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Gc 978.101 J54W 1527691
IVI. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01064 8449
HISTORY
OF-
JEWELL COUNTY, KANSAS,
WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF ITS
EARLY SETTLEMENTS, -AND THE-
INDIAN ATROCITIES
ommitted Within its Borders.
ITS FINAL SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION AND PROGRESS. ITS PRESENT SOCIETY, CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. ITS TOWNS, STREAMS, TOPOGRAPHY, SOIL AND PRODUCTS. ITS POPULATION, TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS AND OFFICERS. ITS INDUSTRIES, BUSINESS, RESOURCES, &C.
-BY-
M. WINSOR and JAMES A. SCARBROUGH.
JEWELL CITY, KANSAS. "DIAMOND" PRINTING OFFICE. 1878.
ESTABLISHED JUNE 4, 1871. Oldest House in Jewell County. JOHN D. ROBERTSON, - -DEALER IN --
1527691
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
Farm Implements, Wag- ons, Cattle, Hogs and Grain.
JEWELL CITY, KANSAS.
1872 G. B. CRANDALL, 1878 DRUGGIST AND APOTHECARY. .Jewell City, Kans.
CARRIES A STOCK OF DRUGS COMPLETE IN EVERY DEPARTMENT OF THE BUSINESS.
I give my customers the advantage of any decline in prices and will at all times dispense
Pure Goods,
and guarantee everything as represented. I also handle School Books, Blank Books and kindred goods.
ANY BOOK PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OBTAINED ON SHORT NOTICE.
STEAM SAW AND GRIST MILL, SALEM, KANSAS,
II. L. BROWNING, Proprietor. NATIVE LUMBER CONSTANTLY ON HAND.
IALSO AGENT FOR THE PHOENIX INSURANCE COMPANY.
M. & J. M. PARKER,
FARMERS AND STOCK DEALERS,
SALEM, KANSAS.
MENZO W. SMITH,
POSTMASTER AND JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.
Acknowledgements and Conveyances
PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO. SALEM, KANSAS.
H. BUTTERFIELD, BLACKSMITH, SALEM, KANS. ALL WORK WARRANTED,
and Perfect Satisfaction Guaranteed.
TRAVELERS' HOME, J. H. CRAWFORD, Pro.,
Salem, Kansas.
GOOD ACCOMMODATIONS.
CHARGES REASONABLE.
J. W. CRAWFORD, DEALER IN SHELF AND HEAVY HARDWARE,
STOVES AND TINWARE,
ALSO WAGON AND BUGGY WOOD WORK, AND IRONS COMPLETE. AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS A SPECIALITY.
SALEM, KANSAS.
WILLIAM DOBBINS, WAGON AND CABINET MAKER, Salem, Kansas.
ALL KINDS OF REPAIRING Neatly and Substantially Executed.
L. C. MICK, WITH S. GARBER & CO.,
DEALERS IN
GENERAL MERCHANDISE, Salem, Kansas.
WE KEEP CONSTANTLY ON HAND A LARGE AND WELL SELECT- ED STOCK, AND SELL AT BOTTOM FIGURES.
C.G. WARD.M.D
HOMEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN -AND- SURGEON, Salem, Kansas.
"ALL CALLS PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO, DAY OR NIGHT. CHARGES REASONABLE.
L. P. LYTLE, -DEALER IN-
Drugs, Patent Medicines, Dry Goods, Groceries, Boots and Shoes.
HATS AND CAPS, NOTIONS, AND EVERYTHING, CHEAP.
SALEM, KANSAS.
A. W. MANN. J. E. FAIDLEY. FRANK GILBERT. MANN, FAIDLEY & CO. -DEALERS IN- GENERAL MERCHANDISE, AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, -AND- TRY PRODUCE. Burr Oak, Kans.
J. K. MCLAIN. GENERAL AGENT FOR THE WHITESEWING MACHINE, -- AND DEALER IN --- McCormick's Celebrated Harvesting Machinery, BURROAK, KANSAS.
INTRODUCTION.
-0-
A complete history of any county is one of the impossibilities, but in this little book, we flatter ourselves that we have come as near perfection ad is possible. In the preparation of a work of this kind, we are not unmindful of the fact that in gathering information from so many different sources, inaccuraces are liable to creep in, but in this instance, we have carefully weighed and proved each item, rejecting what seemed to be chaff, and ad- mitting only the bare unvarnished facts. Of the incidents relating to the carly history of Jewell county we have only given place to a few of the most interesting, rejecting, of necessity, many that have come into our possession, for want of space. The early history of this county is most in- tensely thrilling, not a stream or section within its borders but what bears record of the fierce and bloody strife waged by barbarism to beat back the ever advancing tide of civilization.
Citizens of Jewell county, this little work is your friend and co-laborer. In its production, the authors have recognized and acted upon the theory that every dweller on our lovely prairies, and by our timber-belted streams, are, while laboring to plant their own homes in the sunshine of prosperity, also laboring to advance the material interests of the county at large. In this spirit has this work been conceived, nourished, brought forth, and finally offered to you to be,a friend and companion at your firesides, and a messenger of good, by disseminating a better knowledge of the county we all think is the best.
Buy one, take it home and read it to your family, and then come back and buy five more copies to send to your friends "Back East." In this way you can help us make a fortune, and very materially assist in building up and enriching one of the fairest counties in all the great New West.
M. WINSOR, JAMES A. SCARBROUGH.
JEWELL CITY, KANSAS, April, 1878.
3
EWELL COUNTY.
JE WELL COUNTY, Kansas, is located [ will thus be seen that the county is unusually well watered and timbered.
in the Northern Tier of Counties, im- mediately south of the Fortieth Par- allel, and west, of the Sixth Principal Meridian. It is 150 miles, on an air line, west of the Missouri river. It is 30 miles square, and is divided into 25 Congressional Townships, and con- tains 576,000 acres of the finest land in all the. "Creat New West."
STREAMS AND TIMBER.
The principal streams are White Rock, Limestone, Buffalo, Marsh and Brown's creeks. White Rock flows through the second tier of townships, from west to east, emptying into the Republienn river 4 miles east of the county line. It has numerous tribu- taries, both from the north and south, which drain almost the entire north- ern half of the county, the principal of which are Burr Oak, Walnut and Montana from the north, and Porcu- pine, Troublesome, Big Timber and John's from the south. Limestone has five principal branches, all flow- ing in a southerly course, and drains the southwestern part of the county, falling into the Solomon river 5} miles south of the county line. Buffalo has three principal branches, all of which rise near the centro of the county and low in a southerly course, forming a junction 6} miles from the south line of the county; thence running east through the northern portions of the southern tier of townships and empty- ing into the Republican river 12 miles east of the eastern line of the county. Little Cheyenne is also a tributary of the Buffalo, coming in from the south. Marsh creek has three principal branches, which rise in and drain the eastern middle portion of the county. Brown's creek drains the middle southern portion, emptying into the
THE SURFACE
of the county is generally a level and undulating prairie, a narrow line of bluffs running from northeast to southwest, comprising the only rough portion of this "Jewel."
THE SOIL
is a rich, black, vegetable meld, from three to twenty feet deep, all under- laid with porous clay. This country giving unmistakable evidence of hav- ing once been the bed of a shallow, warm ocean, with low islands, numer- ous fossils of tropical vegetation and saurian reptiles having been found.
THE BEST OF WATER
is found everywhere by digging to a depth of from 15 to 60 feet. Fine flow- ing springs are also numerous.
BUILDING STONE,.
of excellent quality, is found in great abundance along the banks of all the streams, many kinds of which can be cut into any desirable shape with a common saw.
POPULATION.
For an inland county, deprived of the help of railroads, the increase in population in Jewell county since 1870, the date of its first permanent settle- ment, has been most wonderful. In 1870, the population was 205; in 1875, it had increased to 7,651; and in 1877, the official reports place the popula- tion at 9,767. Since the last numera- tion, just one year ago, the immigra- tion to the county has been unprece- dented, and we are convinced that we are safe in placing its present popula- tion at 12,000. According to official returns, Jewell county has 3,662 school children, which, reckoning 3} persons to each scholar, which is the custom- ary rule, would make our present Solomon river 63 miles south of the population 12,817, an increase of 12,612 southern line. All of these streams in seven years. We challenge any other county in the State, with or without railroads, to produ'ce as favor- able ashowing. have numerous small tributaries, all of which, with the main streams, are belted with from 10 to 80 rods of tim- ber, consisting of burr oak, ash, hack- berry, walnut, red and white elm, box elder, red cedar and cottonwood.
The Assessors' returns for 1877-show 77,635 acres of land in cultivation in It Jewell county.
FIRST SETTLEMENT. "TOO MUCH INDIAN."
In the spring of 1862 William Harsh- berger and wife, John Furrows and i sent and his innocent little son doing Asburry Clark, wife and child, from Knox county, Ill., settled on White Rock creek; the first two in Jewell county and the latter just in the west odge of Republie county. Harshber- ger took the claim now owned by Al. Woodruff, adjoining the town of White Rock. Furrows took one-half of what is now William Nixon's farm, and one- half of the farm now owned by Mrs. ESPERATE INDIAN BATTLE. Frazier, adjoining Harshberger on the west. All built cabins, broke ground and made preparations for making this beautiful valley their future home. But two incidents in connec- tion with this "first settlement" had the effect to cause them to change their minds and seek a land where their associations were more conge- nial. These incidents are briefly re- lated as follows:
One day, after having built their cabins, and while resting in fancied security, Mrs. Clark went to visit her sister, Mrs. Harshberger, leaving her Clark interferred, telling them not to little five year old boy at home with kill him there, but to take him away. his father. During her absence a which they did, taking him a short distance from the cabin and litterally entting him all to pieces. On this visit the Indians told the settlers that they had better leave, as a big war was abont to break out, and when it did, the White Rock Valley would not be a very desirable locality in which i to reside. By this time it may be im- agined that the settlers were getting ' into a proper frame of mind to take doubtless did, that the country was too new for them to remain. They left. band of "noble red men," arrayed in all the paraphernalia of savage life, suddenly made their appearance at Clark's cabin. This unexpected and wholly unlooked for "call" so com- pletely embarassed (?) Clark that, feeling his utter inability to appear to advantage in such august company, he very abruptly and unceremoni- ously excused himself, and beat a hasty retreat, leaving his almost ; that kind of advice, believing, as they infant son to do the hospitalities of the mansion alone.
It must be remembered that this little incident occurred two years prior to the great Indian outbreak, which afterwards drenched this fair land in innocent blood and caused the death of so many of our brave and hardy pioneers, and when all the In- dians of the Plains were at peace and friendly with the white settlers. Therefore when a settler, living a few miles down the creek, and who was
better acquainted with the nature of the "call," came up and found the In- dians there, he was not at all alarmed, but on entering the cabin he was not a little surprised to find Clark ab- the honors of the shanty, and show- ing his red visitors everything it con- tained, much to their anmsement. The Indians left shortly afterwards without doing any mischief, but it is an admitted fact that their visit, how- ever friendly, was not appreciated by the Clark family, as they extended no invitation to "call again."
The second incident was a desper- ate Indian battle between the Sioux and Pawnees near this se tlement but a short time subsequent to the inci- dent above narrated, in which the for- mer were victorious. A Pawnee, pur- sued by two relentless Sionx, sought shelter in Clark's cabin and begged to be hid. Clark refused, telling him that he dared not comply with his ro- quest for fear of his own life. His | pursuers coming up almost immedi- ately, were about to tomahawk their defenseless victim in the cabin, when
This was the first ripple of the ever- flowing tide of civilization that un- ceasingly moves westward, flood- ing and subduing nature's wildness. Though it receded, it was soon fol- lowed by another, more strong, which in turn, was succeeded by a third, and a fourth, and finally, in 1870, the great tidal wave came along and swept the last vestage of savage power a hun- dred or more miles farther west.
Second Settlement.
Broken up by Indian Atrocities .- Several Settlers Killed and One Woman Carried into Captivity.
The second settlement of Jewel: 'County was made in the spring of 1866 by William Belknap; John Rice, wife and two children; Nicholas Ward, wife and adopted son; an old man by the name of Flint; Mrs. Sutzer .and sen; Al. Dart; Arch Bump; Erastus Bartlett, and John Marling, wife and child, who all took claims or Phite Rock creek. Belknap's claim was five miles west of the present town of White Rock; Marling took a claim near the present town of Rubens; Ward took a claim one mile and a half east of Rubens, now owned by Peter Kearns. Rice and all the oth- ers took claims in the immediate vi- rinity of Ward's, and all of them went industriously to work, improving their new homes, with no fears of danger or molestation. But a change soon came over the spirit of their dreams, which culminated in one of the most
TERRIBLE INDIAN OL P'RAGES,
that ever took place on our western frontier. One evening in August of the same year, (1866,) a war party of Cheyennes, numbering about 40, came dashing up to Marling's cabin. When Marting saw them coming, he ran out to where his horses were lariated for the purpose of getting one of them to ride down the greek and give the alarm. Immediately after he left the Indian fiends entered the cabin and placing a rope around Mrs. Marling's neck, they dragged her a short dis- tanec into the timber, where the whole party outraged her in the most brutal and fendish manner, and left hier in an insensible condition. Mar- ling fled forassistance to the stockade, just below White Rock City. Thomas Lovewell, an old settler of Republic county; Rice and Bump carly the next morning accompanied Marling back up the creek, and when about four miles west of the county line, and about six miles eastof the scene of the outrage, they discovered Mrs.
Marling roaming about in a dazed condition. Her late terrible suffer- ings had rendered her perfectly wild, and when she discovered the relief party, she could only see in them her Int. fiendish and inhuman persecu- tors, and in order to escar 3 being re- taken. she cortinually darted from place to place as fast as her little child, who accompanied her, would permit. It was with considerable difficulty that her husband could get near enough to make her hear her name-"Elizabeth"-called. Hearing her name called, she knew they were friends, and stopped. In the incan time, the Indians had taken all the provisions, and everything in the way of cloth about the cabin, even empty- ing the feather beds for the tieks, and setting fire to the cabin, had taken their departure.
FALLING BACK.
The entire settlement then took the alarm and fell back to the stockade in Republic county, where they remain- ed for two days, when they all went down to Clyde, in Cloud county, in consequence of a reported general Indian massacre, which, however, proved unfounded. Inaboutfive days Mr. Lovewell and his wife returned to their claim, and on the sixth day Ward came back and killed a load of buffalo meat, which he took back to the settlements around Clyde for sale.
RETURNING TO THEIR CLAIMS.
Directly afterwards Loveweil and his wife started out on a buffalo hunt, and found Rice and Bartlett on their claims, to which they had returned by another route. The seare being over the settlers all returned to their. claims during the fall, where they re- mained undisturbed until the next spring, when a second dash upon this unfortunate settlement by the
INHUMAN RED DEVILS
cost the lives of four settlers and drove the rest from the county for- ever.
On the 9th day of April, 1807, the Cheyennes made another descent upon this devoted settlement, killing Bartlett, Mrs. Sutzer, her little son, and Nicholas Ward, and desperately wounding Ward's adopted som, leav-
6
ing him for dead, and carrying Mrs. Ward off, a captive. The particulars of this
HORRIBLE MASSACRE
ing some blankets from one of the beds, he returned to the timber, where he remained the balance of the night, and was found the next morning by a party of claim hunters, to whom he told the above sad and harrowing tale.
are as follows: The Indians came to Mrs. Sutzer's cabin, where Bartlett was boarding, and demanded dinner, It appears that when the Indians ran out to shoot the boys, Mrs. Ward must have shut and bolted the door, when the Indiaus returning, broke it down and took her prisoner .. which she proceeded to prepare, in the mean time sending her little son across the creek to Ward's to inform them of the presence of the Indians. Bartlett was down in the timber, split- HER, SAD FATE ting rails, and returning for dinner, will probably never be known, as up to the present time, after the lapse of eleven years, nothing definite has ever been heard of her. Every effort to find her, by Mr .- Flint, her grand- father, and by her relatives in South- ern Illinois, was made, that love or money could devise, but all to no purpose. She was never found. About two months after her capture an ar- ticle appeared in the Junction City Union which probably throws a little ray of light on this dark page. It was a description of a white woman seen by some negro soldiers, wandering solitary and alone on the Saline river. At their approach she ran out of an old, deserted cabin, and mado for the timber, apparently in great terror, evidently mistaking the negro soldiers for Indians. The soldiers, on the other hand, fearing she might be an Indian decoy, did not follow. As their description corresponds with that given of Mrs. Ward, and as noth- ing has ever since been heard of her, there is but little doubt that it was her, and that she had escaped from the Indians, only to perish of hunger and terror, alone on the silent prairie. Mrs. Ward is described as a tall and prepossessing young woman, not over twenty-two years of age, respectably connected and beloved by all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance. was met by the Indians and toma- hawked as he was passing around the corner of the house. He was found lying on his back, his iron wedge near his right hand and his own knife-a dirk-sticking in his throat. It is thought that when Bartlett was killed Mrs. Sutzer started to run. She was found dead about thirty yards from the house with her skull crushed with a rock. It appears that the cunning fiends had refrained from using fire- arms for fear of raising an alarm. After completing their bloody work at Mrs. Sutzer's the Indians crossed the creek to Ward's cabin, and again called for dinner, which Mrs. Ward prepared for them. They eat their dinner, smoked their pipes and chat- ted away in the most friendly manner. At the conclusion of their "smoke;" one of them very coolly loaded his gun and asked Ward if he thought it would kill a buffalo. Ward replied that he thought it would. Whereupon the Indian instantly leveled his gun at Ward's breast and shot him through the heart, killing him immediately. The two boys-Ward's and Mrs. Sut- zer's-then started to run. The Indi- ans pursued them, following them to the bank of the creek, and shooting them down in the bed of the stream. The Sutzer boy was shot through the heart; instantly killed. The Ward boy OUR INDIAN POLICY. was shot through the neck and left The uncertain fate of Mrs. Ward; the fact that the Government never made any effort to rescue her, or as- certain anything concerning her; the fact that the Indians were all supplied with the most approved arms and am- munition; the fact that the frontier settlers were left wholly unprotected; for dead. Some time during the suc- ceeding night, however, he recovered his senses, and groping his way back to the cabin in the dark, found the door broken down and entered. Feel- ing around in the dark with his hands he stumbled and [fell over the dead body of his adopted father. Procur-, all, together with a thousand other
facts of similar import, go to make up a sad commentary on our Indian policy, as it was, as it is, and as it al- ways will be, until the "Government" learns that it is as much its duty to give full and ample protection to its own citizens as to its murderous, lazy, thieving and treacherous "wards."
THE SURVIVORS.
Mr. Flint was gone to Clyde after a stove for Mrs. Ward at the time of the massacre, and thus escaped the sad fate of his friends. He afterwards re- turned to Illinois, where he was ap- pointed administrator of a large estate that poor Mrs. Ward had fallen heir to. He never returned to Kansas. His claim was the one now owned by Jno. H. Wadley, one mile east of Rubens. Bartlett's and Bump's claims are now owned by Martin Dahl. Rice's claim is now owned by Peter Tanner.
Marling got his feet frozen in March before the massacre, and with his wife and child, had gone to Missouri. He now lives near Fort Scott, Kansas, and talks of soon returning to Jewell county.
Arch. Bump was waylaid, shot and instantly killed on Upton creek, Cloud county, five miles west of Clyde, in May. Vincent Davis was also shot at the same time, and severely worn- ded, dying several years afterwards, from the wound. The shooting was supposed to have been done by a cou- ple of Jew peddlers. At least the evi- denee was so strong against them that they were hung to a tree on Elm creek, in Cloud county.
Al. Dart was absent after a load of provisions. Mrs. Dart returned to Clyde, where she met her husband. Coming to the conclusion that White Rock was not a very healthy locality in which to reside, just at that time, Dart took a claim south of the Repub- liean river, near Clyde, where he has lived ever since, until a few weeks ago, when he died. Mrs. Dart still lives on the Cloud county Homestead.
Rice left, but came back in 1868 on a buffalo hunt, with a company of "tender feet" -- new comers-and went into camp one night, four miles up Burr Oak creek. Had their horses stolen b:
public county to haul their wagons back to the settlements. Rice never came back. "Too much Indian."
The greatest desire of the Indians, in the matter of plunder, appeared to be cotton cloth, and to that end beds, flour sacks, and even small sacks con- taining seeds, were emptied of their contents and carried off. The horses and mules of the settlers were taken, but the cattle were left unmolested.
HUNTING INCIDENT, IN WHICHINDIANS FIGURE.
Before the bloody event narrated in the last chapter, game of all kinds, being plenty, frequent hunting expe- ditions took place, one of which is re- lated as follows:
In October, 1866, a hunting party made up of the settlers on White Rock, and a party of sportsmen from Nema- ha county, all under the lead of S. M. Fisher, of Republic county, went up the creek on a hunt. Near the pres- ent town of Holmwood they were joined by Thomas Lovewell and Chauncey Dart, who had also started out on a hunt, and all went into camp together for the night. The next day the whole party went southwest to the Limestone, where Lovewell and Dart separated from the Fisher party, the former going southwest, and the latter going southeast, Soon after their separation, and when only about two miles apart, Fisher's party were suddenly surrounded by a band of about 80 Indians, and offering no resistance, the Indians completely stripped them of all their surplus pro- visions; revolvers and revolver am- unition, but very humanely allowed them to retain their guns and gun amunition, and told them they must not hunt there. The whole proceed- ing was in plain view, and was witnessed by Lovewell and his com- panion. The Fisher party gladly took the Indians' advice and retraced their steps, camping at night on the same spot where they had camped the pre- vious night. In the morning, a single Indian rode into camp. He took a . Lic la man in Re- ! strong Hiking to a faney bowder hoo"
8
owned by Marling, and was coolly pro- ceeding to appropriate it, when Mar- ling objected and hurled the Indian from him. Then Fisher spoke and said: "Let the d-d red cuss have it, but if ever they come down the creek, we'll give them h-11." Mar- ling took off the horn and gracefully presented it to the Indian, who put it over his shoulder, mounted his pony, turned suddenly and shot Fisher in the back with his revolver. Fisher carries the ball to this day under his shoulder blade. Marling, caught up a Henry rifle and was about to dis- patch Mr. Lo; when Fisher interposed, saying: "For God's sake, don't shoot him, for if you do; we will all be kill- ed," and the Indian was allowed to depart in peace. Without doubt a large band of Indians was within hail- ing distance, and Mr. Fisher did for the best, thus averting another bloody massacre.
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