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 109
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White City, an incorporated city of the third class in Morris county, is located in Rolling Prairie township on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads 17 miles northwest of Council Grove, the county seat. It has 2 banks, a weekly newspaper (the Register), a number of retail establishments, telegraph and express offices, and an, international money order postoffice with four rural routes. Grain produce and live stock are extensively shipped. The population in 1910 was 506. The town was founded in 1871 by a colony numbering about 40 families organized in Chicago. The first house was built by Thomas Eldridge and the first store by James Thornley and W. N. Dunbar. A good school house was erected in 1873 and Adam Dixon was the first teacher.
White Cloud, one of the important towns of Doniphan county, is located on the Missouri river and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. 20 miles northwest of Troy, the county seat. It is an incor- porated city and has 2 banks, a weekly newspaper, opera house and other business and educational institutions. Stages run daily to Forest City, Mo. There are express and telegraph offices and a money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population in 1910 was 735.
The White Cloud town company was organized in 1857 with $45,000 capital and the following members: John H. Utt, James Foster, Dr. H. W. Peter, Cornelius Dorland, Enoch Spaulding, Richard Gatling, who invented the Gatling gun, and his brother. Previous to this Spaulding and Utt had secured the site, laid out part of the town, and named it White Cloud, after the chief of the Iowas who was killed in the Nemaha region in 1854. On July 4, 1857, there was a great cele- bration and barbecue in honor of the new town. Four steamboats and 2,000 people were there. The St. Joseph band furnished music, and there were a number of speeches by celebrated men of the time. Specu- lators were busy selling lots, and the net sales of the day amounted to $23,794. A number of buildings had been erected before the sale, a log house by Thomas Lease, a frame structure by a Mr. Byrd and a build- ing on Main street by Briggs & Jennings. The first drug store was
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opened by Shreve & Macey, the former being the first physician. V. D). Markham was the first attorney. The first mayor was C. Dorlan and the first city clerk a Mr. Brown. The postoffice was established in 1857 and C. F. Jennings appointed postmaster.
White Cloud, a chief of the lowa Indians, was at one time head of his tribe and lived near the Missouri river at the place known as Iowa Point. His Indian name was Mo-hos-ka. His dwelling, a double hewed log house, stood on land now owned by Frank Potter, and near his residence. The Pawnee Indians were the mortal foes of the Iowas, and on one of their trips White Cloud was shot with an arrow by a Pawnee boy and killed. He was taken home for burial and his grave is near a large tree overlooking the Missouri river, below Iowa Point. After his death Nan-cha-nin-ga, or No Heart, succeeded as head chief of the tribe.
White Hair, an Osage chief, was the head man of the Great Osages and an influential chief about the beginning of the 19th century. He was also known as Teshuhimga, Cahagatonga, Pahuska or Pawhuska, and as Cheveux Blancs by the French. The Osages in 1806 lived on the Little Osage river in the present Vernon county, Mo., in a village known as White Hair's village, where they were visited by Lieut. Pike at that time. In 1825 and 1837 the tribe lived on the west bank of the Neosho river in the present State of Kansas, their village here, also known as White Hair's village, being situated about 5 miles west of the present town of Oswego, Richland township, Labette county. Pike makes the assertion that White Hair was a chief of Pierre Chouteau's creating, and that he had neither the power nor disposition to restrain the young men from the perpetration of wrong acts. fearing he would render him- self unpopular. Pike was treated in a hospitable manner by White Hair and presented that worthy and his son with "grand medals." When Pike left White Hair sent his son, whom Pike describes as a discontented young man, filled with self-pride, as an embassy, but he soon tired and left.
"White Hair seems to be identical with Papuisea (Pahusca?), who was the first signer of the treaty with the Osages at Fort Clark Nov. 10, 1808. He signed also the treaties of Sept 22, 1815; Sept. 25, 1818; Aug: 31, 1822; June 2, 1825; and Aug. 10, 1825. He died probably soon after the day last mentioned at his village in Vernon county, Mo., and was buried in a stone tomb on the summit of Blue Mound. The grave was after desecrated by treasure seekers and prior to 1850 the chief parts of the skeleton had been taken. About 1871 some of the Osages went from Kansas and rebuilt the cairn formerly covering White Hair's remains, but the whites would permit neither the stones nor the few bones of the old chief to remain." In 1865 the question of the loca- tion of the old White Hair village was the subject of some correspond- ence between the governor and G. J. Endicott.
Whitelaw, a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. in Greeley county. is located 4 miles east of Tribune, the county seat. It receives its mail from Tribune by rural delivery.
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White Plume (Wom-pa-wa-ra, "He who scares all men"), a chief of the Kansas Indians, was born about 1763 and died past 70 years of age. He is described by Catlin as "a very urbane and hospitable man of good, portly size, speaking some English, and making himself good company for all persons who travel through his country and have the good luck to shake his liberal and hospitable hand." The government built a substantial stone house for White Plume about 1827 or 1828, but for some reason he refused to abide in it, preferring his old-style wigwam, which he erected in the door yard of his official palace. This house stood about 50 yards north of the present Union Pacific depot in the village of Williamstown, Jefferson county. Father P. J. De Smet, the Jesuit missionary, in speaking of White Plume, says: "Among the chiefs of this tribe are found men really distinguished in many respects. The most celebrated was White Plume." John T. Irving, in his Indian Sketches, thus describes this dignitary: "He was tall and muscular, though his form through neglect of exercise was fast verging towards corpulency. He wore a hat after the fashion of the whites, a calico hunting shirt and rough leggings. Over the whole was wrapped a heavy blanket. His face was unpainted and although his age was nearly seventy, his hair was raven black and his eye was as keen as a hawk's. He was the White Plume, chief of the Konza nation." United States Senator Charles Curtis is a descendant of this famous chief.
White Rock, a village of Republic county, is located on the west side of the Republican river in White Rock township about 14 miles north- west of Belleville, the county seat. It was the first settlement west of the Republican river and was settled in 1866 by Thomas Lovewell. The town was laid out in 1871. Indian outrages were common and before 1870 some 25 people were either killed or carried away from this settlement. At one time White Rock was an important point. It was in the path of the leading emigrant route from Nebraska to the homestead territory. In 1873 there were 3 general stores, a sawmill, a corn mill and a hotel. At present there are no business houses, only about 30 people, and the mail comes by rural route from Courtland.
White Rock Massacre .- Early in April, 1867, a small band of Chey- ennes found their way into the settlements on White Rock creek, and under the guise of being friendly Otoes, were admitted into the home of a settler named Ward and given food. One of the savages noticed a rifle belonging to the host and, taking it down, shot him as he unsus- pectingly smoked his pipe. The two Ward boys made a dash for their lives, the Indians firing at and wounding one of them fatally. Mrs. Ward barricaded herself in the house and waited the next move of the savages, who procured an ax, chopped down the door and looted the house. The confiscated plunder was loaded on two mules, the prop- erty of Mr. Ward, and, with Mrs. Ward as prisoner, the Indians hur- riedly left to join their tribe on the Solomon. Cloud and Clay county settlers started in pursuit, but as the Indians had several days' start they were never overtaken. The fate of Mrs. Ward was never learned.
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White Water, an incorporated city of the third class in Butler county, is located in Milton township on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Missouri Pacific railroads. It has 2 banks, 2 flour mills, grain elevators, an alfalfa mill, a weekly newspaper (the Independent), a large number of retail establishments, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population in 1910 was 518. The town is located in the midst of a prosperous farming district and handles large quantities of grain, produce and live stock annually.
Whitewater River .- This stream rises in the southern part of Marion county about 6 miles west of the village of Burns, flows south and unites with the Walnut river at a point about a mile south of the town of Augusta, Butler county. The stream has only one tributary of con- sequence-the West Whitewater -- which has its source near the town of Walton in Harvey county, and unites with the Whitewater a little north of the village of Towanda, Butler county. The length of the
WHITEWATER FALLS NEAR TOWANDA.
stream is about 35 miles. During the '6os the late James R. Mead of Wichita had a ranch and trading house on the Whitewater, the town of Towanda now occupying the site. In 1868 the Nineteenth Kansas cavalry, while on the march to the Indian Territory, stopped at Mead's ranch for supplies on the evening of Nov. II.
White, William Allen, journalist, author and one of the best known men in Kansas, was born at Emporia, Kan., Feb. 10, 1868, the son of Dr. Allen and Mary (Hatton) White. He is directly descended from Peregrine White, who came over in the Mayflower. His maternal
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ancestors were natives of Dublin, Ireland, and his maternal grand- mother, Fear Perry, was a relative of Commodore Perry. In 1869 Dr. White removed to Eldorado, Kan., where William passed his boyhood. This locality is the "Willow Creek" of his early stories, and also the "Boyville" where White was "Piggy Pennington." He graduated from the high school in 1884 and the next year started to work as "devil" on the Butler county Democrat. In 1886 he began his real newspaper career as reporter and city circulator for the Eldorado Republican. Next he learned to set type, run a job press and write items for a coun- try newspaper. In the fall he went to Lawrence to attend the state university but returned to work on the paper at the close of the school year. During 1887 and 1888 he attended the university and, in the summer of 1888 worked on the Lawrence Journal as a reporter. In 1890 he left college without completing his course and again went to work on the Eldorado Republican. From Eldorado he went to Kan- sas City as correspondent and editorial writer on the Journal and sub- sequently on its rival, the Star. In 1895 he borrowed money and bought the Emporia Gazette in order to have a paper that he could run to suit himself. The paper was on the down grade when he purchased it, but within three years he had paid for it and expended $1,000 on im- provements. Mr. White runs the Gazette as a Republican journal in an independent fashion, but it is worth noting that no rival has ever been able to secure a foothold in Emporia since White "came into his own," though there have been numerous attempts to do so. During the campaign of 1896 he wrote an article called "What's the Matter with Kansas," the press took it up all over the country and chairman Hanna made the statement that this editorial "was more widely circulated by the Republican National Committee than any other document sent out by it." Mr. White is regarded as an asset by both the Republicans and Democrats ; he is a mixture of simplicity and shrewdness, but no one can prophesy what he will do or say next, while behind his eccentrici- ties there is a real, honest, warm-hearted man. He possesses to a marked degree the "human touch," which is so noticeable in his works. One of his first books was a collection of stories entitled "The Real Issue," which was a decided success. His articles on public men, pub- lished in McClure's Magazine, created a stir in political circles. In 1899 a study of boy life appeared by him under the title "Court of Boy- ville." Since then he has published "In Our Town" and "A Certain Rich Man" which have made him famous. Mr. White is a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1893 he married Sallie Lindsay of Kansas City, Kann., and they have one child, William Lind- say. It has been said of Mr. White that he can criticise with no sug- gestion of hositility, and praise with no hint of favoritism, and this is one of his greatest holds upon the people.
Whitfield, John W., the first delegate to Congress from the Territory of Kansas, was born in Tennessee, but came to Tecumseh, Kan., early in the '50s and began to take an active part in local politics. He was
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elected delegate to Congress as a Democrat on Nov. 29, 1854. Connel- ley describes him as "a tall and stuttering Tennesseean who lived in Jackson county, Mo." At the expiration of his first term he was a candidate for reelection and was opposed by ex-Gov. Andrew H. Reeder. At the election on Oct. 1, 1855, Whitfield received 2,271 votes, Reeder received 2,849, and contested the seat, which was declared vacant on Ang. 1, 1856. Mr. Whitfield took an active part in the stirring border warfare carried on between the pro-slavery and free-state men. He had been a pro-slavery man in politics from the time he came to Kan- sas and was elected by that party.
Whiting, one of the villages of Jackson county, is located in Whiting township on the Central branch of the Missouri Pacific R. R. 10 miles northeast of Holton, the county seat. It has a newspaper, banking facilities, express and telegraph offices, and a money order postoffice with two. rural routes. All the main lines of business are represented. The population in 1910 was 550. Whiting was first platted in 1866, but was resurveyed in 1872 and in 1882 another plat was recorded. The lands of Whiting township belonged to the Kickapoo Indians until 1867, when they became the property of the Union Pacific Railroad com- pany. The first settlements were made in 1867 by Henry Haub, G. T. Watkins, A. D. Stone, C. A. Eams, W. C. Reynolds, Andrew Brown, H. M. Duff, Michael O'Neal, G. C. Weibles and D. R. Williams. A. D. Stone was the first man to locate on the town site. He was joined in 1870 by Mr. Shedd and together they opened the first store. Shedd & Marshall established a business in 1871, and in 1881 built the first substantial stone building, which was a beautiful edifice for those days and contained a hall for public meetings, which held 500 people. The first commercial club was established in 1878. Whiting township was named in honor of Mrs. S. C. Pomeroy, that being her maiden name.
Whitman, a hamlet of Sumner county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 13 miles northeast of Wellington, the county seat, and 5 miles southeast of Belle Plaine, from which place it receives mail by rural delivery. The population in 1910 was 25.
Whittier, John Greenleaf, poet, was born near Haverhill, Mass., Dec. 17, 1807. He was educated in the district school and when only nine- teen years of age wrote the "Exile's Departure," which was published by William Lloyd Garrison, and encouraged by him Whittier went to Boston at the age of twenty-one years and engaged in journalism. Sub- sequently he became editor of the Haverhill Gazette, then of the New England Weekly Review, published at Hartford, Conn. Although Whittier was never a resident of Kansas, he was deeply interested in the efforts to make it a free state and sympathized with those who were struggling to accomplish that end. He wrote "The Kansas Emi- grant's Song," beginning,
"We cross the prairies as of old The Pilgrims crossed the sea,
To make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of the free."
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To the air of Auld Land Syne this song could frequently be heard, as it was sung with spirit by parties of emigrants from the free states on their way to Kansas. Whittier is regarded by many as the most American of all American poets. He died at Hampton Falls, N. H., Sept. 7, 1892.
Wichita, the second largest city in Kansas, is the judicial seat of Sedgwick county, in the southern part of the state. It is located 230 miles from Kansas City on the Arkansas river, and is one of the most important railway centers in Kansas, having direct connections with almost every city west of the Mississippi. Five roads-the Missouri Pacific, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific,
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MAIN BUILDING, FAIRMOUNT COLLEGE.
St. Louis & San Francisco, and the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient - radiate from this point, and three new roads are in prospect. An inter- urban line, connecting Wichita with Wellington, Hutchinson and other points, is in the course of construction. The Kansas City, Mexico & Orient, which has lately placed Wichita in position to handle vast ship- ments from the southwest, is building workshops at this point which, when in operation, will add a new colony to the already cosmopolitan population. New elevated tracks and a union depot are under con-
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struction. There is an average of 110 freight and passenger trains per day. The value of the city's manufactured products for the year 1909 was $9,000,000. Among the important manufacturing concerns are 5 flour mills with a daily capacity of 4,100 barrels, a broom factory with a daily capacity of 2,000 dozen, 2 packing plants with an annual produc- tion of 60,000,000 pounds, 4 alfalfa mills, 3 overall factories, 6 planing mills using more than 12,000 cars of lumber annually, and 6 foundries. ยท There are in all 230 different manufacturing concerns in the city, and 138 wholesale houses, shipping over 50,000 cars of the finished product to its tributary territory. The wholesale and jobbing interests are repre- sented by 500 traveling men who live in the city, and the volume of busi- ness in 1909 was $30,000,000.
The area of Wichita is about 20 square miles, with 30 miles of paving, 35 miles of street railway, 65 miles of water mains, 75 miles of sewer, II public parks, 100 miles of natural gas mains, 6,500 telephones in use, 16 publishing houses, 2 daily newspapers (the Beacon and the Eagle), 20 public school buildings, 3 Catholic academies, 2 business col- leges, an art school, 2 music conservatories, 2 colleges 'ranking with the best in the state-Fairmount College and Friends' University-11 banks, good hotels, etc. The amount spent for building in 1910 was $6,000,000. There are a number of large office buildings and department stores, 6 sanitariums, 10 theaters, one of the finest Masonic buildings in the coun- try, costing $250,000, a Masonic home and grounds worth a similar amount, a $150,000 Federal building, and a city hall which cost about the same, a chamber of commerce, a commercial club, a fair association which holds one of the largest fairs in the state, a Commercial League, 2 country clubs, owning fine buildings, all of which are busy promoting the development and best interests of the town. The women's clubs, of which there are four, have memberships of several hundred each and large, well furnished club rooms.
The history of the city begins with the establishment of a trading post at that point in 1863 by J. R. Mead. The Wichita Indians were then occupying the land and the town was named for that tribe. The word means "Scattered Lodges," and for a long time the little town lived up to its appellation. As early as 1860 William Mathewson, the original Buffalo Bill, freighted through Wichita, and in 1869 settled on a claim near the town site. On July 9, 1868, a military postoffice was established with Col. Barr, who was in command of the militia stationed there, as postmaster. Shortly afterward a civil postoffice was established with Milo B. Kellogg, manager of Durfee's ranch, as post- master. About the same time the Wichita town company was organ- ized by Gov. S. J. Crawford, W. W. H. Lawrence, J. R. Mead, E. P. Bancroft, A. F. Horner and I. S. Munger. A survey of the site was made by Mr. Finn. William Greiffenstein bought Moore's place, now comprising a part of the city, and for a long time there was a rivalry between the two sites. In 1870 Mr. Munger opened a hotel and the Wichita Vidette was started by F. A. Sowers. Before the railroad was
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completed there was bitter rivalry between Wichita and Park City, which stood 14 miles to the northwest on the Arkansas. An attempt was made to divert the cattle trade to the Park City route, and for a long time it seemed that this might be successful. However, Wichita succeeded in securing the county seat and in May, 1872, the railroad reached this point and settled the rivalry. By that time quite a city had grown up, handling the vast cattle trade of the southwest and having all the undesirable conditions connected with a rapidly growing frontier town.
In 1871 Wichita was incorporated as a city of the third class. At the election 156 votes were polled and the following officers were elected : Mayor, E. B. Allen ; attorney, D. C. Hackett ; police judge. H. E. Van- trees; clerk, O. W. Brownwell; treasurer, N. A. English ; marshal, M. Meagher ; councilmen, W. B. Hutchinson, S. C. Johnson, C. Schatt- ner, George Schlichter, A. H. Fabrique and George Vantillburg. The next year, having sufficient population, the form of government was changed to that of a city of the second class. In March, 1872, the United States land office was moved here from Augusta, Butler county. The first school was held in an army dugout in the winter of 1809-70. A $5,000 school house was built in 1871. The Wichita Eagle and the Wichita Beacon were both founded in 1872, and have since been among the leading newspapers of the state. The first financial institution was the Arkansas Valley bank, started in 1870 by W. C. Woodman. Although the cattle driving business closed in 1875 the growth of Wichita kept on as rapidly as before. In 1880 a board of trade was organized with $20,000 capital, the waterworks were installed in 1882 and the street railway the next year. Improvements of all kinds went on very rapidly, new additions were laid out, lots were sold and houses built miles from the business section of the city. In 1888, on the occasion of the auction sale of the lots in a new addition, the Wichita Eagle wrote an editorial calling a halt on speculation and telling the people that the time had come to quit buying and selling at inflated values. With that the boom was over, the lots were turned back to cow pastures and cornfields and the city paid for the boom with fifteen years of comparative depression.
The Coronado club, which later became the Wichita commercial club. was organized in 1897. The chamber of commerce was organized in 1901. The growth of the city in the last ten years has been wholesome as well as remarkable. The population in 1900 was 24,671, and in 1910 .it was 52,450, an increase of more than 100 per cent. The post- office receipts of 1900 were $73.934, against $232,326 in 1910, and the bank deposits show a tenfold increase. The building permits for 1910 were three times those of 1908. Among the buildings erected in 1910 was the Beason building, which at the time was the tallest "skyscraper" in Kansas. It is ten stories high, cost $380,000, and accommodates 1,000 people. The public and private improvements for 1910 cost $7,000,000.
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Seven of the eleven banks have been organized since 1902. The value of city property and improvements is more than $3,000,000.
Wichita County, in the western part of the state, is the second county east from the Colorado line and the fourth south from Nebraska. It is bounded on the north by Wallace and Logan counties; on the east by Scott; on the south by Kearny, and on the west by Greeley. It was created in 1873 and named for the Wichita tribe of Indians. The bound- aries were defined as follows: "Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 35 west with the 3d standard parallel; thence south along said range line to its intersection with the 4th standard parallel ; thence west along said 4th standard parallel to where it is intersected by the east line of range 39 west; thence north along range line to its intersection with the 3d standard parallel; thence east to the place of beginning."
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