Jackson County, Missouri - Chapter 2: Physical Features, 1881

Big Blue - There are in Jackson county four considerable creeks and some other smaller streams. Nearly all have a general course north and discharge their waters into the Missouri. The largest, Big Blue, rises in the south-eastern corner of Johnson county, Kansas, and at first taking a north-easterly course, immediately enters this county at the south-west corner of Washington township ; it then follows a course nearly north across the whole township of Washington, forms the dividing line between Brooking and Westport townships, then between the townships of Blue and Kaw and forms a confluence with the Missouri six miles below Kansas City. It has a deep channel and rapid current. On both sides for nearly its whole course there is timber of good quality, and outcropping from the bluffs building stone is found in endless quantities.

Brush creek, one of its principal ti'ibutaries, also rises in Johnson county, Kansas, flows east across the center of Westport township and forms a junction with the Big Blue about six miles from its mouth.

Little Blue - This creek has a longer course than any other stream flowing over the surface of Jackson county. It rises in Cass county near the Kansas line, and taking a north-easterly course, trav.erses Jackson county its entire length through the geographical center of the same. It separates Washington from Prairie township, Prairie from Brooking, then flows through the eastern part of Brooking and the southern part of Blue, after which it separates Sni-abar and Fort Osage from Blue township. Its tributaries are East Fork and Clear Creek, both of which join it near the center of the county from the east. There is considerable timber along its lower course but from the center of the county south, timber is not plenty. .

Fire Prairie Creek - \n Sni-a-bar township this'^creek rises and flows north and east into Lafayette county and thence into the Missouri. It has numerous tributaries but all are small.

Sni-a-bar Creek - Rises close by the little town of Lone Jack near the southeast corner of the county in Van Buren township, flows north into Sni-a-bar township, thence east into Lafayette county and finally discharges its waters into the Missouri.

Big Creek - Rises near Lee's Summit in Prairie township, flows south into Cass county, thence south east, finding its way into the Osage River a little distance above Warsaw, in Benton county. Rock Creek one of the most noted creeks in the county, though small, forms its head waters south-west of Independence, flows north and empties into the Missouri a short distance below the mouth of Big Blue. * There are still other small creeks in the county and among them we mention Spring, Bryan's, Camp, Mouse, Big Cedar and Little Cedar.

Numbering by counties, Jackson is the eighth from the Arkansas line, and the sixth from the Iowa State line. It is on very near the same parallel of latitude as Annapolis, Md., and Cincinnati, O., being about 39° north. , It consists of nine civil townships, equal in area to a little more than sixteen and a half Congressional townships. The civil townships as now constituted are as follows : Blue, Fort Osage, Sni-a-bar, Van Buren, Prairie, Washington, Brooking, Westport and Kaw. None of these correspond to the regular Congressional townships as is customary in the newer States. The boundaries in most cases follow the course of some creek or river, and on this account the lines of these townships are very irregular. The present arrangement of townships, all things considered, is as good as could be made. The Missouri River makes a regular division of the northern part of the county into civil townships impracticable. It must not be supposed, however, that the present sub-division of the county into civil townships has been such from the beginning ; on the contrary it has been the growth of years and has only become possible in more recent times. Originally the first settlements were the basis for the formation of the first townships, and new townships were formed from time to time as the county settled up, and such organizations became possible. The sub-divisions of the county into civil townships as they originally existed together with the subsequent changes is a matter which forms a very interesting and important part of the county's history. It will be treated more fully elsewhere. The surface of the county is an undulating plane, there being, however, several marked elevations and depressions in the vicinity of the Missouri River and the creeks. The surface in most places is far from being flat, and there is a perfect system of natural drainage. From some of the highest points the eye commands views of exquisite loveliness, embracing the silvery course of river and creek, the waving foliage of trees, the undulating surface of the prairie, with cultivated farms, farm houses - from the log hut of the first settler, to the brick or painted houses and barns of the more advanced cultivaters of the soil, and the palatial mansions of the wealthy capitalist.

"The real beauty of this section can hardly be surpassed; undulating prairies, interspersed with open groves of timber, and watered with pebbly or rocky streams, pure and transparent, with bariks spotted here and there with timber and again with green sward of the prairie - there are the ordinary features of the landscape. For centuries, the successive annual crops have accumulated organic matter on the surface to such an extent, that the succession, even of exhausting crops will not materially impoverish the land."

Jackson county is well watered, as before stated, by many streams, the principal being the Missouri River. All the streams are timbered, especially in the northern portions of the county. The surface of the earth in some portions is quite broken and uneven, but as these portions are generally covered with timber, they are none the less valuable. In other parts of the county, the land near the streams is rather level in some places, but the very superior system of drainage renders it unsurpassed for agricultural purposes. The high table lands away from the streams are unsurpassed for fertility. The "divides," as they are called, embrace three belts of land about ten miles wide and extending the whole . length of the county north and south. This, as well as the county generally, is settled by thrifty, enterprising and industrious citizens. The soil is chiefly a rich loam of vegetable deposit with a porous subsoil. The depth of the vegetable deposit, which has been accumulating for ages, varies from two to six feet, and is inexhaustible in fertility. The ease with which the soil is cultivated, is an important item to the farmer. One man with team can tend from forty to sixty acres of corn. There is very little waste land in the county. Such 'portions as are not well adapted to the cultivation and growth of wheat, corn and other cereals are the best for grazing lands. The county presented to the first settlers an easy task in subduing the wild land. Its broad prairies in the south were fields almost ready for the planting of the crop, and its rich black soil seemed to be awaiting impatiently the opportunity of paj'ing rewards in the shape of abundant crops as a tribute to the labors of the husbandman. The farms of Jackson county are generally large, unbroken by sloughs and without other obstructions such as stumps and boulders, but they are excellently well cultivated. Corn planters, reaping machines, mowers and all kinds of labor-saving machinery can be used with great ease. The prairie of the county is gently rolling throughout its whole extent. The timber is of a good quality, but the original growth has, to a considerable extent, disappeared in some parts.

The first settlements of the county were invariably made in the timber or contiguous thereto. The early settlers so chose both as a matter of necessity and convenience. 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 emigration from the older settled States of the East for its population, and especially Kentucky and Tennessee. These States originally were almost covered with dense forests, and farms were made by clearing off certain portions of the timber. 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 indispensable. When he emigrated west, one objection. to Jackson county was the scarcity of timber, 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 Kentuckian could not entertain the idea of founding a home away from the familiar forest trees. Then again the idea entertained by the early immigrants to Missouri, that timber was a necessity was not simply theoretical. The early setder must have a house to live in, fuel for cooking and heating purposes, and fences to inclose his claim. At that time there were no railroads by which lumber could be transported from the pineries. No coal mine had yet been opened and few if any had been discovered. Timber was an absolute necessity, without which 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 disgust and embodied his views of the country in the following rhyme :

The pioneers were in the main, descendants of the hardy backwoodsmen when that was a new country. When farms were opened in that country a large belt of timber was invariably reserved from which the farmer could draw his supply of logs for lumber and fence rails for fencing, and fuel for heating and cooking purposes. Even to the present time, a farm without this accompanying patch of timber is exceedingly rare in those countries.

Having from their youth up become accustomed to the familiar sight of timber, there is no wonder that the early immigrants were dissatisfied, deprived as they were of the familiar sight of timber and shut off from the familiar sound of the wind passing through the branches of the oaks.

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 timber. But not so under the circumstances surrounding the first settlers. There was no way of shipping lumber, coal mines were unknown, and before a parcel of land could be cultivated it was necessary to fence it. 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 out homes in the timber, while at present, not the most enterprising and progressive, were, nevertheless, an essential factor in the solution of the problem.

Along either side of the various streams which flow across the country, were originally belts of timber; at certain ' places, generally near the mouths of the smaller tributaries, the belt of timber widened out, thus forming a grove, or what was frequently called a point, and at these points or groves were the first settlements made; here were the first beginnings of civilization ; here "began to operate those forces which have made the wilderness a fruitful place and caused the desert to blossom as the rose."

Much of the primeval forest has been removed for the building of houses and the construction of fences; other portions and probably the largest part, have been ruthlessly and improvidently destroyed. This destruction of timber has been somewhat compensated by the planting of artificial groves. Among the most abundant of the trees originally found is the walnut, so highly prized in all countries for manufacturing purposes. Oaks, of several varieties, are still very plenty, although for many years this wood has been used for fuel. The best timber in the State is to be found in this county. 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, but are very useful in that they have a very important bearing on the climate. It is a fact fully demonstrated by the best authority that climate varies with the physiognomy of a country.