Westport High School - Herald Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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ANSAS es southwest s one of the XV est. .vith his wife come to the mpropriations a land grant ent, the total 'ly Sl00,000. l, dormitory, and manual tantial home was brought s are in ex- shed homes. y a hundred fls, and even J sew, spin, ey were also thriyed, and -lished. For lgned. The e of the red ly, all under in. : and all was ecided stand e a meeting It was only . legislature he Mission. rved as dor- J governors. Hadley of C. :ringent that nation from and in 1865 down in his little grave- least corner THE VVESTPQRT HIGH SCHCQL HERALD. 25 NVl1en the end came to this awful four years of mob rule, vandalism, and carnage, this peaceful and prosperous settlement was almost depopulated. The Shawnee Indians were moved to the West, and the home that had known them so long knew them no more. The property had passed into other hands. Rev. Johnson willed the property to his son, William Johnson, who is still living there. He now owns about two hundred acres of this rich land. There are three of the original buildings, now three-quarters of a century old. The one in which the legislature met is now the home of a dairyman and is in Hne repair. The one across the street on the southwest corner, where the Indians were taught to wor- ship, and where many a dusky bride has been led to the altar, is now a dance hall. William johnson, the son of the founder, remembers many a boyish prank that he and his Indian comrades played there. CHAS. K. SHoFs'rALL, '15, LAUREL, ROSE, AND CYPRESS From the Neo-hellenic of Alexandros S. Vyzanties Laurel : I ain the conflict-watching laurel, Sought in rivalry's friendly quarrel, Destroying crude distortion irninoral, Crown of the poet and the chief: I ani plac'd by the breath of glory On the brows of sage rnen and hoary,- S triver and wrestler fani'd in story Speak, do ye seek the laurel-leaf? Rose .' I arn the rose, the fair beyond reason, Flower of flowers in flowers' rarest season, Breath of Eros' beautiful treason, The einblcin of Love's blisses brief, Fortune's reward in this wo1'ld's Aidenn, I heal hearts heavily love-laden, Gayly the young rnan and the inaiden Gather the rose and know no grief. l Cypress .' Laurel and rose, inen's success, and nien's gladness, M en's love and 1nen s life must undergo sadness, Defeat's despondency, wounded hearts' madness Know at the goal of life a glad relief: Frorn life's enipty visions nian rnust awaken, I And see life of love and triuniphs forsaken, And the cypress insatiable unshaken Swallow the rose-blooin and the laurel-leaf. KEENE C. WALLIS, ,l5.

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,!,,.--S, ,tm f 'TA' exu- ,,,.,..!---- -ffr-mcrrtt sift it 2 y 24 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. Soon after this, J. C. McCoy had his stock of goods brought ashore in the woods above Chouteau's warehouse. In 1832 a regular landing was established where Grand avenue now reaches the river. This was the beginning of Westport Landing, iwhich afterward developed into HThe Town of Kansas. It would be difficult to conceive a less inviting spot for the building of a town. But this angle in the Missouri River was the best natural road to the West and the South- west, and it was the highest point to which goods for the great Santa Fe and plains trade could be taken by boat without increasing the cost of land transportation and encountering worse roads. This Missouri River landing was part of a 256-acre tract owned by a Frenchman, Prud- homme. Several residents of Jackson County, who had observed the tendency of trade to center at the landing, conceived the plan of founding a town on the Prudhomme estate. VV hen the sale was held, the company bought the land for 34,220 This was the original site of Kansas City. I There were many different opinions about the prospects of the new town. Independence and Westport nicknamed it Westport Land- ing, and so it became generally kn-own. Sen- ator Benton remarked that it was destined to become the greatest commercial center west of St. Louis. The great portion of the early trade of the town was similar to that of all frontier towns, and was carried on chiefly with the Indians, the employees of the mountain traders, and the Mackinaw boatmen. As early as 1840, it was not uncommon on the arrival of Macki- naw boats to see as many as three or four hundred men on the levee, all buying more or less from the traders. The Indian trade con- tinued to flourish at VVestport Landing Cnarned The Town of Kansas in 18395, and at Independence, until 1843, at which time it was temporarily suppressed by order of Gen- eral Santa Anna. josEPH1NE HELLMAN, 'l5. SHAWNEE MISSION, KANSAS VVithin three and one-half miles southwest of NVestport High School there is one of the most historic spots of the Middle West. In 1839 Rev. Thomas johnson with his wife and family left his Ohio home to come to the Shawnee Indians as a missionary. I By l829 he had received appropriations from the Methodist church and a land grant of 2,24-O acres from the government, the total value -of both amounting to nearly f5lO0,000. with tho money he bout tt school, dormitory, chapel, dining room, class rooms, and manual training rooms, as well as a substantial home for himself. The best of material was brought fr-om St. Louis, and the buildings are in ex- cellent shape today. Settlers came here and established homes. The school and mission had nearly a hundred pupils. These Indian boys and girls, and even men and women, were taught to sew, spin, cook, and do carpenter work. They were also taught to love and revere God. The town, for such it was now, thriyed, and a store and a postoffice were established. For many years quiet and peace reigned. The children of the pale face and those of the red man went in and out as one family, all under the wise guidance of Rev. Johnson. A few years of this peaceful life and all was changed. Rev. ,Iohnson took a decided stand for slavery. The Mission became a meeting place for Southern sympathizers. It was only natural then that the territo-rial legislature decided to mo-ve its capital to the Mission. They occupied the building that served as dor- mitory. This building housed two governors. The grandfather of ex-Governor Hadley of Missouri taught here for some time. The legislature passed laws so stringent that they called forth a wave of indignation from the aboliti-onists. Spirit ran high, and in 1865 Rev. Johnson- was wantonly shot down in his doorway. He was buried in the little grave- yard that is situated in the southeast corner of the Mission grounds. NV of n peace depol move know Th Rev. Willi now rich

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ff- fff!,,,..., A ., in f -f .-, e -f 1 4 i 26 THE WESTPQRT HIGH SCHOQL HERALD. .For the Love of Adventure Do you see them? Do you see them ?,' Alice cried as I took up my field gl-HSSCS and gazed at five little specks moving along on the peak of a snow-capped mountain, three thou- sand feet above us. I have never seen a more beautiful sight than those mountains, with the sun shining so brightly on their snow peaks that you could hardly look at them, although the sun had not yet reached down into the valley. Early as it was, it bade fair to be a beautiful spring day. We were sitting o-ut on the veranda of the hotel at Engelburg, Switzerland, gazing up- ward at the lofty mountains that completely surr-ounded this little green valley. How strange it seemed to sit there in our summer clothes and watch those people tramp through the snow. There were five of those specks: one was Alice's father, one, her brother 5 another, a friend of her father'sg and the other two, guides. I, like them, was an American trav- eler. I had known these people when a boy, but had not seen them for years, until I came across them at this out of the way place. Yes, I see them now, I said, and we sat there all the morning, talking and looking at them, and wondering why any one would risk his life just to say he had climbed to the top of that snow-capped mountain. It came around to lunch time, and as the party was hidden for the present, we went in to lunch. We were gone perhaps three-quar- ters of an hour. When we came out to the veranda again, we could still see them, but there were only four black specks, and they had stopped moving. Alice shuddered. Then, I wonder if one of them has-has slipped and-H 'KNO l I said. HI donlt think so. They have probably stopped for lunch, and one of the guides has gone to look for wood. But there is no wood up there! That's right, I had to admitf' but we will wait and see what happensf' We waited all afternoon, but they didn't move from that place. It looked as if they were making some sort of a snow ho-use for protection. I spent an anxious night wonder- ing what could have happened to them. When I came down in the morning, Alice was already on the veranda. The specks had not moved. The girl was sobbing softly, and as I came up behind her, I could hear her say, What can I do? What can I do? Here she was two thousand miles fr-om home, and with her father and brother up on that mountain, perhaps one of them over a precipice. There is only one thing to dof' I said as bravely as I could. I will hire two guides and go up and get them. Stay here, but don't worry. I will have them back safe and sound in no timef' No! she almost shrieked, I can't do that! I must go with you! I tried to persuade her not to do it, to think of the dangers, but she would go. They said we made a record in getting the material ready for a trip of that kind. The tw-o guides secured a carriage to take us to the timber line, where there was one lone house, the last sign of civilization. It was dusk when we got there, so we stopped for the night. After an absolutely sleepless night on the part of Alice and myself, we started out at four in the morning. Wfe went in single file, one guide leading, and the other bringing up the rear. A good, stout rope connected us, be- cause- it would have been death to risk it with- out one., as we often walked just a foot or so away from a precipice, where if one had slipped, he would have fallen hundreds of feet. It w: fo-ot ment At a bit' exha Alice It a sig up hi looki until that way we s our y were The vivec the f Al along