Saline County, one of the central counties of the state, is the fourth county south from Nebraska, and the
eighth from the Missouri river, the 6th principal meridian forming its eastern boundary line. It is bounded on
the north by Ottawa county; on the east by Dickinson; on the south by McPherson, and on the west by Ellsworth and
Lincoln. The name Saline was given to the river, and later to the county on account of the salt marshes in this
section.
The earliest settlements were not permanent. The first one of which there is any authentic account was made
by Preston B. Plumb, afterwards United States senator. He came into the county in 1856 with a Mr. Hunter and Maj.
Pierce and the three projected a town at the mouth of the Saline river which they called Mariposa. The place was
soon afterward abandoned, a cabin and a well being the extent of the improvements. In the same year the territorial
legislature chartered what was known as the "Buchanan Town company," of which Richard Mobley, a pro-slavery
man and later a member of the Lecompton constitutional convention, was president. This company was to have several
thousand acres of land. A site was selected near the mouth of the Solomon river in Saline county, and a town was
laid off in 1857. Eight log cabins were built, but only two were ever occupied. On the death of his child, Mr.
Mobley abandoned the town project and Saline county was without a settler. However, a permanent settlement was
made the next year by Col. W. A. Phillips, who in 1857, with a companion by the name of Smith, had made a tour
into the valleys of the Saline and Solomon rivers on foot. In Feb., 1858, he returned with A. M. Campbell and James
Muir. Passing the sites of the two former settlements, they made their way up the Smoky Hill river to where the
stream turns due south, and there founded the town of Salina. The next month two brothers named Schipple, who had
erected a cabin on the Saline that winter, came and settled on their claim. The first merchant in the county was
George Pickard, who built a store and brought a small stock of goods to Salina. The latter was an arduous task.
On arriving at the Solomon river with his goods he found the government bridge had been washed out by the floods,
as were the bridges over the Saline and Smoky Hill. He constructed a raft of skins and timbers, with which he succeeded
in getting his goods over, but not without considerable damage. A number of new settlers arrived during the year,
most of them settling in or near Salina. Among them was a Dr. Graw, a German from Illinois, who in the absence
of any other method of surveying, measured off with a string a piece of land, which he supposed to be a mile square,
on the Saline, and proposed to build a town by the name of Grawville, but abandoned the idea.
At this time all the territory west of the 6th principal meridian was called the "Arapaho district."
Saline county was included in this unorganized territory until Feb., 1859, when the legislature passed an act organizing
and defining the boundary lines of five counties, of which Saline was one. The same act designated as a board of
commissioners A. C. Spiliman, Israel Markley and Charles Holtzman. These men met in April, 1860, elected Charles
Floltzman, chairman; A. C. Spillman, clerk; and the officers were sworn in by Hugh M. Morrison, the first justice
of the peace. Salina was named by the act as the temporary county seat. In May, the commissioners met again and
divided the county into two townships-Elm Creek and Spring Creek-and ordered an election to be held in July, 1860.
At this election the following officers were chosen: D. L. Phillips, Israel Markley and Charles Holtzman, commissioners;
Jacob Cass, treasurer, and L. F. Parsons, sheriff.
In the year 1859 many improvements were made in Salina, Israel Markley being the prime mover in building
enterprises. That spring a perfect stream of emigrants for Pike's Peak passed through the county. The stage line
for New Mexico also came this way, and Salina being the farthest town west became quite a supply station for travelers.
A hotel was built by Col. Phillips, with lumber which he hauled from Kansas City. The settlers being very much
in need of a grist mill and a sawmill, Col. Phillips set up a combination grist and sawmill at a great financial
loss to himself.
When the Civil war broke out, nearly all the able-bodied men in Salina enlisted on the Union side. Among
those who entered the army W. A. Phillips rose to the rank of colonel; L. F. Parsons went in as second lieutenant
and came out as captain; and D. L. Phillips was mustered in as a private and mustered out as first lieutenant.
During the war two raids were made into Saline county. The first was by the Indians in the early part of 1862.
The settlers heard of their coming in time to gather at Salina, where a stockade had been built. The red men had
determined upon killing every settler in the Smoky Hill valley. A number of ranches west of Salina were attacked
and the ranchmen killed, but when the Indians reached Salina and found the settlers ready for them they changed
their course without molesting the stockade. The second raid was by a band of white desperadoes in the fall of
that year. They rode into Salina, taking the citizens by surprise, and not meeting with any resistance, limited
their outrages to pillage. They destroyed everything in the way of fire-arms that they could not take with them;
appropriated everything of value they found in residences and business places; and took 20 horses and 6 mules,
the property of the Kansas Stage company. One horse was accidentally overlooked and this one was used by R. H.
Bishop to carry the news of the raid to Fort Riley. A detachment of soldiers was sent out but the bushwhackers
had escaped "to parts unknown."
The first election at which a full county ticket was chosen was held under the state law in Nov., 1861,
and resulted as follows: Commissioners, Henry Whitley, G. Schippel and R. H. Bishop; probate judge, A. A. Morrison;
sheriff, John McReynolds; treasurer, Ransom Calkin; county clerk, H. H. Morrison; register of deeds, H. H. Flagg;
assessor, Robert McReynolds; surveyor, James R. Mead; coroner, Robert Crawford; justices of the peace, Daniel Alverson
and Peter Giersch.
During the war Saline county, in common with other parts of the state, made no progress. As soon as the
soldiers returned, however, new life came into the western settlements. Up to that time the settlement of Saline
county was limited to the vicinity of Salina. In 1865 Ernst Hohneck located about 9 miles west of Salina and established
a ranch store where Bavaria now stands. In April, 1869, a large colony from the Western Reserve in Ohio settled
at this point. They were under the leadership of John Thorp, and the township was named after their state. By 1868
there were settlers in every part of the county, and that year saw a large increase in the population. In August
word reached Salina of the Indian raids in the Republican, upper Saline and Solomon valleys, where they were murdering
and outraging settlers on every hand. Gov. Crawford was telegraphed and arrived on the next train. A company of
60 men was raised as fast as they could be armed. Gov. Crawford took command and proceeded to the seat of trouble.
He went north into Ottawa county, visited Minneapolis and Delphos, where he sent out a scouting party of 2 men-M.
J. Mills and M. D. Simpson-the main body retiring to Asherville. The scouts went as far as Fort Sibley in Republic
county, and then, seeing no Indians, joined the main body at Asherville. After burying several men who had been
scalped, and several children whose bodies had been fastened to the ground by arrows, the company returned to Salina
and disbanded.
Two large colonies - one of Swedes numbering 75, who bought 20,000 acres in the southern part of the county,
and another of Illinois people numbering 60, who located in Smoky View and Smolan townships - were added to the
strength of the frontier, and enabled Saline county to make rapid strides in improvements. The next year the Ohio
colony came, and in 1870 a colony of 75 under the leadership of Eric Forse, located in Falun township. Three new
postoffices were established in that year: Brookville, in Spring Creek township, J. W. Hogan, postmaster; Falun,
Eric Forse, postmaster; and Salemburg, in Smoky View township, J. P. Clarkson, postmaster. Hohneck, in Ohio township,
had been established in 1867, with Ernst Hohneck as postmaster, and Salina in 1861, with A. M. Campbell, postmaster.
Before the postoffice was established at Salina, there was no office west of Fort Riley. The Saline county people
had their mail forwarded from Lawrence, and it never reached them oftener than once in two weeks.
The first Saline county people to be married were A. M. Campbell and Christina A. Phillips, in 1858. There
being no minister or justice of the peace in the vicinity, they were obliged to travel 60 miles to Riley county
to be married. The first white child born in the county was their daughter, Christina Campbell, born in Oct., 1859.
Saline county is divided into 19 civil townships, the dates of organization being as follows: Elm Creek,
1860; Spring Creek, 1860, disorganized in 1862 and reorganized in 1869; Cambria, 1878; Dayton, 1877; Eureka, 1860;
Falun, 1873; Glendale, 1880; Greeley, 1879; Gypsum, 1871; Liberty, 1872; Ohio, 1871; Pleasant Valley, 1875; Smoky
Hill, 1871; Smoky View, 1874; Smolan, 1874; Solomon, 1867; Summit, 1880; Walnut, 1869; Washington, 1874. Some of
the early towns which have disappeared from the map were Crown Point, Dry Creek, Gypsum Creek, Pliny, Poheta and
Torry. The towns and postoffices in 1910 were Salina, Assaria, Bavaria, Bridgeport, Brookville, Falun, Gypsum,
Kipp, Mentor, New Cambria, Salemsburg, Smolan, Strickler and Wonderly.
The surface of the county is level bottom lands, rolling prairie and highlands, having about an equal area
of each. The Saline and Smoky Hill rivers meet near the eastern line and the bottom lands along their banks form
a basin through the central part of the county, the sides of which are much higher on the north than on the south.
There is a range of high hills near the southern boundary called "Smoky Hill Buttes"; an elevation on
the north called "North Pole Mound,"; one 8 miles east of Salina known as "Iron Mound," and
in the west rises "Soldier Cap." Limestone, sandstone, gypsum and salt are found in considerable quantities.
The Solomon river flows across the northeastern part of the county; the Saline enters on the northern boundary
and flows southeast; the Smoky Hill enters from the south, flows north to Salina and from there east about 8 miles,
where it is joined by the Saline. The smaller streams are the Gypsum, Hobbs, Dry, Spring, Mulberry and Buckeye
creeks.
The area is 720 square miles, or 460,000 acres, about two-thirds of which are under cultivation. The total
value of farm products for 1910 was more than $4,000,000. The corn crop was worth $1,250,000; wheat over $500,000;
animals marketed amounted to over $1,000,000; the assessed valuation of property was about $42,000,000. The population
in 1910 was 20,338, which makes the wealth per capita about $2,000.
Saline county is well supplied with railroads. The first one built was the Union Pacific, which reached
Salina in 1867. The main line enters in the northeast and crosses the county into Ellsworth, passing through Salina,
where two branches diverge, one going south; and the other northwest. A branch of the same road passes through
the northeastern corner. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific enter from
Solomon and terminate at Salina. The Missouri Pacific enters in the southeastern part of the county and diverges
at Gypsum, one branch running to Salina and the other southwest into McPherson county. Another branch of the Missouri
Pacific enters in the southwest and crosses northeast to Salina.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II, pages 635-639
KIPP
A thriving little town of Saline county, is located on the line between Solomon and Eureka townships, and on the
Missouri Pacific R. R. about 11 miles southeast of Salina, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices
and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 150.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II
MENTOR
A hamlet of Saline county, is located in Smolan township, on the Union Pacific R. R., 8 miles south of Salina,
the county seat. It has an express office, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in
1910 was 38.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II
NEW CAMBRIA
A little town of Saline county, is located in Cambria township, 7 miles northeast of Salina. It has three railroads
- the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Union Pacific. There are
telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 212.
It is the principal trading and shipping point for a rich agricultural district in that section of the county.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II
SALEMSBURG
Salemsburg, an inland hamlet of Saline county, is located in Smoky View township, about 12 miles south of Salina,
the county seat, and about 4 miles from Smolan, from which place it received mail by rural route. The population
in 1910 was 35.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II,
SALINA
Salina the metropolis of central Kansas and judicial seat of Saline county, is located 115 miles west of Topeka,
on the Smoky Hill river about 8 miles west of where it is joined by the Saline. It is one of the leading cities
of Kansas, especially in a manufacturing and jobbing way. Its tributary territory includes not only several counties
in the central part of the state, but also three or four tiers of counties as far west as the state line. This
is partly due to the railroad facilities with which Salina is proved. Four lines - the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific, the Missouri Pacific, the Union Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe - center here, affording
transportation facilities in all directions. In appearances Salina is a spacious, well built and well kept town.
The streets are wide, paved and clean. The buildings are of good size and substantial, some of them costly. Shade
trees line some of the business streets as well as those in the residence districts. Among the manufacturing establishments
are a $50,000 alfalfa mill, flour mills, vetrified brick plant, planning mill, glove factory, foundry, machine
shops, sunbonnet factory, creamery, carriage and wagon works, cigar factories, body brace factory, oil refinery,
agricultural implement works, cold storage plant, razor strop factory, broom and mattress factories, etc. The wholesale
and jobbing interests represent an investment of $3,000,000, and an annual distribution of $8,000,000 worth of
goods, There are 2 state and 2 national banks, one of which is a United States depository. In the way of educational
institutions there are a hospital and training school for nurses, four colleges, the Salina Wesleyan, the Salina
Wesleyan business college, Shelton's school of telegraphy, and the St. John's Military school, 6 newspapers - two
daily, two semi-weekly and two weekly - a $15,000 Carnegie library, a yearly Chautauqua assembly, an opera house
which will accommodate 3,000 people, and excellent graded and high schools. some of the best buildings include
a $75,000 Federal building, a $60,000 convention hall, and a $50,000 cathedral. Salina is a good lodge town, and
has 14 churches. Oak Park adds greatly to the attractiveness of the place. There are ample express and telegraph
accommodations, and the international money order postoffice has six rural routes. The population in 1910 was 9,688.
Salina was founded by Col. W. A. Phillips, in 1858. Being practically the only settlement in Saline county until
after the war, the early history of Salina is included in the county history. (see Saline County.) The original
town company, chartered by the territorial legislature in 1859, was composed W. A. Phillips, A. M. Campbell, James
Muir, Robert Crawford and A. C. Spillman. The survey was not completed until 1862, when there were only about a
dozen families in the town. Very little progress was made prior to the coming of the first railroad, the main line
of the Union Pacific, which was built as far as Salina in 1867. The early business men were George Pickard, A.
M. Campbell and H. L. Jones. Their chief trade was among the Indians, whom they furnished with provisions, ammunition
and a poor grade of whiskey. The immigrants for Pike's Peak, New Mexico and other Western points furnished considerable
business in the early '60s. With the coming of the railroad four new additions were made to the original plat of
the city. They were the Phillips, Jones, Calkins and the "Depot" additions. The shanties and log cabins
were replaced by neat frame and stone buildings, a school house and churches were built. C. R. Underwood set up
a combination grist and sawmill in 1867. The court-house was built in 1871, Salina having been made the county
seat in 1860. A disastrous fire occurred on Christmas day, 1871, in which $20,000 worth of property in the business
part of the town was destroyed. The buildings thereafter were built of stone and brick. The next year Salina became
the trading place for the cattle men. This class of business helped it in a financial way but had its undesirable
features. A number of new additions were made in the '70's and several manufacturing plants and other buildings
were put up. In 1874, aside from the grasshopper disaster, which was common to all Kansas, Salina was swept by
a destructive fire, in which property to the extent of $25,000 was destroyed. Fire limits were then described by
an ordinance and frame buildings forbidden to be erected within those limits. Improvements continued and by 1880
the town took on a metropolitan appearance. Large stone and brick business buildings with plate glass fronts, fine
public buildings and parks, good school and magnificent church edifices were erected.
Salina became a city of the third class in 1870, with C. H. Martin as the first mayor. In 1878 it was declared
a city of the second class. The first newspaper was the Salina Herald, established in 1866 by J. F. Hanna. The
Salina Journal was begun in 1871 by W. H. Johnson and M. D. Sampson. In 1895 another fire occurred destroying considerable
property. In 1903, the great flood, which damaged every river town in Kansas, did much damage to Salina.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II,
SMOLAN
A thriving village of Saline county, is located in Smolan township on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 10 miles southwest
of Salina, the county seat. There are telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural
routes. The population in 1910 was 175.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II,
STRICKLER
A little hamlet of Saline county, is located in Solomon township about half a mile from the east line of the county
and about 12 miles from Salina, the county seat. It receives mail from Solomon, Dickinson county. The population
in 1910 was 15.
WONDERLY
A little station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. in Saline county, is located in Liberty township, 18 miles from
Salina, the county seat. It receives mail from Bridgeport by rural delivery. The population in 1910 was 20.
From: Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns,
Prominent Persons, Etc.; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A. M. Ph. D.; In Two Volumes, Illustrated; Standard Publishing
Company, Chicago, 1912, Volume II, |
