USA > Kansas > Cherokee County > History of Cherokee County, Kansas and representative citizens > Part 18
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
eral and his bodyguard into the fort. General Blunt had halted his command and ordered his headquarters band- in front. The members of the band had arranged themselves in posi- tion and had their music in readiness for play- ing a welcome to their supposed friends. Gen- eral Blunt and his staff were in an ambulance, their horses being led by orderlies. All were joyous, in anticipation of an immediate march into our camp, a hearty dinner and a good night's rest among friends. At this moment Quantrell gave the order for a charge upon General Blunt's command. This was instantly obeyed, and the charge came with terrific force, each of Quantrell's men having a revolver in each hand, firing and yelling like demons, which they were. General Blunt's little com- mand was in the worst possible condition suc- cessfully to resist the onslaught. No concerted action could be had. Each must fight or flee for himself, so complete was the surprise and overwhelming the charge. General Blunt gave no command ; for a command would have been of no avail. As their foe his soldiers soon learned that it was Quantrell, who, six weeks before, had sacked and burned Lawrence, and had there murdered two hundred men, in cold blood. For General Blunt's men, or for most of them, there was no possible escape. Only a few got away, and these were on the fleetest horses. The band had a fine wagon, built for their especial use, and they wore elegant uni- forms, with side arms, fancy swords and re- volvers, made not for fighting but for show. They were not enlisted soldiers. Upon realiz- ing the situation, the driver wheeled his horses westward and undertook to escape by rapid driving ; but in less than a mile he was over- taken and he and every member of the band were shot dead. Fire was set to the wagon
I57
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
and many of their bodies were burned so they could not be identified. Their bodies had been stripped of all valuables.
"General Blunt and Major Curtis, his adju- tant, saw two openings in the enemy's ranks. General Blunt told Major Curtis to run through one of the openings, saying he would try the other. General Blunt escaped; but the body of Major Curtis was found next day with a bullet through his temple. His revolver lay near him.
"On the 7th of October all our available force was kept busy, from early light until darkness covered the field, searching for the dead and bringing them into camp. Quantrell had done his work thoroughly. Evidently, it was his intention that no man should be left alive. If any mercy was shown, it was that all but one man had been shot through the temple, thus causing instant death. Ninety-three men had been shot down, in cold blood, after surren- dering without firing a gun. These, with the eight men we lost in the battle at the fort, made IOI. Quantrell lost only two men, and these were killed in the battle at the fort. It is true history, I believe, though given otherwise by some, that in the battle on the prairie (if it can be called a battle) the Federal soldiers made no stand and did not fire a gun; that they ran as soon as they realized that they were being charged by an enemy, and that many of the men threw away their carbines to lighten their weight.
"General Blunt, with his command, was on his way from Fort Scott to Fort Gibson, where a department had been established for him. He was marching through the country without ex- ercising the precaution of keeping out an ad- vance guard, though it was a time when num- erous marauding bands were going here and there, and when there was momentary liability of being attacked. After suffering this sad misfortune, he desisted from his purpose of
going on to Fort Gibson, remained in camp at Baxter Springs five or six days and then re- turned to Fort Scott."
.
It is believed that many more of General Blunt's soldiers were killed than those found on the ground where the massacre took place. Occasionally, for as many as 20 years after the event, human bones were found in the vicinity of Baxter Springs ; and it is believed that they were the bones of some of the men who broke through the ranks of Quantrell's soldiers and were pursued here and there and shot down wherever overtaken. On June 24, 1904, A. S. Dennison, who was sheriff of Cherokee County in the early "eighties" showed me over the grounds where the massacre occurred, and he pointed out the positions of the forces of the two commanders, the place where the dead were buried and many other things of interest in connection with the affair. He also told me that, while sheriff of the county, he found a number of human skulls on the prairie west of Baxter Springs, which he supposed were those of some of the unfortunate victims of the fury and bloody work of the men under Quantrell.
DISCOVERY OF LEAD AND ZINC.
Early in the year 1903 lead and zine were discovered, in paying quantities, just south of Baxter Springs, and since then a number of mines have been opened. Extensive opera- tions are now going on. Prospecting has been extended well into the Indian Territory, but not so far away but that the work is yet within the Baxter Springs district, which gives prom- ise of becoming one of the best districts in all the lead and zinc region.
-
DEVELOPMENT OF THE WATER POWER ON SPRING RIVER.
Elsewhere mention is largely made of the
9
158
HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
dams which are being built on Spring River for the purpose of generating electric power. Baxter Springs, the center of which is only two and a half miles, on a direct line, from the dam at Lowell, will be supplied with electric power, for all purposes. The electric railroad is to be extended from Galena, by the way of Lowell, to Baxter Springs, and it is expected that it will go out to the mines south of the city, There is no doubt that the city and the imme- diately surrounding country will become a thickly settled, very busy manufacturing dis- trict in the near future.
RESIDENCES.
The following are the names of some of the
people of Baxter Springs who have remained at their posts and have built comfortable, ele- gant homes : John M. Cooper, J. J. Fribley. C. W. Daniels, J. C. Haskett, S. O. Noble, C. F. Noble, T. J. Morrow, R. H. Sands, L. M. Per- kins, J. C. Plumb, F. M. Perkins, W. T. Hartley, James Hartley, Mrs. A. S. Hornor, C. A. Childs, Charles L. Smith, Mrs. Emma Gregg, A. L. Kane, Julius Bischofsberger, William F, Shailer, WV. F. Douthat, Mrs. Carrie DeWitt, Willard Shultz, R. J. Hiner, A. Willard, Ed Corey, L. R. Francis, George Haines, Samuel H. Smith, T. Connor, J. B. Opperman, R. Milne, M. H. Eastham, A. D. C. Harvey, R. C. Wear, R. C. Rummel, Capt. J. S. Price, Burton Smith, T. C. Weaver, T. E. Meads and A. C. Direley. -
CHAPTER XIV.
THE HISTORY OF GALENA AND EMPIRE CITY
GALENA.
The history of a city is the narration of the events connected with its founding, the progre :s which it has made and the part it takes in the promotion of civilization. The primary motive which leads to all these is that which impels a community to seek higher and better social con- ditions ; to gather about them the comforts of life, establish fixed homes and so to adjust themselves to their environments, mentally and morally, as to give strength and permanency to the tacitly accepted compact which binds them into a municipality. The history of Galena, if written fully and correctly. would embody the acts of many men of rugged char- acters and strong, unyielding purposes, in the pursuit of which the qualities of courage and constant determination have been prominent. The environment has every characteristic ele- ment for the development of such qualities ; but if an individual, not possessing such qualities, has cast his lot in the community, and has essayed to lead a part in the direction of its affairs, his sojourn has been short, or if he has remained and grappled with the exacting conditions, un-' der the shifting fortunes of the community, fail- ure has marked his course and he has quietly withdrawn from the fray of the strenuous life required of those who would succeed. Galena affords many examples of "the survival of the
fittest ;" but if the history of every undertaking within the limits of its industrial operations were given in detail. there would be the record of many a one who came with the courage which hope inspires, but after a time quietly went away unobserved, leaving but a mere trace of the part which he took in the affairs of the community. Human nature is inclined to the liking of positives, and it has also the disposi- tion to point to instances of successful achieve- ment and almost a fondness for forgetting those who have failed and disappeared.
The name "Galena" would never attach to the place and community now bearing it, were it not for the fact that it designates the physical quality which makes it the greatest lead and zinc mining region in the world. It has no other natural resource that could possibly make it desirable as the habitation of an intelligent, earnest, prosperous people. Situate in a region of rocky hills and gravel-filled valleys, it had, in its primitive state, no attractiveness save to such as were moderate in their purposes, unpre- tentious in their manners and satisfied with a scant, uncertan livelihood. It had to be turned upside-down before its apparently inexhausti- ble stores of natural wealth could be revealed. It has been literally torn to pieces ; and even now the earth-markings of the region are such that, if left to the moderate, slow-working pro- cesses of time, they would remain distinct for
160
HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
thousands of years, long after its resources have been exhausted and the people who are now making its history have been forgotten.
The stories of the discovery of lead and zine on the land which became the site of the city of Galena differ in the narratives told by different people. The concrete of these narra- tives is such as embodies the history of the whole. Viewed from the stand-point of any one particular person who was early "on the ground," and who has noted the shifting for- tunes of the community, the aspect is always in- teresting- to those who have come later and listened to the story. It is not intended here to give more than a general outline of the be- ginning and the progress of that which has been done; for to tell it all would be to fill a volume of greater size than those read by tlie people of this age of hurry and intense, business exertion.
Galena is "The City Which Jack Built." It is situate in Lowell township, in the south- east corner of Cherokee County, four miles north of the south line of the State of Kansas, and immediately west of the line separating the states of Kansas and Missouri. It is one and a half miles north of Shoal Creek and two miles east of Spring River. Short Creek separates Galena from Empire City, on the north. The site of the city is naturally hilly, while a general slope toward the northwest. It is on the Fort Scott and Joplin branch of the St. Louis & San Francisco Rail- way system, and on the Parsons and Joplin branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- way; and it is at present the western terminus of the Southwest Missouri Electric Railway, which has its eastern terminus at Carthage, Missouri, 32 miles away.
Up to the year 1876 it was not generally believed that the land of the present site of Galena was ore-bearing ground. An occasional "shine" had been found, when a tuft of shy
grass was sometimes pulled up, or when an in- fortunate black-jack had been fondled by a "Kansas Breeze" and gently torn out by the roots ; but these had not excited any particular activity, and there had been no marked inrush of feverish prospectors. In fact, it was not un- til the early spring of 1877 that any well defined movement was made toward determining whether "good stuff" might be found. Egidius Moll, a German, owned 160 acres of land, now in the center of the town site of Galena. The land, for farming purposes, was worth about $3 an acre, if worth anything at all. It was the south-east quarter of section 14, township 34. range 25. Moll sat lightly upon the land, for he considered it of very light value. Even after lead and zinc had been discovered in largely paying quantities, he sold 40 acres of the land for $700. Much of the same land, in the matter of royalties paid on the ore taken out and sold, has yielded a thousand dollars an acre, and this without going down to what is now known as "deep ore."
On a Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1877 some young men, by the names of Moll, Evans, Fry and Moorland, chanced to get to- gether and decided to go swimming in a "hole" at the north end of the Moll land. In arranging a spring-board it was necessary to fix one end in the bank of the creek, and in doing this they pulled out some looser stones, finding some of them very heavy. Upon examining them they proved to be boulders of lead. They took these up to the Moll home and showed them to the owner of the land. The "find" was quickly reported, and in a few days some Joplin mine owners came over. Negotiations followed. under which Moll sold the 40 acres, as I have told in the preceding paragraph, to "Billy" Barnes, "Jake" Massier and Joseph Hoy. it being the northwest quarter of Moll's quarter section, which is now known as the "Hoy Forty." Moll gave them a guarantee that, if they did not
161
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
take out and sell $700 worth of ore within one year, he would buy the land back at the same consideration. He did not have a chance to buy it back. It is perhaps not wide of the truth to say that the 40 acres have yielded $2,000,000 worth of ore, and it is not yet entirely ex- hausted. No deep mining has been done on it.
Many other rich deposits of ore were dis- covered that spring and summer, and as early as June 19, 1877, the place was incorporated as a city of the third class. May 11, 1888, it was made a city of the second class. The fol- lowing have been mayors in the order in which their names are given: George W. Webb, A. M. McPherson, G. W. Dansenburg, C. O. Stockslager, E. D. Vandergrift, John G. Schmereir, B. S. Moore, A. M. Thomas, Mor- gan Rush, L. K. Moeller, John Page, Val Rich- ards. William Smith, J. P. McCann, O. E. Al- len and Charles L. Sawyer, who is the present mayor.
At the time of the discovery of lead and zinc, Galena had no railroad. It was about the year 1879 that the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad was extended to Galena, from Baxter Springs. The St. Louis & San Fran- cisco Railroad, some time afterward, was ex- tended to Gelena from Joplin, thus giving the place the advantage of two roads, both of which were, in 1901, consolidated, and they are now owned and operated by the last named com- pany. In the summer of 1902 the Parsons and Joplin branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway was built through Galena. The elec- tric road was extended to Galena, from Joplin, the distance of seven miles, about the year 1896. It is expectd that this road will be continued on to Baxter Springs during the coming year. These roads have had an immense freight traffic here ; and the prospect is that it will be vastly increased as more extensive and deeper min- ing operations shall be carried on. The electric road has done, and is now doing, a very profita-
ble business in the transportation of passengers. and the demand is for improved facilities in this line.
Time would fail one in an attempt to tell of all the old settlers at Galena ; for while many of them remain to this day, and are well-to-do citizens of the place, some have died and others have moved away. The population has been largely an unstable population, as is always the case in towns and cities which grow up and flourish through the shifting fortune of mining operations. Of the people who have come to Galena with the purpose of making it their home, not more than one out of twenty has re- mained, if all classes are included. Many have come, being led chiefly by the spirit of adven- ture common among many classes who drift westwardly in search of favorable turns in their more or less weak-purposed lives; and when fortune has refused to smile upon their ill- directed efforts, they have sought other regions, with the like purposes which led them hither, and others have come to take their places for a while. But through the siftings of population. the city has gradually built up a comparatively large number of permanent residents, most of whom have made their money here and have built comfortable, and in many instances fine, well-appointed, homes and are quietly follow- ing the ways which have led them along in their prosperous lives. Of those who have suc- ceded at all, and have laid by a part of the profits from the various lines of business in which they have been engaged, there is a larger proportion of well-to-do people than are usually found in other cities of its size. Galena has been good to those who have been indus- trious, economical and willing to endure hard- ships and waiting.
From a brief history of Cherokee County, published 21 years ago, in connection with the history of other counties in the State, the follow- ing are given as the names of some of the citi-
162
HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
zens of Galena, at that time: H. Andrews, of the firm of Aldrich, Fuller & Andrews, propri- etors of the Excelsior Crushing & Separating Works ; Capt. A. Arnold, superintendent of the Maggie Taylor Mining & Smelting Company; Ludwig Baum, dealer in dry goods; F. S. Boice, of the firm of Boice & Fallis, miners and crushers; J. H. Brown, of the firm of Brown & McMillen, mine operators; Dr. W. H. D. Brown; William H. Chew, superintendent of the Short Creek Lead & Zinc Company ; John F. Cody, superintendent of The Cody Crushing Company; Spencer Cooper, pro- prietor of The Cooper Mining & Crushing Works; George W. Dansenburg, grocer ; A. F. Davidson, superintendent of the Cornwall Min- ing & Smelting Company ; H. S. Davis ; Samuel Gates. of the firm of Gates & Lewis, mine oper- ators : E. F. Guthrie, mine operator in the Stan- ley "diggings ;" Daniel W. Hainer. druggist ; G. WV. Harper, superintendent of the Sawyer lease ; J. E. Leeper, mine operator ; John Lewis, super- intendent of the Galena Lead & Zinc Company : Wesley Lewis, of the firm of Gates & Lewis; Z. H. Lowdermilk, grocer; A. M. McPherson, superintendent and operator in the Galena Zinc Company: J. B. Martin, credit man of the Cheney Crushing & Separating Works: John G. Miller, civil engineer and surveyor; S. N. Montgomery and B. S. Moore, grocers ; George E. Moran, superintendent of the Tousley tract ; John C. Murdock, hardware merchant ; E. St. George Noble, capitalist ; John Page. superin- tendent of the Illinois Lead & Zinc Company ; E. N. Perry, mine operator in the Stanley "dig- gings ;" George H. Redell, mine operator ; Val. Richards, of the firm of Milligan & Richards ; Moses Robeson, of the firm of Williams & Robeson, lumber dealers; Charles O. Stock- slager, attorney-at-law; Harry Tamblyn, secre- tary of the Cornwall Mining Company : R. A. Teeter, superintendent of the Teeter Crushing Company, on the Maggie Taylor tract ; Robert
A. Vaughn, mine operator ; William O. Wiley, grocer ; W. W. Williamson, mine operator ; and J. B. Yeager, of the firm of Yeager, Brown & McMillen, mine operators. Many of these do not appear in the list of business men of Galena of today. A few of them are yet engaged in business here, and they are so fixed to Galena that they have no desire to reside elsewhere. Fortune has kindly favored them, and they show their appreciation by remaining in the community where their industry and good management have been duly rewarded. But this can not be said of many who came, made small fortunes and then went away to invest their savings elsewhere.
Of the mining companies and mine opera- tors at Galena at the time of the writing of this chapter, the following list, taken from the Galena Times of July 28, 1904, is given, though it must not be taken as a full, complete list of all the companies and individuals engaged in the business. Cooley & Robeson, Murphy, Friel & Company, Hoosier Mining Company, Palmetto Mining Company, Battlefield Mining Company, Owl Mining Company, Southside Mining & Milling Company, Merger Mining Company, Index Mining Company, James Murphy, Clara & Shultz, John Page. Galena Lead & Zinc Company, F. Rohrbangh, Palmer & Company, Wyandotte Mining Company, Maggie Taylor Mining & Smelting Company, New York Zinc Company, H. H. Beckwith. T. S. Hayton, Hacker Zinc & Lead Company. E. B. Schermerhorn, W. W. P. Clement, McNeal Mining & Milling Company, Pittsburg Lead & Zinc Company, Clara Louise Mining & Mill- ing Company, Deborah Mining Company, G. C. Monlux, J. M. Pollard Mining Company, California-Buckeye Mining Company, and Northcut Brothers.
Galena has had few postmasters. The fol- lowing is the list, in the order in which they served: L. C. Weldy, who is said to have held
163
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
the office about 12 years, Mrs. N. O. Wiley. .. M. McPherson, H. A. Bender, then A. M. Mc- Pherson again, and then William Smith, the incumbent at this time. The office is second- class, and mail is delivered throughout the city hy carriers. There is but one rural route from the office.
The following are some of the denomina- tions having church houses in the city of Ga- lena : The Methodist Episcopal, which has a membership of 400, and of which Frank W. Otto is the pastor ; the Presbyterian, which has a membership of 150 with Robert Liddell as pastor : the Baptist, membership not given. with Elder Moore as pastor ; the Christian Church. membership and name of pastor not given; the Protestant Episcopal Church, membership and name of pastor not given.
The Galena Telephone Company was the first to move in the matter of establishing a system of telephones throughout Cherokee County. Williams & Robeson are the owners of the system, which reaches every village. town and city in the county, and which has connec- tion. by long-distance lines, with the principal cities throughout the Middle-Western States.
One of the most important establishments in Galena is the plant of the Galena Light & Power Company, of which E. St. George Noble is the president. The company has the finest machinery, including a 400-horsepower engine, and another of 200-horsepower. The plant is said to be one of the very best in the State of Kansas.
The Galena Ice Works plant is another en- terprise which reflects credit upon those who have brought it up to its present status. It has a capacity of 50 tons a day, and it is in opera- tion nine months in the year. Besides supply- ing the local demand, which is heavy. the com- pany ships ice to many of the neighboring towns and cities. The water of which the ice is made is absolutely pure ; made so through a
process of filtration and distillation. before it enters the tanks where it is congealed.
Galena has a large number of the most en- ergetic business men that can be found any- where. It is due to their good judgment. per- severance and public spirited care for the in- terests of the city, that it has grown to be the leading business center in the county. The best business men have been called to the direction of public affairs, and, almost without exception, they have done their duties well and faithfully. In 1901 the Legislature made Cherokee County constitute the Eleventh Judicial District of the State of Kansas, giving Galena, annually, three out of the seven terms of court held in the coun- ty. The city, without any expense to the county, provided a fine Court House, on the principal street of the city, one of the most sub- stantial and best furnished buildings in the city. This achievement was the result of a united well directed effort on the part of the business inen of the place.
The public schools of Galena are of a high class, and they are the pride of the city. In addition to the four houses heretofore provided. a City High School is now being erected. one which would do credit to any city. The School Board always employs the very best of teach- ers and superintendents, and it makes every other provision for the full effectiveness of the educational facilities placed at their hands.
Among the many who have become wealthy or well-to-do at Galena, and have built them- selves comfortable, well-appointed homes are : Val Richards, George Brown, E. B. Schermer- horn, William F. Sapp, W. B. Stone. J. C. Murdock, M. Pickett. Riley F. Robertson, Dr. J. P. Scoles. C. C. Moore, Lou Winter, M. Robeson, B. Cooley. B. S. Moore, John Mur- dock, J. Shoman, A. M. McPherson, Mrs. Ed. Stice, John O'Riley. H. A. Bender, Morgan Rush, George W. Wheatley. George Kains, John Jarrett. John McCullough, B. S. Moore,
164
HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
George Immel. Harry Stough, T. J. Vest, E. W. McNeal, George Dansenburg. William Aach. William Smith, Peter Dansenburg, L. K. Moel- ler. J. C. Moore. George Puckett. John Chap- man, Mr. Lanier, the Hunter sisters, S. C. Westcott. Albert Smith, Mrs. Abbott, Worth Allen, C. L. Sawyer and J. W. Tate.
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.