CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
ORGANIZATION.
| Named in Honor of Andrew P. Butler — Early
Influence Indicated in Name — One of the Original Thirty-three Counties
— First and Later Boundaries — First County Seat — Township
Boundaries — Organization of Townships — Districts — Topography
— Products — Herd Law — Fences | Pages 33 - 40 |
CHAPTER II.
ARCHAEOLOGY.
| Pre-Historic Red Man — Coronado's Visit in 1541
— Native Indian Tribes — Indian Character — Early Trails —
Evidences of Pre-Historic Occupation of Butler County — Indian Relics
— Village and Camp Sites — Indian Traditions — Indian Implements
| Pages 41 - 46 |
CHAPTER III.
FIRST EVENTS.
| First Settler — Births — Marriages —
Postoffices — Stores — Schools — Churches — Court Records
and Procedure — Official Acts — Elections — Assessment and First
Valuation — Present Valuation | Pages 47 - 53 |
CHAPTER IV.
COUNTY SEAT AND COURT HOUSE.
| First County Seat — County Seat Elections —
First Court House — Bond Issue Defeated — Citizens' Subscription
— Further County Seat Contention — Court House Enlarged — New
Court House — Location — Building — Cost — Extinct
Towns | Pages 54 - 62 |
CONTENTS
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN HISTORY AND EARLY TIMES.
| The Plains — Dawn of Era — Primitive Times
— First Settlement — Indian Perils and Scares — Cherokees Come
— Indian Trading Posts — Camps — Settlement Prior to 1870 —
Settlement in 1857 — Drouth of 1860 — Home Defense Company Organized
— Butler County in the Civil War — First Settler in El Dorado —
Cholera — Early Settlers — Postoffice — First Fourth of July
Celebration — Homesteading | Pages 63 - 74 |
CHAPTER VI.
PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
| Real Settlement — Pioneer Women — Erection of
Saw Mills — Pioneer Life — Amusements — Grasshopper Year —
Devastation — Reaction — Brighter Hopes — "Sleep, Old Pioneer"
— Afterwards—Public Enterprises — Prosperity — Now | Pages 75 - 85 |
CHAPTER VII.
TRANSPORTATION.
| Highways in Early Days — Freighting —
Government Trains — Mathewson — Stage Coaches — Experiences of
Stage Coach Days — Stage Drivers — Passing of the Stage Coach Days
— Railroads — First Railroad Bonds Voted — Another Bond Election
— Santa Fe — Missouri Pacific — Frisco — Communication
— Pioneer Mail Carrier — Star Route — Automobiles | Pages 86 - 94 |
CHAPTER VIII.
TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS.
| Augusta Township — Benton Township —
Bloomington Township — Bruno Township — Chelsea Township — Clay
Township — Clifford Township — Douglass Township | Pages 95 - 119 |
CHAPTER IX.
TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS.
(Continued.)
| El Dorado Township — City of El Dorado —
Location — Early Industries — Name — First Postoffice —
First Hotel — Railroads — Walnut Valley Times — El Dorado in 1870
— From the Walnut Valley Times of March, 1881 — El Dorado in 1916 |
Pages 120 - 152 |
CHAPTER X.
TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS.
(Continued.)
| Fairmount Township — Fairview Township —
Glencoe Township — Hickory Township — Lincoln Township — Little
Walnut Township — Leon — Logan Township | Pages 153 - 170 |
CHAPTER XI.
TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS.
(Continued.)
| Milton Township — Murdock Township — Pleasant
Township — Plum Grove Township — Prospect Township | Pages 171 - 192 |
CHAPTER XII.
TOWNSHIPS. CITIES AND TOWNS.
(Continued.)
| Richland Township — Rock Creek Township —
Rosalia Township — Spring Township | Pages 193 - 214 |
CHAPTER XIII.
TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS.
(Continued.)
| Sycamore Township — Towanda Township — Towanda
— Union Township — Walnut Township | Pages 215 - 235 |
CHAPTER XIV.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
| Early Political Views — Judicial Districts —
First Election — Character of Officers — First Township Officers
— All Independent Party — First Conventions — Political
PartiesFarmers' Alliance and Populism — Free Silver Party — Last
Election — Senators — Representatives — County Commissioners
— County Clerks — County Treasurers — County Attorneys —
Sheriffs — Clerks of the District Court — Registrar of Deeds —
Probate Judges — Superintendents of Public Instruction — County
Surveyors — County Assessors — County Health Officers | Pages 236 - 249 |
CHAPTER XV.
COURTS AND THE BAR.
| Early Judicial Districts — "No Man's Land" —
County Lines in 1864 — County Seat Changed — Early Lawyers and Law
Suits — First Deed Recorded — First and Second Terms of Court —
Horse Thieves — Vigilance Committees — Lynchings — "Butler County
War" — Criniinal and Civil Cases — Attorneys | Pages 250 - 261 |
CHAPTER XVI.
MEDICAL PROFESSION.
| Physicians of this Generation — Qualifications
— Experiences — Pioneer Physicians — Advance of the Science
— Surgery — Hospitals | Pages 262 - 263 |
CHAPTER XVII.
AGRICULTURE.
| Agricultural Society — First Fairs — Kafir
Corn Carnival — Changes in Methods — Alfalfa — Kafir —
Increase of Crop Acreage — Market Conditions — Oats and Wheat —
Progress — "Kafir Corn — County Farm | 264 - 270 |
CHAPTER XVIII.
LIVE STOCK INDUSTRY.
| Early Day Horses — Trotting Stock — Some Fast
Ones — Draft Horses — Mules — First Cattle — Losses from
Severe Winters — Cattle Raising as a Business — Effect of Herd Law
— First Cows — Bleeders — Finest Herd of Herefords in the
World | Pages 271 - 274 |
CHAPTER XIX.
HORTICULTURE.
| Wild Fruits of Pioneer Times — First Orchards
— Plant Disease — Insects — Investment — Butler County
Horticultural Society — Successful Fruit Growers — Orchards —
Native Trees — Native Flowers | Pages 275 - 280 |
CHAPTER XX.
OIL AND GAS.
| Supply of Fuel — Deep Test in 1879 — Other
Tests — First Company Organized to Drill for Oil — Early Geologists.
Reports Discouraging — Company Organized at Augusta — First Gas
Discovered West of the Flint Hills Near Augusta — Other Tests and
Discoveries — Oil Discovered — Marvelous Development | Pages 281 - 284 |
CHAPTER XXI.
BANKS AND BANKING.
| Present Prosperous Conditions — Number of Banks in
the County — First Bank — Second and Third Banks — First National
Bank — Exchange National Bank — Fourth Bank in El Dorado — Ed. C.
Ellet — Officers and Capital — Citizens State Bank — Butler
County State Bank — Exchange State Bank — State Bank of Leon —
Peoples State Bank. Latham — Bank of Whitewater — Peoples State Bank.
Whitewater — Towanda State Bank — Rose Hill State Bank — Rosalia
State Bank — Beaumont State Bank — Character of Banks — Bank
Commissioner | Pages 285 - 291 |
CHAPTER XXII.
TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
| Mysterious Switchboard — First Telephone Exchange
at El Dorado — Butler County. Telephone and Electric Company — Growth
of Business — Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company — Officers —
Charles H. Parker | Pages 292 - 294 |
CHAPTER XXIII.
BUTLER COUNTY SCHOOLS.
| First School — Difficulties of Early Organization
— Early Normal Institutes — First Teachers Associations — Course
of Study Provided — First Commencement — First School House in El
Dorado — Barnes Law Schools — Special Courses — Barnes High
School League — Rural School Contests — Early Teachers — El
Dorado High School — Superintendents — Central School Building Burned
— Development of Schools | Pages 295 - 300 |
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PIONEER CHURCH.
| First Religious Services in Butler County — A
Pioneer Meeting House — Beecher's Sermons Delivered Here — First
Sermon in Western Butler County — Missionaries — First Methodist
Minister — All Denominations Represented — Sunday Schools —
Influence of Churches | Pages 301 - 303 |
CHAPTER XXV.
FRATERNAL ORDERS AND LODGES.
| Masonic Lodges — Independent Order of Odd Fellows
— Modern Woodmen of America — Grand Army of the Republic —
Woman's Relief Corps — Anti Horse Thief Association | Pages 304 - 313 |
CHAPTER XXVI.
WOMEN'S CLUBS.
| Federated Clubs — Beethoven Club, El Dorado —
Shakespeare Club — Woman's Mutual Benefit Club — The Avon Club, El
Dorado — Daughters of American Revolution — The Outlook Club, Augusta
— Twentieth Century Club, Douglass — Mutual Helpers, Cassoday —
E. M. B. Club, Towanda — Every Wednesday Home Study Club | Pages 314 - 317 |
CHAPTER XXVII.
REMINISCENCES.
| First Commercial Sign — The Next Beer Story —
A Booze Story — Another One — Just a Story — Celebration —
Some Things — A Murder — When Times Were Young, by Frances E. Mooney
— In Society — The Old Hotel — Another Time | Pages 318 - 325 |
CHAPTER XXVIII.
REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.
| My Parents — The "Quilting Bee" Crowd —
Recollections of Plum Grove — Back in the Sixties — The Last Battle
— "Vagrant Memories" | Pages 326 - 339 |
CHAPTER XXIX.
REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.
| My First Night in El Dorado — Memories — A
Hunting Party — Dr. John Homer's Recollections — Southeast Butler
— Early Times — A Story of the Days Long Gone — Memories of
Pioneer Days | Pages 340 - 358 |
CHAPTER XXX.
REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.
Experiences of a Lawyer.
| Joe Everson — Joe Everson and the Fool Boy —
Gardner's Heroic Effort — Tiger Bill — An Intelligent Jury — A
Defendant Who Lied — The Colonel's Stratagem — A Game of Pool —
The Colonel and Dan — Mistaken Identity | Pages 359 - 366 |
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXXI.
REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.
| The Victory of Half a Century — A Pioneer —
Story of Early Days — Pioneer Days — A Pioneer of 1868 —
Recollections fo[sic] Jerry Conner | Pages 367 - 378 |
CHAPTER XXXII.
REMINISCENCES, CONTINUED.
| Mead's Ranch — Recollections of Early Times —
An Indian Scare — Early Schools in El Dorado — A Tornado — Wing
in the Seventies | Pages 379 - 392 |
CHAPTER XXXIII.
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