USA > Missouri > Jackson County > The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late warhistory of Missouri, map of Jackson county > Part 71
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
And it is the nearest point at which the Missouri River can be reached for all the country west and north-the distance being increased from either above or below, as the map will demonstrate.
And because the construction of this important work has already been com- menced, and over one million of dollars expended upon it.
We have thus briefly laid before you the leading facts in regard to the important portion of the common territory of the Union, with which we are bound up in common interests and in common destiny.
We have shown that it produces nearly one hundred and fifty millions of bushels of grain annually.
We have demonstrated that as a meat and wool-producing region it sur- passes any other portions of the United States-and that as yet it is in the infancy of its development in this respect.
We have not averted to its wealth in iron, coal and lead-for the disabilities under which its agricultural labors are immediate and pressing-but in all these mineral resources it is equal to any portion of the Union.
We have shown that by distance and other obstacles it is practically cut off from the markets of our own nation and the world.
We have shown how by two natural and near outlets it can be placed, as to markets, on a footing with the most favored interior districts of the Union.
And we claim that if so favored, and its products allowed to reach a market, that the effect will be not only beneficial to its own people, but will open up to the industrial masses of other portions an abundant and cheap supply of all the staple elements of food, both now and in increasing volume for all time to come.
The relief then asked by this portion of the people of the United States may be briefly stated :
I. The improvement of the harbor at Galveston, so as to allow of ocean going vessels to land at the wharves of that city.
2. The removal or avoidance of the obstruction at the mouths of the Mis- sissippi.
3. To aid in securing a connection with permanent deep water and perma- nent freedom from ice with the Mississippi, as indicated, by railway from the mouth of the Kansas River to Memphis.
The two first come under the general power of Congress, touching river and harbor improvement.
As to the latter, we can see no difference between connecting commercial points by rail and by canal. And we are thoroughly convinced that in all the projects submitted to you for the better accommodation of the different portions of the Union, there has been no one proposed conferring so large benefit upon such important interests and so large an area of country, that can be afforded at so small a cost to the National Treasury as this.
Were it within the scope of this memorial, or within the purposes for which your committee has been raised, we could demonstrate that what we ask, to thus connect us with the Mississippi, can be fully accomplished, and that speedily, without the expenditure of a dollar in money by the General Government.
And upon a favorable consideration of the matters herein presented, and its recognition by your committee as deserving the attention and consideration of Congress, the method by which it can be thus accomplished will be laid before that body through your committee.
R. T. VAN HORN, W. H. POWELL, On behalf of the Board of Trade.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
FREE MAIL DELIVERY.
The only other movement of importance undertaken by the people of Kansas City during the year 1873 was to secure a free delivery of mail matter in the city. Congress, on the 3d of March of that year, had enacted that this should be done in cities that in 1870 had a population of over 20,000. On the 17th of May the Board of Trade memorialized the Postmaster General to establish a general free delivery in Kansas City, and by means of this memorial and other efforts, it was secured and put into effect on the Ist day of July, the number of carriers then employed being eight.
THE WATER-WORKS.
The subject of water-works presented itself again early in 1873, and the Legislature was induced to pass a bill specially authorizing Kansas City to make a contract for the construction of water-works. This bill was passed March 24th, and was regarded as havi g conferred upon Kansas City such powers as would enable her to offer acceptable terms to some party of capitalists. The National Water-Works Company, of New York, soon became an applicant for the contract, and on the 27th of October, after the matter had been much discussed, the city council adopted an ordinance which became a contract between the city and the National Water-Works Company. The company began the work early in 1874 and completed them in 1875.
ENLARGEMENT OF LIMITS-REDIVISION.
On the 3d of March the Legislature adopted amendments to the charter of the city, whereby its boundaries were enlarged. The limits fixed in this charter were as follows : Beginning at the river at the intersection of the State line, thence running southward along the State line to Twenty-second street ; thence east along the half section line dividing sections seven, eight, nine, to Woodland avenue; thence north by Woodland avenue to Independence avenue; thence west to the half section line dividing section thirty-three, and thence north to the river. This is the present limits.
At the same time the city wards were re-established. The First ward was made to include all that part of the city east of Main street and north of Independence avenue; the Second all that part east of Main street between Inde- pendence avenue and Thirteenth street east to Campbell street, and from thence to the east limits, all between Independence avenue and Twelfth street; the Third, all east of Main street and south of Thirteenth, and of Twelfth street east of Campbell, to Twentieth street, and from thence all east of the quarter section line which runs along the alley between Main street and Baltimore avenue; the Fourth ward lay west of the Third, and extended to the city limits on the south, and to the State line on the west, and its northern boundary was Thirteenth street from Main west to Summit street, then Mulkey west to Dripp street, and Twelfth street from Dripp to the State line; the Fifth ward was all north of Fourth and west of Main street to Penn street and a line in continuation of Penn street from Fifth. street to the river ; and the Sixth ward was all west of the Fifth and north of the Fourth.
EVENTS OF 1874.
In the spring of 1874 the Topeka, Lawrence & Kansas City Railway Com- pany, heretofore mentioned as organized at Topeka in 1872, for the purpose of building a road to Kansas City, gave way to a new company called the Kansas Midland Railway Company, of which a number of the officers of the A., T. & S. F. were members, and by August the road was built to Lawrence.
In October the Kansas City company contracted with the Midland company to build the Kansas City end of the line, and it was completed in the following
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December. Previous to this, in August, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe com. pany began to run its trains to Kansas City by the way of the Midland to Law- rence, thence over the Lawrence & Pleasant Hill Railroad, which was built in 1872, to Olathe, and thence over the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf to this city.
THE M., K. & T. RAILROAD AND GALVESTON TRADE.
The same week in August that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad began to run its trains to Kansas City, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad began to run its trains here also. This came about in this way : This road had been completed to Denison, Texas, the winter previous, where it made connec- tion with the Texas Central for Galveston. Kansas City availed itself of this fact to make an effort, now that it had such connections with Galveston, to realize the old dream of 1856, to effect an outlet by that port to the markets of the world.
In May, 1874, Dr. Edward Dunscomb presented the subject to the Board of Trade, which, together with the city press, took it up. In the latter part of that month the Board of Trade sent a delegation to Galveston to investigate the situ- ation. They were received with many manifestations of pleasure by the people and commercial organizations of Galveston. This delegation consisted of Dr. Edward Dunscomb, Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Col. Jas. E. Marsh, Col. R. T. Van Horn, Dr. M. Munford, T. J. Bigger, A. C. Dyas, B. A. Feineman, M. Dively and Maj. G. W. Branham. These gentlemen left Kansas City, May 12, and after about a week's absence returned and submitted to the Board of Trade the following report :
To the Board of Trade :
GENTLEMEN : Your committee appointed to visit the cities of Galveston and Houston, in Texas, and such other points and parties as might be necessary to the object in view-direct trade with the Gulf of Mexico and the export of the grain of this region of the West-have performed that duty, and beg leave to report what has been accomplished.
The committee left Kansas City on Tuesday evening, May 12th, at 5:15 p. m., and arrived at the city of Galveston on Thursday, at three p. m. - forty-six hours-two of which were consumed in Fort Scott-making the actual running time forty-four hours between the two cities.
The committee was most cordially and hospitably received by the city au- thorities and the commercial interests of Galveston, which was during our stay, incessant and uninterrupted-every facility on land and water was afforded in furthering the objects of our visit-and we can say in brief, that our stay was made as pleasant as profitable, and crowned by a hospitality and friendly co-oper- ation that admits of no qualification-and for which your committee and your board can not be too grateful-and has incurred an obligation which we trust the future will soon enable us to reciprocate.
In the city of Houston we were met in the same open-handed and generous manner. The mayor, the city authorities, the merchants, the manufacturers, the navigation interests-all met us with a hearty hospitality, and an active sympathy with the purpose of our visit, that supplemented in every particular and to the fullest extent the reception given us by their sister city.
The Houston and Texas Central Railroad, through their superintendent, Gen. J. Durand, met us at the line of the State, and tendered us the privileges of their various lines during our stay, which enabled us to visit the capital of the State, and see the most thriving portions of Texas. We desire to acknowledge, in this formal manner, our obligations to this road for courtesies in all respects and at all times, and which largely contributed to the purposes of our visit.
Our thanks are also due to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road, through
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
Col. R. S. Stevens, general manager, and the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, through Maj. B .. S. Henning, superintendent, for like favors and courtesies.
THE RESULTS OF OUR VISIT.
The object in view, for which the committee was raised was-direct trade with the Gulf, and particularly the shipment of grain from Kansas City and the Missouri Valley.
We can only say that in this direction we have been successful, beyond our expectation and beyond what we had a right to expect.
The merchants of Galveston, the ship owners, the shipping agents, the capi- talists, the harbor interests-all met us with every assurance that could be de- sired-low rates of freightage, facilities for transferring grain from cars to ships, adequate to fully test the capabilities of the ronte, and ample capital to handle all that may be sent. The facilities at Galveston now existing afford the means nec- essary to a full test of the advantages offered by that port. The cars run within a few feet of the ships at the wharf, and in all cases are at a higher elevation than the decks of the ships, thus unloading by gravity, and rendering all cartage, or carrying by stevedores, or lighterage unnecessary.
It will require at the beginning, or in the first shipments, some care in tim- ing the shipments, so that delay may not take place in transferring from cars to steamers and ships, until the facilities for a large and constant grain trade are provided.
In calculating the practicability of handling our grain with profit, we laid be- fore the merchants of Galveston the present rates from Kansas City to New York, Baltimore and New Orleans, the distances by rail and by water, with all the facts and elements involved in the various rontes. And taking rates for distance, they unhesitatingly announced not only their willingness but their ability to han- dle our grain profitably. And as an earnest of their feeling in the matter, two orders were given, for a cargo each, to members of your committee to be for- warded at any time.
At Houston we were met in the same spirit. The water route from Hous- ton to the waters of the bay of Galveston is by Buffalo bayou and the San Jacinto River, which is now navigable for boats of the class of our Missouri River steam- ers, and from some six miles below the city has ample water to the bay, at which point there is nearly completed a ship canal to the outer bar of Galveston harbor -thus, when completed, making a water route of the depth of the bar from the City of Houston.
As all freight for the gulf must go to Houston, the advantages of this open channel must be apparent at a glance -as it gives competition at once, and a choice of routes, as well as of increased facilities for the rapid transit and speedy shipment of grain that may be sent forward. Not only this, but it will aid in stimulating effort, and be the means of an earlier development of the trade in question than probable with but a single port and a single route to it.
Your committee are pleased to say that they found both at Galveston and Houston, only a spirit of emulation as to which should do most to inaugurate this important trade-the rivalry being that of enterprising men intent upon the gen- eral good to their respective cities and of Texas, and not a local jealousy that is too often found in similar situations-a broad and generous policy which the committee cannot but commend to our people and our neighbors.
And lastly to crown all these favorable conditions and prospects, we were met by the controlling authorities of the Central Railroad with a spirit of fairness and enlightened policy that makes all that had heretofore promised so much, an assured fact.
The Houston and Texas Central road controls three hundred and forty-one
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
miles of the eight hundred between this city and the Gulf-from Red River to Houston-and without its co-operation the difficulties would be insurmountable. They had studied the situation well and thoroughly, as we found when the con- ference was held with your committee, and they summed up the whole question, when Vice-President Baker closed his remarks with the declaration -- " We will make a rate that will compel the shipment of your grain to the Gulf." This declaration was made with full reference to existing rates to other seaports, and designed to cover the whole case.
Of necessity, no rates specific at this time could be given or asked, as a con- ference of the Central with connecting lines will be necessary, not only to estab- lish through rates, but the other details necessary for the working of all lines over which the traffic is to pass, both for out-going and in-coming transportation. But so far as the lines in the State of Texas are concerned, we are warranted in saying that all obstacles are already overcome-and business may commence at once.
It does not come within the purpose for which the committee was raised, to go beyond the simple question of grain transportation and export-nor is it neces- sary to enlarge upon the general advantages and commerce to flow from the suc- cessful opening of such trade. We need only advert to that question and say that at Galveston, at Houston, at Austin, and from merchants and business men from all portions of that Empire State, which we met at the State fair, we found the liveliest interest in the establishment of a more direct and intimate commercial relations with Kansas City, and could have spent a month in travel and intercourse with her cities and towns had we accepted half the invitations pressed upon us.
This is a suggestive fact to our people. There is really no conflict in produc- tions of Texas and the Missouri Valley. They want what we produce and we need what they grow-it is an exchange of commodities that await both, not a competition in products. And we being nearer to them than any country of similar production, can sell them cheaper than they can obtain elsewhere, and they being nearer to'us than any seaport, can supply us at the minimum cost. And the day is not far distant when Texas will furnish from her own soil all the sugar needed in the Kansas City market.
In conclusion, your committee do not deem it foreign to the subject to advert to the early policy of Kansas City in the direction of trade direct with the Gulf of Mexico. As early as 1857, a railroad charter was obtained for that purpose, out of which has grown the Cameron road, the bridge and the Fort Scott & Gulf road. In 1865, a like committee, on the part of the city, was mainly instrumen- tal in securing, at the great Indian council at Fort Smith, a treaty concession for a road across the Indian Territory, upon which the Missouri, Kansas & Texas road was constructed-now happily at last a Kansas City road. Many were the obstacles from the beginning that have intervened, but practical courage and per- sistence have at last won the great object, the consummation of which may date from this day; and, though the struggle was long and trying, yet the results achieved are worth it all, and Kansas City may now look forward to a future that will repay discounting a hundred per cent beyond any of her achievements in the past !
Congratulating your board, the people of our city and the entire Missouri valley, upon the auspicious beginning of a new era in their prosperity, your com- mittee ask to be discharged.
R. T. VAN HORN, J. E. MARSH, EDWARD DUNSCOMB, On behalf of the Delegation."
In July following, a large delegation from Houston and Galveston made a
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
return visit to Kansas City, where they were banqueted and then taken to Colo- rado and back by our citizens. The result of this interchange of visits was that the business men of Houston and Galveston united with those of Kansas City in an effort to bring about an arrangement between the Fort Scott and M., K. & T. R. R. and the Texas Central Railroad, by which there might be an inter- change of business between the people of Kansas City and those of Texas, and by which Galveston might be made a seaport for all the New West. It was through the success of these efforts that the trains of the M., K. & T. R. R. came to be first operated to this city-the same week in August that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe was completed here. For several years afterward there was a continuation of the effort on the part of both the people of Kansas City and of the Texas cities, to secure modifications of the railroad arrangement which would facilitate business; and, though much success attended these efforts, there were difficulties in the way of complete immediate success that the cities and the rail- roads could not at once overcome. There were business connections established, however, during these visits, that have continued and increased until there is a fair share of the Texas trade enjoyed by Kansas City
The infection of this movement was caught by the up river towns, and in January, 1875, Kansas City was visited by a delegation from Omaha, Council Bluffs, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City and St. Joseph, who were on their way to Texas, to seek an opening of trade relations with the people of that State, and to give additional strength to the movement already initiated by Kansas City. They were warmly received and sent on their way with words of encouragement. While here they united with the people of Kansas City, through the Board of Trade, in a memorial to Congress praying for the opening of the Indian Territory.
THE GRASSHOPPER INVASION.
The invasion of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Western Missouri, by the grasshoppers; or more properly speaking, the Rocky Mountain Locusts, in 1874, occurred in the month of August; and was fraught with great disaster to the agri- cultural interests of those States and to the trade of Kansas City. The locusts came in immense clouds and literally covered the territory mentioned. Their first appearance was generally at a great altitude, flying from the northwest to the southeast, and their appearance was that of a snow storm. Sometimes they were so numerous as to darken the sunlight. They settled gradually to the ground, when their voracity soon made itself apparent; whole fields of green corn being destroyed in a single day. Nothing escaped them; there appeared to be nothing they would not eat; at least there was nothing that they did not eat ; and in their progress they left the country nearly as bare of vegetation as if it had been scorched by fire. By the time they reached the Missouri River section, vegetation, at least the crops, was too far advanced for them to do material harm, but on the frontiers, where they appeared earlier, and where the new settlers' dependence was a crop of sod corn, necessarily late and immature, their destruc- tion was great and caused much suffering during the following winter. They matured sufficiently to begin to deposit their eggs when about fifty miles west of Kansas City, and continued until they had advanced to about fifty miles east of it. Hence, in the spring of the year 1875, a new crop was hatched to infest the country, and they proved no less voracious than their progenitors of the year before. A district about a hundred miles wide extending southward from Kansas City a hundred miles and northward to the British possessions, was kept as bare of vegetation as midwinter until June of 1875, when the young brood suddenly took wing and disappeared as mysteriously as their progenitors had appeared, going in a northwesterly direction. The effect of all this was to cost the larger part of the country united by them the bulk of a year's crop, part of it in the
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fall of 1874, and part in the spring of 1875. Such disaster could not but affect detrimentally the business of Kansas City.
Early in the winter of 1874-5 it was ascertained that there was great suffer- ing among the people of western Kansas from this cause, and organized efforts for relief began to be made. The east was appealed to and responded liberally. Kansas City organized a local association in January, which collected and for- warded such aid as our people could give.
Disastrous as this calamity was to the people of Kansas and to the trade of Kansas City, it had its compensation for Kansas City, in the development it gave to her infant grain market. The loss of Kansas crops in the fall of 1874, made it necessary for the people of that State to import grain from Iowa and Missouri in the spring of 1875. This opened a profitable field for business in Kansas City, and enlisted men in the grain trade who probably would not otherwise have put money into that line of business. The result was that the men and the money to make an excellent little grain market in Kansas City became interested in the spring of 1875, and as the crops of Kansas for that year promised more than usual abundance by the time this importing trade ceased, they continued in it, to handle the exported product in the fall. This circumstance, disastrous as it was, put the grain market of Kansas City on its feet, and secured it that definite organization which only years of labor could otherwise have attained.
THE EVENTS OF 1875.
The year 1875 was not fruitful of new enterprises. With the shadow of the panic of 1873 still resting upon trade, and the depression resulting from the grasshop- per plague of 1874 and 1875, there was a tendency, on the part of the people, to await the revival of times and the growth of new crops.
A REVISION OF THE CITY CHARTER.
In the depressed state of affairs resulting from the panic of 1873 to the begin- ning of the year 1875, city taxes were collected with difficulty, and it was found difficult by the city officers to pay the interest on her bonded debt, small as it was, and preserve her credit. The First National Bank and the Mastin Bank had tided the city over to this time, by taking and holding its paper ; but the load began to be too heavy for them. Accordingly, in January, the officers of those two institutions prepared and sent to the Legislature, a draft of amendments to the charter, which would provide for a more economical and business like admin- istration of city finances. As soon as this bill was introduced into the Legislature the people took alarm. There was, at this time, trouble brewing between the city and the Water Company, in which the Mastins were interested. The people feared some scheme in the proposed bill that would give the Water Company the advantage, and hence became very much excited. A copy of the bill was sent for, a public meeting was called, and it was examined and condemned. The meeting then appointed a committee of thirteen, of which Major William Warner was chairman, to prepare a revision of the whole charter. This was done, and it was sent to Hon. S. P. Twiss, then representing Kansas City in the Legisla- ture, by whom it was introduced into the House of Representatives. This bill, after a most memorable contest, in which the dominant party of the State took sides against the people of Kansas City, finally became a law, and is our present excellent charter. Its definition of city limits and division of the city into wards are the same as now exist. Among its other provisions, it forbids the city to cre- ate any debt, and will not allow the Council to appropriate, or the Auditor to is- sue a warrant for, any money, until the cash is in the treasury, to meet it ; and it provided for the debt by setting apart a sufficient part of the revenues of the city to pay our interest, and most of the bonds as they mature.
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