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.
Wonder where Ham Fork Creek is?
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.
The writer knew nothing about the formation of rivers or geology.
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
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
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.
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.
I think you are right. Western Park was the farthest out with Union Center closer in.
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.
The actual plat of Union Center, though it is not labeled as such, is shown in the 1885 Elk County Atlas. The plat was actually southeast of Lynn Perkin's home, and was situated just north of Limestone Road. Towards the west side of the plat, Road 11 traveled north and south through the town. The plat was laid out in the SE1/4 of SW1/4 of Sect. 32, Twp. 29S, Range 10E. The Union Center school house was not situated within the borders of the plat, but was just outside the border, lying west of the northwest corner of the plat.
As for the community of Elk River - it was never platted, and the post office at Elk River was there only thirteen months total. It was situated in the home of Woodson Gideon, who lived in the NE1/4 of Sect. 36, Twp. 29S, Range 9E.
1887 map of Elk County:
http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/56647/Elk+County/Kansas+State+Atlas+1887/Kansas/
Note Elk River (the stream, not the locale) is labled as such above its confluence with todays Rowe Branch.
Union Centre P.O. and School No. 2 in W 1/2 of SW 1/4 Sec 32.
Western Park in N 1/2 of NE 1/4 Sec 22.
Of course this map also really messed up how the main stem (labled S. Fork) and north branch of the Wildcat join up north and east of Moline. On modern topos, South Fork is the name applied to the branch that joins the main Wildcat below the Martin Marietta and Durbin Quarries, after flowing through Corky Durbin's watershed lake.
My information on the Elk River Post Office came from the National Archives. There was only ever one post office at Elk River and it was in existence only thirteen months.
As for Union Center - there were most likely post offices in up to seven different locations in or around the Union Center community, as there were eight different postmasters throughout the history of the Union Center Post Office, two of whom were married to each other. Some of the postmasters operated the Union Center Post Office out of their homes and others out of their businesses. It was their choice if they were appointed postmaster, as long as the Post Office Department approved the site location. The town of Union Center had a post office (or I should say post offices) for 16-1/2 years.
Frank,
My Uncle always said the Elk started in Butler County, and I figured he would know.
With his mule, his dogs, and a few other hunters, he probably had been coon hunting all over the place in both counties in that area.
Evanstrail,
Thanks for the maps, I discovered I have a copy of the 1887 one in a book.
I came across a copy of an old Howard County map that had all county streams flowing toward Cowley County.
Waldo, I agree with you on that. He definitely hunted every River, Creek, and draw in the county and then some.
Back to Ham Fork - in 1883 it is on the Elk county map from William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas:
http://www.kancoll.org/graphics/maps/elk.htm
It's Ham Fork on the 1885 USGS Topo, but in the 1887 State Atlas Ham Fork dissapears and is renamed Elk River.
Three questions:
1. Marcia, what does your 1885 Elk County Atlas show?
2. Why the change?
3. Does the name Ham Fork or Ham Creek still apply to a tributary somewhere above Clear Creek?
I don't have an 1885 atlas. I copied the plat map of Union Center out of the atlas at the Register of Deeds office in Howard.
Mother, Don't you have an old Elk County Atlas that might show something about Ham Fork?
Also, I was always told by old Jim Radar and Jimmy Radar that Elk River started in Elk County on Radar property.
The old atlas I have is dated 1903. This is the Northwest corner of Union Center where the Elk River originates. The red dots are where the river is named. The first mention of Elk River is quite aways inside Elk County. However, the map shows tributaries that extend back into Butler County.
The yellow dot is where Mr. Jim Rader was living when he died.
The green dot is the location of the old Forrest School and the Forrest Cemetery.
The blue dots show the names of two of the creeks close to Howard.
The map show locations of schools, churches and cemeteries, but does not name them.
I hope your eyes are better than mine tonight. Maybe you can see more than I can.
Found an older map with Elk River (the stream) labled as such into far NW corner of Howard County. Of course, This map has two place names of Elk River, and does not have the different branches of the Caney River drawn correctly, but the route of the Elk River is pretty acurate.
http://cartweb.geography.ua.edu:9001/StyleServer/calcrgn?cat=North%20America%20and%20United%20States&item=States/Kansas/Kansas1870b.sid&wid=500&hei=400&props=item(Name,Description),cat(Name,Description)&style=simple/view-dhtml.xsl