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 32
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An immense freight business soon developed between the Missouri river and Denver, and it was the ambition of Mr. Butterfield that his
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Overland Despatch should handle it. Twelve hundred mules and wagons in proportion had been purchased for the enterprise, and on June 25, 1865, the first wagon train left Atchison with 150,000 pounds of freight for Denver and other Colorado points. The enterprise was proving such a success that during the summer the route was stocked for a line of stages. The initial coach of this line, carrying passengers and express matter, left Atchison on Monday, Sept. II, and arrived at Denver on the 23d, Mr. Butterfield accompanying this coach. The arrival of the first stage in Denver was the occasion for an imposing reception and royal banquet to its promoter. The route as finally de- cided on was 592 miles long, a saving of 61 miles over the road up the main Platte and its South Fork. The list of stations on the line after leaving Atchison was about as follows: Mount Pleasant, Grasshopper Falls, Indianola, Rossville, St. Mary's, Louisville, Manhattan, Fort Riley, Junction City, Chapman's creek, Abilene, Solomon river, Salina, Spring creek, Ellsworth, Buffalo creek, Hicks' Station, Fossil creek, Forsythe's creek, Big creek, Louisa Springs, Bluffton, Downer, Castle Rock Station, Eaton, Henshaw creek, Pond creek and Willow creek (this station being at about the west line of the state). From east to west the line traversed the counties of Atchison, Jefferson, Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Riley, Geary, Dickinson, Saline, Ellsworth, Russell, Ellis, Trego, Gove, Logan, and Wallace.
Transportation by this route grew from the start, and had it been accorded the military protection that the Holladay line enjoyed, it is believed that it would have been a money maker. Indians, however, gave the company much trouble. They attacked and burned several stations, waylaid stage coaches and killed the drivers, until finally the proprietors were forced to quit. Inside of eighteen months from the inauguration of the enterprise the whole business and equipment passed into the hands of Ben Holladay, the "overland stage king." This gentle- man later sold out the Smoky Hill line to Wells, Fargo & Co., who operated the line at considerable loss from the time they took hold of it until the completion of the Kansas Pacific railroad to Denver, when they abandoned the line.
Buxton, a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. in Wil- son county, is located near the west line, in Duck Creek township, IO miles southwest of Fredonia, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 50. This town was established in 1886, at the time the railroad was built. The land was owned by the Arkansas Valley Town and Land company, which laid off the lots. In May, 1887, the Jurett postoffice, which had been established on the claim of H. H. Garner in 1871, was brought to Buxton and took that name. Buxton is credited with being the most important hay shipping station in the county.
Byers, a rural hamlet of Meade county, receives mail by rural free delivery from Meade, the county seat, which is the most convenient rail- road station.
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C
Cabbell, a little hamlet of Logan county, is located in the valley of Hackberry creek, in Elkader township, about 20 miles east of Russell Springs,' the county seat, and 13 miles south of Oakley, from which a rural free delivery route supplies mail.
Cabeca de Vaca .- (See Nunez, Alvarez.)
Caches .- In 1812 an American named Beard, in company with about a dozen companions, made an expedition to Santa Fe, N. M., for trading or speculative purposes. He returned to the U. S. in 1822, and after interesting some St. Louis capitalists in an enterprise "undertook to return to Santa Fe the same fall with a small party and an assortment of merchandise. Reaching the Arkansas late in the season, they were overtaken by a heavy snow storm, and driven to take shelter on a large island. A rigorous winter ensued, which forced them to remain pent up in that place for three long months. During this time the greater portion of their animals perished; so that, when the spring began to open, they were unable to continue their journey with their goods. In this emergency they made a "cache" some distance above, on the north side of the river, where they stowed away the most of their merchandise. From thence they proceeded to Taos, where they procured mules and returned to get their hidden property." The caches are located at a crossing on the Arkansas river, near the mouth of Mulberry creek, a short distance east of the present Fort Dodge in Ford county. They have been used on many occasions since that time.
Cactus, a small settlement of Norton county, is near the eastern boundary, about 14 miles from Norton, the county seat. The inhabi- tants receive mail by rural delivery from Prairie View, which is the nearest railroad station.
Cadmus, a hamlet of Linn county, is situated in the north central part on' Elm creek. It has rural free delivery from Fontana. In 1910 the population was 80.
Cairo, a village of Pratt county, is a station on the Wichita & Pratt division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., II miles east of Pratt, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, express office. some good general stores, a flour mill, and is a shipping point for the surrounding country. The population was 40 in 1910.
Calderhead, William A., lawyer and member of Congress, was born in Perry county, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1844, a son of Rev. E. B. Calderhead, a minister of the United Brethren church. He was educated in the common schools and by his father, and in the winter of 1861-62 he attended Franklin College at New Athens, Ohio. In Aug., 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio infantry, but was afterward transferred to Company D, Ninth veteran reserves, on account of disability, and was finally discharged on June 27, 1865. He then attended school for one term and in the fall
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of 1868 came to Kansas, where he engaged in farming. In 1872 he set- tled on a homestead near Newton, and taught for one year in the Newton public schools. After studying law for some time under the preceptor- ship of John W. Ady, he was admitted to the bar in 1875. Mr. Calder- head then went to Atchison, where he spent the next four years in reading law and teaching in the country schools during the winter seasons. In the fall of 1879 he located at Marysville, Marshall county. and opened a law office. In 1888 he was elected county attorney and served for two years, and he was for several years clerk of the city board of education. In 1894 he was elected to Congress and served one term. Four years later he was again elected to Congress and was reëlected at each succeeding election until 1908. Upon retiring from Congress, Mr. Calderhead resumed the practice of law at Marysville.
Caldwell, an incorporated city of Sumner county, is located 13 miles southwest of Wellington, the county seat, and 3 miles from the southern boundary of the state. The first settlement was made in March, 1871, and the city was named for Alexander Caldwell, United States senator from Kansas. A log building was erected by the town company, and was occupied by C. H. Stone with the first stock of goods in the place. Mr. Stone was also the first postmaster, the office being established soon after the town was laid out. In July, 1879, Caldwell was incor- porated as a city of the third class, and at the election on Aug. 7, N. J. Dixon was elected mayor; J. D. Kelly, police judge; J. A. Blair, F. G. Hussen, H. C. Challes and A. Rhoades, councilmen: J. D. Kelly, Jr., was appointed the first city clerk.
Caldwell is situated at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and the Kansas Southwestern railroads, which makes it an important shipping point. It has 2 banks. 2 grain elevators, 2 flour mills, 2 weekly newspapers (the Advance and the News), a number of well stocked mercantile establishments, an international money order postoffice with 7 rural routes, express and telegraph offices, telephone connections, good hotels, graded public schools, churches of the leading denominations, etc. In the immediate vicinity are large deposits of stone, large quantities of which are shipped annually. The population in 1910 was 2,205.
Caldwell, Alexander, financier and United States senator, was born at Drake's Ferry, Huntington county, Pa., March 1, 1830. He received a common school education, and in the Mexican war served as a private in the company commanded by his father, Capt. James Caldwell, who was killed in action at the City of Mexico on Sept. 13, 1847. From 1853 to 1861 Mr. Caldwell was an officer in a bank at Columbia, Pa., and for the next ten years was engaged in transporting military supplies to western posts, and in building railroads in Kansas. In 1871 he was elected to the United States senate to succeed Edmund G. Ross, but resigned in 1873. He then organized the Kansas Manufacturing com- pany, for the manufacture of wagons and farm implements, and was president of the company from 1877 to 1897. He was one of the organ-
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izers of the Oregon Land Improvement company in 1882, to locate town sites and construct irrigating canals along the Oregon Short Line (now the Union Pacific) railroad. In 1897 he acquired a large block of stock in the First National bank of Leavenworth, and since then has been the president of that institution.
Calhoun County, one of the counties created by the first territorial legislature, was named for John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. The boundaries, as defined by the creative act, were as follows: "Beginning at the northwest corner of Jefferson county; thence west 25 miles; thence south to the main channel of the Kansas or Kaw river; thence along said channel to the southwest corner of Jefferson county ; thence north to the place of beginning."
The territory included within these lines embraces the southern part of the present county of Jackson and that part of Shawnee county lying north of the Kansas river. In 1857 the legislature added the northern part of the present county of Jackson, the boundaries being defined by the act as follows: "Beginning at the southwest corner of Jefferson county, thence north with the west boundary thereof to the northwest corner of said Jefferson county; thence east between sections 24, 25, 19, 30 on range line between ranges 16 and 17 east, township 7 south ; thence north with said range. line to the first standard parallel; thence west along the south boundaries of Brown and Nemaha counties with the first standard parallel to the corner of sections I and 2, of township 6 south, of range 12 east; thence south with the section lines between the first and second tier of sections to the middle of the main channel of the Kansas river; thence down the Kansas river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the place of beginning."
The county was organized with these boundaries in 1857, and at the election of Oct. 4, 1858, Golden Silvers was chosen to represent the county in the territorial legislature. An election to determine the loca- tion of the county seat was held on Oct. II, 1858, and Holton received a majority of all the votes cast. Some doubts were raised as to the legality of the election, and to settle this question Mr. Silvers secured the passage of an act, which was approved by Gov. Medary on Feb. 9, 1859, declaring Holton the permanent county seat. Two days later he approved another act changing the name to Jackson county. (See Jackson County.)
Calhoun, John, the first surveyor-general of Kansas, was born Oct. 14, 1806. In Nov., 1833, he founded the Chicago Weekly Democrat, the first newspaper in that town. The same year he became surveyor of Sangamon county, Ill., and took an active part in the political life of that period. In 1838 he made many speeches during the campaign and was elected a member of the Illinois house of representatives. In 1844 he was defeated for Congress and in 1846 was the candidate for governor of Illinois on the Democratic ticket but was again defeated. In 1852 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress but the Republican candi- date was elected. He became interested in Abraham Lincoln and soon after they became acquainted he gave Lincoln a book on surveying.
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This was the beginning of a friendship that lasted through life. On Aug. 4, 1854, Mr. Calhoun was commissioned surveyor-general of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and made ex-officio register of the land offices, soon to be opened. He opened an office at Wyandotte, and the first report of his survey was made on Oct. 26, 1856. He was a pro-slavery man; entered actively into the political life of the territory ; was president of the Lecompton constitutional convention; and it was largely due to his efforts that the constitution was submitted to the people only in a modified way.
Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., who was one of the committee appointed by the territorial legislature in 1858 to investigate election frauds, in a letter to his father dated Jan. 18, 1858, said: "Calhoun left for Wash- ington today -- fled. He would have been brought up for forging elec- tion returns, of which there is evidence enough, I believe, to warrant a presentment. He is the instigator of all the frauds, I have not a shadow of a doubt."
The Kansas Historical Society has a manuscript entitled "A Vindi- cation of John Calhoun," written by his brother, A. H. Calhoun, in which it is claimed that Mr. Calhoun opposed the clause in the Lecompton constitution establishing slavery and favored the submission of the in- strument to popular vote, but these statements are not corroborated by the records of the convention. Mr. Calhoun died .at St. Joseph, Mo., Oct. 13, 1859, from the effects of an overdose of strychnine.
California Trail .- This historic highway ran from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast. From the time of the first rush incident to the California gold discoveries, up to about 1850, the bulk of travel for those remote sections passed over the Oregon trail (q. v.) which had its start from Independence, Mo. Before this travel had begun to subside this old highway had lost much of its identity, and to the generation then using it was better known as the "California trail." On the completion of the new military road considerably shortening the distance between Fort Leavenworth and Salt Lake, travel for Oregon, Utah and Cali- fornia begun starting from Fort Leavenworth and St. Joseph, Mo., prac- tically deserting the Oregon trail. From early days Fort Leavenworth had been an important distributing point, much freight being hauled from there to other military posts on the frontier. During the early '50s, St. Joseph developed into an important outfitting point. Shortly after the admission of Kansas, Atchison and Leavenworth immediately sprung into prominence, their geographical location on the west bank of the Missouri river militating against the successful competition of any Missouri towns.
The Independence branch (Oregon road) entered the state in Johnson county, followed the Santa Fe trail to a point near Gardner, where the trails divided, the California (Oregon) trail turning north, entering Douglas county and passing through the old town of Franklin, the sites of the present towns of Eudora and Lawrence, the old town of Marshall, and entering Shawnee county; thence west on the divide south of the
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Kansas river, past the site of the present village of Tecumseh to Papan's ferry on the Kansas river, now in the city of Topeka. At this point the road divided, the Oregon trail crossing the river and the California road following west along the south side past the old Baptist Indian Mission, to the only rock bottom ford on the river at Uniontown. From there the road crossed to the north side of the river, passed up the stream through St. Mary's mission to Cross creek, thence in a north- erly direction to the crossings of the Big and Little Blue rivers, thence up the divide in a northwesterly direction to the Platte river. The road from St. Joseph west ran through what is now Wathena and Troy in Doniphan county, and intersected the military road at a point on the Kickapoo reservation. In 1849 Capt. Howard Stanbury surveyed for the government a route from Fort Leavenworth to Salt Lake. Dis- covering a more practicable crossing of the Blue river at a point 6 miles higher up stream than the old "Independence," "Mormon" or "Cali- fornia" crossing, the road was changed. By 1851-52 the upper road had become the popular one, and Frank J. Marshall, an Indian trader who had located at the lower crossing in 1846, operating a ferry, moved to the new location. In 1852 Marshall was operating a store, postoffice. eating-house, saloon and ferry. A California-bound pilgrim of that year, in describing Marshall's place said: "Here for a dollar one could get a cup of bad coffee, a slice of bacon and a portion of hard bread. For the same price one could get a drink of bad whisky. For the same amount he would carry a letter to St. Joseph and place it in the post- office there. His ferry charges were $5 for wagons and $1 each for men and beasts." Marshall conducted this place until 1856, when he sold out to the Palmetto colony from South Carolina.
From the early '6os until the Union Pacific railroad superseded the stage coach and the wagon trains, it is probable that the bulk of travel westward was by way of Atchison and Leavenworth over the California road. Besides having good steamboat landings the first of these cities was about 15 miles nearer than St. Joseph.
The California trail was about 2,000 miles long, of which 125 miles were in Kansas. A number of short trails marked "California roads" are shown on the early Kansas surveys. The most notable of these was the Fayetteville emigrant trail (q. v.), but they were all merely "feeders" of the original trail. In 1855 the territorial legislature passed & number of acts making certain roads or portions of roads public high- ways. Six of these acts refer to portions of the California trail.
Many hardships were endured by the early pioneers and freighters who went over this trail. During the Oregon and Utah emigration the travel was attended with a great mortality, and during the period of the California gold excitement it is said that the mortality was as great as Io per cent. Ezra Meeker; the Oregon pioneer, has placed it at this figure, which some authorities are inclined to think is too low. One writer has said that at least 5,000 emigrants died along the trail in 1849-50, and that the graves of these unfortunates were soon dug into by coyotes and the corpses torn to pieces.
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Calista, a village of Kingman county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. R. R., 9 miles west of Kingman, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, an express office, general stores, lumber yard, etc., and in 1910 reported a population of 75.
Callison, a discontinued postoffice of Graham county, is located about 12 miles southeast of Hill City, the county seat, and about the same distance southwest of Palco, from which place the inhabitants receive mail by rural free delivery.
Calumet .- Among the Indians of North America, especially the tribes inhabiting the Mississippi valley and the region about the great lakes, the "Calumet" was an important ceremonial observance on various . occasions. The word, however, is not of Indian origin, being derived from the Norman word "chalumeau," the name of a rustic pipe or musical instrument used by the Norman shepherds in the rural fes- tivities. The early Norman-French settlers of Canada applied it to the ceremonial pipe of the Indians, and in time it came into general use, but was corrupted into the "calumet." Many people have the impression that the calumet was purely a "peace pipe," but as a matter of fact it was as often used as a "war pipe." The bowl of the pipe was usually made of clay or some soft stone, larger than the ordinary individual tobacco pipe. The stem was a hollow cane, reed, or twig of some tree from which the pith had been removed, and was generally a yard or more in length. In the councils of a tribe the calumet was a method of expressing opinion. When the question of proclaiming war was before the council, the stem of the pipe was decorated with the feathers of the eagle, hawk, or some bird of prey. The pipe was filled with tobacco and passed among the warriors. Those who accepted it took a solemn puff or two, thus proclaimed themselves in favor of war, while those who merely passed it on to their next neighbor, without touching the stem with their lips, expressed themselves as opposed to hostilities. If the pipe was used to vote on a peace treaty, or some similar question, the stem was decorated with the feathers of the water-fowl, or some song bird of a retiring, peaceful disposition.
Among the Indians the ceremony of smoking the peace calumet was often accompanied by singing and dancing. Charlevoix tells how "The Osages send once or twice a year to sing the calumet among the Kas- kasquias," and soon after Iberville landed at Biloxi bay and began the erection of Fort Maurepas, in 1699, the neighboring tribes assembled at the fort and spent three days in singing, dancing and smoking the calumet. When the commissioners of the United States concluded a treaty of peace with some Indian tribe, the ceremony generally closed by passing around the calumet decorated as a pipe of peace, and it is probably due to this fact that the pipe has come to be regarded by so many as an emblem of peace.
Calvert, a village of Emmett township, Norton county, is a station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads, 8 miles east of Norton, the county seat. It has a
(I-18)
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money order postoffice, a flour mill, a grain elevator, a good local retail trade, and in 1910 reported a population of 50.
Cambridge, a village of Cowley county, is located in Windsor town- ship, and is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 22 miles east of Winfield, the county seat. It has a bank, some good gen- eral stores, a money order postoffice with two rural routes, express and telegraph offices, a hotel, churches of the leading denominations, tele- phone connections, and being located in the midst of an agricultural and stock raising district is a shipping point of considerable importance. The population in 1910 was 225.
Camp Alert .- (See Fort Larned.)
Camp Bateman, a temporary military encampment, was established in Oct., 1857, by Lient .- Col. George Andrews, of the Sixth United States infantry, with a detachment of his regiment. The camp was located at a place called Cincinnati, not far from Fort Leavenworth, and was occupied until May 8, 1858, when it was abandoned.
Camp Beecher .- Hamersly's "Army and Navy Register" says this camp was "on the Little Arkansas river a short distance from its mouth. where it joins the Arkansas river, about one mile from Wichita." The camp was established in June, 1868, on or near the site where J. R. Mead founded his trading post in the fall of 1863, and was at first called Camp Davidson. In Oct., 1868, the name was changed to Camp Butterfield. and the following month to Camp Beecher. It was abandoned as a military camp in Oct., 1869.
Camp Butterfield .- (See Camp Beecher.)
Camp Davidson .- (See Camp Beecher.)
Camp Leedy, a temporary military encampment at Topeka, was estab- lished as a mobilizing point for Kansas troops at the time of the Span- ish-American war (q. v.), and was named for John W. Leedy, at that time governor of the state. It was located about half a mile south of the state-house, on what was known as the "Donthitt tract," not far from the fair grounds.
Camp MacKay .- (See Fort Atchison.)
Camp Magruder, near Fort Leavenworth, was a sort of stopping place for recruits en route to Utah in July and August, 1860, under command of Lieut .- Col. George B. Crittenden of the mounted riflemen. No per- manent fortifications nor quarters were ever erected on the site.
Camp Supply .- In the fall of 1868, at the time of the Black Kettle raid, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, whose headquarters were at Fort Hays, ordered Gen. George A. Custer to locate a camp at some convenient point in the Indian Territory. Custer selected the rising ground between Wolf and Beaver creeks, about a mile and a half above where they unite to form the north fork of the Canadian river, in what is now the north- west corner of Woodward county, Okla., and here on Nov. 18 he estab- lished Camp Supply. Although some 30 miles south of the southern boundary of Kansas, it is intimately connected with the state's military history, as the Nineteenth Kansas reached this post on Nov. 28, 1868.
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