day, of Topeka, one of the founders of the great "Santa Fe" system, which many years ago became a road of national importance. The barbecue--probably the first one ever gotten up in Kansas--was an important feature of the affair. Six beeves, twenty hogs and over fifty sheep, pigs and lambs were roasted. There were also prepared more than a hundred boiled hams, several thousand loaves of bread, cakes by the hundred, besides sundry other delicacies to tickle the palate and help make the occasion one long to be remembered by all present. The exercises were quite elaborate, and wound up with a ball in the evening, at A. S. Parker's hall, on the west side of Sixth street, between Commercial and Main, and a wine supper in Charley Holbert's building, on Second street, just north of the Massasoit House. The festivities connected with the elaborate program made the celebration a complete success; quite a number of the visitors came from a long distance east, some as far as New England. Most of the Northern states were represented, and a few came from the "Sunny South." Free transportation was furnished the invited guests. Hundreds came by rail and steamboat, and many poured in from the surrounding country for miles, in wagons and on horseback, from eastern Kansas and western Missouri. Such a celebration had never before (and it is known by the old-timers has never since) been witnessed in Atchison; in fact, never before had there been a similar event gotten up on Kansas soil. It was intended at the time of the celebration to begin work soon on the proposed and already chartered Atchison & Pike's Peak line west, but the "unpleasantness"' which broke out between the North and South came early the following year, and, like most other important undertakings, the projected enterprise went through several years of a sort of Rip Van Winkle sleep. Before railroads were in operation, there was shipped westward by ox and mule train from Atchison, in 1865, freight aggregating 21,541,830 pounds. For transporting this vast amount it required 4917 wagons, 6164 mules, 27,685 oxen, and 1256 men. A considerable part of the freight shipped was for Denver and the leading Colorado mining camps of that early date.* *The traffic across the plains from Atchison had grown to mammoth proportions as early as 1860. During the first nine months that year forty-one regular traders and freighters did business there. The trains outfitted were drawn by mules and cattle, and were composed of 1328 wagons, 1549 men, 401 mules, and 15,263 oxen. The so-called "Pike's Peak Gold Mines" had been discovered only two years and prospecting in that region was in its in- |
The Salt Lake trade grew to be enormous in the '60's and a great many ox trains loaded at Atchison and other points on the Missouri river for the "City of the Saints." It took money--and lots of it, too--to ship freight 1200 miles across the plains and Rockies during the civil war. An idea of the cost of transportation may be had when it is known that one mercantile house in the Mormon metropolis, in 1865, paid $150,000 for hauling, alone, that year's supplies. Often loaded ox trains nearly a mile in length were seen on Commercial street, extending from along the levee way out to Harmony Garden, in the western suburbs. Some of the Ponderous prairie-schooners would be loaded down with hardware or some other dead weight and drawn by six to eight yoke of cattle. The commerce of the plains by the great Platte route was immense, and a larger number of wagons loaded at and departed from Atchison than from any other point on the Missouri river. In the early part of 1866, it was known by the business men of Atchison that that place would not much longer enjoy the benefits derived from being the starting-point of the overland stage line. Work was going rapidly forward on the main line of the Union Pacific from Omaha, and the track on the Kansas Pacific was also being rapidly extended westward up the Kaw valley towards the Rocky Mountains. Grading had for some time fancy. The population of Denver did not exceed 2500. The new mines, it may truthfully be said, were hardly opened, but some idea of the vast trade with the new diggings may be learned when it is known that thirty-three of the forty-one trains that left Atchison that season were destined for Denver. One of the trains was composed of 125 wagons and carried 750,000 pounds of merchandise. It was one of the longest trains ever sent out, extending from the levee way beyond the western outskirts of the city. The outfit was managed by fifty-two men, twenty-two mules, and 1542 oxen. Several of the trains for the Colorado metropolis had from twenty to fifty wagons. One sent out by Jones & Cartwright had fifty-eight wagons, and carried over 300,000 pounds of merchandise. Among the various trains sent out, one was for Santa Fe, one for Colorado City, two for Green river, and four for Salt Lake City. In the various regular trains that outfitted at and left Atchison that year, there was transported across the plains 6,590,875 pounds of merchandise. The biggest outfit was that of Irwin, Jackman & Co., Government freighters, who, during the season, sent out 520 wagons, 650 men, 75 mules, and 6240 oxen. This firm had a contract for supplying the military posts on the plains, including Forts Kearney, Laramie, Bridger, Douglas (overlooking Salt Lake City), and Camp Floyd, some distance southwest of the Mormon capital. Besides these trains, there was, in addition, a large amount of lesser outfits sent out by private parties in Atchison with one, two or three wagons each, but none of the latter are enumerated. The most of this freight was brought up the Missouri river by steamboat and unloaded along two or three blocks on the levee at Atchison. From the latter part of February, 1860, until the following fall, the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company delivered at Atchison 1900 tons of goods and merchandise, not including any of the home trade of the Atchison merchants nor the amount of goods shipped by the United States Government freighters. |
 A BULL TRAIN LEAVING ATCHISON FOR DENVER, IN EARLY '60's. |
been going forward on the Atchison Pike's Peak railroad, and quite a large force was employed completing the road-bed for track-laying westward. In March a side-track on the east bank of the Missouri river at Winthrop (opposite Atchison) was laid to the water's edge. On Wednesday night, March 28, the first locomotive--a Rodgers--was brought across the Missouri on the steam ferry-boat Ida and put on the track of the Atchison & Pike's Peak road, the iron on which had already been spiked down for a distance of seven or eight miles west. At three P. M. the engine was steamed up, gave a toot, and ran out on the track a few squares to the western outskirts of the city, the tender being completely covered with boys, waving bats and handkerchiefs, shouting and yelling loud enough to drown the noise of the engine. Later the boys felt quite merry that they were among the number who had ridden on the first locomotive that was fired up on the Atchison & Pike's Peak (afterwards changed to the Central Branch Union Pacific, and now the important Atchison branch of the Missouri Pacific). The first passenger-train to go out on this road left Atchison on the 9th of July, 1866, and ran fourteen miles, to Monrovia, then the end of track. Following is the first time-card issued: ATCHISON & PIKE'S PEAK RAILROAD. ---o--- On and after Monday, July 9th, 1866, a Passen- ger Train will  LEAVE ATCHISON For Monrovia and end of Track at . 7:30 a. m. RETURNING. Arrive in Atchison at . . . . . . . . . 6: 00 p. m. Freight taken on reasonable terms. WM. OSBORN, Contractor. When the first forty miles of the road
were finished, which took it to a point on the rolling
prairie west of the Kickapoo Indian reservation, between
Netawaka and Wetmore, at the "Y," an excursion train
carrying a number of high officials from the East,
representing the Government, went over the line. On the
train were several officials of the road; also
representatives of the press, and county and city officials
of Atchison. The representatives of the Government were sent
out to inspect the road-bed, previous to its acceptance and
paying over the, stipulated price, |
$16,000 per mile. The line was pushed rapidly forward, and the last rail completing the road to the one-hundredth mile-post, on the Little Blue river --afterwards christened "Waterville--was spiked down on the 29th of December, 1867. At the election of the first United States senators from Kansas, following the admission of the state into the Union, in January, 1861, Atchison had a prominent candidate in the person of Gen. Samuel C. Pomeroy. The first state legislature convened on March 26, and immediately the scheming began. The excitement at Topeka among the politicians was at its highest. At Atchison everything connected with the election was anxiously looked for. The mail facilities between Atchison and the state capital in those early days, were somewhat inferior. Topeka did not then enjoy the advantages of the telegraph. The swiftest mode of public conveyance between the two points was a two-horse hack, and it required about twelve hours to make the trip each way, three times a week. This plan, although at the time the best existing between these two important towns, was deemed altogether too slow during the chosen day on that historic occasion. Atchison was practically unanimous for the election of her distinguished citizen. The anxiety to get the latest news in the shortest space of time was up to fever heat. It appeared at the time to be a critical period in her history. Some of the leading men more deeply interested in the result quietly organized a scheme of a pony express, and, with several relays at convenient distances, carried the highly important news of the first senatorial election from Topeka to Atchison in a little less than five hours, conveying the pleasing result, which was the selection of Generals Lane and Pomeroy. On receipt of the news at Atchison there was great rejoicing by the citizens, irrespective of party. In a few days following there was a meeting, and the result was ratified by public speaking, the brass band discoursing enlivening music. The victory at the time was believed to be the most glorious achievement in the history of the city, and on that occasion free-state and proslavery men who had previously been fighting each other were now virtually united for the future prosperity of the believed-to-be "coming metropolis of Kansas." Before the two chosen senators departed for Washington they were given a reception by the citizens of Atchison at the Massa- |
soit House. A grand banquet followed, at which earnest and patriotic speeches were made, not only by the senators elect but also by a number of the guests. In connection with the early history of Atchison, the Massasoit House was really the only first-class hotel in the city in the spring of 1859, although three other houses were in operation: the pioneer National, erected as early as 1855--a plain log structure, on the north side of Atchison street a few rods east of Second, and overlooking the Missouri river; the Tremont, a two-story frame, at the southeast corner of Second and Main; and the Planters, at the southwest corner of Commercial and Sixth, on the site of which now stands the palatial Exchange National Bank building, erected in the '80's, by the late Hon. Wm. Hetherington, who was first engaged in the dry-goods trade, and afterwards began banking in 1860. The Massasoit was a substantial and rather imposing frame building--the pride of the city, being the finest public house in Kansas outside of Leavenworth and Lawrence. It fronted east and south, stood three stories above the basement, and was elegantly furnished. It did a very large business in those early days, when the old town was headquarters for overland staging. All the other lines which ran in nearly every direction out of Atchison in the later '50's and early '60's departed from the Massasoit. The house was always a favorite place for political gatherings, from the balcony of which many speeches from able men of various political parties have been made. In early days one of its rooms was the hiding-place a day or two for two or three slaves, secreted there by their master. Wagon-trains, drawn by oxen and mules, frequently passed the house, destined for the plains and Rocky Mountain points. The first dinner eaten in Kansas by Horace Greeley was at the Massasoit, May 15, 1859. Abraham Lincoln was a guest there the day John Brown was executed. In its day few hotels in Kansas could boast of having entertained more public men. The first macadamizing ordered done by the city was on Commercial street. The contractor was J. P. Brown, one of Atchison's pioneers, who has seen the city grow from a few houses in the '50's until it has become an important railroad center and one of the best milling and jobbing points in Kansas. By hard work, indomitable push and enterprise he has forged his way to the front, and years ago was quoted an Atchison millionaire. |
In the later '50's I used to meet on the streets of Atchison, almost daily, a plainly dressed man, and soon learned that his name was R. H. Weightman, an ex-major in the United States Army. I recognized the name at once, for I had several times heard it associated with a frontier tragedy. Weightman was a fine-looking man, a modest gentleman of refinement, and had been raised in the sunny South. He was a man of intensely pro-slavery convictions and was untiring in his efforts to make Kansas a slave state. The major had lived in New Mexico, and some years before was editor of a newspaper at the territorial capital of New Mexico bearing the name of the Santa Fe Herald. F. X. Aubrey, a Canadian Frenchman by birth, and a man of pluck and indomitable energy and perseverance, had made something of a reputation on a wager in 1862, riding a distance of 800 miles in ten days from Santa Fe to Independence, Mo. He won the wager, making the ride in a few hours over eight days. The next year (1853) he wagered $1000 that he could cover the same distance on horseback in eight days. His bet was accepted, for not one man in 100,000 had the physical endurance to perform the seemingly important task. He accordingly set out on the journey, and accomplished it in a little less than five days. After these two rides Aubrey was for some time engaged in freighting on the plains and he and Major Weightman had become warm friends. He afterwards made a trip of adventure, taking to California a flock of sheep, and, contrary to all expectations, the result proved a great financial success. Later he returned to New Mexico. Not long after his return he met his friend Major Weightman, who was an admirer of his pluck and wild adventure and daring. As was then customary at such meetings, the drinks were called for. After the liquor was poured into the glasses and they were ready to swallow it, Aubrey asked his friend why he had printed a d---- lie about his trip to California. Instead of drinking, Weightman pitched the contents of his glass in Aubrey's face. Aubrey then started to draw his gun and shoot, when Weightman, aware of the danger, quickly drew his knife and pierced Aubrey's heart, from which blow he dropped to the floor and almost instantly expired. Only a few seconds elapsed until the entire affair, which ended in the terrible tragedy, was enacted from beginning to end. |
During the great immigration to Kansas in the spring of 1857, when Jefferson City was the end of the Missouri Pacific railroad a "lightning line" of river packets was put on the Missouri, closely connecting with fast trains from St. Louis, carrying passengers and the United States mail and express from the terminus of the only railroad west of the Missouri river and east of the Rockies. There were half a dozen elegant steamers composing this "lightning line." All of them were veritable floating palaces, and ran west to Kansas City, Leavenworth, and Weston. One of them was named for Aubrey, the fearless rider who had twice broken all records on horseback riding across the plains. FIRST TELEGRAPH TO KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. The construction of the Missouri & Western telegraph line was begun at Syracuse, Mo., in 1859, that town then being the terminus of the Missouri Pacific railroad. Charles M. Stebbins built the line, which. extended in a southwesterly course, via Fayetteville and Van Buren, to Fort Smith, Ark., which at that early day was quite an important town on the route of the southern or Butterfield Overland Mail Company. A branch of this line--the first constructed up the Missouri valley--was extended westward to Kansas City, and the wire reached Leavenworth early in the spring of 1859. Sufficient inducements were held out by leading citizens and business men, and in a few months the line was finished to Atchison. The new enterprise was known as the Stebbins line. The early days of Kansas were noted as somewhat eventful ones for the city of Atchison. The place was classed both as a pro-slavery and an abolition town some time before the territory was admitted into the Union. For the first time since the founding of the place, in 1854, the afternoon of the 15th of August, 1859, will be remembered by many of the old-timers as a proud day in the history of the old town so pleasantly located among the hills at the great western bend of the Missouri river. On that afternoon, more than forty-two years ago, communication with the outside world was first had by telegraph. The event made it an occasion that will not soon be forgotten by the few hundreds of people then residing there. The pioneer telegraph line was a great enterprise in its day. The office was in the first brick building on the south side of |
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A RANCHMAN AND HIS BUFFALO TEAM, SEEN IN ATCHISON IN THE EARLY '60's. Page 27. |
Commercial street, between the levee and Second, up-stairs, adjoining the Freedom's Champion office. The building was one of the oldest in Atchison, and a portion of the dilapidated wall, of it, until a few years since, were left standing. John T. Tracy, a young man and a strong pro-slavery sympathizer, whose home was in southwest Missouri, was the first operator. I was then employed as foreman on the Champion and was in the telegraph office when the line was finished and the circuit made, and was much interested in seeing how the first news was sent and received by wire. Gen. Samuel C. Pomeroy, afterwards United States senator, was mayor in 1859, and courtesy naturally gave him the honor of sending the first messages. The telegrams sent and received were as follows: "ATCHISON,
August 15,1859,"His Honor H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth: Our medium of communication is perfected. May our fraternal relations continue--our prosperity and success equal our highest efforts. S.
C. POMEROY, Mayor of
Atchison."Mayor Denman replied as follows: "Hon. S. O. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison: May each push forward its works of enterprise, and the efforts of each be crowned with success. H.
B. DENMAN, Mayor of
Leavenworth."Congratulations were then exchanged between Atchison and St. Louis, as follows: "ATCHISON,
August 15, 1859."His Honor O. D. Filley, Mayor of St. Louis: For the first time since the world began, a telegraph message is sent to St. Louis from this place, the farthest telegraph station in the West. Accept our congratulations, and aid us in our progress westward. S.
C. POMEROY, Mayor of
Atchison."John A. Martin, editor of Freedom's Champion, and Gideon O. Chase, editor of the Atchison Union, were both present. Martin wrote out a dispatch for the Leavenworth Times, the only daily newspaper then published in Kansas, and each wrote a dispatch, to the Democrat and Republican, respectively. the only great dailies then published in St. Louis. The several telegrams sent and received were as follows: "ATCHISON,
August 15, 1859."C. Vaughan: Another link in the girdle which Puck was to put 'around the earth in forty minutes' is completed. Its first message, in |
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