USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 16
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
used to it, the same as we have this day been accustomed to the daily arrival and departure of trains, but it was a gloomy day for Atchison when "the overland" finally pulled out of the town for good, after having run its stages out of the city almost daily for five years. The advance of the Union Pacific railroad from Omaha west along the Platte to Ft. Kearney, and the completion of the Kansas Pacific railway was the cause of the abandonment of Atchison by the "overland" as a point of departure for the mail. The company for many weeks before its final departure had been taking both stock and coaches off of the eastern division from the Missouri river to Rock creek, and other steps in preparation for moving the point of departure further west were taken. It was a little after II o'clock in the morning of December 19, 1866, that the long train of Concord stages, express coaches, hacks and other rolling stock started from their stables and yards on Second street to leave Atchison forever. The procession went west out of Atchison along Commercial street. Alex Benham and David Street, both faithful employees of "The Overland," were in charge of the procession and they rode out of town in a Concord buggy. Other em- ployees followed in buggies and coaches, and then the canvas covered stages, followed by over forty teams and loose horses, slowly moved out of town, headed for Fort Riley and Junction City.
ROUTE FROM ATCHISON via the SMOKY HILL FORK ROUTE.
From Atchison to
Miles Total
Mormon Grove
31/2
Remarks Junction of the Great Military Road.
Monrovia
81/2
I2
Provisions, entertainment and grass.
Mouth of Bill's Creek
13 25
On the Grasshopper, wood and grass.
Ter. Road from Nebraska
15 40 Wood, water and grass.
Soldier Creek
IO
50 Wood and grass.
Lost Creek
15
65
Wood and grass.
Louisville
IO
75
Wood and grass.
Manhattan City
12
87
Water, wood and grass.
Fort Riley
I5
102
Water, wood and grass.
Salina
52
I54 Wood, water and grass.
Pawnee Trail-Smoky Hill 130
284 Grass and buffalo chips.
Pawnee Fork
35
319
Gross and buffalo chips.
Arkansas Crossing
35
354
Wood, water and grass.
170
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
- Bent's Fort
150
504
Wood, water and grass.
Bent's Old Fort
40
544
Water and grass.
Huerfano
40
584
Water and grass.
Fontaine qui Bouille
I5
599 Wood, water and grass.
Crossing of same
18
617 Wood, water and grass.
Jim's Camp
15
632
Water and grass.
Brush Corral
12
644
Wood, water and grass.
Head of Cherry Creek
26
670
Wood, water and grass.
Crossing of Same
35
705 From this point to the mines there is
Mines
6
71I
heavy timber, and grass and water in abundance.
From Freedom's Champion, February 12, 1859.
ROUTE FROM ATCHISON via
The Great Military Road to Salt Lake, and Col. Fremont's Route in 1841.
From Atchison to Miles Total
Remarks Junction of the Great Military Road.
Marmon Grove
31/2
Lancaster
51/2
9
Provisions and grass. Provisions and grass.
Huron (Cross. Grasshop- per) 4
I3
First Salt Lake Mail Station.
Kennekuk, do main do IO
23
Provisions, timber, and grass.
Capioma (Walnut Creek) 17
40 Provisions, timber, and grass.
Richmond (head of Nema-
Salt Lake Mail Station and pro- visions.
Marysville
40
95
Water and Gross.
Small Creek on Prairie
IO
IO5
Luxurient grass.
do do
IO
115
Water and grass.
do do
7
122
Wood and grass.
Wyth Creek
7
129
Wood and grass.
Big Sandy Creek
I3
I.42
Dry Sandy Creek
I7
159
Little Blue River
12
171
Wood and grass.
Road leaves Little Blue
44
215
Wood and grass.
Small Creek
7
222
Wood, grass and buffalo.
Platte River
I7
239
Salt Lake Mail Station and pro-
Ft. Kearney
IO
2.49
visions.
ha) J5
55
Wood and luxuriant grass.
Heavy timber.
17I
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
17 Mile point
17
266 Wood, water and grass.
Plum Creek
18
284 Wood and grass.
Cottonwood Spring
40 324 Wood and grass.
Fremont's Springs
40 364 Luxuriant grass.
O'Fallon's Bluffs
369 Wood, water and grass. 5
Crossing South Platte 40 409 Wood, water, and grass.
Ft. St. Vrain
200
609 Provisions, and from this to the
Cherry Creek
10
649 mines the route is well timbered and watered.
From Freedom's Champion, February 12, 1859.
TABLE OF DISTANCES -From- ATCHISON TO THE GOLD MINES, via the
First Standard Parallel Route to the Republican Fork of the Kansas River, thence following the Trail of Colonel Fremont on his Explora- tions in 1843, to Cherry Creek and the Mines.
Compiled from Colonel Fremont's Surveys, and the most reliable information derived from the traders across the Great Plains.
From Atchison to Miles Total
Remarks
Settlement, provisions and grass.
20 Settlement, provisions and grass.
Eureka 31 II Settlement, provisions and grass.
Ontario, on Elk Creek IO 41 Settlement, provisions and grass.
America, on Soldiers Creek 9 Vermillion City 25
50 Settlement, provisions and grass.
75 Settlement, entertainment and pro-
Crossing of Big Blue 3
78 visions.
Little Blue creek I7
95 Heavy timber and grass.
Head of Blue creek 23
118 Timber and grass.
Republican Fork 12 I30 Wood, water and grass.
Lancaster
9
Muscotah, on Grasshopper II
I72
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Republican Fork crossing 2
I32
Branch of Solomon's Fork 38 170
Leaves Solomon's Fork 75 245
Branch of Republican Fork 15
260
Following up Rep. to its
head
190
450
Heavy timber and grass on course.
Beaver Creek 23
473
Wood, grass and buffalo.
Bijou Creek
22
495
Wood, grass and buffalo.
Kioway Creek
15
5IO
Cherry Creek and Mines 25
535
Colonel Fremont describes this sec- tion as "affording an excellent road, it being generally over high and level prairies, with numerous streams which are well timbered with ash, elm, and very heavy oak, and abounding in herds of buffalo, elk and antelope."
The route from this point to the mines runs thro' a country well tim- bered and watered, with luxurient grass and plenty of wild game.
From Freedom's Champion, February 12, 1859.
Main Entrance to Jackson Park, Atchison, Kansas
Freedom's Champion : October 30, 1858.
A TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF TRAINS
Which have left Atchison this season, for Salt Lake City and other Points on the Plains, Together with the Number of Men, Cattle, Mules, Horses and wagons engaged in transporting, and the Amount of the Freight Shipped :
Wagons
Men
Oxen
Horses
Mules.
Lbs. Mdse.
Owners.
Residence.
Freigliters. P. M. Chateau & Co.
Residence. Kansas City Independence Independence Independence New Mexico
Destination.
Salt Lake City
32
40
480
8
12
181,587
John M. Hockady & Co.
M'ail Contractors First Supply Train
S. L. M. Stations
10
20
80
23,000
Dyer, Mason & Co.
Independence
W. H. Dyer & Co.
Salt Lake City
60
70
720
5
21
315.000
S. G. Mason & Co.
Independence
E. C. Chiles
Salt Lake City
27
35
350
3
6
149,000
Radford, Cabot & Co.
St. Louis
J. B. Doyle
Salt Lake City
38
43
460
13
198,500
John M. Hockady & Co.
Weston
C. C. Branham
Weston
28
36
380
12
6
145,500
C. A. Perry & Co,
Weston
C. A. Perry & Co.
Weston
91
123
1,080
7
18
500,501
R. H. Dyer & Co.
Fort Kearney
R. H. Dyer & Co.
Fort Kearney Marysville
Palmetto
20
25
280
1
120,000
Irvin & Young
Independence
Irvin & Young
Independence
Salt Lake City
32
40
384
1
7
160,000
Livingston, Kinkead & Co. New York
Irvin & Young
Independence
Salt Lake City
52
59
624
12
234,017
J. M. Guthrie & Co.
Weston, Mo.
S. M. Guthrie & Co.
Salt Lake City
50
60
700
3
8
252,000
Curtas Clayton
Leavenworth
C. C. Branham
Weston
Salt Lake City
12
25
380
1
12
66,000
Reynald & McDonald
Fort Laramie
Reynal & McDonald C. Martin
Green River
12
6
1
35,000
Livingston, Kinkead & Co. New York
Hord & Smith
Salt Lake City
40
50
5
325
159,400
Hord & Smith
Independence
Hord & Smith
Do and Way Points
10
15'
2
85
37,400
Bisonette & Lazinette
Deer Creek
Independence Bisonette & Lazinette Deer Creek
Labonto
13
20
156
6
67,600
Ballord & Moralle
Marysville
J. S. Watson
Marysville
9
13
108
3
45,000
R. H. Dyer & Co.
Fort Kearney
R. H. Dyer & Co.
Fort Kearney
13
20
158
2
68.100
John M. Hockady & Co.
Independence
Third Supply Train
S. L. M. Stations
57
60
6
312
204,000
Geo. Chorpoening
California
A. J. Schell
Pennsylvania
Cal. & S. L. Stat's
12
20
80
21,000
Hockady, Burr & Co.
Salt Lake City
Hockady, Burr & Co. Utah
Salt Lake City
105
225
1,000
50
200
465,500
775 1,114
7,963 142 1,286
3,730,905
38
70
456
4
7
212.800
F. J. Marshall
Marysville
F. J. Marshall
Weston
Fort Laramie
9
15
163
2
6
49,000
C. Martin
Green River
Green River
7
84
85
21,000
Mail Contractors Second Supply Train Independence
S. L. M. Stations
10
18
C. C. Granham
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City
Fort Kearney
2
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
I73
Radford, Cabot & Co.
St. Louis
Fort Laramie
Independence
Marysville
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, LEAVENWORTH & ATCHISON-THE ROCK ISLAND-THE HANNIBAL & ST. JOSEPH-THE FIRST TELEGRAPH-MODERN TRANSPORTATION.
Eight years before the last stage pulled out of Atchison the agitation for a railroad began. The first charter provided for the construction of a railroad from Atchison to St. Joseph. As appeared in an earlier chapter. the city council of Atchison at its first meeting called an election March 15, 1858, to vote on a proposition to subscribe for $100,000 in stock. The election was held in the store of the Burnes Brothers, and S. H. Petefish, Charles E. Woolfolk and Dr. C. A. Logan were judges of election. The proposition carried almost unanimously, and, in addition to the stock sub- scribed for by the city, the citizens of the town subscribed for $100,000 in stock individually. The following May the contract for the construction of the road was awarded to Butcher, Auld & Dean at $3.700 per mile. There were fourteen other bidders. The members of the firm which made the successful bid were : Ephraim Butcher, David Auld, James Auld and William Dean. Work of construction was started May 12, 1858, but was not fin- ished until February 22, 1860. The completion of this road to Atchison was of very far reaching importance. The town was wild with excitement, for the new railroad gave the town its first direct rail connection with the east. Its terminus at Winthrop (East Atchison) was the first western point east of the Rocky mountains reached by a railroad at that time in the United States, save one. The first railroad built between the Mississippi and the
174
175
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Missouri rivers was the Hannibal & St. Joseph, which was completed to St. Joseph February 23. 1859, and the new railroad from Atchison connected with the Hannibal & St. Joseph at the latter point.
Richard B. Morris was the first conductor of the Atchison road. and he subsequently became internal revenue collector of Kansas under Cleve- land. Following the completion of the road, a great celebration was held at Atchison June 13. 1860, and the people not only celebrated the completion of the St. Joseph line, but also the breaking of ground on the Atchison & Pike's Peak railroad, now the Central Branch. Great preparations were made for the celebration weeks in advance and promptly following the hour of 12 o'clock on the morning of June 13. 1860, the firing of 100 guns at intervals began, which was kept up with monotonous regular- ity until daybreak. Flags and bunting fluttered from poles and windows throughout the city, and a special train of invited guests from the East ar- rived at Winthrop before noon with flags flying and bands playing. The passenger steamer, "Black Hawk," loaded to the guards with citizens from Kansas City, reached Atchison early in the morning, and leading citizens also came from Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka and other towns. The city had been cleaned up and put in holiday attire by the city author- ities. The town had never before presented such a gay appearance. Frank A. Root in his interesting book, "The Overland Stage to California," who was present at the celebration, has perhaps written the most interesting ac- count of this event that has ever been printed. He says :
"In the procession that formed along Second street, one of the unique and attractive features was a mammoth government wagon trimmed with evergreens and loaded with thirty-four girls dressed in white, representing every State in the Union and the Territory of Kansas. There were three other wagons filled with little girls similarly dressed, representing all the forty-one counties of Kansas in its last year of territorial existence.
"One of the contractors for government freighting had a huge prairie schooner, drawn by twenty-nine yoke of oxen, the head of each animal or- namented with a small flag, while he himself was mounted upon a mule. The contractor was quite an attraction, dressed in the peculiar western prairie and plains frontier cow-boy costume with buckskin pants, red flannel shirt. boots nearly knee high, with revolver and bowie knife buckled around his waist. dangling by his side. The procession in line, marched west along Commercial street to near Tenth. It was a long one and it was estimated that there were 7,000 people in it and at least 10,000 in the city witnessing
176
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
the festivities. The ceremony of breaking ground for these two roads took place about noon, but there was nothing particularly imposing about it. The most important part of the ceremonies was the turning over of a few spadefuls of dirt by Col. Peter T. Abell, president of the road, and Capt. Eph. Butcher, the contractor, who built the Atchison & St. Joseph road. The event was witnessed by fully 5.000 people, after which the monster procession formed, and, headed by a brass band, and other bands at different places in the line, marched across White Clay creek to the grove in the southwest part of the city, where the oration was delivered by Benj. F. Stringfellow. Following the oration several speeches were made by the most prominent of the invited guests, one of them by Col. C. K. Holliday, of Topeka, one of the founders of the great Santa Fe system. The barbeque was an im- portant feature of the affair. Six beeves, twenty hogs, and over fifty sheep, pigs and lambs were roasted. There was also prepared more than one hun- dred boiled hams, several thousand loaves of bread, cakes by the hundred, besides sundry other delicacies to tickle the palate and help make the occasion one long to be remembered by all present. The exercises were quite elab- orate and wound up with a ball in the evening at A. S. Parker's hall on the west side of Sixth street, between Commercial and Main and a wine supper in Charley Holbert's building on Second street, just north of the Massasoit House. Many visitors came from a long distance east, some as far as New England. Most of the Northern States were represented, and a few came from the South. Free transportation was furnished the invited guests. Hundreds came by rail and steamboat and many poured in from the sur- rounding country for miles, in wagons and on horseback, from eastern Kansas and western Missouri."
While a strong movement for the construction of railroads was started in 1860, it was soon discovered that much progress could not be made in the face of the unsettled conditions brought on by the Civil war, and, as a result a further effort in that direction, was, for the time being, abandoned. However, Luther C. Challiss did not give up his idea of projecting a road to the West, and to him more than to anybody else belongs the credit of start- ing the first road west out of Atchison. He obtained a charter for the building of the Atchison & Pike's Peak railroad and this company was organ- ized February II, 1859, but on account of the war was not opened to Water- ville until January 20, 1868. Challiss obtained possession of 150,000 acres of land from the Kickapoo Indians by a treaty, and, upon the organization of the company he was elected president. The land he secured from the
177
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Indians was, for the most part, located in Atchison county, around Muscotah, and adjoining counties. With Mr. Challiss were associated Charles B. Keith, who was the agent of the Kickapoo Indians, George W. Glick and Senators Pomeroy and Lane. In the charter for this road provision was made for its construction 100 miles west of Atchison. Col. William Osborn, who had constructed the west half of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, built the first section of the Central Branch to Waterville. He named the town after his old home in New York, where he was born. It was proposed at this point to make a connection with a branch running from Kansas City to Ft. Kearney, Neb., but the Kansas City road was subsequently changed to Denver, and for this reason it has been said the Central Branch was not completed to Denver, as originally planned.
The Atchison & Pike's Peak Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of the Territorial legislature of the Territory of Kansas, chapter 48, "Private Laws of Kansas, 1859," and authorized to construct a rail- road from Atchison to the western boundary of the Territory in the direc- tion of Pike's Peak. Subsequently, the Atchison & Pike's Peak Railroad Company became the assignee of all the rights, privileges and franchises of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, given and granted under an Act of Congress, of July 8, 1862, Twelfth Statute, page 489, entitled: "An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Mis- souri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of same for postal, military and other purposes," which provided that the Han- nibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company might extend its road from St. Joseph via Atchison, to connect and unite with a railroad in Kansas, provided for in said Act, for one hundred miles in length next to the Missouri river, and might, for that purpose, use any railroad charter, which had, or might have been granted, by the legislature of Kansas. Accordingly, the work of con- struction from Atchison west was inaugurated under the name of the Atch- ison & Pike's Peak Railroad Company. On January 1, 1867, by virtue of the laws of the State of Kansas, the name of AAtchison & Pike's Peak Railroad Company was changed to the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad Com- pany, and the latter company completed the railroad from Atchison to Water- ville.
THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY.
The first real move for the construction of a railroad from the Missouri river, west, resulted in a charter granted by the Territorial legislature to the
12
178
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
St. Joseph & Topeka Railroad Company February 20, 1857. Under the terms of the charter the road was to start from St. Joseph, Mo .; thence crossing the river through Doniphan, Atchison and Jefferson counties to Topeka. The charter was subsequently amended and the road was extended in the direction of Santa Fe, N. M., to the southwestern line of Kansas. which is practically the same route now traversed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. The desire on the part of the people for direct rail- road connection with the Missouri river and the East gave to this move- ment great impetus, and there was considerable rivalry between the towns to offer aid and assistance. The people of Atchison were particularly anxious to make this town the terminal point and the future railway center of the great trans-continental system, and strongly opposed any project which would make Atchison simply a way station on the great road to the West. With a view to avert such action on the part of those behind the movement to construct this road, it was determined to make Atchison the eastern terminus of the same. Accordingly, Atchison loaned its credit to the amount of $150,000, by aid of which subsidy a direct road was built on the Missouri side of the river from St. Joseph and thence north under an- other charter with Atchison, Kan., instead of St. Joseph as the eastern ter- minus, the enterprise was carried on and as a result the citizens of Kansas Ter- ritory were much elated with the added prestige of the railroad being a Kan- sas corporation. The Atchison & Topeka Railroad Company was incor- porated by an Act of the legislature February II, 1859. Those named as the original incorporators were : S. C. Pomeroy, Atchison; C. K. Halliday, Topeka; Luther C. Challiss, Atchison; Peter T. Abell, Atchison; Aspah Allen, Topeka ; Milton C. Dickey, Topeka; Samuel Dickson, Atchison; Wilson L. Gordon, Topeka; George S. Hillyer, Grasshopper Falls; Lorenzo D. Bird, Atchison; Jeremiah Marshall, Topeka; George H. Fairchild, Atchison; F. L. Crane, Topeka. The company was "authorized to survey, locate, con- struct, complete, alter, maintain and operate a railroad with one or more tracks from or near Atchison in Kansas Territory, to the town of Topeka, in Kansas Territory, and to such point on the southern or western boundary of said Territory in the direction of Santa Fe as may be convenient and suitable for the construction of said road and also to construct a branch to any point on the southern line of said Territory in the direction of the Gulf of Mexico." The authorized capital stock was $1,500,000, and the first meeting for organization under the charter was held at the office of Luther C. Challis in Atchison September 15. 1859, at which meeting $52,000 of the
179
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
first subscription of stock was paid, and the following directors were chosen : L. C. Challiss, George H. Fairchild, P. T. Abell, S. C. Pomeroy, L. D. Bird, C. K. Halliday, F. L. Crane, E. G. Ross, Joel. H. Huntoon, M. C. Dickey, Jacob Safford, R. H. Weightman, and J. H. Stringfellow. The officers were: C. K. Holliday, president ; P. T. Abell, secretary ; M. C. Dickey, treas- urer. It will be seen that the majority of the incorporators and of the offi- cers were citizens of Atchison, and it is an important fact in the history of Kansas that Atchison county played such an important part in the organiza- tion and construction of the first railroad lines in the State. Had it not been for the terrible drought of 1860, which totally paralyzed all classes of business, the work of constructing this road immediately following its or- ganization would have gone forward, but the famine which followed the drought was so complete and so widely distributed throughout the State and the western country as to almost destroy the farming interests. During this period the directors of the road decided to press the claims of Kansas for a national subsidy for the construction of railroads, and President C. K. Holli- day, with a number of his associates, spent much time in Washington dur- ing 1859 and 1860. Their work was not in vain, for on March 3, 1863, Con- gress made a grant of land to the State of Kansas, giving alternate sections one mile square and ten in width, amounting to 6.400 acres per mile, on con- dition that the Atchison-Topeka road should be finished on or before 1873. The State accepted the grant and transferred it to this road February 9, 1864. It was in October, 1868, almost ten years after the date that the first charter was granted to this road that work of construction was begun in Topeka. The road was first built in a southerly direction so as to reach the coal region in Osage county. It was opened to Carbondale, eighteen miles from Topeka, in July, 1869, and reached Wichita, 163 miles from Topeka, in May, 1872, and at about the same time in 1872 the road was completed from Topeka to Atchison, a distance of fifty-one miles.
ATCHISON & NEBRASKA CITY RAILROAD.
On May 5, 1867, the charter for the Atchison & Nebraska City Railroad Company was filed in the office of the secretary of State of the State of Kan- sas. The original incorporators of this road were Peter T. Abell, George WV. Glick, Alfred G. Otis, John M. Price, W. W. Cochrane, Albert H. Hor- ton, Samuel A. Kingman, J. T. Hereford and Augustus Byram, all of whom were citizens of Atchison. The charter provided for the construction of a
180
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
railroad from "some point in the city of Atchison to some point on the north line of the State of Kansas, not farther west than twenty-five miles from the Missouri river, and the length of the proposed railroad will not exceed forty-five miles." Shortly after the road was incorporated the name was changed to the Atchison & Nebraska Railroad Company, and under this name subscriptions in bonds and capital stock were made in Atchison and Doniphan counties. Atchison county subscribed for $150,000, and in addi- tion to the subscription of the county there were individual subscriptions amounting to $80,000 in the county. Work was commenced on the road in 1869, and it was completed in 1871 to the northern boundary of Doni- phan county, three miles north of Whitecloud. The stockholders of Atchi- son graded the road bed to the State line, constructed bridges and furnished the ties, after which the entire property was given to a Boston syndicate in consideration of the completion and operation of the road. This railroad was afterwards consolidated with the Atchison, Lincoln & Columbus Rail- road Company of Nebraska, which road had been authorized to construct a railroad from the northern terminal point of the Atchison & Nebraska rail- road to Columbus, on the Union Pacific railroad, by way of Lincoln, and the road was completed to Lincoln in the fall of 1872. This consolidated road was purchased by the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company in 1880.
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