USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people > Part 49
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1,457,120
9,430,890
1901
258,306
6,353,950
35,177
1,617,700
7,971,650
1900
248,446
6,584,290
29,132
1,407,810
7,992,106
1899
255,088
9,590,456
23,888
1,272,008
10,862,464
1898
234,423
6.319,867
26,791
851,947
7,171,814
1897
177,976
30,105
4,726,302
Vol. IN
449
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
The following table will give an idea of the several mining districts of Jasper county, the figures showing the total value of the lead and zinc output for 1911 :
Joplin
$2,885,842
Webb City, Carterville
5,256,982
Duenweg
777,895
Alba-Neck City
691,372
Oronogo
474,264
Cave Springs
189,241
Reeds
5,650
Carthage
69,006
Sarcoxie
51,340
Carl Junction
191,194
PRICES FOR TWELVE YEARS
The following table shows the highest and average prices per ton of zinc and lead during the past twelve years:
ZINC.
LEAD.
Year.
High.
Average.
High. Average.
1911
$54.50
$39.03
$64.00
$57.42
1910
52.00
40.18
58.00
52.57
1909
55.00
40.47
60.00
54.78
1908
47.00
34.40
66.00
55.03
1907
53.50
43.68
88.50
68.90
1906
54.00
43.30
87.00
77.78
1905
60.00
44.88
80.00
62.12
1904
53.00
35.92
62.00
54.80
1903
42.00
33.72
60.50
54.12
1902
42.00
30.33
50.00
46.10
1901
34.00
24.21
47.50
45.99
1900
38.50
26.50
56.50
48.82
MINING EXHIBIT AT THE LOUISIANA EXPOSITION
At the World's Fair, 1904, the mining industry of Jasper county was well advertised, five train loads of specimens being sent from the mines of the district. The feature of the exhibit was a mill in operation, where the visitors were shown the manner in which the mineral product was prepared for the market. At this mill was a representation of a mine from which the mineral was hoisted with the full equipment of an up- to-date mill, crusher, steam jig and all.
STRIKE AT ORONOGO
twenty-four dollars a ton, in 1897, to sixty dollars in 1899. Very naturally the miners felt that they were entitled to a substantial raise in As mentioned in our mining article of the nineties, "jack" was from
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
wages and at Oronogo in May, 1900, went on a strike for higher pay. The strike was attended with no riots. The miners simply quit work and the miners throughout the district did not rush in to take their places. The Granby Company which controls most of the mines at this place arbi- trated the matter with the miners and the following sliding scale of wages was agreed to: When jack sold for less than twenty dollars a ton, miners were paid $1.75 a day; when it sold from twenty to thirty dollars a ton, $2.00; from thirty to thirty-five dollars, $2.25; from thirty-five to forty dollars, $2.50; and so on for each five dollar raise in the price of jack an additional twenty-five cents per day was added to the pay of the spade hands, tub men, etc.
BANKS AND BANKING
The banking interests of Jasper county have grown to such im- portance that, we prefer, on account of the conditions peculiar to this last decade, to treat them as a whole, rather than make separate com- ment of them in the history of the different cities and towns.
Fourteen new banks were organized and have added not only great strength to the county in a financial way but have greatly facilitated the transaction of business. We have to record the failure of one bank, the first bank failure in the county since the panic of 1893, to-wit, the Joplin Savings Bank. With this single exception the banks of the county have flourished.
THE PANIC OF 1907
In 1907 Jasper county was enjoying unbounded prosperity. Jack was commanding a good price and in all of the mining communities there was great activity. The people in the farming districts were prospering, and in the cities especially-Joplin, Webb City and Carthage-there was a pronounced building boom. The demand for houses made real estate in great demand and everything was life and activity in the busi- ness world: Early in October the failure of the Manhattan Trust Com- pany, of New York City, threw the county into the wildest excitment, and it was feared that many of the large financial institutions of the metropolis would go to the wall. The banks in the exchange cities de- clined to ship money to their correspondents in the country and for the two-fold purpose of (1st) preventing a run on the banks and thus plung- ing the country into a great financial disaster and (2nd) of carrying on the business of the country, the following plan was adopted by most of the banks of the county :
(1) The people were asked to pay all of their obligations with checks -that is, if they had a bank account, and these checks, based on the credit at the bank, served as a medium of exchange.
(2) Each customer at a bank was permitted to draw in money dur- ing the week twenty per cent. of his deposit, but no more than fifty dol- lars was paid to any one person.
The great majority of the people saw that to embarass the banks at
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
this time would mean great disaster to the people and quickly dropped into the plan proposed, to meet the situation until the banks of the large cities could work out a plan to meet the emergency.
BUSINESS CARRIED ON BY CHECKS
For the convenience of carrying on the business of the county the mine owners and other large employers issued a number of small checks to their employees in payment for their wages. To illustrate: At the Yellow Dog mine, Webb City, checks were issued in two dollar denomina- tion and for fractional parts. If the miner had earned $17.50 for the week, he received eight $2 checks and one of $1.50, and with these he could easily pay his grocer, butcher, milkman, etc., and at each place receive a little change for incidentals. At other places the checks were split up, as the wage earner desired it.
After the first week of the panic the banks of the county issued cash- iers' checks in $1, $2 and $5 denominations and these served as a medium of exchange until January 1, 1908, when all of the banks began to pay out the real money over the counter and the panic, save the effect, was at an end.
The panic brought on some unique and interesting situations, and we mention a few of them here.
Several of the large firms, such as Newmans in Joplin, and Hum- phry, at Webb City, also issued their personal checks for the purpose of expediting the business of the community. To illustrate: The customer desired to buy a hat-say that would cost $3-and tendered in payment his wage check. This was accepted and in return for the balance the pur- chaser was paid one or two of the firm's $1 and $2 checks and some money. These personal checks were accepted without protest and were counted as good as a bank draft.
Most everybody wanted to get rid of the checks and cashiers' checks, and so the people bought as much, if not more, than before the panic came on, and as the merchant at the bank received credit for all these cash items the business of the county went merrily on.
All of this carrying on the business of the community on paper brought on an immense amount of bookkeeping at the banks. It will be readily seen that as it takes as much labor to enter a check for $2 as one for $20, there would be about five times the amount of labor in handling a $20 payment of wages, because there would be perhaps five checks in small denominations issued to cover the amount paid. It was no uncom- mon thing for the bank clerks to labor late into the night in disposing of the day's business, especially the Saturday and Monday's work.
Until the panic all of the banks of the county kept open on Saturday night, and, in the mining towns especially about one-fourth of the busi- ness of the week was transacted. All of the stores kept open until late and the scene of activity was a sight worth going miles to see. The stores were crowded and the streets packed. When the panic came on, how- ever, it was thought best not to open the banks on Saturaday nights.
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and since then the banks throughout the county have thought that the business could be handled satisfactorily without the Saturday night opening. Two banks in Carterville and four in Joplin have returned to the Saturday night opening and transact a general banking business from 7 to 8 o'clock. Quite a number of the banks which did not return to its old plan, encouraged their customers paying large numbers of men to use the envelope system and pay the men at the mines and factories in money. This, of course, does away to a certain extent with the de- mand for the Saturday night opening.
JASPER COUNTY BANKERS' ASSOCIATION
The panic brought into existence the Jasper County Bankers' Asso- ciation which, during the panic, held many sessions, looking to a satis- factory solution of the great problem then before the people. This asso- ciation, at its organization, agreed that in the event of a run on any bank to come, as a body, to the rescue, and so complete was the under- standing, and so splendidly did each bank do its part, that at the close of this unfortunate financial disturbance every bank was as solid as the day the storm broke loose; in place of having lost deposits, they had in- creased them and, excepting for the unpleasant memories of the strenu- ous ten weeks that followed the failure of The Manhattan Trust Com- pany of New York, the banks of Jasper county came through without the loss of a dollar to either the depositors or stockholders and as strong as the everlasting hills.
The following banks compose the Jasper County Bankers' Association : Bank of Alba, Alba; Bank of Carl Junction and Citizens' Bank, Carl Junction ; First National Bank and Miners' Bank, Carterville; Bank of Carthage, Carthage National Bank and Central National Bank, Carth- age; Farmers & Merchants and First National Banks, Jasper; Citizens' State, Conqueror Trust Company, Cunningham National, First National. Joplin National, Joplin State, Joplin Trust Company and Miners' Bank, Joplin; Bank of LaRussell, LaRussell; Bank of Neck City, Neck City; Bank of Oronogo, Oronogo; Bank of Purcell, Purcell; Bank of Reeds, Reeds; First National Bank of Sarcoxie, and State Bank, Sar- coxie; Merchants & Miners' Bank, Mineral Belt Bank, National Bank and Webb City Bank, Webb City.
THE JOPLIN CLEARING HOUSE
The banks of Joplin, at the beginning of the panic of 1907, organ- ized, for the purpose of better handling the perplexing financial situa- tion, a clearing house and its operations were highly successful and very greatly assisted in maintaining confidence among the people.
The seven banks of the city guaranteed each other credit and issued, in place of the cashiers' certificates, which had circulated for the first few days of the financial flurry, clearing house certificates which were guaranteed by the Clearing House Association.
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For each seventy-five dollars of the clearing house certificates issued one hundred dollars of either bonds or approved securities were deposited with the finance committee of the Clearing House and were pledged to secure their payment. This gave the clearing house certificates an air of stability which marked them gilt edge and these were taken, not only in Joplin but by surrounding towns and not infrequently found their way to the banks of the exchange cities, everywhere passing at par.
The clearing house was found to be such a convenience in handling the business of the city that its organization has been maintained and the daily balances of the banks' daily clearings are settled through this medium. The officers of the clearing house from its organization to now have been : President, John A. Cragin, of the First National Bank, and manager and secretary, J. A. Garm, of the Joplin National Bank.
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CHAPTER XLI
OLD-TIMERS FROM EVERYWHERE
LAST REUNION OF JOPLIN OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION-PRESIDENT CAR- TER'S ADDRESS "OLD SETTLERS' ODE TO JOPLIN"-THE TOASTS AND SPEAKERS PERSONNEL OF THOSE PRESENT-OLDEST LIVING PIONEER -STATE PICNICS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
The last reunion and annual banquet of the Joplin Old Settlers' As- sociation occurred May 14, 1905, and although the supper was excellent and the after-dinner speeches fine, there was a touch of sadness that crept into the banquet hall and set the pioneers thinking of the "city not made with hands." During the year that had passed since the last gathering of the association, nineteen of the members had answered the summons of the Great Master Workman and the president, William Carter, who had been the leading spirit in arranging the details of the several banquets which had been given, on taking the chair was greatly affected when he looked around the room and noted the many vacant chairs and, being somewhat indisposed, was obliged to leave the hall before the exercises of the evening were concluded.
Eighty-seven members of the association attended the reunion-and from eight to nine-the remnant of the old guard were boys again and lived over the exciting days of the early seventies by swapping yarns and telling reminiscences of the days when Joplin was the "real thing" and a red-hot mining camp.
PRESIDENT CARTER'S ADDRESS
At 9 o'clock President Carter rapped for order and began the pro- gram with a welcoming address. He spoke as follows: "My old acquaint- ances, neighbors and friends, at no time in my life has it been to me a greater pleasure than that which is mine tonight, in the opportunity and privilege of meeting, greeting and welcoming, you all here now. Somehow, I am admonished and have in thought a conviction that my participation in this night's celebration of the eleventh annual banquet of the Joplin Old Settlers' Association will close that part of all that has been mine in the life of the association. To me all these annual meetings have been a distinctive and highly appreciated pleasure and now standing where one year ago I stood in the presence and the happy mingling with my old neighbors of a century, there wells up in my heart a deep feeling of gratitude and love for all.
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"The honor you have so repeatedly extended through the eleven years of our association's life has to me a meaning, and here and now I beg to repeat and emphasize the assurance of my dear and sincere appreciation. and I have not now words adequate to express my gratitude and thanks.
"To meet as we have to renew old acquaintance and friendship, to buttress, to strengthen, to add to our ties of love for each other, to open the page in our record book where are written the names of our illus- trious and loving dead, is an obligation to halt a moment in sad and sor- rowful thought in memory of these grand and noble men, our city's proudest, bravest, best; revered and loved by all-men who blazed the way, who laid the foundation and made possible the building of our great proud city; men whose worth, whose clean hearts, generous and spotless characters and boundless energies; men whose lives and char- acter enriched our city and state and who stand today examplars of grandest worth and goodness; men who just a little while ago were with us on our banquet nights, cruelly touched with death's merciless hand. They are sleeping now, and this banquet hall is tinged with sorrow. Reverently we bow and drop a tear in saddened memory of these worthy. these splendid men. To meet, to keep green the memory of the dead, to seek and cherish a kindlier thought and warmer heart for the living. is your purpose, your inspiration here tonight.
"Mankind has never known, nor can it know, a loftier, purer or nobler incentive. So now I beg again to repeat the word, welcome! Yes, a hundred times thrice welcome, greetings and congratulations around this banquet table, with your boundless store of cheer and love, within this splendid and inviting hall, odorous with the sweets of your rich and bounteous banquet spread, I bid you mix and mingle, celebrate, make merry, dedicate, make memorable this old settlers' eleventh annual ban- quet night !
"You know your rights, your duties here. The public know; you dare maintain and do them. Take off the limit and play your night fes- tivities open. Let your joy be boundless and unconfined! Tell yarns (lies, if you will) of Joplin's early, wild and wooly days. Do any old thing, of all sorts and sizes in your own old way. remembering always to do the right, but keep an eye an Captain Bartlett, Reinmiller and Pearson; for they will entice you to follow them into ways that are dark and tricks that are vain. With my heart pulsing with love and my sincerest, best wishes for the health, long life, prosperity and happiness of every member of Joplin's Old Settlers' Association here assembled, I now assign you to the care and tender mercies of your own and only toastmaster, the Hon. Clark Craycroft."
Captain Carter's address was received with tremendous enthusiasm and when the nominations for president of the association were an- nounced, as the next order of business, Captain E. O. Bartlett named Captain Carter and asked all in favor to rise. Everybody did, excepting Mr. Carter himself. However, he thanked the men present for the honor and said: "I ascribe this show of sentiment to a sympathy. to long ac-
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quaintance which you hold for me. Such encouragement will at least add a few more weeks to an old man's life."
For secretary, G. W. Koehler was placed in nomination and unani- mously elected. Koehler appeared too busy selling groceries to make a lengthy speech of acceptance, but he thanked the association in ap- propriate terms for the honor.
On motion of C. E. Cox, the president was empowered to appoint seven vice presidents, one from each ward in the city.
This concluded the business of the evening and President Carter then called Mr. Craycroft to the chair and asked him to preside as toast- master. The master of ceremonies announced a Dutch lunch, " All sorts" by E. O. Bartlett, and gave forth the mandate to fall to, which was promptly obeyed.
The late arrival of William Norton, one of the old-timers, now liv- ing in Columbus, was greeted with a round of cheers from all the guests and he was escorted to a place of honor near the front.
At 10 o'clock, Toastmaster Craycroft again rapped for order and a report from the mortuary committee was heard. Attorney John W. McAntire read the report, which deplored the death of the following old settlers since the last annual meeting: F. M. Redburn, P. Quinn, Ira Creech, D. H. Gilbert, John Delany, T. J. Patterson, T. A. Fields, J. B. Glover, Sr., Thomas Heathwood, E. B. Leonard, John H. Taylor, C. P. Molloy, J. W. Moore, Dan Collins, L. R. Nugent, J. W. Stephenson, H. Conley, H. Wear and Sylvester Huffman.
Resolutions of condolence were ordered spread upon the records of the association and sent to the surviving relatives of the deceased.
OLD SETTLERS' ODE TO JOPLIN
D. K. Wenrich, the poet of Joplin, and C. M. Miles and W. S. Taylor then sang the following "Old Settlers' Ode to Joplin," which is one of his many popular productions :
Joplin ! It was with thee We placed our destiny, Long years ago. We've learned to love thy ways. As though from childhood days; Our hearts will all the praise On thee bestow.
Thy bounties we have shared. And happy homes prepared, So manifold. Thy gates have opened wide. To folks on every side, That they may' too abide Within thy fold.
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Friend unto friend we've been, Bonded by love within, From year to year ; While side by side we've dwelt, At the same altars knelt; Each joy and sorrow felt For friends so dear.
The blade of Time's removed Some of our friends we've loved, While we remain As pilgrims here below, Waiting our time to go; Yet, sweet it is to know We'll meet again.
THE TOASTS AND SPEAKERS
"Joplin's Early Police Courts, and How They were Run," was the toast responded to by Judge W. B. McAntire, who was among the first judges of the city. Judge McAntire spoke in part as follows: "Our num- ber is passing swiftly; a short time and this entire assembly shall have passed away. There was a time when our hair was not gray. Now it is a question of gray hairs or no hair at all! (Applause.)
"In my period of residence, the record of achievement and progress looms up like a mountain," Judge McAntire continued, and he related numerous anecdotes of the early days, when music, dancing and fights took place nightly and when there were dangerous men in the then rough and growing community. Joplin was then truly a "wide-open town." E. R. Moffett was mayor; T. J. Howell, police judge, and George De Orner, city attorney ; they were appointed by the governor under a special char- ter provided for the city of Joplin. Following their term, Lee Taylor was elected mayor and J. W. McAntire, city attorney. William Lupton was city marshal. Judge McAntire told an amusing story of how Lup- ton refused to give up the office when William McCracken was named to succeed him and of how he locked that gentleman up in jail, forever curing him of the desire to become city marshal. The speaker told of how W. S. Norton, then city marshal, rode up to a tough character who was holding the other policeman and a crowd at bay and disarmed him without using a firearm. Several other old-time anecdotes, equally spicy, were related by the speaker and his whole talk was very much enjoyed.
Philip Arnold responded to "The Village Schoolmaster," which, be- sides giving a glowing word-picture of the educational facilities of the early days, was an excellent example of rhetoric, as a schoolmaster's literary work should be. He concluded by exhorting everyone present that he should be fully prepared when the Great Master called on him for the final examination.
"The Early Joplin Lawyer," was L. P. Cunningham's toast, and it was cleverly and eloquently handled. He spoke of the ovations being tendered Roosevelt in the west and of his being as free as any of us, an
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American among Americans. "The Lawyer and the people, the people and the lawyer, constitute a covenant to uphold the life, liberty and property of the community," said the speaker in conclusion.
The trio then sang Mr. Wenrich's song, "Long, Long, Ago," and was encored and responded with "Stand Up for Joplin."
At this point Captain Carter prepared to take his departure and stated to the assembly that he felt he could not go without saying "Good- by." The men in the room listened intently and in sadness.
John W. McAntire responded to the toast "Any Old Thing." On account of the wide range of his subject, Mr. McAntire confined himself to "a few old things." He pointed out the three present who were among the first officers of the city, and recalled the fact that at the next meet- ing there may be none to whom to refer in this wise. He said, in con- clusion : "The clasp of an old settler is to me like the clasp of a brother," and rendered the little couplet
"Make new friends, But keep the old, These are silver ; Those are gold."
Judge L. A. Fillmore responded reminiscently to the toast, "The Early Business Man."
"Joplin and Its Future," was eloquently extolled by ex-Mayor John C. Trigg, who could only see brightness ahead for a city of such glorious achievement in periods past.
The trio rendered "My Old Kentucky Home."
The address of Attorney Thomas Dolan, "The Old-time Miner," was ably and conscientiously given and Mr. Dolan paid the encomiums justly due the old-time lawyers, no old-time business men, nor no old-time Joplin.
The association tendered a voluntary offering to Colonel O'Rear, upon whom the ravages of time and adversity have laid a heavy hand. Colonel O'Rear was not present and the offering was presented to him the next day.
The absence of Esquire Brown, who was ill at his home, was noted and deplored by the association.
During the feasting the association had the pleasure of hearing young Percy Wenrich (who is now a composer of note in New York City, but at that time in Chicago, and was born and raised in Joplin) play several piano selections.
PERSONNEL OF THOSE PRESENT
The personnel of those present was as follows: W. S. Taylor, born near East Joplin in 1857; J. L. Staab, came in 1875; F. S. Gobar, 1875; Fred Duffelmeyer. 1873; J. H. Myers, 1872; J. T. Bodine, 1875; Julius Henmann, 1876; Lee Taylor, 1871 ; Charles Miles, 1868; J. J. Breazelle,
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1871; C. A. McAntire, born in 1874; Philip Arnold, 1873; C. Schiffer- decker, 1875; G. W. Koelhler, 1872; Judge W. B. Halyard, 1876; E. O. Bartlett, 1876; C. Craycroft, 1875; Henry Boss, 1871; James Roach, 1876; W. H. Coffee, 1871; Edward Zelleken, 1876; S. Landner, 1875; D. K. Wenrich, 1871; D. M. Page, 1875; J. Roush, 1875; J. W. Rein- miller, 1874; Thomas Dolan, 1873; J. Vancil, 1872; John Funnel, 1873; O. P. Wilson, 1875; Julius Fischer, 1877; L. P. Cunningham, 1877; J. J. Masmer, 1873; G. Weymann, 1877; Henry Weymann, 1876; William Bellar, 1871; James Cressman, 1873; Robert Wilson, 1875; H. B. Farn- ham, 1875; W. E. Gobar, 1875; John Ferguson, born 1878; Calvin Nichell, 1872; J. C. Gaston, 1872; R. F. Barker, 1868; A. B. MeAntire. 1880, born in Joplin; H. H. Jennings, 1873; Lon Clark, 1871; J. L. Kelley, 1873; S. B. Jones, 1875; L. E. Gillette, 1874; William Carter, 1871; L. P. Wood, 1880; H. L. Chickering, 1876; L. F. Peters, 1876; W. E. Hamm, 1873; Ch. Guengerich, 1873; A. B. McKee, 1871; Clarence Lambert, 1878; J. A. Thurman, 1872; Peter Burress, 1871; W. E. Mc- Antire, 1877; W. H. Picher, 1870; O. H. Picher, 1875; E. R. McCollum. 1871; W. B. McAntire, 1873; S. O. Eells, 1873; J. J. Murphy, 1876; J. W. McAntire, 1872; L. A. Fillmore, 1871; G. W. Koehler, 1873; J. C. Trigg, 1873; E. Gobar, 1875; Jacob League, 1872; C. W. Dykeman. 1871; A. L. Stephenson, 1876; Clarence Shortess, 1873; Lloyd Burress, 1872; J. S. Reynolds, 1871; J. C. Burgess, 1871 ; L. H. D. Freeman, 1874; Peter Schnur, 1871; W. J. Leffen, 1873; Sam Reynolds, 1871; W. J. Beall, 1872; A. W. Carson, 1876; N. Zenter, 1876; Gordon Allen, 1875.
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