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 38
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sympathies between the North and the South. However, before the close of the war Morris county had furnished 125 Union soldiers. A number of Kaw Indians were enlisted, which raised the total to 180. The following is a list of the military organizations of Morris county which took part in the war either as home guards against the border ruffians or in the regular service: Morris County Rangers, cavalry, Capt. S. N. Wood; Neosho Guards, cavalry, Capt. W. T. Lard; Clark's Creek Rangers, cavalry, Capt. Charles Guenter; Neosho Rangers, cavalry, Capt. S. D. Price ; Council Grove Guards, infantry, Capt. R. B. Lockwood. During the war and for a number of years afterward the community was molested by guerrillas and horse thieves and a number of lynchings and murders, justifiable and otherwise, occurred.
Shortly after the close of the war a new influx of settlers came into the county. A little set-back was experienced the same year by the failure to secure the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, which was built about 25 miles to the south. Settlers continued to pour into the county and great herds of cattle were driven in for pasturage. By 1871 large colonies, some of them numbering 150 people, were coming in. A negro colony came in 1874 .. A disastrous prairie fire swept over the western part of the county in 1873, destroying the grass and grow- ing crops. By 1875 the population had grown to 4,597. In 1880 it was 8,422. The next year there were 200 farm dwellings built at a total cost of $160,000; the value of farm implements in use was over $53,000; the value of live stock, $685,673 ; there were 75,000 bearing fruit trees and 100,000 young trees not bearing. About one-third of the land had been brought under cultivation. In 1890 the population had increased to 11,381. In the next ten years, when many of the counties in Kan- sas were losing in population on account of the money panic, hard times, and the boom in the southwestern states, Morris showed a small gain, the number of inhabitants in 1900 being 11,967. The flood of 1903 raised the Neosho river several feet above all recorded high water marks and destroyed considerable property. That of 1908 was serious but not as disastrous as the flood of 1903.
Morris county is divided into 14 townships: Clark Creek, Council Grove, Diamond Valley, Elm Creek, Four Mile, Garfield, Grandview, Highland, Neosho, Ohio, Parker, Rolling Prairie, Valley and Warren. The postoffices are: Burdick, Council Grove, Delavan, Diamond Springs, Dunlap, Dwight, Kelso, Latimer, Parkerville, Skiddy, White City and Wilsey. A line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad enters in the northwest and crosses southeast through Council Grove. The Missouri Pacific crosses east and west in the south, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific enters in the northeast and crosses southwest into Dickinson county. There are 107 miles of main track.
The general surface is an undulating prairie, practically all of which is tillable. The bottom lands along the streams average one mile in width and comprise 15 per cent. of the total area. The area of native timber is above the average for the state. All the varieties of wood (II-21)
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common to Kansas soil grow along the streams in belts a quarter of a mile in width, and a number of artificial plantings have been made. The Neosho river rises in the western part of the county and flows southeast into Lyon county. It has several tributaries. Clark's creek flows north through the western portion. Limestone underlies the entire county and is extensively quarried and shipped at Council Grove and Parkerville.
The value of farm products is more than $3,000,000 annually, the lead- ing crop being corn, which in 1910 brought $879,127. Oats the same season was worth $87,482 ; wild grass, $180,000; tame grass, $151,344; millet, $81,390; Jerusalem corn, $75,834; the value of animals sold for slaughter was $1,511,625. The value of all farm products that year was $3,251,523. The total value of all live stock on hand was $2,620.962. The assessed valuation of property was $22,119,714, and the population was 12,397.
Morrowville, a village in Washington county, is located in Mill Creek township on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. 8 miles west of Washington, the county seat. It has a bank, a hotel, several stores, telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population, according to the census of 1910, was 250. The railroad name is Morrow.
Morse, a village in the southeastern part of Johnson county, is situated on the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield R. R., about 6 miles southeast of Olathe, the county seat. It has general stores, a money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities, and in 1910 had a population of 100.
Mortgages .- Under the laws of Kansas mortgages may be given on either real or personal property in the possession of the mortgagor, or to which he has the right of possession. They constitute merely a security for debt and pass no title to property, except by foreclosure. Mortgages must be executed, acknowledged and recorded the same as deeds, but in the absence of stipulations to the contrary, the mortgagor of real property may retain the possession thereof. When a deed of real property purports to be an absolute conveyance, but is intended to be defeasible on the performance of certain conditions, such deed is not defeated or affected as against any person other than the grantee or his heirs or devisees, or persons having actual notice, unless an instrument of defeasance, duly executed and acknowledged, is recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county where the lands lie. Any mortgage of lands, worded in substance as follows: "A. B. mortgages and warrants to C. D. (here describe the premises), to secure the payment of (here insert the sum for which the mortgage is granted, copies of the notes or other evidences of debt, or description thereof, sought to be secured, also the date of payment)," dated and duly signed and acknowledged by the grantor, is deemed to be a good and sufficient mortgage to the grantee, his heirs, assigns, executors and administrator, with warranty from the grantor and his legal representa-
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tives of a perfect title in the grantor against all previous incumbrances ; and if in the above form the words "and warrants" be omitted, the mortgage is good without warranty.
The recording of the assignment of a mortgage is not deemed of itself notice to a mortgagor, his heirs or personal representatives, so as to invalidate any payment made by them or either of them to the mortgagee. A mortgage given by a purchaser to secure the payment of purchase money has preference over a prior judgment against such purchaser. Any mortgage of real property may be discharged by an entry on the margin of the record thereof, signed by the mortgagee or his duly authorized attorney in fact, assignee of record or personal representative, acknowledging the satisfaction of the mortgage in the presence of the register of deeds or his deputy, who subscribes to the same as a witness. Any mortgage is also discharged upon the record by the register of deeds whenever there is presented to him an instru- ment executed by the mortgagee or other duly authorized person acknowledging the satisfaction of such mortgage and certified as other instruments affecting real estate. When any, mortgage has been paid it is the duty of the mortgagee or his assignee within thirty days after demand-in case demand is made-by the mortgagor, his heirs or assigns, or by anyone acting in their stead, to cause satisfaction of the mortgage to be entered of record without charge; and failure so to do renders the mortgagee liable to the mortgagor in damages to the amount of $100, together with reasonable attorney's fees. It is unlaw- ful for any person or persons to contract for the payment of attorneys' fees in any note, bill of exchange, bond or mortgage, and any such contract or stipulation for the payment of attorneys' fees is null and void.
The legislature of 1872 provided that if the words "appraisement waived," or other words of similar import, be inserted on any deed, bond, mortgage, note, bill or written contract thereafter made, it shall be ordered in any judgment rendered thereon that lands sold to satisfy the same may be sold without appraisement, order of sale being with- held for a period of six months. Under the operation of this statute great abuses crept into the practice. There usually being no competi- tion at sheriff sales, lands mortgaged for one-half their value were not infrequently struck off to the judgment creditor for only a small frac- tion of the judgment debt-in many instances sufficient only to pay the costs of the court proceedings. Notwithstanding the property was taken from the debtor for the purpose of paying his indebtedness, the debt, or the major portion of it, still remained unsatisfied against him and could be enforced should he then have, or afterward acquire, any real or personal property not exempt from seizure. In his message to the legislature of 1893 Gov. L. D. Lewelling recommended the repeal of the "waiver of appraisement" law, which was accordingly done. By an act passed in 1873 mortgages were exempt from taxes, but this statute was repealed in 1874, and a gold clause in written obligations has also been forbidden.
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Mortimer, a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. in Labette county, is located in Osage township 23 miles northwest of Oswego, the county seat, and about 12 miles west of Parsons, from which place it receives mail daily. The town was platted by Emanuel Mortimer in 1883.
Morton County, in the extreme southwest corner of the state, is bounded on the north by Stanton county ; on the east by Stevens; on the south by the State of Oklahoma, and on the west by the State of Colorado. It comprises the territory defined as Kansas county in 1873, except that it extends 3 miles further east. The boundaries were defined in Feb., 1886, by the legislature as follows: "Commencing at the intersection of the section line 3 miles east of the west line of range 39 west with the 6th standard parallel; thence south along said sec- tion line to where it intersects the south boundary line of the State of Kansas; thence west along said boundary line to the southwest corner of the State of Kansas; thence north along the west boundary line of the State of Kansas to where it intersects the 6th standard parallel; thence east to the place of beginning."
Morton was constructed out of territory belonging to Seward county, and was organized in 1886. In response to a petition presented to the governor E. F. Henderson was appointed as census taker in April, the returns were made in September and showed a population of 2,360, of whom 780 were householders, the assessed valuation of property was $681,835, of which $504,520 was real estate. Two petitions were sent in for the location of temporary county seat-one in favor of Frisco, to which were attached 1,488 names, and the other for Rich- field with 1,473 names. As these petitions could not be legally signed by any but legal voters, and the two petitions contained 2,231 more names than there were legal voters in the county, the organization of Morton had to be held up pending an investigation to ascertain which had the most eligible names. This took until November, and in the meantime another petition came in for Richfield, which was found to be the choice of the majority. The proclamation was issued by Gov. John A. Martin on Nov. 17, 1886, and designated Richfield as the tem- porary county seat. The following officers, recommended by the peo- ple, were appointed: County clerk, E. F. Henderson; commissioners, D. D. Sayer, James McClain and Frank Robinson. In December the Kansas Town company, which had founded Frisco, sold that town with its site of 480 acres for $25,000 to the Aurora Town company, which owned Richfield. The county seat election was held on Feb. 3, 1887. Richfield won over Frisco by a majority of 303, and the "People's Ticket" was elected as follows: "County clerk, J. R. Webster ; regis- ter of deeds, L. B. Weidenhamer; clerk of the district court, George M. Havice; treasurer, E. Evershed; sheriff, J. E. Kelly ; superintend- ent of public instruction, Walter L. Holcomb; surveyor, G. A. Henry ; county attorney, J. G. Northcutt ; probate judge, D. D. Sayer; coroner, H. C. Finch; commissioners, G. B. Pack, Thomas Cooper and J. W.
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McClain; representative, John Beatty. The election was attended by considerable trickery and scheming. At Taloga the opposition to Richfield rented every vacant building in town so that the election board could not find a place to locate the polls. The board went to work, soon erected a building and the polls were opened.
The settlers in Morton county came principally from the older coun- ties of the state. While it was known as Kansas county a village called Sunset had been founded. When the new influx of settlement came, the prospect of Morton county being organized, led to new towns being founded and the old ones were allowed to die.
In 1888 an agricultural exhibit from Morton county, on display in Topeka, attracted considerable attention, especially the Egyptian corn, the stalks of which were used for fuel in the early days. Of the 2,905 claims in the county, nearly two-thirds had been taken by 1886. Many of these were later sold for taxes. The county officials had the fore- sight to buy up a great many of these, and sold them later at a big . profit. This is one reason that Morton county is out of debt and has a fine court-house all paid for.
The "hard times" began early in Morton county. In the four years following the organization the population shrunk from 2,560 to 724. In the next ten years it went as low as 304. In 1906 it had begun to recover, but the population was still very sparse. A series of good years helped the growth, and the population in 1910 was 1,333.
The county is divided into 3 townships, Cimarron, Richfield and Taloga, and there are 10 organized school districts. The general sur- face is rolling prairie, the soil being a dark yellow color. Bottom lands average a mile in width and comprise 10 per cent. of the area. Native timber is scarce, but a number of artificial plantings have been made. Both forks of the Cimarron river flow northeast through the county. Limestone, sandstone and gypsum exist in several places, and salt marshes are found in abundance.
The farm products are worth about $250,000 per annum. In 1910 the leading crop was broom-corn, which brought $97,744; milo maize brought $61,400; sorghum for forage and grain, $23,940; Kafir corn, $23,585 ; corn, $9,972. Live stock sold for slaughter, dairy products, poultry and eggs netted $25,000. The total value of all products was $254,061. The assessed valuation of property was $1,763,893.
Moscow, a country hamlet in Stevens county, is located 15 miles northeast of Hugoton, the county seat, 10 miles east of Woodsdale, the postoffice from which its mail is distributed, and 20 miles northwest of Liberal, Seward county, the nearest shipping point.
Mound Builders .- America is called the New World because of its discovery by Europeans, but ethnologists and antiquarians claim that it is also an old world and had an ancient civilization, proved by the prehistoric works and remains, left by a people called mound builders, who once inhabited the western continent. Some ethnologists believe that this race in North America inhabited that portion of the United
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States which lies between the Appalachians and the Rocky mountains, and it is true that the greatest evidence of ancient life has been found there, but Dr. Brinton in his "The American Race" divides the country where these ancient people lived into five sections: the Isthmian, the Mexican and Central American, the Pueblo ( which includes New Mex- ico, Arizona and portions of Nevada, Utah and Colorado), the Califor- nia, and the distinctly mound building section "embracing that part of the United States and the adjoining portion of the Dominion of Canada, east of the Rocky mountains. The northern boundary is, as yet, wholly conjectural, but it is quite probable that it extends farther toward the northwest than toward the northeast."
The archeological remains of the fifth section, which covers most of the United States, show well defined lines. The chief one reaches from New York through Ohio along the Ohio river and onward in the same general direction to the northeast portion of Texas; the second follows the Mississippi river; a third extends from the Wabash river to the head waters of the Savannah river; and the fourth crosses southern Michigan and Wisconsin. While the lines follow the rivers, and the banks of the Mississippi river abound in prehistoric remains from Lake Pepin to the mouth of the Red river, indicating that this was a favorite dwelling place of the ancient inhabitants, the mounds themselves refute the idea that waterways were lines of migration, except for short dis- tances, migration taking place across rather than up and down streams. The longest stretch of works apparently by one people are found on the west bank of the Missisippi river from Dubuque, Iowa, to the mouth of the Des Moines river.
After much study of the different mounds, ethnologists have come to the conclusion that the mound builders belonged to several different races, tribes or nations. It is demonstrated by their earthworks that these people differed in customs, habits, arts and beliefs to such an extent as to be clearly shown in different mounds and classes of mounds. . It is now believed that the mound builders were a comparatively seden- tary people, occupying the same areas for considerable lengths of time. The great number of monuments afford proof that the builders occupied their respective districts for a long time.
The place where the works of the mound builders are most numerous are the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in Tennessee. In Ohio alone have been found 10,000 burial mounds and about 1,500 inclosures or village sites, some of considerable size. In one series of works there are 20 miles of enbankments. Walls 20 or 30 feet high, enclosing from 30 to 100 acres, and pyramids 100 feet high, covering as many as 16 acres have been discovered.
In different districts the earthworks vary in character. Emblematic mounds are found in great numbers in Wisconsin, and a few have been found in eastern Iowa and southern Minnesota along the Mississippi river. These mounds resemble the wild animals and birds formerly abounding in the territory, and are generally located on hill tops, over-
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looking the streams or lakes. Some of the most remarkable of these are the bird mound at Prairie du Chien and the famous elephant mound in Grant county, Wis. There are also other extensive earthworks and burial mounds in Wisconsin, from which flints and pottery have been taken.
The second district is characterized by burial mounds or ordinary tumuli, and are often called prairie mounds. They are found in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, Missouri and parts of Kansas. This section seems to have been occupied by mound builders who were migra- tory, as they built no walled defenses. The most common relics are spear and arrow heads, knives and axes.
The third district belongs to the military class of mound builders and embraces the region of the hill country of New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, extending along the shore of Lake Erie into Michigan. The works in this section were for defense and show that the inhabi- tants were a warlike people.
The fourth district, situated along the Ohio valley, is characterized by what are called "sacred enclosures," or village enclosures. The works most characteristic are the circle, square and octagon. In some places the ancient works are very elaborate systems covering a great amount of land, one of the largest and most interesting being near Newark, Ohio. The fifth district is along the Atlantic coast, but is marked by no distinctive class of works. The sixth district lies south of the Ohio river, between it and the Cumberland and the Tennessee rivers. The seventh district adjoins the sixth and the works are similar, but on lower ground, where great numbers of the mound builders lived. The peculiarity of this region consists of the great number of pyramids, conical mounds and lodge circles within the enclosures. Great quanti- ties of pottery have also been found in this district.
Many evidences that an ancient race once inhabited a part of the state have been found in Kansas. Three miles north of Neodosha, on the Verdigris river, a village site and fort have been discovered. The lodge sites occupy a considerable area and the village seems to have been important, for no other village of such size has been found in the same section of the country. It is believed that the inhabitants were known for great distances, as flint implements of many varieties and colors have been found there, differing from others found in the same region. Stone mauls, flint arrow points, shells, hammers, rubbing stones, scrapers, pitted stones, and other objects have also been discoy- ered. The fort, situated on the high ground, is almost that of a horse shoe in form, with the opening toward the east.
In Riley county, on Wild Cat creek, a stream emptying into the Kan- sas above Manhattan, village sites have been discovered. There are elevations where the earth lodges stood, flint fragments, broken pottery, scrapers, arrow and spear heads, but the ruins indicate that the seat was only temporary and not occupied for any great length of time.
On the Republican river burial mounds are found on the bluffs near
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Broughton, and a number have been located on the bluffs south of that town. Several have been discovered on Madison creek, 2 miles above Milford, and on the Kansas river near Ogden over 100 burial mounds have been located. Those opened were found to contain ornaments, charred bones and occasionally spear heads. The largest mounds nearly always contain spear points, scrapers, stone and shell beads. Some of the largest and most interesting mounds in Kansas have been discovered near Edwardsville, Wyandotte county. They are situated about a half- mile from the Kansas river, but indications show that they were formerly on the bank of the ancient river. There are five of them, each about 5 feet high and 25 feet in diameter, and are situated about 50 feet from each other. Before the land was cleared the mounds were covered by oak trees 3 or 4 feet in diameter, indicating great age. Axes, celts, arrow heads and other implements have been found in the vicinity of the mounds.
About a mile north of Kansas City, Kan., the remains of an aboriginal workshop or village have been discovered. The location is on a small stream, called Jersey creek. The village site covers about two acres; the soil is sandy and to a depth of two feet is a mixture of flakes of flint, ashes, bones and unfinished stone implements of various descrip- tions. The fragments of pottery found are very numerous and are of three colors-black, brown and red. The vessels are usually globular in shape and are composed of clay, sand and pounded shells.
Two mounds have been explored on the Walnut river in Cowley county. They are 30 feet in diameter, 18 inches high at the present time, and are located some 30 rods apart. Originally they were 3 or 4 feet high. Upon digging into them, bones, potsherds, charcoal, jasper chips, arrow points and grinding stones were found at a depth of 6 feet or 2 feet below the original level of the earth.
On the summit of the bluff along Wolf creek in Coffey county, many stone heaps have been found that contain shells of mollusca, such as now live in the Neosho river, which at the present time is a mile away. At the foot of the bluff many arrow heads have been unearthed. A possible crematory' was also discovered and a few knives and arrow heads have been found. The ashes, bones, pottery and other relics were all dis- covered a few feet below the surface and over the site oak trees 3 or 4 feet in diameter were growing. Another village site was discovered near Lindsborg, where various kinds of flints were found. In Morris county a hearth was discovered at a depth of 15 feet, resting on a ledge of rock lower than the present bed of the river, and from above the hearth an oak tree 3 feet in diameter had grown. A large shell heap has been dis- covered near Marion Center, Marion county, while in Leavenworth county six mounds "in a line about 30 feet apart," were found on Pilot Knob Ridge near Fort Leavenworth. All of these remains give proof that the mound builders in Kansas belonged to that class of ancient people called prairie mound builders, who were migratory in their habits and left no walled defenses.
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