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Wyandotte County

^n^Kan^GL^ City,

KA.NSA.S.

Historical ^Biographical.

COMF-msiX^G

A condensed Ilistoi-y of the Stnte, a Careful //is tor v of

Wvanc/otte County, nnd a Comprehensive History

of tiie GroM til of t72e Cities, Towns nnd Villages.

/I.Z. iJS Ti? A TGD.

CHICJi.GO :
THE GOODSI'EED PUBLISHIJiG COMF^INY,

ISOO.

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PREFACE.

HIS volume has beeu prepared in response to
the prevailing and popular demand for the pres-
ervation of local history and biography. The
method of preparation followed is the most suc-
cessful and the most satisfactory yet devised —
the most successful in the enormous number of
volumes circulated, and the most satisfactory in
the general preservation of personal biography and
family record conjointly with local history. The
number of volumes now being distributed seems fab-
ulous. Careful estimates place the number circulated
in Ohio at 50,000 volumes; Pennsylvania, 60,000; New
York, 75,000; Indiana, 40,000; Illinois, 40,000; Iowa,
35,000; Missouri, '25,000; Minnesota, 15,000; Nebras-
ka, 15,000, and all the other States at the same propor-
tionate rate. The publishers have few. if any, excuses
to offer in handing this fine volume to their patrons.
What errors, if any, occur in the historical department are trivial, and
do not in any sense detract from the real merits of the work. Such
mistakes as are found in the biographies are wholly the fault of the
subjects, as proof was mailed to each for revision and correction, and
in a number of instances was never returned, thus necessitating going
to press without such assistance. In the preparation of this volume
the publishers have met with nothing but courtesy and assistance from
the public. The subscription list was much smaller than the pub-
lishers hoped and expected to receive; and although the margin of
profit was thus cut down to the lowest limit, no curtailment or omis-
sion of matter was made fi'om the original extensive design of the
work. No subject promised is omitted, and many not promised are
given. The publishers call special attention to the great quantity of
fact crowded into the volume, and to its fine mechanical execution.
With many thanks to our friends for the success of our difBcult enter-
prise, we respectfully tender this fine volume to our patrons.

September, 1890. THE PUBLISHERS.

-A-

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CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER I.

Geology, Pbysiciil Descriptiou, Water Courses, Timber, Soil, Minerals aud
Climate — Geological Formations — Tlie Geologic Uplifting of Kansas Gradual —
Missing Formations — Kansas Never Volcanic — Fossils of the Pliocene Age —
Remains in the Niobrara Formation — The Chalk of Western Kansas — The
"Monument" and "Castle" Rocks — Traces of the Age of Reptiles— Fantastic
Sandstone Formations — Economic Geology— Limestone, Gypsum, Clay, Salts,
Lead and Zinc — The Geographical Center of the Union — State Boundaries and
Dimensions 0-19

CHAPTER II.

A General Account of the Settlement of Kansas — Coronado's Expedition — The
"Louisiana Purchase " — Names of the State— Kansas' Trials — Settlement in
the Several Counties — Pioneer Experiences— Indian Troubles and Atrocities
— Early Elections and Improvements — Town Companies — Primitive Births,
Marriages and Deaths 30-55

CHAPTER III.

Territorial and State Organization — A Scheme of Enterprising Missourians —
Hall's Uniontown " Constituency "—Election in the Wyandotte Nation — Act
Organizing Kansas and Nebraska — First Territorial Appointments — First Ter-
ritorial Election Proclamation — Kansas' Four Constitutions — The Topeka,
Lecompton, Leavenworth and Wyandotte Constitutional Conventions —
Graphic Pen-Pictures of these Historic Deliberations — The Distinguished Par-
ticipants in Them — Territorial and State Governors — Elections— State Offi-
cers 5(5-77

CHAPTER IV.

Kansas in the Rebellion — First Call for Volunteers — Quota Assigned to the State
more than Filled — Sketches of Regimental History — Infantry and Cavalry
Organizations — Batteries — Colored and Indian Troops — Casualties — The Gov-
ernor's Military Staff, 1861-1863-186.5— Cost to Kansas of the Price Raid and
Curtis Expedition — Tedious Settlement of War Claims ..78-94

CHAPTER V.

The Growth of Cities in the State — An Advocate of Kickapoo — "Cities" of the
Past — Pawnee — Quindaro — Delaware — Sumner — Doniphan — Elwood — Other
"Cities on Paper" — Their Influential Projectors and Promoters — Lecompton
and Minneola — The Cities of the Present — Kansas City— Topeka— tLeaven-
worth — Fort Scott — Lawrence — Other Municipalities — The Centers of Trade
and Finance and the Results of Energy and Well-Directcd Effort 9.5-101

CHAPTER VI.

The Bench and Bar of Kansas — Under the Territorial Government — Under the
State Government — The Supreme Court — District Courts — Composition of
Districts — Tlie Judiciary — Two Distinguished Chief Justices — High Standing
of the Bar of the State 103-106

CHAPTER VII.

General Account of Religious Denomiuatious — Tlie Pre-Territorial Era — The Ter-
ritorial Era — The War Era — Tlie Era of Peace and Prosperity — Facts and Sta-
tistics of Growtli — Characteristics of the Churclics of Kansas 107-110

CHAPTER VIII

Historical Slcetcli of State Educational Institutions and -Affairs — Value of Public
Education — Pioneer Schools — The Scliools under the Territorial Organiza-
tion — Territorial Superintendents of Public Instruction — Tlie Schools in 1860 —
The Public School System of To-day — Successive State Superintendents of
Public Instruction — State Normal Schools — The State Agricultural College —
University of the State of Kansas — How the Common Schools are Main-
tained — Statistics — Denominational Educational Institutions 111-115

CHAPTER IX.

Growth and Development of Industries and Material Interests — A Brilliant
Record — Railway Construction and Development — Agricultural Progress —
Manufacturing Enterprise — Statistics and Prospects — Character of Popula-
tion — Successive Aggregates 116-119

CHAPTER X.

Distinguished Men of Kansas Past and Present — Short Biographical Sketches of
Celebrities Whose Names Have Come to be Household Words — Gov. Lyman
U. Humphrey — Senator John J. Ingalls — The First Territorial Governor —
The First State Governor — The Famous "Jim" Lane — Gov. Crawford — United
States District Attorney Hallowell — Kansas' First Democratic Executive —
Senator Preston B. Plumb — " Ottawa" Jones — Chief Justice Horton — A Well-
Remembered State Printer — The First Chief Justice — The Champion of the
"Homestead Law" — Prof. Mudge — Col. Anthony — Judge Brewer — Gov.
Medary 120-142

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

CHAPTER XI.

Location — Topography — Altitude — Economical Geology — Explorations — In-
dians — Settlement — First Election — Indian Treaties — Surveyor-General's
Office — Land Surveys — Indian Settlers — First White Settlers — Indian Ceme-
tery — First Marriages, etc., etc 143-175

'6 ^

CHAPTER XII.

County aud Township Organization and Acts of tlie County Board — Act of the
Legislature Creating and Organizing the County of Wyandotte — Election of
Temporary County Officers — Old Leavenworth County Records — First Poll-
books — The Jail — Early Taxes — Settlement Between Wyandotte and Leaven-
worth Counties — The Quindaro and Wyandotte Road — Ferry Licenses — Early
Election Precincts — Locaticm of the County Seat — Seal- — Early Jurors — Pro-
ceedings in 1860 — Division of the County into Commissioner Districts — Pur-
chase of the Old Court-House Property cm Nebraska Avenue, Wyandotte —
The Plat of Wyandotte Lands Recorded— Grand and Petit Jurors for 1861-63
Election Figures, 1861— Organization of Townships 176-200

CHAPTER XIII.

County Interests, Commercial, Political, Otticial and Statistical — An Unparalleled
Railwaj' System — How Projected and Developed — The Story of Early and
Later Railroad Construction — A Celebrated MurderTliat CTrewOutof Personal
Difficulties Between Railroad Projectors and Builders — The Railway System
of the Present — Post-offices in Wyandotte County — Banks — Public Buildings
The Poor Farm — Fair Associations — First Election in Wyandotte County —
First Meeting of the County Commissioners — The County's Civil List^-Statis-
tics of Taxaticm, Bonded Indebtedness, Agriculture, Horticulture and Stock-
raising — Wyandotte County as a Manufacturing Center — Population — General
Claims of Pre-eminence 201-253

CHAPTER XIV.

The Judicial District and the District Court — First Session — Judge John Pettit—
Falling of the Court-room — Judges McDowell, Brewer, Burris, Stevens, Wag-
staff, Hiudman and Miller — The Bar — First Grand Jury — First Cases — First
Petit Jury- Probate Court— Important Trials— Wills m. Wood— The Ice Case
—Title to Church Property— Homicides— Lynchings— The Strike of 1886—
Trials of Hamilton and Others for Wrecking Train, etc 253-375

CHAPTER XV.

Freedom and Slavery — First Regiment Kansas Volunteers — Infantry, Second
Regiment Infantry — Fifth Regiment Cavalry — Sixth Regiment Cavalry —
Tenth Regiment Infantry — Twelfth Regiment Cavalry — Fifteenth Regiment
Cavalry — Sixteenth Regiment Cavalry — First Regiment Kansas Colored
Troops— Rosters of Officers and Enlisted Meu from Wyaudottc County ... .276-309

CHAPTER XVI.

First Free School — First Teachers — Constitutional Provisions — ^School Funds —
School Lands — School Statistics — Value of School Property — Bonded Indebt-
edness — Cost of the Schools — Normal Institute — Schools in Kansas City —
Scholastic Population — Enrollment — High School ^ Kindergarten — Private
and Parochial Schools— Old Academy, etc 310-332

CHAPTER XVII.

Churches of the County — A Reversal of the Usual Order of Events and the Intro-
duction of Christianity by the Indians — Church Beginnings in Diiferent De-
nominations — Division of the Methodist Church into "North" and "South"

;f^

3' — ^

liL

Churches— The Cliurehes of To-day— Statistics Showing Their Number, Tlieir
Membership, and the Number and Value of Their Houses of Worship 323-333

CHAPTER XVIII

Quindaro a Famous Pioneer Town — Town Company — Rapid Growth — Rush of Im-
migrants — Rival Towns — Road to Lawrence — Steamer Liglitfoot — Decline and
Fall of Quindaro — Rosedale — Its Progress — Incorporation — First and Succes-
sive Officers — Development — Argentine — Its Town Company — Ineorporatii>n
— Officers — Smelting Works — Industries — Churches — Societies— Press— Ed-
wardsville — Indian Chief Half Moon— Edwardsville Cemetery — White Cliurch
— Bethel — Pomeroy — Connor — Turner Smelting Works — Bonner (Saratoga)
Springs— Civil Townships 334-350

CHAPTER XIX.

Origin of Wyandotte — Indian Occupancy — United States Indian Agency — First
Temperance Society — First Jail — Wyandotte Indian Convention — Treaty of
1855 — Land Office — Survey of Wyandotte — Rush of Immigration — Rapid
Growth — First Enterprises — Election in 1857 — Scene at the Wyandotte Conven-
tion in 1850— First Post-office- Death of the Members of the Wyandotte City
Company — Incorporation — Roster of Officers — City Additions — Former Kan-
sas City — Armourdale — Press — Meetings at Wyandotte September 4 and 23,
1875 — Predictions as to the Future Metropolis — Consolidation — Governor's
Proclamation 351-386

CHAPTER XX.

The Consolidated Cities — Review of the ]li>tnry of Consolidation — First and Sub-
sequent Officials Since the Consolidation — Present City Officers — Wards and
Precincts — The City's Great Real Estate Interests — A City of Homes — The
City's Finances — Wonderful Progress of Street Improvement — Banks — Incor-
porated Companies — Educational Progress and Statistics — The Young Men's
Christian Association — Reasons for the City's Growth — Kansas City's Manu-
facturing Status — Its Great Grain Market and Gigantic Elevators — Facts and
Figures from Reliable Sources of the City's Remarkable Progress and Great
Interests — The Census — A Suggestion of the Future — Armourdale's Progress —
The Mayor's Annual Message, 18()0 387^123

CHAPTER XXI.

City Institutions of the Consolidated Cities — Other Institutions of Public Benefit
— Police Department — The Fire Department — The Board of Trade — The Post-
office — Electric Lighting — The Fremont Street and Reynolds Avenue Market
House — St. Margaret's Hospital — The Kansas Institution for the Education of
the Blind — Headquarters of the Kansas Farmers' Alliance — Hotels, past and
Present — Secret and Benevolent Orders 42.3-430

CHAPTER XXII

Kansas City's Great Street Railway and Rapid Transit Systems — Description of
the Several Lines — Historj- of the Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit Rail-
road Company — Sketch of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company — Elec-
tric Lines to Armourdale and Argentine — Projected Lines — New York Com-
ment on Kansas City's Street Railways — A Great Viaduct in Prospect 437-446

"^^

^|v

CHAPTER XXIII.

Kansas City's Immense Live Stock Market and Meat Packing Interests — Tlio
Second Lary'est Pork-Paclving Center in tlie World — Rise and Progress of tlie
Industry — Slcetclies of the Great Packing Establishments — Twenty-two Years
of Meat Packing — An Era of Wonderful Progress — Contributory Causes — The
Past Year's Remarkable Showing — Facts, Figures and Statistics — The Outlook
for the Future '. . . .447-466

CHAPTER XXIV.

Navigation of the Missouri and the Kaw — Kansas City's Favorable Location — The
Advent of Steamboats on the Missouri — The Days of Pioneer Navigation —
"Boating" Before the War — Rival Lines — Exciting River Races— Old Boats
and Captains — First Discussion of Barge Navigation — Efforts and Failures —
The Movement Crushed by the Panic of 1873 — Revived Fimr Years Later —
Barge Transportation Tried and Found Feasible — Misfortunes and Antagonis-
tic Influences — River Improvement^ — Congressional Appropriations — 111 Ad-
vised Expenditures and Consequent Disappointmeut — Other Navigation Move-
ments — Organization of the Kansas City and Missouri River Transportation
Company — The Construction and Arrival of the Mason, the State of Kan-
sas and the State of Missouri — Benefits to Accrue from the Enterprise — An
Enthusiastic Celebration — Part in it of Kansas City, Kas.— Account of the
Navigation of the Kansas River 467-486

Biographical 487-894

^HISTORY OF KANSAS,^

CHAPTER I.

Geology, Physical Description, Water Courses, Timber, Soil,
Minerals and Climate— Geological Formations— The Geo-
logic Uplifting op^ Kansas Gradual— Missing Formations-
Kansas Xever Volcanic— Fossils of the Pliocene Age— Re-
mains in the Xiobkaua Formation— The Chalk of Western
Kansas— The "Monument" and "Castle" Rocks— Traces of
THE Age of Reptiles— Fantastic Sandstone Formations-
Economic Geology— Limestone, Gypsum, Clay, Salts, Lead and
Zinc— The Geographical Center of the L'nion— State Bound-
aries AND Dimensions.

(pliocene),
(Niobrara),

" About me round I saw
Hill, dale and shady woods, and sunny plains,
Anil liquid lapse of murm'ring streams."

VERY intelligent reader of the history of a

State is interested primarily in its geology —

(he story of the growth of the terra firma

composing and underlying it. The devout

student of Nature is filled with awe as he is

brought to view the successive processes of

•* ' the Great Architect, as, layer upon layer,

thiough the ages of the past. He laid the foundations

of the earth.

A vertical section of the soil underlying the State of
Kansas, had it rested undisturbed during the ages of its
formation and to the present time, would have presented
the order and approximate thickness of the various
formations, as follows: 1, Post tertiary formation — allu-
vium, loess (bluff), drift 150 feet; 2, tertiary — sandstone
1,500 feet; 3, cretaceous (chalky) — limestone and .shale
200 feet;- Fort Benton, 260 feet; sandstone (Dakota, 500

10 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

feet), 960 feet; 4, upper carboniferous — limestone and shale, 2,000
feet; 5, coal measure — coal in limestone and shale, 600 feet; 6, sub-
carboniferous — limestone, 150 feet.

The present succession of the strata from the highest elevation in
the northwestern portion of the State to the lowest in the southwest
shows the order of formation as above stated to be unbroken. By the
gradual upheaval of some portions of the area, or the sinking or
unequal changes in others, the strata no longer rest horizontally one
above the other, but dip downward to the northwest, so that the edges
of the several formations, even to the lowest, the coal measures, are
brought to or near the surface of the soil in some sections of the
State. In the foregoing order of formation the striking fact has been
noted that the oldest rocks are not seen, and that the deposits of
important ages and parts of ages of more recent date are also missing.
Thus, the Triassic and Jurassic ages were either never deposited within
the bounds of Kansas and the adjoining territory, or, in the grand
operations of nature, all those deposits have been eroded and swept
away, leaving no trace of their existence. This allows the Dakota
(cretaceous sandstone) to rest directly on top of the carboniferous, and
nearly if not quite in conformity, the geological level of the two being
apparently identical. The absence of four groups in succession has
also been noted, usually found between the pliocene rock of the ter-
tiary period and the middle formations of the cretaceous, allowing the
pliocene of the latter age to rest directly on the Niobrara or middle of
the cretaceous.

Nowhere in the State are there any evidences of violent disturb-
ance of the strata or metamorphic indications in any of the formations.
The gradual uplifting of this State and adjoining territory from the
level of the ocean must have been slow, uniform, and in a perpendic-
ular direction, which has left all the strata in a nearly horizontal posi-
tion. This may have been as slow as that now going on in Florida,
or a rise of five feet in a century. From our knowledge of the geology
of the West, this undoubtedly took place after the rise of the Rocky
Mountains, and probably did not come to a close until the drift period.
The origin of the rivers, therefore, may date back as far, at least, as
the beginning of this uprising. As the channels (valleys) cut by them
are large, and often through heavy beds of limestone, the earlier pro-
cesses may date still farther back in geological history.

The rock formations do not crop out to any great extent, but are
generally hidden by the post-tertiary deposits, alluvium, loess and

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 11

drift. The two former, which have already Ijeen noticed, are of more
recent formation than the drift, which underlies them, resting on the
tertiary sandstone below. It consists of quartz, gravel, pebbles and
sand, differing very little from the same deposits found in other parts
of the country, and having a like origin, viz., the glacial, or ice period.
It is intermixed with large metamorphic stones and bowlders of strati-
fied quartz, greenstone and other rocks, not among the formations of
this State. The nearest permanent formations similar are found hun-
dreds of miles north and east. The deposit of line drift material sel-
dom exceeds five feet in depth. In a general sense it may be said that
the post-tertiary formation in some form— alluvium, loess, drift or
mixtures of the same — covers, as with a blanket, all the lower rocky
strata in whatever order they may come to the surface. The surface
rock is not the same throughout the State, but shows, within different
areas and we'1-detined limits, different rock formations from the high-
est to the lowest.

The pliocene group of the tertiary system, the first in vertical order,
is seen only in the northwestern portion of the State, which has the high-
est altitude. The territory covered by this formation extends along
the north line of the State eastward, as far as the middle of Jewell
County. The eastern and southern line of demarcation runs south and
west, embracing the northwest quarter of Jewell and the north half of
Smith and Phillips Counties; thence southwesterly, nearly to the
southwest corner of Norton County ; thence east through Graham and
into Rooks County, where, with a return bend of some eight or ten
miles, it turns to the west, through Graham County, to the south line
of Sheridan County; thence along and near the south line of Sheridan,
Thomas and Sherman Counties, to the western line of the State, somQ
eight miles south of the latter county. Another detached spur covers
all of Greeley and the north quarter of Hamilton County, extending
east, over the south half of Wichita and Scott Counties, into the south-
west quarter of Lane County.

The fossils of this formation, over a considerable part of the plio-
cene area, are scarce, or entirely wanting. In some localities, particu-
larly in Smith and Norton Counties, and in Ellis and Trego Counties,
where small detached areas of the formation exist, they are quite
numerous. They are of species common to the closing period of the
pliocene — "the bones of deer, beaver, a large animal of the ox kind,
two species of the horse, one smaller than the small Indian ponies, a
wolf, ivory of the elephant and mastodon, bones of the rhinoceros and

lii.

12 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

camel and also remains of an undetermined character. ' ' Remains of
a large, fresh-water turtle, five feet in length, and those of a smaller
size have been found; also a few species of moUusks. The remains of
the horse are quite common, having been found from Smith County to
the vicinity of Ellis, in Ellis County, and prove that horses roamed the
plains of Kansas ages before the herds descended from the escaped
steeds of the Spanish cavaliers of the fifteenth century. Prof. Mudge
writes, that among the fossil remains of horses, he found one in the
northern part of Ellis County, in 1875, of the celebrated three-toed
species, having three hoofs coming to the ground, the feet with the
three toes being in an excellent state of preservation. The bones were
badly broken, and much of the skeleton missing, but sufficient to show
it was of small size. The remains of the common horse, of about the
same size as those now existing, and with the markings of the teeth
quite similar, were found in the same geological horizon with the
extinct three toed species, showing that they had a contemporaneous
existence. The ivory and bones in the upper pliocene are found firmly
fossilized, and sometimes changed to a hard, compact silica. In the
process of petrifaction a tusk seen must have been so softened as to
admit the intermixture of black oxide of manganese in solution, which
then crystalized in delicate sprigs. The ivory was next silicified
into nearly pure quartz, with the usual hardness of that substance.
The ivory was thus converted into the so-called moss agate.

Directly eastward of the pliocene, and stretching entirely across
the State in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction, is the creta-
ceous, covering an area of nearly 40,000 square miles. The Niobrara
is the upper formation in the cretaceous system, and in Kansas differs
from the same deposits in Nebraska and on the Niobrara River, some-
what in its physical features, but more especially in its fossils, which,
in Kansas, yield a richer and more varied type of vertebrates, and of
the saurian genera. It covers a hill of country next adjoining the plio-
cene, about thirty miles in width, in the northern part of the State,
widening southward to nearly sixty miles in the Smoky Hill Valley.
It is composed of chalk and chalky shales. The chalky rock varies in
color from buff to pure white, and is generally too soft for building
material. The pure white specimens consist of pure carbonate of lime,
and can not be distinguished from the best quality of foreign chalk.
The soft, fine-grained white stone, known in commerce as chalk, is
found nowhere in North America except in Western Kansas. It differs
from the chalk of Europe in the absence of the rhizopod shells, which

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comprise, generally, ca large part of its raaterial. Regarding the Kan-
sas chalk. Prof. G. E. Patrick, of the Kansas State University, states:
"Examined under the microscope, it appears perfectly amorphous — a
simple aggregation of shapeless particles. The rhizopod shells which
almost universally occur in the chalk of the old world, sometimes com-
prising nearly its entire substance, seem to be quite wanting in our
Kansas chalk. With a good microscope and a high power, I have
been unable to detect a trace of them." This deposit in its purity is
found in Trego County, where it appears in seams varying from a foot
to eight feet in thickness. It is manufactured quite extensively into
whiting, which exceeds in excellence of quality the best manufactured
from foreign chalk, as, unlike that, it never contains flint nodules.

Seams of pure calc-spar, usually in flat crystals, from one to six
inches in thickness, are quite common in the shales, and occasionally
appear in the chalk strata. In the darker shales are sometimes found
nodules of pyrites, lenticular in form. Occasionally they appear in
fine crystals of various shades of brown. The thickness of the Nio-
brara formation varies from seventy- five to 200 feet.

Along the courses of the streams and ravines, owing to the soft
nature of the rock, canons occur, similar to those in Dakota and Ne-
braska, though on a smaller scale; and in some localities remains of
the formations, in detached masses, worn by the flow of ancient waters,
stand high above the surrounding plain, fantastic monuments of the
period when they were created. Fine specimens of these forms of
Nature's sculpture are the Monument Rocks, in the Smoky Hill Val-
ley, Gove County, and the Castle Rocks, of Ellis County, varying in
height from fifty to seventy-five feet.

The Niobrara is the upper formation of the cretaceous period,
which embraces the latest division of the mesozoric time. In the rocks
of this period, reptiles first became numerous and predominant, as
shown in the fossils, which are so plentiful as compared with others
as to mark the period as the age of reptiles. The fossils, however,
are not confined to them, but cover the whole range of co-existent
vegetable and animal life. Fossils of marine plants are occasionally
found, but evidences of land vegetation are confined to a few specimens
of fossilized wood, which are found but seldom. In a single instance,
Prof. Mudge found the fibrous structure of a palm. This alone marks
the climate of that age as tropical, if it was of indigenous growth.
Islands must have existed in this cretaceous ocean, as the breeding
places of the birds whose fossils have been found, and as resting places

*^A ^ ^=-r^

14 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

for the amphibious animals which vere then numerous. They may
have been only bare rocks, supporting no growth of trees. The fossils
of the cretaceous sea, as fouud in the Kansas formation, embrace a
wider range, and a larger proportion of the whole number known to
scientists as cretaceous, than any section of the American system.

The Fort Benton formation, lying directly beneath the Niobrara,
is found east of the Niobrara section. The upper portion of the Ben-
ton group consists of a heavy bed of soft, line-grained limestone, vary-
ing in thickness from thirty to sixty feet. It lies along the east line
of the Niobrara, and from its massiveness and persistency, shows a
well-delined horizon between the two groups. It is laminated, the
layers being from one to three feet thick. It is an excellent building
stone, and, when burned, yields good quicklime. Below the limestone
is a stratum of some sixty feet of soft, slate-colored shale. It abounds
in flattened nodules of hard clay marl (septaria), varying in diameter
from one inch to six feet. They are frequently threaded with cracks,
lined with crystals of calc-spar, which sometimes extend to the outer
edges of the concretions, being filled with white lime. These latter,
with their fancifully defined proportions, are often mistaken for fossil
turtles. Below this, to the bottom of the Benton group, 140 feet, are
shales varying in color and hardness, and interstratified by layers of
limestone, composed largely of marine shells. All the strata below
the heavy upper bed of limestone are variable in their composition,
the predominant component being on the same horizon, clay, sand or
lime, as the case may be. There is no thick, persistent stratum of
any kind. The total thickness of the Benton group is 260 feet. As a
part of the cretaceous system, and directly underlying the Niobrara,
where evidences of animal life are so profuse, it might naturally be
expected that a like abundance of fossil remains would appear, but
investigation is mainly disappointing. The Dakota group is the low-
est in the cretaceous system, resting directly in the upper carbonifer-
ous (Permian) group.

The prevailing material of this group is sandstone, brown and
variegated in color. It varies in compactness from that which can be
easily crushed between the fingers to the hardest, which requires the
heavy blows of a sledge-hammer to fracture. The more compact forma-
tions owe their hardness to the presence of the oxides and silicates of
iron. It furnishes, wherever found, an excellent building stone. In
some places a poor quality of lenionite (brown iron ore) is deposited.
The most frequent overlaying, or inter-stratification, is of clay shale,

^ W I ~ — ■ \ HP

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 15

of varying color. In the ledges are found concretions of curious and
fanciful form — some hollowed out like a bowl or vase, in tubular form,
some as large as three inches in diameter and eight feet in length.
Some of these concretions are glazed and distorted, as if exposed to
the action of fire. This appearance is attributed, not to any applica
tion of heat, but to the oxidation of iron, which would seem to be
proven by the fact that within the tubes are frequently found inclosed
well preserved fossil impressions of leaves, which would have been
destroyed by the action of fire. The concretions of the white sand-
stone are sometimes found in disk forms, of several feet in thickness,
and six to eight feet across, the softer formation of sandstone on the
sides and partly underneath being washed or wasted away. They
remain as tablets, supported by one or more columns of the sandstone
still remaining, in shape very like a toad-stool, where the supporting
shaft is single. Where the erosion has been only on the sides and not
sufiiciently low to sculpture the column beneath, they rest on the sur-
face of the ground, and in their appearance resemble a cluster of hay-
cocks. The average width of the Dakota is something less than fifty
miles, being widest in the southern part of the State. The fossil found
of this group is meager, but its flora is varied and interesting.

The upper carboniferous (Permian) area lies east of and adjoining
the lower strata of the cretaceous. It covers an area of nearly "20,000
square miles, and has a thickness of nearly 2, 000 feet. The deposits
consist of limestones, clay shales, sandstones, and, in the upper por-
tions, gypsum and chert-beds. The region as a whole shows only these
and occasional seams of coal.

The area of coal measures covers about 9,000 square miles in the
southeastern part of the State, and embraces the counties of Cherokee,
Labette, Montgomery, Chautauqua, Elk, Wilson, Neosho, Crawford,
Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, CofPey, Anderson, Linn, Osage and parts
of Franklin and Miami, along the northern line of demarcation; also
the eastern part of Greenwood and Lyon Counties. All these counties
are in some degree supplied with coal. Whether the whole area is
underlaid with coal or not can not be definitely ascertained till a thor-
ough geological survey has been made. The general structure of the
rock is that of the productive coal measures elsewhere found, and the
experimental borings have been sufficiently numerous, and attended
with such favorable results as to warrant the belief that the deposit
exists in paying quantities in most parts of the area above described.

The material of the dej^osits is similar to those of the upper car-

^'.

S v>

16 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

boniferous, consisting of shale, sandstone and limestone, the latter
being very persistent over large areas. The other strata are quite
variable, as are the immediate layers of coal. The coal measures of
Kansas are a part of an immense coal field, which covers, as stated by
Prof. Swallow, "a large part of the Indian Territory south, all East-
ern Kansas, the northwestern half of Missouri, Southern Iowa and
Southeastern Nebraska." The Kansas bed is in the western part of
the field above described, and shows the thickest, purest and most
valuable and accessible layers in the counties above named.

The coal measures, as their various strata show, were alternately
beneath and above the salt sea, the changes occurring many times
during the period of their formation. This ancient rising and sinking
of the bosom of the sleeping earth has left its unquestionable record
in its fossils, which embrace the marine fossils in the limestone and
other sea formations, while the intermediate deposits and the coal
seams abound in vegetable and animal remains of terrestrial life.

The sub-carboniferous area (Keokuk), the lowest formation of the
Kansas strata, appears only in a small triangular area, lying east and
south of the irregular line of Spring River, in the southeast corner of
Cherokee County. The coiu'se of the river is controlled by the ledges
of this group along its eastern bank. The whole area does not exceed
fifty square miles. The thickness of this formation is 150 feet. It
consists of chert and cherty conglomerate at the top, and coarse, gray
limestones and horn stones below. It is very much broken, and the
beds of limestone and chert are so intermingled that in some places
the original stratification is entirely obliterated, while it is nowhere
easily discernible. The chert in some places forms irregular beds,
and in others appears in loose masses of many tons' weight. The area
is chiefly interesting as being similar to that which yields so richly of
lead and zinc in the adjoining counties of Missouri, and in which a
few paying mines in Kansas have been found. The fossils found are
only important as aiding the geologist to fix the geological age of the
formation.

To the utilitarian, to whom all scientific research is valuable,
according to its beneficial results as they may be adapted to the con-
venience or well-being of man, the knowledge of the geological struct-
ure of Kansas gives most bounteous returns, which will increase with
each new discovery. All products having intrinsic worth — building
materials, fuel, fertilizers, etc. — are found in abundance, and are dif-
fused and plentiful in ratio to the natural wants of man. Stone suita-

J'-

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 17

ble for huikliiig purposes is found in abundiance in nearly all parts of
the State. The varieties include magnesian limestone, blue and gray
limestone, and great quantities of sandstone and flagging stone. Stone
from the Kansas quarries is used in some of the finest buildings in the
country. For churches, court-houses. State and municipal buildings,
nothing can be found superior to the product of the various quarries
of the State. Material suitable for the manufacture of ordinary brick
exists everywhere. The bars along the water courses furnish sand.
The limestone affords abundant supply of low-priced quicklime. In-
deed, all the requisites of building exist in abundance, and are, conse-
quently, remarkably cheap in all parts of the State. Inexhaustible
beds of bituminous coal, valuable for fuel and for manufacturing uses,
are found in the eastern and central districts of the State. In several
counties, the mining and shipping of coal constitute one of the im-
portant industries, and a constantly increasing source of wealth. The
business affords employment and support to a large number of persons,
and it is rapidly growing in extent and importance. The workable
deposits range in thickness from twenty to fifty inches. The main coal
area is traversed by several important lines of railway, thus making
directly tributary to this district an immense outlying region, which is
crowded with thriving towns and prosperous farms. A fine quality of
natural gas has been discovered in some parts of the State, and is
being successfully used for light, fuel and manufacturing purposes, at
a saving over other kinds of fuel and light of from twenty-five to thirty
per cent. Lead mines are profitably worked in the southeastern part
of the State. Large and prosperous communities are being established
in the vicinity of the lead mines, as also in the vicinity of the coal
mines. Zinc is found in paying quantities. Kansas has taken its
place among the large producers of salt of the best quality known to
commerce. Since 1867 salt has been made from brine obtained from
wells near the mouth of the Solomon River, in Saline Coanty. An
extended area in the central part of the State is underlaid with rock
salt. It is found at various depths, from 450 to 925 feet. The thick-
ness of the salt itself is from 125 to 250 feet.

The State of Kansas embraces within its boundaries the geograph-
ical center of the United States, excepting the remote and detached
Territory of Alaska. The middle parallel of latitude between the
southern cape of Floritla and the northern border of the State of Wash-
ington, and the dividing meridian of longitude midway between the
extreme eastern and western limits of the country, pass through the

18 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

State, cutting it through its miildle north and south, and one degree
south of its center east and west. The bisecting degree of latitude is
38° north; the parallel of longitude, 22^ 30' west from Washington,
the intei-secting point being at the northwest corner of Reno County.
The State is 204 miles in width from north to south, and slightly ex-
ceeds 400 miles in length from east to west. It is bounded on the
north by the State of Nebraska, east by the State of Missouri, south
by the Indian Territory and west by the State of Colorado.

It has the general form of a rectangle, with a breadth of a
little more than 200 miles from north to south, and a length of a little
over 400 miles from east to west, containing an area of 81,318 square
miles, or 52,288,000 acres. The general surface of Kansas is a rolling
prairie, which gently ascends from the eastern border. Kansas
presents a succession of rich prairies, hills and fertile valleys,
diversified in its scenery; it has a rolling and varied surface, and a
fertile soil.

The State is well, supplied with rivers and creeks. On the eastern
border the Missouri presents a water front of nearly 150 miles. The
Kansas is formed by the junction of the Republican and the Smoky
Hill Rivers, and from the point of confluence it flows east about 150
miles to the Missouri. Lateral valleys on the north are formed by the
Saline, Solomon and Blue Rivers, and other streams. The Osage
River rises in the eastern part of the State, and after a southeast
course of about 125 miles, enters Missouri. The Arkansas has its
source in the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado. It runs through nearly
three fourths of the length of Kansas, east and southeast, and, with its
tributaries, waters two-thirds of the western and southern jiart of the
State. Its lateral valleys on the north are traversed by the Walnut,
Little Arkansas, Pawnee Fork and other streams, and on the south by
the Ninnescuh, Chicaskia and other tine streams. The Neosho, rising
in the central part of the State, runs southeast about 200 miles, receiv-
ing in its course the Cottonwood and other streams. The Verdigris
runs nearly parallel with the Neosho, receiving Fall River on the west.
In the southwest are the Cimarron and Medicine, which flow for a con-
siderable distance in the State, and a network of southern tributaries
of the Arkansas.

These rivers are not navigable, yet, with their tributaries, they make
Kansas one of the best watered of the Western States. In most locali-
ties, including the extreme western part of the State, good water is
obtained within a reasonable distance of the surface by digging or

l\^

HISTOKV OF KANSAS. 19

boring. lu sume places, particularly in the western counties, artesian
wells furnish valuable supplies of water.

Timber is abundant along the streams in the eastern portion of the
State. It is less plentiful in the central portion. The varieties of
timber embrace oak, elm, black walnut, cottonwood, box elder, honey
locust, willow, hickory, sycamore, white ash, hackberry and mulberry.
The Osage orange makes a rapid and vigorous growth, and is not killed
down by the winters, and it is extensively used for hedges. Stone,
being plenty and cheap, is used in building dwellings, and also fences,
barns and out-houses.

Since the prairie tires have been stopped, the native growth of
timber spreads and thrives. Forest trees and fruit trees, planted and
taken care of, soon reward the planter with grateful shade and luscious
fruit.

Kansas can truthfully claim a greater amount of sunshine than the
Eastern States. The records show that the average cloudiness is a
little more than forty-four per cent. In the Southern States the average
is forty-seven per cent; in the New England States it is fifty-three per
cent, while in Great Britain it reaches seventy-one percent. The win-
ters generally break up in February, the first wild flowers often appear-
ing before the end of that month. Tables showing the rate of mortality
have not been kept, yet there can be no doubt as to the fact that Kan-
sas compares favorably with any State, east or west, as regards the
health of her people. The rolling surface of the country, and the
ravines, furnish fine natural drainage, and as a result there are no
swamps or marshes to breed fever and malaria. Many persons com-
ing from the East to Kansas find their health greatly improved, es-
pecially by residence in the western portion of the State.

'*^-^=^ =;=ifv

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER II.

A General Account of the Settlement of Kansas— Coronado'.s Ex-
pedition—The "Louisiana Pukchase"— Xames of the State—
Kansas'Trials — Settlement IN the Several Counties— Pioneer
Experiences— Indian Troubles and Atrocities— Early Elec-
tions AND Improvements— Town Companies— Primitive Births,
Marriages and Deaths.

Ye pioneers, it is to you,
The debt of gratitude is due.
Ye builded wiser than ye knew

The broad foundation
On which our superstructures stand.
Your strong right arm and willing hand,
Your earnest efforts still command

Our veneration. — Pinrre.

'he early history of Kansas is not withoiit its
romance, for it was on the plains of Kansas that
Coronado and his band suffered so many hard-
ships in their search for the country of Quivera
and its fabled cities of gold. He crossed the
State in a northeasterly direction, reaching the
Missouri River near the present site of Atchison.
Here the Spaniards, disappointed at not finding treas-
ure, erected a cross bearing the inscription: "Thus
far came Francisco De Coronado, general of an expe-
dition " — and returned home to Mexico. They were
the first white men to visit Kansas, and their letters de-
scribe it then as now, a country rich in fruits, with a
^l'^^ '113^ heavy black soil similar to the finest regions of Spain.
In the early part of the eighteenth century Kansas
was visited and often explored by the French, who
mixed freely with the numerous tribes of Indians lo-
cated along the Arkansas and Kansas Rivers. It became a part of the
" Louisiana Purchase " in 1803, and afterward formed a portion of the

Tf^

-4^

HISTOUY OF KANSAS.

Indian Territory. It was organized as a Territory in 1854, and ad-
mitted as a State into the Union in January, 1801.

The Territory of Kansas embraced, besides the jM-esent area of the
State, all the lands between the parallels of 37° and 40° north lati
tude, westward to the Rocky Mountains, except that part of New Mexico
lying north of the thirty-seventh parallel. The whole area of the Ter-
ritory, including what is now the State of Kansas, was 126,283 square
miles. It was, with the exception of a small tract, a part of the above-
mentioned " Louisiana Purchase," made by President Jefferson from
France, April 30, 1803. By the terms of the treaty, France ceded to
the United States all the country drained by the Mississippi and its
tributaries to which she had any right or title. The boundaries were
ill-defined, touching on the south and southwest the Spanish-Mexican
possessions, and on the east the Spanish province of West Florida
On the west shore of the Mississippi it extended to its source, embraced
all the Missouri Valley, and stretched north of the Spanish-American
possessions across the Eoeky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and as
far north on the Pacific Coast as the British possessions. For this vast
domain the United States paid France the sum of 115,000,000. The
province of Louisiana thus acquired comprised 1,100,577 square miles
Its boundaries on the west and east were not definitely settled between
this country and Spain till February 22, 1819, at which time a treaty
was made defining its western and eastern boundaries, wherever con-
tiguous to Spanish territory; and in consideration of the relinquish-
ment by the United States of her claims to Texas, Spain ceded West
Florida (now Alabama and Mississippi) and relinquished to the United
States all claim to territory lying south of the thirty first parallel and east
of the Mississippi River. Thus, that portion of Kansas lying west of the
twenty-third meridian and south of the Arkansas River was ceded to
Spain. On the achievement of independence by Mexico, in 1824, it
passed into the possession of that Republic. Texas, on gaining her in-
dependence in 1830, claimed it as part of her domain, which cfaim was
subsequently confirmed by the treaty between the United States and
Mexico at the close of the war, February 22, 1848. It finally became
a part of the Government domain by purchase, it being a part of the
territory ceded to the United States by Texas in 1850, that State re-
ceiving 110,000,000 as a consideration.

The name— Kansas— is derived from the name of the dominant
tribe of Indians found in the Territory when first visited by white
men. They were variously spoken of by early explorers as Kanzas,

-|^

22 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Canceas, Cansez, Kansez, Caazas, Canzes, Okanis, Kaasies, Canses,
Canzon, Kanzon, Koaza, Konzas, Kasas, Kaazan, Kanzana, and by
other varied spellings, all having a similar phonetic expression. From
these have come the legal recognition of the present orthography.
Kansas is said to signify, in the language of the Kansas tribe,
"smoky," and the South Fork of the Kansas is still known as Smoky
Hill River.

Kansas has gone through more trials, in her early life, as a Terri-
tory and State, than any other State in the Union. Thirty- six years
ago the slave oligarchy ruled the country. Fearing that the birth of
new States in the West would rob it of supremacy, the slave power
swallowed the Missouri Compromise, which dedicated the Northwest
to freedom. The industrious North, aroused and indignant, struck
quick and hard, and Kansas, full armed, shouting the war-cry of
liberty, and nerved with invincible courage, sprang into the Union.
The Territory was the scene of many an exciting conflict between the
Abolitionists and the advocates of slavery, John Brown taking an
active part against the latter. This enthusiast and martyr in the
cause of freedom has left his imprint in Kansas, though he was never
even a citizen, and when the war finally came on, the State gave voice
and potency to the demand for abolition, and aided in burying seces-
sion in its grave.

The history of the settlement of the State is here given, so far as
has been found practicable, by counties. For convenience of refer-
ence the counties are treated in alphabetical order.

The first settlement in Allen County was undoubtedly that of
Richard J. Fuqua, in January, 1855. He located in the valley of
the Neosho, in the northwestern part of the county. He was accom-
panied by his family, consisting of his wife, two boys and three girls.
He also had sixty head of cattle. He at once built a cabin, started a
post, for the purpose of trading with neighboring tribes of Indians,
and the next summer opened a farm. This post became a favorite
resort of tbe Sac and Fox Indians, and often a very large number of
them were camped in the timber along the river. Fuqua always
strove to please them, gave dog feasts and other entertainment, and
sold flour, groceries, calico, beads and other articles to them at a very
high price. Fuqua made money rapidly, and kept up the post for a
number of years, but finally abandoned it, and still later, in 1863,
sold his large and well-improved farm and immigrated to Oregon.
The second settlement in the county was made by B. W. Cowden and

^-.

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 23

H. D. Parsons, who arrived in March, 1855, and selected claims in
the valley of the Neosho River, near the mouth of Elm Creek. The
next settlement was made near the mouth of Deer Creek, the same
spring, by Maj. James Parsons, and his two sons, Jesse and James,
and Mr. Duncan. During the spring and summer settlement pro-
gressed quite rapidly, the most of it being along and near the Neosho
River. Among the first settlers were H. H. Hayward, W. C. Keith,
Henrj' Bennett, Elias Copelin, James Barber, Barnett Owen, A. W.
J. Brown, J. S. Barbee, Thomas Day and Giles Sater. On Martin
Creek the prominent settlers of that summer were Thomas Norris,
Jesse E. Morris, Anderson Wray, George Hall, Dr. Stockton, A. C.
Smith, Augustus Todd, Michael Kiser, Hiram Smith and Mr. Martin.
The creek was so called in honor of the last named. During the sum-
mer and fall of 1856, immigration continued. Promiuent among the
settlers of that year were Nimrod Hankins, William M. Brown, Car-
lyle Faulkner, Carroll Prewett, Henry Doren, G. A. Gideon, William
Mayberry, Thomas Bashaw, M. W. Post and Joseph Ludley. The
two last named came in February, 1856, being engaged in the
survey of the standard parallels.

Previous to the settlement of Anderson County by white men, it
was occupied by the Pottawatomie Indians, who were removed from
Indiana to their Ka nsas r eserve in 1837, by the United States Govern-
ment. This principal village was just across the northern boundary of
what is now Anderson County, at the place known as Dutch Henry's
crossing, on the Pottawatomie. That stream derives its name from the
above named tribe of Indians, and was so called about the time of their
arrival. Soon after they located, they extended their settlement south
and west along the streams. In 1838 they made some improvements on
the present site of Greeley. This was the first settlement in the coun-
ty. The Indians were removed from the county in 18-17-48. The
lirst white settlement in the county was begun early in May, 1854, on
the present site of Greeley, by Valentine Gerth and Francis Meyer.
They were young Missourians, without families. A few days after the
location of the two young men, Henry Harmon, with his family, located
just north of where Greeley now is. Next came Oliver P. Rand, who
settled in Sutton Valley. During the summer and fall they were joined
by a few more settlers, among whom were Henderson Rice, J. S. Wait-
man, W. D. West, Thomas Totton, Anderson Cassel and Dr. Rufus
Gilpatrick. In the winter of 1854-55 a number of Germans from St.
Louis located south of Greeley, and made some improvements, but in

ii ^jT

24 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

the spring of 1855 they left the Territory. When the first census
was taken in Ja nuai 'y^ 1855, the names returned from Anderson
County were Francis Meyer, Valentine Gerth and John C. Clark. Ow-
ing to the outrages committed upon Free-State settlers, a military com-
pany was organized in the fall of 1855, and was made up of Franklin
and Anderson County men. It was called the Pottawatomie Rifle Com-
pany. John Brown, Jr., was elected captain. Among the men from
Anderson County were Jacob Benjamin, James Townsley, Allen
Jaqua, Frank Ayres, D. G. "Watt, Samuel Mack, August Bondi, H.
H. Williams, W. Ayres, M. Kilbourne and Dr. Ruf us Gilpatrick. This
was one of the John Brown companies that made itself feared by the
border ruffians. Among the prominent settlers of 1855 were Darius
Frankenberger, M. M. Minkler, C. E. Dewey, H. H. Williams, E.
Reynolds. James Sutton, Benjamin Davis, J. H. Wolken, J. H. Rock-
ers, H. M. Rumley, Samuel Mack, John McDaniel, Zach Schutte,
Charles Backer, James Townsley, C. H. Price, Jesse Sutton and Hen-
derson Rice. Among the prominent settlers of 1856 were W. C.
McDow, A. Simons, Samuel Anderson, Jacob Benjamin, August Bondi,
James Y. Campbell, John S. Robinson, Solomon Kauffman, C. W.
Peckham, William G. Hill, R. D. Chase, Samuel McDaniel, G. W.
Yandall, William Tull, A. G. West, C. G. Ellis, R. Porter, John Kirk-
laud, William Dennis, J. F. Wadsworth, H. Cavender, Frederick
Tochterman and W. G. Nichols.

The first settler of Atchison County was a Frenchman, named Pen-
sinau, who, in 1839, married a Kickapoo Indian, and located on the
banks of the Stranger, near Mount Pleasant. In June, 1854, a colony
of immigrants crossed the river at latan. Mo., and took claims in the
neighborhood of Oak Mills, Walnut Township. They were F. P. God-
dard, G. B. Goddard, James Douglass, Allen Hanson and George A.
Wright. Bat the actual settlers, and the founders of the city and county
of Atchison, did not enter the Territory of Kansas until the next
month. When the Kansas lands were thrown open to settlers in 1854,
Senator Atchison and his friends at once founded a town, and named it
in his honor. It was on the Fourth of July, 1854, that Senator Atchi-
son and a few Platte County friends dedicated the new town. The
town company at first required every settler to build a house at least
sixteen feet square upon his lot. The survey of North Atchison was
made in October, 1857, by J. J. Pratt, Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, pro-
prietor. It consisted of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of
Section 36, Town 5 south. Range 20 east. A few days previous to the

'.iL

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 25

surveying of North Atchison, Lancaster, eleven miles west, was platted,
no doubt with the intention of becoming the county seat. Sumner was
at this time Atchison's most formidable rival. But the next year the
dispute was settled in favor of Atchison, and her court-house was
completed in 1859.

The lands of Barbour County are all embraced in the ' ' thirty-mile ' '
and "three-mile" strips, formerly owned by the Osages and the
Cherokees, respectively. These lands were ceded to the Government
by the treaty of July 15, 1870, and were then offered for pre-emption,
but not for homesteading, or timber-claim entry. They embraced
some of the best hunting-grounds of the Osages, as the still plainly
marked and numerous " buffalo wallows " testify. The first settler in
the county was a man named Griffin, who located on a ranch about
one mile from where Sun City now stands, in. the winter of 1871-72.
This pioneer was killed in the Indian Territory the following summer,
and C. H. Douglass is now the leading merchant in the town. In the
spring of 1872, E. H. Mosley, Lockwood and Leonard located at
Kiowa. Mosley had a small stock of goods which he traded to the
Indians. He spent his time hunting buffalo and collecting the hides
for market. Lockwood and Leonard attempted farming. July
30, 1872, the Indians made a raid on the residences of Leonard and
Lockwood, and in the tight Mosley was killed, the others saving their
lives by remaining in the house, inside a stockade. Eli Smith located
at the same place in October, 1872, and the first store was opened by
G. Hegwer, in the spring of 1873. In December, 1872, Derrick Up-
degraff located at Medicine Lodge, and, soon after, Salmon P. Tuttle.
AVilliam Walters, W. E. Hutchinson, with two brothers, Jake Ryan,
A. L. Duncan, David Hubbard and John Beebee made settlement at
or near Medicine Lodge early in 1S73, and Samuel Larsh and a Mr.
AVyncoop started a ranch at the mouth of Cedar Creek. Lake City
was established by Reuben Lake April 6, 1873.

Barton County is of later settlement, and was, until 1872, apart of
Ellsworth County. The following were among its prominent resi-
dents about that time: Thomas L. Morris, John H. Hubbard, George
N. Berry, first county commissioners; M. W. Halsey, John Cook, and
L. H. Lusk, second county commissioners; and the following first
elected county officers: County clerk, W. H. Odell; register of deeds,
T. L. Morris; clerk of district court, J. B. Howard; treasurer, E. L.
Morphy; probate judge, D. N. Heizer; county attorney, J. B. How-
ard; superintendent of schools, A. C. Moses; surveyor, John Favrow;

!k^

26 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

shei'ifP, George W. Moses; coroner, D. B. Baker. At the same elec-
tion at which these officers were chosen, the following justices of the
peace were elected: For Lakin Township, D. P. Foster and A. W.
Strong; for Great Bend Township, E. J. Dodge and James Holland;
and for BufPalo Township, T. S. Morton and A. Keller.

The first white men to locate in Bourbon County were United
States officers and soldiers, at Fort Scott, in 1842. Eegular settle-
ment began in 1854. Among the pioneers were the following: In
1854, Nathan L. Arnett, in Marmaton Township, and Gideon Terrell,
William and Philander Moore, in Pawnee Township; in 1855, Guy
Hinton, in Walnut; Cowan Mitchell, James Guthrie, John and Rob-
ert Wells, and David T. Ralston, in Marion; in 1856, John Van Syekle,
Samuel Stephenson and Charles Anderson, in Franklin; D. D. Rob-
erts and Josei)h Ray, in Freedom; H. R. Kelso, A. Ward and Col.
Bullock, in Scott; Ephraim Kepley, the Stewarts, Bowers and Halls,
in Mill Creek; Gabriel Endicott, David Claypool and others in Dry-
wood. David Endicott assisted the Government in the survey of the
neutral lands, and Edward Jones, one of the earliest settlers in Mar-
maton Township, built the first saw-mill in the county, except one
built by the Government. In Timber Hill Township, the earliest set-
tlers were T. K. and T. B. Julian, father and son, June 4, 1854; F.
D. Myrick, in November, 1854; and M. E. Hudson, in 1855.

The earliest records state that Thurston Chase and James Gibbons
staked claims on Wolf Creek, in Brown County, on May 11, 1854, and
made some small improvements, but returned to the East in less than
a month. In the same year W. C. Foster came to Brown County.
From this time forward the tide of pioneers poured into the fertile
country, and before the close of 1854 the farms of the new comers
dotted the land in every direction.

The first settlements in Butler County were as follows: Benton
Township, April 13, 1878, by J. P. J. Nelson; Bloomington Town-
ship, 1867, Samuel Rankin; Bruno Township, May, 1869, V. Smith,
Chelsea Township, August, 1857, Bob DeRacken, G. T. Donaldson,
P. G. D. Morton, J. C. Lambdin, I. Scott, Martin Vaught, Dr. Le-
wellen, Charles Jefferson and J. and L. Cole; Clifford Township,
1859, Mr. William Badley; El Dorado Township, May, 1857, William
Hildebrande; Fairmount Township, 1869, Holland Ferguson; Hick-
ory Township, 1869, Mr. Myers; Pleasant Township, spring of 1869,
Marion Franklin; Phim Grove Township, 1860, Joseph H. Adams;
Rock Creek Township, July, 1868, D. L. McCabe; Rosalia Town-

^ .:-

J^^ — ^ -^ — ^ ^

ship, July, 1809, Philip Kariis; Spring Township, April, 1866, Dave
(afterward county commissioner), and H. W. Yates; Towanda Town-
ship, 1858, William Vana, A. G. Davis, Chandler, Atwood, and
others; Union Township, April 2, 1870, A. S. McKee; Walnut Town-
ship, 1866, George Long. William Hildebrande, who came in May,
1857, to El Dorado Township, was the first settler in Butler County.
In Juno, 1857, Samuel Stewart, of Lawrence, organized a colony to
settle in Butler County. July 9, 1857, Henry Martin, William Crim-
ble, Jacob Carey, H. Bemis and William Bemis, with their families,
settled near El Dorado. There were in this party ten other families.

Chase County was generally settled about twenty years figo, though
Seth Hayes and others came as early as 1854. James Fisher, another
pioneer, came in 1855. In 1873 he was robbed and murdered in his
house. Among prominent old citizens have been the following who
have held county offices: Sidney A. Breese, who came in 1818, and
was one of the county organizers; J. S. Doolittle, J. B. Smith, A. P.
Gandy, A. S. Williams, W. S. Romigh, A. S. Howard, J. S. Ship-
man, E. A. Alford, D. F. Drinkwater, O. H. Drinkwater, F. B. Hunt.
H. E. Snyder, M. R. Leonard, H. L. Hunt, C. C. Whitson, Samuel
Buchanan, S. N. Wood. Among the earliest settlers in Falls Town-
ship were James Fisher, Milton Ford and A. P. Wentworth, who came
in 1857. C. S. Hills was the postmaster at Cottonwood Falls, in
1858; L. D. Hinckley opened a grocery store there in 1859.

The first white settler in Chautauqua County was Richard Slater,
in July, 1808, who settled in Salt Creek Valley, in Salt Creek Town-
ship, the land at that time being owned by the Big and Little Osage
Indians, from whom it was obtained by the Government under a treaty
in 1870. In July, 1869, William Bowcher settled in La Fayette Town-
ship, and, in the fall of the same year, settlement was first made in
Harrison Township by O. Hanson; in Sedan Township, by H. S. Halla-
day; Caneyville Township, by Alexander Shawver; in Summit Town-
ship, by George M. Ross, and in Belleville Township, by John W.
Morris and John Sutton. L. P. Getman established the first store in
the county, at Elgin, and John Lee, William Gamble and Beadle
Welsh started the first saw mill at the same place, and which they
brought from Wisconsin in 1870.

The first attempt at a settlement in Cherokee County was made in
1842, when a detachment of United States soldiers attempted to estab-
lish a fort on Spring River. The site selected by them was owned by
John Rogers, a Cherokee Indian, who asked $4,000 for the piece of

— sfV

28 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

laad, but as $1,000 was the limit, beyond which the officer in command
could not go, Fort Scott was finally selected. The next settlement
was made in Shawnee Township, in 1858, by J. Pickerell.

The first settlers of Clay County were Moses, William and Jere-
miah Younkeus and John P. King, who came from Pennsylvania in
April, 1856. Mrs. Moses Younkens was the first white woman and
Mrs. J. B. Quimby the next. The first marriage occurred December
IS, 1859, and the contracting parties were Lorenzo Gates, the
first postmaster on Mall Creek, and Miss Lucinda Gill. George H.
Purington and Miss Helen A. M. Morse were married May 6, 1860.
In the winter of 1868-69, John Cain and Miss Alice Arnold were mar-
ried by J. B. McLaughlin, justice of the peace, who stood on the opp>o-
site bank of the Republican from the contracting parties.

The first attempt at settlement in Cloud County was made in the
fall of 1858, by John and Lew Fowler, hunters and trappers. The
next year they, with G. W. Brown, platted a town site, and designated
it Eaton City. They also built a house in the western part of what is
now the city of Clyde, afterward called the Conklin House, which was
torn down by a mob in 1862. In the spring of 1860 John Allen, of
Kentucky, and his son-inlaw, Sutton MeWhorter, took claims north
of Lake Sibley and laid out a town, which they named Union City.
Three other families from Kentucky, comprising Allen's party, settled
near him. While this party were building their cabins, Philija Kizer,
Carey Kizer, and their brother-in-law, Newton Race, with their wives
and children, selected a location on White Rock Creek. Messrs. Park,
Heffington and Finney settled on Elm Creek about the same time; and
during the year Daniel Wolf, from Pennsylvania, with several sons,
located on Wolf Creek. Jacob Heller took a claim on June 20,
1860, and his father, Moses, and two brothers, David and Israel,
came to Cloud the coming fall. In October, 1860, Jacob accidentally
shot himself, his death being the first in the county. July, 1860, J.
M. Hagaman, J. M. Thorp and August Fenskie settled on Elm Creek.

Prior to 1854 it is not known that any white man ever lived in
Coffey County. The Sac and Fox Indians, whose reservation was
north of the county, had a burial ground near the site of Burlington,
and an Indian trail, from the Sac and Fox agency to the buffalo hunt-
ing ground in Southwestern Kansas, also ran through the county,
crossing the Neosho River at the point where Burlington now stands,
and this trail was used for many years after the settlement of the
county. The first white man who settled in the Neusho Valley was

-^-.

liL

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Frederick Troxel, in the woods, three-fourths of a mile south of the
present town site of Le Roy. Mrs. Troxel was a sister of Gen. John B
Scott, one of the founders of Le Roy. Gen. Scott and Thomas Crab-
tree were, at this time, Indian traders at the Sac and Fox agency.
The Hampden Colony was organized in Hampden Cjunty, Mass.,
March 1, 1855. The organization was for the purpose of efPectino- a
settlement in Kansas. W. A. Ela was the first secretary. The colony,
when it left Massachusetts, consisted of upward of seventy souls It
arrived at Kansas City, April 14, 1855. There they purchased teams
and supplies, and arrived at Hampden, April 26, 1855.

N. J. Thompson was, unwittingly, the first settler in Cowley County,
having built a cabin near what he supposed the south line of Butler'
in August, 1868. The survey showed him to be in Cowley County,'
which was as yet Indian land, and all whites were intruders. In 1869
T. B. Ross and sons, James Renfro and sons, John and Joseph Stans-
bury, B. F. Murphy, T. A. Blanchard, S. B. Williams and F. W.
Schwantes took claims on the bottoms of the Walnut, a few miles above
Winfield. In June, 1869, C. M. Wood penetrated as far as the west
bank of the Walnut, nearly opposite the present city, and began sell-
ing goods to the Indians and settlers. The Indian greed for finery
and provisions, and the knowledge that the tenure of the whites was
insecure, soon led to a system of pilfering and intimidation that caused
W ood to leave his stockade store and retreat to the Renfro cabin up
the stream. In August all settlers were warned to leave the county
and all but Judge T. B. Ross did so. In June, 1869, P. Y. Becker
located south of Winfield, and E. C. Manning on the town site. Al-
though the Osages had threatened the settlers and driven them out,
they did little more than burn Wood's stockade, and in September the
settlers began to drift back, bringing fi-esh accessions with them.
In January, 1870, a party of fifteen men took claims along the Grouse.
In the same month the members of the Walnut City Town Company
(organized in Emporia to lay out and push the town which should be
the future center of the county) reached Winfield. Their purpose was
to locate at the junction of the Arkansas and Walnut. This was, of
course, found near the present site of Arkansas City, and the settlers,
giving up their Winfield claims, settled below, and started their town.'
All this time the settlers who were on Indian land had paid head-
money to Chetopa, the Osage chief. On July 15, 1870, the Osage
lands were opened for settlement, and bona fule claims were at once
entered.

^1^ — ^ ^ — ^^l^

30 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

White men began to locate on the "Cherokee neutral" lands, in
Crawford County, about 1850, Harden Matthews settling in Sherman
Township in that year. Quite a number of white men entered the
county in 1852, and in 1857 some settlements were made in Walnut
Township, and in 1861 W. Banks settled in Crawford Township on
Big Cow Creek. John Lemans, a blacksmith, settled in Osage Town-
ship in 1848. Pleasant M. Smith settled in Baker Township in 1851.
Neither remained. In 1856 Mr. Sears made the first permanent set-
tlement in this township, near the mission crossing on Cow Creek.
Quite a number of settlers had commenced to make houses here, when,
in 1859, Cherokee Indian Agent Cowan drove them from their homes,
lighting their pathway by tires made of their burning haystacks,
houses and barns. In 1865 other settlers came into this part of the
county, among them Marion Medlin, John Hobson, Frank Dosser and
S. S. Georgia; Hobson selecting for his home the spot formerly occu-
pied by Mr. Sears. In 1866 S. J. Langdon and A. J. Georgia came
in. J. F. Gates, Stephen Ogden, W. J. McWirt, Capt. John Hamil-
ton and others, settled in Sheridan Township in 1865. Lincoln Town-
ship was settled in 1852 by the Hathaways and others, and Walnut
Township in 1857.

In 1852 Fort Riley was located. In 1854 settlers began to locate
in Davis County. Thomas Reynolds was the first, near Ogden, in June,
1854. At that time there were not over twenty voters in all the terri-
tory now embraced in Davis County. The Pawnee Tosvn Association
was organized in November, 1854, and the town of Pawnee was located.
The Association issued certificates of shares, which bore date Novem-
ber 26, 1854, signed by W. P. Montgomery, as president, and William
A. Hammond, as secretary. Parties at that time connected with the
army took quite a conspicuous part in the management of the affairs
of the county (at that time there was no county organization), and thus
are found the names of Gen. Lyon, Col. Montgomery, Maj. Ogden, and
others frequently mentioned in connection with transactions that go to
make up the history of the county. The first election, held in what
is now Davis County, was on November 29, 1854, at the house
of Thomas Reynolds, near Ogden, for a member of Congress for the
Ninth district. The Free- State candidate was R. P. Flenniken; the
pro slavery candidate, J. W. Whitfield. Forty votes were cast. The
first commissioners of the county were Robert Reynolds, C. L. Sand-
ford and N. B. Whife, and the first meeting held by the board was
at Riley City, on March 16, 1857. The commissioners present

"* » ^

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

"JiiL

at this meeting were Eobert Reynolds and C. L. Sandford. G. F.
Gordon was appointed clerk p)-o teni., but E. L. Pattee was the first
regularly appointed clerk. H. N. Williams was appointed sheriff, and
was the first man in the county who held that office.

The early settlers of Dickinson County were as follows: In Centre
Township — Lenon family in 1855, but who left in 1858. The next
were John Nash, William Lamb, A. Packard and W. H. Lamb, in

1858. Grant Township: T. F. Her.sey, in 1856; James Bell and E.
W. Bradfield, in 1858. Liberty Township: C. W. Staatz, 1857; J. F.
Staatz, C. F. Staatz and "William Brusson, 1858. Noble Township:
G W. Freeman, John Erwin and the Pritchard brothers, 1858.
Union Township: The Kandt family, the Koepkes and A. S. Blanchett,

1859. Eidge and Hope Townships: Settled by the Michigan colony in
1872, among its members being N. Thurstin, D. Cartier, A. Henque-
net, M. Chase and others, about forty in all. Buckeye Township: M.
P. Jolly and J. T. Stevenson, 1869, followed by the Buckeye colony
in 1870, numbering about 200 souls. Cheever Township: First per-
manent settler was M. H. Price, 1865. Several attempts at settle-
ment had been made prior to this time, one as early as 1859 by a fam-
ily named Hevington, from North Carolina, and by a family named
Williams, in 1860. The Hevingtons took their departure in 1860, and
the Williamses followed in 1860. The next attempt was made by two
brothers named Murphy, in the spring of 1861. They left in the fall.
The nest settler was Mr. Price, in 1865, followed by Robert Kimball
and family in 1866. Mr. Kimball lost his wife by cholera in 1867,
after which he left the county, leaving Mr. Price the sole settler in the
township until 1869, when William Warnock and family settled on
the claim abandoned by Kimball, and George Shry on the claim aban-
doned in 1861 by Murphy. Mr. Warnock was drowned that same
year in Chapman Creek, after which his family moved out of the
township, and Mr. Shry, becoming discouraged, moved back to the
State he came from, and thus again were Mr. Price and family left
the sole inhabitants of the township. In 1870 came Eli George, Kev. J.
Lattimer and E. W. Dow, and these were followed in 1871 by a col-
ony from Illinois, known as the "Prohibition Colony," organized by
Rev. W. B. Christopher, and numbering about fifty souls. Flora
Township: T. C. Iliff and Harrison Flora, 1870. Jefferson Township:
M. Rubin and C. Hoffman, 1860. Banner Township: H. H. Nottorf,
1860. Newbern Township: A. J. Markley and J. W. Shepard, 1859.
Sherman Township: Daniel Jones, 1864, followed soon after by Kerby,

®Tv

32 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Clemeos, Smutz, Shields, Dever brothers, Bayless and others. Logaa
Township: J. G. Miller, William Hilcher, John Erick, D. J. Kim-
merlj' and C. W. Abbey. Willowdale Township: W. G. Lewis, 1869,
followed in 1869 by G. "W. Garten and William Campbell. Hayes
Township: L. K. Warnock, G. B. Smith and the Thisslers. Garfield
Township: K. G. Fleming, A. E. Cormach and J. H. Carkhuff. 1870.
Wheatland Township: Henry Baker and Orlando Bonner, 1870. Lin-
coln Township: H. Whitley and William Frost, in 1857.

The first claims within the limits of Decatur County were taken
by Col. J. A. Hopkins, in December, 1872, and by D. Coburn, S. M.
Porter, John Griffith and Henry M. Play ford, in January, 1873. Col.
Hopkins came in September, 1872. Mrs. H. P. Gaady was the first
white woman that settled and lived in the county.

The earliest settlement in Doniphan County was the Iowa and Sac
Mission, under the auspices of the American Board of Foreign Missions
of the Presbyterian Church, in charge of Rev. S. M. Irvin, who came
to Kansas in 1837, and was the first white man to take up permanent
residence in the then unorganized county. His wife accompanied him.
Six months after the arrival of Mr. Irvin, Rev. William Hamilton Ciime
to the mission. The following were members of the noted Squatter
Sovereign Association which located here: J. R. Whitehead, A. M.
Mitchell, H. Small wood, J. B. O' Toole, J. W. Smith, Sr., Samuel
Montgomery, B. Harding, J. W. Smith, Jr., J. J. Keaton, T. W.
Waterson, C. B. Whitehead, Anderson Cox and Joseph SicilifF.

Previous to May, 1854, Douglas County was not open to settlement
by white people, being held by the Shawnee Indians as a part of their
reservation. As soon as the land was thrown open for settlement,
squatters came in from Missouri and from the Western and North-
western States to secure claims. Gen. Fremont had passed through
the county, and later large numbers of California emigrants. Among
the settlers who came into the county and settled along and in the
vicinity of this road in the spring and early summer of 1854, were:
J. W. Lunkins, of South Carolina, A. R. Hopper, Clark Stearns
and William H. R. Lykins, A. B. and N. E. Wade, J. A. Wake-
field, Calvin and Martin Adams, J. J. Eberhart, Brice W. Miller,
J. H. Harrison, H. S. and Paul C. Eberhart, S. N. Wood. Mr.
Eolfe, L. A. Lagerquest, James F. Legate, William Lyon and Josiah
Hutchinson. On the Wakarusa, south of the road, Joel K. Goodwin
settled in May, and William Breyman, July 18. T. W. and R. F.
Barber settled near the site of Bloomington in 1855, and Oliver Barber

at the ^.me place June 1, L85T. During the same month John A.
Bean, N. Alquine and M. Albin settled a little farther west, where
now IS the village of Clinton, and a store was opened by the latter.
As early as May, Napoleon N. Blanton was at Blanton's Bridge, which
crossed the Wakarusa four miles directly south of Lawrence^ and G
A\ . Zmn, A. W. and A. G. Glenn, M. S. Winter and William Shirley
were among the settlers of 1854 on the site of Lecompton. On the
present site of Vinland, Jacob Branson, Charles W. Do^vs Franklin N
Coleman, George Cutler, F. B. Varnum. William White, Josiah
Hargus and Harnson W. Buckley took claims during the year, and a
httle farther south, at Baldwin Cty, were Robert and Richard Pier-
son Jacob Cantrel and L. F. Green. Douglas, two miles southeast
of Lecompton, was laid out on the claim of Paris Ellison, G W
Clarke and others being associated with him as town proprietor;' and
late m the year, William Harper and John Chamberlain settled at
Big Springs.

W. C^ and R. E. Edwards were among the very earliest set-
tlers m Edwards County. They built the first brick building occu-
pied as a court-house for many years. After them this county is
said to have been named. In April, 1873, settlers came from Maine
-N^ L. Humphrey, Beza Blanchard, F. C. Blanchard, his son W
F. Blanchard, a son-in-law and two or three daughters. E k'
Smart started a lumber-yard at Kinsley, in 1873; T. L. Rocrers opened
a general store; N. C. Boles was the first postmaster

18 .r' ^r^ ''"'"■ '"^ ^"' ^°"°*^ ^^' ^'"^^'■'^ Graves, who came in
1856, and was twice driven out by the Indians. The land at this time
belonged to the Osages. upon which legal settlement could not be
made There was, however, extending along the northern part of the
couny, s,xm.les wide, a " ceded strip." It was consequently along
the streams included within this belt where the earliest settlement was
made. But it was not long to be confined to this narrow limit Ad-
venturous men, at the risk of their lives among the Indians, upon
whose rights they were intruding, and with expectations of being
driven oft by United States troops, determined to make an effort to
settle here. Only a few at first made the attempt, and, in consequence
their presence was not distasteful to the authorities or alarming to the
Indians. Others began to come in, until in 1870 the number of "squat-
ters had become quite considerable. Among those who were leaders
o the vanguard, and who came to stay, were J. C. Pinney. James
.Shipley, R. M. Humphrey, Elison Neat, H. G. Miller, J. B Roberts

and others. The first child born in the connty was Sarah F. Shipley,
December 8, 1866.

In 1864 or 1865 Fort Fletcher post was established in Ellis
County, on Big Creek, about fourteen miles southeast of where Hays
City now stands. The post was utterly destroyed by a flood in the
spring of 1867. Immediately thereafter Fort Hays was established on
its present site by Gen. Pope. Up to that time the county was with-
out settlement, but the location of Fort Hays, and the near approach
of the Kansas Pacific Railway, attracted a good many settlers to that
locality, and then followed the founding of Hays City. Some early
futile attempts to cultivate the prairie in the vicinity of Hays City
were made. In 1871 Thomas Arrowsmith, J. H. Edwards, and Louis
Watson tried farming near Ellis, but met with poor success. In
1872 ten or twelve homestead and preemption claims were all that
had been settled iipon in the county. In that year a small colony
from Ohio located at what is now known as Walker Station. Follow-
ing this colony, two others, very limited in number, arrived the next
year, one from New York, in and about Ellis, and one from Pennsyl-
vania, at Hays City. That year George Grant arrived from England,
and purchased of the railway company 50,000 acres of land m the
county, for the purpose of colonizing it with English agriculturists.
During the next two or three years two or three hundred Englishmen,
many of them with families, located on the Grant purchase. A town
was started on the line of railway, a few miles west of Walker, which
was named Victoria. A stone depot, a handsome stone church, an
elevator, and a store were introduced. In a short time the place had
about twenty five houses and 150 people. Experience, however, soon
taught the colonists that Ellis County was not an agricultural country,
and meeting with nothing but failure and disappointment in their ef-
forts at farming, they became discouraged, and began to return to
England, and now, of all those that came, but very few remain.
In 1879 the originator of the scheme, George Grant, died. The
colony has ceased to exist. There is a large Russian colony in
this county. The first couple married in Ellis County was Peter
Tondell and Elizabeth Duncan, in 1868, and the first child born was
John Bpuer, January 29, 1868.

Ellsworth County was organized in 1867, but, antedating this by
ten. years, attempts were made at settlement. P. M. Thompson,
known by the early settlers as " Smoky Hill Thompson," Joseph Leh-
man, D. H. Page, Adam Weadle, and D. Cushman, were the first who

•^ s ^"

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 35

made permaneut settlement. The next was made by Heary and Irwin
Fairis, S. D. Walker, C L. and J. J. Prather. This party came in
1860, and located on Clear Creek. H. Wait and H. P. Spur^eon
came late in 1860. Up to August, 1861, there was not a white woman
in the county, but in that month a man named T. D. Bennett moved
from Dickinson County with his wife. A man named Lewis came,
with his family, in the fall of 1862. Indian troubles drove all the
settlers away. Settlement was not revived until 1865, when Harry
Anderson came. The next year came Rev. Levi Sternberg and family,
and others.

Gov. Thomas A. Osborn, in his proclamation providing for the
organization of Ford County, April 5, 1873, appointed Charles Path,
J. G. McDonald and Daniel Wolf special county commissioners, and
Herman J. Fringer special county clerk. This body met at Dodge
City, and made choice of Charles Rath as chairman of the board.
James Hanrahan was appointed commissioner in place of Mr. Wolf,
who was not in the county. An election for county officers was or-
dered June 5, 1873, and at that election the following named persons
were elected, the tirst body of officers for Ford County: Charles Rath,
A. C. Myers and F. C. Zimmerman, county commissioners; Herman
J. Fringer, county clerk and clerk of the district court; A. J. Anthony,
county treasurer; Charles E. Bassett, sheriff; T. L. McCarty, coro-
ner; H. Armitage, register of deeds; George B. Cox, probate judge;
M. V. Cutter, county attorney. M. Collar was trustee of Dodge
Township; P. T. Bowen and Thomas C. Nixon, justices of the peace.
A C. Myers was selected chairman of this board; M. V. Cutter
resigned the position of county attorney, and was appointed commis-
sioner, vice Rath, resigned July 24, 1873; M. V. Cutter was appointed
chairman vice Myers. The county was divided into two miiuicipal
townships, Dodge and Ford.

Owing to the fact that most of the land in Franklin County was
occupied by a number of different tribes of Indians, the titles to
whose reservations were not extinguished until 1862, 1864 and 1867,
the settlement of the county was not so early as that of adjoining
counties. Along the northern edge, however, on what was known as
the " Shawnee purchase," a strip of land about three miles wide, the
Shawnee title to which was extinguished by the treaty of May 10,
1854, a number of settlements were made in that year.

The first settler in the county was Reuben Hackett, near the
west line of Hayes Township, on June 7, 1854. Amos Hanna moved

^J^

36 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

in about the same time. Quite a number of others came during the
same year, among them, Rev. William Moore and four or live sons,
who settled about a inile east of the present location of Norwood.

The first settlement in Graham County was made May 18, 1872,
by W. E. Ridgely, on the northeast section of the county, his nearest
neighbor being at Logan, Kas., eight miles distant. From that date
until the census was taken in November, 1876, there were but seven-
ty-five inhabitants in the county.

The iirst settlement in Greenwood County was made in the spring
of 1856, by colonists from Mississippi, who came with the avowed in-
tention of helping to make Kansas an ally of the Southern slave-hold-
ing States. These pro-slavery people drifted away to more congenial
soil on the breaking out of the war. A few anti-slavery men were
sprinkled about the county in the fall of 1856, but real settlement did
not take place in any considerable numbers until the spring of 1859,
which saw a party of new comers in Lane and Madison Townships,
among whom were D. Vining, Austin and Fred Norton, Anderson
Hill, Wesley Pearsons, Mark Patty, Myrock Huntley, E. E. Holder-
man, William Martindale, E. G. Duke, James and W. F. Osborn,
Isaac Sharp and David Smyth. In July of this year came Josiah
Kinnaman, Archibald Johnston, Peter Ricker, Adam Glaze, John
Baker, W^ayne Sumner and William Kinnaman.

The earliest settlement in Harper County was by M. Devore, H.
E. Jesseph, John Lamar and William Thomas, near the east line of
the county in 1876. No further settlement was attempted until the
arrival of the party who laid out and built Harper City. The first
wedding in the county took place at Harper, on September 22, 1878,
and vinited Dr. J. W' . Madra and Miss Mary Glenn.

H. Nieman, who took up a claim in Richland Township in June,
1869, was the first settler in Harvey County. Other early settlers
were Kimball, Howard, George F. Perry, William Cleveland, M.
Alexander, Seth Goodley, Lawrence, Wilcox, A. G. Richardson, C. S.
Fink, R. W. Denny, Joel and Jesse Parker. H. W. Bailey, B. P.
Parks, S. Saylor, T. Ezra, R. Smith, Edward Doty, Thomas Winn,
C. E. Berry, E. Marks, O. B. Hildreth, William Geary, I. Stockwell,
O. B. Gingress, James Allen, Palmer and Daniel Heath, F. P. and
A. E. Munch, A. W. Baker, Mile Davids, Joshua Perkins, John
Hengst, C. W. Patterson, J. V. Sharp, H. Beery, F. Livingston, J.
S. and F. W. H. Hackney, J. C, W. E. and J. M. Johnston, R. T.
Elwood, J. L. Caveny, W. Davis, James McMurray, James Patterson,

-^^

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 37

John Gorgas, Jolin W. Blades, Willium aad Charles Bean, E. C. Man-
ner, G. Webster, Theodore Kline, John N. Corgan, G. L. Cooper,
J. Schoonover, A. Olson, Allen Miller, L. D. and A. Brewer, John
Harlan, J. and P. Ray, L. B. Owen, D. E. Sheldon, H. D. and C.
Kettle, D. Denny, S. Chamberlain and S. A. Powell.

Settlement in Hodgeman Count}' was begun in the spring of 1877.
Amoag the early settlers in different parts of Jackson County were
J. W. AVilliams, John Rippetoe, A. W. Bainbiidge, William Cunning-
ham, Hugh Piper, John Piper, David R. Rice, Rufus J. Rice, Josiah
Soule, John N. Willard, Luther M. Myers, George Coleman, Stephen
J. Elliott, R. S. Gillies, B. H. Bradshaw, Edward McNieve, E. L.
Stalker, W. H. Chase, George Baiubridge, Chauncey J. Cowell,
George W. Drake, Simeon Fees, Garrett Groomer, Godfrey Hafer,
W. K. Lutz, Jacob Morroid, Walter Palmenter, George Smith, Cyrus
G. Waynant, John Arnold, W. G. Bainett, Thomas Fennell, B.
Hafer, J. F. Pomeroy, A. Ash, J. H. Bateman, J. H. Thompson,
John Hibbard, S. J. Rose, R. L. Thornton, William Cline, W. Bran-
ham, E. Fairbanks, William Knipe, Henry Runcier, Jacob Kern,
Roger O'Meara, P. B. Rust, J. H. Sutherlatjd, I. Travis, Andrew
Brown, John M. Duff, Henry Haub, Michael O'Neill, George T.
Watkins, George C. Weibles, D. R. Williams.

The first settlement in Jefferson County, as well as in Kansas, was
that of Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, the Kentucky
pioneer. Between the years 1805 and 1815, the elder Boone often
spent months in hunting along the Kaw or Kansas River, for a dis-
tance of 100 miles or more from its mouth, a portion of this time
being spent in the southern part of the present Jefferson County.
Returning fi'om his hunts he gave glowing accounts of the country to
his family.

In the spring of 1SG2, William Har.shberger and wife settled upon
land adjoining the present town of White Rock, and John Furrows
took a claim just west of Mr. Harshberger' s farm. They formed the
first settlement in Jewell County, built cabins and broke ground, but
were soon driven away by well-grounded fears of Indian raids. A
second attempt at settlement was made in the spring of 1866. Will-
iam Belknap took a claim five miles west of the present town of
White Rock; John Marling, with his wife and child, settled near the
present town of Reubens; Nicholas Ward, his wife and adopted son,
Mrs. Sutzer and son, Al. Dart, Arch. Bump, Erastns Bartlett and a
man by the name of Flint, tojk claims east of that town. In August

▲

:i^

38 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

of this year a party of forty Cheyennes attacked Marliog's cabin, and
while he was gone for assistance the savages entered his house,
dragged his wife into the woods with a rope around her neck, and hor-
ribly outraged her. They then stole everything they could find, set
fire to the cabin and dashed off before Mr. Marling could obtain
assistance. After this, the entire settlement left their homes. A few
days afterward, learning that the rumors of a general massacre were
groundless, they returned to their claims. They rested in fancied
security until the following April, when occurred a bloody massacre
which effectually destroyed the little settlement. Of the original
members of the settlement who were not victims of this massacre
Mr. Flint was absent at Clyde, the Darts were absent, Mr. Marling,
wife and child had returned to Missouri, and Messrs. Bump and Davis
had been waylaid and shot in Cloud County during the previous May.
The survivors, including Mr. Rice, all left the county after this horri-
ble affair. Settlempnt was resumed in 1868, and went forward with-
out further serious interruption by Indians.

Previous to the advent of the Shawnee Indians in 1828, but little
was known of what is now Johnson County by white people. In
common with the whole of the present State of Kansas, it was occu-
pied, when occupied at all, by the Kaw Indians. As soon as a largo
portion of the reservation was thrown open for settlement, large num-
bers rushed in t'> secure claims. Few of the earliest settlers remained
in the county. Among those who settled in the county during 1857
were the following free-Staters : Thomas E. Milhoan, William Will-
iams, Rynear Morgan, William. Holmes, Dr. Irving Jaynes, J. D.
Allen, J. C. Forrest and L. F. Bancroft; and on the pro slavery side.
Dr. J. B. Morgan, Col. J. T. Quarles, T. H. Ellis, A. Slaughter,
James H.. Nounan, C. C. Catron, W. S. Gregory, Jonathan Gore, A.
J. Turpin, Dr. Shuck and M. T. Wells. Daring the time of the occu-
pancy of the county by the Shawnee Indians, few white men became
residents of it, and they only in some connection with the Indians.
The earliest were the Choteau brothers, Frenchmen, who built trading
houses among the Shawnees and Dslawares in 1828 and 1829. Rev.
Thomas Johnson and family came in 1829. Samuel Cornatzer came
to the mission in 1814, Mr. Crockett, nephew of Davy Crocketl, Janu-
ary 24, 1847; ani at difFtirent times, Perk Rindall, John Bowles,
Isaac Parish, Samuel Garrett, John Owens, John Boyle and Calvin
Cornatzer.

The first actual settler in Kingman County was Martin UpdegrafF,

>t^ 6 ^^ ^n S fy

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 39

on the Cbikaskia. Mr. UpJegrafF made settlement in February, 1873,
and was followed a few months later by J. K. and S. F. Fical and
Charles Barr, and two or three others. In the spring of 1874 came
W. H. Childs. H. L. Ball, A. D. Culver, H. S. Bush, W. P. Brown
and W. H. Mosher. In the course of the year, several others came
in, who located chiefly in the central portion of the county along the
Ninnescah. That year an Indian scare occurred, and nearly all the
settlers had fled the county. The years 1875 and 1876 were not
remarkable for the arrival of many new settlers coming into the
county, but the year 1877 was not a month old when Samuel David-
son, E. S. Allen, R. T. Nolan, John Jackson, C. M. Tack, H. J. Golds-
borough and William Green all settled in the eastern part of the
county, followed immediately after by large numbers of others.

As early as 1853 Dr. George Lilse, formerly a prominent physi-
cian of Belmont, Ohio, obtained leave from A, J. Dorn. Indian agent,
to settle in the southeast part of what is now Labette County, where
he carried on a trading business and kept a sort of gun shop.
Prior to this, however, James Childers had established a trading post
near the same place. Besides those named, this settlement numbered
several others, among whom were G. Hanson, William Doudna, George
Walker, Larkin McGee, McMurphy, the Rogers and Blythe families,
etc. In the early part of 1858 Rev. J. P. Barnaby, of the Southern
Methodist Church, established a circuit including this settlement and
embracing about 150 miles around. In October of that year Rev. J.
E. Ryan succeeded to the circuit. These parties, with a number of
half-breeds and Cherokee Indians along the Neosho, made up the bulk
of the settlement, up to the beginning of the Rebellion. At an early
stage of the war Mathews allied himself to the cause of the Confed-
eracy, organized a body of Confederate troops, some of whom killed
Union men and brutally treated the inhabitants; burned the town of
Humboldt, leaving only the Masonic lodge standing. Several futile
attempts were made to capture the l)and, which was finally pursued by
United States troops under Col. Blunt, overtaken near Chetopa. and
Mathews shot and killed, and his houses at Oswego burned. These
acts of disorder and invasion almost annihilated the settlement. From
18G0 to 1805 there were only two white men living within the limits
of the county. These were S. M. Collins and A. T. Dickerman, near
Erie, and who, in July, 1805, by permit of White Hair, chief of the
Osages, removed four miles south of the present site of Oswego.
During the fall of 1865 the return of refugee settlers began. Settlers

^ "a _ A>

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

came along the Neosho valley, extending to the line of the Indian
Territory, J. C. Rexford, A. P. Elsbee, C. C. Clover, D. M. Clover, Ber-
gen Van Ness, C. E. Simmons, B. F. Simmons, John Modesitt, Norris
Harrar, Cal. Watkins, William White and sons, Grant Reaves and
others being of the number. The new8 of the treaty of September 25,
1865, being made with the Osage Indians, and the prospect of the land
being soon opened to settlement, was the main stimulus in bringing in
settlers, who soon flocked in by the hundreds. It was in this county that
the celebrated Benders plied their murderous trade. The first land
claimed in Kansas by citizens of the United States, after the passage
of the Kansas Nebraska ast, was at Leavenworth. June 12, 1854, Gen.
George W. Gist, Samuel Farnandis, and John C Gist, staked off and
marked the claims. It had been the opinion of many would-be set-
tlers that the city Was destined to be located at Fort Leavenworth.
But the Government had no intention of abandoning it as a military
post, aad accordingly, the nest day after Gen. Gist and his friends
had staked their claims, a meeting was called at Weston fur the for-
mation of a town association. The various squatters in Leavenworth
and vicinity, who had taken claims near the coming city of Fort
Leavenworth, held a meeting at Riveley's store, in Salt Creek Valley,
June 10, 1854, the first squatter meetiug ever held in the Territory,
and it was resolved to relinquish all rights and titles to the future
town association; hence, when it was formed on June 13, everything
appeared harmonious. The original proprietors were mostly citizens
of Missouri, residing at this time at or near Weston. Gen. Gist was
elected president; H. Miles Moore, secretary; Joseph B. Evans, treas-
urer; Amos Rees, L. D. Bird and Mij. E. A. Ogden, trustees; com-
mittee on by-laws: L. D. Bird, O. Diefendorf and H. Miles Moore.
Subsequent to the first meeting, James W. Hardesty and W. S. Yohe
were admitted as original members of the association. Including the
two last named gentlemen there were thiity-two original proprietors,
classified as follows: Ministers, three; lawyers, four; doctors, five;
printers, two; merchants, four; surveyor.-^, one; army officers, two
army clerks, one; farmers, eight.

The settlement of Lincoln County was begun in 1865 by George
Green, E. E. Johnson, R. B. Clark, D. C. Skinner, J. M. Adams,
Isaac De Graft' and W. E. Thompson. In the spring of 18(36 Wash-
ington Smith, W. T. Wild, John Dart and two young men named
Peate and Gaskill became permanent residents of Lincoln. October
4, 1866, M. D. Greea, Martin and William Hendrickson, Volany

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 41

Ball, John S. Straage, D.ivid Gr. Bacon, M. Zeigler, Thomas Noon, J.

C. Parks and families settled throughout the county. For several
years buffalo hunting was the chief pursuit. This county was the
scene of some Indian outrages.

With the exception of M. Dutisne, Girard and Chouteau were proba-
bly the tirst white men in what is now Linn County. The first to set-
tle in the county, with the view to making improvements, were James
Osborne and Adam Pore, in January, 1854, at the head of Little
Sugar Creek, about two miles from the present site of Mound City.

D. W. Cannon, John Brown and William H. Murray, all pro- slavery,
and William Park, James Osborne and James Montgomery, free-
State, came in the same year; the latter in August, buying the claim
on which he lived the rest of his life, for $11, paying $5 down, and
promising to pay the additional ?6 some time in the future.

By common agreement, the first settler in Lyon County (then not
organized) was Charles H. Withington, in the extreme northern part,
on the old Santa Fe road, June, 1854. Mr. Withington was one of
the earliest settlers of the State, coming to Kansas in 1846, being gun-
smith to the Sac and Fox ladians. Removing to Council Grove five
years later, he opened a store for the Santa Fe and Indian trade. In
1857, when the bulk of early immigration flowed to this county, and
for years afterward, he was prominent in all important affairs locally. His
house was a hotel, and his store the only one in Southern Kansas, except
those of the regular Indian posts. Oliver Phillips, Chris. Ward and
J. S. Pigman came in 1855. Other settlers were Charles Johnson,
James H. Phenis, David Vangundy, John Rosenquist, Joseph Moon,
Rev. Thomas J. Addis, Lorenzo Dow, R. H. Abraham, William Grims-
ley, Thomas Shockley, Joseph Ha lley, William H. Eikenbery, Joel
Haworth, Dr. Gregg, Mr. Carver, James Hendricks, Albei't Watkins,
John Fowler, G. D. Humphrey, L. H. Johnson, Charles N. Link, Sol
Pheanis, Moses Puckett, Silas Howell, D. Roth, Isaac Cos, Eli Davis,
Curtis Hiatt, Andrew Hinshaw, W. J. Carney, Milton Chamness, N.
Lockerman, P. W. Manning, Mr. Taylor and S. G. Brown.

The first settlement made in Marion County was by an Irishman
named Moses Shane, at the spot where now stands Florence, early in
the spring of 1858. He built a log house, broke several acres of
ground, and resided there until his death, in 1859. Patrick Doyle,
in 1859, located near Florence, but soon afterward returned to Leaven-
worth; in a few years he returned. In August, 1859, the first white
child, named Welsh, was born in the county, two miles from Florence.

>>--^

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Its pareots emigrated to Kansas from Wisconsin. The Lost Springs
trading post was established in 1859, on the Santa Fe trail. In the
fall, A. A. Moore established a trading post at Cottonwood Crossing,
later "Moore's Ranch."

The first in McPherson County, who remained long enough to be
called a settler, was Isaac Sharp, who lived upon Sharp's Creek (after
whom thecreek was named) during the winter of 1859-60, on what is now
known as the Maxwell estate. He traded with the Indians, trapped
and hunted. He came from Pennsylvania, and brought with him his
father and mother. The latter died, and was buried upon the creek.
Mrs. Sharp was, without doubt, the first white woman who resided in
McPherson County. When the war of the Rebellion broke out, the
Western Indians became troublesome, and Mr. Sharp removed to Coun-
cil Grove. Shortly after Mr. Sharp cams to the county, a man named
Lewis settled upon the Smoky, below Marquette, on the farm now
owned by Solomon Stephens. He was also a trapper and a trader,
but made some improvements upon his claim, and a strip of land
plowed by him can yet be distinguished, although nearly gone back
to the native sod. A man named Peters also came to Sharp' s Creek,
shortly after Mr. Sharp. He died, and was buried upon the creek.
From the time of the removal of Mr. Sharp from the county, until
the settlement in 1860, there were only occasional visits of traders and
trappers.

One of the first white men to settle in Miami County was David
Lykins, in 1844, as missionary to the confederated tribes of Indians.
Other missionaries and teachers came to these tribes and to the Miamis,
from time to time, and also traders, all of whom came to aid or live
among the Indians. In 1854 bona fide settlers began to arrive, with
the object of making homes for themselves, and developing the re-
sources of the country. Among these, in various parts of the county,
were S. H. Houser, Daniel Goodrich, C. A. Foster, John Childers,
Harmon Dace, C H. Crane, John Serpell, William Chestnut, S. T .
Adair, R. W. Wood, O. C. Brown, Knowles, Isaac, Cyrus and Will-
iam Shaw, T. J. Hedges, D. L. Peery, W. A. Heiskell, David Anden-ou
and William Blair.

In the fall of 1867 a few settlers moved into Mitchell County, and
in the spring of 1868 several log houses were built along the river,
from the east line to Solomon Rapids. The first actual white settler
was Joseph Decker, early in 1866, north of the village of Glen Elder.
Mr. Decker filed on this quarter-section of laud at the Junction City

*7U

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 43

land office, and came on with quite a large herd of cattle and built a
dug-out and broke a little spot for garden. Before fall the Indians
drove off his cattle, and he abandoned the country. Among the
earliest permanent settlers were Hon. John Reese, Thomas Howie,
William Joiner, Matthias Nelson, David Bogardns, B. Bell, AVhit Mc-
Connell, Tunis Bulis, James Farow, James Duff, H. A. Bell, John White-
hurst and his sons, Vinton and Abraham, and John Smith. Early in the
spring of 1868 nearly all of these settlers were making primitive im-
provements, from the east line of the county west as far as Solomon
Rapids.

The first settler in Montgomery County was G. L. Canada, in
1806, at Claymore; the second was Daniel Wilson, in the northeast
part of the county in 1866. Those who settled in 1867 were Zach-
ariah Crow, Terwilliger and William Rutherford. Among those who
came during the next year were John Russell, J. B. Rowley, Patrick
Dugan, William Reed, William Roberts, Christian Greenongh, John
Hanks, H. W. Coniad, Alexander Duncan, J. A. Twlss, Col. Coffey,
O. F. Johns, J. Roberts, T. C, J. H. and A. Graham, P. R. Jordon,
G. W. and W. L. Mays, H. A. Bethuran, J. H. Conrad, Moses Roller.
R. Stallcup, M. McGowen, R. M. Bennett, John Campbell, Jacob
Thompson, Thomas Brock, J. Kappell, Levi Mann, Philip Waldron,
N. P. ^Morgan, A. P. Patter, W. Sherill, J. Simmons, Rachel Greeno, J.
Weddell, Mortimer Goodell, E. Goodell, D. R. B. Flora, R. W. Dunlap,
John Melntyre, Mrs. E. C. Powell, Thomas C. Evans, Lewis Choteau.
Brewer, Pierce, George Spece, Dr. Koutz and James Parkinson. No
improvement of importance had yet been made, so that up to 186'J
there were but few and scattered evidences of anything except Indian
occupancy.

Morris is another of the counties which was opened to settlement
by the great Santa Fe trail. Settlement began at Council Grove. J.
C. Munkers, in Munkers' Creek, was the first settler elsewhere in the
county.

In January, 1854 W. W. Moore came from St. Joseph and located
in Nemaha County, in the jiroximity of Baker's Ford, on the Nemaha,
some nine miles from Seneca. This point was afterward known as Ur-
bana. It was near the center of immediately subsequent settlements. In
February of the same year, Walter D. Beeles settled north of Moore's
place, and in March, Greenberry Key, Thomas, John C. and Jacob B.
Newton locating upon the Nemaha, somewhat to the south, in April.
John O'Laughlin took a valuable claim on Turkey Creek. On July

\^ s r- ^"i & \

44 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

4 a meeting of the settlers was held at Urbana, to arrange for their
mutual protection in their claims. John Castle was chairman, and
George T. Bobst, secretary. At the time of this meeting, no settle-
ment, except in the vicinity of the Nemaha, had been efPected west of
the Wolf River and Harding's station; the early settlement of
Nemaha County, preceding the formal ceding of the Northern Kan-
sas lands by the Indians, being due to the understanding that a twenty-
mile strip along the valley of the Nemaha, and extending southward
some ways, was " neutral land," to which the Indians had no claim.

The treaty by which the Osages relinquished the "ceded lands"'
to the United States was concluded September 29, 1865, and proclaimed
January 21, 1867. Before the former date, in some of the townships
of Neosho County, as now organized, quite a number of settlers had
taken claims, in anticipation of the removal of the Indians. So far as
ascertainable, the following-named persons were the first, or among the
first: Dr. W. W. Hill (who came in 1851, and was killed in his own
door-yard by a mob, November 1, 1806), Levi Hadden, Simeon ^V. and
James A. Hadden, Solomon Markham and his four sons, J. L. Fletcher,
S. Barbee, H. Schooley, Thomas Hadden, Darius Rodgers, Benjamin
M. Smith, Thomas Jackson, S. E. Beach, T. R. Peters, M. Kittermau,
William Box, David Lowery, J. C. Comstock, E. J. Pierce, W. I.
Brewer, Reuben Lake, Joseph Cummings, Henry and John Wikle,
John Blair, George T. Shepherd, A. A. Ashlock, M. J. Salter, John
Post, I. N. Roach, W. C. Dickerson, S. Rosa, M. L. and Frank Mc-
Cashu, Dr. Dement, M. A. Patterson, J. L. Evans, I. M. Allen, John
Johnson, D. T. Mitchell, P. Walters, R. Leppo, E. F. Williams, P.
McCarthy, John C. Weibley, Capt. John Berry, J. A. Wells, A. H.
Childs, James Hoagland, A. H. Roe, J. Naff and D. W. Bray.

Ness County did not settle very rapidly at first, but its few early
residents were ambitious and enterprising, and very anxious to secure
a county oro-anization. In 1873, on the claim that the county had, by
the assessor's returns, 600 inhabitants, a petition for an organization
was sent to the governor. The county was organized October 23,
1873, O. H. Perry, Thomas Myers and John Rogers being appointed
special county commissioners, and Charles McGuire special county
clerk. It was disorganized in 1874, and reorganized in 1880.

The iirst actual settler in Norton County was Shelby D. Pieed,
in Centre Township, in April, 1872. In the fall of the samo
year Thomas Beaumont, Henry Gordon and Peter Hanson settled in
the southern section of the county, near the Solomon Rivor. Hanson

^\<? w

D >

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

opened the first farm in the spring of 1872, several months before he
became an actual settler. The first families to make permanent set-
tlement were James Hall's and Daniel C. Coleman's, on the Prairie Dog,
twelve miles east of Norton; they came in 1872. During the same
season Joel Simmons, W. E. Case, Charles and John Beiber, G. N.
Kingsbury, Henry Oliver, Solomon Marsh, Charles Hilsinger and Joel
Mott settled in the county. Soon after came Col. N. H. Billings, who
became the first representative in the Legislature.

When Kansas was formed as a Territory, May 30, 1854, the only
white settlers within the present limits of Osage County were two men
living on One Hundred and Ten Creek, at the crossing of the Santa
Fe Trail, and who had married Shawnees. Besides these, there were
a few at the Sac and Fox agency. The first settler after May 30, 1854,
was John Frelo, who came with his family soon after that date, and
stopped at the poiiit on the Santa Fe trail where Burlingame now is.
The only person living anywhere in the neighborhood was a Shawnee
Indian, who had a cabin by a spring, in what is now the northern part
of the above-named town. Frele bought this claim, and moved into
the cabin. The next winter a son was born to Mrs. Frele. This was
the first white child born in the county.

Osborne County's earliest settler lived near Twelve-mile Creek and,
was drowned in the winter of 1820. Zara M. Hill made the first entry
of land on the north fork of the river, between Downs and Bethany.
The first settlement in Ottawa County was made in May, 1855, by
William Still, George Darling and a Frenchman named La Pierre,
near the mouth of Coal Creek, but the Sioux troubles drove them away.
The first permanent settlers came in 1859. They were S. M. Wright,
E. W. Branch, Jacob Hamburger, H. R. Little and Josiah Hockei'.
The first white women in the county were Mrs. S. M. Wright and Mrs.
E. W. Branch, who located with their husbands in 1859.

Early events in the history of Pawnee County are thus recounted:
In 1872 George B. Cox settled in Earned To.wnship; a colony from
Geneva, Ohio, settled in Garfield Township in May, 1873; Adams
Peabody in Pleasant Valley Township, in 1873; Gallatin Brown in
Brown's Grove Township, in 1875. Colegrove & Russell established
a general store at Earned in June, 1872; E. W. Grover, at Garfield,
in 1873; George B. Cox, at Earned, in 1872. In 1862 a post-office
was established at the military post at Fort Earned.

The first settlement in Phillips County was made in 1869 by C. J.
Van Allen, who pre-empted a farm east of Kirwin. He built the first

_S) ^

log bouse in the county, and his father in-law, Samuel Bales, the first
frame house. Previous to this time, however, the Gavernment sent
Col. Kirwin (for whom the principal town in the county was named),
who erected a stockade fort, just after the close of the war, to prevent
the encroachments of Indians, and for protection of overland California
emigrants. This stockade was abandoned by the Government with the
advent of the early settlers. In 1870 the Indians became troublesome
and the settlers built a stockade, in the east part of what is now Kir-
win, for safety in case of an attack. The stockade was constructed
of logs ten feet long, placed endwise in the ground.

William Martell, Antoine Tasier, Bazile Greemore, Francis Ber-
gen, Robert Wilson, A. Higben, Joseph Truckee, O. H. P. Polk, Bap
V tise Ogee, Mrs. B. H. Bertrand, Mrs. Joseph Bertrand, Mrs. Amable
Bertrand, and Zoa Durcharm, were the earliest settlers of Pottawa-
tom ie County. They were here years before the passage of the Kan-
sas-Nebraska bill. Eobert Wilson took the first claim in 1853, on the
land where now stands Louisville, and erected the first house in the
county outside the Pottawatomie reserve. It was used as a hotel for
many years. Judge Huggins and Dr. Sabin erected the first flouring-
mill in 1856.

The settlement of Pratt County is recent. The first actual settler
was A. J. Johnson, who located in the vicinity of Springvale, in the
fall of 1873, the first man in the county to break sod and raise a crop.
J. W. Black and A. Kelly also located in the southwest corner of
the county. I. M. Powell was next, in September, 1875. The first
male child in the county was born to Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Black, in
September, 1875, and was named Pratt. The first female child in
the county was horn to Mr. and Mrs. I. M. Powell, in 1875.

August C. Blume, August Deitleff, Albert E. Lange, Charles Nast
and Antone Stermer, five Germans, made the first settlement in Raw-
lins County in April, 1875. When they came they saw a roving baud
of Cheyenne Indians. Three of these men remained in the county,
the others returned East.

The first settlement in Reno County was made by Lewis M.
Thomas, November, 1870; the second settler was J. H. D. Rosan;
the third was John Hunt. In March, 1871, Rosan, his brother (C.
W. Rosan) and Charles Street drove in a large herd of Texas cattle.
Other settlers came in rapidly afterward.

For a long time the Republican River was the boundary line be-
tween the white and Indian territory, consequently the early settle-

HISTOllY OF KANSAS. 47

ments of Republic County were the scene of Indian outrages. Daniel
and Conrad Myers, the oldest settlers in the county, located February
28, 18(31. During the most trying period of the early settlement,
Conrad never left his claim, but Daniel sought a more safe retreat, and
returned after danger had passed. During the war the Indians were
very savage, and made many raids upon the settlers. They all proved
futile; the frontier did not recede, but steadily advanced, until the
Republican River became the boundary line. At this time the nearest
settlement was in Cloud County, at Lake Sibley, which, however, was
soon deserted on account of the hostile Indians. The nearest post-
o£Sce was Manhattan, eighty miles away.

Rice County was settled in 1870, by John A. Carlson, Andrew John-
son, C. S. Lindell, August Johnson, John E. Johnson, John P. John-
son, O. W. Peterson, R. M. Hutchinson, A. J. Howard, J. E. Perdue
and others. In the latter part of 1853 a Tennesseean, by the name of
Samuel D. Dyer, was running a Government ferry at Juniata, about
one mile below Rocky Ford, ou the Big Blue, in Riley County. Soon
after, the Government built a bridge at this point, but in 1855 it was
swept away by a flood. Mr. Dyer, the first white inhabitant of Riley
County, died in February, 1875. His house has been described as
"one story high and two stories long."

The first settlers in Rooks County were ten persons engaged in the
stock business, named James, Thomas, Joseph, John and Francis Mc-
Nulty (brothers, originally from Massachusetts), Tunis Bulas, John
Wells, John Powell, Seal Northup and Capt. J. Ow3ns. They arrived
in January, 1871, and all took the first claims made in the county, in
what afterward became Stockton Township. With the exception of
James McNiilty and Capt. Owens, all became permanent residents.
Soon after these settlers followed John Shorthill, in Lowell Township.
Mrs. Robert E. Martin, who came with her husband and family in the
fall of 1871, was the first woman who settled in Rooks County. Fol-
lowing these early settlers came Thomas Boy] an, Henry Purdy, S. C.
Smith, M. M. Stewart, G. W. Patterson, Henry Hill, George Steele,
John Russell, Lyman Randall, John Lawson, W. H. Barnes, George
W. Beebe, the Dibbles, Parks and others.

The early settlers of Rush County found buffalo in abundance, and
derived much of their living therefrom. F. E. Garner built the first
frame house in the county. A\'illiam Basham and P. C. Dixon came
to Pioneer Township in the fall of 1870. Mr. Basham was the first
white settler in the county. The first family was that of J. S. Temple-

^^ — ^ ^ — "[^^

48 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

ton, who settled near the present site of Walnut City, now Rush Cen-
ter, August 1, 1871. Samuel Alpha, son of Mr. and Mrs. Templeton,
was the first child born in the county. James Corrall and Joseph
Shaw Brown settled in Brookdale Township in 1871; A. Harvey
and J. C. Young in Alexander Township, in 1872; A. Reiner in Ban-
ner Township, in 1873; D. A. Stubbs and S. W. Taylor in La Crosse
Township, in 1876.

Prior to 1869, Russell County was without a settler. In July, of
that year, A. E. Mathews settled on a claim at the eastern edge of the
county, about three miles southwest of Wilson. About that time coal
had been discovered in that locality, and the object of Mathews was
more to engage in coal mining than farming. He was the first white
person to take up a residence within the borders of Russell County.
In November, 1870, C M. Harshburger, James Dorman, James Haight
and Samuel Janes took claims on East Wolf Creek, and went into
camp, and passed the winter hunting buffalo and antelope, of which
there were plenty. These were followed in the winter of 1870-71 by
C. M Hibbard, A. C. and Charles Birdsall, N. R. Cowan and John
Deering, all of whom, excepting Deering, returned to their homes after
selecting their claims. In 1869 some section hands, while at work on
the railway, had been killed by Indians, and as roving bands of red
men would frequently come to the county on hunting expeditions,
Deering deemed it advisable to be prepared for all emergencies that
might arise; and to make himself as secure as possible against any
attack, he surrounded his shanty with a stockade made of logs, pierced
at intervals with loopholes. The Northwestern Colony, of which Ben-
jamin Pratt was president, was organized at Ripon, Wis., in January,
1871. Russell County was decided upon as the place to locate, and
they arrived at Fossil Station, now Russell, on the 19th of April.
There were about seventy persons in the colony, and among them five
families. From the arrival of this colony may be dated the permanent
settlement of the county. Another colony, biit much smaller, from
Ohio, located ten miles east of Russell, on the Kansas Pacific Railway,
where they started a town named Bunker Hill. Settlers now began
to come in and locate in different parts of the county.

The first attempt at settlement in Saline County was that made by
P. B. Plumb (now United States Senator from Kansas), Maj. Pierce
and Mr. Hunter. This party, as earlj' as 1856, came as far west as
the mouth of the Saline River, where they projected a town on the
south side of the river, to which they gave the name of Mariposa. The

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

town grew to the dimensioas of one log house above ground, and a
well under ground, when it was abandoned, and Saline County was
left without an inhabitant. The second session of the Territorial
Legislature chartered, in 1856, a company that had been organized
under the name of the "Buchanan Town Company," taking its name
from the President of the United States, elected that year. A large
tract of land was selected, a portion of which was set apart for a public
square. Eight log cabins were erected by the company in 1857, two on
each side of the square, and the town of Buchanan was now established.
Only two of the cabins were ever occupied. The head of this enter-
prise was Richard Mobley, who resided at Ogden, in Riley County,
and who was a member of the Lecompton Constitutional Convention.'
He occupied one of the cabins with his wife and child, but the latter
dying soon after, Buchanan was abandoned, and once more Saline
County was left without a settler. Two or three years afterward the
last vestige of Buchanan perished in the prairie fire's flames. In the
•spring of 1858 W. A. Phillips came to the Smoky Hill Valley in com-
pany with A. M. Campbell and James Muir. On arriving at the Saline,
they found that some one had put up a log cabin on the northeast bank
of the stream, not far from the Government bridge, and close to the
cabin was a hay stack at which some buffaloes were eating. On going
up to the cabin they found it deserted. From the Saline, they pushed
on up to the Smoky until they reached that point where the river
turned due south, and here they drove their stakes, located a town site,
to which they gave the name of Salina, and this was the first perma-
nent settlement made in Saline County. In March, 1858, John and
Goothart Schipple, brothers, being the party who had erected the log
cabin on the bank of the Saline, returned and settled upon their claim,
which they had only temporarily abandoned during the winter of
1857-58.

The first bona fide white settler in Sedgwick County was C. C.
Arnold, who came in 1857 with a party of hunters, and remained in the
county. Mr. Arnold came from CofPey County, and his companions
were Ed. S. Moseley, Mr. Maxley, Thompson Crawford, Robert Dun-
lap, Robert Durackin and Jacob Gary. Maxley and Moseley located
a "ranch " or Indian trading post on the Little Arkansas, a short dis-
tance above the present site of Wichita. The others built a cabin and
cultivated a little land on v^hat now constitutes William T. Jewett's
farm on the Arkansas River, on the old town site of Park City. Their
especial business was that of capturing buffalo cows and calves for

eastern parks and traveling menageries. Maxley was drowned in the
Kansas River in 1864. Moseley had previously taken a claim in Wil-
son County, and, having entered it, moved into Humboldt, Allen
County, and engaged in the butchering business. In the fall of 1868
or spring of 1864, he again became a trader and Nimrod; his last
scene of active life being laid at Medicine Lodge and the surrounding
country, and a short time after leaving Humboldt he vpas murdered
by Osage Indians. Next in order, disputing with C. C. Arnold the
first settlership, was John Ross, a farmer, who, in 1860, settled upon
what is now the Jewett farm, eight miles northeast of Wichita. Mr.
Ross removed from Wilson County with his wife and children, built a
house and began the work of a farmer. He was murdered in June of
the same year by a band of Osage Indians. In the fall of 1863 J. R.
Mead established a trading post on the site of Wichita, where he traded
with the Indians for several years. This section of the Arkansas
Valley, during the early days of Mr. Mead's residence, was the hun-
ter's paradise. During a period of three weeks, assisted by two em-
ployes, he killed 330 buffalo, saved 300 hides and 3,500 pounds of
tallow, realizing from their labor the sum of $400, and killing, in addi-
tion, considerable other gam^, including a large number of antelope
and one elk. The Hist child known to have been born in the county
was Sedgwick Hoover, whose parents still reside in Wichita Township.
He was born December 23, 1869. The first marriage occurred in the
winter of 1869-70.

Probably the first man that settled among the Indians in Shawnee
County was Frederick Chouteau, who in 1830 started a trading post on
Mission Creek, about two miles south of the Kansas River. During
the same year Rev. William Johnson, of the Shawnee mission, began
his missionary labors among the Kaws. In 1835 the southern portion
of the Government farm was established in the valley of Mission
Creek, and a portion of it was plowed by Maj. Daniel Boone, a grand-
son of the famous borderman. Mission buildings were erected the
same year. The Pap an broth ers, Joseph, Ahcan, Louis and Enberie,
were Canadians, whose father came from Montreal and settled in St.
Louis, in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Joseph, Ahcan
and Louis married, respectively, Josette, Julie and Victoire Gonvil,
half-breed daughters of Louis Gonvil, a French trader, and his Kaw
wife. These three girls, by the terms of a treaty made in 1825 with
their tribe, were each entitled to a section of land on the north bank
of the Kansas River, their special reservations covering the present

:R*

<y_®

-L^

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 51

site of North Topeka and running west up the river. In the spring
of 1840 Joseph and Ahcan, with their wives, moved from Missouri
to one of these reservations, and were joined the following year by
Louis and wife. In 1842 the Messrs. Papan established the first ferry
across the Kansas River, long known as Papan's Ferry. It was just
above the island to which the Topeka City reservoir is built, the
southern landing being on the present farm of Mrs. Anthony Ward.
The ferry was started to accommodate the travel between Fort Leav-
onworth and New Mexico, but afterward became a favorite crossing
for the California and Oregon traders and emigrants.

In 1848 Louis Catalon and James McFerson moved to the Papan
neighborhood, and in 1850 Fred Swice and George L. Young became
settlers in what is now Soldier Township. When the Pottawatomies
were removed from the Osage to the Kansas River, the missionaries
who had been employed among them followed them to the new location.
The limits of their reservation were not very definitely fixed at first,
and the Catholic mission of Father J. B. Hocken was located too far
south, intrenching upon the Shawnee reservation, on the site of the
present township of Auburn. The mission was established in the fall
of 1847. About twenty log cabins were built and occupied by the
Indians during the following winter, and deserted by them in the
spring, when they removed farther north to their own reservation.
These buildings served as homes for the Shawnees for several years, a
j)art of them and 800 acres of land being purchased of them in 1854
by John W. Brown, the first white settler in Auburn. After 1854
settlement was quite rapid. August 11, 1854, Mr. Brown was joined
by a party of settlers from Missouri.

Sheridan County is of recent settlement and organization. The
first settler was a buffalo hunter, in 1874.

The first settlers in what is now Smith County were John Rhodes,
J. K. Belk, Ambrose Oldaker, B. F. Myers, J. H. Johnson, and J. C.
Morrisson, who came in the fall of 1870. The following season they
were followed by Thomas Lane and Anthony Robertson, who brought
their families; H. H. Granholz, H. Menshoff, L. Binman, J. Rider,
J. Eldredge, Thomas Decker, James H. Decker, T. J. Burrow, H. F.
Albright, Charles Stewart, T. J. Tompkins, W. M. George, Fred W.
Wagoner. The first stone house erected was built in 1877 by Col.
Campbell. The first woman who settled in Smith County was Mrs.
Mary Peebles, who became a resident of Lincoln Township in the fall
of 1870. Ambrose Oldaker, probably the first settler in the county.

^ «

sTx.*"

52 HIHTOKY OF KANSAS.

who made a home on Oak Creek, twelve miles north of Cawker City,
removed to Washington Territory in 1880. The first homesteader in
the county was Christopher Noggels, who took a claim on Beaver
Creek in June, 1871. The first marriage was that of T. J. Burrow
and Miss R. J. Dunlap.

\V. R. Hoole settled ui^on the first claim entered in Stafford
County in May, 1874. In June John Birbeck came and built a frame
house, the first in the county. About the same time, Martin Fitz-
patrick and James O'Connor entered claims, upon which they located,
followed soon after by Elisha Williamson, Ed Williamson, F. Will-
iamson, Abe. Lash and H. Campbell, all of whom settled in the
northern portion of the county, while J. C. Stone, R. M. Blair, Jesse
Viekers, E. B. Crawford, Ed Hadlock and W. Z. Nutting settled in
the eastern portion of the county, and James Neeland and two or
three others in the southwestern portion.

Early in 18G9 John Degolia and A. Cadou built a ranch on Slate
Creek, in what is now Sumner Township, Sumner County. April 9
J. M. Buffington crossed the Arkansas and built a house. May 16
Lafayette Binkley and John Horton came to Big Cottonwood crossing,
where Oxford now stands, and built the log trading store later occu-
pied by John Hardman. Other settlers came soon after. These were
among the pioneers. Settlement was quite rapid in most parts of the
county.

The first settler in Trego County was B. O. Richards, w'^o located
at a place named Coyote, near the present site of Collyer. At that
time Richards was a railway employe and kept a boarding house, but
subsequently took a claim' and tried farming, but failing at this he
went into stock raising. Richards, however, was not the first man in
the county to attempt farming, the credit for this belonging to J. R.
Snyder, who came in 1877. The settlers in the county who had pre-
ceded the Chicago colony in 1877, were J. C. Henry, Harlow Orton,
Earl Spaulding, J. K. Snyder, D. O. Adams, George Brown, George
MoCaslin, George Pinkham and Peleg Richards. When Mr. Warren
went to the county in the fall of 1877, for the purpose of establishing
a colony and founding a city, there went with him W. S. Harrison,
George Barrell, F. O. Ellsworth, Thomas Peck and C. W. F. Street,
all of whom located upon claims in different parts of the county.
The following year witnessed a rush, and the Government land ofiQce
was besieged by large crowds daily, who wished to enter claims.

The first collective settlement in Wabaunsee County. was made in

Wabaunsee Township in 1854, although there were a few settlers in
other portions of the county whose advent dates as far back. In Wil-
mington Township there were settled as early as 1854 Henry Harvey
and one or two others, while in Farmer Township John P. Gleieh set-
tled as early as 1853, and in 1854 Peter Thoes, Frank Schmidt, R.
Schraudor and C. Schwankee. The first settlers mentioned were Peter
Sharra, Bartholomew Sharra, J. H. Nesbitt, Rev. Harvey Jones, D. B.
Hiatt, J. M. Bisby, Clark Lapham, Joshua Smith, Robert Banks and
Rev. Mr. Leonard. The " Beecher Rifle Company," or "New Haven
Colony," as de.scribed by some, came in April, 1856. The following
is a li-.t of the names of those of the "Beecher Rifle Company" who
came to Wabaunsee and remained over three months. Twenty of the
original ninety who started from New Haven never came to Kansas at
all, and all the others whose names are not given, either not wishing
to share the fatigues, hardships and difficulties of the colony, or from
some other cause, left the colony shortly after its arrival, and the
names that are given represent only those who remained with the
colony during its early struggles: C. B. Lines, William Hartley, Jr.,
J. D. Farren, George H. Coe, F. H. Hart, Silas M. Thomas, L. H.
Root, J. M. Hubbard, Jr., William Mitchell, Jr., O. Bardwell, Rollin
Moses, A. A. Cotteral, H. S. Hall, Benjamin Street, J. J. Walter, T.
C. P. Hyde, E. C. D. Lines, E. D. Street, Timothy Read, H. M. Sel-
d ^n, George Wells, S. A. Baldwin, W. S. Griswold, Isaac Fenn, J. P.
R >ot, J. F. WiUard, H. D. Rice, H. Isball, D, F. Scranton, E. J.
Lines, F. W. Ingham, L. A. Parker, E. N. Penfield, R. W. Griswold,
G. H. Thomas, M. C. Welch. B. C. Porter, F. Johnson, C. E. Pond,
L. W. Clark and W. G. McNary.

In July, 1857, James McNulty came from Iowa, with his family,
and settled in Marysville, Washington County. Here he remained till
spring, when he removed five miles west of the present city of Wash-
ington. When Mr. McNulty came to Washington Township he
brought with him Ralph O.strander, who settled adjoining him, on
what is known as the " Lavering Place."

In the first year of the war the rebels twice sacked Humboldt, in
Allen County, just northeast of the Wilson County settlements, and on
the second raid burned the town. No attack was made on the settlers
near Coyville, but it was thought best to be ready for defense, and a
company was formed with eighty mounted men in line, under Capt.
John R. Rowe and Lieuts. W. W. Brazel and Lewis Thompson. That
fall fortifications were built at a point about three miles south of the

liL

town. They consisted of three blook-honses, 16x'24 feet, made of heavy
logs, and enclosed with pickets six feet high. An embankment was
thrown up on all sides, and the company went into winter quarters.
The following spring the fort was deserted, and most of the militia en-
listed in the Ninth Kansas Volunteers. Vestiges of the old fort still
remain. Nothing of special moment in the way of settlement oc-
curred during 18G3, or the early part of 1864. In August of the lat-
ter year, Daniel C. Finn, a man destined to become quite noted in the
early history of the county, arrived from New York. September 24,
1864, a petition for the organization of Wilson County, bearing the
signatures of thirty settlers, and headed by the name of Finn, was
presented to Gov. Carney, and granted. Appointments were made of
the various county officers, but much confusion ensued. Syracuse, a
mythical place supposed to be near the center of the county, was des-
ignated as the temporary county seat, and George M. Cottingham, W.
M. Asher and William Brown were appointed county commissioners.

Although many settlers were located in Woodson County prior to
the war, all were, up to 1860, trespassers. The wide striia which took
in all of Woodson County and a small slice of Coffey was the reserve
of the New York Indians. The part of the strij> now embraced in
Woodson County was never occupied by any of the New York tribes,
their only settlement being a temporary one near Fort Scott. Find-
ing that the Indians would not settle on the reserve, the Government,
in 1860, had all of these lands offered for sale and opened to pre-emp-
tion at the land olfice at Fort Ssott. News of this movement having
been circulated throughout the county, the squatter settlers hastened
to the land office and made the appropriate entries. Thus peacefully
the well-nigh mythical Indian inhabitants forsook their lands, leaving
them to the further improvement of the pale faces. It is extremely
difficult to determine who were actually the first settlers in the county.
Jack Caven, John Woolman, John Chapman and others reached
Neosho Falls on March 2, 1857. About the same time Thomas Sears
took a claim in Liberty Township, and William Stockebrand, August
Toddmann and August Lauber, in Center Township. These, although
the best known of the pioneers, were not the first, Reuben Daniels
settling in Belmont in 1856; David Cooper in Toronto, and John Cole-
man in Owl Creek Township, in 1856.

By general consent Moses Grinter is awarded the priority among
the early settlers of Wyandotte County. He located near where the
station of Secundine afterward stood, in 1831, and lived there up to

:f^:^

•V ® ^

.t>

the time of his death, June 12, 1878. The next white man to stop
within the limits of Wyandotte County was Rev. Thomas Johnson, a
Methodist minister, who established a mission school among the Del-
aware Indians, near the "White Church." In April, 1837, Eev.
John G. Pratt located about sixteen miles west of Wyandotte. He
established a Baptist mission among the Delawares, published several
hymn books in their language, and one of his sons married a daughter
of Charles Johnycake, a well known chief. Capt. John Ketehum, one of
the most uoted chiefs of the Delawares, died in August, 1857. He
lived near White Church. His fnneral was attended by a large num-
ber of Indians, who came in their colored blankets and painted faces,
carrying their guns. They were mounted on horseback, and as the
procession slowly followed the remains of their chief along the wind-
ings of the forest road, they seemed truly the sorrowful survivors of a
once powerful race. The first marriage in the county was that of H.
N. Northrup to Margaret, daughter of Thomas Clark, the Wyandotte
chief. The development of this county under white occupancy has
been remarkable.

The year 1885 witnessed the first actual permanent settlements
along the western frontier. Counties not mentioned in the foregoing
pages are of very recent settlement and organization.

-'^r-*-

5(3

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER III.

Territokial and State Organization— A Scheme of Enteuprising
MissouuiANS— Hall's Uniontown "Constituency" — Election in
THE Wyandotte Nation— Act Organizing Kansas and Nebraska
— First Territorial Appointments— First Territorial Elec-
tion Proclamation— Kansas' Four Constitutions— The To-
peka, Lecompton, Leavenworth and Wyandotte Constitu-
tional Conventions— Graphic Pen-Pictures of These Historic
Deliberations — The Distinguished Participants in Them—
Territorial and StateGovernors— Elections— State Officers.

Men who their duties linow,
But know their rights, and, linowing, dare maintain. — Sir W. Jones.

N the brains of a few Missotirians, who be-

■ Vjt .T Ireved the times and conditions were favorable

^:^3^|%^^ for the work, the territorial organization of

Kansas and Nebraska had its inception. The
iirst move for a Territorial government made
within the limits of Kansas was at the trading
post of Uniontown. At that point was held,
in the spring of 1S52, what purported to be a mass. met t.
ing of the American citizens of the Indian Territory.
The meeting and proceedings are alluded to in a sketch of
the early days of Pottawatomie County by Hon. L. D.
Palmer, who was present. His version of the affair reads
as follows: "About half a dozen persons, residents of
the State of Missouri, assembled together in a shed. One
of them took from his hat a paper, on which had been
written a set of resolutions brotight all the way from Mis-
souri, and asked the assembled multittide to vote on
them One individual said ' aye.' ' Noes ' were not called for. Two
or three of these persons were sporting gentlemen, and the others were
merchants who had furnished goods for the Indians and always came

i ly

HISTOKY OF KANSAS. 57

at suehi times to collect. These resolutions recited that there were
hundreds of families in that vicinity, in the interior of the Territory,
who were bona fide settlers, whose lives and property were in constant
jeopardy for want of civil protection, and memorialized Congress to
organize a Territorial government. They purported to be the unani-
mous expression of a large number of citizens, assembled together for
the purpose of calling the attention of Congress to the perils that
threatened them. "

The petitions passed at this meeting were presented at the first
session of the XXXITd Congress, by Hon. Willard P. Hall, a Mis-
souri member, who, in the following session, presented the first
bill in Congress providing for the organization of the Territory, in
accordance with the praj'ers of his TJniontown "constituency."

In the fall of 1852 (October 12) an election was held at Wyan-
dotte, at which thirty-five votes were polled for Abelard Guthrie as
Territorial delegate to Congress.

So far as the vote of the Wyandotte Nation went, Mr. Guthrie's
calling and election were sure beyond contest, but as there was no Ter-
ritorial bill passed for more than two years thereafter, it proved an
empty honor. A manuscript copy of the returns of this election is
among the collections of the Kansas Historical Society.

July 28, 1853, a convention was held at Wyandotte, a Territorial
government organized, and Abelard Guthrie nominated for delegate
to Congress. He was put forward as a Benton man. His competitor
for the nomination — a friend of Atchison, and a stanch pro-slavery
man — was Rev. Thomas Johnson. A bolting convention was held at
Kickapoo Village, September 20, 1853, at which Johnson was placed
in nomination as an opposition candidate. He was elected over
Guthrie, as was claimed, by Indian votes. He went to Washington,
but owing to the delay in passing the Territorial bill, was not received
as a delegate.

The act organizing Kansas and Nebraska was passed May 27 and
approved by the President May 30, 1854 It contained thirty-seven
sections. The provisions relating to Kansas were embodied in the
last eighteen.

The first Territorial appointments, looking to the inauguration of a
local government, under the provisions of the organic law, were made
in June and July, 1854. The oiScers appointed by President Pierce,
whose appointments were confirmed by the Senate, and who entered
upon the duties of their ofiice, were: Governor, Andrew H. Reeder,

~—4 — — It— I

58 HISTOHY 01'' KANSAS.

of Easton, Penii. , appoiated June 29, 185-t (he took the oath of
olHco before Petor V. Dauiel, oiio of the justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States, at Washington, July 7; he arrived in
Kansas, at Fort Leavenworth, on Saturday, October 7, at which time
ho became the executive head of the Kansas government, and person-
ally assumed the functions of the office; salary, .'f'i, 500 per annum);
secretary, Daniel Woodson, of Lynchburg, Va. , appointed June 29;
salary, |2,000 per annum; United States marshal, Israel B. Donald-
eon, of Illinois; salary, $300 per annum, and fees; chief justice,
Madison Brown, of Maryland, who, not accepting the appointment,
was superseded by Samuel D. Lecompte, of Maryland, who was
appointed October 3, and took the oath of office before Gov. Reeder,
at Leavenworth, Kas., December 5; salary, $2,000 per annum;
associate justices, Saunders N. Johnson and Rush Elmore; salary,
$2,000 per annum; attorney, Andrew J. Isack; salary, $250 per
annum, and fees; surveyor-general, John Calhoun, Illinois, ap])ointed
August 20; Territorial treasurer, Thomas J. B. Cramer, ai)poiuted
August 29.

The governor, after his arrival, set promptly to work to inaugur-
ate his government. Among other preparations, he made a tour of
observation, which took in the most important and most remote settle-
ments in the eastern part of the Territorj-. It extended as far west
as Fort Riley and Council Grove. His reception was enthusiastic.
The proclamation for the iirst election in Kansas, bearing date Novem-
ber 10, 1854, was issued November 15.

Four constitutions were framed as the organic law before Kansas
was admitted in the Union. The Topeka Constitution, which was the
first in order, was adopted by the convention which framed it No-
vembei'll, 1855, and by the people of the Territory, at an election
held December 15, 1855.

The Lecompton Constitution was adopted by the convention which
framed it November 7, 1857. It was submitted to a vote of the
people by the convention December 21, 1857, the form of the vote
prescribed, being, "For the Constitution with slavery," and " For
the Constitution without slavery."

No opportunity was afforded at this election to vote against the
constitution, and the Free State people of the Territory refrained from
taking part in it. The Territorial Legislature, having been summoned
in extra session by Acting-Gov. F. P. Stanton, passed an act submit-
ting the Lecompton Constitution to a vote of the people at an election

-F

to be held January 4, 1858. At that election, 138 votes were
cast for the constitution, and 10,220 votes against it. Notwith-
standing this overwhelming vote against the constitution, it was sent
to Washington by its partisans; Presideat Buchanan transmitted it to
the Senate, urging the admission of the State under it, thus inaugur-
ating the great contest which resulted in the division of the Demo-
cratic party, the election of Abraham Lincoln and the final overthrow
of the slave power. The bill to admit Kansas as a State luider the
Lecompton Constitution failed, and the English Ijill finally passed Con-
gress, under the provisions of which the constitution was again sub-
mitted to a vote of the people on August 4, 18D8, with the result of
1,788 votes in its favor, and 11, 300 against it.

The constitutional convention which framed the Leavenworth Con-
stitution was provided for by an act of the Territorial Legislature,
passed in February, 1808, during the pendency of the Lecompton
Constitution in Congress. The constitution was adopted by the con-
vention at Leavenworth, April 3, 1858, and by the people at an elec-
tion held May 18, 1858.

The Wyandotte Constitution was adopted by the convention which
framed it July 29, 1850, and was adopted by the people at an election
held October 4, 1850. The State was admitted into the Union under
this constitution, January 20, 1801.

The Topeka constitutional movement was the in.stinctive effort of
the Free-State people for unity about some recognized center. They
must have something around which they could rally, and their leaders
were sagacious enough to institute a movement which, while it served
to consolidate the Free- State settlers into a compact organization, af-
forded a reasonable prospect of a safe and constitutional exit from
their troubles. A recent precedent had been afforded by California for
the spontaneous action of the people in the organization of a State
government, without an enabling act from Congress. Some of the
most conspicuous leaders of the Topeka constitutional movement had
particijjated in the California movement, and were enthusiastic in the
conviction that a similar success would attend the effort here. The
Topeka movement did come very near success. The House of Repre-
sentatives on July 3, 1850, passed a bill for the admission of Kansas
into the Union under that constitution. Had the bill become a law,
Kansas would have been saved the five years of turmoil and strife which
elapsed before she was admitted into the Union, and the subsequent
course of the great stream of our national history might have been

d:t

HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

diverted for a time at least from the bloody and fratricidal era to which
it was' then so rajjidly and inevitably hastening. The Topeka consti-
tutional movement served to hold the Free-State people together until
after the great wave of immigration in the spring of 1S57 had virtu-
ally settled the question of the future status of the Territory. The
first fruits of that emigration were the restoration of the Territoral
Legislature in the fall election to the hands of the people from whom
it had been rapaciously seized by fraud and violence in March,
1855. This gave the Free- State party a standpoint and leverage of
undoubted legality for further proceedings. Heretofore their move-
ments had been outside the pale of recognized authority. But the
Territorial Legislature was recognized as valid by friends and foes
alike. One of the first achievments of this new weapon in the hands
of the people was the passage of an act, at the extra session called for
that purpose by Secretary Stanton, submitting the Leeompton Consti-
tution to an honest and fair vote, for acceptance or rejection, at an
election to be held January 4, 1858. The result of this election was
the rejection of the constitution by an overwhelming vote of unques-
tioned legality and authority, thus furnishing an argument against the
admission of the State under that constitution, which the friends of
free Kansas in Congress used with tremendous power and unanswer-
able effect. The population of the Territory during 1856 and 1857
had increased very largely. The total vote cast for State officers
under the Topeka Constitution, January 15, 185G, was 1,70G; the vote
on the Leeompton Constitution, January 4, 1858, was 10,427, showing
an increase of more than sixfold. The old movement had lost much of
its hold upon the popular mind. Admission into the Union under that
constitution had ceased to be regarded as probable. While the officers
who had been elected to the various positions under it were still recog-
nized, more or less, as leaders in the Free- State organization, it was
nevertheless felt that the 50,000 new settlers who had come into the
Territory during the two years which had ela^Jsed since their election
ought to have some voice in choosing the future rulers of the State.
Besides, it was argued with considerable force that the Free-State
cause would be at a disadvantage should the battle in Congress and
before the country against the Leeompton Constitution be fought upon
the basis of the Topeka Constitution. That constitution had been
framed by a convention elected without any authority of law; the
total vote upon its adoption had been only 1,778, while two years had
elapsed since it was framed and adopted, and meantime a large in-

^ \h

ik.

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 61

crease in the population had taken place. Its enemies might and
probably would (and in fact did) claim that it no longer represented a
majority of the people. The Lecomptou Constitution, on the other
hand, could claim a qnasi legality and regularity, the convention
which framed it having been elected in conformity to an act passed by
the Territorial Legislature. Having the Legislature now in their own
hands, the Free State people felt that it would be the part of wisdom
to call a new convention which would have at least as good standing for
regularity and legality as the Lecomption convention, and whose con-
stitution would receive an overwhelming indorsement at the hands of
the people. The Lecompton Constitution would thus be confronted by
a constitution of equal legality, of a more recent date and of un-
doubted popular support.

These considerations were undoubtedly the dominant ones in deter-
mining the call of a new constitutional convention. There were minor
influences which contributed to the same result. One of these, which
assumed considerable importance before the Legislature passed the
act calling the convention, was the question of the location of the
capital. The Topeka Constitution had located the capital temporarily
in Topeka, and the very name of the constitution served to keep the
city prominently before the public. Other towns were ambitious of
becoming the seat of government. A new constitution bearing some
other name would at least divert attention from Topeka. Before the
act calling the convention was passed, a scheme for locating the capi-
tal at Minneola — a town existing only on paper, and created for the
purpose — was broached and successfully carried through the Legisla-
ture. The bill locating the seat of government of the Territory at
Minneola was passed over the governor's veto, and two days thereafter
the bill calling a constitutional convention, and fixing Minneola as the
place where it should assemble, was also passed.

The "Minneola Swindle," as it was called in those days,- created
a sensation in Kansas so great as to seem almost extravagant as we
look back upon it now. The gravamen was that the location of the
capital at Minneola was a scheme to further the personal fortunes of
members of the Legislature who were interested in the new town.
In vain did they reply that the location was a good one, central, and
well adapted to be the future capital of the State; that the capital
was bound to be removed from Lecompton in any event, and that
wherever located somebody's private fortunes would be enhanced
thereby. The public judgment was severe, and condemned the thing

62 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

to Bueh a degree that many of the delegates elected to the constitu-
tional convention were instructed by their constituents to vote for an
immediate adjournment of that body to some ether point in the Terri-
tory. It thus came about that the convention had no sooner completed
its organization at Minneola than a motion was made to adjourn to
some other place. This gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate.
The session was prolonged during the whole night, and toward morn-
ing the motion to adjourn and fixing the city of Leavenworth as the
place of reassembling was passed. On the morning of March 24,
1858, the members took their departure for Leavenworth, leaving this
capital of a day to revert to its pristine condition of a quarter section
of Franklin County prairie. And thus the constitution which the
body afterward framed became known in history as the Leavenworth
Constitution, and not as the Minpeola Constitution, as its original pro-
jectors had expected.

The convention reassembled in Leavenworth on the evening of
March 25. The constitution was adopted and signed on April 3. The
work had been done with brevity and dispatch. Indeed there was no
great amount of work to be done. Aside from the special features to
be hereafter noted, the draft of the Topeka Constitution was closely
followed. There were few questions which gave rise to debate, and
they were speedily settled. It was the aim of the convention to do
its work as speedily as possible, make a good constitution and adjourn.
The constitution was adopted by the people on May IS, 1858, and on
the same day the following State officers were also elected under it,
viz. : Governor, Henry J. Adams, of Leavenworth; lieutenant-governor,
Cyrus K. Holliday, of Topeka; secretary of State, E. P. Bancroft, of
Emporia; treasurer, J. B. Wheeler, of Doniphan; auditor, George
S. Hillj-er, of Grasshopper Falls; attorney-general, Charles A. Fos-
ter, of Osawatomie; superintendent of public instruction, J. M. Wal-
den, of Quindaro; commissioner of school lands, J. W. Robinson, of
Manhattan; representative in Congress, M. F. Conway, of Lawrence;
supreme judges, William A. Phillips, of Lawrence; Lorenzo Dow, of
Topeka, and William McKay, of Wyandotte; reporter of the Supreme
Court, Albert D. Richardson, of Sumner; clerk of the Supreme Court,
W. F. M. Arny, of Hyatt. Of these, Messrs. Holliday and Conway had
been elected to positions in the State government under the Tojseka
Constitution, Mr. Holliday having been secretary of State and Mr.
Conway one of the judges of the Supreme Court.

The State officers, under the Leavenworth Constitution, were nomi-

•^n®

HISTOKY OF KANSAS. 63

nated upon a platform whose chief resolve was: "That should Con-
gress accept the application accompanying the Lecompton Constitu-
tion, and admit Kansas as a sovereign State in the Union, without the
condition precedent that said constitution, at a fair election, shall
receive the ratification of the people of Kansas, then we will put the
Leavenworth Constitution, ratified by the j)eople, and the government
iinder it, into immediate and active operation as the organic law and
living government of the State of Kansas, and that we will support
and defend the same against any opposition, come from whatever
quarter it may." Before the election took place, however, the
" English bill " had passed both Houses of Congress and become a
law, so that the Lecompton struggle was over, and the long and bit-
ter and bloody contest to make Kansas a slave State came to a close.
The movement for admission under the Leavenworth Constitution was
prosecuted no further, and the convention and its work survives
only upon the pages of chequered history as one of the positions
temporarily occupied by the great Free-State host in its onward
march to final victory.

It would be an interesting study, did space but permit, to compare
the provisions of the four constitutions which were successively framed
as the fundamental law of this State. Outside of the stormy and con-
vulsed domain of the slavery question, the differences in the constitu-
tions are not remarkable. In this domain, however, the differences
are distinct and antipodal. The Lecompton instrument voiced the
extremest doctrines of the slave power. In the article on " Slavery,"
for slavery was the suliject of a separate article, it is declared that
"the right of property is before and higher than any constitutional
sanction, and the right of the owner of the slave to such slave and its
increase is the same and as inviolable as the right of the owner of any
property whatever." The Legislature was declared to have no power
to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves, without the consent of
their owners, nor without paying to their owners before emancipation
a full equivalent in money for them. The framers of this instrument
seem to have labored to emphasize the degradation of manhood on the
one hand and the elevation and sanetification of chattelhood on the
other. Instead of the usual declaration that all men are equal in
rights, they declare "that all freemen, when they form a social com-
pact, are equal in rights," and they add that " no freeman shall be
taken or imprisoned or disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges
or deprived of his life, liberty, etc., but by the judgment of his peers

-.[^

64 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

or the law of the land. ' ' In the schedule to the constitution, they
provide that, even though the vote should be for the constitution with-
out slavery, still, ' ' the right of property in slaves now in the Territory
shall in no manner he interfered with ; ' ' and in the section relating to
amendments to the constitution, it is expressly and carefully provided
"that no alteration shall be made to effect the rights of property in
the ownership of slaves." Under these provisions, Kansas would in
any event have been a slave State, and remained such as long as any
of the slaves then living in the Territory, or any of their descendants,
to the remotest generations, should have remained.

These extreme and almost frantic provisions for the perpetuity and
sanctity of property in slaves, viewed from our present standpoint, and
with the light of the past twenty-five years of eventful and startling
history bearing full upon them, seem chimerical and almost childish;
but one must remember that at that time these monstrous doctrines
dominated this country, controlled the utterances of the Supreme
Court, were backed by the army and navy, and commanded the hearty
support or the unprotesting acquiescence of a majority of the people.
It was the merest margin and verge of chance that prevented these
doctrines from being incorporated in the organic law of Kansas. The
motion which finally resulted in what is known as the " English bill,"
and prevented admission under the Lecompton Constitution, passed
the House of Representatives by a majority of only one vote.

The framers of the Leavenworth Constitution studied to antagonize
these peculiar and abhorrent, though characteristic, pro-slavery doc-
trines of the Lecompton instrument. Thus the first section of the bill
of rights follows almost the exact language of the Topeka Constitu-
tion, in saying that "all men are by nature equally free and independ-
ent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of
enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and
protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety,"
and then goes on to add, " and the right of all men to the control of
their persons, exists prior to law and is inalienable," a clause which
is certainly somewhat pleonastic, and is not to be found in the cor-
responding section of the Wyandotte Constitution (which section, by
the way, is more tersely and comprehensively expressed in the Wyan-
dotte Constitution than in either of the others), but was added for the
specific purpose of antagonizing the declaration of the Lecompton in-
strument that the right of property is before and higher than any con-
stitutional sanction. The idea was to antagonize the dogma of the right

IRI^

of man to property in man by the doctrine of the right of man to him-
self. It was liberty set over against slavery. So, too, the section of
the Lecompton Constitution that no freeman shall be deprived of life,
liberty or property, except by the judgment of his peers, and the law
of the land, is repeated, almost word for word, with the word " person' '
substituted for the word "freeman."

The section forbidding slavery is the same in the Leavenworth and
Wyandotte Constitutions, and is a repetition of the section in the To-
peka Constitution, that "there shall bene slavery in this State, nor
involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime," and adding
the clause, "whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

The Leavenworth Constitution contains nowhere the word "white."
There is not a word in it which refers to color. The expression " white
male citizen" or "white male," which might probably then have been
found in the constitution of every State in the Union, is not to be found
in it. No change would have been required in its provisions or lan-
guage to have made it in perfect harmony with the fourteenth and fif-
teenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States. This was
not the result of accident, but was achieved by the determined and
persevering efforts of some of the most far-seeing spirits of the con-
vention, who meant, if possible, that the invidiious and unrepublican
distinction of color as in any way effecting men's rights, should have
neither place nor countenance in the constitution. This result was not
achieved without a struggle. The question was debated in some form
and upon some clause or section of the constitution nearly every day
of the session, but always with the same result.

Strange as it may appear, the Lecompton Constitution does not
contain the word ' ' white ' ' in its article on elections and the right of
sufFrage. Section 1 begins: "Every male citizen of the United States,
etc. , etc. , shall be entitled to vote. ' ' The Leavenworth Constitution
adopts in its article on the elective franchise the identical expression,
" every male citizen of the United States." The correspondence was not
accidental: it was intentional. The fi'amers of the Lecompton instru-
ment meant to emphasize the extreme doctrine of the slave power, that
none but white men could be citizens of the United States; the framers
of the Leavenworth Constitution, on the other hand, meant to empha-
size the doctrine that every man born upon the soil and under the flag
of the Union was a citizen of the United States. Indeed, the careful
reader of the two constitutions will not fail to note how radically antago-
nistic thev are. The one was intended to offset the other. The one

17:

embodied the most radical doctrines of the slave power; the other
anticipated the advanced and humane doctrines of republican equality,
which remain as the most precious legacy of the great War of the Re-
bellion.

The convention consisted of eighty-four members. Of these, Caleb
May and William E. Griffith had been members of the Topeka Con-
stitutional Convention, and were afterward members of the Wyandotte
Constitutional Convention, the only individuals who were members of
all of them. Five others, namely, James H. Lane, M. F. Conway,
W. Y. Roberts, James S. Emery and Joel K. Goodin, had also been
members of the Topeka Constitutional Convention. C. A. Foster had
been assistant secretary of the Topeka Convention, James M. Winchell
was afterward president of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention,
and John Ritchie and William McCulloch were also members of both.
James H. Lane was elected president of the convention when organ-
ized at Minneola, but resigned at Leavenworth, and Martin F.
Conway was elected his successor. Samuel F. Tappan was secretary.

Of the eighty-four members, many have since made men of mark.
Winchell was president of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention ;
Lane was one of Kansas' first United States Senators; Conway was
its first member of the House of Representatives; Thomas Ewing,
Jr., was first chief justice of the State, and has since been eminent
in the field and forum and at the bar ; H. P. Johnson died at the head
of his regiment during the war; William Spriggs was second State
treasurer; A. Larzelere was speaker of the Territorial House of Rep-
resentatives in 1859; W. Y. Roberts served with distinction as colonel
during the war; P. B. Phimb is United States Senator; J. R. Swallow
was elected State auditor in 1864; Henry J. Adams was nominated for
governor under the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention; F. G.
Adams became secretary of the State Historical Society; W. F. M.
Arny was secretary of New Mexico for years; C. H. Branscomb was
United States consul at Manchester, England; James S. Emery has
been United States district attorney for Kansas, and a regent of the
State University; Samuel N. Wood has been repeatedly a member,
and once speaker, of the House of Representatives; John Ritchie was
a colonel during the war; William R. Griffith was the first and Isaac
T. Goodnow the second State superintendent of public instruction;
A. Danford was elected attorney-general in 1868; Robert B. Mitchell
rose to distinction in the war, and was governor of New Mexico; Ed-
ward Lynde was colonel of the Ninth Kansas Regiment; F. N. Blake

"^i s "V

was XJQited States consul to Qupbec; J. M. Walden became aa emi-
nent clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church. There are others,
doubtless-, worthy of mention. Taking them as a whole, it is doubtful
if an abler body of men ever assembled in the State. Lane, of course,
was the chief figure. He lived in Lawrence, but he appeared in the
convention as a delegate from Doniphan County. He took little inter-
est in the proceedings of the convention, but spent much of his time
during the sessions in pacing up and down the area in the rear of the
members' seats, running his hands through his hair, fi'om the base of
the brain forward over the top of the skull, as his habit was. He
looked merely at the political aspects of the movement. For the con-
stitution, as a constitution, he seemed to care but little. Perhaps he
foresaw the remote probability of the admission of the State under it.
He wanted to be elected president of the convention because, first, he
had been president of the Topeka Convention, and, secondly, he had
had a quarrel with Gov. Denver, and wanted his favorite " indorse-
ment" from the representatives of the people. When Conway re-
monstrated with him at Minneola, for wanting to accumulate honors
upon himself unduly, he promised to resign in Conway's favor when
the convention should get to Leavenworth, and he kept his promise.
He was inclined to side with the radical members of the convention,
but he rendered them little assistance on the floor. He was not a
leader. In the most exciting debate of the convention, namely, that
over the question whether, in case the State were admitted under the
Leeompton Constitution, the government under the Leavenworth Con-
stitution should be put in operation, he took no part whatever. At
Minneola, upon the night of adjournment, he made a powerful and
di-amatic speech. The night was far spent. The candles had burned
down in their sockets. The debate had been long, and at times angry.
Some of the members were deeply interested in Minneola, and in their
excitement they threatened that if the convention should adjourn from
Minneola they would abandon the Free-State party and break it up.
This threat aroused the sleeping lion in Lane. He came down from
the chair, where he had presided with great fairness during the long
debate, and took the floor. All eyes were upon him. As he pro-
ceeded with his speech the interest intensified, and members began to
gather around him, sitting upon the desks and standing in the aisles.
The scene was one never to be forgotten— the dimly-lighted room;
the darkness without; the excited men within; little Warren, the ser-
geant-at-arms, standing unconscious upon the floor, with partly out-

~e "V

H>£.

stretched arms and wholly carried away by the speech, and Lane
himself aroused to a pitch of excitement which no one there ever saw
him manifest on any other occasion during his whole career. As ho
drew near his peroration, he painted a picture of the Free State party
of Kansas, of what it had done and suffered for the great cause of
human liberty, of the crisis that was then upon it, and of the respon-
sibilities resting upon its members. He then alluded to the threats
that these men interested in Minneola had made of abandoning and
breaking up the party, and said that if in the momentous and supreme
hour of the party's struggle, they were bound to leave it on account
of a few paltry shares in Minneola, then '"let them go — and goto
hell!"

Conway followed Lane in the same strain, and in a speech which
at any other time would have been a powerful one, but its effect was
lost in the storm which Lane's outburst had aroused, and it passed al-
most unnoticed. The vote was taken and the convention adjourned to
Leavenworth. Martin F. Conway was an active participant in all the
proceedings of the convention. He was an excellent presiding officer,
and his speeches when he took the floor were earnest, impassioned and
logical. He had read and studied, more deeply, perhaps, than any
other member of the convention, the theory of our governmental sys-
tem, and was positive and well fortified in his convictions. Coming
from a slave State himself, and a great student of the writings
and speeches of leading statesmen of the South, he more thoroughly
comprehended the nature, the designs and the ambitions of the slave-
power, and seemed to more intensely hate it, than any other man there.
His subsequent life, with its single brief success and its numerous and
prolonged misfortunes, down to his confinement and death in an asy-
lum in Washington, made up a strange career even in this country of
surprises and contradictions. One of the most marked members of the
convention was Thomas Ewing, Jr. This gentleman added to the
graces of a youthful and engaging person the charm of attractive man-
ners and a brilliant mind. He took an intelligent interest in the work
of the convention, and was ready and effective in debate. His speeches
wore the air of preparation, while his manner had an appearance of
dignity and restrained enthusiasm, which left the impression of re-
served force and an unexpended power upon the mind of the hearer.
He always seemed like a man who had not done his best, but who upon
proper occasion could rise to still more masterful heights of argument
and eloquence. He was the easy leader of the conservative wing of

e) — ^ ..

^7=P ^^^ifv

the convention, and championed their views with conspicuous, though
ineffectual, ability.

The most exciting debate in the convention over any part of the
constitution occurred in connection with Section 5, of the schedule,
which provided that in case the constitution should be adopted by the
people, then upon the admission of Kansas into the Union as a State,
the constitution should be in full force, the State officers should im-
mediately enter upon the discharge of their duties, and the governor
should immediately, by proclamation, convene the General Assembly.
As has been already seen, this Leavenworth Constitutional movement was
going on at the very time that the bill for the admission of Kansas under
the Lecompton Constitution was pending in Congress, and was intended
as the counter movement of the Free-State people against that measure.
The contingency of the admission of the State under the Lecompton
Constitution had to be contemplated. The Free-State people had full
control of the Territorial Legislature. A portion of them had taken
part in the election of officers under the Lecompton Constitution, and
had really carried that election, electing the entire set of State officers
under it, but on the face of the returns, including the fraudulent re-
turns from Oxford, Shawnee and Kickapoo, the pro-slavery officers
were elected, and Calhonn, the president of the Lecompton Constitu-
tional Convention, had the granting of certificates both to the State
officers and to the Legislature. There was no sufficient or reasonable
doubt that Calhoun would carry out the j^ro slavery j^rogramme to the
end. He had already declared the constitution ' ' with slavery ' '
adopted, and he would doubtless give certificates to the pro slavery
officers under it. The plain question which confronted the Free-State
people was, what would they do under these circumstances ? Their
answer was contained in the tifth section of the schedule, which is
above referred to. The debate over this section was fierce and pro-
longed. It lasted the whole day. Members felt that it involved what
might become very practical and serious issues. The one side main-
tained that it was the only logical, consistent and courageous position for
the Free State people to take. The other contended that it looked to
a conflict with the general Government, which could only result in
disaster and defeat. Ewing led off on the conservative side in opposi-
tion to the section in a magnificent speech. Conway came down from
the chair and spoke in its defense. Others followed on either side,
until the day wore away. When the vote was finally reached, the sec-
tion was adopted by a decided majority. It is not recorded that Lane

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70 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

said a single word on either side of this debate. As to which side was
right it is unnecessary now to discuss. The progress of events fort-
unately prevented the question at issue from ever becoming a practical
one. Had it become so, however, it is probable that the Free-State
people would have been victorious in the struggle which must have
ensued. Early in February, 1859, the Territorial Legislature passed
an act, submitting to the people the question of calling a constitutional
convention. This vote was taken March 28, and resulted: For, 5,306;
against, 1,425. On May 10, 1859, the Republican party of Kansas
was organized, at Osawatomie, and at the election held on June 7, for
delegates to the Wyandotte Convention, the Republican and Demo-
cratic parties confronted each other in Kansas for the first time. The
Democrats carried the counties of Leavenworth, Doniphan, Jefferson
and Jackson, and elected one of the two delegates from Johnson. The
Republicans were successful in all the other counties voting. The
total vote polled was 14,000. The Republican membership was thirty-
five; Democratic, seventeen.

The convention then chosen assembled on July 5, 1859. In its
composition it was an unusual, not to say remarkable, Kansas assem-
blage. Apparently the chiefs of the contending parties had grown
weary of constitution making, or regarded this fourth endeavor in that
line as a predestined failure, for they were conspicuous by their ab-
sence. In the Topeka Convention nearly every prominent man of the
Free- State party had a seat. Gen. Lane was president, and Charles
Conway, Marcus J. Parrott, William Y. Roberts, George W. Smith,
Philip C. Schuyler, C. K. Holliday, Mark W. Delahay, and many
other prominent Free-State leaders were members. In the Leaven-
worth Convention there was a similar gathering of widely known Free-
State men. Conway was its president, and Lane, Roberts, Thomas
Ewing, Jr., Henry J. Adams, H. P. Johnson, S. N. Wood, T. Dwight
Thacher, P. B. Plum, Joel K. Goodin, A. Larzelere, W. F. M. Arny,
Charles H. Branscomb, John Ritchie, and many other influential Free-
State chiefs or partisans were among its members.

The younger men of the Territory constituted the convention at
Wyandotte. They came upon the field fresh, enthusiastic, and with a
place in the world of thought and action to conquer. They recognized
the fact that they must do extremely well to secure popular favor, and
they set about their task with industry, intelligence and prudence.
They were not martyrs nor reformers, as many of those of Topeka were;
nor jealous politicians or factionists, as were most of those at Leaven-

3) 'y

worth. They had no old battles to tight over again, no personal feuds
to distract them, no recollections of former defeats or victories to re-
verse or maintain. They were their own prophets. They had no ex-
perience in constitution making, and hence did not look backward.
They were not specialists. Few had hobbies. A few were dogmatic,
but the many were anxious to discuss and willing to be convinced.
A few were loquacious, but the majority were thinkers and workers.
Some were accomplished scholars, but the majority were men of ordi-
nary education, whose faculties had been sharpened and trained by the
hard experience of an active and earnest life. Many were vigorous,
direct, intelligent speakers; several were really eloquent; and a few
may justly be ranked with the most versatile and brilliant men Kansas
has ever numbered among her citizens.

Very few were old men. Only fifteen of the tifty-two members
were over forty. Over one-third were under thirty, and nearly two-
thirds were under thirty-five. Very few had previously appeared as
representatives of the jjeople in any Territorial assemblage, and this was
especially true of the men whose talents, industry and force soon
approved them leaders. Samuel A. Kingman had been in the Terri-
tory only about eighteen months, and was unknown outside of Brown
County until he appeared at Wyandotte. Solon O. Thaoher was a
young lawyer of Lawrence, never before prominent irt public affairs.
John J. Ingalls had served, the previous winter, as engrossing clerk
of the Territorial council. Samuel A.. Stinson was a young attorney,
recently from Maine. William C. McDowell had never been heard
outside of Leavenworth. Benjamin F. Simpson was a boyish-looking
lawyer from Miami County, and John T. Biirris had been practicing,
for a year or two, before justices' courts in Johnson County. John P.
Slough had been a member of the Ohio Legislature, but was a new-
comer in Kansas, and E. G. Ross was the publisher of a weekly news-
paper at Topeka. One-half of the members had been in the Territory
lessthaii two years. Six came in 1854, four in 1855, and twelve in 1856,
while Mr. Forman, of Doniphan, dated his residence from 1853; Mr.
Palmer, of Pottawatomie, from 1S54, and Mr. Houston, of Riley, from
1853. Forty-one were from Northern States, seven from the South,
and four were of foreign birth, England, Scotland, Ireland and Ger-
many each contributing one. It appears singular that only one of
the Western States, Indiana, was represented in the membership, that
State furnishing six delegates. Twelve hailed from New England,
Ohio contributed twelve, Pennsylvania six, and New York four. Only

.^\' ' > .

i\^

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

eigliteea belonged to the legal profession — an unusually small number
of lawyers in such a body. Sixteen were farmers, eight merchants,
three physicians, three manufacturers, one a mechanic, one a printer,
one a land agent and one a surveyor. The oldest member was Robert
Graham, of Atchison, who was fifty-five; the youngest, Benjamia F.
Simpson, of Lykins County (now Miami), who was twenty-three.

It was a working body from the first hour of its session until the
last. It jDerfected its organization, adopted rules for its government,
discussed the best mode of procedure in framing a constitution, and
appointed a committee to report upon that subject during the first
day's session; all the standing committees were announced on the
third day, and by the close of the fifth day it had disposed of two very
troublesome contested election eases, decided that the Ohio constitution
should be the model for that of Kansas, perfected arrangements for
reporting and printing its debates, and instructed its committees upon
a number of disputed questions. Tiie vote on selecting a model for
the constitution was, on the second ballot: For the Ohio constitution
twenty-five votes; Indiana, twenty-three, and Kentucky, one. So the
Kansas constitution was modeled after that of Ohio.

The chairmanships of the different committees were assigned as
follows: Preamble and bill of rights, William Hutchinson, of Law-
rence; executive department, John P. Greer, of Shawnee; legis-
lative dej)artment, Solon O. Thacher, of Lawrence; judicial depart-
ment, Samuel A. Kingman, of Brown County; military, James G.
Blunt, of Anderson County; electors and elections, P. H. Townsend,
of Douglas; schedule, John T. Burris, of Johnson; apportionment,
H. D. Preston, of Shawnee; corporations and banking, Robert Gra-
ham, of Atchison; education and public institutions, W. R. Griffith,
of Bourbon County; county and township organizations, John Ritchie,
of Topeka; ordinance and public debt, James Blood, of Lawrence;
finance and taxation, Benjamin F. Simpson, of Lykins; amendments
and miscellaneous, S. D. Houston, of Riley County; federal relations,
T. S. Wright, of Nemaha County; phraseology and arrangements,
John J. Ingalls, of Atchison.

The work of the convention was praeticdly completed on the
twenty-first day. The various articles had each been considered and
adopted, first in committee of the whole, then in convention, then
referred to the committee on phraseology and arrangement, and, after
report of the committee, again considered by sections and adopted.
But so anxious were the members that every word used should be the

^f^

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 73

right word, expressing the idea intended most clearly and directly,
that when the reading of the completed constitution was finished, on the
morning of the twenty-first day, it was decided to refer it to a special
committee, consisting of Messrs. Ingalls, Winchell, Ross and Slough,
for further revision and verification. This committee reported the
same afternoon, and again the constitution was read by sections for
final revision with the same painstaking carefulness and attention to
the minutest details. All that afternoon and all the next day, with
brief interruptions for action on the closing work, this rovision went
on, and it was 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the 29th before the last
section was perfected. Then occurred one of the most dramatic
scenes of the convention. Mr. Hutchinson submitted a resolution
declaring that "we do now adopt and proceed to sign the constitu-
tion."

At once Mr. Slough addressed the chair, and after warmly eulogiz-
ing the general features of the constitution, pronouncing it " a model
instrument," he formally announced that political objections impelled
himself and his Democratic associates to decline attaching their signa-
tures to it. For a few moments after Mr. Slough concluded, the con-
vention sat hushed and expectant. But no other Democratic member
rose. It was evident that the caucus ruled. Then Judge Thacher,
the president pro tern., addressed the chair, and in a speech of remark-
able vigor and eloquence, accepted the gauge of battle thrown down.
" Upon this constitution," he declared, " we will meet our opponents
in the popular arena. It is a better, a nobler issue than ever the old
Free- State issue. They have thrown down the gauntlet; we joyfully
take it up." _He then proceeded to defend, with great earnestness and
power, the features of the constitution objected to by Mr. Slough.
"The members of the convention," he asserted, "have perfected a
work that will be enduring." The constitution, he affirmed, \yould
"commend itself to the true and good everywhere, because through
every line and syllable there glows the generous sunshine of lib'^ ty. "

The twilight shadows were gathering about Wyandotte when this
debate closed, and the convention proceeded to vote on Mr. Hutchin-
son's resolution, which was adopted by thirty- four ayes to thirteen
nays — one Republican and four Democrats being absent. The roll
was then called, and the constitution was signed by all the Republican
members except one, Mr. Wright, of Nemaha, who was absent, sick.
The work of the convention was completed, and after voting thanks to
its officers it adjourned without date.

-4v

74 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

It is doubtful whether the organic law of auy other State in the
Union has more successfully survived the mutations of time and
inconstant public sentiment, and the no less fluctuating necessities of
a swiftly developing commonwealth. Of its seventeen articles only
four, and of its one hundred and seventy-eight sections only eight
have been amended. And of the eight amendments adopted, only
five have revoked or modified the principles of policy originally
formulated, the others being changes demanded by the growth of the
State, or by the events of the Civil War. The first amendment, rati-
fied in 1861, provides that no banking institution shall issue circulat-
ing notes of a less denomination than $1 — the original limitation being
15. In 1864 the provision requiring all bills to originate in the
House of Representatives was repealed; and a section intended to
prevent United States soldiers from voting, but which was so worded
that it deprived our volunteers of that right, was also repealed. In
1867 an amendment was adopted disfranchising all persons who aided
the "Lost Cause," or who were dishonorably discharged from the
army of the United States, or who had defrauded the United States,
or any State during the war. In 1868 the State printer amendment
was ratified. In 1873 the number of Senators and Representatives,
originally limited to 33 and 100 respectively, was increased to 40 and
125. In 1875 three propositions, each having in view biennial, instead
of annual, sessions of the Legislature, were adopted; and in 1880
the prohibition amendment was ratified.

On October 4, 1859, the constitution was submitted to the people
for ratification or rejection, and for the first time in the history of
Kansas, all parties cast a full, free and unintimidated vote. The Re-
publicans favored, and the Democrats generally opposed its adoption.
Nearly 16,000 votes were polled, of which 10,421 were for, and 5,530
against the constitution. The homestead clause, submitted as an in-
dependent proposition, was ratified by a vote of 8,788 for, to 4,772
against it. Every county in the Territory except two, Johnson and
Morris, gave a majority for the constitution.

Two months later, December 6, State and county ofiicers and mem-
bers of the Legislature were elected, and the people of Kansas, having
exhausted their authority in State building, patiently awaited the
action of Congress. On April 11, 1860, the House of Representatives
voted, 134 to 73, to admit Kansas as a State, under the Wyandotte
Constitution. Twice during the next eight months the Senate de-
feated motions to consider the Kansas bill, but on January 21, 1861,

JIV

several Southern senators having seceded, Mr. Seward " took a pinch
of snufif" and called it up again. It passed by a vote of 30 to 16,
and on the 29th of the same month President Buchanan approved it.
Thus young Kansas, through many difficulties and turmoils, was " added
to the stars."

Gov. Andrew H. Reeder, the first governor of Kansas Territory,
was appointed June 29, 1854. He was removed from office July 28,
1855, received official notice of his removal and ceased to act as gov-
ernor August 15. The secretary, Hon. Daniel Woodson, became act-
ing governor during the remaining part of the session of the Terri-
torial Legislature. August 10, Hon. Wilson Shannon was commis-
sioned as governor. He resigned August 21, 1856, and on the same
day received official notice of his removal and the appointment of
Hon. John W. Geary as his successor. Gov. Geary resigned March
4, 1857. Secretary Woodson again became acting governor, from
April 16, when Mr. Geary's political and official connection with Kan-
sas affairs terminated, to May 27, when his successor arrived. The
successors of both Geary and Woodson were appointed March 10,
1857, Hon. Robert J. AValker receiving the appointment of governor
and Hon. Frederick P. Stanton as secretary of the Territory, to be
acting governor until the arrival of Mr. Walker. On December 17,
Gov. Walker resigned. December 21, John W. Denver took the oath
of office and served until October 10, 1858, when he resigned. Sam-
uel Medary was appointed governor November 19, and arrived in the
Territory and entered upon the duties of his office December 20. De-
cember 17, 1860, Gov. Medary resigned, and George M. Beebe, then
secretary of the Territory, became acting governor, in which capacity
he continued until the inauguration of the State government, Feb-
ruary 9, 1861.

Since the establishment of the State government, the governors
have been elected, and the gubernatorial vote at the successive elec-
tions has been as follows: 1859 — Robinson, Republican, 8,155; Me-
dary, Democrat, 5,637. 1862— Carney, Repnblican, 9,990; WagstafF,
Union, 5,463. 1866— Crawford, Republican, 19,770; McDowell,
Union, 8,151. 1868— Harvey, Republican, 29,795; Glick, Democrat,
1,388. 1870— Harvey, Republican, 40,667; Sharp, Democrat, 20,-
496. 1874— Osborn, Republican, 48,594; Cusey, Reformer, 35,301;
Marshall, Temperance, 2,277. 1876— Anthony, Republican, 69,170;
Martin, Democrat, 46,201; Hudson, National, 6,020. 1878— St.
John, Republican, 74,020; Goodin, Democrat, 37,208; Mitchell,

s|v>

76 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

National, 27,057. 1882— St. John, Republican, 75,158; Glick,
Democrat, 83,237; Robinson, National, 20,933. 1884— Martin, Re-
publican, 146,777; Glick, Democrat, 108,284. 1886— Martin, Re-
publican,' 149,513; Moonlight, Democrat, 115,594. 1888— Hum-
phrey, Democrat, 180,841; Martin, Republican, 107,480; Boekin, Pro-
hibitionist, 6,439; Elder, Union Labor, 36,236.

The several governors of the State of Kansas have served succes-
sively as follows:

1. Charles Robinson, February, 1861, to January, 1863.

2. Thomas Carney, January, 1863, to January, 1865.

3. Samuel J. Crawford, January, 1865, to November, 1868, when
he resigned (in his second term) to take command of the Nineteenth
Regiment of Kansas Cavalry, in active service against the Indians on
the plains.

4. Nehemiah Green, serving as lieutenant-governor at the time of
Gov. Crawford's resignation, was governor from November, 1868, to
January, 1869.

5. James M. Harvey, January, 1869, to January, 1873 (two
terms).

6. Thomas A. Osborn, January, 1873, to January, 1877 (two
terms).

7. George T. Anthony, January, 1877, to January, 1879.

8. John P. St. John, January, 1879, to January, 1883 (two
terms.)

9. George W. Glick, January, 1883, to January, 1885.

10. John A. Martin, January, 1885, to January, 1889 (two
terms).

1 1 . Lyman U. Humphrey, inaugurated January, 1889, and now
in office.

The presidential vote of Kansas is shown by the following figures:
1864— Lincoln (Republican), 14,252; McClellan (Democrat), 3,704.
1868— Grant (Republican), 30,019; Seymour (Democrat), 13,584.
1872 -Grant (Republican), 66,948; Greeley (Liberal), 32,478. 1876
—Hayes (Republican), 78,319; Tilden (Democrat), 37,810; Cooper
(National), 6,867. 1880 -Garfield (Republican), 121,548; Hancock
(Democrat), 59,803; Weaver (National), 19,845. 1884— Blaine (Re-
publican), 154,406; Cleveland (Democrat), 90, 132; Butler (Greenback),
16,341. 1888— Harrison (Republican), 182,914; Cleveland (Democrat),
102,728.

The Kansas State officers for 1889 were the following: Lyman U.

J^l

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Humphrey, governor; Andrew J. Felt, lieutenant-governor; William
Higgins, secretary of State; Thomas F. Orner, assistant-secretary;
Timothy McCarthy, auditor; S. S. McFadden, assistant-auditor; J. W.
Hamilton, treasni-er; R. R. Moore, assistant -treasurer; L. B. Kellogg,
attorney-general; George AV. Winans, superintendent of public instruc-
tion; D. W. Wilder, superintendent of insurance; ClifPord J. Baker
State printer.

Vi>N.V

y-.

^"-^

'-^

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER lY.

Kansas in the Rebellion— First Call for Volunteers— Quota
Assigned to the State More than Filled— Sketches of Regi-
mental History— Infantry and Cavalry Organizations— Bat-
teiues— Colored and Indian Troops— Casualties— The Govern-
or's Military Staff, 1861-1863— 1863-1865— Cost to Kansas of the
Price Raid and Curtis Expedition — Tedious Settlement of
War Claims.

Ah me ! what perils do environ

The man that meddles with cold iroa.— Butler.

•''A.NSAS when admitted as a State proved but a
landmark in the continued struggle which, begun
upon her soil seven years before, had culmi-
nated in advantage gained but not in victory won.
Compelled through the very instrumentalities it
had summoned to its aid, to loosen its clutch
upon Kansas, the slave-power had now thrown
off disguise and challenged the nation to open
battle for its life. In the renewed contest the infant
State put on the strength of years, took her place in
the foremost rank, and fought with unswerving fidelity
and bravery to win again, for all, the battle she had al-
ready won for herself. The citizens of a country which,
after twenty years of peace, can boast that among them
are numbered a million warriors who have done honora-
' ble service in the field, know too well the story of war,

and what constitutes the true soldier, to look for invidious accounts of
individual acts of heroism. Braveiy during the war became the well-
earned heritage of all American citizens both North and South. The
simple story of the honorable part Kansas bore in this great struggle
is best told in a plain recital of services performed, without futile
attempt to enhance its interest by florid figures of speech or rhetorical

— ^ © ^

a ■

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 79

display. The eloquence of suffering and privation and death is in
each name and every line.

It was but three months from the time that Kansas was admitted
as a State, when she was called upon to furnish her quota toward sup-
pressing the Rebellion. Daring the years 1859-60, the military or-
ganizations, formed for the protection of the people during the turbu-
lent years preceding, had fallen into disuse, or been entirely broken
up, and at the breaking out of the Civil AVar, the State government had
no well -organized militia, no arms, accoutrements or supplies. The
first call of the President for 75,000 militia was made April 15,
1861. Kansas furnished 650 men, and the Legislature immediately
took measures to amend the military condition of the State. April 22,
1861, an act was passed providing "for the organization and disci-
pline of the militia," under which, during Gov. Robinson's adminis-
tration, that branch of the service was very generally organized
throughout the State — 180 companies being formed, and organized into
two divisions, four brigades and eleven regiments. Many of these
companies entered the volunteer service, entire, under the various calls
thereafter made, and of the remainder, the number was very much
diminished from the same cause. Under the second call of President
Lincoln, May, 1861, for 400,000 volunteers, the First and Second Reg-
iments were recruited, many whole companies marching to the place of
rendezvous and offering their services, besides those accepted. At
each succeeding demand of the Government, the response of Kansas
was cordial and earnest; and this in the face of the stern fact that no
extra pecuniary recompense could be offered by the young and by no
means wealthy State for their services, it being all she could do
to meet the ordinary expenses of the situation. Kansas, neither as a
State, nor by counties or cities, was obliged to resort to the system of
offering bounties, extra pay to families of soldiers, or any of the other
expedients commonly employed to encourage recruiting.

Statistics show that the losses of Kansas regiments in killed in
battle and from disease are greater per thousand than those of any
other State. The peculiarly unhealthy localities in which a large part
of their service was performed, with the laborious nature of the serv-
ice itself — long marches through a wild and unsettled country; out-
post and scout duty; poor hospital accommodations when ill — all
combined to produce this result. It is noticeable that in the Northern
regiments doing duty in like localities, the mortality was also very great.
The entire quota assigned to the State was 16,654 and the number

■'

■f^

^^ ^ :±==±±.

raised was 20,097, leaving a surplus of 3,443, to the credit of Kansas.

The First Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry was organized
May 8, 1861, rendezvoused at Camp Lincoln, near Fort Leaven-
worth, and was mustered into the United States service June 3,
under the following officers : George W. Deitzler, of Lawrence, col-
onel; Oscar E. Learnard, of Burlington, lieutenant colonel; John A.
Halderman, of Leavenworth, major; Edwin S. Nash, of Olathe, adju-
tant; George H. Chapin, of Quindaro, quartermaster; George E.
Buddington, of Quindaro, surgeon; Ephraim Nute, of Lawrence,
chaplain. The regiment served in Missouri, at Wilson's Creek, having
seventy-seven men killed and 333 wounded. After further brave serv-
ice in the South and Southwest, it was mustered out at Fort Leaven-
worth June 17, 1864, except two veteran companies which continued
in the service until August 30, 1865, after the close of the war.

The Second Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry was recruited in
May and June, 1861, rendezvoused at Lawrence, and was mustered
in June 20, under the following officers: Robert B. Mitchell, of
Mansfield, colonel; Charles W. Blair, of Fort Scott, lieutenant-
colonel ; William F. Cloud, of Emporia, major; Edward Thomp-
son, of Lawrence, adjutant; Shaler W. Eldridge, of Lawrence,
quartermaster; Aquila B. Massey, of Lawrence, surgeon; Randolph
C. Brant, of Lawrence, chaplain. This regiment also participated in
the battle of Wilson's Creek, and its connection with that engage-
ment is peculiarly interesting, historically. Col. Mitchell, at a most
critical juncture, was about to move his regiment forward to the
aid of the hard pressed regiments in front. As the regiment was
moving to its position, Gen. Lyon, already bleeding from two wounds,
joined Col. Mitchell at the head of the column, and swinging his hat
in the air, called upon the soldiers to prepare for a bayonet charge on
the enemy. The Second had scarcely time to rally around him, when
their own brave leader. Col. Mitchell, fell, severely wounded, exclaim-
ing as he was borne from the field: "For God's sake, support my
regiment." His soldiers, deprived of their commander, cried out:
" We are ready to follow— who will lead us?" "I will lead you,"
answered Gen. Lyon; "come on, brave men." The words were
hardly uttered before he fell, mortally wounded by a bullet which
struck him in the breast. The command of the Second now devolved
upon Lieut. -Col. Blair. The men sprang forward, the charge was
made, the enemy driven quite over the hill, and the command brought
back to the brow of the hill and reformed. For a time Lieut. -Col.

'-^

Blair held his position, with but eight compauies of his regiment, and
with no field or staff ofScer to assist him. Afterward, a section of a
battery and four companies of the First Kansas were sent to his aid.
Three of these companies were soon ordered to another position, and
the battery withdrawn, but Col. Blair, having been rejoined by his
own Company B, and the other regimental officers, held his ground,
though totally unsupported and with ammunition nearly spent.
Before the rebels had been fairly repulsed after their last and deadli-
est assault on the whole line, Maj. Sturgis, believing the ammunition
of the Second exhaiisted, ordered its withdrawal, but it remained in
its old position an hour and a half with unbroken line, and withdrew
only after the departure of the enemy, being the last regiment to
leave the field. It saw other creditable service in Missouri and else-
where, and was discharged at Leavenworth, with instructions to
reorganize. Col. Mitchell, Lieut. -Col. Blair, Maj. Cloud and Capt.
Crawford being retained in the service. The organization which
proved to be the germ of the Second Kansas Cavalry was effected
through the labors of Alson C. Davis, of Wyandotte County, Kas.,
who, in October, 1801, obtained authority from Maj. -Gen. Fremont,
then commander of the Western Department, to raise a regiment of
cavalry in the State of Kansas, such regiment to be designated the
Twelfth Kansas Volunteers, with place of rendezvous at Fort Leav-
enworth, Kas. The organization, as commenced, consisted of the fol-
lowing officers: C. L. Gorton, adjutant; Julius G. Fisk, quartermas-
ter; J. B. Welborne, surgeon. The dates of the organization of the
several companies were as follows: Company A, November 22, 1861:
Company B, December 9, 1861; Company C, December 11, 1861;
Company D, December 11, 1861; Company E, December 15, 1861.
December 26, by order of the governor. Companies F, G, H and
I, of Nugent's Regiment of Missouri Home Guards, were attached
to the organization, and its designation was changed to "Ninth Kan-
sas Volunteers." December 31, 1861. Joseph P. Boot was mus-
tered in as surgeon, vice J. B. Welborne. January 4, 1862, Owen

A. Bassett was mustered in as lieutenant-colonel, Julius G. Fisk as
major, and Luther H. Wood as quartermaster. January 7, Thomas

B. Eldridge was mustered in as major and Rev. Charles Reynolds as
chaplain. On the same day. Company K was organized. January
9, Alson C. Davis was mustered in as colonel, and Dr. George B.
Wood as assistant surgeon, completing the organization of the Ninth
Kansas Volunteers as follows: Colonel, Alson C. Davis, of Wyandotte

82 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

County; lieiitenant-colonel, Owen A. Bassett, Douglas County; major,
Julius G. Fisk, Wyandotte County; major, Thomas B. Eldridge,
Douglas County; adjutant, C. L. Gorton, Leavenworth County; quar-
termaster, Luther H. Wood, Wyandotte County; surgeon, Dr. Joseph
P. Root, W^yandotte County; chaplain. Rev. Charles Reynolds,
Douglas County. The regiment left Fort Leavenworth on January
20, 1862, with orders to establish winter quarters at Quindaro. On
the 4th of February, the four companies formerly attached to Nugent' s
Regiment were mustered out, their enlistment being for home service,
thus reducing the regiment to six companies. The Ninth now being
below regulation size. Col. Davis resigned, and Maj. Eldridge
was, at his owu request, mustered out. Company K from this time
was designated as Company F. On February 28, 1862, Maj. -Gen.
Hunter, commanding the department of Kansas, assigned to the
Ninth Kansas Volunteers the following otlicers and companies, for-
merly belonging to the Second Kansas Volunteer Infantry: Colonel,
Robert B. Mitchell; majors, Charles W. Blair and William F. Cloud.
John Pratt was appointed adjutant; Cyrus L. Gorton, quarter-
master; Luther H. Wood, first battalion quartermaster, and David
C. Coleman, first battalion adjutant. On the 11th of March Col.
Mitchell assumed command of the Ninth Kansas, and on the 12th the
regiment left winter quarters at Quindaro, and, pursuant to orders,
moved to Shawneetown. On March 15 the name of the regiment
was changed to Second Kansas Volunteers, and again changed on the
27th of the same month to the name by which it was thereafter known
— Second Kansas Cavalry. The officers of the regiment were the fol-
lowing: Robert B. Mitchell, colonel, Mansfield; Owen A. Bassett,
lieutenant colonel, Lawrence; Charles W. Blair, major. Fort Scott;
John Pratt, adjutant, Lawrence; David R. Coleman, battalion adju-
tant, Paris; Cyrus L. Gorton, quartermaster, Leavenworth; Joseph
P. Root, surgeon, Wyandotte; Charles Reynolds, chaplain. Fort
Riley. Col. Mitchell, having been promoted to brigadier-general,
April 8, 1862, with command of the proposed New Mexico expedi-
tion, June 1, Col. William F. Cloud, of the Tenth, was assigned
to the command of the Second Cavalry. May 16, Capt. Henry
Hopkins, First Lieut. Robert H. Hunt, Second Lieut. John K.
Rankin and Second Lieut. Joseph Crocklin, with a detail of
privates, were assigned to Hopkins' (formerly Hollister's) Battery,
and were ordered with the brigade of Gen. Mitchell to Tennessee.
Maj. Julius G. Fisk, with squadrons A and D, was ordered to New

9 "y^

HISTORY OF KANSAS. ~ 83

Mexico. The regiment served in the southwest principally, going by
way of Fort Riley In March, 1864, the Second was assigned to
Lieut. -Col. Bassett's Cavalry Brigade, under Maj. Fisk. In Sep-
tember, 1864, Col. Cloud was assigned to the staff of Maj. -Gen.
Curtis. The different companies were mustered out between
March 18 and June 22, 1865, at Little Rock, Fort Leavenworth
and Fort Gibson. The men were paid and discharged at Lawrence,
August 17.

The Fifth Kansas Cavalry was organized in July, 1861, under the
following officers: Colonel, Hampton P. Johnson, Leavenworth; lieu-
tenant-colonel, John Ritchie, Topeka; major, James H. Summers;
adjutant, Stephen R. Harrington, Washington, D. C. ; quartermaster,
James Davis, Leavenworth; surgeon, E. B. Johnson, Leavenworth;
chaplain, Hugh D. Fisher, Lawrence. Col. Johnson assumed com-
mand of the Fifth at Fort Scott in August, 1861. The regiment
served principally iu Arkansas. In September, 1864, several com-
panies were mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, their term of service
having expired. During the year, members of the remaining com-
panies were mustered out at Leavenworth, Pine Bluff and Little Rock.
June 22, 1862, the re-enlisted veterans of the Fifth were mustered
out at Duvall's Bluff, Ark.

The Sixth Regiment Volunteer Cavalry was organized in the spring
of 1862, by the reorganization of several "Home Guard" companies,
then lately mustered out of the service, officered thus: Colonel, Will-
iam R. Judson; lieutenant-colonel, Lewis R. Jewell; major, William
T. Campbell; adjutant, 'Isaac Statten; quartermaster, Simeon B.
Gordon; surgeon, John S. Redfield; chaplain, Richard Duvall — all
of Fort Scott. The duties required of the Sixth were not such as to
call forth the impetuous daring that marks men in desperate engage-
ments, but rather such as test a soldier's endurance and strength of
nerve — long and weary pursuits of an enemy over his native country,
scouting through the forests and passes of Missouri, Arkansas and
Kansas — but, such as they were, they had their peculiar perils, and
they were bravely met. The regiment was mustered out late in 1864
and early in 1865.

The Seventh Kansas Cavalry was organized October 28, 1861, and
mustered into the service of the United States under the following
officers: Colonel, Charles R. Jennison, Leavenworth; lieutenant-
colonel, Daniel R. Anthony, Leavenworth; major, Thomas P. Her-
rick, Highland; adjutant, John T. Snoddy, Mound City; quarter-

84 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

master, Robert W. Hamer, Leavenworth; surgeon. Joseph L. Weaver,
Leavenworth; chaplain, Samuel Ay era, Leavenworth. The regiment
served in Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee, and was mustered out
at Fort Leavenworth in September, 1865. Lieut. -Col. Anthony was
deprived of his command in Tennessee, June 18, 1862, for issuing an
offensive order. July 17 Maj. Albert T. Lee was promoted to colonel,
and assumed command of the regiments. Col. Lee having been pro-
moted to brigadier-general November 29, 1862, the command devolved
upon Lieut. -Col. Herrick. During the Missouri campaign of 180-1
the regiment was commanded by Lieut. -Col. F. M. Malone.

The Eighth Infantry was originally recruited and intended for
home and frontier service. Hostile Indians on the west and armed
rebels on the east, rendering Kansas at any moment liable to invasion,
a double duty devolved on the young State, and at that period of the
war, while furnishing liberally of her "bone and sinew" to repel the
enemy abroad, her own homes and families had also to be considered
and protected. As organized in November, 1861, the regiment con-
sisted of six infantry and two cavalry companies, with the following
regimental officers: Colonel, Henry W. Wessels, United States army;
lieutenant-colonel, John A. Martin; major, Edward F. Schneider;
adjutant, S. C. Russell; quartermaster, E. P. Bancroft. During the
three months following this organization, various changes were made'
in the regiment. Some companies were added, some were transferred
to other regiments, and some were consolidated. February 7, 1862,
Col. Wessels was ordered to Washington to assume command of his
regiment in the regular army, and Lieut. -Col. Martin succeeded to
his place. Later in the mouth, the Eighth was consolidated with a
battalion raised for New Mexican service, the cavalry com2)anies, D
and H, were transferred to the Ninth Kansas, and the Eighth, now an
entire infantry regiment, was placed under command of Col. R. H.
Graham. The organization of the regiment after these changes was
as follows: Colonel, Robert H. Graham, Leavenworth; lieutenant-
colonel, John A. Martin, Atchison; major, Edward F. Schneider,
Leavenworth; adjutant, Sheldon C. Russell, Lawrence; quartermas-
ter, E. P. Bancroft, Emporia; surgeon, J. B. Woodward, Riley
County: chaplain, John Paulson, Topeka. May 28- five companies of
the regiment — B, E, H, I and K — after being reviewed at Fort Leaven-
worth, embarked on a Missouri steamer, under orders from Gen. Blunt,
then commander of western department, to report at Corinth. Miss.
At St. Louis, Col. Graham was obliged to resign his command, in con-

' %^ (a r ^^ 3) "V

3 >?•

sequence of sickness, and it again devolved upon Lieut. -Col. Martin.
In December, 1862, Col. Martin was assigned to the command of the
brigade, and Maj. Schneider to that of the regiment. In February,
1863, Companies A, C, D, F, and, in March, Company G, rejoined
the regiment. These companies had been stationed at different posts
in Kansas, chiefly employed in repelling the incursions of rebel bands
from Missouri, and guarding the frontier of their own State. January
■4, 1864, four-fifths of all the members of the Eighth, then present in
camp, re-enlisted as veteran volunteers. On the 9th, Gen. AVillich
assumed command of the Third Division, the command of the First
Brigade devolving upon Col. Martin, and that of the regiment upon
Maj. James M. Graham. Col. Martin was mustered out at Pulaski
on the 17th of November, his term of service having expired. The fol
lowing day Lieut. -Col. Conover took command of the regiment. The
Eighth saw service in East Tennesee, and especially recommended
itself to the admiration of the nation by the part it took at Mission
Ridge. At the close of the war it went to Texas, and did not return
until January, 1866, when it was mustered out at Leavenworth. It
was one of the earliest regiments in the field, and its term of service did
not close until the echo of the last Confederate gun had died away.

The Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was organized March 27,
1862, under the following officers: Colonel, Edward Lynde, Grass-
hopper Falls; lieutenant colonel, Charles S. Clarke, lola; major,
James M. Pomeroy; adjutant, Luin K. Thacher, Kansas City; quarter-
master. William Rosenthal, Lawrence; surgeon, Henry C. Bostick, lola;.
chaplain, Gilbert S. Northrup. The final organization of the Ninth
was efl^ected by consolidating and organizing the lola battalion (raised
in Southern Kansas) with detachments of the First Battalion Kansas
Cavalry, the Third Kansas, and the Eighth Kansas Volunteers. The
place of rendezvous for these companies was Fort Leavenworth, where
also the regiment was organized, and whence the companies were de-
tached to various posts of duty — A, on escort duty to Fort Union, N.
M. ; B, into the mountains of Colorado, to build Fort Halleck; C, to
Fort Riley; G, to Fort Lyon, Colo., and I, to Fort Laramie. The de-
tachments on the plains were long in defense of overland mail routes,
and the protection of immigrants, one detachment proceeding north-
west to Montana, the other having its station along the Santa Fe route.
The four companies, D, E, F and H, under Maj. Bancroft, formed a
part of the expedition into the Indian coimtry, and, under Col. Lynde,
were engaged during a part of August, 1 862, in pursuing the force of

fe^

Gen. CofPey through Western Missouri. The regiment took part in
the desultory warfare which was waged in Kansas, Missouri and Ar-
kansas, remaining on duty at Little Rock and Duvall's BlufP until its
term of service expired, some of the companies returning to Leaven-
worth in the fall of 1864, to be mustered out of the service, and some
remaining until mustered out in the summer of 1865.

April 3, 1862, the Third and Fourth Kansas Regiments, together
with a small portion of the Fifth, were, by order of the war depart-
ment, consolidated at Paola, Kas. The regiment formed by such con-
solidation was designated the Tenth Kansas Infantry, and was at that
time organized under the following officers: Colonel, William F.
Cloud, Emporia; lieutenant colonel, Henry H. Williams, Osawatomie;
major, Otis B. Gunn; adjutant, Casimio B. Zulaoski, Boston, Mass.;
surgeon, Mahlon Bailey; chaplain, John H. Drummond, Marysville.
The regiment saw service on the border, and at the expiration of its
term was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth.

The Tenth Kansas Veteran Regiment was composed of four com
panies, the Veterans, with the recruits of Companies F and I, forming
the new companies, A and B. The regiment was commanded by Maj.
Henry H. Williams from its organization until the last of August,
186-t, when he was placed in charge of Scholield Barracks, St. Louis.
The Tenth left St. Louis for Pilot Knob, Mo., under command of
Lieut. F. A. Smiley, Company D, and on its arrival the command was
transferred to Capt. George D. Brooke, Company C. On November
7, the regiment embarked at St. Louis for Padueah, Ky., and on its
arrival at that place Capt. William C. Jones, of Company B, took
command. November 28, it arrived at Nashville, and the next day at
Columbia, Tenn., being at the latter place assigned to the Fourth
Army Corps, Gen. Stanley commanding. The regiment fell back with
the army of Gen. Scholield after the battle of Franklin, and on reach-
ing Nashville was employed on the defenses of the city until Decem-
ber 16, having been in the meantime transferred to the Seventeenth,
afterward Sixteenth Army Corps, Second Brigade, Second Division.
Later it was commanded by Capt. (afterward Lieut. -Col.) Charles S.
Hills. It took part in subsequent warfare in that field, and acquitted
itself heroically on more than one occasion. It was mustered out in
Alabama, and, September 20, 1865, received payment and final dis-
charge at Fort Leavenworth.

The Eleventh Kansas Infantry (afterward cavalry) was the result
of the energetic and patriotic Hon. Thomas Ewing, Jr., at a time

when the State felt hardly able to spare even the men it had already in
the field. The first recruit enlisted August 8, 1862, and on the 14th
of September the last company was mustered in, the line officers as
follows: Field and staff— colonel, Thomas E wing, Jr., Leavenworth;
lieutenant-colonel, Thomas Moonlight, Leavenworth; major, Preston
B. Plumb, Emporia; adjutant, John Williams, Leavenworth; quar-
termaster,, James R. McClure, Junction City; surgeon, George W.
Hogeboom, Leavenworth; chaplain, James S. Ciine, Tecumseh. On
the promotion of Col. Ewing to be brigadier-general, Lieut. Col.
Maonlight was promoted to colonel, Maj. Plumb to lieutenant -colonel,
and Capt. Anderson to major; but the regiment having lost over 300
men. its number was below the minimum, and they could not mus-
ter at that time. On changing the regiment to cavalry, it was again
below regulation size, and Maj. Anderson was the only field officer
mustered in until the following spring, when two additional com-
panies having been recruited and mustered in, the organization of the
Eleventh Kansas Cavalry was completed by the commission of Lieut. -
Col. Moonlight as colonel, Maj. Plumb as lieutenant colonel, and
Capts. Ross and Adams as majors. Early in the war the regiment
was in Missouri and Arkansas. Later it served under Gen. Ewing in
Southwest Missouri and Kansas. In 1864 it took part in the cam-
paign against Price; after that in the movement against the Indians.
Lieut. -Col. Plumb succeeded Col. Moonlight in command. The regi-
ment was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth in the early fall of
1865.

The Twelfth Infantry was recruited by C. W. Adams, of Law-
rence, in the counties of Wyandotte, Johnson, Douglas, Miami,
Franklin, Coffey, Allen, Linn and Bourbon. It was mustered into
the service at Paola, September 25, 1862, under the following offi-
cers: Field and staff— colonel, Charles W. Adams, Lawrence; lieu-
tenant-colonel, Jonas E. Hayes, Olathe; major, Thomas H. Kennedy,
Lawrence; adjutant, Charles J. Lovejoy, Baldwin City; quartermas-
ter, Andrew J. Shannon, Paola; surgeon, Thomas Lindsay, Garnett;
chaplain, Werter R. Davis, Baldwin City. This regiment served on
the frontier, and was mustered out at Little Rock, June 3, 1865.

The Thirteenth Kansas Infantry was raised in conformity to the
quota assigned Kansas, under President Lincoln's call of July, 1862,
and was recruited by Cyrus Leland, Sr., in the counties of Atchison,
Brown, Doniphan, Marshall and Nemaha. The rendezvous was
established at Camp Stanton, city of Atchison, the regiment organ -

'-hL

ized September 10, 1862, and mustered into the service of the
United States on September 20 of the same year, under the fol-
lowing officers: Colonel, Thomas M. Bowen, Marysville; lieutenant-
colonel, John B. Wheeler, Troy; major, Caleb A. Woodworth, Atchi-
son; adjutant, "William P. Badger; quartermaster, Cyrus Leland; sur-
geon, William M. Grimes, Atchison; chaplain, Daniel A. Murdock.
The Thirteenth was in the engagement at Prairie Grove, and saw con-
siderable guerrilla warfare. It was mustered out at Little Rock,
Ark., June 26, 1865.

The nucleus of the Fourteenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry was four
companies of cavalry, which were recruited as personal escort of Maj.-
Gen. Blunt, m the spring of 1863. The necessity of raising an ad-
ditional force for fi'ontier service was so imperative that the recruit-
ing of a whole regiment was authorized, and the work performed dur-
ing the summer and fall, Maj. T. J. Anderson serving as recruiting
officer. The organization of the regiment was partially completed in
November as follows: Field and staff — colonel, Charles W. Blair, Fort
Scott; majors, Daniel H. David, Charles Willetts and John G. Brown,
Leavenworth; adjutant, William O. Gould, Leavenworth; assistant sur-
geon, Albert W. Chenowith, Lecompton. The Fourteenth took part in
the peculiarly dangerous and wearing service on the border and in the
campaign against Price. It was mustered out at Lawrence, August 20,
1805. After the numerous guerrilla raids of 1863, under Coffey, Rains
and Quantrell, culminated in the terrible massacre at Lawrence, Gov.
Carney immediately commissioned Col. C. R. Jennison to recruit a reg-
iment of cavalry for the express jJurpose of protecting the eastern border
of Kansas. Rendezvous was established at Leavenworth, and in a
month the required companies were raised, and the Fifteenth Kansas
Volunteer Cavalry organized under the following officers: Colonel,
Charles R. Jennison, Leavenworth; lieutenant-colonel, George H. Hoyt,
Boston, Mass. ; major, Robert H. Hunt, Leavenworth; adjutant, Joseph
Mackle; quartermaster, George W. Carpenter; surgeon, Augustus E.
Denning, Topeka; chaplain, Benjamin L. Read, Leavenworth. The reg-
iment served in Missouri and Kansas, taking part in repelling the
Price raid.

The Sixteenth Volunteer Cavalry was organized during the latter
period of the war, and was officered as follows: Colonel, Werter R;
Davis, Baldwin City; lieutenant-colonel, Samuel Walker, Lawrence;
major, James A. Price, and adjutant, Philip Doppler, both of Wes-
ton, Mo.; quartermaster, William B. Halyard; surgeon, James P.

:fxr^

■^-^ — ■ — '■^

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 89

Erickson; chaplaiu, Thomas J. Ferril, Baldwin City. This regiment
was out against Price, and participated in guerrilla and Indian warfare
in Missouri.

In response to the President's call of April 23, 1804, for troops to
serve 100 days, live companies were recruited in Kansas and organized
into a battalion, which, July 28, was mastered into the Seventeenth
Kansas, at Fort Leavenworth, under the following officers: Lieutenant-
colonel, Samuel A. Drake; adjutant, D. C Standbridge; quarter-
master, D. B. Evans; assistant surgeon, George E. Baddington; all
of Leavenworth. This regiment, the last raised in the State, served
with credit to the end of the struggle. Six companies of the First
Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry were mustered in January 13, 1863.
The organization was completed with four additional companies. May
2, under these officers: Colonel, James M. Williams; lieutenant-colonel,
John Bowles; major, Richard J. Ward; adjutant, Richard J. Hinton;
quartermaster, Elijah Hughes; surgeon, Samuel C. Harrington. It
performed good services in the Southwest, and was mustered out at
Pine Bluff, Ark., October 1, 1865.

The Second Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry also served on the
bolder. It was organized in the summer of 1863, and organized at
Fort Smith. Ark., under the following field and staff officers: Colonel,
Samuel J. Crawford, Garnett; lieutenant-colonel, Horatio Knowles;
major, James H. Gillpatrick, Junction City; adjutant, John R. Mont-
gomery, Little Rock, Ark.; quartermaster, Edwin Stokes, Clinton;
surgeon, George W. Walgamott, Lawrence; chaplain, Josiah B. Mc-
Affee, Topeka. It was discharged from the service at Leavenworth,
November 27, 1865, having, as did also the First Colored Infantry,
nobly performed its duty, and by its faithful service proved the bravery
and efficiency of colored soldiers.

The First Kansas Volunteer Battery has left meager records. Its
first officers were mustered in July 24, 1861, about fifty artillery men
enlisting that month. The organization was as follows: Captain, Thom-
as Bickerton; first lieutenant, Norman Allen, both of Lawrence; sec-
ond lieutenant, Hartson R. Brown; first sergeant, John B. Cook, Au-
burn; second sergeant, Shelby Sprague, Prairie City; corporal, John
S. Gray, Mornd City. Many recruits were added to the battery dur-
ing the early part of 1862, and it participated in the battle at Prairie
Grove. It left Rolla, Mo., July 9, 1863, for St. Louis. In conse-
quence of the death of Capt. Norman Allen, who was promoted Feb-
ruary 25, 1862, and who died at St. Louis July 10, 1863, the command

90 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

devolved oa Lieut. Thomas Taylor. Lieut. H. R. Brown having been
mustered out February 15, 1862. Directly succeeding the death of
Capt. Allen the battery was ordered to Indiana, and took an active
part in capturing Morgan's guerrilla band, then on its raid through
that State. After this it was ordered to St. Louis, and subsequently
to Columbua, Ky. It served with distinction in all the principal
actions in which the armies of the Tennessee and Mississippi were en-
gaged, and its numbers were greatly reduced by the casualties of war
and by disease. It was mustered out of service at Leavenworth, Kas.,
July 17, 1865.

The work of organizing the Second Kansas Volunteer Battery was
commenced in August, 1802, under the supervision of Maj. O. W.
Blair, of the Second Kansas Cavalry. Its organization was completed
on September 19, following, its officers being as follows: Charles W.
Blair, Fort Scott, commanding; first lieutenant, Edward A. Smith;
first lieutenant, David C. Knowles; second lieutenant, Andrew G.
Clark, all of Fort Scott; second lieutenant, Aristarchus Wilson, Ma-
pleton; first sergeant, William Requa, Mount Gilead; quartermaster-
sergeant, William H. Boyd, Mansfield. At the time the battery was
mustered in at Fort Scott, its entire force was 123 officers and men,
two twelve-pounder field howitzers, and four sis pounder guns. The
battery was assigned to First Brigade, Gen. Soloman, First Division,
Gen. Blunt, of the Army of the Frontier, then consolidated under Gen.
Schofield at Pea Ridge, and participated gallantly in the warfare in
the Southwest. It was mustered out of service in August, 1865.

The military organization afterward known as the Third Kansas
Batteiy was originally recruited as a cavalry company, by Henry Hop-
kins and John F. Aduddell, in the latter part of 1861, and on the
formation of the Second Kansas Cavalry, February 28, 1862, was
assigned to that regiment as Company B, its officers being as follows:
Captain, Henry Hopkins, and first lieutenant, John F. Aduddell, both
of Albion, 111. ; second lieutenant, Oscar F. Dunlap, Topeka. May
15, 1862, the latter was succeeded by Bradford S. Bassett. Capt. Hop-
kins having been ordered to the command of Hollister's battery, Lieut.
Aduddell succeeded to the command. This organization served in the
Southwest, principally in Arkansas, latterly under the command of
Lieut. Bassett, and was mustered out in January, 1865, except about
fifty men who were attached to the Second Battery.

Three Indian regiments were actively engaged in the United States
service during the war of the Rebellion, which were officered and

^ eJ ^ ^

U-,

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

entirely recruited in Kansas. The recruits were chiefly from the loyal
refugee Seminole and Creek Indians, who had taken refuge from the
encroachments of hostile Indians under Stand- Waitie, in the southern
border of the State. A few were resident Indians, having homes and
families in Kansas.

CASUALTIES IN KANSAS REGIMENTS DURINCi THE WAR.

KiUed.

Died

Wounds

Deaths

by
Disease

111

2 53

•p
O

Mis'ing

REGIMENTS.

1
O

i
o

a
1

1
O

1
o

e
o

First Infantry

Sf.ona Infantry

Sp.i.ii.1 Cavali-y

Fifth (avail V

Si\tli lavalrv

s.-v.Mitli(;iv:Ury

Ei^'hth Infantry

NintliCavaliy

Tentli infantry

Eleventh Cavalry....
Twelfth Infantry ....
Thirteenth Infantry.
Fourteenth Cavalry .
Fifteenth Cavalry . . .
Sixteenth Cavalry . . .
First Col. Infantry. . .
Second Col. Infantry.

First Battery

Se 1 liattery

Tiiircl liatt.-rv

Ind. Col. Hattery

11
1

I
1
3

86
4
50
40
73
53
GO
4-2
15
56
11
14
48
10
10
15b
21
3
5
5

• •

1
12
U
18
8
23
13
8
9
1
6
2
9
3
10
16
2

2
3

1
3

1
2

93
219
120
97
132
199
118
101
111
104
106
77
94
165
187
20
15
17
9

238
6
191
96
130
226
128
89
75
24
38
126
157
154
135
62
63
19
13
14
4

• •

209

Bl
113
117
160
180
158
84
106
82
156
49
144
50
66
28
20
6
7
16

16
25
4
3
6

25
I

4
14
27
11
24
28
25
12

5
14
21

4
10
12
15
15

5
2
3

2
1

i
i

Total

762

192

2080

_2_

1988

8 11849

281

^■,

■^

•u

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CiOVEUNORS MILITARY STAFF-ISGl-1863.
(Appointed underact May 7, ISGI.)

HIS EXCELLENCY CHARLES ROBINSON, GOVERNOR AND COJIMANDER-IN-CHIEF,

February 9, 1861, to January 12, 1863.

Office.

Names.

Rank. Appointed.

Remarlis.

Adjutant-General....
Quartermaster-Gen..

Asst. Qarterm.-Gen..
Paymaster-General. .
Inspector-General . . .

.Iu(lge Advocate

Cliiei Engineer

Aides-de-Camp .

Roljt. B. Mitcliell. Bi

I llfiuvi). Slid

A. .1. Mitcliell.

B. F. Simpson
J. P.Greer...
O. B. Gimn...

J. L. .MiI)o«-(
John .V. .M;ui

E. P. UlIirlMl
.1. .■MulltUOlllr

Will. Tholrll .,

I J. F. ^'ullllllinj^s

;;.-ii

r.i

"'-(!

nl„.|

Ap'.lCol.2dK. IJune20,'61
l;i^i;;ued. l^FeVi. 26, '63.
i \ ice Allen resigned.) Res.
Removed Marcli 20, 1862.
Appointed vice Collamore

GOVERNOR'S MILITARY STAFF— 1SG3-1S65.

HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS CARNEY, GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF,

January 12, isua, to January 9, 1S65.

Office.

Names.

Rank.

Appointed.

Remarks.

r Guilford Dudley.

Brig.-Gen

Feb. 27, 1863.1

Re-'d with rank of Col. March

Aujutant-Geneial..

2, 1864, under act of Feb. 24,
1864; resigned May 2, 1864.

IC. K.HoIUday...
Edward Russell...

Colonel.. .

May 2, ISM..

Resigned March 31, 1865.

Q.M. General

Biig.-Gen

March 3, 1863

Re-'d with rank of Col. May 2,

1864, under act Feb. 24, 1864.

Paymaster-Gen. ... ^

ohnG. oti^ Toluhrl.. 'F.I.. in. is.r... 1

Judge Advocate...

O.V. I.imr , 1 ol 1.. l-.l, i:i, im;;;.. i

(CIS. G. Inkier. < -l'ih"l.. r.'li. I:i, 1m;:i..

A. W.Sp.n.Miim 1 "1 1., l-.'ii. i:i. isi;:;..

S. M. Stn.-kliT ("l^n.'i.. F,.|,. i;.. isii:i..

f. V. l-:skri.l-.- 1 "iMiiri.. ivi.. ri.i.si;;!..

Jnsi:lll Miller 1 mImii.1.. |',.|,. i;.. Jsia.
.!.(.■. llelliill;;lav. ( '. .lolL-l.. All-. 'Jl. Isa.

Tlios. H. liiitler 1 'ilfiml.. s.pt. 1l'. l.siB
1). Brnckwav,,.. Coluiiel . N,,\. lu, i.siB. ,

Lvp'd under act of May 7, 1S61.

Aides-de-Camp....

J. A. .M ■GoliiL'le. l.ieiit. Ciil .M.ircll ■.>. 1.SG41
F. H. Dreiiiiiii-. I.ieiit.( ul March j, ISW
Jlio, li. Swallow Lieut, (mI Mairli j. LsiVl
S. F. ,\tw..(Ml,.,, Lieut, < "! \piil j'l, isi;4

Ap'd under act Feb. 24, 1864.

W.G. Clawfcid., I.i.'ul, Col iirt, M. l.siu,.

S'l aide ap. ser. d'g Price raid.

A. S. llil-lle., l.i.MiLI olUrt, 1(1, lsi;4..

SI aide ap. ser. d g Price raid.

W.Rosenthall Liont.rnKi.tlii, Hiu,,

;S'l aide ap. ser. d'g Price raid.

iJolin W. lln.uii

Lieut. Co

n.t. la. IsiH.. J

!S1 aide ap. ser. d'g Price raid.

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

OFFICERS FROM KANSAS, ABOVK THE RANK OF COLONEL, COMiMISSIONED
BY THE PRESIDENT.

MA.IOR-GENERAL.

Name.

Date of
Commission.

Eemaiks.

James G. Blunt....

Nov. 29, 18C2...

Honorably mustered out July 29, ises.

BRIGADIER-GENERALS.

Date of
Commission.

Robert B. Mitchell.. I April ,>

James O. Blunt .\|iiil -

Albert L. Lee N"\. _■

G. \V. Deitzler Xo\ . j

Thomas Ennng, Jr.. Man li i:;. l.^

lua .Majo

■'I nut .laniiary 15, 18GG.
'Mi.-ial, November29, 1862,

.Maroh 13; resigned Feb. 23, 1865.

Powell Clayton |Aiigust 1, lSW.|Houorably mustered out August 24, 18G5.

BREVET ERIG.4DIER-GENERALS.

Names.

Thomas M. Bowen.

James M. Williams.

Charles W.Blair....

Tliomas Moonlight..

Charles W. Adams..

Jcilin Ritcliie

Sauiupl .!.( lawfi.rd

.l.ihii A, .Maitiu

.laniPS Ketiii'r

George H. Hoyt

William R. .Tudson .
Echv'd F. SohuPider

Samuel Walki-r

Charles Mundee. ...

Date of
Commission.

Feb. 13, 18G5. .
Feb. 13, 1865. .
Feb. 13, 1865..
Feb. 13, 18G5. .
Feb. 13, 1865. .

Colonel 1.3th Kas. Vol. Inf.; dismissed June 28. 18C5; rein-
stated Nov. 22. l.si;.-,; hou. dis'd to date June 28, 1865.
iColoiicl First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry; mus-

llt llrtnhi

I. IS

itirntli Kansas Volunteer Cavalry; mustered

Kir

'eh

L'l. I-

nth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry; mustered

.pni\ I,. Isi;.-).

il rnrlith Kansas Volunteer Infantry; mustereil

.lniii':;n. i.sc.-,.
1 .^^'uihI 1,-,-illirnt lli.li:ili llniiiE-Ciianls.

i.Marcli 1.;, i-.
March 13, 18C5.

.March 13, isi;.-,.

.M.-irrh l:;. Iv.r,

■:\ \ .

Ililalil

■ liif.iiitry.
aiiy; nuistered

out He.

Lieutenant-Colonel Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cav-
alry.

Colonel Sixth Kansas \'olunteer Cavalrv.

l.iciitPiiaut-( ..l,.ii. I ICiulitli Kansas VUliuiteer Cavalry.

I,ip|il''ii,inl-c..l I Si\t...'iilli l\aii-.:is \'..lunteer Cav.

M:(|i.l- aiiM Av-i^lanl .\.l |nt:iiit-l .riiiTal V. S. Volunteers.

GOVERNOR'S MILITARY STAFF, 1865.

HIS EXCELLENCV SAMUEL J. CRAWFORD, GOVERNOR AXD COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. INAU-
GURATED JA.NUARV 9, 1865.

Office.

Name.

Rank.

Appointment.

Remarks.

Adjutant-Gcnrr.il..
Q. M (iiuiral
Paymasti 1 i;ii].
Surgeon-General..

Aides-de-Camp ....

.\sst. Ad.it.-Gen.. . .

T.J. Au.liasnn .
I>. K. I'.all.u.i
.I..IU1 K. KankilJ.
N. T. WiuaTis. . .
1 Charles Dimond.
■ Cyrus Leland, Jr.

(E.G. Ross

H. T. Beman

rMJ,,ni|.

I'uliillrl '
Lieut. I'd
Lieut. Col
Lieut. Cnl
Major.

.Vliriilii.'lsr,,-,. lApp-i
Al.rillo.l.s,;.-,,, App'.l
April 10. 1,s,;.-,. App-,
April PI. 1M„-,. .\pi>d

iiiiiS il iS- i^' Si

li:^

94 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

The Price raid and Curtis expedition cost the citizens of Kansas,
besides the labor, loss of life, and such incidental losses as could not
be computed, not less than half a million dollars. The Government
was, of course, bound to reimburse them, so far as the losses could be
established as valid claims growing out of the war in which the coun-
try was then engaged. The Legislature of 1865 made provision for
the assumption and payment of the claims by the State, looking to
the general Government for reimbursemen'. Several successive com-
missions have been appointed to settle all of these claims, but their
adjustment has been attended with much difficulty, and it is probable
that many of them will never be settled to the satisfaction of all con-
cerned.

The war was followed by Indian troubles in Kansas, from 1864 to
1874, which were not terminated without much savage atrocity and
the loss of many innocent lives. Men and children and women had
been slain — many of the latter had suffered a fate worse than death.
Even after all difficulties had apparently been adjusted by treaty in
1868, the red men kept up desultory warfare in different localities,
which did not cease until about ten years after the Civil War.

9 V

-^.J^

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER Y.

The Growth of Cities in the State— An Advocate of Kickapoo—
"Cities" of the Past— Pawnee— Quindaro — Delaware— Sum-
ner— Doniphan— Elwood—Otiiek "Cities on Paper"— Their In-
fluential Projectors and Phomoters— Lecompton and Min-
neola — The Cities of the Present— Kansas City — Topeka—
Leavenworth — Fort Scott— Lawrence-Other Municipali-
ties—The Centers of Trade and Finance and the Results of
Energy and Well-Directed Effort.

Our fathers nc.\t, in architecture skill'd,
Cities for use, and torts for safety bull
Then palaces and lofty domes arose;
These for devolion, and for pleasure those.-

-Blackmore.

' V^ BOUT the middle of October, 1854, there were
manj' passengtrs aboard the old-time steamer
.'' "F. X. Aubrey," on her trip from St. Louis to
\' Leavenworth. Among-them was Col. C. K. Hol-
liday, the most prominent among the founders
P^ and builders of the capital city of Kansas, who
' '^ \^ made the acquaintance of an elderly gentle-
man from Weston, Mo., who took a lively in-
terest in Kansas, having already invested in the new Terri-
tory, and determined to make it bis future home. Upon
learning that Mr. Holliday was going to Kansas with a
view to making a permanent settlement, this gentleman
was kind enough to give him numerous, more or less valua-
ble, hints and suggestions. ' ' Don" t make a mistake, young
man," he said, "don't make a mistake. Near the great el-
bow of the Missouri, there is bound to be built the greatest
city of the continent, and that city, sir, is Kickapoo." Mr. Holliday
suggested that he had heard much of Atchison, Leavenworth and
Wyandotte, but he was quickly given to understand that if he wished

-fe^

ll^r

to grow up with and become part of a great city, he must locate at
Kickapoo. If, however, he could not reconcile himself to living in a
large commercial emporium like Kickapoo, he was advised to "stick
his stakes" at Douglas or Tecumseh, both of which would surely be
large interior cities, and one of which would doubtless be the capital.

Strange as it may seem to-day, it is true that Kickapoo, situated on
the Missouri River, some six or eight miles above Leavenworth, then
aspired to be one of the great cities of the Territory, and hoped to be-
come the greatest. And it is equally true that Tecumseh had similar
aspirations of becoming the largest interior city, and not without
reason, for Tecumseh came within one vote of being made the capital
by the first Legislative Assembly, and would doubtless have secured
the location, had not the personal interests of a majority of the mem-
bers influenced them to make the location at Lecompton. The import-
ance of these cities was fully recognized by the Legislative Assembly,
however, in that it established the county seat of Leavenworth County
at Kickapoo, of Douglas County at Douglas, and of Shawnee County at
Tecumseh. Nor would the friends of these respective cities for a
moment concede that Leavenworth could ever successfully compete
with Kickapoo, nor Lawrence with Douglas, nor Topeka, not even
founded in the initial period of this history, with Tecumseh.

Pawnee should not be overlooked in an account of these early Ter-
ritorial cities. It was situated upon a beautiful plateau on the north
bank of the Kansas River, about a mile east of Fort Riley, and was
planted there by a number of prominent gentlemen, most of them from
Pennsylvania, who were supposed to be quite near to, and have much
influence with, the administrative authority of the Territory. Their
hopes for Pawnee soared high above the hopes of the friends of Kicka-
poo, Douglas or Tecumseh. At this place the first Legislative As-
sembly was convened, and it was hoped that an act would speedily be
passed making Pawnee the permanent capital. But the political tires
which swept and devastated the Territory for the next three years had
already been kindled. The Assembly, therefore, did not only not
make Pawnee the capital, but refused to do any business whatever
there other than to organize, and then adjourn to the Shawnee Mis-
sion, where the remainder of its session was held. A large and sub-
stantial stone building was erected, by private means, in which the two
houses of the assembly might hold their sessions, and other buildings
were brought into existence for the accommodation of the officers and
members. Upon investigation, however, it was ascertained that Paw-

* ^

nee was located upon the Fort Riley military reservation. This was
construed as an invasion of the reserved territory ot the United States;
and upon the facts being made known at Washington, the President
ordered the army to expel the citizens, and, if need be, to bombard and
destroy the city. The city was ever afterward known, until it passed
from the recollections of the people, as "Pawnee-on-the- Reserve. "

In these modern days, when one wishes to express in the superlative
degree any great movement in trade, in manufacture, in real estate, in
the rapid growth of cities, it is called a "boom." The biggest boom
that Kansas ever had in the city line took place in 1857 and 1858.
The causes of this movement were too numerous to be enumerated in
detail. Principally, however, a great panic was prevailing in the
Eastern States, and the many persons failing there strove to place the
remnants saved from the wrecks of their fortunes where they would
best escape the vigilance of creditors and at the same time be most
remunerative. Kansas having been extensively advertised through its
"Border Ruffian" troubles, and by the Buchanan-Fremont campaign
of 1856, peace being at last assured, and large bodies of valuable pub-
lic lands being offered for sale, the rush of people to the Territory
was most extraordinary. Unlike those who came in the three pre-
ceding years, those who came in 1857 were possessed of considerable
means. The result was that both lands and city lots, especially the
latter, were in the greatest demand. All sales were made for cash.
The older and really more substantial cities and towns having been
sold and resold, and the demand being still unsupplied, new towns or
cities — everything was a city then — were being daily organized, sur-
veyed, platted and sold. Lots, or groups of lots, were seldom sold.
The plan was almost universal to issue certificates of shares in the
new city and sell the certificates. The city would be divitled into
from 100 to 400 or 500 shares — according to its size and the sanguine
temper of its founders — and each share would represent from two to
twenty lots. The avidity with which these shares were bought was
something startling. The standard average price for city shares was
§500 each, some favorites, of course, commanding more, others,
perhaps, less.

It was not merely the new comers who were so enthusiastic and so
completely lost self-control in this city's movements, but the old set-
tlers were equally affected and as easily carried along by the tide of
speculation. Many who had valuable properties in the old and well
established towns, such as Leavenworth, Wyandotte. Lawrence, Tope-

■^

98 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

ka and others, sold the same and with the proceeds bought certificates
of shares in the new cities. In Shawnee County, alone, were the
cities of Avoca, Canema, Essex. Daj'ton and Kansopolis, whose lots
to-day are doubtless parts of cornfield or orchard, and whose sites the
oldest inhabitants would try in vain to determine. Quindaro, Dela-
ware, Sumner, Doniphan, Palermo and Elwood were six of the most
prominent of these cities, and they were organized almost simultane-
ously, and their early progress was most extraordinary. Large hotels
and fine business blocks and valuable stocks of goods could be found
at each, and the population of each increased with astonishing rapidity,
especially when the sparseness with which the Territory was then set-
tled is taken into consideration. Perhaps their great prosperity is
not to be marveled at when we consider who were the founders or
early champions of these cities. The most distinguished citizen of
the Territory at that time, and afterward governor of the common-
wealth, a man foremost in Kansas throughout nearly all its history,
was among the leading spirits at Quindaro. A lieutenant-governor
and many others of distinction championed the prosperity of Dela-
ware. A gentleman of wide literary fame, who has since honored
both his State and nation upon the floor of the United States Senate,
was the special friend of Sumner. A great military chieftain of the
Territorial days, and afterward a distinguished senator in Congress,
was the leader in the enterprise at Doniphan. Gentlemen of almost
equal prominence and ability were directing afFairs at .Palermo. But
it was reserved for Elwood to be especially blessed with a list of
names as its founders and friends, of which any city might be proud;
one, afterward often honored by his friends with a seat in the State
Legislature and other -civil offices; another, afterward a high literary
authority and an accomplished State officer; another, afterward a dis
tinguished general in the Union army, and subsequently holding high
positions in the civil service at New Orleans; another, afterward the
leading citizen of a neighboring State, a millionaire and a member of
the United States Senate; and still another, greater than all, who af-
terward held many civil offices, then was governor of the State, and
more recently envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to
a powerful but friendly empire. Yet, notwithstanding all this great
array of talent and eminence, the fates seemed to be against these
cities. Their boom continued only a year or two, and it would now
be difficult to determine even the sites of some of them. Quindaro
was located three miles above Wyandotte; Delaware about half way

^ g' • js ^

betweea Wyandotte and Leavenworth; Sumner four or five miles be-
low Atchison; Doniphan as many miles above Atchison; El wood im-
mediately opposite St. Joseph, Mo. ; and Palermo about midway be
tween Elwood and Doniphan.

Two great causes contributed to bring about the collapse of these
cities. First, being located but a few miles apart, along the Missouri
River, which already had upon its banks the prosperous cities of At-
chison, Leavenworth and Wyandotte, they necessarily became rivals
and greatly antagonized each other's interests; second, they were un-
questionably far in advance of the times. The business of the Terri-
tory, with its small population, could not sustain so many important
places crowded into such close proximity. Viewed from the standpoint
of to-day, and with all the disastrous results presented, it is a matter
of supreme regret that the great talents employed and the large means
expended in the attempt to plant so many antagonistic cities on the
eastern border of the State were not combined to build one really
great, magnificent city within the State limits, a city capable of evok-
ing the largest State pride, at which the commercial and financial busi-
ness of the State might be transacted, and whose wealth would aug-
ment and aggrandize the wealth of all Kansas.

Two other cities of the Territorial period claim the attention of the
historian—Lecompton and Minneola. Both of these cities had the
loftiest aspirations, each striving to be the greatest political center —
the capital of Kansas. Nor were these aspirations by any means
groundless, for Lecompton was chosen as the capital by the first Leg-
islative Assembly, or what was known as the " Border Ruiflan Assem-
bly," while Minneola was chosen as the capital by the Free-State
Legislative Assembly, at its first regular session. Soon after the first
of these locations, Congress made an appropriation of $50,000, with
which to erect a capitol building at Lecompton, which sum was duly
expended for that purpose. After Kansas became a State one of the
first acts of Gov. Robinson was to sell that capitol building at public
auctioa, and so little were capitol buildings in demand at that time,
the net proceeds of the sale is stated to have been only $216. At
Minneola a large building was erected for capitol purposes by private
enterprise, and good hotels for the accommodation of members of As-
sembly, Territorial ofticers, and others, but they were doomed never to
be occupied for such purposes. The Legislative Assembly which located
the capital at Minneola also provided for a constitutional convention
to assemble at the same place. It met, but refused to entertain any

100 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

motion or transact any business other than to organize and adjourn to
Leavenworth, where the constitution designated by that name was
framed. The fortunes of both Lecompton and Minneola as capitals
were plainly discerned from the beginning. The political revolution
thus taking place sealed the fate of the former. Minneola was largely
owned by the members of the Assembly which located the capital
there. This savored too much of jobbery to be tolerated by the peo-
ple. Besides, it was forestalling the judgment of the people upon a
subject very near the popular heart, and the people became indignant.
The intensity of the feeling aroused upon this subject is indicated by
a circumstance which occurred in the council during the consideration
of the bill locating the capital at Minneola. One of the members
opposed to the location said: "I have to say to the friends of this
measure that, appropriating the language of Mr. Webster, ' The light-
ning has its power, the tempest has its power, the earthquake has its
power, but there is something more powerful than the lightning and
the tempest and the earthquake combined, and that is public opinion; '
and public oj)inion will brand this outrage as a swindle and its jserpe-
trators as swindlers! You are flattering yourselves that you are locat-
ing a capital. It is a mistake; it will prove to be simply a graveyard,
in which every member who votes for this bill will be politically
buried! " The prediction was almost literally fulfilled, for but few of
those that voted for the "Minneola Swindle," as it was afterward
called, were ever again entrusted by the people with public confidence
or public places.

This much for the cities of 1854 and the cities of 1857 — the cities
that never materialized. The cities of the present are all known
throughout the commonwealth, many of them throughout the Union,
some of them throughout the world. Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita,
Fort Scott, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Atchison, Ottawa, Arkansas City,
Emporia, Winfield, Wellington, Newton, Manhattan, Junction City,
Salina, Great Bend, Hutchinson, Dodge City, Garden City and numer-
ous other municipalities would exhaust both the painter and the poet to
portray them in their substantial glory. What the jewels are to the
crown, what the stars are to the firmament, so are the cities of Kansas
to its broad and splendid domain. These cities are the result of
energy, forethought and well-directed enterprise. They represent
what is manly and strong in the character of Kansans — what is in-
vincible by the dragons in the way of progress. They show, more
unmistakably than any other thing — so plainly that "he who runs may

^IV

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 101

read" — the material prosperity of the sunflower seats. Among the
cities of the State, large and small, not mentioned above, are Par-
sons, Pittsburg, El Dorado, Clay Centre, Abilene, McPherson, Con-
cordia, Osage City, Kingman, Olathe, Chanute, Independence, Ar-
gentine, Horton, Minneapolis, Larned, Paola, Girard, Marysville,
Beloit, Lyons, Holton, Oswego, Council Grove, Marion, Chetopa, Hia-
watha, Cherryvale, Seneca, Ellsworth, Nickerson, Burlington, Weir
City, Rosedale, Columbus, Harper, Coffeyville, Burlingame, Galena,
Washington, Eureka, Anthony, Sterling, Caldwell, Garnett, Yates Cen-
ter, Wamego, Greensburg, Florence, Norton, lola, Scranton, Fre-
donia, Augusta, Baxter Springs, Humboldt, Peabody, Belleville, Her-
ington, Stockton, Erie, Lindsborg, Clyde, Osage Mission, Osborne,
Oberlin, Lincoln, Howard, Coldwater, Valley Falls, Phillipsburg,
Downs, Kirwin, Baldwin City, Labetha, Pleasanton, Cawker City,
Halstead, Neodesha, Mankato, Cherokee," Russell, La Cygne, Strong
City, Kinsley, Elk City and Blue Rapids.

In 1860 there were only ten towns and cities in Kansas having a
population in excess of 500 each, only three having over 1,000 each,
and only one having 5,000 inhabitants. In 1880 ninety-nine towns
each had a population in excess of 500, fifty-iive towns and cities had
each over 1,000, six had each over 5,000, and three had over 15,000
each. In 1885 each of 154 towns had over 500 population, ninety-
one towns and cities had each over 1 ,000, twelve had each over 5, 000,
six had each over 10,000, four had each over 15,000, and two had
more than 20,000 each. March 1, 1889, there were in the State eight
cities, containing a population of from 10,000 to 36,000 each, and
twenty-eight cities, each containing a population of 2,500 or upward,
and sixty-five cities, each containing a population of 1,000 or up-
ward. The incorporated cities, as well as the villages and hamlets,
throughout the State are growing rapidly, and during the past few
years, they have nearly all gained steadily in population and commer-
cial importance. In very few instances did the census enumeration
of 1890 show a smaller population than was claimed by the residents
of the different towns. There are 625 post-offices in the State.

*^m^*

vis — ^ ^i=7fv

-4-

102

HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER YI.

The Bench and Bar of Kansas— Under the Territorial Govern-
ment—Under THE State Government— The .supkeme Court-
District Courts— Composition of Districts— The Judiciary-
Two Distinguished Chief Justices— High Standing of the Bar
of the State.

Pity is the virtue of the law,

And none hut tyrants use it cruelly.

*****
We must not make a scare-crow of the \a,w.—Shakspeare.

,/ :^^

XRESIDENT pierce, as early as June, 1854,
made judicial appoiDtments for the Territory
of Kansas. During the Territorial period,
Samuel D. Lecompte, of Maryland, and John
Pettit, of Indiana, held the position of chief
justice of the Territorial courts: Saunders W.
iji^^ Johnston, of Ohio, Eush Elmore, of Alabama,
i\ JeiemiahM. Burrill, of Pennsylvania, Sterling

G. Cato, of Alabama, Thomas Cunningham, of Pennsyl-
vania, and Joseph Williams, of Iowa, were associate jus-
tices. When Kansas became a State, the court consisted
of Judges Pettit, Elmore and Williams. Israel B. Don-
alson, of Illinois, was the first United States marshal;
Andrevy Jackson Isacks, of Louisiana, was the first United
'ii States district attorney, and James Findlay, of Pennsyl-
vania, was appointed clerk. February 26, 1855, Gov.
Eeeder divided the Territory into three judicial districts;
the first was assigned to Chief Justice Lecompte, the courts to be
held at Leavenworth; the second to Judge Elmore, with courts at
Tecumseh; the third to Judge Johnston, with courts at Pawnee.
August 31, 1855, Charles H. Grover, H. A. Hutchinson and John T.
Brady were commissioned as district attorneys, resjjeetively, for the

First, Second and Third Districts. In 1858 Alson C. Davis became
United States district attorney; E. S. Dennis, Isaac Winston, Philip
T. Colby and William P. Fain were United States marshals. Andrew
J. Rudigue, E. Noel Eccleston, James R. Whitehead and Laomi Mc-
Arthur, were among the last of the clerks of the Territorial courts.

Marcus J. Parrott, Thomas B. Sykes and John Martin held the
position of reporters of the court. The first attorneys admitted to
practice in the Territorial court were Edmund Byerly, James Chris-
tian. Marcus J. Parrott and Richard R. Rees.

P. Sidney Post, of Wyandotte, and Richard Henry Weightman, of
Atchison, were appointed United States commissioners under the pro-
visions of the fugitive slave act of 1850.

By an act of the Territorial Legislature, approved February 27, 1860,
there were three judicial districts defined, with the times and places for
holding therein the several courts. The division of the Territory into
districts and the judges for the courts are presented in the following:
The counties of Doniphan, Atchison, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Wyandotte
and Arapahoe constituted the First District, to which Chief Justice John
Pettit was assigned. Section 10 of said act reads as follows: " The
whole of the Delaware Indian reservation is hereby attached to the
First Judicial District for judicial purposes, as well as all the Indian
Territory lying and being within the boundary of Arapahoe County."
The county of Arapahoe was attached to the county of Leavenworth
for judicial purposes, except that in the county of Arapahoe the process
of subpojna issuing from Leavenworth County shall have no force or
effect if served in said Arapahoe County. (This county embraced the
Pike's Peak region, which becime the prominent portion of Colorado,
with Denver as an objective point. )

Excepting nine counties in the eastern tiers, the remaining portion
of the Territory was in the Second District, to which Rush Elmore,
associate justice of the Supreme Court, was assigned. Provisions were
made for holding courts at Burlington, Emporia, Council Grove, Junc-
tion City, Marysville, Hiawatha, Holton, Topeka and Lawrence. The
counties of Osage, Woodson, Wilson, Greenwood, Godfrey (now Elk
and Chautauqua), Butler, Hunter (now Cowley), Chase, Marion, Sa-
line. Dickinson, Clay, Washington, Riley, Wabaunsee, Pottawatomie
and Nemaha were attached to their adjoining most contiguous counties
for judicial purposes. The Pottawatomie, Kaw, Otoe, Chippewa and
Ottawa, and Sac and Fox and Kickapoo Indian reservations were at-
tached to this judicial district.

104 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

The counties of Johoson, Miami, Linn, Bourbon, Cherokee, Neosho,
Allen, Anderson and Franklin constituted the Third District, and As-
sociate Justice Joseph Williams was assigned to it. For judicial pur-
poses Cherokee County was attached to Bourbon ; Dorn to Allen, and the
New York Indian reservation was attached to this district for judicial
purposes. In Section 9 of this act, it was provided ' ' Where a county
is attached to another for judicial purposes, the jurisdiction of the
county to which it is attached shall be as if it formed a part thereof,
unless the county attached has its own organization and officers."

When Kansas donned the robes of Statehood, its constitution or-
dained, as now, that the judicial power should be vested in the Supreme
Court, district courts, probate courts, justice's courts, and such
other courts inferior to the Sujjreme Court as might be providedby law.
The Supreme Court consisted then, as now, of one chief justice and
two associate justices, whose term of office after the first was six years.

At the election of the State officers, held December 6, 1859, under
the Wyandotte Constitution, the Supreme judges chosen were as fol-
lows: Thomas Ewing. Jr., chief justice, term sis years; Samuel A.
Kingman, associate justice, four years; Lawrence D. Bailey, asso-
ciate justice, two years.

Under the Wyandotte Constitution, five judicial districts were
formed, and at the first election under it, December 6, 1859, judges
were chosen. Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Jefferson and Jackson Coun-
ties constituted the First District, and William C. McDowell was
elected judge. The counties of the Second Judicial District were
Atchison, Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha, Marshall and Washington.
The counties of Washington, Republic and Shirley (now Cloud) were
attached to Marshall for judicial purposes. Albert J. Lee was the
first judge. The counties of Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Pottawatomie,
Riley, Davis, Dickinson and Clay constituted the Third District. Clay,
Dickinson, Ottawa and Saline were attached to Davis fur judicial
purposes. Jacob Safford was its first judge. Douglas. Johnson,
Lykins (now Miami), Franklin, Anderson, Linn, Bourbon and Allen
Counties made the original territory of the Fourth District. Solon O.
Thacher was the first judge of the district. The original territory of
the Fifth District was the counties of Osage, Breckenridge, Morris,
Chase, Madison, Coffey, Woodson, Greenwood, Butler and Hunter,
and the unorganized counties in the "southwest." E. O. Leonard
was the first judge.

By subsequent changes and by the creation of new districts, the

s "V

state now has thirty-live judicial districts, constituted, respectively, of
the counties named: 1 — Leavenworth, Jefferson, Jackson; 2 — Atchi-
son; 3 — Shawnee; 4 — Anderson, Franklin, Douglas; 5 — Lyon, Coffey;
6 — Linn, Bourbon and Crawford; 7 — Woodson, Allen, Neosho, Wil-
son; 8 — Dickinson, Davis, Morris; 9 — Reno, Harvey; 10 — Johnson,
Miami; 11 — Cherokee, Labette, Montgomery; 12 — Cloud, Republic,
Washington; 13 — Elk, Chautauqua, Cowley; 14 — Lincoln, Russell, Ells-
worth; 15 — Mitchell, Osborne, Jewell, Smith; 1(3 — Pawnee, Edwards,
Hodgman, Garfield; 17 — Phillips, Norton, Rawlins, Decatur, Cheyenne;
18— Sedgwick; 19— Sumner; 20— Rice, Stafford, Barton; 21— Marshall,
Riley, Clay; 22— Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha; 23 — Ellis, Trego, Gove,
Logan, Wallace ; 24 — Harper, Barber; 25 — Chase, McPherson, Marion;
26 — Butler, Greenwood; 27 — Ford, Gray, Finney, Kearney, Hamilton;
28— Kingman, Pratt, Kiowa; 29— Wyandotte; 30— Ottawa, Saline;
31 — Comanche, Clark, Meade; 32 — Stevens, Seward, Morton, Has-
kell, Grant, Stanton; 33— Rush, Ness, Lane, Scott, Wichita, Greeley;
34 — Rooks, Graham, Sheridan, Thomas, Sherman; 35 — Pottawatomie,
Wabaunsee, Osage.

The judges of the district court in the several judicial districts, in
1890, were the following: 1 — Hon. Robert Crozier, of Leavenworth;
2 — Hon. Robert M. Eaton, of Atchison; 3 — Hon. John Guthrie, of
Topeka; 4— Hon. A. W. Benson, of Ottawa; 5 — Hon. Charles B.
Graves, of Emporia; 6 — Hon. C. O. French, of Fort Scott; 7 — Hon.
L. Still well, of Erie; 8 — Hon. M. B. Nicholson, of Council Grove;
9 — Hon. L. Houk, of Hutchinson; 10 — Hon. J. P. Hindman, of
Olathe; 11— Hon. John N. Ritter, of Columbus; 12— Hon. F. W.
Sturges, of Concordia; 13— Hon. M. G. Troup, of Wintield; 14—
Hon. W. G. Eastland, of Russell; 15 — Hon. Cyrus Keren, of Os-
borne; 16 — Hon. J. C. Strang, of Larned; 17 — Hon. G. W. Berkran,
of Oberlin; 18— Hon. C. Reed, of Wichita; 19— Hon. J. T. Herrick, of
Wellington; 20— Hon. Ansel R. Clark, of Sterling; 21— Hon. Robert
B. Spilman, of Manhattan; 22— Hon. R. C. Bassett, of Seneca; 23—
Hon. S. J. Osborn, of WaKeeney; 24— Hon. C. W. Ellis, of Medicine
Lodge; 25— Hon. Frank Doster, of Marion; 26 — Hon. C. A. De Land,
of El Dorado; 27— Hon. A. J. Abbott, of Garden City; 28— Hon. S.
W. Leslie, of Kingman; 29— Hon. O. L. Miller, of Wyandotte; 80—
Hon. R. F. Thompson, of Minneapolis; 31 — Hon. Francis C. Price, of
Ashland; 32— Hon. Theodore Botkin, of Springfield; 33— Hon. V. H.
Grinstead, of Dighton; 34 — Hon. Charles W. Smith, of Stockton;
35 — Hon. William Thomson, of Osage City.

106 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

March 8, 1861, Archibald Williams, of Illiaois, was appointed
United States district judge for Kansas. He died in September,
1863, and was succeeded by Mark W. Delahay. He resigned his
position March 3, 1873. Cassius G. Foster was appointed March 10,
1873, and is still the incumbent. The clerk is Joseph C. Wilson.

The United States district court is held at Topeka, Leavenworth
and Wichita. At the latter point cases arising in the Indian Terri-
tory are heard.

The United States circuit court is held alternately in Leavenworth
and Topeka. The judge is Hon. H. C. Caldwell; the clerk, George
F. Sheritt.

Hon. W. C. Perry, of Fort Scott, is United States district attor-
ney; Hon. L. E. Walker, of Topeka, is United States marshal.

Two courts of record, not specifically named in the constitution,
have been created by legislative enactment since the admission of
Kansas as a State, viz., the criminal court of Leavenworth County,
and the superior court of Shawnee County. The criminal court of
Leavenworth County, established March, 1802, had conferred upon it
the same criminal jurisdiction that had been conferred upon the dis-
trict court of that county. The probate judge of the county was
ex-officio the judge of the court. This court was abolished March 18,
1875. During its existence the following persons were the judges:
Hon. D. J. Brewer, Hon. Peter McFarland, Hon. Barzillai Gray and
Hon. Byron Sherry. The superior court of Shawnee County was
created by the Legislature, March 7, 1885, for two years; Gov. John
A. Martin appointed Hon. W. C. Webb presiding judge.

Of the persons who have served as the chief justices of the Su-
preme Court it is safe to say, with full appreciation of the abilities of
others, that Hon. Thomas Ewing, Jr., and Hon. Samuel A. Kingman
are pre-eminent. The members of the judiciary of Kansas have been
as learned, able, faithful, fearless and upright as the judges of any
State in the Union. Several of them who have filled and some who
are now filling judicial positions are known as men of brilliant abili-
ties and superior legal attainments. The ermine of Kansas has not
often been tainted or stained. If now and then a weak, vacillating or
unworthy judge has been chosen, he has been speedily retired.

The bar of Kansas ranks with that of any of her sister States.
Its members have many of them achieved the greatest triumphs in
the highest courts, and not a few of them have attained to high stand-
ing in affairs of State and national interest.

9 "V

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

107

CHAPTER YII.

General Accoukt of Eeligious Denominations— The Pre-Terki-
TORiAL Era— The Territorial Era- The War Era— The Ei:a
OF Peace and Prosperity — Facts and Statistics of Growth-
Characteristics OF THE Churches of Kansas.

True Christiaaity depends ou fact;

Religion is not theory but act. — Waller Harle.

ISSIONARY enterprises were vigorously
prosecuted on this soil among tbe Indian
tiibes by several denominations of Chris-
tians in the pre Territorial era (prior to
ISS-t). The Baptists established amis-
sion among the Shawnees in 1831; the
station was about four miles from the
^ouii River, in the present county of Wyandotte.
The hi st pi lilting press ever on Kansas soil was brought
by Mr. Jotham Meeker, in 1833, for a Baptist mis-
sion located near the present city of Ottawa. The
Catholics started a mission among the Osage Indians
in 1827, near the present site of Osage Mission. The
Methodist Episcopal Church began its work among
-1^' tS' ^- ^^^ Delawares and Shawnees, on the south side of the
jji^ Kansas River, and it organized the first church among

* them in 1832, Rev. Thomas Johnson having established

a school in 1829. The Presbyterians founded their first mission in Kan-
sas, in 1835, among the Wea Indians, who lived near the site of Ottawa.
In 1837 a mission was founded by them for the benefit of the lowas,
near what is now Highland, Doniphan County. The Society of Friends
started a school, and held meetings among the Shawnees in Johnson
County, soon after the removal of the tribe to Kansas. Schools and
churches were organized by the Moravians, and perhaps by other
bodies of Christian people.

epV

108 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

The fierce political and border strifes, which made up the history
of the Territorial era from 1854 to 1861, were unfavorable to the
planting and nurture of churches; yet, during this period, foundations
were laid by various denominations, in order to meet the needs of the
people, and especially in anticipation of the prospective settlement of
the Territory. The Baptists organized in June, 1855, and their first
house of worship was built at Atchison. The first Catholic congrega-
tion of white people was organized in Leavenworth, August 15, 1855.
Their first building for the use of a white congregation was erected in
the same place in the same year. The first church organized by the
Congregationalists was at Lawrence, in October, 1854 — perhaps the
first white man's church in the Territory. Their first church edifice
was built at that place in 1857. The Protestant Episcopal Church
began its work at Leavenworth in 1856, and its first church edifice
was erected there in 1858. The first Evangelical Lutheran organiza-
tion was effected at Leavenworth, October 25, 1855. The house of
worship was built in the summer preceding the organization, and it
was probably the first building in Kansas for church purposes, outside
of Indian missions and Government forts. Rev. W. H. Goode, pre-
siding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, preached in a log
cabin at Hickory Point, on the Santa Fe road, July 9, 1854, Rev. A.
Still, Rev. J. M. Chivington, and Mr. Meadenhall, a missionary of
the Society of Friends, being present and participating in the services
— proV^ably the first sermon to white settlers in the State. The first
church building was erected in Lawrence in 1856, and the same year
a small slab church was built in Leavenworth. The first church for
whites was organized near Tecumseh by Rev. Mr. Goode. The first
session of the Kansas and Nebraska conference was held in a tent in
Lawrence, commencing October 23, 1856. The Presbyterians organ-
ized their first church January 1, 1856, at Leavenworth. The United
Presbyterians made their first organization at Berea, Franklin County,
in 1857, and their first church was erected at that place in 1858. The
Society of Friends held meetings on Fall Creek, near its mouth at
Stranger Creek, in Leavenworth County, about February 15, 1856.
They met in the cabins of settlers until the spring of 1857, when a
log house was erected, which gave place to a good frame building in
September, 1859. The German Methodists were organized in 1860,
in Dickinson County, and the German Lutherans in 1861 at Leaven-
worth. Before the admission of the State, several other demonina-
tions had made beginnings in the way of organization.

"71^

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 109

The state of Kansas had beea a member of the Union but seventy-
four days when the assault on Fort Sumter began. The war that fol-
lowed almost wholly engrossed the interest and the energies of the
people. For four years a very large portion of the able-bodied men
of the State were in the Union service. Probably the effect of war
upon general church work is fairly represented by the following re-
poi't. made by the Methodist Church for the years indicated: Number
of ministers in 1860, eighty-five; in 1861, seventy-four; in 1862,
seventy two; in 1863, sixty-eight. Number of churches in 1860,
seventeen; in 1861, forty-three; in 1862, thirty; in 1863, thirty-three.
The Territorial era and the war era, embracing a period of eleven
years, brought to the church builders of Kansas, in common with
other citizens, trials and sacrifices as heavy as any that have ever fal-
len on any people on this continent since the days of Jamestown and
Plymouth, and the trials and sacrifices were met by all — women as
well as men — with a spirit of patience and heroism surpassed by
nothing in the annals of the world.

The current of immigration that began to flow into Kansas after
the close of the war contained from the first a very large per cent of
persons who had been members of churches, and also of those who,
though not communicants, were decidedly favorable to the establish-
ment of churches. The natural result was speedily realized.
Churches and Sunday-schools sjarang rapidly into existence. The
good work was prosecuted not only in the larger towns and villages,
l)ut throughout the country districts and in sparsely settled regions.
Wherever the hardy pioneer built his claim shanty or sod house, there
the congregation was gathered and services were held. Of course
the denominations that were early on the ground sought vigorously to
reap the benefits of their priority, and those who came later were not
wanting in energy and zeal. Since the war, most of the religious
sects known elsewhere in the countr}' have been at work in the State,
each according to its chosen and accustomed methods. Their work has
been successful in the highest degree. Even if full and complete
figures representing results were accessible, they would very inade-
quately show the best products of Christian effort, since, of necessity,
these can neither be counted nor estimated. An important feature in
the work has been the active interest taken in it by considerable bodies
of intelligent foreign- born citizens, notably Germans, Swedes, Nor-
wegians, French and Welsh. There were in Kansas in 1888, 2.994
church organizations, having an aggregate membership of 280,458,

"^i

■^

110 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

and 1,755 houses of worship. The aggregate value of church prop-
erty was $5,387,497. The census of 1890 shows a gratifying increase
in the above statistics. The roll of churches in the State contains
the following denominational names, and perhaps others should be
added: Adventist, African Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic,
Congregational, Christian, Protestant Episcopal, Free Methodist, So-
ciety of Friends, German Lutheran, German Methodist Episcopal,
Evangelical Lutheran, Hebrew, Methodist Episcopal, New Jerusalem,
Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Swedish Baptist, Cumberland
Presbyterian, Swedish Lutheran, Unitarian, United Brethren, Univer-
salist, Wesleyan Methodist. Many congregations made up of colored
people are included in the reports presented by the denominations to
which they are respectivelj' attached.

The churches of Kansas are characterized by a spirit of liberal
propagandism. Denominational bigotry is at a minimum. The high-
est degree of fraternity characterizes the various denominations and
their ministers in their intercourse with each other. The great body
of Christians believe in freedom of belief and of unbelief, in freedom
of discussion, in freedom of worship and in the sf)iritual responsibil-
ity of each man to his God alone ; their motto is, ' ' In things essen-
tial, unity; in things doubtful, liberty; in all things, charity.

J,_

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Ill

CHAPTER YIII.

Historical Sketch of State EducationaL Institutions and affairs
—Value OF Public Education— Pioneer Schools-Tiie Schools
UNDER the Territorial Okganization— Territorial Superin-
tendents OF Public Instruction— The Schools in 1860— The
Public School System of To-day— Successive State Superin-
tendents OF Public Instruction— State Jjormal Schools— The
State Aguicultukal College— University of the State of
Kansas— How the Common Schools Are Maintained-Statistics
—Denominational Educational Institutions.

Schoolmasters will I keep within my house

Fit to instruct her youth. To cunning men

I will be very kind: and liberal

To mine own children, in good bringing up.Shakspeare.

/HERE the largest provisions have been made for
^\ elementary schools and higher institations

iV of learning, civilization has reached its
^ highest standard. The nineteenth century
fjo witnesses the highest civilization the world
has ever known. In Kansas, civilization has
I, ' made as splendid achievements as in any State
Union. No more striking argument can be found in
favor of popular education by the State than the one based
upon a comparison of the cost of police force (standing
armies), and the maintenance of public schools. Servia,
with a population little larger than that of Kansas, pays for
her standing army, 82,072,890 per annum. Greece, with
less than 2,000,000 people, pays for her soldiers $3,312,140.
Norway pays $1,628,440, and Bolivia, $2, 148,000. The popu-
lation of the countries cited, exceed but very little the popula-
tion of Kansas which pays nothing directly and very little indirectly for
the support of an armv, but has paid more than $5,000,000 in a year for

J^'" — ^ -" — "t^^

the education of its children. Intelligence always governs ignorance
and can and does govern itself. The schools of Kansas are part of
her very strneture. They began with her life, and have grown with
her growth, and have been woven into all her history. The planting
of schools was not an incident nor an afterthought, but a part of the
original purpose of her first settlers. Schools sprang up almost be-
fore there were children to attend them, Lawrence was settled in
September, 1854, and in less than four months — January 2, 1855 — a
school was opened by Mr. E. J. Fitch, of Massachusetts, March 7,
1857, the "Quincy High School" was established. Topeka was set-
tled late in November, 1854, and early the next summer a school was
opened by Miss Sarah Harland, and the " Topeka Academy " was es-
tablished January 2, 1856. What happened in these two places was
repeated in one form or another in every town and hamlet in the Ter-
ritory. These were all voluntary movements, as there were yet no
provisions of law to aid in the matter; but they sprang from the
same popular convictions which afterward created the public school
system, and were prophetic of what was coming.

Kansas Territory having been organized May 30, 1854, its first
Territorial Legislature passed the school law August 30, 1855, and
from that date the history of the public school system of Kansas
properly began. The law of February 12, 1858, provided that the
governor should appoint during that session of the Legislative Assem-
bly, by and with the advice of the council, a Territorial superintendent,
whose term of ofQce should commence March 1, 1858. This was
amended by the law of 1859, which made the superintendent elective
annually. The following named gentlemen served as superintendents :
James H. Noteware served from March 5 to December 2, 1858; Sam-
uel W. Greer from December 2, 1858, to January 7, 1861 ; John C.
Douglas from January 7, 1861, until April 10, 1861, Kansas then
having completed the organization of her State government.

Superintendent Greer presented a report to the Legislature Jan-
uary 4, 1860, which embraced returns from sixteen counties and 222
school districts. The county of Douglas led, having thirty -six organ-
ized school districts, Osage ten. There were 7,029 persons of school
age ranging between the years of five and twenty-one. The amount
of money raised to build school-houses was $7,045.23; amount of
money raised by private subscriptions, $6,883.50; amount of piiblic
money for schools, $6,283.50.

The laws of 1858 provided for the appointment of a county super-

;f^

iutendent by the tribunal transacting county business, and the same
law provided for an election of a county superintendent, to be elected
at the same time, place and manner that county officers are chosen, the
term to commence on October 1, and continue one year. The duties
of Territorial superintendents and county superintendents were de-
fined under the Territorial laws. Township trustees, during the latter
period of the Territorial regime, performed sundry duties that before
had come within the domain of the superintendent's office. The
board of county commissioners, by the law of 1855, formed the dis-
tricts in accordance with petitions pi'esented, that were signed by a
majority of the voters residing within the limits of any contemplated
district. By the law of 1858 this duty was relegated to the county
superintendent. The law of 1859 provided that "each organized
township in the county shall be an original school district, until the
same shall be divided into separate districts by the county superin-
tendent." By the school law of 1855 the affairs of each district
were managed by three trustees and one inspector. Under the law of
1858 the board consisted of a director, clerk and treasurer.

The Wyandotte constitution, under which the State was admitted,
provides that the Legislature shall establish " a uniform system of
common schools, and schools of higher grade, embracing normal, pre-
paratory, collegiate and university departments." In accordance
with this constitutional provision the Legislature has, at different times,
passed laws looking to the development of a complete system of
schools, and these laws have been carried out by the school officials
elected under them. These laws provide for a State superintendent
of public instruction, who shall supervise the schools of the State, and
for county superintendents, who shall supervise the schools of the
counties. The following have been incumbents of the office of State
superintendent since the State was organized: William R. Griffith,
from April 10 to February 12, 1862; S. M. Thorp, from March, 1862,
to January, 1863; Isaac T. Goodnow, from January, 1863, to Jan-
uary, 1807; Peter Mc Vicar, from January, 1867, to January, 1871;
H. D. McCarty, from January, 1871, to January, 1875; John Fraser,
from January, 1875, to January, 1877; Allen B. Lemmon, from Jan-
uary, 1877, to January, 1881; Henry C. Speer, from January, 1881,
to January, 1885.

The State has been divided into school districts small enough to
make a school accessible to all the children. Every district is encour-
aged to sustain a school at least three months in the year, and every

ll-t HISTOBY OF KANSAS.

parent is required, by a law passed in 1874, to send his children to
school at least twelve weeks in each year during the school age, under
a penalty for disobeying its injunctions. Cities and the larger towns
are authorized to establish graded schools, including primary, gram-
mar and high-school departments. Every child may secure, not only
the rudiments of learning, but a good English and business education,
and also prepare for further education in higher institutions of learning.

Beyond the common schools there have been established schools of
a higher grade and for special study. At Emporia is the State Nor-
mal School (opened in 1864), for training teachers. It was founded
by a grant of nearly 40,000 acres of land, which is being sold to es-
tablish a fund for its support. It has a small endowment, but is doing
a grand and growing work, and it is to be hoped that the Legislature
will hereafter supplement its endowment by appropriations equal to
its opportunity. It employs about a dozen professors, and has an at-
tendance of about 600 students. The Leavenworth Normal School
was opened in 1870, and closed in 1876. Tbe Concordia Normal
School existed from 1874 <o 1878.

The State Agricultural College at Manhattan was permanently lo-
cated by legislative enactment February 16, 1863, and its board of
regents held their first meeting July 'I'S, 1863, and educational work
commenced September 2, 1863. Its four departments were, agri-
culture, mechanic arts, military science and tactics, literature and
science. This institution is based on a Congressional grant of 82,000
acres of land. The sale of these lands has been admirably man-
aged and has produced a permanent fund of about half a million dollars.
The college is doing a grand service in elevating the industries of
the State. It employs twelve instructors and assistants and seven
superintendents of different branches of industry, and gives instruction
to more than 400 students.

The act of the Legislature that organized the University of the
State of Kansas, at Lawrence, took effect March 1, 1866. The uni-
versity is designed to give to all citizens the opportunity for profes-
sional study, and for the pursuit of all branches of higher learning.
It employs some twenty instructors and assistants and has an attend-
ance of about 500 students. Its government is vested in a board of
regents, consisting of a president and twelve members appointed by
the governor. The first session opened September 12, 1866.

The maintenance of the common schools is both State and local.
The act of Congress admitting the State set apart the sixteenth and

<^ — rzn^ l^-^

HISTOKY OF KANSAS. 115

thirty-sixth sections of each township for school purposes, ag-
gregating nearly 3,000,000 acres of land, which it has been esti-
mated can be made to yield a permanent school fund of $15,000,000.
The fund is increasing rapidly. It is invested in good securities, and the
interest is apportioned among the districts. But the main dependence
of the common schools is the local tax which districts impose upon them-
selves. The tax now assumed by districts is many times greater
than the amount given by the State. The growth of the school sys-
tem has so exactly kept step with the growth of the State as to show
that it is a part of its very life. The reports of the first two or three
years of the State history were so incomplete that they afford no fair
basis of comparison. But we may take the report of 1866 and
measure the subsequent growth with a good degree of accuracy.
Then the school population of the State was S-t, 725; now it is 532,-
010. The number of children earolled in the schools was 31,528;
now it is 403,351. The number of teachers employed was then 1,086;
now it is 11,310. The amount paid then for teachers' salaries
was $115,924; now it is $2,677,513. The value of school property
was then $318,897; the value now is $8,608,202. The whole amount
expended for public schools was $253,926; this sum has been in-
creased to $5,265,613.86. There were 703 school-houses in 1$67;
the number at this time is 8,196.

Besides the State schools and several private institutions, there are
in Kansas some thirty colleges and universities, mainly under denom-
inational conti"ol. These denominational institutions report an aver-
age yearly attendance of more than 4,000 pupils, and buildings and
other property valued at $1,700,000.

mMm

-4^

116

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER IX.

Growth and Development of Industries and Material Interests
— A Brilliant Record— Railway Construction and Develoi>-
ment— Agricitltural Progress— Manufacturing Enterprise-
Statistics and Prospects— Character of Population— Succes-
sive Aggregates.

All happy pe.ice and goodly goveniraetit

Is settled there in sure establishment.— >'\pe««er.

LiVVERY ruled the country thirty-six years ago,
but Kansas, from this standpoint, has been the
Athene of the American States. Fearing that the
birth of new States in the West would rob it of
A/li^i^^'^^lt^WK. "supremacy, the slave power swallowed the Mis-
'^^^3'^^3KIM>* souri Compromise, which had dedicated the North-
west to Freedom. The industrious North, aroused
and indignant, struck quick and hard, and Kansas,
full aimed, shouting the war-cry of Liberty, and
neived with invincible courage, sprang into the Union.
She at once assumed a high place among the States.
She was the deadly enemy of slavery. The war
over, she became the patron, as she had been during
its continuance the exemplar, of heroism, and a hundred
thousand soldiers of the Union found homes within the
shelter of her embracing arms. The agriculturist and the
mechanic were charmed by her ample resources and in-
spired by her eager enterprise. Education found in her a generous
patron, and to literature, art and science she has been a steadfast friend.
Her pure atmosphere invigorated all. A desert disfigured the map of the
continent, and she covered it with fields of golden wheat and tasseling
coi-n. She has made the home of the poor man safe. She has ex-
tended to women the protection of generous laws and of enlarged op-

9 \

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 117

portunities for usefulness. In war she was valiant and indomitable,
and in peace she has been intelligent, energetic, progressive and enter-
prising.

In 1864 Kansas had not a mile of completed railroad. In 1870 it
had 1,283 miles; in 1875, more than 1,887; in 1S80, an aggregate of
more than 3, 104 miles. Up to November 1, 1886, there had been
built, of main line and branches, excluding side-tracks, 5,323 miles.
There were added by new construction 3,476 miles, making the total
mileage completed up to January 1, 1889 (since when there are no
obtainable statistics), 8,799 miles. The following is a statement of the
different companies operating railroads in Kansas, and the number of
miles operated by each within the State: Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe Railroad Company, 2,586.84; Burlington & Missouri River, in
Nebraska, 259.15; Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska, 1,055.70; Dodge
City, Montezuma & Trinidad, 51; Kansas City, Fort Scott & Mem-
phis, 256.90; Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield, 23.10; Kansas
City, Wyandotte & Northwestern, 157; Kansas City & Pacific, 125;
Missouri Pacific, 2,179; Missouri, Kansas & Texas, 254; St. Joseph
& Grand Island, 138; .St. Louis & San Francisco, 437.84; Union
Pacific, 1,151.23; Wichita & Western, 124.40. There is one mile of
railroad to each nine and one-third square miles of territory in the State;
five and one-half miles to each 1,000 population — doubtless a larger
ratio of railroad mileage to population than exists anywhere else, in
any country.

Kansas is an agricultural State. It has not gold or silver, but it
has coal enough for fuel. It is the farmer's and stockman's State.
Its development simply shows what good old "mother earth," when
in her happiest vein, can do. Agriculture is the most certain source
of strength, wealth and independence. Commerce, in all emergen-
cies, looks to agriculture, both for defense and for supply. The
growth and prosperity of Kansas offer a striking illustration of what
intelligent farmers, with a productive soil and a genial climate for
their workshop, can accomplish, what wealth they can create, what
enterprise they can stimulate. The following figures show the value
of farm products in the State, for 1887 and 1888, combined, ranked
in the order of importance as indicated by the value of each: Corn,
$79,232,372; animals, slaughtered and sold for slaughter, 160,426.55;
oats, $24,703,152; wheat, $17,857,264; prairie hay, $17,697,141;
value of increase in live stock, $17,059,661; Irish potatoes, $12, 118.-
36; butter, 18,782,248; millet and hungarian, $8,732,418; sorghum,

118 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

$4,900,744; tame hay. $4,787,646; poultry and eggs sold, $3,563,180;
broom com, $2,430,834; flax, $2,396,830; rye, $2,170,867; garden
products marketed, $1,968,180; horticultural products marketed,
$1,418,258; sweet potatoes, $1,090,623; milk sold, 11,050,988; wool,
$885,424; castor beans, $487,441; wood marketed, $470,736; wine,
$299,577; barley, $206,141; cheese, $112,780; buckwheat, $87,874;
cotton, $84,380; honey and beeswax, $836.37; tobacco, $77,940; hemp,
$19,810.

Kansas is not distinctively a manufacturing State. Its prosperity
is based upon the plow. It has, however, coal deposits equal to the
needs of its population; valuable lead mines, and salt and gypsum in
abundance. But the manufacturing establisments of the State are
steadily increasing in importance as well as in number. In 1860 it
had 344 establishments with a capital of $1,084,935, employing 1,735
hands, and turning out products valued at $4,357,408. In 1890 there
were reported to the State Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics
627 establishments, with a capital of $29,367,080, employing 14,477
hands, and turning out products valued at $51,442,801. There are in
the State about 150 fiouring-mills, with a capital employed of $7,000,-
000. The immense smelting works of Kansas are claimed to be the
largest in the world. It is said that the annual product of the one
gold and silver smelter is $18,000,000. It produces one-fifth of all
the silver and one fifth of all the lead smelted in the United States.
Five hundred men are employed and the wages paid them average
higher than those paid by any other manufacturing institution in the
United States. Beef and pork packing-houses, on an extensive scale,
and requiring large capital for their operation, are carried on at sev-
eral points in the State. It is the opinion of practical men who have
given the matter careful study, that there are many lines of manufact-
ures that may be profitably conducted in Kansas, and that sound policy
requires not only diversified agriculture — the growth of a large variety
of crops — but for the same reasons diversified industry — the turning
of laljor and capital into a great variety of channels. A mighty agri-
cultural State promotes the wealth and independence of its citizens by
the judicious establishment of manufactures. It is certain that the
manufacturing interest will make a larger figure in Kansas history in
the future than it has done in the past. An industry now being de-
veloped is the production of sorghum sugar. Although in the experi-
mental stage, it is developed far enough to demonstrate that sugar can
be manufactured from sorghum at a profit; and, further, that Kansas

is the best adapted for the production of sorghum cane for the manu-
facture of sugar of any Stale in the Union, and will, in a few years,
be a great sugar-producing State.

Society in Kansas is much like that to be found elsewhere. There
are good, "medium and bad people, such as will be found on any other
portion of the globe. As a whole the people have less distinctive local
characteristics than usually are seen in other States. The people are
a mixture of all countries and all States, the New England element
predominating. The generation born in the State reminds one much
of the men who settled New England. The young Kansan is a repro-
duction of the stern, silent, unflinching Puritan, who landed at Plym-
outh Rock two and a half centuries ago, thoroughly westernized; the
most American of the types of men our country has produced. The
population in 1860 was 105,000; 1865, 137,000; 1870,360,000; 1875,
509,000; 1880, 996,000; 1885, 1,147,000. In 1890 it surpassed the
most sanguine expectations of the most enthusiastic well-wisher in the
State.

1 w

^i^

._l^

120

HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER X.

Distinguished Men of Kansas Past and Present— Short Biograph-
ical Sketches of Celebrities Whose Names Have Come to be
Household Words— Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey— Senator John
J. Ingalls— The First Territorial Governor— The First State
Governor— The Famous "Jim" Lane— Gov. Crawford— United
States District Attorney Hallowell— Kansas' First Demo-
cratic Executive — Senator Preston B. Plumb— "Ottawa"
Jones — Chief Justice Horton — A Well-Remembered State
Printer— The First Chief Ju.stice— The Champion OF THE "Home-
stead Law"— Prof. Mudge— Col. Anthony— Judge Brewer—
Gov. Meuj.vry.

YMAN U. HUMPHREY present goyernor of
Kansas, elected in 1888, was born in Stark
County, Ohio, July 25, 1844, and served as
lieutenant-governor before attaining to his
present eminence. He left school at the age
of seventeen to enlist in Company 1, Seventy-
sixth Ohio Volunteers. His war record is a
one, and he was promoted to first lieutenant,
and for a time served as adjutant of his regiment. On
retiring from the army, he entered Mount Union Col-
lege, but shortly afterward became a student in the law
department of the University of Michigan. In 1868 he
was admitted to practice law in the several courts of Ohio,
but soon afterward emigrated to Shelby County, Mo.,
where for a time he helped to edit the Shelby County
Herald, a Republican paper. On arriving in Kansas, he
opened a law office in Independence, and was one of the
founders of the Independence Tribune. In 1871 he was nominated
as the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives from
Montgomery County, but was defeated. In 1876 he was again nomi-
nated, in a district that had hitherto sent Democratic members, and

t, Vy '

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 121

elected. In 1877 he was nominated by the State Republican Central
Committee, to fill a vacancy in the office of lieutenant-governor, with-
out his knowledge, and in 1878 was re- nominated by the Republican
State Convention for the succeeding full term, and elected by a ma-
jority of over 40,000 over his Democratic opponent. His subsequent
political career is well known. He was married at Independence,
Kas., December 25, 1872, to Miss Amanda Leonard. Gov. Humphrey
has contributed much toward the building of churches, and has been
the friend of all religious enterprises. He is an effective public speaker,
and an able editor. In person he is of commanding appearance and
fine address. He has given much attention to literary subjects, is a
great reader, and has a large library of standard works.

United States Senator John J. Ingalls was born at Middleton,
Mass., December 29, 1833; graduated from Williams College in the
class of 1855; was admitted to the bar in 1857; removed to Kansas in
October, 1858; was a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Conven-
tion in 1859; was secretary of the Territorial Council in 1860, and of
the State Senate in 1861; was a member of the State Senate of Kansas
from Atchison County in 1862; editor of the Atchison Champion in
1863, 1864 and 1865; was defeated as anti-Lane candidate for lieu-
tenant-governor in 1862, and again in 1864; was elected to the United
States Senate, as a Republican, to succeed S. C. Pomeroy, and took
his seat March 4, 1873, and was re-elected in 1879 and 1885. His
term of service will expire March 3, 1891. Senator Ingalls was the
son of Elias Theodore and Eliza (Chase) Ingalls, and on his father's
side was descended from Edmund Ingalls, a Puritan, who emigrated
from Yorkshire, England, in 1628, and, with his brother, Francis,
founded the city of Lynn, Mass. , in 1629. Mr. Ingalls was married, Sep-
tember 27, 1865, at Atchison, Kas., to Miss Anna Louise Chesebrough,
daughter of a prominent merchant. He is a Free Mason. During the
war he was judge advocate and aid to Gen. George Deitzler of the
Kansas Volunteers. He participated in the battles of Westport, Lex-
ington and Independence, during the Price raid in 1864. He has
always been radical, was an Abolitionist and " John Brown Repub-
lican " in 1859, and cast his first vote for Fremont in 1856. Senator
Ingalls takes high rank among the ablest of American statesmen — a
man eminent for his literary attainments and distinguished as an
orator.

Andrew H. Reeder, first governor of the Territory of Kansas, was
born at Easton, Penn., July 12, 1807 He received an academical edu- L

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122 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

cation at Lawrenceville, N. J., studied law and entered upon the prac-
tice of his profession at Easton, where he rose to local eminence.
He was married in 1831 to Amelia Hutter, of Easton, who died
August 16, 1878. Only those who remember the excitement following
the passage of the "Kansas and Nebraska Act," will be able to ap-
preciate the responsibility attaching to Mr. Reeder' s appointment as
Territorial governor. The story of his stormy administration is told
in every history of the State. Those were days that tried other souls
than his. Time has vindicated him, and his memory is honored. His
escape from Kansas has furnished a theme for many a writer, and its
dangers, adventures and excitements have been narrated from every
conceivable point of view. After countless perils, he reached Illinois,
May 27, 1850. His arrival in the free State occasioned the wildest
excitement and enthusiasm. As he journeyed toward the East, at
every principal town he was detained, and great crowds of people
assembled to see him, to welcome him and to promise him protection
from any attempt to return him to the Territory. The courage and
skill with which Gov. Reeder had first withstood and then es-
caped from the mobs of his enemies, caused him to be the hero of the
hour in the North. At the close of the Fremont campaign, into
which he entered heartily, he returned to the practice of his profes-
sion at Easton. In 1860 he was a prominent candidate before the
Republican convention for the vice-presidency. At the outbreak of
the Rebellion, he was appointed brigadier-general by President Lin-
coln. Not having been bred a soldier, he declined the appointment,
publicly expressing the opinion that at his time of life, no man had a
right to learn a new trade or profession, at the possible expense of
the lives of other men. He promptly offered his services to the Gov-
ernment, however, in any other capacity in which they could be made
available, and was employed in various important services, not strictly
military, during the war. His death occurred, after a short illness,
at Easton, July 5, 1864. His memory should be revered by every
citizen of Kansas as that of an honest and fearless magistrate, who
gave to every duty his best intelligence and effort, and who, in trying
times, was willing to risk life, if need be, rather than permit the per-
petration of a wrong to the infant Territory over which he had charge.
Charles Robinson, the first governor of the State of Kansas, was
born at Hardwick, Worcester County, Mass., July 21, 1818. He be-
came a physician, and at one time had for a partner Dr. J. G. Hol-
land ("Timothy Titcomb"). In 1819, soon after the gold discoveries

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HISTORY OF KANSAS.

123

iu California, he set out for the uewly-discovereJ El Dorado, being
surgeon of one of the early pioneer parties of California emigrants.
On his arrival in California, after a short time spent in prospecting
and mining, he settled, as near as the times and the surroundings
would permit, at Sacramento, and there opened an eating-house.
Trouble soon broke out between the squatters and a set of later spec-
ulative comers who coveted their claims. The former held their claims
under the United States pre-emption laws theu in force, and elsewhere
in the country universally observed; the speculators claimed title to
the entire site of the embryo city by virtue of purchase from Capt.
Sutter, who held a Mexican- Spanish title to 99,000 square miles of
California land, the boundaries or location of which had never been
surveyed or defined. The contest for possession, after vain endeavors
on the part of the squatters to await the decision of the courts, cul-
minated in an open war for possession on the one side and ejectment
on the other. Dr. Robinson became the adviser and acknowledged
leader of the squatters in their contest for their rights. The "squat-
ter riots," as they were termed, resulted in several serious encounters,
in which many were wounded and a few lost their lives. The most
serious conflict resulted in the death of the mayor of Sacramento, on
the one side, and the dangerous wounding of Robinson, on t'he other.
Robinson, while still suffering from his wounds, was indicted for mur-
der, assault with intent to kill, and conspiracy, and held a prisoner, pend-
ing his trial, for ten weeks aboard a prison-ship. He was tried before
the district court at Sacramento, and acquitted. During his imprison-
ment he was nominated and elected to the California Legislature from
the Sacramento district. He took a leading part iu the legislative pro-
ceedings of the succeeding session, and was one of the prominent sup-
porters of John C. Fremont, who was elected as United States senator
during the session. On his return to Sacramento, he published a daily
Free-soil paper a short time. July 1, 1851, he left California and set
sail for " the States. " He reached his home in Fitchburg late in the fall
of 1851, and there resumed the practice of medicine, which he continued
until 185-t with great success. About the time of the organization of
the Emigrant Aid Society, he published a series of letters concerning the
Kansas country through which he had passed in 1819, which awak-
ened a widespread interest in the unknown land, and drew the atten-
tion of the managers of the organization to the writer as an indispen-
sable agent for the practical execution of the proposed work of select-
ing homes for Free-State emigrants, and otherwise carrying out the

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^■Vj«s .^

124 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

opeoly-avowed object of the society to make Kansas a free State under
the conditions which the Kmisas-Nebraska bill had prescribed. He
thus became one of the first heralds of free- State emigration to Kan-
sas, and designated to the society as the best objective point for a Free-
State settlement in the Territory the land that lay along the bottoms of
the Kansas River, near Lawrence. There the first party pitched their
tents, and there Robinson made his own home September 6, 1854, at
which time he with his family arrived; he being, with S. C. Pomeroy,
the conductor of the second party of New England emigrants — it being
the first made up of families who came for bona fide settlement. He
chose his home on Mount Oread. He was the first governor chosen
under the Topeka Constitution, and the first commander-in-chief of the
Free-State militia. He held the organization with a skill and wisdom
peculiarly his own, as a final place of refuge for the Free-State men of
Kansas, until, with growing strength, they could transform it into a
valid form of government under the forms of law. The Wyandotte
Constitution, under the forced recognition of Congress, having been
adopted, he was, under its provisions, chosen the first governor of the
free State of Kansas, and, in that position, organized under the laws
the military forces upon a war basis for the final struggle, in which
Kansas troops won fresh laurels and imperishable renown. For the
cause of freedom in Kansas he sufPered imprisonment, destruction of
property, defamation of character, and all the minor annoyances which
hatred of merit, political ambition, or internecine party strife could
engender.

The date and place of the birth of Gen. James H. Lane are to-daj-
in doubt. Holloway's History of Kansas disposes of the question of
his birth and parentage as follows: "Gen. James H Lane was born
June 22, 1814, on the banks of the Ohio, in Boone County, Ky. His
father, Amos Lane, cousin of Joseph Lane, of Oregon, was an emi-
nent lawyer and a member of Congress. James' mother, who was a
woman of superior intellectual and moral qualifications, superintended
his early education. Always restive and unable to confine himself to
books, he attained but the rudiments of school learning, even under
the excellent tutorship of his mother." For a short time in his early
manhood he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and did a small business
in pork-packing in Lawrenceburg, Ind. In 1843 he began the study
of law, and after a short course, was admitted to practice. In 1846,
on the breaking-out of the M3xican War, he volunteered as a private
and raised a company of men, of which he was elected captain. The

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HISTORY OF KANSAS. 125

company was assigued to tlie Third Regiment Indiana Volunteers, of
which he was made colonel. His regiment, under his leadership, did
honorable and distinguished service throughout the campaign of Gen.
Taylor. At the expiration of its term of service, one year, he returned
with his regiment, and was authorized to re-organize it for further
service in the field, which he did, and it was mustered again into the
service as th9 Fifth Regiment Indiana Volunteers. The speedy close
of the war prevented it from winning further laurels in the field, after
its re-organization. Soon after the close of the war and his return
home, he was elected lieutenant-governor (1849), and before his term
of office had expired (1852), he was elected as a member of Congress
from the Fourth Congressional District of Indiana. He was also
chosen one of the electors at large for Franklin Pierce as President,
during the same year. During the exciting debates which preceded
the passage of the Nebraska Bill, and which developed the highest
forensic and argumentative ability. Col. Lane did not rise above medioc-
rity, although an ardent advocate of the bill, which he supported by
his votes through all its stages to its final passage. The passage of
the bill rendered the re-election of most Northern Democrats, who had
voted for it, extremely doubtful. Under the circumstances, Lane did
not choose to hazard defeat at the hands of his late constituents, but
determined at once to pat in an early appearance in Kansas, there be-
come one of the organizers of his party, and its leader in the future
State. He arrived in April, 1855, and settled on a claim adjoining
Lawrence, which continued to be his home up to the time of his death.
His claim cost the life of Gaius Jenkins, who contested it, and whom
Lane shot dead June 3, 1858, while he was violently attempting to
enforce his right, in common, to a well on the disputed claim. Lane
was acquitted before a justice of the peace, and as no indictment was
found against him, his case never came to trial in a court of record.
For some three months after his arrival in the Territory, with con-
summate tact, he felt his way, taking no positive ground beyond the
point of safe retreat. During the months of June and July, 1855, the
preliminary conventions, which foreshadowed the organization of the
Free-State party, were held in Lawrence. Lane took no part in them,
but decided that the time had arrived for the organization of the
Democratic party, in order to counteract the force of the growing
movement, which, if not checked, might draw to it a multitude of
Free-State Democrats, whom it was essential to retain in the National
fold. With this end in view, a meeting was held in Lawrence on

126

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

July 27, over which Col. Lane presided, and at which resolutions
were passed, favoring the immediate organization of the Democratic
party on " truly National ground, and pledging the participants in
the meeting to use all honorable exertions to secure such result " The
proceedings received no countenance from the great majority of Kan-
sas Democrats, and the Democratic press, most intensely pro-slavery,
decried the movement. Lane at once saw the futility of further
efforts in that direction. With wonderful discrimination, tact and
cunning, he decided to cast his lot with the Free-State movement, and
win there the distinction he coveted. All paths to the Senate seemed
alike to him until his choice was made; once made, he consistently
and faithfully defended the newly espoused cause through evil and
good repute, only vacillating temporarily to catch the ever-varying
tide of popular favor. He became the acknowledged leader of the
most radical Free- State men, often rousing them, by his rough elo-
quence, to such a furor of excitement as to lead to most serious appre-
hension, that through over zeal, without discretion, the cause would
fail. He was chosen president of the Free State Territorial Commit-
tee before the formation of the Topeka State government, and, under
it, when formed, he was elected United States Senator. All through
the years that followed, he was the recognized leader of the aggressive
fighting Free State men, who, under his inspiration and the prestige
of his name, more than his deeds, met the border ruffians in their
chosen mode of aggressive warfare of words and deeds, giving abuse
for abuse, threat for threat, robbery for robbery, murder for murder,
and accepting the open wage of battle whenever offered. The State
being, after the long struggle, admitted as a free State, James H.
Lane was elected a member of the United States Senate by the first
State Legislature, in 186L The Rebellion having broken out, he or-
ganized a brigade and commanded it for several months as a brigadier-
general, before he held such a commission. He was subsequently
appointed to that rank. His somewhat irregular, but quite charac-
teristic, method of raising troops on his own responsibility, and regard-
less of the prescribed modes and methods of the State government,
led to serious disagreement, and an open rupture between him and
Gov. Carney, which resulted in much ill feeling; the Governor refus-
ing to appoint such officers to command as Lane and his troops de-
sired. In 1863 he received from the United States Government an
independent recruiting commission, as recruiting commissioner for
the Department of Kansas, and, under its authority, raised five regi-

^^-^

ments of infantry, one of which was of blacks, and was claimed to be
the first colored regiment put in the field. In 1804-0t3 he was re-
elected to the United States Senate, and on taking his seat, took sides
with President Johnson in the open rupture which occurred between
him and the Republicans on the Freedman's Bureau and Civil Rights
Bill. He thought he saw the popular tide drifting that way, and with
his accustomed alacrity, he anticipated what he believed would prove
the popular sentiment of the people. For once he was deceived. He
visited his home in Kansas early in June, 1866. He was met coldly
by nearly all his old friends and followers, who had, up to this
time, given him an unquestioning and unqualified support, stopping
a little short of homage. He saw the scepter of his power irrep-
arably broken. He was no longer the autocrat of political affairs
in Kansas. He could not brook the change, and without delay, set
out on his return to Washington. He was debilitated in physical
health, and in the depths of despondency. His mental condition
rapidly grew worse, and, on his arrival at St. Louis, it was deemed
imprudent to continue the journey farther, as his delirium was such
as presaged the worst form of insanity. Juno 29 he returned, and
stopped with his brother-in-law, Capt. McCall, at the Government
farm, near Leavenworth. July 1 he committed suicide. The cause
of his rash act is attributable, doubtless, in a great measure, to his
intense disappointment, humiliation and grief, consequent on the
desertion of his friends. He was buried at Lawrence. Col. Lane
was married to Miss Baldridge, in Lawrenceburg, Ind.. in 1843.
They had three children — a son (Lieut. James H. Lane, of the
United States army) and two daughters.

Samuel J. Crawford, third governor of the State of Kansas, was
born in Lawrence County, Ind., April 15, 1835. His early life was
spent on a farm, and his early education acquired in the district
schools of the neighborhood. By apjslication and unwearied indus-
try, young Crawford had studied law sufficiently to gain an admission
to the Indiana bar at the age of twenty-one years. Continuing his
studies, he entered the law school of Cincinnati College in 1858, and
directly after graduating from that institution, came to Kansas, and
commenced practice at Garnett City, Anderson County. Mr. Craw-
ford was elected a member of the first Kansas State Legislature, which
convened at Topeka, March, 1861, but resigned his seat in May, and
returned to Garnett to organize a company of volunteers for the pend-
ing war. He was chosen captain of the company, and a few days

^ .

later assigned to the Second Kansas Volunteer Infantry, Col. Robert
B. Mitchell. In July, the Second went into active service in Missouri,
participated in the campaign under Gen. Lyon, and won enviable dis-
tinction in the hard fought battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10,
1861. The Second was mustered out in October, 1861, Capt. Craw-
ford being retained in the service. On the reorganization of the
Second, as cavalry, he was assigned to the command of a battalion,
and took part in the battles fought by the " Army of the Frontier,"
in 1862-63, having command of the regiment from May, 1863, until
November of the same year, when he took command of the Second
Kansas Colored Regiment, and with his command participated in the
Camden expedition under Gen. Steele. He led the expedition from
Fort Smith through the Indian country, in July, 1864, and in Octo-
ber of the same year took part in the campaign against Gen. Price in
Missouri. He was elected governor of Kansas, in November, 1864,
resigned his commission in December, and was inaugurated January
9, 1865. He was re-elected in the fall of 1868, and served until
November 4, 1868, when he resigned to take command of the Nine-
teenth Kansas Cavalry Regiment, which was raised to fight the Indi-
ans on the plains. At the close of the campaign, Gov. Crawford re-
sumed the practice of his profession, locating in Emporia, Lyon
County. He was afterward State claim agent, with headquarters at
Washington, D. C, where he attended to the interests of Kansas in
the matter of the claims of the State for expenses incurred in repell-
ing invasion and Indian hostilities on its border.

Hon. James R. Hallowell, long familiar as Vnited States district
attorney, came to Kansas and located at Columbus, May 17, 1869,
since which time he has been continuously engaged in the practice of
law. Since his residence in the State he has served two terms in the
House of Representatives, and four years as State Senator. He was
also, for three years, member of the board of regents of the Agricult-
ural College at Manhattan, being appointed United States district
attorney in June, 1879. Mr. Hallowell was born in Montgomery
County, Penn., December 27, 1842. When a youth of six or seven
years, his father moved to Indiana, in which State James R. received
his general and legal education, attending Asbury University, at
Greencastle, and reading law with P. M. Rice, of Rockville. April
11, 1861, he enlisted in Lew Wallace's Zouave Regiment, Eleventh
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, being mustered in on the 17th of the
same luonth, for three months' service. At the expiration of his term

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HISTORY OF KANSAS. 129

lie re-enlisted in Company I, Thirty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry;
was promoted immediately to first lieutenant; June, 1864, to major;
the following day to lieutenant-colonel, having previously served as
adjutant of the brigade, and October, 1864, to colonel of the regiment.
He was mustered out January 16, 1S66, and returned to Indiana, where
he remained until his removal to Kansas. He was married in Mont-
gomery County, Ind., November 28, 1871, to Samantha H. Montgom-
ery, of that county. They have one son, named Montgomery.

The first Democratic governor ever elected in Kansas, Hon. George
W. Glick, was inaugurated on January 8, 1883. He was born at
Greencastle, Fairfield County, Ohio, July 4, 1827. On the paternal
side, he is of German descent. Henry Glick, his great grandfather,
was one of five brothers, who left their beautiful Rhine in the ante-
Revolutionary "War period, and settled in Pennsylvania, all of them
being soldiers in the War of the Revolution. George Glick, the
grandfather of the governor, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and
was severely wounded in the battle of Fort Meigs. Isaac Glick, Gov.
Click's father, resided at Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio, a promi-
nent farmer and stock- raiser, who for three consecutive terms held
the office of treasurer of Sandusky County. George Sanders, his grand-
father on the maternal side, was of Scotch origin. He was a captain
in the War of 1812, and bore the marks of his bravery in bodily
wounds of a serious nature. Mary (Sanders) Glick, his mother, was
a lady of high culture. George W. Glick was a studious boy. His
scholastic attainments embraced a good knowledge of the higher
mathematics, and of the languages, which substantial superstructure
enabled him to become a "man of afPairs," and to succeed in his gen-
eral undertakings. The family removed to Lower Sandusky (now
Fremont), when George was five years of age, and after completing
his school education, he entered the law ofiice of the firm of Buckland
(Ralph P.) and Hayes (Rutherford B. ), studying there two years
He was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court at Cincinnati, Ohio,
having passed a thorough examination in connection with the Cincin
nati Law School students. He began the practice of law at Fremont,
and soon acquired the fame of a conscientious, painstaking, Indus
trious lawyer, which secured him a large practice at Fremont, and
later at Sandusky City, where his residence was prior to coming to
Kansas. The Congressional convention of the Democratic party of his
district placed him in nomination for Congress in 1858, but he de-
clined the honor in presence of the convention, but later accepted the

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130 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

nomination for State Senator, his preceptor, Mr. Biickland, being bis op-
ponent. Though defeated, he ran nearly 2,000 votes ahead of his party
ticket. He was elected jndge advocate-general of the Second Regiment
of the Seventeenth Division of the Ohio Militia, with the rank of colonel,
and commissioned by Gov. Salmon P. Chase. He came to Kansas late
in 1858, located in Atchison, and entered npou the practice of law, asso-
ciating himself with Hon. Alfred G. Otis, who was a man well versed
in human jurisprudence, and who, as judge of the Second Judicial
District from January, 1877, to January, 1881, won golden opinions
as an administrator of justice. The firm of Otis & Glick lasted for
fifteen years, Mr. Glick abandoning his lucrative practice in 1874, in
consequence of a throat afPection. Mr. Glick was the Democratic
candidate for judge of the Second Judicial District at the first election
held under the Wyandotte Constitution, December 6, 1859. His vote
was larger than that of any candidate on his ticket. He was elected
a member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the city of
Atchison in 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, 1867, 1875 and 1880. In the Legis-
lative sessions of 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1868 and 1881 he was a mem-
ber of the judiciary committee, and was made chairman of the same
in 1865, 1866 and 1868, by the Rej^ublican speakers of the House, Hon.
Jacob Stotler, Hon. JohnT. BurrisandHon. Preston B. Plumb. He was
on the ways and means committee in the session of 1864; on the
State library committee in 1868; on the committees on assessment
and taxation, and on Federal relations, and chairman of the railroad
committee in the session of 1876, and on banks and banking in the session
of 1881. In the session of 1870 Mr. Glick was speaker pro tern, of the
House. In May, 1874, Mr. Glick served as a member of the State Senate,
having been elected to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon.
Joseph C. Wilson. July 28, 1800, he was one of the delegates
elected by the Democrats to attend the Union Convention at Philadel-
phia, August 14, 1800; was a member of the Democratic State central
committee, appointed September 15, 1870; was appointed a member
of the State central relief committee, November 12, 1874; Gov.
Thomas A. Osborn commissioned him a Centennial manager, March 3,
1876, and he was elected treasurer of the board of managers, and he
was present at the first meeting of the board at Philadelphia, at their
office in the Kansas building, June 4, 1876, when the arranging of the
display was completed. July 29, 1838, he was made, by acclama-
tion, the Democratic candidate for governor, and at the election re-
ceived some support outside of his party.

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HISTORY OF KANSAS.

131

Preston B. Plumb, United States Senator, was born in Delaware
County, Ohio, October 12, 1837. He received merely a common-
school education, and at the age of twelve years entered upon an ap-
prenticeship to the printing business in the office of the Western
Episcopalian, at Gambier, Ohio. In 1853, in connection with J. W.
Dumble, he established the News at Xenia, Ohio. He came to Kan-
sas, June 17, 1856, locating first near where the city of Salina now is,
but afterward working at the printer's trade in Topeka, and became
foreman of the Herald of Freedom office at Lawrence, during the
winter of 1856-57. He was a member of a company of five persona
who laid out Emporia in February, 1857, and established the Em-
poria News, the first number of which was issued June 6, 1857. He
took a prominent part in several Free-State Territorial conventions,
always advocating the most radical measures of the Anti-Slavery
party. He was elected a delegate to the Leavenworth Constitutional
Convention in 1858, and, though one of the youngest, was among the
most active, influential members. He was admitted to the bar in 1861,
and opened a law office in Emporia, having previously attended two
terms at the Cleveland, Ohio, Law School. In 1862 he was elected a
member of the Kansas House of Representatives, and served as chair-
man of the judiciary committee, and shortly afterward was appointed
reporter of the Supreme Court, but resigned to engage in enlisting
troops, and he recruited two companies for the Eleventh Kansas In-
fantry and was mustered into service as second-lieutenant of Company
C, and served successively as captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel in
that regiment, having command of the regiment the greater part of
its term of service. He was again elected to the Kansas House of
Eepresentatives in 1866, and was re-elected in 1867, serving the first
term as sppaker. He resumed the practice of the law in 1868, and
continued in it until 1872, when he relinquished the profession on ac-
count of ill health. From 1873 to 1887 he was president of the Em-
poria National Bank. He was elected to his present position as Sen-
ator of the United States January 31, 1877, and was re-elected in
1883 and 1888. His term of service will expire March 3, 1895.

Eev. John Tecumseh Jones (Ottawa Jones) was born in Canada
in January, 1808. His father was an Englishman, his mother an In-
dian woman of the Chippewa nation. He was taken when quite young
by a sister, living with her husband, a blacksmith, on the island of
Mackinac. While yet a little boy, he was accustomed to board vessels
stopping at the island. A certain Capt. Conner, taking a fancy to

him, asked him to take a trip to Detroit on his vessel. Young Jones
failing to obtain the consent of his sister to this proposed voyage, ap-
parently gave up the project, but next day went down to the vessel
and sailed away for Detroit. While in the family of his newfound
friend, Jones learned the English and French languages and forgot
his own. After a few years Mrs. Conner died, and young Jones was
thrown out of a home. About this time the Baptists were collectiog
together isolated Indians to go to Carey Station, Mich., to receive the
benefits of the mission there. In his destitute condition, Jones was
found by them and taken to this school, of which Rev. Isaac McCoy
was at that time superintendent. Here he reacquired his native
language, and, being diligent in his studies, became thoroughly famil-
iar with the rudiments of an English education, and also became a
convert to the Christian religion. He remained here four or five years.
At that time the Pottawatomies were educating a great many of their
young men at Hamilton, Columbia and other Eastern colleges. Jones
attended Hamilton College four years, when, owing to failing health,
he was advised by the faculty to give up study in order to rest. He
then went to Choctaw Academy, Kentucky, as a teacher, remainino-
about one year, later going to the station at Sault Ste. Marie, where
he was chosen interpreter. For some time, he served in the capacity
of interpreter for different tribes, and when the Pottawatomies were
moved to Kansas Territory he came with them, and was a member of
their tribe until the two Pottawatomie bands were consolidated on the
tract of thirty miles square on the Kansas Kiver. He was then invited
to join, and joined the Ottawas, of which tribe he remained a member
until his death. The farm known as the John T. Jones' place was pur-
chased by him of the trader to the Ottawas for $1,000. In 1850 he
built a dwelling and a store. His home, some four miles northeast of
the i^resent city of Ottawa, was a distinguished landmark, and in the
early settlement of the Territory was the main stopping place between
Lawrence and Fort Scott. He had the main country hotel in Eastern
Kansas, and many of the pioneers of Kansas found temporary shelter
under his hospitable roof. The assistance rendered to the cause of
freedom by both John T. Jones and his estimable wife, during those
early "times that tried men's souls," was of inestimable value. In
1850 his dwelling and store were burned down by border ruffians.
February 23, 18()7, the United States Congress made an appropriation
of $6,700, to be paid to him as an indemnity for this loss. He afterward
erected a large two-story stone residence, at a cost of $20,000. Mr.

;|v*

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 133

JoQes was a man to lend a helping hand to every good work. He was
a prominent member of the Baptist Church of Ottawa, and rendered
valuable assistance in founding the "Ottawa University." He died in
1873. Mr. Jones was married Jane 2, 1845, to Miss Jane Kelley, of
North Yarmouth, Me., who, in 1843, had come to Kansas as a teach-
er and missionary to the Indians. After her husband's death, she
remained on the farm until 1876, when it was sold. By the terms of
Mr. Jones' will, the whole of his estate, estimated at $25,000, was
left in trust to Ottawa University.

Chief Justice Albert Howell Horton, the subject of this sketch,
second son of Dr. Harvey Horton and Mary Bennett, was born near
Brookfield, in the town of Minnisink, Orange County, N. Y., Marc'n
12, 1S37. He attended the public schools of West Town, N. Y., until
thirteen years of age, and then was prepared for college at the
"Farmers' Hall Academy," at Goshen, Orange County, N. Y. ; in
1855, entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Mich., as a
freshman, and remained two years. In 1858 he entered the law
office of Hon. J. W. Gott, at Goshen, N. Y. , as a law student, and
remained there until December 15, 1858, when he was admitted as a
counselor and attorney at law, at a general term of the Supreme
Court, held in Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1859 he came West with his
brother, Dr. Harvey A. Horton, and selected Atchison as his home.
In 1800 he was appointed the city attorney of Atchison by the
mayor, to till the vacancy caused by the resignation of the elected
city attorney. In the spring of 1861 he was elected city attorney of
the city, upon the Republican ticket. In September, 1861, he was
appointed district judge of the Second Judicial District of the State
of Kansas, by Gov. Charles Robinson. He was twice elected to the
same office, and then resigned, to resume the practice of his profes-
sion. In 1868 he was elected one of the electors on the Republican
State ticket of Kansas, and was selected as the messenger to take the
vote of Kansas to Washington. From 1861 to 1864, in addition to
attending to the duties of judge of the district court, he assisted in
editing the Weekly Champion. In May, 1869, Mr. Horton was ap-
pointed by President Grant United States district attorney for Kan-
sas, and held the office until his resignation on July 18, 1873. In
November, 1873, he was elected to the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Kansas, from Atchison City, and in November, 1876,
was elected State Senator to represent Atchison County. January 1,
1877, he resigned the office of State Senator to accept the appoint-

^ ^ — ^ ^ — " (^

134 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

ment of chief justice of Kansas. Under this appointment he held
the office of chief justice until the regular election in the fall of 1877,
when he was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
his predecessor, Hon. Samuel A. Kingman. In November, 1878, he
was elected chief justice of the State. At the session of the Kansas
Legislature, held in 1879, the Republicans had a large majority of the
members, but were unable to agree upon a caucus nominee for the
United States Senatoi'. His name was presented as one of the Repub-
lican candidates to be voted for, an^i upon the final ballot in the joint
convention of the Legislature, he received eighty votes. John J. Ing-
alls received eighty-six votes, and was declared elected. On May 26,
1864, he was married in Middletown, N. Y.. to Anna Amelia Robert-
son, daughter of William Wells Robertson and Adeline Sayer.

John Speer was born in Kittanning, Armstrong County, Penn., De-
cember 27, 1817, the oldest son of Capt. Robert and Barbary (Lowrey)
Speer. John was bred a farmer, and received only the early educational
advantages which the district schools of the vicinity afforded. His
father, while he was a small lad, bought a farm near Kittanning, and
to insure the payment for it took a contract for carrying the United
States mail between Kittanning and Curwensville. The distance was
seventy miles, and the entire route was sparsely settled, with long
reaches of unsettled wilderness. Over this lonesome route John was
put to carrying the mail on horseback, at the early age of twelve years.
For several years he continued faithfnlly to perform the weary work.
His mother died while he was yet a lad. At the age of eighteen years
he was indentured to the printing trade, with William Morehead, of
the Indiana Register, Indiana, Penn. Having served his time, he re-
turned home, and after six mouths' work as a journeyman on the Kit-
tanning Gazette, in 1839, made his first journalistic venture, publish-
ing for six months the Mercer and Beaver Democrat, at New Castle,
Penn., and vigorously supporting Harrison for the presidency. He
was identified with journalism in the States of Kentucky, Indiana and
Ohio, for fifteen years thereafter, during which time he was connected
with the Portsmouth, Ind , Tribune, the Harrison Gazette (which he
established at Corydon, Ind.), the Mount Vernon, Ohio, Times, and
the Democratic Whig, which he established September 12, 1843, and
which he edited and successfully published for nearly twelve years
thereafter. On the passage of the Nebraska bill, he sold out his paper
and other effects, and with his brother, Joseph L. , came to Kansas.
He arrived September 27, 1854. Here he established the first Free-

"e> V

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 135

State newspaper published in the Territory— the Kansas Pioneer, after-
ward the Kansas Tribune. He was one of the most fearless and able
champious of the Free State cause in the early days, and has held
consistently and faithfully through a long political career to his early
atiiliation with the Republican party. He has been deservedly hon-
ored with many positions of honor and trust. He was a membei of
the first Free-State Territorial Legislature in 1857. In 1864 he was
a member of the national convention which nominated Lincoln and
Johnson, and the same year was a member of the Kansas State Senate.
He WHS also elected State printer under the Topeka government. He
held the office of United States revenue collector from 1862 to 1866.
The general statutes of 1868 were printed by him. He was elected
State Representative from the Lawrence district in the fall of 1882.
Few men have labored harder or suffered more than the subject of
this sketch for the good of the commonwealth. In addition to the
ordinary sacritices and hardships which fell in common upon all the
outspoken Free- State men during the early struggles, the last venge-
ful stroke of the slave power in Kansas fell with cruel force upon him.
In Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, August 21, 1863, he lost two promis-
ing sons, one cruelly shot and his body recovered; the other never
found, and supposed to have been burned in the conflagration. Fur-
ther, the Government vouchers of the office he then held were de-
stroyed, adding the burden of anxiety and business troubles to his
already overburdened soul. He married Miss Elizabeth Duplisses
McMahon, daughter of John and Martha (Withers) McMahon, at
Corydon, Harrison County, Ind., July 14, 1842. She died at Law-
rence, Kas. , April 9, 1876.

Thomas Ewing, Jr., came to the Territory of Kansas at an early
day, seeking fame and fortune. In his favor he had the influence of
the name of a distinguished family, and he was the possessor of brill-
iant talents. He seemed to have been born with indomitable eonti-
dence in his own capacity for self-advancement. He was a very prince
in personal appearance, gentlemanly and dignified in his demeanor,
and a forcible and impressive speaker. He was deemed by some re-
served and cold in his manner, but those most intimate with him credit
him with great social qualities and an intense devotion to his friends.
He had the quality of attaching persons to him with hooks of steel,
and ever afterward they were not only his earnest supporters but his
ardent admirers. He was a member of the Free-State Convention at
Lawrence, in 1857, and in 1858, of the Territorial commission which

-^|v

136 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

exposed in detail the fraudulent votes cast for the Lecoiupton Constitu-
tion. He was one of the officers of the Free-State Convention held at
Topeka, in 1858, and in the same year was a member of the Leavenworth
Constitutional Convention. He was one of the vice-presidents of the
Osawatomie Convention, held in 1859, and as a member of that con-
vention assisted greatly in organizing the Republican party in Kansas.
He was nominated chief justice of the Supreme Court, by acclamation,
at the Republican State Convention held in Lawrence, October 12,
1859. After the admission of the State, he served as chief justice
less than two years, resigning his judicial position in November, 1862,
to accept the colonelcy of the Eleventh Regiment of Kansas Volun-
teers. In March, following, he was made brigadier-general, and on
August 22, 1803, issued his celebrated order No. 11, requiring all
persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates Counties, Mo., to remove
from their places of residence within fifteen days. Upon leaving the
army, in 1865, Gen. Ewing returned to Ohio to live. He there be-
came identified with the Democratic party, served in Congress, and at
the National Democratic Convention held in New York, in July, 1868
was a prominent candidate for the vice presidency. His order No. 11,
circulated among members of that convention, was prejudicial to his
success, and he was finally defeated by Gen. Frank P. Blair, of Mis-
souri. As illustrative of his style as a speaker, and the many great
changes in travel and mail facilities from the early days of Kansas, the
following quotation is given from one of his speeches delivered in
Congress: "I have lived on the border, and know how exigent and
imperative is the need of good facilities — what social joy and business
life the quick coach isfreightal with, aad how saddening and destruct-
ive of business is the laggard mail. I was present when the first fleet
horse of the pony express started — that splendid achievement by Ben
Holladay — the most characteristic of all the American enterprises of
this century. I was present when the courser flung the dust of Mis-
souri from his feet, and sped away to the desert, amid the godspeeds
and acclaims of all Kansas; and I remember, too, how his reception
on the Pacific coast thrilled the continent. A grander and more loving
welcome was given to horse and rider, begrimed with soil and sweat, than
was ever accorded there to hero or statesman; for the hearts of our
brethren on that far coast leaped with joy to know that they were
brought within a fortnight-mail communication with their kindred in
the East. That spider's thread spun across the desert has drawn after
it railroad and telegraph, city and State; vast fields of wheat and herds

s \'

of cattle, and the pulses of this gr(^at artery of commerce now throb
throughout our continent/'

Hon. Samuel A. Kingman, one of the fathers and founders of the
State, was for fourteen years upon the supreme bench as chief justice
and associate justice. He was an active member of the Wyandotte
Constitutional Convention, and was chairman of the committee on the
judiciary. In that convention he was eloquent in debate, as well as
wise, or rather he was eloquent by his wisdom. His name is en-
titled, in Kansas, to enviable immortality for his support of the home-
stead provision incorporated in the State constitution. If not the author
of the provision, he was its most able defender and successful advo-
cate. Against an attempt to limit the value of the homestead to .|2, 000,
he said: ''A true homestead law has always laid very near my heart.
A home is a home, good or bad, valuable or valueless. It is simply
the home, the hearthstone, the fireside, around which a man may gather
his family, with the certainty of assurance that neither the hand of
the law, nor all of the uncertainties of life can eject them from the pos-
session of it. To limit the value is to say to the owner: 'So long
as your land remains unimproved, so long as it shall remain poor and
sterile, it is yours, but the moment you put your labor upon it, the
moment you improve it and adorn it and make it habitable and beau-
tiful, it shall be taken away from you for the payment of your debts. '
This limitation tells him that his labor shall be in vain; tells him to
keep away the hand of improvement, for if you advance its value be-
yond the limit proposed, your homestead and your reliance for the sup-
port of your family is forever gone." Chief -Justice Kingman's judi-
cial opinions are models of clearness and conciseness; a natural sense
of justice permeates them all. Upon the bench, as well as off, he was
noted for unaffected dignity and simplicity. It was a misfortune to
the State that ill health required him to relinquish the duties which
otherwise he was so ably fitted to discharge.

Benjamin Franklin Mudge (the distinguished geologist), son of
James and Ruth Mudge, was born in Orrington, Me., August 11
1817. In 1818 his parents removed to Lynn, Ma.ss., and in the com-
mon schools of that city Benjamin received his early education. From
the age of fourteen until he was twenty, he followed the trade of
shoe making. He taught school to procure the means of acquiring a
collegiate education, and graduated from the Wesleyan University, at
Middletown, Conn.; first in the scientific and afterward in the class-
ical course in 1840. After graduating he returned to Lynn and beo-an

IV*-

A" — ^

138 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

the study of law, being admitted to the bar two years later, aud im-
mediately entering upon the practice of his profession. He remained
a resident of Lynn until 1859, becoming during those years thorough-
ly identified with all the reform movements in that city. He was
especially active aud earnest in the anti-slavery and temjjerance move-
ments, and was elected mayor of the city on the latter issue in 1852.
In ] 859. having spent eighteen years of his active business life in Lynn.
he accepted the office of chemist for the Breckenridge Coal & Oil Com-
pany in Kentucky. On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion
he removed to Kansas and settled at Quindaro, where he remained until
he received an appointment as State geologist for Kansas in 1803. from
which time until his death, sixteen years later, his whole time and
strength were given to scientific researches and investigations in the
West, principally in Kansas and Nebraska. In 1865 he was elected
professor of "'geology and associated sciences,'" in the State Agricult
ural College at Manhattan, in which position he remained eight years.
In addition to the faithful and conscientious work performed by the
Professor in the interest of the institution, he presented to it his rare
and valuable cabinet, including the collections of more than tliirty years
aud many thousand choice specimens. Having some disagreement with
the college administration, which resulted in litigation, Prof. Mudge
accepted an appointment from Prof. Marsh, of Yale College, to gather
geological specimens in the new West for the cabinet of that institu-
tion. He furnished various forms of vertebrate fossils, the first speci-
men of birds with teeth (described b}' Prof. Marsh, American Journal
of Science, volume IV, page 34), and also many of the original speci-
mens for the engravings in Government publications. Duning a single
year he gathered and shipped three tons of rare specimens of western
fossil to eastern scientists. To accomplish such a work his time for
the last five years of his life was necessarily spent principally in camp,
exposed to the perils and privations of frontier and oftentimes savage
life. During the intervals between his tours of exploration and in-
vestigation, his time was employed in writing and lecturing on scien-
tific subjects, mainly geology, he being a fine writer, and a most
popular lecturer. In 1878 he was elected fellow of the American As-
sociation for the Advancement of Science, and was father of the Kansas
Academy of Sciences. He was married September 16, 1846, to Mary
Eusebia Beckford. Six children were born to them. Pi of. Mudge
died of apoplexy at his home in Manhattan, Kas., November '21,
1879.

HISTORY OF KANSAS. 139

Col. D. R. Aiit.boii}', editor and proprietor of the Leavenworth
Times, was born in South Adams, Mass., August 22, 1824. He re-
ceived a common-school education, and his youth and early manhood
were spent in various mercantile pursuits. In July, 1854, Mr. An-
thony visited Kans-as, being a member of that colony sent out by the
New England Emigrant Aid Society, under the leadership of Eli
Thayer, which founded the city of Lawrence. In the fall of the same
year he returned to Rochester, N. Y., where he remained iu business
until June, 1857, when he returned to Kansas, and located permanently
in Leavenworth. At the breaking out of the war, Mr. Anthony be-
came lieutenant-colonel of the First Kansas Cavalry, afterward
known as the Seventh Kansas Volunteers. In November, 1861, at
the battle of the Little Blue, he won a decisive victory over a force of
guerrillas four times as strong as his in numbers; but his reputation as
a faithful Union officer was made by the order which he issued while
in command of Gen. Mitchell's brigade in Tennessee, forbidding any
officer or soldier to return a fugitiTe slave to his master. His action
created no small feeling and commotion in the army and throughout
the country, and, by his refusal to countermand the order, he incurred
the displeasure of his superior officer, and was arrested by Gen.
Mitchell. Within sixty days from the time of his arrest, however,
Gen. Halleck restored him to active service, being satisfied that public
sentiment sustained Col. Anthony's course. In April, 1801, he was
appointed postmaster of Leavenworth, which office he held for five
years, being elected mayor of the city in 1863. As chief executive of
Leavenworth, he carried into civil life the same uncompromising
Union spirit which he had shown in the army, and his administration
was one of the most vigorous and effective which the city has ever en-
joyed. Brig. -Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., commanding the District of
the Border, headquarters at Kansas City, had declared martial law,
and his detectives in Leavenworth seized some horses belono-ing to a
colored man, claiming they had been stolen in Missouri. This Mayor
Anthony resented, claiming that Kansas was a loyal State, and that
her civil authorities were entirely competent to enforce all the laws,
and ordered the police to recover the animals, which they did. On
September 7 he was arrested by order of Gen. Ewing, and taken to
Kansas City, escorted by a military guard of twenty-four men. The
whole of Leavenworth was in a blaze of excitement over the indignity
placed upon her mayor. A large public meeting, composed of promi-
nent citizens, was held upon the evening of his arrest, and resolutions

140 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

were passed calling upon the President to properly punish or censure
those who were responsible for the outrage. Mayor Anthony was.
however, released within twenty-four hours from the time he was ar-
rested, and was granted a perfect ovation at the market house the next
evening. The order declaring martial law in Leavenworth had been
countermanded simultaneously with his arrest. In 1868 Col. Anthony
was president of the llepubliean State Convention, and was chosen a
presidential elector, his being one of the three votes which Kansas
cast for Gen. Grant. In 1871 he served in the city council, and in
1872 was again elected mayor for a term of two years. In 1874 he
was elected councilman from the First Ward, and in April, 1874, was
appointed postmaster of Leavenworth by Gen. Grant. In addition to
the tine record which Col. Anthony has made for himself as a public
functionary, he has, for nearly thirty years, been building a journal-
istic reputation which is second to none in the State, and which is
among the foremost in the country. Mr. Anthony was married Jan-
uary 21, 1864, to Miss Annie O. Osborn, of Edgartown, Mass., his
father-in-law, Capt. Osborn, being one of the leading whaling mer-
chants of that State. Col. Anthony, a man of strong convictions, and
fearless in their expression, has made bitter enemies; and it is almost
an anomaly that a man of strong character does escape bitter persecu-
tion of some kind. On May 10, 1875, he was shot in the opera house,
Leavenworth, by W. W. Embry, a printer and newspaper publisher.
The ball passed into the right side of the face, passed downward, and
lodged in the body. The shot came near proving fatal. It may be
incidentally remarked as a singular circumstance, that on New Year's
Day, 1880, W. W. Eml^ry, the man who shot Col. Anthony, was himself
shot and instantly killed, in a saloon row with his newspaper partner.
Hon. David Josiah Brewer was born in Smyrna, Asia Minor, Jixne
20, 1837. His father. Rev. Josiah Brewer, was a missionary to the
Greeks in Turkey at the time of his birth. His mother, Emilia A
(Field) Brewer, was a sister of David Dudley and Cyrus W. Field.
The subject of this sketch commenced his collegiate studies at the Wes-
leyan University, at Middletown, Conn., but subsequently entered the
junior class at Yale College, New Haven, Conn., from which he grad-
uated with high honors in ]8i'6. He completed his law studies at the
Albany Law School, fiom which he graduated in 1858. He then came
west, spent a few months in Kansas City, and then journeyed farther
west up the Arkansas River to Pike's Peak. He remained in the Colo-
rado regions until the following June, when he returned to Kansas.

It^

HISTOKY OF KANSAS. 141

and after a short visit to his eastern home, settled finally. September
13, 1859, at Leavenworth. Kas. , where he has since been a resident.
Since he settled in Leavenworth he has been an honored citizen by
almost continuous election to offices of honor and trust. In 1861 he
was appointed United States commissioner; in 1862 he was elected
judge of probate and criminal courts of Leavenworth County; in 1864
was elected judge of the district court for the First Judicial District
of the State of Kansas; in 1868 was elected attorney for Leavenworth
County; in 1870 was elected justice of the Supreme Court, and re
elected to the same position in 1876, and again in 1882, for a third
term. Among the many minor offices with which he has been honored
by his neighbors, are the following: Member of the board of educa-
tion of Leavenworth City, in 1863-64; president of the school board
in 1865; citj" superintendent of schools in 1865-68; secretary of the
Mercantile Library Association, 1862-63, and' its president in 1864;
president of the State Teachers" Association in 1868 ; and secretary
and one of the trustees of Mount Muncie Cemetery Association, the
public cemetery of Leavenworth City, since its organization in 1866.
He was married, October 3, 1861, to Miss Louise R. Landon, of Bur-
lington, Vt. They have four daughters, all living: Harriet E., Etta
L., Fannie A. and Jeanie E. During the long period of twelve years
which have passed since Judge Brewer's first election to the supreme
bench, he has, by the judicial ability and integrity which have charac-
terized his decisions, won distinction for himself and eminence as a
jurist, as well as elevated the standard of excellence of the court over
which he presides. It has in the past been truthfully said of him, and
the truth brightens as the years roll on: "He has honestly merited
the confidence and respect which is so universally tendered him by
the legal fraternity of Kansas, and is an honor to the bench he adorns."
Samuel Medary was appointed governor of Kansas Territory
November 19, and arrived in the Territory and entered upon the duties
of his office December 20, 1858. He was born in Montgomery Coun-
ty, Penn. , February 15, 1801. He learned the trade of a printer, and
subsequently became the editor of the Ohio Statesman, published at
Columbus. Ohio. He held the position for many years, dimng which
his paper ranked as one of the ablest Democratic journals of the State.
In politics he was a stanch Democrat of the Jacksoniau school, during
his whole life. He was au ardent admirer and follower of Douglas up to
the division which grew out of the discussion of the Lecompton Constitu-
tion in Congress, at which time he supported the administration and fa

vored its policy. He was appointed governor of Minnesota in March,
1857. On its admission as a State, he again made his home in Columbus,
Ohio. He was appointed governor of Kansas November 19, 1858, took
the oath of office December 1, and entered upon his duties December
20. Compared with the administrations of his predecessors, his was
uneventful. The country was in a comparatively peaceful condition,
and little opportunity was offered him to show either the administra-
tive faults or virtues which he may have possessed. He resigned the
office December 20, 1800, and returned to Columbus, Ohio, where he
remained until the time of his death, which occurred November 7,
1864.

^-.

;pr

^WYANDOTTE ceUNTY.^

CHAPTER XI.

Location— TopoGHAPHY — Altitude — Economic Geology — Explo-
rations— Indians— Skttlement— First Election— Indian Tkea-
TiES— Surveyor-General's Office— Land Surveys- Indian Set-
tlers—First White Settlers— Indian Cemetery— First Mar-
riages, etc , ETC.

■' The fall of waters, and the song of birds.
The hills that echo to the distant herds,
Are luxuries excelling all the glare
The world can boast, and her chief favorites share.

YANDOTTE COUNTY, Kas., is situated at
the coufluence of tbe Missouri and Kansas
Rivers, in tbe extreme eastern portion of
the State, and is bounded on the west and
partially on the north by Leavenworth
County, also on tbe north and northeast by
tbe Missouri River, which separates it from
the Stiite of Missouri; on tbe east by the Missouri River,
Kansas City in Missouri, and tbe Missouri State line, and on
the south by Johnson County, tbe Kansas River forming the
dividing line a part of the way. It contains portions of
Townships 10 and 11, south of the base line, in Ranges 2y.
2-i and '25, east of tbe sixth principal meridian, and a portion
|n< of Township 12 south, in Range 23 east. It also lies in the
southern part of tbe fortieth degree of north latitude, and in
the western part of tbe ninety-liftb degree of longitude west
from Greenwich, England. According to the rectangular system of
United States surveys, it contains an area of about 153 square miles or
97.920 acres.

\^ a

'Ji.

Hi HISTORY OF KANSAS.

The base line above referred to lies on the fortieth degree of
north latitude, and constitutes the line between the States of Kansas
and Nebraska. The sixth principal meridian crosses the base line, and
extends north and south through both of these States, passing through
Kansas 132 miles west of the western boundary of Wyandotte County.
The townships number south from the base line for the whole State.
and the ranges for the eastern part of the State number eastward from
the meridian, and for the western part of the State they number west-
ward therefrom. The State line between the States of Ohio and Indi-
ana constitute the first principal meridian, as used in the system of
townships and ranges for the survey of the public lands; the second
passes through the middle of Indiana, a few miles west of Indianapolis;
the third through the State of Illinois, near the center thereof; the
fourth through the western part of Illinois; the tifth through the
States of Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa, and the sixth through Kansas
and Nebraska, as above explained.

The following is the legal description of the boundary lines of
Wyandotte County: Commencing at a point on the west line of the
State of Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Kansas River; thence
south on the west line of the State of Missouri to the south line of
Township 11 south, being the northeast corner of Johnson County;
thence west on township line to the middle of the main channel of the
Kansas River, in Range 24, east; thence up the said river, in the
middle of the main channel thereof, to the intersection with the east
line of Range 22, east; thence north on said range line to the old
Delaware reservation line, the same being the dividing line between
the original Delaware reserve and Delaware trust laads; thence
east on said line to the west boundary line of the State of Missouri;
thence southeasterly with the said western boundary line of the State
of Missouri to the place of beginning.' This, the statutory description,
is technical, and yet indefinite, as it depends upon other descriptions
not herein expressed. Wyandotte is the smallest county in the State,
but it ranks as the third in population, and has a density of 332.43
persons to the square mile. Kansas City, lying in the extreme eastern
portion of the county, at the mouth of the Kansas River, is the county
seat.

The county is named after the civilized tribe of Indians who com-
menced its settlement in 1843, and it has been spelled in three dif-
ferent ways, viz.: Wyandot, Wyandott and Wyandotte; the tir.st is
the Indian, the second the English, and the third the French method.

■^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

145

It is foimd all these ways in the public records, dooumerits and books
making mention of it. The latter method is now most generally accepted,
and to^prevent confusion, will be used in this work, except in quota-
tions where the name is otherwise spelled.

The general surface of the county is undulating, high bluffs oc-
curring along the Missouri and the south bank of the Kansas River.
Bottom lands vary in width from one to two miles, and, in the aggre-
gate, comprise twenty per cent of the total area. There is consider-
able timber in all sections except the northern, constituting about one-
fourth of the area of the county. The belts along the streams average a
width of two miles. All the varieties of timber common to the west-
ern country, such as oak, elm, sycamore, cottonwood, box elder, wal-
nut, honey locust, willow, hickory, ash, hackberry and mulberry, are
found here. But unlike the tall timber of the East, with limbless
trunks, it has a low and spreading growth, thus making it less valu-
able as saw timber.

Springs are abundant, and good well water is obtained at an aver-
age depth of thirty-live feet. The Missouri River, flowing in a south-
easterly direction, forms the largest portion of the northern boundary
and a small part of the eastero. The Kansas River, with a north-
eastern course, forms about one third of the southern boundary, and
flows into the Missouri River. The creeks which flow from the county
uito the Missouri River are Jersey, which runs eastwardly through
the northern part of Kansas City; Big Eddy, near the line between
Ranges 24 and 25; Marshall, near the line between Ranges 23 and 24;
Connar, Honey and Island, the last three being in Range 23. All
of these except Jersey flow in a northeasterly direction. There are
some other smaller tributaries of the Missouri in the county. The
creeks which flow from the county into the Kansas River on the north
side are Muncy, Mill and Turkey, in Range 24, and Betts, East Mis-
souri, West Missouri, Spring and West, in Range 23. These streams
all flow southerly and southeasterly. A few small creeks enter the
Kansas River from Shawnee Township, of Wyandotte County, on
the south. The streams here mentioned, with a few small and un-
named rivulets, form the drainage of the county, which is very per-
fect.

Kansas River, at its mouth, is 750 feet above sea level. The city
hall in Kansas City, Kas., stands 124.61 feet above low water mark
in the Missoiiri River, and the court-house stands 150 feet above the
same mark. The surface gradually rises on going westward, but be-

^-^

^^^^

tween the streams that flow northward into the Missouri, and those
that flow southward into the Kansas Kiver, there is a water shed run-
ning east and west through the county near the second standard
parallel south from the base line, it being the line between Town
ships 10 and 11 south. From this water shed the lands descend
toward the Missouri on the north and northeast, and toward the
Kansas River on the south and southeast.

The soil of both the valley and highlands of the county is the same
in fine, black, rich loam, so common in the Westei-n States. The pre-
dominating limestones, by disintegration, aid in its fertility, but the
extreme fineness of all the ingredients acts most effectively in produc-
ing its richness. On the uplands it is from one to three feet deep; in
the bottoms it is sometimes twenty feet or more. There are no stag-
nant pools or peat marshes in the county, except in the immediate bot-
toms of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, where there is some lifeless
water in sloughs when the rivers are very low. The strata of the outer
formation of the earth is mostly in a horizontal position, showing that
the uplifting from the ocean must have been slow and perpendicular.

A few veins of coal have been found, but are not of sufficient thick-
ness to warrant working; besides, they lie very deep. A light-colored
limestone, making a good caustic lime, is very abundant on the banks of
the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, aud along the many small streams
throughout the county. It is the stone mostly used for building pur-
poses. A blue limestone, also making a fair quality of lime, is found
in limited quantities. It is a hard, compact stone, without seams, and
much sought after for " range " work. A grey limestone, or granite
limestone, making a very inferior lime, is found in immense layers, two
to four feet in thickness. It is without flaws, is hard, compact and
durable, and is much used in the construction of bridge piers, abut-
ments and heavy walls. Limestone oolitic is found in beds of great
thickness, and is used for abutments, piers and heavy walls. It makes
a poor quality of lime. Sandstone, not very compact, is found in the
central and most elevated portions of the county, and is used to a small
extent in building. At Argentine and Edwardsville there are ledges
of a very hard sandstone, similar to the Medina sandstone of New
York. Blocks of it are used for street paving. Cement rock is found
underlying a few hundred acres of land just south of the city limits of
Kansas City. It is almost an inexhaustible deposit of hydraulic lime-
stone, from eight to fifteen feet in thickness. The quality is proving
to be excellent. A company having a large capital has bought costly

^IV

kilns and a cement mill, and has been manufacturing cement from this
stone for several years. Under the cement a large deposit of tire clay
is foxind. Fire-bricks have been manufactvired from it, and the clay
is much used as a mortar in laying firebrick. In boring for coal in
1875 gas was struck at a depth of 350 feet, 10,000 feet of gas escap-
ing hourly. In 1883 another company drilled a six-inch well in the
old city of Wyandotte, seeking for coal or oil, and, at a depth of 300
feet, also struck gas. The gas is utilized to a limited extent.

Long before the United States possessed the vast territory west of
the Mississipj)i, the French and the Spaniards had explored the Mis
souri and Kansas Rivers to points above their junction, but made no
permanent settlements. Of these explorations but little is known. In
1800 a trading post was established at Randolph BlufFs, three miles
below the present Kansas City, but it did not lead to a settlement.
The first Americans who saw this part of country under the dominion
of the United States were Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, who traveled by
in 1804, on their famous expedition up the Missouri, passing the
mouth of Kansas River early in May of that year, or perhaps late in
April, where they made a temporary camp and procured plenty of
game. In 1811 the western limit of white settlement was at Fort
Osage in Missouri, thirty-four miles below the mouth of the Kansas
River. In 1819 Maj. Stephen H. Long, in the employ of the Govern-
ment, with a corps of topographical engineers on his way to the Yel-
lowstone country, passed the site of the present Wyandotte County,
with the first steamboat that ever plowed the Missouri along the borders
of Kansas. In 1825 Cyprian Chouteau, a Frenchman, established a
trading post on the south side of the Kansas River about opposite the
pj;esent site of Muncie. A few years later he was joined by his brother,
Frederick, and later still the}' moved their trading post about eighty
miles farther up the river. In 1827 a part of the Third Regiment of
United States troops passed the mouth of Kansas River on their way
to Leavenworth, where they erected barracks and a fort. In 1829
Rev. Thomas Johnson established a Methodist mission school among
the Shawnees, in the present township of Shawnee in Johnson County,
which lies directly south of Shawnee Township in Wyandotte County,
and in May, 1832, he established a mission school among the Dela-
ware Indians, near the White Church post-oifice, now on the Kansas
City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad. In May, 1834. the first
stock of goods was landed near the present site of Kansas City, Mo.
In 1837 John G. Pratt located on Section 10, in Townshi]) 11, Range

23, about twelve miles west of Wyandotte City, where he still resides,
and established a Baptist mission among the Delaware Indians. Mr.
Pratt has published several hymn books in the Delaware language,
one of which was printed at the Wyandotte Herald oifice. He was ap-
pointed agent for the Delawares, by President Lincoln. One of his
sons married a daughter of Charles Journeycake, a well-known Del-
aware chief. His eldest daughter married Col. Samuel Black, of
Leavenworth. In 184:2 John C. Fremont, on an expedition, visited
Cyprian Chouteau's trading post on the Kansas River, and then with
Kit Carson as his guide proceeded farther up the river. The next
year Fremont went up this river on a second expedition.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, when the United
States became possessed of the extensive Territory of Louisiana, the
Pawnee Indians claimed possession and ownership of a large tract
of counti'y including what is now Wyandotte County. The Paw-
nees were a powerful and warlike tribe, and for a century they main-
tained sway over the country embraced by the branches of the Kan-
sas River, and over the whole region watered by the Platte, from near
the Rocky Mountains to its mouth. They were divided into several
villages or bands, one of which, the Pawnee Republic, gave its name
to the Republican River. The Otoes, Omahas and other tribes ac-
knowledged the superiority of the Pawnees, and lived under their
protection. In 1832, however, all these tribes were ravaged by the
small-pox, and it is said that the Pawnees then lost half their popula
tion. The following year, by treaty, they disposed of, to the United
States, all their claims to the land lying south of the Platte River,
and agreed to locate themselves north of that river and west of the
Missouri. This they did. But large bodies of Sioux came down on
their new settlements, and drove them back with great slaughter.
Some returned to their old villages; others joined their allies, the
Otoes and Omahas. They continued to be unfortunate, and by the
ravages of wars and disease rapidly dwindled in numbers. [T. G.
Adams' Homestead Guide.]

But later the Kansas or Raw Indians claimed to have, in a great
measure, supplanted the Pawnees in their right to the occupancy of
their country, and by treaty dated June 8, 1825, they (the Kaws) ceded
to the United States a tract of territory including what is now em-
braced in Wyandotte County. Subsequently, early in the thirties, the
United States granted to the Delaware Indians a large reservation in
the purchase from the Kaw Indians, which inchxded all of what is

•^ik--

now in Wyandotte County lying north of the Kansas River. And
then, or s ion thereafter, the Shawnee Indians, by treaty or otherwise,
claimed a large tract of country lying immediately south of the Kan -
sas River.

The following account pertaining to the last occupancy by the In-
dians of the territory now embraced in Wyandotte County, given by
Rev. John G. Pratt, now the oldest citizen in the county, and published
in the Andreas' State History, is here presented for the benefit of the
reader:

' ' That part of the country on the north side of the Kansas River
was first settled by the Delawares in 1829. They came from Ohio,
and brought with them a knowledge of agriculture, and many of them
habits of industry. They opened farms, built houses and cut out roads
along the ridges and divides; also erected a frame church at what is
now the village of White Church. The south side of the Kansas
River was settled by the Shawnee Indians in 18'23. They also after-
ward came from Ohio, and were about as much advanced in civiliza-
tion as the Delawares. They had a Methodist Mission some three
miles fi'om Westport a long time, it being presided over by Rev. Mr.
Johnson; also a Quaker Mission about two miles west of that. The
population of the Delaware tribe when it first settled in Kansas was
1,000. It w.as afterward reduced to 800. This was in consequence of
contact with the wilder tribes, who were as hostile to the short haired
Indians as they were to the whites. Still the Delawares would vent-
ure out hunting buffalo and beaver, to be iuevitably overcome and de-
stroyed. Government finally forbade their leaving the reS'ervation.
The effect of this order was soon apparent in the steady increase of the
tribe, so that when they removed in 1867 they numbered 1,160. The
ruling chiefs from 1829 to 1867 were Ne-con-he-con, Qui-sha to wha
(Capt. John Ketchum), Nah-ko-mund (Capt. Anderson), Kock-a-to- wha
(Sar-cos-ie), Charles Johnnycake, Qua con now-ha (James Sacondine
or Secundine), Ah-cah chick (James Connor) and Cajit. John Connor."

" Capt. John Ketchum, one of the most noted chiefs of the Dela-
wares, died in August, 1857. Aa lived near White Church, on the
Lawrence road, and at the time of his death, which occurred at an ad-
vanced age, he was almost helpless. His funeral was attended by a
large number of Indians, who came in their colored blankets and
painted faces, carrying their guns."

In 184'2 the Wyaudotte Indians in Ohio, by treaty sold their
lands in that State to the United States, and the following year they

moved toward the setting sun in search of a new home. Preceding
their coining, in May, 1843, Silas Armstrong and George Clark, with
their families, and Miss Jane Tilles (now the widow of William
Cook), who had been reared by Mrs. Sarah Armstrong, came to
this section to select a reservation, but more particularly to establish
a trading store for the nation. This Mr. Armstrong did, renting a
building in Westport. The young men of the tribe, under the leader-
ship of Matthew Walker, brought the horses aad came overland from
the reservation. The rest of the tribe —men, women and children,
went to Cincinnati and there engaged two boats, the "Nodaway" and
another, on which they set out by water for their destination west of
Missouri.

The "Nodaway," the largest vessel, arrived at Westport Landing,
July 28, 1843, and the other vessel arrived three days later. They
found upon arrival that the land lying south of the Kansas River
was occupied by the Shawnee Indians, and that the land lying north
thereof was occupied by the Delaware Indians, and that there were
no lands here then open to their entry as a home.

Silas Armstrong, a prominent member of the tribe, located with his
family in a house in Westport, and perhaps other members of the
baud found house-room in the same village; but the body of the tribe
encamped on a narrow strip of land lying between the Shawnee reser-
vation and the Missouri State line, south of the mouth of Kansas River.
This strip had been reserved by the Government for the purpose of
erecting a fort thereon, but the land being too low, it was never util-
ized for such purpose — a site at Leavenworth being chosen in its stead.
Being anxious to find a home, the coiincil of the Wyandottes negotiated
with the Delawares, who were friendly, and received from them three
sections of land, by gift, and thirty-six sections by purchase — all lying
in the peninsula between the Missouri and the Kansas (then the Kaw)
Rivers, and bounded on the north and east by the former river, and on the
south by the latter, and containing the site of the present Kansas City,
in Kansas. Its western boundary was a north and south line, extend-
ing from river to river, far enough to the west to contain the thirty-
nine sections — being run a little west of the middle of Range 24.
Afterward this purchase was coniirmed and ratified by the United
States, and it became the Wyandottes' reservation.

After camping on the low strip of land before mentioned, from their
arrival in July, 1843, to October of the same year, the Wyandottes
crossed the Kansas River, and encamped on the lands procured from

>fv"

the Delawiires. Duriug this time they lost by death, from sickness,
sixty of their number. Immediately after occupying their "prom-
ised land," they began to erect permanent homes. John Mclutyre
Armstrong, a well educated and prominent Wyandotte (whose widow,
Lucy B. Armstrong, a white woman, and daughter of Rev. Russell
Bigelow, formerly of the Ohio Methodist Episcopal Conference, is still
living), erected his log cabin about 150 feet east of what is now Fifth
Street and a little north of Freeman Aveiuie, in Kansas City, and
moved his family into it December 10, 1843. This was the first house
built on the site of what is now a prosperous city. In 184:7 he com-
pleted the very substantial frame dwelling-house on what is known
as •' Lucy B. Armstrong's Allotment," near the Northwestern depot,
and where his widow, Mrs. Lucy B., has ever since resided. Mr.
Armstrong was sev«n-eighths white and one-eighth Indian. The Wy-
andottes as fast as possible erected log cabins, and provided them-
selves with comfortable homes, and began to improve the country.
Being both civilized and Christianized, they let not a year roll away,
before they had a house erected in which they met to worship God.
Their school-house and council house were also erected before a year
had rolled away, and in it J. Mclntyre Armstrong began to teach the
first school, beginning July 1, 1844 — in less than a year after they
landed at West port.

The spring of 1844 was warm and dry until in May, when it com-
menced to rain and continued to rain more or less every day for forty
days, causing a very destructive flood. The bottom lands on both
sides of the Kansas River at and near its mouth, now mostly covered
with buildings, was then inundated with water to a depth of fourteen
feet; the Missouri backed up to the mouth of Line Creek, and Jersey
Creek backed up to a point a quarter of a mile above the site of the
present Northwestern Railroad depot. The long, continued rains
were succeeded by dry and hot weather, and the overflowed vegetable
matter decomposing, cansed much sickness among the Wyandottes,
and a large percentage of their number died. But, notwithstanding
this calamity, the Wyandottes continued to build houses, to subdue the
wilderness and make farms, to build churches and school-houses, to
worship God and educate their children, so that when their reservation
was opened to the white settlers, the latter found it very unlike the
many settlements made on the frontier among the aborigines. Yet,
these people were Indians, so called.

The original Wyandotte Indians were of the Iroquois family, and

^fV*'

were called Hurons by the French. When the French settled Canada
they were on the Island of Montreal, and were very numeious. A
part ol them went to Quebec, and a part sonth of the great lakes. In
1829 a small band of them lived on Huron River in Michigan, but the
principal portion settled on the headwaters of the Sandusky River in
Ohio, whence they afterward came to Kansas. Those that removed
to the reservation here were nearly all known as half-breeds, but many
of them had more white than Indian blood in their veins. A few white
men. who married into the tribe, were adopted as members thereof,
and were prominent in their councils. Besides being civilized, on
their reservation in Ohio manj' of these Indians were Christianized
by the mission work of Christian denominations, notably the Method-
ist Episciipal in Ohio. Subsequently many of them were very respect-
able and prominent in the settlement and organization of Wyandotte
County, and some of the best and most prominent citizens of the
county to-day are descendants in part from these people. Unfort-
unately many of the Wyandottes, like their white brethren, were too
fond of ' ' fire water. ' '

Jane Tilles, a white girl, adopted into the tribe in Ohio, came here
as a meuiber of the family of Silas Armstrong. She afterward mar-
ried James Bennett, who was elected chief of the Wyandottes, and after
his death she married William Cook, a prominent business man of
Wyandotte. She is now living on Emerson Avenue, between Sixth
and Seventh Streets.

In 1843, when the Wyandottes came, Kansas City, Mo., contained
three warehouses (those of the Town Company, Francis Chouteau, or
rather the American Fur Company, and that of W. G. & G. W. Ewing),
two or three small trading houses, and a few log cabins, mostly opcu-
pied by Frenchmen. It was then known only as Westport Landing.

In the summer of 1852 the organization of a Territory claimed the
attention of the leading men of the Wyandotte Nation, which resulted
in issuing a call for an election for delegates to Congress. The elec-
tion was held October 12, of that year. George I. Clark, Samuel'
Priestly and Matthew R. Walker acted as judges, and William Walker
and Benjamin C. Anderson as clerks. Thirty-live votes were polled,
and the following is the order in which they were received: Charles
B. Garrett, Isaac Baker, Jose Antonio Pieto, Henry C. Norton, Abe-
lard Guthrie, Henry C. Long, Cyrus Garrett, Francis Cotter, Edward
B. Hand, Francis A. Hicks, Russell Garrett, Samuel Rankin, Nich-
olas Cotter, Joel W. Garrett, Isaac Long, Thomas Coon Hawk, James

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 153

Garlow, William Walker. George I. Clark, Benjamin N. C. Anderson,
Matthew R. Walker, Samuel Priestly, Henry Garrett, William Gibson,
Presley Mnir, Joel Walker, Isaac Brown, James Long, John Lynch,
William Trowbridge, John W. Ladd, Daniel McNeal, Edward Fifer,
Peter D. Clark and Henry W. Porter. Besides the importance of this
event, the list of names here given serves to show who many of the
Wyandottes were at this date.

Abelard Guthrie received every vote cast, and went to Washington as
the duly accredited delegate of the Territory to the XXXIId Congress.

By a treaty dated January 31, 1855, the Wyandottes ceded their
reservation here to the United States, and by the terms of the treaty,
the United States deeded the lands back to them in severalty, giving to
each a sufficient number of acres to make up the value of his or her
share, so that all did not receive the same number of acres, but the
same amount in value. The lands of the reservation were all deeded
back except the Indian graveyard — mentioned elsewhere in this work —
a large church lot to each of the religious denominations known as the
Methodist Episcopal and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and
four acres at the ferry landing, and perhaps other small tracts for
public uses. This treaty granted 'to the Wyandottes the privilege of
becoming citizens, and the country was opened to the settlement by
the whites upon buying lands of such Indians as chose to sell, the
Government having no land in the reservation subject to entry. About
the same time the lands lying south of the Kansas River became
subject to settlement by a treaty between the United States and the
Shawnees.

The Delawares holding the lands west of and adjoining the Wyan-
dotte Reservation continued to possess them, and in May, 1860, by
treaty each member of the tribe was assigned eighty acres of land, to
be held in severalty, and preference of purchasing the remainder of
the Delaware land, at not less that $1. 25 per acre, was given to the
Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad Company. By means of
the purchase of this company, a slight settlement of that part of the
county by the whites commenced soon after.

By a subsequent treaty with the Delawares dated June 4, 1806,
the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to sell what then remained
unsold of the Delaware lands to the Missouri River Railroad Compan}-,
at not less than $2. 50 per acre. Accordingly, by the terms of the
treaty, in order to vest every holder of the real estate with a title from
the Government, all the lands were deeded in trust to Alexander Colwell,

;iv

^'*4^ »^

and he gave a deed to each tndian holding an allotment under the
treaty of 1860. The lands then remaining unsold and unoccupied
were sold at $2.50 per acre to the railroad syndicate, consisting of
Tom Scott, of Pennsylvania; Thomas Price, Len T. Smith, Alex
Colwell, Oliver A. Hart and others to the number of thirteen. These
lands then came into market, and the settlement of that part of the
county became more rapid.

The following is a full copy of the treaty with the Wyandotte
Indians:
Franklin Pierce, President of ilie United States of America, To all and

singular to ichoni these presents shall come, greeting:

Whereas a treaty vpas made and concluded at the city of Washing-
ton, on the thirty- tirst day of January, one thousand eight hundred
and lifty-live, by George W. Mannypenny, as commissioner on the part
of the United States, and the following-named chiefs and delegates of
the Wyandott tribe of Indians, viz. : Tau-roo-mee, Mathew Mudeater,
John Hicks, Silas Armstrong, George I. Clark and Joel Walker, they
being thereto duly authorized by said tribe, which treaty is in the words
following, to- wit:

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the
city of Washington on the thirty first day of January, one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five, by George W. Mannypenny, as commis-
sioner on the part of the United States, and the following-named
chiefs and delegates of the Wyandott tribe of Indians, viz. : Tau-
roo-mee, Mathew Mudeater, John Hicks, Silas Armstrong, George I.
Clark and Joel Walker, they being duly authorized by said tribe:

Article 1. The Wyandott Indians having become sufficiently ad-
vanced in civilization, and being desirous of becoming citizens, it is
hereby agreed and stipulated, that their organization, and their rela-
tions with the United States as an Indian tribe, shall be dissolved and
terminated; except so far as the further and temporary continuance of
the same may be necessary in the execution of some of the stipulations
herein, and from and after the date of such ratification, the said Wy-
andott Indians, and each and every one of them, except as hereinafter
provided, shall be deemed, and are hereby declared, to be citizens of
the United States, to all intents and purposes; and shall be entitled to
all the rights, privileges and immunities of such citizens; and shall,
in all respects, be subject to the laws of the United States, and of the
Territory of Kansas, in the same manner as other citizens of said
Territory; and the jurisdiction of the United States, and of said Ter-

^c-

^fV^

ritory, shall be extended over the Wyandott country, in the same man-
ner as over other parts of said Territory. But such of the said Indians
as may so desire and make application accordingly, to the commission-
ers hereinafter provided for, shall be exempt from the immediate op-
erations of the preceding provisions, extending citizenship to the Wy-
andott Indians, and shall have continued to them the assistance and
protection of the United States, and an Indian agent in their vicinity,
for such a limited period, or periods of time, according to the circum-
stances of the case, as shall be determined by the commissioner of In-
dian afPairs; and on the expiration of such period, or periods, the said
exemption, protection and assistance shall cease, and said persons shall
then, also, become citizens of the United States; with all the rights
and privileges, and subject to the obligations, above stated and defined.

Article 2. The Wyandott Nation hereby cede and relinquish
to the United States all their rights, title and interest in and to the
tract of country sitiiate in the fork of the Missouri and Kansas Elvers,
which was purchased by them of the Delaware Indians, by an agree-
ment dated the fotirteenth day of December, one thousand eight
hundred and forty-three, and sanctioned by a joint resolution of Con-
gress, approved July twenty-fifth, one thousand eight hundred and
forty-eight, the object of which cession is, that the said lands shall
be subdivided, assigned and reconveyed, by patent in fee simple, in
the manner hereinafter provided for, to the individuals and members
of the Wyandott Nation, in severalty, except as follows, viz. : The
portion now enclosed and used as a public burying ground shall be
permanently reserved and appropriated for that purpose; two acres, to
include the church building of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
including the burying ground connected therewith, are hereby reserved,
granted and conveyed to that church, and two acres, to include the
church building of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, are hereby
reserved, granted and conveyed to said church. Four acres at and
adjoining the Wyandott ferry, across, and near the mouth of the
Kansas River, shall also be reserved, and together with the rights of
the Wyandotts in said ferry, shall be sold to the highest bidder,
among the Wyandott people, and the proceeds of sale paid over to the
Wyandotts. On the payment of the purchase money in full, a good
and sutificient title to be secured and conveyed to the purchaser, by
patent from the United States.

Article 3. As soon as practicable, after the ratification of this
agreement, the United States shall cause the lands ceded in the pre-

156 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

ceding article to be surveyed into sections, half and quarter sections,
to correspond with the public surveys in the Territory of Kansas; and
three commissioners shall be appointed, one by the United States, and
two by the Wyandott council, whose duty it shall be to cause any
additional surveys that may be necessary, and to make a fair and
just division and distribution of the said lands among all the individ-
uals and members of the Wyandott tribe; so that those assigned to,
or for each, shall, as nearly as possible, be equal in quantity, and also
in value, irrespective of the improvements thereon; and the division
' and assignment of the lands shall be so made as to include the houses,
and, as far as practicable, the other improvements, of each person or
family; be in as regular and compact a form as possible, and in-
clude those for each separate family all together. The judgment and
decision of said commissioners, on all questions connected with the
division and assignment of said lands, shall be final.

On the completion of the division and assignment of the lands, as
aforesaid, said commissioners shall cause a plat and schedule to be
made, showing the land assigned to each person or family, and the
quantity thereof. They shall also make carefully prejsared lists of all
the individuals and members of the Wyandott tribe — those of each
separate family being arranged together — which lists shall exhibit,
separately, first, those families, the heads of which the commissioners,
after due, inquiry and consideration, shall be satisfied are snfficiently
intelligent, competent and prudent to control and manage their affairs
and interests, and also all persons without families.

Second, those families, the heads of which are not competent and
proper persons to be entrusted with their shares of the money paya-
ble under this agreement; and, third, those who are orphans, idiots
or insane. Accurate copies of the lists of the second and third of the
above classes shall be furnished by the commissioners to the Wyandott
council, whereupon said council shall proceed to appoint or designate the
proper person or persons to be recognized as the representatives of those
of the second class, for the purpose of receiving andjaroperly applying
the sums of money due and payable to, or for them, as hereinafter
provided, and, also, those who are to be entrusted with the guardian-
ship of the individuals of the third class and the custody and man-
agement of their rights and interests; the said acts or proceedings of
the council, duly authenticated, to be forwarded to the commissioner
of Indian affairs and filed in his office; and the same shall be annu-
ally revised by the said council until the payment of the last install-

- di-

luent of the moneys payable to the Wyandotts, under this agreement,
and said change, or changes made therein, as may from casualties or
otherwise become necessary, such revisions and changes, duly au-
thenticated, to be communicated to, and subject to the approval of
the commissioner of Indian affairs. The said commissioner shall
likewise prepare a list of all such persons and families, among the
Wyandott people, as may apply to be temporarily exempted from
citizenship, and for continued protection and assistance from the
United States, and an Indian agent as provided in the first article of
this agreement. The agent through whom same is to be furnished,
shall be designated by the commissioner of Indian affairs.

The aforesaid plat and schedule, and list of persons, didy au-
thenticated by the commissioners, shall be forwarded to the commis-
sioner of Indian affairs, and be tiled in his ofiSce, and copies of the
said plat and schedule, and of the list of persons temporarily exempted
from citizenship and entitled to the continued protection and assist-
ance of the United States, and an Indian agent, duly attested by the
commissioners, shall be tiled by them in each of the offices of the
secretary of the Territory of Kansas, and the clerk of the county in
which the Wyandott lands are situated.

Article 4. On the receipt by the commissioner of Indian affairs of
the plat and schedule and list of persons, and of the first proceedings of
the Wyandott council, mentioned in the next preceding article,
patents shall be issued by the general land office of the United
States, under the advisement of the commissioner of Indian affairs, to
the individuals of the Wyandott tribe for the lands severally assigned
to them, as provided for in the third article of this agreement, in the
following manner, to wit. : To those reported by the commissioners to
be competent to be entrusted with the control and management of
their affairs and interests, the patents shall contain an absolute and
unconditional grant in fee simple, and shall be delivered to them by
the commissioner of Indian affairs as soon as they can be prepared
and recorded in the general land office; but to those not so competent,
the patents shall contain an express condition that the lands are not
to be sold or alienated for a period of five years, and not then with-
out the express consent of the President of the United States first
being obtained, and the said patents may be withheld by the com-
missioners of Indian affairs, so long as in his judgment they being
so withheld may be made to operate beneficially upon the character
and conduct of the individuals entitled to them.

D "V

lo8 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

None of the lands to be thus assigned and patented to the Wyan-
dotts shall be subject to taxation for a period of five years from and
after the organization of a State government over the territory where
they reside; and those of the incompetent classes shall not be aliened
or leased for a longer period than two years, and shall be exempt from
levy, sale or forfeiture, until otherwise provided by State legislation,
with the assent of Congress.

Article 5. Disinterested persons, not to exceed three, shall he
appointed by the commissioner of Indian affairs to make a just and
fair appraisement of the parsonage houses, and other improvements
connected therewith, on the Wyandott land, belonging to the Method-
ist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
the amount of which appraisements shall be paid to the said churches,
respectively, by the individual or individuals of the "Wyandott tribe,
to whom the land on which said houses and improvements are or shall
have been assigned under the provisions of this agreement; said pay-
ments to be made within a reasonable time, in one or more install-
ments, to be determined by said appraisers, and, until made in
full, no payment or other evidence of title to the lands so assigned to
said individual or individuals shall be issued or given to them.

Akticle 6. The Wyandott Nation hereby relinquish and release
the United States from all their rights and claims to annuity, school
moneys, blacksmith establishments, assistance and materials, employ-
ment of an agent for their benefit, or any other object or thing of a
national character, and from all the stipulations and guarantees of
that character provided for or contained in former treaties, as well
as from any and all other claims or demands whatsoever, as a nation,
arising under any treaty or transaction between them and the Govern-
ment of the United States, in consequence of which release and relin ■
quishment the United States hereby agree to pay to the Wyandott
Nation the sum of three hundred and eighty thousand dollars, to be
equally distributed and paid to all the individuals and members of the
said nation in three annual installments, payable in the month of
October, commencing the present year; the shares of the families,
whose heads the commissioners shall have decided not to be compe-
tent and proper persons to receive the same, and those of orphans,
idiots, and insane persons, to be paid to and receij)ted for by the in-
dividuals designated or appointed by the Wyandott council to act as
their representatives and guardians.

Such part of the annuity, under the treaty of one thousand eight

- — =^=^1^

^ ~ I

■WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 159

hundred and forty-two, as shall have accrued and may remain unpaid
at the date of the payment of the iirst of the above mentioned in-
stallments, shall then be paid to the Wyandotts, and be in full and
a final discharge of said annuity.

Article 7. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars, invested
under the treaty of one thousand eight hundred and fifty, together with
any accumulation of said principal sum, shall be paid over to the Wyan-
dotts, in like manner with the three hundred and eighty thousand
dollars, mentioned in the next preceding article; but in two eqiial
annual installments, commencing one year after the payment of the
last installment of the said above-mentioned sum. In the meantime,
the interest on the said invested fund, and on any accumulation
thereof, together with the amount which shall be realized from the
disposition of the ferry and the land connected therewith, the sale of
which is provided for in the second article of this agreement, shall
be paid over to the Wyandott council, and applied and expended by
regular appropriation of the legislative committee of the AVyandott
Nation for the support of schools, and for other purposes of a strictly
national or public character.

Ahticle 8. The persons to be included in this treaty, regarding
the payment of money to be divided and paid under the pro-
visions of this agreement, shall be such only as are actual mem-
bers of the Wyandott Nation, their heirs and legal representatives, at
the date of the ratification hereof, and as are entitled to share in the
property and funds of said nation, according to the laws, usages and
customs thereof.

Article 9. It is stipulated and agreed that each of the individuals,
to whom reservations were granted by the fourteenth article of the
treaty of March seventeenth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-
two, or their heirs or legal representatives, shall be permitted to select
and locate said reservations on any government lands west of the
States of Missouri and Iowa, subject to pre-emption and settlement,
said reservations to be patented by the United States, in the names of
the reservees, as soon as practicable after the selections are made; and
the reservees, their heirs or proper representatives, shall have the un-
restricted right to sell and convey the same whenever they may think
proper; but in cases where any of said reservees may not be suffi-
ciently prudent and competent to manage their affairs in a proper
manner, which shall be determined by the Wyandot council, or where
anv of them have died, leaving minor heirs, the said council shall

160

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

appoint proper and discreet persons to act for such incompetent per-
sons, and minor heirs, in the sale of the reservations and the custody
and management of the proceeds thereof, the persons so appointed to
have full authority to sell and dispose of the reservations in such cases,
and to make and execute a good and valid title thereto.

The selections of said reservations, upon being reported to the sur-
veyor-general of the district in which they are made, shall be entered
upon the township plats, and reported without delay to the commis-
sioner of the general land office, and patents issued to the reservees
accordingly. And any selections of, settlements upon, or claim to
land included in any of said reservations, made by any person or per-
sons, after the same shall have been selected liy the reservees, their
heirs or legal representatives, shall be null and void.

Article 10. It is expressly understood that all the expenses con-
nected with the subdivision and assignment of the Wyandott lands, as
provided for in the third article hereof, or with any other measure or
proceeding, which shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of
this agreement, shall be borne and defrayed by the Wyandotts, except
those of the survey of the lands into sections, half and quarter sec-
tions, the issue of the patents, and the employment of the commis-
sioner to be appointed by the United States; which shall l)e paid by
the United States.

Akticle 11. This instrument shall be obligatory on the contract-
ing parties, whenever the same shall be ratified by the President and
the Senate of the United States.

In testimony whereof, the said George W. Mannypenny, commis-
sioner as aforesaid, and the said chiefs and delegates of the Wyan-
dott tribe of Indians, have hereunto set their hands and seals, at the
place and on the day and year hereinbefore written:

George W. Mannypenny, [l. s.

Tau-boo-mee, his X mark, [l. s.

Mathew Mudeatee, his X mark, [l. s.
John Hicks, his X mark, [l. s.

Silas Armstrong, • [l. s.

George I. Clark, [l. s.

Joel Walker, [l. s.

Executed in presence of

A. Gumming, Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Egbert S. Neighbors, Special Agent.
Will P. Eoss, Cherokee Delegate.
J. F. Cochrane.

"IT.

■WYANDOTTE COUNTY. IBl

And, Whereas, the said treaty having been submitted to the Senate
of the United States, for its constitutional action thereon, the Senate
did on the twentieth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five, advise and consent to the ratification of its articles, by the
following resolution :
In executive session. Senate of the United States, February 20, 1855.

Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring), That
the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the articles of
agreement and convention made and concluded at the city of Wash-
ington, on the thirty-first day of January, one thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five, by George W. Mannypenny, as commissioner on the
part of the United States, and the following named chiefs and dele-
gates of the Wyandott tribe of Indians, viz.: Tauroo-mee, Mathew
Mudeater, John Hicks, Silas Armstrong, George I. Clark and Joel
Walker, they being thereto duly authorized by said tribe.

AsBURY Dickens, Secretary.

Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Franklin Pierce, President of
the United States of America, do, in pursuance of the advice and con-
sent of the Senate as expressed in their resolution of February
twentieth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, accept, ratify,
and confirm the said treaty.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States

to be hereto affixed, having signed the same with my hand.

[l.s. ] Done at the city of Washington, this first day of March, in

the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and

fifty-five, and of the Independence of the United States, the seventj'-

ninth.

By the President, Franklin Pierce.

W. L. Marcy, Secretarij.

Soon after the Wyandottes ceded their lands to the Government, in
1855, the surveyor-general for the Territory of Kansas, Mr. John Cal-
houn, came here and established his office in a double log house which
stood at what is now the northeast corner of State Avenue and Fourth
Street, partly in the street. The same year Col. Charles A. Manners
and Joseph Ludlow accompanied by Mr. Thomas J. Barker, a pioneer
citizen still living in old 'Wyandotte, and others, surveyed and estab-
lished the line between the present States of Kansas and Nebraska
from the Missouri River west to the point selected by them for the
crossing of the Sixth Principal Meridian. One of these gentlemen
then extended the meridian northward and the other extended it south-

i> "V '

lt)2 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

ward. North of the base line (now State line) they ran standard par-
allels from the meridian line to the Missouri River at intervals of
twenty- four miles; and south of the base line they ran standard par-
allels from the meridian line to the Missouri River at intervals of
thirty miles, all this preparatory to subdividing the territory into
townships and ranges. As soon as the second standard parallel
south of the base line was run and established, contracts were let to
deputy United States surveyors for the subdivision and sectionizing of
the AVyandotte reservation. The first contract for this purpose was
awarded to Deputy Surveyor Colwell, who in the same year sur-
veyed and subdivided fractional Township 10 south, Range 25 east.
Contracts were let to other deputy surveyors, and the subdivision of the
reservation was soon thereafter completed. A contract was let to Mr.

, who employed Thomas J. Barker, now of Kansas City, Kas.,

to assist him, but on going to his work he by mistake went to a town-
ship that had been surveyed, and did actually resurvey a portion of
it, claiming that it was in his contract; on being convinced of his
error, he stopped work, got on a •• big drunk," and made no further sur-
vey of the reservation.

After the surveys were completed, and the Indians received titles
to the lands ' allotted to them in the last treaty, they began, in the
winter of 1856-57, to dispose of their lands to the white settlers.
However, as they were not obliged to sell, some of them remained as
long as they lived. But the great bulk of them sold out, and moved
to their present location in the Indian Territory, where it is said that
over 200 of them yet survive.

While speaking of the early settlers of Wyandotte County, it is
well to mention a number of prominent Wyandotte Indians, who were
civilized and considerably enlightened, had improved the country,
were here and became citizens by treaty in 1855, when the settlement
by the whites actually began. They had dropped their Indian titles
and assumed English names. Among the most prominent ones who
had settled on and about the present site of the city of Kansas, were
William Walker, once a chief of the Wyandottes, who lived on what is
now Halleck Street, south of Troup Avenue, and Joel Walker, his
brother, who lived west of Third Street, between Oakland and Everett
Avenues, and Isaiah Walker, their nephew, who lived on Freeman
Avenue, between Eighth and Ninth Streets. Matthew R. Walker
lived where Fowler's large residence now stands, west of Walnut
Street and near Troup Avenue. Silas Armstrong lived at the present

-*^^

northwest corner of Minnesota Avenue and Fifth Street in a brick
house. Mrs. Matilda Hicks lived on the north side of Quindaro
Boulevard, between Eighth and Ninth Streets. Isaac W. Brown lived
on the southeast corner of State and Fourth Streets, and the council -
house stood on the northeast corner of the same streets. The council -
house was a frame building. Matthias Splitlog lived on what was
then known as Splitlog' s Hill. He was a Mohawk Indian, but his
wife was a Wyandotte. Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, the mother-in-law of
Splitlog, lived in what is now the southern part of the city on a tract
of land traversed by the Union Pacific Railway. Mrs. Lucy B. Arm-
strong resided at what is now called Wyandotte Place, near the North-
western depot, her present residence.

Charles B. Garrett, a white man who married a sister of the
Walkers, resided east of Seventh Street, between Virginia and Gar-
field Avenues. H. M. Northrup, also a white man, and now the presi-
dent of the Northrup Banking Company, who had previously settled
on the Missouri side of the river, settled in Wyandotte in 1855, and
lived in a log house on the south side of what is now Minnesota Ave-
nue, at the crossing of Eighth Street. At the same time Isaac Zane,
a Wyandotte, lived in a brick house on what is known as the Hurla
tract. It is said of him. that he worked seven years in the vain at-
tempt to invent perpetual motion. George I. Clark, a Wyandotte, lived
north of the present Quindaro Boulevard, between Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Streets, where E. D. Brown now resides. In the spring
of 1858 the erysipelas prevailed in this new settlement with much
fatality, and among those who died with the disease were Mr. Clark
and his wife and daughter. Mr. Charles B. Garrett and Mr. H. M.
Northrup, being connected with the Wyandottes by marriage, were
adopted as members of their tribe and council. The others mentioned
were mostly half-breeds with the whites, and, therefore, have been
prominently mentioned here as early settlers.

The following communication, wi'itten by Mr. D. B. Hadley, and
which was published in the Kansas City Globe of February 10, 1890,
gives considerable information concerning the noted Indian named
Splitlog, and some others. It reads as follows:

'• In 1857 the AVyandotte City Company bought the land out of which
they platted Wyandotte City. While negotiating with owners of prop-
erty here, the secretary of the company, W. T. Roberts, applied to
Matthias Splitlog to purchase his allotment, which lies in the south-
eastern part of the land desired for the city. Splitlog listened atten-

tively to the proposition to purchase his land, and when the time came
for him to say whether he would accept it or not, all that could be
got out of him were the words, 'Good for you, good for me.' So he
kept his land. He lived at that time on what is known as Split] og's
Hill. His log house stood between Barnett and Tauromee Avenues
and Fourth and Fifth Streets. It commanded a view of the Kaw and
Missouri Valleys for miles, and Kansas City, Mo. Here he lived until
1860, the dry year, when he built for George P. Nelson a small steam-
boat, to ply on the upper waters of the Missouri Eiver. When this
boat was launched in 1860, hew.ent as engineer, and George Schreiner
went as pilot on her. Mr. Nelson was captain. In the early part of
1861 she plied between Atchison and Wyandotte, in the transportation
of aid goods sent to Kansas sufferers. Capt. Nelson said he did not
want a more skillful engineer than Splitlog.

" In the fall of 1861 the Union troops were intrenched at Lexington,
Mo., under Col. Mulligan. Price was marching on that place. Squads
were sent out by Mulligan to press into service everybody and every-
thing that could help defend. Nelson's boat was pressed into service
here, to carry men and supplies down the Missouri Eiver to Lexington.
Sj)litlog and Schreiner were both on the boat, and compelled to act as
engineer and pilot. They ran the boat down to Lexington just before
Price surrounded it with his army, and had to remain there until Mul-
ligan surrendered, when they were paroled with the other prisoners.
Splitlog was paroled at 8 a. m., and at 2 p. m. he was on the .streets at
Wyandotte. He had come the forty miles between Lexington and
Wyandotte in six hours on foot. Schreiner lost an arm during the
siege. A cannon ball from Price's battery came ricochetting toward
him, and struck his arm just below the shoulder, taking it off. Many
anecdotes are told of Splitlog' s shrewdness. Two years ago he had
agreed to sell seventy acres of land along the west bank of the Kaw
for 1140,000, to a company from Kansas City, Mo. Thej' were to
meet to close the trade at Northrup's bank at 10 a. m. on a certain day.

" Splitlog was there before the time, and kept his eye on the clock.
Punctually as the hour hand pointed 10 o'clock, the other party not
being there, he put on his hat and walked down Minnesota Avenue.
Just this side of Third Street he met the purchasers on their route
over to close the trade. They told him they were ready to close up.
He replied: 'Can't do it to-day.' Knowing it was no use to argue
with him, they asked him when he would attend to it. He replied:
'Morrow, 10 o'clock.' So they departed, and were sure to show up

when 10 o'clock came. On meeting at Northrup's, they informed him
they were all ready. In his usual laconic style he said: 'Can't sell
for §140,000; must have $160,000.' Knowing he could not be moved,
they raised $20,000 more, and produced the $160,000, which was
mostly in greenbacks, with some gold. Quick as he saw the kind of
money, he said: 'Can't take paper; must have gold.' Again the
company yielded, and drove post haste to Kansas City, Mo., hired six
hacks, scraped through enough banks to procure the gold, and drove
like Jehus back to Northrup's bank. When the money was piled upon
a table, he said to Northrup, 'Count her.' When Northrup counted
it and reported it, Splitlog spent a full half hour pawing it over and
feasting his eyes on it. Then he said to Northrup, 'Give "em deed.'
The trade being complete, he deposited the money with Northrup's
bank. He would have opened his eyes wide if he had seen these same
teams that brought the gold over receive it again, and drive back to
Missouri as soon as Splitlog left Northrup's bank.

" Splitlog was not born in the Wyandotte Nation, but was a native
of a Canada tribe below Detroit. He was adopted into the Wyandotte
Nation in Ohio, prior to coming here in 1843. He married a Wyandotte
woman. In 1874 he moved to the Indian Territory with the Wyan-
dottes, and owns a large tract of land in the W' yandotte Nation. He
has a family of half a dozen children. His eldest son, Jo, died rather
suddenly in 1887, just after having returned from court in Wyandotte
County to his home in the Territory. A man named Clay had forged
the name of Splitlog and his wife to a power of attorney, authorizing
Clay to sell their land here, in and near this city. Under this power
of attorney, Clay had conveyed two tracts of their land here, one of sev-
enty-five acres, and another of fifty to railroad companies. Split-
log sued and had the conveyances set aside as void. Several other suits
were had between the parties, but Splitlog was always victorious. He
prosecuted Clay in Southern Missouri for forgery, had him convicted
and sent to the penitentiary for ten years. He is still there serving
out his sentence. When Splitlog comes to this city to see after his
property he never goes to a hotel, but invariably stops with a negro
who became his tenant after he moved to the Indian Territory. He is
economical. Besides he seems to have a liking for the colored race,
as he has permitted one of his daughters to marry a colored man.

"He owns large interests in the western part of Missouri, near the
Indian Territory. He has laid out and platted a town there called
Splitlog. He has built a railroad from Neosho, Mo. , south about lifty

I , 1 -— — -— rrH

166 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

miles. He is now seeking a connection with Kansas City either by
building a new road or by joining one already built. It is said that he
is worth already $1,000,000, and his real estate is still advancing
in value. He is known as the millionaire Indian, and is the only In-
dian ever rated at $1,000,000. In religion he is a Catholic. His
first sales of land on Splitlog Hill were made to Catholics, one of
them being to a pioneer bishop for a church, school and home for the
sisters.

"He appears to be about one-half white blood. He stands about
five feet eight inches, is at least seventy years old, and has a dark,
swarthy countenance, but not the usual high cheek bones. Many a
foreigner from Italy and France is as dark as he. In a crowd, among
strangers, if he kept silent, few would take him for an Indian. He is
a born machinist. He had a mill near his house soon after he came
here from Ohio, where he ground grists of corn by horse-power, built
by himself. It had no covering, but the frame was made of large
square timbers. It stood there as late as 1860, but had been out of
use several years. He built a saw-mill during the war near Arm-
strong, and the motive power was a steam engine jjut in by himself.
After he arrived in the Indian Territory he built a saw-mill and a
grist mill for both wheat and corn. Both mills were run by steam put
in by himself. He is a very quiet man, of very few words, and most
strictly honest. The writer of this has heard many years ago what
episode it was that gave him the name Splitlog; but as near as he now
remembers the legend, it is about like this: At the time of his birth
his mother was at work with other Indian women out in the field near
a log that had been split open, and as she gave birth to him near that
split log, she named him after it. Certain it is he has always borne
that name ever since he was adopted into the Wyandotte Nation. He
has ever been regarded as an honorable and reliable man.

" He has already lived beyond the average age of the leading Wyan-
dottes — Silas Armstrong was not much over fifty when he died, in 1866.
Matthew Walker must have been only about fifty when he died. Will-
iam Walker, his brother, known as "Governor" Walker, was not over
sixty-five years old at his death. Very few ever reached seventy.
John Sacabass and Mathew Mudeater were not over seventy at their
deaths. Tauroomee (or John Hat, as he was anglicized) was as old and
perhaps older than any Wyandotte who has died in the last quarter of
a century. He was between seventy and eighty. But Splitlog bids
fair to reach a greater age than anj' of them. He is still robust and

-.\^

_^ 9 i''

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 167

active. He has no education, not being able to read or write, Imt lie
employs a clerk who is educated."

On June 4, 1890, James Clark, of Amhurstburg, Canada, a Wyan-
dotte Indian, eighty-five years of age, visited Kansas City, Kas. He
is a half-brother of George I. Clark, the Wyandotte, who is buried in
the Huron Place Cemetery. In company with Mr. H. M. Northrup,
Mr. Clark visited the cemetery and saw his brother's grave — perhaps
for the last time. The next day he proceeded on his way to the
Indian Territory to visit Matthias Splitlog and others.

The leading chiefs of the Wyandottes, fi'om the time they settled
in 1843, until they became citizens in 1855, were Francis A. Hicks,
Tau-roo-mee, James Bigtree, James Washington, Sarahass, George
Armstrong, John Gibson. John W. Gray-Eyes. Henry Jaques, Will-
iam Walker, Silas Armstrong, George I. Clark, Mathew Mudeater,
and George G. Clarke. The first United States agent to the Wyan-
dottes, in Kansas, was Maj. Phillips, of Columbus, Ohio; interpreters,
John M. Armstrong and George I. Clark. The second United States
agent was Dr. Eichard M. Hewitt; the third and last, exclusively for
the Wyandottes, Maj. Moselej-. William Walker and Silas Armstrong
were interpreters from 1849 to the close of the agency.

The following, furnished by D. B. Hadley, now the oldest resident
lawyer in Wyandotte County, will be read with interest:

•• The Wyandottes were much more advanced in civilization than
either the Delawares or Shawnees. They cultivated farms, built houses
and barns, planted orchards and opened roads. They owned and
worked a ferry over the Kansas River, near its mouth. Several of the
more advanced in civilization and learning engaged in mercantile
business, in Kansas City and Wyandotte. Among these were Joel
Walker, Isaiah Walker and Henry Garrett. One of their number,
John M. Armstrong, Avas a lawyer, having studied and practiced in
Ohio, before coming here. Silas Armstrong, his brother, was more
than half white, well educated, intelligent and wealthy. William
Walker, among strangers, would be taken for a full white man. He
was educated, had been postmaster in Ohio, and wrote interestingly
for newspapers, and frequently delivered lectures of much interest.
He was provisional governor, and a member of the Territorial Legis-
lature after it was organized. Besides the Indian language, he spoke
English and French. A perfect gentlemen in bearing, he lived here
until 1875, when he died at the home of a friend in Kansas City.
Matthew Walker, his brother, lived on his farm in the northern part

168 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

of Wyandotte City. His brick residence stood upon an eminence
north of Jersey Creek, corresponding to Splitlog's Hill, south of Jer-
sey Creek. He died in 1860. Joel Walker, another brother, died in
the fall of 1857. George T. Clark lived in Quindaro Township, and
died in 1857. Francis Hicks lived about a mile northwest of the
mouth of the Kaw, and died in 1855. His father, John Hicks, lived
one mile farther west, and died in 1852. Half a mile west of John
Hicks was Jacob Whiteerow, who Jived there until he emigrated to the
Indian Territory, in 1871. A little southeast of Whiteerow lived Rob-
ert Eobitaille, who went to the Indian Territory, with the tribe. He
was at one time county treasurer. Noah E. Zane lived about seven
miles west of the mouth of the Kaw, and was chiefly noted for the ex-
cellent fruit which he raised. He died in 1807. Charles B. Garrett
lived just north of Jersey Creek, and a half mile west of the Missouri
River. He died in 1868. Esquire Gray-Eyes, the unschooled but
learned and eloquent exhorter of the Wyandottes, lived between George
I. Clark's and Francis Hicks'. His son, John, was well educated, and
often acted as interpreter, going to the Indian Territory with his tribe.
Abelard Guthrie, the delegate to the XXXIId Congress, was a white
man, but married Quindaro Brown, was adopted into the tribe, and
lived with her until 1868, when he went to Washington, where he died
about the year 1873. Mathew Mudeater lived two miles west of the
mouth of the Kaw. and had an excellent orchard. Of the Delaware
Indians, who still live in the county, may be mentioned Lewis Ketch-
um, about ten miles west of Wyandotte; Isaac Johnnycake lived ten
miles west of Wyandotte till he moved to the Indian Territory, with
his tribe, in 1807. He was employed by Gen. Fremont, with twelve
others, to pilot the party of explorers over the Rocky Mountains. Be-
ing a very warm friend of the 'Pathfinder,' when the war began, he
raised a company of thirty Delaware braves, and joined Gen. Fremont.
But when his friend was removed, Johnnycake refused to follow his
successor, disbanded his troops and went home. From that time he
took no part in the war. He was assassinated in the Indian Territory,
in 1875. Charles Johnnycake, his brother, lived at the edge of the
timber, where the prairie begins, fifteen miles west of Wyandotte. His
place was a stage station on the route between Wyandotte and Leaven-
worth in 1858.""

The first permanent white settler in the territory now composing
Wyandotte County was Moses Grinter, who, in 1831, located on the
north side of Kansas River, in Section 21, Town 11 south. Range 23

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 169

east, and lived there until Lis death, June 14. 187S. He was sent to
this point by the Government to establish and maintain a ferry across
the river on the old Fort Scott and Leavenworth military road. He
was for many years a lonely white resident among the Indians — the
Delawares on the north and the Shawnees on the south side of the
river. The general settlement by the whites, however, did not begin
until the Wyandotte reservation became subject to settlement under
the treaty of 1855. Among the leading white settlers of that year,
in addition to those already mentioned with the Wyandottes, were the
following: Thomas J. Barker, who came from Virginia, and was the
first postmaster of Wyandotte, and who is still living in the city, and
Maj. W. P. Overton, from Missouri. John H. Ladd, the father-in-
law of Joel Walker, came from Connecticut with his wife and daugh-
ters, and lived with Mr. Walker. The latter owned a negro man and
woman as slaves. They were the only colored people then on the
town site. They lived in a log cabin. In the winter of 1855-56,
John MeCalpin, Daniel Killen and Gov. W. Y. Roberts became set-
tlers. Hon. Mark Delahay came in 1857, and was afterward ap-
pointed by President Lincoln as jiidge of the United States District
Court. The same year William L. McMath came from Ohio. About
this time A. C. Davis, attorney- general of the Territory, came from
New York, and P. Sidney Post came from Illinois. (He was after-
ward minister to Vienna.) Also E. R. Smith, a special mail agent,
came from Mississippi, Dr. J. E. Bennett from Maryland, John M.
Funk and J. W. H. Watson from Pennsylvania, and E. L. Busche
from Prussia. J. R. Parr, the first mayor of Wyandotte, George
Russell, Dr. J. P. Root, from New England, T. B. Eldridge, F. A.
'Hunt, O. B. Gunn (an engineer). Dr. George B. AVood and John H.
Millar all settled here about the year 1857.

J. W. Johnson came in 1855, and was subsequently a probate
judge. S. A. Cobb and his brother-in-law, Ivan D. Heath, came in
1858. Mr. Cobb subsequently became a member of Congress. J. S.
Stockton and Isaac B. Sharp came from Ohio in 1858. Gov. James
McGrew, who now lives in a tine residence in the city, surrounded
with a magnificent natural lawn, came from Iowa in 1857. Gen.
William Weer, from Illinois, settled here in 1856. .\bout the same
time the following named persons also settled at Wyandotte City:
Dr. F. Speck, John E. Zeitz, Hester A. Halford, Mrs. J. W. Huskins,
L. H. Wood, N. A. Rheinecker, C. S. Glick, George D. B. Bowling,
Joseph Halford. and others.
1 1

170 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

Early in 1857 the following individuals settled at Quindaro : George
W. Veale, V. J. Lane, now of the Wyandotte Herald; S. N. Simp-
son, Charles Robinson, Albert D. Richardson, author of " Field,
Dungeon and Escape," and '" Beyond the Mississippi;" John W. Wal-
den, since agent of the Methodist Book Concern, at Cincinnati; S. C.
Smith, who was private secretary of Gov. Robinson; P. T. Colby,
appointed United State.s marshal by President Buchanan; Fielding
Johnson, agent of the Delawares; Alfred Gray, who was the first
mayor of Quindaro; M. B. Newman, Perley Pike, Charles Chadwick,
Morris Sherman and Owen C. Russell.

As Kansas is a free State, it does not often occur to the minds of
people, especially to young people not posted in history, that slavery
once existed here. Many of the early settlers who came from the slave
States brought their human chattels along and subjected them to slav-
ery here, the same as they had done at their former homes. This cus-
tom was not sanctioned by law, but on the contrary was actually pro-
hibited by the famous law known as the Missouri Compromise. On
March 25, 1854, William Walker, the half breed Wyandotte chief,
wrote: " Slavery exists here among the Indians and whites in defiance
of the compromise of 1820."

In 1844, the first year after the Wyandotte Indians occupied their
lands here, they selected a beautiful spot of ground on a high ridge,
in a shady grove, as a burial place for their dead. Nearly half a cen-
tury has since rolled away, and this burial ground is now in the heart
of Kansas City, Kas. This cemetery was established when there was
much sickness and many deaths in the Wyandotte Nation, in conse-
quence of the long protracted rains and great floods in May and June,
1844, and there were many biirials there in both 1844 and 1845, and
the graves made then can not now be identified, nor the subsequent
graves made for the victims of the cholera in 1850. Mrs. Lucy B.
Armstrong, who came with the Wyandottes in 1843, and has lived
here ever since, and who is acknowledged by all to be the best author-
ity on the eaily history of this county, especially as pertaining to her
tribe, says in an article published in the Gazette of June 4, 1890:
' ' To the best of my recollection and belief, I think that between the
years of 1844 and 1855 there were at least four hundred interments
there, and the most of those graves are not perceptible and can not be
identified or even found. There were no tombstones placed there in
all those years."

Article 2, of the " Treaty between the United States and the Wy-

WYANDOTTE COUNTy. 171

andott* Indiaus,"' made January 31, 1855, contains matter pertaining
to this cemetery, as referred to on a former page.

On behalf of the Wyandottes, Silas Armstrong, Sr. , George I.
Clark, Joel Walker, John Hicks, Tauroo-mee and Mathew Mudeater
signed that treaty, believing that the question of the permanency of
the burying ground was settled for all time, and the four first named
died with that belief, and were buried there. Afterward, two of these
men, Silas Armstrong and Joel Walker, became members of the Wy-
andotte City Company— Mr. Armstrong being its president.

The square or block containing the burial ground originally con-
tained a small tract west of the latter belonging to H. M. Northrup.
From this tract he donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
a lot which became the northwest corner of the square, as marked on
the original plat of the city. The city company donated the other
three corners to other religious denominations, as sites for church
buildings, and placed in the deeds of conveyance, as a condition of
ownership, a clause providing that the property should ever be held
for church purposes. The balance of the square— being the larger
portion thereof, and lying east of the burial ground— was donated to
the city for a public park, and was named " Huron Place."

The donations to the churches were made to prevent encroachments
upon the burial ground and park. It was evidently the intention of
the donors— the original City Company— to place such safeguards
around the burial ground as to forever protect the remains of their
dead from disturbance. How far their wishes have been observed
may be seen from the fact that the ground given to the First Pres-
byterian Church, and that donated by Mi-. Northrup to the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, has been sold and the proceeds have been
used to purchase other sites and erect other edifices; and Huron
Place, instead of being used as a park, is now the site of the Central
school-house. The stand-pipe of the city water works stands on the
same square, directly west of the cemetery, and south of the old site
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The square or block con-
taining these several grounds lies between Minnesota Avenue on the
north and Ann Avenue on the south and Sixth Street on the east
and Seventh Street on the west. The burial ground comprises about
two acres, and averages some twelve feet higher than the streets
around the square. It is pleasantly shaded with natural forest trees,
such as black walnut, elm and oak. Some of the smaller trees are
*So spelkMl ill the treaty! ~ ~~ "

172 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

covered with wild grape vines, and the place, in its neglected condi-
tion, aside from the headstones and monuments, has the appearance
of a primeval forest. It is picturesque, and on account of its eleva-
tion, it commands a good view of the surrounding city. There sleep
many of the dead of that civilized, enlightened and now almost ex-
tinct tribe of Wyandotte Indians, so mixed with the whites that many
of them had more white than Indian blood in their veins. Over the
graves of Silas Armstrong and wife a costly and handsome monument
has recently been erected. On one face of the monument is this in-
scription:

Silas Armstrong,
Died Dec. 14, 1865,
Aged 55 Yrs. 11 Mo's, 11 D's.
The pioneer of the Wyandott Indians to the Kansas Valley in 1842.
The leading man and constant friend of the Indians. A devout
Christian and a good Mason. He leaves the craft on earth and goes
with joy to the Great Architect.

On another face of the monument are the following words:

Zelinda Armstrong,

Born Dec. 3, 1820. Died Feb. 10, 1883.

Over another grave is a tombstone with this inscription:

Geo. I. Clark,

Head Chief of the Wyandott Nation.

Born June 10, 1802. Died January 25, 1858.

Catharine,

Wife of Geo. I. Clark, died January, 1858.

Among others of the tribe and of the pioneer settlers buried here
were M. R. Walker, Joel Walker, Charles B. Garrett, James Rankin,
George Armstrong, Francis A. and John Hicks, John W. Ladd, wife
and daughter, Swan Peacock, James Washington, an old time ruler,
and his wife and others.

The question now is, "Shall the rest of these long buried aborig-
ines of America be broken? Shall their bones be taken from their now
beautiful resting place and be transplanted in another spot?" The
matter admits of practical thought, and were it not for the dividing
sentiment existing in reference thereto, little doubt is felt but that
the city authorities would recommend a change of location, as the
final burial place for the members of the historic tribe.

?Ji

— 1 1®

On May 14, 1890, Senator Plumb iotrodaced a joint resolution
looking forward to the sale of the graveyard. In the resolution is
framed the statement that the old burying ground has become a
nuisance, and that a majority of the Wyandotte tribes are in favor of
moving the remains of their ancestors, friends and other relatives to a
more secluded spot, where they may rest undisturbed forever.

The proposition is to effect a sale of their present graveyard, re-
move dead therefrom to Quindaro and with the proceeds of sale render
the new place more beautiful than the old, and perpetuate the same by
endowment. The amount calculated upon from the sale is 1100,000,
which amount would amply provide for the fiiture of the new burial spot.
There is no doubt but ready purchasers are to be found for the ground
as soon as a clear title can be given. Although it is asserted in the
resolution that a majorit.y of the survivors of the tribe are in favor of
moving the remains of their ancestors, those remaining at Kansas
City are believed to be opposed to it. As the Indians have nearly all
moved away, leaving only a few cf their representatives here, Huron
Place Cemetery has not been extensively used far many years for burial
purposes, and in regard to health, it certainly can not be said to be
a nuisance. Its continuance can only be objected to on the ground
that it is wanted for other purposes. To the practical citizen occurs the
thought that necessity demands the change, but in the minds of those
whose lives have been linked in that which goes to make up the his-
tory of this tribe of Indians, there is a different view. Of those in-
terested in this question, none are more prominent than H. M. North-
rup, president of the Northrup Banking Comjiany, who has been an
adopted member of the tribe ever since 1845, and Mrs. Lucy B. Arm-
strong, who was adopted by the tribe in April, 1838, when she was
married to J. M. Armstrong, a member of the tribe, at the reservation
in Ohio.

Mr. Northrup is personally ojiposed to the sale of the cemetery,
and thinks that a majority of the surviving Wyandottes are also
averse to it. Mrs. Lucy B. Armstrong, residing at Wyandotte place,
in Kansas City, Kas., near the Northwestern railroad depot, is now
about seventy-two years old. In regard to the sale of Huron
Place Cemetery, she speaks for herself as follows: " To remove the
' burying-ground' now would be to scatter the dust of the dead to the
winds. What a sacrilege! I remember with reverence many of the
good Wyandots buried there, and my heart protests against such a
desecration of that sacred ground. Such a sale is repugnant to every

) >y '

,4^

174 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

sentiment, we cherish for our dead, as well also as being offensive to
the highest impulses of a Christian civilization."

The tirst marriage in the territory now composing Wyandotte
County was that of Hiram M. Northrup to Miss Margaret Clark, a
member of the Wyandotte Nation. This marriage was celebrated at
the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, November 27, 184:5, by Rev.
James Wheeler, missionary for the Wyandottes. The records of the
marriages occurring here before the county was organized, were, of
course, kept in Leavenworth, the original county. The first marriage
certificate recorded in Wyandotte County reads as follows:

I hereby certify that on the eleventh day of July, A. D. , 1859, I
solemnized the marriage of Mr. John Trasher with Miss Annie Bever-
ing, both of Wyandotte City, in the county of aforesaid.

Byron Judd,

-Justice of the Peace.

It is generally amusing to read the marriage certificates of the
ministers and justices of the peace among the pioneer settlers of any
portion of the country. The queer expressions, the extreme brevity of
some, and the long and .specific language of others, give interesting
variety. The second certificate recorded was written by a minister
who seems to have been fond of capital letters, and not particular
about their proper use. It reads as follows:

This certifies that on the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord, Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-nine. Charles H. Suydam and
Eliza M. Kinney, Both of Wyandotte City, Kansas Territory, appeared
before me at the residence of the Bride's Mother, in said Town, and
were duly united in marriage.

S. D. Stores.
Pastor of 1st Cong. C. H. Wyandotte.

The following certificates are noticeable for brevity:

I joined in marriage on the 31st July, 1859, Johanna McMahon
and John Kineary.

John J. Magee, E. C.
Pastor, Wyandotte.

This was evidently the Roman Catholic priest who did not believe
in many words. W. Fish, who was also a Roman Catholic priest,
though his official title is not shown by the record, was also a man of
few words, as will appear by the following:

On the 15th day of June, 1859, Thomas Doody and Maiy Nary
were married by me. W. Fish.

That equals Magee for brevity, and is very specific so far as it
goes, but on a trial requiring proof of relationship, a court might en-
quire where these persons were married, and what right W. Fish had
to perform the ceremony. In the next certificate Mr. Fish changes
his phraseology, and says:

On the 3d day of July, A. D. 1S59, were married by rae at Wyan-
dotte, Henry Frank and Mary McCann. W. Fish.

It appears from the record that the pioneer settlers of the county
were rapidly fulfilling the Scriptural injunction to get married, but
they took Greeley's advice and went west first, and then got married,
and grew up with the country. From the following it seems that the
Roman Catholic priest did a good business in "joining together: ''

I certify that I married on '2'2d March, 18<50, John P. Faher and
Catharine Reser. John J. Magee.

Also on February 21st, Honora Walsh and Anthony McGrath.

John J. Magee.

Also on Sth April, Helen Bradish and Daniel Flemming.

John J. Magee.

Nest appears one that is full in its details:

The Territory of Kansas )
Wyandotte County. )

I hereby certify that on the 19th day of February, A. D. 1860, at
the house of Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, in Quindaro. in said county, James
Hicks and Louisa Smith, of said county, were with their mutual con-
sent, lawfully joined together in matrimony, which was solemnized by
me in the presence of Bertia C. Carpenter and Bessie Mahony. That
I ascertained previous to the solemnization of the said marriage that the
said parties were of sufficient age to contract the same, and that there
appeared no lawful impediments to such marriage.

Charles Chadwick,
Justice of the Peace for Quindaro Township,

Wyandotte County.
Evidently this man had studied common law forms, and was par-
ticular to have all the facts mentioned.

*^m^^

i^s r-

176

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER XII.

County and Township Organization and Acts of the County
BOAKD— Act of the Legislature Creating and Organizing the
County of Wyandotte — Election of Temporary County Offi-
cers—Old Leavenworth County Records— First Poll Books —
The Jail— Early Taxes— Settlement Between Wyandotte and
Leavenworth Counties— The Quindaro and Wyandotte Road
—Ferry Licenses— Early Election Precincts— Location of
THE County Seat— Seal— EIarly Jurors— Proceedings in 1860—
Division OF the County Into Commissioner Districts— Purchase
, OF the Old Court-House Property on Nebraska Avenue, Wyan-
dotte— The Plat oh- Wyandotte Lands Recorded— Grand and
Petit Jurors for 1861-62— Election Fi(;ures, 1861— Organization
OF Townships.

Had I miscarried, I had been a villain;

For men judge actions always by events:

But when we manage by a just foresight.

Success is prudence, and possession right. — Hiyijons.

P^.EGISLATIVE action that ijrovided for a con-
stitutional convention at Wyandotte City also
organized Wyandotte County. The act pio-
^'^ viding for the constitutional convention passed
■ ;i the Leoji.slature first, and the number of dele-
^^^^3^ gates from each county was fixed, when a
, ~ >-^ ■ £g^ days afterward the act organizing the
county of Wyandotte was passed, the mat-
ter of delegates to the convention from the new county
was overlooked, and there was consequently no represen-
tation in the constitutional convention from this county,
though delegates were elected from Wyandotte County,
and were refused admission to the convention. These
delegates, Dr. J. E. Bennett and Dr. J. B. Welborn,
were elected by a small majority, being Democrats. The
candidates on the Republican ticket were Gov. W. Y.
Roberts and Col. Fielding Johnson.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 177

As statod in a Legislative act quoted below, Wyandotte County
was formed from territory previously belonging to Leavenworth and
Jobnson Counties. The lirst election under the new organization was
held on February 28, 1859. J. W. Johnson was elected probate
judge; Marshall A. Garrett, county clerk; W. L. McMath, county
attorney; Samuel E. Forsythe, sheriff; Robert Robitaille, county
treasurer; W. J. Lane, register of deeds; J. B. Welborn, superin-
tendent of schools, and Cyrus Gorton, surveyor.

Following is a copy of "An act creating and organizing the Coun-
ty of Wyandotte."

"iJe it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of tlie Terri-
tory of Kansas.

"Section 1. That a county to be called Wyandotte be hereby
erected, including that portion of Leavenworth and Johnson Counties
within the following limits: Commencing at a point in the middle of
the channel of the Missouri River, where the north line of the Delaware
reserve intersects the same; running thence west on said reserve line to
the line between ranges twenty two (22) and twenty-three (23); thence
south on said range line to the south boundary of Leavenworth County;
thence eastwardly on said boundary to the main channel of the Missou-
ri River; thence northwardly with the said main channel to the place
of beginning. Also that portion of Johnson County lying north of the
township line between Townships eleven (11) and twelve (12) east of
Range twenty-three (23).

"Sec. 2. That an election shall be held in the various precincts in
said county of Wyandotte, on the fourth Tuesday of February, ISfiQ,
for the election of county officers, who shall hold their offices, respect-
ively, until the next general election of county officers, as prescribed
by law.

"Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the present supervisors of
each township in said county of Wyandotte to appoint two clerks and
provide places to hold said special election and to act as judge of the
same, observing the general election laws except as herein otherwise
provided, and on the first Friday of the election, the chairman of all
the boards of judges shall meet in Wyandotte City, at the Eldridge
House, and canvass the votes and issue certificates to the persons duly
elected, and transmit to the secretary of the Territory a true copy of
the canvass showing who were elected to the various offices of said
county.

"Sec. 4. That the tenure of all other than county officers with-

~S> ^ '

rfLL,

in said county shall in nowise be affected by the provisions of this
act.

" Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of the clerk of Leavenworth
County, as soon as practicable after the organization of Wyandotte
County, to transmit to the clerk of said county the papers in all suits
which may be pending in the probate court of Leavenworth County
wherein both parties reside in Wyandotte County, together with a cer-
tified transcript of all the entries on record in each case, which causes,
when so certified, shall be tried and disposed of in the same manner as
though they had been commeaced in the county of Wyandotte. It
shall further be the duty of the clerk of Leavenworth County in like
manner to transmit to the clerk of Wyandotte County the papers and
documents, together with a certified transcript of all entries in said
cause pertaining to probate business, in all cases wherein the descend-
ants' last place of residence was within the limits of said county of
Wyandotte, there to be disposed of according to law.

" Sec. 6. That it shall be the duty of the clerk of the District
Court of the United States in and for Leavenworth County, as soon as
practicable after the organization of the county of Wyandotte, to trans-
mit to the clerk of the district court in and for said count}' of Wyan-
dotte a certified transcript of the record and of all the papers in each
and every case pending in said court wherein the parties thereto reside
in said county of Wyandotte, to be disposed of in the same manner as
though the same had originally been commenced in the county of
Wyandotte.

' ' Sec. 7. That it is hereby made the duty of the recorders in the
counties of Leavenworth and Johnson to make out and transmit to the
recorder of Wyandotte County as soon as practicable a true copy of
the records of all deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, bonds and other
writings in relation to real estate or any interest therein being within
the limits of Wyandotte County as above described, and the said re-
corders are authorized to procure suitable books for that purpose, and
such clerks and recorders shall be entitled to compensation for said
service from the county of Wyandotte at the usual legal rates.

' ' Sec. 8. The city of Wyandotte shall be the temporary county
seat until a permanent county seat shall be established.

"Sec. 9. That at the next election for members of the Territorial
Legislature, the people of said county shall vote for permanent county-
seats, and the place receiving the highest number of all the votes cast
shall be the permanent county seat of Wyandotte County.

"Sec. 10. That portion of any precinct divided by the county
lines, and being within Wyandotte County, shall be attached to the
precinct adjoining in said county of Wyandotte for election and other
purposes until otherwise ordered.

"Sec. 11. That the county of Wyandotte shall be liable for all
the money appropriated by the county of Leavenworth to be expended
within the limits of said county of Wjaiidotte, and that all taxes now
assessed within said county of Wyandotte shall be paid into the treas-
ury of said county.

"Sec 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and
after its passage."

This act was approved by Gov. Samuel Medary, January 29, 1859.
Following is a copy of the record of the meeting of the supervisors
to canvass the vote cast at the election of temporary county officers
under the provisions of the above act:

■' At a meeting of the county board of supervisors in and for the
county of Wyandotte and Territory of Kansas, held at the Eldridge
House in the city of Wyandotte, on February 25, A. D. 1859, present
George Russell and George W. Veale, acting in place of Alfred
Gray.

" The first business was the appointment of chairman of the board,
and on motion George Russell was appointed chairman of said board
and Myron J. Pratt acting secretai-y.

" The board then proceeded to the canvassing of the votes cast at
the election of county officers held in the county of Wyandotte, on
the 22d day of February, A. D. 1859, after which the following
named persons were declared duly elected to fill the offices as desig-
nated, and the certificates of their election were ordered to be given
as follows, to wit:

"For probate judge, Jacques W. Johnson; for sherifp, Samuel E.
Forsythe; for clerk of the board of supervisors, Marshall A. Garrett;
for register of deeds, Vincent J. Lane; for county attorney, William
L. McMath; for treasurer, Robert Robitaille; for surveyor, Cyrus L.
Gorton; for coroner, George B. Wood; for superintendent of common
schools, Jacob B. Welborn. "

March 5 of this year (1859), the board of supervisors met in the
clerk's office and ordered as follows:

"That the county attorney be and is herebj' instructed to lease the
room on the corner of Nebraska Avenue and Third Street from S. D.
McDonall, for the term of one year, at §150 per annum, for the use

s^ e r- ^% i) \

liL

180 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

of the officers of Wyandotte County; also the one now occupied by
the county attorney, over the post-office, up to the first of January,
1860, for the use of said officer, at $5 per month.

" That the chairman and clerk be and are hereby authorized to
procure suitable furniture and stationery for the use of the county
officers.

' ' That the board of supervisors of Leavenworth County be re-
quested to cause all records, documents and papers to be copied, cer-
tified and transmitted to the clerk of Wyandotte County, which are
required to be so copied and transmitted by an act entitled, 'An act
creating and organizing the county of Wyandotte,' passed January
21), A. D. 1859." The minutes were attested by Marshall A. Garrett,
clerk, and George Russell and Alfred Gray, supervisors.

About this time it was ordered by the board that the chairman and
the clerk go to Leavenworth and procure the records and papers re-
quired by law to be copied and transmitted to the clerk of this county.
Fifty dollars, or so much thereof as might be necessary, was the sum
approi^riated to pay the expenses of this mission. March 19 it was
ordered by the board that the chairman of the board and the county
attorney be authorized and empowered to make such arrangements to
send out of the county the insane persons, in charge of Mr. Bernstein,
as they might deem proper, and the sum of 125, or so much of it as
might be necessary, was appropriated for such use. March 22 it was
ordered that the clerk provide two poll books for each township in the
county, and deliver the same to the sheriff for distribution at the elec-
tion to be held March 28, 1859, under the provisions of an act to
form a State constitution for the State of Kansas. It was ordered,
April 18, that the chairman, in connection with the sheriff, be author-
ized to rent or procure a suitable place to be used as the county jail,
the building then in use being declared unfit for such purpose. April
30, 1200, or so much of that sum as might be required, was appro-
priated, "out of the first moneys received in the county treasury," to
be paid to Mr. Dollsworth, of Leavenworth, for county books. On
motion, Alfred Gray was ajypointed "to correspond with some person
competent to build an iron jail." June 15 the board imposed a license
of 150 for each dram shop, saloon or tippling house. The salary of
the probate judge was fixed at ISOO per annxim, but this order was
rescinded April 2, 1860. The salary of the clerk of the board of
supervisors was fixed at $400. It was resolved by the board that ' ' the
township, county and territorial and poll taxes levied by the authori-

WYANDOTTE CODNTY. 181

tit-s within the territory includpd in Quindaro Township, before said
township was set off from Wyandotte Township, be, and the same is
hereby ordered to be transferred to the treasurer of said Quindaro
Township for collection, and that the said treasurer be instructed to
copy and transfer the same as aforesaid, said taxes to be distributed
by him according to law, the township and poll taxes to be expended
in Quindaro Township by the authorities thereof." Delos N. Barnes,
Monroe Salisbury and Francis Kessler were appointed commissioners
to survey and locate a county road from some point on a line dividing
Sections 31 and 32 in Township 10 south. Range '25 east, extending
in a southerly direction to the bridge across the Kansas River. It was
ordered that the county of Leavenworth be requested to send the
amount of the indebtedness of Wyandotte County to Leavenworth
County, according to the provisions of the act organizing Wyandotte
County. Three thousand dollars was appropriated out of the county
treasury for the purpose of paying certain notes held by Leonard
Lake, Thomas J. Williams and C. R. Stuckslager, and indorsed by
Root, Roberts. Killen and others, money to that amount having been
borrowed for improvements made in the county.

Under date of August 1, 1859. William Tholen, county treasurer
of Leavenworth County, certified that he had received from the repre-
sentatives of Wyandotte County $912.81, in Leavenworth County war-
rants, and an order for $142 on the treasurer of Wyandotte County,
on account of the indebtedness of Wyandotte County to Leavenworth
County. July 29, it was ordered that the debt then due fi-om the
township of Wyandotte, for the creating and opening of "the southern
road," be assumed b_v the county of Wyandotte, in consideration of
the payment to Leavenworth County by the said township of the sum
of $1,054.80, which sum the township then held in Leavenworth
County orders. A finance committee, consisting of two members of
the Leavenworth County board of supervisors, called upon Wyandotte
County to '"settle all demands against Wyandotte County, according
to the act organizing the county of Wyandotte," and on the day last
mentioned it was ordered by the board that an order be drawn by the
treasurer, and that a receipt be taken therefor. The bills of commis-
sioners, authorized to survey and locate a road from Quindaro to the
Wyandotte bridge, were allowed as follows: D. N. Barnes, $12;
Francis Kessler, $12; Monroe Salisbury, $12; P. Pike, $1.50; S. Mc-
Kee, $1.50; Eli McKee, $1.50; survey and plan, $20. It was resolved
that Delps N. Barnes, Francis Kessler and Monroe Salisbury, com-

> \ "

missioners, heretofore appointed .to view a road commencing on the
section line dividing Sections 31 and 32, in Township 10 south, Range
25 east, running thence southerly to the KavF River, be instructed to
begin on said section line, lifty-four rods north of the quarter-section
corner, and run thence 'east to the half-section line dividing the land
of the heirs of George I. Clark, deceased, and John Hicks and others,
south to intersect the road near the parallel located by said commis-
sioners, a plat of which was tiled in the office of the board of super-
visors, June 28, 1859.

September 2, 1859, Barzillai Gray was declared elected to till a
vacancy in the office of probate judge, occasioned by the death of
Jacques W. Johnson. September 20 it was resolved by the board
that the survey and plat of the county road, made by Delos N. Barnes,
Francis Kessler and Monroe Salisbury, commissioners, and tiled on
that day, be adopted, and the said road was declared located accord-
ing to said survey, and the townships through which it extended were
ordered to open it for public travel. '" Fifteen hundred dollars was
appropriated for roads and bridges, from Qnindaro to the Wyandotte
bridge. License of ferries w^s fixed at $25 per annum. The tem-
perance feeling of the board was demonstrated by the resolution,
that "the county attorney is hereby instructed to strictly enforce the
requirements of the act to restrain dram shops and taverns, and
regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors, approved February 11, 1859,
and he is hereby directed to indict, at the next term of the district
court, those persons who fail to take out license and in other respects
neglect to comply with the provisions of said law." If this resolution
is to be taken literally (and of course it is not), it will be seen to have
threatened great hardship and expensive litigation to a vast majority
of the citizens of the county. It is presumed that the board meant to
have only those indicted who sold liquor without having previously
complied with the law.

At a special meeting of the board of supervisors, on October 11, it
was resolved that all that portion of Wyandotte Township south of the
Kansas River be set off as a separate election precinct, the elections to
be held at the house of R. H. Dickinson. Luther H. Wood, Willard
L. Green and Charles Lovelace were appointed judges of election.
At a special meeting, held November 2, it was resolved that the county
tax for the ensuing year be one and one-fourth per cent of the taxable
personal and real estate. The count}' seat was at the November
election, 1859, permanently located in Wyandotte. February 9, 1860,

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 183

Silas Armstrong, on the part of the Wyandotte council, laid before the
board of supervisors the matter of the taxes assessed against the lands
of the Wyandotte Indians and requested that amicable proceedings in
the nature of an agreed case be entered into between the county and
the Wyaudottes. The board referred the proposition to the county
attorney, whe requested time to consider the matter before rendering
an opinion.

The following rather amusing account of a meeting of the board of
supervisors, March 8, 1S(50. appears in the county records. There
were present George Russell, chairman, and Alfred Gray:

" The matter of districting the county into commissioner districts
being introduced, Mr. Eussell ofPered the following resolution:

" Resolved, by the board, That the county is hereby divided into
districts as provided by an act entitled 'An act relating to counties
and county officers,' approved. All the land south of Kansas Avenue,
Wyandotte City, and from the west end of said avenue along the sec-
tion line dividing Sections five (5) and eight (8) to the west line of
the county, is hereby erected into District No. one (1). All the land
north of said Kansas Avemie and said section line and south of the
present township line dividing Wyandotte and Quindaro Townships,
is hereby erected into a district and is No. two (2). All the present
township of Quindaro is hereby erected into a district and is No.
three (3).

'• The said division being disagreed to by Mr. Gray, was lost.
Thereupon Mr. Gray ofPered the following as a substitute: Resolved,
by the board, That the county be and is hereby divided into districts
as provided by an act entitled ' An act relating to counties and county
officers.' All that land within Wyandotte City proper (that is to say
within plat or plan made by John H. Millar, in 1857) is hereby
erected into District No. 1. All that portion of Quindaro Township
within the Wyandotte reserve, so called, and of Wyandotte Town-
ship immediately north of said city, is hereby erected into District
No. 2. All the balance of Wyandotte County is hereby erected info
District No. 3.

" The said substitute being disagreed to by Mr. Kussell, was lost.
Mr. Gray then proposed that all that land contained within Wyan-
dotte City proper, east of Tenth Street (that is to say within the plat
or plan made by John H. Millar, in 1857), is hereby erected into Dis-
trict No. 1. Second and third districts substantially as in above sub-
stitute.

fv^

^±=^ ^=^k.

"Mr. Russell disagreeing to said proposition, it was lost. The
board then adjourned to meet again on the day following, when no
new proposition for the districting of the county being ofPered, nor
any concurrence being obtained on either of the propositions of the
previous day, the matter was laid over. In the matter of the ferry
across the Kansas River, at or near the mouth thereof, it was resolved
that the ferry company, running the ferry at said point, be restricted
to the following rates, or charges, for crossing: Foot passengers, each
5 cents; loose horses, mules and cattle, each 10 cents; swine and
sheep, ten or less, 5 cents each, over ten, each 2h cents; man and
horse, 15 cents; one horse and vehicle, 20 cents, each additional
horse. 5 cents; oxen and mules to be rated as horses." It was unani-
mously agreed by Messrs. RumbH and Gray that the said ferry
company be required to pay a license fee in the sum of 125 to the
county of Wyandotte, for the ferry privilege for the current year.
Some little investigation has failed to discover the reason for the
antagonistic character of this peculiar meeting of the board of su-
pervisors, but it is presumed that each of the members wished to so
divide the county as to secure the co-operation of an ally in the person
of an additional supervisor, and that, each knowing that the success
of the other would be fatal to his own projects, and the triumph of
his own policy, neither of them would have yielded on this question
so long as life remained to him.

At the election for county commissioners and county assessor, on
the fourth Monday in March, 1860, votes were cast as follows: For
William McKay, for commissioner, 272; J. E. Bennett, 209; Samuel
E. Forsythe, 239; J. R. Parr, 99; George W. Veall, 160; J. J. Chap-
man, 167; James McGrew, 10; M. W. Battooi, 9-1:. For assessor,
Benjamin W. Hartley received 242 votes, and Louis M. Cox, 165.
Messrs. McKay, Bennett and Forsythe were declared elected commis-
sioners; Benjamin W. Hartley, assessor. The new board organized
Monday, April 2, 1800, with William McKay as chairman. The seal
of the late county board was adojited, and the salary of the probate
judge was fixed at $SO0. Other, but less important business, histori-
cally, was transacted. On the next day the matter of the selection of
grand and petit jurors was taken up, and the following names from
the assessment rolls of the county, for the year 1859, were chosen:
For grand jurors, Charles H. Chapin, Francis Kessler, Landor Lydon,
Albert S. Corey, Thomas Mclntyre, Fielding Johnson. Charles E. Saw-
yer, Abelard Guthrie, Arad Tuttle, James C. Zane, Silas Armstrong,

S. p. Bartlott, O. S. Bartlett, Chester Colbiun, P. Cliagamaii. Will-
iam Curns, Louis M. Cox, Johu M. Chrysler, Emuianiiel Dyer, A. P.
Day, A. D. Downs, James H. Harris, Joseph Hanford. Ed Hovey,
A. Huntington, William Hood, Sterling Hance, Leonard Leake,
Valentine Lucas, John McAlpin, Thomas Merry, W. C. McHenry,
James McGrew, William Millar, James R. Parr, W. Y. Roberts,
George Russell, Samuel Stover, Berry Swander, Martin Stewart, Mil-
ton Sabers, Hiram Wright, A. G. Walcott, Gustavus Leitz, Samuel M.
Stephens, Charles H. Suydam, G. B. Terrill, E. T. Vedder, C. H.
Van Fossen, Isaiah Walker. For petit jurors, Eli McKee. Joseph H.
Bartles, Jacob Kyle, John H. Mattoon, Charles Morasch, C H. Car-
penter, Isaac R. Zane, Samuel Marchant, John Stewart. Robert An-
dersoQ, Fred Blum, Stephen S. Bradley, E. S. Barche, John M.
Blockly, Frank H. Betton, James Clifford, James D. Chestnut, R.
Chalk, J. A. J. Chapman, R. G. Dunning, Thomas Downs, Michael
Gorman, G. K. Grindrod, Bat. GriflSu, Joseph Greible, Malcolm
Gregory, Theodore Garrett, M. A. Garrett, James Hennepey, Rob-
ert Halford, William D. Jones, N. A. Kirk. Daniel Killen, Claudius
Kiefer, Henry Kirby, H. C. Long, M'illiam Lovey, Charles Love-
lace, Anthony McMahon, Joseph McDowell, J. M. Mather, H. W.
McNay, David Powell. E. J. Pedigo, Ed. Purdam, George Roof,
J. D. Simpson, Ebenezer Smith, C. Stapleton, Fred Schoup.

At the meeting of the board, April 4, I860, it was ordered that
William McKay, chairman, be authorized and empowered to contract
for rooms for use of courts and county officers for the current year.
Silas Armstrong and others, proprietors of the ferry over the Kansas
River, near its mouth, were required to give bond in the sum of $2,000.
and were restricted to the following ratos of ferriage: Foot passengers,
5 cents each; loose horses, mules or cattle, 10 cents each; swine or
sheep, 5 cents each; man and horse, 20 cents; one horse vehicles and
driver, 30 cents; two-horse vehicles and driver unloaded. 40 cents —
loaded, 65 cents; each additional person with above, 5 cents; each
additional horse, 2 cents — oxen, mules, asses and "jinnies" rated as
horses. Double these rates were permitted after dark. The ferry pro-
prietors were ordered to pay the county the sum of $35 as a license
fee for the ensuing year. This rate was, at the same meeting, estab-
lished for all ferries throughout the county. The bond of Byron Judd,
as trustee of Wyandotte Township, was approved and accepted; the
bond of V. J. Lane, as trustee of Quindaro Township; also the bond
of Thomas Ryan, as constable of Wyandotte Township; the bond of

^'.

Thomas Duncan, as justice of the peace of Quindaro Township; and
the bond of Alfred Robinson, as constable of Quindaro Township.
The salary of the county attorney, formerly $600, was reduced to |300.
The division of the county into commissioner districts, which Messr.s.
Gray and Russell had been so signally successful in not accomplishing,
was again taken up. It was ordered that all that part of the city of
Wyandotte south of the center of Kansas Avenue, and all that portion
of Wyandotte Township south of the section line dividing Sections 5
and 6 from Sections 7 and 8, in Township 11 south, Range 25 east,
and east of the township line dividing Ranges 24 and 25 east, be
erected into District No. 1; that all of the remainder of Wyandotte
Township and Wyandotte City be erected into District No. 2; and thai,
all of Quindaro Township be erected into District No. 3. A vacancy
having occurred in the office of constable of Wyandotte Township,
H. H. Sawyer was appointed, and his bond was approved and accepted.
The county attorney was authorized to draw up papers stating an
agreement of facts, and enter into the same on behalf of the county
with the Wyandotte Nation of Indians for the purpose of testing the
legality of the taxes assessed upon the lands in the county allotted to
that tribe.

The records contain the following relative to the drawing of jurors
for the May term, 1860: "List of grand jurors for the May term of
the first district court for the county of Wyandotte, in the Territory
of Kansas, drawn April 19, 1860, from the hat containing the names
of the persons selected by the board of county commissioners of said
county for that purpose for the current year, at their April session, A.
D. 1860. Present at the drawing, M. B. Newman, county clerk, and
Thomas Ryan, deputy sheriff, and Joseph Speck, Esq., a justice of
the peace of said county, who were previously notified according to
law. The following list of names, as drawn from the grand jury hat
by said clerk, wei'e respectively entered on a written list hj said
Joseph Speck, viz. :

" Silas Armstrong, Charles H. Suydam, George Russell, James R.
Parr, William Millar, Edwin T. Vedder, Wyandotte Township; Al-
bert S. Corry, Quindaro Township; Gustavus Zeitz, A. D. Downs,
James H. Harris, William Curran, O. S. Bartlett, Wyandotte Town-
ship; James C. Zaue, Qaindaro Township; Chester Colburn, John
M. Chrysler, Wyandotte Township; Francis Kessler, Quindaro Town-
ship; Joseph Hanford, W. Y. Roberts, Wyandotte Township.

" We, the undersigned, present at the drawing, as aforesaid, do

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 187

hereby certify that the forecroiag list from No. 1 to No. 18, inclusive,
was drawn by saiil M. B. Newmaa, after duly shakiug the box con-
taining the ballots, and that said names were respectively minuted by
said Joseph Speck, as drawn, this April 19th, ISfiO." The record is
signed by M. B. Newman, county clerk, Wyandotte Covinty, and Joseph
Speck, "justice of the peace and deputy sheriff."

'"List of petit jurors for the May term of the tirst district court
for Wyandotte County, Kansas Territory, drawn April 19, 1860,
from the box containing the names of the person selected for that
purpose by the board of county commissioners for the current year,
at the April session of said board, A. D. 1800. The drawing was
conducted and recorded by the same officials and in the same manner
as that for grand jurors. The following in the recorded list:

"Eli McGee and Jacob Kyle, Quindaro Township; Henry Kirby,
Robert Chalk, S. Piirdam, M. A. Garrett and R. G. Dunning, Wyan-
dotte Township; Joseph A. Bartles, Quindaro Township; Claudius
Kiefer, Robert Halford and Michael Gorman, A^'yandotte Township;
John H. Mattoon. Quindaro Township; James Clifford, Wyandotte
Township; Isaac R. Zane, Quindaro Township; Robert Anderson,
Daniel Powell, Frank H. Betton, Bat Griffin and S. E. Burche, Wy-
andotte Township; Samuel Marchant, Quindaro Township; James D.
Chestnut, C. Stapleton, N. A. Kirk and William Lavey, Wyandotte
Township.'"

For .some reference to the work of the first grand and petit jurors,
see the history of the Wyandotte County District Court elsewhere in
this volume.

The following is among the recorded proceedings of the board,
July 11, 1860:

•' Isaiah Walker, Esq. , having submitted to the board a proposi-
tion in writing to sell to the county of Wyandotte Lot No. 46. in Block
No. 93, on Nebraska Avenue, in the City of Wyandotte, with the
frame building thereon, for a court room and other county purposes,
for the consideration of $50 in hand in scrip of the county of Wyan-
dotte, and $1,750 in bonds of said county, payable ten years from
date, and bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, the
said proposition being fully considered by the board, was accepted,
and the chairman of the board was directed and empowered to com-
plete the purchase of said property on the part of the county, and
procure a deed for the same, in accordance with said proposition."

At the meeting last referred to, on motion, it was ordered that the

188 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

register of deeds be authorized to record the plat of the Wyandotte
lands, and the description of the allotment of the same, from the
copies thereof in the office of the county clerk, and §25 was appropri-
ated for such use. The demand of William McKay for the use
of the court-room for the May, 1860, term of the district court
was allowed. The amount was .$20. The matter of a new county
jail was considered, and, there being neither plans nor propositions
on hand satisfactory to the board, it was ordered that the clerk
post up notices in not less than three conspicuous places in the
county, calling for further plans and proposals for a county jail to
be presented to the board May 30, 1860, at which time it was decided
to further consider the matter. It was further ordered that the
notices above referred to should also invite proposals for removing the
court-house to the front part of the court house lot. At the appointed
time, a plan proposed by J. R. Parr, Esq. , to build the jail of planks
laid and spiked together was adopted by the board. The structure
was to be twenty feet square, each story to be eight feet in the clear.
The first story was to be divided centrally by a four-foot passage, and
into five cells — three on one side of the passage, two on the other.
The upper story was to be divided into three rooms, approached by
an outside stairway. The bid of J. L. Hall, beiog the best and low-
est, to complete the jail for $2,000, was accepted, and the chairman
of the board was authorized to enter into a contract with him on that
basis, and also to contract for the removal of the court-house.

The second grand and petit juries were drawn September 15, 1860.
The former consisted of the following named persons:

Charles Morasch, Qaindaro; Ebenezer Smith, Wyandotte; C. H.
Carpenter, Quindaro; H. C. Long and Fred Schoup, Wyandotte;
John Stewart, Quindaro; G. K. Grindrod. Anthony McMahon, W. H.
McNay, Joseph Greible, Fred Blum, James Hennesy, Edward J.
Pedigo, George Roof, Thomas Downs and J. D. Simpson, Wyan-
dotte; Edward Anderson (removed); M. A. Garrett. AVilliamD. Jones,
Theodore Garrett, Claudius Kieiler, Charles Lovelace and Daniel Kil-
len, Wyandotte; J. M. Mather (removed); J. A. J. Chapman and S.
S. Bradley, Wyandotte.

The record of the drawing was signed by M. B. Newman, county
clerk; Joseph Speck, justice of the peace: Daniel Kirkbridge, justice
of the peace, and L. H. Wood, sheriff, all of whom certified to the
drawing of petit jurors, as follows:

S. M. Stevens, W'yandotte; Thomas Mclntyre. Quindaro; George

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 189

B. Terrill (removed); Landon Lydon, Qnindaro; Silas Ai-mstrong and
Leonard Lake, Wyandotte; Charles H. Chapin, Quindaro; Milton
Savers, O. B. Bartlett, A. J. Day and Isaiah Walker, AVyandotte;
Hiram Wright (removed); S. P. Bartlett, Edvpard Hovey, James H.
Harris and Martin Stewart, Wyandotte; Abelard Guthrie, Quindaro;
Valentine Lucas, Thomas Meiry and James McGrew, Wyandotte.

At a meeting of the board, October 2, 1860, the amount of taxes
to be levied for county and other purposes for the current fiscal year
was considered. It was determined that, for the purpose of redeem-
ing the outstanding orders on the treasurer of the county, and to meet
the ordinary current county expenses, $15,000 would be required.
The county clerk was authorized to make a levy of taxes on the total
amount of taxable property on the assessment roll of that year, at such
a rate, in mills on the dollar, as would produce most nearly such an
amount. The further amount of $2,500 was required to pay the in-
terest on bonds issued by the county and to redeem such bonds as
would become due within the coming year, and an additional levy was
ordered to meet this demand.

The necessity for new roads now found expression in the petition
of A. Columbus, and others, for a township road, from the north end
of Fifth Street, in Wyandotte City, northwestwardly, " along the line
between William Walker's and M. R. Walker's and Henry McMullen's,
also, Walker and Millar and D. V. Clements, and thence on or near the
section lines, northwardlj-, to the bank of the Missouri River, at or
near Clark's old wood-yard; " and in the petition of Isaiah Walker
and eighteen others for the location of a road from the terminus of
Walker Street, on the western boundary of the town of Wyandotte,
"along the northern border of William Johnson's land, and various
other points named in said petition, to Isaac Johnnycake's. " Daniel B.
Hadley, Thomas Maxtield and Stephen S. Bradley, " judicious land-
holders," were appointed a jury to view and locate the first road; and
Louis M. Cox, John M. Funk and Isaac N. White were apjiointed a
jury to view and locate the second road. Both juries were to do their
work early in October, with the assistance of William Millar, surveyor.
In the matter of the township road, from the north end of Fifth Street,
in Wyandotte City, to Clark's old wood-yard, the viewers and survey-
or reported favorably, October 15, and the board ordered that the
road be established as a permanent highway, according to the follow-
ing survey: "Commencing at a point on the second standard parallel,
the north line of the corporation of Wyandotte City, and 15 poles east

190

HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

of a stone marking the southwest corner of Section 34, Township 10,
Range 25; thence along the line between the lands of William Walker
and Walker and Millar, on the west, and those of W. E. Walker and
H. M. McMullen. on the east, north 80 poles to the south line of D.
V. Clements' land; thence along the same, west, 15 poles; thence along
the line between the lands of Walker and Millar on the west, and D.
V. Clements on the east, north 80 poles to the south line of Adam
Hunt's land; thence through the same north 17| degrees, west 77
poles; thence north 30 degrees, east 8 J poles, to the south line of E.
B. Kellogg' s land; thence through the same and on the same course
15J poles; thence north 7i- degrees, east 8 poles; north 8 degrees, west
5 poles; thence north 45 degrees, west 16 poles to the east line of R.
S. Nash's land; thence along the same north 42 poles to the north line
of Section 33; thence along the same east 3fi poles to a point 12 poles
east of the southwest corner of Section 27; thence through the lands
of Cox and Garrett and on the line between the lands of John M.
Funk and Francis Coon on the west, and the heirs of J. B. Cornstalk
and heirs of G. I. Clark on the east, north 175 poles to the south
bank of the Missouri River, total distance 2 miles and 90 poles.'' Oc
tober 16, the report of Isaac N. White, Louis M. Cox and John M.
Funk, commissioners, and William Millar, surveyor, on the road from
Wyandotte to Isaac Johnnj'cake' s, was filed and read and laid over for
action at the next regular session of the board; but it was not acted
upon until January 9, 1801, when the road was ortlered opened upon
a survey as follows: " Commencing at a point in the center of Walker
Street, 323 1\ feet west from the west line of Tenth Street, in the city
of Wyandotte; and running thence on the east line of Louis M. Cox's
land, north 15| poles to a point 10 poles east of the center of fractional
Section 4, Township 11, Range 25 east; thence on the line between
the lands of the heirs of John Lewis Coon and Lucy A. Sharlow on
the north and those of the said Cox and the heirs of John S. Bearskin
on the south, west 170 poles to the quarter-section corner, between
Sections 4 and' 5, same township and range; thence through the lands
of the said Bearskin and on the line between the lands of Isaiah Walk-
er, Susan Nofat, Catharine Young and George Spybuck on the north,
and Christopher Littlechief, H. C. Norton and Margaret Solomon on
the south, west 400 poles; thence through the lands of Margaret Solo-
mon and George Spybuck north 48 degrees, west 10^ poles; thence
through R. Robitaille' s land and on the line between the said Robitaille
and James C. Zane west 67^ poles; thence through the said Zane's

^=^r^

Icand and along Robitaille's lands north 4(5| poles, west 13 poles; thence
north 17i poles to the second standard parallel; thence along the same
between the said Robitaille on the south and Mary Collier's land on
the north, west 50 poles; thence through the said Collier's land north
77 degrees, west 40^ poles to a point 9 poles north from the quarter-
section corner on the south line of Section 36, Township 10 south,
Range 24 east; thence on the line between A. Guthrie and James C.
Zane on the west, Mary Collier and Sarah Collier on the east, and
through the lands of said Zane, north 151 poles to the center of said
Section 36; thence through the said Zane's land, on the line between
him and Samuel E. Forsythe, through the said Forsythe's land, and on
the line between the lands of the heirs of James Bigtree and John
Bigtree's land on the south and A. Guthrie's land on the north, west
320 poles to the center of Section 35; thence along the line between
Jefferson Zane's and Threza Zane's lands on the west, and the said
Guthrie and Francis Cotter's lands on the east, north 160 poles to the
quarter-section corner between Sections 26 and 35, of Township 10
south, Range 24 east, and on the road from Quindaro to Lawrence;
total distance, 4 miles 231!^ poles." November 10, 1860, the petition
of Theodore Garrett and forty-eight others, for a county road "from
Silas Armstrong's by the present traveled route, thence on the nearest
and best route to a point at or near Delaware ferry; thence on the
nearest and best route to Tuley's ferry," was presented to the board,
and James C. Zane, H. C. Long and John M. Funk were appointed
viewers, with William Millar, surveyor, to investigate and report on
the feasibility of said road. They reported as follows:

"In the matter of a petition for a county road from Wyandotte
City to Tuley's ferry, to the board of county commissioners of Wyan-
dotte County, Kansas:

"Gentlemen — In accordance with the provisions of an act defining
the mode of laying out and establishing roads, approved February
27, 1860, we, the undersigned, John M Funk, Henry C. Long and
James C. Zane, have viewed and caused to be surveyed and marked on
the ground a county road, as rei)orted on by William Millar, sur-
veyor. We believe the road necessary for public convenience, and
therefore recommend that it be established, and opened sixty feet
wide on the line, in accordance with the prayer of the petitioners.
We had the principal petitioners notify the owners of lands through
which said road passes that the same has been located, and, believ-
ing that the property will be benefited to a greater degree than any

192 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

injury the owners may sustain by reason of the opening of said road,
we have not deemed it necessary to assess any damages. ' '

Following is a copy of the survey above mentioned, which was duly
attested by William Millar:

"Commencing at a point in the center of Tauromee Street, 5 poles
east from the east line of Twelfth Street, in the city of Wyandotte,
and 113i poles east and48i poles north from the southwest corner of
the northwest quarter of Section 9, Township 11 south, Range 25
east; thence through lands belonging to E. T. Vedder, Mrs. Solomon
and John Sarabess, west IISJ poles (the south line of the road being
the north line of laud belonging to Silas Armstrong, for the last SO
poles); thence through land belonging to said Sarabess north 87 de-
grees, west 80 poles; thence north on line between said Sarabess and
Silas Armstrong north 16 poles; thence through land of said Arm-
strong, .south 87 degrees, west 80 poles; thence on line between said
Armstrong and John D. Brown, north 75 poles to the northwest cor-
ner of the northeast quarter of Section 8, same township and range,
where it connects with the road described below. Again com-
mencing in Kansas Avenue, in the center thereof, 24| poles west from
the west line of Twelfth Street, in the city of Wyandotte, and poles
south from the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of Sec-
tion 9, Township 11 south. Range 25 east; thence north 4 poles; thence
through land of John Sarabess, west 32 poles (the north line of
the said road being the line of land belonging to the Wyandotte City
Company); thence through land belonging to the said Sarabess, south
82 degrees, west 60 poles ; thence south 80 poles, west 80 poles ; thence
through land of Jacob Whitecrow, west 60 poles; thence on the line
between said Whitecrow and Silas Armstrong, west 9 poles, to the
northwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section 8, same town-
ship and range, where it connects with branch road described
above; thence on the line between Sections 5, 8, 6 and 7, divid-
ing- lands of said Whitecrow, A. C. Davis and Mary Karyboo, Sr.,
on the north, from lands of John D. Brown, Margaret Brown and
William Johnston on the south, west 296 poles; thence on the line of
said Karyboo and said Johnston, south 20 poles; thence on the line
between Mary Karyboo, Sr. , and Mary Karyboo, Jr., west 100 poles;
thence to the line of Mary McKee, north 63 degrees, west 4^ poles;
thence along the same, north 18 poles; thence west 20 poles; thence-
south 39 degrees, west 20 poles; thence west 64 degrees, west 8 poles;
thence north 72 degrees, west 20 poles, north 39| degrees, west 16

poles; thence on the line between said McKee and Jesse Gayamee,
west 10 poles, to the northwest corner of Section 7, same township and
range; thence along the same, west 10 poles, to the east line of land
of Mary Elliott; thence along the same, south 16 poles; thence through
the land of the said Elliott, west 70 poles, and through land of Dan-
iel Peacock's heirs, west 80 poles; thence through land of John (Sol-
omon) Karyboo, south 65^ degrees, west 17i poles, passing into the
land allotted to Joseph Williams; thence through the same, south 88
degrees, west 88 poles, passing into the land belonging to John Lamb;
thence through the same, south 47| degrees, west 26 poles, south 22
degrees, west 20 poles, south 20 poles, south 1 degree, west 17 poles,
to line between said Lamb and Alfred Gray; thence along the same,
west 12 poles; thence through land of said Gray, south 56| degrees,
west 28 poles, north 82 J degrees, west 12 poles, north 30 degrees, west
16 poles, to same line between said Gray and Lamb; thence along the
same and on the south line of Michael McMahon, 136J poles; thence
on line between lands of George Spybuck and said Gray, south 49J
poles; thence on the line between said Spybuck and John Smith, west
76 poles; thence through land of said Smith, south 21 poles and
south 7 1 seconds, west 28 poles, passing into land of Peter Hooper ;
thence through the same, north 85 degrees, west 20 poles, south 84
degrees, west 21 poles, and west 8§ poles, to the southeast corner of
land belonging to W. W. Jacks; thence on line between lands of said
Hooper and Jacob Young on the east, and Elizabeth Young and Re-
becca Lumpy on the west, south 264 poles, passing into the lands of
Elizabeth Peacock; thence through the same, south 50 degrees, west
80 poles; thence through the land of Sarah Peacock, south 46 poles,
west 152 poles, and passing into land belonging to the Garrett family;
thence through the same, 52| degrees, west 220 poles, to the Delaware
ferry: thence through the same lands, south 53 i degrees, west 60
poles, south 61 degrees, west 76 poles, north 89 degrees, west 70
poles, north 63 degrees, west 11 poles, south 40 degrees, west 40 poles,
south 30i degrees, west 40 poles, south 11 degrees, west 80 poles,
south 16 degrees, west 78 poles, south 28 poles, west 18 poles, south
34 poles, west 64 poles, south 45J degrees, west 52 poles, south 55
degrees, west 60 poles, and south 34| poles, east 49 jaoles, to the Kan-
sas River at Tuley's ferry, distance 10 miles 51 1 poles from the west
line of the plat of the city of Wyandotte.

Thursday, April 9, 1861, an application for a township road from
Davis Creek to Kansas River bridge, on the south side of Kansas

"3) 'y

lOi HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Kiver, in Wyandotte Townsliip, was taken up, in pursnance of the
action of the board on the previous Monday, and also an application
of Stephen J. Payne and others for a township road from a township
road from Lovelace' s saw-mill to the bridge above mentioned. It appear-
ing to the board that the establishment of one road, properly located,
might be made to serve the interests of both sets of petitioners, the au-
thority of viewers previously appointed was revoked, and John M. Funk,
David Leavitt and Albert S. Corey were appointed viewers to meet at the
bridge April 22, and, with the aid of J. A. J. Chapman, surveyor, to
survey out and rejjort upon a road from Lovelace's saw-mill, or some
point near there, past the residence of Stephen J. Payne to the Wyan-
dotte bridge, and report to the board at its next session. The report
was favorable to the opening of the road upon the following survey:
"Begiuning at a point one-quarter of a mile due east from the center
of Section 23, in Township 11 south, and Range 24 east of the sixth
principal meridian in Kansas, and running thence north (varying 11°
HO' east) 40.3t) chains; thence east (varying 11° 4') 30 chains; thence
north (varying 11° 24' east) 40.05 chains; thence east (varying 11°
30' east) 116.45 chains; thence south 25°, east 31.21 chains; thence
south 35°, east 13.30 chains; thence south 58°, east 4 chains; thence
south 45° 30', east 14.81 chains; thence south 50°, east 4.56 chains;
thence south 45° 30', east 5.53 chains; thence south 56°, east 72.95
chains; thence south 81° 30', east 7.16 chains to the south end
of Kaw bridge, the total distance being 370.33 chains — 4.63
miles." July 15, 1861, the petition of Louisa C. Smith, N. A.
Turk, Jacob Whitecrow, Elisha Sortor, George W. Veale, A. Tuttle,
J. A. Bartles, K. Wenzler, F. Cook, F. Johnson, E. K. Woodburg,
Eli McKee and F. Kessler was presented, requesting the board to
locate and establish a road "from a point on the Territorial road run-
ning from Quindaro via Leavenworth to Elwood. at the northwest
corner of William Long's allotment in Section 31. Township 11. Range
25 east, thence running as near as practicable to a point due south to
a point on the county road from Wyandotte City to Isaac Johnny-
cake's." The board ordered that Vincent J. Lane, Franklin Cook
and William Taylor act as viewers, and Eli McKee as surveyor of such
road. Their report was rendered November 4, 1861, accompanied by
a survey, as follows: "Beginning at the north line of Section 31,
Township 11 south, of Range 25 east, at the northwest comer of land
allotte 1 to William Long; thence south between lands owned by Han-
nah Zane, Sr., Isaac R. Zane and Louisa C. Smith on the west, and

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 195

the lands of William Long and Jacob Whitecrow on the east, and
through the land of said Whitecrow to the south line of land owned
by Susannah D. Robitaille 39 chains and 80 links; thence through
lands of said Susannah D. Robitaille south 1|°, west 32 chains to a
point 25 feet west of the southwest corner of the No. E. burying ground;
thence south 16' ', west 18 chains 30 links to a walnut tree; thence
south 3i' ' west to the intersection of the county road from Wyandotte
to Johnnycake's." It was recommended that the road be opened
over the above described route fift}' feet wide. The viewers expressed
the opinion that the land along the line of this road would be enhanced
in value, and that the owners should not be entitled to any damages.
During the few years succeeding, petitions were presented for the fol-
lowing and other roads, many of which were viewed, and some of
which were opened and have since formed part of the highway facili-
ties of this part of the State: A Territorial road from Wyandotte to
Elwood; a road from Lawrence via De Soto to the State line; a road
from the Missouri River bottom to the Leavenworth County line; a
road to Muncietown; a road along the bluffs south of the Kaw; a
Missouri River road; a road from Delaware ferry to the pontoon
bridge; a road from Wyandotte to Washington's; a road from Muncie-
town to Washington's; a road from Frank Cotter's to Muncietown.

The board made the following selection for grand and petit jurors
for the year 1861, from the assessment roll for the year I860: Grand
jurors— J. C. Clemens, Albert S. Corey, William M. Dickinson, David
Pearson, Alfred Robinson, E. Sortor, D. D. Strock, N. M, Turk, G.
W. Veale, J. D. Freeman, Charles Lovelace, Ed Pettigrew, Milton
Savers, D. B. Lucas, J. P. Alden, Philip Klingaman, William Cur-
ran, Samuel Crosby, J. D. Hath, W. P. Holcomb, Jacob Kerstetter,
David Leavitt, N. McAlpiae, S. D. McDonald, W. P. Thompson, W.
P. Winner, Horatio Waldo, John E. Zeitz, Cornelius Mallory, John
McAlpine. James McGrew, William Millar, G. B. Nelson, George
Parker, N. A. Richardson, George Russell, Christopher Schneider, J.
M. Summerville, W. F. Simpson, J. P. Fisk, Fielding Johnson,
Thomas Mclntyre, S. Hance.

Petit jurors: Thomas Maxfield, W. P. Overton, C. F. Peters, Ben-
jamin Ritz, W. Y. Roberts, A. Roberts, M. Remain, F. Skorka,
Fred Schoup, M. Shipp, D. A. Tomb, Augustus Walters, Henry West,
C. H. Van Fossen, C. H. Carpenter, L. Leyder, William Raffe, Robert
Robitaille, Isaac R. Zane, Henry Bengard, John Brevator, S. S. Brad-
ley, John Bottom, Solomon Balmer, G. D. Bouling, James Fisk, J. P.

196 HISTOBY OF KANSAS.

Faber, P. S. Ferguson, J. P. HenioD, E. H. Hickock, Henry Bacon,
M. H. Collins, F. Cook, R. M. Gray, William Kuntz, H. F. Eeed, M.
Sherman, A. Tuttle, F. Arn, J. Whitecrow, E. O. Zaiie, M. Clary, M.
Faber, B. F. Johnson, M. Mudeater, Anthony McGrath, August Reka,
John Swatzel, Irvin P. Long, John Burke, John M. Blatchley, H. W.
Barbour, James Cain, E. M. Dyer, M. Gregory, Michael Gorman, H.
T. Harrison, Louis Hefferlin, Charles Haines, ^^'. P. Harris, James
Humphrey, Fred Kramer, Henry Kirkbride.

January 8, 1861, in the matter of the report of the grand jury,
made to the last October term of the district court, recommending
certain improvements in the county jail, it was ordered by the board
that the county clerk advertise proposals to be received, for consider-
ation at the April term of the board, to erect a plank fence around
the jail, to underpin the jail with stone, and fill xinderneath its floors
with broken stone.

January 21, 1861, a license was granted to Cornelius Riordan to
keep a dram shop in Quindaro Township for one year. The following
entry appears under date of March 19, 1861: ''On this day John W.
Dyer and Julius G. Fisk, commissioners of Wyandotte County, met
as a board of canvassers to inspect the returns of the election held in
said county on the 5th day of March, 1861, for one representative to
the State Legislature to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of
Amasa Soule, representative- elect for the district composed of the
counties of Wyandotte, Douglas and Johnson. The returns being
produced by the county clerk, as filed in his office, the same were ex-
amined and found to be in all respects made up in conformity with
the laws, and on being duly canvassed, the votes cast at said election
were found to be as follows: Whole number of votes cast at said
election, 381; of which L. L. Jones received 284 votes, and W. R.
Davis 97 votes."

June 18, 1861, the board canvassed the returns of an election held
on the 11th instant for representative in Congress and for justice of
the peace for Wyandotte Township. The following results were as-
certained: Quindaro Township — whole number of votes cast, 27; for
Representative in Congress, Martin F. Conway, 8, C. J. H. Nichol, 18,
John A. Haldeman, 1. Wyandotte Towuship— For Representative in
Congress: Martin F. Conway, 194; C. K. Holiday, 3; Isaiah Walker, 1;
for justice of the peace, John M. Funk, 151; James A. Cruise, 130.
November 8, 1861, the board canvassed the votes cast in Wyandotte
County, November 5, 1861, at an election for certain State and county

['" ^'" t .

officers. The whole number of votes cast was 400. For governor,
George A. Crawford received 343, Josiah Miller, 1; for lieutenant-
governor, Joseph G. Speer received 344; for secretary of State, J. W.
Robinson received 349; for attorney-general. Samuel A. Stinson re-
ceived 390; for State treasurer. Hortman R. Dutton received 381;
for State auditor, James R. McClure received 349; for superintendent
of public instruction, H. D. Preston received 358; for Representative
in the State Senate, John Speer received 160, John T. Legate, 158;
R S. Stevens, 229; Charles G. Kaler, 246; for Representative in the
Lower House. W. M. Sheard,367; W. H. Fishback, 168; R. W. Hart-
ley, 145; Chauncey L. Steele, 358; E. G. Macy, 358; J. L. Jones, 358;
Samuel Block, 358; A. T. Thoman. 357; D. T. Mitchell, 358; R. L.
Williams, 358; Sidney Clark, 157; James McGrew, 3/8; Eli McKee,
104; William Dickinson, 243; G. W. Smith, 175; John M. Griffin, 204;
Mencer, 1 ; Edward Mencer, 1 ; for sheriff, Jacob Kerstetter, 152; Luther
H. Wood, 244; Ward, 1; Jacob Cresth, 1; for treasurer, Byron Judd,
402; for register of deeds, S. D. McDonald, 168; James A. Cruise,
239'; for county clerk, William B. Bowman, 160; E. T. Vedder, 231;
for assessor, C. N. H. Moore, 99; Martin Stewart, 295; for surveyor,
J. A. J. Chapman, 396; for coroner, Thomas Duncan, 169; Charles
Morasch 223: C. N. H. Moore, 1; for county commissioners. First
District, D. A. Bartlett, 147; R. Cook, 236; Second District, S. Lake,
163; Emmanuel Dyer, 231; Third District, B. F. Mudge, 132; Francis
Kessler, 230; for probate judge, T. House, 10; V. J. Lane, 30; for
superintendent of public schools, D. B. Healy, 1; for clerk of district
court, J. A. Cruise, 14.

Those selected for grand and petit jurors, for 1862, were named
as follows (those designated by an asterisk were, on February 14,
drawn to serve at the next term of district court): *Nicholas McAl-
pine, Silas Armstrong, * James Collins, Theodore F. Garrett, Valen-
tine Lucas, Leonard Lake, John McAlpine, Isaiah Walker, Thomas
Duncan. Irvin P. Long, *George D. Chrysler, Arthur D. Downs,
S. Hance, J. D. Heath, W. P. Holcomb, E. T. Hovey, Joseph Han-
ford, *Daniel Killen, Jacob Rexstatter, James McGrew, W. C.
Henry, George P. Nelson, William P. Overton, *George Russell,
*N. A.' Riechenecker, William H. Schofield, *Horatio Waldo, *Hiram
Wood, William Walker, *W. P. Winner, E. L. Bucher, Aaron Cory,
R. M. Grey, V. J. Lane, *Eli McKee, William Taylor, M. W. Bot-
tom. *D. V. Clements, B. F. Mudge, *C. S. Stapleton, John Bolton,
*N. B. Newman, J. W. White, Robert Halford, *Henry Frank, *Reu-

11^

198

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

ben Pawn, Eansom Chalk, *James R. Parr, *James Summeiville,
Samuel Crosby, *Richard Cook, for grand jurors; and Albert S. Cory,
S. M. Cox, Michael Collins, Thomas Downs, John D. Freeman, Henrv
Grey, John Smith, *L. D. Jones. *John Lamb, H. C. Long, Mathew
Mudeater, J. H. Mattoon. *Stephen J. Payne, William Rulledge,
John Regan, John Snatzer, *Ebenezer O. Kane, John Buckley,
*Joseph A. Bartles, *Richard W. Clark, Lemuel Duncan, AV. W.
Dickinson, Abelard Guthrie, Patrick Gulan, William Long, Isaac
Long, *E. A. Moore, William Raffle, Henry Powell, James C. Zaue,
Ferdinand Arn, Henry Bengard, *S. S. Bradley, G. L. Bowlin, *0.
S. Bartlett, *Frank H. Betton, *Henry Booker, *A. Crockett, M. L.
Clifford, R. G. Dunning, *William Foley, *G. H. Grindrod, ♦Jo-
seph Grindell, Joseph Gruble, *Philip Hecker. *Henry Kirkbride,
Frederick Kramer, Peter Lefler, Henry Kirby, John McMahon,
Thomas Maxiield, C. F. Peters, *Samuel Priestly, Samuel Pringle,
AVilliam Stutton, D. C. Strobridge, C. H. Suydam, *Christopher
Schneider, W. E. Thompson, *Augustus Walters, *Augustus Zeitz,
*J. C. Clements, Robert Kelly, *L. Lyder, Thomas Mclutyre, David
Pierson, Alfred Robinson, Cornelius Riordan, H. T. Reed, Elisha
Sorter, Morris Sherman, *C. H. N. Moore, W. Shipp, for petit jurors.
The following township officers were elected in March, 1862:
Wyandotte Township — Byron Judd, trustee; H. W. McNay, P. S.
Ferguson, John Kane, constables; Gottard Knieffer, J. M. Barber,
overseers of highways. Quindaro Township — E. L. Brown, trustee;
Arad Tuttle, justice of the peace; E. O. Lane, J. Leonard, constables;
Charles Morasch, J. Leonard, John Freeman, overseers of highways.
Following is the record of the organization of Delaware Township:
" At this day, January 4, 1809, J. M. Michael appeared before the
board and presented a petition signed by himself and fifty-two other
persons, praying that the board set oft" and organize a new township
to be composed of the following described territory : Commencing at
the Kansas River at a point where the east line of Township 11,
Range 23 east of the sixth principal meridian in Kansas intersects the
same; thence north on said line to the second standard parallel; thence
west on the said standard jjarallel to the northwest corner of said
Township 11. Range 23; thence south to the Kansas River; thence
along said river to the j)oint of beginning. After due consideration
thereof the board find that said petition is signed by fifty electors,
resident therein, and that the territory proposed by said petition to be
organized into a township is a part of the territory now embraced in

•<^ S r-

"s "V

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 199

the township of Wyandotte, and that said proposed township contains
an area of at least thirty square miles of territory and that the territory
so proposed to be organized into a township contains the number of
electors and inhabitants required by law. It is therefore ordered by
the board, that the territory as alove described be and is hereby or-
ganized into a township to be known and designated by the name of
Delaware Township, and that the first election for town olBcers in
said Delaware Township be held at the Peter Barnett store-room, in
Edwardsville, so called, on the first Tuesday in April, 1869. It is
further ordered by the board, that J. J. Keplinger, the county clerk
of the county, make out a plat of said Delaware Township and place
the same on sale in his office, and that he deliver to the proper town-
ship officers a certified copy of said plat and record. It is further
ordered by the board, that the county clerk make out and transmit to
the secretary of State the name and boundary of Delaware Township,
and the boundary of Wyandotte Township, as it now remains."

Prairie Township was organized March 8, 1869, upon the follow-
ing petition describing its boundaries: "We, the undersigned petition-
ers, would respectfully pray your honorable body to establish a new
township out of the following territory, to-wit: All that portion of
Township No. 10, Range No. 23, in said county, said township to be
known as Prairie Township. We would further represent, that the
territory described contains an area of at least thirty square miles and
has a population of two hundred inhabitants, and would further ask
that the first election to be held for township officers be held on the
first Tuesday in April, at the Prairie and Connor Precinct." The pe-
tition was signed by S. S. Kessler, Henry H. Evarts and sixty-two others.
The territory described was formerly embraced in the township of
Quindaro. It was ordered that " the first election be held at Con-
nor's Station and at the school house near the John Connor place, the
place where the fall elections were held in Prairie Precinct, on the
first Tuesday in April, A. D. 1869."

Quindaro Township was re-established April 5, 1869, upon a petition
then presented to the board praying that the boundary of Quindaro
Township be established as follows: "AH that portion of Township
No. 10, Ranges 24 and 25, in Wyandotte County." This petition
was signed by fifty residents and electors of the proposed township.
After due consideration the board found that the petition was signed
by the number of electors and residents required by law, that the ter-
ritory proposed to be erected into a township comprised in part the

territory then embraced in tbe townsliip of Wyandotte and all the
territory therefore contained in Quindaro Township after Prairie
Township had been organized from its territory, and that the pro-
posed township would contain the area required by law and the requi-
site population and number of voters; and it was ordered by the board,
that the territory, as above described, be organized into a township to
be known and designated by the name of Quindaro Township, and
that the first election for township officers be held at the usual
place of holding elections in Quindaro Precinct and Six-mile Pre-
cinct on the first Tuesday in April, 1869.

The record of the establishment of Shawnee Townsbij). also on
April 5, 1869, is as follows: "And now, on this day, a petition was
presented to the board, signed by John M. Ainsworth and seventy
other persons residents of Wyandotte Township and County, south of
the Kansas River, praying that all that portion of Wyandotte County
lying south of the Kansas River, and not included in the corporate
limits of Wyandotte City, be set off and organized into a new town-
ship, to be known and designated as Shawnee Township. After due
consideration thereof, the board do find that said petition is signed by
the number of electors and residents therein required by law, and that
the territory proposed by said petition to be erected into a new town-
ship is a part of the territory now embraced in the township of Wyan-
dotte, and that said proposed township contains the territory requisite
to form a township, according to an act of the Legislature of the State
of Kansas, approved 1869, and the territory so proposed to be organ-
ized into a new township contains the number of electors and inhab-
itants required by law. It is, therefore, ordered by the board that
the territory above described be and is hereby organized into a town-
ship, to be known and designated by the name of Shawnee Township,
and that the first election of township officers in said Shawnee Town-
ship be held at the junction of the Wyandotte and Shawnee road with
the Shawnee and Kansas City road, on the first Tuesday in April,
1869."

^^F-^

A riONEEl: \\INTLl; SCENE.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

201

CHAPTER XIII.

County Inteuests, Commeucial, Political, Official and Statis-
tical—An Unparalleled Hailway System— How Projected
AND Developed— The Stouy' of Early and Later Railroad
Construction — A Celebrated Murder That Grew out of I'eu-
soNAL Difficulties between ISailkoad Projectors and Build-
ei!s— The Railway' System of the Present— Post-offices in
Wyandotte County — Banks — Public Buildings — The Poor
Farm— Fair Associations— First Election in Wy-andotte
County — First Meeting of the County Commissioners— The
County's Civil List— Statistics of Taxation, Bonded Indebt-
edness, Agriculture, Horticulture and Stock-Kaising—
Wyandotte County as a Manufacturing Center- Popula-
tion— General Claims of Pre-eminence.

My soul aches
To know when two authorities are up.
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter. — Shakespeare.

3;ACILITIES for transportation in Wyandotte
Cotinty are unsurpassed. Railways and water-
ways both contribute to it. The following his-
tory of the great railway interests centering at
the two Kansas Cities has been carefully com-
piled, with a view to affording an adequate
idea of the far-reaching influence of railroads
in creating and building up the material pros-
perity of the county. The first mention of railroad
interests in the records is as follows:

" To the Board of County Commissioners of Wyan-
^'' dofte County, State of Katjsas : The Missouri River
Railroad Company, a corporation duly chartered and
organized under and by virtue of the laws of the State
of Kansas, has surveyed and located, and is about to
construct and build a railroad from the State line between the States
of Missouri and Kansas, at a point within the county of Wyandotte,

ilV

202 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

to the city of Leavenworth, in the county of Leavenworth, and a
portion of said line of road will pass through the county of Wyan-
dotte; and the said company now desire to procure the right of way,
and to acquire title to the lands necessary for the construction of the
said railroad. Now, therefore, the said company by the undersigned,
the president thereof, and in pursuance of the statutes of the State
of Kansas in such case made and provided, hereby apply to your
honorable body to forthwith proceed to lay off the said road and the
lands necessary for the same, its side tracks, turnouts, depots, water
stations, etc., as surveyed by the engineer of the said company, and
that you at the same time assess and appraise the damages to the
owners of the land so to be taken and used for such railroad purposes,
to the end that the said railroad company may obtain the possession,
right of way and title to the lands necessary for the construction of
said railroad. " Signed by S. T. Smith, president.

■■ County commissioners' notice to lay ofF the route of the Missouri
River Railroad in the county of Wyandotte: Pursuant to the applica-
tion of S. T. Smith, president of the Missouri River Railroad, made on
the 13th day of November, A. D. 1865, the undersigned, the county
commissioners of Wyandotte County, will, at 11 o'clock A. M. , on the
18th day of December, A. D. 1865, proceed to lay off the route of the
said railroad and the lands necessary for the same, its side tracks, its
turnouts, depots, water- stations, etc., as surveyed by the engineer of
said company, and will at the same time appraise the damages to
the owners of the lands so to be taken and used in said county, as pro-
vided in the statutes of the State of Kansas in such cases made and
provided." Signed by Francis Kessler and Joseph Grindle, chairman
and members of the board.

The board of county commissioners caused a notice to be published
in the Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, a newspaper published in Wy-
andotte County, weekly, more than thirty days before December 26,
1865, and in pursuance of said notice, on the date mentioned, they pro-
ceeded to the line of intersection of the route of said Missouri River
Railroad with the Eastern division of the Union Pacific Railroad, and
proceeded over the whole route of the proposed road to the western
boundary of the Wyandotte reserve, and examined each tract and ap-
praised and awarded the damages separately to each of the owners of
lands through which the route had been surveyed irrespective of any
benefit to said owners from the construction of the railroad.

The first survey for a railroad in this county was made from Quin-

^-<11

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 203

daro to Lawrence, under the charter of the Missouri River & Rocky
Mountain Raih-oad Company. The first grading for a railroad in
Kansas was done at Wyandotte on the Kansas Valley Railroad.
This was about twenty feet higher than the present road bed of the
Kansas Pacific (now the Union Pacific). The Kansas Pacific Railroad
was put in operation in 1803, and the first locomotive was called the
"Wyandotte." The Missouri River Railroad was put in operation in
1866. The Missouri Pacific Railroad follows the bank of the Missouri
River under the bluff, and the principal stations in this county are
Wyandotte, Quindaro, Pomeroy, Barker's Tank and Connor, The
Union Pacific Railway crosses the Kansas River near Wyandotte, and
follows along the north bank of that stream on its course west. The
principal stations in this county are Wyandotte, Armstrong and Ed-
wardsville. The Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad
extends through the county north of the center, with stations at Wy-
andotte, Quindaro, Welborn, Summunduwot, Vance, Bethel, White
Church, Maywood, Piper Station and Menager Junction. This is the
latest railway constructed in the county.

The following is a copy of an invitation sent to Mr, J, V, Lane,
now editor of the Wyandotte Herald, to attend the celebration and ex-
cursion upon the opening of the first section of forty miles of the
Union Pacific Railway west of the Missouri River, The excursion
started from Wyandotte, which at that time was the eastern terminus
of the Union Pacific Railway, The letter of invitation was dated from
the office of the "' Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division,
St, Louis, July 1, 1864," and read as follows:

"Dear Sir : — The Government of the United States a little more than
a year ago, with a wisdom looking far beyond the burdens and anxieties
of the hour, provided aid for the construction of a railroad from the
Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, Stimulated by its liberality, and by
the spirit of American enterprise, the work has been undertaken, and
already the first section of forty miles is nearing completion. The
opening of this section giving earne.st to the people of the country
that within the time prescribed by law the great highway will be built
to San Francisco, bringing into closer union the States of the Atlantic
and the Pacific, and offering to the industrial enterprises of our people
theincalculable wealth of a continent, is an event worthy of commemo-
ration by the leading men of America. You are respectfully invited
to attend the celebration, and will be received by the committee of
arrangements at Weston, Missouri, on the ISth day of August next, on

204 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

the arrival of the morning train from the East. Upon the receipt from
you of an acceptance of this invitation, addressed to me at 58 Beaver
Street, New York, you will be furnished with a free pass to Kansas
and return, good over all the principal intermediate roads." It was
signed, "Faithfully yours, Samuel Hallett." The invitation card
was worded as follows: "The Union Pacific Railway Company, East-
ern Division, invite you to be present, as per letter of Mr. Samuel
Hallett, to celebrate the opening of the first section of forty miles of
their road west from the Missouri River. ' '

Shortly after the date of Mr. Hallett" s letter of invitation,' and be-
fore the date set for the excursion, Mr. Hallett was shot and killed at
Wyandotte by O. A. Talcutt. The history of this tragedy is some-
what differently related by different narrators, but all agree that it
grew out of difficulties about the construction of the road and money
matters connected therewith, in which Messrs. Hallett and Talcutt
were personally involved over conflicting interests. It is such an im-
portant part of the railroad history of Wyandotte County and Kansas
City, Kas. , that it is given here as it has been related by contempo-
rary witnesses. Hallett was contractor and general manager of the
Kansas Pacific Railroad. Talcutt was its chief engineer, represent-
ing the capitalists. On the morning of July 27, 1864, Talcutt rode
into Wyandotte from Quindaro and hitched his pony in front of Hol-
eomb's drug store on Third Street, two or three doors north of the
Garno House. He had with him a Henry rifle, which was something
new in those days and caused quite a crowd to assemble around the
steps of the drug store. The rifle was handed to Judge Sharp to ex-
amine. He saw that it was loaded, and while he was carefully noting
the processes of loading and discharging the weapon, Talcutt hur-
riedly snatched it from his hands and walked quickly into the store.
Wondering what caused these strange movements. Judge Sharp turned
around and saw Samuel Hallett coming across the street from his
office on Kansas Avenue. Passing the drug store, Mr. Hallett lifted
his hat with a pleasant bow and passed on to the Garno House fur
dinner. An hour afterward as Judge Sharp was coming down from
dinner and had reached the crossing of Kansas Avenue and Third
Street, he saw Mr. Hallett coming across the street some sixty feet
north of the di'ug store. At that moment Talcutt came out of the
store, and standing on the steps with a crowd of men on every side,
he lifted his gun and taking deliberate aim at Hallett, fired, the ball
striking the latter in the back. Hallett turned half round and look-

ing back exclaimed: ''My God, Talcutt, you have killed me!" and
fell forward on his face. He was carried to his rooms in the Garno
House, but was dead before he reached there, the ball having passed
entirely through his body. Quite a large number were in the streets
at the time and many more rushed from the Garno House, from stores
and dwellings, but so dumbfounded were they all that before any one
rallied from the shock, Talcutt had moiinted his pony and dashed
away. The utmost excitement prevailed. SherifP Ferguson ordered
out a large force of men and scoured the country in every direction.
One party hunted in and around Quindaro, his home, for a week, night
and day. Another party took the overland route for Lawrence, while
a third hunted the territory where Kansas City, Kas. , now stands,
then only a heavily timbered bottom, grown up underneath the large
timber with underbrush. Dozens of Wyandotte citizens crept among
the underbrush day after day, but without any reward. One party
found a place west of the town where a man had slept in a hay- stack
and had eaten, but the owner of the place claimed to know nothing
of such occurrences. Talcutt lived at Quindaro and had boarded with
a party by the name of McGee, who afterward had his house burned.
Then was found the place where Talcutt had been secreted under the
large doorsteps, an entrance having been made from the cellar. It
was not until fifteen years later that Talcutt was arrested in Colorado
and brought back to Wyandotte for trial. Had he been captured im-
mediately after the commission of his crime, he would doubtless have
been lynched without ceremony; but it is well known that no such tragic
fate was dealt out to him in vindication of outraged law. The excite-
ment had died away and Samuel Hallett's work and its importance to
Kansas City and Wyandotte County had been in a measure lost sight
of, for other important improvements had been crowding each other
ever since, and railroads had so multiplied as to be no longer a novelty.
There is something in the history of Hallett's career that will be of
interest, affecting as it did the future of both Wyandotte and Leaven-
worth. Hallett came to Leavenworth in the fall of 1803, and having
secured the right of way for a railroad, previously granted under the
Territorial government to the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Lawrence Rail-
road Company, he proposed to some of the capitalists of Leavenworth,
to put a railroad across the country, and received pledges for the un-
dertaking. Work was begun at once, and a road was built to what is
now known as the "Junction "' on tbe Missouri Pacific, near Leaven-
worth. One authority savs that, calling for funds, Hallett was given

!> "V '

200 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

the cold shoulder and told to go ahead with the road. This was in
February, 1864. The Missouri Pacific was approaching Jefferson
City, and Hallett saw that if ground could be broken at the mouth of
the Kaw for the beginning of the new road to be known as the Kansas
Pacific, a connection between it and the Missouri Pacific could be
made more quickly, and leave Leavenworth out in the cold. Quietly
maturing his plans and contracts, he one morning began work without
a soul in Wyandotte knowing of his intention beforehand. Word
reached the city about 10 o'clock that morning that work had begun
on the new railroad. Hundreds of citizens went down on foot and in
carriages and found a hundred men at work, cutting an opening
through the woods south of Armstrong. Wyandotte boiled over with
excitement. Property went up 100 per cent during the week. Hal-
lett opened an office at the foot of Kansas Avenue, and the streets
were thronged with laboring men. By the middle of April more than
a thousand laborers were employed. Samuel Hallett was general
manager, his brother, John, was employed as superintendent, and an-
other brother, Thomas, was an assistant. O. A. Talcutt was chief
engineer. About the middle of May, Samuel Hallett went to St.
Louis and Chicago, leaving the office work with his brother John. It
has been stated that soon after Hallett left Talcutt came in from the
western terminus of the road, and drawing the amount of money due
him, went to St. Louis, where he met Samuel Hallett and asked for
more money, which was paid him by Hallett without Hallett's knowl-
edge of his having been settled with in full at the office. One who
has told the story says, that a week later, Samuel Hallett was called
to Washington, and while conferring with President Lincoln about the
road, Mr. Lincoln called his attention to a letter received from Tal-
cutt, in which it was claimed that Hallett was constructing a cheap
road, that the material was of the poorest kind, and that the bridges
would not hold up a year, stamping Hallett in general as a swindler.
Mr. Hallett is said to have made a showing of his contract, and of the
amount of work done, whereupon Mr. Lincoln is said to have declared
that Talcutt ' ' ought to be spanked. ' " It is further stated that Mr.
Hallett mailed Talcutt' s letter to the President to his brother John.
A week later Talcutt returned to Wyandotte and went at once to Hal-
lett' s office. John Hallett showed him the letter that he had sent to
Washington and said, " President Lincoln says you should be spanked
and I am going to do it." Being a big, two-fisted fellow, it is said
John Hallett took Talcutt across his knee and summarily adminstered

•fj «_

the spanking. Being released, Talcutt drew Lis revolver, but John
Hallett's hand came down upon him again, and before he could
make any successful attempt at resistance, his assailant had opened
the door and hurled him through it into the middle of the street.

From Washington, Samuel Hallett went to New York, and worked
up a large capital for the Kansas Pacific, Thomas Durant representing
it. On his return, he stopped at St. Louis, and induced John D. Perry
and others to invest. On his arrival at Wyandotte, a large and enthu-
siastic meeting was held, in which it was resolved (o push forward the
work. George Francis Train was one of the speakers. The sudden
death of Hallett was a serious blow to Wyandotte. It was claimed by
many, and has been by many denied, that a letter was found at Qiiin-
daro written to Talcutt, from persons in Leavenworth, offering him
money to kill Hallett. Be that as it may, Leavenworth felt sore over
the boom at Wyandotte, and immediately after the beginning of work
there by Hallett, it is said, a large delegation of prominent citizen.s
of Leavenworth called on him and offered him large inducements to
return there. Samuel Hallett was spoken of by many as a gentleman
of culture, who made friends wherever he went. It is said that at one
time he figured in London in stocks of some kind, and was arrested for
debt. Later he negotiated loans in England and in Spain to build the
Atlantic & Great Western Railway. His family spent most of their
time in Eunipe, and at the time of his death they were in Paris. Later
they returned to Hornellsville, N. Y. His son, Samuel Hallett, Jr.,
cameto Wyandotte and married a sister of Hon. E. L. Bartlett. There
can be no doubt that Hallett was a man of exceptional business ca-
pacity and success, but his methods have been called in question by
some, and it has been claimed that he was not so blameless in the
trouble with Talcutt as his friends would have liad him appear. Mr.
John Speer, writing to the Topeka Commonwealth said: '"I think the
story of President Lincoln showing Samuel Hallett a letter from Tal-
cutt in a familiar way is exceedingly thin. I do not think Talcutt
ever wrote to the President, and if he had done so Hallett was not in
the habit of walking into the executive chamber and familiarly reading
Old Abe's letters. From memory, the circumstances, or rumors of
them, were these: Mr. Talcutt was chief engineer of the Kansas Pacific,
representing the capitalists — the principal of whom was John D. Perry,
of St. Louis; or he may have represented Fremont, or both. Hallett,
in his imperious way, had demanded that Talcutt should make an offi-
cial report of progress of the work entirely inconsistent with the truth.

V »
$

208 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

under oath, either to get the first subsidy of 116,000 a mile, for twenty
miles, from the Government, or to secure more money from the capi-
talists by representations that the first donation of $820,000 was due.
This Talcutt positively refused to do. Hallett left for Washington,
attempting to get the proof in some other way, but, when there, met a
report of Talcutt in the proper department, which entirely blockaded
his little game. Samuel Hallett then telegraphed to Thomas Hallett
to whip Talcutt. Tom Hallett, being a burly, stout man of 200
pounds, and Talcutt a little, feeble man of not over 125 poimds, the
former proceeded at once to chastise him, and gave him an unmerciful
whipping. Talcutt awaited the arrival of Samuel Hallett, and "laid
for him " with a rifle, and shot him dead in the street, just after he
passed him. It was a deliberate, premeditated act, but the whipping
by Tom Hallett was unmerciful and undeserved. I do not believe
tliere was any reason for the story that some one in Leavenworth hired
him to do the deed, though that story was told at the time. If Talcutt
had been tried at the time, with the evidence of his excited condition,
amounting almost to insanity, and of his terrible provocation fresh in
the public mind, I doubt if a jury could have been found to convict
him."

In this connection some incidents of the first work on the road will
be interesting. John Hallett had a kind of general charge of it, and
seemed to be almost making his own location as he progressed. Mr.
Speer states that all Lawrence was startled one day by a report that
the road was being graded some three miles north of the city, and a
committee at once went over in two hacks to near where the road crosses
Mud Creek. No one was there to tell anything to the committee, and
the 400 hands passed west grading slightly — in some places merely
cutting a little ditch, in some not even breaking the grass; but they
called it "grading," though, it is said, there was not enough done to
stop a plow from crossing the track. Various committees were ap-
pointed and conferences held. In an interview with Senator Lane,
Samuel Hallett said he would not vary his location out of a direct line
on account of the road being a great national highway subsidized by
the Government; but he finally consented to make such a change as
was demanded, if Mr. Lane would get a majority of the L'nited States
Senate to petition him for it. Mr. Lane not only induced every Re-
publican senator to sign the request, but secured the signature of Mr.
Lincoln at its head, asking for the location of the road on the bank of
the river opposite Lawrence and Topeka— for Topeka had fears of the

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WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 209

same treatment that Lawrence had received. Still the location was
not made to Lawrence, and Hallett wanted $300,000 of Douglas
County bonds. Mr. Lane then got an amendatory bill passed, author-
izing the location of the road to Lawrence and Topeka; but this bill
was subject to the acceptance of the company. Mr. Speer was sent to
Washington by the citizens of Lawrence to work in behalf of the loca-
tion, John D. Perry, Samuel Hallett and perhaps other stockholders
being there. He states that one day. "as Lane lay on a couch in his
room, Hallett came in and took a seat by Lane's side. With all his
suavity of manner he said: 'Senator, we have concluded that we can
not change the road to Lawrence, unless Douglas County will give us
$300,000 in bonds to pay the extra expenses. ' Lane raised up in bed,
his eyes fairly flashing with indignation. It was just after the Law-
rence massacre. 'You shall not get a dollar out of that burned and
murdered town. Yon shall take up every stump and log you have
buried, and make a first-class road in every respect, and, when you
get a dollar of your subsidies, let me know it.' Lane lay back in his
bed. Hallett essayed to speak. Lane waved his hand. 'No words;
my mind is made up." Hallett left. I was scared — fearful our peo-
ple would be defeated — but Lane merely remarked: 'He will want to
see me worse to-morrow than he did to-day.' The next day I met
Lane on Pennsylvania Avenue. He drew up his face, and, in a quiz-
zical manner, said: 'Hallett sent for me for an interview.' 'Well,
did you have it?' ' No o-o; I told his friend that Hallett was a posi-
tive man, and had probably made up his mind. He will want to see
me worse to morrow than to-day.' The next day Hallett met him and
entered into an agreement in writing to locate the road to Lawrence,
and both signed it. Lane, however, put a postscript to it, to the
effect that it was his understanding that the people of Lawrence
were to pay for the extra cost of grading. He also got a copy of a
dispatch to John Hallett, in Sam Hallett's handwriting, which I
copied and had sent, and then brought the original to Lawrence."
Thus the road was located. Shortly after this arrangement with
Lane, Mr. Hallett returned to Wyandotte and was shot. "But a few
days before the homicide," continues Mr. Speer, "Samuel and John
Hallett were riding in a buggy when they met Talcutt, and one of
them said to him: " We'll fix you; we have the tools to do it, and we'll
teach you to report.' Talcutt said: 'I don't hold Tom responsible.
Y'ou could hire any dirty nigger to do his work.' And he kept his
word. Talcutt was right about the road. It was a common saving

6 ""V '

ihL,

210 , HISTORY OF KANSAS.

that Hallett laid the track before he graded, and when John D. Perry
got control the work had to be done over again."

In a letter to Hon. John Speer, who has been quoted above. Judge
B. F. Kingsbury wrote as follows : "I can corroborate most of the
statements made by you. I concur also in the general inference to be
derived from your letter, that Mr. Hallett was a fraud, and also in
your statement that it is exceedingly doubtful if Mr. Talcutt would
have been convicted if tried at the time. My opportunities for know-
ing something of that road were briefly these: Early in the fall of
1803 I received a letter from George Robinson, postmarked Wyan-
dotte, in which he informed me that he had been sent out by Gen.
Fremont to act as chief engineer of the Kansas Pacific road, and urg-
ing me very strongly to accept a position as engineer on the road. Mr.
Robinson and I had been partners iu civil and mining engineering
some years ago, with an office at Scranton, Penn. I went to Wyan-
dotte and found things considerably mixed. Mr. Talcutt was acting
as chief engineer in the location of the road from Wyandotte to Law-
rence. Mr. Robinson was also recognized as chief engineer, or at
least seemed to do about as he pleased, but was more of a consulting
engineer at that time. I do not remember that Robinson and Talcutt
ever came in conflict in regard to matters connected with the road.
After a time it was decided to locate a road from Leavenworth to
Lawrence, and Robinson was put in charge. A large corps was or-
ganized, and we proceeded to the Leavenworth end of the line.
Robinson staid with us until we were fairlj' started, when he turned
the party over to me, and returned to Wyandotte, and I completed
the survey and location to Lawrence. When I returned to Wyan-
dotte, I waited a month or two for the pay, which I never got. as the
Halletts were paying no one, and returned home in the latter part of
the winter of 1863-64. I did no work on the Kansas Pacific road, ex-
cept to ride out with Robinson at two or three different times to help
take measurements for bridges, culverts, etc., and I can remember
remarking to Robinson, on one occasion, that an engineer who would
allow a road to be constructed in such a manner, was an ignoramus, or '
a fraud. I afterward heard of the protests of Talcutt, and of his re-
fusal to make certain affidavits, and that trouble was likely to grow
out of it. From the above brief statements you will see that I know
something of the early history of the road. I never could understand
the true inwardness of affairs, but my conclusions were that the whole
thing was a fraud ; that Talcutt, as an houest man, could not have

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

211

made a different report from the one he was said to have made; that
he was grossly insulted and abused, and I doubt if he ever received
any pay for the work be did. Of course the murder of Mr. Hallett
was unjustifiable, but if Talcutt had been tried at the time, I believe
he would have been acquitted." Such is the history of a tragic event
connected with the early railway interests of the two Kansas Cities,
which culminated in what is now Kansas City, Kas. The railway his-
tory of the sister cities has been almost inseparably connected from the
first. All that has contributed to the growth of one city has contrib-
uted to the growth of the other. It was by means of railways having
their course partly in Wyandotte County that Kansas City. Mo., se-
cured some of its most important outlets to the West and Northwest.
The Union Depot is located almost on the border line between the two
cities, and since the recent arrangement, by which the Kansas City,
Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad makes connection with other
lines at the Union Depot, that point is the center of the railway inter-
ests of the two cities. The part taken by Wyandotte County, and by
Kansas, in those early railroad projects, which did so much to make
Kansas City the center of the trade of the entire Southwest, has been
no insignificant one.

The magnificent railway system of Kansas City was not the result
of chance or force of circumstances. The lines reaching to the great
lakes on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, the Pacific
coast on the west and the great cities of the east, were jjlanued and
outlined from the first. Kansas City, by reason of the natural ad-
vantages which gave it control of the traffic of the country when con-
ducted by batteaux, steamboats, pack horses and wagons, combined
with the enterprise of its citizens, has been made a great railway cen-
ter; and when we say Kansas City, we mean neither Kansas City,
Mo., nor Kansas City, Kas., but the Kansas City known to the world
at large, which comprises both. It was a favorite dream of some of
its early citizens, encouraged by such men as Senator Benton, Gov.
Gilpin and Gen. Fremont, that here wotild be a great distributing
point where the products of the North would meet the tropical prod-
ucts of the South; where the products of the manufactories of the
East would meet the metallic wealth of the West, and the silks and
teas of China and Japan be exchanged and distributed throughout
the world. This dream has already been realized. More than twenty
lines of railroad from every point of the compass, with innumerable
branches penetrating the interior, and main lines reaching the sea-

1^1

•^

212 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

coast in ever}' direction, meet in the city and exchange passengers and
freight. The first railroad meeting held in Kansas City, Mo., was
called in 1856. Its object was to raise funds to pay the expense of a
preliminary survey of a road projected from this point to Keokuk,
Iowa, and which was to be a link in a direct line to Chicago, and also
make connection with the Hannibal & St. Joseph road at Hudson,
Mo. A committee was appointed to visit Keokuk and interest the
people of that place and obtain their aid in the enterprise. Another
road proposed about this time was the Kansas City, Lake Superior &
Galveston Road, to give Kansas City connection with Lake Superior
on the north, and Galveston, Tex., on the south. A branch from
Kansas City to Cameron, Mo., on the Hannibal & St. Joseph road, was
to be the first link in this road north. The Missouri Pacific was the
first road from the east to reach Kansas City.

Work was begun on the Missouri Pacific at St. Louis July 4, 1850,
and progressed by slow degrees westward. On reaching Jefferson
City, a line of steamers to Kansas City was placed on the river by the
company for the transfer of its freight and passengers. It was
not completed to Kansas City until September 21, 1865. When this
road was first projected, Independence, Mo., was designated as the
western terminus, but Kansas City assumed such importance before
the road was completed that Independence was lost sight of in this
connection. In May, 1862, Congress passed the Union Pacific Rail-
road bill. Work was begun on the Kansas branch by Samuel Hallett
(whose murder by Talcutt has been narrated) and Gen. Fremont,
July 7, 1863, and November 18, following, forty-one miles of the road
had been completed. The iron and equipment for this part of the
road arrived by rail at St. Joseph about the time the river closed with
ice; and it was not until the opening of navigation in the spring that
they were brought to Kansas City, arriving March 24, 1864. The
engine belonging to this outfit was the first ever seen here. This road
was opened to Lawrence, Kas., December 19, 1864, and was com-
pleted to Denver, Colo., in August, 1871. In June, 1864, the North
Missouri Railroad, now the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, se-
cured the franchise of the Missouri Valley Railroad from Brunswick,
Mo., to Leavenworth, Kas., and at once began building a line to
Kansas City. The road was completed to the city December 8, 1868.
It was known at one time as the Kansas City, St. Louis & Northern
Railway. As early as 1857 a railroad was projected from Kansas
City to Junction City, Kas., running up the south side of the Kansas

^f^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 213

River, to be known as the Kansas Valley Railroad. A ebarter was
obtained from the Kansas Legislature by a company composed of citi-
zens of Lawrence and Kansas City. Nothing was done toward the
construction of this road until the Kansas Pacitic branch was put
under construction, when the charter was allowed to lapse. In Maj',
1864, the project of a railroad between Kansas City and Fort Scott
began to be agitated. This was to be the commencement of a road
heretofore outlined from Kansas City to Galveston, Tex., and a part
of the great line from Lake Superior, passing through Kansas City
to the Gulf of Mexico. The war shattered most enterprises, and
shattered Kansas City's hopes for speedy commercial supremacy; but
her citizens took heart from the knowledge that the main line of the
Union Pacitic Railroad started within her limits and was in operation
as far as Lawrence, while the Missouri Pacific was nearly comj^Ieted.
In February. 1865, the Missouri Legislature granted a charter for a
railroad from Kansas City to the Iowa State line, in the direction of
Council Bluffs, via St. Joseph, and embracing what had been built of
the Kansas City & St. Joseph Railroad from St. Joseph to AYeston.
The interest in the road to Fort Scott was revived, and the Kansas
Legislature memorialized Congress for a grant of land for it. Track-
laying on the Missouri Pacitic was begun in February, but was de-
layed by the bushwhacker troubles of that time. The old Kansas &
Neosho Valley Company was reorganized under the presidency of
Col. Kersey Coates, and measures were taken without delay for the
construction of the line. A proposition was submitted to the people
of Kansas City, September 19, that they vote $200,000 to aid this
object, and $25,000 toward the completion of the Kansas City & St.
Joseph Railroad from Weston to Kansas City. September 14, five
days before the election, Capt. Charles G. Keeler had begun work on
the Fort Scott road. Both lines were aided generously by Kansas
City. In November, following, Johnson and Miami Counties, Kas. ,
each voted the Fort Scott road .$200,000. This it was thought would
practically secure its construction. As projected before the war. this
road was to have run to Galveston, and its friends were now watching
and waiting for an opportunity to secure its right of way through the
Indian Territory. Such an opportunity was soon presented. During
the war the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Shawnees, Kio
was, Wichitas, Osages, Comanches, Senecas, Quapaws and Cherokees,
had, in whole or in part, joined the Rebellion. In consequence, the Gov-
ernment took the ground that these Indians had nullified all treaties

214 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

formerly existing between them and the United States, and that new
treaties must be made, and Jiidge D. N. Cooley (commissioner of In-
dian affairs), Hon. Elijah Sells (superintendent of the Southern super-
intendency). Col. Parker (of Gen. Grant's staff), Gen. Harney,
of St. Louis, Thomas Nixon, of Philadelphia, and others, were ap
pointed commissioners on (he part of the Government to meet the
Indians at Fort Smith, September 5, to negotiate such treaties. The
friends of the railroad recognized in this treaty an opportunity to
secure the much desired right of way, and the Kansas City Chamber
of Commerce appointed Col. R. T. Van Horn, Col. E. M. McGee,
Col. M. J. Payne and Mathew Mudeater (a Wyandotte Indian of
Wyandotte County), the Kansas City delegation to the conference.
The balance of the delegation consisted of Silas Armstrong (of Wy-
andotte County), Col. Wilson, Maj. Eeyuolds and Gen. C. W. Blair,
of Fort Scott, and Gen. R. B. Mitchell, of Paola, and Col. T. J.
Haines and Gen. James G. Blunt. These representatives of their
several localities secured the right of way through the Territory from
Kansas to Texas, and at the instance of St. Louis capitalists, a right
of way was secured across the Territory from east to west, which was
afterward utilized by the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad.

Interest in the Kansas City & Cameron road was revived early
in this year. This road had been practically built before the war by
M. Quealy, under a contract between its promoters and the Hannibal
& St. Joseph Railroad Company. New directors were chosen April
29, with Maj. W. C. Ransom, as president, and they immediately
opened negotiations with Mr. Quealy for a settlement for the work
already done, and for the completion of the road under a new arrange-
ment. This object was accomplished, but at a considerable advance,
necessitated by war values, upon the original contract price, and work
was resumed about the close of 1865. The directors instructed Chief
Engineer John A. J. Chapman (formerly of W'yandotte County) to
make a survey of the river for a bridge, which was completed satis-
factorily. It was not until the latter part of 1866 that the company
succeeded in reviving the old contract with the Hannibal & St. Jo-
seph Railroad Company, though, as has been seen, Mr. Quealj' was
pushing the work forward as fast as possible. The Missouri Pacific
was completed September 21, 1865, and opened with great rejoicing
on the part of the people of this part of the country. The North
Missouri Railroad people resumed operations as soon as the bush-
whackers were driven from the country.

i) \

U±H

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 215

In October, 18r>5, D. R. Garrison, of the Missouri Pacitic, con-
tracted with the Kansas City & Leavenworth Company to bnild that
line, and the work was begun at once. It had for some time been
recognized that the natural laws of commerce strongly favored Kan-
sas City as compared with Leavenworth, and Kansas politicians mani-
fested no better feeling toward Kansas City than they had done in
ante-helium days. Senator Lane, of Lawrence, favoring Kansas
trade for Kansas towns, projected an extensive railroad scheme for
Kansas. At that time what is now Kansas City, Kas., was compara-
tively insignificant, and he had no idea that beside Kansas City, Mo.,
would grow up Kansas City, Kas., the metropolis of the State, and
that by striking a blow at one city he was delaying the development
of the other. In this scheme were embraced a line from Pleasant
Hill to Lawrence, and one from Leavenworth, through Lawrence, to
the southern boundary of the State, toward Fort Gibson, with a view
to securing to Lawrence the terminus of the Kansas Pacific Railroad,
and also the railroad Kansas City had been so long endeavoring to
secure to the Gulf of Mexico. Even at this early day St. Louis began
to see danger to her trade in the rapid advance of Kansas City, and
readily allied herself with Senator Lane and his associates, although
the success of his scheme would have connected the Kansas railroads
with the Hannibal & St. Josejah road, and taken the trade of Kansas.
Colorado, New Mexico and Texas to Chicago. In pvirsviance of his
plan to get his gulf railroad into the field first. Senator Lane caused
work to be begun at Lawrence, June 2(). In November a survey was
made of a branch to Emporia, authorized by the charter, and the
Pleasant Hill & Lawrence road was surveyed. The first rail was
laid on the Atchison & Pike's Peak road (the central branch of the
Union Pacitic), and the survey of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
road was begun at Atchison.

Early in 1866 a bill was passed in the Kansas Legislature, dividing
about 120,000 acres of land, given the State for internal improvements,
between several railroad corporations. Of this aggregate the Fort
Scott & Gulf Railroad received 25,000 acres. In February a bill was
introduced in the House of Representatives, at Washington, granting
certain lands in Kansas to the Kansas & Neosho Railroad Company,
and granting a franchise through the Indian Territory. A bill grant-
ing about 800,000 acres of land to the Fort Scott Railroad, became a
law in July. At the session of the Kansas Legislature, early in 1866,
the name of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad was

changed to Leavenwortli, Lawrence & Galveston, and soon afterward,
the Kansas ic Neosbo Valley road became known as the Missouri Kiv-
er, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad. On May 15 the first train was run
from Leavenworth to Lawrence. In July, Congress chartered the
Southern branch of the Union Pacific Railway, with the right to run
from Fort Riley down the Neosho River to Fort Smith. About the
same time the Senate confirmed the treaty with the Delaware Indians,
by which their reservation in Kansas was sold for the benefit of the
Missouri River Railroad Company — then just completed between Kan-
sas City and Leavenworth. In July, a bill introduced in Congress by
Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Kansas, became a law, allowing the Union Pa-
cific Railroad to construct its line up the Smoky Hill Valley, instead
of up the Republican Valley, the original bill having required the
main line from Kansas City and the branch from Omaha to connect at
the one hundredth meridian, between the Platte and Republican Riv-
ers, in Nebraska. The new bill allowed each to adopt its own line, and
locate the junction at any available point within 100 miles west of
Denver. The main line had then reached Fort Riley, and during 1866
the western freighting and mails were received at that point instead of
at Kansas City.

In May, Col. Charles E. Kearney became president of the Kansas
City, Lake Superior & Galveston Railroad Company (formerly the
Kansas City & Cameron Railroad). Little work had been done on
account of deficiency of means. Kansas City men subscribed $52,000.
Only $25,000 more was required to complete the road. The board of
directors, through their former president, had been trying to seeuie
a renewal of the old contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Rail
road Company, which had been made originally through J. T. K.
Hayward, at the time superintendent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph
road. While professing to be working in the interest of Kansas
City, Mr. Hayward had made an agreement with the Leavenworth
people to procure a contract between them and the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Company, to build a road from Cameron to Leavenworth, a
charter having been procured by Leavenworth during the war. Col.
Kearney was not long in informing himself of the state of affairs, and
took prompt measures to defeat the opposition. The board of di-
rectors convened June 1, and agents were appointed to visit Boston,
and make a contract with the Hannibal company. Col. Kearney
immediately telegraphed Col. Coates, at AVashington. in Kansas
City's interest, to go to Boston, and, if possible, delay the closing of

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

the Leavenworth contract until the arrival of the agents. Arriving
in Boston, Col. Coates learned that the Leavenworth contract had
been agreed on, and was to be executed the following Monday, bnt
he obtained the desired stay of proceedings upon representation of
the prior contract. The agents, one of whom was Gen. John W.
Eeid, met several of the Boston directors in the office of the rail-
road company, and, with the aid of Col. Coates, resurrected the old
contract, and when they presented their cause in its first light, they
were referred to Hon. James F. Joy, of Detroit, the company's gen-
eral manager. Mr. Joy agreed to the revival of the old contract,
upon" condition that Kansas City would obtain Congressional au-
thority for a bridge across the river. As soon as the facts were
before him. Col. Kearney wired Col. Van Horn, in Washington, and
on the following morning Col. Van Horn went to the chairman of
the committee on post-ofiSces and post-roads, who was to report a bill
on the following Monday, providing for the construction of bridges
at Quincy, Clinton, and other places, and with some difficulty, induced
him to admit an amendment, authorizing a bridge at Kansas City.
The following day, as soon as the House opened, the bill was called
up, and Col. Van Horn offered his amendment, and it was accepted.
Then the chairman moved the previous question. At this juncture
Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Kansas, entered, and in great haste drew up
an amendment for a bridge at Leavenworth. But the previous ques-
tion had been seconded, and this amendment could not be attached.
The bill passed, and in a day from the time Mr. Joy's decision was
reported in Kansas City, Kansas City had complied with all its con-
ditions and secured a double triumph over her rival. This victory
doubtless turned the scale in favor of Kansas City. Leavenworth was
already virtually the terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and
had a branch of the Union Pacific, and had she secured the Hannibal
& St. Joseph road, she would have become the railway center of the
Missouri Valley. August 19 a party of engineers, under Col. O. Cha-
nute, began a re-survey of the river for the bridge. November 10
Col. Kearney advertised for materials for the bridge, and December 1
he let contracts for its construction to Messrs. Vipont and Walker.
These decisive measures caused the North Missouri Railroad Com-
pany to terminate its western branch at Kansas City, instead of at
Leavenworth, and in October the contract for the immediate construc-
tion of that road was let to J. Condit Smith. Meantime the favorable
situation in which the Missouri River. Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad had

218 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

been placed by the land grant and charter tbrongh the Indian Terri-
tory, enabled it to begin the construction of the road, and the con
tract for the first hundred miles was let, August 23, to Messrs. A. H.
Waterman & Co.

No sooner had Kansas City distanced the rivalry of Leavenworth
than she found St. Loi;is assuming the attitude of an euemv'. The
rapid concentration of railroads at this point, which had alarmed St.
Louis in 1865, and led her to fall so readily into. Senator Lane's
schemes, now influenced her to do all she could to foster the Pleasant
Hill & Lawrence Railroad project as a means of diverting trade from
Kansas Cit}'. St. Louis capital controlled the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road, and it was now turned against Kansas City as an opposing in-
fluence which it was difficult to combat. On a specious plea of wash-
outs in the road between Kansas City and Lawrence, an arrangement
was affected in the summer of 1866, whereby freight for points west
of Lawrence was taken by way of Leavenworth instead of being
transferred at Kansas City, and more favorable rates were afforded
Leavenworth than were accorded to Kansas City. Passenger fares
between Leavenworth and St. Louis exceeded those between Kansas
City and St. Louis, by but 50 cents.

Early in 1867 the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad Company
found itself still without funds to complete its line. President Kear-
ney and others went to Chicago to sell S1()0,00() worth of Kansas City-
bonds, and they and Kansas City were made the subjects of violent
and derisive attacks in the St. Louis newspapers. Soon afterward,
under authority from the Legislature of Missouri, they mortgaged the
road to the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company. But it was
yet necessary to raise $25,000 to $30,000. After a second futile at-
tempt to have this amount voted by Jackson County, Mo. , defeated
by the voters outside of Kansas City, Mr. Joy, president of the Han-
nibal & St. Joseph road, offered to take the road off the hands of
the company, cancel the people's subscription of $60,000, and com-
plete the road by December 1, on condition that the city and Clay
County, Mo., would release to him their stock in the road. After
some delay this proposition was accepted, and from that time forward
the work of construction progressed rapidly. The corner-stone of
the Kansas City bridge was laid August 21, and the last rail of the
road.was laid November 22, Col. Kearney, and William Gillis, the old-
est resident of Kansas City, driving the last spike. Col. Kearney
sent concrratulations to the Chicago Board of Trade and the St. Louis

■4^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 219

Chamber of Commerce, the former returning a warm response, while
the latter made no acknowledgment. February 21, 1870, the road
was consolidated with the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and soon afterward
became the main line of that road. Early in 1807 Leavenworth at-
tempted to secure legislation in Missouri that would make the termi-
nus of both the Platte Country and North Missouri Railroads at that
place, and to get through the Kansas Legislature an appropriation of
1500,000 for the construction of a bridge there; but both these proj-
ects were defeated. In March the Atchison & Weston, and Atchison &
St. Joseph, and St. Joseph & Savannah Railroads were consolidated by
an act of the Legislature of Missouri, under the name of the Platte
Country Railroad, and the company controlling them was authorized
to build a railroad from Kansas City, via St. Joseph, to the Iowa line,
in the direction of Council Bluffs, and a branch from St. Joseph, via
Savannah, to the Iowa line in the direction of Des Moines. In
January, 1S68, it was learned that a company had procured a charter
for a railroad from Louisiana, Mo., to Kansas City, and in March a
committee arrived in Kansas City to ask the people to take an interest
in it. In June the electors voted $200,000 in its aid. Late in the
year the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company became interested in the
project, and the roadway was soon built from Louisiana to Mexico,
where it connected with the North Missouri Railroad, but, owing to
difficulties about issuing bonds in some counties traversed by the line,
the balance of the road was not built at that time. The Chicago &
Alton Company built a bridge across the Mississippi at Louisiana, and
operated from Kansas City to Chicago, over the track of the North
Missouri, until 1878, when its own line was completed to Kansas
City.

In 1868 the Kansas Legislature granted a charter for a railroad
from Kansas City to Santa Fe, and in March the company was organ-
ized at Olathe, and June C the books were opened for subscription.
When the Cherokee Neutral Grounds were obtained by treaty and or-
dered sold for the benefit of the Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, James
F. Joy became interested in the road and bought the land. Early in
1808 the American Immigrant Company, of Connecticut, set up a
claim to the lands under a previous sale made by Secretary Harlan, but
the difficulty was soon harmonized by assignment of the company's
claims to Mr. Joy, and the negotiation of a new treaty, which was ap-
proved by the Senate in June, 1868. On the 15th of that month the
city council of Kansas City, Mo., relinquished to Mr. Joy its interest

220 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

in the road, and by December 12 it was finished to Ohvthe, and a year
later to Fort Scott. The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston
Railroad had been finished to Ottawa, by January 1, 1868. In Novem-
ber, 1868, the Neosha Valley Railroad Company put 175 miles of their
line from Junction City under a contract. The North Missouri Rail-
road progressed rapidly through 1868. and December 1 the last rail
was laid at its junction with the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad,
thus adding a fifth road to Kansas City. This road was soon merged
in fact and in name with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. At
the close of 1868 we find completed the Missouri Pacific, the Hanni-
bal & St. Joseph and the North Missouri from the east; the Missouri
River road to the west was completed to Leavenworth; the Missouri
River, Fort Scott & Gulf road was in operation to Olathe, and
the eastern division of the Union Pacific to Sheridan, 405 miles west
of Kansas City, and but 220 miles from Denver.

In March, 1869, the Paola & Fall River Railroad Company was
organized. It had not a verj' stable existence for several years, and
graded part of the road between Paola and Garnett. This line was
built from Paola to Le Roy, in 1880, as a branch of the Missouri Pa-
cific, and the Holden & Paola branch of that road extended from Pa
ola to Ottawa. The Missouri Valley Railroad was completed Febriiiuy
27, and opened March 1, making Kansas City's seventh railroad. In
March, 1861). the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company took an interest
in the Pleasant Hill & Lawrence Railroad, and in June it was under
contract. In the first- named month the city council of Kansas City,
Mo., submitted to the people an ordinance to aid the Kansas City &
Santa Fe Railroad, to the extent of $100,000, to be expended between
Kansas City and Ottawa, but it was voted down because it was erro-
neously understood that Mr. Joy was interested in the scheme and
would build the road without such aid. In April contracts were let
for building the Leavenworth & Atchison, and the Atchison & Nebras-
ka Railroad. On the 6th the masonry of the Kansas City bridge was
completed. The superstructure was speedily built and the bridge was
opened with great rejoicing, July 3. This was the first bridge span-
ning the Missouri River, and its successful construction was deemed a
wonderful engineering feat. In May a project for the Missouri, Kan-
sas & Albuquerque Railroad began to assume form. When built from
Holden to Ottawa, it was operated by the Missouri Pacific. May 31,
the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gnlf Railroad was completed to
Paola. In June, Mr. Joy identified himself with the Leavenworth.

Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, and the company was reorganized
and the construction of the road hastened. The Missouri Pacific Rail-
road, originally a "broad gauge" road, was changed to "standard
gauge" on July 18. August 7 the Kansas City, Mo., council again
submitted a proposition to the people to vote $100,000 to the
Kansas City & Santa Fe Railroad, $75,000 of which was to be expended
between Olathe and Ottawa, and $25,000 in building a switch in the
southern part of the city. The vote was favorable, and the line was
surveyed in October. -Early in 186'J the building of a railroad to
Memphis, Tenn. , was discussed, and a convention was held at Spring-
field, Mo. , August 20, looking to this end, and a temporary organiza-
tion was effected. October 19 a meeting was held at Kansas City, at
which all interested localities were represented, and an organization
was effected under the charter of the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake
Superior Railroad (under which the Kansas City & Cameron Rail-
road was built), procured in 1857. In September, 1869, several com-
panies in Missouri and Iowa were consolidated, under the name of the
Chicago & Soiithwestern Railroad Company, with a view to building a
railroad from Davenport, Iowa, lo the Missouri River, which has since
been constructed by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Com-
pany, with a branch terminating at Atchison and another at Leav-
enworth, and connecting with Kansas City via the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Railroad from Cameron.

In December the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad was sur-
veyed from Atchison to Topeka; the Neosho Valley Railroad, later part
of the Missoixri, Kansas & Texas, was finished between Junction City
and Emporia; and the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad
reached Fort Scott, beyond which point its progress was retarded, and
its workmen were driven off' by a league of the settlers on the Cherokee
Neutral Lands opposed to its construction. The name of the eastern
division of the Union Pacific, as the Pacific road from Kansas City had
been known, was changed in March, 1869, to the " Kansas Pacific. "
Its bond subsidy was applicable only as far as Sheridan, Kas., and
work ceased for many a year after the line had been constructed to
that place; but late in the year construction was resumed, and the line
was graded to Denver. At that date Kansas City had seven railroads
in operation, three of them being unfinished, but progressing rapidly.
These were the Missouri Pacific, the North Missouri, the Platte County
and the Missouri River, completed; and the Kansas City, Fort Scott
& Gulf, completed to Fort Scott; the Leavenvporth, Lawrence & Gal-

veston, nearly to Garnett, and the Kansas Pacific to Sheridan. The
Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad was completed to Baxter
Springs, and opened for business in May, 1870. The Kansas City &
Santa Fe Railroad was finished between Olathe and Ottawa, and put
in operation August 22, as a portion of the Leavenworth, Lawrence &
Galveston Railroad, which reached Thayer, Kas. , by the close of
the year, and was completed and opened to Coffeyville, September 4,
1871. The Denver Pacific, from Denver to Cheyenne, had already
been com])leted, and the completion of the Kansas Pacific to Denver,
August 15, effected a connection with the Union Pacific.

The charters for the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad, later known
as the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, and the southern
branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, to extend from Fort Riley,
Kas., southeasterly through the Indian Territory to Fort Smith,
Ark., w'ere almost co-existent. The latter charter was procured
by prominent southern gentlemen, at a time when the Leavenworth,
Lawrence & Fort Gilison Railroad was in progress from Lawrence
southward. This latter road, as previously stated, was projected by
Senator Lane, of Kansas, to run through the Indian Territory, to con-
nect with the Texas Southern for Galveston. Hence the charter for
the Fort Scott road was so amended upon its passage, at the instance
of southern gentlemen and Senator Lane, as to provide that, if either
of these latter roads should be constructed to the boundary of the
Indian Territory before the completion of the Fort Scott road to the
same line, it should have the sole right of way through the Territory
secured by treaty, and by its charter granted to the Fort Scott road.
The Fort Scott road reached the boundary a month in advance of the
Neosho Valley line, which was constructed on the charter of the south-
ern branch of the Pacific, and afterward became known as the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas Railroad. Notwithstanding the priority of comple-
tion to the specified boundary, the Neosho Valley Company raised
the que.stion of the claim of the Fort Scott Company to the right of
way, upon the ground that the charter provided that the State line
should Vie crossed within the valley of the Neosho River, holding that
the terminus of the Fort Scott Railroad at Baxter Springs was not in
that valley, but, although the map of the route had been approved
by the Secretary of the Interior, when the question was presented to
that official, he now decided it adversely to the interests of the Kansas
City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad.

The Kansas City & Memphis Railroad was agitated in 1870. A

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 228

survey of the line was begun in February, and such an interest- was
excited that the counties it traversed voted to aid it, and its pros-
pects seemed bright until early iTi the summer, when another enter-
prise assumed form, the Clinton, Kansas City & Memphis branch
of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, proposing to construct a
line from Kansas City to Memphis, by way of Clinton. Mo., instead
of through Springfield. The charter of the Tebo & Neosho Road was
an old one granted by the Missouri Legislature, under which the Kan-
sas Land & Trust Company had already built a road from Sedalia
through Fort Scott to Parsons, where it formed a junction with the
Neosho Valley Railroad from Junction City. This latter road, as the
reader has been advised, was built under a charter for the southern
branch of the Union Pacifie Railroad, from Fort Riley to Fort Smith,
by the builders of the road from Sedalia to Parsons. When these two
lines were united under one management they became known as the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. The Clinton, Kansas City and
Memphis branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad was a branch of this
line built under the general law of the State of Missouri authorizing
the construction of branches of railroads already in existence.
From the time of its inception both companies were canvassing for
county aid, and some counties voted aid to one, some to the othei'.
This conflict was waged through the early half of 1871. In March
the Jackson County, Mo., subscription was transferred from the
Springfield to the Clinton road. This act caused bitter agitation and
resulted in litigation. In June, conflicting interests were harmonized
by a compromise, under which one line was to be built as far as Har-
risonville, and two from that point, one by way of Springfield, and
one by way of Clinton. Work was begun at the Kansas City end
July 15. In the following winter the company called on the authori-
ties of Jackson County for money, and a dispute which arose about
the amount of work done culminated in litigation and a cessation of
work until 1873. when all difHcultios were adjusted, the company se-
curing the Jackson County bonds and disbursing the proceeds for
grading, finishing the road bed for nearly a hundred miles southward
from Kansas City. But the panic of 1873 precipitated a new trouble.
The company, unable to negotiate its bonds for the purchase of iron
and rolling stock, was finally driven into bankruptcy, and the road
was sold December 1, 1876, for|l,100. Meantime, in May, 1870, the
Platte County Railroad, from Kansas City to the Iowa line, and the
Council BUitt's & St. Joseph Railroad, from the Iowa line to Council

T'.

IL^

Bluffs, were cousolidated, having passed into the control of the Bos-
ton interests represented by Mr. Joy, and took the name of the Kansas
City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad.

In June, this year, a company was organized to build a road from
Kansas City via Plattsburg northward, but no other measures toward
the construction of the road were ever taken. The Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railroad, which had been begun in 1868 at Atchison, was
put into operation to Emporia. The railroad up the west side of the
river to Troy, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad between
Sedalia and Parsons, were finished. Kansas City had eight railroads
with the beginning of 1871. In September of this year the Chicago
& Southwestern Railroad was completed to Beverly, on the Kansas
City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad. It passed into the pro-
prietorship of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company,
and ran its trains into Kansas City over the line of Kansas City, St.
Joseph & Council Bluff's Railroad until January, 1880, when, under a
contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, it began
to use the tracks of that corporation from Cameron to Kansas City.
In January, 1872, the name of the North Missouri Railroad was
changed to Kansas City, St. Louis & Northern. When the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad had been extended so far into the Kan-
sas Valley as to begin to show largely in the transportation of Texas
cattle, it was found that about two-thirds of its business originated at
and was destined for Kansas City, and the company saw the desira-
bility of securing a line of its own to this important point, and in the
spring of 1872 a company was organized in Topeka to build the
Topeka & Lawrence road to Lawrence, and a company was formed in
Kansas City to construct a line between Kansas City and Lawrence.
The latter was known as the Kansas City, Lawrence & Topeka Rail-
road Company. November 12 Kansas City voted 1100,000 in its aid.

The Kansas City & Eastern Railroad was inaugurated in the sum-
mer of 1878, under the name of the Kansas City, "Wyandotte & North-
western Railroad. The course originally chosen for this road was
from Kansas City through Wyandotte, northwesterly to the Kansas
and Nebraska State line. Failing to secure requisite aid along the
line in Kansas, the company concluded to divert the course of the
road down the Mis.souri Valley. Kaw Township, in which Kansas
City, Mo., is located, had voted $150,000 to aid the line as originally
projected, and in March, 1873, voted to transfer the Kaw Townshij)
bonds to the new line. The contract for the construction of the first

l>iL

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 2*25

section, between Kansas City and Independence, was let in October,
1873, and work was begun in December, and finished in 1874; and in
1875 the balance of the line to Lexington was put under contract, and
completed early in 1876. This was a " narrow gauge ' ' local line, since
changed to a "standard gauge" and operated by the Missouri Pacific
Company — of great importance to Kansas City, in that it brings to its
doors the product of the great coal mines at Lexington. In the early
part of 1872 an effort was made to induce the railroads centering in
Kansas City to build a union passenger depot, to replace the small
wooden structure upon the site of the present Union Depot, which had
been erected by the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company when
their road first entered the city, and which but illy served the purpose
to which it was devoted. As an encouragement to the railroad com-
panies, a proposition to exempt such a depot from taxation for fifteen
years was submitted to the voters of Kansas Cit}', Mo., at the spring
election, but it was unfortunately defeated. The road between Ottawa
and Emporia, and between Ottawa and Burlington, was projected'
about this time, and it was built some time later. It became known
as the Kansas City, Burlington & Santa Fe Railroad, operated in con-
nection with the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad. In
1873 there was a futile attempt made to secure a union of interest
between the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern '■ narrow gauge "
Railroad and that of the Keokuk & Kansas City Company, projected
from Keokuk to Kansas City : and a road was strongly advocated from
Kansas City northward toward Chariton, Iowa.

The panic of this year resulted so disastrously to the railway inter-
ests of Kansas City that little progress was made in railroad construc-
tion for three or four years ensuing. One of the first companies to
take advantage, on any considerable scale, of the revival of commerce,
was the Chicago & Alton, which, it will be remembered, had extended
its line to Mexico, Mo., on the old Louisiana charter, and for some
years had been making its connection to Kansas City from that place
over the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad. February 27,
1877, the president and other oificials of that road visited Kansas City
to confer with the people, relative to extending that line along the
route originallj' proposed for the Louisiflna Road to Kansas City.
At a series of public meetings, held during the spring and summer,
the sentiments of the people along the route were ascertained, and in
the fall a new company was organized for the purpose of building the
road. This was known as the Chicago, St. Louis & Kansas City Rail- L

■^

226

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

road Company. It was composed mainly of Chicago and Alton men.
Aid was accorded by the counties along the line. The Memphis
Railroad projects, in which Kansas City had been so greatly and so
successfully interested, since 1S70, reappeared in 1877. April 12 the
road was sold in bankruptcy to Kansas City men for 115,025; but jit
tempts to raise funds to construct the line were unsuccessful. Other
railroad enterprises were more fortunate, however, and the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad began the construction of branches from
Emporia south, since extended via Howard, Kas., and from Florence
to Eldorado, later extended to connect with the main line at Ellen
wood, Kas. Early in the year a company, consisting of representa-
tives of the different railway interests centering in Kansas City, was
organized to build a union depot — a measure that had been for some
years under discussion. July 10 the old wooden shed, which had
long served for that purpose, was abandoned, and the point of inter
change was moved to the State-line depot. The demolition of the old
building followed speedily, and the erection of the present imposing
structure was at once begun, and finished in January, 187(S, at a cost
of 1225,000. Other additional railroad facilities were effected in 1S77
l)y the extension of the Clay Center branch of the Kansas Pacific road
to Clifton, the extension of the Central branch of the Union Pacific to
Concordia, and the construction of the Joplin Railroad from Girard to
the line of the Fort Scott. & Gulf Railroad. The Central branch of
the Union Pacific made its eastern terminus at Atchison, bat met with
such competition in the Republican Valley from the Clay Center
branch of the Kansas Pacific that it was compelled to make rates to Kan-
sas City over the Missouri Pacific from Atchison, and it thus became
virtually a Kansas City road. About the close of the year it was pro-
posed to extend the Joplia line to the Fort Smith & Little Rock Rail-
road, in Arkansas, thus securing a through line to the Mississippi
River, at Chico, by the latter road and the Little Rock, Mississippi
River & Texas Railroad, then nearly completed between Little Rock
and Pine Bluff. The great railroad strike of this year ( 1877) extended
its influence to Kansas City, and on the afternoon of July 23 freight
train men refused to work further without an advance of wages. At
night meetings were held by the strikers, and in Kansas City, Mo., on
the following day a mob of lawless men, chiefly idlers, paraded the
streets and forbade laborers of nearly every kind to work longer.
Tbese ominous proceedings aroused the people, and meetings were
held quietly and measures adopted to protect property. A company

^f^

_^.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

.227

of men was promptly raised and sworn in as special policp, and this
timely provision bad the effect of crnshing the lawless spirit of the
mob, who were taking advaatage of the railroad strike to inangnrate
an order of anarchy and destruction, such as had recently prevailed in
Pittsburgh, Penn. Many laborers in what is now Kansas City, Kas.. were
involved in this movement. The trouble was mainly confined to the
railroad men and their employes, who succeeded in amicably adjust-
ing their differences, and freight business was resumed July 30. The
strikers did not, apparently, seek a collision with the Government
authorities, which would have resulted from their stopping the mails,
and as passenger trains were mail trains, passenger trafSc was not
interfered with.

Arrangements for building the extension of the Chicago & Alton
Eailroad were completed in January, 1878, except for the right of
way through Kansas City, Mo., and this was secured August 8. The
construction of the road was progre.ssing rapidly below, and Decem-
ber i the work was begun here. Chief among railway extensions this
year was that of the Chicago & Alton from Mexico, Mo. , to Kansas
City, making another through line to Chicago and St. Louis. This
road was nearly completed during the year, and was opened for busi-
ness April 18, 1879, but did not begin running passenger trains until
May 13. The next in immediate importance, if it was not the most im-
portant for Kansas City, was the extension of the Atchinson, Topeka
& Santa Fe Railroad, from Pueblo, Colo., to Clifton, N. M., with a
view to further extension to a connection with the Southern Pacific of
California, making a southern trans-continental route more valuable
than the Union Pacific. This road also built a branch to Leadville,
Colo., to afford railroad facilities to the rich San Juan country. The
line of the Central branch of the Union Pacific was extended to Beloit,
Kas., bringing to Kansas City the trade of the upper Republican and
Solomon Valleys. The Kansas Pacific extended its Clay Center branch
to Clyde, and built a branch from Solomon City to Minneapolis, with
the same general effect as the extension of the Central branch. The
Kansas City, Burlington & Santa Fe Railroad was further extended
from "Williamsburg to Burlington, bringing to Kansas City an impor-
tant addition to her trade from the southwestern part of Central Kan-
sas. The pool that had existed since September, 1876, was dissolved
March, 1878, and then followed the first severe railroad war in which
Kansas City lines were involved. This fight was apparently sought by
the St. Louis lines as against those leading to Chicago, and was in-

228 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

augurated April 1, by the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad,
with a cut of rates to about one-third, and raged furiously for a short
time, when the pool was reorganized.

This year Jay Gould's interest in lines leading to Kansas City was
acquired in this manner: He was a chief owner in the Union Pacific.
By its charter, that road was required to pro-rate on equal terms with
the Kansas Pacific for California business, but it had always refused
to do so. Mr. T. F. Oakes, general superintendent of the Kansas
Pacific, was now able to afFord his company efficient aid in its long
struggle with the Union Pacific for its charter rights. Early in the
year he induced Mr. ChafFee, of Colorado, to introduce into Congress
a bill to compel the Union Pacific to respect the rights of the Kansas
Pacific, and a largely attended public meeting held in Kansas City,
February 8, indorsed it strongly and memorialized Cong'ress on the
subject, and similar action taken at other places resulted in the favor-
able reporting of the bijl in March, with a good prospect for its pas-
sage. Gould could not successfully oppose the measure, and in April
he sent agents to St. Louis, who bought a controlling interest in the
Kansas Pacific, and thus withdrew the opposition of that company.
In June the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad Companies
pooled oa Colorado business, but the through rates to California
which the friends of the Kansas Pacific had sought were not granted.

With the opening of 1879 the building and extension of railroads
was revived. The Kansaa City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad built a
branch from Baxter's Springs to Joplin. The Kansas City, Lawrence
<& Southern extended its Independence branch to Greenwood, with a
view to pushing it through to Arkansas City. The main line of the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe was extended from Clifton to Las
Vegas, N. M. , its Cottonwood Valley branch to MePherson, its Eureka
branch to Howard, and its Wichita branch to Wellington and Arkan-
sas City. The Clay Center branch of the Kansas Pacific was extended
to Concordia, and the Solomon Valley branch to Beloit, and a branch
was built from Salina to MePherson. The Kansas Pacific Company
also bought and put in operation the unused Lawrence & Carbon-
dale road, and bought the Denver Pacific from Denver to Cheyenne,
and the Colorado Central & Boulder Valley and Denver & Rio Grande
Railroads. The Central branch of the Union Pacific, now part of the
Missouri Pacific, extended its Concordia branch to Cawker City, and
built a branch to Kinoni and Stockton. The Atchison & Nebraska
road was extended from Lincoln to Columbus, and the St. Joseph &

7"^=^^

Denver to m connection with the Union Pacific. Th(i ill-fated Kansas
City & Memphis road was sold to Boston capitalists, who proposed
to build about 100 miles during the succeeding year, and extend it
afterward as occasion might require. The Burlington & Southeast-
ern Eailroad. then running from Burlington. Iowa, to Laclede, Mo.,
projected an extension to Kansas City, and made four extensions with
that view. The Kansas City & Northeastern Company surveyed a
line from Kansas City to Chillicothe, Mo., with a view to early con-
struction. The Missouri Pacitio Company extended its line between
Holden and Paola to Ottawa, and built the old Fall Kiver Railroad
from Paola to Leroy. The Lexington & Southern from Pleasant
Hill, on the Missouri Pacific, to Nevada, on the Missouri, Kansas &
Texas, had been projected. Jay Gould and his associates, who previ-
ously controlled the Union and Kansas Pacific and St. Joseph &
Denver Railroads west of the Missouri River, and the Wabash road
east of the Mississippi, early in the year bought a controlling interest
in the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern, and consolidated it with
the AVabash, under the name of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific.
The roads, except the Union Pacific, were now connected. To make
connection with that the Pattonsburg branch of the St. Louis, Kansas
Cit}' and Northern was extended to Omaha. Not long afterward Gould
and his associates bought the Missouri Pacific and the Central branch
of the Union Pacific, and consolidated them, making two divisions,
connecting at Kansas City. They also secured an interest in the Han-
nibal & St. Joseph Eailroad, during the year, and afterward bought
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. In June the Fort Scott Company
bought the Springfield & Western Missouri Railroad and completed
it, soon after, to a junction with the main line at Fort Scott. In No-
vember, Gould bought the Kansas City & Eastern (narrow gauge)
road, and in December it was leased to and became a division of the
Missouri Pacific. In December the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
Railroad Company made a contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph
Railroad Company for ti-ackway rights over its line from Cameron,
Mo., and January 1, 1880, it began to riin its trains to Kansas City.
There was another freight-rate war in 1879, and much promiscuous
cutting was done. The pooling ariangement had been dissolved in
view of the early completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad to
Kansas City. The road was open for business April 18, but did not
begin running passenger trains until May 13. The war was caused
by this line's allotment of business to St. Louis, and was begun by

230 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

roads concentrating in that city. During the summer the contracts
between the Hannibal & St. Joseph and the Wabash Raih'oad Com-
panies expired, by which the latter had used the track of the former
from Arnold Station to the bridge. A spirited contest between the
two companies ensued. The Wabash Company built a track of its
own, and made a new bridge contract, but the end of the trouble was
reached only after litigation.

The railroad interests of Kansas City grew in 1880. The Lexing-
ton & Southern Railroad, extending from Pleasant Hill, on the Mis-
souri Pacific, to Nevada, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, was built.
Soon it was consolidated with the Missouri Pacific, and trains Were run
from Kansas City to Texas, by that route, over the Missouri, Kansas &
Texas. The Manhattan, Alma & Burlingame road was built from
Burlingame, on the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, to Man-
hattan, on the Union Pacific. A branch of the Fort Scott road was
built from Prescott, Kas., to Rich Hill, Mo., to reach the coal fields
of Bates County, Mo. A long needed switch was built from the main
line of this road, near Turkey Creek, into the southern part of Kan-
sas City, Mo. In July the Wabash Company completed a line into
Chicago, which was the fourth through line between Kansas City and
Chicago. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company ex-
tended its main line westward, reaching El Paso, N. M. , early in J8S1,
and in March it connected with the Southern Pacific, of California,
forming a second line across the continent via Kansas City. The
Fort Scott Railroad Company built part of the line between Fort Scott
and Springfield, with a view to extending it to Memphis. There were
some other important extensions. In January, 1880, the Central
branch of the Union Pacific, west from Atchison, became a division of
the Missouri Pacific, and in March was consolidated with the Union
Pacific. A little later the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council BlufPs
road was sold to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com-
pany, and the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad to the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. In May the Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was leased for ninety-nine years by
the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. In February the general
offices of the Union Pacific Railroad Company were consolidated and
located at Omaha, and in May the long fought-for through rates to
the Pacific by this line were granted to Kansas City.

The old Memphis road, which had been bought in Kansas City, was
sold, December, 1879, to Messrs. Lyman and Cross, of the Missouri, '

"JF

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 231

Kansas & Texas Railroad, but they failed to execute the contract.
In January, 1880, it was again contracted to J. I. Brooks and others,
by whom it was reorganized, in June, as the Kansas City & Southern.
Some surveys were made, but little further was accomplished till early
in 1881, when the company was reorganized with additional capital,
and measures were taken looking to the early construction of the line.
In January, 1880, the Wyandotte, Oskaloosa & Western (• narrow
gauge") Railroad Company was organized in Wyandotte, but it took
no active measures. The Union Transit Company was organized in
Kansas City in March. Its object was to take charge of switching for
the various roads centering here. Land was purchased for yards west
of the Kaw. In April the Des Moines & Kansas City Railroad Com-
pany was organized at Des Moines, Iowa, to build a line between the
two cities, and surveys were soon after begun. The Kansas City Rail-
road Company was organized in Kansas City in December, with T. B.
Bullene as president, to build a railroad from Kansas City to Salina,
Kas. , through Baldwin City, Osage City and Council Grove, and about
the same time the Kansas City, Nebraska & Northwestern Railroad
Company was organized in Kansas City, with a view to the construc-
tion of a line from Kansas City to Falls City, Neb. , by way of Oska-
loosa and Valley Falls, Kas. In July the new Wabash line was opened
into Chicago, and on October 16 the railway war was resumed and con-
tinued with violence for a few days. Then, after a cessation of hos-
tilities for a few weeks, the conflict became more spirited than ever.
The roads to St. Louis were quickly involved, and later those east of
Chicago and St. Louis.

The Memphis branch of the Kansas City & Fort Scott Railroad,
which, at the opening of 1881, was completed nearly to Springfield,
Mo., was finished to that point during the year, opening up to Kansas
City a larger trade field in Southwest Missouri than it had hitherto had
access to. Another road of not less importance was the Lexington &
Southern, completed during 1880, between Pleasant Hill and Nevada,
and extended during 1881 to Carthage, Mo. This road was operated
from the first as a branch of the Missouri Pacific, and early in the
year trains were put on between Kansas City and Galveston. This
also enhanced Kansas City's Missouri trade, and opened to her a
larger field in Texas. Another road of considerable benefit to her
trade in Southern Kansas was the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita,
constructed during the year from Fort Scott westward to Yates Cen-
ter. It was operated in connection with the Missouri Pacific from

► V

Fort Scott, and tbe trade along tbe line reached Kansas City by way
of the Lexington & Southern. Another railway change in the same
locality that contributed to the advaatage of Kansas City was the pur-
chase of the Missouri, Kansas & Colorado Railroad, from Messer to
Cherryvale, by the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad Company.
This road had been formerly operated in connection with the St. Louis
& San Francisco, as a St. Louis road and a St. Louis feeder. After
this date that part of the line between Weir and Messer was taken up,
and the balance was operated by the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf
Company as a Kansas City feeder. Besides these more important new
roads and railway changes, there were other changes of minor impor-
tance, which at once or later did their part toward the enhancement of
Kansas City's commercial interests.

There were several important extensions and clianges in the rail-
ways converging at Kansas City in 1882. The Missouri Pacilie was
extended to Omaha, penetrating and making accessible to Kansas City
the eastern and richest portion of the State of Nebraska. The Chi-
cago, Burlington & Quincy Company completed a line from Wymore,
on its Atchison & Nebraska road, in Nebraska, to Denver, Colo. , and
put on through trains from Kansas City to Denver, by way of this
line, and the Atchison & Nebraska and Kansas City, St. Joseph &
Council Bluffs lines. This afforded Kansas City not only a new and
competing line to Colorado, but also secured it access to the whole of
Southern Nebraska, which was intersected by the lines of the com-
pany. The trade territory added by these changes was the best half
of Nebraska. To the south of Kansas City the Missouri Pacific was
extended to Carthage, Mo., and the St. Louis & San Francisco to Fort
Smith, Ark. The former of these changes secured to Kansas City the
trade of Carthage and what remained unsecured of the southwestern
lead-mining country. The latter, by the connection secured with the
Fort Scott road, afforded -access to all Northwestern Arkansas, and, by
connecting with the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad, gave a great
line through the center of Arkansas to Arkansas City, on the Mis-
sissippi River, only 400 miles above New Orleans — a line suscep-
tible of develojament into a most inlportant southern outlet. In
the same direction the Fort Scott branch to Memphis, Tenn., was
pushed steadily during the year, reaching Greenfield, Mo. The Fort
Scott & Gulf Company having secured, during 1881. the " narrow
gauge" road from Cherokee to Cherryvale, Kas., this year changed
it to a "standard gauge," greatly enhancing its value to Kansas City.

'.l>£

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 233

It also built a branch from Joplin to Webb City, thus reaching a large
trade. The Missouri Pacific, and its co operating lines in Texas, made
a number of important extensions, giving Kansas City access to new
trade. There were several similar changes and extensions, all bene-
ficial to Kansas City. The only changes that occurred to the east-
ward of Kansas City accomplished the transfer of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph road to the Wabash system, which led to the termination of
the contract between that road and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
by which the two were made to constitute a Kansas City and Chicago
line. Incidentally, one of these roads proposed to extend its lines to
Chicago and the other to Kansas City.

During 18S3 there was but one notable addition to Kansas City's
railway facilities, and that was one of the most important that could
have been made. The completion of the Kansas City, Springfield &
Memphis Railroad opened to the trade of Kansas City a rich region
in Southwestern Missouri and Southeastern Arkansas, and at Memphis
connected it with the lines traversing a vast area of the South, east of
the Mississippi River, which had heretofore been iaaccessible to it. The
prospects for future additions to Kansas City's railroad system were
very flattering. There were no less than four roads trying to reach
Kansas City from the direction of Chicago, all of which bade fair to
be completed within a year or two. Another was projected from St.
Louis, with fair prospects, and the old original Kansas City &
Memphis enterprise, after much delay and many changes, now gave
promise of speedy completion, thus giving hope for two lines where
only one had been so long and so ardently struggled for. Three more
roads from the cattle country of the southwest were projected, and it
was believed they would be built within a few years. It was demon-
strated during 1884 that the Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis
Railroad was fully to meet all expectations. In this year and the fol-
lowing, railroad construction went forward, some new lines being pro-
jected and begun in the country tributary to Kansas City, and exten-
sions were made to others already in operation. With the revival of
business came the revival of railroad building, and the country tribu-
tary to Kansas City attracted a large investment of capital in this de-
partment of enterprise. During 1886, 1,000 miles of new road were
constructed in the State of Kansas alone, all of which opened new
trade territory to Kansas City. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Company having purchased the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, of Texas,
built a line across the Indian Territory connecting it with the Kansas

'i'U' ■ «^

^f^

234 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

s_ystem, and opened a new line through Central Texas to Galveston.
This company also began the construction of a new and independent
line from Kansas City to Chicago, which was opened early in the sum-
mer of 1888, besides building a large mileage of new branches in
Kansas, where it already had a largo mileage, among which is the Kan-
sas City & Southwestern, better known as the Paola branch, from Kan-
sas City to Paola, Kas. , where it connects with the entire southwestern
system of that company. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Com-
pany constructed a line to Kansas City, which was opened late in 1887,
crossing the Missouri close by Kansas City, and the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific Company, penetrating into Kansas, built a line south-
west from Topeka to the extreme southwestern part of Kansas, and
another to the northwest through Northwe.stern Kansas and Southern
Nebraska, both of which were soon to be connected with Kansas City
by a line from Topeka. The Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern
Railroad Company organized and constructed a line to the northwest
from Kansas City, which reached the Nebraska State line about the
opening of 1888. Work was resumed on the Kansas City & Southern
Railroad, penetrating into Central South Missouri, and the St. Louis,
Kansas & Colorado Railroad and the Missouri Central line from St.
Louis to Kansas City, were pvit under contract. The Chicago, Bur-
lington & Kansas City Company determined to extend its line through
to Kansas City, and the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Company
projected and began the construction of a line from Des Moines to
Kansas City. The Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis Company
projected two extensions which promised to effect Kansas City, one
from Willow Springs, Mo., to Cairo, 111., and the other from Memphis
to Birmingham, Ala. , which, in connection with the Georgia lines, ,
promised to open a new line to the Atlantic at Savannah and Charleston.
In the development of the railway systems which supply transporta-
tion for Kansas City's commerce, the year 1887 was one of great
results. The body of commerce was with the States of Missouri, Kan-
sas, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Nebraska and the Territories of
New Mexico and Indian Territory. In these the total railway con-
struction during the year 1887, largely the latter half of that year,
was 6,523. The Chicago, Kansas & California (the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe Chicago line), the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (Kan-
sas City line), and the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railways
were all completed and put into operation, making three additional
lines between Kansas City and Chicago, and one additional line he-

tween Kansas City and St. Paul. The Kansas City & Southern was
completed to this city and opened to Osceola, Mo., and the Memphis
& Birmingham road, an extension of the Kansas City, Springfield &
Memphis, was completed to a connection with the Georgia Central at
Goodwater, making a through line from Kansas City to all south At-
lantic ports. The Willow Springs branch of the Kansas City, Spring-
lield & Memphis, and the Cape Girardeau & Southwestern were con-
structed to a junction, opening a new line between Kansas City and
the Mississippi River, at Cape Girardeau, and a connection with the
railway system of Southern Illinois and Kentucky, which gave access
to the trade of that section. The Lexington & BoonvilJe line of the Mis-
souri Pacific was completed, which opened to Kansas City the rich
country in Central Missouri, which had heretofore been almost inaccess-
ible. The Missouri Central, the St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado,
the Kansas City & Sabine Pass, and the Kansas City & Pacific, were
all under construction or contract, making a total of twenty-three
lines in operation and four under construction. The total mileage
embraced in the lines in operation was about 30,000 miles, and with
connections and branches available for commerce in the States and
Territories above mentioned, the aggregate was not less than 35,000.
The Wyandotte County Bridge & Terminal Railway Company
recently filed articles of incorjjoratiou with the secretary of State at
Topeka. The object of the company is to construct, operate and main-
tain a railway line. The estimated length of the road is nineteen miles.
It will run through Johnson and Wyandotte Counties, from a point
on the State line in Johnson County, and run northwesterly through
Wyandotte County to the Missouri River, near Trinidad. The incor-
porators are Charles Lovelace, .James D. Hiisted, W. H. Bridgens,
O. B. Copeland, of Wyandotte County, Kas., and Fred W. Perkins,
Charles A. Peabody and Lycurgus Railsback, of Jackson County, Mo.
The capital stock of the company is $2,000,000.

Kansas City, as a railroad center, is stronger today than at any
time in her history. Not only this, but the tendency of other lines is
in this direction. As the great western railway headquarters and
gateway to the west and southwest, she has not simply maintained her
position, but in gigantic strides she has forged far ahead of her posi-
tion of a year ago. The recent completion of one line from the north-
west has thrown at the very doors of this city a vast territory hitherto
out of its commercial reach. No line was completed or projected within
the year that did not have solid backing and excellent reasons for its

-f^

inceptioa. Immense territories have been thrown open by the pene-
trating ribs of steel, and from them all added business relations have
sprung. The quite recent completion of the Kansas City, Wyandotte
& Northwestern Railway is an accomplishment that is looked upon
proudly by all Kansas City people and all Central Nebraskans. By
arrangements efFected by the now flourishing Missouri, Kansas &
Texas, that road, with its 1,900 miles of line, opened offices in Kansas
City, and at once began the enjoyment of a good business. The Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas opened up more extensive southern fields and
brought about a much livelier competition, which of course redounds
to the benefit of Kansas City.

In the way of local improvements, the Rock Island has expended
the sum of $1,250,000. This money paid for terminals here and at
Armourdale, and covered the expense of a bridge across the Kaw, the
building of a roundhouse for twenty- four locomotives and two enor-
mous freight depots — one on the west, side of the Kaw, and one on Wy-
oming Street. The company's elevator at Armourdale has a capacity
of 120,000 bushels. The new machine shops of this company are
constructed on modern plans, with every facility for handling any biis-
iness that may occur in the next twenty-five years, thus anticipating
the prospects for the reasonable growth of Kansas City.

Construction on the Rock Island the past year was confined to the
branch south fi-om Caldwell, Kas., penetrating the Indian Nation to
Fort Sill. The cost of construction on this road west of the Missouri
River has reached a total of §31.000,000. Business of that portion of
the line shows an increase of 60 per cent over last year. The Rock
Island does business throughout the summer resort region of Iowa,
Minnesota and the Dakotas over the Burlington, Cedar Rapids &
Northern, with which road it has direct connection. This includes
the "Iowa route" very properly in Kansas City's territory, and to
a large extent heightens the passenger facilities of the city.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul's 5,700 miles of road, al-
though it has been a part of Kansas City's mileage, is coming to be
recognized as one of the great through lines to the North and East. By
an improved freight service the Milwaukee gave the people of Kansas
City remarkable time to Chicago, and a better passenger service is
promised.

Among the railroads that Kansas City can pretty nearly count on
for her list of actual lines this year are the Missouri Central, Kansas
City, Nevada & Fort Smith, and the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas

^ ^ 6 ^ ~^ 5) \

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 237

City. Although the last named road has been doing business here
over existing lines to St. Joseph, it has never had any track of its own
to Kansas City. Many rumors of an extension have gone out, but at
present there is a substantial story afloat to the effect that the road will
come in over the Chicago, Kansas City & Texas, from Smithville, Mo. In
order to do this the company will have to build a line to Smithville, a
distance of about thirty miles, and buy the branch of twenty-two miles
to thi^ city. This it will in all probability do within ten months,
coming into Kansas City over the Winner bridge, now in course of con-
struction.

The Fort Smith road is rapidly approaching the construction stage.
This road is to be constructed by Kansas City and Philadelphia
capital, and the projectors mean to vigorously push it to an early com-
pletion. The shops of the new line have already been located at Ne-
vada Mo. , and Chief of Surveyors Bond, late of the ' Frisco svstem, is
in the field with his men locating the route.

The Missouri Central will reach Kansas City before winter, if the
present indications hold good. This will give Kansas City another
valuable St. Louis line.

The vast Winner bridge enterprise is one of great importance to
Kansas City's railroad interests. The bridge is well started now, a
large force of hands being employed daily on the j^iers. A quantity
of false work has been extended over the water, and there is every
indication that the structure will be brought to completion within ten
months, as promised. The bridge will be a high one. It will have
fifty feet of clear space between the high water mark and the bridge
floor, so that the largest steamer, light, can pass safely under it.
This bridge is being built in connection with the Winner belt line,
which is to skirt the city for several miles. It will also give an en-
trance to the Chicago. Kansas City & Texas, by which, it is pro-
posed, the Chicago, Kansas City & St. Paiil will become a thoroughly
Kan-ias Cit}' road.

The Second Street Belt Line is commercially a very valuable one, and
in point of good construction is a model. The question of the extension
of the Carlwndale line of the Northwestern to Wichita is one of quite as
much importance as that of the recently completed Beatrice extension.
It is highly probable that this extension will be made within the year.
This will give Kansas City a much shorter line to Wichita and the
Southern Kansas coal fields, besides affording her a much desired south-
western outlet.

ik£

The addition of 1,900 miles of railroad by the coming of the Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas, not to speak of the added mileage in the Rock
Island extension southwest, and the Wyandotte & Northwestern north-
west, makes 1889 a proud year in the railroad historj' of Kansas City.
The Winner bridge enterprise makes the prospects for 1890 even more
flattering. Over it the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City will surely
enter the city, giving a line as the crow flies to Chicago and the twin
cities of Minnesota. Other roads have already made overtures to the
projectors of the bridge enterprise, and it is probable that every
northern line that is now heading southward will eventually seek an
entrance to Kansas City, over the structure now progressing so rapidly.

The tonnage of the roads whose rules permit them to give ovitsuch
information is reported for the year as follows: Chicago Rock Island
& Pacific, 1,511,453,524 pounds; Union Pacific, 1,269,346,740; Mem-
phis route, 2,666,832,137; Santa Fe system, 2,665,854,840; Alton,
1,141,057,031; Wyandotte & Northwestern, 423,920,577; Missouri,
Kansas & Texas, from July 8, date of entrance to city, 121,396,000;
Missouri Pacific, 2,750,603,690; increase over 2,536,179,807 pounds.

All the great railroads of the West— the Burlington, Wabash,
Missouri Pacific, Union Pacific, Fort Scott & Memphis, Santa Fe,
Chicago & Alton, Rock Island, St. Paul, Kansas City & Northwestern,
Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and Kansas City & Southern, run in here.
The Missouri Pacific, Rock Island, Union Pacific, Kansas City, Wyan-
dotte & Northwestern, and Santa Fe have immense machine shops (em-
ploying some 3,500 hands) here. These roads have also large terminal
facilities here, which they have, from time to time enlarged. They
all connect with the belt line, running over from Kansas City, Mo.,
and along this line most of the factories at present are located. These
freight facilities are, however, quite inadequate to meet the demands
of the unparalleled -increase in manufacturing. The cry is, more
freight-terminal facilities, less delay at Kansas City, Mo., in shiinting
and handling freight.

There are now seventeen bridges crossing the Kaw River between
the two Kansas Cities, some of them railroad bridges, some for wagon
roads, others for electric and cable cars, while others again are ex-
clusively used for driving over hogs and cattle from the stock yards to
the packing-houses. The greatest of all the railroad enterprises is
yet, however, to come, in the shape of the Circular Railroad, which
is to encircle Kansas City, Kas. This company has been organized with
$1,000,000 capital, with some of the ablest men of two cities on its

\As r- ^'s a) \

directoiy. The road is sixteen miles long, and follows the edge of
the Missouri and Kansas Rivers three-fourths of its length; for the
other fourth it crosses country north and south, about three miles dis-
tant fi'om the mouth of the Kaw, its easternmost point. The road is
double track, standard gauge; it will give special attention to sidings
for factories; it touches all the eight packing-houses; it opens up the
North Missouri River bottoms for manufacturing. Across the Mis-
souri River, on the north, it makes direct connection with all the
railroads from the northwest and northeast, and, on the south, cross-
ing the Kansas River at Argentine, it will connect with all the roads
coming fi-om the southeast and southwest. It will also run passenger
trains every half hour, passing through nine additions of the city.
It will convey fuel and building material to the doors of the factories
located along its line, cheaper than is at present dreamed of.

Closely connected with this are the reclamation projects, which
have behind them men of big brain and unlimited means and influence.
The Van Aiken, or Union Depot scheme, is to span the Missouri
River with a four-track steel bridge, from a point on the Kansas City,
Kas. , levee to the Missouri side in Clay County. The company has
obtained the right to a large portion of the river front, where it will
reclaim the now half-submerged land by a series of dykes. Another
company working conjointly with the above will build an immense
bridge over the mouth of the Kaw, and reclaim some 160 acres of now
waste land from the two rivers. These two projects, when f)roperly
under way, will give Kansas City, Kas., the most magnificent freight
terminal facilities and the finest passenger depot in the West. It will
relieve much of the crush and crowding now to bo seen every day in
Kansas City, Mo., both in handling freight and passenger traffic. All
the large railroads are in favor of it, and are ready to cross both
bridges whenever built. If brains and money will do it, the gentle-
men at the back of these schemes will accomplish it in short order, if
not hampered by legal and political delay. Any one who has looked
at the marvelous growth of Kansas City, Mo., will see when these proj-
ects are completed, her counterpart un the Kansas side of the line.

A Kansas City paper refers thus to the Winner bridge project: ■' The
Winner bridge was also started in 1889, and next fall will witness its
completion. The enterprise is a great one in itself, and with others close-
ly allied with it forms one of the greatest improvement schemes ever
begun in Kansas City. The bridge will cost $1,203,000 and will be the
finest on the Missouri River. It will l)e for wagons and foot passen-

240 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

gers as well as railways, and its comjaletion will ojive to the city several
roads now barred by a lack of proper terminals. Mr. Winner gives
assurance that from the very start six roads will enter the city over the
new strncture, four of which are entirely new roads. By this is not
meant that they are new or baby roads. They are full-fledged rail-
ways, doing a great business and which must add materially to the
prosperity of Kansas City. In connection with the bridge is planned
and under construction the Winner Belt Line, completely circling the
city, with a bridge at Quindaro, making the bridge an inlet from any
direction and an outlet from any. A land company, the third of the
allied interest, has bought 1 1,000 acres of land in Clay County,
through which has already been built a railway costing $450,000.
These gigantic enterprises combined have never been equaled in the
history of the city. The capital invested, aggregating over 14,000,000,
is niostly from the East and shows that there Kansas City's standing
is higher than ever."

The next few years will doul)tloss see all these lines completed,
unless some great national calamity intervenes to stop their construc-
tion, and when done they will make Kansas City the greatest railway
center of the West. All these remarkable railway developments mark
an epoch of special importance in the local history, and results are
shown in the opening up of new territory to agricultui'e, the building
of new towns and the establishing of new indu^tries, making Kansas
VAty the headquarters for their supplies and the commercial center of
the Southwest.

There are in Wyandotte County twenty-three post-offices, named as
follows: Argentine, Arraourdale, Bonner Springs, Connor's Station,
Edwardsville, Horanif, Kansas Cit}-, Loring, Menager, Muncie,
Piper, Pomeroy, Quindaro, Rosedale, Summunduwot, Turner, White
Church, Bethel, Grinter, Maywood, Quivera, Wallula and Emmet.
The county has ten banks, all, except the first-mentioned, located
in Kansas City: The Argentine Bank, The Armourdale Bank,
The Fidelity Savings Bank, The First National Bank, The Kansas
City Stock Yards Bank, The bank of the Northrnp Banking Company,
The Provident Savings Bank, The Savings Bank of Kansas, The
Western Banking Company, and the Wyandotte National Bunk, repre-
senting an immense combined capital.

The tirst term of court in Wyandotte County was held in Constitu-
tion Hall on State Avenue, between Third and Fourth Streets, June
6, ISuO, Joseph Williams, associate justice, presiding. The court-

\i< IS r- -^ efv

WVANDOTTE COUNTY. 241

room was on the second floor, the eastern portion being partitioneti off
for the probate court, and the western part for the district coui't.
After leaving Constitution Hall the county officers moved into Byron
Judd's building on Minnesota Avenue. Other offices (among them
Dunning' s Hall and the Kyus Hotel building) were occupied from
time to time, until the erection of the present court house on the
northwest corner of Minnesota Avenue and Seventh Street, in 1882
and 1883. The site was purchased from H. M. Northrup for §(5,000,
and the building, a fine and sightly brick structure, cost about S40,-
000. The ^Vyandotte County offices are among the most commodious
and convenient in the State, and Wyandotte County officers are proverb-
ially helpful and accommodating. The county has, during most of
its history, been singularly free from official scandal. It is worthy of
remark that, with few exceptions, the men in control of Wyandotte
County's affairs are among the youngest county officers in Kansas.

Some references to early acts of the county board relative to county
offices and to the detention of prisoners will be found in Chapter XII.
In April, I860, William McKay was elected chairman of the board,
which consisted of himself, J. E. Bennett and S. E. Forsythe. After
talking "jail " for a number of months, in July, 1860, the plan for a
jail was adopted, the building to be twenty feet square, two stories,
the first story to be divided into live cells, and the upper story into
three rooms, approached by an outside stairway, the structure to be
Iwilt of planks laid and spiked together. J. L. Hall was awarded the
contract for $2,000. Meantime, claims were being allowed Luther H.
Wood for subsisting and guarding persons. This jail stood on Ne-
braska Avenue, between Third and Fourth Streets. It was burned in
1863. After this, prisoners were kept in the old court-house, chained
between chairs and guarded by one Hosp, whose wife relieved him
from time to time, standing over the prisoners with a club. In 1872
the county rented a stone barn, on the corner of Armstrong and
Fourth Streets, and converted ft into a jail. This was in use until 1880,
when the county entered into contract with Drought & Kyus, for the
erection of a new jail at the corner of State Avenue and Eighth
Street. The iron work was furnished by the Leavenworth Iron Com-
pany. It is a brick building, strongly constnicted and provided with
modern iron cages, and cost about $12,000. The new jail, not yet
occupied at this writing, is one of the most substantial improvements
acquired during the past year. The building cost $30,000. It is a
three-story structure, fronting forty-nine feet on Seventh and 122 on

i— , — ^r-i

^ ® r- -^ « V

242 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

State Street. It is constructed entirely of cut stone, brick and iron,
and the generous use of hammered glass and a mansard roof lend
beauty to the building. The basement, at present the only floor laid
off in cells, is sufficient to confine one hundred prisoners. The total
capacity of the jail when finished will be for 400 prisoners. The
cells are constructed with a good quality of chrome steel grated cages.
Each cell is 6Jx8 feet, holding four prisoners comfortably. The
cages are in two rows, with no entrance toward the outside corridor;
between the two rows of cells is a prisoner's corridor, at one end of
which are two bath rooms and closets for the use of the imprisoned.
By the arrangement of locks, in order to effect an escape it is neces-
sary to break five locks. The entrance to the prisoner's corridor is by
a rotary cage. Besides the steel cages are cells for women, and pad-
ded cells for the insane. The sheriff's residence, hospital and jailer's
apartments are well furnished and equipped. An underground pas-
sage goes fi-om the jail to the court-house. Two boilers in the base-
ment heat the building and also the court-house.

The county poor farm is situated about twelve miles west of Old
Wyandotte. It consists of a large tract of well cultivated land. The
present buildings were erected in 1889 at a cost of .§25,000. They
contain every convenience, and the institution ranks as one of the
finest in the State.

The Wyandotte Fair Association organized, secured and fitted up
grounds in the northwestern part of the present city, near the present
lines of the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad and the
Inter-State Elevated Kailroad. and held successful fairs in 1886-89.
The principal promoters of this enterprise were D. M. Ward, AV. J.
Buchan, George W. Greener and J. S. Stockton. There were earlier
attempts to establish fairs, some of which were measurably successful,
but not permanent. The first agricultural fair was held at a compar-
atively early date, on "the Levee." A feature was a memorable
horseback race between the Misses Sire Mudeater and Kate Armstrong,
two native Indian girls of good families. About eighteen years ago
an association was formed and a race track was made in the northeast
part of the city. Only one fair was held. The Wyandotte County
Industrial Society was in existence some years and won numerous
valuable prizes at the Kansas State Fairs and the Kansas City (Mo.)
Expositions.

Following is a copy of the articles of incorporation of the recently
organized Wyandotte Fair Association of Kansas City, Kas. : ' ' First,

the name of this corporation shall be the Wyandotte Fair Association.
Second, This corporation is organized for the pvirpose of promoting
and encouraging agriculture and horticulture; the encouragement of
the breeding of horses, cattle and other domestic animals: holding and
maintaining annual or semi-annual fairs or as often as the board of
directors may determine, for the purpose of making displays of agri-
cultural and horticultural products, domestic animals and articles, the
products of industrial manufacture, the acquiring by purchase or
lease and occupying a tract or tracts of land for establishing and
maintaining grounds to be used for said exhibits and fairs, and
constructing and maintaining racing tracks in a condition suitable
for the speeding of horses, in such manner as may be fixed by
the by-laws of this corporation. Third, The principal ofi&ces of
this corporation, and its chief place of business, shall be in Kan-
sas City, Kas., but it is the aim to make the interest in the asso-
ciation co-extensive with Wyandotte County. Fourth, This corpor-
ation shall continue to exist for the term of twenty years. Fifth,
The oncers of this corporation shall be a president, vice president,
secretary and treasurer, whose term of office and manner of election
shall be governed by the by-laws of this corporation. Sixth, This
corporation shall be under the management of nine directors, who
shall be elected annually by the stockholders, and the directors ap-
pointed by these articles of incorporation for the lirst year shall elect
out of their number the officers of this corporation for the first year.
Seventh, The following residents of Wyandotte County, Kas., are
appointed as the board of directors for the first year: George E.
Bell, J. F. Ensminger, H. S. Swingley, Frank Mapes, W. H. Ryus,
H. A. Yonge, N. Barnes, E. L. Barnes, W. L. Wood, H. J. Hughs."
A certificate of incorporation was issued to Messrs. Bell, Ensminger,
Yonge, Swingley, Hughs and E. L. Barnes, by the secretary of State,
under date of June 6, 1S90.

At a meeting of the board of directors of the Wyandotte Fair As-
sociation. June 10, 1890, on motion of H. S. Swingley W. H. Ryus
was elected temporary chairman and H. A. Yonge temporary secretary.
The following action was taken: George E. Bell was elected presi-
dent; H. S. Swingley, vice-president; J. P. Ensminger, secretary, and
Frank Mapes, treasurer for the first year. N. Barnes, George E.
Bell and H. A. Yonge were appointed a committee on by-laws, and
George E. Bell, H. S. Swingley and H. A. Yonge were appointed to
procure leases to suitable grounds for the use of the association.

244 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

Large and convenient grounds have been secured near the Kansas
City, Kas., terminus of the Fifth Street and Wyandotte cable line, ac-
cessible alike to the people of both Kansas Cities, and preparations
were at once begun to organize and hold during the fall of 1890 the
first of a series of fairs and race-meetings, which will doubtless eclipse
all former efforts of Wyandotte County people in the same line. Wy-
andotte County has considerable fine stock, its agricultural and horti-
cultural displays are always fine, and the goodly number of local
coursers and the increasing general interest in racing, with the capital,
energy and enterprise of the projectors of these fairs, ought to insure
their brilliant success.

The Missouri Valley Horticultural Society met at the home of
Maj. Frank Holsinger, at Rosedale, July 19, 1890. Delegates were
present from Denver, Lawrence, Topeka and Olathe. Among the
prominent fruit-growers in attendance were Dr. I. D. Heath, L. A.
Goodman (State secretary of the society) and J. S. Soule, of Topeka,
(editor of the Kansas Farmer). After the usual business was disposed
of the following interesting programme was carried out: " Education
in Flowers," Amanda Evans; "Lawns and Shrubs," George E. Kess-
ler; ''LookiOg Backward," Prof. A. J. White; "The Ideal Home,"
Mary R. Rose. The society is now in its twenty-third year and is rap-
idly increasing in membership. The officers are: J. C. Evans, Har-
lem, Mo., president; Edwin Taylor, Edwardsville, vice-president;
George E. Rose, Rosedale, secretary; and G. F. Espenlaub, Rosedale,
treasurer.

No attempt to establish a permanent medical society in Wyandotte
County has been crowned with success. The last to date was the or-
ganization of the Wyandotte County Medical Society, about two years
ago, which had an existence of about a year. Quite a number of lead-
ing Kansas City physicians belong to the Eastern Kansas District Med-
ical Society.

The first Wyandotte County election was that of June, 1857, for
a delegate to the Lecompton Constitutional Convention. The polls
were protected by soldiers, and the votes were deposited in a candle-
box, the same candle-box buried in a wood pile in Lecompton and
afterward discovered and made infamous in history. In October, the
county came into notice again, politically, by the stuffing of a ballot
box, and other frauds jjerpetrated at the Delaware Crossing, eight
miles west of Wyandotte. It is said that many of the names found
on the poll list could also be found in a New York City directory.

»iv

^4:-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

245

which some enterprising citizen happened to have in his possession at
the time. Properly, however, the political history of Wyandotte
County begins with its formation by the Legislature, which convened
in January, 1850. A copy of the act creating the county is given in
a previous chapter.

The first meeting of the commissioners, George Russell and George
W. Yeale (Mr. Veale acting in place of Alfred Gray), was held at the
Eldridge House, February 25, 1859. The proceedings of this and
subsequent meetings are given in Chapter XII. The county was
Democratic, politically, until 1809, when the memorable GlickCobb
Legislative contest began, resulting in Cobb's being counted in by the
House. Since that time the Republicans have generally triumphed,
though many worthy Democrats have been chosen to fill offices of
importance.

The civil list of the county from its organization to the present
year is as follows:

First election. — Jacques W. Johnson, probate judge; M. A. Gar-
rett, clerk; V. J. Lane, register of deeds; S. E. Forsythe, sheriff;
W. L. McMath, county attorney; Robert Robitaille. treasurer; C. L.
Gorton, surveyor; Dr. G. B. Wood, coroner; J. B. Welborn, superin-
tendent of public schools.

1859. — W. L. McMath, Representative; B. Gray, probate judce;
V. J. Lane, register of deeds; M. B. Newman, county clerk; L. H.
Wood, sheriff; S. M. Emerson, county attorney; D. C. Boggs, county
surveyor; Robert Robitaille, treasurer; P. Julian, coroner.

1860. — W. Y. Roberts, Representative; Barzillai Gray, probate
judge; Vincent J. Lane, register of deeds; L. H. Wood, sheriff; S.
M. Emerson, county attorney; D. C. Boggs, surveyor; M. B. New-
man, county clerk; Robert Robitaille, treasurer; Peter Julian, coroner;
William McKay, John W. Dwyer and Julius G. Fisk, commissioners;
John B. Dexter, assessor.

1861. — W. W. Dickinson and James McGrew, Representatives; L.
H. Wood, sheriff; James A. Cruise, county clerk; Martin Stewart,
assessor; John A. J. Chapman, surveyor; Charles Morasch, coroner;
Francis Kessler, Richard Cook and Leonard Lake, commissioners.

1862. — James McGrew, senator; Isaac B. Sharp, probate judge;
James A. Cruise, clerk of district court; Stephen Perkins, county
commissioner; James M. Chinault, assessor; Frederick Speck, super-
intendent of schools.

1863. — W. W. Bottum, Representative; Pembroke S. Ferguson,

9 ^

sheriff; James A. Cruise, register of deeds; Byron Judd, treasurer;
John A. J. Chapman, surveyor; Eli McKee, assessor; William B.
Bowman, probate judge; Benjamin F. Mudge, superintendent public
instraction; Stephen Perkins, Joseph Grindle and Francis Kessler,
commissioners; Thomas P. Fenlon, district attorney.

3864. — William Weer, Senator; Charles S. Glick, Representative;
James A. Cruise, district clerk; Isaac B. Sharp, probate judge; Moses
B. Newman, county attorney; Michael Hummer, superintendent pub-
lic instruction; David Pierson, assessor; John A. J. Chapman, sur-
veyor.

1865. — Isaiah Walker, Representative; Pembroke S. Ferguson,
sheriff; Charles H. N. Moore, coroner; Moses B. Newman, county
clerk; John M. Funk, treasurer; James A. Cruise, register of deeds;
David Pearson, assessor; Benjamin F. Mudge, superintendent of
schools; William Cook, Martin Stewart and Francis Kessler, commis-
sioners.

1866. — Isaac B. Sharp, Senator; Thomas J. Barker. Representa-
tive; Daniel Killen, Representative; William B. Bowman, probate judge;
James A. Cruise, district clerk; Rynear Morgan, surveyor; Charles
S. Glick, county attorney.

1867. — Richard Hewitt, Representative; Vincent J. Lane, Repre-
sentative; James A. Cruise, register of deeds; Jesse J. Keplinger,
county clerk; Thomas W. Noland, coroner; Silas Armstrong, sheriff;
Samuel Parsons, surveyor; William Cook, Patrick Reedy and Hiram
Malott, county commissioners.

1868. — Charles S. Glick, Senator; Henry W. Cook, Representative;
Thomas Feeny, representative; Isaac B. Sharp, probate judge; John
B. Scroggs, county attorney; James A. Cruise, clerk of the district
court; Emmanuel F. Heisler, superintendent of public schools.

1869. — Vincent J. Lane, Representative; John T. McKay, Repre-
sentative; Joseph C. Welsh, treasurer; James A. Cruise, register of
deeds; Edward Riter, sheriff; Patrick Kelly, county clerk; Samuel
F. Bigham, surveyor; George B. Wood, Riley M. English and H. F.
Reed, commissioners.

1870. — George P. Nelson, Senator; Rufus E. Cable, Representa-
tive; Isaac B. Sharp, probate judge; Joseph K. Hudson, Repre-
sentative; Henry W. Cook, county attorney; Emmanuel F. Heisler,
superintendent public instruction; James A. Cruise, clerk of district
court; Harvey Hortsman, sheriff.

1871. — Stephen A. Cobb, Representative; Hiram Malott, Repre-

— Is

sentative; Andrew B. Hovey, county clerk; Nicholas McAlpine, treas-
urer; James A. Cruise, register of deeds; Edward S. Drought, sheriff;
Robert A. Ella, county surveyor; Bryant Grafton, coroner; William
P. Overton, commissioner to till vacancy; Robert P. Clark, Samuel
Beatty and William Richart, commissioners for full term.

1872. — Byron Judd, Senator; William J. Buchan, Representative;
William S. Tough, representative; Henry L. Alden, county attorney;
James A. Cruise, clerk of district court; William W. Dickinson,
superintendent of public instruction.

1873. — Richard B. Taylor, Representative; Sanford Haff, Repre-
sentative; G. W. Betts, clerk of the district court to fill vacancy;
Edward S. Drought, sheriff; David R. Churchill, probate judge to till
vacancy; Alison Crockett, register of deeds; Andrew B. Hovey, county
clerk; Nicholas lIcAlpine, treasurer; David W. McCable, coroner;
Francis House, surveyor; Charles Hains. Samuel Beatty and Richard P.
Clark, commissioners.

187-4, — Byron Judd, Senator; Sanford Haff, Representative; Will-
iam J. Buchan, Representative; George W. Betts, clerk of district
court; Henry L. Alden, county attorney; David R. Churchill, pro-
bate judge; William W. Dickinson, superintendent of public instruc-
tion.

1875. — Sanford Haff, Representative; Henry W. Conk, Representa-
tive; Edward S. W. Drought, county treasurer; William H. Ryus,
sheriff; Alison Crockett, register of deeds; David R. Emmons, county
clerk; Samuel T. Bigham, surveyor; William G. Scott, coroner;
Richard P. Clark, William Jacks and Theodore Schultz. commis-
sioners.

1876. — Hiram Stevens, district judge: Byron Judd, Senator; Sanford
Haff and H. W. Cook, Representatives; D. R. Emmons, county clerk;
D. R. Churchill, probate judge; G. W. Betts, district clerk; H. L.
Alden, county attorney; N. McAlpine, treasurer; AV. H. Ryus, sheriff;
Alison Crockett, register of deeds; Samuel F. Bigham, surveyor;
Dr. W. G. Scott, coroner; W. W. Dickinson, superintendent public
instruction; R. P. Clark, William Jacks and Theodore Schultz, com-
missioners.

1877. — William J. Buchan, Senator; H. L. Alden, Representative;
L. E. James, representative; G. W. Greever, representative; D. R.
Churchill, probate judge; J. S. Gibson, county attorney; G. W.
Betts, clerk of district court; J. S. Clark, register of deeds; L. C.
Ti'ickey. superintendent public instruction.

248 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

1878.— E. S. W. Drought, treasurer; W. H. Eyus, sheriff; D. R.
Emmons, clerk; J. S. Clark, register of deeds; Francis House, sur-
veyor; L. T. Holland, coroner.

1879. — W. J. Buchan, Senator; R. B. Armstrong, Representative;
L. E. James, Representative; G. W. Greever, Representative; R. E.
Cable, probate judge; G. W. Betts, clerk of district court; H. C.
Whitlock, superintendent of schools; J. S. Gibson, county attorney;
Perley Pike, county commissioner.

1880.— T. B. Bowling, sheriff; William Albright, treasurer; D.
R. Emmons, clerk; J. S. Clark, register of deeds; Walter Hale,
surveyor; G. W. Nevill, coroner; James T. Johnson, county com-
missioner.

1881.— W. J. Buchan, Senator; E. S. W. Drought, Representa-
tive; T. J. Barber, Representative; B. L. Stine, Representative; J. S.
Gibson, county attorney; R. E. Cable, probate judge; George W.
Betts, clerk of district court; D. B. Hiatt, superintendent public in-
struction; J. W. Wahlenmaier, commissioner First District; D. R.
Emmons, county clerk, William Bridgens, register of deeds; Walter
Hale, siirveyor; T. C. Baird, coroner; T. B. Bowling, sheriff; William
Albright, treasurer.

1882. — H. C. Alden, county attorney; R. E. Cable, probate
judge; L. C. Trickey, clerk of district court; C. J. Smith, superin-
tendent public instruction; E. S. W. Drought, Representative Twelfth
District; J. F. Timmons, Represertative Thirteenth District; D. S.
Bentley, county commissioner Second District.

1883. — James Ferguson, sheriff; Benjamin Schnierle, county
treasurer; W. E. Connelly, county clerk; William H. Bridgens, reg-
ister of deeds; J. H. Lasley, county surveyor; A. H. Vail, coroner;
George W. Hovey, commissioner Third District.

1884.— R. E. Cable, probate judge; L. E. Trickey, clerk of dis-
trict court; H. C. Whitlock. county superintendent public instruction;
James S. Gibson, county attorney; E. S. W. Drought, Representative
Twelfth District; B. L. Stine, Representative Thirteenth District;
Isaac La Grange, commissioner First District; Stephen Perkins,
commissioner Second District.

1885. — James Ferguson, sheriff; W. H. Bridgens, register of
deeds; William E. Connelley, county clerk; Benjamin Schnierle,
county treasurer; J. H. Lasley, county surveyor; George M. Gray,
county coroner; A. A. Lovelace, commissioner for Second District.

1886. — Porter Sherman, Representative Tenth District; J. F. Tim-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

mons, Representative Eleventh District; R. P. Clark, probate judge;
John Warren, clerk of district court; Nathan Cree, couaty attorney;
F. M. Slosson, superintendent public instruction; Gr. U. S. Hovey,
commissioner Third District.

1887. — Martin Stewart, county treasurer; Frank Mapes, county
clerk; A. A. Lovelace, register of deeds; J. H. Lasley, county sur-
veyor; T. J. Bowling, sheriff; H. M. Downs, coroner; S. S. Sharpe,
county commissioner First District.

1888.— W. J. Buchan, State Senator; George Monahan, probate
judge; E. W. Towner, clerk of district court; E. F. Taylor, county
superintendent public instruction; G. L. Coates, Representative of
Tenth District; W. H. Young, Represeutative Eleventh District; John
Steffens, county commissioner Second District.

1889. — M. W. Stewart, county treasurer; Charles E. Bruce, coun-
ty clerk; T. B. Bowling, sheriff; A. A. Lovelace, register of deeds;
S. F. Brigham, surveyor; Russell Hill, coroner; N. Gareelon, com-
missioner Second District; R. H. Scott, commissioner Third District.

In July, 1890, the couuty clerk completed the compiling of an
abstract of the assessment rolls of Wyandotte County, showing the
number of acres of taxable land and its assessed value, the number
of lots and their aggregate value, together with the value of all per-
sonal and railroad property. This abstract shows that the total value
of all the property in the county, personal and real, is $12,860,555.2-4,
which is an increase of $1,587,793.28 over the values of last year.
This is the assessed value, which is about 20 per cent of the real
value. Of the 85,269 acres of land in the county, 57,910 are under
cultivation and 27,359 are not cultivated. There are 48,707 town
lots in the county, of which 8,658 are improved and 40,049 are unim-
proved. The following tables show all the salient features of the
abstract :

No. of Acres.

Average Vahie
per .\cre.

Aggreftate Value of
all Lauds.

Kansas City, Kas.. . .

2,5,59

178

i8!3.55
15,003
20,975
12,963
15,236

85,269'

$963 00
904 27

■■8'i2
24 34
8 6t
36 70
47 67

S51 95

$2,364,322
767,801

Argentine

Rosedale •

Prairie Township

ub'.ibii

365,261
181.319
475,815
726,185

$4,439,939

Quindaro Township

Delaware Township

Shawnee Township

Wyandotte Township

Total

^ h r -

j!^!

250

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Kansas City, Kas. . . ; .

Argentine

Rosedale

Prairie Township

Quindaro Township .
Delaware Townsliip.. .
Shawnee Township... .
Wyandotte Township.

Total

Kansas City, Kas.

Argentine

Rosedale

Prairie Township.

Quindaro

Delaware

Shawnee

Wj andotte

Total .

$13,860,555 34

A little later in the same month a financial statement of Wyan-
dotte County was prepared, which shows the bonded indebteness of
the county to be $514,520.76, against $540,000 of last year, a de-
crease of over $25,000. This amount does not include the indebted-
ness of the cities, townships or school districts. The townships have
little or no debt at all, and very few of the school districts have any
indebtedness. Shawnee Township reports no debt and a balance of
$4,500 in the treasury. The bonded indebtedness of Kansas City,
as per the report of the city clerk, is $1,772,467.24.

The following farm and crop statistics show the acreage, product
and value of field crops in the county in 1888, there being no later
statistics obtainable: Winter wheat, 4,337: product, 91,077 bushels;
value, $70, 129. 29. Eye, 755 acres; product, 15,100 bushels; value,
$6,795. Corn, 10,731 acres; product, 536,550 bushels; value, $193,-
158. Oats, 5.609 acres; product, 185,097 bushels; value, $44,423.28.
Irish potatoes, 5,375 acres; product, 752,500 bushels; value, $338,625.
Sweet potatoes, 533 acres; pi-oduct, 53,300; value, $53,300. Sorghum,
12 acres; value, $305. Castor beans, 1 acre; product, 12 bushels;
value, $12. Tobacco, 1 acre; product, 600 pounds; value, $60.
Broom corn, 6 acres; product, 3,600; value, $126. Millet and Hun-
garian, 152 acres; product, 304 tons; value, $1,216. Timothy, clover.

^-.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

251

orchard grass, blue grass and other tame grasses, 10,805 acres; prod-
uct, 4,3t>3 tons; value, 125.818. Prairie grass, under fence, 382 acres;
product. 109 tons: value, §1.014. Total acreage. 37,839; value,
i?734.98l.57.

The number and value of live stock in the county at the time men-
tioned is shown by these figures: Horses, 21,099, valued at $224,910;
mules and asses. 699, valued at $69,700; milch cows, 2,417, valued at
$48,340; other cattle. 3.009, valued at $60,180; sheep, 558, valued at
$1,116; swine, 4.220, valued at $33,760. Total number of live stock
of all kinds, 13,400. Total value, $438,006.

Summary amount and value of farm products: Field crops, 37,839
acres, valued at $734,981.57; animals slaughtered and sold for slaugh-
ter brought $59,349: the value of increase in live stock was $36,402:
wool clip. 400 pounds, valued at $72; butter, 100,777 pounds, valued
at $20,155.40: cheese, 350 pounds, valued at $42; honey and bees-
wax, 785 pounds, valued at $157: milk sold brought $39,500; horti-
cultural products marketed brought $36,343; wine manufactured,
4,838 gallons, valued at $4,838; garden products marketed brought
$147,501: poultry and eggs sold brought $7,894; wood marketed
brought $5,280.

Following are the statistics of horticulture in the county: Number
of trees bearing— Apple, 95,185; pear, 567; peach, 17,574; plum,
1,771; cherry, 7,048. Number of trees not bearing— Apple, 29,391;
pear, 228; peach, 4,098; plum, 1,601: cherry, 1.699. Total number
trees bearing, 122,145; total number not bearing, 37,017. Small
fruits -acres devoted to raspberries, 199; to blackberries. 51; to
strawberries, 47; total, 297. Artificial forest— Acres of trees one
year old and over: Walnut, 125; other varieties, 1,904; total, 2,029'
Acres in nurseries, 309; in vineyards, 164.

Wyandotte County is pre-eminently the leading manufacturing
center of the West. The latest report of the State Labor Bureau
shows that $12,073,000 of capital is employed in manufacturing in
the county, while the value of the product for 1889 was $36,209,311.
The value of the raw material used in manufacturing is placed at
$32,209,458, while $2,554,817 was paid out for labor in forty-nine of
the leading establishments. The manufactories of Wyandotte County
embrace basket and box factories, brick clay works, brick yards,
broom factories, cement works, clothing manufactories, cooper .shops,
corrugated iron works, desiccating works, flour-mills, foundries, foun-
dry and machine works, a gas machine factory, gas works, harness

■f^

■4*

ik.

252 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

manufactories, haystacker and hayrake manufactories, iron bridge
works, an oil-mill, packing houses, planing-mills, publishing and
printing houses, a radiator manufactory, silver smelting works, soap
factories, a soda water factory, terra cotta works, vinegar factories,
wagon factories, water works and woodenware factories. In Kansas
City, Kas. , there are seven great packing establishments, which enti-
tle the county to the claim of being the second packing center of the
world. At Argentine, which joins Kansas City on the south, and
which is separated from it by the Kansas Eiver, is the mammoth
smelter of the Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company, of Kan-
sas City. This is the largest institution of the kind in the world,
producing one-lifth of all the silver and one-fifth of all the lead pro-
duced in the United States, its annual output being valued at 118,-
000,000. At Lovelace, three miles west of Argentine, another similar
smelter has just been put in operation.

Wyandotte County has the largest city in the State of Kansas —
Kansas City, with a population of 45,000. She has twenty-three
miles of paved streets, is lighted by electricity, has Holly system of
water works, and has fourteen miles of double track and sixteen miles
of single track in street railways, with five or more miles under con-
struction. The population of the county is 63,000, distributed as
follows: Kansas City, Kas., the metropolis of the State, 45,000;
Argentine, a great manufacturing city of the second class, 6,000;
Rosedale, a busy city of the third class, 4,000, and the five townships
outside the cities, 8,000. The surface of Wyandotte County com-
bines the rich alluvial bottom lands of the Missouri and Kansas Val-
leys, and the lighter soils of the hills skirting them. Every plant
that can be grown along the 39th parallel is cultivated to a high
degree of perfection. Evidence of this is found in the fact that for
the last eight years, the agricultural exhibits have taken first prizes at
fairs and expositions wherever shown. Geological formations and
experiments show that coal in p)aying quantities underlies the county,
and capitalists are making active preparations for mining the coal.

„ 4— -

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

253

CHAPTER XIY.

The Judicial District aso the District Court— First Session-
Judge John Pettit— Falling of the Courtroom— Judges Mc-
])0M-ELL, Brewer, BuRRisi, Stevens, Wagstaff, Hindsian and
MiLLEii— The Bar— First Grand Jury— First Cases— First Petit
Jury— Probate Court — Important Trials— Wills vs. Wood—
The Ice Case— Title to Church Property— Homicides— Lynch-
iNGs— The Strike of 1886— Trials of Hamilton and Others for
Wrecking Train, etc.

The charge is prepared, thelaw^'ers are met.

The judges all ranged; a terrible shnw\— Beggar's Opera.

tDICIAL DISTRICT No. 3, of the Territory of
%^^^/G- Kansas, was what Wyandotte County was made a

<n I |fe«* P^^'* °^ when the county was organized, and it con-
J(3 tinned as such until an act of the Territorial Legis-

ts Hture, approved February 27, 1860, made the
j_ , First Judicial District of the Territory consist of
the counties of Leavenworth, Atchison, Doniphan,
Jefferson, Wyandotte and Arapahoe. The county
remained in this district, and the district continued
to be composed of the same counties until the Terri-
ton became a State in 1801.

The constitution adopted by the Kansas Constitu-
tional Convention at Wyandotte, on July 29, 1859,
and under which the State was afterward admitted
into the Union, provided for the erection of district
courts, as follows:

Article 3, paragraph 152, " The State shall be di-
vided into live judicial districts, in each of which there shall be elected
by the electors thereof, a district judge, who shall hold his office for
the term of four years. District courts shall be held at such times
and places as may be provided by law." Paragraph 153 provided

254 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

that the district courts should have such jurisdiction in their respective
counties as might be provided by law, and paragraph 154 provided for
the election in each organized county of a clerk of the district court,
who should hold his office two years, and whose duties should be pro-
vided by law. In another paragraph the constitution provided that
the First Judicial District should consist of the counties of Wyan-
dotte, Leavenworth, Jefferson and Jackson until otherwise provided
by law.

The act of Congress, admitting Kansas into the Union as a State,
was approved by the President, January 29, 1861, and from this time
forward the First Judicial District remained the same until an act of
the State Legislature, approved February 25, 1809, changed AV'yan-
dotte County to the Tenth Judicial District, and made the latter con-
sist of the counties of Wyandotte, Johnson and Miami. This district
continued to be composed of the same counties, until an act of the
General Assembly, approved March 5, 1874, detached Linn County
from the Sixth Judicial District and attached it to the Tenth Judicial
District. In ]87() an act was passed and approved, which changed
Linn County back to the Sixth Judicial District, thus leaving the
Tenth to consist as before of the counties of Wyandotte, Johnson and
Miami, and so it continued until an act, approved March 5, 1887,
created the Twenty-ninth Judicial District, consisting of Wyandotte
County only, as it now exists. The act creating this district set the
time for the commencement of the several sessions of each year on
the first Monday of March, the first Monday of June, the third Mon-
day of September, and the first Monday of December.

The first session of the Wyandotte District Court, which con-
vened June 6, 1859, was presided over by Hon. Joseph Williams,
associate justice of the Territory of Kansas. He also presided at the
fall term of the court in the same year. The next year, Wyandotte
County having been transferred from the Fort Scott to the Leaven-
worth District, the Hon. John Pettit, judge of that district, presided
over the Wyandotte District Court, holding two terms, the last one
being the last term held under the Territorial organization.

The history of Wyandotte, by Birdsall, Williams & Co., in speak-
ing of Judge John Pettit, the second judge of the Wandotte Dis-
trict Court, says, "Pettit was ill-natured, petulant, high-tempered,
profane, tyrannical and abusive, but withal as clear-headed and
able a jurist as ever donned the judicial ermine of Kansas. It
was nothing unusual for him to go to Kansas City and play poker

•> \

,t,

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 255

aod drink whisky all night. The bar generally had to suffer for it
the next day. In this connection we can not refrain from giving an in-
cident that occurred at the Garno House during one of his terms of
court. S. L. Norris, a young man from Vermont, who lived by his
wits, brought out a carpet sack of bank-notes on the St. Albans Bank,
which had bursted in the crash of 1857. Judge James, Col. Weer,
NoiTis, and one or two other parties, set up a job on Pettit and got him
to playing poker. The old man was permitted to win nearly every game,
and every time he won the boys put out a §20 bill on the broken
bank of St. Albans, Pettit paying change in good money. At the
close of the term the old judge was in high glee, as his capacious
wallet was filled with $20 bills. But when he came to pay Mrs. Hal-
ford his hotel bill and presented one of his §20 notes, he learned the
bank was broken; a second and a third tender meeting a refusal on
the same grounds, he saw that he had been sold. He returned to
Leavenworth minus about -1300 in cash, with about $1,000 in worth-
less money, a sadder but wiser man."

" One of those delightful zephyrs peculiar to Kansas was making
everything 'hum' the morning Judge Pettit first opened court in
Wyandotte, and after climbing up to the court room, which was on
the fourth floor, he was nearly out of breath, being a much fatter man
than Philip Hescher, though not so tall. Just as he began to call the
docket an unusually stiff breeze sprang up, which made the structure
tremble from foundation to turret. When the building began to
vibrate he said, 'Mr. Sheriff, can't you get some room on the ground
in which to hold court?' The sheriff replied that there was no room
large enough unless he took one of the churches. Just then a little
stiffer breeze came, and the Judge fairly roared. ' Mr. Sheriff, adjourn
court until 2 o'clock and get a church, * * * take a church!'
and started for the street, but had scarcely gotten half way down when
some one cried out, 'the building is falling!' The crowd made a
rush for the stairway, and soon the old judge found himself crowded
and pushed to the door, where he barely escaped injury from the brick
and debris of the falling building.''

Judge Pettit was succeeded by Hon. William C. McDowell, judge of
the First Judicial District of the State. He served until the close of
1864, and was succeeded by Jndge David J. Brewer, who served for
the next four years, until 1869, and until Wyandotte County became
a part of the Tenth Judicial District. The court was then presided
over for the vear 1S69, Ijy Judge John T. Burris, of the Tenth Dis-

«^ a

^f^

256 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

trict. In 1870 Hon. Hiram Stevens became judge of the Tenth
District, and served as such until 1882. He was succeeded by AV. E.
Wagstaff, who served until 1886, when James C. Hindman became
the judge, serving until Wyandotte County was made the Twenty-
niath Judicial District in 1887. When this district was formed the
Hon. O. L. Miller was appointed judge thereof, and in the fall of
1887, he was elected to the office and is now the present incumbent.

Judge William C. McDowell, the first one that served under the
State organization, lived at Leavenworth. In politics he was a Demo-
crat and a man of tine legal attainments. Soon after the close of the
Civil War, about 1866, he visited St. Louis on business, and there fell
from the driver's seat of an omnibus and was killed. Judge David J.
Brewer abo lived at Leavenworth. Some time after serving as dis-
trict judge, he was elected to serve on the supreme bench of the State
of Kansas. Subsequently he was appointed and served as a United States
circuit judge, and is now serving as a member of the Supreme Court of
the United States. Judge John T. Burris lived at Olathe, in Johnson
County, when he served as judge of Wyandotte District Court. He
still lives at that place, and is now judge of the Tenth Judicial Dis-
trict. He is a man of sound ability, and is accredited by some as being
the best judge who ever sat on the bench at Wyandotte. The home
of Judge Hiram Stevens is at Paola, in Miami County, but his law
office is in Kansas City, Kas. He served as judge of the court for
twelve years. In politics he is a Republican. Judge Wagstaff also
lives at Paola and is a Democrat. Judge Hindman lives at Olathe,
and is a Republican. O. L. Miller, the present judge of the court,
living in Kansas City, Kas., is a Republican politically. All of the
judges of this court since the State was admitted into the Union are
living, excepting Judge McDowell.

The following is a list of the names of the resident attorneys now
composing the Wyandotte County bar: D. B. Hadley, John A. Hale,
John D. Scroggs, H. L. Alden, Henrj- McGrew, C. F. Hutehings, L.
W. Keplinger, J. O. Fife, Henry McGrew, William S. Carroll, Nathan
Cree, A. H. Cobb, J. P. Clark, Wintield Freeman, AV. H. H. Free-
man, S. M. Garatt, W. J. Buchan, William E. Stevens, Hiram Ste-
vens, E. J. Wall, G. B. Watson, W. E. Vandewater, D. J. Maher, W.
T. McGuinn, J. B. Harris, W. A. Snook, H. P. Vrooman, T. P. An-
derson, A. W. Karges, F. D. Mills, Thomas J. White, B. Jacobs, J.
H. Blythe, L. C. Spooner, K. P. Snyder, W. J. Morse, T. E. Thomp-
son, Frank Pitman, Frank A. Leach, John E. McFadden, Samuel S.

^r^

WYANDOTTB COUNTY. 257

Marsh, T. B. Jewell, T. W. Heatley, James S. Gibsou, James F.
Getty, G. D. Herring, J. W. Jenkius, J. D. Lewis, N. H. Loomis, G.
W. Littick, W. H. Littick, A. L. Borger, J. McCabe Moore, J. M.
Mason. N. M. Purviauce, B. S. Smith, I. F. Bradley, L. C. True,
August Barthel, J. W. Baldwin, F. D. Hutchings, D. B. Vausyckel,
C. E. Cook, N. A. Robertson, U. Hoyt, J. M. Searles, A. H. Kaylor,
J. W. Lord, L. L. Sebille, J. M. Asher, T. A. Pollock, D. H. Morse.
R. F. Porter, J. A. Appel, Joseph Combs, William T. Reed, J. J.
Ketcham, Bruno Hobbs, John C. Hall and James M. Reese.

This is a very large and representative bar, among the members of
which are found many of rare legal and judicial ability and attainments.

The first session of the Wyandotte District Court was held in Con-
stitution Hall, in Wyandotte, the record of which read as follows:

' ' The Territokv of Kansas, ]

County of Wyandotte. )

Be it remembered that at a district court for the Third Judicial
District of said Territory, sitting within and for the county of Wyan-
dotte, begun and held at the court-house in the city of Wyandotte, in
said county, on and from the sixth Monday after the fourth Monday
in April, A. D. 1859, to wit: On the sixth day of June, one thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-nine. Present, Hon. Joseph Williams,
presiding judge."

The first action of the court was to approve of the appointment of
William Roy as deputy clerk of the court. N. C. Claiborn, D. E.
James and E. \V. O. Clough then severally applied to the court for
admission to the bar as practicing attorneys and solicitors in chancery,
and having produced to the court satisfactory evidence of their quali-
fications as such, they were admitted, and each took the oath required
by law. The first civil case on the docket, Gottlieb Kneipfer vs.
George Lehman, was then dismissed on motion of the plaintiff, and at
his cost.

The first grand jury was then empaneled, consisting of William
Walker, foreman; R. M. Gray, Christopher Snyder, John Collins, R.
L. Vedder, George W. Veal, J. N. Cook, Valorious Rice, James
McGrew, Frank Betton, Charles E. Sawyer, S. S. Bradey, Alfred
Robinson, George Parker, Joseph W. N. Watson, Chester Coburn,
David H. Toomb, Darius Crouch and James W. Craft. Upon being
duly sworn and charged by the judge as to their duties, they retired
to their chamber to consider such matters as might be brought before
them.

J \

Among other civil actions the case of Lois Kinney vs. Charles
Robinson, Abelard Guthrie, Samuel N. Simpson, doing business under
the style and description of the Quindaro Town Company, and Charles
H. Chapin, Otis Webb and Samuel N. Simpson was called, and the
defendants defaulting, judgment was rendered against them in favor of
the plaintifP in the sum of $393.25 and the costs in the matter
expended. This was the first judgment for money rendered by the
court. After transacting some other business the court adjourned
until Wednesday, June 8, when, after convening, Charles S. Glick and
Daniel B. Hadley were appointed master commissioners for the county.
Both of these gentlemen then filed their bonds in the sum of $1,000
each, and otherwise became qualified for the duties of their offices.
On this day S. A. Cobb, Jacob S. Boreman, Thomas J. Williams and
M. D. Trefren severally applied to the court for admission to the bar
as practicing attorneys and solicitors in chancery, and upon the pro-
duction of the proper evidence were admitted and qualified accord-
ingly. Also on this day the grand jury, by their foreman, presented
in open court the following:
"To the Hon. Joseph Williams, Associate Judge of the Territory of

Kansas, and Judge of the Third Judicial District :

"The grand jury for the county of Wyandotte and territory afore-
said beg leave to make the following report: That there is no jail in
said county or place for the confinement of prisoners, and would
recommend that the county commissioners procure a suitable place for
the confinement of prisoners.

(Signed) William Walker, Foreman.''

Whereupon the court ordered the report to be spread upon the
record of proceedings, and also ordered the clerk to transmit a certi-
fied copy of the same to the board of supervisors doing county
business.

On the third day of the term, cases were docketed against C. N. H.
Moor and John D. Brown for the ofPense of " selling liquor. " At
this time his honor, Jacques W. Johnson, judge of probate, was hold-
ing court in an adjoining room, while under the influence, it is said,
of alcoholic liquors. "D. B. Hadley and 'Billy' McDowell were
earnestly engaged in arguing an imjiortant case in the district court,
when Judge Johnson called the case of Lewis M. Cox as administrator
vs. Margaret Getsler, in the probate court. This case elicited great
interest, as two women appeared in court, each claiming to be the
lawful wife of the deceased, Andrew Getsler. The assets of the

".l^

estate consisted of one small bouse, several barrels of Monongabela
whisky, besides numerous jugs, bottles and demijohns of liquor.
The little house just west of the old Brevator building was the one
owned by the deceased, but possession of that portion of the estate
had but little attraction in comparison with the desire to secure con-
trol of the liquid portion of it. The attorneys were Gen. A. C.
Davis * * * and Col. G. W. Glick. * * * These gentlemen
entered into the contest with spirit, and the case was conducted in
such a manner as to create a feeling of bitterness in the minds of
counsel toward each other; the result was the trial partook more of
the nature of a personal quarrel between attorneys than of a trial in a
court of justice. Gen. Davis was probably one of the finest orators
that ever addressed a court in Kansas, and as he warmed up with his
case be became very eloquent. Glick, fearing the impression Davis
would make on the jury if permitted to proceed with his argument,
attempted to badger him. As counsel grew excited it was impossible
to proceed with business in the district court on account of the noise.
Judge Williams ordered the sheriff to notify the probate judge if he
did not keep better order he would arrest him for contempt. Judge
Johnson, on being so informed by the sheriff, sent back word to Judge
Williams that he did not recognize his authority to interfere in affairs
of his court, and that he had better not, if he did not want to be sent
to jail for thirty days. Just at this juncture of affairs Vol Rheincher
and John Moody, at that time boys about seventeen years of age,
passed by the hall playing Yankee Doodle on a drum and fife; Judge
Williams being passionately fond of music sang out, ' Mr. Sheriff
adjourn court until 10 o'clock to-morrow morning,' and making a dive
for his hat, at the same time disappeared down the stairs and followed
the boys around in the hot sun until he was literally exhausted, thus
happily preventing a conflict of authority between the district and pro-
bate courts." [History of Wyandotte, Birdsall, Williams & Co.]

On the fourth day of the session Philip B. Hathaway, upon appli-
cation, was admitted to practice as an attorney at law and solicitor in
chancery in the several counties of the Territory. The same day a
case was docketed, upon an indictment, against John F. Wise for the
offense of "keeping a dram-shop." Thus it appears that the conflict
between temperance and intemperance began in the first term of the
Wyandotte District Court. The conflict still goes on, but the heavy
fines now assessed for the violation of the liquor laws show that the
cause of temperance generally wins. At this first term of court John

-e — ^

260 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Burk, Thomas Purtie and Francis Tracy, natives of Ireland, and John
Link, a native of Prussia, were, upon application, naturalized as citi-
zens of the United States.

The first term of the Wyandotte District Court continued in ses-
sion seven days. Many civil and a few criminal cases were docketed,
nearly all of which were continued. The attorneys admitted and com-
posing the bar were Daniel B. Hadley, D. A. Bartlett, Glick, Bartlett
& Glick, W. L. McMath, J. W.' Wright & Son, William Roy, D. E.
James and B. O. Demming.

The original official seal of the Wyandotte District Court consisted
of a green wafer seal, with the picture of some species of plant there-
on, but without any letters or figures whatever. Afterward, in Febru-
ary, 1860, a new seal, containing the picture of a balance and the
words "First District Court, Territory of Kansas," was adopted.

The first petit jury empaneled in the county was composed as
follows: V. J. Lane, foreman; Matthew Mudeater, Hugh Gibbons,
Perley Pike, Elisha Sorter, Elias S. Busick, Leonard Lake, David
Pearson, W. D. Ferguson. Daniel Croyle, Thomas Sherman and C.
H. Carpenter.

The jirobate records of the county show that some probate busi-
ness for persons living within the AVyandotte purchase was trans-
acted while it belonged to Leavenworth County; the first letters of
administration having been issued May 11, 1857, to Charles B. Gar-
rett, upon the estate of Henry Garrett, deceased. The first probate
business transacted in Wyandotte County was the granting of letters
of administration, on April 5, 1850, to Mrs. Josephine S. Cann, on
the estate of her deceased husband, William B. Cann. Catharine
Warpole was the first guardian appointed iu the county, she being
ai^pointed April 22, 1850, as guardian of James, Daniel and Lydia
Warpole, minor heirs of Catharine M. Warpole, deceased. These
minor heirs were the first wards in the county. On April 28, 1850,
John H. Miller was appointed curator of the estate of John Warpole,
deceased. Jacques W. Johnson was the first probate judge of the
county. A list of all of his successors appears elsewhere in this work
tinder the head of " county officers."

In 1845 Silas Armstrong, a member of the Wyandotte tribe of In-
dians, selected 040 acres of Government land, by viitue of Article 14
of the treaty made between the United States and his tribe in 1842.
The land he selected is now a part of the site of Kansas City, Kas.,
and was originally bounded " north by the Missouri River, east by the

j^=f.iL

Missouri State linp, south b}- the Shawnee Reservation, and west by
the Kansas River.'' In June, 1845, Mr. Armstrong took possession
of the land, and continued to assume control of it, and made cer-
tain improvements thereon, but failed to procure title for the reason
that the same tract of land had been reserved in a treaty previously
made with the Shawnee Indians for the building of a fort. But,
as the Government did not utilize the land for that purpose, Mr.
Armstrong continued to hold and control it, apparently with the hope
that he would at some future time obtain his title. Again, in 1855,
he selected the same tract under the ninth article of the treaty of
March 1 of that year, and gave notice of the fact, dated March 14, 1855,
to the commissioner of the general land oiHce at Washington, and
in due time he received a patent from the Government for the land.
Meanwhile other individuals had selected portions of this land, and
had settled or squatted thereupon, and had made some improvements
and claimed title adverse to Mr. Armstrong.

This tract of land has been the subject of much litigation, which
has created a great deal of excitement on account of its great value,
having become partially covered with the city. Among the cases of
litigation the most important one, and the one which settled the cpies-
tions of ownership, is that of Willis Wills, Jr., and others vs. George
B. Wood and others. This action was brought in the Wyandotte Dis-
trict Court, July 21, 1874, by Willis Wills, Jr., and other heirs of
Willis Wills, against George B. Wood and numerous other defendants.
It was tried by the court in July, 1876, when findings of facts were
made as follows:

" (1.) That Willis Wills, Sr., the ancestor of these plaintiffs, did,
in 1854, file his intent to preempt the land in suit, in the proper land
ofSce; that afterward one Silas Armstrong obtained a patent from the
United States to the same land, with other lands adjoining thereto.
(2.) That to enable the said Willis AVills (together with others inter-
ested, who claim title to this and other lands included in said patent)
to compromise and settle all disputes in relation to such land of the
said Willis Wills, Sr., with the said Silas Armstrong, the said Willis
Wills, Sr. did, on the 8th day of July, 1858, join in a power of
attorney to one David E. James, whereby the said James had full and
ample power and authority to settle and compromise with the said
Armstrong all suits involving the title to such land, and to compromise
and settle with said Armstrong all questions in relation to such title.
(3.) That on the 10th day of July, 1858, the said Willis Wills, Sr., and

^ "^ ' , ^ h

J], — r- ^i=^rv

262 HISTOBY OF KANSAS.

his wife, Mary Jane Wills, made, executed, and delivered to the said
David E. James a quitclaim deed to all the interest that they then had
in such land, for a good and valuable consideration. (4.) That on the
14th day of October, 1858, the said Willis Wills, Sr. , died, leaving surviv-
ing him the wife and several children, plaintifPs herein. (5.) That on
the 18th day of June, 1859, the said David E. James attempted, as the
agent of the said Willis Wills, Sr. , and by virtue of said power of attor-
ney, to compromise with the said Silas Armstrong in relation to the said
claim of Willis Wills, Sr. (6.) That by such attempted compromise the
said David E. James obtained from said Armstrong a deed to one
three-eighths interest in a portion of said land, and a one-half interest
in certain other portions of the same, and that the title thereto was
taken in the name of said David E. James. (7.) That in such
deed no mention is made of the interest of the said Willis Wills, Sr.
(8.) That the sole and only consideration for such deed was the deed
at the same made by the said James to said Armstrong of the bal-
ance of the interest in and to said land claimed by the persons so exe-
cuting such power of attorney. (9.) That in pursuance of such com-
promise the suits and legal proceedings pending in court in relation
to the title to such lands were dismissed; and that afterward a suit
between said Armstrong and the widow and heirs of said Willis Wills,
Sr. , involving the title to said land, was revived and a judgment of
such court was obtained against the defendants therein; that the last-
named judgment remains unreversed. (10.) That in the year 1858 the
said David E. James took possession of the land in suit, and has occu-
pied the same, by himself, heirs and grantees ever since. (H.) That
the said deed from the said Willis Wills, Sr., and wife, dated July 10,
1858, to the said David E. James, was not certified to have been
acknowledged before any person until the 21st day of July, 1859,
when such certificate of acknowledgment was made by one Luther H.
Wood, then a justice of the peace in and for Wyandotte, who certified
that the said Mary J. Wills acknowledged the same to be her act and
deed, and that one George B. Wood, who signed the said deed as wit-
ness thereto, proved that the said Willis Wills, Sr., acknowledged the
execution of such deed at the time that he so signed same. (12.) That
said last-mentioned quit-claim deed was placed upon the records of
deeds for said county on the 23d day of July, 1859. (13.) That the
plaintifFs herein had notice of the existence of such last-mentioned
quit-claim deed from Willis Wills, Sr., and wife, to the said David E.
James, since the year 1860. (14.) That there is no proof of fraud in

'^€ 1- ^, J^

^l4i^

the execution of such deed; but there is a suspicion of such fraud,
but not founded upon the evidence. (15.) That the suid George B.
and Luther H. Wood had some claim to and interest in said laud at
the time said David E. James so acquired title thereto, and which
claim and interest they derived from and through the said David E.
James. (16.) That said power of attorney was revocable by the
majority thereto. (17.) That said power of attorney was not coupled
with an interest in the said David E. James, either by the terms of
the power or otherwise."

As conclusions of law from the foregoing findings, the court found
as follows:

"(1.) That said deed of July 10, 1858, revoked the said power of
attorney, so far as the said Willis Wills, Sr. , conferred power upon said
David E. James. (2.) That, if said deed did not so revoke such power,
the death of Willis Wills, Sr., did have that effect. (3.) That there
was no fraud in the execution of such deed. (4.) If there was fraud
in same, all remedy therefor is barred by the statute of limitations.
(5.) That the plaintiffs can not recover in this suit, but that the de-
fendants do recover their costs herein expended."

Judgment was thereupon rendered for the defendants, where-
upon the plaintiffs took an appeal to the Supreme Court. James
M. Mason was attorney for the plaintiffs, and O. H. Dean and Wal-
lace Pratt were attorneys for the defendants. At the July term, 1882,
the case was tried in the Supreme Court, and the findings of the
lower court were all sustained excepting the one numbered fifteen, con-
cerning the interest of George B. and Luther H. Wood in the
land in question. On this finding the Supreme Court said: "We
have searched the record through for any evidence to support this
finding." The gist of the matter seems to have been the validity of
the deed alleged to have been executed on July 10, 1858, by Willis
Wills, Sr. , and his wife, to David E. James. On this point the
Supreme Court said: "If this deed is genuine and valid, plaintiffs
have no cause of action, and this they concede. This deed, as stated,
was dated July 10, 1858, and was signed in the presence of George
B. Wood as a witness. The acknowledgment is of date July 22, 1859,
before Luther H. Wood, a justice of the peace, and recites a personal
acknowledgment by Mary Wills, and certifies to proof by George B.
Wood, the witness, of an acknowledgment by Willis Wills, then de-
ceased. This deed was recorded July 23, 1859. This action was
commenced July 21, 1874. Willis Wills died October 14. 1858, leav-

i> fy

'^ ha w-

ing as his heirs a widow and children, who are the plaintifFs in this
action. The plaintiffs in their petition copy this deed of July 10, and
allege that it is a forgery. * * * We shall content ourselves with
stating in a general way the reasons which induce us to sustain the
rulings of the district court in favor of the genuineness of the deed
and of the validity of the transaction. And, first, as to the lapse of
time. The deed was dated and signed July 10, 1858, and was re-
corded July 29, 1859. This action was not commenced until July 21,
1874, two days less than fifteen years from the recording of the deed.
While Mrs. Maples (formerly Mrs. Wills) testified that she did not
know that the instrument signed by herself and husband was a deed
until a year before the commencement of this action, yet it is abun-
dantly shown by the testimony of her daughter and present husband,
that at least in 1860 she knew that James claimed to hold a deed of
the land. No excuse is given for this long delay, neither ignorance, ab-
sence, nor inability. * * * No reason is given or suggested, why,
during all these years, the plaintiffs were silent. Having abandoned
the land, left it in possession of defendants, and permitted sale after
sale, the only reasonable theory is that the plaintiffs all these years
knew that the facts were as now claimed by the defendants, and never
moved in the matter until prompted by unexpected changes in value
or suggestions of ingenious counsel. Counsel criticise, and perbaj)s
justly, some of the language used by the district court in its findings,
as well as the findings themselves, but, notwithstanding, we think the
general conclusions of the district court were correct and must be sus-
tained. ' '

After further reviewing the evidence and discussing the matter,
the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the lower court, all the
justices concurring.

A matter involving the title to thirty-three acres of land in the
residence part of Kansas City, Kas., and causing several law suits,
is of such importance as to require mention here. The land in ques-
tion lies in the southwestern part of the old city of Wyandotte (now
Kansas City), south of and adjoining Tau-roo-mee Avenue. On April
22, 1881, H. C. Long, the joint owner with his wife of this land,
signed a written agreement to sell the same to B. Gray for the sum
of $8,000, to be paid as follows: " $500 by the 2Sth of April, inst.,
81,500 in three months from date, and the balance $6,000 in three years,
with interest at 8 per cent. ' ' Gray agreed to make payment as above,
and to pay Armstrong's commission, not exceeding $100. Also by the

-^-
\^]«

terms of the contract Gray was to have possession as soon as $"2,(100
was paid, and Gray was then to have the deed from Long, aod a mort-
gage was to be given by Gray for the balance for three years at S per
cent, with the privilege of paying the whole or part sooner. Martha
M. Long, wife of H. C. Long, did not sign this contract.

On April 28, the time fixed for the first payment under the con-
tract, Gray tendered to Long the snm of $500, that being the amount
of the tirst payment under the terms of the contract, but Long re-
fused to receive it, and then and there repudiated the contract. After-
ward, on December 24, 1881, Long and his wife deeded 31^^^ acres of
the said 'land to Elizabeth I. Crockett for the sum of 18,500, reserv-
ing and retaining about two acres of the tract. Following this, on
March 3, 1882, B. Gray brought an action in the Wyandotte District
Court against Elizabeth I. Crockett, H. C. Long and Martha M.
Long, to compel them to convey the land to him according to his con-
tract with Long. The defendants answered by alleging that the real
estate described was, at the execution of the said pretended contract,
the homestead of H. C. Long and family, and that Martha M.
Long, his wife, did not join in the alleged contract or consent there-
to. Certain facts wei'e then admitted in the trial by the parties,
among which wei-e the following: That if the land was outside of
Wyandotte City at the time of contract between the plaintiff (Gray)
and defendant, H. C. Long, it was a homestead, and could not be
alienated without the joint consent of husband and wife;* that on April
22, 1881, the land in controversy was occupied by H. C. Long and
family as a homestead; that under the charter incorporating the city
of Wyandotte in the year 1859, the land in controversy was within
the corporate limits of the city; that in 1879 the land in controvei'sy
was excluded from the city limits by an act of the Legislature, ap-
proved March 12, 1879. The point then in dispute was as to the con-
stitutionality of the law of March 12, 1879. If that law was valid,
the land in dispute at the date of sale was outside of the city limits
and occupied as a homestead. If that law was void, the land in con-
troversy was within the city limits, and therefore not a homestead.
Among other facts introduced, it was admitted that at the time H. C.
Long and wife conveyed the thirty-one acres to Mrs. Crockett, she
(Mrs. Crockett) had notice of the written contract of sale by H. C.
Long to the plaintiff, B. Gray.

*By the State Constitution, one acre witliin the limits of an inc-oriioiated city, or liH) ai-ies
in the country, constitute a homestead.

4^ — «-

J 266 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

The issues formed were submitted to the court upon the admitted
facts, and the evidence introduced by the parties, with a request that
the court find the facts specifically, and state it^ conclusions of law.
The facts were found to be substantially as admitted, and as stated in
the foregoinof, and the conclusions of the court were as follows:

" 1. By the act incorporating said city of Wyandotte in 1859,
such homestead was not destroyed, nor the defendant's rights thereto
divested.

"2. Said act of March 12, 1879, is a valid and constitutional
law, and in full force as such.

"3. The said contract of April 22, is void and of no avail."

Exceptions were properly taken to these conclusions by the plaint-
iff, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the State. The
attorneys in the case were B. Gray, for himself, and N. Cree for
plaintiff, and John B. Scroggs and Hiiam Stevens, for defendants.

The Supreme Court, after thoroughly reviewing the case, concluded
that, " The land in controversy was legally included within the limits
of Wyandotte City, by the act of incorporation of January 29, 1859;
that the special act of March 12, 1879, attempting to exclude it from
the corporate limits of that city, was void; that at the date of the
contract of April 22, 1881, all of the land in controversy, consisting
of about thirty-three acres, was within the limits of an incorporated
city, and therefore one acre only, together with all improvements on
the same, could be claimed, even if there had been no sale thereof,
by Long or his wife as a homestead." The judgment of the dis-
trict court was reversed, and the cause remanded, all the justices con-
curring.

Afterward, B. Gray brought an action against Elizabeth I.
Crockett, and H. C, Long and wife, to compel them to convey to him
the land in controversy, under the conclusions of law rendered by the
Supreme Court as aforesaid, and in July, 1883, he obtained judgment
to that effect against the defendants. From this judgment the de-
fendants took apjaeal to the Supreme Coiirt, and the justices thereof,
all concurring, decided that their conclusions of law in the original
case did not prepare it for final judgment. That upon remanding the
cause, there should have been another trial for the purpose of deter-
mining what part of the thirty-three acres should be reserved as the
one-acre homestead, and what part Long should convey to Gray.
The court held also, that the consideration which Gray should be re-
quired to pay if finally awarded a decree for thirty-two acres, the

^ _ — ^ I U.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 267

tract less the hoiiaestead, should not be 18,000, the contract price,
but that sum should be reduced in the proportion of the value of the
homestead acre to that of the entire tract. Judgment was therefore
reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.

On May 2, 1884, a motion by defendants for a change of venue was
sustained, and the cause was sent to the district court of Douglas Coun-
ty, where trial was had in July of that year, and judgment rendered
in favor of the defendants for costs. To this plaintiff excepted and
took an appeal to the Supreme Court which body held that the plaint-
iff (GrajO was entitled to the enforcement of his contract with H. C.
Long, and said he did not bargain for or purchase the supposed in-
choate interest of Mrs. Long. She did not sign the contract, and was
not asked to sign the same. The plaintiff is entitled to what his
written contract calls for. The decree, however, for the specific per-
formance of the contract, as well on the part of H. C. Long as of
Mrs. Crockett, must be so framed as to fully protect such inchoate in-
terest of Mrs. Long, as the wife of H. C. Long, whether owned by
herself or subsequent to the contract transferred to her co defendant,
Mrs. Crockett. The judgment of the lower court was reversed, and
the cause remanded with dii'ections to enter judgment for the plaintiff
in accordance with the views above expressed. Accordingly, judg-
ment was rendered for the plaintiff at the November term, of the
Douglas District Coiirt in ISSfi. The defendant, Crockett, then took
the case again to the Supreme Court.

The trial court, in its decree for specific performance, required
Gray to pay at once into the court the sum of |500; also $66 for
taxes paid by Elizabeth I. Crockett, and $100 for Armstrong's com-
mission; also $1,500 in ninety days; and to deposit in court, for deliv-
erj' to Elizabeth I. Crockett, his note in the sum of $5,500 ($500 being
abated on account of the homestead acre), payable three years from
date, with interest at 8 per cent per annum, payable annually, said
note to be secured by a mortgage upon the premises sold to Gray by
Long. Under said decree Gray was also to have the privilege to pay
the mortgage, or any part thereof, prior to the maturity of the note
secured by the mortgage. It was shown by the evidence before the
trial court that the rental value of the premises from July 23, 1881, to
April 1, 1884, was $120 per annum, and from that time to November,
1886, the rental value was $170 per annum.

The contention on the part of the counsel for the Longs and Mrs.
Crockett was that Gray should have been required by the decree of the

^4* — ^ =?=4^

268 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

trial court to pay the total fS.OOO (less the value of the homestead
acre), with interest thereon from April 22, 1881. The Supreme Court
sustained the judgment of the lower court in part, but held that as
Gray was not liable for interest, he should be required to pay Long
or deposit in court all that was due for the premises, upon the entry
of the decree for specific performances, and thereupon the judgment of
the district court was again reversed for further proceedings in accord-
ance with the views expressed by the Supreme Court.

This case was five times before the Supreme Court. [See Gray vs.
Crockett, 30 Kas., 138; Crockett vs. Gray, 31 Id., 346; Gray vs. Crock-
ett, 35 Id., 66; Gray vs. Crockett, 35 Id., 686; Crockett vs. Gray, 39
Id., 659.

There was still some further litigation concerning this property,
but it was finally compromised so that Gray became the owner of
Long's interest aside from the homestead acre, and the interest of
Mrs. Long as the wife of H. C. Long.

A case containing valuable information concerning navigable rivers,
and the right to take therefrom the ice that forms on the same, is that
of Robert W. Wood and others against Robert A. Fowler and others.
This action was brought by plaintiffs in the Wyandotte District Court
to restrain defendants from cutting and removing ice formed on the
surface of the Kansas River within certain described boundaries.
Trial was had at the April term, 1881, of the court. Plaintiffs alleged
in their petition that Matthias Splitlog, as the owner of the land
described therein, (a tract in Wyandotte City) owned the waters of the
river to the middle of the main channel, and by a lease made by him
to plaintiffs the frontage of the land and the waters were conveyed to
them for the period of ten years, and that the ice which formed upon
the surface of the waters was the property of the j^laintiffs. They
ftirther alleged that they had, at great expense, constructed ice-houses
on the banks of the river contiguous to the Splitlog land, and had
established a business as ice-packers and dealers at a great commer-
cial center, and that the crop of ice which formed upon the Splitlog
waters was essential to the prosecution of their business, and there-
fore prayed for an injunction to restrain defendants from cutting and
appropriating the aforesaid ice. A demurrer to the petition was sus-
tained in the district court. John J. Cravens was attorney for plain-
tiffs, and Leland J. Webb for defendants. It was argued by defend-
ants, in substance, that the Kansas was a navigable river, a fact of
which the court must take judicial knowledge, and that rights of

4 «' ^ ' I l9

^?6 ^ -I 8 ^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 269

jDlaiutiffs did not extend beyond the bank of the river into the water,
and that they had no more right to cut and remove the ice than any
other individual. Plaintiffs appealed to the supreme court, and that
body in its review of the case said, "We think the claim of the
defendants is correct, that the court is bound to take judicial knowl-
edge of the navigability of the stream, * * * and in taking judicial
notice we know that the Kansas is the largest river wholly within the
limits of the State; that it has been recognized as the prominent
geographical feature dividing the State into Northern and Southern
Kansas; that in early territorial history it was, in fact, navigated, a
few steamboats going up and down its waters; and that its volume of
water is such that in its natural condition it is capable of being used
for purposes of navigation, and so coming within the recognized defi-
nition in this country of a navigable stream. * * * We know
that the lines of the United States surveys do not cross the channel,
but that the stream was meandered. * * * It is true in 186-1 an
act was passed by the State Legislature declaring the Kansas and cer-
tain other rivers not navigable; but the plain implication of the act is
that the stream had heretofore been considered navigable, and its pur-
pose was to sanction the bridging and damming of such streams. It
certainly was not the purpose, and the act had not the effect to
enlarge the title of the riparian owners, or to recognize them as pos-
sessed of higher rights than heretofore. Indeed, where title is once
vested a mere change in the condition or character of the current or
the uses to which the stream is put will not transfer any title.
* * * fijp stream having been meandered, the lines of the sur-
veys are bounded by the bank; the patents from the United States
passed title only to the bank; Splitlog as riparian owner owned only to
the bank. The title to the bed of" the stream is in the State.

'"The title to the soil being in the State, and the stream being a
public highway, obviously the ownership of the ice would rest in the
general public, or in the State as the representative of that public.
The riparian proprietor would have no more title to the ice than he
would to the fish. It is simply this, that his land joins the land of
the State. The fact that it so joins gives him no title to that land, or
to anything formed or grown upon it, any more than it does to any-
thing formed or grown or found upon the land of any individual
neighbor. * * It woTild seem that the one who first appropriates
and secures the ice which is formed is entitled to it, and on the same
principle that he who catches a fish in one of those rivers owns it."

^f^

270 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

The judgment of the district court was affirmed, all the justices
concurring.

In 1882 was begun the action of the First Presbyterian Church
of Wyandotte against the board of commissioners of Wyandotte
County, involving the title to a lot of ground 150 feet square in the
northeast corner of Huron Place, at the corner of Sixth Street and
Minnesota Avenue, in Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kas. The
church claimed title to this ground by virtue of the dedication by the
Wyandotte City Company, in 1859, of this tract for a "church lot."
A resolution of the Wyandotte City Company in these words: "Re-
solved that a church lot be appropriated to the Presbyterian Church,
new school, etc.," was introduced in evidence, which together with
the parol testimony of a number of citizens, was by the court con-
sidered sufficient to identify the First Presbyterian Church as the
beneficiar)' intended. The commissioners claimed title by virtue of a
deed, dated April 8, 1868, from the Wyandotte City Company to the
county commissioners. They claimed that this deed was a revocation
of the dedication; that there being no Presbyterian Church in the
city to take the lot under the dedication prior to about 1881, the
Wyandotte City Company had perfect right to convey by the deed of
1868; and that the law does not authorize a dedication of land for
church purposes in this State.

The commissioners were about to begin the erection of a court-
house on this property when this suit was instituted, and a temporary
injunction against the commissioners was granted. The defendants
moved to dissolve the injunction, but the motion was overruled. The
case was tried without a jury at the April term. 1882, of the district
court, which resulted in findings and judgment for the church. The
case was then taken to the Supreme Court by the commissioners,
represented by Hiram Stevens, John B. Scroggs and James S. Gib-
son. Day & Troutman, of Topeka, represented the plaintiffs in the
Supreme Court. This court affirmed the judgment of the district
court. The First Presbyterian Church then took possession of the
lot, built a chapel thereon, and occupied the premises until 1890. In
1889 the First Presbyterian Church tiled a petition in the district
court, alleging that this property had become valuable for business
purposes, and that by reason of the bviilding of two railroads, one
on Sixth Street and the other on Minnesota Avenue, it had become
unsuitable for church purposes, and asking for a decree in equity
allowing the property to be sold for $50,000, and the proceeds of the

^I^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 271

sale to be iuvested in another lot and church building in a more
suitable location. The decree was granted, and the trustees of the
church were required to give bond in the sum of S'60,000, conditioned
that the proceeds of the sale be reinvested in another lot and building.
The property was sold to the Portsmouth Building Company, and
the construction of a large office and business building was begun on
this lot in the spring of 1890, whereupon the Land Claim & Invest-
ment Company, claiming to own the interests of the majority of the
old Wyandotte City Company, and a large number of heirs and as-
signees of the members of the Wyandotte City Company, brought
suit against the Portsmouth Building Company and the First Presby-
terian Church to enjoin the construction of the business building and
the secularization of this property, claiming that by reason of the
sale of the lot by the church and the abandonment of it for church
purposes, it reverted to the Wyandotte City Company or their heirs
and assignees.

The temporary injunction was denied by the district court, and the
plaintiffs took the case to the Supreme Court. The case for ejectment
and perpetual injuriction was regularly for trial at the June term, 1890,
of the district court.

There have been many homicides in Wyandotte County — equally as
many, and, perhaps, more than in any other county in the State. To
enumerate them all and to give particulars pertaining to them, would
require a large volume, hence, only a few of them can be mentioned.
There never has been a legal execution of an individual within the
county for the commitment of crime. However, several men have
been hung under the administration of lynch law.

During the Civil War of 1861-65 Wyandotte County was infested
with a gang of robbers and pillagers called Red Legs, and after the
war closed they continued to make this county their headquarters, and
murder and robbery were the result. The many crimes committed, and
the facilities with which the desperadoes escaped punishment, caused
the people to take the law into their own hands. The first act in
which the people took a part occurred in the spring of 1866. " John
Tehan, a section boss on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, went to the
livery stable of J. L. Conklin a little after dark and employed Conklin
to take him to Kansas City. Before starting Tehan inquired of Conk-
lin what time it was. On the way over Conklin was shot in the groin.
Tehan, who was under the influence of liquor, rode on to Kansas City.
The next day he was arrested, brought to Wyandotte, identified by

^^^

J\l

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2T2.

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Conklin, put in jail, taken out that night and hung to the steps of the
old court-house. A great many persons are of the opinion that Tehan
was innocent."

Early in the summer of 1860 Newt. Morrison, a noted Red Leg
and desperado, was found one morning hanging from the same place.
A few months later two colored men, suspected of being implicated in
the murder of one McNamara, were taken from the calaboose, and
also hung from the same steps, the steps being on the outside of the
building. Afterward they were believed to have been innocent.
Though perhaps the innocent sufiPered, it seems that the action of the
lynchers put a stop to the work of the desperadoes for the time being.

A noted man who sufPered death at the hands of a murderer was
Samuel Hallett, who came to this county from the State of New York.
In August, 1863, be began the grade of the Union Pacific Railway
near the bridge, where the railroad crosses the Kansas River, in Kan-
sas City, Kas. He was a shrewd business man, of great energy, and
pushed the work of building the road with great rapidity. On the '27th
of July of the following year, while with a number of other gentlemen
in front of the Garno Hotel, on the corner of Third Street and Minne-
sota Avenue in Wyandotte, one Talcutt who had previously been in his
employ as a civil engineer, shot and killed him. The murderer then
mounted his horse and fled to Quindaro, and there dismounted in front
of a house, hitched his horse, passed through the house and into a
cornfield, and made his escape from the posse that followed him. It is
said that he kept hid for several months, then went away and secured
employment on another line of railroad, and no efforts were made to
arrest him. This afPair is referred to at length in former pages.

Nothing perhaps has ever created so much excitement in Wyandotte
County as the strike of the workmen on the Missouri Pacific and other
railroad lines in the spring of 1886. Thousands of men in the employ
of the railroad companies joined together in a demand for higher
wages, and agreed that if the demand was not complied with, they
would all, at a certain time, quit work and leave the companies without
force to run their trains. The demand was made, but not complied
with, whereupon the workmen ' 'struck' ' and left the railroad com ■
panies helpless for the time being. All freight trains were stopped.
This caused much inconvenience and greatly damaged the business,
not only of the railroad companies, but of the entire country by stop-
ping the movement of commerce. The strikers not only ceased work
themselves, but did all in their power to prevent others willing to

If^

^ (S_

take their places from working, while some of them went so far as to
damage railroad property and even to commit murder.

On the night of April 26, 18S6, six men (strikers) attended a meet-
ing of the Knights of Labor in Kansas City, Mo., and then crossed
over to Wyandotte, passed down the Missouri Pacific Railroad to a
point south of the Wyandotte bridge, and there displaced the spikes,
fish plates and iron rails upon the track of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road At this place the railroad runs upon the bank of the river at
the foot of the bluff, and makes a curve with the outside next to the
water. The displacements were made on the outside of the curve, so
as to throw the train toward the water and probably into the river.
According to evidence given on the subsequent trial, a train passed over
the road just about the time the wreckers began their hellish work,
and six or eight shots were fired into it. But the evidence did not
reveal the names of the persons firing the shots. Having finished
their evil work and being satisfied that a wreck would be the certain
result thereof, the wreckers dispersed and went to their respective
homes and awaited results, fully expecting to hear of a wreck the
next Djorning, and their expectations were fully realized. Before
morning Benjamin Hortou and George Carlisle, two men in the employ
of the railroad company, attempted to run an engine over the road,
and at the place prepared by the wreckers the engine was derailed and
completely wrecked, and Horton and Carlisle were instantly killed,
their bodies being crushed. This was wreaking vengeance upon the
' ' scabs ' ' as well as upon the railroad company. The next day great
excitement prevailed, and the wreckers, not being known, had an
opportunity of looking with satisfaction upon the result of their fiendish
work.

Efforts were now made to ferret out the guilty parties. The rail-
road company employed detectives, one of whom, George A. Fowle
(known as Brother Alfred), was sent by Chief Detective Furlong to
endeavor to discover the identity of the train wreckers. He reached
Kansas City, and, making the acquaintance of certain Knights of La-
bor, represented himself as a special envoy sent by Powderly, the
great leader of the Knights, for the purpose of discovering who were
the Kfiights that were connected with the train-wrecking, and remov-
ing them to parts where they would not be likely to be found by the
ofBcers of the law, if they should be discovered as the guilty parties.
Passing through the two Kansas Cities and other points, and mingling
with Knights of Labor, he succeeded in winning their confidence to

j) \,

274 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

such an extent that he selected the men he believed to be the guilty
ones. Thereupon Chief Detective Thomas Furlong filed his affidavit in
the ofiice of F. B. Anderson, a justice of the peace in Wyandotte,
charging in substance that on or about April 26, 1886, Kobert Geers,
Fred Newport, Michael Leary, Oliver J. Lloyd, William Vossen and
George Hamilton displaced the spikes, fish plates, and iron rails
upon the track of the Missouri Pacific Kailroad in Wyandotte County,
in the State of Kansas, and caused the death of George Carlisle and
Benjamin Horton. Upon this information the jsarties above named
were all arrested, and on July 29, 1886, they were taken be-
fore Squire F. B. Anderson for preliminary trial. This trial con-
tinued two days. Vossen waived examination. The Justice found
sufficient reason to commit the prisoners, and therefore bound them
over to the district court. It was believed that George Hamilton was
the principal or leader of the train wreckers, and he was the first one
brought to trial. He was tried at the December term, 1886, of the
district court. The lawyers engaged on the part of the State were
James S. Gibson, county attorney. Judge Henry D. Laughlin, Mar-
shal F. McDonald and Col. R. S. McDonald, all of St. Louis, and
Bailey Waggener, of Atchison. Those engaged on the part of the
defense were C. F. Hatchings and L. W. Keplinger, of Kansas City,
Kas.. Gov. Charles P. Johnson, of St. Louis, and Maj. William War-
ner, of Kansas City, Mo.

William Vossen, who had turned "State's evidence" at the pre-
liminary trial, and revealed all the particulars about removing the
spikes, fish plates, iron rails, etc. , by which he implicated himself and
the other five prisoners, making them all guilty, again testified. The
trial lasted a long time— extending the December term of the court into
January. It was a hotly contested case and created great excitement.
The j ury, after having the matter under consideration for nearly a week,
reported that they could not agree upon a verdict, and were thereupon
discharged. It is reported that seven were for conviction and five for
acquittal.

The defendants, Lloyd and Newport, called for a change of venue,
and were sent to Miami County for trial. There, in the following
summer (that of 1887) Lloyd was tried and acquitted. Newport then
turned " State's evidence," and plead guilty to "manslaughter in the
first degree." It is believed that he plead guilty to manslaughter by
the advice of the prosecuting counsel, for the purpose of strengthen-
ing his evidence against the others, with the understanding that he

should not be punished. His evidence was substantially the same as
that of Vossen. There were now two of the defendants ready to tes-
tify against the others. Lloyd was tried in Miami County for the
murder of Horton. and after acquittal he was arrested and held for the
murder of Carlisle.

Hamilton had his second trial in September, 1887. The great fight
was now made; Vossen, Newport and others testified against the de-
fendant. The prosecution was controlled by the attorneys of the Mis-
souri Pacific Railroad Company. Great efforts had been made, on ac-
count of the defendants being members of the Knights of Labor, to
implicate that organization and hold it responsible in the estimation of
the public for the crime committed. Unfortunately for the prosecu-
tion, this had the effect to make it appear to the public that instead of
its being a prosecution by the State against individuals for the crime
of murder, it was a prosecution by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Com-
pany, backed up by other corporations, against the organization of the
Knights of Labor. This served to arouse the sympathy of that class
of people who are always predjudiced against large corporate bodies,
in liehalf of the parties charged with wrecking the engine, and thus
committing the murders. It had become very difficult to obtain a jury
of "twelve good and lawful men" who had never read or heard
enough about this affair to enable them to form an opinion as to the
guilt of the parties charged with the commission of the crime. But
finally, in the case of the State against Hamilton, such a jury was
found, and after hearing all the evidence, the argument of counsel
and the charge of the court, they retired for consultation, and on Sep-
tember 12, 1887, brought in a verdict of " not guilty."

The attorneys on the part of the prosecution now recognizing the
fact that they could not select jurors from the more intelligent class of
people, the class that read the news and formed opinions of their own,
and the further fact that much predjudice had been aroused against the
railroad company, and believing that further prosecution would be of
no avail, advised the dismissal of all the cases pending against the al-
leged train-wreckers, and they were accordingly dismissed.

Several other persons charged with committing murder have been
tried in the Wyandotte District Court, some of whom have been found
guilty, and have been sentenced to the penitentiary, while others have
been acquitted.

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276

HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER XY.

Freedom and Slavery— First Regiment Kansas Volunteers— In-
fantry— Second Regiment Infantry— Fifth Regiment Cav-
alry—Sixth Regiment Cavalry— Tenth Regiment Infantry —
Twelfth Regiment Cavalry— Fifteenth Regiment Cavalry' —
Sixteenth Regiment Cavalry— First Regiment Kansas Col-
ored Troops— Rosters of Officers and Enlisted Men from
Wyandotte County.

To bind the bruise;

I since liave labor'd
of a civil war.

Our armours now may rust, our idle scimeters
Hang by our sides for ornament, not use. — Dryden.

^"^NDER treaties between them and the United
States, that portion of the territory now con-
stituting Wyandotte County belonged to the
Indians, when the contest between freedom
and slavery, between the free-State men and
the slave-State men, began in Kansas. It was
not open for settlement by the whites until
after the treaty of 1855, between the United
States and the Wyandotte Indians, and no active settle-
ment by the whites took place until 1857. In 1860 there
were only 2,420 white people in the county, and they were
mostly in that part known as the " Wyandotte Purchase."
The bloody struggle that existed in the Territory of Kan-
sas from 1854 until it was admitted into the Union as a
State, did not prevail to any considerable extent io what is
now Wyandotte County. Of course the early settlers here
were interested in the affairs, some being in favor of a
free State, while others favored a slave State, but no important events
or lights took place here while the struggle was going on. However,

"CH

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WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 277

the territory of the county was crossed and recrossed by the contend-
ing parties. A few of the early settlers took part in the struggle at
other points, and a few were with and assisted Capt. John Brown
in his war against slavery.

After "Wyandotte Coimty was organized, and Kansas was admitted
as a free State, and the great rebellion against the Union of the States
was inaugurated, her citizens arrayed themselves on the side of the
Union, and began to organize and enlist soldiers for the First Regi-
ment Kansas Volunteer Infantry. A brief historical sketch of the
history of this regiment, is followed by a roster of the soldiers serving
therein from Wyandotte County. This regiment was raised be-
tween May 20, and June 3, 1861. The men rendezvoused at Camp
Lincoln, near Fort Leavenworth. The regiment was mustered into
the service of the United States, June 3, 1861, the staff officers being
Col. George W. Deitzler, of Lawrence; Lieut. -Col. Oscar E. Learnard,
of Burlington; Maj. John A. Haldermau, of Leavenworth ; Adjt. Ed-
win S. Nash, of Olathe; Q. M. George H. Chapin, of Quindaro;
Surg. George E. Buddington, of Quindaro; Asst. Surg. Samuel D.
Smith, of Elwood, and Chap. Ephraim Nute, Jr., of Lawrence.

While the regiment was lying in its original camp, a rebel flag was
displayed at the village of latan, across the river in Missouri, about
eight miles above Leavenworth. Sergt. Denning, with a squad of six
men, proceeded, without orders, on June 5, to haul down the insolent
rag. Three of these men were wounded, but they brought the flag to
camp as a trophy and evidence of their success. In due time the
regiment broke camp, ' and moved toward the field of war, and on
July 7 it effected a junction with the army of Gen. Lyon. Afterward,
on August 10, it participated in the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo.,
-where it sufl'ered considerable loss in killed and wounded. It then
fell back with the army to Rolla, Mo. Soon after Beauregard evacu-
ated Corinth, Miss., the First Kansas arrived at Pittsburg Landing,
where the great battle of Shiloh had been fought on the 6th and 7th
of the previous April. Reinforcements not being necessary there.
Gen. Halleck sent the regiment to Columbus, Ky. The regiment led
the pursuit of the rebels, as part of Gen. McPherson's brigade, after
the battles of October 3 and 4, 1862, at Corinth. It participated in the
campaigns against Vickshurg, in Mississippi. After February 1, 1863,
the First Kansas was mounted, and for the next eighteen months it
served as mounted infantry, being a very effective branch of the army.
After the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, it was ordered to Natchez,

® I « ■

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LlA

278 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

Miss., to hold that post. In October following it was returned to
Vicksburg, and stationed on an outpost on Black River Bridge, with
picket posts on both sides of the river. It also accompanied Gen.
McArthur's expedition up the Yazoo River.

Upon the expiration of its term of service (June 3, 1864), all of the
men, except recruits whose terms of enlistment had not expired, and
two companies of re-enlisted veterans, embarked on board the trans-
port Arthur, and moved to Leavenworth, where they were mustered
out, June 16, 1864. The veterans of the regiment continued in the
service in the States of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas,
until after the close of the war, and were mustered out at Little Rock,
Ark., August 30, 1865.

The roster of officei's and enlisted men, from Wyandotte Countj',
in the First Regiment of Kansas Volunteer Infantry, is as follows:

William Y. Roberts, mustered May 28, 1861, as captain of Com-
pany B; promoted major May 12, 1862; promoted colonel June 15,
1863; mustered out with regiment June 17, 1864.

George H. Chapin, quartermaster, mustered June 3, 1861; re-
signed October 25, 1861.

George E. Buddington, surgeon, mustered July 24, 1861; resigned
March 12, 1863.

Joseph Speck, surgeon, mustered June 3, 1863; assigned to vet-
eran battalion May 28, 1864; mustered out August 30, 1865.

Avery G. Norman, mustered June 3, 1861, as private. Company B;
promoted regimental quartermaster-sergeant July 2, 1863; mustered
out with regiment.

John P. Alden, mustered May 28, 1861, as first lieutenant of Com-
pany B; wounded in the battle of Wilson's Creek August 10, 1861;
promoted captain May 12, 1862; promoted captain and A. C. S. Vol-
unteers July 2, 1868.

John W. Dyer, mustered June 3, 1861, as first sergeant of Com-
pany B; promoted second lieutenant June 8, 1861; killed in battle of
Wilson's Creek August 10, 1861.

Hubbard H. Sawyer, mustered June 3, 1861, as a private in Com-
pany B; promoted June 8, 1861, as first sergeant; promoted second
lieutenant September 1, 1861; resigned July 5, 1862.

Jason Morse, mustered June 3, 1861, as a private in Company B;
promoted corporal July 17, 1861; promoted first sergeant August 19,
1862; reduced to ranks April 19, 1863.

Philip Knoblock, mustered June 3, 1861, as sergeant in Company

4 '\ b ^

^ 6 ~^ - ^ to fV

11^

WVANDOTTE COUNTY. 279

B; promoted first sergeant September 18, 1863; mustered out with
regiment June 16, 1864.

Aaron W. Merrill, mustered June 3, 1861, as sergeant of Coinpanj^
B: promoted second lieutenant July 8, 1862; mustered out with
regiment June 16, 1864.

Theodore Battles, mustered June 3, 1861, as sergeant of Company
B; reduced to ranks July 16, 1861; discharged for disability May 9
1862.

Orson Bartlett, mustered June 3, 1861, as sergeant of Company
B; discharged for disability June 8, 1862.

George C. Brown, mustered June 3, 1861, as corporal of Company
B; promoted sergeant September 25, 1861; discharged for disability
June 25, 1862.

Velmoor C. Clemmons, mustered June 3, 1861, as corporal of
Company B; promoted sergeant August 19, 1862; mustered out with
regiment June 16, 1864.

George R. Ingersoll, mustered June 3, 1861, as corporal of Com-
pany B; reduced to ranks July 17, 1861; mustered out with regiment
June 16, 1864.

John Warren, mustered June 3, 1861, as corporal of Company B;
transferred to Company H November 3, 1861; mustered out with
regiment June 16, 1864.

George W. Garno, mustered June 3, 1861, as a private in Com-
pany B; promoted corporal July 17, 1861; reduced to ranks Janu-
ary 18, 1862; discharged for disability June 11, 1862.

Dennis Castello, mustered June 3, 1861, as private of Company
B; promoted corporal September 1, 1861; reduced to ranks Septem-
ber 18, 1861; mustered out with regiment June 16, 1864.

AVilliam Lloyd, mustered June 3, 1861, as private of Company B;
promoted corporal September 1, 1861; mustered out with regiment
June 16, 1864.

John O'Donnell, mustered June 3, 1861, as corporal of Company
B; reduced January 15, 1862.

Patrick Collins, mustered June 3, 1861, as private of Company B;
promoted corporal September 25, 1861; discharged December 16,1862.

John O. Flaherty, mustered June 3, 1861, as corporal of Company
B; reduced December 28, 1862.

John Fairall, mustered June 3, 1861, as priPte of Company B;
promoted corporal in 1862; died at Vicksburg, Miss., in March, 1864,
of wounds received in action.

280 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

John Johnson, mustered June 3, 1861, as private of Company B;
promoted corporal April 5, 1862; mustered out with regiment June
16, 1864.

Richard Burland, mustered June 6, 1861, as corporal of Company
B; mustered out with regiment June 16, 1864.

Henry J. Fairbanks, mustered June 3, 1861, as private of Com-
pany B; promoted corporal August 19, 1862; mustered out with
regiment.

Thomas Grady, mustered June 3, 1861, as private Company B;
promoted corporal November 14, 1862; promoted sergeant November,
1863.

Valentine Rheicheneker, musician. Company B; mustered June 3,
1861 ; mustered out with regiment.

John Moody, musician. Company B; mustered June 3, 1861; trans-
ferred to Company C, Second Kansas Cavalry, May 20, 1862; mustered
out April 23, 1866.

The following were all privates of Company B, First Regiment
Kansas Volunteer Infantry, all of whom mustered in with the
regiment:

Henry Boyle, mustered out with the regiment.

Cyrus Bowman, discharged for disability September 21, 1861.

Daniel Collins, deserted June 18, 1861.

William J. Carlisle, wounded in battle of Wilson's Creek; dis-
charged for disability September, 1861.

Dewitt C. Dennison, wounded in battle of Wilson's Creek; dis-
charged for disability February, 1862.

Daniel Donahoe, transferred to Company E November 1, 1861;
died in Trenton, Tenn., September 9, 1862.

Daniel Emmons, deserted at St. Louis, Mo., October 26, 1861.

David Flemming, deserted at Chillicothe, Mo., August 14. 1862.

Robert Good, deserted October 16, 1861.

Brian Henry, wounded in action near Wilson's Creek, Mo. , Au-
gust 18, 1861; mustered out with regiment.

John Killen, mustered out with regiment.

August Kreiger, deserted at Fort Riley, Kas. , August 14, 1862.

Martin Lawler, killed in battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., August
10, 1861.

Sylvester T. Smith, mtistered as a private; promoted second lieu-
tenant Company H February 11, 1862; jiromoted captain of Com-
pany H October 24, 1862; resigned February 27, 1863.

>?-.

William H. Nichols, mustered out with regiment.

Francis Tracy, died at Natchez, Miss., August 21, 1863.

John Van Fossen, discharged for disability May 1, 1862, at Fort
Kiley, Kas.

John Wilson, mustered out with regiment.

Charles Wilstoff, transferred to Company F July 1, 1861; de-
serted at Memphis, Tenn., January 16, 1S63.

Ely L. Zane, deserted at Wyandotte, Kas., March 16, 1862.

Additional enlistments. Company B:

William S. Camps, mustered June 6, 1861; transferred to Com-
jsany D March 1, 1862; mustered out on fultillment of service at
Vicksburg, Miss.

Hugh Gibbons, mustered February 18, 1862; transferred to Vet-
eran Battalion May 26, 1864:.

Enlistments in other companies of the First Regiment Kansas Vol-
unteer Infantry:

Company F. — Joseph Gilliford, mustered June 1, 1861, as ser-
geant; promoted second lieutenant September 1, 1861; promoted tirst
lieuteoant May 26, 1862; resigned June 14, 1862.

Fred W. Smith, mustered June 1, 1861, as a private; re-enlisted
veteran.

Jacob Arnold, mustered June 1, 1861, as private; wounded at bat-
tle of Wilson's Creek; re-enlisted veteran.

Joel Armes, mustered June 1, 1861, as private; killed in the bat-
tle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., August 10, 1861.

Henry Cooper, mustered as private June 1, 1861; deserted at Lit-
tle York, Mo., July 27, 1861.

Joy Casey, mustered as private June 1, 1861; deserted at Little
York, Mo., July 27, 1861.

Jacob Heiter, mustered as private June 1, 1881; mustered out
with regiment.

Leopold Hipp, mustered as private June 1, 1861, and mustered
out with regiment.

William Ridler, mustered as private June 1, 1861, and mustered
out with regiment.

John Rebels, mustered as private June 1, 1861; discharged for
disability March 18, 1862, caused by a wound received iu battle of
Wilson's Creek, Mo.

Adam Reinochl, mustered with the regiment; died October 21,
1861, of wounds received in battle of Wilson's Creek.

:T^

»^

282 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

John Roeser, mustered with regiment; drowned in Missouri Eiver
June 7, 1862.

Gustave Sels, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability
March 1, 1862, at Lawrence, Kas.

Joseph Muenzenmayer, mustered June 16, 1S61, into Company I;
discharged for disability December 24, 1861, on account of wounds
received in battle of Wilson's Creek.

Hugh Gibbons, mustered February 27, 1862, into Company B;
mustered out February 17, 1865.

Jacob Arnold, mustered March 29, 1864, into new Company D;
mustered out August 30, 1865, at Little Rock, Ai-k.

Frederick W. Smith, re-enlisted and mustered into new Company
D January 5, 1864; promoted corporal July 1, 1864; mustered out
August 30, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

The Second Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry was raised in
May, 1861, and was mustered into the United States service on the
20th of June following. According to the adjiitant-general's report,
Wyandotte did not contribute more than one or two men to form this
regiment. Robert B. Mitchell was its colonel. After the battle of
Wilson's Creek this regiment fell back with the army to Eolla
and to St. Louis, and from the latter place it returned to Kansas,
wher^ it was mustered out October 31, 1861, for the purpose of re-
organizing as a cavalry regiment. The rendezvous for the reorganiza-
tion was at Fort Leavenworth. New companies were organized, which
together with four companies of Nugent' s regiment of Missouri Home
Guards, were organized into a new regiment known as the Twelfth
Kansas Volunteers. In March following, the name was changed to
that of " The Second Regiment Kansas Volunteers — Cavalry." The
field and staff officers under the new organization were as follows:
Colonel, Robert B. Mitchell, of Mansfield; lieutenant-colonel, Owen A.
Bassett, of Lawrence; majors, Charles W. Blair, of Fort Scott, Julius G.
Fisk, of Quindaro, and Thomas B. Eldridge, of Wyandotte; adjutant,
John Pratt, of Lawrence; quartermaster, Cyrus L. Gorton, of Leaven-
worth; surgeon, Joseph P. Root, of Wyandotte; asstistant surgeon,
George B. Wood, of Wj'andotte; chaplain, Charles Rej-nolds, of Fort
Riley. A portion of the men composing this regiment were contrib-
uted by Wyandotte County, and a roster of their names will follow a
brief historical sketch. Hollister's Battery, a force of 150 non-com-
missioned officers and privates, was formed from this regiment, and
with their six ten-pound Parrott guns, did excellent service on many
occasions.

TI^

_9 j>»

Entering the field, the regiment chased and routed several Southern
raiding parties, and on October 4, it was sent to Newtonia to re-
enforce Brig. -Gen. Solomon. Afterward, on October 20, 1862, it
did good service at Pea Ridge, or Elkhorn, in Arkansas. A Confeder-
ate battery, consisting of four guns, was captured by this regiment.
It was manned and was thereafter known as Hopkins' Battery, and
continued to act with the regiment. In November, following, the
Second Kansas moved with the army of Gen. Curtis toward Fort
Smith, Ark., and participated in the action near Rhea's Mills on the
7th, and in the action near Boonesboro on the 28th of November.
Again on the 6th and 7th of December, following, it was engaged in
the action on Cove Creek, near Fayetteville, Ark. , in all of which the
Union forces were successful.

It also bore a prominent part in the expedition which, on August
23, 1863, crossed tlie Arkansas River to Holly Springs, in the In-
dian Territory, and afterward captured Fort Smith, in Arkansas, and
drove the enemy from the northwestern part of that State. During
the winter of 1863-64 this regiment did effective service in Arkansas,
capturing a goodly number of prisoners. During the spring and sum-
mer of 1 864 it served under Gen. Steele in Southern Arkansas, and did
muc h effective work. It continued to serve in that State and the In-
dian Territory until its final muster out. It received many recruits in
Arkansas after helping to drive the armed enemy out. It did very
effective service, and its history in detail would make a very readable
book. Some of its men having served their full time were mustered
out in April, 1865, at Little Rock; others were mustered out June 22,
1865, at Fort Gibson, Indian Ty. ; others were mustered out at
Leavenworth, Kas., at different times; still others were mustered
out on different dates at several other places; the greater number of
the regiment, however, were mustered out at Leavenworth.

Roster of officers and enlisted men from Wyandotte Count}', in the
Second Regiment:

Joseph P. Root, surgeon, mustered December 28, 1861; mustered
out April 18, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

George B. Wood, assistant surgeon, mustered January 1, 1862;
resigned on account of ill health, September 27, 1863.

Ivan D. Heath, mustered August 13, 1863; mustered out June 22,
1865, at Fort Gibson, C. N.

Joseph Sanger, mustered October 29, 1861, as corporal of Company
F; transferred March 1, 1862, to Company H; promoted sergeant

^ 6 r- — ^ a ly

284 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

September 1, 1864; mustered out March 18, 1865, at Little Rock,
Ark.

Wendelin Krumm, mustered November 28, 1861, as private, Com-
pany F; transferred to Company H, January 12, 1862; mustered out
March 18, 1865, at Little Eock. Ark.

John Myers, mustered November 28, 1861, as private. Company F;
transferred to Company H, January 12, 1862; mustered out March
18, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

Englehardt Noll, mustered November 7, 1861, as private, Company
F; transferred to Company H, January 12, 1862; mustered out March
18, 1865, at Little Eock, Ark.

William T. Ainsworth, mustered December 2, 1861, as private.
Company G; promoted corporal May 1. 1864; mustered out August
11, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas. ; was prisoner of war, captured near
Fort Gibson, C. N., September 16, 1864.

Wesley Boyles, mustered December 10, 1861, as private, Company
G; mustered out January 13, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Squire Boyles, mustered December 11, 1861, as private, Company
G; discharged for disability, August 10, 1864, at Kansas City, Mo.

Elias Boyles, mustered January 7, 1862, as private. Company G;
deserted May 26, 1862, while on detached service.

James Boyles, mustered January 7, 1862, as private, Company G;
discharged for disability June 19, 1862, at Fort Eiley, Kas.

Pembrook Harris, mustered November 13, 1861, as private. Com-
pany G; transferred to Company K. April 5, 1862; discharged for
disability October 14, 1862, in the field in Missouri.

Dionysius Harris, mustered November 13, 1861, as private. Com-
pany G; transferred to Company K, April 5, 1862; deserted at Shaw-
nee, Kas., May 1, 1862.

John M. Eusk, mustered November 2, 1861, as private. Company
G; deserted at Quindaro, Kas., February 2, 1862.

Jacob Hammelman, enlisted March 20, 1862, Company G; trans-
ferred to Company H, April 5, 1862; deserted at Leavenworth, Kas.,
May 26, 1862.

Theodore Praun, mustered January 3, 1862, as private, Company
H; promoted corporal March 8, 1862; mustered out May 9, 1865, at
Leavenworth, Kas.

Augustus Luke, mustered November 7, 1861, as private, Company
H; mustered out March 18, 1865, at Little Eock, Ark.

Joseph Praun, niustered January 3, 1862, as private. Company H;

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 285

mustered out February 11, 1865, from general hospital at Little
Rock, Ark.

John Burke, mustered December 7, 1861, as private. Company I;
promoted corporal June 26, 1862; promoted sergeant September 11.
1862; mustered out January 10, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Michael McLain, mustered November 30, 1861, as private, Com-
pany K; mustered out January 2, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

The organization of the Fifth Regiment Kansas Volunteer
Cavalry was commenced in July, 1861, Companies A, D, E and F be-
ing mustered into service in that month. Companies B and C were
mustered into service in August, and other companies of the regiment,
up to and including K, were mu.stered in during the following fall
and winter. Companies L and M were not mustered until 1863.
The original field and staff officers were: Colonel, Hampton P. Johnson,
of Leavenworth; lieutenant-colonel, John Ritchie, of Topeka; major,
James Summers; adjutant, Stephen R. Harrington; quai'termaster,
James Davis, of Leavenworth; surgeon, E. B. Johnson, of Leaven-
worth; and chaplain, Hugh D. Fisher, of Lawrence. A small portion
of the men comprising this regiment were from Wyandotte County,
a roster of whom follows this sketch. Two companies of the Fifth
Kansas left Leavenworth in July, 1861, and moved to Kansas City.
Their first engagement was at Harrisonville, Mo., where the enemy
was driven from the town. The regiment participated in the fight
at Dry wood September 2, and in the action at Morristown on the ITth,
where Col. Johnson was killed. It went into winter quarters at Camp
Denver, and in February, 1862, Lieut. Col. Powell Clayton became its
colonel, and assumed command. The regiment was then thoroughly
drilled and made useful. On March 19th, following, it made
vahiable captures at Carthage, Mo. , cajituring a company of guerrillas
then and there forming. Afterward the regiment entered Arkansas, and
in the summer following it routed an Arkansas regiment of cavalry from
the town of Salem, in that State, and a large force of Texas rangers on
Black River, near Jacksonport. The detachment winning these victories
was under command of Capt. Criets. Afterward at the battle of
Helena the regiment won distinction, and rendered valuable service
under Gen. Steele in the capture of Little Rock, Ark. On October
25, 1863, the Fifth Kansas had a hard fight with a Confederate force
much superior in numbers, and lost thirty-seven men, but held its
position, the loss of the enemy being greater. Following this the
regiment did much service in Southern Arkansas and elsewhere in the

rf^

'-£.

286 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

State. It was with Gen. Steele at Mark's Mills, when the enemy
captured his baggage train and a few of his men. On September
17th there was a hard fight at Warren Cross Roads, and part
of the Union forces were scattered, but the Fifth Kansas, First Indi-
ana and Seventh Missouri repelled the enemy and saved the artillery
from capture. The remainder of the service of the regiment was of
less note. The men of the regiment were mustered out at various
times and places, when they had finished their term of service, and
the re-enlisted veterans were mustered out June 22, 1865, at De-
vall's BlufP, Ark.

Roster of olficers and enlisted men from Wyandotte County in the
Fifth Regiment:

Alfred Gray, mustered April 19, 1861, as quartermaster; resigned
on account of disability March 24, 1864; was on detached service with
Gen. Vandever from June 30, 1863, to date of discharge.

Lenneas H. Bancroft, mustered April 22, 1863, as private. Com-
pany L; transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer
Cavalry, July 20, 1865.

Harrison Love, mustered April 22, 1863, as private, Company L;
deserted, 1864.

Four Miles, mustered May 12, 1863, as private, Company L; de-
serted at Lawi'ence, Kas., July 20, 1865.

Moses Denna, mustered May 12, 1863, as private, Company L;
transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry,
July 20, 1865.

Richardson HiU, mustered April 29, 1863, as private, Company L;
deserted.

Simon Hill, mustered April 29, 1863, as private. Company L; no
further record on file.

John Moonshine, mustered March 12, 1803, as private, Company
L; deserted at Lawrence, Kas., in July, 1865.

Little Shanghai, mustered May 12, 1863, as private. Company L;
deserted at Lawrence, Kas., July 19, 1865.

Thompson Smith, mustered May 29, 1863, as private. Company L ;
transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry,
July 20, 1865.

Christian Snake, mustered May 29, 1863, as private, Company L ;
deserted at Lawrence, Kas., July 19, 1865.

James Thomas, mustered April 29, 1863, as private, Company L;
deserted in 1865.

^ ®_

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

287

George Williams, mustered April 29, 1863, as private, Company
L; deserted in 1865.

James Wilson, mustered April 29, 1863, as private. Company L;
transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry,
July 20, 1865.

William H. Jones, mustered June 25, 1863, as corporal. Company
M; transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cav-
alry, July 20, 1865.

Tally Beverly, mustered June 25, 1863, as corporal, Company M;
transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry,
Jidy 20, 1865.

Riley Alley, mustered June 25, 1863, as private. Company M;
discharged per order W. D., May 29, 1865.

Rusha Chaploy, mustered June 25, 1863, as private. Company M;
transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Vohinteer Cavalry,
July 20, 1865.

Zachariah Longhouse, m\istered August 9, 1863, as private, Com-
pany M; transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer
Cavalry, July 20, 1865.

Philip Mature, mustered August 9, 1863, as private, Company M;
transferred to new Company B, Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry,
July 20, 1865.

Thomas Punch, mustered October 23, 1863, as private. Company
M; transferred to new Company B. Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cav-
alry, July 20, 1865.

The Sixth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was organized in
July, 1861, for the defense of the southern frontier of the State.
The original Held and staff officers were: Colonel, William R. Judson;
lieutenant-colonel, Lewis R. Jewell; major, William T. Campbell;
adjutant, Charles O. Judson; quartermaster, George J. Clarke; sur-
geon, John S. Redfield; assistant surgeon, Joseph R. Smith, all of
Fort Scott. Garrison duty and scouting was the first work of the
regiment. The battle of Drywood was commenced by a company of
this command. In the spring of 1862 the regiment was reorganized
and made more effective. It then gave attention to guerrillas and
bushwhackers, and succeeded in breaking up some small companies
of guerrillas under the notorious Quantrell and others; it also broke
up not less than eight camps of bushwhackers, killing and wounding
a large number, without suffering much loss. In June. 1862, the
Sixth won distinction in the fight of Cowskin Prairie, and on July 4,

288 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

following, it chased the retreating forces of Confederates, when
Col. Clarkson and a number of his men were captured. On that day
two companies of the regiment routed the enemy at Stanwattie's Mills
and captured a large amount of provisions. The same month a de-
tachment of the regiment captured the Cherokee chief, John Ross,
who was lighting for the South. In August the Sixth accompanied a
command toward the Missouri River in pursuit of the noted Gen.
Cooper and his command. The latter was overtaken and defeated at
the Osage River. Scouting and skirmishing were successfully con-
tinued by the Sixth until September 30, when it participated at the
battle of Newtonia and covered the retirement of the Union forces.
It then assisted in the several actions which resulted in driving the
enemy across the Boston Mountains.

The Sixth was at the battle of Prairie Grove, in Washington
County, Ark., which took place on December 7, 1862, and afterward
assisted in capturing Van Buren, Fort Gibson and Fort Davis, and
then returned to Missouri for winter quarters. Recruiting was car-
ried on to some extent during the early winter and the spring of 1863.
The Sixth took part in the fight and capture of Holly Springs, July
17, 1863, and then performed scouting service until it joined Steele's
army and took part in the Camden expedition, being in the skirmish
at Prairie de Anne on April 10, following, and the fight at Cabin
Creek on September 19, 1864. It participated in many small engage-
ments and continued active until hostilities ceased. The men were
mustered out at various places and dates, the last of the veterans
being mustered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Roster of officers and enlisted men from Wyandotte County, in the
Sixth Regiment:

John A. Johnson, mustered July 21, 1861, as second lieutenant,
Company A; promoted first lieutenant September 1, 1862; promoted
captain December 1, 1862; promoted major July 1, 1863; mustered
out March 18, 1865, at Devall's BlufP, Ark.

Jacob H. Bartles, mustered July 21, 1861, as quartermaster-ser-
geant of the regiment; mustered out November 28, 186-1, at Leaven-
worth, Kas.

Victor Leivaux, mustered August 4, 1861, as veterinary surgeon;
discharged October 26, 1862.

Thomas Crooks, mustered July 21, 1861, as first sergeant, Company
A; promoted second lieutenant February 1, 1863; promoted captain
September], 1863; mustered out March 27, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

IN"

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

289

Matthew Clary, mustered July '21. 1861, as first lieutenant, Com-
pany A; resigned September 1, 1862.

Thomas J. Darling, mustered February 1, 1863, as first lieutenant;
discharged on account of physical disability, March 19, 1864.

John F. Smith, mustered July 21, 1861, as sergeant, Company A;
promoted May 1, 1863, quartermaster-sergeant; promoted first lieuten-
ant Company E. Fifteenth Regiment Kansas Cavalry, December 10,
1863.

William H. Wren, mustered July 21, 1801, as sergeant. Company
A; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, October 11, 1863.

Joseph E. Powell, mustered July 21, 1861, as private. Company A;
promoted corporal December 31, 1861; promoted sergeant May 9,
1863; discharged January 23, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas., on ac-
count of wounds received near Dardanelle, Ark., May 10, 1804, caus-
ing leg to be amputated.

Granville P. Freeman, mustered July 21, 1801, as corporal of
Company A; promoted sergeant May 1, 1863; died May 11, 1864, at
Dardanelle, Ark., of wounds received in action near that place May
10, 1864.

George A. Carlton, mustered August 14, 1861, as corporal Company
A; promoted sergeant May 9, 1863; mustered out November 14, 1864,
at Fort Leavenworth, Kas.

James H. Cadell, mustered August 12, 1861, as corporal Company
A; promoted sergeant June 1, 1863; mustered out November 15, 1864i
at Fort Leavenworth, Kas.

Benjamin F. Reck, mustered August 1, 1801, as private Company
A; promoted corporal October 7, 1863; promoted sergeant October 1,
1804; mustered out November 15, 1804, at Fort Leavenworth. Kas.

Jacob J. Kleinkncht, mustered July 21, 1861, as private Company
A; promoted corporal July 21, 1801; deserted October 24, 1861, at
Osceola, Mo.

Benjamin T. J. Bennett, mustered July 21. 1801, as corporal Com-
pany A: deserted November 1, 1801, at Kansas City, Mo.

Robert W. Robitaille, mustered July 21, 1861, as corporal Company
A; reduced to ranks August 17, 1864; mustered out November 15, 1864,
at Leavenworth, Kas.

Henry W. Freeman, miistered September 1, 1862. as corporal
Company A; afterward reduced to ranks; promoted corporal March 1,
1864; assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1865; mustered out June
23, 1865, at DevalFs Bluff, Ark.

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4.^

290 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Benjamin W. Hurd, mustered July 21, 1861, as corporal Company
A; reduced to ranks February 26, 1863: assigned to new Company A
April 8, 1865; mustered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

John H. Cotter, mustered July 21, 1861, as corporal Company A;
killed by guerrillas August 20, 1864, near Fort Smith, Ark.

Wallace Higgins, mustered August 3, 1863, as bugler. Company A;
assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1865; mustered out July 18,
1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

The following were all original jjrivates of Company A:

Joseph K. Donnelly, mustered July 21, 1861; re-enlisted veteran
assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1865; mustered out July 18,
1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

John Duncan, mustered July 21, 1861; mustered out November 15,
1861, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Jacob Dick, mustered July 21, 1861; mustered out November 15,
1864, at Leavenworth.

James Hicks, mustered July 21, 1861 ; assigned to new Company
A, April 8, 1865, for muster out; prisoner of war.

Southerland IngersoU, mustered July 21, 1861; discharged Octo-
ber 10, 1861, at Kansas City, Mo.

Timothy S. Lucas, mustered July 21, 1861; mustered out Novem-
ber 15, 1864, at Leavenworth.

Benjamin F. Russell, mustered July 21, 1861; re-enlisted veteran;
assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1865; mustered out August 14,

1864, at Leavenworth.

James E. Bishop, enlisted April 1, 1863; mustered August 3,
1863; assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1865; mustered out July
18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

James W. Duncan, mustered October 28, 1861; re-enlisted veteran;
assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1865; promoted bugler; mus-
tered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Theodore Grindle, mustered August 4, 1861; mustered out Novem-
ber 15, 1864, at Leavenworth.

Silas Greyeyes, mustered October 7, 1861; mustered out Novem-
ber 15, 1864, at Leavenworth.

Thomas F. Heisler, mustered August 18, 1861; promoted quarter-
master-sergeant January 1, 1864.

Charles E. Hanford, mustered March 1, 1862; re enlisted veteran;
assigned to new Company A, April 8, 1864; mustered out July 18,

1865, at Devall's Bluff', Ark.

i> \

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 291

Joseph Hanfovd, mustered February 1, 1862; re-enlisted veteran;
assigned to new Company A, April 8, 18fi5; mustered out July 18,
1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Peter White, mustered March 5. 18l)4; assigned to new Company
A, April 8, 1865; mustered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

John W. "Whitham, mustered August 12, 1861, as a private in
Company B; re- enlisted veteran; assigned to Company M, April 8,
1865, mustered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Officers and enlisted men of Company G, Sixth Kansas Volunteer
Cavalry :

Nathaniel B. Lucas, mustered February 4, 1862, as captain; trans-
ferred, as captain, to Eighteenth United States Colored Volunteers
April 6, 1864.

Ebenezer W. Lucas, mustered October 10, 1861, as private; pro-
moted corporal January 1, 1862; promoted sergeant May 2, 1862;
promoted first sergeant September 1, 1862; promoted second lieuten-
ant January 1, 1864; promoted first lieutenant March 15, 1865;
mustered out May 19, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Daniel Brayman, mustered December 10, 1861, as private; pro-
moted corporal May 1, 1862; promoted sergeant September 15, 1862 ;
promoted second lieutenant and assigned to duty as such, but was
never mustered; mustered out November 15, 1864, at Leavenworth,
Kas.

Samuel J. Martin, mustered December 18, 1861, as private; pro-
moted corporal September 1, 1862; promoted sergeant September
15, 1862; wounded in action March 18, 1864, near Roseville, Ark.,
through right thigh, limb amputated; sent to hospital at St. Louis;
no evidence of muster out on file.

Beverly Lancaster, mustered December 10, 1861, as private; pro-
moted corporal May 28, 1864; mustered out November 15, 1864, at
Leavenworth, Kas.

Allen T. Wright, mustered January 18, 1863, as farrier; reduced
to ranks; mustered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Thomas S. Karnes, mustered December 10, 1861, as private; dis-
charged for disability January 21, 1864, at Fort Smith, Ark., on
account of wounds received in action at Backbone Mountain, Ark.

Frederick Dodd, mustered May 26, 1863; deserted at Fort Scott,
Kas., September 7, 1863.

Jacob High, mustered May 26, 1863, as private. Company I; mus-
tered out with regiment.

9 v?>

292 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

George A. Coray, mustered May 26, 1863, as private of Company
I; promoted corporal May 26, 1863; mustered out July 18. 1865, at
Devall's Bluff, Ark.

James Peacock, mustered May 26, 1863, as private. Company I; no
evidence of muster out on file.

David N. Rogers, mustered May 26, 1863, as private. Company I;
discharged for disability January 20, 1864, at Fort Smith, Ark.

Raif Steele, mustered May 26, 1863, as private, Company I; mus-
tered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Roster of officers and enlisted men of Company M, Sixth Regi-
ment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry:

Lemuel P. Ketchum, mustered July 23, 1863, as commissary ser-
geant; discharged for disability November 13, 1863, at Kansas City, Mo.

Josiah Wonsetter, mustered as private November 5, 1863; pro-
moted sergeant July 23,1863; promoted commissary sergeant May 15,
1865; mustered out July 18, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

William R. Ketchum, mustered July 23. 1863, as sergeant; mus-
tered out with regiment.

Tillman A. H. Alsup, mustered July 23, 1863, as private; promoted
corporal December 1, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

Jackson Bullett, mustered July 23, 1863, as private; died of con-
sumption May 3, 1864, at Fort Scott, Kas.

George Cummings, mustered July 23, 1863, as private; deserted
from Fort Scott, Kas., November 16, 1864.

George Evans, mustered July 23, 1863, as private; died of con-
sumption at Fort Scott, Kas., March 18, 1864.

John File, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability May
13, 1865.

John Johnnycake, mustered with regiment; deserted at Fort Scott,
Kas., November 16, 1864.

Benjamin Johnnycake, mustered with regiment; no evidence of
muster out on file.

Jacob Lenneas, mustered with regiment; no evidence of muster
out on file.

Solomon Love, mustered with regiment as private: promoted cor-
poral August 1, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

Yellow Leaf, mustered with regiment; no evidence of muster out
on file.

William P. and William X. Pedigo, mustered August 18, 1863, as
privates in new Company A; mustered out with regiment.

Joseph Thorp, mustered August 3, 1863, as private in new Com-
pany A; mustered out June 20, 1885, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Alvatus Williams, mustered September 10, 1862; mustered out
June 23, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark.

The Tenth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry was formed in
July, 1861. The original field and staff officers were: Colonel, James
Montgomery, of Mound City; lieutenant-colonel, James G. Blunt, of
Mount Gilead; major, Otis B. Gunn; adjutant, Casinio B. Zulaosky,
of Boston, Mass.; quartermaster, A. Larzalere; surgeon, Albert New-
man, and chaplain, H. H. Moore. Col. Montgomery was transferred
to the Second Regiment South Carolina Colored Volunteers, and Will-
iam Weer, of Wyandotte, became colonel of the Tenth. The regiment
was 800 strong. After performing many minor services, the regiment
took part in the expedition against Col. Clarkson, on July 3, 1862,
which re.sulted in the capture of this officer and 155 of his men,
besides the killing and wounding of about seventy of the enemy. The
Tenth was repeatedly opposed to the officers Coffey and Cockrell,
and it assisted in the pursuit of the Confederates in their retreat from
Newtonia. In the fall of 1862 the regiment participated in the campaign
in Northwest Arkansas, and was lightly engaged in action near Benton-
ville on October 20, and did full service in the actions at Cane Hill
and Prairie Grove, losing in the latter engagement twenty-three per
cent of its men.

The Tenth moved out of camp on December 27, 1862, to strike
Hindman at Van Buren, and put an end to his army. * * * Marma-
duke next invited the attention of the Tenth, with a force of 6,000
cavalry, advancing to Springfield. Mo. The regiment made a forced
march to Springfield in conjunction with a brigade of cavalry in very
severe weather, making thirty-five miles a day, and by their advance
forced Marmaduke to retreat. The brigade followed Marmaduke and
routed him at Sand Spring, thirty miles beyond Springfield, and that
general in his hurried retreat fell into the hands of Gen. Warren, who
completed his discomfiture. The campaign of 1862 finished in a
manner very honorable for the Tenth. The regiment was mustered
out of service in August, 1864, but immediately reorganized as veter-
ans. The Tenth served against Hood in Tennessee at Columbia.
Franklin, Nashville, and in pursuit of the routed foe winning dis-
tinction, always being assigned to the skirmish line on every impor-
tant occasion, and their losses abundantly testify to their courage and
endurance. The regiment was dispatched to Fort Gaines, Ala., on

371^

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294 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

March 7, 1865, and operated in that line of country until a junction
was effected with Gen. Steele, and the works of the enemy at Fort
Blakely captured. The Tenth was named in the reports officially
made in a manner exceedingly gratifying to the State. The final
muster out occurred on September 20, 1865, at Fort Leavenworth.
[Tuttle's State History.]

Eoster of officers and enlisted men of the Tenth Regiment from
Wyandotte County:

William Weir, mustered June 20, 1861, as colonel; dismissed
from the service by General Order No. 123, dated, Headquarters De-
partment of Missouri, St. Louis, August 20, 1864.

John J. Launon, mustered July 12, 1861, as private of Company
G; promoted sergeant March 4, 1862; promoted sergeant-major,
February 22, 1864; mustered out August 1, 1865, at Montgomery,
Ala.

David Ernhout, enlisted April 14, 1862, as private in Company
A; died of disease at Marmaton, Kas., May 15, 1862.

George Tremblett, enlisted as a private in Company A, December
23, 1861; deserted at Wyandotte, Kas., January 20, 1862.

George G. Woddle, mustered February 15, 1862, as a private in
Company A; transferred to Invalid Corps, January 18, 1863.

Charles E. Armour, mustered May 28, 1862, as private in Company
C; died of chronic diarrhoea, April 12, 1863, at Eolla, Mo.

The following all belonged to Company G:

James H. Harris, mustered July 15, 1861, as captain; mustered
out March 4, 1862, and re-mustered as first lieutenant; mustered out
with regiment August 19, 1864.

William C. Harris, mustered as first lieutenant; mustered out
March 4, 1862.

Mortimer C. Harris, mustered August 10, 1861, as corporal; re-
duced to ranks in July, 1863: re-enlisted veteran.

Benjamin F. Saylor, mustered August 10, 1863, as private; pro-
moted coi'poral October, 1861 ; discharged for disability A~iigust 31,
1862.

Thomas Lannan, mustered August 10, 1861, as corporal; mustered
out with regiment.

Richard C. Powell, mustered August 10, 1861, as private; pro-
moted corporal September 9, 1863; re-enlisted veteran February 22,
1864; assigned to new Company B as private; died on board steamer
Heuntsman, August 30, 1865.

Anderson W. Nicholas, mustered August 10, 1861, as private;
promoted November 6, 1861, to corporal; dropped from roll August 5,
1862, per General Order No. 18, Department of Kansas.

George B. Reinecheueker, enlisted June 19, 1862; mustered May
19, 1863; promoted musician and assigned to new Company C; mus-
tered out June 2, 1865.

Andrew Franz, mustered July 12, 1861; deserted at Wyandotte,
Kas.. March 17, 1862.

Charles C. Johnson, mustered July 12, 1861; mustered out with
regiment, August 18, 1864:.

Charles Klinefogle, mustered July 12, 1861; died of disease at
Alton. 111., March 10, 1864.

William Molton, mustered July 12, 1861; died of disease at Fay-
etteville. Ark.. Januarj' 12, 1863.

Samuel P. Parsons, mustered August 7, 1861; died of pneumonia,
February 26, 1862, at Wyandotte, Kas.

James A. Rich, mustered August 7, 1863; re-enlisted veteran, as-
signed to new Company B; mustered out with regiment August 30,
1864.

Thomas H. Tracy mustered August 7, 1861; mustered out August
19, 1864.

James Galvin, mustered August 10, 1861; re-enlisted veteran; as-
signed to new Company B ; mustered out with regiment.

John Tracy, mustered August 10, 1861; mustered out with regi-
ment.

The Twelfth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was organ-
ized at Paola in September and October, 1862. The original staff
officers were: Colonel, Charles W. Adams, of Lawrence; major, Thomas
H. Kennedy, of Lawrence; adjutant, Charles J.Lovejoj-. Ellinwood;
quartermaster, Andi-ew J. Shannon, of Paola; surgeon, Cyrus R.
Stockslager, of Pennsylvania; chaplain, Werter R. Davis, of Bald-
win City. In the spring of 1863 the regiment moved to Fort Leaven-
worth, Kas., and the following fall it went to Fort Smith, Ark., and
from thence, in the spring of 1864, it participated in the Camden
expedition, being at Camden about ten days, and then fell back to
Little Rock, Ark., with Steele's army. It was in the fight at Prairie
de Anne, and on April 30 it bravely repulsed the enemy's ad-
vance at Jenkins' Ferry, which enabled the army safely to cross the
Saline River, and make a safe retreat back to Little Rock. After stay-
ing a few days at Little Rock, the regiment went back to Fort Smith,

where it remained until fall, then returned to Little Rock, where it
spent the winter. It was mustered out June 30, 1865.

Roster of officers and enlisted men from AVyandotte County in
the Twelfth Regiment:

William Sellers, mustered March 1^6, 1864, as chaplain: resigned
April 13, 1865.

Gnstave Tauber, mustered with regiment; promoted corporal July
4, 1863; promoted commissary sergeant; reduced to ranks at his
own request and assigned to Company A, March 6, 1865; mustered
out with regiment June 30, 1865.

Thomas H. Gahagan, mustered September 25, 1862, as musician;
mustered out at Leavenworth, Kas., July 15, 1865.

William Hazlett, mustered October 24, 1863, as a musician; re-
duced toianks and assigned to Company K, August 17, 1864; dis-
charged for disability January 3, 1865, at Leavenworth.

George W. Newell, mustered September 23, 1863, as a musician;
reduced to ranks at his own request and assigned to Company K, May
24, 1864; died of diarrhoea at Little Rock, Ark., October. 15, 1864.

Company A. — James D. Chesnut, mustered September 25, 1862,
as captain; mustered out with regiment.

Fletcher Hedding, mustered September 25, 1862, as sergeant; died
of disease at Westport, Mo., March 6, 1863.

James Summerville, mustered September 25, 1862, as corporal;
promoted sergeant September 2, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

Samuel M. Stevens, mustered September 25, 1862, as sergeant;
reduced to ranks March 24, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

Rufus W. Foster, mustered September 25, 1862, as corporal; dis-
charged for disability June 30, 1863. at Leavenworth, Kas.

William Sellers, mustered September 25, 1862, as corporal; pro-
moted chaplain March 26, 1864.

James P. Killen, mustered September 25, 1862. as corporal; mus-
tered out with regiment.

Privates. — Silas Adams, mustered September 25, 1862; promoted
corporal October 5, 1862; died of disease April 16, 1863.

Isaac Bigtree, mustered with regiment and mustered out with reg-
iment.

Christian F. Bowan, mustered with regiment; deserted at AVest-
port October 26, 1862.

William C. Blue, mustered with regiment; deserted at Leaven-
worth, Kas., July 9, 1863.

.[^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 297

■Chad. Brostwick, mustered with regiment; deserted at Wyandotte,
Kas., September 29, 1863.

Louis Bigknife, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability
August 2, 1863, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Orlando S. Bartlett, mustered with regiment; promoted first lieu-
tenant Company H, Second Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry No-
vember 3, 1863; promoted captain November 10, 1864; mustered out
October 9, 1865.

Jacob Carhead, mustered in and out with the regiment.

Joseph Charloe, mustered in with regiment; deserted at Fort Smith,
Ark., December 31, 1863.

Cornelius H. Croeden, mustered in with regiment; discharged for
disability May 27, 1865, at Kansas City. Mo.

Sebastian O. Douny, mustered with regiment; deserted at Wyan-
dotte, Kas., September 29, 1863.

Peter Donnika, mustered with regiment: discharged for disability
March 18, 1864, at Fort Smith, Ark.

Charles Edwards, mustered in and out with regiment.

Conrad Grespacher, mustered in and out with regiment.

Jeremiah Harrison, mustered in and out with regiment.

Edward Hollevet, mustered with regiment; deserted at Westport,
Mo., October 26, 1862.

George A. Horning, mustered with regiment; discharged for dis-
ability March 18, 1863, at Kansas City, Mo.

William Johnson, mustered with regiment; deserted at Kansas City,
Mo., January, 1864.

Aust. Kroop, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability
May 31, 1868, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Thomas A. Kirk, mustered with regiment; discharged for disabil-
ity April 21, 18<)5, at Leavenworth, Kas.

William Lewis and Samuel MeCowan, mustered in and out with
regiment.

Elias B. Myers, mustered in with regiment; died of disease at Leav-
enworth, Kas.. April 29, 1863.

James Mature, mustered with regiment; deserted at Wyandotte,
Kas., September 29, 1863.

John McCain, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability
February 27, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Almond Noble, Smith Nicholas and William Nicholas, all mustered
in and out with regiment.

■1^

Edward O'Hcare, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability
November 10, 1S64, at' Fort Smith, Ark.

John N. Poe, mustered with regiment; promoted corporal March
17, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

. Gideon B. Parsons, mustered with regiment; died of disease at
Wyandotte, Kas., September 23, 1863.

Henry Puckett, mustered with regiment; died of disease Decem-
ber 11, 1863, at Fort Scott, Kas.

John Porcupine, mustered with regiment; deserted at Wyandotte,
Kas., September 29, 1863.

Joshua Puckett, mustered with regiment; discharged for disability
May 11, 1863, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Thomas Payne, mustered with regiment; discharged January 28,

1864, per Special Order No. 43. W. D.

John A. Randall, mustered with regiment; died at Paola. Kas.,
December 5, 1S63.

William Sellers, mustered with regiment; promoted corporal.

Joseph Streatmater, mustered with regiment; died of disease
March 1, 1864, at Fort Smith, Ark.

Christian Santer, mustered with regiment; mustered out May 29,

1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

Rudolph Wilty, mustered with regiment; promoted corporal De-
cember 4, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

William Whitefeather, mustered with regiment; killed by guerril-
las at Fort Smith, Ark., October 22, 1864.

Jacolj Whitewing, mustered with regiment; died of disease at Fort
Smith, Ark., June 17, 1864.

Frank Whitewing, mustered with regiment; deserted October 26,
1862.

Sebastian Waller, mustered with regiment; discharged for disabil-
ity November 15, 1863, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Lewis Wengartner, mustered with regiment; discharged for disa-
bility September 9, 1864, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Patrick Whalen, mustered with regiment, transferred to Twenty-fifth
Missouri Infantry November 19, 1862.

William Armstrong, mustered November 7, 1863; mustered out
July 3, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

Orren Baldwin, mustered November 7, 1863; promoted eori^oral
December 4, 1863; mustered out at Little Rock, Ark., July 30, 1865.

Seth E. A. Leavitt, mustered in and out with regiment.

'1^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 299

Peter Dailey, mustered November 7, 1863; mustered out May 29,
1865, at Little Roek, Ark.

William Day, mustered November 7, 1863; mustered out July 3,
1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

William Ellis, mustered December 30, 1863; mustered out July 3,
1865, at Little Rock, Ark.

William Hazlett, mustered October 24, 1863; discharged for dis-
ability January 3, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

John P. Nickell, mustered December 30, 1803; mustered out May
18, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Company G. — Edward Clinton, mustered with regiment; died of
disease June 16, 1863, at Kansas City, Mo.

John S. Heald, mustered with regiment; promoted corporal Oc-
tober 1, 1862; promoted sergeant; mustered out with regiment.

Henry Kersey, mustered in and out with regiment.

John E. Marutzky, mustered with regiment; promoted corporal
October 1, 1862; mustered out with regiment.

John Murphy, mustered with regiment; discharged by sentence G.
C. M. , July, 1863, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Michael Youngman, mustered with regiment; discharged for dis-
ability April 10, 1863, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Company H. — David Chorlow, mustered in and out with regiment.

Moses Dougherty, mustered with regiment; deserted March 4, 1864.

Jesse Giaury, mustered with regiment; deserted December 9, 1862.

Thomas Johnson, mustei'ed in with regiment; mustered out August
6, 1865.

Isaac Littlecliief, mustered with regiment, died of disease at
Olathe, Kas. , November 20, 1862.

David Matthews, mustered with regiment; deserted at Paola, Kas.,
December 9, 1862.

Joseph Peacock, mustered with regiment; died of disease at Wy-
andotte, November 20, 1863.

John Rodgers, mustered in and out with regiment.

William Walker, mustered with regiment; mustered out August
6, 1865.

Company I. — George Hanford, musician; mustered May 2, 1863;
accidentally killed at Fort Smith, Ark., September 5, 1864.

Frederick Britton, mustered in and out with regiment.

Abraham Demerest, mustered in and out with regiment.

William Johnson, mustered with regiment; died December, 1864,

"©Pv

300

HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

at Magnolia, Ark., of wounds received April 30, 1864, at Jenkins'
Ferry, Ark.

William H. Lindsey, mustered with regiment; promoted second
lieutenant October 15, 1862.

Henry W. Miller, mustered with regiment; died of small-i^ox Jan-
uary 1, 1863, at Wyandotte.

William Parker, mustered with regiment; died of disease at Paola,
Kas., October 20, 1862.

James Smith, mustered with regiment; died of disease at Fort
Smith, Ark., December 20, 1864.

Henry (Chrysler, mustered May 2, 1863; promoted musician.

Thomas Jacklin, mustered August 14, 1863; mustered out June
30, 1865.

The Fifteenth Kegiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was raised
mostly in September, 1863, its colonel being Charles R. Jennings, of
Leavenworth, Kas. Tuttle's History of Kansas says: " The regiment
was tilled in less than a month, and an extra company toward the
Sixteenth also. Circumstances confined the regiment mainly to expi'-
ditions against bushwhackers and marauders, but the duty was thor-
oughly accomplished, although there are no brilliant services to be
recorded. ' '

Roster of officers and enlisted men from this county in the Fif-
teenth Regiment:

Company E. — John T. Smith, mustered December 11, 1863, as
first lieutenant; resigned May 30, 1865.

William H. H. Grintev, mustered September 26, 1863, as first ser-
geant; promoted first lieutenant October 10, 1865; mustered out with
regiment October 10, 1805.

John W. R. Lucas, mustered with company September 26, 1863,
as quartermaster-sergeant; promoted first sergeant October 11, 1865;
mustered out with regiment.

Alexander Zane, mustered September 26, 1863, as sergeant; re-
duced to ranks; mustered out with regiment.

William H. Worrell, mustered with regiment as sergeant; mus-
tered out with regiment.

John Jordan, mustered with regiment as sergeant; reduced to
ranks; deserted January, 1865.

John Kanually, mustered corporal September 26, 1863; promoted
sergeant; died January 31, 1865, at Kansas City, Mc, of wounds
received in action October 23, 1864, at Westport, Mo.

^-*

IN^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 301

Erasmus Riley, mustered with company; promoted sergeant Octo-
ber 11, 1865.

Dennis F. Lucas, mustered March 28, 18fi4, as sergeant; mus-
tered out with regiment.

John M. Thorp, mustered with company as corporal: mustered out
with regiment.

Adam Wilson, mustered with company as corporal ; discharged for
disability September 26, 186-1.

Carroll S. Evans, mustered with company as corporal; mastered
out with regiment.

William A. Long, mustered with company; promoted corporal;
promoted sergeant October 11, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

Timothy H. Carlton, mustered October 28, 1863, as corporal; mus-
tered out with regiment.

Eldridge H. Brown, mustered March 28, 1864, as corporal; mus-
tered out with regiment.

Josiah Thorp, mustered with company; promoted corporal ; mus-
tered out August 26, 1865.

David Thomas, miistered with company; promoted bugler; reduced
to ranks; mustered out with regiment.

Henry Runne. mustered October 28, 1863; promoted bugler Octo-
ber 15, 1863; deserted at Fort Riley, Kas., June 27, 1865.

John Hohensteiner, mustered with company; promoted bugler
October 20, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

Richard L. Worrell, mustered with company; promoted bugler;
mustered out with regiment.

Gilbert Lewis, mustered with company as wagoner; mustered out
with regiment.

James M. Long, mustered March 31, 1864, as saddler; mustered
out with regiment.

David N. Baker, mustered with company as farrier; mustered out
with regiment.

Henry J. Armstrong and Edward M. Alexander, both mustered in
and out with regiment.

William B. Bushman, mustered with company; discharged for dis-
ability September 26, 1864, at Osage Mission, Kas.

Dr. Block, mustered in and out with regiment.

AVilliam Cheely, mustered in and out with regiment.

William Driver, mustered with company; died of diarrhoea, at Hum-
bolt, Kas.. October 4, 1864.

^fV

302 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

John Freeman, Byron Gannett and Henrj Grob, all mustered in
and out with regiment.

Henry Gibson, mustered in with company; died of small -pox at
Kansas City, Mo., December 26, 1863.

Andrew B. Hovey, Sylvanus Harless and Jacob Higgins, all mus-
tered in and out with regiment.

Charles W. Ketchum, mustered in and out with regiment.

James Logan, mustered with regiment; died of disease in Dela-
ware Nation, Kas., January 20, 18()5.

Charles E. Learned, Daniel Long, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas
Lewis, all mustered in and out with regiment.

John Longbone, mustered with regiment; died December 19, 1864,
at Kansas City, Mo., of wounds received October 22, 1864, at Big
Blue, Mo.

Big Moccasin, mustered in and out with regiment.

John Martin, mustered with regiment; died of disease at Kansas
City, Mo., December Ki. 1863.

James H. Murray, George Pemsey, Winiield Pipe, James Rowe,
Wilson Sarcoxie, Lamon Scott, Hiram S. Young and Ethan L. Zane,
all mustered in and out with regiment.

Peter Broham, mustered Felnuary 21, 1804; deserted at Kansas
City, Mo., December 27, 1864.

John Gillis, mustered in and out with regiment.

Samuel Glass, mustered October 10, 1863; deserted at Fort Scott,
Kas., August 10, 1864.

James Moody, mustered February 24, 1864; mustered out June 6.
1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Elijah Owen, mustered October 10, 1863; mustered out with regi-
ment.

James Roberts, mustered February 24, 1804; deserted at Fort
Riley, Kas., June 27, 1865.

James Shanghai, mustered October 10, 1863; mustered out June
9. 1865, at St. Louis.

Thomas Shields, mustered October 28, 1863; mustered out with
regiment.

Joseph Shorter, mustered October 28, 1863; died November 10,
1864, at Kansas City, Mo., of wounds received October 22, 1864, at
Big Blue, Mo.

New Company B. — Rusha Chaploy and John Coon, mustered June
25, 1863; mustered out with regiment.

Frederick Vickers, mustered in and out with regiment.

Moses Denna, mustered May 12, 1863; mustered out with regi-
ment.

William H. Jones, mustered June 25, 1863; mustered out with
regiment. *

Zachariah Loughouse, mustered August 9, 1863; deserted at Law-
rence, Kas. , July 23, 1863.

Philip Mature, mustered August 9, 1863; deserted at Topeka,
Kas., July 24, 1805.

Thomas Punch, mustered October 23, 1863; mustered out with
regiment.

Thompson Smith, mustered April 29, 1863; mustered out with
regiment.

Beverly Tally, mustered June 25, 1863; mustered out tvith regi-
ment.

James Wilson, mustered April 29, 1863; mustered out with regi-
ment.

The Sixteenth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was raised
during the winter of 1863-6-1. Its colonel was Werter R. Davis,
of Baldwin City. It came into service too late to share equally
with the older regiments in the brilliant achievements of war, but
its service against Indian and guerrilla depredations protected the
citizens at home, and consequently was very useful.

Roster of officers and enlisted men from Wyandotte County in
the Sixteenth Regiment:

William Sweeney, mustered December 22, 1863, as sergeant-
major; mustered out with regiment.

Morton Wallace, mustered November 12, ISfiS, as sergeant of
Company A; reduced to ranks January 11, 1865; mustered out with
regiment.

Dennis Murphy, mustered December 22, 1864, as undercook; mus-
tered out with regiment.

Company C— David B. Johnson, mustered with company Decem-
ber 22, 1863, as sergeant; mustered out with regiment December 6,
1865.

Charles S. Williamson, mustered December 22, 1863, as sergeant;
reduced to ranks October 1, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

John Hogan, mustered December 22, 1863, as corporal; promoted
sergeant February 1, 1865; reduced to ranks; mustered out with
regiment.

304 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Edwin E. Willis, miastered with company; died at Julesburg,
June 18, 1865.

Reuben Brown, mustered with company as sergeant; mustered
out with regiment.

James C. Barnett, mustered in as corporal; reduced to ranks Feb-
ruary 28, 18G5; mustered out with regiment.

John B. Ackers, mustered with company as bugler; reduced to
ranks December 8, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

James Abbot, mustered in and out with regiment.

James B. Barnett, mustered with company; promoted farrier Octo-
ber 1, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

John F. Beavers, William Bryson and John Coyle, all mustered in
and out with regiment.

Peter Cunningham, mustered with company; deserted August ,8,
1864, at Leavenworth, Kas.

James Cregg, mustered with company; deserted August 8, 1864, at
Leavenworth, Kas.

Pascal Pockett (or Puckett) mustered in and out with regiment.

John W. Pearson, mustered with comf)any; no evidence of muster
out on file.

John Walleuraeyer, mustered in and out with regiment.

Ephraim B. Warren, mustered with company; promoted bugler;
died at Leavenworth, Kas., October 28, 1804.

Company D. — William Brown, mustered December 29, 1863; pro-
moted first sergeant December 31, 1803; reduced to ranks January
28, 1864; promoted sergeant March 12, 1804; mustered out with regi-
ment.

George Allison, mustered with company ; died in the field, N. T.
August 13, 1805.

Lorenzo D. Barnett, mustered with company; promoted corporal
April 1, 1805; mustered out with regiment.

Robert Bayles, mustered December 31, 1863, as corporal; mustered
out with regiment.

Thomas Brereton, mustered December 31, 1863, as corporal; mus-
tered out with regiment.

James Breunner, mustered December 31, 1803, as sergeant; de-
serted at Emporia, Kas.. February 23, 1865.

William McDonald, mustered December 31, 1863, as corporal; re-
duced to ranks January 13, 1864; promoted sergeant July 17, 1805;
mustered out with reeriment.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 305

Dennis Buckley, mustered with company; discbarged for disability
August 18, 18*14, at Leavenwortb, Kas.

Oliver Dorris and Arcbelaus Doxsee, mustered in and out with
regiment.

John Harris, mustered with companj-; no evidence of muster out
on file.

Morgan Mclntyre, mustered with company; promoted corporal
February 4, 1864; reduced to ranks April 1, 1864; promoted sergeant
November 9, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

Bernard McDermott, mustered in and out with regiment.

Reuben Mapes, mustered December 30, 1863, as sergeant; mustered
out with regiment.

James Noble, mustered in and out with regiment.

Henry Perry, mustered with company; deserted February 22, 1865.

Company F. — James M. Barnes, mustered April 27, 1864; pro-
moted corporal December 21, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

James Cobine, mustered January 21, 1864; discharged for disability
December 11, 1S64, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Joseph C. Coakley, mustered April 27, 1864; mustered out May
29, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

William B. Duncan, mustered January 21, 1864; mustered out
with regiment.

John M. Kennedy, mustered April 27, 1864; miistered out with
regiment.

Daniel P. Lucas, mustered April 27, 1864; mustered out May 13,
1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Milton L. McAlexander, mustered April 27, 1864; discharged
April 15, 1865, on account of wounds in battle of Little Blue, Mo.

John S. Waddle, mustered January 21, 1864; promoted corporal
October 31, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

Company H. — Abraham Arms, mustered March 7, 1864; mus-
tered out with regiment December 6, 1865.

John D. Brown, Jr., mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

Newton Butler, mustered March 7, 1864; promoted corporal March
17, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

William Beamish, mustered April 2, 1864; no evidence of muster
out on file.

John D. Brown, Sr. , mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out June
y, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kas.

Nicholas Dedier, mustered March 7, 18*34; discharged October 10,
1865, at Leavenworth.

Michael J. Fox and Daniel Fitzgerald, mustered March 7, 1864;
mustered out with regiment.

Michael Fitzpatrick, mustered with company; discharged October
10, 1865, at Leavenworth.

John L. Green, mustered in with comjjany; mustered out with
regiment.

Henry Gray, mustered March 7, IS'U; promoted sergeant March
17, 1864; died of erysipelas at Cottonwood Springs, N. T., May 19,
1S65.

Samuel T. Hannan, mustered March 7, 181)4; promoted sergeant
March 22, 1864; {promoted saddler December 1, 1864; mustered out
with regiment.

William Hunter, mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

Francis N. Kennedy, mustered March 9, 1864; promoted corporal
March 17, 1864; deserted at Leavenworth. February 14, 1865.

James Lewis, mustered March 7, 1864; deserted at Leavenworth,
February 14, 1865.

Charles B. Morgan, mustered April 2, 1864; promoted sergeant
April 1. 1865; mustered out with regiment.

William Moore, mustered April 2, 1864; promoted sergeant May,
1864; mustered out with regiment.

John Mitchell, mustered April 2, 1864; mustered out with regi-
ment.

Newton J. Meyers, mustered March 7, 1864; promoted corporal
March 20, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

William A. McLaughlin, mustered March 24, 1864; mustered out
with regiment.

James McDowell, mustered March 7, 1864; promoted sergeant
March 17, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

James McTour, mustered March 7, 1864; died of diarrhoea Novem-
ber 11, 1864, at Fort Scott, Kas.

Charles H. McLaughlin, mustered March 7, 1864; deserted Au-
gust 15, 1864, at Leavenworth.

Isaac G. McGibbon, mustered March 8, 1864; promoted first ser-
geant March 17, 1864; reduced to ranks March 1, 1865; promoted
sergeant September 10. 1865; discharged for disability October 1,
1865.

If^

s]^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 307

Frederick Ottens, mustered March 7, 186-4; promoted corporal
March 17, 1864; mustered out with regimeat.

Goodlip Oleman, mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

John Punch, mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

George W. Patton, mustered March S, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

Jerome Payne, mustered March 7, 1864; deserted May 30, 1864,
at Leavenworth.

James W. Powell, mustered March 8, 1864; promoted sergeant;
mustered out with regiment.

JohnE. Renfro, mustered April 2. 1864; promoted sergeant March
1, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

William Reed, mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out with regi-
ment.

Luther Shorkman, mustered March 7, 1864; died of consumption
April 13, 1864, at Leavenworth.

Thomas Sullivan, mustered March 7, 186)4; deserted April 13, 1864.

JohnR. Smith, mustered March 7, 1864; deserted August 30, 1864.

John Theyer, mustered March 7, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

Joseph Whitecrow, mustered March 7, 18(>4; promoted corporal
March 21, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

William Anderson, mustered December 27, 1864; mustered out
June 27, 1865.

James K. M. Renfro, mustered December 14, 1864; mustered out
with regiment.

Herman Theyer, mustered October 1, 1864; no evidence of muster
out on file.

Company K. — Samuel S. Beebe, mustered June 17, 1864; mustered
out with regiment.

Jeremiah Burrus, mustered August 5, 1864; died of diarrhcea Jan-
uary 25, 1865, at Liberty, Mo.

Ransom Beach, mustered June 7, 1864; mustered June 24, 1865,
at Leavenworth.

Alfred Briggs, mustered May 4, 1S64; discharged April 15, 1865,
at Leavenworth.

Benjamin Grim and John Carr, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered
out with regiment.

M. D. S. Collins, mustered August 5, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

^|v-

.[>

308 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

William Clary, mustered June 7, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

Kichard Frost, mustered May 4, 1864; died September '20, 1864.
at Wyandotte Kas.

Jacob Hay den, mustered August 26, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

Elias J. Hampton, mustered August 26, 1864; died January 7,
1865, at Lawrence, Kas.

Eli Hargis, mustered August 26, 1864; deserted September 20,
1864.

John W. Hampton, mustered September 28, 1864; mustered out
August 7, 1865.

Henry Jarvis, mustered August 5, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

Duncan Keith, mustered May 4, 1864; promoted corporal January
4, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

John Kyle, mustered May 4, 1864; promoted corporal January 4,
1865; mustered out with regiment.

Benjamin Keen, mustered August 5, 1864; deserted February 13,
1865.

James H. Knuckols, mustered May 4, 1864; deserted February 1,
1865.

Michael McCarthy, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

John W. Maine, mustered September 28, 1864; died of measles
February 13, 1865.

Th6mas Malony, mustered June 7, 1864; promoted sergeant Oc-
tober 1, 1864; deserted January 24, 1865.

Peter Onnerson, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

Franklin W. Patterson, mustered May 4, 1864; promoted sergeant
October 1, 1864; mustered out with regiment.

George W. RatlifF, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered out May 27,
1865.

Jefferson C. Saylor, mustered September 28, 1864; mustered out
with regiment.

George W. Spicer, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

William M. Sears and William J. Sears, mustered May 4, 1864;
mustered out with regiment.

Jackson Wiletrout, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered out with
regiment.

^U r-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 309

Alphonso B. Wolf, mustered May 4, 1864; no evidence of muster
out on file.

John W. Woodman, mustered May 4, 18(54 ; promoted corporal
October 1, 1864; deserted February 13, 1865.

James U. Wilkinson, mustered May 4, 1864; mustered out June
26, 1865.

Andrew J. Priddy. mustered November 17, 1864; promoted far-
rier January 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment.

The First Kansas Colored Regiment was raised in August and Sep-
tember, 1862. They proved their valor October 28, by routing and
pursuing CockrelFs band near Camp Butler. They participated in
the Camden campaign in Arkansas, and did excellent service at various
places, the details of which are too well known to necessitate mention.

'■ The Second Kansas Colored Regiment was mustered into the serv-
ice on the 1 1 th of August, 1863, at Fort Scott, and was first seriously
engaged iu the Camden expedition, under Gen. Steele, having partici-
pated with honor to itself and much loss in that campaign. The rec-
ord of the Second Colored Regiment was honorable in every particular,
and in some instances high distinction was gloriously won." [Tuttle. ]

The behavior of the colored troops was generally good, but that
of the enemy in killing colored prisoners was absolutely barbarous.
In the foregoing, mention has only been made of the regiments having
representatives from Wyandotte County. The number of Wyandotte
County men that served in each regiment, as shown by the State ad-
jutant's report, was as follows: First Infantry, 67; Second Infantry,
22; Fifth Cavalry. 21; Sixth Cavalry, 64; Tenth Cavalry, 23; Twelfth
Cavalry, 88; Fifteenth Cavalry, 73; Sixteenth Cavalry, 119, making a
total of white men, including a few Indians, of 477.

Of the colored soldiers from Wyandotte County 206 served in the
First Colored Regiment, 162 in the Second, 35 in the Independent Col -
ored Kansas Battery, and 80 in the Eighteenth United States Colored
Infantry, making a total of 483.

Most assuredly Wyandotte County did its full share in suppressing
the great Rebellion. It must also be remembered that besides these
stanch supporters of the Union there were those actively engaged in
service on the Confederate side, who were as sincere in their devotion
to loyalty, as faithful in service, and as true to their convictions as their
Federal brethren. There were but few however from this countv.

*^^=^

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-i^

310

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER XYI.

First Frkk School— First Teachers— Constitutional Provisions-
School Funds— School Lands— School Statistics— Value of
School Property— Bonded Indebtedness— Cost of the Schools
— ]\'oiiMAL Institute — Schools in Kansas City-Scholastic Popu-
lation— Enrollment- High School— Kindergarten— Private
AND Parochial Schools— Old Academy, etc.

Whence is thy learning? HiUh th3- toil

O'er books consumed the midnight oil? — Gay.

DUCATIONAL facilities have existed in what
is now Wyandotte County ever since its settle-
^ ment by the Wyandotte Indians in 1843. Be-
longing to this tribe were some well-educated
people, and they at once set about to give their
children the benefit of a free education. J. M.
Armstrong, a lawyer of this tribe, taught the
first free school in the Territory, which was opened July
1, 1844. The building in which the session was held
was a frame one, with double doors, which stood on the
east side of Fourth Street, between Kansas and Nebraska
Avenues, in what is now Kansas City, Kas. It was some-
times, but erroneously, called the Council House. J. M.
Armstrong contracted to build it, and commenced teaching
on the date named. The council of the nation met in it
during vacations, or at night. The expenses of building the house were
met out of the funds secured by the Wyandotte treaty of March,
1842. The .school was managed by directors appointed by the council,
the members of which were elected annually by the people. White
children were admitted free. Mr. Armstrong taught until 1845, when
he went to Washington as the legal representative of the nation, to
prosecute their claims. Kev. Mr. Cramer, of Indiana, succeeded him;
then Robert Robitaille, chief of the nation; nest Rev. R. Parrett, of

Indiana; Mrs. Lucy B. Armstrong (wife of J. M.) December, 1847,
to March. 1848: Miss Anna H. Ladd. who came with the AVyandottes
in 1S43, and Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong. The latter was teaching the
school at the time of her husband's death, which occurred at Mans-
field, Ohio, while on his way to Washington to prosecute Indian claims,
in April, 1852. The school was closed in the old building April 16.
1852; resumed in Mrs. Armstrong's dining-room; removed the next
winter to the Methodist Episcopal Church, three quarters of a mile
west of her house, and left without a home when that structure was
burned by incendiaries April 8, 1856. It was called the National
School, and was the first free school ever taught in Kansas. Accord-
ingly, to the Wyandotte Indiaas belongs this honor. Soon after the
first school opened, a school-bouse was built near M. Mudeater's farm,
and Mr. Armstrong, Mrs. S. P. Ladd and others taught therein.

The constitutioQ of the State of Kansas, adopted at Wyandotte,
July 29, 1859, which is now the organic law of the State, provided as
follows :

Section 1. The State superintendent of public instruction shall
have the general supervision of the common- school funds and educa-
tional interests of the State, and perform such other duties as may be
prescribed by law. A superintendent of public instruction shall be
elected in each county, whose term of office shall be two years, and
whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 2. The Legislature shall encourage the promotion of intel-
lectual, moral, scientific and agricultural improvement, by establish-
ing a uniform system of common schools, and schools of a higher
grade, embracing normal, preparatory, collegiate and university de-
partments.

Sec. 3. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or may be
granted by the United States to the State, for the support of schools,
and the 500.000 acres of land granted to the new States, under an
act of Congress distributing the proceeds of public lands among the
several States of the Union, approved September 4, A. D. 1841, and
all estates of persons dying without heir or will, and such per cent as
may be granted by Congress, on the sale of lands in this State shall
be the common property of the State, and shall be a perpetual fund,
which shall not be diminished, but the interest of which, together
with all the rents of the lands, and such other means as the Legisla-
ture may provide, by tax or otherwise, shall be invariably appropri-
ated to the support of common schools.

-» V

312 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Sec. 4. The income of the State school funds shall be distributed
annually by order of the State superintendent, to the several county
treasurers, and thence to the treasurers of the several school districts,
in equitable to the number of children and youth resident therein,
between the ages of five and twenty-one years: Provided, That no
school district, in which a common school has not been maintained at
least three months in each year, shall be entitled to receive any por-
tion of such funds.

Sec. f . The school lands shall not be sold unless such sale shall
be authorized by a vote of the people at a general election; but, sub-
ject to a re-valuation every five years, they may be leased for any
number of years not exceeding twenty-five, at a rate established by
law.

Sec. 6. All money which shall be paid by persons as an equiva-
lent for an exemption from military duty; the clear proceeds of es-
trays, ownership of which vest in the taker-up; and the proceeds of
tines for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied in
the several counties in which the money is paid or fines collected, to
the support of common schools.

Sec. 9. The State superintendent of public instruction, secretary
of State and attorney-general shall constitute a board of commissioners
for the management and investment of the school funds. A,ny two
of said commissioners shall be a quorum.

These are the main provisions of the State constitution for the( sup-
port of the common schools, and show the origin of the permanent
school funds.

The act of Congress, approved January 28. 1861, admitting Kan-
sas into the Union as a State, under the constitution referred to in the
foregoing, provided, among other things, that sections numbered
sixteen and thirty-six in every township of jsublic lands in the State,
and where either of these sections or any part thereof had been sold
or otherwise disposed of, other lands, equivalent thereto and as con-
tiguous as might be, should be granted to the State for the use of
schools. But as all the lands composing Wyandotte County were
owned by the Indians under treaties with the United States, before
they were surveyed and sectionized, it was not in the power of the
Government to set aside and donate the sections named for school
purposes in this county.

As soon as the State was organized, the Legislature thereof passed
a law i^roviding for a free school system. This law has been amended

^rr

to suit the times, and Section 271 of the present school law reads as
follows: " For the purpose of affording the advantages of a free edu-
cation to the children of the State, the State annual school fund shall
consist of the annual income from the interest and rents of the perpetual
school fund as provided in the constitution of the State, and such sum
as will be produced by the annual levy and assessment of one mill upon
the dollar valuation of the taxable property of the State, and there
is hereby levied and assessed aonually the said one mill upon the dollar
for the support of common schools in the State, and the amount so
levied and assessed shall be collected in the same manner as other
State taxes. "

The law further provides (Section 298) " Tliat in all school dis-
tricts in the State in which there is a good and sufficient school build-
ings, a school shall be maintained for a period of not less than four
months between the first day of October and the first day of June, in
each school year."

As soon as Wyandotte County was organized, its subdivision into
schools districts was begun and continued as the population increased,
and necessity demanded, until it was wholly subdivided. The num-
ber of districts organized at this writing is forty-one. According to
the latest ofiicial report of the county superintendent, which is for the
school year ending June 30, 18S9, the scholastic population of the
county, that is the number of children between five and twenty-one
years of age, was 8,195 males and 7,997 females, total 16,192. Of
this number 3,951 males and 5,203 females were enrolled in the pub-
lic schools. This shows that only 57 per cent and a fraction over of
the children of the county of school age attended the public schools.
Or, in other words, it proves the fact that only a little over one-half the
people of the county avail themselves of the great advantages of the
public schools. No better argument than this can be offered in favor
of compulsory education. The report also shows that 55 male and
101 female teachers were employed during the school year, and that
the total number of months taught by male teachers was 376J, and
the average monthly salaries paid them in the county schools was
155 and a fraction over, and in the city schools 191 and a fraction
over. The difference in the wages is accounted for by the fact
that in the city schools males are employed only as principals of
the schools, and they must have a much higher degree of education
than is required of the teachers in the common district schools.
The total number of months taught during the year by female teachers

2^1'" — ■- -" — "L£:

was 847 and a fraction, and the average monthly salaries paid them
were $43.64 in the country and 155.17 in the city schools. The
whole amount of money paid male teachers for the school year
was $27,133, and the whole amount paid female teachers, 143,949.-
50, making a total of $71,082.50. The average length in weeks of
the school year was 29j\, or about seven months.

The estimated value of the school property within the county was
shown by the report to be $342,900; the number of school buildings
in the country to be 46, and the number in the cities 17, making a
total in the county of 63; the number of school-rooms in the country
being 68 and in the cities 96; total in county, 164. There were seven
school-houses built within the county during the year, at a cost of
$27,911.25. The amount of school-house bonds issued during school
year was $132,700, and the bonded indebtedness June 30, 1889,
amounted to $218,400.

There were 85 jjersons examined during the year for teacher's
license, which 19 failed to receive, thus making the number of licenses
granted 66. The average age of the persons receiving certificates of
license was 23^ years.

The financial report pertaining to the schools of the county for the
year ending June 30, 1889, is as follows: Balance in hands of district
treasurers July 1, 1888, $11,837.13; amount received from county
treasurer from direct taxes, $93,166.94; amount received from State
and county permanent school funds, apportioned to districts, $14,-
827.51; amount received from the sale of school bonds, $133,998.46;
amount received from all other soiu'ces, $2,785.89; total amount
received dtiring the year for school purposes, $256,615.93.

Amount paid out during the year for teachers' wages and supervis-
ors, $73, 050. 59 ; amount paid for rents, repairs, fuel and other incident-
als, $20,566.47; amount paid for district library and school apparatus,
$519.06; amount paid for sites, buildings and furniture, $99,258.27;
amount paid for all other purposes, $11,915.72; total amount paid out
during the school year, $205,310.11. Balance in hands of district
treasurers June 30, 1889, $59,513.66.

The report also shows that the County Normal Institute was taught
in Kansas City, Kas., opening June 10, and closing July 3, 1889,
eighteen days, and that the conductor, Mr. John Wherrell, was paid
for his services the sum of $140, and Instructors George E. Eose and
C. H. Nowlin were paid respectively for their services $100 and $60.
The number enrolled at the institute was 180, and the average attend-

a I^ — »>- ±==£Ll

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 315

ance 137L The total receipts of the institute fund was $434.(55, out
of which 1393 was expended, leaving a balance of 141.05 on hand.

Of the sixty-three school-houses in the county, two are built of
stone, fifteen of brick, and the balance are frame.

As the great bulk of the population of the county lives in cities,
it is proper to make more especial mention of the city schools. The
Andreas State History, published in 1883, speaks of the educational
facilities of Wyandotte City as follows: " The first public school build-
ing was erected in 1867, on the corner of Sixth Street and Kansas
Avenue. It was afterward used for colored pupils. A central school
building was erected the same year. In 1881 the city voted $15,000
to build two new ward school- houses, one on the site of the old colored
school, and the other on Everett Street, between Fifth and Sixth
Streets. In the spring of 1882 $15,000 additional was voted to com-
plete the two buildings mentioned, to build the one in the Fifth Ward,
and repair the Central School building. In 1872, before what is known
as South Wyandotte was annexed to the city, a two-story brick edifice
was erected there at a cost of $5,000. Wyandotte has, therefore,
five good brick school buildings. It costs $12,000 to maintain her
educational system, which is under the supervision of Prof. P. Sher-
man, superintendent of schools. Twenty teachers train the young
ideas. The school population of Wyandotte is 3,000, of which a
little less than one- half are in attendance upon school." The reader
will observe that this applies to Wyandotte City, a part only of the
present Kansas City.

To show the wonderful improvement in school facilities in recent
years, the following facts are compiled fi'om the annual report of the
board of education of Kansas City, Kas. , for the year ending June 30,
1889:

The Central school-house, a nine-room brick, with seating capac-
ity for 542, was erected on Huron Place in 1868, and is heated with
steam.

The High School, a ten-room brick, situated on the corner of
Seventh and Ann. with a seating capacity of 433, was erected in 1878..
and is heated by stoves.

Everett school-house, on Everett Avenue, between Fourth and
Fifth, an eight-room brick, with seating capacity for 433, is heated by
steam.

Lincoln school, on the corner of State and Sixth, a nine-room
brick, with seating capacity for 490. is heated with steam.

316 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

Wood school-house, situated on Wood Street, between Fifth and
Sixth, an eight-room brick, with a seating capacity for 462, was erected
in 1872, and is heated with stoves.

Armourdale school-house, a twelve-room brick, situated on Eighth
Street, with seating capacity for 747, is heated with a hot-air furnace.

Morse, a four-room brick, situated on Twenty-lirst Street, with
seating room capacity for 240, was erected in 1888, and is heated with
stoves.

Reynolds, on Eidge Avenue between Eleventh and Twelfth, a four-
room brick, with seating capacity for 240, was erected in 1888, and
is heated with stoves.

Long, situated on Sixth Street, an eight-room brick, with seating
capacity for 480, was erected in 1888, and is heated with stoves.

Bruce, situated on Second and Armstrong, a two-room frame, with
seating capacity for 100, was erected in 1889, and is heated with
stoves.

Douglas, a six-room brick, situated on Washington Avenue between
Ninth and Tenth, with seating capacity for -360, was erected in ISSU,
and is heated with stoves.

Barnett, a three-room frame, situated on Barnett Avenue between
Tenth and Eleventh, with seating capacity for 130, was erected in
1886, and is heated with stoves.

Riverview, situated on Seventh, an eight-room brick, with seating
capacity for 411, was erected in 1880, and is heated with steam.

McAlpine, on Parnell Avenue between Eighth and Ninth, a two-
room frame, was erected in 1886, and is heated with stoves.

Armstrong, on Colorado Avenue, a two-room brick, with seating
capacity for 120, was erected in 1876, and is heated with stoves.

Stewart, on Ninth and Quindaro, a one-room brick, with seating
capacity for 60, was erected in 1885, and is heated with a stove.

London Heights, on Whiteside and Wiltz Avenue, a six-room brick,
with seating capacity for 360, was erected in 1889, and is heated with
stoves.

By the foregoing it will be seen that the city now owns seventeen
school-houses, fifteen of which are constructed of brick, and the other
two of wood. Also that three of these buildings were erected in 1888,
and the same number in 1889, thus showing the recent rapid increase
in the necessity for school facilities. The seventeen buildings above
mentioned not being sufficient to accommodate the school children,
the school board rented three additional buildings, and had schools

■vj^ ^ ^ gt>

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 317

taught therein during the school year referred to. The estimated value
of the school property belonging to Kansas City, Kas. , as shown by
the last report, was S2T2.800.

The scholastic population of the city for the year closing June 30,
1889, was 9,284 white and 1,864 colored, making a total of 11.148.
Of this number, 5,866, only a little more than one-half of the whole
number, were enrolled in the public schools. Of the total enrollment
2.958 were males and 2,908 females. The report shows that for the
school term ending February 1, 1889, 5,263 pupils were crowded into
school-rooms with proper seating capacity for only 4,434. Consider-
ing the large percentage of the scholastic population not enrolled in
the public schools, it follows that if all were compelled to attend, the
capacity for their accommodation would need to be greatly increased.

On the question of enrollment, attendance and continuance in
school, John W. Ferguson, in his report as superintendent of the city
schools for the year ending June 30, 1889, remarks as follows: "It
will be seen that forty-eight per cent of the entire attendance is enrolled
in the first two years' work; eighty per cent is enrolled in the first four
years' work; ninety per cent is enrolled in the first six years' work;
ninety-nine per cent is enrolled in the first eight years' work, and less
than one per cent in the high school. This would indicate that the
pupils diop out of the schools in the same ratio.

" This state of affairs is not pleasant to contemplate from a humani-
tarian standpoint. The fact that so small a per cent of the entire
school population takes advantage of the facilities for acquiring a good
education, can not fail to awaken serious thoughts on this vital ques-
tion. If, as the poet expresses it, ' a little learning is a dangerous
thing,' then surely are we toying with firebrands.

" If the .stabilitj' and perpetuity of our free institutions depend, as
philanthropists tell us, upon the education and enlightenment of the
masses, then may lovers of liberty and free institutions well feel appre-
hensive for the continuance of our present form of government. With
less than fifty per cent of our school population enrolled in our schools,
and forty-eight per cent of those dropping out at the end of the second
year, before the majority of them have laid a proper foundation for
an education, does not seem to afford much chance for the education
and enlightenment of the masses, as that cuts out seventy-five per cent
at once.

" Shall we lose faith in our free-school system and pronounce it a
failure? No; the fault is not in the system, but in the environments.

pfV

lii.

318 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

' ' If the safety of the State depends on the education of the masses,
then, on the principle that ' self-preservation is the first law of na-
ture,' the State has a right to take steps to preserve itself. It must
enact such laws as will compel its citizens to educate their children.

"Human greed and selfishness, and sometimes poverty, combine
against the education of hundreds of children. When parents, un-
educated themselves, and not knowing the great benefit an education
would be to their children, can put the little ones at work, and thus
earn from 25 cents to 50 cents per day, it is thought that this is much
better than going to school, and not only earning nothing, but creating
an additional expense for books and clothing.

"It is poverty in some cases that almost compels the parent to put
the child at work; but nine cases out of ten it is greed and selfishness.

"The remedy, I think, lies in strict laws against the employment of
children in any factory, shop, etc., during the session of school in any
district. The violation of this law should cause heavy punishment to
be meted out to the offender. The State must preserve itself. If the
cost of books is a barrier to the child's attendance, then the board
should furnish them."

Further, upon the growth of the schools. Mr. Ferguson says :

" The growth of the schools since consolidation has been marvel-
ous. Probably no city in the United States shows such a wonderful
growth. The first year after consolidation forty-three teachers were
employed, with an enrollment of 2,005 pupils.

"This year eighty-six teachers were employed with an enrollment
of 5,866.

" The only trouble has been the lack of proper legislation, which has
sadly crippled the board in its efforts to provide suitable school facil-
ities.

"The cause seems to be that members of the Legislature from the
rural districts are determined to frame school legislation for cities of
the first class. The majority of such members know about as much
of the requirements and needs of city schools as they do about run-
ning a system of railroads.

" Why those persons arrogate to themselves the privilege of legislat-
ing for our city schools is more than I can tell. -They have a right to
vote on questions of public interest, but it seems to me that when mem-
bers from cities of the first class agree on necessary legislation, as a
matter of courtesy they ought to favor it. Perhaps a part of the
trouble arises from the fact that representatives from cities of the first

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

319

class fail to heartily agree aod co-operate in their efforts to secure
necessary legislation.

" As the needs of this city are peculiar, it would be advisable to get
a law passed at the next session of the Legislature that will apply only
to our city.''

In the Kansas City High School there are four courses of study- —
the English, Classical, Normal and Latin and Scientific. Four years
are required to complete these courses, except the Normal, which
requ.ires only three. The number enrolled in the High School for the
year of 1888-89 was: Males, 78; females, 173; total, 251.

The receipts, expenditures and balances of funds on hand, of Kan-
sas City, Kas. , on account of her schools, from July 1, 1888, to July 1,
1889, were as follows:

Receipts.

Disbui-se'mts.

Balance.

$48,355 33

$47,848 37

$ 506 95

7,330«73

1,937 90

5,393 83

10.383 60

10,353 60

30 00

137,057 79

87,376 67

39,681 13

1.438 30

1,438 30

7,314 93

3,000 00

4,314 93

3,664 03

1,530 00

1,134 03

3,86t 16

3,864 16

903 38

430 00

483 38

$308,190 91

$153,883 64

154,307 37

General

Consolidaled Bond Interest

State Dividend

Building

Wyandotte Floating

Wyandotte Bond Sinking

Wyandotte Bond Interest

Former Kansas City Bond Sinking .
Former Kansas City Bond Interest. .

Total .

The amounts expended directly, for the support of the schools
during the year, were as follows:

Teachers .f48,899 35

Janitors 6,668 35

Officers 3,770 00

Stoves 653 40

Fu. 1 2.160 50

Repairs 1,437 31

Insurance 613 45

Supplies 1,176 11

Printing 170 00

Office Supplies 108 80

Rent 1,394 60

Miscellaneous 357 00

Total $66,408 71

The bonded indebtedness of Kansas City, Kas. , on account of her
schools was, on June 30, 1889, $159,000. Of this amount $127,000

-^ efv

'i^

320 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

bears five per cent interest and becomes due February 1, 1909. The
balance all bears six per cent interest. Twenty-five thousand ot it be-
comes due in 1906, and $7,000 becomes due in 1909. In addition to
these sums there was $24,000 of bonded indebtedness of the former
city of Wyandotte, bearing six per cent interest, and $6,500 bonded
indebtedness of the former city of Kansas, bearing seven per cent in-
terest.

For the school year ending June 30, 1889, there were eighty- seven
principals and teachers employed in the public schools of Kansas City,
Kas., besides the general superintendent.

At a meeting of the board of education held in the last week in
June, 1890, the engagements and assignments of principals andteacli-
ers were made for the school year of 1890-91 as follows:

High School — E. A. Mead, principal; L. L. L. Hanks, H. J.
Locke, Eva McNally, Annie R. Barker.

Eighth grade, Armourdale district — Bridgie Gushing.

Eighth grade. Central district — Maggie M. Tustin.

Central school — J. C. Mason, principal; Sallie Overton, Jessie B.
Lane, Maggie Doran, Ora Peacock, J. L. Burton, Anna Modine, Birdie
Colvin, Lizzie Collins.

Central branch — W. J. Pearson, Hattie Dennis, Anna Bandies,
Mary A. Ramsay.

Everett school — George E. Rose, principal; Flora Betton, Estella
Johnson, Mollie Collins, Hattie Bruce, Flora Sackett, Belle Trembley,
Lillie Babitt.

Long school — C. H. Nowlin, principal; Lulu Holbrook, Libbie
Clark, Jennie Bixby, Sarah Frederling, Sallie Lindsay, Ollie Colvin,
Kittie Hooker. Unassigned — Mrs. Criswell, Nellie Sharp, Ida Boucher.

Stewart school — Jennie L. Taffe.

London Heights — Frank Colvin, principal; Mamie Shipley, Noye
McLean.

Reynolds school — R. E. Morris, principal; Alice Swan, Carrie Drisco.

Morse school- — W. H. McKean, principal; Josie Daniels, Florence
J. Brouse, Mary Donnelly. Unassigned — Emma Spier, Ida Patter-
son, Laura Case, Ella F. See.

Wood Street school — M. E. Pearson, principal; H. J. Coddington,
Josie CosgrifF, Sophie Wuest, Lucy Bennett, Flora C. Garlick, Lida
Spake, Bessie Austin.

Grey stone school — M. A. Moriston, principal; Ada HoUingsworth.

Armourdale school— J. G. Fertig, principal; Lizzie Espenlaub,

-,f

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 321

Amelia Klippel, Alice Dunmire, Mary Emerick, Mary Malone, Eva
Donnelly, Louise "Wuest, Belle Colgan, Frances Hughes, Nellie Dan-
iels, Sadie Parsons.

McAlpine school — Sallie Hutsell, principal; Augusta Larson.

Riverview school — W. H. Rooney, principal; Julia Hixon, Dora
Bean, Katie O'Brien, Mary Shine, Henrietta Church, Anna Judd,
Katie Daniels.

Barnett school — W. H. Allen, principal; Josie Eaton, Katie May-
ginnis.

Armstrong school — Mary F. McQuinn.

Bruce school — J. J. Bass, principal; Mattie Ross.

Douglas school — J. J. Lewis, principal; J. R. Harrison, W. G.
Wood, Tilford Davis. Maggie Callaway.

Lincoln school — G. L. Harrison, principal; A. J. Neeley, Ella
Crabb, S. H. Hodge, Hattie Wiley, Georgia Freeman, Katie Hill,
Frances Garner, Penelope Booth.

J. H. Gadd is president and M. G. Jones clerk of the board of
education, and A. S. Olin is superintendent of the city schools.

A worthy institution of learning, not connected with the free-
school system, is Fowler's Free Kindergarten, at 301 North James
Street, in Kansas City. This school was founded and established in
1883 by Miss Annie Fowler, daughter of George Fowler, of the firm
of George Fowler & Son, pork and beef packers. Miss Fowler after-
ward married Prof. Frederick Troutan. of the Dublin schools in Ire-
land, and now lives with her husband in that old city on the "Emer-
ald Isle." Mr. George Fowler purchased the lot on which the
kindergarten building now stands for 13,000, and erected the house—
a two-story brick — at the cost of another $3,000, and he supports and
maintains the school at an expense of $1,000 per annum. The school
is taught ten months in each year, and all is free — there being no
tuition or other expenses for pupils to pay. The school is held in
the second story of the building, which was fitted up for the pur-
pose. The average attendance of pupils during the last school year
was thirty-eight. Mrs. Alice Cheney is principal of the school.

In the same school room is taught an industrial or sewing school.
This latter school was established in 1881, by Mrs. George Fowler.
Mrs. Alice Cheney is also principal of this school, and has several
assistants. It is also maintained by Mr. Fowler at an expense of from
$300 to $400 per year. The tuition and material used are free to all
pupils. During the last school year among the materials consumed

^(^

■k.

322 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

was eight bolts of muslin. The sessions are taught from 2 o'clock to
4 o'clock on every Saturday, for ten months in the year. There were
157 pupils enrolled during the last school year, all being from eig'ut
to sixteen years of age, and they came from all parts of the county.
The girls are taught to sew in the best manner, and the garments on
which they practice are given to them. The sewing is performed
according to the best English methods. The last school year of both
the kindergarten and sewing school closed June 27, 1890, with an
English feast, and both teachers and pupils retired for vacation. The
next school year commences two months later. Good sewing is one
of the essential features of a young lady's education, and schools of
this kind ought to be encouraged. The patrons of these schools owe
much to the gratitude of Mr. Fowler.

In addition to the above there are the following jarivate schools
in the city: St. Anthony's German Catholic School, 615 North Seventh,
Kev. Aloysius Kurtz, principal. St. Bridget's Catholic School, 69
North First Street, Sister Benedicta, Superior. St. Mary's School,
802, 804 North Fifth Street. St. Thomas' parochial school. 628 Pyle
Avenue, Mary McQuinn, principal. Samaritan Mission, 47 North
First Street, Emily P. Neweomb, superintendent.

There is a large Roman Catholic population in Kansas City, and
many of their children are educated in their own schools, which ac-
counts to some extent for the small per cent of the scholastic popula-
tion enrolled in the public schools. Wyandotte County boasts of no
colleges or institutions of learning (save the Blind Asylum) higher
than those already mentioned.

A school known as the Wyandotte Academy was founded in Sep-
tember, 1878, by Prof. C. O Palmer. By the spring of 1879 the at-
tendance had so increased that he found it necessary to abandon tem-
jjorary for permanent quarters. Accordingly, at the end of the fol-
lowing summer, a large two- story brick structure was erected for the
academy on the corner of Ann and Seventh Streets. Both sexes were
admitted to this school, and it was carried on successfully until supe-
rior educational facilities provided by the free-school system made it
no longer a necessity. The academy was closed in the spring of
1886, and the building was purchased by the Kansas City Board of
Education, and is now used for the public high school. The lot con-
taining this building, and the lot adjoining it on the south, contain-
ing the school board offices, were purchased for $16,300.

^ IS r- -^ e \.

*-^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

323

CHAPTER XYII.

Churches of the County — A Reveusal of the Usual Order of
Events and the Introduction of Christianity by- the In-
dians—Church Beginnings in Different Denominations— Di-
vision of the Methodist Church into "North "and "South"
Churches— The Churches of To-day— Statistics Showing Their
Number, Their Membership, and the Number and Value of
Their Houses of Worship.

Beware what spirit rages in your breast,
For ten inspired, ten thousand are possess'd.

-Roscommon.

HUISTIANITY generally advanced with the
\\hit(? settlement in the early history of the
we'-teru country, but it came to this county, or
i.itlier was first recognized and observed here,
, \>} the Wyandotte Indians. And strange as it
Midv seem, it is, nevertheless, true, that the
Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City,
Kas , had its origin in the Wyandotte reservation on the
Sandusky Rner, Ohio. There, in 1819, a church was or-
ganized under the auspices of the mission department of
the Ohio Methodist Episcopal Conference, it being the
first Indian mission ever established by that body. It
grew and prospered in good works, being supplied with
missionaries from that conference. In September, 1839,
Rev. James Wheeler took charge of it as missionary, and
when the Wyandottes moved to this territory in 1843, he
accompanied them, and the church organization remained intact without
change. Leaving it in the care of its local preachers and officers. Rev.
Wheeler visited the Missouri Methodist Episcopal Conference in
session at Lexington, and there the bishop continued him as mission-
ary to the Wyandottes, and transferred him accordingly, and thus he
remained with them until May, 1846. When these people landed

■f^

324 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

here they had in their church orgaoization five classes, nine class
leaders, three local preachers, four or five eshortors and a membership
of 200 souls. Their removal from Ohio did not cause them to neglect
their religious duties, but they held regular services in their camp on
the strip of low land across the river, where they spent the summer
of 1843, in the midst of great afflictions on account of disease, and
where they lost many of their number. In January, after they start-
ed to build their cabins on their new reservation, they began to build
a house in which to worship their God, and in April following the
October in 1843, when they first occupied their lands, their new
church was ready for use. It was a log building, which stood about
half a mile west of the present Chelsea Park. When the first service
was held in it in April, 1844, the puncheon floor, completed along
one end, answered for a pulpit, and the "sleepers," for the balance
of the floor answered as seats for the audience, which consisted of the
whole neighborhood. It was wholly completed by May 24, following,
when the missionary returned and held the first quarterly meeting
therein on Saturday and Sunday following. The same year a two-
story frame parsonage was built. They afterward sold their log
church and erected a brick church, which they entered in November,
1847. It stood on what is now the Mary A. Grindrod tract, as shown
on the present map of the city, about half a mile west of the North-
Western depot. A school-house was built on the ea.st side of Fourth
Street, between Kansas and Nebraska Avenues, and occupied July 1,
1844. Occasional public services were held here, both in English and
Wyandotte. The English-speaking class met here, and the first Sab-
bath-school was organized in June, 1847. Rev. James Wheeler re-
mained until May, 1840. He was succeeded by the Rev. E. T. Peery,
who, though sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, kept the
records of the church in the name of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In July, 1848, the official board petitioned the Ohio Conference for a
missionary, and the Rev. James Gurley volunteered to come as their
missionary. He arrived in November. Previous to his arrival. Rev.
Abram Still, M. D., presiding elder of the Platte District (which in-
cluded the Indian missions in this region), came to hold his first quar-
terly meeting in October, 1848. Dr. Still preached Sabbath morning
on the text, "My peace I give unto you," after which Mi-. Peery or-
ganized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with forty-one mem-
bers. There were in the house 110 members of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, and sixty-nine refused to go into the new organization.

aI^ — - - — ^t^

Many of tbe old members of the church had died since they came to
the West, and, at this time there were but 160 remaining. Renewed
efforts were made to induce the members of the old church to unite
with the new, but the highest number ever obtained was sixtyfive,
and soon after Mr. Gurley's arrival some of these returned to the old
church. But, nothwithstanding there was a large majority in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, the building was stoned, so as to en-
danger the house and disturb the services when Mr. Gurley preached
in it, and the official board decided to withdraw from it for a time, to
a vacant dwelling house. The last week in February, 1849, the
United States lodian agent, at Wyandotte, expelled Mr. Gurley,
at the instance of some members and adherents of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, though he had committed no ofFense
against the law, nor caused any of the disturbances. They existed
before he came, and continued until 1857. The next Saturday after
Mr. Gurley's expulsion, the presiding elder, Dr. Still, crossed the
Missouri River in a skiff, swimming his horse amidst great blocks of ice,
to hold his second quarterly meeting in the old dwelling house.
Thirty persons united with the church upon this occasion. As soon as
the spring rains were over the services were held in a grove, and be-
fore winter another log church was built near the present Quindaro
cemetery. Rev. Squire Gray-Eyes and J. M. Armstrong were sent
to the Missouri Conference at St. Louis (August, 1849), to petition for
a missionary. Rev. G. B. Markham was appointed, and arrived in a
few weeks. He remaiaed two years, being followed by Rev. James
Witten in October, 1851. His wife was in failing health and died
January 1, 1852. She was buried near the log church, the first inter-
ment in the Quindaro Cemetery. Rev. George W. Robbins was
appointed presiding elder in October, 1850, and was continued three
years. Following Father Witten as missionary were Rev. M. G.
Klepper, M. D., October, 1852; Rev. J. M. Chivington, autumn of
1853; Rev. J. T. Hopkins, presiding elder; Rev. J. H. Dennis,
fall of 1854; Rev. W. W. Goode, D. D. , presiding elder, and su-
perintendent of the work in Kansas and Nebraska Territories. He
moved his large family from Richmond, Ind., to a small brick house,
about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas
Rivers. Soon after these preachers came twelve persons returned
from the Southern Church to the old church. One of them was Mat-
thew Mudeater. the Wyandotte chief; and the other Mrs. Hannah
Walker, the wife of William Walker, the provisional governor of

Kansas. She was a white woman. All the white women in the
church and Wyandotte Nation had united with the South Church, ex-
cept one, and she was rejoiced when an English-speaking class was
reorganized, after a lapse of seven years, at Dr. Goode's house.
There were present Dr. Goode and family, Eev. J. H. Dennis, wife
and daughter, Mrs. Hannah Walker, Lucy B. Armstrong and two of
her family, who were then members of the church, and the former
missionary, Father Witten, more than the requisite number for a
primitive class. The class was continued until Dr. Goode moved into
Iowa in October, 1855, to take charge of the work in Nebraska. Kev.
L. B. Dennis succeeded him as presiding elder of all of Kansas
north of the Kansas River.

In the winter of 1855-56 the health of Rev. J. H. Dennis, who
was continued missionary, rapidly failed, and near the 1st of May,
1850, he left Wyandotte for his mother's house in Indiana, where he
died the following August. His memory is blessed. Before he left,
on the night of April 8, 1856, both churches were burned by incendia-
ries. Rev. William Butt, who had been appointed to the Leavenworth,
Delaware and Wyandotte Mission, moved here November, and preached
in a school-house near Quindaro. In April, 1857, he was appointed
presiding elder, and Rev. R. P. Duval succeeded him as missionary.
Services were held in Lucy B. Armstrong's house from April to the
last of December, 1857, when the old frame church, corner of Wash-
ington Avenue and Fifth Street, was completed. The same year a brick
church vpas built at Quindaro. The first quarterly meeting of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, after Wyandotte City was settled by
white people and the church was reorganized, was held on Mrs. Arm-
strong's premises, September 1, 1857. The public services of the
Sabbath were held on her lawn, under the shade of the trees. There
was gathered a vast concourse of people from Wyandotte and Quindaro
and the country around. Presiding Elder Butt preached the morning
sermon, and Rev. J. M. Walden, local preacher, politician and editor
of the Quindaro Chindowan, delivered the afternoon sermon. After
Mr. Duval, came as missionaries (April, 1858) Eev. H. H. Moore, who
remained one year; Rev. G. W. Paddock, two years; Rev. Strange
Brooks, March, 1861 (Rev. N. Gaylor, presiding elder), one year;
Rev. M. D. Genney, March, 1862 (Rev. W. R. Davis, presiding elder),
one year. The annual conference was held at Wyandotte, Bishop
Simpson presiding. Mr. Genney was first lieutenant in the United
States volunteer service. He attended conference and resigned his

lieutenancy, but it was not accepted. With the exception of about
four months, during; which time Rev. C. H. Love joy had charge, the
Wyandotte and Quindaro Mission was withoiit a pastor this year. At
the conference held in Lawrence, in March, 1863, Rev. Strange Brooks
was appointed presiding elder of the district, and Rev. M. M. Haun,
missionarj-. In 1S64 Rev. A. N. Marlatt was appointed missionary,
remaining about ten months, when a man was appointed who had been
transfered to another conference, and therefore did not fill the ap-
pointment at Wyandotte. Rev. D. G. Griffith, a young local preacher,
did not complete the conference year. In March, 1866, AVyandotte
was made a station, Rev. D. D. Dickinson was appointed pastor, and
Rev. J. E. Bryan sent to the Wyandotte and Quindaro Mission, Rev. H.
D. Fisher, presiding elder. In March, 1867, came Rev. H. G. Murch,
and in March, 1870, Rev. S. G. Frampton. The latter remained one
year, but failed to keep up the Quindaro and Wyandotte Mission ap-
pointments, partly because most of the Indians were about moving to
the Indian Territory. These appointments were therefore dropped.
Rev. S. P. Jacobs remained two years from March, 1871, during which
time a neat parsonage was built. Rev. H. K. Muth was appointed in
March, 1873, Rev. William Smith, who succeeded him, remaining two
years. The corner-stone of a new church, the foundation of which
had been laid on the corner of Kansas Avenue and Fifth Street, was
laid by Rev. William K. Marshall, and the basement was dedicated by
Bishop Thomas Bowman in January, 1876. Such is the history of
the planting of Christianity in Wyandotte County. The church thus
established, prospered and grew in numbers, and is one of the most
popular in Kansas City to-day. Following are brief accounts of the
beginning of other religious growths on this soil: Of the 110 members
of the original Methodist Episcopal Church organized by the Wyan-
dotte Indians in 1843, forty-one joined the Southern branch when it
was formally organized in this city by the Rev. E. T. Peery, in Octo-
ber, 1848. In 1873 the present brick edifice, corner of Minnesota Av-
enue and Seventh Street, was commenced, and fully completed in 1881.
at a cost, with parsonage, of $6,500. Some of the earlier pastors were,
Revs. B. F. Russell, Daniel Dofflemayer, J. T. Peery, Nathan Scar-
ritt, William Barnett, H. H. Craig, D. C. O' Howell, Joseph King,
D. S. Heron, E. G. Frazier, G. J. Warren, T. H. Swearingen and J.
W. Payne.

In 1857 Rev. Rodney S. Nash, late of Lexington, Mo., organ-
ized the St. Paul's Episcopal Parish, of AVyandotte. This was the

^f^-

pioneer parish of the Territory of Kansas, and was organized un-
der the authority of Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, the first missionary
bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.
Among the original incorporators were Dr. Frederick Speck, Col. W.
Y. Roberts, A. C. Davis, W. L. McMath and James Chestnut. On
July 9, 1882, the corner-stone for the church at the intersection of Sixth
and Ann Streets was laid, Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Vail, Bishop of the
diocese of Kansas, officiating. Kansas was in 1857 only a missionary
jurisdiction under the care of the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, the first
missionary bishop of the church in America. On July 26, 1859, he
issued a call for the purpose of organizing the Territory of Kansas in-
to a diocese, and the primary convention was held in St. Paul's Church,
Wyandotte, on August 11 and 12, following. Shortly after the or-
ganization of the diocese, Bishop Lee, of Iowa, took provisional charge
of the same, for about four years, until the first bishop, the Rt. Rev.
Thomas Hubbard Vail, D. D. , LL. D., was, in December, 1864, con-
secrated to the sacred office, and made his first visit to his new field in
January, 1865. He made his second visit in the diocese to this jjai'ish.
Mr. Nash retained the rectorship of the parish until November, 1862,
when he resigned, but again resumed it in May, 1864. Early in April
of the following year he again vacated the parish, and the Rev. Will-
iam H. D. Hatton took charge in June of the same year. Since then
there have been several successive rectors.

The First Congregational Church was organized July 18, 1858, at
the Methodist Church (North), among the earliest members being the
following: W. P. Winner, S. F. Mather, Dr. J. P. Root, Rev. S. D.
Storrs, W. F. Downs, D. A. Bartlett, Samuel Crosby, D. C. Collier,
J. S. Stockton, Mrs. Mary Walcott, Mrs. Frances E. Root, Mrs. Mary
E. Stockton, Mrs. M. Louisa Bartlett, Mrs. Louisa K. Downs, Mrs.
M. A. Mather, John Furbish, Mrs. R. B. Taylor, A. D. Downs, E. T.
Hovey and wife, Mrs. C. M. Downs, O. S. Bartlett, Jesse Cooper, Mrs.
Hester A. Garno (now Mrs. Halford). For sis months previous to the
organization Rev. S. D. Storrs, of Quindaro, preached in Wyandotte,
doing missionary labor, to an audience of from twenty to thirty per-
sons. He became the first pastor of the church, and was succeeded
in 1859 by Rev. R. D. Parker, of Leavenworth, who remained eight
years. It was during his administration, in March, 1860, that work
was commenced on a new church building, corner of Fifth Street and
Nebraska Avenue. The edifice was completed in July, and dedicated
August 1, 1860. The national fast, appointed for September 26,1861,

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was observed by this church and congregation, and on that day the
Third Iowa Regiment landed here from the battle of Blue Mills, and
many of them were at the meeting. On the following evening 250
ofificers and soldiers held a prayer and conference meeting of intense
interest. The ladies of the church administered to the wants of the
wounded for many weeks. Among early pastors were Revs. E. A.
Harlow and James N.Dougherty. In 1858 Rev. Father Heiman, of Leav-
enworth, came to ^Yyandotte and organized St. Mary's Catholic Mission,
with about thirty members. They first met at the house of John War-
ren, but during the next year Father Heiman was succeeded by Father
Fish, who remained three years, and built a little brick church, 25x50
feet, at the corner of Ninth and Ann Streets. Fathers McGee and
Muller succeeded him, each remaining about a year. From want of
support the mission was then abandoned for nearly three years. In
1864 Rev. Anthony Kuhls, present pastor, was sent to Wyandotte on
trial. Then but thirty poor families belonged to the parish. After
the war, however, the affairs of the chiirch assumed a more promising
aspect. The old church was sold, and in 1866 the structure corner of
Ann and Fifth Streets was erected for $9,0(10, the site being purchased
of Matthias Splitlog for $800 in gold. Connected with St. Mary's
Church are sodalities for married men and women, and for young men
and young ladies, cumbering about 200 members, two insurance unions
and two benevolent societies. In 1872 the settlement ten miles west
of AVyandotte, called Delaware, built a church of its own, called St.
Patrick. In 1880 the eastern portion, across the river, was taken ofp,
and St. Bridget's Church was built, with a resident pastor. The Ger-
man Methodist Episcopal Church was organized August 24, 1859, with
the following members: Frank Weber. Maria Weber, Louisa Feisel,
Maria Feisel, Adelharfl Holzbeierlein, Catherine Schatz, Margaret Ort-
mann, Henry Helm, August Gabriel. Carl Gabriel, Henriette Gabriel,
Gottlieb Kncepfer and Margaret Kncepfer. In 1866 the church edifice,
corner of Fifth and Ann Streets, was erected at a cost of about $4,000,
and was dedicated in September of that year by Rev. M. Schnierly.
Among the earlier pastors were Revs. Gottlieb Widmann, George
Schatz, Charles Stuckemann, Jacob Feisel, A. Holzbeierlein, Philip
May and W. Meyer. The earliest Presbyterian society in Wyandotte
was organized in 1857, and existed until the close of the war, when it
was discontinued. A new organization was effected by Rev. Alexan-
der Sterrett in 1881. The First Baptist Church (colored) was organ-
ized in 1862. and a frame building on Nebraska Avenue erected in

^^ — - ^ — ^l^

830 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

1869. In 1881 the society had grown so large that its trustees pur-
chased the site for a more commodious church structure, corner of
Fifth Street and Nebraska Avenue. The Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized in October, 1877, with
seven members — George Hay ward, presiding elder. William Newton
was in charge of the society. The leading idea of their faith was that
the gospel of Jesus Christ and His agents always has been the same
from the beginning. Faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the
remission of sins, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy
Ghost, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, are the car-
dinal principles of their belief. This organization took Joseph Smith
as its guide, repudiating Brigham Young and all polygamists as apos-
tates from the true faith. The Congregation of Disciples of Christ
was organized Christmas, 1881, through the efforts of Dr. Gentry and
Messrs. Johnsou, Reeves, Edwards and a number of lady members.
Chiefly through Dr. Gentry's untiring exertions a church building was
erected on Barnett Street, between Sixth and Seventh. The African
Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by Rev. Felix Landor in
May, 1880. Mr. Landor was formerly a slave in Louisiana, and, be-
ing owned by a French master, spoke that language. At the close of
the war he was converted from the Catholic faith, educated by the
Freedmen's Aid Society in New Orleans, and sent to this held in Feb-
ruary, 1880. The society built a comfortable brick church, corner of
Seventh and Ann Streets. A Baptist Church was organized in Wyan-
dotte in the spring of 1862. The German Evangelical Church dates its
existence from February, 1882. Rev. Charles Kraft was first pastor.

Such was the sequence of the advent of different religious denom-
inations in Wyandotte County and Kansas City. Most of the organi-
zations exist to this day, and will be found mentioned in the following
paragraph. Some of them are yet in the houses of worship mentioned
above. Some have removed into better quarters ; some are now build-
ing, or contemplating building new church houses. All have, pros-
pered under God's blessing, and have done and are doing good work
for civilization and enlightenment.

Baptist. — First, 2 South First Street, Rev. R. Williams, pastor;
First (colored), Nebraska Avenue, northwest corner of Fifth Street,
Rev. Daniel Jones, pastor; First, of Armourdale, 621 Mill Street,
Rev. R. W. Arnold, pastor; First Swedish, 646 Ohio Avenue, Rev.
Christopher Silene, pastor; Mount Pleasant (colored), Third Street,
southeast corner of Freeman Avenue, Rev. Marcus Mack, pastor;

•f* ts~

-f.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 331

Mount Zion, 417 Virginia Avenue, Eev. E. M. Martin, pastor; Pleas-
ant View (colored). 941 Everett Avenue, Rev. James Jennings, pastor;
Rose Hill Missionary (colored), 825 New Jersey Avenue, Rev. Abner
Windom, pastor; St. Paul Free-Will (colored), 1047 Everett Avenue,
Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor; St. Philip's (colored), 346 New Jersey
Avenue, Rev. M. Phillips, pastor; Wyandotte, Sixth Street, northeast
corner Nebraska Avenue, Rev. W. B. Wiseman, pastor.

Christian. — The Christian, 606 Barnett Avenue, Rev. James M.
Dunning, pastor; First (colored), Eighth Street, northeast corner of
Everett Avenue, Rev. William Hancock, pastor; Mission (colored),
south side State Avenue, near Sixth Street, Rev. J. D. Smith,
pastor.

Congregational. —First, 1109 North Fifth Street, ReV. J. D.
Dougherty, pastor: Pilgrim, west side Seventh Street, between Cen-
tral and Reynolds Avenues, Rev. Horace D. Herr, pastor.

Episcopal. — St. Paul's, Sixth Street, northwest corner .inn Ave-
nue, Eev. John Bennett, pastor.

Evangelical German Zion, 645 Orville Avenue, Rev. Louis Klee-
man, pastor.

Latter-Day Saints — Reorganized Church, 734 Colorado Avenue,
William Newton, president.

Methodist. — African, Ann Avenue, northeast corner of Seventh
Street, Rev. John Turner, pastor; Forest Grove, 254 Balke Street,
Rev. Frederick Soper, pastor; German, Fifth Street, northeast corner
of Ann Avenue, Rev. C. C. Harms, pastor; German, 717 St. Paul
Street, Rev. J. J. Steininger, pastor; Gordon Place, 2106 North
Eighth Street, Rev. Seymour A. Baker, pastor; Highland Park, Pa-
cific Avenue, southwest corner of Seventh Street, Rev. W. T. Elliott,
pastor; St. James (colored), 929 Freeman Avenue, Rev. G. W. Pat-
ten, pastor; St. Peter's (colored), 409 Oakland Avenue; Seventh
Street (South), Seventh Street, northeast corner of State Avenue, Rev.
Frank Syler, pastor; Tenth Street, east side St. Paul Street, first east
of Osage Avenue, Rev. William A. Crawford, pastor; Washington
Avenue, Washington Avenue, northeast corner of Seventh Street, Rev.
A. H. Tevis, pastor; Wood Street, 830 North First Street, Rev. John
A. Simpson, pastor.

Presbyterian. — Central. 419 South Seventh Street, Rev. C. E. Mc-
Cane, pastor; First, Sixth Street, southwest corner of Minnesota Ave-
nue, Rev. Franklin P. Berry, pastor; Grandview Park, Reynolds
Avenue, southeast corner of Seventeenth Street, Rev. C. W. Backus,

pastor; Western Highlands, Greeley Avenue, southeast corner of
Twelfth Street. Rev. C. W. Backus, pastor.

Roman Catholic. — St. Anthony's (German). 615 North Seventh
Street, Rev. Aloysius Kurtz, pastor; St. Bridget's. 67 North First
Street, Rev. C. D. Curtin, pastor; St. Joseph (Polish), 805 Vermont
Avenue, Rev. F. Luacek, pastor; St. Mary's, Fifth Street, southwest
corner of Ann Avenue, Rev. Anthony Kuhls, pastor; St. Thomas, Pyle
Street, northwest corner of Shawnee Avenue, Rev. J. F. Lee, pastor.
The pride of the Catholics of Armourdale is their Cathedral, which is
now being erected at a cost of $40, 000. It will be a truly magnificent
structure, of cut stone, and, for the capacity, the finest in the State.
The building will be 61x135, and, from basement to spire, 225 feet
high, with a bell weighing 2,500 pounds, completed inside with hard
wood, oil finish. The basement is now finished, and services are
being held there. This, in the near future, will be used as a Sunday-
school, and the first story, which will have a seating capacity of 1,200,
for services.

The beginning of the religious history of the five townships which,
with Kansas City, comprise the county at large, was nearly coincident
with their settlement. Christianity took root early, and has prospered
greatly in all parts of the county, its statistics at this time being as
follows:

Baptist — Number of church organizations, 12; aggregate member-
ship, 1,026; number of church edifices, 8; value of church property,
$36,050. Christian — Number of church organizations. 6; aggregate
membership, 510; number of church edifices, 5; value of church prop-
erty, $12,000. Congregational — Number of church organizations, 4;
aggregate membership, 302; number of church edifices, 4; value of
church projaerty. $12,000. Dunkard — number of church organizations,
1; membership, 22. Episcopal — Number of church organizations, 1;
membership, 53; number of church edifices, 1; value of church prop-
erty, $28,815. Methodist Episcopal — Number of church organiza-
tions, 9; aggregate membership, 756; number of church edifices, 2;
vahie of church property, $47,800. Presbyterian — Number of church
organizations, 2; aggregate membership, 325; number of church edi-
fices, 2; value of church property, $56,000. Roman Catholic — Aggre-
gate membership, 6,554; number of church edifices, 7. Swedish Luth-
eran — Number of church organizations. 1; membership, 25; number
of church edifices, 1; value of church property, $1,000.

It will be seen that the Baptists Lave the largest number of organ-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

333

izations, the Roman Catholics have the largest membership, the Bap-
tists and Methodists have most houses of worship, and the Presbyte-
rians the largest amount of church property. The value of the church
property of the Roman Catholics can not be given, but it may exceed
that of any other church. There is also in the county (in Kansas City)
one organization of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons. The Catholics
have parochial schools, with an average yearly attendance of about
800.

St. Margaret's Hospital is purely a charitable institution, and was
founded five years ago by Father Anthony Kuhls, who has been in the
past, as he is now, its worthy head. Here it is that the good sisters
attend the sick or maimed, and during the five years of faithful service
the institution has never refused admission to any one needing care
or medical attention when there was room within the establishment
for him. The institution cares for the Kansas City patients at the
rate of 65 cents per diem, and in all other cases, where persons have no
means of their own, they are provided for by the funds of the insti-
tution, which are raised each year by subscription.

^M#P

■ff-

334

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER XYIII.

QuiNDAiio A Famous Pioneek Town— Town Company— Rapid
Growth- Rush of Immigrants- Rival Towns— Road to Law-
KENCE— Steamer Lightfoot- Decline and Fall of Quindauo-
RosEDALE — Its Progress-Incorporation— First and Successive
Officers — Development— xVrgentine— Its Town Company —
Incorporation — Officers — Smelting Works — Industries —
Churches — Societies — Press — Edwardsville — Indian Chief
Half-Moon — Edwardsville Cemetery— White Chukch— Bethel
—PoMEEOY— Connor— Turner Smelting Works— Bonner (Sara-
toga^ Springs— Civil Townships.

Ex-Gov.

' Build yet, the end is not, build on;
Build for the ages unafraid.
The past is but a base whereon
These ashlars, well hewn, may be laid.
Lo, I declare I deem him blest
Whose foot, here pausing, findeth rest!

F QUINDARO, a famous pioneer town of the
State of Kansas, and a promising rival of Wyan-
dotte, but little is now known except in history.
It was founded and fostered by such men as
Joel Walker, Abelard Guthrie, Gov. Charles
Uobinson and Samuel N. Simpson, who con-
stituted the original town company — all men
of ability and spirited enterprise. In building it up
and heralding it far and wide as a great future city, they
were assisted by a host of Free-State men. During the
reign of terror of 1856, when Kansas City. Leavenworth,
Delaware City and Atchison were closed to Free-State
men, several fugitives had, at different times, by the
assistance of Mr. Guthrie, who owned much of the land
in the vicinity, embarked from this point and passed
down the river in safety. Probably this fact induced
Robinson and his friends to select the site of Quindaro.

i >

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 835

Several localities were examined, but the rocky channel of the river at
Qnindaro and the warm support given the project by Mr. and Mrs. Guth-
rie, finally decided the matter. Principally through the negotiations
of Mrs. Guthrie, a Wyandotte lady of royal blood, who.'se father was
chief of the Canadian Wyandottes, land was purchased by the com-
pany from several members of the tribe, and in December, 1856, was
surveyed by O. A. Bassett. The town was surveyed to cover lands ex-
tending from the center of Section 29 to the western boundary of Sec-
tion 30, and embraced all of fractional section 19 in Township
10 south. Range 25 east. It was bounded north by the Mis-
souri River, and extended far enough back to average about three-
fourths of a mile in width. Its southern boundary was 480 rods in
length, east and west, and on account of the direction of the river its
northern boundary was some longer. The town was named Qnindaro
in honor of Mrs. Guthrie, whose maiden name was Qnindaro Brown.
The town officers chosen were: Joel Walker, president; A. Guthrie,
vice-president; C. Robinson, treasurer; S. N. Simpson, secretary.
On January 1, 1857. ground was first broken on the town site, but lit-
tle building was done until spring. Three or four buildings, however,
were erected by April 1, among others the Qnindaro House, the sec-
ond largest hotel in the Territory — foar stories, 60x80 feet. It was
opened in February, 1857, being the first hotel in the county. In
May, a considerable force of men was put to work grading the ground
near the wharf, and Kansas Avenue, the main street running south
from the river. The Chin do wan made its appearance on the 13th of
that month, and in the first is3ue showed its happy faculty of adver-
tising a new town in the way such business should be done to make
an impression. Professional men already were swarming into Qnin-
daro. Real-estate aud'land agents were plentiful. There were R. P.
Gray, Charles Chadwick, H. J. Bliss, M. B. Newman, R. M. Ains-
worth. Blood, Bassett & Brackett, and Charles Robinson (agent for
the Boston Land Trust). Lots were sold for exorbitant prices, and
all kinds of real estate was exceedingly high. For many months the
appearance of the place argued in favor of the fnlfillment of the wild-
e.st anticipations of its most sanguine projectors. Dr. George E. Bud-
ington advertised as a physician; F. Johnson and George W. Veal, as
dealers in general merchandise; William J. MeCown and Ed D.
Buck, ditto; H. M. Simpson, O. H. Macauley, J. Grover and S. C.
Smith, forwarding and commission merchants; Charles B. Ellis, civil
engineer and surveyor; Ireland & McCorkle, carpenters and joiners;

~s ^

J^l

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336

HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

Fred Klaus, who had a quarry a short distance from town, stone cut-
ter and mason ; A. C. Strock & Co. , drugs and medicines. Dr. J. B.
Welborn having an office in the same building; William Shej)herd
and D. D. Henry, hardware. The largest saw-mill in Kansas, subse-
quently erected and started by A. J. Rowell, in the fall, was talked
of; a large ferry-boat, one of the largest on the Missouri River, and
actually put in operation by Capt. Otis Webb in the summer, was
building; Messrs. Robinson, Gray, Johnson, Webb and others were
rushing around for subscriptions to build the Quandaro, Parkville &
Burlington Railroad, to obtain connections with the Hannibal & St.
Jo. ; the Methodist Church was built; Hon. Henry Wilson, who arrived
May 24, on the steamer New Lucy, was furnished with rooms at the
Quindaro House, and made a little speech to the citizens before he
continued on to Lawrence; shares of the town company were going
clear out of sight of the $100 from which they started, and, all in all,
the spectacle was presented of a town wild with hope, and riding, ap-
parently, on to success. Everyone was everybody's friend. Gold cir-
culated as freely as water, and in the spring and summer of 1857, few
thought it necessary to take security of any kind. The significance
of the meaning of the word Quindaro Chin-do-ican, as explained by
Messrs. Walden & Babb, its proprietors, seemed about to be gloriously
realized. Chin-do-wan is a Wyandotte word, meaning leader, and
Quindaro appeared to be taking the lead in everything. Quindaro is
also a Wyandotte word, and, freely translated, signified "In union
there is strength" — and certainly all the citizens in Quindaro were
pulling together. Quindaro was a temperance town, the lots having
been deeded with the stipulation that they should not be occupied by
liquor dealers. Some groggeries had crept in, however, by June, 1857,
and the women petitioned and the men acted, and cleaned them out on
the 17th of that month and year. By July the ferry-boat, 100 feet
long, with a twenty six-foot beam, was running between Quindaro and
Parkville; the road to Lawrence was in prime condition, and Messrs.
Robinson & Walker were operating a daily line of stages. The next
grand triumph was the completion of the saw-mill in October, which
cut 15,000 feet of lumber daily. Building continued; there was no
end of public confidence in the grand future of Quindaro. She was
a rival of Kansas City, Leavenworth, Atchison and Wyandotte.

In the spring and summer of 1857 the people of Quindaro assisted
in building a road to Lawrence, and they also built a road in the direc-
tion of Shawnee and erected thereon a free ferry across the Kansas

ifT

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

337

River, with a view to competing for the wholesale trade of the iute-
rior of the Territory. The mail at this time was brought to the Ter-
ritory by steamboats. It is said that there were then sixty-live lirst-
class steamers in the Missouri River trade, all of which did a success-
ful business. The Quindaro company went to Cincinnati and had
the Lightfoot, a light draft steamer, built, and established a steamboat
line to Lawrence ; Wyandotte followed suit, and Kansas City, Mo. , not
to be outdone, also embarked in navigating Kansas River.

By June, 1858, Quindaro boasted 100 buildings on her town site.
many of them of a substantial, metropolitan appearance. The Chin-
do-wan kept up its trumpeting, and was taken possession of by V. J.
Lane (who had been an energetic Quindaroan since the spring of
1857), G. W. Veale and Alfred Gray. They also published the Kan-
sas Tribune in the fall and winter of 1858-59. The publication was
continued for the benefit of the town company until 1861, when it
was removed to Olathe. But the glory of Quindaro was already fad-
ing, and when the Second Cavalry, under Col. Davis, quartered them-
selves there at the commencement of the war, and handled the city so
roughly, she gave up the ghost and is no more. The half dozen
buildings comprising the station of Quindaro are so desolate that they
hardly could be honored with the name of settlement. In 1871-72
the old town site was vacated — first the western and then the eastern
portion.

In explanation of the fall of Quindaro it is suggested by some old
citizens that her location was uninviting; that the lay of the land was
such that a city could not be built near the river without making too
expensive grades, or as one has expressed it, "they could not get the
city down to the river," while at AVyandotte the land rose gradually
from the river bank near the water line, thus affording an easy landing
and access to it without much grading. Again, Wyandotte and Kan-
sas City, both rivals of Quindaro, were located directly at the junc-
tion of two navigable rivers, instead of on one as was the case with
Quindaro, thus making them more attractive to immigrants. How-
ever, whatever the cause or causes may or may not have been, the fact
exists that Quindaro fell, and her site as a town has been vacated,
while Wyandotte has been merged into and forms the greater part of
Kansas City, Kas., the metropolis of the State, a city of about 40,000
inhabitants.

The Quindaro Cemetery, including the two acres reserved by the
Government in the Wyandotte treaty of January 31, 1855, and known

J ry

388 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

as the ■' Old Wyandotte Burial Ground," situated in the southwest
part of Section 31, Township 10 south, Range 25 east, was surveyed
and laid out into lots, drives and walks, in January, 1874, by the
Quindaro Cemetery Association, of which S. D. Stoors w as then presi-
dent, and W. W. Dickinson, secretary. The new cemetery, together
with the old one, contains seven acres.

Rosedale, situated on Turkey Creek and on the Kansas City, Fort
Scott & Gulf Railroad, four miles southwest of the Union Depot, and
occupying portions of Sections 27, 33 and 34, in Township 11 south,
Range 25 east, was surveyed and platted as a town in May, 1872, by
James G. Brown aad A. Grandstaff the original proprietors. The
building of the town was commenced in 1875, the rolling mills having
been erected in that year. It was not until the year 1877, however,
that the town contained the necessary population of 600 to entitle it
to a government under the law providing for the existence of cities of
the third class. August 3 of that year. Judge Stevens ordered an
election to be held on the 28th of the same month for the election of
city officers. The officers elected for the ensuing year were: Mayor, D.
S. Mathias; councilmen, John Hutchinson, Sr., Henry Juergens,
William Bowen, John Haddock, Benjamin Bousman; police judge, Ed-
ward Blanford; city clerk. William Dauks. Mayor Mathias held his
office several successive terms. His successor in 1882 was D. E.
Jones. The mayors since then have been W. C. Boyer, 1883; D. E.
Jones, 1884; w". H. Spencer, 1885; D. E. Jones, 1886-88; B. M.
Barnett, 1889, and J. M. Kilmer, 1890. The present council is com-
posed of S. J. Jones, president; J. E. Fisher, F. A. McDowell, W.
C. Copley and C. Schoeller. D. J. Leavengood is clerk.

The churches of Rosedale are the Methodist Episcopal, Roman
Catholic, Baptist and Presbyterian. The secret societies are the
Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen and Ancient
Order of Foresters. The Methodist Episcopal Church edifice was
erected in 1881, at a cost of 12,000. The Roman Catholic is the
oldest church organization in the city, having come into existence in
1876. It built a church edifice the following year, which, in Febru-
ary, 1881, was consumed by fire. It had, however, previously com-
pleted the frame church on Kansas City Avenue. In 1882 the colored
Baptists built a church at a cost of 11,000.

The Kansas City Rolling Mills were established in Rosedale in
1875, and did a large amount of business for a few years, when they
closed up and the business was discontinued.

"S \'

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 339

The Kansas City Journal, of January 1, 1890, in reviewing the
business of Rosedale for the past year, says: "It has fine schools,
plenty of churches, famous mineral waters, evenly blocked streets,
perfect sewerage and street car accommodations in all directions. But
Rosedale has by no means stood still during the past year, showing
unusual activity in business and building. Among other matters that
have been done is the building of the Eighth Street Bridge, which will
give direct communication with Armourdale and Kansas City, Kas.,
over which street cars will run every few minutes, opening up the back
country here, and causing all Shawneetown to pass through the city
on their way to the court-house and other public buildings. Dur-
ing the past year the city has equipped and organized a tine hook
and ladder company — one of the most necessary things that this city
has needed for years. Several miles of sidewalks have been built, and
new streets opened in all directions. Street cars run all through to
Kansas City, Mo., without changes, and the electric light system and
water-works system will be in operation before the year closes. Among
the buildings erected during the past year are Bell & Rose's fine brick,
which cost $10,000; Dr. Bell's tine stable and improvements, $3,000;
Kemp's hall, $2,500; the McGeorge block, the finest in the city, of
solid cut stone, three stories, elegantly finished, costing some $7,000;
the post-office building, erected by W. C. Copley, the postmaster, a
very neat structure, devoted entirely to post-office matters, and an
ornament to the city and convenience to the public; new colored
school; neat store of George Rose; the Park Hotel, a very neat build-
ing; W. H. Mann's new hardware store, and a number of other smaller
dwellings, etc."

The thriving young city of Argentine is situated on the south bank
of the Kansas River, three miles from it mouth. The location of the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe transfer depot here was rendered neces-
sary in order to find room for their side tracks, round-house, coal chute
and sheds. This location on the south bank of the river is pleasant,
convenient, dry and rpomy. A town sprung up here at once, and, as
the different business interests have continued to select this as a loca-
tion for manufacturing, the town has grown accordingly. The town
site proper is a subdivision of Sections 20 and 2U, Township 11, Range
25 east. It was platted in Novemljer, 1880, and originally contained
sixty acres. James M. Coburn was proprietor of the first town site.

The Kansas Town Company, of Wyandotte County, was organized
under its charter of date of April 9, 1881, capital, $100,000; incor-

340 HISTOBY OF KANSAS.

porators, William B. Strong, George O. Manchester, Joab Mulvane,
E. Wilder, J. R. Mulvane, the same being directors for the first year.
The officers elected were Joab Mulvane, president and manager, and E.
Wilder, secretary and treasurer. There were purchased for this company
some 415 acres of land in Sections 20, 21, 28, 29, Township 11, Range
25 east, in Wyandotte County, Kas. , and after turning over to the Kan-
sas City, Topeka & Western Railroad what was desired for railroad
purposes, the remainder, some 360 acres, was platted and put upon
the market as Mulvane' s Addition to the town of Argentine.

In 1882 Judge Dexter, having become satisfied that this young
city had a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle it to a city gov-
ernment, ordered an election to be held on the first Tuesday in August,
1882. The following are the names of the officers then elected:
Mayor, G. W. Gully; councilmen, John Steffins, A. Borgstede, W. C.
Blue, Patrick O'Brien and George Simmons; police judge, A. J. Dol-
ley; marshal, Charles Duvall; city clerk, J. H. Halderman. Since
that year the mayors of the city have been as follows: David G. Bliss,
1883; John A. Healy, 1884; G. W. Gulley, 1885; T. J. Enright, 1886-
87; G. W. Gulley, 1888; Steven March. 1889. The city was incor-
porated as a city of the second class in October, 1889, and the follow-
ing are its present officers: William McGeorge, mayor; C. T. Wortman,
police judge; C. E. Bowman, treasurer; John C. Long, city clerk; E.
Z. McCulloch, president council; S. March, chief of police.

In October, 1881, District No. 40 was made a separate district, to
include the city of Argentine, and the following school board was
elected: A. T. Smith, president; John Steffins, treasurer; William
Erwin, secretary.

During the winter of 1881-82, a very successful school was
taught. The colored children attended a separate school taught by a
colored lady. The necessity of a public school building now becom-
ing apparent, on August 28. 1882, an election was held to vote bonds
to the amount of $7,000, for the purpose of building a school-house.
The bonds were carried and the building was erected.

The Consolidated Kansas City Smelting Company, with head-
quarters at this city and smelting works at Argentine, El Paso and
Leadville, is the largest smelting and refining company in the world.
The company's smelting works have a capacity of 23,000 tons of ore
per month, or 276,000 tons per annum. The total refining capacity
reaches the enormous amount of 50,000 tons of lead and 20,000,000
ounces of silver per year. The output of the works at the present

^^(!

< -^ ' —

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 341

time amonnts to nearly one-tifth of the total lead and silver prodiTcts
of the United States. The company employs at its Argentine works
an average of 400 men the year round. Eighteen acres of land at
Argentine are occupied by the company's plant. The Argentine works
comprise what is undoubtedly the most complete metallurgical estab-
lishment on the continent. The central location at Argentine enables
the company to reach all ore markets of the West, both north and
south. The supplies are drawn from Idaho, Mintana, Utah, Colorado,
Neve Mexico, Arizona, Texas. Missouri, and the mining districts of old
Mexico. To reach these markets and supply itself with the ores
necessary for the different smelting works, the company employs a
large number of agents and ore buyers, who are located at mining
camps and ore markets. These agents are men who have, by college
education or thorough practical experience, fitted themselves for their
important duties. The marketing of the vast product is done at the
o-eneral office in Kansas City and the three branch offices in St. Louis.
Chicago and New York.

The management of the affairs of the company is conducted by an
efficient corps of smelting and financial men, who are also public spir-
ited gentlemen. At Argentine and the other smelting works, the
company has erected a number of cottages, which are rented to mar-
ried employes at a very low rate. A free reading room is also main-
tained at Argentine, where the current numbers of magazines, mining
papers and also a full supply of writing material are kept on hand for
the use of employes. Mr. A. R. Meyer, president of the company, is
also president of the Provident Association, and is prominently con-
nected with the public enterprises of the city. The company was or-
ganized nine years ago and is recognized as one of the most successful
business enterprises in the United States.

The Santa Fe Railroad has its yards and roundhouses, telegraph
and freight offices situated here, and employs, it is estimated, some 200
men. The city's radiator works, the only exclusive one in the United
States, are situated also at this point. The improvements done in this
town within the past year are estimated at some $750,0(10. Argentine
in 1888 had 3.264 inhabitants, in 1889, 4,235, and at the present time
some 6,500. It keeps on steadily increasing and shortly will take a
leading place among metropolitan cities.

The Argentine Real Estate Investment Company and Loan Com-
pany, of which Mr. Norton Thayer is manager, has done much to-
ward making Argentine what it is to-day. Having under their control

what is known as the West End Addition, comprising some of the finest
residence locations, they have offered inducements that have been
readily accepted by parties settling in Argentine. The numerous ad-
vantages this addition has, are, that it is situated within the city limits
and within easy access of transportation, has the most improved sys-
tem of water works and is thoroughly lighted by electricity. The ad-
dition has some of the finest residences in Argentine built upon it,
and which are now being daily added to, to supply the demand which
is increasing rapidly.

The Argentine Bank commenced business on February 1, 1S87,
from which time it has steadily increased, its "motto" having always
been conservative and careful business since the day of commence-
ment, which has won the good will and esteem of the citizens of Ar-
gentine.

The proprieters are among the oldest inhabitants of the county,
and have records worthy of investigation. The officers are: Nicholas
McAlpine; G. A. Taylor, cashier, and J. F. Barker, assistant cashier.

The Congregationalists of this city have held services in this town
since the summer of 1881, but it was not until May 21, 1882, that
the church was organized. It commenced with a membership of
forty-five. They were temporarily using a building for divine service
while devising ways and means for the erection of a church, when the
wind of June, 1882, which destroyed so much church and school prop-
erty in Eastern Kansas, almost completely destroyed their house of
worship. Then was their opportunity, and in three months they had
completed their new church building, corner of Kuby Avenue and
Second Street. Other churches since organized and now existing in
the city, are the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Colored Baptist,
Colored Methodist Episcopal, Protestant Episcojial and Roman
Catholic. The following benevolent societies have lodges in the city:
Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order United Workmen, Ancient Order
of Foresters, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Eastern Star,
Grand Army of the Republic, Sons of Veterans, Women's Relief
Corps, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Daughters of
Rebekah.

The Argentine Republic, a neatly printed and well edited seven-
column folio, is published every Thursday bj^ Joseph T. Landrey, its
editor and proprietor. The thirty-second number of its third volume
is dated July 12, 1890. It was established by Mr. Landrey.

The following description of the thriving city of Argentine, show-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 343

ing what it contains, the value of its property, and its prosperity, was
published in the Kansas City Journal of January 1, 1890:

" Since Argentine has become a city of the second class, she has sud-
denly jumped into prosperity and has put on metropolitan airs. She
now has the finest water- works system possible, while its electric lights
shed a radiance that can not be improved upon. The police force
has been organized, placing men to guard the city day and night,
which causes the best of order to prevail. Next are the electric
street ears running through the leading streets in the city, making
their terminus for the present at Metropolitan Avenue and Third
Street. The Santa Fe road is building a line new dejjot, and is now
running trains every hour at a 5-cent fare to Kansas City, Mo. The
Metropolitan Street Railway are running their electric cars on perfect
schedule time, starting at 5:30 a. m., and terminating at 11:30 p. m.
This affords ample opportunity for all to live here and attend liusi
ness or pleasure in Kansas City, Mo., for a 5-cent fare, making the
run in about thirty minutes. It is causing hundreds to flock here, and
tenement houses are not to be. had. The beautiful locality, fine
scenery and easy way of access to and from all points, causes it to be
desirable for homes for all. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe have
also put on a suburban train, running eighteen trains each day be-
tween West Argentine and Kansas City, Mo. The same company is
also putting up a new depot for the accommodation of its many pas-
sengers. Few have any idea of the great improvements of ISSU.
They foot up quite rapidly, and may be easily estimated at 1750,000.
The smelter company alone has expended •?100,000 in additions, etc.,
and the past year exported 118,000,000 in silver bricks, giving em-
ployment to nearly 500 men. Among the most notable improvements
are Booker's fine residence, Christ's residence, Parker's dwelling,
Noke's elegant stone opera house, Argentine bank, blocks of fine
red brick, Boergstede brick block, one of the finest in the city;
Knnze's cut stone block, Probst fine frame block, Rickert's frame
building, Chancy' s frame dwelling, iron foundry, water works and
electric light plant. Argentine in 1888 had 3,26-1 inhabitants; in the
spring of 1889, -1,235, and at present time over 6,000. The school
attendance during the year is excellent, as shown as follows: The fol-
lowing is the enrollment of scholars at the old school: Total, 415;
daily attendance, 325; average, 78 per cent. West End Addition en-
rollment, 229; daily attendance, 175; average per cent, 76. North
Aigentine enrollment, 202; daily attendance, 137; average, per cent.

•<* (S~

i "V

75. Total enrollment, 846; average daily attendance, 635. Total
school children, male, 409; female. 437. Tardy, females 241; males,
215; total, 456. Number of days in attendance, 12,311.

" The following statement, returned by Township Trustee McMahon,
who has completed a report of the aggregate value of personal prop
erty and improvements made in Shawnee Township up to March 1,
1889, is as follows: Peiisonal property in Shawnee Township, 1102,-
444; improvements on Argentine lots, $80,000; Rosedale improve-
ments, $30,000; value of milk sold in Argentine, $40,575; value of
horticultural products sold, $39,945; amount of personal property in
Argentine, $71,441; amount of Rosedale personal property, $37,605;
value of farm implements, $11,177; value of poultry sold, $2,245.
The report also gives the number of fruit-trees in the township. The
above statistics should make every citizen of Argentine feel proud.
Prof. Sortor, who has just completed the school census, announces that
marriage is no failure in Argentine, as shown by the report that
Argentine has 1,112 children for the year 1889, against 700 for the
year 1888, an increase of 412.

" The following is a complete list of what Argentine has, and shows
that the citizens here lack nothing, for they have 1 bank, 1 ilorist, 5
hotels, 1 dentist, 5 dairies, no vagrants, 4 tinners, an Owl Club, 6
churches, 1 j)lumber, 4 lawyers, 2 bakeries, 1 city park, 6 preachers,
1 post-office, 2 railroads, 8 painters, 1 book store, 6 restaurants, 3
laundries, beautiful streets, 1 union depot, 1 opera house, 5 public
halls, 1 notion store, 1 planing-mill, 1 cornet band, 40 machinists, 3
shoe shops, 2 livery barns, 1 lumber yard, 2 undertakers, 3 telephones,

1 harness shop, 1 cigar factory, 3 drug stores. 1 tire company, 2 wagon
shops, 10 meat markets, 9 barber shops, 4 billiard halls, 12 physicians,

2 city draymen, 3 news stands, 60 car repairers, 50 stone masons, 3
stock buyers, 5 stove repairers, 1 telegraph office, 2 jewelry stores, 1
city jail (empty), 2 large foundries, 8 music teachers, 1 carriage factory,

3 clothing stores, 20 brick masons, 4 dry goods stoves, 1 5 grocery stores,
5 real estate offices, 8 millinery stores, 12 stone quarries, 4 blacksmith
shops, 3 hardware stores, 12 secret societies, 12 school teachers, 3 fur-
niture dealers, 3 insurance agents, 2 express companies, 6,000 popula-
tion, cement and paint works, 2 veterinary surgeons, 56 boarding-
houses, 5 boot and shoe stores, a home theatrical troupe, an electric
street-car line, 8 coal and feed dealers, a band stand in the city park,
the Jake White-Feather Spring, pays 180,000 per month for labor, 1
steamboat and 12 barges, 1 building and loan association, 1 loan and in-

vestQieat corapany, S dressmaking estaljlishments, 2 dealers in music-
al instruments, 2 merchant tailoring establishments, 000 scholars in
the public schools, 2 new iron bridges (the finest in the State), ex-
pended $600,000 in building in the past year, 150 carpenters and con-
tractors, 12 city wells that can not be pumped dry, smelts 118,000,000
worth of precious metals per year, the largest smelter in the world
and employs 900 men. the only exclusive radiator works in the United
States, finer residences than any town in Wyandotte County, the best
system of water- works and electric lights in the State, a roundhouse
and the finest railroad yard in Kansas and the finest power-house for
electric light and water-works in the State. A more prosperous city is
not to lie seen anywhere.

' • The West End Addition to Argentine promises, at an early day, to
become the center of the business portion of the city, and why 'i" ' Be-
cause of its rapid growth, its fine buildings, excellent roads and streets,
nice sidewalks and its general central locality, and, especially, its close
proximity to all the packing-houses, foundries and other manufacto-
ries located in Armourdale just across the river, connected by two fine
bridges. In fact, the larger portion of the citizens of Argentine live
in the West End portion of the city, and if the dividing line was
drawn, there is but little doubt but the bulk of the population would
be foLind iu the West End. It is here the Santa Fe's large freight
houses, machine shops, roundhouses, depot, telegraph and fi'eight
offices are located. The cement works have also a large plant here.
Here are the canning factory, planing-mill, radiator works, corrugated
iron works, lumber and coal yards, and other smaller industries, employ-
ing about 400 men, while within a mile, on a direct, excellent road,
good all the year round, is situated the Turner Furniture Factory, also
the mammoth Turner Smelter, which will employ about as many more
hands, making a total of not less than 800 to 1,000 people employed,
all mechanics, showing at a glance and in a few words that there need
be no idle hands in the West End Addition. Much has been said about
the getting to and from Kansas City, Mo. This has now all been ob-
viated by the completion and running of the electric street cars through
to Argentine, they running from 5:30 a. m. to midnight to Kansas
City. Mo., for a 5-cent fare, lauding one in the heart of the city in
about thirty- dve minutes from the lime of leaving home. This line is
universally acknowledged to be the finest equipped in the United
States. Independent of this, the Santa Fe road has put on special
trains at greatly reduced fares between here and Kansas City, Mo..

■14V

thus showing that rapid transit is now in full working order. In
addition to this the West End is lighted with electric lights, has a per-
fect water-works system, and now has a regular police force, is fully
represented in the council and school b«ard, and in general is metro-
politan in everything except taxes, which are but a mere nominal
amount. Its excellent schools, churches etc. , cause property here to be
highly desirable for the working man to purchase and build his home.
Property is not held as yet at fancy lignres, although it possesses
so many advantages which are now in actual force, and not a promise
of what might or will be. Mamifactories are now commencing to lo
cate here rapidly, and negotiations are pending for a number of plants
which will build this summer. Property in this addition is held at
less than half the price of equally as well located property the same
distance from Kansas City, Mo. Investors and home seekers are sure
to find here a safe and profitable investment. The company's offices
are in rooms 16 and 17, Gibraltar Building, Kansas City, Mo., and on
the ground, at Argentine."

During the early part of the year 1881), a number of local capital-
ists, among whom were Col. W. N. Ewing, H. H. Reynolds, James D.
Husted and Mr. John Lovelace and his sons, perfected the organization
of the Turner Smelting Company, with a capital stock of $300,000.
Donations of land amounting to 150 acres, a short distance west of Ar-
gentine, were secured, and during the summer work was commenced on
the extensive smelting works. The buildings are completed, and the
works have been in operation since July, 1890. The works have a
capacity about equal to the Kansas City Smelting & Refining Com-
pany's Works at Argentine, and when well under operation 500 men
will be employed. It is estimated that this company will turn out a
product of from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 annually. This company
was first organized with a capital of $300,000, and it was deemed
best, instead of bonding its property, to increase the capital stock
$200,000 in order to raise the requisite operating capital, the directors
feeling confident that no industrial stock was ever offered here having a
brighter future for earning good dividends, or as a safe investment.
The property of the company consists of 150 acres of land, worth
at least $150,000, and the works costing $100,000, all free of debt,
aggregating a total valuation of $250,000, for which stock has been
issued, leaving in the treasury an unissued 500 shares, which with the
increase, makes 2,500 shares for sale, with which to buy ores and
operate the plant. These works were planned by and built under

'k^

the personal siipervision of Mr. H. Webb, one of the leading practical
experts of the United States in this line (this being the seventh smel-
ter he has built), and the directors spared no pains to make this
smelting and refining plant one of the most perfect, effective and
economical in the world. Every valuable improvement in the art is
taken advantage of, and the most competent and successful smelters
and refiners in the country who have visited this new plant do not
hesitate to say that they can suggest no improvement at any point;
that the location selected is the best they ever saw for the purpose of
economy and dispatch. The best of lime rock for fluxing, and an
abundance of clear water, are immediately at hand. The pitch of
the hill and the firm foundation it affords, together with the advan-
tage of using gravitation, instead of men and machinery, to do the
heavy work, contribute largely toward making this plant exceptionally
economical in its operation. The directors of the company are L. E.
Irwin (president), W. N. Ewing, N. McAlpine, S. G. Douglas, J. D.
Husted, R. K. Pitkin, E. E. Richardson, Charles Lovelace, P. H.
Tiernan, John Smith and H. H. Reynolds.

A new enterprise of importance, started in 1889, is the Turner
Furniture Manufactory. The company was organized in the spring,
and a $10,000 plant was completed some time in July and placed in
operation. The manufactory has been running at its fullest capacity
with twenty-five men employed, and has been unable to keep up with
orders. Large additions are contemplated as a means of increasing
the capacity.

Edwardsville is a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, located
on the southeast quarter of Section 26, in Township 11 south,
Range 23 east, in Wyandotte County, being about three miles
south and eleven miles west of the mouth of the Kansas River. It
was named for Hon. John H. Edwards, then general passenger and
ticket agent of the road, since then a State Senator from Ellis County,
Kas. The land where this rural village now stands was once the farm
of Half-Moon, a chief of some degree among the Delawares. He sold
the land to Gen. T. Smith, of Leavenworth, and others, who in turn
sold it to William Kouns. A post-office was established in 1867.
The Methodist Episcopal Church effected an organization in 1868,
and had quite a large membership. In 1868, through the personal
influence and direct labors of William Kouns, the county commission-
ers created the town of Delaware, in which Edwardsville is located.
It was platted in 1869, the proprietor being Mr. William Kouns.

^ € r- -.« eh^

Some time in 1870 the Christian (Jhurch was organized here. Com-
j)osit Lodge No. 152, A. F. & A. M. , was organized here in 1872.
but in 1877 surrendered its charter. The village now contains three
general stores, a railroad depot, express and telegraph offices, stock
yards, a blacksmith and wagon shop, two church edifices — Methodist
Episcopal and Christian — a brick school-house, etc., and has a popula-
tion of about 50().

Edwardsville Cemetery, containing three acres, was laid out in
1879. Ivy Walk runs through the center from the entrance, and Dak
Avenue is a circular street through the grounds, departing from and
returning to the entrance. There are numerous other walks, and the
grounds contain 342 burial lots.

In November, 1870, John McDaniekl and his wife, Ellen, laid out
the village of Tiblow on the north bank of Kansas River, on the line
of the Kansas Pacific Railway, on parts of Sections 29 and 32, in
Township 11 south, Range 23 east. The site was surveyed to contain
ten blocks, each being subdivided into lots. There being very fine
springs of medicinal waters at this point, the idea was conceived
to make it a summer health resort and a suburban residence town for
people doing business in Kansas City, it being seventeen miles from
the Union Depot in that city. To this end the Bonner Springs Com-
pany was organized, and in November, 1885, the town of Bonner
Springs, adjoining Tiblow on the northwest, was surveyed and laid out
to contain nineteen blocks of various sizes, each subdivided into lots of
different sizes. D. R. Emmons was president and James D. Husted
secretary of this company.

Subsequently the property in the town site remaining unsold was
transferred to the Saratoga Springs Town Company. This company
also purchased lands adjoining, and laid out some additions, and fitted
up Saratoga Park, including the springs. A thousand acres in all
have been subdivided into 7,038 lots. Many lots have been sold and
many residences have been erected. The place contains several stores,
the railroad buildings, good church and school privileges, and about
500 inhabitants. It is a beautiful place with pleasant surroundings, and
is free from smoke, dust and all nuisances. The park contains sixty
acres, which is supplied with flowers, foliage, springs, streams and lake.
Daily excursion trains run between the Union Depot in Kansas City
and Bonner Springs. A large hotel— the Coranado— is open at the
park. The offices of the company are at 809 Main Street, Kansas
City, Mo., and 523 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas Citv. Kas.

White Church, on the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern
Railroad, about nine miles west of Kansas City on a direct line, is a
pretty little hamlet, and is the historical scene of the old Delaware
Mission and the building of the " White Church," for the benefit of
the Indians. It is about three miles south of Pomeroy, which is on
the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It contains one general store, a school-
house, a church — Methodist Episcopal, South — and a few dwelling
houses, with a population of about 50. A Ma.sonic lodge was char-
tered here October 20, 1870.

Bethel, on the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railway,
and on the northwest quarter of Section 32, Township 10 south,
Range 24 east, was laid out by the White Church Town Site and Im-
provement Company, in May, 1SS7, when D. D. Hong was president
and W. H. Young, secretary. It lies nine miles west by rail from .
the mouth of Jersey Creek, at Kansas City, and 300 feet above that
place. It is also about three-fourths of a mile northeast of White
Church. It now contains a large general store, brick and terra cotta
works, a railroad depot, telegraph and express office, a town hall,
blacksmith and wagon shojJ, etc. It is very pleasant!}- situated, and,
lying on the ridge, as it does, above the mosquito line, it is never in-
fested with these troublesome insects. From this point can be seen
Kansas City, Leavenworth. Parkville, and other points in the distance.
Bethel is designed as a suburban residence town for the two Kansas
Cities. Many lots have been sold to parties in the cities, who contem-
plate building residences here.

Piper, also situated on the Kansas Citv, Wj'andotte & Northwestern
Railroad, on the southwest corner of Section 28 and the northwest
corner of Section 33, in Township 10 north. Range 23 east, was laid
out in September, 1888, by L. E. Scott, Margaret Scott, John Wald-
ron, Ella L. W^aldron. W. S. Brown and S. A. Brown, the proprietors
of the town site, embracing forty acres. The village contains two gen-
eral stores, a blacksmith and wagon shop, railroad depot, telegraph
and express office, etc. , and a population of between 200 and 300.

The town of Pomeroy, on the Missouri River, and on the Missouri
Pacific Railroad, on Section 20, in Township 10 south. Range 24
east, was laid out in May, 1871, by William P. and Sarah M. Over-
ton, and Frank H. and Susanna Betton. It has never risen above the
dignity of a village, containing at this writing a railroad depot, a
general store, a flouring- mill, school-house, union church and a few
dwelling houses. It is about ten miles distant from Kansas City.

-*-^-

350 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Connor City was laid out in February, 1S68, by Alfred W. Hughes
and William Hughes, on the southwest quarter of Section 12, in Town-
ship 10 south, Range 23 east. All the streets were made sixty feet
wide and the alleys sixteen feet wide. The lots in size were 42 feet
front by 126 feet in length. The town is platted on both sides of
the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and Connor's Creek passes through it.
It was surveyed and platted by Samuel Parsons in January, 1868.
It contains a railroad depot, telegraph and express office, a school-
house, dwelling-houses, and a population of between 200 and 300.

In addition to the foregoing there are a number of post villages
throughout the county, each containing a post-office and store.

Of the civil or municipal townships of Wyandotte County, Quindaro
and Wyandotte were originally organized while the territory compos-
ing them belonged to Leavenworth County. Quindaro was re estab-
lished April 5, 1869. It now comprises all that part of the county
lying immediately north of the second standard parallel south, and
east of the line dividing Ranges 23 and 24 east, being all of fractional
townships in Township 10 south, in Ranges 24 and 25 east, and being
bounded north and east by the Missouri River. Wyandotte Civil
Township embraces all the land in Township 11 south, in Ranges 24
and 25 east, which lies north of the Kansas River; and Shawnee Civil
Township embraces all the land in the same township, and ranges
lying south of the river. The latter township was organized as here
described April 5, 1869. Delaware Civil Township was established
January 4, 1869. It embraces all of Townships 11 and 12 south,
lying north of the Kansas River, in Range 23 east. Prairie Civil
Township was established March 8, 1869. It embraces all of Town-
ship 10 south, in Range 23 east, and is in the northwest corner of the
county, Delaware adjoining it on the south and forming the southwest
part of the county.

A|^

^■.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

351

CHAPTER XIX.

OuKiiN OF Wyandotte— Indian Occupancy— 1'nited States Indian
Agency— First Temperance Society— First Jail— Wyandotte
Indian Convention— Treaty of 1855— Land Office— Sti^rvey of
Wyandotte— Kusii of Immigration— Rapid Growth— First En-
terprises — Election in 1857 — Scene at the Wyandotte Conven-
tion IN 1859— First Post-office— Death of the Members of the
Wyandotte City Company— Incorporation— Roster of Officers
— City Addition's— Former Kansas City— Armourdale — Press-
Meetings at Wyandotte September 4 and 23, 1875— Predictions
AS to the Future Metropolis— Consolidation— Governor's
Proclamation.

' We have no title deeds to liouse or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretcli their dusty hands.
And hold in mortmain still their old estates."

OT without truth may it be said of the city of
Wyandotte (now a part of Kansas City, Kas. ),
that it had a double origin, one by the W'yan-
dotte Indians, v?hen they settled its site in
1843, and one by the whites when it was SUV-
'S veyed and platted by a body of men known
as the Wyandotte City Company, in 1857.
.\s heretofore mentioned in connection with the settle-
'iii»nt of the cotmty, the Wyandotte Indians occupied
he site of Wyandotte City in the fall of 1843. J. M.
Armstrong erected his log-cabin (the first house on the
site) and moved into it December 10 of that year. One
week later Mrs. Catharine Long and her family moved
into their cabin on the north side of Jei'sey Creek.
John W. Grayeyes was at this time building a hewed-
house on the west side of the present Third Street.
This afterward became a part of the residence of Joel
Walker. Dr. Grayeyes built a cabin on the opposite
side of the road, and Robert Robitaille built and resided on the same

s "V '

352 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

side, near the present corner of Nebraska and Third Streets. The
United States blacksmith to the ^Vyandottes, Charles Graham, came
during the winter of 1843-4-1, and erected his shop and residence near
the northwest corner of the same streets. A company store, in which
most of the leading Wyandottes had shares, was located between
what are now Kansas and Minnesota Avenues, west of Third Street.
It was a long log building, divided into two departments, the store-
room and a back room, used in jjart for a council house. Joel Walker,
who had the management of the store, was clerk of the council.

On the hill, on Kansas Avenue, opposite Cunning's Hall, Henry
Jaques, one of the chiefs, built his residence, which he afterward sold
to the nation for a jail. He then erected his second residence on the
Dunning' s Hall site. From May, 1845, to the spring of 184U, this was
occupied as a United States agency. Silas Armstrong built two cabins
near the location of McGrew's slaughter house, and resided there un-
til 1846, when he removed them to a location west of Fifth Street
near Kansas Avenue, and in 1848 built his brick residence, afterward
known as the Eldridge House, which burned in the summer of 1864.
Francis Driver built on the Kansas Kiver bluffs, near the ferry, and
Sanahas, father of John Sanahas, and Charles Splitlog, settled in the
same neighborhood. Matthias Splitlog was with Jaques, and in 1845
he married his great-niece, Eliza Barnett. William Walker built a
double hewed-log house on the north side of Jersey Creek, and moved
into one end of it in May, 1844. He and a young man from New
York, who helped him do the work, camped there during the winter of
1843-44. Walker named the creek. Just west of Walker's house
was the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, completed in July, 1844.
The same month the first school was opened in the new building on
the east side of Fourth Street, between Kansas and Nebraska Ave-
nues, by John M. Armstrong. The winter of 1843-44 was mild, and
only the wealthier Wyandottes built houses; all the others from lack of
means were compelled to live in camps. It was the expectation of
the Wyandottes, based upon governmental promises, that an appro-
priation of 1100,000 would be granted them that session of Congress.
The chiefs divided the town called Wyandotte into acre lots, upon
which the}' intended to build, their farming lands being out of town,
but the remainder of the improvement fund was not paid over then,
nor until October, 184^5, and they did not even then obtain it until
after three delegations had gone to Washington to plead their cause.
But from the time the W^yandottes purchased the Delaware lands,

ll£

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 353

they paid $4,000 annually out of their annuity fund. Thus it came
about, because of their scarcity of funds, and doubt as to the future,
that the town of Wyandotte did not improve more rapidl}'. Disease
was also busy in the midst of the nation, the cause of it being the
great tlood of 1844, described elsewhere in this work in connection
with the settlement by the Wyandottes. The species of sickness
which prevailed the most and made the most havoc in the nation,
were chills and fever and bloody flux. It it stated that there was not
a single well person in the nation by the latter part of the fall of
1844. The town of Wyandotte having these discouragements of
poverty and sickness to contend with, could not be expected to grow,
neither did it. The building of the first church and tirst parsonage
is related elsewhere.

A temperance society was organized among the Wyandottes as early
as the winter of 1844-45, it having its origin substantially in this
wise: In December, 1844, a prominent member of the nation moved
his household goods over from Westport. There being no bridge, he
loaded them into a flatboat on the Missouri side, and engaged of his
tribe to bring them up the river and land them at Wyandotte. It
happened that they were under the influence of liquor, and having
propelled the boat to the mouth of Turkey Creek, left it there to float
away and lose its contents. This misfortune suggested the formation
of a temperance organization, the first in the Territory. But although
the temperance society was strong and influential, a sterner remedy
for the increasing evil was found necessary; consequently a jail was
built in the fall of 1840, on the spot previously mentioned, and its
first occupant, a man, was locked up for being drunk. Afterward a
Wyandotte man got hold of a Mormon Bible, and induced another
woman to live with him when he already had a wife. For this otfense
both he and the woman were locked up in the jail. Notwithstanding
the temperance society, drunkenness continued, and during the conflict
between the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Methodist Episco-
pal Church, South, or between freedom and slavery, which was
practicably the same contest, disorder and drunkenness increased
among the Wyandottes to a great extent. In June, 1851, the Wyan-
dottes held a national convention, composed of all men over eighteen
years of age. This convention elected thirteen delegates, who formed
a constitutional convention to revise the laws of the nation. The con-
vention sat several weeks, and the constitution as drafted by John M.
Armstrong, was unanimously adopted. Having received his legal

354: HISTORY OF KANSAS.

education in Ohio, Mr. Armstrong had in his possession the laws of
that State, and the principal features of the constitution were drawn
from that source.

By the treaty of January 31, 1855 (given elsewhere in this work),
provisions were made whereby all competent Wyaudottes should be-
come citizens, and their lands should become subject to purchase by
the white settlers. Following this, the next important event was the
landing in Wyandotte on September 10, of that year, of Gen. Cal-
houn, with the surveyor-general's office. Robert Ream, father of Vin-
nie Ream, the sculptress, was chief clerk, Samuel Parsons was chief
clerk in the Indian department, and Edwin T. Vedder, Robert Ream,
Jr., and Pennymaker were clerks in the office. The land office was
opened in a double log-house opposite the site of Dunning' s Hall.
Just in the rear of the surveyor-general' s office stood the jail, a log-
pen 10x12 feet in size, in which a Wyandotte Indian, named Pea-
cock, was confined for murder. The prisoner had a reed flute of
Indian manufacture, with which he kept up a constant strain of
annoying music. In time, the men in the land office, wishing to get
rid of the annoyance, and not having the fear of the Indian nation's
law in their minds, broke down the prison door and bade the prisoner
escape, which he did. Being subsequently pardoned by the Wyan-
dottes he returned.

When the white settlement began, after the making of the treaty
above mentioned, it was found that the Indian village of Wyandotte
had not assumed proportions as a town of much importance, though it
was admirably situated for a place of great future commercial inter-
ests. The Indians received their lands in severalty under the treaty,
but owing to the delay in obtaining their patents from the Government,
they were unable to convey their lands by title deeds to the white set-
tlers until 1857. Having become citizens, the time was ripe for a
union with any white settlers who might make their appearance.
They could now transact business on equal terms, and their opportu-
nity soon arrived. In December, 1856, Dr. J. P. Root and Thomas
B. Eldridge came from Lawrence to Wyandotte for the purpose of
selecting a good town site for a company of Eastern friends and capi-
talists who were anxious to invest their money to advantage. All but
these two remained in Kansas City. Messrs. Root and Eldridge were
entertained over night at the house of Silas Armstrong, and in the
morning looked over the ground. They found that Isaiah Walker
was busy running a variety store and post-office on the north side of

fy xa ^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 355

Nebraska Avenue, between Third and Fourth Streets — the same build-
ing afterward used as a court-house. Thomas Barker was then sales-
man; Maj. Overton was a partner of Silas Armstrong. The bottom
between Wyandotte and Kansas City was then nearly covered with a
heavy growth of timber, except a few small dwellings near the State
line and near the mouth of the river. There was also a small opening
amid the heavy growth of thickets made years ago when the Govern-
ment thought of locating the fort at Wyandotte instead of Leaven-
worth. The mouth of the Kaw was nearly one-quarter of a mile
farther east than it is now, owing to the washing away of the Missouri
River. The ground was well looked over, and the scouts returned to
their friends on the Missouri side the nest night and made arrange-
ments to form a town company, the members of which were J. P.
Root, T. B. Eldridge, S. W. Eldridge, W. Y. Roberts, Thomas H.
Swope, Robert Morrow, Daniel Killen, Gaius Jenkins, John McAlpine
and James M. Winchell. Messrs. Roberts, McAlpine, Swope and
Jenkins were appointed a committee to go to Wyandotte and see what
could be done toward inducing certain former members of the nation
to join the company. The members of the town organization on the
Missouri side waited some days for the committee to report; became
uneasy and came to investigate; discovered that their agents had
formed a company with Isaiah Walker, Joel Walker and Silas Arm-
strong, among the most influential members of the former Wyandotte
nation, who were owners of the site. There was naturally some high
talk between the two town companies, but a compromise was effected,
according to Dr. Root, by which there was to be an equal division of
profits. To avoid a long explanation, however, it is generally stated
that the town company consisted of these four white men and the
three Wyandotte Indians. In March, 1857, the town site was surveyed
by John H. Millar, of Girard, Penn. , who, upon his maps, makes the
following statement: '"The present city company is formed of seven
original stockholders, three of whom are Wyandottes. They purchased
the lands forming the town site from the Wyandotte owners, who are to
receive patents for these lands as soon as they can be issued. The
Government commissioners completed the assignment to these Wyan-
dottes on the town site, early in February, 1857."

The following is the survey of the boundary lines of the site of
the town as surveyed by Mr. Millar: Commencing at the northeast
corner of the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 3,
Township 11 south. Range 25 east; thence west 60 poles to a post

i fy

iLh.

from which a walnut, 7 inches in diameter, bears north 31 i°, west 22
feet; also another walnut, 7 inches in diameter, bears south 71°, west
35 feet; thence south 124 poles to a post from which a lynn 22 inches
in diameter bears north 23f °, west 94 feet; thence west 53|^ poles to
a post from which a hackberry, 18 inches in diameter, bears south
2'J|^°, east 35 feet distant; thence south 36 poles to a post, from which
a white oak 20 inches in diameter bears north 65°, east 16 feet;
thence west 46|^ poles to a post, from which an elm, 28 inches in
diameter, bears north 30| east, 33 J east; thence north 80 poles to a post
from which a lynn, 14 inches in diameter, bears north 56 ' , east 7 feet;
thence west 14 poles, from which a black oak, 12 inches in diameter,
bears south 58|°, east 15J feet; thence north 80 poles to a post from
which a walnut, 18 inches in diameter, bears north 25|°, east 10 feet;
thence west along the quarter-section line for a distance of 210 poles to
a post from which a hickory, 13 inches in diameter, bears south 9| \ west
34 feet; thence south 80 poles to a post; thence west 23 J poles to
a post; thence south 42 poles; thence west 66§ poles to a post; thence
south 38 poles to a post, being the southwest corner of the southeast
quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 4, Township 11 south,
Range 25 east, from which corner a white oak, 20 inches in diameter,
bears north 75J°, east 26 feet; also another white oak, 22 inches in
diameter, bears south 5|°, west 38 feet; thence continuing on south
102 poles 9 links to a post: thence east 30 poles and 3 links to a post;
thence south 7 poles and 12 links to a post 3i feet west of the north-
east corner of Tauromee and Twelfth Streets; thence east 3 poles and 8
links to a post; thence south 4 poles and 21 links to a post; thence
east 46 poles and 4 links to a post; thence south 7 poles and 14 links
to a post; thence east 79 poles and 15 links, to a post, from which a
lynn, 15 inches in diameter, bears north 67 J°, west 63 feet; also another
lynn, 15 inches in diameter, bears north 52i°, east 72 feet; thence north
78 poles and 4 links to a post; thence east 64 poles and 10 links, to a
post; thence north 41J poles to the center line of Kansas Avenue;
thence east 80 poles and 19 links to a post on the center line of Kan-
sas Avenue, and also on the west line of Seventh Street, said post
being 78^ feet south of and 220 jiu west of the northeast corner of the
northwest quarter of Section 10, Town 11 south. Range 25, east;
thence south 145?j poles to a post; thence east 12 poles 21^ links to a
post; thence north 70 poles to a post, from which a walnut, 5 inches in
diameter, bears south 4^°, east 16 feet; also a white oak, 15 inches in
diameter, bears south 87°, east 77 feet; also a walnut, 3 inches in diame-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 357

ter, bears north 51 , west 25 feet; said corner being the northwest
corner of the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section
10, town and range aforesaid; thence east -16 1 poles to a post, from
which a white oak, 16 inches in diameter, hears south 44°, west 35^ feet;
thence north 18 poles to a post, from which a jack oak, 28 inches in
diameter, bears north 2^. east 91 feet distant; thence east io^ poles to
a post, from which a jack oak, 26 inches in diameter, bears north 70^°,
west 83 feet; thence south 18 poles to a post from which a lynn, 22
inches in diameter, bears north 1°, east 126 J feet; thence oast 22 poles to
a post, from which a white oak, 10 inches in diameter, bears south 66 |" ,
west 24 feet; thence south 38 poles to a post, from which a walnut, 4
inches in diameter, bears north 67|^" , east 92 feet; thence east 16 poles to
the southwest corner of ''Armstrong's saw-mill lot;" thence north
26 poles and 3 links to the northwest corner of said saw-mill lot, said
corner being SO feet east of the northeast corner of Block No. 156.
and 80 feet south of the southwest corner of Block No. 154; thence east
25 poles and 18 links to the western boundary of the Ferry tract;
thence north 30", east 72 poles and 2 links to the northwest corner of
said Ferry tract; thence east to the left bank of Kansas River; thence
down said Kansas River with the meanders thereof to its junction
with the Missouri; thence up said Missouri River with the meanders
thereof to a point due east of the beginaing; thence west to the begin-
ning, containing 653i3dS(j^ acres.

If the reader will draft these lines upon paper, he will see that the
tract of laud covered by the original town was a very irregular one.
This was occasioned by the refusal of certain land owners to sell to the
town company. The streets and alleys were laid out to run north and
south and east and west, excepting Ferry, which was given an angle
of 30 degrees east of north; the highways running north and south
were called streets and were numbered successively from east to west,
and those running east and west were called avenues, a local name be-
ing given to each. Afterward, when the county was organized, the
original plat of the town was tiled for record, and recorded September
28. 1859. When the town was laid out, the greater portion of its site
was covered with a dense growth of timber. Upon the organiza-
tion of the town company, Silas Armstrong became president; W. Y.
Roberts, secretary; Isaiah Walker, treasurer, and John McAlpine,
trustee, to receive conveyances of the lands bought, and on sale of lots,
to convey to purchasers. There were about 400 shares, ten lots to
the share. Sales began in March, 1857, when the survey had been

358 HISTOKY OF KANSAS.

completed, and brought $500 a share. There were laid out four ave-
uue.s, each 100 feet wide, rauning from the Missouri River two miles
west through the heart of the city. These were to be the great thorough-
fares of commerce. Of public grounds, there were the levee, extend
ing from the northern boundary of the " Ferry Tract " to the north-
ern boundary of the town, and from the front lots to the river. " Oak-
land Park " was bounded by Washington Avenue on the north, Elev-
enth Street on the west, Kansas Avenue on the south and Tenth Street
on the east — 650x028 feet. The rush of immigration to the new town
was immense, and almost instantaneous. Houses could not be built
fast enough to shelter the comers; carpenters readily obtained $5 a
day in gold; lumber was in hot demand; saw mills went up as if by
magic. Collins and Rogers built at the foot of the bluffs, north of
Judge Walker's; Armstrong & Overton had a mill in Wyandotte City.
Strangers from all parts of the country, and some from Europe, were
here to invest their money, many of them purely for speculative pur-
poses. Goods were piled up on the levee and people lived in tents until
they could get houses erected. Shares of the company sold so rapidly
at 1500 that they were advanced to S750,when about "200 of them had al-
ready been sold. The avenues were graded as far west from the levee
as Fourth Street; Second, Third and Fourth Streets were also graded,
after selling a short time at $750, the shares were advanced to §1,000
apiece. The prospect now was that the entire town site would be
bought out of the company's hands, and the balance of the shares
were accordingly withdrawn from the market. Delay in making con-
veyances to the swarm of settlers, who almost threatend the very ex-
istence of the town company, caused much hard feeling and positive
threats of violence against the members; but the matter was finally
readjusted. Roads were now being laid out from Wyandotte in all
directions; but the year 1857 may be considered her season of greatest
business activity. The bulk of her trade was then transacted on Ne-
braska and Washington Avenues, east of Fourth Street. Besides the
quite extensive array of business houses, two newspapers were being
published, to advertise the town — the Telegraph, by M. W. Delahay,
and the Democrat by Mr. Abbott. The physicians were represented liy
J. C.Bennett, F. Speck, J. Speck and J. P. Root; the attorneys by Bartlett
& Glick, Davis & Post, J. W. Johnson, B. Gray and D. B. Hadley.
At this time the population of Wyandotte was about 400, and the in-
habitants were wild with enthusiasm, and almost splitting with (not
suppressed) laughter at the attempt of Gov. Robinson and his Free-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 359

State friends to found the town of Quindaro, four miles above. But
a short time thereafter their despised rival gave them good reason to
fear that their laughter would have to be turned to tears.

Early in the spring of 1857 John McAlpine built a large ware-
house on the levee between Washington and Nebraska Avenues, and
carried on an extensive forwarding and commission business. The
upper story of this warehouse served as a town hall up to the time
Dunning erected the one on Fourth Street. The levee at that time
extended fully as far out as the sandbar in front of the city. The
frame building on the corner of Third and Nebraska, Hains' shoe
shop, the old council house, McAlpine' s cottages (built in the rear of
what has since been known as Frederick Kramer's bakery), the old
Mansion House on Nebraska Avenue, and four other buildings con-
sumed by fire early in 1866, Capt. I. N. White's tin shop, on the
corner of Third and Nebraska, the Garno House, and a host of other
buildings, sprang into existence during the summer. In order to ac-
commodate the immigration during the spring and summer of 1857,
the Eldridges opened a hotel in Silas Armstrong's residence, and Col.
F. A. Hunt purchased the "St. Paul," an old Missouri River steam-
boat, anchored it at the foot of Washington Avenue, and fitted it up
for a hotel and warehouse. As has been stated Isaiah Walker opened
the first store in Wyandotte, while it was an Indian village. He was
joined in August, 1856, by Thomas J. Barker, and the name of the
firm became Walker & Barker. The next stores were opened by James
Chestnut, and the firm of Parr, Boyd & Co. In 1857 Joseph Rosen-
wall and Lepman Myers opened stores, and about 1858, the firm of
Zeitz & Busche established their store. Other merchants then fol-
lowed in siTch rapid succession that it is not practicable to name them.
In 1857 the ferry across the Kaw or Kansas River was at a point near
the present cable line bridge. It consisted of a flat boat, which was
propelled by means of a rope stretched across the river. In proof of
the great amount of travel and transportation across the river to the
newly laid out city, is the fact that the receipts of tolls at this ferry,
for the single year of 1857, amounted to 17,000, and the charges for
crossing on the ferry were not exorbitant, but reasonable. The popu-
lation of Wyandotte during its first two or three years of existence
was composed of representatives from nearly every State in the Union,
and from nearly all nationalities of the globe, and the result was a
great laxity in morals.

At this time, 1857, there was but one voting precinct north of the

> "V '

3H0 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Kansas Eivei-, in the present Wyandotte County. The election for
delegates to Congress and for county officers was held in the McAl-
piue cottages on Third Street, on October 5. A squad of soldiers was
stationed at the polls to protect the voters and preserve the peace and
dignity of the Territory of Kansas. Each voter climbed into the build -
ing through a window at the west end, announced his vote to the
judges, passed through the room, and jumped off a high porch at the
rear of the cottage. This election was held under the "bogus laws."
Early in 1857 Mr. Dickenson was employed by the Wyandotte
Company to build a lirst-class wagon road from the town of Wyandotte
to Lawrence, on the north side of Kansas River. He performed his
work satisfactorily, Quindaro buildiog most of the bridges. At the
same time a road was constructed from Quindaro to intersect the
Wyandotte and Lawrence road at a point a few miles west. This
road to Lawrence followed the dividing ridge between the Missouri
and Kansas Rivers as far west as Wyandotte County now extends,
passing by or near Pratt's Mission. It was a very good road, and it
was perfectly easy to drive over it on a trot from the levee at Wyan-
dotte to Lawrence. A Concord coach, drawn by four horses, left
A\'yandotte and Quindaro in the morning and at noon of each day. This
road, and also the Quindaro branch, ran in direction of the objective
point without any regard to section lines, and was mostly through the
Delaware reservation. As the countr\' became settled and improved,
it was closed at various points and changed to the section lines, so
that now it is almost wholly obliterated fi-om the original line. Sub-
sequently Quindaro, as a last effort to control the trade from the
W' est, secured a bill from the Legislature appointing commissioners to
lay out a road running west from that town. These commissioners
were Hon. W. A. Phillips, since a member of CoDgress; Hon. O. B.
Gunn, now of Kansas City, Mo., and Charles Chadwick, then a resident
of Quindaro. This commission laid out the new road on an air-line
west of the landing at Quindaro on the Missouri River, regardless of
the topography of the country, and thus was commenced a system of
roads in direct lines, which tended to destroy the old diagonal roads.
Also in 1857 Wyandotte, in order to secure the trade from the
country south of the Kansas River, and to prevent it from going to
Westport and Kansas City, Mo., constructed a road to Shawnee, in
Johnson County. A ferry was established across the Kansas River on
this road a few rods below the present Argentine bridge. Quindaro.
the then rival of Wyandotte, looked out for the same trade, and ac-

rnr

cordingly built a road south from that place, and ero-sed the Kansas
River on a ferry about a mile above the Wyandotte ferry, and inter-
sected the Wyandotte and Shawnee road at a point some distance
south of the river.

In 1858 a bridge company was organized at Wyandotte with Dan-
iel Killen, superintendent; Thomas J. Barker, treasurer, and J. W. H.
Watson, secretary. The same year this company built the first bridge
across the Kansas River, it being located on the Wyandotte and Shaw-
nee road. It was built on piles, and was all made of native timbers.
The contract for the Iiuilding of the bridge was let to Jones, Kidney
& Co., for about l'28,()O0. The money was raised by subscription. As
Wyandotte continued to grow and jirosper, she succeeded in drawim^
a portion of the trade from the south side of the river, and perhaps
Quindaro drew a small portion of that trade while she existed, but
notwithstanding all efforts to draw the trade north of the river, the
people on the south side could go to Westport and Kansas City, Mo.,
withoiat crossing any river, and consequently the latter city has event-
ually absorbed the most of that patronage.

The old ferry across the Kansas River, near the present cable-line
bridge, continued to be used until 1863, when a pontoon bridge was
placed across the river near its mouth. This latter bridge was in use
when Gen. Price, with his Confederate army, invaded Missouri in
1864. It was probably more of a war measure than of a local con-
venience, and being only a temporary thing it was not long continued.

In the spring of 1858 that dreadful disease, erysipelas, made its
appearance among the people of Wyandotte and vicinity, and in many
cases proved fatal, the number of deaths being somewhat large. But,
notwithstanding the disasters and disadvantages incident to most newly-
settled countries, which the people had to endure, the town continued
to improve and prosper.

The following item of history pertaining to Wyandotte is taken
from the Andreas History: "The meeting of the delegates to the
Constitutional Convention, which took place at Constitutional Hall,
Wyandotte, July 5, 1859, is more a State event than one of local in-
terest, and is treated as such in its proper place. Suffice it to say,
however, that the present constitution of the State was adopted on the
29th of that month, and, locally treated, the subject will be disposed
of by an extract from an article by William A. Phillips, who, thus
describes the place of meeting: ' The lower floor of the block where
it was held was mostly unoccupied: that block now exists no longer.

23 I I

—r I W

It sufFered from too great economy in brick and mortar: the water
from the blufP was permitted to undermine its foundation. Like an-
other building named in Holy Writ, it ultimately fell, and great was
the fall thereof. In the second story, during the session of the con-
vention, wag a saloon. In the center of the large, unplastered room,
on one side, a bar was hastily improvised. A broad plank, resting
upon a couple of emjjty barrels, constituted the counter. Behind was
a narrow plank or shelf, resting on two other barrels, evidently not
empty, at least a faucet was inserted in each near the base. On the
top of each barrel was a small blue keg, each of which had another
faucet. Scattered along this shelf were decanters and long-necked,
dark-complexioned bottles. On one end of the shelf was an open box
of raisins, perched longitudinally, and with a few boxes of cigars, a
piece of cheese, a box of crackers, and a box of plug tobacco, consti-
tuted the saloon. A few tumblers and lemons, with a 'bowl of sugar,
lemon-sqiieezer, and a flaring tin cup, in which to shake up punches,
completed the outfit. The floor was covered with sawdust to avoid an-
noyance to the solons above, and also to absorb rejected quids of to-
bacco. The fine arts were represented by a picture of the ' Bird of
America ' cut from an old hand-bill and tacked to the wall. Over all
presided the smiling and genial Boggs. Another flight of stairs car
ried you into the room where the solons were at work. It was about
twenty-five feet wide and eighty long. It was not plastered, but ex-
tended from front to rear of block. There were three windows in
front and three in rear. It was ten feet high. The roof was of com-
position, called patent. The president's seat was on the south side of
the room, near the center; it was on a raised platform; seats, tables
and desks were provided by the citizens of Wyandotte for members,
clerks and reporters. An oificial look was procured by tacking on
black muslin. There was also a railing, to either keep spectators out
or hold the members in. The ' flag of our country ' was draped on the
wall in the rear of the president's chair.' "

The first post-otfice was opened in the spring of 1857, by Thomas
J. Barker, in the old court-house building on Nebraska Avenue, where
he and Isaiah Walker were keeping store. He brought the mail from
Kansas City, Mo. , on horseback. William Chick, of the banking firm of
Northrup & Chick, maintained the service in that city for the first year
at his own expense. The Wyaudottes were great readers, as a rule,
and it was as much to accommodate them, as for any other reason,
that the post-oflSce in Kansas City was established. In 1863 Mr.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 363

Barker was succeeded as postmaster by R. B. Taylor, who held the
office three years. E. T. Vedder, who followed him in 18()6, remained
Init a short time, being succeeded by A. D. Downs, who remained
until 1881, when George B. Eeicheneeker was appointed and held the
office until 1885. He was succeeded by V. J. Lane, who held the
office until he was succeeded in 1889 by O. K. Serviss, the present
incumbent.

Of the seven members composing the Wyandotte City Company,
only one is now living, and that one is Thomas H. Swope, who lives
in Kansas City, Mo. Joel Walker died at Leavenworth, in the sum-
mer of 1857, the same year the town was laid out. Gains Jenkins was
shot by Gen. Lane, at Lawrence, in the summer of 1858. Silas Arm-
strong died in December, 1895, at Wyandotte, and his remains lie
entombed in the Huron Place Cemetery. John McAlpine was killed
by the cars in Pittsburg. W. Y. Roberts died in Lawrence, and more
recently, Isaiah Walker died in the Indian Territory.

The town of Wyandotte was tirst incorporated by the following
order of court:

"Be it known that on this 8th day of June, A. D., 1858, in open
court came Charles S. Glick and presented the petition of B. Gray,
A. B. Bartlett, Daniel Killen and other resident taxpayers of the fol-
lowing described territory, the same being in the township of Wyan-
dotte, in the county of Leavenworth and Territory of Kansas, to wit:
Commencing on the eastern boundary of the Territory of Kansas,
where the same is intersected by the second standard parallel ; thence
west on said parallel line to the northwest corner of Section four (4),
Township eleven (11), Range twenty-five (25); thence south to the
southwest corner of Section nine (U), township and range above said;
thence east to the middle of the Kansas River; thence by the middle
of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers to the place of beginning; asking
that they be incorporated by the name and style of ' The Inhabitants
of the Town of Wyandotte,' within the above metes and bounds, and
that they may have a local government established therein. And the
court being fully satisfied that said petition is subscribed by two-
thirds of the resident tax-payers and voters therein, does hereby make
and incorporate the petitioners and all others residing in said described
territory, as a body corporate, under the name and style of ' The In-
habitants of the Town of Wyandotte,' of the above metes and bounds,
and does hereby appoint as trustees thereof, William McKay, George
Russell, Daniel Killen, Charles S. Glick and William F. Simpson, and

*-^

does hereby order said persons so appointed to be duly commissioned by
the clerk of this court. All of which is accordingly done.

''G. W. Gardner, (/itdgie."
Territory of Kansas, )
CoDNTY OF Leavenworth, \

I, Henry C Field, clerk of said court, do hereby certify that the

foregoing is a true copy of the record of proceedings of said court, 3d

day of June term, A. D. 1858, held at the city of Leavenworth.

[l. s.] Witness my hand and the seal of said court, this 9th day of

June, A. D. 1858. Henry C. Fields, Clerk.

Filed in office of town clerk, June 14, 1858.

RuFus Hall, Deputy Clerk.

The first meeting of the board of trustees of " The Inhabitants of
the Town of Wyandotte," was held June 12, 1858, when all were
present and subscribed to the following oath, and were sworn into
office by William L. McMath, justice of the peace:

County of Leavenworth, )
Territory of Kansas, j
William McKay, George Russell, Daniel Killen, William F. Simp
son and Charles S. Glick, hereby duly sworn say, that they will sup-
port the Constitution of the United States and the act to organize the
Territory of Kansas, and faithfully demean themselves in office as
trustees of " The Inhabitants of the Town of Wyandotte."

(Signed) William McKay,

Charles S. Glick,
George Russell,
William F. Simpson,
Daniel Killen.
Sworn to before me this 12th day of June, A. D. 1858.

William S. McMath, Justice of the Peace.

The board of trustees formally organized by electing William Mc-
Kay, chairman; Joseph \V. H. Watson, clerk: Charles W. Patterson,
assessor; Walter N. Canfield, collector, and Samuel E. Forsythe, con-
stable. These then were the first corporate officers of Wyandotte.

The town was incorporated as a city, January 29, 1859, and the
first city election was held in February of that year. The population
was then 1,259. When Wyandotte became a city, the town was $1,500
in debt, which was assumed by the new municipality.

The following is a complete roster of the corporate officers of Wyan-

^ € r~ -""s 8 \

dotte, from the time it was first incorporated uatil it became a part of
the consolidated city of Kansas City, Kas.

1858— The Inhabitants of the Town of Wyandotte: Trustees,
William McKay, George Russell, Daniel Killen, Charles S. Glick,
William F. Simpson.

18Dy— City of Wyandotte: Mayor, James R. Parr; aldermen, W.
P. Overton, I. N. White, B. Judd, D. Killen, Isaiah Walker and H.
McDowell; clerk, E. T. Vedder; assessor, David Kirkbride; treasurer,
J. H. Harris; attorney, W. L. McMath; marshal, N. A. Kirk; engi-
neer, W. Miller; street commissioner, H. Burgard.

1860— Mayor, George Russell; aldermen, Joseph Speck, Philip
Hescher, A. D. Downs, B. Washington, S. A. Bartlett, C. R. Stucks-
lager; clerk, T. J. Darling; assessor, J. W. Dyer; treasurer, C. H.
Van Fossen; attorney, S. A. Cobb; marshal, H. H. Sawyer; street com-
missioner, David Leavitt; engineer, W. Miller.

18(51 — Mayor, George Russell; aldermen, Jacob Kerstetter, E. L.
Busche, James Sommerville. C. R. Stuckslager, O. S. Bartlett, C.
Schneider; clerk, Francis House; assessor, W. Hood; treasurer, I.
D. Heath; attorney, S. A. Cobb; marshal, P. S. Ferguson; street
commissioner, W. Curran; engineer, Gustavus Zeitz.

1862— Mayor, S. A. Cobb; aldermen, Jacob Kerstetter, Robert
Halford, J. P. Hanrion, N. A. Reinecher, W. H. Sehofield, J. M.
Funk; clerk, W. B. Bowman; marshal, P. S. Ferguson; assessor, W.
Hood; attorney, J. S. Stockton; treasurer, I. D. Heath; street com-
missioner, G. Knipfer; engineer, Horatio Waldo.

1863— Mayor, J. M. Funk; aldermen, Matthias Splitlog, W. P.
Holcomb, J. P. Hanrion, B. Washington, J. Grindle, R. Chalk; clerk,
W. B. Bowman; treasurer, I. D. Heath; attorney, J. S. Stockton;

assessor, Hance; street commissioner, G. Knipfer; Marshal, P.

S. Ferguson.

1864— Mayor. J. M. Funk; aldermen, W. Cook, E. L. Busche,
Fred Weber, R. Chalk, I. Moore, A. S. Cobb; clerk, W. B. Bowman;
treasurer, W. P. Holcomb; attorney, W. B. Bowman; assessor, Joseph
Hanford; marshal, Matthew Clary; engineer, W. Miller.

1865— Mayor, I. B. Sharp; aldermen, W. Cook, J. R. Parr, J. M.
Chrysler, E. T. Hovey, Daniel Cable, J. J. Hughes; clerk, W. B.
Bowman; marshal, John Bolton; attorney, C. S. Glick; treasurer, W.
P. Holcomb; assessor, Joseph Hanford; street commissioner, W.
Bucher; engineer, J. A. J. Chapman.

1866— Mayor, I. B. Sharp; aldermen, W. Cook, R. Anderson, C.

;fv"

tii.

36G HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Hains, D. Cable, B. Washington, N. A. Kirk; clerk, A. J. Cruise;
attorney, C. S. Glick; marshal, M. Clary; assessor, Joseph Hanford;
engineer, J. A. J. Chapman; street commissioner, G. A. Schreiner.

1867 — Mayor, J. McGrew; aldermen, G. P. Nelson, H. West, J.
H. Harris, B. Washington, Joab Toney, P. Lugibihl; clerk, J. A.
Cruise; attorney, J. B. Scroggs; engineer, S. Parsons; treasurer, N.
McAlpine; marshal, J. Lecompt; street commissioner. G. A. Schreiner;
assessor, E. F. Heisler.

1868- -Mayor, S. A. Cobb; councilmen, J. Hennessy, A. Jost, H.
Grautman, R. E. Cable, J. Townsend; police judge, J. M. Funk;
marshal. Thomas Redtield; attorney, F. B. Anderson; treasurer, Byron
Judd: clerk, A. J. Cruise; engineer, C. Pinney; assessor, E. F. Heis-
ler; street commissioner, John Hosp.

1S69 — Mayor, Byron Judd; aldermen, F. Castring, O. K. Serviss,
J. Hennessy, R. E. Cable, N. Kearney, P. Knoblock; police judge, W.
B. Bowman; marshal. H. C. Johnson; assessor, E. F. Heisler; clerk,
J. A. Cruise; attorney, F. B. Anderson; street commissioner. T. Pur-
till; engineer, J. McGee; treasurer, J. C. Welsh.

1870 — Mayor, J. S. Stockton; councilmen, F. Bell. J. Bolton, R.
E. Cable, F. Castring, P. Knoblock, O. K. Serviss; police judge, W.
B. Bowman; marshal, H. C. Johnson; assessor, E. F. Heisler; clerk,
H. L. Alden; engineer, S. Parsons; street commissiouer, John Hosp:
attorney, H. W. Cook.

1871 — Mayor, J. S. Stockton; councilmen, Frank Bell, John Bol-
ton, Peter Connelly, H. C. Johnson, N. Kearney, P. Knoblock; treas-
urer, O. K. Serviss; police judge, W. B. Bowman; marshal, H. T.
Harris; attorney, E. L. Bartlett; clerk, H. L. Alden; engineer, Fran-
cis House; assessor, G. P. Nelson; street commissioner, S. Balmer.

1872 — Mayor, J. S. Stockton; councilmen, D. W. Batchelder, P.
Connelly, E. M. Dyer, C. C. Gerhardt, A. Jost, D. W. McCabe, Jacob
Meunzenmayer, M. W. Phillips; police judge, W. B. Bowman; mar-
shal, H. T. Harris; treasurer, O. K. Serviss; clerk, William Albright;
attorney, W. J. Buchan; engineer, Francis House; assessor, G. P.
Nelson.

1873 — Mayor, James McGrew; councilmen, D. W. Batchelder, W.
Cook, B. Grafton. James Hennessy, E. T. Hovey, J. C. Ives, A. Jost,
L. Schleifer; police judge, M. B. Newman; treasurer. O. K. Serviss;
clerk, William Albright; marshal, H. T. Harris; engineer, Francis
House; assessor, J. J. Keplinger; street commissioner, W. B. Gar-
lick; attorney, W. J. Buchan.

i "V

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 367

1874 — Mayor, G. B. Wood; conncilmen, R. E. Cable, W. Cook,
N. McAlpine, F. W. Meyer, J. Eeid, W. H. Ryus, Louis Schleifer,
F. Speck; police judge, M. B. Newman; treasurer, O. K. Serviss;
clerk, W. Albright; engineer, F. House; street commissioner, J. P.
Faber; assessor, J. J. Keplinger; marshal, H. T. Harris; attorney,
W. J. Buchan.

1875 — Mayor, C. Hains; councilmen, Russell Burdette, R. E.
Cable, G. Grubel, F. AV. Meyer, J. Reid, T. B. Roberts, L. Schleifer,
F. Speck; police judge, M. B. Newman; marshal, H. T. Harris;
attorney, W. J. Buchan; treasurer, J. C. Stout; clerk, W. Albright;
assessor, G. W. Bishop; engineer, F. House; street commissioner,
J. P. Taber.

1876 — Mayor, C. Hains; councilmen, C. Anderson, Russell Bur-
dette, H. E. Chadborn, J. L. Conklin, G. Greubel, J. Hanford, H. C.
Long, M. M. Stover; police judge, M. B. Newman; marshal, M. Col-
lins: clerk, W. Albright; treasurer, J. W. Wahlenmaier; assessor, G.
W. Bishop; engineer, F. House; street commissioner, F. Kramer;
attorney, F. B. Anderson.

1877 — Mayor, F. Speck; marshal, Mike Collins: police judge, R.

E. Cable; treasurer, J. W. Wahlenmaier; treasurer board of educa-
tion, Perley Pike; attorney, F. B. Anderson; councilmen, L. Cook,
Dan Williams, R. Burdette, J. C. Welsh; board of education, R.
Halford. J. P. Dennison, J. H. Gadd, A. M. Moyer.

1878 — Mayor, Fred Speck; marshal, Michael Collins; treasurer,
O. K. Serviss; treasurer board of education, Perley Pike; attorney,

F. B. Anderson; councilmen, John E. Zeitz, M. M. Stover, J. Le-
compt, James S. Bell; board of education, C. Crothers, W. R. Chap-
man, James Furgason, H. C. Darby.

1879 — Mayor, J. S. Stockton; treasurer, Chris. Beruhard; police
judge, R. E. Cable; attorney, J. A. Hale; treasurer board of educa-
tion, Chris Bernhard; councilmen, Lawson Cook, J. W. Wahlenmaier
Dan Williams, V. S. Lucas, John Burk; board of education, J. L.
Conklin, P. H. Knoblock, James S. Gibson, G. W. Bishop.

1880 — Mayor, J. S. Stockton; marshal, H. T. Harris; council -
men. Louis Burnett, Daniel Williams, D. E. Cornell, James S. Bell;
board of education, H. C. Darby, W. R. Chapman, James Furgason,
C. Anderson: attorney, J. A. Hale; police judge, R. E. Cable; treas-
urer, Chris Bernhard.

1881 — Mayor, R. E. Cable; marshal, V. S. Lucas; police judge,
F. B. Anderson; treasurer, Chris Bernhard; attorney, Henry McGrew ;

^^=^ ^=Sjl

councilmen, Louis Burnett, Peter Lugibihle, T. B. Roberts, D. E.
Cornell, James S. Bell, Daniel "Williams, J. C. Stout, George A.
Dudley ; board of education, Emile Kreiser, H. C Darby, P. H. Knob-
lock, W. R. Chapman, C. D. Schrader, W. C. Lyman, C. Anderson.
1882-83— Mayor, R. E. Cable; clerk, Ed. H. Sager; treasurer,
C. Bernhard; police judge, T. B. Anderson; attorney, Henry Mc-
Grew; engineer, Walter Hale; street commissioner, Thomas McCau-
ley; marshal, H. T. Harris; councilmen, John B. Scroggs, E. A. Web-
ster, D. E. Cornell, Charles Hains, George A. Dudley, Thomas H.
Roberts, Charles Wilson, J. C. Beddington, James Brennan, D. Al-
bert, Peter Lugibihle and J. C. Stout.

1883-85— Mayor, D. E. Cornell; clerk, H. E. Chadborn; attor-
ney, Henry McGrew; treasurer, Louis Burnett; engineer, R. E. Ela;
street commissioner, W. H. Brown; police judge, George W. Betts;
marshal, O. K. Serviss.

1883-84 — Councilmen, John E. Zeitz, Thomas Sehultz, James
Brennan, Henry Horstman, J. C. Boddington, Charles Hains, George
A. Dudley, T. C. Foster, J. B. Scroggs, E. A. Webster, Charles Wil-
son, W. A. Eldridge.

1884-85 — Councilmen, W. P. Overton, J. J. Hannan, M. B. Has-
kell, Frank Mapes, C. D. Montanye, William Clow, J. C. Boddington,
Charles Dudley, Thomas C. Foster, Henry Horstman, Joseph Leaf,
Theodore Sehultz.

1885-86 — Mayor, J. C. Martin; clerk, John Warren; treasurer,
F. S. Merstetter; attorney, R. P. Clark; engineer, Everett Walker;
street commissioner, N. J. Abbott; police judge, J. D. Green; mar-
shal, O. K. Serviss.

CouQcilmen, W. P. Overton, Joseph Leaf, James Wheeler, E. A.
Webster, M. B. Haskell, H. F. Johnson, Frank Mapes, G. W. Bishop,
C. D. Montanye, R. F. Robison, William Clow, Charles Hilton.

Northrup's Addition to (or extension of) Wyandotte, lying between
Kansas Avenue on the north and Barnett Street on the south, and
bounded east by Seventh Street, was laid out in June, 1858, by Hiram
M. Northrup. The court-house and the residence of Mr. Northrup
are in this addition. Some extensions and subdivisions of Northrup's
Addition have since been made.

The Wyandotte City Company's Addition to Wyandotte, lying
between Maria Street and Kansas Avenue, and between Fourth and
Seventh Streets, was surveyed and laid out by John McAlpine, trus-
tee of the company.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

369

Wood & Walker's Addition to Wyandotte, comprising the allot-
ments of Clarence F. Walker and Sarah L. Walker, as set off to them
in a certain action in the district court in the county of Wyandotte,
for the partition of certain lands of the county, wherein Lydia B.
Walker was plaintiff and Thomas G. Walker and others were defend-
ants, was laid out in May, 1872, by the proprietors, Geoige B. and
Annie B. Wood and Louise S. Walker.

The village of Armstrong, now included within the city limits of
Kansas City, Kas., was surveyed in October, 1871, by E. C. Smeed,
for the Kansas Pacific Kailway Company, who laid it out in a pictur-
esque style, with a public square and diagonal avenues verging there-
from, and other avenues and circular streets partially surrounding
the square. It was named in honor of Silas Armstrong.

D. F. Voss' part . of Wyandotte City is bounded by commencing
at the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of the northeast
quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 10, Town 11 south, Kange
25 east; thence south 329 feet; thence east 677 feet; thence north 353
feet across the alley to the land conveyed by M. Splitlog and wife to the
Catholic Church; thence west and along said church land to the
southwest corner of the same; thence south 2-1: feet; thence west 108
feet to the place of beginning, containing 5iV« acres. It was laid
out in August, 1872, by D. F. Voss and wife.

Woodlawn Cemetery, at Wyandotte, situated on the southeast
quarter of Section 33, was surveyed and laid out by the Wyandotte
Cemetery Association in July, 1873. The grounds consist of an ob-
long square twenty-three rods wide, east and west, by seventy-nine
rods long, north and south, containing sixteen and one-half acres. In
the center is Woodlawn Park, south of which is Cedar Park and
■ north of which is Elm Park. The cemetery is bounded on the west
by Ninth Street, from which is the main entrance.

Oak Grove Cemetery, embracing ten acres in the northeast quar-
ter of the southwest quarter of Section 34, Town 10 south, Range 25
east, was laid out in September, 1873, by the City Cemetery Associa-
tion, of which R. B. Taylor was then president.

The Connelly Addition to Wyandotte City, lying between Fifth
Street and the Kansas River, and mostly south of Barnett Street, and
containing twelve blocks of various sizes, was laid out in December,
1873, by Peter Connelly, and his wife, Cornelia D. Connelly.

Riverview Addition to Wyandotte City, lying in the point be-
tween Fifth and Ferry Streets, was laid out by James M. Ford, the

■* — 1-

i \

J^^^^

370 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

proprietor, in October, 1878. It contains seventeen lots, all varying
in size.

Tenney's Addition to Wyandotte City, bounded as follows: Com-
mencing at the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of the
southwest of Section 10, Township 11 south, Range 25 east; thence
east 462 feet; thence south 505 feet; thence west 1,162 feet; thence
north 505 feet; thence east 660 feet to the beginning, was laid out in
July, 1878, by William C. Tenney. its proprietor. This addition was
vacated by order of the board of county commissioners, June 17, 1879.

The town of Riverview, now within the corporate limits of Kansas
City, Kas. , was laid out in April, 1879, by William C. Tenney, John
F. Moores, James M. Ford and Henry C. Arnold, the original pro-
prietors. It contains a lake and park. Some of the streets are circu-
lar, and the whole place is beautiful in appearance. It has twenty-four
large blocks of irregular and various shapes, each being divided into
lots also of different sizes.

Whipple's Addition to Riverview was laid out in January, 1880,
by A. J. Whipple, the proprietor. This addition comprises a tract near
the center of Riverview Addition, which was not subdivided when
that addition was surveyed. It is therefore an addition within an
addition.

Highland Park Addition to Armstrong was laid out in June, 1879,
by Barzillai Gray and William H. Lott. It embraces ten acres off
the west side of the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of
Section 15, Town 11 south. Range 25 east.

Stout & Co.'s Addition to Wyandotte City, lying west of Sixth
Street and astride of Orrville Street, was laid out in March, 18S0, by
the original proprietors, J. C. Stout, Martha Stout, George H. Miller,
Julia A. Miller and Orville D. Bnrt.

Stout & Co.'s Second Addition to Wyandotte City, lying west of
Sixth Street, and astride of Emerson Street, was laid out in May, 1880,
by the same parties.

West Riverview, lying east of Eighth Street and south of Ohio
Street, was laid out in May, 1 880, by Henry Buckingham and wife, the
proprietors.

Smith & Keating's Addition to Wyandotte City, adjoining Sixth
Street on the west and striding Barnett and Young Streets, was laid
out in January, 1881, by William J. Smith and George J. Keating,
the proprietors.

Hammerslough's First Addition to the city of Wyandotte, embrac-

i) \

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 371

iag the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of the southwest
quarter of Section 10, Township 11 south, Range 25 east, containing
ten acres, was laid out in February, 1881, by Louis Hammerslough,
proprietor.

Crane's Addition to Wyandotte City, lying south of Central Avenue,
and astride of Third Street, containing nine and a half acres, was laid
out in March, 1881, by F. D. Crane and Adaline Crane, his wife, who
were the proprietors.

McAlpine"s Addition to the city of Wyandotte, lying in the south-
east quarter of the southeast of Section 9, Township 11 south. Range
25 east, was laid out in May, 1883, by Nicholas McAlpiae and Maria
W. McAljjine, proprietors.

Many other additions to Wyandotte, too numerous to mention here,
were laid out before it became a part of the consolidated city of Kan-
sas City, Kas., and many additions to the latter city have since been
made, and many suburban places also. One of the most noted of
these is Chelsea Place, and Chelsea Park, in the northwestern part of
the city, two and a half miles west and one-half mile north of the Kan-
sas River, and which is easily reached from all parts of the two Kansas
Cities by means of the street railways. Chelsea Park is one of the
prettiest places to be found, being in a natural forest of black walnut,
elm, oak and other native trees. Its surface consists of hills and ra-
vines, the largest ravine being traversed by a small stream, which fur-
nishes water for the artificial lake which has been made by building a
dam across the ravine. The lake covers about two acres, and affords
a pleasant place for boat-riding. The place is fitted up with beauti-
ful drives and walks, appropriate buildings, a museum, rustic bridges,
flower gardens, etc., and is much resorted to by the people generally.

The following account of the history of the former city of Kansas
City, Kas., is from Andreas' " History of Kansas" published in 1883:

" It would be almost an impossibility to write in detail the early
history of Kansas City, Kas., without treating the topics connected
with the early times of the whole region, comprising the establishment
of the Chouteaus at a point about three miles below Kansas City, and
on the south side of the Kaw River, opposite Muncie, between 1821
and 1825, and the French settlement, or the Kawsmouth settlement,
made after the flood of 1826, which washed away M. Chouteau's post-
agency houses in the bottom opposite Randolph BlufTs. Again, it
would be an impossibility to separate Kansas City, Kas., from Kansas
City, Mo., in such a narrative, which partakes at best, much of the

nature of fiction, and has been gathered from unreliable sources.
Reference is made for the accounts of the Indian and French settle-
ments to the general State history. The first white settler after the
French traders to locate upon the present site of Kansas City, Mo.,
was James H. McGee, who made three entries of eighty acres each in
Sections 5, 7 and 8, on November 14, 1828. The settlement of Rev.
Isaac McCoy, four miles south of Kawsmouth in 1831; the establish-
ment of a trading house at this point by his sou, John, during the
next year; the removal of the Indians, from 1832 to 1840; the plat-
ting of Westport in the meantime; the development of the great
Santa Fe trade, and the founding of Kansas City, as a convenient
landing place for the goods of the Indian and Santa Fe traders, and
the formation of the town company in 1838, are matters which can
not be separated from the history of Kansas City, Kas. , nor yet, since
the city is treated here as a separate corporate body, can full details
be given. A settlement was begun in 1857, on the east side of the
Kansas River, in what is now Kansas City, Kas. , or, more properly, a
house was planted on ground where now flows the Missouri River,
just east of the mouth of the Kaw. It was built by David E. James,
was a two-story frame, and stood there about ten years. This was
United States land at that time, being claimed by Silas Armstrong,
under the treaty between the AVyandottes and the United States, as his
float. Certain leading Wyandottes had been granted a section of land
each, to be located in any spot they might choose; hence the term
'float.' Willis Wills and several others squatted upon difl'erent por-
tions of this land, and claimed the right to pre-empt it. But in 1858,
through D. E. James, a compromise was effected, by which Silas Arm-
strong released his claim to a portion of it, and the settlers released
to him the balance. The log house occupied by Mr. McDowell in
1857, and several years after, may be seen to-day standing on the
south side of Sixth Street, ju.st this side or west of the State line.
This is the only building left of those on the Armstrong ' float,' in
1857-58. That float comprised what is now Kansas City, Kas., lying
between the State line and the Missouri River. Many acres of it
have been washed into the river. That year, the traveled road be-
tween Kansas City, Mo., and Wyandotte ran where now is the south
side of the Missouri River, at its most southerly bend; hence at low
water the whole of the river runs where then was a cornfield; but
since the riprapping of 1867, it wears no more. Much might be
written of the early history of the Armstrong ' float, ' now known as

^!V

Kansas City, Kas. Several families resided on the point from 1856
to 1800, who were regarded only as squatters. They obtained a liv-
intr by various means. There was a family named Johnson here then,
having a habitation where now the Missouri River runs, a few hun-
dred yards northeast of the Anglo-American Packing House. This
family was known to the early settlers as fishermen. The family of
Edward Olivet was recognized by Armstrong as having a squatter's
interest in the land, and while the towns of Kansas City, Kas., and
Wyandotte were being built, Mr. Olivet was the agent of Armstrong
for the sale of sand and wood to the people of either town. Mr.
Henry Williams also resided out in land now claimed by the ' Big
Muddy.' There was also a house full of colored people in that now
imagiiiaiy place on the point. The house heretofore mentioned as
the land office building was a building of twelve rooms, and had its
history. Settlers of early date now reside in Kansas City who remem-
ber this old house as having had the reputation of being haunted.
It was said that the ghost of a Mr. Wills would on certain occasions
appear in the house and make claims to the ground on which the
house in which he once resided stood, as the property of his heirs.
The claims of the Missouri River were pressed with such irresistible
force that when the land became water, the occupation of the ghost
departed. Business is now too lively in this neighborhood to permit
the existence of ghosts, and that old idea is rapidly fading away.
Near the State line on Sixth Street, the widow of Edward Olivet-
Mrs. Sophia Olivet— now lives, the only one of the original squatters
on the Armstrong ' float ' claiming a home on this tract.

"The Kansas City (Kas.) Town Company was formed in 1808, by
Silas .ii-mstrong, David E. James. Dr. George B. Wood, Lather H.
Wood, William Weir, Thomas Ewing, Jr., T. H. Swope and N. Mc-
Alpine.

"The town site was situated upon parts of fractional Sections Nos.
10, 11 and 14, Town 11 south, of Range 25 east, lying north of the
old bed of Turkey Creek, east of the Kansas River, south of the Mis-
souri River, and bounded on the east by the State line between Mis-
souri and Kansas, and comprised the following named tracts, viz. :
Two tracts of land belonging to George B. Wood; two tracts of land
belonging to D. E. James; one tract belonging jointly to George B.
Wood and N. McAlpine, and the piece of land lying between the lands
of Thomas Ewing on the south and lands of D. E. James on the north,
between Armstrong Street and Kansas River. The site was surveyed

f=^

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374 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.-

by John McGee, civil engineer, April 24, 1S69, and recorded with the
register of deeds of Wyandotte County May 3, 1869.

"The streets were named after the original proprietors of the town.
Mr. James erected the first dwelling-house of any prominence in 1870,
at the south end of James Street, near the railroad tracks. Soon fol-
lowed the establishment of the large packinghouses and stock yards,
whose business forms the biilk of the city's trade."

Some of the streets were made eighty and some sixty feet wide.
James Street, and all streets running parallel with it, has a direction
bearing north 2S° and 10' west— the variation of the needle being 11 '
east when the survey was made. The streets, excepting the one under
a portion of the elevated railroad, cross at right angles. The original
plat of the city was acknowledged by the proprietors, George B. Wood,
Anna B. Wood, D. E. James, Nicholas McAlpine and Maria McAl-
pine. The leading business of this part of the consolidated city of
Kansas City, Kas. , is given elsewhere in this work.

In the fall of 1869 the estate of Silas Armstrong, deceased, lying
within the corporate limits of the former Kansas City, Kas., was sur-
veyed, and laid out into blocks, lots, streets and alleys, so as to con-
form to the survey of the former city, by A. B. Bartlett and Silas
Armstrong, Jr., administrators of the estate of the decedent. Some
other additions have also been made to the former city of Kansas City.

In October, 1872, Kansas City, Kas., was incorporated, and the
first city election was held October 22, 1872, by order of Judge Hiram
Stevens of the Tenth Judicial District, and resulted in the election of
the following city officers:

Mayor, James Boyle; councilmen, S. W. Day, Charles H. Jones,
John McKnight, George Forschler and James Lundell; police judge,
James Kennedy; city clerk, Cornelius Cushin; treasurer, Samuel Mc-
Connell ; city attorney, H. L. Alden. The mayors of the city from its
incorporation up to Ai)ril, 1881, were James Boyle, C. A. Eidemiller,
A. S. Orbison and Eli Teed. In June, 1881, the governor of Kansas
proclaimed the city of Kansas City a city of the second class, and from
April, 1881, until it became a part of the consolidated city in 1886,
the mayors serving were as follows: Samuel McConnell, from April,
1881, to April, 1883; R. W. Hilliker, from April, 1883, to April, 1885;
James Phillips, from April, 1885, to April, 1886.

Armourdale, embracing a part of the southwest quarter of the
southeast quarter of Section 15, and part of the northwest quarter of
the southeast quarter of Section 22, all in Township 11 south, Range 25

^ &

-*-pf — •'rr*-

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 375

east, and bein^^ on the north bank of Kansas River, about one and a
half miles above its mouth, was laid out in June, 1880, by the Kaw
Valley Town Site & Bridge Company, composed of Boston capitalists,
and of which Charles V. Adams, Jr. , was president, and John Q.
Adams, Charles Merriam, Nathaniel Thayer, H. H. Hunnevvell and
John A. Burnham were members. At this time the company owned
a large amount of land adjoining the original town site, some of
which has since been laid out in additions, and some occupied for
manufacturing purposes. The first addition to Armourdale, extending
from Fourth to Tenth Streets, was surveyed and laid out in June, 1881,
by the same town company.

The city was incorporated in the spring of 1882, and the first city
election was held May 5. The oificers were: Mayor, Frank W. Patterson;
councilmen, Nehemiah Sherrick, Daniel Herbert, E. W. Anderson, S.
Snyder and Joseph Bradley; police judge, John C. Foore; marshal,
William Boss; city clerk, Granville Patterson. The mayors of the
city from the time it was incorporated until it became a part of the
consolidated city were, Frank W. Patterson, from May, 1882, to
April, 1884; George W. Parsons, from April, 1884, to April, 1885,
and Jacob Barney, from April, 1885, to April, 1886.

Early in the spring of 1882, the old school district, in which a
school had been maintained for over twenty years, was divided, and
that portion of the school district containing the school-house was
set over to South Wyandotte. In May the Armourdale District No.
9, voted bonds for a .$9,000 school-house, which was completed on Oc-
tober 5. The ofiicers of the school board were N. Sherrick, president ;
E. Sheldon, secretary, and F. W. Dryer, treasurer. A colored school
was opened in the old wooden school building in the west end of the
town. In the six years of the existence of Armourdale, that is from
the time the town site was surveyed until it became a part of the con-
solidated city, it had acquired a population of 1,582.

Presbyterian services have been held here several years, but it was
not until April 15, 1882, that the Central Presbyterian Church was
organized. The society immediately commenced building a house of
worship, which is located on the corner of Wyandotte Avenue and
Eleventh Street. It was completed in June, at a cost of $1,800.

The city of Armourdale was named from the Armours, bankers
and pork packers. It gives promise of being the center of still
greater manufacturing interests, and many new establishments have
bought ground here and propose to establish extensive works thereon.

•FIs — ^

•lA

376 HISTOEY OP KANSAS.

la Maj', 1857, Judge M. W. Delahay began the publication of the
Wyandotte City Register, which was the first paper published in the
city. The tirst number was issued in a tent on the corner of Nebraska
Avenue and Third Street. Delahay sold to Eddy & Patton. It fjaally
passed into the hands of Mr. Abbot, who changed its name to the
Citizen, and published it but a few months. It was succeeded by the
Western Argus, which was printed on the same material and published
by the Western Argus Company, J. E. Bennet, editor, and P. Sidney
Post, commercial editor. The first number of the Argus was issued
March 'Jo, 1858, and was continued till March 9, 1861, when the mate-
rial was sold to R. B. Taylor, and became a part of the office of the
Wyandotte Gazette. The first number of the Gazette was issued
August 7, 1858, by S. D. McDonald, editor and proprietor. Mr.
McDonald continued the Gazette one year, issuing a daily during the
session of the Constitutional Convention, and then suspended.

In August, 1860, the publication of the paper, after a suspension
of some months, was recommenced by Messrs. McDonald and R. B.
Taylor. The partnership continued but a few weeks, when Mr. Tay-
lor hired the office of Mr. McDonald, and continued to publish
the paper alone. January 15, 1861, while the editor was in the
East on business, the office was entirely destroyed by fire, together
with the building in which it was located, both belonging to Mr.
McDonald. When Mr. Taylor returned in March he purchased the
material of the Western Argus, as before mentioned, and continued
the publication of the Gazette until the spring of 1867. when Philpott
& Brown secured possession of the office and published it three months
under agreement to purchase, which they failed to do. Mr. Taylor
then took the management of the paper again and published it until
October 1, 1869, when he leased the office to Kessler & Tuttle.
January 1, 1870, Mr. Tuttle withdrew, leaving Mr. Kessler sole
lessee and editor. In July of this year Mr. Taylor again carae
into possession of the Gazette, remaining editor and sole proprietor
until his death.

Richard Baxter Taylor, who for so long a time was editor of the
Gazette, was born in Buckland, Franklin County, Mass., March 29,
1832, and died at his residence in Wyandotte, Kas. , March 26, 1877.
He received a good common school and academical education. When
seventeen years of age, he went to Canandaigua, N. Y. . where he
was engaged as an educator about five years, and then went to Ellen-
wood, Ulster County, in the same State, where he commenced the

study of law. He became connected with the EUenville Journal and
so remained until he came West. In 1857 he visited Kansas, and the
next year removed with his family to Wyandotte. His purpose in
coming to Kansas was to aid in making it a free State. In 1851 he
married Miss Eachel Broadhead. Mr. Taylor was a Eepublican
in politics. As a journalist he was able, intelligent and bold Throucrh
his efforts, the Kansas State Editorial Association was organized and
he was president of the first meeting, which was held at Topeka, Janu-
ary 1/, 1866. He strongly advocated the writing and printing of
words l,y the phonic method. The editorial association which Mr
iaylor was so active in organizing, at its annual meetincr held at Man
hattan, April 7, 1875, suggested the action which led to°the organiza
tion of the State Historical Society, and Mr. Tavlor was one of its
first directors.

At the death of Mr. Taylor, his son, William B. Taylor, conducted
the Gazette till October, 1879, when R.. B. Armstrong and A N
Moyer bought the office with all its appurtenances, and, under the firm
name of Armstrong & Moyer, published the paper for a number of
years. En the spring of 1888, the present Gazette company was
formed and took charge of the office and paper, and in January fol-

owiug, Mr. George W. Martin, the present editor, assumed control of
the editorial department. A weekly and daily edition of the Gazette are
published, both having a large circulation. In politics the Gazette is
Republican.

The Kansas Post, a German weekly, was removed from Kansas
City to Wyandotte in the early part of the war period, and remained
one year. It was published by A. M'nerz and John Haberlein, the
latter being principal editor. The Kansas Real Estate Herald was
issued at Wyandotte, by E. F. Heisler, from November, 1868, to July

8bJ. The first number of Die Fackel (The Torch), was issued in
Myandotte, September 12, 1866. by Kastor, Fischer & Co H W
Ka,stor, editor. It was first printed on the Gazette press. On Janu
ary 1 1868. it was moved to Atchison. The Kansas Pilot was estab-
lished in ^^yandotte. in 1879. by William Caffrey, and published for
a season.

From 1861 to 1866 there was no Democratic paper in Wyandotte
County, but in the latter year J. A. Berry started the Wyandotte
Democrat, issued it about thirteen months and then abandoned it and
left the city. The nest Democratic paper in the place was the
Herald.

The first number of the Wyandotte Herald was issued January 4,
1872. V. J. Lane and F. G. Jacksou were its founders, the former
being its editor. It was first published on the corner of Minnesota
and Fifth Streets. In 1872 the otHce was moved to the corner of
Third Street and Minnesota Avenue, where it remained a year and a
half, until it was removed to Hescher's building, on the north side of
Minnesota Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, where the paper
was published till January 1, 1880, when it was moved to the Masonic
building, on the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Third Street. In
September, 1881, it was moved into permanent quarters belonging to
its proprietors, on the north side of Minnesota Avenue, between Fifth
and Sixth Streets, No. 512, where it still remains. B. R. Lane, son
of the editor, bought an interest in the Herald in April, 1880, and has
since been a partner with his father. The Herald is a neat seven-col-
umn folio, Democratic in politics, and has a large circulation in Wyan
dotte and adjoining counties.

The Weekly Spy was established in the former city of Kansas City,
in 1880, by its proprietor, B. M. Drake. In September, 1882, Charles
H. Van Fossen and Felix G. Head bought the material of the office
and began the publication of the Daily Evening Globe, which was con-
tinued for a time.

The American Citizen, formerly established at Topeka, Kas., was
moved to Kansas City, Kas., July 26, 1889. It is a six-column folio,
all printed at home, and is published by the American Citizen Publish-
ing Company, with W. T. McGuinn, editor, and George A. Dudley,
business manager. These gentlemen are colored, and look well to the
interest of their race. The present circulation of the Citizen is 2,500,
a very good showing for a paper published by the colored people. In
politics it is independent.

The Kansas Catholic, now in its eighth volume, was established at
Leavenworth, and published there until April, 1890, when it was
moved to Kansas City, Kas., where it is now published weekly by the
Kansas Catholic Publishing Company. It is a very neat six-column
quarto, containing much reading matter, consisting of general, local
and foreign news, all being printed in the best of style.

The Weekly Press, a seven-column folio, is published in the
Armourdale division of Kansas City. Kas., by J. B. Whipple, editor
and proprietor. Its forty-ninth number dates July 12, 1890, thus
showing that it was established in July, 1889.

The Kansas City Journal, Times, Globe and Star, all published in

JiL

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 379

Kansas City, Mo., each publish a special edition for 'circulation in
Kansas City, Kas. The local news of the latter city appears in these
editions. The Journal is published by the Journal Company. Frank
M. Tracy, business manager, and S. C. Britton, editor.

The business manager of the Times is W. C. McBride, and the
editor is M. B. Maret. Of the Globe, A. C. Caley is business man-
ager, and R. A. Pope, editor. The business manager of the Star is
M. C. Krarup, and the editor is Mrs. Belle Ball.

In pursuance to notice given in the Wyandotte newspapers, a mass
meeting of the citizens of Wyandotte County was held at Dunning' s
Hall in Wyandotte City on September 4, 1875, for the purpose of dis-
cussing the subject, and devising ways and means to assist in building
up the commercial metropolis of the State of Kansas at the mouth of
Kansas River. V. J. Lane was appointed chairman, and N. McAlpine
secretary. After the chairman stated the object of the meeting, Col.
S. A. Cobb introduced the following resohition, which passed unani-
mously :

" Resolved, That a meeting of the citizens of the State of Kansas be
held at Dunning' s Hall on Thursday, the 23d of September, in the
afternoon and evening, and that prominent citizens of the State be
invited to address the meeting and become our guests."

On motion the following live persons were appointed as an invita-
tion committee: H. W. Cook. John B. Scroggs, R. B. Failor, V. J.
Lane and San ford Haff.

On motion a committee on arrangements and finance was appointed,
consisting of S. A. Cobb, Mayor Hains, Mayor Teed, of Kansas City,
Kas., E. L. Bartlett, Dr. Thorne, Thomas Vick Roy, L. H. Woods, J.
S. Stockton and W. J, Buchan. A committee of live on assessment
and taxation was then appointed as follows: L. H. Wood, Mayor
Hains, H. M. Northrup, J. J. Keplinger and N. McAlpine.

The following is a copy of the call published in the papers for a
meeting to be held September 23, 1875:
" To the People of Kansas:

" The citizens of Wyandotte County, mindful of the fact that the
increasing commerce of the Missouri Valley must concentrate some-
where on the bank of our great river for general exchange, and build
up a great emporium at the jsoint where such general exchange shall
be made, believe that the necessities of trade, the laws of nature,
facts not to be denied, have fixed that point at the mouth of the Kan-
sas River. This commerce, for the most part, is the product of the

^? 6 r- -^ ©PV

industry, the intelligence and the resources of Kansas; the city which is
its offspring they believe should be on Kansas soil, subject to her laws
and tributary to her wealth. They believe that city may be planted
by wise and judicious action on the part of the people within the
borders of their State. They believe a generous interchange of senti-
ment on the spot by citizens of Kansas, with their fellow-citizens who
reside at the mouth of the Kansas River, will convince the most skep-
tical and win him to their belief as to where that great mart shall be
seated. Therefore, in no spirit of rivalry, as citizens of Kansas,
solicitous of her welfare, they cordially invite as many of the people
of their State as can attend a public meeting, to be held at Wyan-
dotte on Thursday, September 23, 1875, in the evening, to consider
the subject. To such as come they pledge a hearty welcome to their
homes."

This invitation met with a very liberal response, there being 300
of the representative men of the State in attendance at the meeting
on September 23. These guests were met at the depot by the citizens
and escorted through the principal streets of the city in carriages.
The following counties were represented by delegates in person: Doug-
las, Riley and Davis on the west; Leavenworth on the north; Johnson
Miami and Bourljon on the south; Franklin, Anderson and Allen on
the southwest; and Jefferson on the northwest. The following coun-
ties sent words of encouragement by letter: Shawnee, Crawford, Coffey,
Linn, Osage, Pottawatomie, Saline, Ellis, Republic, Ellsworth and Atch
{son. The press was represented by W. H. Miller, of the Kansas,
City Journal; S. M. Foid, of the Kansas City Times; H. Wilcox, of
the Kansas City News and Chronicle; R. B. Taylor, of the Wyandotte
Gazette, and V. J. Lane, of the Wyandotte Herald.

The ladies had decorated Dunning" s Hall where the meetings were
held. Col. S. A. Cobb was elected president, and the following gentle-
men, vice-presidents: Gen. W. H. M. Fishback, of Johnson County;
Theodore C. Bowles, of Franklin County; Hon. John T. Lanter, of
Anderson County; Hon. L. J. Worden, of Douglas County ; Dr. George

B. Wood, of Wyandotte County; Judge Williams, of Jefferson County ;
Gen. John A. Halderman, of Leavenworth; Hon. George A. Crawford,
of Bourbon County; Judge Hiram Stevens, of Miami County; Judge
N. F. Acres, of Allen County; and Hon. John K. Wright, of Davis
County. Speeches were made by Col. Cobb, Senator Harvey, Gov. J. P.
St. John, Gov. George A. Crawford. Gen. J. A. Halderman. Hon. T.

C. Bowles, Hon. John K. W^right. Hon. L. J. Worden, Judge Williams,

Hon. W. J. Buchaa and others. Letters and telegrams all giving en-
couragement to the movement were read from other parties, among
whom were Hon. J. J. Ingalls, J. K. Goodin, Byron Sherry, Gov. Os-
born, George W. Yeale, Chancellor Marvin, John Frazer, P. I. B.
Ping and H. P. Dow.

The following is an extract from the speech of Col. Cobb, which
vividly portrays the natural advantages of the location at the mouth of
Kansas River, for the commercial metropolis of the State:

" The terminus of one great line of railroad, the Kansas Pacific,
whose trade extends westward beyond our limits to the mining camps
of Colorado, and the grazing fields of New Mexico. On the north of
this line of railroad, her supplies and goods minister to the wants of
the settlers in the counties of our State, lying west of the district
drained by the Central Branch Union Pacific and the St. Joseph &
Denver Railroads, until she reaches the neighborhood of the Burling-
ton & Missouri River Railroad of Nebraska. Then extending west-
ward under the advantage of the pro rata bill passed at a recent ses-
sion of Congress, by way of Denver and Cheyenne, her influences are
felt, as the competitor of Omaha, on the plains of Wyoming and the
valleys of Utah. On the south side of the Kansas Pacific Railroad
she has practically no competition in the field of trade, and her busi-
ness men solicit exchange over the whole expanse of country south-
ward to the northern boundary of Texas, and westward to the limits
of settlement this side of the Rocky Mountains. Confining the ques-
tion to our own State, the railroads which extend westwardly from the
mouth of the Kansas River drain every section of Kansas, except the
counties of Leavenworth, Atchison, Doniphan. Nemaha, Brown. Mar-
shall, Jackson and portions of Jefferson, Pottawatomie and Washing-
ton. The Republican branch of the Kansas Pacific, which extends
northward up the valley of the Republican River to Clay Center, in
Clay County, takes the trade of the northwestern counties, which
would otherwise go to the Central Branch or St. Joseph & Denver
roads to the line of the Kansas Pacific. The Kansas Midland road
between this point and Topeka, and the line between here and Ottawa,
are the lines over which the trade of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe, and the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston roads will respect-
ively pass with the same facility with which it will to Atchison or
Leavenworth.

" The people of Wyandotte County contend that the mass of trade
carried on bv these roads will follow the valley of the Kansas River

"-^

382 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

to its junction with the Missouri. They contend, other things being
equal, that the companies owning these roads can afPord to deliver
freights cheaper at the mouth of the Kansas River than at any other
point on the Missouri, because the grades of the roads are uniform and
descending after they touch the valley of that river, while to carry their
freight to the original terminus requires them to pass over elevated tracts
of country with heavy gradients. But things are not equal. Any great
city in the Missouri Valley will be tributary either to the greater
cities of St. Louis or Chicago. The State of Kansas is by nature
tributary to St. Louis. To redistribute passengers and freight bound
to St. Louis from the principal portion of Kansas northward of this
point, is to take them out of a direct line for redistribution. But
the mass of the producers of Kansas will not engage in the business of
redistribution. They will dispose of their products where they can find
the buyers and seldom go farther from home in quest of them than to the
Missouri Valley. The people of this county contend that they will
go there where the greatest competition may be had, and that to day
no man can question that the grain elevators, the packing-hovises
and the stock-yards at this point all demonstrate that the buyers of
the staple products — of grain and cattle — are far more numerous
than anywhere else on the Missouri River. They contend that the
mouth of the Kansas Piver is the natural site for the metropolis of
the Missouri Valley, and that all efforts to build it elsewhere will be
futile. They believe that the failure of other places to become the
metropolis is owing to no mistake on the part of the citizens of those
places, but they simply lacked the thousand and one natural advan-
tages that this spot so happily possesses. It is said ' facts are born,
not made.' So of those great marts that spring up in the march of civili-
zation across the continent. The people of Kansas would gladly have
made their metropolis elsewhere, but this spot was born to be it, and
they must accept the fact.

" In all I have said I have not spoken of the eastern connections of
railroads with this point. To name them is suflScieut. The Missouri
Pacific and St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern furnish rival lines and
some competition to St. Louis. The Hannibal & St. Joseph, and the
Kansas City & Northern to Moberly, and then the Missouri, Kan-
sas & Texas supply like facilities to Chicago. Keeping in view
these competitive lines alone, no other place in the valley of the Mis-
souri approaches these advantages."

Fifteen years have passed away since this meeting was held and

;n^

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 383

tbe predictions of Col. Cobb and others were made regarding the
future developments of the State of Kansas and of its metropolis,
Kansas City. A glance at the map of this great State will show that
the Kansas Pacific (now the Union Pacific), as it follows up the valley
of the Kansas River and crosses the State to the westward, is fed
with other railroads and branch lines, especially on the north side,
as the river is fed by its tributary streams, and thus it reaches all
the northern part of tbe State, except a few counties in the northeast
corner thereof, and Kansas City has direct communication with all
of these couuties by way of the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern
and the Missouri Pacific lines. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, as
it passes up the Kansas River on the south side, and swings south-
westerly across to the Arkansas Valley, with its many branches and
connections, gives Kansas City direct communication with nearly all
of the southern part of the State.

In short, all parts of the State not directly reached from Kansas
City by the two great trunk line railways above named and their
branches and connections are reached by way of the Missouri Pacific
system, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf, and other railways.
In the last fifteen years the eastern half of the State has become a
network of railroads, as predicted by Mr. Cobb in his address, and
since proven by the developments: " The mouth of the Kansas River
is the natural site for the metropolis of the Missouri Valley." And most
assuredly Kansas City, Kas. , has become, beyond dispute, the me-
tropolis of the State. However, some things are lacking in this modern
city, the acquisition or building of which will greatly advance its
business and growth. One of these is the providing of more and better
hotel facilities, and the establishing of wholesale commercial houses
able to compete with those on the Missouri side of the State line.

In 1886 the cities of Wyandotte, the former city of Kansas City,
Kas., and Armourdale, together with many additions and other
territory, were consolidated into one city under one government,
according to the governor's proclamation, of which the following is a
triie copy:

^jr

GOVERNOR'S PROCLAMATION.

Declaring Kansas City, Armoitrdale and Wyandotte a city of the

FIRST CLASS, UNDER THE NAME OF KaNSAS CiTY.

State of Kansas, )
Executive Department, \

ToPEKA, March 6tb, 18S6.

" Whereas, It appears by certificate of the County Clerk of Wyan-
dotte county, Kansas, bearing date of February 16, 188B, and filed in
this Department on the 19th day of February, 1886, that the following
cities, to wit: Armourdale, Kansas City and Wyandotte, neither of
which is a city of the first class, lying adjacent to each other, and not
more than three-fourths of one mile apart, have attained, and that the
aggregate population of said adjacent cities, as shown by the last cen-
sus, taken under the laws of this State, now is fifteen thousand and
upwards: and

" Whereas, It further appears by said certificate of the County Clerk
of Wyandotte county, Kansas, that the boundaries of said city of Ar-
mourdale are as follows: ' Commencing at the center of section twen-
ty-two (22), township eleven (11) south, range twenty-five east; thence
west twenty-six hundred and forty (2640) feet; thence north twenty- six
hundred and forty(2640)feet; thence east thirteen hundred and twenty
(1320) feet; thence north eight hundred and fifty-four (854) feet;
thence east three hundred and thirty (330) feet; thence south six hiin-
dred and sixty-one (061) feet; thence east to the quarter section line
running north and south through the center of section fifteen (15) in
said township and range; thence north eight hundred and forty (840)
feet; thence east one hundred and seventy-five (175) feet; thence north
four hundred and fifty- five (455) feet; thence east three hundred and
five (305) feet; thence north one hundred and sixty (160) feet; thence
east five hundred and eighty (580) feet; thence south ten hundred and
thirty-one (1031) feet; thence south twenty-two degrees (22) and fiftv
minutes (50) east, three hundred and twenty-five (325) feet; thence south
eight hundred and ninety (8*J0) feet; thence south thirty-two degrees
(32) west, twenty-two hundred and twenty-one feet to the place of be-
ginning,' having a population of fifteen hundred and eighty-two (1 582),
as shown by the last census taken under the laws'of this State; that the
boundaries of said city of Kansas City are as follows: • Commencing
in the middle of the Kansas River, at a point where the same is inter-
sected by the dividing line between sections fourteen (14) and twenty-
three (23), in township eleven (11) south, range twenty-five (25) east;

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 385

thence east to the line dividing the states of Kcausas and Missouri;
thence north along said State line to the middle of the Missouri River:
thence np said Missouri River northwesterly to a point where the
middle of the Kansas River intersects the same; thence up the middle of
the Kansas River to the place of liegiuning,' and that said city has a
population of thirty- eight hundred and two (3802), as shown by the
last census, taken under the laws of this State; that the bounda-
ries of said city of Wyandotte are as follows: 'Commencing on the
eastern boundary of the State of Kansas where the same is intersected
by the Second Staudard Parallel; thence west along said Standard Par-
■ aUel to the northwest corner of section four (4), in township eleven (11)
south, and range twenty-five (25) east; thence south to the southwest
corner of section nine (9), in said township and range; thence east to
the southeast corner of said section nine (9); thence south to the north
line of the Right of Way of the Union Pacific Railway Company (Kan-
sas Division); thence easterly along the north line of said Right of
Way fourteen hundred and fifty ( 1450) feet; thence north thirty de.
grees (30) east, nine hundred and forty- five (945) feet; thence south
eighty-one degrees (Sl°) and forty-five minutes (45) west, one hun-
dred and fifty (150) feet; thence north fifteen hundred (1500) feet;
thence east to the east line of the Right of Way of the Union Pacific
Company (Kansas Division); thence south along the east line of the said
Right of Way to the quarter section line running east and west through
the center of said section fifteen (15), township eleven (11), range
twenty-five (25) east; thence east to the center of the Kansas River;
thence to the middle of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers to the point
of beginning,' and that said city has a population of twelve thousand
and eighty-six (12,086), as shown by the last census, taken under the
laws of this State.

■'Now, Therefore, I, John A. Martin, Governor of the State of Kan-
sas, do hereby declai'e and proclaim, under and by virtue of the author-
ity vested in me by an act of the Legislature of the State of Kansas,
entitled ' An act to provide for the consolidation of cities,' approved
February 11, 18S6, and an act supplemental and amendatory thereof,
approved February 18, 1886, the said citizens of Armourdale, Kansas
City and Wyandotte, to be consolidated, and to be one city, and a city
of the first class, under the name of Kansas City, subject to the pro-
visions of an act entitled ' An act to incorporate and regulate cities of
the first class, and to repeal all prior acts relating thereto,' approved
March 4, 1881. and amendments thereto, and that the boundaries of

38(3 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

the said consolidated city are and shall be the boundary line aroiiad
the outside of the said several cities so consolidated, as follows:
' Commencing on the eastern boundary of the State of Kansas where
the same is intersected by the Second Standard Parallel: thence west
along the said Standard Parallel to the northwest corner of Section
four (4), in township eleven (11) south, of range twenty-live (25)
east; thence south to the southeast corner of section nine (9) in said
township and range; thence east to the southeast corner of said sec-
tion nine (9); thence south to the southwest corner of the northwest
quarter of section twenty two (22), said township and range; thence
east to the center of said section twenty-two (22); thence north thirty-
two degrees (32°) and thirty-six minutes (36') east, twenty-two hun-
dred and twenty- one (2221) feet; thence north eight hundred and
ninety (890) feet; thence north twenty-two degrees (22°) and forty-
five minutes (-tS') west, three hundred and twenty-live (325) feet;
thence north to the quarter section line running east and west through
the center of section fifteen (15). township eleven (11) south, range
twenty-five (25) east; thence east to the center of the Kansas River;
thence up along the center of said river to the section line between
sections fourteen (14) and twenty-three (23), in said township and
range; thence east to the State liae between the States of Kansas
and Missouri ; thence north along said State line to the center of the
Missouri River; thence up said Missouri River to the place of begin-
ning.'

" And I further declare and proclaim that the first election of officers
of said consolidated city shall be held on Tuesday, the 6fch day of
April, A. D. 1886, in the manner provided by the acts authorizing
such consolidation.

" In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and
caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State. Done at the city of
Topeka on the day and year first above written.

By the Governor: Jno. A. M.4.rtin."
E. B. Allen, Secretary of State.

By W. T. Cavanadgh, Assistant Secretary of State."

The original proclamation, as executed by the governor and duly
certified by the Secretary of State on March 6, 1886, is on file in the
office of the clerk of Wyandotte County.

"^ fe r ' -« bK*

..t.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

387

CHAPTER XX.

The Consolidated Cities— Review of the History of Consolidation
—First and Subsequent Officials Since the Consolidation-
Present City Officers— Wards AND Precincts— The City's Grkat
Real Estate Interests— A City' of Homes— The City's Financi;s
— Wonderful Progress of Street Improvement — Banks — Incoi;-
poratedCompanies— Educational Progress AND Statistics— The
Young Men's Christian Association— Reasons for the City's
Growth — Kansas City's Manufacturing Status— Its Great
Grain Market and Gigantic Elevators— Facts andFiguues from
Reliable Sources OF the City's Remarkable Progress AND GuEAT
Interests— The Census- A Suggestion of the Future— Armoui:-
dale's Progress— The May'or's Annual Message. 1890.

Extremes of fortune are true wisdom's test,

And he's of men most wise who bears them best. — Cumberland.

i,OTICEABLE as an incident in the "meeting of
extremes ' " is the fact that the smallest county
in the State of Kansas, Wyandotte, contains
the most populous city in the State, Kansas
City. Out of the more than 100 counties, not
_^ '^ only is Wyandotte the smallest in extent, but
^^^ she has less than one-half the area of the next
largest county, Doniphan. When the geogra-
pher, by public command, cut up Kansas into so many
rigid squares or counties, he was no doubt puzzled what
to do with that little tongue of land jutting out into the
expanse of water formed by the junction of the Kan-
sas and Missouri Rivers; so, to simplify matters, he
made a separate county of it. Thus was formed little
Wyandotte, the smallest, most populous and wealthiest
county in the State. New York County stands to New
York State in the same position, and Kansas City
stands in the same relation to the State of Kansas as
the eitv of New York stands to her State— its commercial capital.

i "V

Kansas City was formed in 1886 by a consolidation of live municipali-
ties — Wyandotte, Armourdale, Armstrong, Riverview and Old Kansas
City. This latter town was formed by the overflow of Kansas City in
Missouri across the State line, and really forms a connecting link be-
tween what is known in modern parlance as the two Kansas Cities —
Kansas City, Kaa., and Kansas City, Mo. — really one city, divided
only by a State line. We say really one city because they are joined
together, not alone in interest, but actually so, many buildings on the
State line standing really in two States.

First, let us go back to history, for Kansas City has a romantic
history, dating its origin to these aborigines of the soil, the red Indians.
That observant writer. Max O'Rell, said, in his travels in our country,
he had met many people with American traits, but had not yet seen a
typical American. Some writer has recently said the typical American,
if he ever comes, will closely resemble the Indian who grew up, una-
dulterated by outside influence, through centuries on our soil. Kansas
City, Kas., then has strong claim to be called typically American,
for she has her origin from the Indiau's settlement, and many of her
oldest inhabitants have Indian blood.

Of the Ave towns out of which Kansas City, Kas., has been erected,
Wyandotte was the oldest and principal one. The facts which go to
make up its early history form the singular spectacle of a nation of
Indians, brought to a high state of intelligence through the faithful
labors of missionaries, joined to their own innate brightness of percep-
tion, leading the van of civilization in a community, and tirst giving
to the whites, who succeeded them, the blessings of religious instruc-
tion and the privileges of a free education. De.scendants of the great
Iroquois family, the Wyandottes were driven from their old home in
the war with the Six Nations, more than two centuries ago. After
sufPering various migrations, we find them, having remained faithful to
the United States, after the War of 1812, placed on a reservation in
Ohio. Then began the labors of the Methodist missionaries among
them, one of whom reduced the language of the Wyandottes to writ-
ing. The nation obtained to a high degree of education and refine-
ment, and many intermarriages took place with the white people.
They were moved to Kansas in 1843, numbering at that time 700 per-
sons, and settled on the present site of Kansas City, calling their vil-
lage by their name. They intermingled and intermarried with the
whites, became active traders, and grew quite wealthy. In 1857 a
party of four gentlemen from the East formed, with three of the In

^ s r-

dians, a town company, and proceeded to lay off streets, avenues and
lots. A rush of people to the new town, not only from this country,
but from Europe, at once took place, and while buildings were being
put up as rapidly as carpenters could be procured, the people lived in
tents. Before the close of the year, Wyandotte was a town of some
1,400 population. In January, 1859, the town was erected into a city.

The early history of old Kansas City is obscure and unimportant.
In fact, the site of the first houses erected here, about 1857-58, is now
covered by the Missjuri River. The town, which was settled by little
better than squatters, was some time known as the Armstrong Float;
thev gained their livelihood mostly by fishing. The Kansas City Town
Company was formed in 1868; the streets were named after the orig-
inal proprietors of the town. In 1871 the Armour Packing House
was removed from Kansas City, Mo., to its present site, and this was
the begining of the enormous amount of business now carried on here.
The town was incorporated in 1872, and for a long time looked to
Kansas City, Mo., for fire protection. This portion of the city con-
tains the two largest interests in Kansas City— the stock yards and
Armour's Packing House — and other great enterprises.

That part of the city formerly known as Armourdale, named for
the Armours, the packers, was platted in 1880, and incorporated as a
town in 1882. and came into the consolidation in 1886, as already stated.
It is the site of large manufacturing interests, presenting peculiar
advantages to the manufacturer. Here are located Kingan & Co. , the
largest exporters of hog-stuffs in the United States; also the largest
dressed beef establishment, three other beef and pork packers, glue
works, two fertilizer factories, two foundries, an agricultural imple-
ment factory, the headquarters of two large oil companies, refining
works and numerous smaller concerns.

Armstrong and Kiverview are located about the center of the city,
and still retain their names distinctive of the locaHty. These several
formerly separate towns are rapidly being consolidated into one city,
a city of over 50,000 inhabitants. The new streets being graded, in-
stead of running east and west, pointing to Missouri, run north and
south, thus connecting all sections. Tbe great thoroughfare in a short
time will be Seventh Street, running from the extreme end of the city
on the Missouri, on the north, to the Kansas, or Kaw, on the south.
It crosses the railroads, which formerly divided Armourdale from
the northern part of town, by an all-steel bridge, 1,600 feet long,
twenty eight feet above the tracks, with a twenty- foot wagon way, a

^f^

-fei.

390 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

foot path, and twelve feet allowance for the electric motor car. The
bridge was built of the most expensive material, the best engineers
being engaged. It was paid for, one-third by the city, one-third by
the Rock Island Railroad Company and one-third by the Union Pa-
cific Railroad Company.

Such is the story of Kansas City's beginning, growth, consolida-
tion and subsequent wonderful development, told briefly and quickly —
the merest sketch of former chapters, yet sufficiently full to serve as
the introduction to the history of the Kansas City of today, the me-
tropolis of Kansas, characterized by everything that appeals to the
admiration of enterprising Americans.

The first officers of the consolidated cities, to serve until April,
18S7, were: Mayor, T. F. Hannan; city clerk, J. J. Moffitt; city
treasurer, F. S. Merstetter; city attorney, W. S. Carroll; city engineer,
J. H. Lasley; street commissioner, John Wren; fire marshal, J. K.
Paul; city marshal, John Sheehan; police judge, M. J. Manning.

The city officials from April, 1887, to April, 1889, were: Mayor,
T. F. Hannan; city clerk, J. J. Moffitt; city treasurer, F. S. Mer-
stetter; city attorney, W. S. Carroll; city engineer, A. W. Boeke;
street commissioner, M. J. Manning; fire marshal, J. K. Paul; chief
of police, O. K. Serviss; police judge, P. K. Leland; police commis-
sioners, W. A. Simpson, George W. Bishop, R. W. Hilliker.

The city officials at the present time are as follows. They were
chosen to serve from April, 1889, to April, 1891: Mayor, W. A. Coy;
city clerk, Benjamin Schnierle; assistant city clerk, B. L. Short; city
counselor, L. W. Keplinger; city attorney, A. H. Cobb; city treas-
urer, Charles P. Denison; city engineer, A. W. Boeke; street com-
missioner, C. Patterson; fire marshal, W. J. Hill; license inspector.
James Ferguson; stock inspector, L. F. Martin; commissoner of elec-
tions, W. B. Taylor; city assessor, Frank Mapes; chief of police, S. S.
Peterson; police judge, P. K. Leland; police commissioners, W. A.
Simpson, president; J. W. Longfellow, secretary; George W. Bishop.

The councilmen of the city of Kansas City, Kas., for 1886-87,
were: C. Bohls, W. T. Brown, William Clow, E. Daniels, T. Flem
ing, Charles Hains, S. McConnell, James Phillips, Con. Butler and
J. C. Martin.

The councilmen for 1887-88 were: Charles Bohls, T. D. Kelley,
George McLean, L. F. Martin, William Miller, James Phillips,
Charles Scheller, James Sullivan, James Varner, J. C. Martin. Joseph
Peavev and J. C. Welsh.

^ (f r- -~^ s \

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 391

The conneilmen for 1888-89 were: Charles Bohls, H. C. Darby,
Winfield Freeman* R. W. Hilliker, George McLean, L. F. Martin,
Joseph Peavey, James Phillips, J. I. Packard, Charles Scheller, James
Sullivan and J. C. Welsh.

The conneilmen for 1889-90 were: H. C. Darby. M. J. Faherty,
R. W. Hilliker, Walter Norton, Joseph Peavey, J. I. Packard, W. A.
Pyle, Charles Scheller, James Sullivan, D. W. Troup, S. S. Peterson
(succeeded by P. B. Hopkins), and Winfield Freeman (succeeded by
James A. Young).

The conneilmen for 1890-91 are: James Sullivan, M. J. Faherty,
Charles Scheller, George C. Eaton, D. W. Troup, James A. Young,
Frank M. Tracy, J. L. Jones, R. W. Hilliker, Walter Norton, W. A.
Pyle, Harvey Allen.

The wards and precincts of the city are thus officially designated
and described:

The First Ward comprises all that portion of the city of Kansas
City, Kas., lying east of the Kansas River. First Precinct— All that
portion of the First Ward lying south of the center line of the extension
of Kansas Avenue east of the Kansas River, including the localities
known as Toad-a-Loup and Greystone Heights. Second Precinct —
All that portion of the First Ward lying between the center of Lyon
Avenue (formerly Fifth Street), on the north and the extension of
Kansas Avenue on the south. Third Precinct— All that portion of the
First Ward lying north of the center of Lyon Avenue, extended from
the Kansas River to the Missouri River.

The Second Ward comprises all that portion of the city lying north
of the center of old Ohio Avenue extended, and east of the center line
of Fifth Street prolonged to the city limits on the north. Fourth
Precinct— All that portion of the Second Ward lying south of the cen-
ter line of Minnesota Avenue and east of the center line on Fifth Street.
Fifth Precinct— All that portion of the Second Ward lying south of
the center of Virginia Avenue, east of the center line of Fifth Street,
and north of the center line of Minnesota Avenue. Sixth Precinct —
All that poition of the Second Ward lying north of the center of Vir-
ginia Avenuje, and east of the center line of Fifth Street, prolonged to
the northern city limits.

The Third Ward comprises all that portion of the city lying west
of the center line of Fifth Street, prolonged to the northern city lim-
its, and north to the center line of State Avenue. Seventh Precinct —
All that portion of the Third Ward north of the tracks of the Chelsea

-^^

392

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

Park branch of the elevated railway. Eighth Preoinct— All that por-
tion of the Third Ward lying south of the tracks of the Chelsea Park
branch of the elevated railway, and east to the center line of Ninth
Street. Ninth Precinct — All that portion of the Third Ward lying
south of the tracks of the Chelsea Park branch of the elevated rail-
way, and west of the center line of Ninth Street.

The Fourth Ward comprises all that portion of said city lying be-
tween the center line of State Avenue on the north, the center line of
Fifth Street on the east, the center line of old Ohio Avenue on the
south and the city limits on the west. Teath Precinct — All that por-
tion of the Fourth Ward lying west of the center line of Ninth Street.
Eleventh Precinct — All that portion of the Fourth Ward lying east of
the center line of Ninth Street, and north of the center line of Tau-
romee Avenue. Twelfth Precinct — All that portion of the Fourth
Ward lying east of the center of Ninth Street and south of the center
ofTauromee Avenue.

The Fifth ^^'ard comprises all that portion of said city lying be-
tween the center line of old Ohio Avenue, and old Ohio Avenue ex-
tended, on the north, the Kansas River on the east, the main line
tracks of the Union Pacific Railway on the south, and the city limits
on the west. Thirteenth Precinct —All that portion of the Fifth Ward
lying east of the center line of Mill Street, and north of the tracks of
the Riverview branch of the elevated railway. Fourteenth Precinct —
All that portion of the Fifth Ward lying east of the center of Mill
Street, and south of the tracks of the Riverview branch of the ele
vated railway. Fifteenth Precinct— All that portion of the Fifth
Ward lying west of the center line of Mill Street.

The Sixth Ward comprises all that portion of said city lying south
of the main line tracks of the Union Pacific Railway and west of the
Kansas River. Sixteenth Precinct — All that portion of the Sixth
Ward lying west of the center line of Coy Street (formerly Fourteenth
Street in Armourdale). Seventeenth Precinct — All that portion of the
Sixth Ward lying between the center line of Coy Street on the west,
and the center line of Fourth Street (formerly Seventh Street in Ar-
mourdale) on the east. Eighteenth Precinct — All that portion of the
Sixth Ward lying east of the center of Fourth Street.

Real estate since the consolidation has been one of the leading
interests in the city's commerce. From a small beginning, as an ad-
junct to the real estate business of Kansas City, Mo., it has attained
to such proportions, independently, that Kansas City, Kas.. now ranks

as oue of the leading real estate centers of the West. For several
years past the real estate transactions have aggregated nearly $1,-
.000,000 annually. The following are the transfers for 1889, as com-
pared with those of 1888:

ISSll. 188,S.

J«auary $ 915,000 $ 530.983

February 697,896 848,473

M'Tcli 638,094 545,408

April 699,336 790.168

May 974,367 933.330

J'liie 1,007,990 1,030,330

July 893,383 951,986

August 514.503 .533,371

September .505,383 433,851

October 514,605 603,839

November 1.343,066 1,387,371

December 900,001) 843,.536

Total $9,501,413 $9,399,634

Without doubt, the year 1889 marked the opening of a wonderful
era of building in Kansas City. Real estate, while commanding good
figures, is yet so low as to allow a very handsome profit to those who
build residences or business blocks, and for this reason houses of
all descriptions have arisen as if by magic in every portion of the city.
The safest and most conservative estimate of the number of buildings
erected during the past year is 3,000. at a total cost of $4,200,000, or
an average cost of $1,700 each. The portion of the city north of Min-
nesota Avenue contains at least 1,500 of the new buildino-s, while the
west and southwest and central portions contain the major portion of
the balance. On Minnesota Avenue alone $250,000 has been placed
into business blocks of the most substantial kind, which, as soon aa
completed, were immediately filled with first-class merchants, who
have been and are more than favorably impressed with the business
importance of Kansas City. August 5, 1889, a system of building
registration was instituted in the governmental department of the
city, under the supervision of the city treasurer, whereby the pro-
jector of a building is required to make application for a permit, giving
a description of the intended building and also its probable cost.
Quite a number of the buildings begun in the past year will not be com-
pleted until late this year, showing that besides being built with care
the buildings are immense in size.

The class of buildings that were erected in 1889 is far superior to
any built prior to this time, that is, taken as a whole. There are

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394 HISTOEY OF KANSAS.

some cheap buildings, but the majority of structures erected are sub-
stantial, well built and good looking. The old, and none too beauti-
ful, plain box and "L" style has been relegated to that obscurity
which it so richly merits, and houses and cottages of pretty design
and pleasing exterior have taken their places. Not only are the out-
side improvements noticeable, but a wonderful change has come over
the internal arrangement of the houses. They are modern in every
respect, and replete with the latest improvements, both artistic and
useful. In business houses the change has been equally as pro-
nounced and remarkable. Minnesota Avenue a very few years ago,
could boast of no office buildings that were such as should adorn a
principal street of a city like this, but a vast change has come over
the appearance of that thoroughfare. Nearly a quarter of a million
dollars was expended in buildings on this street during 1889, and
the structures erected are as handsome and substantial as any to be
found in the \Vest. One noticeable feature is the westward tendency
of the buildings, all of the new buildings of any size or importance hav-
ing been put up west of Fifth Street. Riverview and the South Side
have also come in for their share of new buildings, and a vast amount
of money has been expended in these localities.

The section of the city, however, in which the bulk of the build-
ing was done is north of Minnesota Avenue. The various additions
that adorn that part of the city are fairly alive with carpenters, brick-
layers, painters and plasterers. It is impossible to st'and at any point
without seeing from one to a dozen houses under process of con-
struction. A factor that has done much to build up and populate this
part of the city is the excellent system of rapid transit with which it
is blessed. The western and southwestern part of the city and the
central and southern parts have been aided in the same manner. Her
business future assured, Kansas City is becoming more and more a
city of homes. Men who have made fortunes and competencies here
are preparing to enjoy them here. The residence section of the city
is beinc extended in every direction in a most substantial and attract-
ive manner, while here and there large apartment houses further tes-
tify to the demand for homes. Many of the new residences are of the
most modern construction and ornaments to the city, as they would be
to any city of the country. Among the permits, too, are some for
the construction of business houses of a superior character. The
whole building record shows the substantial piogress of Kansas City
in the right direction, her home-building at last keeping abreast of

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 395

her business advance. The feature about the past year's business is
that so many small sales have been made. It would seem that the
mechanic, artisan and laboring man is providing himself with a home
in the consolidated city. Outside and suburban property figures
more largely in the transfers than anything else. It would be diffi-
cult to say that any one section of the surrounding suburban residence
property was favored in this respect more than any other.

In this city the cost of grading a street is borne by the property
owners whose lots abut on the street improved. The cost of curbing
and paving is borne by the property adjacent, extending to the middle
of the block. In both cases the cost of the improvement is assessed
against the property block by block. That is, each block pays for its
own improvement. The cost of improving the cross-sections of the
streets is jjaid by the city at large. When a street is improved, the
city issues internal improvement bonds, running ten years, and bear-
ing six per cent interest, for an amount sufficient to cover the cost of
the improvement. These bonds are sold at the market price, ranging
from II. OH to $1.02, and the contractor is j>aid out of the proceeds.
This amount is apportioned and assessed against each lot, or parcel of
land, according to its appraised value. The property owner may, if he
choses, pay the entire special tax assessed against his property as soon
as it is apportioned, and save the interest, six per cent; or if he does not
choose to do so, it is divided into ten equal installments, and assessed
against his property as taxes. In this way he has ten years in which
to pay for the improving of the street adjacent to his property. The
special improvement bonds are assumed by the city. They form a
part of the bonded indebtedness, and enter into the debt statements of
the municipality. The law allows the tax-payer to pay one-half of his
annual taxes on or before December 20 of each year, and the remain-
ing half on or before June 20 of the following year — really divides the
special taxes up into twenty semi-annual installments, still lightening
the burden of special improvements.

A careful compilation of the real estate statistics for the first half of
the year 1890 show that without the aid of booming times and easy
money the metropolis is going to rejaeat the tigures of last year.
Every city in the Union has, with few exceptions, experienced a period
of dullness in both business growth and real estate sales, but Kansas
City is holding her own and presents the tigures, 14,388,547, repre-
senting 1,403 transfers of realty since the year began. The average
amount of each transfer is $3,127.75, or a trifle larger sum than the

896

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

average of last year, which fact, together with the smaller sales
of this year, goes to show that the commodity is increasing in value.

The following table gives the figures of each week up to June 28 :

Week ending, 1890.

January 5. .
January 13. .
January 19. .
January 26. .
February 3..
February 9
February 16
February 33

March 3

March 9 . . ,

March 16

March 33. . . .
March 30. . .

April 6

April 13

April 30

April 37. . . .

May 4

May 11

May 18

May 35 ....

June 1

June 15

June 23

June 28

Total.

$ 37,635
157.831
136.598
160,900
113,400
140,191
238,313
130,400
235,397
303,176
303,411
375,960
300,049
241,100
210,3.57
105,72(1
337,900
154,840
141,001
167,674
130,653
340,101
131,406
115,905
112,010

14,388,547

The financial affairs of Kansas City are in an excellent condition.
Her bonds, issued for the purpose of paying for special improvements,
bearing interest at 6 per cent per annum, find ready takers in the
money market at a premium of from 2 to 2| per cent. The entire
bonded indebtedness of the city, including bonds aggregating $170,-
000, issued by the former cities of Wyandotte and Kansas City, Kas. ,
amounts to $1,670,749.86. Of this amount over $1,500,000 was
issued in payment of special improvements, which are paid by the
property- holders in the several taxing districts where the work, for
the payment of which the bonds were issued, was done. In most
States special improvement bonds do not enter into the debt statement
of the city. The assessed valuation of the property in Kansas City,
Kas., is $8,425,629.97. The average assessed valuation is considera-
bly less than one fourth of its real value. According to this estimate

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WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 397

the market value of the property would be in round numbers 140,000,-
000. Below is given the bonded indebtedness of the city:

Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railway

bonds f 30,000 00

Viaduct and bridge 30,000 00

Special assessment and internal improvement bonds. 1,464,044 OO

Total issued §1,. 524.044 00

Special assessment bonds ordered issued and sold,
but not registered 56,716 80

Total |1,. 580, 760 80

Bonds redeemed 80,550 00

Bonded indebtedness $1,. 500,210 80

In Kansas City, Kas., the rate of taxation, State, county and city,
is 45 mills, or 4| per cent. In the former city of Wyandotte the rate
is 51 J mills; in the former city of Armourdale the rate is 40 ^\
mills; in the former city of Kansas City, Kas., the rate is 42^\
mills. The average for the three portions which compose Kansas
City, Kas., is 45 mills, or 4J per cent on the assessed valuation.

During the past three years seventeen miles of streets have been
paved out of a total of -240 miles, while previous to that time about
three miles were paved, making a total of twenty miles of paved streets
in the city. The number of miles of streets graded within the same
period is 34.81. This has not only been the means of beautifying the
city and facilitating street travel, but it has increased the value of
property wonderfully. Two of the most important improvements are
now under construction — the viaduct over the Union Pacific and Eock
Island yards at Armstrong and the new bridge across the Kaw at the
foot of Foiirth Street. The construction of the sewerage system in
the Sixth Ward and the Splitlog Creek sewers cost an immense amount
of money, but they are very valuable improvements. There was ex-
pended by the city in 1889, almost 11,000,000 for public works, appro-
priated as follows:

Grading 607,134 cubic yards, 6.51 miles $101,739

Paving, 159,379 square yards. 6.66 miles 259,048

Curbing 63,007 lineal feet 6.16 miles 80,343

Sidewalks, 19.64 miles 33,639

Sewers .* 180,,578

Eigbtli Street Bridge (county) 60,000

Miscellaneous 96,785

Grand figures are they that show nearly a half million dollars
spent in obliterating the mud from the streets, placing instead the

398 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

splendid asphalt or cedar block paving. Man is not known by the
clothes he wears, yet a city is to be fairly judged by its streets. Dur-
ing the year 1889 the paving record reached the enormous total
of 35,235 feet, or 6.66 miles, for which the city paid in cash
$259,048. Streets once hilly in spots, with the inevitable mud hole
further on, have given place to veritable boulevards and wide aveniies.
The past year has seen the following streets and avenues brought
from disfigured homeliness into thriving and beauteous thoroughfares:
Bridge Street, from Riverside Avenue to the Kaw River; Central
Avenue, from Park to Eighteenth Street; Fifth Street, from Reynolds
Avenue to Bridge Street; Freeman Avenue, from Sixth to Seventh
Street: Kansas Avenue, from Railroad Avenue to the East Side city
limits; Minnesota Avenue, from Fourth Street to Eighth Street; Ohio
Avenue, from Seventh to Tenth Street; Osage Avenue, from Adams
to Twelfth Street; Seventh Street, from Ohio to Central Avenue, and
from Oakland to Parallel Avenue; Sixth Street, from Virginia to Par-
allel Avenue; Tauromee Avenue, from Sixth to Seventh Street; Or-
ville Avenue, from Sixth to Seventh Street. The era of sidewalk
building in the city was during the past year, when nineteen and one-
fourth miles were laid, costing $33,639.19, thus running the grand
total of street and sidewalk expenditures up to the stupendous amount
of 1424,769.03. To undertake the great amount of work done in this
direction during the past year reflects fir.st, great credit and enterprise
upon the citizens of Kansas City, and then upon the city engineer and
his assistant. With the coming year these officials' duties will not be
decreased, but on the contrary, they will be increased, by reason of the
improvements that are yet to be made in the streets of the city.

Ten lirst-class banks are located in this city with a combined capital
of over $1,000,000, and a paid-up capital of nearly $900,000. The bank
reports show a healthy state of affairs existing among these institutions,
which must be gratifying to all who have the welfare of the city at
heart:

Capital paid up .| 8.56,000

Surplus and undivided protits 172,097

Deposits 1,781,432

The following is the cash capital of the ten local banks :

Northrup Banking Company $100,000

Stock Yards Bank 200,000

First National 100,000

Wyandotte National 100,000

*^s

■ ^'^^ --'= ^'^

Exchange National 51,000

Aimourdale Bank 30,000

Citizens' Bank 25,000

Central Avenue Bank 27,600

Wyandotte I.oan and Trust Company 100,000

Fidelity Savings Bank 100,000

Total paid up capital ?833,600

These banking institutions are located and officered as follovv's:

Armourdale Bank, 410 Kansas Avenue, A. W. Little, president;
N. McAlpine, vice-president; J. R. Quarles, cashier; A. S. Lemtuon.
assistant cashier.

Central Bank of Kansas (The). Central Aventie. junction of Simp-
son Avenue, Samuel W. Day, president; R. W. Hilliker, cashier.

Citizens' Bank, 401 Kansas Avenue, C. E. Moss, president; S. D.
Beard, vice-president; S. S. Kirby, secretary ; J. J. Hovey, cashier.

Exchange Bank, 427 Minnesota Avenue, I. D. Wilson, president;
Charles Lovelace, vice-president; A. W. Little, cashier.

Fidelity Savings Bank, 551 Minnesota Avenue. J. D. Husted, pres-
ident; John Blomquist, vice-president; C. E. Husted, cashier.

First National Bank of Kansas City, Kas. , Minnesota Avenue,
southeast corner Sixth, D. R. Emmons, president; J. D. Husted. vice-
president: William Albright, cashier.

Kansas City Stock Yards Bank, Kansas City Stock Yards Exchange,
C. F. Morse, president; M. W. St. Clair, cashier; W. C. Henrici, as-
sistant cashier.

Northrup Banking Company, 501 Minnesota Avenue, H. M. North-
rup. president; A. B. Northrup, vice-president; K. L. Browne, cashier;
E. N. Lovelace, assistant cashier.

Wyandotte National Bank, Minnesota Avenue, northeast corner
Fifth, Isaac La Grange, president; A. N. Moyer, vice-president;
C. W. Trickett, cashier.

There are in the city the following incorporated companies, devoted
to real estate, investments, loans, mantifacturing, publishing and gen-
eral and miscellaneous interests.

Acme Investment Company, 531| Minnesota Avenue; D. E. Stoner,
president; George Stumpf, vice-president; C. G. Eaton, secretary
and treasurer.

Allcutt Packing Company, county road, between Osage and Kansas
Aventies; W. P. Allcutt, president; C. T. Allcutt, vice-president;
E. H. Allcutt, secretary and treasurer.

\fU r-

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400

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

American Land & Trust Company, 26 First National Bank Build-
ing; W. R. Stebbins, president; C. M. White, secretary and treasurer.

American Live Stock Commission Company, 04 and 65 Kansas
City Stock Yards Exchange; H. W. Creswell, president; Samuel
Lazarus, vice-president; Paul Phillips, treas. ; J. W. T. Gray, secretary.

Argentine Sand Company, Twenty-third and Kaw River bank;
T. T. Lewis, president; H. A. Blossom, secretary and treasurer; G.
W. Bransford, superintendent.

Armour Butterine Company, Levee, foot of State; K. B. Armour,
president; A. R. Turley, secretary.

Armourdale Foundry Company, Kansas Avenue, southeast corner
Adams; Robert Gillham, president; Gus. P. Marty, vice president
and treasurer; John Gillham, Jr., secretary and general manager.

Armourdale Heights Land Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J.
D. Husted, president; T. H. Rowland, vice-president; C. A. Al-
bright, secretary and treasurer.

Armourdale Safe Investment Association, 201 Kansas Avenue; J.
M. Enochs, president; C. F. Buchholder, secretary; W. J. Brouse,
treasurer.

George R. Barse Live Stock Commission Company, Kansas City
Stock Yards Exchange; G. R. Barse, president; George Holmes, vice-
president; J. A. Waite, secretary and treasurer.

Bonner Springs Town Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; D. R.
Emmons, president; J. D. Husted, secretary and treasurer.

Boujevard Investment Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. D.
Husted, president; T. H. Rowland, vice-president; E. M. Smith,
secretary and treasurer.

Boulevard Land Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. D. Husted,
president: E. M. Smith, secretary and treasurer.

Boulevard Park Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. D. Husted,
president; T. H Rowland, vice-president; E. M. Smith, secretary and
treasurer.

The J. H. Campbell Co., 24 Kansas City Stock Yards Exchange;
J. H. Campbell, president; J. F. Wares, vice-president; J. H. Mc-
Farland, secretary and treasurer.

Chelsea Investment Company, S Odd Fellows Building; D. M.
Edgerton, president; W. E. Barnhart, secretary.

Consolidated Electric Light & Power Company, corner Fifth and
Central Avenue; I. D. Wilson, president; Marcus Harris, vice-presi-
dent and treasurer; B. Schnierle, secretary.

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liUllAL MIDSUMMEU

Consolidated Iron Works Company, Fourth, near Central Avenue;
C. R. Griffith, Jr., president; S. J. Thomson, vice president; R. B.
Thomas, treasurer; T. O. Cunningham, secretary.

Dobyns & Fields Live Stock Commission Company, 60 Kansas City
Stock Yards Exchange; J. B. Dobyns, president ; Joseph E. Field,
secretary and treasurer.

Driggs Manufacturing Company, 15 and 17 Ewing; T. C. Driggs,
president; S. M. Stone, vice-president; E. R. Stone, treasurer; R. E.
Stone, secretary.

English & American Mortgage Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue;
Henry Seton Karr, D. R. Emmons, chairmen; G. L. O. Davidson, L.
T. Gray, secretaries; Eli H. Chandler, manager.

Evans, Snider, Buel Co., 16 and 17 Kansas City Stock Yards Ex-
change; A. G. Evans, president; Chester A. Snider, treasurer; A. T.
Atvyater. secretary.

Fish & Keck Co., 9 and 10 Kansas City Stock Yards Exchange;
G. O. Keck, president; F. O. Fish, secretary and treasurer.

Hopkins Planing Mill Company, Kansas Avenue, northeast corner
Adams; P. B. Hopkins, president; O. L. Miller, vice-president.

Husted Building Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. D. Husted,
president; T. H. Rowland, vice-president; E. M. Smith, secretary
and treasurer.

Husted Investment Company, The, 553 Minnesota Avenue: J. D.
Husted, president; F. D. Coburn, second vice-president; O. R. Burn-
ham, secretary.

International Mining Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; P. W.
Mikesell, president; G. W. Hunt, secretary; C. S. Rogers, treasurer.

Kansas Broom Manufacturing Company, The, llOBerger Avenue;
J. F. Frese. president and treasurer; C. O. W. Stolte, vice-president;

A. W. Lewis, secretary.

Kansas City Gas Light & Heating Company, 612 Minnesota
Avenue; Winlield Freeman, president; N. McAlpine, vice-president;
H. S. Smith, secretary and treasurer; J. F. Williams, manager.

Kansas City Glue & Fertilizer Company, Osage Avenue, corner
Adams; L. M. Darling, president; William Peet, vice-president; H.

B. Arnold, secretary and general manager; W. F. Wyman, treasurer;
G. R. Collins, superintendent.

Kansas City Ice Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; L. H. Wood.
president; S. E. Harness, treasurer and manager.

Kansas City Live Stock Exchange, State corner Sixteenth; H.

^f^

p. Child, president; Frank Cooper, vice-president; W. C. Henrici,
treasurer; R. P. Woodbury, secretary.

Kansas City Packing & Chase Refrigerating Company, Osage Ave-
nue, corner Baird; F. H. Odiorne, president; George E. Parker,
treasurer; A. F. Nathan, secretary.

Kansas City Refrigerator Car Company, east side James, opposite
Splitlog Avenue; George Fowler, president; G. A. Fowler, vice-presi-
dent; M. M. Vincent, secretary and general agent.

Kansas City Soap Company, 18 to 22 North Second; G. W. Hal-
lar, president; C. R. Hallar, treasurer; R. R. Kreeger; secretary.

Kansas City Stock Yards Company, State, corner Sixteenth; C. F.
Adams, Jr., president; C. F. Morse, general manager; E. E. Richard-
son, secretary and treasurer; H. P. Child, superintendent; Eugene
Rust, assistant superintendent.

Kansas City Water Company, 813 North Sixth: G. E. Taintor,
president; L. M. Lawson, vice-president; Robert Weems, secretary
and treasurer.

Kansas City & Wyandotte Pressed Brick Company, west side
Fifth, one block south of " L" road; J. F. Perdue, president; D.
W. Longwell, vice-president; Charles F. Gilmore, general manager; W.
K. Reeme, secretary and treasurer.

Kansas Desiccating & Refining Company, east side Adams, be-
tween Wyoming and Shawnee Avenues; C. F. Morse, manager; E. E.
Richardson, secretary and treasurer; C. W. Bangs, superintendent.

Kansas Elevator, 657 Adams; E. D. Fisher, president; A. S.
Pierce, vice president; R. E. Belch, secretary and treasurer.

Kansas Paving & Construction Company, 538 Minnesota Avenue;
George Jenkins, president; G. A. Libbey, secretary.

Kansas Triphammer Brick Works. Waverly Avenue, corner North
Second; Tillman Puetz, Jr., president; E. F. Andrews, vice-presi-
dent and manager; J. Kraemer, secretary.

Kansas & Missouri Land & Investment Company, 553 Minnesota
Avenue; T. A. Scott, president and treasurer; R. H. Hamilton, vice-
president; Mac Armstrong, secretary.

Kaw Valley Investment Company, 558 Minnesota Avenue; J. D.
Husted, president; W. H. Humphrey, vice-president; E. M. Smith,
Secretary and treasurer.

Kerr Refractory Composition Company, 411 Minnesota Avenue;
R. McAlpine, president; M. W. Clay, vice-president; N. McAlpine,
treasurer; G. R. Clay, secretary; T. B. Kerr, general manager.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY. 403

Keystone Iron Works Company, Central Avenue, corner Fourth;
James Smith, president; T. B. Bullene, vice-president; L. B. Bul-
lene. secretary and treasurer.

London Heights Home & Improvement Company, 51 Wyandotte
National Bank Building; C. P. Pierce, president; L. H. Wood,
vice-president; N. A. Mann, secretary.

McNair Land Company, 9 Odd Fellows Building; D. E. Tyler,
secretary.

Merriam Park Land & Improvement Company, 523 Minnesota
Avenue; S. Dingee, president; L. H. Dingee, secretary.

Missouri Valley Coal & Mining Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue;
J. H. Austin, president; T. B. George, secretary and treasurer.

Orchard Place Land Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. D.
Husted, president; E. M. Smith, secretary and treasurer.

Riverside Improvement Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. I.
Reynolds, president; N. McAlpine, vice-president; H. H. Reynolds,
secretary and treasurer.

Riverview Land & Improvement Company, 8 Odd Fellows Build-
ing; Robert Gillham, president; D. D. Hoag, secretary.

Saratoga Springs Town Company, 523 Minnesota Avenue; S. Din-
gee, president; L. H. Dingee, secretary.

Sunnyside Homestead Company, 8 Odd Fellows Building; D. D.
Hoag, president; Winfield Freeman, secretary.

Swift & Co., North Berger Avenue, west of stock-yards; Gr. F.
Swift, president; E. C. Swift, vice-president; L. Swift, treasurer; D.
E. Hartwell, secretary.

The B. F. Pratt Consolidated Coal & Cooperage Company, Osage
Avenue, corner Belt Railway; B. F. Pratt, president; A. Bloch, vice-
president; E. D. Pratt, treasurer; T. L. Pratt, secretary.

The Gazette Company, publishers Kansas City Gazette, 720 North
Sixth; G. W. Martin, president; J. J. Maxwell, secretary; J. F. Tim-
mons, D. J. Griest, D. E. Cornell, directors.

The Whittaker Brick Company, Fifth, northwest corner New
Jersey Avenue; W. H. Smith, president and treasurer; J. F. Getty,
secretary; T. Dwight Ives, manager; George C. Little, superintend-
ent.

United States Detective Bureau, 49 Wyandotte National Bank
Building; F. J. Brown, president; J. E. Pritchard, secretary.

West Lawn Land Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; J. D. Hus-
ted, president; E. M. Smith, secretary and treasurer.

404 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

White Church Town Site & Improvement Company, 553 Minne-
sota Avenue; D. D. Hoag, president; \\. H. Young, secretary; F.
C. Woestemeyer, treasurer.

Wyandotte Coal & Lime Company, 553 Minnesota Avenue; L. H.
Wood, president; J. B. Scroggs, vice president; U. V. Widener, sec-
retary; W. P. Overton, treasurer; C. K. Wood, auditor, S. E. Har-
ness, general manager.

Wyandotte Consolidated Land Company, 8 Odd Fellows Build-
ing; D. M. Edgerton, president; D. D. Hoag, secretary.

Wyandotte County Coal & Mining Company, 553 Miami Avenue;
W. P. Overton, president; W. H. Young, secretary.

Wyandotte Loan & Trust Company, Minnesota Avenue, northeast
corner Fifth; W. S. Beard, president; G. L. Kroh, vice-president; A.
N. Moyer, secretary; C. W. Trickett, treasurer.

The public schools of Kansas City, Kas., bring up their portion of
the grand advancement of the '" Consolidated Cities." " Nineteen schools
show an aggregate of 6,000 pupils, while 2,500 eligible children, in
addition to this number, do not attend school. This would bring the
total up to 8, 500 with a full attendance. To receive an accurate idea
of the phenomenal growth of the public school system of the city, the
statistics of 1887 should be considered, when less than 2, 100 scholars
were enrolled, utilizing the efforts of forty teachers. At present 112
instructors are necessary, showing a precentage of gain of 160 percent
in teachers, while the enrollment percentage is nearly 200. It re-
mains to be ascertained whether or not these startling figures have ever
been equaled by any city in the United States, after the city had first
attained a population of 10,000. The amount paid in salaries to the
teachers in aggregate reaches the sum of $50,000. Other incidental
expenses of the nineteen schools bring the total expenditure for the
year up to $68,000 in round numbers. Owing to existing State laws,
the board of education has been subjected to most severe financial
straits, and it was with difficulty that the present high percentages
were maintained by reason of this lack of funds. During 1889 about
$80,000 of the building fund was absorbed by new sites and school
edifices.

The course of study pursued is definitely outlined by weeks' work,
and is very uniformly and successfully carried out by an efficient corps
of teachers. The most conspicuous innovation is perhaps in the course
of study in numbers. What may be called the combination method has
been introduced by the board of education, and is being successfully

e) ' ~ •" ^

taugbt in all the schools. The results are that the pupils add, subtract,
multiply and divide rapidly and accurately, doing away with old fash-
ioned methods. The present board of education has accomplished a
large amount of work in all the territory over which it has control. The
names of the gentlemen are as follows: William Tennell, W. T. Mead,
Benjamin Franklyn, M'. S. Beard, Joseph H. Gadd, James S. Gibson,
Capt. J. P. Northrup, E. N. Towner, E. G. Wright, G. W. Loomis,
J. S. Perkins and B. G. Short. The officers of the board are J. H.
Gadd, president; Benjamin Franklyn, vice-president; J. P. Root,
clerk: C. A. Dennison, treasiirer.

A worthy and useful adjunct to the churches of the city is the
Young Men's Christian Association, under the following management:
Officers — D. E. Tyler, president; John W. Bunn, vice-president; B.

F. Berry, treasurer; W. T. Taylor, recording secretary. Directors —
D. E. Tyler, John W. Bunn, C. W. Trickett. W. H. Lewis, H. M.
Sparrow, W. T. Taylor, B. F. Berry, W. S. Hannah, C. L. Simpson,

G. W. Loomis, James Johnson, J. E. "Wilson. Dr. J. C. Martin;
George N. DeWolf, general secretary.

It will be of interest to many to know what has been done
recently toward the erection of a new Y. M. C. A. building in this
city. For some time past the members of- the central branch have
been making plans and preparations, and it was during the month of
May that the first steps were taken. A meeting was called to see how the
people in the immediate vicinity felt about taking hold of the new enter-
prise, viz., the erection of a three story Y. M. O. A. building, 50x110
feet, to be located at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Cen-
tral Avenue, to contain a gymnasium, hall, library and reading room,
and to cost about S20,000. At this meeting more than 200 assembled
in the Central Branch Y. M. C. A. hall. Enthusiastic speeches were
made on the subject, and $1,800 was raised. A committee was
appointed to solicit subscriptions and report at a meeting to be held
the following week. The committee then went out among the busi-
ness men of the city and met with excellent success. Every one
seemed to take an interest in the new building. At the next meeting
the committee reported that over $3,000 had been subscribed, and two
new members were added to the committee to solicit funds. The
committee of management have felt for some time past that it was a
disgrace for a city of almost 50,000 inhabitants not to have a Y. M.
C. A. building, while other cities much smaller than this throughout
the State were supporting one; but they fully realized the obstacles to

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406 HISTORY OF KANSAS.

be overoomo in lociitiug a building which wouKl ho convenient to all
in such a scattered city as this. They made a special study of the
iiuestion, and at last, after looking the ground over, they found no
more favorable location than the northeast corner of Si.xth Street and
tlontral Avenue. The new electric road now under construction to
Armourdale will make this an accessible point for the people of the
South Side, and the '"L " road will bring the people from the north,
east and west parts of the city within one block of the site selected.
The committee feel that the city as a whole will take special pride in
the new building and make it a great success. They have shown
their belief by letting the contract for the excavating, which is almost
completed, and are now making arrangement for the foundation. Mr.
G. W. Loomis has been selected as the architect, and is now at work
on the plans for the new liuilding. The committee feel proud of
securing the services of Mr. Loomis. as he has lately made a special
study of the Y. M. C. A. buildings located in all the large cities
V)etween Kansas City and the Pacific coast, and he is full of new ideas
which he will apply to the new building, thus making it the most com-
plete in the West. There are three branches of the association here
— the lliverview, room 10 Simpson's Block; that at 500 Minnesota
Avenue, and that at 503 Kansas Avenue. The general secretary
describes the field of labor thus: " The thousands of young men of our
city; the mercantile young men of our offices and stores; the young
men of our homes; the young men in our large packing houses at
Armourdale and old Kansas City; the railroad men at Armstrong; the
German and Swedish young men; the colored young men."

The growth of the city for the past few years is not to be com-
pared with that of boom towns which rise, flourish and collap.se in a
single year. People have kept coming in all the time to engage in
profitable business or to obtain employment at respectable wages. The
increase in population, according to official statements published by
the department of State, has been rapid and steady. The value of
real estate changing hands has been constantly increasing, until in
ISSy it was only a few thousand below if 10, 000,000, and this without
any sign of wild -cat speculation. There has never been anything to
equal the building here. Magnificent churches and school buildings,
imposing business blocks, and handsome residences have sprung up
on every hand. Over 3,000 buildings, costing in round numbers
$4,250,000, were erected in 1889. An army of men have been em-
))loyed in grading and paving the streets, constructing sidewalks,

? 6 ^ -1 3) \

sewers, bridges, culverts and viaducts for the public good. Improve-
ments have been made in the street railway lines that insure first-class
facilities for rapid transit. The railway companies whose lines enter
the city have made extensive improvements in their terminals, and
there are now a dozen schemes on foot that will involve an expendi-
ture of millions of dollars in the city. In all lines of business there
has been the greatest activity. Many new firms came in during the
past year to share in the trade, and several magnificent stores were es-
tablished. The banks, also, have had a successful career, and local
bankers have experienced little difficulty in securing funds for Kansas
City, Kas., patrons at reasonably good rates. The progress since con-
solidation has been remarkable, but the signs betoken even greater
achievements for the future. Capitalists and business men have
learned of the city's natural advantages and of the fact that there is
no better field for safe investments.

Kansas City, Kas.-, contains the bulk of those manufacturing
interests which are the back bone of the two cities — the packing interests.
The packing interests not only were the origin of Chicago's growth,
but made her the queen of the West; so have the same interests made
Kansas City her rival, and these packing-houses are located on the
Kansas side of the line. What drew the packing men here was the
Kansas and Missouri Rivers, into whose immense bosoms they could
unload their offal with impunity, although to day this is not such a
necessary consideration, as all the offal is now worked up into some
marketable commodity. Kansas City, Kas., to-day is growing faster,
not only than Kansas City, Mo., but than any other city in the West.
It is about the only one of them all that was not disappointed by the
census of 18'J0. When the great "boom," which was headed by the
enterprise and energy of Kansas City, Mo., visiting this whole Western
country, had subsided, Kansas City, Kas., did not pause in her onward
march, partly because the packing- houses, dependent for their supply
on the whole country west to the Rockies and south into Mexico, and
drawing their custom from the world, continued to increase their busi-
ness, every year cheapening the manipulation and bettering the quality
of their products. The world has been calling recently for cheaper
beef and better pork; Kansas City has nerved herself to supply these
wants, and to-day disputes with Chicago her supremacy as the cattle
and hog center of the United States. This is the principal reason for
the continued growth of Kansas City, Kas. Another reason has been
the city's wonderful real estate trade.

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408

HISTORY OF KANSAS.

As a manufacturing center, Kansas City leads all other cities in
Kansas. The combined manufacturing capital of Topeka, Wichita,
Leavenworth, Atchison and Fort vScott is not as large as that of Kan-
sas City, if the reports of the State Bureau of Statistics are to be re-
lied upon. Not only this, but of all the manufacturing in the State,
more than one-third is done in Kansas City. This is, perhaps, sur-
prising, but it is true. Under the forthcoming reports of Hon. Frank
Betton, the State statistician, which is now in the hands of the printer,
the figures representing the business of forty two of the leading estab-
lishments in this city are given as follows:

Capital employed $13,118,000

Value of year's product 36,300.000

Cosi of raw material 32,388,000

Amount paid for labor 3.554,000

Average number of employes 4,936

These forty-two manufactories do not include the immense shops of
the several railway lines having terminals in this city, which give em-
ployment to 3,500 men, whose annual wages amount to about $2,000,-
000. Wonderful developments in the manufacturing industry were
made during 1889 by the expenditure of almost 11,000,000 in the erec-
tion of new establishments and in increasing the capacity of the older
ones. The great Turner Smelter, west of the city, will employ from
400 to 500 men when under operation, and the annual product will
amount to almost $2,000,000. The immense additions made by Swift
& Co. to their dressed beef plant, the operation of a for some time
idle plant by the Kansas City Packing Company, and the improvements
made by other packers, will also increase the product and give employ-
ment to several hundred more men. The Turner Furniture Factory
has also been started, with twenty-five men employed. The Kansas
City Glue Works and the Kansas City Desiccating Works have also
been rebuilt, while other smaller manufactories have been started the
past year that will add materially to the volume of manufactured
products sent out from this city. The various industries and the num-
ber of each in the county are herewith given with considerable accuracy :
Cement works, 2; corrugated iron, 1; radiator works, 1; silver smelter,
1; terra cotta works, 1; brick clay, -t; basket and box factories, 3;
broom factories, 3; clothing factory, 1; cooperage, 2; desiccating works,
3; foundries and machine shops, 6; gas works, 1; harness factory, 1;
haystackers, l;oil, 1; packinghouses, 8; planing mills, 3; soap fac-
tories, 3; soda water factory, 1; stock-yards, 1; vinegar works, 2;

wagon shop, 1; wooJenware company, 1; iron bridge works, 2; wire
works, 1 ; flour mills, 2.

As Kansas City has come to rival Chicago as a cattle market, so is
she ambitious to vie with her in handling grain. The Rock Island
Railway has been the first to take advantage of the opportunity
afforded by the bottom lands for the erection of elevators, and the past
winter completed, at the intersection of Packard Avenue and its tracks,
one of the largest elevators in the State, 40x100 feet, with a net ca-
pacity of 125.000 bushels, at a cost of 160,000. It will not be used
for storage purposes, but simply for transfer business. The location
IS excellent for convenient transferring, and the connections with
other roads from the interior of Kansas and switching facilities are
good.

One of the wealthiest men of Kansas City, Mo., has under contem-
plation the erection of an elevator, to cost 1300,000, on a piece of
property he owns between the Keystone Iron Works and the yards of
the Missouri Pacific Railway. The building will be stupendous in
size, and will be fitted with the most improved machinery of the age.
The old screen process for loading and unloading cars will be done
away with, and the "suction " process adopted. It will be ready it
is hoped, for 1890 crops. Early in the summer of 1890 a local paper
published the following: " The superstructure for the immense grain
elevator on Carr Avenue was commenced yesterday. Fifty men were
placed at work on the building. The foundation, which has been com-
pleted, is 200x100 feet, and seventy-five carloads of stone were used
m Its constriiction. The building will be a mammoth structure— 165
feet high above the foundation. It will take 400,000 bricks to build
the smoke-stack. There will be 136 grain bins in the elevator.
Twenty-five carloads of lumber were received yesterday, but it will take
300 carloads more to complete the great building. " As soon as one
story is completed, the machinery for that part of the building will at
once be placed in position, so as to avoid the delay usually suffered in
getting the machinery in position. It is promised, and most confi-
dently expected, that the elevator will be in operation August 15. An
army of men will be employed in the construction of the building."

About the same time a Kansas City, Mo , paper thus referred to a
probable addition to Kansas City's milling facilities:

"Negotiations are pending for the erection of a mammoth flour-
ing-mill in the Sixth Ward, between the Union Pacific and Rock Is
land yards. It is stated that the same parties that are interested in

the big elevator on Carr Avenue belong to this compaay. The con-
tract will probably be awarded next week, and the mill will be ready
for operation by January 1."

Another reference was the following:

"The announcement in the Times yesterday morning that a large
flouring-mill would be located on the south side right away was the
talk of the town yesterday. It was stated more authoritatively yester-
day that Pillsbury, the flour king of the nation, would locate a
flouring mill in the city within four months, with a capacity of 1,000
barrels per day. The location will be within a stone's throw of the
immense elevator being erected by Pillsbury and other.s, near the Swift
packinghouse. Since the English capitalists bought out Pillsbury at
Minneapolis, he has had his eye upon Kansas City. Pillsbury realized
that Kansas Ci