USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
The Eighth infantry remained in camp at Chattanooga until it removed to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, which city was reached on December 7. About the same time Sherman's corps arrived. The winter of 1863 was spent in east Tennessee, and in the following February arrived home in Atch- ison and Ft. Leavenworth. There was great rejoicing and celebration and both officers and soldiers were greeted with waving banners, ringing bells, booming cannon, and there was much feasting and speech making. The regi- ment was home on a furlough, and early in April the men re-assembled at Leavenworth and on the twelfth of that month was ordered to report back to Chattanooga, where it subsequently saw service in the Cumberland mountains, and throughout the State of Tennessee.
Colonel Martin was mustered out at Pulaski November 17, his term of enlistment having expired, and the following day he left for the North, but the regiment was not mustered out of service until the following January.
The Tenth regiment, Kansas infantry, was made up of the Third and Fourth and a small portion of the Fifth Kansas regiments, and among its
IO
146
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
officers were Mathew Quigg, captain of Company D; Seth M. Tucker, first lieutenant, and David Whittaker, second lieutenant, all of Atchison. The activities of this regiment were largely confined to operations in Mis- souri and Arkansas, and afterwards in Tennessee. In December, 1864, it arrived at Clinton, Miss., without tents or blankets, and many of the men without shoes or overcoats. During January it made an expedition into Mississippi, and the latter part of that month marched to Waterloss, Ala., remaining there until February 8, when it embarked for Vicksburg, where it remained until February 19, and subsequently operated around Mobile, and the men of this regiment were employed as skirmishers in the joint ad- vance upon the fortifications around Mobile. It was mustered out at Mont- gomery, Ala., September 20, 1865, and finally discharged at Ft. Leaven- worth, Kan. The regiment was mostly composed of veterans, who under- stood the life of a soldier, and realized the hardships of military campaigns. They did their duty, whether it was in guarding their own State from in- vasion, or assaulting the rebels at the siege of Ft. Blakely.
The Thirteenth regiment, Kansas infantry, had more officers in it from Atchison than any of the regiments that participated in the Civil war. It was raised under President Lincoln's call of July, 1862, and was recruited by Cyrus Leland. Sr., of Troy, Kan., by virtue of authority from James H. Lane, in the counties of Brown, Atchison, Doniphan, Marshall and Nemaha. The regiment was organized September 10, 1862, at Camp Staunton, Atch- ison, and mustered into the service ten days later. Colonel of this regi- ment was Thomas M. Bowen, of Marysville, and the major was Caleb A. Woodworth, of Atchison. Among the line officers from Atchison were : Henry Havenkorst, captain of Company B; August Langehemeken, second lieutenant ; Henry R. Neal, captain ; Robert Manville, second lieutenant ; John E. Hayes, captain, Company F : Archimedes S. Speck, first lieutenant ; William J. May, second lieutenant; Patrick McNamara, captain, Company K: Daniel C. O'Keefe, first lieutenant; Hugh Dougherty, second lieutenant.
The regiment joined a division of General Blunt soon after the battle of Old Ft. Wayne, and participated in various engagements in Arkansas. At the battle of Prairie Grove, it was one of the first regiments to be en- gaged, and in every attempt to capture the battery of which this regiment formed the support at this battle, was successfully repulsed, with heavy losses to the rebels. This battle virtually finished the campaign for the winter. It subsequently did garrison and out-post duty in Arkansas, and in the Cherokee Nation. The regiment remained on duty at Ft. Smith, Ark., un-
147
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
til March 3, 1865, when it was ordered to Little Rock, Ark., and on June 26 of that year was mustered out of service.
Among the privates of this regiment from Atchison, who were killed, were : James L. Parnell, of Mount Pleasant, and John Collins and Lorenzo Richardson, of Atchison.
Thomas Roe, a fine, stout young man, son of a widowed mother, of Brownsville, Pa., was the only member of Company D, of the Second Kan- sas cavalry, that lost his life in battle during its nearly four years of service in the Civil war. This company participated in the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove, in Arkansas, and other engagements. Roe came to Kan- sas with the late Thomas Butcher, for whom he worked until going into the war of the rebellion.
In May, 1861, a company of home guards was organized by Free State men, of Lancaster and Shannon townships, Atchison county, with a few from Brown and Doniphan counties, which gathered every Saturday afternoon for drill, alternating at the homes of Johnson Wymore and Robert White. Robert White, who had received military training during the Mexican war. having served there in 1846-48, did most of the drilling. A. J. Evans was captain; Robert White, first lieutenant ; John Bertwell, of Brown county, . was second lieutenant.
The pro-slavery people were also organized and drilling at the same time, consisting of South Carolinians, Virginians and Missourians, who were for the Confederacy and slavery.
At a Sunday school meeting on the prairie, held in a vacant settler's shanty near Eden postoffice, where both sides in the neighborhood wor- shiped on Sundays, Robert White found out on a. Sunday in August, 1861. that a southern organization was to disarm all Free State men the following Tuesday. His nearest neighbor and a good friend, also a southerner, thought White had found this out and came and visited him a good part of Sunday afternoon and staying in the evening until after 10 o'clock before going home. White showing no excitement. Willis went home, seemingly much at ease, but he was watched by his friend White until safely resting at his home. when White went and called another Free State man from his bed who notified half the Free State company and White the other half, causing them to meet early the following Monday, when by the middle of the afternoon of that day every proslavery man in that part of the country had his fire arms taken from him, and before Tuesday evening all of them had departed for Missouri.
148
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Most of the members of the Free State company enlisted in the following October as volunteers for three years' service in the Union army and became known as Company D of Second Kansas cavalry. Robert White, who was commissioned as first lieutenant in Company D, was dis- charged and sent home to die with a serious case of inflammatory rheu- matism, but he recovered so far that in 1863 he raised and drilled a company that became a part of the State militia. He was commissioned captain of this company and led it in the Price raid at the battle of Westport in 1864 as a part of the regiment commanded by Col. L. S. Treat in helping keep Capt. White's old brigade, commanded by Gen. Sterling Price, of the Mexi- can war, from getting into Kansas. The late M. J. Cloyes and T. B. Platt. of Atchison, were members of Captain White's company in the Price raid. Platt was clerk of the company: John English was first lieutenant; W. F. Streeter, second lieutenant, and Francis Schletzbaum was first sergeant.
The Seventeenth regiment. Kansas infantry, was a negro regiment, but with white officers. James M. Williams was colonel, and George J. Martin. of Atchison, was captain of Company B, and William G. White and Luther Dickinson, of Atchison, were first and second lieutenants. This regiment played an honorable part during all the Civil war, and its service was largely confined to operations in Arkansas and Texas. It was mustered out of service at Pine Bluff, Ark., October 1, 1865.
The Second regiment, Kansas colored infantry, was organized in June. 1863, at Ft. Smith, Ark., and among its line officers was First Lieut. John M. Cain, of Atchison. It conducted itself with conspicuous bravery with the army of the frontier, and during the brief occupation of Camden, Ark., by General Steele's forces. this regiment was employed on picket and forage (luty. It showed conspicuous bravery around Poison Springs and Mark's Mills, and under the able command of Col. Samuel J. Crawford, who subsequently became governor of Kansas, it won for itself an enviable name among the regiments from Kansas, who participated in the Civil war. This regiment was finally discharged from the services at Leavenworth Novem- ber 27. 1865, after having proved to the Nation the fidelity of the colored soldier.
It was in September, 1864. that General Sterling Price created great consternation by an attempted invasion of Kansas, which ended in his defeat on the border by the Union forces, aided by the Kansas State militia. At the time Price started north in his march through Arkansas and Missouri, Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis commanded the Department of Kansas, which
149
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
included Nebraska, Colorado and Indian Territory, in addition to Kansas. General Curtis had about 4,500 men, all of whom had been employed in pro- tecting the frontiers of Kansas and Colorado, and the overland mail route. At this time General Curtis was near Ft. Kearney, operating against the Indians. On receipt of word announcing the movements of General Price, General Curtis was recalled and reached Kansas in September. A few days later he received word that 3,000 rebels were marching on Ft. Scott, and advised Governor Carney to call the militia into service. At this time George W. Deitzler was major-general of the State militia; John T. Norton was assistant adjutant-general: R. A. Randlett, assistant quarter-master : Samuel S. Atwood, assistant quarter-master; Charles Chadwick, George T. Robin- son, Lewis T. Welmorth, John J. Ingalls, Thomas White, Elijah G. Moore. H. Stein, and John A. Leffkler were all majors. Constant reports of a con- flicting nature were spread from day to day, regarding the movements of General Price, but the first point to be attacked was Pilot Knob, the engage- ment commencing September 27 and lasting all day. General Ewing put up a vigorous defense, with a force of about 1,000 men, while the militia commanders in Kansas made preparations for further resistance to the in- vasion of Price. Meanwhile General Price continued to make headway, and on the fourth of October an order was issued forbidding the transit of boats below Kansas City. When it was discovered that the rebels under Price had not been seriously checked in their movement westward, further efforts were made by General Curtis to prevail upon Governor Kearney to call out the militia, which the Governor seemed disinclined to do. Finally, on Octo- ber 9. 1864. Major General Deitzler issued an order for the State militia from Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha and Marshall counties to rendezvous at Atchison, and the militia from other counties were ordered to other points in the State. A few days later Leavenworth was fortified, because of a tele- gram which was received from General Rosecrans, stating that it was Price's intention to strike that point first. The militia responded promptly, and the following regiments reported for service at Atchison : The Twelfth regiment. composed of 460 men, under the command of Col. L. S. Treat, and the Eighteenth regiment, composed of 400 men, under the command of Colonel Mathew Quigg. The total number of militia enrolled under the call of the governor was 12,622, of which about 10,000 were south of the Kansas river at the point most exposed to danger. From the eleventh until the sixteenth of the month there was great excitement, as the forces rapidly gathered, to
150
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
be organized and equipped. On the staff of General Deitzler there were two men from Atchison; A. S. Hughes, an aide, and John J. Ingalls, judge- advocate, with the rank of major.
As a result of this determined move on the part of Gen. Sterling Price to invade Kansas, there followed in quick succession the battle of Lexing- ton, the battle of Big Blue, and finally the battle of Westport, at which, on October 23, 1864, the forces of Price were finally routed and his campaign and invasion were stopped, but not until it had caused the citizens of Kan- sas, in addition to the labor and loss of life, not less than half a million dollars.
CHAPTER IX.
-
NAVIGATION.
PIONEER TRANSPORTATION- EARLY FERRIES AND RATES-FAMOUS RIVER BOATS-STEAMBOAT LINES TO ATCHISON -- STEAMBOAT REGISTERS.
Slight reference has been made in the early narrative of this history to pioneer transportation facilities, but the subject is one of so much import- ance and of such immense interest, that a chapter devoted to it is the only way in which it can be adequately treated.
At the time Atchison county was settled, railroad transportation by steam was not a new thing, although it was in its primitive stages. Navigation of the inland waterways had reached rather a high state of development, and the matter of transportation then was just as essential to the purposes of civil- ization as in this day of the railroad and the automobile, but it was many years before the steam railroads made the steamboat traffic of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers obsolete. The tremendous subsidies granted by the Govern- ment in later years for railroad building, however, and the splendid oppor- tunity for piling up wealth in the projection of new railroads and the operation of them, without Governmental restrictions, together with the advantage of speedier transportation facilities, completely over-shadowed the steamboat bus- ness, and as a result, our great inland waterway system has grown into prac- tical disuse. Shortly after Atchison county was organized, and the city of Atchison laid out, agitation was started for railroad connections with the East. One of the first ordinances passed by the city council in 1858 pro- vided for an election to submit a proposition to take $100,000.00 of stock in railroad. At that time the only means of communication to the out- side world Atchison had was by steamboats to St. Louis. It was in October. 1855, that George M. Million, Lewis Burnes, D. D. Burnes, James N. Burnes and Calvin F. Burnes commenced the operation of a ferry across
151
I52
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
the Missouri river. Their dock on the Kansas side was at the foot of Atchison street. Their charter was secured from the legislature under the terms of which a bond of $1,000.00 was required to insure the faithful performance of their operations. Although there was no public utilities commission in Kansas in 1855, the legislature took upon itself the task of fixing the rates to be charged by the ferry owners, in order that the public would not be robbed. They were as follows :
Two-horse wagon, or wagon and one yoke of oxen (loaded ) $1.00
Two-horse wagon, or wagon and one yoke of oxen (unloaded ) .75
One additional pair of horses or oxen .25
Loose cattle or oxen, per head .IO
Sheep and hogs, per head .05
Man and horse .25
Foot passengers .IO
One horse and buggy or other vehicle .50
Two horse buggy or carriage .75
The original promoters operated the ferry but a short time, and early in the following year, they disposed of their interests to Dr. William L. Challiss, and. his brother, Luther C. Challiss, and Willis E. Gaylord, and the ferry, under Dr. Challiss, and subsequent owners, continued in operation until 1875, when the present bridge was built.
About the time the first ferry was established in Atchison, a number of Salt Lake freighters selected the town as a starting and outfitting point and from that time until 1866, Atchison was the eastern terminus of many of the leading overland mail and freighting routes. It was the natural location for communication with the West, as it was twelve miles further west in Kansas than any other point on the Missouri river. Freight and passengers were brought to the Atchison levee, at the foot of Commercial street, by a regular line of Packets plying between St. Louis and St. Joseph. It required eight days to make the round trip, and in the very early days, as many or four to six boats landed here in the busy season.
During the winter months traffic on the river was practically suspended, on account of the ice. These boats carried as many as 400 passengers, the
153
-
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
fare from St. Louis to St. Joseph ranging from $10.00 to $15.00, which in- cluded meals and state rooms. The cooking was said to have been very fine, and the passengers always enjoyed the best that money could buy.
In addition to passengers, these boats carried from 500 to 600 tons of freight, and the rates were as high as $2.50 per cwt. on merchandise that would not cost to exceed fifteen cents per cwt. in these days. The crew con- sisted of 80 to 100 men, and the value of these boats was estimated to be about $45,000.00 each. The river then, as now, was filled with sandbars and it required the greatest experience to pilot a boat safely to its destination, and as a result, experienced pilots would command monthly salaries ranging from $250.00 to $500.00. Each boat carried two pilots. A. B. Symns, for many years a successful wholesale grocery merchant in Atchison, E. K. Blair, the miller, and George W. Bowman, who also subsequently engaged in the grocery business, were employees on several of the steamboats that landed at Atchison. Stories of gambling and revelries, by day and by night, are not uncommon, and it is said it was not an unusual sight to see as many as ten games of poker going on in the main cabins on every trip, in which real money and not mere chips were used. Among the famous boats on the river in the early days were the "Hesperian," which burned near Atchison in 1859; the "Converse." "Kate Kinney," "Fort Aubrey." "Morning Star," "John D. Perry," "Sioux City," "Omaha," "Carrier," and the "James H. Lucas," which made the record run from St. Louis to St. Joseph, encompassing the trip in fifty-nine hours and twenty-two minutes, were among the well known boats that docked at the Atchison levee from time to time. The leading wharfmaster of the steamboat days was Mike Finney, who was the father of Atchison's present mayor (1915). James H. Garside succeeded him and remained in the position until steamboat days had passed. Had the Missouri river been the beneficiary of of the bounty of the Government, as the railroads were in that day, it would still be a splendid auxiliary of our transportation system. . The Missouri river, so far as Atchison is concerned, is in the same condition it was in when Mark Twain made an early trip on it from St. Louis to St. Joseph. In "Roughing It," he said :
"We were six days going from St. Louis to St. Joseph, a trip that was so dull and sleepy and eventless, that it has left no more impression on my memory than if its duration had been six minutes instead of that many days. No record is left in my mind now concerning it, but a confused jumble of savage looking snags, which we deliberately walked over with one wheel or the other; and of reefs which we butted and butted and then retired from, and
154
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
climbed over in some softer place ; and of sand bars which we roosted on occa- sionally and rested, and then got our crutches and sparred over. In fact the boat might as well have gone to St. Joseph by land, for she was walking most of the time anyhow-climbing over reefs and clambering over snags, patiently and laboriously all day long. The captain said she was a bully boat, and all she wanted was more "shear" and a bigger wheel. I thought she wanted a pair of stilts, but I had the sagacity not to say so."
STEAMBOAT LINES TO ATCHISON-1856.
From Squatter Sovereign.
March 11, 1856.
"A. B. Chambers," James Gormley, Master ; D. Jamison, Clerk.
"F. X. Aubrey," Ambrose Reeder, Captain; Ben V. Glime, Clerk.
"Polar Star," E. F. Dix, Master; H. M. Glossom, Clerk.
"New Lucy," Wm. Conley, Master.
"James H. Lucas," Andrew Wineland, Commander.
March 18, 1856.
"Star of the West," E. F. Dix, Master.
March 25, 1856.
"J. M. Convers," Geo. W. Bowman, Captain; G. A. Reicheneker, Clerk. April 29, 1856.
"Martha Jewett," D. H. Silver, Captain; W. McCreight, Clerk.
"Sultan," John H. McCloy, Master ; D. C. Sheble, Clerk.
"Edinburg," Dan Able, Master.
May 27, 1856.
"Morning Star," Wm. Brierly, Master.
June 24, 1856.
"Emigrant," Hugh L. White, Master; H. R. McDonald, Clerk.
STEAMBOAT REGISTER.
Reported for the Champion by M. C. Finney, Steamboat Agent.
BOUND UP.
E. M. Ryland, Blunt Monday, 8th. Peerless, Bissell Wednesday, Ioth.
155
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
John H. Dickey, Abel
Saturday, 13th.
H. H. Russell, Kenny
Sunday, 14th.
Hesperian, Kerchival Sunday, 14th.
F. X. Aubry, Glime Wednesday, 17th.
Platte Valley, Postill Wednesday, 17th.
Wm. Campbell, Dale Thursday, 18th.
White Cloud, O'Neil
. Friday, 19th.
Spread Eagle, Lagrage
Friday, 19th.
Emma,
Friday, 19th.
BOUND DOWN.
E. M. Ryland, Blunt
Tuesday, 9th.
Peerless, Bissell Friday, 12th.
John H. Dickey, Abel . Sunday, 14th.
W. H. Russell, Kenney Monday, 15th.
Hesperian, Kerchival
Tuesday, 16th.
F. X. Aubry, Glime Wednesday, 17th.
Wm. Campbell, Dale
. Friday, 19th.
White Cloud, O'Neil
Saturday, 20th.
(From Freedom's Champion, Atchison, March 20, 1858.)
BOUND UP.
Spread Eagle, Lagrage Friday, 19th.
Emma, Yore . Friday, 19th.
Silver Heels, Nanson Saturday, 20th.
Morning Star, Burk Sunday, 2Ist.
Polar Star, McMullin
Monday, 22d.
Twilight, Shaw
Monday, 22d.
St. Mary, Devenny
Tuesday, 23d.
Carrier, Postal Wednesday, 24th.
Sovereign, Hutchinson Wednesday, 24th.
Omaha, Wineland
Thursday, 25th.
F. X. Aubry, Glime Thursday, 25th.
Minnehaha, Baker Thursday, 25th.
John H. Dickey, Abel
Friday, 26th.
White Cloud, O'Neil
Saturday, 27th.
I56
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Florence, Throckmorton Saturday, 27th.
Polar Star, McMullin Sunday, 28th.
Hesperian, Lee Sunday, 28th.
Star of the West, Ollman Monday, 29th.
South Western, Dehaven Monday, 29th.
John Warner, Paterson Monday, 29th.
Sioux City, Baker Monday, 29th.
War Eagle, White
Tuesday, 30th.
Ben Lewis, Brierly Tuesday, 30th.
Thomas E. Tutt, Dozier Tuesday, 30th.
J. D. Perry, Davis Wednesday, 3Ist.
Watossa, Richoneker Wednesday, 3Ist.
Alonzo Child, Holland
Wednesday, 3Ist.
WVm. Campbell, Dale
Wednesday, 3Ist.
Kate Howard, Nonson Wednesday, 3Ist.
Sky Lark, Johnson Thursday, April I.
E. M. Ryland, Blunt Thursday, Ist.
Silver Heels, Nanson
Friday, 2d.
John H. Dickey, Abel
Friday, 2d.
F. A. Ogden Friday, 2d.
Every boat on the above list except eight have passed down again, mak- ing in all, sixty landings at our wharf, in the short space of thirteen days.
(From Freedom's Champion, Atchison, April 3, 1858.)
ST. LOUIS & ATCHISON UNION LINE.
One of the following Splendid Steamers Will leave
ATCHISON FOR ST. LOUIS DAILY.
Sunday Boats
Peerless and Silver Heels, Alternately.
Monday Boats,
Hesperian and Morning Star, Alternately.
Tuesday Boats,
South Webster and A. B. Chambers,
Alternately.
Wednesday Boats
Alternately.
Thursday Boats,
Friday Boats,
Ben Lewis and Twilight, Sovereign Kate Howard and Minnehaha Alternately
For Freight or passage apply to G. W. BOWMAN, Agent, Atchison. N. B. Tickets sold through to all the Eastern and Southern Cities.
I 57
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
OFFICE on the Levee. (From Freedom's Champion, Atchison, March 27, 1858.)
Squatter Sovereign, Atchison, Dec. 5, 1857: Omaha, Andrew Wineland, Master ; J. J. Wilcox, clerk. Freedom's Champion, Atchison, April 3, 1858: Ben Lewis, T. H. Brierly, Master ; W. G. Barkley, clerk. Freedom's Champion, March 12, 1859:
Alonzo Child, D. DeHaven, Master; Stanley Ryland, clerk ; H. P. Short, clerk.
CHAPTER X.
-
OVERLAND FREIGHTING.
ATCHISON AS AN OUTFITTING POINT-FREIGHTING COMPANIES-PRINCIPAL ROUTES-STAGE LINES-OVERLAND MAIL ROUTES-BEN HOLLADAY-BUT- TERFIELD'S OVERLAND DISPATCH-TIME TO DENVER-TABLES OF TIME AND DISTANCES ON VARIOUS ROUTES-STATISTICAL.
Atchison was chosen as an outfitting point for the Salt Lake freighters, in addition to many other reasons, because we had one of the best steamboat landings on the river, and had the best wagon road in the country leading west. Twenty-four miles west of Atchison this road was intersected by the old overland mail trail from St. Joseph. Leavenworth had laid out a new road west, over which it was planned to run the Pike's Peak Express stages in the spring of 1859, as well as the mule and ox teams, for Denver and the mountain mining camps. A branch road was also opened to intersect this route from Atchison in the spring of 1859, under the direction of Judge F. G. Adams. The expedition started west from Atchison in the spring of that year, over what is now known and was then known as the Parallel road, then through Muscotah and America City, across into the Big Blue river, near Blue Rapids, and westward through Jewell county. The object of this expedition was to open a shorter route to the mountains than the one opened by the Leavenworth company, and the route proposed did save sixty-five miles distance, and almost twelve hours time. E. D. Boyd, an engineer, measured the entire distance from Atchison to Denver. He also made an accurate report, showing dis- tances and the crossing of streams, and a brief description of the entire route, which was published in the Atchison Champion, in June, 1859. According to that report, the distance from Atchison to Denver was 620 miles. But not- withstanding the advantage of this new road, it was abandoned immediately and never traveled by ox or mule trains out of Atchison, for the reason that
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.