USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 66
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Eldon .- An incorporated village on thê Jefferson City & Lebanon branch of the Mis- souri Pacific Railroad, Miller County, thir- teen miles west of Tuscumbia. It was founded in 1885 by T. J. Hart, G. R. Weeks and J. W. Weeks. The first building of im- portance besides the railroad depot was a roller flouring mill. The town has an excel- lent public school, a private (the Eldon) academy, four religious denominations, a bank, two hotels, coal mine near by, a news- paper, the "Advertiser," published by N. J. Shepherd, and several general stores. It is
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situated in a rich farming district and is im- portant as a shipping point. Population in 1899 (estimated), 500.
Eldon Academy .- A private school founded at Eldon, Miller County, in 1885, by Rev. Victor E. Loba. It is under the auspices of the Congregational Church.
Eldorado .- See "Luray."
Eldorado Springs. - A city of the fourth class, and a popular health resort, in Cedar County, twenty-two miles northwest of Stockton, the county seat. It is reached by a branch railway from Walker, on the Mis- souri, Kansas & Texas Railway, and by daily stages from Stockton, Harwood and Humansville. It has a public school; churches of the Baptist, Methodist, Methodist South, and Presbyterian denominations ; two Republican newspapers, the "News" and the "Free Press," and a Democratic newspaper, the "Sun." There are two substantial banks, the Cruce Banking Company and the Bank of Eldorado Springs. Fraternal societies are Masons, Odd Fellows, United Workmen and the Grand Army of the Republic. Numerous hotels, modern in construction and equip- ment, are conducted with special regard to the necessities of health-seeking patrons. The business interests include a large flourmill and stores in all departments of trade. Resi- dences are ornamental in design, and pleasant visiting points are easy of access. In 1900 the population was 2,137. The site was long known for the hygienic properties of its springs, and in 1881 a town was platted by H. N. and W. P. Cruce, owners of the land. It was incorporated December 5th, the same year, with J. B. Hardman, mayor; James T. Moore, Robert Haden, Thomas A. Dale and John Baber, aldermen. The first building was a hotel, conducted by Wesley Gentry, and Wheeler & Nelson opened the first store. Dr. J. B. Phipps was the first physician. The town is greatly sought by people of means seeking a place for rest and recuperation. It is surrounded by a rich farming country, whose products it largely consumes, while serving it as a general market. A mile south- west of the town is West Eldorado, unincor- porated. It comprises a tract of 700 acres, upon which are a group of springs known as the Nine Wonders. It is owned by a cor-
poration, and upon it has been laid out a beautiful park, with ampitheater and cottages, designed as a pleasure resort.
Election Commissioners .- State boards limited to cities having a population of 100,000 and over, and limited, therefore, for the present to St. Louis and Kansas City. The Board of Election Commissioners was created in 1895 to supersede the recorder of votes who, before that, had supervision of the registration of voters, the distribution of ballot boxes and other ministerial features of the management of elections. The board at first consisted of three commissioners-the first appointed by the Governor of the State, to hold office for four years, chairman; the second appointed also by the Governor of the State, and holding office for two years; and the third appointed by the mayor of the city, and holding office for four years, secretary. The secretary, appointed by the mayor, was to be of a different political party from the chairman appointed by the Governor. In 1899 an amended act of the Legislature gave the Governor the appointment of the three commissioners, one to be of the minority political party.
Elections .- The general election in Mis- souri is fixed by the Constitution of the State to be held biennially, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in the even years. But all the public officers are not chosen at the same general election, for some hold office for four years, some for six, some for ten and some for twelve years. At every general election, members of Congress, one- half the number of State Senators, Represen- tatives in the Legislature, one State railroad commissioner, and one judge of the State Supreme Court are elected. But every four years, that is, at every other general election, there is a presidential election, and then presidential electors, members of Congress, one-half the number of State Senators, rep- resentatives in the State Legislature, the Governor, the Secretary of State, the State Auditor, the State Treasurer, the Attorney General, one judge of the State Supreme Court, one State railroad commissioner, and the State Superintendent of Public Schools are chosen. This great national general elec- tion comes in the leap years. Special elec- tions may be held to fill vacancies in
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Congress, and for other purposes. The county courts divide their counties, respec- tively, into voting precincts, appoint election officers, six judges and four clerks for each precinct, the judges being taken equally from the two parties that polled the highest and next highest number of votes at the last gen- eral election. Two of the judges, one from each party, deliver the ballots, with their names and initials on the back, to the voter, who enters a booth, marks his ballot as he desires to vote, folds it and hands it to one of the two other judges called "receiving judges." His name, together with the num- ber of his ballot, is entered on two poll books, and his number also written on the back of his ballot, which is then deposited in the ballot box. At the end of every hour the other two judges called "counting judges," with two clerks, open the boxes and count the votes, the voting still going on, under the other judges and clerks, and with the other box. When the voting is over and the polls closed the counting is completed, and the number of votes cast for each candidate en- tered on each poll book, and they are then signed by the judges and attested by the clerks, and the result of the election publicly proclaimed. One poll book is sent to the county clerk within two days, and the other retained by the judges to be examined by all persons who may desire to do so. To pre- serve the secrecy of the ballot, the election officers are sworn not to disclose how any voter votes, unless called upon in a judicial investigation. The county clerk, within five days of the election, with two judges of the county court, or two justices of the peace, casts up the precinct votes as certified by the election officers, and issues certificates of election to the several county officers chosen, and makes return to the Secretary of State, at Jefferson City, of the number of votes cast for all others. The Secretary of State opens the returns from all the counties in the pres- ence of the Governor, foots up the votes and issues certificates of election to candidates for certain State and district offices having the highest numbers. The aggregate votes for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secre- tary of State, State Auditor, State Treas- urer, Attorney General, Railroad Commis- sioner and Superintendent of Public Schools are returned to the speaker of the State House of Representatives on the meeting of
the General Assembly, and he opens and pub- lishes the same in the presence of the two houses. The polls are opened on election day at 7 o'clock in the morning, and kept open till 6 o'clock in the evening, or till sun- set, if the sun sets after 6. In cities of more than 25,000 inhabitants, the polls are kept open from 6 o'clock in the morning until 7 in the evening. In St. Louis and Kansas City the law requires that the voting pre- cincts shall be small and numerous, to facili- tate voting. In all cities having a population of 25,000 and over, there is a registration of voters before a general election-an enroll- ment of the name of every voter, with the place of his residence. In cities whose pop- ulation is between 25,000 and 100,000, this registration is made by an officer called reg- istrar, elected by the people, and holding for a term of two years. In cities having a population of over 100,000, the registration and election are conducted under a board of three election commissioners, appointed by the Governor, one of whom, named by the Governor for the place, is chairman of the board, and one of whom must belong to a different party from the Governor. In cities having a population of 300,000 and over- which at present means St. Louis only- there is a board of three election commis- sioners, appointed by the Governor, one of whom, named by the Governor for the place, is chairman, and one of whom must be of a different party from the Governor. The board appoints a deputy election commis- sioner, who is also secretary. The commis- sioners conduct the registration and election, dividing the city into voting precincts, and appointing the election officers, four judges and two secretaries, for each precinct. These count the votes, and if the number of ballots exceeds the number of names on the poll book they reject all ballots that are found folded in other ballots; and if there are still more ballots than names on the poll book they reject all ballots that are not numbered. When they have finished the count they send the report, with the ballot boxes, to the com- misssioners of election, who foot up all the votes and certify the result to the Secretary of State, and issue certificates of election to the local candidates chosen.
Electoral Votes .- Missouri has, in 1900, seventeen electoral votes, one for each
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of the fifteen representatives in Congress and one for each of its two United States Sena- tors. Only four other States have a greater number-New York, which has thirty-six; Pennsylvania, which has thirty-two; Ohio, which has twenty-three, and Illinois, which has twenty-four. The electoral system is a curious arrangement for choosing the Presi- dent and Vice President. Those two officers, the highest in the Federal government, are not elected by the people, but by electors chosen by the people. In the quadrennial presidential election the voters do not cast their votes for the respective candidates for President and Vice President, but for elec- tors nominated, respectively, by the political parties, and pledged to vote for the presiden- tial ticket of their party. At the opening of the campaign the parties hold their State conventions, and each nominates a State electoral ticket, containing the name of one candidate in each congressional district, and two for the State at large, this arrangement representing the State authority in the two houses of Congress. It is usual, also, to nominate, with the candidates, alternates to take the place of their principal, in case of death or inability to act. The candidates for electors are not voted for separately, but in a body, their names being all put on one ticket by each party ; so that, in Missouri, a Demo- cratic voter will cast his vote for the entire seventeen Democratic candidates for elec- tors, and the Republican voter will, in like manner, vote for the seventeen Republican candidates. The candidates chosen meet at the State capitol on the first Wednesday in December succeeding the election, and form- ally cast their votes for President and Vice President. If they are Democrats, they vote for the Democratic candidates; if Repub- licans, for the Republican candidates. The electors are under no legal obligation to do this ; but they are under an implied pledge of honor, and the invariable rule and practice is for the electors to cast their votes for the party ticket. When the electors have voted they make out three certificates, each con- taining two distinct lists-one, of the votes cast for President, the other of the votes cast for Vice President-and annex to each of the certificates a certified list of the names of the electors of the State. The certificates are then sealed up, and the electors certify on each that the list of all votes of the electors
of the State are contained in then. One of these is sent by a messenger to the president of the Senate at Washington, before the first Wednesday in January; a second is sent to the president of the Senate by mail, and the third is delivered to the judge of the United States court district in which the electors meet. When this is done the electors' work is completed, and they pass out of existence as electors. A new body of 'electors is chosen every presidential year, which is every fourth year.
The electors of each State, when gathered together to cast their votes, are called a "college," and all these cast their votes for President and Vice President on the same day, the first Wednesday in December follow- ing the presidential election. On the second Wednesday in February following, the two houses of Congress meet together in the House of Representatives, at Washington, and, in their presence, the president of the Senate opens the certificates and counts the votes, and announces the result. The per- son having the greatest number of votes cast for President, if it be a majority. is declared elected, and the same with regard to Vice President. If there be not a majority for one person, there has been no election, and the House of Representatives, from the three highest, chooses the President, the vote be- ing taken by States; and the Senate, from the two highest candidates for Vice Presi- dent, chooses the Vice President. If the House fails to choose a President by the 4th of March following, then the Vice President acts as President.
Electric Light and Power in Kan- sas City .- At the close of the seventh de- cade of the nineteenth century the great cost of illuminating gas and steam power still lim- ited the extension of residence lighting and the full development of manufacturing indus- tries. The uses of power in Kansas City were confined chiefly to the milling and packing in- dustries ; there were less than two thousand consumers of gas, and the patient mule fur- nished the sole motive power for the few street railways connecting downtown dis- tricts. Few saw in the early experiments of Edison, Sprague, Brush and Weston promise of a new era in the development of light and power. Even the demonstrations of the theoretical possibilities of electricity made at
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ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER IN KANSAS CITY.
the Centennial Exposition did not seem to indicate any commercial outcome for new applications of this force. But in 1880-1 the inventions of these men began to be applied on a commercial scale in the series arc lamps of Brush and Weston types, though the ex- periments of Sprague and others had not yet resulted in practical apparatus for the pro- duction of electric power for street cars or stationary motors, and the systems of arc lighting were still heavily handicapped by the smallness of the dynamos, and the necessity for hand regulation at the station as lights were turned on and off by consumers. At this period Kansas City began to play an im- portant part in the development of electrical apparatus. The history of the application of electrical energy in this city is peculiarly in- teresting, owing to the fact that the Thom- son-Houston system of arc lighting from a central station was there first put into prac- tical operation, and there, also, was made the first attempt to propel cars by electricity. It is reasonable to infer from the record of events that local enterprise afforded a strong stimulus to investigators and inventors, and contributed not a little to a rapidity and per- fection of development which was the won- der of the last quarter century.
The initial effort was made in the fall of 1881, by the organization in Kansas City, Missouri, of the Kawsmouth Electric Light Company, incorporated under the laws of Kansas. Its members were J. S. Chick, Wil- liam Holmes, J. D. Cruise, L. R. Moore, J. W. L. Slavens, S. F. Scott, M. W. St. Clair, H. C. Sprague, M. H. Smith, John W. Beebe, E. B. Hamlin, John Doggett, J. W. Phillips, W. B. Grimes, D. E. Cornell, James Ogle- bay, D. S. Orrison, George H. Nettleton, John H. North, J. L. Barnes, W. S. Jenkins, J. J. Burnes, John McKenzie, J. L. Brown, H. C. Arnold, T. M. James & Son, W. P. Herring, and Cady & Olmstead. January 20, 1882, a franchise was secured in Kansas City, Missouri, and a powerhouse was built at the corner of Eighth and Santa Fe Streets, un- der the supervision of John Doggett and other individual directors, assisted by Ar- thur Doggett, who had direct charge of the men and accounts. In the fall of the same year Edwin R. Weeks was called to the su- perintendency of the company, and a reor- ganization was effected under the name of the Kansas City Electric Light Company, in-
corporated in Missouri, December 27, 1884. The original capital was $20,000, and the plant comprised four constant current dyna- mos, with a capacity of ten lamps each, the first manufactured in the old Basket Factory at New Britain, Connecticut, where the American Electric Company had its first home. This company was organized to de- velop the patents of Elihu Thomson and Ed- win Houston, who were at the time teachers in the Philadelphia High School for Boys, and out of it grew the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which soon established extensive factories at Lynn, Massachusetts. The special merit of the Thomson-Houston system was automatic control of the electric energy delivered to the circuit, such control being dependent upon a function of the cur- rent itself. As the load varied the brushes (current collectors) shifted automatically, thus regulating the amount of energy deliv- ered by the dynamo, and making possible the turning on or off of lamps anywhere on the circuit without hand regulation in the sta- tion. The first commercial application of this principle was made in Kansas City, and in one form or other it is now universally em- ployed for regulation in series arc lighting. Some of the original dynamos are yet in the possession of the Kansas City Electric Light company, cherished as curiosities. In 1883 the capital of the Kansas City Electric Light Company was increased to $100,000, and the following named were elected offi- cers : William Holmes, president; John Doggett, vice president ; Charles E. Barn- hart, secretary; Joseph S. Chick, treasurer, and Edwin R. Weeks, general manager. To the last named was committed practically the entire business of the company. In the meantime the plant was in constant course of enlargement, and every successive improve- ment in electrical and mechanical appliances was brought into requisition. Larger dyna- mos and Corliss engines were put in, and the station capacity was increased to over three hundred arc lamps, all used for lighting stores and business houses. The explosion of the Kansas City Gas Works in December, 1885, created an immediate demand for street service, which was met by the Kansas City Electric Light Company with a twenty-five lamp circuit, the first public use of the new light in the city. The management of the company had long held that the chief value
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ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER IN KANSAS CITY.
of the new industry would ultimately depend upon the distribution of electricity for incan- descent light and power, and had served the first incandescent lamps in Kansas City in Reiger Brothers' hat store, from so-called "distributor boxes," operated on a series arc lighting circuit. These were not put in as commercially valuable, but only as the sole available means of incandescent lighting. The brilliant achievements of Edison created such a demand for this form of electric light that many isolated plants were installed, among the first of which were those in the "Times" newspaper building, and in the resi- dences of E. R. Weeks and W. R. Nelson. In 1886 James Scammon, Fred Howard, J. J. Everingham and others organized the Sperry Associate Electric Company, for the purpose of exploiting an arc light invented by Elmer A. Sperry. It did not prove an engineering success, and was purchased by persons interested in the Kansas City Electric Light Company, to be used in developing the long- distance alternating current system of incan- descent lighting recently patented by Gou- lard & Gibbs, and manufactured in America by the Westinghouse Company. The Kan- sas City Electric Light Company, in succeed- ing the Kawsmouth Electric Light Company, had inherited an obligation restricting it to the use of the Thonison-Houston system. Its manager, as early as 1883, had, by letters and personal interviews, urged upon the manufacturers of Thomson-Houston appa- ratus the necessity for the development of a system of incandescent lighting. After much importunity, two incandescent light ma- chines, the first manufactured by the Thom- son-Houston Company, were put in service during the winter of 1885-6. They were of one hundred and fifty light capacity, and pos- sessed the advantage of requiring no hand regulation. These machines were without meters, however, and the company soon as- certained that it was receiving compensation for less than one-third of its output in this department, billings being made upon the previous year's average gas charges, on the basis of one sixteen-candle power lamp for each five-foot gas burner. In 1886 the Edi- son meter was adopted, and without loss of customers the output in this department at once decreased 50 per cent, while the revenue increased 25 per cent. The saving in current was due to the fact that meter measurement
insured turning off of lights except when needed, instead of allowing them to run with- out restriction. In this year it became evi- dent that, for the most efficient service, the Edison patents were a necessity, and the formation of another company was deter- mined upon, the Kansas City Electric Light Company retaining its organization in order to preserve franchises and other legal rights. The Edison Electric Light and Power Com- pany was incorporated November 6, 1886, with a capital of $100,000, and the following named officers: George H. Nettleton, presi- dent ; Kersey Coates, vice president ; C. W. Whitehead, secretary and treasurer. Before contracts were executed and the construction of the plant was undertaken, these officers were succeeded by W. B. Grimes, president ; J. W. Phillips, vice president ; J. S. Chick, treasurer; Charles E. Barnhart, secretary, and Edwin R. Weeks, general manager. A lot on Wall Street, near Seventh Street, was purchased, and the building of a model fire- proof Edison station was begun in the spring of 1887, under the supervision of Superin- tendents G. W. Hart and C. A. Harber. Six months prior to this, however, a temporary plant had been installed in the Ramsey, Mil- let & Hudson Building, on West Fifth Street. Continuous current at two hundred and twenty volts (one hundred and ten on each side) was served by the Edison three-wire system, to a district about one-half mile square, with an initial load aggregating twenty-six hundred incandescent lamps.
Meantime, in 1883, was made in Kansas City the first use in the United States of the electric trolley for the propulsion of cars. That year a syndicate, composed of William W. Kendall, Theodore S. Case, Willard E. Winner, Hugh L. McElroy and others, was formed to exploit and use the patents of John Henry, who, simultaneously with Sprague, Daft and Vandepoele, far removed from them, was working upon practically the same lines. Early in 1884 the Henry system was first put in use, experimentally, on the Fair Grounds switch of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railway, in the southern suburbs of Kansas City, and about a year thereafter was established on a practical basis on East Fifth Street. Its subsequent history is given in the article on "Street Rail- ways of Kansas City."
In 1886 M. E. Bates and W. D. McQues-
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ten established the first electrical engineering office in Kansas City, and to these able en- gineers is due, directly or indirectly, much of the remarkably good pioneer work done in the central stations and isolated plants of Kansas City and the Southwest. In the same year, Paul Bossart, Wash. Adams, M. L. Sar- gent and others formed the Interstate Elec- tric Company, with a capital of $50,000, and installed a storage battery plant of Faure accumulators, with a capacity of about one thousand sixteen-candle power lamps. Cur- rent was distributed by the two-wire system at a pressure of one hundred volts. This company was not successful financially, and it retired from business in 1890.
In 1890 the gas interests realized that the new light had come to stay, and endeavored to protect themselves by purchasing a plant of Ball, Excelsior and Heisler apparatus, re- cently built by M. S. Porter, Oscar Ditsch and others. The American Electric Light Company of Kansas City was incorporated, with Charles E. Small as president, and R. MacMillan as secretary and treasurer. The Ball-Heisler plant was abandoned, and, under Manager MacMillan, Superintendent Camp and Chief Engineer Peter Wright, an en- tirely new plant of the Fort Wayne arc and the Brush system of incandescent lighting was installed. A new powerhouse was built, equipped with Babcock and Wilcox boilers, compound condensing Corliss engines, and all improvements known to the science. In a few years, however, this was purchased by the Kansas City Electric Light Company, which displaced the Brush, Heisler and Fort Wayne equipment with the Thomson-Houston and Westinghouse apparatus, and proceeded to combine the stations of the Kansas City, Sperry and American companies. With the introduction of electricity, gas rates were re- duced from $2.50 to $1.60 per thousand feet, and the constantly widening distribution of electric light, and the establishment of an- other gas company in 1894, led to a further reduction to fifty cents per thousand feet. This extremely low price marked the begin- ning of a rate war, which lasted about two years, and was accompanied by all manner of concessions, such as the free installation of Wellsbachs, and house service, including in- side fixtures and gas stoves. This ordeal was rendered much more trying for the electric light companies by the fact that it occurred
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