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 19
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The surface of Lincoln county is gently rolling prairie, with high, rough land breaking into bluffs in the southern and eastern portions. The valley of the Saline averages about a mile and a half in width and with the creek valleys comprises a little less than one-fourth
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of the area. Native trees along the streams are ash, oak, elm, box-elder, hackberry, walnut and mulberry. The Saline river flows nearly east and west across the center of the county, and its main tributaries are Wolf, Spillman, Elkhorn and Prosser creeks. Springs are abundant and good well water is found at a depth of 35 feet. Magnesian limestone, red and white sandstone, mineral paint and potter's clay are all found. Cement rock exists in the west and large salt marshes are found in the northeastern portion, while salt springs abound along the Saline river and Spillman creek. Coal of a fair quality has been found and mined tor local use. Stock raising is an important industry. The principal crop are winter wheat, oats, corn and Kafir corn, and in 1907 there were 100,000 bearing fruit trees in the county. Transportation facilities are provided by the Union Pacific railroad, which has a line nearly east and west across the county, following the general course of the Saline river, and a branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad runs to Barnard, in the northeast corner, giving the county nearly 40 miles of main track railroad.
The county is divided into the following civil townships: Battle Creek, Beaver, Cedron, Colorado, Elkhorn, Franklin, Golden Belt, Grant, Hanover; Highland, Indiana, Logan, Madison, Marion, Orange, Pleas- ant, Salt Creek, Scott, Valley and Vesper. The population in 1910 was 10,142; the assessed value of property, $21,198,950; and the value of all agricultural products, including live stock, $3,653,605.
Lincolnville, one of the thriving towns of Marion county, is located on Clear creek and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., 13 miles north of Marion, the county seat. It has all the main lines of mercan- tile enterprise, a bank, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 475. an increase of nearly 150 per cent. over the previous census.
Linda, a country postoffice in Rawlins county, is located in Grant township 18 miles southwest of Atwood, the county seat, and 16 miles from Colby in Thomas county, the nearest shipping point. The popula- tion in 1910 was 23.
Lindsborg, which claims to be the cleanest city in Kansas, is the second largest town in McPherson county. It is located on the Smoky Hill river, the Missouri Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads, 15 miles north of McPherson, the county seat. It has a sewer system, water- works, electric light plant, 3 banks, 2 flour mills, 3 elevators, a brick works, a broom factory, 3 newspapers (the News, the Posten and the Record), and a number of well stocked stores. This is the headquarters of the Swedish American Insurance company. It is also the location of Bethany College (q. v.), one of the leading educational institutions of the state. This institution, as well as the old people's home in Linds- borg, is supported by the Swedish Lutheran church. The population of the town and surrounding country is almost wholly of Swedish de- scent. They are artistic people, especially in music, and the little city is known to musicians all over the United States for the yearly render-
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ing of the Messiah, an event which brings visitors from all parts of the country. Lindsborg is well built with fine business blocks and up-to- date stores. It is supplied with telegraph and telephone connections, express offices, and an international money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,939.
The town was located by the Chicago Swedish company in 1868. The first building was the company's house, in which religious services were held and business transacted. The first private house was built by Neils Olson in 1869. The first store was opened the same year by J. H. Johnson, about a mile west of the town site, where the first postoffice was located. It was established in 1869 and Mr. Johnson was made postmaster. In 1870 the Swedish Merchants' association bought Mr. Johnson's property and moved the store and postoffice to Linds- borg. In May, 1871, C. Carlson surveyed the town site for the First Swedish agricultural society. The town was incorporated as a city in 1879, and John A. Swensson was the first mayor. Bethany College was opened in 1881 with 30 students. The Bank of Lindsborg was es- tablished in 1882. By this time Lindsborg had grown to be an im- portant grain market. Three large elevators with a combined capacity of 50,000 bushels had been built at a total cost of $15,000. Two large mills had been put up, one at a cost of $8,000 and the other $12,000. The first newspaper was the Lindsborg Socialist, established in 1879. The Kansas Posten, which was at that time the only Swedish newspaper in Kansas, was established in 1882. The first railroad was the Salina & McPherson branch of the Union Pacific, built in 1879. The Missouri Pacific was constructed through Lindsborg in 1887.
Lindsborg was made the county seat of McPherson county by the commissioners in 1870, and remained so for three years. The first school was taught in the court-house by Mrs. Warner.
Lindsey, a station on the Union Pacific R. R. in Ottawa county, is located in Concord township, 2 miles southeast of Minneapolis, the county seat. It has express and telegraph offices, a money order post- office, and is a shipping point for agricultural products and stock. The population in 1910 was 28.
Linn, a thriving little town in Washington county, is located in Linn township 10 miles south of Washington, the county seat, on the Mis- souri Pacific R. R. It has four churches, a graded public school, 2 denominational schools, 2 public schools, several secret and fraternal orders, 3 grain elevators, 2 banks, a weekly newspaper (the Digest), telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population in 1910 was 300. It is the shipping point for a prosperous stock raising and agricultural area, over 250 cars of live stock, 225 cars of grain, and $60,000 worth of poultry, produce and cream being shipped annually.
Linn County, situated in the eastern tier, next to the Missouri state lire, and in the third tier south of the Kansas river, was one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature, with the
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following boundaries: "Beginning at the southeast corner of Lykins (now Miami) county; thence south 24 miles; thence west 24 miles ; thence north 24 miles; thence east 24 miles to the place of beginning."
It was named Linn in honor of Lewis F. Linn, a United States senator from Missouri. In 1868 the boundaries were redefined as fol- lows: "Commencing at the southeast corner of Miami county ; thence south along the west boundary of the State of Missouri to the corner on said line to fractional sections 13 and 24, township 23 south, of range 25 east; thence west along the section lines to the corner of sections 14, 15, 22 and 23, township 23 south of range 21 east; thence north along the section lines between the second and third tiers of sections to the southwest corner of Miami county; thence east along the south boundary of said Miami county to the place of beginning."
By this act a strip, varying in width from a half mile at the north- west corner of the county to nearly a mile and a half at the southwest corner, was added to the west side of the county and the area increased to 637 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Miami county, on the east by the State of Missouri, on the south by Bourbon county, and on the west by Anderson county, and is divided into eleven town- ships: Blue Mound, Centerville, Liberty, Lincoln, Mound City, Paris, Potosi, Scott, Sheridan, Stanton and Valley.
The general surface of the county is undulating, rather broken in the eastern part, and about one-tenth is too rough for cultivation. One- fifth is rich bottom land, very fertile and productive. The upland or rolling prairie is generally from 50 to 80 feet above the valleys, the highest elevation being Silver Hill, near the Marias des Cygnes, which rises to a height of 300 feet above the river. The timber belts along the streams are usually nearly as wide as the valleys, the principal varieties being black walnut, oak, sycamore, hickory, cottonwood, ash, box-elder and elm. The most important water course is the Marias des Cygnes, which crosses the northern boundary a little east of the middle and flows in a southeasterly direction, crossing the eastern boundary a little north of the center.
The first white man to visit the country now embraced within the boundaries of Linn county was probably Dutisne (q. v.) in his expe- dition of 1719. The first white men to remain for any time in what is now Linn county were Girard and Chouteau, who in 1834 estab- lished a trading post on the north branch of the Marias des Cygnes in what is now Potosi township. In 1839 the Catholics established a mission among the Pottawatomie Indians near the site of the present town of Centerville. It was removed to St. Mary's in 1847. It is believed that the French came up from Louisiana and encouraged the Indians to mine lead on Mine creek, from which it derived its name, but the extent of this industry is conjectural and it was early abandoned by the French as unprofitable. It was the French who named the Marais des Cygnes from the many swans on the swamps along the river and so called it the "Marsh of swans."
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As soon as it became apparent that the territory west of Missouri would be thrown open to white settlement many squatters located claims along the wooded streams of Linn county, mostly by pro-slavery men from Missouri, who cared little for progress and desired to preserve the institutions to which they were accustomed. Some of these early settlers were James Osborne and Adam Pore, who in Jan., 1854, took claims at the head of Sugar creek, near the present town of Mound City. D. W. Cannon, William Murray, John Brown, James Mont- gomery, James Osborne and William Park all came that year to what is now Linn county. Trouble soon arose between the free-state and pro-slavery parties, as it was impossible for men of such different political beliefs to live together in harmony. The first convention, and one of the first causes of trouble, was held at Sugar Mound Feb. 20, 1855. It was called for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the territorial legislature. It was called by James Fox, a pro-slavery leader, and few of the free-state settlers were notified of the convention. James Montgomery, who was secretary of the convention, succeeded in having it adjoined in order that more settlers might be present. A second convention was therefore held, but the free-state men were defeated at both the convention and at the election held on March 30.
Linn county sent three delegates to the Lecompton constitutional convention, J. H. Barlow, S. H. Hayze and George Overstreet. The free-state men generally failed to vote at the election for these candi- dates. At the election for officers under the Lecompton constitution, held at Sugar Mound, the free-state men of the county voted, not knowing that the convention which had assembled at Lawrence on Dec. 2, had adopted resolutions repudiating the constitution. James Montgomery learned of these resolutions on the day of election and going to the polls told the free-state voters that they had been mis- informed as to the decision of the true convention, seized the ballot box, broke it to pieces and destroyed the ballots.
Mound City was started in the spring of 1855 by the opening of a store there by a man named Miller and it soon became a well known pro-slavery headquarters, although the town was not organized until 1857. Trading Post was one of the early settlements, both free-state and pro-slavery men locating in the vicinity, but in time it became a stronghold of the latter party. Paris, situated about 6 miles south of Mound City, was owned by pro-slavery men and in the early days became a rallying point from which to make raids upon the free-state settlers. Up to the middle of the summer of 1856 there was com- paratively little trouble between the two political factions in the county. Difficulties arose over claims, and much of the trouble for years was laid at the door of G. W. Clark, who it was claimed burned a number of free-state settlers out of their homes. It is true that he did burn several cabins, but never the number reported.
In the summer of 1856 the Missourians were gathering armed forces along the border under the leadership of Atchison, Reid and Clark.
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Capt. John E. Davis was camped with a force of 150 men on Middle creek in the northwest corner of the county. On Aug. 24, Capts. Ander- son, Shore and Cline, with a command of about 125 men, camped in the same locality. In the morning scouts of the free-state party brought in word that about 50 of Davis' men were absent from camp and an attack was immediately planned. When the free-state men came within range the Missourians opened fire, which was immediately returned. The firing lasted about ten minutes before the Southerners ยท retired. In the action Lieutenant Cline was wounded and subsequently died. This affair is known as the battle of Middle Creek. In the fall the Missourians raided Linn county. They first went to Paris, where they were joined by some of the settlers, then moved on to Sugar Mound, where they burned some houses, robbed Ebenezer Barnes' house, the store and the postoffice. Many depredations were commit- ted and the free-state settlers warned to leave the county. This and like raids influenced James Montgomery to gather a company of cour- argeous free-state men, which started out on raids of retaliation into Missouri. This brave band was so daring, and meted out vengeance in such a summary manner, that Montgomery became known as the Jayhawk leader and was greatly feared by men of the opposite party.
The leader of the pro-slavery party was Charles Hamelton, and Trading Post was his acknowledged headquarters. When the Mis- sourians warned the free-state settlers to leave the county Montgomery raided Trading Post with the intention of breaking up the headquarters of Harrelton's gang. They did not kill or harm anyone, but poured out all the whisky found in the store and warned the pro-slavery set- tlers to leave, saying that there was not room enough for both in the county. As a result of this raid Hamelton led the party which com- mitted the Marais des Cygnes massacre (q. v.). After this atrocious affair the persons who took part in it disappeared. Another free-state leader who arose at this time was C. R. Jennison, who became known as one of the greatest leaders during the border warfare.
In the Civil war Linn county was represented in the Second Kansas infantry, the Sixth cavalry, the Tenth infantry, the Seventh cavalry, the Twelfth infantry and Fifteenth cavalry; many men also enlisted in the regular army of the United States. During the war raids from Missouri were common, and raids from Linn county into Missouri were nearly as frequent. In Oct., 1861, a party of Missourians under Sheriff Clem of Bates county raided Linn county, killed several men and robbed a number of houses. In December a party of about 125 Missourians again raided Linn county, robbed and pillaged houses, killed one Union man, and others barely escaped with their lives by hiding. A Union force retaliated by marching into Missouri, but being met by a stronger force retired into Kansas. After this raid Camp De- fiance was established on Mine creek in Linn county, near the Mis- souri line, and Col. Montgomery with the Third regiment was stationed there until the spring of 1862. The most important and exciting event
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of the Civil war which occurred in Linn county was the Price raid, in which battles occurred at Mound City on Oct. 25; at Round Mound, about 6 miles from the river ; and at Mine creek, 4 miles south of Round Mound. (See Mine Creek.)
The first store in Linn county was at the Trading Post for trade with the Indians, though the first whites in the county also bought goods there. The first postoffice was opened at Mound City, at the store of a Mr. Miller, who was appointed postmaster in the spring of 1855. The first school in the county was held during the winter of 1858-59 in the town hall at Blue Mound, and the first marriage solemnized in the county was that of J. S. Atkins and Maria Man- nington in 1858. The Methodist Episcopal church was the pioneer religious organization in the county. They were followed by the Baptists and United Brethren, both of whom erected churches in Mound City in the early '60s.
Linn county was organized in 1855. The first board of county com- missioners-called a court-consisted of R. E. Elliott, president, L. M. Love and Brisco Davis. They appointed James F. Fox, treasurer ; Joseph D. Wilmot, clerk; James Driskill, assessor; William Rogers, surveyor ; Joseph E. Brown, sheriff; and Elisha Tucker, coroner. On the same day these officers were appointed the court divided the county into three municipal townships: Scott, Johnson and Richland. Sub- sequently changes were made in both the divisions and names until the present eleven townships were created.
By the act creating the county provision was made for the election of commissioners on the second Monday of Oct., 1855, and that the "commissioners so appointed for the county of Linn shall locate the county seat of said county within 3 miles of the geographical center." There is no record available to show that this board was ever elected, but on Jan. 18, 1856, the county commissioners appointed a commis- sion to locate the county seat. On March 18 James P. Fox and a man named Osborne, the only commissioners who acted, made a report that they had decided on the northwest quarter of section 8, township 21, range 24. The town (named Paris) was laid out by William Rogers, the county surveyor. The board of county commissioners held their first meeting there on Aug. 7 in the house purchased from J. P. Fox, who owned the land. This location was not satisfactory to any of the residents and an election to relocate the county seat was held on Nov. 8, 1859, when Mound City was chosen, the first meeting of the county board being held there Dec. 15. On May 30, 1865, the county seat was changed to Linnville, a town just south of the site of Paris and a few miles north of Mound City. On Feb. 20, 1866, still another election was held to relocate the county seat, at which time Mound City was again chosen. An election was then held May 29 on the same question, the result being that Mound City retained the county seat. On Feb. 14, 1871, the seat of justice was changed to La Cygne by the vote of the people; on March 27, 1873, the seat of justice was
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changed to Farmers City, but as the location was a mere brush patch the county officers refused to go there, and La Cygne remained the county seat de facto until April 14, 1874, when an election was held at which Pleasanton received the majority of votes. The question of the permanent location was still undecided and in 1875 a decisive and last election was held, when Mound City was chosen as the seat of justice of Linn for the third time, where it has since remained.
The first railroad in Linn county was the Kansas & Neosho Valley. A proposition was made for the county to issue $150,000 worth of bonds with which to buy stock of the railroad, but as the county officials and the railroad officials could not agree this was never done. The road was built, however, but was located in the eastern part of the county. At the present time there are over 90 miles of main track railroad in the county. The St. Louis & San Francisco crosses from north to south along the eastern boundary through Pleasanton with a branch into Missouri. The Missouri Pacific crosses the southern part of the county east and west, branching at Blue Mound in the south- west, one branch running west into Anderson county and the other south in Bourbon county. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas enters in the northwest and crosses south into Anderson county. These lines provide excellent transportation and shipping facilities for all portions of the county except the center.
The chief agricultural products of Linn county are corn, flax, winter wheat, oats, Kafir corn and hay. Live stock is a profitable industry. There are more than 125,000 bearing fruit trees in the county, which bring in a considerable revenue. Common and magnesium limestone are plentiful and large quarries are operated near Pleasanton ; salt springs exist in the southern portion; coal of a good quality underlies a considerable part of the county and has for many years been mined in commercial quantities for exportation; cement rock abounds and clay is plentiful in the southeast; oil and natural gas have been found near Pleasanton, and the latter is used for heating and lighting. Pleasanton is the largest town in the county. Mound City, the seat of justice, is 81 miles south of Kansas City and is a shipping point for a rich district. La Cygne is also an important town. The population of Linn county in 1910 was 14,735, and the value of her agricultural products, including live stock, was $2,219,376.
Linton, a hamlet of Linn county, is situated in the southeast corner on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. about 8 miles south of Pleas- anton. It has mail from Prescott and in 1910 had a population of 32.
Linwood, an incorporated town of Leavenworth county, is situated at the confluence of Stranger river with the Kansas river and on the Union Pacific R. R. about 30 miles southwest of Kansas City. It has several excellent stores, a hardware and implement house, school, churches, money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities, and is the supply and shipping point for the prosperous farming country by which it is surrounded. In 1910 the population of the town was 323.
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Lippincott, Joshua Allen, clergyman and fourth chancellor of the University of Kansas, was born in Burlington county, N. J., Jan. 31, 1835. He was a lineal descendant of Richard Lippincott, who came to America in 1619 from Devonshire, England. Mr. Lippincott passed his childhood and youth in Burlington county, receiving his early edu- cation in the rural schools. His higher education was received in Pennington Seminary and Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pa., at which institution he was graduated in 1858. The same year he began teach- ing at Pennington Seminary, where he was made professor of mathematics and German. Four years later he became superintendent of the public schools in Scranton, Pa. From there he was called to a position in the New Jersey state normal and model schools at Trenton. In 1865 he was admitted to the Wyoming conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, although he had previously been a Quaker. While doing his educational work he frequently acted as pastor and answered frequent calls to the pulpit. After having filled the pulpit at Ashbury church, Hackensack, N. J., he accepted the professorship of mathematics and astronomy in Dickinson College, where he remained until 1883, when he resigned to become chancellor of the University of Kansas. During his administration great progress was made by that institution, but as the position was not entirely to his taste he resigned in 1889 to accept the pastorate of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Topeka, Kan., from which church he went to the Arch Street Methodist Episcopal church of Philadelphia, Pa. Following his services there he became secretary of the Methodist Episcopal hospital at Philadelphia. In 1882 Franklin and Marshall College of Lancaster, Pa., conferred upon him the degree of D. D., and in 1886 the University of Michigan conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Dr. Lippincott died on Dec. 30, 1906, at Los Angeles, Cal. He was survived by two sons-J. B. Lippincott of Los Angeles and Dr. Walter Lippincott of Seattle, Wash.
Liquor Laws .- (See Prohibition.)
Lisa, Manuel .- (See Fur Traders.)
Litchfield, a discontinued postoffice in Crawford county, is located 14 miles southeast of Girard, the county seat, and about a mile from Mid- way, its railroad station, which is on the Kansas City Southern. Its mail is supplied from Pittsburg, 2 miles away.
Literature .- Whether the first writers in Kansas, writing of Kansas, can be called makers of literature, is a question that involves the tech- nique of higher criticism. However that may be, the young journalists who arrived in the first immigrant train, armed with pencils and ink, and filled with literary aspirations, are deserving of notice. Some of these men came to edit newspapers in the cause of freedom. Others as correspondents for the eastern press. All contributed toward the recording of state history, and these descriptions of early pioneer life reveal the atmosphere and spirit of the time more picturesquely than later narratives. A nearly complete collection of these compositions .can be found in the scrap books of T. H. Webb, now in possession of
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