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, Volume II > Part 101
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Utica, a town in Ness county, is located in Ohio township on the Mis- souri Pacific R. R., about 20 miles northwest of Ness City, the county seat. It has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the Enterprise), a number of retail establishments, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 400.
Utopia, a hamlet of Greenwood county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 8 miles northeast of Eureka, the county seat. There is a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 30.
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Valeda, a village of Labette county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. in Howard township, 29 miles southwest of Oswego. There is a money order postoffice with one rural route and an express office. The population in 1910 was 100. The site was owned by the Excelsior Town and Mining company. The plat was filed in 1886. The first building was a merchandise store erected by Stone & Willie. Dr. Kenworth opened the first drug store. The town of Deerton was moved to Valeda.
Valencia, a hamlet in Shawnee county, is located in Dover township, on the Kansas river and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., 12 miles west of Topeka, the county seat. It has a general store, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 50.
Valhalla, a country postoffice in Gove county, is located on the Smoky Hill river, 16 miles southeast of Gove, the county seat, and 10 miles north of Pendennis, Lane county, the nearest shipping point.
Valley, a country postoffice in Trego county, is located in Franklin township on the Smoky Hill river, 20 miles south of Wakeeney, the county seat, and about 12 from Ransom, the nearest shipping point.
Valley, a hamlet in Hodgeman county, is located on the Pawnee river, 12 miles north of Jetmore, the county seat and nearest shipping point, and the postoffice from which it receives mail. The population in 1910 was 15.
Valley Center, an incorporated city of the third class in Sedgwick county, is located in Valley Center township on the Little Arkansas river, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the St. Louis & San Fran- cisco railroads, II miles north of Wichita, the county seat. It has a
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broom manufacturing establishment, a bank, a weekly newspaper (the Index), schools and churches, a number of general stores, telegraph and express offices, and an international money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population in 1910 was 381. This is the shipping and receiving point for a large agricultural and stock raising district and is headquarters for a number of men extensively engaged in stock breeding.
Valley Falls, formerly Grasshopper Falls, the largest town in Jeffer- son county and one of the important towns of northeastern Kansas, is located in the northwestern part of the county, 16 miles from Oska- loosa, the county seat, and about 25 miles from Topeka. It is in Dela- ware township on the Delaware river, which furnishes power for its flour mills. It is an important shipping point and railroad center, having three of the large roads converging there-the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific and the Union Pacific. Besides the regular lines of business, Valley Falls has a creamery, flour mills, spa- cious elevators for storing grain, waterworks, electric light plant, an opera house and two weekly newspapers. The principal shipments are grain, live stock and produce. The population in 1910 was 1.150. St. Joseph's school (Roman Catholic) is located here.
Grasshopper Falls was settled in 1854 by Henry Zen, who had visited the locality two years before, accompanying Maj. Ogden to Fort Riley. Zen was often visited by the Kickapoo Indians after erecting his cabin. but was never molested. In the fall he was ordered to leave the coun- try by the agent for the Indians. The next settlement was a permanent one, by James Frazier, Robert Riddle. H. B. Jolley and A. J. Whitney. who drove their stakes on Christmas day, 1854. Their first act was to stake out the boundaries of a town and plat the lots. They then began the erection of a cabin but before it was finished the provisions ran low and one of the number went to Weston, Mo., for a new supply. He was gone eleven days and there was much suffering in the camp before he re- turned. About this time Zen returned and with him was Henry Webber. Stephen H. Dunn came in March, 1855. with his wife and started a blacksmith shop. A grist mill was built by a company composed of James Frazier, Robert Riddle, A. J. Whitney and Isaac Cody. The latter was the father of "Buffalo Bill," and was elected representative to the legislature from Jefferson county. In the spring of 1855 the town was surveyed and named Grasshopper Falls. The legislature changed the name to "Sautrelle Falls," but the citzens never recognized the name and it was later changed to Valley Falls. The streets were named after the pioneer women.
Considerable trouble was occasioned by the location on the town site of a pro-slavery man by the name of A. T. Pattie. He refused to recognize the rights of those who founded the town and built a shanty in the middle of the street, finally becoming so offensive that he was driven out of town. This action on the part of the free-state men re- sulted in Grasshopper Falls being raided and looted in Sept .. 1856. The
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store of William and R. H. Crosby, which had been built in the spring of that year, was burned. This was the beginning of a long list of depredations committed by each side in turn, which continued through- out the border war. The Crosby store was rebuilt and Pattie's buildings were used as a temporary home for immigrants.
At the land sales the rights of the town company were not recognized and the land which they had staked out, comprising 320 acres, was laid off in quarter sections and sold at tlie appraised value. Different men lad to buy these lands and as some of them never turned their holdings ยท over to the county the stockholders suffered a loss. This condition of affairs gave rise to considerable trouble in the way of land contests. In the year 1857, after the land sale, a number of buildings went up, includ- ing a Lutheran church, a steam sawmill and a large hotel. The first school was established in that year and Miss Libbie Pennock, of Leaven- worth county, was the teacher.
Grasshopper Falls was incorporated as a town in 1869, and in 1871 it was incorporated as a city. S. C. Gephart was the first mayor and John Beland the first clerk. In 1875 the name was changed to Valley Falls by act of the legislature.
Vance, a village of Wyandotte county, is situated about 6 miles west of Kansas City, the county seat, on the Missouri Pacific R. R. and on the electric line that runs from Kansas City to Fort Leavenworth. It is a local trading point of some importance and receives mail by rural de- livery from Bethel. The population in 1910 was 120. There is also a hamlet called Vance in Linn county on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. R., 5 miles north of Selma, the postoffice through which mail is re- ceived.
Varck, a hamlet in Cherokee county, is located in Garden township on Spring river and the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R., 14 miles south- east of Columbus, the county seat, and 3 miles from Baxter Springs. It receives mail from Galena.
Varner, a hamlet of Kingman county, is located on the Atchison, To- peka & Santa Fe R. R., 8 miles north of Kingman, the county seat. It has an express office, some local trade and a postoffice. The population, according to the census of 1910, was 50.
Vassar, a small town in the central part of Osage county, is located in Junction township on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 7 miles northeast of Lyndon, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 75.
Vaughn, a hamlet in Rawlins county, is located at the headwaters of the Driftwood, 15 miles northwest of Atwood, the county seat, and 8 miles north of Beardsley, the nearest railroad station. It receives mail from Benkelman, Neb., 15 miles to the northwest. The population in TTO was 24.
Vega, a hamlet in Wallace county, is located near Ladder creek, 9 miles south of Sharon Springs, the county seat, and 6 miles northwest
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of Ladder, the postoffice from which it receives mail. The population in 1910 was IO.
Vegetarian Settlement Company .- In the summer of 1855 a few men got together in the city of New York and projected a company for the purpose of establishing a colony in the Territory of Kansas. In Septem- ber of that year Dr. John McLaurin, one of the promoters, visited Kan- sas to select a site for the proposed settlement. After traveling for several weeks along various streams, he decided in favor of a location on the left bank of the Neosho river, in the southeast corner of Allen county and about 6 miles south of the present town of Humboldt. Hav- ing made his selection, he returned to New York, and on Jan. 5, 1856, the organization of the company was completed by the adoption of a consti- tution, of which the following is the preamble :
"Whereas, the practice of vegetarian diet is best adapted to the de- velopment of the highest and noblest principles of human nature, and the use of the flesh of animals for food tends to the physical, moral and intellectual injury of mankind, and it is desirable that those persons who believe in the vegetarian principle should have every opportunity to live in accordance therewith, and should unite in the formation of a company for the permanent establishment, in some portion of this coun- try, of a home where the slaughter of animals for food shall be pro- hibited, and where the principle of the vegetarian diet can be fairly and fully tested, so as to demonstrate more fully its advantages; therefore,
"Resolved, That we, the undersigned, do hereby agree to form our- selves into a Vegetarian Settlement Company, and to abide by the fol- lowing constitution."
The constitution declared the object of the company to be the estab- lishment of permanent homes in which there would be concerted action for a system of direct healing and the practice of the vegetarian principle, as applied to human diet. The company was to be operated on the mutual joint stock plan, the capital stock to be divided into as many shares as there were acres in the colony. Members were required to be persons of good moral character, not slaveholders, and applications for membership were subject to the approval of the board of directors. Each member was required to pay an entrance fee of one dollar and an installment of ten cents a share on not less than twenty shares of five dollars each.
Charles H. DeWolf was elected president of the company ; Henry S. Clubb, secretary ; and Dr. John McLaurin, treasurer. One of the first acts of the officials of the company was to levy an assessment of 10 per cent. (50 cents a share), to provide a fund with which to erect a saw and grist mill, purchase a stock of provisions, seed grain, tents, uten- sils, etc., the assessment to fall due on Jan. 1, 1856. As this date pre- ceded by a few days the completion of the organization, each member was immediately called upon to pay $10 into this equipment fund. Head- quarters were established at No. 308 Broadway, N. Y., where all fees and assessments were payable, and from which place the operations of the company were directed.
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The first colonists, accompanied by the secretary of the company, arrived early in the spring of 1856. Others came in later, and by July I there were probably 100 settlers on the ground. These trusting peo- ple were doomed to disappointment. The management had failed to erect the mills, provide supplies, etc., as promised, though the members of the company had generally been prompt in paying their assessments for that purpose. Charges of speculation and dishonesty were made, and to add to the discomfort of the settlers their fields were raided by the Indians and their crops destroyed. . As winter approached the sufferings of the colonists increased. Those who had the means to get away re- turned to their old homes in the East; others sought relief in other set- tlements, and by the spring of 1857 all that was left of the Vegetarian Colony, which started out with such brilliant promises, was the name "Vegetarian," applied to a small tributary of the Neosho near the set- tlement.
Venango, a hamlet in Ellsworth county, is located 20 miles southeast of Ellsworth, the county seat, and about 7 miles from Marquette in Mc- Pherson county, the nearest railroad station and the postoffice from which it receives mail.
Vera, a hamlet in Wabaunsee county, is located on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., 14 miles east of Alma, the county seat, and 4 miles east of Paxico, the postoffice from which it receives mail.
Verbeck, an inland hamlet in Barton county, is located 21 miles north- east of Great Bend, the county seat, and 12 miles in the same direction from Hoisington, the nearest shipping point and the postoffice from which its mail is distributed by rural route. The population in 1910 was 29.
Verdi, a station on the Union Pacific R. R., in Ottawa county, is located in Buckeye township, 15 miles southeast of Minneapolis, the county seat. It has an express office and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 65.
Verdigris, a rural hamlet in Lyon county, is located in the extreme southwestern part of the county on the Verdigris river, 8 miles from Olpe, the nearest shipping point and railroad station, from which it is supplied with mail by rural route, and 16 miles from Emporia, the county seat.
Verdigris River, a stream of southeastern Kansas, has a history dating back considerably over a century. It is mentioned by Pike at the time of his visit to that section in 1806 and also by Nuttall in 1818. The river flows through a rich country that in early days produced much in the way of furs. A number of trading houses were located along its course from time to time, the most important of which was probably that operated by a man named Glenn in 1819, located at a point about a mile above its confluence with the Arkansas river. Clermont's band of Osage Indians was located on the stream about this time and is men- tioned by S. H. Long in his travels. By the treaty of 1834 with the Cherokee Indians the Verdigris river was named as a part of the bound-
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ary of their lands. The stream has its source in several small streams, one of which rises in eastern Chase county, one in northern Greenwood county and two in southern Lyon county. It flows in a southeasterly direction across Greenwood county, the extreme southwestern corner of Woodson county, Wilson and Montgomery counties, entering Oklahoma almost due south of Coffeyville. From there the stream flows through the counties of Nowata, Rogers and Wagoner, Okla., uniting with the Arkansas river near the town of Wybark, about 3 miles from Fort Gib- son. Among the more important tributaries of the Verdigris are Willow, Homer. Sandy, Drum, Big Hill, Pumpkin and Onion creeks, and Paw and Fall rivers in Kansas, and Big Caney and Little Verdigris rivers. Bird creek and about two dozen smaller streams in Oklahoma. The esti- mated length of the stream is about 270 miles, a little over one-half of which is in Kansas.
Vermillion, a village of Noble township. Marshall county, is located 28 miles southeast of Marysville, the county seat, on the Missouri Pacific R. R. and the Black Vermillion river. It is the trading point for a large section of farming country, has banking facilities, grain elevators, a newspaper, schools, churches, express and telegraph offices, and an inter- national money order postoffice with four rural mail routes. In 1910 the population was 366.
Among those who located on the site of Vermillion as early as 1860 were Theodore Collier, J. E. Watson, G. R. Kelley, W. H. Dickinson. R. Shields and A. Dilley. The town was located in 1869, the original site containing 240 acres, owned as follows: The railroad company, 40 acres ; Theodore Collier, 40 acres; and G. R. Kelley, 160 acres. Collier and Kelley each gave half their interests to the railroad company, which laid off the town and built a depot and side track. The first building was crected in 1870 by W. H. Dickinson. The postoffice was established the same year with Theodore Collier as postmaster.
Vernon, one of the villages of Woodson county, is in Everett town- ship and is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 10 miles northeast of Yates Center, the county seat. It has the main lines of mercantile interests, is supplied with express and telegraph offices, and has a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population, according to the census of 1910, was 100. It is the shipping and supply center for the farmers of the vicinity. The name was originally Talmage, but was changed to Vernon by act of the legislature, March 9, 1891.
Vesper, a little town in Lincoln county, is located on the Union Pacific R. R., 6 miles west of Lincoln, the county seat. It has a bank, 2 grain elevators, several stores, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 100. Vesper postoffice was established in 1873 and for several years was moved around the neighborhood from house to house. When the railroad was built, in 1886, it was moved to the station and a town grew up around it.
Veteran Brotherhood .- (See Grand Army of the Republic.)
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KANSAS HISTORY
Victor, a post-hamlet of Mitchell county, is located in Blue Ilill town- ship, 18 miles southwest of Beloit, the county seat, and 16 miles north of Vesper, the nearest shipping point. It receives mail daily. The popu- lation in 1910 was 40.
Victoria, a little town in Ellis county, is located in Victoria township on the Union Pacific R. R., 10 miles east of Hays, the county seat. It has 2 banks, 2 mills, a grain elevator, a number of retail establishments, telegraph office, and a money order postoffice. The population is about 200. It is in the midst of a Russian settlement, one of the largest Cath- olic monasteries in the state is located here, and a fine Catholic church has just been built at a cost of $80,000. It is in the midst of a large agricultural district for which it is the receiving and shipping point.
Videttes .- About the beginning of the year 1888, representatives of the various labor organizations in Kansas got together and formed a secret, oath-bound society which was named the "Videttes." The order spread rapidly over the state until it included nearly all those opposed to the policies of the old political parties. On May 15, 1888, a con- vention assembled at Cincinnati, Ohio, organized the Union Labor party and nominated Alson J. Streeter for president. The Videttes were pow- erful enough at that time to control the action of the convention, and at Cincinnati the leading delegates from each state were initiated into the order, the object of this move being to control the policy of the l'non Labor party in such a way as to prevent fusion or coalition with either the Republican or Democratic party.
The ritual of the Videttes was printed in a code. After the Cincin- nati convention the demand for copies of this ritual became so great that by the middle of the summer the supply was exhausted. It therefore became necessary to order a new edition, which was printed at the office of the Nonconformist at Winfield, Kan. Here a printer got hold of a copy of the ritual and the key to the code, which he turned over to a leader in the Republican party. The ritual was rendered into plain Eng- lish by the aid of the key, and on a given date was issued in the form of a supplement by nearly every Republican newspaper in the state. Names of prominent leaders and promoters of the Videttes were pub- lished in connection with the ritual, and the order was generally de- nounced as "anarchistic and contrary to the spirit and principles of American institutions."
It is doubtful, however, whether any votes were changed in the gen- eral election of that year, but the effect was to destroy in a measure the usefulness of the order. Accordingly, on Dec. 19, 1888, representatives of the Videttes met at Wichita, pursuant to the call of the commander, and disbanded as an organization, though the members immediately formed the State Reform Association, which was calculated to work along similar lines, but without a secret ritual. The State Reform Asso- ciation subsequently played a rather conspicuous part in the work of the Farmers' Alliance. (See Farmers' Alliance.)
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Vigilance Committees .- During the early days in Kansas, before civil government had become thoroughly established, numerous secret organ- izations known as viligance committees were organized along the east- ern and southern boundaries of Kansas and the western boundary of Missouri. The main purpose of these committees was the protection of their horses and other live stock, and in emergencies for the trial of horse thieves and other offenders. Upon the apprehension of any criminal, he was given a prompt trial by these self-constituted authori- ties, and if his guilt was sufficient his punishment was both speedy and final.
Vilas, a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. in Wilson county, is located in Colfax township near the east line of the county, 16 miles northeast of Fredonia, the county seat. The town was started after the building of the railroad in 1886. It is on the border of a splen- did gas field, the strongest well in the county being located 3 miles northeast. It has an express office and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 58.
Villazur's Expedition .- As early as 1700 the French hunters and trap- pers were active on the great plains, in the endeavor to establish friendly relations with the Indians and gain control of the fur trade in the region extending from the Missouri and Platte rivers to the eastern border of New Mexico. It may have been due to French influence that, in 1705, five tribes-the Apaches, Comanches, Faraones, Utes and Navajos- formed a confederacy, the object of which was twofold: Ist, to keep the Spaniards of New Mexico from venturing upon the plains, and 2d, to maintain hostilities against them until they were compelled to sue for peace. Marauding parties made frequent incursions into Spanish territory, but after a little while discontent and jealousy began to develop among the tribes forming the confederacy, and the alliance came to an end.
About 1718 the Kitkehaki clan of the Pawnee tribe was sent to estab- lish a permanent village at some suitable point near the confluence of the north and south forks of the Platte. The principal reasons for this move on the part of the Pawnees was doubtless to form a base for hunt- ing the buffaloes which were to be found there in large numbers during the warm season, and at the same time have a portion of the tribe in the position of an advance guard to prevent the Spaniards from explor- ing or occupying the country between the Pawnee villages and the mountains on the west, particularly that section drained by the Platte and its tributaries. By 1719 the conditions on the plains were such that Don Antonio Valverde Cossio, governor of the province of New Mexico, determined to assume the offensive and lead an expedition into the Indian country.
With 105 Spanish soldiers and 30 Apaches to act as guides and scouts, he set out from Santa Fe. Prof. John B. Dunbar thinks he moved northward to Jicarilla, near the southern border of the present State of Colorado and 110 miles from Santa Fe, where a few days' halt was made;
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thence northeast to El Quartelejo, 240 miles from Jicarilla, which was tlie limit of his operations, and as both these posts were occupied by friendly Apaches, Valverde never entered hostile territory. However, upon his return to Santa Fe, he boasted of having ventured some dis- tance northward from El Quartelejo, and in his report to the viceroy he mentioned the presence of a village on the Platte, occupied by Pawnees and French hunters and trappers.
The viceroy, the Marquis de Valero, evidently did not place much confidence in the report, for he issued instructions to Valverde to organ- ize immediately a force, with which he was to march to the Pawnee village "and once there to take such measures as would be deemed most suitable to promote the best interest of each party concerned." Val- verde managed to evade the order, so far as personal command was concerned, and Lieut .- Col. Don Pedro de Villazur was placed at the head of the expedition.
Although Valverde had about 150 men with him the preceding year, Villazur was assigned but 50, and with this small force he left Santa . Fe on June 14, 1720. The first halt was at Jicarilla, where Villazur hoped to secure a considerable force of Apaches to serve as bowmen and outrunners. After a few days' rest at Jicarilla, the expedition pushed on to El Quartelejo, in what is now Scott county, Kan. From that point the march to the Platte was almost due north, and on the morn- ing of Aug. 15 the expedition reached the summit of an eminence about a mile south of the Platte, from which the Pawnee village could be plainly seen on the opposite side of the river. Later in the day Villa- zur moved with his little force down the Platte, to a point about 2 miles east of the junction of the north and south forks, where the tall, dense grass was cut away from an area of more than an acre, thus forming an open space, in which a camp was established. The north side of the open space was immediately upon the bank of the river, the other three sides being bordered by the tall, uncut grass.
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