Nine miles northeast of Grove, in Delaware County, there stands an old church building on what used to be the historic Cayuga Springs native American village.
The church which is listed on Register of Historic Places and is located at 26211 South County Road 670, stands today as a testament of faith, determination, and to the intense love a man can have for his wife.
The exterior of the church, which is now known as the Cayuga Mission Church, looks much as it did in 1896, the year it was dedicated. In many ways, so does the adjoining cemetery where its builder, Matthias Splitlog, and his wife Eliza are buried. Mathias built the church as a monument to Eliza, who died of cancer in 1883 during it's construction.
Chief Mathias Splitlog was born into the Huron/Wyandotte tribe in 1818 in Anderdon Township, Essex County, Ontario, Canada, and eventually moved to Ohio with his family. When the Wyandots quit-claimed their Ohio reservation back to the United States in exchange for a place "west of the Mississippi" in 1842, the Splitlogs relocated to Kansas in the area now known as Westport in Kansas City,
Despite his lack of formal education, Mathias demonstrated mechanical brilliance by building a mill had near his house, in which he ground corn by horsepower. He afterwards erected a sawmill near where the Union Pacific Armstrong shops were built. He constructed the mill and installed the engine himself, and he was his own engineer.
During the Civil war Splitlog built a small steamboat for George P. Nelson to ply the upper waters of the Missouri. Splitlog was still looking for the "promised land" and when he came to Indian Territory as a Union Army officer, he knew he had found what he was looking for, He was invoted by the Senaca's to return to the area and make his home.
When white settlers deemed the land the native American tribes in Kansas occupied as "too valuable to be controlled by Indians" Splitlog sold his holdings for a "small fortune.
Mathias relocated to I.T. to create his family's center at the age of 52. He acquired land in the Cowskin River basin, forming Cowskin Prairie. Because of the abundant springs in the area, he named the settlement Cayuga Springs in honor of the Indian tribe that had taken him in years prior.
Success followed him. Over time, he erected a magnificent sawmill and grist mill. He later invested in southwestern Missouri, platting a town and naming it Splitlog. He also built a fifty-mile railroad from Neosho to the south. At the time, he was regarded one of the wealthiest members of not just his tribe but also many others.
Splitlog started a subscription school, furnished a building and allowed the teacher all she collected in tuition from her pupils as her salary.
Splitlog would frequently allow his general store to function as a church on Sunday mornings. Father Ketchum, a Roman Catholic priest, persuaded the Splitlogs to Catholicism, and in 1886 Splitlog initiated preparations to construct a church south of his buggy plant.
Ketchum contributed to the church's design, which made use of locally available limestone.
In 1893, Splilog's wife Eliza was diagnosed with cancer. Despite frantic efforts to get he church completed before her death. She passed on September 23, 1884 and her funeral was held in the still unfinished church.
On August 15, 1887, Splitlog drove the silver spike that marked the railroad's completion to Neosho. Completing the $3 million project, which would later become a part of the Kansas City Southern lines, was just one of his successful economic exploits in his senior years.
Splitlog was chosen Tribal Chief in 1890. On the day of his installation, he hosted a feast for the tribe. Three beef beasts were prepared for the feast, and the bakery in Southwest City provided 1500 loaves of bread for the event.
plitlog promised his influence and money at this time to get back compensation for treaties signed by the Indians with the United States. Shortly after, he traveled to Washington, D.C. to do tribal transactions.
The outcome of his efforts was that a payment of $372.00 per capita was secured for the tribe.
It was during one of the subsequent trips to Washington DC to lobby for his beloved people, he died from pneumonia on January 3, 1987, and was returned to Oklahoma buried in Cayuga Cemetery which adjoins the church.
The church, which holds non-denominational services every Sunday and draws visitors enjoying a weekend away at any of the several nearby state parks and resorts, was listed on the Oklahoma National Register in 1972.
The Romanesque revival architecture of the building, highlighted by the limestone masonry arched doorway and stained glass windows, and elegant interior, makes the structure a must see visit for those traveling in the area.
