Elk County in the mid-1880s

[W. Gray]

Fifth Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture to the Legislature of the State, for the years 1885-86, Containing the Decennial Census, for 1885, Illustrated, Descriptive Statements, Statistics, Maps, and General Information Relating to Each County, and the Geographical and Topographical Features of the State, Together with Tables, Summaries, and Diagrams Showing the Products, Progress and Development of the State; Reports of the Appointed Officers of the Board, Etc., Etc., [That is about 75 words in the title] Topeka, 1887

States the following:

The Elk River is formed by the junction of Ham Fork and Paw Paw Creek.

There were 23.01 people per square mile in Elk County. [Based on the 2009 census estimate of 3,001, there are now 4.61 people per square mile]

The newspapers were:
Howard Courant
Howard Democrat
Kansas Traveler, Howard
Longton Times
Moline Mercury
Grenola Chief

The post offices were:
Busby
Cave Springs
Elk Falls
Grenola
Howard
Lima
Longton
Moline
Oak Valley
Paw Paw
Rancho
Union Centre
Western Park

The banks were:
1st National Bank, Howard
Elk County State Bank, Howard
Barnes, Brown, and Denton Bank, Grenola
Blake's Bank, Elk Falls
Bank of Longton, Longton
Downey, Hanson and Company Bank, Moline
Osborn Brothers Bank, Howard

There were 499 people in the county who were foreign born and they were situated in every town and every township in the county.

31 "colored" were in Elk Falls, Grenola, Howard, Liberty Township, Longton, and Longton Township

84 school districts with the average monthly pay for school teachers being $43.28 per month for male teachers and $37.69 per month for female teachers.  [when I was in grade school, kindergarten though 6th, I did know there was such a thing as a male school teacher]

There were 5,623 pupils attending school in the 84 districts.

There were 38 churches in the county, not delineated by location.

[Janet Harrington]

Wonder where Ham Fork Creek is?

[W. Gray]

Well, Sheriff, I put that particular information in there so that it could be up for discussion. So far yours is the only response.

Paw Paw Creek begins a few miles north of Howard and empties into the Elk southeast of Howard, so it could not possibly form Elk River.

By some accounts, such as in Delorme Maps, the Elk starts in northwest Elk County, by others it starts just inside Butler County and flows across into northwest Elk County.

I looked for Ham Fork around the source of the Elk but did not find it.

[twirldoggy]

The writer knew nothing about the formation of rivers or geology.

[evanstrail]

Ham Fork was the historic name for the main stem of Elk River above it's confluence with Clear Creek.  Don't know when or why the name changed.  Here is an 1885 topo:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/kansas/txu-pclmaps-topo-ks-eureka-1885.jpg

[evanstrail]

Also, Elk River is not actually named Elk River until below Paw Paw (actually at confluence with Mound Branch) at that period in time: 

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/kansas/txu-pclmaps-topo-ks-sedan-1885.jpg

[W. Gray]

Interesting map. Based on it, the Elk River starts at the confluence of Clear Creek#1 and Ham Creek, well inside Elk County. Clear Creek #2 is somewhere around Elk Falls and Longton.

I pulled up Google maps and came up with a location for Union Center. Western Park would not come up.

The town or settlement of Elk River was supposed to have been midway between Union Center and Western Park. Union Center was northwest of Western Park. Based on that map the settlement of Elk River appears not to have been on Elk River but on Ham Creek.

[evanstrail]

On most all maps I've seen, Western Park was located in the NE 1/4 of section 22 - T29S - R9E, or one of the quarter sections adjoining that quarter section, which is where it is in the 1903 Standard Atlas of Elk County:

http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209401/page/3

Union Center, though not on the 1903 map, to me has always been located where the school of that name was, the SW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of section 32 - T29S - R10E, near where Lynn Perkins lives.

[W. Gray]

I think you are right. Western Park was the farthest out with Union Center closer in.

[frawin]

Waldo, I have a 1963 Elk County Map from Spencer Abstract Co., it shows the Elk River starting in Butler County and crossing into Elk County via Sec 22, 28-8. I know that it came just West of Chester Miller's place as I used to stay with them and I would walk to the River Low Water Bridge and throw rocks, the bridge was about 4 miles SE of the Butler County line.