Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-11-01
TIE WHOLE DAM BUSINESS.
Mr.. willard Writes Chapter on the His
tory of the Celebrated Baxter Dam.

EDITOR NEWS: In peruslnS the COL
hinhs of your last weeks issue ] no.
iiced an article entitled "a Decision
Asked For" Let US look at these diff
iercnces on the other side little and
sce Ii some one has not made some
mistake. With yOnr permission | will
try aud explain little in my own be-
half aud then compare notes with the
city council in regard to the dam busi'
ness.
In ,he first place, the city contracted
with me for my rights at the old mill
aud was 10 give me % horse power for
800 years at point west of the slough
without any expense TO me, and said
power was TO he furnished 10y cable,
and city was also to settle with Stone
~ Cove aud let Gaunt, Maupin Il Co.
have power to run j00-barrcl mill AT
half the cost of steam power. The
cilizcns held mass meeting at which
Manpin got up and made speech
saying that II was very important that
The city should control the water pow
ar ut Baxter Springs, by all means.
lie also said that their company had
sixty thousand dollars to put into a
mill. That statement excited the pe0'
l,le very much. Then in about two
weeks Mr.. Maupin came over again
and made another speech Ia our people
and said to the citizens Of Baxter that
he Was the man who ought 10 control
the Baxter wafer power. II would be
all right in his hands but not in mine,
or any other individuals. Of course
he would be more liberal in supplying
power than anyone else, and he said
his company had the material, or near
" all of it on hands, to build the dam,
and if Baxter would donate about
enough to build dam and mill 10 his
company they would undertake TO
build one. Then the city did agree TO
give them $4,000 in bonds.
At the same time was in the coun-
Gil, and you can see how my vote was
cast. 1t was against the bonds, and
while Maupin humbugged the people
he did not humbug me at all. He rep
resented himself as being practical
miller ard as understanding all about
Touring mill. when he knew nothing
about one and had never had anything
to do with one, but had third inter-
est in a steam sawnill in Missouri,
never having worked it himself. He
knew nothing about mill. When
the city turned their contract over TO
Gaunt, Maupin IL co. he was to settle
with Stone & Cove and i supposed
tina, he had settled with them until
the first lawsuit was begun. l heard
that Maupin had settled with notes
and that they were deposited in the
Baxter bank. When l heard that Mr.
Maupin had failed l went to Stone
and asked him If he was properly Sc
cured aud lie said that he was satisfied
with what he had; that Maupin was
perfectly good, and l supposed lie had
good security or he would not have
answered as he did.
When Mr.. Maupin first came here /
wrote TO the commercial agency at st.
Louis for their commercial standing
and learned that they had nothing but
what was mor,gaged for all its worth.
Ii some of the other people here had
done the same they would not have
taken as much stock In them as they
did.
Now, let us 20 back again and see
how this thing commenced. When
we first began talking about this dam
it was for the 500-barrel mill. We
could not vote bonds for mill, but
could for water works. Our attorney
said we could vote for water works
and manufacturing purposes, SO they
made a catspaw of water works to
yet the bonds to build dam and
toll bridge across Spring river.
AS had u ferry boat and controlled
the ford and a mill above, it was nee
essary to have lease from me in order
to make people cross on the bridge
and when they got further on they
wanted me to come into the city,
wanted me 10 sign Petition to that
effect and l would not. And they
said ave will put you into tue city
limits anyhow" so they went ahead
and did as they pleased; but l think
that will be considered hereafter.
About this time 1 became very
obnoxious man and have been very
hard to control ever since. In the first
place I never gave my consent to put
The dam where it is. 1t was to have
been put within forty feet of the old
ferry cable. There / owned the land
on both sides of the river, but some
thought they could put it below my
land aud have some land condemned.
Most of the people think that the
land was condemned by the city, but
ii was not; aud city can only con-
denim for certain purposes, tO-wit:
For cemetery purposes, for a pest
house. for streets and alleys, and for
water works. There is no law 10 take
one mans property and give il 10 an