WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

NATURAL FEATURES.

WYANDOTTE county, the smallest in the State, lies mostly between Kansas and Missouri Rivers, as they approach each other to make a juncture at the city of Wyandotte. With the exception of Shawnee Township which lies south of the Kaw River the county is in the general shape of a triangle. bounded west and north by Leavenworth County northeast to the south by the Missouri. and southeast by the Kansas River Johnson County lies to the south of Shawnee Township. Wyandotte County contains an area of but 153 square miles. Its surface is undulating and bluffy, being watered by small branches of the great rivers which form most of its boundary line. Flowing into the Missouri westerly from the mouth of the from the mouth of the Kaw, are Jersey Creek which passes through Wyandotte City; Coal Creek. Marshall Creek near Pomeroy and Connor’s Creek, Honey Creek and Fifth Island Creek near Connor’s. Running into the Kansas River from the north and commencing at its mouth are Splitlog’s Run, where the old saw mill was built; Muncie Creek, Mill Creek, Little Turkey Cree, Deep Creek Mission Creek, Deep Ho1low Creek, Neconhecon, a branch of Wolf Creek and named after the Delaware chief, and Wolf Creek itself. Entering from the south are Turkey Creek and Davis Creek. Several spring branches rise in the bluffs of Shawnee Township, and running into the wide bottoms, lose themselves in the sandy soil before reaching the river The river bottom along the Kansas average about one mile in width. the bluffs along. both rivers rising from 100 to 200 feet above the surface.

The eastern portion of the county was formerly heavily timbered, and cottonwood hickory, oak, walnut and other varieties still abound to a greater or less extent throughout the county, along the banks of the rivers and streams. The face of county is divided, according to the last biennial report of the State Board of Agriculture as follows:

Bottom land, twenty per cent, upland, eighty per cent; forest (Government survey) twenty-five per cent; prairie, seventy-five per cent. The average width of bottoms is from one to two miles. Spring abound throughout the county, and good water is obtained at a depth of from twenty to fifty feet. The soil is of a rich, sandy loam, and especially adapted to fruit raising, Wyandotte being considered the "banner" section of the State. Garden products are raised also to an enormous extent. The county is also rich in mineral weatlh, fine quarries of white magnesiam limestone extending for five miles along the Kansas River, and a good blue limestone being found along the Missouri River. Coal has been reached at a depth of 300 feet in the southern part of the couty, at Rosedale, th4e vein now being worked being twenty inches in thickness. For details in regard to the natural and developed wealth of the county, especially as regards its agricultural products, the reader is referred to succeeding pages.

POPULATION (FEDERAL CENSUS).

FIRST SETTLEMENTS.

By general consent, Moses Grinter is awarded the priority among the early settlers of Wyandotte County. He located near where the station of Secundine afterward stood, in 1831. and lived there up to the time of his death, which occurred June 1, 1878.

The next white man to stop within the limits of Wyandotte County was Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Methodist minister. who established a mission school among the Delaware Indians, near "the white church."

In April, 1837, Rev. John G. Pratt located upon Section 10, Town 30. Range 23. about sixteen miles west of Wyandotte City, where he still resides. He established a Baptist mission among the Delawares, published several hymn hooks in their language. and one of his sons married a daughter of Charles Journeycake's, a well-known chief. He is now-the oldest settler in the county and the following account which he gives of the tribe is therefore of more than usual interest and value:

That part of the country on the north side of the Kansas River was first settled by the Delawares in 1829. They came from Ohio, and brought with them a knowledge of agriculture, and many of them habits of industry. They opened farms, built houses and cut out roads along the ridges and divides, also erecting a frame church at what is now the village of White Church. The south side of the Kansas River was settled by the Shawnee Indians in 1823. They also afterward came from Ohio, and were about as much advanced in civilization as the Delawares. They had a Methodist mission about three miles from Westport, a long time, it being presided over by Rev. Mr. Johnson; also a Quaker mission about two miles west of that. The population of the Delaware tribe when it first settled in Kansas, was 1,000. It was afterward reduced to 800. This was in consequence of contact with the wilder tribes, who were as hostile to the short-haired Indians as they were to the whites. Still the Delawares would venture out hunting buffalo and beaver, to be inevitably overcome and destroyed. Government finally forbade their leaving the reservation. The effect of this order was soon apparent in the steady increase of the tribe, so that when they removed in 1867, they numbered 1,160. The ruling chiefs from 1829 to 1867, were Ne-con-he-con, Qui-sha-to-what (Capt. John Ketchum), Nah-ko-mund (Capt. Anderson), Kock-a-to-wha (Sar-cox-ie), Charles Journeycakes, Qua-con-now-ha (James Sacondine or Secundine), Ah-cah-chick (James Connor) and Capt. John Connor."

Capt. John Ketchum, one of the most noted chiefs of the Delawares, died in August, 1857. He lived near White Church on the Lawrence road, and at the time of his death, which occurred at an advanced age, he was almost helpless. His funeral was attended by a large number of Indians, who came in their colored blankets and painted faces, carrying their guns. They were mounted on horseback, and as the procession slowly followed the remains of their chief along the windings of the forest road, they seemed truly the sorrowful survivors of a once powerful race.