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 77
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domestic use and other purposes. While the lump or crushed rock salt is not freed from impurities, except in a very hasty sort of way like the removal of impure lumps, it is superior to the evaporated salt for many purposes. The greater portion of the salt made in Kansas is by the evaporation of brines. There are several processes of evaporation, known as the pan process, the grainer process, the vacuum process and the solar process. "The common method employed to procure the brine is to bore a well say 5 inches in diameter. Then this is tubed, and inside this tube a smaller one-say 3 inches in diameter-is placed. It is only necessary to force the water down in one tube, when it will become saturated and be forced up the other tube. The stream of water introduced is such that the overflowing stream shall be saturated or at least shall stand above 90 by the saltometer."
The brine is stored in convenient tanks until it can be evaporated. In the pan process of evaporation, direct heat is used. The pan consists of a wrought iron vessel about 125 by 25 feet, and about 12 inches deep. A coal fire (usually slack is used for fuel) is built beneath one end of this pan, and the products of combustion pass under the whole length of the pan. The brine is allowed to trickle into the pan in a slow but constant stream. The first division of the pan (and in some cases sev- eral divisions) is so arranged that the brine can be retained there till it has been evaporated sufficiently for it to deposit some of its impuri -ยท ties, especially the calcium sulphate. When this has been accomplished, the brine, which is now saturated with salt, is allowed to flow into the last division of the pan, where the heat is not so intense. Here the salt crystallizes and falls to the bottom of the pan, where it is removed every two hours with long handled rakes, drained for some time and then dried and put in sacks for shipment.
The grainer process is an American system, and was devised for the purpose of producing salt cheaply from comparatively weak brines. "The 'brine is first run from the storage reservoir into a large wooden tank, which is heated by waste steam. This is, in fact, a purifying tank, and the calcium sulphate is allowed to deposit here. Afterward, the brine is run into a long, rectangular wooden pan, which is heated by steam pipes, running backward and forward across the bottom of the pan. In this process the raking is only performed occasionally. As after a while, gypsum incrusts the pipes, the brine is drawn off, and the incrustation may be readily removed." The salt after being raked or removed from the pan, is drained and dried as in other processes.
The solar process was used in the plant at Solomon City, the heat of the sun being used for evaporation. In this process the brine was ob- tained from a well about 100 feet deep. The brine pumped from the well is run into a series of tanks. "In the first series, the concentration is allowed to proceed till the impurities, especially calcium sulphate, deposit, and then, after the salt begins to crystallize, the brine is allowed to run into other tanks, when the process is completed. As the crystal- ization proceeds very slowly, the crystals are large, often quite perfect,
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and of characteristic hopper shape. Wooden covers are arranged to slide over the vats to protect the salt from frequent showers, and from dust. If the covers are used at night, considerable of the heat absorbed by the brine during the day is retained. The purity of the product de- pends on the care used in allowing the brine to settle and in carrying the first concentration far enough to precipitate a large portion of cal- cium sulphate."
The works at Solomon City sometimes added crushed rock salt. This mixture did not yield a product as good as that made from native brine. The solar evaporation is used very largely in some states, especially California, where the largest part of the output is obtained in that manner.
In the vacuum process the apparatus consists of a kettle which is con- nected with a vacuum pump so that the brine may be boiled at a lower temperature. The salt that is formed is automatically carried away and fresh brine is at the same time supplied to the pan as rapidly as evap- orated. This method of salt manufacturing is used in the most modern and complete plants. As the machinery for this process is costly only the largest producers use it. The largest plant in the state, and one of the largest in the United States-The Hutchinson, Kansas Salt com- pany-has installed multiple vacuum pan machinery.
The large salt beds are found near Ellsworth, Lyons, Great Bend, Kanopolis, Sterling, Kingman, Anthony and Wellington. The deposit in all of these places was found to be from 50 to over 400 feet thick. The statistics of Kansas, which in 1909 ranked fourth among the salt producing states, are as follows: In 1899, 2,172,000 barrels were pro- duced; in 1903, 1,455,582 barrels, the average price of which was 50 cents, the total value $800,730.74; in 1909 the production reached 2,360,- 000 barrels of 280 pounds each.
Salt Lake Trail .- The history of this trail through Kansas is sub- stantially the history of the Oregon, Mormon and California trails (q. v.). Emigrants for the Salt Lake Valley and California went by way of the Oregon trail to a point near Soda Spring, Idaho, where the road branched off and the name of Salt Lake trail properly applies only to that portion from southern Idaho to the Salt Lake valley.
Saltville, one of the inland hamlets of Mitchell county, is located on Salt creek in the southeastern part of the county, about 12 miles south of Beloit, the county seat, and 7 miles northwest of Barnard, from which place it receives mail by rural route. The population in 1910 was 25 ..
Salvationists .- The bodies of this religious sect are two in number: The Salvation Army and the American Salvation Army. The history of the organization dates back to 1865, when William Booth, a minister of the New Connection Methodists began to hold open air meetings in London, England, in order to reach the great masses of people in that great city who did not attend any of the established churches. The attendance increased, meetings were held in a tent, then a theater, the movement became known as the East End mission, then the Christian
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mission. For nearly thirteen years little attention was paid to this or- ganization. Then a great revival took place. The crowds increased, evangelists were sent out to other fields, and in one of the seaport towns an evangelist was spoken of as "captain" in order to attract sailors to his meetings. When it was learned that Mr. Booth was coming he was announced as "general" and the secretary wrote in preparing the program, "The Christian Mission of a Volunteer Army." When Mr. Booth looked it over he erased the word volunteer and substituted sal- vation, and the title Salvation Army was accepted as the most appro- priate for the work which was being undertaken.
At first the movement was looked upon by both Mr. Booth and his wife as supplementary to the work of the churches, but it enlarged and finally developed into a distinctive movement with a people of its own. From the first efforts were made to care for the physical needs of the destitute, soup kitchens were established for relief, various experiments were made for the redemption of the "submerged tenth," which gradually worked out under the three divisions of city colonies, land colonies and over-sea colonies.
One of the first officers to come to America to superintend the work was Thomas E. Moore. Disagreements arose between him and Mr. Booth, who contended that part of the revenues raised in America should go to England, as the work of the army was world wide and no member should call any country his own. Moore believed that money raised in this country should be expended here, and this led, in 1882, to the formation of an independent army in the United States. It was incorporated in 1884 and an amended charter was granted in 1885 under the name of Salvation Army of America. Subsequent changes led to the organization of the American Salvation Army. The old army is military in organization but sufficiently democratic to include persons of every social grade within its ranks. It has no formal creed, pays little atten- tion to doctrinal differences, and in general character is Arminian rather than Calvinistic. The government of the army is somewhat autocratic. The general is assisted by officers of every grade and rank, commissioned after passing the examinations of the training schools and giving evi- dence of ability for the work. Soldiers are usually persons following their work by day and giving their services of evenings, and are seldom paid. Officers receive their support, but no more, and each corps is expected to be self-supporting.
The Salvationists became established in Kansas in the '8os by set- tlers from the East. In 1890 there were 12 organizations in the state, one in each of the following counties: Bourbon, Butler, Cowley, Doug- las, Franklin, Harvey, Miami, Montgomery, Neosho, Sedgwick, Shaw- nee and Sumner, with a total membership of 307. During the next fif- teen years the organizations increased to 16 and the membership to 555. In this state the Salvation army has not the large membership that it has where there are great cities, but it has done a good work in the towns where the organizations are located.
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Sanborn, Franklin B., journalist and author, was born at Hampton, N. H., Dec. 15, 1831, a son of Aaron and Lydia (Leavitt) Sanborn. He graduated at Harvard in 1855 and the next year became secretary of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee; was very active in the free- state cause; was chairman of the board of state charities in Massachu- setts from 1874 to 1876, and inspector of charities from 1879 to 1889. He was a lecturer at Cornell, Smith and Wellesley Colleges and at the Concord, Mass., School of Philosophy; was one of the founders of the American Social Science Association, National Prison Association, National conference of charities, Clarke School for the Deaf, Massa- chusetts infant asylum, and the Concord School of Philosophy, and was secretary or president of most of these. Between the years 1876 and 1897 he was editor of the Boston Commonwealth, Springfield Republican, Journal of Social Science, and issued about 40 volumes of reports of societies between 1865 and 1888; is the author of the biographies of Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, Dr. S. G. Howe and Dr. Earle, Life and Letters of John Brown, Personality of Emerson, Personality of Thoreau and a History of New Hampshire. Mr. Sanborn visited Kansas early in the 20th century and his bust is in the rooms of the Kansas Historical Society.
Sandago, a hamlet in Stafford county, is located 16 miles north of Stafford, the county seat, and 7 miles north of Hudson, the nearest shipping point and the postoffice from which it receives mail. The popu- lation in 1910 was 38.
Santa Fe, the county seat of Haskell county, is centrally located on the Garden City, Gulf & Northern R. R. It has a bank, 2 newspapers (the Monitor and the Republican), a number of retail establishments, professional men of all lines, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 150.
The town was founded in 1886 by a company of which J. A. Gray- son, of Chicago, was president. The county seat struggle resulted in a victory for Santa Fe over Ivanhoe, and the latter was moved to Santa Fe late in the fall of 1887. The depression which followed the early boom was hastened and made much more severe by a contest between the two banks of the town. The citizens took sides in the fight, which was bound to end in ruin, and a bitter financial war was waged. Finally one of the banks was closed and the other voluntarily closed its doors when $20,000 of the county funds were on deposit. For twenty years times were hard but the recent good crops and the new railroad have revived the town and made it more prosperous.
Santa Fe Trail .- Some writers have attempted to set up the claim that this famous route had a prehistoric existence, and that it was fol- lowed by the Coronado expedition in 1540. In July, 1739, the Mallet brothers reached Santa Fe from the East, but there is no authentic account to show that they traveled along the line of the trail. The earliest trading expedition to the Spanish settlements in the Southwest was organized under French auspices in Louisiana about the middle of
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the 18th century. This expedition passed up the Arkansas river and established a trading post near the present city of Pueblo, Col., but after Louisiana was ceded to Spain by the treaty of Fontainebleau the French traders were driven out by the Spaniards. It is probable that the first white man to traverse the country as a trader between the United States and Santa Fe, following approximately the route which later became so widely known as the "Santa Fe Trail," was Baptiste La Lande (q. v.), who went from Kaskaskia, Ill., as the agent of William Morrison, in the summer of 1804.
The publication of Lieut. Pike's report of his expedition "to the sources of the Arkansas," etc., aroused a general interest in the trade with Santa Fe-a trade which promised large profits. However, the Mexican revo- lution, which began in 1810 and ended in making the country a republic in 1821, prevented the trade from assuming any considerable proportions until after the restoration of peace. As the caravans were compelled to pass through the Indian country, and as some of the tribes along the route were inclined to show a hostility to this constant stream of travel through their territory, a movement was started to have the United States government establish a highway from some point in Missouri to New Mexico. A bill to that effect was introduced in Congress and was championed by Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, and other western mem- bers. In a speech on the measure, Mr. Benton said: "The road which is contemplated will trespass upon the soil or infringe upon the juris- diction of no state whatever. It runs a course and distance to avoid all that; for it begins on the outside line of the outside state, and runs directly off toward the setting sun. The Congress and the Indians are alone to be consulted and the statute books are full of precedents."
On March 3, 1825, only one day before he retired from the office, President Monroe approved a bill authorizing the president "to cause a road to be marked out from the western frontier of Missouri to the confines of New Mexico," and to appoint three commissioners to carry out the provisions of the act. The commissioners appointed were Thomas Mather, George C. Sibley and Benjamin H. Reeves. They left St. Louis in June with 7 wagons and about 30 men. Their report states that on Aug. 10 they "met the chiefs and head men of the Great and Little Osage Nations at a place called the Council Grove, on the river Neozho, 160 miles from Fort Osage, and have, after due delibera- tion and consultation, agreed to the following treaty, which is to be considered binding on the said Great and Little Osages, from and after this day."
The treaty thus referred to provided that, in consideration of the sum of $500, to be paid to the chiefs and head men of the Osages in money or goods at their option, they gave the United States the privilege of sur- veying and marking the road through their territory. They further agreed to commit no hostile acts against persons traveling along the road, and to permit them to go a reasonable distance on either side thereof to find suitable camping places and subsistence for their animals.
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On Aug. 16, 1825, a similar treaty was made with the Kansas Indians, and between that time and the fall of 1827 Joseph C. Brown surveyed the road from Fort Osage to Taos, not far from Santa Fe. Prentis, in his History of Kansas, says:
"It was a great road, 775 miles long, 550 miles of which were in Kan- sas, a hard, smooth thoroughfare, from 60 to 100 feet wide. It had not a bridge in its whole extent, and was the best natural road of its length ever known in the world. In token that it had come to stay, the broad- faced, yellow sunflower, since chosen by Kansas people as an emblem of their state, sprang up on either side where the wheels had broken the soil along the wild highway."
In the early history of the Santa Fe trade, the outfitting point was at Old Franklin, Mo., but a large part of that town was undermined by the river and the outfitting business was transferred to Independence, Mo., which place may be said to have been the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe trail. After the landing at Independence was obstructed by the formation of a sand bar in 1826, the town of Westport (now Kan- sas City) came in to prominence as an outfitting point. Prior to 1824 goods were transported on the backs of horses or mules. In 1824 a party of 80 men left Independence with 25 wagons loaded with goods and also a large number of pack animals. This was the largest party that up to that time had engaged in the trade, and it doubtless wielded considerable influence on Congress in securing the passage of the act already mentioned.
The trail entered Kansas in what is now Oxford township, Johnson county, whence it followed a course a little south of west through Doug- las, Osage and Lyon counties to Council Grove. A road from Westport joined the main trail about where the town of Olathe now stands, and another from Fort Leavenworth united with the trail at Wilmington, in the southeast corner of Wabaunsee county. Over these various roads came small trading parties which met at Council Grove and formed a caravan for crossing the great plains. From Council Grove, still pur- suing a southwesterly direction, the trail ran through the present coun- ties of Morris, Marion, McPherson, Rice and Barton, striking the Arkansas river near the site of the present city of Great Bend. From this point the trail followed the north bank of the Arkansas to what is now the town of Cimarron in Gray county, where it divided, one branch crossing that stream and running southwest through Gray, Haskell, Grant, Stevens and Morton counties, crossing the western boundary of Kansas near the southwest corner of the state.
Gregg, in his Commerce of the Prairies, gives the following list of camping places in Kansas, with the number of miles distant from Inde- pendence : Round Grove, 35; the Narrows, 65; One Hundred and Ten Mile Creek, 100; Bridge Creek, 108; Big John Spring, 148; Council Grove, 150; Diamond Spring, 165; Lost Spring, 180; Cottonwood Creek, 192; Turkey Creek, 217; Little Arkansas, 234; Cow Creek, 254; Arkansas River, 270; Walnut Creek, 278; Ash Creek, 297; Pawnee Fork, 303; Coon
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Creek, 336; Caches, 372; Ford of Arkansas, 392; Sand Creek (on.the branch which crossed the Arkansas), 442; Cimarron River (lower spring), 450; Middle Spring (up the Cimarron), 486; Willow Bar, 512. Gregg also states that in 1822 the trade with Santa Fe amounted to about $15,000, with 70 men engaged in it, pack horses or mules being the only means of transportation. In 1826 wagons had completely supplanted pack animals, and the trade of that year reached $90,000. A steady increase followed until 1843, when the trade aggregated $450,000.
In the early '40s organized bands of guerrillas began to prey on the trading parties along the trail. One of these bands was formed in the fall of 1842, under the leadership of one John McDaniel, who claimed to hold a captain's commission in the Texan army. Early in 1843 McDaniel started for the trail with the intention of joining his force with that of another Texan bandit named Warfield, who had plundered and burned the town of Mora in New Mexico. Before the union was effected Warfield's gang was dispersed by a party of New Mexicans. It was McDaniel's force that robbed and murdered the trader Don Antonio Jose Chavez (q. v.) in the early spring of 1843. When the Warfield band was broken up some of the stragglers joined Maj. Jacob Snively, another Texan. These recruits gave Snively a force of some 200 men, with which he met and defeated a detachment of Armijo's command, the scene of the engagement being south of the Arkansas in Kansas. The unsettled conditions along the trail made a military escort necessary, and in May, 1843, a train left Independence under the protection of 200 United States dragoons commanded by Capt. P. St. George Cooke. Upon arriving at the Caches, Capt. Cooke was visited by Snively, who with about 100 men was encamped on the opposite side of the river. The boundary between the United States and Texas had not yet been settled, but Cooke took the position that Snively was operating within the terri- tory of the United States, disarmed his men and ordered them to disband. This affronted the Texan government, which demanded reparation, and a lively correspondence ensued. Abel P. Upshur, secretary of state, wrote to the Texan authorities as follows :
"Capt. Cooke justifies his conduct on the ground that he found this force within the territory of the United States, engaged in the attempt to interrupt lawful trade between the United States and Mexico; and hat he had a right to disarm, so as to take from them the power of mo- lesting our own citizens, and those of Mexico engaged in that trade; that he used no harshness, nor more force than was necessary to accomplish the object."
Capt. Cooke was acquitted by a court of inquiry and the United States offered to pay for the arms taken, which offer was accepted by Texas, and thus the question was finally settled. But this incident, with others of a turbulent nature, led the Mexican government to close all the fron- tier ports of entry in Aug., 1843, which was done by proclamation of Santa Ana, president of the Mexican republic. The ports were reopened by the decree of March 31, 1844, but the Mexican war soon afterward
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put a stop to the Santa Fe trade until 1850, when it was again resumed and was continued until the railroads put the overland freighter out of business in 1872.
Soon after the beginning of the present century, the Daughters of the American Revolution in Kansas began to agitate the subject of marking the line of the Santa Fe trail through the state. By the act of March I, 1905, the Kansas legislature appropriated $1,000 "for the purpose of pro-
FOLD SETTLERS ASSAMINTIME
1907
Santa Fe Trall Marker, Olathe, Kansas
MARKER ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL.
curing suitable monuments to mark the Santa Fe trail in the State of Kansas, through the following counties," etc. The act also provided that the marking should be done under the supervision of the regent of . the Daughters of the American Revolution in the State of Kansas and the secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society. Through the influ- ence of the Daughters, Jan. 29, 1906, the anniversary of the admission of Kansas into the Union, was designated as "Trail Day" in the public
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schools, to be observed with appropriate ceremonies, and the children were invited to contribute one cent each on that day to the fund marking the trail. Prizes were offered for the best essays on the trail, and the school contributing the largest collection was to be presented with a fine silk flag. The penny collection netted $584.40, which gave the Daughters $1,584.40 to expend for monuments. The material selected was a red granite from Oklahoma. C. W. Guild of Topeka agreed to prepare and inscribe the markers for $16 each, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, which follows approximately the line of the old trail, offered to transport them to the stations nearest their final destination free of cost. In most instances the expense of placing the markers in position was borne by the local authorities or a committee of citizens.
The marking was done in the years 1906 and 1907, and the secretary of the State Historical Society, in his report for the biennial period ending on June 30, 1908, after giving a detailed statement of the expen- ditures, says: "These statements show that the funds raised by the Daughters paid for 89 markers. There are at different points on the trail six special markers paid for by individual chapters of Daughters or other local interests, making a total of 95 markers from the east to the west line of the state. But the following location of each marker in detail shows a total of 90 markers furnished by the Daughters, and receipted for, or a total of 96 markers along the whole line. This dis- crepancy has caused hours and hours of arithmetic and searching, and much exhaustion of temper, without avail. If I had lost one marker it could easily be settled by getting another, or going down in my pocket, but the state is one marker ahead. Such a condition of public business may excite a little curiosity, but not enough to warrant annoy- ance from it."
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