“Did You Know This About Geary County History?”
By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“The Junction City Stone Sawing Company”
Today’s story was written by Gaylynn Childs, retired Executive Director of the Geary County Historical Society.
One of Junction City’s great selling points in the beginning years was the existence in abundance of quality building stone. Early promoters described the stone quarried in the immediate area as “magnesium limestone” of a light gray or buff tint. It was found in the outcroppings sometimes called rim rock, which ran throughout the area. However, the best stone for sawing purposes was found beneath the surface of the soil down to a depth of 12 to 15 feet.
One of the great advantages of Junction City stone was its workability when it was first taken from the ground and the fact that it hardened with exposure to the air and elements. Thus, it could be worked and carved into beautiful shapes and forms that would endure as the stone aged. Junction City’s first real industry came because of the effort to utilize this building stone.
Major O.J. Hopkins, who had earlier served at Fort Riley, settled in Junction City after the Civil War and in 1866 initiated the commercial process of sawing this local limestone. It is reported that he probably got the idea from Daniel Mitchell, an area settler, who in the summer of 1864, experimented with the use of a hand saw to saw this stone while constructing his house. Hopkins had apparently witnessed the experiment and later initiated correspondence with the operation of eastern quarries to learn more about quarrying methods.
Hopkins interested Junction City founder, James McClure, and others who formed a company to undertake the sawing of local limestone. This venture became one of the largest industries in the early history of Junction City employing as many as 60 men and turning out about $1,500 worth of stone per month. The company used the McFarland Quarry, which was probably the earliest quarry in the area.
In 1867, primarily through the efforts of George W. Martin, editor of the Junction City Union, The Junction City Stone Sawing Company secured a contract to furnish all the stone needed in the construction of the State Capitol building, which is now the east wing.
Although the Junction City Sawing Company eventually went bankrupt, it had paved the way for production of building stone, which would be used throughout Kansas and in the surrounding states for over a century.
“The Day The Lights Came On In Junction City”
We tend to take electric power in our homes, businesses and on our streets for granted – that is until the power goes off. So much of what we do at work and at home depends on electricity. Today’s story is a brief history of how electric power got started in our area.
A reporter at the Junction City Tribune paid a visit to the Fogarty Mill west of the Smokey Hill River in September of 1886 to see the start of the city’s new electric lights at its source. In the basement of the new building he found a room full of complicated, powerful and nicely adjusted machinery.
The person in charge was Mr. J. W. Wilkins, who represented the Western Electric Company of Chicago. The wheels were first put in motion simply on a trial run. After a short stoppage, some adjustments were made and a pulley was replaced. The power, which was conveyed across the river by a wire belt, was then gradually applied.
The lighting appeared at once in the mill room and in two dozen businesses and houses on Washington Street a mile and a half away. This occurred all at the same moment. The reporter stated that this was one of the most wonderful practical applications of the powers of nature in the nineteenth century.
Electricity would light the business streets and houses of the city much more perfectly than could be done with oil lamps – not to mention that it would be cheaper. Twenty-four streetlights were installed, and more were on order. It was believed that the supply of waterpower could be expanded by three times the original size by adding more machinery and fixtures. The author of a Junction City Tribune article stated that it could now date the lighting of Junction City with electricity as of September 1886.
In 1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Act, which Congress passed in 1937. Rural areas in Kansas may have received electric power by 1938.