USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 97
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
Cygnes to the stream which joins the Little Osage a short distance below Harmony Mission and to apply the term Osage to the combined Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes.
I have found nothing to indicate who first applied the name Marais des Cygnes to the stream which is designated by it. The term signifies "swan marshes" and was given undoubtedly because of the broad, swampy lowlands lying along its valley.
Hoping this information will be of some use to you, I am,
Very truly yours, MILTON WHITING, Chief of Bureau.
Chicago, February 26, 1918.
Mr. W. O. Atkeson. Prop., Butler, Mo.
Dear Sir :
Answering your letter of the 15th will say Papinsville is 771/2 miles from Sibley in a straight line and about two miles above the mouth of the Marais des Cygnes River where it enters the Osage River. Papinsville is located on the Marais des Cygnes River. Very truly yours, RAND MCNALLY & COMPANY.
United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, Washington, D. C., February 2, 1918.
Mr. W. O. Atkeson. Butler, Mo.
Dear Sir :
Replying to your letter of January 22, I desire to say that the expression Marais des Cygnes in French and, as stated in my former letter, signifies "swan marshes."
The stream was named Osage on our soil survey map of Bates County because the Geological Survey had used the same term on its Butler topographic sheet, which had been published some time before our soil survey report was published. We, as a rule, accept the nomenclature of the Geological Survey in areas which they have mapped previous to our work. In looking up the reason for their use of the term Osage rather than Marais des Cygnes. I find the United States Geographic Board adopted the term Osage for the Kansas portion of the river in 1897 and for the Missouri portion the following year. They did this without reference to the historical evidence in favor of the use of the expression Marais des Cygnes. In consulting with the Chairman of the Board on the matter he states that the decision was based on the fact that the river as a whole is the Osage river, that the branch in question is the larger part of the two forks and that the term Osage should therefore be extended to that larger branch while the smaller one should be designated in some other way, such designation, you know, would be the Little Osage. You will see, therefore, that the reason for their decision was purely one of convenience and had nothing to do with the historical evidence. In my last letter the historical evidence was given to you.
Very truly yours, MILTON WHITING, Chief of Bureau.
Friend Atkeson :
Rich Hill., Mo., January 22, 1918.
Did you ever get the facts of how Rich Hill came to be so named? As I got it direct from the founders I will give to you for what it is worth. About 1868 Osage Township
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
having quite a population with no post office nearer than Papinsville, held a meeting to peti- tion for a post office. In the meeting the question of a name was among the important matters discussed. Mr. E. W. Ratekin, who became the first postmaster suggested that as the post office was to be situated on the hill overlooking the Marais des Cygnes River which hill was known to be underlaid with from five to seven feet of coal, it would be one of the richest hills in the country, therefore he suggested that "Rich Hill" would be an appropriate name and his suggestion prevailed. The post office was secured and the first post office was in William Wears's farm dwelling, one and three-quarters miles north of present city.
At that same meeting Mr. Ratekin made the prophecy that it would only be a question of time until 100 cars of coal would be moved from that place in a day. This prophecy was considered extravagant at the time but nine years later three hundred cars of coal passed over the switches at the foot of that hill, from the mines there, in thirty-six hours.
Did you know further that the banner mine of the State of Mo. was No. 15 one mile South of Rich Hill? It is a fact. Hoisting an average of over three tons every minute for seven hours from a depth of 106 feet. It means this, a pit car run on the cage 106 down, raised to the surface, weighed and emptied into railway car every 20 seconds.
I may call to mind some other matters that may be of use to you.
Yours truly, JNO. D. MOORE.
Rich Hill, Mo., January 28, 1918.
Mr. Atkeson :
Replying to your inquiry, I will state that many years ago a railroad man, who was familiar with the matter in regard to the building of the road through here, told me that Mr. Talmage, who was general manager at the time, had four sons: Archie, Adrian, Arthur and Sheldon, and that the several towns of same name along the railway were named in rotation after these boys. I give you my information which I have no reason to. doubt is correct. Yours truly,
JNO. D. MOORE.
NOTES ON THE SURVEY OF THE OSAGE BOUNDARY LINE BY DAVID W. EATON.
The survey of the Osage Indian Boundary was charged to the Commission to treat with the Indians, &c., and they made a request that Wm. Rector, Surveyor General of the. Territory of Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, cause the same to be made. Here is Rector's reply :
"St. Louis, July 10, 1816.
"Gentlemen : I have received a note from Robert Walsh, Esq. (your secretary), in- forming me that it is your wish that I cause the survey of the Osage Boundary line from the Missouri River to the Arkansas to be commenced about the Ist of August. I have engaged a surveyor who is now in readiness to commence making the necessary arrange- ments preparatory to surveying that line; and who will be at Fort Clark prepared to com- mence the survey on the Ist day of August next or soon thereafter provided he is furnished with sufficient sum of money to purchase supplies to enable him to do that work.
"As I have not yet received instructions on the subject or authority to draw money to pay for surveyors, it rests with you to furnish the necessary sum. One Thousand Dollars, I presume. will be sufficient for that object.
"I am, gentlemen, with much respect, your obedient servant,
(Signed) "WM. RECTOR."
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
July 13. 1816, Joseph C. Brown was appointed Principal Surveyor and Archibald Gamble as Assistant Surveyor to survey Indian Boundary. They were furnished with $1,000 with which they were instructed to purchase pack animals and the necessary outfit and to hire packers, hunters, chaincarriers, markers, &c., to whom they were to pay $1.00 per day. A strict account was to be kept and on return from work were to sell for cash the property in their hands.
They were instructed to ascertain the variation of the compass and were to run a true meridian, and if weather permitted were to make frequent observations for the variation of the needle. They were instructed to mark the end of every mile, and mark bearing trees where there was timber, and raise mounds on the prairies. They were to note objects of interest and were to return two plats thereof. Brown and Gamble were to do the work and receive such pay as was deemed just on completion of the work.
The surveyors were also asked to collect specimens of minerals found and wrap them and properly mark them and note in a book where they were found and the appearance of the place, &c.
St. Louis, Mo., 28 January, 1918.
Dear Sir :
Miss Drumm sent me your letter of the 23d, and it reminded me that I promised to send you a copy of an extract from Victor Tixier's book, Voyage Aux Prairies Osages-Louis- iane et Missouri, 1839-40. Tixier was in your part of the State in 1840. He says: "Nous Vouliens partier le lendemains de bonne heure, pour nous vendre chez un Francais nomme' Colin, etable depuis plusieurs annees sur la riviere Osage, a trois milles au dessus d'Har- mony Mission." That is: We wished to leave the next day at an early hour to go to the house of a Frenchman named Colin, who has been living for many years on the Osage River, three miles below Harmony Mission.
In another place he says: "The farm of Colin, situated on the Osage River, three miles below Harmony Mission."
Tixier visited the site of Harmony Mission, and says that the buildings were in ruins, and that an old farmer named Halley, who lived there, gave him a tolerably good dinner.
Now, as to the name of the river, "Le Marais des Cygnes", or as I have usually seen it, "Le Marais du Cygne", there can be no question but that it is French. Le Marais des Cygnes means the Marsh of the Swans. The singular form, "Le Marais du Cygne", means the Marsh of the Swan. It is in that form that Whittier uses it in his poem-"Le Marais du Cygne":
"From the hearths of their cabins The fields of their corn Unwarned and unweaponed, The victims were torn,- By the whirlwind of murder, Swooped up and swept on To the low, reedy fen-lands, The Marsh of the Swan," Etc.
Whittier in a note says: "The massacre of unarmed and unoffending men, in Southern Kansas, took place near the Marais du Cygne of the French voyageurs." I do not quote Whittier as an authority on the form of the name, any more than I believe that the Kansas Jayhawkers and Red-legs were "unarmed and unoffending," but he is right about it being named by the French. In St. Louis there was in French times, a Marais Castor, or Beaver Marsh. In St. Charles County they still have the Marais Temps Clair (Fair weather Marsh or Swamp) and the Marias Croche or Crooked Marsh.
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
In Spanish there are two words that mean marsh, pantano and tremedal; so that the name in Spanish would be El Pantano (or El Tremedal) del Cisne, for the singular-the Marsh of the Swan, and El Pantano (or El Tremedal) delos Cisnes, for the Marsh of the Swans.
Both the French Cygne and the Spanish Cisne come from the Latin Cygnus, as does our English word Cygnet. Tixier speaks of the river as the Osage but says that down to some miles below Harmony Mission it bears the name Marais des Cygnes.
If I can be of help to you in any way I am at your service.
Yours truly, (Signed) WALTER B. DOUGLAS.
W. O. Atkeson, Esq.
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