USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume I > Part 3
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9
PLATTE PURCHASE
adopted in January, 1831, petitioning Congress to make more certain and definite the northwestern boundary of the state. In this memorial it is said that "when this state was formed the whole country on the west and north was one continued wilderness, inhabited by none but savages, and but little known to the people or government of the Unit- ed States. The geography was unwritten, and none of our citizens possessed an accurate knowledge of its localities, except a few adven- turous hunters and Indian traders. The western boundary of the state, as indicated by the Act of Congress of the 5th of March, 1820, and adopted by the constitution of Missouri, is 'a meridian line passing through the middle mouth of the Kansas river, where the same empties into the Missouri river,' and extends from the parallel of latitude thir- ty-six degree , thirty minutes north, 'to the intersection of the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines.' The part of this line which lies north of the Missouri river has never been surveyed and established, and consequently its precise position and extent are unknown. It is believed, however, that it extends about one hundred miles north from the Missouri river, and almost parallel with the course of the stream, so as to leave between the line and the riv- er a narrow strip of land, ranging in breadth from fifteen to twenty miles. This small strip of land was acquired by the United States from the Kansas Indians by the treaty of June 3, 1825,12 and is now unappropriated and at the free disposal of the general government.
"These considerations seem to us sufficiently obvious to impress upon the public mind the necessity of interposing, wherever it is possible, some visible boundary and natural barrier between the Indians and whites. The Missouri river, bending as it does beyond our northern line, will afford the barrier against the Indians on the north- west side of that river, by extending the north boundary until it strikes the Missouri, so as to include within this state the small district of country between that line and the river, which we suppose is not more than sufficient to make two, or at the most three, respectable coun- ties. In every view, then, we consider it expedient that the distri. t of country in question should be annexed to, and incorporated with, the state of Missouri, and to that end we respectfully ask the consent of Congress.
"With these views of the present condition and future importance of that little section of country, and seeing the impossibility of con-
12 7 Statutes at Large, p. 244.
10
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
veniently attaching it, now or hereafter, to any other state, your memorialists consider it highly desirable, and indeed necessary, that it should be annexed to and form a part of the state of Missouri. And to the accomplishment of that desirable end we respectfully request the assent of Congress." 13
LEWIS F. LINN
But no action resulted from this memo- rial until January 27, 1835, when Senator Linn 14 became greatly interested. He addressed a letter on the subject to Major John Dougherty 15 of Clay county, In- dian agent on the Missouri river, who was at that time in Washington on busi-
ness. Major Dougherty replied on the same day, recommending 13 Missouri v. Nebraska, 196 U. S., p. 23.
14 Lewis F. Linn, born near Louisville, Ky., Nov. 5, 1796, son of Asahel Linn and Nancy Hunter, daughter of Joseph Hunter of Carlisle Pa., and who from there removed to western Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War, and afterward came down the Ohio with the expedition of Gen. George Rogers Clark. Linn's father was a son of Colonel William Linn, and while a boy was captured by the Indians with two other boys named Brashears and Wells, but afterward escaped. His mother was first married to Israel Dodge, at Fort Jefferson, where her father for a time was in command, by whom she had one son, Henry Dodge, a name well known in the annals of Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Lewis F. Linn was educated at Louisville, studied medicine under the instruction of Dr. Galt; came to Ste. Genevieve in 1815, where his half-brother, Henry Dodge, then resided and began to practice medicine in partnership with Dr. Henry Lane there. Appointed commissioner to examine Spanish claims in 1832, and when Senator Alexander Buckner died in 1833 was appointed United States Senator to fill the vacancy by Governor Dunklin, and in 1834 elected unanimously by the legislature and re-elected in 1836-37 and also in 1842-43. Died in 1843, universally lamented.
15 Born in Nelson county, Kentucky, April 12, 1781; died in Clay county, Missouri, December 28, 1860. Came to St. Louis when a youth of seventeen years; entered the service of the Missouri Fur Company, Chouteau, Lisa, and others, and went to the Rocky Mountains in 1803, where he remained for eight years; became versed in the languages and dialects of the Indians and of the French; interpreter to Major O'Fallon, the Indian agent of Missouri; acted as interpreter of Major Long's expedition; was one of the earliest pioneers on the Columbia river, and returned by way of Salt Lake and Big Platte; Indian agent from 1820 to 1840, known among the Indians as "Controller of Fire-water" from the Missouri to the Columbia; assisted in making many of the Indian trea- ties. Catlin speaks of him as "one of the oldest and most effective agents on our frontier." (2 Catlin, p. II.) Member of the legislature of Missouri from Clay county in 1840. One of the picturesque characters of our early history, and, in the words of Col. D. C. Allen, "a magnificent specimen of the frontiers- man and Indian fighter, as well as that of the old-fashioned Missouri gentleman." (Campbell's Gazetteer, p. 155.) A notable man in the history of Northwest Missouri.
II
MEETING AT LIBERTY
that the Indian title to this territory be extinguished and that it be added to the state of Missouri, to which, he thought, it natur- ally belonged by reason of its geographical position. He also suggested that the peo- ple residing on the western borders of the state were compelled to reach their shipping points on the river by a circuitous route, at great inconvenience and cost. Of course, he also dwelt on the bad character of the Indians, who were, he asserted, liable to commit great outrages. In the summer of 1835 a meeting of the people of northwestern Missouri was held near Liberty, in Clay coun- JOHN DOUGHERTY ty. At this gathering General Andrew S. Hughes 16 presided, and a petition was formulated urging that this
16 Andrew Swearenger Hughes was born at Strode's Station, Montgomery county, Kentucky, February 4, 1789; settled in what is now Clay county, Missouri, in 1828; died while attending court at Plattsburg, December 14, 1843. His father was David Hughes, born in Virginia; served in the Revolutionary War, and emigrated to Kentucky about 1783. Andrew S. qualified himself for the bar at an early age; practiced in Kentucky; was twice elected to the state senate of Kentucky from the counties of Breckinridge and Nicholas; was appointed general of the state militia and thus acquired his title. On his removal to Missouri he continued to practice law, although living on a farm; was appointed Indian agent for the Saukees, Foxes, and Iowas by John Quincy Adams, although not of his political party, and held this office for nearly eleven years; originally conceived the idea of extinguishing the Indian title to what is now known as the "Platte Purchase" and attaching this territory to the state of Missouri; a man of ability and executive genius, and great force as an advo- cate. The stories of his witticisms, "rapier-like" thrusts, invectives and nick- names bestowed still survive in northwest Missouri, although he died over sixty years ago. In a eulogy, delivered June 5, 1872, Gen. A. M. Doniphan, alluding to the time when he (General Doniphan) settled in Clay county, gives these particulars: "Gen, Andrew S. Hughes was at that time an Indian agent for tribes on the immediate border of the state, and so continued until the annexation of the Platte Purchase, but he owned a large farm with servants in this county. When not engaged in the work of his agencies he resided with his wife and son on his farm. Mrs. Hughes was a sister of Governor Metcalf of Kentucky, and their son is Gen, Bela M. Hughes, a distinguished lawyer of Denver, Colorado. When I first knew Gen. Andrew S. Hughes he lived in Carlisle, Kentucky, and was an eminent lawyer and brilliant advocate. As early as 1824 he was a state senator in Kentucky, and during his political canvass of that year he made speeches in Augusta, where I was a college student. Though then a youth of sixteen years, I have not forgotten the telling effect of his fervid speeches on his large and appreciative audiences. Having been appointed Indian agent, when his senatorial term expired he came west. He was one of the most remarkable men of this or any other age. Kind of heart, amiable, cheerful, mirthful to hilarity on occasions, of genial manners, possessed of an inexhaustible fund of rich and rare anecdotes, his power of attraction was so great that each sought to monopolize his society in our long jaunts around the
I2
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
territory be added to the state. At the next session of Congress, Senator Benton introduced a bill to that effect. The proposition involved many difficulties; for instance, that Missouri was already the largest state in the Union; that this district, north of the line of the Missouri Compromise, would be made slave territory; and that the Indians would have to be removed from a district which only a short time before had been assigned to them as a permanent home. Nevertheless, but little opposition was made to the bill, and in June, 1836, it was enacted into a law. The nego- tiation of a treaty with the Indians was entrusted to Governor William Clark. The terms which he arranged with them were ratified by the Senate, February 15, 1837, and the Indians removed in the same year. In October, 1837, the leg- islature of Missouri passed an act accepting this additional territory, and also, on the same day, organized the coun- ty of Platte. Thus, the so-called "Platte Pur- chase" was added to the state. Perhaps the most important service in the acquisition of this territory was rendered by Senator Linn; but to General David R. Atchison,17 Gen. Andrew circuit. For myself, I appreciated his glowing conversation as much as Boswell did Dr. Johnson's. But when he chose to indulge in a less gentle and playful vein, his wit was as keen and merciless as Swift's, and his sarcasm was as quick and blighting as Randolph's. If I properly comprehend that rare gift called genius, of which so much is said and so little known, I deem him to be one of the rare few who had real genius that I ever met. The brilliant pyrotechnic flashes of true genius came fresh from their author. Elaboration is the result of man's forethought - mere art. General Hughes' flashes were genuine, with- out alloy, spontaneous, and came hot and flashing from the mind."
17 David R. Atchison was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, August II' 1807; settled in Clay county in 1830; a lawyer by profession; represented Clay county in the general assembly of Missouri one term; removed to Clinton county in 1841; was appointed circuit judge; in 1843 was appointed United States Senator on the death of Senator Lewis F. Linn, and from time to time re-elected, serving until 1855; took a prominent part on the pro-slavery side in the Kansas-Nebraska agitation; encouraged Southern immigration into these territories. He was President of the Senate when the term of President Polk
I3
INDIVIDUAL SERVICE
S. Hughes, Maj. John Dougherty, and E. M. Samuel 18 is due the credit of beginning the agitation and bringing the matter to the attention of Congress. The memorial to Congress in favor of the measure was prepared by E. M. Samuel, John Thornton,19 and General Andrew S. Hughes, all residents at that time of Clay county. According to Elliott,20 it was this memorial which gave vitality to the project.
expired, on March 3, 1849, and as the next day, March 4th, was Sunday, the inauguration was postponed until March 5th, and thus by virtue of his office as President of the Senate he was Acting President of the United States for one day. A man of education, great force of character and public spirited. Atchison county was named in his honor. He died on his farm in Clinton county in 1886.
18 Edward M. Samuel was born in Henry county, Kentucky, October 11, 1807; with his father removed to the Missouri territory in 1815; settled in Clay county in 1829, but in 1865 removed to St. Louis, where he died in 1869; a merchant, and at the time of his death president of the Commercial Bank of St. Louis; a man always of delicate physical frame, but as a business man far- seeing, sagacious, and of great mental activity; a public-spirited citizen, "useful in all positions of life, a financier of high order," early conceived the idea of connecting Kansas City with the Gulf of Mexico by railway. (See note by Col. D. C. Allen of Liberty, as to his character, in Campbell's Gazetteer of Missouri, p. 154.)
19 Col. John Thornton was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, December 24, 1789, and with his father, William Thornton, removed to Fayette county, Kentucky, in 1793; in 1817 came from Kentucky to Missouri and located in Old Franklin, where he married Miss Elizabeth Trigg, daughter of Gen. Stephen Trigg, on February 10, 1820, and in April of that year removed to a farm four miles west of Liberty, Clay county, Missouri. In December, 1820, was appointed by Governor McNair judge of the county court of Ray county, a county which had been organized out of a portion of Howard county; August 24, 1824, was commissioned colonel of the 28th regiment of the Missouri militia. Colonel Thornton's regiment was on the frontier from 1824 to 1829, and the troops were frequently called out. In 1824-1826-1828- 1830 and 1832 he was a member of the general assembly of the state of Mis- souri, from Clay county; in 1828 and 1830 acted as speaker; a perfect master of parliamentary law and usage, and as speaker prompt, accurate, impartial, and popular. Owing to his opposition to General Jackson's proclamation against South Carolina nullification, he failed to be elected to the legislature in 1834, but was re-elected by a large majority in 1836; a decided states' right Democrat; a man of stern and uncompromising integrity, self-reliant, honest in all things, even in politics; great public spirit, affable, courteous, and hospit- able. He died on his farm near Liberty, October 24, 1847, leaving a family of seven daughters and one son. His daughters married, respectively, Gen. Alexander L. Doniphan; Col. O. P. Moss; William Morton; James H. Baldwin, and after his death, Dr. James D. McCurdy; R. L. Donnell; Col. John Doniphan of Weston, and Leonidas Moreau Lawson.
20 Elliott also states that Hon. John M. Krum, "of St. Louis," and who at that time "happened to be in western Missouri on legal business," assisted Gen- eral Atchinson in bringing this project of extending the Missouri boundary before Congress. This is evidently a mistake, because Krum, at the time the Platte Purchase was attached to Missouri, lived in Alton, Illinois, and did not become a resident of St. Louis or Missouri until 1842. Krum was at one time mayor of St. Louis, and otherwise a prominent citizen. Elliott's Notes, p. 170.
I4
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
The northern boundary line between Missouri and Iowa was once a matter of dispute. The act defining the boundaries of Missouri provided that this line should run east from a point where the merid- ian line running north from the mouth of the Kansas river inter- sected the parallel of latitude passing through the rapids of the Des Moines river, making said line correspond with the "Indian bound- ary line." This Indian line, surveyed by John C. Sullivan21 in 1816, was intended to fix the limit on the north of the Osage cession of 1808. Sullivan ran north one hundred miles from the mouth of the Kan- sas river and established a corner, but by mistake varied two and one-half degrees toward the north of a due east and west line. But at the time Missouri came into the Union and until 1837 this line was recognized by the United States as the "Indian boundary line." Then a new line, surveyed by order of the legislature of Missouri, was run about ten miles north of the Sullivan line of 1816. This new survey was based on the descrip- tion in the constitution which called for a parallel of latitude "passing through the rapids of the river Des Moines." Under GEN. A. S. HUGHES this survey Missouri claimed jurisdiction over an additional strip of territory having an area of about 2,600 square miles. The line was surveyed by Joseph C. Brown,22 and it became known in the controversy as "Brown's line." Omitting the details of the controversy over this claim, it is sufficient to say that in a suit in the United States Su- preme Court between the states of Missouri and Iowa, instituted in 1847 and decided in 1849, the court decreed that the Osage line run by Sullivan, in 1816, was the true northern boundary line of the state of Missouri and the true southern boundary line of the state of Iowa, and that it was this "Indian boundary line" from the
21 Gov. William Clark, in a letter dated August 6, 1816, addressed to G. C. Sibley at Ft. Osage, speaks of him as Major Sullivan. He was deputy U. S. surveyor-general under Rector, and a brother-in-law of James Evans, one of the leading men of Missouri at that time, residing at Jackson. Sullivan was a native of Virginia, and in 1820 elected as a delegate to the constitutional convention from St. Louis county. Was Sullivan county so named in his honor ?
22 One of the early surveyors of Missouri. In 1816 he ran the southern portion of the Osage line. (See letter of Governor Clark to G. C. Sibley, dated August 6, 1816.)
15
WOLF ISLAND
northwest corner to the DesMoines river, established by Sullivan, to which the Act of Congress referred when Missouri was admitted into the Union.23 This line was surveyed and marked, but, some of the boundary posts having disappeared, it was recently re- surveyed and re-marked.
Another controversy, of less importance as to the territorial area in dispute, but involving many interesting matters of fact, arose between Missouri and Kentucky. It related to Wolf Island, some fifteen thousand acres in area, in the Mississippi. A bill was filed in the United States Supreme Court by Missouri, in 1859, against Kentucky, to settle the question of jurisdiction, and Kentucky finally secured jurisdiction over the island by a de- cision of the United States Supreme Court in 1870. The question was whether this island was on the east or west side of the main channel of the Mississippi. It was shown on behalf of the state of Missouri, by numer- ous ancient maps, that the channel ran east of the island; also that, prior to 1800 Joseph Hunter had settled on, and was the only resi- dent of, the island; that it was surveyed by the United States surveyor as a part of Mis- COL. JOHN THORNTON souri; that in 1820 the sheriff of New Madrid county had served process on the island; that one of the circuit judges of southeast Missouri had resided on the island; and by some wit- nesses, that from 1821 to 1851 there were no indications that the main channel ever was or had been on the west side of the island. On the other hand, Kentucky produced twenty-seven witnesses who testified that down to a recent period the main channel of the river ran west of the island; that in 1837 the land had been surveyed under Ken- tucky authority; that in 1857 a resident of the island was elected a representative to the Kentucky legislature; that the soil and sylva of the island resembled that of Kentucky, rather than of Missouri, large poplar, oak and chinkapin growing on the island corresponding with the growth on the Kentucky side, while on the Missouri side the soil was not suited for such trees; that the island was on a level with the Kentucky bottom and five feet higher than the Missouri bottom,
23 For a full and exhaustive discussion of this boundary line, see case of Missouri vs. Iowa, 7 Howard, p. 660, Catron, judge.
I6
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
and thus claiming that a primitive connection existed between the island and the Kentucky shore. On a full hearing the United States Supreme Court held that the island was a part of the state of Kentucky. 24
Geographically and broadly speaking, the territory embraced within the limits of Missouri as described is situated near the center of the United States, and in the center of the Mississippi Valley. From east to west the extreme width of the state is 348 miles, the average width being 235 miles. On the north, along the Iowa bound- ary line of the state, from the intersection of the Des Moines rapids, the state is 210 miles wide, and on the south, along the border of the Arkansas state line, the distance is 288 miles. The longest straight - line that can be run in the state extends from the extreme northwest corner of the state to the extreme southeast corner, a distance of 450 miles; but the distance from the northeast corner to the southwest corner is only 320 miles. The average length of Missouri, north and south, is 242 miles, not including the territory south of thirty degrees thirty minutes, between the Mississippi and St. François. In area the state embraces 65,350 square miles, or 41,824,000 acres. Mis- souri is the largest state bordering on the Mississippi, except Minnesota. When admitted, it was territorially the largest state in the Union.
The Mississippi washes the eastern shore of the state, and for
24 Missouri vs. Kentucky, 10 Wallace, p. 395. The circuit judge - whose name was not given in evidence in the case, nor when he acted as circuit judge, a fact noted by the Supreme court - was Judge Hough, who held that office from 1848 until 1861. During his term of office he resided on the island, and, under the final decision of the Supreme Court, a citizen of Kentucky actually filled the office of circuit judge in Missouri for a number of years. The United States Supreme Court gave no weight to the old maps which showed that the main channel of the Mississippi was east of the island, and characterized these maps as unreliable, adopting the general statement as to these ancient maps made by Captain Humphreys and Lieutenant Abbott. In another case, St. Louis vs. Edward Rutz, the question arose whether Arsenal Island, the corporate property of St. Louis and in the corporate limits of St. Louis, and which island began to wash away at the upper end, and extend at the south end, until finally the whole original island was washed away, and the lower end which had origi- nally formed an extension of the island finally joined to the Illinois shore, was still the property of St. Louis, or whether by reason of this change the accretions which had attached themselves to the original island became the property of the Illinois riparian owner. It was held that these accretions belonged to the Illinois owner, and that St. Louis and its grantees had no title to them. Recently in another case, by direction of the general assembly of Missouri, the attorney- general of the state was directed to institute proceedings to settle the question whether an island in the Missouri river was within the territorial limits of Nebraska or Missouri.
I7
RIVERS AND WATERCOURSES
nearly six hundred miles, the waters of the Missouri, the greatest tributary of the Mississippi, roll either on its western borders or from west to east almost through the center of the territory of the state. Tributary and running almost parallel with the Missouri, and emptying into it, the Great Osage, fed by many smaller streams, flows through the state from west to east for over three hundred miles. In the greater part of its course this river "has cut its way through ledges of massive magnesian limestone, which tower above the beau- tiful stream in domes and terraces and knobs that seem to have been designed by skilful architects." 25 From the south and southwest, the Big Blue, the Lamine, the Saline, the Gasconade, and innumer- able other streams discharge their waters into the Missouri river; while from the north, and northeast on the left bank of the river, the Nodaway, the Tarkio, the Nish-na-bot-ta-na, the Little Platte, the Grand river, the Charitons, the Big Bonne Femme, Manitou, Cedar creek, and many other smaller streams add their tribute. North of the mouth of the Missouri, the northeast corner of the state is bor- dered by the Des Moines, discharging its waters into the Mississippi; farther down, coming from the west, the Wayaconda, the Fabius (or Jeffron), the Salt river, "Riviere au Sel " of the French and Oa-ha-ha of the Indians; the Dardenne, Cuivre, and other smaller streams fall into the Mississippi. South of the Missouri, eighteen miles below St. Louis, the Maramec with its numerous branches, all rising in the Ozarks, debouches into the Mississippi. Then follow the Aux Vases, the Saline, Cinque Hommes, Apple creek, and other minor creeks. Running parallel north and south with the Mississippi, though discharging its waters into the Mississippi south of the state line, the St. Francois, with its numerous tributaries, runs for several hundred miles through the state.26 Farther west the Big and Little Black,27 the Current and Jack's Fork, Eleven Points, and Spring rivers have cut their picturesque channels through the Ozark plateau and carry their waters through the Black into the White, and through it into the Mississippi. And farther west still, the Great North Fork, East Fork, and James Fork of the White river (the
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