Clark County, Kansas

Clark County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Named: Originally and correctly Clarke, with a final e, in memory of Charles F. Clarke, Captain and Adjutant-General, United States Volunteers, who died at Memphis, December 10, 1862.

State & County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Clark County.—On Feb. 26, 1867, Gov. Crawford approved an act of the legislature defining the boundaries of a number of new counties in the western part of the state. Section 39 of that act reads: "The county of Clarke shall he bounded as follows: Commencing where the east line of range 21 west intersects the sixth standard parallel, thence south to the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude, thence west to the east line of range 26 west, thence north to the sixth standard parallel, thence, east to the place of beginning."

By the act of March 6, 1875, the northern boundary was moved northward 6 miles, to the north line of township 30 south, and the western boundary was fixed at the "east line of range 27 west." The county was named for Charles F. Clarke, who entered the volunteer service in the Civil war as a captain in the Sixth Kansas cavalry, was commissioned assistant adjutant-general on June 12, 1862, and died at Memphis, Tenn., on the 10th of the following December. In the original creative act the name is spelled with the final "e," but in the act of 1873 and all subsequent legislation affecting the county the last letter was dropped from the name.

As an unorganized county, Clark was attached to Ford county for judicial purposes only until Feb. 21, 1883, when Gov. Glick approved an act including Clark in Ford county, in order that the latter might benefit by the taxation of the large cattle interests. This did not please the few settlers in Clark county, and by the act of March 7, 1885, Clark was reëstablished with its present boundaries, extending from the east line of range 21 to the east line of range 26 west, and from the north line of township 30 south to the southern boundary of the state. By the same act the county was attached to Comanche for judicial purposes.

Geography

Clark county has an altitude of nearly 2,000 feet, Ashland, the county seat, being situated 1,950 feet above sea level. The surface is generally level prairie, sloping gently southward toward the Cimarron river, which crosses the southern boundary near the center and flows in an easterly direction until it enters Comanche county about 5 miles north of the state line. All the streams of the county are directly or indirectly tributary to the Cimarron. The principal creeks are Bluff, Beaver, Bear, and Big and Little Sand creeks. Near the center of the county is an elevation, to which H. C. Inman, quartermaster of the Custer expedition in 1868 gave the name of "Mount Jesus." In the winter of 1868-69 a trail was made from Fort Dodge to Camp Supply in the Indian Territory, over which government supplies were taken to the latter post. It passed near the elevation mentioned, and became known as the "Mount Jesus trail." In 1870 a new trail was opened, over which the cattle drovers passed to Dodge City and the northern ranges. It was known as the "Texas Cattle Drive," and during the ten years from 1876 to 1885 some 2,000,000 cattle passed over this trail. There is not much native timber in the county. Along the streams are narrow belts of hackberry, walnut, mulberry and cottonwood, the last named being the most common.

Neighboring Counties:

• North: Ford County
• Northeast: Kiowa County
• East: Comanche County
• Southeast: Harper County, Okla.
• Southwest: Beaver County, Okla.
• West: Meade County

Cities:

County Resources:

Clark County - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912