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 114
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KANSAS HISTORY
The first two buildings were erected by members of the town company in 1854. The first store was occupied by Beeler & Williams. A hotel was opened by B. Beeler. The first drug store was opened by Leigh & Brown, the former being the first physician. In 1856 the town took a decided boom. Fine brick buildings went up, among them a $10,000 hotel, a sawmill and a grist mill. One of the earliest Masonic lodges in the state was moved to the town in 1857, and the first lodge of Good Templars was organized. The town soon out-stripped Atchison in size and became second in the state in point of population and first in busi- ness. Several wholesale houses were in operation by 1858, a brick yard was started, and a ferry boat was put in operation on the Missouri. With the beginning of the war the citizens promptly organized a company of militia under Capt. C. J. Beeler, which took part in the war during the entire four years. In 1862 a company of the Eighth Kansas was stationed at Iowa Point for the protection of the river front. In that year a great fire destroyed the main part of town (the big hotel had already been burned), the ferry boat sunk, and the newspapers sus- pended. The town never recovered from the effects of these disasters. It was southern in its sympathie's and the only slave ever offered for sale was sold at auction in the street in 1857.
Irene, a country postoffice in Hamilton county, is located in Bear Creek township, 15 miles southwest of Syracuse, the county seat. It has mail tri-weekly. The principal occupation in the vicinity is farm- ing and stock raising. The population in 1910 was 25.
Ironquill .- (See Ware, Eugene F.)
Irrigation .- In the late '7os and early 'Sos a general interest in irriga- tion spread throughout the western states. The settlers of western Kansas realizing the extreme fertility and richness of their soil, if only sufficient moisture could be obtained, received the irrigation idea with enthusiasm, which resulted in much speculation about the possibilities of irrigating from the Arkansas river, and its ultimate trial. One com- pany, organized at Garden City in 1879, dammed a channel in the river between an island and the main land. From the reservoir thus formed was dug a ditch 8 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 10 miles long. This was successful enough to induce many other companies to organize irriga- tion projects, and in 1883, not less than five large ditches had been con- structed in that vicinity. All of these ditches when first made had an . ample flow of water from the river and would, if the flow had been unin- terrupted, have supplied water for all of the lands below the ditches. About 1887 and 1888, Colorado people began an extensive system of irrigation from the Arkansas river. The great area watered from the stream diverted so much water, that by 1891-92 the ditches in the Kan- sas valley were practically abandoned. Litigation between Kansas and Colorado followed in the supreme court of the United States. The case was settled somewhat indefinitely, but practically against Kansas.
In 1895 the state took up the question, created a board of irrigation and defined its object and duties, as is seen in Section 5, Chapter 162,
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the Session laws of 1895, which reads: "In order that there may be made a practical test of the water supply on the uplands of western Kan- sas for irrigation purposes said board shall cause to be constructed twenty irrigation wells and pumping stations, or more if possible under this appropriation, not more than one of which shall be located in the same county, which shall be constructed and operated under the direc- tion of said board in such manner that correct data of the depth of wells, quality of water supply, kinds of pumps and power employed, and the capacity of each of said wells, and said board are hereby em- powered to make a practical test of the so-called underflow water for irrigation purposes, to make a fine and complete examination of said underflow water as they may be enabled to do with the means placed at their command, to demonstrate the best method of raising water to the surface and storing it for irrigation purposes, making as full and complete report of their investigation in detail." etc.
Full provision was made in the bill for directing all phases of the work and an appropriation of $30,000 was made to carry it on. This law is supplemented in Chapter 21, Session laws of 1897, by "an act relating to forestry and irrigation." combining both lines of investigation under one commissioner, manner of appointment, length of time, defining duties of said commission, and disposing of irrigation plants established by the state irrigation commission. In 1900 the commissioner reports that owing to lack of water and too heavy machinery, the irrigation plant at Ogallah station had not been as successful as had been hoped. The irrigation plants in Kansas had not met with the results anticipated when F. H. Newell, of the U. S. geological survey, reviewed the condi- tions in western Kansas and recommended wells as the best solution of the water supply problem.
In April, 1905, the United States geological survey announced to the public that preparation was being made to install an irrigation plant near Deerfield, Finney county, Kan., Prof. Schlichter, an engineer of the reclamation service, having demonstrated that there is a great underflow at that point which, by the use of pumps, could be utilized for irrigation. This plant was immediately constructed at a cost of $250,- 000 and used water from wells and from the Arkansas river for its canals. Up to this time the idea of irrigating from wells had existed in a limited way, but the discovery of an inexhaustible supply of under- ground water in Finney and other western counties along the Arkansas river, which can be found at a depth of 16 to 200 feet, created a system of windmill irrigation that is both extensive and successful. The water is pumped by the windmill into reservoirs, and from these it is car- ried by ditches leading to different fields. One windmill and one reser- voir 75 by 150 feet and 6 feet deep will irrigate from 10 to 20 acres. While irrigation in the valley of the Arkansas river is the most exten- sive and important, there are other sections where different modes of irrigation have been employed advantageously. As early as 1877 a Mr. Allman, who supplied Fort Wallace with provisions, felt the necessity
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KANSAS HISTORY
of artificial watering of crops, and built a satisfactory ditch from the Smoky Hill river, which ditch has been in continual use since that time. In Scott county, a Mr. Jones has a fully developed system of hillside irrigation, the water being obtained from springs. Mr. Warner, in the same county, has installed a system of flumes through which to convey spring water to his fields. In many parts of western Kansas are never failing springs, from which individual irrigation may be made. As they are located at different elevations, sometimes on the bed of an arroyo, at other times on the side of a high bluff, different engineering methods have to be used to control the water. In Meade county is an artesian area of about 20 miles in length by 6 miles in width. In this area wells have been drilled from 50 to 250 feet in depth. The flow of these wells varies from a pailful in five minutes to over 1,000 gallons per minute. (See Artesian Wells.) The water obtained is used for irrigation purposes. The accessible water supply of western Kansas has been of untold value, not only to its immediate territory, but to Kansas as a whole.
Irrigation, State Board of .- This board was created by the legislature of 1895 to be known as a board of Irrigation Survey and Experiment, and to be composed of five members, the geologist of the State Univer- sity at Lawrence, the president of the agricultural college at Manhattan, and three others to be appointed by the governor. (See Irrigation ante.) The men appointed on this board were George T. Fairchild, president of the Agricultural College, Erasmus Haworth, professor of geology in the State University, D. M. Frost, of Garden City, M. B. Tomblin, of Goodland, and William B. Sutton, of Russell. The board organized March 13, 1895, with D. M. Frost as president and William B. Sutton as secretary. The board considered it impossible to accom- plish all the act embraced with the appropriation made, but deter- mined to carry out the principal provisions of the law as far as was practicable. As a preliminary step the territory to be investigated was divided into three districts under the supervision of Mr. Tomblin, Mr. Sutton and Mr. Frost. Stations were located in Rawlins, Sherman, Rooks, Trego, Logan, Wallace, Greeley, Wichita, Lane, Hodgeman, Hamilton, Grant, Haskell, Gray, Ford and Seward counties. In 1897 the legislature reorganized the irrigation work, created the office of commissioner of forestry and irrigation, thus doing away with the board of irrigation. In this act relating to irrigation all stations estab- lished by the state irrigation commission were ordered to be sold.
Irvin, Samuel M., an early missionary and teacher to the Sac and Fox Indians, was born in Pennsylvania in 1812. In 1835 the Presbyterian foreign board appointed him missionary to the Iowa Indians, or rather to act as superintendent of the mission, which was established in April, 1837, on what is known as the "Platte Purchase," in northwestern Mis- souri. The next year it was moved across the Missouri river and located near the present town of Highland, Doniphan county, Kan. Here Mr. Irvin and his wife continued their labors until the mission
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was discontinued, after which he was for several years connected with the Highland University. At the time he came to Kansas the nearest postoffice was at Liberty, Mo. On Feb. 12, 1879, Mr. Irvin delivered an address before the Kansas State Historical Society. He died in 1887.
Irving, an incorporated city of Marshall county, is located in Blue Rapids township 15 miles south of Marysville, the county seat, at the junction of the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads, and on the Big Blue river. All lines of business enterprise is represented. There are good banking facilities, a weekly newspaper, telegraph and express offices, graded schools, public library, churches of all denominations, and three rural routes extend from the Irving postoffice. In 1910 the popu- lation was 403.
Irving County, which has disappeared from the map of Kansas, was created by the act of Feb. 27, 1860, and named in honor of Washington Irving. The territory included in the county was taken from Hunter, and it was bounded as follows: "Commencing at the point where the guide meridian crosses the 5th standard parallel, between ranges 8 and 9; thence due west 36 miles ; thence due south 24 miles ; thence due east to a point due south of the first named point; thence north to the place of beginning." The territory included within these boundaries now embraces the southern part of Butler county, the northern tier of Con- gressional townships of Cowley, a little of the southwest corner of Greenwood, and the northwest corner of Elk county.
Isabel, an incorporated town in Barber county, is located on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 13 miles north of Medicine Lodge, the county seat. It has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the Herald), over a score of mercantile establishments, express and telegraph offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 222.
Island, an inland hamlet of Neosho county, is located in Lincoln town- ship, about 12 miles southeast of Erie, the county seat, and about 8 from St. Paul, from which place it receives daily mail by rural route.
Iuka, an incorporated city of the third class in Pratt county, is located in the township of the same name on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 5 miles north of Pratt, the county seat. It has a bank, 2 elevators, a hotel, a number of mercantile establishments, churches and schools, express and telegraph offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 223. The town was settled in 1877, and was at one time the county seat. (See Pratt County.)
Ivanhoe, a hamlet in Haskell county, is located 6 miles north of Santa Fe, the county seat, and 7 miles northwest of Jean, the postoffice from which its mail is distributed by rural route.
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