C.N. James Trading Post

C.N. James Trading Post
 

C.N. James Trading Post, built 1868

C.N. James Trading Post, built in 1868, was the first house in Augusta, Kansas. Over the years, it was used as a general store and trading post, boarding house, residence, church, schoolhouse, and polling place on election day. It further served as the meeting place for the Mystic Tie Masonic Lodge, No. 74, of Augusta. The timbers are from Cottonwood trees.

C.N. James was one of the original incorporators of the town of Augusta in 1871. He was then appointed as one of the trustees of the newly formed Township of Augusta. He also served as first mayor of Augusta. His other duties included serving as clerk of the District Court of Butler County 1875-1882, and a year as superintendent of public education for Butler County in 1876. Skyways.

The city of Augusta took its name from the wife of C.N. James.

Today the trading post still stands at 3rd and State Street, next to the Augusta Historical Museum.

Blue Moon Club, 3401 S. Oliver, Wichita

 Blue Moon

You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own ...

The Blue Moon Club was located at 3401 S. Oliver. The club, which seated 1200, was built in 1937 and burned down in 1960.

Today, that location is a parking lot for Spirit Aero Systems. But, in its heyday, before World War II, the Blue Moon Club was the place to go to see big bands like Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. Kansas was dry, but at the Blue Moon, you could get a drink even if you were under-age. The club was self described as the "Southwest’s Swankiest Nite Spot". In addition to white bands, it was also open to black entertainers.  

The Black Experience and the Blues in 1950s Wichitaby Patrick Joseph O'Connor.

Blue Moon Club, 1945, image Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum

This obscure trivia might have escaped my attention had I not been looking into the history of Madelyn Lee Payne, President Barack Obama's maternal grandmother.

Madelyn Payne lived in Augusta, Kansas with her strict Methodist parents. Obama describes them in his memoir as "stern Methodist parents who did not believe in drinking, playing cards or dancing."So, it was on weekends that Madelyn would make her way to Wichita to listen to music and dance.And the Blue Moon Club was the place to be.

During Madelyn's senior year at Augusta High School, she met Stanley Dunham with his dark hair slicked down. He was unconventional. He liked jazz music and wrote poetry. Madelyn graduated high school and the couple married on May 5, 1940, the night of Madelyn's senior prom. War came to America on December 7, 1941, and Stanley enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army a little more than a month later.

Madelyn worked the night shift at the Boeing Plant. They had one daughter, Stanley Ann, born 1942, who in time would become mother to Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

Barack Obama would refer to his grandmother as "Toot", a Hawaiian term for grandmother. It was Toot and Barack's grandfather Stanley who would raise Barack in Hawaii for most of his life.

Blue Moon, original version from the 1934 movie Manhattan Melodrama starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy, music by Rogers and Hart. Shirley Ross sings the Rogers and Hart song, which was rewritten by Hart after the movie as the more familiar Blue Moon.




You can also listen to the Glenn Miller arrangement of Blue Moon with Lorenz Hart's revised lyrics.






The song Blue Moon would go on to be recorded by many artists including: Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, Rod Stewart, and Frank Sinatra.
  
Lyrics

Lorenz Hart's revised lyrics are:

Blue Moon

 You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

          Blue Moon

You know just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold

Blue Moon

Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the Moon had turned to gold

Refrain twice

A Visit to a Land Office in Augusta 1871

Land Office Augusta, Kansas

The Kansas Public Survey map of 1866 identifies three land offices in Kansas. The southernmost land office was then located at Humboldt, Kansas.

Kansas Public Survey 1866

In 1863 and in 1870, treaties between the United States and the Osage Indians provided for the purchase of the Osage Indian Reserve that stretched across southern Kansas. Afterwards, settlers poured in to the area. In 1868, at the confluence of the Walnut and Whitewater rivers, C.N. James and Shamlefer built a log cabin of cottonwood timber. The cabin would serve as a trading post for the soon to be town of Augusta.

C.N. James Trading Post

In March of 1870, the Augusta Town Company was chartered and, in October of 1870, the Humboldt office was removed to Augusta. While I haven't come across an image of the land office in Augusta, it is not unreasonable to assume that it was at the C.N. Trading Post. Its tenure there was brief. In 1874, the land office moved to the next boom town, Wichita.

A visit to the land office

I have often wondered what it was like in the early days of settlement. So, it was interesting to come across a recollection by Civil War veteran, George C. Anderson of an early visit to the Augusta land office in 1871. Anderson and a company of Civil War veterans from Ohio were scouting land for settlement by veterans of the war from Ohio. The resident land agent in Augusta would politely suggest to Anderson and his party that land near there was already spoken for, and they should direct their attention further west.

Anderson was a delegate of the Ohio Soldiers Colony. The group met at Columbus, Ohio, in April, 1871, and selected five members to go west to find lands for settlement. Anderson was one of the five chosen. There is not much information on the Ohio Soldiers Colony, but presumably, they were Union soldiers looking to take advantage of the Homestead Act, which originally gave any man or woman 160 acres of land free, providing they settled, built a shelter, and improved the land. Later a price was placed on the land - the price ranging from $1.25 to $2,50 an acre.

George C. Anderson took notes, which were later published. What follows are his recollections of  going to the land office in Augusta, Kansas. The group began its tour of Kansas and Colorado in Cincinnati, traveling to St. Louis, Kansas City, and Topeka, before heading  south to Florence and then on to Towanda, and Augusta.

Anderson and his party would follow their visit to the land office with a buffalo hunt in Reno County before going on further west.

From the Journal of George C. Anderson, Touring Kansas and Colorado 1871. (from the Kansas Historical Quarterly, Autumn 1956, Transcribed by Barbara Hutchins and Lynn Nelson.)

Resuming our journey, we arrived at Augusta at 3 o'clock P. M.  Here we find a town of some three hundred inhabitants, nearly all of which are land agents or sharks. We find men from every direction, race and color, taking claims, buying and selling land or trying to take advantage of some impecunious Preemptor. We are immediately surrounded on our arrival, and interviewed, as only people in this country know how to interview. However we are not easily frightened, as our party are well armed. Messrs. Huffman and McKittrick are armed with breach loading Ballard rifles, Navy revolvers and knives, Maj Bostwick with a common hunting rifle, revolver and knife, Capt Ferrell with revolver and knife, Young with rifle and revolver and Anderson with Spencer rifle, revolver and knife and to guard against certain kinds of trouble, two or three of the party had an additional armament of bottles, our only remedy against snake bites.

There was a suit before the Land Agent at the time we were there, between a squatter and an actual settler, for a certain piece of land. At one time it looked as though there would be a general fight. Some of the parties placed their hands upon their revolvers, to draw them, but did not. After examining the maps, we were informed by the Ag't that the largest and best body of lands yet unoccupied, were in Sedgewick and Reno Counties, and that we had better examine them.

Read more.

Sunflower Tea Anyone?

The Kansas explorer often reads other blogs that are interesting.

At Tourism Oxford, (January 12, 2013) he came across a recipe for Sunflower Tea that seemed intriguing. The recipe is buried in an article about Dr. Perry (no first name given) of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. The doctor, it seems, treated many of his patient's ailments with herbal remedies. Dr. Perry, so the article says, "found great success with herbal remedies and would grow an abundance of flowers and herbs around his home." The Sunflower tea recipe was popular to treat the symptoms of malaria.

A sunflower I grew

Tourism Oxford

Sunflower Tea Recipe

Take leaves and stems of sunflower and steep in brandy. Add a little ash bark.

 Ever the skeptic, the Kansas Explorer checked another site just to make sure Dr. Perry was up on his stuff. Sure enough, from Herbal Legacy we learn that there is a real Sunflower leaf tea:

Sunflower leaf tea has been used to treat high fevers, and for lung ailments. Just a few tablespoons of sunflower leaf tea will stop diarrhea—so it is best to use it sparingly. The leaves have both diuretic and expectorant properties.

 This will make me look at sunflowers a little differently.

Stone Bridges of Butler County - 60th st. off Haverhill road

Stone Bridges of Butler County 

This is bridge #1 on the Tour Butler County Kansas day tour.


This double arch bridge spans Turkey Creek in Spring Township of Butler County. It is located six miles south of El Dorado off of Haverhill Road to the east. From Wichita, drive east on Kellogg (Highway 54/400), past Augusta, then turn north on Haverhill Rd.. At 60th and Haverhill, go east one mile until you come to Turkey Creek.

One of two double arch bridges left in Butler County, the bridge was built by C.C. Jamison in 1912. The arches are 20 and 30 feet in width. Turkey Creek joins up with Walnut River about two miles to the west.

One mile east of Haverhill on 60th St. (January 2013)

Eleven months later, the creek has water.

60th street off Haverhill rd., December 2013

60th st. bridge viewed from the east side

C.C. Jamison

From a History of Butler County, Kansas by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916, pages 568 and 569. (Skyways has a shortened transcription online.)

C. C. Jamison began his career as a contractor and builder when he was about twenty-four years of age, his first work being a forty foot stone arch bridge, across Dry Creek, between Bruno and Augusta. [Near Santa Fe Lake.] Prior to this he had superintended the construction of the electric light building at El Dorado. Among the most important works that Mr. Jamison has done as a contractor and builder are the following: A forty foot stone arch bridge, one mile west of Latham; the piers for the iron bridge across the Walnut at Augusta: a thirty-six foot stone arch bridge, in Bruno township; a thirty-six foot stone arch bridge, across Hickory creek, near Leon; a thirty-six foot stone arch bridge in Chelsea township, near Chelsea; a thirty foot stone arch bridge at Brainard; and a thirty foot stone arch bridge, across Turkey creek, five miles south of El Dorado. Mr. Jamison has probably built about fifty county bridges in Butler county, and 200 township bridges.

For a complete listing of the Stone Bridges of Butler County, go to Tour Butler County. This is bridge #1 on their list.

From A Standard Atlas of Butler County, by George A. Ogle, 1905. KansasMemory. Note that the road before the bridge veered around Turkey Creek to the north. Turn south on Walnut River Road, and you will come to another stone bridge, also built by C.C. Jamison (1910).

Portion of Spring Township, road to bridge in red.

Stone Bridges of Butler County

In the dawn of the era when civilization, pressing westward, entered claim for its own, man, urged by his ambition and inspired by his imagination, stood upon an elevation and beheld the plains primeval. There in the unhindered scope of his vision boundless rolling ranges stretched to endless skies ; peaceful, restful hills and valleys lay in dreamy, sensuous slumber; timber edged streams wound up and down ; unchained, unclaimed, unknown. Prairies of promise. Stretches of possibilities.

History of Butler County by Vol. P Mooney, 1916. Chapter V, page 96.

Ellis and 140th

Tour Butler County

You can link to a list of the stone bridges of Butler County compiled by Tour Butler County.

[Note. The first bridge should direct you east of Haverhill Rd..]

History

Butler County, on the southern fringe of the Flint Hills, has numerous rivers and creeks, including the Walnut, the Little Walnut, the Whitewater, and the Clearwater, to mention a few. Many creeks were passable by wagon in low water, but during spring rains it was necessary to construct bridges to connect roads and farms.

Butler County 1885 McGinnis Atlas of Butler County

There are perhaps less than a dozen bridges still standing in number. The fact that they survived is due both to the construction and the isolation of these bridges from main traffic routes. They were constructed over a period of 15 years, beginning in 1897, and ending around 1912. Thereafter, iron truss bridges became common place, both because of cost and strength.

Construction material was Kansas limestone and concrete. The arches are generally 20 to 30 feet in expanse. The bridges follow the typical pattern of an arch bridge with a keystone supporting the structure. Some of the bridges have a rounded arch, but some use a more oblique arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its load horizontally. The bridge and its load are held in place by compression and restrained by the abutments at either side.

Three builders are given credit for the majority of stone bridges built, C.C. Jamison, A. Methany, and Walter Sharp. Presently, only one bridge is listed on the Historical Register in Butler County. This is the the Pole Cat Creek Bridge, 1910, built by C. C. Jamison.

Ellis at 140th St.

Bridge #10 on the list of bridges compiled by Tour Butler Count. Built in 1905, this bridge over the Little Walnut has an arch of 40 feet.The builders name is not known.

Ellis at 140th St. South

More History of Butler County

Butler County Kansas was opened to homesteaders after passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Homestead Act of 1862, signed by President Abraham Lincoln after the start of the Civil War, allowed any citizen or intended citizen to claim 160 acres, one quarter square mile, by building a dwelling and improving the land over a period of 5 years.The first areas to be settled were the northeastern area of Kansas territory. Much of the souteastern portion of the Kansas territory was reserved for various Indian tribes.The continuing cloud of title to land as a result of  the Osage Indian Reserve made most of the early settlers in Butler County squatters in Indian territory.

Early settlements were made at El Dorado and Chelsea in 1857 and Towanda in 1858, and in scattered other locations. The first acknowledged settler of  Butler county was William Hildebrande, who came in May of 1857 to El Dorado Township. He settled of the bend of the Walnut River one and one half miles south of present El Dorado where the Walnut intersects the old California Trail. See USD375.

By an act of Congress on July 15, 1870, the remainder of the Osage land in Kansas was order to be sold and the tribe relocated to Indian Territory in the Cherokee Outlet of Oklahoma. See OsageTribe. It was after this that settlement began in earnest and homesteaders rushed in to get their 160 acres of land. As part of the treaty, the homesteaders were required to pay $1.25 an acre, which was to be used ion helping the Osage Indians to relocate in Oklahoma.

More Stone Bridges of Kansas

A list of 32 masonary bridges compiled by the Kansas Department of Highways. This list is incomplete, listing only the Polecat Creek Bridge, 5 miles west and 2 miles south of Douglass, and the Muddy Creek Bridge, 3 miles east and 1 mile north of Douglass.

 

Towanda

Towanda, Butler County, Kansas

Most people, driving the I-35 Kansas Turnpike from Wichita to Emporia, think that Towanda is just a rest stop 16 miles north of Wichita.

The real town and township sit tucked aside highway 254, just 5 miles west of El Dorado. Geographically, the town is located at a big flowing spring in a valley at the headwaters of the Whitewater River. "Towanda" is an Osage Indian word meaning "many waters".

At the beginning of the Civil War, Towanda was the last settlement along the Santa Fe Trail on the way west to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Territory west of the Whitewater River was Indian Territory. The countryside was full of blue-stem grass; watered by a clear, flowing stream full of fish; shaded by Cottonwood trees along the banks; with an abundance of elk, deer, and antelope. Several times a year the buffalo passed by on their migration and the Osage Indians would trek to the area to hunt.

The first settler in the Towanda area was C. L. Chandler, a returning gold prospector from California, who heard tales from the Osage of the beauty and abundance of the area. In 1858 he built a cabin. Within five years he sold his land and cabin to James R. Mead for $3 an acre. The Osage sold off their land by treaty over many years. Osage Indians.

For seven years Mead operated his ranch as a trading post with the Indians. In 1864, an Indian agency was established and operated until 1867 when the Indians were moved to Oklahoma.

The Indians came to exchange furs for food, staples, blankets, and trinkets. They also came to the trading post to receive their scant rations of provisions and clothing issued by the government. It was here that Colonel Leavenworth made his headquarters and negotiated with Satana, Chief of Kiowas, and "Heap of Bears", the great Medicine Chief of the Arapahos. This resulted in the Treaty of Medicine Lodge.
Skyways, History of Towanda

In 1870, Mead would move on, helping to found the city of Wichita, to the south and west along the Arkansas River. Isaac Mooney purchased the trading post and land for $2000. He then filed Homestead papers on additional land and platted the original townsite.

The Museum in Towanda is located at Third and Main, Towanda, Kansas 316-536-2500