There are many stories and legends of Mathias
Splitlog the
"Millionaire
Indian."
According
to a
federal
land
allotment report,
Mathias was
born
in 1812 in
Canada. Another
report gives his
birthplace
as
New
York State. Some sources
report he
was a
French-Canadian.
Others say
he was
Wyandotte, and
others claim he was
part
Cayugan. Another
report was
that he was stolen by
Indians when a baby
and
reared by
the Wyandottes in
Ohio
and
at the
age
of
fifteen
was
made a
scout
for
the Indians.
Far removed were the council fires which Splitlog left when
the Wyandots quit-claimed their Ohio reservation back to
the
United
States in
exchange for
a home
"west of
the
Mississippi"
in 1842.
In
1843
Splitlog,
along with
about eight
hundred
members
of the Ohio
Wyandotte
tribe,
migrated to
Kansas; a
movement as
harsh
as
the more
publicized
"Trail of
Tears". The
Wyandottes were
assigned a tract
of
148,110
acres
on the Neosho River. This
proved
to be unsuitable
for
the
tribe so
they purchased
thirty-nine
sections
of land
from
the
Delawares.
The new
holdings,
located in
the
fork of
the
Missouri
and the
Kansas
Rivers,
encompassed the
present
location
of
Kansas City,
Kansas.
Mathias married Eliza Charloe Barnett, a great-niece of
Chief Jacques. He later built a log home on a small
hill overlooking his
land along
the Kansas (present
name is Kaw)
river bottoms. After he
and
his
family
were settled, he
built a
grist mill, and later he
built a
saw
mill. Both
mills were
run by a
steam engine.
For a man without education Mathias was a mechanical
genius. He could study a piece a machinery and soon
build an exact
replica. In 1860,
using new
principles he had
reasoned out, Splitlog
constructed
a
steamboat to
ply
the
Missouri
river,
carrying freight
to the
small
settlements along the
water,
highway.
It had
an
engine
of
tremendous
power; however, no one
but
Mathias
could operate
it. Then the
area
was
gripped
in
the frenzy of
the Civil
War and
Mathias became a
soldier in the
Union Army as a
"Soldier of the
Cannon" under
Colonel Mulligan.
Mathias
was an engineer on
this
boat,
and
while
they
were
transporting a
regiment to
the
battle area,
it was captured
near
Lexington,
Missouri. A
court
martial was held
and Mathias
was
paroled and
he walked
all the way
back to his home.
In September 1863, the Union Pacific Railroad crossed the
Kansas river near Splitlog's sawmill and lumber
yard. Splitlog was
spellbound by
the railroad work
and especially
by the excavating
machine
that
could
do the work of
a hundred
men. Not even the
steamboats had
fascinated
Mathias like the
first
locomotive
he saw.
It was a love
that he
never
relinquished and had
a
bearing on his later life.
With
his
land
located as
it was,
Mathias began
to amass his great
fortune with
the Union
Pacific
paying
a fabulous sum for
the
right-of-way
and several acres
on
which to
locate
railroad
shops.
Always cautious and suspicious in his dealings with the
white man, Mathias began swinging some shrewd land
deals, The largest part
of his
allotment on the
hill, still
referred to as "Splitlog
Hill," he
sold
to a
syndicate
that
plotted early
Kansas City, Kansas.
These land
sales
created
international
recognition
and he
was
known as
the
"Millionaire
Indian."
By 1855 the white men realized that the Indians were
living on some of most valuable land in the area.
Then began again the
familiar
story of agitation for
Indian
removal. By 1857 most of
the
Wyandottes had
either sold
or
lost their Kansas
holdings so
they were
homeless. It was
at time
that the
Seneca tribe paid
an age-old debt to
the
Wyandottes
by
giving
them
30,000
acres of land
across
the
north end
of the
Seneca
reservation in
Indian
Territory.
In
1874
Mathias sold
the remainder
of his
holdings in Kansas
and
moved
his family to Indian
Territory. He
chose
as his
home an
area near the
Cowskin and
the
Grand
Rivers. There was
a large
spring on his land which
he
named
"Cayuga"
in
honor of his
wife
who was a member
of the
Cayuga
tribe.
The Cayuga tribe meeting grounds are located north of the
Elk River area of Grand Lake. Sitting on the bank of
the lake in a grove
of virgin oak
timber, the
location is ideal for
their monthly council
meetings
and
yearly ceremonial
dances. These dances annually draw
well
over 2,000
people during the
week long
festival.
One of the first enterprises established by the Splitlog
in Indian Territory was the installation of a
sawmill. He also built a
grist
mill. He put in a
ferry and built
a general store.
Mathias built a
fine home which
was
embellished with cupolas and, as
was the style of
the
era, a plentiful amount of
architectural "gingerbread."
He
also built a
well
equipped
blacksmith shop.
There no schools
so Splitlog organized
a
subscription
school,
furnished a
building, and
allowed
the teacher
to
retain
all that she
collected.
After the other businesses were in successful operation,
Splitlog started construction of a large factory
which, when completed,
contained
three stories and a
basement. Here
he
began
the
manufacture of
wagons,
buggies and
two-seated
hacks. All
of the
wooden
parts for the
vehicles
came
from
Splitlog's own
sawmill.
This
factory also
made
coffins
from
well-seasoned
walnut.
When there
was a death in
the
community
all
other
work at the
factory
ceased while a
coffin was
being
built.
The post office of Cayuga Springs was established in June
1894 with Joseph Splitlog, one of Mathias sons, as
the first postmaster.
It was about
this
time that
the
far-seeing
Splitlog discerned that
the
days
of
the
hack
and the horse
were
numbered,
and that if Cayuga were
to
continue to
develop it must have a
railroad.
Enlisting
the aid
of
friends
and pouring his own
wealth
and energy the project.
Splitlog promoted the three-million-dollar "Splitlog Line"
from Joplin, Missouri to Neosho, Missouri, thence
to
Splitlog City. On
August 15,
1887 the road was
completed to Neosho, Missouri and a
silver
spike
celebration was
held, Then
on June 30, 1869 another
celebration was
held,
this
time at
Splitlog City,
the
new end of the
track.
After it
was completed to
Splitlog City,
there
were
many couples
who rode the
Splitlog
line from
Joplin to
Splitlog City
to spend their
honeymoon at the
fancy,
ornate Occidental
Hotel
built by the
millionaire
Indian.
Legend tells that Splitlog paid his payroll in gold. The
gold was transported from Cayuga Springs in a wagon
driven by Chief
Splitlog and
guarded by his heavily
armed
sons.
It was about this time that Splitlog was swindled in a
fake gold mining scheme. Clay, a director of the
railroad came to
Splitlog with a
story of the strike
in McDonald
County, Missouri.
Splitlog
purchased
forty acres
where the strike was
made,
plus
many acres
surrounding
the farm.
Splitlog Land and Mining Company was formed and leases
upon five thousand acres of land. On the road and
trails leading to
Splitlog City
were seen white
canvas-topped
wagons with Bound for
Splitlog"
painted on their sides.
It
wasn't
long until everyone was
aware
the
entire
mining venture
was a hoax
and that
the
mine had been
salted
with "Fool's Gold." M.C.
Clay
left
the country and as a
last
gesture
of
honest
effort to
set things right,
Splitlog
sacrificed
other
property and
paid off in
cash
the
losses
suffered by
innocent
persons. This
display
of
generosity almost
broke
him.
Mathias Splitlog was adopted into the Seneca tribe in
1890. He was elected Chief of the Senecas. The day
of the election he gave
a feast
for his friends and
fellow
tribesmen. Fifteen hundred
loaves
of
bread
were hauled from
the bakery
at
Southwest City.
Three beefs
were
prepared
to feed
the multitude.
The Indian
band,
which was
outfitted
and
sponsored by
Splitlog, lent
a festive air to
the occasion.
In 1892 the railroad had been extended to Sulphur Springs,
Arkansas. Arthur E. Stilwell started dickering for
the
Splitlog
Line.
Finally
the
hard-pressed owners
sold for
the
fabulously low price
of
$50,000.00. Age
was
beginning to
tell on Mathias
Splitlog and
he
had
already
lost
twice
that
much on the
line.
Although not as devout a Catholic as his wife, Splitlog
became more interested in religion as the years
rolled by. So in 1886 he
began
plans for a church to
be built
south of the factory.
Constructed
a
hewn
limestone from
the area, the
inside
was
embellished
with
beautifully
hand-carved
imported
wood.
Starting at
the right
front
window
and
proceeding in a
counter-clockwise
route, the
name
"Splitlog" is
spelled
out, one
letter over each
arched
stained-glass window.
The arch
forming
the doorway is
formed of
fifteen
stones, each of
which is
carved
with
an
Indian
symbol.
When Eliza Splitlog died in 1894, the church was still
unfinished but her funeral was held in the partially
completed building.
Work continued
on
the
church
with
several
interruptions when
Splitlog
had
to
journey to Washington,
D.C.
on
tribal business. It was
practically
completed
on
November
25, 1896 when it was
dedicated. It
was
blessed
by
Bishop
Meerschaert
and
by
Father Ketcham. The
bronze
bell,
which had been
cast in
Belgium, first
tolled
on
memory of
Eliza
Splitlog
during
the
dedication. This
is the
only
church in
Oklahoma and
perhaps in
the United
States
which
was built
solely by
an Indian from
his own
funds for
the
religious use of
all
people.
Splitlog was now eighty-five years of age and the shadows
of his life were growing longer and longer. It was
on December 22, 1896,
the Splitlog
again
started
a
journey to
Washington
on
behalf
of
his
adopted
people. On the
way, he
sickened
and
soon
after he arrived
in the
capital
city,
he developed
pneumonia and
died
soon
thereafter. His
body
was returned to Cayuga where
Requiem Mass was said on January
14, 1897 in
the
church the old man
had
dreamed, financed and built.
Mathias Splitlog was buried beside his wife a few hundred
feet from the Cayuga Mission. Almost single-handedly
Splitlog had hammered
a wilderness
into
a
progressive,
civilized way
of life. Today
the
old
church bell
still
rings. It calls
the
faithful
to
worship
every
Sunday
morning at
8:30am.
Loud and
clear,
its
clarion peals over the
streams and
valleys of
what
was once the
Seneca
Nation.
More recently, the church was purchased from the Methodist
church by a private individual in 1949. He did
major
repairs on the
building and
received the original
bell
from a
church
in
Nowata,
Oklahoma.
The
pews and
alter in
the
front of the
church
were
purchased from a
Catholic
church in the
early
1950's. The
pews
in
the
balcony
are
the
original
ones.
The Lord's Supper painting on the front of the alter was
very faded when first purchased, so it was removed
and repainted by an
artist related
to
the
private
individual.
The
church
has now changed
ownership
from
the private owner
to
his son
who
has
done
additional
restorations.
Because
of the
blessings of
God, the
church
is
now a
full-time place of
worship
for many
today.
Publication: The Oklahoman Date: Feb. 20, 1972 Page 138 by Kent
Ruth
Church Recalls Great
Indian
Splitlog Church- some nine
miles
northeast
of
Grove
in
Delaware County is a
handsome, still
impressive
monument to a
remarkabley
able,
public-spirited
man.
Mathias
Splitlog
was born in
New
York in
1812,
half
Cayugan, half
French by
ancestry.
An
important
figure on four
frontiers, he died
in
1897. With his
wife
Eliza, a Wyandot,
he
lies
buried in
the
pleasant
oak-shaded burying
ground
of
the church he helped
dedicate
just six
weeks
before he died.
The
Church itself
may well
be the
only structure
of its
kind in
the
country
today, built by
an
Indian with
his
own
funds.
Splitlog
"possessed
the quality
known as
vision,"
according to one
historian.
"His
ideas
were
ahead of his
time,"
another
noted. "He
was
always
planning and
building."
Pressured
from
homes in
Ohio,
Kansa and
Missouri, the
Wyandots
finally
found a
sanctuary, in 1874,
among the
Senecas here
in
Indian
Territory.
Once
again Splitlog set to
work
building a new
life for his
people. He
settled
near
a
spring he name
Cayuga.
The
town
that
sprang up around
it became
Cayuga
Springs. He
built a
sawmill
(see
picture
above) and
a
grist mill,
established a
blacksmith
shop,
operated a
ferry--and
erected
an
impressive 4-story
factory
(see
picture
above) for
manufacturing
watons and
buggies. Most
ambitious
of
his
projects,
however (if
largely
unsuccessful)
was the
Splitlog Line,
now
part of the
Kansas City
Southern
Lines.
Work
began
on it in
1887. By
1889 the
tracks had
reached
Splitlog
City, in
nearby
Missouri.
"I
go
on," he
promised in a
dedicatory
speech,
"I
make
Cuyuga and
Splitlog
biggest
towns
in
the
Ozarks."
Alas,
Splitlog
Church is
about
all that's left today of
the Cayuga
Springs
settlement.
But
is
is no
crude
fronties
affair.
Matchings
its
buttressed
walls
and high
roof, topped by
towers front
and back, were
ornately
carved
altar,
confessionsal
and
choir loft,
stained
glass
windows, and
a
bell cast
in
Belgium. The
organ
had not been
delivered
when
Splitlog
died. But
the
rock
ruin
behind the
church
once
housed
a steam heating
plant.
"The
special
Catholic
furnishings
were
removed when the
church was
sold to the
Methodists
in
1930.
Though
privately
owned
today,
Splitlog
Church
is
well
preserved, an
altogether
fitting tribute to
a
great man. |
Publication: The Oklahoman Date: Nov. 29, 1981 Page 9 by Don
Hayden
Church Lone Reminder of Grove
Pioneer
Grove- Mathias Splitlog
was never a man
to let grass
grow under his feet, but 84 years after his
death,
grass is about all that
remains
of
a
town he
founded
in
northeastern
Oklahoma.
An
impressive
gray stone
church
with
a
white
wooden
steeple still
stands as
a reminder of
Splitlog's
era.
Completed in
1897
only six
weeks before
Splitlog
died,
the church
was used
for
Catholic services
until
1930, when it was
sold
to
Methodists.
Today, the church
is
used
in
the summertime for
interdenominational
services
and an
occasional
reunion
of
area
residents.
Listed
in the
National
Register
of
Historical Places,
the
church
is located about nine
miles
northeast of
Grove.
Splitlog,
of French and
Cayuga
Indian
ancestry,
was born
in
New York
in
1912. He
moved
westward in
the
early
1880s
and settled near a
river
he named Cayuga.
He
went
on to
develop a
town near
the site,
chich he called
Cayuga Springs. Area
historians
say he
always had
some project going,
noting the
man built a
sawmill, a
grist
mill,
operated a
ferry,
opened a
blacksmith shop and
built
a
four-story factory
where
wagons and
buggies
were
made.
In
1887,
he gan
working on a railroad
which he
called
the
"Splitlog
Line"
which later
became part
of the
Kansas City Southern
Line.
He
claimed
he
would
make
Cayuga Springs
the "biggest
town in the
Ozarks."
Although
that
never happened, it didn't
stop
Splitlog, who
continued
planning
and
building.
The
church,
built with
Splitlogis
own
funds,
is no
crude affair
with its
buttressed walls and
high
peaked
roof. A
tower
in
the
rear
of the building
matches
the
steeple.
Inside the
church is a
hand-carved
alter
transported
from
England,
stained
glass
windows
and
a bell
make
in
Belgium.
The
congregation
was
warmed with
steam heat,
but
all
that
remains of
the
plant is a
rocky
ruin behind
the
church. |
Excerpt from Publication: The Oklahoman Date: Jun. 26, 1988 Page 84 on
Ghost
Towns
Cayuga
is
our
No.
2
ghost.
It
dozes on
the
south
bank of Grand Lake's
Cowkin
area-
that's
five-plus
miles
east of Grove (on
Oklahoma 25), then
three
miles
north.
It
comes
within little
more
that
one
extant structure
falling
to No. 1 status.
But
Splitlog
Church is
no
ordinary
structure.
Nor was
Mathias Splitlog
your
ordinary
church
builder.
Unable to
read
or
write, he's
said to have
spoken
seven
languages.
And,
along
with the useful
ability
to make
money, he
possessed what
one
observer
has
called
"the
quality
known as
vision."
What
with "a
mechanical
and
inventive
turn of mind,"
he
seems
almost
predestined to be
an
overachiever on the
raw
frontier.
His
church was
obviously no
fly-by-night
operation.
Built
of
native
sandstone,
approximately
20 X
50 feet in
size with a
high
sharply pitched
roof, it
boasted a tall
bell
tower and
steeple.
Yet it
was
not
only
the
last of a
series of
notable
structures
that thrust
him
into
the front
ranks of
Indian
entrepreners who helped
develop
Indian
Territory.
Mathias
Splitlog
was
born in
New
York in
1812
-
by
ancestry
half Cayugan
and
half
French.
As a
young
man
in Ohio, he married
Eliza
Barnett,
thus
becoming a
member of the
Wyandot
tribe.
As
ever
increasing
white pressure
pushed
the
Indians
westward he
followed
them, first
in
Kansas and then
to
northeast
Oklahoma. A
final move
in 1874 put
the
now
62
year old leader
on
the
Cowskin near its mouth
in
the
Neosho (Grand)
River.
There
he
put to
work with that
quality
known as
vision, the
$170,000
he had
reportedly
received for his
holdings in
Kansas.
(Wyandot
land
there was in present
Kansas
City and
before the
move
Splitlog had
built a
solid
reputation
as
flour
miller,
builder, and
real
estate
dealer.)
His
vision was
for a
self-contained community
that
could
presumably
support
inself and
thus be
able to
resist
more
forced
moves. He
named
it Cayuga
for his own
tribe. He
built a
sawmill and
gristmill-established
a
store,
blacksmith shop, and
ferry
service on
the
Cowskin-erected
an
impressive
three-story
and
basement
factory
to
produce
wagons
and
buggies.
He also
started
a
subscription
school. By
1887,
he was
ready for his
more
ambitious
project: the
"Splitlog
Line",
his own
railroad to
tie the
production of
his
factory to
the markets of
the
world.
Forerunner
of a
section of
the
present Kansas
City
Southern
Lines, the
Splitlog
reached Splitlog City
(in hearby
Missouri)
in
1889.
"I go on,"
Splitlog promised in a
celebration speech, "I
make
Cayuga and Splitlog
biggest
towns in
the
Ozarks."
Alas his
dream
was never
fulfilled.
Today,
mills
and
factory are
gone
and Cayuga is
but a
public
access point on the
Grand Lake
recreation
map.
Only
Splitlog Church
remains.
The
interesting
old
oak-shaded
burying
ground
is just
to the
south. It is not
known
just
when Splitlog
fir
became
interested in
building
a
church.
Although a
baptized
Roman
Catholic,
he had never
shown
and
particular
interest in
religion
until
Father
William
Ketcham came to
Indian
Territory
in
18892. The
following
year,
Splitlog
was
confirmed-and
began
work
on
his church.
Eliza
Splitlog, a devout
Quaker
upt
o that time,
converted
to
Catholicism. She died
in
1894
and was
buried
from
the
still-uncompleted
structure. Not
until
later
1896 was the
church
finally
finished.
Atr
the
dedicatory service
the
bell,
specially
cast in
Belgium, was
blessed and first
tolled
in
her
memory.
An
interesting
feature of
the
church,
the
front
doorway
arch
contains 15
stones
carved
with Indian
symbols.
Rarely
used
today the
curch and
its
well-tended,
still open
cemetery now doze
quietly amid
large
protective
oaks.
New
tombstones are
scattered
among
the
weathered
ones--some
ornate
marble
ones--lie
those
of Eliza and
Mathias
Splitlog--others
worn
fieldstones
on
which nothing
can now
be read. |
Excerpt from Publication: The Oklahoman Date: Sep. 9, 2000 By Sheila
Stogsdll
Church near Grand Lake
built for
all
For
wealthy
Indian
couple, project
was
labor of
love
----
Grove--Nestled
near Elk River
and
Grand
Lake,
amid
acres
of lush
folliage,
tourists to
the
area are often
surprised
to
find a
century-old
stone
church among
the lake cabins
and
boats. The
gray
limestone
church is set
on top of a
hill,
overlooking the
coves
with a
stepple tall
enought it
can be seen
almost a
mile away. The
old
stone
church and its
picturesque
cemetery is called
Cayuga
Splitlog
Mission
Church.
Visitors
walking among
the
cemetery's
mid-1880
grave
markers
may see a
doe and
her
fawn grazing
nearby or a
mischievous
raccoon
stealing a flower off a
grave. Cayuga Splitlog
Mission Church was
built
by
Mathias
and
Eliza
Splitlog.
It
is
considered to be the
only
church in Oklahoma,
and
perhaps in the United
States, that was built
solely
by an
Indian from his
own
funds
for the
religious use of
all
people.
Mathias
Splitlog, also known
as
the
"Millionaire Indian,"
built the church
out of
love
for
his
wife. But
the
church became
a
symbol
of
love between
Mathias
and his
Creator as
well.
Little
is
know of
Splitlog's
early life.
Accourding
to federal land
allotment
papers he was
born
in 1812 in
Canada.
Other
reports
place
his
birthplace
as New York
state or
list Splitlog as a
French
Canadiand and
Cayuga
Indian
descendant;
other
claims say
Splitlog was
part
Wyandotte
and
part
Cayuga
Indian.
Another
report
states he
was
stolen by
the
Indians as a
baby
and
reared by
the
Wyandotte Tribe
in
Ohio.
Variations of
the
story add that at
age
15, he
was scout, or that
when
he
married Eliza
Barnett,
great-niece of
Jacques
of
the
Wyandotte
Tribe, he
became
a
member. What is
known is
that Splitlog
never
received any
formal
schooling,
nor did
he
learn to
read
or
write. The lack
of
schooling did not
prevent him
for
excelling.
Gifted with a
bright
mind,
Splitlog would
often
watch and study the
steam
engine and soon
mastered
its
principles. By
studying the
machinery, he
could
soon
built a
replica that
powered a
boat he and
his
brother
built
as they
engaged
in trade
in
the Great
Lakes area.
By
1843,
Splitlog
and his
wife,
along
with 800 members of the
Ohio
Wyandotte Tribe, migrated
to
Kansas. The
tribe had
been assigned
a
tract of
nearly
150,000
acres
on
the
Neosho
River. The
land proved
to be
unsuitable,
so the tribe
bought 30
sections
of
land
from the
Delaware
Indians.
The new
holding,
in the
fork of
the
Missouri
and
Kansas
rivers, is
now the site
of
Kansas
City,
Kansas.
Always the
entrepreneur,
Splitlog
built a
sawmill,
gristmill
and
another
steamboat
that
journeyed on
the
Missouri
River, eventually
making
Splitlog a wealthy
man.
By 1874,
political
pressure
forced the
Splitlogs
to move to
Indian
Territory,
where
they
were
welcomed by
the
Seneca-Cayugas.
The
Splitlogs
built a
sawmill,
a
buggy
factory
and a
general
store. Not
known
as a
religious
man,
Splitlog
would often
allow his
general
store
to serve as a
church Sunday
mornings.
Father
Ketchum, a
Roman
Catholic
priest,
converted
the
Splitlogs
to
Catholicism
and
in 1886
Splitlog began plans
for a
church to
be
built south
of the buggy
factory. Ketchum
helped
design the
church and
used
limestone that
was
plentiful in the
area.
The
church
was decorated
inside
with
hand-carved,
imported
wood. At the
front
of
the church is an
elaborate
carved piano, which
sits
silent due to
years
of
abandonment.
Outside,
the name "Splitlog"
is
spelled
out, on
letter over
each
arched, stained
glass
window. The arch
forming
the
doorway
to
the
church is
formed with fifteen
stones,
each carved
with an
Indian
symbol.
Eliza
Splitlog
died in 1894,
and
her
funeral was
held
in
the
unfinished church,
with
her final
resting place
on the
grounds near
the
church. Work
continued
on the church
with
several
interruptions
as
Splitlog traveled to
Washington, D. C., on
Indian
business.
The
church was
completed and
dedicated
October 25,
1896.
Included in the
dedication
ceremony was
a
tribute to
Eliza Splitlog
that
included the
ringing of
a
bronze
bell. On
Dec. 22, 1896,
Splitlog began
what
would be
his
final
journey to
Washington, D.C.,
on behalf of
the Seneca
Tribe.
While
en route,
he fell
ill,
and
soon
after
his arrival in
Washington, he
developed
pheumonia
and
died. His
body was
returned
to
Cayuga,
where Mass was
celebrated Jan
14, 1897 in the
same
stone
church
that he and
Eliza
had
built.
He was
buried in
the cemetery
that
adjoings the
church. For
many
years, the
church
was
unused.
Later, the
church
served
as a
school,
then
was
abandoned and
fell prey to
vandalism.
The
bronze
bell that
had been cast
in
Belgium and
once
summoned its
congregation to
the
old stone church was
transferred
to St.
Catherine's
parish in
Nowata
but later returned to
Cayuga
Splitlog Mission
Church.
The
old
tarnished bell
now
is in the
front yard of
the
church's
groundskeeper.
The
Catholic diocese
sold the
building to
the
Methodist
Church in
the
early
1930's. It was
later sold
to R.A.
Sellers
Sr., whose
family owns a lake home
near
the
church. The
Sellers family has
repaired
the
church throughout
the
years and has made
provisions
for
care of the
church
and
adjoining
cemetery.
For many
years,
bells rang out
over
Grand
Lake, as a group
forming
the
Grand Lake
Ministries
began to
hold
services from May until
September for
tourists. In 1998,
the
group disbanded;
however,
several residents
from the
area met with
the
Sellers
family, and with
the family's
blessing,
Cayuga
Mission church
was
opened year
round.
In 1998, a
6-foot
mural
was
discovered
in a
room
behind
the
alter.
The mural
depicts
what
Delaware
County
would
have
been like at the
turn of
the
20th
century. Much is
unknown
about the
hisotry
of the
painting.
Victoria L.
Morell,
most
likely the name
of the
artist, and the date
1946
is
painted on the
far
right
side
of the
mural. |
|
Mathias Splitlog Leaves His
Mark
on the Oklahoma
Landscape November 27, 2002
The Oklahoma Audio
Almanac
The Mathias
Splitlog
Church in
Delaware
County sits
today
on the
shores of
Grand
Lake
and
has
faithfully served
the
surrounding
communities
for
more than 145
years.
Mathias Splitlog
moved
from
northern Kansas to
Missouri and then into
the
Seneca
Nation in
what is now
Oklahoma.
Splitlog,
a member
of the
Cayuga Tribe was
born
in
either 1810
or 1812 on
the
Canadian border. He
married
Eliza Carloe, a
Wyandot,
and moved
with
that
tribe to
northeast
Kansas. The
land
held by
Eliza
and
Mathias
eventually
became
what is now
down town
Kansas
City,
and
it was through
the
sale of
the
much
sought
after
real estate
in
1865 that
Mathias
became
known at the
time
as
"The Millionaire
Indian."
Following
the sale
of
the Kansas land,
the family
moved south into
the
northeastern
corner
of present
day Oklahoma. There
Mathias
and
his
wife
financed
the
construction of
several
mills,
a railroad, various
businesses
and
what
eventually
became the
town of
Cayuga Springs. In
1886
Mathias began the
project
for which
he is
most
remembered,
the
construction
of
the
Splitlog
Church.
Mathias
intended the
church as a
present for
his
wife.
Constructed
out of hewn
limestone
the
church sits
tall and
narrow
with a
magnificent
steeple.
The interior of
the
building
features imported
hand
carved
wood,
and
the
fifteen stone
arch
at
the
entrance
displays
Native
American art
work
around
the
edge. A bronze
bell cast in Belgium
finished
off the
church ringing for the
first
time
during the funeral
service of
Eliza
Splitlog, who
died
during the
construction
of her
church. It was in this
week of
1896, ten years
after
beginning, that
Mathias
Splitlog
oversaw
the
completion and
dedication of
his
church. The
bronze bell
still
rings, and
the
Cayuga Mission
Church,
with
the
Splitlog graves
beside it,
still
holds
services today,
more
than one
hundred
and
forty years
after
its official
opening.
|
Excerpt from Publication: The Oklahoman Date:Apr. 15, 2007 Page 55 by
Allison Roberts
Sites Reflect
forgotten
History
Markers
Identify ghost
towns
started
by settlers within
state.
Some
of
Oklahoma's ghost towns
stand
as a testament to the
determination of
the
people
that founded
them.
Cayuga, a
settlement
in
the
northeastern corner
of
Delaware County, was
planted
by American
Indian
Mathias
Splitlog. Upon
settling
Cayuga in the early
1890's,
Splitlog built
a wagon
factory, a genearal
store and
a
blacksmith
shop to
promote
town
commerce.
Splitlog
was
also responsible
for the
construction
of a
Gothic-style
Catholic
church
in 1896.
Atop the
belfry was a
1,600
pound
bell that
reportedly could
be
heard
12
miles
away.
Despite
Splitlog's
dedication
to
Cayuga, the town
faltered
following a
fire that
consumed much of the
community. The
church,
however, was
spared from
damage and
remains a
reminder
of
one
individual's
effect on
Oklahoma's
history. In
1972,
the
Cayuga Splitlog
Church
was added to the
Nations
Register
of
Historical
Places. |
