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 98
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The year 1860 was unusually hot and dry, the thermometer at Topeka registering 105 degrees in March. Among the improvements of that season was the establishment of regular stage lines to Atchison by way of Lecompton ; to Kansas City by way of Lawrence, and to Junction City by way of Manhattan. A new bridge was built over the Kansas river and one over the Shunganunga, 75 houses were erected at a cost of $100,000, and $1,000 voted for school purposes. The first railroad meeting was held in Aug., 1859. A route was surveyed to Topeka, but this along with other improvements planned was arrested by the Civil war.
The depression incident to the war was quickly overcome and in the six months following July, 1865, the population doubled. In Jan., 1866, the Union Pacific railroad reached this point and the Santa Fe was begun in 1868. New bridges, schoolhouses, sidewalks, churches, busi-
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ness blocks and dwellings were rapidly built. By 1867 the city had out- grown its original limits and the outlying claims had been divided into lots. The little town of Eugenia on the north side of the Kansas river was attached to Topeka that year and became North Topeka. Four other additions were made in 1867. Since that time the city has been steadily spreading out on both sides of the river, especially toward the southwest.
The year 1872 was an eventful one. Topeka entertained a royal guest in the person of the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who was in Kansas on a buffalo hunt. The "King Wrought Iron Bridge Manufactory and Iron Works" was organized that year, the city voting bonds for $100,000 toward the building of its shops which covered 3 acres. The company failed the next year and the shops were taken over by the Atchison, Topeka .& Santa Fe Railroad company and formed the beginning of the Santa Fe shops. A number of flour mills and other manufactories were established in the next ten years. The Topeka Library association, organized in 1870, was authorized by the legislature of 1881 to erect a free public library on the state house grounds. In 1886 the Missouri Pacific railroad was built to this point and the next year the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. About that time there was a great boom in Topeka real estate, there being in the year 1886 more than 20 additions platted and thrown on the market, and lots were sold 2 miles from the outskirts of town. The real estate transfers averaged $30,000 per day and the bank clearings $1,000,000 a month. In 1888 there were 3,000 new buildings put up at a cost of $3,000,000. The same year 4 miles of street pavement, 5 of sidewalk and 12 of sewer were laid, a $35,000 via- duct was built and an electric light plant was installed. The total expenditure for public improvements for the year was $598,000, the real estate transfers aggregated $7,879,569 and the bank clearings reached $17,000,000. Sixty-nine additions were made,, one of them being Potwin Place. The depression resultant from this activity is shown by a loss of 5,000 in population in the year 1890. The city was beginning to revive a little when the hard times of 1893 and the rush to the southwest gave it another setback. The depression continued for some years and it was not until 1900 that the population exceeded that of 1889.
Although the sale of liquor was prohibited by an amendment to the constitution, carried in 1880, the authorities for various reasons had hard work to enforce the law during the first twenty years. A new era of law enforcement was introduced by Mrs. Carrie Nation, who smashed a number of Topeka saloons in 1901, thus arousing public sentiment on the subject. Since 1889, when municipal suffrage was given to women, they have been a factor in city politics and are considered a power for good government.
Perhaps the greatest disaster in the history of the town was the flood of 1903 when nearly the whole of North Topeka was destroyed. Twenty- nine lives were lost including that of Edward Grafstrom, the hero of
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the occasion. The property loss exceeded $2,250,000. Two other less disastrous floods have occurred since-one in 1904 and the other in 1908. In 1911 cement dikes were built at Topeka to prevent future overflows.
In the fall of 1909 the city adopted the commission form of govern- ment and in the spring of 1910 the first commissioners were elected. In Sept., 1911, the fiftieth anniversary of the statehood of Kansas was fit- tingly celebrated and a great reunion of the Civil war veterans was held. President Taft honored the occasion with his presence and laid the corner-stone of the memorial building.
The population of Topeka at different periods was as follows: 1855, 405; 1860, 759; 1870, 5,790; 1880, 15,528; 1890, 31,007; 1900, 33,608; 1910, 43,684.
Topeka State Hospital .- When the Osawatomie State Hospital was established in 1866 the state authorities probably thought they had made ample accommodations for the insane for all future time. But within ten years the institution became so crowded that further accommoda- tions were necessary. Accordingly, on March 5, 1875, Gov. Osborn approved an act of the legislature appropriating $25,000 "for the purpose of building an asylum for the insane at some convenient and healthy
TOPEKA STATE HOSPITAL.
spot within 2 miles of the capitol building in the city of Topeka." The act further provided that the site selected should contain not less than 80 acres, title to which should be acquired without cost to the state, and that three of the trustees of the asylum at Osawatomie should constitute a board of commissioners to select a site and superintend the erection of buildings. On June 2, 1875, George Wyman, Levi Woodard and
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William H. Grimes were chosen to serve as commissioners. They decided upon a tract of 80 acres of land belonging to ex-Gov. James M. Harvey, located upon the road that is a continuation of West Sixth street in the city of Topeka. To purchase this tract the city of Topeka and the county of Shawnee each donated $6,000, and the land was conveyed to the state by Mr. Harvey.
The law authorizing the hospital provided that the buildings should be constructed upon the "segregate or cottage system-that is, one main central hospital building and other buildings grouped around the same, each building, except the main central hospital, to be two stories high, of sufficient capacity to accommodate 40 patients each, and in sufficient numbers to accommodate 300 persons in the aggregate; and the said buildings, except the main central hospital building, shall not cost to exceed $25,000 each."
The commissioners employed J. G. Haskell of Lawrence to prepare plans in conformity with the law, and on July 28 bids were opened and the first building contracts let. On June 1, 1879, the first of the build- ings was ready for occupany, the first patient was admitted on that date, and the institution was formally opened under the superintendency of Dr. B. D. Eastman. In 1881 the legislature appropriated $13,000 for the purchase of about roo acres additional on the west and south of the original site. Since that time appropriations have been made from time to time until in 1910 the property and equipment of the hospital were valued at $1,000,000. In 1907 an appropriation of $12,000 was made for a pavilion to accommodate 20 women afflicted with tuberculosis. During the same biennial report two cottages for women were erected at a cost of $70,000, and $50,000 were expended in making additions to the build- ings occupied by men. Notwithstanding these liberal appropriations, the legislature found it necessary in 1909 to appropriate a considerable sum of money to pay the several counties of the state for the care and maintenance of destitute insane persons who could not be admitted to the asylums for want of room.
In accordance with the provisions of the law, the general plan of the hospital embraces a central building for the use of the administrative department, in the rear of which are the domestic and mechanical depart- ments, laundry, bakery, boiler-house, etc., the quarters for the patients extending east and west from the administration building and connected with it by one-story corridors. The buildings on the east are used for men and those on west for women. (See illustration.)
Dr. Eastman remained in charge of the hospital until 1883, when he was succeeded by A. P. Tenney, who served but a short time when he was in turn succeeded by Dr. Eastman. In 1895 J. H. Casey was super- intendent for a short time, when Dr. Eastman again took charge of the hospital and remained as superintendent until his death in 1897. C. H. Wetmore was superintendent during the biennial period of 1898-99, at the end of which he was succeeded by Dr. T. C. Biddle, who still held the position in 1911.
Tornadoes .- (See Storms.)
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Toronto, the second largest town in Woodson county, is located on the Verdigris river at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific railroads in Toronto township, in the southwest part of the county, 14 miles from Yates Center, the county seat. It is an incorporated city of the third class, has all lines of mercantile inter- ests, good schools and churches, banking facilities, a weekly newspaper (the Republican), and a fraternal monthly. The town is supplied with telegraph and express offices and an international money order post- office with four rural routes. The population in 1910 was 627.
Toronto was laid out by a town company in 1869. A school building had been put up several years before and with the founding of the town it was moved to the public square and enlarged. The first new build- ing was the store of S. R. Kellogg. The postoffice was established in 1870, with Mr. Kellogg as postmaster. The early growth of the town was slow, but the coming of the railroad in 1882 gave it new life and in that year over 80 new buildings were erected.
Torrance, a hamlet in Cowley county, is located on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 18 miles northeast of Winfield, the county seat, and 3 miles west of Cambridge, the postoffice from which it receives mail. The population in 1910 was 30.
Toulon, a country hamlet in Ellis county, is located on the Union Pacific R. R., 6 miles east of Hays, the county seat and the postoffice from which it receives mail.
Towanda, an incorporated city of the third class in Butler county, is located in the township of the same name on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 8 miles west of Eldorado, the county seat. It has a weekly newspaper (the News), a number of retail establishments, express and telegraph offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The popu- lation in 1910 was 275. There is a stone quarry and a number of live stock farms in the vicinity. It is the receiving and shipping point for a large agricultural area.
Tower Spring, a country hamlet in Lincoln county, is located on East Elkhorn creek, 10 miles south of Lincoln, the county seat and nearest shipping point, and the postoffice from which it receives mail.
Townsend, a postoffice in Cowley county, is located in Silverdale town- ship on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 15 miles south of Winfield, the county seat. It has a general store and express office. The population in 1910 was 35.
Trading Post, the first permanent white settlement in Linn county and one of the first in Kansas, is situated on the Marais des Cygnes river, about 6 miles north of Pleasanton. A trading post was established here about 1825 by Cyprian Chouteau, who carried on an extensive trade with the Indians. Soon after Kansas Territory was organized a number of pro-slavery men from Missouri settled in the vicinity of the trading post, which became their headquarters and the rendezvous of a number of the border ruffians. Montgomery raided the post and destroyed the whiskey kept on hand there in an attempt to drive such characters out
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of the country, but it continued to be used by Hamelton and his men until the cessation of the border warfare in the eastern counties. No town site was platted until 1865, when the Montgomery Town company was organized and laid out a town just east of the site of the trading post. It was not a success, however, and was abandoned.
Trading Post was laid out in 1866 by Dr. Massey and George Crawford. Previous to that time there was but one store, although a mill had been erected in 1857, and in 1858 Dr. Massey and a man named White opened a second store, near the bridge. Religious services were held out of doors at the post in 1856. A school house was built in 1865 and for a time Trading Post was a flourishing community with several general stores, etc. At the present time it has rural free delivery from Boicourt, and in 1910 had a population of 146.
Trading Posts .- (See Fur Traders.)
Traer, a little town in Decatur county, is located in Finley township on Beaver creek and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., 10 miles northwest of Oberlin, the county seat. It is the receiving and shipping point for a large agricultural district, has a number of grain dealers, a grain elevator, several stores, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 200.
Trails .- The principal trails through or across the State of Kansas were the Santa Fe, Salt Lake, Mormon, Kaw, Oregon, California, Fay- etteville and Abilene Cattle trails, each of which is written under its own title. (See also Roads.)
Trans-Mississippi Exposition .- (See Expositions.)
Traveling Libraries .- (See Libraries.)
Travier, a country postoffice in Stevens county, is located in Center township, 9 miles east of Hugoton, the county seat. The population in I910 was 30.
Treaty of Paris .- (See Louisiana Purchase.)
Trego County, in the western part of the state, is the third county south from the Nebraska line and the fourth east from Colorado. It is bounded on the north by Graham county, on the east by Ellis, on the south by Ness, and on the west by Gove. It was named in honor of Capt. Edgar P. Trego of the Eighth Kansas infantry. The first settler was B. O. Richards, who located at Coyote, near the pres- ent town of Collyer, about 1875 or 1876. During the year 1877 the fol- lowing settlers located in the county: J. R. Snyder, J. C. Henry, Har- low Orton, Earl Spaulding, J. K. Snyder, D. O. . Adams, George Brown, George McCaslin and George Pinkham. The same year came the advance agents of a colony from Chicago, viz .: Mr. Warren, W. S. Harrison, George Barrell, F. O. Ellsworth, Thomas Peak and C. W. F. Street. The next year there was a rush of immigrants, most of whom were from Chicago and vicinity. The influx continued through the first half of 1879, the population reaching 3,500 by midsummer.
With a view to organizing the county a census enumeration was made and upon receiving the returns Gov. John P. St. John issued a proclama-
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tion, dated June 21, organizing the county. The town of Wakeeney was named as county seat and the following officers were appointed : Clerk, George Pinkham ; commissioners, T. W. Miller, H. C. Bryant and W. H. Fuson. The first meeting of the board of commissioners was held on June 26, when they divided the county into the townships of Ogallah, Collyer and Wakeeney. An election was ordered for July 26, when Wakeeney was made the permanent county seat and the fol- lowing officers were chosen: County clerk, George Pinkham; treasurer, John Weckel; probate judge, W. H. Fuson; register of deeds, A. H. Deppe; sheriff, J. F. Allen ; coroner, J. W. Scott; attorney, J. C. Phil- lips; clerk of the district court, A. B. Poler ; superintendent of public instruction, J. K. Wilson; surveyor, T. K. Peck; commissioners, Enos Glick, D. Barclay and J. C. Brown. The first representative was J. F. Keeney, elected in Nov., 1880.
The poor crops of 1879 brought about a reaction. Settlers who had come with the expectation of raising a field crop were obliged to leave, and they went in large numbers. Those who remained raised stock and were successful. The acreage of field crops in 1880 was 16,047 and in 1881 it was but 10,287. A further decrease occurred in 1882. Hog raising was not found profitable at that time and attention was given principally to cattle and sheep, especially the latter.
Among the incidents of the pioneer days was the Indian scare of 1878, when the Cheyennes were committing outrages in western Kan- sas. Arms and ammunition were sent to the settlers and a company known as the Trego Home Guards, was organized with John M. Keeney as captain; W. H. Fuson, first lieutenant ; and C. WV. Mulford, second lieutenant. A grand Fourth of July celebration was held in 1879. The governor and 400 people from Topeka were present. There were a big dinner, two bands and a number of the best speakers of the state.
Before the counties of Gove, St. John (Logan) and Wallace were attached to Trego for judicial purposes in 1881 some trouble was caused by thieves and marauders committing crimes in the territory over which no court had jurisdiction. Three murderers and a number of horse thieves were turned over to the sheriff of Trego county, but they had to be set free as there was no authority to try them. A quarrel at Gopher in March, 1882, resulted in a man being killed and caused con- siderable excitement. Of the two men guilty of killing him and wound- ing several others, one was killed in resisting arrest and the other wounded. Subsequently he was taken from the sheriff by a mob and his fate is unknown.
In 1884 Col. C. K. Holliday of Topeka sent two prospectors into Trego county to look for mineral deposits. They found traces of zinc and other minerals but not in paying quantities. A great boom was occasioned in 1902-03 by the discovery of an element in the shale of Trego county which was thought to be gold. Expert Fahrig of Philadelphia claimed to have a process by which he could remove the gold from the shale and a company was formed, capitalists being eager
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to buy stock. There proved to be 110 gold in the shale and by 1904 the whole affair had passed into history. (See Gold.)
The general surface of the county is rolling, with some bluffs and broken lands along the Saline river in the north. In the east is Round- mound, an elevation of considerable height, and in the south are bluffs along the Smoky Hill. Bottom lands are from one-half to one mile in width and comprise 12 per cent. of the area. A few small groves con- taining cottonwood, white-ash, box-elder, elm and hackberry comprise all the native timber. The Saline river enters in the northwest corner and flows east across the northern tier of townships into Ellis county. Trego and Springer creeks are its principal tributaries from the south. The Smoky Hill river flows east across the southern portion, Downer, Castle Hill, Wild Horse and Elm creeks being tributaries. Big creek enters in the west and flows southeast into Ellis county. Magnesian limestone is abundant and a very hard conglomerate stone exists 111 some localities. Native lime is abundant and chalk and coal have been found to' some extent.
The county is divided into 7 townships, Collyer, Franklin, Glencoe, Ogallah, Riverside, Wakeeney and Wilcox. The main line of the Union Pacific R. R. enters in the east near the center and crosses northwest to Wakeeney, thence west into Gove county, a distance of 33 miles.
The number of acres of land under cultivation in 1910 was 338,502. The principal crop is wheat which in 1910 brought to the farmers the sum of $403.634. Hay in the same year was worth $212,698; corn, $193.376; milo maize, $60,000; sorghum, $50,000; animals sold for slaughter, $191,092 ; poultry and eggs, $54,502 ; dairy products, $54.146. The num- ber of animals was 27,246, valued at $1,277.671. The assessed valuation of property was $10.537,344. The population in 1880 was 2.535; in 1890 it was about the same, in 1900 it had increased to 2,722 and in 1910 to 5.398, almost doubling in the last decade.
Trent, a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. in Neosho county, is about 2 miles east of Erie, the county seat, from which place it receives mail daily.
Tribune, the county seat of Greeley county, is centrally located and is on the Missouri Pacific R. R. It has a bank, a newspaper ( the Greeley County Republican), a hotel, a number of mercantile establishments, express and telegraph offices, and a money order postoffice. The popula- tion according to the census of 1910 was 158. The town was founded in 1886 and the depot was built in 1887. It was made the county seat in July, 1887, but had considerable trouble over the matter as it was twice taken to the courts. It is now an incorporated city of the third class.
Trivoli, a country hamlet in Ellsworth county, is located 15 miles southeast of Ellsworth, the county seat, and 12 miles in the same direc- tion from Kanapolis, the postoffice from which it receives mail.
Trousdale, a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. in Harvey county, is located 6 miles northwest of Newton, the county seat, from which post- office its mail is distributed. The population in 1910 was 35.
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Troy, the county seat of Doniphan county, is located a little east of the center of the county at the junction of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, St. Joseph & Grand Island, and the Burlington & Missouri River railroads, and is 14 miles west of St. Joseph, Mo. It has a national and 2 state banks, an opera house, a flour mill, a newspaper ( the Chief), and is a shipping point for live stock, grain, produce and fruits. There are telegraph and express offices and an international money order post- office with six rural routes. The population in 1910 was 940.
Troy was located in 1855 by the county commissioners, who ordered James F. Forman to lay off 80 acres in town lots. This was done and a public square 300 feet each way was laid out in the center of town. The first house was built by Nelson Rodgers in 1856. The first store was opened in 1857 by Heed & Hampson, the first hotel was opened in that year by John Wilson, and the postoffice was established with Albert Heed, the first lawyer, as postmaster. The city was incorporated in 1860 by a special act of the legislature, which provided that the following men should be judges of election : S. D. Benight, Leonard Smith and John B. Brady. The election was held in March of that year and the following officers were chosen: Isaac Powers, mayor ; William H. Trus- dell, clerk. The first court-house was burned in 1867. The next year, after a little county seat war, another court-house was built. Two other fires have occurred in Troy, one in April, 1875, and the other Dec. 22, 1883. the latter destroying $20,000 worth of property. In 1867 a contract was made for completing the St. Joseph & Denver R. R. to Troy, but it was not built till three years later. The first bank was established in 1870 by Henry and Louis Boder. Telephones were installed in 1885. In 1899 there was a fire which destroyed one-third of the business part of town. The St. Joseph fire department came in time to save the other buildings and the residences.
Trusts .- One of the most eminent corporation lawyers, James B. Dill. has defined the trust as "a dominant combination of money, property. business or commercial power, or energy." S. C. T. Todd, solicitor of the Standard Oil company and an acknowledged authority on the modern trust, says : "The term 'trust' in its more confined sense embraces only a peculiar form of business association effected by stockholders of dif- ferent corporations transferring their stock to trustees. The Standard Oil Trust was formed in this way and originated the name 'trust,' as
applied to associations. The term 'trust,' although derived as stated, has (now) obtained a wider signification, and embraces every act, agreement, or combination of persons or capital believed to be done. made or formed with the intent, power or tendency to monopolize busi- ness, to restrain or interfere with competitive trade, or to fix, influence or increase the prices of commodities."
This latter definition, though written several years ago, is perhaps the best known definition of the trust. In Kansas the subject of trusts was first brought to the attention of the legislature by Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey in his message of 1889. In this document he made special
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reference to the combine of the packing-house men, who sought to con- trol the market, whereby all the small butchers would be driven out of business. The legislature at that session took hold of the matter and passed "an act to declare unlawful trusts and combinations in restraint of trade and products, and to provide penalities, therefor." This first law had some loopholes that the trusts were not long in finding out and taking advantage of, and in 1897 another and a more careful law was prepared and passed. A number of suits for the violation of this law were brought by the state, but on account of technicalities of the law, injunctions, etc., no great results were accomplished. In 1909 a bill was introduced and passed by the Kansas legislature to strengthen the anti- trust laws, but no suits have been decided under it by the courts.
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