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 62

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 62
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 62

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Certificate of Marriage .- Very naturally and very properly, one of the first instruments recorded in this then new and promising country was a certificate of marriage, a paper certifying to one of a class of

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

events the very mention of which makes us all feel young again - our eyes brighten and sparkle and our dry, cold lips feel warm and moist.

" Here love his golden shaft employs; here lights His constant lamp, and moves his purple wings, Reigns here and revels."

According to the record the certificate went on to say after the caption, that " John A. Ewell and Eliza Haunshelt were united in the bonds of matrimony, in Platte county, on the 31st of May, 1839, by James Lovelady, a minister of the Gospel, authorized by law to solemnize marriages," or words to that effect. Thus, by this formal yet happy act of the minister, these two lives, all in the glow of youth, 1 and love and hope, were made as one -- joined in a union of hearts and interests and happiness, to accompany each other down the long journey of the coming years.

" Each for each coming and each self unheard, Bringing life's discord into perfect tune."

But the first marriage in the county, according to the records, or rather in the territory now included within its borders - for the county was not then organized - was that of George W. Smith and Sallie Gentry, which occurred March 27, 1838, and was solemnized by George B. Collier, justice of the peace, commissioned by the county court of Clay county. This part of the country at that early day was of course a wilderness ; but love and marriage are not confined to old and advanced communities - wherever youth and maid, aye, men and women of any ages go, there will the tenderest of all the passions abide and the reunion of hearts and hands occur. So in the midst of the great forests of the Platte country young Smith was made the happy husband of a loving, trusting bride.

" To the nuptial bower He led her, blushing like the morn all Heaven And happy constellations, in that hour, Seem to shed their selectest influence."

1 Aged 18 and 17 years respectively.

CHAPTER VI. MATERIAL PROGRESS OF TWENTY YEARS 1 .--- 1841-1860.

Government Surveys - Work and Improvements -Land Entries - Hard Times Among the Settlers - Great Flood of 1844, Followed by Much Sickness - Hemp Growing - Other Leading Products - Emigration to Oregon -- Effect of the Mexican War upon the People -- California Gold Excitement - Argonauts from Platte County - Salt Lake and Indian Trade - The Four Years Preceding the Kansas Troubles, and Drawbacks During that Period - Drought of 1854 - Four Years Preceding 1861 - Population and Property Valuation from 1840 to 1860 - State Roads, Bridges, Rail. roads, Etc.

Unlike the novel, history does not close amid the ringing of marri- age bells and the joyful congratulations of friends. Its province extends further and requires a recital of all the more noteworthy events in the progress of the community with which it assumes to deal.

Proceeding, therefore, from the close of the last chapter - which shows that the first and most important institution of society was inaugurated here during the period considered, as well as the institu- tion of county government, we now enter upon an era fraught with great changes in both the condition of the people and the face of the country, an era marked by hard work, sober, homely economy, sterling energy and enterprise, and, nowithstanding some severe draw- backs, with wonderful progress in the development of the resources of the county and the advancement of every important interest of the people, individually and as a community.

The Government surveys, commenced in 1839, were finished in 1840, and before the beginning of the following year all who were here had laid their pre-emption claims, and with positive knowledge of what they were to get and what to expect in regard to their titles. This greatly encouraged immigration and made all feel safe to go for- ward with their work and improvements.

WORK AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Throughout the winter of 1841-42 the ring of the woodman's ax was heard in every direction, new houses shot up as if by magic and

1 Education, church affairs, newspapers, societies, politics, courts, war matters, etc., etc., are considered under separate chapters, further along.

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at night, whenever one would look, the sky was bright with the reflected light of burning logs and brush on the clearings of the settlers. The towns were not less full of life and energy than the country around them. Lots were laid off and were sold readily, commanding good prices ; houses both for business and for dwellings were built, stores, shops and other business establishments opened, and an air of thrift and enterprise pervaded all classes. It was a new country, a remarkably fertile and promising one, and all seemed anxious to avail themselves of every advantage it afforded.

GOOD CROPS - TOBACCO GROWING.

The soil, the seasons and the industry of the husbandman united to bring full abundant crops. The yield of the land was unprecedented even in the experience of those from the most favored regions of Ken- tucky. Every one who succeeded in getting a field opened and planted in time for the cropping season raised an ample supply of the ordi- nary products for at least home use.

But there was one difficulty against which they had to contend and that proved to be a very serious one. The people were generally poor - some of them very poor - and there was little here to do to bring in ready money. Especially was this the case with the farming class. With rare exceptions they had brought with them barely enough to bear their ordinary expenses until a crop could be raised, and pos- sibly to enter their lands with when the proper time should come. Gen- erally settling in the timber, the work of opening farms large enough to produce sufficient crops so as to have an overplus for the markets was necessarily slow - the work not of a single season but of years. Besides, there was no demand for anything grown in this part of the country except tobacco. The country had not been settled long enough to develop any appreciable stock interests.

Tobacco raising, therefore, became the chief reliance of the farm- ing community as a source of cash income. But it never proved a marked success here and never attained to much popularity or im- portance. The soil was too rich and loamy to produce a superior quality of tobacco, and as a rule it was grown only as a matter of ne- cessity.

In 1840 the yield of the county was about 200 hogsheads, valued at about $100 per hogshead. In 1841 it rose to some 250 hogsheads and sold at substantially the same price per hogshead as that at which the crop of the previous year was sold. The next year there was a fur- ther increase of production. But in 1843 the amount was much less

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

than the product of either of the other years since 1840. This was caused by a number of farmers substituting hemp growing on their farms in place of tobacco raising.

But at best the growth of tobacco never afforded the people any- thing like a satisfactory income. Little money, therefore, was brought into the county, and as they had to have wearing apparel, groceries, etc., they were compelled to pay out much of the small means they had brought with them.1

LAND ENTRIES. - HARD TIMES AMONG THE SETTLERS.

The spring of 1843 brought with it the necessity to the settlers of proving their rights to their pre-emption claims and making entries of their lands. The land office had just been established at Platts- burg, in Clinton county.2 To enter the land pre-empted in this county required no less than $340,000 in gold, no small amount of money to be raised from a frontier county of a few thousand inhabi- tants.

To raise this large sum produced the greatest stringency in money matters, the hardest times, in fact, ever known in the county. The people were already poor ; they came to the county poor, and were now poorer than when they came. They had, almost without excep- tion, spent the last dollar they could raise to defray their ordinary living expenses and in making improvements on the lands. How now to pay for their lands was a mystery.

Money was the cry in every direction ; money, money. All wanted money, and there was little or none to be had. Hundreds in every part of the county were in the greatest distress through fear that they would be compelled to lose their places, their houses, their all - upon which they had spent years of hard work, and for which they had endured the most trying hardships and privations - by not being able

1 Information in regard to the early tobacco interests of the county furnished by Mr. T. F. Warner. The leading tobacco dealers were T. F. Warner and Thornburg & Lucas, at Weston, and Fielding Burnes at Parkville.

2 The following is taken from the Platte Eagle and Weston Commercial Gazette (ex- tra) of February 25, 1843 : -

OPENING OF THE LAND OFFICE.

We are all waiting anxiously for some definite information as to the opening of the Land Office. The law creating the Platte District takes effect on the first of March. It is thought that the nominations are now before the Senate. The earliest informa- tion of an authentic character which reaches us upon the subject shall be laid before our readers.

The office was opened in April. Ed. M. Samuel was receiver, and James H. Birch, register.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

to get the small amounts of means necessary to make their entries. Wherever a dollar could be had and security could be given it was borrowed, with hardly a question asked as to what rate of interest would be charged. Many sold their stock at a sacrifice, and not a few disposed of a part of their household effects whenever a purchaser could be found, and even the necessaries of life. "In all my life," says Mr. W. M. Paxton, who was here at the time, " I have never seen so poor a people as these were:"

Nevertheless, they kept heart, worked hard, and the seasons were favorable. Denying themselves of everything they could live without, they devoted every cent they could get to making payments on their lands. Many used the proceeds from the sale of their tobacco crops in this way. Some were enabled to make the necessary pay- ments by the sale of their hemp crops in 1843. Others, as has been remarked, sold off their stock in order to save their homes. A few men also came into the county with money to loan, and this, with what was here in the hands of a few others who could spare it, was borrowed to make entries with.

Thus, at last, what seemed impossible in the spring of 1843 was nearly accomplished by the beginning of the following year - the people of Platte county, poor as they were, had, with few exceptions, completed their entries and paid for their lands. To be sure a few lost their places, many were in debt, and as a rule all were without means to go upon. But the worst of the crisis had been passed, and successfully passed by most of them.

Now, only hard work, self-denial and good seasons were necessary to bring about a brighter and more prosperous state of affairs than that from which the people were just emerging, and these, or at least the first two of the three, were assured, whilst the other was hardly less than certain.

THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1844 - MUCH SICKNESS.

In the spring of 1844, farmers entered upon the work of the crop- ping season with renewed hope and energy. A greatly increased acre- age of all the leading products except tobacco was planted, and hemp was substituted in place of tobacco.

But an event now occurred which subjected the people of all classes to the grossest apprehensions - the great flood of 1844. This occur- red in the month of June. All the water courses reached unprece- dented heights. The water fall here was greater than it had ever been before and further up the Missouri and its affluents, including the

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

Platte, it was even greater than here. Besides this, vast volumes of water from the melting snow on the mountains were precipitated into the Missouri, and it became a mighty surging sea of mad waters. Its shores and all the low bottoms were overflowed, and in places it was from three to seven miles wide, navigable for steamboats of the heaviest draught over the entire width. Farms were submerged and houses, barns and fences were swept away. Crops in all the bottoms were of course lost. The damage was disastrous to many farmers. The water rose several feet higher in the Missouri than it has ever been known to be at any time previous or since.

The Platte, and all the other streams in this county, were but repe- titions of the Missouri, only on smaller scales. Steamboats ran up to Platte City, and could have gone further but for the obstruction offered by the dam at this place. All the site of the present town of Tracy was under water, and the current of the river swept by, a per- fect torrent, roaring and surging so that it could be heard for nearly a mile away.

The damage done in the county was very large, but was principally confined to those whose farms were in the bottoms.

Much sickness followed the flood, principally malarial and typhoid fevers, which proved unusually severe and difficult to control, and in many cases resulted fatally. The fall of 1844 was by far the sickliest season ever known in the county. There was also considerable sick- ness the following year, due no doubt to the miasma still thrown off by decaying matter in the former overflowed districts.

HEMP-GROWING - PROSPEROUS TIMES.

Upon the whole, however, the year 1844 was another one of good crops. The increased acreage and the abundant yield in the up-lands more than made up for the losses in the bottoms caused by the flood. An abundance of corn and other general products were raised ; more, in fact, than was needed for home use.1

But the most profitable crop that year was hemp. This was des- tined to become the leading staple product of the county and to prove a great blessing to the people. Its culture was introduced in the very nick of time, when they were in the midst of the hard times, brought on by having to pay out every dollar they could raise, either by their own means or by borrowing, for payment upon their lands. They were poor, often denied the necessaries of life, and were generally in debt. Verily, their situation was by no means a desirable one.

1 Wheat raising had not yet become general.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

But within the next seven years after the culture of hemp was intro- duced a marked change in their circumstances had occurred.

The people were now out of debt. Lands had increased in value three, five, and often tenfold. The population of the county had about doubled. Its taxable wealth had nearly trebled. The acreage of lands under cultivation was more than three times as great as it had been before.1 The business centers of the county where hemp was marketed had grown to be thriving, important towns. Weston had become the leading business point west of St. Louis. Throughout the whole period mentioned a perfect stream of money poured into the county. In 1848 the receipts from hemp alone were not less than $200,000. Platte county became the second county in the State in both wealth and population.2

As has been remarked heretofore, hemp growing was introduced into this county in 1843.3 During that year some Kentuckians from Mason and other hemp growing counties who had settled here began to grow hemp. They were satisfied, from the character of the soil and other physical conditions, that it would prove a success. Several of them planted quite large crops. As the result proved, they were not mistaken. Indeed, their most sanguine expectations were surpassed. The soil of Platte county proved better adapted to the growth of hemp than even the most favorable soil of Kentucky. Their first crops aggregated over 100 tons of a superior quality of hemp fiber. This was marketed at $60 per ton. The average yield was about 1,000 pounds per acre.

The success of this experiment attracted the attention of farmers all over the county. The next year tobacco raising was nearly or quite abandoned in favor of the more profitable crop, hemp. A large acreage was planted, and the yield was again large. The price also advanced. The crop of 1844 brought $80,000 into the county.

In 1847 the crop amounted to 1,500 tons ; and sold for $150,000. The following year 2,000 tons were raised, which brought about $200,000.

From this, until after the war (except for a time during the war) there was a general, though not consecutive increase of the annual

1 See tables further along in this chapter.

2 It is not claimed that the prosperity and rapid advance of the county were due alone to hemp culture. Other causes, referred to further along, contributed very materially to this result. But hemp culture was one of the principal, if not the lead- ing, cause.

3 There were probably several small experimental crops grown before, but none, so far as known, worthy of special mention.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

amounts raised, and of the prices paid. In 1862 the price raised to $220 per ton.

The following in regard to the hemp interest of Platte county is taken from the work of Mr. Parker : 1 " The return for hemp in this county in 1850, as shown by the census, was 4,355 tons. In 1859 3,000 tons were shipped from Weston alone. About 20,000 bales or 5,000 tons are (1867) annually raised and exported from this county."

Hemp continued to be a leading product of the country until about 1870, after which its production fell off rapidly until 1875 when it had nearly or quite ceased. The difficulty of the almost impossibility of getting labor capable and willing to harvest it, and care for it after- wards, brought about this result. Before the war and since, as long as hemp was raised here, it was mostly worked by negroes. But after a while even the negroes refused to work with it.

While it was generally raised in this county it was a source of great profit to the county, as the above facts show - a generous fountain of prosperity, particularly to the farming and business classes. Hundreds of farmers amassed comfortable fortunes by its culture, and not a few business men found the hemp trade a most profitable pursuit. The principal townships in which it was raised were Green, Weston and Marshall, though it was raised to considerable extent all over the county. May township probably came next to Marshall in the amounts annually produced. The leading points of shipment were Weston, Parkville and Iatan, and the principal houses engaged in the trade were those of T. F. Warner, E. Cody, Perrys & Young, A. Baker and McDonald Bros., at Weston ; R. G. Stephens and Fielding Burnes, at Parkville ; M. J. Alexander, at latan, and a dealer opposite Leavenworth, who also did a large business, but whose name is not now recollected. T. F. Warner also had a large branch house at St. Joseph.

OTHER LEADING PRODUCTS.

But not alone in the production of hemp did Platte county take a leading position as an agricultural county. The lands of this county are peculiarly and remarkably well adapted to the production of most the cereal products and of the grasses. As early as 1847 the farmers of the county began to give a large share of their attention to wheat raising, and in a few years wheat also became a leading product, second in importance only to hemp. The yield per acre was generally

1 Missouri As It Is in 1867, pp. 357, 358.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

very large, and in 1850 the average was about 7,500. The product of that year, according to the census returns, was 129,067 bushels, a remarkable crop for those times - equaled by that of no other county in the State. Wheat has continued to be a leading article of produc- tion.

Corn was also and still is one of the staple products of the county. In 1850 the crop amounted to 1,814,287 bushels, which was more than the crop of any of the other counties except Buchanan.

Other products - oats, the grasses rhizas and all the standard crops grown in this part of the country were raised in abundance ; and the county became noted for its fine fruits, particularly apples.

STOCK-RAISING - EMIGRATION TO OREGON.

With the doom of prosperous times following the general production of hemp by the farmers of the county they also began to raise stock. Though prior to the outbreak of the Mexican War there was but little to encourage them in this, there were soon large numbers of stock in the county ; in fact, a heavy surplus.

Prices were so low, except for mules (and even for these they were insignificant, compared to what they are now), that little or nothing could be made by shipping to distant markets, and therefore stock accumulated rapidly. True, there was some demand for freight cattle and beef and pork at Ft. Leavenworth for the military there and further West: and in this respect the people of this county were much more fortunately situated than those of neighboring counties on the east. But the demand at Ft. Leavenworth at that time was by no means sufficient to require all the surplus raised here, or to make stock-raising a profitable industry.

As early as 1839 there was considerable emigration from different parts of the country to the new territory of Oregon,1 and in 1845 and 1846 a great many went from Missouri. Oregon was given an enviable

1 There had previously been considerable emigration from this county to Oregon, as early as 1843, as appears from the following, copied from the Platte Eagle and Weston Commercial Gazette (Extra) of February 25, 1843.

"WESTWARD HO!

Numbers of our citizens are preparing to take up their march for Oregon this spring. The people are getting tired of the terrapin policy of our rulers, and are going to make a home for themselves on the shores of the distant Pacific. Could a few of the prudent members of the American Senate be induced to make a trip out here and take a peep at the material which asks a grant of land, they might probably acquire sufficient nerve to dare seize on their own territory, instead of prating about the rights of England.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

name by those who had visited it, and both the soil and climate were thought by many to be all that could be desired. Catching the gen- eral contagion of westward immigration then almost universal in the Middle and Western States, early in 1846 a number of citizens of this county emigrated to the then farthest Northwest territory of the Union, probably exceeding a hundred. A considerable percentage of them returned, however, within a few years afterwards, satisfied that it is not a wise man's errand to leave Platte county in search of a better country.

TIMES GREATLY IMPROVED BY THE MEXICAN WAR.

The same spring of the Oregon immigration the Mexican War broke out, and soon afterwards Fort Leavenworth was made the fitting-out headquarters of the " Army of the West." 1 There the troops were to center for the purpose of organization - drilling, forming into companies, getting supplies of provisions (beef, pork, etc.); of cavalry and other horses, freight stock (principally oxen), and every- thing needed for their expedition to Santa Fe and Mexico.

It need not be said that this was a most fortunate circumstance for the people of Platte county. Kansas was still an Indian country, and, of course, unsettled. This county, therefore, became the unques- tioned and almost sole commissariat of the army. There were no railroads then, and no Kansas Cities, no St. Josephs, Atchisons or even Leavenworths (as a town or city ) to draw the trade of the military away from here or divide the profits of supplying the army among themselves. From here most of the horses for the troops, most of the freight cattle, of the beef, the pork, the corn, and a large part of the wheat went ; and prices were soon such, in comparison with what they had been, as to make farmers and all concerned feel as if life was worth living.

This could hardly have occurred at a more fortunate, opportune time for the farmers of Platte county. A little earlier they would not have had the stock and grain to dispose of ; a little later, they had the California expeditions, in large part, to supply, so that they did not need the trade of the army so much as when they received it. But now, all their granaries were full to overflowing, there was an abun- dance of cattle and horses in the county, and the woods were fairly alive with hogs.

1 For an account of the part citizens of Platte county took in the Mexican War, see chap. VIII., p. 611-622.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

The demand of the army for supplies quickened and stimulated every industrial and business interest of the county. Money, already not scarce, now became plentiful. Farmers were encouraged to go to work with renewed energy and resolution, more lands were cleared, and farms were enlarged. Good houses and barns were built. Larger areas of grain were sowed and planted, and stock-raising received new life. Stock commanded good prices, and were in great demand. Business in the towns also improved. Weston became almost a bee- hive of busy, thriving merchants and tradesmen. It was virtually the supply depot of the army. Platte City, too, shared in the general prosperity, as well as Parkville and the other business points in the county. " Indeed, " to quote the language of an old and prominent citizen, " those were prosperous, busy times in Platte county .. ".

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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