Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 13

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

Persia has no existence today, not even a solitary resident. The same is true of Columbus, the site of which was laid out on the bank of the Missouri at what was known as Petit Osage Bottom. Columbus was heralded in 1819 in this announcement which appeared in the Intelligencer :

"Its natural advantages are not perhaps surpassed by any others on the Missouri river. There are several excellent springs of water, which may be conveyed to any part of the town. A large bank of stone coal convenient, also an established ferry, and from its central position, between the contemplated county lines it is more than probable that it will become a county seat. Further description is thought unnecessary, as it is pre- sumable that the purchaser will examine before he buys."

One of these lost towns of Missouri progressed so far beyond the lot- selling boom as to make considerable showing in houses. This was America which was located a few miles above the junction of the Mississippi and the Ohio. In the advertisement of a lot sale to be held in America in 1820, the promoter paid his respects to those who had libeled the prospects of the new community. He said in print :

"The town was commenced a year ago and is improving rapidly; is a prominent seat of justice for the county, and commands the trade of an extensive, fertile and thriving tract of country. False and unfounded reports respecting its health and liability to overflow have been industriously propagated by folly and a mean jealousy of its superior advantages, the falsehood of which a visit to the place on that day must effectually detect."

The City Ne Plus Ultra.

Townsite speculation reached such extravagant proportions that it suggested an "Advertisement Extraordinary," of the "City Ne Plus Ultra," in the Mis- souri Gazette, July, 1818:

"This city is handsomely situated in the Grand Prairie, in the territory of Missouri, about one hundred miles northwest from St. Louis. The site is the most eligible that can possibly be conceived, in the center of an extensive prairie extending from the Missouri to the Mississippi. The city itself occupies about fifteen townships of the most fertile land in the known world; and as for healthiness and salubrity of climate is unequaled. Sickness being extremely rare, and no person is known to have died there within the memory of man. The city is laid off on the most liberal plan, and modern style. Market or Main street is one mile wide with a canal running through its whole extent. The canal itself extends from the Missouri to the Mississippi, and connects these two great water courses.

"The public square is situated near the center of the city; in the center of this square is a large mound, upwards of five hundred feet high and covering near one hundred acres of land. This mound is supposed to contain the remains of the great Mammoth (no doubt the sire of those living Mammoths, lately seen near the rocky . mountains !! ). Besides the public square there are fifteen squares for public worship of different denominations of Christians, five for colleges and other seminaries of learning, and ten for other purposes of public utility and amusement.

"The great western road from the seat of government across the Rocky mountains to the Pacific Ocean, opening a direct communication with China, must pass through this city, and the great northern road from the Gulf of Mexico to the new world, lately discovered by way of the north pole, must inevitably pass through this great city destined to be the capital of the western empire, or perhaps the world.

"Manufactories of every description will not only meet with great encouragement but can be carried on with trifling expense; the country abounding in coal, iron, lead,

MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY

copper, tin, rock salt, sulphur, saltpeter, marble, slate, alum, copperas, etc., etc., and strong expectations exist that the precious metals will be found in abundance.

"Besides other great and national Institutions, there will be established at the city a grand Bank, with a capital, sufficient, say $100,000,000, to enable it to give branches to every town and village in the state. The bank managed by thirty directors besides five extra presidents and cashiers for signing notes.

"One hundred bricklayers, 200 carpenters, 50 taylors, 30 blacksmiths, 100 shoemakers, 50 coopers, 50 shipbuilders, 50 stonecutters, and all other mechanics will find constant employment in the city. Doctors are not wanted and lawyers need no inviting. "Nihil "Nemo, Proprietors.

"All the printers in the world are requested to give the above an insertion in their respective papers and to transmit their accounts postpaid to the proprietors at the city of Ne Plus Ultra."

The promotion of townsite speculation was not always limited to alluring advertisements in the newspapers. At the time when lots were to be sold at Putnamville, the county court made this entry on the record :

"Ordered that the town commissioner be authorized to purchase four gal- lons of whiskey and that he be paid out of the town fund."

A traveler, so the story ran, stopped over night at one of these townsites. He excited suspicion by refusing to give his name. As he mounted his horse the next morning, he said, "My name is Robinson. I objected to mentioning it last night, fearing you would name a town after me." Linked with this was the other story that in a distance of five miles there were located five townsites.

The Beginning of Springfield.

Of Springfield's beginning Mrs. Rush C. Owen, daughter of John P. Camp- bell, wrote for the Springfield Leader, of August 31, 1876, this very interesting narrative :

"In 1827 my father, John P. Campbell, and my uncle, Matthew Campbell, took refuge from an autumnal storm in old Delaware town on the James, not far from the Wilson Creek battle-ground. The braves had just brought in a remnant of Kickapoos which they had rescued from the Osages. Among the Kickapoos was a young brave boy ill with a kind of bilious fever recently taken. Just before leaving home my father had been reading a botanic treatise, and had become a convert. In his saddle-bags he carried lobelia, composition and No. 6. He gave them to understand that he was a medicine man, and against Uncle Mat's earnest protest, who feared the consequences if the Indian died, he undertook the case. Not understanding the condition of his patient, or, perhaps. the proper quantity of the emetic to administer, he threw the Kickapoo into an alarm, or in other words a frightful cold sweat and deathly sickness. Then there was work for dear life. Uncle Mat, the older and more cautious of the two, pulled off his coat and plunged in to help my father get up a reaction, which they did, leaving the poor patient prostrate, and 'weak as a rag.' My father always laughed and said: 'But feel so good, good-all gone,' laying his hand weakly on his stomach.

"They remained some time with the Indians, hunting and looking at the country. They finally made up their minds to return to Maury county, Tennessee, and bring their families. Piloted by the Kickapoo they went some distance up the James, and made arrangements with an old trapper to get out their house logs ready to be put up imme- diately upon their return. They selected lands where Springfield now stands. They found four springs whose branches uniting formed Wilson creek. About the center of the area between these springs was a natural well of wonderful depth, now known to be a subterranean lake, hard by which my father 'squatted,' after a toilsome journey through

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

the wilderness. The Mississippi river was frozen over so hard that they crossed on the ice in February, 1830. Several families accompanied him, among whom was glorious old Uncle Jo Miller. Who ever saw him angry? Who ever caught him looking on the dark side? The moment he was seated every child clambered and buzzed over him like bees over a honey-comb, and we had implicit faith in his 'honey pond and fritter tree,' and have to this day.

"The Kickapoo came over immediately and became an almost indispensable adjunct to the family. Seeing that my father was very tender with my mother, he looked upon her as a superior being, something to be guarded and watched that no harm came near. He was out on a hunt when my sister was born, the first white child in Kickapoo prairie. When he came in my father, who had thrown himself on the bed by my mother, said: 'Oh, ho! look here!' He approached, looked at the little creature with quaint seriousness, and said, 'What call?' My mother, to please him, said 'Kickapoo'; and my father, who was cheerful and bright, had just taken the baby's tiny hand and exclaimed, 'My Beautiful,' so the child was ever to the Indians, 'Kickapoo, My Beautiful,' and exceedingly beautiful she proved to be. The old people discourse upon her loveliness to this day, and refuse to believe that there ever was another to compare with her. The Kickapoo's greatest pleasure was guarding the rustic cradle, and drawing the delicately tapered hand through his own.

"Springfield soon became a habitation with a name. Cabins of rough poles were hastily put up, and filled with emigrants. My father vacated and built thirteen times in one year to accommodate newcomers. Log huts filled with merchandise, groceries, and above all that curse of America-whisky-soon did a thriving trade with the Indians and immigrants. A cool autumn afternoon my mother, who was remarkably tall, with black hair and fine eyes, went to one of the primitive stores to buy a shawl, and could find nothing but a bright red with gay embroidered corners. She threw it over her shoulders and crossed over to see a sick neighbor. Returning at dusk she was forced to pass around a crowd of Indians who had been trading and drinking. A powerful, bare-armed Osage, attracted no doubt by the gay shawl, threw up his arms, bounded toward her shouting, 'My squaw.' She flew towards home. Just as she reached the door her foot twisted and she fainted. A strong arm with a heavy stick came down on the bare head of the dusky savage, and he measured his length on the ground. The Kickapoo, for it was he that came so opportunely to my mother's rescue, carried her in, closing the door, for by this time everybody had rushed to see what was the matter, the Osages calling for the Kickapoo who had dealt the blow upon their companion. He passed on to the kitchen, making a sign to Rachel to go in; took 'Kickapoo, My Beautiful,' from Elizabeth, pressed her tenderly to his heart, looked at her wistfully, returned her to the nurse and was gone. The blow dealt really killed the Osage. Nothing but Rachel opening the door wringing her hands, with tears running down her own and Elizabeth's cheeks, with 'Kickapoo, My Beautiful,' screaming, the finding of my mother in a death-like swoon, and no trace of the Kickapoo saved the village from serious trouble. Days, weeks, months and years passed, and all my father's efforts to find out the fate of his red friend were futile, and he concluded he had been assassinated by the Osages, though assured by them, 'They no find him.'"

Neosho's Well Chosen Name.

"Neosho" is Indian for cold, clear water. The name was well chosen for the capital of Newton county. An early description of the location gave this account of the water sources on the site :

"Almost in the center of the town is the Big spring, a limestone water, clear and cold, rushing from beneath a rocky cliff, and forming a swift creek or river, capable of running many mills. East of the Big spring, 900 feet, is Bell's iron spring, rising in the valley and capable of supplying a city of 50,000 people. On the eastern line of Neosho is Brock's spring and creek, while just south of Brock's are A. M. Sevier's two springs, one of which is soft water. East of the springs near Captain Ruark's house is a hard-

MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY

water spring, which forms a crystal rivulet about four feet wide. The Hearrell springs are on the southeast line of the Neosho, producing the same quality of water as the Big spring, and one an equal quantity. In the northern part of town are the medical springs of Carter & Clark. The Bethesda spring in the northeast section is famous for its healing properties; the water is always about 75º Fahrenheit, soft and clear, while just south is the stronger Birch spring. North of the Bethesda are the three Mertin springs, rushing from beneath the cliff, and each producing a different water. The McElhany springs form a bold stream of freestone water in the western part of the town, while Hickory creek is formed of the waters of several small springs. The United States fish commission, through the agent, Colonel Moore, located the fish hatchery at Neosho in 1887. Every effort was made to destroy the chances of Neosho, but, through the energy of Major Bell, M. E. Benton, P. R. Smith and others, aided by Congressman Wade, Senators Cockrell and Vest, and her own incomparable adaptability, Neosho won this rare institution."

The Making of Cities and Towns.

Kingston got its name on the petition of a large number of Caldwell county people who admired Judge Austin A. King of Richmond. Five years later Judge King was elected governor. He was a Democrat, originally from Tennessee, but took strong ground for the Union and was made a prisoner by General Price's army. In 1862 he was elected to Congress and served one term. The founding of Kingston was celebrated on the 4th of July, 1843. No houses had been built. The people assembled in a great arbor of brush. Charles H. Hughes was the orator of the day. According to a local account "there was a bountiful dinner, plenty of whisky, everybody was happy, but nobody very drunk."

When the Missouri Pacific railroad was being laid out, George R. Smith of Pettis county was the aggressive spirit in the movement to divert the route from the river side and to bring it over the prairies. He appealed to the people of Georgetown, the county seat of Pettis, to get behind him and help as against the river route. "Open your eyes," he said, "and see the friend that is coming to aid you ; hold out your hands and welcome it ; give of your means to quicken its movements towards you." But the Georgetown folks were too conserva- tive. At last George R. Smith got out of patience and at a final meeting in Georgetown he told the people that he would live to see the day when owls and bats would make their home in the Georgetown court house. He went three miles south, bought a farm and started Sedalia. I. McDonald Demuth, the historian of Sedalia, says that a year before Smith died the old court house at Georgetown was deserted except for occupancy by bats, owls and whippoor- wills. General Smith had a daughter named Sarah, but who was called "Sed" by her young friends. He wanted to name the city after the young lady and first called it Sedville. Some one suggested that Sedalia would be more eupho- nious. The general thought so too.

St. Mary's on the Mississippi was once known as Camp Rowdy. It was for a time the home of General Henry Dodge, who lived there in a double log house. Afterwards St. Mary's became quite a milling point, the unusual excel- lence of the wheat of Southeast Missouri encouraging that industry.

Cameron took its name from Colonel Cameron of Clay county, the father- in-law of Samuel McCorkill, one of the founders.

Albert G. Davis, who built the first and the second house in Hamilton

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

and who started the first store in 1856 and 1857, said he chose the name for the settlement partly in remembrance of Alexander Hamilton and partly for Joseph Hamilton. the lawyer-soldier who fell in the battle of the Thames in the war of ISI2. The first name was the Prairie City. The city consisted of one building standing on a wide prairie. This building was known far and wide as "lone house." It stood on the "Pioneer Trail," which connected Gal- latin and Kingston. For three years the first citizens were accustomed to go out from Hamilton a mile or two in the early fall and find deer in the luxuriant grass. It was possible to kill several deer in a day. Venison was plentiful and cheap until St. Valentine's day in 1859, when on a wager of ten gallons of whisky the Hamilton & St. Joe track layers rushed in with ties hurriedly placed on frozen dirt and the engine whistled. After that Hamilton boomed and there were no more deer in the nearby draws.

Mississippians were the earliest settlers of Pulaski county. They took pos- session of a saltpeter cave near Waynesville and manufactured gunpowder. This cave was the location of an Indian battle. A party of Delawares and Shawanoese took refuge in it, being hard pressed by one hundred Osages. The battle lasted until dark. The Osages tried to force their way into the cave but were driven back after many had been killed. When night came the Osages barricaded the entrance and withdrew. When they returned in the morning to renew the battle, the cave was empty. The Delawares and Shawanoese had found another way out.

Sarcoxie is an Indian word. It was the name of a chief and means "rising sun."

When a community in Cass county wanted a name and could not agree, they wrote to the postoffice department to do the christening, saying in their petition that they wanted something "peculiar." The answer came back, naming the town "Peculiar."

Walnut Grove in Greene county was given its name from the forest in which it was located. At the time of the first settlement the name was "Pos- sum Trot."

Chillicothe is a Shawnee word and is said to mean "The Big Town Where We Live." Breckenridge in Caldwell county honored the memory of John C. Breckenridge, who was a candidate for vice-president at the time the name was given.

Maryville was named in honor of Mary Graham, the wife of Amos Graham, the first resident.

Tradition credits Ephraim Stout with being the first settler to recognize the beauty of Arcadia Valley. He built his cabin there and the place was known for years by the homely name of Stout's Settlement.

Harmony Mission.

Missionaries sent out by the American Board of Foreign and Domestic Missions first settled in Bates county. They were welcomed by the Osages. A council was called. It was attended by 8,500 Indians. The meeting place was on the banks of the Marias des Cygnes. The Indians gave the missionaries a tract of land ten miles square and invited them to make a home there. This was in 1818. The missionaries accepted the land and called the place Harmony

ST. LOUI

81,37,0 MILES

1880

CITY OF CARONDELET

CITY

CITY OF ST.

COUNTY

LOUIS 1870 17.98,0 MILES

CITY OF ST LOUIS 1855 19,94,0 MILES ICT OF LEGISLATURE APPROVTO DEC Ata 1844

COUNDANY

CITY OF ST LOUIS 4,100 MILES

CITY OF ST. 20018

10018 1822 0 14 0 M

ET LOUIS DES

LIMITS

1870

Map showing Boundaries of St. Amutis at different periods

S 1876

CITY

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MISSOURI GEOGRAPHY

Mission. A school for Indian children was established. Three years later a treaty with the Osages was made at St. Louis. By the terms of it the title to two sections of land, about thirteen hundred acres, was conveyed to Harmony Mission. A large orchard was one of the improvements. The Osages became much attached to the missionaries. When they were moved to a reservation in the Indian Territory, the mission was also moved there. It was maintained until 1837.

When St. Louis Seceded.

As a political subdivision St. Louis occupies a unique position among Amer- ican cities. In 1875, the city and county of St. Louis were authorized to sepa- rate. The city assumed all debts of the county and was relieved of all county government. The western limits of the city were made an arbitrary curved line with a general north and south direction. If there was more curvature of this line on the west and of the river on the east St. Louis would be egg-shaped. The river bends to the east and the boundary curves to the west, but river and line meet in north and south points. The length of the city along the river is about twenty miles. The greatest width is about six miles and this is midway between the north and south ends.

When this separation took place, forty-five years ago, the limits of the city thus fixed, seemed to the wise citizens of that generation to be ample. If the separatists foresaw a city greater than they then provided for, they did not allow it to affect their plans. Under a new charter the city became a new political subdivision of the state. The County of St. Louis set up its own gov- ernment, establishing its county seat two miles west of the new city limits. But a period of forty-five years brought unforeseen growth. In 1876, Grand ave- nue, or Thirty-sixth street, was the limit of the residence section. Beyond, to the new city limits, stretched farm lands. Westward the home building extended. It passed beyond the city limits and covered large sections of the county. There came into existence many communities, parts of the city in respect to municipal utilities, but not politically. They were in St. Louis county but their residents did business in the city. They did not count in the population of St. Louis.

Missouri Nomenclature.

Many of the names in Missouri geography are homely They suggest the pioneer days. Eleven Points is a river in Oregon county. It has its source in an immense spring at the foot of a hill three hundred feet high. One Hundred and Two River is in Nodaway county. Deep Water, Big White Oak, Tebo, Honey and Bear are the principal creeks of Henry county. Turn-back river is in Dade county.

Peruque river in St. Charles county took its name from the fact that a Frenchman in the early days, while fording the creek, Peruque river, caught his wig or peruque after the manner of Absalom, in the branch of a tree.

The Great Saltpeter cave in Dallas county was named from the fact that it afforded shelter to a gang of counterfeiters who pretended they were there to manufacture saltpeter.

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

Humansville, in Polk county, received its name for James Human, a pioneer of 1834. A single black jack tree upon the elevation suggested the name of Lone Jack in Jackson county.

Lee's Summit was given for the double reason that Dr. P. J. G. Lee was one of the earliest settlers and because it is the highest point between Kansas City and St Louis on the Missouri Pacific railroad.

Health Giving Fountains.

Indian creek in McDonald county, according to an early writer, was "so named from the fact that along its banks was the great rendezvous for the Indians who inhabited this country. Among the earliest traditions gathered from the Indians by the white settlers was one of healing fountains which were said to exist in this region, the waters of which healed all diseases ; large num- bers of Indians came every year. A few daring hunters, by affiliating with the Indians, visited these fountains and told wonderful tales of the cures effected by them. But so jealous were the Indians of their location, and so tenaciously did they cling to the surrounding country, that most white men were deterred from settling in this immediate vicinity. The few white settlers who did settle. here, however, were not shown these 'fountains,' but only got their history and description of their location from the red men; but so great were the praises of the Indians, that the whites soon began to search for them. Among the first to make an extended search was a man named Friend, who was also, prob- ably, the first white man to settle on Indian creek, and a member of whose family was severely afflicted with rheumatism. Guided by the Indian descrip- tions, he was not a great while in finding the 'Four Great Medical Springs.' Living but a few miles away, the water was freely used, and a speedy and per- manent cure effected."

Henry McCary's writing in 1876 of pioneer days in Barry county told how names were bestowed in the early days: "Washburn prairie was settled first by a Mr. Washburn, in 1828, and Stone's prairie by a James Stone, and King's prairie by George W. King; Starkey's prairie by John W. Starkey; Hickam's prairie by Jacob Hickam; Jenkins' creek by a man by the name of Jenkins, who died in his little cabin, in the dead of winter, no one but his wife and little children there. She had to travel all the way to Sudeth Meek's, a short distance south of Washburn prairie, to get help to bury him, and no road from the mouth of Jenkins' creek to the John Lock place, eight or ten miles; nothing but a deer or wolf trail to guide her."

Some Missouri communities had their beginnings without preliminary plan- ning. Hosea Powers, a man of more than ordinary education, a licensed lawyer and possessed of some means, came with his caravan, moving westward through the state about 1839. It was his custom to walk in advance of the wagons, car- rying his rifle on his shoulder. He stopped at a spring in what is now Benton county, stooped and drank. He liked the water, looked around him and con- cluded that was for him the ideal spot. As the wagons came up he rounded them. ordered the teams unhitched and told the family he had found the place to settle. There wasn't another house near. Being a surveyor, Hosea Powers ran the lines and staked his claim. Such was the beginning of Cole Camp. The

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Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074