USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > St Joseph > History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Mo. : from the time of the Platte purchase to the end of the year 1915 biographical sketches of noted citizens, living and dead > Part 8
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Scarcely a day in February and March passed that did not bring a large number of emigrants, and The Gazette of March 30, 1849, states that at that time there were upwards of five hundred people camped about the city, awaiting the appearance of grass. The next month saw this number doubled. Grass came early that year, and the emigrants got away promptly.
On May 7, 1849, the St. Joseph Mining Company, the first regularly organized company of men, left for California. Samuel Johnson, A. D. McDonald, Joel Ryan, John Lewis, James Andrews, John and James Somerfield, B. D. Ellett, Edward Banall, J. W. Jones, Thomas Faucett, Michael Cameron, Samuel Wilson, Francis Brubaker, John F. McDowell, T. F. Warner, D. H. and M. F. Moss and James Kirkwood were among the number and all did well.
From April 1st to June 15th, 1849, 1,508 wagons crossed on the ferries from St. Joseph. Estimating four men to the wagon, this would make 6,032 emigrants. At Duncan's ferry, four miles above St. Joseph, 685 wagons crossed. At other ferries as far north as Council Bluffs, 2,000 crossed, and 10,000 crossed at Independ- ence. It is estimated that 27,000 men and 38,000 mules and oxen left these points during that time.
In 1850 the overland emigration exceeded 100,000, and it is estimated that over one-half of the emigrants left from St. Joseph. As the spring was later by a month than was expected, forty to fifty thousand people were encamped in and for miles around the town, in tents and wagons.
In the fall of 1849 the Occidental Hotel was built by William Fowler, and rented to Major James Vaughn. In his reminiscences Colonel John Doniphan describes Major Vaughn as a jolly, rubi- cund landlord, who extended a Virginia welcome to all his guests ;
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who, apparently, never slept, and who never permitted a stranger to drink alone. He had an inexhaustible stock of stories and was a marvelous raconteur. The line from the dining room often ex- tended across Jule street and curved up Second, and dinner often continued from 12 to 4 o'clock. Meals were one dollar each, as . this was the best hotel in town, and a man stood at the dining room door to collect in advance.
In 1849 the emigrants by steamboat brought cholera here, but although a few isolated cases occurred, there were no deaths. The disease was, however, communicated to the Indians across the river, and claimed many victims among the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes. In 1851 cholera was epidemic at many of the towns on the Missouri, and there were several cases in St. Joseph in May of that year.
By 1851 the California fever had considerably abated. The increase of steamers on the Missouri River caused a competition in prices to such an extent that emigrants and freight were carried to Council Bluffs and Florence, a Mormon settlement six miles above Council Bluffs, on the west side of the river, at the same figures which had obtained to St. Joseph during the two previous years. Those going by Florence saved over two hundred miles of land travel and avoided crossing both the Missouri and Big Platte Rivers. The route was generally via Kearney, Laramie, Echo Can- yon and Webber River, through Salt Lake. After 1850, oxen were largely used to draw the heavy trains, as experience had taught that they were less liable to loss from stampede and alkali water, stood travel better, and were more valuable at the end of the trip. The number of emigrants leaving St. Joseph in 1851 and 1852 was comparatively small. The Indians, too, had proved more annoy- ing, and great care and vigilance were required.
St. Joseph and Savannah sent out large ventures. Among those interested were the late James McCord, Richard E. Turner and the late Dudley M. Steele, all of whom figured prominently in the later commercial history of St. Joseph. Many cattle were driven from this state and sold for beef in the mining camps and at San Francisco. A few months' grazing in the Sacramento bot- toms generally put them in fine condition for slaughter. In 1852 Charles A. and Elias H. Perry crossed over 1,000 head at Ama- zonia, and the latter accompanied them to California, realizing large profits.
Many wagon trains were loaded at St. Joseph with provisions and wares of various kinds and taken to Salt Lake and other West- ern points. The freighting business soon grew to immense pro- portions, St. Joseph being the supply depot for the outlying civili- zation. From this grew the wholesale business of St. Joseph, which is today among the greatest in the West.
The necessities of the case brought forth the overland stage. People who travel to California in cushioned cars in these days can have but little conception of this gigantic enterprise and its off- spring, the pony express. The first contract to transfer the mails.
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to Salt Lake from the Missouri River was let to Samuel Woodson of Independence, in 1850. The intervening country was a wilderness more than a thousand miles in breadth, occupied by Indians and buffalo, and it required a high quality of nerve to invest money in such an undertaking.
The next contract was let to John M. Hockaday, also of Mis- souri, who ran stages out of St. Joseph, striking the government road at Kennekuk, Kansas, near the site of Horton. Hockaday received $190,000 annually for carrying a weekly mail. He sold out to Russell, Majors & Waddell. The "Pony Express" was in- augurated and operated by this firm. The following facts con- cerning this celebrated venture are taken from a sketch by W. T. Bailey, which appeared in The Century Magazine of November, 1898, and from an article prepared by Colonel John Don phan for McClure's Magazine.
In the fall of 1854, United States Senator W. M. Gwin of Cali- fornia made the trip from San Francisco east en route to Washing- ton, D. C., on horseback, by the way of Salt Lake and South Pass, then known as the Central Route. For a part of the way he had for company Mr. B. F. Ficklin, general superintendent of the freighting firm of Russel, Majors & Waddell.
Out of this traveling companionship grew the pony express. Mr. Ficklin's enthusiasm for closer communication with the East was contagious, and Senator Gwin became an untiring advocate of an express service via this route and on the lines suggested by Mr. Ficklin.
While at this time there were three transcontinental routes to California, the great bulk of the mail was sent by way of Panama on a twenty-two-day schedule from New York to San Francisco. The Butterfield Route carried some through mail, while the Central Route and Chorpenning lines carried only local mail.
California by this time held a large and enterprising popula- tion. While the Union men were in the majority, the Southern sympathizers were numerous and aggressive, and were making every effort to carry the state out of the Union. To the Union men the existing arrangements were far from satisfactory; for it was evident that both the Southern Stage Route and the Panama Route would be liable to interruption upon the opening of hostilities, and, besides, it was of the utmost importance that quicker communica- tion be had with the Washington authorities.
Called to Washington in connection with their government contracts, Mr. Russell, the head of the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, met Senator Gwin, and was approached by him on the subject of increased mail facilities via the Central Route.
Mr. Russell hurriedly returned West. Meeting his partners, Mr. Majors and Mr. Waddell, at Fort Leavenworth, he laid the project before them. These gentlemen, while appreciating the force of the arguments advanced, could not see even expenses in the undertaking, and consequently objected to it. But Mr. Russell still. insisted that the project would eventually lead up to a paying
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proposition, and, further, said that he was committed to Senator Gwin and his friends.
This latter settled the matter, for the word of this firm, once given, was to them as binding as their written obligation, and they unitedly threw their whole energy and resources into the carrying out of the pledge made by one of their members. Committed to the enterprise, the firm proceeded to organize the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company, obtaining a charter under the State laws of Kansas. The stage line from Atchison to Salt Lake City was turned over by the firm to the new company, who purchased Chorpenning's mail contract and stage outfit, then operating a monthly line between Salt Lake City and Sacramento, and the franchise and equipment of the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express, organized in 1859, then operating a daily stage line between Leavenworth and Denver, via the Smoky Hill Route, now covered by the Kansas division of the Union Pacific.
The company had an established route with the necessary sta- tions between St. Joseph and Salt Lake City. Chorpenning's line west of Salt Lake City had few or no stations, and these had to be built; also some changes in the route were considered advisable. The service comprised sixty agile young men as riders, one hundred additional station-keepers, and four hundred and twenty strong, wiry horses. So well did those in charge understand their busi- ness that only sixty days were required to make all necessary arrangements for the start. April 3, 1860, was the date agreed upon, and on that day the first pony express left St. Joseph and San Francisco. In March, 1860, the following advertisement had appeared in the Missouri Republican of St. Louis, and in others papers :
"To San Francisco in eight days by the C. O. C. & P. P. Ex. Co. The first courier of the Pony Express will leave the Missouri River on Tuesday, April 3d, at - p. m., and will run regularly weekly hereafter, carrying a letter mail only. The point on the Mo. River will be in telegraphic connection with the east and will be announced in due time.
"Telegraphic messages from all parts of the United States and Canada in connection with the point of departure will be received up to 5 p. m. of the day of leaving and transmitted over the Placer- ville & St. Jo to San Francisco and intermediate points by the con- necting express in eight days. The letter mail will be delivered in San Francisco in ten days from the departure of the express. The express passes through Forts Kearney, Laramie, Bridger, Great Salt Lake City, Camp Floyd, Carson City, The Washoe Silver Mines, Placerville and Sacramento, and letters for Oregon, Washington Territory, British Columbia, the Pacific Mexican ports, Russian possessions, Sandwich Islands, China, Japan and India will be mailed in San Francisco.
"Special messengers, bearers of letters to connect with the express of the 3d of April, will receive communications for the courier of that day at 481 10th St., Washington City, up to 2:45
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p. m. of Friday, March 30th, and New York at the office of J. B. Simpson, Room 8, Continental Bank Building, Nassau St., up to 6:50 p. m. of 31st of March.
"Full particulars can be obtained on application at the above places and from the agents of the company."
The start from St. Joseph was made at 5:30 o'clock p. m., directly after the arrival of the Hannibal & St. Joseph train from the East. There is some dispute as to who was the first rider. Mr. Bailey says that it was Henry Wallace, and Charles Cliff of this city, who was one of the regular riders of the Pony Express, says that it was Johnny Fry. The popular belief in St. Joseph is that Fry is entitled to the credit. The start proper was made from the original Pike's Peak Stables, which stood south of Patee Park, and which have since been replaced by a structure bearing the same name. A large crowd was collected about the stables and the Patee House. The rider started for the local office of the express company on north Second street, at the firing of a cannon. Here he received his dispatches and, without delay, rode to the ferryboat in waiting. At Elwood he met with another popular ovation, and galloped west- ward, followed by the cheers of the multitude. From San Francisco the start was made at the same hour, a steamer being used to Sac- ramento, where the pony service really began. From there the first rider, Harry Roff, left at 12 midnight.
The distance between St. Joseph and Sacramento was covered in 232 hours. Riders out of St. Joseph went as far as Seneca, making the sixty miles in eight hours, and stopping for meals at Kennekuk. There were four stations between St. Joseph and Sen- eca. John Fry, John Burnett, Jack Keetly, Charles Cliff, and Gus Cliff rode out of St. Joseph. Of these but two survive. Keetly lives in Montana and Charles Cliff in this city. They received $400 per annum and maintenance. While in St. Joseph they were quartered at the Patee House.
All the riders were young men selected for their nerve, light weight and general fitness. No effort was made to uniform them, and they dressed as their individual fancy dictated, the usual cos- tume being a buckskin hunting shirt, cloth trousers tucked into a pair of high boots, and a jockey cap or slouch hat. All rode armed. At first a Spencer rifle was carried strapped across the back, in addition to a pair of army (Colt's) revolvers in their holsters. The rifle, however, was found useless, and was abandoned. The equip- ment of the horses was a light riding saddle and bridle, with the saddle-bags, or "mochila," of heavy leather. These had holes cut in them so that they would fit over the horn and tree of the saddle. The mochilas had four pockets, called "cantinas," one in each cor- ner, so as to have one in front and one behind each leg of the rider ; in these the mail was placed. Three of these pockets were locked and opened enroute at military posts and at Salt Lake City, and under no circumstances at any other place. The fourth was for way-stations, for which each station-keeper had a key, and also con- tained a way-bill, or time-card, on which a record of arrival and
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departure was kept. The same mochila was transferred from pony to pony and from rider to rider until it was carried from one ter- minus to the other. The letters, before being placed in the pockets, were wrapped in oiled silk to preserve them from moisture. The maximum weight of any one mail was twenty pounds; but this was rarely reached. The charges were originally $5 for each letter of one-half ounce or less, but afterward this was reduced to $2.50 for each letter not exceeding one-half ounce, this being in addition to the regular United States postage. Specially made light-weight paper was generally used to reduce the expense. Special editions of the Eastern newspapers were printed on tissue-paper to enable them to reach subscribers on the Pacific Coast. This, however, was more as an advertisement, there being little demand for them at their necessarily large price.
At first, stations averaged twenty-five miles apart, and each rider covered three stations, or seventy-five miles, daily. Later, station were established at intermediate points, reducing the dis- tance between them, in some cases, to ten miles, the distance be- tween stations being regulated by the character of the country. This change was made in the interest of quicker time, it having been demonstrated that horses could not be kept at the top of their speed for so great a distance as twenty-five miles. At the stations, relays of horses were kept, and the station-keeper's duties included having a pony ready briddled and saddled half an hour before the express was due. Upon approaching a station, the rider would loosen the mochila from his saddle so that he could leap from his pony as soon as he reached the station, throw the mochila over the saddle of the fresh horse, jump on, and ride off. Two minutes was the maximum time allowed at stations, whether it was to change riders or horses. At relay-stations where riders were changed the incoming man would unbuckle his mochila before arriving, and hand it to his successor, who would start off on a gallop as soon as his hand grasped it. Time was seldom lost at stations. Station- keepers and relay-riders were always on the lookout. In the day- time a few well-known yells would bring everything into readiness in a very short time. As a rule, the riders would do seventy-five miles over their route west-bound one day, returning over the same distance with the first east-bound express.
The great feat of the pony-express service was the delivery of President Lincoln's inaugural address in 1861. Great interest was felt in this all over the land, foreshadowing as it did the policy of the administration in the matter of the rebellion. In order to estab- lish a record, as well as for an advertisement, the company deter- mined to break all previous records, and to this end horses were led out from the stations so as to reduce the distance each would have to run, and get the highest possible speed out of every animal. Each horse averaged only ten miles, and that at its very best speed. Every precaution was taken to prevent delay, and the result stands without a parallel in history: seven days and seventeen hours-one hundred and eighty-five hours-for 1,950 miles, an
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average of 10.7 miles per hour. From St. Joseph to Denver, 665 miles were made in two days and twenty-one hours, the last ten miles being accomplished in thirty-one minutes.
After running for seventeen months, the Pony Express closed in 1861, Edward Creighton having completed a telegraph line from Omaha to Sacramento. At the time of its death the express was owned by Ben Holladay, who had acquired the stage line of Russell, Majors & Waddell, and was operating out of St. Joseph.
CHAPTER VIII.
A REVIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF ST. JOSEPH FROM THE OVERLAND PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME-THE EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF "PATEETOWN". EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WAR AND SEVERAL FINANCIAL DIS- TURBANCES-THE BOOM OF 1886 AND THE RESULTS. THE NEW ERA AND WHAT IT PROMISES.
The impetus given St. Joseph by the overland emigration and freighting caused the town to make rapid strides up to 1861, at which time a population of 11,000 was claimed and many substan- tial public improvements were shown. The streets were paved with macadam, bridges had been built across the different creeks that coursed through the city, and considerable grading had been done in the hills. Besides being a supply point for overland freighters, St. Joseph was a hemp and grain market of prominence, and pork packing had become an important industry.
When the Hannibal & St. Joseph road became a fact, business, which had heretofore closely hugged the river and market square, began to look to the southeast. John Patee was one of the foremost citizens of the place. He had platted his land in an early day, and when the Hannibal & St. Joseph road was projected had donated a strip of forty acres for terminal and depot purposes. This land stretches from Olive street south to Mitchell avenue, west of Eighth street. In the firm belief that the future St. Joseph would build up around the railroad terminals, and with the assurance that the depot would be located at Penn street, Mr. Patee built a magnificent hotel, which cost him about $180,000, and which was then the sec- ond largest and best appointed hostelry in the United States. How- ever, he was somewhat disappointed, for the depot was located at Eighth and Olive streets.
"Pateetown," as that section of the city was nick-named, grew rapidly after the completion of the railroad in 1859. A market house was built at Tenth and Lafayette streets, which still stands ; business houses and hotels sprang up on Eighth and Tenth streets, south of Olive, and there was lively traffic. But the people up town were not idle either, for prosperity was ruling there too. Many brick business houses were built, among them the Pacific House, the Odd Fellow building at Fifth and Felix streets, Turner Hall, and several blocks on Felix, Edmond, Francis and Fourth streets. The town was spreading out. Graders were busy leveling the hills and filling up the valleys, and the residence portion was being beauti- fied with good homes.
Public improvements were confined mostly to grading the streets and to building bridges over the crooked creeks that coursed through the city. Smith's branch, which headed near the upper end of Frederick avenue, came down that street, crossed lots to
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and followed the course of Buchanan avenue, touched Faraon and Jule streets and flowed southwest to Eighth near Edmond street, thence across lots between the Kuechle brewery and Turner Hall to Sixth and Messanie streets, thnce south to where the gas plant is located, below Olive street, and thence west to the river. Though there was not much water ordinarily, there was a deep ravine which was often filled with a wild torrent when the rains were heavy. This creek was bridged wherever the travel demanded, and so likewise were Blacksnake and Liniment creeks.
St. Joseph had progressive men at the head of affairs in those days. The people responded to every call, both from their private resources and with the public funds, and bonds were voted with a recklessness that is astonishing in these conservative days. Any project that knocked for admittance was welcomed heartily, and led at once to the open purse. Some of this liberality is still being atoned for by the innocent taxpayer.
From 1861 to 1865-the rebellion period-St. Joseph, like other cities and the country in general, went backwards. Business was paralyzed, labor was unemployed and all conditions were dis- turbed. The growth and decline of the city is best illustrated by the values of real estate. In 1851 the assessed valuation was $651,- 000; in 1852, $784,000; in 1856, $1,040,653; in 1857, $3,313,000, and in 1860, $5,126,249. From the depressing effects of the rebel- lion the values fell in 1861 to $1,859,224 below 1860. In 1862 a decline of $810,384 from the previous year was noted, and in 1864 the entire assessed valuation was only $3,384,145. Subsequently matters began to look up again. In 1866 the valuation reached $5,426,600, and in 1868 it was $7,000,000.
After the war St. Joseph made marvelous progress. During the first two years 3,000 buildings were erected. The era of pros- perity continued until the panic of 1873. During that period the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroad was extended north, the St. Joseph & St. Louis (now Santa Fe) road was built from Richmond, the St. Joseph & Denver City (Grand Island) was extended west, and the St. oseph & Topeka was built from Wathena to Doniphan. This road was operated by the Burlington company for a time and was afterwards abandoned. The first street car line was also built in 1866, from Mitchell avenue and Eleventh street to the Pacific Hotel.
In the latter sixties there was much street improvement and many miles of macadam were laid. During the same period the first attempt at sewering was made. The creek known as Bush branch, which meandered from the neighborhood of Hall and Bush streets by a devious course to Fifth and Francis, was partially covered. Among the prominent manufacturing industries was the starch factory, which has long since disappeared.
Recovering from the stagnation caused by the panic of 1872 and the grasshopper years, St. Joseph began a steady march of progress, which has continued up to the present. However, not- withstanding the fact that business the country over was paralyzed
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by the panic of 1873, there are local monuments to activity in build- ing during the period of depression. The Missouri river bridge was completed in May of 1873. The court house, city hall, Tootle's opera house and asylum No. 2 were built in 1873-74.
In 1874 the first telephones were put in. In the same and dur- ing subsequent years the Charles street and Smith branch sewers were built and the Bush branch sewer extended down Fifth to Charles street.
In 1876 the Union street railway was built to New Ulm park, from Market Square, and in 1878 the narrow gauge street cars were put upon Frederick avenue. Matters generally were looking up again by this time. In 1877-78 the St. Joseph & Des Moines narrow gauge road was built. In 1878 the Board of Trade was organized. At the close of the decade the Krugs, Hax Bros., A. O. Smith, David Pinger and Connett Bros. were packing pork on a large scale, and at the Union stock yards, on South Tenth street. there was a market in lively competition with Kansas City.
In 1880 the Missouri Pacific began to run trains into St. Joseph, and the next four years marked a period of steady progress. In 1880 the site of the old Odd Fellows' hall and Hax's furniture store at Fifth and Felix streets, which had been destroyed by fire, were covered with the splendid buildings of the present. The Odd Fellows' building and Hax's faced Fifth street before the fire, the former being occupied by Bailey, Townsend & Co. The Faulhaber, Bergman and Stone buildings soon completed this block. R. L. McDonald built on Fourth and Francis streets at about the same time, and the imposing block of wholesale houses on Fourth street, north of him, followed at short intervals. The Turner-Frazer build- ing, at Third and Charles streets, went up in 1881, and Nave & McCord built in 1882. The Tootle building on Fourth, between Felix and Francis streets, the large building at the northwest cor- ner of Fifth and Edmond streets, and the Union depot, were built during the first eighties. The Chamber of Commerce, the Saxton building at Fourth and Francis streets, the Tootle building at Sixth and Francis streets, and the general offices of the Burlington rail- road were built during 1883-84.
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