USA > Missouri > Cedar County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 39
USA > Missouri > Dade County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 39
USA > Missouri > Barton County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 39
USA > Missouri > Hickory County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 39
USA > Missouri > Polk County > History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade, and Barton counties, Missouri > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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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 southeast 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 Judge William Penn, an early settler, is situated in the southern portion of the county, between Turnback and Limestone Creeks, and above their junction. It
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY.
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 nar- rowly fringed with trees, and from the eminences one can trace the line of waving trees until the eye loses the outline in the dim distance.
Soil .- The prevailing country rock is a sandstone and lime- stone formation, with large areas of flint and chert cropping out in the more 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 subsoil covered with a red, or what is termed a " mulatto," loam. For wheat, corn and tobacco raising, it is unsurpassed. The valleys along the streams are alluvial deposits of rich, black loam, from two to six feet in depth, overlying sub- deposits of gravel and limestone, and yield corn averaging from sixty to eighty bushels per acre, according 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 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 tim- ber on the uplands consists of the oak in its several varieties, hickory, and a few other hard-wood varieties, while in the val- leys and along the streams it consists of black and white walnut, ash, soft maple, sycamore, elm, and a few other kinds, includ- ing 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 the Eastern States. Along the bluffs of Son's Creek several groves of cedar exist, but the trees are not of sufficient size to be of use except
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
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 annual 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 abun- dant 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.
Climate .- The climate of Dade County is a happy medium between the extremes of heat and cold. The winters are mild and short. Snow rarely falls before Christmas, and never exceeds but a few inches in depth, and seldom lies on the ground longer than three or four days at a time. Mercury seldom falls to zero, and is not much of the time below the freezing point. This is a " sunny climate," even in winter, and, except when it is raining or storming, the outdoor laborer never has to lose a day's work on account of the weather; and the contour of the country being, as it is, somewhat rolling, and well supplied with forests, it is never visited with severe storms or cyclones. There are no swamps or stagnant pools of water in the county; consequently it is clear from all malaria, except what is caused in all new coun- tries by the upturning of the virgin soil. Though the summers are long, the heat is never excessive, being tempered, as it is, with the high elevation and the breezes from the west. It is doubtful whether a more healthy country than the Ozark Range can be found anywhere on the continent. Fevers of the typhoid type are rare, and lung and bronchial diseases are comparatively unknown. The water is pure and healthy, and entirely free from alkali or other deleterious substances.
Wild Animals and Wild Fowl .- When the first settlers landed here they found the forests inhabited by buffaloes, bears, panthers, wolves, wild-cats, catamounts, elk, deer, and all the smaller animals common to this latitude. Wild fowl, such as geese, turkeys, ducks and smaller birds, were also natural claim- ants of the territory. The buffaloes soon fled to the westward and became extinct; the bears refused to flee, but have become
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY.
extinct. The wolves, and the animals of the cat kind, were very numerous. A war of extinction was begun on them by the early settlers, and it has been continued, so that not many of these animals now remain. The deer were so plentiful that they were found in herds or droves. They have been hunted and slain for food, but a few still remain - enough to amuse the hunters. The elk are extinct. The smaller animals, such as foxes, raccoons, rabbits and the like, abound in considerable numbers. Wild turkeys were once so abundant that the early settlers killed all they could consume. Wild geese are very scarce now, but the turkeys and ducks, even yet, abound to some extent. The small birds- the songsters -in great numbers, still make the groves ring with their music.
GENERAL RESOURCES AND STATISTICS.
Mineral Resources .- The mineral deposits of the county con- sist of coal, iron, lead, zinc and fire-clay. Coal has been discov- ered in several places in the northwestern part, and the McCluey Mines, owned by Robert McCluey; the McGarvey Mines, owned by Samuel McGarvey; the Star Banks, owned by W. L. Burnett, Jr .; the Seaton Banks, owned by J. R. Seaton, and many others, have been opened and operated by their respective owners. The eastern limits of the coal beds, so far as prospected, extend to Cedar Creek, and as far . south as its head. There are three distinct strata, the first, or surface stratum, ranging from one and a half to three feet in thickness. Lower strata run from two to five feet in thickness. The upper or surface stratum crops out in many places along the valleys and streams.' As far as prospected all the strata are soft bituminous coal. It usually sells at about $1.75 per ton at the banks. Estimated products for the winter months of 1886-87 were Robert McCluey Mines, 60,000 bushels; twelve other mines, 135,000 bushels. Number of men employed, 75 to 90; distance from railroad, eight miles.
The iron deposits exist mostly in the northeastern portion of the county -in Morgan Township. Solid masses of iron ore have been discovered on the surface in many localities. At an
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
early date in the settlement of the county, a small forge was erected on Sac River, where the ore from this region was smelted and manufactured into iron. For the want of transportation the work was abandoned, and no further developments of the iron resources in that region have been made.
Zinc was discovered in Dade County in 1874, at Corry, ten miles northeast of Greenfield; at Pemberton, two miles further south on Sac River, and at the McGee diggings, a short distance farther up the river, and nearly due east of Greenfield. These deposits consist of carbonates, silicate and blende, in almost - unlimited and apparently inexhaustible bodies, from which, since 1874, thousands of tons of raw ores have been shipped annually to zinc furnaces at La Salle, Illinois; Cherokee, Kansas; Joplin, Missouri, and other points. Lead mining, however, is the over- topping mining industry of Dade County. In the spring of 1875, some miners, while mining for zinc, about ten miles northeast of Greenfield, and east of Sac River about two miles, and near where the mining town of Corry is now situated, struck a boulder of lead weighing 50,000 pounds, only a few feet below the sur- face. The excitement grew intense. Hundreds of miners, prospectors and capitalists flocked to the spot. Other rich dis- coveries of lead rapidly followed. The Dade County Mining and Smelting Company was organized by citizens of Dade County. Furnaces were erected, and the town of Corry laid out. At the close of the year 1875, over half a million pounds of lead had been mined and smelted.
This company still continues the business, and the amount of lead mined and smelted in the county since the ore was first dis- covered and the mines opened amounts to several millions of pounds, while the amount of zinc that has been mined and ship- ped from the county reaches many thousands of tons. Large deposits of fire-clay of superior quality exist in the southeastern portion of the county - near Rock Prairie, about twelve miles southeast of Greenfield - on the line of the Kansas City & Mem- phis Railroad. A pottery has been established at this place, and a large quantity of earthernware and tiling has been manu- factured.
Manufacturing .- Dade County contains all the elements
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY.
which go to make up a good manufacturing center: coal, iron zinc, lead, fire-clay, and the best building stone in the West. The stone for the United States building at Fort Smith was taken from the stone quarries in Dade County, which are said to be superior in quality to any building stone in this part of the country. Lime is also manufactured in this county. Some of the foregoing has been compiled or quoted from a carefully prepared article by a well-posted citizen of Dade County, the same being verified by existing facts.
Dade County is abundantly supplied with water-power, and several flouring mills and saw-mills have been erected on her principal watercourses. On Sac River are two flouring mills with the full roller process for the manufacture of flour; and there are several grist-mills on Turnback and Limestone Creeks. There are also a number of water-power saw-mills in the county.
Agriculture, Stock Raising and Horticulture .- Dade County is well adapted to general agricultural pursuits, and, on account of its mild climate and excellent supply of water, it is especially well suited to the raising of stock. The mild climate also renders the growing of fruits a profitable undertaking. Wheat growing has risen from an experimental branch of farming to one of the leading crops. The early settlers of the county, coming mostly from Kentucky and Tennessee, introduced the wooden mold- board and bull tongue, with which the farming was principally done prior to the Civil War. After the close of that struggle, with the coming of settlers from more northern portions of the United States came the modern implements of the country, as well as better methods of farming, and the result has been a very great improvement in farming, but yet the room for improvement has by no means been fully occupied.
Owing to the mild temperature, high altitude, and slight trouble from insects, fruit has always done well in Dade County. Before the county was connected by rail with Kansas, thousands of wagons came annually from that State to this part of Missouri for apples. Kansas is still supplied with fruit from this part of Missouri, but mostly now by rail instead of by wagons. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, especially wild plums, and all the smaller fruits common to this latitude, grow here in great abundance
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
and mature to great perfection. Grapes, both cultivated and wild, produce abundantly. Great quantities of wine are made from the native grapes. Fruit raising for the market is still in its infancy, but farmers are planting extensive orchards and pre- paring for the future. The Ben Davis apple is the variety mostly cultivated for the market. A large orchard of trees loaded with this beautiful variety of apple is one of the most attractive nat- ural scenes ever beheld.
Statistics .- To show the agricultural and stock-raising resources of the county, the following statistics are taken from the U. S. census reports for 1880: Number of farms, 1756; improved lands, 98,290 acres; value of farms and improvements, $1,915,817; value of farm implements, $103,229; value of live stock, $702,328; estimated value of all farm productions for 1879, $554,972. The same report gives the amount of vegetable productions for the year 1879, as follows : buckwheat, 465 bushels; Indian corn, 1,373,895 bushels; oats, 178,978 bushels ; wheat, 110,157 bushels; rye, 1.905 bushels; hay, 2,602 tons; Irish potatoes, 16,860 bushels ; sweet potatoes, 4,980 bushels ; tobacco, 5,422 pounds. The reader should bear in mind that all these produc- tions did not come from the whole area of the county, but only from the acres under cultivation of the 98,280 acres of improved lands, the latter being only about three-tenths of the whole area of the county.
The amount of live stock in the county, as shown by the same report, was as follows: Horses, 5;332; mules and asses, 1,368; neat cattle, 21, 159; sheep, 12,019; swine, 31,432; pounds of wool, 46,354. To show the increase, or decrease, in the number of head of live stock from 1880 to 1888, the following statement of the number of animals in the county, as returned by the assessor for the purposes of taxation for the latter year, is given: Horses, 7,928; mules and asses, 2,280; neat cattle, 26,244; sheep, 5,923; swine, 26,426. A comparison of these figures shows a large increase in the number of horses, mules and asses and neat cattle, and a large decrease in the number of sheep and hogs. The decrease in the number of sheep for the eight years was 6,096, being more than half the number in the county in 1880. This rate of decrease, if continued, will soon drive the industry of raising sheep from the county. The cause
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY.
for it must must be the decrease in the price of wool, and what caused the decrease in the price of wool cannot be discussed here. The decrease in the number of hogs, as shown for the same time, amounts to 5,006, but this can be accounted for by the fact that the census report shows the number of hogs raised during the preceding year, including those sold and slaughtered, while the assessor's report shows only the number on hand at a certain time - when taxes accrue. This, to a very limited extent, is also true with reference to the sheep, but only so as sheep are raised almost entirely for the wool product, only a few being sold or slaughtered. In all probability, the number of hogs now raised in the county is much greater than in 1880. Stock raising, with the exception of sheep, is very profitable in Dade county, and the farmers have introduced the best and finest breeds of all kinds of animals.
Population .- The population of Dade County was, in 1850, 4,246; in 1860, 7,072; in 1870, 8,683; in 1880, 12,557. The colored population, included in the foregoing, was, in 1860, 351; in 1870, 204; in 1880, 248. Nearly all the colored people enu- merated in 1860 were slaves, that being before the abolition of the institution of slavery. The census of 1890 will show a marked increase in the entire population of the county, as it is increasing considerably by immigration. The population of the county in 1880, by municipal townships, was as follows: Cedar, 1,161; Center, including Greenfield, 1,968; Grant, 628; Marion, 594; Morgan, 1,679; North, 1,200; Polk, 1, 117; Rock Prairie, 1,097; Sac, 1,200; Smith 741; South, 1, 143.
Taxable Wealth and Taxation .- As a matter of course, the taxable wealth of the county at its organization was but meager, consisting only of the limited amount of property owned by the few pioneer settlers. The following table shows the amount of taxable wealth accumulated from the settlement of the territory composing the county, up to the year 1880, and increase thereon from that time up to 1888:
Increase.
Real estate.
ISSO. $ 904,563
ISSS. $1,537,046
$ 632,483
Personal property ..
776,757
1,210,710
433,953
Merchants' property
64,432
104.407
39,975
Railroad property
338,055
338,055
Telegraph property
3,838
3,838
Total
$1,745,752
$3,194,056
$1,448,304
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
This shows a wonderful development of the resources of Dade during the last eight years. But few counties can be found to equal it. According to this showing of the rapid increase of property and its value, no property-owner of Dade County need be discouraged. The tax books are not in such shape as to enable the writer to give an accurate account of the taxes charged in 1880, but the taxes have not increased in proportion with the taxable property. The total amount of taxes charged on the books for 1888, are, for the several purposes, as follows: State, $11,218.39; county, $11,224.37; railroad, $16,838.57; total, $39,281.33. To this amount must be added the school taxes charged, amounting to $13,245.78, making the grand total of taxes charged $52,527. II. This makes the rate about one dollar and sixty-four cents on each one hundred dollars of the assessed valuation, or about half that amount on the real valuation, as it is well known that property is never assessed for taxation for more than half of its actual value.
SETTLEMENT.
Indian Occupancy .- The original occupants of the territory composing Dade County were the Osage Indians, who claimed dominion over all the lands lying between the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers, embracing the greater portion of the States of Missouri and Arkansas. The Quawpaw Indians also claimed dominion and were original occupants of a portion of this country. Other tribes such as the Delawares, Choctaws and Cherokees, after their removal from the east, roamed over this portion of the country. The Indian titles to the lands here were extinguished by treaties made at different times before the settlement of the county began. The early pioneers found the Indians generally peaceable and friendly, and for a number of years after the settle- ments began, they returned annually on hunting excursions, but proved to be of considerable annoyance on account of the fear maintained by the women and children.
Old Fortification .- About seven miles northwest of Green- field, and near Son's Creek, are the remains of an old fortification, consisting of a circular embankment of earth in front of a ditch, .
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY.
inclosing about seven acres. The embankment is worn down, and the ditch nearly filled up, and upon both are large growing trees, giving evidence that the fort was built a century or more ago. From the east side of the inclosure, a ditch is yet traceable for about 150 yards, in the direction of a spring some 250 yards distant. It is supposed that this ditch extended all the way to the spring, and was used as a safe passage thereto. Near the spring, ashes and coals, at and below the surface of the ground, are found, indicative of a furnace, where, apparently, much fuel was once consumed. It is not known by what people these works were constructed, but it is conjectured that they were made by Spanish explorers and hunters of mineral wealth, the fort to protect them from Indian attacks, and the furnace to smelt the ores.
Early White Settlers .- The first settlements in the territory now embraced in Dade County were made in the latter part of 1833, and the early part of 1834. Among the pioneer settlers were William M., and Redden, and John Crisp, who located on and near Crisp Prairie, after whom it was named. Silas and Enoch Hobbs and J. M. Leemaster, settled on Sac River; William Downing, on Turnback Creek, just above its mouth. James Jennings, Jacob Yokum and William and John Anderson settled on the same creek. Peter Hoyle, from Tennessee, settled about two and a half miles east of Greenfield. Matthias H. Allison settled on the site of the present town of Greenfield, and his father, Joseph Allison and Maj. James Allison, the latter having been a soldier in the War of 1812, settled near by. George Davidson settled one mile north of the present site of Greenfield. R. D. and William McMillen settled on Limestone Creek, south of the site of Greenfield. William Hampton (Uncle Billy), a good financier and farmer and great hunter, settled two miles west of Greenfield, and John Lack, from Virginia, settled one mile further west. John M. Rankin, from Tennessee, settled two and a half miles north of the site of Greenfield, and was the first commissioner of the county seat. William Penn settled on Pennsylvania Prairie, in whose honor it was named.
All of these settlers, and perhaps others, were here in 1839, when Alexander M. Long (the father of the present county sur-
2S
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
veyor, Arch. M. Long) came from Wilson County, Tenn., with his family, and settled on Turnback Creek on the claim first set- tled by Jacob Yokum. Other early settlers were Nelson Mc- Dowell, who settled on Crisp Prairie, and was afterward the first presiding justice of the county court, and subsequently clerk of the county for many years; also Samuel Lefors, who settled near Crisp Prairie, and James Hembree, who located on the site of the present village of Melville; also Judge John C. Wetzel, who set- tled near Greenfield, and Jesse Finley, who settled on Crisp Prairie. Jonathan Parris and Aaron Finch settled about the year 1839 or 1840, and were early representatives of the county in the Legislature. In the spring of 1840, Samuel Weir, formerly of Tennessee, came from Cooper County, Mo., and settled near the site of Greenfield. He was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. The same year Jefferson D. Montgomery, another Cumberland Presbyterian minister, came from Tennessee, settled near Green- field, and in the spring of 1841 married Miss M. S. Weir, daughter of Rev. Samuel Weir. William K. Lathim came from Tennessee to Bolivar, in Polk County, and there married Miss Alvira Bush, and about 1841 or 1842 settled in Greenfield, and afterward became a county officer. These were among the first marriages in Dade County.
In early days settlers had to undergo many inconveniences, both of a public and private character. Springfield, in Greene County, then a very small place, was the nearest postoffice, and also the seat of justice for all that portion of country. For a time the laws of the State were scarcely known in Southwestern Mis- souri, and but rarely administered. Magistrates were few and far between, and it is related by John Crisp, who married in those days, that he had to take his bride forty miles from home to find a justice of the peace who could " tie the knot." Madison Camp- bell's grist-mill, on Little Sac, in what is now Polk County, was the only grist mill in all that region. It was quite common to mount a boy on horseback, astride of a sack of corn, and send him twenty miles to this mill. As the settlements extended westward, the farmers with their ox-carts had still further to go, as they continued patronizing the same establishment until a few years later, when Campbell's grist-mill, on Big Sac, was erected
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HISTORY OF DADE COUNTY.
on the site now occupied by Engleman's mill in this county, and which for a number of years alone supplied a large scope of coun- try with Indian meal and flour .*
FIRST LAND ENTRIES.
In order to give a more extended list of the early settlers, there has been compiled from the records a list of the names of those who entered lands in the several congressional townships in the county at or prior to certain dates; care being taken to give only the names of those who became actual settlers, and omitting reference to those already mentioned. The townships and lists are as follows:
Township 30, Range 25 .- The first entries were made in this township in 1844, by James Hembree, Moses Theobold, James Douglas, Lysander S. Dunn and Samuel Harris. Entries in 1845 were made by William Dunn, David C. Eastin and M. E. Brown. From 1845 to 1849 entries were made by J. H. Hardin, Samuel Nickle and others.
Township 30, Range 26 .- The first entries in this township were made in 1840 by Thomas Box, C. J. Morris, Samuel Carr, Reuben Carter, E. F. Morris, C. Beckham, Jesse Scott, John Rice, William Mallory, William Snaden, William Williams, Ster- ling and John Sulling, Absalom Renfro, David, A. D. and John Hudspeth, William Snaden, Rich. T. Willis, Daniel W. Scott, Jas. M. Snaden, John Gamble, Jesse O. Scott, Jas. Ventioner, John Bowles, A. S. Yokum, and others heretofore mentioned. Other and succeeding early entries were made by Jacob Cox, Alex. Russell and Andrew Gilmore.
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