week on horseback. A road was built across the state from St. Louis to Westport in 1839 and mail was brought by stage twice a week.

The principal treadmill was operated by William Parish at the location of Thirty-third street and Cleveland avenue. Another mill was situated on Brush creek at the crossing of Westport and Wornall roads, and one on Indian creek near the state line. James H. McGee owned a corn cracker where Penn street crosses O. K. creek. A larger water mill, owned by John and Robert Aull, was situated on the Little Blue river. William Parish and J. H. McGee operated a small distillery in the present Roanoke addition.

One of the first large shipments of goods sent to Westport was for the firm of Meservey and Webb in Santa Fe. Boone & Bernard of Westport, acting as agents, received the goods at the landing and engaged wagons and teams for the overland transportation. The caravan required to haul this one consignment of goods consisted of sixty-three wagons, each carrying about 6,000 pounds and drawn by six yoke of oxen.

The outfitting business in Westport had an impetus in 1849 when Jose Chavez, a Mexican merchant, the brother of Antonio Chavez who had been murdered and robbed, came to town one day with 103,000 Mexican silver dollars, two wagon loads. The money was in raw hide bags, $4,000 to $5,000 in a package. Westport had an extensive trade with Santa Fe in 1849 when the Californian immigration began, greatly increasing the business. It is estimated that 40,000 immigrants bought outfits in Westport in 1849 and 1850. Companies of persons from all parts of the country came to Westport to organize caravans for journeys across the plains. The town was headquarters for all classes of traders, hunters and Indians. Almost every type of man in the West could be seen on the streets of Westport.

Early Westport was a market for cattle, mules, horses, wagons, harness, tents, saddles and all other equipment needed for travel. Several firms were wholly engaged in making ox yokes. The demand for guns and ammunition was very great. Strychnine was sold in large quantities to hunters who killed wolves for their hides. In the town's early days Westport avenue was lined with various outfitting establishments from a point east of Broadway to Mill street. Similar business houses were situated on Penn street between Fortieth and Forty-second streets. The outfitting business was conducted on a cash basis and money was plentiful. When the immigrant trade was at its height the prairies south and east of Westport were dotted with tents and wagons and had the appearance of the camp of a great army.

These are the names of some of the successful business men and firms of Westport: Kearney & Bernard, A. G. Boone, J. M. and J. Hunter, Baker & Street, William Dillon, S. P. and W. H. Keller, S. C. Roby, J. G. Hamilton, F. Gallup, Frederick Eslinger, Edward Price, Henry Sager,

Francis Booth, J. Bucher, Antoney Richter, A. B. H. McGee, Louis Vogle, P. D. Elkins, father of Senator Stephen B. Elkins of West Virginia, F. G. Ewing, William M. Chick, Calvin Smith and Alfred Warfield.

The firm of Kearney & Bernard of Westport outfitted 11,823 wagons for the western trade between 1853 and 1861. In 1858 Westport factories made two hundred and forty new wagons, 2,000 ox yokes, 3,000 tarpaulins and $25,000 worth of harness. Between 1855 and 1858 Westport reached the zenith of its prosperity with a population estimated at 5,000. Westport was incorporated February 12, 1857. The first mayor was T. J. Goforth. Westport at that time had thirteen merchandise stores, five wagon shops, several schools and churches, three hotels, one slaughter house and several saloons. The Civil war drove the trade from Westport to St. Joseph, Missouri, and Leavenworth, Kansas, where better military protection was offered, and when peace returned business centered in Kansas City.

The educational facilities of early Westport naturally were limited. The village had two schools, one near the Blue river and the other in the edge of town near Cave spring. The school houses had no clocks; the children watched the sunlight on the floor and when it reached a certain mark they knew that it was recess time. The town at first had no churches, but religious services were held regularly at private homes. The Rev. James Porter was an active Methodist minister. The Rev. Isaac McCoy and Dr. Johnston Lykins were interested in missionary work among the Indians west of the state line.

Shawnee mission in Kansas, three miles southwest of Westport, was closely identified with the early history of the town. The Rev. Thomas Johnson, founder of the mission, was intimately associated with Isaac McCoy, Dr. Lykins and other residents of Westport. Thomas Johnson established the first mission school for the Shawnee Indians in 1829 in the town of Shawnee, in John county, Kansas. The school had twenty-seven pupils in 1835, and the church had a membership of seventy-four Shawnee Indians. The mission was removed to the location three miles from Westport in 1839 where the government had given a grant of 2,240 acres. Large buildings were erected on the new site and a manual training school established that continued in operation until 1862.

O. K. creek in the early days of Westport was known as McGee creek. Preston Hamilton, owner of a store and feed yard at one of the principal crossings, is responsible for the change of name. On the entrance to the wagon yard Hamilton displayed this sign, O. K., Drive In. From this legend the freighters called the stream O. K. creek.

Francis Parkman, the historian, came to Jackson county in May, 1846,

and went to Westport to equip an outfit for a western journey. He gave this description of Westport in his book, The Oregon Trail:

"Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved heads and painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks and turbans, Wyandots dressed like white men, and a few wretched Kansans wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or lounging in and out of the shops and houses. And later the historian observed: 'Whiskey, by the way, circulates more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place where every man carries a loaded pistol in his pocket.''

When Westport was established the principal steamboat landing in Jackson county was at Blue Mills, six miles below Independence. The Westport merchants found this landing inconvenient and they had their freight brought ashore farther up the river. Soon after John C. McCoy had the stock of goods for his store brought ashore in the woods above Chouteau's warehouse in 1832 from the steamboat, John Hancock, a regular landing place was established at the river bank where Grand avenue reaches the river. This was the beginning of the landing that afterward developed into Kansas City.

CHAPTER III.

"ZION" REDEEM ED.

The coming of the Mormons to Independence when the town young, their troubles with the "Gentile" settlers, their enforced exodus from the county, the return in after years and the honorable residence in Independence, their chosen Zion, make a chapter of interesting local history. The Mormons, it is said, had a revelation, seventy-five years ago, that Independence was to be their New Jerusalem, where they were to assemble and prepare for the second coming of Christ. In obedience to the Divine call, the pilgrims came, some by steamboat, others by wagon; a few of the more unfortunate walked across Missouri from St. Louis. The first band arrived in 1831. After three turbulent years the last one of the sect was driven from the county. When the Mormons began to return to Independence, shortly after the Civil war, they were wiser and the Gentiles, too, were more tolerant.

Men long have been prone to kill their neighbors because they differed from them in their idea of God, and all religions or churches in their in