USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 41
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The final organization of the Missouri Valley Improvement association was completed August 10, 1906, when these officers were elected: Lawrence M. Jones, president; Willard Merriam, vice-president; J. F. Richards, treas- urer; E. L. Gates, secretary. A directory composed of the following men was chosen: Lawrence M. Jones, chairman; George A. Barton, Walter S. Diekey, J. C. James, F. D. Crabbs, R. Harry Jones, Frank A. Faxon, J. J. Swofford, J. W. Breidenthal, W. P. Trickett, J. K. Burnham, George W. Ful- ler, L. J. Gilles, A. J. Poor, A. A. Whipple.
The general impression prevailed throughout the country that the Mis- souri river had passed its days of usefulness as a commercial highway. Realiz- ing the far-reaching effect of this belief, Lawrence M. Jones, president of the Missouri Valley River Improvement association, decided to charter a boat to make a trip, loaded with freight, and thus prove the navigability of the Missouri river Within two weeks after the organization of the association had been completed, he visited St. Louis for this purpose, with the result that in September, the month of lowest water in the river, the steamboat Lora with a barge, both loaded with freight for Kansas City merchants, made a success- ful trip from St. Louis to Kansas City and return. The experiment was fol- lowed by several trips by the Thomas H. Benton, with the owners of which arrangements were made to continue freight service during the remainder of 1906.
Few works accomplished by Kansas City have attracted such wide-spread attention to the city and given it such general and favorable advertising throughout the country as the successful trip of the Lora. Towns and vil- lages along the river joined with Kansas City in celebrating the event, which was regarded as marking the resumption of navigation on the Missouri river.
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At the Kansas City levee, more than 10,000 people gathered to cheer the Lora on its arrival. The Missouri river had been proved to be navigable.
It fell to the lot of Lawrence M. Jones to not only take the initiative and prove the Missouri river to be navigable, but also to head the movement that resulted in the organization of the Kansas City Transportation & Steam- ship company, with a capital of $200,000, for the purpose of maintaining regular steamboat service on the Missouri river between Kansas City and St. Louis. A state charter was granted to this company April 29, 1907. The following board of directors was chosen to serve for the first year: Lawrence M. Jones, president; William Volker, treasurer; J. C. Lester, secretary; O. V. Dodge, A. G. Ellet, C. E. Faeth, A. H. Munger, J. F. Richards, Leon Smith, J. J. Swofford, J. P. Townley, J. H. Wiles, Jerome Twichell.
Not waiting to build boats suited to the Missouri river in its unimproved condition the steamship company bought two steamboats, the Chester and the Tennessee, and operated them during the season of 1907 with success. The boats carried freight at approximately two-thirds of the railroad rates, affording a substantial saving to shippers.
An expert boat builder was employed to submit plans of boats best adapted to the navigation of the Missouri river and these boats were to be ready for service with the opening of navigation in the spring of 1908. When these plans were well under way, the financial depression of 1907 became evident and the directors thought best to cease operations along these lines until financial conditions improved. Therefore the contracts for the new boats were not let and the company operated the Chester and the Tennessee during the season of 1908. The season was successful, much more freight being offered than could be handled
The efforts to navigate the Missouri river have impressed the whole country, including the officials at Washington, and have been of great value in bringing the importance of the Missouri river as a carrier to the attention of the general public. The short session of the Fifty-ninth Congress ap- propriated ample funds for operating snag boats on the Missouri river this being the first appropriation in aid of navigation of the Missouri river made for sev- eral years. Thus the Missouri river was restored to the "map" of navigable streams entitled to Federal aid. In addition, provision was made for a report by engineers upon which appropriations may be made for improvements of the Missouri river in the future.
The Missouri river has the greatest navigable length of any other river in the United States. The Missouri constitutes 5 per cent of the entire navigable waterway of the United States, including the Great Lakes. It has 14 per cent of the navigable waterway of the region drained by the Mississippi river. Its navigable length is greater than the distance by rail from St. Louis
THE SNAG BOAT "SUTER."
TENNESSEE.
THE TENNESSEE.
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to San Francisco. It has a navigable bed above Sioux City, Iowa, of 1,475 miles or 500 miles more than the entire length of the Ohio. It is the one interior river, except the lower Mississippi, which it feeds, that has a water supply sufficient to make every city along its course for 800 miles a seaport.
From the mouth of the three forks of the Missouri river, northwest of Yellowstone park, to its mouth it is a distance of 2,547 miles and from the three forks to the Gulf of Mexico it is the distance of 3,823 miles. The Mis- souri river is longer than the entire Mississippi river and more than twice as long as that part of the Mississippi river above their confluence. The Mis- souri river drains a watershed of 580,000 square miles, or one-sixth of the land surface of the United States, and its total annual discharge is estimated to be 20 cubic miles, or a rate of 94,000 cubic feet per second, which is more than twice the water discharged by the upper Mississippi river. The Missouri river is the most rapid and the most turbulent stream of the two and its muddy water gives color to the lower Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico. The Missouri should be regarded as the main stream and the upper Mississippi as the tributary. The name of the former should have been given precedence, and the great river, the longest river in the world, should have been called the Missouri-from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Missouri river is nature's gift to the commerce of one-fourth of the United States. Improved according to the recommendations of govern- mental engineers, it would have a freight-carrying capacity equal to that of 600 railways, fifty times the capacity of all the roads running between the Mississippi river and the lower Missouri and more than twenty-five times the capacity of all the railroads running from the Mississippi to the Missouri at all points. The cost of improving the Missouri river, from its mouth to Kansas City would be less than that of paralleling the Wabash railroad, the short line between Kansas City and St. Louis. The economy in the operation of transportation lines on the improved Missouri river would be such that boats could make large profits in carrying freight at greatly reduced rates.
Government engineers estimated that the Missouri river could be given a permanent twelve foot channel from its mouth to Sioux City, Iowa, at a cost of 40 million dollars. The entire amount expended by the United States government to 1907 was $11,141,000. The Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep Water project calls for a 14-foot channel and this minimum depth could easily be obtained in the Missouri river below Kansas City with small additional cost. The engineer's estimate of the cost of the work is 20 million dollars below and the same amount above Kansas City. Owing to the bend in the Missouri river at Kansas City, it is practically the point farthest west for inland navi- gation. Accordingly, when the improvement of the Missouri river is com- pleted to Kansas City the freight rates of the entire West will be affected.
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CHAPTER XXV.
THE CITY CHARTERS.
Kansas City's first municipal corporation was by order of the county court at Independence entered February 4, 1850, and again entered June 3, 1850. The town was incorporated under the name of "The Town of Kansas." Its first legislative charter was granted to the "City of Kansas" by special act of the state legislature on February 22, 1853. Subsequent amendments to this legislative act were made, the most important being by act of March 24, 1875, which was called the "amended charter of the City of Kansas." With some modification and supplemented by other acts, this con- tinued to be the charter of the city until the people adopted the charter of 1889 and changed the name of the city to Kansas City. This latter charter continued, with amendments, as the organic municipal law until superseded by the charter adopted August 4, 1908.
Aside from the general state regulations of the city's police and election machinery, and aside from the supremacy of the fundamental laws of the state, Kansas City is self governing and its self-created charter is the law for the citizens. Although Kansas City did not take advantage of its charter making power until 1889, that power was conferred by the state constitution of 1875 and made operative by a legislative enabling act. The Constitutional provisions which are thus the foundation of the city's charter rights, are as follows :
"CONSTITUTION. "Provisions Relating to Organization of City. "ARTICLE IX. "Of the Constitution of the State of Missouri.
"Section 16. Cities of Over 100,000 Inhabitants May Frame Their Own Charters-Procedure-Amendments.
"Any city having a population of more than one hundred thousand in- habitants may frame a charter for its own government, consistent with and subject to the Constitution and laws of this State, by causing a board of thir- teen freeholders who shall have been for at least five years qualified voters thereof, to be elected by the qualified voters of such city at any general or special election; which board shall, within ninety days after such election, return to the chief magistrate of such city a draft of such charter, signed by the members of such board or a majority of them. Within thirty days thereafter, such proposed charter shall be submitted to the qualified voters of such city, at a general or special election, and if four-sevenths of such qualified voters voting thereat shall ratify the same, it shall, at the end of
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thirty days thereafter, become the charter of such city, and supersede any existing charter and amendments thereof. A duplicate certifieate shall be made setting forth the charter proposed and its ratification, which shall be signed by the chief magistrate of such city and authenticated by the corporate seal. One of such certificates shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other, after being recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds for the county in which said city lies, shall be deposited among the archives of such city, and all courts shall take judicial notice thereof. Such charter, so adopted, may be amended by a proposal therefor, made by the law-making authorities of such city, published for at least thirty days in three newspapers of largest circulation in such city, one of which shall be a news- paper printed in the German language, and acepted by three-fifths of the qualified voters of such city, voting at a general or special election, and not otherwise; but such charter shall always be in harmony with and subject to the constitution and laws of the State.
"Section 17. Provisions of Such Charters .- It shall be a feature of all such charters that they shall provide, among other things, for a mayor or chief magistrate, and two houses of legislation, one of which at least shall be elected by general ticket; and in submitting any such charter or amend- ment thereto to the qualified voters of such city, any alternative section or article may be presented for the choice of the voters, and may be voted on separately, and accepted or rejected separately, without prejudice to other articles or sections of the charter or any amendment thereto."
These following are the sections that are known as "the Enabling Act" (numbered according to their place in the Revised Statutes of 1889) :
"ENABLING ACT.
"Section 1840 .- City of Over 100,000 Inhabitants May Frame Charter- Procedure-Amendments .- Any city having a population of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants may frame a charter for its own government consistent with and subject to the constitution and laws of this State, by causing a board of thirteen freeholders, who shall have been for at least five years qualified voters thereof, to be elected by the qualified voters of such city at any general or special election, which board shall, within ninety days after such election, return to the chief magistrate of such city, a draft of such charter signed by the members of such board, or a majority of them. Within thirty days thereafter sueh proposed charter shall be submitted to the qualified voters of such city at a general or special election, and if four- sevenths of such qualified voters voting thereat shall ratify the same, it shall, at the end of thirty days thereafter, become the charter of such city and supersede any existing charter and amendments thereof. A duplicate
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certificate shall be made setting forth the charter proposed and its ratifica- tion, which shall be signed by the chief magistrate of such city and au- thenticated by its corporate seal. One of such certificates shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other, after being recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds for the county in which such city lies, shall be deposited among the archives of such city, and all courts shall take judicial notice thereof. Such charter so adopted may be amended by a proposal therefor made by the law-making authorities of such city, published for at least thirty days in three newspapers of largest circulation in such city, one of which shall be a newspaper printed in the German language, and accepted by three-fifths of the qualified voters of such city voting at a general or special election, and not otherwise; but such charter shall always be in harmony with and subject to the constitution and laws of the State. A dupli- cate certificate shall be made, setting forth such amendment and its ratification, which shall be signed by the chief magistrate of such city and authenticated by its corporate seal. One of such certificates shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other, after being recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds for the county in which such city lies, shall be de- posited among the archives of such city, and all courts shall take judicial notice thereof.
"Section 1841 .- Charter Takes Effect Thirty Days After Adoption .- After the expiration of said thirty days after the ratification and adoption of such charter as aforesaid, such charter shall be and constitute the entire or- ganic law of such city, and shall supersede all laws of this State then in force in terms governing or appertaining to cities having one hundred thou- sand or more.
"Section 1842 .- Mayor and Two Houses of Legislation-Alternative Sections .- It shall be a feature of all such charters that they shall provide, among others things, for a mayor or chief magistrate and two houses of legislation, one of which at least shall be elected by general ticket; and in submitting any such charter or amendment thereto to the qualified voters of such city, any alternative section or article may be presented for the choice of the voters, and may be voted on separately, and accepted or rejected separately, without prejudice to other articles or sections of the charter, or any amendments thereto.
"Section 1843 .- Time for Electing Board-Notice .- Whenever the law- making authorities of any such city shall deem it advisable for such city to frame a charter for its own government as aforesaid, it shall by ordinance, fix a time for holding an election for such board of thirteen freeholders, which may at a general city election, or at any other time, and cause notice of such election to be published for at least twenty days in three newspapers
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of largest circulation, one of which shall be a newspaper printed in the Ger- man language.
"Section 1844 .- Election for Adopting Charter-Notice .- Upon the draft of such charter being returned to chief magistrate, as aforesaid, the law-making authorities of such city shall forthwith fix the time for holding an election at which such proposed charter shall be submitted to the quali- fied voters of such city, which may be at a general city election or at any other time, and cause notice of such election to be published for at least twenty days in three newspapers of largest circulation in such city, one of which shall be a newspaper printed in the German language At such election the form of ballots may be 'for the charter,' followed by sufficient space to the right thereof on which may be written or printed the words yes or no, in accordance with the choice of the person voting such ballot. In the event of any alternative section or article being presented for the choice of the voters, any form of ballot may be used which will clearly indicate the choice of the person voting such ballot between alternative sections or articles.
"Section 1845 .- Attestation of Ordinance-Evidence, When .- All or- dinances, resolutions and proceedings of such city may be approved by its corporate seal, attested by the officer having charge thereof, and when printed and published by authority of said city, the same shall be received in evi- dence in all courts and places without further proof.
"Section 1846 .- Persons in office, Hold until Election .- All persons in office in said city at the time of the ratification of such charter shall hold their offices until their successors are elected or appointed and qualified, as may be provided in such charter, but no longer.
"Section 1847 .- Adoption not to Affect Existing Rights .- Such charter, in superseding any previous charter and amendments thereof, shall not affect any right, lien or liability accrued, established or subsisting previous to the time when such charter takes effect, nor affect any action or proceeding pend- ing when such charter takes effect; but such right, lien or liability shall be enforced, and such action or proceeding shall be carried on, in all respects, as if such charter had not taken effect; nor shall such charter be in anywise constructed as to affect any right or liability acquired or accrued under the previous charter and amendments superseded thereby, by or on the part of any city, or any person or body corporate.
"Section 1848 .- Bonds in Judicial Proceedings .- Such city in taking an appeal or prosecuting a writ of error in any judicial proceeding, shall give bonds as required by law, but it hereby released from the obligation of law to furnish security therefor. All such bonds shall be executed by the mayor or chief magistrate of such city, and shall be taken in all courts of
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this State as full compliance with the law in such cases, and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this provision are hereby repealed.
"Section 1849 .- Consistent Ordinances .- All ordinances, regulations and resolutions in force at the time such charter takes effect and not incon- sistent with the provisions thereof, shall remain and be in force until altered, modified or repealed by the law-making authorities of such city.
"Section 1850 .- Rights of Action not Affected .- All rights of action, fines, penalties and forfeitures accruing to such city before such charter takes effect shall remain unaffected thereby and may be prosecuted, recovered and received as fully in every respect as if charter had not taken effect
"Section 1851 .- City Taxes to be Collected by City Officers .- The county collector of the county in which city lies shall not, after the taking effect. of such eharter, collect any taxes or special assessments theretofore or there- after levied by such city, but the same shall be collected by such city through its own officers.
"Section 1852 .- Tax Liens on Realty Vested in City .- Any lien on real property existing in favor of the State of Missouri, or of such city, at or before the taking effect of such charter, for taxes and special assessments levied by such city, and all right, title and estate acquired by or vested in the State of Missouri or such city, by reason of the forfeiture or sale to the State or such city of any tract of land, town or city lot offered at public sale for taxes or special assessments levied by such city, interest and cost due thereon, and not sold to others for want of bidders, are hereby assigned and trans- ferred to and continued in such city, and all lands, town or city lots forfeited or sold to the State of Missouri or such city on account of taxes or special assessments levied thereon by such city, shall, from the taking effect of such charter, be deemed and taken to be forfeited and sold to such city. In all cases where certificates of purchase have, at the time such charter takes effect, been made out in the name of purchasers at any sale for such delinquent taxes or special assessments. the right to redeem from any such sale, or to a deed or deeds, shall not be affected or impaired by anything in this article or charter contained.
"Section 1853 .- Census May be Taken-Purpose .- Any City, for the purpose of ascertaining the population with a view solely to placing itself under the provisions of section 1840, may at any time, by an ordinance, and at the expense of such city, cause an enumeration of its inhabitants to be made and its population ascertained, and judicial notice of such census and of the population of such city as ascertained thereby, shall be taken by all courts in this State without proof.
"Section 1854 .- Courts to Take Notice of Population .- The courts of this State shall take judicial notice, without proof of the population of all
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cities in this State according to the last enumeration of the inhabitants thereof, State, Federal or Municipal, made under or pursuant of this State or the United States.
"Section 1855 .- To Section 1879 (40), inclusive, relate to manner of conducting election upon submission of such charter to the voters for ratifi- cation.
Section 1880 .- Extending Limits-If Extension Includes other Incor- porated City, Proceedings .- Any such city, or any other city of ten thousand inhabitants or less and having a special charter, after the taking effect of such charter, may any time or times extend its limits by ordinance, specify ing with accuracy the new line or lines to which it is proposed to extend such limits All courts of this State shall take judicial notice of the limits of such city when thus extended, and if all the steps in the proceedings leading thereto: provided, that should such city by such extension of its territorial limits .include any portion of an incorporated city, town or village, such ex- tension shall be made to include the whole territory of such incorporated city, town or village, and upon such extension being made the corporate existence of such incorporated city, town or village, so included in such extension, shall, ipso facto, cease, and all the property and rights of every kind and nature belonging to and vested in such incorporated city, town or village, shall, by operation of law, at once pass to and vest in the city making such extension of its limits, and it shall be the duty of all officers and employes of such incorporated city, town or village having custody or control thereof, to surrender and deliver the same to such city so extending its limits, and such city shall also, by operation of law, assume and become liable to pay all debts and liabilities of such incorporated city, town or village: provided further, that before such city shall extend its limits so as to include any incorporated city, town or village, four-sevenths of the qualified voters of the incorporated city, town or village voting at such election, so decided to be included within the limits of such city shall vote in favor of such proposition at an election held for that purpose in the following manner, to-wit: When- ever such city shall desire to include within its limits any incorporated city, town or village, the mayor of such city shall inform the mayor or other chief officer of the incorporated city, town or village proposed to be so taken in of its intention to include said city, town or village within the limits, the mayor thereof shall order a special election, to determine the wish of said city, town or village, giving twenty days' public notice of the time and places of holding such election, and the purpose for which it is to be held-said election to be governed by the general laws governing said city, town or village in respect to holding of general elections, and if four-sevenths of the qualified voters voting at such election shall vote in favor of the proposed extension, the mayor
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