History of Butler County Kansas, Part 6

Author: Mooney, Vol. P
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 946

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"Our first Fourth of July celebration occurred in 1868, which eclipsed anything I had ever seen for pure, unadulterated patriotism and practically illustrated freedom. The grove near Dr. Gordon's was se- lected for the purpose. The preparations were elaborate, seats were im- provised, a speaker's stand erected, an old army flag was resurrected out of some dark corner and suspended in graceful folds from the limb of a tree just over the head of the speakers, which was both inspiring and ef- fective. A public dinner was the order of the day. The men recon- noitered around to secure the financial requisite. The women were oc- cupied preparing the "grub" the day arrived and all went merry as a marriage bell! The sun shone brightly, the birds sang sweetly and all nature seemed in unison with our hearts .. The marshal of the day was Mr. Elisha Main. The exercises were introduced by singing the 'Star Spangled Banner,' which was executed with spirit, and what was lacking in time was supplied in sound. Father Stansberry offered a prayer ; the Declaration of Independence was read by W. T. Gallagher; orations were then delivered by D. M. Bronson and W. T. Gallagher, which were both eloquent and patriotic and so vivid in portrayal that we could al-

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

most see the noble bird in his aerial gyrations, and hear the footfall of the Pilgrim Father on the barren Plymouth Rock. The Declaration, our glorious magna charta, was literally worn out, what there was remaining of it would hardly make a gun wad. After the exercises closed the table was prepared, looking inviting enough to please the most fastidious epi- cure. But here came the tug of war. There were about ten bachelors to one woman in the country. All hungry, lean and lank, they made one grand forward march for the table. In about five minutes that table was bare. One lady, approaching me with a countenance indicative of sorrow, said : 'Have you seen anything of my fruit cake, the first one I have seen or made since I left old England's shores?' I told her I sup- posed it had gone to hunt up my dried apple pies. I did come near on this occasion of being converted to the doctrine of total depravity. The day's exercises closed with a grand ball over Henry Martin's store. This was our first dress ball."

Homesteading-The United States land office was located at Hum- boldt until October, 1870, when it was removed to Augusta, with Andrew Akin, registrar, and W. A. Shannon, receiver. The office remained in Augusta only until early in 1872, when it was removed to Wichita, where it remained until practically all the land in Butler county had been entered. The southern portion of the county as far north as the north line of section 30, in township 26, a strip twenty miles wide was known originally as the Osage Indian reserve. It is said this land was promised to the Osage Indians as long as "grass grew or water run," but the government in 1863 purchased the lands and removed the Indians to a reserve farther south. The reserve was then made pre-emption land and was sold to actual settlers at $1.25 per acre. Conditions and restric- tions obliged the settler to make certain improvements, sufficient to. show his good faith in taking the land for a home.

The remainder of the county north was disposed of to actual settlers under the homestead laws of the United States. The entire north por- tion was homesteaded except the odd numbered sections for a distance of twenty miles from the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe rail- road. This land was donated to the railroad company to assist it in con- struction of the railroad through the state. The first donation was for ten miles on either side of the railroad, but afterward on account of a portion of the said odd numbered sections having been entered, the company was given an additional ten miles. In 1872 it was discovered that the company was claiming lands beyond the twenty-mile limit. A resurvey was had and a number of acres was turned subject to home- stead entry. This land in Butler county was principally in Fairview and Benton townships. There was a small strip of land about fifteen rods wide between the two surveys, caused by a failure to make conections in surveying. This strip was called, or miscalled, the neutral strip. It, like the land on the north was subject to homestead entry.

CHAPTER VI.

PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.

REAL SETTLEMENT-PIONEER WOMEN-ERECTION OF SAW MILLS-PIO- NEER LIFE-AMUSEMENTS-GRASSHOPPER YEAR-DEVASTATION-RE- ACTION-BRIGHTER HOPES -- "SLEEP, OLD PIONEER"-AFTERWARDS- PUBLIC ENTERPRISES-PROSPERITY-NOW.

Real Settlement-In 1867 or 1868 real settlement was begun in Butler county. Many quarter sections were homesteaded and pre- empted, much land was broken and farmers settled down to the business of making homes and accumulating property. The tide of immigration turned in this direction. The white-covered "prairie schooners" began to arrive, and from that time on until 1874, "grasshopper year," they were always in sight, bringing those men through whose veins coursed the best blood of the race of mankind. Men, energetic, ambitious, opti- mistic, courageous. And they came with the mystic power of looking into the future, of seeing beyond the present boundaries into the invisible future ; home-seeking men, trusting to the lands of Butler county their future and their families.

And here let me speak a word for those women of the early days. those loyal women who accompanied to the plains the men of their choice ; women of refinement and culture ; forsaking father, mother, re- lations, girlhood friends of the years ; leaving homes, if not of luxury, yet of comfort, a roof to shelter, a bed for rest, a stove for warmth and cook- ing ; to cook over a camp fire ; to live upon meager necessities ; to sleep in comfortless corners ; to forget the sight of new garments. Brave, un- complaining women, doing their duty, meeting trials, overcoming diffi- culties, getting along without, giving up the essentials of enjoyment and happiness ; timid, lone women at times left alone with the doleful sound of the prairies, and neighbors not for twenty miles. Pioneer woman, go- ing down into the valley without the comfort of a sister woman, await- ing the uncertain call of an unskilled doctor-but a doctor who spared not his efforts to help; and at last awakening to that joy that only a mother has ever known, the knowledge that out of her travail has come a man child, into her home and into her world. Then she goes about with a song of gladness, performing the duties of the house, and after that often going into the field to help her husband.

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

Where would be the boasted civilization of Butler county today, save for the pioneer wives and mothers who took and kept their places side by side with the pioneer men. Women with woman's refinement and power to comfort; women of endurance and able to compel men to higher things. The high standard of citizenship, the civic righteousness of Butler county today, the schools, the churches and all things, which tend to make this county desirable for home and family are the ma- terial results wrought from the inspiring influence of the brave, noble women of the frontier.

The immigration continued, settlers multiplied. The bottom lands, and after that the uplands, began to be occupied. Houses began to in- crease along the streams. "Box" houses and caves in the hillside were used for dwelling places for "proving up" on the claims.

The need for homes brought into the county the first enterprise of a public character-the erection of saw mills. These were located from time to time at Chelsea, El Dorado, Little Walnut, Douglass, Augusta, Towanda and Plum Grove. None of these mills are in present use. With the saw mill came the cutting and sawing of timber, and board shacks appeared on the uplands. These seldom contained more than two rooms, one inside and the other out. But somewhere in the attic or on the wall was the guest chamber. No matter where he was from or who he hap- pened to be, a welcome always awaited the visitor. And "such as I have, give I unto thee." Perhaps only corn meal and salt pork, with a cup of Arbuckle's coffee-but given with that good will and hospitality that today still characterizes the Kansas people.

Many hardships and privations were encountered and lived. Prob- lems were met and solved that the present generation would hesitate to undertake. And the chief one of them all was to make one dollar do the work of nine. But in those homes and among those people, the hard- ships and privations notwithstanding, there were formed friendships as lasting as time. Everyone was willing to divide the little he had with his neighbor. Any article for house use or any implement for farming- and all were scarce-was always at the neighbor's service, whether a neighbor of a mile or of ten miles distant. It is known as a fact that a bacon rind used to grease the griddle for corn or wheat cakes has been loaned around a neighborhood. But in those primitive homes were brought up the boys and girls that are the men and women of the county today. Sturdy, self-reliant, capable men and women that have shaped the destiny of this county, and who are yet furthering their efforts by precept and example to make Butler county the greatest and grandest land of homes on earth. Every man a king, every woman a queen, and whose confidence in their ability to overcome, and their faith in the promises of almighty God laid the foundation of a community of right- thinking, right-living. God-fearing people. And the boys and girls of those other boys and girls, whose blood contains no taint of the saloon or brothel, whose inspirations are the memories of the clean lives of their

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

ancestry, and whose aspirations are to build yet greater, aim higher and leave the impress of their lives unto future generations.

The period of from 1868 to 1874 is the period of the true early settle- ment in the history of the county. It is the period usually referred to as the "early day" and the period of reminiscences. Also it is the time of the arrival of the "official" old settler, an "old settler" being defined in the constitution and by-laws of various organizations as "one who came to Kansas prior to grasshopper year." These were the days of earnest purpose, days of good will to all, days of the fullness of life, days without social strivings and days without class distinction, but a loyal people from many lands, met together on a common ground, with common ends and common pleasures. "For with this simple people, who lived like brothers together, all things were held in common, and what one had was another's."

BOATING SCENE ON THE WALNUT RIVER.

For amusement or entertainment the neighbors visited. They talked over times back east, where they were from, why they left (some of them) and why they located in Butler county. On Sunday there was either a horse race or preaching. The horse racing on Sunday soon died out, the preaching continued and along with the preaching services came the Sunday school, and in the opinion of the writer, a greater per cent of the people attended then than now. For the younger set, there was riding on horseback (or ponies rather). And when the boys could raise the two-bits or the four-bits necessary to pay the fiddler, they would gather for from two to twenty miles for a dance, and 'twould be "dance all night till broad daylight," with an intermission for refreshments.

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

These consisted of cove oysters and crackers, with bologna on the side and home roasted coffee (and they were mighty good).

One of the most noted and longest remembered dances was held in Towanda in the fall of 1871. One E. G. Richards had erected a two-story building about 25x40 feet. There were two rooms below and one above, the stairway being on the outside. The building was constructed of the ordinary sheeting lumber sixteen feet long (which was the height of the building) and stood upright. The upper story was the "hall." The music consisted of one organ operated by Mrs. J. H. Dickey ; one piccalo, for which Dan Overocker furnished the motive power, and one fiddle (before the days of the violin) required to talk under the direction of W. C. Wait, father of one of our present county commissioners. And the old-timers, "Turkey in the Straw," "Devil's Dream," "Fisher's Horn- pipe," "Arkansas Traveler," and others similar, and the square dances, the old folk-dances, Virginia reel, money musk and others did duty that night if never before or since. Also a banquet was spread for this oc- casion. The menu is remembered as follows: Cove oysters, roast pork, bread and butter, ginger bread, prunes, dried apple pie, dried peaches and milk and hot coffee. What more could be wished. Neither were there tables for serving, but a plate was held on the lap, and very few spilled the contents of their plates on the floor. A number went out from El Dorado to take in this society event. Among these were George J. Hartman, Miss Hartman, Will Julian, N. F. Frazier and Miss Emma Crook, who afterward became Mrs. N. F. Frazier, and both of whom are gone from us. And always at a Fourth of July celebration was the platform dance the popular amusement. Of ,course, then, as now speeches were made, but also no one heard them any more then than they do now. But "on with the dance, let joy be unconfined," kept the platform busy until the early hours, or until the fiddler ceased fiddling from sheer exhaustion. Even, mayhap, from another reason, when the same tune began to go round and round in unceasing success, the hint went out that it was time to mount your ponies and go home.

Another popular amusement of this period was the amateur the- atrical. Home talent plays, ranging from "Handy Andy" to "Mad Nance" never failed of thrills both in front and behind the curtain. The home troup always played to crowded houses and real appreciation. Later there came periodically through the county the traveling reper- toire companies. Favorite of all these was "Louie Lord." star of the eighties in Butler county. Other talented "families," as the Davis fam- ily and the musical DeMoss family' became almost as familiar to us as friends. Other pastimes were the singing schools and the spelling schools that buzzed and hummed with excitement. The name of the occasion mattered not. The enthusiasm of light hearts and free life car- ried it along on joyful wings. And any or all of these times must call forth a ride across the prairies, often of many miles. But blow cold, blow hot, it mattered not, young life was ready to go and young hearts

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

beat with gladness. The boys and girls of the early days got all out of life there was in it. They worked with a will, they played with a will. Clans and cliques were unknown, each one needed the other.

Thus the time passed on. The land was tilled, the soil cultivated, the people were happy and reasonably prosperous, till came the year of 1874. The seed was sown and the harvest planted. But the summer came on and there was no rain. The sky continued a burned-out blue. the grasses withered, the few forest and fruit trees planted began to droop. Farmers began to inquire of each other of the prospect for crop's ; farmers not disheartened, only fearful. Each one with the spirit of Kansas optimism tried to encourage the other, while at the same time cheering himself ; and all scanned the sky for the clouds that came not.

Grasshopper Year-And August came, the month from which all things in Kansas since that time are dated. And the sun shone, and the sky carried day after day a gun metal lining. The hot, dry, ceaseless wind from the south burned the faces of men and seared the life of nature. Crops withered, grasses of the prairie drooped and cried for moisture. Dumb animals, domestic or wild, stood motionless. Then came noon of the seventh day of that memorable month. There fell over the land a dimness of the sun, like unto dust upon/a window pane. Fol- lowing this a sound as if a rushing wind, or as of swallows leaving a chimney; then pat, pat, pat, faster and faster and faster upon the doors came that which caused strong men to bow themselves, and women to cry out in dispair. And the land of promise became a land of blight, of shattered hopes and of disappointment. The great black cloud swept down, and thus the grasshopper came, came with his kindred, his an- cestry and all their descendants; like "the arrow that flieth by day and the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the terror by night and the destruction that wasteth at noonday." Not by thousands, nor by tens of thousands, but like unto the sands of the seashore that no man could number. A hoard of hungry, leaping, hopping, flying insects ; a buzzing of wings and a sound like the rushing of waters; they came with such speed and velocity that contact with a solid substance often stunned or killed.

Persons were compelled to protect their faces for fear of injury to the eyesight. Animals turned from them as they would from storm or hail. It was impossible to drive a team against them, and almost as impossible to keep control of it when driving with them. Frightened stock stampeded and in frenzy ran heedless, perhaps not to return. Alighting in headlong speed, the pests settled layer upon layer until the land was covered. There lay over Butler county a solid covering of from two inches to two feet in depth ; and there was drifted against the hedges or anything that retarded progress a depth of writhing plague of from two to four feet. Wagon tracks were filled until driving over them sounded like the eating of onion or chewing dill pickles. A hungry, fam- ished, voracious, greedy, greasy, repulsive, devouring insect. "Longing,

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

they look, and gasping at the sight, devour hereo'er and o'er with vast delight." Eating, eating, eating, eating and destroying. The settler's few remaining vegetables, in his withered garden, everything, except onions, was taken in a twinkling. Clothes hanging on the line were con- sumed before they could be rescued. Even the clothesline itself was eaten. Corn standing in the field, giving some promise of crop, was left looking like a field of dry sticks. Like a field for which peas had been planted, and carefully staked, but no vines bloomed. Only an arid stake about two feet high remained, from which the every blade, the ear, the silk, the tassel and the top of the stalk were eaten.

I remember one desolate field as described above, in which was left one lone, solitary volunteer stalk of sorghum. Passed by the grass- hoppers, it waved its top and blades back and forth over the destruc- tion around it, looking grand, gloomy and peculiar. Judge A. L. L. Hamilton relates that there were also saved in Butler county, besides the lonely sorghum stalk for which I bear witness, two fairly good crops of corn. One of these fields was preserved by the placing of straw, recently thrashed, on the windward side of the field. By keeping this burning the smoke became a defense against the plague. The other field was shielded by its position, being surrounded by timber. And, by the queer freak that is often played in the visitations of Providence, it was left un- found, and so untouched.

Every leaf upon every tree, and even the very bark itself, was con- sumed by the devouring pest. Eating the gauzy netting at the windows the noisy, gnawing, consuming blight seized upon the hard-earned homes of the settlers. Grasshoppers in the flour bins, in the milk pans. in the water buckets, in everything ; the curtains and carpets, clothings and bed clothing until nothing was left. Even articles of wood were attacked. beds, chairs, tables, were left perforated with a million holes. This was true also of the wooden parts of tools and implements, such as the hoe or rake handles ; harnesses and flynets, of whatever material ; in fact, only solid iron itself served as a barrier to the million-mouthed appetite. Eat- ing, eating and never satisfied with a noise like hungry pigs munching their kaffir. And nothing remained safe save only the houses, the sheds, the animals and a few stalks of sorghum. Chickens and other poultry, even the hogs, gorged on the insects and died in great numbers. But as these would have escaped only to die of starvation later, it worked no additional hardship to the farmer. Then when the land was barren the grim visitors left. But before going they deposited a certificate of their return. Eggs were left in a ground honey-combed with cells. This stood a menace before the settler the winter long. After the passing of the grasshopper the sight was one awful to contemplate, fearful to look upon, terrible to behold. The land lay desolate as though a whirlwind of devas- tation had passed over, and the pioneer saw his county dreary, dismal, doleful, lonely and forbidding. A great pall had settled upon the com- munity. Surely those were days that tried men's souls. As a realiza-

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

tion of the calamity grew upon the struggling settlers they became as souls bewildered, stunned or dazed. They appealed to each other in a manner that was pathetic as helpless children asking help from someone that was as helpless as they themselves. Small wonder that steps grew laggard, that energy and ambition weakened, that head drooped on the shoulder, while everything in nature seemed to say "man was made to mourn."

But the re-action came. The spirit of the pioneer Kansan began to assert itself. Calamity and misfortune were met with an indomitable, in- vincible will that suffers, endures and finally overcomes. The far larger portion of the early settlers who had decided for Butler county for their homes renewed this decision in the firm determination of their hearts. They took a new grip and made ready for the battle for bread for those dependent upon them. They plowed and planted, they managed in some way to live until the soil again produced something to live upon. True, some returned to the East to stay until seed time came again, and some to come back no more. True, the aid sent by eastern friends was timely and tided many a home to new life and fortune. This aid, the grateful hearts of Butler county were rejoiced to repay, when the privilege came in later years. (See account). True, also, of the autumn and winter of '74 that no new dresses were bought that season. Last year's bonnet was good enough for this year. The patches upon the men's clothing and boots were a little larger. Pockets were empty and hunger some- times present. The boys and girls wended their way to school thinly and poorly clad but with intellects strengthened by adversity-lacking, not luxuries, but necessities. Their interests were not divided with the follies of fashion, nor their minds set aside from the business of learning. The hardships and privations seemed to increase in the pioneer his deter- mination to stay, and one of his boasts is today: "I was here during grasshopper year, and I stayed."

In the spring of seventy-five the young grasshoppers began to ap- pear. But this visitation, forestalled by precaution and as much as pos- sible by the destruction of the eggs, was not so disastrous as anticipated. And as the balmy spring breezes came from the southland, there sprung in the hearts on the devastated frontier a thrill of gladness, of joy, of hope and of faith in the future. Blood coursed more rapidly through the veins, steps regained their spring and prospects grew brighter. A county of prospects by which the planter lives, hopes and prospects so allied they reach the end of the road together. And while mostly the end is in fruition, yet in times the road traveled has been rough and well nigh im- passable, but in the event the way is lost and the goal unreached, strength is ever at hand for a new start. And new hopes and new pros- pects keep the soul alive, while the heart beats time to the measure of "success, next time." It is this spirit which combats and conquers that has made Butler county what it is today. The wisdom and judgment of the sturdy pioneer who stayed has long since been evidenced. The grass- (6)

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

hopper has not returned. It will not. Dry weather has been, hot winds have been, storm and flood have been, but on the whole Butler county stands best and surest in the world for crops. I have personally wit- nessed forty-six crop seasons here, and with never a total failure. Never a year but something material has been produced. Never one acre but upon which something can be raised. And one sure crop not affected by draught, heat, storms, hot winds, cyclones, good times or bad sea- sons, is the crop of good fellowship, true friendship, and genuine philan- thropy-these never fail.

Sometimes, it is true, a longing and a homesickness for the scenes and friends of youth has come upon the lonesome, far-off prairie-isolated pioneer, until the impulse to return has been almost irresistible, but that this was the shadow of a longing and not its substance, was always evi- denced by a return trip to the old places. For after submissive years which had ever failed of contentment, after conditions and circumstances were improved, after the family was grown, after the crops of the season were "laid by," it happened a visit might be made to the old home, "back east," and it took only a little while to realize that changes were there also. Faces and ways were changed. Familiar places cherished through the years in memory had not the look the mind had pictured. Disap- pointment was everywhere. What had been remembered as an immense acreage was shrunk to the size of a Butler county corral. The old "worm" fences, the worn out trees, the dead orchards, the oldness, the smallness, the slowness ; measured against the great open fields, the pros- pects and promises of the plains, the new life and enthusiasm of the West; and the Kansas pioneers said together : "Let us go home." They returned vaccinated against desire and longing for the home back east, and "it took."

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History of Butler County Kansas, Part 6

Author: Mooney, Vol. P Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 946

Author: Mooney, Vol. P
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 946