USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 11
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It ought to be noticed that the general expectation that the Chicago treaty would be modified, has emboldened many squatters to enter upon the lands in question, in hopes of fixing their future residence. I have, therefore, no hesitation in giving an opinion as to the expediency of altering the Chicago treaty, so as to confine the Pottawatamies north of the little strip now wanted by the State of Missouri.
Having given this opinion, permit me to say that I believe it prac- ticable, with little expense or delay, to remove the Indians now on this strip of land, and to extinguish any remaining right in the red men for hunting or other privileges, and this removal and extinguishment I would respectfully recommend before the state jurisdiction is extended to the waters of the Missouri.
Yours most respectfully,
HENRY ELLSWORTH. HON. L. F. LINN, Senator.
At the same time the Hon. L. F. Linn wrote to Maj. John Dough- erty, Indian Agent, for information concerning the geography and topo- graphy of the country embraced in the "Platte Purchase," and in three days thereafter, received the following answer :
WASHINGTON, January 26, 1835.
SIR: Your communication of the 23d instant, containing certain queries touching the slip of land lying between the western boundary Jine of the State of Missouri and the Missouri River has been received.
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
I assure you it will afford me great pleasure to furnish the answers called for, and in the order in which you have proposed the questions.
Ist. The length of the strip of land referred to is, on its east line, one hundred miles long ; the west line, following the meanders of the Missouri River, is about one hundred and fifty miles in length, to a point on said river due west from the northwest corner of the state, the aver- age breadth being about fifteen miles.
2d. I feel no hesitation in stating (and this without the fear of contradiction) that the location of Indians upon this territory would be attended with the most ruinous effects ; it would alike be injurious to the Indians and whites ; take, for example, the Ioways, who now reside upon the upper end of this strip-they are a poor, drunken, miserable set of beings, dwindling away to nothing, quarreling among themselves, killing each other, and in constant broils with their white neighbors. Those evils would be greatly increased were the Indians located all the way down this strip of land, between the white settlements and the Missouri River to the mouth of the Kansas River, where it becomes nar- row, and the white population more dense.
3d. The inconvenience to our citizens would be incalculable, if those along the western line of the state were compelled to transport their productions to the mouth of the Kansas River for shipment ; some of them residing within eight or ten miles of steamboats passing every day, would be obliged to haul everything for market over a new country one hundred miles.
4th. There is a great deficiency of water power and springs in the northern counties of the State of Missouri, whilst the strip of land you have reference to abounds with numerous flush running springs and creeks, with great falls, well calculated for mills or other water works.
5th. The country north of the State of Missouri, reaching from the Mississippi to the Missouri River, and extending north between four and five hundred miles, is well timbered, interspered with fine rich prairies, and abounds with numerous large, bold running streams, coming in from the high lands between these two great rivers ; in short, the whole country is well adapted to agricultural purposes, with a fine climate, and exceedingly healthy.
In reply to your 6th question, I deem it sufficient to refer to the answer under the second query. The peace and tranquility of both whites and Indians require that this long strip of land should be attached to the State of Missouri ; and I cannot suppose that any gentleman as well acquainted with its locality as I am, would entertain a different opinion, or dissent from the views herein expressed.
With great respect, I have the honor to be Your obedient servant,
Hon. L. F. LINN, Senate, U. S.
JNO. DOUGHERTY, Indian Agent.
As early as 1834-5, two years before the removal of the Indians, the narrow strip of land between the western boundary of the state and the Missouri River began to be settled by white men. So numerous were these settlers that the United States Government sent a military force from Fort Leavenworth to remove them. What proportion of these
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
daring frontiersmen had located in the territory of what is now Buchanan County we cannot determine, but the number must have been consider- able, as will be seen from the following letter from Hon. L. F. Linn, to Hon. John Forsyth, Secretary of State :
SAINT GENEVIEVE, August 10, 1835.
SIR: I take the liberty of enclosing you a copy (perhaps imperfect, from having mislaid the original,) of a letter dated May 14, to the Sec- retary of War, on a subject of much interest to the people of this State. To this communication no answer has been received. May I tax your kindness by asking that you will read the letter, and give the subject your friendly attention in any way you may deem advisable. I feel that there is a propriety in endeavoring to obtain your assistance, knowing the state you so long represented in Congress, with such distinguished credit, has been greatly annoyed by an Indian population. I hear an order has come from the War Department to remove the families who have settled on the Indian lands lying between our western boundary and the Missouri River, by military force.
You know the independent and daring character of our frontier population, and knowing, you will easily believe that this step is not to be accomplished without violence and much distress, as the families are two or three hundred in number. The accompanying diagram will at a glance show you what we want, and at the same time the utter useless- ness of this portion of country for Indian purposes.
The long absence of Governor Cass, and multiplicity of business since his return, may have caused him to lose sight of my letter. His order has caused much sensation in the northern part of the state, and for the present ought to be suspended.
Yours truly,
L. F. LINN.
HON. JOHN FORSYTH, Secretary of State.
In the summer of 1835 there was held a regimental militia muster at Dale's farm, three miles from the town of Liberty, in Clay County. After the morning parade, and during the recess for dinner, a mass meeting of the citizens present was addressed, among others, by Gen- eral Andrew S. Hughes, who came to Clay from Montgomery County, Kentucky, in 1828, and who soon afterward was appointed Indian agent by President John Quincy Adams. At this meeting he proposed the acquisition of the Platte country, and the measure met with such hearty approval that a committee was at once appointed to make an effort to accomplish it. - The committee was composed of William T. Wood, now judge of the Lexington Circuit ; David R. Atchison, ex-United States Senator ; A. W. Doniphan, a distinguished lawyer and hero of the Mex- ican war ; Peter H. Burnett, afterward one of the supreme judges of Cal- ifornia, and Edward M. Samuel, afterward president of the Commercial Bank in St. Louis-all of them at that time residents of Clay County.
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
Subsequently an able memorial to Congress was drafted by Judge Wood, embracing the facts and considerations in behalf of the measure, which, after being signed by the committee, was forwarded to the Sen- ators and Representatives at Washington from Missouri.
Following the prayer of this memorial, in 1836, a bill was introduced in Congress by Thomas H. Benton, and zealously supported by his col- league, Senator Linn, which provided for the extension of the then existing boundary of the state, so as to include the triangle between the existing line and the Missouri River, then a part of the Indian Territory, now comprising the counties of Atchison, Andrew, Buchanan, Holt. Nod- away and Platte. The difficulties encountered were three fold: I. To make still larger a state which was already one.of the largest in the Union. 2. To remove Indians from a possession which had just been assigned to them in perpetuity. 3. To alter the Missouri Compromise line in relation to slave territory, and thereby convert free soil into slave soil. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the two first mentioned serious and the last formidable, the act was passed and the treaties negotiated, and in 1837 the Indians removed west of the Missouri River, thus adding to the state a large body of the richest land in the world.
During the fall of 1835, after the meeting held at the regimental muster above referred to, General Andrew S. Hughes wrote to Hon. L. F. Linn in reference to a treaty with the Ioways and Sacs of his agency. His letter is as follows :
IOWAY SUB-AGENCY, September 3. 1835.
SIR: I have written a hasty scrawl to you. It might be well to pub- lish your letter to show to the people what you were doing. I send this to St. Genevieve, not exactly knowing where to find you. I give you liberty to do just as you may think proper with my letter.
All letters addressed to me, I wish directed to the " Elm Grove Post- office, Clay County, Missouri." This is most convenient to me. When I hear from you I will write again. I desire to see you before you go on East.
A treaty can be made with the Ioways of my agency and Sacs, with- out expense to the Government, or any other unnecessary pomp and parade, as has heretofore been the case. Colonel Dodge could make treaty with the Indians as a part of his official duty. They are near his post, and I should have no objections to render any assistance that might be asked of me.
Believe me, your sincere friend, AND. S. HUGHES. To HON. LEWIS F. LINN.
The treaty which was negotiated with the Sac and Fox Indians, whereby Missouri extended her western boundary line, is as follows :
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
ARTICLES OF A TREATY
made and concluded at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri River, between William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, on the part of the United States, of the one part, and the undersigned chiefs, warriors and counsellors of the loway tribe, and the band of Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri (residing west of the State of Missouri) in behalf of their respective tribes, of the other part.
ARTICLE I. By the first article of the treaty of Prairie du Chien, held the 15th of July, 1830, with the confederated tribes of the Sacs and Foxes, Ioways, Omahaws, Missourias, Ottoes and Sioux, the country ceded to the United States by that treaty, is to be "assigned and allotted, under the President of the United States, to the tribes living thereon, or to such other tribes as the President may locate thereon for hunting and and other purpose." And whereas, it is further represented to us, the chiefs, warriors and counsellors of the Ioways and Sacs and Fox band aforesaid to be desirable that the lands lying between the State of Mis- souri and the Missouri River should be attached to and become a part of the said state, and the Indian title thereto should be extinguished ; but that, notwithstanding, as these lands compose a part of the country embraced by the provision of said first article of the treaty aforesaid, the stipulations thereof will be strictly observed, until the assent of the Indians interested is given to the proposed measure.
Now we, the chiefs, warriors and counsellors of the Ioways and Mis- souri band of Sacs and Foxes, fully understanding the subject, and well satisfied from the local position of the lands in question, that they can never be made available for Indian purposes, and that an attempt to place an Indian population on them must inevitably lead to collision with the citizens of the United States, and further believing that the exten- sion of the state line in the direction indicated, would have a happy effect, by presenting a natural boundary between the whites and the Indians; and willing, moreover, to give the United States a renewed evidence of our attachment and friendship, do hereby, for ourselves and on behalf of our respective tribes (having full power and authority to this effect) for- ever cede, relinquish and quit claim to the United States, all our right, title and interest, of whatever nature, in and to the land lying between the State of Missouri and the Missouri River, and do freely and fully exonerate the United States from any guarantee, condition or limitation, expressed or implied, under the treaty of Prairie du Chien aforesaid or otherwise, as to the entire and absolute disposition of the said lands ; fully authorizing the United States to do with the same whatever shall seem expedient or necessary.
As a proof of the continued friendship and liberality of the United States towards the Ioways and band of Sacs and Foxes of the Mis- sourias, and as an evidence of the same entertained for the good will manifested by said tribes to the citizens and Government of the United States, as evinced in the preceding cession or relinquishment, the under- signed, William Clark, agrees, on behalf of the United States, to pay 'as a present to the said Ioways and band of. Sacs and Foxes $7,5.00 in money, the receipt of which they hereby acknowledge.
ARTICLE. 2. As the said tribes of Ioways, and Sacs and Foxes, have applied for a small piece of land south of the Missouri for a permanent
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
home, on which they can settle, and request the assistance of the Gov- ernment of the United States to place them on the land, in a situation at least equal to that they now enjoy on the lands ceded by them. Therefore, I, William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, do further agree on behalf of the United States, to assign to the Ioway tribes and Missouri band of Sacs and Foxes, the small strip of land on the south side of the Missouri River, lying between the Kickapoo northern boun- dary line and the Grand Nemaha River, and extending from the Mis- souri back and westwardly with the said Kickapoo line and the Grand Nemaha, making four hundred sections, to be divided between the said Ioways, and Missouri band of Sacs and Foxes, the lower half to the Sacs and Foxes, the upper half to the loways.
ARTICLE 3. The Ioways and Missouri band of Sacs and Foxes, further agree that they will move and settle on the lands assigned them in the above article as soon as arrangements can be made, and the undersigned William Clark, in behalf of the United States, agrees that, as soon as the above tribes have selected a site for their villages, and places for their fields, and moved to them, to erect for the Ioways five comfortable houses ; to enclose and break up for them two hundred acres of ground ; to furnish them with a farmer, blacksmith, schoolmaster and interpreter, as long as the President of the United States deems proper ; to furnish them with such agricultural implements as may be necessary, for five years; to furnish them with rations for one year, commencing at the time of their arrival at their new home ; to furnish them with one ferry boat ; to furnish them with one hundred cows and calves, and five bulls, and one hundred stock hogs, when they require them ; to furnish them with a mill, and assist in removing them, to the extent of five hundred dollars.
And to erect for the Sacs and Foxes, three comfortable houses ; to enclose and break up for them two hundred acres of land ;. to furnish them with a farmer, blacksmith, schoolmaster, and interpreter, as long as the President of the United States shall deem proper ; to furnish them with such agricultural implements as may be necessary, for five years ; to furnish them with rations for one year, commencing at the time of their arrival at their new home; to furnish them with one ferry boat ; to furnish them with one hundred cows and calves, and five bulls ; one hundred stock hogs, when they require them; to furnish them with a mill, and to assist in removing them to the extent of four hundred dollars.
ARTICLE 4. This treaty shall be obligatory on the tribes, parties hereto, from and after the date hereof, and on the United States, from and after its ratification by the Government thereof.
Done, and signed and sealed at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri, this seventeenth day of September, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and of the Independence of the United States the sixty-first.
WILLIAM CLARK, Superintendent Indian Affairs.
IOWAYS:
MO-HOS-CA (or White Cloud), NE -WAN -THAW - CHU (Hair
NAU-CHE-NING (or No Heart), Shedder),
WA-CHE-MO-NE (or the Orator), MAN-HAW-KA (Bunch of Arrows), NE-O-MO-NE (or Raining Cloud), CHA-TAU-THE-NE (Big Bull),
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
MAN-O-MO-NE (or Pumpkin), CON-GU (or Plumb),
CHA-TEA-THAU (Buffalo Bull), CHA -TA -HA-RA-WA-RE (For-
WAU-THAW-CA-BE -CHU (one eign Buffalo).
that eats rats),
SACS AND FOXES :
CA-HA-QUA (Red Fox), PE-SHAW-CA (Bear), PE-CAU-MA (Deer), NE-BOSH-CA-NA (Wolf), NE-SQUI-IN-A (Deer), NE-SAW-AU-QUA (Bear), QUA-CO-OUSI-SI (Wolf), SUQUIL-LA (Deer),
AS-KE-PA-KE-KA-AS-A (Green Lake),
WA-PA-SE (Swan), NO-CHA-TAU-WA-TA-SA (Star). CAN-CA-CAR-MACK (Rock Bass), SEA-SA-HO (Sturgeon), PE-A-CHIM-A-CAR-MACK (Bald Headed Eagle),
PE-A-CHIM-A-CAR-MACK, JR., (Bald Headed Eagle).
WITNESSES :
S. W. KEARNY, JNO. DOUGHERTY, A. S. HUGHES, GEO. R. H. CLARK, WILLIAM DUNCAN, JOS. V. HAMILTON,
H. ROBIDOU, JR., WILLIAM BOWMAN, JEFFRY DORION, PETER CONSTINE, JACQUES METTE, LOUIS M. DAVIDSON.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
IMPORTANCE OF FIRST SETTLEMETNS-WHEN SETTLEMENTS FIRST COMMENCED-SET- TLEMENT OF PLATTE TOWNSHIP-JACKSON TOWNSHIP -- CRAWFORD-BLOOMING- TON-CENTRE-RUSH-AGENCY -MARION-WAYNE-LAKE-WASHINGTON.
Every nation does not possess an authentic account of its origin, neither do all communities have the correct data whereby it is possible to accurately predicate the condition of their first beginnings. Never- theless, to be intensely interested in such things is characteristic of the race, and it is particularly the province of the historian to deal with first causes. Should these facts, as is often the case, be lost in the myth- ical tradition of the past, the chronicler invades the realm of the ideal and compels his imagination to paint the missing picture. The patriotic Roman was not content till he had found the "First Settlers," and then he was satisfied, although they were found in the very undesirable com- pany of a wolf, and located on a drift, which the receding waters of the Tiber had permitted them to pre-empt.
One of the advantages pertaining to a residence in a new country and one seldom appreciated, is the fact that we can go back to the first beginnings. We are thus enabled, not only to trace results to their causes, but also to grasp the facts which have contributed to form and mold these causes. We observe 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 surroundings, in the class of men by whom it was peopled, and in the many chances and changes which have wrought out results in all the recorded deeds of mankind. In the history of Buchanan County we may trace its early settlers to their homes in the Eastern States and in the countries of the Old World. We.may follow the course of the hardy woodman of the "Buckeye" or the "Hoosier" state, or from Kentucky and Virginia on his way west to "grow up with the country," trusting only to his strong arm and his wil- ling heart to work out his ambition of a home for himself and wife and a competence for his children. Again, we will see that others have been animated with the impulse to "move on," after making themselves a part of the community, and have sought the newer parts of the extreme West, where civilization had not penetrated, or returned to their native soil. We shall find much of that distinctive New England character
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
which has contributed so many men and women to other portions of our state and the west ; also we shall find many an industrious native of Germany or the British Isles, and a few of the industrious and econom- ical French-all of whom have contributed to modify types of men already existing here.
Those who have noted the career of the descendants of these brave, strong men, in subduing the wilds and overcoming the obstacles and withstanding the hardships of this country in early times, can but admit they are worthy sons of illustrious sires.
The " Platte Purchase " was, until 1837, forbidden ground, and meas- ures were taken by the government to prevent settlement, consequently the settlement of the county properly began when it was thrown open and immigration was invited and encouraged.
From this time the population increased rapidly, and the develop- ment of the material resources of the county was so speedy as to be almost unprecedented. In treating of the settlement of the county during this period, we shall strive to be somewhat analytical in our style, as by this course we hope to be able to give a more accurate and lucid account than could otherwise be done ; to this end we shall sub- divide the county into districts, and speak of the first settlements in each, and so continue until the distinctive neighborhoods grew together, and practically constituted one settlement-Buchanan County.
Those who are any way familiar with the early settlement of Buchanan County, or in fact any of the Missouri counties, are aware that the first improvements were made along the various streams of water, not on the banks of these streams, as a general thing, but in or near the timber which grew in their vicinity.
We fully realize that the task of tracing out these first settlements so as to accurately and fully give a history of each individual making them, is a difficult one ; in proportion as the reader understands the magnitude and difficulty of the work, to that extent will we have his sympathy and forbearance. The data upon which we found our sup- posed facts consist mainly of notes taken by our agents, who have visited every part of the county, and if the narrative should, in some particulars, seem to the reader to be incorrect, we wish to remind him that the par- ticular fact which he may question is founded on the statement of some one individual who resides in the immediate neighborhood, and, in all probability, substantiated by the best evidence obtainable. Such persons should remember that they are as liable to be mistaken as their neigh- bors, and that in the little circumscribed realm of their own neighbor- hood, even as in the boundless realm of the universe, " truth is stranger than fiction."
We have stated elsewhere in this history, that as early as 1834-5 the adventurous pioneer had pitched his tent within the borders of the
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
Platte country. Its timber, its water courses, its salubrious climate and prolific soil constituted attractions which were to him irrisistible, and believing that this land, "flowing with milk and honey," would soon be given over to the possession of the white man, he accordingly braved the opposition of the Indian, and incursions of the military forces at Fort Leavenworth, by moving in and effecting, if nothing more, a tem- porary settlement.
As soon, however, as the treaty was made, and in fact before the red man had taken up his line of march to other hunting grounds, towards the setting sun, the tide of anxious, restless emigration, like the ancient Scythians who poured into Hungary, soon overspread the Platte Purchase, bringing with them weapons of peace and industry, wherewith to conquer its wildernesses and waste places.
The early emigrants who came to Buchanan County, erected their rude cabins in what were afterwards known as Platte, Jackson, Crawford, Bloomington and Centre townships, this portion of the county not only lying more contiguous to Clinton County, which had been settled for years, but it posessed an abundance of timber, which was to the old settler, one of the economic and indispensable surroundings of his new home.
SETTLEMENT OF PLATTE TOWNSHIP.
We shall here begin the history of the early settlements, as to loca- tion, with what is now known as Platte Township.
The most authentic accounts all point to Judge Weston J. Everett, of Clay County, but originally from Tennessee, as being the first perma- nent settler. He had visited the Platte country in the fall of 1836, with the view of selecting a location for his future home. Having found the country all that he desired, he returned in February, 1837, and made a settlement on section 13, township 55, range 34, which had been occu- pied a short time by Absalom Enyard, of Clay County, Missouri. Mr. Enyard had already put up a small hut on the land, but having done so before the country was open for settlement, he was dispossessed and driven out by United States forces. His fence surrounding his premises was burned by the military, but his cabin was such an insignificant struc- ture, that it was left standing. This was purchased by Judge Everett, and was for a time his home. At the time of his arrival a fierce snow- storm was prevailing over this portion of the country, and the snow con- tinued to fall until it exceeded a depth of six inches.
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