Ashley, William H., fur trader and Congressman, was born in Powhatan county, Va., about 1778. In 1808 he went to Upper Louisiana (now Missouri) and was there made a brigadier-general of militia. In 1822 he organized the Rocky Mountain Fur company and went to the Rocky mountains, where he formed friendly relations with the Indians. with whom he traded for many years and accumulated a comfortable fortune. In some of his excursions from the States to his trading posts he crossed Kansas, though his route was generally up the Platte valley. In 1820 he was elected lieutenant-governor of Illinois, and later removed to Missouri. From 1831 to 1837 he represented a Missouri district in Congress. He died at Boonville, Mo., March 26, 1838.
Ashton, a village of Walton township, Sumner county, is a station on the Kansas Southwestern R. R., about 16 miles southeast of Wellington, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with one rural free delivery route, express and telegraph offices, several general stores, and in 1910 reported a population of 125.
Ash Valley, a rural hamlet of Pawnee county, is in the township of the same name, in Ash creek valley, about 12 miles northwest of Larned, the county seat, with which it is connected by stage, and from which it receives mail.
Assaria, one of the active incorporated towns of Saline county, is located in Smoky View township, on the Union Pacific R. R., 12 miles south of Saline, the county seat. It has a number of business establishments, a bank, telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice, with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 246. The town was laid out in 1879 by a town company, of which Highland Fairchild was president,
Atchison, the seat of justice of Atchison county, located in the eastern part on the Missouri river, was founded in 1854 and named in honor of David R. Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, who. when Kansas was opened for settlement, interested some of his friends in the scheme of forming a city in the new territory. However, it seems that all were not agreed upon the location he had selected, and on July 20, 1854. Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, Ira Norris, Leonidas Oldham, James B. Martin and Neal Owens left Platte City, Mo.. to decide definitely upon a site. They crossed the Missouri river near Fort Leavenworth and continued to travel up stream along the western bank until they reached the place where Atchison now stands, where they found a site that was the natural outlet of a remarkably rich agricultural region just open to settlement. They also found that two men named George M. Million and Samuel Dickson had staked claims near the river. Million's claim lay south of what is now known as Atchison street and consisted of a quarter section. Dickson had built a small cabin on his claim, and this cabin was the first structure erected on the site of the present city. Million had a ferry, on which he crossed to the Missouri side to his home, but on the day the prospectors arrived he was on the Kansas side. From a map in his possession, the
