Butler County History
'History of Butler County'
1885, Walter McGinnis and I. C. Thomas
CIVILIZATION -- ITS PROGRESS
In the early ages, amid the hordes of the East, civilization
was born, and began its march of progress over Assyria, India,
Egypt, Greece, and Rome. As those nations successfully rose
and fell, its waves rolled and lapped the shores of Spain, France
and Britain. Checked for a time at this ultima thule of the
Greek and Barbarian, by the repressive spirit of the middle ages,
at length it overleaped the barriers interposed to its progress, and
bore upon its topmost crest, over the Atlantic, a Columbus, a
Cabot, and a Cartier, as its avaunt couriers to the new world, whose
shores were bathed by the waters of the two oceans.
Rolling inland, over mountain, lake and river, across the
ancient domain of the mound builders, then the realm of the
incoming tide of civilization broke upon the shores of the
Eastern States in the year 1641, at which time Father Charles
Raymbautt and his companion, Isaac Iogues, Jesuit missionaries
and envoys of the King of France, unfurled the Bourbon Lilies
at the Sault St. Marie, and proclaimed to an assemblage of two
thousand of the red men of the North-West, the glad news of
salvation.
We lay it down as a fundamental rule of Christian theology,
that great blessings are always attained at the expense of great
sacrifice; so that every foot of territory, from the shores of the
Atlantic westward, that has been gained for Christianity and
civilization, has been at the sacrifice of bloody Indian wars.
State by state, territory by territory, as they have been
gained, have each aggregated untold sacrifices of life, property
and bloodshed, but not withstanding the slow progressive march
of civilization.
On the 21st of January, 1861, Jefferson Davis, Clement C.
Clay, Stephen R. Mallory, Fitzpatrick and other Southern
Senators left the United States Senate, thereby destroying the
Democratic majority in the Senate, and also removing the obstacle
to the admission of Kansas into the Union.
On that day, the bill for the admission of Kansas into the
Union, under the Wyandotte Constitution, was called up by
William H. Seward, and passed the Senate by a vote of 36 yeas
to 16 yeas.
One week thereafter the bill came up in the House, on the
motion of Mr. Grow, and passed the House by 119 yeas to 42
nays.
On January the 29th, the bill was signed by President
Buchanan, and free Kansas, as held back beyond her time,
sprang forth to join her sister states in the great final confiict
which still lay between her and lasting peace.
She had fought single handed to the end of beginning, and
now, undismayed, took her place in the ranks of the loyal states
to fight from the beginning to the end.
Thus, step by step, civilization, at the cost of great sacrifice,
has moved westward. But it is not, however, my intention to
stir up any bad blood and bitterness and strife of the past, by
talking about Kansas Jayhawkers nor Missouri Pukes, but simply
to show that civilization cannot progress any faster than sacrifices
are made for its promotion, and that brings me to the subject of
the hardships, suffering and privations endured by the first
immigrants of Butler County; but, before I proceed to the
history of the sufferings of the first settlers of Butler County, I
must first notice the organization of the county, its boundary
lines, etc.
After various changes by various legislative acts, setting forth
the boundary lines of Butler County, geographically, by an act of
February 26th, 1867, Butler County was given its present boundary
as shown on the map, including thirty-four miles east and west,
by forty-two miles north and south.
When the first settlement was made in Butler County, the
lands lying south of the fifth parallel, which is located through
the north portion of the city of Eldorado, was largely Indian
property. However, just south of that line lay that portion of
country known as the four mile strip, extending completely
across the country, from east to west, and open for entry and
pre-emption.
Next south lay the twenty mile strip, the property of the
Osage tribe, which, at the time of the earliest settlement, was
Indian property, but was ceded to the government by the Little
Osages, on September 29th, 1863, and was held as trust land
Next south lay the diminished Osage Reserve, which
remained the property of the Indians until September 18th, 1870,
when it passed into the hands of the Government and was opened
for settlement. It was locally known, from its wealth, as the
thirty mile strip.
North of the fifth standard parallel was offered land under
the administration of President Buchanan, and was taken almost
entirely by eastern parties, at the Government prices; they
paying for the same largely with bounty land scrip, issued to
soldiers--so I presume the land did not stand them more than
twenty-five cents per acre, notwithstanding they paid the
Government price.
I simply attention those facts, to show, that if those lands
lying north of the fifth parallel, held by eastern land speculators,
had been Government land, subject to homestead pre-emption
and timber culture filings, the eighteen by thirty-four miles of
country north of the fifth parallel, lying in Butler County,
instead of being scarcely settled, as it is, would have a family on
every one hundred and sixty acres; and the greater portion of
this part of Butler County is so beautifully level, that if each
quarter section had a house and other improvements proportional
with the improvements of the county, then it would be a very
desirable portion of the county, and would so increase our wealth
and population in the county, that Butler County would long
since have doubled in population and wealth, and Eldorado
would have been the Wichita of the South-West.
The policy of taking the people's land and letting landlords
own the country in large bodies, holding the same on speculation,
is a death-blow to the settling up of any country, and to the
advancements of civilization, and land bounty scrips should
never have been issued to soldiers, but the bounty should have
been paid in money and no door open to large land grabbers.
In regard to the first settlers of the different townships of
Butler County, I solicited the assistance of writers in various
portions of the county among the oldest settlers, but as they have
failed to respond, it simply leaves me to give such statements as
I have been able to learn from various sources.
The first settlements in the various localities were as
follows:
Benton Twp., I. P. Nelson, April, 1868; Bloomington
Twp., Samuel Rankin, 1867; Bruno Twp., V. Smith, 1869;
Chelsea Twp., Bob Derackin, 1857, G. T. Donalson, 1857,
P. G. D. Morton, 1857, J. G. Lambdin, 1857, I. Scott, 1857,
Martin Vaught, 1857, Dr. Lewellen, 1857, Charles Jefferson,
1857, J. and L. Cole, 1857; Clifford Twp., W. Badley, 1859 ;
Eldorado Twp., Wm. Hildebrand, 1857; Fairmount Twp.,
Holland Furgeson, 1869; Hickory Twp., Mr. Meyers, 1869;
Pleasant Twp., Marion Franklin, 1869, Mr. Dunlap, 1869;
Plum Grove Twp, Joseph H. Adams, 1860; Rock Creek Twp.,
D. L. McCabe, 1868; Rosalia Twp., Philip Karns, 1869; Spring
Twp., Mr. Dave, 1866; Wm. Vann, Towanda Twp., 1858; Spring
Twp., H. W. Yates, 1866; Towanda Twp., A. G. Davis, 1858,
Chandler, 1858, Atwood and others, 1858; Union Twp., A. S.
McKee, 1879; Walnut Twp., George Long, 1866.
From the foregoing dates it will appear that Wm. Hildebrand
was the first settler of Butler County, Bob Derackin next.
Hildebrand in May, 1857, and Derackin in August following,
hence the name Derackin Creek.
I am fully aware of one fact, and that is that you might call
on different ones to write up the history of Butler County and
their recollections about the first settlers would materially disagree
at least in some particulars; suffice it to say, in the beginning--I
mean the beginning of the settlement of Butler County--Wm.
Hildebrand and Bob Derackin and others too numerous to
mention came to El Dorado, Butler County and made settlement,
and we are glad they did come and held the first until we all
came, and we are all here for better or worse, at least a very
large majority of us are happy because we are here, fully believing
it is for the better that we are so situated.
From 1857 to 1871 the settlement of the County made no
very rapid growth, undergoing all the conflicts of civil strife
and bloodshed incident to a territory on whose soil slavery was
sought to be planted against the will of the people, hence those
troubles kept immigrants from going to Kansas as the emigrating
meant hostilities from one side or the other.
William Hildebrand, who came in May, 1857, to El Dorado
Township, was the first settler in Butler County, in June, 1857.
Samuel Stewart of Lawrence, organized a Colony to settle in
Butler County.
Following the old California trail until they came to the
crossing of the Walnut, the party pitched their ten wall tents
which they were provided with, in a circle, and erected in the
center of the camp the stars and stripes on the 15th day of June,
1857, and two days later, the colony planted some corn--the
first was planted in the county on July the 9th, 1857.
Henry Martin, William Crimble, Jacob Carey, H. Bemis
and William Bemis with their families, settled near El Dorado.
There were in this party ten other families, but their names
are forgotten, hence others following in the train, a footing was
began in the line of Christian Civilization, that has accomplished
wonders in the line of progress.
To the strange and distant reader, I must say, a few words
in regard to the County of Butler.
It is essentially a prairie County, having however
considerable land of a slightly rolling character,
which I will divide into
the following grades or classes of land.
In the first place we have 15 per cent of first-class bottom
land lying on the streams, lying above the bottom land and below
our highest rolling land.
Butler County has about 40 per cent on first class prairie
land nearly equal in soil and production in general crops to the
bottom land.
Then we have forty-five per cent of high rolling prairie land,
and twenty five per cent of this quality is a good class of second
rate prairie land good for 40 bushels of corn one year with
another, with an ordinary season and with good cultivation.
The remaining twenty per cent of rolling high land is light soil
and rocky, too high and dry and sterile for agricultural purposes,
but affording a fine crop of grass for grazing purposes.
Butler County is finely watered in the northeast portion of
the county, the head waters of the Walnut river rising near the
north boundary line of the County and running through, the
County in a south-westerly direction, with its tributaries all of
which on the east side of the county are watered by the following
streams, Deracken, Sachel, Bemis or Harrison, Little Walnut,
Hickory, Muddy and Rock Creeks.
The west portion of the County is watered by the White
water and its tributaries heading at the north line of the County
and running south with the tributaries abundantly supplying the
north-west portion of the County to its junction with the Walnut
at Augusta.
The southwest portion of the County is abundantly watered
by the Walnut and its tributaries, some of which are as follows:
Beck Branch, Four Mile, Eight Mile, and Polecat Creeks. In
short, Butler is surpassed by no other County in the State for
pure crystal water.
Butler is the largest organized County in the State containing
nearly one million acres of fine land.
El Dorado, a Spanish word meaning �The Land of Gold,�
was formerly founded about two miles below its present location,
in the year 1860 by parties on their way westward, seeking the
great gold field of which they heard so much, leaving all else
behind with the one idea of finding their fortunes in the west.
When they arrived at this beautiful place the leader of the colony
cried out El Dorado! Being satisfied with their new discovery,
they set to work, and thus the now thriving City of El Dorado
sprang into existence. El Dorado is now the County seat of
Butler County, and is situated on the western bank of the Walnut
River, on high rolling ground unexcelled for natural drainage,
making one of the most beautiful and healthful sites for a city in
the Great West, and is now the home of over forty-eight hundred
thriving people, surpassed by none in educational facilities, it
has three large public school buildings, fine churches of all the
leading denominations. Nearly all business industries are
represented. It is said of the beautiful river Walnut, one drink of
its crystal waters will create a desire for more which cannot be
overcome until the drinker returns again to quench his thirst from
its sparkling waters. There is also something fascinating about
this beautiful City that attracts the passerby, and we look
forward with pride to the time when El Dorado will be the
brightest Star in the west.
Augusta, Douglass, Leon, Benton, Andover, Towanda,
Beaumont, Keighley, Rosalia, Pontiac, Potwin, and Brainard are
good wide-awake and thriving towns.
Good business opportunities can be had at most any of the
above named places.
If you want to live healthy, live long and happy, grow rich
and get fat, come to Butler County for a home.
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Butler Co. KHHP
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