I've got a crush on you...

Sharks are an incredibly diverse group of fish.  Most live in the ocean, some live in freshwater, and some move back a forth between both.  "Jaws" perpetuated the image of the shark as an ambush predator, tearing big pieces out of large prey and chewing it up.  Many sharks do eat like this, but more of them swim up onto a school of fish, open their mouths and swallow whatever goes in whole.  Some strain algae and other plankton out of the water, while others eat hard shelled critters like mussels, clams, lobsters, crabs...etc.

The Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway was inhabited by many different kinds of shark.  One of the most peculiar was the durophagous (eats hard-shelled animals) shark Ptychodus.  These sharks had jaws with robust teeth with low roots and massive crowns that could apply three point forces to hard material to break it.  The crowns have transverse ridges and the margin of the crowns are decorated with a number of ridges and bumps (tubercles).  Their mouths were filled with pavement dentitions composed of hundreds of teeth.  Collections of these teeth is seen at right and below (pictures by Mike Everhart).  Note the flattened surfaces caused by wear of the teeth from grinding hard materials.

Although teeth from these sharks are relatively common in the Cretaceous Greenhorn and Niobrara Formations of Kansas, little is truly known about the shark.  It is estimated some species of this shark were up to 11 meters in length.  Since there was abundant hard-shelled prey and little competition, this is entirely possible.  Included in this diet were likely mollusks such as these small inoceramid clams (left).  Nautiloids (think squid with shells) and small fish would have also been important food sources.  The general body shape has been inferred to be fusiform, since the vertebral centra are round.  The fact that these centra are calcified suggest that these are modern sharks (neoselachians).  The only semi-well known skeletal elements of these sharks are the jaws.  No well articulated skeleton of Ptychodus has ever been found, so all attempts at classification of this fish are based on circumstantial evidence.

While I was examining the enameloid of teeth of a 305 million year old shark that I had collected from the Farley Limestone as Park University, I decided that I should examine the enameloid of a more recent shark to understand the difference between primitive and modern sharks.  I did a couple of quick surface digests of Ptychodus teeth with 10% HCl.  After 30 seconds, I was able to see the single crystallite enameloid (SCE) on the surface (figure at right: Panels 1,3, 5 are before digestion and 2, 4, 6 are of single crystallites).  After 3 minutes, I could easily see parallel-bundled enameloid (PBE) crystals on the surface (figure below).  After a couple of days sectioning a tooth, I could see a triple-layered enameloid.  A pretty good week's work I thought.  Then I made the mistake of searching the literature for what was known about Ptychodus tooth ultrastructure.  Turns out, the answer is very little.  But what is accepted says that these teeth do not exhibit a triple-layered enameloid, but rather an SCE.  Based on this observation and ignoring a lot of other evidence, the experts placed this shark among the hybodonts, an ancestral group of modern sharks.

I puzzled over this for quite a while, because my results had seemed so clear-cut.  I repeated these observations on several teeth and in several planes of section, but kept coming up with the same result:  the enameloid of these teeth had a triple-layered structure.  There was a superficial SCE/SLE, PBE on the crown, especially at the level of the transverse ridge, and tangled-bundled enameloid (TBE) next to the dentine.  More careful examination of the literature revealed a couple of other studies that documented a triple-layered enameloid in Ptychodus.  One of the reports was in an obscure journal and the Ptychodus teeth were a side study and only shown in a couple of pictures.  The other report was a Masters thesis which was unpublished.  What had started as an attempt to gain a proper control for one study turned into the main focus of another.  I would have to prove that what I was seeing was a real phenomenon.

The figure at the right shows the PBE adjoining the TBE, and the TBE next to the dentine in sectioned teeth.  Getting just the right images with the correct brightness and contrast took about 6 months.  The enameloid of Ptychodus had a lot of similarities to that of Squalicorax curvatus, including having a TBE that became single crystallite in structure at the enameloid-dentine junction.  Dentinal tubules rise high into the crown, penetrating into the enameloid, much like those seen earlier in my post on the hybodontiform shark.  Preservation of the teeth is amazing and casts of the odontoblasts (tooth-building cells) can be seen below.

The figure at right is my recreation of the one experiment that is cited the most often.  A whole Ptychodus tooth (1, 2, 3 below) was soaked in 10% HCl for 23 minutes, 35 seconds (4, 5, 6) it is easy to see the great degree of erosion in the surface decoration of the tooth.  In 7 and 8 you can see that the enameloid has been eroded to the level of the dentinal tubules, which show up as divots in the surface of the tooth.  The enameloid in this area (9) is single crystallite enameloid in appearance.  The previous studies are correct in interpretation of the results of the experience.  The problem is in the preparation.  The tooth was soaked in acid way too long, and the bundled enameloid layers were destroyed.

This study solidified (for me, at least) the idea that "If it isn't published, it isn't known.  If it is published, ask if it is truly good science in technique and interpretation."  The work done here shows that Ptychodus is not a hybodont (primitive shark or proto-shark), but rather is a selachimorph neoselachian fish (modern shark).  Reviews of the work have been very positive and the paper is cited in the second edition of "Oceans of Kansas" by Mike Everhart, which should be published this Fall.

Mormon Grove

Mormon Grove historical marker, US-73 and Osage Rd., Atchison Co. KS

The Mormon migration to Utah from 1846-1868 was impacted by cholera to the same level as Oregon-California Trail emigration.  Owing to their religious beliefs, gregarious living habits, wealth and political power, violence was often incited against the Mormons and they were unwelcome in most communities throughout the Midwest.  The governor of Missouri had issued an "extinction order" against them in 1838 and founder Joseph Smith (and his brother Hyrum) had been killed by a mob while in the Carthage, Illinois jail on 27 June 1844.  The death of prophet and successor left a power vacuum and generated a schism within the church.  Eventually most LDS adherents chose to follow Brigham Young.  Recognizing that rising anti-Mormon sentiment made it impossible to stay in their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois, Young led his followers to the Salt Lake Valley in what was then Mexico.   The Mormon migration to Salt Lake began in three waves during 1846.  The group stayed near present day Omaha, Nebraska for the winter and the area became known as Winter Quarters.  Some later migrations would begin at this point and basically follow the Platte River to the Oregon-California Trail, where the Mormons would travel on the north bank, and non-Mormon emigrants on the south.  

Approximate location of Mormon Grove inferred from 1855 map

The church continued to flourish under Young's leadership, and converts were coming from all points to settle with the rest of the Saints in Utah. An influx of Mormon converts from Europe created the need for other points of departure. Milo Andrus, President of the St. Louis Stake, was charged with finding a new staging area for wagon trains on the Missouri River. He settled on this site in early 1855, and it appeared to be ideal. First, it was not in Missouri (and especially Jackson County) which was strongly anti-Mormon. Second, a receptive community ust building itself welcomed the abundant labor and trade that came in the person of the Mormons. This town was started by and named for David Rice Atchison, who had represented the legal interests of Joseph Smith and his followers in Missouri before they were forced to Illinois. Third, it was close to the established Ft. Leavenworth Military Road, which would join the Pony Express Trail near Kennekuk, KS and joined the main fork of the Oregon-California Trail at Marysville, KS. Last, but not least, there was abundant drinking water from Deer Creek, lots of land for farming, lots of land for raising and grazing livestock, and plenty of timber for fires.

Milo Andrus - 1880s

While the historical marker trumpets this as "the city that disappeared", it never was really a city/town/village or even community.  It was a way station or campground, at best.  In spring of 1855, workers used ditches and sod (although Milo Andrus reported building a wooden fence) to enclose a quarter section (160 acres) and planted 20 acres (reports up to 60 acres are out there) with crops for food and animal feed.  Just a couple of "permanent" structures were ever built, most of the emigrants staying in tents or wagons at the site.  There was a great deal of order in the occupation of the site, descriptions indicate that there were streets and alleyways set up in the area occupied by migrants.   A survey done in 1855 lays out the boundaries of the "Mormon Farm", but emigrants likely camped through a large part of sections 4 and 5 here.  Few settlers were actually here, since Kansas Territory had only been opened for white settlement in 1854.  It was noted by an Atchison newspaper on 01 May 1855 that there was little or no sickness among the Mormon Grove emigrants.

Approximate route of the Mormon Grove Trail through Kansas 1855-1856

At that point, most of the emigrants were yet to arrive, and the long steamer rides would prove tricky.  During 1855, emigrants were being directed to come through New York, Philadelphia or Boston to avoid cholera in New Orleans.  They were to take a train to Pittsburgh, PA and then steamer down the Ohio to the Mississippi, up to St. Louis, then up the Missouri to Atchison.  This meant a lot of time cramped up in not so sanitary conditions, and cholera was breaking out on the steamers.  Many people began arriving at Mormon Grove with some kind of diarrhea.

"The general health of the camps was good, although several deaths have occurred in the Danish camp and among the passengers of the ship "Juventa," who had almost entirely escaped until they reached Atchison. Among the lamented dead of this company, we have to mention Elder Simpson long and favorably known among the British Saints, and Elder Bell, late President of the Malta Mission, and his wife." - Erastus Snow on 16 June


"After we Landit [landed] and got our wagon put together we moved 9 miles out to Mormon Grove and arengd our tents. the colery [cholera] Came in the Camp and 22 Dide [died] in a few days. Brother [George Bell] and Sister [Elizabeth] Bell ware taken. I tended to them. he was first taken wile I was Rubing his hands and legs. She fainted and fel into my arms. and Dide in a few days. I was taken the next day and in 2 ouers [hours] & was Spechle [speechless] and I had giving up hope of Ever giting well for they ware dieing on all Sid[e]s." - George Mayer

Bad times at Murphy Lake

The river moves - the roads, not so much

In 1855, 2041 people in 337 wagons left from this campground/village for the Great Salt Lake valley. They left in eight companies between 07 June and 03 August.  Once they departed Mormon Grove, things went bad soon for at least one group of emigrants.  Mrs. P.W. (Williams) Cox related the following story of a tragedy that occurred at an oxbow lake called Murphy Lake:

"We saw many Mormons passing us on their way to the promised land'... They drained what we called Murphy Lake, in the month of August 1855. They were so hungry they drained the lake, caught and ate the fish. Forty in the party died. They were buried near the lake. Many of them had cholera. When they left the encampment they left behind them beds, wearing apparel and clothing of all kinds scattered around. I saw clothing that was torn off the dead, three or four months after the Mormons left."  

It's difficult to say exactly how much of this story is fact and how much is legend since she was recounting the events more that 60 years later, but "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend".  Only one wagon train would have passed this way in August 1855, and only nine members were lost from it the entire journey.  One wagon company lost nearly 30 emigrants to cholera, but that was in June 1855.  While Mrs. Cox thought she saw clothing torn off the dead (which is possible if burials were not dug deep enough), it is more likely that everything that had belonged to those that died had been abandoned.  Sentiment was one of the first casualties of the westward migration.  Energy just could not be spared to haul materials, including bedding and clothing of those who no longer had use of them.  It is also possible that some families realized that they had overloaded their wagons, and had dumped some of their belongings onto the prairie.

This seems most likely to be the company that started under Seth Blair on 15 June.  His company of Texans had arrived at Mormon Grove before he had finished provisioning and shipping goods ahead to Salt Lake City from St. Louis.  Since there was cholera in camp at Mormon Grove, they moved out hastily, but the damage was done.  Two days out, cholera struck the camp.  Within a span of 24 hours they lost 12-13 people from cholera and in the end lost 29 to the disease before the epidemic abated 5 days later.  They lost 33% of their number, and Blair, having already suffered from a "sevear attack of palpitation of the Heart and debility" sent back for help.  His company was taken over by Edward Stevenson.  Measles, another common disease of the trail, would attack the company before they finally made it to Salt Lake City.

Seth Blair in his own write

Seth M. Blair

"Sunday June 23rd 10 AM[.] Today I taake pen in hand to record mellancholy facts as well as other more pleasing ones. I arrived At Aitchison [Atchison] on the 21st (11th?) and found my little company awaiting me & was truly glad to again behold my face. We Speed[i]ly prepared for the plains & was organized by Bro E. Snow of the Twel[v]e-appostles my Self being appointed Capt. of & presiding Elder of the Company being the 3rd fifty organized this Season—for particulars of organization See report of Company 1[.] We left on the 15 & haveing travelled Some 20 mi[les] the Cholera made its appearance in Our Camp on the night of Monday the 17th & in the first 24 hours we lost 12 or 13 & up to this time I presume we have lost not less than 20 & at least the 5th of our whole Strength. The Camp presenting for the last 4 days a Cholera hospital! Such a Scene as neither pen can portray or tongue describe father & mother taken—& both buried in one grave or Side by Side leaving crying children Scattered over the Camp while the Shrieking crys [cries] & hollow groans of men & women wear [were] heard on Every Side with the Cry for help from the grave—diggers Whose toil was incessant Seemi[ng]ly night & day while the Stout heart & hale man or woman was seen to reel under their ardious [arduous] duty until a guard can hardly be had or a watch kept through the night of men who may be called well[.] True oh God dreadfull Seems our fate or providence & all I can add is I feel that Thee dotheth all things well"

Edward Stevenson

"Their is not a family but what has to mourn the loss of Some One & in deed the very hands that administer to you are Cramped. in hand[,] leg—Stomach or are vomiting or purgeing [purging] more or less truly. oh—truly horrid in deed is our Situation but it has been 100 pr ct worse for I feel we are improveing Some Each hour[.] many are today renewing their Covenants through baptism with God & Some for the first time are making them[.] a Man & wife who lives near hear [here] being a mongst the no. [number] a Br. Miller[.] this Encapmet [Encampment] is on the Big Nimehaw [Nemaha]. on the 18th we met Bro[ther] W[illia]m Miller Haight[,] Jno [John] L Smith[,] Jno [John] Kay & Several other Elder from the Valleys. who did us all the good they could[.] blessed us & passed on—to give a more particular Idea of the sorrowfull State of things those who dug the graves & buried the dead went from Camp to waggon Seeking who was dead & thus persons—died & was buried a day before others knew that they wear Even Sick. The reports of the Camp officers braught to me by day & night could for (our numbers) only have been Eaquated [Equated] when Bleucher fell on Napoleon at Watterloo. for a moment See every 5th one dead & the other 3 fifths wounded[.] no I would prefer to risk my command on a Battlefield that Even I have read of allmost on the Earth—in the midst of This I Sent for Elder Ewd [Edward] Stevenson to President Milo Andrus & Ballentyne [Ballantyne] & for 6 good men to help us on. which I exspect in 24 hours—as the Elders with [....] are worn down & to their constency & faithfullness I could not add a laurell[.] they are indelibley Enstamped on the hearts of Ev[e]ry man & woman in this Camp & their names I wish perpetuated to my latest posterity. Viz Jm Barlow[,] Sylvester McEarl[,] Oscar Tyler[,] John Mayor[,] Geo C. Riser & others all so faithfull as well as faithfull Sisters—"

Where is Murphy Lake?

Location of Murphy Lake in Nemaha County inferred  from 1905
plat map - again part of the river

The survivors left to recuperate were likely picked up by following trains.  Those that survived past the last train's arrival, likely went back to Atchison, and may have made up some of the company of emigrants that left in 1856.  The location of Murphy Lake is said to be "lost" in some publications.  It is not lost, because its position is noted on old maps.  It is present on a 1905 plat map of Nemaha County.  

By comparing the location of a geographic feature on an old map to the layout of a new map, it is possible to find the location of features and communities that are no longer extant.  The plat book very explicitly lays out property lines and roads.  Trying to find something by proximity to a braided river channel like the South Branch of the Nemaha is not usually instructive, because the river cuts a new channel and moves every few decades.  However, the section lines are possible to easily see in a new map, because the roads in rural Kansas line up on section and half-section lines.  Most of the squares that you can see in the map above are 1 mile by 1 mile and delineated by section roads.  In places where the river channel bent when the road was laid, the road likely still bends, even if the river doesn't.  On the 1905 map, Murphy Lake is noted at the intersection of the half section lines on the border of sections 25 and 26 of Nemaha Township.  The lake was an oxbox lake, and true to the nature of rivers, is part of the river bed again.

Native stone marker for cholera victim at
Wolf River Cemetery on St. Joe Road

Apparently, a sizeable cemetery was set up to accommodate the 30+ bodies from cholera deaths.  However, this cemetery is definitely lost.  Anything that was a cemetery has probably been deeply buried or unburied and transported by the Nemaha River.  The Kansas Historical Society notes that the grave markers were used to build a barn, which probably isn't as cruel as it sounds, since the markers were likely native stone and would just look like rocks to someone unfamiliar with the story.

After 1855

Things have changed little at Mormon Grove since 1856
Looking northwest from marker

A small party (97) left from Mormon Grove in 1856, likely stragglers from the migration of the previous year (or possibly survivors of Murphy Lake).  The site was abandoned in favor of Iowa City and Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Iowa and Florence (Winter Quarters), Nebraska.  All of these sites were now reachable by railroad, which decreased the temporal length of the journey as well as exposure of the emigrants to cholera.   By 1857, the cholera epidemic had subsided along the trail.  In all, about 35,000 emigrants died, out of the nearly 350,000 total.  The Mormon-Oregon-California Trail had the distinction in the minds of many of these pioneers of being the longest cemetery in the world.

Looking northeast from marker

A group of 30 LDS members stayed in Atchison to establish a meeting congregation there.  Soon non-LDS settlers had taken over the Mormon Grove property.  Some wooden grave markers remained at what became the Armstrong farm until the mid-1900s, but they have been lost to time and the elements.  Mr. Floyd Armstrong donated the land upon which the historical marker is situated and served as a voice to persuade KDOT to modify its building plans to avoid extending US-73 over the old cemetery.  Investigations turned up evidence of a cemetery with 50-70 burials, which agrees with emigrant and early settlers' accounts of the cemetery.  A 100 yd deviation from a straight line can be see in the road line near Osage Road.  The highway now passes just north of the old cemetery.

Probable camping area south of US-73

While Atchison lost the labor and the money of the westbound LDS emigrants, they were not left entirely high and dry.  Atchison remained an important transport hub, servicing Fort Leavenworth, then points west as a main port for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (now Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad).  For several years after Mormon Grove ceased operation, the majority of freight delivered out of Atchison was bound for Utah.

How did the Mormon Grove emigrants fare, really?

While the first three trains were hit fairly hard with losses due to disease and accident, most of these wagon trains did pretty well.  I count 74 deaths total on the road out of 2000+ travelers in 1855.  That is better than the 5-10% expected death rate.

1855

1. John Hindley Company - 206 started 07 June; 199 arrived 03 September
2. Jacob Secrist/Noah Guyman Company (+Danes) - 368 started 13 June; 346 arrived 07 September
3. Seth Blair/Edward Stevenson Company - 89 started 15 June; 58 arrived 10 September
4. Richard Ballantyne Company - 402 started 01 July; 392 arrived 25 September
5. Moses Thurston Company - 152 started 03 July; 148 arrived 19 September
6. Charles Harper Company - 305 started 25 July; 301 arrived 28 October
7. Isaac Allred Freight Company - 81 started 28 July; 0 arrived 02 November
8. Milo Andrus Train - 461 started 04 August, 452 arrived 24 October

1856

1. Abraham Smoot Company - 97 started 10 August; 96 arrived 09 November

Disclaimer

Joseph Smith III - RLDS Prophet/President
06 June 1860 - 10 December 1914

I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but the part of the country that I live in was very important to the early history of that Church.  I approach these writings from the point of history, western expansion, and geography.  The LDS experience speaks to modern society about the fruits of political and religious intolerance and the power of mob mentality. It is also a story of faith, hope, loyalty, betrayal, redemption, unity and schism.  I have tried as best I can to represent these events and people truthfully.  If you have corrections, please use the comment box below (references would be nice, too). 

 When I attended Park College (1982-1986), it was affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is now the Community of Christ.  This Church was composed of followers who believed that the Church had been in a state of disorganization since the death of Joseph Smith and a reorganized Church should be headed by a lineal descendant of Smith.  This group followed  his son, Joseph III from Nauvoo, to Plano (IL), to Lamoni (IA), then back to Independence, Missouri, where they occupy most of the property around the original temple lot.  Another group of Latter Day Saints, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) or "Hedrickites" own the two acre site intended to be the LDS temple that will be the heart of a New Jerusalem / Zion in which Christ will reveal himself during the "second coming".  Again, a story for another day.

Further Reading

On the Outskirts of Atchison

Convergence at Mormon Grove

Highway to Zion

Mormon Disaster at Murphy Lake

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel

Trail of the Whispering Giants: Tall Oak

Less than a half hours drive west from St. Joseph, Missouri - just off of US-36, is the Doniphan County Courthouse.  This is another thing I am a fan of - the old county courthouses positioned on a town square.  The Doniphan County courthouse is a beautiful brick building executed in the Romanesque Revival style that is common in Kansas.  The three story building is built on a limestone rock foundation, has round towers at each corner and is topped with a decagonal cupola.  The windows of the basement and first floors have stone lintels and the windows on the third floor have arched lintels.  The north and south ends of the building serve as main entryways and have limestone porches.

A very striking feature stands next to the courthouse; a carved wooden statue of an American Indian.  This is one of the "Whispering Giants" carved by Peter Wolf Toth, a Hungarian-born artist who settled in Akron, Ohio.  His art honors oppressed people, especially the American Indian.  He carved at least one of these statues for each state in the US.  Missouri's Giant stood in Forest Park, at a prominent intersection by the St. Louis Zoo.  Unfortunately, it was destroyed by a lightning strike in one of the thunderstorms common to the American Midwest.

Toth asks for no money for the sculptures, but they generally appraise at about $250,000.  All he asks is the community to provide a large log, a place to stay and meals.  Doniphan County's Giant "Tall Oak" is carved from a 250 year old Burr Oak tree and stands 27 feet tall.  Prior to carving, Toth meets with local Indian groups to get advice for the carving.  There seems to be no one single tribe represented by this sculpture, having some modern Pan-Indian features in regalia.  This is reflective of Kansas' complex history of native peoples.

"I study the Indians of the area, then visualize an Indian within the log.  It is a composite of all the native people of the state." -  Peter Toth

Prior to Euroamerican contact, several tribes called this region home. Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kansa, Kiowa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita tribes all had established permanent communities within the boundaries of modern Kansas. Even a band of Apache called Kansas home for a short while. When the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed, eastern tribes were forced to move to small reservations in this part of the Louisiana Purchase which was closed to most white settlement. Not only were these eastern tribes dispossessed of their lands, but many of the tribes within Kansas were moved, as well. The Pawnee, for example were pushed to a reservation of about 300 square miles in Nebraska, after centuries of living in an area the size of Iowa. Among these emigrant tribes were: Cherokee; Chippewa; Delaware; Illiniwek; Ioway; Iroquois; Kaskaskia; Kickapoo; Missouria; Munsee; several New York tribes; Otoe; Ottawa; Peoria; Piankashaw; Potawatomi; Quapaw; Sac and Fox;Shawnee; Stockbridge; Wea; and Wyandot tribes.

1846 Location of Indian Reservations in Kansas Territory

In 1854, Kansas was opened to white settlement, most Indian lands sold and the people removed again. The majority of the tribes listed above were sent to Indian Territory, which is now the state of Oklahoma. A few tribes remain. Within an hour's drive from my house are reservations for the Ioway, Sac and Fox, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi. This statue is but one reminder of the series of pivotal, complex events in the history of the United States that took place in Kansas. You know, the boring state.

The Fourth Courthouse

James White Cloud, Ioway Chief from 1866-1940

This is the fourth courthouse that has served the county. The first was a temporary building that was replaced in 1858 by a building on the courthouse square. After the second courthouse burned down on 12 March 1867, a third was build 1867-1868, but was outgrown and torn down to make way for the present building in 1905.

The architects of the chosen design were George Washburn and Sons of Ottawa, Kansas. This firm designed a number of notable buildings in Kansas. The builders were J.H. Wagenknecht of Wathena, who had the courthouse ready for a 04 July 1906 dedication with the largest crowd assembled in Doniphan County at the time: 6,000 to 8,000 people. These people knew how to throw a dedication; parade, fireworks, speeches and (I assume) food.

Six Degrees

This is one of the family courthouses. My Mom and Dad were married here, as was a sister, several aunts and uncles. Most  of the marriages worked, some didn't. This courthouse was my Dad's answer to wedding planning: Take $25 to Troy, get a marriage license, get married and have enough to eat at McDonald's afterward. I don't know that you could do any ONE of those things on $25 any more.

Getting There

Traveling west from I-29 and St. Joseph on US-36, turn left at Troy, KS and follow the signs to the Peter Toth Sculpture and the Doniphan County Courthouse.

Waymark: Latitude 39.786006 N; Longitude 95.088924 W
Street Address: 120 E. Chestnut, Troy, KS 66087.

Grave Matters: Walter Sutton

Sutton family marker by mausoleum in section 19, Oak Hill Cemetery

Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas has been called "Kansas' Arlington".  Buried here are legends of Kansas territorial and early state history.  Victims of Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, US senators, US representatives, generals, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, US Cabinet secretary, frontier doctors, publishers and sports legends are interred here.  Many of these are on the "must visit" list of historic burials.  While they are indeed interesting people and warrant discussion at another time, the most historically relevant figure buried here rests in a grave sharing a nice, but modest marker with his parents and siblings.  This person is Dr. Walter S. Sutton, the person who first realized that chromosomes were the carriers of genetic information.

Mendel's peas, Sutton's grasshoppers

According to science standards, every schoolkid in the US should have a grasp of Mendelian genetics.  Using garden peas as his model, Mendel devised a model of genetics that described inheritance by a model in which: inheritance is controlled by discrete factors (we call them genes); indviduals have two copies of each factor; alternate forms of the factor exist to give different trait appearances; these factor pairs are segregated during sex cell formation; factors are recombined randomly at fertilization and the assortment of factors for one trait does not affect the assortment of alleles for other traits.  Sutton examined the behavior of chromosomes during meiosis (sex cell formation) in male grasshoppers (Brachystola magna).  Among his discoveries were that: chromosomes existed in pairs (except for sex chromosomes); the chromosome number is halved during meiotic division; and maternal and paternal chromosomes could be separated from each other randomly.  That sounded a lot like Mendel's factors to Sutton.  This is found in a 1902 paper "On the morphology of the chromosomal group of Brachystola magna" followed up more explicitly in his 1903 paper "The chromosomes in heredity".

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio (or Walter Sutton)? 

Dr. Walter Stanborough Sutton

After the publication of his 1903 paper, Walter S. Sutton's publication record in genetics goes cold.  No follow up, no experimental elaboration of his theory, no concrete explanation for how chromosomes are involved in inheritance.  This is very odd for a scientist with an idea this big.  Sturtevant, Morgan, Watson, Crick, McClintock, Blackburn...all have follow up papers.  Not Sutton.  Why?  Did his situation change?  Mendel had no follow-up paper, but he became the abbot of his monastery.  Kicked out of research by a move to administration.  What about Sutton?

When trying to pick up a trail in research, it is often instructive to go all of the way back to the beginning and follow a paper trail back to where it went cold.  Finding a good clue can allow you to project the trajectory of a life past that point.  Walter Stanborough Sutton was born in Utica, New York on 05 April 1877.  The family relocated to Russell, Kansas when Sutton was young and took up ranching.  Life on the ranch suited Walter, and he learned how to fix and make machinery for working the ranch.

Walter Sutton sits next to his brother William B., who is holding the ball

Mechanical aptitude led Sutton to the University of Kansas in 1896, seeking a degree in engineering. His first summer break would be life-changing. An outbreak of typhoid fever in the family led to the death of his 17-year old brother, John. When Walter returned to classes, he began studies in biology with an eye toward a career in medicine. Working with C.E. McClung, Sutton earned his B.A. (Biology) in 1900 and M.A. (Zoology) in 1901. His master's thesis examined spermatogenesis in Brachystola magna.   Even with this fine record of achievement, Walter found time for recreation and played on the first KU basketball team for Dr. James Naismith.

St. Margaret's Hospital in Kansas City, KS

After graduation from KU, Sutton moved to Columbia University in New York on a postgraduate fellowship working with Edmund Beecher Wilson.  He wrote his two seminal works on the chromosome theory during this time.  In 1903, Sutton abruptly left Columbia, returning to work in the oil fields, suggesting financial motivations for the move.  During his work in the Kansas oil fields, he developed several apparatuses including a method of starting pump engines with high pressure gas and hoists for deep wells.  He would never complete his PhD in Zoology, although it seems he always intended to return to it.

Second Bell Memorial Hospital

In 1905, Sutton returned to Columbia, but this time in medical school.  Given credit for his graduate coursework, he graduated with an M.D. in 1907.  He stayed in New York in a surgical residence program at Roosevelt Hospital and then moved back to Kansas City, KS where he opened a surgical practice and joined the faculty of the University of Kansas School of Medicine as an assistant professor.  In 1911, he became an associate professor and entered the United States Army Medical Reserve Corps as a first lieutenant.  He worked at St. Margaret's Hospital and the second Bell Memorial Hospital doing surgeries.  Documenting his work, Sutton published papers on subjects such as irrigating the abdominal cavity during surgery for a ruptured appendix, delivering ether as anesthesia rectally and inventing a speedometer to monitor the speed of ether delivery.

Lt. Walter Sutton in France

With the outbreak of World War I, Sutton took a leave of absence from the university and joined the Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney Unit of the American Ambulance Hospital in Juilly, France on 08 February 1915.  Still a  young man, he was the head of the surgical staff, overseeing upgrades to the electricity, plumbing, heating and kitchen facilities.  He became proficient in repairing battle wounds of types that had never been seen before.  He noted that many of his patients had not been wounded with bullets or shells, but the force of explosions had turned human body parts into shrapnel.  His engineering background came in handy and Sutton developed new surgical instruments for procedures and developed a fluoroscopic method to find the location of shrapnel prior to doing surgery.

The hospital was located about 23 miles north of Paris and about 40 miles from the battle front.  A stream of Ford ambulances brought wounded every other day to this hospital.  By March 1915, the hospital contained 115 wounded with a capacity of 150.  Sutton himself was in charge of 44 patients. His stay was short.  Walter left France on 26 June and returned to the US on 01 July 1915.  He took up his duties at KU again about two weeks later.  Short though his stay was, he learned a great deal about the treatment of war injuries and contributed a chapter on the subject to Binnie's Manual of Operative Surgery.

“You would hardly believe it, but we had wounded men who were never struck by bullets or projectiles from the enemy’s guns. We had men wounded by being pierced with the shattered bones of their comrades. Men were blown to pieces and parts of their bodies acted as projectiles, killing and wounding others.” - Walter Stanborough Sutton

Walter S. Sutton

Sutton family marker

In September 1916, Sutton signed a contract with C.V. Mosby Publishers to write a book on surgical methods.  Unfortunately, the book would never be written.  Late in 1916, Sutton began suffering from bouts of appendicitis.  On 06 November, he came home early and went to bed.  On 07 November, he operated on three patients, but grew ill.  He was operated on for a ruptured appendix at about 3:30 PM that day.  Peritonitis set in and Walter Sutton died on 10 November 1916 at Christian Church Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.

Mystery (to me) no longer

Christian Church Hospital at 26th and West Paseo in KC, MO

So the question of Walter S. Sutton and his sudden disappearance from the literature in genetics has been resolved for me.   He left genetics to study surgery, became an excellent surgeon and innovator.  His work made the treatment of wounds caused by modern weapons more effective.  Although Sutton intended to return to work on genetics, his premature death due to peritonitis after his appendix ruptured brought all of his work to an end.  It was a surprise to find out that he had such a tight link to the Kansas City area and was buried in Lawrence, Kansas.  Contrary to his death certificate which notes that he was buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City, KS here he lies in "Kansas' Arlington", a fitting resident.

Getting There

From I-70 (Kansas Turnpike) take Exit 204 (US-59, US-40) and head south.  You will find yourself on the main drag, Massachussets Street.  Turn left at 13th Street and then turn right onto Oak Hill Avenue into the cemetery.  The Sutton family plot is just east of the mausoleum in Section 19.

Waypoint: Latitude 38.960673 N; Longitude 95.211682 W
Address: 1603 Oak Hill Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66044

Walter S. Sutton's death certificate

Further Reading

Walter S. Sutton Memorial Book

Walter Sutton and Chromosomal Theory: 100 years

Tinker to Evers to Chance: The World's Biggest Baseball

World's Largest Baseball 

As you pull into the town of Muscotah, Kansas you are greeted with a sign that proclaims THIS is the birthplace of Joe Tinker of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" fame.  Now any good baseball fan knows that there are two great baseball poems worth remembering: Casey at the Bat and Baseball's Sad Lexicon.  The phrase "Tinker to Evers to Chance" from Baseball's Sad Lexicon recalls the Baseball Hall of Fame double play combination from the world beating Chicago Orphans/Cubs of the early 20th century: shortstop Joe Tinker to second baseman Johnny Evers to first baseman Frank Chance.  Joe Tinker was born in this tiny Kansas community on 27 July 1880 and spent two years here before the family moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 1882.

"Tinker to Evers to Chance"

How should you memorialize the town's favorite son; a professional baseball and pop culture icon?  Did you say with the worlds largest baseball?  If you did, then you would be correct.  In a little park, just off of US-159 in Muscotah is the world's biggest "baseball".  This enormous piece of sporting gear was constructed from a water tower tank, and has stitches made of rebar.  To complete the glorious kitsch is a miniature baseball infield complete with cutouts of three baseball players near first and second bases.  Yes, I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouche...

Joe Tinker by the numbers

Born: 27 July 1880, Muscotah, Kansas

Died:  27 July 1948, Orlando, Florida

Teams

Chicago Orphans/Cubs 1902-1912 (National League)
Cincinnati Reds 1913 (National League)
Chicago Chi-Feds/Whales 1914-1915 (Federal League - defunct Major League)
Chicago Cubs 1916

Championships

National League - 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910

World Series - 1907, 1908
Federal League - 1915

Career Statistics

Games: 1,084
Batting average: 0.274
Hits: 1690
Doubles: 263
Home runs: 31
Triples: 112
RBI: 782
Stolen bases: 336
Starting salary (2015 value): $40,944
Total 15 year salary (2015 value: $1,511,277)

That Double Play Again/Baseball's Sad Lexicon by Franklin Pierce Adams

Tinker to Evers to Chance

These are the saddest of possible words:

“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,

Tinker and Evers and Chance.

Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,

Making a Giant hit into a double—

Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:

“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”

The Honda for size

Nice words. Right lyrical on the ears. They were written in a pinch by Franklin Pierce Adams for his "Always in Good Humor" column in the New York Evening Mail. It was deadline time and he was running short of copy. Since the editor didn't care a bit for white space, Adams wrote this on his way to see his New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. These three guys were to Adams what Madison Bumgarner, Jose Bautista and John Lester are to Kansas City Royals fans. All on one roster. Shortstop to Second to First - double play.

Year in and year out, Adams' Giants fell to the pennant hogging Cubs (yeah, you read it right). The Cubs won the winner take all season pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910, winning the World Series in 1907 and 1908. The 1906 Cubs won 116 games in a 152 game season.  This poem was printed first on 12 July 1910 - a year that saw the Cubs beating out the Giants for the pennant.

In 1908, Evers was the player that saw what would be immortalized as "Merkle's Boner".  With two out n the bottom of the ninth of a 1-1 game against the Giants, Moose McCormick was on third and Fred Merkle was on first.  McCormick appeared to score the winning run on an Al Bridewell single in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Seeing fans swarming the field, Merkle went to the dugout without touching second base.  Evers called for the ball and the umpire ruled Merkle out by a force out, nullifying the run. The umpire and National League president both called the game a tie because of darkness, forcing a replay, which the Cubs won. This was a source of consternation for the Giants, because it was customary for the defense not to appeal for a force-out on a walkoff hit.

Left to right: Tinker, Evers, Chance

Then as now, a bit of good marketing will make all the difference in the world to a product. While Tinker, Evers and Chance were not even the best double play combination of their day, the cadence was catchy and they became household names. All three were elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, despite their skimpy numbers by today's standard. They had great numbers for the deadball era and showed flashes of great defense. Baseball Reference ranks Tinker at #217 as a hitter all-time, Evers at #224, and Chance #385.  The poem didn't hurt. "Tinker to Evers to Chance"? Right up there with "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!".


Tinker did lead National League shortstops in fielding percentage during four seasons. He had hustle, as well, stealing home twice in a single game on 28 July 1910. In Chance's later years he switched to player-manager and then just manager of the Cubs. He still has the team's highest winning percentage as a manager. Evers would be the 1914 National League MVP and win another World Series title with the Boston Braves.

Me against my brother. Me and my brother against the world.

The inside of the baseball will eventually be a museum

While it might seem that these guys would be all buddy-buddy, that was far from reality. Tinker and Evers HATED each other. They had both come to the big leagues during 1902, and their falling out occurred quickly. The legend is that in 1905, while the team was waiting in a hotel lobby prior to an exhibition game in Washington, Indiana, Evers jumped in a cab and rode to the ballpark, leaving everyone else behind. When Tinker made it to the ballpark, he apparently called out Evers and the first of many fistfights ensued. That is likely not the whole story, but two things do seem to be universally agreed upon: people didn't much care for Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker loved to get into fights.

Evers would say it best later in life: "Tinker and myself hated each other, but we loved the Cubs. We wouldn't fight for each other, but we'd come close to killing people for our team. That was one of the answers to the Cubs success."

Adams wasn't the only one to put these guys into rhyme.  Ogden Nash put them in for the letter "E" in his Line-Up for Yesterday published in Sport Magazine in January 1949:

E is for Evers
His jaw in advance
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance

Getting There

Muscotah is definitely a town that has seen better times.  Built (and rebuilt) to capture traffic from the Central Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1857.  The Delaware River provided power for the grist mill.  The town still has several old houses and older style churches with intricate woodwork that you just cannot find today.  Having worked at a full-service gas station in college, I can't help but notice the old service stations when passing through towns.  Muscotah's is a treat, with a sign, brands and prices of gas and oil that were available back when they filled 'er up, checked your fluids and washed your windshield when you bought gas.  Sadly, the old pumps have been pulled out.

I have to hand it to the townspeople for building an attraction that will hopefully continue to grow and bring many a baseball fan calling.  The museum in the shape of a baseball shows promise.  The easiest road to travel here is to travel to Hiawatha, KS on US-36 or US-73 and take US-73/US-159 south.  Stay on US-159 south at Horton, KS and you will travel directly into Muscotah.  The big baseball is in a park behind (just north of) the old service station at US-159 and Kansas Street.

Waypoint: 39.551195 N; 95.521636 W

Further Reading

Portraits of "Tinker, Evers and Chance"

Finding the Way: Gardner Junction

Gardner Junction at sunset - Santa Fe left, Oregon-California right

When we are traveling about, we often gauge where we are by intersections between roads.  Major roads will often serve a variety of destinations, but eventually you have to decide when to diverge from the major road.  The Santa Fe-Oregon-California Trails had many starting points and many ways to get there, but eventually you connected to the main road.  When starting from Independence, the western destinations of Santa Fe, Oregon, and California could all be reached by traveling in a general westward direction.  Eventually you would have to turn right and head more northward to get to Oregon and California.  From Independence, MO one of the major trail branches would take you southwest past present day Olathe, KS.  The trails would split past present day Gardner, KS at a site now called Gardner Junction, which is also where the Westport and Independence branches of the trails merged.

Our wagon

One of my side research interests is how our current transportation routes maintain the memory of geographic features that are no longer visible and also maintain the memory of old transport routes.  This junction is no exception.  US-56 roughly follows the Santa Fe Trail route through much of Kansas.  At Gardner Junction, West 183rd Street roughly follows the diverging Oregon-California Trail to the northwest.  The old trails are being followed by roads improved for farm, truck and automotive use.  Railroads will also follow the old trails.  To the left of the road in this picture are tracks for the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad, which parallel US-56 through Kansas.

In their words

“This is a great camping place for both Oregon and Santa Fe teams, as the forks of the road are only about a Mile and a half back and the Oregon Teams can easily turn on to their trail again.” - H.M.T Powell 1849 

"This morning we passed the road to Oregon, that leaves, about eight miles from Round Grove, the Santa Fe Road, and turns to the right towards the Kansas (river). A way post had been put there, marked: 'Road to Oregon'. . . . " - Dr. Frederick A. Wislizenus, 24 May 1846

"About 4 o'clock, p.m., I reached the point where I supposed the Oregon Trail diverged from the Santa Fe' road. It was raining copiously. . . . . a bright rainbow was formed in the east. . . . ." -  Edwin Bryant, 13 May 1846

"about no(o)n to day left the Sant a fee trace these are two of the longest roads that are perhaps in the world the one to Sant Afee and the other to Oregon doubled teams nearly all the way Both teams Swamped down and had to unload our team breakeing an axeltree" - James Clyman, 17 May 1844

Why branch here?

James Clyman

Why is this the branch point for the trails? On one level it is because someone came this way first.  The trail to Santa Fe, Mexico was pioneered in 1792 by Pedro Vial, when Spain held title to most of the American West, and then came into formal use in 1821 as the US established trade with a newly independent Mexico.  William Becknell from Missouri made the first foray into Santa Fe, which had been jealously guarded by the Spanish.  Fur trappers were exploring the northwestern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase and pushing claims to the Oregon country.  Two of those traders, William Sublette and Moses Harris left Salt Lake Valley on 01 January 1827 in an attempt to reach St. Louis in time to bring back a wagon of supplies for the following year. On the trip, they traveled south when they hit the Kansas River and struck the Santa Fe Trail here, setting a precedent for the trail.

While this marker is near the junction, it is worth noting that our modern highway system shepherds traffic a lot more tightly than the old trails ever did.  Both the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon-California Trails were general paths in which you could weave hither and yon in any number of ways.  The trails were a few miles wide at places.  People made their own way, especially if they thought they could shave off distance or get around slow moving traffic.  I can just hear it "By god, these people travel either three miles an hour or seven miles an hour.  I can't get around the morons doing three because I'll get hit by the maniacs doing seven.  Then the dirty so and so's that blew past me at seven slow down to four.  Why can they not just go an even five?" Some things never change.

The Road Not Taken

So the poem has nothing to do with this landmark.  People were pretty set on where they were going to go at this point and they didn't feel like their life was altered in any way by choosing one way over the other.  They weren't looking back on life later and saying "only if" for every inconsequential decision. They might have regretted taking Hastings Cutoff or trying to cross mountains instead of wintering at lower elevations, but largely they did not regret taking the journey.  That doesn't stop these words from popping into my head every time I pass this point:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Thanks, Mr. Frost, I get it.  Crap happens and except for a very few decisions, it just doesn't matter what you decide to do.  The arc of your life is in large measure determined by forces out of your control.  I've always suspected it was so, and now I know.

Getting There

Take US-56 west through Gardner towards Baldwin City, KS.  The park is about three miles west of Gardner, KS.  The turnout is on the north side of the road.  Well marked with signs.  A kiosk and a short trail with interpretive signs is here.

Waypoint: 38.796675 N; 94.961763 W

Street Address: 32455 W 183rd Street, Gardner, KS 66030

Further Reading

National Park Service: Gardner Junction