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 7
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
cluded, but all fresh or cured meats, poultry, butter, etc., prepared in the rural sections for home use, or intended for the market, are allowed for.
The figures for the total worth of the commodities included in the calculation were reached after a careful consideration of information covering these lines, given out by the federal and state board of agriculture and the returns for surplus products to this department from railroads, steamboat lines and shippers and buyers, and other sources.
REIGN OF PROSPERITY.
The splendid showing. made by Missouri as a productive com- monwealth is in keeping with the energy, thrift and prosperity of its inhabitants. As the Poultry Queen of the Union, a title the state has held for some years, there are other commodities for which we hold first rank, namely: in the annual production of zinc and lead ores, barytes, cobalt, nickel, red gum cooperage, trioli and corncob pipes. While on this subject it can only be mentioned that Missouri holds high rank for its annual corn and wheat yields, for walnut lumber and logs, fire clay, sand, lime ce- ment, horses and mules, watermelons. strawberries, tomatoes, big red apples, elberta peaches, flour, feed, meal, cooperage, pack- ing house products, small fruits, canned goods, live stock, frogs, fresh water fish. nursery products, gravel and ballast, sycamore lumber, railroad ties, natural mineral water, red gum lumber, boots and shoes, malt liquors, honey, building stone and sorghum molasses.
In the amount of zinc ore produced annually Missouri has no close competitor. The same is true concerning the quantity of barytes which is sent to market every year. In lead ore this state now ranks ahead of Ihado, which for years, until 1907, stood first.
For its "big red apples" Missouri has long had an enviable reputation. They have carried the glory of the state into Eng- land, Germany and other foreign countries, shipments having often been made that far. In recent years our huge, red, tempting and tasty strawberries and watermelons have been shipped into Canada, not considering the large amounts which went to Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha and other large cities, and were in demand there, even over those which were grown in states farther south.
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MISSOURI WEALTH
The possibilities of Missouri are admirably related in the fol- lowing newspaper bulletin issued by the Bureau of Labor Statis- tics in the spring of 1910 to advertise the boundless resources of the state, by calling attention to what we can do :
The new state capitol building, which is to be built in the near future, if a majority of the voters at the election in Novem- ber declare in favor of it, can be constructed entirely of material drawn from Missouri, so wonderful and varied are the resources of this state.
When the new building has been completed and it comes to a question of furnishing and properly decorating the interior, no matter how extensive and magnificent may be the designs of the architect and the state building committee, which will have charge of the details, Missouri can still draw on its diversified industries and resources for everything necessary to place the edifice in readiness for use, from carpet tacks and putty up to the large steel vaults the state treasurer will need to properly protect the funds of the people, and from huge marble columns to support the massive and towering dome, down to common yellow sand which will be mixed with Missouri made portland cement and used to tightly bind the blocks of granite from Iron, St. Francois and Madison counties and limestone from Carthage, of which the walls will be composed.
In the vast array of articles, which are needed to complete and entirely furnish the new structure, are included all office fittings, such as desks, carpets, rugs, curtains, chairs, railings, partitions, tables, cabinets, glass cases and all other business fur- nishings known to this modern era.
While it will cost $5,000,000 to erect, finish and furnish a state capitol building in keeping with the wealth and high standing of Missouri, yet not a dollar of this money need leave the state, so extensive and varied are the resources nature has deposited within the boundaries of this commonwealth, and so numerous and productive are the pursuits the inhabitants follow to keep the wolf safely entombed in the cavern of plenteousness and pros- perity.
This large sum, which will be raised by issuing low interest- paying bonds, and which will gradually be repaid by taking a small sum annually from the state's revenue in a period covering from twenty to fifty years, will, in three to four years, be turned
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
into the coffers of Missouri manufactures, miners, timbermen. quarrymen, painters, builders and others, who, in turn,, will di- vert a certain portion of this golden stream and cause it to flow into the pockets of thousands of wage earners, to be used in paying rent, buying food, clothing, shoes and other necessities and many luxuries.
It is figured that of the $5,000,000 which is to be set aside for the new capitol building about $2,000,000 will go to the workingmen of Missouri, who will either erect the new capitol .or prepare the material and make the supplies, fittings and fur- nishings which will be needed.
The following table has been prepared just to show how varied and abundant the resources of Missouri are and which counties, cities and towns could be depended upon to furnish the material, supplies, fittings and furnishings needed for the $5,000,- 000 capitol building, proving beyond a doubt that the whole sum could be kept and spent within the state, the main object of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in calling attention to the matter at all being to well acquaint the inhabitants of this commonwealth and the outside world with the enormous extent of our wonderful resources and advantages, and the wide scope of our varied indus- tries.
RAW MATERIALS.
Lumber-New Madrid, Reynolds, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Carter, Butler, Mississippi and Wayne counties.
Iron Ore-Phelps, Crawford, St. Francois, Wayne, Howell and Stoddard counties.
Lead Ore-St. Francois, Jasper, Jefferson, Madison, Greene, Vernon and Newton counties.
Cadmium (for paint)-Jasper and Newton counties.
Nickel (for trimmings)-Madison county.
Cobalt (for coloring glass, etc.)-Madison county.
Barytia (for white lead)-Washington, Franklin, St. Francois and Jefferson counties.
Tripoli (for filtering)-Newton county.
Building Sand-Beds of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
Building Stone-Jasper, Newton, Johnson, St. Louis, Ste. . Genevieve, St. Francois, Cape Girardeau and Washington counties.
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MISSOURI WEALTH
Granite-Iron, St. Francois, Madison and Washington counties. Marble-Ozark mountain counties.
Fire Clay-St. Louis, Franklin, Henry, Randolph, Vernon Scotland, Gasconade, Linn, Audrain, Buchanan, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Johnson, Marion and Jackson counties.
Gravel-St. Louis, Jefferson, Howard, Marion, Jackson, Cooper, St. Francois, Jasper, Franklin, Osage, Cole and Gascon- ade counties.
White Sand-St. Louis, Jefferson, St. Charles and Franklin counties.
Walnut Timber-Dent, Greene, Taney, Cass, Saline, Jackson and Platte counties.
Zinc ore-Jasper, Newton, Greene and Lawrence counties.
Copper Ore-Madison, Wayne and Crawford counties.
Silver Ore (decorating, etc.) -St. Francois and Madison counties.
Kaolin-Warren county.
Zinc Sulphate, Sublimate of Lead and Other Paint Ingre- dients-Jasper, Newton and Green counties, and St. Louis city.
Marble and Onyx-Ozark mountain country.
The varieties of lumber and timber which are needed and can be easily, quickly and cheaply furnished by Missouri counties are : Walnut, red gum, yellow pine, maple, ash, sycamore, cherry, cedar, elm, cottonwood, hickory, poplar, tupelo, beach, bass- wood and birch.
The building stone, aside from granite, marble and onyx, which will be needed and can be supplied by Missouri quarries are: Sandstone, flint, bluish limestone, dolomite, diabese, quartz and perphyry.
MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS.
The manufactured products which will be needed are as fol- lows, with their source of origin :
Cement-St. Louis, Jackson and Ralls counties.
Lime and Plaster-St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Jefferson, Franklin, Greene, Jackson, Ralls, Ste. Genevieve and Marion counties.
Planing Mill Products-St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Springfield, Sedalia and Jefferson City.
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
Brick, Tiling, Sewer Pipe, etc .- St. Louis, Jackson, Henry and Audrain counties.
Carpets, Rugs and Similar Furnishing-Woolen mills at Cali- fornia, St. Joseph and St. Louis.
Furniture and Office Fixtures-Factories of St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph and Springfield.
Glass-St. Louis and Jefferson counties.
Foundry Products, Plumbing, Copper and Galvanized Works, etc .- St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, St. Joseph and Joplin.
Paints, Varnishes, etc .- St. Joseph, Cape Girardeau, Joplin, Kansas City and St. Louis city.
The raw and finished products for the new state edifice will cost about $2,500,000, much of which will go to the counties south of the Missouri river and to the cities of St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Joplin, Carthage, Mexico, St. Joseph and Hanni- bal, and from there, in time, to every nook and corner of the state.
By drawing on the Ozark regions for the minerals, paint in- gredients, granite, marble, onyx and other stone, wonders in the way of developing that portion of Missouri will be accomplished. Proposed railroads from Jefferson City into southern counties will be built at once, creating an immediate demand for cross- ties, steel rails, telegraph wire, lumber for stations, freight and passenger cars, and, above all, give employment to hundreds of men who will be needed to construct and then run these branches.
MONUMENT TO MISSOURI.
The new capitol building constructed from and furnished entirely with Missouri products would be a lasting and an in- genius monument to the resources and advantages, the progress and the prosperity of the state, which is now being advertised so far and wide by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the main entrance to the new capitol could be placed, on a pedestal of Missouri granite, marble and onyx, a large group statue, made of a composition of Missouri lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel and cadmium, of a hen and rooster guarding a nest of eggs, and a life-size mule, with the inscription underneath, "In these we lead the world" with large specimens of lead and zinc ore to each side.
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MISSOURI WEALTH
PROLIFIC ANNUAL CROPS.
The climate of Missouri is so favorable and the soil of such a rich nature that all products common to the temperate zone. grow here in a prolific manner. Cotton is found flourishing in twelve counties of the southeast corner. Alfalfa can be easily raised in all lands adjacent to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Tobacco and flax were staple articles a few years ago and will be again. Especially is this the case for the former. The tobacco crop of 1909 was twice as great as that of 1908. For 1910 early returns indicate that the gain over 1909 would exceed 50 per cent.
The federal authorities annually gather estimates of the leading farm commodities of all states. They afford a good means for comparative purposes between the states, as the figures are gathered and compiled under similar conditions everywhere. The returns for 1909 reveal that Missouri ranks high in the annual yield of corn, wheat, oats, hay and potatoes. The following table tells what Missouri's yield for certain commodities was in 1909. The value of tobacco, hay, potatoes, flaxseed and wool is repro- duced as given by the federal authorities. The value of wheat and corn is computed on the price per bushel of these cereals in Missouri on December 1, 1909. The wool clip, "washed and un- washed," weighed 5,680,090 pounds, and in that condition was worth to the farmers only $1,420,022. On October, 1, 1909, after it had been scoured, the weight had decreased to 2,953,647 pounds, but the value had increased to $1,654,042, the process of scouring, while it took away half the weight, had added $234,020 to the value.
SUMMARY OF TOTAL YIELD AND VALUE OF FARM CROPS PRODUCED BY MISSOURI FARMERS IN THE YEAR 1909.
(State Board of Agriculture.
Acreage.
Corn
7,205,396
Yield. 197,714,946
Value. $114,844,044
Wheat
1,800,005
27,502,879
29,608,414
Oats
698,653
18,808,576
7,500,794
Tame hay and forage
3,444,714
4,372,766
37,796,111
Prairie hay
167,945
233,259
1,383,473
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
ยท Acreage.
Yield.
Value.
Flax
14,640
140,544
177,085
Rye
10,500
145,950
122,598
Buckwheat
2,149
32,235
27,077
Barley
1,430
31,317
: 20,356
Broomcorn
3,800
2,147,000
182,410
Cotton
75,135
23,742,660
3,229,001
Potatoes
77,774
6,189,694
3,961,404
Tobacco
2,743
2,147,769
279,209
Sorghum seed
22,037
396,681
353,046
Sorghum syrup
22,037
1,829,071
823,081
Clover seed
35,396
60,173
421,211
Timothy seed
44,092
143.313
305.822
Kaffir corn, millet, cowpeas,
castor beans, etc. .
1.101,600
Miscellaneous vegetables
7,087,500
Total value of all crops.
$209,219,478
LARGE ANNUAL CORN CROP.
The corn crop of Missouri generally exceeds 200,000,000 bush- els a year, and when it does fall below those figures it will be found that every corn state has a like shortage, due to drouth or some other similar destroying cause. The 1910 yield of this state is figured at 271,000,000 bushels by the federal authorities, which will make the year the best corn year Missouri has experi- enced since 1883, exceeding even 1902, when the crop amounted to 264,232,605 bushels.
The federal authorities give Missouri 25,130,000 bushels of wheat for 1910, as compared with 28,562,000 bushels for 1909. All other western heavy wheat states show a decrease as great, if not greater.
MISSOURI LIVE STOCK.
Contrary to expectation, Missouri sent more cattle, hogs, horses, mules, sheep, goats to the market in 1909 than it did in 1908. The high prevailing prices caused farmers to sell stock which ought to have been kept at home for breeding purposes. expecting to buy back when the market became lower. While Nodaway, Atchison, Caldwell, Cass and other hog raising counties
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MISSOURI WEALTH
showed a falling off over 1908, this shortness was made up by increases in the size of shipments from the counties south of the Missouri river.
In six years Missouri sent 37,926,373 head of live stock to the market, receiving for the same $634,781,809, which is enough money to pay two-thirds of the total public debt of the United States-minus cash in the national treasury-which obligation in 1909 was $1,023,861,530. In other words, the money received in the nine years for the surplus live stock of Missouri is large enough to pay all present outstanding national obligations of this country, as enormous as they are.
With all this enormous wealth annually in live stock in Mis- souri, the industry is not as large as it ought to and could be. Missouri's 114 counties could easily triple their yearly output, if all vacant lands were only turned into stock farms, and even with such a large increase in the surplus of cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, and mules, there would be no danger of overloading the market. There is money to be made in stock raising in Missouri by any one with a small capital to commence on, provided the necessary amount of activity, energy and patience is put into the business. Of course, it also requires a knowledge of how to suc- cessfully handle live stock, but a thrifty, painstaking man can, in two or three years, by actual experience, coupled with the in- formation imparted by reliable publications, soon perfect him- self with the details and make a success of this vocation.
SHEEP AND WOOL FACTS.
While it is not proper to class Missouri as a regular sheep- raising and wool-producing state, yet the annual output of the 114 counties, of these commodities, is no small item by any means. For wool this state ranks ahead of all states which touch its bor- ders and surround it, namely, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ar- kansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. As a sheep rais- ing and wool state, Missouri is constantly making substantial gains, and it now ranks ahead of states which have a reputation in this line, and is close onto the heels of some of the still larger producers.
Wool, to the value of $1,654,042, was placed on the market by the farmers of Missouri during the year 1909. This was the worth
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
of the clip after it had been scoured, but the farmers' share was $1,420,022. The process of scouring the "washed and unwashed" fleece added $234,020 to the value. In quantity the shearings amounted to 5,680,000 pounds, which was enough to fill 284 large size freight cars, allowing 20,000 pounds to the car. The 5,680,090 pounds of raw wool made 2,953,647 pounds of scoured wool. While the quality was a little below that for the year 1908. the sum total realized by Missouri Sheep raisers was greater by $347,120. Scoured wool in 1909 brought 56 cents a pound, as compared with 44 cents for 1908. It took 873,860 sheep to pro- duce the wool crop of 1909, which gave each sheep an average of 6.5 pounds, with $3.64 in the scoured state, a sum almost as great as each sheep brought when sent to market during the summer or fall.
POULTRY QUEEN.
Missouri still has a fast hold on the title of "Poultry Queen of the Union," having in the year 1909 placed on the market poul- try, eggs and feathers to the value of $45,902,655.
Just think of it, poultry, eggs and feathers to the value of nearly $46,000,000 were sent to market in one year by the farmers and poultry raisers of Missouri's 114 counties. If there is any other state in the union which can surpass this record, then it will have to "show" its facts and figures for comparative pur- poses before this state will yield first rank to it. As high as Mis- souri ranks in lead, zinc, iron, coal and other minerals, and for its raw quarry products, yet the value of the poultry surplus is about $10,000,000 more.
The poultry figures of 1909 represent a gain of about a million dollars in value over those for the year 1908, which were $44,960,- 973. Of eggs alone, 148,730,049 dozens were sent to market last year, and, at the average wholesale price of 15 cents a dozen, which is a very. conservative figure, they sold for $22,309,507, or enough to build twenty-two fair size modern cruisers and leave, sufficient money over to pay the salaries and wages of the officers and crews for a year.
Then there were 116,079,505 pounds of chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, squabs and other fowl sent alive to market in coops, where they met the same fate which has befallen millions of others of their Missouri ancestors in years gone by. At the low whole-
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MISSOURI WEALTH
sale price of 10 cents a pound, from this vast amount of farm wealth, there was realized $11,607,951.
While nearly all the live poultry was consumed at home, that is, within the boundaries of the state, there still remained 94,224,- 687 pounds which were sent out from the producing points "dressed." Much of this large amount went in modern refrig- erator cars, many million pounds going as far as Boston, New York and Philadelphia, not to consider what stopped at Chicago, which city draws heavily, annually, on Missouri for poultry and eggs. At 12 cents a pound, which is a low wholesale price, the "dressed" poultry of 1909 brought in $11,306,962.
Of course, it must not be forgotten that Missouri cities, like St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Joplin, Springfield, Sedalia and others, had to be first supplied with poultry and eggs before any shipments were made abroad. The figures representing their consumption for 1909 are included in the surplus of this class of Missouri wealth.
Last, but not least, the Missouri's feather crop of 1909. Beds made of this downy dress of poultry may not be used as generally as they were thirty years ago, but new fields have been found for feathers. Anyhow the surplus of this commodity of Missouri for the last year weighed 1,695,588 pounds and was worth $678,- 235.
Did you ever figure out how many feathers there were in a pound ?
If you did not you can rest in peace, as there is no official record that any one else has done so either, but the next time you get hold of a pound of feathers count them, one by one, if you can, and it will give you a hazy idea of how many separate feathers there are in 1,695,588 pounds. About ten thousands pounds will fill the average size freight car. Therefore, it means that it took about 170 cars to haul the 1909 crop of Missouri feathers to market, if all went out by train.
While the poultry business is no longer a side line in Missouri, yet it has not reached its scientific stages here. Five years hence the annual output will be worth $100,000,000 and every farmer in the state will be in the business, devoting all his spare time and energy to it, and using the income to increase the size of his farm. The state will then be covered with a network of good roads, and farm crops will be hauled to market in auto trucks.
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
In ten years Missouri has placed poultry products on the mar- ket to the value of $305,391,463. To give an idea of what a vast amount of wealth is meant by these figures it is only necessary to say that if silver bullion, at its face value, had been used to buy this enormous quantity of poultry, eggs and feathers, it would have taken nearly every ounce mined in the United States in the last nine and one-half years to pay for the same. In other words, it would have required about 518,000,000 ounces of silver, at the varying price per ounce for the past ten years to make up the necessary amount of money.
The surplus poultry products of Missouri for 1909, value $45,- 902,655, were worth more than the output of gold for the same year for Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, South Carolina combined. In fact, California, which has an annual output the size of that of Colo- rado, would have had to come forward with gold to the value of $162,000 to make up the deficit. The silver output of the United States for 1909, valued at $8,010,100, would have bought only a little more than half of Missouri's poultry surplus of the same year. The value of Missouri's surplus poultry products increased from $12,843,011 in 1900 to $45,902,655 in 1909.
COTTON IN MISSOURI.
The Missouri cotton crop of 1909 (in bales) amounted to 22,- 570,500 pounds, valued at $3,225,324. With oil and other cotton seed products and the cotton which went out of Mississippi county, "in seed," the total value of all cotton products of the state for 1909 was $4,064,161.
OUR 1909 COTTON CROP.
Missouri cotton and by-products brought more in 1909 on the market than ever before in the history of this industry for the state, regardless of the fact that the crop was a third smaller than that of 1908, the banner production year. Labor commissioner J. C. A. Hiller made public figures intended for the 1910 Red Book, the annual publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which go to prove this assertion.
Eleven of the twelve regular cotton growing counties of Mis- souri, all in the southeast corner of the state, consisting of Butler. Dunklin, Howell, New Madrid, Oregon, Ozark, Pemiscot, Ripley,
VERNON COUNTY FEED LOT, CHARLES FALOR.
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MISSOURI WEALTH
Scott, Stoddard and Taney counties, in 1909 produced a total of 75,235,000 pounds of seed cotton, which was valued at $3,954,720, after the lint had been separated from the seed at the gin. The crop, after ginning, made 22,570,500 pounds of cotton fiber. valued at $3,225,324, and 52,644,500 pounds of cotton seed, valued at $729,396. Cotton fiber brought more per pound last year than it has at any time since the civil war, averaging 14.29 cents, as com- pared with $.0923 for 1908, which year represents the banner production year for Missouri. Cotton seed also experienced a phenomenal increase in value per ton, selling at $27.70, as com- pared with $15.65 per ton for 1908. Early in the spring of 1910, late frosts killed many acres which had been planted, causing the value per ton to jump to and remain at $150 per ton for a few hours and then drop down to an average of $40 a ton.
The value compilations are based on the average price for the entire country, as given out by the Federal Cotton Census Bu- reau, instead of only for Missouri.
COTTON MILLS NEEDED.
Most of Missouri's surplus cotton, after it leaves the gin, is shipped in 500-pound bales, either by boat or rail, to Memphis, where it is further compressed. sent to a gulf port and from there by an ocean steamer to the New England states to be made up into cloth. Some of the fiber comes up the river to St. Louis and there is turned into cotton goods, but not as much as ought to be the case. Right here is where Missouri has a great future. All of the cotton of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louis- iana, Mississippi. Alabama and Kentucky ought to come into this state and to be turned into cloth, made into clothing and other necessities and then sold in the markets north, south and west of Missouri. The Ozark region of the southern central portion of our state is full of natural water power, which is now going to waste and which could well be utilized for manufacturing pur- poses. There exists in fifty counties sufficient waterfalls and swift flowing streams to easily develop twenty million horse power energy, ready to be harnessed and run enough textile mills to absorb all of the cotton production of the states named, with the crop of Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico and one or two other southwestern states thrown in.
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