History of Leavenworth County Kansas, Part 3

Author: Hall, Jesse A; Hand, LeRoy T
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Topeka : Historical Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 684


USA > Kansas > Leavenworth County > History of Leavenworth County Kansas > Part 3


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In order to protect their great interests west of the Mississippi, the French, as early as 1722, commenced the construction of a fort on the rouri River near where the Osage River empties into it, which they


d Fort Orleans. It was completed in the year 1723 and was placed in' command of M. De Bourgmont. De Bourgmont in the year 1724 made an extensive trip of exploration to the westward about and through the territory of which the State of Kansas is now composed. He entered what is now the bounds of Kansas near the present site of Atchison,


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Kansas. One of the objects of the expedition was to try and effect a reconciliation among numerous native trbes who were at war among each other. After visiting among the tribes for a considerable length of time, during which he succeeded in bringing about an amicable adjust- ment of the various difficulties among a large number of the tribes, he returned to Fort Orleans November 5, 1724. It is almost a certainty that De Bourgmont during his travels touched, either himself or some of his party, on territory which now goes to make up Leavenworth County.


After Jefferson had negotiated the purchase of the great Louisiana tracts of land from the French in 1803 there arose a desire on his part to have the territory acquired thoroughly explored, and investigated with a view of learning what uses it might be best adapted to. Accordingly in the year 1804 the first American exploring expedition that had ever set foot on the vast expanse west of the Mississippi set out from St. Louis - under the supervision of Capts. William Clarke and Merriwether Lewis. The party in full consisted of from thirty-five to forty-two men, accounts differing; the date of the expedition's starting was May 10, 1804; they traveled in three boats and made their way very slowly up stream. As a rule hunting parties proceeded along the banks with the boats as they wended their way against the muddy current and it was through the agency of these parties that the party was supplied with much of its provisions. On June 27, 1804, the party reached the present site of Kan- sas City, Kansas, where they encamped. On July 2, 1804, they encamped near the present site of Leavenworth, in all probability a little to the north and nearer the fort. The journals kept by the party refer to an island in the river to the north several miles under date of this encamp- ment, which was in all probability the island known as Kickapoo Island these days. There is no question but the members of this party and it wouldn't be unreasonable to say the leaders of the expedition had tramped over considerable of the territory comprised in the eastern part of Leaven- worth County. The expedition as a whole was most successful in every way. The trip consumed about two years of time and much of the terri- tory embodied in the Louisiana Purchase was traversed, mapped and thoroughly explored.


For twelve years after the Lewis and Clarke expedition into the Northwest nothing was done further in the way of exploring the regions traversed by the first mentioned parties. In the year 1819 an expedition was sent out by the United States Government for the purpose of arriv-


-GLASGOW A CAMBRIDGE


B


A REGULAR TUESDAY


PACKET FOR


STEAMBOATING ON THE MISSOURI IN 1860


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ing at and collecting all scientific knowledge possible pertaining to the newly acquired territory. The expedition was in charge of Major J. C. Long and set out from Fort Osage on the Osage River in Missouri in 1819, and proceeded up the Missouri River by steamboat to Council Bluffs, where winter quarters were established for the winter of 1819-1820. The expedition required two years and while much scientific data was gathered, the practical value derived therefrom was insignificant. One of the chief features of the expedition was in the fact that it was the first expedition as well as the first men of any kind or race to proceed up the Missouri River in a steamboat.


A bit of exploring of a very different nature than that hitherto set out was done between the years 1805 and 1815 in the valley of the Kansas River by Daniel Boone. Boone, the most famous of American hunters and trappers, Indian fighters and pioneers, was one of the first white men of American birth to visit the Kansas Valley .. His grandfather, George Boone, was born in Devonshire, England, 1668, and came to America in 1717, locating in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Daniel, the grandchild, was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1735. In the year 1796 he lost much of his land holdings in Kentucky through defective titles, which led him to renounce all allegiance to the government and resort to the wild frontier. Later he declared his intention while residing in the territory west of the Missouri of becoming a citizen of Spain, and was through this given a position of overseeing certain Indian districts. It was his wont and habit to take long hunts and to go on trapping tours that kept him much away from his home country. In that interval of time elapsing between 1805 and 1815 he is known to have hunted and trapped up and down the Kansas River Valley for a distance of 100 miles or more from its mouth. The Kansas River, as it does, touching upon the southern end of Leavenworth County and the southern extremity of the county being rough and consisting in places of rugged bluffs, it is not unreasonable to believe that Boone in the ten years which he spent in this river valley, touched many times upon Leavenworth County territory and hunted and trapped thereon. This great son of the wild and untamed frontier died September 26, 1820, in his ninety-second year.


John Peck, the noted Baptist preacher, in his memoirs of the Louisi- ana Territory, described Boone thus: ..


"His high, bold forehead was slightly bald, and his silvered locks were combed smooth, his countenance was ruddy and fair and exhibited


(4)


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the simplicity of a child, a smile frequently played over his countenance ; in conversation his voice was soft and melodious; at repeated interviews an irritable expression was never heard; his clothing was the coarse, plain manufacture of the family; but everything denoted that kind of comfort that was congenial to his habits and feelings and evinced a busy, happy, old age. His room was a part of a range of log cabins kept in order by his affectionate daughters and granddaughters. Every member of the household appeared to take delight in administering to his comforts; lie was sociable and communicative in replying to questions, but did not in- troduce incidents of his own history. He was intelligent, for he had treasured up the experience and observation of more than fourscore years. 'Not moody and unsociable as if desirous of shunning society and civilization'."


Among other explorers whose deeds and names are not recorded, yet who played an important part in the early settlement of Leavenworth County, were those children of the river, the woods and frontier, who intermingled with the various tribes, frequently marrying into the tribe; who knew the habits of wild game with the same degree of adeptness as did the savage; who was as skillful at the hunt, in the chase or with the traps; who were generally referred to as Coureur-de-bois.


These men were as a rule of French descent. They were always found domiciled along the various rivers, where they depended upon their traps and hunting prowess to provide them a means, of livelihood. They were free and easy of manner, peaceful of disposition and quickly adapted themselves to the customs of the various tribes. They traveled by boat exclusively and as the trading posts moved westward they preceded them, usually at long distances.


CHAPTER III


EARLY SETTLEMENTS


COLONEL LEAVENWORTH-FIRST SETTLERS-"SQUATTERS"-TOWN COMPANY- SALE OF LOTS-EARLY INDUSTRIES-FIRST STORES-NEWSPAPERS HOTELS -EARLY FLOUR MILLS-BREWERIES SCHOOLS-THEATERS-PUBLIC HALLS -BANKING-CHURCHES.


Leavenworth .- While the preceding chapters deal with history, largely speculative and inferential, leading up to the year 1804, when the United States took possession of Upper Louisiana, the present chapter is based on actual facts from the year 1827 on and deals most pertinently with that section of Leavenworth County comprising its northeastern part.


The history of Leavenworth County from the time of the red men and the first hardy adventurers and pioneers involves indeed a wondrous story which is well worth preserving. States and nations preserve their history, but the story of a county, its creation and development touches a chord of home life and home making which is nearer and dearer than that which is purely informational.


The beginning of settlement of the territory of which Leavenworth County is now composed came when Col. Henry Leavenworth, Third United States Infantry, was directed in March, 1827, to proceed up the Missouri River with four companies of his regiment and to select a site within twenty miles of the mouth of the Little Platte River to be used as a location for a permanent cantonment. The story of how Col. Leaven- worth, not being able to decide upon a suitable location on the Missouri side which he was instructed to do, and of his fixing upon the present site of Fort Leavenworth has been told in detail in other parts of this volume


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as well as the approval of the selected site which became official Septem- ber 19, 1827. With the establishment of this military post, which was known as Cantonment Leavenworth, there was opened up the first post- office in the territory which was known as Cantonment Leavenworth or "La Platte," Clay County, Missouri, Clay County being the Missouri county that joined the post on the east, the river separating them. This postoffice was established May 29, 1828, and Phillip G. Rand was the first postmaster.


The first white settlers who came into the territory were mostly farmers and mechanics who secured positions tending the farm on the government reservation and were employed in various capacities in and around the post. There were also some white missionaries, who had come in previously with emigrant tribes of Indians. After the passage of the territorial act of 1854 numerous settlers flocked in and proceeded to take up claims, mostly in close proximity to the present location of the fort. All of those who had come in previous to this year could not in any way establish any right or title to their lands, it being ceded by previous treaties to occupying Indian tribes. When the Territorial Act of 1854 passed a great majority of the emigrants who came into the territory were under the impression that the lands were then subject to pre-emption under the pre-emption laws of the United States. Yet when the Delawares in May, 1854, ceded the greater portion of their lands in what is now Leavenworth County, reserving a strip ten miles wide along the north bank of the Kansas River in the southern end of the county, it appears that the lands so ceded were not under the terms and conditions of treaty subject to settlement but were to be sold to the highest bidder after having been surveyed. Many of the emigrants who came into the territory of which this county is now composed were from Platte County and Weston, Missouri. They knew the value of these new lands and acting upon the advice of David R. Atchison, then United States Senator from Missouri, came over and took up all land possible. So strong was this rush for land that followed the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that it is said by the month of June, 1854, there were very few acres of land in what is now Leavenworth County that had not been staked out and claimed.


What is believed to have been the first land "staked" and claimed upon what is now the present site of Leavenworth City after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was that "staked" and claimed by Gen.


4


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George W. Gist, John C. Gist and Samuel Farnandis. Later when the Leavenworth Town Company was organized Gen. George W. Gist was chosen its president and it was he that platted and surveyed the original townsite. To this day it is known as the "Gist Survey." The plat of this survey was filed in the surveyor general's office at Fort Leavenworth, December 20, 1854. John C. Gist, who was a son of Gen. George W. Gist, and Samuel Farandis were also members of the town company. John C. Gist and Samuel Farandis "squatted" upon their respective claims June 12, 1854.


On June 10, 1854, the "squatters," having had more or less conten- tion in the way of getting valid titles to their respective claims, held a public meeting at Rively's store in Salt Creek Valley and drew up a series of resolutions with reference to their respective rights and holdings. Among other things done at the meeting it was decided by the "squatters" to relinquish any claims that they might have to land which in any way conflicted with those of the Leavenworth Town Company, which company was then in process of formation and was definitely organized June 13, 1854. This was the first "squatter's" meeting ever held in the territory of which Kansas is constituted as well as in Leavenworth County.


Despite the fact that the "squatters" were held to have no right to settle upon the lands lately ceded by the Delaware Indians until the lands had been surveyed and sold at public sale, they nevertheless lost no time in staking out the town of Leavenworth, selling shares in the town com- pany and proceeding in general and on a large scale to occupy and claim the territory. The first sale of town lots of the city to take place in the city of Leavenworth occurred on Monday, October 9, 1854. Previous to this the town site had been cleared of all timber and underbrush by "Uncle George" Keller, who had been given the contract. He began this work about June 15, 1854, and employed eighty men and finished the job about the middle of September. The "Herald," Leavenworth's weekly paper, under date of October 13, 1854, contained the following article with refer- ence to the sale:


"On Monday last, at 11 o'clock A. M., the sale of lots in this town was commenced. There was a large assemblage of people on the ground, many of whom had come from a distance for the purpose of attending the sale. The survey had been completed and charts of the town drawn. The streets had been cleared of rubbish, and marked with their names. Those parallel with the river are numbered as far out as Seventh Street;


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the cross streets are named for Indian tribes, and commencing on the south, are as follows: Choctaw, Cherokee, Delaware, Shawnee, Seneca, Miami, Osage, Pottawatomie, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Dacotah, Pawnee, and Cheyenne. The streets parallel with the river are sixty feet wide, and the cross streets are sixty-one feet wide, except Delaware, which is seventy feet. The lots are twenty-four feet front, by 125 feet deep, and there are thirty-two lots in each block. Through the center of each block runs an alley fifteen feet wide. Seven lots have been laid off next the river in warehouse lots, the fronts of which are about 150 feet from the water's edge. All the space between Main or First street and the river, except these several blocks, has been donated for a levee and esplanade.


"The terms of the sale were one-third cash and the balance payable when the title is secured. G. W. McLane, of Weston, and W. S. Palmer, of Platte City, were the auctioneers on the first day. Fifty-two lots were sold, at an average of $140.00; on the second day fifty lots were sold, at an average of $120.00; making the average of both days' sale about $130.00. Only four lots were sold out of the thirty-two in each block. The sales were distributed equally over the entire site. The purchases were generally made for immediate improvement, but a small number having been sold to shareholders. Every lot that was offered was sold, and many others could have been disposed of if time had permitted. The highest price paid for any one was $390.00, the lowest, $50.00. It was recollected that no lot exceeded twenty-four feet front."


The Leavenworth Town Company, which was permanently organized June 13, 1854, was made up in the great part of citizens of Missouri, as follows: George W. Gist, Lorenzo D. Bird, D. H. Stephens, L. W. Caples, William H. Adams, Oliver Diefendorf, L. A. Wisely, Amos Rees, Samuel Norton, William S. Murphy, Sam Farnandis, Meret Johnson, G. H. Keller, William G. Caples, H. Miles Moore, Joseph Murphy, John C. Gist, G. B. Panton, Edward Mix, Joseph B. Evans, Malcolm Clark, John Bull, Frans Impey, James F. Bruner, Frederick Starr, J. D. Todd, A. Thomas Kyle, Sackfield Maclin, E. A. Ogden, Samuel F. Few.


The officers of the company were as follows: Gen. George W. Gist President; H. Miles Moore, Secretary ; Joseph B. Evans, Treasurer. Amos Rees, L. D. Bird, and Major E. A. Ogden were selected as a board of trus- tees, and the committee on by-laws was composed of L. D. Bird, O. Diefen- dorf, and H. Miles Moore. H. Miles Moore was until his death considered one of the ablest authorities on the early history of Leavenworth City and


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Leavenworth County. His classification of the members of the original Town Company was as follows: Ministers, three; lawyers, four; doctors, five; printers, two; merchants, four; surveyors, one; army officers, two; army clerks, one; farmers, eight.


The company staked off and claimed a tract of land comprising some 220 acres of land on the present site of the city of Leavenworth and pro- ceeded at once to have it surveyed and divided into lots. The organiza- tion was perfected on June 13, 1854, and on October 9th, following, the first public sale of lots was held in the city as will be seen in account pre- viously set out in this chapter. Shortly after the platting of the town a discussion arose among the members of the by-laws committee as to what the town should be named and the majority of the committee, L. D. Bird and O. Diefendorf, favored naming the city "Douglas" in honor of the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. It was due to the influence of H. Miles Moore that the name "Leavenworth" was chosen. The naming of the streets from Choctaw, north to the reservation after the various western Indian tribes was done upon the suggestion of Major E. A. Ogden.


With the establishing of the city and the selling of the lots, the town immediately took on an industrial aspect. Houses were erected as quickly as possible and in the meantime tents and various other structures that provided shelter were pressed into use. The first dwelling house to be erected within the present confines of the city limits is said to have been erected at the corner of 4th and Walnut streets in 1854 by Jeremiah Clark. This house, which was afterward moved to a location on the alley between 4th and 5th streets and Spruce and Olive remained standing until the summer of 1919 when it was torn down.


A saw mill, one of the most needed industries at this time, began operations a short distance north of the mouth of Three-Mile Creek. It was owned and operated by Capt. W. S. Murphy and Capt. Simeon Scruggs, the partnership being known as Murphy & Scruggs. H. Miles Moore, in his valuable work, "Early History of Leavenworth City and County" tells of his advancing the members of this firm the sum of $96.00 with which to pay the steamboat freight on their mill and of his having to take his pay long afterwards in cottonwood lumber at the rate of $35.00 a thou- sand feet. Capt. W. S. Murphy, one of the partners in the project was a member of the Leavenworth Town Company. Before his coming to Leav- enworth he was a very prominent citizen of the city of Weston, Missouri.


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He had served as a captain in the Mexican war under General Doniphan. Captain Scruggs had, too, been a resident of Weston before coming to Leavenworth and had served as constable there for a number of years. Following the erection of the saw-mill Captain Sawyer erected a dwelling house near northeast corner of Second and Shawnee streets and moved his family there from Weston, Missouri. Their mill did a flourishing business until the death of Captain Murphy when the business affairs became involved in litigation which resulted in Captain Scruggs losing much of his interests. After this he removed with his family to a farm north- west of Kickapoo and just across the line in Atchison County where he lived the remaining days of his life. The mill later came to be known as Col. Isaac Young's Eclipse Mill.


Stores and storerooms were opened soon, the first being that of Lewis N. Rees which was erected in the summer of 1854. The store which Rees erected was upon the present site of the Union Depot and was what is commonly known as a general merchandise store. Rees also acted as postmaster without pay as an accommodation to the public for some time until he was officially appointed. The postoffice remained in his store of the Levee for some time when it was later moved further up town as a matter of public accommodation. Numerous other stores of various nature soon sprung into existence. Engleman Bros. built the second store in the city. It was located on Main street about the middle of the block between Delaware and Cherokee. H. Miles Moore, in his "Early History of Leav- enworth City and County," mentions the following stores that began operation in the city during the years 1854 and 1855: Nelson McCracken, on Water street near Choctaw; Adam Fisher, general store, southwest corner Water street and Cherokee; James L. Beyers and M. M. Jewett, grocery, Water street and Choctaw; White & Fields, dry goods, Water street below Cherokee; A. M. Clark, grocery, south side of Cherokee, west of Third street; Cohn & Abel, general store, on Water street; Col. J. C. Clarkson, general store, southwest corner of Cherokee and Second; Hall & Walcott, dry goods, south side of Cherokee between Second and Third streets ; George Russell, stove and tin, east side of Main street near Dela- ware; Strass, Block & Rosenfield, dry goods and clothing, between Third and Fourth streets on south side of Cherokee street; Shannon & Van Doren, general store on Cherokee street between Second and Third; James Dixon, dry goods, on Cherokee between Second and Third; Meyer's Gro- cery, on Levee north of Cherokee; Philip Rothschild's clothing, on Levee


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north of Delaware; E. Cody, grocery, west of Main street between Dela- ware and Cherokee streets; R. E. Allen, drugs, on Main street, west side, north of Delaware street; William Russell, dry goods and outfitting, on east side of Main street where Bittman & Todd's wholesale grocery now stands. The latter, Mr. Moore states, was the largest institution of its kind on the Missouri River above St. Louis.


A newspaper began operations in the city before there was a building in the city in which to house its plant. The first edition of the paper was published under the shade of a large elm tree that stood near the north- west corner of Cherokee and Front or Levee streets. The type of the original issue was set up by W. H. Adams. The first issue bore the date of September 15, 1854. The second issue appeared September 22, 1854, and was published in a one-story frame cottonwood house, the first erected in the city of Leavenworth which was situated south of Delaware on Levee or Front street. W. H. Adams, the original owner of the paper which was known as the "Kansas Herald," was also one of the original thirty-two members of the Leavenworth Town Company. He was a son- in-law of Gen. George W .. Gist, president of the Leavenworth Town Com- pany and a brother-in-law of Hon. John C. Gist, who was also a member of the Town Company. A certain Mr. Osborn was associated with Adams in the newspaper adventure at first possibly in the way of a printer more than anything else. He had little or no capital invested and was retired from the business after a period of about six weeks. He later became a U. S. Deputy Marshal under I. B. Donaldson. With the retirement of Osborn from the newspaper, W. H. Adams sold an interest in the paper to Gen. Lucien J. Eastin, who became the active editor of the paper from then on. General Eastin was originally from Missouri. He remained in Kansas until about the year 1859 when he again returned to Missouri to become editor of a Missouri paper. During his stay in Kansas he was elected a member of the first Territorial Council from Leavenworth County in 1855 and 1856.


In 1855 H. Rives Pollard, a young Virginian, became associated with General Eastin in the editorship and publication of the "Herald," the latter having acquired complete control of the paper at that time. From this time on the paper became an unusually bitter pro-slavery organ. In 1859 General Eastin sold out his interest and removed to Missouri. Will- iam H. Gill, who became editor at that time, tempered the policy of the paper to great extent, going so far at one time as to support Stephen A.




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