Buchanan County, Missouri - Chapter 1 (2 of 2 so headed), 1900

Coffee, The Horse-Power Mill, The Hominy Other Amusements

FIRST SETTLERS. - LOCATION AND NATURAL ADVANTAGES. - RIVERS, CREEKS AND LAKES. - PIONEER LIFE. - FIRST DWELLINGS. - PRIMITIVE FURNITURE AND FRUGAL HABITS. - ONE-LEGGED BEDSTEAD. - WILD MEAT AND WILD HONEY. - RYE COFFEE, THE HORSE-POWER MILL, THE HOMINY BLOCK AND THE GRITTER. - LABORIOUS AND OTHER AMUSEMENTS.

When in the summer of 1826 Joseph Robidoux pushed the nose of his keel boat into the mouth of the creek now called Roy's Branch, he began the history of Buchanan County, so far as concerns the white man, at least. The red man had made history, too, in his own way, among the Blacksnake hills and valleys, but he took it with him when he crossed the river, and it is buried with him forever, as are his weapons and his wampum.

Robidoux remained undisturbed while the soldiers from Fort Leavenworth were raiding this section for squatters, prior to the purchase. As soon as the treaty was made, and even before the Indians had taken up their march to other hunting grounds, the tide of immigration to Buchanan County set in.

History mentions only a few settlers who escaped the vigilance of the soldiers. Robidoux and his men were here by permission of the government. One of the trespassers was John Elliott, who came from Kentucky in 1833 and located this side of the former state line, in what is now Platte Township. When driven off he moved over the line, but continued to cultivate the land on this side. Another was Hiram Roberts, who located in the vicinity of what is now DeKalb, in 1836, and who was overlooked by the soldiers. He remained in undisturbed possession until the annexation and resided in the neighborhood until his death, in 1881. Absalom Enyard of Clay County located in what is now the center of Platte Township in 1836 and built a small cabin, but was soon ejected. He had been visited by Judge Weston J. Everett of Clay County, who was seeking a location, and who was so favorably impressed that when the Platte purchase was completed he bought Enyard's cabin, and, in the February of 1837, took possession under the homestead law'. Judge Everett was followed in a few weeks by Absalom Munkers.

From 1837 to 1840 there wras a steady influx of settlers and the development of the country progressed rapidly. Immigrants came from the neighboring counties and from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.

Because of their early environments, most of these took naturally to the timbered districts that skirt the streams. This was practical, too, for the early settler required w'ood for his houses, his fences and his fuel. Transportation was an item of great moment, for there were no railroads and few steamboats in those days.

Among the most abundant trees of all originally found was the black walnut. Howrever, the later demand for this wood in the manufacture of furniture wras so great that the forests fell before the axe, and now there is but little of it left. A line of timber still follow's the course of all streams, and detached groves, natural and artificial, are found throughout the country.

Buchanan is situated in latitude 39 degrees 47 minutes north, and longitude 94 degrees 55 minutes west. Its altitude is about 1,000 feet above sea level, and it is about 400 feet above Chicago and 600 feet above St. Louis. The highest point in the county is the hill upon which are located the reservoirs of the St. Joseph W ater Company. It is 320 feet above lowr water mark in the Missouri River and is situated two and one-half miles north of St. Joseph.

The surface away from the streams is gently undulating prairie, and there is a wonderful diversity of country for so small an area. Few, if any, counties in the state possess better natural drainage, and there is consequently but little waste land. Nor could any improvement be made over nature in the distribution of the water courses. Platte River is a fine stream, as is also the One-Hundred-and-Twro River. The name of this stream is somewhat of a puzzle. One authority asserts that it is 102 miles in length. Another authority claims that it wras so named because when the river was first seen by the surveyors who wrere locating a military road, the distance from Fort Leavenworth was 102 miles, and they named it so, as is the custom - the name of Ten-mile Creek, Forty-mile Creek, etc., being similar instances. Bee Creek, Castile, Malden, Sugar and Contrary Creeks and their various forks and feeders are all valuable and never-failing streams.

Besides these, there are numerous lakes, bordering the Missouri River. Contrary, the most extensive and beautiful of these, is located about three miles southwest of St. Joseph. It receives its name from Contrary Creek, which empties into it, Contrary Creek being so called because it flows north, contrary to the course of the Missouri River. Sugar Lake, in Rush Township, is partly in Buchanan and partly in Platte County. It is a picturesque sheet of water. Then there are Singleton, Horseshoe, Muskrat and Mud Lakes. Contrary and Sugar Lakes are fruitful ice fields, the meat-packing concerns of Kansas City and St. Joseph drawing their supplies largely from them.

That the climate is healthful is best known to those who dwell here. In fact, almost the whole of the Platte Purchase is singularly free from consumption, asthma, bronchitis and the diseases most dreaded in the Eastern states. The air is dry and pure and the malarial fevers so common to Western and Southern states are confined to the river bottoms and are comparatively mild.

The early settlers found, besides timber and water, an easy and productive soil. To these advantages the sturdy pioneer had but to apply his energies, and the reward was certain. Hence the wealthy farmers of today, whose broad acres and ample houses, whose grand orchards and blooded livestock are but the primitive establishments of the early settler amplified and developed, step by step, from generation to generation, by industry and thrift, aided by natural conditions and a constant benediction in the climate. It can be truthfully said that there has never been a total failure of crops in Platte Purchase.

Pioneer life in Buchanan County was no different from pioneer life elsewhere in the West. The first settlers were plain, hospitable, brave, generous people. They were good neighbors, bound together with a strong bond of sympathy, which made one man's interest every other man's interest also, and every man's protection lay in the good will and friendship of those about him.

The first dwellings of the white man in this country were a cross between Indian bark huts and 'hoop cabins," for it took a number of men to build a log house. The settlers generally located in bunches, for mutual protection, and when three or four families had formed a community, they began the building of log houses, each assisting the other. The logs were round, notched together at the corners. The cabins were ribbed with poles and covered with split boards. A puncheon floor was then laid, a hole cut in the end and a chimney made of sticks and mud. The door was of clapboard, and a window was provided by cutting out a log in the side and inserting glass or covering it with greased paper. The house was then chinked and daubed with mud, and was ready for the occupant.

The furniture consisted generally of the one-legged bedstead, a rude table, a few plain chairs and an assortment of pots and pans for cooking the food at the fire-place, there being no stoves. The onelegged bedstead was made by cutting a stick the proper length and boring holes in the edge to correspond with holes in a log of the cabin. Rounds of wood were inserted into the corresponding holes, and what resembled a ladder in a horizontal position was supported on one corner by a leg, the other end and one side being fastened to the walls. Bark was woven into the rounds, and upon this primitive structure the bed was laid.

The manner of living was extremely simple. For some years the only mills were propelled by horse power, each customer furnishing his own power. There wTere no roads and the grain wTas carried in sacks, horseback. In the first years very little wheat was grown, corn being the only grain. The hominy block, an improvised mortar, made by cutting a hole into the stump of a large tree, and using a heavy timber as a pestle, was one way of producing meal for bread. Another instrument was the "grittcr," made by punching holes into a piece of tin, which was then nailed to a board, rough side out, and upon which green or previously softened corn was rubbed into a pulp and then baked into bread or ash cakes.

Rve and cornmeal parched were often a substitute for coffee, and sassafras root produced a palatable substitute for "store tea." Game was plenty, especially deer, elk, wild turkeys, prairie chickens, and even bear, so there was no scarcity of meat until the hog could be turned into pork.

The clothing was homespun, made by the women of the household - "jeans" for the men and "linsey-woolsey" for the maids and matrons. Hunting shirts and pantaloons of dressed buckskin were also worn by men. The linsey and jeans for every day use were collored with hickory or w'alnut bark, and those for Sunday wear wrere dyed in indigo. A fell suit of blue jeans wTas considered a fine dress.

high and difficult to obtain. The pioneers had no money, as a rule, and for the first few years had nothing to sell except skins, wild honey and beeswax. Along the streams there were many hollow trees in which wild bees had deposited their honey, and these were eagerly sought.

There were amusements, too. Log-rolling was a laborious sport. Rail-splitting was another. The women had quilting parties while the men enjoyed themselves with the logs and the rails, and in evening there was generally a dance, if a fiddler could be had, or games of various kinds, as in all primitive communities. In fact, the history of the early settlers of Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana was repeated in Missouri.

In a few years the settlers of Buchanan County had made great progress, and in five years after the country was opened for settlement there were several saw and flouring mills, roads and other improvements.