USA > Kansas > Marshall County > Portrait and biographical album of Marshall County, Kansas : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 12
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Lyman u. S Humphrey
4 ...
Lyman U. Humphrey.
ON. L. U. HUMPIIREY. This distinguished gen- tleman was chosen Gov- ernor of Kansas, at the elcetion held in Novem- ber, 1888. He had made for himself an honorable record on the deadly battle-field, as well as in the more monotonous, though not less courage-requiring hours of po- litical life, in the fields of journal- ism, in the forensic arena, and in the various capacities in which he has labored for the public weal. It is not our purpose in this brief sketch, to dwell at great length upon his private life, his public record sufficing to indicate that his character is noble, and his example a worthy one.
Gov. Humphrey was born in Stark County, Ohio, July 25, 1844. His father, Col. Lyman Humphrey, who was a native of Connecticut, of English de- scent, and a lawyer of distinction, died when the subject of this sketch was but eight years of age. At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, Gov. Humphrey was attending the Iligh School at Mas- sillon, and his fervid, patriotic heart was thrilled to the utmost, with an enthusiastic desire to serve his country, and uphold the flag which he had been taught to revere. Though only a boy of seven-
teen, he enlisted in Company i, 76th Ohio Infan- try, a regiment famous for its bravery, and for the eminent men who belonged to it. Such was the gal- lantry, and the proper conception of a soldier's du- ties exhibited by him, that he had been promoted to the office of 1st Lieutenant, had acted as Adju- tant of his regiment, and had commanded a com- pany for a year, before he was out of his minority.
Much active service was experienced by Capt. Humphrey, and among the battles in which he par- ticipated, were those of Donelson, Pittsburg Land- ing, Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and the fighting around that city, he be- ing under fire five or six weeks in that single cam- paign. He was with Sherman in his march to the sea, was present at the capture of Savannah, and was engaged in many other trying scenes. He was with his regiment in the campaign through the Carolinas, and took part in the battle of Benton- ville, as well as in the capture of Gen. Joc John- ston's army. He was twice wounded, once at Pittsburg Landing, and once at Chattanooga, but refused to retire from the field. During the four years of his military service, he never was absent from duty for a day. The regiment of which he was a member, belonged to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 15th Corps, Army of the Tennessee.
At the termination of the war Capt. Humphrey resumed the studies which had been interrupted by
152
LYMAN U. HUMPHREY.
the "irrepressible conflict," feeling the need of a more thorough education to fit him to act well his part in the battle of life. He entered Mt. Union College, and soon after matriculated in the law de- partment of the Michigan University, from which be was graduated after having completed his stud- ies in the legal profession. Returning to his native State he was admitted to practice in the several courts of Ohio, in 1868, but feeling that the West would afford a broader field for his labors, he re- moved to Shelby County, Mo., where for a time he assisted in editing the Shelby County Herald.
The newer State of Kansas, which had already become the home of many men eminent in various walks of life, seemed to beckon Capt. Humphrey still further West, and in February, 1871, he crossed the Missouri and located at Independence. He formed a law partnership with the IIon. Alexander M. York, the attempt at whose bribery by Senator Pomeroy in 1873, during the contest for United States Senatorial honors, brought his name promi- nently before the people of Kansas as an opponent to fraud and corruption. The legal relation be- tween the two gentlemen lasted until 1876, after which time Gov. Humphrey continued the practice of his chosen profession alone. The Independence Tribune was founded by Messrs. A .M. York, W. T. Yoe and L. U. Humphrey, the latter with- drawing from the firm at the expiration of a year.
Gov. Humphrey had not long been a resident of Kansas before his talents were known and his fit- ness for public office appreciated. In 1871, the year of his arrival in the State, he was honored by the Republican nomination as candidate for a seat in the State Legislature, but because of his vigor- ous opposition to the issue of questionable bonds to the L. L. & G. Railroad Company, be was de- feated by a small vote. In 1876 he was vindicated by an election to the House from a district form- erly Democratic, and served two years as a member of the Republican State Central Committee. In 1877 Melville J. Salter having accepted a position in the land office at Independence, resigned his position as Lieutenant Governor, and our subject was chosen to fill the vacancy. His principal op- ponent was the Democratic candidate. Thomas W. Waterson, who received 24,740 votes, while Mr.
Humphrey received 62,750, his majority over all other candidates being 27,381. The following year he was re-elected; the covention which nominated bim having, after a protracted and exciting strug- gle, placed John P. St. John at the head of the ticket.
In 1884 Mr. Humphrey was elected to the State Senate for the term of four years, and upon the or- ganization of that Legislative body was chosen President, pro tem, by a unanimous vote. On July 25, 1888, that being the forty-fourth anni- versary of his birth, he was nominated for Gover- nor of the State of Kansas, and was elected by the splendid majority of 73,361. Gov. Humphrey carried 104 out of the 106 counties in the State, his opponent in the contest being no less prominent a person than Judge John Martin.
Gov. Humphrey has been frequently called upon to preside as a Judge, pro tem, of the District Court, an honor which indicates the degree of con- fidence reposed in him by the public. Ile has been an active Republican, and has an enviable record both as a speaker and writer in behalf of the prin- ciples to which he is a devotee. IIe is deeply in- terested in the promulgation of the fundamental doctrines of true government, and the loyal prin- ciples for which our forefathers in earlier years and our nearer kinsmen in recent times, gave their strength and even their lives. He belongs to the Loyal Legion, a body made up of those who, like himself, are intensely patriotic. His affability, his frankness, and his justice in dealing with men. has won for him a high place in the esteem of all with whom he comes in contact. either personally or through the medium of his published addresses. Ilis keen perception as to the wants of the growing State, his desire that she shall be built up in all the elements that constitute the true greatness and glory of a government or of a people, and the powers of discrimination, which lead him to discern right from wrong. justice from injustice, especially qualify him for the high office to which the people called him. .
Gov. Humphrey was married at Independence on Christmas Day, 1872, to Miss Econard, daughter of James C. Leonard. They have two children. Ly- man L., and A. Lincoln.
MARSHALL COUNTY,
KANSAS.
INTRODUCTORY.
HE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people
to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks were for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea- to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the ex- treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- ters of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- bling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost un- limited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.
The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his chil- dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme- tery will crumble into dust and pass away ; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone: to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.
TRANSPORTATION.
NE of the most important fae- tors in the business develop- ment and prosperity of a city, county or State, is its railroad communications. A retrospection of the history of the South Platte Country since the advent of railroad facilities will convince the careful observer of the immense benefit resulting from the introduction of this essential adjunct of commercial enterprise. The fol- lowing brief sketches of the leading railroads of this section of the great commonwealth will form an interesting feature of this ALBUM. It may be remarked in this connec- tion that the roads referred to are not only the im- portant corporations of Kansas, but stand among the first in the Nation.
The Union Pacific Railway.
HIS great national highway is so well known not only throughont the United States, but all over the world, that a mere reference to it would seem sufficient, yet, for the benefit of those
who have never had the pleasure of riding over its smooth track, and thus had an opportunity of gaz- ing upon the fine scenery along its route, the fol- lowing description is given :
It formed a part of the first trans-continental line of railroad from ocean to ocean, and was con- ceived, and its construction authorized, as a war measure, the needs of the Government during the War of the Rebellion having clearly shown the ne- cessity for it. When first talked of many thought the feat of constructing a line of railroad over the Rocky Mountains an utter impossibility. Many of those who had crossed the plains, deserts and mountains to California, in '49-50, knew very well that a rail- road could not be built there, for "how could a locomotive ascend a mountain where six yoke of oxen could scarcely haul a wagon." It must be remembered that the line of this road follows al- most exactly the old emigrant wagon road, not only on the plains on the north side of the Platte River, through the State of Nebraska, but, in fact, all the way to Ogden. in Utah Territory. In the days of '49-50, when long trains of gold-seekers, after outfitting at Council Bluffs, wended their way over the plains, the country was filled with hostile Indians, herds of wild buffalo, deer and antelope. There was scarcely a house west of the Elkhorn River within twenty miles of Omaha.
TRANSPORTATION.
Now the traveler sits in a luxurious Pullman car. and is whirled over the smooth railroad at forty miles an hour, past villages. towns and cities filled with active, busy, intelligent people, and as far as the eye can reach on either side of the road farms join each other, and a million and a half of people live in the State of Nebraska, through which the road runs.
This railway is one of the very best on this con- tinent. Its two main stems, the one from Kansas City. the other from Council Bluffs uniting at Cheyenne and diverging again at Granger, one for Portland and one for San Francisco. are crowded with the commerce of the Orient and the Occident, while people from every nation in the world may be seen on its passenger trains. Every improve- ment which human ingenuity has invented for the safety or comfort of the traveler is in use on the l'nion Pacific Railway, and it has been operated so many years. having been finished in 1869, that all weak points at all assailable by the snow have been protected.
For nearly 500 miles west of Council Bluffs, and 700 miles west of Kansas City, there are no heavy grades or curves. The Pacific Hotel Company manage the eating-houses, under the supervision of the Railway Company, and no better meals are to be found on any railroad in the United States.
Crossing the Missouri River from the Transfer Depot, Council Bluffs, over a magnificent steel bridge of eleven spans. seventy-five feet above the water, each span 250 feet long. Omaha is reached. and the trip across the continent, to either Portland or San Francisco commences. Leaving Omaha the road follows the Platte River through the thickly- settled and fertile Platte Valley to Cheyenne (516 miles from Omaha), the capital of Wyoming Terri- tory. At this point the Kansas Main Line via Den- ver connects with the Nebraska Main Line from Council Bluffs.
Leaving Kansas City one passes through some of the finest farming land of the West, and a suc- cession of thriving cities and towns. First. Law- rence. the scene of many exciting events during the time when it was a question whether Kansas was to be a free-soil or slave State. Topeka is the capital of the State, containing some 35,000
people. The heart of the golden grain belt of Kansas is then traversed for hour after hour. Junction City next, is so called from the fact that here the Missouri. Kansas & Texas Railroad has a branch reaching to Texas, Arkansas and the Gulf of Mexico. From Ellsworth the road runs through the Harker Hills, where the traveler sees many cairns of stones. mementoes of John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder. From Ellsworth to the boundary line of the State one passes through what a very few years ago appeared on all school geographies as the Great American Desert. Just west of Ellis one of the finest grazing regions in the world is entered. After crossing the Colorado State line comes Cheyenne Wells, where there is a well of the purest water that is found between the Mis- sonri River and Denver. From Cheyenne Wells the road climbs rapidly until First View is reached. This Station is so called becuase here is obtained the first view of the snow-capped mountains of Colorado, with Gray's Peak in the west and Pike's Peak on the south.
The ascent is rapid into Denver, 639 miles from Kansas City, with a population of 85.000, the queen city of the mountains and capital of Colo- rado. The elevation is 5,203 feet above sea level. The trip from Denver to Cheyenne. Wyo., along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains affords a ka- leidoscopic panorama of hills, fields. farms, rivers, running brooks and lofty mountains. Here the Eastern traveler for the first time sees fields of al- falfa of a deep green color, grown by the use of irrigating ditches. The run of 107 miles from Denver to Cheyenne, Wyo., is quickly made.
Cheyenne, 6,038 feet in altitude, with a popula- tion of about 10.000, is one of the sprightliest and most prosperous cities in the entire West. It is well and compactly built, and for many years has been the center of the cattle industry of the North- west.
After leaving Cheyenne the train climbs a grade of 2.000 feet in thirty-three miles to Sherman, 8,247 feet above sea level, and the highest point of the trans-continental ride between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. From Sherman can be seen Long's Peak. nearly 200 miles away. The scenery is wild and rugged. Just beyond Sherman
TRANSPORTATION.
is Dale Creek Bridge, one of the most remarkable sights of the overland trip. The structure is of iron, and stretches from bluff to bluff with a 650- foot span. The train passses over it just 127 feet above the creek, which looks like a mere rivulet below. Pike's Peak can be seen away off to the south, not less than 165 miles distant.
Laramie, twenty-three miles west of Sherman. often called the "Gem City of the Rockies," has an elevation of 7,149 feet above sea level, and a popu- lation of about 6.000. It is one of the principal towns on the main line of the Union Pacific Railway be- tween Council Bluffs and Ogden. It is situated on Big Laramie River, fifty-seven miles northwest of Cheyenne, and is an important market for wool. Its schools are good, and the University of Wyo- ming and the United States Penitentiary are located here.
The great Laramie Plains, which stretch away for miles on either side, and which afford pastur- age for thousands of cattle and horses, are of great interest. Eighty-three miles west is Carbon, in the coal regions. One hundred and twenty-one miles west of Rawlins is Rock Springs. In this locality there are immense coal beds across the continent to Portland, Ore.
At Green River the trains for Portland, Ore., are made up, although they do not make their de- parture from the main line over the Oregon Short Line Division until Granger is reached. thirty miles west of Green River, and the trip across the continent is continued over the Oregon Short Line, reaching out, as it does to the great North- west. until the great Territory of Idaho is en- tered at Border Station. Then on through Soda Springs and Pocatello -- the junction with the Utah & Northern branch, for the Yellowstone National Park, Butte. Garrison and Helena; thence to Sho- shone Station, where the junction is made for the great Shoshone Falls.
From Nampa, Idaho, the Oregon Short Line skirts along the boundary line of Idaho and Ore- gon, following the Snake River. Huntington is the junction of the Oregon Short Line Division with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, an auxilliary line of the Union Pacific Railway.
Leaving La Grande, and passing over the sum-
mit at Meacham, on through the Umatilla Reserva- tion to Pendleton, and over the Caseade Mount- ains, the tourist reaches "The Dalles" Station, on the Columbia River, the commencement of "The Dalles" of Columbia.
All along the sights have been absorbing in their varied aspects; but it is only when a pause is made at "The Dalles" Station. that the true grandeur of the scenery of the Columbia River is impressed upon the mind. There are good accommodations here, and from this point the noble river, surging and whirling to the sea, breaking the image rocks into wave fragments, occupies the mind of the beholder. The Columbia is one of the world s great rivers, affording a waterway that is navigable for traffic for over 200 miles. U'pon it, near its mouth, the largest ocean steamers ply with safety. Its largest tributary is the Williamette. draining the valley of the same name, and being navigable for vessels of any size to Portland. There can be nothing more inspiring than the ride along "The Dalles" of the Columbia, with the shining river on one side and the towering battlements of the shore on the other. The scene is one of continued mag- nificence. Along the Rhine, the Rhone, or the Hudson, there is nothing that will compare with the stately palisades of the Columbia, with their cool recesses kept sunless by the overhanging rocks, and watered by the melting snows of their own summits. A spendid view can be had of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen's, and the Cascades, where the scen- ery surpasses anything of the kind in the world.
From Portland magnificent ocean steamers de- part for the far distant Orient. Fine steamers also ply from Portland to Alaska.
From Portland to San Francisco the trip can be made in the iron steamships of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, which will compare favor- ably with the best ocean steamers on the Atlantie for safety, speed and comfort; or by rail over the Mt. Shasta route of the Central Pacific Railroad (the Southern Pacific Company ).
Between Cheyenne and Ogden about ten miles of snowsheds altogether are passed at different points on the line. These sheds are all in Wyoming. They are quite a feature of the ride across the continent; the ('entral Pacific Railroad having about thirty
TRANSPORTATION.
miles altogether on its line between Ogden and Sacramento. Ogden is 1,034 miles from Council Bluffs, 1,260 miles from Kansas City, and 833 miles from San Francisco.
The erowning scenes of the trip aeross Utah and Nevada to San Francisco are not beheld until after leaving Reno. Cape Horn. Emigrant Gap, the Sierra Nevadas, Donner Lake, and other objects of more than ordinary interest will be found. Nevada is celebrated for her famous mines. The marvel- ons Carson and Humboldt sinks, in which the waters of all the rivers in the State of Nevada, save one, are swallowed; the Mud Lake, the Borax marshes, and countless numbers of thermal springs, have been the wonder of the scientist and the de- light of the tourists. One hundred and fifty-five miles from Reno is Sacramento. a beautiful city, and the capital of California.
From Sacramento the Central Pacific Railroad branches off, via Lathrop, to Los Angeles, from which point the prominent cities and noted resorts of California are readily reached. From Sacra- mento, thie Davis cut-off, now the main line of the Central Pacific road, takes the tourist through to Oakland, where a transfer is made across an arm of the bay to San Francisco, and here this part of the trip "Across the Continent" terminates at San Fran- cisco.
NOTES ABOUT THE TRAINS. EQUIPMENT. JUNCTIONS, AND CONNECTIONS.
It is worth while knowing that two through trains leave Council Bluffs every day with through cars for Denver. Ogden. Salt Lake City, Los An- geles, San Francisco and Portland. One of these trains, the fast one, called the "Overland Flyer." has Pullman Palace Sleeping Cars only, running through to Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. The other train, the Overland Express, has Pullman Palace Sleeping Cars, Modern Day Coaches, and Free Family Sleeping Cars. From Kansas City two fast express trains leave daily with through cars for Denver, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City and Portland. These trains have Pull- man Palace Sleeping Cars and Modern Day Coaches. The morning train has the Free Family Sleeping
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1
Cars. The equipment of these trains is unsurpassed and all that can be desired. A good road-bed. standard-guage track, steel rails, iron bridges, and stone eulverts combined. insure safety and speed.
The Missouri Pacific Railway System.
IIIS great system, which now threads its way through several States west of the Missis- sippi River, has been a potential factor in the development of Missouri and Kansas. and with its accustomed enterprise a short time ago pene- trated with its lines into the rich agricultural dis- tricts of Nebraska. to compete, in this growing State, with its rapidly accumulating business. It was also among the pioneer roads in Kansas, and its many branches now traverse in different directions the most thiekly settled portions of that State. It has contributed in a large measure, by its liberal and aggressive policy, toward the rapid develop- ment of the great resources of Kansas. It is inter- esting to note briefly its history. as it was the first road built west from St. Louis, as early as 1850-51. The preliminary steps to build the road were taken, and it has since gradually extended its lines, like the arteries and veins of the human system, until it has eneompassed in its range the best portions of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and has even reached out and tapped the large commercial cen- ters of Texas and Colorado. In Missouri its several lines and connections pierce the great coal and mineral fields of the State, enabling it to lay down in Kansas City, Topeka, Leavenworth, Atchison, Wichita. Omaha and Lincoln, cheaper than any other roads. these essential adjunets so necessary in the development of commercial centers; and even the settlers in the outlying districts of Kansas and Nebraska have fuel laid down to them more cheaply on account of this road.
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