USA > Missouri > Johnson County > The history of Johnson County, Missouri : including a reliable history of the townships, cities, and towns, together with a map of the county; a condensed history of Missouri; the state constitution; an abstract of the most important laws etc > Part 31
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Pigeon hole.
26.67
Peddlers
67.89
Insurance 00.75
Brokers
150.00
Total amount $527.59
During the past year the county court refused to issue license to dram- shops, but with the beginning of 1881, the license system was again resumed, and bids fair to run up to $1,000 before the close of the present year. The subject of license and anti license has been discussed consid- erably in the county, and although the county court refused for the interim of twelve months to grant liquor license, yet the law was evaded and intoxicating liquors were often smuggled and sold in defiance of the law.
The citizens of this county had suffered so much from legalized plunder under the old county system from 1865 to 1872, that they hailed with joy the dawn of the township system, which became a law during the session of the legislature of 1872.
When the new officers were elected of that year, they made it a part of their duty to investigate the proceedings of the old court, and especially all of its financial transactions, in order to verify whether or not the people had been wronged.
In 1873, this county had $304,500 indebtedness; on the eve of the panic it was no easy burden to bear, but with strict economy and vigilant watch- care over the treasury, the county finances have been in good shape, and as the county is just entering a new era of prosperity, she will not forget the trying days that she had in opening up the dens of the financial frauds.
The following is the proper and correct tax levy made for the year 1881: State revenue, 20 cents on the $100; state interest, 20 cents on the $100; . county revenue, 40 cents on the $100; county interest, 25 cents on the $100; school, 38 cents on the $100. Total, $1.43 on the $100.
The local taxes of Warrensburg (railroad), is $1 on the $100; Madison township is $1.50 on the $100 for railroad indebtedness.
Each of the one hundred and twenty-nine school districts made their own levy in excess of four months of school. The levy on all property appears to be growing astonishingly high as the county becomes better settled, notwithstanding the cry of retrenchment and reform.
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256
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
The above is the levy made by the county before modified by the equalization board.
When the panic broke out in 1873, Warrensburg had three flourishing banks, with capital and available assets of half a million dollars. The Johnson county savings bank, conducted by Geo. W. Colburn, is the only one of these institutions that bore the shock of the panic and is now in existence. The First National bank, with A. W. Ridings, president, and the Warrensburg Saving bank with E. A. Nickerson, president, both went down, but after the panic year. The First Nation bank of War- rensburg failed, October 17, 1878. At first it created considerable anxiety among those interested, but the assets with an assessment of 50 per cent on the stockholders, paid, by the first of the year 1881, all creditors in full, with six per cent on the debts from time of failure, leaving enough assets to pay the stockholders from two-thirds to three-fourths of the assess- ment they had paid in. This was expected business to many, who per- haps, by this time, are ready to congratulate the honest stockholders and Mr. J. H. Kinsel, receiver.
AN AGGREGATE ABSTRACT
of the taxable property and its valuation, in the county of Johnson, state of Mis- souri, on first day of August, 1880, as set out in the assessor's book for the year 1881:
REAL ESTATE.
NUMBER OF.
VALUATION.
Acres on the book.
521,795
$4,265,669
Town lots on the book.
3,468
611,300
Total valuation of real estate
$4,876,969
PERSONAL PROPERTY.
NUMBER OF.
VALUATION.
Horses.
11,577
$ 395,533
Mules.
3,877
182,816
Asses and Jennets
68
3,010
Neat cattle.
32,665
366,093
Sheep
19,167
19,167
Hogs.
62,050
96,204
All other live stock.
29
31
Moneys, notes, bonds, mortgages, etc.
691,861
Corporate companies.
3,218
All other personal property
834,565
Total valuation of personal property
$2,592,498
Total real estate.
$4,876,969 00
Total personal property
2,592,498 00
Taxable wealth.
$7,469,467 00
I, R. B. Harwood, clerk of the county court of Johnson county, state of Mis- souri, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true, complete, and correct abstract of the taxable property in the said county; taken from the assessor's book for 1881.
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257
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the county court of Johnson county. Done at office in Warrensburg, this 18th day of February, A. D. 1881.
R. B. HARWOOD, Clerk County Court.
The state equalization board raised the above valuation: Land 5 per cent, cattle 10 per cent, and sheep 50 per cent.
It must be remembered that this property is not assessed at one-half of its value. The land, after the board of equalization met, was raised to $8.58 per acre. This is not more than one-half the real value of lands. Good lands sell at present at from $20 to $35 per acre in the county. The personal property is assessed very low, while stock of all kinds bear a good market price.
The taxes for the ensuing year are 5 per cent higher than last year. The present tax rate is 40 cents on the $100 for all county purposes, and 25 cents for county interest. The average school tax is 43 cents on the $100, a trifle higher than last year.
CHAPTER IX .- AGRICULTURE.
Early steps-Small fields. Implements used-First crops-Kinds of soils-The most profitable crops-Size of farms-Prairie and timber lands-Value of land-Present modes of farming-Horticulture-All its branches -- Fruits-Nursuries-Wm. Zoll an enterprising nurseryman-Raising Stock-James Simpson a pioneer stock raiser- Cattle-horses-hogs-sheep-Granges-Fairs. The richness of Johnson county.
" Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; Who sows a field or trains a flower, Or plants a tree is more than all."
Agriculture in the restricted meaning is the cultivation of a field, from the latin word ager a field, and cultura, cultivation, and implies the art of cultivating the ground for the purpose of obtaining vegetable productions. In the most 'general sense, as we shall use it in this article, it includes the whole business of the farmer, comprehending in addition to the rais- ing of corn, wheat and other crops, the proper management of live stock.
Farming is the most independent of the avocations. The "lords of the soil " hold in their hands the destiny of nations. We are all common suf- ferers when farming interests suffer; no country may expect to flourish when she neglects her agricultural interests. When the farmer rises above the common daily drudgery, so long practiced by the ignorant til- lers of the soil, then there will be intelligent, thinking, paying labor on every farm, which will add much to the farmer's happiness, and grace the proudest and most independent avocation man can follow.
258
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Agriculture is the great interest of our county and state. It is the fundation upon which all other enterprises are dependent. It is the funda- mental element that produces the happiness, prosperity and wealth of a country. Upon its success rests the welfare of the nation. Therefore, its great importance to all, whether engaged in holding the plow, or the scales of justice, or any other vocation. Agronomy furnishes the support of all others, and when in a prosperous condition shares its blessings with all of them-the laborer has work, the printer better support, the profes- sionals better patronized, the mechanics more employment, the merchant sells more goods, the manufacturers a better market, railroads more freight, and commerce greater tonnage. In this manner the products of the soil are distributed liberally to others. It is from the rural haunts that the majority of our most able men and women come to the stage of action to perform an important part in the public affairs of our nation. A Web- ster and a Clay were among farmer's sons. A Martha Washington and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were blessed as farmer's daughters. Let these names with a half a million others stimulate the sons and daughters of the rural districts to go forward and possess the land.
The women of this country have done much to make farm-homes attractive and create a taste for the culture of fruits and flowers and orna- mental grounds. The state took steps in the right. direction when she opened the doors of her university, agricultural and horticultural schools to sons and daughters alike. The state will more than be paid for this noble work in her future statesmen and citizens.
Johnson county possesses many advantages for the development of her natural resources that her sister counties are without. The abundance of water in nearly every township will always enhance the value of the land. The great number of running brooks and larger streams abundantly sup- ply with water the large herds of stock that graze on their banks and rest under the boughs of the beautiful shade trees that everywhere skirt the margins of the streams. Let the New Englander or the man of the older states leave his narrow acres of sterile soil, diligent toil and close habits, and come to Johnson county, to broader fields and more generous soil. ,One glance at these beautiful, fertile prairies, and the enjoyment of wholesome air and good society, will convince even the man most wedded to the sterile and unproductive soil of New England. These beautiful, rich, rolling prairies, nature's own pastures, dotted with springs and check- ered with perpetual rivulets; their fertile soil a fathom deep, already sub- soiled and undermined by nature, can be made, by a small outlay, a per- fect garden of Eden, in the bountiful supply of all sorts of fruits, besides the immense yields of corn, wheat, and other cereals.
In the extent of our thesis we give a comprehensive view of agronomy
ERECTED 1838.
STATE CAPITOL, JEFFERSON CITY.
" The most beautiful site occupied by any State Capitol in the Union."-BAYARD TAYLOR.
BELONGS TO THE STATE
GOVERNOR'S MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI .- 1881.
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
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260
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
from its early steps to the present time; the implements used then and now; the early crops, with their successive improvements; the kinds of soil in the county, and the most profitable crops raised. Once having lived on the farm and tilled the soil, the writer found but little difficulty in pre- senting the modes of farming. Horticulture, stock-raising and other information most pertinent to the farmer's interest, was gathered from reliable sources.
When the early settlers landed here they found a vast wilderness of grasses on the prairies, and in the woodland thick clusters of all sorts of vines and underbrush. Annually the mighty flames of fire would sweep over the prairies, leaving behind them a blackened plain; nor did the rush- ing fires stop with the fertile glades, but often caught from tree top to tree top, wrapping miles of timber land in one vast conflagration. On account of the forest fires, the forest land was closely kept confined near the rivers, creeks, lakes, swamps, and damp soil, where the fire fiend had no sway. When these plains were first set on fire no mortal record can tell.
The implements used by the early tillers of the soil are occasionally found in many parts of this county and state, imbedded in the soil over which trees of many centuries have grown. The only implements left are those of stone. These are supposed to have been fastened to a piece of wood and used as a sort of hoe. . The wooden implements of a later day, used among some tribes were forked sticks, sharpened by stone axes. No animals were domesticated and used upon these "patches," as the natives called the fields. The women were the operators, and acted the double part of team and driver. The early agricultural habits of the Indians were superceded by those of the European, so at present, even the most savage tribes are commencing to imitate the system of farming by them.
When the early pioneers came to Johnson county, they settled along the small streams, for the double purpose of building log cabins, making rails, and improving a farm, which seemed (since many of them come from timbered states) the most practical. With them it seemed impossible to think about breaking the turf of the prairie land. A few acres fenced the first year for a corn patch and a few vegetables, with the hunting that was expected to be done, was all that was contemplated. This was enough, since this land must be grubbed, planted and cultivated, and the only implements used were a "bull tongue," colter plow, and a grubbing hoe. The plow was drawn by a pair of oxen, steady, but sure. Each succeed- ing year more land was opened up, and by the time a farmer owned twenty-five to fifty acres of cultivating land, he had more than he could manage. But few employed help except in making rails. Rail-splitting was an avocation in which large numbers of hardy young men of poor parentage engaged. They were paid on the average, one dollar per
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261
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
hundred for rails and their board. At this business, some saved money and become free holders. There was no need of fenced pastures. Stock ran loose on the prairies during the farming season, and the plow-animals were looked up every morning from the common pasture of nature, and often the pioneer farmer would commence his day's work wet to the waist from the dewy grass.
The first implements in use here were the bull-tongue, colter plow, wooden mold-board, turning plow, and the single shovel plow. A rudely constructed wooden harrow, and the top of a tree for a brush, were often used to level and pulverize the ground. These, with the aid of the hoe, continued to be the farmers' only reliance for implements for the first few years. A description of these implements will not be amiss. The colter plow, called bull-tongue, on account of its great strength, and the steel share, shaped somewhat like a bull's tongue, seems to have been the out- growth of the most ancient plows. The share, twelve to twenty inches in length, three to six in width, and about an inch in thickness, tapering to the apex, was adapted to the service of tearing up huge roots, and stirring the ground among stumps. This share was bolted to an upright piece, mortised and braced in a beam. At the end of this beam a strong iron clevis fastened by a pin, where a heavy log chain was attached, pass- ing between the two oxen, the chain was fastened in the ring and staple of the ox-yoke. The handles of the plow were made of tough wood, and fastened to the beam and braced with cross-bars.
The wooden mold-board plow is better imagined than described. The present turning plows are but an improvement of this plow. The steel share was fastened to a mold-board, and as the plowman tilled his little field, one can only imagine the inconvenience, stopping every few minutes, to use the "paddle," which was kept swinging from the plow handle, to clean the dirt from this wooden board that would not "scour." The- shovel plow was constructed upon the same plan as the colter, and was used in soil clear of roots and stumps for the purpose of checking the land, and covering the corn, plowing in oats, and wherever light plowing was demanded. The share of this shovel ranged from six to eight inches in breadth, and about the same in length. It was about one- sixth of an inch in thickness, tapering to a point. This plow was usually drawn by one horse or a single ox. The work was slow, and many farm- ers in order to prevent their teams from nipping too much of the growing grain, kept muzzles made of splints and bark, on the plow-animals.
The first crops were principally corn. Oats, wheat, flax and rye were not extensively cultivated. Clover, timothy, and blue grass were little used by the early farmers. The wild grass was considered sufficiently good for all stock, and hundreds of tons of prairie hay were annually
262
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 1
mown by hand, and stacked for winter use. At an early day spring and fall wheat were equally tried. The smut and the accumulation of chintz bugs on spring wheat rendered it unprofitable as a crop. Fall wheat, although not extensively sown, has generally done well in Johnson county.
With the early farmers, corn was the staple product. It became the staff of life for man and beast, and the failure of a corn crop brought almost a famine. From corn these hardy settlers depended for bread, hominy, hasty pudding, and succotash. It was the principal feed for horses, hogs, cattle and sheep. From the corn-stalks, just as soon as the ears ripened, the early farmer, with his wife and family, stripped the blades from the ear down, and, after they were cured, bound them in bun- dles, which were statcked for the horses. The tops of the stalks were cut, and bound, and shocked for the cattle. In some localities it became a prevailing custom to cut the corn from the ground, and stack it into shocks, about sixteen hills square. For doing this work, a "corn-cutter" was paid from seven to ten cents per shock.
The soils of this county will be found of interest to the reader. The greater portions of the prairie land of the county have a rich, black allu- vial, strong in sediment of lime, very friable, easily handled, and from twenty to fifty inches deep. About four-fifths of the land is natural prairie. The timber soils vary in color, depth, and consistency,those of the bottoms and valleys being dark alluvial deposits of great depth. They are, of course, practically inexhaustible, and, like the black alluvial of the upland prairies, yield enormous crops of corn, wheat, grasses, vegetables, and in fact, produce well everything that grows in this latitude. The more con- sistent oak and hickory upland soils are generally of a reddish or grayish hue, rich in lime, magnesia, humus, and other fine productive elements, and are among the very best corn, wheat, tobacco, and firuit soils in the state. The lighter and thinner red, black, and jack oak soils, which cover only a minimum of the woodlands, are not much value for cultivation, but nearly always yield a good undergrowth of tall succulent wild grasses, and make good summer or winter pasture for goats and sheep. This soil is found in small patches in the following townships: Northern Colum- bus, eastern Hazel Hill, central Simpson, western Grover, southwestern Washington, central Warrensburg, northern Post Oak, and southern Cen- treview. Chilhowee and Rose Hill townships are almost clear of this grayish soil. The southwestern part of Chilhowee township is a "perfect beauty" in appearance, besides this rich alluvial soil produces a very luxu- riant growth of vegetation.
The subsoils of the prairie, as also the better white oak and hickory lands, are very largely made up of silicious clays and marls, deep and very rich, and wherever thrown up to the influence of the sun and air readily
263
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
disintegrate to the softness of ashes, and produce a good growth of vege- tation. These lands indeed bear a close resemblance to the renowned loess of the bluff formation, and are absolutely imperishable. With such valuable constituents as silicia, lime, and magnesia carbonate, lime phos- phate, alumina, and other organic matter a bisis of agricultural wealth is formed for the deep and more thorough cultivators of the soil in the future, in comparison with which the famous artificial fertilizers are hardly worthy of mention. These surface and subsoils give together the widest known range of production in American agronomy.
The people of Johnson county are, no doubt, proud that they can grow to perfection, every product of the soil between the sunny lands of the south and frozen regions of the north.
This county is well adapted to wheat-growing, which is become a favorite and profitable industry. Thousands of bushels of wheat are shipped every year to eastern markets, besides, it has become the "daily bread" of the people. Winter wheat is grown in every part of the county, with more or less success, yielding from twelve to forty bushels per acre. The average yield is about twenty-five bushels per acre. Some years it is in excess of this.
Johnson county is one of the best corn growing counties in central western Missouri. Many of the farms produce from fifty to eighty bush- els per acre, in reasonable years. Hundred of beeves fatten here upon Johnson county corn. Thousands of bushels of corn are exported every year.
Many other grains do well here. Oats yield handsomely. Barley does well on the light soil, but is not much cultivated. Millet grows as luxur- iant as the wild grasses did during the Indian epoch. It is raised for sheep and horses. The flax crop has generally done well. It is raised altogether for the seed. The price of lin seed has always been equally as profitable as any grain raised on the farm. The Irish potato crop, although not generally so good as in the northern states, nor the bulb so palatable, generally does well. Sweet potatoes, turnips, with the various other field and garden vegetable products, are successfully grown. Broom corn never fails, and its cultivation might be made the source of great revenue to the county. The sorghum interest is just beginning to awaken consid- erable attention in the county. Several successful enterprises have pro- duced fine syrups and sugar from' sorghum cane. In many localities, especially about Warrensburg, the land is adapted to sorghum culture. It has been found that land of a rolling surface and sandy composition never fails to produce a fine crop, generally from seventy to one hundred and twenty-five gallons of syrup per acre.
It is but justice due to say that Johnson county is a first-class fruit :
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264
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
region. The apple orchards are generally young, and have not been thoroughly tested. Thrifty peach orchards are found in all parts of the county, and produce, of reasonable years, an abundant crop. Melons of all varieties have done well, especially on new or fertilized land. The tomato, the most luxuriant and wholesome of all the annual fruits, grows here to perfection. It is said that no fruit has risen higher in the favor of the people of the west than the tomato. Pears, cherries, plums, raspber- ries, blackberries, strawberries and other small fruits reach perfection here, and are successfully grown with half the care bestowed in the older states.
Johnson county once stood among the great grazing counties, but now most of the grazing lands are under fence. When the first settlements were made the wild grasses of this beautiful county numbered more than one hundred varieties, all of which have more or less value for grazing or hay, and most of them are remarkable for their fattening qualities from the beginning of April till late in the fall. But as the country settled up and the narrow fields spread out and encroached upon the prairies, the progress of cultivation advanced, the wild grasses steadily disappearing before the more tenacious domestic grasses.
Blue Grass is making a sure conquest in many districts in this county, and it is only a question of time when it will cover, with its rich, luxuriant carpet of green, the great portion of the land not in actual cultivation. It seems to be indigenous to the soil, and makes splendid pasturage. Mr. Larkin Hocker, Sr., of Grover township, has owned a superb pasturage of about one hundred acres for upwards of twenty years, where his sheep, horses and cows have grazed, and it still continues to wear its coat of vel- vety green. White clover does well in rainy seasons on light, sandy soil. Red clover is at home in Johnson county soil, where it grows luxuriantly and yields very fine feed, often two crops per year. It is now used as a fertilizer or an invigorator to bring new life into the old soil. A few crops of clover turned under will make the wheat yield fifty per cent greater. Timothy, the old and most reliable grass grown here, always pays the farmer an ample return for his toil. It is the very best grass for horses. Of late a few individuals are paying some attention to grass raising, and no doubt, a few years.of experience will tell that this stands among the profitable sources of wealth to the farmer.
A thorough test has shown that it pays better to feed corn to stock than to sell it in the market. Wheat is the most profitable grain raised and sold. Some years potatoes pay well, and, in general, is more profita- ble than corn raising for the market. The present (August, 1881) aver- age price of corn is twenty-five cents, potatoes fifty cents, wheat eighty cents, and flax seed ninety cents.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
We herewith give a few farms'as reported for 1880, from this county, January 1, 1881, to the " Bureau of Labor Statistics of Missouri ":
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