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 94
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On Dec. 8 the supreme court handed down an opinion sustaining the governor's position. The decision was written by Justice Benson, who, after carefully reviewing arguments pro and con, said: "It is manifest from these various provisions that the term, 'supreme executive power,' is something more than a verbal adornment of the office, but implies such power as will secure an efficient execution of the laws, which is the peculiar province of that department, to be accomplished, however, in the manner and by the method, and within the limitations prescribed by the constitution."
A majority of the court concurred in the decision of Justice Benson, Justices Porter and West dissenting. The former, in his opinion, expressed regret that the supreme court should have been called upon to consider what he terms "a tempest in a teapot." Says he: "If the only purpose of the governor was to bring about a prosecution all that was necessary was for him to direct the attorney-general to investigate and prosecute, leaving it to that officer to use his own judgment and discretion as to the means to be employed in such prosecution. If the attorney-general failed to perform his duty or acted corruptly he can be removed by impeachment, but we have no right to compel him to perform any act which is discretionary."
Justice West held a similar view, and in his dissenting opinion said : "Anyone who has had experience in conducting prosecutions arising from the prohibitory law, knows that caution and tact, as well as good judgment and legal learning are necessary, and it is often essential that the prosecutor, instead of putting a hostile witness in position to warn the culprit, let not his left hand know what his right hand doeth. To require by mandamus the performance of an act so manifest, within the realm of official discretion sets, in my judgment, a dangerous precedent and departs from the theory upon which the executive department of the government has heretofore been conducted."
Soon after the decision of the court was rendered the attorney-general filed an application for a rehearing, which was still pending at the close of the year.
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The summer of 1911 was hot and dry. In the western part of the state crops were injured to a considerable extent by drought, and in the latter part of July and the early part of August efforts were made to have the governor call a special session of the legislature to afford relief. On Aug. 3 the members of the legislature representing the north- western counties met at Colby and adopted resolutions urging the gov- ernor to call an extra session. Says the resolutions: "Each county is able to take care of its own condition. All we need is a law whereby the respective counties may be authorized to use their own funds by loaning them to its citizens, or in some other proper way assist them to procure a reasonable amount of seed. If you call a special session we pledge ourselves to devote our entire efforts exclusively to the con- sideration of emergency legislation and to the use of the strictest economy of both time and money."
The counties represented in the conference were Cheyenne, Decatur, Sherman, Sheridan, Graham, Logan, Gove, Trego and Ellis. Not all the people of the western portion of the state thought a special session necessary. The Oakley Graphic said editorially: "Many new settlers came into western Kansas during the past year and homesteaded on isolated tracts of land depending upon this year's crop to put them out of debt. This is the class of people that are asking for assistance, but the rank and file of farmers who are, according to the dispatches in the dailies, asking for aid, are able to buy and sell 90 per cent. of the fel- lows who read the calamity articles."
After investigation, Gov. Stubbs evidently took the view of the Oak .. ley Graphic, and no special session was called. Later in the year there was some agitation for a special session to amend the primary election law so as to permit the selection of delegates to the national conventions by popular vote, and although Gov. Stubbs is a firm believer in the theory that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed," he declined to call the extra session.
William H. Taft, president of the United States, visited Kansas in Sept., 1911, and on the 27th officiated at the laying of the cornerstone of the Memorial Building (q. v.) at Topeka. That was the occasion of a state soldiers' reunion and several thousand veterans of the Civil war were in attendance, as well as a large number of the citizens of the state. The term of Gov. Stubbs will end with the inauguration of his successor in Jan., 1913.
Stidley, a hamlet in Sheridan county, is located in Valley township on the Solomon river and the Union Pacific R. R., 16 miles east of Hoxie, the county seat. It has general stores, an express office, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 75.
Stull, a hamlet of Douglass county, is located in the northwestern por- tion, 6 miles south of Lecompton, the nearest railroad station and the postoffice from which it has rural free delivery. The population in 1910 was 31.
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Stuttgart, a country hamlet in Phillips county, is located in Mound township on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., 7 miles west of Phillipsburg, the county seat. It has general stores, a mill and grain elevator, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 125.
Success, a country hamlet in Russell county, is located in Waldo township on the Saline river, 10 miles northeast of Russell, the county seat, and 8 miles north of Bunkerhill, the nearest shipping point and the postoffice from which it receives mail.
ยท Sugar .- The sugar industry in Kansas commenced in the early '8os with the manufacture of sugar from sorghum cane. Regarding this industry the state board of agriculture in 1884 made the following re- port : "Of 116,511 acres of sorghum in the state this year, but 29,515 acres, or a little over 25 per cent., were planted for the purpose of manu- facturing the product into sugar and sirup. The greater proportion of the area, or 86,996 acres were sown and planted for forage. The propor- tion that was manufactured into sugar cannot yet be accurately deter- mined, but will probably not exceed one-fifth of the area mentioned above as planted for the purpose of manufacture. There are three proni- inent sugar plants in operation in Kansas, being located at Hutchinson, Sterling and Ottawa. These works have all manufactured sugar, both last year and this. . . a sample of sugar made this year at Hutchin-
son . . is of good quality and shows a decided improvement on the products of a year ago. That a good quality of sugar can be made from northern cane, there is now no question; the only point to be deter- mined is as to the ability to produce it so that it can compete in price with foreign sugar."
In his message of 1885 Gov. Martin called the attention of the legis- lature to the sugar industry by reporting the output of the three sugar factories for 1884, as 602,000 pounds of sugar and 155,500 gallons of sirup manufactured from 19,300 tons of sorghum cane. The quality of this sugar was said to be identical in composition with the Louisiana sugar. The act of March 5, 1887, allowed a bounty of two cents a pound upon each and every pound of sugar manufactured under certain con- ditions from "beets, sorghum or other sugar yielding canes and plants grown in Kansas." (See Bounties.) The following year 701,941 pounds of superior sugar and 300,000 gallons of molasses were produced with satisfactory financial results.
In 1880 the legislature passed an act encouraging the erection of sugar mills and the manufacture of sugar and sirup out of sorghum cane, authorizing townships and cities of the second and third classes to subscribe for stock in sugar factories and to vote bonds therefor. In. 1890 George F. Kellogg, state sugar inspector, reported eight companies preparing to manufacture sugar that year, located at Fort Scott, Topeka, Medicine Lodge, Ness City, Attica, Liberal, Arkalon, and Conway Springs. The legislature of 1891 amended the act of 1887 and provided for a bounty of three-fourths of a cent per pound on sugar. In 1893 Mr.
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Kellogg reported three manufactures as claiming bounty-the Medicine Lodge Sugar company, Limited, $3,648; the Parkinson Sugar company of Fort Scott, $3,606.75 ; and the Medicine Lodge Sugar works and Re- fining company, $231. The amount of sugar manufactured was 998,110 pounds of first grade and about 1,000,000 pounds of second grade.
During the next few years the sorghum cane sugar industry languished and finally died, and in its place came the beet sugar industry. Kansas first made sugar from beets in 1889. In that year and 1890 beet sugar was made quite successfully at Medicine Lodge in the factory of the Medicine Lodge Sugar works and Refining company. Henry Hintze, sugar boiler and superintendent, came to Kansas with a thoroughly practical experience in beet sugar work, especially in German methods. He obtained seed from Germany and planted 4.7 acres near the factory. The yield was 60.23 tons of cleaned beets, which produced 10,158 pounds of sugar and 380 gallons of sirup. The report to the state board of agriculture stated that a larger return would have been obtained if the factory had been equipped with suitable machinery for slicing the beets and treating the juice. In 1890 an attempt was made to secure a crop of 100 acres of beets at Medicine Lodge, but instructions were not obeyed. However, the harvest was 290 tons, from which 48,260 pounds of sugar was obtained. The beets tested 15.25 per cent. sugar' contents. The company showed a willingness to put in proper machinery for making beet sugar, but it changed management and nothing was done. The sorghum sugar factory at Ness City planted beets in 1890, but the factory burned. The Topeka sorghum sugar factory reported a net profit of $11.60 per acre on a small crop of beets raised the same year. In 1890 the Kansas Agricultural College began experiments in beet sugar grow- ing. Some seeds were imported, others procured from the United States department of Agriculture. The beets showed an unsatisfactory analysis, but the work was continued. Beets raised in other localities were analyzed and some showed a good percentage of sugar.
In 1901 provision was made by law for payment by the state of $1 per ton upon beets grown in Kansas and used for sugar manufacture. The law differed from the law of 1887 in that it paid the bounty to the grower instead of the manufacturer. Seventy growers in Kearny, Ham- ilton and Finney counties, harvested a total of 1,747.36 tons of beets which were bought by contract by a sugar factory at Rocky Ford, Col. The sugar content of these beets ranged from 13.3 to 22 per cent. In 1902 seventy-five growers in Finney and Kearny counties shipped 4,250 tons of beets harvested from 439 acres to the American Beet Sugar company at Rocky Ford. The bulk of this crop was raised near Lakin and Deer- field. The year 1903 was an important one and the beet crop was small, but the next year 5,000 tons were provided for in the bounty appropria- tion. Of this crop 1,488 tons were grown in the northwestern counties of Rawlins, Cheyenne and Decatur, the beets being shipped to Grand Island and Ames, Neb. The 1905 harvest in the Arkansas valley was 8,032 tons. The 132 growers received a bounty of 58 cents a ton.
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About this time a group of Colorado capitalists made investigation of the district adjacent to Garden City, Deerfield and Lakin. As a result the United States Sugar and Land company was incorporated, 27,000 acres were purchased in Finney and Kearny counties, early in 1906 work was commenced on a factory at Garden City, to be finished in time to care for the crop of that year and to have a daily capacity for slicing 800 tons of beets. This factory is of modern, steel, concrete and brick construction, representing an investment of $800,000. The statis- tics for the year 1910 show 8,171 acres planted to sugar beets, which yielded 70,890 tons, with a value of $354,450.
Sugar Creek Mission .- (See Missions.)
Sugarloaf, a country hamlet in Rooks county, is located 10 miles north- west of Stockton, the county seat and nearest shipping point, and II miles south of Speed, the postoffice from which it receives mail. The population in 1910 was 15.
Sugarvale, a hamlet in Anderson county, is located 9 miles northeast of Garnett, the county seat, whence it receives mail by rural route, and 6 miles southeast of Hecla, on the Missouri Pacific, the nearest shipping point.
Summerfield, an incorporated town of Marshall county, is located in Richland township, 26 miles northeast of Maryville, the county seat. It is on the Missouri Pacific R. R., has banking facilities, a weekly news- paper (the Sun), telegraph and express offices, schools and churches, and an international money order postoffice with three rural mail routes. The population in 1810 was 554.
Sumner County, one of the southern tier, is crossed east of the center by the 6th principal meridian, and hence is but a short distance east of a line dividing the state into halves. It is bounded on the north by Sedg- wick county ; on the east by Cowley ; on the south by the State of Okla- homa, and on the west by Harper and Kingman counties. It was named in 1871 in honor of the Hon. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. At that time many of his friends objected to applying the name of so great a man to what they deemed a worthless strip of territory.
Settlement began early in 1869 when John Degolia and A. Cadou started a ranch on Slate creek. This neighborhood was one of the first in the county to be settled. Those who came during the years of 1869 and 1870 were, in the order of their coming, J. M. Buffington, Lafayette Binkley, John Horton, Charles Wichern, Edwin Wiggins, Charles Rus- sell, Frank Holcroft, J. D. Holmes, J. J. Ferguson, J. O. West, A. D. Cle- well with his wife and six children, G. C. Walton, his wife Sarah and nine children, T. L. Cambridge with his wife and seven children, J. B. Leforce, Sr., wife and six children, their son J. B. Leforce and wife, Wil- liam Leforce, wife and one child, W. C. Foraker, Nelson Holmes, Thom- as A. Woodward, Thomas Fuller, James Sullivan, John F. Denogan, Capt. A. B. Barnes, Charles Russell, Harry Holcroft, Edward Wiggins, T. V. McMahon, John McMahon, Robert Symington, Albert Brown, John and Simon Bodkin, John P. McCullock, John Bur- (II-50)
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nett and wife, Mrs. Lillie Wallace (86 years old), A. B. and A. E. May- hew, Thomas, J. L. and W. B. McCammon, Samuel and Luther Spencer, William Meek and family, John E. Reid, George Pottman, George A. Jewitt, John Carpenter, H. H. and. H. D. Coulter, with their families, Charles A. Phillips, John J. Abel, A. Moovil, and Perry Binkley.
This brings the settlements up to the last day of 1870. By that time a number of trading posts had been established; one on the site of Oxford, where a number of families had been located; one on Slate creek, and one at Ninnescah. In 1871 there was a large influx of settlers and a num- ber of towns were founded, among them Belle Plaine, where David Rich- ards put the first ferry in the county into operation. The Napawalla Town company was formed and a town of that name laid out on the site of Oxford. The Oxford Town company was formed shortly after- ward, ordered a printing outfit, and attempted to make Oxford the county seat. Wellington also was founded early in 1871 for the same purpose and Sumner City had its beginning about this time. The Fourth of July was celebrated with a great deal of zest in all the new towns.
The first white child born in the county was Oxford Bufit, born July 20, 1871, at the place indicated by his first name. The first recorded death in the county occurred on July 3, when George Peary was shot and killed by O. Bannon. In August a company was formed to build a bridge across the Arkansas. The first meeting of old soldiers was held at Wellington on Sept. I, and the first marriage was in November be- tween George W. Clark and Mary C. Wright, the ceremony being per- formed by Rev. J. C. Ferguson.
It seems from all accounts and records that Sumner county was unusu- ally turbulent in the early days. A book by G. D. Freeman of Caldwell gives twenty or more cases of violence, ranging from single murders and lynchings to fights with whole gangs of desperadoes in which numbers of men were killed. Before the county organization the citizens had various committees for dispensing justice. One of these was the "Vig- ilants," which dealt out justice and sometimes injustice in a summary manner. In 1871 the citizens thinking a corps of county officers would better social conditions petitioned Gov. Harvey for organization. In order to frustrate the plans of Sumner City to become the county seat the petition asked that Meridian be named the temporary county seat, and that William J. Uhler, John J. Albert and John S. McMahon, three Wichita men favorable to Wellington, be nominated commissioners. This was done and the commissioners camped on the bare prairie, where Meridian was supposed to be, and awaited developments. Their first record was dated in June, 1871, and they ordered that, inasmuch as the county had failed to provide buildings at Meridian, the county business be transacted at Wellington until the permanent seat should be chosen by ballot. One of the commissioners went to another county and the remaining two appointed David Richardson in his place. Clark R. God- frey was appointed county clerk. In August the county was divided into three election precincts and an election for county seat and officers
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ordered for Sept. 26. The contesting towns were Wellington, Sumner City, Meridian and Belle Plaine. The total number of votes cast was 805. The officers chosen were: Clerk, C. S. Brodbent ; clerk of the dis- trict court, W. A. Thompson; superintendent of public instruction, A. M. Colson; county attorney, George N. Godfrey ; probate judge, George M. Miller; sheriff, J. J. Ferguson ; register of deeds, J. Romine ; county treasurer, R. Freeman; two of the three commissioners were A. D. Ro- sencrans and R. W. Stevenson. The county business was still trans- acted at Meridian, where a temporary county building had been erected. There was no choice for county seat and pending the second election, which was to be held in November, the citizens of Wellington took a wagon and went to Meridian to take possession of the county records. As they came to the place they saw a party from Oxford bent on the same mission just coming over the hill. Wellington secured the books without trouble but a hand to hand fight occurred over the persons of the commissioners. In the end the Wellington party secured two of them, minus some of their clothes. The November election failed to settle the matter and another was held in Jan., 1872, the vote of which was never canvassed on account of the sudden resignation of one of the commissioners. Another election was held in March in which Welling- ton received the highest number of votes and Oxford the second high- est. A vote taken the next month resulted in favor of Wellington. A petition was presented in Jan., 1873, for relocation. It was denied and no further effort was made to change the seat of justice.
Settlement was so rapid that by 1874 there were fully 8,000 people in the county. That year proved to be a disastrous one in many ways. Added to the grasshopper plague, which was general throughout Kan- sas, were the drought and the Indian raids. While the Indians did not come into Sumner county, attacks were threatened at various times and the settlers were kept in a constant state of excitement for several months. They left their homes and gathered into the towns, hundreds being encamped at Wellington. Finally a great many became dis- couraged and left for the east, some of them in the most pitiable state of poverty and despair. This state of affairs did not last long. In 1880 there were 20,886 people living in the county, and 200,000 acres of land were under cultivation, half of which was sowed to wheat. Flour mills had been erected and the first railroads were built that year, so that the product could be marketed.
The first railroad to enter the county was the Cowley, Sumner & Fort Smith, an extention of the Wichita branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. Bonds to the amount of $180,000 were voted and the road was completed to Caldwell in May, 1880. In 1879 Oxford, Wel- lington and Dixon townships voted bonds to the amount of $54,000 for the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston, which is now a part of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe system. It was completed to Wellington in March, 1880. Another road which later became a part of the Santa Fe was built during the same year between Wellington and Hunnewell.
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At the present time there are 252 miles of main track in the county, which entitles it to rank among the first in the state as regards rail- road facilities. A line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe enters in the northeast, crosses southwest to Wellington, thence south into Oklahoma, with a branch southwest from Wellington to Caldwell in the southwest. Another line of the same system from Winfield, Cowley county, enters in the east and crosses directly west through Wellington into Harper county. A branch of this road northwest from Winfield crosses the extreme northeast corner and west a few miles along the northern bor- der. A line of the Missouri Pacific enters in the east and crosses north- west and west into Kingman county, and a branch of the saine road from Wichita enters in the north and crosses southwest into Harper county. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific enters in the north, crosses south to Wellington and southwest to Caldwell. The Kansas City, Mexico & Orient R. R. crosses the extreme northwest corner. The Kansas Southwestern, a railroad from Anthony, Harper county, to Ar- kansas City, crosses the southern part east and west.
Sumner county is divided into 30 townships, Avon, Belle Plaine. Bluff, Caldwell, Chikaskia, Conway, Creek, Dixon, Downs, Eden, Falls, Gore, Greene, Guelph, Harmon, Illinois, Jackson, London, Morris, Osborne, Oxford, Palestine, Ryan, Seventy-six, South Haven, Springdale, Sumner, Valverde, Walton and Wellington. The postoffices are Wellington, Anson, Argonia, Ashton, Belle Plaine, Caldwell, Cicero, Conway Springs, Corbin, Dalton, Drury, Geuda Springs, Hunnewell, Mayfield, Milan, Millerton, Milton, Mulvane, Oxford, Peck, Perth, Portland, Riverdale, Rome and South Haven.
The general surface of the county is prairie, which in many places is nearly level. Bottom lands comprise 20 per cent. of the total area. The timber belts along the streams vary from five rods to one-half mile in width and the principal varieties of wood are cottonwood, box elder, ash, willow, elm, hackberry, burr-oak, mulberry, coffee-bean and locust. Limestone, sandstone, gypsum and potter's clay are found in small quantities. Salt exists in large deposits and the county is noted for the number and quality of its mineral springs. Well water is found at a depth of from ten to forty feet. The principal stream is the Arkansas river, which flows south along the eastern boundary. The Ninnescah enters in the north and flows southeast to the eastern border where it joins the Arkansas. The Chikaskia enters in the west and flows south- east. Slate creek in the east and Bluff creek in the west are important streams.
The area is 1,188 square miles or 760,320 acres, of which about 600,000 have been brought under cultivation. From its early beginnings Sum- ner was always a leader as an agricultural county. It rivals Barton for first place in the state. In 1906 it ranked highest in corn and led all others in the production of winter wheat and oats. The wheat yield of 1901 was 6,812,102 bushels, more than was produced in the same year by the whole state of Texas, North Carolina, or in any one of 22 other
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states and territories, and exceeded by over a million bushels the aggre- gate of the wheat raised in New England, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico and Wyoming all put together.
The farm produce per annum brings from $4,000,000 to $7,000,000. In the year of 1909 it brought $6,870,000. The product for 1910 which was below the average was nearly $5,000,000. Wheat in that year brought $441,000 ; corn, $951,000 ; hay, $385,000 ; oats, $1,178,000 ; live stock, nearly $1,000,000. Other important products are rye, Irish potatoes, sorghum, Kafir-corn, poultry and dairy products. There are 250,000 bearing fruit trees.
The population in 1910, according to the government census, was 30,654, a gain of about 20 per cent. over the population of 1900. The assessed valuation of property was approximately $53,758,000. This makes the wealth per capita a little more than $1,700. Many of the farmers have been known to pay for their farms entirely with one crop of corn or wheat. There is room in Sumner county for 4,725 farins of 160 acres each.
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