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Gc 978.101 At21 1227224
M. L.
GENEALOCY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01095 0548
e
Magaly
HISTORY
OF
ATCHISON COUNTY
KANSAS
BY
SHEFFIELD INGALLS
ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY LAWRENCE, KANSAS 1916
LIBRARY WASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1
1227224
PREFACE
In the preparation and compilation of this history, no effort has been made to interpret the logic or spirit of events that surrounded the birth and progress of Atchison county. The work was undertaken with the idea of com- piling a narrative plainly told, of the people and the institutions here. I was interested in putting in permanent form chronologically the events that have transpired in the past sixty years, that have made for the political, social, moral and commercial development of the county, but, had I realized in advance the many hours of labor and patient study it required, the work of completing the task in six months would not have been attempted. I am very deeply conscious of the imperfections of the completed work, but had there been more time for research and study, much might have been included that does not appear.
It would be ingratitude if no acknowledgment were made at the outset. of the obligation I am under to George J. Remsburg for the assistance he has rendered me. Without his unfailing courtesy, kindness and help I should never have been able to do the work at all. His ability as a local historian is truly marvelous. He wrote. two chapters of the history and contributed most of the matter touching upon the founding of cities and towns. It is to be regretted that the condition of his health prevented him from undertaking the work which I have so imperfectly done.
Acknowledgment is also due George A. Root of the State Historical Society, who has rendered me invaluable assistance, and to the Atchison Daily Globe, from whose files I gathered much important data. Nor can I fail to give proper credit to Andreas' History of Kansas, from which a wealth of information has been secured. D. Anna Speer, county superintendent, collected for me most of the historical matter relative to the schools of the county and Professor Nathan T. Veatch was more than kind in preparing for me a sketch of the Atchison city schools.
And my dear mother, a loyal resident of Atchison since July, 1859. intimately identified with its history and growth for fifty-seven years, has visualized to me as no other could, the story of the early days. Remarkable as a mother, loved and adored by all her children, she is no less remarkable
SURNAME FILE
5
PREFACE.
as a woman, stalwart, rugged and buoyant. She lived her young life with the pioneers of Atchison, and now in the fullness of her years she looks over the past, so full of pleasures, tribulations and sorrows, with gladness and resignation, and faces the future with a determined spirit and a brave heart.
To the ministers of the various churches of Atchison and to Professor Erasmus Haworth and Charles H. Taylor, the county farm agent, and to many other good people of Atchisn, I entertain sentiments of the deepest appreciation, and if any of them ever undertakes the work of writing a his- tory, I shall gladly render them any service in my power.
SHEFFIELD INGALLS.
Atchison, Kan., March 6, 1916.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Abell, P. T. 295
Adams, John P. 488
Adams, Mary A. 584
Adams, William
584
Adams, S. W.
520
Atchison County Court House
57
Atchison County High School, Effing-
ham
274
Ballinger and Wife, S. E. 648
Ballinger, Julia H. 600
Ballinger, Thomas E. 600
Barber, Moses
672
Barber, Mary
672
Beard and Family, Frank 704
Blodgett, Thomas L. 624
Boyington, Home of Frank W. and Julia 584
Burbank, E. G. 520
Burrows, C. H.
544
Bush, William H. 464
Buttron, Henry and Family
472
Carnegie Library, Atchison 289
Challis, William L. 307
Cheseborough, Ellsworth 193
Christian Church, Atchison 249
Cirtwill, Jennie 712
Cochrane, Dr. W. W. 307
Commercial Street, Atchison
66
Conlon, Charles J.
488
Deutsch, Julius 520
Dorssom, George 464
Du Bois and Wife, Lewis P. 768
Eagles' Home, Atchison 330
Effingham Street Scene III
Elks' Club House, Atchison 329
Falk, Charles H. 464
First Church of Christ, Scientist 255
Forest Park, Atchison 80
Fox, Jared C.
408
Glick, George W.
351
Graner's Annual Sale 785
Graner, Gottlieb 784
Graner, H. C. 785
Graner Homestead
784
Graner, Martha
784
Graner, W. H.
785
Griffin, L.
680
Gundy, Charles T.
560
Ham and Wife, Martin W.
608
Hansen, H. C.
520
Hart, C. C. 792
Harvey, Albert B. 440
Harwi, Alfred J. 416
Hazel, Ernest C. 744
Highfill, Thomas 704
Hines, Michael J. 164
Hooper, Daniel E. 616
Hospital, Atchison
57
Hughes, Bela M.
193
Ingalls, John J.
392
Ingalls School, Atchison
279
Ingalls, Sheffield-Frontispiece
Jackson, William A.
488
Jackson Park, Entrance 172
Jewell, L. M.
536
Johnson, George H. T.
456
Kaaz, Julius 688
Keirns, Gail Maxine 568
Keith, U. S. 544
Keithline, Andrew 432
King, S. S.
560
Kingman, S. C.
295
Kuhn, Julius
592
Laird, . Britamore
736
Laird, Marcus J.
736
Lane, Jim
189
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Mangelsdorf Building
312
Martin, Col. J. A. 297
Masonic Temple, Atchison 327
Seaton, John 376
Sharp, Harry L. 512
Sharpless, U. B.
560
Simmons, O. A.
800
Speer, D. Anna 776
Muscotah School Building
108
Muscotah Street Scene 107
St. Benedict's Abbey, Atchison 263
St. Benedict's College, Atchison 291
Storch, George
448
Sutter and Wife, Fred
752
Sutter, Fred, Residence of
753
Sutter Homestead
810
Thompson and Wife, George W.
664
Thompson, Matilda
720
Trimble, Roy C.
188
Voelker, C. M.
560
Plummer and Wife, T. O.
606
Pomeroy, S. O.
189
Potter Street Scene
124
Potter School House
I26
Post Office, Atchison
35
Presbyterian Church, Atchison
250
Presbyterian Church, Effingham
II2
Remsburg, George
504
Remsburg, John E.
504
Sanders, B. F. 568
Scarborough, William 200
Stringfellow, Gen. B. F.
297
Newcomb, Don C.
424
Newcomb, D. C., Residence of
426
Old High School Building, Atchison
268
Orr, James W.
360
Orr, J. W., Residence of 362
Orphans' Home, General View 23
Orphans' Home, Main Building 19
Overland Freighting
16
Perdue, Edward
576
Waggener, Balie P.
368
Walker, Claudius D.
100
Wards of the State 29
Wilson, Charles
511
Wilson, Mary K.
544
Wolf, Rt. Rev. Innocent
264
Y. M. C. A. Building, Atchison
57
Million, George 200
Morrow, James G.
384
Mt. St. Scholastica's Academy, Atch-
ison
286
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY.
Fossils-Evidences of Early Animal and Plant Life-Geological Ages -Rock Formation-Glacier Period-Minerals Pages 17-20
CHAPTER II.
PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD.
Evidences of Paleolithic Man-An Ancient Fortification-Aboriginal Village and Camp Sites-The Ingalls and Other Mounds-Pages 21-24
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN HISTORY.
Harahey, an Indian Province of Coronado's Time-The Kansa Nation -Bourgmont's Visit in 1724-Council on Cow Island in 1819- The Kickapoo Indians Pages 25-30
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
Coronado in 1541-The Bourgmont Expedition in 1724-Perin Du Lac-Lewis and Clark-First Fourth of July Celebration- Major Stephen H. Long-Cantonment Martin-Isle au Vache -- Other Explorers-Paschal Pensoneau-The Old Military Road -- The Mormons Pages 31-36
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
CHAPTER V.
TERRITORIAL TIMES.
Territory Acquired From France in 1803-Organization of the Terri- tory-Kansas-Nebraska Act-Immigration to Kansas-Territorial Government-Free State and Pro-Slavery Conflict-First Elec- tion-Secret Political Organizations-Border War Activities and Outrages-Contests Over Adoption of Constitution-Kansas Ad- mitted to the Union Pages 37-63
CHAPTER VI.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY AND CITY OF ATCHISON.
One of the Thirty-three Original Counties-City of Atchison Located- Town Company-Sale of Lots-Incorporation of Town-Early Business Enterprises-Organization of County-Commercial Growth-Freighting-First Officers-Free State and Pro-Slavery Clashes-Horace Greeley Visits Atchison-Abraham Lincoln Makes a Speech Here-Great Drouth of 1860-City Officials .. .. Pages 64-83
CHAPTER VII.
TOWNS, PAST AND PRESENT.
Sumner, Its Rise and Fall-Ocena-Lancaster-Fort William-Ar- rington-Muscotah-Effingham-Huron - Old Martinsburg- Bunker Hill-Locust Grove-Helena-Cayuga-Kennekuk- Kapioma-Mashenah-St. Nicholas-Concord-Parnell-Shan- non-Elmwood-Cummingsville - Eden Postoffice - Potter- Mt. Pleasant-Lewis' Point-Farley's Ferry Pages 84-128
CHAPTER VIII. THE CIVIL WAR.
The Issue Between Early Settlers-Influx of Free State and Pro- Slavery Partisans-Early Volunteering-Military Organiza- tions-Threatened Invasion from Missouri-Political Societies -Jayhawkers-Cleveland's Gang-Lynchings-Atchison Coun- ty Troops in the War-Price's Attempted Invasion . Pages 129-150
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
CHAPTER IN.
NAVIGATION.
Pioneer Transportation-Early Ferries and Rates-Famous River Boats-Steamboat Lines to Atchison-Steamboat Registers. ..
Pages 151-157
CHAPTER X.
OVERLAND FREIGHTING.
Atchison as an Outfitting Point-Freighting Companies-Principal Routes-Stage Lines-Overland Mail Routes-Ben Holladay- "Butterfield's Overland Dispatch"-Time to Denver-Tables of Time and Distances on Various Routes-Statistical. .... Pages 158-173
CHAPTER XI.
RAILROADS.
Early Railroad Agitation-The First Railroad-Celebrating the Ad- vent of the Railroad-Other Roads Constructed-The Santa Fe -The Atchison & Nebraska City-The Kansas City, Leaven- worth & Atchison-The Rock Island-The Hannibal & St. Joseph-The First Telegraph-Modern Transportation. . Pages 174-185
CHAPTER XII.
REMINISCENCES OF EARLY PIONEERS.
D. R. Atchison-Matt Gerber-J. H. Talbott-William Osborne- John W. Cain-W. L. Challiss-George Scarborough-Samuel Hollister-John Taylor-John M. Cromwell-Luther Dicker- son-Luther C. Challiss-George W. Glick-W. K. Grimes- Joshua Wheeler-William Hetherington-William C. Smith- John M. Price-Samuel C. King-Clem Rohr-R. H. Weight- man-Case of Major Weightman Pages 186-212
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
CHAPTER XIII.
AGRICULTURE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
An Agricultural Community-Scientific Farming-Farmers, the Aristocracy of the West-Modern Improvement-Topography -Soil-Statistics Pages 213-216
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRESS.
Influence of Newspapers-Part Played by the Early Press-Squat- ter Sovereign-Freedom's Champion-Champion and Press- Pioneer Editors-Later Newspapers and Newspaper Men .... Pages 217-233
CHAPTER XV. BANKS AND BANKING.
Early Day Banking-Pioneer Financiers-The Oldest Bank-Pri- vate, State and National Banks-Atchison County Bankers and the Development of Banking Institutions Pages 234-244
CHAPTER XVI. CHURCHES.
Methodist-Christian - Presbyterian - Baptist - Salem Church- German Evangelical Zion Church-First Church of Christ, Scientist-St. Patrick's, Mt. Pleasant-Trinity Church, Episco- pal-St. Mark's, English Lutheran-St. Benedict's Abby-First German Evangelican Lutheran Church Pages 245-265
CHAPTER XVII.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Establishment of the Public School System-Pioneer Schools and Early Teachers-Districts-Statistics-Atchison County High School-County Superintendents of Public Instruction-Atchi- son City Schools-Private Schools-Mt. St. Scholastica's Acad- emy-Parochial Schools-Midland College and Western Theo- logical Seminary-St. Benedict's College Pages 266-292
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
CHAPTER XVIII.
BENCH AND BAR.
Early Mecca of Legal Talent-Organization of Judicial District- Early Judges-Prominent Pioneer Lawyers-Members of the Atchison County Bar Pages 293-301
CHAPTER XIX.
MEDICAL PROFESSION.
First Physicians - Early Practice - Pioneer Remedies - Modern Medicine and Surgery-Prominent Physicians and Surgeons- Atchison County Medical Society . Pages 302-310
CHAPTER XX.
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL.
Much Wealth and Enterprise Abound-Manufacturing-Milling- Extensive Wholesale Hardware and Grocery Establishments- Planing Mills-Various Jobbing and Retail Interests. . . . Pages 311-317
CHAPTER XXI.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS.
Atchison Postoffice-Court House-County Hospital-Young Men's Christian Association-State Orphans' Home-Atchi- son Public Library-Atchison Hospital-Masonic Temple ....
Pages 318-327
CHAPTER XXII.
SOCIETIES AND LODGES.
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks-Fraternal Order of Eagles-Atchison County Protective Association-Secret Socie- ties-Catholic Societies Pages 328-333
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE AFRO-AMERICAN RACE.
Early-day Conditions-Their Advancement-Prior Dickey-Henry C. Buchanan-Eugene L. Bell-Charles Ingram-Charles J. Ferguson-Henry Dickey-Dr. Frank Adrian Pearl, M. D .- Dr. W. W. Caldwell, M. D. Pages 334-344
CHAPTER XXIV.
OFFICIALS.
County, Township and School Officers Pages 345-350
CHAPTER XXV.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
INDEX
Abner, John W.
534
Brown, George L. 837
Adams, John P. 488
Brown, Thomas 452
Adams, Stark W.
524
Brown, Walter E. 519
Alkire, Charles L. 726
Bullock, Edmund 8.17
Allen, Edmond W. 755
Burbank, E. G. 520
Allen, Joseph W. 476
Burrows, Charles H. 547
Allison, Ralph A. 751
Bush, William H. 464
Anderson, George V. 836
Bushey, Calvin 871
Arensberg, L. C.
611
Buttron, Henry 472
Armstrong, James L. 733
Buttron, Jacob
728
Arthur, Joseph N. 422
Atkin, Paul 859
Calvert, Alexander H. 747
Calvert, Presley H. 8.18
Bailey, Willis J.
882
Baldwin, Royal
830
Cirtwill, Jennie
712
Ballinger, Thomas E.
600
Ballinger, Samuel E.
648
Clem, William J. 406
Barker, Charles E.
Barker, O. O.
761
Cloyes, Marshall J. 571
Barnes, Asa
715
Collett, W. B.
612
Barry, John H. 181
Collins, Davis W.
832
Bean, John H. 708
Conlon, Charles J.
494
Beard, Frank
704
Conlon, John F. 495
Beckman, Carl L. 382
796
Coupe, Joseph
375
Belz, John
884
Best, Aaron S.
379
Beyer, David
822
Beyer, John
731
Bilderback, Allen T.
738
Dawdy, Drennan L. 808
Binkley, Fred
852
Deutsch, Julius
523
Bishop, Frank W.
876
Donnellan, William R. 538
Bishop, Robert F.
596
Dooley, James 613
Blair, Albert H.
454
Dorssom, George 168
Blair, John L. 586
Drimmel, John 854
Blodgett, Thomas L. 624
Du Bois, Lewis P. 768
Boos, Nicholas 699
Duncan, John E. 620
Boyington, Julia E. A. 584
Bradley, Lewis 819
Dunlap, Rienzi M. 767
Brockett, Benton L.
637
Dysinger, Holmes
72.1
Clapp, Alva 417
Barber, Herbert J.
672 682
Cleveland, Richard B. 83-1
Cline, Thomas L. 656
Babcock, O. M.
591
Chatfant, W. D. 727
Chandler, Charles A. 716
Cortelyou, Luther 757
Behen, James E.
Cummins, Barney
115
Curtis, Benjamin P.
531
Davis, Cyrus E. 170
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Evans, Aaron B. 749
Hawk, Lafayette T. 539
Hawk, Rutherford B. 868
Falk, Charles H.
467
Hazel, Ernest C. 744
Fankhanel, John
635
Hekelnkaemper Brothers 804
Ferguson, Charles W. 581
Hendee, George E. 429
Ferris, John 734
Henderson, William
535
Fiechter, Samuel E. 711
Hetherington, Wirt 510
Finnegan, Thomas
647
Highfill, Thomas 706
Fleming, John
604
Higley, Clem P. 806
Flynn, J. F.
743
Hines, Michael J.
465
Forbriger, Robert
658
Hixon, Charles L. 577
Fox, Jared C.
408
Holmes, James I. 841
Frable, Thomas
359
Fuhrman, Charles H. 460
Fuhrman, Rinhold
502
Horan, Michael J. 50I
Horner, Thomas E. 527
Garside, James H. 880
Gault, Thomas O.
195
Gibson, George W. 823
Hubbard, William E.
807
Gibson, Joseph E.
529
Hubbard, William S. 759
Gigstad, Knud G. 439
480
Gilmore, Earl A.
415
Hutson, William T.
730
Glattfelder, Henry
741
Glick, George W.
351
Ingalls, John J. 392
Goodwin, George
833
Ingalls, Sheffield 632
Intfen, Theo. 645
Jackson, Horace M. 353
Jackson, William A. 490
Jackson, Zaremba E. 356
Griffin, Lawrence
680
Jewell, Lumas M. 5.36
Grimes, Robert L.
642
Johnson, Charles H. 458
Gundy, Charles T.
565
Johnson, George H. T. 456
Guthrie, Warren W.
483
Jones, Earl V. 582
Hackney, Hiram H. 660
Kaaz, Julius 688
Ham, Bishop K. 608
Kammer, Karl A. 570
Ham, W. Perry
702
Kanning, Christ 644
Hamon, Alferd J. 820
Kaufman, Fred W. 781
Hansen, H. C. 521
Keith, Uri S.
544
Harvey, Albert B. 440
Keithline, Andrew
432
Harwi, Alfred J. 416
Keithline, Charles J.
630
Harwi, Frank E. 419
Kelly, Edward J.
635
Hart, Charles C. 792
King, Richard E. 788
Hartman, Fred 797
King, Samuel S. 564
Hartman, William 828
Kistler, William D. 430
Hastings, Z. S. 436
Klein, Martin 442
Hawk, John D. 670 Kloepper, Louis 580
Hulings, Mark H. 605
Hunn, Frank J. 824
Gragg, James R.
542
Graner, Henry C.
787
Graner, William H.
784
Greenawalt, Joseph C.
778
Griffin, John
821
Howe, Edgar W. 8.44
Hubbard, Lewis H.
815
Gigstad, Ole G.
Hooper, Abraham 616
Hooper, George R. 867
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Koester, Frederick W. 551
Kramer, John A. 883
Pike, Napoleon B. 516
Pinder, Robert 675
Pitts, E. P. 634
Plummer, Thomas O. 696
Potter, Thomas J. 677
Power, Grace E. 718
Price, John M. 811
Raterman, John L. 559
Redmond, George W. 689
Remsburg, George J. 508
Remsburg, John E. 504
Reynolds, John A. 838
Robinson, Charles W. 650
Royer, Boyd 814
Rudolph, Harrison W. 598
Ryan, William
879
McAdamı, William 399
Mccullough, Edward B. 599
McInteer, John 651
Schapp, William 622
Schiffbauer, Henry 862
Scholz, George 526
Scholz, John A. 517
Mangelsdorf, August 856
Mangelsdorf, Frank A. 858
Mangelsdorf, William 850
Markwalt, Amel 556
Martin, Sidney 393
Mayhew, Albert E. 372
Miller, John O. A 791
Moeck, John 790
Moore, June E. 701
Morrow, James G. 384
Myers, Charles 552
Nass, John H. 722
Smith, W. H. 473
Newcomb, Don C. 424
Smith, Wilson R. 427
Niemann, Henry 780
Snyder, Mark D. 574
Speck, A. S. 6.40
Speer, Andrew 710
Speer, D. Anna
776
Speer, William F. 846
Stanley, Wilfull A. 497
Stever, Abram 434
Stoddard, John 748
Storch, George 448
Peery, Rufus B. 557
Pennington, James E. 4II
Stutz, Gustave
695
Perdue, Edward 576
Pfouts, Ralph U. 479
Kuehnhoff, Henry 513
Kuehnhoff, Louis R. 567
Kuhn, Julius
592
Laird, Marcus J. 736
Lange, Arnold 783
Lange, Charles 725
Lilly, C. A. 818
Lincoln, Frederick W.
692
Linley, Charles 461
Linley, Charles H. 610
Loudenback, Henry H. 653
Low, Hal C.
775
Loyd, Samuel L. 686
Lukens, Charles M.
762
Sanders, Benjamin F. 568
Schaefer, George H. T. 554
McKelvy, William A. 865
Mangelsdorf, Albert H. 852
Schrader, George 729
Schurman, Arthur S. 816
Scoville, Orlando C. 389
Seaton, John 376
Sharp, Harry L. 512
Sharpless, Ulysses B. 560
Shaw, Benjamin F. 679
Shelly, Edwin T. 8.43
Shortridge, Alfred 589
Simmons, Oscar A. 800
Smith, Albert J. 618
Nitz, William M. 740
North, Howard E. 698
Nusbaum, Leo 629
Oliver, John R. 626
Orr, Louis C. 381
Orr, James W. 360
Parsons, Peter 861
Stutz, Christian W. 499
Stutz, John 639
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Sullivan, John E. 681
Veatch, Nathan T. 733
Sullivan, John Edward 765
Voelker, Conrad M. 562
Sullivan, Roger P. 602
Waggener, Balie P. 368
Wagner, Frank J. 827
Walker, Claudius D. 400
803
Warren, William T.
8.49
Thomas, Robert M. 397
Watowa, Frank J.
818
Thompson, George W.
664
Watowa, Joseph H.
732
Thompson, William H. 720
Weber, Peter
594
Tomlinson, B. F.
668
Wehking, William 828
Treat, Thomas C. 458
Wertz, Frank P.
655
Trimble, James M. 764
Wheeler, D. N. 514
Trimble, Roy C. 492
White, George E. 663
Trompeter, Joseph
421
Wilson, James E. 549
Trueblood, Alva C.
405
Wolf, August J 826
Woodworth, Edwin S. 772
Woodford, Frank M. 723
Valentine, John C.
693
Vansell, Martin C.
873
Young, William 794
Sutter, Frank 607
Sutter, Fred
752
Sutter, William 810
Walter, H. B.
Symns, Andrew B.
365
Tucker, Thomas W.
742
TRANSPORTATION FIFTY YEARS AGO
Overland Emigrant and Freight Train, Operated by Sprague & Digan, Leaving West Main Street, Atchison, Kan., April 1, 1866, en route to the Far West.
History of Atchison County
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY.
FOSSILS-EVIDENCES OF EARLY ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE-GEOLOGICAL AGES-ROCK FORMATION-GLACIER PERIOD-MINERALS.
The oldest citizens of Atchison county are the animals and plants whose fossil remains now lie buried in the solid rocks. These denizens of long ago, by their lives, made it possible for later and better citizens to live and flour- ish in the happy and contented homes of her best citizens of the present day. Long before man ever saw Atchison county-long before man lived anywhere upon this earth, the seas swarmed with animal life and the dry lands supported a fauna and a flora substantially as great as those of the present time.
In character the animals and plants of those early days were very dif- ferent from those of the present time. Almost all of their kind long ago be- came extinct. It is only the few who have living representatives anywhere in the world today, and they are degraded in form and size as though they had long outlived their usefulness. Some of the animals live in the waters of distant oceans, such as the brachiapods and other shell fish; the crinoids or sea lilies, and others of like character. On the dry land we find a few in- sects of the cock-roach type and other creeping things which inhabit dark and damp places, animals of gloom on whose forms the sunshine of day rarely falls.
The plants, likewise, are degraded in size and form. The modern bull- rushes of our swamps are descendants of ancient giants of their kind which
17
18
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
grew to ten or twenty times the size of their modern representatives. The little creeping vines sometimes found in the shaded forest are lineal descend- ants of the mighty trees of the forests in the long ago while materials were gathering for the rock masses constituting Atchison county.
In order to converse rationally about geological time it has been found most convenient to divide time into periods in accordance with great natural events, and to give a name to each period that in some way expresses some- thing desirable to be known and remembered. Usually geographic names of areas where rock masses are exposed to the surface of the ground are chosen, or some favorite geographic term may be used, and in rare instances some quality name expressive of the character or composition of the rocks.
Following the best usage of geologists the rocks exposed at the surface all belong to the age known as the Carboniferous, which lies at the top of the Paleaozoic, or ancient life rocks. The Carboniferous is divided and sub- divided into a number of divisions, the lowermost of which has been named the Mississippian on account of their great abundance throughout the Missis- sippi valley. Above the Mississippian we find a mass of alternating beds of shale and limestone and sandstone aggregating about 2,500 feet in thick- ness, called the Pennsylvanians, a term borrowed from the State of Pennsyl- vania, where rocks of the same age so abound. Rocks formed during the re- mainder of geologic time are not found in Atchison county, except the cover- ing of soil and clay so abundant throughout the county. An old-time name for the Pennsylvanian rocks is the coal-measures, a term now on the decline because the newer names-well, it is newer.
It appears that from the close of the Pennsylvanian time to the present Atchison county has been dry land. At one time, quite recently, as geologists reckon time, climatic conditions changed so that the snow falling during the winter could not be melted during the summer, so that to the far north great quantities of snow and ice accumulated and gradually spread over the sur- face of a large part of North America. One limb of this ice mass moved slowly southward and covered all of Atchison county, and much adjacent territory, and brought with it vast quantities of soil and clay and gravel that the ice sheet, as a great scraper, picked up from the surface as it came along When the ice finally melted this debris was left, like a mantle of snow, cov- cring the entire surface of Atchison county.
The rocks of Pennsylvanian age have within them much of value econom- ically. Here and there inter-stratified with the sandstone and shale are large and valuable beds of coal. as is abundantly shown by the drilled wells and
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
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Main Building State Orphans' Home, Atchison, Kan.
coal shafts within the county. It is probable that almost the entire county is underlaid with this same bed of coal, and if so it is worth substantially as much to the county as is the surface soil. It lies at so great a depth that it may be mined without any danger whatever of disturbing the surface.
The large amount of good hard limestone in the county guarantees an everlasting supply of stone for road making, railroad ballast, crushed rock for concrete works and all other uses to which such limestone may be put. With the Missouri river on the eastern boundary carrying unlimited amounts of sand Atchison county is well supplied with every material needed for un- limited amounts of mortar construction of all kinds. Recently, since Port- land cement construction has so effectually replaced stone masonry, this be- comes a very important matter.
Should market conditions ever become favorable it is also possible to manufacture the best grades of Portland cement by properly combining the
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
limestones and shales of the county. Their chemical and physical properties are admirably suited for such purposes.
There is a possibility that somewhere within the county oil and gas may be found by proper prospecting. As no search for these materials has yet been made it is impossible to say what the results might be. Atchison county, however, lies within the oil zone that has been proven to be so much farther south, and until proper search has been made no one can say that oil and gas cannot be found here also.
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