Introduction Earlier in the year, an editorial appeared in the pro-railroad Girard Press. Apparently in response to this editorial, the L<strong>and</strong> Leaguers told people to give the railroad no quarters. Do not allow them to pay taxes. Burn up their ties. Burn up their <strong>com</strong>passes <strong>and</strong> chains. Burn up their wagons <strong>and</strong> tents. Burn up their tax list. There were five men in Crawford County who were not L<strong>and</strong> League members, <strong>and</strong> they were threatened with hanging "higher than Haman." (John Pearson being one <strong>of</strong> them.) The L<strong>and</strong> Leaguers opposed the <strong>com</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the railroad <strong>and</strong> were chafed because <strong>of</strong> having to buy their l<strong>and</strong> from the railroad man, James F. Joy. Joy was a l<strong>and</strong> speculator from Detroit who bought up the 800,000 Cherokee Neutral L<strong>and</strong>s in SE Kansas for $1.00 per acre. Settlers came by the hundreds to the Cato area in 1866-1867, <strong>and</strong> Joy was selling it to settlers for $1.25-5 per acre. The settlers had settled on l<strong>and</strong> formerly owned by Indians, now by Joy, <strong>and</strong> he wanted them to pay. This angered them because they thought they had settled on free l<strong>and</strong>. Angry settlers formed L<strong>and</strong> Leagues that rode in the night like bushwhackers <strong>of</strong> the south, opposing the railroads <strong>and</strong> Joy's ownership <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>. Countersigns <strong>and</strong> passwords were part <strong>of</strong> the semi-military groups that formed. Settlers were prepared to resist eviction from their l<strong>and</strong> at any cost. A <strong>com</strong>pany <strong>of</strong> US soldiers under the <strong>com</strong>m<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Maj. Upham entered Cato in 1870, charged with keeping the peace on the frontier. Finally, Joy agreed to by-pass Cato <strong>and</strong> construct a railroad through Pawnee, Farlington, <strong>and</strong> Girard. The L<strong>and</strong> Leaguers disb<strong>and</strong>ed, although bitterness between descendants would remain. And many settlers left the county <strong>and</strong> moved west to new l<strong>and</strong>s. Coal Success created history as the coal boom began. At its peak, 14,000 miners were digging seven million tons <strong>of</strong> coal annually in sixty-five deep mines. Strip mining also became abundant as massive steam shovels took gigantic bites out <strong>of</strong> the earth, uncovering seams <strong>of</strong> coal with a smaller work force. The "strip pits" seen throughout the area is continuing evidence <strong>of</strong> the days <strong>of</strong> strip mining. There are numerous little <strong>com</strong>munities throughout Crawford County. The miners lived close by the mines they worked, thus creating small camps all over the county. Imagine that at its peak, the county consisted <strong>of</strong> as many as 2,000 camps. The camps were made up <strong>of</strong> the miners' homes, where they <strong>and</strong> their families lived. Most camps had one school <strong>and</strong> one church. Some <strong>of</strong> the larger camps may have also had a theater, bank, electric lights <strong>and</strong> "paved" streets. A lot <strong>of</strong> the miners were paid in script, so they had to buy from the <strong>com</strong>pany stores. (Prices were usually higher, too.) Today, a house or two may be all that st<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> a camp. Cato, the earliest town in the county, is an example <strong>of</strong> a town that faded as fast as it flourished. Many <strong>of</strong> the town buildings are still st<strong>and</strong>ing today, but have been vacant for years. 4
Charles Guss 1732-1794 Simeon Guss 1773-1818 Ancestors <strong>of</strong> Rumina Elizabeth Guss Ancestors <strong>of</strong> Rumina Elizabeth Guss Anna Marie Shunk 1741-1821 Henry Guss 1792-1866 Samuel Guss 1824-1891 Heinrick Jacob Knerr 1733-1806 Elizabeth Foose 1794-1863 Barbara Knerr 1768-1843 Rumina Elizabeth Guss 1852-1925 5 Elizabeth Mueller -1804 Ebenezer Hadley 1755-1833 Ebenezer Hadley 1782-1849 James P. Hadley 1806-1888 <strong>Riley</strong> Cephas Pearson 1847-1942 Jemina Stoddard Elizabeth Patten 1781 Rumina Hill 1809-1851 Mary Elizabeth Hadley 1834-1924
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