History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 51

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220

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Mr. C. E. Cummings, of Columbia, then delivered the address of welcome.

The regular programme was taken up and papers were read by the following persons : -

" School Laws of Missouri," J. A. Agee, St. Charles.

" Civilization," R. H. Cole, St. Louis.

" Educational Relation of Citizen and State," Chas. Newton.

" Objects, Means and Ends of Education," R. H. Hudlin, Kirk- wood'

" Development v. Cramming," W. N. Brent, Boonville.

FIRE IN COLUMBIA - HALF OF A BLOCK DESTROYED.

1879. - About five o'clock on Tuesday morning February 4, fire was discovered in a wooden shed (used as a coal house) in the rear of the drug-store ( so-called) of R. C. Rogers, on the west side of Court House Street, and nearly opposite the Planters' House. There was no possible way for fire to get to the place in which it was found unless it had been placed there with the design of destroying the buildings, and, therefore, the conviction was universal that it was the act of an incendiary.

The fire was discovered by Mr. J. S. Hoskins, an old gentleman who with two daughters lived in a small two-story brick on the south- west corner of the block, belonging to Hon. James S. Rollins, who at once gave the alarm, which in a short time became general and brought an immense throng to the scene.

The fire increased and continued to rage until the whole block north of the alley, with the exception of a two-story fire-proof brick, belong- ing to J. K. Rogers, was consumed, as follows : The marble works (small one-story frame box house ) of Wallace & Kirkman ; the port- able photograph gallery of C. L. Martin ; the two-story family grocery store (frame) and warehouse of R. L Shock & Co .; a two-story frame building occupied by W. W. Chandler's meat market below, and A. Johnson's shoe shop above ; the two-story frame drug store of R. C. Rogers, with Dr. Wm. French's office above, and an old two-

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

story brick tenement house belonging to Hon. J. S. Rollins, were destroyed.

Little or no wind prevailing at the time, the progress of the fire was comparatively slow, and the contents of most of the buildings were saved. The large frame ice house of R. L. Shock & Co. was only partially damaged, the roof and a portion of the walls on two sides being destroyed, leaving the ice unharmed.

The roofs of the Baptist Church and Court House, being of shingles, caught fire, but were extinguished. The large two-story shingle roof brick dwelling and frame ice house of Col. Switzler, of the Statesman, situated in the vicinity and west of the doomed block, were saved without damage, by the vigorous use of water and wet blankets upon the roofs.

MISSOURI MEDICAL AND PRESS ASSOCIATIONS.

May was a beautiful and a busy month in Columbia, and was signalized by the annual sessions of two important bodies. The first, which assembled in the University chapel, on Monday, May 19, was the Missouri Medical Association, which was called to order by Dr. E. W. Schauffler, of Kansas City. Dr. G. M. B. Maughs, of St. Louis, was elected president, after which Dr. B. A. Watson, of Columbia, delivered the address of welcome. The association was in session several days, during which a number of very able papers on medical subjects were read and interesting discussions had. The labors of the occasion closed with a banquet at the Planters' House, after which responses were made as follows, to the following toasts : -

1. " Missouri." -By W. F. Switzler, Columbia, Mo.

2. " Our Hosts."- Dr. J. M. Allen, Liberty, Mo.

3. " Medical Journalism." - A. J. Steele, St. Louis, Mo.

4. " Public Hygiene." -S. S. Laws, Columbia.

5. " What a Kansas City Doctor thinks of Columbia." - Dr. S. S. Todd, Kansas City.

6. " Medical Associations." -E. W. Schauffler, Kansas City.

7. " Citizens of Columbia." -G. M. B. Maughs, St. Louis.

8. " Our University." - Col. E. C. More, Columbia Mo.

9. " Progress of Medical Science in Missouri."- Squire Turner, Columbia.

MISSOURI PRESS ASSOCIATION.

The brightest, balmiest May weather greeted the knights of the " shears and paste-pot," the editorial " we's," on their arrival in

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

Columbia Tuesday morning, May 20, 1879, several hundred in number. The inundation could not have taken the town under more favorable conditions. Nature was in her most smiling mood. Everywhere the foliage and the flowers breathed a welcome and the air was laden with perfume. The town never looked more attractive or lovelier, and it was plain to be seen that a most favorable impression was entertained by our guests of the place and its surroundings.

The committee of reception, consisting of E. W. Stephens, of the Herald, W. J. Davis, of the Sentinel, and Irvin Switzler, of the Statesman; also, Dr. B. A. Watson, I. O. Hockaday, Felix L. LaForce, D. D. Berry and S. C. Douglass, met the delegates at Cen- tralia Monday night and escorted them to this place early next morning. Knowing the number of ladies and gentlemen to be pro- vided for, this committee had their duties reduced to a system. Each guest was presented with a card containing the name and the resi- dence of the family to which he was assigned. Badges were also pinned upon the lappel of each gentleman's coat and each was fully instructed as to how to proceed in order to secure his quarters with the least possible annoyance to himself, immediately upon his arrival, or as soon thereafter as desired. This admirable arrangement was dne principally to the originality, energy and industry of Mr. Ste- phens, the chairman of the reception committee.

The committee on decoration were certainly deserving of the highest praise. The taste and judgment exercised in the discharge of their duty could not have been surpassed. The following ladies and gen- tlemen constituted the committee : James W. Ripley, Prof. D. R. McAnally, Prof. Scott Hayes, Prof. F. Pannell, Mrs. E. C. More, Mrs. A. F. Newland, Mrs. C. P. Smith, and Misses E. F. Rider, Lizzie Fisher, Minnie L. Russell, Mary Gentry, Ella Child, Ida Hayes and Bettie Todd.

The chapel presented a most attractive appearance with its beautiful floral ornamentations and its suggestive and instructive decorations otherwise. A chain of cedar festoons and hanging moss baskets, filled with trailing vines and blooming flowers fringed the entire extent of the semi-circular gallery. Fronting the audience, the ornamentation was rich in profusion and tasty in design. A very large United States flag extended between the pillars just back of the rostrum. A large bronze eagle figured as a centre piece just above, and just below the eagle, with its shield and arrows, hung the following

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

cedar-trimmed mottoes : " Free Speech," "A Free Press," "A Free People."

On the right hung the splendid topographical chart of the Univer- sity grounds, and on the left the fine oil painting of the University buildings which ordinarily hung there. Immediately in front, a sys- tem of telegraph was extended entirely across the rostrum from wall to wall, just below which, stood a Washington hand press - both most appropriate in their suggestiveness, as well as very ornamental. The smaller rostrum which projects immediately in front of the faculty's gallery was utilized on this occasion for the speaker's stand. Here the most elaborate and elegant display of cedar wreaths and flowering plants was made. The speaker's desk was a terraced par- terre of bright hued and fragrant flowers. Extending around the gal- lery above the hanging baskets hung a number of appropriate names of distinguished inventors belonging to the craft; each was printed in large type and tastefully fringed with cedar. They were as follows : Guttenburg, Faust, Caxton, Franklin, Morse, Field, Hoe and Edison. In the southwest corner of the chapel a regular telegraph office was located by the Western Union Telegraph company for the convenience of reporters, and was under the courteous charge of Mr. F. G. Mason, of Moberly, Mo.

Col. John E. Hutton, editor of the Mexico Intelligencer, president of the association, called the convention to order and the Rev. Dr. Dodge, of Columbia, offered up a prayer. The quartette known as the Apollo Club, consisting of Messrs. G. N. Garnett, R. B. Garnett, J. T. Payne and Leon Ridgeway, University students, then sang a song, after which the welcoming address was delivered by the editor of the Statesman to which President Hutton replied.

Ex-Governor B. Gratz Brown delivered the annual address on " Character in Journalism." Other addresses, papers and poems fol- lowed during the session, but a notice of them is excluded for the want of space.

1880. - Population of Boone County 25,424.

GRAND LODGE OF GOOD TEMPLARS.

One of the largest and most prosperous sessions of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars, Dr. N. S. Richardson of Macon, Grand W. C. T., met in Columbia on Tuesday, October 9, 1880, and continued in ses- sion several days.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD - PUBLIC HONORS PAID TO HIS MEM- ORY IN BOONE COUNTY.

On Tuesday night, September 20, 1881, the sad intelligence of the death of President Garfield being verified, a very large number of our citizens, regardless of party, assembed in the court house in Columbia to testify their respect, by resolutions and otherwise, for the memory of our dead President. The meeting was called to order by Gen. O. Guitar, after which Hon. S. C. Douglass, chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, was chosen president ; Hon. Philemon Bliss and Prof. M. M. Fisher, of the Uni- versity, vice-presidents, and Capt. H. N. Cook, secretary.

Mr. Douglass made a few very appropriate remarks explaining the object of the meeting, after which the following committee was ap- pointed to report resolutions : J. P. Horner, O. Guitar, J. H. Waugh, Lewis M. Switzler and Prof. M. M. Fisher.

During the retirement of the committee, or after its report, brief and very appropriate addresses were made by Judge Bliss, Col. E. C. More, Robt. L. Todd, Pres. G. S. Bryant, of Christian College, Rev. W. B. Y. Wilkie, of the Presbyterian Church, and Professor Paul Schweitzer, Gen. Odon Guitar and Col. Squire Turner.

The committee, through its chairman, Gen. Guitar, reported the following resolutions, the adoption of which was moved by Col. E. C. More, and they were unanimously adopted, as follows : -

WHEREAS, The nation pauses to-day in its onward march to contemplate the appalling spectacle of a murdered President. We feel it due as citizens of this great republic, to give some expression of the feelings which this terrible event has aroused in our hearts; there- fore, be it

Resolved, 1. That we regard the assassination of the President as a direct blow aimed at the existence of civil government, and as an outgrowth of doctrines and sentiments which are at war with the spirit and genius of our free institutions.

Resolved, 2. That we regard as traitors and outlaws all men who entertain or sympathize with the doctrines of nihilism or communism, and we advocate the most radical and strenu- ous methods to stamp out such sentiments (if any such exist) in this country.

Resolved, 3. That we recognize in the President the official head of the nation, elevated to power by the supreme voice of the people, and, as such, the representative of every citi- zen in the republic; and as citizens we unite in sentiments of national regret over the nation's loss, and in shedding the tears of sympathy over the grave of our fallen chieftain and fellow- citizen.

Resolved, 4. That we denounce the assassin who has imbued his hands in the blood of the nation's Executive as one of the most cowardly and execrable criminals of which history gives any account; and yet we hold the law of the land to be paramount to all other author- ity, and invoke its aid in meting out the punishment due to his most atrocious crime.

Resolved, 5. That while we sensibly realize that this great calamity plunges the nation into grief, we behold with a sad satisfaction that the American people, irrespective of parties

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

and sects, or of sections, join in one common cause of sorrow at the death of the nation's chief officer, whom we recognize to have been a faithful and dutiful President, and a Chris- tian statesman of rare virtue and ability.

Resolved, 6. That we extend our profound sympathy to the bereaved family of our de- ceased President, and especially to her who during weeks of national sorrow and suspense has nerved the heart of her husband in his struggle for life, and aroused a feeling of hope in the darkest hour, and who by her devotion and affection has embalmed her own memory along with that of the Chief Executive in the hearts of stricken homes all over our com- mon country.

Resolved, 7. We recommend the suspension of all business on the day of the President's funeral, and that such public service be held as shall be deemed suitable and appropriate to the occasion.

After the adjournment of the meeting the various church and col- lege bells were tolled for an hour or more.

PRESIDENT GARFIELD - MISSOURI UNIVERSITY MEETING.

Immediately after the Missouri University chapel exercises closed, on Wednesday morning, September 21st, President Laws announced the death of President Garfield, whereupon Hon. James S. Rollins, pres- ident of the Board of Curators, and chairman of the executive committee, proceeded to make a short, appropriate and feeling ad- dress, after which he presented the following resolutions for adoption by the meeting which, being seconded by Judge Bliss, a standing vote was taken, at the instance of President Laws, and they were unanimously agreed to : -

RESOLUTIONS.

Resolved, That we have learned with profound grief of the death of James A. Garfield, President of the United States, rendered all the more distressing on account of the circum- stances which led to it, and of the great suffering endured by him from the time of the fatal shot by the assassin to the period of his death.

Resolved, That, in common with all the citizens of the American Republic, we feel a. deep sense of the loss which the country has sustained in the death of our first executive officer. In his demise the country has been deprived of an eminent citizen, distinguished as a thoughtful and conscientious Christian statesman, a patriot, a scholar, a friend of the education of the people, and in whose hands our cherished institutions would have been safe, and the prosperity of the people of every section assured.

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his bereaved widow and orphan children in the painful sufferings which they have been compelled to endure, and in their irreparable loss, in being thus deprived of husband, father, friend and protector, and we commend them to the divine consolation of Him who wept at the grave of Lazarus.

Resolved, That in our abhorrence of the foul crime which has been committed, we must not forget that we live in a land of liberty and law, and we express the earnest hope that there will be no outbreak or attempt on the part of any portion of the people to punish the criminal, other than according to the forms of the Constitution and laws, which must ever remain the crowning glory of our free institutions.

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted by the president of the Board of Curators to the family of the deceased President, with an expression of the earnest. sympathies of all who are connected with the University of the State of Missouri.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

Resolved, That the proctor of the University be directed to drape the columns of the main edifice of the University building with appropriate emblems of mourning, commem- orative of the great calamity which has befallen the entire country.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the papers of the county of Boone and city of St. Louis.

The board of trustees of Columbia also passed appropriate resolu- tions.

On the day of President Garfield's burial at Cleveland, Ohio, Mon- day, September 26, 1881, the business houses of Columbia were closed from twelve o'clock until the next morning, and appropriate memorial services were held in the University chapel, addresses being delivered by Hon. Philemon Bliss, Hon. J. S. Rollins and Elder R. W. Gentry.

SAD ACCIDENT ON THANKSGIVING DAY.

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 24, 1881, was a typical winter day in 'Columbia, clear and cold, with a free, glorious sunlight illu- minating the earth. But about four o'clock in the afternoon, when the shades of night were rapidly approaching, the whole community was horrified by the report, which spread rapidly from house to house, and speedily summoned a thousand or more of our population to the scene of the disaster, that a fearful catastrophe had occurred at the pond of Mr. John M. Samuel, in the southeastern suburbs of the town, in which three young persons were drowned and others nar- rowly escaping with their lives.

The pond covers nearly two acres of ground, and is in many places fifteen or twenty feet deep, and when covered with ice, as it was on Thursday, is a favorite skating place for our young people. On this occasion twenty or thirty young lads and lasses, many of them stu- dents of our schools, were on the pond indulging in the pleasant exer- cise of skating, when suddenly those who were near the center of the pond, and where, doubtless, the ice was the thinnest and the water deepest, broke through, and, despite every effort to rescue them, three of them were drowned, namely : John Samuel Garth, aged about fourteen years, eldest son of Walter W. Garth, our Circuit Clerk ; Theodore Murphy, aged sixteen, son of Joseph Murphy, for- merly of Platte county, Missouri, and Maggie Buckner, aged fifteen, daughter of Mrs. Clara Buckner, of Lamar, Bates county, Missouri, widow of the late Rev. X. X. Buckner, formerly of this county, but later of Kansas City.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

CHAPTER XIV.

GEOLOGY OF BOONE COUNTY.

By Geo. C. Swallow, LL. D.

The Geological Periods - The Lower Silurian, the Devonian, the Carboniferous and the Quaternary Ages. Formations of the Canadian Period. - The 1st and 2d Magnesian Limestone -The Ist and 2d Saccharoidal Sandstone. The Hamilton Age. - Irregular Limestone Beds and Shaly Marls. The Chemung Age. - Chouteau and Hydraulic Lime- stone - Hints to Providence People. The Carboniferous Age. - Encrinital Limestone - Archimedes Limestone - Ferruginous Sandstone - The Coal Measures - Area of the Coal Region - Its Value - Land worth $10 contains $100 worth of Coal -Unimportance of the Sandstone. The Quaternary Age. - The Drift -The Lacustrine or Bluff De- posit- The Terrace - The Recent - How the Three Latter were Formed. The Soils. - Table of Amount and Kind of Plant Food in each Foot of Soil Resting on the Bluff Deposit-"Our Boone Soils are Inexhaustible " - Experiments on the College Farm- How Land turned out to Mullen and Sassafras was, in Six Years made to produce Forty Bushels of Wheat Per Acre, without the use of Fertilizers - How to Raise Wheat and Corn on "Worn-Out" Land.

The geology of Boone County, Missouri, is very variable and rich in scientific and industrial products.

THE GEOLOGICAL PERIODS.

Beginning at the oldest, we find -

I. The Canadian, of the L. SILURIAN AGE.

II. The Chemung .....

Hamilton of the DEVONIAN AGE.

III. S The Encrinital L. of the CARBONIFEROUS AGE.

Coal Measures .....

Drift. Lacustrine

of the QUATERNARY AGE. . IV.

Terrace. Recent.

The formations which belong to the Canadian Periods, are the 1st and 2d Magnesian Limestones, and the 1st or Saccharoidal Sandstone. These rocks underlie all the southeastern part of the county, and crop out in the bluffs of the Missouri, from Providence to the Cedar, some miles up the Cedar, and in many of the ravines in that part of the county.

The Saccharoidal Sandstone is a white, sometimes brown, sand- stone, which easily crumbles, and derives its name from its resem- blance to sugar in color and structure. It is an excellent material for,

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

and is much used in making white mortar for fine plastering. It is the best material for fine glass and is used in the glass manufactories of this State, and is exported in large quantities to other parts of the country.

The 1st and 2nd Magnesian Limestones contain many beds of superior building stone which are both beautiful and durable, as shown in the buildings at Claysville and other localities. The fine . cream colored beds called cotton rock, are regularly stratified and easily quarried and cut into ashlers, and make beautiful building stone, as seen in the State House.

It, however, must be selected with great care since some of the beds crack on exposure to frost, a defect visible in the steps and flagging of the State House. Excellent quarries of these limestones are found in many places in the southeastern part of the county. These mag- nesian limestones produce a warm, lively soil, the best in Missouri for grapes and other fruits, as is well shown by the vineyards and orchards on the bluffs and slopes underlaid by these rocks.

The formations which belong to the Hamilton Age are irregular beds of limestones and sandstones and shaly marls. These marls and limestones are often filled with beautiful corals and shells, which peopled the warm, shallow seas in which these rocks were deposited. The remains of coral reefs are sometimes found in the Devonian rocks. The falls of the Ohio at Louisville are produced by a reef of this nature.

Only a small portion of this county, along the Cedar, is underlaid with these rocks. They are but little used in the arts, but the de- composing marly shales produce strong, durable soils.

The formations belonging to the Chemung Age are concretionary beds of fine, bluish limestone having thin, shaly beds between the strata. This formation is often filled with beautiful little shells and was named Chouteau limestone, as it was first examined and identi- fied as a distinct formation at Chouteau Springs, in Cooper county, in 1852. These Chouteau limestones are well exposed in the low bluffs just below Providence, and also in the base of the high bluffs above the town. They have been but little used ; but when well burned they make a strong semi-hydraulic lime.

Resting upon the beds of Chouteau limestone are some fifty feet of thick, heavy beds of impure, bluish gray limestone, called Hy- draulic limestone, from its marked hydraulic properties.

These thick beds of hydraulic limestone make most durable ashlers for buildings and bridges, as shown in the old custom-house in St.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

Louis, and many other buildings and numerous bridges in various parts of the State. These beds of hydraulic limestone are well ex- posed in the middle of the high bluffs both above and below Provi- dence, and furnished the excellent stone for the various buildings in that town. These beds extend up the Missouri and the Perche as high as the bridge on the gravel road.

This limestone will make as good a hydraulic cement as any made in the West. Vast quantities could be quarried at Providence at slight cost ; and it is so high in the bluffs it could be dumped into the kilns, and from the kilns into the mill, and from the mill into the boats which would carry it at the cheapest rates to all towns and cities which buy millions of barrels and send them all over the great West. Providence might command this great trade and add millions to the wealth and hundreds to the population of our noble old county. We have the rock, the wood to burn it and to make the barrels to hold it, the money to carry on the business and the river to carry the products to market. There is not so favorable a locality in America for the manufacture of hydraulic cement. Not many years will elapse before some enterprising firm will utilize this grand gift of the Devonian seas.

The formations belonging to the Carboniferous Age are the En- crinital limestone, the Archimedes limestone, the Ferruginous sand- stone and the coal measures. The Encrinital limestone is a gray, granular, heavy-bedded limestone, containing many concretions of chert in the upper part, and a vast quantity of the remains of encri- nites and other fossils. The sea in which it was deposited, swarmed with radiates, molluscs and fishes. This limestone is durable and beautiful, and has furnished the materials for all the buildings in Co- lumbia and Rocheport and the adjoining country. It furnished mate- rial for all the rock-work in the University buildings, save the miser- able sandstone used for the window and door sills of the Scientific building. I protested against its use when it was voted in, and I pro- test against it still. It will soon have to be replaced by more durable material.

Bluffs of this limestone are seen below the bridge east of Columbia, on Goose creek, in town and all along the Hinkson to the south and southwest. It caps the bluffs at Providence, extends up the Missouri to Rocheport, and up the Moniteau, forming its bluffs. It is the pre- vailing rock in all the southwestern part of the country, and south to Ashland. ,

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History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 51

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1220

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220