Buchanan County, Missouri - Physical Features, 1881

Physical Features

liOCATION - BOXTNEARY-CIVIL AND CONGRESSIONAL TOWNSH-IPS-^^SURFACE-RIVERSLAKES-TlMBTiR - ITS IMPORTANCE TO EARLY SETTLERS - CLIMATE - RAINFALLHEALTH-SOIL-PRAIRIE - WASTE LAND.

Buchanan County Is situated near the northwestern portion of the Its latitude is 39° 47' north, and longitude 94° 55' west. It is Tiear the same parallel of Philadelphia, Columbus, Indianapolis, Springiield, Denver and San Francisco. It is about the same meridian as Lake Itasca and Galveston.

It is bounded on the north by Andrew County, east by DeKalb and Clinton, south by Platte, and west by the Missouri River, and contains 272,329 acres, or about four hundred- square miles. Missouri is divided into one hundred and fourteen counties, Buchanan being the smallest in area, excepting Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cole, DeKalb, Dunklin, Grundy, Hickory, Mississippi, Moniteau, New Madrid, Platte, Schuyler, Scott, Warren and Worth. Texas is the largest county, containing 700,000 acres, and Dunklin is the smallest, having an area of 1 10,799 acres.

Buchanan County is at an altitude of about one thousand feet above the level of the sea, and Is about four hundred feet above Chicago and nearly six hundred feet above St. Louis. The highest point in the county is Reservoir Hill 310 feet, two apd a half miles north of St. Joseph.

The county is divided Into twelve civil townships, three full congressional townships, and nine fractional congressional townships. The -civil townships are as follows: Platte, Jackson, Crawford, Bloomington, Rush, Wayne, Center, Agency, Tremont, Marion, Washington and Lake, Lake being the smallest.

The land in the county, away from the streams, is generally an prairie, and has altogether a diversity of country seldom found in so small a space. At a varying distance from the larger streams rise irregular lines of bluffs, 'or hills, sometimes wooded, and sometimes, previous to improvement, covered with a luxuriant growth of prairie grass, having between them water bottom lands of surprising beauty and unsurpassed fertility, ' These hills are generally a gentle slope, easily ascended and descended by wagons, and sinking into mere benches, moderately lifted above the surface of the valley ; again, sometimes they rise to a height of over two hundred feet above the bed of the Missouri River. From side to side, between these hills, the streams meander with banks varied by hill, meadow, and forest. Rising to the higher points the eye often commands views of exquisite loveliness, embracing the silvery course of river or creek, the waving foliage of trees, the changing outlines of hills and the undulating surface of flowerdecked prairie, with cultivated farms, with farm houses from the log hut of the first settler to the brick or painted houses and barns of the more advanced cultivator of the soil, and the palatial mansions of the wealthy capitalists.

The county has less land unfitted for cultivation by reason of sloughs and marshes than any of the neighboring counties. There is probably not a section of country of like extent in the state which possesses a better distributed drainage system than Buchanan Count}^ There is proportionately such a small area of waste and swamp lands,, and the facilities for drainage are so admirable, that waste lands arising from this cause are too insignificant to be worthy of particular mention.

The country presented to the first settler an easy task in subduing the wild land. Its natural prairies were fields almost ready for the planting of the crop, and its rich black soil seemed to be awaiting the opportunity of paying rewards as a tribute to the labor of the husbandman. The farms of Buchanan County are generally large, level, unbroken by impassable sloughs, without stumps or other obstructions, and furnish the best of conditions favorable to the use of reaping machines, mowers, corn planters, and other kinds of labor-saving machinery.

The Missouri River bottoms are bounded by an irregular line of bluffs, varying in altitude from one to three hundred feet in height. North of St. Joseph they reach an elevation of one hundred and fortyfive feet, and southward some of these attain an elevation of from two tothree hundred feet above the level of the river.

Buchanan County is so well supplied with living streams of water,, and they are so well distributed over the county, that the people of the county could not possibly make an improvement upon the arrangement if they were allowed the privilege and endowed with the power to make a readjustment of the system of rivers and creeks. Some of these streams, have fine mill-sites, and by reason of the water power thus made so accessible, the early settler was spared many of the hardships and inconveniences experienced by the pioneers of other sections.

The Missouri River is the largest stream, and forms the western boundary of the county, Wide, level bottoms border the Missouri, a great portion of which are still covered with native forests.

The Blacksnake, Contrary, Lost, and other small streams flow west, into the Missouri. The Platte River runs from north to south, nearly through the central portion of the county, and receives the One Hundred and Two River, Bee Creek, and other small streams on the west, and the Third Fork of Platte, Castile and Maiden Creeks on the east. These streams are clear, and of course never-failing. Springs are abundant and good, and pure water can be obtained in any part of the county.

Besides the many rivers, creeks and springs which supply the best living water for both man and beast, convenient to almost every -quarter-section of land in the county, there are a number of beautiful lakes in the townships bordering on the Missouri River. The principal of these is Contrary Lake, five miles southwest of St. Joseph. It is semicircular in shape, six miles in length, half a mile in width, and abounding in perch, black bass and other kinds of excellent fish. It is a great place of resort for the anglers and sportsmen of St. Joseph and surrounding country. Upon the shore of this lake have been erected two or three hotels for the accommodation of those who frequent it during the sporting seasons of the year. These hotels are pleasantly located, and are supplied with all the comforts and conveniences usually found at such places.

Sugar Lake contains also an abundance of fish. Horseshoe, Muskrat, Lost, Singleton, Prairie and Marks' Lakes are all in the county near the Missouri. These lakes are prized not only on account of the fish with which they teem, but also because of the geese and ducks which gather there by tens of thousands during the fall. The fish from these lakes supply the St. Joseph market.

Timber

"Majestic woods of ev'ry vigorous green, Stage above stage high waving o'er the hilli, Or to the far horizon wide diffused, A boundless deep immensity of shade."

The circumstance which more than any other favored the early and rapid settlement of Buchanan County was the abundance of timber. The presence of timber aided materially in bringing about an early settlement and it aided in two ways : first, the county had to depend on immigration from the older settled states of the Union for its population, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. These states were originally almost entirely covered with dense forests, and farms were made by clearing off certain portions of the tinnber. Almost every farm there, after it became thoroughly improved, still retained a certain tract of timber, commonly known as " the woods." The woods is generally regarded as the most important part of the farm, and the average farmer regarded it as indis{)ensable when he imimigrated West.

The great objection to the country was the scarcity of timber as compared to the Eastern States, and he did not suppose that it would be possible to open up a farm on the bleak prairie. To live in a region devoid of the familiar sight of timber seemed unendurable, and the average Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky emigrant could not endure the idea of founding a home far away from the familiar sight of forest trees. Then again the idea entertained by the early emigrants that timber was a necessity, was not simply theoretical and ethical. The early settler had to have a house to live in, fuel for cooking and heating purposes, and fences to enclose his claim. At that time there were no railroads whereby lumber could be transported from the pineries ; no coal mines had yet been opened or discovered. Timber was an absolutie necessity,, without which personal existence as well as material improvement was an impossibility. No wonder that a gentleman from the East, who in early times came to the prairie region of Missouri on a prospecting tour with a view of permanent location, returned home in disgi^t and embodied his views of the country in the following rhyme :

As before remarked, there are two reasons why the first settlersrefused to locate at a distance from the timber, and why the timbered regions bordering upon the rivers became densely populated while the more fertile and more easily cultivated prairies remained for many years unclaimed. The pioneers were in the main the descendants of those hardy backwoodsmen who conquered the dense forests of the South and East. When farms were opened up in those countries a large belt of timber was invariably reserved from which the farmer could draw his supply of logs for lumber and fence rails, and fuel for heating and cooking purposes. Even at the present day a farm without its patch of timber is exceedingly rare in those countries. Having from their youth up been accustomed to timber, the emigranj: from these timbered regions . of the East would have ever felt lonesome and solitary deprived of the familiar sight of the tall forest trees and shut off from the familiar sound of the wind passing through the branches of the venerable oaks. Then again, timber was an actual necessity to the early settler. In this day of railroads, herd laws, cheap lumber and cheap fuel, it is easy enough to open a farm and build up a comfortable home away out on the prairie, far from the sight of timber. But not so under the circumstances surrounding the first settlers. There was no way of shipping lumber from the markets of the East, coal mines were unknown, and before a parcel of land could be cultivated it was necessary to fence it. In order to settle the prairie countries it was necessary to have railroads, and in order to have railroads it was necessary that at least a portion of the country should be settled. Hence the most important resource in the development of this western country was the belts of timber which skirted the streams ; and the settlers who first hewed %)ut homes in the timber, while at present not the most enterprising and progressive, were nevertheless an essential factor in the solution of the problem.

Much of this primeval forest has been removed ; part of it was economically manufactured into lumber, which entered into the construction of the early dwelling houses, many of which still remain ; much of it was ruthlessly and reckless-ly destroyed. From the fact that attention was early given to the culture of artificial groves,- Buchanan County now has probably about as much timber as formerly, and the state much more.

Among the most abundant of all trees originally found was the black walnut, so highly prized in all countries for manufacturing purposes. Timber of this kind was very plentiful and of good quality originally, but the high prices paid for this kind of timber presented itself as a temptation to destroy it, which the people, frequently in straightened circumstances, could not resist. Red, white and black oak are still very plentiful, although they have for many years been extensively used as fuel. Crab apple, elm, maple, ash, Cottonwood and wild cherry are also found. Some of the best timber in the state is to be found in this county.

A line of timber follows the course of all the streams. Detached groves, both natural and artificial, are found at many places throughout the county, which are not only ornamental, in that they vary the monotony of the prairie, but likewise very useful; in that they have a very important bearing on the climate. It is a fact fully demonstrated by the best of authority that climate varies with the surface of a country.

Climate

The climate is what is generally termed a healthful one, subject, however, to the sudden change ^om heat to cold. The winters, however, are as a general thing uniform, although there seems to have been some modifications in the climate du|ing the past few years, resulting, doubtless, from the changes which have taken place in the physiognomy of the country.

The average yearly rainfall and melted snow, for twenty-five years,, has been 36.62 inches. The average rainfall and melted snow, for each month respectively, for this period, has been as follows: January, 1.68 inches; February, 1.67; March, 2.10; April, 3.49; May, 4,39 ; June, 4.75 ; July, 4.69; August, 4.66; September, 3.30; October, 2.33; November, 1.69; December, 1.89 inches. The rain and melted snow for winter, 5.25 inches; spring, 9.25 ; summer, 14.10; autumn, 7.32 inches.

The following article, from the pen of William I. Heddens, M. D., Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in St. Joseph, Missouri, was published in a recent issue of the St. Jd^eph Gazette, and is applicable to the whole of Northwest Missouri :

"Almost the whole of the Platte Purchase is healthy and singularly free from consumption, asthma, bronchitis, laryngitis, and the diseases most dreaded by the inhabitants of the Eastern states. It is seldom that typhoid or other fever prevails, and it is unusual that epidemics of any kind' exist. The climate is dry and pure. The few localities that are by nature unhealthy, can almost all of them be made healthy by a little foresight. The malarial fevers, so common in the Western and Southern states, are almost certain to be confined to the river bottoms, and are of a much milder character than those originating further south and west. There is scarcely any rheumatism in this climate, and what few cases there are, are mild in comparison with low and moist localities. In fact, as to climate, and to all climatic, teluric and other influences ; in regard to pure and cold water, free from mineral and other poisons ; drainage, wholesome vegetable and animal products, cereals and fruits, no country can boast of superiority in all that pertains to a man's health, strength and longevity, over the famous ' Platte Purchase.'

"As 'wild' grasses are subdued, and 'tame' ones take their places - as the prairies are changed into wheat fields and corn fields, and swamps are drained, shade trees planted in some places and forests thinned in others - when roads are opened and dwellings modernized as is rapidly being done, it will then be the healthiest improved country, as it is now the healthiest by nature, of all the Western States. A climate that is never too cold in winter nor too hot in summer for health ; where neither drought nor wet seasons exist, but enough variety of temperature of seasons, combined with its altitude and latitude and healthy atmosphere to produce the highest and best types of the lower animals, as well as man, my prediction is that the human beings who will in the near future dwell here, will be both physically atfd mentally superior to those born and reared in either a colder or warmer climate. They will be.

freer from all zymotic and other diseases which render feeble both mind and body in other climates. The child born here should grow to healthy, vigorous maturity, with great nerve force, energy and perseverance, without any sickness except of an accidental nature, and ought to be ashamed to die before the age of 75 years."

Soil

There is a variety of soil, as well as surface in the county. Portions along the Missouri River, in particular, are somewhat broken and uneven, but the soil is productive and peculiarly well adapted for the growth of grasses. Along the river bottoms the soil is very deep and rich, owing to the heavy accretions, and there corn especially is raised with success. As a rule, the soil of the county is better adapted to the growth of grass and the cultivation of corn than to the production of the other cereals.

" Lo ! they stretch In airy undulations, far away. As if an ocean in its gentlest swell Stood still, with all its rounded billows fixed And motionless forever. Motionless ? No, they ape all unchained again. The clouds Sweep over with their shadows, and beneath, The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye ; Dark hollows seem to glide along and chase The sunny ridges. Breezes of the South ! Who toss the golden and the flame-like flowers, _ And pass the prairie hawk, that, poised on high, Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not - ye have played Among the palms of Mexico and vines Of Texas, and have crisped the limpid brooks That from the fountains of Sonora glide Into the calm Pacific - have ye fanned A nobler or a luvelier scene than this ? Man hath no part in all this glorious work ; The hand that built the firmament hath heaved And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their hopes With herbage, planted them with island groves, And hedged them round with forests. Fitting floor For this magnificent temple of the sky - With flowers whose glory and whose multitude Rival the constellations ! The great heavens Seem to stoop down upon the scene in love - A nearer vault, and a tenderer hue Than that which bends above the eastern hills "

About one-half of the county is prairie and mostly of a very excellent quality. Prairies, however, are not found in this county of so great extent as in most counties of the State and there are none in which the soil is of an inferior character. On nearly all of the divides between the rivers and running streams, are found large tracts of beautiful, rolling prairie lands, well drained, easily cultivated, highly productive and conveniently located to water, timber, mills and markets. The character of the soil in these prairies is such that good crops are raised even during the very wet and very dry seasons. The soil is light and porous, so that ten hours of bright sunshine will dry the roads after a heavy rain and fit the plowed fields to be cultivated. The same peculiarity of soil which enable crops to withstand much moisture and thrive during a very wet season, also enables them to endure prolonged drouths - the soil, being very porous, is capable of absorbing a large amount of water during the rainy season, and when the drouth sets in, the forces of nature bring back to the surface the surplus moisture from the subterraneous storehouses with as much ease as the Water in the first place was absorbed. This is not the case with that quality of soil commonly known as hard-pan ; the subsoil not being porous, only a small quantity of water is absorbed, after which it gathers on the surface in pools, and is then carried away by the process of evaporation ; drouth sets in, and as soon" as the moisture is exhausted from the surface soil, plants wither and die.

There is comparatively but little waste land from marshes in the county, and many years will not pass till these sloughs, by a proper system of drainage, will be converted into corn fields.