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 40
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make it of great practical value. In 1884 gas was discovered at Find- lay, Ohio, and by 1886 great gas excitement had spread through Pennsyl- vania, West Virginia and Indiana. In Kansas the people remembered the old traditions and discoveries and made an earnest search for gas. Drillings at Lyons, Kanopolis, Hutchinson and Kingman failed to find gas, but revealed the deposits of rock salt, starting the salt industry of that region. In Iola the Acres mineral well was recalled, and a local company, known as the Iola Gas and Coal company, was organized with a capital of $50,000 for the purpose of prospecting for gas. At the end of a year the money was all spent and gas had been found in small quantities only. The city was still hopeful that gas would be found and voted bonds to the amount of $3,000 for further prospecting. Two or three more wells were drilled, each showing a small quantity of gas. In 1889 a new company was organized which agreed to drill six wells, unless enough gas to supply the town should sooner be found. The six wells were drilled from 400 to 500 feet deep and produced only a little gas. The new company felt confident there was gas in the vicinity and in 1893 drilled deeper than it had previously. On Christmas day it "brought in" what is termed a "big gasser." At the depth of 850 feet the long-sought for gas was found. The well had a flow of 3,000,000 cubic feet in 24 hours. It was one of the first large gas wells in Kansas.
Early in 1894 the Palmer Oil and Gas company came in from Ohio and opened a large number of wells, their daily flow ranging from 3.000,- 000 to 10,000,000 cubic feet. In the Iola district gas was found at a depth of from 810 to 996 feet. The success of the Palmer company attracted other investors and within four years the Iola fields had been practically outlined.
In the meantime, gas companies were organized in the southern part of the state. In 1888 bonds were voted by the town of Cherryvale to pros- pect for coal near the town, and in 1889 gas was struck at a depth of 650 feet. Between 1889 and 1895 a number of wells were drilled which pro- duced from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000 cubic feet daily. In 1892 gas was found at Independence, Neodesha, Paola and Coffeyville. The first prospecting at Independence was done in 1890 by McBride & Bloom, and gas was found in small quantities in four wells. In 1892 wells were drilled with a daily flow of 3,000,000 cubic feet. The Independence Oil and Gas company was formed to supply the town and its various indus- tries with gas. This company leased 80,000 acres near Independence,
The territory producing gas begins 40 miles south of Kansas City, at Paola, and extends 110 miles to the Oklahoma line, with a width of over 80 miles at the south. The rapid development of the gas region in south- eastern Kansas met with such quick industrial results that in 1895 Kan- sas reached fifth place among fourteen producing states in amount of gas utilized. Gas has been found at Paola, Osawatomie. Greeley, Iola, LaHarpe. Gas City, Humboldt, Cherryvale, Erie, Chanute. Coffeyville, Independence, Neodesha, Sycamore, Chetopa. Caney, Peru, Niotaze, Neosho Falls, Dexter, Benedict, Buffalo, Havana. Vilas. Guilford. (II-22)
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Mound Valley, Moline, Elk Falls and Toronto. The value in 1903 was estimated as $800,000.
The importance of gas and oil in economic and commercial growth of the counties where it was discovered led people in remote districts to organize companies for the purpose of drilling for gas. Some counties received permission from the legislature of 1900 to vote bonds for gas speculation, among these were Pawnee and Hodgeman. In 1906 a few good gas wells were drilled near Arkansas City. But no important amount of gas was found outside the "Mid-continental field" which term applies to gas and oil fields previously outlined in Kansas and Okla- homa. From 1895 to 1905 the gas production greatly increased, gas and oil companies being organized in nearly every town of the gas district.
Early in the year 1905 the Kansas Natural Gas company began buy- ing property, and has continued that policy to the present. It now owns all leases formerly possessed by the big gas companies of the state. It acquired nearly all the producing territory of Montgomery and Wilson counties, the two richest gas fields in the Mid-continental area. From Independence south to the state line wells with a daily capacity of 15,000,000 cubic feet are comparatively common, and some produce 30,000,000. The Kansas Natural Gas company laid a pipe line to Kansas City, Mo., St. Joseph, Mo., Atchison, Topeka, Leavenworth and Law- rence, and supplies these cities with natural gas. Another pipe line belonging to the same company carries gas to Parsons, Oswego, Colum- bus and Pittsburg, and still another goes westward to Wichita and intermediate towns. Kansas in 1907 had more than 125 towns and cities using natural gas. The Kansas Natural Gas company is the largest retail dealer, but by no means the only one. In Independence, where the main office of the Kansas company is located, the Kasegian Oil and Gas company does a profitable business and several towns have similar local companies.
Gas is sold from 3 to 25 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. The lowest rate was given to corporations in the development of the field to induce them to establish glass plants, cement plants, and factories of different kinds. Many of the manufacturing plants later were charged 10 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. Many customers pay 25 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. In some localities, usually the older ones, a flat rate is charged-10 to 15 cents a light, $1 to $2 a stove for one month. Every effort is being made to put all consumers on the meter system. The value of gas is difficult to determine because of its varying retail prices, but for 1907 a rough estimate from $7,000,000 to $15,000,000 is given. (See Also Geology.)
Natural History Society .- (See Academy of Sciences.)
Navarre, a village in Dickinson county, is located in Logan township on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 12 miles southeast of Abilene, the county seat. It has an elevator, a creamery, a general store, tele- graph and express offices, and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 75.
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KANSAS HISTORY
Neal, one of the larger villages of Greenwood county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. in Quincy township, 12 miles east of Eureka, the county seat. All the main lines of business enterprise are repre- sented. There are express and telegraph offices and a money order post- office with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 150.
Neely, a hamlet in the southwestern part of Leavenworth county, is . on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 5 miles northwest of Tonganoxie. The population in 1910 was 10.
Negro Exodus .- Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia for 1879 says: "The attention of the country during the past year has been attracted to the movements among the colored population, chiefly in the states bordering on the Mississippi. There was no appearance of organization or system among these persons. Their irregularity and absence of preparation seemed to indicate spontaneousness and earnestness. Bands moved from the plantations to the Mississippi river, and thence to St. Louis and other cities, with no defined purpose, except to reach some one of the new states west of the Mississippi, where they expected to enjoy a new Canaan. Their movements received the name of the 'Exodus.'"
Various theories have been advanced to account for this unusual course on the part of the negroes. Some contended that the exodus was due chiefly to the loss of political power by the blacks at the end of the reconstruction period. Others insisted the negroes were instigated by unscrupulous politicians in some of the Northern states with the hope of securing their support in close elections. Another theory was that land speculators in the new states west of the Missippi circulated allur- ing reports among the negroes in the lower Mississippi valley, and that the promise of "Forty acres and a mule" was too tempting for the negro to withstand. But the chief cause of the discontent among the negroes, and the one which led them to emigrate, was probably stated by Gov. Stone of Mississippi in his message to the legislature of that state in 1880, when he said: "A partial failure of the cotton crop in portions of the state, and the unrenumerative prices received for it, created a feel- ing of discontent among plantation laborers, which, together with other extraneous influences, caused some to abandon their crops in the spring to seek homes in the West."
One influence was at work, however, which has not been considered by any of the theorists, and that was the influence wielded by negroes who had found homes in the North and West in their letters to friends and relatives in the South. One of these negroes was Benjamin Singleton, commonly called "Pap" Singleton, who located in Morris county, Kan., shortly after the war, and who began the agitation for immigration as early as 1869. Singleton was president of a committee to invite negroes to come to "Sunny Kansas." He was from Tennessee, visited that state in his efforts to induce the negroes there to emigrate, and in other ways was so active that he has been designated as the "Father of the Exodus." It is said that his favorite argument ran about as follows: "Hyar you all is potterin' around in politics, tryin' to git into offices that
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
you aint fit for, and you can't see that these white tramps from the North is simply usin' you for to line their pockets, and when they git through with you they'll drop you, and the rebels will come into power, and then whar'll you be?"
It is not strange that Kansas-the state where the great conflict began that ended in the liberation of the slaves-should be the goal of many of the "exodusters." The Kansas Monthly for April. 1879, refers to the . movement as a "stampede of the colored people of the Southern states northward, and especially to the State of Kansas," and gives an account of a meeting held at Lawrence, which adopted a series of resolutions. one of which was as follows: "In view of the fact that large numbers of these immigrants are arriving in Kansas in a destitute condition, and need our aid and direction to enable them to become self-sustaining. we believe that a state organization for this purpose should he effected at the earliest possible moment, and this philanthropic work in the hands of an efficient and responsible state executive committee." (See Freed- men's Relief Association.)
At various points in the South conventions of colored men were held to discuss the exodus. One of these met at New Orleans on April 17. 1879. and of the 200 delegates about one-third were colored preachers. It was a turbulent meeting, but finally adopted a resolution "that it is the sense of this convention that the colored people of the South should migrate." and closed with an appeal to the people for material aid. Another convention, at Vicksburg, Miss .. May 5. 1879. asserted the right of the colored people to emigrate where they pleased. but urged the negroes who were thinking of migrating "to proceed in their move- ments as reasonable human beings, providing in advance by economy the means for transportation and settlement. sustaining their reputation for honesty and fair-dealing by preserving intact, until completion, con- tracts for labor-leasing which have already been made." The convention also deplored the circulation of false reports to the effects that lands. mules and money were awaiting the emigrants in Kansas and elsewhere "without labor and without price." Two days after the Vicksburg con- vention a large number of colored men assembled at Nashville. Tenn .. with a number of negroes from the Northern states present. The resolu- tions of this convention were extremely radical, demanding social and political equality for the colored people ; opposing separate schools for the races : recommending the several state legislatures to enact laws pro- viding for compulsory education ; and asking Congress to make an appropriation of $500,000 to defray the expenses of the negroes of the South "to those states and territories where they can enjoy all rights which are guaranteed by the laws and constitution of the United States."
By the close of the year 1879, several thousand colored people had found their way into Kansas. On April 1, 1880, Henry King, then post- master at Topeka, wrote to Scribner's Magazine: "There are, at this writing, from 15.000 to 20,000 colored people in Kansas who have set- tled there during the last twelve months-30 per cent. of them from Mis-
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sissippi ; 20 per cent. from Texas; 15 per cent. from Tennessee ; 10 per cent. from Louisiana ; 5 per cent. each from Alabama and Georgia, and the remainder from the other Southern states. Of this number about one-third are supplied with teams and farming tools, and may be expected to become self-sustaining in another year. . . The area of land bought or entered by the freedmen during their first year in Kansas is about 20,000 acres, of which they have plowed and fitted for grain- growing 3,000 acres. They have built some 300 cabins and dugouts. counting those which yet lack roof and floors ; and in the way of personal property, their accummulations, outside of what has been given to them, will aggregate perhaps $30,000. It is within bounds to say that their total gains for the year, the surplus proceeds of their efforts, amount to $40,000, or about $2.25 per capita."
This is what had been accomplished by one-third of the immigrants; of the other two-thirds about half of them were congregated in the towns and the other half had found employment as farm hands in vari- ous parts of the state, but only about one out of every twenty had become the owners of small homesteads.
In 1880 the senate of the United States appointed a committee of five to investigate the causes of the exodus and report. That committee was composed of Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana, Zebulon B. Vance of North Carolina and George H. Pendleton of Ohio, Democrats; and William Windom of Minnesota and Henry W. Blair of New Hampshire, Repub- licans. Testimony enough was taken to make a volume of nearly 1,700 printed pages. The majority report held to the idea that the exodus had been brought about for the purpose of colonizing the negroes in some of the Northern states for political purposes, though the evidence would hardly bear out that theory. An effort was made to show that Gov. St. John had been instrumental in inducing so many of the negroes to locate in Kansas, but one of the colored witnesses, formerly of Texas, produced a letter from the governor, in which he said: "If your people are desir- ous of coming to Kansas, I advise you to come in your private convey- ances and bring your household goods and plows. . . But I want to impress this one fact on your people who are coming to Kansas, that you must not expect anything, as we hold out no inducements to whites or blacks."
The exodus continued into 1880, and the failure of crops in South Carolina in 1881 caused a number of negroes to leave the state in the fall of that year, a few of them coming to Kansas. Another migration occurred in 1886, but it was insignificant when compared to the great hegira of 1879.
The Kansas Historical Society has the scrap-books of Horatio G. Rust and Benjamin Singleton, which contain much data relating to the exodus.
Nekoma, a village in Rush county, is located in Union township on Walnut creek and on the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. o miles southwest of La Crosse, the county scat. It has a creamery. a four mill. an elevator, 2 general stores, an express office, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 75.
1.
Neison . a & Crawford comrey. is Located in Washington aowashig on the Kansas City Southern K R tz miles east of Girard. cocaty seat and about ; miles bombers: of Pittsburg. whence Its mais recemed by sol come. It has telegraph and express cines.
Nemaba County, the third west from the Missoum aver an the bomb- es mer mas cot of the original 33 courses created by the Erst termi-
Is os Locoded to the port Sy the State of Nebraska: pa Hbo the south by Jackson and Pottawatombe
" no the tres: br Marshal county
Asturiass the: Vemaba was idisiet = die by Corpoado add that be reached its northern boundary Det it is pesbalue that the Erst expeditie :: cross the 5 == OS ? when Fremte: made is corner across the cod- s route entered the commty on the east Mne. south of the -¿ Sabetiba extended porches in Bakers fond warned
and crossed the county Line near the present village of Clear was used by the Mormons = the early Los and by i-seekers im IS.a. later becoming the military road the government troops mining westward
"or papoose." modicating the malamoms character of at me The caribes: settlement was made mm 1554
== Moore located near Baker's ford. 9 miles north of where stanis in the same year. Walter D. Beeles. Greenberry Thomas. Jobs C and Tacto B. Newton settled in the same vicinity angalhe took a ciam on Turkey creek and B. F Hicks =
tasig. The semlers = diss were James McCallister Wil-
I've Ces Diet BB Newton H. H. Lacham and wife. S. V. anta= zod Joseph Lanbam = Richmood tomask: : 15am ML Berry and I J. M. Gowa = Valer township ; Horace M. Newton. in Bocconi trorshe : Wia= Harms on de creer that bears his name: Euam Burger. George Frederick and George Goppelt in Turkey creek. ."Jong with these last named came z negr: by the name of Moses Faz- To: ichr & d which be sold the Der veer to Edward McCaf- sery ine Szo0. He bonghi his own freedom, the freedom of his wife his and two of ber children. C. Minger and wife settled in Wash- igot tounsit and Reoben Wolfer is Wetmore tomosis
"These car claims were taken withour warrant as there were no Bor emery and no place at which payment could be made to
iones were made = == 1850 at the land ofce a: Kickapoo, wiere
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KANSAS HISTORY
The settlement and development of the county having begun during the time when the pro-slavery element had the upper-hand in Kansas. most oi the early towns started at that time do not now exist, having given away to free-state towns before 1860. Among those to disappear were Central City, laid out in 1855 by William Dodge, for Thomas Newton and sons and H. H. Lanham. which had the first postoffice in the county; Pacific City ; Lincoln. the dream of J. E. Hawkes; Ash Point; Urbana. the first town in the county; Wheatland and Richmond. The last was started in 1855 by Cyrus Dolman, a pro-slavery man and a member of the territorial legislature. Richmond was made the county seat by legislative enactment at the time of the organization of Nemaha county. The town company was given a right to enter by preemption any quan- tity of land up to 1,000 acres, lay off the same into lots and sell it. Rich- mond was 3 miles north of the present town of Seneca:
The first officers appointed for the county were as follows: Cyrus Dolman. probate judge; James E. Thompson. sheriff: Edwin Van Endert, treasurer; Jesse Adamson. David P. Magill and Peter Ham- ilton, county commissioners. The legislature of 1857 passed an act fixing April 4. 18:8, as the date upon which the people should choose a location for a county seat. By this time Seneca had been established and won after three elections had been held on the question. In the first election there were six contesting places-Ash Point, Centralia. Wheatland, Seneca, Richmond and Central City. The next election was held in May and some of the places dropped out. In June another contest was held in which only three towns entered-Seneca, Wheat- land and Richmond. In August at the election on the Lecompton con- stitution the county seat question again came up. this time between Seneca and Richmond, the former being triumphant mainly through the influence of George Graham, president of the board of county super- visors. The county had become free-state by this time and turned down Richmond because it was a pro-slavery town.
The first election for county officers was held in 1859, all the officers having thus far been appointed. The result of the election was as follows: R. L. Torry, county clerk; Charles F. Warren, treasurer; Samuel Lappin, register of deeds ; John S. Rodgers, sheriff ; J. W. Fuller. county superintendent ; Haven Starr, probate judge. Very little of the violence which was occurring at that time in Kansas over the question of slavery molested Nemaha county, although there were in the county both pro-slavery and free-state men who had come to Kansas to help their side win. The only slave holder in the county was L. R. Wheeler of Rock Creek township, who held two slaves until 1859.
The year 1860 was a particularly hard one for the settlers. The county had grown from a population of 99 in 1855 to over 2.000 without experiencing any serious backsets. But the drouth, storms, etc., have caused this period in the history of Nemaha county to be referred to as "the famine of 1860." The main articles of diet were corn bread and sorghum molasses, and the settlers who could even get enough of
CYCLOPEDIA OF
that were lucky. F. P. Baker of Centralia was on the territorial relief committee and remained at Atchison during the winter of 1860-61 attending to the office of the committee. Through him many of the people of this county were relieved from suffering.
It is stated by some historians that John Brown spent his last night in Kansas at Albany, Nemaha county. The underground railway came through the eastern part of the county and one of the stations was at Lexington, 3 miles south of the present town of Sabetha. In 1859 Brown, in escorting 14 negroes to freedom over the famous "Lane Road," was held up on Straight creek in Jackson county for three days by those who hoped to obtain the rewards offered for him. He was relieved by Col. John Ritchie of Topeka who escorted him to Albany, Nemaha county, where he spent the night, proceeding to Nebraska the next day. .
When the Civil war broke out A. W. Williams of Sabetha was com- missioned as captain by the government and by Aug .. 1861. had suc- ceeded in raising 150 men from Nemaha, Marshall and Brown counties. As the volunteers enlisted they went into temporary barracks at Sabetha, where they remained for a month at the expense of Williams. In September they proceeded to Leavenworth, where 100 of them were made members of Company D of the Eighth Kansas and 50 were mustered into other companies. Nemaha county contributed about one- third of these men. A little later George Graham, who was a member of the legislature from Nemaha county in 1859. enlisted a squad of 30 men who went to Leavenworth and connected themselves with various regiments. Altogether there were 218 Nemaha county men enlisted, which included every able-bodied man in the settlements, Sabetha having but one man left.
Previous to the state election of 1866 there were stirring times over negro suffrage and woman suffrage and some of the leaders in both causes held meetings in Nemaha county, notably Lucy Stone and her husband, Henry B. Blackwell, Rev. Olympia Brown and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The vote of the county on the negro suffrage amend- ment was 251 for to 421 against it, and the woman suffrage amendment was defeated by a vote of 427 to 227.
Some of the early marriages in the county were Charles Leachman and Mrs. Caroline Davenport in 1854; Samuel Crozier and L. A. New- ton. July. 1855; Joseph Brown and Elizabeth Haigh in 1857. The first births were H. M. Randel. Oct., 1856, and Elizabeth Lochnane, 1857. The first death was that of Jacob B. Newton, son of Rev. Thomas Newton, in Sept., 1854. The first church was built by the Christian cienomination in Granada township in 1856. The first schools were built in Granada township in 1856 and in America City, Red Vermillion town- ship, in 1857. The first postoffices were Central City, 1856; America City. 1858.
There was one lynching and the one legal execution in the county. the former occurring at Baker's ford in 1865. The victim was Miles N
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KANSAS HISTORY
Carter, a horse thief, who shot and killed John H. Blevins. Carter was taken from the jail at Seneca at I1 o'clock at night by 20 men who overpowered the guard. The next morning his body was found hanging to a tree at Baker's ford. The legal execution was held near the jail on Sept. 18, 1868, Melvin Baughn being the victim. He had shot and killed Jesse S. Dennis in 1866 and had managed to escape punishment for two years though arrested several times.
The first railroad to enter the county was the Atchison & Pike's Peak, now the Missouri Pacific, in 1866. The stations along the route were Wetmore, Sother, Corning and Centralia. The St. Joseph & Denver City R. R. came through the county in 1870, entering at Sabetha and touching at Onedia, Seneca and Baileyville. This road is now the St. Joseph & Grand Island. Two other lines have been built since giving Nemaha county excellent shipping facilities. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific enters near the central part of the north line and extends across the northeast corner through Bern, Berwick and Sabetha. A second line of the Missouri Pacific enters from the west, II miles south of the Nebraska line, and extends southeast through Baileyville, Seneca, Kelly, Goff and Bancroft.
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