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 18
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"You in suffering, they in crime Wait the just reward of time, Wait the vengeance that is due ; Not in vain a heart shall break, Not a tear for freedom's sake Falls unheeded; God is true."
Barclay, a village of Osage county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. II miles southwest of Lyndon, the county seat. It is supplied with express and telegraph offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 100.
Barnard, one of the principal towns of Lincoln county, is the terminus of a division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. which con- nects with one of the main lines of that system at Manchester. It is located in Scott township, near the northern boundary of the county, about 12 miles from Lincoln, the county seat. Barnard was first set- tled in 1888; was incorporated in 1904, and in 1910 reported a popula-
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tion of 425. It has two banks, a weekly newspaper-the Bee-some good retail mercantile houses, churches of the leading Protestant de- nominations, telegraph and express offices, a money order postoffice with one rural delivery route, and being located in the rich Salt creek valley is an important shipping point for agricultural products. It is connected by telephone with the surrounding country and with the county seat.
Barnes, an incorporated town of Washington county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 13 miles southeast of Washington, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with three rural routes, express and telegraph offices, telephone connection, a bank, a weekly newspaper -the Barnes Chief-Methodist, Lutheran and Christian churches, good schools, and in 1910 reported a population of 454. It is the principal trading and shipping point for Barnes township, in which it is situated.
Barnesville, a hamlet of Bourbon county, is situated on the Little Osage river, about 13 miles north of Fort Scott, the county seat. It has rural free delivery from Fulton and in 1910 had a population of 52. Fulton is the nearest railroad station.
Barr, Elizabeth N., one of the younger school of Kansas authors, was born in a dugout-a fact of which she is rather proud-in Lincoln county, Kan., in 1884. When she was two years of age her parents re- moved to Huron county, Mich., where she attended the common schools and in 1902 graduated in the Badaxe high school. Then after a sojourn in Florida she went to Kansas City, Mo., where she was for a time employed on the advertising force of the Kansas City Journal. In 1905 she went to Topeka with a total capital of $II and entered Wash- burn College, determined to work her way through that institution. With an energy rarely equaled in her sex she succeeded, and in 1908 graduated in the liberal arts course. Her first published work was a collection of poems written while she was a student in college and entitled "Washburn Ballads." Miss Barr is also the author of several short county histories of various counties in Kansas, and she was for some time the editor and publisher of the Club Member and Current Topics, a paper devoted to the cause of woman suffrage.
Barrett, a hamlet of Marshall county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. and on the Vermillion river in Vermillion township, 20 miles southeast of Marysville, the county seat, and 3 miles from Frank- fort. It has a money order postoffice, and a population in 1910 of 75.
Barrett is one of the oldest settled points in Marshall county. The first white resident outside of the French traders was G. H. Hollenberg, afterward the founder of Hollenberg, Washington county, who located in this vicinity in 1854 and opened a store for the accommodation of the emigrants to California. In 1855 a colony of 60 people from Cadiz, Ohio, selected a tract in the Vermillion valley for a settlement. Among those who came was A. G. Barrett, who in 1868 laid off the town of Barrett and gave the railroad company 40 acres of land in considera- tion of their building a depot and side track. The postoffice had been established since 1857.
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Barry, an inland hamlet in the extreme northeast corner of Green- wood county, is located 5 miles from Dunaway, the nearest railroad station, and 30 miles from Eureka, the county seat. It obtains its mail by rural delivery from Gridley, Coffey county.
Bartlett, an incorporated town of Labette county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R., in Hackberry township, 14 miles southwest of Oswego. It has banking facilities, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 249. The town was named for its promoter, Robert A. Bartlett. Jerome Callahan was the pioneer merchant, and B. F. Cox built the first dwelling.
Barton County, nearly in the geographical center of the state, is bounded on the north by Russell county, east by Ellsworth and Rice, south by Stafford and Pawnee, and west by Pawnee and Rush coun- ties. It is exactly 30 miles square and contains 900 square miles. The county was created by an act of 1867, and was named in honor of Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross association. The southern half of Barton county lies in territory that was erected as Washington county by the act of 1855, while the northern portion in- cludes part of the unorganized territory attached to the counties lying east of it. It is supposed that the first white men who saw this part of Kansas were the Spaniards under Coronado (q. v.). The first Ameri- can to visit Barton county was Lieut. Zebulon Pike, who led an ex- ploring expedition to the Rocky mountains in 1806. On Oct. 13 of that year, Pike reached the most northerly bend of the Arkansas river, about 6 miles east of the present site of Great Bend, where he encamped for several days. (See Pike's Expedition.) The Mcknight party, with a train of pack mules, followed the trail along the Arkansas in 1812, and in 1820 Maj. Long's expedition passed along practically the same course. This early route later became the historic "Santa Fe Trail."
As far as can be learned, the earliest settler in Barton county was a man named Peacock, who located his ranch on Walnut creek about 3 miles east of the big bend of the Arkansas. His residence was an adobe hut, and in the fall of the year 1860, he and five other men were killed by Kiowa Indians, who drove off the stock and committed other depredations.
In 1868 the Indians created considerable trouble by attacking ranch- men and wagon trains, running off cattle, and in some cases killing settlers and travelers. In October they attacked a provision train near Ellinwood, and in his report of the affair Gen. Hazen stated that "about 100 Indians attacked the fort at daylight, and were driven off ; then they attacked a provision train ; killed one of the teamsters, and secured the mules from four wagons; then attacked a ranch 8 miles below and drove off the stock."
The first cemetery in the county was the old grave yeard laid out about 300 yards northeast of Fort Zarah (q. v.), in which the graves made at the time of the occupation of the fort by troops may still be
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seen. In some cases they were marked by stones, but are nearly all overgrown with buffalo grass.
The United States census of 1870 found two people who declared themselves residents of Barton county. They were John Reinecke and Henry Schultz, natives of Hanover, Germany, who came from Illinois in March, and after searching for land near the present site of Ellin- wood got the Ellsworth surveyor to accompany them to Walnut creek, where they selected a location, and had it surveyed. The settlement they established was abont 6 miles northwest of the present city of Great Bend. Others who came to the county in 1870 were W. C. Gib- son, Gideon F. Mecklem, William Jous, Antone Wilke, George Berry and Mike Stanton, who settled along the Walnut in what are now Buffalo and Walnut townships. Most of the pioneer homes were rude dugouts and sod houses. The first log house was built late in the year 1870 by Mr. Mecklem, and was provided with loopholes and small windows as a means of defense against the Indians. The principal occupation of the early settlers was killing buffalo. They used the flesh and tongues for food, in some cases selling the meat at the nearest settlements, while the hides were tanned and sent to the markets in the east. A few tried farming, but were unsuccessful, as the buffalo tramped out the crops and wallowed in the soft plowed ground. The first settlements in Great Bend township were made by E. J. Dodge, who made a homestead entry on Jan. 23, 1871, and D. N. Heizer, who entered land in May of the same year. Some of the other settlers of that year were John Cook, W. H. Odell, Thomas Morris, George Moses and Wallace Dodge.
For about five years after its creation Barton county was attached to Ellsworth for judicial and revenue purposes, but in 1871, it had the required number of voters and population to entitle it to a separate organization. Accordingly, a petition was presented to the governor asking that the county be organized, and on May 16, 1872, Gov. Har- vey issued a proclamation for the organization of the county and de- clared Great Bend the temporary county seat. The officers appointed by him at that time were Thomas Morris, John H. Hubbard and George M. Berry commissioners, and William H. Odell, clerk. The board held its first meeting at Great Bend on May 23, 1872. At this meet- ing the commisisoners divided Barton county into three civil town- ships, Lakin, Great Bend and Buffalo, and declared each township to be a commissioner district. An election for township officers, and to decide upon the location of the county seat, was ordered for July I. The election was held and resulted in the selection of M. H. Halsey, John Cook and L. H. Lusk, commissioners; William H. Odell, clerk; Thomas L. Morris, register of deeds; J. B. Howard, clerk of the dis- trict court; E. L. Morphy, treasurer; D. N. Heizer, probate judge ; J. B. Howard, county attorney ; A. C. Moses, superintendent of public schools; John Favrow, surveyor; George W. Moses, sheriff, and D. B. Baker, coroner. Upon the question of a permanent location of the county seat, Great Bend received 144 votes, Ellinwood 22 and Zarah 33.
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Soon after Barton county was organized some difficulty arose be- tween the authorities of Ellsworth and Barton counties with regard to the payment of taxes. Some of the settlers had already been placed on the tax rolls by the assessor of Ellsworth county before Barton was organized, and had paid their taxes to the Ellsworth county treas- urer. For a time the Ellsworth county officers refused to pay over to Barton county the taxes thus collected, but matters were finally amica- bly adjusted.
The settlement of Barton county was both rapid and steady. A num- ber of Germans located around Ellinwood, where a store was opened in 1874 by F. A. Steckel, who also started a grist mill. The following year the first brewery in the county, and the first in this part of the state, was erected at Ellinwood. About this time a number of Rus- sians entered land about 7 miles west of Great Bend. One of the points of great interest in the county is Pawnee Rock (q. v.) in the southwest corner. In early days of travel along the Santa Fe it was a noted land mark.
The first school in the county was a private one established in 1872 by James R. Bickerdyke. In December of that year bonds were voted for the first school house. A number of the early settlers were Catho- lics, who erected the first church building in the county in Lakin town- ship in the fall of 1877. The second church was built by the Methodists the following winter. Prior to this time services were held by travel- ing preachers. The first postoffice was established at Zarah in 1871, with Titus J. Buckbee as postmaster. The first record of marriage is that of Jonathan F. Tilton and Addie Eastey in Nov., 1872. Judge W. . R. Brown presided at the first term of court in April, 1873. George A. Housher, whose birth occurred on Oct. 2, 1871, was the first white child born in the county.
On Oct. 8, 1872, a special election was held to vote on the question of issuing $25,000 of county bonds for the erection of a court-house and jail. The proposition was carried, and on March 26, 1873, the bids were opened. The contract was awarded and the building, located in the county square at Great Bend, was completed and accepted that year. G. L. Brinkman was elected to the state legislature on Nov. 5, 1872, and was the first person to represent Barton county in the general assembly of the state. In 1874 the limits of Barton county were en- larged by the addition of a part of Stafford county. This territory was held until 1879, when the matter, after being fought through the courts, was decided against Barton county, for the reason that Stafford, by the act of division, was reduced to an area less than that required by the state constitution. The original bounds of Barton were therefore re- stored.
The county is divided into the following townships: Albion, Beaver, Buffalo, Cheyenne, Clarence, Cleveland, Comanche, Eureka, Fairview, Grant, Great Bend, Homestead, Independent, Lakin, Liberty, Logan, Pawnee Rock, South Bend, Union, Walnut and Wheatland.
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The southern part of the county is level, the northern portion higher and somewhat broken. The valleys of the Arkansas river and Walnut creek are from 2 to 7 miles in width, with a sandy loam soil, which is very fertile and productive. Narrow belts of timber, principally cot- tonwood, elm, ash, box-elder, hackberry, willow and walnut, are found along the streams, and many artificial groves have been set out. Bar- ton county is one of the "banner" wheat counties of Kansas, but corn, Kafir corn and oats are extensively raised. Limestone of a good qual- ity is found in the northern portion, and sandstone in the southern half of the county. Clay is found in the north, and a vein from 15 to 18 feet thick lies about 3 or 4 miles north of Great Bend. A rich bed of rock salt has been discovered about 3 miles northeast of Great Bend and has been drilled 100 feet.
The Arkansas river is the principal stream. Its course through the county is in the form of a crescent, or great bend, from which the town of Great Bend takes its name. There are several tributary streams, Walnut and Little Walnut creeks being the most important. The main line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad follows the course of the Arkansas river, passing through Ellinwood and Great Bend, while a branch of the same system runs east from Ellinwood into Rice county. A second branch runs northwest from Great Bend into Rush county. The main line of the Missouri Pacific railroad traverses the county al- most directly east and west through the center and has a branch south from Hoisington to Great Bend. There are about 95 miles of main track road within the limits of the county, furnishing ample shipping facilities to the central and southern parts.
The U. S. census for 1910 reported the population of Barton county as being 17,876, which showed a gain of 4,092 during the preceding de- cade. According to the report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture for the same year, the value of all farm products was $4,203,193. The principal crop was wheat, the value of which was $2,897,283, and the corn crop was valued at $739,400. During the year 1910 live stock of the value of $244,159 was sold.
Basehor, a village of Leavenworth county, is a station on the Mis- souri Pacific R. R. about 10 miles south of Leavenworth city, and 2 miles from the Wyandotte county line. It has a bank, a money order postoffice with one rural route, express and telegraph offices, telephone connections, and is a trading and shipping point for that section of the county. The population in 1910 was 225.
Basil, one of the minor villages of Kingman county, is a station on the Hutchinson & Blackwell division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 12 miles south of Kingman, the county seat, with which it is connected by telephone. It is a trading and shipping point for that portion of the county and in 1910 had a population of 72.
Bassett, a small village of Allen county, is situated about 2 miles south of Iola, the county seat, with which place it is connected by elec- tric railway. In 1910 it reported a population of 40.
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Bassettville, a little village of Decatur county, is located on Sappa creek in the township of the same name, about 15 miles southwest of Oberlin, the county seat, from which place the people receive mail by rural free delivery.
Bateham, a little hamlet of Republican township, Clay county, is near the southern boundary, about 13 miles almost due south of Clay Center, the county seat. Wakefield is the nearest railroad station, from which the inhabitants of Bateham receive mail by rural free delivery.
Battle Flags .- The regimental and battle flags carried by Kansas troops in the various wars in which they have participated were turned over to the adjutant-general of the state when the regiments returned home. In 1866 the legislature made an appropriation of $150 for the painting of inscriptions on these flags, and many of them bear the names of the more important battles and skirmishes in which the com- mands were engaged. Many of these Civil war emblems were worn to ribbons, and to preserve them a resolution was adopted by the legis- lature of 1867, making an appropriation of $150 for a suitable case in which they were to be placed. The case was built, the flags crowded in, and for nearly forty years reposed in those cramped quarters. In 1905 public sentiment was aroused and the following act passed the legislature :
"Whereas, The battle-flags of the state of Kansas, some sixty in number, have been for forty years without proper care, subject to moth and dust, and inaccessible to the public; therefore, be in enacted by the legislature of the State of Kansas :
"Section I. That the sum of $1,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, to be expended upon proper vouchers by the executive council, in providing steel cases, with plate glass fronts and backs, as near air tight as practicable, in which to preserve and expose to the public the various regimental and other battle-flags car- ried by Kansas troops; and that the same be added to the museum of the State Historical Society.
"Section 2. The adjutant-general is hereby required to furnish a designation for each flag, giving number of regiment, names of battles, and location of service, and that each flag be so labeled.
"Section 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the statute book."
With the above appropriation a handsome steel case was provided in which the flags have since been on exhibition.
During the Civil war a number of Kansas regiments were presented with flags by patriotic women in the localities in which the regiments were raised, notably Company I, First Kansas, which received a flag from the ladies of the Leavenworth Turner's Society; the Second Kansas, which received a flag from the ladies of Junction City, and Com- pany M, Ninth Kansas, which was also presented with a stand of colors. At the beginning of the Spanish-American war (q. v.) the Woman's Relief Corps of Topeka, presented a stand of colors to each
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of the three Kansas regiments. The state also furnished blue silk ban- ners to these organizations. On the return of the Twentieth Kansas Col. Wilder S. Metcalf, in returning the flags to the state, said: "My regiment and myself are gratified for this enthusiastic welcome.
The stand of colors which I have here was furnished us on this spot eighteen months ago. We carried them to the Philippine Islands and took good care of them. They were placed on the firing line on Feb. 4, and remained there until we were ordered home. While the regi- ment was in the trenches they were stuck in the ground right with us. They have been torn by bullets and brambles, but what is left of them we desire to return to the state."
On behalf of the state Gov. W. E. Stanley said: "As the representa- tive of the state it affords me pleasure to receive these flags from the hands of the Twentieth Kansas. One is the old star spangled banner, the symbol of the nation's greatness. For more than a century it has inspired in the people the loftiest sentiments and across land and sea, from Bunker Hill to Caloocan, it has been the glorious emblem of liberty. The other, a torn and tattered battle flag, its scars and tatters, voiceless lips which tell of the devotion and valor of the Kansas sol- diers. A generation ago, the young men of other years came home as you are coming home, from struggle and victory, and they brought their battle flags and placed them in the archives of the state. They are now covered with the dust of a life's span, which in the light of the devotion of the men who carried them in battle has the gleam of gold. Today we will place the battle flag of the men who are putting life's harness on with the battle flags of the men who are putting life's harness off, and will keep them as the state's treasures, that in the years to come they will teach lessons of the highest patriotism. The whole state welcomes your return to civil life, the people will follow you with prayers and devotion."
Battleship Kansas .- Toward the close of the nineteenth century, when an agitation in favor of a larger and more powerful navy was started, the navy department adopted the custom of naming the new battle- ships after the states. One of the early vessels to be thus named was the ill-fated Maine, which was blown up in the harbor of Havana, the incident being one of the principal causes of the declaration of war against Spain in the spring of 1898.
The Fifty-seventh Congress made appropriations for the construc- tion of several new battleships, and on Jan. 20, 1903, the Kansas legis- lature passed a resolution requesting the members of Congress from the state to use their influence to have one of the new ships named the "Kansas." An order to that effect was issued, and work on the vessel was commenced at Camden, N. J., the following November. The keel was laid early in 1904, and on Aug. 12, 1905, Gov. Hoch, accom- panied by his staff and a number of prominent Kansans, visited Cam- den to be present at the ceremony of launching. On such occasions it is usually the custom to break a bottle of champagne or other wine
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against the prow of the vessel as it starts from the ways, but as Kan- sas was known to be a prohibition state, it was decided to dispense with the wine and use water instead. The day was warm and sultry and the governor's staff, in full uniform, suffered from the heat during several vexatious delays, but at 12:40 p. m. the great marine monster began slowly to move down the incline to her watery home. Miss Anna Hoch, the governor's daughter, who acted as sponsor, stood upon a platform with a bottle of water from the John Brown spring in Linn county, Kan., and at the signal she smashed the bottle against the ship's prow, repeating the customary formula, "I christen thee Kansas"; but her voice was lost in the cheering that greeted the great ship as it glided down the ways.
BATTLESHIP KANSAS.
The Kansas is 450 feet long at the load water line, the greatest breadth is 76 feet 10 inches, and the mean draught is 24 feet 6 inches. Her displacement is 16,000 tons, and her engines have a total horse power of 19,545, giving her a speed of 18 knots an hour. The coal bunkers have a capacity of 2,200 tons, though 900 tons constitute the normal supply. Altogether she carries 3,992 tons of armor, the sides being protected by plates 9 inches in thickness, the turrets by 12-inch armor, and the barbette by Io-inch. Her main battery consists of 24 guns, four of which are of 12-inch caliber; eight are 8-inch, and twelve are 7-inch, all breech-loading rifles. The secondary battery includes twenty 3-inch rapid fire guns; twelve 3-pounder semi-automatic; two I-pounder automatic; two 3-inch field guns, and two 30-caliber au- tomatic. When manned by a full complement her force would con- sist of 41 officers and 815 men. The total cost of the Kansas was $7,- 565,620, being exceeded in this respect at the time of her completion only by the Connecticut, which cost $7,911,175.
Two gifts were made by the State of Kansas to the battleship bear- ing her name. The Daughters of the American Revolution gave a fine
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stand of colors, and the legislature of 1905 appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of a silver service, of special design. Competitive bids and designs were submitted, the contract being finally awarded to Edward Vail of Wichita, Kan. The silver service consisted of 35 pieces, bear- ing appropriate designs of Kansas scenes and sunflowers. It was pre- sented to the ship at the League Island navy yard, Philadelphia, Pa., June 17, 1907, by Gov. Hoch, whose speech of presentation was re- sponded to by Capt. Charles E. Vreeland, commander of the vessel, who claimed the State of Kansas as his home. After the presentation the huge silver punch bowl was filled with lemonade for the refresh- ment of the assembled guests.
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