Thirty Years in Topeka. A historical sketch

Preface

. £S| N offering this book to the public, I hardly feel that any >Japology is due from me, and yet the reason for its preparation should perhaps be given. The animating motive of the work was a desire that the early history of the city of Topeka might be preserved in perfect truthfulness — a desire which sympathetic friends will certainly not censure me foi entertaining. In matters which more especially pertain to Shawnee county. I feel rather to censure n-yself for not giving many facts and incidents omitted, but which in the future will be of considerable local interest. Considerable space is given to purely State history, a thing quite foreign to the originaldesigp of the book, and which, in view of the comprehensive work by the State Historical Society, that the community is anxiously awaiting, would not have been touched upon at all, had it not been so inti mately connected with a history of Topeka that it became necessary to do so.

Some events narrated will seem trivial now, but in the future their interest will be in the ratio that time past bears to the date of their occurrence. Contemporary observers will notice errors, of course, but hoping that none of import ance have been committed, I can only remind the reader that it is human to err, and that it is divine to forgive. The frontispiece is from an oil painting for the author by Henry Worrall, in 1870. I had prepared a sketch and sub mitted it for approval to early associates. From that Mr. Worrall produced the very satisfactory painting — 18x26' inches — now in my possession. It is a true representation of the original cabin and its surroundings, as they existed during the winter of 1854-5, to the most minute detail. The representation of a quarter of beef may be taken as a symbol of the abundance that Topekans have always enjoyed, and serve as a reminder to the founders of the disturbance of their slumbers by the howling wolves.

Very respectfully, F. W. GILES. CONTENTS. The Land as Found. Col. Fremont's Crossing of the Kansas River — Uniontown — The Great Highways — Ferries — The Papans — Popula tion in 1854 — Calhoun — Rochester — Fremont. The Topeka Association. The Natal Day — Viewing the Site — Articles of Agreement — Who Were the Founders — The Plan of Operations. The Beginning. Building the Cabin — The City on Fire — Jumping the Town Site — Squatter Sovereignty — Civil Officers Appointed — The Dawn of Nature's Beauties in the Spring of 1855 — The First Festival — Deficiency of Building Materials — The First Saw Mill — Disappointment in Getting Timber — A Hundred Trees the Only Supply — Roads, Bridges and a Ferry — The First Building of Stone — First House of Bricks — Good Mills Erected. Possessing the Land. Methods Available — Area of Land Desired — The First Survey — Change of Public Sentiment — Number of Shares Increased — Award Shares — Survey and Platting the Town — The Original Plan Changed — Course of the Streets — Six Honest Men Greatly Needed — Government Surveys — Quan tity of Land Secured.

Naming the Town and Streets. Delay in Adopting a Name — Exact Circumstances of Naming the Town — Holloway's Account Wrong — Signification of the Word Topeka— The System of Street Nomen clature. Boating on the Kaw. Hopes of the Early Settlers— Providing a Landing— The Arrival of Boats— First Freight by River from Topeka—Leg islation to Promote Navigation — The River Legislatively Closed to Navigation. Acquiring Title. United States Treaty with the Wyandotte Indians — Land Floats — The Purchase from Isaiah Walker — Sale of Parts of the Town Site — The Government Surveys — A Disturbing Influence — Action by the Topeka Association — The Loca tion of the "Float" — The "Valley Town" Company — Ju dicial Affirmation of the Special Trustee's Deeds. Bestowal of Title. The Final Act of the Board of Trustees — Certificates of Ownership — The Topeka Land Records — Notice by the Special Trustee — Efforts to Discover what Became of all the Land Bought by the Topeka Association — The Author's Conclusions in Regard to that Matter.

March of Events — 1854 to 1862. Dwelling Houses, Business Houses, Hotels and Churches Erected — Sources of Supplies — Trade of the Settlement Turned to Leavenworth — Raiding Pro-Slavery Towns — The Dawn of Better Days — Topeka's First "Boom" — A New Life to Kansas and the Free-State Towns— Increase of Wealth and Population — Sale of the Half-Breed Kaw Reservations — Land Granted by Congress for Railroad Subsidies—Emi gration to Pike's Peak — Opening the Smoky Hill Route. Bridging the Kaw. The First Charter for a Bridge at Topeka— Jones, Kidney & Co. Contract with the Town Company to Build a Cheap Bridge— The Plan of Building— Its Completion — The First Bridge Over the Kaw— Great Rejoicing of the People — Pro- CONTENTS. logue by Edmund G. Ross — The Floods Come and Carry the Bridge Away — Appeal to Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, for Help to Rebuild — The Pontoon Bridge — The Iron Bridge — Its Purchase by the County and the City.

The Whisky Riot. The Topeka Association Enacts the First Prohibitory Law in Kansas — Its Evaders Scourged with Mob-Law Penalties — Topeka Always a Temperance Town. The County-Seat Question. Original Boundaries of Shawnee County — Tecumseh the Couny Seat — A Court House Built — Action by the Free- State Legislature — Topeka Elected to be the County Seat — A Contumacious Judge — The Repudiation of the Court-House Indebtedness — The County Clerk Runs Away with the "County Seat" — Changing the County Lines — Building a Court House at Topeka — Measures Taken to Provide An other in 1S85 — The County Commissioners Suspected of Bad Faith. The Water Supply. Meteorological Conditions — The First Well in Topeka — General Difficulties of Procuring Water by Means of Wells — The Potency of the Plow on Meteorological Conditions — Water Everywhere — Public Water Works Established.

Fuel Supply. Early Anxiety Upon the Subject of the Fuel Supply — Dis covery of Coal in 1856 and in 1859— Its First General Use in 1862 — An Appropriation by the City and a Large Outlay of Capital to Find Deep-Lying Coal — The City Votes a Loan of $15,000 to Make Another Trial— The Act Found to be with out Authority of Law, and Remedied by the Legislature in 1886. Municipal Government. The Act of Incorporation — Reluctance in Accepting the Charter — Establishing the City Government — Grading Streets, Building Sidewalks and School Houses — Extending the City Limits by Additions — Building a City Hall and a City Prison — The Succession of Mayors. The Homicide op Arms. The Advent of Governor Walker — The Arrests of Free- State Men — United States Marshal Leonard Arms Attempts to Arrest Col. John Ritchie, and is Killed — Trial of Ritchie before Justice Miller— Decision of the Court — Public Senti ment.

Literary and Dramatic. The Kansas Freeman — The Philomathic Institute — The Kansas Magazine — Union Hall — Costa's Opera House — The Grand Opera House — Publications of Topeka in 1885. Storms, Floods and Earthquakes. Climatic Changes — The Season of 1855 — A Storm Scene — The Flood of 1844 — The Earthquake of 1867— A Scene at a Funeral — Earth Trembling in 1877. The Public Schools. Early Action by the Topeka Association — First Schools, School Houses and Teachers — Constant Demand for More School Room — W. H. Butterfield, School Superintendent — Active Measures in 1867 — School Room Always Deficient — The Number and Location of School Buildings in 1885 — Their Quality and Cost — Enrollment of School Population, 1876 to 1886. The Topeka Cemetery. Delay in Providing It — First Death in Topeka— Cholera in 1855 — Places of Burial — The Enterprise of Dr. F. L. Crane — First Burial in the Topeka Cemetery— Rechartered in 1877 — Improvements in 1884-5.

Postal Facilities. First Establishment of an Office — First Mail Under Lock — Establishment of Mail Lines— The Mail Service in 1859 — Succession of Postmasters and Places of Holding the Office CONTENTS. 9 — Introduction of Free Delivery System — Extraordinary Volume of Business — Statistics. The Federal Building. First Appropriation for — Rivalry of Leavenworth — Selec tion of a Site — Commencement of the Work — Date of Com pletion and Occupancy — Its Cost. College of the Sisters of Bethany. The Rev. Charles M. Callaway — Location of the Episcopal Female Seminary at Tecumseh — Removal to Topeka — Its Incorporation — Liberal Donations by the Topeka Association and Citizens — Opening of the School — Principals in Charge — Advent of Bishop Vail — Erection of Buildings — Be quests and Donations to the Institution.

Washburn College. The Scheme Inaugurated in 1858 — Donation by Col. Ritchie — The Enterprise Enlivened by Rev. Samuel D. Bowker — First School Session in 1865 — Rev. H. Q. Butter field, President — Rev. Dr. McVicar, President — An Elegant College Edifice and Buildings — Its Endowment Fund. The Topeka Government. A Sketch of Political Events in Kansas from the Organi zation of the Territory to the Dispersion of the Topeka Leg islature. Dispersion of the Legislature. A Graphic Description of that Novel Event, as given by Col. William A. Phillips. Victory for Freedom. A Narrative of Political Events from the Dispersion of the Legislature to the Adoption of the State Constitution. March of Events — 1861 to 1886. A Consecutive Narrative of Events Constituting the Growth of the City in Population, Wealth, Commerce and General Importance.

Location of the State Capital. The Wyandotte Constitution— Topeka the Temporary Capital — Admission of Kansas to the Union — Governor Charles Robinson Convenes the Legislature — Places of Holding Its First Sessions — Election of United States Sena tors — Provisions for the Election of State Capital — Com peting Points — The Canvass and Results — Influence Upon Topeka. The State Capitol. Provisions for the First Legislative Session — The Pres entation of Grounds for a Capitol — Construction of the East Wing — Ceremonies of Laying the Corner Stone — Ma terial First Used in Construction Proves Insufficient — Sub stitution of the Junction City Stone — First Occupancy — Construction of the West Wing — Comparative Quality and Cost — Foundations of the Center Building — Repairs of the East Wing. Saint Joseph & Topeka Railroad.

Chartered in 1857 — Organization and Vigorous Action — A Stirring Railroad Circular — Enthusiasm all along the Line — The Work Done — The First Locomotive Engine on Kansas Soil — Causes of the Failure of the Enterprise. Kansas Central Railroad. A Wyandotte Enterprise — The Survey— The Hopes of Topeka — A Second Survey — Right-of-Way Free Everywhere — Speculations as to What might have been. Union Pacific Railroad. The Charter by Congress— The Situation in Kansas— The Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad — Leavenworth in a Dilemma — Lawrence and Topeka in Danger — Congress Modifies the Law — Kansas City to Lawrence via Leaven worth—Assassination of Samuel Hallet— The Road in Op- CONTENTS. eration to Lawrence — The Legislature Takes an Excursion — In Operation to Topeka. The Santa Fe Railroad.

A State Railroad Convention — The Scheme Adopted — The Santa Fe Topeka's Share— Early Efforts to Build the Road — The Work Commenced — Anxiety of Leavenworth and Lawrence — Schemes for Other Roads in their Interests — Rivalry for its Shops and Offices — Topeka's Liberality — Purchase of the Bridge Shops — Its Erections of Buildings. The Midland Railroad. A Full Narration of the Unparalleled War Between Law rence and Topeka for Commercial Supremacy, in Connection with the Building of a Road between the two Towns on the South Side of the River. Events of the Civil War. A Raid by Quantrell Apprehended — March of Gen. Price Through Missouri to Overrun Kansas — Gov. Carney Orders Out the Militia in Defense — A Regiment Marches from To peka under Command of Col. Geo. W. Veale — Means Taken for Defense at Topeka — The Battle of the Blue — Shawnee County's Quota of Patriots Slain — Ceremonies of Sepulture at Topeka.

The Grasshopper Plague. Early Visitations of the Locusts — Their Habits — The Dis astrous Visitation of 1874 — Gov. Osborne Convenes the Leg islature—Plans of Relief — Formation of the Kansas Central Relief Committee — It Publishes an Address — The Work of the Committee — The Measure of Relief — Wonderful Har vests of 1875. The City Library. The Ladies' Library Association — The Topeka Library As sociation — The Experiment of a Free Library — Support from the City Treasury— The Library Building— Magnificent Lib erality of the Railroad Corporations. The Bridge Shops. Establishment at Iola— Removal to Topeka — The City Subsidy— The Bonds declared an Unlawful Issue — Embar rassment and Failure of the Company — Sale of the Shops to the A. T. & S. F. Railroad Co. The Rolling Mills. The Topeka Iron and Steel Co. — The City Votes a Subsidy — The Work of Building — City Bonds Declared an Unlawful Issue — The Enterprise Greatly Embarrassed, but Goes on with the Work — Failure of the Northern Pacific Railroad — Closing of all Rail Mills — The First Rail made in Kansas — Destruction of the Mills by Fire.

The Churches. The Congregational Church — The Methodist Church — The Presbyterian Church — The Episcopal Church — The Ro man Catholic Church. Biographical. Thomas G. Thornton — Philip Briggs — Joseph C. Miller — Dr. Franklin L. Crane — Jacob Safford — Aaron Stevens, alias Capt. Whipple — John Henry Kagi. Street Railways. Rivalry for Right-of- Way— Established in 1881— The Line as First Operated— Extension of the Line — Its Magnitude. The Exodus. Knowledge of Kansas by the Slaves— Their Prophetic Hopes of Freedom — The Exodus Begins — Scenes on the Mississippi — The Vanguard Arrives at St. Louis — Wyandotte and Topeka — Relief Societies and Schools Established contents. The Numbers that Came to Topeka— Their Great Advance ment in Knowledge and Usefulness. The State Reform School. Initiatory Steps — The First Appropiation — Procurement of a Site — Expense to Shawnee County— Building Erected — Provisions Made for Enlarging the Institution.

A Chapter of Trifles. The First Marriage — First Birth — First Death — First Woman Resident in Topeka — First Sale of Town Lots — First Telegraphic Communication — First Use of Illuminating Gas — First Use of Electric Lights — Advent of the Sparrows — First Murder — The Hanging of Edwards. Rival Towns. Auburn — Tecumseh — Lawrence — Leavenworth. Courts of Shawnee County. Provisions Made in the Territorial Organic Act — As Estab lished by the Territorial Legislature — Succession of Probate Judges — U. S. District Courts — Appointment and Removal of Judges by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan — Establish ment of State Courts — Judge Jacob Safford and the Line of Succession. The Fire Department. The First Fire in Topeka — Destruction of the Postoffice and the Topeka Record — Destruction of the Ritchie Block and U. S. Land Office — Destruction of the Topeka House — Establishment of the Volunteer Fire Company — Purchase of a Steam Fire Engine — Growth of the Department.

A City in a Forest. The Contrast — Action of the Topeka Association — Early Tree Planting — City Ordinances upon that Subject — To peka Improvement Society — The Park Ordinance. Asylum for the Insane. Discrimination Against Topeka — The Policy of the Loca tion of Public State Institutions — Location of the Asylum at Topeka — Expenses Imposed upon its Citizens — Appro priations for Building. Christ's Hospital. Mrs. Vail the Originator — Donations by Bishop Vail and his Wife — The Incorporation — Buildings Erected — Non- Sectarian in Management — Endowments. The First Morning. A Glance Retrospective. Finale. THE LAND AS FOUND. /If'OL. John C. Fremont, in the report of his first expedition over the plains, gives an account of his crossing the Kansas river with his company, on the 14th of May, 1842.

He used for that pur pose the India-rubber boats with which the expe dition had been provided, though not without some loss, the river being high. The place of his cross ing must have been very near the site of Topeka. In the spring of 1848, the Government established a trading post for the Pottawatomie Indians, under the management of Col. Thomas N". Stinson, who was for many years subsequent to the erection of the Territory a resident of Tecumseh, and one of the most influential men in the founding of that town. The location of the post was about fourteen miles west of Topeka, on the south side of the river. The annuities payable there sometimes exceeded in amount the sum of $100,000, and as all of this large sum of United States coins was expected to be exchanged for such commodities as semi-civil ized conditions require, the locality naturally had great attractions for that peculiar class of frontiers men known as Indian traders, and by the following year some ten or fifteen families of white persons were living there.

The Government called the place Uniontown. In 1852 a ferry-boat was constructed there for a Vermonter named Sidney W. Smith, who estab lished a ferry at a point six miles west of Topeka, and for many years conducted a thriving business with his boat. The first ferry that is known to have been established on the Kansas river, however, was that by Joseph and Ahcan Papan, in 1842, at the precise site of Topeka. At that time the south bank of the river was four or five hundred feet farther to the north than at present, and the Papans' dwelling house was near the bank. During the great flood of 1844 their house was carried away, as well as their ferry-boats, and when the waters subsided they found the site of their house to have become an island, a portion of which still remains above the bridge.

It was several years before the Papans reestablished themselves, but their ferry was popular and highly remunerative. The notoriety given by the circumstances named caused a concentration of the overland travel to Oregon, California and Mexico, as also of military trains, to this locality, so that when the town of Topeka was founded there existed well-defined highways in the vicinity of its site. The course of these highways was generally back from the larger streams, upon the divides, to avoid the difficulties incident to crossing their tributaries near their confluence. Thus the California road, THE LAND AS FOUND. a* it was called, followed the divide between the Kansas and the Wakarusa rivers, through Douglas and Shawnee counties, to a point immediately west of Burnett's mound, and thence to the farms on the Kansas ; while the military road from Fort Leaven worth to Santa Fe lay across that stream via Papan's ferry, to the west of Burnett's mound, crossed the Wakarusa near the site of Auburn, and bore away to the southwest.

For the accommodation of emigrant trains de siring to cross the river at Papan's ferry, a road had been opened from a point on the California road near the site of Big Springs via the site of Tecum seh, crossing Deer creek at the place where that creek is now bridged, and the Shunganunga at a point about on a line with Fourth street, where a pole bridge had been built, and thence intersected with the military road about two miles to the north of the Kansas river. At the close of the year 1854, there were per haps one hundred and thirty white families living on the territory now embraced in Shawnee county, mostly settled along the valleys of the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers, and many of whom had come into the Territory during that year, on their way to the Pacific coast, when, learning that the land was to be opened up to settlement by the Government, they abandoned their original purpose, and settled in the better country they were wearily passing.

Uniontown, of which mention has been made, became a place of some fifty houses by the year 1852, and had a national reputation as the first and last point west of the Mississippi river at which sup plies could be procured by pilgrims seeking the Mecca of the gold diggings of California, in 1849 and subsequent years. When the emigration ceased, the town rapidly declined, and when in 1855 the Government no longer discharged its obligations to the Indians there, it reverted to its pristine fields of grass. A trading house had been established at Cross Creek, now Rossville, in 1853. A town site was selected and a few log cabins built at a place near what is now Grantville, in Jef ferson county. The U. S. District Court held a term there in the late autumn of 1854. The place was called Calhoun, and when the county of Jeffer son was created by the Legislature of 1855, it was made the county seat of that county.

Two miles north of Topeka was the town of In dian ola, on the line of the military road; and an other in the same vicinity, of which J. B. Chapman and wife were the moving spirits, and which had been christened by its doting parents as Rochester. But this name not proving sufficiently attractive to immigrants, it was discarded for Whitfield City, in honor of the gentleman with such singular unanimity elected Territorial Delegate to Congress in the fall of 1854. This second christening was dropped in a few months, and the city became Kansapolis. Still the infant languished. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman thought they had sinned in changing its name at all, and again assumed for it their first appella tion — Rochester. It was too late, however, and THE LAND AS FOUND. death soon followed — of too much name, it was said.

Something had been done about a town site im mediately contiguous to the site of Topeka on the west, under the name of Fremont, and the writer remembers to have seen there, as late as in March, 1855, one man, one woman, one horse, seven chick ens, one carriage and a shake shanty; but as the scene was somewhat tragical, nothing more shall be said about it. But the only town enterprise of which Topeka had fears was their neigbor five miles to the east — Tecumseh — and of it more particular mention is elsewhere made. Annoying errors have been published to the effect that Topeka was an " Emigrant Aid " town. It was such only in the facts that the Topeka Associa tion bought of it second-hand machinery for a mill, and induced its agents to build a school house, for all of which ample remuneration was made.

THE TOPEKA ASSOCIATION. ■vJ^UE 5th day of December, 1854, was the natal day of the flourishing town now known as the city of Topeka. On the morning of that day, in a little log cabin at the foot of Kansas avenue, were assembled nine strangers whom chance had brought together, and who were then and there to inaugu rate a work destined to serve as a monument to their memory, more enduring may be, than pillar of mar ble or shaft of granite could have been. As the sun moved up from the horizon, magnified to amazing breadth by the dry and rarified atmos phere, the strangers strolled out upon the high land or divide, midway between the Kansas and Shun ganunga, to get a general view of the landscape, and to judge whether it was a fitting site upon which to found a town. A glance was sufficient to con vince them that the expansive scene presented elements of the picturesque seldom surpassed in numbers and strength in one combination; and, a3 they have many a time since remarked, Topeka was a beautiful place before there were houses here, whether it be since or not.

Returning to the cabin the question arose for de cision, whether they would attempt the founding of THE TOPEKA ASSOCIATION. a town, or a fort for civilians to congregate at, as the enterprise, in view of the political condition of the country at that time, might properly have been des ignated. M. C. Dickey, getting near the center of the cabin, that his full altitude might find space, moved that "that fellow with the white hat," pointing to C. K. Holliday, seated with the rest of the party upon the ground, "take the chair." The proposition was received wTith approval, and "the fellow with the white hat" sought to bring himself into proper elevation for a presiding officer. There was a sack of flour available, which answered the pur pose of speaker's chair, the first in Topeka. F. "W. Giles was named as secretary, and the following agreement was drawn up and adopted: We, the undersigned, agree that we will proceed to select and stake out claims in the vicinity of the dwelling house erected by M. C. Dickey, J. B. Chase, Enoch Chase and George Davis, situated near the Kansas river, to be disposed of as follows, namely : One and a half miles square shall be sur veyed for a town site.

Four claims are to be selected by M. C. Dickey, J. B. Chase, Enoch Chase and George Davis respectively, and the remainder to be assigned by lot when fifteen or more persons are on the ground and ready for a drawing. The town site shall be divided into fifty shares, and the lots apportioned among the shareholders by lot, from time to time, as the association may direct, reserving, however, one sixth of the lots of the town to be donated to such persons as will improve them as directed by the association, and also one-sixth to be donated to the Emigrant Aid Company, of Massachusetts, as a consideration for the erection of a mill, a school house, receiving house, etc. Moreover we agree, that the timber and wood on our claims may be used by any member of the association for his own improvement for one year, provided that no person shall take more than four thou sand feet of timber, board measure, and six cords of wood, except from his own claim.

C. K. Holliday, F. W. Giles, (Signed) Daniel H. Hoene, George Davis, Enoch Chase, J. B. Chase, M. C. Dickey, C. EOBINSON, L. G. Cleveland. Kansas Territory, December 5, 1854. This agreement constituted the basis of the To peka Association, but on the 14th day of that month formal articles of association were adopted, and in conformity therewith officers were elected on the 18th, as follows: Cyrus K. Holliday, President. Enoch Chase, Vice President. ■ William C. Linaker, Secretary. F. W. Giles, Treasurer. Also a Board of Trustees, consisting of Messrs. Milton C. Dickey, Jacob B. Chase, Thomas G. Thornton, L. G. Cleveland and Daniel H. Home. The men forming this association were from four States, as follows: C. Robinson, at the time gen eral business agent of the Emigrant Aid Company, and in 1861 Governor of Kansas, from Massachu setts; C. K. Holliday, from Pennsylvania; F. W. Giles and M. C. Dickey, from New Hampshire; D. H. Home, Enoch Chase, George Davis and J. B. Chase, from Massachusetts; and L. G. Cleveland, from Iowa.

THE TOPEKA ASSOCIATION. 23 They had no unity of purpose in coming to Kan sas, farther than to do what they might do to make Kansas a free State, until they met beneath the little roof of sods on the banks of the Kaw. Their names were not known to each other when they drew up and signed the foregoing agreement. An indication of this fact appears in the motion of Col. Dickey, that " that fellow with the white hat take the chair; " and yet we are confident in saying, that between these nine men, in all their intimate and varied intercourse through succeeding years of effort, in deprivation and want, in conflict of many interests, in adversity and in prosperity, there was never a serious word of disagreement. They are scattered now — some distant, some have gone to their long homes; three only remain upon the ground of their first meeting.

The animating idea of really forming a town that should in their day become of sufficient mag nitude to have a national reputation, was not generally entertained, and the hope of its becoming the capital of the future State, though supported by advantageous location, was only enjoyed by two or three of the more sanguine. Having determined upon their work, the inquiry was anxiously presented as to how to do it. It was an enterprise, the like of which had engaged the attention of no one of them before, except possibly Governor Robinson, and he did not remain with the party at all, or ever take ah active part in the interests of the town. They had neither models of success or failure before them from which to profit in their new, untried labors. They had their reason to guide them — nothing more.

Two plans of action were considered, one leading to an early realization of pecuniary profits, by a sale of lots to such as might visit them; the other a free use of lots without regard to price, as social, commercial and political advantages might become available. A desire of wealth, ever active, was a potent argument for the former course; while the ambition to do a work in the new Territory that should be known and remembered in the future, coupled with the still stronger desire to bring about them at the earliest possible time the comforts and elegances of life to which they were accustomed, was a powerful incentive to the latter course. In the councils upon this subject the "give away" policy prevailed. "With what degree of faithfulness it was carried out, future accounts shall determine. <5yHE cabin that was built and occupied by the founders of Topeka during the first few months of their enterprise was of the trunks of trees, small and crooked, that grew near its location by the river; a log cabin to be sure, but not very like the comely and comfortable structure bearing that name in the spruce forests of the New England of yore.