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 30
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It was bounded on the north by Lane county, east by Ness and Hodgeman, south by Foote and west by Sequoyah and Scott counties. In 1881 the northern tier of townships was taken from Buffalo and added to Lane, the remainder being made a part of a new county called Gray, and later was taken to form Finney county.
Buffalo Grass .- (Buchloë dactyloides Engelm), a species of low, fine-leafed creeping perennial, rarely growing more than 4 to 6 inches high, was once very plentiful on the western plains. It grew on the dry prairies and river bottoms from South Dakota to Texas, attained its growth early and cured long before frost time, preserving all its
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nutriment and forming the principal forage of the buffaloes during winter. It seemed to thrive best where most trampled. As the plains country settled up, and tame grasses have been introduced the buffalo grass has gradually disappeared, the newer varieties crowding it out. (See Short Grass Country.)
Buford Expedition .- Immediately after the passage of the Kansas Nebraska bill in 1854, which provided that the people of Kansas might form a constitution establishing or prohibiting slavery, as they saw fit, a struggle was at once commenced between the slave. power and the free-soilers for possession of the new territory. (See Slavery.) The adjoining slave state of Missouri took up the fight at once, and by send- ing voters into the territory succeeded in electing the members of the first legislature. But by the latter part of 1855 it became evident that Missouri alone could not force slavery into Kansas, and an appeal was sent to the other slave states for help. This appeal contained the fol- lowing statement: "The great struggle will come off at the next elec- tion in Oct., 1856, and unless at that time the South can maintain her ground all will be lost. The time has come for action-bold, determined action. Words will no longer do any good; we must have men in Kansas and that by the tens of thousands. A few will not answer."
The people of the South generally conceded that Kansas would be admitted as a free state, yet there were some who were willing to make sacrifices to continue the fight. Among these was Jefferson Buford, a lawyer of Eufaula, Ala., who had won the rank of major in the Indian war of 1836. On Nov. 11, 1855, he issued a call for emigrants to be ready by Feb. 20, 1856. To every one who would agree to go to Kansas he guaranteed free transportation, means of support for one year, and a homestead of 40 acres of first rate land. He pledged $20,000 of his own money and asked for contributions, agreeing to put one bona fide settler in Kansas for every $50 thus donated. On Jan. 7, 1856, Buford sold 40 of his slaves for $28,000 and put most of the proceeds into the enterprise. He then made a canvass of the principal towns of the state, asking and receiving donations. In this work he was aided by some of the pro-slavery leaders.
His arrangements were completed by April 4, and on that date 400 men assembled at Montgomery, ready for the start. Of these men 100 were from South Carolina, 50 were from Georgia, I was from Illinois, I from Massachusetts, and the rest were Alabamians. On the 5th they embarked on the steamboat Messenger, bound for St. Louis via Mobile. As they marched to the landing they carried two banners, one of which bore the legend: "The Supremacy of the White Race," and on the reverse the words, "Kansas the Outpost." On the other banner was in- scribed : "Alabama for Kansas-North of 36° 30'," and on the reverse, "Bibles-not Rifles." The last was inspired by the fact that on the day before their departure from Montgomery a religious congregation had presented every man with a Bible.
The expedition arrived in Kansas on May 2, and the men immediately
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began looking for suitable land upon which to locate. But just at that juncture the governor called on the citizens to turn out "in sufficient force to execute the laws." Buford collected his men, some at Lecomp- ton, some at Lawrence, and they were enrolled and armed as part of the territorial militia. About II a. m. on the 21st they joined the pro- slavery forces near Lawrence, but after the destruction of that town Col. Buford "disclaimed having come to Kansas to destroy property, and condemned the course which had been taken."
In June Buford went South and to Washington, D. C., to solicit aid. At Washington, he succeeded in securing the cooperation of the lead- ing pro-slavery men in Congress. Upon his return to Kansas, late in the year 1856, he found that Gov. Geary had disbanded the militia ; some of his men had returned to their homes in the South; some had en- listed in the United States troops in Kansas; others had joined the opposition and became free-state partisans, and a few had become peace- able settlers. Broken in spirit, Buford went back to Alabama, having suffered a net loss of over $10,000 by his undertaking. He died at Clayton, Ala., Aug. 28, 1861, of heart disease.
Buhler, a town in Little River township, Reno county, is located on the Little Arkansas river at the point where it is crossed by the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R., about 12 miles northeast of Hutchinson, the county seat. It has a bank, a money order postoffice with two rural routes, two grain elevators, hotel, creamery, telegraph, telephone and express service, some good mercantile houses, schools, churches, etc., and in 1910 reported a population of 275.
Bunch, a rural hamlet of Butler county, is located about 18 miles nearly due south of Eldorado, the county seat, and 8 miles northwest of Wingate, which is the nearest railroad station. Mail is delivered from Atlanta.
Bunkerhill, an incorporated city of the third class in Russell county, is located in Center township, and is a station on the Union Pacific R. R. 9 miles east of Russell, the county seat. It has a bank, a money order postoffice with three rural routes, telegraph and express offices, tele- phone connections, a graded public school, an opera house, hotel, grain elevator, machine shop, a cornet band, Protestant churches, and in 1910 reported a population of 242.
Burden, an incorporated city of the third class in Cowley county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. in Silver Creek town- ship 17 miles northeast of Winfield, the county seat. Burden has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the Times), a flour mill, an international money order postoffice with three rural routes, telegraph, telephone and ex- press service, a large retail trade, Baptist, Methodist and Christian churches, good public schools, and is the principal shipping point for a rich agricultural district. The population in 1910 was 424.
Burdett, a town in Browns Grove township, Pawnee county, is a sta- tion on the division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. that runs from Larned to Jetmore 24 miles west of Larned. It has a bank,
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a money order postoffice with one rural route, telegraph and express offices, a grain elevator, hotel, some good mercantile houses, and is the chief shipping and supply point in the western part of the county. The population in 1910 was 300.
Burdick, a town of Diamond Valley township, Morris county, is a station on the Strong City & Superior division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 23 miles from Strong City and about 20 miles south- west of Council Grove, the county seat. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, telegraph and express offices, telephone connections, Protes- tant churches, a good retail trade, important shipping interests, and in 1910 reported a population of 225.
Bureau of Labor Statistics .- Early in the '8os, the people of Kansas began to feel the need of legislation to determine questions regarding the rights of labor. As the result of this agitation, the legislature of 1885 passed an act creating a "bureau of labor and industrial statistics." By this act the governor was authorized to appoint a commissioner to be known as the "Commissioner of Labor Statistics," for a term of two years, whose salary was fixed at $1,000. The commissioner was given power to "take and preserve testimony, examine witnesses under oath," to enter any public institution in the state, any factory, workshop or mine, in the discharge of his duties, and require persons, companies or officers of corporations to furnish answers to his interrogatories when investigating any subject.
On May 1, 1885, the governor appointed Frank H. Betton of Wyan- dotte the first commissioner of labor statistics. Kansas is one of the pioneer states in the organization of such a department, for although the value of authentic and accurate information in regard to the work- ing classes was recognized, the first action in this regard was not taken until 1869, when the state of Massachusetts organized the first state labor bureau.
In his report, transmitted to the governor on Jan. 1. 1886, the labor commissioner reported upon conciliation and arbitration, labor organi- zations in Kansas, views of the workingmen, convict labor, the mining industries of the state; reviewed the growth of manufacturing industries in the state, furnished a wage table and reported upon the railroads within the boundaries of Kansas.
In 1886, in order to procure accurate results, the commissioner inaugurated a system of monthly blanks, distributed them among the labor organizations, with a request that they be distributed among the various members, and requested that the questions be answered and the blanks returned to the commissioner's office. Statistics were also gath- ered from ninety per cent. of the manufacturing and kindred industries, which show that the average number of employees in Kansas in 1886. was 13,988.
In 1887 a bill was passed by the legislature to encourage cooperative societies, and another "to secure the laborers in and about coal mines and manufactories the payment of their wages at regular intervals, and
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in lawful money of the United States." This last act was due to the efforts of mining companies and some other corporations in various parts of the country to pay their employees in scrip good for trade at the companies' stores.
In 1898 a law was passed "to create a state society of labor and in- dustry," which provided that whenever seven or more laborers, me- chanics or wage earners of any kind, "now organized or (who) shall hereafter organize in any county, city or muncipality in the State of Kansas," for the purpose of collecting and studying statistics of labor and industry or for "the investigation of economic and commercial or industrial pursuits," the organization was to be allowed one delegate for the first 50 members or fraction thereof and one delegate for each ad- ditional 100 or majority fraction thereof, to represent it at the annual meeting of the state society of labor and industry, which was fixed by law for the first Monday in Feb., 1899, and each year thereafter on the same date. These annual meetings are held at the state capitol at To- peka. By the act of creation, the delegates from the different societies in the state were authorized to elect a president, vice-president, secre- tary and assistant secretary, "which officials shall constitute a state bureau of labor and industry and said secretary shall be ex officio com- missioner of the bureau of labor and industry and state factory inspec- tor, and said assistant secretary shall be ex officio assistant commissioner of said bureau." The duties of the commissioner remained practically the same as they were under the bureau of labor statistics, but he was instructed to pay particular attention to industrial pursuits, strikes and other labor difficulties, also to cooperation and trade-unions.
During a little more than a quarter of a century since the Kansas bureau of labor statistics was created, legislative enactments have wid- ened the scope of the bureau and had for their purpose the improvement of the industrial conditions and the protection of the interests of the laboring classes.
This has necessitated an increase in the personnel of the bureau, which in 1910, consisted of the following members: A commissioner and factory inspector, an assistant commissioner and assistant factory in- spector, two deputy factory inspectors, a chief clerk, a statistical clerk, and a stenographer.
At each session of the legislature, labor has received increased recog- nition, until today there are more than forty labor laws, most of which were enacted as a result of suggestions from the bureau. Two of the most important of these laws are the child labor law and the law pro- viding for the report of all accidents due to defects and faults in the operations of machinery, or other industrial equipment. By the fire inspection law, the commissioner of labor is ex officio state superin- tendent of inspection, and thus brings under the scope of factory in- spection, the work of inspecting fire escapes and means of egress in buildings of three stories or more in height.
During the year 1910 the inspector and his assistants inspected 1,553
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manufacturing establishments representing 26 different branches of industry and employing 54,948 laborers. The bureau has gathered statistics from 458 labor organizations, located in 74 cities of Kansas, and as a result of the investigation of labor difficulties, strikes and acci- dents, has been able to suggest legislation upon these subjects, which is one of its most important functions.
The enforcement of the labor laws of Kansas rests with the labor bureau. Prosecutions with regard to the infringement of the child labor laws have been made in over thirty cases. The enforcement of the eight-hour law by the bureau has been accompanied by great success, which has led to a better recognition of the law. Commissioner John- son, in his report of the current work of the bureau of labor, at the twelfth meeting of the State Society of Labor and Industry, said that the following resolution was adopted at the third annual convention of the state federation, "On the question of cooperation with the State Society of Labor and Industry, we desire to say that we consider this one of the most vital questions that will come before this convention. We wish to point out the fact that in the state of Kansas the trade- unions control absolutely the state bureau of labor. They elect in con- vention assembled the labor commissioner and his assistants, a privi- lege not given to organized labor in any other state in the Union. This plan of allowing the labor-unions to elect the officials of the bureau makes it possible to place union men as factory inspec- tors, statistical clerks, etc., and in fact, in the State of Kansas every em- ployee of the labor bureau is a union man."
Burlingame, formerly the judicial seat of Osage county, is located northwest of the central part of the county, 16 miles from Lyndon and 26 miles south of Topeka, and is one of the important towns in that section of the state. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. from To- peka diverges at this point, one branch going to Emporia and the other to Alma. Potter's clay and coal are found in the vicinity and these, with live stock, grain and produce, form the chief shipments. There are three weekly papers, ample banking facilities, planing mill, electric lighting plant, churches, graded and high schools, an opera house and public halls. All the leading fraternities are represented. The town is well supplied with express and telegraph facilities and has an inter- national money order postoffice with six rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,422.
Burlingame is the oldest town in Osage county having been built up from the nucleus started under the name of Council City in 1855. In 1857 the site was surveyed which took in a larger area and the name was changed to Burlingame in honor of Anson Burlingame afterward minister to China. The name of the postoffice was not changed until Jan. 30, 1858, and later in the year the town company was organized. Being at the crossing of Switzler creek, Burlingame was the most im- portant stop on the Santa Fe trail with the exception of Council Grove. The trail formed the principal street of the town. Improvement was.
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rapid from 1857 until the breaking out of the war. A bridge was put across the Switzler, saw mills and grist mills were built, and durable buildings, some of them of stone, were put up. In 1860 it was incor- porated as a city by act of the legislature and became a city of the third class in 1870. Three years afterward the city hall with the records were burned. The first officers elected were: Mayor, Phillip C. Schuyler; councilmen, S. R. Caniff, George Bratton, E. P. Sheldon and Joseph McDonald. The next year the county seat was located here, and re- mained until 1875 when it was taken to Lyndon.
During the war growth was suspended. A large round fort was built in 1862 and a number of armed men stationed within to protect the town from destruction threatened by Bill Anderson, one of Quantrill's guerrilla band. As soon as peace was restored again business activity was renewed. A large three-story grist mill was built in 1866. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. reached Burlingame in 1869, and the event was duly celebrated by an excursion from Topeka on Oct. 4. Two destructive fires have occurred, one in 1873 and the other in 1883 the latter causing a property loss of $10,000.
Burlingame, Anson, lawyer and diplomat, was born at New Berlin, N. Y., Nov. 14, 1820, and was a direct descendant of a family which set- tled at Warwick, R. I., at a very early day. He was educated in the common schools and the University of Michigan, where he graduated in 1841. In 1846 he received his degree from the law department of Har- vard University and formed a partnership with Henry S. Briggs for the practice of law in Boston. In 1854 he joined the newly formed American party and was elected to Congress on that ticket. He assisted at the birth of the Republican party and openly opposed slavery in the speeches he made in Congress, of which body he was a member in 1856. He was reelected in 1858, but failed of reelection in 1860. In Sept., 1859, he visited Kansas and received many honors from the prominent men of the territory during his visit. President Lincoln appointed Mr. Burlingame minister to Austria in 1861, and upon his return to the United States William H. Seward persuaded him to remain in the diplo- matic service. He therefore, went to China on a mission for the United States government. He was appointed special envoy to the United States by the Chinese government and led the official party that ratified a treaty on July 28, 1868, which is known by his name. Mr. Burlingame died at St. Petersburg, Russia, Feb. 23, 1870.
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Burlingame, Ward, journalist and for many years chief clerk of the dead letter division of the United States postoffice department, was born at Gloversville, N. Y., Feb. 6, 1836. He received his education in the public schools of his native town and later attended the academy at Kingsboro, N. Y. Early in 1858 he located at Leavenworth, Kan. Mr. Burlingame's first newspaper experience was on a daily paper called the Ledger, edited by George W. McLane. Later he assisted at the birth of the Leavenworth Daily Herald, which was established in connection with the weekly edition, and while on this paper he occupied nearly all
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the places offered by such a printing establishment, from distributing the papers among the local subscribers, to writing editorials. Subsequently he worked on the Times and Evening Bulletin. After the election of 1862 Gov. Carney invited him to become his private secretary and he went to Topeka. In Jan., 1866, Mr. Burlingame went to Washington, D. C., as confidential secretary to James H. Lane, then United States senator from Kansas, and remained with him during the spring of that year. On his return to Kansas he was given editorial charge of the Leavenworth Conservative, owned at that time by M. H. Insley. Dur- ing Gov. Crawford's second term Mr. Burlingame served as his private secretary, and he continued to hold the same position during the first administration of Gov. Harvey and until February of the second term, when he resigned to accept the position of private secretary to Alexan- der Caldwell, who had been elected United States senator. He was also private secretary to Gov. Osborn during his second term, at the expiration of which he became Senator Plumb's private secretary, and also acted as Washington correspondent for the Atchison Champion. Mr. Burlingame's newspaper service in Kansas ended with his editor- ship of the Topeka Commonwealth, of which he was one of the founders. On Feb. 1, 1880, he was appointed to a clerical position in the dead letter division of the postoffice department, and was promoted to that of chief clerk, which position he held for over ten years. In 1907 he resigned his position because of failing health and returned to Topeka, where he died on Dec. 3. 1908.
Burlington, the judicial seat and most important town of Coffey county, is located just south of the central part of the county, at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroads, and on the Neosho river. It is a progressive little city, with waterworks, fire department, electric lights, and a number of commercial and manufacturing interests, including 2 banks, a daily and a tri-weekly newspaper, flour mill, grain elevators, tile factory, 3 cigar factories, creamery, carriage and wagon factory, and all lines of mercantile enterprises. It has excellent graded and high schools, and all denominations of churches. There are telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with 6 rural routes. The population according to the report of the government census of 1910 was 2,180.
The Burlington town company was incorporated in 1857, by O. E. Learnard, Charles Morse, J. A. D. Clark, T. T. Parsons and C. W. Southway. The town was named for Burlington, Vt., the home of O. E. Learnard, the principal promoter. The first building was a combina- tion of two small buildings brought from Hampden, and was used for a store in which James Jones kept a stock of goods. The second build- ing was a wagon shop erected by Edward Murdock, and the third was the "Burlington Hotel," which was constructed by F. A. Atherly on con- tract with the town company. Rev. Peter Remer and family came in May. Mrs. Remer was the first woman in Burlington. Dr. Samuel G. (I-17)
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Howe, the philanthropist and husband of Julia Ward Howe, located a Wyandotte "float" in that year. It was surveyed into lots and a part of it sold and incorporated in the town. A great deal was done that first year in way of improvements. Several houses and business estab- lishments were built, and in addition a bridge was constructed across the Neosho and a mill was put in operation. During the war every thing was at a stand-still, the men having all enlisted in the army or being engaged in. protecting the border. The unsettled condition of affairs pertaining to the location of the county seat was a drawback to the growth of the town until after 1866. By 1870 new life was in evi- dence in the progress of the town. A little carding mill which had been started in 1863 grew into a woolen mill, with a cotton gin in connection, a water mill had been built by Cross & Son at a cost of $55,000, and another mill was built in that year at a cost of $16,000. In 1873, a $28,000 school house was erected. The first bank was opened in 1870. The first newspaper, the "Neosho Valley Register," was published by S. S. Prouty, in 1859.
Burnett, Abraham, an Indian chief of the Pottawatomie tribe, was a son of Kaw-kee-me, a sister of the principal chief of the Pottawatomies at the time the Chicago treaty was concluded in 1821, and in that treaty Abraham was awarded a section of land. He lived with his people in Indiana until 1848, when he came to the tribal reservation near Topeka, Kan. A few miles southwest of the city of Topeka is an elevation which is still known as Mount Burnett, or Burnett's Mound, where he had his home. Like many of the red men, he loved "fire-water" and on his fre- quent trips to Topeka, before the era of prohibition in Kansas, he some- times imbibed more than was good for him. As he weighed over 400 pounds it was something of a task to get him into his spring wagon when he was in a state of intoxication. He married a white woman of German extraction, and it is said that when he went home drunk he would test her temper by throwing his hat in at the window. If it re- mained in the house he would follow it, but if it was thrown out he would retire until he was sober before attempting to enter his domicile. He drew his annuity from the United States government with great regularity, and generally spent the most of it in Indian fashion-for gewgaws and fire-water. It was Burnett's boast that he never missed attending a circus in Topeka during his long residence near that city. He died on June 14, 1870, and his remains rest in an unmarked grave near the mound upon which he had so long made his home.
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