USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Cooper County, Missouri > Part 27
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The late Capt. Samuel L. Jewett, famous as a miller, farmer and stockman, brought to Cooper County, what was known as the "Gold Bank" horses. These horses are said by older citizens to have had much stamina but to have been high strung. The Glendours and Roebucks were other horses which years ago were largely bred in Cooper County, especially in the southern part.
Along about the Civil War period a horse known as Varner's Roe- buck was in service near New Lebanon in the southwestern part of the county, where there was established a family of grey horses from which came some of the best running walkers ever owned in this section. About this period and a little later Wm. T. Groves, father of Col. S. H. Groves, and of the other "Groves Boys" was breeding, developing and training a string of good saddlers.
Another name familiar to the old timers, is "The Copper Bottoms", from which came horses of stamina and endurance. More familiar still, to the present generation, at least, seem the Telegraphs. Along about this time came the great horse, Denmark Chief, brought to Missouri by the late T. J. Wallace. This horse has some wonderfully good sons to his credit, especially when used on Roebuck mares.
About five years after the acquisition of Denmark Chief by Mr. Wal- lace, the late John F. Rogers, of Boonville, went to Kentucky and there purchased Diamond Denmark, later sold to the Luray Stock Farm.
At this point it is well to briefly review the story of Luray, with which the names of Will H. Ewing and Col. R. L. Harriman are intimately asso- ciated. It was in 1885 or '86 that Messrs. Harriman and Ewing bought several car loads of horses in Kentucky and shipped them into Missouri. A little later Mr. Ewing went to Pilot Grove, while "Bob" Harriman estab- lished himself on Luray stock farm, one mile west of Bunceton. Mr. Ewing had gotten hold of the grey horse Dandy Jim and a Nutwood pacer. He raced these horses two or three years, then went to Texas with them and there disposed of them at high figures for those times.
A year after the dissolution of partnership with Mr. Ewing, Colonel Harriman bought a stallion and a car load of brood mares in Kentucky.
292
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
The stallion was a Claybred, Royal Windsor, a large 1,200-pound bay horse with fine carriage and having a beautiful mane and tail. In the carload of horses just referred to were three filleys, yearlings and two- year-olds, which developed into sensational race horses. These mares both trotters were Miss Fullerton and Josephine. There was also Pansy Blossom, a mare by General Wilkes. Col. Harriman trained these mares, developed them into tip-top race horses and campaigned them for three years, during which time they won something like $20,000. Miss Fuller- ton was the better of the three, winning 75 per cent. of all the races in which she started. At the conclusion of her sensational race career she, with Josephine was sold to a Boston capitalist for $5,000.
Profitable as was the investment just referred to, Col. Harriman de- clares that the best race horse that he ever got hold of was a Walnut Boy pacer, Gyp Walnut, bought in two-year-old form for $450 from Dr. Robin- son, of Windsor. Gyp Walnut could make 2:10 in three-year-old form over a good track, and was a steady consistent and game race horse. She piled up to her credit in two seasons a little more than $8,000. This sum was duplicated when she was sold in her four-year-old form to Jerry O'Neal, of Boston.
With the rare foresight that has been his, Col. Harriman early fore- saw the coming popularity of the automobile, and as he puts it, "Got out of the horse game in order to keep from being run over by Ford cars." Before passing from the hasty review of the work of Messrs. Harriman and Ewing, the fact should be mentioned that they bought King Harold, of Woodland farm, bringing this good standard bred horse by Harold, sire of Maud S., to Cooper County at an initial investment of $1,000.
Of the younger men who are today successfully engaged in the horse business and whose work has been of lasting benefit to the county, Trevor H. Moore, Bunceton, R. F. D. 4, is entitled to high rank. Mr. Moore some fifteen years ago bought of W. S. Waters, who had come to Cooper County from the good horse center of north central Missouri, a string of wonder- fully bred horses, including King Turner, The Royal Cross, Forest King, Jr., and Top Squirrel, all out of Holivy W. 1787, a black Squirrel. From this rare foundation of stock Mr. Moore has consistently bred and de- veloped horses of merit and of show yard quality, some of his animals selling far up in four figures. Among the good horses that Mr. Moore has owned might be mentioned, Missouri King 2960, and Forest Rex 3873, the latter now at the head of his stables.
Prominent among those who have been leaders in the development of the horse and mule industry in Cooper County, is Ed Patterson, long
293
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
a breeder of tip top saddle horses and of jacks and jennets. Among the good horses that Mr. Patterson has owned there might be mentioned Bracken King.
Before passing from the horse history of the county mention should be made of the late Col. Robert A. McCulloch. Back in "the days of real sport", Col. McCulloch owned a string of racers of the kind that never failed to bring the boys up on their toes. The memory of these game horses ridden by negro mounts, is a happy one to many who enjoyed see- ing the ponies go. The late John R. Allison, of near Bunceton, was also a breeder of speed horses. To T. J. Lovell and his son, E. F. Lovell, the latter then living on the home farm, near Prairie Home, belongs the credit of having owned and developed some of the best harness and saddle horses in the county. Mr. Lovell, Sr., has also been an enthusiastic breeder of jacks and jennets. On another farm, only a short distance away, the late N. A. Gilbreath bred good jacks and jennets. N. A. George, R. A. George and the late I. S. Arnold have written their names in the jack and mule history of the county.
In many instances the breeding of horses and of jacks and jennets has been so intimately associated that to mention one is to suggest the other. Among other names prominent in horse or jack circles, or in both, there should be mentioned E. H. Rodgers, J. M. Rodgers, Green Martin, Uncle Billie Martin, W. B. Gibson, C. P. Fairfax, W. A. Sombart, Arlie Frost, W. B. Windsor, Judge Turley, the late F. M. Marshall, the late Steve M. Smith, L. R. Pedego, John Cartner, and the late Capt. C. E. Leonard. Mr. Cartner was one of the first men to own good jacks in Cooper County, he having established a breeding stable south of Boonville, a half century or more ago. To Capt. Leonard, however, belongs the credit of being the pioneer jack man of Cooper County, as well as of a large part of the entire central west. Not only was Captain Leonard a breeder of jacks, but he was also an importer. As a leading spirit in the organization of the first jack book association in America, Mr. Leonard, had much to do with the establishment of standards, which have since become generally recognized in the mule world. Mr. Leonard once face- tiously remarked that it was he who put the black in jack. By this he meant that color was at his insistence made one of the standards.
The following tables supplied by Chris Smith and covering a period of years show the prevailing prices on cattle and hogs on Cooper County farms previous to 1916. Since that time very much higher prices have prevailed, cattle passing the 16c mark and hogs reaching 20c per pound on the home market.
294
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
Fat cattle sold, not including cows, heifers and calves:
Fat hogs sold. All hogs raised on farm:
1886
20 head @ 4.25 per lb.
1886
53 head @ 4.25 per lb.
1887
18 head @ 4.20 per lb.
1887
40 head @ 5.00 per lb.
1888
18 head @ 3.60
per lb.
1888
45 head @ 4.00 per lb.
1889
16 head @ 4.00
per lb.
1889
50 head @ 3.25 per lb.
1890
27 head @ 4.00
per lb.
1890
1891
60 head @ 4.00 per lb.
1892
23 head @
4.25
per lb.
1892
45 head @ 5.00 per lb.
1893
26 head @ 3.60
per lb.
1893
35 head @ 4.75 per lb.
1894
26 head @ 4.25
per lb.
1894
30 head @ 5.00 per lb.
1895
19 head @ 3.75 per lb.
1895
25 head @ 4.25 per lb.
1896
23 head @ 4.10 per lb.
1896
55 head at 3.25 per lb.
1897
20 head @ 4.35
per lb.
1897
60 head @ 3.10 per lb.
1898
14 head @ 4.50 per lb.
1898
50 head @ 3.50 per lb.
1899
24 head @ 5.25 per lb.
1899
75 head @ 3.25 per lb.
1900
26 head @ 4.75 per lb.
1900
60 head @ 4.50 per lb. 50 head @ 5.00 per lb.
1902
16 head @ 5.75
per lb. 1902
40 head @ 6.50 per lb. 60 head @ 5.25 per lb.
1904
24 head @ 4.65 per lb.
1904
40 head @ 4.75 per lb.
1905
28 head @ 4.50 per lb.
1905
35 head @ 5.25 per lb.
1906
16 head @ 4.15
per lb.
1906
30 head @ 5.75 per lb.
1907
21 head @ 4.50 per lb.
1907
45 head @ 6.00 per lb.
1908
14 head @ 4.75
per lb.
1908
35 head @ 5.50 per lb.
1909
18 head @ 4.75 per lb.
1909
36 head @ 6.00 per lb.
1910
21 head @ 5.65
per lb.
1910
37 head @ 9.00 per lb.
1911
38 head @ 5.25 per lb.
1911
40 head @ 6.50 per lb.
1912
24 head @ 7.75 per lb.
1912
40 head @ 7.00 per lb.
1913
19 head @ 6.50 per lb.
1913
25 head @ 7.25 per lb.
1914
11 head @ 7.25 per lb.
1914
30 head @ 7.75 per lb.
1915
27 head @ 7.30 per lb.
1915
20 head @ 7.75 per lb.
Live Stock Products.
Dairy Products :
Dairy cows on farms reporting dairy products
5,142
Dairy cows on farms reporting milk produced 4,898
Milk produced (gallons)
1,182,479
1901
16 head @ 4.65
per lb. ยท 1901
1903
24 head @ 4.60 per lb.
1903
55 head @ 3.50 per lb.
1891
20 head @ 5.00
per lb.
295
32,315
5,042
3,428
299,745
103,998
330 200
Poultry Produces : Poultry raised Poultry sold
Eggs produced (dozens)
Eggs sold (dozens)
Honey and Wax:
Honey produced (pounds)
Wax produced (pounds)
Wool, Mohair and Goat Hair:
Wool, fleeces shorn
Mohair and goat hair, fleeces shorn
Domestic Animals Sold or Slaughtered:
Horses, mules, asses and burrows
Sheep and goats
Sheep .- As far back as three-quarters of a century, Cooper County
was noted for its fine flocks of sheep. Among the present day breeders of sheep might be mentioned the following: S. H. Groves, R. S. Roe, Clayton Glasgow, W. H. Glasgow, J. O. Groves, T. J. Burrus, C. P. Tutt
& Son.
The 13th census taken in 1910 gives the following figures relative to
live stock in Cooper County. Cattle were listed as follows: Dairy cows, 5,765; other cows, 3,251; yearling heifers, 2,660; calves, 2,547; yearling steers and bulls, 2,798 ; other steers and bulls, 5,482.
Horses were listed as follows: Mature horses, 7,932; yearling colts,
814; spring colts, 382; mules (mature), 4,572; yearling colts, 771; spring colts, 328 ; asses and burrows, 214.
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16,085
305
8,294
187
893
2,772 12,249 78,055 3,306
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Milk sold (gallons)
Cream sold (gallons)
Butter fat sold (pounds) Butter produced (pounds)
Butter sold (pounds)
Cheese produced (pounds) Cheese sold (pounds)
1
1
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354.881 107,172
1,150,363 810,004
Calves
Other cattle
Swine
1
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
296
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
Swine were listed as follows: Mature hogs, 44,609 ; spring pigs, 29353. Sheep were listed as follows: Rams, ewes and wethers, 9,676; spring lambs, 6,383; goats, 802.
Soils .- The soil survey of Cooper County made by A. T. Sweet of the United States Department of Agriculture, and E. S. Vanatta and B. W. Tillman of the University of Missouri, presents a fund of information for the farmer and agriculturist of Cooper. It will doubtless be read with interest by a large part of our population. We glean from it the following :
The soils of Cooper County group themselves naturally into four principal divisions, the level upland soils, the loessial soils, the residual soils, and the alluvial or bottom land soils.
The origin of the level upland soils is open to some doubt. The soil as it exists at the present time is very much like the upland soils of northwestern Missouri, which are known to have been derived from glacial material laid down either by water or wind. The latter are underlain by glacial deposits, while the level upland soils of Cooper County have no glacial material beneath them. They lie on the residuary silts and clays derived from limestones or on the limestone itself. Typical glacial de- posits, like those underlying the northeastern Missouri soil, are not known to occur under the level upland soils of central and southern Cooper County.
The soils in Cooper County are also very much like certain smoothland soils in Pettis, Henry, Bates, Vernon, and other counties in southwestern Missouri. They extend across the State line into southeastern Kansas. These soils are undoubtedly derived from coal measure shales and clays. The Cooper County soil is somewhat better soil than the similar soil occurring in these counties, but its physical character, the thickness, the nature of the subsoil, and relation to the underlying rock are essentially the same. Its greater productivity is probably due to its better drainage and its higher percentage of humus.
Because of the absence of underlying glacial material and of the close similarity between this soil in Cooper County and those in the counties named above, the Cooper County soils have been correlated with the latter rather than with the soils of northeastern Missouri, and are considered to have been derived from clays and shales of Coal Measure age.
The origin of the loess is not clearly understood, but it is supposed to be due, in part at least, to the removal and deposition of materials from previously glaciated areas by the wind. The present soils of this
297
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
,
group are the result of weathering of these deposits. The residual soils have come from the weathering in place of various beds of rock, prin- cipally limestone, occupying the hill slopes between the upland prairies and the valley floors.
The alluvial soils are of recent origin, and have been deposited in the flood plains of the streams by which they have been carried to their present position.
The loess soils stretch in a rather narrow belt along the northern side of the county. On the extreme eastern boundary the loess disappears as a typical deposit. A narrow wedge of it ends one mile west of the county line and north of the Petite Saline. Thence westward the belt widens, but it does not attain a greater width than two and one-half miles, except in one or two places.
The loess soils are usually recognized by the somewhat rounded topog- raphy of the country over which they are spread; by the light yellowish- brown color of the soil; by its smooth satiny texture; by the high per- pendicular bluffs, which shut in the older roads; by the absence of rocks of any kind, except occasionally near the bottom of the deepest ditches ; by the uniform texture of soil and subsoil: and usually by the strong, healthy appearance of the growing crops.
In elevation the loess soils range from a little over 600 feet above sea level on the lower slopes to a little over 750 feet along the crest of the ridge which extends almost continuously from near Wooldridge on the east entirely across the county. The surface, therefore, has a range in elevation of only about 150 feet, yet, except for a few flat areas on the higher portions of the western end of this ridge, it has a well-rounded billowy topography, which is in marked contrast to the sharper cut topography of the residual soils farther south.
Over a large portion of the area covered by the loess soils the same material extends entirely over the surface, covering crests, slopes, and valleys. The formation is deepest, however, near the Missouri River and thins out toward the south, its southern boundary being a very indefinite line. It also seems to be somewhat thicker on the crest of the ridges and at the foot of the slopes than on the slopes, and as the southern edge of the area of deposition is approached it appears only upon the ridges.
Although the greater portion of the country occupied by the loess soil is quite undulating, limited areas in the northwestern part of the county are more nearly level and are darker in color.
The loess soils in this area have been divided into two classes, the
298
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
undulating lighter-colored soil, called the Knox silt loam, and the more nearly level darker colored soil called the Marshall silt loam.
A large part of the uplands south of the loess soils is called prairie and is distinguished by the absence of natural timber growth. The soils here are characterized by an almost level surface and by a black silty surface material which grades into a gray silt, and is underlin by a layer of stiff resistant clay several inches in thickness, which in turn is under- lain by a mottled yellow and gray silty clay. From the very close resem- blance between the subsoil of the prairie, as seen in the exposures on eroded slopes, and the subsoil exposed near the edge of the loess sheet, it would seem that these prairie soils were partly covered along the northern side of the county by loess.
In many places the transition from the prairie soils to the residual soils is quite abrupt, only a few steps intervening between the black surface soil with heavy clay subsoil and the reddish-yellow chert-filled residual soil; but throughout the greater part of the area the prairie soils are bordered by a soil differing from the prairie soil in being gray or yellowish-brown at the surface instead of black, in occupying the slopes of small streams which extend back into the prairie in places covering the narrow ridges between the small streams, and in having, in most cases, no well-defined clay layer in the subsoil. This soil may be considered a modified prairie soil, the modification in some places being due to the erosion of the surface of the prairie, in others to the gradual movement or creep of the soil particles down the slopes, and in others to a thorough leaching of the soil along the ridge crests. This region was formerly timbered to a considerable extent.
The level upland soils, then, may be divided into the level black prairie soil, called the Oswego silt loam, and the modified glacial soil, lighter in color and usually without the heavy layer in the subsoil, called the Boone silt loam.
In the rougher portions of the county south of the Blackwater-Petite Saline line there is no possible question about the origin of the soil. It is a residula limestone soil, partaking of the nature of the rocks that underlie it. The soils in the sandstone-shale-clay belt likewise are residual soils, derived from these same sandstones, shales, and clays and partaking of their nature. Along the river bluffs and extending southward for a few miles the foundation rock, whether it be limestone, as it is in most places, or sandstone-shale-clay rock, as it is in a few cases, is covered by
299
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
the loess, a brown silt deposit. From this material has been made the soils of the river hill belt.
The soils of the uplands south of the Blackwater-Petite Saline belt are derived from a silt and clay soil material that lies on limestone but has not been derived from it.
There are at least two possible sources of this material: (1) It may be a disintegrated remnant of shales and clays that originally overlaid this area. The shales and clays have been broken up by weathering into silts and clays, but the material has not been removed by erosion on account of the protection afforded by the solid limestone on which it lies. (2) It may be a layer of overwash or outwash glacial material that was spread out over this region during glacial times by streams flowing out from the glacier. At the present time the former seems to be the most probable origin of this material. The general soil belts or areas of the county therefore are (1) residual limestone soils, (2) residual sandstone- shale-clay soils, (3) loess soils, (4) soils of doubtful origin but probably residual soils from shales, clays, and fine-grained sandstones, and (5) alluvial soils. The accompanying map shows the distribution of these soil areas. The differentation in the field of the residual soils of the sandstone- shale-clay belt from the loess soils to the north of it has proved to be a difficult matter. They are both silty soils and both brown in color. Where the rock does not underlie the soil it is very difficult to locate the boundary. The crierion used was the percentage of clay in the subsoil. The loess soil has a low clay percentage. When the subsoil had enough clay to make it sticky, it was not considered as of loessial origin. The character of the native vegetation, especially the trees, was used as a supplementary criterion in mapping this difference.
The alluvial soils are made up from material eroded from all other soils of the area, carried by water in suspension and redeposited. They vary greatly in character, depending upon the source from which derived, the methods of deposition, and the processes they have undergone since they have been laid down.
The alluvial soils in the southern part of the county contain much material which has been carried down from the eroded edges of the prairie and the gray silt ridges mixed with material from the residual soils. Those found along the streams which drain the loess are derived almost entirely from that formation and resemble it closely, while those deposited along the Missouri River have come from several different
300
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
sources, are more complex, and differ essentially in composition from the other alluvial soils of the county.
Closely related to the alluvial soils are the soils found in valleys of small streams and along the base of long slopes, where the soils, although they have not been carried in suspension, have reached their present posi- tion through the gradual work of surface water, which has removed the particles from the uplands and the slopes to the lowlands. This drift or creep often results in almost flat areas of dark-colored soil, more or less similar to the true alluvial types, and where these areas are of sufficient extent they have been grouped with the alluvial soils.
The alluvial soils have been divided into two groups. Those derived from the loess, glacial, and residual soils and found along the streams of the county have been mapped as Wabash soils, and those found along the Missouri River have been classified as Sarpy soils.
The Knox silt loam is a light-buff or very light yellowish-brown silt loam, smooth and satiny in texture. At a depth of about 16 inches this material passes very gradually into a heavier silt loam, in which the pro- portion of very fine sand found in the surface soil is very much reduced while the clay content is slightly increased. The subsoil is also more yellow and sometimes shows a reddish tinge. It extends to a depth of several feet. In many places at a depth of four or five feet there occurs a horizontal layer of material discolored a reddish brown by iron oxide. This layer usually contains numerous small iron concretions and in places small pipes of the same material. Below this depth the soil grades into a more or less mottled gray and yellowish silty clay. Where exposed to the direct action of running water or to travel, as in public roads, the loess from which the type is derived wears away very rapidly and yet the soil seems to be of such a texture, the soil grains of such a shape, or else the material is so held together by a very slight cementation that instead of creeping and moving to form slopes it stands in perpendicular banks. As it weathers it also develops a peculiar system of perpendicular cracks which, with horizontal cracks at greater intervals, gives it a peculiar columnar structure somewhat resembling basaltic columns.
This soil was formerly timbered and supported a heavy growth of white, bur, and laurel oak, black and white walnut, hickory, elm, hack- berry, wild cherry, ash, honey locust, pawpaw, sassafras, wild plum, and hazel, but on account of its value for agricultural purposes very few areas, and these of small extent, remain uncleared. When the land is first cleared, owing to the very large amount of leaf mold and humus at the surface, this portion of the soil is quite black, but after weathering and
301
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
leaching for a few years, it becomes much lighter in color, and in many places the surface when well leached and dry is a light-gray differing but little in color or texture from the gray silt ridges of the Boone silt loam. As noted already, the Knox silt loam occupies the larger part of the survey between the main east and west lines of the larger streams of the county and the Missouri River, the area approximating one-fifth of that of the entire county.
As a whole the Knox silt loam is the best soil of the area. It is a deep, well-drained soil, yet holds moisture well. This is noticeable during periods of dry weather when the crops on it are much better able to withstand the drought than those on some of the other soils of the area. In the fall, too, the forest trees on it remain green much longer than on the more shallow residual soils. This soil is warm, friable, easily culti- vated, and productive. The average yield of corn on fields in the best condition is about 48 bushels and of wheat 19 bushels per acre.
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