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 46
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Olathe was incorporated in 1857 under a charter from the "Bogus Legislature." On Sept. 14, 1859, its first board of trustees was appointed, consisting of Jonathan Millikin, J. T. Barton, S. F. Hill, A. J. Clemmens and L. S. Cornwall. Some doubts existed as to the legality of the incorporation and it was re-incorporated in 1868 as a city of the third class, with the following trustees: R. E. Stevenson, B. F. Pancost, Charles Sennet, G. F. Hendrickson and William Vickers. By 1870 the population had increased to over 2,000 and Olathe was incorporated as a city of the second class. The election for city officials was held in April of that year, when William Pellet was elected mayor. The stone school house was erected on Lulu street in 1868, at a cost of $10,000, but some 15 years later the school population had outgrown this building and bonds to the amount of $15,000 were voted for the erection of another building, so that today Olathe has one of the best public school systems in the state. Olathe College was established in 1873, which was a prosperous institution for several years. The state legislature located the Kansas Institute for the Deaf and Dumb at Olathe in 1866. The leading churches are the Catholic church, estab- lished in 1864; the Old School Presbyterian, organized in 1865; Congre- gational, 1865; Methodist, 1869; Reformed Presbyterian, 1866; and the Baptist church, 1870.
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The Olathe Herald, the first newspaper in Jolinson county, made its appearance on Aug. 29, 1859. On Sept. 6, 1862, its office was destroyed by Quantrill. In 1861 the Olathe Mirror was started by John Francis; the next year W. H. McGowan began to print the Western Progress, and on July 24, 1879, the Olathe Gazette made its first appearance.
Olathe was one of the early manufacturing towns of the border counties. The Olathe flour mills were built in 1869 by C. M. Ott. The Pearl mills were erected in 1880. Today Olathe is one of the most progressive towns in the eastern part of Kansas. It is an important shipping point, has many retail stores and mercantile concerns, public library, electric-lighting, telephone, telegraph and express facilities. waterworks system, the milling industry has increased and other fac- tories have been established. In 1910 the population was 3,221.
Olcott, a hamlet in Reno county, is the terminal station on the Olcott & Iuka branch of the Missouri Pacific, and also on a main line of the same railroad. It is 30 miles southwest of Hutchinson, the county seat, and 5 miles southeast of Turon, from which place its mail is dis- tributed by rural delivery. It has telegraph and express offices. The population according to the census of 1910 was 53.
Old Crow, a Crow Indian, was one of the members of the Dull Knife band of Cheyennes, which left the reservation in Indian Territory and made the memorable raid across Kansas in Sept. and Oct., 1878, killing 32 citizens and destroying much property. They were pursued, several were captured and confined at Fort Robinson, Neb., for some time, when their squaws succeeded in smuggling in to them a number of guns, which were used on the morning of Jan. 21, 1879, in making a dash for liberty. Capt. Wessells, at the head of a squad of troops, immediately gave chase and the next day fought a desperate battle in which the Indians were almost entirely exterminated-but 7 men and 16 women and children surviving. Old Crow and 6 of his brother warriors were taken to Fort Leavenworth and later to Dodge City, their trial being set for June 24, 1879, in the district court of Ford county, the charge against them being murder. A change of venue was asked for by the defense which was granted, the case being sent to the district court of Douglas county for trial at the succeeding October term, at which time all the Indians were liberated. Army officers acquainted with Old Crow said that he had been employed by the government as a scout and had proven faithful, valuable and trusty and bore a good repu- tation. They said he belonged to the Crow tribe instead of the Chey- ennes and could have had no hand in the depredations of the latter in Kansas the previous year. He claimed to be a Sioux and is said to have been an Indian of more than ordinary intelligence.
Oliver, Robert W., clergyman and educator, was born in Scotland, Oct. 9, 1815. He was a cavalry officer in the English army in Canada. Later he became a minister in the Presbyterian church, occupying the pulpit in Scotland, whence he came to Butler, Pa., where he served as pastor of a Presbyterian church. He experienced a change in his
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religious views, and under the direction of the Rev. Alonzo Porter, bishop of Pennsylvania, he was admitted to the holy orders of the Protestant Episcopal church on Nov. 11, 1855. From 1857 to 1863 he served as missionary in western Pennsylvania, at Johnstown, Altoona and Huntington. From 1861 to 1863 he was chaplain in the Federal army. In 1863 Mr. Oliver returned to St. Luke's church at Altoona, but remained only a short time as he was called to Lawrence, Kan., where a school was being organized by the Rev. Charles Reynolds, rector of the Trinity Episcopal church. This school was chartered by the territorial legislature in 1861 under the auspices of the Episcopal church as the "Lawrence University of Kansas." Adverse criticism of the management of Mr. Reynolds caused the American church mis- sionary society to withdraw its support. Mr. Reynolds resigned and went into the United States army as chaplain and Mr. Oliver became his successor. When the state legislature chartered the University of Kansas in 1864, the beginning of a school made by the Episcopalians was turned over to the state. Mr. Oliver was made chancellor and president by the board of regents in March, 1865. On Sept. 6, 1865, Mr. Oliver asked the city council of Lawrence for a formal transfer to the new corporation of the ground on Mt. Oread, where the north college building now stands. The transfer was made on condition that the school should be in operation by Jan. 1, 1867. Mr. Oliver raised the money and executed his part of the contract with the city. He resigned the chancellorship of the university, which had been entirely of a business nature, and became president of the board of regents and its financial agent. Near the close of 1867 he also resigned the rector- ship of Trinity church, removing to Nebraska City, Neb., where he became rector of St. Mary's church. In 1883 he went from Nebraska City to Kearney, Neb., where he was rector of St. Luke's church. He also filled the chair of divinity for the diocese of Nebraska, 1883-95, when he went to Philadelphia, where he died in 1899. He was buried in Kearney, Neb.
Olivet, one of the small towns of Osage county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 12 miles south of Lyndon, the county seat. It has banking facilities and is a shipping point for a prosperous farming community. There are telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The popu- lation according to the census of 1910 was 200.
The town was located in 1869 by Rev. A. J. Bartels, a minister of the Swedenborgian church, who with J. R. Elder and C. P. Loricke were representing a stock company with a capital of $10,000 raised for the purpose of founding a town in Kansas. The first year saw consider- able growth. William Haslam opened a store for general merchandise and drugs, H. J. Davis opened a hotel, Bartels & Munger started a saw- mill and wagon and blacksmith shops were opened. The town was incorporated as a city of the third class, and a postoffice was established in 1870.
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Olmitz, one of the larger villages of Barton county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 16 miles northwest of Great Bend, the county seat. It has a bank, more than a score of retail establishments, tele- graph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population according to the census of 1910 was 200.
Olpe, an incorporated town in Lyon county, is located on Eagle creek in Center township, 10 miles south of Emporia, the county seat, and is a. station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. It has a bank, a semi-weekly newspaper (the Optimist), good schools and churches and all the leading lines of mercantile enterprise. It is a shipping center for a large farming district. It is supplied with telegraph and express offices, and has a money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population according to the census of 1910 was 215. Olpe was incor- porated as a city of the third class in 1905.
Olsburg, a village of Pottawatomie county, is located on the Union Pacific R. R. about 14 miles west of Westmoreland, the county seat. It has 2 banks, a weekly newspaper (the Gazette), express and tele- graph offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. All the main lines of business are represented. The population in 1910 was 300. The town and the surrounding country were built up by Swedes.
Olympia, a hamlet in Pratt county, is located in Logan township, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., 6 miles east of Pratt, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 25. The railroad name is Natrona.
Omaha Exposition .- (See Expositions.)
Omnibus Bill .- The compromise measures of 1850 are of interest to the student of Kansas history, for the reason that they represent the last action of Congress on the question of slavery prior to the organiza- tion of Kansas as a territory, and paved the way for the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill (q. v.) four years later. Oregon was organized as a territory by the act of Aug. 19, 1848. Section 14 of the organic act reaffirmed the Ordinance of 1787, giving to the people of Oregon all the "rights, privileges and advantages secured to the people of the territory northwest of the river Ohio," and providing that they should be subject "to all the conditions, restrictions and prohibitions in said articles of compact imposed upon the people of said territory."
As the Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the territory north- west of the Ohio, the advocates of slavery were chagrined at the aggressiveness of their opponents in the organization of Oregon, and determined to make at least a portion of the territory acquired as a result of the war with Mexico open to the introduction of that institu- tion. After weeks of debate in the early part of 1850, Henry Clay, on May 8, reported in the United States senate a bill embodying the fol- lowing features: I-The formation of new states from Texas, and their admission into the Union to be postponed until such time as they should present themselves for admission; 2-The admission of Cali- fornia, with the boundaries as proposed by her constitution; 3-The
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establishment of territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico, without the Wilmot Proviso, embracing all territory acquired from Mexico not contained within the boundaries of California; 4-The combination of the 2nd and 3d provisions in one bill; 5 -- The establish- ment of the boundaries of Texas, excluding from her jurisdiction all of New Mexico and rendering to Texas an equivalent therefor; 6-The enactment of a more effective fugitive slave law; 7-The prohibition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, but without abolishing slavery therein.
Some one compared the bill to a public omnibus, because it was "a vehicle for all sorts of passengers." The press and the public were not slow to adopt the notion thus advanced, and in a short time the measure became generally known as the "Omnibus Bill." While the bill was under discussion in the senate, President Taylor died (July 9) and his death weakened the anti-slavery cause, a number of the Whigs going over to the support of the compromise. A vote was reached on July 31, though Wilson, in his "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," says: "The measure adopted did not bear much resemblance to that at first intro- duced. Indeed, only so much as referred to the Mormon territory of Utah remained. When, therefore, the pretentious measure on which Clay and his grand committee of thirteen had bestowed so much anxious thought and care had passed the senate, and was sent to the house, it had been so shorn and reduced that it was received with peals of laughter from both friend and foe. And yet, though failing to pass the senate as a whole, the debate and votes rendered it apparent that the separate measures of which it was composed could be carried, and that slavery, in the name of compromise, was again to be victorious."
Consequently the original Omnibus Bill was divided into five separate measures. The bill fixing the boundaries between Texas and New Mexico, and granting Texas an indemnity of $10,000,000, passed the senate on Aug. 10, and the house on Sept. 6; the bill admitting Cali- fornia as a free state passed the senate on Aug. 13, and the house on Sept. 17; the bill providing for the organization of the territories of Utah and New Mexico passed the senate on Aug. 14, and the house on Sept. 6; the fugitive slave law was passed by the senate on Aug. 23. and by the house on Sept. 12; and the act relating to the prohibition of the slave trade, but legalizing slavery, in the District of Columbia passed the senate on Sept. 14, and the house on the 17th of the same month.
The provisions of the fugitive slave law quickly became odious to the people of the Northern states and formed the basis of the issues in the presidential campaign of 1852. The Democratic party indorsed the compromise acts of 1850 and nominated for president Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire; the Whig party divided, one wing nomi- nating Daniel Webster and the other Gen. Winfield Scott; the Free-Soil party, which first made its appearance in 1848 under the slogan "All territory ought to be free," nominated John P. Hale. The Whigs who
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supported the compromise measures were known as "Silver Greys" or "Snuff Takers," and those opposed were called "Woolly Heads." Pierce was elected and the slave party was in power when the question of organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska came before Con- gress in 1854. (See also Slavery.)
Onaga, one of the incorporated cities of Pottawatomie county, is located in the northeastern part of the county at the junction of two lines of the Union Pacific R. R. and on the Vermillion river, 20 miles from Westmoreland, the county seat. It has 2 banks, a weekly news- paper (the Herald), and is a shipping point for grain, live stock, fruits and produce. The population in 1910 was 800. There are express and telegraph offices and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The town was first platted in 1877 by Paul F. Havens, the president of the railroad. An addition was made to it in 1878. There were only two families on the town site at that time-Amos E. Langdon and J. B. Hubbell.
Oñate, Don Juan de, the founder and first governor of New Mexico, was the son of a conquistador, rich and popular, and prior to the estab- lishment of New Mexico was a citizen of Zacatecas. Thwaites, in his "Early Western Travels," says that either his wife or his mother was a granddaughter of Hernando de Cortez. In 1601, guided by a survivor of the ill-fated expedition of Bonilla (q. v.) of six years before, Oñate left Santa Fe with a force of 80 men to go in search of Quivira. Two priests, the padres Vergara and Velasco, accompanied the expedition. After marching across the plains in a northeasterly direction for 200 leagues, to an estimated latitude of 39° or 40°, he fell in with a tribe of Indians called the Escanjaques, with whom he formed an alliance and continued his march toward the province of Quivira. The alliance evidently did not last long, as Bancroft says: "The Spaniards had a battle with the Escanjaques and killed 1,000 of them on the Matanza plain, the scene of Humana's defeat. The battle was caused by Padre Velasco's efforts to prevent the Escanjaques from destroying the prop- crty of the Quiviras, who had fled from their towns at the approach of the Spaniards and their allies."
The Spanish loss in the engagement was slight, but the trouble with the Indian allies gave an unfortunate turn to the expedition. Owing to a lack of definite information, it is impossible to determine just how far Oñate went into the Indian country. The imperfect reports say that large villages were seen, and that advance parties claimed to have seen utensils of gold and silver, which metals were reported to be plentiful in the country of the Aijados not far away. If Oñate reached a point as far north as 39° he was no doubt somewhere in the Smoky Hill valley in central Kansas. Bancroft thinks that "It is not quite clear that Quivira was actually visited, but ambassadors from that people-also called Tindanes-were met, who wanted to join the Spaniards in a raid on the gold country. Oñate, however, deemed it unwise to go on with so small a force, or perhaps was turned back by the clamors of his men."
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Oñate returned to New Mexico in the fall, probably in October, and he was still governor of that province as late as 1608. His death is supposed to have occurred about 1620. His expedition was only one of many futile attempts of the Spaniards of the southwest to discover rich mines and establish friendly relations with the natives.
One Hundred and Ten .- This name was given a stream on the line of the Santa Fe trail (q. v.), the name being indicative of the number of miles from Independence, Mo., but in reality it was only 100 miles distant. The stream is in Osage county, Kan., not far from Burlingame. After the opening of the territory a small settlement sprang up at this place, which in 1855 was an aspirant for territorial honors, receiving some votes for the capital.
Oneida, a village of Nemaha county, is located in Gilman township on the St. Joseph & Grand Island. R. R. 9 miles east of Seneca, the county seat. It has banking facilities, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 350. In 1872 a postoffice known as Oneida was established at the farm house of Henry Kerns on the site of the present town. The next year Col. Cyrus Shinn bought 400 acres of land in the vicinity, part of which he platted for a town. In 1876 he built a store and two years later he gave an acre of land to George W. Buswell, who built the Oneida cheese factory. With the town thus under way Col. Shinn made extensive trips through Illinois and Missouri distributing hand bills and lecturing on the possibilities of his town. He advertised 500 town lots free. In that year one new building was added and the next year a hotel. The town was planned after Chicago and the streets named after those in that city. A ten-acre tract of timbered land was opened and called Hyde Park.
Ontario, a hamlet of Jackson county, is located near the northern line of the county about 10 miles northwest of Holton, the county seat, and on the Missouri Pacific R. R. It has telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 50.
Opolis, a village of Crawford county, is located in Baker township on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R., 18 miles southeast of Girard, the county seat. It has a flour mill, a number of stores, churches and schools, telegraph and express offices, telephone connections and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population accord- ing to the census of 1910 was 250.
Orange, a hamlet in Sheridan county, is located on the south fork of the Solomon river, 12 miles southwest of Hoxie, the county seat, 6 miles from Seguin, its shipping point, and 8 miles from Menlo, in Thomas county, the postoffice from which it receives mail.
Orchard, a hamlet in the northeastern part of Linn county, is situated on Sugar creek about 10 miles east of La Cygne, from which it has rural free delivery. The population in 1910 was 30.
Order No. 11 .- (See General Order No. II.)
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Oregon Trail .- The Oregon Trail, which started from Independence, Mo., entered Kansas near the mouth of the Kansas river and ran in a general westerly direction to the Pacific coast, the approximate dis- tance being about 2,124. The early history of the trail dates back to the time of the Astorian expeditions of 1811-1813. In 1823 or 1824 Gen. W. H. Ashley traversed the trail, discovering a more suitable way through the Rocky mountains by way of South Pass. Jedidiah S. Smith in 1826; Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville and party in 1832, and Nathaniel J. Wyatt the same year, were among the first to leave written accounts of having traveled over this historic thoroughfare. The trail was undoubtedly a well-established Indian highway long before its use by the trappers, hunters and early explorers. As early as 1840 it came into general use, and during the next seven years approximately 12,000 persons destined for Oregon passed over it. From 1840 until the advent of the railroad, it was practically the only way to reach those remote
ONLY REMAINING HOUSE ON OREGON TRAIL. (In Washington County, Kansas.)
localities unless going by water. During the Mormon hegira and the subsequent emigration to California, thousands of emigrants left the Missouri river for the far west, though no correct figures are obtainable of the extent of the passenger and freight traffic passing over the trail. That part of the trail between Independence and Grand Island on the Platte river was in use at an early day, but no record of when or by whom it was opened can be found.
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Fort Leavenworth, St. Joseph, Mo., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, figured some as outfitting points for emigrants during the latter days of the trail, and the road from the first two points intersected the Indepen- dence road in what is now Marshall county, Kan., but the bulk of freight and travel went by way of Independence, from which point the trail entered Kansas in Sec. 22, T. 12, R. 25 E., and traversed the counties of Johnson, Douglas, Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Marshall and Washington, leaving the state in Sec. 6, T. I, R. 5, near the 97th meridian. In its early days the following were the noted points along the line, in what is now Kansas, and their distances from Independence : Elm Grove, Round Grove, or Caravan Grove, variously called, 33 miles ; Junction of Oregon and Santa Fe trails, 41 ; Wakarusa creek, 53; Kansas river, 81; Turkey creek, 95; Little Vermillion, 119; Big Vermillion, 160; Big Blue, 174; Nebraska line, about 200 miles.
The route in detail through Kansas, as taken from the original sur- veys now on file in the office of state auditor at Topeka, was abont as follows: Entering Kansas in Johnson county it passed along the Santa Fe trail through what is Olathe, and on to the Junction of the Oregon and Santa Fe trails located a little south of west of the present town of Gardner; thence continuing in a northerly direction towards the Kansas river, it entered Douglas county in Sec. 27, T. 13, R. 21 E .; thence to the west a little south of the present town of Eudora; thence in a northwesterly direction through the old town of Franklin to the site of the present city of Lawrence; thence via Marshall and Big Springs, entering Shawnee county in Sec. 15, T. 12, R. 17 E .; thence up the south side of the Kansas river, passing the village of Tecumseh, to the Kansas river at Papan's ferry, now in the heart of Topeka, where it crossed to the north side of the river, continuing west about midway between Soldier creek and the river, near the modern villages of Meno- ken, Silver Lake and Kingville and on to Rossville, crossing old Turkey (now Cross) creek and entering Pottawatomie county in Section 14, T. Io, R. 12 E .; thence up the Kaw valley past St. Mary's, turning to the northwest at a point about two miles east of Louisville and con- tinuing in a line slightly to the east of the town of Westmoreland; thence in a northwest direction and entering Marshall county in Sec. 32, T. 5, R. 9 E .; thence northwest towards the Black Vermillion, the road forking about 2 miles south of that stream, which was crossed by both branches of the trail at a point about midway between the modern villages of Bigelow and Barrett; thence the old trail, known as the South California road, crossed the Big Blue near the mouth of the Little Blue, while the northern branch ran northwest to the Frank Marshall crossing at Marysville, near which place the roads from Fort Leavenworth and St. Joseph intersected the Independence road, and the two forks of the latter entered Washington county in Secs. 13 and 24, T. 2, R. 5 E., the two trails joining in Sec. 13 and thence running north to the Nebraska line.
Ezra Meeker, an Oregon pioneer, in 1909 and 1910, made two trips
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from that state over the trail with an ox team, and by public talks and lectures has succeeded in having many historic points along the high- way marked. He now has a bill before Congress in an effort to secure national aid in the permanent marking of the trail.
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