GRAY'S DONIPHAN COUNTY HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

TOWN AND TOWNSHIP HISTORY.

This township received its name from the Indian tribe that had its reservation in the northern part of what is now Doniphan county. It is one of the five original townships organized in 1854. A majority of the land is rough and, even "bluffy", although some of the finest land in the county lies south and west of Highland. It is perhaps the best watered of the townships, the largest stream being Wolf river, which flows through the eastern part of it. There is an abundance of good timber. The first settlements of the county were made here by Rev. S. M. Irvin, who located as a missionary near the present site of Highland, in May, 1837, an account of which will be found in another part of this book. Between the years of 1837 and 1854, few settlers appeared, but about 1854, and immediately after the conclusion of the Indian treaty, settlers came by the dozen. Iowa Point was located in 1855, and White Cloud and Highland in 1856 and 1857. During the first three or four years of Missionary Irvin's residence in this county, there was an extreme scarcity of mail. The good man had to go, or send, a distance of 100 miles - to Liberty, Mo. - for his mail, and it took about a week to make the round trip. Mail was then a luxury, indeed. In 1840, when a postoffice was established at St. Joseph, the trip to the postoffice was comparatively short, and the run was considered only as an ordinary exercise. In 1855, Uncle Sam's carrier came nearer, crossing the Missouri river and bringing the mail to Iowa Point. After that, to receive mail once or twice a week was no unusual thing, and the stout-hearted pioneers felt the way growing smoother in the path of civilization.

In 1837, the first religious exercises were held at Mission, with Reverend Irvin in charge. The first school was taught at the Mission, also, about the same time, the teachers being Rev. Wm. Hamilton, S. M. Irvin, Miss Walton and Mrs. Fullerton.

Mrs. Comstock, the wife of a California emigrant, died near the Mission, According to Bird's History this was "perhaps" the first death of a white person in the township; but it is stated in the Chief that Thomas Jefferson Southerland died at the Mission and was buried there in September, 1850. We believe, however, that Mrs. Comstock's was the first death, and that the year of its occurrence was much earlier than 1852, as stated in Bird's. We believe that her death occurred about 1843.

The lumber used in the construction of the Mission building at Highland, came all the way from Pittsburg, Pa. It made exactly a steamer load. The building was begun in 1845.

Bird's History, 1882, states that the first marriage in the township was that of "J. Poteets and Nancy Bancroft". Evidently this is a mistake, and there being no date given it cannot be counted. The Historical Chief, 1893, says that the first marriage ceremony in the township, and probably the first in the state, was performed by Rev. Hamilton on July 3, 1845, the happy principals being Silas Peirce and Mary Shook.

The honor of being the first child born in the county has been given to Daniel Vanderslice, son of Thomas J. Vanderslice, who served a term or two as sheriff of the county. He was born in 1854, with the Territory, near the Mission, and died in Troy in 1873.

Pryor Plank took up his claim in 1855, blazing a walnut tree with this loud hint to "jumpers": "If any man jump this place he will have bad luck. Pryor Plank. "

A few early settlers in the vicinity of Eagle Springs: George Logan, Fred Dickenson, John Alfrey, James Kennedy, and Thomas Crozier. All these came in 1855. In the Iowa Point neighborhood, the same year, the following settled: James Martin, Mrs. Martha Martin, Henry Swinny and Mrs. Steve Marcum.

In 1855 or 1856, a party of voters headed by Doe Long, went in a wagon to the polls on Wolf river to cast their vote. Each man was armed with a Sharp's rifle. The fact that a few of the party remained with the wagon to guard it while the others voted, would show that the "political pot" was hot to "b'ilin'", and even slopping over, about that time.

John Pierson of White Cloud neighborhood, committed suicide about 1857.

Some time late in the'50s, young Dana Fox was shot from ambush and killed by an unknown assassin. This occurred on the Fox farm near Highland.

Eagle Springs, the only mineral springs in the county, was not discovered by the whites until 1857, although the Indians had for a long time been acquainted with its existence. The Iowas had a village located there long before Kansas was carved out of the Indian territory, and it is believed that a prehistoric race once had its camp there, the place being rich in stone implements and rude relies of a prehistoric race.

In 1858, a man holding shares in the Buffalo Town Company, traded four of his shares for 450 acres of land in Pennsylvania. Buffalo was one of the early paper towns of the county.

On July 23, 1858, the first school meeting was held, and a school district, called by the organizers, "No. 1", was organized. This district is now No. 56. The following officers were elected at this meeting: S. Pritchard, director; M. M. Sharp, secretary; G. L. Martin, treasurer. The first term of school was taught by John F. Sparks in a log house erected for the purpose on, or near, the present site of the school house now belonging to district No. 56.

George Bird, who, in the early days, was a teacher of band music, and who still resides in the vicinity of Highland, organized a band early in the '60s. Later, he organized and taught the Severance G.A.R. band.

In 1859, John Chapple of Iowa township, owned an ox that measured 18 hands high and weighed 2,000 pounds.

Sixteen negroes were kidnapped near White Cloud on Tuesday night, May 13, 1862, from the farms of Boliver Beeler and Dr. Nuzum, by a party of men from Missouri, aided by men living near town. The kidnappers knocked Dr. Nuzum down with a club and beat him over the head with the butt of a revolver.

The Indians had a ball-play upon the reservation, Sunday. Jim Whitewater, on the occasion, was handsomely dressed in a breech-clout; Little To-he sported an elegant suit of black paint, and Ki-ke appeared in a tasteful costume, of a bow and arrow. - White Cloud Chief, May 15, 1862.

On one occasion, when one of the soldier Indians from the Iowa tribe returned on a visit to his home, a big Indian dance was had in his honor. The soldier Indian brought a number of scalps home with him which he hung upon bushes and danced around them.

About the last of May, 1863, a span of mules was stolen from Thomas Martin, near Iowa Point, and a set of new harness from John Beeler near Highland. A party from Highland and vicinity pursued the thieves and came up with them in Brown county, near Keunekuk. One of the party drew a revolver and shot both of the thieves; then tumbling them out into the road, they took the wagon and mules and started for home. One of the thieves was wounded in the shoulder and the other in the neck. They were left lying where they fell, but they recovered and were caught and brought to Highland and given a hurried trial. They made confessions, giving their names - Melvin and Shannon, from Missouri. "It was decided to hang them", says the Chief of June 4, "and in the afternoon of June, 3, 1863, a large crowd gathered at Highland to witness the hanging. The prisoners were taken to a grove a short distance below town where they were strung up. Owing to the bungling manner in which the cords were fastened, or in letting the victims drop, their death was not instantaneous, but they hung for some time. We learn that one of them struggled for ten minutes, or perhaps fifteen, when one man attempted to put him out of his misery by shooting him, but was prevented by the crowd."

The first distillery in the county, if not in the state, was operated by William Flynn in 1864, at or near Iowa Point.

On the afternoon of May 25, 1865, Charles Fox, then living near Highland, went to town, leaving his wife home with a child some three or four years old. Shortly after he left the house a stranger entered with a drawn revolver, demanding all the money in the house. Mrs. Fox told him there was no money in the house; that all they had, had just been loaned to a neighbor the day before. The man told Mrs. Fox that she was lying and threatened that if she did not immediately tell where the money was, he would kill her child, at the same time making an attempt to seize the little one. Finding that threats would do no good, the brute went up stairs to search the house, after warning Mrs. Fox that he had an accomplice outside who would keep watch on her movements. When the fellow had gone up stairs Mrs. Fox proceeded to hide her watch and some other valuables. There were two revolvers in the room, one loaded the other empty. She hastily seized one. Pretty soon, the man, having failed to find any money up stairs, came down. As soon as he appeared she leveled the revolver at him and pulled the trigger; but unluckily she had picked up the unloaded revolver, and there was only a harmless snapping of the hammer. The fellow knocked the poor woman down with his own revolver, kicked her in the breast and side and left her lying senseless on the floor. She lay in that condition several hours before regaining consciousness.

The Highland Ku-klux caused a reign of terror in the southern part of the township in September and October, 1875. Death warnings were served on citizens and other ugly threats made. A barn belonging to Dana Fox was burned and an attempt made to assassinate Geo. Brinton by members of the gang.

In the correspondence of an early settler in this township, we find mention of an Indian pappoose buried in a tree-top on the bluffs near Cedar creek. A rough trough hewed out of a small tree held the remains of the little warrior.

The township has four defunct towns: Cincinnati, near the present site of Witlow Springs school house; Buffalo, near Eagle Springs, at the place now known as Buffalo Hollow; Iola, near the spot where the school house of that name now stands; Winona, on or near the county line west of Highland.

The townships contains 52,480 acres or 82 square miles.

Iowa Point was located in 1855, by two of the Forman brothers and S. Pemberton. The land on which it was located was originally Irwin's 160-acre "float". Building began at once, and soon the town was in a booming condition. In 1857, it had outstripped Atchison. One of the storekeepers of that time used to say it was a poor day when he did not take in a thousand dollars in yellow money; that he was "tired of handling gold". The good times remained with the town until the beginning of the war. About this time misfortune overtook it. The City hotel burned down; the ferry boat went to the bottom of the river; the newspapers suspended, and the war brought trouble into the camp. The town was practically Southern in sympathy. In 1862, a great fire destroyed the main portion of the town and gave it a set-back from which it never recovered.

Boliver Beeler built the first hotel in 1855.

Early storekeepers, 1855-6: Beeler & Williams, X. K. Stout, and Leach Bros.

A saw mill was built by Forman & Pemberton, in 1855. Two years later they erected the Iowa Point mills.

The first blacksmith located the same year. His name was John White.

The postoffice was established early in 1855. Postmaster Pemberton's task was not a heavy one, for it is said that he could carry all the mail in his hat.

The first drug store was opened in 1856, by Leigh & Brown.

Burkhalter & Hobbs were proprietors of the first meat market, opened the same year.

The first physician to locate was Dr. Leigh, in the second year of the town's existence. Soon after him came Dr. Long, of the "Electric" school, wherever and whatever that was.

The first lodge of Good Templars organized in the state was instituted here in 1856.

The first church was erected by the Presbyterians, in 1857. About the same time the Baptists and Methodists began to hold meetings.

The Smithton Lodge, the first in the state, was removed to this place in 1857.

In the same year, "the first, last and only" negro slave ever offered for sale in the state of Kansas, was sold at auction on the streets of the town.

In 1857, all the voters in the township voted here. "The voter handed his ticket to the judges, when it was at once opened and the names of the candidates read off, and recorded on a tally sheet, in the voter's presence."

In this same prosperous year, a $10,000 hotel was built; but it was destroyed by fire two or three years later.

In 1858, the town had a few "wholesale" houses whose trade extened southwest to the old stage station of Kennekuk, and west to Marysiville. About this time Joseph Slickmann started a brickyard, and sold brick at $50 a thousand.

In 1861, a company of malitia[sic] was organized and put under command of U. J. Beeler. The next year a company of the Eighth Kansas was stationed here.

The town has had two newspapers: The Enquirer, established July, 1858, by Thos. Key, of the defunct Doniphan Constitutionalist, and the Dispatch, established 1859, by Ansel Watrous and J. W. Biggers.

This little town was located on the A. & N. railroad, four miles east of Highland, in 1869 or 1870. The Town Company consisted of J. P. Johnson, B. F. Herring, J. A. Kennedy and G. W. Glick. From the first the place has been alive with business, and has been the receiving and shipping point for Highland. Although the town is situated in a timber country, there are some of the richest farms near it that are found in any part of state. The population of the town is small, but the country immediately around it is densely populated. Of late years Highland Station has been the field for the annual holding of the County Fair, which is patronized by thousands from all over the county.

In 1849, the gold seekers began to pour westward over the California and Oregon trail, the St. Joseph branch of which ran some distance to the south of this place. In that year a wagon train camped upon ground which now belongs to John Etherton. Five persons belonging to the train died of cholera, and were buried there. The burial was made without coffins, blankets being used to wrap the bodies. Friends carved the names of the dead on a large tree near the graves; but the tree was cut down long ago. The land over the graves has been plowed up, and now there is no one who knows exactly where the unfortunates were laid. Some years ago one of the bodies was exhumed and taken to Missouri, near Savannah, for permanent burial.

Early in the '50s, there were three or four Indian villages in this section of the county. The woods were full of game. Wolf river was well stocked with fish, and the bottom land being exceedingly rich and fertile, it was possible for the red man to raise corn, potatoes, pumpkins, etc. in abundance, without the expenditure of much physical labor. Here he lived in peace and plenty until the white man's canoe began to nose its way up the little stream to seek out his camp fires and offer its cargo of trinkets in trade for his land.

An early settler in the vicinity was James Gurwell, who came in 1854. Prior to his coming to Kansas, he resided in Holt county, just across the Missouri river. During his residence here, 1838 to 1854, he frequently crossed the river to engage in deer and buffalo hunting in the Wolf river country. From him the early settlers had their first account of the great battle fought between the Sacs and Foxes and the Pawnees, somewhere near the present site of Severance, in 1844.

The first stores were opened by J. A. Kennedy and B. F. Herring, in 1870. In the same year a blacksmith shop was added to the town, a depot was built, a postoffice established, and a hotel was opened by J. Browning.

The Union church was built in 1881.

The first depot agent was Howard Vanderslice.

On the McIntyre farm east of town is a grove of persimmon trees. It is the only persimmon grove in this part of the state.

In 1894, Highland Station claimed to be the center of the greatest population in the county, there being 1,400 people within a radius of three miles from town.

The present business men are: George Miller and Ed. Kent, dealers in general merchandise; Dr. A. Herring, druggist; Paul Jones, restaurant; L. Myers, blacksmith; F. Troxel, hotel and liveryman; B. F. Martin, blacksmith, and N. N. Gallagher, dealer in hardware, and buyer and shipper of stock and grain.

A company composed of John H. Utt, James Foster, Dr. H. W. Peter, Cornelius Dorland and Enoch Spaulding, was organized to "found a town on the bank of the Missouri river in Kansas Territory." The town was located in 1856, receiving the name of White Cloud, for a noted chief of the Iowas who had been killed in battle in the region of the Nemaha about 1854. The land on which the new town had been located still being in possession of the Indians, no title could be secured until the spring of 1857, when the land was put up for sale. The Town Company was reorganized and enlarged, Dr. Richard J. Gatling, later the inventor of the famous Gatling Gun, and his brother being new stockholders. On July 4, there was a steamboat excursion and a barbecue. Two thousand peopie were in attendance. Four steamboats from important points on the river were there, and a band from St. Joseph furnished the music for the occasion. It is said that $24,000 worth of lots were sold that day. Redpath's Handbook, 1859, has this to say of White Cloud: "It contains 500 inhabitants, five stores, a printing office, from which is issued weekly a LIVE paper, the Kansas Chief; also a good school. Good coal is found here, also iron ore, limestone and all abundance of excellent timber. The landIng is a good rock one."

Thomas Lease, the first settler, built his cabin near the spot where the depot now stands.

Michael Bird was the proprietor of the first store.

In the fall of 1857, an artist, traveling in a skiff, painted the "Panorama of the Missouri", in which White Cloud appears as she was in her Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, July 4, 1857.

A Pawnee Indian exposition and singular ceremonies observed by the Indians, were described in Sol Miller's Chief, August 1, 1872, in the following manner: "On last Saturday about fifty Pawnee Indians, men, women and children, mounted on horseback, and with their goods and chattels strapped on packhorses, came to White Cloud to cross the river on the ferry. They were on their way to Iowa to visit and to hunt, where they expected to remain for two months. They hauled up beneath a large tree on the river bank, and dismounted to go through the ceremony previous to crossing. The Indians have superstitious ideas connected with crossing the great river on a journey, and make a sacrifice to propitiate the spirit of the water. Their sacred animal is the dog, and this animal is selected for sacrifice. After dismounting, they formed a circle beneath the tree, and the old chief delivered an address, or pow-wow. At the conclusion of this an old squaw gathered up a dog by the hind legs and dashed him with full force against the tree, killing him the first blow. Then she tore a strip from her calico dress and tied it around the dog's neck; after which the chief took the dog and pronounced another rigmarole over it. The Indians then formed in single file, the chief at the head, carrying the dog, and marched down to the water's edge, forming a circle around the leader. Here the chief stood with the dog in the water, holding it up with one hand and went through another pow-wow. After this he dipped his hand into the water and sprinkled it off into the air. Then the rest of them, one at a time, approached the water, dipped in their hands, and threw off the water in the air. The ceremony being completed, the chief gave the dog a shove and started it down the stream, after which they went upon the ferry-boat and crossed the river."

J. C. Pierce owned the pioneer livery stable.

Isaac Cleveland was the first on the ground with the hammer and anvil. W. H. Fornerook developed his muscle in this shop.

The first steam ferryboat belonged to Joshua Taylor, who arrived with it from Wellsville, Ohio, on June 3, 1855. He entered into a partnership with J. W. Moore, and the firm, having named the boat "White Cloud", was ready for the ferry business which was carried on until the spring of 1862, when the boat was sold to O. Bailey. Mr. Bailey operated the boat about five years, or until it became unfit for further use. In May, 1868, a new boat was built by Bailey & Noyes, the name of "White Cloud" being transferred from the old boat to the new one. In 1881, J. H. Lynds became the owner.

The first "hocht zeit", as the Dutch would say, came off last Sunday, and was a rich affair. The wedding party started from the "Jug Tavern" or "Globe Hotel", in a two-horse wagon, in the morning to proceed two miles below town, where the ceremony was to be performed. Upon their departure they were saluted with yelling, screaming, and hammering on all manner of tin pans and buckets. In the night a crowd proceeded to the house where the happy young pair was roosting, after they had stowed themselves away for the night. They entered the house, seized the bridegroom, and dragged him out amid the firing of guns and the yelling of the crowd. They were taking him en chemise to a creek nearby to duck him, but were bought off by the promise of a treat on the morrow. Matrimony is no small undertaking in White Cloud. - Chief, September 10, 1857.

The first boarding house was erected in 1856, by Enoch Spaulding, near the present site of the City Hotel.

In the same year, Samuel Lappin and Charles G. Scrafford set up the first saw mill. It was a "muley".

About the same time the first disciple of AEsculapius, Dr. Thomas C. Shreve, located, and the first carpenter, R. S. Wakefield, opened his shop.

The first drug store was opened by Shreve & Macy, 1857, and a saw mill with a circular saw was built by John H. Utt.

On the 28th of March, 1857, Sol Miller came from Ohio, and established the Kansas Chief, which he published here until July, 1872.

A Methodist Episcopal church was organized by Reverend Graham, in 1857.

Six newspapers have been established here: The Chief, by Sol Miller, in June, 1857; The Leader, Yard & Overholt, August, sixteen years later; The Review, G. H. Holton, November 1, 1880; The Resurrection-Eagle, David Magoun, October, 1887; The Review (revived), Saunders Bros., 1888, and The Globe, J. J. Faulkner, April, 1892.

August 3, 1857, the White Cloud town company received from Wm. Walker of Wyandotte, a painted picture of "Mahushka" (White Cloud), chief of the lowas. This painting was made in 1826 by James O. Lewis.

The first school in White Cloud was commenced by Mr. Slauson in the Town Company building, Monday, November 28, 1857.

There was great rejoicing in White Cloud Wednesday afternoon, June 2, 1858, the occasion being the arrival of the steam ferry, "White Cloud", from Wellsville, Ohio. The boat's arrival was greeted with cheers from the crowd collected on the levee, and with the firing of a couple of anvils.

A butterfly, "alive and kicking", flew into the Chief office at White Cloud, January 24, 1858.

V. D. Markham was the first lawyer to locate.

The City Hall was built in 1858.

The first school house, a frame building, was erected the same year. Soon afterwards it was burned and was replaced by a brick building. This was sometimes used for church purposes.

At an early date the town was supplied with manufactories, there being a large grist mill, a carding mill, a planing mill, four saw mills and two shingle mills.

The firm of Russell Majors & Waddell, government freighters, made this their starting point, in 1859. Their trains were sent out from here for about a year, when a change was made, the company removing their headquarters to Atchison.

A flat boat was operated by a Tennesseean named Stonecipher, for a great many years.

A planing mill was erected by J. H. Utt, in 1863.

In 1870, the A. & N. (Burlington) was graded through the town, ever since which time prosperity has never folded her banner here.

In 1874, a fine brick school building, heated by furnace and elegantly furnished, was erected at a cost of $12,000.

To the credit of White Cloud it may be said that it has excellent schools and fine churches. It is the only one of many river towns established in the '50s, on the Missouri, that has survived to hold its own after a half century of severe trials. Sol Miller, while residing here with his Chief, always was proud of the town, and when he went to Troy to occupy a more central location, he preserved a warm corner in his heart for the town that was the birthplace of his Chief. For many years after taking up his residence in Troy, Mr. Miller exercised a father's care of White Cloud, frequently visiting it, printing good news concerning it and even scolding the people there when they strayed from the path of rectitude, or showed symptoms of chronic indolence. White Cloud has kept pace with its neighbors in the building of schools, churches, business houses and dwellings. The columns of the local paper, the Globe, is well filled with advertising, which proves that the business men there are well acquainted with the secrets of modern success. In different chapters of our History will be found notes and sketches of White Cloud and her people.

The design of the founders of Highland was to make it an educational town, and when the town was laid out in 1857, a site for a University, was chosen. The following year actual work on the University began, and ever since the school has enjoyed a prominent place in the list of educational institutions of the state. Highland is a beautiful town, and has more of the picturesque appearance of a residence city than any other town in Norteastern Kansas. Although there is no railroad there, the nearest being about four miles to the east, it is a lively place with plenty of business houses and enterprising merchants, and is surrounded by some of the finest farm lands in all the West.

The first Sunday school was organized by Superintendent E. M. Hubbard of the Presbyterian church, about 1857.

About the time of the founding of the town a school was commenced in a log cabin, which was one of the first buildings on the townsite, and which had been used as a pre-emption house. W. McGookin, an Ohio man, is given as the name of the teacher.

In the same year, Stevenson & Deane opened the first general merchandise store.

The first inn was operated by E. M. Hubbard. There were fourteen rooms in the building.

E. Snyder was the first on the ground with his saw, hammer and square. He came in 1857.

The town has had five newspapers. The first was the Highlander, which began publication in January, 1859, with Faulkner & Seaver, publishers, and T. P. Herrick, editor. It was a strange conglomeration, a neutral paper, the publishers being Democrats, while the editor was a Republican. The paper had but a brief existence. In 1878, the Sentinel, an Independent paper, was started by George Hammar. It was dead within a few months. In November, 1880, John L. Parker established the Central State which soon passed into the bands of a man named Moore, whom Sol Miller frequently roasted to a delicious brown. In 1889, the Nuncio, a school paper issued by the University pupils, was established and continued for some little time. The latest was the Vidette, started in 1892, by H. S. Hogue, and still continued by Tobias Larsen.

Dr. J. Leigh opened the first drug store, but Dr. Palmer, a Homeopath, was the first physician, in 1858.

In 1859, a printer named Charley Whittaker bought the printing outfit of the Highlander, at Highland, and took it with him to Savannah, Mo., where he established a Democratic paper supporting the Union. A few years later when the war began, some rebel recruits, on their way south to join Price's army, ransacked the office, loading the type and other material into their wagons and taking all with them. Running short of ammunition at the siege of Lexington, they used the type and quads for shot. After the war a few of the besieged soldiers brought home with them and kept as relics, some of the type and quads that the rebels had stolen from Whittaker's office at Savannah, and which had been tired at them during the siege.

The first blacksmith, Aaron Baldwin, located in 1859.

In July, 1861, Major Herrick organized Company A, Seventh Kansas Cavalry. The company was familiarly known as the "Kansas Jaykawkers". It is stated that the "Kansas Jayhawkers" partipated in four score of fights. The member were mustered out "with honorable mention" in September, 1865.

James Shaffer opened the first meat market in 1865.

A destructive fire occurred at Highland on Monday night, February 13, 1887. Six building's were destroyed; a sudden change of the wind saved a large portion of the town.

The hailstorm at Highland on June 3, 1890, lasted less than five minutes, but the ruin wrought can only be estimated by thousands of dollars.

In the spring of 1870, a station was located on the Atchison & Nebraska railway, in the extreme southeastern part of Iowa township, and called Fanning, by Jesse Reed and James Bradley, who laid it out. It is located in a very hilly country, covered with heavy timber, but for a time was a lively village. We attended a Fourth of July celebration at this place when we were a boy and were well pleased with the friendly spirit of its people and the manner in which they made the eagle perform on that day. We shall always have a friendly feeling for Fanning, regardless of the fact that it is credited with producing larger mosquitoes and more of them than can be found anywhere north of the Yazoo river.

FRAGMENTS.

A blacksmith shop was the first building erected on the townsite, in 1870.

In the same year, a depot was built, and a postoffice was established with James Bradley to answer the important query: "Is there any mail for me?"

William Hedrick built a stone grist mill in 1872.

In 1879, the Catholics of the town and neighborhood erected a fine church.

F. G. Hedrick is still in the general merchandise business. He is postmaster and also deals in stock and grain.

The Latter Day Saints have an organization in the neighborhood, and other religions are represented.

A dreadful railroad accident occurred on the Atchison & Nebraska road near this place on Saturday night, June 8, 1872, resulting in the death of two men and the destruction of much railroad property. Superintendent Major Firth was making a tour of inspection over the road with his secretary, Mr. Allan. There had been floods and washouts on the road and as the engine was crossing the bridge near the Flick farm, near this place, with Firth and Allan riding on the cowcatcher, the bridge gave way, precipitating the engine and her passengers into a deep gully. Allan was instantly crushed to death, while Firth received injuries from which he died some days later.