60 COUNT IS “Sr MisSsoUurt. 
St. Louis, and 13 miles south of Bismarck Junction. Ironton is 550 
feet higher than St. Louis, and bears the reputation of being one of 
the healthiest places in the State. It was incorporated as a city 
February 1, 1859. 
Pilot Knob, population in 1870, 581, is in a valley, at the foot 
of a mountain of the same name, one of the Ozark range. It is a 
station on the above railroad, one mile north of the county seat, 
and 88 miles south of St. Louis. Previous to the completion of 
the railroad, the citizens of Pilot Knob were nearly all connected 
with the iron works, but since then many others of various callings 
have become residents. 
Arcadia, population in 1870, 250, has a pleasant location at the 
foot of a beautiful range of hills to the south of ‘‘Arcadia Valley.’’ 
It is a station on the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railway, one 
mile south of the county seat, and go miles south of St. Louis. It 
was laid out in 1849. In 1846 Arcadia High School was estab- 
lished. Arcadia is a place of resort for visitors in the summer 
season. 
The surface of the country is principally broken and mountain- 
ous, and generally heavily timbered. Shepherd, Arcadia and 
Bogy Mountains, and Pilot Knob, wonderful formations contain- 
ing immense deposits of iron ore, are in this county. This is em- 
phatically the Zron county of the Union, and probably possesses 
more iron ore, of purer qualities, than any other equal area on the 
globe. Pilot Knob is 581 feet high, and 1,118 feet above the level 
of the Mississippi River at St. Louis, and covers an area of 360 
acres. Its ore yields about 65 per centum. Shepherd Mountain is 
660 feet high, is nearly two miles long by one mile in width, and 
covers an area of 800 acres. Its ores are mainly a mixture of mag- 
netic and specular oxides, the polarity of the former frequently caus- 
ing it to be called “‘load stone.’’ Kaolin, a clay from which ‘‘iron- 
stone china’’ is manufactured, and marble and granite in immense 
quantities are also found in this county. Lead, nickel, platinum 
and gold, the first only in any considerable quantities, are claimed 
to have been also discovered in the county. This county was first 
settled early in the present century, and was organized February 
17, 1857. 
Jackson County—Is located in the west-northwest portion of the 
State, on the eastern border of Kansas, and the southern bank of 
the Missouri River, which, together with the Big Blue, Little Blue, 
and Big Sniabar and their numerous tributaries, furnishes its 
drainage. 
INDEPENDENCE, the county seat, had a population in 1870, in 
the rst ward, of 1,363; 2d ward, gor, 3d ward, g20; total, 
3,184; of whom 2,824 were native born, 360 foreign ; and 2553 
were white, and 631 colored. The city has a fine site upon high 
rolling land. It extends to the Missouri River, and is surrounded 
with an excellent farming country, densely populated and well 
tilled. It is ro miles east of Kansas City, 147 miles west of Jeffer- 
son City, and 272 miles from St. Louis, with all of which cities it 
is connected by the Missouri Pacific Railway. Independence 
affords excellent educational advantages, and contains a number of 
large and substantial public buildings. The first railroad in the 
State was built at a cost of $30,000, to connect this place with the 
Missouri River, a distance of 214 miles from the public square, 
In 1831, some Mormons under ‘‘ Prophet JOE SMITH ’’ attempted to 
build a temple near Independence, but were driven off by the 
indignant citizens. Independence was laid out as a village in 
1824, but was an important trading point long years before. It 
was incorporated March 7, 1849, and received a new charter 
extending its limits February 23, 1853. 
Kansas City is the second city of Missouri, and the largest and 
most important commercial point west of St. Louis. Its pop- 
ulation in 1870 was: 1st ward, 11,549; 2d ward, 11,096; 3d 
ward, 4,027; 4th ward, 5,588; total, 32,260; of whom 24,581 
“were native born, 7,679 foreign ; and 28,484 white, 3,770 col- 
ored, and 6 Indians. Of the native population, 12,035 (includ- 
ing 8,194 born in Missouri) were born in former slaveholding 
States, and 12,546 in northern States. Of the foreign population, 
824 were born in British America, 44 in Austria (proper), 21 in 
Belgium, 1,884 in Germany, 26 in Holland, 111 in France, 
2,869 in Ireland, 927 in Great Britain, 70 in Hungary, 648 in 
Norway and Sweden, 160 in Switzerland, and 63 in other Euro- 
pean countries. It is situated upon broken ground on the south 
bank of the Missouri River, near the Kansas State line, and 
just below the mouth of the ‘‘ Kaw’’ or Kansas River, from which 
it derived its name. It is 39 miles by river and 27 by rail below 
Leavenworth, Kansas, 7o south by rail from St. Joseph, 157 west 
by rail and 282 by river from Jefferson City, 275 by rail and 456 
by river from St. Louis, and ro miles west of Independence, the 
county seat. Latitude 39° 12’ north, and longitude 94° 16’ 
west. Kansas City has an extensive wholesale trade, and as a rail- 
road center is a station on the Pacific Railroad of Missouri, though 
properly the western terminus of the Pacific of Missouri and the 
eastern terminus of the Missouri River Railway; on the Kansas 
Pacific Railway, whose eastern terminus is Wyandotte; is the 
northern terminus of the Fort Scott & Gulf Railway ; the north- 
eastern terminus of the Kansas City & Santa Fe Division of the 
Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railway ; the southern ter- 
minus of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railway, the 
southwestern terminus of the Kansas City Branch of the Hannibal 
& St. Joseph Railway ; and the western terminus of the Western 
Division of the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway. The 
last three railroads form a junction at Harlem, one mile above and 
on the opposite side of the river, and their trains cross over the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway Company’s magnificent new rail- 
road bridge, which is also used for vehicles and foot passengers. 
The city contains a large number of handsome residences, exten- 
sive business blocks and substantial public buildings. The 
‘* Chamber of Commerce’’ was incorporated November g, 1857. 
Kansas City was regularly laid out in 1846, and was incorporated 
February 22, 1853. 
Westport, in 1870, contained the following population: 1st ward, 
3335 2d ward, 346; 3d ward, 238, 4th ward, 178; total, 1,095 5 
of whom 924 were native born, 171 foreign, and 1,006 white, and 
89 colored. This city lies 4 miles south of Kansas City and 10 
miles southwest from Independence, the county seat, and has a 
pleasant and healthy location, with neat and substantial buildings. 
It was incorporated February 12, 1857. 
The surface of the country in Jackson County is undulating, with 
a desirable division of prairie and timber land, and is extensively 
