from the northeast, throwing the point where Atchison is now located, twelve miles west of any locality, north, and twenty miles west of Leavenworth, and thirty-five miles west of Kansas City. When they descended into the valley, of which Commercial street is now the lowest point, Dr. Stringfellow and his companions found George M. Million and Samuel Dickson. Mr. Dickson followed Million to Kansas from Rushville, and while there is some dispute as to who was the second resident in Atchison county after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the best authorities lead to the conclusion that to Samuel Dickson belongs that honor. Mr. Dickson erected a small shanty near the spring, which bore his name for so many years, on the east side of South Sixth street, between Park and Spring streets. His house is described as a structure twelve feet square, having one door and one window and a large stone chimney running up the outside. As soon as Dr. Stringfellow arrived he at once commenced negotiations with Mr. Million for the purchase of his claim. Mr. Million, apparently, was a shrewd real estate speculator and only surrendered his claim upon the payment of $1,000. Dr. Stringfellow considered this a very fancy figure for the land, but he and his associates were firm in their decision of founding a city at this point on the Missouri river and they gave Mr. Million his price. The organization of a town company which followed will be discussed in a subsequent chapter of this territory. The first territorial appointment for the purpose of inaugurating a local government in Kansas was made in June, 1854. Governor Andrew. H. Reeder, of Easton, Pa., was appointed on that date. He took the oath of office in Washington, D. C., July 7, and arrived in Kansas at Ft. Leavenworth October 7, becoming at once the executive head of the Kansas government. Governor Reeder was a stranger to Kansas. With the exception of Senator Atchison he scarcely knew anybody in Kansas. He was a lawyer by profession, one of the ablest in the State of Pennsylvania. From early manhood he had been an ardent and loyal Democrat and had defended with vigor and great power the principle of squatter sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He was not a politician and was an able, honest, clear-thinking Democrat. Upon his arrival in Kansas he set himself at once to the task of inaugurating the government in the territory. According to his own testimony before the special congressional committee appointed by Congress to investigate the troubles in Kansas in 1856, he made it his first business to obtain information of the geography, settlements, population and general condition of the territory, with a view to its division into districts; the defining of their boundary; the location of suitable and central places for elections, and the full names of men in each district for election officers, persons to take the census, justices of the peace, and constables.