and J. N. D. Brown appointed postmaster. The Altoona Union, the second paper published in the county, was founded in March, 1870, by Bowser & Brown. A school house was built the next year at a cost of $3,000. A steam saw mill and a flour mill were set up in 1871 on the Verdigris.
The growth of Altoona dates from the entrance of the railroad in 1885–6. At that time it was a town of some 300 inhabitants, and a dozen business houses. The development of the oil and gas fields in the vicinity in the '90s added greatly to the importance of the city.
Amador, a village of Clifford township, Butler county, is located on a branch of the Whitewater river, about 16 miles northwest of Eldorado, the county seat. Mail is received by the people of Amador from Burns, Marion county, by rural free delivery.
America City, a hamlet of Nemaha county, is located in Red Vermillion township on the Red Vermillion river, 20 miles south of Seneca, the county seat, and 6 miles from Havensville, from which place it receives daily mail. An act incorporating this little town was approved by the territorial legislature on Feb. 14, 1867. The corporate limits included 380 acres of land. A store was opened in 1861 and a Methodist church built. In 1910 it reported a population of 30.
American Settlement Company.—This company, which was organized in Sept., 1854, had its headquarters at No. 226 Broadway, N. Y. The officers were: Theodore Dwight, president; J. E. Snodgrass, vicepresident; G. M. Tracey, secretary; D. C. Van Norman, treasurer; George Walter, general superintendent. The preamble to the constitution of the company set forth that “The subscribers hereto, being desirous to form a company for the purpose of settling a tract of land in the Territory of Kansas, in order to assist in making it a free state, and to found thereon a city, with a municipal government, and the civil, literary, social, moral and religious privileges of the free states, for the equal benefit of the members, have associated and formed, and do hereby associate and form themselves into a joint stock company, under the name of ‘American Settlement Company,’ and have adopted the following articles for the government of said company,” etc.
Article I provided for a capital stock, to be divided into shares equal to the number of lots in the proposed city, the price of which was at first fixed at $5 a share, subject to an advance when so ordered by the board of directors, and no one was to be allowed to purchase more than six shares.
Article II vested the management in a board of directors, a majority of whom should be residents of New York City. This board was to be self-perpetuating, being given power to fill vacancies, etc.
Article III provided that members of the company and colonists should be persons of good moral character, the aim being to establish a community with a high ideal of citizenship.
Articles IV to XI defined the duties of the officers and dwelt principally with the routine matters pertaining to such associations.
