History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens., Part 59

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Missouri > Platte County > History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 59
USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 59

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MAN-HAW-KA (Bunch of Arrows), CHA-TAU-THE-NE (Big Bull), CHA-TEA-THAU (Buffalo Bull, CHA-TA-HA-RA-WA-RE (Foreign Bull ).

SACS AND FOXES.

CA-HA-QUA (Red Fox),

PE-SHAW-CA (Bear),

PE-CAU-MA (Deer),

CAN-CA-CAR-MACK (Rock Bass),

NE-BOSH-CA-NA (Wolf),

SEA-SA-HO (Sturgeon ),

NE-SQUI-IN-A (Deer),

NE-SAW-AU-QUA (Bear),

QUA-CO-OUSI-SI (Wolf),

SUQUIL-LA (Deer),

AS-KE-PA-KE-KA-AS-A (Green Lake),

WITNESSES.

S. W. KEARNY,

JNO. DOUGHERTY,

A. S. HUGHES, GEO. R. H. CLARK, WILLIAM DUNCAN, Jos. V. HAMILTON,

WA-PA-SE (Swan), NO-CHA-TAU-WA-TA-SA (Star),

PE-A-CHIM-A-CAR-MACK ( Bald Headed Eagle ), PE-A-CHIM-A-CAR-MACK, JR., (Bald Headed Eagle ).

H. ROBIDOUX, JR., WILLIAM BOWMAN, JEFFRY DORION, PETER CONSTINE,

JACQUES METTE, LOUIS M. DAVIDSON.

CHAPTER IV. EARLIER PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS - 1837-1840.

The Rush of Immigrants - Causes, Etc .- Appearance and Condition of the Country - The Work of the Early Settlers -Their Diversions - House-Raisings -The Class of People - Early Private Surveys - The Pre-emption. Law - Pioneer Mills - Early Towns - Rialto, Platte City, Newmarket, Weston, Ridgely, Farley, Barry, Iatan - List of Early Settlers.

THE RUSH OF IMMIGRANTS.

In the entire history of the settlement of Missouri there has never been anything compared to the rapidity with which Platte county was settled immediately following the ratification in February, 1837, of the treaty known as the Platte Purchase.1 When the previous year closed there were perhaps not a dozen white men in the territory now included in this county, for the few who had previously come in had either moved out or been expelled by the authorities. But before the close of the year there was a settler in nearly every available quarter section of land in the county, and on some there were two or more. Each settler was almost invariably the head of a family, so that each one represented an average of about five persons. At that time the entire State had at the rate of only about four and a half inhabi- tants to the square mile, whereas this county had more than 20, or within less than a third of as many per square mile as there are in the State to-day.

Various causes contributed to bring about this remarkable result. Among the chief of these was unquestionably the great fertility of the soil. It is well known to those qualified to judge and who have given the subject any attention that Platte county is situated in the finest agricultural section of the State.2 Nor is this county surpassed, if in-

1 Platte was settled much faster even than Buchanan, or any of the counties of the Platte Purchase.

2 Prof. G. C. Broadhead, the State geologist of Missouri, gives the following as the boundary of the best farming lands in the State: "The lands west of a line entering the State in the northwest part of Vernon county, and passing thence north and east through the western parts of Bates, thence eastwardly through the southern part of Cass, thence northeasterly to the central part of Johnson, northeasterly again to the southeastern part of Lafayette, thence through the southern portion of Saline, thence

(553)

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

deed it is equaled, by any of the others in this fertile region. Statis- tics have repeatedly shown that it exceeds all of them in fertility. Hemp lands are generally conceded to be the best lands we have for arming purposes. At one time Platte county produced more hemp than any other equal area of country on the globe. It was by far the largest hemp producing county in the United States.1

Another cause that contributed to the rapid settlement of the county was its situation on the western border of the State, and on the river. Thus it had all the advantages for trade with the Indians throughout the almost illimitable territory beyond and with New Mexico and Salt Lake, and as a base of supplies for the troops and the Indian agencies of the West. Many of the new comers here grew rich or well-to-do in this trade in a few years.

Again, the county had been an Indian reserve for along time - ever since the commencement of American settlements on the Missouri, in fact ; and already population had pushed up to its very border, and had long been impatient to enter. Lands off of the rivers were not considered of much value for want of transportation facilities ; and nearly all the choice river lands already open had been taken. Clay had become one of the most populous counties in the State, and, as population pushed on West, and not being able to cross the " dead line" of the Indian reserve, immigration was very naturally deflected northward up into Clinton and even into DeKalb counties, although off of the river.

But to the farmers up there it seemed a great hardship to have to haul all their market products, and drive their stock down to Clay county to reach the river for shipment, 75 or 100 miles, when, but for the Indian reserve, they could take them directly across to the river, not less than one-third the distance by the other route ; or what was immeasurably better, and what they really wanted to do, move across into the river lands themselves.

It is, therefore, not surprising that when, in February, 1837, the news came to the settlers along the border of the reserve that the Pur- chase had been approved by all concerned, and duly ratified, and that the gates were open wide for all to enter who chose - it is not sur- prising that the news of this was received with the most unbounded manifestations of delight. Bonfires were lighted, speeches made and

westwardly to the vicinity of Salisbury, in Chariton county, thence a little west of north to the northern boundary of the State in Mercer county. - Geological Surveys of Missouri, 1873-74, pp. 40-1-2.

1 United States Census of 1860.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

general jubilees held. For the time, at least, it seemed that the year of jubilee had come sure enough.1

Even within a day or two after the receipt of the news immigrants began to move into the new country by hundreds. They came both from east of the west line of the reserve and in along the river front; but most of them were from Clay county. Great rivalry was shown among them, each trying to get in before the others, in order to locate on the best lands. But in this respect those from Clay county had decidedly the advantage. Many of the Clay immigrants had lived near the Purchase for years, and not a few had already selected sites on which to settle.

Within two years from the time the reserve was declared open, prob- ably not less than 4,500 immigrants settled within the present limits of Platte county ; this large number, notwithstanding no survey had been made, and no other means provided, until 1838, of securing them in the possession of, or right to their lands. Indeed, the assessment list for personal property, made in the spring of 1839 -the names in which are given at the close of this chapter as a matter of interest to their families and descendants - indicates that there were even more here then than the number at which we have placed them.

APPEARANCE AND CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

The first settlers after the purchase found the country a veritable wild, although civilization had been on its eastern border for years. The woods (and four-fifths of the county were timbered lands, were

1 Mr. Arnold Chance, an old and respected citizen of the county, says that he, with others, was at Barry when the news came. Peter Burnett, then a lawyer of Liberty, but afterwards Governor of California, brought the news from Liberty. "The first intimation we had of it," says Mr. Chance, " was the appearance of Peter Burnett galloping into town from Liberty, swinging his hat and yelling like a wild Indian. We barely let him stop to tell us what was the matter when we all repaired to the ' gro- cery ' and knocked a spigot out without taking time to count the cost. Merrily the flowing bowl (only it was a gourd) went round. I tell you, if ever there was a happy crowd in the world, ours was one. Just then, as it so happened, a good honest- hearted old minister of the Gospel hove in sight, trotting leisurely down the road on a one-eyed clay-bank mare, and under an ancient and clerical-looking stove- pipe hat, one that his grandfather had worn on the mountain circuit of East Tennessee, in 1788. In a minute or two more he was in reach of us, and then -poor lad! Our good brother never wore that hat again. (We were young then, and bad boys.) In our hilariousness we took him and brought him into the grocery and set him across a barrel. * * * He was a good-natured old soul, and was as glad of the news as we were, - and, to tell the truth, he rather seemed to enjoy the gourd. Preachers were not as 'finicy' then as they are now, any way. * * * More than one hat went

up, like the Hebrew children, on that occasion, I tell you."

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

covered with nettles and wild pea vines, and quaint looking paraquets, in their green and yellow plumage, flitted about the boughs of trees everywhere. By day and by night the melancholy bark of the wolf, joined at night by the lonely hoot of the owl, afforded only an addi- tional proof, if any were necessary, that this was, indeed, a primitive wilderness. Deer, turkeys, game of all kinds, abounded, including a few bears ; 1 and it had been near civilized man sufficiently long for the busy bee, too, to have improved his shining hours. It was not an uncommon thing for a good bee hunter to find from five to ten bee trees in a single day.2 Squirrels had also begun to arrive, and there was mast for stock in abundance, and to spare. Hogs fatted themselves, and stock of all kinds were generally in good condition when winter began ; snakes,3 particularly the timber rattlesnake and the silent, deadly copperhead, were numerous, and " varments " 4 frequented every barnyard.

THE CHANGE - WORK AND EXPERIENCES OF THE EARLIEST SETTLERS.

But after the gates were opened to settlers the condition and appear- ance of the country were soon changed. Houses were built, forests cleared away, fields opened, roads established, church buildings erected, towns located, mills constructed, and all the busy machinery of civilized life put in motion.5 The deer, the Indian, the wolf - each before a decade had passed, disappeared to be seen no more.

The work of the early settlers was of course hard, and their com- forts, according to what we would perhaps regard as comforts, were few. But those hardy, courageous frontiersmen were doubtless as well satisfied with life as we are, and possibly much happier ; certainly so, if the pleasure with which the few of them who are still left to be with us, dwell upon the scenes and experiences of their early years be taken as evidence of the fact.

1 Joseph Todd, already referred to, is said to have killed as many as eight bears.

2 Arnold Chance.

3 Some remarkable snake stories are told by the descendants of the early settlers from whom, they allege, they received them ; but we can not repeat them here, not that they would not do to read or are not perhaps true, but that it is sometimes better for one's reputation for veracity not to tell even the whole truth when it is so remarkable as to be unreasonable, and there is no necessity for telling it : tum silentium sapientia est.

4 Though tabooed as vulgar, it is a better expression than "ismall predatory wild animals."

5 The first houses were almost without exception built of logs.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

THEIR DIVERSIONS.

But they were not without some sources of genuine sport. Here were their opportunities for hunting -the country full of game of the finest kinds; and then the " alectoniverous" but sly and watchful fox was here, too. Many a fine chase these old pioneers of the county had when they were young. With hunting, fishing, bee-coursing, fox- chasing, attending the elections and Fourth-of-July celebrations, going to church on Sundays (at a neighbor's house or in a grove) and to house-raisings on " week days," visiting each other, and sometimes some of the younger ones, without the fear of the Lord properly before their eyes, attending dances and even horse-races over at the nearest town or store - with all these diversions to occupy their leisure, life was by no means a monotonous routine of hard work and rest or recreation.

HOUSE-RAISINGS.

Then their house-raisings were a source of almost as much pleasure and pasttime as of neighborly kindness and help. On occasions of that kind they met - neighbors for miles around - and were not long in putting up a fellow-neighbor's house. Then followed a big dinner, an abundance of good, toothsome substantials, and, if the whole truth must be told, sometimes a little." dthrop o'th'cradthur" to help along digestion and stimulate a generous flow of soul ; then they talked over their experiences since they last met, discussed their farm affairs, parried jokes with each other and spun " yarns" almost without limit. Many a laugh waked the echos at some capital story of a hunting expedition and angling experience or something of the kind. It is not those who live in the greatest ease and luxury that enjoy life the best or are the happiest.

HOSPITALITY OF THEIR HOMES.

Then, too, there was the hospitality of their homes - a source of the greatest pleasure. Friends visited each other much more then' than they do now - lived less apparently for self, and were less lost to others, less absorbed with the pursuit of the almighty dollar, regard- less of anything else. It was a common thing for neighbors and entire families to visit each other, spending the day in social, pleasant con- versation and always enjoying an excellent, abundant meal prepared especially for the occasion. To be inhospitable, or what was called " mean," was to be considered little less than a criminal. At every

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

man's door, to use a trite but expressive figure, it was expected that the latch string was always on the outside, so that all who chose could enter and welcome. And even for entertaining strangers, traveling through the country, no one thought any more of charging them than he thought of robbing them. Such was the old time hospitality of near half a century ago.1 No more generous, great-hearted people lived in those days - kind, friendly and neighborly -than the early settlers of Platte county.

THE CLASS OF PEOPLE THEY WERE:

Moreover, as a class, they were a people of intelligence and sterl- ing character, thoroughly honest and honorable, and distinctively brave and unselfish. Many of them were the descendants and repre- sentatives of some of the oldest and best families of Kentucky and Virginia, and the other Southern States ; and not a few were men of education and information. Conservative, substantial and of sober worth, the early settlers of this county founded a community that has ever compared with credit in intelligence and character with those of the best counties in the State.

EARLY PRIVATE SURVEYS - THE PRE-EMPTION LAW.

Among the early settlers here, before the Government surveys were made, it was a sort of common law that each was to have the right to 160 acres when he settled, and that no subsequent claim should be permitted to interfere with a farmer once duly located. In this way conflicts of claims and consequent ill-feeling were almost entirely pre- vented. Some, however, anxious to know where their lines would run when the regular survey should be made, secured private survey- ors to run them. In cases of this kind established points on the Clay county line were taken as a base, and the true lines were determined with reasonable accuracy. The principal surveyors who did the work, if indeed not the only ones, were Maj. James Brasfield and Judge Solomon Leonard, both thorough practical surveyors. They did it, however, not as a matter of business or profit, but simply for the accommodation of their neighbors. Nothing was ever charged or ac-

1 .Says Colton : A not fully advanced state of society, equally removed from the ex- tremes of barbarity and of refinement, seems to be that particular meridian under which all the reciprocities and gratuities of hospitality do most readily flourish and abound. For it so happens that the ease, the luxury and the abundance of the highest state of civilization are as productive of selfishness as the difficulties, the privations and the sterilities of the lowest.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

cepted by them for their services. This fact also reminds us that those were early days. But in 1838 the pre-emption law enabled set- tlers to make regular pre-emptions on their claims, and the following year Government surveys were begun. The land office, however, at which they were permitted to make their proofs and complete their entries, was not established until 1844. It was located at Plattsburg, in Clinton county. Prior to that but little controversy occurred among claimants.

PIONEER MILLS.

The white pioneer, wherever he penetrates, soon sees to it that mills are provided for making breadstuffs and manufacturing lumber.

Zadoc Martin built the first mill in the county in 1836-37. It was at the falls of the Platte, and was a water mill. When first built it was provided with only buhrs for grinding corn, but buhrs for flour were put in soon afterwards. Numerous anecdotes are told of Martin and his mill, but recitals of them belong more properly to town and personal history.

The next grist mill, after Martin's, was Hughes' mill, built in about 1839. It was on Bee creek, some five miles north of Platte City, and was also a water mill. Judge Hughes, the builder and owner, was from Virginia, and was afterwards judge of the county court and a worthy citizen of the county.

Then in about 1840, some three miles below Ft. Leavenworth, in the river bottom, Sutton's mill was built. It was an old-fashioned horse mill.

About the same time the Parkville mill was put up, and at once secured a large patronage from the settlers throughout the south- eastern part of the county.

After this came John Britz's mill, a water power mill, built on the Platte, near the Buchanan county line.

The last of the earlier grain mills erected in the county was the Estell mill, sixteen miles northeast of Platte City, though this one hardly comes within the period of time allotted to the present chapter. It was built early in the " Forties," and was one of the leading mills, if indeed not the most important one in Western Missouri in that early day.

With all these, and Smith's mill at the mouth of Second creek, just over the line in Clay county, the early settlers were not illy provided with milling facilities.

The first saw mill in the county was put up by Nelson P. Owens. It was at Weston, and was also the first steam mill in the county. It

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

was built as early as 1838. Other saw mills (circular saw ) followed this one, but not for several years, and one of the difficulties the early settlers had to contend against was the scarcity of lumber. However, one or two of the grain mills mentioned above were fitted up with sash-saws. But these were by no means adequate to the needs of the country.1

EARLY TOWNS.

For a time the nearest trading points for the early settlers, except at a few small stores, were Liberty and Leavenworth, which had even then grown to considerable importance, especially Liberty. But in a few years respectable towns were built in the county ; and Weston, particularly, grew with wonderful rapidity.

The following were the earlier towns of the county : 1

Rialto. - Formerly situated on the Missouri river just below Wes- ton, Rialto was once known as Penseno's Landing and is believed to have been the site of the first white settlement on the Missouri above the old French fort, Ft. New Orleans. It was not platted as a town until 1840 when Henry Underhole had it regularly divided into town lots and registered. Weston soon eclipsed it, however, and it failed to reach even a neighborhood importance as a trading point. There is no post-office there now and there has been none for years.

Platte City. - Formerly known as Martinsville, Platte City was first settled in 1828, or rather at that time Zadoc Martin became the first white settler on the site of Martinsville, now a part of Platte City. Before even Martinsville had a name the site of the place was known as the Platte Falls and Martin was licensed to keep the ferry on the river at this point, by the authorities at Ft. Leavenworth or Liberty. By the Legislature Platte Falls was named in the act providing for the organization of the county as " the temporary seat of justice of Platte county," and afterwards it was selected as the permanent county seat. Platte City was platted and registered by the county authorities in 1839, and was at that time given its present name. At first it had a rapid growth, but later along its progress was and has continued more gradual and at the same time more substan- tial.

New Market. - This place is situated in section 11, township 54, and range 35, about nine miles nearly due north of Platte City and in the northwestern part of Green township. It was one of the first

1 For more complete sketches of these towns and the mills of the county, see the different township chapters, further along.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

towns established in the county and was formerly known as Jackson- ville. John Adamson settled on the site of the place in 1830 and sub- divided it into town lots about the same time. On account of there being another place in the State by the name of Jacksonville, its name was changed to New Market by which it was registered in 1839.

Weston. - The business metropolis of the county, Weston was also at one time the commercial metropolis of all Western Missouri and West to the Rocky mountains. The land on which it stands was first selected for a town site in the fall of 1837 by Joseph Moore, an ex- soldier from Ft. Leavenworth. The first house erected was by Sashel Fugett. It is situated on the Missouri river in the contiguous corners of sections 11, 12, 13 and 14, of township 53, range 36, in Weston township. The plat of the town was registered and recorded in 1839.

Ridgely. - The first settlers on the site of the present town of Ridgely were Christopher Black, Preston Akers, Samuel Phillips and Theoderick Fitzgerald. They filed the plat of the town in 1839, and it soon became a center of business in the mercantile line for the sur- rounding country. It is still a prosperous village. It is situated in the contiguous corners of sections 29, 30, 31 and 32, of township 54, range 33, in the municipal township of Preston, about 12 miles north east of Platte City.

Parkville. - The site of this place was pre-empted by David and Stephen English in 1837. Afterwards they sold to Geo. S. Park, who founded the town of Parkville and became one of the most pub- lic-spirited citizens of the county.

Farley. - This place, located in the southeastern part of the county, was settled as early as 1838. Joseph Farley pre-empted and entered the land, which included the present site of the town, and afterwards Farley was laid off as a town and platted. It has never attained to any importance, however, as a trade center, its principal business being confined to the neighborhood surrounding it. It is located on the line between sections 28 and 29, in township 52, range 35. It is in the municipal township of Lee, about a mile northeast of the Kansas City, St. Joe and Council Bluffs Railway, and a little more than half a mile west of the Platte river.

Barry. - Situated on the line between Platte and Clay counties, Barry, as soon as this county was opened for settlement, became vir- tually a Platte county town, and, in fact, the same year houses were built on this side of the county line. It was settled long prior to the Platte Purchase, and, as we have noted on a former page, was a

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

trading post for the whites and Indians on either side of the line respectively. It is one of the oldest towns in this part of the State.

Iatan. - John Dougherty located the town of Iatan about the time of the first white settlements in the county. J. O. Abbott and others settled there and in that vicinity soon afterwards, in 1837. Iatan is still a local trading point for the extreme northwestern part of the county.

John Dougherty, the founder of the place, was a man of a romantic career. He left home at the age of 15 and made his home among the Indians, with whom he lived for many years. Strange as it may ap- pear, he became a man of fair education, and served for a long time as Indian agent for the Government. He was always popular with the Indians, who looked upon him as their real friend, which he un- questionably was. The artist, Catlin, made an oil portrait of Maj. Dougherty to accompany the former's fine gallery of oil paintings (300 life-size portraits ) of noted and representative Indians.

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Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156