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 47
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Finding it impossible in the existing state of financial affairs to place the remainder of the stock, the company never filed its papers, but it partly accomplished its objects in another way. A committee went to St. Louis to see if barges could be obtained. They could buy none, but they came in contact with the Babbage and Mississippi Val- ley Transportation Companies, both of which became so interested in the project, that they sent fleets of barges to Kansas City that year. The first of these fleets to arrive was that of the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, consisting of the steamer Grand Lake and three barges. It left Kansas City for St. Louis July 5, taking out 83,540 bushels of wheat, and though hampered by some inconven-
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iences, made the trip in safety. The next fleet was the first of the Babbage Transportation Company, which consisted of the steamer A. J. Baker and three barges, which made three trips during the season, leaving this point July 27. carrying 62,038 bushels of corn; August 12, carrying 50,938 bushels of corn, and August 31, carrying 44,198 bushels of wheat; all three trips proving highly successful. The costs of the freight to the shipper by these barges was 53 cents per bushel, including insurance, the railway rates being about 8 cents per bushel on corn and 13 on wheat. It cost the barge companies about 2} cents a bushel to carry the grain to St. Louis, and it was esti- mated that grain could thus be carried from Kansas City to New Orleans at a cost to shippers of 7 cents per hundred weight, and afford a fair profit to the carriers, which facts and deductions were accepted as proof of the availability of barge transportation on the Missouri.
Early in 1879 Congress was memorialized on the improvement of the Missouri River. In May a party of United States engineers ar- rived in Kansas City and began work on the improvements of the river a few miles north of the city, an appropriation of $30,000 having been secured for that purpose, but the navigation of the Missouri by barges, which had been so successfully begun in the preceding year, was abandoned because of the railroad war, which temporarily reduced railway freight transportation to a cost less than even barges could afford. Before this occurred, however, the Star packet line had made arrangements to run one barge with each packet, and other par- ties had caused a tug and tow to be built especially for the Missouri River trade.
Near the close of the year 1880 a barge-line company was organ- ized in Kansas City, with a capital of $100,000, and one boat and four barges were purchased for the Missouri River traffic of the ensuing year, but, owing to causes purely commercial, the barge fleet was not put in operation on the Missouri, but it was employed on the Missis- sippi, and held in readiness for transfer to the Missouri, whenever its use should be demanded. Growing out of this revival of the move- ment for barge navigation, was an interest in the subject which resulted in a meeting of people of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa, at Kansas City, in September, 1880, to discuss the improvement of the river by Congressional appropriation. In October, 1881, a general river-improvement convention was held in St. Louis, which was par- ticipated in by Kansas City and the whole Missouri Valley, and in No-
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vember another convention, specially in the interest of the improve- ments of the Missouri River, was held at St. Joseph, which was largely attended and very enthusiastic. In pursuance of the vote of this con- vention, a delegation was sent to Washington to present the subject and urge upon Congress a large appropriation in bulk for that part of the river between Sioux City and St. Louis. The result of this effort was the adoption by Congress of the policy urged, and the voting of an appropriation of $850,000 for the part of the river specified. This delegation was composed of Kansas City men. Early in 1882 the hitherto disjointed and independent efforts of different localities for river improvement became united in one general movement, and a commit- tee was appointed by the co-operation of the different commercial ex- changes in the Mississippi Valley, known as the Executive Committee on the Improvement of Western Waterways, under the auspices of which subsequent efforts were made. Kansas City was from the first ably represented in this committee. In 1882 the barge company, hav- ing met with misfortune in the operation of its barges on other rivers, and in the death of Capt. Poe, upon whom much dependence was placed, resolved to sell its barges and withdraw from the business.
It was believed by those interested in the movement for river im- provement that later appropriations would be obtained if the people were vigilant, and the desired improvements ultimately secured and barge transportation on an extensive scale be assured, but substan- tially nothing was done to this end during 1883. Although a large appropriation had been secured from the last Congress for this pur- pose. given in bulk for that section of the river between St. Louis and Sioux City, in place of all local appropriations which it had been the previous practice of Congress to grant, there was done scarcely enough work on the river to maintain improvements previously made upon local appropriations, a condition of things due chiefly to the fact that the engineer in charge regarded the appropriation made as a com- mittal of the government to the policy he had recommended in making large general appropriations; and not having the machinery and appli- ances on hand to make an economical use of so considerable a sum, he expended the bulk of it in procuring the requisite plant upon which to carry forward improvements rapidly and economically under the expected future appropriations. He and the public were disappointed, however, by the failure of Congress at its next session to make any appropriation whatever; hence he had no funds in hand for the actual improvement of the river.
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At this time public interest in river improvements was stronger than ever before, and it was hoped that the next and future Congresses would take liberal action toward insuring the desired result. An ap- propriation secured in 1884 was disbursed in the improvements of Kaw Bend; another granted in 1886 was expended on Quindaro Bend. There have been no appropriations since, and beyond local work, noth- ing has been done toward the improvement of the river. The con- dition of the Missouri is so unfavorable to barge navigation that it is estimated that $10,000,000 will be required to pay for sufficient work to make it practicable between St. Louis and Sioux City, but contin- uous and well-directed effort will surely yet accomplish this object so long desired and so earnestly striven for. The organization of another barge line is being agitated, and the newspapers of the two Kansas Cities and other places in the valley are advocating another "River Convention," to be held at this point during the coming fall. The following is from the Kansas City Times: "Doubts that an enthu- siastic and representative gathering from Missouri River cities can be convened in Kansas City in the autumn to consider the question of river improvement, and urge liberal action upon Congress, have been en- tirely dissipated, if any ever existed, to judge from the cordial unanim- ity with which the suggestion of the Times has been seconded by lead- ing citizens in all walks of commercial and professional life. Organi- zation and action alone are now needed to carry forward the idea to a successful consummation."
Commenting on this paragraph, the Jefferson City Times said: "The suggestion made by the Times will meet with hearty approval. Every town interested will send representatives to the meeting, and no doubt Senators Vest and Cockrell and Congressmen Bland, Tarsney, Heard, Norton and others would be delighted to attend. Some unity of action is badly needed. Heretofore scarcely any two Congressmen have agreed as to what the river needs. The people must become familiar with the Missouri River and learn each other's views."
In all of those efforts the people of Kansas City, Kas., were from the first vitally interested, and nobly they did their part. Though doomed to repeated disappointments, they have never been disheart- ened. If the Missouri could not be successfully navigated between St. Louis and Sioux City, that fact furnished no argument why it should not be successfully navigated between St. Louis and Kansas City, and as early as October, 1888, the movement had its inception which has resulted, with the co-operation of citizens of the two Kansas
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Cities, in the steamboat triumph of 1890. At that time Capt. Ruxton laid before F. S. Treadway, then superintendent of transportation of the Armour Packing Company, the idea of a line of packets on the Mis- souri River. Such a line he believed would pay, and would cheapen the cost of transportation for Kansas City merchants very materially. At the next Commercial Club meeting the subject was brought up by Mr. Treadway, but only one gentleman was found at that time who favored the project. The matter was worked up quietly, however, and it was determined to undertake to secure a line of boats by raising stock among the business men who had large shipments. The first idea was to buy two boats, the Wyoming and Dakota, then tied up at St. Louis, and equip them for the service. By considerable effort $3,500 was secured, with the idea of putting it into the boats to get their owners to put them on the Missouri River run. By the time the money was raised, however, the owners had become tired of waiting, and one boat had been sold for a railroad transfer and the other had been sent South, where profitable business was found for it. Then the amount subscribed was raised to $7,000, with the idea of buying an old boat and equipping her for the trade. However, it was decided that this scheme would prove unprofitable, as a boat large enough to affect busi- ness could not be secured for that price.
In May, 1889, the idea of raising enough to purchase two new boats was taken up, and Mr. Treadway resigned his position with the Ar- mour Packing Company to take charge of the enterprise and to at- tempt to raise the money. The projectors of the enterprise decided that $75,000 would be necessary, but that they had best ask for $100,- 000 in order to secure enough. The ground was gone all over again, most of the work of soliciting being done by Mr. Treadway. S. B. Armour, who had originally pledged $500, was persuaded to raise his subscription to $5,000, and W. E. Winner and Capt. Ruxton agreed to put in $2,000 each. The work was prosecuted very quietly and with indifferent success until the 1st of August, when the newspapers were interested, and began to boom the project. Much effective work was done by them, and a very healthy public interest was awakened in the proposed line, which bore good fruit afterward.
In this condition the matter was, when the Commercial Club re- sumed its meetings last fall. and with its characteristic energy took the project up and pushed it. The subject of water transportation was chosen as one of the subjects of early attention by President Faxon and the board, and at the first meeting, held September 3, Mr.
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E. H. Allen spoke of its importance, dwelling on the arguments in favor of water transportation adduced at the Western Waterways' Convention, held in Cincinnati during the summer, which he had at- tended. At a meeting of the club, held a couple of weeks afterward, Mr. Treadway read a paper detailing what had been done in the ef- fort to secure boats for the river, and discussing the feasibility of se- curing sufficient subscriptions to build new boats.
At a meeting of the club held October 22, 1889, the movement to establish a line of freight boats on the Missouri River was brought up for consideration by J. C. James. Several members spoke on the sub- ject, all strongly favoring the formation of a joint stock company of $100,000 for the purchase and operation of two steamers built specially for the river. A motion was introduced and adopted, providing for the appointment by the chair of a committee of twenty to promote the speedy formation of a company. This committee commenced work the very next day.
On October 28 a meeting of the Commercial Exchange was held, at which President E. H. Allen appointed a committee to solicit sub- scriptions for the line, and the next day a joint meeting of the two committees was held in the Commercial Club rooms. G. F. Putnam was elected chairman and F. T. Treadway, secretary, and it was de- cided to assign different members of the committee to different lines of business in which to work for subscriptions. The next day the mem- bers got out and began active work so effectively that by the 5th of November, when a meeting was held to report progress, about $30,000 had been raised. At the request of the committee, the meeting of November 19 was made an open one for the consideration of the boat line project. At this meeting a large delegation of citizens of Kansas City, Kas. (members, many of them, of the board of trade of this city, and the Kaw Valley Commercial Club), who were interested in water transportation, were present. Mr. A. L. Mason was called upon and made some vigorous remarks on the importance of raising the necessary funds, stating that in his belief $130,000 should be raised to equip the company. The subscription committee reported that $15, 450 had been raised, and at the meeting $6,550 more was subscribed, part of it being pledged by the Kansas City, Kas., repre- sentatives, by R. W. Hilliker, who was their spokesman.
November 23 another mass meeting was held in the Commercial- Club rooms, when the avowed purpose was to raise the $100,000 before adjournment. Speeches were made by prominent business men of both
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cities. Joseph Cahn, vice-president of the club, who was in the chair, then called for subscriptions, and the necessary amount was raised, Bishop Ussher having the honor of subscribing the last $100, when it was found that the actual sum subscribed was $25 in excess of the $100,000 asked for. Embodying Mr. Mason's previously expressed opinion, it was declared the sense of the club that the committee con- tinne its work until the amount of $130,000 be raised, so that the packet line could, if thought expedient, purchase three boats. A meeting of the soliciting committee was held November 26, when it was decided that the organization of the subscribers to the stock of the packet line should be made on the following Saturday night, and a committee was appointed to arrange a plan of organization to be sub- mitted that night.
Meanwhile, on November 18, a communication had been addressed to Mr. A. L. Mason, by a large number of the subscribers of stock, asking him to accept the presidency of the line, and Mr. Mason im- mediately accepted the trust. His decision to became so prominently identified with the project had an important bearing on its ultimate suc- cess, and aided very greatly in the work of raising the necessary funds. At the meeting held in the Commercial Club rooms, Saturday evening, November 30, $10,500 more was raised, and the subscribers completed their organization, under the name of the Kansas City & Missouri River Transportation Company.
The company began preparation for the building at once. A com- mittee of three was sent East, to look into the subject of building the boats. The company found that it had $114,000 at its disposal, but as three boats, which number was deemed necessary for the amount of business which the line would secure, would cost $110,000, it was de- cided to raise the balance of the $130,000, a margin of $20,000 being considered necessary to start the line. A committee of stockholders now took hold of the subscription, relieving the Commercial Club's committee, which, however, continued to lend its aid. Mr. Mason, who had already subscribed $5,500, agreed to make up any deficiency which should exist at the close and to contribute his services for the first year gratis. The committee of three, before returning home, made con- tracts for the building of the three boats, the members giving their personal guarantee for the payment of the money. The contract was let to the Madison Marine & Railway Construction Company, of Madison, Ind. Fifty per cent of the stock subscribed was immediately called in. In January it was found that the whole of the $130,000
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had been raised, and the company was formally incorporated in Feb- ruary with the directors and officers chosen in November.
By the terms of the contract with the builders, the first boat was to have been launched April 1, the second a month later, and the third thirty days after that. The work was so delayed that the first steamer, which had been named by the directors the A. L. Mason, in honor of the president, was not launched until May 30. The two other boats will be known respectively as the State of Kansas and the State of Missouri.
The arrival of the A. L. Mason, with her first cargo of freight, July 8, was a matter of great commercial importance to Kansas City. The object of the establishment of the line was to secure the advan- tage of water competition in freight rates. There are many classes of freight which will not be in the least affected, because the matter of time is the most important with them, and merchants will not ship by water, even at cheaper rates. There are other larger classes of freight, and perhaps the most important in their relations to business, which will be materially affected. Those cities which have water competition have always an advantage over their neighbors in the matter of rates. It must necessarily be so, for, in the laws which govern them, rates are the same as all other commodities men offer for sale. First in consid- eration will come the rates on grain and food products. The question of grain rates from the Missouri River, and beyond to the seaboard, is an important one, for on the rates which are established depends the prices which Western farmers receive for their crops. The railroads seem inclined to adhere to the position taken, that the rates they have established are low enough, though they are continually furnishing arguments against their position by making concessions in the matter of rates to large shippers, or to their own special friends. The Farm- ers' Alliance of Kansas has taken the matter up and asked the State railroad commissioners to order their roads to reduce rates to the Mis- souri River. So far the commissioners have not seen their way to or- der the reduction, but perhaps their eyes will be opened to the justice of the demand when they see the effect of the packet line on Kansas City as a market. That there will be no great change effected this year is probable, as the railroads will very likely let the boats carry what freight they can, but those who are fortunate to load her will be able to take advantage of the market and to get their grain to the sea- board at a difference in rates which will leave them a very handsome margin of profit. The Kansas City & Missouri River Transporta-
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tion Company will not be able to carry more than one-tenth of the grain of this market, even when running at the full capacity of its boats, but by the laws of commerce the rates on that one-tenth and the prices it will bring at the end of the route will fix the rates and prices for the other nine-tenths which go by rail. The roads will feel the argument of facts by another year, if they do not this. Should the Inter-State Commerce Commission decide that the present rate of 30 cents on grain and grain products from the river is excessively high, and should the roads, as they threaten, make trouble about carry- ing out the order, the commission will find in the packet line a very strong aid; the logic of the river rates will be a very strong argument to persuade the roads to their views. The effect of the redistribution of values, which may be confidently looked for, will be to make grain worth a cent a bushel more to the Kansas farmer, and to establish, for him a market near at home on the Missouri River, where he may get quicker returns in money for his crops. Pig iron is another class of freight on which rates will be affected by the river line. At present the railroads are charging higher rates on pig iron from points in Alabama than they are from Chicago, which is the same distance away, and are classing this point with Omaha, 200 miles farther on. A little Missouri water may cure them of their shortsightedness. Anthracite coal will also be reduced in price by the river line, for coal can be sent all the way by water now, at a great saving in the rates of transporta- tion, and every dollar taken off the cost of carrying will reduce the price of coal that much to the consumer.
There are many other similar benefits which a well-patronized boat line will bring. They must not all be looked for with the arrival of the first boat, nor within a week or a month, but as soon as the line can establish its business the benefits will come. A little patience is needed, and the merchants of Kansas City by another season will be convinced that the money they have subscribed to the packet line has been well invested.
It was 5:30 p. M. when the Mason approached Kansas City. From the high bluff that overhangs the Missouri levee, a short distance below the Hannibal bridge, a battery of artillery at 5:40 that gala afternoon, gave the signal of welcome. Fifteen thousand people saw the gallant vessel coming around the bend in the river, and while shouting themselves hoarse and waving a greeting to her, watched the Mason move majestically up to the wharf, and at 6:15 she was at a standstill. "Never in the history of the two Kansas Cities," accord-
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ing to a local paper, " has any stroke of public enterprise been re- ceived with such popular demonstration as the reception given to the first of the Kansas City & Missouri River Transportation Company's fleet of steamers. When the Mason touched the wharf, the crowd broke for it with a wild whoop, and despite the efforts of an army of policemen, the people rushed aboard with a yell of delight, and proceeded at once to make themselves at home, while the immense throng that couldn't get aboard remained on the banks and kept up the noisy wel- come." A large body of the citizens of Kansas City, Kas., went down to Liberty Landing and took the trip back on the Mason. Hon. R. W. Hilliker was called upon for a speech. He said that he could hardly realize that the talk of last winter had already taken shape in a "real live" boat and that he was a guest upon it. He said that the enterprise must inevitably help both cities. It was the biggest thing the two cities ever had, next to the building of the bridge. He promised that when the steamer "State of Kansas" arrived, every State official, from Gov. Humphrey down, would be present to welcome her, for the State appreciated this honor done in christening one of the boats after her. Mayor Coy said that in congratulating the pro- moters of this enterprise upon their success, he but voiced the senti- ment of his common council, his people and the business men gener- ally of Kansas City, Kas. His city owed much to the successful com- pletion of this line of boats, and he predicted that it would work wonders for Kansas City, Kas. He urged business men to patronize the new line not only for their own profit, but for the profit of the company. Money could be made, he argued, by shipping freight over this line. He was firmly convinced that it would prove a pay- ing investment. Among the Kansas Kansas City-ites present were: Mayor W. A. Coy; Councilmen W. H. Norton, G. C. Eaton, R. W. Hilliker, James A. Young, James Sullivan, Harvey Allen, D. W. Troup, W. A. Pyle, J. L. Jones, F. M. Tracy, City Clerk Benjamin Schnierle, Nelson Garcelon, W. B. Taylor, William Albright, J. D. Cruise, George W. Martin, Will Holcomb, W. H. Bridgens, G. H. Parsons, Charles Simpson, Fred Maegley, Samuel Hortsman, Ben Freidberg, E. S. W. Drought, W. H. Ryus, Chester Bullock, W. W. Haskell, D. B. Hadley, John Arthur, I. La Grange, O. K. Serviss, George Stumpf.
The arrival of the State of Kansas, a little later, was distinctively a "Kansas day" and the arrival, in due time, of the State of Mis- souri, was signalized by a burst of enthusiasm from the people over the
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State line; but the day of the arrival of the Mason was the "great day." That event was first, and possessed all the attributes of novelty. It recalled the early days when steamboating was in its prime in the West and everything clustered about and everything happened on the levee.
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