USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Voilume I > Part 106
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in moist places and is sweeter than some of the cultivated species. A little known fruit, called the Juneberry, grows in rocky, hilly places. The persimmon, cherry and paw paw also grow wild.
The first orchard in the state was planted by Rev. Thomas Johnson at the Methodist Episocpal mission, near Shawneetown in 1837, when 12 acres were planted to fruit trees. The part played by the horticul- turists in the early history of Kansas was unimportant, because of the great agitation which preceded and accompanied the birth of Kansas, and practically little fruit tree planting was done before the war except along the eastern border, where in the early '6os it was noticeable that scarcely a settler had neglected to plant and cultivate a small orchard, usually of peach trees, though some planted grape vines and berry bushes. Farther west the settlers planted orchards, but as they selected varieties of fruit that had flourished in the east, the result was that, owing to the difference in the soil, climate and altitude, most of these early orchards died. About this time the Kansas State Horticultural Society came forward and introduced varieties of peaches, pears, apples and small fruits which could successfully be propagated in Kansas. Following the influx of immigration at the close of the Civil war, came a greater interest in the subject of fruit growing, and it is safe to say that within five years after Kansas took the gold medal for the fruit displayed at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1869, over 1,000,000 fruit trees were planted in the state. By 1875 it was estimated that there were 2,500 different varieties of apples alone to be found in the orchards of Kansas.
In 1910 the vast acreage planted to apple trees in eastern and central Kansas was almost incredible to people of the eastern states, and a Kan- sas apple specialist has "grown more apples on trees of his own planting than any other man in the world."
One of the first commercial orchards was planted in the spring of 1876, in the southern part of Leavenworth county by Frederick Well- house, who became the largest apple grower in the world, having at one time 1,600 acres in orchards in Leavenworth, Miami and Osage coun- ties, and was widely known as the "Apple King." He died on Jan. IO, IQII.
According to the report of the state horticultural society for 1909, there were in the State of Kansas 7,216,853 apple trees ; 287,929 pear trees ; 4,929,688 peach trees; 732,102 plum trees; 909,806 cherry trees ; 16,715 quince trees ; and 194,903 apricot trees. The estimated number of bushels of fruit grown in 1909 was 5,669,274 of apples; 82.929 of pears; 1,287,835 of peaches ; 44,512 of plums; and 59,331 of cherries. Of small fruits there were 3,487 acres in strawberries ; 1,626 acres in rasp- berries ; 4,505 acres in blackberries ; and 467 acres in gooseberries. There were 6,197 acres of land planted to vineyards, and 25,300 acres occupied by gardens. (See Entomological Commission.)
Horton, the largest town in Brown county, is an incorporated city of the second class, located on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R.
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14 miles south of Hiawatha, the county seat. It has electricity for power and lighting purposes, waterworks, fire department, opera house, 3 banks, 2 weekly newspapers (the Headlight and the Commercial), good hotels and about 250 business establishments. The Rock Island shops are located here. The town is supplied with telegraph and express offices and has an international money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population according to the census of 1910 was 3,600.
Horton is one of the newer towns in this part of the state. It was founded in Sept., 1886. A weekly paper was started the next month. In Sept., 1887, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific shops, the largest owned by that road in the west, were completed, and Horton had grown large enough to be incorporated as a city of the second class. The next month a daily paper was established. A fire department was organized in November of the same year. In May, 1888, the street railway line was completed and put into operation. In July the electric light plant began business, and when the city was two years old it claimed a population of 4,600. The main cause of the rapid growth was the railroad shops, which were built to employ 2,500 men. The waterworks went into oper- ation in 1889. In 1891 there was a disastrous fire which destroyed the. best business blocks in town, the loss aggregating $120,000.
Horton, Albert Howell, chief justice of the Kansas supreme court from 1876 to 1895, was born near Brookfield, N. Y., March 12, 1837. The ancestry of his family runs back in a direct line to Robert de Horton, who lived in the 12th century. The first American ancestor of the family was Barnabas Horton, born at Mausly, Leicestershire, England, July 16, 1600, and came to Hampton, Mass., about 1633. In 1640 he removed to New Haven, Conn., and subsequently to Southold, L. I. Albert was the son of Dr. Harvey and Mary (Bennett) Horton. He received his elementary education in the public schools ; attended an academy at Goshen, N. Y .; entered the law department of the University of Michigan in 1855, but during his sophomore year was compelled to leave college because of an affection of his eyes. He was admitted to the bar at Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1860, and the same year he removed to Atchison, Kan., where he was soon appointed city attorney. In April, 1861, he was elected to that office on the Republican ticket, and in September Gov. Robinson appointed him judge of the Second judicial district. Later he was elected to the position twice without opposition, but resigned to resume his law practice. From 1861 to 1864 he was a member of the editorial staff of the Atchison Weekly Champion. In 1868 he was a Republican presidential elector and was elected as mes- senger to carry the vote of the state to Washington. In May, 1869, President Grant appointed him United States district attorney for Kan- sas. . He was elected to the lower house of the state legislature in 1872, and state senator in 1876, but resigned Jan. 1, 1877, to accept the ap- pointment of chief justice tendered him by Gov. Osborn. The same year he was elected to fill the unexpired term. In 1878 he was reelected for a term of six years and was reëlected in 1884 and 1890. In 1885
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his name was presented to the joint session of the legislature for United States senator, and on the first ballot the vote stood 86 for John J. Ingalls and 83 for Judge Horton. For many years Judge Horton was president of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, for the Southwest and in June, 1889, his Alma Mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. On April 30, 1895, he resigned his position on the supreme bench to resume his law practice at Topeka, as a member of the firm of Waggener, Horton & Orr. In 1864 Judge Hor- ton married Anna A. Robertson, of Middletown, N. Y., who died in 1883, leaving four children, and on Nov. 13, 1887, he married Mrs. Mary A. Prescott of Topeka. Judge Horton died on Sept. 2, 1902, at Topeka.
Howard, the judicial seat and largest town in Elk county, is located in the center of the county on a beautiful eminence overlooking the valleys of the Elk river, Paw Paw and Rock creeks, and is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. It has 2 banks, 2 weekly news- papers, an opera house, a county high school, and an ample number of good church buildings. It is a shipping point for agricultural products and live stock. A good quality of limestone is found in the vicinity. The town is supplied with telegraph and express offices and has an. international money order postoffice with six rural routes. The popula- lation in 1910 was 1,163.
Howard City, as it was called in earlier times, was established in 1870. by a town company, of which Samuel McFarland was president and T. A. Dodd was secretary. The management of affairs was soon left to private individuals, and the principal promoters were, John McBee, S. B. Oberlander, C. T. Adams, P. C. Tapping, Alexander Bruce, Perry and Milton Vincent and T. A. Dodd. The first business enterprise was. undertaken by Oscar McFarland, who built a store in 1870. The second was a livery stable belonging to a Mr. McClure. The Howard House was built in 1871, by John Barnes and John Parrett. The third build- ing was a saloon, and the fourth a printing office, installed by Kelley & Turner. The postoffice at Paw Paw creek was brought to Howard in 1871. T. J. Barnes was postmaster at the time. The first school was. taught in 1873 by W. S. Kent, with 19 pupils in attendance. An $8,000 building was erected in 1882. The first newspaper-the Howard Coun- ty Messenger-was established by Kelley & Turner in 1872.
In Oct., 1877, Howard was incorporated as a city of the third class,. and the following officers were chosen at the first election: Mayor, A. B. Steinberger; police judge, A. M. Bowen; city clerk, H. A. Lanman; city treasurer, William Crooks; city attorney, J. A. Oliphant ; city mar- shal, William M. Vinson; councilmen, N. Momma, William Driscoll, J. Q. Burchfield, S. Lucas and James Howell.
Howard County .- On Feb. 26, 1867, Gov. Crawford approved an act creating a number of new counties in the territory recently acquired from the Osage Indians. One of these counties was Howard, the bound- aries of which were defined as follows: "Commencing at the southeast corner of Greenwood county, thence south to the 37th degree of north
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latitude, thence west 31 miles to the center of range 8 east, thence north to the southwest corner of Greenwood county, thence east to the place of beginning."
Owing to a county seat fight, the county was divided by the act of March II, 1875, into the counties of Elk and Chautauqua, and Howard county passed out of existence.
Howe, Edgar Watson, journalist and author, was born in Wabash county, Ind., May 3, 1854, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Irwin) Howe. When he was about three years of age the family removed to Bethany, Harrison county, Mo., where the father, a Methodist preacher, published a newspaper of strong abolition sentiments. Edgar served an apprenticeship at the printer's trade in his father's office and in 1868 started out for himself. He visited various cities, working at the case to earn money to pay his way from one place to another, and at the age of eighteen began the publication of the Weekly Globe at Golden, Col. From there he went to Falls City, Neb., where he published a newspaper, and where in 1873 he married Miss Clara L. Frank. In 1877 he located in Atchison, Kan., and established the Daily Globe, which soon came to be widely quoted. Mr. Howe is the author of several works of fiction, the best known of which are, "The Story of a Country Town," "The Mystery of the Locks," and "A Moonlight Boy."
Hoxie, the county seat of Sheridan county, is situated almost in the exact geographic center of the county on the Union Pacific R. R. The town was laid out in the early part of 1886 by a company composed of E. E. Parker, W. P. Rice, J. W. Huff, J. H. Huff, H. R. Stimson, H. P. Churchill, William Mellen, E. H. McCracken and Isaac Mulholland. The Kenneth Sentinel of March 1I, 1886, says: "On last Saturday eve- ning a meeting of the citizens of Kenneth was held at the school house for the purpose of receiving and considering a proposition from the Hoxie town company looking to a consolidation of the two places, and a removal of the buildings to the Hoxie town site." At that meeting the Hoxie interests were represented by W. P. Rice, J. W. Huff and William Mellen, who agreed to give new lots to those who owned prop- erty in Kenneth, and to pay the expense of removing their buildings to the new town, which was about 3 miles south of Kenneth. These men by their courtesy and diplomacy won the day, and "after mature deliber- ation, extending far into the night, a vote was finally reached on a motion to consolidate the two towns by moving Kenneth to the Hoxie town site, and it was adopted without a dissenting voice."
This absorption of the town of Kenneth, which was at that time the county seat, gave Hoxie a good start toward becoming a city. On June 6, 1886, a Presbyterian church was organized, and the town company made a contract with George Forgue, of Clifton, Kan., to establish a brick yard. Hoxie now has 2 banks, 2 grain elevators, a weekly newspaper (the Sentinel), good hotels, an international money order postoffice with four rural routes, telegraph and express offices, a telephone exchange, and a number of well stocked stores which handle
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all lines of merchandise. The county high school is located at Hoxie, and there are also graded public schools. The population in 1910 was 532.
Hoyt, a town of Jackson county, is located on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. in Douglas township, 14 miles south of Holton, the county seat, and about the same distance north of Topeka. It is an important hay market, and is noted for large shipments of live stock. It has banking facilities, a newspaper, all the general lines of business, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural mail routes. The town was founded in 1886 by a company of Holton men, of which I. T. Price and A. D. Walker were members. The promoters made a free dinner and sale, but no lots were taken. Later W. B. McKeage laid out on his farm 20 lots, which he sold at $100 each. A street of frame buildings was built by the town company fronting the railroad. Joseph Burns built a store for general merchan- dise. About 1895 the new street, which is the present business section, was built up of stone and brick buildings by the citizens. The popu- lation in 1910 was 400.
Hudson, an incorporated town of Stafford county, is situated in Hayes township on the Missouri Pacific R. R., about 10 miles northeast of St. John, the county seat. It has a bank, a money order postoffice with one rural route, a weekly newspaper (the Patriot), grain elevators, a flour mill, a creamery, a cement stone works, telephone connections with the surrounding towns, telegraph and express offices and a large retail trade in all lines of merchandise. Hudson was incorporated in 1908 and in 1910 reported a population of 253.
Hudson, Thomas J., lawyer and member of Congress, was born Oct. 30, 1844, in the State of Indiana and reared on a farm. He was an ambitious boy and wished to go to school, but was forced to earn the money for his expenses himself. When he was twenty-one years of age he decided to go West and located in Kansas in the spring of 1866. He engaged in farming for four years, then studied law and commenced practice in 1870. Mr. Hudson took an active part in the political life of the community and was elected to the Kansas state legislature. He was elected county attorney three times and served several terms as mayor of his city. In 1892 he was nominated for Congress by the Democratic and Populist parties, though he was elected as a Populist and always acted with that party. After serving one term he resumed his law practice at Fredonia, where he still lives.
Huffaker, Thomas Sears, one of the pioneer teachers of Kansas, was born in Clay county, Mo., March 30, 1825, a son of Rev. George Huf- faker, who had come from Kentucky five years before. He was educated in the common schools and the Howard high school, and in 1849 came to Kansas in connection with the manual training school for the Shaw- nee Indians at the mission in what is now Jefferson county. The fol- lowing year he went to Council Grove, where he took charge of the Indian mission school which had been established on the Kaw reserva-
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tion there by the Methodist Episcopal church South. He remained at the head of this school until it was abandoned in 1854. On May 6, 1852, Mr. Huffaker married Miss Eliza A. Baker, who was born in Illi- nois in 1836. About the time the Indian mission school was abandoned, Mr. and Mrs. Huffaker organized a school for white children, which was probably the first school of the kind in Kansas. Mr. Huffaker was one of the incorporators of the Council Grove town company ; was the first postmaster at Council Grove; was elected to the state legislature in 1874 and again in 1879; was a regent of the State Normal School from 1864 to 1871 ; was frequently a delegate to Republican conventions, and . as late as May, 1906, was a member of the state convention of that party. Mr. Huffaker died on July 10, 1910.
Hugoton, the county seat and only incorporated city in Stevens county, is located a little southwest of the center of the county, about 28 miles northwest of Liberal and 23 miles north of Hooker, Okla., which is the nearest railroad town. Hugoton was founded in the latter part of 1885 and for a time had a promising growth. In 1887 bonds were voted for the construction of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic railroad on condition that the line pass through Hugoton and that the road should be completed and in operation by June, 1888. In August of the same year an effort was made to build the Meade Center, Cimar- ron Valley & Trinidad railroad, the organizers of the company being Stevens county men. Both these projects failed of realization and con- sequently Hugoton failed to meet the anticipations of its promoters. In the summer of 1887 a stage line was started to Garden City. There are now daily stages to Liberal, Ulysses and Hartland. Hugoton has a bank, a money order postoffice, a weekly newspaper (the Hermes), telephone connections, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, and a number of general stores. It is one of the smallest county seats in the state, the population in 1910 being only 105.
Hull, a hamlet of Marshall county, is located on the Big Blue river and the Union Pacific R. R. in Marysville township, 7 miles north of Marysville, the county seat. It has express and telegraph offices, a postoffice and some local trade. The population in 1910 was 25.
Humana, Juan De .- (See Bonilla's Expedition.)
Humboldt, one of the principal cities of Allen county, is on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, 8 miles south of Iola, the county seat. The place was first visited by B. M. Blanton, a Methodist missionary, who told his brother, N. B. Blanton, and J. A. Coffey, of Lawrence, of the advantages of the location for a town. In March, 1857, the town site was located by Mr. Coffey, who returned to 'Lawrence, where he found some German colonists looking for a location and induced them to settle in his new town, which was named for Baron von Humboldt. In the spring of 1870 the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad was completed through that portion of Allen county, and the following October the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston was run through Humboldt. Since then the growth of the city has been steady,
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until at the present time Humboldt is one of the busiest cities of its size in the state. It was organized as a village in 1866 and incorporated as a city of the second class by the act of Feb. 28, 1870. Being located in the gas and oil fields, it is a good manufacturing center. It has large cement and brick works, an oil refinery, flour mills, elevators, two banks, express and telegraph offices, and the press is well represented. The city is supplied with waterworks and electric lights, and in 1910 reported a population of 2,548.
Hummer, one of the inland hamlets of Smith county, is located 6 miles southeast of Smith Center, the county seat, from which place its mail is distributed by rural route. The population in 1910 was 25.
Humphrey, Lyman Underwood, eleventh governor of the State of Kansas, was born at New Baltimore, Stark county, Ohio, July 25, 1844. At the age of seventeen years he left high school at Massillon, Ohio, to enlist in Company I, Seventy-sixth Ohio infantry, which was mus- tered into the United States service on Oct. 7, 1861. Subsequently he was a member of Companies D and E of the same regiment, but was mustered out on July 15, 1865, as first lieutenant of Company I. His regiment was first attached to the First brigade, First division, Fif- teenth army corps, commanded first by Gen. William T. Sherman and later by Gen. John A. Logan. He was with his command in the engage- ments at Fort Donelson, Chickasaw Bluffs, Jackson, Vicksburg, about Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, and in numerous battles and skirmishes of the Atlanta campaign of 1864. After the fall of Atlanta he was with Sherman in the famous "March to the sea," and up through the Caro- linas, taking part in the battle of Bentonville and being present at the surrender of the Confederate army under Gen. J. E. Johnston. After the war he attended Mount Union College, at Alliance, Ohio, for a short time, and then entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1867. The succeeding year he was admitted to the Ohio bar, but soon afterward removed to Shelby county, Mo., where he engaged in teaching and newspaper work. In 1871, with his mother and brother, John E. Humphrey, he came to Kansas, locating at Independence, which city has since been his home. He was one of the founders of the Independence Tribune, and during the early years of its existence took an active interest in its career. On Christmas day, in 1872, Mr. Humphrey was united in marriage with Miss Amanda Leonard of Beardstown, Ill., and in 1873 he engaged in the practice of law. Always a Republican, he soon became an influen- tial factor in the councils of that party in Kansas, and in 1876 he was elected to represent his district in the lower house of the state legis- lature. While a member of that body he served with ability on the judi- ciary committee, one of the most important of the house. In 1877 he was elected lieutenant-governor for the unexpired term of Melville J. Salter, who had resigned, and the following year was elected to the office for a full term of two years. In 1884 he was elected to the state senate, and in the ensuing session of the legislature introduced the reso-
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lution to strike the word "white" from the constitutional provision relat- ing to the state militia. Mr. Humphrey was nominated for governor by the Republican state convention at Topeka on July 26, 1888, and at the election the following November was victorious by a plurality of over 73,000 votes. At the expiration of his first term he was reelected, holding the office for four years altogether. Upon retiring from the office of governor he resumed the practice of law. In 1892 he was the Republican nominee for Congress in his district, but was defeated by Thomas J. Hudson, the Populist candidate. Mr. Humphrey is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and several other fraternal and benevolent societies.
Humphrey's Administration .- Gov. Humphrey was inaugurated on Jan. 14, 1889. The regular session of the legislature had been convened on the 8th and organized with Lieut .- Gov. A. P. Riddle as the presiding officer of the senate, and Henry Booth as speaker of the house. Six days later, when the new administration was installed, Mr. Riddle was succeeded by the new lieutenant-governor, Andrew J. Felt. In his inaugural address Gov. Humphrey said :
"Kansas, in her career thus far, covers what has been aptly char- acterized a focal period in history, toward which the lines of progress have converged, and beautifully exemplifies, in her present conditions, the philosophy of De Tocqueville that the growth of states bears some marks of their origin; that the circumstances of their birth and rise affect the whole term of their being. In Kansas this may be observed in the liberal spirit of her laws and in the genius of her institutions.
. For Kansas was but the first born child of Republican supremacy on American soil; the triumph of an idea; the idea of the Pilgrim as against that of the Cavalier; the idea of the founders of Lawrence over the idea of the settlers of Lecompton. And the idea which thus triumphed in a free Kansas, and the influences going out from our early settlement, are a living, energizing force in all our moral, social and material progress."
Two days after the delivery of this address, he submitted to the gen- eral assembly his first official message, in which he referred to the fact that, for the first time in the history of the state, the legislature met six days before the new executive was inaugurated. (See Martin's Admin- istration.)
"This unanticipated state of affairs," said he, "is suggestive of the need of constitutional revision, and prompts the inquiry, whether it would not be well to provide by law that the outgoing governor shall, in all cases, prepare and leave with his successor, to be delivered to the legislature, a message reviewing the condition of state affairs since the last preceding session of that body, with such suggestions and recommendations as he may deem expedient. His experience neces- sarily gives him a familiarity with the various interests of the com- monwealth, and accurate knowledge of the condition and business
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