Spirit, had no belief in an evil one (White
interjected, "unhappy wretches, with no devil"), had no profanity
comparable to that of white men, their respect for the marriage
relation was noteworthy, although wives were bought. "Here is
a great field for missionary labor," jeered White,
We are in doubt whether to send them a delegation from the churches, of
the class connected with the Indian bureau; or a corps of scientific evolutionists,
athiests, and materialists. A people who act upon principle of right as they see
it, and not from rapacity, greed, lust of power and dominion; who know
nothing of the political doctrine of a "Scientific Frontier;" who are not
skilled in the "art diplomatic," which is the high art of lying and deception,
are a dangerous people to have hanging on our frontiers. Their example is
corrupting.
White suggested probable explanations of the condition of these
Indians: "their degraded religious principles," lack of "a civilized
political system," and of "a free educational system." "How desti-
tute they must be," he explained, " no houses of prostitution, no
assignation houses, no Dago dens, no foundling hospitals, no Mag-
dalen hospitals, no adultery, no rapes and seductions, no divorce
courts. ... In the name of God had we better not don the
breech clout and the blanket? . . ." In connection with a press
report of an annual Baptist convention in New York, White con-
cluded that "They [the Indians] do not yet know that the grandest
result of all church work is a law and a penitentiary. . . . We
very much doubt that if the savages had a clear and an intelligent
understanding of these things, they would not run to escape our
culture." 38
Using as a text ex-Vice-President Colfax's proposal to suppress
Mormonism by law, White pointed out that "Mormonism really
seems to thrive the more the effort is made to suppress it. It is
a great evil, but the law is powerless to eradicate it." He then
proceeded to differentiate between what he called social and non-
social evils. The element of collusion was the key to his classifi-
cation. A social evil involved collusion; polygamy, adultery, prosti-
38. Ibid., March 16, 1881; Daily Beacon, November 19, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 99
tution, liquor traffic, were named. Nonsocial evils did not involve
collusion; slavery "lacked the element of agreement or assent/'
likewise, murder, theft, embezzlement, arson; and because of the
absence of this collusive or social element, "society is easily ar-
rayed against them, and all the moral and intellectual forces aid
the police element," also, the police element can punish when a
crime is committed by one person against another, but all prohibi-
tion by law is useless in a matter of collusion between parties. In
order to drive home his point about the extent of evil, the variety
of its forms and the large proportion of the population who are
themselves guilty of some variety of sin, and the confusion in-
volved in groups of sinners joining forces against other particular
groups of sinners, White resorted to what might be termed the
shock technique to jar his readers loose from the smugness of their
conventional modes of thinking, or more properly feeling, about the
sins of others, especially those geographically remote whom they
never met face to face:
Polygamy is a hard nut to crack; so is adultery; so is prostitution. Suppose
all the prostitutes, male and female, and all the adulterers, in this Christian
land whose holy horror is excited against polygamy, were gathered into one
community; does anyone doubt that they would be numerous enough to go
out and lick the Mormons any day in the week before breakfast. Now, this
fact makes the nut a great deal harder to crack. On account of the irritating
beams in our own eyes, we can't hit hard nor straight. It strikes us as a
little funny, that people as full of the devil as we are should get so out-
rageously mad with a people as full of the devil as the Mormons are.
Next, in order to prepare his sequence of argument, White re-
turned to the policeman:
He can abate a nuisance, when that nuisance affects directly society or an
individual. He can arrest a man when he is drunk; not for getting drunk,
for the law has no business with what a man does. A man has an immoral
right if that is not too great a paradox to get drunk, and it's none of the
policeman's business. The law has only the right to abate him as a public
nuisance; and so with every other social evil.
Open adultery is a nuisance, and the policeman ought to abate it. He
has no right to punish the parties for the evil of adultery, nor for the sin of
the act. . . . His right attaches only when and only because it becomes
a public nuisance and infringes upon the public decency and peace. And
so with polygamy. It's none of the government's the policeman's business
whether polygamy is moral or immoral. . . . The government has a right
to attack Mormonism, on the ground that it is a nuisance, destructive of the
safety, peace and good order of society.
Having made these distinctions in order to focus his main point,
White resorted once more to his shock example:
100 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Our plan would be, if we were the policeman, to declare polygamous
Mormonism a nuisance and then arm our adulterers and prostitutes and send
them out to suppress this nuisance. The greater would absorb the lesser
evil. The attacking forces could be walled in and left to devour each other.
White recognized that this procedure would have momentous con-
sequences, but would accomplish one objective so much desired by
the reform forces:
This would, no doubt, largely diminish our population and belittle our great-
ness, for this is measured by the vastness of our population, by overshadowing
monopolies, by the number and magnificence of our police palaces state
capitols, penitentiaries and lunatic asylums.
"Selfishness is a moral evil and disease/' the editor insisted,
infinitely worse than polygamy, adultery or murder. But what moral, ra-
tional right would the government the police element have to suppress,
limit, restrict or prohibit selfishness? It has only the right to take cognizance
of the ultimate effects of selfishness so far as they directly and injuriously
affect some factor or community of factors. Its action must not be based
upon the immorality of the act, but upon its outward and injurious effects upon
the individual safety and property.
This essay on the basic principles of jurisprudence stirred up
Beacon readers, and made further explanations necessary. The
difficulty in mobilizing the punitive forces, White insisted, could
be met by declaring the Mormons outlaws, their property confis-
cated, and by granting to the members of the expedition a fee
simple title to all property they could lay hands on. Mormonism
would be cleaned out of Utah, but would not be suppressed only
driven elsewhere. White accused Switzerland of solving its criminal
pauperism problem, not by overcoming criminal pauperism, but by
shifting its geographical location to the United States. 39
The Mormon question persisted and somewhat later, in referring
to the symbolic personality of the United States as Old Samuel,
White alluded derisively to his activities in the field of morals:
Polygamy is a great moral evil, and if Samuel is anything he is a moral re-
former and his great mission is to conserve, preserve and pickle morals, so
they will keep. Why do not Mormons drop polygamy and adopt polly-
wogamy, prostitution, and free (love) divorce, and become decent and self-
esteemed people? 40
At the Baptist convention previously mentioned, among the di-
versities of opinion expressed on American Indian and Mormon
cultural patterns, one MacKinney struck what White approved as
a true note on the Mormon question: "The Mormons support many
39. Weekly Beacon, December 28, 1881, January 4, 1882.
40. Daily Beacon, May 6, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 101
wives at once, but how many Americans support a number of wives
one after another?" 41
In editorializing on enforcement of the Edmunds anti-polygamy
law, White related a news story datelined Bridgeport, 111., reporting
the abuse and egging of Mormon converts at that place. This was
an example, he pointed out, of how Illinois was willing to supple-
ment the Edmunds act by mob violence, and thus the problem
was solved. Or was it
There is nothing like a bill for a social evil. Salvation by faith alone in a
bill is becoming universal faith, taught in all our churches and formulated
in codes and statutory creeds. It used to be a general faith that the Son of.
God came to save the world, but that was before the birth of Edmunds. The
coming was an unnecessary work. 42
The non-Christian heathen became the subject of a number of
Beacon articles in which inter-cultural relations received equally
candid treatment. The first occasion was the visit of a woman
missionary who had been active in India in a campaign to elevate
the status of women and to terminate infanticide, especially of
girl babies. White raised the question of hypocracy in the United
States contraception and foeticide compared with infanticide. Do
American women kill their infant daughters?
Oh, no, no, God forbid! We are a free, enlightened Jesus loving, God fearing
nation. . . . this is wrong we don't wait till they are born. We kill
them both male and female, before they are born. We have numerous
medical schools, where eminently scientific men are educated to teach us how
to destroy life. . . .
We would like to know a crime of heathendom, that we can't discount.
We said last week that we were a nation of infernal pharisees and hypo-
crites. . . . The heathen might justly say to all propagandists, "We don't
see difference enough to warrant us in making a change."
Foeticide is a thousand times worse than intemperance. 43
Shortly afterward, White drew another type of paradoxical
parallel:
The Christian nations under the divine ministrations of the Churches, are
beacon lights to the rest of the world. . . . The heathen are sending
their brightest youths to study the art of war in our military and naval
academies.
Referring specifically to England and the United States, the Beacon
declared: "Both nations occasionally bombard their seaports to
compel them to receive their goods and their gospel/' 44
41. Ibid., November 19, 1885.
42. Ibid., October 17, 1885.
43. Weekly Beacon, March 9, 1881.
44. Ibid., July 13, 1881.
102 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In another instance a lecturer on Japan told about "the cleanliness,
orderliness, industry, ingenuity, skill, and above all, their wonderful
honesty" (with concrete examples as illustrations). White made
his point clear by the headline given to report: "Heathendom,
Where Is It?" 45
But the more usual report on conditions among the "heathen"
were those typical of returned missionaries: "It is the invariable
rule among Christian nations to hold the church in China and all
other so-called benighted heathen lands altogether and wholly re-
sponsible for all kinds of evils." The mode of procedure on the part
of Christian nations for putting an end to the evils of which they
disapprove is to attack religion to change their religion is to
change their way of life. The Beacon agreed that this reasoning
was logical. But the same formula is equally applicable to the re-
ligion and evils in the United States. But here the unanimous
explanation of evil is not the religion, but "the Devil." To this
White replied, of course, according to his "New Church" doctrine,
that denied the existence of the Devil; each man is his own devil:
It seems to us that the missionary who goes abroad to save the souls of
the heathen with his creeds and rituals, has a cheek of brass and an impudence
that would shame his devil. 46
Taking as a text the address, in the old stereotype, of a woman
missionary returned from Siam, White protested as unjust the re-
flection upon the Christian God implied in assuming that he had
done nothing to save these heathen people. Swedenborg had in-
sisted upon the universality of the true religion, comprehending
within the love of God, not only the so-called Christian nations, but
the so-called heathen of this earth, and of all possible earths in the
universe:
It seems not to have occurred to the benighted missionaries that God was
as much with the Siamese, overshadowing them with his love and solicitude,
all these centuries, as he has been with the so-called Christians; that he gave
them all the light and Me they could receive, and that they were saved
just so far as they were obedient to the light received. It is horrible to think
that these untold millions are and have been trooping to hell simply because
they have not known what Calvin thought of God.
White insisted that if the missionaries would but list all the crimes
of Christian civilization, they would not dare tell them to any in-
telligent heathen as evidence that missionaries had anything to offer
them: "What we need is missionaries ... to ... save
45. Ibid., March 12, 1884.
46. Daily Beacon, April 9, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 103
us from a so-called civilization that makes us frauds, dead beats,
robbers, and oppressors on the earth. . . ." 47
White commended President Arthur's veto of the Chinese ex-
clusion bill in 1882. Later he denounced the policy adopted in the
territory of Washington which paraphrased Gen. Phil Sheridan's
Indian maxim: "The good Chinaman is a dead Chinaman." Later,
he praised President Cleveland for stopping the massacre and
robbery of the Chinese in the Far West. And at home, mirabile
dictu, the Wichita local of the Knights of Labor published in the
Beacon, December 26, 1885, in a peculiar perversion of Christmas
spirit, an appeal to the citizens of the city and county to boycott
Chinese laundries and "to prevent Chinese labor in any shape what-
ever from gaining a foothold in our fair city." 48 White did not
protest! And neither did Murdock! What an opportunity to make
political capital out of the democratic paper's inconsistency! But
the Bird in his aerie on Douglas avenue tucked his head under his
wing and did not see.
47. Ibid., May 20, 1885.
48. Weekly Beacon, April 12, 1882; Daily Beacon, November 12, 13, December 26,
1885.
(To Be Concluded in the Summer, 1959, Issue.)
The Annual Meeting
THE 83d annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society
and board of directors was held in Topeka on October 21, 1958.
Subject for the special public meeting in the G. A. R. auditorium
at 10 A. M. was "Techniques for the Small Historical Museum."
Edgar Langsdorf, assistant secretary of the State Historical Society,
presided. Feature of the program was a slide talk by Stanley Sohl,
the Society's museum director.
The meeting of the Society's board of directors was held con-
currently in the newspaper reading room. Called to order by
President Alan W. Farley, the first business was the annual report
by the secretary:
SECRETARY'S REPORT, YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 21, 1958
At the conclusion of last year's meeting the newly elected president, Alan
W. Farley, reappointed Charles M. Correll and Frank Haucke to the executive
committee. Members holding over were Will T. Beck, John S. Dawson, and
T. M. Lillard.
Four members of the Society's board of directors have died since the last
report. R. F. Brock of Goodland, banker and stockman, and member of the
Society since 1918, died November 11, 1957. History was Mr. Brock's
hobby; he was a collector of firearms, maps, documents, and rare coins and
currency. He served on the Society's board of directors from 1938 and was
president in 1948-1949. Mr. Brock's interest was genuine and unfailing
through the years, and he was a friend who was always ready to give of himself
and his means.
Mrs. Lalla Maloy Brigham, a member since 1931, died December 26, 1957,
at the age of 90. Mrs. Brigham was known as the unofficial historian of
Council Grove, having lived there almost all her life. She was the author of
a book, The Story of Council Grove on the Santa Fe Trail, in addition to
many historical articles. She also took a leading part in the promotion of
centennial celebrations in 1921 and 1925, the first to commemorate William
Becknell's successful pack trip over what came to be the Santa Fe trail and
the second to commemorate the birth of the trail.
Lynn R. Brodrick, for many years publisher of the Marysville Advocate-
Democrat and widely known as a leader of the Democratic party in Kansas,
died January 29, 1958. Mr. Brodrick had served from 1942 to 1955 as the
U. S. internal revenue director for Kansas and at the time of his death was
state highway director. Earlier he had been a member of the bipartisan
committee that drafted the first Kansas highway law during the administration
of Governor Paulen, and he had served as a member of the Highway Com-
mission under Governors Woodring and Landon.
Frank Motz, founder and editor of the Hays Daily News, died August 15,
1958. The son of pioneer residents of Hays, he spent his life in the news-
paper field. After graduation from the University of Kansas school of
(104)
THE ANNUAL MEETING 105
journalism he worked as a reporter on the Kansas City (Mo.) Star and then
on various Kansas newspapers until 1929, when he established the Daily
News. The loss of these friends is noted with sincere regret.
APPROPRIATIONS AND BUDGET REQUESTS
The Society this year was fortunate in receiving legislative appropriations
for several important projects which had been rejected in previous sessions.
Funds were allocated for laying an asphalt tile floor in the museum, for re-
placement of the exterior doors and installation of steel shelving in the base-
ment vault, and for several other long-needed improvements. Appropriations
for normal operating expenses were approved. Requests for air-conditioning,
and steel flooring for the main stack area, however, were again denied.
Budget requests for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1960, were filed with
the state budget director in September. Appropriations requested for salaries
and operating expenses are about the same as for the current year. New
capital improvement requests include sand-blasting to clean up the exterior
of the building and construction of a suspended ceiling on the fourth floor to
conceal the unsightly steel beams which detract from what is otherwise one
of the finest and most attractive museums in the Middle West. A new
elevator, to be installed in an existing but unused shaft, has also been re-
quested.
By far the largest single request in the budget is for remodeling of the
G. A. R. hall on the second and third floors. The 1958 legislature provided
$7,500 for architect's fees, and planning has progressed to the point where
realistic cost estimates have been made. These requests are aimed at making
the building as attractive and functional as possible for the approaching
centennial in 1961. An auditorium of proper size, with good acoustics is
essential to take care of school and other groups which visit the Society, and
where meetings including our own can be held. More museum space,
both for displays and storage, and a larger microfilm reading room are also
needed. All these are provided for in the proposed remodeling.
Appropriations for the various historical properties out of Topeka remain
at about the same level as before. The only capital improvement requests
approved for the current year were $150 for trimming trees at the Kaw Mission
and the Funston Home. Requests for next year generally are limited to the
same improvements which have been budgeted unsuccessfully for the past
several years.
PUBLICATIONS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS
Featured in the four issues of The Kansas Historical Quarterly for 1958
are the letters of Daniel R. Anthony, edited by Edgar Langsdorf and R. W.
Richmond. Colonel Anthony was an early resident of Leavenworth, founder
of the Anthony dynasty now in its fourth generation as publishers of the
Leavenworth Times, and a vigorous and colorful personality who played a
significant role in Kansas history. A new series by Dr. James C. Malin on early
Kansas philosophers began in the Summer issue. Other articles scheduled
for publication this year include letters written by members of the First U. S.
cavalry while in the Indian country in 1859-1861, edited by Louise Barry,
and a story of the Mudge ranch near Jetmore by Margaret Evans Caldwell.
Increased printing appropriations have made it possible to enlarge the
Quarterly to 128 pages, 16 more than formerly. Many articles of substantial
106 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
worth have been submitted to the editorial board and readers may look
forward to entertaining and meaty fare in the issues just ahead.
The Mirror, sent every two months to members to give them current news
of the Society's work, has been well received since its inception four years
ago. It has proved especially helpful in calling attention to materials needed
in the museum, and many valuable items have been donated as a direct
result of requests made in its columns.
Items from the Kansas press of 100 years ago continue to be sent to Kansas
editors in the form of monthly news releases. This program was begun over four
years ago as part of the territorial centennial observance, and has proved so
popular that it has been continued.
The work of indexing the 17 volumes of the Kansas Historical Collections,
the Biennial Reports for 1877-1930, and the three small volumes of special
publications has been completed and the index entries are now being alpha-
betized and assembled. The 1958 legislature appropriated $5,000 for publi-
cation of this index, which it is hoped will be finished by the fall of 1959.
Upon its completion work will begin on a general index of the Quarterly, to
be published as a companion volume.
Texts for two more historical markers were written and sent to the State
Highway department. One marker, located at Baldwin, tells something of
the early history of that community, and the other, at Beeler, reviews the
career of George Washington Carver, who homesteaded in Ness county in 1886.
Within a month the Society will publish a new list of Kansas imprints
prior to 1877. Alan W. Farley, the Society's president, and Lorene Anderson
Hawley of the library staff have been working on this compilation for several
years. Titled Kansas Imprints, 1854-1876, the new publication will be issued
as a supplement to the original Check List of Kansas Imprints, 1854-1876,
which was published in 1939 by the American Imprints Inventory of the
Historical Records Survey. The new book, containing 405 entries and eight
pages of illustrations, is now on the press. Considering the nature of the
work, the printing has been limited, and the volume will be offered for sale.
The Kansas Centennial Commission and its committees have held several
meetings during the year. Preliminary arrangements were made for the de-
signing and issuance of a commemorative stamp in 1961 by the Post Office
Department and numerous ideas and suggestions have been received. An
appropriation of $25,000 was made by the 1958 legislature for the work of the
commission during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1959, the fund to be ad-
ministered through the Historical Society.
ARCHIVES DIVISION
Public records from the following state departments have been transferred
during the year to the archives division:
Source Title Dates Quantity
Agriculture, Board of . . . Statistical Rolls of Counties, 1951 1,727 vols.
Auditor's Office Plats and Surveys: Sur-
veyor General for Kan-
sas and Nebraska 1854-1875 9 portfolio
vols.
Engineering Examiners,
Board of Engineer License Applica-
tion Folders 1951-1956 17 reels mi-
crofilm
THE ANNUAL MEETING 107
Source Title Dates Quantity
Insurance Department . . Annual Statements 1949-1951 1,792 vols.
Workmen's Compensa-
tion Commissioner . . Awards and Orders in
Docketed cases, Nos.
14,000-18,279 1945-1949 8 boxes
Annual reports were received from the Director of Alcoholic Beverage
Control, Registration and Examining Board of Architects, Auditor of State
and Department of Post-Audit, Crippled Children Commission, Larned State
Hospital, State Library, Board of Medical Registration and Examination, Board
of Podiatry Examiners, Real Estate Commission, School for the Blind, Soldiers'
Home and Mother Bickerdyke Annex, Traveling Libraries Commission, State
Treasurer, Veterans' Commission, Water Resources Board and Workmen's
Compensation Commissioner for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1957, and
from the Anti-Discrimination Commission for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1958.
The original enrolled laws of Kansas territory, 1855-1860, contained in nine
large volumes, have been microfilmed. Most of the volumes were of a size
difficult to shelve and they were also so badly deteriorated that they were
virtually unusable in their original form. However, the three volumes for
1855, the famous "Bogus Laws," were reasonably well preserved and even
though they are now on film, the originals will be kept permanently on file in
the archives.
LlBRABY
The number of library patrons increased substantially again this year. The
total was 4,602, of whom 1,905 were interested in Kansas subjects, 1,741 in
genealogy, and 956 in general subjects. The largest percentage of increase
has been in requests for Kansas material. Many researchers have indicated
that the Kansas section is one of the finest local history collections in this
country. The completeness of the Kansas material is due largely to the fore-
sight of the first administrators in obtaining early books and pamphlets while
they were yet available, and to the generosity of individuals and organizations
in donating their own publications and other items which pertain to Kansas.
Locally printed books are often difficult to collect because the supply is so
soon exhausted. Thanks are due to many patrons and friends who send in
copies or furnish information on these local items.
During the year letters were sent to all county superintendents of schools
requesting copies of county school directories which are issued each year in
compliance with a law passed by the 1955 legislature. As a result directories
have been received from 80 counties and, in some cases, files for previous
years as well. These directories, if received regularly, should be of immense
value for reference through the years.
In addition to the seven daily newspapers read regularly by the clipping
department, 13 other dailies and ten weeklies, plus a number of miscellaneous
papers a total of 7,276 separate issues were searched for local items. Special
editions of 11 newspapers were also read and clipped. The department
mounted 5,474 new clippings and remounted 1,325 older ones. In addition,
the difficult and painstaking task of remounting the "Webb Scrapbooks" is
nearly completed. This 17-volume collection of clippings from Eastern news-
papers for the period 1854-1860 has been used by hundreds of students since
it was acquired by the Society in 1877.
108 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
New material on microfilm added during the year included: "A De-
scriptive Roll of Kansas Volunteers, 1861-1865," loaned by the Adjutant
General of Kansas; general, special and court-martial orders and circulars,
with indexes covering the period, 1868-1875, issued by the Department of the
Missouri, U. S. Army; and minutes of various Baptist association meetings in
Kansas from 1858 to 1876. Two theses, "Corporation Farming in Kansas," by
Emy K. Miller, and "Dr. John R. Brinkley, Candidate for Governor," by
Francis W. Schruben, were lent for microfilming. Seven volumes of Perrin's
histories of Kentucky counties were purchased on microfilm. These histories,
published between 1884 and 1888, are long out-of-print and cannot now be
purchased in book form.
A number of Kansas and genealogical books were donated by their authors,
and collections of older books were given by Mary Smith of New York City,
Mrs. Alice Gordon Wilson of Topeka, and Mrs. Clif Stratton of Topeka. An
unusual gift, a scrapbook of theater programs largely from Topeka theaters,
was received from Mrs. Roy Crawford, Topeka. Typed copies of the fol-
lowing theses were donated by the authors: "A Study of the Use of Editorial
Expression in the Weekly Newspapers of Kansas for the Years 1925, 1940,
and 1955," by Maurice C. Lungren; "The Revolt of Little Wolfs Northern
Cheyennes," by William D. Mather; "The Lecompton Conspiracy: the History
of the Lecompton Constitution Movement in Kansas and the Nation, 1857
and 1858," by Clifford Wayne Trow; and " Tm Not Selling Anything' Some
Folklore From Kansas," by P. J. Wyatt.
Typed records, printed books and pamphlets were given by the Kansas
Societies of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of
American Colonists. The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of
Kansas, the Wichita Town Committee of the same organization, and the
Elizabeth Knapp chapter, Daughters of American Colonists, Manhattan, made
gifts of money for the purchase of local histories and the 1850 federal census
on microfilm.
Very little Kansas history has appeared in book or pamphlet form this
year. Centennial booklets were published at Eudora, Gardner, and Salina,
and Alfred B. Bradshaw of Turon wrote a book of reminiscences entitled
When the Prairies Were New. Homer E. Socolofsky, of Kansas State College,
edited A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations Pertaining to Kansas His-
tory, a project of the Kansas Association of Teachers of History.
Library accessions, October 1, 1957-September 30, 1958, were:
Bound volumes
Books
Kansas 183
General 618
Genealogy and local history 135
Indians and the West 58
Kansas state publications 58
Total 1,052
Clippings 17
Periodicals 236
Total, bound volumes 1,305
Microfilm (reels) 18
THE ANNUAL MEETING 109
Pamphlets
Kansas 1,103
General 468
Genealogy and local history 48
Indians and the West 17
Kansas state publications 224
Total 1,860
MANUSCRIPT DIVISION
The papers of Alfred M. Landon, received during the year, constitute a
large and important addition to the holdings of the Society. Besides more
than 90 file drawers of correspondence, the collection includes photographs
and scrapbooks, and should prove a rich source of information for researchers
in the field of political history. Much of the material pertains to the presi-
dential campaign of 1936. The collection has not been cataloged and at this
time may be used only with the permission of Mr. Landon.
A large body of papers was received from the estate of the late Cora Dolbee,
for many years a member of the faculty of the University of Kansas. There
are more than 800 letters in the collection, which was originally held by the
family of the Rev. John S. Brown, a pioneer Unitarian minister of Lawrence.
It was lent to Miss Dolbee for research purposes with the understanding that
it would be deposited in the Society. The letters fall within the period
1818-1906 and were written by friends and members of the Brown family
in Kansas and the East. Included are 15 letters by Charles A. Dana, 1842-1861.
The manuscripts were accompanied by an extensive collection of anti-slavery
poems taken from newspapers and magazines, 1854-1861. These have been
placed in the library.
Seventeen pages from the day book of the Western Bakery, Lawrence,
dated 1861, were received from Mrs. Thomas T. Parker, Phoenix, Ariz. Mrs.
Parker is the granddaughter of Louis A. Wise, operator of the bakery, which
was burned during the Quantrill raid. The pages were found in the ruins.
Among the patrons were John Speer, Lyman Eldridge, Dr. S. B. Prentiss,
A. D. Searl, S. W. Eldridge, the Home Guards, and the Eldridge House.
Mrs. Homer Wark, Topeka, gave three diaries kept by her husband, the
Rev. Homer Wark, 1917-1919. Dr. Wark was a chaplain in the A. E. F. and
served with the 137th U. S. infantry from May until September, 1918, when
he was assigned to the base hospital at Rimaucourt, France.
Two ledgers from the grocery firm of C. W. Myers & Co., Topeka, 1903,
1904-1908, were given by Fritz Leuenberger, Jr., Topeka.
Mrs. Harry Dobson, Wichita, gave a diary kept by her father, John Hannibal
Trautwine, September 3-December 23, 1873, in which he gives an account
of a buffalo hunt.
Three somewhat unusual letters by John James Ingalls, written in 1855,
1859 and 1862, were received from the estate of the late Ann Downs Ingalls
of Shokan, N. Y.
A small group of papers of H. C. Harrison, Brandon, Vt., 1880-1892, were
received from his daughter, Mrs. George C. Cobb, Rutland, Vt. They relate
mainly to the Barton County Bank, Great Bend, of which Harrison was presi-
dent although he never maintained residence in Kansas.
110 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Papers of Dr. Franklin Loomis Crane and members of his family were
received from a great granddaughter, Mrs. Carl F. Trace, Topeka. Included
are 192 manuscripts, mainly family and Civil War letters, and two manuscript
volumes: a record of the Topeka Town Association's account with F. L. Crane;
and a diary with scattered entries from 1853 to 1869. Dr. Crane first came to
Kansas in 1854 and settled permanently in Topeka the following year. He
was one of the builders of the city. A portion of his diary for 1856-1857,
was received from Caroline K. Wallbridge, Topeka.
An unpublished book length manuscript, "Citizenship and Essential Liber-
ties and Rights," by the late Parley Paul Womer, was given by his wife. Dr.
Womer was a leader in the development of Washburn University. He served
as president for 16 years, 1915-1931, and later as professor of American
citizenship and public affairs.
A typescript of portions of the diary of Anne Jones Davies was given by
her daughter, Priscilla Davies, Denver, Colo. Both Mrs. Davies and her
husband, John Davies, came to America from Wales and after their marriage
in the 1870's settled in Arvonia township, Osage county. John Davies was a
stone mason, and during his absences on construction work Anne managed
their farm. The years of the diary are 1882-1884, 1886-1888.
Correspondence relating to floods in Kansas, their prevention and control,
was received from the estate of Snowden Dwight Flora, author and government
meteorologist at Topeka. There are 81 items.
Microfilm copies of the following have been acquired:
Twelve reels of letters and reports from Congregational missionaries and
church groups in Kansas to the American Home Missionary Society, New York,
1854-1877, 1892, and 1893. The letters are not limited to church matters and
contain many references to conditions in Kansas. The film was obtained from
the University of Chicago; originals are held by the Chicago Theological
Seminary.
Reminiscences of the early West and experiences of the Bowlby family.
Original manuscript lent by Mrs. E. B. Brown, Denison.
The original records of the Manhattan Town association, seven manuscript
volumes covering the period 1855-1877. Included are the constitution and
bylaws of the association, lists of town lots, town shares, and stockholders.
The first volume contains records of the Boston association. The originals are
in the possession of Sam C. Charlson, Manhattan, who lent them for copying.
Papers of Elizabeth Ann Berryman Eddy, Topeka, consisting of miscel-
laneous documents, talks and letters. Originals were lent by her grandson,
Leo B. Dixon of Hanston.
Letters, 1862-1864, and diary, 1861-1862, of Alva Curtis Trueblood. True-
blood served with the 13th regiment Indiana Volunteers and his letters were
written from the field. In 1880 he came to Atchison where he engaged in
business and served as city clerk. The papers were lent by Mr. and Mrs.
R. A. Goodhue, San Gabriel, Calif.
Records of the Secretary of the Interior: Journals and field books relating
to the Eastern and Central division of the Fort Kearny, South Pass and
Honey Lake wagon road, 1857-1859. Included are rough notes of travel of
the advance party under W. H. Wagner, chief engineer, from Belmont, Kansas
territory, to OronviUe, Calif., 1859.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 111
Other donors were: Mrs. C. T. Barker, Liberal; E. A. Benson, Kansas
City; Edward E. Bill, Garden City; Mrs. Henry Blake, Sr., Topeka; Mrs.
Frank W. Boyd, Mankato; Berlin B. Chapman, Stillwater, Okla.; Charles
Darnell, Wamego; Mrs. Lavilla Eastham, McPherson; Mrs. Ella Funston Eck-
dall, Emporia; Mary and A. Blanche Edwards, Abilene; Alan W. Farley,
Kansas City; Mrs. Philip Fox, Evanston, 111.; Mrs. Edna P. Gilpin, Phoenix;
the Haise family, Russell; Mrs. Ralph W. Heflin, Pearland, Tex.; Henry
Gaffney, Jr., Irvington, N. J.; Mrs. Meta Howard Geary, Wichita; Walter A.
Huxman, Topeka; H. R. Landes, Topeka; Mrs. O. H. Landrith, Enid, Okla.;
Laura Loughmiller, Topeka; Pearl Maus, Topeka; Henry A. Meyer, Evansville,
Ind.; Ottawa County Historical Society; Jennie Small Owen, Topeka; Lyle
Owen, Tulsa, Okla.; Elmo Richardson, Lawrence; Joseph G. Rosa, Ruislip,
Middlesex, England; Mrs. William E. Stanley, Wichita; Mrs. E. E. Swanzey,
Abilene; Ailine Thomas, Merriam; Mrs. J. R. Throckmorton, Hays; Mrs. W. V.
Turner and sons, Las Vegas, Nev.; Mrs. Charles H. Watson, Evanston, 111.;
Mrs. Alice Wilson, Topeka; Mrs. Blodwen Williams Zeitler, Ft. Madison, Iowa.
MlCBOFDLM DIVISION
As of September 30, 1958, the microfilm division has made 4,896,000
photographs since it began operation in 1946, 349,000 of them in the past
12 months. Nearly 278,000 were of newspapers, 64,000 of archival records,
4,000 of library materials, and 1,500 of manuscripts. The balance were nega-
tives produced for private purchasers.
The largest newspaper project of the year was the filming of the Topeka
State Journal for January 1, 1943-June 29, 1946, and April 6, 1949-December
31, 1957. The Wichita Eagle, both morning and evening editions, was filmed
for the period September 1, 1953-February 28, 1957; the Kinsley Mercury
for August 18, 1899-December 27, 1956; the Cheney Sentinel for March 1,
1894-December 26, 1940; the Osage City Free Press for July 10, 1875-De-
cember 28, 1916; and the Johnson County Herald, Overland Park, for Janu-
ary 1, 1942-December 27, 1956. Other newspapers microfilmed included the
Topeka Commonwealth, May 20, 1869-November 1, 1888; the Kansas City
Labor Bulletin, February 23, 1940-December 27, 1957; Lucifer, the Light-
Bearer, Chicago, 111., January 6, 1897-June 6, 1907; Marion Record, July 23,
1875-December 28, 1900; Oskaloosa Independent, August 27, 1870-December
28, 1900; and 18 other newspapers and periodicals requiring less than two
rolls of film each.
Microfilming of archives was concentrated primarily on the state census
of 1895. Approximately half has been completed and work is continuing on
this project.
MUSEUM
The museum has completed another highly successful year. The number
of visitors was 58,494, breaking last year's all-time record by more than
6,000. The total was swelled by 375 school and scout groups which took
advantage of the guided tours conducted as part of the museum's educational
program, and a new monthly record of 9,564 was established in May.
Twenty new display cases were received and exhibits installed in them
during the year. This completes, for the time being, the case displays planned
for the fourth floor. Replicas of a doctor's office, a dentist's office, and an
112 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
old-time general store, all of which were mentioned in last year's report, were
completed in the east gallery, and have attracted much favorable comment.
The appearance of the museum has also been greatly improved by the installa-
tion of an asphalt tile floor.
The Society appeared in a new field last month by setting up a display
at the Kansas Free Fair at Topeka. Space was made available through the
courtesy of Maurice E. Fager, manager of the fair, and 11,695 persons visited
the exhibit during the week. Many learned for the first time about the So-
ciety and its work, and the display was so well received that a request has
already been made for the use of the same space next year.
During the spring and summer the assistant museum director, Roscoe
Wilmeth, conducted an archaeological survey in the Pomona and Melvern
reservoir areas in Osage county. The work was done under an agreement with
the National Park Service. The 1958 legislature appropriated funds for the
purchase of basic archaeological field equipment, including instruments for
surveying and mapping. Plans are being made to conduct a survey of the John
Redmond reservoir area and to send a field party to make excavations in the
Pomona reservoir area next summer under new contracts with the National
Park Service.
There were 227 accessions comprising 897 objects during the year. Dona-
tions included clothing and accessories from Mrs. Roy Crawford and her
grandson, Berry, of Topeka; Spanish- American War souvenirs from Adna G.
Clarke, Jr., of Honolulu, Hawaii; items for the general store from Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Darnell of Wamego, Mrs. Fred W. Gauch of Kansas City, and
Mrs. Duane McQueen Ward of Peabody. Wayne Herneison of Wamego
donated a blacksmith forge and many tools; other blacksmith equipment was
received from E. W. Jaeger of Hope.
Oil portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin L. Crane, Topeka pioneers, were
given by Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Keller, Topeka. Dental equipment for the 1900
dental office period room was donated by Dr. William Mclnerney of Abilene,
and clothing and accessories belonging to Mrs. Eliza Abbott Root were received
from Mrs. Louise S. Woodward of Eskridge.
Other donors included: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad; Wallace
Baker, Protection; Mrs. Ethel Ballinger, Ozawkie; Mrs. Olive Bell, Topeka;
Roderick Bentley, Shields; Mrs. Henry Blake, Sr., Topeka; Mrs. Eugene L.
Bowers, Topeka; Mrs. Claude Brey, Ozawkie; Mrs. D. J. Brown, Rochester,
N. Y.; Mrs. Maclure Butcher, Neodesha; W. C. Byington, Winchester; Mrs.
Minnie Campbell, Topeka; E. C. Cannon, Phillipsburg; estate of Arthur
Capper, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Eldon W. Cessna, El Segundo, Calif.; Mrs.
Charles F. Chrisman, Jackson Heights, N. Y.; Dr. Orville R. Clark, Topeka;
Mrs. Martina Clarkson, Harper; Mrs. W. B. Collinson, Topeka; Mrs. Gerald J.
Courtney, Topeka; Mrs. Warren M. Crosby, Jr., Topeka; Mrs. Edwin W. Davis,
Topeka; Mrs. Flora E. Davison, Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. Lyndon Day, Topeka;
Esther Delker, Chapman; Vern Donge and sons, Larry and Ronnie, Soldier;
Lupe Duran, Teseque Pueblo, N. M.; Arrold R. Earhart, Topeka; Dr. E. W.
Eustace, Lebanon; D. S. Farman, Manhattan; Mrs. Earl Ferguson, Valley Falls;
Mrs. Phillip Fox, Evanston, 111.; Barbara Funston, Mill Valley, Calif.; Mrs. Meta
Howard Geary, Wichita; Mrs. Edna Piazzek Gilpin, Phoenix, Ariz.; Governor's
office, Topeka; Harold C. Grinnell, Cedar Point; Mrs. Asa Hagans, Melvern;
THE ANNUAL MEETING 113
Harold L. Hale, Topeka; Dale W. Hall, Topeka; Mrs. R. C. Harding, Wamego;
Mrs. Frank Haucke, Council Grove; Grace Haven, Council Grove; Mrs. Ralph
W. Heflin, Pearland, Tex.; Chester Heizer, Caldwell; Mrs. Bessie Hereford,
Topeka; Wesley R. Hurt, Vermillion, S. D.; Mrs. Minnie Jacobs, Council Grove;
A. M. Jarboe, Topeka; Mrs. Virginia A. Johnson, Gardner; Mrs. Carl Jones,
Topeka; Dean L. Jordan, Sr., Abilene; Kansas State Printing Plant, Topeka;
Mrs. B. Gage Kenny, Lincoln; Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Kingman, Topeka; W. A.
Kingman, Springfield, Mo.; C. L. Kinley, Augusta; Mrs. Lucy M. Large,
Lecompton; Mrs. Laura Loughmiller, Topeka; Mrs. P. A. Lovewell, Topeka;
Mrs. V. E. McArthur, Hutchinson; Florence McCall, Salina; Dr. Duncan C.
McKeever, Houston, Tex.; Mrs. F. M. Manshardt, Topeka; Marquart Music
Co., Topeka; Lakin Meade, Topeka; Roy Mendez, Topeka; Mrs. Grace Men-
ninger, Topeka; B. F. Messick, Topeka; Mrs. Esther Pennock Miller, Topeka;
Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Miller, Delavan; Carl Mullendore, Howard; Mrs.
Pearl Nellans, Portland, Ore.; Mrs. Myra Perrings, Topeka; Mrs. A. G. Pickett,
Topeka; estate of Mrs. George W. Porter, Topeka; Ray B. Ramsey, Topeka;
estate of Cora E. Ream, Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. C. H. Reser, Hamilton; Charles
R. Richards, Detroit, Mich.; Ned Richardson, Topeka; John Ripley, Topeka;
Mrs. J. C. Ruppenthal, Russell; Mrs. R. A. Schwegler, Lawrence; Sears Roe-
buck & Co., Topeka; Mary Alice Smith, Abilene; Mr. and Mrs. W. V. Snyder,
Berryton; Stanley Sohl, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Albert Speer, Topeka; Mrs. W. E.
Stanley, Wichita; Mrs. Fred Straley, Topeka; Annie B. Sweet, Topeka; Capt.
Dorr Thomson, Hutchinson; Mrs. Elsa M. Tindell, Burlingame; Mr. and Mrs.
Chester Trower, Topeka; Jim Wahwasseck, Topeka; Louis Walddy, Americus;
Washburn University, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Weidman, Topeka; Walter
W. Wendell, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Ben E. White, Bonner Springs; R. D.
Wiley, Melvern; Mary Willbrandt, Washington; Mrs. Alice Wilson, Topeka;
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Zeidler, Topeka; and Mrs. J. F. Zimmerman, Valley
Falls.
NEWSPAPER AND CENSUS DIVISION
Over 4,800 patrons were served in person by the newspaper and census
division, and more than that number were given assistance by mail.
Use of the Society's newspapers increased considerably this year. Single
issues used totaled 6,911, bound volumes 7,898, and microfilm reels 2,498.
This was the first full year during which a charge of $1.00 each was made
for certified copies of the Society's records. The result has been a substantial
decrease in the number of census and newspaper certifications requested.
A total of 4,876 certificates were furnished, less than 40 percent of last year's
figure. However, the number of census volumes searched was 23,164, as
compared with 36,134 reported a year ago.
Nearly all Kansas publishers continue to contribute their newspapers to
the Society for filing. Fifty-four dailies, 12 semiweeklies, and 291 regular
community weeklies are now being received. Also, 143 newspapers published
by Kansas schools, labor unions, churches and other institutions are donated by
their publishers for the Society's files. Nine out-of-state newspapers are
received.
During the year the Society added 438 reels to its collection of newspapers
on microfilm. Thirteen Kansas publishers donate microfilm copies of their
current issues to the Society.
86551
114 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Older Kansas newspapers added to the files included: Nemaha Courier,
Seneca, 20 issues scattered from November 28, 1863, to November 16, 1865,
donated by the New York State Historical Society; Southern Kansan, Lawrence,
May 1, 1886, donated by the Illinois State Historical Library; Howard County
Ledger, Longton, February 23, 1871, donated by Mrs. Richard W. Leach,
Evanston, 111.; and Once A Week, Lawrence, July 14, 1883, donated by Gorton
V. Carruth, Pleasantville, N. Y.
Other donors of newspapers were: Mrs. Henry Blake, Sr., Topeka; Mrs.
Dale Brown, Delphos; Mrs. Maurene Buckmaster, Topeka; Adna G. Clarke, Jr.,
Honolulu, Hawaii; Bob Ellis, Topeka; Mrs. C. H. Engle, Topeka; Alan W.
Farley, Kansas City, Kan.; Mrs. Ralph W. Heflin, Pearland, Tex.; Mrs. Charles
McGill, Paola; B. F. Messick, Topeka; Norman Niccum, Tecumseh; Lena M.
Smith, Princeton, Ind.; Mary Smith, New York City; Etta Templeton, Topeka;
Mrs. Carl F. Trace, Topeka; Mrs. Alice Wilson, Topeka; and B. W. Zeitler,
Ft. Madison, Iowa.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS
During the year 1,994 photographs have been added to the Society's col-
lection. Of these, 1,135 were gifts, 482 were lent for copying and 301 were
taken by the Society staff. Seventy-six color slides have been accessioned.
Several large groups of photographs were given to the Society. Among
the more important were over 400 glass negatives of Russell county scenes,
obtained through J. C. Ruppenthal of Russell and Elmo Mahoney of Dor-
ranee; 23 views of Osborne and vicinity in the 1890's from Mrs. Nellie Baldwin,
Osborne; 13 Ottawa county scenes from Don D. Ballou, Kansas City; 56 glass
negatives of Lawrence and Topeka views from J. Leland Benson, Topeka;
59 pictures of the 20th Kansas regiment in the Philippines from Adna G.
Clarke, Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii; 22 post card views of Kansas at the turn of the
century from Dr. Duncan C. McKeever, Houston, Tex.; and 67 pictures of
Fort Riley hospitals and officers, from Maj. George Omer, Jr., Fort Riley.
Excellent collections of early Kansas pictures were lent for copying by
C. M. Correll, Manhattan; Jess Denious, Jr., Dodge City; the Dickinson County
Historical Museum, Abilene; the Eisenhower Museum, Abilene; the College
of Emporia; St. Benedict's College, Atchison; George Eastman House, Roch-
ester, N. Y.; Paul Gibler, Claflin; Mrs. Frank Motz, Hays; the Riley County
Historical Society, Manhattan; Mrs. Paul Shahan, Marion; the Smith County
Pioneer, Smith Center; Homer Socolofsky, Manhattan; Floyd Souders, Cheney;
C. C. Tinkham, Topeka; and Mr. and Mrs. J. I. Ziebolz, Ness City.
The Society has furnished photographs during the year to such publica-
tions as Holiday, American Heritage and Life, to several of the nation's
leading book publishers, and to the National Broadcasting Company. In
addition, many authors, newspapers and other historical institutions have ob-
tained prints from the Society's collection. The current interest in the old
West has brought requests for photographs of cowtowns and peace officers
from all parts of the United States and from Holland, England and Italy.
Ninety new maps have been accessioned this year, 45 of which are recent
issues of the United States Geological Survey. Photostats of 25 maps of
Kansas military posts were obtained from the National Park Service, Omaha.
Other recently received maps include a plat of Pleasant Hill, 1855, and a
THE ANNUAL MEETING 115
map of the Missouri river, 1878-1881, from the State Auditor's office; a plat of
Colby, 1887, from August Lauterbach, Colby; an ownership map of Miami
county, 1958, from Harry Hemphill, Paola; Woodson county, about 1910,
from H. R. Landes, Topeka; and Riley county pioneer roads and trails from
Morris Werner, Manhattan.
G. L. Chadborn of Kansas City, through Alan Farley of Kansas City, pre-
sented the Society with a photographic copy of an 1869 lithograph of the
town of Wyandotte.
SUBJECTS FOR RESEARCH
Subjects for extended research during the year included: Protestant mis-
sionaries to the Indians; early transportation in Kansas; '89ers; Kansas songs,
Civil War songs; Otoe Indians; overland journals; early mail systems in Kansas;
farmers' diaries; Sharps rifles; Cherokee Strip and Kansas border towns; the
town of Rolla; motion picture censorship in Kansas; public utilities; the Kansas
Power and Light Co.; Emporia Gazette; German language publications; west-
ern Kansas cattle trails; mental hospitals; Kansas Turnvereins; history of Fort
Scott, 1842-1872; Fort Scott Baptist Association; Kansas, 1930-1935; Kansas
governors' wives; sunflowers; Indian medicine; John R. Brinkley; Luke Short;
James B. Hickok; Wyatt Earp; William Barclay Masterson; Vernon L. Par-
rington; James A. McGonigle; "Doc" Holliday; Albert H. Horton; Elam Bar-
tholomew; Edmund G. Ross, Arthur Capper, and Alfred M. Landon.
SOCIETY HOLDINGS, SEPTEMBER 30, 1958
Bound Volumes
Books
Kansas 9,969
General 56,937
Genealogy and local history 10,099
Indians and the West 1,523
Kansas state publi cations 3,201
Total 81,729
Clippings 1,284
Periodicals 17,294
Total, bound volumes 100,307
Manuscripts ( archives and private papers,
cubic feet) 5,750
Maps and atlases 5,366
Microfilm (reels)
Books and other library materials 244
Public archives and private papers 1,392
Newspapers 7,089
Total 8,725
Newspapers (bound volumes)
Kansas 57,551
Out-of-state 11,983
Total 69,534
Paintings and drawings 421
116 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Pamphlets
Kansas 92,830
General 38,464
Genealogy and local history 3,762
Indians and the West 1,071
Kansas state publications 5,732
Total 141,859
Photographs 33,037
THE FIRST CAPITOL
Registration of visitors at the First Territorial Capitol, on the Fort Riley
reservation, totaled 6,906, an increase of 324 over last year. Although it was
expected that the by-passing of the fort by the new U. S. 40 highway would
result in fewer visitors, the contrary, so far at least, has proved to be the case.
The efforts of the Junction City Chamber of Commerce in promoting tours to
Fort Riley and the old Capitol, and the new directional markers which were
placed on U. S. 40 at the request of John Montgomery, second district highway
commissioner, have resulted in substantial increases during the past two years.
Visitors registered from all states except Nevada. Alaska, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii were also represented as were the Philip-
pine Islands, Canada, Panama and 14 other foreign countries.
THE FUNSTON HOME
This property, located in a less heavily traveled area than the Society's
other historic sites, was visited by 955 people, about 50 less than last year.
Twenty states were represented in addition to Kansas, but "home folks" pro-
vided most of the visitors, 820.
The Funston home has continued to develop as an interesting attraction.
Barbara Funston of Mill Valley, Calif., a daughter of Gen. Frederick Funston,
presented articles belonging to her father, including a pair of snowshoes and
two Eskimo fishing spears from his Alaskan trip, a plumed military dress hat,
and a pair of shoes which he wore during the Aguinaldo expedition. Also,
through the courtesy of Maj. Gen. Joe Nick ell, the adjutant general, the So-
ciety received from the Department of Defense replicas of four medals
awarded to General Funston, among them the Medal of Honor.
THE KAW MISSION
Kaw Mission, at Council Grove, enjoyed another successful year. At-
tendance totaled 5,732, about 200 more than last year. Visitors came from
43 states in addition to Kansas, and from two territories and 17 foreign
countries.
The Council Grove Republican continued its weekly publication of a
"Museum Scoreboard" and the information booth operated by the Junior
Chamber of Commerce directed many tourists to the Mission. Two more rose
bushes were presented by the Nautilus Club.
A number of interesting accessions were received for the museum. Donors
included Frank Allen, Mrs. Norma Comer Bates, Mrs. Floyd Bramick, Mrs.
Eugene Chase, V. S. Coltrane, Russell Dodderidge, the Dwight Library, Ivy
Foster, Mrs. Minnie Jacobs, Oscar Larson, Clarence Reveal, Leslie Ruttledge,
Ocie Shemwell, and Neil L. Tweedman.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 117
OLD SHAWNEE MISSION
Registration at Old Shawnee Mission was 6,182, of whom 1,301 lived
outside of Kansas. Visitors came from 39 states, the District of Columbia,
and 14 foreign countries.
They included Edna Williams, related to Charles Bluejacket, a Shawnee
Indian chief; Robert Russell, Joe Russell, and Jerome Berryman, II, great
grandsons of the Rev. Jerome C. Berryman who was superintendent of the
mission at the time the North building was built; and Fred Chouteau, grand-
son of Cyprian Chouteau.
Several rooms in the East building were painted, the floors of three were
sanded and varnished, and the exterior of the building was waterproofed. An
asphalt parking strip also has been constructed for the convenience of visitors.
The Society is indebted to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the
Daughters of 1812, the Daughters of American Colonists, the Colonial Dames,
and the Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society for their continued as-
sistance at the mission.
THE STAFF OF THE SOCIETY
Acknowledgement is due the Society's staff for the accomplishments noted
in this report. They have worked faithfully and conscientiously to make the
Society truly a service institution. It is not possible to mention here all the
individuals whose efforts have contributed to the total result, but each has my
sincere thanks. Special attention should be called to the work of Edgar
Langsdorf, assistant secretary, and the department heads: Mrs. Lela Barnes of
the manuscript division, who is also treasurer of the Society; Robert W. Rich-
mond, archivist; Alberta Pantle, librarian; Stanley D. Sohl, museum director;
and Forrest R. Blackburn of the newspaper division.
Appreciation is also due the custodians of the historic sites administered
by the Society: Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Hardy at Shawnee Mission, Mr. and
Mrs. Elwood Jones at Kaw Mission, Mr. and Mrs. V. E. Berglund at the
Funston Memorial Home, and Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Brownback at the First
Territorial Capitol.
Respectfully submitted,
NYLE H. MILLER, Secretary.
At the conclusion of the reading of the secretary's report, Robert
Aitchison moved that it be accepted. Motion was seconded by
Kirke Mechem and the report was adopted.
President Farley then called for the report of the treasurer, Mrs.
Lela Barnes:
TREASURER'S REPORT
Based on the post-audit by the State Division of Auditing and Accounting
for the period August 9, 1957, to August 4, 1958.
MEMBERSHIP FEE FUND
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash $3,479.24
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,000.00
$8,479.24
118 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Receipts:
Membership fees $1,129.94
Gifts 136.60
Interest on bonds 138.00
Interest, Bowlus gift 27.60
Interest, savings 28.12
1,460.26
$9,939.50
Disbursements $1,067.72
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash $3,871.78
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,000.00
8,871.78
$9,939.50
JONATHAN PECKER BEQUEST
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash $50.64
U. S. bonds, Series K 1,000.00
$1,050.64
Receipts:
Interest on bond $27.60
Interest on savings account 3.34
30.94
$1,081.58
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash $81.58
U. S. bond, Series K 1,000.00
$1,081.58
JOHN BOOTH BEQUEST
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash $132.13
U. S. bond, Series K 500.00
$632.13
Receipts:
Interest on bond $13.80
Interest on savings account 1.69
15.49
$647.62
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash $147.62
U. S. bond, Series K 500.00
$647.62
THE ANNUAL MEETING 119
THOMAS H. BOWLUS DONATION
This donation is substantiated by a U. S. bond, Series K, in the amount of
$1,000. The interest is credited to the membership fee fund.
ELIZABETH READER BEQUEST
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash (deposited in membership fee fund) $595.19
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,500.00
$6,095.19
Receipts:
Bond interest (deposited in membership fee fund) . . 151.80
$6,246.99
Disbursements: books, prints, mss $284.35
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash (deposited in membership fee fund) $462.64
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,500.00
$5,962.64
$6,246.99
STATE APPROPRIATIONS
This report covers only the membership fee fund and other custodial funds.
Appropriations made to the Historical Society by the legislature are disbursed
through the State Department of Administration. For the year ending June
30, 1958, these appropriations were: Kansas State Historical Society, including
the Memorial building, $240,593.61; First Capitol of Kansas, $6,432; Kaw
Mission, $4,198; Funston Home $3,780; Old Shawnee Mission, $16,131.
Respectfuly submitted,
MRS. LELA BARNES, Treasurer.
Kirke Mechem moved that the report be adopted. Frank Haucke
seconded the motion and the report was accepted.
In the absence of Will T. Beck, chairman, T. M. Lillard presented
the report of the executive committee on the post-audit of the So-
ciety's funds by the State Division of Auditing and Accounting:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
October 17, 1958.
To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society:
The executive committee being directed under the bylaws to check the
accounts of the treasurer, states that the State Department of Post-Audit has
audited the funds of the State Historical Society, the Old Shawnee Mission,
the First Capitol of Kansas, the Old Kaw Mission, the Funston Home, and
Pike's Pawnee Village, for the period August 9, 1957, to August 4, 1958, and
that they are hereby approved. WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
CHARLES M. CORRELL,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD.
120 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
On a motion by James E. Taylor, seconded by E. A. Thomas, the
report was accepted.
President Farley then presented a recommendation by the execu-
tive committee that the election of officers be regularly scheduled
for the morning meeting of the board instead of for a meeting fol-
lowing the afternoon session. It was felt by the committee that
under the proposed plan more appropriate recognition could be
given the President-elect, also that it was desirable to omit the late
afternoon board meeting. There was no objection and the report
of the nominating committee was presented by T. M. Lillard:
NOMINATING COMMITTEE'S REPORT
October 17, 1958.
To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society:
Your committee on nominations submits the following report for officers
of the Kansas State Historical Society:
For a one-year term: Richard M. Long, Wichita, president; E. R. Sloan,
Topeka, first vice-president; and Jerome C. Berryman, Ashland, second vice-
president.
For a two-year term: Mrs. Lela Barnes, Topeka, treasurer.
Respectfully submitted,
WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
CHARLES M. CORRELL,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD.
James E. Taylor moved that the secretary cast a unanimous bal-
lot for the officers named in the report. E. A. Thomas seconded the
motion and the officers were declared elected.
Following the election of officers, the secretary outlined plans
for the proposed remodeling of the G. A. R. hall area. He stated
that the legislature of 1958, in response to a resolution in 1957 by
the Society's board of directors, had appropriated $7,500 for archi-
tects' fees; that plans provided for a small auditorium, badly needed
display and storage space and another reading room; and that the
entire cost might be as much as $280,000. Several expressed the
hope that the 1959 legislature would appropriate the required
amount and that the work could be completed by early 1961 when
centennial celebrations of both statehood and the Civil war will
commence.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 121
Annual Meeting of the Society
The annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society opened
with a luncheon at noon in the roof garden of the Jayhawk hotel.
About 175 members and guests attended.
The invocation was given by William E. Berger, head of the
history department of the College of Emporia.
Following the luncheon President Farley introduced guests at
the speakers' table. These included Governor and Mrs. Docking
and officers of the Society and their wives. President Farley de-
livered his address, "Samuel Hallett and the Union Pacific Railway
Company in Kansas," which appears elsewhere in this issue.
Following the address, President Farley presented a small plaque
to each of the following past presidents of the Society and to Kirke
Mechem, former secretary, all of whom had received a special
invitation to attend the meeting: Thomas M. Lillard, James C.
Malin, Fred W. Brinkerhoff, Robert T. Aitchison, Charles M. Correll,
Frank Haucke, F. D. Farrell, Wilford Riegle, and Rolla Clymer.
Three past presidents were unable to attend: John S. Dawson, Will
T. Beck, and Angelo Scott. Mr. Farley was given a plaque by the
newly elected president, Richard M. Long.
John Ripley, Topeka, was introduced and spoke briefly of his
work in collecting old lantern slides. He then presented his talk,
"Take Me Out for a Joy Ride," which was illustrated with slides
of many early views of Topeka.
The following memorial to the late R. F. Brock of Goodland,
former president, was read by the secretary who was instructed to
send a copy to Mrs. Brock:
The death of Roland F. Brock on November 11, 1957, meant the loss of
an old and cherished friend. Mr. Brock was a banker and stockman by voca-
tion, a historian and collector by avocation. He was born in Kentucky in
1887, came to Kansas in 1910, and from that time until his retirement on
January 1, 1957, was a prominent business man of western Kansas.
His banking career took him from Yoder, Kan., to Hutchinson, McCracken,
Greensburg, Sharon Springs, and finally to Goodland. For four years in the
early 1920's he served as a national bank examiner, and after that for another
five years he was a farmer and rancher before turning again to banking. He
served on the loan committee of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and
as a member and secretary of the Kansas Livestock Commission.
Mr. Brock's fondness for history was sincere and of long standing. His
hobbies included the collecting of rare coins and currency, Indian relics, fire-
arms, documents, maps, and newspapers. His study of the Civil War led him
to visit many battlefields, his last trip being made during the spring of 1957.
122 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
He contributed scores of articles to museums at Wallace, Goodland, Fort Hays
State College, and the State Historical Society. One of his last projects was
the erection and dedication of a monument to the memory of members of the
German family, who were massacred by Indians in present Logan county.
Mr. Brock joined the State Historical Society in 1918, and took an active
and continued interest in its work. He served on the board of directors for
nearly 20 years, from 1938 until his death, and was president in 1948-1949.
His warm spirit and friendly understanding will be missed by his many friends.
Mention was made by the secretary of the attendance at the
meeting of Donald F. Martin of Los Angeles. Mr. Martin is a
grandson of George W. Martin, secretary of the Society from 1899
to 1914.
The report of the committee on nominations for directors was
called for and read by Charles M. Correll:
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS FOR DIRECTORS
October 17, 1958.
To the Kansas State Historical Society:
Your committee on nominations submits the following report and recom-
mendations for directors of the Society for the term of three years ending
in October, 1961:
Barr, Frank, Wichita. Montgomery, John D., Junction City.
Berryman, Jerome C., Ashland. Owen, Arthur K., Topeka.
Charlson, Sam C., Manhattan. Owen, Mrs. E. M., Lawrence.
Correll, Charles M., Manhattan. Payne, Mrs. L. F., Manhattan.
Davis, W. W., Lawrence. Reser, Mrs. C. H., Hamilton.
Denious, Jess C., Jr., Dodge City. Richards, Walter M., Emporia.
Hall, Standish, Wichita. Riegle, Wilford, Emporia.
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita. Robbins, Richard W., Pratt.
Jones, Horace, Lyons. Rupp, Mrs. Jane C., Lincolnville.
Kampschroeder, Mrs. Jean Norris, Scott, Angelo, lola.
Garden City. Sloan, E. R., Topeka.
Kaul, Robert H., Wamego. Smelser, Mary M., Lawrence.
Lauterbach, August W., Colby. Stewart, Mrs. James G., Topeka.
Lillard, T. M., Topeka. Taylor, James E., Sharon Springs.
Lindquist, Emory K., Wichita. Van De Mark, M. V. B., Concordia.
Maranville, Lea, Ness City. Wark, George H., Caney.
Means, Hugh, Lawrence. Williams, Charles A., Bentley.
Respectfully submitted,
WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
CHARLES M. CORRELL,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD.
Mr. Correll moved that the report be accepted. Fred W. Brinker-
hoff seconded the motion and directors for the term ending in
October, 1961, were elected.
THE ANNUAL MEETING
123
Reports of local societies were called for and given as follows:
Mrs. H. M. Trowbridge for the Wyandotte County Historical So-
ciety; Mrs. Eugene Kotterman for the Shawnee Mission Indian
Historical Society; and William E. Koch for the Riley County His-
torical Society. Reports from several other societies were also
received in writing. President Farley introduced a group from
the Kansas City Posse of the Westerners.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
All members and guests were invited to attend an open house at
the Memorial building where special displays had been arranged.
DIRECTORS OF THE KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY AS OF OCTOBER, 1958
DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1959
Aitchison, R. T., Wichita.
Anderson, George L., Lawrence.
Anthony, D. R., Leavenworth.
Baugher, Charles A., Ellis.
Beck, Will T., Holton.
Chambers, Lloyd, Clearwater.
Chandler, C. J., Wichita.
Clymer, Rolla, El Dorado.
Cochran, Elizabeth, Pittsburg.
Cotton, Corlett J., Lawrence.
Dawson, John S., Topeka.
Eckdall, Frank F., Emporia.
Euwer, Elmer E., Goodland.
Farley, Alan W., Kansas City.
Gard, Spencer A., lola.
Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville.
Lilleston, W. F., Wichita.
Lose, Harry F., Topeka.
Malin, James C., Lawrence.
Mayhew, Mrs. Patricia Solander,
Wichita.
Menninger, Karl, Topeka.
Miller, Karl, Dodge City.
Moore, Russell, Wichita.
Rankin, Charles C., Lawrence.
Raynesford, H. C., Ellis.
Reed, Clyde M., Jr., Parsons.
Rodkey, Clyde K., Manhattan.
Shaw, Joseph C., Topeka.
Somers, John G., Newton.
Stewart, Donald, Independence.
Thomas, E. A., Topeka.
von der Heiden, Mrs. W. H., Newton.
Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton.
DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1960
Bailey, Roy F., Salina.
Baughman, Robert W., Liberal.
Beezley, George F., Girard.
Beougher, Edward M., Grinnell.
Bowlus, Thomas H., lola.
Brinkerhoff, Fred W., Pittsburg.
Cron, F. H., El Dorado.
Docking, George, Lawrence.
Ebright, Homer K., Baldwin.
Farrell, F. D., Manhattan.
Hall, Fred, Topeka.
Hamilton, R. L., Beloit.
Harper, Mrs. Jesse C., Ashland.
Harvey, Mrs. A. M., Topeka.
Haucke, Frank, Council Grove.
Hodges, Frank, Olathe.
Lingenfelser, Angelus, Atchison.
Long, Richard M., Wichita.
McArthur, Mrs. Vernon E.,
Hutchinson.
McCain, James A., Manhattan.
McFarland, Helen M., Topeka.
McGrew, Mrs. Wm. E., Kansas City.
Malone, James, Gem.
Mechem, Kirke, Lindsborg.
Mueller, Harrie S., Wichita.
Murphy, Franklin D., Lawrence.
Rogfer, Wayne, Matfield Green.
Ruppenthal, J. C., Russell.
Simons, Dolph, Lawrence.
Slagg, Mrs. C. M., Manhattan.
Templar, George, Arkansas City.
Townsley, Will, Great Bend.
Woodring, Harry H., Topeka.
124
KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1961
Barr, Frank, Wichita.
Berryman, Jerome C., Ashland.
Charlson, Sam C., Manhattan.
Correll, Charles M., Manhattan.
Davis, W. W., Lawrence.
Denious, Jess C., Jr., Dodge City.
Hall, Standish, Wichita.
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita.
Jones, Horace, Lyons.
Kampschroeder, Mrs. Jean Nonis,
Garden City.
Kaul, Robert H., Wamego.
Lauterbach, August W., Colby.
Lillard, T. M., Topeka.
Lindquist, Emory K., Wichita.
Maranville, Lea, Ness City.
Means, Hugh, Lawrence.
Montgomery, John D., Junction City.
Owen, Arthur K., Topeka.
Owen, Mrs. E. M., Lawrence.
Payne, Mrs. L. F., Manhattan.
Reser, Mrs. C. H., Hamilton.
Richards, Walter M., Emporia.
Riegle, Wilford, Emporia.
Robbins, Richard W., Pratt.
Rupp, Mrs. Jane C., Lincolnville.
Scott, Angelo, lola.
Sloan, E. R., Topeka.
Smelser, Mary M., Lawrence.
Stewart, Mrs. James G., Topeka.
Taylor, James E., Sharon Springs.
Van De Mark, M. V. B., Conccrdia.
Wark, George H., Caney.
Williams, Charles A., Bentley.
Bypaths of Kansas History
THE ICE WOMAN GOETH
From the Marysville Locomotive, July 16, 1870.
The Otoe Injuns have lately had some pay from the Government, and they
are now visiting our town in large numbers, purchasing a supply of fine combs,
soap and scrubbing brushes, preparatory to taking an annual clean-up. An
injun with two dollars and a half is the happiest mortal in existence. They
squander it vigorously for any and everything that the eye may feast on until
it is all gone. One squaw was induced to buy a piece of our clear, sparkling
Big Blue river ice, and, having wrapped it in a greasy piece of calico, deposited
it in her bosom and started for her wigwam. A few moments after she was
seen tearing down the street, strewing her garments as she went, and giving
vent to the most unearthly gibberings, among which were audible only the
words, "Ugh, d n white man; wetem squaw all over. Ugh!"
WHEN EARLY-DAY DODGE CITY HAD A SNIFF AT "CULTURE"
From the Dodge City Times, November 24, 1877.
A Row AMONG THE BELL RINGERS. The Alleghanian bell ringers were here
last Thursday, and aside from a few other catch-penny hum bugs they were
the snidest outfit we ever saw. The performance opened with a row between
the manager, who had managed to get outside of about a barrel of Dodge City
whiskey, and the ticket seller; and the only reason we blame the ticket seller
is because he did not put a head on the manager. The passage way to the
floor was crowded with people trying to get in, and the old drunken manager
got on his ear and refused to let them come in, and kept them standing there
while he and the ticket seller quarreled and made donkeys of themselves.
Finally some of the other members of the troupe got them quieted, and after
waiting an hour and a half the performance commenced inside.
There was nothing good in the whole performance except when some one
in the audience made a remark, which was not in itself very lucid, but at which
one of the exquisitely charming performers laughed, exhibiting forty or fifty
clay teeth, and a pair of ruby lips at sight of which pumpkin pies would
shudder. The brightest star in the constellation, Madame Nani Bach was clad
in a garment cut low necked in the back, and when she sang the very timbers
of the building cracked. A young light haired professor with a long nose would
run out on the stage occasionally and toot on a tin instrument for about two
minutes and three quarters, then smile like a pile of grave stones and trot back.
Another fellow beat on a lot of beer glasses with a wire, the sight and sound
of which caused groans. The performance closed by the ringing of cow bells,
and the tooting of fog horns.
(125)
Kansas History as Published in the Press
Publication of Orville W. Mosher's column, "Museum Notes/' in
the Emporia Gazette has continued in recent months. Mosher is
president of the Lyon County Historical Society and curator of the
society's museum in Emporia. The column largely features Em-
poria and Lyon county history.
"Early-Day Events in Shaping an Empire," Simon E. Matson's
series on the history of the St. Francis area, first printed June 14,
1956, continues regularly in the St. Francis Herald.
St. Boniface Catholic church at Scipio reached its 100th year in
1958. A history of the church was published in the Anderson Coun-
tian, Garnett, August 28, 1958.
Historical articles on the Trinity Lutheran church, Great Bend,
were published in the Great Bend Tribune, September 2, 1958, and
the Great Bend Herald-Press, September 6. The church was organ-
ized August 30, 1908.
An article by Ruby Basye on Old Fort Hays and the Fort Hays
museum was published in the Hutchinson News, September 3, 1958.
Biographical information on Boston Corbett, who shot John
Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, appeared in the Concordia Kan-
san, September 4, 1958, and in the Concordia Blade-Empire, October
23. Corbett homesteaded in Cloud county in 1878. A marker was
recently placed at the homestead site.
Among recent articles in the Ellis County Fanner, Hays, were:
"History of Catholic Church in Hays Shows Catholics First to Erect
Building," September 11, 1958, and "Pioneer Moore Family of Ellis
County Endured the Direst of Hardships Here," by Mrs. Mabel
Moore Raupp, November 13.
Barbara and John Adam Warneke settled near present White City
in 1857. An account of their descendants appeared in the Herington
Advertiser-Times, September 11, 1958.
A history of the Santa Fe trail, printed in a recent issue of the
Panhandle Lines, publication of the Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line
Co., was reprinted in the Southwest Daily Times, Liberal, Septem-
ber 16, 1958.
(126)
Kansas Historical Notes
Current officers of the Riley County Historical Society include:
William E. Koch, president; John Holmstrom, vice-president; Homer
Socolofsky, recording secretary; Mrs. C. M. Correll, membership
secretary; Sen. Sam C. Charlson, treasurer; and Joe D. Haines, Bruce
Wilson, Mrs. C. B. Knox, James C. Carey, Ward C. Griffing, Mrs.
Paul G. Brown, George A. Filinger, Earl Ray, and Holmstrom, di-
rectors.
Kingman observed its 75th anniversary with a four-day celebra-
tion October 3-6, 1958. A historical production called "Prairi-
drama" was presented each evening. The final day was old settlers'
day.
Dr. J. E. Turner was elected president of the Border Queen Mu-
seum Association at a meeting of the organization in Caldwell, No-
vember 28, 1958. Other officers chosen were: Doyle Stiles, first
vice-president; Walker Young, second vice-president; Frederick
Thompson, Jr., secretary; and Harry Jenista, treasurer. Young was
the retiring president.
Members of the Shawnee County Historical Society gathered in
Topeka for their annual dinner December 4, 1958. The program
featured the histories of Auburn, Dover, and Wakarusa. Bessie
Moore, of Auburn, was the principal speaker. Re-elected to the
board of directors for three-year terms were: Annie B. Sweet, Mrs.
Wilber Galloway, Robert H. Kingman, Louis R. Smith, Otis Allen,
Euphemia Page, Nyle Miller, R. C. Obrecht, Milton Tabor, and
Erwin Keller.
Plans for publication of a Kearny county history were recently
announced by the Kearny County Historical Society. Committees
have been appointed to compile material for the project. C. A.
Loucks is president of the society.
Nyle Miller, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, was
the principal speaker at a December 11, 1958, gathering of the
Ottawa County Historical Society in Minneapolis. The January 10,
1959, meeting of the society, in Minneapolis, featured the histories
of the Hall and Lamar churches, given by Mrs. Jessie Adee Dayhoff.
Officers of the Augusta Historical Society for 1959 are: Stella B.
Haines, president; Mrs. Ralph Ralston, vice-president; Florence
Hudson, secretary; and Mrs. Ethel Shriver, treasurer.
(127)
128 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Harry E. Hanson was elected president of the Wyandotte County
Historical Society at the society's annual meeting, January 8, 1959,
in Kansas City. Ralph Clark was elected vice-president; Hazel Zel-
ler, secretary; Raymond Lees, treasurer; Mrs. Harry Trowbridge,
historian; and Harry Trowbridge, curator. New trustees are Alan
Farley and Mrs. Clyde Glandon. Mrs. Trowbridge was the retiring
president.
Rolla A. Clymer was named president of the Butler County His-
torical Society at a meeting of the trustees in El Dorado, January
19, 1959. Charles E. Heilmann was chosen vice-president; Joy Wig-
ginton, secretary; and Clifford W. Stone, treasurer.
Wayne Randall, Osage City, was elected president of the Native
Sons, and Evelyn Ford, Topeka, president of the Native Daughters,
at the annual meeting of the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas
in Topeka, January 28, 1959. Other officers chosen by the Native
Sons include: Dean Yingling, Topeka, vice-president; Floyd
Souders, Cheney, secretary; and Emory Fager, Overbrook, treasurer.
The Native Daughters elected Mrs. J. C. Tillotson, Norton, vice-
president; Mrs. Chester Dunn, Oxford, secretary; and Lela Hough,
Topeka, treasurer. Roy Bulkley, Topeka, and Mrs. Hobart Hoyt,
Lyons, were the retiring presidents. Mrs. Bea Johnson, Kansas City,
Kan., was the principal speaker. "Kansan of the Year" award went
to Mrs. Frank W. Boyd, Mankato.
"First Ladies of Kansas" was the theme of the annual meeting of
the Woman's Kansas Day Club in Topeka, January 29, 1959. Dolls
representing the first ladies, dressed in replicas of the inaugural
gowns, decorated the luncheon tables. Brief biographies of the first
ladies were given as part of the program. At the close of the meet-
ing the dolls were donated to the Kansas State Historical Society.
The president, Mrs. Lucile Rust, Manhattan, presided at the meet-
ing. Mrs. Harry Chaff ee, Topeka, was chosen president for the
coming year. Other officers elected include: Mrs. McDill Boyd,
Phillipsburg, first vice-president; Mrs. Marion Beatty, Topeka, sec-
ond vice-president; Mrs. Claude R. Stutzman, Kansas City, recording
secretary; Mrs. Roy Gibson, Chanute, treasurer; Mrs. Frank Huff-
man, Topeka, historian; Mrs. Larry E. VinZant, Wichita, auditor;
Mrs. R. T. Unruh, Kinsley, registrar. The following district direc-
tors were elected: Mrs. James V. Blue, Topeka; Mrs. George Wid-
der, Kansas City; Mrs. Harold Medill, Independence; Mrs. J. P.
Fallin, Wichita; Mrs. J, O. Carter, Garden City; and Mrs. Lillie
Washabaugh, Natoma.
n
THE
KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Summer 1959
Published by
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka
NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN
Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor
CONTENTS
U. S. ARMY AND Am FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS (In two install-
ments, Part One) : 129
With photographs of scenes and activities at Pratt Army Air Base, Great
Bend Army Air Field and Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina,
between pp. 144, 145.
THE PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH AND THE SMOKY HILL ROUTE,
1859-1860 Calvin W. Gower, 158
Reprint of a "Table of Distances" from Atchison to the Gold Mines,
1859, between pp. 160, 161.
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS
MISSIONARY, 1854-1858 Concluded .... Edited by Emory Lindquist, 172
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two,
Kansas Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg
and Herbert Spencer Concluded James C. Malin, 197
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY,
Compiled by Alberta Pantle, Librarian, 229
RYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 251
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 252
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 255
The Kansas Historical Quarterly is published four times a year by the
Kansas State Historical Society, 120 W. Tenth, Topeka, Kan., and is distributed
free to members. Annual membership dues are $3; annual sustaining, $10;
life membership, $20. Membership applications and dues should be ad-
dressed to Mrs. Lela Barnes, treasurer.
Correspondence concerning articles for the Quarterly should be sent to
the managing editor. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements
made by contributors.
Second-class postage has been paid at Topeka, Kan.
THE COVER
B-29 Super Fortresses at the Smoky Hill Army Air
Force Base, Salina. Official -photo U. S. Army Air
Forces.
THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume XXV Summer, 1959 Number 2
U.S. Army and Air Force Wings
Over Kansas
INTRODUCTION
MONTGOMERY county, Kansas, was named for Maj. Gen.
Richard Montgomery, of Revolutionary War fame.
That historical fact at the moment seems to have no connection
with this story on air force wings over Kansas. Yet it was most
important, for quite likely this article would never have materialized
had the county been named for Joe Doakes or perhaps for anyone
else. It came about as follows:
The secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society attended a
luncheon and dedication ceremony sponsored by the Esther Lowrey
chapter of the Kansas D. A. R. in Independence June 14, 1957, at
which a plaque honoring the Revolutionary War general was placed
in the county courthouse.
Important among the guests was Maj. Gen. Richard M. Mont-
gomery, deputy commander of the Second Air Force, Barksdale Air
Force Base, Louisiana. This General Montgomery, native of Penn-
sylvania and no relation to the Revolutionary War general, had
come to Montgomery county as a lieutenant colonel in 1942 to
activate the Independence Army Air Field. He immediately gained
the respect and co-operation of the local community, and the feel-
ing quickly became mutual. Thus it seemed appropriate to plan
the dedication of the plaque to the Revolutionary War General
Montgomery at a time when the Air Force General Montgomery
could be the honored guest.
During the luncheon the Historical Society secretary mentioned to
General Montgomery the Society's interest in obtaining historical
sketches and pictures of some of the activity at the several air
force bases in Kansas during World War II. It was explained that
the Society had been trying over a period of years to obtain these
records without success. Many of these bases had been built,
had been used with spectacular success, and had been abandoned,
(129)
130 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
but the Historical Society had been able to obtain only scraps of
information about them.
General Montgomery listened attentively, and replied that he
would see if anything could be done and it was! So, the State
Historical Society now finds itself happily indebted to Mrs. R. R.
Bittmann, the arranger of the D. A. R. meeting in Independence, to
Gen. Richard M. Montgomery, presently of Guam, and, finally, to
the chief of the historical division of the United States Air Force
at Barksdale Air Force Base, Joseph P. McGinley, and his associates
at Barksdale and Maxwell bases, who prepared the following
factual but interesting sketches of 16 army and air force bases
in Kansas. Except for minor changes, and the addition of several
footnotes, the histories are published here as written.
Unfortunately, even with air force help, only a few photographs
of these bases have been located. The State Historical Society will
appreciate receiving copies of others, or information as to where
such photographs can be obtained. Understandably, unofficial
picture taking in bases during war time was prohibited. However,
photographs may have been snapped, and the Society would like
to know their whereabouts whether official or unofficial before
they are lost to the Kansas archives.
When air power began its development, with stove pipes the
nearest thing to bombsights, as at Fort Riley about 1912, the army's
air activities were conducted by the signal corps. By July 10,
1941, the army air arm had become sufficiently important to be
designated the Army Air Forces. Finally, under the Armed Services
Unification Act of July 26, 1947, the Army Air Forces became the
United States Air Force when the new Department of Defense
became operative the following September 18. The air force now
operates as one of the Defense Department's three main divisions
air, army, and navy. Although practically all army air activity
has been transferred to the air force, Kansas' two forts, Leaven-
worth and Riley, continue to maintain army air fields. But their
use is limited to the immediate servicing of regular post activities.
COFFEYVILLE ARMY Am FlELD
(1942-1946)
/COFFEYVILLE Army Air Field was located seven miles north-
^ / east of Coffeyville, on a 1,456-acre tract of land which had been
purchased by the United States government. Construction, which
was accomplished by contract under the supervision of the U. S.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 131
District Engineers, Tulsa, Okla., commenced on 1 June 1942, and
continued over a period of eight months. Actually, however, the
field was activated on 17 June 1942, with Col. Carlisle I. Ferris as
the commanding officer. Construction work was sufficiently ad-
vanced by 16 September following to accommodate the head-
quarters staff which had been located temporarily in the city of
Coffeyville. Meanwhile, on 3 August the Army Air Forces Gulf
Coast Training Center had assumed jurisdiction over the in-
stallation.
Despite the generally level nature of the site selected for the
Coffeyville Army Air Field some grading was necessary. Other
construction work of a general nature included a water storage and
distribution system; a sewage system and disposal plant; electric
transmission and distribution lines; a railway spur line; access roads
to nearby highways; paved streets on the site; and gasoline and
oil storage systems.
The remaining major installations and structures at the field may
be noted conveniently under the following headings: airfield;
cantonment; training; recreation and welfare; and hospital. Unless
otherwise indicated, all the buildings listed were the theater-of-
operation type structures.
Airfield.
a) 4 runways, 4,100, 5,700, 5,871, and 5,872 feet long, and
each 150 feet wide.
b) 5 taxiways, 400, 400, 1,200, 1,800, and 2,400 feet long, and
each 50 feet wide.
c) 3 hangars (semipermanent construction).
d) parking apron, 5,200 feet long and 450 feet wide.
e) control tower.
Cantonment.
a) 67 enlisted men's barracks.
b ) 25 cadet barracks.
c) 3 WACs' barracks.
d) 18 officers' quarters.
e) 8 mess halls.
f ) 1 guard house.
g) 1 commissary,
h) 13 warehouses.
i) 11 administration buildings.
j) 12 supply rooms.
k ) 1 post headquarters building.
1) 1 finance building.
m) 1 post engineer building.
n) 6 operations buildings.
132 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
o) 1 fire station,
p) 1 telephone building.
q) 1 signal office building (semipermanent construction).
Training.
a) 1 ground school building (semipermanent construction).
b) 2 miscellaneous buildings.
c) 6 link trainer buildings (semipermanent construction).
d) 1 chemical warfare building.
Recreation and Welfare.
a) 17 general recreation buildings.
b) 1 chapel (semipermanent construction).
c) 1 theater (semipermanent construction).
d) 1 post office.
e) 1 post exchange.
Hospital.
a) 1 administration building (semipermanent construction).
b) 5 wards (semipermanent construction).
c) infirmary (semipermanent construction).
d) 1 dental clinic (semipermanent construction).
e) 1 nurses' quarters.
f ) 1 nurses' recreation building.
Coffeyville Army Air Field had four auxiliary airfields. Indicated
by numerals, their size and location with reference to the base
field may be indicated as follows: No. 1, comprising 206 acres, ap-
proximately 6.2 air miles to the southeast; No. 2, with 241 acres,
about 14.25 air miles almost due east; No. 3, with 633 acres, 12.5
air miles to the northeast; and No. 4, comprising 241 acres, just over
nine miles slightly east of north. Auxiliary No. 3 was the only one
with a regular concrete runway system.
During July 1942 detachments of the following units were organ-
ized at Coffeyville: the 908th Quartermaster Company, Aviation
(Service); the 852d Ordnance Company, Aviation (Service); the
778th Chemical Service Company (Aviation); and a Finance De-
partment. Early in September following detachments of two other
units, the 1038th Guard Squadron and the 857th Signal Service
Company, Aviation, were organized. These were followed before
the end of the year by medical and veterinary detachments and
by the 23d Airways Communications Squadron.
Coming for the most part from Enid Army Air Field, Enid, Okla.,
the bulk of the original military personnel arrived at Coffeyville
during October and November 1942. They included troops of the
366th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron, the 317th Army
Air Forces Band, and the 820th, 821st, 822d, and 823d School
WINGS OVER KANSAS 133
Squadrons. From a total of 63 officers and 190 enlisted men on
1 October 1942 the permanent party strength increased to 283 of-
ficers and 2,369 enlisted men by 1 February 1943.
The mission originally assigned to the CoflFeyville Army Air Field
was the basic, or second-stage, training of aviation cadets. Hence
the designation, Army Air Forces Basic Flying School, when it was
activated on 17 June 1942. As of 1 January 1943 it was redesignated
the CoflFeyville Army Air Field, although the mission was un-
changed. From 6 August 1943 until 31 May 1944 the flying training
unit at the field was known as Army Air Forces Pilot School ( Basic ) .
On 1 June the CoflFeyville installation was transferred from the
Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command (successor
to the Army Air Forces Gulf Coast Training Center) to the Third
Air Force. Thereafter basic flying training was no longer con-
ducted there.
The training of cadets at CoflFeyville actually began on 14 No-
vember 1942 with Class 43-C. Of the 137 in that group, 116
graduated at the end of the course on 13 January 1943. Meanwhile,
the second class, 43-D, with 156 cadets had begun training on De-
cember 1942. It completed the course, with 129 individuals grad-
uating on 15 February 1943. From beginning to end, approxi-
mately 4,840 cadets and aviation students began the basic flying
course, in 16 separate classes, at CoflFeyville. Incompletions, how-
ever, because of physical and flying deficiencies, serious accidents,
and resignations were fairly numerous. As a result, only 3,881
successfully completed the course.
Col. Carlisle I. Ferris remained as commanding officer at CoflFey-
ville Army Air Field from its activation until 3 June 1943. He was
replaced by Lt. Col. Charles B. Harvin who served in that capacity
until the end of April 1944. Then Col. Nicholas T. Perkins assumed
command.
When it took over the field on 1 June 1944, the Third Air Force
organized there the CoflFeyville Replacement Training Unit (Photo
Reconnaissance) which was assigned to Headquarters Recon-
naissance Training Wing (Provisional). Colonel Perkins remained
as commanding officer of the field, while Lt. Col. Frank E. Dunn
was named commanding officer of the training unit. The primary
mission of the latter was to train pilots for combat photo recon-
naissance. Three months later the unit was redesignated the
CoflFeyville Combat Crew Training Station (Photo Reconnaissance),
with some emphasis being placed upon the preparation of photo
134 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
reconnaissance pilots for overseas movement. In mid-September it
was assigned to the III Tactical Air Command. On 1 October 1944
this training unit and the base administrative unit were integrated
under the command of Colonel Perkins.
The first group of photo reconnaissance pilots reported to Coffey-
ville for training on 12 June 1944. Other groups followed in rapid
succession. Operating at first on a 10-weeks' schedule, the students
divided their time, roughly in the ratio of one to four, between
ground school studies and flying training. In the beginning there
were some B-25 pilots, but during the latter part of the period the
aircraft used generally for this part of the work was the P-38. Com-
mencing in January 1945 the students were required to complete
four weeks of special instrument training before taking up their
photo reconnaissance work. Because of limited facilities during
the summer of 1945, some classes which had completed the instru-
ment training course at Coffeyville were shipped to Will Rogers
Army Air Field, Oklahoma City, Okla., for the photo reconnaissance
work. During the latter part of July, however, the instrument
training program was transferred from Coffeyville to Will Rogers
Army Air Field, while the photo reconnaissance section at Will
Rogers was transferred to Coffeyville Army Air Field.
During the 12-months' period ending on 4 June 1945 over 460
photo reconnaissance pilots completed all their training require-
ments at Coffeyville, and were shipped to staging areas for
processing and assignment to overseas shipments. In addition,
more than 200 pilots received their instrument flying training at
Coffeyville, and were shipped to Will Rogers for training as photo
reconnaissance pilots. There was no diminution in this indicated
rate of training during the few remaining weeks of World War II.
Colonel Perkins continued to serve as commanding officer of
Coffeyville Army Air Field until 9 November 1944. His successor
was Lt. Col. Paul A. Zartman who remained in that post until
just a few days before the surrender of the Japanese the following
August. The next commanding officer was Col. James M. Smelley.
Early in the post-war period Coffeyville Army Air Field was
earmarked for eventual inactivation. In a temporary inactive status
it was transferred to the Tactical Air Command on 21 March 1946.
As soon thereafter as the necessary arrangements could be effected
the Tactical Air Command transferred it to the U. S. District Engi-
neers, Omaha, Neb., who assumed jurisdiction over the field on
26 August 1946.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 135
DODGE CITY ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1945)
THE Chamber of Commerce, through its president, Jess C.
Denious, was active during early 1942 in encouraging the gov-
ernment to locate an airfield in Dodge City. Mr. Denious, editor
of the Dodge City Daily Globe, and lieutenant governor of Kansas,
1943-1947, made several trips to Washington to interview the
appropriate authorities. In order to demonstrate the advantages
of the locality, Denious had compiled considerable information on
such things as weather, terrain, and utilities.
The first public announcement of the government's intention to
construct an airfield at Dodge City was made on 10 June 1942 by
Capt. R. E. DeBolt of the Division Engineers Office, Albuquerque,
N. M. The purpose of the field, as stated at the time, was to pro-
vide bomber training for the Royal Air Force. However, nothing
further was heard of this, and the base was scheduled to be an
advanced flying school, so that its original designation was "Army
Air Forces Advanced Flying School/' This remained the field's
intended function until February 1943, when, three or four months
before operations would begin, the mission was changed to B-26
transition training.
Although the United States Engineers had surveyed the land
desired for the field, bids for construction were let before the land
was acquired. When the bids were opened it was discovered that
only one bid had been submitted. A group of contractors, known
as the Liston-Clarke, San-Ore, D. H. Hardman group, had joined to
make the bid. The contract was awarded this group and the first
truck load of building materials was unloaded on 6 August 1942.
Pending final settlement of the purchase, possession was obtained
by Rights of Entry granted by the owners. On 15 August 1942 the
Office of Chief of Army Engineers issued a directive authorizing the
acquisition of approximately 2,520 acres at an estimated cost of
$191,353.
Since the Division Engineers Real Estate Branch was unable
to come to an agreement with the eight landowners involved, it
was necessary to proceed by condemnation. A Declaration of
Taking was consequently filed in the District Court of the United
States at Topeka. This action of course vested title in the United
States. At the same time the sum estimated by the War De-
partment to be fair compensation was deposited with the District
136 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Court. During the summer of 1943 final settlements were made
between the government and the owners. Additional land was
acquired during 1943. In January 1943 authorization was issued
for purchase of over 16 acres for the construction of a railroad spur.
Part of this property was obtained by direct purchase, and part by
condemnation. In this same general period, that is from No-
vember 1942 to April 1943, an additional 1,180 acres, for the
construction of an auxiliary airfield, were purchased at a total cost
of $45,610. The only other land acquired was the lease of some-
thing over 11 acres as a site for a radio beam station. Total
expenditures for the purchase of land came to approximately
$116,135.
Located close to Dodge City, a city of about 14,000 population
in 1942, the main establishment of Dodge City Army Air Field was
contained within the following boundaries, beginning at the
north quarter corner of Section 11, Township 26 South, Range 26 West,
thence south 2 miles to the south quarter corner of Section 14, Township 26
South, Range 26 West, thence east 2 miles to the south quarter corner of
Section 18, Township 26 South, Range 25 West, thence north 2 miles to the
north quarter of Section 7, Township 26 South, Range 25 West, thence west
2 miles to the point of beginning.
The principal construction job consisted of building a canton-
ment, airdrome, roads, and facilities. The arrangement was stand-
ard rectangular, with building exteriors consisting of wood sheeting
covered with 15-pound felt and asbestos-siding shingles. Housing
was prepared for close to 4,000 men, while the hospital had a ca-
pacity of 177 beds. Warehousing was built to provide 71,186
square feet of space, and the airdrome could accommodate 165
aircraft. Four runways (150 feet wide and 6,500 feet in length)
were constructed, while six 75-foot taxiways connected the parking
apron (600 x 5,300 feet) with the runway system.
Work on the main construction job, begun on 5 August 1942, was
completed by 31 December. Three or four days prior to com-
pletion of the main job, work was begun on the second most im-
portant project (principally concerned with completion of the
runway system), which was finished by 31 March 1943. Total
construction expenditures (as of 1 March 1944) were $7,409,551,
thus exceeding the original total allocation by $347,370.
The first soldiers assigned to the base consisted of a detachment of
27 enlisted men of the Quartermaster Corps, under Capt. J. M.
Cooper, who arrived on 1 November 1942. Somewhat over a
month later, on 11 December, the base was formally activated with
WINGS OVER KANSAS 137
the official designation "Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School,
Dodge City, Kansas." As a result of a change of mission for the
base, it was redesignated, 27 May 1943, "Army Air Forces Pilot
School (Specialized 2-Engine), Dodge City Army Air Field, Dodge
City, Kansas." Lt. Col. Charles B. Root assumed command on
11 December 1942 and served as commanding officer until 17
February 1943, when he was succeeded by Col. Charles B. Oldfield.
Colonel Oldfield remained commanding officer until 27 January
1944, when Colonel Root reassumed command. After official activa-
tion of the base there was a rapid build-up of personnel strength, so
much so that the local paper could observe on 2 February 1943:
"Enlisted men are pouring into the new field by the hundreds."
Training at the base was under the immediate supervision of the
director of training. The training function was broken up under the
director into flying training under a director of flying, and ground
school instruction under a director of technical training. The first
planes to be used for instruction, a dozen B-26's, were delivered to
Dodge City Army Air Field on 26 April 1943. On the same day,
the first group of officer students, 36 in all, reported for B-26 transi-
tion training. No time was lost, for on 28 April the first training
flights began. In addition to the regular category of officer students
in training, several of the classes included French nationals, as
well as contingents of Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP's).
The women pilots compared favorably with the men in all phases
of the training, which was the same for both sexes. During the
active training period at the base, that is from 28 April 1943 to
June 1945, an estimated 2,215 student officers, French nationals,
and WASP's received B-26 transition training.
The school made a genuine contribution to the war effort in its
training program. The B-26 "Marauder" was looked on askance by
Air Force personnel and by the general public as a dangerous and
unstable aircraft. It was the task of the school, while teaching
proficiency in operation of the aircraft, to break through the nega-
tive "mystique" which had been built up around the B-26, and to
instill in the students a confidence in the aircraft as an efficient
fighting instrument. This was achieved to a remarkable degree,
with earned recognition coming from Maj. Gen. G. C. Brant of the
Central Flying Training Command in the form of a letter to
Colonel Root:
It is noted that the B-26 has finally come into its own and is recognized
by the public at large as being a most valuable implement of effective war-
138 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
fare against our enemy. In my mind, it is a much belated acknowledgment
that is made possible only by the thousands of successful hours which you,
your staff and your mechanics have been able to secure on this airplane at
an operational rate which compares favorably with all other aircraft of our
Command. It is my pleasure therefore to express to you and the members
of your field my pleasure and satisfaction at seeing your successful efforts
recognized by your fellow countrymen and I wish to add my personal con-
gratulations to each of you on the spirit and enterprise which brought about
this transformed thinking on the part of the American public. You and your
men undertook this task when everyone said it could not be done and in so
doing, you brought credit to yourself and the service.
The relations between the base and Dodge City were uniformly
good. The limited size of the town created problems of housing for
married officers and enlisted men, but this was the universal and
normal wartime condition. The people of Dodge City showed
themselves most co-operative in welcoming a large number of troops
into their community. For example, during February 1943, various
civic organizations co-operated in furnishing day rooms for the
squadrons on the base. In March, the local Rotary, Kiwanis, and
Lions Clubs presented a minstrel show which netted about $1,200
to aid in furnishing the day rooms. Friendly co-operation was by
no means a one-way street. During the Boot Hill Fair and Rodeo
in September 1943, the Technical Training Department exhibited
various types of equipment and instructional aids in a booth on
the fair grounds. Outstanding for its co-operation was the Dodge
City Daily Globe, which was consistently generous with publicity
releases.
As the war in Europe ground to a halt the need for B-26 transition
training was sharply curtailed. Consequently, all training activities
ceased with the class which graduated on 28 June 1945. Two days
later the official inactivation announcement was made, whereupon
the officer in charge began the inactivation process. By 9 July all
property had been turned in. Inactivation was officially completed
on 12 July 1945 and all personnel had been transferred as of that
date. Whereupon, Dodge City Army Air Field was placed on the
inactive list.
FAIRFAX FIELD
(1942-1950)
PRIOR to World War II Fairfax Field, located about three miles
* north of the center of Kansas City, Kan., was a municipal air-
port, apparently without military installations. It acquired import-
ance to the Air Corps as the site of a factory set up on the edge of
WINGS OVER KANSAS 139
the field by the North American Aviation Company to manufacture
the B-25, Mitchell, medium bomber. A modification center for
B-25's was established there later. Production began at the factory
in December 1941, and planes began moving through the modifica-
tion center in May 1942. Primarily for the testing and flying of these
planes the four rather short runways at Fairfax were expanded to
150 feet in width and respectively to 6,500, 6,100, 5,800, and 4,500
feet in length, all of stout concrete, and 185,000 square yards of
parking apron was laid out.
At first pilots were brought in from elsewhere to fly out the B-25's,
but, as production increased, the Ferrying Division of Air Transport
Command concluded that it should have a unit at Fairfax to do the
job. Accordingly, on 15 April 1943 the Second Ferrying Squadron
of the 5th Ferrying Group was moved from Love Field at Dallas,
Tex., to Fairfax. The squadron set promptly to work and ferried
out 157 B-25's during May.
Maj. William J. Fry was squadron commander from before the
move until 12 October 1943 when he was succeeded by Maj. Harry
E. Watson. To expedite its administration the squadron was made
independent of the 5th Group on 1 January 1944, and on 1 April, in
recognition of its growing size and importance, it became the 33d
Ferrying Group. Major Watson continued as commander until 4
September 1944 when he gave way to Maj. Charles E. Hanst, an
Air Service pilot in World War I, and a past president of the Ameri-
can Association of Airline Executives. A detachment of Women's
Air Force Service Pilots (WASP's) was organized at Fairfax on 1
May 1944 to assist in the ferrying and did excellent service before
being disbanded in September. Its head, Miss Helen Richie, held
the woman's record for endurance flying, was the only woman to
have served as co-pilot on a commercial airline, and had been in
charge of a detachment of American women transport pilots in Eng-
land.
The 33d Group continued to grow until at the end of 1944 it had
393 officers and 578 enlisted men. However, early in 1945 North
American reduced its B-25 output, so the Ferrying Division in an
effort to consolidate its activities arranged to close out Fairfax as a
ferrying base and have pilots from Rosecrans Field at St. Joseph,
Mo., do what ferrying still had to be done at Kansas City. The 33d
Group was discontinued, and on 15 April 1945 Fairfax, losing its
status as a base, became merely an operating location of Rosecrans.
While based at Fairfax the 33d Group delivered 6,202 aircraft to
destinations within the United States and 251 abroad. Of 1,881
140 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
deliveries in 1943 by the Ground Ferrying Squadron all but 129
were B-25's, but at the end of that year pilots from Fairfax began
ferrying B-26's from a modification center at Omaha and B-24's from
a center at St. Paul. Thereafter activities expanded until early in
1945 the 33d Group controlled ten operating locations and was flying
a wide variety of planes, including as many as 60 B-29's a month.
Capt. Robert V. Barlow of the group was given the Air Medal in
November 1944 for piloting the first P-38 flight over ATC's South
Pacific route. Another remarkable flight or pair of flights was Capt.
Robert P. Pendleton's delivery of a B-29 to Twentieth Air Force in
the Marianas Islands and return of a war-weary B-29 to the United
States within a period of 140 hours in December 1944. On 9 Novem-
ber 1944 the 33d Group furnished plane and crew to fly Sen. Harry
S. Truman from Fairfax to Washington for ceremonies following his
election as Vice-President.
On 22 September 1944 the 33d Group began daily scheduled
Military Air Transport flights to Minneapolis and Omaha to move
military cargo and passengers. These flights proved so useful that
two more were soon added. When the ferrying group at Fairfax
was eliminated the Ferrying Division contemplated making that
airfield the mid-continental focus of its MAT operations. With this
in mind it moved to Fairfax on 2 March 1945 to an air freight ter-
minal which had previously been in Kansas City, Mo. In June
Fairfax with 362 personnel, commanded by Maj. Alfred Oberg, was
much the largest operating location in the division. During July,
1,044 military transports used the field. Among the passengers
who landed there that summer was President Truman, who was
en route to his home in Independence, Mo. However, in August
plans to concentrate operations at Fairfax were shelved, and by
November Topeka had been chosen instead. As of 6 December
1945 the operating location at Fairfax was discontinued. Moved
from there to Topeka were personnel and equipment including nine
C-47's and 80 pilots and co-pilots. Henceforth the regular and
special MAT flights which had been used Fairfax would take off
or land at Topeka.
Between February and October 1943 two technical training de-
tachments operated at Fairfax. One, activated on 4 February and
designated on 5 October as the 76th AAF Technical Training De-
tachment, administered a six-weeks' course to train AAF mechanics
under the direction of the Aircraft Accessories Corporation in the
repair and maintenance of hydraulic systems. About 300 students
were admitted before the school was prematurely closed in Oc-
WINGS OVER KANSAS 141
tober. It had done a good job but had duplicated a course given at
Chanute and, perhaps for that reason, classes had been too small to
pay the contractor or justify the use of skilled men as instructors.
The other training unit, activated on 22 February and designated,
effective 30 August, as the 81st AAF Technical Training Detach-
ment, was treated to supervise apprentice crew chiefs at the North
American B-25 Modification Center. An AAF policy adopted in
January provided that mechanics selected to be crew chiefs be each
assigned an aircraft as it left the factory, follow it through the modi-
fication center to see what was done to it, then go with it to be its
crew chief in an operating unit. For a couple of months after the
program began modification of B-25's took only a week, and the
future crew chiefs did little but stand and watch. Then on intro-
duction of the B-25G, modification time lengthened to two or three
months. The detachment used the additional time for refresher
training in mechanics and instruction in the duties of crew chiefs.
It also tactfully won permission for the men to participate in air-
craft maintenance and even in some modification and to gain flying
experience by going on test hops. Peak enrollment came on 27
June when 296 mechanics were present. Abandonment of the ap-
prenticeship program led to inactivation of the detachment on 31
October 1943.
After December 1945 the Air Force used Fairfax almost ex-
clusively for reserve training. The 4101st AAF Base Unit ( Res Tng)
was activated there on 12 July 1946 to handle training responsibili-
ties, and on 6 January 1947 a reserve unit, the 564th Bombardment
Squadron, was activated there. This unit was vigorous enough to
send 127 pilots to summer camp in 1948. In October that year
Fairfax had 37 planes in which the reservists flew 1,844 hours. The
4401st Unit was redesignated, effective 28 August 1948, as the 2472d
AF Reserve Training Center. A general shift of the reserve pro-
gram from combat to troop carrier units in 1949 caused the replace-
ment of the 564th Bombardment Squadron at Fairfax by the 442d
Troop Carrier Wing, which was activated there on 27 June.
The reserve center at Fairfax was badly cramped for lack of space
and facilities. This could have been remedied by taking all or part
of the old modification center when a lease that Trans-World Air-
lines had on it expired in 1950. However, public reaction to the idea
of moving the TWA shops from Kansas City was so unfavorable
that it was decided to move the reserve center instead. Thus on
22 May 1950 the 2472d Center and the 442d Wing were moved to
the Olathe Naval Air Station, about 25 miles from Kansas City.
142 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
FORBES Am FORCE BASE
(1942-1954+)
/ T\HE history of Forbes Air Force Base begins in the early days
* of World War II, when work was started on an Army Air
Field at Topeka. The installation was assigned to the Second Air
Force in June and was accepted by the Army Air Forces on
15 August 1942. When the first troops began arriving that month,
housing facilities had not been completed; consequently, the per-
sonnel were quartered temporarily in the Agriculture building at
the Topeka Fair Grounds. But construction progressed rapidly,
and by September 1942 Topeka Army Air Field was in use for
heavy bombardment training.
From 24 August 1942 until February 1943 the 333d Bombardment
Group was stationed at Topeka to give heavy bombardment crews
30 days of final training prior to their movement overseas. Those
crews were trained in both B-17's and B-24's. In February 1943
the 333d Bombardment Group was replaced by the 2d Heavy
Bombardment Processing Headquarters. At that time the base
came under the jurisdiction of the 21st Bombardment Wing, which
established its headquarters at Topeka in June 1943. Instead of
training, the main function of the base became that of processing
and equipping heavy bombardment crews for shipment overseas
and preparing B-17's and B-24's for combat. Early in 1945 the
base began processing B-29's and B-29 crews, and by March 1945
fighter pilots and tow target personnel also were being processed.
Among the B-29 crews which passed through Topeka was one
headed by Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., who later piloted the B-29
that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.
In August 1945 command of the base shifted from the 21st
Bombardment Wing to the 1st Staging Command. No change of
personnel was involved, and the base continued to stage and
process heavy bombardment crews and aircraft. By October 1945,
however, emphasis was placed on shipping ground personnel over-
seas, and approximately 2,000 men were sent to the base to be
staged for duty as overseas replacements. This project was com-
pleted in February 1946 by the Air Transport Command (ATC),
which assumed jurisdiction of the base on 28 November 1945.
The Air Transport Command used the field at Topeka in perform-
ing its regular missions of transporting cargo and personnel. Later
WINGS OVER KANSAS 143
the base housed an operational training unit for pilots newly as-
signed to the command. In December 1945 the base became the
only mid-continent stop for ATC's "Statesman," a daily trans-
continental flight carrying key military and diplomatic travelers
between Washington, D. C., and Hamilton Field, California. Dur-
ing December the base also became a stop for the "Globester,"
which provided daily shuttle service between Washington, D. C.,
and San Francisco. And in May 1946 the base took over operation
of the daily "Alamo" flight between San Antonio, Tex., and Wash-
ington, D. C. Thus the field at Topeka became a major air
terminal.
At various times the field acquired additional functions and
projects. In January 1946, for example, it became a refueling point
for jet aircraft. The following June ferrying operations were added
to its mission. The base figured largely in a program of ferrying
1,300 aircraft to 40 fields in the United States and in a project for
delivering 2,600 planes to reserve units throughout the country.
In addition, pilots from Topeka and four other stations ferried
surplus training planes and combat fighters from depots in the
United States to various countries in South America. To add to
the ever-increasing activity at Topeka, the Northwestern Sector,
which supervised and coordinated ATC's operations at 14 stations,
established its headquarters at the base in August 1946.
Because of a cut in Congressional appropriations, a drastic cur-
tailment of activities at the base went into effect after 1 October
1946. Both military and civilian strength were greatly reduced.
The field still served as an air terminal and as an operating base
of the Air Transport Command, but the majority of the transport
crews were transferred to other stations and several flights were
discontinued. Only two nights were scheduled to come into the
base daily. The "Statesman" flight was cut to every other day.
The base, however, was involved in a number of special projects.
During October 1946 the Air Transport Command began trans-
ferring excess C-54's to Topeka Army Air Field to be placed in
storage. One month later the base was designated a separation
center for officers and enlisted men. In November 1946 air re-
serve training was started at the base, but that activity was dis-
continued in March 1947. During December 1946 the base par-
ticipated in "Operation Santa Glaus," a project in which hundreds
of amputees and litter cases were evacuated from Army hospitals
144 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to their homes for Christmas. From December 1946 to February
1947 the base trained 26 members of the Portuguese Air Force in
air-sea rescue operations in B-17's and C-54's.
Removal of the Northwestern Sector Headquarters during
March 1947 left the base with no regular mission other than servic-
ing transient aircraft and maintaining the surplus aircraft in storage
on the field. Those activities continued until the base was in-
activated on 31 October 1947.
Topeka Army Air Field was reactivated on 1 July 1948 as an
installation of the Strategic Air Command. It housed the 311th
Air Division, Reconnaissance and the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance
Wing until 14 October 1949, when the base was inactivated again.
During that time it had been redesignated Forbes Air Force Base in
honor of Maj. Daniel H. Forbes, Jr., a native of the Topeka area,
who was killed while testing the XB-49 "Flying Wing." l
On 1 February 1951, during the Korean conflict, Forbes Air Force
Base was reopened and assigned to the Strategic Air Command.
The 21st Air Division was activated there on 16 February 1951, and
the Division's 90th Bombardment Wing moved to the base during
February and March 1951.
Forbes developed into a highly important training station as the
90th Wing trained newly activated units, the 376th, 308th, and
310th Bombardment Wings, of the Strategic Air Command. From
June 1951 to August 1953 the 90th Wing also trained B-29 replace-
ment crews for combat. About ten crews were trained each month
until August 1952, when the bombardment wing training program
was discontinued and the number of crews was increased to twenty
per month.
On 16 June 1952 the 90th Bombardment Wing was redesignated
90th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Medium, and in November
the wing commenced training reconnaissance crews as replacements
for the Far East Air Forces.
The 90th Wing terminated its training mission in August 1953,
but prior to that date it had begun to develop its own capability for
reconnaissance operations. During the remainder of 1953 the
Wing trained its crews in refueling operations required for strategic
reconnaissance. The 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which
1. Maf. Daniel H. Forbes, Jr., was killed June 5, 1948, near Muroc, Calif., on the
seventh anniversary of his entry into service. He was not yet 28 years old. His career
included service with Elliott Roosevelt's photographic squadron in Tunisia, Algiers, India,
and Egypt during World War II. He also took the first U. S. aerial reconnaissance
photos of Japan. After the war he was assistant operations officer at the Bikini atomic
bomb tests and his films of those tests were the first to be shown to officials at Washington.
Topeka Daily Capital, June 6, 1948; Topeka State Journal, June 10, July 13, 1949.
Processing at Pratt Army Air Base.
Operations tower, Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina.
Official photo U. S. Army Air Forces.
GREAT BEND ARMY AIR FIELD
Upper: Part of the 8,000-foot ramp as seen from the west. This photograph
was taken on January 1, 1945 7 when all aircraft were either on flight or in
the hangars.
Cenfer: Bomb Group area. May 28, 1943.
Lower: Crash station on the air field.
Official photos U. S. Army Air Corps.
Armory, Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina.
Courfesy Norbert Skelley.
Radio training, Pratt Army Air Base.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 145
had moved to Forbes in October 1952, continued its program of
photography, photomapping, and electronic reconnaissance.
During February 1954 action was taken to procure an additional
528 acres of land for Forbes. At the same time the United States
Congress approved the construction of a 12,000 foot runway to
accommodate RB-47's. The 90th Wing began converting to RB-47's
in March 1954 and the 55th Wing in June 1954. Thereafter, both
Wings trained at Forbes to attain combat readiness in RB-47's.
After the Wings were declared combat ready they began temporary
duty tours at overseas stations, but they returned to Forbes and
continued training in order to maintain their effectiveness as com-
bat units.
GARDEN CITY ARMY AIR FIELD
(1942-1947)
THE Garden City Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership
of Ben Grimsley, did most effective work in getting an air field
established in this area. At first all energies were concentrated on
acquiring one of the British training fields which were to be estab-
lished in the United States during 1941-1942. R. H. Rhoads, Kansas
Industrial Development Commission representative in Washington,
having obtained the RAF requirements, which included a large
bombing range, began to push western Kansas as a logical area. In
June 1941, Grimsley sent an elaborate booklet to Rhoads, setting
forth the advantages of locating a flying school in Finney county,
buttressed by photographs of the area, and containing information
on water and natural gas resources, and weather conditions.
Perhaps the major obstacle to locating a training base in Kansas
was the decision of the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center not to lo-
cate primary or basic training bases north of the Kansas-Oklahoma
border because of poor flying weather compared to Oklahoma and
Texas. To combat this decision, the Kansas delegation prepared
detailed weather statistics which showed that the south portion of
Kansas has as many clear and partly cloudy days as San Antonio,
Tex. Over a period of 18 months a great amount of data was filed
with the War Department. The cumulative effect of this informa-
tion, plus the later government surveys which were largely in agree-
ment, was in large part responsible for a reversal by the War De-
partment of the decision of the Gulf Coast Training Command.
The first knowledge of a firm intention to construct a base in the
Garden City area came to the local civic leaders by telegram, 8 April
108804
146 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1942, from Washington announcing the imminent arrival of a board
of officers to choose a site for the base. Three days later the board
of officers arrived and, under the guidance of the aviation committee
of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, a site was chosen 12/2
miles east of Garden City on US Highway 50 South. On 16 June
1942 surveying crews began work at the site outlining runways
and staking buildings.
When the crews arrived, the area of the projected base was a ripe
wheat field. Consequently, the first days were a sort of combined
operation, which began by the farmers threshing a strip down the
proposed runways to enable surveyors to start. Farming and survey-
ing proceeded simultaneously.
The construction program at Garden City was cut off before it
really got under way by the orders of Headquarters, Army Air
Forces, in June 1942, stopping work on nine of the 14 proposed
British Operational Training Units. This change wiped out the en-
tire western Kansas project of British bases, including Garden City,
Dodge City, Pratt, and Liberal. From the middle of June until the
latter part of July 1942 the Garden City officials did not know what
kind of installation would be located in their community, if any at
all. But by 27 July it was definitely understood that Garden City
was to have a basic flying training school.
By the middle of July the Division Engineers had received a set
of plans for the construction of the new type of base. The engineers
were forced to remove every stake that had been driven for the
former project and start anew. Contracts were let for construction
before all the new stakes had been set out.
The Garden City Daily Telegram, of 6 August 1942, announced
the start of actual construction the following day. It reported that
holders of the contract for runways, roads and drainage will "begin
clearing the site and start moving dirt. Wheat stubble which re-
mained on the air base site east of Garden City after the crop was
removed, will be burned to make way for grading operations/'
The main base of the Garden City Army Air Field consisted of
1,584.66 acres, lying in Sections 27, 28, 29, 33, and 34, Township 24
South, Range 31 West, approximately 489 acres of which was re-
served for the building area. The base was located on an irregular
plot of high ground adjacent to the Arkansas river. The field ex-
tended one and one-half miles north and south and one and eight-
tenths miles east and west along US Highway 50 South in Finney
county, about 11 miles southeast of Garden City and 42 miles
WINGS OVER KANSAS 147
southwest of Dodge City. The land was acquired by judgments
of Declaration of Taking in the Kansas District Court of the United
States, Second Division.
Some 66 barracks, with a total capacity of 2,224 persons, were
built for enlisted personnel, while 520 cadets could be accommo-
dated in 26 barracks. Officers' quarters consisted of 17 buildings,
with a total capacity of 272. Two buildings were provided for
nurses' living quarters and mess hall. Total housing capacity for
all personnel was 3,219. The base hospital was constructed with
five wards, with 151 beds.
Five runways were built, four with a dimension of 150 x 6500 feet,
and one 150 x 4,960 feet, with a gross load capacity of 74,000
pounds, wheel load of 37,000 pounds. Runways and apron (500 x
4,750 feet) were constructed with a ten-inch gravel base placed in
layers on a six-inch compacted earth subbase, and surfaced with
one and one-half-inch asphalt cement; the service strip (80 feet
wide) was a six-inch concrete slab, thickened to nine inches at the
expansion and construction joints. Five taxiways, 50 feet wide,
completed the runway system. Fronting on the field, three
squadron hangars, 120 by 80 feet, were built.
Four auxiliary fields were planned, but only three were con-
structed. Runways on Auxiliary Field No. 1 were of concrete,
while those of Nos. 2 and 4 were of the bituminous mat type. The
runway area was the same on all three auxiliary fields 4,950 square
feet. None of the auxiliary fields were completed when training
began, and, as a result, the Garden City Municipal Airport served
as an auxiliary field in the interim.
Construction was officially completed on 25 May 1943 when the
Project Completion Report was signed by the Area Engineer. As
of 23 March 1943, funds apportioned for construction reached a
total of $9,224,432.16.
But long before actual completion of construction the base was
in operation. The field was officially activated on 21 December
1942, with Col. Jergan B. Olson assuming command at that time.
Colonel Olson remained as commanding officer until succeeded on
26 August 1944 by Col. John W. Egan, who retained command of
the base and school until the inactivation of the latter. Official
designation of the school at the time of activation was Army Air
Forces Basic Flying School, Garden City Army Air Field. On 30
April 1944, this school organization was replaced, without transfer
of personnel, by the 2521st AAF Base Unit (Pilot School, Basic).
148 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The assigned mission of Garden City Army Air Field was pilot
training for basic students. As originally planned, the first class
was to arrive on 15 March 1943, but this schedule was moved up to
15 January 1943. The class began training on 16 January. From
then on the base was the scene of feverish and effective training
activity. Until September 1943 BT-13 aircraft was used exclusively
for flying training, but after that date twin-engine training was
introduced. For a time during 1944 a few Women's Air Force Serv-
ice Pilots ( WASP's ) were stationed at the field, serving as engineer-
ing test flight pilots.
The field did not go without official recognition of its contribution
to the AAF training program, as witnessed by a letter, dated 9 Sep-
tember 1943, from Brig. Gen. A. Hornsby, Commanding General
of the 32d Flying Training Wing (Basic), Perrin Field, Texas, to
Colonel Olson:
The excellent appearance of your post, and the morale and loyalty of those
under you as well as the training results achieved, reflect the superior manner
in which you have exercised your command. It is a pleasure to write this
commendation to you and make it a matter of record.
Much in the same vein was the indorsement of the basic letter,
dated 13 September 1943, from Headquarters, AAF Central Flying
Training Command:
The Commanding General, AAFCFTC, desires to add his personal commen-
dation and appreciation for your superior performance of duty. This communi-
cation has been made a part of your official record. It is further desired that
this communication be called to the attention of all members of your command.
The need for basic flying training schools having considerably
lessened by the latter part of 1944, the basic flying school at Garden
City Army Air Field was discontinued by Headquarters, Central
Flying Training Command, effective 23 November 1944. Since
training was somewhat ahead of schedule, 18 November became
the final training date. Immediately thereafter both instructors
and students were transferred. The upper class of cadets were
transferred to advanced training, while students of the lower class
were dispersed among other schools in order to complete the basic
course.
Garden City Army Air Field was transferred to the jurisdiction
of the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command on 15 De-
cember 1944 and placed on a standby status. On 27 February 1945
authority was granted to place the base on an active status as a
storage depot for strategic aircraft of Class I. The 4132d AAF Base
Unit ( Air Base ) was organized on 16 December 1944 to man what
WINGS OVER KANSAS 149
was now an aircraft storage depot. The peak of the storage mission
was reached by July 1945, when 1,456 aircraft were stored on the
base. After July 1945 the primary mission was reversed that is, the
major activity became the preparation of aircraft to be flown away
from the base. By autumn of 1946 this phase of the mission was
completed. On 29 October 1946, in anticipation of deactivation of
Garden City Army Air Field, the base was declared excess to the
Army Air Force, and on 15 March 1947, the 4132d AAF Base Unit
was discontinued. The physical plant was officially transferred to
the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers on 18 May 1947.
GREAT BEND ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1945)
'TVHE first public announcement of intentions to build an airfield
* at Great Bend, on the Arkansas river in Barton county, came in
the form of a telegram from Sen. Arthur Capper of Kansas to the
secretary of the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce on 30 Sep-
tember 1942. But, of course, by then all the preliminary work had
been done. In July of that year the site at Great Bend had been
chosen. Nor was all the initiative left to the Army. A committee
of leading citizens from Great Bend and Hoisington had made the
original proposal. Originally, plans called for the Civil Aeronautics
Administration to supply the funds, and, with war's end, Barton
county and Great Bend would acquire ownership. However, this
tentative arrangement was subsequently changed so that the field
was built under the auspices of the Air Force.
Originally intended to serve merely as a satellite base of Smoky
Hill Army Air Field at Salina, the physical plant at Great Bend
was initially decidedly limited in its functional utility and in size.
Most of the construction work was done by Patti-McDonald Con-
struction Company of Kansas City, but the concrete work on run-
ways and taxiways was undertaken by the W. L. Johnson Construc-
tion Company. Essentials were completed first. These were fol-
lowed in time by facilities for recreation and services. During the
summer and fall of 1943 a service club, theater, and bowling alley
were completed.
Capt. Theodore C. Reid, post engineer, was the first officer to
report for duty on the base. He arrived on 18 January 1943. The
first enlisted men to arrive, detachments of the 501st Base Head-
quarters and Air Base Squadron, the 1159th Guard Squadron, and
the 902d Quartermaster Company, were necessarily housed in
150 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Great Bend for a time, there being no facilities on the base. On
13 February 1943 the 501st was transferred to Great Bend to be-
come the headquarters squadron of the new field. Capping the
inchoate organizational structure, Lt. Col. Glenn M. Pike assumed
command of the field on 26 February. The first recorded Morn-
ing Report, dated 5 March 1943, lists 13 officers and 182 enlisted
men. From these modest beginnings, which was, of course, a
skeleton force even for the limited role the field was originally de-
signed to play, Great Bend was to grow impressively, both as to
mission and physical plant. By 31 January 1945 a total of 6,409
personnel would be stationed there.
In keeping with its scheduled function of processing heavy bom-
bardment groups, Great Bend Army Air Field was assigned to the
21st Bombardment Wing on 16 January 1943. It was the function
of the 21st to operate processing bases, but, besides processing it
did some training also. For instance, it provided certain types of
navigational flights in those instances in which these had not been
accomplished in third-phase training of the group. In addition,
the wing provided training in "Prisoner of War Behavior and Es-
cape/'
As early as March 1943 it was known that the Second Air Force
was to be charged with the responsibility of training personnel for
the new B-29 very heavy bomber. And the first tangible step
toward executing this mission was the activation of the 58th Bom-
bardment Operational Training Wing at Smoky Hill Army Air Field
at Salina, on 1 May 1943. But before much in the way of imple-
mentation could be done, the 58th was withdrawn from Second
Air Force jurisdiction on 8 June 1943.
Knowing this delay to be purely a temporary one, on 1 July 1943
Second Air Force chose as the instrument to achieve this objective
the 5th Heavy Bombardment Processing Unit, stationed at Salina.
Since Great Bend Army Air Field had been designated as one of
the bases to participate in the B-29 program, it was transferred to
the 5th Heavy Bombardment Processing Unit on the same day.
If Great Bend was to assume a different and greatly enlarged
mission, physical expansion of necessity became the order of the
day. Original plans were altered, providing for considerable ad-
ditions to the runway and taxiway systems. Additional troop hous-
ing was built, and new hangars were constructed especially de-
signed to accommodate the B-29.
To bring its nomenclature more into harmony with its function,
WINGS OVER KANSAS 151
the 5th Heavy Bombardment Processing Unit was redesignated the
73d Bombardment Operational Training Wing on 17 August 1943.
But the new organization endured for scarcely four months before
it was disbanded on 22 October 1943, subsequent to the reassign-
ment of the 58th Bombardment Operational Training Wing to the
Second Air Force on 15 October. Both the personnel and the sev-
eral bases of the 73d, among which figured Great Bend Army Air
Field, were relinquished to the 58th.
Fortunately, despite the somewhat impermanent organizational
picture at higher levels, the B-29 training program did get under
way at the bases which were assigned the task. Great Bend re-
ceived the 444th Bombardment Group (VH) and by April 1944,
its training completed, the 444th departed for overseas service.
During the remainder of its career, Great Bend was destined to
train three more very heavy bombardment groups, the 498th, the
19th, and the 333d, and in addition, it retrained the ground echelon
of the 489th back from Europe for redeployment to the Pacific. The
extreme dearth of B-29 aircraft, however, hampered the training
efforts for some time. Consequently, for several months the group
in training at Great Bend perforce used B-17's and B-26's for the
most part, with a sprinkling of B-29's to leaven the loaf.
Great Bend Army Air Field was fortunate in the calibre of co-
operation received from surrounding communities. The neighbor-
ing municipalities, such as Great Bend and Hoisington, were par-
ticularly active in promoting recreational opportunities for the
troops.
On 25 March 1944 the units permanently assigned to Great Bend
Army Air Field were reorganized in the 243d AAF Base Unit (OTU)
(VH). Thereafter, Great Bend was organized under the standard
plan for OTU (Operational Training Unit) bases. This plan con-
sisted of three major sections: administrative and services section,
supply and maintenance section, and the training section. In addi-
tion, the air inspector and the hospital were referred to as sections.
The office of the director of training was set up in April 1944, with
the responsibility of providing flying and ground school training to
all flying personnel of the very heavy bombardment groups suc-
cessively stationed at Great Bend. In addition, the directorate was
charged with the training of ground crew personnel. However,
since the new directorate was not prepared immediately to take up
its burden, the group in training at that time, the 498th, continued
to train itself as the 444th had done before it. Consequently, it was
152 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
only with the 19th Bombardment Group (VH), which began train-
ing in September 1944, that the training directorate took over the
training responsibilities. Thereafter, the tactical units stationed at
Great Bend were trained by the base directorate of training, al-
though they maintained their individual organizations and operated
independently of the base unit insofar as administration was
concerned.
It came to be common procedure for the maintenance echelon of
a group to move to Great Bend while another group was being
trained there. This was done in order that these men could receive
"on-the-job" training which would enable them to maintain the
aircraft of their own group when it arrived. For instance, an ad-
vanced detachment of the 19th Bombardment Group (VH) were
given jobs alongside the men of the 498th.
Beginning with the winter of 1945, part of the flying training was
conducted at Borinquen Army Air Field, Puerto Rico. The primary
purpose of this program, termed the "Gypsy Task Force," was to
take advantage of the good flying weather in Puerto Rico during
the winter months, enabling the crews to complete their training
much quicker than would otherwise have been the case. With this
phase of training over, the crews would return to Great Bend to
prepare for departure to a staging area. The program was discon-
tinued in April 1945, after only one season.
If the operations of the base were not crippled, they were cer-
tainly impeded by the critical manpower shortage resulting pri-
marily from heavy transfers to the Army Ground Forces during the
autumn and winter of 1944-1945. 2 By 31 January 1945, Great Bend
had furnished the Army Ground Forces with 244 enlisted men. The
reciprocal arrangement with the Ground Forces did not solve the
problem, since by 31 January 1945, the field had received only 90 en-
listed men replacements from the Ground Forces.
With the arrival of the ground echelon of the 489th Bombardment
Group in February 1945 from the European theater, Great Bend
became one of the first redeployment installations in the country.
At that time the 333d Bombardment Group (VH) was receiving
its regular training, but the ground echelon of the 489th was trained
on B-29 maintenance alongside the men of the 333d. After a
relatively short transition course in the B-29 (they were already
experienced maintenance men) the 489th left in March to join the
2. These transfers were occasioned by the all out Allied ground push in Europe in
which the Battle of the Bulge was a factor. Obviously, the transfers were part of an
attempt to get every immediately available man on the line.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 153
air echelon of the group, which had received transition training at
several different bases.
Victory over Japan had a direct effect on the mission and activity
of the base. The 333d Bombardment Group (VH), having com-
pleted its training, left Great Bend during July and August 1945.
No other groups were assigned for a full schedule of training, but
the 44th Bombardment Group (VH) and the 405th Service Group
used Great Bend as an assembly point. Indeed, in this period the
primary mission of the base became that of discharging qualified
men or rather of transferring them to separation centers.
On 25 October 1945 the base was officially informed by Second
Air Force that the installation would be put on a standby basis on
31 December 1945. Following this announcement, activities on the
base ( except that of shipping men to separation centers ) slowed up
considerably. During December the 44th Bombardment Group
(VH) and the 405th Air Service Group were transferred to Salina.
Second Air Force had placed Great Bend in the category of those
fields whose retention was desirable for standby, with a possibility
of being reopened on 30 days' notice. Consequently, one of the
principal activities of December consisted of inactivating buildings.
Sources are lacking by which to trace the subsequent steps lead-
ing to complete inactivation and transfer to the District Engineers.
As late as March 1946 Great Bend was still in the category of
temporarily inactive or standby under the Second Air Force. How-
ever, the field was never subsequently activated. For a short time,
during 1950 (and possibly 1949), the field was host to an Air Force
reserve unit. However, by March 1951 no unit was stationed there,
nor has the Air Force made use of the field since.
HERINGTON ARMY AIR FIELD
(1942-1947)
TTERINGTON Army Air Field was located eight miles from Her-
n ington, on a 1,700-acre tract of land which had been purchased
by the United States government. It was planned as a satellite of
Topeka Army Air Field, a Second Air Force installation which was
situated some 70 miles to the northeast and which served as the
headquarters for the 21st Bombardment Wing. Construction of
Herington Army Air Field, accomplished by contract under super-
vision of the Air Service Command, commenced in September 1942,
and continued over a period of 14 months. On 1 November 1942,
however, Maj. Harold Painter, who was slated to become the first
commanding officer, arrived to take over the field.
154 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Construction work of a general nature relative to the site chosen
for the army air field near Herington, included a water storage and
distribution system; a sewage collection and disposal plant; an
electric distribution system; two gasoline storage and distribution
systems; 128,000 square yards of paved roads and streets; 14,000
square yards of paved walks; and a swimming pool.
The remaining major installations and structures at Herington
Army Air Field may be listed conveniently under the following
headings: airfield; temporary cantonment type buildings; temporary
theater of operations type buildings; and auxiliaries.
Airfield.
a) 3 concrete runways, 6,884, 6,793, and 6,780 feet long and
each 150 feet wide.
b) 4 taxiways, 4,431, 5,919, 1,208, and 425 feet long and each
100 feet wide.
c) 3 small hangars.
d) control tower.
e) 1 concrete apron 3,384 feet long and 400 feet wide, with
access aprons to the hangars.
f) 4 hardstandings, three 100 feet in diameter and the other
one 50 feet.
Temporary Cantonment Type Buildings.
a) 1 mess hall.
b) 15 storage houses.
c) 4 administration buildings.
d) 3 quarters.
e) 1 barracks.
f ) 9 technical maintenance shops.
g) 7 hospital buildings.
h) 19 miscellaneous structures.
Temporary Theater of Operations Type Buildings.
a ) 6 mess halls.
b) 45 storage houses.
c) 25 administration buildings.
d ) 17 quarters.
e) 56 barracks and dormitories.
f ) 8 technical maintenance shops.
g) 97 miscellaneous structures.
Auxiliaries ( off base ) .
a) gasoline and oil storage area.
b ) radio homing station.
c) rifle and pistol range.
d) asphalt storage area.
On 26 January 1943 Major Painter formally assumed command of
Herington Army Air Field and appointed an adjutant, a provost
marshal, a post engineer, a quartermaster, and a medical officer.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 155
On the same day also the following units were activated: the 503d
Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron; the 1161st Guard
Squadron; and the 399th Army Air Forces Band. In the ensuing
weeks a Base Signal Office was created, a Base Operations Section
organized, a Finance Department set up, and a Base Chemical
Service inaugurated. Commencing with only one officer on 1 No-
vember 1942, the number of military personnel on the field grew
to 12 officers and 145 enlisted men by 1 March 1943 and to 103
officers and 1,768 enlisted men at the end of the following June.
The first contingent of WAC's, consisting of one officer and ten
enlisted women, arrived one year later. The peak in the strength
of the permanent party military personnel was reached in August
1944, with totals of 113 officers and 2,123 enlisted men and women.
Major Painter served as commanding officer of the field until 6 No-
vember 1943 when he was succeeded by Lt. Col. Charles B. Stead.
The 21st Bombardment Wing was charged with the responsibility
of the final processing of heavy bombardment crews and equipment
just prior to their leaving for overseas assignments. To carry out
that program the wing utilized Topeka Army Air Field, and three
satellite fields (Herington, Bruning, and Fairmont) in Kansas and
Nebraska. This processing of heavy bombardment crews and equip-
ment, sometimes called staging and also preparation for overseas
movements, proved to be the principal function of Herington Army
Air Field. A preliminary step leading to the development of the
program there was the assignment on 25 January 1943 of the 47th,
the 48th, the 49th, and the 50th Airdrome Squadrons. On 17 Feb-
ruary following the 6th Heavy Bombardment Processing Head-
quarters was activated at Herington. The dominant role played by
the processing function is indicated by the fact that in January 1944
the commanding officer of the 6th Heavy Bombardment Processing
Headquarters, in the person of Lt. Col. Henry Dittman, assumed
command over the entire field. That move in effect consolidated
three units which existed there: the Processing Headquarters itself;
the 503d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron; and the 406th
Sub-Depot, jurisdiction over which the Second Air Force but re-
cently had taken over from the Air Service Command. Two months
later, incidentally, the whole was organized as the 274th Army Air
Forces Base Unit.
The first combat crews and aircraft arrived at Herington for
processing during the latter part of June 1943; and the program im-
mediately got under way. Spread out over a period of approxi-
mately five days, the schedule involved the performance of the
156 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
following functions on all such crews and aircraft which were
temporarily assigned to the field: 1) auditing and processing of
personnel records, orders, and allied papers of each person, and
bringing payments up to date; 2) a physical fitness examination;
3) a clothing and equipment inspection; 4) the issue of certain
critical items of equipment; 5) the assignment of the final type air-
craft, and the conduct of specified vital inspection tests thereon;
6) a prisoner of war lecture; 7) communications instructions; 8) the
assignment of crews and aircraft to scheduled overseas projects;
9) briefings on routes to be traveled; and, finally, 10) arranging the
schedule for departure to the port of embarkation.
For the first 11 months of the active program Herington was pri-
marily a B-24 staging field, with a few B-17 crews and aircraft being
assigned there for processing. During the months of June, July, and
August 1944, however, it was converted into a B-29 staging field.
That meant, of course, the processing of very heavy bombardment
crews and aircraft just prior to their departure for overseas assign-
ments. Personnel who were routed to Herington for processing,
incidentally, included such well-known officers as Maj. Gen. Curtis
LeMay of the XX Bomber Command; Brig. Gen. Emmett O'Donnell
of the 73d Bombardment Wing; and Brig. Gen. Roger M. Handy of
the XXI Bomber Command.
By working around the clock during rush periods the 274th AAF
Base Unit at Herington was able to process an average of nine
combat crews a day. Normally, however, the rate of processing was
much more moderate. Figures for the year ending 30 June 1944
may be regarded as typical. They reveal that during that interval an
average of just over 86 crews and 76 aircraft were processed each
month. With some slight diminution this rate was maintained until
the end of World War II. On the whole most of the crews involved
left Herington with their own aircraft. Some of the others traveled
by train to the ports of embarkation. The remainder, along with
some few aircraft, were transported to ports of embarkation by the
Air Transport Command.
In May 1945 the Continental Air Forces assumed jurisdiction over
the Second Air Force. On 18 July following Herington Army Air
Field and the entire 21st Bombardment Wing were placed under
the direct supervision of Headquarters, Continental Air Forces. In
September 1945 Herington became an installation of the I Staging
Command, with the change in the name of the 21st Wing to that
designation. Soon thereafter Headquarters I Staging Command
WINGS OVER KANSAS 157
was moved from Topeka Army Air Field to Merced Army Air Field
in California. There was no further change in the status of Hering-
ton, however, until its inactivation on 14 November 1945.
Col. Henry Dittman remained as commanding officer of Herington
Army Air Field from 25 January 1944 until after the close of the
war. Lt. Col. Maurice Horgas was serving in that capacity at the
time the field was inactivated. Thereafter jurisdiction over it
formally passed from the Continental Air Forces to the Oklahoma
City Air Service Technical Command. The installation then was
placed on an inactive status, and a declaration of surplus was pre-
pared. On 18 October 1946 the War Department listed the field
as surplus to its needs. After disposal had been made of all remain-
ing property and a final audit had been made, jurisdiction over
Herington Army Air Field was transferred to the Division Engineers,
Kansas City, Mo., on 19 March 1947.
(To Be Concluded in the Autumn, 1959, Issue.)
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush and the
Smoky Hill Route, 1859-1860
CALVIN W. GOWER
KANSAS territory, 1854-1861, extended from the western border
of Missouri to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and included
much of present-day eastern Colorado. When hordes of gold seek-
ers participated in the Pike's Peak gold rush in 1859 and 1860, they
not only passed through eastern Kansas territory in many instances,
but they also did most of their prospecting in far western Kansas.
Eastern Kansas towns seemed to be in an ideal position to bene-
fit from the rush. Undoubtedly many people went overland
through Iowa and Nebraska, but the easiest approach was to go
up the Missouri river to one of the Kansas, Missouri, or Nebraska
river towns. By the early part of 1859 those who could afford it
were crossing Missouri via the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad.
Kansas City and St. Joseph in Missouri and Omaha in Nebraska
were good outfitting points, but the Kansas river towns claimed
certain advantages. Kansas City and St. Joseph were said to be on
the wrong side of the river, and the Nebraska town was too far up
and too small.
Which route gold seekers might select was of much importance
to river towns. Three main routes were used in 1859 and 1860.
The southern followed the old Santa Fe trail for a large part of the
way. Much of this traffic eventually started from Kansas City, Mo.
None of the larger Kansas towns were on this trail. It attracted
quite a few emigrants in 1859, not as many in 1860. The northern
route followed the old Oregon trail in part, via the Platte river.
Some extreme northeastern Kansas towns benefited, but few
others. Atchison, Kan., and St. Joseph, Mo., were the chief start-
ing points, with the latter gaining much of the trade. Several "cen-
tral" routes supposedly existed, but by the early spring of 1859 the
most popular was the Smoky Hill. This was by way of the Kansas
river and its southern fork, the Smoky Hill, with Leavenworth as
its principal starting point.
Of all the routes, the Smoky Hill was the most direct. 1 As early
as September, 1858, Kansas newspapers were printing statements to
DR. CALVIN W. GOWER, Colorado born, recently received his Ph. D. from the University
of Kansas, Lawrence. He is currently an instructor in history at St. Cloud State College,
St. Cloud, Minn.
1. See William Crane Johnston, Jr., "The Smoky Hill Trail" (master's thesis, Univer-
sity of Denver, 1927). This work is incomplete, but it gives an outline of the history of
the trail. The events covered in this article are not touched on to any great extent by
Johnston.
(158)
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 159
this effect. One account asserted that the distance from Wyandotte
by the Smoky might be only 500 miles. 2 Another newspaper esti-
mated that the air line distance from Leavenworth was only 555
miles and said there were settlements to within 250 miles of the
mines. 3
Citizens of Wyandotte held a meeting in September, 1858, to
push it as an outfitting point. It was argued "that the true route
is directly up the Kansas river and Smoky Hill fork." 4 The Law-
rence Republican noted on October 7, 1858, that Leavenworth and
Kansas City were in contention, with Leavenworth defending the
Smoky and Kansas City the Santa Fe. The Republican claimed
that the Smoky passed through settled areas farther. A letter to
the Junction City Sentinel stated that a man who had returned
by way of the Smoky said the distance was shorter, the roads better,
the wood, water, and game plentiful, and the settlements farther
out. 5
Besides these newspaper stories, three guide books published
early in 1859 stressed the advantages of the Smoky Hill route. The
author of one said it was the shortest but cautioned that until it
was definitely opened up emigrants should take one of the better
established routes. But he stated, "A central route will be opened
the coming season," undoubtedly the Smoky Hill route. 6 A second
guide book recommended the Smoky, stating that it followed the
banks of streams except for about 130 miles. It advised striking
south to meet the Arkansas river in the extreme western portion of
the route. 7 A third guide book supported the Smoky for the same
reasons. 8
Praise of the Smoky continued into 1859. The Leavenworth
Weekly Times reported on February 12 that the Junction City
Sentinel advised emigrants to travel via Leavenworth. This fact
was significant, said the Times, because Junction City was in the
western portion of the settled part of Kansas and had no interests
to serve but the good of the emigrant. What it neglected to men-
tion was that these travelers were also expected to pass through
2. Leavenworth Ledger and Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, quoted in the Herald
of Freedom, Lawrence, September 18, 1858,
3. White Cloud Kansas Chief, September 23, 1858.
4. Western Weekly Argus, Wyandotte, September 30, 1858.
5. James S. Graham to the editor of the Sentinel, no date. Junction City Sentinel,
quoted in the Lawrence Republican, October 7, 1858.
6. O. B. Gunn, New Map and Hand-Book of Kansas <b- the Gold Mines . . .
(Pittsburgh, 1859), pp. 40, 42.
7. William B. Parsons, The New Gold Mines of Western Kansas . . . (Cincin-
nati, 1859), pp. 40, 42.
8. The Illustrated Miners' Hand-Book and Guide to Pike's Peak . . . (St. Louis,
1859), p. 66.
160 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Junction City. In March a letter in the Times from William Lari-
mer, a correspondent in Denver, stated that four men had recently
arrived by way of the Smoky. He reported that they had been very
well satisfied with the route. 9 One account noted that in 1843 John
C. Fremont had explored the country between the Missouri river
and the Rocky Mountains and in his narrative had recommended
the Smoky route to the area. "Subsequent explorations have cor-
roborated the view taken by the Great Explorer, and the bulk of
the spring emigration will, undoubtedly, select this as their main
road." 10
In Lawrence the Republican printed a letter March 24, 1859, ad-
vising emigrants to go directly up the Smoky Hill to its head and
then west. 11 The Herald of Freedom agreed, and said Lawrence
was the best outfitting point. 12 A letter from the gold fields to the
Wyandotte Commercial Gazette stated that several parties had come
through by the Smoky Hill. "They report a good supply of wood,
water and grass." 13 The Junction City Sentinel even became poetic,
"Let Hercules do what he may, The Smoky Hill Route MUST have
its day." 14
Within months it was clear that the ideas expressed by these
newspapers were incorrect in most instances. As one historian
pointed out, in 1858 and 1859 "there was no discernable trail at all
after one left Fort Riley. . . . Added to this lack of knowledge
of the route to be taken, those who recommended the Smoky Hill
trail had little knowledge of distance." 15 Another writer has com-
mented, "Although it was the most direct, the Smoky was, due to
scarcity of water, the hardest and most dangerous of the three
great prairie roads from the Big Muddy to the Pike's Peak Gold
Region." 16
The Kansas City ( Mo. ) Western Journal of Commerce stated on
April 9, 1859, that it had heard that suffering was occurring on the
Smoky Hill route. Said the Journal, "How often will it be neces-
sary to tell the public that there is no road up the Smoky Hill."
The Cherry Creek Pioneer, which appeared only once and then dis-
9. William Larimer, Jr., to the editor of the Times, February 2, 1859. Leavenworth
Weekly Times, March 5, 1859.
10. Ibid., March 19, 1859.
11. A. Cutler to the editors of the Republican, March 10, 1859. Lawrence Repub-
lican, March 24, 1859.
12. Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, March 26, 1859.
13. D. C. Collier to the editor of the Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, February 12,
1859, quoted in the Lawrence Republican, April 14, 1859.
14. Junction City Sentinel, quoted in the Freedom's Champion, Atchison, March 26,
1859.
15. Johnston, op. cit., p. 14.
16. Margaret Long, The Smoky Hill Trail, Following the Old Historic Pioneer Trail*
on the Modern Highways (Denver, 1953), p. 20.
TABJJG OF DISTANCES
FROM
to
VIA THE
First Wunilawl P&rall&'-S&itfoto the Itepublican Fork of the Kansas
.nfcir, thence following the trail of CoL Fremont o^hiseJS"
plowxtions ht L843, ft> Cheny Creek andfh&3tin0$*
piled fforn CoL Fremont's 8?mTy% d l!ia mo&t reliabls mformtloa derived from the
tradersWrosH the Great. Phuti*.
~ ^..VY^KI-NT- > - .j
K $-,
iA'iuw.
U!C**ter, I <l ! 1?
^<*t 1 1 t v iafiitj prt>v Jsiopt
tnH f?ra*s.
Musedbab, on Grasshopper, ; 11 "~^ *
vt Hi- : n's^ni , provinions
uid ^rass,
Surekst : 11 :"
".* 1-Mn^nt, ptWtSJonS
t:d jrrass.
Datario, on Elk Crek, : 10 . 41 p
, -ut, provision 4 ?
aid grass*
A m^rtra^ o Soldiers Creek, 9 .'^s ^
Hjttlosucrst , proviaioun
us*! ifrasis.
V*< Ilia ' , S| s 75
**ltloia<'?it , enterteiumt
nt aoil p?o visions.
!?3.vy timhr &nd uii*>
s
j n i.i 1;
/ujber ad jjrass,
: d Uo. 1 23 ; IIS ; '
Vyod, water atu! n'SSS.
't:M. Fn'mn;
this section as < *3lTaf4Io|f
!>:nne!i of Soiom<>u"s Furkj
l^av^f da *l do
Hr^neh of R^tibliritn Fo
the Ma
*n*.'raily ov^r high and
'icryn;*, which are well
ii very heavy oak,
ROUTE FROM ATCKLSON
*& ^?f F*al:? an
iil^ in 1811.
the ishiuf Ilie route is
JROCIE rliOM ATCHISON,
VIA THK
Road.
ii.-ae*.
V M il ; rrats.
.! arras*,
A SAMPLE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION AVAILABLE
IN KANSAS 100 YEARS AGO
Kansas towns vied for "tourist" traffic in 1859 as now. These travel directions,
covering three main routes west from Atchison, contain several place names
familiar to today's travelers. The tables were published in 1859 issues of an
Atchison newspaper, Freedom's Champion.
Since the return of the buffalo (on scattered reservations, of course) today's
traveler might even be able to locate buffalo chips for fuel if he looks closely
enough. But beware of the buffalo.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 161
continued operation, reported from Denver on April 23 that several
men who had recently arrived via the Smoky Hill route had be-
come lost because of the absence of markers on it. Stated the
Pioneer, "Any other route is better than the smoky Hill road/' 17 A
man from Council Grove brought a report to Kansas City of a
company of 100 men who had come down from the Smoky Hill
route, lost and without provisions. He said they robbed the trad-
ing post at Cottonwood crossing, beat up the keeper, took 80 to
100 sacks of corn and all the flour, provisions, and groceries on
hand, and headed for the mines. 18 The Rocky Mountain News as-
serted, "Every day we meet men arriving from the States by the
above route most of them in an almost famishing condition." This
newspaper reported that three men had died from starvation.
Other stories of deaths and disappearance appeared. One emigrant
related a tale of 17 men who had died or disappeared, and another
claimed the remains of one hundred men could be seen along the
trail. The News bitterly condemned the people who had induced
emigrants to start over the route with a short supply of provisions
expecting to find a good road with good camps; a road 250 miles
shorter than any other route. Instead, said the News, the emi-
grants found no road at all, very little wood or water, and a dis-
tance to travel of 800 instead of 600 miles. 19
These stories of suffering on the Smoky Hill route continued
until the most dreadful of all appeared. It was related in a pub-
lished pamphlet by one of the survivors.
Daniel Blue, his two brothers, Alexander and Charles, and two
other men left their homes in Illinois in February, 1859, to seek
gold in the Pike's Peak gold region. They proceeded to Lawrence,
purchased a pony, put their luggage on the animal, and started
walking to the mining area. In Topeka they bought 200 pounds of
flour. At Manhattan they joined a party of nine other Pike's Peakers
and proceeded on to Fort Riley. By the time they reached that
place the party had swelled to 16. The group decided to take the
Smoky Hill route on the recommendation of one of their number
who claimed to have traveled that trail before. Nine of the men
stopped to hunt buffalo, but the rest pushed ahead. These seven be-
came lost west of Fort Riley, their pony wandered away, and they
were left with practically no provisions.
17. Cherry Creek Pioneer, Denver, April 23, 1859.
18. Western Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., May 7, 1859.
19. Rocky Mountain News, Denver, May 7, 1859.
11_>8804
162 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
About March 17 they reached the head of the Smoky Hill fork
and believed themselves to be only about 55 miles from Denver.
Actually, said Daniel Blue, they were about 170 miles away. They
had no course to follow and used the sun for a guide. They were
lost and had virtually no food left. To add to their troubles a se-
vere snowstorm occurred. Soon the party of seven split up, three
of the men pushing ahead, leaving behind a group of four, the
three Blue brothers and a man named Soley. Before long two of
them were too weak to walk. The four ran out of provisions and
subsisted upon boiled roots, grass, and snow for eight days.
In their desperate situation, realizing that they faced death from
starvation, the men determined to resort to cannibalism. They
agreed that if one of them died the others should eat his flesh in
an attempt to regain their strength and permit them to push on to
some settlement. Soley died, and after lying beside him for three
days the Blue brothers ate his flesh. Then Alexander Blue ex-
pired and the other brothers partook of his flesh. Finally, Charles
Blue perished and Daniel Blue devoured some of his flesh. A short
time later some Arapaho Indians found Daniel and saved him.
They contacted the express company which took Daniel to Denver
where he arrived on May 11. He found that only five of the 16
who had left Fort Riley had reached the gold fields. 20
These tales of suffering brought forth bitter attacks on Leaven-
worth by the Kansas City Western Journal of Commerce. Said
the Journal, "We are informed that they have a couple of bottles,
filled with brass filings at a banking house in Leavenworth, which
they place in the window, labeled Tike's Peak Gold/ It is this
sort of stuff, together with 'painted wagons,' 'ten days Expresses,'
that never run at all, that has killed so many on the Smoky Hill." 21
The Leavenworth Weekly Herald replied that in carping Kansas
City all the bottles were filled with "instanter whiskey" and that
was the way the people wanted them to continue. 22
A short time later two journalists explained why suffering had
occurred on the Smoky Hill. One of them stated, "That route will
doubtless turn out as good in the end as either the Northern or
Southern. But at the time of the beginning of the Pike's Peak emi-
20. Daniel Blue, Thrilling Narrative of the Adventures, Sufferings and Starvation of
Pike's Peak Gold Seekers . . . (Chicago, I860), pp. 6-8, 10-17. See, also, Henry
Villard, "To the Pike's Peak Country in 1859 and Cannibalism on the Smoky Hill Route,
The Colorado Magazine, Denver, v. 8 (November, 1931), pp. 225-236.
21. Western Journal of Commerce, May 28, 1859. Somehow the impression was gained
in some quarters that the Jones and Russell express was using the Smoky Hill route. This
was not true, but the express company was blamed for some of the emphasis which was
placed on the Smoky Hill route.
22. Weekly Leavenworth Herald, June 4, 1859.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 163
gration it was but partially explored. . . ." 2S The other asserted,
"Thousands took an unexplored route, up the Smoky Hill river,
where grass and water proved woefully scarce and fearful suffering
prevailed/' 24
The unfortunate results of the 1859 spring emigration struck a
deathblow to the Smoky Hill route. Very few items appeared in
the papers concerning it during the summer and fall of 1859. How-
ever, in late September a meeting was held in Manhattan to con-
sider the possibility of surveying and constructing a road from
Leavenworth to Denver via Manhattan, Fort Riley, and the Solo-
mon fork. The group appointed a committee to talk to the people of
Leavenworth and other towns along the route. 25 This movement
never developed further but a similar one concerning the Smoky
Hill route did.
In the early part of 1860 discussion of the Smoky Hill route oc-
curred in the Kansas legislature and in some newspapers. Two
bills were introduced in the territorial council to establish roads up
the Smoky Hill river to some point at the base of the Rocky Moun-
tains. 26 In February the Rocky Mountain News printed a letter
from someone in Denver who said the Platte route was the best,
but that most of the people from the South and Southwest would
select the Arkansas (the Santa Fe) route. Only the "fool-hardy
and insane" would come up the Smoky Hill, this writer declared. 27
The Kansas Press of Council Grove, located on the Santa Fe route,
said of the Smoky Hill route in late February, "we trust no one will
be so foolish as to attempt to travel it." 28
In spite of this attitude and in spite of the failures of the preced-
ing year, Leavenworth still contained supporters of the Smoky Hill
route in the spring of 1860. One of these sent a letter to the editor
of the Times of that town late in February. Leavenworth must do
something, this correspondent wrote, to offset the advantage ob-
tained by St. Joseph through the establishment of the Hannibal
and St. Joseph railroad. He suggested "that a Committee of ar-
rangements . . . organize and equip as soon as possible, a
23. Henry Villard, The Past and Present of the Pike's Peak Gold Regions, reprinted
from the edition of 1860, with introduction and notes by LeRoy R. Hafen (Princeton, 1932),
p. 25.
24. Albert D. Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi . . . (Hartford, Conn., 1875),
pp. 157, 158.
25. Manhattan Express, October 1, 1859.
26. Council Journal of the Legislative Assembly of Kansas Territory . 1860,
pp. 34, 67.
27. "D." to the editor of the Netos, January 27, 1860. Rocky Mountain News, Feb-
ruary 1, 1860.
28. The Kansas Press, Council Grove, February 20, 1860.
164 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
party, who are to proceed and examine the region between Fort
Riley and the Gold Region of Western Kansas the route to follow
the Smoky Hill fork to its source. . . ." This party should con-
sist of not less than 18 well-equipped men, under the direction of an
engineer, and should make a thorough survey of the route and
construct good crossings over all the streams. The motive of the
letter writer appeared in his last sentence: "By thus securing a
short, commodious and direct route to the mines, Leavenworth can
yet secure this season, the greatest part of the trade and travel to
and from the Gold region, as their nearest river route." 29 The
Smoky Hill route boom which subsequently developed in Leaven-
worth was clearly linked to efforts to secure more outfitting trade
for that town and to combat the efforts of St. Joseph and other rivals.
Another letter writer shortly thereafter asserted, "At present, the
great struggle is for the Lion's share of the Pike's Peak trade."
Leavenworth could secure this by obtaining machinery for the
quartz interests to purchase and by establishing a central route to
the gold fields up the Smoky Hill fork. This correspondent sug-
gested that the people in the towns from Leavenworth to Junction
City collect funds toward constructing the road. He maintained
that "every town, and every farmer on the route is interested, and
can be induced to contribute in some way to the result/' 30
The Times supported this movement. It maintained that the
best and shortest route to the gold fields lay from Leavenworth,
but that the people interested in the route must improve it. Thirty
to thirty-five thousand dollars would suffice to cover the expense of
the necessary improvements, the newspaper declared. This sum
would permit the employment of 100 to 150 men on the road who
could complete the work in a short time. Adherents must act upon
the plan quickly though, the Times concluded. 81
As a result of this publicity, some Leavenworth residents held
several road meetings in March. Those attending decided the prin-
cipal stumbling block for road planners was financial. How much
money would road construction require, and where would this
money come from? The number of people at these meetings was
not large. A committee was appointed at one meeting to collect
subscriptions and information on the subject and to report at a
later meeting. 82
29. "Wid* Awake" to the editor of the Times, February 29, I860. Leavenworth
Daily Times, March 1, 1880.
30. "Progress" to the editor of the Times, no date. Ibid., March 2, 1860.
31. Ibid., March 12, 1860.
32. Ibid., March 15, 17, 1860; Weekly Leavenworth Herald, March 24, 1860.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 165
Other towns supported this move. The Lawrence Republican
defended the Smoky Hill route with the explanation:
Some parties who started out on that route last season took an insufficiency of
provisions, and therefore incurred great suffering. But that was no fault
of the route. Large numbers of persons returned from the mines by that
route last season, and all spoke of it as the shortest and best. 33
Later this paper reported,
The citizens of Leavenworth are moving in the matter of a road to the gold
mines, up the Smoky Hill river. This is a sensible movement, and should
have been made long ago. It will not be possible for Leavenworth long to
retain the Pike's Peak trade, if the present northern route is maintained. The
people of our own locality are also interested in this route, and will gladly
second the efforts of our Leavenworth neighbors. 34
The State Record of Topeka stated that the Smoky Hill route was
doubtless the shortest and best. 35
The Rocky Mountain News, on the other hand, protested against
attempts to build up the Smoky Hill route again as a fine usable
route. Inducing emigrants to use the route "for the benefit of
speculators and lot owners, in prospective towns along the line of
travel, has been tried once over this fated Smoky Hell route with
only too lamentable success, and its instigators stand to-day, in the
sight of Heaven, guilty of manslaughter, to say the least/' The
News suggested that the promoters of the Smoky Hill route try it
themselves and "if they get through without eating each other up,
some adventurous individuals may be induced to follow." 36
Such an attitude did not deter Leavenworth promoters. The
general meetings did not seem to be making much progress, so the
Leavenworth city council accepted the proposition of an experi-
enced mountaineer to open up the route. This move prompted the
first of the two Leavenworth-sponsored expeditions sent to locate
a road over the Smoky Hill in 1860.
Late in March Green Russell, one of the pioneer prospectors in
the Pike's Peak region, appeared in Leavenworth on his way to the
gold fields. He went before the city council and offered to locate
a road over the Smoky Hill route for $3,500. He promised to pro-
vide a guide for this road giving the distances between camping
grounds and information on the supply of wood, grass, and water,
and he agreed to send a report of his findings to the mayor and the
council of Leavenworth. If he passed over the route in 40 days,
33. Lawrence Republican, March 8, 1860.
34. Ibid., March 29, 1860.
35. State Record, Topeka, March 31, 1860.
36. Rocky Mountain News, March 21, 1860.
168 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
he promised to deduct one third of the sum charged. The council
unanimously accepted the proposition. Commented the Times
concerning the report Russell would send back, "If favorable, that
report will influence one half the return travel in the fall, and
control a large portion of the outgoing emigration in the summer." 37
"Other towns in Kansas approved the Green Russell expedition.
A Lawrence paper asserted,
The citizens of Leavenworth are at last awaking to the necessity of opening
a road from that city direct to the mines, via the Smoky Hill Fork. It is the
only method by which Leavenworth can hope to retain her Pike's Peak trade, or
maintain her position as the outfitting emporium for the gold regions. For
the northern route, Atchison and St. Joseph are two powerful competitors.
The newspaper added that if the Smoky Hill route were not opened,
the Pacific railroad would go by the Platte route. 38 The Topeka
State Record commented, "The entire Kansas Valley is deeply in-
terested in this project, and should co-operate with Leavenworth
to the extent of their ability in securing the opening of the route." 3J)
An editor in Manhattan declared, "This is a sensible movement,
and should have been made long ago. . . . The people of our
own locality are also interested in this route, and will gladly second
the efforts of our Leavenworth neighbors." 40 A letter to a Leaven-
worth paper from a man in Junction City stated that Junction City
favored Leavenworth's attentions to the Smoky Hill route. 41 Even
the Rockij Mountain News approved the plan to send Green Russell
out to explore and to mark the route. However, the editor of the
gold fields paper did not think anyone could construct a good road
via the Smoky Hill, and, therefore, he declared he would not rec-
ommend any travel over that route until the road had been definitely
established. 42
In early May Green Russell's party arrived in the gold fields. 43
On May 15 the mayor of Leavenworth received Russell's report.
The Times reported that this account was very favorable. Now,
counseled the Times, Leavenworth should immediately call a con-
vention of representatives from all the cities and towns interested
in the route and should ask the national government to send over the
route a survey team of 60 men or so accompanied by an engineer. 44
37. Leavenworth Dotty Times, March 30, 1860.
38. Lawrence Republican, April 5, 1860.
39. State Record, April 7, 1860.
40. Manhattan Express, April 7, 1860.
41. "Keystone" to the editor of the Herald, April 14, 1860. Weekly Leavenworth
Herald, April 21, 1860.
42. Rocky Mountain News, April 25, 1860.
43. Rocky Mountain Herald, Denver, May 5, 1860.
44. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 16, 1860.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 167
Even before Green Russell had completed his journey and sent back
his report, the Leavenworth Weekly Herald had opined that the
towns along the Kansas river and Leavenworth must set up a fund
of $30,000 to $50,000 for a complete exploration of the Smoky Hill
route and the opening up of a government wagon road over the
route. For, even if Green Russell did a good surveying job, "neither
his say so, nor any other private person's say so will secure popular
faith in a route which once proved so disastrous to those who
tried it." Also, the editor of the Herald believed that Russell's party
was too small to do a thorough job of exploring. He suggested a
convention of representatives from Leavenworth, Atchison, Kansas
City, and all Kansas river towns to set up a comprehensive plan of
survey, because the Smoky Hill route was important to the economy
of all these towns. 45
Thus, although the Green Russell expedition evoked an abun-
dance of enthusiasm when it began and even later when its re-
port came back, some observers had seen at an early date that it
would have only limited value. Earlier complaints that the ex-
pedition was almost worthless seemed to be confirmed by subse-
quent events. Just a few weeks after the completion of Russell's
trip another exploration was on its way to open up the Smoky Hill
route.
When Russell's report arrived in Leavenworth, interested citi-
zens of that town held a public meeting to consider their next step. 46
The Times declared, "No citizen having any interest in Leaven-
worth should forget or overlook the meeting to-night at the City
Hall." 47 A report which appeared in the Rocky Mountain News
late in May explained the urgency of this meeting. This report
came from an anonymous Eastern correspondent of the News who
wrote from St. Louis May 6. He stated that many emigrants were
going to the Rocky Mountains at this time:
St. Joseph particularly furnishes ample evidence of the numerical strength of
this spring's emigration. . . . The emigration from Atchison, Leavenworth
and Kansas City, is not very heavy this spring. More freight trains, it is true,
are started from these three towns than from those farther north, but the bulk
of the emigration itself seems to avoid them. Leavenworth, especially, ap-
pears to be much less attractive as an outfitting point than last year. 48
At the meeting held to consider Russell's report in mid-May in
Leavenworth the assembly set up a committee to devise a plan
45. Weekly Leavenworth Herald, April 21, 1860.
46. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 19, 1860.
47. Ibid., May 18, 1860.
48. Letter to the editor of the Netvs, May 6, 1860. Rocky Mountain News, May
23, 1860.
168 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
concerning the Smoky Hill road. The committee suggested the
following program: "First, to raise means in the city. Second, to
secure, forthwith, the co-operation of cities and counties along the
line. Third, to start a party, headed by practical and thorough men,
upon the road, to build and establish it." 49 A few days earlier the
city council of Leavenworth had appointed the mayor and two other
citizens to constitute a committee to correspond with other towns
interested in opening a wagon road from Leavenworth to Denver
over the Smoky Hill. 50
Conferences between the interested towns occupied the next
few days. Newspapers in the Kansas river towns responded
favorably to Leavenworth's overtures. The Manhattan Express
urged both Manhattan and Junction City to foster the movement. 51
The Topeka State Record stated, "Measures should now be taken
immediately for opening this route, and turning to practical account
the important facts developed." 52
The Times noted on May 23 that "delegates have been sent to
Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan and Junction [City], and ere a fort-
night passes a company will be out to build the road." 53 Leaven-
worth's plan was to send out a construction train to make bridges,
fix crossings, and dig wells. The train should consist of 35 men and
a competent superintendent sent out to work for 65 days. The
estimated cost of this operation was $7,500, and Leavenworth re-
portedly had already raised $2,000. The town would raise most of
the remainder of the sum, but it expected the Kansas valley towns
who were interested to contribute something also. Lawrence
planned a meeting to decide what its participation in the activity
would be, and a local paper urged the importance of the movement
upon the merchants of that town. 54 Topeka residents held a public
meeting May 23 to confer with the Leavenworth Smoky Hill route
committee to discuss plans. 55 Manhattan citizens held a conference
about the same time and discussed various means to finance the
endeavor. 56
Money was scarce in Kansas at this time, but Topeka offered to
furnish five yoke of cattle and whatever amount of money it could
49. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 21, 1860.
50. Ibid., May 19, 1860.
51. Manhattan Express, May 19, 1860.
52. State Record, May 19, I860.
53. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 23, 1860.
54. Lawrence Republican, May 24, 1860.
55. State Record, May 26. 1860.
56. Manhattan Express, May 26, 1860.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 169
raise, probably between three and five hundred dollars. 57 Junction
City appropriated $500 in bonds and declared it would double that
amount if necessary. Ogden offered a yoke of oxen, and Manhattan
promised $500 in bonds. Vermillion offered a mare, Auburn
promised three yoke of cattle, and Lawrence raised $155 in cash.
The total cash value of subscriptions from the Kansas valley towns
by June 2 was $2,165. The Leavenworth city council authorized
the issuance of $3,000 in bonds. 58
The financial arrangements were thus fairly well underway by
the time authorities in Leavenworth completed the organization of
the expedition. Superintendent of the party was Henry T. Green,
a 34-year-old attorney from Virginia, who had lived in Leaven-
worth since 1854. 59 Green, who was not an experienced prairie
traveler, led a party which included a guide, an engineer, and a
practical surveyor. 60 The expedition consisted of about 40 other
persons, five wagons, 60 days' provisions, and plenty of firearms
and ammunition. The group left Leavenworth about June 18. 61
The Green expedition reached Topeka on June 22 and Manhattan
four days later. Green visited the office of the Manhattan Express
and told some of his plans. He intended to halt at the extreme
headwaters of the Smoky Hill and make a thorough investigation
of the country between that point and Cherry Creek. Also, the ex-
pedition planned to bridge all streams which travelers had difficul-
ties crossing, smooth out abrupt declivities, fill all steep hollows,
remove bad rocks, try to make as direct a route as possible, and set
up suitable gtiideboards and other markers. The Express stressed
the long-range importance of the expedition by emphasizing that
the road which the expedition opened would be the forerunner of
a railroad "which will soon be demanded by the importance which
the Gold Mines on our Western border are beginning to assume." 2
Green and his men were in Salina on July 4 and that town pre-
pared a Fourth of July picnic for them. 63 A Leavenworth paper
reported July 23,
The last heard from the Smoky Hill Expedition, was when at a point fifty
miles beyond Salina. As far as the work had progressed, the route was ex-
cellent, and no difficulty of any kind had been experienced. The road was
57. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 29, 1860.
58. Ibid., June 2, 1860.
59. "United States Census, 1860," v. 10, p. 222. Archives division, Kansas State His-
torical Society, Topeka; A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas
(Chicago, 1883), p. 444.
60. Leavenworth Daily Times, June 6, 1860.
61. Ibid., June 16, 1860.
62. Topeka Tribune, June 23, 1860; Manhattan Express, June 30, 1860.
63. "J. R. F." to the editor of the Times, July 4, 1860. Leavenworth Daily Times,
July 11, 1860.
170 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
marked by mounds, about a mile apart, so that there could be no trouble in
finding it hereafter. 64
About a month later the Times received a letter from its special
correspondent who was traveling with the expedition. He an-
nounced that the party had reached the gold fields after 57 days on
the trail; the expedition, he wrote, had made a good road to both
Denver and Colorado City. The Times greeted this announcement
with the statement, "Leavenworth City will soon recover her former
vitality. . . /' 65
Green sent a letter from Denver shortly after his party reached
that place. He wrote that wood was scarce on the Smoky Hill route
in many places but plenty of buffalo chips were available. Up to
Big Grove an abundance of water existed, and beyond Big Grove
the longest stretch without water was only 22 miles. "All through
the route we have mounds and sign boards so that no man can lose
it." Green intended to start back to Leavenworth soon and prom-
ised that upon his arrival he would "furnish a report of our financial
condition, which is quite low, also a diary of our travel, water,
grass, wood, buffalo chips, and the face of the country." 66
Green and others arrived back in Leavenworth on October 6.
Several Leavenworth citizens visited him on his first evening in
town, organizing into a meeting to decide what steps should be
taken to present Green's report to the people of Leavenworth. They
decided to have Green and other officers of the expedition report
to the city council on October 9 and then later relate their experi-
ences at a meeting of all the citizens of Leavenworth. The Times
commented that the opening of the route was of great significance
to Leavenworth. Expectations were that a large emigration would
roll to the gold fields in 1861. 67
Green reported before a general meeting of the people of Leaven-
worth on October 16. 68 Three days before this meeting, authori-
ties auctioned off all of the equipment used by the Green expedi-
tion and a large crowd collected to bid on the various items. 69 In
March, 1861, the report was distributed in pamphlet form. 70 This
pamphlet also contained an explanatory preface by the publish-
ing committee of the Leavenworth city council and a table of dis-
64. Ibid., July 23, 1860.
65. James Brown to the editor of the Times, August 16, 1860. Ibid., August 28, 1860.
66. H. T. Green to the editor of the Times, August 29, 1860. Ibid., September 10,
1860.
67. Ibid., October 8, 1860.
68. Ibid., October 17, 1860.
69. Ibid., October 15, 1860.
70. Ibid., March 23, 1861.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH SMOKY HILL ROUTE 171
tances between Leavenworth and Denver. 71 With this publication
the Green expedition completed its activities.
Some Kansas newspapers greeted the work of the Green expedi-
tion with enthusiasm. The Lawrence Republican stated, "We shall
soon have the immense trade and travel of the entire gold regions
directed through our city. . . ." 72 The Topeka State Record
commented that the Smoky Hill route had innumerable advantages,
and the Manhattan Express asserted that the Smoky Hill would
"positively be the great thoroughfare to the gold regions." 73
People from the gold fields who traveled back over that route
sustained the enthusiasm for the Smoky Hill road. A man who had
recently returned over the route declared in October, 1860, that
he believed it was shorter and better than the Platte or Arkansas. 74
Four men who came over the route to Leavenworth from Denver
asserted that it was the best road from the mines, over one hun-
dred miles shorter than any other. 75 Another returned Pike's Peaker
praised the road, but noted one drawback. His complaint was:
". . . the landmarks erected by the surveying expedition, are
being demolished by the herds of buffalo on the plains, and . . .
unless measures are speedily taken to restore them, an entire new
survey, much of the distance, will have to be made." 76
Actually the destruction of the landmarks made little difference in
the history of the route. The desperate endeavor by Leavenworth
and the Kansas river towns to construct a route which would gain
a place beside the Platte route came two years too late. The peak of
the rush to the gold fields had occurred in 1859. The traffic in 1860
was still of sizeable proportions, but the Smoky Hill road was con-
structed too late in that year to benefit from it. In 1861 the rush was
over. The improved route did not help the Kansas valley towns gain
much of the gold seekers' trade, but it did serve a useful purpose
later as the road for the Butterfield stage line and even later for the
Kansas Pacific railroad. 77 The route proved its usefulness, but only
at a later date and under different circumstances than those which
prevailed in 1859 and 1860.
71. H. T. Green and O. M. Tennison, Report and Map of the Superintendent and
Engineer of the Smoky Hill Expedition . . . (Leavenworth, 1861).
72. Lawrence Republican, August 30, 1860.
73. State Record, October 13, 1860; Manhattan Express, September 29, 1860.
74. S. J. Willes to the editor of the Republican, October 8, 1860. Lawrence Repub-
lican, October 11, 1860.
75. Leavenworth Daily Times, October 30, 1860.
76. State Record, November 17, 1860.
77. Johnston, op. cit., pp. 49, 62, 66.
The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Young Lum, Pioneer
Kansas Missionary, 1854-1858 Concluded
Edited by EMORY LINDQUIST
III. THE LETTERS, MARCH, 1856 MARCH, 1858
Lawrence, K. T. March 10th, 1856.
R
EV. MILTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
My report for the year is necessarily detained chiefly on account
of ill health & at present I do not feel competent to the task of a
lengthened report but shall endeavor to supply what is now deficient
in the next quarterly, which will follow this in little over a week.
I cannot report the realization of what we so earnestly hoped at
the commencement of the year. Circumstances new & trying in the
extreme, have arisen to retard the progress of truth; & there have
been times when a full confidence in the overruling hand of an all
wise Father has been all that could keep our little band of praying
ones, from utter despair, so far as our prospects here were concerned.
All has for a great part of the time been wild excitement. 32 Our
place of worship has been taken for soldiers barracks, & our meet-
ings, when we could have any, were held in little private rooms,
where but very few could be assembled. In such a state of things
all has looked dark. A few of the brethren & sisters have been
drawn nearer to God, & have felt their entire & absolute dependence
upon him in every trial, but the great majority even of the church
have been influenced in a contrary direction. Excitement seemed
to dissipate serious reflection, & the mind lost its delight in the wor-
ship & service of God. I hardly think it possible for the interests of
truth to be advanced, even with ordinary rapidity, under such cir-
DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany
College, is dean of the faculties of the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky
Valley People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (1953), and numerous magazine articles
relating to the history of this region.
32. There was much agitation and conflict in Kansas associated with the Topeka con-
stitutional movement. Officials were elected under the constitution on January 15, 1856.
On February 11 President Franklin Pierce issued a proclamation commanding "all persons
engaged in unlawful combinations against the constituted authority of the Territory of
Kansas, or of the United States, to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective
abodes." Daniel W. Wilder, Annals of Kansas (1886), pp. 106, 109. The text of the
Topeka constitution is found in ibid,, pp. 91-106. Various factors in the Topeka movement
are described in an interesting manner by James C. Malin, "The Topeka Statehood Move-
ment Reconsidered: Origins," in Territorial Kansas; Studies Commemorating the Centennial
(Lawrence, 1954), pp. 33-69.
(172)
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 173
cumstances; & for this reason mainly I shall have but little progress
to report. We think that a permanent peace has at last been secured;
not but that we shall have excitement still, but I do not think they
will be of the bloody character they have heretofore been; & I trust
will in their influence be less hostile to truth.
The name of our Church is Plymouth Cong. Chh. of Lawrence,
Kanzas. During most of the year I have had 2 stations 25 miles
apart. Since Sept. I have entirely withdrawn from Topeka, &
have taken a station within the bounds of my Lawrence congrega-
tion. Thus I have still 2 & soon as practicable expect to take another.
The church is composed of ten male & eight female members.
Beside these, three have left us for the church triumphant, & one
has taken his letter to another church.
It is difficult to state what is the average attendance. When we
have the hall, which we resumed last Sabbath, there are about 100
in attendance, & probably, if our circumstances were at all favorable,
the average attendance would be twice that number.
It is not yet my pleasure to report any hopeful conversions though
there are a few who manifest much interest in their future welfare.
No additions by profession. There have been (8) eight additions
by letter though it is probable that some of these may be noticed in
my last report. Some of our most promising, prospective members
have been induced, from one cause & another, to either return East,
or to seek some other location, not so exactly in the focus of danger.
The Sabbath school has been much interrupted as also the Bible
class; & there is a less attendance than one year ago. The neighbor-
hood schools have been omitted during the vigor of the winter; &
the school in Lawrence numbers but about 30 with about 20 in
the Bible class.
The contributions at the monthly concert amount to $20.00 most
(if not all of which) will be for Home Missions.
The steps taken last fall for the erection of a church edifice, are
likely to be crowned with success. We hope before the close of the
year to see our hopes in this direction fully realized; steps have been
taken for the formation of Bible & Tract Societies. 33
Yours in the Gospel
S. Y. LUM.
33. The church building was started in the autumn of 1855. While the church was
used before it was fully completed, it was not dedicated until November 16, 1862. Richard
Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas (1903), pp. 82, 83.
174 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, March 22, 1856.
REV. MELTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
When I wrote my yearly report, I promised to be more full in my
next quarterly report & intended to make my promise good, but I
fear I shall be compelled to be a delinquent as I am now writing
under anything but favorable circumstances, watching day after
day, & I may say, night after night at the bed of sickness & death.
I find but little time, and feel but little disposition, to perform mental
labor. One of the members of my church, a young man & full of
promise, both for the church & the world, lies by my side, just on
the verge of eternity. ... I feel that I am ministering to my
dear Savior, in the person of his loved disciple, & it is a pleasure,
though a wearisome one to the flesh. . . .
We begin to hope that the hostile demonstrations of our Missouri
neighbors are over. This is desirable not only for the temporal
advancement of the Territory, but more especially for its growth in
spiritual things. Those who have not seen, cannot feel as we do,
what an awful influence the wild excitements of the past year have
had on the morals & virtue of this community. All the effects of
the Missionary are more than overbalanced by the agencies for
evil; & the character of the place, as a whole, has been sinking in-
stead of rising. It is with pain that we are compelled to admit such
a state of things; yet we do not give up our hope in reference to the
future. Should the peaceful state of things which now exist, con-
tinue, the mind of men will be better prepared to receive the truth,
& much more likely to give thought to the subject of Eternity, sal-
vation.
The legislature that met under the Constitution for the "State of
Kanzas," has just adjourned, & without any difficulties. 34 Gov.
Shannon threatened to arrest them, but they preceded with such
caution, & yet with so much firmness, that he seemed to think it
wisest not to interfere. Whether their doings will amount to any-
thing depends upon the action of our National Government, of
which there is but little hope.
I have written this in the sick room in the midst of constant inter-
ruptions, the natural result of which appear throughout it.
Please send the amount for the past quarter as heretofore ($100)
one hundred dollars.
Yours respectfully,
S. Y. LUM.
34. The Topeka legislature adjourned on March 8, 1856, to reassemble on July 4,
1856. Wilder, op. cit., p. 114.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 175
LAWRENCE, KANSAS,
June/1856
REV. MILTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
Another year of my labor in this field has expired; & in looking
over it I find little to report, calculated to gladden the hearts of
those who feel an interest in the religious development of Kansas.
The whole time of my labor has been filled with excitements & com-
motion, of such a character as to retard, if not entirely destroy the
influence of truth; but the past three months more than any other
time, seems worse than lost, in a moral point of view.
My ministrations have been regular, & at times well attended
our little hall being frequently so thronged as to compel many to
leave, & while there, the audiences have appeared attentive &
serious, but at the threshold, as they left the house of prayer, the
ever present subject would meet the mind in some new form, &
crowd out all serious thought of the future. It has seemed as though
the Sabbath was selected as the day for special excitements; & not
infrequently have the members of my congregation & even mem-
bers of my church, left the morning service to be called upon to go
to the rescue of their brethren attacked by the banditti who sur-
round us. Without a knowledge derived from seeing & feeling,
one cannot estimate the fearful influence that such a state of things
has upon the character of even the professed children of God.
Those who love God here earnestly pray, for a season of rest &
quiet, a time when the soul can hold communion with itself, & dis-
cover its true position & prospects. We hope too that we shall not
be forgotten by our Eastern brethren. While they pray for our
temporal relief, let them not forget that we are in even greater
danger as a community of spiritual death than temporal. . . .
Since writing my last, I have been compelled to confine myself
almost entirely to this immediate vicinity. One cannot feel safe,
no matter what his position or what his business, in going in any
direction through the territory. Bands of armed men have been, &
are still arresting travellers, all about us, taking whatever they find
upon them of value. . . . Every day accounts are brought of
persons robbed & murdered & for no offense except, of holding
opinions not corresponding with those of the ruling powers. We
are truly experiencing a reign of terror. A few sabbaths since, when
going to an evening prayer meeting about a mile & a half distant,
I was twice pursued by two suspicious persons on horses, but fail-
176 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ing to overtake me they turned back. Thus you see that it is not
safe to travel at all.
You doubtless have received full accounts of the destruction of
property and of the robberies that have taken place. These will be
seriously felt by our church, some having lost nearly their all, & all
being sufferers to a greater or less extent. The salary which was
pledged here will be almost entirely lost. The brethren had hoped
that the Spring would enable them to make up for the deficiency of
last Fall; but now they are much worse off than then. They are
placed in a position where they cannot redeem their pledges.
I have myself been a sufferer to the amount of not less than three
hundred dollars. When I first came to the Territory, I had a val-
uable horse given to me by a member of my church, one deeply
interested in the cause of the truth here. Last Winter he became
temporarily disabled; & I procured another also a gift. They were
both taken the same day with the burning of the hotel, & I have
not seen them since. 35
On the morning after the destruction of Lawrence, I visited the
camp of the Marshal's posse, & made an effort to recover my prop-
erty; but succeeded only so far as to get thoroughly abused. They
threatened to hang me; & I barely escaped with my life. Kanzas
is now passing through the furnace. Her character is being formed
under a welding heat. What type it will assume depends much
upon what material the churches of our land shall throw into the
crucible. We hope it may emerge from the fire bearing the same
impress that New England received from her early trials.
As to the issue between Freedom & Slavery, it cannot be decided
wrong if the Free States do what they now seem determined upon.
This is however, the darkest hour that Freedom has ever seen in
Kanzas; the entire force of the Government is brought to bear
against it, & there is no indignity, no outrage which is not practiced
upon the Free-State settlers. The scenes that followed the "coup
de tat" of Louis Napoleon are reenacted here under our free gov-
35. Lum describes the "sack of Lawrence." On May 21, 1856, the posse assembled
by United States Marshal Israel B. Donalson, when disbanded, was used by Sheriff Samuel
J. Jones of Douglas county, contending that it was needed to make some arrests and to
abolish some nuisances as ordered by the grand jury. Earlier, on April 23, 1856, when
Jones came to Lawrence to make some arrests, he was shot in a leg while asleep in a tent.
On May 21, 1856, the group under Jones destroyed the presses and equipment of the
Lawrence Herald of Freedom and the Kansas Free Press. The New England Emigrant
Company hotel, the home of Charles Robinson were burned and other property was
destroyed. Richard Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas (1895), pp. 87-89; 99-103.
The grand jury indictment which Sheriff Jones carried with him is printed in Frank W.
Blackmar, The Life of Charles Robinson (Topeka, 1902), pp. 196, 197. Prof. James C.
Malin describes the background factors in the interesting article "Judge Lecompte and
the 'Sack of Lawrence,' May 21, 1856," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 20
(August, 1953), pp. 553-597.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 177
eminent with additional violence. 36 Men are arrested without legal
process, & when arrested are driven off before the pretended offi-
cers like cattle. I can but feel that these things are developing
clearly the true nature of our national foe & preparing the true men
in all parts of the country to resist successfully its grasping demands.
We are all ready to commence the work of church building; &
were it not for the peculiar state of things, the work would have
been in quite an advanced state. As it is, it is difficult to get any-
one to run the risk of so large a contract, as it may be arrested at
any moment. We shall commence, however, as soon as possible.
Our desire will not be to secure the most costly edifice. One is now
building that will cost not less than twelve thousand dollars. We
shall be confined to the neighborhood of $5,000. For this, we can
get a comfortable though not large a building. We fear we shall
have to dispense with the tower & bell; though to us they seem
almost essential.
I have just returned from a visit to the camp where the prisoners
of State are held; but was not permitted to see them. 37 No one but
their counsel are at present allowed even to speak to the prisoners.
Every thing is rendered as uncomfortable as possible. They were
cheerfull & confident of the final success of the cause for which they
suffer; so we learned from the Governor's wife, Mrs. Robinson.
You will please remit the quarter's salary as heretofore & I much
fear I shall be compelled to ask for a further remittance [because]
every thing has gone contrary to our expectations. I should be [by]
this [time] have preached a sermon in behalf of the A.H.M.S. but
circumstances have prevented. The pecuniary result would be in-
considerable yet its influence on the future might be important
could I find a time when thought could be secured to the object. I
have not received the Home Missionary for the past year. Will you
not have it sent with the past numbers from April last?
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
36. On December 2, 1851, Louis Napoleon gained complete mastery of France as a
result of a coup d'etat planned largely by his half brother, the Due de Morny.
37. Charles Robinson, who had been elected governor of Kansas in January, 1856,
under the Topeka constitution, was one of several Free-State prisoners at Lecompton. They
were held on an indictment for treason on the basis of the action by the grand jury of
Douglas county. Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas, pp. 88-92; Blackmar, op. cit.,
pp. 190-205.
128804
178 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, K. T. Dec 24th 1856
SECRETARIES A. H. M. Soc.
DEAR BRETHREN.
It is just one month since my return to my field of labor yet I
have been back long enough to see, or at least to think I see,
brightening prospects for Kansas. 38 We are enjoying, & with fair
prospects of continuance, a state of peace & quiet unlike anything
I have witnessed, during the two years of my residence here. We
do not even hear the distant role of the thunder that has heretofore
preceded the storm. This may result from an entire confidence
on the part of the enemies of Freedom that the powers that be
will more perfectly accomplish the work they desire than they can
do by pursuing their former course of action.
Some think they have given up the field. I cannot believe that
they have done anything more than change their tactics, while the
purpose remains the same. Important changes in this respect have
taken place; firstly withdrawing from the field their most unscrupu-
lous & daring leader Col. Titus with his band of outlaws; next by
superseding the most pliant tools of the slave power in office. 39
There is also a manifest desire on the part of the southern faction
to cultivate feelings of friendship, where before every effort was
made to stir up the bitterest feelings of depraved nature. From
whatever cause this state of things may proceed, I can but rejoice
in it, as it opens a prospect for the advancement of that pure &
peaceable Gospel upon which the institutions of Liberty must rest
as a permanent base. Long & earnest must the disciples of Jesus
labor, before they can hope to see the difficulties which strife & war
have engendered removed. Yet it is no small ground of encourage-
ment, that the causes of evil are not as actively at work as formerly.
I am now enabled to hold regular public worship, & I have two
prayer meetings during the week. The attendance on each of these
occasions is somewhat increased; yet nothing is more apparent than
that habits of inattention & carelessness, in reference to the Sabbath
& sacred worship, have taken deep hold of I might almost say
the entire community. I suppose in reference to no other part of
the Territory is this state of things so prevalent as here. We feel
38. Lum had returned East with his family. He cited as the reason "the health of
my family seemed to render it necessary that they should have a release from the excite-
ments and exposures of our unhappy Territory during the coming Winter." The Home
Missionary, New York, v. 29 (December, 1856), p. 192.
39. Charles B. Lines, writing from Lawrence on August 24, 1856, described Col.
Henry T. Titus as follows: "This, Titus, by the way, is one of the most blood thirsty men
in the whole country. He has been a fillibuster and sort of land pirate during much of his
life, and is now the terror of all peaceable citizens in the territory. We know him well."
Alberta Pantle, ed., "The Connecticut Kansas Colony; Letters of Charles B. Lines to the
New Haven (Conn.) Daily Palladium," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 22
(Summer, 1956), p. 176.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 179
deeply the need of the presence & power of the Divine Spirit in our
midst to break up this fatal carelessness; & we must earnestly crave
to this end, the prayers of all who sympathize with us in these mat-
ters.
The churches have a responsibility beyond that of praying for
the success of the truth in Kansas from present indications there
is to be a large addition to the hosts of Freedom in the Territory
early in the Spring. There should there must be at least, an equal
increase among the soldiers of the Cross. It is not enough that Kan-
sas should be made free from the curse of Slavery; it must be rescued
from the curse of sin; & there are weighty reasons why this is not an
ordinary case in this respect. Never in the history of this country,
has a Territory been settled in the midst of so many influences calcu-
lated to counteract the spread of truth, & to foster the growth of
sin; & unless the tendency of these influences be arrested, we have
no reason to expect that they will fail to work out their legitimate
results. Those who have young friends in Kansas should weigh
well these facts.
I have subscribed for a number of the "Herald of Freedom" which
will doubtless reach you with this. I have not yet written to Bro.
Noyes in reference to the wants of the settlers as I have had more
than I could do my health not being very good. There will be
constant need of assistance in the shape of money, as nothing else
could reach us, navigation being closed. I could mention cases
where I have been compelled to give away some of my own chil-
dren^ clothing they being now at the East to the little sufferers
about me.
Since I arrived from the East I have received 2 boxes & 1 barrel
of clothing from those who sympathize with the cause of Christ
& the suffering children one box from Dedham, Mass, valued
at near 200 dolls., another from Bro. Jones society Worcester, Mass.,
a valuable box also in connection with this a barrel from the
Ladies of Boylston, Mass., for general distribution. A large part
of these I have distributed to the actually suffering. The box from
Dedham contained several vols of very valuable works, just what
my scanty library needed.
We are having very variable climate this Winter thus far 2
days ago the mercury stood at sun-rise at 8 below zero today the
air is balmy as the breath of Spring for the sake of the exposed
& they are legion, it would seem desirable that it might continue
so but "He doeth all things well." Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM
180 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS Jan 15th 1857
REV. DR. BADGER
DEAR BROTHER
Your letter containing a draft for Forty Six (46) dollars arrived
a few days since & would have been acknowledged before this were
it not that I have been in such a state of health as scarcely to be
able to attend to my duties at all. The disease which I left the
East to escape, & which I began to hope had entirely disappeared,
is returning upon me. I am often seriously afflicted with vertigo. 40
Excitement & application which I have attempted somewhat this
winter, produce the same results here as at the East, & I fear will
bring me to the same condition in which I was, one year before
accepting your commission. What is to be the result, a few months
will determine. This field demands the energies of a whole man.
With the present prospect of Kansas, & the position in it that Law-
rence occupies, it would be difficult to find a more important field.
Oh, how I dread, in one view, what I fear. Yet God will provide
for his church here.
Every day, I feel more & more the baneful effects of Unitarianism
here. This is its central, & at present, only point; but here it has
already secured an influence, more potent than of any other society
& the condition of our community is such, that it is likely to continue
& increase that influence. A reckless & daring spirit, created by the
scenes of the past two years, predisposes the mind to doubt those
truths that would hold it in check. Excitements 1st of war, & now
of speculation, bear the mind irresistably away from the peaceful
& quiet influences of the Gospel. Where no doctrines taught, but
those of the truth as it is in Jesus, there would be strong hope then
of overcoming these influences but when the truth as it is called
is so presented as to fall in with all the natural inclinations of the
sinful heart, it fortifies the way against that which is distasteful.
Thus I find, that Unitarianism is more in the way of the progress
of saving truth, than any or all other influences combined.
It has also an advantage in having its church nearly completed,
with funds to finish it. 41 Our building is far advanced; but the funds
are expended, & how we are to go on with it in the Spring, is yet
unknown. It cannot be done among ourselves. We are compelled
40. Vertigo is characterized by "dizziness, giddiness, a sensation of irregular or whirl-
ing motion, either of oneself or of external objects." Norman Burke Taylor, ed., Stedman's
Medical Dictionary (Baltimore, 1953), p. 1493.
41. The construction of the Unitarian church at Lawrence started in the spring of
1856 under the leadership of the Rev. Ephraim Nute. Although it was occupied in the
spring and summer of 1857, it was not completed until the autumn of that year. A. T.
Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883), p. 327.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 181
to look somewhere else, for from one to two thousand dollars. I do
trust that with all the sympathy that is felt for Kansas at the East,
this work will be completed there for us.
You will doubtless have heard ere this of the purchase of a town-
site near the mouth of the Kansas river, on the Mo. I have not been
there but from what I can learn, from reliable sources, it bids fair
to be the entrepot of the Territory. It is wholly "Free State;" & has
large amount of capital interested in its increase. 42 Should it grow,
as is desirable, & as is expected, they will need a Missionary there
quite early in the Spring. Yet that cannot be decided upon at this
early date.
Since I have been writing this, I have had two calls from distressed
families for relief. The cold is vigorous; & must be to the destitute
a cause of great suffering. Both of these families were sick; one of
them, nearly every member sickness induced by exposure. It
afforded me the pleasure, the more so from the fact that they were
followers of Jesus, to be able through your remittance to be able to
furnish them their immediate necessities. I have constant calls on
such business; & esteem it a privilege thus to recommend the truth
to those who might thus be led to receive it but there are numerous
cases that the small amount at my disposal will not reach; & some
cases of destitute families, whose modesty & diffidence will not per-
mit them to make application to public distributors. . . .
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE KANSAS Mar. 24th/57
REV. DR. BADGER.
DEAR BROTHER.
Another quarter of my labor in the service of the Soc. has expired
& at its close I am compelled to resign my position as a home mis-
sionary not I trust from a want of love for the work, but from an
entire inability to perform it, from what I said in a former letter it
cannot be unexpected by the Soc. though perhaps it may have been
sooner than was anticipated. I had hoped to be able to continue
until my successor could have been procured but from recent violent
attacks of vertigo I am compelled to avoid all severe mental labor.
On last Sabbath I was obliged to dismiss the congregation when
42. Lum refers here to the founding of Quindaro. It was surveyed as a townsite in
December, 1856, by O. A. Bassett. Building was started January 1, 1857, two weeks prior
to Lum's letter. Alan W. Farley, "Annals of Quindaro: A Kansas Ghost Town," The
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 22 (Winter, 1856), pp. 306, 307. Congregational
work was started at Quindaro by the Rev. Sylvester D. Storrs, a member of the famous
Andover Band, in 1857. Charles M. Correll, A Century of Congregationalism in Kansas
(1953), p. 25.
182 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
half through the services. My physician advises me not to attempt
again as it is a disease whose attack is so sudden as to give but little
warning of its approach.
Our prospects are continually brightening as a church & Soc. &
should the Lord in his goodness send us just such a man as we need
our temporal affairs would advance rapidly. I trust we shall not
long be left long destitute it is important that we should not be
at all so.
As I intimated in my last [letter] we have to secure the money
(by loan) with which to complete our edifice & we hope it will be
open for worship before the Spring is past. How we shall be able
to pay the loan is the question. We think there are some friends
in the East for us yet. The matter of raising our future preachers
salary is more doubtful we ought to have a first class-man &
we may not be able to support him.
I do not know what is the rule in such cases. Could we look to
the A. H. M. S. for any part? say something like the amount we
have been receiving during the past? This I ask by the desire of
the Com.
I should have been glad to have written a lengthy report as it
is the last, but my head is not in a condition to allow it.
I have received in Home Missionary money during the half year
Six dollars & seventy cts. ($6.70) which is to be deducted from my
quarters salary leaving One hundred forty three 30/100 (143.30)
which you may send as heretofore by draft.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE KANSAS June 10th/57
MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
Your letter of May 23 reached me a few days ago, & finds me
still engaged in the labor of my position here. When I prepared
my last quarterly report I thought it an absolute necessity that I
should stop & that immediately, all close mental application, & wrote
accordingly, but how to avoid labor was the question. My people
felt as well as myself that at all events our regular worship should
be kept up & this was particularly so as Mr. Nute the Unitarian
minister was making special efforts to draw off the young to their
eternal destruction. I have thus felt myself compelled to keep right
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 183
on & as long as I could get to the church or until my successor ar-
rived.
When Mr. Woodford came I felt more at liberty, & hoped he
might be the man. He has preached three times, & preaches again
next Sabbath which will I fear will be the last with us as he is quite
desirous to be permanently located & our people think he is not
the man for them. 43 We have just gone into our own building,
though it is simply enclosed & now feel at home. 44 Oh that I had a
head fit to labor, but I must rest for a while perhaps forever, just as
soon as possible.
I have no idea that we will be able to support our own minister
as soon as I thought we should when I last wrote. We have been
compelled to do so much in raising funds for completing our church.
Several of the prominent men have given as high as $500, a piece
for this project & feel it is all they can do at present.
But in reference to the business of which you spoke. I have
visited several places in the immediate neighborhood that is within
12 or 15 miles. One of these is Lecompton which I think would
afford labor enough for one man if he was of the judicious kind. It
is the present capitol & rather proslavery though there is quite a
large minority of good free state men. There is at present no preach-
ing there & some of the leading men ride 12 miles to attend church
at Lawrence. Near Lecompton are several out posts that could be
collected. These if filled at all are filled by very illiterate Methodist
preachers part of the time.
I propose to start tomorrow to visit as soon as possible all the
principal points in the Territory & shall report as soon & as fully
as possible. From what I know of the wants of the Territory I feel
that we shall surely need at least the "half dozen" you speak of but
I shall feel more competent to speak confidently after I have been
over the field again for this special object. . . .
Truly your brother,
S. Y. LUM.
43. The Rev. O. L. Woodford settled in Grasshopper Falls (now Valley Falls) in
1857. Ibid., 202.
44. The construction of Plymouth Congregational Church at Lawrence was started in
the spring of 1856. It was partially completed and services were held in it at the time
of Lum's letter, June 10, 1857. The building was dedicated on November 16, 1862. It
was built of limestone with dimensions 40 x 65 feet. Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas,
pp. 82, 83; Andreas-Cutler, op. cit., p. 327.
184 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE KANSAS
June 24th 1857
MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
Since writing two weeks since I have visited that part of the
Territory bordering on the Mo. river; most of this ground was new to
me. As you know, it was the stronghold of the Border Ruffianism,
& could not be visited during times of excitement, without pe-
culiar danger to a "marked man" & as my duty never led me in that
direction I have been satisfied without seeking more stirring ad-
venture than could be found near home. Now however there is
little danger to a traveller in Kansas whatever may be his opinions
touching "peculiar institutions" as in any new country. In this
respect the change is wonderful to those who have had experience
in the past here, & those just entering Kansas are naturally inclined
from present quiet to believe but a small part of what is true of the
past. We begin to confidently hope, that so far as sanguinary
conflicts are concerned they "are among the things that were," that
what remains to be done is to avoid the dangers of political trickery,
on the one hand, & the quicksands of speculation on the other.
This state of things, though perhaps not less dangerous to the
morals of a community, does not so completely interfere with the
efforts of the Christian ministry, & therefore Kansas presents today,
one of the most important perhaps one of the most promising fields
for missionary labor, & to a great extent it is unoccupied not one
of the river towns have a preacher connected in any way with the
churches that sustain the A. H. M. Soc. This is true of the most
important towns on the river even Leavenworth is now desti-
tute with a population of over four thousand mostly free state
men, it has but one educated preacher, & he is so connected with
the South & its peculiar institution as to be not very acceptable to
the mass about him so I hear, I am not acquainted with him.
Leavenworth needs a good man, & right away, but whoever comes
there must expect to find a community not in the habit of sympa-
thizing with truth & its claims it will be a difficult but very
important field no man with ordinary prudence need fear from
violence as all parties desire peace.
Below Leavenworth about 8 to 10 miles is Delaware, a point until
the present season wholly under proslavery influences it is now
changing hands & would be a good spot for an out post from
Leavenworth. It has about 500 inhabitants. Below this near 30
miles is Quindaro a town started entirely under free state influences
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 185
during the past Winter, it contains several hundred inhabitants has
a Cong. Soc organized & contemplate securing a preacher as soon
as one is found as they think just adapted. They hope from the
start to be free from the necessity of foreign help in this I think
they will be disappointed. Wyandot is just below at the confluence
of the Mo. & Kansas rivers started about the same time as the last
& a rival to it, with about the same number of inhabitants. should
either become a large place, it would eventually absorb the other.
From Leavenworth going up the river the first place of sufficient
importance to require the attention of the Soc. is Atchison named
after the great Senator; it was started as an ultra pro slavery town,
& has been the most rabid & dangerous town in Kansas, it is the
home of one of the Stringfellows & has been notorious as the place
where the "Squatter Sovereign" is published & where Rev. Pardee
Butler was tarred & feathered then tied to a log, & sent down the
Mo. river. 45
Now, it is earning for itself quite a different character. Gen.
Pomeroy & others, thinking it was one of the best points on the river
have bought out a large part of the property, set up a good hotel,
put a first rate free state editor at the head of the "Sovereign" & are
introducing the best class of eastern emigrants who are quite anxious
to have someone sent from your Soc. to "open to them the Scrip-
tures/' 46 About 5 miles above this is another town just emerging
from its bondage to slavery. Gen Lane is at the head of affairs here
& has associated with him quite a number of the "old free settlers"
from other points. 47
The land office is located here which with its enterprising citizens
renders it quite a formidable rival to Atchison. These two points
need at once a missionary. The people are anxious, & there would
be no opposition from any quarter, together with the neighbor-
hoods in the vicinity several thousand settlers could be reached
in some way by a faithful missionary, & part of his support could
be secured. Rev. Mr. Woodford is thinking of this field & probably
45. David Rice Atchison served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1843
to 1855. The principal phases of his career are described in the Dictionary of American
Biography (New York), v. 1, pp. 402, 403. John H. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelley
started the Squatter Sovereign at Atchison on February 3, 1855. Wilder, op. cit., p 56.
The trying experience of Butler is described in Personal Reminiscences of Pardee Butler
(Cincinnati, 1889), pp. 106-109.
46. The executive committee of the New England Emigrant Aid Company authorized
S. C. Pomeroy on March 9, 1857, to develop a town on the Missouri river. Pomeroy
believed that the Proslavery town of Atchison would be most desirable. In arrangements
worked out with Robert McBratney, the agent of the Cincinnati emigration society, and
others, Pomeroy secured the controlling interest in the town and ownership of the Squatter
Sovereign. Edgar Langsdorf, "S. C. Pomeroy and the New England Emigrant Aid Com-
pany, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 7 (November, 1938), pp. 394, 395.
47. The reference here is to Doniphan. Lane became a part owner of the Crusader of
Freedom, founded by James Redpath, which was as strong for the Free-State cause as the
Doniphan Constitutionalist had been for the Proslavery cause. Andreas-Cutler, op. cit.,
p. 475.
186 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
would have visited there, were it not that he has been sick f
