running passenger trains until May 13. The war arose over the allotment of its share of business to St. Louis, and was inaugurated by the St. Louis roads. On the 7th of June the war was extended to passenger business also, and for the remainder of the summer passenger rates between Kansas City and St. Louis, and Kansas City and Chicago were but fifty cents; and freight rates went so low that for a considerable time grain was carried from Kansas City to St. Louis for five cents, and to Chicago for seven cents per bushel, and at one time reached the almost incredible limit of three cents to St. Louis and five to Chicago. The trouble, however, came to a close in September, and on the 12th of that month a new pool was formed which took in the Alton. While this fight was pending, in June and July, the contract between the Hannibal & St. Joseph and the Wabash, by which the latter road used the track of the former from Arnold Station to the bridge, and the contract for right of way across the bridge, expired, and the result was a lively individual conflict between the two roads. It was ended, owever, in the Wabash building a track of its own, and making a new bridge contract, but the end of the fight was reached only through the courts. CITY GROWTH. The growth of the city during the years included in this chapter was rapid, and the following new additions had been added to the city during this and the preceding year: September 3, 1878-Mastin's Sub-division. September 3, '78-Park Place Addition. December 9, '78-Traber's Sub division. April 19, '79-Hunt's Sub-division. . May 28, '79-Hyde & Foster's Addition. June 11, '79-Lott's Addition. November 12, '79-Bovard & Dickson's Sub-division. June 28, '79-E. S. Brown's Sub-division. July 11, '79-Winter's Addition. July 25, '79-R. Salisbury's Addition. August 13, 79-Vineyard's Third Sub-division. August 18, '79-Woodland Place Sub-division. August 23. '79-Marty's Addition to Woodland. CHAPTER XVI. THE EVENTS OF 1880 AND 1881. The Establishment of the Smelting Works-The Barge Company Organized--The Missouri River Improvement Convention-The Missouri River Improvement Association Formed-Street Improvements-Col. Van Horn's Election to Congress-Railway Construction and Railway Changes-The Great Flood of 1881-The Growth of the City-Statistical Exhibit of the City's History. One of the earliest events in 1880 was the opening of the American Union and Atlantic and Pacific telegraph offices in Kansas City, which occurred on the 5th of January. The Atlantic and Pacific had, at one time before, had an office in Kansas City, but several years previous this company had been bought out by the Western Union, and was under the control of that company. When this sale took place the office in Kansas City was abolished. The American Union was a new company, organized about two years before by Mr. Jay Gould, and having now completed an extensive system of lines, was put into operation, and the Atlantic & Pacific was again put into operation to fight it. Besides some cutting in rates little occurred to affect the interests of Kansas City until February 27th, when the Union Pacific Railroad Company, with which the Kansas Pacific had been consolidated in January, and which was now controlled by Mr. Gould, took possession of the Western Union Wires along the old Kansas Pacific road. This was done by force, and on the ground that the railroad needed them for its own business, but the real object doubtless was to unite them with the American Union system. This led to litigation which resulted in the restoration of the wires to the Western Union Company, by order of the United States Courts, on the 15th of April. All three of these companies continued to operate in Kansas City until January, 1881, when they were consolidated and all offices abolished except the old Western Union. THE SMELTING WORKS. The project of smelting and refining works for the smelting of the ores of Colorado and New Mexico, had been discussed for several years in Kansas City. T. F. Oakes, Esq., was probably the first man to propose it, and that was while he was general freight agent of the Kansas Pacific Railway. Early in the year 1879 the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade took up the subject, and tried to organize such an enterprise, but as there was no man available who understood the practical part of the business, little was done with it until December, when Col. W. N. Ewing, who had had charge of the Copper Hill Works, in Colorado, came to Kansas City and took an interest in it. During the four months following stock was placed to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, and the company was organized May 12, 1880, with Col. C. F. Morse as President, John Doggett, Vice-President; W. H. Miller, Secretary; and J. M. Coburn, Treasurer. Col. Ewing was engaged as Superintendent, and immediately set about the construction of the works, which were completed and ready for operations by the middle of November. Col. Ewing then went to Colorado to buy ores, where he met with Messrs. Aug. R. Meyers and N. Wetherill, of Leadville, proprietors of two large smelters there. They wanted some place for a refinery where that part of the work could be done more advantageously than it could be in Leadville, and, after a conference with Col. Ewing, they came to Kansas City and submitted a proposition to the company to take an interest in it, and increase the capacity of the works to double that originally designed. This proposition was accepted, the stock increased to $160,000, and the works have since been doubled in capacity. THE INDIAN TERRITORY MOVEMENT. During the year 1879, there had been much discussion throughout the west of a proposition to forcibly invade the Indian Territory, and take possession of a large body of land there, to which the Indian title had been extinguished. This discussion caused the enforcement of the Indians tax upon the numerous herds of cattle held in or driven through the Territory, and caused some herds to be driven out of it. This was quite an injury to cattle men. Early in 1880 this agitation was resumed; a company for the purpose of effecting such invasion and settlement had been organized in Wyandotte, December 24, 1879. A meeting called for the purpose of giving this movement a good send off, was held at the Board of Trade Hall, March 4th, though its real object was not publicly disclosed. The meeting was largely attended, and was addressed by Hon. B. J. Franklin, Colonel E. C. Budinot, a Cherokee, and other prominent men, and adopted a memorial to Congress, strongly urging the opening of the Indian Territory. It gave little countenance, however, to the proposed illegal invasion. The agitation continued, however, and before the close of the year a large number of people joined it, and under the lead of a man named Payne, got as far as Caldwell, Kansas, in the direction of the promised land. NEW PAVEMENTS. Early in March, Mr. B. F. Camp, patentee of the Camp pavement, came to Kansas City, with a proposition to pave the streets with that pavement. The City Council, after much discussion of the matter, made a contract with him to pave Fifth street, between Bluff street and Broadway, as a test. The work was begun late in the year, and is yet unfinished, but the people are so well pleased with the pavement that it is to be laid on Wyandotte street, between Fifth and Ninth, and probably some others. This is the first permanent pavement laid in Kansas City, though there are many miles of macadam, made of common lime stone. THE BARGE LINE. The year 1880 saw the long discussed project of barge navigation of the Missouri River put upon a sure footing. The agitation of this subject, which had annually presented itself for discussion since 1872, was brought about by a combination between the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, which went into effect April 14th, and by which freight from the line of the latter road was taken through to St. Louis at much less cost than the rate from the same places to Kansas City, and thence to St. Louis. This hurt the live stock and grain markets badly for a few days, until other roads leading east from Kansas City were informed of it, and cut rates from Kansas City east. This awakened the people to the nature of the power into whose hands the railroads had fallen, and warned them of the danger. Protection was sought in the utilizing of the river. In the latter part of April a meeting of the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade was held, at which this plan was decided upon. The secretary was instructed to prepare a memorial to the people of the city on the subject, which was done May 2d, and a subscription to stock in a barge company, to have a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, was at once put into circulation. On the 8th of May a meeting was held at the Board of Trade Hall, for the purpose of fostering the movement; and at this meeting it was decided to call a river improvement convention, to consist of representatives from all prominent places along the river, and for all the section of country to be affected by the improvement of the river. Colonel K. Coates, chairman of the Committee of Commerce, was made chairman of a sub-committee to place the stock of the barge company, and he did a large part of the work personally. Several meetings of the committee were held dur. ing the summer, but it was not until December that the matter was finally consummated. On the 6th and 7th of that month, meetings of the subscribers to the stock were held, and at the latter a proposition was presented from Capt. Thomas Poe, of St. Louis, who had commended the Babbage fleets in 1878, to put in the boat Peerless, which he owned, as stock in the Kansas City Company. At this time $65,000 had been subscribed in Kansas City. Messrs. Colonel Coates, Witten McDonald and H. J. Latshaw were appointed a committee to visit and negotiate with Captain Poe in St. Louis, and they left at once for that city. Within a few days the remainder of the stock was subscribed, and the company was organized, with Colonel Coates as president, Witten McDonald as secretary, and Jos. S. Chick treasurer. Captain Poe was engaged as commander and general manager. Five barges have since been bought, and early in the spring of 1881, the fleet made its first trip between St. Louis and New Orleans, while waiting for the Missouri River to open. THE RIVER CONVENTION. As was mentioned above, at one of the meetings in the interest of the barge enterprise, it was proposed to hold a convention at Kansas City to memorialize Congress on the improvement of the Missouri River. This was the first effort ever made for an improvement of that stream on an extended scale. The Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade caused a memorial on the subject to be prepared, and issued it with a call for the convention for September 21st. The objects sought by this movement cannot be better explained than by the memorial sent to the country, which was as follows: To the People of the Missouri Vailey: BOARD OF TRADE, } The undersigned, the committee of commerce of the Board of Trade of Kansas City, address you at this time for the purpose of inviting your attention to the importance of improving the Missouri River, and if possible of securing your co-operation in measures looking to that end. The object had in view is to secure congressional appropriations adequate to pay for such improvements of the river as will make it an adequate channel for the commerce of the Missouri Valley country, and the immediate expenditure of such appropriations in the actual work of improvement. It is true that in the present state of information concerning the Missouri river no estimate can be made of the extent of improvement that will be necessary, nor of the aggregate cost of such work when completed, but accurate surveys of the river by competent engineers will soon develop both facts. Such surveys we propose as the first thing to be done, and we feel assured by the gen. eral knowledge of the stream and by the expressed opinions of eminent engineers that the improvement needed and outlays required will be found far within the reasonable capacity of the Government and not exceeding the improvement and outlays bestowed upon other American waters of like or less importance. As stated above, the object of such improvement is to make the stream an adequate channel for the commerce of the whole Missouri Valley country. It is a well known fact that water transportation of equal perfection with the best other methods costs but a small fraction of the best and cheapest of other meth ods. Among the methods now in use it is found that the railroad is the only competitor of water routes, and it is found also that with its greater speed and all other advantages it possesses it is still unequal to water routes, except where the latter are so unimproved as not to admit of the use of the most expeditions and economical craft. The capacities of the Missouri River, in this respect, have been tested, and even in its present wholly unimproved state it has been found far superior to railroads, although the dangers of its navigation are such as to make men hesitate to put their money into the necessary craft. In 1878 four tows of barges loaded with grain were taken from this city to St. Louis. The transportation of this grain, including insurance, cost the shippers five and a half cents per bushel, when the railroads were at that time, charging thirteen cents on wheat and eight cents on other grain. There was a saving therefore of seven and a half cents on the wheat and two and a half on the corn to the shipper; but the most significant fact in connection with these shipments was that it cost the carriers but two and a half cents per bushel including insurance, which enabled them to make a little over one hundred per cent. while saving the shippers the amount above stated. With this experience before them, the carriers estimated that, with improvement of the river, grain can be carried at a handsome profit to carriers from Kansas City to New Orleans for seven cents per bushel. Now from New Orleans to the European markets it costs but three cents per bushel more than from our Atlantic ports. The rates from Missouri River points to the Atlantic ports are usually about thirty-six cents per bushel on wheat and thirty-three on other grain. Thus it is found that the difference in favor of the river route is, to the seaboard twenty-nine cents per bushel on wheat and twentysix cents on other grain. Deduct from these the three cents excess which it costs from New Orleans to European markets and we find that the river route will save twenty-six cents per bushel on wheat and twenty-three on other grain. These figures represent the additions that will be made to the present profits of producers, for the price of grain at every railway station in the Missouri Valley are the prices in European markets less carriage, and the reduction in cost of carriage does not affect European prices. A reduction in that item makes a corresponding addition to the profits of the American producer. Nor is this all; the proposed improvement will bring the farm lands of the Missouri Valley as near market, so far as regards cost of carriage, as the farm lands of New York and Pennsylvania, and it will make them worth more than the lands of those States, in proportion to their great fertility, instead of one-tenth the value as they are now. With such a change in the situation the increased prosperity of the Missouri Valley country is something that cannot be estimated in advance. We use here the rate from Kansas City only because that rate has been tol erably defined by experience, not because we suppose that, with proper improvement of the river, the business would be monopolized by Kansas City; for in that event every point on the river would have its share; and the ascertainment of what the difference would be from Kansas City but illustrates what it would be proportionally from all other points on the river. It must be borne in mind also, that grain is not the only product we export, and, therefore, the saving in that item but serves to illustrate what it would be proportionally on other products, such as pork, bacon, lard, mess beef, dairy and barnyard products and field products other than grain. Nor is this all; a like saving would be found in the cost of imported articles, which constitute the staple of our merchandise and the freight charges for which constitute the bulk of present cost. These are too numerous to be enumerated here. With such double saving of such extent, the increased prosperity of the country is not a thing to be estimated. It is something of far more than local importance, for so considerable a portion of our common country could not be thus benefited without all parts feeling its beneficial effects. Thus, in what we propose to ask of the General Government, we |