Montgomery County, located in the southern tier of counties, is the third west
from the Missouri line. It is bounded on the north by Wilson county; on the east
by Labette; on the south by the State of Oklahoma, and on the west by Chautauqua
and Elk counties. It was settled to some extent before 1870, though the lands
still belonged to the Osage Indians until the treaty of Drum Creek in September
of that year. However, there was a narrow strip, 3 miles in width, extending
along the eastern side, belonging to the "ceded lands," which was opened to
settlement in 1867. In that year the first settler, Louis Scott, a negro,
located in the Verdigris valley. In Dec., 1867, Zachariah C. Crow, P. R. Jordan
and Col. Coffey located in the same neighborhood. In Feb., 1868, R. W. Dunlap
established a trading post near the mouth of Drum creek, and about the same time
a post was established by John Lushbaugh at the junction of Pumpkin creek with
the Verdigris. The next winter Moses Neal opened a store at the mouth of Big
Hill creek, and in 1869 Maj. Fitch began a similar business on the north side of
Elk creek near the mouth of Sycamore. Among the settlers of 1868, all of whom
located along the river and creek valleys in the eastern part of the county,
were John A. Twiss, T. C., J. H. and Allen Graham, J. H. Savage, Jacob Thompson,
E. K. Kounce, William Fain, Green L. Canada, W. L. and G. W. Mays, John L.
McIntyre, Joseph Roberts. John Russell, J. B. Rowley, Patrick Dugan, William
Reed, Christian Greenough, John Hanks, Mortimer Goodell, D. R. B. Flora, R. W.
Dunlap, Mrs. E. C. Powell, Thomas C. Evans, Lewis Chouteau, George Spece and
James Parkinson.
In order to obtain a "squatter's claim" the settler had
to secure the consent of the Indians, which, by a treaty made in the Upper Elk
valley in 1869, was to be had on payment of $5 for a prairie claim and $10 for
one in the timber. Considerable trouble was experienced between the settlers and
the railroads over the title to the lands in the eastern part of the county. The
matter was finally settled in favor of the settlers, by the supreme court of the
United States. The unreliability of the early surveys caused no little trouble
as to ownership of certain tracts of land after the authorized survey had been
made. Unwilling to await the tedious and often expensive process of law on these
matters there were formed in different parts of the county what were called
"Settlers Claim" clubs, to which all disputes of this character were referred. A
code of laws was drawn up to cover all points liable to arise in any case of
disputed land title. All cases were settled according "to law and evidence" and
whenever a decision had been reached, the party against whom such decision had
been rendered was given notice to move from the claim within a certain length of
time. Upon failure to obey he was ejected forcibly from the premises and his
buildings and other property destroyed. Occasionally these clubs took a hand in
criminal cases, as in the punishment of the three murderers of John A. Twiss,
who were hanged to an oak tree after a trial by the club.
The county was
organized in 1869 by proclamation of Gov. Harvey. Verdigris City was named as
the temporary county seat and the following officers were appointed:
Commissioners, H. C. Crawford, H. A. Bethuran and R. L. Walker; clerk, E. C.
Kimball. The commissioners divided the county into three townships, Drum Creek,
Westralia and Verdigris. An election for county officers and to locate the
county seat was held in November of the same year. The returns from Drum Creek
were thrown out on technical grounds, and the remaining vote gave a majority for
Liberty. A board of commissioners favorable to that place were elected.
Independence filed a notice of contest and the matter was taken before the court
of Wilson county, to which Montgomery was at that time attached for judicial
purposes. The court decided that there had been no election. The old board of
commissioners continued to serve, but the county seat, in face of great
opposition was removed to Liberty. The Independence men sent Charles White to
Topeka to lay the matter before the state authorities. He succeeded in getting a
new board of commissioners appointed, which was composed of W. W. Graham, Thomas
Brock and S. B. Moorhouse. The new board went to Verdigris City where they
organized and appointed the following officers: County clerk, J. A.
Helpingstine; treasurer, Samuel Van Gundy; register of deeds, J. K. Snyder;
superintendent of schools, R. B. Cunningham. They selected Independence as the
county seat and, finding it useless to dissent, the old board gave up the fight.
At a hotly contested election in Nov., 1870, Independence received the largest
number of votes and became the permanent county seat. The court-house, erected
shortly afterward, was the first brick building in the county.
The
organization of the county government was followed by reckless and extravagant
bond issues. Before 1872 the people had for various purposes voted a debt upon
themselves to the amount of nearly $1,000,000. Money loaned to private parties
drew from 25 to 50 per cent. interest. The people were very anxious for a
railroad and in 1870 they voted $200,000 in bonds to the Leavenworth, Lawrence &
Galveston company, which built a line through the eastern part of the county
terminating at Coffeyville. Independence, indignant at being deserted by the
railroad company, after being foremost in securing the bonds, yet over-zealous
for a road, paid the company an immense bonus to build a branch. This was called
"Bunker's Plug," and was in use from Jan., 1872, to 1879. In the latter year the
South Kansas & Western built a line across the county, connecting with the main
line at Cherryvale, and the next year the St. Louis, Warsaw & Western built a
line across the northeastern part of the county. At that time there were 65
miles of railroad in the county. At present there are 160 miles. The early
companies have since sold out and the names of the roads have been changed. The
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe enters in the northeast corner, passes southwest
through Cherryvale and Coffeyville and continues on into Oklahoma. A branch of
this line diverges at Cherryvale, runs southwest through Independence and into
Chautauqua county. There are three lines of the Missouri Pacific. One enters in
the north and runs south through Independence to Dearing, where it united with a
second line that crosses the southern part east and west, and the third line
crosses the northwest corner. The St. Louis & San Francisco enters near the
northeast and runs to Cherryvale, where it diverges into two branches, both
running to the Joplin-Galena lead and zinc district. The Missouri, Kansas &
Texas crosses the southeast corner.
The county is divided into 12 civil
townships as follows: Caney, Cherokee, Cherry, Drum Creek, Fawn Creek,
Independence, Liberty, Louisburg, Parker, Rutland, Sycamore and West Cherry. The
postoffices in the county are, Bolton, Caney, Cherryvale, Coffeyville, Dearing,
Elk City, Havana, Independence, Jefferson, Liberty, Sycamore, Tyro and Wayside.
The general surface of the county is prairie. The bottom lands along the
creeks and rivers average over a mile in width and comprise 25 per cent. of the
area. The timber belts on the streams average a few rods in width and contain
walnut, cottonwood, hickory, oak, pecan, hackberry, ash, mulberry, sycamore,
elm, maple, box-elder and locust. The Verdigris river enters from the north and
flows south into Oklahoma. The Elk river enters in the northwest and flowing
east joins the Verdigris. Big Hill, Drum, Pumpkin, Sycamore and Onion are
important creeks.
The best quality of limestone and shale are found in
abundance. Sand for glass, coal and building stone also exist in commercial
quantities. The entire county is a great natural gas and oil field. This gas
enables the county to be one of the foremost manufacturing districts in the
state.
While not strictly an agricultural county, the yearly product of
the farms bring over $2,000,000. In 1910 the wheat crop was worth $200,000;
corn, $650,000; Kafir corn, $112,000; oats, $250,000; and prairie grass,
$150,000. There are 150,000 bearing fruit trees. Live stock is raised to
considerable extent.
The population according to the census of 1910 was
49,475, which was an increase of more than 20,000 in ten years. The assessed
valuation of property in that year was $60,650,000.
A number of disasters
in the way of fires and floods have occurred in the history of Montgomery
county, but perhaps none was so picuresque as the prairie fire of 1868. A long
spring drought was followed by an exceptionally wet summer. The rivers and
creeks were swollen so that they were impassable and the ground was soaked so
that no crop could be raised. Wild grass grew rank all over the county, and when
this became dry a terrific but magnificent conflagration swept the county. While
it lasted it kept the skies bright at night, so that ordinary handwriting could
be read by the light of the fire at a distance of a mile or more. Live stock,
utensils, settlers' cabins and whole villages were destroyed, and a number of
lives were lost. In 1874 this section suffered in common with the whole state
from the grasshoppers. The next most disastrous occurrence was the flood in the
valleys of the Elk and the Verdigris in 1885, when homes were inundated and a
number of lives lost.
Contributed 2002 July by Carolyn Ward, transcribed from Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago: 1912. 3 v. in 4.: front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar, Volume II, Pages 230-233.
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