Winston, Missouri

This township lies in the form of asquare and is in the southeast corner of the county. It is bounded on the north by Jefferson, and east by Sheridan township, on the south by Caldwell and DeKalb counties. It is in size a congressional township - six miles each way. It has an area of twentythree thousand and thirty and thirty one-hundredths acres of land, threefourths of which is a high and rolling prairie, rich in soil and prolific in produetion, being one of the best corn producing townships in the county. The highest point of land in the county of Daviess is said to be the ground upon which the town of Winston stands, and the view of the surrounding country from that point is really a magnificent one. On a clear day, can be seen Gallatin, eleven miles distant, also Cameron, Kidder, Hamilton, and Breckinridge, and the iron horse with his extended train of living freight, moving like a thing of life marks a lightning-like passage plainly discernable for miles across the prairies leaving a long line of smoky clouds that whirl and twist and take fanciful, queer, and fantastic shapes as they dissolve into nothingness. The timber lies principally along Marrowbone and other creeks and branches which wind their way through its territory. The first named ereek and its branches constitute the main water supply of the township, with Dog Creek in the northeast, Long Branch in the southwest, and Rice, Brushy, Wood, and Smith ereeks in the northwest. These last named are all small streams, which, however, in a rainy season generally ran bank-full and sometimes eover the bottom lands toa considerable depth. There is here and there a spring, but they are not numerous, while water ean be reached by wells, from twelve to forty feet deep, in abundance. Colfax was, on theorganization of the county, a partof Sugar Creek township one of the three first townships formed, but when Jefferson township was formed the latter was taken from Sugar Creek and Grindstone, and the part of Sugar Creek taken was what is now known as Colfax. It remained a part of Jefferson township until 1869, when Jefferson and Gallatin were curtailed of their dimensions and Liberty, Sheridan, and Colfax were the re- - sult, The names of the first justices of the peace and where the first cleetion was held will be found in the general history of the year 1869, when its metes and bounds and incorporation were made.

Passage source: The History Of Daviess County, Missouri (Birdsall & Dean, 1882), published 1882.

There is a coal strata or formation in the northeast corner of the township, some two miles east of Winston, Some has been taken out, tried and found to burn well and of a good quality of coal, and was discovered on the farm of John 8 Hughes. Several specimens were taken out in December, 1871, and an effort was made to organize a company to find ont the extent of the vein, but it proved a failure. There is undoubtedly a paving vein of eoal in Daviess county, but so long as wood ean be purchased at from two to three dollars per cord, it will be many years before capital will embark ina coal-mining enterprise.

Passage source: The History Of Daviess County, Missouri (Birdsall & Dean, 1882), published 1882.

The progress of the township of Colfax wasslow watil the advent of the railroad. In 1871, the Chicago & Sonthwestern road was built, entering the township two miles east on its northern border and running diagonally, bearing to the west, through the township, giving it six miles of railroad and making an important station, Winston, between Gallatin and Cameron, an equal distance from each, The station is nearly in the center of the north part of the township. On its southern border nearly touching and running clear across from east to west is the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and reaching its southeastern corner is the enterprising town of Kidder, in Caldwell county. The town line and county line being the same, it has, therefore, splendid shipping facilities, no farm within the township being over three or four miles from a shipping point. This makes the land valuable, yet there are plenty of good and cheap lands which should invite the attention of the immigrant. For good land, schools, churches, and transportation facilities, there are few better opportunities for investment than in Colfax township.

Passage source: The History Of Daviess County, Missouri (Birdsall & Dean, 1882), published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Colfax Township - it names this place 34 more 34 times.