Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-16
KauSaS City, Missouri.
KANSAS CITY, Mo,
March eth. 1871.

MarCn 1In, 1911.
&dita1' Rli'and HNa7d Il have con.
,luded to break the long silence which
has elapsed since I wrote you. A gentle
hint, with expressions of kind regards,
from RuNand,a s acted has spear to prick
ma on 10 duty.
The ebtni topic of interest in this-the
northern part Ct Missouri-is Kansas city
tia marvellous increase in population, its
..ppa1buman efforts to draw business from
he surrounding country into it's hands,
=, uet work of railroads, and, in fact, all
those ,'Nriad branches Of industry which
,,o >, mike great commercial centre,
ara discussed ,nd talked over with until
ring fidelity to one particular thing-the
growth Of Kansas City.
For the information of the numerous
readers of the HERALD.-many OF which
ara scattered throughout the Vest will
-ndeavor tc give a synopsis of its business
Tor 1870 It may prove rather dry reading
10 some, but to those who may wish to
amiqrata West it mav,perhaps, give them
an impression Of our destined future, that
nav lead them to cast their lot with US.
will have to raoapitulate soma OF my
former lnttsys--written so long ago, that
it may not he necessary to apologize
showing It's rapid growth both in popu-
lation and business.
The town was laid out in 1830-in 1883
! partial survey of the town was made,
out only few buildings were erected,
moatly rude cabins In 1916, a new sur
~ wa made-the sale of the fret lots
aa;,.., nude in the SAME year. The last
,,,,,,as of the town showed that it contain
"A ORG acres. In 1848 there was only
,or,,,otiop of 700 There was only one
Phna.aisn-Dr B. Frost-for a number OF
raars The Kansas LedgeT--the first
p,per publiahc3 hero-was started in
1881. run one year, and then removed to
Trd,peDdancp. In 1868, tho Enterprise,
--cas puhliehed and still remains under the
nqre Of the Journal Of Co11meTCS, and is
the strongest republican paper in this sec
zion Of the State-able, fearless and reli-
abl--hs chief editor of which is Col. r.
T. Van Horn, representative to Congress
from thi4 district. He, also, is one of the
proprietors of the foUraa'
The first store was opened in 1889, con-
tanning Indian goods and groceries. The
town grew slowly until 1866, when it ad-
TAnced rapidly until 1861. At this latter
.oeriod Kaneas City had a population of
7 900: but the rebellion cut it down fear
fullv, Situated on the border, it was
o7erruu, first by one side and then the
other For four years this depletion of
population and stagnation Of business con-
tinued, At the close of the war, 1866, the
population wac 5000. From this time
dates her real prosperity. In January,
1867, the population had increased to TO-
O. q In August. 1868, the population
,yss $4,000. At the last United States
Cans, ,s she shows the grand figures of
20 2s6. an increase over the oensns of
1860 of a Aout 500 per cent.
The frs.t bridge across the big Mud.
5v." alias Missouri River, was built at
this point, the chief engineer of which
Mr. O. Chanuie-is a resident of this
place. Two years were occupied in the
construction of this bridge, and at cost
of asarly 100000 total length of
bridge, f,317 feet. After crossing the
bridge, on the north side, there are 1850
feet Of trestle work, the grade of which is
enc foot to the hundred.
Eight different railroads terminate here,
viz:
The Missouri Pacific, to St. Louis, 2s3
miles.
The Missouri River, to Leavenworth,
20 miles, connecting there with a railroad
to Atohiuson.
The west branch of the North Missouri
runs to Moberly, 1875 miles, connecting
with the main line.
The Missouri River, Fort Scott and
~eilFosd, to Baxter Springs, 16i
Gulf h..
miles 1a}.ey Railroad. 10 st.
The Missouri ,-sh, 81 miles.
Joseph, thence to Savan- Taaver. $40
The Kansas Pacific, to l.
miles. -
The Kansas City and Cameron ro~
connects with the Hannibal and St. 10
seph Railroad, giving direct route to
Chicago and the North.
The Kansas City and Santa Fe Railroad
Gust completely runs to Ottawa, KS, and
connects with the Leavenworth and Ca
baston Railroad.
Several new lines of railroad are being
surveyed which will have their terminus
{, at this point, one OF which is being built,
viz: The Louisiana and Missouri Road,
220 miles in length.
Therefore, as will be seen, we have
twenty-five hundred miles of railroad
centering at this point.