USA > Kansas > Smith County > History of Smith County, Kansas to 1960 > Part 5
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Advertising, both private and commercial, had a lot to do with many set- tlers coming to Kanses and after they were here they epread out along the frontier. The first eod had been turned over and sown and some of the tre- mendous yielde that were obtained with little work made good writing material to the friends and relatives "back Fast". Such an eccount ie one found in the Report of the State Board of Agriculture for 1878, given by F. D. Morse, Smith Center:
Corn - James Frasier planted 120 acree in 13R15 with yellow Dent corn. It was put in the first of May and was harvested in August and September, and wae grown on bottom and upland, there being about equal parts of each in the field. The crop wae ploughed three times with a cultivator, and averaged 98 bushels to the acre, at a cost of about $7.50.
7 Nell B. Waldron, op. cit., p. 96.
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Thie was effective advertising and strong persuasion for those "caught close to the bare margin of existence. Those who were economically independent or had good positions were comparatively immine to the westward fever. It was a restlessness that could be better explained in the terms of bread and butter than a desire for elbow room.
Commercial advertising was carried on by companies, the stats, and in- dividuale. Historians euch as Fred Shannon, Ray Allen Billington, Thomae D. Clark and A. Bower Sagesar agree that railroads with their advertising were undoubtedly a great factor in the settlement of the state. 9 The exhibits at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 let the rest of the world "discover Kansas." Henry Worrall, the only Kansas artist to achieve recog- nition on a national scala for a period corresponding to the carly history of the state, was employed by the Stats Board of Agriculture in 1875-1876 to collect, prepare and arrange exhibite for the exhibition.
To appreciate fully the importance which the Stats Board of Agriculture attached to the Kansas exhibit it must be recalled that the drought and grasshopper year of 1874, with its widespread pub- licity, was, in 1875, a very tender spot in the conscience of Kansas enthusiasts and every possible aid in presenting the best aspects of the state to the nation were considered. One prominent Kansan, look- ing back many years after the exhibit, wrote, "The best effort for encouraging immigration ever made by Kaneas was her agricultural display at the Centennial Exposition."10 Twenty-five thousand copies of the Fourth Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture ware printed and distributed at the exposition .. 1
8 James Willard, The Trans-Mississippi West, p. 261.
9 Fred A. Shannon, The Farmer's Last Frontier, pp. 41-44; Ray A. Billing- ton, Westward Expansion, pp. 706-703; Thomas . Clark, Frontier Amarica, p. 690; A. Bower Sagesar, "Ilails Go Westward," in John D. Bright's Kansas, Tha First Century, pp. 234-253.
10 Georga Veale, "Coming In and Going Out," Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. 11, (1909-1910) p. 5 as quoted in Robert Tart, "Pictorial Record of the Old West, " Kansas Historical Quartarly, Vol. 14, (1946) p. 252.
11 Robert Taft, op. cit., p. 252.
.
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Several enterprising men of Topeka, realizing the advantage to be had in the state, had earlier organized an Emigration Society to aid the poor and needy in coming to Kansas. Through this Society's influence pamphlets had been printed and distributed throughout the United States and Europe in the epring and summer of 1875.12
Writinge by individuals, some intentionally to influence immigration, publicized the etate. Some of these were Horace Greeley, who had articles in the New York Tribune, Henry Villard in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, and Albert Richardson in the Boston Journal. A group of Junction City men organized a company to eurvey the Solomon Valley for a railroad. Included in the group were Robert MeBratney, lawyer in Junction City and leading or- ganizer for railroade in Kansas; B. F. Mudge, professor at the Kansas State Agricultural College and former state geologist; and Richard Mobley, agent for sale of railroad lande. Governor Harvey ordered one hundred state troops to accompany them from the forks of the Solomon for Indian protection. Mc- Bratney and Mudge kept up a constant chain of letters to eastern Kanses news- papers giving most favorable accounts of the resources of the region. They were widely read and copied, and although they failed to attract railroad builders, they did cause many homsseekers to go up the Solomon Valley, which eventually induced the Union Pacific in 1879 to extend a branch line through the valley." 13 A Homestead Guide was published by F. G. Adams of Waterville in 1873. He included just about anything the prospective settler would want to know such as copies of all the Homestead Laws and extra provisions,
12 Robert C. Venable, op. cit., p. 92; S. T. Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties, p. 226.
13 Martha B. Caldwell, "Exploring the Solomon Valley,"
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 6, (1937), pp. 60-76.
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elaborate descriptions of each county and tom on the frontisr open to settle- ment, with advertisements by marchante and of places for sale.
C. E. Hutchinson of Topeka wrote a book publicizing Kansas. His said it was based on "15 years of experience" and was designed to answer questions which were asked by persons contemplating a removal from some other region to Kansas. Another valume to "meet the popular demand for reliable infor- mation about "Kansas as it is" was the book by L. D. Burch of Chicago, pub- lished in 1878, entitled Kansas As It Is -- Resources, Advantages, and Draw- backs. He forgot most of the drawbacks in his enthusiasm. 14
Tha J. W. Weyand and Co. formed at Smith Center, and J. I. Warner, Real Estate and Immigration Agent, published advertising pamphlets that were widely distributed through the stats. Some sample advertisements were: 15
90 acres in this farm, 25 of which is bottom land, 15 acree in cultivation, 10 acres under fencs, sod houss and barn, running water and a spring, 80 rods from schoolhouse and church. Prics $824.
20 acres off of southeast corner of the southeast corner, Sec. 6, T4 R18 for $200 cash.
SWĄ Sec2, T8 R13, 160 acres all upland, 85 acres in cultivation, 70 scree undar fence, sod house and frams barn, 2 wells and ons epring, 200 peach trees; là miles to church and school. Prics $2,500; $1,700 cash, balance two years.
As the spring of 1875 advanced ths tids of immigration poured into Kansaa. Smith County's greatest increase in population was in 1875, an in- crease of nearly four and one-half thousand for a single year.
14 C. E. Hutchinson, Hutchinson's Resources of Kansas, Title page and introduction; L. D. Burch, Kansas As It Is - Resources, Advantages, and Drawbacks.
15 J. W. Weyand and J. I. Warner, pamphlet at Stats Historical Society Library in Topeka.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE II
Advertisements from A. G. Adams' Homestead Guide, published in 1873 at Waterville, Kansas.
290
THE HOMESTEAD GUIDE.
SMITH CENTER,
-THE-
COUNTY SEAT OF SMITH COUNTY.
A COUNTY CONTAINING MORE GOOD LAND, BETTER DIVERSIFIED WITH
TIMBERED STREAMS & UNFAILING WATER,
THAN ANY OTHER COUNTY IN TIIE HOMESTEAD REGION.
WITH GOOD BUILDING ROCK, NUMEROUS PURE SPRINGS, A DEEP RICH SOIL, AND SETTLING UP WITH MAR- "ELOUS RAPIDITY.
THE COUNTY SEAT IS THE GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER OF THE COUNTY, AND IS THE
Center of Immigration.
IT IS A GOOD POINT FOR MECHANICS, TRADESMEN AND MAN- UFACTURERS, AND TO SUCH LIBERAL INDUCE- MENTS ARE GIVEN BY THE
SMITH CENTER TOWN COMPANY.
JOHN W. GEORGE, President.
WM. A. GARRETSON, Secretary.
292
THE HOMESTEAD GUIDE
W. M. GEORGE. M. W GEORGE
GEORGE BRO. REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND CONVEYANCERS,
Smith Center, Smith Co., Kansas.
Will locate settlers in that and adjoining counties. Proprietors SMITH CENTER HOTEL. Dealers in PROVISIONS and GROCERIES of all kinds.
A. J. SMITH, Carpenter, ABuilder and Contractor,
SMITH CENTER,
Smith County, KANSAS.
PLATE II
F. D. MORSE,
stornoy at aw
CEDARVILLE, KAN.
THE FRONTIER NEWSPAPER.
- THE- Smith County Pioneer,
PUBLISHED AT
CEDARVILLE, Smith Co., KANSAS. W D. JENKINS, Editor and Proprietor. Devoted to the development of the Antomon Valley. TERMS: $3.00 a Year
E. P. HOBBS,
DEALER IN
-SUCH AS- Dry Goods, Boots and Shoes, Hats and Caps, Ready-Made Clothing, GROCERIES, PROVISIONS, ORAIN AND FLOUR, 64
CEDARVILLE, . Amith County, - KANSAS.
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Smith County was mainly settled by three big tides, with one major drop in 1882 which lacks explanation. 16 There was an increase of 3,810 the first five years of settlement; then the gain of 4,439 from 1875 to 1876; a growth of 5,570 the next four years; the unexplained drop of 3,015 in two years; than a gain of 5,514 in the next eight years to the highest peak of popula- tion ever recorded in 1900, when 16,364 inhabitants resided in Smith County.
Table 4. Population of Smith County, 1870-1959
Year
Pop.
:
Year
Pop.
: Year
Pop.
Year
Pop.
1870
66
1884
12,663
1920
14,985
1946
9,098
1875
3,876
1886
15,361
1930
13,545
1950
8,846
1876
8,315
1890
15,613
1936
11,993
1954
8,500
1880
13,885
1900
16,384
1938
10,359
1956
8,288
1882
10,870
1910
15,365
1940
10,582
1959
8,016
" Totale taken from Reports of the State Board of Agriculture and U. S. Census Reports, 1870-1959.
After 1900 a gradual decrease set in for Smith County with a bigger drop in the decade of the "dust storm" years, 1930-1940. In contrast the state had an increase from an average population per county of 14,004 to 17,152 in 1940. Smith County had more residents than the average county in 1900, but 6,570 fewer than average in 1940, and has been decreasing ever
16 The author considered and investigated climatic hazards, a possibility of new settlements in other counties or of unusual incidents peculiar to the area, economic trends, and compared population trends with neighboring coun- ties without finding a satisfactory explanation for a change in trend and a decrease in population of 3,015 in two years, then a gradual increasing trend after the low in 1882. This offers a field for further research in the county.
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eince while the average county population for the state in 1960 is approxi- mately 20,000.
Towns and cities in general over Kansas and the United States gained in population at the expense of the rural areas but this did not epply to Smith County since the county lost far more than the towns gained (see Table 5). From 1900 to 1940, the county population decreased approximately 5,802 inhabitants or 35.4% of ite total inhabitante. At the same time, the population in four towns gained and in two decreased, but tha total gain for the towne was less than 6%. Reporte from the 1950'e indicate that thia de- cline ie leveling off again. Perhaps a modern agricultural economy and the prasent land ylelda can support the existing population. What effact the building of Kirwin Dam and introducing irrigation will have la yet to be seen (sse Chapter V).
There were several ways in which these thousands of homeseekers who streamed into the county betraen 1870 and 1878 (the 1878 census showed an increase of 8,249 in the eight years) could gain title to the land on which they settled. Thie was the golden age of the Homestead Law, paesed May 20, 1862, and put into operation in January, 1863.17 It was well understood and well advertised befora Smith County became actively involved seven years later. It allowed every citizen, twenty-one years old or head of a family, the right to homestead on surveyed landa to the extent of one quarter section (160 acras) at $1.25 per aore.
Beginning in 1870 there were a eeriea of acte paseed modifying the original Homestead Law and making it easier to get titla. These acte
17 Statutee et Large, 1862-1863, Vol. 12, pp. 392-393.
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Tabla 5. Population in each town and township by decades from 1880 to 1950 and 1959 in Smith County, Kansas .*
Town or
Township
: 1880 : 1890 : 1900 : 1910 : 1920 : 1930 : 1940 : 1950: 1959
Banner
483
539
446
423
368
238
121
106
Beaver
1362
429
496
476
433
397
287
223
176
Blaine
668
750
597
636
482
377
260
166
Cedar
1449
807
566
470
449
394
298
229
174
Centre
1827
496
464
492
465
427
345
273
218
C. Plains
574
511
440
407
355
195
133
96
Cora
605
577
470
463
341
258
163
142
Dor
403
309
290
300
227
136
102
99
Garfield
369
392
424
343
293
183
134
103
German
1200
491
443
429
391
360
226
152
93
Harlan
666
490
568
588
522
409
295
228
Harvey
1431
721
751
676
463
353
327
255
191
Houston
1819
470
466
400
420
366
282
181
119
Lane
628
672
689
414
362
299
203
174
Lincoln
14,88
501
434
481
392
341
300
220
195
Logan
597
601
554
523
390
356
280
189
Martin
663
685
588
306
3 92
282
161
117
Oak
1673
795
852
735
554
468
434
325
236
Pawnes
1634
526
475
459
459
420
240
208
147
Pleasant
621
543
506
449
413
299
218
151
Swan
539
512
368
379
318
16
151
132
Valley
483
499
430
396
358
279
197
177
Washington
536
482
476
430
347
243
191
140
Webster
545
510
477
404
312
241
178
1.39
White Rock
615
654
661
455
386
240
202
169
Athol
Cedar
Gaylord
233
314
338
322
346
297
243
231
275
Kensington
310
550
595
537
577
635
620
Lebanon
301
590
734
824
689
675
610
612
Smith
Center
254
767
1061
1426
1635
1632
1670
2026
2410
Totala
13885 15613
16384 15365 14985 13543 10582
8846
8016
330
270
218
203
146
144
126
145
86
77
* Reports of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture and U. S. Census Records.
..
..
..
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undoubtedly stimulated the western migration to Kaneae, including Smith . County. For instance, an amendment of April 4, 1872 allowed the period of military service to be deducted from time of residence except the applicant 18
wae obligated to have at least one year of residence on the land. If the claim wae sold before proved up, it vestsd no title to the purchaser. Aban- donment had to be reported to the government and approved by the comwus sioner of the general land office, then the purchaser made entry as if it were the original one, although he gained the benefit of previous improvements. Thie le one reason why it is so difficult to trace recorde on homesteade.
Any person planting an osage or hawthorn fence, or who would build stone fence four and one-half feet high around any field within ten years of the passage of the Kansas law of 1869 was to receive an annual bounty from the etate of $2 for every forty rods so planted, cultivated and kept up. 19 Any person planting treee on one acre or more of prairie land within ten years after passage of the Kansae tree culture act (1869)"" and wae succeee- and was ful in growing and cultivating them for three yeare or in planting and pro- tecting one-half mile or more of forest trese in an approved manner along any public highway for three years was paid an annual bounty out of the county treasury.
Thie was undoubtedly the beginning of the so-called "hedge-rowe" found on one or the other side of practically every mile-line road in Smith County. (The author was a girl there and has vivid recollections of those miles of trees along the roade.) Modern farming, the drouth in the '30's, and the
18 42nd Congrece, Seccion II, Statutes at Large, Vol. 17, Ch. 85, p. 49. 19 General Statutes of Kansas, 1868, Ch. 40, Art. IV, Sec. 2-3, pp. 495- 496, approved Feb. 20, 1867.
20 General Statutes of Kansas, 1868, Ch. 112, Sec. 1-4, pp. 1094-1095.
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grasshoppers havs accounted for the near-disappearance of what once was & common sight in the county. Traces of the old stone fences could still be found in the Solomon Vallay in the 1940's, but they too are fast disappear- ing. They had never been plentiful due to the lack of stone and the expense of construction.
In Smith County a large number of timber claims were planted. The Timber Culture Act of 1873~ was later modified to require only ten acres of timber for title, and many Smith County homesteadars followed thie plan. Many early settlers cannot be dated for their time of settlement by homestead records due to their use of the pre-emption act of 1841 in obtaining public land. 22
In a humorous vain, Smith County settlers held that Uncle Sam was really betting the settler a quarter section of public land against $16.00 ($6.00 filing fee, $10.00 registration fee) that he could not stick on the land for five years. Most of the Smith County settlere won the bet. The Federal Land Office wae opened January 16, 1871, at Concordia, and there were more entries mads there in a comparable time than at any other land offics in the United States.23
21 42nd Congress, 3rd Session, U. S. Statutes, 1872-1873, Vol. 17, Ch. 277, p. 605-606, passed March 3, 1873.
22 This gavs the individual actually thirty-three months from the dats of settlement before proof and payment had to be made. It required him to make a declaratory statement wi thin thres months from the date of settlement (many did not in the early days of slow transportation and no formal law enforce- ment), then make proof and payment within thirty months after filing the de- claratory notics. Statutes at Large, Vol. 5, Ch. 16, p. 457, Sept. 4, 1847.
23 F. G. Adams, op. cit. p. 81. Federal Land Office, Concordia, Jan. 16, 1871 to Apr. 1, 1873, 9,540 homestead entriss, 5,894 pre-emption filings, 2,000 final proofs. By Aug. 5, 1872, Smith County settlers ware taking their land office business to Cuuker City. Hiere thers were 1,010 homestead entriss, 1,974 pre-emption claims, and 487 soldier filings by April 1, 1873.
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Notices like the following could be found in nearly every issue of the early papers:
Land office at Kirvin, Kansas, No. 11921, August 16, 1886. Notice is hereby given that the following named settler has filed notice of his intention to make final proof in support of his claim and that said proof will be made before the probate court, or Dis- trict Court at Smith Center, Kansas, on September 25, 1886, viz: T. A. Campbell, D. S. 19673 for the South half of the southeast quarter of section 26, township 2, Range 11. He names the follow- ing witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of said land, viz: D. M. Adams, Wesley Young, Ed George, J. B. Justice of Salem, Kansas.
- John Bissell, Register .24
These laws seem, in the twentieth century, unbelievably liberal, but for many of the homesteaders the $16.00 was a fortune. If there was one thing they had in oormon, it was the lack of money. A. R. Barnes had to borrow six dollars to pay his filing on the first homestead on Beaver Creek. L. T. Reese told the story of meeting L. C. Uhl, who later became well-known in the county and state in his law practice, walking into the county with his belongings, consisting of a law book, tied up in a red bandana handkerchief. From his own account, it is said Joel Burrow walked to the county barefooted from the end of the railroad line at Clay Center. He had one pair of shoes but wanted to save them. He later became President of the First National Bank at Saith Center and President of the Central National Bank of Topeka. George McNeice, in later years a successful newspaper editor, said that "had it been a matter of life and death to him, he could not get sufficient cash together for months at a time to buy a postage stamp. Things got so bad he had to buy calico to make trousers and go barefoot."25
24 Elmer Stump, "History of White Rock Township," Unpublished manuscript at State Historical Library. Above notice was copied from an old copy of the Salem Argue.
25 C. Clyde Myers, "A Town That Bloomed, Then Faded," p. 387.
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One settler gave this description of life on the frontier. It might fit all of the Kansae counties on the edge of settlement at that time ae well as Smith County.
We were all poor alike. Tho men and women did their om work because they had nothing to pay for help. If one man had a job he wouldn't do alone, like harvesting or thrashing /sic7 he changed work with his neighbors. If a family got to the bottom of the meal barrel, they could not go out and earn a few dollars. There was nobody able to hire and pay wages. Every- body was in a struggle for subeistence. I don't mean to say there was an abeolute dead level of equality. There were some slight lines of social demarcation dram. For instance, Uncle Dave Fowler, on Flat Rock Creek, Lived in a five-room house width a roof of sawed shingles; he actually had a team of American horses. He was a "bloated Plutocrat."26
The lack of money did not seem to be considered a hardship in the eame clase with cold, hunger, fear of Indians, famine and sickness, and above all, the terrible loneliness of the frontier. Settlere welcomed every opportunity to get together, from log-raising for a new house or barn to e funeral or social gathering. Social activity was most desired in the fall when the har- vest work was done.
In those daye there were no social cleavagee -- everyone was the social equal of everyone else se long as he behaved himself. They got together at dancee and social gatheringe, debating so- cieties, and revival meetinge; epelling bees and singing echoole were organized in all the country schoolhouses.27
And of course, for the men, hunting wae the favorite eport. Hardships and poverty were appalling, but through it all there wae wholesome enjoyment by people hungering for human fellowship.
26 Henry Staack, op. cit., p. 41-42.
27 A. L. Headley, op. cit.
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Mre. Cora Ream, a pioneer daughter in Smith County, writee in her "Frontier Memoriee" that
in those daye folks had time to be friendly. There wae not ae much to detract the people'e minds. Homes were more etable and people were happier though they had much hardship to endure. Really, people were co busy keeping the soule and bodies together, they had no time to think of much elee. It was the desire of every man to own a home and every woman to care for it, The home was the foundation etone on which they were built. 28
Nowhere did this friendlinese prove stronger than in the time of trouble, such as a fire or a death. It seemed nothing short of miraculous the way newe epread, considering the lack of communication and the dietance between eet- tlers. The newe of a death usually reached the neighboring families the same day, and each one learning it sent out several of the older children to tell nearby eettlers.
They came with food end offere of help. Material to work with was scarce, but there was no ecarcity of hande to help the grieving ones. In the covered wagone in which they had come there had been only room enough for the necessities, but these people were ready to share those necessities with the unfortunate neighbor for whom they felt such deep sympathy.29
They learned early to get along with what we available and appreciated small things that may not seem understandable in the twentieth century. Virginia Harlan Barr wrote of her experience one Christmas when they were enowed in and che, then a small child, wanted come Christmas activity. Her aunt, Lulu Harlan, although a girl not much older, made Virginia a rag doll with buffalo hair, and they exchanged small china animale that each had brought with her. Mre. Barr treasured here for many yeare.30
28 Mrs. Cora Ream was a daughter of Mre. William Skinner who taught school in Gaylord in 1872. Her "Frontier Memories" ie a valuable manuecript of the people and incidente of early Smith County.
29 Margaret Nelson, op. cit., p. 153.
30 Virginia Harlan Barr, "Reminiscences of Early Days in Kansas," Un- published manuscript at the State Historical Library, 1938.
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Food was a major consideration for the settler. Grocery stores were part of the general merchandise etore by necessity. The main staples pur- chased there were sugar and tea or occasionally beans. In the drouth or grasshopper years, or due to ecarcity of money, even sugar and tea were omitted. In the worst grasshopper year, 1874, for some reason the grass- hoppers left the cane fields nearly untouched. That winter people were called "sorghum-lappers" because many subsisted on sorghum and bread, mostly cornbread. They managed to purchase enough corn to grind. Grist mills, ean- mills, and sorghum presses were the first industries to locate in the county .. At one time there were four large water Flouring Wills along the Solomon River; namely, Wilson and Son, Excelsior Mills, Keeler and Son, and Bougman and Talley.
Fall brought a flurry of activity on the homesteade to prepare for the long winter. September brought a rush to get the hay in. All of it had to be mowed with the scythe, hauled in and stacked close to the etables. Fireguards had to be plowed, the cane had to be stripped and taken to the mill for the year'e supply of sorghum. Fach farm hummed with industry, for each family wae dependent on their own resources. There was the additional problem of lighting. There was no coal oil within a hundred miles, so there was no chance to use lamps. Every bit of grease used for candles was carefully preserved from wild animals that were killed, because there were too few do- mestic animals. Wood ashes were saved to make lye, which was added to the waste fat and cracklings to make soap. It was also used in the making of hominy, another staple of diet along with mush. Every housewife raised her hops in the garden and with cornmeal made her own yeast cakee. The hops were dried and stored in the cupboard. There were no jars for canning. All fruits and vegetables, even the wild plums and grapes, were dried. Occasionally
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