History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 51

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 51

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FARMING

The time has been, and that not far in the past, when farming in Southeast Missouri de- pended very largely upon a few staple prod- ucts; corn, cotton and wheat were the great products and in some places the only crops grown. This dependence upon a few staples was due in part to distance from the market and to insufficient means of transportation. Today this dependence upon staple products, however, is disappearing. The improved fa- cilities for transportation have made it pos- sible for farmers to raise other erops than the so-called staples and ship them to market in such a way and at such a cost as to render them valuable. The soil and climate of South- east Missouri are adapted to a variety of farm products and more and more this diver- sity of farm interests is appearing. It is clear to be seen that as farming becomes more diversified the value of farm products will increase and the degree of certainty of a good crop every year will also increase.

Outside of those two or three counties which produce enormous quantities of lead

and other mineral products, it is clear that for many years the principal interest here will be agriculture. The time will come of course, when manufacturing will be devel- oped. The water power which now goes to waste in many counties of the Southeast will be utilized and there is a sufficient quantity of power capable of development to make cer- tain that manufacturing establishments of many kinds will be supported.

RIVER TRANSPORTATION

The history of river transportation in Mis- souri is a story of wonderful interest. The time was when it formed practically the only transportation possible. The products of Ste. Genevieve and of the mining region were transported by canoe or keel boats to New Orleans and then were shipped to vari- ous parts of the world. All the supplies used by the people of Missouri at one time came up the river by the same precarious means of transportation. The application of steam to the propelling of boats brought about a very great increase in the use of the river. From 1817, when the first steamboat made its ap- pearance on the upper Mississippi until the period of railroad activity which really be- gan in the state just before the Civil war, river transportation grew to almost unpar- alleled proportions. Hundreds of steamers were engaged in the business of transporting passengers and goods upon the river. River transportation was cheap, it was reasonably fast, and for these reasons reached a very re- markable development.

The building of railroads, however, practi- cally put an end to the use of the river as a means of transportation. Today, instead of the hundreds of boats that once plied its waters, there are only a few, travel has been diverted from the river, steamboats are no

365

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

longer crowded with passengers and over- loaded with freight; the passengers travel by train and the freight is carried in the same way. The causes of this change in transpor- tation are many. One of them is the greater speed of railroad traffic and another greater certainty. Railroad owners soon came to see that a great advantage could be obtained by operating their trains on a schedule. Rail- roads also had a great advantage in that they reached every part of the country so that

steamboat owners. In a competition of this kind the advantage was all on the side of the railroads. They had a traffic which could not be taken from them by the steam- boats under any cireumstances, the inland traffic was all carried by rail and the money thus derived was used to enable railroad op- erators to fight steamboat transportation in those communities and towns situated along the river. There seems to be no doubt that the present failure to use the river transpor-

STORAGE & SHIPPING

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI STEAMER

persons living away from the river might travel to their destination or ship their goods to market without transfer or reshipment. These advantages which the railroad pos- sessed were natural and legitimate advan- tages. It is not quite clear, however, that the very great ascendancy which the railroads eame to have was attained altogether by le- gitimate methods. The fierce competition be- tween the river and the railroads no doubt impelled railroad owners and managers to re- sort to methods not legitimate in fighting

tation is due in part at least, to unfair meth- ods of competition on the part of the rail- roads.

No doubt, however, the decline of river traf- fic was due also in part to a failure on the part of the owners of boats to provide proper facilities for handling the traffic and to bring their methods to a high state of efficiency. The owners of steamboats today operate them in about the same way in which steamboats were operated before the war. Just as for- merly the freight is still handled by hand

366

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

and there has been a failure to install freight handling machinery and to provide ample ter- minal facilities in the towns. There has been a failure to keep the equipment of the boats up to the standard demanded by the travel- ing public and to increase the speed or the comfort of travel on the river.

These are some of the causes which have brought about the virtual destruction of river traffic. We must not conclude, however, that these causes will continue to operate and to bring about the same result. There are rea- sons for believing that river transportation will once more become important and perhaps reach a degree of importance which it did not possess even in its most prosperous days. It is a serious situation which confronts the people of a country when there comes a con- gestion of traffic, when the means of trans- portation are inadequate to supply the needs of the country. Railroad owners in this country have themselves confessed that we have reached a point in our development when it is almost if not entirely, impossible, to build railroads sufficient to handle the traffic offered them. We are virtually compelled then to turn to the river for relief. Besides this there is a movement already on foot to provide terminal facilities and to equip boats with modern machinery and to bring them up to the high standard of efficiency displayed by the railroads. This movement will nn- doubtedly result in securing for the owners ot boats a part at least of the traffic now car-' ried by the railroads. More than all else. however, which leads ns to believe in the com- ing importance of the river is a movement known as the deep waterway movement, by which it is planned to increase the depth of the channel of the Mississippi sufficiently to allow the operation of larger boats and even of sea-going vessels as far up as St. Louis.

If this proposed plan is ever carried out it will undoubtedly mean a great deal for South- east Missouri. It will then be possible for residents of these counties to ship their prod- uets to almost any part of the world at very much less than the railroads now charge. Taken in connection with the opening of the Panama Canal and the consequent shortening and cheapening of transportation to the sea, such a use of the Mississippi would mean a great deal.

RESOURCES

The great resources of Southeast Missouri are soil and climate, minerals, timber, and water-power. These do not exhaust the list, but they are the great items in the inventory of potential wealth. First place among these must be given to soil and climate. No part of the earth's surface has richer or more pro- ductive soil than is to be found in some coun- ties of the section. This is not merely in small tracts, hundreds of square miles of fertile soil exist. Taken in connection with a climate, that by reasons of its rainfall and its long summers renders possible the production of both the great staple grains, corn and wheat, and of cotton, this soil is the greatest asset of the entire section.

Mineral wealth as we have seen is very great, and timber in the past has been one of the great resources. There is enough left of the great timbered areas to represent mil- lions of dollars yet.

The water-power of these southeast coun- ties is doubtless destined to be of great valne and importance. It has as yet been developed except the smallest way, but it forms one of the sources of future wealth of the highest · importance.

367

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Not all the movements which have distin- guished this period, however, have had to do with material wealth; railroad building and swamp reclamation were important in them- selves and led to great consequences. They must have failed, however, of doing that for which they were intended had they not been associated with other movements in the life of the people. One of these was a movement looking toward the improvement of educa- tion. This movement while it had its be- ginning shortly after the war, and led, even then, to the organization and establishment of schools in every district through Southeast Missouri and brought a public school within reach of nearly every family, did not provide for a complete system of schools. It was pos- sible for a state superintendent of education in 1894, to speak of Southeast Missouri as the educational low land of the state and to jus- tify his characterization by pointing out that in all this great section of the state there ex- isted only one, or at the most two schools, de- serving of the name high school, and that in this section also there was only one sehool, the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, that was doing any large amount of work above the common school branches. This situ- ation has changed ; and today, there is scarcely a town of any importance in Southeast Missouri that does not have a well organized and equipped high school. In rural communi- ties, too, there is a movement for the organ- ization of rural high schools and a consoli- dation of scattered and isolated districts into larger units for the maintainance of these country high schools.

Along with this increased interest in pub- lic education as evidenced in the establish- ment of public schools, the building of good schoolhouses, and the consolidation of

rural schools, has come an increased interest in religious affairs. The time has come in Southeast Missouri when the various com- munities are no longer satisfied with a modi- fied barn in which to hold religious services, but want comfortable, commodious, and even splendid structures erected for church pur- poses. This movement, too, has gone hand in hand with the spread of religious teaching and religious knowledge to every community. There is scarcely to be found within the bounds of Southeast Missouri a single settle- ment or eommunity, no matter how remote, that does not have its regular gospel services carried on by one or another of the religious denominations.

One of the movements which has had a place in the history of Southeast Missouri in late years is known as the local option move- ment. In 1887 the General Assembly passed a law giving counties the right to determine for themselves whether intoxicating liquors should be sold within their limits. At that time campaigns were made by the temper- ance people in a number of southeast coun- ties and part of them complied with the terms of the law and voted against dram shops. On appealing to the Supreme Court, however, the law was declared defective and the action of the counties null and void. At a later time, however, the General Assembly passed an- other law which is at present on the statute books, providing for local option elections. By its terms the county may vote on the ques- tion of local option, and each town within the county having a population of more than 2,500 may hold an election separate from the rest of the county. Under the provisions of this law local option elections have been held in a number of Southeast Missouri counties and many of them have become dry territory.

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

At the present time there are no saloons in Dunklin, Stoddard, Bollinger, Wayne, Iron and New Madrid.

There is presented a table showing the pop- ulation of the various counties as shown at each census from 1860 to 1910. It is unfor- tunate that the figures are not obtainable for 1865 when the war closed. While this is not possible the figures that are given are highly instructive. Viewing them as a whole it is evident that all the counties have ex- perienced a great growth and development of population since the close of the war. That growth has been marvelous and in some coun- ties little short of incredible.

It is evident that beginning in 1900 the section entered on a different era. Up to that time with scarcely a single exception the coun- ties showed a considerable increase during each decade. In the last decade a change takes place in some of the counties. The great growth in population was in the great agricultural counties of the alluvial bottoms, notably in Dunklin, New Madrid, Stoddard, Pemiscot, Scott, Mississippi and Butler; in the great mining county of St. Francois and in Jefferson county which is developing in both agriculture and manufacturing. The expansion of the agricultural counties is ex- plained by the great increase in cultivated lands due to drainage and the removal of the timber. The population of St. Francois has kept pace with the great increase in its min- ing interests. Cape Girardeau with its grow- ing city and its manufacturing interests, and Madison with the development of new mines showed considerable growth in the same pe- iod. Some of the counties lost population. This was doubtless due to the decided drift of population toward the cities, and in few cases to the closing of mills which had for.

merly supported numbers of people. It can- not be doubted that the population of South- east Missouri will continue to increase. The opportunities are good, and the possibility of supporting much greater numbers is present in every section of the district.

Counties

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

Bollinger

7,126

Butler

2.839

4,29S

6,011 10,152 16.769 20,624

Cape

Girardeau

.14,014 17,558 20,998 22.060 24,315 27,621

Carter

1,215

1,455

2,16S

4,659

6,706

5,504

Dunklin

4,855

5,982

9,604 15,085 21,706 30,328

Iron

5.529

6,278

8.183

9,119

8,71G

8,563

Jefferson

9,780

15.380

18,736

22.484 25.712 27,STS

Madison

5.197

5,844

S.STG

9,268

9,975 11.273

Mississippi ..

3.849

4,982

9,270

10,134

11,837 14,557

New Madrid 3.877

G,357

7,694

9,317

11,280 19.488

Pemiscot

2.694

2,059

4.299

5.975 12,115 19,559

Perry

8,389

9,877

11.895

13,237 15,134 14,898

Reynolds ...

3,135

3.756

5.722

6.803

8.161

9.592

Ripley

... 3,669

3.175

5.377

8,512 13.186 13.099

St. Francois 6,372

9.742

13.822 17.347 24.051 35,738

Ste. Gen-

evieve

7.412

S,384 10,390

9.883 10,359 10,607

Scott

4.744

7.317

S.587 11,228 13.092 22,372

Stoddard

7.662

8.535 13.431 17,327 24,669 27,807

Washington.

S.695

11,719 12,896 13.153 14,263 13,378

Wayne

5.3GS

6.068

9.096 11.927 15,309 15,181

ORGANIZATIONS

There are certain organizations within Southeast Missouri having somewhat dissimi- lar aims and purposes and yet all of them fitted for public services in some way or other. Some of them seek to keep alive the memory of great events while others, less his- torical in theory, have for their purpose the improvement of present conditions. One of these organizations is the Daughters of the American Revolution, a society of women who can trace their descent from some one or other of the Revolutionary soldiers. The pur- pose of this organization is to keep alive the memory of the Revolutionary struggle, of the men and women of our country who are descendants of Revolutionary patriots and to forward certain public movements within the state.

The only chapter in Southeast Missouri is

14,650 14,57G

S,162 11,130 13,121

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

the Nancy Hunter Chapter at Cape Girar- deau. The first member at Cape Girardeau, who was received October 7, 1897, and ap- pointed a regent to organize a chapter. She began the organization but removed from the city before she completed the work. After her going Mrs. Louis Houck was appointed re- gent and completed the organization. The chapter was completed February 12, 1901, with the following charter members: Miss May H. Fee; Mrs. Jennie Allen Wilson, reg- istrar ; Mrs. Julia Allen Block; Mrs. Mary Huuter Giboney Houck, regent; Mrs. Marie Mount Green Houck, historian; Mrs. Mary Amanda Harris Blomeyer, secretary; Mrs. Mabel Ellen Hunter Howe, vice regent; Mrs. Clara Hunter Whitesell; Mrs. Mary Hunter Pierce; Mrs. Lucy Hunter Bird; Mrs. Mary B. Hunter Moore; Mrs. Virginia Hunter Honck, treasurer.

The chapter was named in honor of Nancy Hunter, daughter of Joseph Hunter, a dis- tingnished soldier of the Revolution. Nancy Hunter herself rendered service to her coun- try at Fort Jefferson. She married Isaac Dodge, the first American settler in Ste. Genevieve district; her sons were among the distinguished men of Missouri and other states. One of them was General Henry Dodge, another was Senator A. C. Dodge and another son by a second marriage was Sen- ator Lewis F. Linn. The chapter is in a prosperous condition. It has accomplished a number of things of importance, among them the' gathering of documents, the investiga- tion of genealogical records and the begin- ning of a movement for the preservation of McKendree Chapel, a meeting house of the Methodist church, not far from Cape Girar- deau which is the oldest Protestant house of worship now standing, west of the Mississippi river.

Vol. 1-24

Another of these organizations is the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It is also an organization of women in this case of those who can establish their relationship to Confederate soldiers. Its purpose is prin- cipally historical, also to keep alive the mem- ory of the Civil war, to secure correct treat- ment of the South and its struggles, and to perpetuate in every possible way the fame of those who fought for the South. It is also to a certain extent a social organization and con- cerns itself with progressive movements of ev- ery kind.

Among the societies and organizations founded in Southeast Missouri of a general public interest is the organization of Confed- erate Veterans. It has existed in Missouri since 1895 and the work of organization in this state was begun by General Joe Shelby. Its purpose is social, benevolent and histori- cal, it holds annual reunions in order to pre- serve the memory of the struggles of its mem- bers, strives to render assistance to such as need it, and to collect and preserve all facts and incidents of the Civil war. At the present time there are camps at Doniphan, Green- ville, Poplar Bluff, Farmington, Marble Hill, Jackson, Morley, Dexter, New Madrid, Ken- nett, Bloomfield and Fredericktown.

In many of the towns are camps of the Grand Army of the Republic composed of the veterans of the Union army in the great Civil war. The purpose of these camps is to keep alive the memory of the heroic deeds and sac- rifices of the war, to provide opportunity for fellowship among those who stood together on the field of battle and to assist worthy his- torical and patriotic movements of every kind. The observance of Memoral Day is one of the means for accomplishing these purposes. Al- lied with the camps of the G. A. R. are or-

370

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

ganizations of women called the Women's Re- lief Corps. It was due to the initiative of a chapter of this organization that a statue fountain was recently placed in the court- house square in Cape Girardeau and dedi- cated with appropriate ceremonies, the chief address being delivered by Governor Hadley.

There are also to be found in almost every community organizations of the great secret, social and philanthropic orders. As we have seen at a very early date lodges of the Ma- sonic order were formed in Southeast Mis- souri and the activity of this order was soon followed by others. A detailed account of their organization cannot be presented here, but they have been and still are powerful and vital forces in the life of the people.

Every profession and business has its or- ganizations. Commercial clubs exist in many of the larger towns, the club at Cape Girar- deau being regarded as one of the most ac- tive and efficient organizations of the kind in the state. There are organizations of farmers, lawyers, physicians, dentists. All of them are active in advancing the interests of this part of the state.

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

The only regiment raised in Southeast Mis- souri was the Sixth Regiment which was mus- tered iu at Jefferson Barracks, July 20 to 23, 1898. The regiment officers were Letcher Hardemann, Colonel; H. C. Clark, Lieuten- ant Colonel; Orlando F. Guthrie, Major; J. J. Dickinson, Major, and E. A. Hickman, Ad- jutant. Not all the companies of the regi- ment were from Southeast Missouri; Company D was recruited principally at Bloomfield and Stoddard county. Its officers were Mack Richardson, Captain; Grant Gillispie, First

Lieutenant; Ward Wilson, Second Lieuten- ant. Company E was recruited at Doniphan and in Ripley county, its officers were Pierre D. Ladd, Captain; Giboney Houck, First Lieutenant; Walter F. Martin, Second Lieu- tenant. Company H was from Bollinger county being recruited principally at Lutes- ville; its officers were: Captain, John W. Revelle; First Lieutenant, Robert V. Cor- dell; Second Lieutenant, Stanley Gordon. Company I was from Dunklin county ; its of- ficers were: Albert D. Sloan, Captain; Rob- ert A. Cox, First Lieutenant; W. H. Clopton, Second Lieutenant. Company K was re- cruited in Jefferson and St. Louis counties ; its officers were: Captain, Robert E. Lee; First Lieutenant, Charles A. Conklin; Sec- ond Lieutenant, Arthur W. Brent.

This regiment was the last to take the field during the Spanish-American war, but it saw a more extensive service than any other of the Missouri regiments. It was mustered in at Jefferson Barracks July 20 to 23, 1898, and soon afterward was sent to Florida,; where it stayed for sometime, the men being thoroughly drilled. It became a part of the army under General Lee and went with him to Cuba and took possession of Havana. The fact that its commanding officer, Colonel Hardeman, was an officer of the regular army and a skilled tactician, enabled the regiment to be brought to a high degree of discipline. It was regarded as the best regiment in General Lee's army. It remained on duty in Havana until May 10, 1899, when it was re- turned to Georgia and mustered out at Sa- vaunah. At the ceremony of mustering out the regiment presented a beautiful saber to Colonel Hardeman as a token of the esteem in which he was held.

CHAPTER XXX

TOWNS FOUNDED SINCE CIVIL WAR

MARQUAND - GLENALLEN - ZALMA - BESSVILLE - NEELEYVILLE - FISK - HARVIEL - VAN BUREN - ELLSINORE - GRANDIN - HUNTER - POCAHONTAS - ALLENVILLE-WHITE- WATER - BURFORDVILLE - MILLERVILLE -OAKRIDGE - GORDONVILLE - MALDEN-CAMP- BELL - GIBSON - HOLCOMB - SENATH-WHITEOAK - GLENNONVILLE - CARDWELL - CARUTH - COTTONPLANT - DES ARC - SABULA - BELLEVIEW - ANNAPOLIS - FESTUS - HOUSE'S SPRING - MORSE MILL - PEVELEY - VICTORIA - MINE LAMOTTE - CORN- WALL - DIEHLSTADT - EAST PRAIRIE - BERTRAND - MARSTON - GIDEON - PARMA - LILBOURN - COMO - MOREHOUSE - HAYTI - HOLLAND - COTTONWOOD POINT - STEELE -CALRYVILLE - LITHIUM - WITTENBERG - LONGTOWN - SCHUMER SPRINGS - BUNKER - ELLINGTON - NAYLOR - FLAT RIVER - DESLOGE - LEADWOOD - ELVINS - BONNE TERRE - BISMARCK - DELASSUS - KNOB LICK-LIBERTYVILLE - DOE RUN - ORAN - FORNFELT - ILLMO-CROWDER - KELSO - BLODGETT - MORLEY - CHAFFEE -- VANDU- SER - DEXTER - ADVANCE - BERNIE - PUXICO - IRONDALE - MINERAL POINT -RICH- WOODS - CHAONIA - LEEPER - MILLS RING-WILLIAMSVILLE.

That the founding of towns since the close of the Civil war has been quite a busy in- dustry in Southeast Missouri, is evident from the record which follows.

Marquand in Bollinger county was settled in 1868. It is situated on the Belmont branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad. Among the early settlers were J. H. Stanfill, Henry Whitener and B. F. Finger. The first mer- chants were J. Q. A. Whitener, William Mat- thews, and Jacob Lutes. The town was not incorporated until 1908, the first mayor be- ing F. J. Limbaugh. At the present time there are three general stores. Besides these there are wood working establishments, a flour mill, and a soda water factory. There is one bank in the town and among its im-

portant buildings are four churches. The population of Marquand now is 339.

GLENALLEN

The town of Glenallen in Bollinger county, was settled about 1870 and incorporated as a town in 1906. The first settler and also the first merchant was J. A. Berry. The first mayor of the town was R. Smith. There are now three general stores supported entirely by the farming community about it. It is situated on the Belmont branch of the Iron Mountain, and has a population of 106.

ZALMA

Zalma in the southern part of Bollinger county, is the terminus of the Frisco branch

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 51

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844