USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 17
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KANSAS CITY, LEAVENWORTH & ATCHISON RAILWAY COMPANY.
This road was organized by articles of association filed in the office of the Secretary of the State of Kansas September 21, 1867, and March 25, 1868. and the Missouri River Railroad Company by articles of association filed February 20, 1865. and the construction of the Leavenworth, Atchi- son & Northwestern railroad was commenced at Leavenworth in March, 1869.' and completed to Atchison in September. 1869. The stock held in the company by Leavenworth county, aggregating $500,000, was do- nated to this road to aid in its extension to Atchison, and the first train into Atchison arrived in the latter part of 1869. It was not until July, 1882, however, that the first train was run through from Atchison to Omaha over the line of the Missouri Pacific railroad, which subsequently absorbed the Leavenworth, Atchison & Northwestern Railroad Company.
THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY.
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company was one of the last of the railroads to make connection with Atchison. This line was
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originally projected to Leavenworth, but reached Atchison shortly after. The construction of the Atchison branch was begun in 1872, and in July of that year the first train was run into the city.
All of these roads having been organized and constructed and in opera- tion, the next movement that took place in transportation circles was the erection of the bridge across the Missouri river, work upon which was com- menced in August, 1874, and completed in July, 1875. This bridge is 1, 182 feet long and the stone for the piers and abutments upon which it rests was taken from the quarries at Cottonwood Falls, Chase county. It was originally built by the American Bridge Company of Chicago. and was re-built entirely new, except for the piers, in 1898. Shortly after the erection of the bridge, connecting Missouri with Kansas at Atchison, the first railroad de- pot was built upon the site of the present union station, which was com- pleted and dedicated September 7. 1880. There was a great deal of dis- cussion as to the proper location of a depot before the building was finally erected, and it was through the efforts of the Burneses that its location on Main street, between Second and Fourth street, was selected. The cap- ital stock of the original Depot Company was $100,000,000, of which the railroad companies then entering the city subscribed for $70,000. The bal- ance of the stock was taken by individuals. The cost of the original depot was $120,000, and the architect was William E. Taylor, who planned the old union station in Kansas City. James A. McGonigle, who was the con- tractor for the old Kansas City station, also built the Atchison union depot. It was built of the finest pressed brick from St. Louis, and trimmed with cut stone from the Cottowood Falls quarries. Its length was 235 feet, with an "L" ninety-six feet long. It was two stories high with a mansard roof. It was an ornamental, and, in those days, an imposing structure. The cere- monies accompanying its dedication were witnessed by a great crowd, and many great men in the railroad and political life of Kansas participated in them. Gen. Benjamin F. Stringfellow delivered the address, and a ban- quet was served in the evening, followed by a procession and fire-works. Two years later, in June, 1882, this depot was partially destroyed by fire, suffering a loss of $10,000, but it was immediately rebuilt. On January 6. 1888, another fire completely destroyed the building, and the present union station was erected a short time later.
HANNIBAL & ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD.
On and after Monday, February 28, this road will be open for business throughout its entire length. Passenger trains will leave St. Joseph for Han-
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nibal every morning, making close connection with steam packets to St. Louis and Quincy, and affording direct connection with all the railroads east of the Mississippi river. Time from St. Joseph to Hannibal, eleven hours, and to St. Louis, eighteen hours, saving more than three days over any other route. Trains from the east will arrive in St. Joseph every evening, con- necting with a daily line of packets running between St. Joseph and Kansas City; also a line up the Missouri to the Bluffs. Passengers from all parts of Kansas will find this the quickest and most agreeable route to St. Louis and all points on the Mississippi, giving those going east a choice between the routes from St. Louis, Alton and Quincy. Fare will be as low as by any other route. Favorable arrangements will be made for taking freight, saving most of the heavy insurance on the Missouri river. Express freight will be taken through much quicker than by any other line.
Tickets can be had at the office in St. Joseph for nearly all parts of the country.
JOSIAH HUNT. Sup't.
P. B. GROAT, Gen'1. Ticket Ag't.
no. 48-1m. Feb. Ist, 1859.
(From Freedom's Champion, Atchison, February 12, 1859.)
HANNIBAL & ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD.
NEW ROUTE OPEN FOR THE EAST AND SOUTH.
Passengers for St. Louis, northern Missouri, Iowa, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Louis- ville and Southern States, will find this the shortest, quickest and most de- sirable route to the above points. On the Ist day of February only fifteen miles of staging intervenes between St. Joseph and Hannibal, and on the Ist day of March, 1859, the road will be completed, and open for through travel the entire length. A daily line of stages from Atchison, passing through Doniphan and Geary City, connects at St. Joseph with the H. & St. Jo. railroad. From Hannibal a daily line of packets leave upon arrival of cars for St. Louis, upon the opening of navigation, and boats connect at Quincy with the C. B. & Q. railroad for Chicago, and with the G. W. railroad for Toleda via Naples. This is in every respect the best route for eastern and southern passengers. Trains leave St. Joseph for the east daily.
JOSIAH HUNT, Sup't.
P. B. GROAT, General Ticket Agent.
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(no. 47) ( From Freedom's Champion, Atchison, February 12, 1859. )
THE FIRST TELEGRAPH.
It was a little over six months after the completion of the Atchison & St. Joseph railroad that the first telegraph connection was established be- tween Atchison and the world. The construction of the Missouri & Western telegraph line was begun in Syracuse, Mo., in 1859. Charles M. Stebbins built this telegraph line, which extended from Syracuse to Ft. Smith, Ark. A branch of this line was extended westward to Kansas City, and reached Leavenworth along in the spring of 1859. August 15, 1859, this branch was extended to Atchison, and it was a proud day in the history of this city. The first office was in a brick building on Commercial street adjoining the office of Freedom's Champion. John T. Tracy was the first operator. Gen. Samuel C. Pomeroy was mayor, and on this account the honor was given him of sending the first message, which was as follows: "Atchison, August 15, 1859. His Honor, H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth. Our medium of communication is perfect. May our fraternal relations continue-may our prosperity and success equal our highest efforts. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison." Mayor Denman replied as follows : "Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison. May each push forward its works of enterprise and the efforts of each be crowned with success. H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth." Congratulations were next exchanged between Atchison and St. Louis, as follows : "Atchison, August 15, 1859. Hon. O. D. Filley, Mayor of St. Louis. For the first time since the world began, a telegraph message is sent to St. Louis from this place, the farthest telegraph station in the West. Ac- cept our congratulations and aid us in our progress westward. S. C. Pome- roy, Mayor of Atchison." It was in October of that same year that the first news was flashed over the wire telling of the capture of Harper's Ferry by old John Brown.
In connection with the question of early day transportation in Atchison county, it would be an oversight to fail to mention the efforts of one Thomas L. Fortune to improve the means of locomotion. Mr. Fortune was a citizen of Mt. Pleasant, and in the fall of 1859 he conceived the scheme which he believed would revolutionize the whole transportation problem. He planned a steam wagon with which he expected to haul freight across the plains. The following year he built at St. Louis, a large vehicle, twenty
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feet long by eight feet wide. The wheels were twenty inches wide and eight feet in diameter. This wagon was transported up the Missouri river to Atchison from St. Louis on the steamer, "Meteor," and was landed from the steamer in front of the White Mice saloon, which was a noted resort on the Atchison levee at that time, in the latter part of June, 1860. The follow- ing account is taken from Frank A. Root's "Overland Stage to California":
A day or two after its arrival (referring to Fortune's wagon) Mr. Root says that it was arranged that the steam wagon should make a trial trip on the Fourth of July. The monster was accordingly fired up on the eighty-fourth National anniversary and started by an engineer named Callahan. The wagon was ornamented with a number of flags and loaded with a crowd of anxious men and boys. When everything was in readiness the valve was opened and the wagon moved off in a southerly direction from the levee. It went all right until it reached the foot of Commercial street, about a square away. The pilot failing to turn the machine, it kept on straight up to the sidewalk and ran into A. S. Parker's warehouse, which stood so many years by the old historic cottonwood tree at the southeast cor- ner of Commercial street and the levee. The result of this awkard blunder was an accident, in which a son of the owner of the wagon had an arm broken, as the machine crashed into the side of the building, which was a long, one-story frame cottonwood structure that for a number of years was a noted landmark in Atchison. The excited engineer was at once let out and Lewis Higby, another engineer, and a natural genius, was sent for. Higby mounted the wagon and took his place at the engine, backed the ma- chine out into the middle of the road and in a few minutes went sailing gracefully along west on Commercial street at ahout six miles per hour. When in front of Jesse Crall's stable at the corner of Sixth street, before that part of Commercial street had been graded, it went down a little hill at a lively speed, but Higby kept it going and did not stop until it reached L. C. Challiss' addition, just south and west from Commercial and Eighth streets, near Morgan Willard's old foundry, built in 1859, away from the business and residence portion of the city.
After the wagon crossed Eighth street and was beyond the business houses, Higby turned on more steam, and the monster vehicle made about eight miles an hour, cavorting around on the bottom, there being only a few scattering buildings then west of Eighth street. To test the practicability of the machine, it was run into hollows and gullies, and, where the ground was soft it was found that the ponderous wheels would sink into the mud
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when standing still in soft ground. The result of the trial, witnessed by hundreds, was disappointing to most of those present. The inventor, who had spent a large amount of money and much time in trying to perfect his steam wagon and solve the overland transportation problem, was the worst disappointed. He was thoroughly disgusted. He saw at once that the use of the vehicle was impracticable and that it would never answer the purpose. That trial trip was the first and only one the "overland steam wagon" ever made. It was accordingly abandoned on the bottom where the tracks of the Central Branch and Santa Fe roads are now laid, and was never afterwards fired up. Those who had crossed the plains with mules and oxen, knew it could never be used in overland freighting. There was no use for any such vehicle and the anticipated reduction in prices of ox and mule teams did not take place. The timbers used in the framework of the machine that were not stolen finally went to decay, and the machinery was afterwards taken out and disposed of for other purposes.
MODERN TRANSPORTATION.
The propitious beginning that Atchison had as a commercial and trans- portation center should have made the town one of the largest and most important railroad terminals in the West. That was the hope and aspiration of its original founders, and for many years afterwards it was a cherished idea. But Kansas City was subsequently selected as the point of vantage, and the builders of this great western empire have since centralized their activities at the mouth of the "Kaw," and it is there that the metropolis of the West will be built. However, a marvelous development has taken place here since the day of the Holladay and Butterfield stage lines and slow- moving ox and mule trains across the plains. We no longer marvel at the volume of trade and freight tonnage and the multitude of travelers that pass through Atchison every year. We take these things as a matter of course, and make no note of the daily arrival and departure of the fifty-six passen- ger trains at our union depot every day ; we marvel not at the speed and the ease and comfort with which we can make the trip to St. Louis or Chicago. over night, or to Denver in less than twenty-four hours, or to New York in two and one-half days, and to San Francisco in less than five, surrounded by every luxury money can buy. We have accustomed ourselves to these marvels, just as we have learned to make use of the telephone and the tele- graph, and a little later on will begin to use the air ship and the wireless. Nature has a way of easily adjusting mankind to these changed conditions.
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. CROWELL-LUTHER DICKERSON-LUTHER C. CHALLISS-GEORGE W. GLICK-W. K. GRIMES-JOSHUA WHEELER- WILLIAM HETHERINGTON-WILLIAM C. SMITH-JOHN M. PRICE-SAM- UEL C. KING-CLEM ROHR-R. H. WEIGHTMAN - CASE OF MAJOR WEIGHTMAN.
One of the really creditable and most pretentious newspaper enterprises ever undertaken and accomplished in Kansas was E. W. Howe's Historical Edition of the Atchison Daily Globe. It contains much interesting and val- table information written in the unique style which has made Mr. Howe famous. With the consent of Mr. Howe, which he has very kindly granted the author of this history, there will appear in this chapter, almost verbatim, a number of biographical sketches and other interesting matter, which has should be printed in book form so that it could be assured of a permanent place in the archives of the State. There are but few copies left, and these are in a bad state of disintegration. The sketch of Gen. D. R. Atchison will first be reproduced herein, and then will follow others, touching upon the lives and characters of early settlers, who contributed their part to the upbuilding of this community. Much has already appeared in this history touching upon the activities of General Atchison, but a sketch of his life is important, inas- much as he is perhaps the most conspicuous early-day character in the history of Atchison county.
GENERAL D. R. ATCHISON.
David Rice Atchison, for whom Atchison was named, was born near Lexington, Fayette county, Kentucky, August 11, 1807. The son of William
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Atchison, a wealthy farmer of that county, he received all the advantages of a liberal education. His mother's maiden name was Catherine Allen, a native of the State of Georgia. William Atchison, the father, was a Pennsylvanian by birth.
David R. Atchison was blessed with six children, four sons and two daughters. In 1825 he graduated with high honor from Transylvania Uni- versity, then the leading institution of learning in the State, and since incor- porated in the new University of Kentucky.
Upon receiving his degrees in the arts, Mr. Atchison immediately applied himself to the study of law. In 1829 Mr. Atchison was admitted to practice in his native State, and a few months after, in 1830, removed to the compara- tively wild district of Clay county, Missouri. In April of that year he re- ceived in St. Louis his license to practice in the supreme court of the State and immediately settled in the village of Liberty, now the county seat of Clay county. About this period, Mr. Atchison was appointed major general of the northern division of the Missouri State militia.
General Atchison soon commanded a lucrative practice in his new home, where he continued to reside in the discharge of the duties of his profession until February, 1841, when his superior legal attainments, which were known and recognized throughout the State, won for him the appointment as judge of the district court of Platte county on its organization in February of that year, when he moved his residence to Platte City. It appears that in that day judges were appointed to this position by the Government, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The office was not made elective until several years after. In 1834 and 1838 he was elected to the Missouri legislature from Clay county.
Upon the death of Dr. Lyon, United States senator, in 1838, Judge Atchi- son was appointed by Governor Reynolds to the vacancy in the Senate. It was by many considered that this appointment was merited and he had been recommended by Colonel Benton and other authorities of the Democratic party ; by others it was said that the governor himself was ambitious of the senatorship and had selected Judge Atchison as a person who could be easily beaten at the next election. The death of Governor Reynolds, however, occurred before the meeting of the next legislature and Judge Atchison was elected with but slight opposition. He was reelected for two more terms, the last of which expired March 4, 1855, during the administration of Franklin Pierce. Two years after this he moved his residence from Platte to Clinton county. He was elected president of the Senate to succeed Judge Mangun, a Whig senator from North Carolina.
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The 4th of March, 1849, occurring on Sunday, Zachary Taylor was not inaugurated until the following Monday. Judge Atchison thus, as presiding officer of the Senate, became virtually President of the United States during the term of twenty-four hours. In referring to this accidental dignity, on being interrogated as to how he enjoyed his exalted position, the venerable senator good humoredly replied that he could tell but little about it as, over- come with fatigue consequent to several days and nights of official labor, he slept through nearly his whole term of service.
Judge Atchison became especially prominent in the legislature for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and claims to have originated the repeal of the Missouri Compromise bill. On his retirement from the Senate, of which he was an honored member for the space of twelve years, during the larger part of the time as presiding officer, he continued to take a lively interest in the politics of the country, and was regarded as a leader and chief adviser of the pro-slavery party in Kansas during the troubles which preceded the admission as a State. In 1856 we find him in command of 1,150 men at a point called Santa Fe. On the 29th of August, the same year, a detachment from General Atchison's army attacked Osawatomie, which was defended by about fifty men, who made a vigorous resistance but were defeated with a loss of five wounded and seven prisoners. Five of the assailants were killed and thirty buildings were burned. The next day a body of Free State men marched from Lawrence to take Atchison's army. Upon their approach the latter retired and withdrew its forces into Missouri. The admission of Kansas as a free State soon after this occurred put an end to this much vexed question and restored tranquility to the country.
General Atchison lived in retirement on his magnificent estate in Clinton county until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he left for the South and was present at the battle of Lexington. Governor Jackson secured him a commission as brigadier general at the commencement of the war. This General Atchison declined, as his residence was in Clinton county, outside the limits of the division. He, however, remained with the army and assisted in its organization. He joined temporarily for the purpose of making up the company under Ephraim Kelley's command from St. Joseph and remained with the army until after the battle of Elkhorn.
At the close of the war, General Atchison returned to his home in Clinton county, where he continued to reside in almost unbroken retirement on his 1,700-acre farm in a neat cottage erected on the site of his spacious brick man- sion, which was accidentally destroyed by fire February 2, 1870. He never married, and died at his home in Clinton county, January 26, 1886.
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MATT. GERBER.
Matt. Gerber came to this county originally in 1855. as pastry cook on a Government steamer. There was almost no town at Atchison then, and he went to Sioux City with the boat and afterwards returned to St. Louis. In 1856 he was pastry cook on the "A. B. Chambers," which ran between St. Louis and Weston and was commanded by Captain Bowman, the father of Mrs. D. C. Newcomb and Mrs. G. H. T. Johnson. Mr. Gerber was born in Baden in 1833 and came to America in 1853, landing at New Orleans, and for a time ran on boats on the lower Mississippi. For many years he was the hero of Atchison children, as he operated a bakery, confectionery and toy store on the south side of Commercial street, near Fourth. Mr. Gerber first located in Sumner in 1858, where he ran a bakery, coming to Atchison in 1860, and was in business at the same location for over thirty-four years. Mr. Gerber died in Atchison, December 14, 1907.
S. O. POMEROY
JIM LANE
J. H. TALBOTT.
( J. H. Talbott came west in 1855 and was a passenger on the "A. B. Chambers," of which George W. Bowman was captain and E. K. Blair, second clerk. The cholera was so bad that year that Mr. Talbott left the boat at Jefferson City and came overland to Monrovia, although his passage was paid to Leavenworth. Several passengers on the "A. B. Chambers" died of
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cholera and were buried on sand bars. Mr. Talbott preëmpted a claim at Monrovia, and when his family came two years later he kept a boarding house at Monrovia for four years. Albert D. Richardson was often a guest at his house. He was a clean, neat city man of about thirty, and was engaged in writing up the Kansas war for the New York Tribune. Jim Lane also stop- ped at J. H. Talbott's occasionally. Mr. Talbott first heard him make a speech in a grove at Pardee, and A. J. Westbrook was in the audience. Lane made some abusive reference to Westbrook, who made a movement as if to pull a pistol, but Lane shook his celebrated boney finger at Westbrook and defied him to shoot. At that time Atchison was controlled by the pro-slavery element, but the Free State men predominated around Monrovia and Pardee. The noted Colonel Caleb lived at Farmington. James Ridpath was often at J. H. Talbott's, and D. R. Anthony and Webb Wilder appeared there as young men and took up claims.
Another famous place in those days was the Seven Mile House, seven miles west of Atchison on the road traveled by the freighters, kept by John Bradford. Talbott's boarding house was built of logs and the beds were nailed against the wall, one above another. Sometimes the house was so crowded that the floor was also occupied with beds.
Mr. Talbott was born in Canal Dover, Ohio, where he knew W. C. Quan- trill real well. Quantrill afterwards became the noted guerilla and sacked Lawrence. Mrs. Talbott went to school with Quantrill, and the teacher was Quantrill's father, a very worthy man. After Mr. Talbott married he re- moved to Zanesville, Ind., and kept a store with S. J. H. Snyder, who was one of the early settlers of Atchison county and a fierce Free State man. In a little while Will Quantrill appeared at Zanesville and taught school in the country. He usually spent his Saturdays and Sundays at J. H. Talbott's house, on the strength of their acquaintance at Canal Dover. Mr. Talbott says he was well behaved and attracted great attention around the store, particularly from the young men.
In 1854 Quantrill left Zanesville and settled at Lawrence, Kan., as a Free State man and taught school, where he became acquainted with Robert Bitter Morrow, whose life he afterwards saved during the massacre. Robert Morrow kept the Byram in Atchison several years. When Talbott went to Monrovia in 1855, the country was full of Kickapoo Indians. He remem- bers seeing an Indian grave there: a rail pen covered with brush. In the middle of the pen could be seen the dead Indian in a sitting posture, with his gun beside him.
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