USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 2
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The Niobrara is the upper formation of the cretaceous period, which embraces the latest division of the mesozoric time. In the rocks of this period, reptiles first became numerous and predominant, as shown in the fossils, which are so plentiful as compared with others as to mark the period as the age of reptiles. The fossils, however, are not confined to them, but cover the whole range of co-existent vegetable and animal life. Fossils of marine plants are occasionally found, but evidences of land vegetation are confined to a few specimens of fossilized wood, which are found but seldom. In a single instance, Prof. Mudge found the fibrous structure of a palm. This alone marks the climate of that age as tropical, if it was of indigenous growth. Islands must have existed in this cretaceous ocean, as the breeding places of the birds whose fossils have been found, and as resting places
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
for the amphibious animals which were then numerous. They may have been only bare rocks, supporting no growth of trees. The fossils of the cretaceous sea, as found in the Kansas formation, embrace a wider range, and a larger proportion of the whole number known to scientists as cretaceous, than any section of the American system.
The Fort Benton formation, lying directly beneath the Niobrara, is found east of the Niobrara section. The upper portion of the Ben- ton group consists of a heavy bed of soft, fine-grained limestone, vary- ing in thickness from thirty to sixty feet. It lies along the east line of the Niobrara, and from its massiveness and persistency, shows a well-defined horizon between the two groups. It is laminated, the layers being from one to three feet thick. It is an excellent building stone, and, when burned, yields good quicklime. Below the limestone is a stratum of some sixty feet of soft, slate-colored shale. It abounds in flattened nodules of hard clay marl (septaria), varying in diameter from one inch to six feet. They are frequently threaded with cracks, lined with crystals of calc-spar, which sometimes extend to the outer edges of the concretions, being filled with white lime. These latter, with their fancifully defined proportions, are often mistaken for fossil turtles. Below this, to the bottom of the Benton group, 140 feet, are shales varying in color and hardness, and interstratified by layers of limestone, composed largely of marine shells. All the strata below the heavy upper bed of limestone are variable in their composition, the predominant component being on the same horizon, clay, sand or lime, as the case may be. There is no thick, persistent stratum of any kind. The total thickness of the Benton group is 260 feet. As a part of the cretaceous system, and directly underlying the Niobrara, where evidences of animal life are so profuse, it might naturally be expected that a like abundance of fossil remains would appear, but investigation is mainly disappointing. The Dakota group is the low- est in the cretaceous system, resting directly in the upper carbonifer- ous (Permian) group.
The prevailing material of this group is sandstone, brown and variegated in color. It varies in compactness from that which can be easily crushed between the fingers to the hardest, which requires the heavy blows of a sledge-hammer to fracture. The more compact forma- tions owe their hardness to the presence of the oxides and silicates of iron. It furnishes, wherever found, an excellent building stone. In some places a poor quality of lenionite (brown iron ore) is deposited. The most frequent overlaying, or inter-stratification, is of clay shale,
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
of varying color. In the ledges are found concretions of curious and fanciful form-some hollowed out like a bowl or vase, in tubular form, some as large as three inches in diameter and eight feet in length. Some of these concretions are glazed and distorted, as if exposed to the action of fire. This appearance is attributed, not to any applica . tion of heat, but to the oxidation of iron, which would seem to be proven by the fact that within the tubes are frequently found inclosed well preserved fossil impressions of leaves, which would have been destroyed by the action of fire. The concretions of the white sand- stone are sometimes found in disk forms, of several feet in thickness, and six to eight feet across, the softer formation of sandstone on the sides and partly underneath being washed or wasted away. They remain as tablets, supported by one or more columns of the sandstone still remaining, in shape very like a toad-stool, where the supporting shaft is single. Where the erosion has been only on the sides and not sufficiently low to sculpture the column beneath, they rest on the sur- face of the ground, and in their appearance resemble a cluster of hay- cocks. The average width of the Dakota is something less than fifty miles, being widest in the southern part of the State. The fossil found of this group is meager, but its flora is varied and interesting.
The upper carboniferous (Permian) area lies east of and adjoining the lower strata of the cretaceous. It covers an area of nearly 20,000 square miles, and has a thickness of nearly 2,000 feet. The deposits consist of limestones, clay shales, sandstones, and, in the upper por- tions, gypsum and chert-beds. The region as a whole shows only these and occasional seams of coal.
The area of coal measures covers about 9,000 square miles in the southeastern part of the State, and embraces the counties of Cherokee, Labette, Montgomery, Chautauqua, Elk, Wilson, Neosho, Crawford, Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, Coffey, Anderson, Linn, Osage and parts of Franklin and Miami, along the northern line of demarcation; also the eastern part of Greenwood and Lyon Counties. All these counties are in some degree supplied with coal. Whether the whole area is underlaid with coal or not can not be definitely ascertained till a thor- ough geological survey has been made. The general structure of the rock is that of the productive coal measures elsewhere found, and the experimental borings have been sufficiently numerous, and attended with such favorable results as to warrant the belief that the deposit oxists in paying quantities in most parts of the area above described.
The material of the deposits is similar to those of the upper car-
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
boniferous, consisting of shale, sandstone and limestone, the latter being very persistent over large areas. The other strata are quite variable, as are the immediate layers of coal. The coal measures of Kansas are a part of an immense coal field, which covers, as stated by Prof. Swallow, "a large part of the Indian Territory south, all East- ern Kansas, the northwestern half of Missouri, Southern Iowa and Southeastern Nebraska." The Kansas bed is in the western part of the field above described, and shows the thickest, purest and most valuable and accessible layers in the counties above named.
The coal measures, as their various strata show, were alternately beneath and above the salt sea, the changes occurring many times during the period of their formation. This ancient rising and sinking of the bosom of the sleeping earth has left its unquestionable record in its fossils, which embrace the marine fossils in the limestone and other sea formations, while the intermediate deposits and the coal seams abound in vegetable and animal remains of terrestrial life.
The sub-carboniferous area (Keokuk), the lowest formation of the Kansas strata, appears only in a small triangular area, lying east and south of the irregular line of Spring River, in the southeast corner of Cherokee County. The course of the river is controlled by the ledges of this group along its eastern bank. The whole area does not exceed fifty square miles. The thickness of this formation is 150 feet. It consists of chert and cherty conglomerate at the top, and coarse, gray limestones and horn stones below. It is very much broken, and the beds of limestone and chert are so intermingled that in some places the original stratification is entirely obliterated, while it is nowhere easily discernible. The chert in some places forms irregular beds, and in others appears in loose masses of many tons' weight. The area is chiefly interesting as being similar to that which yields so richly of lead and zinc in the adjoining counties of Missouri, and in which a few paying mines in Kansas have been found. The fossils found are only important as aiding the geologist to fix the geological age of the formation.
To the utilitarian, to whom all scientific research is valuable, according to its beneficial results as they may be adapted to the con- venience or well-being of man, the knowledge of the geological struct- ure of Kansas gives most bounteous returns, which will increase with each new discovery. All products having intrinsic worth-building materials, fuel, fertilizers, etc. - are found in abundance, and are dif- fnsed and plentiful in ratio to the natural wants of man. Stone suita-
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
ble for building purposes is found in abundance in nearly all parts of the State. The varieties include magnesian limestone, blue and gray limestone, and great quantities of sandstone and flagging stone. Stone from the Kansas quarries is used in some of the finest buildings in the country. For churches, court-houses, State and municipal buildings, nothing can be found superior to the product of the various quarries of the State. Material suitable for the manufacture of ordinary brick exists everywhere. The bars along the water courses furnish sand. The limestone affords abundant supply of low-priced quicklime. In- deed, all the requisites of building exist in abundance, and are, conse- quently, remarkably cheap in all parts of the State. Inexhaustible beds of bituminous coal, valuable for fuel and for manufacturing uses, are found in the eastern and central districts of the State. In several counties, the mining and shipping of coal constitute one of the im- portant industries, and a constantly increasing source of wealth. The business affords employment and support to a large number of persons, and it is rapidly growing in extent and importance. The workable deposits range in thickness from twenty to fifty inches. The main coal area is traversed by several important lines of railway, thus making directly tributary to this district an immense outlying region, which is crowded with thriving towns and prosperous farms. A fine quality of natural gas has been discovered in some parts of the State, and is being successfully used for light, fuel and manufacturing purposes, at a saving over other kinds of fuel and light of from twenty-five to thirty per cent. Lead mines are profitably worked in the southeastern part of the State. Large and prosperous communities are being established in the vicinity of the lead mines, as also in the vicinity of the coal mines. Zinc is found in paying quantities. Kansas has taken its place among the large producers of salt of the best quality known to commerce. Since 1867 salt has been made from brine obtained from wells near the mouth of the Solomon River, in Saline County. An extended area in the central part of the State is underlaid with rock salt. It is found at various depths, from 450 to 925 feet. The thick- ness of the salt itself is from 125 to 250 feet.
The State of Kansas embraces within its boundaries the geograph- ical center of the United States, excepting the remote and detached Territory of Alaska. The middle parallel of latitude between the southern cape of Florida and the northern border of the State of Wash- ington, and the dividing meridian of longitude midway between the extreme eastern and western limits of the country, pass through the
5
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
State, cutting it through its middle north and south, and one degree south of its center east and west. The bisecting degree of latitude is 38° north; the parallel of longitude, 22' 30' west from Washington, the intersecting point being at the northwest corner of Reno County. The State is 204 miles in width from north to south, and slightly ex- ceeds 400 miles in length from east to west. It is bounded on the north by the State of Nebraska, east by the State of Missouri, south by the Indian Territory and west by the State of Colorado.
It has the general form of a rectangle, with a breadth of a little more than 200 miles from north to south, and a length of a little over 400 miles from east to west, containing an area of 81,318 square miles, or 52,288,000 acres. The general surface of Kansas is a rolling prairie, which gently ascends from the eastern border. Kansas presents a succession of rich prairies, hills and fertile valleys, diversified in its scenery; it has a rolling and varied surface, and a fertile soil.
The State is well supplied with rivers and creeks. On the eastern border the Missouri presents a water front of nearly 150 miles. The Kansas is formed by the junction of the Republican and the Smoky Hill Rivers, and from the point of confluence it flows east about 150 miles to the Missouri. Lateral valleys on the north are formed by the Saline, Solomon and Blue Rivers, and other streams. The Osage . River rises in the eastern part of the State, and after a southeast course of about 125 miles, enters Missouri. The Arkansas has its source in the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado. It runs through nearly three fourths of the length of Kansas, east and southeast, and, with its tributaries, waters two-thirds of the western and southern part of the State. Its lateral valleys on the north are traversed by the Walnut, Little Arkansas, Pawnee Fork and other streams, and on the south by the Ninnescah, Chicaskia and other fine streams. The Neosho, rising in the central part of the State, runs southeast about 200 miles, receiv- ing in its course the Cottonwood and other streams. The Verdigris runs nearly parallel with the Neosho, receiving Fall River on the west. In the southwest are the Cimarron and Medicine, which flow for a con- siderable distance in the State, and a network of southern tributaries of the Arkansas.
These rivers are not navigable, yet, with their tributaries, they make Kansas one of the best watered of the Western States. In most locali- ties, including the extreme western part of the State, good water is obtained within a reasonable distance of the surface by digging or
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
boring. In some places, particularly in the western counties, artesian wells furnish valuable supplies of water.
Timber is abundant along the streams in the eastern portion of the State. It is less plentiful in the central portion. The varieties of timber embrace oak, elm, black walnut, cottonwood, box elder, honey locust, willow, hickory, sycamore, white ash, hackberry and mulberry. The Osage orange makes a rapid and vigorous growth, and is not killed down by the winters, and it is extensively used for hedges. Stone, being plenty and cheap, is used in building dwellings, and also fences, barns and out-houses.
Since the prairie fires have been stopped, the native growth of timber spreads and thrives. Forest trees and fruit trees, planted and taken care of, soon reward the planter with grateful shade and luscious fruit.
Kansas can truthfully claim a greater amount of sunshine than the Eastern States. The records show that the average cloudiness is a little more than forty-four per cent. In the Southern States the average is forty-seven per cent; in the New England States it is fifty-three per cent, while in Great Britain it reaches seventy-one per cent. The win- ters generally break up in February, the first wild flowers often appear- ing before the end of that month. Tables showing the rate of mortality have not been kept, yet there can be no doubt as to the fact that Kan- sas compares favorably with any State, east or west, as regards the health of her people. The rolling surface of the country, and the ravines, furnish fine natural drainage, and as a result there are no swamps or marshes to breed fever and malaria. Many persons com- ing from the East to Kansas find their health greatly improved, es- pecially by residence in the western portion of the State.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
CHAPTER II.
A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENT OF KANSAS-CORONADO'S EX- PEDITION-THIE "LOUISIANA PURCHASE"-NAMES OF THE STATE- KANSAS' TRIALS-SETTLEMENT IN THE SEVERAL COUNTIES-PIONEER EXPERIENCES-INDIAN TROUBLES AND ATROCITIES-EARLY ELEC- TIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS-TOWN COMPANIES-PRIMITIVE BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATIIS.
Ye pioneers, it is to you, The debt of gratitude is due. Ye builded wiser than ye knew The broad foundation On which our superstructures stand. Your strong right arm and willing hand, Your earnest efforts still command Onr veneration .- Pearre.
PHE early history of Kansas is not without its romance, for it was on the plains of Kansas that Coronado and his band suffered so many hard- ships in their search for the country of Quivera and its fabled cities of gold. He crossed the State in a northeasterly direction, reaching the Missouri River near the present site of Atchison. Here the Spaniards, disappointed at not finding treas- ure, erected a cross bearing the inscription: "Thus far came Francisco De Coronado, general of an expe- dition "-and returned home to Mexico. They were the first white men to visit Kansas, and their letters de- scribe it then as now, a country rich in fruits, with a heavy black soil similar to the finest regions of Spain.
In the early part of the eighteenth century Kansas was visited and often explored by the French, who mixed freely with the numerous tribes of Indians lo- cated along the Arkansas and Kansas Rivers. It became a part of the "Louisiana Purchase" in 1803, and afterward formed a portion of the
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
Indian Territory. It was organized as a Territory in 1854, and ad- mitted as a State into the Union in January, 1861.
The Territory of Kansas embraced, besides the present area of the State, all the lands between the parallels of 37° and 40° north lati- tude, westward to the Rocky Mountains, except that part of New Mexico lying north of the thirty-seventh parallel. The whole area of the Ter- ritory, including what is now the State of Kansas, was 126,283 square miles. It was, with the exception of a small tract, a part of the above- mentioned " Louisiana Purchase," made by President Jefferson, from France, April 30, 1803. By the terms of the treaty, France ceded to the United States all the country drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries to which she had any right or title. The boundaries were ill-defined, touching on the south and southwest the Spanish-Mexican possessions, and on the east the Spanish province of West Florida. On the west shore of the Mississippi it extended to its source, embraced all the Missouri Valley, and stretched north of the Spanish-American possessions across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and as far north on the Pacific Coast as the British possessions. For this vast domain the United States paid France the sum of $15,000,000. The province of Louisiana thus acquired comprised 1,160, 577 square miles. Its boundaries on the west and east were not definitely settled between this country and Spain till February 22, 1819, at which time a treaty was made defining its western and eastern boundaries, wherever con- tiguous to Spanish territory; and in consideration of the relinquish- ment by the United States of her claims to Texas, Spain ceded West Florida (now Alabama and Mississippi) and relinquished to the United States all claim to territory lying south of the thirty first parallel and east of the Mississippi River. Thus, that portion of Kansas lying west of the twenty-third meridian and south of the Arkansas River was ceded to Spain. On the achievement of independence by Mexico, in 1824, it passed into the possession of that Republic. Texas, on gaining her in- dependence in 1836, claimed it as part of her domain, which claim was subsequently confirmed by the treaty between the United States and Mexico at the close of the war, February 22, 1848. It finally became a part of the Government domain by purchase, it being a part of the territory ceded to the United States by Texas in 1850, that State re- ceiving $10,000,000 as a consideration.
The name-Kansas-is derived from the name of the dominant tribe of Indians found in the Territory when first visited by white men. They were variously spoken of by early explorers as Kanzas,
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
Canceas, Cansez, Kansez, Canzas, Canzes, Okanis, Kansies, Canses, Canzon, Kanzon, Konza, Konzas, Kasas, Kanzan, Kanzans, and by other varied spellings, all having a similar phonetic expression. From these have come the legal recognition of the present orthography. Kansas is said to signify, in the language of the Kansas tribe, "smoky," and the South Fork of the Kansas is still known as Smoky Hill River.
Kansas has gone through more trials, in her early life, as a Terri- tory and State, than any other State in the Union. Thirty-six years ago the slave oligarchy ruled the country. Fearing that the birth of new States in the West would rob it of supremacy, the slave power swallowed the Missouri Compromise, which dedicated the Northwest to freedom. The industrious North, aroused and indignant, struck quick and hard, and Kansas, full armed, shouting the war-cry of liberty, and nerved with invincible courage, sprang into the Union. The Territory was the scene of many an exciting conflict between the Abolitionists and the advocates of slavery, John Brown taking an active part against the latter. This enthusiast and martyr in the cause of freedom has left his imprint in Kansas, though he was never even a citizen, and when the war finally came on, the State gave voice and potency to the demand for abolition, and aided in burying seces- sion in its grave.
The history of the settlement of the State is here given, so far as has been found practicable, by counties. For convenience of refer- ence the counties are treated in alphabetical order.
The first settlement in Allen County was undoubtedly that of Richard J. Fuqua, in January, 1855. He located in the valley of the Neosho, in the northwestern part of the county. He was accom- panied by his family, consisting of his wife, two boys and three girls. He also had sixty head of cattle. He at once built a cabin, started a post, for the purpose of trading with neighboring tribes of Indians, and the next summer opened a farm. This post became a favorite resort of the Sac and Fox Indians, and often a very large number of them were camped in the timber along the river. Fuqua always strove to please them, gave dog feasts and other entertainment, and sold flour, groceries, calico, beads and other articles to them at a very high price. Fuqua made money rapidly, and kept up the post for a number of years, but finally abandoned it, and still later, in 1863, sold his large and well-improved farm and immigrated to Oregon. The second settlement in the county was made by B. W. Cowden and
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
H. D. Parsons, who arrived in March, 1855, and selected claims in the valley of the Neosho River, near the mouth of Elm Creek. The next settlement was made near the mouth of Deer Creek, the same spring, by Maj. James Parsons, and his two sons, Jesse and James, and Mr. Duncan. During the spring and summer settlement pro- gressed quite rapidly, the most of it being along and near the Neosho River. Among the first settlers were H. H. Hayward, W. C. Keith, Henry Bennett, Elias Copelin, James Barber, Barnett Owen, A. W. J. Brown, J. S. Barbee, Thomas Day and Giles Sater. On Martin Creek the prominent settlers of that summer were Thomas Norris, Jesse E. Morris, Anderson Wray, George Hall, Dr. Stockton, A. C. Smith, Augustus Todd, Michael Kiser, Hiram Smith and Mr. Martin. The creek was so called in honor of the last named. During the sum- mer and fall of 1856, immigration continued. Prominent among the settlers of that year were Nimrod Hankins, William M. Brown, Car- lyle Faulkner, Carroll Prewett, Henry Doren, G. A. Gideon, William Mayberry, Thomas Bashaw, M. W. Post and Joseph Ludley. The two last named came in February, 1856, being engaged in the survey of the standard parallels.
Previous to the settlement of Anderson County by white men, it was occupied by the Pottawatomie Indians, who were removed from Indiana to their Kansas reserve in 1837, by the United States Govern- ment. This principal village was just across the northern boundary of what is now Anderson County, at the place known as Dutch Henry's crossing, on the Pottawatomie. That stream derives its name from the above named tribe of Indians, and was so called about the time of their arrival. Soon after they located, they extended their settlement south and west along the streams. In 1838 they made some improvements on the present site of Greeley. This was the first settlement in the coun- ty. The Indians were removed from the county in 1847-48. The first white settlement in the county was begun early in May, 1854, on the present site of Greeley, by Valentine Gerth and Francis Meyer. They were young Missourians, without families. A few days after the location of the two young men, Henry Harmon, with his family, located just north of where Greeley now is. Next came Oliver P. Rand, who settled in Sutton Valley. During the summer and fall they were joined by a few more settlers, among whom were Henderson Rice, J. S. Wait- man, W. D. West, Thomas Totton, Anderson Cassel and Dr. Rufus Gilpatrick. In the winter of 1854-55 a number of Germans from St. Louis located south of Greeley, and made some improvements, but in
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