USA > Kansas > Cloud County > Miltonvale > Miltonvale : the western terminus of the narrow gauge, to 1910 > Part 2
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Though these outbreaks were all west of the "dead line" the first settlers of Starr township had many Indian scares. On one occasion about 40 Indians appeared at the Zahn homestead. Charles Zahn and his sister were home with their father, who was ill, when the Indians came begging for food. Three of them came inside and began whittling the chairs with their bowie knives. The elder Zahn arose and confronted them with his gun. Charles and his sister in the meantime had slipped away to notify the neigh- bors, who came and drove them away. It was not unusual for the Indians to camp along the creeks, drying and curing the meat they had secured from their hunting expeditions.5
Storms accompanied by wind, snow, hail, and flood often proved disastrous to these early pioneers. While the Zahns were living in a dugout on Chapman Creek a heavy rain fell, flooding the dug- out and forcing the family to flee to the hills. Many of the household goods were washed away.6 On another occasion Zahn was returning from Junction City with provisions when he was caught in a storm. While attempting to cross a swollen stream, his wagon was overturned and groceries worth $100 were swept away.7
On the night of June 15, 1883, there was a heavy rain and
4 Hollibaugh, op. cit., pp. 39-54.
5 Ibid., p. 866.
6 Miltonvale Record, Sept. 28, 1933.
7 Hollibaugh, p. 866. (op. cit.)
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wind storm which caused much damage in and around Miltonvale. The wind broke windows, moved several houses from their founda- tions and blew down others, and caused other damage. The most serious damage, however, was the wrecking of the train seven miles east of Miltonvale. While the train was crossing bridge number 1599 the passenger car, baggage car, and the freight car all fell from the bridge to the chasm 20 feet below. Each landed on its top and turned over and stood erect. No one was killed but several passengers were hurt.8
On another occasion, in January of 1886, the train jumped the track between Miltonvale and Leavenworth because of a heavy snow- storm. During the month of December, 1885, and the month of Janu- ary, 1886, a heavy amount of snow fell, drifting over the prairie and filling ravines, thus making it dangerous for people to under- take shortcuts across the country. 9 The train on the narrow gauge had been delayed 12 days in December before it reached Miltonvale. Six sacks of mail were brought into town when the trains were able to run again.10 By January 27, the snow was so deep that it took three shovelers to toss the snow up the huge snow banks to the top. They worked one at the bottom, one half way up, and the third on top.11 An item in the Kansas City Times vividly portrayed the storm as follows :
8 The Miltonvale News, June 15, 1883.
9 Ibid., Jan. 20, 1886.
10 Ibid., Jan. 6, 1886.
11 Ibid., Jan. 27, 1886.
20
Reports have been received which indicate that the recent storm was the worst that was ever experienced on the Kansas plains. Colonel S. S. Prouty, editor of the Dodge City Cowboy, arrived from Dodge City today, and states the death and destruction wrought by the storm is something fearful and positively without a parallel in the history of the state. At Dodge City the veloc- ity of the wind was forty-four miles per hour, and the mercury ten degrees below zero. Business throughout the western half of the state has been paralyzed for two weeks past. Three hundred men during the worst part of the storm were engaged in clearing the track at Spear- ville, near Dodge City. In many sections on the Santa Fe line the snow plow was ineffective and the snow had to be cleared by the slow process of shoveling .... Many persons who were out in the storm are missing and it is thought they have perished. The suffering among the new settlers on the plains is beyond description. Most of them had erected mere wooden habitations. Coal is the only fuel that can be obtained and in many instances it has to be hauled 75 to 100 miles.12
It is sometimes hard for the city-dweller to fully appreciate the importance of the weather to the farmer. If it rains three inches, the drainage system in the city swiftly takes it from the streets but that same three inches of rain, if falling rapidly enough, may wash away a corn crop or wheat harvest and leave the farmer without much income. The corn might be planted again but the wheat is gone. Hail often causes tremendous damage, also. Late in the month of May in 1888 occurred one such storm, with hail nearly three feet deep in some of the ravines. The Milton- vale News gave the following description concerning that storm:
The first intimation we had of it was a tremendous peal of thunder which shook us out of bed 'on the fly. ' The heavens seemed ablaze and deafening peals of thunder made one think that the judgment was at hand. Just then the hail struck. We thought of everything horrible, but nothing like this had ever run across our experience. The wind shrieked, the thunder rolled in heavy cadences, the hail swished and poured in vollies against houses, stock and the solid earth. Persons were compelled to
12 Ibid., Jan. 27, 1886.
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speak in a high key to be heard. After an hour we looked forth. Such a sight. The streets, alleys, yards and gardens were covered six inches with hail stones. Gardens were a thing of the past, having been beaten to the ground.
Hiram Scott was a great sufferer. He lost over 200 apple trees, bruised, peeled and cleared of fruit, leaves and bark. His stock suffered badly. Loss about $1,000.
Otto Zahn lost 65 head of hogs, and all his garden stuff. Hailstones were picked up two inches in di- ameter. John Aquires had a house blown down a few miles south of the city.13
Many others suffered loss in this storm.
The following year, from June 20 to July 23, there fell in this area of Kansas a total of 172 inches of rain.14
However, in 1887, there was a drought which did much to pre- cipitate the "bust" that came in 1888. One reporter to the Miltonvale News described conditions thus: "Well, Mr. Editor, my ink is nearly dried up with the 'rest' of the crops of Ottawa county. Corn is completely ruined and there is no prairie hay to mow. "15
In 1892, crop failures brought on desperate attempts to raise crops. Some of the citizens of Miltonvale and the surrounding neighbors were willing to go to great measures for rain and they came within one-fourth inch of moisture of losing $400 for their attempts. Some Rain Makers traveling through the country, made a contract with the Miltonvale citizens to cause an inch of rain to fall within a certain number of hours for $400. An account of the interesting experiment follows.
:
13 Ibid., May 31, 1888.
14 Ibid., Aug. 1, 1889.
15 Ibid., Aug. 4, 1887.
22
The men went to work in a little old shanty in the north end of town. They cut a hole in the roof, run a long stove pipe up in the air some 15 or 20 feet, nail- ed all the windows shut, made it dark so no one could see into the house, locked the doors so no one could get in. Then they started what they called a chemical smoke from which they were going to produce rain. Every so often one or two of them came out of the house with 2 or 3 jugs and said they were out of chemicals and had to go to Clay Center to get them as they did not have what was needed in Miltonvale. They never would tell what they had in their jugs. They would lock themselves up for many hours at a time leaving the an- xious people of Miltonvale lined up in rows along the road, watching the blue smoke coming out of the long pipe, and gazing at the clouds, hoping for the rain to come. When the time was up for rain they asked for an extension of time 24 hours more. The people anxious of course for rain gladly granted them extra time and sure enough it did rain. But they were short + inch of water to collect on the contract they had made. They threat- ened to sue for the money but after they learned we were short on cash they left for other parts of the state to continue their rain project. We learned later they had many such stations in different parts of the state so when they failed in one place they made good at another. However, we were within ¿ of an inch of rain losing $400 to those birds.
When they went away they left very little to check them up by: a few decks of cards, some cigar stubs, a few crackers and a few sausage skins. They had the jugs so we couldn't smell of them and tell what they really had in the ones they brought from Clay Center. Knowing that Kansas is a bone-dry state we are satisfied it wasn't hootch.16
A terror of the plains is the funnel-shaped form of a cyclone. On May 2, 1895, there were six fatalities and 30 injured as a re- sult of one of these death-dealing monsters. Scores of farm buildings were destroyed, orchards and groves uprooted, and much live stock killed as the cyclone ripped its destructive path over the countryside. It began about three miles southeast of Milton- vale and traveled northward toward St. Joseph, then northeastward
16 Miltonvals Record, Sept. 21, 1933.
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through the northwest corner of Clay County. It crossed the Re- publican River between Clifton and Morganville and terminated near the Washington County line. It had traveled 20 miles and did not exceed three-fourths of a mile in width, but had left much destruction and grief in its wake. 17
Another sudden catastrophe that befell the earlier settlers was the grasshopper plague in 1874. This unwelcome visitor came at a most unfortunate time for the crops had not been very good that summer and, too, as many as one-half of the people of Cloud County had taken their claims in that year or the one previous, so were in very poor condition to play host to such a large gathering. A forceful description of the results of the grass- hopper plague in Cloud County follows :
On the twentieth of July, 1874, the 'hoppers came, and in a few hours, the settler saw his whole crop, the dependence of himself and family, totally consumed by the myriad hosts of the ravenous little locust, that swarmed down from the Rocky Mountains, and literally covered the earth, and devoured every green thing. Not only did they devour the growing crop, but they pre- vented the sowing of winter wheat, eating the kernel when sowed, and the young sprout as soon as it appeared above ground. The suffering caused by the devastation was very great, but, by the kindly assistance of friends in the east, the majority stayed on their claims, and were rewarded by an excellent crop in 1875.18
Major James J. Brooks, who lived three miles east of what was later the town of Miltonvale, found it necessary to kill his cow because of lack of vegetation or other feed. While his son, Jep, walked to Minneapolis to get enough salt to make corn beef, the
17 Hollibaugh, op. cit., p. 126.
18 John P. Edwards, Atlas of Cloud County, Quincy, Illinois, 1885, p. 10.
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meat was kept cool by throwing cold water on it. When relief from the east arrived, Major Brooks had charge of distributing it to the neighbors.19
Steadily declining prices from 1870 to 1897 more than offset the increase in production resulting from better methods of farm- ing. Lower prices than those shown in Table 2 were paid to the average farmer for these prices are as of December 1, whereas most of the farmers had to sell soon after harvest, and often on a glutted market, with other disadvantages, making the profit much smaller than it may appear in Table 2.20 For example, in 1889 the table shows the price of corn at 35.9 cents per bushel, whereas the actual price of corn sold in Kansas that year was as low as ten cents a bushel and was used for fuel in place of coal.21
Table 2. Average market prices of wheat and corn, 1870-97.
Years
:
Wheat
:
Corn
1870-1873
106.7
43.1
1874-1877
94.4
40.9
1878-1881
100.6
43.1
1882-1885
80.2
39.8
1886-1889
74.8
35.9
1890-1893
70.9
41.7
1894-1897
63.3
29.7
Through many of these disasters and hard times the settlers had to deny themselves of many of their wants and some of their
19 Interview with Mrs. Clara Kuhnle, daughter of Major Brooks, at Miltonvale, Kansas, July 16, 1955.
20 John D. Hicks, The Populist Revolt, p. 56.
21 Hicks, op. cit., p. 56.
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needs. Before the days of railroad transportation when markets were hard to reach, the homesteaders produced what they needed for their own sustenance and that which was needed to exchange for other needed products.
In the years previous to the establishment of Miltonvale, doctors were quite scarce, with the closest one being over ten miles away, depending on where one lived. Mrs. Brooks, the wife of Major Brooks, was quite capable in times of sickness and was much in demand. She had a small brown Indian pony which she rode from place to place when called upon for help.22 These and other hardships and sufferings that the early settlers underwent, causes one to wonder why they migrated to the plains of Kansas, and the reasons are many and varied.
A surplus industrial population which existed after the Civil War was a pressing economic factor which influenced the settlement of the west. A million and a half men were discharged from government employment and many industries related to the war ef- fort were dismantled. It has been estimated that, in 1865, one- fifth of the able bodied men of the country were unemployed by the ending of the Civil War. 23 No doubt some of these were absorbed in the more settled regions of the east but many turned west to the land of promise.
The attraction of cheap land drew many settlers. Those who had ready cash could buy land from the railroads for a few dollars an acre, or from the states which had acquired land through the
:
22 Interview with Mrs. Clara Kuhnle, July 16, 1955.
23 Solon J. Buck, The Granger Movement, p. 27.
26
Morrill Act. The Homestead Act of 1862 held promise of free land to all who would occupy it, and the legislation passed to make the offer more attractive to Civil War veterans had its effect on many servicemen.24
Immigration was another factor in the settlement of the plains of Kansas. In 1862 the number of immigrants into the United States had fallen to less than 90,000, but from that year their number steadily increased until it reached 459,000 in 1873. No doubt, the grasshopper plague of 1874 and hard times had their ef- fect for immigration tapered off until, in 1878, it had reached a low of 138,000. After this year it began to rise again and reached the new high of 788,000 in 1882.25 Starr township was not affected by this immigration as much as the State of Kansas as a whole. In 1875, out of 255 inhabitants in Starr township, 34 or 13 1/3 percent were foreign-born, whereas, Table 3 shows that the population of Starr township was 39, or a little less than 7 per- cent foreigh-born in 1880. In Kansas this same year, the number of foreign-born was a little over 11 percent.26 However, approxi- mately 1 out of every 14 persons in Starr township, in 1880, had immigrated from a foreign land.
Publicity played a vital role in wooing settlers into the west. Land speculators, townsite promoters, railroad companies, and the local press added their touches to the rosy picture of a prosperous land just waiting for the taking. One of the poems of
24 Clarx & Roberts, op. cit., p. 20.
25 Buck, op. cit., p. 27.
26 Clark & Roberts, op. cit., p. 50.
27
Table 3. Birthplace of inhabitants of Starr township in 1880.27
Birthplace
Number
:
Percent
Native born
526
93.1
New Hampshire
3
0.5
Vermont
5
0.9
Massachusetts
1
0.2
New York
30
5.3
New Jersey
1
0.2
Pennsylvania
30
5.3
Ohio
51
9.0
Indiana
46
8.1
Illinois
84
14.9
Michigan
9
1.6
Wisconsin
27
4.8
Iowa
54
9.6
Missouri
53
9.4
Nebraska
2
0.4
Kansas
111
19.6
Maryland
1
0.2
Virginia
5
0.9
West Virginia
1
0.2
Kentucky
9
1.6
Tennessee
2
0.4
Arkansas
1
0.2
Foreign born
39
6.9
England
2
0.4
Scotland
1
0.2
Ireland
18
3.2
Norway
2
0.4
Sweden
1
0.2
Switzerland
1
0.2
Germany
11
1.9
Canada
3
0.5
Total
565
100.0
the "boom" period portrays some of the feeling of that day:
Tell me not in mournful numbers, that the town is full of gloom, for the man's a crank who slumbers in these bustling days of Boom. Life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal, every dollar that thouturnest, helps to make the old town roll. But enjoyment and not sorrow, is our destined end or way;
27 Tenth Federal Census, 1880, Kansas, Vol. 4, Cloud, Starr township, pp. 1-12. Recorded at Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas.
28
if you have no money, borrow -- buy a corner lot each day! Lives of great men all remind us, we can win immortal fame, let us leave the chumps behind us, and we'll get there just the same. In this world's broad field of battle, in the bivouac of life, let us make the dry bones rattle -- buy a corner for your wife! Let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate, still achieving, still pursuing, booming early, booming late.28
After the founding of Miltonvale, the local News did much to boom the town. This local paper was owned by Pinkerton and H. G. McDonald, who also were in partnership in a real estate business. In 1883, they published a pamphlet entitled "The Golden Belt," which favorably advertised the town. In seeking subscriptions they advertised as follows:
We have commenced work on the little messenger that we are to send out to attract some of the countless thousands who are ignorant of the advantages of this beautiful region of country. We are now receiving or- ders for them. Every man, woman, and child is or ought to be interested in turning emigration this way. It en- hances the value of land, makes more society, brings in money and augments the happiness of us all.29
In 1884 "The Land Agent," another pamphlet, was sent out to advertise Miltonvale and the surrounding territory. In this pamphlet were given some examples of men living in the vicinity of Miltonvale who had prospered since settling in the community. "These examples scarcely amount to a 'drop in the bucket, ' as compared to the hundreds who are yearly accumulating wealth and building up beautiful homes in this vicinity." Table 4 summarizes three of the examples included in this propaganda pamphlet. Also included were some instructions as to how to get to this area. The title of the paragraph read, "How to get to Cloud County," but
28 The Miltonvale News, April 7, 1887.
29 Ibid., Jan. 19, Feb. 2, 1883.
29
the directions, if followed, would bring the settlers to Milton- vale.30
Table 4. Examples of "boom" advertising in 1884.
:Date of : : settle- : Worth
: : Present
:
: Present
:
:
Acres :evalu-
Per
Settler
..
ment
: then
: worth
:
owned : ation
acre
S. G. Winters
1872
$650
$5,000
160
$3,500
$22
James Gordon
1872
82
8,000
280
5,000
18
I. Witcraft
1874
400
6,000
320
4,500
14
The newspaper, which came out weekly, did not fail to add fuel to the fire in the form of glowing descriptions of the area and impressive accounts concerning those who were growing rich without much effort. One of the great hindrances to this process of getting rich on the farms of this area, especially in 1884, was a shortage of cobs, for, according to the News :
John Miller says that the corn in this country is nearly all going to waste by running off at the end of the cobs. It seems that there is always something in the way so it is almost impossible to ascertain just what Kansas can do in the way of raising big crops. This year we have had no storms, hail or drouth to injure the corn, and it has been generally hoped that 1884 would tell just what Kansas can do, but alas! there is now a deficiency of cob, and what the loss on this account will be can never be fully demonstrated. Poor Kansas !'
The railroads played a large part in settling the west, not only as a means of transportation, but as an advertising agency and land agent. The Union Pacific, which took over control of the Kansas Central Railroad on January 1, 1882,32 circulated 1,200,000
30 The Land Agent, 1884, Pinkerton & McDonald, Miltonvale News Press, Miltonvale, Kansas, 1884.
31 The Miltonvale News, Aug. 14, 1884.
32 Crimmins, op. cit., p. 26.
30
copies of different documents and pamphlets that year relating to the resources of Kansas. 33
Other inventions such as the steel prairie breaker and the sulky and gang plows also contributed to agricultural expansion, expediting the task of breaking the prairie sod and bringing more land under cultivation. Costs were lowered and labor requirements reduced when such inventions as the adjustable straight-tooth har- row, the disc harrow, the field cultivator, and the lister ap- peared.34
The settlers around Miltonvale had within their ranks a number of aspiring inventors. In 1883 W. F. Reeves applied for a patent on a cultivator of his own invention. The new machine captured first prize at the State Fair at Topeka, and at Minneapolis it won the blue ribbon. It was described as a machine consisting of "an ordinary smoother with two knives of proper shape attached to the under side, running one or two inches below the surface. "35 On July 27, 1886, W. F. and H. C. Reeves were granted a patent on a "combined weed cutter and harrow. "36 A patent fender was in- vented by McArthur and McCoy, the first man a lawyer of sorts and the latter a farmer.37
The fuel bills in Kansas were an expensive item which no doubt motivated William McKBurns to invent a patent heater. He
33 The Miltonvale News, Feb. 9, 1883.
34 Clark & Roberts, op. cit., p. 25; Buck, op. cit., p. 27.
35 The Miltonvale News, Oct. 12, 1883.
36 The Miltonvale Star, Aug. 12, 1886.
37 The Miltonvale News, July 7, 1887; interview with Pleasant Fry, Miltonvale, Kansas, July 12, 1955.
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retired from the grocery business and traveled over the area, selling his invention, which was described as a heater "which will save fuel and economize heat, which is a great feature in Kansas."38
The "Flying Buzzard" was the name of an implement invented by Luther Johnson to weed listed corn. It was a combination of "the shares, bars and shanks of a right hand breaking plow and of a left hand stirring plow, blocked and bolted to a single beam."39
James Stogdill and J. B. Morris invented a new lister and applied for a patent. It was exhibited at the Kansas City Expo- sition in the fall of 1888.40
Ellis, who was editor of the Oak Hill Herald, a small town paper published at Oak Hill, about 13 miles southeast of Milton- vale, invented and patented a device to hold a 50-pound sack of flour, in 1889. The following is a description of it:
At the bottom is a sieve, a place for coffee, tea, spices, etc. A glass shows the amount of flour to be used. This hangs over the kitchen table. This ingenius and valuable article is about 30 inches long and perhaps 12 inches square. It is the most valuable invention we have seen in a long time. 41
A type writing machine was invented by W. S. Phelps that would "work on any kind of blank books, and is exactly calculated for bankers, merchants, and county officials. It will fill the 'long felt want' all over the world." Phelps was offered $3,000
38 Miltonvale Chieftain, Dec. 8, 1887.
39 The Miltonvale News, June 14, 1888.
40 Ibid., Sept. 20, 1888.
41 Ibid., July 18, 1889.
32
for half interest in his invention but declined the offer. 42
The windmill was an essential part of plains farming and any new improvements in this equipment were always welcome. A new windmill which he called the "World Beater," was patented by W. T. Bond. The Manchester Sun commented that "it beat anything in the way of a windmill that has been patented yet."43
A corn cutter was patented in the nineties by Kale Kuhnle. 44
These and other inventions all contributed directly or in- directly to the conquering of the plains and to expansion of ag- riculture, thus inducing more settlers to move west.
Upon arrival on the plains, the settler would erect some type of living quarters. Often the dugout or the sod house, called "Dobie," would suffice until a better home could be built. The dugout was generally located on the side of a hill or at the base of a ridge. Sometimes these were lined with rock for walls but the ground often sufficed for floor and walls. A large fork was set in the ground at each corner and poles laid across these with a ridge pole in the center to hold the heavy sod placed as a covering for the roof.45
The sod house or "dobie" was made of three-foot strips of prairie sod. The inside was often lined with muslin and the floor was "plastered" with clay if it was available. 46
42 Ibid., March 6, 1890.
43 The Weekly Press, June 9, 1893.
44 The Tribune, Aug. 17, 1894.
45 Hollibaugh, op. cit., p. 79.
46 Interview with Mrs. Clara Kuhnle, Miltonvale, Kansas, July 16, 1955.
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The land was broken with a wood beam plow with a steel beam in the center. Two team of oxen pulled this 14-inch single bot- tom plow to break the prairie sod. Horses were sometimes used, also. After the sod was turned, the corn which was the main crop, would be planted by hand. The wheat was sown broadcast by hand with ten acres considered a good planting. Other crops planted were buckwheat and caster beans. Hay was the main cattle feed.
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