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 23
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As in all schools for the education of the blind, the fundamental idea has been to make the pupils self-supporting and, as far as their infirmity will permit, useful citizens. In the selection of teachers the only con- sideration with the board of control is fitness for the position. Conse- quently the staff of instructors is composed of persons whose capabilities are equal to those found in the best blind schools in the country. The pupils are given the best of care and medical attention, and since the school was opened about 700 pupils have been enrolled. The regular school course is divided into eight grades and a four-years' high school course, the whole corresponding to the course of study in the public schools of the state. Text-books in raised type, so they may be read by touch, are furnished by the United States government, and there is a well selected library to which new books are added annually. On the backs of these books the titles are printed in what is known as "New York point," so that the pupils may be able to find any book without assistance.
In addition to the regular literary course, the boys are taught piano tuning, broom making, hammock weaving, etc., and the girls are taught hand and machine sewing, crocheting, basket work, darning and patch- ing-all occupations which fit them to become self-sustaining to a large degree. Music is also taught, and all the pupils belong to either the junior or senior chorus. One of the interesting features of the school is the "fire drill," and it is surprising to see how quickly these sightless children can vacate a building, without confusion, when the gong is sounded.
In 1910 the property of the school was valued at $156,000 and there were then 94 pupils in attendance. The superintendents of the school since its organization have been as follows: W. H. Sawyer, 1867-69; W. W. Updegraff, 1869-71 ; John D. Parker, 1871-74; George H. Miller, 1874-89; Allen Buckner, 1889-91; Lapier Williams, 1891-93; W. G. Todd, 1893-95; George H. Miller, 1895-97; W. H. Toothaker, 1897-99; Lapier Williams, 1899-1906; W. B. Hall, 1906 --.
Blizzards .- The Encyclopedia Americana defines a blizzard as a pe- culiarly fierce and cold wind, accompanied by a very fine, blinding snow which suffocates as well as freezes men and animals exposed to it. The origin of the word is dubious. It came into general use in American newspapers during the bitterly cold winter of 1880-81, although some papers claim its use as early as the '70s. Such a storm comes up and takes the traveler without premonition. The sky becomes darkened and the snow is driven by a terrible wind which comes with a deafening roar.
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Before the days of fences or well beaten roads the blizzard often swept across the prairies of the great west. Travelers starting from home, with a clear sky overhead, were occasionally overtaken by these storms. In a sparsely settled country, with no fenced farms or other means of finding one's way, all landmarks were soon obliterated by a storm of this kind, and it is a wonder that more people were not lost. Cattle with no means of protection were frequently found frozen stand- ing in their tracks in the great drifts, and would be left standing as the snow melted in the spring.
Another writer has said: "A blizzard is defined as a fierce storm of bitter, frosty wind, with fine, blistering snow." No definition, however, save that of actual experience can portray its terrible reality. Fre- quently the temperature will drop from 74° above zero to 20° below zero in 24 hours, and during this time the wind will blow a gale, ap- parently from the four points of the compass. The air will be so filled with the fine, blistering snow and sand that one cannot see ten feet in advance. Turn either way and it is always in front. The air is full of subdued noises, like the wail of lost spirits; so all-absorbing in its intensity is this wailing, moaning, continuous noise, that one's voice cannot be heard two yards away. The early pioneers were of necessity nomadic, and were in no way prepared for these sudden changes and hundreds have lost their lives in blizzards when the temperature was not zero, it being a physical impossibility to breathe, the air being so full of fine, blistering snow and sand.
While there was more or less loss of life during the early settlement of Kansas from these causes, the blizzard of Dec., 1885, and Jan., 1886, was probably the most destructive to life and property of any storm that ever swept over the state. This storm was general from the mountains to the Missouri river. It started in the latter part of Dec., 1885, and an unbroken blanket of snow extended from Williams, N. Mex., to Kansas City. Railroad traffic on the plains was practically suspended. The weather moderating, railroad traffic was resumed, when another storm, more serious than the first, again tied up traffic, this time completely. Temperature during the month of January ranged from 12º below zero at Atchison to 25° below at Junction City, and 18° below at Dodge City. A 44-mile wind a part of the time helped make things lively at the last named place. All over the southwestern part of the state the precipita- tion was chiefly sleet, which left the ground covered with ice. A big cut on the Union Pacific near Salina was completely covered with snow, and it required the combined efforts of all section men on the road be- tween Lawrence and Brookville for nearly 16 hours with picks and shovels to open it for traffic. This cut was about 20 feet deep and a quarter of a mile long, and eleven locomotives were employed in "buck- ing" the snow, but they all became stalled and had to be dug out. Many points on the railroads were a week without mail from the outside world, and cattle losses from some sections were reported from three to twenty-five per cent.
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At Dodge City seven trains were snow-bound at one time-one being an excursion train bound for California. Dodge City people exerted themselves in entertaining the sojourners, who went away with the opinion that Dodge City was a much misrepresented town. Many cat- tle perished along the Arkansas river near this place, some while stand- ing against the snow fences and others while trying to cross the river.
Losses of life during this blizzard were reported from Clark, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford and Wallace counties, together with a few casualities from the southwestern part of the state. This loss of life is accounted for to some extent by the fact that thousands of claim holders settled in western Kansas in 1885, with few exceptions having barely enough to commence the work of developing a homestead. Their houses as a rule were mere shells and proved inadequate for the rigorous winter. The plains country now is changed. Farms and good farm houses, fences and well-traveled roads are everywhere, and casualties from similar causes as obtained in 1885-86 have been rare during the past twenty-five years.
Block, a hamlet of Miami county, is located about 8 miles southeast of Paola, the county seat, from which place the people receive mail by rural free delivery. Paola is the most convenient railroad station.
Bloomington, a village of Osborne county, is a station on the division of the Missouri Pacific R. R. that runs from Downs to Stockton, 5 miles west of Osborne, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with one rural route, telephone connections, a hotel, some general stores, telegraph and express offices, and does some shipping. The population in 1910 was 88.
Bloomington Guards .- An old map of Kansas shows the town of Bloomington about 7 or 8 miles up the Wakarusa river from Lawrence. Among the early settlers in that neighborhood was Samuel Walker, who, with others, arrived in April, 1855. In his "annals" Mr. Walker tells how, about six weeks after the settlers had made a beginning, he was working on his cabin one day, when some 150 border ruffians under the leadership of Samuel J. Jones, afterward sheriff of Douglas county, rode into the settlement and gave Walker two weeks to leave the ter- ritory. Mr. Walker then tells the story of the Bloomington Guards, as follows :
"As soon as the Missourians were out of sight, I dropped my ax and started around the settlement to let my friends know what was up. I traveled all night afoot, and the next day 86 men met at my cabin. We organized ourselves into a military company, calling it the 'Bloomington Guards,' and choosing for it the following officers: Captain, Mr. Read ; first lieutenant, Mr. Vermilya ; second lieutenant, Dr. Miller ; and myself first sergeant. This was the first company organized in Kansas."
For a time Judge Wakefield acted as drill master. As the company was without arms, a levy was made and Capt. Read went to Massa- chusetts for a supply of Sharp's rifles. He never returned to Kansas, but in Dec., 1855, he sent to Walker 80 Sharp's rifles, the arms arriving
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just in time for the company to march to Lawrence when that place was threatened by an invasion of the pro-slavery forces. (See Border War.)
Blowing Wells .- (See Artesian Wells.)
Blue Hill, an inland postoffice of Mitchell county, is located on Salt creek in Hayes township, 16 miles southwest of Beloit, the county seat, and about 12 miles south of Glen Elder, the nearest shipping point. The population in 1910 was 15.
Blue Lodges .- Soon after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, a secret organization was formed in the South to assist in promoting the interests of the slave power. The society was known by different names, such as the "Friends Society," the "Social Band," the "Sons of the South," etc., but by whatever name it might be known the object was always the same. Each member took a solemn obligation, after which he was given the signs, grips and passwords of the order. Severe penalties were provided for any violation of the oath, or for divulging the secrets of the organization, and it is known that. in a few instances these penalties were executed upon offending members. Holcombe's History of Vernon County, Missouri, says: "The order was a branch of or auxiliary to the famous Knights of the Golden Circle, the common object being the same-the extension of slavery. The order of the Golden Circle was composed of slaveowners, and was designed to effect the acquisition of Cuba, Northern Mexico and Central America, and the establishment of slavery in the territories. The 'Social Band' was made up of pro-slavery men, with and without slaves, and was meant to be a valuable active force in the extension of slavery into Kansas and Ne- braska primarily."
Phillips' Conquest of Kansas (p. 45) says: "The Blue Lodge em- braced great numbers of the citizens of Missouri, and was extended into other slave states and into the territory (Kansas). Its plan of operating was to organize and send men to vote at the elections in the territory, to collect money to pay their expenses, and, if necessary, to protect them in voting. It also proposed to induce pro-slavery men to emi- grate into the territory, to aid and sustain them while there, and to elect none to office but those friendly to their views."
George Park, editor of the Parkville Luminary, whose newspaper office was destroyed by a mob, presumably composed of members of the Blue Lodge, in a letter to the St. Louis Democrat in May, 1855, said : "Stringfellow and Atchison have organized a secret association, the members of which are sworn to turn out and fight when called upon to do so, and which is to be governed by the following rules: All belong- ing to it are to share in the damages accruing to any member when pre- scribed, even at the price of disunion. All are to act secretly to destroy the business and character of Northern men; and all dissenting from their doctrines are to be expelled from the territory."
From these extracts the aims and objects of the society may be learned, as well as the methods to be employed in attaining them.
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Among the leaders were David R. Atchison, the two Stringfellows, and Alexander McDonald, afterward a Republican United States senator from Arkansas during the reconstruction period. All the leaders of the organization were desperate men, willing to accept any hazard, and it was under the auspices of this society that a number of the forays into Kansas were planned and executed. But the free-state sentiment was too strong for even an oath-bound society to combat, and the Blue Lodge succumbed to the inevitable.
Blue Mound, an incorporated city of Linn county, is situated in the southwest corner at the junction of two branches of the Missouri Pa- cific R. R. 13 miles southwest of Mound City, the county seat. A post- office was opened a half mile north of the present town in 1854, with John Quincy Adams as postmaster. It was moved several times, but was finally located in the village of Blue Mound on June 1, 1882. The elevation known as Blue Mound was named by a Mr. Adams, who was the first settler, because from a distance it looks blue, and thus the town name followed.
The Blue Mound Town company was organized in April, 1882, and the townsite was surveyed the same month. In May the first building was moved to the town from about 3 miles southeast, and was used by Alley Bros. as a store. The second was moved to Blue Mound from Wall Street, by Innes Bros. and used as a hotel, until the new one was finished for them in June. Religious services were held during the sum- mer by a minister of the United Brethren church named Hinton, and school was opened in October. The growth of the town was phenome- nally rapid, for within six months there was a population of 200, with three general stores, a harware store, furniture store, blacksmith shop, drug store, harness shop and lumber yard. With the building of the second railroad into the town it became a railroad center, and when the coal beds of southeastern Kansas were opened it came into promi- nence as a shipping point for coal and the manufactured mineral prod- ucts of that section. Blue Mound is the banking and supply point for a rich and extensive agricultural district. It has telegraph and express offices and is one of the leading cities of the eastern counties. In 1910 the population was 596.
Blue Rapids, one of the principal towns of Marshall county, is located 12 miles south of Marysville, the county seat, a short distance below the junction of the Big and Little Blue rivers. It is second in size among the towns of the county and is an important manufacturing point on account of the excellent water power obtainable. It has a glove and mitten factory, cigar factory, electric plaster mills, banks, hotels and city waterworks. The Union Pacific R. R. running north and south and the Missouri Pacific east and west form good shipping facilities. According to the census of 1910 Blue Rapids had 1,756 inhabitants.
The first attempt to establish a town on the site of Blue Rapids was in 1857, when a town was laid out by James Waller, who lived on Elm creek, Henry Poor and M. L. Duncan. Walter died, Poor shot and
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killed an officer of the army, then encamped at Marysville and was obliged to leave the country. The town was abandoned by Duncan and no other attempt was made to utilize the water power until 1870 when a colony from Genesee county, N. Y., came in. A location com- mittee consisting of Rev. C. F. Mussey, H. J. Bovee and J. B. Brown came in advance and located the site for the proposed town. About fifty families followed, among them were, S. H. Parmalee, T. Holbrook, R. Robertson, M. T. Coe, D. Fairbanks, S. Smith, J. T. Smith, H. S. Hurlbert, J. B. Waynant, C. J. Brown, G. R. Brown, T. F. Hall, J. B. Brown, C. E. Olmstead, J. L. Freeland, J. V. Coon, R. S. Craft, John McPherson, J. E. Ball, Y. Douglas, H. A. Parmalee, J. Yurann, V. R. North, H. Woodward, E. L. Stone, J. S. Fisher, C. F. Roedel and C. F. Mussey.
They bought from R. S. Craft and others a town site of 287 acres, embracing the water power privileges, for $15,000, and secured 8,000 acres of farming lands. . Among the improvements made the next year was a dam of stone, at the point where the rapids begins, and a wrought iron bridge. The first business enterprises were, two general stores opened by H. A. Parmalee and Yates Douglas and a drug store by A. W. Stevens. W. H. Goodwin was the first lawyer and Dr. R. A. Wells the first physician. The manufacture of brick was begun in 1872 by Mr. Seip.
Blue Rapids was incorporated as a city of the third class on March 20, 1872. The first election was held in the town house, which was called "Colonial Hall," in April. C. E. Olmstead was the first mayor.
Blue Rapids is one of the beauty spots of the state. It is laid out on a gentle slope running down to the river, which is a beautiful sheet of water. The current of the river strikes an abrupt rock about 40 feet high on the right bank and turning to the left ripples over a solid rock bottom, forming the rapids. It is in the midst of a rich farming district.
Blue, Richard Whiting, jurist and a member of Congress, was born in Wood county, Va., Sept. 8, 1841, and was raised on a mountain farm near the present city of Grafton. During the summer he worked on the farm and in the winter attended such private schools as the locality afforded, for Virginia had no free common schools in that period. In 1859 he entered Monongalia Academy at Morgantown, Va., then under the supervision of Rev. J. R. Moore. He remained at this institution several years, first as pupil and later as teacher. Subsequently he en- tered Washington College, Pa., and remained there until he enlisted in the Third West Virginia infantry, at the opening of the Civil war. Mr. Blue was wounded in the battle of Rocky Gap, in southwestern Vir- ginia, and promoted to second lieutenant, for gallantry in action. Within a short time he was commissioned captain. In one of the engagements he was captured and held as a prisoner of war at Libby prison and also at Danville, Va. The regiment was mounted and after the Salem raid was changed, by order of the secretary of war, to the Sixth West Vir- gina cavalry. Its final service was in a campaign on the plains against
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the Indians at the close of the war. The regiment was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, so that Mr. Blue was in Kansas during the early '6os. After his discharge from the army he returned to Virginia, taught school, read law and was admitted to the bar of that state in 1870. In 1871 he came to Kansas to locate permanently, and settled in Linn county, but in 1898 he removed to Labette county, and finally located in Cherokee county. Mr. Blue took rank among the prominent law- yers of Kansas; was twice chosen probate judge of his county; twice elected county attorney, and twice chosen state senator. In 1894 he was elected Congressman-at-large from Kansas; was renominated by acclamation in 1896, but was defeated by the wave of Populism that swept over the country that year. After leaving Congress Mr. Blue resumed his law practice, in which he was actively engaged until his death on Jan. 27, 1907, at Bartles, Kan.
Bluemont College .- (See Agricultural College.)
Bluff City, an incorporated city of the third class in Harper county, is located on Bluff creek and is a station on the Kansas Southwestern R. R. 14 miles southeast of Anthony, the county seat. Bluff City has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the News), a money order postoffice with one rural route, express and telegraph offices, a telephone exchange, good public schools, churches of some of the principal denominations, some well stocked general stores, and is the principal shipping point between Anthony and Caldwell. The population was 307 in 1910.
Blunt, James G., soldier, was born in Hancock county, Me., July 21, 1826, and passed his life until the fourteenth year upon his father's farm. His restless disposition then led him to run away from home, and for four years he followed the vocation of sailor upon the high seas, visiting ports in many parts of the world. In 1845 he gave up the sea to take up the study of medicine and on Feb. 20, 1849, he was graduated at the Sterling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio. The following January he located at New Madison, Ohio, where he practiced his pro- fession until late in 1856, when he removed to Kansas and settled in Anderson county. He quickly became an ardent free-state man and when the Civil war broke out in 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Third Kansas regiment, subsequently being promoted to lieutenant- colonel. He served under Gen. Lane at the battle of Dry Wood and then commanded a force that penetrated far into the Indian country and broke up the band of the notorious Mathews, killing the leader. In April, 1862, he was commissioned a brigadier-general and placed in com- mand of the Department of Kansas. At once he began active opera- tions in Missouri and Arkansas, distinguishing himself for bravery and military skill in the battles of Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, Boston Moun- tains, Fort Van Buren, Honey Springs and Newtonia. After the war he settled in Leavenworth and engaged in business, spending a large part of his time in Washington, D. C. About 1878 symptoms of soften- ing of the brain appeared and he was taken to an insane asylum in Washington, where he died on Aug. 3, 1881. Gen. Blunt was not a bril-
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liant man, but he won and retained the confidence of the men under his command and rendered Kansas important service as a soldier. His death was sincerely mourned by his surviving comrades.
Board of Control .- On March 4, 1905, Gov. Hoch approved an act "to provide for the management and control of the industrial school for girls, the Kansas school for feeble-minded youth, the Osawatomie state hospital, the Parsons state hospital, the Topeka state hospital, the state industrial school for boys, the school for the blind, the school for the deaf, the soldiers' orphans' home, and such other state charitable in- stitutions as now exist or which may hereafter be created," etc.
The act provided for a board of control of three members, to be ap- pointed by the governor within thirty days after its passage. Each member was to receive an annual salary of $2,500 and actual traveling expenses while in the performance of his duty, and was required to give bond for ten times that amount. The first members were appointed for two, four and six years, respectively, after which the tenure of office was to be four years. Pursuant to the act Gov. Hoch, within the specified time, appointed as the first board E. B. Schermerhorn, Sherman G. Elliott and Harry C. Bowman. The board organized by electing Mr. Schermerhorn as chairman; Mr. Elliott as treasurer, and Mr. Bowman as attorney, and on July 1, 1905, succeeded the old state board of Chari- ties and Corrections (q. v.) in the management of the state's charitable institutions.
By thus placing all the charitable and benevolent institutions of the state under the control of one board of only three members, Kansas has centralized the responsibility of their management, and gains not only in the cost of maintenance, but also in uniform and impartial treat- ment of the institutions. As a further step toward securing impartiality the act creating the board provided that no citizen of a county in which any one of the institutions might be located should be eligible for mem- bership thereon. One of the important duties of the board is to recom- mend in its biennial reports such legislation as in the judgment of the members is necessary for the interests of the several institutions, and as these are all under one management there is little likelihood of favoritism being shown, because the board is equally responsible for the welfare of all. Since the adoption of this plan the old "log-rolling" meth- ods of securing appropriations has been practically abolished, and the support of the institutions has been placed upon a business basis. Dur- ing the five years the board has been in existence the plan has apparently accomplished all that was claimed for it by the advocates of the act creat- ing it, and the institutions of Kansas are as well conducted as those of any of her sister states.
Board of Pardons .- (See Pardons.)
Bodarc, a little hamlet of Butler county, is located on Walnut creek. about 6 miles southeast of Augusta, which is the most convenient rail- road station. Mail is supplied to the inhabitants from Douglas by rural free delivery.
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Bodaville, a rural hamlet in Riley county, is near the northern line, about 35 miles from Manhattan, the county seat, and about 12 miles from Barnes, Washington county, from which place it receives mail. Lasita, on the Rock Island R. R. 10 miles south is the nearest railway station. The population in 1910 was 50.
Bogue, formerly called Fagan, a village of Graham county, is a sta- tion on the Union Pacific R. R. 8 miles east of Hill City and not far from the south fork of the Solomon river. It has a money order postoffice with two rural routes, express and telegraph offices, telephone connec- tion, a hotel, some good general stores, a public school, and in 1910 re- ported a population of 150.
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