USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 21
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On September 18, 1867, articles of consolidation were filed with the secretary of state. consolidating the Northern Kansas Railroad Company and the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company, under the name of the latter company.
On April 1, 1877, articles of consolidation were filed, consolidating the St. Joseph & Pacific Railroad Company, incorporated August 1, 1876, (a com- pany organized by the purchasers upon foreclosure of the St. Joseph & Den- ver City Railroad Company for the purpose of constructing or purchasing and operating that portion of the St. Joseph & Denver City railroad between Elwood and Marysville) and the Kansas & Nebraska Railroad Company. incorporated August 1. 1876. (a company organized by the purchasers upon foreclosure of the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company for the pur- pose of constructing or purchasing and operating that portion of the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company west of Marysville ), the company thus formed to be known as the St. Joseph & Western Railroad Company. In 1879 the road came under the control of the Union Pacific Railway Com- pany, which owns $1.536,200 of the stock of the company; $1.274.569. St. Joseph & Pacific Railroad bonds ; $1.076,361.40, Kansas & Nebraska Rail- road bonds, and $113,000, receiver's certificates : operated as the St. Joseph & Western Division of the Union Pacific Railway, but all accounts are kept separately. The road extends from St. Joseph, Missouri, to state line of Nebraska, a distance of one hundred thirty-eight miles; thence to Grand Island, Nebraska.
MISCELLANEOUS RAILROAD ITEMS.
January 7, 1870-Another short survey of the St. Joseph & Denver City railroad is being made.
April 22, 1870 (Friday morning)-A Marysville item says: "The surveying party of the St. Joseph & Denver City railroad returned from
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Kearney last Tuesday ( 19), having completed the survey of that road. They are to commence the work of locating eastward from this point.
May, 1870-Contract let for building the St. Joseph & Denver City rail- road to Marysville. The work to be completed ready for laying the iron by November 1. The road is now completed some five or six miles west of Hiawatha, in Brown county.
June 17, 1870-The St. Joseph & Denver City railroad is now running as far as Hamlin, ten miles west of Hiawatha. It is to be finished as far as the Big Blue-one hundred and twenty-five miles west of St. Joe-by November 1, 1879.
December 9. 1870-\ general interest is felt by the people of the county respecting the St. Joe & Denver City railroad bonds. The county commissioners have not as yet decided whether to issue them or not. The bonds were voted years ago, the object being to secure a leading line of railroad through the county. Since that time another railroad has been built without the aid of the county, proving that the county need not have offered any bounty in order to secure a road. It is a question whether lapse of time or an act of the railroad company itself, has not worked a forfeiture.
January 13. 1871-The Marysville Locomotive, the official organ of Marshall county, states Mr. Jacob Mohrbacher, was elected chairman of the county board for the ensuing year at its first meeting; and in relation to the bond question gives the following facts: On Tuesday the board issued to the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company fifty thousand dollars worth of bonds and turned them over to Dudley M. Steele, the president of the company; and fifty thousand dollars more of bonds will be turned over to them in a few days. Fifty thousand dollars in stock in said road has been turned over to the county treasurer, and the other fifty thousand will be turned over upon the delivery of the remainder of the bonds to the president of the railroad company.
January 13, 1871-From the Locomotive we learn that the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad have located their depot in Marysville on what is known as the Ballard and Morrall's addition, about one-quarter of a mile from the business center of the town. The material for the building is already framed, and the work on the switch is now rapidly going forward.
March 31, 1871-The St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company has a grant ( land ) which attaches to a two-mile strip along the west line of the county.
September 5. 1873-The St. Joseph & Denver City railroad officers resign and a committee is appointed to make an investigation into the affairs of the company.
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The Central Branch (now Missouri Pacific) enters Marshall county from the east and extends through Noble, Vermillion, Bigelow, Blue Rapids, Blue Rapids City and Waterville townships. Stations on the road are Ver- million, Vliets, Frankfort, Barrett, Bigelow, Irving. Blue Rapids and Water- ville. There are thirty-five miles of this road in the county now under the management of the Missouri Pacific system.
From the first annual report of the Kansas board of railroad commis- sioners, giving the report of the Central Branch Union Pacific railroad for the year ending June 30, 1883, the following statement is taken :
The Atchison & Pike's Peak Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of the Legislature of 1859. (Laws of 1859, page 62.) The act of incorporation conferred upon the Atchison & Pike's Peak railway the powers and condition of the act incorporating the Atchison & Fort Riley Railroad Company, incorporated in 1857. (Laws of 1857, page 198.) This road received a grant of land by act of Congress, of 187,608 acres, and also bonds to the amount of $16,000 per mile for 100 miles, by the terms of which five per cent of the net earnings of this part of the road is paid to the gov- ernment. Construction of the road was commenced in 1864, and opened from Atchison to Waterville on January 20, 1868. Its name was changed to Central Branch Union Pacific Railway on November 20, 1866.
July 12, 1867-Road completed nearly to Black Vermillion.
November 14, 1867-The seventy-ninth mile of track completed today. The passenger cars will probably run to the new town of Frankfort on Tuesday, November 30, the present terminus, seventy-eight and one-half miles west of Atchison.
December 27, 1867-Correspondence in the Atchison Weekly Free Press says : "Railroad projects are getting as common as pretty babies. There is a company to build up the Big Blue to-nobody knows where. One to build down the Blue to Manhattan, and one to build a road which is to cover both the others. . Track laying is proceeding rapidly and should the weather hold good for five days the iron will be down. Too much credit cannot be accorded Mr. Broder for the energy he has displayed in pushing the work. A less competent man under the same circumstances, would have been far behind. He is a man in a thousand."
January 17. 1868-A special train under charge of J. S. Pierce, con- ductor, conveyed the government railroad commissioners, Gen. N. B. Buford, Gen. Frank P. Blair and Dr. William N. White to Waterville, the terminus of the one hundred miles. An engine house, depot and turn-table are being constructed. Col. William Osborn, superintendent of the road, and a small
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party of AAtchison citizens accompanied the party. The ride was a pleasant one and was made at good speed. A heavy snow storm set in during the progress of the inspection, and the return trip to Atchison was through the storm all the way. On reaching Atchison the party stopped at the Massasoit house and enjoyed its hospitalities.
November 23, 1863-The first rail laid on the Atchison & Pike's Peak, or Central Branch railroad.
February 15, 1867-The Atchison & Pike's Peak railroad, or Central Branch, forty miles, receives six hundred and forty thousand dollars in gov- ernment bonds.
December 29, 1867-The last rail laid on the one hundred miles of road.
January 20, 1868-The Atchison & Pike's Peak railroad reaches Water- ville. It receives sixteen thousands dollars per mile in bonds, and one hun- dred eighty-seven thousand six hundred eight acres of land from the gov- ernment.
Waterville remained the terminal of the Central Branch railroad until 1876, when it was extended to Downs.
In 1879 the Marysville and Blue Valley railroad was built along the Big Blue river from Marysville to Beatrice, Nebraska. The towns on this road in Marshall county were Marysville, Hull, Marietta and Oketo.
In 1886 the Manhattan and Blue Valley railroad was built. following the Blue river from Marysville to Manhattan, Kansas. The towns along this line in Marshall county are Marysville, Schroyer, Blue Rapids and Irv- ing, with a siding for the stone quarries at Florena. These two branches later became the Lincoln & Manhattan Branch of the Union Pacific railroad, connecting the Union Pacific main lines of Kansas and Nebraska at Man- hattan, Kansas and Valley, Nebraska.
The Topeka, Onaga & Marysville Branch of the Union Pacific railroad, known as the Topeka "cut-off", eighty-two miles long, running as indicated, from Topeka to Marysville, was opened for traffic in 1910. It was built for the purpose of shortening the Union Pacific line between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Kansas City, Missouri, for trans-continental freight and passenger service. The track is well ballasted and laid with the heaviest steel rails.
This road now practically runs from Kansas City, Missouri, to the west coast, using the Union Pacific main line tracks in Kansas from Kansas City to Topeka, then the "cut-off" to Marysville, then the St. Jo and Grand Island to Hastings, Nebraska, from Hastings over the Hastings-Gibbon "cut-off". to Gibbon, Nebraska, where it connects with the Union Pacific main line in
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Nebraska. thus making it the shortest route from Kansas City to the West and Northwest coast, by a great many miles. The towns on this road in Marshall county are Marysville, Winifred, Frankfort and Lillis.
MARSIIALL COUNTY PUBLIC ROADS.
The roads in Marshall county have always been fairly good. The natural drainage of the county conduces to this condition, and in the days prior to establishment of section lines, the settlers made cross-country roads. selecting the best trail possible leading to creek crossings. Little attention was paid to the upkeep of these prairie lanes of travel. When townships were organized and officers elected, roads were regularly worked and repaired.
The coming of the automobile inaugurated a great improvement in public roads. Rough places and hills were blasted and worked down, ap- proaches to bridges built and culverts repaired.
The county commissioners lend every aid possible under the law. The county has three hundred miles of improved county roads which are regu- larly dragged and kept in excellent condition. Every spring before the ground becomes too hard, the roads are thoroughly gone over with a grader, ditches are cleaned out, ruts and holes filled, shoulders on the side of the road are planed off, grades are improved and, in fact, everything done to make an ideal road. Bridges and culverts are marked with side shields, solidly built to a height of three feet, so that there is no possibility of driv- ing off, and these shields are painted white and are plainly discernible at all times.
OCEAN TO OCEAN HIGIIWAY.
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In 1913 the Rock Island highway was laid out in the county. This was the first inter-state highway in the county. The name has been changed and it is now called the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, extending from New York to San Francisco.
This road enters Marshall county at Axtell and leaves at the Bohemian cemetery, on the west line of the county. There are thirty-four miles of this road in the county and it is plainly marked and kept in splendid condi- tion. It touches the cities of Axtell, Beattie, Home and Marysville.
The Ocean to Ocean Highway Association met in St. Joseph, Missouri, early in 1917. to make plans for further improvement and extension of the road. Delegates from Marysville who attended were C. F. Pusch and S. C. Schmidt.
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The White Way is an inter-state highway, running through the south- ern part of the county. This road extends from Atchison to Beloit, about thirty-five miles being in Marshall county. It touches Vermillion, Frank- fort. Blue Rapids and Waterville. This road joins the Golden Belt road and runs into Denver.
The Blue Valley inter-state highway is a continuation of the Sioux City, Omaha and Lincoln route. It enters Marshall county eleven miles north of Marysville and follows the river to Blue Rapids, where it crosses the river and touches Irving: crosses the river to the east side again and runs to Manhattan. There are thirty-seven miles of this road in the county.
Marshall county has steel markers at all important corners of county roads, indicating the direction and number of miles to points near and far.
Two thousand two hundred automobiles are now owned in Marshall county, and the travel over the different roads and highways can scarcely be estimated. MMmost every make of car is represented.
Pawnee county, Nebraska, and Marshall county have joined interests and big plans are under way for the big two-day Good Roads campaign. Ten miles of road, leading into the city from the east, on the state line, are to be "made over" and put in passable condition. This will be the biggest piece of good roads improvement pulled off in northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska.
Dr. 1 .. R. Stevens, mayor of Summerfield, is president of the Good Roads Association.
CHAPTER XI.
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK RAISING.
THE PLOWMAN. By John G. Ellenbecker.
The plowman slowly moves along the furrow's mellow wake,
Made by that glistening shield his good steeds sway.
He well has learned the gait the feet of toil must take,
So as to last with strength and song throughout the day.
Round by round his plow glides through the sod. Till lo, the mat of grass and weeds is turned to blackened mold.
This is the mete reward for every faithful clod ; This is the rest so well deserved for yield so manifold.
But many, as they pass him by in stately motor car. Rejoice that they're not in his place, but never dream,
That his path leads through roses and just as lucky star ; That he is granted heavenly might that they have never seen.
And who can sound this subtle cult of his magic, master hand, Who simply plows and sows and reaps and learns nature's arts ; And who in turn has made of her a servant, faithful, grand, For all mankind and filled with wealth the world's busy marts.
He is in truth the alchemist the ancients sought in vain : 'Tis he who makes the desert yield a harvest manifold ; 'Tis he who loads with flower and fruit the boundless plain ; 'Tis he who turns the brownest earth into the yellowest gold.
CATTLE.
The breeding of live stock, next to general farming, is the greatest industry in Marshall county, and these two lines of business are so closely
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allied that it is almost impossible to draw a definite line between the two. The first settlers brought their cattle and other stock with them and from then up to the present time the breeding of stock has played a very important part in the development of the county.
Col. F. M. Wood pays this tribute to the cow:
"It was the cow that made it possible for man to change the great Ameri- can desert into a land of prosperous homes. When she came, the buffalo disappeared, the Indian tepee gave way to the church, school house and home, and where once wild wolves howled, today children prattle, grass grows, flowers bloom and birds sing."
The development of the live-stock industry in Marshall county may be divided into three eras. First, the free range: second, the free range. with a herder, and third, the era of fences. When the first settlers came to this county they settled along the streams, where there was a good supply of water and timber, which furnished them with fuel and offered some protection from the cold winter winds that swept across the then unbroken prairies. The small bands of cattle that each owned were then branded and allowed to roam at will to feed and multiply unrestricted. Each fall they were gathered together and each man picked out the stock that he owned. marked his season's increase and drove away to market all that were fit.
THE HERD LAW.
With the coming of the homesteader, a rapid change began to take place and, as more and more fields were broken out and planted, these semi-wild cattle became a nuisance and many a bitter feud sprang up between the cattle men and the homesteader. This resulted in the passing of the herd law, which required each man to keep a herder with his cattle and that the cattle should be confined at night. This condition prevailed until the advent of the barbed wire, which marked one of the most radical changes in the history of the cattle industry. As fast as men conkl work, their lands were fenced and the cattle no longer allowed to roam at will. It was at this time that purebred cattle were introduced into the county and systematic efforts were made to improve the quality as well as to increase the numbers.
Most of the leading breeds of live stock are found in the county, but the breed that has been most important and has undergone the most development. has been the Hereford. Marshall county has often been termed the Here- fordshire of Kansas. There is hardly a herd of cattle in the county, except
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the pure-breds of the other breeds, that does not show the indelible stamp of the Hereford strain. Marshall county at one time had more pure-bred Hereford cattle than any other county in Kansas and probably than any other like area in the world.
THE FIRST HEREFORDS.
Marshall county was the home of the late Walter M. Morgan, who was the first man to develop a Hereford herd in the state, although one of his neighbors, Hiram Woodard, had been handling a few head before this time and was the first man to bring Herefords to Marshall county. Walter M. Morgan was born and reared in Herefordshire, England, and it is not surpris- ing that he should have been an ardent advocate of the breed. When a young man he came to Ohio, where he embarked in the Hereford cattle trade. His father-in-law, Thomas Aston, made the third importation of Hereford cattle to America in the year 1852. Mr. Morgan came to Marshall county in 1872, bringing with him some of the descendants of the Aston importation as the foundation stock of one of the greatest industries that has ever been carried on in this county. He maintained his herd until 1901, when he retired, selling his herd to his son-in-law, F. W. Preston, who continued in Morgan's footsteps. The county is largely indebted to the latter for the permanent establishment and development of Hereford cattle. He brought such bulls as "Duke of Edinburg," "Blue Rapids," "Imp. Belmont." "Edmond," "Fancy Lad," "Conductor," "Sir Robert," the great "Silver Lord" and many others. He also imported the cow "Curley," which was one of the most consistent prize winners of her time.
Among the early breeders was John M. Winters, who started in the busi- ness in 1876, getting his foundation stock from Hiram Woodard. This herd is still being maintained and is the property of his son, B. M. Winters. Another of the early champions of the breed was Charles Scholz, who several years ago sold his herd to C. A. Stannard. The Brennan Brothers' herd was another that was established in the late seventies from the old Woodard stock.
Judge W. H. Goodwin established a herd about 1887 and maintained a high standard of excellence. After his death in 1897 his daughter, Miss Lou Goodwin, bought a large number of the best producers in the herd and continued to breed high-class cattle. The foundation stock for a number of later herds came from Miss Goodwin's stock. Other breeders, who have been prominent in the Hereford history, are L. W. Libby, G. W. Parrish,
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E. M. McAAtee, William T. Paul. T. A. Greenman. F. A. Stocks, William Bommer, William Acker, Cottrell Brothers, A. B. Bird, Luther Whiting, G. S. Emmert, Charles Strange, W. A. Gilson, S. W. Tilley, J. M. Williams, Woodman & Son, Ira A. Whiting, C. H. Styles & Company. I. D. Varick, W. Morgan, E. W. Ringen, J. L. Rodkey. C. Rodkey. W. B Hunt. . \. Borck, James Hunt. J. F. Sedlacek, James Shaughnessy. J. Pecenka and many others. . At the present time some of these herds have been dispersed, but others are being improved and extended.
The Marshall County Hereford Breeders Association was organized about sixteen years ago and hell their first sale in 1902 at Blue Rapids. . At one time there were fifty members in the association and their hoklings aggre- gated two thousand five hundred head. In recent years no sales have been held and the association has almost been lost sight of ; but with the increased demand for high grade cattle, it will probably be reorganized. The splendid showing of pure-bred cattle at the Marshall County Fair in October. 1916. showed. by the number of exhibitors of Herefords, that interest was being renewed.
SHORTTIORNS.
The Shorthorn has had a more checkered career in Marshall county, and at the present time there are very few herds of pure-bred cattle of this breed. although there are some small herds starting up. As near as can be ascertained the first pure-bred Shorthorns were brought to the county by a Mr. Harbaugh, of Waterville. This was in 1871-72. About the same date Thompson Smith, of Oketo, and a Mr. Tennison, of Frankfort. also had herds of Shorthorns.
The most prominent importers of thoroughbred Holsteins in the county are the Lackland Brothers, of Axtell.
The most consistent champion of AAngus cattle in the county is Charles Butler, who has been breeding and feeding the Angus breed for a number of years. E. A. Berry, of Waterville, and George Hall were also breeders of Angus cattle. George Stephenson, of Waterville, brought the Angus to its highest state of development in the county. He raised fancy cattle on his farm near Waterville and maintained a show herd that won many premiums. There are comparatively few of the .Angus cattle here at the present time.
The Galloway is another breed that has not been popular here. The only herds of which there is any knowledge, are owned by Dr. E. L. Willson. Sr .. and John Stauffacher.
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The Auld Brothers, of Frankfort, are making a specialty of the Red Polled cattle and are developing a fine herd. They are placing quite a num- ber of sires in other herds throughout the county.
CREAMERIES.
Until 1884 every farmer's wife kept her own creamery and dairy. Butter was sold in Marysville at ten cents a pound and less, with a slight raise in price during the holiday season.
In the spring of 1884 Arand & Ziegler, of Marysville, built the first creamery in Marshall county. They invested about three thousand dollars in grounds, building and equipment, located about a quarter of a mile west of the Blue river bridge, at the foot of the hill. A well was drilled for artesian water, but at a depth of three hundred and twenty-five feet salt water was found and the "artesian" well abandoned. This was before the day of the cream separator, and the firm kept five men with teams, gathering cream from the farmers.
William Maldoon, now a farmer near Marysville, was the butter-maker. For two years this creamery turned out an excellent grade of butter, but the fact that there was no market for the produce nearer than New York, made the business unprofitable and it was discontinued in 1886. The build- ings and grounds are now owned by Jacob Grauer.
The creamery business then slept until May 5, 1894, when the Blue Valley Creamery Company was organized at Marysville by Walker Broth- ers, of Wichita, Kansas. A special building was erected, the best up-to- date equipment installed and the business prospered from the begin- ning. The first year of the operation of the creamery, the company bought 1,909,483 pounds of milk, for which it paid $11,458.57. By 1895 creamery butter became a factor in the markets of the country and set the price for farm butter. The price of all butter has been consistently maintained and increased from that date to the present.
Notwithstanding that Marshall county is pre-eminently an agricultural county, with practically no other industries, the facts are that the people of the cities of the county have been obliged to use about as much condensed milk, the output of factories of New York and Illinois, as they have of native cow's milk, during the past five years, and have had to pay as high as forty cents a pound for creamery butter during the holiday season of 1916. A large proportion of the butter consumed has to be imported.
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The Blue Valley Creamery Company operated here until July 29, 1901. The Walker Brothers had in the meantime established a branch of the Blue Valley Creamery in St. Joseph, Missouri, and in 1901 removed to that city and consolidated the concern.
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