Jasper County, Missouri - Chapter 4: Various Pioneer Events, 1912

Mining Commenced at Lead\tlle Hollow - FiRvST Le.u) Found in Jop- LiN Creek Valley - Discovery of Lead Near Oronogo - The Freeze OP 1848 - The Dragon Fly Pest - Burning op Two Negroes - Going TO Mill - Social Amusements - A School Teacher Tarred and Feathered - First Newspaper in the County - Old Sherwood - Towns in Jasper County Before the War - First Census op the County.

In the spring of 1849 Da\dd Campbell of Neosho, who was an experienced miner, was visiting William Tingle at his Turkey Creek farm and while walking about with his friend noticed a number of shallow depressions on the south side of the creek which to the casual observer had no special significance. They had the same appearance as the rest of the surface covered with a thick growth of underbrush and trees, but they excited the curiosity of Mr. Campbell and, on a close examination, appeared to be excavations of some sort which had been abandoned many years before. It occurred to him that these depressions might have been the mines which had been worked by the Spaniards or the Indians, and he concluded to look more closely for indications of mineral. He proceeded up the picturesque little valley now known as Leadville Hollow, popularly known in those days as **Shakerag,*' and while walking along the banks of what was then a silvery stream (but now filled with sediment and refuse from the many mining plants along the banks of the little brook) he discovered half a dozen little chunks of lead on the banks of the ravine. Working loose one of the chunks he carried it to Mr. Tingle who at once went to his home and, procuring a spade, returned with Mr. Campbell to the spot ; and in half an hour they threw out more than a hundred pounds of pure galena, all within a foot or two from the surface and free from rock or other foreign substance.

Mr. Campbell and Mr. Tingle, who were related, immediately concluded to mine the tract, and Mr. Tingle at once set out for Springfield to enter the land where the mineral was found. Mr. Tingle was a shrewd business man and realizing the value of the discovery entered the entire section, and on his return commenced mining in real earnest with Mr. Campbell who had discovered the treasure.

Mr. Tingle also interested in the enterprise John Fitzgerald, of Carthage, who with him erected a small furnace at the moutk of the hollow and here the lead was smelted and made ready for the market. This smelter, compared with the mammoth lead factory of the Picher Lead Company where daily is smelted many tons of lead, was a quaint and primitive piece of mechanism.

The power for the blast was furnished by two monster bellows, each about twice the size of those seen in the ordinary blacksmith shop. Between the two bellows was erected a shaft from which was suspended a pump beam fastened to the bellows sweep. The pump beam was kept in motion by a horse power whim and as one bellows was filled the other was emptied; thus a constant blast of air was kept blowing on the fire. The fire was made of wood charcoal burned near the furnace and the lime used in the smelting was also burned at a kiln alongside of the creek and built for that purpose.

The pig lead made at this furnace was freighted overland to Boonville where it was placed on the market. An interesting story is told of taking the lead to Boonville. Mr. Tingle had a trusty slave Pete (who, by the way, had been given him by his father when he left Maryland for the west and whom his father had raised from a boy). Pete was an exceptionally bright colored man and a shrewd trader and Mr. Tingle frequently entrusted him with important business transactions, often sending him alone to Boonville with a four-horse wagon load of freight. Pete always sold his goods to advantage and upon his return accounted to his master for every penny.

It is interesting, tooy to contrast the manner of cleaning the lead then and now. The mineral was cleaned with a tool which the miners called a pickawee, a small hand pick about the size of an ordinary hammer. Wash places were then unknown. All small particles of mineral which could not be separated with the pickawee were thrown out on the dump pile and left until the more recent days, where the great mills at an up-todate mine save almost one hundred per cent of the mineral which comes from the ground.

The same year in which lead was discovered in Leadville Hollow mineral was also discovered in the Joplin Creek valley, and in a manner even more romantic than the discovery at Leadville, for it was purely accidental.

The following story was told the writer by Henry Blackwell, the man who built the first house in East Joplin and who assisted Judge Cox in surveying the original town.

Judge Cox owned a little negro boy, Pete, who was very fond of fishing and loved this sport even more than hunting the opossum, or eating the luscious red water-melon. On every occasion when opportunity presented he would hike to Turkey creek or the Joplin Creek branch, which was much nearer the judge's home, and there fish, generally with good success.

On one occasion he went to Joplin creek in what is now called Kansas City bottom and began digging for fish bait. While thus engaged he turned up a good size chunk of lead and, being curious to know what such a heavy thing was, he carried it to Judge Cox who at once recognized its value. After digging around some at the spot where the little negro turned up the chunk and finding lai^e deposits of mineral he at once went to Springfield and entered the entire section.

Little mining was done on this tract until after the war, when Moffett and Sergeant came from Oronogo, took a lease on the tract and commenced to mine. The opening of the mines by Moffet and Sergeant was the commencement of Joplin.

Almost simultaneously with the discovery of lead in Leadville Hollow, good pay dirt was also found near the present site of Oronogo; mines were opened up by Judge Andrew McKee, Thomas Livingston, Messrs. French, Ringnold and others, and a thriving camp was soon in full blast.

The new town was called Minersville. Thomas Livingston was the leading spirit in the new camp and, being a man of great energy, erected a smelter quite similar to the Tingle Furnace and also conducted a gen- eral store. Mr. Livingston had been raised in the west and his schooling had been neglected, but he was a shrewd business man and amassed what in those days was called a considerable fortune. Many fabulous stories are told of him and the gold he buried before going to the war.

Mr. Livingston was a man of great bravery, impetuous to a high degree, and knew not the meaning of the word fear. Yet with this firey nature he had a tender side to his make-up, and was as chivalrous as he was brave. He was a most devoted father to his two children, who had been bereaved of their mother during their tender childhood days.

A considerable quantity of lead was mined both at Minersville and Leadville until the breaking out of the war, when all commerce came to an end. There is a tradition that at the approach of the Federal troops a large quantity of lead at the Livingston Smelter was thrown into Center creek to prevent its use by the Union soldiers.

There is an old story handed down by the pioneers that the lead in these parts was known by the Indians long before the discoveries above mentioned, and that they would dig out a small quantity for hunting purposes and then carefully conceal the mine to prevent discovery. The lead taken by them was smelted in crude chip fires, made hot enough to melt the metal. The melted lead would be allowed to trickle down to a small clay pot and there be taken up and cast into molds for bullets. We do not vouch for the truthfulness of this story, but give it for what it is worth.

Minersville at the breaking out of the Civil war contained about twenty-five houses and was quite a thriving camp. The history of Minersville, now Oronogo, will be taken up later and the development of this important mining district brought down to date.

Jasper county, as a rule, has a most delightful climate, and her winters are usually open. It is seldom that the thermometer gets very far below zero and a severe cold spell hardly ever lasts longer than a week, but the winter and spring of 1848 was an exception. In January of that year there came a drizzling rain which afterward turned to sleet and snow, which froze as it fell. This continued for a full week and when the storm was over the entire earth's surface was a great skating pond, and the trees, underbrush and dried prairie grass were also coated with ice.

It did not thaw until the latter part of March and during all this time the trees and shrubs sparkled and glistened all through the day and by moonlight, making a scene like a fairy garden. The grass stood up like miniature palisades and was with its icy coat swelled to an inch thickness.

The sumach bushes resembled crystal pendants and the monarch oaks and stately sycamores were one solid mass of ice and made a fitting retreat for the Storm King.

During the early 'fifties the county was visited by a plague in the shape of large swarms of dragon flies, described by old settlers as being as large as ordinary bees and as their size corresponded to the ordinary fly just that much more annoying. These flies became so annoying to the settlers that it was necessary to plough at night and leave the horses and oxen blanketed in the bam during the day time.

One can imagine the inconvenience of trying to tend a crop when the greater part of the work had to be done during the moonlight season, and rainy weather at times interfering with this kindly light that was the farmers only hope.

In August, 1854, there occurred in this county one of the greatest tragedies of the pioneer period, the burning at the stake of two colored men for the double crime of rape and arson.

A negro named Colley belonging to Mr. Dale knew of the transaction and conceived the idea of enticing the Doctor from his home that night and robbing him of the money, thinking that he would carry it on his person. He took into his confidence another negro named Bart who belonged to John Scott and the two men set about to carry out this design.

That evening about dusk Colley came to Dr. Fisk's house and told him that Mr. Dale's child was very sick and that the family wanted him to come at once to the bedside. Dr. Fisk at once saddled his horse and taking his medicine case set out for Mr. Dale's house.

After the Doctor had gone a short distance Bart came out of the brush and pulled him from his horse. Colley who had followed, came up and knocked the Doctor in the head with an axe, killing him with a single blow. Not finding the coveted treasure on their victim the two colored men prowled around until about midnight when they went to the house and after outraging Mrs. Fisk killed her and the little baby. They then plundered the house, securing about thirty dollars and a watch, and, no doubt with a view of covering their crime, set fire to the home. They then hid the plunder in a com crib and fled, Colley returning to his cabin on Mr. Dale's farm and Bart, becoming frightened, fled to the timber and hid.

The next morning when the terrible crime was discovered the neighbors gathered in and public feeling ran high. Every man constituted himself a committee of one to hunt and bring to justice the perpetrators of the deed.

before, and at once communicated his suspicions to his neighbors. In order to test Colley, Mr. Dale sent him to watch by the corpse of Dr. Pisk and help prepare it for burial. Colley, although he had helped prepare a number of bodies for burial before, could not look at the body and begged to be excused saying that he was sick. He was at once arrested and for a time declared that he was innocent, but after a day made a full confession in which he told the details of the awful crime. The money was found, as he said it would be, in the com crib.

A posse at once started in pursuit of Bart who, being ignorant of the country, had made little progress toward his escape. In traveling at night and on unknown roads and not daring to ask anyone the way, he had never gotten beyond the confines of Jasper county and was captured in the brush near where Georgia City was afterward built.

An examination was had before a committee of citizens, the infuriated people not being willing to wait for the law to take its course and await the convening of the court. It was agreed to put the two negroes to death. Some were in favor of hanging them, while others thought they should be burned at the stake as a warning to others. A vote was taken on the public square in Carthage and fully two to one voted to bum them. The day of execution was fixed as three days from the date.

The largest crowd of people that had ever gathered at Carthage up to this time came to witness the execution. Farmers came for many miles bringing their slaves with them. About 2 :30 on the day set, the two negroes were brought out and chained to a stake. The burning took place in a hollow in the northwestern part of the town. About a cord of dry faggots were piled around the men, reaching up to their waists. Two colored men lighted the fire and in a short time the two culprits were burned to death.

Mr. Dale's negro, Colley stood the test bravely and sang songs while the flames leaped about him, and continued to do so until he was suffocated by the smoke. Bart, the other negro, however, screamed and begged for them to liberate him and shortly fainted away and died long beforie Colley did.

In the pioneer days every farmer took his wheat and com to the mill to be ground and waited until the grist was turned out, the miller receiving for his pay a portion of the flour or meal.

At the mill every one had to take his turn and during the busy season would sometimes have to wait all day. At the mill the settlers swapped yams or discussed the public aflfairs of the day. The following description of the old Sarcoxie mill is given us by one of the early settlers: **When a very small boy I used to carry a bag of com or wheat on horseback every week to the old Sarcoxie mill to have it ground for bread. The house in which the grain was ground stood a little east of the present commodious mill. It was a frame building sixteen by eighteen feet, weatherboarded by rough oak plank, neither ceiled, plastered or painted, and was one story high. It set east and west and opened on the south side fronting on the pond. The east and west corners on the south side rested on the bank of the pond. The east and west comers of the north side rested on pillars made of stone built down in the water. By this arrangement the house was so high above the water that one could easily ride horseback .^nder it. * '

Until after the war there were no large towns in Jasper county and the community was strictly an agricultural one, save the two little mining camps of Leadville and Alinersville. The social amusements consisted principally of spelling, apple and husking bees.

It is hardly necessary to describe the spelling bee, or spelling match, as it is more properly called in our day, because we have all participated in these during our school days; but it might be said that the spelling was better mastered perhaps by our fathers and mothers than it is in our day. Webster's Blue Back Speller was the standard in those days, and many a boy and girl mastered it so completely that it was a difficult task to spell them down. There was great rivalry among the communities over the championship at a spelling bee and it was no uncommon occurrence for people to go ten and sometimes twenty miles to attend a spelling bee.

At a husking bee the people gathered together and helped each other husk the com and, of course, this function took place in the big log bam or com shed near by. Both men and women attended and as they husked the com stories and jokes were told, songs were sung and a spirit of jollity prevailed.

The finding of a red ear entitled the finder, if a man, to kiss the prettiest girl at the bee and, of course, the finding of a red ear was the occasion of great excitement and mirth, especially if the girl was bashful, for then it frequently happened that the man had to chase her around the barn several times, or perhaps sprint half over a forty-acre field before he could claim his reward.

The apple bee was a trifie more dignified than the husking bee, for the reason that it was held in the house, and it mattered not whether the weather was fair or stormy because the fire in the massive fireplace drove away the cold and lent a comfort and a cheer to the participants.

The apple bee resembled the husking bee in that the neighbors gathered to help the good house-wife prepare the apples and care for the dried fruit and preserves.

Sometimes as high as ten or twenty bushels of apples would be emptied on the fioor and all hands would peal and slice the apples and make them ready for drying. Aft«r the apples were sliced they were spread out on boards and the next day, provided the sun was shining, carried out to dry ; usually three days were required to thoroughly dry the apples, after which they were packed away in boxes, barrels or other convenient receptacles.

After the apples were cut and sliced, then came the fun. Old-fashioned games were played until the wee small hours of the morning, when the party went home - only to repeat the same thing at another neighbor's house at a near date in the future.

Sarcoxie was perhaps the strongest proslavery settlement in the county, practically the entire community favoring the holding of slaves. We are informed that there were but six families in the entire town who were not southern sympathisers.

In 1858 a man from Kansas was employed to teach the Sarcoxie school and he, being a strong abolitionist, expressed himself freely on the great question. He read the story of ** Uncle Tom's Cabin'* to his pupils and in many ways taught the evil of slavery. He was asked to resign but did not do so, and one night a body of citizens waited on the teacher and ordered him to leave. On his refusal they escorted him to the woods and gave him a coat of tar and feathers.

In 1859 a publication entitled The Star of the West and Southwest News was commenced at Carthage and at the breaking out of the war had, for that date, a good circulation, exerting quite an influence in molding public opinion. C. C. Dawson was the editor.

The paper advocated the cause of the slave-holding interest. During the campaign of 1860 it took a unique position, endorsing all candidates except Abraham Lincoln. At that election there were three factions of Democrats in the county and for policy's sake it antagonized no one save the great champion of the Anti-slavery movement.

After the battle of Carthage the printing press of this paper was turned over to General Price and his army and was used by the Confederacy in printing enlistment contracts, muster rolls and other forms used in the southern army.

Among the historic old towns of Jasper county which were destroyed during the war, and are now remembered only for what they once were, is the town of Old Sherwood which was built at the junction of the main traveled road running west from Webb City and the road running north from what is now called Bell Center. This town was founded in 1847. In 1856 it was formally platted and at the beginning of the Civil war had perhaps two hundred inhabitants, several good stores and a good brick school house in course of erection. The town of Sherwood, or Rural as it was first called, grew up around the farm and store buildings of Judge Andrew McKee, who came to the county in an early day and wielded great influence in making the western part of the county a commercial as well as an agricultural center.

A few words about the life and acts of Judge McKee will show the reason for Sherwood's making such an exceptional growth and the reason why it was at one time the chief commercial center of Jasper county. Mr. McKee^ who was a native of Tennessee, like most new comers, on coming to Jasper county, first settled at Sarcoxie, but soon moved to the western part of the county and homesteaded the land on which the town of Old Sherwood was afterward built. And it was here that he built up a large fortune. Shortly after coming to the western part of the county he erected a large brick store and put in a complete line of general merchandise. He also secured the appointment as Indian agent, or ** Major Domo" as they were then popularly called in the west, for five tribes of Indians. This brought to his place at certain times during the year large numbers of Indians who traded with the settlers, and this made Sherwood the scene of great activity. We are informed that as high as a thousand Indians have been camped in and around Sherwood at one time.

As his business grew Mr. McKee became a wholesale as well as a retail merchant, and during the winter bought great quantities of hogs and similar produce for shipping to the south in the spring. His sales were usually made at either Fort Smith or Little Rock, Arkansas. One dollar and fifty cents was the standard price paid for hogs delivered at the store, killed and cleaned.

Mr. McKee had at times as high as twenty helpers who cut, salted and packed this pork away in a building constructed solely for that purpose. In the spring two or three flatboats were constructed and floated in Center creek which, at that point being so near to its mouth, could be floated on to Spring river and thence, by way of the Grand and Arkansas rivers, to the point of destination. The boats were loaded with pork, tallow, hides, etc. When the boats were loaded and on their way Mr. McKee traveled overland and usually arrived at the point of destination several days before the cargo and arranged with some commission merchant for its sale. The entire cargo was usually disposed of in bulk, flatboats and all. The cargo disposed of, it was necessary for the men who had brought the boats down stream to walk home. One of the hands, Harrison Jackson, was so fast a walker that he would beat Mr. McKee (who was on horseback) home a full day.

Mr. McKee was elected a member of the county court in 1846 and held this position until 1850. He was also interested in the development of the mines at Minersville, now called Oronogo.

An incident which occurred at the time of his death, shows the high esteem in which Judge McKee was held. He was a member of the Springfield Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and was a great lover of the order, having many times stated that he desired his IMasonic lodge to bury him. His death occurred in August, 1852, and a trusty slave Reuben, who had been all his life in the Judge's family, at once saddled the fastest horse and rode to Springfield to advise the craft of the event. It so happened on the day that Reuben arrived the lodge had arranged to go to a distant part of Greene county and bury another member. Knowing that the body could not be kept until after the other funeral, the master of the lodge told Reuben to return and request the widow to make a temporary burial and that on a certain day the lodge would be present and perform the last sad rites over the body of the deceased. Reuben hastily returned and the body was given temporary interment.

On the day fixed the lodge was present, having come a hundred miles overland, and the impressive Masonic ceremonies were performed at the grave in the presence of friends and neighbors who had come for miles around to show their respect for their old neighbor. This certainly was a most extraordinary exhibition of fratemalism.

From the time that Thackery Vivion built his cabin near the Sarcoxie Spring, in 1831, until the breaking out of the war in 1861, a period of three decades, seven towns were founded in the order named.

There was no organized form of municipal government in any one of the towns, the peace being preserved by the constable of the township and the justice of the peace therein. As there were no municipal regulations, there was no uniformity in building. The streets were not graded or sidewalks built, except where some enterprising and beautyloving property owner did so. In short, each of the several towns were country villages, Carthage being the only place that made a pretense at being a city.

Since the several towns had no municipal government, they were not recognized by the United States census oflScers as separate divisions, and hence were not enumerated separately in the census of 1860.

The population of the several towns is estimated in 1861 to have been as follows: - Carthage, 500; Sarcoxie, 400; Sherwood, 250; Avilla, 100; Minersville, 100; Medoc, 50; Preston, 50.

The census of 1850, taken nine years after the organization of the county showed the population to be 4,223; the second census, in 1860, indicated 6,883. The population of Marion township, including Carthage, was 1,177. Sarcoxie township, with the town of Sarcoxie, numbered 1,405.