Adair County, Missouri - Chapter 2: Early Settlements, 1911

Whatever claims the Indians had to lands lying within what is now Adair County, were extinguished before any attempt was made by the whites to settle here. The Sacs and Foxes seem to have had the best Indian claims to territory in which Adair County is situated. In 1804 they ceded to the United States all lands between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and a line from the mouth of the Gasconade River to a point on the Jeffreon River (Salt River) thirty miles from its mouth down to the Mississippi. The cession made by this treaty*, however, did not include what is now Adair County. In 1808 a treaty was made with the Osages whereby it was agreed that the boundary between them and the whites should begin at Ft. Clark, a fort on the Missouri thirty-five miles below the mouth of the Kansas, and extend due south to the Arkansas River, thence down the same to the Mississippi. In this same treaty it was provided that all lands north of the Missouri to which the Osages had claims were likewise ceded, but this seems to have been more of a formality than anything else.

When the first counties of the territory of Missouri were organized in 1813, St. Charles County was made to consist of the territory ceded by the Sacs and Foxes in 1804, with the proviso that if the Indian titles should be extinguished to lands lying north and west of this country, the Governor might add such lands to it by proclamation. In 1815 Governor Clark issued a proclamation declaring that the Osage claims which had been ceded in 1808, extended 140 miles north of the Kansas River, east to the Ottata River, and thence south to the Missouri River where the Gasconade empties into it, and that all other claims were unfounded; he further declared that all this territory was thereby annexed to St. Charles County, and based his action upon the law passed by the Territorial Legislature in 1813 which organized that county. The territory thus declared to be annexed to St. Charles County included what is now Adair County, but there is some question as to the authority of the Governor in making his proclamation. If he had no authority to do so, then the Indian title to the territory which included the present Adair County, was not extinguished until the treaty made with the Sacs and Foxes in 1824. In this treaty these Indians sur-

A* has been said, there is no record or tradition of any white settiers coming to what is now Adair County until after the Indian titles were extinguished. There seems to he no record of either the French or the Spanish in Missouri coming up the Chariton River this far, though it is not altogether improbable that some of them may have done so. Perhaps American hunters and trappers may have come in advance of the first settlers, but of them we have no record.

The first attempt at settlement by the whites in this county was not made until 1828, twenty-five years after the Louisiana purchase, and three years after the extinction of the above mentioned Indian title. The earliest white settlements in Missouri had been made along the Mississippi by the French, the first being Ste. Genevieve in 1735, if not a little earlier. By the time the United States acquired the Louisiana territory from France, a dozen or more settlements had been established in the State, chiefly along the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Madrid. In addition to these Mississippi settlements there was at least one on the Missouri, that is St. Charles, but it was so close to the Mississippi that it might well be included in the group of settlements along that river. The population of these settlements in 1803 was between six and seven thousand. From 1803 to 1828 the movement of population into the interior of the state had been along the Missouri chiefly. Nearly all the new counties that had been formed between 1813, when the first were established, and 1828 were along that river. The population of the state in 1830 was 140,455, fully one-half of which belonged to the Missouri River counties. It was from these settlements along the Missouri River that many moved into the northern and southern parts of the state, and became thus the earliest pioneers of these sections. We are therefore prepared to find that the early settlors in Adair County came largely from the Missouri River counties directly to the south, chiefly Howard County.

It was in 1828 that a band of sturdy pioneers came from Howard County to dwell in what is now Adair County, a region which was as yet very much as nature had made it. James Myers. Isaac Gross, Stephen Gross, Nathan Richardson, Reuben Myrtle and Jacob Gupp are, according to traditions, the men who composed this first band of rulers. It seems that Gupp was the only unmarried member. These men decided to locate on the east side of the Chariton about six miles west of what is now Kirksville, and tradition has it that they proceeded to build three cabins, one of which stood just in front of the present house of George \V. Cain, another on the present farm of ('has. Brawner a mile or two away from the first, and another on the old Stinson place which was equally distant in another direction. This settlement became known as "The Cabins." The nearest neighbor to this band of new comers was Jos. Loe, thirty or more miles to the south in what is now Macon County.

In the next year after this settlement was made, it was suddenly broken up by what is popularly known locally as the "Big Neck War." Some attention must be given to this episode, as it reveals something of the difficulties which pioneers had to encounter, and its story has become one of the historic traditions of the county. The difficulty in relating this story exactly is great because the accounts found in the newspapers long after the event are often contradictory, and no doubt much in these accounts is fictional.

Upon the extinction of the title of the Indians to the lands in North Missouri, the Sacs, the Foxes, and the lowas moved into what is now Iowa. During the following three or four years they were accustomed to come back to their old hunting grounds in Missouri, and one of these favorite resorts was the region of the Chariton where deer, elk and fish were plentiful. Among those who longed for the Chariton was Che Qursa or Big Neck, a sul>-chief of a band of sixty or seventy Iowa Indians. He had from the first been dissatisfied with the treaty which had extinguished the Indian titles, and finally he and his band came hack in 1829 to their hunting grounds on the Chariton with the avowed intent ion of living in the community permanently.

In coming down the Chariton they reached, some time in the last of June, the cabins of the white folk who had come to what is now Adair County in the year previous. Trouble ensued almost immediately. Some hogs which belonged to the whites were killed by the dogs of the Indians and the meat was appropriated by the Indians. A deputation of the whites went the next day to the Indians in their camp and protested against their presence in the state and demanded that they should pay for the slain hogs and that they should leave. Old Big Neck replied in broken English that they had not signed a treaty and that they had come back to live and that they would fight for the land if necessary. This hostile attitude caused the handful of whites to reconsider their demands, and they decided to send back to the settlements iti Randolph County for assistance against the Indians.

On reaching the settlements in Randolph County the fugitives spread the alarm and very shortly a band of twenty-six men under ('apt. Trammell was on its way to The Cabins. Before they set out word was sent to the Howard County settlers to acquaint the state authorities with the situation in the upper country. In reaching The Cabins the company found that the Indians had retreated farther up the Chariton, and it was decided to follow them. About ten miles farther up the river they found the Indians encamped on the east bank, northeast of what is now Connelsville. The Indians showed bad temper from the first by sending their squaws and children out of the camp and refusing to send out an interpreter. The whites attempted to convince the Indians that they were friendly, but when they asked tin1 Indians to give up their arms this was too much. One Indian cocked his gun and pointed it towards a Mr. Myers, whereupon the Indian was shot dead by Myers' son. In a moment the battle was on, and though it lasted but a short time, the struggle was a fierce one. The probable date of this battle was July 17, 1829.

Three white men were killed; they were John Myers, James Winn and Powell Owenby. Owenby was shot dead in the Indian camp. Winn and Myers were at first merely wounded and attempted to escape. Myers was taken up on a horse behind another man, but the horse was shot from under them and Myers was left on the ground to the mercies of the Indians. The killed were all scalped, and it appears from the remains of Winn that he was burned after he had been captured. The bodies of Myers and Owenby, however, showed no signs of their having been burned. Four whites were wounded; they were ('apt. Trammell, James Myers, John W. Myers and John Asbell. Capt. Trammel! died from the effects of his wound after he reached his home in Randolph County. At least three Indians were killed. How many were wounded is not known.

The news of this engagement spread rapidly through the counties along the Missouri, and companies of soldiers from Howard, Boone, Chariton and Randolph hastened towards the scene of trouble. The story grew as it passed from mouth to mouth until it was thought that 1500 Indians were on their way south to the river, dov. John Miller sent in a call for some U. S. troops which were stationed at St. Louis, and dispatched Gen. I. B. Owen with a force of about 200 men with orders to put down the Indians and restore order. When Owen got to the scene of trouble he found everything quiet, inasmuch as the Indians had withdrawn to Iowa. The other troops that came on from the other counties found nothing for them to do and therefore retired soon. The Governor ordered Owen to detail about one hundred men to remain in the region to proteet the settlers from further attack, and if necessary to retain his force there until he could feel sure that there was no more danger.

The men who had established the settlement of "The Cabins" the year ln»fore this encounter with the Indians, decided it would be best fur them to abandon their claims for the time at least, and so departed immediately after the battle for Randolph County with the company that had come up under Capt. Trammell.

Tradition has it that in the spring of 1830 the settlement of "The Cabins" wa.< restored, but tradition cannot be trusted for a correct list of the settlers who came in that year. Of the dozen or more persons who have been said to have come in 1830, the writer is able to name only three whose claim to this honor has not been questioned in one way or another. They are John Cain, Andrew Bozarth, and Isaac Parton. Mr. Cain was the father of (ieo. \V. Cain, who has lived all his life on the family estate six miles west of Kirksville. There were undoubtedly others who came in 1830, but they eannot be named in any confidence.

Among the traditions of the Cain family of tins county is one according to which John Cain, the one mentioned above, bought out the claims of the Myers family that had fled the country the year before, for a pair of shoe leathers. From this one might conclude that either land was very, very cheap at that time, or that shoe uppers were very expensive. There is another tradition in this family to the effect that John Cain and Daniel Boone came from Kentucky to Missouri together and that after they had lived in Howard County they came into what is now Adair County. There is nothing at all to support that part of the tradition that brings Boone into Adair County. He died in 1820 at the age of eighty or more, and John Cain did not come to Adair County until 1830.

Between 1830 and 1840 settlements were made in most all of the present townships of the county, but before following that subject any further, our attention will be directed briefly towards the last Indian Hurry in the county.

The Black Hawk War which broke out in the summer of 1832, called attention again to the dangerous situation in which the settlers in northern and northeastern Missouri were placed. A military force was ^ent to what is now Adair County under Capt. Richard Madison of Ralls County, and a fort was built in the northern part of what is now Polk Township, about eight miles east of the Chariton and a quarter of a mile north of Salt River. This fort was called Ft. Madison, after the Captain of the company that erected it. It consisted of a Work house enclosed by a palisade. A separate log building was used for a magazine and the storage of supplies, and brush sheds were built for the horses. When it was found that there was no danger threat-

Later in the summer of 1832 a considerable military force under General John B. Clark, of Howard County, was sent up the Chariton to reconnoitre the situation. It is believed that General Clark crossed the Iowa boundary line in quest of information; but finding no signs of Indian disturbances he turned southward, ami stopping at what is now the Collett farm, he built a fort which bore his name. This fort was a three-cornered affair, built out of split oak logs which were arranged so that the upper ends were sharpened like pickets and the lower ends placed in the ground about three feet. Block houses were built at each corner of the fort with port holes through which the soldiers could shoot.

After the garrison left this fort the Indians are said to have frequently visited the growing settlements along the Chariton between 1835 and 184"). As far as is known they offered no violence to the whites, though they are said to have frequently killed their hogs. After 1845 there seems to be no account of the Indians coining any more as visitors.

Hemains of these two forts existed flown to a very late time. The Collett family is said to have used the block house of Ft. (Mark for a stable for a long while, and until recently the outline of the earthworks of Ft. Madison were plainly discernible.

The author has made a special elTort to find out who the permanent settlers were during the decade from 1830 to 1840, where they came from and in what part of the county they settled, but the results have not been at all satisfactory. The various so-called historical sketches of pioneer days which have appeared in the county newspapers from time to time and in the old county history published in 1888, are very contradictory on the early settlers and are much in error, so that little dependence can be put upon them. The subject is yet to be marked out satisfactorily, but it will be done only after long investigation and a careful sifting of the evidence acquired.

All that be safely said is that from 1831 to 1840 the following named persons are known to have settled in what is now Adair County: Frank Adkins, .lames A. Adkins, Hiram Bozarth, Washington Conner, Lewis Conner. Win. Collett, A. K. Collett. Thomas Clifton, J. Dabney, Abram Karhart. Samuel Eaton, Benj. Ely, K. S. Kilts, Jack Floyd, Nathaniel Floyd. Win. A. Floyd. Jesse Gilstrap. Jas. H. Ginnings, Win. Hurley. Isaac Hargis, Charles Hatfield, Win. Horton, Samuel Hay, David James. Win. B. Jones. Jesse Jones, John Lesley, A. H. Linder, John Morrow. John Murphy. John Myers. Jr., Robert Myers, Frayel Myers, Robt. Miller, Canada Owenbv. Win. Parcel Is, Hartin Parton, Thos. Parton.

Josiah Rogers, Hiram Reed, John Shibley, David E. Stone, Edward Stewart. Coleman Stewart, John Stewart, Andrew Thompson, and Jesse Walker. Those men arc believed to have been grown men or fast approaching to grown manhood when they came.

Many others are known to have come during this decade, but they were mere children at the time, so they are not included in this list. There were undoubtedly many others of adult age who came during these ten vears, but who thev were is not known to the writer. An interesting study here awaits some one who will be willing to labor a long time upon it.

When the early settlers began to come into this part of the state the government survey had not been completed; in fact, it may be safely <aid it had not been commenced as yet. There was nothing in the way of patents, deeds or other documentary evidence which the settler could secure and to which he could point to when he wished to prove his right to the land he had taken. He took up a "claim" on the land he settled upon and stood ready to defend his rights with his own muscle and his musket, if need be. His claim would extend generally from this creek to that one, or from this hill to that. So secure did he feel in the possession of his claim that he sometimes waited for years after the government survey had been completed through this part of the country before he entered his land and got a patent from the government. He ran the risk of having some one preempt his claim and invoke the government to dispossess him of it, but the one who dared to preempt land that had l>een squatted upon ran a risk of another kind that deterred him from such a procedure. This will explain why it is that some of the earliest settlers did not enter their lands until long after they had settled here. It will also explain why the dates of entry in the plat book of the county are no safe index as to the exact time when the settlers first came into the county.

It would be a matter of great interest to know how many people there were in the county in 1841, the year in which the county was organized. At that time just about ten years had elapsed since the settlement of the county had been resumed, and curiosity, if nothing else, would prompt one to inquire how many people had come in during the first decade of actual occupation. But the best that can be done will he to make an estimate. Judging from the census of 1850 which gave the county a little over 2000, we are likely safe in saying that not over 1000, if that many, were here by 1841.

county that began to till up first. The probable reason why this part of the county began to fill up first was its better adaptability to fanning than the Chariton region. The Chariton offered its special inducements in the way of wild game, and the men who first settled it were a> a rule good hunters. These men had, moreover, a decided preference for timbered land for agricultural purposes over the prairie land. The reason for this was that the prairie land was harder to cultivate than the timber land because of the toughness of the soil. It took several yoke of oxen to pull a plow through the prairie sod, and it was felt an easier task to clear land of timber than to subdue the prairie land. But when the prairie began to be settled it filled up much more rapidly than the river region. Tradition has it that Canada Owenbv was the first settler to take up a prairie claim, but how well this can be substantiated is not known.

In the early days hunting was more than an occasional pastime with the pioneers. It was one of their means of livelihood and with some it seemed to be their chief means. Those who established reputations as hunters of more than extraordinary skill were John Cain. Nathaniel Floyd, Frank Adkins, Edward Stewart, James Adkins. Joseph Stewart, James Myers, James Clifton, Thomas Clifton, David Floyd, Wm. Brasfield, Dennis Brasfield, John Lesley, Thomas Turner and John Burton. Salt River and the Chariton were the chief hunting grounds, and deer, wild turkeys and elk were plentiful. Occasionally bears, panthers, wolves, and foxes would be killed. Frank Adkins had the reputation of being the most successful deer hunter, and Ed. Stewart of being the most daring hunter of panthers and other dangerous animals. The fall hunt would usually result in the bagging of enough game to insure the winter's supply of meat. Bee trees were frequently found, and the honey taken from them added to the comfort of the settler's table and offered him a commodity which found ready sale at the nearest market. Stories have come down of whole wagon loads of honey which had been taken from the trees and then hauled out of the county by oxen to the nearby markets.

Conditions during the first years of the early settlement of this county were hard and primitive. Whatever farming was attempted was carried on under great difficulties. If the farm was in the timbered region, the land had to be cleared first and that meant much hard labor. When that was finished the plowing was done with a wooden mouldboard plow drawn by oxen. Because of the scarcity of oxen and plows, the neighbors would frequently join all their forces and do the plowing on their farms together, taking them one at a time.

The grinding of the grain raised was done at first by hand mills which the pioneers brought with them. In the course of time horse and water mills were built. High waters would frequently make water mills unusable. The first steam mill built in the county was put up by the German colony at Nineveh. That was erected about 18.50 and was for years the only one of its kind in the county. Going to mill in early days meant usually going a long distance and frequent delay in taking one's turn at the mill.

The trading posts for the earliest settlers were Hannibal and Quincy to the east and Huntsville to the south. It meant a great deal to go to market then. Trips were not made very often, and full supplies were always laid in whenever they were made. The first trading post in the county is said to have been opened up by Col. Jesse Jones, which stood on what has been known in recent years as the Joel Stinson place. He also set up there a tramp horse mill, which is said to have been the first of its kind in the county.

Mail facilities were necessarily meagre. The first post office in what is now Adair County is said to have been on the Sohn place near the Baptist church on the Nineveh road between Kirksville and Nineveh, and Samuel With row is said to have been the first postmaster. Just when this was established is not known. When David James, the first county clerk, sent in the election returns from the county in August, 1H42. he requested the Secretary of State to address all communications to him at Bloomington, the county seat of Macon County, as that was the nearest post office to the Adair County Court House. Mail was carried across the country at first on horse back, and then later in stage coaches. As postage was paid at the place of delivery, the person receiving mail was somet imes put in a very embarrassing posit ion. In those days of barter and trade "in kind," there was little ready cash, and men were frequently compelled, according to traditions that have come down, to borrow as little as a dime with which to pay the postage on a single letter which had come.

The distances between neighbors were at first great. To have one's nearest neighbor as far as five miles away was nothing unusual. Of course neighbors came to mean neighbors as the county filled up.

Prairie and brush fires were frequent, entailing danger and frequently a great deal of damage. A story of an experience in a prairie fire which Nathaniel Floyd and his wife had in the early thirties has come down. They had been to visit a neighbor and on returning to their home on

Floyd Creek they found that they were cut off from it by a prairie tm . Their horses could not be driven across it and so Floyd decided to home in a round about way, while his wife tried to cross the fire line. When Floyd reached home he found his wife had not arrived a* yet and started in search of her. He found her the next day with ail her woolen clothing burned off. They had caught fire in her efforts t<, get across the fire line. She carried all the rest of her life the mark* of this terrible experience.

Churches and schools were in the course of time established, and were in keeping with the primitive conditions of the community. The frontier settlements throughout our nation west of the Alleghanies owe their first religious organizations largely to the Methodist and Baptist circuit riders. These men were pioneers in spirit and in body, ami gave themselves heartily to the difficulties of the work that the newly settled regions presented. It was not otherwise in Adair County. Something further will be said of the early churches and schools in suIh scquent chapters.

All buildings in these early days, whether dwellings, churches, school houses, stores, or barns, were built of timber cut down and hewed out by the settlers themselves. The walls were made of logs, the rootwere covered with clapboards, and the floors were either dirt or puncheons. The cabins were usually one story high and contained ordinarily one and never over two rooms. No one of the original cabins built in 1828 remains, and very few, if any, of the houses built before 1841. when the county was organized, are still in existence. House and barn raisings were great events in a settlement. Neighbors from far and near, generally from far, came to lend a hand, and the work was usually crowned with a feast of such good things as the community afforded.

Domestic life was exceedingly laborious. Women not only worked at the usual household duties such as cooking, spinning and weaving, but they often assisted in the field in plowing, threshing, and sometimes in hewing timber. Robert Miller's four daughters established their reputation jus excellent hewers, and were known to have raised a house or barn by themselves under the direction and help of their father.

The only relaxation which the early pioneer had was to be found in the occasional church services, the trip to market, or the neighborhood house or barn raising. Hut these pioneers had the spirit of conquest and counted themselves as fortunate in having their lot in a new field. They therefore built their homes and took up their work cheerfully, not always realizing just what their work meant to the future generations, but with a hope that it would not be in vain.

The first white person to die a natural death in the county was lx>vom Evans. The first white couple to get married in the county were Missouri Evans and Sevon Dean. The wedding was celebrated at .John Cain's. The first white child born in the county was James M. Bozarth. who was born December 14, 1831. Geo. Cain for whom that honor has t>ecn claimed by uninformed persons, was not born until 1833.

Many of these conditions whicli existed in the first decade of the history of the first settlement continued until after the war. As the county l>ecaine more densely settled and towns were established, life Ix-camc less isolated and more comfortable. The further consideration of these improvements will be included under other subjects in this history.

The settlers of the first decade came largely from some of the counties to the south of what is now Adair, particularly Randolph and Howard. Many of them had come to these counties from Kentucky and Tennessee. Some few came directly from Kentucky to Adair County. For the next twenty years after the first decade we find the new settlers coming from other states also, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. From Pennsylvania came a German element which founded Nineveh, some account of which will be given in another place. The neighborhood called Illinois Bend was settled by people from Illinois. From Iowa came a few people. But the main streams of immigration flowed from the Mississippi along Salt River, and from the Missouri along the < hariton.

Counties shown in white increased in |>opulation between 1900 and 1910. Those shown in the fine lines decreased in {>opulation. (Reproduced from the St. I amis Republic, October 3, 1910.)

From the beginning the county has enjoyed in a steady and substantial growth. This is exhibited in a variety of ways. The first index of growth that one usually consults is the U. S. census reports on the population. On turning to them we find nothing on the population of Adair County prior to 1850, as the county was organized in 1841, the year after the census of 1840 was taken. Inasmuch as no separate record was kept of the population of the territory that was attached to Macon County from 1837 to 1841, and out of which the present Adair County was formed, we have no means of knowing just what the population of the county was when it was created in 1841. The census reports since 1850 give the population of Adair County as follows:

Of ih*.' 495 foreign hirn prraons in the county in 190f). 80 were natives of England 4S of Canada, 74 of Ireland. 12S of Germany, 58 of Italy, 24 of Seotland, 2) of Sure len, 15 of Wales, and 13 of France.

From this it will be seen that the decade which saw the greatest rate of increase of population was 1850-60, during which time the population increased from 2,342 to 8,531, or nearly four-fold.

crease of only 180,070, or six per cent in ten years. Of the 114 counties in the state, only 43 showed any increase in population. Of the* 71 counties which showed a decrease in population, 32 lost more than ten per cent of the population they had in 1900, 23 lost between five and ten per cent, and 10 less than five per cent. The majority of the counties that showed any increase in population lie in the southeastern part of the state, and the majority of those that lost the most heavily lie in the northern and northwestern part of the state. Of the 44 counties north of the Missouri River, only 8 showed any increase in population. Adair County happens to be among these eight. The increase in this county in the last decade was 972, or 4.5 per cent.

Nearly all the counties that lost in population are agricultural counties, as a rule. Adair County undoubtedly sustained a loss in her rural population during the last decade, but the increase in population in the towns of Kirksville, Novinger, Brashear and Connelsvillo was enough to more than offset the decrease in the country.

The same decade that witnessed the largest percentage of increase in population, that is from the years 1850 to 1800, also saw the greatest number of government land entries. An examination of the original plat book of the county shows that the greatest number of land entries were made from 1853 to 1857, and particularly in 1855 and 1850. The earliest entry was made by Thomas M. Easley in 1830. Kn tries were made in large numbers in 1839. but from then until 1851 there were practically none. By 1853 the final rush to enter land began and kept up until practically all the land was entered by 1859. A few entries were made in the sixties and seventies, and even as late as 1908 T. J. Dockery, of Kirksville, entered some land in Adair County. But the great bulk of the land was entered in the fifties of the nineteenth century. The entries made in the fifties were made mostly by new settlers. There were speculators in land in the county in those days, but the lands they bought up did not equal the amount actually occupied by bona fide settlers.

Not only the plat book, but the abstracts of assessment returns of t he county assessor show t hat the rate of growth in the county was greatest in the decade from 1850 to 1800. In 1843 the assessor found only 2.100 acres subject to taxation in the county. That was an exceedingly small amount for that year, inasmuch as permanent settlers had been coming in for over ten years and the county had been organized for two years. It may be that the assessor's returns for 1843 were not complete, and this appears all the more probable since the returns for the very next year show that he had then found 15,131 acres subject to taxation. For a few years after 1844 the number of acres subject to taxation gradually increased, but it was not until 1853 that the increase became marked. From 1853 to 1860 the increase became greater, so that the maximum limit was reached by the latter year. The following table will show how many acres there were subject to taxation in the county from 1853 to 1860, from which the rate of increase may be readily computed:

The number of acres subject to taxation at the present time runs at a little over 360,000 acres. The above table shows that that number was reached by 1859.

The county has gained in wealth at the same time it has grown in population. The abstracts of the assessment returns give a basis for some idea a< to the growth in wealth. The returns prior to 1844 are not available, so that our investigation cannot go back of that year. The assessed valuation for 1844 is about the same as that of 1845; by commencing therefore in 1845 and taking every fifth year thereafter, we are able to set forth in the following table the growth in wealth of the county from 1845 to the present, as far as assessed valuations will show it:

Of course, the above valuations as taken from the assessors' lists, are not actual valuations, and we have no way of determining exactly just what they are, inasmuch a* the rate of assessment varies from time to time, and furthermore, there is always a certain amount of property that never is listed by the assessor. One would be comparatively safe, however, in multiplying the above returns by three or four and taking the product as approximating the actual valuations.

By comparing the tables given above on the increase in population and on assessed valuations, it will be seen that the largest percentage of increase in population came in the same decade that saw the greatest percentage of increase in assessed valuations, that is, the dec-

On comparing further the increase in population and the increase in assessed valuations for 1850 and for 1910, we find that the population has risen from 2,342 to 22,700, or nearly ten fold, while the increase in assessed wealth has risen from $90,290 to $5,840,078, or six hundred and fifty fold. This is a most eloquent commentary on the natural resoucres of the county and on the industry of the people.

Like all other frontier districts, land was exceedingly cheap in the early days of the county. Land was entered under government patents at $1.25 per acre. The improvements put upon the homestead lands raised their value, of course, hut for a long time these improvements were meagre, and hence the increase in values was comparatively slight. The best improved lands just before the war were valued at from $10 to $20 per acre. In the early seventies such lands ranged from 810 to $30; in the early nineties from $40 to $75; and at the present time from $50 to $100. As long as there was left any government land unentered that was of good quality, the unimproved land did not rise much above the price paid for government land. But by the middle of the fifties, practically all the government land was entered, so that values in unimproved land began to rise. Between 1855 and 1860 there was much talk of a railroad being built in the county, so that unimproved land was held at from $5 to $10 an acre. The railroad failed to materialize for a while, so that the values in unimproved lands dropped. Wry shortly after the war all the land fit for agriculture or stock-raising was brought under improvement. Today only a small portion of the county is unimproved land, and this land lies in the region of the Chariton River mostly, if not altogether.

The growth of the county is due to a variety of causes, among which may be noted her facilities for agriculture and stock-raising, her railroads, her wealth of timber and coal, and her educational institutions. In the early days agriculture was practically the only pursuit followed by the people. But with the coming of the railroads it became possible to exploit the natural resources of the county. The forests of the Chariton offered the first field for exploitation, and for years the making of railroad ties has been a very important industry. It is not so important now as it was formerly, though it is still maintained. In this same Chariton region have been found rich deposits of coal, and the coal mining industry has grown into large proportions. Meanwhile, the raising of fine stock has become one of the greatest enterprises of the county and has brought it to the attention of men dealing in fine stock far and wide. The State Normal School and the American School of ( Myopathy at Kirksville have been potent agents contributing to the growth of the county.

From early times the advantages of the county have been in one form or another brought to the attention of the people of the state and in adjoining states. The Glasgow News, a newspaper published at Glasgow, Mo., in its issue for October 8, 1840, contained an article on Adair County, which it had copied from the Paris Mercury, published at Paris, Mo. This article was as follows:

"To those who desire good and profitable stock farms, Adair County offers many advantages, fine large prairies, diversified with streams which furnish water, and which are thickly set on each side with good timber. The Grand Chariton is also a great advantage to that county, as it is an excellent mill stream.

"Those who wish to build in Adair County can get luml>er on reasonable terms. We saw a lot of excellent inch flooring plank, the price of which is there only 75 cents per hundred feet; Kirksville, the county seat, is now rapidly improving. The lands adjoining the county seat are not yet in the market. Those who wish to settle in a new county ami rise as the county rises, will do well to pay Adair County a visit."

Many of the pioneers who came in the early forties induced many of their friends who had been left behind in Kentucky, to join them. This coming in of men to join former friends in their new homes in this county continued in a noticeable way until at least the war.

Since the war active efforts have been made at several different times to induce strangers to come to the county. Several immigration societies have been formed at different times. The associations of Kirksville business men, which have flourished under various names for thirty years or more, have been the means of bringing certain enterprises to the town and county which have contributed something to the general growth.

The county has made steady growth all along, but that which has counted most in the making of the county what it is now, was done in the last two decades. Judging from the aggressiveness of the business and professional men of the county one might say that in the next twenty years a decided advance will have been made beyond what has already been done.