USA > Missouri > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Missouri > Part 2
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CHAPTER XXXIII REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED
JOHN S. ALLEN-CAME HERE BEFORE HARRISON COUNTY WAS ORGANIZED- SETTLED NEAR BETHANY-DELEGATE TO STATE CONVENTION IN 1861-A STRONG UNION MAN-ONE OF THE FIRST MASONS HERE-BUSINESS CAREER -RELIGIOUS WORK-TEMPERANCE ADVOCATE-PERSONAL CHARACTERIS- TICS 285-289
CHAPTER XXXIV
REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED.
IN THE OLD DAYS CAINSVILLE AND VICINITY IN 1858-BY A. F. WOODRUFF OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 290-309
CHAPTER XXXV
BIOGRAPHICAL.
HARRISON COUNTY HOME
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History of Harrison County
CHAPTER I
TOPOGRAPHY
PRAIRIE-TIMBER LAND-VARIETY OF TIMBER-GRAND RIVER VALLEY-NAT- URAL DRAINAGE-CREEKS-BOTTOM LAND-DRAINAGE DISTRICT-SOURCES OF STREAMS-NATURAL DRAINAGE OF WESTERN PART OF COUNTY- PRAIRIE FIRES AND THEIR EFFECT-PRAIRIE IN EASTERN PART-WEST- ERN PART UNDULATING-SEASONS-SOILS.
Today carries on its broad shoulders the memories of yesterday, the service of today and the promises of tomorrow .- Glenn Holman.
Originally about three-fourths of the land of Harrison County was prairie and one-fourth timber. The timber was generally along the streams of water, and some on hilly tracks roughened and divided by ravines. The kinds native to the soil were principally white oak, black oak, burr oak, hickory, walnut, elm, maple, cottonwood and linn and occasionally were found ash, sycamore, locust, hackberry and buckeye, and in some places were found sugar maple.
The trees generally were not tall, except some along the larger streams, but were generally low and branching. It seems that by the pioneers burr oak was considered the most valuable, being adapted for use in rail, post and framing timber. White oak was the best, soundest, most perfect and more lasting than any, but not so plentiful as burr oak. Hickory was not general, but found in some localities, excellent fuel, but not a lasting timber for posts or rails, but was valued by manufacturers of implements. Walnut timber was quite prevalent, but in the years 1870 to 1875 was largely bought by dealers and shipped out of the country.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Quite recently there have been walnut buyers and shippers, the later growth being of suitable size.
The early settlers, being keenly aware of the necessity, located along streams and near timber for their needs for building and fencing material, fuel at hand and for use of homemade implements were imperative, and likewise it was a fact that reducing the prairies to agriculture was not like plowing at the present day, it then usually requiring a team of several yoke of oxen to "break" the prairie sod.
This county being centrally situated in the Grand River Valley the streams of water flowing to said river ran generally in a southerly direc- tion and found outlet in the Missouri River or its tributaries. On the east side of the county along the northern half flows the Middle Fork, or what is known as Thompson's fork of Grand River, which rises in lowa, some fifty miles north of Missouri, and enters the county near the northeast corner and passes out of the county some twenty miles further on, but the meanderings of the stream flow a much greater distance. Into this river flow out of Harrison County Indian Creek, Brush Creek, Hickory Creek, Panther Creek, Trail Creek, Cat Creek, Fox Creek, Sugar Creek and Tomb- stone. Along some of these streams is found the sugar maple tree- particularly on Sugar Creek in Sugar Creek Township.
West of this fork of Grand River throughout its flow in this county is a nearly level prairie generally known in former years as the "Grand River bottom," varying in width from half a mile to two miles, next along the bank of the river being a fringe of timber, the land being higher at the river bank than out in the bottom. This bottom has frequently over- flowed when the river was high, causing much damage to crops and some- times danger to stock.
This region has lately been created into a drainage district under general law and at the present time the drain is being dug-usually referred to as straightening the river. The "ditch," as it is commonly called, begins at the river at about the north line of section 14 in Clay Township and proceeds south across Clay, Madison and Trail Creek Town- ships and across sections one (1), twelve (12) and thirteen (13) in Fox Creek Township, where it again joins the river. During this course it frequently crosses the river at bends, and when finished under the reclama- tion system of our drainage laws it will be one of the most remarkable and beneficial improvements ever made in the county. It will bring into cultivation and production one of the most fertile regions of the state.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Big Creek rises in Iowa about thirty miles north of Missouri. It enters Harrison County some two miles west of the center and flows through the county in a southerly direction, passing all the way through the county near the center of range 28. East Big Creek also rises in Iowa and comes into Harrison County about three miles east of the center and flows through the county in a southerly direction, bearing west, forming junction with West or Main Big Creek half a mile west of Bethany, thence runs south through Bethany and Cypress Townships into Davies County, where at Pattonsburg it empties into West Grand River about ten miles south of Harrison County. The main tributaries to Big Creek are Little Creek, Shain Creek, Pole Cat, Crabapple and Poor Tom.
The west part of Harrison County is drained by Lot's Creek, Muddy Creek, Panther, Sampson and White Oak, each flowing in a southwesterly direction and emptying into West Grand River.
As already stated about three-fourths of the area of the county was originally prairie, the timber principally located along the water courses.
Colonel Heaston in his account of the early settlement and history of the county supposes that the reason the timber was confined mostly to the streams and lowlands adjoining was because the fires that burned over the prairies were checked and stopped by them, thereby saving the young timber and giving it a chance to grow. That sometimes the tall, luxuriant grass would accumulate two or three years upon the prairie without being burned off. Then in some dry time, perhaps a windy day, fires would break out and sweep rapidly over the country, consuming everything in its course, only being stopped by some stream or want of inflammable matter.
In course of time the timber being saved along the streams would kill out or prevent the growth of prairie grass on the shaded and sheltered ground and thus make the timber the more secure from prairie fires. It is thus the early settlers account for the fact that the upland was prin- cipally prairie. There seems much reason to believe this, as indeed there is for most deductions made by them. They were "confronted by condi- tions, not by theories," and they were in the habit of drawing logical conclusions, inflexible rules from hard facts.
In the eastern part of the county between Grand River and Big Creek extends a large and nearly level prairie running through the county north and south. It is high, dry, rich and productive. The western part of the county is more undulating and in some parts better described as rolling,
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
and by some is pronounced not so productive, but it has been found very reliable in seasons of unusual wet or dry, more so some claim than the level prairie, and on the whole the western part is equally beautiful and now as highly improved as any part of the county.
The surface soil of the county is mostly a black loam with a clay subsoil. In the timber land the loam is not usually as deep as on the prairies and is underlaid by yellow clay of good quality for making brick and tiling.
CHAPTER II
NATURAL RESOURCES
NATURAL ADVANTAGES-VARIETY OF SEASONS -DIVERSIFIED FARMING - STOCK RAISING-GRAIN PRODUCTION-ORCHARDS CROP ROTATION-MOD- ERN METHODS AND CONVENIENCES-GEOLOGICAL-VARIETY OF STONE- SAND-CEMENT-CLAY-COAL-UNDERLYING STRATA-MINERAL WATER- HEILBRON SANATORIUM.
Natural Advantages-The Garden of Eden might have been located in Harrison County. There is nothing that will not grow within its borders and its fertile soil, equable climate, and beautiful natural scenery make it one of the most desirable portions of the globe.
It furnishes a variety of seasons unequalled by any plot of earth of similar size. Weather here gives expression to a variety of moods which are as numerous as are the sand grains of the seashore. From the cold and snow and ice of winter it is but a short step to the hot, dry, torrid conditions oftimes experienced in August. Yet these extremes are rare indeed. Taking all in all, the climate of Harrison County is ideally adapted to the arousing in man of those desires for activity which makes the tem- perate zone the place of civilization's greatest progress.
Diversified farming is practiced extensively. No one crop is counted on in any season. All grains, fruits and vegetables adapted to temperate regions have a natural habitat here. It has outdone Kentucky in the production of prize blue grass; Kansas in the acre yield of wheat; Illinois in the production of prize corn, and Iowa in the production of choice hogs.
Resplendent in opportunity, Harrison County has a veritable store- house of wealth in her soil, and in her people-the best on earth-you will find a hospitality, a sympathy, an interest, that makes for a cordial relationship which makes life worth living.
Harrison County is the home of many prosperous farmers and stock- men. The soil, climate, and topography are especially adapted to the pro- duction of grain, hay and stock in abundance.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Years ago when land was cheap and much uninclosed range pasture existed, stock raising was pursued to a greater extent than today. Many farmers were feeders and bunched together cattle in large bunches and stall feeding for the markets-these being what we now call "big cattle," three and one-half years old, the smaller farmer raising and selling to the feeders young stock and corn-another reason for feeding "big cattle." I have heard it urged that the cattle of that day and time would not "feed" until that age-also that a small farmer with only a few stall fed cattle could not ship alone and would be at the mercy of the buyers and shippers. At all events today the cattle are of a quality to feed at any age there is a market for young beef, and each farmer is enabled to independently pro- duce grain or stock or dairy product in accordance with his inclination and the nature and adaptability of his land.
The soil of the county is well adapted for raising corn, cats, wheat, timothy, clover, alfalfa, bluegrass and all kinds of vegetables and garden products of our altitude. Many farmers have excellent farm orchards, and there are mercantile orchards in the county. The method of cultiva- tion has been much improved of late years. Cleaner farming, rotation of crops, analysis of the soil to ascertain what crop suitable and last but not least the young men attending agricultural colleges and adapting their learning to and combining it with dad's experience is enabling the land to return a worth while yield. In addition the improved roads, the rural mail delivery, the automobile and the stately residences and the commodious barns give to the farmer and his family a home of comfort and convenience and the schools and churches conveniently near make community centers which invite the boy to stay on the farm.
The principal stone is of the limestone variety. Along Big Creek and Pole Cat Creek stone of excellent quality for building purposes is found in abundance. About 1888 a fine quality of stone was found in Bethany which was capable of receiving a beautiful polish, resembling marble. The county jail building was erected of stone procured from a quarry on Pole Cat Creek about two miles southeast of Bethany. This stone can be pro- cured in any desired size in inexhaustible quantities. They are easily dressed and stand exposure. The stones of the jail wall were dressed to weigh from one to two tons. They have been standing in those walls since 1862. Sand of excellent quality for plastering and cement is found in abundance in numerous places in the county. Good water is found in all parts of the county, thirty feet being an average depth.
Coal was found to exist at Cainsville in workable quantity and a com-
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
pany was organized, shafts sunk and a plant well equipped was established that produced some 800 or 900 tons daily, but the plant has now been abandoned. At Melbourne a small plant exists that turns out a good quality of coal. Coal has also cropped out in Trail Creek Township.
In 1885 enterprising citizens of Bethany and vicinity entered into a contract with the Diamond Drill Company of Chicago to bore for coal in the vicinity of the town. The drill company was to bore 500 feet deep unless coal in satisfactory quantity was sooner discovered. The hole was to be three inches in diameter and a core was to be taken out and preserved one and one-fourth inches in diameter. The boring was done in the bottom on the east bank of Big Creek about one mile west of Bethany. The Heil- bron Sanitarium now stands on the height about one-eighth of a mile east of the boring The following is a record of the boring kept at that time:
No. Character Thickness Depth 21 Limestone 16 ft. 311 ft.
22 Slate 30 ft. 341 ft.
1 Earth and clay _45 ft.
2 Hard gray limestone 11 ft. 56 ft. 23 Coal 1 in.
3 Dark slate 8 ft. 64 ft. 24 Slate 29 ft. 370 ft. 1 1 1 1
4 Limestone 12 ft. 76 ft. 25 Coal I 1 1 1 1 32 ft. 403 ft.
15 in.
5 Dark slate 5 ft. 81 ft. 26 Slate
6 Gray limestone 17 ft. 98 ft. 27 Sand shale 11 ft. 414 ft.
7 Sand shale 81 ft. 179 ft. 28 Slate 27 ft. 441 ft.
9 ft. 450 ft.
8 Limestone 5 ft. 184 ft. 29 Sand shale 11 ft. 461 ft.
9 Soapstone
4 ft. 188 ft. 30 Black slate
3 ft. 464 ft.
10 Sand shale 32 ft. 220 ft. 31 Blue clay
3 ft. 467 ft.
11 Slate shale 18 ft. 238 ft. 32 Gray slate
12 Black slate 1 ft. 239 ft. 33 Sand shale
3 ft. 470 ft.
13 Coal 9 in. 240 ft. 34 Slate (mixed) 64 ft. 534 ft.
2 ft. 536 ft.
15 Limestone 3 ft. 257 ft. 36 Black slate
15 Gray slate 4 ft. 261 ft. 37 Coal 7 in.
16 Coal 4 in. 38 Clay 2 ft. 554 ft.
17 Dark gray slate 15 ft. 276 ft. 39 Slate (mixed) 20 ft. 574 ft.
18 Limestone 5 ft. 281 ft. 40 Sand shale
62 ft. 636 ft.
19 Slate 4 ft. 285 ft. 41 Boulder
8 ft. 644 ft.
20 Fire clay 10 ft. 295 ft. 42 Sand shale 10 ft. 654 ft.
From this it will be observed that in going to the depth of 654 feet only five small veins of coal were passed, the thickest being only fifteen
16 ft. 552 ft.
14 Gray slate 14 ft. 254 ft. 35 Dark sandstone
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
inches and that a depth of 370 feet. It was thought this vein was too light and at too great a depth to pay for opening and working.
In the above boring for coal at Bethany at the depth of about 200 feet a vein of water was struck which has continued to flow ever since. Upon examination this water was found to contain some valuable mineral prop- erties. A gas pipe was sunk through the loam and clay about forty-five feet to the point where rock was struck and in this manner an opening has been preserved, securing the continual flow of water. The flow of water has continued about the same as when first discovered, being about five gallons per minute. This boring was upon the land of Thomas Monson, Sr.
In November, 1891, a corporation was formed named the Bethany Improvement Company which bought the farm of Thomas Monson, of 369 acres, which included the land upon which the flowing well was sit- uated. The incorporators were Thomas Monson, Sr., David J. Heaston, Daniel S. Alvord, Michael McCollum, Veazey Price, Edgar N. Cuddy, Arthur D. Shipley, Victor Dunn, Robert H. Wren, A. F. Woodruff, George W. Barlow, A. H. Vandweit and George W. Wanamaker. Monson's Addition and Heilbron Addition were laid out as additions to the city of Bethany and surveyed in lots and blocks. A principal street running east and west through this property is known as Park Avenue, eighty feet wide, the east end being just north of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Com- pany depot and at the west end stands the Heilbron Sanitarium, erected by this company in 1897.
The large and beautiful fair grounds of the North Missouri District Fair Association with its many and substantial buildings and stock barns lies along Park Avenue and was carved out of these two additions.
The Heilbron Sanatorium is a large, handsome, commodious and modern structure with steam heat, electric lights and a system of bath rooms, including Turkish baths. It is a three story building with base- ment story, fourteen feet wide porches and has many rooms for patients. The name "Heilbron" was adopted from its signification, meaning "healing waters," and the sanatorium erected on the heights just east of the valley of the flowing well is built on the solid bed-rock. It is surrounded by undulating wooded hills looking down over the city of Bethany. The sanatorium is now and ever since its opening has been under the manage- ment of Dr. Jerome A. Kintner, the noted heydropathist, who also adminis- ters thermo-electric treatment.
CHAPTER III
EXPLORATIONS
DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD-EARLY DELUSIONS-SPANISH EXPLORERS- PONCE DE LEON-HERNANDO DE SOTO-CORNADO-SPANISH TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS -FRENCH EXPLORERS - MARQUETTE AND JOLIET - LASALLE-HENNEPIN-FRENCH CLAIM POSSESSION-FIRST SETTLEMENT AT STE. GENEVIEVE-OTHER SETTLEMENTS-FRENCH AND SPANISH RIVALRY- TRADERS-DE BOURGMENT-FORT ORLEANS.
When the new world was discovered and had wonderfully revealed itself to the adventurers and daring men of the Old World, the enterprise of Europe was startled into action. Those valiant men who had won laurels among the mountains of Andalusia, on the fields of Flanders, and on the battlefields of Albion, sought a more remote field for adventure. The revelation of a new world and a new race, and communication between the old and the new, provided a field for fertile imagination. The fact was as astounding to the people then as it would be to us should we learn that Mars is peoples and that communication could be established between that planet and the earth.
The heroes of the ocean despised the range of Europe as too narrow, offering to their extravagant ambition nothing beyond mediocrity. Am- bition, avarice, and religious zeal were strangley blended, and the heroes of the main sailed to the west, as if bound on a new crusade, for infinite wealth and renown were to reward their piety, satisfy their greed, and satiate their ambition.
America was the region of romance where their heated imagination could indulge in the boldest delusions, where the simple ignorant native wore the most precious ornaments, the sands by the side of the clear runs of water sparkled with gold. Says the historian of the ocean, these adventurous heroes speedily prepared to fly by a beckoning or a whis- pering wheresoever they were called. They forsook certainties for the lure and hope of more brilliant success.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
To win provinces with the sword, divide the wealth of empires, to plunder the accumulated treasures of some ancient Indian dynasty, to return from a roving expedition with a crowd of enslaved captives and a profusion of spoils, soon became ordinary dreams. Fame, fortune, life and all were squandered in the visions of wealth and renown. Even if the issue was uncertain, success greater than the boldest imagination had dared was sometimes attained.
It would be an interesting story to trace each hero across the ocean to the American continent, and through the three great gateways thereof, through which he entered the wilds of the great west. The accounts of the explorations and exploitations into the great west read like a romance. The trials through which the explorers passed were enough to make the stoutest hearts quail and to test the endurance of men of steel.
Juan Ponce de Leon, an old comrade of Christopher Columbus in his second voyage across the Atlantic, spent his youth in the military service of Spain, and shared in the wild exploits of predatory valor in the Granada. He was a fearless and gallant soldier. The revelation of a new world fired within him the spirit of youth and adventure. He was an old man, yet age had not tempered his love of hazardous enterprise to advance his fortune by conquest of kingdoms, and to retrieve a repu- tation not without blemish. His cheeks had been furrowed by years of hard service, and he believed the tale which was a tradition credited in Spain by those who were distinguished for intelligence of a fountain which possessed the virtue to renovate the life of those who drank of it or bathed in its healing waters. In 1513, with a squadron of three ships fitted out at his own expense, he landed on the coast of Florida, a few miles north of St. Augustine. Here he remained for many weeks, pa- tiently and persistently exploring and penetrating the "deep, tangled wildwood," searching for gold and drinking from the waters of every stream, brook, rivulet and spring and bathing in every fountain. The discoverer of Florida seeking immortality on earth, bereft of fortune and broken in spirit, found the sombre shadow of death in his second voyage in 1521. Contending with the implacable fury of the Indians, he died from an arrow wound received in an Indian fight. He was laid to rest on the island of Cuba.
Thus began the Spanish claim to that vast territory west of the Mississippi, which included the Louisiana Province from the Mississippi vest to the Rocky Mountains (including Missouri).
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Hernando De Soto, who had been with Pizarro in his conquest of Peru in 1533, inspired with the same hopes and ambitions as Ponce de Leon, and undismayed by his failure, and inspiring others with confidence in his plans, collected a large band of Spanish and Portuguese cavaliers. In 1538 his splendidly equipped six or seven hundred men, among whom were many gentlemen of position and wealth, set sail in nine vessels for the wonderful Eldorado. In addition to his men, he carried three hun- dred horses, a herd of swine, and some bloodhounds. It would be inter- esting to follow this expedition in its hazardous wanderings, but to do so in this sketch would be going "far afield." His route was in part through the country already made hostile by the cruelty and violence of the Spanish invader, Narvaez. On April 25, 1541, De Soto reached the banks of the great Mississippi, supposed to be near the Lower Chickasaw Bluff's, a few miles below Memphis, thus achieving for his name immortality.
Here he crossed the river and pursued his course north along its west bank into the region in our own State now known as New Madrid. So far as the historian can determine, he was the first European to set foot on Missouri soil, and thus he strengthened the claim to the vast wilds of the far west. He reached a village called Pocaha, the northern- most point of his expedition, and remained there forty days, sending out various exploring parties. The location of Pocaha cannot be identified.
He explored to the northwest, but if he did really penetrate what is now the central part of the state, how far he went is but speculation.
The country still nearer to the Missouri was said by the Indians to be thinly inhabited, and it abounded in bison in such numbers that maize could not be cultivated. We have in this story no further interest in De Soto's exploration and wanderings, save to say that the white man, with his insatiable greed, injustice, and cruel adventure, was made known to the red man of the far west. Because of the white man's traits, a hatred arose on the part of the Indians, which by succeeding outrages ripened in after years to a venom that cost the lives of thousands of harmless settlers. Other explorations followed in succession, and though the ex- periences would read like a romance, the scope of this work precludes an account, even of the wonderful exploits of Coronada about the same period. Upon the result of these expeditions Spain based her claims of the Louisiana Province, afterwards acknowledged by European precedent, to be justly founded.
While De Soto pierced the wilderness from the southeast, another
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY 1
Spanish cavalcade under Francisco de Coronado, at practically the same time, invaded it from the southwest.
Coronado .- The expedition consisted of three hundred Spanish ad- venturers, mostly mounted, thoroughly armed, richly caparisoned, and well provisioned. They started their march with flying colors and bound- less expectations. The Vice-roy of Mexico, from whence they started, accompanied them for two days on the march. Never had so chivalrous adventurers gone forth, to hunt the wilderness for kingdoms. Every officer seemed fitted to lead an expedition wherever danger threatened or hope lured. More young men of the proudest families of Spain, than had ever before acted together in America, rallied under the banner of Coronado.
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