Dunklin County, Missouri - Chapter 10: Towns and Villages Caruth, 1896

Chapter 10: Towns and Villages Caruth

Is a little post-village first established by Wm. M. Satterfield about 1881. Mr. Sattertield built a large two-story house in which he did a flourishing business during the remainder of his life. He operated a grist mill and cotton gin, built many tenant houses, and caused the little village to move on in a manner typical of *' New America." Since the death pf Mr.

Satterfield in 1890 it has seen quite a decline. Several business men have at different times opened stores here, but have remained only a short time. At present there are no oroods being sold here, and the post-office is kept at the home of Rev. R. H. Douglass. Mrs. Douglass is the accommodating and efficient post-mistress. Caruth is situated on the main public road leading south from Kennett and at a distance of eight miles from that city and in the very heart of *' Grand Prairie." It is surrounded on all sides by some of the finest and best improved farms in Dunklin County. No neighborhood in the county has prettier homes or more cultivated people. The neighborhood has the benefit of a six or eight months' school annually. The Baptists have a new church edifice at Caruth and carry on a Sunday-school. The Liberty Church of the M. E. C. S. is within less than a mile distant. Passing Caruth is a daily hack line which leaves the U. S. mails from both the North and South. The post-office was named by Mr. Satterfield in honor of an old friend, who was a member of the McCombs, Caruth & Byrns Hardware Co., of St. Louis, Missouri.

Is situated about two miles from the St. Francois River, six miles north of the Arkansas and Missouri State line, and in section 3, township 16, range 7, on Buffalo Island. It is the terminus of the Paragould and Southeastern Railroad and its people believe it is destined to be the metropolis of the south end of the county.

Cardwell was laid out and surveyed by Burtig Brothers, of Paragould, Arkansas, and named in honor of Mr. Frank Cardwell, cashier of the Bank of Paragould ; the first house was erected by Cox Bros, of Paragould and the second by J. R. Pool. The postoffice was established February 16, 1895. Since that date the town has had a steady and rapid growth. Its people show their energy and thrift by their manner of felling the great forest trees, sawing them into lumber and shaping them into neat and comfortable resident and business houses. The place which was one year ago the forest home of the bear, deer, coon and turkey, is to-day a thriving little railroad town of 150 inhabitants, having two general stores, owned respectively by Burtig Brothers and Lamb & Hale ; they both carry a full line of fresh goods, and buy cotton and other produce. J. W. Wetherby, J. M. Gist and J. A. Southers, each carry a nice selection of fresh groceries. There are three restaurants and two saloons.

Hotel Cardwell is a large well-built house, that would be a credit to any town of 1,000 inhabitants. Three saw-mills, one cotton gin, and grist mill, a livery stable and two blacksmiths, do a prosperous business at this new town. Daily mail is brought by the Paragould and Southeastern Railroad, which connects with the Cotton Belt Route at Paragould. The new road was completed from Paragould to Cardwell in February, 1895, and will now compare favorably with older roads in the South and West. The business of the road is quite heavy and increasing. They have a first-class depot at Cardwell and are fairly well prepared to accommodtite the general public. The train carrying passengers arrives from Paragould at 11 o'clock a. m. and leaves for Paragould at 1 o'clock p. m. A six months' school with fifty - three pupils enrolled under the supervision of Mr. Walter Cook, one of the most successful and best informed teachers in the county, alone speaks well for the enterprise of the people of Cardwell and vicinity. They have preaching once and twice each month and the M. E. C. S. has bought a lot on which they expect soon to build a house of worship.

There are some good farms opened and fairly well improved around this new town, but there are thousands of acres of land that will produce anything that can be produced in this climate upon which there is scarcely a tree amiss. The timber is mostly large, plenty of it being from three to five feet in diameter, and in many cases worth more than is asked per acre for the land.

In 1848 Buffalo Creek levee, between Cotton Plant and Kennett, was built by Judge E. J. Langdon and Billy O. Williams. W^ith the money which he received for this work, Judge Langdon purchased a stock of general merchandise and started a store near the present site of Cotton Plant. About 1854 he bought a cotton gin of a Mr. Clark. At that time it stood on the old Anderson Tompson place. Judge Langdon improved this crude gin and began to encourage the farmers, or perhaps hunters would be as correct a name, to raise cotton. He also bought the Jack Cude

From that time Cotton Plant began to take on a tangible form, but at just what time it took its name is not certain. It was first spoken of as Cotton Plant by a stranger, who on coming into the county, noticed around it the only plants of cotton in that part of the

The plants of this growth are very pretty and sure to attract the attention of any one not accustomed to seeing them grow, more especially when in bloom. The red and white blossoms are very attractive among their beds of dark green leaves, and in the fall season the balls of soft fleecy white cotton are by many considered quite as pretty as the bloom. Anyway you take it the little town's namesake is worthy of attention, and for this particular town no more appropriate name could have been chosen than Cotton Plant. It was for years the source and center of the cotton business in the south end of the county save what was raised on the west prairie around Old Cotton Hill, Cotton Plant had the exclusive cotton traffic of the county until long after the Civil War. The history of this post-village is the history of Judge Langdon's prosperity. From his modest beginning as half owner in a cooper's shop and blacksmith's, with Isiah Jones as partner, as contractor and builder of one of the first levees in the county, as founder of one of the oldest general stores, he became the owner of a village containing about one hundred inhabitants, with a school and church house, over which was an Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall; a commodious store well filled with the latest wares, and one of the largest landholders in the county. In his latter years he might have stood on the upper gallery of his pretty village home and surveyed, almost us. far as the eye could see, his own domains, well improved, on the east, south, or west. He was the first and only postmaster up to the time of his death ; although, ])rior to his decease, for several years, he did not reside at Cotton Plant in summer, and in fact kept his family at Arcadia, Iron County, Mo., most of the time, but he never ceased to hold his citizenship in Dunklin County and always came back to vote.

He erected from time to time new cottages in Cotton Plant, but would never sell any lots. He probably had two reasons for this; one was he did not wish a competitor, another was he did not want any one to have the right to sell any intoxicants in his little town, as he feared they would do if they owned property. He was for many years the sole merchant in this part of the county, and always did a prosperous business, selling goods at a time when they could be sold at a large profit, he bought, or took in on debts, large tracts of land, until at the time of his death, in 1892, his estate was worth about $200,000 or $300,- 000. At different times he had several partners in business, but as often something happened that caused him to be again alone. At one time he sold to T. R. Neel and C. Y. Langdon and they ran the store for a time, but sold back to Judoje Lanadon.

He again sold out, this time to A. J. Lano;clon, who was doino: a ireneral mercantile business at Cotton Plant, at the time of his father's death.

In 1894, A. J. Langdon sold to Wm. M. Gates, who is doing a general mercantile business in the Langdon old store, and has built up for himself a surprisingly good trade. The tirst church and Masonic hall, erected about 1874, was burned in 1883. Shortly after another building of similar character was erected on the same site. The lower story was owned and built by tTudge Langdon, and the upper by the I. O. O. F. and Masonic fraternities.

The lower story was set apart for school and church services, and is yet held so by the heirs of Judge Langdon. A six or eight months' school is annually kept at Cotton Plant.

It may be said in connection that Judge Langdon was very generous and furnished a home for several years to the circuit preachers of Grand Prairie Circuit, free of charge, besides giving liberally. He also nearly always had several widows and their children " under his wing," so to speak, and gave them homes and financial assistance. No man whom this county has ever known, was more universally loved and respected by its people than the founder of Cotton Plant.

The *' pole road " between Weaverville and Clarkton was a nice plank road at first, and was to Clarkton then about the same as a railroad is to a little town now. Bach was the name first given to this place, but after the plank road was built, and it began to thrive it was called Clarkton, in honor of Henry E. Clark, a contractor on the new road. Being in the midst of West Prairie, which was easily cleared and tilled, on the road from Gainsville, Ark., to Weaverville and New Madrid, it soon had good stores, mills, gins, etc.

The first house erected here stood about where the late residence of Z. B. Penney was burned. The store was on the old Cottage Hotel lot, and its first proprietors were John M. Muse and John Timberman.

John H. Stokes also established a store here in 1856, which his son, Robert W. Stokes, had charge of until the breaking out of the Civil War. Clarkton was during the war the site of several skirmishes ; some of its stores were destroyed by fire and the plank road was burned.

This was a heavy blow to the new town. For although the road was afterwards rebuilt, or partially so, with poles, it was a very rough affair ; and when once traveled from end to end, it was not so hard to understand how a certain witty traveler's imagination was wrought upon, until he dubbed it *' The Devil's Washboard." But Clarkton withstood all this, and after the cessation of hostilities built up again. Z. B. Penney, E. C. White, Oscar Summers and John Muse established stores, and George Rogers (later of St. Louis) erected a flouring mill, and several grist mills and cotton gins were built, papers were established by different newspaper men, and Clarkton became the metropolis of the county. It had at one time nearly 500 inhabitants, the best schoolhouse in the county, two good churches, and muny ueat residences, and was, without doubt, one of the prettiest towns in this part of the State. The Cottage Hotel erected by Z. B. Penney was, in its day, a boon to travelers in these parts.

The building of the railroad, however, from New Madrid to Maiden dealt Clarkton a terrible blow from which it has never completely recovered. Still it does considerable business for a country town, for its citizens are nearly all of old and highly respected families who have nice homes and are good livers. In fact, among the best and most influential citizens the county has ever had, have been those in the vicinity of Clarkton. At present it has two general stores owned respectively by M. W. Hubbard and Judge James M. Waltrip. A drug and grocery store are kept by Pack Harrison and his brother, Dr. Arthur Harrison. There is also a blacksmith shop, two mills and cotton gins.

Some fine farms are in close proximity to Clarkton, those of Asa B. Douglass, the Rayburns, Wm. N. Gunn, Judge R. L. Hodges, - Scaggs, Martin V. Baird and George, W. Marshall's are the best known. The last named is, I believe, all things considered, the most desirable farm in the county. Those of T. J. Douglass, near Caruth, and Ben. F. Hicks, of Halcomb, are, in fact, its only rivals.

ton Belt Route of the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad passes through it. Although many of its citizens are those who formerly lived at Old Four Mile, Campbell ten acres of the farm of G. M. Williams into town lots, and the railroad company did the same with forty acres. The Lasswell Brothers put up the first store, and E. C. Haines the first saw-mill on the site of the new town. But Campbell was not designed on the country store and saw mill style, for the citizens hereabout intended from the first to make a good town of it, and they have, for it has some of the best business enterprises of any town in the county. The Lasswell Milling Co., incorporated February, 1894, with a paidup stock of $30,000, is one of these enterprises.

It has, in connection with a 30,000 feet capacity sawmill and planing mill with machinery of the latest improvement, both of which have the record of putting out from 75 to 100 car loads of material per month, a trainroad with steel track some seven miles or more in length, running southwest from Campbell, with ample equipment of rolling stock, consisting of a locomotive and ten train cars; besides, it owns ten standard gauge logging cars, which are in control of the St. L., K. & S. R. K., and bring timber from stations along this, and the Kennett and Caruthersville R, R., to the mills at Campbell.

It will be seen from this that the supply of timber for this company is almost limitless, and it is the source of employment of some 150 or 175 men.

This company about one year ago bought a tract of land and added it to the town plot, as the McCutchen Addition, and the town has within that time almost doubled itself in size and population ; there having been about thirty new buildings, erected mostly on this new plot, and this gives the town a very attractive appearance from the east, south and west. The officials of the company are J, F, Lasswell, President, W. D.

of this county, and gives Campbell another paying enterprise. It is new, having done its first work on the fall crop of 1895, but it makes four grades of good flour. The building is four stories, and the machinery of the very best, having a capacity of fifty barrels per day.

For convenience of shipping, the company have built a 600-foot railroad switch. The officers are numbered among the best citizens of the county, being J. Q. A. Gardiner, President; W. D. Lasswell, Vicepresident; Louis McCutcben, Secretary and Treasurer, and W. E. Hopper, General Manager. Besides this, Campbell has a cotton gin, woodwork and blacksmith shop, four hotels and a number of staple and fancy groceries and general stores.

A large amount of produce is shipped from this place, as the farming community is a good one. This is also a fine fruit growing locality, being at the foot of Crawley's Ridge in this county, and the people are quiteproudof the ** Pollock & Stanley Nursery." It is only about eight years old, but its business is annually increasing and the fruits, shrubs, etc., worked are of the best standard kinds.

As the people are progressive and up-with-the-times folk, they are, of course, proud of their good school building, and cheerfully support an eight months term, which is this year under the management of E. E. McCullough, and Miss Katie Lawson.

The Campbell Baptist Church on Riffle avenue and Main street, the M. E. C. S. on Martin avenue and Oak street, and the Christian Church on Martin

This is one of the oldest settled communities in the county, and many of the citizens of Campbell have been residents here between forty and fifty years. Among the oldest are A. D. Bridges, of the firm of Bridges & Son, who located here in 1844. Mrs. Owen, widow of Dr. Given Owen, who also came to the county in 1844; Dr. Bray, who has been here since 1850; and old ** Uncle " Billy Gear, who has been here *' about as long as any one ; " and J. Q. A. Gardiner, who has been a citizen of Dunklin County since 1869. A number of others might be mentioned but this is enough to prove that Campbell is a fairly healthy locality, for these old people are all hale and strong considering their age.

Gibson

This is a little station on the railroad between Campbell and Kennett. It has a saw mill, cotton gin and grist mill, owned by J. G. Dover & Son, and a grocery store, by J. A. Northern ton, and a good church and schoolhouse. Among the old families around Gibson, nearly all of whom have good farms, are the Northerntons, Weathers, Bensons, Davidsons, Taylors, Barnes, Moores, Ozbirns, Sanders and Browns.

railroad came through; many say it was a more thriving town then than now. Owing to a dispute which arose between the people of the town and the railroad company, the depot was, first built about a mile below town, and the station called Pine City in honor of the Lone Pine near by. However, a satisfactory settlement was at length made, a depot erected at Halcomb, and the station at Pine City discontinued. The town has several stores, the oldest general merchant beinoj Judo^e John A. Hoojue. Dr. I. W. Powell has a very nice drug store here, and is one of the leading physicians ; the others are Drs. G. W. Quinn, W. G. Hughes and E. T. Applegate.

Halcomb has a good school building and supports a good school eight months in the year, and two churches. Baptist and Methodist. A legacy was set apart by Mrs. Hogue to build a Presbyterian church on that church lot in Halcomb, so that it will soon have three churches. The largest Union Sunday-school in the county is carried on in the Methodist church at this place under the supervision of Dr. E. T. Applegate and Rev. Owen by.

Halcomb has been a o^reat lumber center, but the saw-mill business is not so brisk as a few years ago. Considerable farm produce is shipped from this place ; melons and strawberries are two of the most prominent products, and these cannot be excelled for either quality or size, and are generally ripe more than a week earlier than in the surrounding counties. Almost anything can be successfully raised around Halcomb that can be grown in this climate, and its agricultural resources only need development, for no better soil can be found anywhere. Wheat, oats, clover, corn, grasses, melon, small fruit, poultry and eggs, are raised plentifully here.

Not only the town of Halcomb, but all of Halcomb Island, has improved very rapidly in the last few years. There was not a brick chimney nor a glass window in the neipjhborhood fifteen vears ag-o. Then one could not see over a quarter of a mile in any direction on account of the heavy timber, and deer roamed the woods in the neighborhood even in the daytime. Now one might stand on a house-top in Halcomb and see farms for a distance of five miles, or as far as the eye can see. Seven churches and six schools with 600 scholars enrolled are within the bounds of the little island.

Col. H. A. Ai)piegate's, the Messrs. Blakemore's, John P. Taylor's [deceased] and Ben F. Hicks' are noted farms. Mr. Hicks' is said to be the most conveniently arranged and best fenced farm in the county.

The Town Of Hornersville

W. H. Horner came to Dunklin County in 1832, and located on the bank of Little River, entering from the Government, at the old land office in Jackson, Mo., the east fractional half of section 8, township 16, range 9, east, and built a large log house - which is yet standing and owned by VVm. Herman - by the side of a mound where he would have dry land in time of an *' overflow," and there opened up a small farm.

In 1842, he laid out the town of Hornersville, containing all of fractional southeast quarter of section 8, township 16, range 9. Commencing at his own dwelling place, which is situated on lot one, block one, he laid off the plot along the river bank. The town site is one of the most beautiful in the county ; commanding a splendid view of the open river, it is higher than the surrounding country and is well drained by Little River, which at this point, more especially in spring, is exceedingly pretty.

The first merchant in the town was Jesse Storv, who in later years lived at Weaverville, New Madrid County. Jeff. Molt and Horner and Satterfield were other early business men. Wagster and Douglass, dealers in tobacco, cigars, fine wines, liquors, etc., was i)lainly discernible on some of the door posts of an old house a few years ago. Joel Chandler was another early resident and merchant of Hornersville. in its early days " Hornerstown " was a brisk trading point; the hunters and Indians bringing their furs to the merchants and buying of them their traps, tents, ammunition, guns, etc.

By 1861 it had become a considerable town, had a schoolhouse, church and Masonic hall. It was, however, nearly destroyed by the war, and for several years after made very slow progress, having not more than one or two small merchandise houses and a grocery or saloon or two. W. F. Shellon kept a saloon in a little house which had no door shutter. A box, or some similar contrivance, was placed across the door at night to keep the cattle out. The counter was a dry goods box; the stock on hand consisted of a barrel of liquor and a tin cup. The cup was filled and passed around to the boys.

Other business men here about this time were Edwards and McCrackin, H. G. Pasley, Henry Stewart, and later Harkey and Schultz. They commenced business about 1870, and were very successful, soon ranking among the best business men in the county.

Hornersville has at present two general stores, a grocery store, grist mill, two sawmills, and a drug store. The leading merchant is Dr. John L. Mathews, who is one of the best posted men in financial and mercantile matters in Southeast Missouri. Dr. Mathews keeps one of the best stocked general stores south of Kennett, and Pope and McKay are enlarging their business with encouraging prospects.

Hornersville is one of the best trading points in the south end of the county, and its merchants sell thousands of dollars' worth of goods every year.

Some of the lands around this town are subject to overflow in spring, none in the county, however, excel it in fertility. These high waters do not come every spring. The waters have not been high enough to inconvenience Hornersville and vicinity since 1886.

It is a reasonably healthy locality, and thus need only two practicing y)hysicians - Drs. E. T. Anderson and Floyd Kinsolving. A daily hack from Kennett brings the U. S. mails. Tom Kinsolving is postmaster.

Mrs. Samuel Edmonston and Mrs. W. N. Cole^accommodate the traveling public, and their guests frequently dine on wild goose, duck, turkey, venison steak, frog legs and fresh fish, as this is one of the greatest hunting and fishing centers in the county. The history of Hornersville would fill a good-sized volume in itself, and can only be touched lightly here. At first it was only a peaceful little hamlet where the steamboats and keelboats from Memphis landed to exchange their wares for produce, game and furs.

In those days the fur buyers were ordinary personages, and in spring laid their sacks of gold in the tents of the hunters as though they were so many sacks of salt. A thief was considered the meanest and most insignificant of all creatures and hence the gold was never touched. Fighting and brawling among the neighbors was unheard of, and preaching at people's houses, singing meetings, corn huskings, old fashioned quiltings and log rollings were frequent occurrences. But all this soon changed, as this place was found to be a good-hiding place for desperadoes, it being impossible to trace them through the dismal swamps of Little Kiver.

John A. Murrell's gang made Hornersville one of their meeting-places, and as the citizens were too scarce to put them down, they had things about their own way for a while. They at first palmed themselves off on the citizens as Masons, and when a man was persuaded to take the oath, to break it meant certain death, thus the only thing he could do was to ** keep quiet," after such persuasion.

More .will be said about this ^'g.mg" elsevvhere, but it may be said here that Hornersville was not their only place of meeting in this county, and that they did not commit as much crime here as in many other older and more thickly populated counties. However, there is no doubt but the influence of this "s^anor" was very demoralizing and that they sowed the seeds of future depravity.

Soon after the suppression of this gang the Civil War broke out, and as Hornersville was about the largest town in the county it was the common stoppingplace of the "Yanks," the *' Secessionists " and *' Guerrillas," when they were in the county. During these hostilities the town hall was burned and the town nearly demolished. It was several years after the war before order was even partially restored, and many so inclined had ample opportunities to cultivate their evil propensities. But be it said in behalf of Hornersville, that although there has been a number of murders committed here, there has not been more than in other towns of its age, and the many stories of its *' desperate " men, have either been exaggerated or made outright. There has never been a time in the history of Hornersville when a man who acted the gentleman was not treated as such, unless, perchance, he fell in the hands of the Murrell gano:. Homersville was never incorporated, and it must be confessed that the associations of the saloon of former years gave some cause for the stories told of its morals. But it has had no saloon for several vears : its ** blind tiger" and '* dejicl full," days are past, and the people in that locality say it will never have another saloon, at least, until it is incorporated. The ladies of that vicinity are setting a high standard of morals for ihe sterner sex, and it seems almost needless to say that the standard is fast being reached. The ladies declare they will never again suffer anything to be said ao^ainst the morals of their husbands and brothers, for with a few exceptions, they are as gallant, moral and law-abiding as any men in America.

Hornersville has a ofood church buildino^ nearinorcompletion, and in it a Sunday-school, weekly prayer meetings, and weekly singing are carried on for the edification of its people. The people of this vicinity are of the *' big-hearted " kind, and if you have occasion to visit Hornersville, you will be met with old fashioned Southern hospitality.

The people of this vicinity expect the Paragould and Southeastern Railroad to strike this town. Believing it will come east near the line of the old wagon road known as the '* Bear Road," pass through Lulu and Hornersville on its route southeast to Osceola, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. Should this be the case, Hornersville has everything to make it the best town between Kennett in this county and Osceola, Ark.

Dunklin County's capital is centrally situated, one mile east of Varney's river, and is about 270 feet above the mean tidal wave of the Gulf of Mexico, where the high or overflow waters never touch it. From the clock tower of the county courthouse one may view many miles of as beautiful and prosperous a county as there is in Southeast Missouri. Kennett is considered the oldest town in the county, and yet Hornersville was laid off in town lots before the former town. But

Kennett was an Indian village long before this county was settled by the whites; and as the Indians thought it a desirable centralizing point, as also did the early settlers, they located and built little log cabins near its present site, until the pioneers dignified it by calling it a town.

starting the town of Kennett. He was a progressive Indian and aspired to live in a house instead of a wigwam. So, according to his progressive views, he built a two roomed log, or pole cabin, planted some peach and apple trees around it and believed himself to be quite up with the times. In his kitchen he built a mortar with attachments for the purpose of pounding his Indian corn into meal for breadstuff. The chief's claim eventually was bought by Howard Moore, who turned the corn mortar into a coffee mortar, and erected near by one of the first grist mills of the county. *« Uncle " Dave Moore, who was the second white child born in the county, can yet describe all of those early improvements, and remembers how the little place was first called Chilletacaux, in honor of the Indian chief and his claim.

In 1845, when Dunklin County was organized and Chilletacaux was chosen as the seat of its government the lawyers, who looked after its legal affairs, soon arrived at the conclusion that Chilletacaux was too long and hard a name for a county seat. They made their opinion known to the county's representative in the Leofislature and asked him to effect a change of name. He complied, and had the town called Butler. But this name proved unsatisfactory also, as the mails for Butler town and Butler County were continually getting mixed and causing delays and annoyance. Again the representative was appealed to, with the result that Kennett was chosen as a name for Dunklin County's seat of government. The pioneers built a little pole hut to be used for school and church ser- vices, and this served as a place of shelter, when shelter was necessary, for the first court officials after the organization of the county until the citizens had time to erect a courthouse. This they did in 1847. The building was of logs, but was substantial and sufficiently large, and served its purpose admirably until it was destroyed by fire during the war.

The history of the several courthouses of this county has been given elsewhere, and it is sufficient to say here that the present courthouse, erected on the public square, in 181)2, is one of the finest in this part of the State, and of which not only Kennett but the entire county is proud,

Kennett's first store was opened by Elbert C. Spiller, who was for a time in partnership with James Cude ; they continued in business for several years, and were finally succeeded by A. M. Davis, and J. R. McCullough, John S. Houston, John H. Marsh, and Campbell Wright. Kennett grew steadily, and had good prospects when the war broke out. This left it, as it did the remainder of the country, in a very deplorable condition ; business had been suspended, and a heap of ashes marked the remains of what had once been the courthouse ; in short, the town had been destroyed and had to be rebuilt again.

W. F. Shelton beofan business here about the close of the war, commencing in a very crude little log cabin. His present wealth testifies to his having done a prosperous business; but many of its other citizens seem to have dropped off in a Rip Van Winkle dose, from which they were never fully aroused until the whistle of the locomotive was heard in their midst. This occurred about January 1, 1892. True, it had before this begun to cast about and put forth considerable energy, although it still enjoyed retiring at 9 p. M., and rising at 6 a. m.

Kennett had to this date built two good churches and a Methodist parsonage. It had a cotton gin and grist mill or two, and general stores were run respectively by T. E. Baldwin & Co., Tatum Bros., Phillips & Co., S. S. White & Co., W. F. Shelton, B. Weil, and others. A drug store had been opened by A. B. Mobley, and a family grocery by G. W. Huskey. The brick bank building on the north side of the square had been erected and the citizens were striving for the new courthouse. It was even then a thriving, if a modest town. At present and in the last four years Kennett has been on a prolonged and steady " boom."

A *'boom" in this instance does not mean that Kennett has advertised and deceived unwary homeseekers into coming to ** the garden spot of America," *' a perfect paradise," etc., or described it so that one might expect to see the corn cobs grown around it set with gold dollars instead of ordinary corn, or the cotton bolls tilled with silver coin so that it would be easy to gather all one would ever need in a day. Oh, no, Kennett has done nothing of this kind, in fact, it has had less extravagant praise bestowed upon it, and less advertising than any town in this part of the State. Its people have been content to let others lind the many advantages they enjoyed as citizens of Kennett and Dunklin Co., believing that its true

This may be understood as raeaning that the people are descendants from all nationalities, who - or their forefathers Ions: asro - had chosen Missouri as their favorite State, Dunklin as its best county, and Kennett as their choice town in their adopted country ; and that they have gone to work with all the energy and bustle - peculiar to the American - to make it just what they want it.

Kennett has nearly 2,000 inhabitants, and they may be said to be typical Missourians as well as Americans. Some might term them a bit old-fashioned, perhaps, for althoijojh its o^entlemen have caught a whiff of the bicycle craze, its ladies are yet innocent of the bloomers and the ''wheeled horse;" and yet the latter understand how to arrange their hair in the latest style, use six yards of silk in a dress sleeve, sing, dance, lead a prayer-meeting, preside over a society club, command and retain the respect of their male companions, and rule their part of the nation, not with scolding or the ballot box, but with that something which is called " tact." In this way they appear submissive, thereby making mankind happy, but at the same time have their way pretty much the same as all other American women ; and last, but not least, they can teach their children, and personally keep their homes in the good old-fashioned way. Be this woniiui old-fashioned or otherwise, she is the typical woman of Kennett and of Dunklin County.

The men possess a large number of the good qualities and a sprinkling of the less desirable ones peculiar to both sexes and all nations, and are energetic, thrifty, law abiding, reverential, money-making and able, reojardless of callino:. From the saloon man to the doctor of divinity they are always ready to go down into their pockets every time their wives tell them their town needs a new church, the widows and orphans assistance, or any other charitable deed done. These are the men who have given this town a fouryears' *' boom " which has not yet reached its zenith.

These are the kind of men you will find in Kennett and all over Dunklin County. They are thoroughly awake now and are determined to make their corner of "Grand old Missouri," all that any other part of it can be made.

Two years ago Ken net t had a fire which almost swept out the south side of Main street, but the ashes were scarcely more than cool until brick structures as good as any to be found outside of a city had replaced those old frame buildings and the town was really the gainer instead of the loser thereby. It has four attractive churches and a $9,000 public school building. Over 400 scholars are enrolled and under the able tutorage of A. B. Sloan, as principal, and Misses Ida Morgan, Alma Stokes, Ada Summers and Lemma Timberman, assistants. The term is nine months.

The business of the town is of a substantial and lasting kind and can only be exhausted when the county is depopulated. The 5th of September one of Kennett's cotton gins turned out the first bale of cotton for this year, and since that time its gins, four in number, have been kept busy almost day and night, and will continue their work for a month in the new year of 1896. Three steam corn shellers will prepare for market the surplus corn of at least the south end of the county.

Tatum Bros., W. F. Shelton, Jr. & Co., Levi Mercantile Co., and B. Weil may be said to be the old and permanent general store companies although there are others who do a good business.

To mention all of the general and fancy grocery companies, hardware and drug stores and other like enterprises would be tedious : suffice it to say that it has all these, with special delivery wagons, etc., fish, ffame and cold storage warehouses, lumber yards.

As to hotels, Kennett has three: The Commercial Hotel, presided over by Mrs. E. G. Slicer, who is an all-rouDd hotel woman; The Gatis House, which is a general travelers' home, and the Wyman House, which is the largest in towMi.

A live growing town always has a live growing newspaper, and Kennett is fully up with the times in this line; and has in the Dunklin Democrat a most able champion of Dunklin County and its capital. It is now in its new brick office in the Tatum Block. Every subscriber will receive this paper every week in the year and always find something new in it, and this is much more than can be said of many county papers.

Kennett's people believe, and rightly, that they have in Mr. E. P. Caruthers one of the most able editors in the Southeast, and are never afraid to have their county paper compared with any in this part of the State, for after a close comparison one must think just a little more of the Dunklin Democrat.

The Bank of Kennett has a nice building, a time lock, burglar-proof safe, etc., and a capital stock of $25,000. January 1, 1895, it had a deposit of nearly $72,000. T. E. Baldwin is president, W. F. Shelton, vice-president, and D. B. Pankey, cashier.

The town is in a good condition financially, it is out of debt and the taxes are light. All the business houses, churches, hotels, and the courthouse, as v/ell as the streets, are, without exception, lit by electricity.

Within the last few years there have been a number of valuable additions to the plot of Kennett; among them are the Shelton, Baldwin and Bragg, and the railroad companies additions. The lots have been sold and houses erected at such a rapid rate that now there are comparatively few vacant lots for sale.

Kennett never has any vacant houses; one must watch and wait to get a house for any purpose. In America one may have a fair idea of the degree of prosperity of a town or community by the character of its residences ; these speak well for Kennett. Many of the new residences are in architecture and finish unsurpassed by any to be found in a town of its size. Among the handsomest are those of Judge T. E. Baldwin, D. B. Pankey, J. F. Tatum, K. H. Jones, W. G. Bragg, and Mrs. Sturgis. The residences of Drs. Finney and Harrison are exceptionally fine homes.

The St. Louis, Kennett and Southern, and the Kennett and Caruthersville Eailroads are among the most potent influences of the prosperity of Kennett. They are doing an immense business, and in a creditable manner for new roads. A. J. Keerfoot, the retiring superintendent, has proved himself a thorough business man of no mean ability, by his rapid manner of bringing these roads up to their present standard. Louis B. Houck is the present superintendent, and makes Kennett his headquarters.

These roads belong to the Houck System, and will no doubt be all that as enterprising a town as Kennett could desire in the near future. Kennett will always be a good town, surrounded as it is by fine farming land, the most convenient shipping point for the south and central portions of the county; the seat of one of the best counties in the Slate, the resources of which are just being realized, - with moneyed men to back it, it has everything to not only make it, but keep it, a good town.

Lulu

Lulu post-office was established in October, 1883, and named by Judge E. J. Langdon, as he said **in honor of one of his old sweethearts, who, by the by, was one of the most beautiful women I ever saw." Mr. J. T. Karnes was the first postmaster, who, when the office was established, was running a small general dry goods store at that point. As it was too far for the farmers to go to either Cotton Plant, Senath or Cockrum for their mail, the office was a great convenience to them as well as to Mr. Karnes. Lulu is now a busy little village 17 miles from Kennett and in a fine belt country. It has two general stores, a grist mill and cotton gin. The business is run by J. M. Karnes and J. M. Tucker; they buy and ship cattle, hogs, cotton, corn, eggs and other produce; in fact do an ** allround " country merchant business, carrying a heavy stock and selling an immense amount of goods. They think theirs will be a good town when the Paragould and Southeastern Railroad is extended from Cardwell. The large and substantial farm houses and other general improvements tell their own story of fertile soil, energetic farmers and their prosperity. A good school six or eight months in the year, a church house in which two or three denominations preach, are near by. This is a desirable locality to buy land as it can

Maiden, though comparatively a new town, is the largest in Dunklin County. Its growth has been phenomenal; in fact it has had a *' boom," extending over fifteen consecutive years, and while there is a slight calm after the storm of immigration which has poured into it, Maiden is now, and by reason of the fine agricultural resources surrounding it, must continue to be a thriving and prosperous town. Its beginning was similar to other railroad towns, commencing with the railroad company's supply store, officials' and workmen's residence, etc.

The citizens of Old Cotton Hill and its vicinity, and men with money from other places, soon, however, congregated here and speedily made a good town of Maiden. In 1877 the Little River Valley and Arkansas Railroad was extended from New Madrid to Maiden, which was then the western terminus of that road. This road, which was under the direction of Maj. George B. Clark, ran its first cars into Maiden in February, 1878. The town was laid out by the railroad company in 1877, the chief engineer being Hon. Oscar Kochtitzky ; among his assistants were G. Z. Loman, F. A. Smith and Geo. W. Peck.

Many were the comic sayings about this new road when first built. It was a narrow-gauge, and some old citizen said its trains reminded him of a small *' Dydapper Duck " by their downward and upward motions as they came into town over the cotton ridges. Certainly its accommodations were crude, but it was as good as the ordinary new road, and it was subsequently made a standard gauge and merged into the Cotton Belt Route, and is now equal in every respect to the best roads in the South and West. It connects at Paragould, Ark., with the main line of the Iron Mountain, andat Jonesborough, Ark., with the Kansas City and the Memphis road. The Delta branch, which runs into Maiden from the north, connects at Delta, Mo., with the Behnont branch of the Iron Mountain, thus giving Maiden a direct line to St. Louis and all Northern points.

These roads are known as the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, Cotton Belt Route, and it seems almost needless to say they have been among the most potent influences in the progress of the '* Queen City " of Dunklin County.

Maiden is situated about five miles from the north line of this county, near the line between Dunklin and New Madrid counties, in a very fine agricultural country. It is essentially a Missouri town, and has one of the finest public school buildings in Southeast Missouri, surrounded by a splendid grove of forest trees. This school has a very large attendance of pupils, and, during this winter of 1895-96, is under the able management of W. C. Canterbury, principal, and Miss Annie Stuart, Miss Vara Waltrip, Miss Minnie Price, Miss Mayme Hughes and Miss Williford, assistants.

souri town of 2,000 inhabitants; they are owned by the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian and Catholics, and are all a credit to a town of its size.

One of the largest enterprises of Maiden at present is the Heading or Stave Factory. The plant covers about ten acres of ground, is lighted by electricity and has a capacity of 4,000 sets per day. It gives employment to about 140 hands and has a pay-roll of $1,000 per week. During the year of 1895 this Heading Factory received 350 cars of rough material, and forwarded 1,000 cars of finished work.

The large amount of white-oak and other valuable timber around Maiden is rapidly being put on the market, thus affording the farmers a home market for their surplus timber. This is certainly an enterprise of which any town might be proud. This factory runs at its full capacity day and night, and to fully realize its importance and magnitude one should see the hundreds of loads of timber on its grounds with more arriving daily, and the large amount put forward for shipment each week.

Other enterprises of this enterprising town are: R. A. Behymer, manufacturer of all kinds of rough and dressed cypress lumber, shingles, lath, etc.; The Maiden Machine Works, H. H. Watson, proprietor; Maiden Corn Co., G. W. Peck, proprietor; and a Cotton Compress which turns out the latest round cotton bales, established by Sexton Merchandise Co. of Maiden, and Jerome Hill Cotton Co. of St. Louis, Mo.

Merchandise Co., T. C. Bufortl & Co., Kauffmaii Bros., and Cox & Bohlcke, general merchants; H. Bohlcke Furniture Store; More Drug Co., and H. P. Kinsolving, drugs; M. Clem, M. Fly & Co., and John P. Allen, groceries.

To mention all of the miscellaneous and smaller enterprises would call for more space than has been allotted to Maiden, and it goes without saying that every live Missouri town has or is fast gainiug its own marble works, undertakers, music emporiums, news stands, public libraries, real estate companies, saw mills, and many more miscellaneous enterprises. Maiden has its share of all these, and more, for besides being the largest watermelon' shipping town in the county, it is also a large shipper of corn, cotton and other produce, and has a number of cotton gins, steam corn shellers; warehouses and cold storages, for it ships considerable fish and game.

Dunklin County Bank, of which H. P. Kinsolving is president, and W. J. Davis, cashier, is financially in orood condition, and has withstood the late financial depression of the country without inconvenience. It has a capital stock of $15,000 and an aggregate deposit of $31,584.32.

Maiden has two good papers, the *' Dunklin County News," edited by C. M. Edwards, and referred to elsewhere in this volume, and the " Dunklin County Kegister," recently established by E. G. Henderson, lately of the *' Evening Shade," Arkansas. This paper is bright, newsy, and bids fair to be an honor to even as thrivinir and enerofetic a town as Maiden. Both of

Maiden is easily the metropolis of the north^end of this county. Kennett striving for metropolitan honors has stimulated Maiden to put forth every effort to

In the past two years she has built churches, business houses, handsome residences and modest cottages, which has attracted many strangers to her; she has also joined to her town-plat several handsome additions. One of the largest and prettiest is that of Spoonerville, which is itself a nice little town.

A few years ago the business of this town was of a somewhat different character to that of the present. Its first merchants, who were James Gregory, Jackson & Erlich, Wm. M. Harkey, Sisel & Plant, and later on, J. S. Levi & Co., Squires & Lasswell, Decker & Co., Gregory & Gardner, Davis &Co., Mr. Yearwood and Wm. Bridges, general merchants, and O. M. Wallace, hardware and furniture. Maiden Stove and Implement Store, and E. Mayes & Co., G. T. Vancleve and Dr. F. M. Wilkins, drugs, must certainly have reaped some of the benefits of *' red letter days " in Maiden.

A busy day meant that farmers from all over this county. Green and Mississippi counties of Arkansas, were in town wath hundreds of bales of cotton, and much other produce, which was practically changed for the wares of these merchants. It then shipped more produce and sold more goods than all other towns of the county combined. Its cotton gins, five or six in number, were during the cotton season kept busy almost day and night, and its planing mills, corn mills and granaries, were equally so. One of these planing mills was operated by H. B. Spooner, who, with the assistance of Wm. M. Satterfield, started the machinery to work in 1885. Now her factories, cotton compress, and other enterprises, have obviated the necessity of smaller affairs, and while she does not sway so large a scope of country, that immediately surrounding her is much better developed, more thickly populated and the value of the timber and surrounding soil is just being appreciated. The farmers are turning their attention somewhat from cotton, and raise more corn, watermelons, poultry, eggs, cattle and hogs.

The soil surrounding this town is particularly well adapted to the raising of small fruit and garden vegetables, such as tomatoes, corn, beans, cabbage, etc., and a cunning factory is an enterprise which it is anticipating, and one which could certainly get plenty of food from the surrounding country.

The people of Maiden are genuine Missourians and Dunklinites, and are proud of the State, county and town to which they belong. When it is remembered that the first white settler of Dunklin County located but sixty years ago near Maiden, on what was then an Indian huntino^-orround, where the ax of the woodman had never been heard, where the buffido, elk, wild ox, bear, wolf and smaller animals were as plentiful as squirrels and rabbits to-day ; where the plow of the farmer had not penetrated even so much as an inch of soil, and that Maiden itself had not been dreamed of twenty years ago, it is at once understood that Maiden, as one of the youngest towns in one of the youngest counties in the *' Grand Old Iron State," deserves the honor to be known as the Queen City of Dunklin County. It would not seem too much to say that Maiden is one of the very best first-class cities in Missouri for its age. The town which reaches the standard of this city - builds the churches, schools, public halls, brick business houses, comfortable homes, attracts important enterprises to its limits, organizes banks, lays out and iu^.proves nice parks, in less than twenty years, as Maiden has done, and yet maintains a solid financial condition - must certainly be a ** hustler," and have the livest of live American people.

Nesbit is in the Harkey neighborhood and has grown out of a country store, cotton gin, grist mill, etc. , establis^hed by Mr. Harkey, commonly sj)oken of as ** Nug " Harkey. The young men of the neighborhood at first jocularly called it ** Need More," and by this name it was known for a few years. In 1885 T. R. Neel opened a general store in the Harkey house. Mr. Harkey having discontinued his business, Mr. Neel established a post-office which he called in honor of Mr. Nisbit of the firm of McKay, Nisbit & Co., Evansville, Indiana. After running the business for a while Mr. Neel took for a partner T. J. Douglass; they built a large business house, and for a time did an immense business, but subsequently Mr. Douglass^ drew out of the firm and later Mr. Neel sold out to McKay, Nisbit & Co. J. F. Smyth managed the business for them for about one year and then bought their interest. He ran a general store until May, 1895, when he removed to Caruthorsville, Pemiscot County, Missouri. At present A. H. Short is postmaster and keeps a very nicely selected and fresh line of groceries.

Judge J. H. Harkey operates at this place a grist mill and cotton gin and does about the best business in his line in that part of the county. Harkey Chapel church is one of the neatest in the county and the number of its members is large. A weekly prayer meeting, Epworth League, singing and Sundayschool are **ever green" in this neighborhood and the morals of its people are the best. Its young people are noted for their sobriety, industry and intelligence, and its elderly people for their commendable exemplary lives. This people succeeded in getting the parsonage of Grand Prairie Circuit, M. E. C. S., located at Nesbit, and when it is completed it will be a pretty preacher's home. A good six or eight months school is usually taught in the school building onehalf mile distant.

The post-office of Senath was established in the spring of 1882 at the residence of A. W. Douglass and named in honor of his wife, Mrs. Senath Hale Douglass.

Eobert W. Baird was the first postmaster and served in that capacity for several years. In July of 1889, the office was moved to the pleasantly situated town of Senath. From this date Senath began to put on the tangible appearance of a village. Its location in Salem

Township on Horse Island is u good one, being ten miles from Kennett, the county seat, and on high land, drained on one side by Honey Cypress, and on the other by Buffalo Creek. Fine farms surround it on all sides, and they are owned by an industrious and thrifty class of farmers.

At present there is in Senath three general stores conducted respectively by Baird, Satterfield & Co., K. M. Bone & Co. , and J. I. Caneer. All do an extensive business furnishing the fine country around them with general supplies. There is one barber shop and J. I. Caneer accommodates the traveling public.

Dr. R. W. Baird is the oldest and leading physician ; Dr. W. W. White also has a good practice, and Dr. Burks has only been in the county a short time. Miss Hulda Douglass is a notary public, and is the only woman in the county holding that office. Two churches, and one of the neatest little schoolhouses in the county, are conveniently situated.

Usually a live Sunday-school is kept up in at least one of these churches. Miss Hulda Douglass is, in a way, a leader and chaperon for the young set and children; this is evidenced by their superior manners and morals.

The day school at this place has turned out some of the brightest young people in the county, who are now themselves teaching. The whole district takes pride in the public school, and cheerfully supports an eight months' term.

The business men are all wide-awake, up with the times, and own good lands and other property, thus making a substantial basis for their merchandising. The town is making a firm and substantial growth.

Valley Ridge

This is a post-village on Crawley's Ridge, in the northwest part of the county. It was established and named by Oxley, who came to the county in 1875 and made a homestead entry on his present home. He first established a grain store, afterward adding a general store. The name Valley Ridge was given to the post-office because of the peculiarities of the ridge land ; it is as rich and productive as the valley land and nearly every hill can be tilled. Corn, oats, wheat, etc., all kind of grasses are grown here, and the ridge cannot be excelled for fruit.

The many " well-to-do " farmers and fine farms along this ridge testify to its being a most desirable place in which to live. The Lone Spring on Beech Hill in front of the Will Zebra place is perhaps the best known spring, but there are a number of sulphur and other mineral springs among these hills. There are some signs of lead and some claim of silver and gold to be found here, but these hills are for the most part entirely unexplored, excepting those that are in actual cultivation.

Oxiey, of this firm, has been postmaster ever since the office has been established. It has a daily mail system. Rush Creek schoolhouse and Bethany General Baptist churches are the places of worship near here. Among the old families along the ridge are the James Faughn, Higginbotham, Vincent, Dr. Jacob Snider, Lacy, Whitehead, J. P. Stewart, Green Tucker, Ben Hopkins, Harper and Gunnells.

George W. Maharg was the founder of this postvillage. He first opened a store near the old Pelt's gin; later he removed to the present site of Vincet and did a general merchandise business for several years, but finally discontinued business and went to Kennett, where he died a few years since. The postoffice is now kept in the store of James Rogers. It is on the bank of Buffalo Creek, at the point where the levee crosses, leading north to Kennett, and is five miles south of that town.

It has a new saw mill to cut up the cypress and Other heavy timber along the creek, and a cotton gin and grist mill. The Old Shady Grove Baptist Church and the new schoolhouse are within a distance of a half mile. Vincet is at the head of a five-mile scope of the richest and most productive land in the county, which is also high and beautiful.

White Oak

the U. S. mails for, about the same farmers as did once the old post-office at Shumache. White Oak, like many of the other little places in the county, is small and insignificant within itself, but around it is a pros perous country, set with good farm-houses, neat churches and comfortable public school buildings. The people are industrious, intelligent and independent livers, who raise something to spare every year. White Oak gets its share of trade and shipments.

Wrights Ville

This is a little post-village northwest of Clarkton about four miles. The Wright brothers founded and named it, and keep the post-office in their store. They also run, in connection with their store, a cotton gin and grist mill. Near by is a blacksmith shop, good schoolhouse and church. Around here are many nice farms and old ''well-to-do" families. Amono: them might be mentioned Judge Baker, Whitaker, of the Whitaker nursery; W. H. Shelton, late judge of the first district.