USA > Missouri > Howard County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 20
USA > Missouri > Chariton County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 20
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The city government was organized by the election of H. W. Smith as mayor, and R. P. Hanenkamp, Jacob Zimmerman, Dr. I. P. Vaughan, James S. Thomson, George B. Dameron, E. Billingsley, and Jesse Arnott, council. James S. Thomson was chosen president of the board, and Rev. C. D. Simpson, secretary.
The present officers of the eity government are : A. B. Southworth, mayor ; N. B. Weaver, C. H. Lewis, James Fitzpatrick, H. Stackland, John W. Baker and Simeon Openhimer, councilmen. R. H. Nanson, marshal; H. C. Grove, elerk; M. Leahman, treasurer ; and J. J. Hawkins, eity attorney.
GROWTHI AND BUSINESS.
The town continued to grow in business and importance until the North Missouri railroad was constructed, twenty-seven miles north, thereby cutting off much of the trade, which had come from that diree- tion to Glasgow, for many years.
The next blow was the building and completion of the west branch of the Wabash, which also took away much of the business of the town. For many years Glasgow was the shipping point for a great section of country, and was also a market to the farmers, who sold to the merchants their tobacco, pork, apples, etc. After building the railroads above named, the produce and surplus of the farmers along the lines of these roads found a better market, as they thought, in Chicago and St. Louis, and, consequently, withdrew their business from Glasgow.
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IIISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Since the coming of the Chicago and Alton railroad to the town, Glasgow has bravely maintained its own, and has a population of about 1,800 souls. The schools ( Lewis college and Pritchett school in- stitute) are located here ( a full history of which is given in this chap- ter), and add much to the business as well as to the educational and literary interests of the place.
The following will show something of the business and improve- ments of the town from 1849 to 1857 : -
The improvements made in the town in 1849, were as follows : The Glasgow female seminary and Odd Fellows' hall, at a cost of $3,600. A large briek hotel erected by Turner and Earickson, at a cost of $7,000, on the corner of Howard and Water streets. Captain John F. Nichols erected a two-story brick warehouse. John Harrison commenced the erection of a large brick flouring mill.
The amount of business for that year was as follows : -
Tobacco, hogheads shipped, 5,230. Green apples, barrels, 4,471.
Hemp, bales, 3,577.
Dry apples, bushels, 4,089.
Bacon, casks, 118.
Wheat, bushels. 21,670.
Bale, rope, coils. 1,250.
Dry hides, 953.
Lard, barrels, 259.
Pork, barrels, 450.
Lard, kegs, 320.
STEAMBOATS.
The following will show the superior facilities for river transpor- tion in 1850, over the present time: ---
Port of Glasgow - Came up.
Sacramento, April 19. Gen. Lane, April 22. Minnesota, April 22.
St. Paul, April 19.
Lightfoot. April 21. Monroe, April 21. J. L. McLean, April 21. Tuscumbia, April 25.
Went down.
Mary Blane, April 18. Haydee, April 20. Jas. Millinger, April 20. Ilungarian, April 20. St. Ange, April 21. Princeton, April 21.
Alton, April 22. Cambria, April 22.
Robert Campbell, April 22. Gen. Lane, April 23. Ne Plus Ultra, April 23.
-
.
El Paso, April 22.
Pocahontas, April 23.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
The population of Glasgow in November, 1852, was 800;includ- ing North Glasgow. 1,000.
Population in 1856, Glasgow, 967.
Population in 1856, Fayette, 706.
Population in 1856, New Franklin, 221.
Population in 1856, Roanoke, 128.
The Central Missouri Insurance Company of Glasgow was incor- porated in 1857.
BANKS AND BANKERS.
The first banking house was a private institution, operated by Weston F. Birch & Son, from 1854 to 1859. During the latter year, the Western bank of Missouri was organized; its principal stockholders were Wm. D. Swinney, Weston F. Birch, James T. Birch, Thomas E. Birch and George W. Ward.
The second bank was the Exchange bank, which was established in 1857, with W. C. Boon, Dabney C. Garth, Talton Turner, Richard Eariekson, Benj. W. Lewis and others as stockholders.
Thomson & Dunnica succeeded the Exchange bank in 1863. Birch, Erickson & Co. started a bank in 1865. Glasgow Savings bank wa- established in 1871 ; capital $75,000. Directors : G. W. More- head, Thos. Shackelford. J. H. Turner, Jr., J. W. Southworth, Sydney Shackelford, Geo. B. Harrison, Thos. E. Birch. Thos. Shackelford, president ; Thomas E. Birch, cashier; George B. Harrison, assistant cashier.
Howard county bank succeeded Thomson & Dunnica in 1877. Capital, $35,000. J. S. Thomson, president ; Joseph Stettmund, vice-president ; J. P. Cunningham, cashier ; A. W. Hutchinson, book- keeper; J. H. Wayland, secretary. Board of directors: J. S. Thomson, J. P. Cunningham, J. H. Wayland, R. W. Swinney, Joseph Stettmund. Monte Lehman.
RAILROAD BRIDGE, TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE.
Glasgow is the terminal point of the great Wabash system of railroads. The Chicago and Alton railroad crosses the river at this point, the company building a bridge in 1878, which cost about $500,000.
The Western Union and Mutual Union telegraph companies, are represented. The town will be supplied with telephonic facilities soon, connecting the principal business houses, the hotels and springs.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
ADDRESS OF W. POPE YEAMAN, D. D.
When the railroad bridge at Glasgow was completed, about 7,000 persons met in a grove below the town, to celebrate the event in an appropriate manner, by speech-making, a dinner, and general rejoic- ing. The chief feature of that occasion, was the eloquent and happy address of Dr. Yeaman, which we here give in full : -
Ladies, Gentlemen - Fellow-citizens: To me has been assigned the pleasant duty of giving you a welcome to this interesting occa- sion. In behalf of those to whom we and the wide world are in- debted for this magnificent enterprise, the completion of which we celebrate to-day, I welcome all. In behalf of the citizens of the old and cultured town of Glasgow, I welcome you. To the smiling hills, generous fields, bowing forests and hospitable homes of Howard county, you who are visitors are thrice welcome.
I have said we welcome you to this interesting occasion. This is truly an occasion of rare interest. We have not met as partisans to celebrate the temporary triumph of a part of the people over another part ; not to do homage to the valor and success of some standard bearer; not to wreath with laurels the brow of some personal favor- ite ; nor for any purpose other than one in which all persons of all sections and all parties may and do have a real and practical interest. A great achievement in science and art has been made, and a won- derful advance step in higher civilization has been taken.
The ever westward course of empire, in its irresistible onwardness, has chosen our central state of the Union, our own longest river of the continent, and our own classic town of Glasgow, as the theatre for the enactment of the greatest performance of the greatest science of a progressive age. I do not exaggerate. I do not use strong terms simply because they are most convenient for speech-making. I mean what I say. A great steel bridge, spanning a great river for railroad crossing, is an achievement in the science of civil engineer- ing and the art of construction, that marks the progress of thought and learning, and surely indicates that steady development of mind and wise utilization of matter, upon which is dependent the victories for which man is so eminently suited by his God-like endowments. The adaptation of the tangible results of mind-work to the promotion of man to the higher phases and planes of progressive life, is an essential factor in the forces of true improvement.
The means and facilities for safe and rapid transit of persons and commercial commodities, are high in rank with those conditions of life which we seek to sum up and express in a single word - civiliza- tion. Prominent among these means and facilities is the structure familiarly known as a bridge. Next in the march of progress, after the improved road, came the bridge. The necessity for this structure must have been felt at a very early period in the history of civilized
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES. 213
nations, but it was not until a comparatively late one that the art of bridge building can be said to have assumed any very definite charac- ter. From Greek historians we learn of bridges built by Semiramus, Darius, Xerxes, Pyrrhus and others. But it would appear that the style of these structures was rude and unseientifie. It consisted sim- ply in the creetion of piers, upon the tops of which were laid hori- zontal beams of timber or large flat stones. During the monarchy and the early days of the republic of Rome, bridge building remained in this primitive condition : vet the arch was essentially a Roman in- vention, and it was not until after their civilization bad distinctly developed itself that the art of bridge building could be said to have existence on anything like a scientifie basis. It is not improbable that the first, stone bridge of large span was the Pons Senatorius, or Senator's bridge, built by Cains Flavius Scipio. From this time on, during the days of the glory of Rome, this important physical ex- pression of civilization made steady improvements, subject to the hindrances interposed by the eivil and military vicissitudes of the republic. Some of the Roman structures were remarkable for their imposing effect and substantial work, and evinced a skill in engineering that still challenges admiration. The principal material used in all of the great bridges of the ancients was stone, and this was the prin- cipal material used by the scientific corps of the Ponts et Chaussees of France, under whose skilful engineering the beautiful bridges of Blois, Orleans, Tours, Mohlins and others were designed and built in the eighteenth century.
But it was not until about the year 1775, that cast iron was used among the ordinary building material of bridges; this was by Mi. Pritchard, of Shrewsbury, England. in the erection of Coalbrookdale bridge, and thus was laid the foundation of a new and valuable style of construction. Mr. Pritchard's example was followed by Thos. Wil- son, at Sunderland, 1795, and shortly afterwards cast iron was largely applied by Telford and his contemporaries.
It is to the present century that the world is indebted for the highest attainments of science and art in meeting the demands created by the wonderful progress of civilization, promoted by the application of steam to railway locomotion, for bridges that combine all the elements of safety, durability and rapidity of construction ; and to our own land may the world turn for the highest exhibitions of learn- ing and skill in this department of public works.
Great bridges are not built by novices, There is no department that requires greater or more skilled brain work. We cease to look to the fascinations of poetry, the charms of eloquence, or the wisdom of the forum, for the exhibitions of the power of elose and systematic thought. It is to great works of the present day like that which we celebrate, to which we turn as the practical utilitarian monuments of true greatness. Poetry, eloquence, law and government, are factor- of civilization, but not its highest forms. The discovery and practical application of hidden forces to the real and actual demands of a
-
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
ceaselessly progressive life, is a step far in advance of those original elements of improved society, yet all are necessary to the complete entiretv.
If we would appreciate the soundness of this superiority of men- tal achievement, let us contemplate, for a moment, some of the points to be settled iu designing a bridge. And first, it must be known what is the water-way absolutely required by the most unfavorable circumstances of the particular case. This space, as to its dimensions, will depend upon several conditions : the area of the district contri- buting to the stream : the quantity and condition of its rainfall ; the configuration and the geological character of the water-shed, the drainage of which must be passed under the bridge. Again, the form to be given to the piers and arches is not merely a matter of taste. Ilere, close calculation must be made of the extent and peculiar direction of water pressure ; also of the artificial weight, which, under the most urgent demand, may be brought to bear upon the structure, and then the properties, susceptibilities, capabilities and liabilities of the material which it is proposed to use in the construction ; these and many other minute and equally important points must be studi- ously and cautiously settled.
But I now come to apply my hurried thoughts to the grand struc- ture whose proportions of wonder and beauty are before us to-day.
Behold the first large steel bridge ever erected in the world ! To the enterprise and public spirit of such minds as those who manage the affairs of the Chicago and Alton railroad company, is the world indebted for this brilliant achievement. To the learning and skill of General Wm. Sooy Smith is the company and the public indebted for the conception, suggestion, prosecution and completion of the work.
It is true that steel has entered, more or less, into the construc- tion of bridges for many years ; but until a very recent date it was used only in the parts exposed to the greatest strain. But up to the time that the Glasgow bridge was designed, no engineer had been so boll as to plan any great bridge entirely of steel. Indeed, previous to that time there was no steel which possessed all of the requisites of a first- class bridge material. There was steel much stronger than any other metal, but it was brittle at low temperatures. The minds of engineers throughout the world were eagerly looking out for a steel, the compo- sitions of which united the necessary toughness at all temperatures with extraordinary strength. Not until the scientific experiments of an American and a Western man, Mr. A. F. Hay, of Burlington, Iowa. resulted favorably, was the long-sought boon found. When this steel was produced, it was subjected to the most careful tests, and was found to be capable of being bent double without crack or flaw when reduced to the lowest temperature attainable by freezing chemical combina- tions. These tests and experiments were made by General Smith, who recommended it for bridge building purposes : his suggestions were approved and adopted by Mr. Blackstone, president of the Chicago,
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Altonand St. Louis railroad company, who is himself a civil engineer of eminent ability, as well as an executive officer of distinguished suc- cess.
There is a little incident in the history of the bridge before us, of which Americans may be justiy prond. During the national eenten- nial exposition, General Smith met the celebrated English engineer, Mr. Barlow, and, in a conversation on the subject of steel bridges, banteringly said to him : " Look out, Mr. Barlow, or we will build a great steel bridge in America before you will in Europe." It was but a few days ago that the general had a letter from Mr. Barlow, asking as to the " progress on the proposed steel bridge at Glasgow." Com- mendable was the proud gratification that must have swelled the gen- eral's heart in answering back, " Trains are crossing it." ( Here the speaker was interrupted by prolonged applause. )
We feel kindly toward the government and people of her British majesty ; yet how can we refrain from a little exultation at the con- stantly recurring evidences of America's more rapid progress? ( Ap- plause. )
The two or three very small and comparatively unimportant steel bridges that havebeen built in Europe, still leave the Glasgow bridge the only great structure of the kind in the world.
Since the designing of this bridge, a small steel bridge, built at the suggestion of General Smith, has been completed in Chicago.
But, my hearers, let us go down from the superstructure, let us leave these thousands of tons of steel, these marvellous adjustments and curious combinations of force, and we will look at the basal structure. Those piers excite our admiration as we behold the beauty of their symmetry, and wonder at the gracefulness of their forms, as they stand upholding the elegant superstructure, with its passing burdens of wealth and thousands of living souls, in seeming consciousness of their great mission.
Those graceful columns see safely across the great river uncounted millions of the treasures from the hands of industry, and the hopes . and the fears, the joys and griefs, the ambitions and disappointments of many thousands of our fellow-mortals. Long after the youngest person in this vast concourse of souls has stepped from the stage of life's varied drama, will those piers bear up and see safely over our unborn descendants. As sentinels, too, they stand reminding us that the works of man endure more than the workman, and silently say to us, lay broad and secure your foundations.
Well, we must go under the water. Those piers rest not upon the sandy, muddy bed of the river. Down through the sand and mud and debris to the bed-rock, men went excavating and taking up the bed of the river here and there, that each pier might have a safe foot- hold upon the foundations of the earth. The process known as the " pneumatic," of securing subaquatie foundations, is an invention of an English physician. Dr. Potts, made more than a quarter of a century ago, and introduced into this country by Chas. Pontz, about the year 1857, for bridging the great Pedee and the Santee rivers.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
The wonder of this species of engineering is the pneumatic cuisson, by which foundations are built above the surface of the water and let down to the bed-rock that supports the bed of the river. The first of these scientific wonders was designed by General Smith, the engineer of the structure before us. This he proposed to sink for the foundation of a light-house on Frying-pan shoals, but the war in- terrupted and the work was not accomplished. After the war was ended and the people had returned to the arts of peace, the general designed and sunk the first pneumatic caisson ever built, This was used for putting in a sea-wall protection for the Wangoshance light- house in the straits of Mackinac. It surrounded the entire light- house, which stands two and a half miles from shore, and is regarded as one of the boldest and most successful feats in American engineer- ing. (Applause.)
Quickly following this almost marvelous achievement, were the foundations of the New York and Brooklyn suspension bridge, and of the great railroad and commonway bridge of St. Louis. Mean- while, substructures of the Omaha, Leavenworth and Boonville bridges were put in, under the supervision of the same master, by the same process. Many other important bridges, both in this country and abroad, were constructed upon piers founded in this way. The pneumatic process has undergone much improvement and develop- ment since its invention by Dr. Potts, and most of the appliances used in putting in the foundations of our bridge, are the inventions of the engineer who built it.
But now we must come up out of the water. The work is com- plete before us. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Beauty is here combined with strength, durability and utility. Such combinations awaken admiration and inspire confidence.
The metal of which our bridge is composed, has double the strength of the very best wrought iron ; it stretches as much before breaking, expands and contracts less with change of temperature, ยท corrodes less rapidly, does not weaken under heavy strains, and is far more uniform in quality.
All the parts of that magnificent structure subject to tension have been tested fifty per cent beyond the heaviest load they will ever have to bear, and it is estimated that the margin of its safety is fifty per cent greater than in the iron bridges of its class in this country.
We thank Gen. Smith ; we thank Mr. Blackstone ; we thank the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis railroad company, for this contribution to the future development of a great state. The western division of the Chicago and Alton railroad is the best built and best equipped railroad in this mighty west. It runs through the heart of the best State of the union. The counties of Pike, Andrain, Boone, Howard, Saline. Lafayette and Jackson, combine all the resources of wealth of which any country can boast, and they are peopled by men and women who. for true patriotism, noble generosity and genuine hospitality, are not surpassed by the noblest of the noble.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
It is an honor to any corporation to own and use property in such a country and among such a people. We welcome the corporation and we wish it success. And General Smith, whose sojourn in Glas- gow has been a pleasure to our people, will at all times receive that hearty welcome merited by genius, culture and enterprise.
Fellow-citizens : As the two great geographical divisions of our state are at many points united by strong and beautiful spans on great arches, so may the two great sections of the union, linked by steel and iron bars, and rails and wires, be more firmly bound by the strong chords of fraternal spirit, national love and a proper regard for national honor ! ( Applause. )
We must bridge a great chasm with a great moral and social structure. The substructure must be laid deep in the hearts of the people on both sides ; the piers must be built of patriotism and con- nected by arches of wisdom, and these must support a track for the car of a common humanity. Such a bridge cannot be built by de- magogues -no seekers after public plunder need apply. We want engineers skilled in the affairs of state. We must have workmen inspired by the noble enthusiasm of true national love and pride. We want and must have a common country bound together by the chord- of common interest and fraternity, and he who seeks to rekindle the flames of sectional animosity must be anathematized as a miscreant and traitor, and be to the people as a heathen and a publican.
Such a bridge must and will be built, of which we take the one before us as a physical expression; and he who seeks to combine a solid section of the union against a solid section, will meet his merited doom at the verdict of an intelligent citizenship, ever de- manding unity of spirit in organic union.
( With this conclusion of the address, the speaker retired. follow- ed by immense applause. )
SALT, SULPHUR, AND IRON SPRINGS.
These springs which are located near the city, were discovered more than half a century ago, and are now highly spoken of, on account of their medicinal virtues. As early as 1842, they were rec- ommended by a number of the best and most prominent citizens of the town, but until recently (1882), no special effort has been made to bring them into notice. Bath-houses will be erected at the different springs by their proprietors, which will be equipped with all modern and scientific appliances, and everything will be done for the comfort and convenience of the sick and afflicted, who may patronize them. Below will be found a partial analysis of the springs prepared by Prof. T. Berry Smith, of Pritchett institute, Glasgow, in March, 1883 :-
To the Editor of the Glasgow Journal:
Last fall I made a partial analysis of some of the mineral waters
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
around Glasgow. I have no balances delicate enough to attempt to find per cents by weight of ingredients, and can only judge approxi- mately of quantities present by comparison of the precipitates. I make out a rudely comparative table : -
Springs.
Iron Oilc.
Epsom Salts.
Plaster of Paris and Limestone.
Salt.
Sulph. Gas. Flow per Day
Rector Barton's
J. F. Lewis'.
Marr's Mill .. Red Bridge
Large. small. Mediom. Sinail.
Small. Abundant. Medium.
Medinm. Abundant. =
Very small. Very large.
None. Abundant. ?
1,000 gallons. 2,500 gallons.
..
Abundant. :50 gallons.
It will be observed that the spring near Mr. Barton's is a chaly- beate spring, containing large quantities of iron and lime. All of the others abound in salt and free sulphuretted hydrogen gas, with medium quantities of iron, sulphate of magnesia and sulphate and carbonate of lime. The approximate flow per day of twenty-four hours is also given. I could not give this in reference to Marr's well spring as it is an artesian well 181 feet deep. It contains more iron than either J. F. Lewis' or the Red Bridge springs. The gas escapes and iron set- tles when the water is kept in bottles and exposed to the air, there- fore to get these to best advantage, the water must be used at the springs. I hope some time to be able to make more accurate analyses.
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