USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 2
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From 1800, the date of the cession made by Spain, to 1803, when it was purchased by the United States, no change had been made by the French authorities in the jurisprudence of the Upper and Lower Louis- iana, and during this period the Spanish laws remained in full force as the laws of the entire province ; a fact which is of interest to those who would understand the legal history and some of the present laws of Missouri.
On December 20th, 1803, Gens. Wilkinson and Claiborne, who were jointly commissioned to take possession of the territory for the United States, arrived in the city of New Orleans at the head of the American forces. Laussat, who had taken possession but twenty days previously as the prefect of the colony, gave up his command, and the star-spangled banner supplanted the tri-colored flag of France. The agent of France. to take possession of Upper Louisiana from the Spanish authorities, was Amos Stoddard, captain of artillery in the United States service. He was placed in possession of St. Louis on the 9th of March, 1804, by Charles Dehault Delassus, the Spanish commandant, and on the follow- ing day he transferred it to the United States. The authority of the United States in Missouri dates from this day.
From that moment the interests of the people of the Mississippi Valley became identified. They were troubled no more with the uncer- tainties of free navigation. The great river, along whose banks they had planted their towns and villages, now afforded them a safe and easy outlet to the markets of the world. Under the protecting ægis of a government, republican in form, and having free access to an almost
I3
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
boundless domain, embracing in its broad area the diversified climates of the globe, and possessing a soil unsurpassed for fertility, beauty of scenery and wealth of minerals, they had every incentive to push on their enterprises and build up the land wherein their lot had been cast.
In the purchase of Louisiana, it was known that a great empire had been secured as a heritage to the people of our country, for all time to come, but of its grandeur, its possibilities, its inexhaustible resources and the important relations it would sustain to the nation and the world, were never dreamed of by even Mr. Jefferson and his adroit and accom- plished diplomatists.
The most ardent imagination never conceived of the progress, which would mark the history of the "Great West." The adventurous pioneer, who fifty years ago pitched his tent upon its broad prairies, or threaded the dark labyrinths of its lonely forests, little thought that a mighty tide of physical and intellectual strength would so rapidly flow on in his footsteps, to populate, build up and enrich the domain which he had conquered.
Year after year, civilization has advanced further and further, until at length the mountains, the plains, the hills and the valleys, and even the rocks and the caverns, resound with the noise and din of busy millions.
" I beheld the westward marches Of the unknown crowded nations. All the land was full of people, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, Speaking many tongues, yet feeling But one heart beat in their bosoms. In the woodland rang their axes, Smoked their towns in all the valleys; Over all the lakes and rivers Rushed their great canoes of thunder."
In 1804 Congress, by an act, passed in April of the same year, divided Louisiana into two parts, the "Territory of Orleans," and the "District of Louisiana," known as "Upper Louisiana." This district included all that portion of the old province, north of "Hope Encamp- ment," on the Lower Mississippi, and embraced the present State of Missouri, and all the western region of country to the Pacific Ocean, and all below the forty-ninth degree of north latitude not claimed by Spain.
As a matter of convenience, on March 26th, 1804, Missouri was placed within the jurisdiction of the government of the Territory of Indiana, and its government put in motion by Gen. William H. Harrison, then governor of Indiana. In this he was assisted by Judges Griffin, Vanderberg and Davis, who established in St. Louis what were called Courts of Common Pleas. The District of Louisiana was regularly organized into the Territory of Louisiana by Congress, March 3d, 1805,
14
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
and President Jefferson appointed Gen. James Wilkinson governor, and Frederick Bates secretary. The Legislature of the Territory was formed by Governor Wilkinson and Judges R. J. Meigs and John B. C. Lucas. In 1807 Governor Wilkinson was succeeded by Captain Meriwether Lewis, who had become famous by reason of his having made the expe- dition with Clark. Governor Lewis committed suicide in 1809, and President Madison appointed Gen. Benjamin Howard, of Lexington, Kentucky, to fill his place. Gen. Howard resigned October 25, 1810, to enter the war of 1812, and died in St. Louis, in 1814. Captain William Clark, of Lewis and Clark's expedition, was appointed governor in 1810, to succeed Gen. Howard, and remained in office until the admission of the State into the Union.
The portions of Missouri which were settled, for the purpose of local government, were divided into four districts. Cape Girardeau was the first, and embraced the territory between Tywappity Bottom and Apple Creek. Ste. Genevieve, the second, embraced the territory from Apple Creek to the Meramec River. St. Louis, the third, embraced the terri- tory between the Meramec and Missouri Rivers. St. Charles, the fourth, included the settled territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The total population of these districts at that time was 8,670, including slaves. The population of the district of Louisiana, when ceded to the United States, was 10, 120.
CHAPTER II.
DESCRIPTIVE AND GEOGRAPHICAL.
NAME-EXTENT-SURFACE- RIVERS-TIMBER-CLIMATE-PRAIRIES-SOILS-POPULATION BY COUNTIES.
NAME.
The name Missouri, is derived from the Indian tongue and signifies muddy.
EXTENT.
Missouri is bounded on the north by Iowa (from which it is separated for about thirty miles on the northeast by the DesMoines River), and on the east by the Mississippi River, which divides it from Illinois, Ken- tucky and Tennessee, and on the west by the Indian Territory, and by the states of Kansas and Nebraska. The state lies (with the exception of a small projection between the St. Francis and the Mississippi Rivers, which extends to 36°), between 36° 30' and 40° 36' north latitude, and between 12º 2' and 18° 51' west longitude from Washington.
15
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
The extreme width of the state east and west is about 348 miles ; its width on its northern boundary, measured from its northwest corner along the Iowa line to its intersection with the DesMoines River, is about 210 miles ; its width on its southern boundary is about 288 miles. Its average width is about 235 miles.
The length of the state north and south, not including the narrow strip between the St. Francis and Mississippi Rivers, is about 282 miles. It is about 450 miles from its extreme northwest corner to its southeast corner, and from the northeast corner to the southwest corner it is about 230 miles. These limits embrace an area of 65,350 square miles, or . 41,824,000 acres, being nearly as large as England, and the states of Vermont and New Hampshire.
SURFACE.
North of the Missouri the state is level or undulating, while the por- tion south of that river (the larger portion of the state) exhibits a greater variety of surface. In the southeastern part is an extensive marsh, reaching beyond the state into Arkansas. The remainder of this portion, between the Mississippi and Osage Rivers, is rolling and gradually rising into a hilly and mountainous district, forming the outskirts of the Ozark Mountains.
Beyond the Osage River, at some distance, commences a vast expanse of prairie land, which stretches away towards the Rocky Mount- ains. The ridges forming the Ozark chain extend in a northeast and southwest direction, separating the waters that flow northeast into the Missouri from those that flow southeast into the Mississippi River.
RIVERS.
No state in the Union enjoys better facilities for navigation than Missouri. By means of the Mississippi River, which stretches along her entire eastern boundary, she can hold commercial intercourse with the most northern territory and state in the Union ; with the whole valley of the Ohio ; with many of the Atlantic States, and with the Gulf of Mexico.
"Ay, gather Europe's royal rivers all- The snow-swelled Neva, with an Empire's weight On her broad breast, she yet may overwhelm ; Dark Danube, hurrying, as by foe pursued, Through shaggy forests and by palace walls, To hide its terrors in a sea of gloom ; The castled Rhine, whose vine-crowned waters flow, The fount of fable and the source of song ;
The rushing Rhone, in whose cerulean depths The loving sky seems wedded with the wave ; The yellow Tiber, chok'd with Roman spoils, A dying miser shrinking 'neath his gold ; The Seine, where fashion glasses the fairest forms ; And Thames that bears the riches of the world ;
16
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Gather their waters in one ocean mass, Our Mississippi rolling proudly on, Would sweep them from its path, or swallow up, Like Aaron's rod, these streams of fame and song."
By the Missouri River she can extend her commerce to the Rocky Mountains, and receive in return the products which will come in the course of time, by its multitude of tributaries.
The Missouri River coasts the northwest line of the state for about 250 miles, following its windings, and then flows through the state, a lit- tle south of east, to its junction with the Mississippi. The Missouri River receives a number of tributaries within the limits of the state, the principal of which are the Nodaway, Platte, Loutre and Chariton from . the north, and the Blue, Sniabar, Grand, Osage and Gasconade from the south. The principal tributaries of the Mississippi within the state are the Salt River, north, and the Meramec River, south, of the Missouri.
The St. Francis and White Rivers, with their branches, drain the southeastern part of the state and pass into Arkansas. The Osage is navigable for steamboats for more than 275 miles. There are a vast number of smaller streams, such as creeks, branches and rivers, which water the state in all directions.
TIMBER.
Not more towering in their sublimity were the cedars of ancient Lebanon, nor more precious in their utility were the almug trees of Ophir, than the native forests of Missouri. The river bottoms are cov- ered with a luxuriant growth of oak, ash, elm, hickory, cottonwood, linn, white and black walnut, and in fact all the varieties found in the Atlantic and Eastern States. In the more barren districts may be seen the white and pin oak, and in many places a dense growth of pine. The crab apple, pawpaw and persimmon are abundant, as also the hazel and pecan.
CLIMATE.
The climate of Missouri is, in general, pleasant and salubrious. Like that of North America, it is changeable and subject to sudden and sometimes extreme changes of heat and cold ; but it is decidedly milder, taking the whole year through, than that of the same latitudes east of the mountains. While the summers are not more oppressive than they are in the corresponding latitudes on and near the Atlantic Coast, the winters are shorter, and very much milder, except during the month of February, and it has many days of pleasant sunshine.
PRAIRIES.
Missouri is a prairie state, especially that portion of it north and northwest of the Missouri River. These prairies, along the water courses, abound with the thickest and most luxurious belts of timber,
17
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
while the "rolling" prairies occupy the higher portions of the country, the descent generally to the forest or bottom lands being over stony declivities. Many of these prairies, however, exhibit a graceful, waving surface, swelling and sinking with an easy slope and a full, rounded out- line, equally avoiding the unmeaning, horizontal surface and the inter- ruption of abrupt or angular elevations.
These prairies often embrace extensive tracts of land, and in one or two instances they cover an area of fifty thousand acres. During the spring and summer they are carpeted with a velvet of green and gaily bedecked with flowers of various forms and hues, making a most fasci- nating panorama of ever changing color and loveliness. To fully appre- ciate their great beauty and magnitude they must be seen.
SOIL.
The soil of Missouri is good, and of great agricultural capabilities, but the most fertile portions of the state are the river bottoms, which are a rich alluvium, mixed in many cases with sand, the producing qual- ities of which are not excelled by the prolific valley of the famous Nile.
South of the Missouri River there is a greater variety of soil, but much of it is fertile, and even in the mountains and mineral districts there are rich valleys, and about the sources of the White, Eleven Points, Current and Big Black Rivers the soil, though unproductive, fur- nishes a valuable growth of yellow pine.
The marshy lands in the southeastern part of the state will, by a system of drainage, be one of the most fertile districts in the state.
POPULATION BY COUNTIES IN 1870, 1876, 1880.
1870.
1876.
1880
Adair
11,449
13 774
15,190
Andrew
15,137
14,992
16,318
Atchison
8,440
10,925
14,565
Audrain .
12,307
15,157
19,739
Barry
10,373
11,146
14,424
Barton
5,087
6,900
10,332
Bates .
15,960
17,484
25,382
Benton
11,322
11,027
12,398
Bollinger
8,162
8,884
11,132
Boone
20,765
31,923
25 424
Buchanan
35,109
38,165
49,824
Butler
4,298
4,363
6,011
Caldwell .
11,390
12,200
13,654
Callaway
19,202
25,257
23,670
Camden
6,108
7,027
7,269
Cape Girardeau
17 558
17 891
20,998
Carroll
17 445
21,518
23.300
Carter
1,455
1,549
2,168
Cass
19,296
18,069
22,431
18
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Cedar
9.474
9,912
10,747
Chariton
19,136
23,294
25,224
Christian
6,707
7,936
9,632
Clark
13,667
14.549
15,631
Clinton
14.063
13,698
16,073
Cole
10,292
14,122
15,519
Cooper
20,692
21.356
21,622
Crawford
7,982
9,391
10,763
Dade
8 683
11,089
12,557
Dallas
8,383
8,073
9,272
Daviess
14,410
16,557
19,174
DeKalb
9,858
11,159
13,343
Dent
6.357
7,401
10,647
Douglas
3,915
6,461
7,753
Dunkin
5,982
6,255
9,604
Franklin
30,098
26,924
26,536
Gasconade
10,093
11,160
11,153
Gentry
11,607
12,673
17,18S
Greene
21,549
24,693
28,817
Grundy
10,567
13,071
15,201
Harrison
14,635
18,530
20,318
Henry
17,401
18,465
23 914
Hickory.
6 452
5,870
7,388
Holt.
11,652
13,245
15,510
Howard
17,233
17,815
18,428
Howell
4,218
6,756
8,814
Iron.
6,278
6,623
8,183
Jackson
55,041
54,045
82 32S
Jasper .
14,928
29,384
32,021
Jefferson
15,380
16,186
18.736
Johnson
24,648
23,646
28,177
Knox
10,974
12,678
13,047
Laclede
9 380
9,845
11,524
Lafayette.
22,624
22,204
25,761
Lawrence
13,067
13,054
17,585
Lewis
15,114
16,360
15,925
Lincoln
15,960
16,858
17,443
Linn. .
15,906
18,110
20,016
Livingston
16,730
18,074
20,205
McDonald
5,226
6,072
7,816
Macon.
23, 230
25,028
26,223
Madison
5,849
8,750
8,866
Maries
5,916
6.4SI
7,304
Marion
23 780
22,794
24,837
Mercer
11,557
13,393
14,674
Miller
6,616
8,529
9,807
Mississippi
4,982
7,498
9,270
Moniteau.
13.375
13,084
14 349
Monroe
17,149
17,751
19,075
Montgomery
10,405
14 418
16,250
Morgan .
$ 434
9.529
10,134
New Madrid
6 357
6,673
7,694
Newton
12,821
16,875
18,948
19'
HISTORY OF MISSOURI ..
Nodaway.
14,751
23,196
29,560
Oregon
3,287
4,469
5,791
Osage
10,793
11,200
11,824
Ozark
3,363
4,579
5,618
Pemiscot
2,059,
2,573
4,299)
Perry
9,877
11, 189
II 895
Pettis
18,206
23,167
27,285
Phelps
IO 506
9,919
12,565.
Pike . .
23,076
22,828
26,716
Platte
17,352
15,948
17,372
Polk
14,445
13,467
15,745
Pulaski
4,714
6,157
7,250
Putnam
11,217
12,641
13,556,
Ralls
10,510
9,997
11,838
Randolph
15 908
19,173
22 75L
Ray . .
18,700
18,394
20,196,
Reynolds
3,756
4,716
5,722
Ripley
3,175
3,913
5,377
St. Charles
21,304
21,821
23,060.
St. Clair
6.742
11,242
14,126.
St. Francois
9,742
11,621
13,822
Ste. Genevieve
8.3.84
9,409
10,309,
St. Louis*
351,189
·
. .
31,888
Saline
21,672
27,087
29,912
Schuyler
8,820
9,881
10 470,
Scott
7,317
7,312
8,587
Shannon
2,339
3,236
3,441
Shelby
10,119
13,243
14,024
Stoddard
8,535
10,888
13,432
Stone
3,253
3,544
4,405
Sullivan
11,907
14,039
16.569
Taney
4,407
6,124
5,605
Texas .
9,618
10,287
12,207
Vernon
11,247
14,413
19 370
Warren
9,673
10,321
10,806
Washington
11,719
13,100
12,895
Wayne
6,068
7,006
9,097
Webster .
10,434
10,684
12,175.
Worth
5,004
7,164
8,208
Wright
5,684
6,124
9,733,
City of St. Louis
.
.
350,522
Males
1,721,295
1,547,030
2, 168,804,
Females .
1,041,380
Native .
1,957,564
Foreign
211,240
White .
2,023 568
Colored+
145,236.
10,670
12,030
12,507
Scotland
. 1,127 424
*St. Louis city and county separated in 1877. Population for 1876 not given. +Including 92 Chinese, 2 half Chinese, and 96 Indians and half-breeds.
20
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
CHAPTER III.
GEOLOGY OF MISSOURI.
CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS-QUATERNARY FORMATION-TERTIARY-CRETACEOUS-CAR- BONIFEROUS -- DEVONIAN - SILURIAN -- AZOIC-ECONOMIC GEOLOGY-COAL-IRON- LEAD -COPPER - ZINC -- BUILDING STONE-MARBLE -- GYPSUM - LIME -- PAINTS -- SPRINGS-WATER POWER.
The stratified rocks of Missouri, as classified and treated of by Prof. G. C. Swallow, belong to the following divisions: I. Quaternary ; II. Ter- tiary ; III. Cretaceous ; IV. Carboniferous ; V. Devonian ; VI. Silurian ; VII. Azoic.
The Quaternary formations are the most recent and the most val- uable to man ; valuable, because they can be more readily utilized.
The Quaternary formation in Missouri, embraces the Alluvium, 30 feet thick; Bottom Prairie, 30 feet thick; Bluff, 200 feet thick; and Drift, 155 feet thick. The latest deposits are those which constitute the Allu- vium, and includes the soils, pebbles and sand, clays, vegetable mold, bog, iron ore, marls, etc.
The Alluvium deposits cover an area, within the limits of . Missouri, of more than four million acres of land, which are not surpassed for fer- tility by any region of country on the globe.
The Bluff Prairie formation is confined to the lowlands, which are washed by the two great rivers which course our eastern and western boundaries, and while it is only about half as extensive as the Alluvial, it is equally as rich and productive."
"The Bluff formation," says Professor Swallow, "rests upon the ridges and river bluffs, and descends along their slopes to the lowest valleys, the formation capping all the bluffs of the Missouri from Fort Union to its mouth, and those of the Mississippi from Dubuque to the mouth of the Ohio. It forms the upper stratum beneath the soil of all the high lands, both timber and prairies, of all the counties north of the Osage and Missouri, and also St. Louis, and the Mississippi counties on the south.
Its greatest development is in the counties on the Missouri River, from the Iowa line to Boonville. In some localities it is 200 feet thick. At St. Joseph it is 140; at Boonville 100; and at St. Louis, in St. George's quarry, and the Big Mound, it is about 50 feet ; while its greatest observed thickness in Marion County was only 30 feet."
The Drift formation is that which lies beneath the Bluff formation, having, as Prof. Swallow informs us, three distinct deposits, to wit : "Altered Drift, which are strata of sand and pebbles, seen in the banks of the Missouri, in the northwestern portion of the state.
2[
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
The Boulder formation is a heterogenous stratum of sand, gravel and boulder, and water-worn fragments of the older rocks.
Boulder Clay is a bed of bluish or brown sandy clay, through which pebbles are scattered in greater or less abundance. It some localities in northern Missouri, this formation assumes a pure white, pipe-clay color."
The Tertiary formation is made up of clays, shales, iron ores, sand- stone, and sands, scattered along the bluffs, and edges of the bottoms, reaching from Commerce, Scott County, to Stoddard, and south to the Chalk Bluffs in Arkansas.
The Cretaceous formation lies beneath the Tertiary, and is composed of variegated sandstone, bluish-brown sandy slate, whitish-brown im- pure sandstone, fine white clay mingled with spotted flint, purple, red and blue clays, all being in the aggregate, 158 feet in thickness. There are no fossils in these rocks, and nothing by which their age may be told.
The Carboniferous system includes the Upper Carboniferous or coal- measures, and the Lower Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone. The coal-measures are made up of numerous strata of sandstones, limestones, shales, clays, marls, spathic iron ores and coals.
The Carboniferous formation, including coal-measures and the beds of iron, embrace an area in Missouri of 27,000 square miles. The varie- ties of coal found in the state are the common bituminous and cannel coals, and they exist in quantities inexhaustible. The fact that these coal measures are full of fossils, which are always confined to the coal measures, enables the geologist to point them out, and the coal beds con- tained in them.
The rocks of the Lower Carboniferous formation are varied in color, and are quarried in many different parts of the state, being extensively utilized for building and other purposes.
Among the Lower Carboniferous rocks is found the Upper Archi- medes Limestone, 200 feet ; Ferruginous Sandstone, 195 feet ; Middle Archimedes, 50 feet ; St. Louis Limestone, 250 feet ; Oolitic Limestone, 25 feet ; Lower Archimedes Limestone, 350 feet ; and Encrinital Lime- stone, 500 feet. These limestones generally contain fossils.
The Ferruginous Limestone is soft when quarried, but becomes hard and durable after exposure. It contains large quantities of iron, and is found skirting the eastern coal measures from the mouth of the Des Moines to McDonald County.
The St. Louis Limestone is of various hues and tints, and very hard. It is found in Clark, Lewis and St. Louis Counties.
The Lower Archimedes Limestone includes partly the lead-bearing rocks of Southwest Missouri.
The Encrinital Limestone is the most extensive of the divisions of Carboniferous Limestone, and is made up of brown, buff, gray and white.
22
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
In these strata are found the remains of corals and mollusks. This formation extends from Marion County to Greene County. The Devo- nian system contains : Chemung Group, Hamilton Group, Onondaga Limestone and Oriskany Sandstone. The rocks of the Devonian system are found in Marion, Ralls, Pike, Callaway, Saline and Ste. Genevieve 'Counties.
The Chemung Group has three formations, Chouteau Limestone, 85 feet : Vermicular Sandstone and shales, 75 feet ; Lithographic Limestone, 125 feet.
The Chouteau Limestone is in two divisions, when fully developed, and when first quarried is soft. It is not only good for building purposes but makes an excellent cement.
The Vermicular Sandstone and shales are usually buff or yellowish brown, perforated with pores.
The Lithographic Limestone is a pure, fine, compact, evenly-textured limestone. Its color varies from light drab to buff and blue. It is called " pot-metal." because under the hammer it gives a sharp, ringing sound. It has but few fossils.
The Hamilton Group is made up of some forty feet of blue shales, and 170 feet of Crystalline limestone.
Onondaga Limestone is usually a coarse, gray or buff crystalline, thick-bedded and cherry limestone. No formation in Missouri presents such variable and widely different lithological characters as the Onondaga.
The Oriskany Sandstone is a light gray limestone.
Of the Upper Silurian series there are the following formations : Lower Helderburg, 350 feet : Niagara Group, 200 feet ; Cape Girardeau Limestone, 60 feet.
The Lower Helderburg is made up of buff, gray and reddish cherry and argillaceous limestone.
Niagara Group. The upper part of this group consists of red, yel- low and ash-colored shales, with compact limestones, variegated with bands and nodules of chert.
The Cape Girardeau Limestone, on the Mississippi River near Cape ·Girardeau, is a compact, bluish-gray, brittle limestone, with smooth frac- tures in layers from two to six inches in thickness, with argillaceous partings. These strata contain a great many fossils.
The Lower Silurian has the following ten formations, to wit : Hudson River Group, 220 feet : Trenton Limestone, 360 feet ; Black River and Bird's Eye Limestone, 175 feet ; first Magnesian Limestone, 200 feet; Sac- charoidal Sandstone, 125 feet ; second Magnesian Limestone, 250 feet ; second Sandstone, 115 feet ; third Magnesian Limestone, 350 feet ; third Sandstone, 60 feet : fourth Magnesian Limestone, 350 feet.
Hudson River Group. There are three formations which Professor Swallow refers to in this group. These formation are found in the bluff
23
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
above and below Louisiana, on the Grassy, a few miles northwest of Louisiana, and in Ralls, Pike, Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve Counties.
Trenton Limestone. The upper part of this formation is made up of thick beds of hard, compact, bluish-gray and drab limestone, variegated with irregular cavities, filled with greenish materials.
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