Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A New Centennial History of the State of Kansas by Prof. Charles R. Tuttle Interstate Book Company - 1876 632-633 MONTGOMERY COUNTY was organized in 1869 and named in honor of the gallant officer that fell in the attack on Quebec in December, 1775. The area of the county is 636 square miles; its population in 1875 was 13,017, of which number there were 6,888 males. Illinois gave the largest quota of population, Missouri coming next. Farming employs 60 per cent of the pop- ulation and mines and manufactures 15 per cent. The county seat is Independence, 125 miles south from Topeka. One fourth of the soil is bottom land, and there is 10 per cent of forest. The streams are Verdigris river, Elk river, Onion, Drum, Duck, Sycamore, and Big Hill creeks. Springs are rare, but well water is found at an average depth of 25 feet. Coal underlies about one-third of the county. The quality not first class and thick- ness varying from 12 to 24 inches. Limestone and flagstone are abundant for all purposes. There will be salt works at Elk City, and salt water of good quality can be procured by digging. There are no salt marshes. The railroad connections are the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston line which has stations at Cherry Vale, Liberty and Coffeyville; with a branch from Cherry Vale to the county seat, Independence. Fifty-four bushels of winter wheat to the acre are said to have been raised at Sycamore in this county, at a cost per acre of $2.84. There are splendid water powers not improved in the Verdigris and Elk rivers. The manu- factures of the county are in Louisburg township, a steam grist mill; in Parker two steam saw mills; in Independence, a cigar factory, a cheese factory and vinegar factory, and on the Verdi- gris and Elk rivers, two water power flouring mills; in Cherokee, a steam saw mill; in Liberty, a steam saw mill and water power grist mill; in Parker, one mill water and steam and one steam, both grist mills; and in Sycamore, one water power grist and one saw mill. The county seat is 134 miles by rail from the city of Lawrence on the banks of the Verdigris. The place was founded in 1870, and has one daily and three weekly papers, five churches, three banks, and a very thriving business. There are 100 districts and 96 school houses valued at $107,846; church edifices number seven with a valuation of $23,100; libraries are reported to the extent of 1,337 volumes. Montgomery was self supporting in the locust raid. ===========================================================================