History of

Butler County, Kansas

 By Vol. P. Mooney 1916

966 pages, Illustrated, indexed, Searchable

                                                                                                                                    - Bonus Book -

An Illustrated Handbook

of Butler County 

By T. B. Murdock, 1887

      65 pages, Illustrated, Searchable

                                                                                                                                    - Bonus Book -

History and Government

Of Kansas

By E. H. Butler, 1894

 


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CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. ORGANIZATION.

Named in Honor of Andrew P. Butler — Earl}- Influence indicated

in Name — One of the Original Thirty-three Counties^ — First

and Later Boundaries — -First County Seat — Township Bound-

aries — Organization of Townships — Districts — Topography

— Products — Herd Law — Fences Pages 33-40

CHAPTER II ARCHAEOLOGY.

Pre-Historic Red Man — Coronado's Visit in 1541 — Native Indian

Tribes — Indian Character — Early Trails — Evidences of Pre-

Historic Occupation of Butler County — Indian Relics — Vil-

lage and Camp Sites — Indian Traditions — Indian Imple-

ments Pages 41-46

CHAPTER III. FIRST EVENTS.

First Settler — Births — Marriages — Postoffices — Stores — Schools

— Churches — Court Records and Procedure — Official Acts

— Elections — Assessment and First Valuation — Present Valu-

ation Pages 47-53

CHAPTER IV. COUNTY SEAT AND COURT HOUSE.

First County Seat — County Seat Elections — First Court Flouse —

Bond Issue Defeated — Citizens' Subscription — Further Coun-

ty Seat Contention — Court House Enlarged — Ne^v Court

House — Location — Building — Cost — Extinct Towns . . Pages 54-62

CHAPTER V. INDIAN HISTORY AND EARLY TIMES.

The Plains — Dawn of Era — I'rimiti\e Times — First Settlement —

Indian Perils and Scares — Cherokees Come — Indian Trading-

Posts — Camps — Settlement Prior to 1870 — Settlement in

1857 — Drouth of i860 — Home Defense Company Organized

— Bntler County in the CiYil War — First Settler in El Dorado

— Cholera — Early Settlers — Postoffice — First Fourth of July

Celehration— Homesteading Pages 63-74

CHAPTER VI PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.

Real Settlement — Pioneer Women — Erection of Saw Mills — Pio-

neer Life — Amusements — Grasshopper Year — Devastation —

Reaction — Brighter Hopes — "Sleep. Old Pioneer" — After-

wards — Pul)lic Enter]:)rises — Prosperity — Xow Pages 75-85

CHAPTER VII. TRANSPORTATION.

Highways in Early Days — Freighting — Government Trains —

Mathewson — Stage Coaches — Experiences of Stage Coach

Days — Stage Drivers — -Passing of the Stage Coach Days —

Railroads — First Railroad Bonds Voted — Another Bond

Election — Santa Fe — Alissouri Pacific — Frisco — Communica-

tion — Pioneer Alail Carrier — Star Route — Automobiles ....

Pages 86-94

CHAPTER VIII TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS.

Augusta Township — Benton Township — Bloomington Town-

ship — Bruno Township — Chelsea Township— Clay Town-

Ship — Clifford Township — Douglass Township Pages 95-119

CHAPTER IX. TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS. (Continued.)

El Dorado Township — City of El Dorado — Location — Early

Industrie's^-Name — First Postoffice — First Hotel — Rail-

roads — Walnut Valley Times — El Dorado in 1870 — From

the Walnut Valley Times of March, 1881 — El Dorado in

1916 Pages 120-152

CHAPTER X. TOWNSHIPS. CITIES AND TOWNS. (Continued.)

Fairmount Township — Fairview Township — Glencoe Township

— Hickory Township — Lincoln Township — Little Walnut

Township — Leon — Logan Township Pages 153-170

CHAPTER XI. TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS. (Continued.)

Milton Township — Murdock Township — Pleasant Township —

Plum Grove Township— Prospect Township Pages 171-192

CHAPTER XII. TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS. (Continued.)

Richland Township— Rock Creek Township — Rosalia Township

— Spring Township Pages 193-214

CHAPTER XIII TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS. (Continued.)

Sycamore Township — Towanda Township — Towanda — Union

Township — Walnut Township Pages 215-235

CHAPTER XIV. POLITICAL HISTORY.

Early Political Views — Judicial Districts — First Election —

Character of Officers — First Township Officers — An In-

dependent Party — First Conventions — Political Parties — •

Farmers' Alliance and Populism — Free Silver Party — Last

Election — Senators — Representatives — County Commis-

sioners — County Clerks — County Treasurers — County At-

torneys — Sheriffs — Clerks of the District Court^ — Registrar

of Deeds — Probate Judges — Superintendents of Public

Instruction — County Surveyors — County Assessors — Coun-

ty Health Officers Pages 236-249

CHAPTER XV. COURTS AND THE BAR.

Early Judicial Districts — "No Man's Land" — County Lines in

1864 — County Seat Changed — Early Lawyers and Law

Suits — First Deed Recorded — First and Second Terms of

Court — Horse Thieves — Vigilance Committees — Lynch-

ings — "Butler County ^^^ar" — Criminal and Civil Cases — •

Attorneys Pages 250-261

CHAPTER XVI MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Physicians of this Generation — Qualifications — Experiences —

Pioneer Physicians — Advance of the Science — Surgery —

Hospitals Pages 262-263

CHAPTER XVII. AGRICULTURE.

Agricultural Society — First Fairs — Kafir Corn Carnival —

Changes in Methods — Alfalfa — Kafir — Licrease of Crop

Acreage — Market Conditions — Oats and Wheat — Prog-

ress — "Kafir Corn" — County Farm 264-270

CHAPTER XIII. LIVE STOCK INDUSTRY.

Early Day Horses— Trotting Stock — Some Fast Ones — Draft

Horses — Mules — First Cattle — Losses from Severe AA'in-

ters — Cattle Raising- as a Business — Effect of Herd Law —

First Cows — Breeders — Finest Herd of Herefords in the

World Pag-es 271-274

CHAPTER XIX. HORTICULTURE.

Fruits of Pioneer Times — First Orchards^Plant Dis-

ease — Insects — Investment — Butler County Horticultural

Society — Successful Emit Growers — Orchards — Native

Trees — Native Flowers Pages 275-280

CHAPTER XX. OIL AND GAS.

Supply of Fuel — Deep Test in 1879 — Other Tests — First Com-

pany Organized to Drill for Oil — Early Geologists, Re-

ports Discouraging — Company Organized at Augusta —

First Gas Discovered West of the Flint Hills Near Au-

g-usta — Other Tests and Discoveries — Oil Discovered —

Marvelous Development Pages 281-284

CHAPTER XXI. BANKS AND BANKING.

Present Prosperous Conditions — Number of Banks in the Coun-

tv — First Bank — Second and Third Banks — First Na-

tional Bank — Exchange National Bank — h\)urth Bank in

El Dorado — Ed. C. Ellet — Officers and Capital — Citizens

State Bank — Butler County State Bank — Exchange Stat^

Bank — State Bank of Leon — Peoples State Bank. Latham

— Bank of Whitewater — Peoples State Bank, \Miitewater

— Towanda State Bank — Rose Hill State Bank — Rosalia

State Bank — Beaumont State Bank — Character of Banks — ■

Bank Commissioner Pages 285-291

CHAPTER XXII. TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

Mysterious Switchboard — First Telephone Exchange at El Do-

rado — Butler County Telephont- and Electric Company —

Growth of Business — JMissouri and Kansas Telephone Com-

pany — Officers — Charles H. Parker Pages 292-294

CHAPTER XXIII. BUTLER COUNTY SCHOOLS.

First School — Difficulties of Early. Organization — Early X'or-

mal Institutes — First Teachers Associations — Course of

Study Provided — First Commencement — First School House

in El Dorado — Barnes Law Schools — Special Courses —

Barnes High School League — Rural School Contests —

Early Teachers — El Duradu High School — Superintend-

ents — Central School Building Burned — Development of

Schools Pages 295-300

CHAPTER XXIV. THE PIONEER CHURCH.

First Religious Services in Butler County — A Pioneer Meeting-

House — Beecher's Sermons Delivered Here — First Sermon

in \\'estern Butler County — Alissionaries — First Metho-

dist Alinister — All Denominations Represented — Sunday

Schools — Influence of Churches Pages 301-303

CHAPTER XXV. FRATERNAL ORDERS AND LODGES.

Masonic Lodges — Independent Order of Odd Fellows — Modern

Woodmen of America — Grand Army of the Republic —

Woman's Relief Corps — Anti Horse Thief Association . .

Pages 304-313

CHAPTER XXVI. women's CLUBS.

Federated Clubs — Beethoven Club. El Dorado — Shakespeare

Club — Woman's Mutual Benefit Clul^ — The Avon Club,

El Dorado — Dausihters of American Revolution — The Out-

look Club, Augusta — Twentieth Century Clul), Douglass —

Mutual Helpers. Cassoday — E. Ai. B. Club, Towanda —

Every Wednesday Home'Study Club Pages 314-317

CHAPTER XXVII. REMINISCENCES.

First Commercial Sign — The Xext Beer Story — A Booze Story

— Another One — Just a Story — Celebration — Some

Things — A Murder — When Times Were Young, by Fran-

ces E. Alooney— In Society — The Old Hotel — Another

Time \ '. Pages 3 18-325

CHAPTER XXVIII REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.

Mv Parents — The "Quilting Bee" Crowd — Recollections of

Plum Grove — Back in tlie Sixties — The Last Battle —

"Vagrant Memories" Pages 326-339

CHAPTER XXIX. REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.

My First Xight in El Dorado — Memories — A Hunting Party —

Dr. John Horner's Recollections — Southeast Butler —

Early Times — A Story of the Days Long Gone — Memo-

ries of Pioneer Days Pages 340-358

CHAPTER XXX. REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.

Experiences of a Lawyer.

Toe Everson — Joe Everson and the Fool Boy — Gardner's He-

roic Effort — Tiger Bill — An Intelligent Jury — A Defend-

ant Who Lied — The Colonel's Stratagem — A Game of

Pool — The Colonel and Dan — Mistaken Identity .. Pages 359-366

CHAPTER XXXI. REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.

The Victory of Half a Century — A Pioneer — Story of Early

Days — Pioneer Days — A Pioneer of 1868 — Recollections

fo Jerry Conner Pages 367-378

CHAPTER XXXII. REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.

Mead's Ranch — Recollections of Early Times — An Indian Scare

— Early Schools in El Dorado — A Tornado — \A'ing in the

Seventies Pages 379-392

CHAPTER XXXIII. BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

INDEX