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 34
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FIRST CAPITOL - KANSAS, !4Y-THE 6 4.5.2
OLD CAPITOL AT PAWNEE.
The first capitol or state-house in Kansas was the one at Pawnee, in which the first territorial legislature met on July 2. 1855. Concerning it Cutler, in his History of Kansas, says: "The Pawnee Association had built a 'capitol' of stone, two stories in height, 40 by 80 feet in size. 'well provided with seats and writing tables.' " The legislature that met there was composed of pro-slavery men, and, as Pawnee was in a
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free-state settlement, the members had no desire to remain long in the enemy's country. Consequently, the assembly promptly adjourned to the Shawnee mission, where the remainder of the session was held in the mission school building, but the people of Kansas have always looked upon it as the first capitol of the territory, and on Feb. 26, 1901, Gov. Stanley approved the following joint resolution :
"That the Congress of the United States be requested to grant unto the State of Kansas a certain stone building standing and situated on the Fort Riley military reservation in said state, which was built and used for the first legislative assembly of the Territory of Kansas, and so much of the grounds upon which the building stands, not exceeding one acre in extent, exclusive of the right of way heretofore granted to the Union Pacific Railway company for its railway, for the purpose of enabling the state of Kansas to preserve said building from decay and as an historical relic of the state."
Congress granted the request, but in order that the military author- ities at Fort Riley might have full police powers over the building, the title was not accepted by the state, so that while nominally the old capitol is the property of the State of Kansas it is really a part of the military reservation. In 1907 Col. Samuel F. Woolard of Wichita, a member of Gov. Hoch's military staff, while attending the encampment of the National Guard at Fort Riley, noticed the condition of the old building, and upon his return home from the encampment suggested to some of the citizens of Wichita that a fund be raised by voluntary contributions for the purpose of repairing the walls and placing the old capitol in a better state of preservation. On Oct. 12, 1901, the Wichita Beacon announced that the fund then amounted to $40. From that time contributions came in more rapidly, and in April, 1908, some $400 had been collected, which was used to repair the walls, plant vines, place signs on the ruins, etc.
Shortly after the legislature designated Lecompton as the territorial seat of government, William M. Nace was employed by contract to erect a frame house there for the use of the legislature. This frame "capitol" stood on Elmore street, and the first legislative session held in it began on Jan. 12, 1857. Congress made an appropriation of $50,000 for the erection of a suitable state-house at Lecompton, but the entire amount was exhausted upon the foundation and a very small portion of the main walls. No further work was ever done on the building by the govern- ment, and the only use of the foundation was as a fortress for some pro-slavery forces during the border troubles. By the act of June 4, 1861, the first state legislature transferred the old capitol grounds in Lecompton to the Kansas College Association, and at the same session the governor was authorized to dispose of the materials that had been collected for the completion of the building. The college association finished the building on different lines from those first contemplated. and it was used for some time as Lane University (q. v.) and still later as a high school.
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STATE CAPITOL AT TOPEKA.
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When the free-state people gained control of the legislature the ses- sions were held at Lawrence, where they occupied two temporary capi- tols, both of which were merely rented for the purpose. One of these was "the new brick building, just south of the Eldridge House," and the other was "the old concrete building on Massachusetts street north of Winthrop."
The mass convention at Topeka on Sept. 19, 1855, and the constitu- tional convention of the succeeding month, were both held in a building at Nos. 425-427 Kansas avenue, which had been erected by Loring Farns- worth. This building became known as "Constitution Hall." It was used as a "capitol" by the state government set up under the Topeka constitution, and also by the actual state government established on Feb. 9. 1861. In the basement of this old building were stored supplies sequestered from certain pro-slavery towns during the embargo of the Missouri river by pro-slavery decree. After the question of locating the permanent seat of government had been settled by the election of 1861 (see Capital), the legislature of 1862 accepted from the Topeka Asso- ciation the tract of ground in that city bounded by Jackson, Harrison, Eighth and Tenth streets for a site for a state-house.
By the act of March 2, 1863, the state officers were authorized to enter into a contract with Wilson I. Gordon, Theodore Mills and Loring Farnsworth for the erection of a temporary capitol on lots No. 131. 133, 135 and 137, on Kansas avenue in the city of Topeka, and to lease the said temporary capitol for five years, at an annual rental not exceeding $1,500, the building to be ready for occupancy by Nov. 1, 1863. This building included the site of the old Constitution Hall. In the sidewalk in front of the place where it stood is a large cast-iron tatblet bearing tlie inscription : "Constitution Hall, where the Topeka constitutional con- vention met in 1855. and the Topeka legislature was dispersed by Col. E. V. Sumner, July 4. 1856. Used as state capitol 1864-69. Placed here by the Daughters of the American Revolution, July 4, 1903."
The present capitol of Kansas had its inception in the act of the legis- lature, approved by Gov. Crawford on Feb. 14, 1866. By the provisions of this act the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction were constituted a commission to erect on the grounds donated by the Topeka Association a building according to plans and specifications submitted by E. Townsend Mix. An appropriation of $40,000 was made to begin the erection of the east wing, and the ten sections of land granted to the state by Congress to aid in the construction of a state-house were ordered to be sold at a price not less than $1.25 an acre, the proceeds to be applied to the erec- tion of the building. For the completion of the east wing the legisla- ture of 1869 authorized a bond issue of $70,000. The west wing was ordered by the act of March 7, 1879, which appropriated $60,000 for that purpose, and a tax of one-half mill on the dollar was levied for the years 1879 and 1880, the revenue derived from this tax to go into the state- house fund. By the act of Feb. 10, 1881, an additional appropriation of
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$35,000 was made for the west wing, and the one-half mill tax was con- tinued for the years 1883 and 1884. The central portion of the building, including the dome, was ordered by the act of March 4, 1887, and the one-half mill tax was again levied for the years 1887 and 1888. This tax was reduced by the next legislature to two-fifths of a mill for the next two years, and in 1895 it was reduced to one-fourth of a mill. By the act of March 11, 1891, an appropriation of $60,000 was made for certain specific purposes, to-wit: $9,000 for the completion of contracts already let ; $17,560 for the north and south steps; $23,440 for concrete floors, etc .; and $10,000 for the completion of the basement in the south wing. The last direct appropriation-$100,000-was made by the act of March 29, 1901, and in 1903 the state-house was pronounced finished.
Owing to the fact that the funds for the erection of the capitol were derived from various sources-direct appropriations, bond issues, the proceeds of the land sales, and the revenues raised by the special tax levies-it is almost impossible, without weeks of labor in going through the different records, to give the actual total cost of the edifice, but it was not far from $3,500,000.
From north to south, the extreme length of the capitol is 399 feet ; from east to west, 386 feet; the dome is 80 feet square at the base; the height to the balcony of the dome is 258 feet, and to the top, 281 feet. 6 inches. The dome was originally surmounted by a flag-staff 40 feet high, but it was struck by a bolt of lightning some years ago and has never been replaced.
Regarding space, arrangement, etc., the Kansas state-house is one of the best in the Union. Within its walls there are commodious offices for all the various state officers, the board of railroad commissioners, the state board of health, the state board of agriculture, the supreme court room, with rooms for each of the justices, the horticultural and historical societies, the state museum, the state library, the free employ- ment bureau, halls and committee rooms for the two branches of the state legislature, etc.
Carbondale, one of the principal towns of Osage county, is located in Ridgeway township on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 16 miles north of Lyndon, the county seat. It has churches, public schools, bank- ing facilities, and all the main lines of mercantile activity. A good quality of coal is mined in the vicinity. The town is supplied with express and telegraph offices and a money order postoffice with four rural routes. The population in 1910 was 461.
The town was founded in 1869 by a company composed of T. J. Peter, J. F. Dodds, C. P. Dodds and L. R. Adams. The first buildings were erected by the Carbon Coal company and consisted of houses for the miners and a store for provisions. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. had reached this point before the town was started, and mining was begun at once on the Dodds farm half a mile from the railroad. A postoffice was established and C. P. Dodds, the railroad agent, was made postmaster. He opened a store the next year and did a flourishing busi-
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ness. The growth of the town was very rapid for a time, several mines being in operation. In 1881 a tragedy occurred in connection with the burning of the shaft in W. L. Green's mine in which nine men lost their lives from suffocation and fire damp. Three of those who were killed belonged to the rescue party.
Carbondale was incorporated as a city of the third class on Oct. 15, 1872. The first mayor was C. C. Moore; clerk, A. V. Sparhawk ; treas- urer, J. R. Cowen ; police judge, J. S. Conwell ; marshall, E. Platt; coun- cilmen, M. T. Perrine, E. W. Teft, George Mullan, S. S. Stackhouse and G. W. Luman.
Carden, a hamlet of Marshall county, is located in Marysville town- ship 4 miles from Marysville, the county seat, on the St. Joseph & Grand Island R. R. It has telegraph and express offices, a postoffice and gen- eral lines of merchandising. The population of 1910 was 50.
Carl, a hamlet of Jackson county, is located 12 miles west of Holton, the county seat. It receives mail from Soldier by rural route. The population in 1910 was 21.
Carlton, one of the thriving villages of Dickinson county, is located in the Holland creek valley, about 18 miles southwest of Abilene, the county seat, and is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. It has a money order postoffice with one rural route, telegraph and express offices, some good general stores, and in 1910 reported a population of 225. It is the principal shipping and supply point for the southwestern portion of the county.
Carlyle, one of the principal villages of Allen county, is located on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 5 miles north of Iola, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with one rural delivery route, telegraph station and express offices, a good village school, some mer- cantile and shipping interests, and in 1910 reported a population of 200.
Carmen, a new postoffice in Meade county, is located in the upper Crooked creek valley, about 15 miles northwest of Meade, the county seat. Before the office was established the people of Carmen received their mail by rural delivery from Mertilla. (Some maps show Carmen in Gray county, near the boundary line.)
Carneiro, a village of Ellsworth county, is located in the township of the same name and is a station on the Union Pacific R. R. 12 miles east of Ellsworth, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with one rural route, telegraph and express offices, general stores, Methodist and Christian churches, and being located in a district devoted to agriculture and stock raising is an important shipping point. The population in 1910 was 76.
Carney, Thomas, second governor of the State of Kansas, was born in Delaware county, Ohio, Aug. 20, 1824. His father, James Carney, died in 1828, leaving a widow and four small sons. Thomas remained with his mother until he was nineteen years of age, and frequently hauled the products of their little farm with an ox team to Newark, 36 miles distant. When he was nineteen he left home with about $3.50
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in his pocket and went to an uncle, Elijah Carney, at Berkshire, Ohio, where he stayed for several months, working for his board mornings, evenings and Saturdays while he attended school. In the fall of 1844 he found employment with a retail dry-goods concern at Columbus, receiving $50 a month and board the first year and $100 a month and board the second year. He then took a position with a wholesale dry-goods house in Cincinnati, into which he was admitted as a part- ner, the firm of Carney, Swift & Co. becoming one of the best known dry-goods houses in the country. After some twelve years in Cin- cinnati his health became impaired, and in 1857 he visited the West, . partly for his health and partly in search of a new location. The fol- lowing spring, in partnership with Thomas C. Stevens, he opened the first wholesale house in Leavenworth, Kan. Mr. Stevens retired in 1866, when the firm took the name of Carney, Fenlon & Co., which 'in 1868 established the house of E. Fenlon & Co. in St. Louis, Mo. Several changes ensued and finally Mr. Carney became the sole pro- prietor of the business. He also founded the wholesale shoe house of Carney, Storer & Co., later Thomas Carney & Co. This business was disposed of by Mr. Carney in 1875.
Upon locating in Kansas Mr. Carney took an active interest in pub- lic affairs. In 1861 he was elected to the second state legislature, and while in that body served upon some of the most important commit- tees. His record as a member of the legislature commended him to the Republican party for governor, and he was nominated for that office by a convention at Topeka on Sept. 17, 1862. At the election on the 4th of the following November he was elected over W. R. Wagstaff by a majority of 4,627 votes, and on Jan. 12, 1863, was inducted into the office. Historians have hardly done justice to the unselfish patriotism displayed by Gov. Carney during his term of two years. By personally indorsing the bonds of the state he established the credit of Kansas upon a firmer basis than it had ever been before, and it was largely due to his untiring efforts that the educational and charitable institutions of the state were established on a firm foundation. At the close of his term as governor he resumed his business operation, which he laid aside the day he was inaugurated in order to give his entire attention to the duties of his official position. In 1865 and 1866 he was mayor of the city of Leavenworth; was one of the founders of the First National Bank of that city, and was for several years a member of the board of directors; and he was also one of the directors of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Fort Gibson railroad. In addition to his mercantile, banking and railroad interests in Kansas, he was associated with mining operations in the Gunnison country. While visiting his mines there he wrote several letters for the Leavenworth papers, which were widely read and enjoyed by his numerous friends in Kansas. In 1875 he practically retired from business.
On Nov. 13, 1861, at Kenton, Ohio, Gov. Carney was united in mar- riage with Miss Rebecca Ann Cannady, who was born at Kenton on (I-19)
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Oct. 9, 1827. She was a woman of high Christian character, noted far and wide for her interest in charitable work. She died at Leavenworth on Sept. 25, 1894. Gov. Carney's death occurred on July 28, 1888, and was due to apoplexy. At the time of his election to the office of gov- ernor he was a wealthy man, but in later years financial reverses came -due, it is said, to the unworthy schemes of designing politicians- and he died comparatively poor.
Carney's Administration .- Gov. Carney was inaugurated on Jan. 12, 1863. He came into office at a time when the affairs of the state were in a discouraging condition. The Civil war was at its height; the counties along the eastern border were constantly menaced by guer- rillas; those on the west suffered from frequent Indian forays, and to protect the people from these incursions the state had neither. arms, ammunition nor means of subsisting troops. The credit of the state -not yet fully established-had been impaired the preceding year by the sale of bonds in such a way as to lead to the impeachment and removal from office of the secretary of state and auditor, and the increasing population made necessary certain expenditures for educa- tional and benevolent purposes.
In his inaugural message the governor said: "We stand by the administration, because the administration is the organized authority of the nation. It has labored to avoid our present troubles. It has sought Union in the spirit of Union. It has done nothing, proposed nothing, asserted nothing in opinion or principle, which invaded, or which threatened to invade, the rights of the states, or violate the letter or spirit of the constitution.
"I do not wish to indulge in poetic speech or empty declamation. Neither will feed the hungry or relieve the sufferer. We must ren- der both substantial aid. And this the state should do. Loyal com- monwealths of the Republic have cared for the soldier, by appointing sanitary committees; by appropriating funds for their families, while the heads thereof were in the field, and by relieving, on the battlefields or at home, the wounded and the sick.
"Kansas should be the rival of the noblest of these commonwealths. We stand first, because in proportion to population and wealth, we have mustered more men to combat rebellion than any loyal state in the Union. This has been done, too, at immense sacrifice. Many of our families have been left almost in destitution. I have been an eye witness to the fact, that in many instances the faithful mother, and in some instances only children have been left to attend to the house- hold and the farm."
This portion of the message --- written by one who was on the ground, and who was familiar with the situation-has been quoted at length to show that the people of Kansas, loyal to the core, were willing to make sacrifices and endure hardships, in order to preserve the Union of which the state had so recently become a member. The governor urged the acceptance of the grant of land for a state university; the
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erection of a penitentiary at the earliest possible day ; that a tax be levied upon foreign insurance companies doing business within the state; an amendment to the constitution to permit the citizen soldiery to vote; and such legislation as might be found necessary for the advancement of the educational interests and benevolent institutions of the state. Referring to the bonds that had caused so much trouble the preceding session, he said :
"In November, 1861, this state made a contract, through the agent created by its authorized agents, with the secretary of the interior, at Washington, for the sale of $150,000 of its fifteen-year seven per cent. bonds at 85 cents on the dollar. Only a portion of this contract has been fulfilled. Ninety-five thousand six hundred dollars of these bonds is all that has been delivered, and only $64,600 paid for. This leaves a difference of $54,400 of these bonds that will have to be delivered to the secretary of the interior, before the contract can be consummated. The legislature of 1862, for reasons of its own, took the completion of this contract out of the hands of its agents, and their attorney, and placed it wholly in yours.
"To complete this contract you will have to authorize the issue of $54,400 of seven per cent. fifteen-year bonds, which, added to the $31,000 now held by the secretary of the interior, and not paid for, will make the required amount. Now I call upon you to do your duty. You must meet this responsibility or forfeit the credit of the state. Its wants are imperative and its character is at stake. I will not, if I can help it, and you will not, I know, permit a stain to rest upon that credit, or blur upon that character."
In accordance with the governor's recommendations, the legislature, by the act of March 2, 1863, authorized the issue of $54,400 fifteen- year seven per cent. bonds. Immediately after the adjournment of the legislature, Gov. Carney went to Washington, where he met the sec- retary of the interior and found him ready to carry out his part of the original agreement. Thinking, however, that the state ought to realize more than 60 cents on the dollar, the governor went on to New York and found that he could negotiate the bonds to better advantage. He then asked the secretary of the interior to release the state from the contract. The secretary readily consented, the governor returned to New York, where he sold $54,000 of the new issue and $1,000 of the old at 93 cents; $26,000 of the old issue at par, and $4,000 at 95 cents. In his message of Jan. 13, 1864, he thus explains his reasons for the course he adopted :
"I was led to regard the spirit, rather than the letter, of the law, because, on the first sale of bonds made, I realized $3,850 more than otherwise could have been realized ; because, in the arrangement made with the secretary of the interior, I secured $3,900, and $234.71 inter- est, accruing between April 25th and July Ist, 1863, more than other- wise could have been secured; and because in the last sale of $4,000 of the old issue of bonds, there were made $400 more than otherwise
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would have been made, thus saving to the state $8,384.71 by the course I pursued. Another potent reason influenced me. The credit of the state was established by it, at the very point where, above all others it was most important it should be established, both for it and its citi- zens, namely, in the city of New York."
The message does not state-probably owing to the governor's modesty-that one of the potent influences in establishing the state's credit in New York was his personal indorsement of the bonds, yet such was the case. . The Topeka Commonwealth of July 29. 1888, in commenting on the stransaction, said: "At this very critical moment Kansas was indeed in a pitiable condition. She was the seat of a ter- rible conflict and her finances were bankrupt. Governor Carney him- self started east and. negotiated a loan for a sum of money consider- ably over $100,000. It was made negotiable by the fact that he endorsed the paper individually. At this time he was very rich and thus an individual endorsing the paper of the State of Kansas for a fortune secured money with which to conduct the state government."
The legislature of 1863 adjourned on March 3, after enacting laws providing for the promotion of the state university, the agricultural college and the state normal school; the employment of teachers for the deaf and dumb; the location of an insane asylum at Osawatomie; the erection of a penitentiary at Lansing, and for funding the old ter- ritorial debt. On April 30 the commissioners appointed by the gov- ernor to select a site for the state university reported that they had decided on a tract of 40 acres near the city of Lawrence, and on Nov. 2 the governor issued a proclamation declaring the university per- manently located there. Manhattan was selected as the site of the agricultural college; the state normal school was established at Em- poria, and on the last day of the year the directors of the penitentiary reported that they had made a contract for the erection of a building. (For a more complete account of these institutions see each under its appropriate title.)
The summer of 1863 was a trying time for Kansas. All along the eastern border the people lived in constant fear of guerrilla invasions from Missouri. Appeals to the general government for aid were futile, as the Confederate armies at this time were particularly aggres- sive, and the life of the nation was the first consideration of the Federal administration. In this emergency the governor organized the patrol guard-a force of 150 mounted men-and some of this force were on duty day and night, watching the border. Each man of this force received from the private funds of the governor a dollar a day for his services and the use of his horse, though the United States furnished rations and forage. After the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Federal government found it possible to send troops to Kansas and the patrol was discontinued. A few days later the guerrilla leader, Quantrill, who it appears was waiting for just such an opportunity, made his famous raid to Lawrence. (See Quantrill's Raid.) By the
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