USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 4
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RAINFALL IN NODAWAY COUNTY. 1334606
From 1856 on down twenty-five years, a reliable record says that the average rainfall and melted snow was 36.62 inches per year. By months (average) for this period it has been : January, 1.68 inches ; February, 1.67; March, 2.10; April. 3.49: May, 4.39; June, 4.75: July. 4.69; August, 4.66; September, 3.30; October, 2.33 : November. 1.69: December, 1.89 inches.
The rain and melted snow for winter was 5.25 inches ; spring, 9.25 : sum- mer, 14.10 ; autumn, 7.32 inches.
In the absence of a correct record of the last few decades, the govern- ment report for this section gives the figures for the last four years as follows (observation taken at Maryville) :
January-1906, .88; 1907. 1.51 ; 1908. . 05; 1909, 1.24 inches. February-1906, 2.30 ; 1907, 1.08: 1908. 1.91 : 1909. 1.09 inches.
March-1906. 1.91 : 1907, 2.98 : 1908. . 83; 1909, 2.21 inches. April-1906, 4.31 : 1907. 2.40 : 1908. . 95 : 1909. 5.53 inches. May-1906. . 89 : 1907. 1.71 ; 1908, 10.58: 1909. 3.32 inches. June-1906, 4.24 : 1907. 7.12 ; 1908, 9.59: 1909. 9.76 inches. July-1906. 7.87 : 1907, 12.37 : 1908. 3.75: 1909. 10.70 inches. August-1906, 2.96: 1907. 3.53: 1908. 7.28 : 1909, .52 inches. September-1906. 3.02: 1907. 3.34: 1908, 1.23 : 1909. 5.00 inches. October-1906. . 88: 1907. 2.97: 1908. 5.44 inches.
November-1906, 2.04: 1907. 1.63: 1908. 2.02 inches.
December-1906. . 91 : 1907. . 66; 1908. . 16 inches.
Rainfall totaled: For 1906, 32 inches ; for 1907. 41 inches; 1908. 43 inches ; 1909. 37 inches.
The rainiest of all months was July which shows a record of a total of almost 40 inches in the four years. The average rainfall for July was 8.69 inches.
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PAST AND PRESENT
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
While, as a general rule, the subject of geology treated in general histor- ical works is far from interesting, and not always worth much in way of instruction, yet no county history could be said to be complete unless it shows something concerning the earth's formation in the given location in which such historical work is compiled; hence it will be the object of this article on geology to note some of the more important points connected with the earth's formation beneath the surface of Nodaway county, as created away back before man was-back in the dim and misty ages of the past centuries.
In 1873 Prof. G. C. Broadhead, in his geological report on Missouri, stated, among other things concerning the geology of this county, that its formations consist of the quaternary deposits and the coal measures.
Concerning the former, it may be stated that the alluvial deposits are quite extensive along the streams and do not materially differ from similar formations in other counties of this portion of Missouri. The "bluff" forma- tion overlies the surface of the hills, but is probably not so thick as in Atchison county.
The drift bowlder formation is not so generally diffused, nor are there such deep deposits found, as in some counties farther to the east in Missouri, nor are the bowlders very large where they do exist. At Lanning's Mills, in the north part of township 63, range 33. there are to be seen many bowlders of a roundish shape, of granite, quartz and limerock. Near Graham a few pebbles are seen. On points of the hill in township 66, west of the Nodaway river. the soil is sandy and many rounded pebbles are found strewn around, mostly consisting of granite quartzite, etc.
Of the upper carboniferous or coal-measures, it may be stated that the rock strata seen in Nodaway county embraces a vertical thickness of about two hundred and fifty feet of the upper members of the upper coal measures and are included between what geologists call Nos. 224 and 174 of the general secretion of the upper coal measures.
While rock is to be found in good quantities in some sections of this county, at others none whatever has been discovered thus far. On the Nod- away river and its tributaries it is occasionally found as far up as Quitman. From this town to City Bluffs no outcrop is seen on the eastern side of the river. and it is fully six miles further to the next outcrop. To the east of the Nodaway river through townships 65 and 66, no outcrops are seen until Honey creek is reached and the Platte river, in the eastern part of the county.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
On the Platte river bluffs limestone is frequently found. No other trace of it can be discovered east of the Nodaway watershed. On the Platte river and Long Branch, in township 62 and also in 63, there are a few rock exposures. In this same township, on the White Cloud and the One Hundred and Two rivers, rock, including both sandstone and limestone, is more abundant.
The rocks along the Nodaway river with its many tributaries occupy the highest geological position of any seen in the county : the highest in the series are the shales, with included iron carbonate concretions exposed at City Bluff. referred to elsewhere.
The formation seen on the Platte river may include the lowest rocks ex- posed in this county. At Lanning's Mill, on the north line of section I, town- ship 65, range 34, there is a low bluff of gray, blue and drab limestone. On the same river, on the southwest corner of section 16, township 65, range 33. there is exposed nine feet of irregularly bedded bluff limestone, containing some blue chert. the lower beds of which are of a brownish color. Beds of limestone and sandstone are also exposed on Honey creek in section 25, town- ship 64, range 34. A quarter of a mile below the Mrs. Martin place several feet of sandstone is exposed, in layers of five to seven inches, and is said to be a good rock for grindstone purposes, though the quarry has never been worked to any considerable extent.
The coal-bearing measure in Nodaway county seems to be too thin in its strata to make coal mining a profitable industry. Mines were, however, worked forty years ago. Some of the best places found in the limits of the county for coal operations were at the Allen mine on the Nodaway river, two miles from the Iowa state line, on Mill creek and on down as far as Quitman. on Sand creek, Florida creek and the Elkhorn. From nine to seventeen inches covered the extent of the thickness of the coal strata. The coal was not first class. containing too much of the slate trace to make very good fuel, going to ashes too rapidly. On the Samuel Bowman land, section 31, township 65. range 37, coal was mined to the thickness of eighteen inches, but the same was never largely tested or developed. A half mile south of Quitman coal was mined which only measured sixteen inches. Experiments were long ago made at Charles Martin's, in the northeast quarter of section 3. township 63. range 37, where only six inches in thickness could be found.
The coal measure in the north part of Nodaway county is much thicker than in the south, running proportionately thin the farther south one goes.
What was known as the Marysville Coal Company was engaged in min- ing explorations as long ago as 1880, in the northeast quarter of the northeast
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PAST AND PRESENT
quarter of section 25, township 64, range 37, but only six inches in thickness could be found in the upper coal measure. Here, as well as at many other points in Nodaway county, coal was found in two lower measures, but the veins were several hundred feet deep and while much thicker in good quality of soft coal, yet the expense of sinking shafts so many hundreds of feet was not thought profitable. The geological reports early in the eighties disclose the fact that at that date there were seven coal mines being operated in Nod- away county, as follows: David Kimball, Charles Leonard, Emmerson & Brigman, Brigman Brothers, Manorgan Brothers, Ellsworth & Wells and Neeley Brothers. The number of miners employed then was thirty and they were taking out from seven to eight hundred bushels per day. During the coldest winter months, when coal was in greater demand, more men were used. Coal was taken out by means of shafts and others drifted into the side of the bluffs. The veins were found to be from fourteen to eighteen inches in thickness, and the coal of a fair grade, though not the best.
With the cheaper freight rates, better station accommodations and cheaper coal, of better grades, coming in from more extensive mines, the industry in Nodaway county has never risen to great importance. That there is a better vein of coal down several hundred feet, almost anywhere in Nodaway county, is well established by those who have prospected, but so far these veins have not been developed to any extent.
MINERAL SPRINGS.
At various places within Nodaway county there are springs of mineral water, some of which have rare medicinal qualities. Those developed at and near Burlington Junction, in the northwest part of the county, are perhaps the most noteworthy and truly valuable. The analysis of the "Burlington Min- eral Springs." located on Mineral Branch, a small tributary to the Nodaway. and located a mile to the southwest of Burlington Junction, showed as far back as 1880 that their waters possessed rare virtues. The water is clear. pure and odorless, with plenty of carbonate of iron and magnesia. Improve- ments were made about these springs and a Dr. James Evans, a practical phy- sician, controlled the healing waters for a long time. Near the spring beauti- ful groves became the popular resort for many. Tents and buildings were erected : a nine-acre lake was made from the discharging waters and from other springlets; in this lake abounded many fish and its banks were lined
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
with many a shady nook. Boats were supplied for invalids and pure pleasure- seekers. Bath houses were erected, and a regular sanitarium was put into operation.
These springs have been utilized all these passing years and only recently the property has changed hands-a Texas man having traded for it-and the institution now has many persons for treatment and wonderful results are obtained in rheumatism and other diseases.
A FINE MINERAL WELL.
At Burlington Junction, J. T. Anderson owned a fine mineral well. The peculiarity of the water from this well was its pureness, yet it is said to pos- sess all of the required ingredients and minerals to make it a healing liquid for many diseases. It is spoken of by competent judges as being almost iden- tical to that found at Eureka Springs, Missouri. While the total amount of solids found in the waters of Eureka was five and eighty-five hundredths grains per gallon, that of this well at Burlington Junction was only twenty- four grains less to the gallon.
THE PISTOLE WELL.
In the winter of 1905-06 there was sunk a well, or shaft excavation, in the vicinity of Hopkins, in Hopkins township, on the land owned by J. C. Pistole, now a banker, as then, residing at Hopkins, and this "well" developed the fact that the country about that place was indeed rich in minerals. In this prospecting exploit many pieces of rich zinc were discovered, the speci- mens of which are equal to any found in the Joplin region. Especially, this test developed the fact that this section is underlaid with an immense strata of blue, fine-grained limestone of a hundred feet and more in thickness. The following is a description of the findings in this well, and the borings were examined by geologists and chemists, who were sent here at the expense of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad. The borings are given in feet down from the surface of the earth and are as follows :
30 feet, buff limestone with some sand grains.
40 feet, light buff limestone with fragments of iron oxide and sand.
45 feet, gray limestone and dark shale, the latter in one-third proportion.
52 feet, light gray argillaceous limestone soft : also clay.
60 feet to 90 feet, dark gray calcareous shale.
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PAST AND PRESENT
About 100 feet, bluish shale.
103 to 116 feet, argillaceous limestone, dark gray.
120 to 125 feet, dark bituminous shale.
128 feet, gray argillaceous limestone.
138 feet. bluish gray calcareous shale, with gray limestone.
145 feet. bluish shale and gray limestone.
156 feet. fine grained limestone, blue.
160 feet, gray limestone, some shale and sand.
166 feet. mixture of gray limestone and grains and dark shale.
169 feet, gray limestone.
175 feet. mixture of dark bituminous shale and some gray limestone.
180 feet, gray limestone with some dark shale.
184 feet to 189 feet, gray limestone argillaceous.
190 feet, gray limestone, fine grained.
195 feet, mostly gray limestone, some sand grains and dark shale.
200 feet, gray limestone.
204 feet, argillaceous limestone.
215 feet. dark shale, with some limestone.
220 feet, sand grains, with some limestone.
225 feet, argillaceous limestone, shale and sand grains.
233 feet, gray shale and argillaceous limestone.
239 feet, gray limestone.
245 feet. calcareous shale.
264 feet, argillaceous limestone.
295 feet. dark shale and gray limestone.
314 feet, sandstone showing some shale.
COAL OIL EXCITEMENT.
.
About 1903 and 1904. in the vicinity of Burlington Junction, through the enterprise (or scheming) of a New York city man. a stock company was formed for the purpose of prospecting for coal, gas and oil. The place selected for the test was just south of the town, along the tracks of the Bur- lington railroad, and a hole was sunk down to the depth of several hundred feet. Excellent drilling machinery was employed and what were supposed at the time to be expert men executed the task of delving into the bowels of the earth. Finally. a thin layer of soft coal was struck and this caused great excitement and stock was offered and sold freely. Still the work went for-
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
ward and a little deeper down it was said that coal oil was struck. Then it was that stock went freely and found many purchasers. The town people believed that they were soon destined to fortune. But all of a sudden the projectors of the scheme left the country and abandoned their quite extensive machinery, and never returned to take up the drills and hoisting machinery. The outfit laid there several years and finally parties came and loaded the bulk of it onto cars, when some one with knowledge as to the true ownership of the plant interfered and stopped the removal of the stuff. The man was placed under bonds and his trial has not yet been reached on the court docket.
That a thin strata of coal was found no one can doubt, as the same ledge of rock, slate and coal is being worked at Quitman, not many miles to the south. But as to whether the oil was genuine, native to these parts, will probably never be known. At any rate the many stock owners of this "oil well" will sell their shares very cheap today !
CHAPTER III.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN THE COUNTRY.
The patriotic Roman citizen was not content until he found the "first set- tler." and then he was satisfied, although they were found in the very unde- sirable company of a wolf, and located on a drift which the receding waters of the Tiber had permitted them to pre-empt.
In any new, or even comparatively new, county one of the advantages pertaining to a residence is the fact that we can easily trace back to the first beginning, and can thus trace results to their cause quite readily. We ob- serve that a state or county has attained a certain position. and we at once try to trace out the reasons for this position in its early settlement and sur- roundings today, by the class of men by whom it was originally peopled, and in the many changes which have wrought out results in all the recorded deeds of mankind. In the history of Nodaway county, one may easily trace its pioneer settlers back to their former homes, in some one of the Eastern or Southern states, or, possibly, to some one of the European countries. The Pennsylvania German, the Buckeye and Hoosier, or the resident of old Ken- tucky, or Virginia, loaded their belongings into boat or covered wagon and put forth for the "Far West," as this county was known a half century ago. Again, another element became the foundation stones of Nodaway county- the sturdy New Englander, with his Puritan character and impulses, all aglow with patriotism and thoughts of genuine freedom and liberty, the same as in- spired his forefathers in the Revolution. The German empire and the British isles. together with France, all furnished their share in the settlement of this goodly county.
Those who have observed the career of these brave sons from many na- tions, and many states in this Union, understand the obstacles they encoun- tered, the wilds they met and conquered before their homes were fully estab- lished and they were permitted to enjoy the fruits of a well-regulated neighbor- hood, township and county government, with schools. churches, postoffices and railroads.
The first settlement in Nodaway county was effected in the spring of 1839. and the honor ( for such it was) belonged to Isaac Hogan, a native of
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Tennessee. He pitched his tent near the pure waters of what has for many years been styled Brown's spring, just south of the present sprightly village of Graham, in Hughes township, as that part of Nodaway county is now known. Near that tenting spot, Mr. Hogan built his log cabin, which was the earliest evidence of a white man's civilization north and east of the Nodaway river in this county.
The publishers and writers of a modern-day county historical work real- ize how fortunate they are in this instance, to be able to here reproduce an article on the early settlement of the county, from the pen of the well known pioneer, Dr. J. W. Morgan, who was numbered among the van-guard of early settlers himself. More than a quarter of a century ago the good doctor wrote as follows :
In the spring of 1839, Isaac Hogan. in company with Daniel Hogan, Richard Taylor, a gentleman who had married a sister of the Hogans, and Robert M. Stewart, then a wandering youth, since governor of the state, con- cluded to seek their fortunes in a better country, and with a two-horse wagon and camp equipage. an ax, a shovel and grubbing hoe, started to explore the Nodaway valley country, recently purchased from the Indians. In March, 1839. they crossed a stream that has since been called Elkhorn, and encamped at what is now known as Laughlin's brick yard, in Hughes township, one-half mile south of Graham. On the following morning one of the horses was lame and unfit for travel and they concluded to take a hunt, and after an ex- amination of the resources of the country they were not willing to proceed further. They had found a country that they might be glad to call home. They were tired and slept. Next morning a division of the new Canaan had to be entered into. Isaac Hogan, being senior of the company, had the first selection. His choice was the tract of land on which the thriving and enter- prising city of Graham is now situated. Daniel, being a brother of the chief, selected the claim now owned by our esteemed Teutonic friend, Philip Maurer. Taylor selected what is known as the Hiramn Groves or J. Q. Brink tract of land. R. M. Stewart chose as his claim the fine land now owned by Nicholas Kavanaugh and William Burris.
Isaac Hogan remained, broke a few acres near Graham, and planted corn. while the remainder of the party returned to Platte county. After the return of the latter, Isaac Hogan was perhaps the only living white man north of the Nodaway river in the Platte Purchase. He built a log cabin near what is known as Brown's Spring, which rises in the south side of Graham, and affords an abundance of water for the town. During the month of June fol- lowing, he joined his family in Platte county, Missouri, where he remained until the following winter.
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Daniel Hogan, Richard Taylor and R. M. Stewart arrived in Platte county in a reasonable length of time, considering all the obstacles with which they had to contend. There being no wagon roads north of New Market, in Buchanan county, they followed Indian trails as near as was possible; yet it was extremely slow traveling, as they would often have to examine a small stream for several miles before they could find a point at which they could effect a crossing. On reaching home, Hogan and Taylor planted corn and cultivated during the summer. R. M. Stewart hired out by the month to Joel Hedgepath-hoed corn for thirty-seven and a half cents a day, during the crop season. Of rainy days, and at idle times, he read Blackstone and the Statutes of Missouri. He practiced law for a number of years afterward ; was captain of a company during the Mexican war, and was finally elected governor of the state. Since then his life has become a part of the history of the state and nation, and is familiar to all.
Issac Hogan, above referred to, and who was the first white man to in- vade and settle in Nodaway county, met a most painful and singular death, while on his way to the Pacific coast with a train of emigrants in 1850. He seems to have had a great antipathy to the Indians, and rashly declared that he would shoot the first Indian that he saw. As the party of emigrants ad- vanced, they arrived at length among the Sioux, who up to that date had always been friendly to the whites. It was their boast then that they had never shed the blood of a white man. A squaw coming into the camp one evening, he shot her without provocation and without the knowledge and con- sent of his companions. The Indians missing her, found that she had been murdered, and held a council. The next morning they demanded her mur- derer. The party of emigrants were powerless to resist an attack from the Indians, and did not seem to have any disposition to shield the perpetrator of such a crime from justice, and so gave him up, not knowing what a terrible fate awaited him. The Indians took him a short distance from the camp, and stripped him and tied him to a tree. They then cut his skin in strips and. making cross sections, tore off the pieces of skin with bullet moulds. They continued this process until he was fairly flayed alive, or died under suffer- ings which passed the point of human endurance. The Sioux did not molest the remainder of the party, but having wreaked vengeance on the perpetrator of the dastardly deed, they peaceably went away.
Early in the spring of 1840 Hiram Hall settled on a tract of land some eight miles south of Maryville, since known as the Prather place. Hall was a man of considerable will power-that is, whatever he undertook to do he
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
sought to accomplish. He thought he had chosen one of the most desirable locations that human eye had ever beheld. He determined to make it his home while he was an inhabitant of this terrestrial sphere; in this he was mis- taken, as poverty compelled him to abandon his home, but not until he had built a house and made considerable improvements. Hill being pecuniarily embarrassed, concluded that it was best for him, and those whom God had given him, to seek a different locality. Accordingly, he sold his claim to Colonel Prather (of whom further mention will be made), and settled across One Hundred and Two river, about one mile from Bridgewater. He was still enabled to keep his head above the wave, and he bravely commenced de- veloping the resources of the country and was looked upon as one of the monied men, able to go forward and succeed in business. He built a com- fortable residence, yea, a magnificent one for that day. It was a building six- teen by thirty-two feet, fronting the south; the main body of the building was of hewn logs placed together, the corners notched down and dove-tailed : in the center was a hall six feet in width, the partitions being made of the same kind of material as the walls, the roof being of clapboards, and rested on streamers called ribs, the boards being secured by weight-poles-poles cut and fastened down on each layer of four-foot boards. The openings between the logs were closed by chinking and plastering or daubed with a material com- posed of clay, ashes and common soil, applied with a trowel made of wood. The door in the front entrance was made by using two uprights hewn out of two pieces of wood, weatherboarded with common clap-boards, smoothed down with a drawing knife : the hinges consisted in an excavation in the floor and a hoop at the upper end and fastened in the walls : the latch was of wood. while the string was hanging out at all times ; the floor was made of puncheon, and the loft was of clap-boards. The chimney, which stood in the end of the building, was made in the following manner : In the ends there was a space of six feet sawed out of the walls and timber split: the outer ends were se- cured by notches, the inner ends resting in the cracks of the building. They were lined with stone, on the back, the jams being lined with stone set on end. The upper portion of the chimney was constructed of sticks and clay. The windows consisted of holes cut in the side of the dwelling and cased up with timbers hewn out without the aid of a saw, and the openings were inclosed with muslin oiled or greased with tallow or hog's lard. He broke and fenced sixty acres of land and put it under a high state of cultivation. Providence smiled on him for a number of years, and he accumulated considerable wealth. Soon after the Bridgewater mill was built he purchased a still, built a small
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