about 1867. This family soon was followed by others. A small band of Saints, under the leadership of Granville Hedrick, moved into Independence in 1867, from Bloomington and other points in Illinois, and in June, 1868, resumed the publication of Truth Teller, a newspaper that had been founded in Bloomington. A small congregation of these people have since remained in Independence, although the followers of Mr. Hedrick have never been numerically strong. At present the Hedrickites are in possession of the famous Temple lot on which they have a two-story frame building in which they hold meetings and from which is issued occasional numbers of the Evening and Morning Star. Members of the Reorganized church established the Independence branch of the church in May, 1873. The membership has grown steadily by accretion, by baptism and the return of the Saints to "Zion" to build up the "waste places" thereof, until now (1908) the Independence congregation numbers about two thousand souls. Their stone church on West Electric street is one of the finest church buildings in Independence. But Independence has not received all the returning Saints; in Greater Kansas City there are eight or nine regularly organized branches or local churches of the Reorganized church, besides several regular "Missions." These are the congregations: First Kansas City branch, Second Kansas City branch, Third Kansas City branch, Fourth Kansas City branch, Central Kansas City branch; Armstrong, Kansas, branch; Argentine, Kansas, branch; Chelsea Park, Kansas, branch; Grand View, Kansas, branch. The Central branch purchased the old building of the Central Methodist church, South, at Ninth street and Lydia avenue, in 1908. The Utah Mormons for a number of years have maintained mission headquarters of the Central States Mission in Jackson county; being in Kansas City until March, 1907, when they purchased and moved into new mission quarters at the corner of Kansas and Pleasant streets in Independence. The Mormons in Independence are engaged in numerous successful business enterprises. The Utah Mormons, besides their mission headquarters, rent a hall for regular meetings, and from other rented quarters publish their mission paper, The Liahona; the Elders' Journal, with a circulation. of about 10,000. They also built near the Missouri Pacific depot a large plow factory that supplied plows mostly for Utah. Only a few families of the Utah Mormons have moved into Jackson county, but one cannot long talk with any Utah Mormon without learning that he expects to return to Independence some day to help build the great temple. The Hedrickites, as an organization, own little or no property except the Temple lot, although some of them are in business. The Reorganized Latter Day Saints own the most property, by far, and are the strongest of any other faction in Independence. Besides the large stone church with its annex, just opposite the Temple lot, the church owns a building near the corner of Osage and West Lexington streets in which is one of their church printing plants, from which is issued a weekly church paper called Zion's Ensign, with about 7,000 circulation. The members of the Reorganized church control the following business enterprises in Independence: A state bank, two planing mills, one coal mining company, two coal and feed stores, one foundry, one casket factory, one stationery store, three real estate firms, two firms of contractors and builders, one blacksmith, two millinery stores, two cement construction companies, six grocery stores, one bakery, one sewing machine store, three attorneys' offices, two candy factories, one jewelry store, one publishing house, one house moving firm, two deep well drilling companies, one meat market, one undertaking establishment, one nursery, one laundry, three dental offices, two barber shops, one furniture company, two tailors, one hardware store, three physicians one plumbing company, two shoe shops, one machine shop, and one wagon factory. On a five-acre tract on Blue avenue near the western limits of Independence, the church erected a large sanitarium at a cost of about $50,000. Surrounding it are the homes of a number of the Saints, built since the sanitarium was established. Some of the finest residences in Independence are owned by the Saints. The sanitarium had its inception in a revelation. The General conference of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints was holding an annual session in Independence in April, 1906. Late one afternoon, after a busy session, there was a lull. Joseph Smith, the venerable president of the church, a son of the original prophet and founder of Mormonism, arose and with much apparent emotion began to address the assembly. The big church was packed with delegates from all parts of the world. All felt that something extraordinary was about to happen. The congregation listened in dead silence as the president spoke. It was a "revelation" to the head of the church. The Saints believe that direct revelations from God to His servants are just as possible and reasonable now as in apostolic times. The president told how the Lord had revealed to him that a sanitarium. for the healing of the sick should be established at Independence. It created a profound impression. Plans were made at once to carry the revelation into effect. A year was spent in collecting money in the various congregations of the church, and in selecting a site. The sanitarium accommodates one hundred and fifty patients. It is built primarily as a church institution and preference is given to church members who are unable to pay for treatment. The Saints frequently use the Scriptural methods of healing-praying for the sick, anointing with oil and the laying on of the hands. CHAPTER IV. THE TOWN OF KANSAS. The Missouri river landing, near Chouteau's warehouse, where the merchants of Westport had their goods brought ashore, was part of the two hundred and fifty-six acre tract owned by the estate of Gabriel Prudhomme, a Frenchman who died in 1836. The only buildings near the landing in 1838 were Isaac Richard's saloon where the trappers and Indians resorted, a store owned by a Frenchman whose name has been forgotten and several small shanties. When steamboats arrived small crowds of traders gathered at the landing, and teamsters went there with their wagons to receive freight. The land adjacent to the river, for the most part, was a wildwood, and is described by John C. McCoy at a meeting of the old settlers of Jackson county, December 30, 1871: "I recall a clearing of a few acres, lying on the high ridge between Main and Wyandotte streets, and Second and Fifth streets, made and abandoned by a mountain trapper. A few old dead trees were standing in the field that was surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence. On all sides was a dense forest, the ground covered with vines, underbrush and fallen timber, and in several places there were deep, impassable gorges. A narrow, crooked roadway wound from a point at Twelfth and Walnut streets down the west side of a deep ravine, across the present public square, to the river at the foot of Grand avenue. A narrow path, barely wide enough for a single horseman, led along the river bank under the bluff, winding its way around fallen timber and deep ravines. An old log house on the river bank at the foot of Main street was occupied by a lean, cadaverous specimen of humanity named Ellis, with one blind eye and the other on a sharp lookout for stray horses, straggling Indians and squatters with whom to swap a tin cup of whiskey for a coon skin. Another old ruined log house stood on the point below the Pacific depot. The French mountain trappers had several small dwellings and clearings in the Kaw bottom, now West Kansas. Everywhere else in this locality was the solitude of the native forest, unbroken except by the snort of the startled deer, the bark of the squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the |