USA > Missouri > Dade County > History of Dade County and her people : from the date of the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 2
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The Ozark range of mountains is distant kin to the Rockies. They extend two hundred miles east and west and average a little over a hundred miles in width. This scope of country, the Switzerland of the middle west is fast becoming the pleasure resort for thousands of pleas- ure seekers each year. They find all kinds of nature wonderment, little cascades, bewitching grottoes, fruitful fields and gardens with farm and town homes, that are akin to the homes of city streets. Pleasure resorts abound everywhere. Community houses shelter the weary pil- grim, log and cobble stone bungalows with verdant gard- ens, greet the visitor in all the mountain country. No visitor need to be too far distant to hear the pealing of the high school and college bell, in order to find pleasure and healthful zone. Mountain roads are being made ideal, their gentle slope and graceful windings, through nature's panoramas, gives the visitor a touch of the sublime and the beautiful. The artist, the literatus and the seeker of health, climb the mountain peaks, and with glass, can see into four states. This is the home of "The Shepherd of the Hills."
I am a child of nature,. I love my mother. She has fed me and clothed me all these years. She adorns the walls of her home with master paintings, she seeks to soothe sorrow and strengthen hope and faith. After awhile she will clasp me in her bosom and there I will sweetly sleep.
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
EARLY INDIAN HISTORY. by Aaron D. States.
The Indian tribes that once roamed over the terri- tory known in the early history as Barry County, of which a part is now Dade County, left but little trace of their occupancy, save in arrow heads, stone hammers, and a few stones they used to grind their corn.
Thousands of arrow heads have been found in the upper Limestone Country, along the banks of Son's Creek, over on the Sac and in many up land districts. There are but few living who saw the Indians, mostly Osage when they occupied this portion of the country, prior to and after the first white settlers. Tradition, with but little historic record, says that the Cherokees and the Dela- wares were here about the same time, the Cherokees com- ing from the Indian Territory in 1835, soon after their ar- rival from Georgia, and, the Delawares coming into this section soon after their arrival to their new reservation on the lands comprising the country, in Kansas, at the fork of the Kansas Missouri River junctions. This was sometime during the year 1829 and 1830. They strolled over south Missouri in search of game, yet, they never had possessed a reservation here. Their reservation was ceded to them for all time, yet it was not long until they ceded back to the United States their lands-this was in the early fifties. Many of them were loath to leave their homes when asked to join their kin in the Indian Territory. Some are of the opinion, seasoned by facts, that this tribe on its journey to the Indian Territory found plenty of game in Western Missouri and eastern Kansas, and that when they found the life flowing rivers in south Missouri, this country was a sort of Mecca to them for a number of years. Game was plenty, a few buffalo, plenty of deer and bear, and the rivers and streams were well supplied with fish. Early settlers saw ruins of their wigwams and their little fortifications. The Delawares were peaceful people and somewhat industrious. They loved their home
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
in the reservation and they were loath in giving it up to the white settlers. A few Indian families, decendants from the Delaware tribe, still live in the old reservation beyond the Kaw.
When the last century was young the north part of Missouri suffered from Indian invasion and there were a number of massacres. The Indian history of that part of Missouri, is exceedingly interesting. At that time there were no permanent white settlements in this section of the state-there were a few white explorers, who were in search of gold and other valuable metals. We have record of this class as early as 1814, yet the record fails to state the names of the parties, or their success in the attempt, neither does it reveal and information whatever, concern- ing the Indian occupancy.
The truth of the whole matter is the fact that the early settler of north Missouri had but little knowledge of what the state possessed or rather territory, south of the Missouri River. Many descendants of these old time settlers of that section are still ignorant of this informa- tion, little knowing that a mighty empire lies south of the Missouri River and extends to the Arkansas State line, a part of which, is Dade County. Because of the first set- tlements being made in central and northern part of Mis- souri was on account of river transportation though very incomplete, yet it afforded a way for the immigrant and explorer to reach the interior of the then territory, a way of travel that was considered in a measure modern.
A few Indian graves have been found in sections of Dade County but they did not produce much historic in- terest. Dr. William Harrison, late of Greenfield, now of the city of Tulsa, Okla., in connection with Brother Edwin, used to delight in assembling Indian relice and at one time their collection was considered one of the finest in the country, each relic in this collection was found in Dade County. The collection was sold to - - -
Kansas City at a good price two years ago. Dr. Brooks at Golden City, Missouri has a splendid Indian relic col-
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
lection. He has been engaged for a number of years in the assembling of his collection and he prizes it highly. It is a rare collection and some day it will bring him a good price, each relic in this collection was found in west- ern Dade and eastern Barton counties. Mr. Brooks has it on exhibition in the post office lobby at Golden City.
There are other smaller collections. It is conceded that the first occupant of the territory composing Dade County were the Osage Indians, who claimed dominion over all the land, lying between the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers, embracing a greater portion of the states of Mis- souri and Arkansas. The Iuan Paw Indians also claimed dominion and were original occupants of a portion of this country in Missouri and Arkansas. Tradition says the first Indian occupancy was at the very beginning of the last century. If they inhabited this country at an earlier period they left no historic trace of the event. It was at the time the Indians were being crowded from their happy hunting grounds in the territory of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky to a more congenial portion where they would not be molested by the whites. At that time St. Louis was a pretty active river village and its principal trade was in fur production and trading with the Indians. Explora- tion parties explored a portion of the interior part of the Missouri territory. The Indians soon settled in portions of Missouri and it was not long until they had roamed the state and many tribes were delighted in the prairie dis- tricts of Kansas.
As early as 1834, we find that a missionary named Joseph Meeker, found his way into Kansas and preached to the Indians. We have no record of Indian mission work in this section of Missouri. The white settlers were slow in making the Ozark country their home. There are no great water ways in the Ozark country that would furnish transportation for the early home-seeker, and it was a very difficult matter for the home-seeker to find any sort of a trail that might give some evidence of partial civilization until the year 1830. It is true that earlier, though but a few years, they found their way to Spring-
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
field on the east and to the present post on the north, where Kansas City now flourishes. The ox team then af- forded about the only means of transportation. The country was pretty well inhabited by Indians and there were but few scattered white settlements. This made it undesirable for the first fathers to start on a journey through a wilderness inhabited by a people who are sup- posed to be the white man's greatest enemy. Though this belief, founded upon some principles of fact if any new settler experienced trouble with the Indians while en- route through Missouri to his new home in Dade County, it was never recorded and the fact forgotten.
The numerous herds of buffalo attracted the Indians from Missouri into Kansas teritory at an early period and occupied the teritory sometime after civilization en- tered that country. A great portion of the early inhab- itants of Kansas went to that country from Missouri, as well as from the States or districts farther north. The Indian always loved the buffalo chase, the excitement and its profit appealed to him. There were but few herds of buffalo in Missouri, three quarters of a century ago, except in western Missouri, where prairie country abounds. The Indian always had a liking for rivers and lesser streams, where they could build their wigwams and found their villages. Southern Missouri and especially the southwest portion seemed to be an ideal place for such industry. Primitive Barry county once had many signs of Indian habitation, especially in the wooded and rural districts. The game here was not so large, yet the country appealed to the Red Man for a sort of a home land. At no time in the early history of Dade County does it appear that the Indians gave any great amount of annoyance to the early settlers except their petty thieving and their delight in giving fright to women and children, who always dreaded the autumn months, the time when the Indians would flock here on their way back to the Indian Territory from their hunting trip to northern Missouri. They seldom stole except things to eat, and once in a while they would take a calf or a hog.
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
FORMATIVE ACT-Dade County was organized in accordance with an act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, approved January 29, 1841, and an act supplemental thereto, approved February 15, 1841. That part of the first act relating to the organization of this county, reads as follows:
"An act to organize counties therein, named, and to define the boundaries thereof.
Section 10. All that teritory included within the fol- lowing described limits, viz: Beginning at the middle of the eastern boundary line of Township 28 of Range 25; thence north on the range line dividing Ranges 24 and 25, to the township line dividing Townships 34 and 35; thence west on Range 29; thence south to the northwest corner of Barry County; thence east to the place of be- ginning; is hereby created a separate and distinct county, to be called and known by the name of the county of Dade.
Section 11. Josiah McCreary of Barry County; Will- iam Coulfield, of Greene County, and Winfrey Owens, of Polk County, are hereby appointed commissioners to se- lect the permanent seat of justice of said county.
Section 12. The circuit and county courts of said county shall be held at the dwelling house of William Penn, in said county, until the permanent seat of justice of said county is established, or the county court shall otherwise direct.
Section 46. "The commissioners to select the respective county seats aforesaid, shall meet on the second Monday in April next, at the places for holding courts for the coun- ties, respectively, in which county seats are to be located, for the purpose of entering upon the discharge of their duties.
Section 48. The Governor is hereby authorized and required to appoint and commission in each of said coun- ties three persons as justices of the county court, and one person as sheriff; and the persons appointed and
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
commissioned as aforesaid shall hold their offices until the next general election, and until their succesors are duly elected and qualified.
Section 49. The circuit and county courts, or judge or justices thereof in vacation, shall appoint their re- spective clerks, who shall hold their offices until the next general election for clerks, and until their successors are duly elected and qualified.
OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS-The supplemental act provided that the county court of the several counties created by this act should meet on the first Monday of March following its passage, and that they should then, or at a subsequent term to be held in that month, ap- point a county assessor, and that the collectors of the revenue of these counties should be allowed until the first day of February, 1842, to collect and pay in the revenues of their respective counties. It also provided that the seat of justice of the county of Dade should be located within four miles of the center of the county, and that the county courts might appoint surveyors to serve until August following, when surveyors should be elected.
In accordance with the foregoing laws, Gov. Thomas Reynolds appointed and commissioned Nelson McDowell, William Penn and David Hunter as justices of the county court, and Asa G. Smith as sheriff of the county. In further compliance with the law, these justices met on the first Monday of March, 1841, at the residence of Will- iam Penn (on Pennsylvania Prairie), and then and there organized their court, and appointed Joseph Allen as clerk, and thus completed the organization of Dade County. It was contemplated by the prime movers for the organization of the county that the seat should be located on Pennsylvania Prairie; but the clause in the sup- plemental act requiring the seat of justice to be located within four miles of the center of the county defeated their project. Soon after the county was organized, the commisisoners appointed by the act creating it to select the permanent seat of justice met as directed, and se- lected the site of the present town of Greenfield, consist-
W. R. BOWLES.
PHIL S. GRIFFITH.
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
ing, as then selected, of fifty-one acres, and procured title for the same for the county, from the owners, Matthias H. Allison and Mary Ann Allison, his wife, by deed dated April 14, 1841. This tract of land was donated to the county by the grantors, for and in consideration of the location of the county seat thereon, and it consists of the northwest quarter of the northwest of Section 19, Town- ship 31 north, Range 26 west, together with a strip on the north and west sides, sufficient in width to make the whole tract contain fifty-one acres.
After the site for the county seat was selected, the sessions of the courts were held at the residence of Matthias H. Allison, at Greenfield, until June, 1842, and on the 20th day of that month the county court met for the first time in the first court house erected for the county. As soon as the site for the seat of justice was selected, the county court appointed John M. Rankin commissioner of the county seat.
COUNTY BOUNDARY-By reference to the descrip- tion of Dade County, as given in the act creating it, it will be seen that the county extended nine miles south of its present southern boundary, and ten miles north of its present northern boundary. Thus it included all of Township 29, and the north half of Township 28, now comprised in Lawrence County on the south, and the north two-thirds of Township 33, and the whole of Town- ship 34, now comprised in Cedar County on the north. The east and west boundaries of the county remain on the same lines described in the act of creating it. The county was reduced in size to its present limits by an act entitled, "An act to define the limits of several counties within the State," approved March 28, 1845. The section describing it reads as follows: "Beginning at the southeast corner of Section 24, Township 33, Range 25; thence west to the southwest corner of Section 24, Township 33, Range 29; thence south to the township line dividing Townships 29 and 30; thence east to the range line dividing Ranges 24 and 25; thence north to the beginning." This makes the county consist of Townships 30, 31, 32 and the south one-
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
third of 33, and of Ranges 25, 26, 27, 28 and the east tier of sections in Range 29, thus making it twenty miles north and south, and twenty-five miles east and west.
MUNICIPAL TOWNSHIPS-Immediately upon the organization of the county, it was subdivided into mu- nicipal townships, but no record pertaining to their forma- tion has been preserved. In May, 1854, a new township, named North, was formed to comprise all that part of Center Township lying north of a line running from the southwest corner of Section 19, Township 32, Range 27, east, on the section lines to Sac River; and Prairie school house, near the residence of Benjamin Appleby, was the place designated for holding elections in the new town- ship. In February, 1860, another new municipal town- ship was formed in response to a petition signed by Wiley Irby and others to the number of 81. It was named South, and was bounded as follows: Beginning two and one-half miles west of the range line between Ranges 26 and 27, on the township line between Townships 30 and 31; thence running due south to the county line between Dade and Lawrence Counties; thence running due east with said county line to the range line between Ranges 25 to 26; thence north on the range line to the township line between Townships 30 and 31; thence west to the place of beginning. The place for holding elections in the new township was fixed at Finley's mill.
On the 11th of June, 1860, the county court, on peti- tion of John A. Ferguson and fifty others, created a new township as follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of Dade County; thence east to the line between Ranges 27 and 28; thence south seven miles to the southeast corner of Section 25, Township 32, Range 28; thence west with the subdivisional lines to the Barton County line seven miles; thenee north to the place. of beginning; to be known by the name of Horse Creek. The place for holding elec- tions in the township was fixed at the residence of William Cantrell.
In August, 1882, the municipal township of Washing- ton was formed out of parts of Townships South, Smith
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
and Center; embracing Sections 3 to 10, inclusive, in Town- ship 30, Range 26; Sections 31 to 34, inclusive, in Town- ship 31, Range 26; Sections 34, 35 and 36, in Township 31, Range 27, and Sections 1, 2, 3, 10 11 and 12, in Town- ship 30, Range 27.
On the 8th of May, 1883, the municipal township of Lockwood was formed, comprising Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8, in Township 30, Range 27; Sections 17 to 20, and 29 to 32, inclusive, in Township 31, Range 27; Sections 1, 2, 11 and 12, in Township 30, Range 28; and Sections 13, 14, 23, 25, 26, 35 and 36, in Township 31, Range 28. Afterward, on the 8th of May, 1888, Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8, in Township 31, Range 27, and Sections 1, 2, 11 and 12, in Township 31, Range 28, were added to Lockwood Municipal Town- ship.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.
The County of Dade lies on the western slope of the Ozark Mountain Range, in the southwestern part of Mis- souri, is the third county north of the Arkansas line and the second east from the Kansas line, and is in latitude 38 degrees north, and longitude 94 degrees west. It oc- cupies portions of Townships 30, 31, 32 and 33 north, and Ranges 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 west of the fifth principal meridian, and is bounded on the north by Cedar, on the east by Polk and Greene Counties, on the south by Law- rence, and on the west by Jasper and Barton Counties. Its area consists of 500 square miles, or 320,000 acres; be- ing 25 miles in length, east and west, 20 miles in width, north and south.
PHYSICAL AND NATURAL FEATURES-The di- viding ridge or summit of the Ozark Range, between the waters which flow northwardly to the Osage River, and thence to the Missouri, and the waters which flow south- wardly to the Neosho River, and thence to the Arkansas, runs diagonally across the southwest part of the county. The average elevation of the county above sea level is about one thousand three hundred feet, and the surface
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
is about equally divided between timber and prairie lands. That part lying in the timber and near the water courses is rolling, and in many places very rough and hilly, while the western portion of the county, more es- pecially, breaks down from the elevated Ozark ridges into the beautiful valleys and broad prairies of the Neosho and Osage basins.
STREAMS-Several cold, swift streams course through the country from south to north, which, with their numerous tributaries, furnish an unfailing supply of the best water for use, and water-power inexhaustible. Turnback heads in Lawrence County on the south, and flows into the center of the county, where it is joined by Sac River from the east, and together flow into the Osage. Limestone Creek rises in the southwestern portion of the county, and empties into Turnback near Greenfield, and furnishes power for mills. Other and smaller streams, Son's Creek, Horse Creek, Cedar Creek and Sinking Creek, traverse considerable portions of the county, and are fed by never-failing springs of pure cold water. Along Sac River, Turnback and Son's Creek, the surface of the county is bold and precipitious, with fertile valleys com- posed of the richest loam lying between the picturesque hills and bluffs. These hills are covered more or less densely with all kinds of oak, hickory, and other valuable timber, and furnish good grazing. Maze Creek, a branchi of the Sac River, enters the county from the east, and flows in a northwesterly direction, across the northeast- ern portion. Muddy Creek, being the only one in the county south of the dividing ridge, enters the county from the south, and flows in a northwesterly direction across the southwestern portion thereof, into Barton County and into the Neosho River. The larger streams of the county, at all times, afford abundant supplies of stock water, and abound in a variety of choice fish. Many portions of the county are well supplied with springs of pure, clear water, and excellent well water may be obtained in almost any part of the county, at a depth of from twelve to twenty
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
feet, thus assuring an abundant supply of water for all purposes.
PRAIRIES-In the northwestern portion of the county, is Crisp's Prairie, some 12 by 3 miles in extent, named after its first settlers, the Crisps. It is a beautiful rolling section of country interspersed with groves, and is in a high state of cultivation. Rock Prairie, in the south- east corner of the county, is another fertile and beautiful region covered with fine farms, and all the evidence of fertility and wealth.
Pennsylvania Prairie, named after JJudge William Penn, an early settler, is situated in the southern portion of the county, between Turnback and Limestone Creeks, and above their junction. It is one of the richest and oldest sections of the county, and is especially noted for its fruit growing. After leaving the hills along Turnback Creek and Sac River, going westward, one enters that vast prairie country, stretching from north to south across the entire width of the county, and extending westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains.
The streams that water this grand region flow but a few feet below the general level of the rolling prairie, and are narrowly fringed with trees, and from the eminences one can trace the line of waving trees until the eve loses the outline in the dim distance.
SOIL-The prevailing country rock is a sandstone and limestone formation with large areas of flint and chert cropping out in the most broken parts and along the streams. The overlying soil on the uplands in the eastern part of the county consists of a red clay and sub- soil covered with a red, or what is termed a "mulatto," loam. For wheat, corn and tobacco raising, it is unsur- passed. The valleys along the streams are alluvial de- posits of rich, black loam, from two to six feet in depth, overlying sub-deposits of gravel and limestone, and vield corn averaging from sixty to eighty bushels per acre, ac- cording to the season and thoroughness of cultivation. The prairie, or the western part of the county, is composed of a clay subsoil, overlaid with a rich dark soil varying from
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
one to four feet in depth, resembling the prairie soil of Illinois and Iowa, and grows all kinds of cereals in extra abundance.
TIMBER-The entire eastern portion of Dade County with the exception of the prairies and cleared lands, is covered, and in many places densely, with a light growth of timber. The timber on the uplands consists of the oak in its several varieties, hickory, and a few other hard- wood varieties, while in the valleys and along the streams it consists of black and white walnut, ash, soft maple, sycamore, elm and a few other kinds, including also oak and hickory. All the timber of the county, though some of it attains a great thickness, has a short and stubby growth. in length it will not compare with that of Eastern States. Along the bluffs of Son's Creek several groves of cedar exist, but the trees are not sufficient size to be of use except for transplanting for ornamental purposes. Much of the timber consists of what is known as "second growth," all of which has grown since the settlement of the county began, and since the Indians ceased their an- nual burnings over the surface of the country. In some places this "second growth" timber is very fine-is not scrubby, but smooth, and grows rapidly, and is already valuable for fencing purposes. There is yet an abundant supply of wood for fuel, easily maintained at moderate cost. Young timber grows rapidly when planted on the prairie, and there are some fine groves in the western part of the county.
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