USA > Missouri > Lincoln County > History of Lincoln County, Missouri, from the earliest time to the present > Part 18
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COUNTIES.
1821.
1830.
1840.
1850.
1860.
1870.
1880.
Adair
2,342
8,531
11,449
15,190
Andrew
9,433
11,850
15,137
16,318
Atchison
1,648
4,649
8,440
14,556
Audrain
1,949
3,506
8,075
12,307
19,732
Barry
4,795
3,467
7,995
10,373
14,405
Barton
1,817
5,087
10,332
Bates.
3,669
7,215
15,960
25,381
Benton
4,205
5,015
9,072
11,322
12,396
Bollinger.
3,692
8,859
13,561
14,979
19,486
20,765
25,422
Buchanan
6,237
12,975
23,861
35,109
49,792
Butler
1,616
2,891
4,298
6,011
Caldwell.
1,458
2,316
5,034
11,390
13,646
Callaway
1,797
6,102
11,765
13,827
17,049
19,202
23,670
Camden
2,338
4,975
6,108
7,266
Cape Girardeau
7,852
7,430
9,359
13,912
15,547
17,558
20,998
Carroll
2,433
5,441
9,763
17,445
23,274
Carter
1,235
1,455
2,168
Cass
4,693
6,090
9,794
19,296
22,431
Cedar.
3,361
6,637
9,474
10,741
Chariton.
1,426
1,776
4,746
7,514
12,562
19,135
25,224
Christian
5,491
6,707
9,628
Clark.
2,846
5,527
11,684
13,667
15,031
Clay.
5,342
8,282
10,332
13,023
15,564
15,572
Clinton
2,724
3,786
7,748
14,063
16,073
Cole.
1,028
3,006
9,286
6,696
9,697
10,292
15,515
Cooper
3,483
6,910
10,484
12,950
17,356
20,692
21,596
Crawford
1,709
3,561
6,397
5,823
7,982
10,756
Dade
4,246
7,072
8,683
12,557
Dallas
3,648
5,892
8,383
9,263
Daviess
2,736
5,298
9,606
14,410
19,145
De Kalb.
2,075
5,224
9,858
13,334
Dent ..
5,654
6,357
10,646
Douglas
2.414
3,915
7,753
Dunklin
1,220
5,026
5,982
9,604
Franklin
1.928
3,431
7,515
11,021
18,035
23,098
26,534
Gasconade.
1,174
1,548
5,330
4,996
8,727
11,093
11,153
Gentry
4,248
11,980
11,607
17,176
Greene
12,785
13,186
21,549
28,801
Grundy
3,006
7,887
10,567
15,185
Harrison.
2,447
10,626
14,635
20.304
Henry ..
4,726
4,052
9,866
17,401
23,906
Hickory
2,329
4,705
6,452
7,387
Holt ..
3,957
6,550
11,652
15,509
Howard
7,321
10,314
13,108
13,969
15,946
17,233
18,428
Howell.
3,169
4,218
8,814
Iron ..
2,832
7,612
14,000
22,896
55,041
82,325
Jasper. .
4,223
6,883
14,928
32,019
Jefferson
1,838
2,586
4,296
6,928
10,344
15,380
18,736
Johnson .
4,471
7,467
14,644
24,648
28,172
5,842
6,278
8,183
Jackson
5;372
7,371
8,162
11,130
Boone. .
196
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
POPULATION OF MISSOURI BY COUNTIES .- Continued.
COUNTIES.
1821.
1830.
1840.
1850.
1860.
1870.
1880.
Knox
2,894
8,727
10,974
13,047
Laclede.
2,498
5,182
9,380
11,524
La Fayette.
1,340
2,921
6,815
13,690
20,098
22,628
25,710
Lawrence
4,859
8,846
13,067
17,583
Lewis
6,040
6,578
12,286
15,114
15,925
Lincoln.
1,674
4,060
7,449
9,421
14,210
15,960
17,426
Linn
2,245
4,058
9,112
15,900
20,016
Livingston
4,325
4,247
7,417
16,730
20,196
McDonald
2,236
4,038
5,226
7,816
Macon
6,034
6,565
14,346
23,230
26,222
Madison
2,371
3,395
6,003
4,901
5,916
7,304
Marion
1,907
4,839
9,623
12,230
18,838
23,780
24,837
Mercer
2,282
3,834
6,812
6,616
9,805
Mississippi
3,123
4,859
4,982
9,270
Monroe
9,505
10,541
14,785
17,149
19,071
Montgomery
2,032
3,900
4,371
5,486
9,718
10,405
16,249
Morgan
4,407
4,650
8,202
8,434
10,132
New Madrid.
2,445
2,351
4,554
5,541
5,654
6,357
7,694
Newton.
3,790
4,268
9,319
12,821
18,947
Nodaway
2,118
5,252
14,751
29,544
Oregon
1,432
3,009
3,287
5,721
Osage
6,704
7,879
10,793
11,824
Ozark .
2,294
2,447
3,363
5,618
Pemiscot ..
2,962
2,059
4,299
Perry
1,599
3,371
5,760
7,215
9,128
9,877
11,895
Pettis ..
2,930
5,150
9,392
18,706
27,271
Phelps
2,677
6,122
10,646
13,609
18,417
23,077
26,715
Platte
8,913
16,845
18,350
17,352
17,366
Polk.
8,449
6,186
9,995
12,445
15,734
Pulaski
6,529
3,998
3,835
4,714
7,250
Putnam
1,657
9,207
11,217
13,555
Ralls
1,684
4,346
5,670
6,151
8,592
10,510
11,838
Randolph.
2,942
7,198
9,439
11,407
15,908
22,751
Ray
1,789
2,658
6,053
10,353
14,092
18,700
20,190
Reynolds
1,849
3,173
3,756
5,722
Ripley.
2,830
3,747
3,175
5,377
St. Charles ..
4,058
4,822
7,911
11,454
16,523
21.304
23,065
St. Francois.
2,386
3,211
4,964
4,249
9,742
13,822
Ste. Genevieve.
3,181
2,000
. 3,148
5,313
8,029
8,384
10,390
104,978
190,524
351,189
382,406
Saline
1,176
2,182
5,258
8,843
14,699
21,672
29,911
Schuyler.
3,287
6,097
8,820
10,470
Scotland
3,782
8,873
10,670
12,508
Scott.
2,136
5,974
3,182
5,247
7.317
8,587
Shannon.
1,199
2,284
2,339
3,441
Shelby
3,056
4,253
7,301
10,119
14,024
Stoddard
3,153
4,277
7.877
8,535
13,431
Stone ..
4,404
Sullivan.
2,983
9,198
11,907
16,569
Taney.
3,264
4,373
3,576
4,407
5,599
Texas.
2,313
6,067
9,618
12,206
Maries
2,691
9,300
11,557
14,673
Miller
Moniteau.
6,004
10,124
11,375
14,346
5,714
10,506
12,568
Pike.
St. Clair. .
3,556
6,812
6,747
14,125
St. Louis.
8,190
14,909
35,975
2,400
3,253
2,856
5,664
5,849
8,876
197
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
POPULATION OF MISSOURI BY COUNTIES .- Concluded.
COUNTIES.
1821.
1830.
1840.
1850.
1860.
1870.
1880.
Vernon.
4,850
11,247
19,369
Warren.
4,253
5,860
8,339
9,637
10,806
Washington
3,741
6,779
7,213
8,811
9,723
11,719
12,896
Wayne
1,614
3,254
3,403
5,518
5,629
6,068
9,096
Webster
7,099
10,434
12,175
Worth
5,004
8,203
Wright
3,387
4,508
5,684
9,712
Total
70,647
140,304
383,702
682,043 1,182,012 1,721,295 2,168,380
CITIES AND TOWNS.
The following table shows the population of cities and towns in the State with a population of 4,000 and upward in 1880, compared with the census of 1870:
TOWNS.
1870.
1880.
TOWNS.
1870.
1880.
Carthage
4,167
Moberly .
1,514
6,070
Chillicothe
3,978
4,078
St. Charles.
5,570
5,014
Hannibal
10,125
11,074
St. Joseph
19,565
32,431
Jefferson City
4,420
5,271
St. Louis
310,864
350,518
Joplin .
7,038
Sedalia.
4,560
9,561
Kansas City
32,260
55,785
Springfield.
5,555
6,522
Louisiana
3,630
4,325
Warrensburg.
2,945
4,040
CONCLUSION.
Such, in brief, is the History of Missouri, one of the foremost of the States of the Union in everything that goes to make up our Commonwealth. While there may be spots and flaws in the early records of its pioneer settlers, yet with them all this early and later history is one that must stir the blood and quicken the pulse of him who reads. Its institutions of civil and religious freedom, guaranteeing the rights of citizenship, education and worship, extending the blessings of beneficent law silently and extensively as the atmosphere about us, demand our love. Then, too, it is a State of innumerable and as yet undeveloped resources. Its soil yields almost an infinite variety of production. Within its bosom lie hid many minerals, and its forests are rich in ex-
198
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
haustless stores of timber, while its prairies are made to " bud and blossom like the rose." It is a State of the free school, the free press and the free pulpit, a trio the power of which it is im- possible to compute. The free schools, open to rich and poor, bind together the people in educational bonds and in the common memories of the recitation-room and the play grounds. The free press may not always be altogether as dignified or elevated as the more highly cultivated may desire, but it is ever open to the com- plaints of the people; is ever watchful of popular rights and jeal- ous of class encroachments. The free pulpit, sustained not by legally exacted tithes wrung from an unwilling people, but by the free-will offerings of loving supporters, gathers about it the thousands, inculcates the highest morality, points to brighter worlds, and when occasion demands will not be silent before po- litical wrongs. Its power simply as an educating agency can scarcely be estimated. These three grand agencies are not rival but supplementary, each doing an essential work in public cult- ure.
Above all this is a State of homes. Here there is no system of vast land-ownerships, with lettings and sub-lettings, but, on the contrary, the abundance and cheapness of land gives a large proportion of the population proprietary interests. To all this, add the freedom of elective franchise which invests the humblest citizen with the functions of sovereignty, and is there not reason for loving such a State?
The Missouri of to-day is not the Missouri of a decade ago. A dark period followed the close of that bitter internecine strife, so fatal to this locality, but notwithstanding all this, prosperity and progress beyond former precedents are now her portion. The area of land under cultivation is greater than ever before, and the census of 1890 will exhibit an astounding increase in every department of material industry and advancement; in a great in- crease of agricultural and mechanical wealth; in new and im- proved modes for production of every kind, in the universal activity of business in all its branches; in the rapid growth of cities and villages; in bountiful harvests, and in unexampled material prosperity prevailing on every hand. Colleges and schools of every class and grade are in the most flourishing con-
199
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
dition; benevolent institutions, State and private, are well main- tained, and, as one has aptly said, "In a word our prosperity is as complete and ample as though no tread of armies or beat of drum had been heard in our borders." Surely these are not the ordinary indices of exhaustion! As to resources for the future struggle, the resources of the State will meet each legitimate call. Guiding all these is the intelligent purpose of a people whose ambition, laudable indeed, is to make Missouri in reputation what she is in reality-one of the very richest States of the Union.
PART II. HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY.
LINCOLN COUNTY,
CHAPTER I.
LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, ETC.
Lincoln County, Mo., is located in the east central part of the State, and occupies portions of Townships 48, 49, 50 and 51 north, and Ranges 1, 2 and 3 east and west of the fifth principal merid- ian. It is bounded on the north by Pike County, on the east by the Mississippi River which separates it from Calhoun County in Illinois, on the south by St. Charles and Warren Counties, and on the west by Montgomery County, and has an area of 620 square miles or 396,148 acres. The 39th degree of north latitude passes through its center, and its isothermal line is 56, which passes through the mouth of the Potomac River, giving the same mean degree of temperature as that point on the Atlantic coast, which is intersected by the 38th degree of latitude.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The topography presents some striking features. Along the Mississippi River is a bottom prairie averaging about three miles, or perhaps a little more, in width. This is bounded on the west by rock bluffs which vary from 50 to 200 feet in elevation. In some places the bluffs are marked for considerable distances with a perpendicular wall of limestone rock varying from a few feet to 100 feet in height. These bluffs are cut in several places by narrow valleys through which flow the streams that lie east of the dividing ridge. This main ridge is nearly parallel with the Mississippi River, and from eight to twelve miles distant and from three to ten miles from the *Cuivre River on its west. The eastern half of the county has an uneven surface with ridges
* Pronounced Quiver.
204
STATE OF MISSOURI.
rising in places more than a hundred feet above the adjacent valleys, generally parallel to the dividing ridge, and in the north- east is a ridge of knobs running north and south, and from 300 to 400 feet high. From many points the landscape scenery is very beautiful. The western half of the county is mostly high rolling prairie, cut through in several places with the streams tributary to the Cuivre. The prairie land comprises from one-fourth to one-third of the area of the county, the balance being timbered. To the lover of romance and beautiful and changeable scenery the eastern portion of the county is preferable, but for agricultural purposes and good roads for driving, the western portion far surpasses. One may travel from Auburn to Whiteside, thence to Louisville, thence to Olney, and thence by way of Millwood to Silex, and be all the way in an excellent agricultural country with a gently rolling surface, with the exception of a few valleys on the route with some broken land along their margins. There is also some quite level country lying between Troy and the western boundary of the county.
STREAMS.
The county is drained on the east by the Mississippi and some of its tributaries, the principal ones being Bryant's, Big Sandy, McLean's and Bob's Creeks, and the Cuivre River, which forms a portion of the southern boundary of the county. All that part of the county lying west of the dividing ridge before men- tioned is drained by the Cuivre and its tributaries. This river is formed by the flowing together of Sulphur Fork, Sandy Fork, and other small streams in the northwestern corner of the county, in Waverly Township. It then flows in a southerly direction to the mouth of Big Creek at the southern boundary of the county, and thence north of east on a very tortuous line on the county boundary to the Mississippi. The tributaries of the Cuivre on the east, or rather the northeast side, are Mill Creek, Fork Branch, Sugar Creek and other small streams, and the principal tribu- taries on the opposite side are Null Creek, Lead Creek, West Cuivre, Spring, Crooked and Big Creeks. The latter has many tributaries and is the principal drainage for Clark Township. From the point where it crosses the fifth principal meridian to
205
HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY.
its confluence with the Cuivre it forms the southern boundary of the county. Upon the whole the county is well drained, espec- ially the uplands, but the river bottoms are subject to frequent overflows. In June last the Mississippi bottom previously described was overflowed in some places all the way from the river to the bluffs, and in other places from the river to points from a quarter to a half mile from the bluffs. From all of this overflowed territory the cattle grazing thereon had to be driven to the uplands for safety and allowed to consume the grass in the meadows, thus occasioning a scarcity of hay for the season in that part of the county. The bottoms along the Cuivre were also overflowed, and thousands of acres of corn along this and the Mississippi were " scalded out" by the long standing of the water.
The smaller streams are not subject to much overflow, and the bottom lands along the Mississippi and Cuivre can be saved from overflow by proper levees which, in the course of time, will be constructed. By observing the course of the water courses it will be seen that the county has a general trend toward the south and southeast. There are many valuable springs of water adjacent to the streams, the most noted one of which is the "public spring " in the city of Troy. By these springs the first settlers built their cabins, but as the country developed they abandoned the springs in many instances, built their new residences on the arid uplands, where they made cisterns to hold rain-water for family use. There are also many wells in the county, as water is easily obtained at a convenient depth by digging, but cistern water is almost universally preferred for family use. Stock water in abundance is obtained from the streams and artificial ponds, which are supplied with water by the rain fall.
Before the settlement of the county, and for a number of years afterward, the water in nearly all of the streams flowed constantly throughout the year, and in several places grist and saw mills were erected on sites where the water power was sufficient to run them. Since the face of the country has been changed by clearing and cultivating it the constant supply of water, especially in the smaller streams, has ceased, and during the summer season they become dry with the exception of standing pools of water here
206
STATE OF MISSOURI.
and there, while in the wet seasons they frequently overflow their banks. In many places on the high prairies, before the land was cultivated, and while it was covered with the native grasses, there were beautiful pools or ponds of clear water which never went dry, and which were stocked with fish; but after the original sods were broken, and the tall native grasses became extinct, these pools became dry, and their beds are now under cultivation.
The Cuivre River was first navigated by steamboats in the summer of 1844, when the "Bee," a small stern-wheel boat of seven- ty-five tons burthen, went up as far as the mouth of Big Creek. Soon after, during the high water in June, the "Pearl," of 125 tons, passed over the dam half a mile beyond Moscow, and returned. During that summer the back water from the Mississippi extended over the mill-dam at Moscow. Since that time and before the building of the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railway, steamboats, for several months nearly every summer, plied up the Cuivre to the mouth of Big Creek.
TIMBER.
The timbers comprise all the serviceable woods except pine and poplar. Lincoln is the best timbered county in North Mis- souri. In it are found oak, walnut, cherry, ash, maple, birch, hickory, linden, cottonwood, sycamore, locust, elm, pecan, hack- berry, mulberry, willow, coffeetree, cedar, catalpa, ironwood, dog- wood, hornbeam, box-elder, sassafras, persimmon and some others, showing an excellent variety for domestic, farm and manufacturing purposes. Of the eighteen species of oak found in this State more than a dozen are here; of hickory, six; locust, maple, syca- more and elm, three each; walnut, two, and so on. This list embraces all that is required in nearly the whole range of manu- factures, including, as it does, an admirable variety of hard, soft and finishing woods, and the supply may be said to be practically inexhaustible.
The walnut, however, of large size, has been mostly exhausted. The sycamore, elm, soft maple, finden, hackberry, birch and willow grow principally on the bottoms along the streams. The walnuts, cherry, ash, hickory, cottonwood, locust, cedar, dogwood, hornbeam and some other varieties grow principally on the hill
207
HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY.
sides bordering the valleys, and some of the more level uplands are covered mostly with oak and hickory. The oak in some variety is found in all places where the timber grows. All the timber of the county, though some of it attains to a great thick- ness, has a short and more or less scrubby growth. In length it will not compare with that of the Eastern States.
The great bulk of timber suitable for lumber that has been cut from the forests of Lincoln county, has been shipped out of it in the shape of "saw logs," instead of in the shape of lumber. Thousands upon thousands of walnut, sycamore, oak and other valuable timbers have been floated from the Cuivre and its tribu- taries to the Mississippi, and thence rafted to market in the cities below. The first raft of logs taken out of the Cuivre was by Lewis Castleman and Harrison Munday, in 1828, started half a mile above Chain of Rock. This afterward grew to be a great industry and is still continued, and yet the supply is not exhaust- ed, except as to walnut.
When the county was first settled there was no underbrush or small timber such as now exists. The timbered lands were open, the trees standing so far apart that the hunters could see the deer at distances from one to five hundred yards. The en- tire surface of the country was then covered with a rank growth of vegetation, consisting of the native grasses and wild flowers, which gave to the landscape, especially in the timbered lands, a much more beautiful appearance than it now has. Annually, after this rank growth of vegetation became frosted, dead and dry, the Indians set fire to it, and burned it from the entire sur- face of the country. This they did to destroy the places of con- cealment for the wild game, the better to enable them to secure their prey. This burning of the decaying vegetation destroyed the germs or sprouts, and thus prevented the growth of young timber. This practice was continued a few years after the first settlers located, and it was sometimes with the greatest difficulty that they saved their buildings and fences from being consumed. When the grasses were set on fire the long line of blaze, the flames of which encircled the tree tops, swept over the country with great rapidity and produced a sound like the roaring of dis- tant thunder. When this annual burning ceased, the germs of
208
STATE OF MISSOURI.
underbrush and young timber began to grow, and the surface of the timbered lands, where they have not been cleared, are now covered with a dense growth of young timber and bushes. The supply of this young or " second growth timber, " as it is some- times called, is so abundant that it is believed that there is as much wood in the country as when first settled, though the acre- age of timbered land is much less. The young timber is scarcely yet large enough for lumber, but much of it will do for rails.
ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY.
The minerals of Lincoln County are almost entirely unde- veloped. In the southwest part of the county coal is found to the thickness of twenty-seven feet, the layers containing cannel, bituminous and block coals. An analysis of cannel coal from this mine by the chemist of the State Geological Board, exhibits: water 1.15, volatile matter 41.25, fixed carbon 49.60, ash 8. Several shafts have been sunk, but owing to want of transporta- tion facilities, only enough coal has been mined to supply local demand. A good quality of coal is also found in the south- eastern part of the county. Iron ore, mostly the red hematite, exists in many places, though no attempt has been made to utilize it, and its supply is a matter of conjecture. It is of excellent quality, as its analysis shows: insoluble siliceous matter 4.10, peroxide of iron 92.32, and the per cent of metallic iron 66.72. Abundant and excellent building stone is obtained in nearly every neighborhood of the county. Over a large area of the northern and northeastern parts Trenton limestone is found in layers from ten to twenty-five inches thick. It is light yellowish gray or drab in color, fine crystalline, very hard and compact, with smooth conchoidal fracture and susceptible of a fine polish, in many cases resembling a marble. In the southeast is the St. Louis limestone, hard, fine crystalline, and of a light blue and drab color. Over the remainder of the county are the Encrinital and Archimides limestones. The latter is fine crystalline, firm in texture, and bluish-gray in color. The sills and cap-stones of the county jail are of this kind. Of the Encrinital the coarse gray and buff colored is well adapted for ordinary masonry, as seen in the basement story of the Planters Hotel in Troy, while
209
HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY.
the purer white crystalline makes a handsome and durable or- namental building stone. Fire rock is plentifully obtained from the impure magnesian beds of the Hudson limestone in the north- eastern parts of the county. Superior lime can be made in every section of the county. There are many beds of nearly pure carbonate of lime in the varieties of limestone mentioned above. In several places is found a hydraulic limestone of from four to six feet thick. It is capable of making a fair article of hydraulic cement, as its analysis shows : silica 21.35, peroxide of iron 1.79, lime 42.14, magnesia 0.66, carbonic acid 34.14. These lime- stones are not used except to supply local demand. Good fire clay is found with most of the coal beds. Good potter's clay ex- ists in several places ; also white clay suitable for whitewash. None of these clays are utilized. For several years a potter's kiln was run, turning out excellent ware, but its owner went off during the war, and no one conversant with the business has since visited the spot. In several places are immense deposits of the very finest glass sand. The analysis is : silica 99.55, alumina 0.33, iron, a trace, lime 0.08, water 0.015. Want of facilities for transportation prevents the working of the beds.
CAVES.
There are several small caves in the county occurring in the upper beds of the Trenton limestone, which are often very cavern- ous. On Sulphur Fork of Cuivre, in Waverly Township, there is a cave and Natural Bridge, to which parties often resort for pleasure. This is among the most interesting features of Lincoln County. It is situated on the old J. S. Wilson farm-Section 15, Township 51, Range 2, west. At this point the right bank of Sandy Fork, with a north and south trend, raises an abrupt lime- stone cliff, and then slopes westward to a hollow. The Natural Bridge, as it is called, connects this hollow and the creek. This archway is in length about 125 feet, and has an average width of some twelve feet, though its walls are quite irregular. Toward the center the walls, all at once, contract, thus cutting the bridge into two rooms, leaving just space for a man to pass from one to the other. The ceiling of the rooms is apparently one large, flat rock, extending the entire 125 feet. The first room is
210
STATE OF MISSOURI.
entered by a large sink in the hollow, some fifteen feet deep, which brings one to the floor of the room. This part of the opening has a height of twenty-two feet. Passing over this rocky and slightly declining floor to the second room, there is a sudden precipitation of the floor of about sixteen feet, making the height of this department thirty-eight feet. The bridge is inaccessible from the east, as it opens immediately into the creek. On the creek side and some yards below the bridge, is a large hole, 10x12 feet high, in the rocky wall, which may be reached by climbing over stone and washed-out debris. Soon after enter- ing the passage divides. The left hand divide gradually dimin- ishes till it terminates some seventy feet back; the right hand divide, starting with a width of ten feet, and a height of seven feet, reduces its height to about three and one-half feet, when it suddenly expands to its former height and opens into the southeast upper corner of the second room of the bridge, where one may contemplate the pleasure of falling a distance of thirty-five feet.
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