History of Cass County, Missouri, Part 3

Author: Glenn, Allen
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Topeka, Kan : Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 904

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The head or source of a small stream in the extreme northwest of the county flows north to the Missouri River. All other streams of the county flow south, finally emptying into the Osage River. In early days our streams were of clear water and many of the small tributaries used to be habited with fine fellows of the finny tribe. Many of these have ceased to be of sufficient importance to retain a name, or be called a stream. On the plowing of our prairies and fields, soil and mud have washed into the rivers and streams, so they have become murky and muddy, and are no longer the home of the fine fish of other days.

We read that after the sea subsided from over the Mississippi Valley and dry land came to the surface, our first formations were sand and clay beds, a species of shales. The coal producing counties all are of this formation. We have evidences of glacial deposits. The scientific names given these, reduced to common parlance, probably mean a de- posit of a porous, brownish, coarse clay loam. This is practically what

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

we term the dark loam of our county. It is the same which forms our rocks, bluffs, large or small, and at the same time forms the basis of our most fertile soils. Beds of rock thus formed long ago have been worn away by the forces of nature-rain and sunshine-which attack all land surfaces and cause change of soil.

During the long geological periods, our lands probably were sub- merged below the sea several times and the chemical changes incident to these matters have had an effect on the formation of our present soil. At some far distant future time this land may again go beneath the sea, to receive a new coat of material to replenish and reinvigorate our soil from the hands of the God of all nature. The world today is not fin- ished. The world-making forces are as surely at work in our day as they ever were in the past. The very rocks, hills, plains, and valleys, bear evidence of this continual changing. While we live in the midst of such changes on account of the extreme shortness of our time measuring units, compared with the long periods of geological time, the changes going on around us marking this progress are unnoticed. These changes account to some extent for some of our hills. Not, however, for all, some are the handwork of an ancient peoples. Some also reach back to the constructions of a prehistoric race. The Brookhart hill, just south of Harrisonville, and the Ament mound, beside it, are accounted for by these upheavals and formations. The round mound northwest of Austin, in this county, is accounted for as the work of some former occupants of this region.

Dr. G. C. Swallow, a well-known geologist of the State, speaking of these same formations, says of western and southwest Missouri, "It is rich in minerals. No State in the Union surpasses her in this respect. In some unknown age of the past-long before the existence of man, Nature, by a wise process, made a bountiful provision for the time, when in the order of things it should be necessary for civilized man to take possession of these broad, rich prairies. As an equivalent for lack of forests she quietly stored away beneath the soil those wonderful carbon- iferous treasures for the use of man. Geological surveys have developed that these coal deposits embrace all varieties of the best bituminous coal.

The area of these coal beds in southwestern and western Missouri hold hundreds of billions of tons of coal. The economical value of this coal to the State, its influence in domestic life, in navigation, commerce and manufactures, is beyond the imagination of man to conceive."

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

Lead is found in places in the county, with a possibility of develop- ment. It was in search for lead that brought the first white settlers to Missouri. Lead mines near the Osage River brought the white man there.

Potters' clay and fire clay, as referred to under another heading, bids fair to produce quite an enterprise in the county. There are beds of purple shale in coal measures which possess the properties requisite for paints, yellow and red ochres are found. These paints have been tested and found durable.

There are strong Sulphur Springs in the county. The Mcclellan Springs possess many mineral qualities.

We have petroleum wells and a variety of lubricating oil is found. Prospecting is now going on with hopes of developing these gases and oils, with very flattering prospects of great success.

CHAPTER V.

TOPOGRAPHY.

SURFACE UNDULATING-OUTCROPPING ROCK-EFFECT OF EROSION-DIVISIONS OR PLATFORMS-AVERAGE ELEVATION-DRAINAGE.

"The surface configuration of the county is dominantly undulating to gently rolling, with occasional ridges and hills, with broad, flat bot- toms along the larger streams. The features of the region clearly indi- cate the geological structure and relative resistance to erosion of the interbedded shales, limestones and sandstones composing the basal rock of the region. The latter are nearly horizontal, yet dip gently north- westward, without pronounced folding or faulting. Higher rocks out- crop successively in the direction of the bedding slope. The strike of the strata is about due northeast and southwest, except for an occa- sional limestone knoll or low ridge the extensive shale horizons are char- acterized by level or undulating topography, which gives way to a more rolling relief where the underlying limestone has been exposed. Only along the streams in the limestone region is the topography broken and rough." The effect of erosion on the rock strata has resulted in the formation of three rather indistinct terrace-like topographic divisions or platforms within the county. The lower platform or division in- cludes all of the southeastern half of the county and has an average altitude of 900 feet.

The intermediate division includes all the remainder of the survey except the northwestern corner of the county, which includes the highest platform. The average elevation of the middle platform is about 1,000 feet and the highest about 1,100 feet above sea level. The lower and intermediate divisions are about equal in extent and represent about ninety-nine per cent. of the total area of the county. The border between

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

these divisions extends from a point three miles west of the northeast corner of the county, southwest to Pleasant Hill, thence slightly south- west to Harrisonville and then six miles west, where it turns abruptly toward the south, leaving the county south of Main City. The border varies from a rather wide gentle slope to a narrow steep slope, almost bluff-like in places. Northeast from Harrisonville it is marked by a distinct setoff, but in the southern part of the county, where erosion is active, the escarpment is ragged and faintly developed. It is not reg- ular, but makes deep embankments wherever cut by streams.

The eastern border of the higher platform extends from a point on the county line north of Raymore southward to that town, thence south- westward to the western boundary of the county near Jaudon. It cor- responds topographically with the border separating the lower and in- termediate platforms. The lower platform is a flat to very gently rolling plain sloping southeastward. South and southwest of Creighton the surface is slightly broken, with occasional hills above the surrounding country, are other features of this plain. The intermediate division is gently rolling, but along its eastern border is dissected by deep valleys of streams flowing from it into a lower division. Westward and north- westward from the eastern border the valleys become more shallow, until along the northern border of the platform the surface is gently undulating.

Nearly all the drainage of Cass County is carried by the Grand River, which rises near Belton (in northwest corner of county) and flows southeastward, leaving the county in the southeast corner. Lick Branch, Sugar, Eight Mile, Tennessee and Black Creeks, south and east forks of Grand River, tributaries of Grand River, rise in the county. The northeastern part of the county is drained by Big Creek and Craw- ford Branch, which enter the county from the north and cross the eastern boundary near Gunn City." (From Government Soil Surveys, etc.)

CHAPTER VI.

ANCIENT MOUNDS.

AMENT MOUND-BROOKHART MOUND-ROUND MOUND-OF GREAT ANTIQUITY- HALL MOUND-EVIDENCE OF HUMAN WORK-AN INTERESTING STUDY -- BEAUTIES OF THE PRAIRIE-CONTEMPLATION OF PAST AGES-THE MYS- TERY OF THE MOUNDS-TOLD IN VERSE.

Cass County has its mounds of wonder. There are several in the northern and northwest part of the county. Just south of Harrison- ville, are two mounds, the Ament Mound and the Brookhart Hill. Geol- ogists are practically agreed these are the result of glacial action. Prob- ably the most interesting mound in the county is the Round Mound, northwest of the town of Austin. It is situated in section 15, township 43, range 31, and is conical in shape. It was long thought to be the work of former Indian occupants of the county. It is beyond doubt the work of some ancient people. In it is found pottery and other articles, evidently the work of man.

It is now generally accepted that Indians were not mound builders. The Indians found by the earliest explorers elsewhere did not recognize these mounds as belonging to them either by occupying or using nor by the traditions of their people. It is admitted that these mounds have endured for centuries. Trees hundreds of years old have been found growing on some of these mounds. The quality of pottery found in them indicates some people knew the art of manufacturing pottery of a high quality centuries before the advent of the white man.

To what race the mound builders belong has been a subject of much discussion and probably will never be known. Whether they are an extinct race, or whether the noble red man is his degenerate offspring, remains a mystery not yet, if ever, solved. We do not offer an opinion

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

as to whether this "Hall Mound" is the work of our Indian predecessors or of a prehistoric race.

Geologists have delved into these mounds, including the one named. Here was found indubitable evidences that the mound builders had lived there and worked the soil; spades, hoes, arrow heads and pottery were found in such mounds. Some are found to be sepulchres, others per- haps used as lookouts and still others are assuredly fortifications. Be that as it may, we find them and naturally it suggests to us dreams of long ago. To muse relative to things which were of peoples who pos- sibly were greater builders than our own race. To imagine what?

The old world peoples of today are apt to sneer at our country, say it is sterile in interest and has no ancient history. Our own people travel over Europe to visit mouldering cathedrals and look upon places and things whose history is forgotten while our own lands hold the most wonderful prehistoric relics of the whole earth. All say we have no monuments, no ruins, no massive remains of former ages; no castles, no mouldering abbeys, no baronial towers and dungeons, nothing to con- nect the imagination and the heart with the past, no recollection of for- mer ages, to associate the past with the future. Yet in Missouri alone we have upwards of 25,000, such as those of our own county, and some of still greater interest, for our amusement, instruction and wonder. Isn't it possible the scenery of Europe is but passing vision compared with the vast and multiplied wonder of our homeland.

Our prairies were the sublimest prospects of nature. See the sun rising over a boundless plain, where the blue of the heavens in all directions touches and mingles with the verdue of the flowers. The view is far more glorious than that on which the sun rises over a barren and angry waste of sea. The one is soft, cheerful, associated with life, and requires an easier effort of the imagination to travel beyond the eye. The other is grand, but dreary, desolate, always the prototype of death and destruction. On our prairie lands we have these mounds, proudly rising above the plain. At first we may only discern them as hills, on closer inspection we catch the regularity of breastworks and ditches and discover they are the labors of art and of man.

When evidences convince us that human bones mouldering in these masses, we dig about them and bring to light their domestic utensils, we are compelled to believe the busy tide of life once flowed here. We see at once the races who wrought this work were of a different char- acter from the present generation. We then begin to inquire, is there

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

any tradition, is there a faint record to throw any light upon the habi- tation of the peoples of this other age? Is there no scope besides these mounds for imagination, for contemplation of the past? These peoples, what of their joys, their sorrows, their bones, are they all buried in these mounds? Look, there is the beautiful prairie, over which they strutted through life's poor play. These forces, hills and mounds, lift their heads in unalterable repose, and furnish the same sources of con- templation to us, they furnished to those of the mound builders' genera- tion, who passed this way.

But, were they petty tyrants, who let loose their half savage vassals to burn, plunder, enslave and despoil their neighbors? We find no re- mains of the vast and useless monasteries, where ignorant, lazy monks dreamed over their lusts, or meditated upon vile plans of infamy. This race on these charming plains, had every call from scenes surrounding them to a contented existence. Innocent and peaceful they probably were, for had they been reared amidst wars and quarrels, they would doubtless have maintained the land and their posterity remained. Those who have visited the tombs, seen the castles and towers of the old world, and the grandeur which our present cities display, should look upon these lonely tombs of the desert as they rise from the boundless and unpeopled plains, and here let their imaginations reach forth and ask, what of this unknown race? What were their ambitions? What their hopes? Why have not their names survived as the great of the present day? Let us go to the top of "Hall's Mound," near Austin, in this county, when the evening twilight is closing in, and there in our musings reflect and read the lines written by another nearly a century ago:

The sun's last rays were fading from the west, The deepening shade stole slowly over the plain, The evening breeze had lulled itself to rest, And all was silence-save the mournful strain, With which the widowed dove wooed in vain, Her absent lover to her lonely nest.

Now, one by one emerging to the sight, The brighter stars assumed their seats on high: The moon's place crescent glowed serenely bright, As the last twilight fled along the sky, And all her train, in cloudless majesty, Were glittering on the dark blue vault of night.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

I lingered, by some soft enchantment bound, And gazed enraptured on the lovely scene: From the dark summit of an Indian Mound, I saw the plain outspread in living green, Its fringe of cliffs was in the distance seen, And the dark line of forest sweeping round.

I saw the lesser mounds which round me rose; Each was a giant heap of mouldering clay ; There slept the warriors, women, friends and foes, There side by side the rival chieftains lay ; And mighty tribes, swift from the face of day, Forgot their wars and found a long repose.

Ye mouldering relics of departing years, Your names have perished; not a trace remains, Save where the grass-grown mound its summit rears, From the green bosom of your native plains ; Say, do your spirits wear oblivion's chains ? Did death forever quench your hopes and fears?

Or live they shrined in some congenial form? What if the swan who leaves her summer nest Among the northern lakes, and mounts the storm To wing her rapid flight to climes more blest, Should hover o'er the very spot where rest The crumbling bones-once with her spirit warm.

What if the song, so soft, so sweet, so clear, Whose music fell so gently from on high, And which, enraptured, I have stopped to hear, Gazing in vain upon the cloudless sky- Was their own soft funeral melody While lingering o'er the scene that once was dear.

Or did those fairy hopes of future bliss, Which simple nature to your bosom gave, Find other worlds with fairer skies than this Beyond the gloomy portals of the grave, In whose bright climes the virtuous and the brave Rest from their toils, and all their cares dismiss.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

Where the great hunter still pursues the chase, And o'er the sunny mountain tracks the deer, Or where he finds each long extinguished race, And sees once more the mighty mammoth rear, The giant form which lies imbedded here, Of other years the sole remaining trace.

Or it may be that still ye linger near The sleeping ashes, once your dearest pride; And could your forms to mortal eye appear, Or the dark veil of death be thrown aside, Then might I see your restless shadow glide, With watchful care around these relics dear.

If so, forgive the rude unhallowed feet Which trod so thoughtless o'er your mighty dead; I would not thus profane their lone retreat, Nor trample where the sleeping warrior's head Lay pillowed on his everlasting bed Age after age, still sunk in slumber sweet.

Farewell-and may you still in peace repose, Still o'er you may the flowers untrodden bloom, And softly wave to every breeze that blows, Casting their fragrance on each lonely tomb In which your tribes sleep in earth's common womb, And mingle with the clay from which they rose.

CHAPTER VII.

INDIANS.

GREAT AND LITTLE OSAGES-FIRST TREATY WITH GOVERNMENT-TREATY OF 1825-SHAWNEE'S CLAIM-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OSAGES-MOR- ALS-INTELLIGENCE-NO INSANITY-CARE OF THE HELPLESS-HOSPIT- ABLE-LIEUTENANT PIKE'S DESCRIPTION OF INDIAN LIFE-LODGES- MODE OF LIVING-VILLAGES-PENALTY FOR COWARDICE-FORM OF GOV- ERNMENT-MISSIONARY SCHOOL-LOYALTY OF THE OSAGES.

The immediate predecessors of the white man, in this section of Missouri, were the Great and Little Osages. The first treaty between the general government and this tribe-they were but one tribe-was made in November, 1808, at Fort Osage. Fort Osage was located some- where on the Missouri River, between the present city of Lexington and the present city of Independence. The treaty recites its location as "five miles above Fire Prairie." By this treaty the eastern boundary was located as beginning "on the Missouri River, five miles above Fire Prairie, and run thence due south to the Arkansas River, and thence down this river to the Mississippi." All east of this line was relin- quished by the Osages to the United States. This left our county in the Osage country. For a time thereafter there was confusion as to where the real line was intended to be. This condition remained until 1825.

By the treaty made at St. Louis in 1825 the Great and Little Osages gave up all their claim and rights to the remaining lands in Missouri, not embraced in the treaty at Fort Osage in 1808. Thus the strip of land on the western border of Missouri and now within the limits of the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, Vernon, Barton, Jasper, Newton, and McDonald, was no longer Indian land, but became for the first time a part of the then Missouri State. However, the Shawnees made some claim to this land by a supposed treaty with or grant by the Spanish

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

government. This tribe eventually gave up this claim and took up their residence in the Indian Territory, supposedly part of the present State of Oklahoma. Be that as it may, we find no claim by this tribe of the land, including our county, after 1825. For years after this to a date within the memory of the writer, these Indians would visit this, their old hunting ground.

Our ideas relative to Indians are frequently wrong. From reliable authority we gather the idea that the Osages were of remarkable height, not many of them being less than six feet high, straight and of fine figure. "They are in appearance," says one who lived among them, "as noble a race of people as I have ever seen." "Well formed, athletic and robust men of noble aspect," says another. "The Osages," says another, "are so tall and robust as almost to warrant the appellation of the term gigantic; few of them appear to be under six feet, and many are above it. Their shoulders and visages are broad, which tends to strengthen the idea of their being giants." They are swift in their movements and had great powers of endurance. It was not uncommon for an Osage to walk upward of sixty miles to the trading post. Osages possessed the Indian characteristic of talking but little. In conversation did not in- terrupt the talker. Never grew noisy, except when drunk. They were not drunkards. They seldom became drunk, and when drunken were avoided by their tribesmen. They were quite intelligent and reliable. They possessed a traditional knowledge of astronomic bodies, measured time by the waxing and waning of moons. They bore sickness and pain with great fortitude. Insanity was unknown among them. They were care- ful to see their unfortunate blind were well dressed and well fed and cared for. Their settlements from about 1800 to 1830 was along the western tier of Missouri counties, with their chief villages on the Osage, near the site of Papinville, Bates County, Missouri. Their hunting grounds were along this stream and its tributaries. While generally peaceful, they would sometimes quarrel over hunting ground and then become fierce warriors, brave and warlike. These Indians raised some crops of corn, beans and pumpkins. They were hospitable to a fault.

Isn't it strange this fine specimen of people should become polluted by its contact with our white race? Lieut. Zebulum Pike tells of being invited to fifteen different entertainments in one afternoon. These Indians, however, did not approve of their white friends hunting and farming their lands.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

They had sense enough to disapprove the white man's want of hospitality. Lieutenant Pike says their lodges were constructed with upright posts put firmly in the ground, about twenty feet in height, with a crotch at the top, and placed about twelve feet distant from each other. In the crotch of these posts they put a ridge pole, over which they bent small poles, the ends of which were brought down and fastened to a row of sticks about five feet in height, these sticks being fastened to- gether with three horizontal bars, forming the flank walls of the lodge; the gable-ends were board slabs, rounded off at the ridge pole. The whole of the building and the sides were covered with matting made of rushes two or three feet in length and four feet in width, joined together and entirely excluding rain. The doors were on each side of the build- ing. The fires were made in holes in the center of the lodge, the smoke ascending through apertures left in the roof for that purpose. At one end of the building was a raised platform about three feet high, which was covered with skins, generally of bear. On this platform reposed the honored guests. Around the interior of the walls sometimes hung ornamental mats and other neat workmanships. All this structure made quite an imposing as well as comfortable abode. These were abandoned frequently when the hunting season came around and the Indian went to the timber for his hunt. Their cooking utensils were of a very simple kind and limited in quantity. A brass or iron kettle, and wooden bowls and spoons. Every person, male and female, carried the knife in their girdle. They had no regularity in eating. They would eat four or five times a day when food was plentiful and frequently do all day without food when food was scarce.

Sometimes villages and lodges were built close to one another. Pike says the Osages were quite systematic. They separated their people into classes. Some were warriors and hunters and cooks and doctors. The doctors also exercised priestly functions. The young buck or war- rior who showed cowardice was sentenced to associate for life with the squaws, to wear squaw dress and do drudgery. He lost respect of both male and female of the tribe.

The Osage government was democratic in form. All matters were taken before the whole tribe and after full discussion, decided upon by the whole assembly, by majority vote. Generally chief was chief by inheritance. This, however, was not universal. Sometimes a bold war- rior, after some great accomplishment by bold bravery in war was chosen

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY

chief. Lieutenant Pike, speaking of the villages of the Osages and the surrounding country-including beyond doubt our county-said it is one of the most beautiful the eye ever beheld.

The Osage River, winding around and past the village, giving advantages of wood and water, and at the same time an extensive prairie crowned with rich and luxuriant grass and flowers, gently diversified by rising swells and sloping lawns, present to the warm imagination the future site of husbandry, the numerous herds of domestic animals which are no doubt destined to crown with joy those happy plains.

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History of Cass County, Missouri, Part 3

Author: Glenn, Allen Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Topeka, Kan : Historical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 904

Author: Glenn, Allen
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Topeka, Kan : Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 904