The Cooperative Soil Survey

    Barton County was organized in 1857. It was formerly the northern part of Jasper County. Before it was organized, and for a short time afterwards, Osage and Sac Indians hunted over the area. Settlers moved in from time to time, grazed cattle, grew a few acres of corn. flax, and tobacco, and then moved on. Drovers grazed cattle in the area as they moved their herds from the south and west to markets in St. Joseph and Kansas City. In some years the cattle were wintered in the area. Although the first settlers came to Barton County in about 1838, permanent settlement did not begin until 1860. The population increased slowly during the Civil War and for a number of years afterward. The generally peaceful Osage and Sac Indians were moved to reservations in the Oklahoma Territory.
    Farming and surface strip mining of coal quickly became the two most important industries. Coal mining, like farming, stimulated the economy and brought people to the comity. Trunklines to the coal fields to carry the coal to market were provided, and people came from far and near to work in the mines. By 1880 the population was 10,330. Many of the miners were emigrants from foreign countries, and Barton County became a melting pot. A population peak of 18,504: was reached in 1890.
    Near the turn of tlie century, the cost of mining began to rise steadily and the demand for coal dropped because of competition from the oil and gas industries. Mines began to shut down, and unemployment and depression followed. Many people left the county. By 1910, the population of the county was 16,747. Mining continued to decline but remained an important industry until the great depression of the 1930's. Today coal mining is at a standstill. Mindcnmincs, Burgess, and other towns that were booming mining centers are now small, quiet towns or villages. Others have disappeared entirely. Recently a major plan lias been undertaken to mine coal from Barton County and use it in an electric generating plant located in nearby Jasper County.
    The population trend lias been downward, beginning with the decline in coal mining. Farming is thriving, but fewer farmers arc needed to produce more food. The trend is toward a smaller number of larger farms. Population in the county is likely to decrease for a few years and then stabilize at about 10,000 persons. Most of tlic children reared in the county move to cities to join the nation's labor force:: however, the average age of farm-ers is decreasing.