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 32
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" In Hazel Hill township, a farm of 120 acres in cultivation, produced a crop for 1880, worth $970, and the cost of raising this crop was estimated at $147. In the same township, a farm of 200 acres, of which 127 acres were in cultivation, with an assessed value of $1,600, produced a crop worth $1,280, at a cost of $550. In Washington township, a farm of 500 acres, 300 in cultivation, with an assessed value of $3,990, produced a crop worth $700, at a cost of $292. Another farm in the same. township of 400 acres, 300 arable land, assessed at $6,000, giving no estimate of the produce. Madison township, a farm of 214 acres, 65 in cultivation, assessed value, $1,200, value of the crops produced, $900, cost, $750. One in Warrensburg township, reports 470 acres, 160 tillable land, assessed at $4,455."
The size of the farms range from 40 to 600 acres, which would make an average of the extremes of 320 acres; but there are more farms less than larger. About 160 acres is the average acreage of the farms.
The price of good improved land ranges from twenty to forty dollars per acre; inferior land from ten to thirty dollars per acre, according to quality of soil, location and improvements. A few years ago the wood land bore a fair price, ranging from twenty to fifty dollars per acre; now the prairie fields, well improved, can possibly bear the same price. From 1865 to the panic of 1873, lands rapidly advanced in value; then they began to decline till 1878, since which time the price has steadily advanced.
Modern farming is a pleasant and delightful profession in contrast with the days that the old settlers began to till the little farms of Johnson county nearly a half a century ago. Many are the new inventions of farming machinery since that time. Even the "marker" was a step ahead of " laying off" one furrow at a time. Step by step gradual pro- gress has filled the demand of the age. As the farming facilities have become much greater, more acres have been added to the area of arable land, and although many farms of the county are too large, yet full fifty per cent more land is cultivated since the introduction of modern agricul- tural implements. Prior to the war, but few farmers kept hired hands, while now if a farmer does not have a hired man, it is an exception to the rule. Wages, with board, range from $10 to $20, and in a few instances, as high as $25 per month. Without board, wages range from $15 to $30; but as a rule, few hands are employed on the farms in this manner.
Honest, skilled farm hands are always in demand and get good wages. The better they are educated in economy and cultivated mind, so much the better it is for the farmer. A rude, ignorant, profane, and wasteful hand is worse than no hand. The intelligent farmer who expects to keep
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
his family in the path of moral rectitude, will shun the society of the pro- fane hand and keep him from his premises as he would the most deadly serpents that infest the woods and cliffs, for he well knows the latter to be harmless when compared to the former.
Machinery of all kinds are now in use on the farm. It remains with the farmer, and not the historian, to decide the advantages of modern modes of farming. All kinds of steam and horse-power threshers, reap- ers, mowers, corn-crushers, stalk-cutters, self-binders, seed-drills, gang- plows, sulky-rakes, patent harrows and cultivators, rollers, corn-droppers, clover-hullers, and riding-plows, are used extensively in this county. Urie & Co., of Warrensburg, manufacture the following agricultural imple- ments and appliances : Field rollers, stalk-cutters, harrows, cultivators, and the Turban windmill.
HORTICULTURE.
Horticultura is a latin word which means garden culture. Hortus, a garden, and cultura, culture. The subject virtually includes the cultiva- tion of every thing that is hortensial.
The early settlers paid but little attention to this branch of agronomy. A few old apple orchards in the county tell the tale. Many of the trees are seedlings, nevertheless, some produce rich juicy apples, equally as palatable as grafted fruit. As late as 1840, Samuel Workman, who now resides in Washington township had his young orchards destroyed by the deer. They damaged crops, and especially young fruit trees. This may account, in some instances, for the absence of old orchards. Subse- quently the rabbits destroyed many young orchards. At present almost every part of the county can boast of good orchards. Mr. Jno. L. Jones, of Kingsville township has the largest orchard of the county. It consists of about 175 acres. So far his fruit yield has been moderate. The wild goose plum does well. Pears do well on this land. Mr. Pfautz, of Jack- son township, has one of the handsomest and best selection of fruits of the county. His farm has every variety of soil adapted to agronomy. His excellent vineyard yields well, and he manufactures some wine. Fine peaches, pears, apricots, nectarines, and wild goose plums yield admirably. To say nothing of his fine pastures and rich black alluvial farming land, Mr. Pfautz has, indeed, a good fortune in his carefully cultivated fruit garden. In Grover township, Dr. B. F. Dunkley and James K. Tyler, cultivate good vineyards; the former manufactures some wine. Almost every family cultivate a small orchard and vineyard .. In Jefferson town- ship, Isaac and John Sanborne have paid considerable attention to fruit culture. Col. B. F. Williamson, Chas. P. Phillips, J. M. Wall, Mr. Muir, and others have profitable orchards.
In Warrensburg township there are several splendid vineyards, yielding
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
unfailing and generous crops of the finest grapes, the size, color and flavor of this delicious fruit being equal to the product of the famous vine grow- ing regions of the continent. W. H. Hatton, S. P. Sparks, N. Land and others have small orchards and vineyards for home use.
Mr. George Reiter, who is one among the most thrifty and enterprising horticultors of the county, came from saxony, Germany, and has resided in Warrensburg for more than a score of years. He gives the following in regard to grape culture:
Concord is a staple grape. Subject to a little rot. Catawba does well. Observe no rot in them. The Gaty is a white grape, and makes a fine wine. It is a little tender for winter, and may be laid down. Triumph is my favorite grape. It wants protection in the winter. Herbemouth is a fine vine, but also needs protection. Elvira is a white grape, and makes a fine wine; a fast grower; have observed seven bunches on one shoot. Isabella is worthless. Clinton requires too much work, and is not profitable. Taylor Bullet makes a fine vine but never sells well. Virginia Seedling is very productive, and makes a good wine for medical purposes. The juice is an astringent, and excellent for chronic diarrhoea. It is a hardy vine and stands the winter well. Massasoit is a very fine grape, but don't set fruit well."
This gentleman has about four acres in vineyard, besides cultivating a beautiful little orchard. He considers the dew formation on the grapes coming in contact with the sun, the cause of the rot. He has observed that the grapes on the opposite side from the sun never rotted much. During last year he manufactured upwards of 3,500 gallons of wine for himself and others.
We gather the following particulars from Wm. Zoll, one of the most particular horticulturists in Johnson county :
"Before 1861, there was no nursery in the county. Prior to that date, budded or grafted fruit trees were brought from eastern nurseries. Tree peddlers or agents get a vast amount of money from the people. Some good varieties were thus introduced. As it became known that this soil and climate were well adapted to fruit growing, the people were the more anxious to test the practicableness by planting small orchards. But the lack for home nurseries was, for a long time, the great drawback."
"In 1861 Jacobs & Kelly, at Holden, had a very good nursery, in which could be found a great variety of apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, appricots, nectarines, quinces, blackberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries and grapes. But, unfortunately for the proprietors, the cloud of war grew and thickened faster than the trees in the nursery. The grafting knife had to be hid, the pruning shears put away, and for a time horticulture was not exactly the theme discussed-it was bullet culture.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Jacobs died about that time. The surviving partner managed to cultivate and dispose of a large number of fruit trees, so that perhaps as many as 100,000 trees from that nursery are now bearing in the county.
" The next nursery in the county was the Warrensburg nursery, opened in 1867 by Messrs. Wm. Zoll and Edward Kelly. About 105,000 apple grafts were put out the first season, embracing over 100 different varieties, and 21 varieties of pear trees, and a good variety of peach, cherry and other small fruits. From this nursery, during the fourteen years of its existence, several hundred thousand trees have been sold and distributed over this county. The varieties of apples are embraced in the following partial list:
White belleflower, rambo, lady-finger, summer queen, McDowell's fall, sweet romanite, Pennsylvania, seek-no-farther, yellow vandivere, wine sap, red robinson, Newton pippin, Harrison's cider, early sweet, Hall's crab, yellow belleflower, green fall, sweet bough, summer pearmain, wine apple, graham, fall red, golden russet, limber twig, Missouri orange, golden pippin, Missouri pippin, New York pippin, cannon pearmain, none such, Roxbury russet, huntsman's favorite, Janeton, Ben Davis, northern spy, dominie, Newton Spitzenberg, pound pippin, priestly, early harvest, black gilliflower, cathead, large romanite, fallawater, horse apple, red Marga- ret, Jefferson, . Illinois red, maiden blush, Burkingham, nonpareil, long green, sine qua non, red June, Westfield, Rome beauty, Rhode Island greening, Tomkins county king, Wagoner, Roman stem, Danvers winter sweet, Dutch mignonne, Fameuse, Talman's sweet, red Siberian crab, willow twig, Pryor's red, Baldwin, McAfee's none-such, Peck's pleasant, Smith's cider, white winter pearmain, fall pippin, Porter, summer belleflower, early strawberry, sweet June, red Astracan, Carolina red June, Benori, Paradise, small Romanite, golden gate, golden sweet- ing, court house, Kesurick codling, Jersey sweet, Fulton Dwyer, Grimes' golden pippin, Easop's Spitzenberger, white pippin, Flora belleflower, Perry russet, and Jonathan, which have been sold by Zoll and Kelly. The above list of fruit does well in this county. The trees embrace a regular succession of fruit ripening from July to November, and keeping the whole year. The list of pears budded and propagated by Zoll and Kelly is as follows: St. Germain, swan's orange, Vicar of Wakefield, Hawell, · Flemish beauty, Onondago, Ananis De Ete, Lawrence, Easter Buerie, White Doyenne, Louis Bon Dejirsey, Tyson, Rostiozer, Glout moreen, winter nellis, buffoon, Des Normes, Doyenne Deete, Duchess de Angoul- eme, Seckel, Osband's summer, bell lucrative, and Bartlett.
" The following is the list of peaches: Heath cling, stump the world, yellow rare ripe, knock free, George IV., Hale's early, Morris white, Troth's early, druid hill, Crawford's early, white October, large early York, Alexander, Beatrice, Louisa, and Amsden.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
" Of the smaller fruits, such as blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants and grapes, very many different varieties have been grown and have given very general satisfaction. The grapes grown most extensively are the Concord, Norman and Virginia, but many other varieties have proven to grow and bear profitably.
" There are now in this county several other nurseries. Holden nursery, J. F. Liddle, proprietor, is next in age to the Warrensburg nursery, and has kept up a good reputation. The proprietor, a good horticulturist, has furnished the county with good trees of the best varieties. Fruits, large and small, of all kinds, are kept on hand, including evergreens, ornamental trees and shrubbery, making one of the best nurseries in the county.
" Kelly Bros., about one mile east of Warrensburg, planted a good nur- sery in 1875, and handled a considerable amount of stock. One of the brothers died in 1880; the survivor, Edward Kelly, continues the business and is regarded as one of the best horticulturists and landscape gardeners in the county.
." W. H. Hatton, residing two miles south of Warrensburg, on the Clin- ton road, has been in the nursery business for several years.
"Mr. Mohler, who resides about ten miles south in Post Oak township, handles nursery stock. Although the county is well supplied with good nurseries that have sold considerable stock in the county, by far the larger quantity, or number of fruit trees, have been sold by agents or tree peddlers.
" From these facts we may conclude that horticulture in Johnson county has been greatly increased and improved. The climate and soil being so favorable to the growth of the best of fruits and such never failing and abundant quantities, that all lovers of fruit (and who is not), who have any land on which to plant a tree or vine, are sure to do so, knowing these facts. A total failure of apples has not been known in the county. Last year, 1880, tens of thousands of bushels were ready for market. There are several orchards of considerable size in the county; one near Kingsville, belonging to A. G. French, contains about two hundred acres. It is believed by many well informed fruit men that this county is precisely in the geographical position best suited for fruit and grape culture, and that the soil contains in boundless quantities every ingredient necessary for the perfect and vigorous growth of fruits and berries. Facts and figures prove conclusively that the faith of such fruit men is well founded.
" Although no horticultural society has ever been formed, yet it is doubtful whether there is another county in the state containing as many intelli- gent, well informed horticulturists as Johnson county. A good horticul- tural society should be organized. The county needs it; needs a society where practical men can meet, exchange opinions and advance ideas best
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
calculated to aid as well as promote and protect the fruit-growers against swindlers who sell worthless trees. Many of the best fruit-growers avail themselves of the next best chance of improvement by subscribing for good horticultural papers and reading the best books on fruit-growing.
" Horticulture in its varied departments, can and does find a congenial home in this delightful climate, where nothing appears lacking but the effort of man easily put forth to surround himself and his home with such delightful luxuries as to cause him with grateful emotions to exclaim, ' Oh Lord, thou hast indeed cast our lot in a pleasant place!' "
Live stock of all kinds does well in Johnson county. . The raising of cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep, is an important and profitable business, made so by a combination of circumstances rarely met with-plenty of good water, rich and succulent grass, that comes early and does not dry up and spoil until very late in the winter, sometimes furnishing sustenance enough to. keep stock alive all winter. Some of the early settlers never thought of: feeding the stock they did not work, any time of the year. The feeding season is short, often lasting from two to three months. Abundance of mast for hogs, rolling, grassy knolls for sheep, and a healthy atmosphere for all. Dairying has proved very successful, and is rapidly increasing in importance, and, at no distant day, this will be one of the best stock counties of the state. As sheep are easily raised, wool has become, of late years, an important and lucrative product. Several wool-buyers are stationed on the line of the railroad, and an excellent woolen mill in War- rensburg, owned by E. L. De Garmo, does a thrifty business, and manu -. factures some excellent goods.
Prior to the war, James Simpson, a noted pioneer bachelor, and a liberal and public-spirited man, as that class usually are, was among the first of the county to import blooded cattle and horses into the county. Others over the county followed. The fine wild and tame grasses, so nutricious, are suitable for grazing. Here corn has always been cheap .. Thousands of bushels of that imperial cereal can be usually grown at a cost of ten to fifteen cents per bushel. Generally, cattle graze on the prairies about ten. months in the year. With little culture and energy the growth of blue- grass of the grazing pastures might easily be made perennial. The abundance and cheapness of the grasses; the profusion of pure, living water; the admirable winter shelter afforded by the wooded ravines and valleys, constantly contribute to the general good health of all classes of domestic animals.
The county exports thousands of cattle, hogs and sheep annually .. Many fine horses and mules have been reared for eastern markets. Many fine stock breeders are becoming rich, besides conferring a blessing, by: introducing a high grade of animals into the county. The average breed-
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
ing of all classes of stock is equal to that of most of the eastern states, and superior to some of them. H. H. Russell deserves considerable praise for the deep interest he has taken in breeding pure blooded Poland-China pigs. Fine stock breeding has been carried on here for nearly half a cen- tury by Kentuckians, who grew up in the business from childhood, and at present every line of animals is permeated more or less with the best blood of the country. Cattle and swine feeding has been very profitable for several years past. Alexander Greer engaged early in this business, and would drive his herds of cattle to St. Louis, long before any railroad facilities. High grade steers are raised here on the nutritious wild and domestic grasses, and feed on cheaply-grown corn, anywhere between the ages of one and three years, their selling weight running from 1,100 to 1,700 pounds, and are followed by pigs that fatten on the litter and dropping of the yard, and are sold at 200 and 300 pounds gross, in all seasons of the year.
Sheep raising is one of the most pleasant and profitable pursuits in the county. The county has only one drawback-the great number of dogs have made it unsafe for sheep to run at large. The dog-raising in the county is far in excess of the number of sheep raised. When the hun- dreds of dogs are killed off, then, and not till then, may sheep run at large. It may be safely said that there is but one sure recipe for curing a dog of sheep-killing. It is the following: "Catch the dog and quietly test his mutton-eating propensities, and, if found to be a sheep-destroyer, arrange a suitable block, and with a sharp ax cut his tail off close behind his ears, and we guarantee that dog will not bother sheep any more."
In many parts of Grover, Simpson and Hazel Hill townships are large areas of land suitable to sheep ranches. Much of this good sheep land can be purchased at a trifling cost, and with a little improvement it would be ready for use.
In Jefferson township the farmers are learning to farm and raise stock with but little trouble. The reason appears to be on account of their suc- cessful grange and farmers' conventions, where they interchange ideas on the subject. J. M. Wall, E. C. Arnold, David T. Stiles, Chas. P. Phillips, Isaac and John Sanburn are enterprising farmers, and pay some attention to Durham cattle, Cottswold sheep and fruit growing. Such men deserve a brief mention for their public-spirited enterprise in developing and improving the condition of the county. In Simpson township R. H. Wood and Robert Greer are among the prominent farmers and stock raisers. Before the war Charles P. Collins was noted far and near for his fine horses. In Kingsville township Hon. R. T. Fryer is the most noted and successful breeder of short horn cattle.
In the rapid growth of the county its agricultural resources kept pace
18
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
with the times, and at times the desire for farmers' clubs and agricultural meetings appeared to be in demand.
Granges .- In May 1873, the state grange was organized at Knob Nos- ter, and so deep was the farmer interested in this movement, that almost every county of the state was represented. Col. A. M. Coffey, an edu- cated gentleman, residing at Knob Noster, was elected the first state sec- retary, and re-elected at each biennial election. He is a man well quali- fied to serve with profit and honor in a higher office. His salary is about $600 per annum.
A1 one time almost every school district contained a grange. The name was not common until the organization of the secret society. Grange means a barn or a farm in the common acceptation, but here it is restricted to a secret society of only farmers. The following is the list of the evergreen granges of the county, with their officers:
High Point Grange, No. 159 ; Jas. M. Wall, master, and John M. Hall, secretary. Bear Creek Grange, No. 160; Wm. Sutton, master and Henry J. Adams, secretary. Elm Spring Grange, No. 1020, Butler Newman, master, and J. H. Burk, secretary, Jackson Grange, No. 822; John F. Porter, master, and A. S. Campbell, secretary. Eureka Grange, A. J. Bush master, and Calvin A. Mark, secretary. · Knob Noster, Grange, No. 18; P. B. Shaffer, master, and Henry B. Coffey, secretary.
The grange movement has done something for the farmers. This institution, although full of defects, has played an important part in the general welfare of the state, and the good it has wrought on the public mind has been manifest. In 1875, during the grasshopper plague, when hundreds of families were too poor to procure bread, the hand of the granger suppled their wants, and upwards of $1,000 was distributed through Col. A. M. Coffey, secretary of the state grange, for the grass- hopper sufferers.
The Missouri Farmer, edited by J. R. Cordell, flourished in this county and was published at Knob Noster, in 1873; within two years it was moved to Boonville, and thence to St. Louis and consolidated with the Illustrated Journal of Agriculture.
Prior to the war a county fair was organized and was well kept up, and did much good in exhibiting and comparing stock, articles and what- ever the people chose to bring on the grounds. In 1867 the agricultural fair interest was resuscitated and did start off with considerable interest, until the people concluded that some of their officers had embezzled the funds. The old fair ground occupied several acres, a few hundred yards south of the normal school campus. The organization went down while Dr. G. R. Hunt was president. Since then no permanent agricultural organization or fair has been entertained or exhibited in the county. It is a want greatly felt.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
The true happiness of the past appears to be found among those who are content. Who is more content than the farmer? To be the possessor of forty or fifty acres of land, and a neat little cottage home, is approximat- ing to happiness. We must all work in the work. "An idle brain is the devil's work-shop," was well said, and is pertinent to all ages and classes of peo- ple. True happiness is often represented as a coy maiden, like Atlanta, fleet of foot; in order to possess her we must persue her. In a certain sense, there are many ways that lead us to the bowers of happiness. Sweet and untiring happiness dwells in the palaces of the rich sometimes, in the rural homes of men in the common walks of life more frequently; yea, even in the rude log hut of the pioneer. The mind should not be overtaxed. Here, in Johnson county, with its rich and inexhaustible allu- vial deposits in soil; its never failing wells and springs of cool, refresh- ing waters, interspersed now and then with streams furnishing an abun- dant supply of water for stock; and each year adding to man's comfort in the developing resources of this garden spot of Missouri; the farmer can enjoy infinitely great benefits and lasting happiness.
"How blest the farmer's simple life! How pure the joy it yields! Far from the world's tempestuous strife, .Free, 'mid the scented fields."
E. W. EVERETT.
CHAPTER X .- RAILROADS.
Introduction-Missouri Pacific Railroad-Difficulty About Location-Orders of the County Court-Leading Men Engaged in it-Holden Branch-Order of County Court-Pro- ject for the Warrensburg and Marshall Railroad-Cost to the County-Bonds on this Railroad-Decision of the Courts-Highways-Early Road3 -- Orders of the Courts- Names of Principal Roads-General System of Working Roads-Ferry on Blackwater.
In this age of great, unprecedented progress and advancement in all that pertains to the elevation and enlightenment of mankind, nothing in all the domains of science and art has been more effective in bringing about these results than the invention of railroads. The imagination of man, stimulated by the most gorgeous scenes of beauty and grandeur, could never have conceived the marvelous and unparalleled changes that have been wrought in this country, and in all the world, within the last half century, by the introduction of railroads. Men, living in the present gen- eration, can distinctly remember when the iron-horse breathed out his nos- trils the first, dark, waiving, columns of smoke that hailed his appearance in the world, and made steam locomotion possible. Nothing in all the realms of truth or fiction has ever before surpassed the rapid strides the world has made, in every department of literature, in every field of art,
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