Villages of Crawford County - Jakes Prairie

Villages of Crawford County, Missouri - JAKE PRAIRIE

In the northwest corner of Crawford County is a little country store called
Jake Prairie. A store has occupied this same site for about a hundred
years.

In 1878 Herman H. Tieman bought a stock of goods from Burnes and Company of
Cuba and moved it to Jake Prairie where he operated successfully for twelve
years. All available information indicates that he was the first
postmaster, serving from 1878 until 1890.

The name, Jake Prairie, impIies a combination of a person and a place.
Truly the place is located on a narrow prairie extending ten or fifteen
miles north and south between Bowenb Creek and Brush Creek. The origin of
Jake Prairie sounds like a bedtime story. The author recalls his father
saying about 1903, "Once upon a time an old Indian lived on the
prairie--his name was Jake." Further research has proven quite clearly that
it was not aItogether tradition but based on historical facts.

When the Osage Indians signed the Treaty of 1825 at St. Louis they ceded
all their lands in this region to the United States. Beginning from this
date the Indians wee being graduallypushed toward the west until they were
settled in Oldahoma. By 1835 nearly all of the Indians had been driven out
except a few roving remnants who moved from place to place. A few accepted
the white man's ways of life and remained, and some even married into the
white families.

John Steele McCormack relates, "There were Osage villages all through this
district. Probably the largest when the white men came was just across the
line in Franklin County on the Bourbeuse River on what was known as the A n
de r s on Coleman farm. There were over three hundred cabins there. There
was one at the old Enloe Settlement and another, judging by the remains,
near Blue Springs. There was another large one on the Bourbeuse below Jake
Prairie. Jake was an Indian living with his band of trappers on
the Bourbeuse. An argument came up in which the band sided against Jake, so
he picked up his tent and crossed the ridge and pitched his lone tepee out
on the plains and lived alone there for years. So, when any of the other
Indians wanted to visit him, they would say, 'Let's go up to Jake's
Prairie:"

For twenty-five years after 1878, H. H. Tieman, Henry P. Farrow,
Summerfield Ellis, and 'Shade' Rook were owners of the store and postmaster
of Jake Prairie. In the spring of 1903 Shade Rook built a new store. He had
been using an old building nearby.

In 1904 Harrison Gibson bought the store from Shade Rook and also built a
new concrete block home. This home is now owned and occupied by Oren
Stewart, son of 0. J. Stewart, for many years a farmer, teacher, county
superintendent of schools, lawyer, and prosecuting attorney of the county.
Shade Rook moved to Red Bird and in March 1905 purchased the T. S.
Fitzgerald Store. Later he moved to Sayre, Oklahoma, where his family still
resides.

Harrison Gibson did a thriving business at the Prairie and empIoyed C. H.
Pinnell as clerk in the store. Mr. Pinnell was also the local bar
ber and later moved to Cuba where he continued in the barber business until
his death.
Jake Prairie being located in a strictly rural area never became very
large. A general store, a blacksmith shop, and about three homes were the
only buildings at any time during its century of existence. The school was
one-half mile and the Prairie Chapel one-fourth mile sway. Both are now
deserted.

In 1905 Bill Myers opened a blacksmith shop, remained one year, and removed
to High Gate in Maries County where he opened a shop.

William Hunter then arrived in the community and opened a blacksmith
business. He was an excellent smith and his reputation as such was known
far and wide. However he decided to go into the mercantile business. In
1904 he purchased the store from
Harrison Gibson and soontook Elmer Jones as his partner in the business. As
soon as Elmer Jones arrived at Jake Prairie he built a new home which still
stands.

About this time another new store was built about two miles up the road
toward Cuba by B. H. Anderson. This was a stone building which burned a few
years later and was never rebuilt.

Mr. Hunter had financial difficulties and by 1905 the store was owned by
Elmer Jones, G. S. Matlock, and Charles Breuer. Jn 1906 Elmer Jones sold
his interest in the store to John Sorrell and the business was called
Breuer & Company.

The next owner was Joe A. McMullen and it was at this period when the store
burned to the ground. The Modern Woodmen used the second floor of the store
building for lodge meetings and after a meeting one night the store burned.
The Woodmen had held
their first public installation on January 9, 1904. The Woodmen Lodge
transferred their headquarters elsewhere.

The Jake Prairie store and post office changed hands many times through the
period of nearly a hundred years. The list includes: H. H. Tieman;
Summerfield Ellis, W. S."Shade" Rook; Harrison Gibson; William T. Hunter;
Elmer Jones; Jones, Matlock and Breuer; Sorrell, Breuer and Matlock;
Chester H. McIntosh; Ed Biles; Frank Carr; C. A. Beckham; J. H. Krewson;
Krewson & Breuer; William Collins; Leslie Collins; and Oren Stewart.

The first teIephone line built was from Red Bird to Jake Paririe in
February 1907.

For the first few years after post offices were established at Jake
Paririe, Vieman, Red Bird, Jacobston, and Seitz the mail was carried from
Cuba to these various points. About 1915 a Star Route was established. This
route made stops only at Jake Prairie, the rural boxes, and then to Cuba.

Carriers for star routes acquired their jobs by being the lowest bidder of
those who submitted a bid.

The writer remembers as a seven year-old boy exciting news in Jake Prairie
neighborhood. Herman Brinker, our old German mail carrier, was missing. He
was the Star Carrier from Cuba to Jake Prairie, to Red Bird, and then back
to Jake Prairie, a distance of more than thirty miles. From 1901 to 1905 he
carried the mail through storms, over almost impassable roads in summer and
winter, on horseback and all for the sum of fifty cents a day. Finally,
after four years of this he returned one day, put his faithful horse in the
livery stable, and boarded a train for the east. He was never located but
the supposition was that he returned to his native Germany.

In the earliest days of the star route from Cuba to Jake Prairie, to Red
Bird in Gasconade County, and back to Cuba the mail was
carried on horseback. Two of those hard men were the above mentioned Herman
Brinker Chaney Doggett, and Ralph Bowen. In later years buggies were used
and during these years A. P. Frederickson and Tom Mullen were among the
carriers. In more recent times there were Orville Kimber1in, Clarence
Watson, and Leo LaCroix.

Your author having first seen the light of day within two miles of Jake
Prairie, finds it difficult to close the story of more than seventy years
of memories. Many personal observations and experiences are remembered.
When the new store burned the Woodmen's Initiation "Billy Goat" fell from
the second floor to the ground and was rescued by someone; the next morning
it lay on the ground with all the hair scorched from its wooden carcass.
The old store was a favorite gathering place for the gang of country boys
who regularly on Sunday rode horseback all over the country. It was only by
pooling of pocket change could they buy cheese, crackers, and sardines for
lunch.

The little frame country store came back into service many years ago when
the new one burned. It is still serving the community, but gone are the
scenes of yesteryear. The oldblacksmith shop lately operated by Mike
Hunter, who followed his father, William Hunter, is sadly missing. The
little cottage, the humble home of Mrs. Stump is gone but the memories of
many scenes linger.

0ld Indian Jake long ago picked up his wigwam and went away to his happy
hunting ground, but his name still clings to the spot.
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CRAWFORD COUNTY AND CUBA MISSOURI
James Ira Breuer, 1972 p. 72-76