USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 2
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It is the richness and productiveness of soil which makes Linn county stand pre-eminent among the counties of north Missouri. The alluvial bottom lands, with the soil reaching in depths from two to six feet, lying along every stream and creek, are easy of tillage and make splendid fields and magnificent farms. This soil is simply inexhaustible, and a corn crop can be raised from year to year for a quarter of a century without exhausting the producing qualities.
The soil is of black loam, of great depth and richness, and is gen- erally underlaid with a rich, calcareous clay, abundant in silicia and
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
the phosphates and carbonates of lime. Such a subsoil with the black mold above referred to makes the finest basis for grains, grasses, and fruits in the world, and gives a wide range of production, and when thrown to the surface, soon under the influence of heat and cold, rain and sunshine, slacks like an ash heap, and is unsurpassed in its produc- ing qualities. In the entire county there is little land, indeed, that cannot be utilized as either agricultural or grazing lands. Everything grown in this latitude, from ocean to ocean, is produced here in high quality and most bountiful growth. Corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, flax, broom-corn, millet, hungarian, sorghum, tobacco, hemp, all the garden and field vegetables and a long list of fruits, with the whole family of grasses, any and all are at home in this soil and reach perfection in growth and quality. This remarkable versatility of production gives this county prime agricultural advantages over the special farming regions of the continent. Corn is the great staple and gives a yield of 40 to 100 bushels per acre, depending upon cultivation and season.
Winter and spring wheat are both successfully grown, the yield per acre ranging from 12 to 25 bushels. Rye never fails to give a vield of 20 to 40 bushels per acre. Oats run from 25 to 60 bushels, and barley from 20 to 40 bushels. Flax is a very remunerative crop and will become a popular product in the near future. Irish and sweet potatoes give an unusually large yield, and are particularly adapted to this soil. The garden is bountiful in every variety of vegetable production. But one of the grandest resources in this county is found in her native and domestic grasses. There is no better soil for grasses between the Great Lakes and the mountains. The wild prairie grasses are readily yield- ing to blue grass and white clover. Blue grass is indigenous to the country and is steadily making the conquest of the wild prairie, forest, and field, until blue grass is king in Linn county, as in the famous graz- ing regions of Illinois and Kentucky. Blue grass is everywhere, from the water line to the crown of the hills, sweet, tender, and luxuriant as any herbage that ever bared its bosom to the herds. In this mild climate it makes pasturage well nigh perpetual. The rainy seasons develop a splendid growth of white clover in the old pastures, and the red clover and timothy meadows are as luxuriant in this county as anywhere on the green earth. Timothy meadow gives a yield of two and three tons and not unfrequently three and a half tons of hay per acre.
A large portion of lands are finely adapted for tobacco raising and large quantities of fine quality are produced.
Previous to the Civil War Linn and its neighbor, Chariton county.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
raised an immense amount of tobacco. This was the farmer's staple crop in those early days. Having set out so many acres he could go to his merchant and get credit for household and farm supplies until his crop was sold. At that time there was practically no market for country produce, game and grain. Eggs were quoted at 3 cents a dozen, and then most of the time the farmer had to take his payment in trade. The big tobacco shipper, however, stood ready with cash in hand to pay the farmer for his crop. Large tobacco barns, then called factories, were established in the most important towns, and here the negroes worked at stripping and packing leaf tobacco in large hogs- heads. These hogsheads would hold from 1,400 to 2,000 pounds of tobacco. They were transported in large wagons to Brunswick or Glasgow, where they were loaded on Missouri river boats for St. Louis. At certain seasons of the year the shipments were so heavy that the boats were loaded down with tobacco until the water would splash on the lower deck.
Nearly all of the Missouri tobacco went to Europe. In certain sections of the old world the Missouri product was a high favorite for plug and smoking because of its great strength. Englishmen in par- ticular were very fond of the long leaf tobacco raised in Missouri, known to the trade as "Shoestring." At that time-prior to 1886-it was against the law to cultivate tobacco in England. The other Mis- souri varieties raised were known as "Iron Oker," "Yellow Oker," and "One Sucker." "White Burley" was grown towards the close of the tobacco industry in Missouri. It is said that this variety of tobacco absorbed so much moisture on the ocean voyage that its extra weight at the port of delivery would pay the freightage across. But it was the smart dealer on the other side who gained the advantage by this, and he long kept it to himself as a trade secret. The vessels collected the freight bill at the port of embarkation, and, of course, could not charge again on the other side.
A good quality of tobacco sold readily at from $10 to $12 per 100 pounds. Buyers would travel over the country and make contracts for the factories.
The main drawback to a tobacco crop is that it drains the fertility of the soil quicker than any other product. That may be the reason England passed a law against its being raised there. After land has been planted in tobacco for three seasons it is pretty well used up, and it requires a great deal of careful nursing to bring it back to a state of fertility again. It is said by the old tobacco raisers that if a crop were well tended it would easily produce 750 pounds to the acre. But it
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
required constant watching. About three acres was enough for one man to look after, if he also had to run the general work of the farm.
The discovery that India could produce splendid tobacco was the cause of the industry stopping in Missouri and other American states. This situation developed so quickly that a great many tobacco dealers of Missouri were ruined. They had large consignments on the way to Liverpool, but before the product got there the bottom had dropped out of the market and the price of tobacco had fallen so low that the American shipments wouldn't bring enough to pay the freightage. In one instance the Liverpool dealers drew on the Missouri shipper to pay the difference between the freight bill and what the tobacco sold for.
Those things stopped the tobacco industry in Missouri suddenly, but about that time the iron horse had appeared and the great cities were taking Missouri's grain and live stock at living prices.
Within the past two or three years the price of white burley has gone up because of a demand from China, where the Celestial has been ordered to discard his opium pipe.
Some few Missouri counties took up the business again and it was demonstrated that tobacco might be produced here as well as in the olden days, should the necessity arise. But now the price of stock and grain and all kinds of country produce have advanced so that the farmer doesn't care to devote much time to the weed.
In a history of Linn county printed in 1882 there was this reference to the then infant industry of coal mining :
"There are now four coal mines being worked in Linn county. The industry is yet in its infancy, and until wood becomes scarce, or the demand for coal exceeds its supply, little will be done in Linn county to develop the immense wealth which is hidden below the surface of her soil. It is there, however, and it is a guarantee that so long as the world stands, or at least for scores of generations to come, that the fuel supply of Linn county will never be a source of fear because of its scarcity or high price."
The demand referred to came with the construction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1887-8, and shafts were sunk at Marceline and Bucklin. These have been operated steadily and have produced the large tonnage necessary for the road's use and for export.
The Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Mines, Mining and Mine Inspection of Missouri, issued in 1912, gives these statistics of the present state of the coal mining industry of Linn county :
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
No. of mines operated. .6
No. of miners. 297
Average price per ton paid for pick work $1.42
Average wages paid per day. $2.63
Total number of men employed in mining
404
Total number of tons produced, pick and machine
86,774
Value of product. $187,913
Price per ton received at mine $2.69
Following is list of Linn county operators, mines and location at time of report :
Bucklin Coal Co. .Bucklin .
Bucklin
Howery Brothers. Howery
Brookfield
Landreth Coal Co. Landreth Marceline
Marceline C. and M. Co. No. 1. Marceline
Marceline C. and M. Co.
No. 2. Marceline
Turpin Brothers
Turpin Brookfield
Wine, H. C. Wine
Brookfield
The coal beds of Linn county are reached by shafts at a depth of from 130 to 230 feet, the latter depth being at Bucklin. The seam runs from two feet four inches to three feet, and the coal is taken out on the "longwall system." All the larger mines are equipped with steam for hoisting and for operating the machines and fans.
Following are the officers of the incorporated coal companies of Linn county :
Bucklin Coal Company-President, C. B. Cantwell ; secretary, J. C. Lamson; superintendent, O. B. Cantwell; foreman, George Woodruff.
Marceline Coal and Mining Company-President, L. C. Jackson; Secretary, C. P. Cleugh; superintendent, J. Hemmings; foreman, P. Kelley.
The last Industrial Edition of the Linn County Bulletin contained these general observations on "Linn County and Its Industries":
Some years ago many people thought the drift from the "rural districts" toward the large cities was certain to absorb all workers and all industries of the country except those pertaining directly to agricul-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
ture and mining. It was conjectured that centralization in the big city machine shops and factories would force the small concerns in the country to the wall; that the big department stores of the cities would absorb the country stores; that the big city daily newspapers would drive the country weeklies from the field-in short, that everything worth having in the country, except farms and mines and other prop- erty which could not be moved, would either be destroyed or taken in by the big centers of population.
But times have changed and we have changed with them.
The growth of small cities has not been checked; quite the con- trary. If there is a drift at all, it is toward the country and the small cities. At least, the country districts are keeping a fair ratio of advancement with the big municipalities. Country merchants who use modern methods are more generally successful than ever before. As for manufacturing concerns, they are finding that for many reasons the small cities are better locations than the large ones. In the East, where manufacturing is the principal occupation, most of the largest concerns have their factories outside the big cities, while only their offices and a corps of clerks are kept in New York, Philadelphia or Boston. The same condition will eventually obtain in north Missouri, where manu- facturing is growing at a rapid rate.
We believe it is no far cry to the time when Linn county-its excel- lent natural resources in the way of fuel, timber, etc., and its railroad facilities furnished by the two Burlington lines, the Santa Fe system and the Wabash-shall have extensive factories employing thousands of men, located in the various towns.
The rapid growth of such institutions that we now have among us is a portent of future progress in this direction. Of course our local industrial condition is now, and perhaps always shall be, based upon agriculture. The county has been greatly blessed in this direction, having 396,800 acres. The yearly production of our farms in the way of crops amounts in round numbers to $2,000,000; in live stock and produce to nearly $4,000,000. Of the total production a surplus of not far from $1,500,000 was shipped last year, as shown by figures from the commissioner of labor of the state of Missouri.
Why should not this surplus be kept at home to feed a large manu- facturing population ?
We quote the following from the Linneus Bulletin, which we think fully describes the local conditions :
"As for manufactures, we point with an unusual degree of pride to a number of thriving concerns: At Brookfield are pressed and vitri-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
fied brick works with a big annual sale, iron foundry and machine shops, railroad machine shops, and cigar factories. At Marceline, we have great coal mines, the shops of the Santa Fe system, flouring mills, etc. At Linneus the Superior Hay Stacker Manufacturing Co. has a large plant and foundry ; here are also located a cigar factory, flouring mills, etc. At Browning, in the northern edge of the county, is the Jenkins Hay Rake and Stacker manufacturing plant, employing nearly 100 men, and doing a vast business.
"It was with this vision before us of Linn county as an already considerable industrial center that we planned this edition of the Bul- letin, to show, as far as type and pictures could show, what we already have here, in the people, their occupations and their homes. We believe a study of these will reveal to any inquirer the fact that Linn county offers valuable opportunities to any worthy industry-opportunities which, as a whole, are hardly to be surpassed elsewhere.
"We offer, for instance, a highly civilized people, marked for their intelligence, sobriety, industry and adaptability to any pursuit requir- ing these characteristics. They are willing to assist and encourage any laudable enterprise.
"We offer easy access to markets East, West, North, and South.
"Vast fields of coal are known to underlie this section of the state, and our Linn county mines already produce each year about 80,000 tons. (The actual tonnage as shown by mine inspector's last report is 86,774, the value being $187,913-Editor History.)
"We offer a low tax rate, with an efficient though economical administration of internal affairs. Our county tax is 32 cents on the $100 valuation; school tax, 50 cents. Missouri's state tax is only 17 cents.
"The entire county is strung with telephone wires, inter-communi- cating between all neighborhoods, so that one can stand in Linneus, Brookfield, Marceline, Meadville, Laclede, Browning, Purdin or Buck- lin-in fact, in any part of the county-and converse with people in any other part. This will give an idea of the convenience with which local business may be transacted.
"Rural free delivery is also highly developed here, there being now 27 routes beginning within the limits of the county, serving not less than 10,800 of our 30,000 population. As about 15,000 of our people live in towns, it will be seen that a vast majority of our farmers are reached by rural free delivery service. And other lines are to be estab- lished.
Our business men are modern in methods, progressive, and invite
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
all classes of honorable business institutions suitable to this locality to come and make a permanent location in Linn county. These business men are not mere "boomers," trying to induce anyone to come here whether there be a chance for success or not; if the opportunities for a prospective newcomer are not good, they will frankly tell him so if he asks their opinion. They want substantial concerns, with either merit or capital, or both, to locate here and become fixed institutions. Such should address for further information than is contained in this paper the Commercial Clubs at Brookfield, Marceline or Linneus.
Concerning the live stock industry the same paper contains this interesting article :
The raising and marketing of cattle and hogs is the chief industry of Linn county next to the growing of crops, mainly made so by natural conditions and the good judgment of our farmers.
Linn is the central county of the blue grass district of north Mis- souri. Blue grass grows luxuriantly in every pasture and yard, and on every roadside, furnishing the best grazing in the world from six to eight months of the year. With this as a foundation and with a strong soil capable of yielding fine crops of corn, making that important feed as cheap here as anywhere, our farmers naturally find a good profit in raising calves and in buying and fattening feeders.
Arrangements for caring for cattle on the farm are being improved steadily, and it will not be long until our farmers are all putting the maximum of beef on their cattle at a minimum cost.
Many of them are proceeding along scientific lines-and this word "scientific" means here, as it does in other connections, that they know what they are doing. They make a close study of the subject, count the cost of every detail, and watch for certain effects from certain causes. This is one reason why about two million dollars' worth of cattle alone are produced here in a year, and nearly a half million dollars' worth of swine.
"Good Roads" is the timely subject treated by J. M. Smith, of Brookfield, in the same paper, as follows :
In order to enlist and engage the attention of every person in all parts of the country on this very important subject, some method must be adopted to procure sufficient means to construct substantial high- ways all over every state and county and in every township and neigh- borhood in the country. Should a practical plan of raising this money be presented to the people by which this might be brought about, I feel assured that there would be no hesitation on the part of any to put his hand to the plow and push forward this mighty enterprise.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
I have thought that the United States, by internal revenue, could raise one billion dollars during the next twenty-five years for this work -this would be only forty millions per year-the amount to be appor- tioned to the several states according to their population, but not avail- able to the use of any state until a specified per cent of state funds be added thereunto. Then, I propose that each state say to its various counties that their proportion of both national and state funds may be used when said county adds a stated per cent thereto.
Construction of these roads should begin at the county seats and leading towns, when conditions and circumstances would permit-or they could begin at a point nearest the material, thus giving the con- structed road over which to transport more material for its further construction.
In order to awaken an interest in the entire county to a point of arousing people's influence, looking towards a means of securing money to build a sufficient mileage of roads to be of any value, each community must understand that it will get its share; each farmer must see a good road coming his way; every laboring man must realize the chances thus presented for employment ; each producer must appreciate the fact of a ready market at his very door-all must understand that this is not a class legislation, taxing the many to benefit the few.
Who is not interested in good roads ? Find the man who will oppose them! Who is the congressman who will dare to stand up against a measure looking towards securing them? Is there a statesman in the land who would not lend his influence for good roads? Can you think of a man, woman or child-can you name an enterprise, a business of any kind that would not be benefited by good roads? The agriculturist, the merchant, the manufacturer, the miner-all are crying Good Roads. We hear it said: "We will never get them." This I fail to believe. I expect in the very near future to see many thousands of miles of good roads in the United States of America-it is possible.
I look about me, I see many, many silver-haired veterans in the good roads' cause. They have spent their time, their energies, their money, hoping and anxiously awaiting to realize their expectations of the many past years. We bid you cheer up, faithful soldiers of the good roads' cause; we see in the future, just above the horizon, a mighty army marching onward and upward at a very rapid pace. We look again-forward they march, many banners are displayed, and we see inscribed thereon in golden letters: "Good Roads." They come nearer and we hear them cry: "Good Roads," still nearer they come and we see depicted on their very countenances "Good Roads." We ask:
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
"What does this mean?" The answer is: "This is the result of these many years of hard fighting. We now have enlisted in our army the entire family of Uncle Sam-not only the fathers, but the mothers, brothers and sisters."
We see many means of transportation here represented: We see the old fashioned wagon drawn by oxen; then comes the two-horse wagon with the ordinary spring seat; the spring wagon; the buggy; the bicycle; the horseless carriage or automobile-all following each other in quick succession and each more persistent than the one imme- diately preceding in demanding "Better Roads."
CHAPTER II
Missouri's Admission as a State-Hazards of the Early Settlers-The Fertile "Locust Creek Country"-The First Settlement-Indians' Queer Barter for a Slave Girl-A Papoose for a White Boy- Why the Deal Failed-"Jack" Holland, the Founder of Linneus- Trouble With Wolves-The Old Mill at Keytesville -- Organization of Linn County-First Mill on Locust Creek-Some of the Pioneers -The First Wedding-Early Ministers and Physicians.
SENATOR LEWIS F. LINN
The statesman for whom Linn county was named was largely responsible for the Platte Purchase, a noble tract of land which was added to the state of Missouri in 1836. The first official action regard- ing the Platte Purchase was a memorial of the Missouri Legislature, 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 of the government of the United States."
No action resulted from this memorial until January 27, 1835, when Senator Linn became greatly interested. He addressed a letter on the subject to Major John Dougherty, of Clay county, Indian agent on the Missouri river, who was at that time in Washington on business. Major Dougherty replied the same day, recommending that the Indian title to this territory be extinguished and that it be added to the state of Mis- souri. In the summer of 1835 a meeting of the people of northwestern Missouri was held near Liberty, in Clay county. At this gathering Gen. Andrew S. Hughes presided and a petition was formulated urging that this territory be added to the state. At the next session of con- gress 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
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
Indians would have to be removed from the district which only a short time before had been assigned to them as a permanent home. Never- theless, but little opposition was made to the bill, and in June, 1836, it was enacted into a law. The negotiation 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 In- dians removed in the same year. In October, 1837, the legislature of Missouri passed an act accepting this additional territory, and at the same time organized the county of Platte. Thus the so-called Platte Purchase was added to the state. Perhaps the most important service in the acquisition of this territory was rendered by Senator Linn; but to Gen. David R. Atchison, Gen. Andrew S. Hughes, Major John Dougherty and E. M. Samuels is due the credit of beginning the agita- tion and bringing the matter to the attention of congress.
The following sketch of Lewis F. Linn is taken from Houck's His- tory of Missouri :
Lewis F. Linn, born near Louisville, Kentucky, November 5, 1796; son of Asabel Linn and Nancy Hunter, daughter of Joseph Hunter, 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 Clarke. Linn's father was son of Col. William Linn, and while a boy was captured by the Indians with two other boys, named Brashears and Wells, but afterwards escaped. His mother was first married to Israel Dodge, at Ft. 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 Wis- consin. 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 com- missioner to examine Spanish claims in 1832, and when Senator Alex- ander 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.
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