USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 25
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" At times the monotony of this life would be broken by a report of a raid of bushwhackers somewhere in the neighborhood, and the men and boys would be hastily gathered together, enrolled as militia, and either sta- tioned as guards on the roads leading to town, or sent off to protect some more threatened or scared locality.
" The writer has a distinct recollection ofa certain hurried march to the neighboring town of Edinburgh, taking possession of the college there, and being quartered on the town for a day or two, very much to the disgust of the inhabitants, who appeared more relieved by our departure than over- joyed by our presence.
"Truth compels me to say that the inilitia made no nice distinctions be- tween meum et tuum, in the matter of corn and chickens. These militia raids were sometimes more extended, even on occasion going as far as the Missouri River. On one memorable tour the Grundy county militia were gone two weeks, and scoured the counties of Livingston, Ray, Carroll and Caldwell. The militia from Mercer, Harrison, Daviess, Sullivan and Put- nam took part in this demonstration, as well as a few companies of Illinois cavalry. The writer, who had never been on horseback before, was mounted on a little scrub of a pony that had a vicious tendency of falling upon its nose every few hundred yards. Two of the heaviest doctors in the county accompanied the men, well ladened with lint and bandages. Several preach- ers also went along, presumably, to attend to the morals of their flock. The company was under the command of Capt. R. A. DeBolt. The first day's march brought them to Chillicothe, where muskets and ammunition were dis- tributed to the men, who were then slightly drilled and the new recruits ini- tiated into the duties of militia men, i. e., stealing fodder and trading horses. As Chillicothe was a friendly town and near home, the first was generally done by moonlight or starlight under the guidance of a more experienced comrade. The latter was performed on the authority of an order issued by our worthy colonel, J. H. Shanklin, directing his men if the inhabitants did not supply them with horses when when they needed them, to take them by force.
"The recruits were all apt scholars. Indeed, how could they be otherwise with such teachers? To be sure, the preference was given to rebel corn- cribs and rebel horses, and a Union corn-crib, if empty, was not tonched.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
and a Union horse, if blind or lame, was considerately left to its owner. The expedition was a grand success. All the more so, perhaps, because it fell in with no bushwhackers. Rebel chickens were plenty, and so were rebel horses, and the men of Grundy helped themselves as coolly to one as to the other, so that the fame of their exploits went through all that region round about. Indeed, it was maliciously said that when the women would hear the Grundy militia were coming they hastily gathered up their children and valuables and hid themselves in the brush. It is hard to say what gave them this notoriety; whether it was from their hungry looks (for by accident or design they had been assigned to the rear of the column where there was but scanty picking), or whether it was because they had so many preachers in their company, and a natural inference in regard to chickens was the conse- quence-one divine had the bow of his saddle adorned with a defunct rooster, that caused considerable merriment-or whether it was, as the writer suspects to be the fact, because the militia from the neighboring counties when they stole anything and were caught at it invariably said they were from Grundy county. At any rate the Grundy militia got the blame for all the depredations committed, and for years afterward were hated by the people of the river counties even as the Jews hated the Philistines. The truth is, that except taking a little corn-fodder, occasionally borrowing a horse when their own gave out, leaving their name and address with the owner, the Grundy county militia paid their expenses out of their own pockets.
" One beautiful morning down on the Missouri bottom the bugle sounded the companies to fall into line. The tired militia who had been reclining on the grass, or eating their scanty breakfasts, mounted their horses in haste and took their stations in their respective companies. The militia of Grundy, always among the first to obey an order, were soon in their places, wondering what was going to take place next. On their right and left were stationed the various other militia companies composing the expedition and on the extreme left the Illinois cavalry. Some important order was about to be given. Some said that the bushwhackers had escaped and that they would be followed over the river. That was good news, for there was not one there who would not willingly have gone over the Arkansas line if nec- essary. The officer commanding and his staff were posted some little dis- tance off. Suddenly an adjutant left the group and rode to the place where DeBolt's company was stationed. Halting, he took ont a paper and read the following:
"'WHEREAS, Continual complaints have reached the ears of the command- ing officer that the militia company under the command of Captain R. A. DeBolt have been guilty of numerous crimes and misdeeds whereby the morals of the command in general have been very much deteriorated, there- fore they are discharged from further participation in this campaign. They are ordered to report in Chillicothe and be discharged.'
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"And so the poor militia-victims of unjust suspicion and lying accusa- tion-turned their horses' heads and sadly wended their way in silence over the hills to the right of the encampment and struck out for home. The same evening on halting for the night an examination was made of the entire company, at their own request, to ascertain if any had been guilty of stealing. The result was: One old horse blanket, one curry comb, three onions and twenty ears of corn.
" The greater part of the company had too much respect for themselves to forget, for a single moment, that they were gentlemen and men of honor, and would have scorned to commit the petty crimes with which they were charged.
" Two days afterward the company reached Trenton, where, in the wel- come they received, they soon forgot their fatigue, disasters and mortifica- tion. In the foregoing sketch, when alluding to the Grundy county militia, DeBolt's company, composed of men living in and about Trenton, was more particularly meant, as that was the company that was so especially honored on the Missouri bottom.
"Before the war closed, the disorderly spirits in Trenton, got so out- rageous in their conduct, that Col. Shanklin was ordered to take a company, of militia from St. Joe, proceed to Trenton to arrest the violators of the peace, and take them to St. Joe for trial. This was done and Trenton had no more trouble. The war came to a close, and with the return of the heroes who went, happiness and peace settled down, though here and there a mournful face looked out on the silent night, and the gazer thought of her loved one lying dead beneath the stars that twinkled so tremulously in the Southern sky.
"Time passed on, the clouds of war faded away one by one, and instead of the roar of distant cannon, the roll of the emigrant's wagon was heard upon all the roads of Grundy and adjacent counties. Many passed on through, crossing the Missouri River and seeking a home on the distant prairies of Kansas and Nebraska, but many remained and made their homes on the rich prairies that lay between Grand River and Medicine Creek, and none ever regretted having done so. Law and order, peace and plenty, virtue and happiness have existed in old Grundy for many years, and that they may ever continue to do so is the sincere wish of one who came here a stranger and found friends; who came penniless and found a competence; who came a bachelor and found a companion to cheer him to his life's end."
15
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
COMING DAWN.
Miscellaneous-Railroads, Look out for the Cars-Its First Officers-Description-County and Town Subscription-Economy-The Jail-The Most Accomplished Unfortunate- Iron Bridge-New Townships-Metes and 'Bounds-Township Registration -- Election- Low Assessment on Railroad Property-Poor-farm-The Centennial Year-Hail, Rain and Wind Storm-New Judicial Districts-Wool-grower's Association-First Marriage License-The County Debt.
" Come see what pleasures in our plains abound, The woods, the fountains, and the flow'ry ground."
The war had not yet come to a close when the people began to take an interest in home improvements. The dawn of peace began to light up the eastern horizon, and although it was not yet known just when it would come, yet it was certain not to be in a far distant future. Thus it was that the people at home came to study the problem of advanced progress, and what would most add to advance the material interests of all, and it fell to rail- roads to become the open sesame of that prosperity.
It was not alone that Grundy county did her duty in furnishing men for the army, but in the matter of taxes she paid her part. In 1862 forty-one counties paid nearly all the taxes and seventy-three paid none. Adair and Harrison were the only two counties in the State that paid the State tax in full. The tax of Grundy county was $3,725.47, and she paid $2,745.17, and that was above the average of the other thirty-eight counties which paid a portion of their State tax.
The death of Colonel Tindall, at Shiloh, necessitated another election for a member of the State convention and J. H. Shanklin was elected to fill the important position, and proved a prominent and one of the ablest of its representatives.
In the matter of shinplaster currency a few Trentonites furnished a por- tion, and found it necessary to get a bill of relief passed through the legis- lature, which was accomplished upon the ground that all was to be re- deemed.
In 1864, at the fire of the probate judge's office, besides the records of the office, the volumes of decisions of the Supreme Court were also burned. After that the County Court invested $180 in purchasing a second-hand safe of W. H. Robinson.
In 1865 R. P. Carnes was appointed military claim agent for the county, and in 1866 B. Wyatt was elected supervisor of registration, but removed from the county in 1868, and David C. Pugh was appointed in his place and held the office until it was abolished.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
RAILROAD.
The first railroad projected, and in which the people of Grundy county, and more especially Trenton township felt an interest, was the old Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. That road was building west and had surveyed two lines, or partially so, and subscriptions were asked all along the routes. Some of those connected with the road paid Grundy county a visit and the result was that a proposition to subscribe 825,000 was submitted to the people. The election was held and carried, and the $25,000 was to be sub- scribed on condition that the money so voted should be expended within the limits of Grundy county. As the road was farther south, through the next tier of counties below, it was never called for. The election cost the people $150.
The railroad fever again broke out as early as 1863, even before the close of the war. This time it assumed proportions that gave hope that before it abated the iron horse might come snorting over the prairies and woodland of the county in triumph. The Chillicothe & Des Moines City, which changed to Chicago & Southwestern, and still later to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, was the first road to take practical shape and to promise gratifying results. The history of this road forms a very interesting chapter in the progress of Grundy county, and a full account of its progress and final success will be found full of interest to future generations and to many even of this day. It requires energy and perseverance to accomplish any great work, and fortunately for Grundy county she was blessed with a good many of that kind of people.
CHILLICOTHE AND DES MOINES CITY R. R.
It was believed that the result of the war would bring about a new order of things in the-State, and the people along the Grand River country were not slow to partake of this spirit, so that as early as 1864 they procured a charter for the Brunswick & Chillicothe Railroad, and in February, 1865 a charter was also secured for the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railway Company. It was the design that the people of Iowa should cooperate in the movement to secure a railroad from the capital of Iowa, south through the Grand River country, via Brunswick to St. Louis.
In the act creating the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Com- pany, Dr. James B. Bell, J. J. Clark, J. W. McMillan, J. H. Ellis, John A. Lowe and Robert L. Moore, of Livingston county, Daniel Berry, G. W. Moberly, A. Y. Shanklin, C. Ramage, E. L. Winters, S. Wilson, William Metcalf, William Bennett and William Wyatt, of Grundy county, J. A. Kennedy, John Brown, T. J. Wyatt, A. Lowrey, J. Bradley, John Snyder, J. F. Stevens, I. Patton and F. M. Evans, of Mercer, were made the first board of directors.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
On the 6th of June, 1865, a new constitution was adopted which had a provis- ion allowing the people of counties and towns throughout the State to vote aid to the construction of railroads, provided two-thirds of the voters voting at an election for that purpose would vote for such aid. Under this pro- vision in the constitution, the people of Chillicothe and Grundy and Mercer counties cooperating together, finally succeeded in voting a large subserip- tion to the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Company; to-wit,
The city of Chillicothe voted $40,000, Grundy county, $200,000, and Mercer $200,000 (altogether $440,000).
So far as Grundy county was concerned, success in voting the $200,000 came by the hardest work. No less than three elections were held before a two-third vote for the subscription could be obtained. At the fall election in 1866 a proposition to subscribe $200,000 was defeated; afterward, on the Sth day of January, 1867 the same proposition, at a special election held for that purpose, was again defeated, but the people were determined to have railroad connection with the " outer world," and by their zeal and energy kept on pressing the question and in March, 1868, a mass-meeting was held at which resolutions requesting the County Court to submit the question again were passed. Accordingly, on the 11th of April, 1868, a special elec- tion was held and the proposition to subscribe $200,000 to the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Company was carried by more than a two-third vote, and the people were happy. On the 19th of February, 1868, the very day when the right to meet and organize under the act creating the corporation, expired, fifteen of the charter members met in a called meeting at Chilli- cothe, and effected a temporary organization by electing Hon. Geo. W. Moberly, president; Hon. Robert S. Moore, secretary; and Wm. Wyatt, treasurer. At a meeting held at Trenton on the 22d of April, 1868, the fol- lowing named persons were elected directors to serve until the annual elec- tion in June following; to-wit, J. H. Shanklin, M. V. Thompson, Wm. Dunlap, Stephen Peery, I. B. Bell, Smith Turner, S. H. Perryman, Ira B. Hyde, Israel Patton, R. B. Ballew, Wm. B. Rogers, H. I. Ally and Peter Cain, who organized by electing Col. J. H. Shanklin, president; S. H. Per- ryman, secretary; and R. B. Ballew, treasurer. The president's salary was fixed at $3,500 per annum and expenses, and the secretary's salary, to in- clude services for canvassing for subscriptions of stock to the company, was fixed at $2,000. At the same meeting, Hon. Ira B. Hyde was appointed attorney for the company, and the treasurer ordered to give a bond for $50,000. On the 1st day of June a new board was elected substantially the same and the same officers being continued, except that Ira B. Hyde was made secretary, vice Perryman, resigned. The company being now perma- nently organized and ready for work, the president, secretary and others gave nearly their whole time to the project of building a railroad from Chil- licothe, where it would connect with the Brunswick & Chillicothe Road (now
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Wabash) north through Grundy and Mercer counties in the direction of Des Moines and of cooperating with a company in Iowa, known as the Chillicothe, Leon & Des Moines Road. Stoek books were opened and dur- ing the year the total capital stock subscribed amounted to $451,500, as follows; to-wit,
Grundy county, payable in bonds at eight per cent interest. $200,000; Mercer county, payable in bonds at eight per cent interest, $200,000; city of Chillicothe, $40,000, payable in bonds at eight per cent interest. Pri- vate subscriptions-cash, $3,750, and lands in various conditions, $7,750.
Steps were at onee taken to employ a corps of engineers to locate the road, and early in June, 1868, a strong force was put to work to sur- vey and locate the road, with Peter Markey as chief, and H. N. Arm- strong as assistant engineers. This work was vigorously pressed, so that as early as the 10th of February 1869, the road was ready to be let for con- struction; and on the said 10th of February the contract for grading, bridging and tieing the road, from Chillicothe to Princeton, a distance of forty-nine miles, was awarded to Messrs. Nolan & Moore, for $320,000, in bonds of the company, which proved not to be sufficient. The construc- tion of the road-bed was at once commeneed and vigorously prosecuted till in July, when a rainy season set in and almost totally stopped the work, and as no contract for ironing, equipping and operating the road up to this time had been secured, the spirit of criticism was developed, and consider- able opposition manifested itself against the further issuing of county bonds in payment of its subscription, which at this time amounted to about $50,000. The county committee, composed of Hon. A. H. Burkeholder, president, and William V. Denslow and G. A. Spickard, withstood the oppo- sition, and the president of the committee continued to issue bonds as the work on the road progressed, as the committee had agreed to do, and not- withstanding " Black Friday " (27th of September, 1869), and its effect upon the financial condition of the country, which strengthened local opposition, the board of directors and the members of the county courts of Grundy and Mercer counties, met at Trenton, October 19, 1869, and resolved to co- operate together, and go ahead with the construction of the road-bed, and between that time and the 1st of May, 1870, the president of the County Court continued to issue bonds, as the work in the construction of the road progressed, until the entire subscription of the county had been paid in bonds.
About the middle of February, 1870, negotiations were opened between the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Company and the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad Company, which, on the 20th day of April, 1870, resulted in an agreement as follows: That the Chillicothe & Des Moines Company let and lease to the Chicago & Southwestern Company, all that portion of the road-bed between Princeton and Trenton, and such further
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
portion south of Trenton as may be necessary to make a convenient cross- ing of East Fork of Grand River, for the full term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, on the condition that the lessees should, within eighteen months from that time, iron and operate the road. This contract was in the main put into writing on the 3d of June, 1870. Prior to the opening of these negotiations, the people generally had become despondent-there did not seem any way out-no feasible plan in sight to get the road ironed, equipped and operated, because at that time the North Missouri and the Hannibal & St. Joseph roads were loaded down with mortgages, and were unable to undertake any new enterprise. So when the Chicago & South- western came in sight, and it became known that the foregoing lease was effected, the people felt that though there had been " groping in the dark," yet "there was light behind the clouds," and that the money that the county had furnished was well invested, as the management was better than had been expected, that it would place Grundy county on a great through line of railway, connecting with Chicago and the East on the one side, with the great grain and cattle prodneing regions of the Southwest, and the peo- ple were again happy. And the sequel shows that it was a wise movement, as the completion of the road soon followed, reaching Trenton from the north on the 24th day of June, 1871, and as early as September the road was completed clear through the county, and ready for through business to Leavenworth as early as October, 1871.
In July and August the question of locating the railroad machine-shops agitated the people. The people of Trenton voted $10,000 and secured about $3,000 worth of land and offered it to the Chicago & Southwestern, if the company would establish a division round-house and machine-shops at Trenton permanently. The company accepted the proposition and the people were again well satisfied with their investment, as it has made Tren- ton a first-class town and a splendid home market for the people of the county. In addition to the above, the Chicago & Southwestern Railway company also received $50,000 in eight per cent bonds, from the town of Trenton, in payment of a subscription voted to the company as early as July, 1869, on the condition that their road should pass through Trenton.
In the contract made on the 20th of April, 1870, between the Chicago & Des Moines Railway Company and the Chicago & Southwestern Railway Company, the latter company had the right, at their option, within eighteen months, to complete and operate that portion of the line between Muddy Creek and Chillicothe, belonging to the former, which was then nearly ready for the iron. The Chicago & Southwestern did not, however, elect to complete and operate the same, and after fruitless efforts to get some other corporation to do so, the board of directors sold the ties along that part of their line, and the same remains in an unfinished condition to-day. The board of directors elected in 1868 remained in the board, with very few
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
changes, till June, 1877, when a new set of men were elected as directors of the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Company, who at once worked up a feasible plan to iron and operate the road between Trenton and Chillicothe, but the great "railroad strike," that took place in July, 1877 frustrated their plan, and the same was afterward abandoned, and this branch still remains uncompleted. The present management, headed by Judge George Hall as president and E. M. Harber as secretary, is sanguine that at no distant day the road will be completed and operated, and the railroads at Chillicothe and Trenton be connected. It may be added here that while it was originally contemplated to build a railroad from the city of Des Moines, Iowa, south, and down along the Grand River, via Bruns- wick, to St. Louis, the friends of the project succeeded in building a road from Chillicothe to Brunswick, where connection was made with a St. Lonis line, and from Trenton to Princeton, leaving a gap between Chilli- cothe and Trenton and between Princeton and Des Moines in the line as originally designed.
It may here be remarked that the board, who had the management of building the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad, had many difficulties to contend with; mud in the winter and spring of 1869, and a rainy season in the following summer, as well as local criticism and financial embarrass- ments. Nearly all the capital stock of the company consisted in county bonds, which went off stubbornly at seventy cents on the dollar, and had not the county courts of Grundy and Mercer counties supplemented the efforts of the board, the project doubtless would not have been a success.
In February, 1877, a few months before the old board retired, they pub- lished a financial statement concerning the entire labors from April, 1868, which, in substance, shows that the subscribed capital stock by the counties of Grundy and Mercer was all paid; to-wit, $400,000, which, in the main, was disposed of at seventy cents on the dollar, and realized to the company $280,000 in cash. That from subscriptions on private stock the company received $2,439. From the Omaha Railroad Company, on the right of way, the company received $989. From the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad Company, $11,000, in aid of construction. From sale of Grundy county bonds in excess of seventy cents, $450. From sale of Mercer county bonds, in excess of seventy cents, $591, making a total of actual, available cash funds with which to build the road the sum of $295,469.50. And the rec- ords of the company show that the treasurer of the board paid out the following amounts: For engineering salaries, $48,226.93; to contractors Nolan and Moore, including work done after Messrs. Nolan and Moore had failed, in cash, $246,267.18, making a total of $294,494.11, and leaving a balance of $575.39 in the treasury, August 25, 1871, and which was after- ward paid out.
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