History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I, Part 32

Author: Johnson, J. B
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : C.F. Cooper
Number of Pages: 596


USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I > Part 32


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Too, this sketch may be deemed as an effort on the part of the writer, to burlesque the old settlers by some, it is only however,. with a view to show the changes wrought by time for custom, manners, as well as laws undergo. Many changes in the process of time from the stern behest of necessity and the force of cir- cumstances ..


356


HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY


Such occasions as depicted by the writer are not the results of actual poverty as some might suppose, but the force of cir- cumstances and the surroundings, as transportation was no easy matter in those days, the nearest point to regular mercantile establishment was the Missouri river, and people had to supply most of their wearing apparel at home, and the skillful machin- ery of today had not then reached its present excellency in ease and rapidity of multiplication of articles of wearing apparel or articles of household and other uses; also it was from the simple fact that fashion then was less arbitrary and exacting than it is today, and demanded no more.


The original settlers of Vernon county with their descend- ants were the best and most honored of our citizens.


Theirs were not fraught so much with the perils, trials and troubles of Indian wars as many other parts of the United States, save the fight on the Marais des Cygne in 1838, still they suffered many hardships and privations, having great lack of comforts and conventions that are to be found in older communities. For we who enjoy the rapidity of the iron horse, steamboat, electric telegraph and rapid postal communication can hardly realize or conceive.


It was a long ways to mill, postoffice and blacksmith shop and one could not then make a few steps and order from the grocer the necessaries of life. Our old friend Judge Weyand says the greatest hardship of the early settlers was the lack of mills convenient and that flour was in a manner at times not to be had for love or money, particularly in wet seasons when the streams were very high the settlers would have to substitute jerked venison, potatoes, hominy and boiled corn for flour bread. This was the case particularly in 1844, when from long, con- tinued rains the streams kept high all summer. Supplies of al- most all kinds had to be hauled from the Missouri river from Booneville or Lexington.


Indeed, none but those who have tried it can realize such condition of things. Thus, being a long ways off from the sources of supply, they had to do often without the common articles of wear or use. Judge Weyand said that even after his father, Peter Weyand, came to the county in 1838 that it was necessary to call upon every able-bodied man in the county to raise any- thing like a heavy log house, but adds that everybody responded


357


REMINISCENCES


with alacrity, often going twenty miles to assist, and camping on the ground several days till the job was completed.


Before and up to the breaking out of the Civil War the citi- zens of Vernon enjoyed a life peculiarly happy and free, in its characteristic, for their tastes were simple and their wants were few. The cultivation of the soil was an adjunct to their exist- ences to make their breadstuff and to make hog and hominy, as well as lard for the larder, for they supplied themselves easily with meat from the proceeds of the chase.


The extensive unlimited range of grass around them gave all ample room for the poorest to raise a bunch of cattle on the range, with little care or expense, and the sales of their cattle furnished ample means to purchase groceries and dry goods, though at exorbitant prices, as the cost of transportation was heavy from St. Louis or from the Missouri river or by steam- boats in latter day at long intervals up the Osage.


It is said that the woods furnished ample supplies of fine wild honey of exquisite flavor, which in those early days was very abundant and easily obtained, as nearly every hollow tree had more or less honey, and the bees had great abundance of wild flowers, both in the timber and prairie, to cull their sweets from.


There were but few wrangles and quarrels among them, nor petty jealousies; no silly demonstration or aping of fashion- able follies, clothed themselves in homespun, and the grace and simplicity of their attire gave interest and zest to their festivi- ties and they enjoyed each other's hospitalities, and many were the happy reunions that drew them together, no aristocratic dis- tinction among them, but the true, genuine hospitality of earnest friendship was theirs that enhanced their joys and pleasures, and rendered their lives pleasant and agreeable, and whatever may be said of their foibles and prejudices, for like all other old Missourians, their hospitalities were free and generous-re- markably free from any taint of selfishness or avarice. No mat- ter who were their guests, strangers or neighbors, whether rich or poor, they set before them the best they had without osten- tation or hypocritical apologies and the guest never wronged the host and hostess with the smirking of dainty taste or with the thought that their host smirched their hospitality in the instinct of meanness or stinginess to stint their tables. Though not so courtly in their manners as the fine Virginia gentleman of olden


358


HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY


times, their generosity was free as the winds that sweep o'er the prairies and their hospitable inclinations were no less warm than their gallant prototypes of the old dominion, and it would be well, indeed, in these selfish degenerate days of the almighty dollar with their selfish greed and foolish pride, that there were more of their honesty of purpose, sincerity of friendship and generous disposition to oblige that characterized these old Mis- sourians than are dwelling among us today.


REMINISCENCES Of Judge C. Correll.


Fifty-one years ago I came to Avola, Vernon county, Mis- souri, from near Springfield, Ill., my native state. I drove in my covered wagon to Jim Hyder's, who was cited to me as the great mogul of Drywood township, and could give me all the informa- tion I desired in reference to the section of land I was seeking to locate and on which I was to reside. We obtained the services of John Creamer, Mr. Hyder and I carried the chain while Creamer compassed for us. Mr. Hyder asked me if I could teach school. I said yes. Then he said if you want a school, go to Nevada and get a certificate. I went to Nevada and saw Com- missioner Boone and asked for a certificate. He requested refer- ence of moral character. I said good; had a letter from the church. I returned to Mr. Hyder's, got my letter, went back to Nevada, gave it to the colonel and received my certificate. I commenced school the first week in April. My salary was twenty dollars a month and board. I taught three months in a log schoolhouse. The heating stove was an eight-foot fireplace. Our window was a log cut out of the wall and a door that gave light and ventilation. Our floor was puncheons and our benches were slabs with four legs and no backs, making it easy to land back- wards on the polished floor.


I passed these three months very pleasantly, with one little exception. I detained Ben Simpson's three children after school about ten minutes for some rudeness of one of them; the next morning the giant was at the schoolhouse to interview me. He said, "If my children do wrong, whip them." It made me trem- ble; I readily acceded and glad to get off that easy, and cheer- fully agreed to do as ordered, for he was a giant and a fighter.


359


REMINISCENCES


When I came to Vernon county the prairie on which I now live was all open. Only Mr. Hopenbrock lived on it close to the timber." Blue stem was as high as a man's head, plenty of deer, wolves, turkey and other wild game. No lanes from Lamar to Nevada. A short distance from home seemed a long ways off, for then it was easy to get lost, and then you had to trust to your horse to bring you back.


After my school closed I made two trips to Otterville with ox team, hauling flour, camping out at night on the open prairie, having good grazing all the way for my oxen, passing through Papinsville, Sedalia and Clinton. All were hamlets having post- office, a blacksmith shop and one or two one-story stores, sup- ported large open prairies with seldom a house to be seen, not even a railroad crossing or hearing the whistle of an engine, for there were none west to the Pacific, south to the gulf, St. Joe on the north and Syracuse on the east. After these two successful trips, I concluded I would erect a mansion. I bought a $10 log house, hauled it over where I now live and with the assistance of my nearest neighbors, Uncle Billy Hopenbrock, Barney Boles and Col. Jim Hyder, raised it to my entire satisfaction and lived in it during the winter. When in it I looked out and saw the country afar off, without let or hindrance, for there was neither house nor farm to obstruct my view. Deer were plentiful. One morning I counted twenty-five that slumbered near my house. The ground never froze during the winter of sixty and sixty-one and no ice formed. A little skift of snow passed away before high noon. During the winter and spring I hauled rails and fenced in eighty acres of land and broke more than forty acres of prairie, but all of this to no avail. During this period there was a disturbance arising in the nation which finally broke loose a cruel bloody fratricidal war that caused men to weep with sorrow and women to cry out, Oh, for shame. When this situation presented itself to my mind I saw a terrible possibility ahead. I thought best to go back home, as I had no desire to come in contact with people of the North, neither those of the South, for I had been received with kindness and treated with that hospitality that only a Southerner can give. A friend of mine being of the same mind, we saddled our horses, leaving oxen, wagons and plows be- hind, struck out for Illinois by way of Fort Scott, Kansas City and St. Joe, then on the railroad through the state, reaching


360


HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY


Hannibal in good shape, ready for an overland ride to Springfield, Ill., our destination.


Remaining in Illinois twenty years, I returned to Missouri to the place from which I last adjourned to the farm on which I now live. To recount the changes since my exodus and re- turn up to the present time would be too long a story. Suffice it to say that a book could be written of events within my own knowledge were I a writer of merit. I came back to become a citizen of the commonwealth of Missouri. I started in business as any person desires making a home for himself and family, buy- ing cattle to graze and horses to use, not dreaming of any com- petition to this way of making an honest living, having an abun- dant of rough range of my own, but to my surprise I had crossed the line, for I was unceremoniously raided. My cattle were shot, killed and maimed to the tune of about thirty head, and ordered to leave at my earliest convenience. Arrest no one, for I knew them not, or if I did, death was the penalty. I drove my cattle to Nevada and had it not been for the assistance of Nevada, generaled by Judge Nording, then mayor, and his assistance, the citizens who turned out en masse, I should probably never have passed that ordeal unscathed and uninjured. The citizens of Nevada were my friends and protector. I love them and hope they may ever be prosperous and happy. I have tried to forget this very regrettable and unpleasant event of thirty years ago. I have been twice honored by the citizens of Vernon county. I beg to thank you for these confidences and honor and I trust I have fairly merited them.


Wonderful indeed have been the achievements in the past fifty years of Vernon county and state of Missouri, having passed through the most devastating war of any nation or country, our county and state have arisen from the ashes of ruin and pov- erty to a high state of prosperity and progress. Our land is checkered with the iron and steel, and the great iron horse bears our messages and burdens of transportation, and today we can converse with each other in all parts of the land from our homes. . Industry and intelligence, science and invention had rolled away hard times and the inconveniences that we knew no better than to endure and could not avoid fifty years ago. Hastily and the strife of the past are forgiven and forgotten and we are again a nation of peace, unity and good citizenship.


361


REMINISCENCES


Note .- This trouble of Judge Correll grew out of the old feel- ing the people had against Texas cattle, some one starting the report that he was bringing in Texas cattle, which would spread the Texas fever among the native cattle. This rumor was like waving a red flag before a bull and the result was as he states it. After this occurrence Judge Correll was elected one of our county judges and also a member of the legislature .- Editor.


HOW BIG IS MISSOURI?


At a banquet a Missourian was asked to speak of his native state. He said: "If all the wheat raised in Missouri were one grain, the only place to plant it would be Grand Canyon, Ariz., the only hole in the earth big enough to contain it. If all the corn raised in Missouri were one ear, the only way to shell it would be by steam stump pullers extracting a grain at a time from the cob. If all the cattle in Missouri were one cow, she could browse the tender herbage of the tropics, whisk icicles off the north pole with her tail and supply milk enough to fill a canal reaching from Kansas City to the gulf on which to ship the boatloads of her cheese and butter. If all the chickens in Missouri were one rooster, he could straddle the Rocky Mountains like a great colossus and crow until he shook the rings off the planet Saturn. If all the hogs raised in Missouri were one hog, he could plant his hind feet in the soil of Cuba, his fore feet in the Isthmus of Panama and with one root of his huge snout dig a sea level canal from ocean to ocean. If all the mules raised in Missouri were one mule, he could plant one foot in the soil of Texas, the other amid the forests of Maine and with his hind feet kick the face off of the man in the moon."


STRAWBERRY CULTURE IN VERNON COUNTY. By Jacob Faith.


Thirty-seven years ago I commenced the growing of straw- berries in Vernon county and I found it a success from the start, as our soil and climate are well adapted for berry culture. To dispose of my first crop I called at about two-thirds of the houses in Nevada and was able to sell but about $6 worth, (I found it much easier to cultivate and grow strawberries than to culti- vate the Nevada people's taste or palate) and many boxes I gave


362


HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY


away to the people. The next time I came to town they would often take one or more boxes and the demand more than trebled each year; the berries sold at from twenty to twenty-five cents per quart. At first I had no competition, but in a short time Mr. Chin, of Fort Scott, Kan., sent a few cases to Nevada, but the quality of the berries were barely second grade, as compared with those I raised at Montevallo.


Mr. Chin gave his berries as good cultivation as I did, but the soil around Nevada is so much better adapted to the raising of this fruit, we can more than double the output of Fort Scott and vicinity. Some days the berries from one-half acre of land would sell for from $50 to $65. If I had not made such liberal use of my tongue and pen about the strawberry possibilities in Ver- non county for a few more years I could have made myself rich before other parties close to Nevada commenced the growing of berries and a few years later shipping them by the carload. One year during strawberry ripening time I visited all the growers around Nevada. It was estimated that over twenty acres were given up to this kind of berries within five miles from the city. Besides the crop from these twenty acres many were brought in from the outside. This branch of fruit growing in Vernon county gave employment to many children not able to earn money at any other vocation.


There has been wonderful improvements in varieties in the past thirty-seven years; only seven varieties were first raised, Havy, Wilson and Albany being the very first, and now all the old sorts have been superseded by better varieties until now over 200 kinds are under cultivation.


I forgot to mention that when I first commenced to market my berries I was asked where in the world they grew. Mrs. John I. Birdseye and Mrs. H. C. Moore helped me to introduce them in Nevada by getting up strawberry festivals for the church and calling on me for the berries. A few years later I commenced the growing of raspberries and blackberries.


I have attended the state horticultural meetings all over Mis- souri and Kansas. the meetings being held during berry ripening time. I have examined the berries, the cultivating and the soil and compared them with ours in Vernon county. Seventy-five to one hundred miles south of here strawberries yield a small percentage better than here. Raspberries and blackberries in Ver-


363


REMINISCENCES


non county are 15 per cent ahead of Springfield and 10 per cent ahead of Kansas City.


FRUIT GROWING IN VERNON COUNTY.


Vernon county is well adapted to the growing of all kinds of fruit, such as apples, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, grapes and all of the-berries, and with the proper cultivation and care as fine fruit and better quality can be grown in Vernon county than is grown in the Far West and Northwest.


The timber land is preferable, but good fruit can be grown on the prairie land. Peaches, cherries and pears do best on high land with north or west slope. Apples do well on either upland or bottom land. Grapes do well anywhere good corn can be grown. The timber sandy land is best for berries.


After twenty-two years' experience in fruit growing and nurs- ery work, I am convinced fruit growing in Vernon county can be made as profitable, as anywhere in the West or Northwest with the same care and attention, such as thorough cultivation from the time the trees are planted out in the new orchard, up to the time they begin bearing and while bearing, with spraying to prevent scab and rot on apples, plums and peaches, and to de- stroy the codling moth and curculio.


One of the most important items in fruit growing, and the item that is badly neglected and the cause of most of the failures, is good cultivation.


W. H. LITSON.


SURPLUS PRODUCTS OF VERNON COUNTY IN 1909.


Live Stock-


Cattle, head 28,649


Hogs, head. 68,785


Horses and mules, head. 1,459


Sheep, head. 7,684


Goats, head.


110


Jacks, stallions, head .... 4


Value, $2,087,183.


Farmyard Products-


Poultry, live, lbs ..... 2,677,480


Poultry, dressed, lbs. . 2,784,670


Eggs, dozen.


2,181,920


Feathers, lbs .. 27,430


Value, $940,168.


Apiary and Cane Products- -


Honey, lbs.


4,670


Beeswax, lbs.


81


Sorghum molasses, gals. . 15,640


Value, $5,323. Farm Crops-


Wheat, bushels. 112,800


Corn, bushels


327,940


Oats, bushels 30,654


Rye, bushels


49


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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY


Timothy seed, bushels .. 184


Flaxseed, bushels. 33,640


Cane seed, bushels. 1,723


Hay, tons. 22,129


Straw, tons 51


Tobacco, lbs 12,640


Broom corn, lbs 18,800


Popcorn, lbs


12,640


Buckwheat, bushels


106


Cowpeas, bushels.


944


Nuts, lbs.


12,831


Value, $568,628.


Vegetables-


Vegetables, lbs. 986,740


Pickles and cucumbers,


lbs. 15,300


Potatoes, bushels 6,270


Sweet potatoes, bushels.


1,230


Mushrooms, lbs.


600


Tomatoes, bushels


8,947


Onions, bushels.


890


Canned vegetables and


fruit, lbs. .


135,600


Value, $44,986.


Fruit-


Miscellaneous fresh fruit,


lbs 46,591


Melons 9,680


Strawberries, crates. 6,290


Dried fruit, lbs 5,114


Apples, barrels.


948


Raspberries, crates 1,340


Cantaloupes, crates


1,314


Blackberries, crates


2,500


Plums, baskets.


400


Grapes, baskets.


1,400


Peaches, baskets.


870


Value, $26,372.


Medicinal Products-


Roots and herbs, lbs. . . 4,320


Ginseng, lbs 14


Mint, lbs . 90


Bark, lbs.


940


Value, $646.


Flowers, Nursery Products-


Nursery stock, lbs . 13,564


Cut flowers, lbs.


2,566


Value, $1,961. Dairy Products -


Butter, lbs.


. 488,704


Ice Cream, gals


12,720


Milk and cream, gals. . 411,750


Buttermilk, gals.


8,900


Cheese, lbs (chiefly cot-


tage)


8,300


Value, $205,376.


Forest Products-


Lumber, feet.


828,000


Logs, feet.


27,500


Walnut logs, feet.


85,500


Fence and mine posts. .


27,600


Cordwood, cords.


12,543


Telegraph poles.


250


Cooperage, cars.


11


Walnut lumber, feet ... 60,000 Value. $65,360. Fish and Game Products-


Game, lbs


35,340


Fish, lbs.


29,393


Furs, lbs


5,032


Value, $5,539.


Mine and Quarry Products-


Coal, tons.


160,341


Gravel and ballast, cars


Sand, cars.


7


Clay, cars.


106


Value, $321,034. Mill Products-


Flour, barrels.


24,670


Cornmeal, lbs


453,600


365


REMINISCENCES


Bran, shipstuff, lbs. 780,000


Feed, chops, lbs .. 547,778


Value, $157,968. Liquid Products-


Wine, gals. 3,700


Vinegar, gals. 460


Cider, gals.


1,140


Value, $2,099.


Packing House Products-


Hides and pelts, lbs ....


92,431


Dressed meats, lbs.


.386,660


Tallow, lbs.


17,650


Lard, lbs 4,219


Value, $49,961.


Stone and Clay Products-


Brick, common.


529,000


Sewer pipe and tiling,


cars.


11


Value, $4,740.


Unclassified Products- - Junk, cars. 14


Ice, tons


8,340


Value, $25,580.


Aggregate value, all surplus commodities. $4,512,924


CHAPTER XXVII.


FIRE CLAY AND ASPHALTUM IN VERNON COUNTY.


By J. P. STEPHENSON.


Vernon county, the richest county in the United States when developed, if not in the world. The above is a broad claim, but suppose Vernon county had an unlimited amount of a product which is the finest in quality to be found in either hemisphere and that product was capable of products whose value is greater than the copper mines or the gold and silver mines combined, then the above statement would not look so wild. We herewith submit the comparative analyses of the finest fire clay of which we have an unlimited quantity and the following article from "Dealers' Material Record," entitled "Clay Products Gaining," so that it may be seen how we arrive at the above conclusion :


THE ANALYSES.


Mt. Savage, Md. C'mb'rl'd, Coblentz, Vernon


1877.


1888.


Md. Germany.


County.


Silica


56.70


56.15


56.80


55.46


56.70


Alumina


30.08


33.29


30.08


31.74


30.80


Iron oxide


1.12


.58


1.67


.59


1.70


Lime


.00


.17


.00


.19


.45


Magnesia


.00


.11


.00


.14


.00


Alkali


.80


.00


2.50


3.17


.35


Moisture


10.50


9.68


7.69


9.37


9.00


Tit. acid


1.15


.00


1.15


.00


.00


CLAY PRODUCTS GAINING.


Because we are obliged to rely upon the reports of the United States Geological Survey for our statistics of the clay industry it is with great interest that clay products manufacturers watch the fluctuations in the figures compiled by this department from


366


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FIRE CLAY AND ASPHALTUM


year to year. Owing to the census work, the statistics for 1909 were greatly delayed and the complete record of the clay busi- ness for that year has not been yet published. A bulletin, how- ever, giving a statement of the mineral production of the United States gives some very interesting figures, the first yet published, relating to the clay business for 1909.


We find that as everyone supposed the total production of burned clay products shows a substantial advance in 1909, and owing to this increase and the decrease in the production of petroleum oil, clay products now rank third in order of impor- tance among the mineral industries. The production of clay products for 1909 amounted in value to $166,321,213, a gain of $33,000,000 over 1908 and a gain of more than $5,000,000 over 1906, which was the banner year in the clay business up to that time.


In value the annual production of clay products is only sur- passed by iron and bituminous coal. The value of the copper product was only $142,000,000 in 1909, and of petroleum $128,- 000,000. The combined output of gold and silver for that year was only $128,000,000.


Since 1900 the value of the clay products manufactured in the United States has increased by leaps and bounds. In the year 1899 the total value of our clay products was reported as only $96,212,345. These figures steadily increased until 1906, when, as stated above, the total value amounted to $161,000,000. During the bad years of 1907 and 1908 the value of clay prod- ucts dropped off to an alarming extent. The figures in 1908 to- taled only $133,000,000.


Add to the fire clay the thickest bed of asphalt yet discovered and like the fire clay the very best quality and in unlimited quantities, then we begin to realize the statement at the head of this article is not far off, and the wonderful riches Vernon county is sleeping over, and it all has not been told yet. for as sure as steam indicates that it came from water, asphalt indi- cates that it came from oil and gas. The only difference is we can show the asphalt, but the oil and gas nature holds in her secret corners in Vernon county, playing hide and seek with mankind.


The farmers of Vernon county in many places have struck shallow oil and gas when drilling water wells, and many a well




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