USA > Missouri > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Missouri : containing a history of the County, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Clinton County in the late war, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc > Part 35
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
arranged on opposite sides of the depot building as to form the walls of an avenue leading up to the doors of the same, and along this avenue, and through the depot building, the cattle were driven on board the cars. It was not long, however, before the demands of business accomp- lished the necessary appliances and conveniences for this important station.
It may not be uninteresting to mention, in this connection, that the gap between the eastern and western divisions of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was filled by the completion of the same, February 12, 1859, the ties and rails of the last half mile being on that day laid in the snow, from the west, to the town of Chillicothe. Ten days after occurred in St. Joseph the grand celebration in honor of the event which united the two mighty streams of the continent in a double band of iron. The following are the agents who in turn succeeded Major Baubie as station agent here : Thomas E. Dennis in 1862, Weatherby a few months after, and B. F. Bassett in the same year. He held till 1863, when he was suc- ceeded by Charles Packard, with E. T. Walker as deputy. In 1867. George Willis became agent and served till 1881 when he was suc- ceeded by the present incumbent, A. L. Spencer. On the completion of the Kansas City Branch of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in 1867, another depot, exclusively for the accommodation of passengers, was built about three-fourths of a mile west of this depot. The first agent at this depot was Capt. R. A. Knapp, who held the position till 1872, when he was succeeded by George Duncan. In 1880, George Duncan retired and J. Patterson succeeded him. Before the close of the year he was succeeded by J. R. Reeves, the present (1831) incumbent. In the fall of 1878 the structure of this depot was destroyed by fire. At that time, and for a number of years previous, Fred Henshaw, now (1881) of St. Joseph, kept at this depot one of the most elegant and popular eating houses in the west, providing meals for the trains from Kansas City, St. Joseph, and the east. The depot was located on its present site for the purpose of securing the necessary room demanded by the increase of business on the completion in 1867 of the Kansas City Branch of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. The present (1881) union passenger depot and eating house of the Hannibal and St. Joseph and of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads, was erected on the site of the structure above referred to as having been destroyed by fire, and was completed January 1, 1880. It is a neat and spacious structure, consisting of a two-story center with one-story wings. The cost of the building was about nine thousand dollars.
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was completed to Cameron in June, 1871, and a freight and passenger depot built imme- diately in the rear of the Combs House. The first agent at this depot was J. M. Johnson. He filled the position till September 1872, when he
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was succeeded by the present (1881) agent, J. E. Conklin, an efficient and popular official. This, like the old station of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Road at the foot of Walnut Street, was long used as both a freight and passenger depot, and continued as such till the building of the union passenger depot above described. During that period the eating station of this road was the Combs Dining Rooms-the rear extension of the Combs House, and directly opposite the depot. Ten regular freight trains, besides numerous extras, leave the depot of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad daily. The average annual shipment of live stock from Cameron Station, on this road, is three hun- dred car loads. During the twelve months ending October, 1881, these shipments amounted to five hundred car loads. Besides extras, six reg- ular freights leave on the Hannibal & St. Joseph. At the union passen- ger depot sixteen regular trains of the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, arrive and depart daily. The coal yards, engine houses, etc., of the two roads are located in the immediate neigh- borhood of the union passenger depot, which is situated just beyond the coporate limits of the town, in a thickly settled resident neighborhood, which naturally clustered around the depot on its location at that point.
CHAPTER XX.
MEXICAN WAR.
THE WAR NEWS - ENTHUSIASM IN THE COUNTY-NAMES OF VOLUNTEERS-DONIPHAN'S EXPEDITION.
Having reached a period in the history of Clinton County-1846, the date of the breaking out of the Mexican War, we cannot refrain from making a brief reference to the part the county took in that event- ful and memorable struggle.
Being then almost upon the the very borders of civilization, the news concerning events happening at a remote distance from it, was carried by stage.routes, post riders, and steamboats, and of course the people of the county did not hear of the war with Mexico until after the occurrence of two or three sanguinary battles, between that nation and the United States, and even after hearing of the declaration of war, upon the part of Mexico, they were not inclined to give it full credence, as will be seen by the following, which we take from a newspaper issued in May, 1846, then published in an adjoining county :
"WAR WITH MEXICO.
"We learn from a gentleman from Independence, that news was received at that place of a declaration of war against the United States by Mexico. The news appears a little improbable, but from the con- duct of Mexico lately, we would not be serprised if such were the case."
On the 22d of May following, the vague rumors of war had been confirmed, and the same paper, in its issue of that date, said :
"In our paper, this week, will be found all the war news that we have received, which we publish to the exclusion of other matter, deem- ing that, at this particular crisis, nothing so much interests our readers as the situation of our army on the Rio Grande, and the feeling with which the announcement of actual hostilities has been received in vari- ous parts of the Union. We are now looking with painful anxiety for later intelligence from the seat of war ; we say painful, for notwithstand- ing the great confidence we have in the bravery and patriotism of our army, both officer and soldier, the fact cannot be disguised by the most earnest desire for the contrary, that Point Isabel, and General Taylor's
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camp were, at the latest advices, in a precarious situation. We do hope, however, that long ere this time, the battle has been fought and won by our army-it must, it cannot but be so.
That Mexicans can come into our country, upon our soil, and either hold in duress, or vanquish our army, we cannot, we will not believe. We hope our next intelligence will be that General Taylor has driven back the invading foe, and that ere long we shall hear of our army on the other side of the Rio Grande, bearing itself as is becoming in the present emergency. Doubtless a military expedition will soon be ordered against New Mexico and California, and our government will not fail to take possession of these countries immediately."
During the month of May, Governor Edwards, of Missouri, called for volunteers to join the "Army of the West," in an expedition to Sante Fe, under command of General Stephen W. Kearney.
Although Clinton County was thinly populated at the breaking out of the Mexican war, and hence furnished no distinctive Clinton County company, yet her young men were filled with the spirit of the hour, and joined companies from other counties. James H. Long and Henry Quine attached themselves to the Clay County company, commanded by Captain O. P. Moss, which followed the illustrious Doniphan from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe, and thence southward to a junction with Taylor at Saltillo, in Lower Mexico, fighting on their way the battles of Sacramento and Chihuahua. At the battle of Sacramento, Colonel Don- iphan, with his volunteers, numbering 924 men and six pieces of artillery, met and fought 4,000 Mexicans, under General Heredia, who was posted with ten pieces of artillery. The Mexicans were defeated, with a loss of 300 killed and 40 prisoners, and all their artillery and baggage taken. The American loss was one killed and eight wounded.
The New York Post of July, 1847, in comparing Colonel Doniphan's expedition with that made by Xonophon in olden times, says :
"The Greeks were led from near Babylon, through Armina to the Black Sea, thence to Crysopolis, 3,465 English miles. It was accom- plished in fifteen months, and a large part of it through a mountainous and an unknown hostile country, the Greeks losing everything except their lives and arms.
"Doniphan and the Missourians traveled over 6,000 miles in twelve months, neither receiving supplies nor money, but living exclusively on the country through which they passed, and supplying themselves with powder and balls, by capturing them from the enemy, and victorious in all the engagements against greatly superior forces, numerically. These are the two most remarkable expeditions that have ever occurred."
W. J. Biggerstaff, Halet Jackson, Cyrus Jackson, Thomas J. Morrow, Charles C. Birch, James H. Birch, Jr., Hart Peak and Romulus E. Culver, attached themselves to the Santa Fe Battalion, under command of Major
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
John Walker, which became famous for its desperate charge at the battle of Santa Cruz, under the eye and command of Sterling Price. Of these, Jacob Miller, Halet Jackson and James H. Birch, Jr., are still living in Clinton County; the balance are all believed to be dead, except Bigger- staff, who resides in California. Col. James H. Birch is believed to be the youngest living Mexican soldier, not yet being fifty years of age, and at the time of his discharge held the position of corporal in the body guard of General Sterling Price. A number of men from this county crossed the plains during the war, as teamsters. James Ditmars joined the Platte Company, under command of Captain Jesse Moran.
CHAPTER XXI.
CALIFORNIA GOLD EXCITEMENT.
FLATTERING ACCOUNTS-NAMES OF MEN WHO WENT FROM CLINTON COUNTY-CALI- FORNIA ENTERPRISE COMPANY-ADDRESS OF COLONEL BLACK-LETTERS-CALI- FORNIA EMIGRANT SONG-CHOLERA-NUMBER OF EMIGRANTS.
" The plague of gold strikes far and near- And deep and strong it enters ; Our thoughts grow blank, our words grow strange, We cheer the pale gold diggers ; Each soul is worth so much on change, And marked like sheep, with figures."
No doubt the desire for gold has been a mainspring of all progress and enterprise in the county from the beginning till the present time, and will so continue till remote ages. Generally, however, this desire has been manifested in the usual avenues of thrift, industry and enter- prise. On one occasion it passed the bounds of reason and assumed the character of a mania.
The gold mania first broke out in the fall of 1848, when stories began to be first spread abroad of the wonderful richness of the placer mines of California. The excitement grew daily, feeding on the marvelous reports that came from the Pacific Slope, and nothing was talked of but the achievements of gold diggers. The papers were replete with the most extravagant stories, and yet the excitement was so great that the gravest and most incredulous men were smitten with the contagion, and hurriedly left their homes and all that was dear to them on earth, to try the dangers, difficulties, and uncertainties of hunting gold.
In the St. Joseph Gazette of October 27, 1848, published at that period, we find the following :
"An immense bed of gold, one hundred miles in extent, has been discovered in California, on American Fork and Feather Rivers, tribu- taries of the Sacramento and Monterey. Mr. Colton, the Alcade of Monterey, states that the gold is found in the sands in grains resembling squirrel shot flattened out. Some grains weigh one ounce each. It is got by washing out the sand in any vessel, from a tea saucer to a warming- pan. A single person can gather an ounce or two a day ; some even a hundred dollars worth. Two thousand whites and as many Indians are on the grounds. All the American settlements are deserted, and farm-
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
ing nearly suspended. The women only remain in the settlements. Sailors and captains desert the ships, to go to the gold region, and labor- ers refuse ten dollars a day to work on the farms. Mr. Colton says : 'One man, who resides next door to me, gathered five hundred dollars worth in six days. He has one lump which weighs over one ounce. A trough, such as you feed pigs in, will bring in the gold region fifty dollars. Put a piece of sheet iron, punched with holes on it, and it will bring a hundred. My friend, J. R., paid sixteen dollars for a little basket, and his companion gave twenty dollars for a teapot, all to wash out gold in.' More than twenty-eight thousand dollars worth had been collected. Governor Mason and his aid had gone to the district, which is five days journey from Monterey.
" The sailors have gone for gold from the ships, and the soldiers from their camps, for the same purpose. The last vessel that left the coast was obliged to ship an entire new crew, and pay each fifty dollars per month. No one can be hired to dig gold, short of sixteen to twenty dollars a day. Every man prefers to work on his own hook ; he may make less than the wages offered, but he has a chance of making much more. There flour is worth thirty-two dollars per barrel ; fifteen pounds of Boston crackers in tin boxes, ten dollars a box ; a cotton shirt, ten dollars ; boards, five hundred dollars per one hundred feet. A carpenter can get one hundred dollars a day. Mr. L. paid for a common cradle trough, twelve feet by three wide, to wash gold earth in, one hundred and fifty dollars ; less than a day's work to make it."
Day after day, and month after month, were the papers filled with just such glowing accounts from California.
Instead of dying out, the fever mounted higher and higher. It was too late to cross the plains, but thousands of people throughout the state began their preparations for starting the following spring, and among the number were many in Clinton County. The one great subject of discussion about the firesides and in the log cabins that winter, was the gold of California. It is said that at one time the majority of the able- bodied men of the county were unsettled in mind and were considering the project of starting to California. Even the most thoughtful and sober-minded found it difficult to resist the infection.
Wonderful sights were seen when this great emigration passed through-sights that may never be again seen in the county, perhaps. Some of the wagons were drawn by cows ; other gold-hunters went on fout and hauled their worldly goods in hand-carts. The gold-hunters generally had left the moralities of life behind them, and were infested with a spirit of disorder and demoralization. The settlers breathed easier when they had passed.
Early in the spring of 1849 the rush began. It must have been a scene to beggar all description. There was one continuous line of
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
wagons from east to west as far as the eye could reach, moving steadily westward, and, like a cyclone, drawing into its course on the right and left many of those along its pathway. The gold-hunters from Clinton County crowded eagerly into the gaps in the wagon-trains, bidding fare- well to their nearest and dearest friends, and many of them never to be seen again on earth. Sadder farewells were never spoken. Many of the gold-hunters left their quiet, peaceful homes only to find in the " Far West" utter disappointment and death. Very, very few of them ever gained anything, and the great majority lost everything, including even their lives, "their fortunes, and their sacred honor." The persons who really gained by the gold excitement were those who remained at home, and sold their produce to the gold crazy emigrants. The rush continued until about the first of June, 1850, when the great surging tide began to abate, although belated gold seekers continued to pass through the country for some time. But the excitement began to die away, and those citizens who had judgment enough to resist the contagion now settled down in quiet, to pursue the even tenor of their way. Among the scores of men who went to California from Clinton County, we have been enabled to gather but comparatively few names, especially the names of men who were organized into companies. The following list will doubtless be remember as being a portion of the company that left here in the spring of 1850, under the command of Captain Chesly Woodward : Chesly Woodward, Enos Woodward, Lance Woodward, F. M. Woodward, Chesly Woodward, Jr., John Westbrook, Nelson Web- ster, John Greer, Mat. Greer, Adolphus Baldwin, Thomas Baldwin, Jacob Miller, Martin Miller, Thomas J. Thorp, Jerome Wood, James Barnes, Wash Thompson, Titus Thompson, L. B. Thatcher, Green Lancaster, Manford Lancaster, John L. Stoneman, M. Shoemaker, P. B. Shoemaker, Joseph Shoemaker, Jacob R. Ellenberger, Alfred D. Biggerstaff.
Thousands of these California emigrants crossed at St. Joseph, and other points on the Missouri River, some of them went as far up, before crossing, as Nebraska City. The Missouri was crossed in ferry boats, but, after leaving this river, these companies were compelled to either ford or swim all streams on their road to California. One of the largest companies that passed through this section of country, was the
CALIFORNIA ENTERPRISE COMPANY,
composed of several hundred men from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Of course the departure of so many men, from their homes to the distant gold fields, was quite an event, and it often happened that the friends and neighbors of those who were to embark, met, en masse, to express their regrets and good wishes in a public address. We present a por- tion of the speech of Col. S. W. Black, of Pittsburg, made to the above
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
named company, on the eve of their departure from that city, to show the friendly and pleasant custom of those days :
" My Friends :- I have but a few words to say at parting. What I do say will come from the heart. I trust that whatever of good and truth I may deliver, may reach your hearts. Before your return you will have seen no little of the world ; what you see will be so much learned beyond what you now know. Hence, at the very out-going of your enterprise, you have a good object in view. Some persons complain of these expeditions as being sordid and unworthy ; to go and dig for gold, they say, is not meritorious, but culpable. I, for one, do not think so. All the world is a gold digger-rather, indeed, a gold scratcher-and it often happens, that, in scratching too greedily, we bring away the skin of one anothers' faces-betimes the flesh of one anothers' bones.
"The farmer in the field, the mechanic in the shop, the merchant in the store, and the lawyer in his pursuit, chose their daily business for gold. Even the preacher does not work unpaid. This is all right, and according to the purpose of our creation. Our Father has planted gold in the earth for the benefit of His children. To make it by merit is noble and deserving of praise. To accumulate it with proper motives is meri- torious. To lose it is mean and condemned of God. ** * You are starting upon a long and perilous journey. Allow me, then, to make a few suggestions, which may not in the end be worthless. You leave without a flag. Make a banner for yourselves and cling to it. Inscribe upon its folds ' Fraternity' and ' Friendship.' Let the same devo- tion inspire you that actuates the soldier for the standard of his country. In all things be one. A perfect unity of interest and affection will make you prosperous and invincible. Organize yourselves into companies- elect judicious and skillful officers-men of intelligence and nerve. When you give them the power of direction always sustain them in its lawful exercise. Discipline is essential to your safety and success. Each day start early on your marches ; you will then escape the injurious effect of exposure to the sun, and find yourselves early in camp. It is probable you will encounter danger. To meet it successfully you must be accus- tomed to act together. Americans vanquished Mexicans and Indians by a union of discipline with courage.
"I know that your messes have ardent spirits among their stores. These may be useful or pernicious in proportion to the judgment with which they are used. In the life in which you are acting you will find occasional necessity for the use of stimulants. They are serviceable only when the system is prostrated by disease or exposure.
"A kind hearted friend has just requested me to say that if there are any of the expedition without Bibles, he will be happy now to furnish them. It does not become me, perhaps, to speak of a subject so grave
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
and serious, yet I can say that this, the 'Book of Books,' is the best com- panion you can take with you ; it is a never-failing reliance.
"In the center of our city, or around the circle of our continent ; among the busy scenes of active life, or on the prairie, where the pilgrim sees no mark but the foot-prints of wild beast or the savage-it is a per- petual adaptation to every exigency of man's career.
"To-day I saw in a paper the declaration of one of you, that 'in all his wanderings he would carry his Bible in the bottom of his trunk.' Let me suggest an improvement. Deposit it on the top, that every time the trunk is opened it may remind you that you have not looked into it that day for wisdom and counsel. You are surrounded by a thousand anxious beating heats, every one of which swell with aspiration for your success and safe return. The general prayer is, and will be, 'that no evil will befall you nor any plague come near your dwelling.' Come back enriched, and make your riches a blessing to the destitute at home. The hour of grief hangs heavy in the hearts of many. Let them have no other cause of sorrow than this separation. Your incoming will be a day of bright and thrilling joy. The tear that stands still in the eye, or follows its fellows across the feverish and scalded cheek, will be replaced with dia- monds. The red autumn of present sadness will pass away, and in due season the glorious summer will succeed, bringing its golden harvest."
Many letters were received from these gold seekers shortly after their arrival in California. From some of these letters we have made the following extracts :
"I have concluded to write you and let you know that all are well who started in the pack-mule company, up to date. We arrived in this country on the Ist of August ; had many ups and downs on the road, but lost none of our stock by the Indians. And now a little about California and the prospects for making money. Lewis, Love and myself bought a small grocery in Sacramento City, for which we paid $1,800-on a short credit-three week's time. We kept it a short time, made $250 each, and sold it out. Brother David went to the mines, and up to this time has made $1,600. I went and worked eight days. The spot of ground I had was about large enough to lay down on. The first day I made $200 ; the second day $220, and in eight days $900. The St. Joseph boys are doing well. The most of them are making from half an ounce to three ounces per day. David and myself will go into the cattle trade or sell groceries. We can buy cattle from $30 to $50 per yoke-fat cattle are worth from $75 to $150, and in the mines $75 cents per pound. There is an abundance of Spanish cattle here, but they are hard to drive in the mines, it requiring six or eight Spaniards to drive a small herd of twenty, and that at a cost of an ounce per day. There is an abundance of pro- vision here. If you had the potatoes alone in California which will be sold in a town like St. Joseph to-day, you might rest contented the bal-
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
ance of your days. I have been up the Sacramento River 100 miles and up Feather River 50 miles, and I have seen but a few spots of land worth cultivating. I have seen a great many of our old friends from Upper Missouri, the most of whom are rich and doing well. I saw Charley Covaloe and Nigh ; they are both rich. While many men who crossed the plains this summer are making money, others are here who are not making their salt, and are very much dissatisfied and are going home every day. The gold here is very hard to get, and if a person makes a fortune by gold digging he must expect to endure a great deal of fatigue. Men with families are making fortunes by washing and boarding. Girls are in great demand here ; all they have to do, is to name their pile of gold-dust and a husband is at their command immediately."
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