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 42
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The Cimarron has its source in the mountains of Union county, N. M. Flowing in an easterly direction its two branches enter Kansas in the southwest corner county-Morton-the north fork flowing across this county and the southeast corner of Stanton county and entering Grant. The south fork crosses Morton county and the northwest corner of Stevens and enters Grant county, where the two branches unite, the combined Cimarron then flowing in a southeast direction through Seward county and the extreme southwest corner of Meade county into Oklahoma. A few miles below the Kansas line the stream makes a turn, flows east about 25 miles, again enters Kansas in Clark county, flowing across the southeast corner of that county and leaving the state from the southwest corner of Comanche county. In Oklahoma the river flows about two-thirds the distance across that state and empties into the Arkansas river near the town of Leroy.
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Probably no other stream in Kansas can boast the natural scenery to be found along the Cimarron. An early day writer has said that the river traversed a "country remarkably rugged and broken, affording the most romantic and picturesque views imaginable. It is a tract of about 75 miles square in which nature has displayed a great variety of the most strange and whimsical vagaries. It is an assemblage of beautiful meadows, verdant ridges, and rude, misshapen piles of red clay, thrown together in the utmost apparent confusion, yet affording the most pleas- ant harmonies and presenting us in every direction an endless variety of curious and interesting objects." The early freighters and hunters have made mention of the wild fruits they found in abundance along the stream, including plums, grapes, choke cherries, gooseberries and cur- rants, of which there were three kinds, black, red and white. About the ravines and in the marshy ground along the stream there were several varieties of wild onions, resembling garlic in flavor, and which the trav- elers found very acceptable in cooking, to season meats. The Santa Fe trail struck the Cimarron in what is now Grant county, and from there into New Mexico closely followed the stream. The Cimarron is about 650 miles in length, of which about 175 miles are in Kansas.
Circleville, a village of Jackson county, is located 8 miles northwest of Holton, the county seat, on the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. It has banking facilities, telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with two rural mail routes. All the general lines of business are represented. The population in 1910 was 325. The town was founded by Maj. Thomas J. Anderson in 1863, and shortly after the survey Rufus Oursler erected a store and put up a combination grist and sawmill. In 1865-66 the Methodist Episcopal church erected a $10,000 seminary which was abandoned later for the reason that the church became interested in Baker University at Baldwin. For many years the building was used for school purposes. At the time the town was founded the people had to go to Jefferson for their mail, but later a postoffice was established at Holton.
Citizens' Industrial Alliance .- This association was organized at Topeka in Jan., 1891, and incorporated under the laws of Kansas. It subsequently became a part of the Farmers' Alliance movement. (See Farmers' Alliance.)
Civil Service .- A standard authority defines civil service as "That branch of the public service which includes all executive offices not connected with the army or navy." The same authority says: "Owing to the complexity of modern government and the variety of its functions, the civil service has become very complex, and the problem of its effec- tive administration a difficult one."
About 1830 what is known as the "spoils system" was engrafted upon the American civil service. Political parties adopted as their slogan the cry of "To the victors belong the spoils," and appointments to public office were made more with regard to political activity than to fitness for the duties to be discharged. By 1835 the conditions became such
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KANSAS HISTORY
that Daniel Webster declared in Congress that "Offices are created, not for the benefit of those who fill them, but for public convenience." Nearly half a century more elapsed before any steps were taken to reform the civil service or the methods of making appointments. But in Jan., 1883, Congress passed "An act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States," in which it was provided that the "merit system" should determine appointment and tenure of office of a large number of employees in the various departments of the government service.
Since that time a number of states and cities have adopted the merit system of making appointments in departments where the work is purely of an executive character, Wisconsin probably leading all the other states in the thoroughness with which the system is applied. Gov. Glick sought to have the educational, charitable and reformatory institutions of Kansas placed under this system, and announced in one of his mes- sages to the legislature that, "whether you so amend the law or not, the course indicated will govern the present executive in his actions and appointments, so that none of our state institutions shall be run in the interests of any party or faction, or turned into a political machine."
Nothing was done at that time, but the act of March 3, 1905, provided that "It shall be the duty of the governing board of trustees of the institutions hereinafter named forthwith to formulate rules and regula- tions prescribing, so far as can be done, the qualifications necessary in order to secure employment in their respective institutions, together with provision for ascertaining whether or not applicants for positions in such institutions are qualified to fill the same, with further provision for the selection of those most capable among such applicants."
It was also provided that such rules and regulations, once established, should be strictly followed by boards in making appointments, and that assistants, subordinate officers and employees might be appointed by the superintendent or other chief executive officer, and removed by him for cause, provided "that no political action or political affiliation shall be sufficient cause for removal." Any superintendent removing any one for political reasons was subject to forfeiture of his position.
The institutions named in the act were the schools for the blind, the deaf, the feeble minded, the soldiers' orphans home, the industrial schools, the state reformatory, the state penitentiary, "and all other charitable and penal institutions of the State of Kansas."
In all cities adopting the commission form of government under the provisions of the act of Feb. 10, 1909, the city commissioners must, by ordinance, appoint three civil service commissioners, whose duty it shall be to hold examinations and determine the qualifications of applicants for positions under the city government. And when a vacancy occurs, the civil service commission shall certify to the city commissioners two names from the eligible list for every vacancy to be filled, from which names the city commissioners shall select the person for appointment. No removals from the municipal civil service shall be made except for cause.
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The act of Feb. 12, 1908, placed the fire departments of cities of the first class under civil service regulations, by providing that all appoint- ments thereto should be made "solely on the basis of merit and fitness for service," and that no removals from the department should be made to make places for other men.
Civil War .- (See War of 1861-65.)
Claflin, an incorporated city of Barton county, is located in Independ- ent township, about 20 miles northeast of Great Bend, the county seat. The first settlement at Claflin was made in 1887, and in 1910 the city reported a population of 554. It is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R., has 2 banks, a flour mill, a creamery, a grain elevator, a machine shop, a weekly newspaper (the Clarion), Catholic and Protestant churches, a good public school system, and is the principal shipping and supply point for a large agricultural district, to the people of which its international money order postoffice supplies mail daily by two rural routes. The Odin school, a Catholic institution, is located at Claflin.
Claims .- At various periods and for various reasons Kansas has pre- sented claims against the United States. The first instance of this char- acter was in 1857, while Kansas was still a territory. During the border troubles many of the settlers suffered losses by having their stock driven off, their houses burned, etc. In his message to the legislature on Jan. 12, 1857, Gov. Geary said: "In traveling through the territory I have discovered great anxiety in relation to the damages sustained during the past civil disturbances, and everywhere the question has been asked as to whom they should look for indemnity. These injuries- burning houses, plundering fields and stealing horses and other property -have been a fruitful source of irritation and trouble, and have impover- ished many good citizens. They cannot be considered as springing from purely local causes, and as such, the subjects of territorial redress. . . . In adjusting the question of damages, it appears proper that a broad and comprehensive view of the subject should be taken; and I have accordingly suggested to the general government the propriety of recommending to Congress the passage of an act providing for the appointment of a commissioner to take testimony and report to Congress for final action, at as early a day as possible."
Acting upon the governor's recommendation, the legislature on Feb. 23, 1857, passed an act authorizing the appointment of a commissioner. Hiram J. Strickler was appointed and on March 7, 1858, he filed his report showing that he had examined claims amounting to $301,225, of which he had awarded $254,279.28. His report also gave a list of the claimants. Marcus J. Parrott, then the territorial delegate in Congress, presented a bill for the payment of these claims, but it was never reported back from the committee to which it was referred.
On Feb. 7, 1859, the legislature passed an act providing for the appointment of three commissioners-one by the governor, one by the council and one by the house-to investigate the claims and report, and a supplementary act authorized the commissioners to employ an
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KANSAS HISTORY
attorney. The governor appointed Edward Hoogland, the council appointed Henry J. Adams and the house appointed Samuel A. King- man. William McKay was engaged as attorney. This commission reported claims filed amounting to $676,020.21, of which $412,978.03 had been allowed. Subsequently bonds to the amount of $95,700 were issued, covering $5,400 of legislative warrants and $90,300 of claim warrants. The territorial legislature of 1860 adopted a concurrent resolution asking Congress to assume the payment of these bonds, but no action was taken by Congress, and the last territorial legislature in 1861 passed an act to prevent their payment. The first state legislature, which met in March, 1861, passed a similar act, and the claims for losses during the border war have never been paid.
Kansas was admitted into the Union on the eve of the great Civil war. The machinery of the state government had been in operation less than three months, when President Lincoln issued his call for volunteers to suppress a rebellion. Kansas responded promptly, and during the war the state was at heavy expense in raising and subsisting troops. In addition to that, the general government, by the act of Congress, approved on Aug. 5, 1861, levied a direct tax upon the states, the amount apportioned to Kansas being $71,743.33. The citizens of the state lost heavily in the various guerrilla raids and the Price invasion of 1864, and at the close of the war filed claims for damages for property destroyed or appropriated by the contending armies. Immediately following the Civil war, the state incurred heavy expenses in suppressing Indian uprisings on the western frontier-expenses which the state authorities felt should be borne by the United States, the Indians causing the trouble having been "wards of the government." Under the provisions of the Wyandotte constitution and the act of admission, Kansas was to receive sections 16 and 36 in each township for school purposes, certain lands for the benefit of a state university, and five per cent. of the proceeds of all public land sales within the state, but while the war was in progress these provisions were apparently forgotten.
In 1877 Gov. Anthony submitted a statement to the 45th Congress showing that the United States was indebted to the State of Kansas for miltary expenses to the amount of $470,726.15. In that year ex-Gov. Samuel J. Crawford was appointed state agent to look after the collec- tion of these claims, as well as the adjustment of the school lands and the recovery of the five per cent. of the public land sales. Crawford's final report in 1892 shows that he had adjusted claims and received pay- ment of the following sums of money to the state :
School lands (276,376 acres) valued at $ 345,470.03
Five per cent. on public land sales 755,919.81
Military claims 372,236.38
Direct tax refund 71,743.33
Total
(I-23)
$1,545,369.55
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CYCLOPEDIA OF.
Under the provisions of the act of the legislature, approved by Gov. Crawford on Feb. II, 1865, the secretary of state, adjutant-general and attorney-general were appointed a commission to audit the claim grow- ing out of the Price raid. This commission reported claims allowed amounting to $342,145.99. A new commission, consisting of W. N. Hanley, W. H. Fitzpatrick and D. E. Ballard, was appointed in 1867. This commission reduced the amount allowed by the former one to $240,258.77. Section 2 of the act of Feb. 26, 1867, provided: "That for the purpose of settling the claims audited and allowed by said board of commissioners, certificates to be known and designated as Union mili- tary scrip, shall be issued in sums of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1,000 dol- lars, as the claimants may desire, in an amount equal in the aggregate to the amount of claims allowed by said board of commissioners."
Under the act of Feb. 17, 1869, Levi Woodard, David Whitaker and T. J. Taylor were appointed a third commission and allowed claims amounting to $61,221.87. On Feb. 2, 1871, President Grant approved an act of Congress authorizing the appointment of a commission to investi- gate and report upon the Kansas Price raid claims. James A. Hardie, J. D. Bingham and T. H. Stanton, three officers of the regular army, were appointed, and they reported claims amounting to $337,054.38, which sum was appropriated by Congress by the act of June 8, 1872. Between the years 1878 and 1885, ex-Gov. Crawford, as state agent, col- lected $369,938.10 to be applied on these claims, and in Jan., 1888, an additional sum of $237.0I was received through Gov. Martin, making a total of $707.229.49 allowed by the general government for the pay- ment of the claims.
A joint resolution of the legislature, adopted on March 5, 1887, author- ized the governor to appoint a suitable person as auditing commis- sioner "who shall report to the legislature at its next regular or extra session a full and complete statement in detail of all Price raid claims which are unpaid and which have been audited and allowed by any com- mission heretofore appointed by authority of the legislature of Kansas, and upon which Union military scrip has been heretofore issued, and also all claims not heretofore audited which may be presented to him."
Gen. John C. Caldwell was appointed commissioner under the pro- visions of this resolution. He filed his report with the legislature of 1889, giving an alphabetical list of the original holders of the Union military scrip, of which the total issue was $584,035.20, and showing that of the $707,229.49 appropriated by Congress, $26,604.05 was credited to the state on account of the direct tax. He also showed that the state treasurer had paid claims amounting to $46,414.36 that had not been allowed by any commission, and had left unpaid $19,352.44 of claims that had been allowed. Of the scrip, certificates amounting to $336,817 were canceled in 1873, leaving a balance of $247,218.20. The report alludes to the fact that the state legislature appropriated $130,000 in 1881 for the payment of the claims, and since that time something over $300,000 had been appropriated by the general government for the same purpose.
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KANSAS HISTORY
Just before the opening of the legislative session of 1905 an effort was made to have Gov. Hoch recommend an appropriation for the purpose of settling the claims. The Topeka Capital of Jan. 5, 1905, said: "Of the sums appropriated by Congress, $26,604.05 was illegally used to pay the government direct war tax; $8,952.57 was illegally used for the state militia, and $334,618.48 was illegally turned into the state's general fund. The total amount of government money misued by the state was $372,175. Most of the original claimants are dead, and the bulk of the yellow scrip has been bought up by a few speculators for a cent or two on the dollar. On this account, perhaps, there is a lack of enthusiasm for the claims. However, there are a few old men and women, widows and children, who have held to the scrip as it came into the family, and they are making a strong appeal to the governor and the men who will direct the legislature this winter."
George W. Veale, J. L. Allen, R. H. Semple, T. P. Moore, A. M. Har- vey, L. G. Beal and J. M. Meade were appointed a legislative commit- tee on behalf of the scrip-holders, with instructions to issue an address to the people of Kansas on the subject. The address was issued and considerable influence was brought to bear to have the legislature pro- vide for the final redemption of the scrip, but that body failed to act.
The act of the legislature of Feb. 27, 1875, authorized the appoint- ment of a commission to audit and certify the amount of losses sustained by the citizens of Kansas through guerrilla raids at the time of the war, chiefly the Quantrill raid on Lawrence in Aug., 1863. These claims were known as the "Quantrill raid claims." The commission issued certificates for $882,390.11. Under the act of March 5, 1887, the state assumed the payment of these certificates, but a compromise was effected, the state paying $362,567.91 for principal and $104,720.26 for interest, a total of $467,288.17, which amount became a claim against the United States.
At the time of the Spanish-American war, Kansas expended $37,787.84 in raising, transporting and subsisting troops. Of this amount the United States refunded $37,200.19. Samuel J. Crawford was succeeded as state agent by W. W. Martin, who served until March 1, 1905, but none of his reports can be found, if he ever made any. John C. Nicholson then became state agent, and in the Kansas Magazine for July, 1909, he presents the following recapitulation of Kansas' account with the United States, the first column showing the amount paid by the state. and the second the amount reimbursed by the United States :
Raising troops, Civil war $ 52,202 $ 49,052
Interest and discount on above
101,938
97,466
For repelling Indian invasions
349,320
332,308
Interest and discount on above
438,961
425,065
Price raid
336,817
336,817
Quantrill raid
467,288
Spanish-American war
37,787
37,200
Total .$1,784,313
$1,277,908
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
Mr. Nicholson also shows the following claims allowed by authorized commissions, but unpaid :
Territorial period
$ 412,972
Price raid, balance
248,218
Quantrill raid, balance
415,102
Total
$1,076,292
Concerning the Price raid claims, Mr. Nicholson says: "The unset- tled Price raid claims have been for many years a source of great annoy- ance and dispute, and it is generally admitted that the state ought to pay the unsettled claims allowed by the Hardie commission. The dif- ficulty in adjusting the matter is greatly increased by the fact that duplicate scrip was fraudulently issued for part of the claims."
Clara, a village of Washington county, is situated about 12 miles southwest of Washington, the county seat, and in 1910 reported a popu- lation of 40. Mail is received through the postoffice at Haddam, which is the nearest railroad station.
Clare, a village in the central part of Johnson county, is located on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 5 miles southwest of Olathe, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities and in 1910 had a population of 10.
Clark County .- On Feb. 26, 1867, Gov. Crawford approved an act of the legislature defining the boundaries of a number of new coun- ties in the western part of the state. Section. 39 of that act reads: "The county of Clarke shall be bounded as follows: Commencing where the east line of range 21 west intersects the sixth standard parallel, thence south to the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude, thence west to the east line of range 26 west, thence north to the sixth standard parallel, thence east to the place of beginning."
By the act of March 6, 1875, the northern boundary was moved north- ward 6 miles, to the north line of township 30 south, and the western boundary was fixed at the "east line of range 27 west." The county was named for Charles F. Clarke, who entered the volunteer service in the Civil war as a captain in the Sixth Kansas cavalry, was com- missioned assistant adjutant-general on June 12, 1862, and died at Mem- phis, Tenn., on the 10th of the following December. In the original creative act the name is spelled with the final "e," but in the act of 1873 and all subsequent legislation affecting the county the last letter was dropped from the name.
As an unorganized county, Clark was attached to Ford county for judicial purposes only until Feb. 21, 1883, when Gov. Glick approved an act including Clark in Ford county, in order that the latter might benefit by the taxation of the large cattle interests. This did not please the few settlers in Clark county, and by the act of March 7, 1885, Clark was reestablished with its present boundaries, extending from the east
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line of range 21 to the east line of range 26 west, and from the north line of township 30 south to the southern boundary of the state. By the same act the county was attached to Comanche for judicial purposes.
Clark county has an altitude of nearly 2,000 feet, Ashland, the county seat, being situated 1,950 feet above sea level. The surface is gen- erally level prairie, sloping gently southward toward the Cimarron river, which crosses the southern boundary near the center and flows in an easterly direction until it enters Comanche county about 5 miles north of the state line. All the streams of the county are directly or indirectly tributary to the Cimarron. The principal creeks are Bluff, Beaver, Bear, and Big and Little Sand creeks. Near the center of the county is an elevation, to which H. C. Inman, quartermaster of the Custer expedition in 1868 gave the name of "Mount Jesus." In the winter of 1868-69 a trail was made from Fort Dodge to Camp Supply in the Indian Territory, over which government supplies were taken to the latter post. It passed near the elevation mentioned, and became known as the "Mount Jesus trail." In 1870 a new trail was opened, over which the cattle drovers passed to Dodge City and the northern ranges. It was known as the "Texas Cattle Drive," and during the ten years from 1876 to 1885 some 2,000,000 cattle passed over this trail. There is not much native timber in the county. Along the streams are narrow belts of hackberry, walnut, mulberry and cottonwood, the last named being the most common.
The settlement of the county was slow for several years after it was established. In the spring of 1871 the county was surveyed, and in 1874 John Glenn built a road ranch where Ashland now stands. Two graves were found there, supposed to be the graves of men killed by the Indians in 1871, and the place was at first known as "Soldiers' 'Graves." A weekly stage route from Dodge City to Camp Supply was established in 1875 and four years later it became a daily stage line. In 1876 a large cattleman named Driscoll located a ranch in Clark county, being the first heavy cattleman in that part of the country. The following winter three Benedictine priests came to a mound about 3 miles northeast of Ashland, which they named Mount Casino, with a view of founding a college for invalids and establishing a colony. The movement was discouraged by the cattlemen, the priests lost their horses through an Indian raid, and after a few months aban- doned the attempt. Spencer brothers later located their ranch near Mount Casino. Two men came to the Sand creek valley in the spring of 1878 and made a crop there that season, but did not become per- manent settlers.
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